Fate

• Ashley Hope - O'connor, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2009

Fate smiled widely, her satin locks fanning out as she spun Squall around in a graceful movement, her teeth flashing brighter than a lightning bolt on a stormy black night. Had the viewers not been told otherwise, most onlookers would assume the pair was dancing, not trying to stab one another.
The blade on Squall’s knife caught the light off the chandelier, reflecting off the gold brimmed white marble floor. Fate could smell the luxurious food in the air wafting from the balcony where the restaurant was, a scent that made her mouth water.
She looked like any other girl. Only those who were well informed would be able to see that she was a little too perfect.
Squall and she had been lifelong friends. But he’d gone wrong, made a malfunction. He’d decided to try and rebel against the organization that gave them life. He had run away, vowing to destroy the society and everyone involved in it. He’d gone out of his way to point out that by staying; Fate had included herself in his mass murder plan.
Squall had secretly detested Fate since the day she’d been created. He was the original mutant created to be an assassin, but they’d messed up his genes so that he’d have to be trained and injected with drugs all his life to stay stronger then a human. It was only a small miscalculation, and once it was fixed a month later, they created Fate. Which meant Fate was more or less the perfected version of Squall.
Being creations of science, they were not born as children. They were created as eighteen year olds, and would never age or grow taller. Being a secret organization, police involvement was to be avoided. Eighteen was old enough for them to get around without parents and remain inconspicuous.
Squall lunged at her in a way that would have been instant death for any human, but was easily brushed aside by Fate’s firm but gentle hand. She wouldn’t kill him; just take him back to be fixed. She’d tried to explain to Squall that she was not interested in killing him, and he’d explained to her he had no interest in being ‘fixed’.
Being mutants of the same area, they’d been paired together in training, which put Squall at quite a disadvantage. Fate had seen all his tricks, learnt and conquered them all. He’d managed to learn a few of her tricks, also, but he’d left before they’d started learning anything worthwhile.
“You’re a fool, Squall. You seem not to understand that either way; I’ll be taking you back. Dead or alive, it matters not. You’re a fool to think you can kill that which you can not touch.” She sighed, slamming an open fist into his chest, rendering him breathless as she sunk an elbow into the back of his head. She then hauled him over her shoulder before leaping out of the closest window and into the cover of the starless night sky.