Information.
Knowledge, all that it is broken down into.
Knowledge means survival, and in turn translates into increasing ones wisdom again.
Information is everything, no matter how small or many you acquire.
And all those are contained within the Oracle Cells themselves.
Afterall, there exists nothing in this world that is free from the Oracle Cells.
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G. E. N. C. - 1 - 02
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Following the day the orphanages caretaker clashed wills with both Joe and Marie, Martha was walking towards one of the Fenrir issued stands, from where their orphanage was allocated rations periodically. During the trip, she had to stop at one of the stations to request that weeks share, as well as to make her report. The sixth one since the newest member of the orphanage joined.
-Good evening, Martha. Is En still as reclusive as ever?- As soon the line connected, a calm male voice replied almost instantly.
"Yes... Although more than a half year had gone past. En is still unresponsive with the other kids, meanwhile she is constantly on the receiving end of bullying."
-Good. Only step in when things start to turn... well, really ugly.- For a moment her superior paused before completing the sentence.
"I understand, but still... This is too..." Martha's voice wavered, she understood why are they doing this. However that didn't mean she had to like it.
-Extreme?- He suddenly said, surprising the caretaker.
-Might be, yet these aren't peaceful times with the Aragami threatening the whole world, is it not? Furthermore let's face it. Because En is the center of all the atrocities what had she gained so far?- Through the line she heard the sound of papers ruffling, as the superior grabbed one of the small notes he always had nearby.
-Hey eyes are unusable, so that naturally means her memory and hearing had to improve drastically.- He started reading from the notes, although this was a shared knowledge already, as most of the notes were created by Martha's reports.
-Adding to that, since the ringleaders abuse En, practically abducting and leaving her in completely random places. Recently her directional sense seems to be improving, adding that to her already enhanced memory it's a great step forward.-
"But... Lucas..." She still couldn't help, but feel a pity towards the small girl.
"You don't know what they are pulling here and there..." Her voice buckled, she shouldn't be enduring such a thing at a young age.
"In fact... since I have to feign some degree of ignorance... I am unable to constantly monitor the children."
-That's all right. Do so when you can, also should anything significant occur notify me immediately, Right Martha?- With that the line went still as it disconnected. Martha sighed heavily and stepped out of the small office, immediately she was told she can collect the supplies and she did so. While returning with the retrieved rations to the orphanage, she couldn't help but become lost in thoughts.
'Children are evil, there is no mistake... As weird this is, this fact comes from mankind's madness... What am I thinking?' Martha let out a long sigh and stopped for a while, her arms were feeling a little sore from the heavy packages.
'The madness of humans, cause us to attempt to group together, to shape anything and everything to our very liking. Instead of acknowledging the difference, we seek comfort...' She put down the packs and stretched.
'Anything that isn't as we like it, will be questioned. If we can't understand it, it is impossible to change. If change can't happen, we begin to fear it. Fear begets hatred, which ultimately leads to destruction.' Martha picked them up again and resumed walk.
'... Ours or theirs...' For a while she kept silent, shutting out anything for her mind as well.
'Although the children lack experience and understanding that doesn't make them any less dangerous. They do nothing but test their boundaries, test how far they will still get away with. Fully knowing that they can just play it on their innocence, on not knowing the mad rules our society tries to string them up in...' She sighed, then once again righted the weights of the packs.
'As well as what are the repercussions they are going to get hit should they attempt to go too far...' She recalled yesterdays events, where both Joe and Marie were slapped.
"Children are evil, but Humanity is the epitome of darkness..." Martha finally said this out loud.
"Maybe we are destined for destruction after all."
"Where do you think you're going?!" Marie grabbed onto En's hair and yanked hard making the girl fell onto her back.
"Did you really think we're not going to notice you can find your way back?"
"She's all yours." Joe said with a grin.
"We're definiately going to get into trouble now." Phil whimpered as the fiery girl pushed En back down, then stepped onto her torso to keep the girl down.
"Quit your whining!" Marie yelled at the scaredy-cat and leaned forward, as En didn't even bother attempting to remove the feet pinning her to the ground.
"Now then. Talking doesn't work, neither does just leaving you in some random place." She was counting on her fingers, then she raised another one to imply she is going to move onto something more.
"How about pain?"
"I'm not going to be a part of this." Phil ran away with that, while Joe just laughed.
"Are you going to make her cry? How fun, cat-fight!" The boy grinned and Marie rolled her eyes.
"Fight? If Devil will resist it may turn into one, however until so this is just me smacking some sense into her." The fiery girl quickly slapped the face of En, but as usual no reaction came. Joe then was a witness for a very brutal method of trying many ways to make En utter even the slightest of a peep, without any success.
The small girl had her hair yanked and teared in more than a dozen places, she suffered bites that actually drew her blood, her face became somewhat swollen and a few of her teeth even broke off, the abuse didn't stop there as a trail of blood was dripping from her forehead, she had been wounded there when Marie showed her head into the ground as many times as she gotten tired of it.
Still, they could see that she was in pain. That she couldn't hide at all, however sound never came. Not even when Marie in complete rage stomped on her more times that it would have been required. In the end Joe intervined and stopped her before the enraged girl would have gone really too far.
"I don't think she even has a voice... Come, let's... scram before anyone notices us." With that the boy pulled the still enfuriated girl after himself.
"EN!" Martha's scream echoed throughout the orphanage, as the battered girl entered it. She was covered in a lot bruises, even more than Marie left her. Which became a very apparent reason, as she stumbled after a few steps and collapsed. Only to struggle and attempt to stand once again.
"No, no, no, no! Please don't move dear!" The children's caretaker threw away the packs she had been slowly distributing and putting them to their rightful place, and rushed over to the small girl.
"What..." She wanted to ask for what happened, but instantly she glared at the two who were very likely to have done such a thing.
"I told you that was trouble." Phil scampered out of the orphanage as far as possible could.
"That idiot." Joe sighed and say as Martha's eyes widened hearing that.
"You should have held back a little Marie. Devil's not in a good condition."
"It's true that I socked her a few, but that wasn't done by me." She turned back towards him and glared, sure she went completely overboard. But that didn't mean she didn't fear repercussion for such a deed.
"Devil came back on her own... Who knows who could have attacked her in the mean time."
"MARIE!!" Martha thundered, and all of the children shuddered. With the exception of En that is.
"YOU TWO JOE AND ALSO PHIL." She gently picked up the battered girl and turned towards where the small girls room is.
"The two of you boys will get a much more severe punishment that Marie. However, neither of you will be getting out of this without an extremely severe reward."
"Yea, like what can you do to us?" Joe snickered.
"Kill someone?"
"JOE!!"
"What? You think you can mete out your 'justice' on us? We lost more than you could EVER kn--."
"I lost two of my sons." The sudden almost silent, yet extremely calm voice of Martha stopped the boys words abruptly. The tone their caretaker talked was filled with a level of grief and pain, not unknown to any of the orphanages residents.
"Richard was your age, however Robert was young... Very much like En is now." All the hatred that was in the eyes of Martha, seemingly evaporated.
"If I say, I do know what you've gone through... I didn't take this job because I pity any of you, but because I am able to feel what you have gone over. And I understand it completely, that pain will never leave you, until you die." Her voice wavered as tears started to slowly flow from her eye.
"I... might not have been a great caretaker for you children. I... have no real experience to handle this many children, but if I don't attempt to perform my best... Who will? I can't just leave any of you out there..."
"I..." Joe lowered his head, he understood he had definiately gone too far with the previous sentences.
"Am sorry. I didn't... No, I doubt any of us know that you had sons."
"So what?! It's unlike our situation." Marie stomped her foot.
"Sure, she lost two brats, but we lost parents, siblings, relatives!" Her eyes flared as she glared at the caretaker.
"None of you adults understand what it is truly like to be like us. None!"
"So you're being this violent, because you don't get enough attention?" With that Martha entered En's room and put her on the sole bed. She made sure to check on her quickly before deciding to call the doctor for the girl. Even when she left the room Marie was just staring at her in disbelief and in shock.
"I've hit the nail dead on. Now if you excuse me, I need to get the doctor... En will require medical care for sure now."
"We can't really prove that most of these didn't come from you. I mean sure you've bitten, kicked, teared, stomped and hit her but... That many wounds... even I can tell Devil suffered them because she didn't ask for help but stubbornly attempted to return alone." Joe mused.
"Who cares, you were right before." The fiery girl snickered.
"The worst that can happen to us is being killed."
"Yea and I doubt tha--." The boy stopped as he stared behind Marie, infact all of the eyes that were up till now centered on them focused in the same direction.
"What, did the Dev--." Even she turned around to see the wounded En toddle towards them. She wobbled dangerously on her feet as she held onto the wall in attempt not to collapse as she neared them. The two kids stared at her finally they can see her response, a response that she paid a heavy price to get into motion.
"So, even if cat got your tongue, as the unlucky Devil you are, heh... So, what'cha gonna do?"
En took a step away from the wall, getting dangerously close to collapsing again, but could grab onto the shoulder of Marie who raised an eyebrow but did nothing else. Instead the fiery girl just waited patiently until the other managed to pull herself up and was standing right in front.
"Are you gonna just sta--" Marie wanted to mock her, but it was cut short as the head of En slammed into her face surprising everyone that saw it. A series of surprised shouts sounded from the other child's as En reared her head again to slam into the face of Marie.
"Damn!!" She shouted as she pushed the weak girl aside, who collapsed without support.
"THAT HURT!" Quickly Marie mounted her, and began to hit her where she could.
"She's defending now, though... it's far too late for that." Joe mused seeing how En tried to protect herself with both arms, only for them to be yanked away by Marie with one of her hands, only for the other to come down and hit with everything she was able to muster.
"That freaking HURT!!" Marie repeated as she pinned both of En's arms and repeatedly struck the face.
"I almost bit my tongue." The assault didn't let down a suddenly the girl bolted up and once again struck the face of the fiery girl with her head.
"Devils got spunk to angel Marie..." Joe snickered, seeing how their positions reversed now.
Marie screamed furiously as she rolled over, forcing the other girl once again to be under. Then wiping the small trail of blood from the corner of her mouth.
"Don't think I'm going to--" Once again her sentence was cut shot, this time because En managed to twist her body enough to kick away and to barely miss the face of Marie. In return she quickly let go and rolled away making space between them.
"That's it. You're going down!" She roared and lunged at the same time the orphanages door opened and two very shocked adults walked in to see the two girls entangled into ground combat.
"ENOUGH!!" Martha shouted with such a loud force that it literally stunned everyone present for a split second, with the exception of En who used the momentarily present opportunity to again headbutt the nose of Marie.
"EN!" Seeing how she was just as quilty in the fight as the other girl, the caretaker couldn't help but frown. Quickly they separated the two girls and brought them into their own rooms.
"Please go treat En, and if possible give something to make her rest." Martha asked the doctor after emerging as she planned to keep Marie under observation so such a situation will not arise again.
"Will do... However I never had seen these children to behave so violently before... I will have to check on Marie later as well."
Both girls had been given treatment and sleeping pills, which meant that the time had come for the report to be filed. After all, this was quite an ugly turn of events... Much sooner than anticipated. Martha quickly arrived at the station where she filed her reports and called the superior with haste.
"Lucas! This is bad..." Martha panted as she started her report, which wasn't unusual given that she ran with all her might.
-What happened?- She could hear Lucas putting something down and taking out the small note, as he started to listen intently.
"En... While I made my earlier report, she had been brutally beaten up by Marie...." Martha gave the short summary and sighed dejectedly. The kids knew she goes to pick at rations at a periodic cycle, which means Marie was definiately planning this.
-Let me guess, she did this because that tomboy couldn't spark any sound from her, right?- Lucas started to write down that into his notes, as Martha recalled and summarized her thoughts.
"I think the very same... What's worse after that, they just left her there and ran afterwards. Although... apparently Joe stopped her before En suffered something really major." She moved onto the next part, she could only learn this during Marie's treatment though, but apparently she didn't bother to lie about it.
-So En never retaliated?- The sudden question startled her.
"No, she just endured the whole torture... Furthermore... I assume she walked back to the orphanage on her own, she did arrive shortly after I returned actually." She replied earnestly, even when she returned and saw the two of them locked in their messy fight. En didn't utter a peep even then, though she was being beaten pretty hard.
-En's pride is extremely strong it seems.- As Lucas noted another thing down, Martha couldn't help but just to frown. She didn't quite like how the superior treated the girl, but she also knew fully well... she was powerless to change that.
"She... has also an iron willpower as well. She could barely walk, and from the way she literally stumbled into the orphanage. I can imagine her taking a few steps, collapsing, then standing up to repeat it until she got home... According to Joe... En, she had taken much more harm from continously collapsing and falling than she had from Marie." Martha could only hear scribbling, however when she finished immediately Lucas' questions resumed.
-I presume that she did with still being completely silent.-
"Yes, but... Even if she has the willpower not to talk... At least according to the doctor her vocal cords are completely fine..." Martha sighed, she can't imagine how can En endure it... For her it would be completely impossible.
"She can't blot out pain, and pain... that she had more than enough."
-I'm more surprised she didn't snap yet.- Her superior mused as he stopped writing.
"Actually... She did, as I ran for the doctor... That girl willed herself to stand again, stumbled her way to Marie and headbutted her."
-Headbutt?- That answer completely surprised him.
-You mean, she used her head to attack Marie?-
"Yes... And she retaliated, quite brutally once again..." Martha couldn't frown as she noticed the almost mad-like scribble that started up after that.
-Marie managed to provoke a response from En then.- Lucas hummed as he stopped writing.
-How did the other children react?-
"They were scared. They knew that Marie doesn't shy from a fight, but..." She stewed her teeth, actually even she was more than scared.
"They were even shocked to see that En, although terrible battered still fought back. Actually managing to headbutt her two other times, and almost kick her as well." These she only learned from Marie as she was being treated.
-Marvelous.- Lucas' voice was filled with earnest admiration
"Marvelous?! These kids... just... They were right." Martha was raging hearing that, which made her realize what Marie earlier that day threw at her in frustration was true. Too true for her taste actually.
-Hmm?- Hearing the sudden change in her voice, the superior inquired.
"We don't care about them. Even though I lost two of my sons... even I can't comprehend their situation..." Martha started to feeling depressed. While she earnestly took on the job to look after the kids, this side of her work left a sour aftertaste in her mouth.
-Oh? There are some witty ones there as well then.- Lucas mused and scribbled something once again.
-Anything else?-
"An--?!" Hearing how easily the situation was brushed aside, Martha couldn't help but gasp.
"Nothing... They are asleep after being treated by the doctor." She forced to answer calmly, after all her pay was affected by her results.
-Good. Report when anything else happens.- The line went silent and Martha found herself starting to get angry once again.
"Bastard..." She kicked a wall nearby, even nothing the welcome dull pain that resulted as the kick slide off from the target.
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End of Chapter
2015,12,31