So, there it is, my Tower of God story. It took me ages to write and edit (primarily due to my own laziness and procrastination) to the level I wanted it to be at, but here it is. Fun fact, for parts of this I used a thesaurus, a real, physical one; and I'm not even old, I'm bloody 15, but it made me feel old (but it beats Word 9 times out of 10).

Disclaimer (this is the only time I will ever say this, period): I do not own Tower of God, nor shall I ever; the owner is just too good at their job for me to take it.

But now, onto the story.

In the Second Floor of the Tower there was a structure known as the Wine Glass, and at the bottom of the Wine Glass lay a single human, slumped down and looking ready to die; this person was the Irregular Twenty-Fifth Baam, a person who had been betrayed by the first person he ever held dear, by the first person he ever knew, the first light in the darkness that had been his life, the first star in his dark world, illuminating it with its transcendent light...

What said Irregular truly desired was unclear at this point, but revenge wasn't one of them; no, what he wanted was to simply know… why. Why had Rachel pushed him down, why had she tried to hide from him, and countless other things… All these were playing through his mind on repeat, an endless cycle of Baam questioning what he had done to make Rachel do this to him, desperately diving through the depths of his mind to find what he had done and why it had such a profound effect on Rachel.

So as he lay slumped on the wall, contemplating his past and future in a dream-like state, slowly driving himself closer to madness, without any awareness of the world that existed outside his mind, Baam failed to notice someone coming towards him… Someone with red hair, and lots of red. "You still alive over there?" the person asked as they strode towards the limp human, noticing that while they initially looked to be heavily injured and dead, they were only somewhat injured and weren't dead (at least that's what they thought) The person then picked up a long stick from the ground and poked the boy, earning a small, instinctive groan of annoyance, indicating that they weren't, in fact, dead or in a coma, but rather just in some version of a deep sleep.

"Hmm… to be a good person or to take the easy way out…" the person wondered aloud with a degree of whimsicality present in them, their musings still going unknown to the E-Ranker that lay at their feet. Then the red haired person sighed and said, "Damn you conscious, why you always have to act up at moments like these and not when I'm killing people is beyond me."

"Up you get," they said as they lifted up the lithe form of the dark haired child that their humanity had decreed was in need of salvation, as they slung the boy over their shoulders with the care of one would address to a piece of meat rather.

"Wonder what you were doing down here," they muttered as they continued to muse, taking a quick glance around the empty stone basin that they were both in. "But it doesn't really matter," they said nonchalantly, without a care that he had just found someone in an area that was almost never used due to it being the Guardian's Test instead of the normal Test. Their own reason for being in such a place… well, that was their own business and no one else's (and it didn't have anything to do with finding reasonably good looking unconscious young boys and abducting them, nope, not at all [1]).

The person sighed, knowing they'd regret doing this for some time, but his morals dictated that he help this Regular (or maybe not, considering their location). "Time for us to go back to my home," the person muttered under their breath as they disappeared into the night.

- One Day Later | Unknown Location –

Baam shot up, feeling intense pain in his chest, and was greeted by bright white light. "Urgh," he moaned as his eyes readjusted to the light, being much brighter than they were used to (him having lived in a cave for so long and such). As his eyes adapted to the light Baam saw that he was in a relatively spacious room but Spartan room, with there being few things in the room, with them being a bed (which he was laying on), a dresser to the left, and a single chair next to his bed, and the room's walls being a strange combination of white with stains of red in places, like someone had been pouring a red liquid over them for many years.

"Ah, you're awake," a voice said calmly, causing Baam to turn to the entrance to the oddly painted room, where a person stood against the doorframe, who were particularly… well, red. The person was a tall man, standing at 6'1 feet tall, with slightly pale skin and slightly longish red hair, reaching just below his jawline and poking onto his forehead, with his face having slightly delicate but imposing features. Said man was wearing a deep crimson, buttoned shirt on his top, with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and pair of rich blue jeans and a pair of high quality boots, seeming like those wore by Mr Lero-ro due to their mixture of style and functionality. Despite not holding himself like any Ranker or Princess he had met before, Baam could tell this man was used to power and had more than he could measure. Even his presence commanded respect, not by holding himself in a noble way or by exuding his power, but by simply being; this man's charisma and confidence were possibly as dangerous as their power.

"So, mind telling me why I found you at the bottom of the Second Floor, Mr…?" The red haired man asked, leaving the open ended question to Baam, hoping that it wouldn't be some ridiculous lie or elaborate faux explanation/name.

Baam didn't answer or elaborate for a short second, solely because he forgot that when someone left a question like that they meant for him to say something and answer, as he was still getting used to various people having different speech patterns. "It's Twenty-Fifth Baam… But most people just call me Baam," said nut [2] told the older man, before remembering the latter half of the question, "I was… pushed down there…" he finished with a downcast look of angst that the red haired man knew wasn't going to make this situation any easier, as the past was something that always held pain and grief. And by the looks of it, the past wasn't going away any time soon.

'What a tasty name,' he noted absentmindedly, trying not to think of what types of things a person would need to have done to be pushed into that place, a near certain death sentence for a rookie considering all of its… colourful inhabitants. "Why were you pushed?" the man asked bluntly, not one to dance around the truth, even when it hurt.

"I…" Baam was at an obvious loss here, as he had no idea why Rachel had pushed him… "I don't know…," he said, having decided that honesty was the best way to go, as he honestly had no desire other than to know why she had left him; had he not been strong enough to climb with her, no smart enough, had he not given her enough space…? As such, he remained hoping that the truth wouldn't get him killed or abandoned again.

"I'm not going to lie, that's a pretty shitty answer," the red haired man said to Baam, showing him the same honesty as had previously been shown, causing the younger male to pale at the possible repercussions for lying to a Ranker (he assumed he was one at least). "But I can tell you're being honest at the very least, and that counts for something," he said with a small grin, allowing Baam to release the small breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding, a testament to the powerful aura the man exuded.

"But anyways, what do you want?" the man asked Baam, giving him a deceptively simple question that he wasn't even sure how to answer. He wanted to be with Mr Koon, with Mr Rak, with Mr Leesoo, with Miss Androssi, with everyone from the Second Floor that had helped him (with the possible exception of Mr Parakewl), he also wanted to see the stars, he wanted to see how the people on the Outside danced and what their festivals were like, but there was one thing that he wanted more than any of those: to be with Rachel [3]. But… she didn't want to be around him… so he supposed what he really wanted were answers; why did she leave him? Why did she push him? Why…?

"I want to know why I'm alone," Baam said simply, gazing down at this own hands as if the reasoning behind Rachel's desertion lay behind the fragile layer of flesh and bone.

'Seems that he's pretty messed up,' the man thought as he saw the boy (his name was Baam, he did believe) looking at his hands the same way an alcoholic would look at the bottom of a bottle, as if the secrets of the universe were down there, but just out of reach. 'It's lucky for him that I happen to like broken things.'

"Okay Baam," the redhead said to the younger male, standing up and moving over to the edge of the bed, "I've got a proposition for you: I'm going to train you and in return you're going to climb to the top of the Tower and after that we're going to go fishing on the 2nd Floor. Deal?"

Baam was speechless at the proposal, as it seemed so… unusual, to say the least. It was the first time he had seen such a one sided offer that was in the propositioned party's favour, it seemed like there was going to be a catch. However, he could see no catch, so his answer was obvious, albeit he was a little hesitant; "Yes," he said slightly shakily, still searching for the catch.

"Good man," the taller male said, pleased that he'd have a new torturee- err, trainee, "so firstly what we're going to do is- wait, I haven't introduced myself." The man paused and gave Baam a warm smile that covered a small amount of regret and hesitation underneath, before saying, "My name is Enryu."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Enryu," Baam said with a small smile on his face, happy to have something stable after what had happened to him, "but where are we?" he asked.

"That's a good question, Baam," Enryu said, standing to his full height, stretching slightly, "we're currently in the Outer Area of the Tower, were all the Regulars are from…" he explained, looking at the wall for a second before homing in on Baam once again, but this time with a look that laid his soul bare, "but you're not a Regular, are you?"

"No… I'm not," Baam replied warily, still unsure of being an Irregular meant; he knew that it meant that he hadn't been chosen to enter the Tower, but he didn't know anything more than that. If he knew what the common opinion of Irregulars was then he would have seriously have reconsidered answering truthfully, as the reputation of all his kind had become stained with the blood of Regulars by one man, by one enigma.

"At least you're honest about this, but let me give you some advice," Enryu said, leaning forwards slightly, "if you want to live, never tell anyone that again. If they ask say you're a Regular. And if they ask you where you grew up, just say that you were born in some small, backwater, no-name town in the Middle Area. We Irregulars tend to not be… liked much, by the rest of the Tower."

"We…?" Baam asked, almost to himself, as he had never expected to see another Irregular so soon (as the way the Director had described them had made them seem few and far between, with the chances of getting eaten by a Ranker having similar odds), with the exception of Rachel… And even then, he'd never thought he'd see another Irregular in such… friendly circumstances, as they were rumoured to be bloodthirsty and violent (although he hadn't exhibited any such traits, but there were always exceptions)

"Yes, I'm also an Irregular, Baam," Enryu said, as he straightened his posture, "and if you never see another one of us then be wary… we tend to bring chaos wherever we go, and we never loved, only feared and revered." The last part was said to himself, as he glazed over and remembered the things that he had done, the unofficial sacred law of the Tower that he had broken, the things his fellow Irregulars had done to the Tower, both good and bad, and how lonely their position was, as they had very few equals if they managed to reach it to the current top of the Tower.

"But anyway," the red haired man continued, snapping out of the small trance he had been in, "we should get ready for training; I think I left some clothes in there," he waved vaguely in the direction of the dresser, "so after you get changed we can start our training." At the mention of training Enryu gained an almost… diabolical or sadistic grin, which did nothing to put Baam at ease.

"But for the time being, I'll let you get changed into some better clothes," he informed the younger male, as he waved his hand towards the dresser near Baam, indicating that there were some available clothes for him in there. With that final gesture Enryu exited, leaving Baam to his own deviced.

- Three Minutes Later | Somewhere in the Middle Area -

Baam had quickly gotten changed out of his old, blood crusted, and somewhat disgusting clothes into a (slightly too big) grey shirt, a pair of light blue cargo shorts, and without any shoes (due to all the varying sizes being too big for him to wear practically or train in). So, as he emerged into the world outside his room, Baam was greeted by a hallway, painted a deep ruby with some parts being deeper and lighter than the rest, where there were several doors leading into various rooms.

However, Baam didn't have to go through each of them, as he saw that the far left door was ajar, and as such he walked to it and pushed the door open, his eyes once again adjusting to even brighter light. Once his eyes adjusted (yet again, but thankfully much faster than previously) he saw that the room was a kitchen of sorts, with a fridge, oven, stove, pantry, and various others behind a grey marble bench. Besides that there was a reasonably large oak table, but it only had a single chair (which seemed to be made of worn, and an ever darker and richer shade of red than what little of the building's reds Baam had seen).

However, the most eye-catching thing about the kitchen was the fact there was an entire wall missing; where there should have been a wall there was nothing, which gave Baam a clear view and point of entry of the plain, battered stone chamber with several large cracks and chips scarring it, the stone being a dull black, no light escaping its greedy clutches (as Baam would later learn, this was a special type of stone that negated Shinsoo, and, while not exactly rare, had its supply on a tight monopoly of the Tu Perie Family, due to it being abundant on their Floor). And in the middle of the chamber was Enryu, glowing slightly with a red aura, with a maniacal grin on his face that failed to put Baam at ease to any extent.

"Good to see you're up Baam," Enryu called from the chamber, to which Baam to as an invitation to enter the concrete arena, albeit with a small amount of hesitation and weariness present in his step due to the cracks in the seemingly sturdy room and Enryu's own slightly maniacal grin.

"What are we going to be doing today Mr Enryu?" Baam asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too similar to whatever had damaged the chamber they were in, as he wasn't sure his bones could handle it.

"For now, we're going to work on your agility," the redhead said, his grin increasing as three Baangs appeared behind him, all of them a deep crimson with vein-like tendrils of richer and more vibrant scarlet pulsing within them. Once he saw them Baam paled, as he knew from his own usage of Shinsoo that they could be incredibly dangerous, and that Mr Enryu was leagues beyond him in terms of skill [4], which made him shudder to think what the redhead would be able to do with his Baangs.

"And just remember two things Baam," Enryu said, holding up two fingers to accentuate his point and its value, "1) you agreed to this, so no backing out, the only way you're getting out of this room is bloody and broken, and 2) try not to die, I really don't want to have to bury another."

Before Baam could ask what exactly was going to happen, one of the orbs of Shinsoo came rushing towards him, without any warning of indication from their controller. Baam quickly jumped to the side, landing roughly on his shoulder, as the Baang promptly exploded where he had previously been. However, he hadn't been entirely outside of its blast radius, as the force from the explosion threw him across the chamber with sizeable force.

As the blast threw him across the room Baam realised a curious fact: there was no heat from the explosion. That seemed to indicate that there was no heat nor explosive present in them, only pure Shinsoo and raw force. However, before Baam could finish his thoughts, he saw the same Baang had emerged from the dust cloud that it had created.

"Damn," Baam muttered as he saw the red orb speed towards him, as he quickly pulled himself up and begun to run away from the Baang, knowing that letting it touch him wasn't going to be pretty in any sense of the word. However, it turned out that Enryu wasn't to be underestimated, as its speed doubled as it raced towards its slower target, hunting the Irregular like a predator, unrelenting and without any remorse.

Baam spared a glance behind his shoulder, and paled at what he saw: the Baang was less than two metres away from him. It was at that moment that Baam remembered something Leesoo on the Second Floor: "You can use Shinsoo to make yourself stronger, faster, or even lighter, all you need to do is focus it in that area of your body and focus on making your Shinsoo join it and make your body's flow even greater … but it's not easy, and there's the chance you may damage the area, and make sure you keep it small, anything too big and you will screw your body up."

Disregarding his friend's warning, Baam focused an entire Baang of Shinsoo into his legs and tried to meld the two together and increasing their speed. The result was a substantial increase in speed, allowing Baam to escape the proximity of the Baang, but Baam also felt a sharp stinging from his leg, almost as if someone had stabbed him. Ignoring the pain, he turned forwards and begun to look for a way to beat the Baang, when he saw something that made his blood freeze: there was another Baang hovering right in front of him, seemingly ready to detonate.

'Crap!' Baam thought, knowing that he was moving too fast to stop and was too close to dodge or get out of the blast radius. 'Please work,' he thought as he used the only thing he could think of: Reverse-Flow Control. He reached out with his remaining Baang and felt the flow of the red orb, and attempted reversed the control, resulting in the Baang… having its outermost layer flickering for an instant before resuming its previous state, with no visible difference to its former state.

However, there was another effect: Baam lost control of his own Baangs. The result was the Shinsoo in his legs speeding out of control for the briefest of instants, before the remains of the Baang left him. Yet, the effects of the unnaturally high Flow speed was still present, and resulted in Baam feeling the pain increase beyond anything he had felt, and he fell across the floor, a small amount of blood leaking from his mouth. The young Irregular fell into unconsciousness from the shock of the dangers he had just gone through, with his last thought before losing consciousness being that he never wanted to go through training similar to that ever again.

"Damn, he's even better than I thought he was," Enryu said to himself as he quietly praised the dark haired youth as he walked towards him, his Baangs dispelling as he walked over to him. "He even managed to use Body Reinforcement, and he's still got his legs…" Enryu couldn't help but shudder at the memory of a Test where Body Reinforcement to high levels were necessary to pass, where countless Regulars had destroyed parts of their bodies by raising the Shinsoo Flow to levels where it liquefied their muscles and bone; it was a truly horrifying Test which was cancelled a few decades later due to only two people surviving the Test, let alone passing it.

"And he's got two Baangs… Impressive, and he managed to even damage my Baang… even if I was making it as weak as possible, it's still damn scary that I found him on the Floor of Tests." As he arrived at the limp form of the younger male, Enryu picked him up and slung him over his shoulder, all the while changing Baam's flow to the equilibrium that allowed for optimal healing without any damage to the body.

"By the time I'm done with you Baam, you're going to be the worthy of a sobriquet of your own… how about… the Dark Prince…"

Please leave me a review and help me make the next chapter make this one seem like Rachel compared to Koon (one's plain shit that you don't know exactly why is there, and the other's a cunning badass whom you love).

[1] This is purely comedic (at least, that was how I intended it, but probably not how it turned out, as I suck at comedy), and said person is, in fact, not a paedophile/kidnapper (okay, the latter is true, but the road to hell is paved with good intention).

[2] The joke is that Baam can be interpreted as both "night" and "chestnut", both of which have relatively minor plot points around them (mainly jokes about how much of a tasty name it is, but also something by Rachel in a serious manner).

[3] I'd like to remind you of HOW BLOODY DIFFICULT IT IS TO WRITE ABOUT RACHEL AND BAAM! By this I mean it's incredibly hard to not make Baam seem like he's in love with her in a sexual or love love way, to make it a strictly platonic way that you love your mother. The thing is, Rachel is the parent that abandoned Baam, she's his first friend and his light; he just wants to help her and be around her, like a child in many ways. So please try to remember that when you read this fic.

[4] Some may be wondering "How does Baam know that Enryu's the best Wave Controller?" well that's where you're wrong. He only has a vague idea of how strong he is, if he knew how strong Enryu was then he wouldn't use the word "leagues" he would use the word "aeons" to properly describe the difference.