One x One The Précieux Order (Prizzy Kriyze x Queen Rai)

[Queen Rai]

Just copy and paste old characters...

​

 

[Queen Rai]

(WIP)

Name

Victoria Le'Fragel




Appearance Details

Victoria is striking. And by that, I don't necessarily mean "beautiful"...but when she walks into the room, people are bound to notice her. For instance, Victoria's long ebony hair contrasts greatly with her porcelain-like skin tone. She stands at a decent height of 5'7", but only weighs 120lbs...but Victoria's most noticeable feature is definitely her eyes, and not just for their color. The way she looks at someone...it's almost like she's looking right into their eyes and down to their soul. It's kinda creepy, really. Her infamous death glare is about half of the reason why so many people refuse to approach her.


Victoria also looks a little young for her age, and is often mistaken for a fourteen or fifteen year old...but in actuality, she's eighteen. I mean, do people not even LOOK at her body? Her curves are amazing! Well, maybe amazing is a little bit too strong of a word. Her curves are...decent. For her age, anyway.

Age

19




Gender

Female




Sexuality

Heterosexual

Personality

Victoria is...strange. She's one of those girls that most guys (and some girls!) just won't talk to. She's often ruled out of the "group of people it's okay to talk to". Why? Does she seem that unapproachable? Not exactly...but Victoria has...a reputation. What do I mean by that? Let's just say her nickname around school is "Miss Unobtainable". Yup. That's right. Not only does Victoria completely diss the idea of romance, but she also kind of scrunches her nose at the thought of friendship. It's not that she doesn't think people are "good enough" for her, it's just the whole idea of being someone's friend seems kind of exhausting. Making plans to hang out, texting them back within a reasonable time frame, pretending to care while they whine about their issues...ick. Do people honestly expect her to deal with their problems on top of her own? Puh-LEASE!


Even though this is Victoria's way of thinking, it's not like she's completely alone all the time. The girl has people who she considers to be her "friends", but nobody who she can really relate to. Victoria isn't heartless or anything...in fact, she can be very sweet when she's in the right mood. She just doesn't like letting people get too close to her. No, I'm not going to go into this long sop story about how she trusted someone in her past and was brutally betrayed. That never happened. She's just terrified of getting hurt.





Another thing that drives people away from Victoria is her temper. With Victoria, she is either North or South...i.e., okay or not okay...REALLY not okay. She's quick to piss off, and that goes both ways. She's quick to GET pissed off, and quick to piss OTHER people off. That's just how she works. Sometimes, she thinks with her Gem instead of her head, and can get sort of violent in her state of anger. Sort of really violent.




Likes

-People who know when to shut up.


-Ballet (though if anyone caught her, she'd deny enjoying it.)


-Tragic Romance Movies/Books
​

Spoiler

-People who do things for her and not expect anything in return (a.k.a., slaves.)


-Classical music (Tchaikovsky, FOR THE WIN!)


-The sound of violins. Not necessarily violin music, she just likes the way the instrument sounds.


-Proving her teachers wrong (the best part is when they get pissed off.)


-Italian food (spaghetti.)


-Food in general.


-Reading. You can often find her meandering through the library.




Dislikes

-People who talk too much. I.e., "OH MY GOD, your hair if so pretty and your eyes are just TOO gorgeous! How come you don't have a boyfriend? You are definitely a catch...blahhh blahh blah..."


-Being proven wrong/losing arguments


-Being speechless/not knowing how to respond.


-Ignorance.


-People who think flattery charges her batteries.

-Being bothered with petty things (i.e., EVERYTHING.)


-Super sour things (if you wanna see her freak out, give her a Warhead.)

Country

France! Her mother's American, her father's French.




Weaknesses

-HER TEMPER. And I'm not saying this like, "When she gets mad, she loses control and hurts the people she cares about...*dramatic tear*". NO. I'm saying this like, "If you piss her off, bitches gon' DIE. And she ain't even gon' care."


-Her refusal to be a good friend. It's good to have people who genuinely have your back...and since Victoria isn't one of those people, she doesn't have any of those people.


-Her Gem. Yeah, I said it. No, I'm not saying she can't control it. She can. Even when she's angry...it's just...she sometimes underestimates her own strength and "problems" happen. What do I mean? Let's just say she and the Headmistress are pretty good friends by now.




Skills

-Victoria is SMART. She's quick to solve puzzles, I mean. Minesweeper? MORE LIKE LAMESWEEPER. Sudoku? MORE LIKE SO-LAME-KU. Crossword puzzles? ...okay, those are kinda hard. BUT STILL.


-Manipulation. Sort of. Victoria's really good at making people feel like they're the ones that are wrong, even when they're right. This skill is very useful when Victoria realizes that she IS wrong after arguing with someone for a good while. Her pride simply does not allow her to admit defeat.


-Victoria is a trained ballerina. As fruity and awful as that sounds, she did take daily dance lessons back in France, and continued to practice even after being transferred to Précieux Academy...though she practices in secret. She doesn't really want people to know this about her.


-Victoria is really good at concealing her feelings (fuck that rhymed). NO, I am not saying that in a badass "conceal don't feel" Elsa sort of way. Or maybe I am. Victoria doesn't like it when people know what she's thinking, thus the creepy stare she'll give to everyone.

Biography






























The word "normal" has never really suited Victoria. Well, I guess the word doesn't exactly suit any Gemholder...what I mean is, even from a young age, the girl was...advanced. Since Victoria's mother (Christina) and father (Daniel) were both bilingual, Victoria was brought up in a household of two languages, so by the time she was three, she was speaking perfect English and French. And when I say perfect, I mean absolutely immaculate. She could probably serve as a translator at an important business meeting (alright, maybe not, but she was still good.). Her parents couldn't have been more proud of their young daughter...and there was no problem until about a year later, when Christina's sister had a child of her own.


Christina's sister, Marie, had her own daughter with a gem. Marie spoke of horrible things, like how her daughter would nearly drown herself every time she cried, how she couldn't sleep in fear that her child would start crying and she wouldn't hear it...and how her husband was at his breaking point.


Even though Victoria's gem was never really a problem, Christina couldn't help but feel paranoid...and since Victoria had never actually taken a kick or punch at anything, the young mother had absolutely NO CLUE what her daughter was capable of. So, Christina did everything she could to act like Victoria's gem wasn't even there. She hid it behind turtleneck shirts, scarves...Victoria didn't really care, though. It's not like she was old enough to really understand what the hell was going on.


After about a year of this, Victoria's mother gave birth to another little girl named Demi. Victoria was four years old by now, and unlike most children with new siblings, the little girl showed absolutely no resentment toward the baby. In fact, Victoria didn't really seem to care. She only really noticed a change when Christina stopped going through all of the trouble of hiding her gem. With a new baby, she simply didn't have the time.


But even then, things were just fine.


Four more years passed and everything was still going smoothly. Victoria had starting school, and of course, wowed all of her teachers with her amazing mind...but she had no friends. People tried to befriend her, they really did...but Victoria was simply not interested. They didn't bully her, but they stopped trying to socialize with her. And Victoria didn't care a SINGLE BIT...until one of her teachers noticed this and made the horrible mistake of trying to force her to interact with the other children.


Let's just say...it didn't end well. I'll leave it at that.


One day, when Victoria was walking home from school, she noticed a bus dropping off two people right in front of her house. One was older, about her mother's age, and the other was little...around her own age. Victoria was confused, and watched from afar as her mother invited the two strangers in. They had suitcases, and Victoria knew what that meant.


It wasn't just a brief visit.

"Honey, you remember Auntie Marie, right?" Victoria's mother said as she gestured to the strangers, ushering her daughter through the door. Victoria shook her head.


"Ah, well. You were really little." Christine smiled, adjusting her purse strap. Victoria knew what the purse meant, too. Mommy was going out to get Demi from preschool.


"Well, I'm off to pick up Demi. Victoria, why don't you play with Kithara? There are some snacks on the table if you get hungry." Christine suggested as she slipped halfway out the door. "I know you two will be best friends."


And with that, she was gone.


"HI, Victoria, I'm--" Kithara began, only to be interrupted by her cousin brushing past her and into the kitchen.


Kithara fell silent.


"It's okay, honey. Victoria's just a little shy." Marie said, comforting her daughter. "Why don't you follow her and get a snack?"


And that's what Kithara did. Victoria was sitting at the table, munching away on a cookie as she unpacked her homework.


"I like your backpack." Kithara smiled, hoisting herself up into the chair beside Victoria. "Mine is blue and sparkly. I'm starting at a new school tomorrow. I'm in the first grade. What grade are you in?"


Victoria was silent for a moment, and then she glanced over at her cousin.


"We don't have grades here." Victoria said. "Here, you don't say first grade. You say Cours préparatoire. Can you say that?"


Kithara was silent.


Victoria sighed.


"I'm in the third grade." Victoria grumbled as she finished off her cookie. Kithara grinned and said, "Are they yummy?"


"What?"


"The cookies!" Kithara giggled as if Victoria had just cracked a hilarious joke.


"Oh...uh, yeah. My mom is a great baker. The best in the world." Victoria said, a slight smile curving on her mouth as she reached for another cookie and handed it to Kithara. "See for yourself."


The six year old munched down on the cookie, gasping as she did. The little girl said, her mouth full of partially chewed cookie, cried, "She IS the best baker in the world!!!"


Marie crossed her arms as she leaned on the doorframe, pouting as she whined, "But I thought I was the best!"


Kithara and Victoria exchanged expressions, and then burst out laughing...and suddenly, Victoria didn't really mind that these people would be staying for a long time.


Victoria and Kithara were the oddest of friends. Every day after school, Kithara would wait for her cousin so the two could walk home together. Kithara would ramble on about her day as Victoria listened and occasionally chimed in with a joke or some form of sarcasm. Usually, Victoria couldn't stand rambling...but for some reason, she found it oddly charming.


After about a year, Victoria was finally getting used to having her aunt and cousin around the house. It was a little louder with Kithara around, but definitely less lonely.


One day, Victoria was sitting at the dining room table, flipping through a book, when her mother shuffled into the room. The woman raised an eyebrow, and said, "Why don't you go play outside with the other kids? All you do is read, dear."


"I like to read." Victoria mumbled as she turned the page. Christina rolled her eyes and took a seat across from her daughter. The woman leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and cupping her chin in her hands as she said, "I know...but you should spend some time outside. You'll get sick if you stay inside all day."

Victoria was silent.

Christina rubbed her temples, obviously exasperated. Her daughter's refusal to interact with other children, or so much as leave the house unless necessary, had been worrying the young mother for a while. Ever since the girl started school, Christina had worried. Originally, she thought Victoria just needed to adjust being around other kids...that she just needed to be patient...but after four years of waiting, Christina had had enough.

"Victoria Le'Fragel, you will go outside to play and you will like it." Christina said, rising, snatching the book out of her daughter's hands. Before Victoria could protest, the woman said, "Kithara has some toys in the front yard. Find one. I'll be out in a minute with Demi and we'll all walk over to the playground at the end of the block."

"But--"

"DAHHP." Christina quipped, cutting off her daughter.

"I jus--"

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP."

"..."

Victoria stormed out the front door, the house shaking with every stomp. She slammed the door behind her, hearing some sort of crashing noise as she did. The girl crossed her arms and pouted as she sat out on the front step. She was NOT going to play. There was no way. Her mother could kick her out of the house, but there was no way she could convince Victoria to walk all the way to the park.

"I'm not giving your book back unless you pick a toy..." Christina chimed from inside as she glanced through the window, broom and dustpan in hand (probably to clean up whatever made the crashing noise). Victoria let out a loud groan as she stood, grabbing the first thing she saw in the yard. A ball. Just a few minutes later, Christina slipped out of the house, followed by five year old Demi.

"Ready?" Christina said, her tone cheerful and...almost mocking. Victoria snarled, and Christina exclaimed, "I'll take that as a yes! And we're off!"

"AND WE OFF!" Demi mimicked and Christina snatched Victoria's hand and practically dragged her down the block.

When they finally got home, Victoria locked herself in her room not even two minutes after her mother returned her book. It wasn't fun, but Victoria was thankful that it was over.

Until the next day.

Victoria was sitting at the dining room table after school, as usual, when her mother snatched her book out of her hands.

"Ready to go?" Christina asked cheerfully. Victoria raised her eyebrows, and asked, "Go where?"

"The playground!" Christina laughed. "Kithara's coming with us this time, so hurry up and get ready, alright? We're going in five minutes."

Victoria had never been so pissed off in her entire life. It was bad enough to be forced out once, but TWICE? In two days?! It was ridiculous. There was no way Victoria would even consider going if it weren't for the fact that her mother kept stealing her books, refusing to give them back until she went and played.

This became a daily thing, and Victoria never stopped resisting for a moment.

One day, during the third week of this routine, Victoria was out bouncing her soccer ball on her knee. She'd gotten pretty good at small little tricks like that, and it was actually kind of...dare she say...fun. Of course, she'd never admit it, but Victoria was almost starting to enjoy the daily outing. he fresh air was nice, and if she was able to find a good spot away from the other children, the solitude was good, too.

Victoria sighed as the ball slipped off her knee. She quickly scooped her foot beneeath it to pop it back up into the air, but somehow managed to punt it directly into the bushes. Victoria frowned, and then shuffled over to the bushes. She was relieved to see her ball hadn't gone too deep into the bush and was able to pick it up with ease. The girl turned on her heel, about to start back to her spot...

"That's mine."

Victoria stopped, raising an eyebrow as a boy addressed her. She'd seen him around the playground, but the two never made an effort to speak to eachother.

"No, this is my ball. I kicked it into the bushes." Victoria retorted quickly, holding the ball somewhat possessively to her her chest, as if the boy were to steal it. She narrowed her eyebrows at the boy, giving him a glare that almost said "who the hell do you think you are?".

"No, that's my ball."

Victoria squinted her eyes at the boy before briefly looking down at the ball she had picked up, realizing that it, indeed, was not her ball. His was slightly more inflated than her own, not to mention a lot newer looking.

"It's my ball, I...." the boy said again, only to be cut of by the flustered nine year old. Victoria knew it wasn't her ball, but she would rather argue with the boy than admit she was wrong.

"No, it's mine. I know it's mine. Who do you think you are? You probably kicked yours somewhere else. Geez...this is definitely my--"

"Whatever. Keep it." the boy said, cutting her off. Victoria could feel her face turning red. Was it embarrassment? Anger? Frustration? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to waste anymore time on this boy. She turned around and started back toward her "spot", glancing back only once. She felt slightly bad that she was taking the newer looking ball in exchange for her own dirty and deflated one...but her pride kept her from going back. She cradled the ball gently in her arms as she walked, her thoughts interrupted by the sound of her mother calling her so they could go home.

From that day on, the girl made it a point to somehow be near the boy...but she wouldn't talk to him. Occasionally they'd make eye contact, but there was not much more than that. Eventually, Victoria began to sort of enjoy the boy's company. And by that, I don't mean they were all buddy-buddy or anything...she just felt that if she was going to be alone, she might as well be alone with someone else.

For about three years this went on. Christina had even said that Victoria didn't have to go anymore...but she did. She wanted to see her friend...but one day, the boy vanished. Victoria was twelve years old now, in middle school, and this couldn't have been a more devastating time for her "friend" to disappear.

Victoria had always been an outcast. People didn't bully her or anything, she just preferred to be alone...well, this "no bullying" thing quickly changed once Victoria reached the seventh grade. For some reason, her peers felt the need to...pick on her. They called her names, pushed her around during break, stole her books and ripped out the pages...

Why?

Victoria didn't know. But she didn't really mind. She wouldn't get mad at the insults of her classmates, and very seldom gave them as much as a few words in response. She didn't like it, that was true...but she saw no point in getting angry at them. She knew she was better than them...that they were just jealous...

But very slowly...this things started to build up. Victoria didn't like being bullied, but she never showed any sign of being upset. She just took it. She dealt with it. And one day, she snapped.

One day, during break, Victoria was bouncing her soccer ball (well, technically...not her soccer ball...) from her head to her knee to her foot back up to her head. She spent a few breaks this way, since she had stopped going to the playground once her friend left. Of course, the ball bounced off her knee and right smack into a different group of kids.

"Hey, pass it back, will you?" Victoria called, cupping her hands around her mouth as she did. One of the groupies picked up her ball, and then said, "It's pretty nice. I think I want it."

"Well, too bad." Victoria sighed as she started to walk over to the group. "It's mine. Give it back."

"No." the groupie sneered, tossing the ball up into the air and catching it. "I want it."

"It's MINE." Victoria growled, pushing her way into the group and standing in front of the groupie, who just laughed. He held the ball under his arm, and said to his friends, "Finally, the robot is showing some sort of emotion."

Victoria fell silent as the all laughed, and she attempted to grab the ball...but the boy was quick. He stepped back, and said, "What's the magic word?"

"Give it back or you'll be sorry." Victoria choked out, her eyes growing watery. Victoria never cried...never. She couldn't remember the last time she's been upset like this.

"Ahhh no, that's not it. Try again." the groupie teased.

And that was when Victoria lost it. She leaned back, her hand balling into a fist as she did...and when she swung forward, a reddish-orange field formed around the girl's wrist. The snap of the boy's nose breaking was deafening as he shot backward, flying through the air and landing on his back with a loud thud. Victoria's soccer ball flew through the air, right back to her. She caught it, quickly wiping away her tears as she muttered, "I told you, you'd be sorry."

Victoria was suspended for two weeks. The girl was lucky that the group of "witnesses" were just a few unreliable kids, or she surely would've been expelled. I mean, who was going to believe that little Victoria send a boy at least a foot taller than her flying at least ten feet away? But the damage to the boy's face was clear. His nose was completely caved in, along with a shattered cheekbone. Did Victoria feel bad? Maybe. Did it matter? Not really...but it was clear that the already quiet girl had grown even quieter. She even stopped talking to Kithara.

One day during the girl's suspension, she was up in her bedroom, flipping through a novel she'd read read at least four other times. There was a quiet knock on the door...it was Christina. The woman peered into the room, and then silently walked in. The woman took a seat on the foot of Victoria's bed, and asked, "Did you know?"

There was a pause. It was clear to Victoria that her mother was referring to her powers. The little girl, not looking up from her book, gave a small nod.

"So...you knew how much you would hurt that boy." Christina said quietly. Victoria looked up, and shook her head. She opened her mouth, quickly closing it again as her eyes began to well up. She just kept shaking her head, managing to choke out, "I didn't know."

Christina was silent. Victoria continued.

"I knew...that I could do things. I was stronger...and faster...but I didn't know I was that strong." the girl stuttered, quickly wiping her eyes. "He was being mean. I was just...I just..."

Victoria couldn't hold it in. She cupped her face in her hands as she sobbed, "I didn't know...!"

Christina still didn't say anything. Instead, she slid up next to her daughter and put an arm around her. Words couldn't comfort right now.

Nothing could.

I'd like to say that Victoria was never quite the same after that incident, but that's not true. It took her a while, but about two years later the girl was back to her normal, cynical self. Christina ended up pulling her daughter out of school to homeschool. She could deal with the times when Victoria didn't care to have friends, but she would not stand by as her daughter was relentlessly bullied. Besides, the school district had warned them that one more incident and Victoria would be placed in a special institute for children with anger problems.

Victoria really liked being homeschooled. She was able to zip through loads of schoolwork, and then still have enough time to read a book a day.

WIP






Timezone

EST




Gem Details

The Kinetic Gem


What Does Your Gem Do?

Victoria's kinetic energy is enhanced incredibly when she calls upon the powers of her gem. Her punches and kicks are significantly stronger than normal, but this ability should not be mistaken for "super strength". Her powers are heavily based on motion, so even though the girl isn't able to lift large masses, she can make the ground quake with a single punch or stomp. Reddish-orange fields will appear around the girls arms or legs, almost like shields, whenever she uses her ability.




What Are The Downfalls To Your Gem?

You might think it's a bad downfall to say that her gem is "too powerful", but it really is. It's incredibly difficult to estimate the amount of damage that will be dealt, and it's almost entirely random. Of course, this doesn't really matter in combat. I mean, you're TRYING to be powerful...but it's very easy for Victoria to make mistakes. If she gets frustrated and quickly slams her fist down on her desk, chances are the school will need a new desk. Control isn't the problem here. It's simply the power.




Gem Location

Victoria's gem is located right in the dip of her collarbone.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Name


Haven Quinn


Appearance Details


Haven is very tall, standing at 6'10'' with a weight of 240lbs. He's got a strong fat-less physique after many hours of rigorous training to be at his physical limit, and he moves with strong precise movements showing a great control over his limbs. His hair reaches down to his shoulders and is usually quite messy, but he shows certain interest in the style of it, seeing as he's painted the tips maroon. Perhaps the strangest of his features are his eyes, which show sectoral heterochromia. They seem to change in color all the way from purple to red to yellow, all of which are either rare or unseen before him as natural eye colors. It most likely has something to do with his gem, but he is nonetheless proud over his unique appearance.


He usually wears his favorite sleeveless hoodie (Half black half-white, vertically divided at the center of it.) over a long-sleeved shirt of some flexible nature. He most likely doesn't own anything beside sweatpants, or is at the very least never seen without a pair on. He himself prefers the feeling of them to any other pants, and he also likes to be ready in case he needs to move quickly.


Age & Birthday


Twenty one years old


December the Fourteenth


Gender


Male


Sexuality


Heterosexual


Personality


Years and years of being the awkward kid has left Haven with a certain social ineptitude. Therefore he has difficult times forging social connections with other people and has learned to live and be satisfied by himself. His heart isn't completely cold however, he's got a lot of feelings nesting inside of him, he's just got a very difficult time conveying them. Haven dislikes the company of other people mainly, but he's found a few people he can stomach. He's barely got a sense of humor, but if you're going to make him laugh then only puns will ever work. He's much more likely to laugh at what you say or show emotion if he likes you, however.


Haven is very easily annoyed, and won't be very likely to talk to anyone at first try, but due to being an assistant teacher he's good at suppressing his emotions and giving help anyway. He enjoys his role as an assistant teacher, and can almost become slightly giddy at the premise of leading a class. This is because he truly enjoyed his time in class, and is happy to be able to do the same thing for the children that his teachers did before him.


Listening isn't something he's particularly good at. Neither is speaking. It's very difficult to get close to Haven due to both these things, seeing as it's very unlikely you've got the patience and social skills to get his attention. He'd immediately become more talkative and patient with you if he's gotten comfortable with you though. Unfortunately for him, his way of not showing his disinterest in people often lead them to think he doesn't mind them, which is seldom the case.





Haven possesses a deep-rooted hate for Igneous due to the inhumane way they treat Gemholders, and because of some comrades and teachers he's lost to them in the past. He's not even remotely afraid to jump into combat, and is very good at keeping his head cool in dangerous situations.

Likes & Dislikes


Haven is surprisingly positive towards studies and academics, finding most of the subjects taught at Précieux Academy pretty interesting. He also enjoys reading books and other calm activities, like stargazing, simply laying down under a tree on a sunny day or skipping stones. The only active thing he enjoys would be his physical training and juggling, and that's only because he feels especially calm after training. That, and that he feels like he's working towards something and making progress whenever he works out.


Although it could be considered one of the calmest sports in existence, Haven dislikes the concept of golf to no end. Probably because people keep assuming he plays it. He absolutely disdains all music except classical orchestral music. He dislikes sweet food or candy but can handle it, although he vastly prefers salty or spicy foods. As an assistant teacher, he's also learned to get easily annoyed over littering, and will almost definitely physically punish anyone he comes across doing it.


Country


Russia


Weaknesses


Haven has no "friends". There's people he can stomach and there's people he respect, but he doesn't have any friends. He isn't planning on making any, either. As for physical weaknesses, he doesn't have any real way of protecting himself from ranged attacks, and would have to receive a lot of damage just to get to his opponent in such a case.


Skills


Academical subjects and memorizing things have always come naturally to Haven, and he likes to think he's rather clever. Therefore, he knows a lot of mixed things and has a large assortment of random skills from cooking to cleaning wounds left by venomous animals to juggling. Juggling especially, it's something he's always done and another one of his interests. He's also proficient in several types of martial arts.


Classes


Assistant Teacher mainly for "The Structure of Gems", but can be used wherever he's needed.


Is Your Student New To The Academy?


Nope, he's even graduated.


Biography

Spoiler

[media]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rz2HvRMvEE[/media]
In the low light of the evening on a cold winter day, the Nurse Raisa Yefremov was about to go home from the small orphanage she worked at. Raisa was a young adult at the age of 24, but already had three small children that she herself had to support since her husband drank himself to death the year prior. She wasn't sad, however. She loved her kids more than anything, and she was able to keep her hopes up because of them. Honestly, she didn't mind her life, even if she was occasionally on the edge of being thrown out of her house every other day by a corrupt landlord. Even when her boss tricked her out of half her paycheck due to barely plausible complains about what she did, even when mean in the street harassed her and threatened her if she didn't do as they said she kept herself positive. Things couldn't go anywhere but up, could they? Well, tonight something would happen that'd change her life for some time coming.





Raisa closed the orphanage door behind her after bidding farewell to her coworkers, and headed down the stairs from the main entrance. At the bottom step she suddenly remembered she'd forgotten her purse inside the establishment and turned on her heel to head back up the stairs. She was surprised to say the least when she noticed the small crib just outside the orphanage door. It wouldn't have been the first time a child had just been left outside their door, but it wasn't usual. What's more, the child wasn't crying or making any noise at all. Raisa gasped and rushed back the stairs, afraid the poor baby might be dead, taken by the cold winds of the Moscow winter. She leaned down over the crib and was terrified to find that the baby's lips were blue and it's skin very pale. With almost complete certainty she mentally said to herself that he was dead, that there was no way such a small baby could survive that, but it simply wasn't in her blood just to give up. She picked the crib up and headed back inside.





After several minutes of bathing the child in mildly warm water with the entire rest of the staff as her crowd, Raisa managed to return color to the baby's skin. She sighed of relief and one of her coworkers, a man named Dmitri, came up and gave her a congratulatory clap on the shoulder. "You did good, Raisa. Without you this poor boy would've been dead." Raisa looked back at him and gave him a tired smile. "I only did what was natural. The boy himself was the survivor." Dmitri smiled back at her, then removed his hand from her shoulder. "Of course."





Some of the nurses laughed about it, and seemed relieved that the boy had survived. "Another addition to our cute little family, I see!" "A new cute little baby was just what the orphanage needed!" All the while Raisa sat in corner of the room, rocking the small body back and forth in her arms. She smiled at the tiny boy as he quietly slept in her arms. Even when he's not near-death he isn't much of talker, is he? She quietly thought as one of the nurses came up to her side. "Was there any message left with him?" She meet the nurse's gaze and replied "No, it was just him. There wasn't even a proper blanket with him, he was just wrapped in this filthy piece of cloth.." a gray oil-stained piece of torn cloth laid next to the small crib in the corner of the room, and Raisa indicated it with a bob of her head. "Oh... What should we name him then?" Raisa got a surprised expression on her face. She hadn't even thought of that. "Oh, I dont know..." The baby opened it's mouth and yawned, receiving a couple of "Awws" from the surrounding nurses. Raisa got a faint smile on her face and said "I saw this American movie recently. It had a new word in it I'd never heard before." A couple of the nurses looked from the baby to her. "I think I want to name him... Haven." Some of the heads around her bobbed in agreement. "A pretty name..." At that moment Haven opened his eyes and looked up at the many people around him. "Look at his eyes!" "They're so pretty!" Raisa stared back into the eyes of the small child. "Yeah..."





A loud bang! was heard from the main entrance of the building, and in the distance the sound of children crying was heard. All of the nurses immediately lost their happy expressions, and a few of them hurried off to console the crying children. "To think the traffic could be so horrible at such a late hour!" The loud muttering words echoed through the first floor of the building, and Raisa's smile faded. Olga, the owner of the orphanage violently slammed the door to the staff room open and sat her plump behind down on a chair in around the table at the center of the room. "Ludmilla! Get me something to eat, and fast! I've not eaten anything since dinner!" She shouted at a passing nurse. "O-o-of course, Olga!" The nurse squealed and disappeared from the room. Now it was only Raisa and Olga left in the room. Olga slowly looked over at her with a disgusted look, and said "Raisa. What are you still doing here? If you think I'll pay you for extra hours you're just as delusional as always." Raisa ignored the rude comment and replied with just a stain of resentment "I was just here to take care of this new baby." Olga stared at her in disbelief, and then she got a look as if someone had just broken her favorite vase. "New baby?! I told you good-for-nothings that we don't have space for any more children!" "-but he was just-" "I don't care about your petty explanations! Get that baby out of here, and I don't want to hear anything else about it!" Raisa bit her tongue and stared at the floor. She could hear the fat woman's heavy breathing from across the room, and in her mind she compared it to the sound of a pig digging through the dirt. The nurse returned to the room with a large sandwich that she offered to Olga. "Give me that!" She took a big bite out of the sandwich and then threw it on the floor. "Disgusting! And take care of that. I want to see the entire room shining before I come back tomorrow!" She stormed up from her seat and out of the room.





Silence settled over the room, and the nurse finally leaned down to clean up the mess left by the rotund woman. Raisa looked up from the floor and gave out a loud sigh. "I didn't know she could move that fast.." She joked, and got a quiet giggle from the nurse in the center of the room. It didn't last long before the silence returned to the room though, and after a short moment quiet sobbing was heard from the nurse. Raisa looked down again, and caught the eyes of the baby boy again. "You should just quit, you know?" The male voice died out in the silence. "You're smart and you've got a pretty face. You should easily be able to get a better job." Without taking her eyes off of the baby, Raisa replied "Thank you for your kind words Dmitri, but I can't. It's not about me, it's about the children. I can't leave them here with Olga." Dmitri crouched down and looked at the boy in her arms. "Good point." His voice was solemn but his eyes were sad. He quickly shook it off and met Raisa's eyes. "Oh well, I can at least do this for you. Let me take care of the boy." Raisa looked at him in surprise. "What?" "You've already got three kids to take care of on your low salary, and I can't imagine you were planning to leave him out in the snow. Let me take care of him." Her eyes looked shiny with tears for a moment, but she quickly blinked a couple of times and regained her composure. "Thank you, Dmitri." He smiled at her, "No problem."





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Haven lived together with Dmitri for the next 9 years of his life. The gem on his neck was passed off as something unusual that set him apart from others. Dmitri didn't bother getting anything done about it, as it didn't seem malignant. Haven proved to be a silent and shy kid, but he also showed violent tendencies at school. He'd leave kids with much worse injuries than what was usual for fights between kids of that age. Some of them with broken ribs or serious head trauma. He'd already been expelled from a couple of schools, and the school boards had stopped believing his stories. Truth was that Haven just experienced very bad luck. Because of his social ineptitude and general drawn-back behavior he was often targeted by bullies, and because of his height kids often picked a fight with him to look cool. If his situation wasn't solved he'd be put in jail, and that's not something that Haven nor Dmitri wanted, but Haven only ever protected himself. This particular night Haven had suffered very severe consequences for defending himself.





The ceiling light flickered in the kitchen of the slightly run-down apartment. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the cozy atmosphere but it didn't ease the troubled mind of Dmitri, who was sitting at the kitchen table and staring out into the darkness. A light knock was heard from the door, and he got out of his seat to invite the visitor in. "Welcome, Raisa." He muttered and slid the door open for her. "Is he home?" Dmitri nodded and indicated the kitchen table. "Sit down." Raisa hung her coat over the chair and sat down in it. With worry in her eyes she looked up at Dmitri. "What happened this time?" Dmitri sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. After short pause he responded "I found him unconscious in a pile of broken glass down at the construction site." "What?!" Raisa leaned forward over the table and stared at Dmitri. "Please, not so loud. I don't know what happened, he won't tell me. His clothes were full of holes and tears, but luckily enough he didn't seem to be hurt. Right now he's in his bed, inconsolable. From time to time I hear him sobbing, but he doesn't want me to talk to him." "Wha... What the hell..." Raisa was clutching the table cloth tightly and grinding her teeth, obviously very angry about what she heard. "I think he could use you right now... Could you please talk to him?" Raisa looked up at him and sighed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Yeah..." "Good. This is the fifth time, we need to solve this somehow." Raisa nodded, but didn't give him an answer. Instead she slowly rose from the table and walked past him deeper into the apartment.





"Go away." The monotone voice met Raisa immediately after she peeked in through the crack in the door to the dark room. "Haven?" No response. She slid the door open and took a step in. "I'm going to turn a light on, okay?" Still no response. Raisa reached out with her hand until she felt the switch of a light, and flicked it. A low light illuminated the room and revealed Haven in the fetal position at the head of his bed. "Haven?" His eyes were red, and he had red rings under his eyes indicating that he'd been crying. Raisa walked up and sat down next to him. He flinched when she tried to put her hand on his shoulder, and Raisa stopped momentarily. "My poor boy..." She said, and reached her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. Haven gave no reaction, and just kept staring into the distance. "Haven? Can you talk?" The corners of his mouth twitched downwards and he turned his head away from her. "Love, what did they do to you?" That's where the dam broke. Haven started sobbing uncontrollably and threw himself into her arms. "R-raisa.." He sobbed. "Th-th... They threw g-glass b-b... B-bottles at m-me, and..." He stopped talking and started crying uncontrollably again. Raisa grew pale and just held him close. What kind of kids would throw glass bottles at each other?


She started rocking him back and forth in her arms. "a-and... K-knives... a-and..." Raisa stopped rocking him and just felt her heart drop. Knives? Bottles are one thing, kids can be incredibly cruel, but if they threw knives they knew exactly what they were doing. They could've killed him, and they must've been aware of this. "Th-they cut me!" He shouted, and kept crying. Wait, what? Raisa pulled herself away from the boy and looked down at him. "Where? Where did they cut you?" Could Dmitri have been mistaken? "H-h... Here..." Haven indicated parts of his torso and arms, and drew lines where they had apparently cut him. "a-and here... Th-they cut deep h-here..." He put his middle and index finger right above his heart. Raisa quickly pulled his shirt up and looked where he'd indicated, but found no wounds. She sighed of relief. "You don't believe me, do you?" Haven had stopped crying, and now he looked at her with indifference. Raisa looked between his eyes for a moment, then pulled him into her embrace again. "I believe you. I believe you."

Spoiler

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Due to the extreme things Haven claimed happening to him with complete conviction and no proof, Raisa managed to convince Dmitri to get him professional help. Since he complained about kids giving him serious injuries which in some cases sounded like they could've been lethal without showing any physical wounds not even Raisa or Dmitri could believe him, which ended in him spending half a year in a pediatric psych ward. Haven felt utterly betrayed by the two people who'd been like actual parents to him, and grew increasingly cold and drawn-back, until the point where he'd avoid conversations with people who previously knew him. On the last day of his time in the psych ward, he got a peculiar visitor however.





By the table in the visiting hall sat a man in a black suit sorting papers from a briefcase. His eyes were covered by sunglasses, but Haven could make out his features. He was a large bulky man, with huge muscles that barely fit in the suit he was wearing. If he'd been a foot taller, he would've been one of the most imposing men Haven had ever seen, but at his roughly 4'11'' size he didn't look very threatening. Carefully treading towards the table and sitting down across from the man, Haven inspected the man's body language to determine his demeanor. It didn't take long before the man looked up at him and gave him a hearty smile. "You're Haven No-Last-Name, aren't you? I'm lucky you didn't have a less unique name, otherwise it would've been difficult to find you." He finished the sentence with an equally hearty laugh, then looked back down at his papers. Haven stared at the man without saying anything for a couple of minutes, but it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. "... Who are you?" He pushed out after about five minutes of silence, apart from the man's pen scribbling against paper. He looked up and met Haven's gaze. He raised a hand and pulled the sunglasses from his eyes and rubbed them against his shirt. "My name is Alabaster Quinn, and I'm from an organization called the Précieux Order. Ever heard of us?" Haven sat quietly for another few seconds without blinking or looking away from the man's eyes. "No." The man looked at him with a stern seriousness, but then broke out laughing again and continued "Of course. If you had then there'd have been some big leak in information. Don't worry about it, it's not important to you just yet. Just know that you can finally leave this place, and we're going to get you a new safe life with real parents."





He stood up from his seat- or rather, jumped out of the chair and down onto the floor- and sorted his papers back into his briefcase. "Alright then. Are you ready to go?" The man pushed his sunglasses back onto his face and turned towards Haven. "I'm not going anywhere." Haven spoke in a monotone voice and kept staring into Alabaster's sunglasses. Alabaster shook his head and removed his sunglasses again, hanging them from the neck of his suit and sitting down at the table again. He placed the briefcase on the floor and leaned his elbows on the table in front of him. His eyes were a very bright blue, and they stared back into Haven's mixed eyes. "You know you have special abilities, right?" Haven's head jerked back slightly, and his eyes grew narrow. "What do you mean?" Alabaster smirked, and then pointed towards his neck. "We made some observations. That gem on your neck is proof that you have some form of almost 'magical' power." Haven's hand instinctively rose up and covered his gem. Alabaster let out a low chuckle and continued "Look at us two, okay? Compare us. Despite my size, I'm a fully grown man who works out five days a week and is almost at the limit for the human physiology in strength. You are a ten year old boy who's locked in a mental asylum and barely receives enough nutrients to grow properly. Guess who of us is stronger?"





Haven gave him a weird look, and then stated "... You?" and Alabaster laughed yet again. "Okay then. Do me a favor. Here, arm wrestle me." He put his short arm out on the table in front of him and nodded towards Haven, who in turn looked at the hand with suspicion. Hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed the strong man's hand. "Alright, promise me you'll give it your all." Haven nodded as a response, then took a deep breath. "Okay. One, two, three!" The man visibly put strain on his arm and tried to push Haven's arm back, but to no avail. Haven was surprised with the ease for a second, then remembered that he was supposed to give it his all and pushed back. A loud crash and swearing was heard as he smashed Alabaster's hand through the table. "Ah... Ah..." Haven looked at the man, whose fingers were all pointing in directions they shouldn't be able to and bleeding profusely from where wooden splinters protruded from his skin. "S... Sorry..." He stuttered and fell back onto the seat he'd risen from in surprise. "It's okay, kid. I knew what I was getting into. It's only a small wound."





Alabaster stood up straight again, seemingly uncaring about the blood dripping from his hand. He grabbed his briefcase again and nodded towards Haven. "So, proof enough for you? You're special. We take care of special people. Is that okay with you? Are you ready to leave now?" Haven blinked at him a couple of times in confusion and surprise, then simply nodded. "Y-yes..."





About half an hour later all of his things were packed in the back of a cab standing outside the hospital. Alabaster patiently stood leaned against it while Haven stood and looked at the building he'd been stuck in for 6 months. Even if he hated the place, he'd spent a large portion of his life in it, and it was always going to feel nostalgic for him. The clean white halls, the smell of chemicals. It had left an imprint, and he was going to miss it, somehow. "You done reminiscing about the past yet, boy?" The short man asked him in a warm tone. "... Hey Alabaster." Alabaster looked up at him. This was the first time he'd expressed interest in anything. "Yes?" Haven turned around and walked to his side of the cab. "Where are we going?" Alabaster laughed and sat inside the car. "We're going to my home country, France... and kid..." Haven sat down beside him and looked at him inquiringly. "Huh?" Alabaster smiled. "Call me Al."

Spoiler

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Times were finally looking somewhat up for Haven. He'd been moved to France to live with Alabaster temporarily while they arranged a foster family for him, but due to complications it kept getting delayed. A couple of weeks waiting time turned to a couple months waiting time, and after living with Haven for 4 months Al finally took it into his own hands and applied for being Haven's foster parent. The order highly supported this decision, and all the official paperwork was done within only a few days. For convenience and bonding, Al also managed to convince Haven to acquiesce to sharing his surname, so Haven's official full name was "Haven Quinn". This wasn't where the good things stopped coming for Haven, however.





If you wanted to find Haven, the best place to look would be on the neighborhood's local swing set, clutching a soccer ball. There he sat, days on end. Occasionally he'd jump off the swings and play around with the ball for a while, and sometimes Al would come out and show him some fun exercise for training his body coordination, but most of the time he'd just sit there quietly and observe the other kids. The first weeks when Haven had actually started going outside the other kids tried to talk to him a couple of times, but when they noticed he only ever gave short and monotone answers they quickly lost interest and went back to playing with each other. There was only one kid who didn't try to talk to him. A girl who looked slightly younger than himself with black hair, brown eyes and pale skin. Unlike himself, he was pretty certain she was forced to go outside. He didn't know her, but he was pretty sure she'd prefer to just stay indoors and read books or something. It was strange how he felt like he knew what she liked, without ever even talking to her.





One day, she was playing with a soccer ball identical to his own. It wasn't like he'd copyrighted the use of soccer balls, so he didn't mind it by any extent of the imagination, but seeing her play made him want to do it as well. He jumped out of his seat and started kicking the ball around, and after a couple of minutes he started kicking it up into the air and doing tricks. He vastly misjudged a kick and managed to send the ball across the playground and into some tall bushes on the far side. To his surprise, the girl had kicked her own ball into the very same bushes at the same time. He wasn't at all scared or bothered by the girl, so he didn't hesitate to follow her into the foliage. When they reached the center of the bush, the girl leaned down and picked up a ball from the ground. As she turned back towards him to exit the bush he stopped and looked at her ball. "That's mine." He said with almost complete certainty. She looked at him with a somewhat disgusted look, and replied slightly aggressively "No, this is my ball. I kicked it into the bushes." He looked between her and the ball again, then stated "No, that's my ball." This seemed to get on her nerves. "It's my ball, I...." Haven started to block out what she was saying and instead looked to his side. He spotted what he assumed was the girl's ball lying slightly further inside the bush.





"Whatever. Keep it." He abruptly said in an uninterested voice, interrupting whatever rant the girl had been on. He sent a glance towards her face, and found that she looked quite flustered. Instead of commenting on it, he walked past her into the bush towards her ball. When he'd picked it up he turned around and saw her exiting the bush. A small smile played on his face, and then he suddenly paused. Had he enjoyed that encounter? He had, hadn't he? It all seemed so strange to him. He looked down at the ball in his hands. It was covered in dirt, which indicated that it had been played with over dirt. There was sand next to the swings, so it should have been covered in that if it was his. It was actually her ball. It felt important, for some reason. He looked between the ball and the opening out of the bushes. With a shrug of his shoulders he went back to sit on the swings, but this time clutching the ball in his hands ever so slightly tighter.

Spoiler

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[/media] From there on, the girl and Haven seemed to form some kind of silent contract. They never talked or played together, but they kept relatively close to each other. Most days he'd get there first and she'd sit down somewhere not too far from the swings, but some days she got there first and he'd just play around with his (her) ball somewhere close by. Their communications mostly consisted of occasionally meeting eyes, and the peak of their interactions was this one time a kid managed to fall in an incredibly clumsy fashion. They both met eyes and giggled slightly. Before then he hadn't even seen her smile properly, just a little satisfied smirk from now to then for reasons he couldn't deduct. Probably her thoughts. Nonetheless, time was moving forward, and suddenly the day came when an agent of the order, dressed in the same black suit that Al had been all those years ago, stood by the front door.
Haven stood frozen in front of the tall woman. "... Can I help you?" He asked. He recognized the outfit and figured what was happening, but he didn't like it for some reason. All of the hype he'd gathered over the years for going to the academy was gone in a moment. The agent looked at him and smiled. "Hm? You'd think Alabaster would've told you about this." "No, I figure it was about time I surprised him with something." Haven turned around and looked at Al who'd come up behind him. "I'm leaving for the academy?" "Yeah, they're here to get you. I'll accompany you on the way over, as well. You've just got to go upstairs and gather your things." Haven stared at him for a moment then slowly started going up the stairs. He heard Al talking to the female agent before he closed the door behind him.





Something was really off, he felt wrong. He should be happy to be allowed to learn about his gem and train to become stronger. He liked doing that, after all. So what was wrong? Why did he feel so sad about it? Haven shook his head to clear out the confusions as he closed the large lid to the travel trunk he was going to bring. He walked down the stairs and placed it with a loud thud on the floor of the hall. "So, are you ready for your new life at the academy?" The agent asked. Haven looked at her with a puzzled look before he nodded. Al lit up and shined another of his warm smiles at him. "Good, good. Well then, let's get going. It's a long ride." "Okay."


As they sat down in the car Haven felt the pit in his stomach grow bigger. He sat in the backseat next to Al, and the female agent got in the driver's seat next to another agent. The new agent nodded to Haven and introduced himself, but Haven didn't even acknowledge or hear it. The car started to drive and Al put a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything okay Haven?" Haven sat completely still for a moment, then twisted in his seat and shouted "Stop the car, stop the car!" Confusedly, the woman in the driver's seat slammed on the brakes and Haven shot out of the car. "Where are you going?" Al shouted as he got out of the car, but he had no chance of catching up with him. Haven made it up to the house and put his own key in the lock with shaky hands. He shot up the stairs and into his room. Underneath his bed he climbed, and started rummaging through the items he'd left behind. It only took him a couple of seconds to find what he was looking for, and he left his room again.


He locked the house behind him again and walked down the street to where the car had stopped. "What was that all about, Haven?" Al asked him in a somewhat aggressive tone. Al never got mad at Haven, and therefore he always felt really bad when he'd annoyed him. "Sorry... I forgot something." Al looked from his face down to what he was carrying in his arms. "Oh. Well you were always really attached to that thing. Fair enough, just get back in the car." With a hint of shame Haven nodded and sat back down in his seat, clutching the soccer ball in his arms. The car started rolling again. He held the ball close and looked down at his feet, then looked up at Al. "... I feel like I'm leaving something behind. I don't like it." Al gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his shoulder. "It's understandable, you lived a large portion of your life here, and you're most likely never going to back here so permanently again. Just think forward, what it's going to be li..." Al paused. At that moment they rolled past the playground and Haven looked out the window. A single tear ran down the side of his face. Outside, the girl he'd grown so comfortable with sat on the swing set. Maybe even waiting for him. He could've sat next to her, for once. Al pulled his hand all the way around Haven's shoulder. "You had a crush on that girl, didn't you?" A single sob escaped Haven, before he turned his head back forward again and looked into the back of the seat in front of him with his regular passive look. "You can always come back for her, you know." Haven looked at him, and after pausing for a few seconds nodded and formed a small smile on his face.


The car rolled up outside the Academy 4 hours later. The sun illuminated the world with it's orange evening light and Haven sleepily staggered out of the car. Al and the male agent followed him out of the car and they stepped over to the gate. "You should count yourself lucky, kid. You avoided having to go through the regular arrival procedure thanks to Al here." Haven looked up to the agent, then over to Al. "Thanks Al." "Ah, no worries Haven. You're my little man, you know? Only the best for ya." Al hesitated for a moment, then took a couple of steps forward and hugged Haven. They'd never been very physical with each other, so this was almost entirely new to him. He slowly raised his hands and put them around Al. "Sorry, Haven. This is where we split. I'll see you by Christmas, okay?" "... Okay Al." "Alright guys, time to go. We've got to get you settled in." "... Alright." Al stood quietly by the gate and waved at Haven as he walked towards the academy. "Have a great time and stay safe, alright?!" He shouted after him. Haven stopped in his track and turned around. He raised his hand and gave him a thumbs up.


He smiled.

Spoiler

So life went on pretty normally. Haven learned to live with the lonesomeness, and even managed to find a couple of people at the Academy he could stomach. A girl two years older than himself who spent all her time studying for tests and got straight A's decided that his quiet demeanor was cute, and helped him with his own studies - which was a very good thing. He would probably not have gotten very impressive grades if it wasn't for her help. A boy his same age became his roommate and was generally a tolerable guy, although there was the incident where he assumed it had been alright to borrow his soccer ball for a short game with a couple of his buddies. Haven ended up severely hurting 4 of his roommate's close friends, getting detention for more or less the rest of the year after some bargaining, and also earned his place in the honor's course. Being able to beat four people on his own was apparently respectable, although unnecessary and violent.





Haven was quite excited to come back to Alabaster's for Christmas, though whether it was actually for Al himself was debatable. Thing was as an honor student, he got certain privileges. One of them was that for informational purposes, him and a couple of honor students from the upper grades got sent out to an area where a small-scale fight between Précieux and Igneous had broken out. Mistakes were made, both on Haven's and his supervisor's side, and he ended up getting in the middle of a fight. He survived with only minor injuries, and had even been able to subdue a couple of Igneous agents, but they'd gotten his face on camera. He was added to their list of known Gemholders, and suddenly his life took a turn for the worse.





Due to getting tagged he was unable to return home, which was probably the most painful thing. He ended up staying at the academy over Christmas, then going to the Fiji resort over the summer. With no hope of coming back home and ever meeting the one person he not only could stomach, but also liked, Haven grew a shell. And when I say shell, I don't mean that he got distant and sat alone in his room all day. I mean that he didn't even speak when spoken to, and only ever exchanged short words with the girl who helped him study, and his teachers. He spent every waking moment either working out, meditating, studying or eating a very controlled diet to make himself as perfectly fit and skilled as possible. This was how his two first years of the Academy went by, and he'd never felt worse in his life.





Before he left the school for his second year at a foreign resort, Haven was informed that with the way he was developing he'd be very likely to be recruited into the order right after graduating. News he'd be excited about, if it wasn't for the fact that he saw it coming a long ways away. Everyone but him had some sort of hobby on the side, or simply not the discipline to constantly train himself in the ways he did. He may not have been enjoying his life, but he was surely going somewhere at that pace, and if that was the order then so be it. As things were closing up on the second year, he started to feel his morale sink. If life wasn't ever going to get better, then why continue living it? Of course, letting it go would be horribly disappointing too. He didn't let go of it, and he's very happy about that now.





As per usual, Haven crawled his way through the masses and left his bag at his dormitory before his roommate had shown up, and then he climbed onto the school building and sat there, hidden in the shadow of a higher floor, starring at all the students, new and old, who came into the school grounds. He may be asocial, but he liked to know as much as he could about the people around him, and seeing them on the first day was always good for a first impression. Today he didn't feel quite as enthusiastic about it though. It always seemed to be the same people coming through those gates. A jock here and there, some guy who'd been bullied for a long time then found his powers and caused some havoc - basically a psychopath -, and the flustered girls trying to act cute. He couldn't stomach them. The constant pit underneath his chest made his heart feel like it pounded on nothing, and almost got the feeling that he'd throw up. In this gray world, what the hell is really the point?





He laid there on his back, staring up at the blue sky for at least 20 minutes. At least it's a nice day... He thought to himself before he got up and stood at the corner of the building. Aiming for a spot with few students so that he wouldn't hit anyone, Haven leaped off of the roof and landed with a crash, but not before something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He slowly twisted his head and looked at the girl standing next to him. His eyes opened wide. As if a glacier had melted and all the water came rushing into his heart, he felt the pit in his stomach fill up almost instantaneously. He stood up from his crouched position and regained his composure, but kept staring at the girl in front of him. "You..." He said, almost absentmindedly. "You..." She responded in suit. He felt a warm sensation behind his ribs. She remembered him.





They just stared at each other for almost a minute straight, before Haven felt the need to say something. If he was lucky enough to see her again, he couldn't let her go. He had to do... well, something. "... I'm Haven." He said, and was happy to see her expression change, even if it was to a smirk. "What stupid name. Who'd name their kid Haven?" The edges of his mouth twisted ever so slightly upwards and he replied "You can call me Quinn." Silence followed, but it didn't feel quite as awkward as he'd imagine it would. It felt... safe, somehow. "... I'm Victoria." At the moment he thought it was the most beautiful name he'd ever heard, but he couldn't admit that. "... Victoria. I think you're the only one I didn't want to kill in that playground, but I never even learned your name." "You never asked." Harsh. She was blunt, but he liked that. She wasn't afraid of him, and most people were. The other people around had backed off when he crashed into the ground, but she stood her ground.





"Well, if that's all you've got to say, then I'm going to go now." She walked past him and temporarily brushed against his side. He made no attempts to stop her. After so many years of being a social outcast, he was completely aware that he had no chance in holding a conversation alive. He looked over his shoulder after her. He was going to try, at least.





For the rest of the year, little happened between them. After struggling with social encounters, Victoria finally gave in ever so slightly and allowed herself to converse with him as well. It soon became pretty apparent that he was mostly a listener, and she was much more of a talker despite being so reserved. They got to know each other quite well, but it really didn't grow past anything like that. Haven thought about her rather quite a lot during that summer vacation, and tried fitting in social interactions with other people between his training sessions in an attempt to be able to talk to her better.





When he returned for his final year it took him a while, but he managed to pick up contact with her again. This time, he more actively tried to talk to her and dropped hints that he actually cared about her every so often. She was always very harsh and blunt towards him, rejecting him at every turn, but somewhere deep inside he felt like she wouldn't keep dealing with his shit if she didn't care somehow. She didn't really talk to anyone else, and she never displayed her emotions towards people, even if she told him how she was especially annoyed with some people every now and again. Towards the end of the second semester, things started getting pretty heated though. They stayed up talking very late atop the school where few other students actually had the ability make it, and he even got caught past curfew once, though he was excused due to his otherwise ideal behavior. One of the last times they met during that semester things finally surfaced however, and it was also the happiest night of Haven's young life.





Victoria's sarcastic laugh died out and left a small smile on her face, making it all the more beautiful to Haven as they walked through campus. He always felt so good about himself when he made her laugh with one of his short comments. "It's not like the first-years could actually fight this year anyway. You know the honor student who followed along on that trip? Such a freaking klutz. How she even got the position is a mystery." Haven looked down at her over his shoulder and smiled. "Yeah." He calmly responded as they stopped by the boy's dormatory. It was technically already 12:01 AM, but they'd get away with it if they said they were on their way back to the dorm. No one else was outside.





"Whatever then. I'll see you tomorrow, dumbass." Her eyes lingered on him for a moment before she turned away and started walking. Haven looked at her back, then proceeded to grind his teeth for a moment. He reached one of his long arms out and caught onto her shoulder. "Hold on." Victoria turned back towards him with somewhat genuine surprise on her face, which quickly faded and turned into another smirk. "What is it? Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark." Haven closed his eyes momentarily and let out a little chuckle. He opened his eyes again and looked back at her. For once, the silence seemed to faze her slightly, and the atmosphere got ever so slightly awkward. It was sort of what he was out to create, either way.





"... I really like you, you know." He said with utmost sincerity while keeping eye contact up. She paused for a moment, then responded "And I really like... books." She said, as if to break the tension with jokes. He pulled her slightly closer and continued "I mean, like like you." She gave him another surprised look, as if to say "When'd you grow a spine?". "Of course you do. I mean, what's not to like? The arrogant sarcasm, the mean comments?" The corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly and he gave a very suppressed chuckle, but Victoria finally seemed to give in from playing hard to catch. "... I really like you too."





Haven felt that strange warm sensation just within his chest again. He leaned down ever so slightly, and dragged her into his embrace. "I'm glad." Victoria seemed slightly uncomfortable with letting herself say that, but she gave in and slipped her arms back around him as well. After about a minute of just embracing each other Haven turned his head around and kissed her cheek. "You're going to get in trouble if you head back to your dorms now. You can crash at my place for the night if you'd want to." Victoria pushed herself away from him. "When did you become the talkative one, anyway? No, you'll get in trouble. Your roommate will report it." Haven chuckled again. "He's got a girlfriend. I haven't seen him in the dorms for the last 3 months." Victoria looked at him with an almost shocked look. "What the hell are you suggesting..?" Haven looked back at her again "... That you use his bed? It's had clean sheets for a month." He said in his most indifferent voice. Victoria paused, then replied grumpily, although in a joking way "Alright, fair enough." Haven smiled at her. "Alright, just be quiet..."


Other


Princess is bae, hail the omniscient queen.


Timezone


CET (GMT/UTC+1)

Gem


Gem of the Titan


What Does Your Gem Do?


The Gem gives Haven a massive boost to all of his physical abilities, as well as increases the limit of his human might. This includes and incredibly tough body able to withstand powerful impacts without breaking bones and even an ability to absorb the impacts of small arms fire with only shallow wounds. He's got the strength lift cars, and even throw them short distances should he want to. He also regenerates much faster than humans do, and controls how fast this happens. Passively, he only regenerates about 8x faster than a human does, which still means it'll take a couple of days before wounds heal. His reaction times are also vastly superior to regular humans, and he's extremely fast.


What Are The Downfalls To Your Gem?


While The Gem of the Titan arguably is a powerful gem, it doesn't have the same powers at high levels. He's never going to be able to find secondary uses for his power, nor is he able to cause anything supernatural to happen. It's not as powerful as other gems, but doesn't have nearly the same downfalls to it either. Regenerating quickly to survive possibly lethal attacks leaves Haven completely exhausted, however.


Gem Location


The Gem is located on the left side of his neck, half an inch above the shoulder.