Ch 1
*Sakura*

Despite the air biting at everything in its path, I liked it. The cold fueled me, and with Buigels on the rise, I really did need some extra energy. Earth was tiring, and its oxygen levels were way too high. I didn’t quite comprehend how, since every ape liked to abuse their surroundings with their garbage food production and transportation waste. They really were useless creatures. At least most of them were.

Nothing was efficient on Earth, and it pissed me off. Humans didn’t care about preserving their own planet. But if you were to put their lives in danger by threatening to blow up the stupid oasis rock, everyone would be crying and pleading.

My mother loved humans. In fact, she had such a love for every creature she came across. She was a bleeding heart, and even though I thought it was super naive to be that way, it’s what I admired most about her.

Unfortunately I couldn’t rely on her to help me be so loving. I had to figure out how to do that myself. Cornustar was trillions of miles away, and there was nothing I could do to get back.

Glancing out the window of my apartment, I watched as the tiny machines that carried the lazy humans around chugged throughout the streets. They didn’t have wings, after all, so I guess it would be a hassle to get from place to place without quick transportation. I had to learn to like them if I were to complete my next gold quest tag.

Buigels. Buigels were bad enough, but now they were infiltrating the ape planet. Disguising themselves as humans, learning about the human race, taking bodies and leaving them once they were finished with them. It was sickening. Earth wasn’t my favorite place to hang out at, but no planet deserved the evil I was hunting.

I grabbed my jacket and softly placed it over my wings. It used to bother me to hide them, but now it was all apart of the routine. I slipped my keys into my pocket before slinking out the door and down to the streets outside of my apartment complex. 7 blocks away was the building I’d been working in since the day I arrived on Earth. It was an office building, supposedly for a publishing company, which had high security and only the elite could enter. But those of us that were actually apart of it knew what it really was.

The League of the Young and Supernatural, also shortened to the LYS building. It was my savior when I left Cornustar, and now I was one of their most valued members. A Gold Ranked Ice Angel. I had completed 412 quests since I joined, and once I broke 500, I’d be considered an Elite. It was my goal. Technically, I could leave the LYS with benefits for doing so much for them. But as someone with an actual heart, that meant leaving everyone I had built a relationship with. My partners, my chief, my few friends. It’d be a dick move to just abandon it all and try to return to my home planet, no matter how badly I wanted to.

I shook off the thoughts of home and headed down the road to the publishing building, scanning my “ID” before entering the vicinity. The gold quest tag was still in my pants pocket, waiting to be scanned for approval, then transferred into a computer system and converted into a quest point. But unfortunately, it had yet to be completed. My mission was undone. But chief still wanted to talk to check up on me, maybe even assign me a partner to help me on the case I seemed to be struggling with.

I entered the elevator, commanding it to take me to floor 20.

“Request accepted. Elevating to floor 20,” the automatic female voice spoke from the walls of the elevator shaft.

Upon entry to the top floor, I could see chief hunched over his desk, holding his left temple with the pad of his thumb. Running an organization like this one sure could put a lot of stress on someone.

“Chief…?” I spoke hesitantly, hoping I wouldn’t startle him.

He spun around quickly, seeming shocked but also relieved to not have to look down at his desk anymore.

“Sakura! Ah, yes, yes. Come sit down,” he gave a half smile and used the same false happy tone to his voice. It was all fake, everybody could tell.

I took a seat on the couch beside his desk and gave him a genuine smile, hoping it would boost his mood. “You wanted to talk to me?” I reminded him.

“You are correct, yes. I wanted to see how your gold tag quest was going for you? Have you managed to seek out any Buigels since our last chat?” He gave me these puppy dog eyes that could make anyone feel so guilty for no reason at all.

But I did have a reason. I didn’t have any leads. I hadn’t progressed at all since the last time we talked. And telling him that would kill me, but I had to be upfront and honest with him. I was struggling.

“Ah… no, actually, I haven’t… I’m really sorry. I just haven’t had any leads. Nothing has come up. I look into each murder case that’s been happening around me and nothing is of any help. I’m really having trouble when I know I shouldn’t… I’m letting you down,” I sighed, feeling like a failure for a Gold Rank.

“No, that’s alright, Sakura. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” chief reassured me. “This is a difficult task, after all. It’s not common we come across genocidal shapeshifters. Do you think you might want a bit of help with the job? I can always assign you a partner who could help out,” he offered.

“I think I’m okay on my own, chief. I’ll get them, I just need some more time. But thank you,” I gave a faint grin, clearly showing my huge lack of confidence in myself. He gave me a look of concern, but I shrugged it off and stood to my feet.

“Are you sure? I can pair you up with an Elite if you’d like. It’s not a big-”

“Really, it’s alright,” I cut him off. “Thank you,” I bowed before heading back to the elevator.

“Good luck, Sakura. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

I kept up the fake smile before the elevator doors hid my face from him. That was such a disappointing meeting, it almost pained me. I needed to find a lead soon, in order to not only better myself as an LYS member, but also an angel.

I left the LYS with a distraught look on my face. Clinging to the strings of my jacket hood, I walked down the street irritably. I wanted to find something, anything . Even if it weren’t a Buigel, just something to keep me busy. I hadn’t been successfully hunting for two weeks now, and it was driving me up a wall.

I trudged passed the outskirts of town into the suburbs and slowed down my pace. The city noise had died down, and now all you could hear were kids playing catch down the road. I eyed these two children in particular. They reminded me of Jun and I playing together when we were young. For a split second, I began imagining the two of us chasing one another through the icy hills and shooting harmless beams at one another. I quickly snapped back into reality as I resumed watching them passing a ball between each other. They were only humans having fun. Nothing more.

Before I could take another step, my vision was suddenly blurred and I found myself unable to move. I blinked profusely, trying to understand what was happening to me, but that didn’t seem to help much. I was engulfed in something, a kidnapping sack of some sort I quickly understood. Irritated, I shot a beam of ice from my hand, but it only reflected from whatever material the sack had been made out of, and shot back at me. I cursed before wriggling around, trying to escape. Within seconds, I was being carried by someone, and the sounds of children playing soon faded.