In a dark alleyway, two men unkept and shifty in appearance leaned against the alley wall beside each other, trying to keep out of the rain as much as possible. “Damn this rain, it just had to be our turn to do this on the night that it was raining” one of the men whined.

“Shut up. I’m tired of your whining, we do the job until our shift is over and when it’s over we’ll be able to go home” the second snapped.

“No one is dumb enough to come down this alleyway, especially with all the crap that’s been going lately. We can’t end our shift empty-handed, the boss will kill us.” The first man griped, ignoring the second’s demand.

“Complaining loudly like that will make sure that no one does come down here. Plus, with an annoyingly loud voice like yours, you might attract that abnormal creature people are being told to be careful about. You ‘know the thing that-” he stopped mid-sentence, the sound of footsteps echoed through the alleyway. The slow rhythmic sound of rubber soles on wet asphalt, someone was heading towards them.

The first man stiffened and the second rolled his eyes while reaching into his pocket where a switchblade was kept hidden. Both men strained to see into the pitch-black that embraced the alleyway.

The footsteps stopped “What’s this? It seems I’ve stumbled upon a pair of feral rodents, not exactly what I was looking for, but you’ll do” a voice reverberated out across the ally way, the voice carried a spitefulness as if the very existence of the two men was a sin of the gravest manner.

“H-hey you, what the hell are you talking about? Come out so we can see you, let's see you talk shi-” One of the men called out, stopping as in the darkness two points of orange light each the size of a marble, blazed to life in the blackness.

The eyes in the black, fixed on the men with a bloodthirsty gaze, the look in its eyes were like a wolf’s when it spots a limping sheep in a flock, no pity or sympathy, no personal vendetta against them drove it, they were just unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The glowing lights blurred forward, the last image the second man saw was an outstretched four-fingered talon-like hand flying towards his head at incredible speeds, followed by a short burst of extreme cranial pain and then nothing.

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The night was filled with the pitter-pattering sound of rain and the smell of damp earth. The ethereal darkness of the night only broken by the headlamps of the occasional car passing by.

A small dilapidated apartment building its roof barely keeping out the rain, sat between its better-maintained neighbours, casting an ominous silhouette despite its decrepit state.

On the first floor of the crumbling building, a small figure huddled into the corner what was once a 'lobby' an old and dirty looking blanket wrapped around the figure.

The figure, a little girl around 7 or 8 years old, pulled the blanket tighter around herself in a feeble attempt to stave the biting chill, grimacing at the 'ripe' smell of the blanket as she did.

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A white plastic bag and a small pink suitcase sat next to the girl, the suitcase was full of the girl's clothes while the bag was a few adolescent boys clothes and knick-knacks.

The girl raised her head and sneezed softly. The child had round cheeks which were smudged with grime, her large baby blue eyes were framed by caramel coloured hair speckled with dirt, restrained by a magenta headband which consisted of two rubbery tube-like bands twisted together two glowing white bulbs on the end of each side behind the girls ear like a pair of earrings.

The look on the girl's face could only be described as 'emotionless' as she surveyed the ruins for the hundredth time. She clutched her stomach as she felt the nearly unbearable pangs of hunger. "Where is he?" she asked herself aloud.

Nervously she looked around for signs of any watchful bystanders, and slowly she began to relax two certain muscles in her body, her 'headband' began to detangle itself from its twisted form, forming into two separate tendrils.

The tendrils were roughly 40 centimetres long, 1 centimetre wide and light magenta colour. The tendrils stuck out from both sides of her skull one on each side, fused to her skin just behind her ears and ended with small glowing white bulbs on the end, causing the tendrils to arc downwards a bit.

The girl concentrated for a moment as she thought of the person she was looking for. The white bulbs seemed to pulse with a strange light that cast no warmth or shadows.

"Mind Call: Member- Hades," she thought. Inside the child's mind, a small warbling sound echoed through her skull and an image appeared in her mind almost like a memory.

She found herself standing inside a Chinese takeaway place. She was standing by the door her back leaning against a wall. The few people in the place where looking at her warily.

But she knew that they weren't really looking at her, they were looking at her brother who she was seeing through the eyes of.

"Reina...I thought I told you not to use your powers unless you're in trouble, we don't know if someone or something can intercept these messages. You almost made me transform in the middle of the store through sheer panic." An adolescent voice said sternly.

"I am in trouble," she said stoically.

"Why, what's the matter?" his stern tone turned urgent and worried.

"I'm cold, hungry, lonely, dirty and bored," Reina replied bluntly.

"..."

"Hades?"

"Don't worry, I'm on my way. Do you think you can last...5 minutes more? I'll make it up to you later!" he cried out aloud. Customers and employs alike began to give Hades weird looks.

The last image Reina got was of Hades dashing over to the counter where a worker had just placed a plastic bag presumably full of food on the counter.

"Don't forget the prawn crackers" she said before severing the connection.

5 minutes passed and sure enough, something landed on the pavement just outside the building with a heavy thud. Reina looked up as a teenage boy slid through the window clutching two white plastic bags.

The boy had long messy pitch-black hair that seemed to blend in with the shadows. His lips set in a permanent frown, deep blue eyes with a gaze so cold it could freeze molten slag.

When he saw Reina, he rushed towards her, his eyes losing their iciness and replaced by a warm caring look with a hint of concern.

As Hades came closer the smell of the food grew stronger. Kneeling Hades opened the smallest bag of the two and sure enough...

With a twitch of Reina's tendrils, several prawn crackers flew out of the bag and into the girl's gaping mouth in an instant.

Reina munched happily as she watched the other bag open, revealing a container full of a kind of beef stir fry and two fortune cookie packets.

"It's all I could afford, sorry. My work wasn't so fruitful tonight." Hades said sadly, staring at the limited supplies.

Reina simply shook her head and tried to speak, but ended up showering Hades with prawn cracker crumbs, "Oi remember what Mum, Dad and everyone else said about speaking with your mouth full?" he scolded.

Reina swallowed and asked, "Do you have to do "that" for money?"

"Until we get to The Haven, I do. Don't worry once we get there I'll get a real job," Hades explained, "now eat up, save the cookies for dessert."

"What about you?" She asked noticing that he hadn't eaten anything yet.

"Don't worry about me, I've already eaten," he said with a grin as he took out a prawn cracker for himself, eating it with a loud crack.