New York was Spencer’s hometown, born and raised in the heavily populated state. This is also the place where her life was changed, and invalidating everything about it. She never really left their apartment and liked her alone time playing video games. She wasn't a complete shut-in and went to school at Monique Academy, that's where she saw the coolest girl she ever encountered in her 17 years of existence. The girl always glanced at Spencer whenever she walks by, or not. The halls were always packed with students, Spencer always thought that maybe she was just thinking about it that way. She tries to shrug it off but she can't help but remember the girl's eyes.  It always seemed to her that the girl had secrets that cannot reach society, although she always seemed to blend right in with the crowd. People had great opinions of her and pretty much a straight A student. "Guess I'll never know anything about her since I’m too scared of everything." She thought to herself back then. 

        "What'cha thinking about, Spence?" Her closest friend Michiro asked as she sat herself on the side of Spencer's table in class. Michiro Takahashi, fully Japanese but born and raised in the Upper East Side of New York. She had black straight shoulder-length hair, which she sometimes ties up with strands of hair left dangling at the back. Quite a lot of guys fancy her, but she only laid her eyes on one person. Now, Spencer’s first impression of Michiro in 5th grade was that she loved everything that involved technology. She always had her laptop with her, working on her coding skills. Spencer didn’t really understand any of it, to her it just looked like a bunch of numbers and signs and letters; all jumbled together.

         “Wait what?” Spencer shook her head, it was as if Michiro snapped her back into reality.

         “You seemed deep in thought you know, like, not budging at all for 4 to 5 minutes straight.” Michiro looked concerned but not too much, as she ended up noticing someone through her peripheral vision. Archie Campbell, Moniche Academy’s personal it-boy. Archie was taller than most boys his age and quite thin, he had the perfect facial structure; according to the girls that basically kept following him wherever he goes. He had light blonde hair, and it was like Superman’s hairstyle. He wasn’t athletic, pretty average student and introverted, but something about him draws the ladies to crush hard on him.

         “Now you’re the one spacing out, Chiro. It’s pretty obvious you know.” Spencer chuckled as she felt her phone vibrate.

         “What’s obvious? I’m just looking at people, you know, people watching. I don’t know. Is it really?” Michiro got off Spencer’s table and pulled the chair from the desk next to Spencer’s.

         “Come on, who wouldn’t crush on Archie Campbell?” Michiro rested her head on Spencer’s table and grinned at her.

         “Uh, me.” That was all Spencer had to say, she wasn’t that interested in guys and minded her own business as she just wants to finish school.

         The bell rings, the cue that lunch is over and everyone needs to get into class and to their proper seats. Spencer was already seated in hers since she barely leaves it, she just likes staying in one place unless she really needs to leave. Michiro loves to stick with her and sit near her since they’ve been the closest friends since they met. 

         Their classes for the day ended and everyone was packing their stuff and heading out. “Oh right, my phone vibrated earlier.” Spencer thought to herself as she took out her phone, looking through her messages.

         From: Mommy <3

Hi hun, could you drop by the grocery store and get me some ingredients for tonight’s dinner? Mga tatlong piraso lang na pork tenderloin. (Just 3 pieces of pork tenderloin is fine.) Love you, stay safe!

         Spencer sends out a text confirming that she’ll get what her mom asked, and got her backpack. 

         “I’ll be heading to the grocery today, since mom asked me. You going straight home?” She asked as she pushed her chair to its proper place, standing next to Michiro’s desk.

         “Yeah, I have some stuff to do at home. I’ll chat you later?” Michiro stood and got her stuff as well and they both walked out of the classroom.

         As Spencer and Michiro parted ways, Spencer headed to the direction of the grocery store to get the ingredients. The streets were packed and people were going past each other, minding their own businesses. Spencer just kept walking and walking, until she bumped into… Nothing? “What the fuck?” She thought as she kept trying to push past whatever was in her way. It felt like some type of barrier that she couldn’t see, people don’t notice her for some reason, not even receiving crazy looks from what she’s doing. She was pushing through the air as hard as she could, like a mime who was doing an act. 

         “Shit. We have to get you out of there.” Spencer was more confused than scared, then she looked up to see who was talking.

         It was the girl from the halls that kept looking at her, or she thought so anyways. What surprised Spencer even more was when the girl drew out what looked like a blade that glowed sky blue from her side. Looking left and right, every person could pass through the barrier and they didn’t seem affected by it. It’s like she just disappeared all of a sudden, she wondered why people didn’t look at the girl though.

         In one swift motion, the girl pierced through the barrier. It looked like broken static that sparked when the ‘blade’ touched it. Spencer stood still and was stunned at everything that’s happening and wasn’t able to say anything. The girl cut through the barrier and Spencer’s eyes adjusted, it seemed like neon blue walls that covered the area, she wondered if this has always been there. It was a dome-like transparent wall that covered a large portion of the city.

         “We have to go now, the system already detected the damage I made.” The girl grabbed Spencer’s wrist and started sprinting. Spencer wasn’t athletic so she was struggling; a little faster and the girl would be dragging her through the road.

         “Wait! What was that? Why do you have that dagger thing? And really, who are you?” So many questions were raising in Spencer’s mind on top of trying to keep up with the girl.

         “Don’t you think it’s better to talk in a safe place?” The girl sounded irritated and sarcastic, focusing on her path. They now reached an alleyway that was well-lit, Spencer wasn’t sure if she was going to get mugged or if this was all a joke.

Stolen story; please report.

         The girl did not mind her at all, her grip was not budging on Spencer’s wrist as she fiddled with the building’s wall.

         “Are you crazy?” Spencer regretted her poor choice of words and earned a glare from the girl.

         Suddenly, the wall crumbled to dust and inside it was a very modern, high-tech looking headquarters.

         “Get in, hurry.” Spencer was shoved inside, there weren’t many people. One wouldn’t miss the large insignia of a pair of wings at the center of the room. Looking behind her, Spencer saw the crumbled wall build itself back up again, strange.

         “Miyuki, what trouble did you get in now? And why did you bring this girl?” An older woman showed concern and a hint of anger, looking at the girl.

         “Midnights and the Secrecy. Enough reason for you, auntie?” Miyuki was truly fierce yet gentle in her own way.

         “They’ve been incredibly active these past few weeks. But they mostly go after adults, not young girls. I wonder what’s special about this child.” The aunt slowly circled around Spencer, looking at her closely.

         Spencer had thin circular glasses that fitted her face, hiding her dark brown eyes. Her black wavy hair hung freely up until her shoulder blades, and had naturally tanned skin. She was also pretty short at 5’1 feet, she never thought anything about her was worth taking note of.

         “Uhm,” Spencer was weirded out and confused at everything that’s happening, “Excuse me, but The Secrecy? What do they have to do with this? Aren’t they supposed to protect us?”

         That was all she could think of. All of the people in the world knew about this organization. They were made to protect the people, everyone trusted them. The Secrecy has always gone after the ‘bad guys’ and there are rumors that innocent people are getting taken too but Spencer didn’t think it was true in any way.  Maybe things weren’t what it seemed to be, maybe not everyone was safe.

         They weren’t listening to Spencer and they were talking amongst themselves and still trying to figure out what she was. 

         “Can you try standing there?” Miyuki pointed at the mechanism, it looked like a tube where a person can fit in. There was a glass door in the front, the entrance.

         “Will it kill me?” And the aunt chuckled at Spencer's inquiry, “No, it wouldn’t. We’ll explain everything right after, I promise to tell you what we know.”

         Spencer instinctively looked at Miyuki, and she nodded in response, but she wasn’t convinced at all and was very paranoid. Miyuki took the hint of Spencer’s fear and stepped inside the tube chamber.

         “Miyuki Lyn Hagiwara.” That’s all Miyuki had to say and the chamber glowed blue. Spencer couldn’t believe what she saw, Miyuki’s eyes turned golden yellow and had half a wing that didn’t expand, it hung. Her wing looked fluffy and elegant, it was a sight that one could never imagine to be true in these times. To Spencer, Miyuki was beautiful but she couldn’t help but describe her as handsome as well. Miyuki always had her long black hair in a low ponytail and her skin was porcelain white. She then stepped off the tube chamber and gestured for Spencer to get in there.

         Finally knowing that it wouldn’t harm her, Spencer went on it and said her full name, expecting nothing to happen but something did. It was painful and it showed in her face. She couldn’t help but scream, dropping to the floor. Something was growing out of her back, tearing her skin slowly. She thought she was going to die, that she was tricked by the people looking at her but they all looked surprised when she caught a glimpse through her teary eyes. Something wrapped around her, soft material. Her eyes were closed and the pain was slowly decreasing, more tolerable than before. She lifted her eyelids and saw white feathers in front of her. The glass door opened and Miyuki helped her stand up, having her arm around Spencer’s waist and leaned her on her shoulder. 

         “You’re pure.” The aunt said in a gentle manner.

         “I’m what? Pure?” Spencer had a hard time wrapping her head on what just happened, the whole thing with her and Miyuki in the chamber”

         “As promised, I’ll explain everything and start from the beginning. We are the Guardians, we are formed as most of us are half-angels and have been tasked to protect everyone we could from the Secrecy and the Midnights. We have never been isolated to forget or shield you from these matters, unlike you who probably have been sheltered for most of your life. The Secrecy isn’t what they portray themselves to the public. We’ve been trying to save people who have no reason targeted by them, we’re still not sure what they want. And now they most likely want something from you. The Secrecy controls everything. They collect your information: Your name, age, background, relatives, and especially secrets. We wiped our original datas on the Secrecy’s hub and masking our headquarters. Since we know that you are a pure angel, we’ll take you into the Guardian where you will be trained to protect yourself and in the future, you shall be able to protect others as well. I am Luna Hagiwara, this is my niece Miyuki.” She gestured to Miyuki who was sitting on a table.

         “What about my mom and dad? Are they safe?” Tears were forming in Spencer’s eyes thinking of her parents.

         “I’ll be honest with you, this looked like a sudden attack. We’re not sure if they only planned to take you or harm your parents as well.” Luna said.

         More people were gathering and one boy stood out, Archie. Spencer looked at him closely and knew that she wasn’t mistaken. She wondered what the school’s it-boy was doing with the Guardians.

         “I’ve checked her information in the database we got from our last infiltration in the Secrecy Hub. It just says that her parents are Project Zeros?” Archie said as he was holding what looked like a laptop. 

         Everything was hitting hard, her whole life was a lie. Her memory was not true in any way. “I want to find my parents… My real parents…” Spencer’s mind was hurting from all the sudden surge of information. “But they look like me… How can they not be my real parents? And they always showed their love for me…”

         All the memories flooded back of when she was happily spending time with her family.

         “We’re not sure what happened, but they’re not your real parents, Spencer. We’ll figure it out,” Miyuki lifted Spencer’s head and patted her head, “we’ll protect you and help you. Do you agree to join us?” She said gently and showed Spencer a smile. Spencer nods.

         “Welcome to the Guardians, Spencer Clive Santana.”