Turning point (37)

As the young teens in her home drag on the subject of teaming up, a distant memory from the past begins to surface from the deepest part of her memories.

It was a long time ago, Leah was just Twelve years of age when she had been given her first mission by Darius.

Much information had not been given to her at the time as she also had her own business to attend to.

This particular mission involved a certain package that Darius required, but the other party had gone back on their words, something that he very much disliked.

"…kill or be killed, you have two hours to get the job done, Leah…" these were Darius words to her, His features were dark and intimidating, His words stern and demanding.

Even at the ages of twelve, Leah knew the consequences of disobedience and off course failure was never an option with him.

With a void and seemingly robotic mask on her face, she gave a firm nod and she left. Finding the target was not difficult, her mission was to secure the parcel, any means necessary, killed or be killed, these were the words that would forever curse her existence.

"kill or be killed" Leah muttered the words to herself, her silver eyes narrowing down on the target like a hunter to its prey. Darius had given her the name phantom, and just like one, she slipped into the building undetected. Only seconds into her arrival did the entire warehouse erupt with countless gunshots being fired and the screams of terrified men barking orders at one another. And just like that, as soon as she annihilated them the whole place turned deathly silent, not even a single soul was spared, her first kill.

Standing Amiss of a blood bath was a young girl covered from head to toe in crimson red without a shred of remorse on her face and a parcel in hand. It was on this very day that whatever shred of innocence as a child Leah had, had been vanquished. And Just as every other child under Darius, she became a ruthless killing machine and within time, she was up in the league of S ranked villains alongside her older brothers, Heath was behind her and Pandora was still struggling, Her weakness disgusted Leah and she often regarded the girl as "dead weight" The girl would often cry and throw a tantrum whenever she didn't get what she wanted or was rebuked by Leah when she wanted to go on missions

"…beat it dead weight…I work alone" A thirteen years old Leah scowled at her sister who was no older than eleven

"…but I wanna come with you‼" but the girl was adamant, screeching at the top of her lungs, but Leah was equally stubborn, refusing to give into her demands and she sure as hell wasn't the boss of her and won't be pushed around by this snot nosed brat.

There was no time to build any bonds or relationship, no time for friends or care free activities. If she wasn't training tirelessly, she was out on a mission. Leah saw all those things as a waste of time and a weakness.

This was the girls mentality as of then.

Lilith remembered a distant memory of her and leah after their escape.

In that same year when they both left their old lives behind and changed their identities, Thekla had decided to enroll her daughter into p.s.a, with a little help from some trusted Allies, Leah was able to apply for the schools entrance examination with no prior suspicions from people. It would be rather hard to explain.

It was a particularly sunny afternoon that day, clear blue skies with only a few clouds gently gliding with the breeze, the sweet and innocent chirping of the birds and buzzing of the bees were inviting. A major contrast to their old life of 20ft tall walls with its width so think you could ride a bicycle on it, a living nightmare. Leah, or rather, Ivy sat on a stoned bench under a nice shade as she watched her mother replant some tulips in their garden.

"…the exams was a breeze, not much of a challenge like the examiner said it would be …" she said dryly as she levitated a watering can above the transplanted tulips, helping to soak the earth around it, this was her own contribution to the flowers. There was a bored and frigid look in her eyes as she watched the water pour down, it was almost hypnotic to her...relaxing.

The woman who had been hunched over, digging up the earth and transplanting the flowers smiled as she listened to her daughter. She was dressed in brown overalls and a green apron hung around her neck to protect the front, both hands were protected by garden gloves and a ridiculously large sunhat to shield her face from the scorching sun. Standing upright, Lilith smiled as she wiped her forehead with a rag before tucking it back into her pocket.

Lilith was a beautiful woman, well into her forties, her gunmetal blue eyes sparkled whenever she smiled at her daughter, her normally reddish brown hair looked like strawberries today, maybe it was because of the sun?

"…I know, but you need to understand that these kids aren't like you, so you might want to hold back a bit darling…we don't want anyone getting suspicious about you…" Her voice was motherly and kind as she took the space besides her, removing the garden gloves she put them into her pockets.

"I was holding back…" Ivy replied back, her words came out strained as she looked at her mother with an unamused look on her face, crushing the can telepathically.

'Even if i had been blind folded and had my hands tied to some rocks, i could still pass that sorry excuse of an obstacles course.'

She said telepathically to which her mother sighed.

The whole idea of her even taking the hero course was her Lilith's, which she didn't even want to do in the first place.

"…really Leah, that's the third can this week…" Lilith scolded her, but Ivy could care less about the garden instrument. Of all the cover her mother could have chosen, she couldn't understand why she had picked such as a florist?

"… seriously mother, why am I even going through all the trouble, it doesn't make sense"… Ivy couldn't help but frown at her mother, one for addressing her as Leah, Even after the change of names, Lilith would still call her daughter by her name. The girl just prayed her mother wouldn't accidentally address her like that in public someday. But she had faith in her.

"I still don't get why you advised me to take up the hero course mother…I'm not a good guy, villains don't save, they destroy…" she stated firmly. This was the environment she was raised in, she was never thought to help people, just to take, by all means necessary.

"oh? Is that so? Then that means you wouldn't mind if we went back to your father's?"

Upon hearing her father being mentioned, Ivy's body instinctively tensed up, she did not say a word after that and Lilith sighed.

There was a prolonged silence between the two.

"look at this garden, Leah…it's beautiful, isn't it…?"

"yeah…I guess so…" even if she did not understand the need for her mother's curious question, she responded.

"it really is…it's only been a few months since we came here and the flowers have grown beautifully and it's all thanks to both, our dedicated time and care…" said Lilith, her voice calm and gentle, just like the evening breeze. Ivy tore her gaze from the garden view to look at her mother, wondering what exactly she was trying to say.

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A/N: new chapters will be delayed a little bit as I'm working on getting myself a new laptop for easier updating and writing (^^).

also I've made a few corrections to previous chapters with errors in them