Prologue: A Doll's Addiction

On the night the Bloody Swan appeared, a tragedy was born.

It was deceptive, indomitable, and the worst part was that no one even knew the reason why it happened. The Bloody Swan was a dark figure, a shadow, of an organization that few people knew about. Until this night, she only stood back in the sidelines, watching the main characters play their role. Because that's what they were to her, just characters in a play.

Only she didn't just stand by, she observed. She watched with those glowing blue eyes – eyes that carry secrets that one wouldn't want to hear. She watched, still like a statue, as if she was just a beautiful painting waiting for one to notice.

A painting with eyes that'll follow.

The Bloody Swan didn't have a reputation which is why no one suspected the poison hidden in her feathers. She wore white in that day, a cloak that was as white as snow, a cloak that didn't reflect the light of the moon, and beneath that veil was an evanescent face. Perhaps this was the main reason she continued on her path of blood. She was never caught, because the swan could never be evil.

On that night, she played a song. It was sweet yet sorrowful, bringing music and tears to the ears of the dreamers. The harp in her hands, fingers trailing behind one by one on the strings, a soft melody rang in the empty streets. It was a dulcet sound, a lullaby to the silent village. It was the first thing they heard from the Bloody Swan, awakening the eyes and trailing them back to her silhouette in front of the crescent moon.

It was in the last note of the harp that the figure stood up from the tallest building. She was standing, waiting, for something that no one knew. For whom did she wait? What did she want?

Why was she here?

These questions were never answered. The Bloody Swan didn't waste any time to begin the most destructive flick of a domino. She walked forward, one foot dragging in front of the other until the tip of her boots met the edge of the roof. She didn't look down. She didn't let out a breath. It looked like she was only looking into space. Something in her eyes said that she wasn't really there.

As the light in her eyes disappeared, the fading blue glow let her remain inconspicuous. She closed her eyes and it was only a second before she leaned forward, tipping her entire body until the heels of her feet got off the ground.

Suicide.

It was then that a certain feeling passed through the villagers. It was as if something awakened, a feeling that was sinister. It was foreboding. The silence was unnatural. The figure fell so gracefully but instead of having the innocent feeling of a white feather, it was like a sign that a black feather of a raven would carry.

Blue eyes slid open, narrowing into slits against the pressure of the fall. She let her arm lower, escaping her side, and revealed sharp knives pointed at the ground. As she descended closer and closer to her death, the knives grew.

Like needles, she struck them into the ground. She didn't stop, and she didn't stay still. The figure wasn't finished with her descent. She continued to move, slithering on her hands as her fingers touched the handle of her swords. She didn't tremble under the weight of her fall. The balance of her movements couldn't help but to entice the eyes of the villagers with the sway of her cloak.

The Bloody Swan was dancing.

And with the last sword, the biggest of them all, she twirled around. There wasn't any blood. Her eyes, the only thing one was able to see of her, didn't show any pain. It was as if she didn't just fall and dance with the blade of her sword next to her body.

However, the inexplicable feeling came back. What was it? Was it horror? Anxiety? Just that intuition that everyone felt?

No. It wasn't either of them. It was so much simpler than that.

Because just as she finished the dance on her swords with only her hands, just as she flipped with her feet parallel to the ground, and just as she landed without the sound of a thud...

The village turned into flames.

Every step she took was the power of a demon showing its colors. One second she was side by side with the line of blades, the next she was in front of them. They shattered with her step, breaking like glass, and they started to move, diving into their heads, through their skulls, buried in their backs, death happening over and over in the blink of an eye.

The screams of the villagers amplified. Cries were added. Blood and burnt skin stained their bodies until they were only skewered corpses on their homeland.

The white cloak was the only one safe. The chaos only followed as she kept walking. The bodies fell behind her, the terrified villagers scurried to get away from the once beautiful woman.

"Stop it!" A little boy shouted, eyes flickering as he looked up at her. She didn't falter in her steps, not even acknowledging the brave boy who dared to run towards the source of it all. "Stop it or else!"

"Ness, don't!"

Little spots of red now stained the gleaming white cloak. They fell off her blade, trickling on her pale fingers. Her eyes were still indifferent, showing her true reaction. The man's body fell down on his knees as the abominable color spread through his shirt. She gazed at the fallen man, mesmerizing the sound of his croaked grunts.

"Damn...you..."

"Where is the mayor?" She finally spoke, and he expected a soft, regretful voice, but there was no such thing in an emotionless thing like her.

Instead of a response, there was a small cry. The little boy ran to his father's side, taking his shaking hand into his own. He tearfully glared at the cloaked woman, trying to stay strong and almost standing in front of the man. His father forcefully pushed him back, looking at the blue eyes in determination.

She stared back, nonchalantly sighing under her breath and twisting the blade until she got it out. His blood lashed out, spilling itself on her and the boy. She ignored the pained yell of the man and kicked him onto his back.

The little boy let out a shriek of his own, shouting at her while tears spilled onto the man's pale face. "I hate you! You jerk! Monster!" He clutched on the man's limp body, sobbing as if the world ended. Her electric blue eyes simply glanced at him and narrowed them in irritation.

She impaled the man with the blade, watching his half-lidded eyes dim and threw him behind her where his body instantly became a target for the blazing fire. She watched as the little boy gave out another cry, turning red with anger, screeching as he charged at her, sobbing as his father disappeared from his view.

His neck was starting to close inwards, ruining his breathing. All he could do was meet those cold blue eyes surrounded by the white cowl and hood. He shivered under her hold.

"...Get out of here."

He scampered away, turning slightly when he noticed a silver glint flashing past him. He couldn't help but think as he mourned over his father, fear and adrenaline clouding his head before he saw a knife coming towards him, turning his world into nothing.

She was only a little taller than him.

The knights in front of her, however, only saw her as a powerful threat.

"Why are you doing this?"

No one moved, only tensing as the girl looked up. Her fingers twitched and in response the weapons started falling from the fire, directing towards the familiar voice.

"You don't have to go this far!" She blankly looked at the knight's arm. The voice came from his watch.

"You communicate with me through a mere device?" She murmured, clearly not amused.

"They don't need to be included in this. Spare them!"

"You signed the contract." She informed him as if that explained it all. Little did they know, it actually did. Her sword swung horizontally, splitting them both effortlessly. The blood spilled as soon as the blade tore their bodies apart. Their cries joined the other sounds of the dead. She walked further, deeper into the abyss of the town until his voice screeched from a corner.

"I beg of you, please stop!"

"Punishment is an order." With a flick of her wrist, her fingers caught a dagger from the air, tossing it forcefully into the head of her target.

"I'll do anything, just stop!"

"Impossible." She walked over the corpses, not even sparing them a glimpse.

"Why?!" His voice cried out from another direction.

"You broke the deal."

She sidestepped to dodge a sword aiming for her neck, and struck the female guard in the chest.

The Bloody Swan was a creature. She wasn't human. She was born an animal, yet no one would remember that simple little fact. She was an animal. One who enjoyed the taste of another's blood. One who wasn't satisfied with just a kill.

She twisted the blade, emitting an agonizing shriek. Pools of the dark intoxicating liquid started to drip out as she continued turning the sword inside the guard's body. The woman's eyes dilated and her face lost color by the second. She gripped on the blade, pulling it only to be pushed back against her will. The blade started to burn. Her insides were demolished inside out. Her mouth opened, croaking, her tone was one of pure pain.

Her heartbeat stopped.

Her eyes and mouth remained open, leaking out a fountain of blood. The trails almost glittered behind blue eyes. The cloaked woman dragged her blade out and traced lines on the guard's arms, leaving cuts in the shape of a number.

Abruptly, she stabbed her and lifted the body's remains, holding it in front of her as she turned around. Dozens of silver arrows pierced on the hanging carcass. When the arrows finally stopped coming, the guard was thrown away as if she was a useless shield.

"She's already dead! How could you just do that to the dead?!"

A guard stood in front of her with two short swords ready in his hands. He charged at her, but she simply waited. His armored body came closer and closer to her own, but she didn't make one move.

"You can not leave this village without being unharmed after all you have done." The mayor's voice became louder, more confident; the thin blades were an inch away from her stomach.

She tilted her head.

The sound of metal scraping and clinking on one another was accompanied with a disgusting sound of a cracked bone.

Her sword easily blocked his. Her white covered shoulder was now tainted with blood dripping from above. She blankly stared at the guard's eyes, blood turning his eyes pink. He was brutally stabbed in the head. She could faintly see a hint of white beneath the slanted and red covered blade. Her cowl was now ripped off, a piece hanging with the sword that was embedded on the man.

Her face was now revealed.

"Y-you're just a little girl?!"

Below her sapphire orbs was a small, petite nose and her lips forming a thin line. She glanced behind her shoulder; she was caught between the two guards, one already killed by his own comrade, the other...

In one swift movement, the living guard was instantly on the ground along with his motionless partner. Her sword was pointed towards his head as she looked down with only her eyes.

"S-sir!" The guard managed to mutter out. A shuriken flew by her face; her free hand caught it and vigorously threw it down to his stomach, then another and another. "Her–her…her face…" He panted out in pain.

"What about her face?" The mayor whispered back.

She gracefully lowered herself near his side, innocently bringing her legs together, and pinched the shuriken, pulling it slowly across his stomach. She then moved another one by his chest, moving it dangerously close to his heart. The guard failed to notice the twinkle that shined in her usual blank eyes. He screamed in gritted teeth. His body trembled, only making everything worse. She kept pulling, digging it into his skin making scarlet squirm out.

"She…" He trailed off, interrupted by his own scream as he felt a burning sensation in the corner of his beating heart.

"She what?!" The mayor frantically questioned. The girl reluctantly stood up and took a step forward; never removing the sword from his head and instead lowered it to his neck.

"Stop! Please! I'll tell you, just– UGH!"

"Speak." Her voice was so calm, too calm. The mere sound of it made him want to run.

"He's in the tower ... where the gates are!" She pushed the tip of her sword on his neck but not enough to draw blood. "W-wait! I told you!" She pressed harder, crimson oozing from the pierced skin and slashing his neck. Blood endlessly streamed out of the area. His body weakened, and the guard finally dropped his head down on the ground, never hearing the reason why the girl killed him so.

"I do not like traitors." The girl whispered.

She walked away, dragging her sword that was glinting with red.

The mayor ran up the narrow stairs in panic. His legs were blindly leading him as his frenzied mind was in chaos. All of his other guards, dead, and the only ones left were his three personal knights, protecting him from the manslaughter. No one would believe it, not even him himself. One person, one little girl, killing hundreds of his villagers so easily, so viciously, it was the most terrifying nightmare.

He stopped when they were in a room, panting heavily, knees shaking. He was a mayor with no family, no relatives at all. He was in a predicament and needed help to get out of it, so he turned to an organization.

Only the one he picked was the wrong one.

He already signed the contract, there was no turning back. He should've known. He picked up the words behind those lines, his instincts telling him not to get involved. Those people were monsters in disguise, slaughtering machines that enjoy torturing others. His intuition screamed at him to stay away, but he ignored it. He should've known. Those malicious smiles in the shadows as his hand touched the pen. Their minds, since the beginning, were already thinking numerous ways to punish him even without the prospect of betrayal.

It was already too late. They were already prisoners from the start.

The sounds of screams, grunts, splatters, and clangs, came from downstairs. Pleas were ignored, cut off with more agonizing cries. His guards prepared themselves for the worst, none of them noticing that they were missing one.

Every one of their bodies tensed as they stared down at the doorway, waiting for the killer to arrive. What they didn't expect was her sudden appearance, literally coming out of nowhere. Her forehead landed on the tip of their swords. Her pure white cloak was now stained with lines of blood, blood from the villagers. Her skin was free of any bruise or scratch, but that wasn't the reason for their shocked minds.

It was her face.

The corners of her lips were tilted up in a sadistic smile, her eyes gleaming with amusement. It was as if she was daring them, knowing that they wouldn't kill her. She was enjoying their hesitation, their reluctance to rid of the source of the massacre.

"Get out of the organization right away." The mayor's voice cut through the tense atmosphere like a knife. Her eyes slid towards the man. She noticed that he ran out of devices to speak through. She giggled at the reason behind it. She destroyed them after all. "They forced you into this, didn't they? Do you realize what you're doing?"

She was a little girl.

"I know."

She took a step forward. One more twitch and the weapon would be in her skull, yet the guards couldn't bring themselves to move.

"This is horrible," The mayor murmured, concern and fear mixed in his voice, "They tricked you, didn't they? I'll help you get out of this, so stop and calm down."

"But I don't want to."

An innocent, little girl.

"This isn't normal–" The mayor gasped as splashes of blood stained the walls. The girl was in the same spot; the tip of the sword was still on her forehead, the other guard lifeless on the ground. Suddenly, her figure started fading. "An illusion?"

"Correct." The same girl was unexpectedly placed behind the guard and in front of the mayor. A piece of glass was lightly touching the soldier's face with her arms around his neck. The guard frantically turned around only to have her tighten her grip, making him struggle to breathe. "I wasn't forced." Her face betrayed no emotion. The glass shard dug into his cheek. "They offered."

"Why?" He whispered in disbelief.

"You know that feeling?" She asked as she forced the guard onto the ground. "That feeling, that urge, to see or get something." She lowered the glass into his chest while paralyzing him, stabbing through the armor and slowly dragging the piece across his skin.

"You don't want it, you need it. You just can't get enough of it." She unsheathed her sword and raised it above her head. Her expression looked different than before.

"You can't fight it no matter how hard you try."

She looked like a princess.

She stabbed his arm and pulled the blade backwards without lifting it. His blood spilled out of the gash in a beautiful red stream. She twisted it and jabbed deeper, his grunts growing louder, the pain overbearing...

"This feeling that lives inside you…you can't get rid of it because than it will kill you too."

She hastily pulled out the sword, eyes shimmering in an abnormal way. There was another yell of anguish. She impaled his leg until she could hear the clink where it touched the floor.

"This is happening to me." His stomach was next.

A crimson pool circled around him, like red roses surrounding his corpse, she mused.

"My willpower is weak against it. I always want to see more of it."

His pleas came out repeatedly just like how his blood kept on spilling. He wanted it to stop. He begged for it to disappear.

Only more came.

"Possession." She stated with slight amusement. The man was struggling to breathe; his eyes were bloodshot, his vision blurring.

Her sword landed softly near his face, the flat side of the blade turned his head to face her. "When I feel the last breath of life coming out of the person, I look into their eyes."

She traced the tip on his other pale cheek and started drawing. "At that point," she lifted her sword and plunged his heart, ending it all, "It's being God."

The mayor's eyes widened in shock, darting from the drawing carved on the guard's cheek to the girl in front of him. The cuts swerved in curls, almost forming the letter x. Blood dripped, more in purposely deep cuts, barely in shallow ones.

It was a drawing.

"It's like a maze made of what you want…but there's a hole." She flicked her sword in front of her face, watching the blood drip and fall, drip and fall. It was like a mantra in her eyes. "The thing you want offers relief," she lowered the blade and met his panicked eyes, "but it's a trap."

The carved drawing of a bird made naturally out of blood.

"A swan." He whispered in realization and fear as she walked closer.

She looked like a damsel in distress.

She swung her sword, making the blood slither off. Her eyes held a different color. They weren't just blue. It was a darker, sinister color that swirled in those bloodthirsty eyes.

Red.

Wind blew powerfully towards their direction. The glass windows shattered behind him. Her cloak moved back and forth, removing her hood and revealing her hair.

Silver.

A girl who never received her hero.

Her emotionless gaze stared straight at him. Millions of glass shards surrounded her, tips pointing at him. They cracked, breaking into beautiful small diamonds the size of a nail.

His village was quiet like the night before, only it was covered in complete and utter silence. The lights flickered before giving into darkness. The innocent village was now covered in blood, corpses, and pure destruction. The only sound he could hear was his own short, shallow breathing that made him cower even more.

She raised her sword, straightening it perfectly parallel to the ground. In an instant, the glass pieces zoomed and pierced into his skin, flashing like shooting stars. They were so tiny, so many. His screams of pain and agony echoed in the empty village.

No one was able to hear it.

A girl who resembled a broken doll.

His eyes weakly drooped, vision and smell obscured by red. His head fell on the sill of the open window. His arms were numb, covered in his own blood. His legs were completely dead with her sword stuck into his skin and her chin relaxing on the hilt.

"Addiction," She started off calmly, soothingly yet tonelessly, "Is a cruel game."

She carelessly pulled it out in slow strides. The last thing he saw were her ruby eyes reflecting nothing but his corpse. He didn't notice her sword in position to kill, right above his heart.

But it was too late, because right after she said that last word, all he saw was black.

A broken, little doll surrounded by corpses.

A/N: Minimal Changes. Only big changes will occur once this story is complete. But I will give more clues and reruns to clarify this story more in case anything confuses the reader. HOWEVER, I will give the reruns in the next chapter so that way the reader can figure it out on their own. There's no fun if I just gave it away. So I'll reread the chapters ASAP, re-post, and clarify on adjacent chapters.

Okay? Okay! Review kiddies ;D