-The Past-

Ane knelt before them, that great circle of those of notoriety and authority. The thick onyx of her hair spilled along her shoulders as gray eyes framed by thick lashes were focused on her knees. It felt like being judged for a final life sentence and yet here they claimed it was far from this. That in fact she had been selected, chosen and graced with the honor of such being the one chosen.

?Child do you recall your name??

?No? I cannot.?

?Then we shall name you as you are forged from the earth and the water and made whole by us, by what we will give you.?

?I do not understand??

?You will in time child, as you will be known as Anesidora.?

?Why?am I here.?

?All in due time child, all in due time, trust me child, you will serve your purpose well as our device and we will grace you with many gifts, much as the first of your line had. I believe you would know her as Eve.?

Eve. The name struck a cord even as the group crowded around her and whispered words and offerings. The drugs that spilled through her veins left everything distorted, leaving her nothing more then disorientated. Something about this whole gathering and the words they spoke rang familiar to her and yet the pieces couldn?t be gathered to find comprehension in it all.

?Do you think she will serve us better then the original, sir??

?The Pandora model XXII was a mistake, the adjustments we have made to assure her D.N.A takes to the alterations has progressed and so far with what we have done so far, she is adapting well. We can only hope that Ane as the XXIII model will be a success.?

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Beauty and persuasion had become the start of the talents. The skill with arms and the nature of her intelligence the added bonuses of the injections. Subtle changes made to her D.N.A. shaped her tomake her the device they needed her to be to serve the Order. She had accepted the testing without question, especially when the testing meant that she would be taken from a life knowing nothing more then concrete.

Nothing could ever be perfect though. Ane had become to realize that everything she did for the Order was not for the ?greater good? as they claimed, but instead for their own personal gain. The calling and summons to Rhy?din had her realizing just that when she reviewed the files of those she was supposed to be observing and collecting information on. It had nothing to do with the success and heroics of these men, no? the Order planned on using these men just as they had used her.

Men and women of authority and power were playing God? seeing themselves as Gods. Only now after so many years of the service did Ane realize that something about it all was wrong. Ane had been given gifts? gifts to serve the Order, and yet after a few days in Rhy?din she found herself making the decision to truly be as she claimed? a freelancer? working on her own.

It was time to give the gifts back.

Ane wanted to leave something good amongst all the evil and the destruction she had seen and perhaps had a small part in through the Order. That was where the crystal boxes came in.

Tiny little trinkets of crystal, elegant and appealing to the eye and yet to hold so much more then visible appreciation would those boxes be. The whole creation of the boxes became a particular ironic snub to the Order. For within held the power to provide a wish, a chance, an opportunity.

Something that Ane considered as Hope.

Since she found out the horrible news three years ago, that?s really all she had left was Hope. The very reason she kept everyone at a distance and never let anyone in.

Ane?s secret was far worse then she ever imagined, and yet still she wanted to give those she found that possessed a full life of love, hnor, and promise a chance to continue on. One box left for Riley and David upon seeing the affection and bond and care forged between both and toward their friends. The second left to the Playboy for the promise his secret had that perhaps may in the future protect and save them all.

It was a start. It was just a beginning?

-The past-

?Ane, where is the Beauty??

?She is gone.?

?Gone??

?Yes. She mentioned something of love letters and rain before she ran off.?

?She wasn?t supposed to go anywhere.?

Ane?s laughter was a velvet classic sound made for the cinema and born of the noir as she smiled at one of the heads of the Order.

?You honestly think you can keep us here??

?You don?t understand Ane. She is not as you? you will be free to go as you wish once the testing is complete. Beauty on the other hand, must be kept on a twenty four hour surveillance. It is for her own safety.?

?Her safety? Is this a witness protection program now??

?No but as you know her mind is fragile, she becomes more and more like her mother each day.?

?Is that so wrong??

?It is? if these things make her question. Tell me, Lovely, has she ever spoke of wolves of the Moon Mother??

?? I don?t believe so.?

?Good. We must keep it that way. Once she speaks of these things we no longer will be able to contain her, she will start to question her dreams and will begin to question everything we have done for her.?

Ane could only snort in dismissal at the Order Head?s words, turning her focus back on the research project she was updating. What after all could a beautiful little girl with a fragile broken mind filled with delirium and delusion know? What risk could she impose on any of them? Still Ane could understand why when she spoke with Beauty. There were times where her clarity was sharp and focused, and the things she spoke of no longer sounded so strange but seemed? possible and real.

The one they called ?Lovely? of the Pandora project looked over her shoulder to assure the departure of the Order figure head before she withdrew a file and began to update the records. It seemed that the drugs they were giving Beauty were starting to wear off and that she was starting to regain her clarity and control over her own mind and body. Ane had begun to understand why the Order was starting to fear a sixteen year old girl.

Beauty was waking.

************************************************** *****
The files were examined, gone over as she fiddled with the trinket box charm that rested against her throat. It was becoming more and more difficult to concentrate when her mind kept on going back to the night prior that she had spent with the Playboy even as everything he said played repeat and rewind in her mind.

A hint of a smile as she mused over that evening and the fact there was such a turn of events. Ane used to dream about knights in shining armor. Well now she had a hero of her own in an armored suit. Not what her childhood fantasy would have pictured but the Playboy fit and suited so well now looking back.

He had mentioned helping her to get out of the Order. Not to mention the expression he wore after telling her she was breaking his image and her calm retort that give it a few years and she would be dead. The look in his eyes matched his words, he seemed genuinely at a loss at the mere notion of her dying even when she reassured him that he could return back to his Playboy image once she was gone.

To think that he didn?t wish to go back to that life if he lost her, it was unimaginable and so unexpected from the Playboy that it had left Ane?s world upside down. Maybe that attack from the Brujah had done more damage to her head then she realized.

Sighing she looked over the files, reading them over and over again but all the information seemed to be the same. Nothing had changed from what she had read before until she returned to her evaluation of Ed?s security manager?s file. Leo. A sharp hiss of surprise escaped her lips as she snatched up her cell phone to pull up the Playboy?s number. She didn?t waste any time in waiting for pleasantries to be exchanged.

?We have a major problem. I have to see you and I?ll fill you in when I get there.?

She waited for the details of the location and jotted them down on a sheet of paper before ripping the address out and shoving it in her pocket. As an afterthought she snatched up Leo?s file and headed out the door.

She should have seen it before, it was right there before her very eyes. The photos hadn?t made sense and meant nothing to her save for the images of the ones the project was interested in: Ed, Leo, Finn? but she should have known that the Order had their hand in this business long before they had sent her off to Rhy?din.

Right in Leo?s file peering up at her with those deep desert sun eyes in the photograph was none other then the one Ane had called the Beauty.

-The Past-

"You are a burden to me. Your mere existence disgusts me. I strive for nothing more then to destroy you. Look at all you have done already just by existing. You don't deserve to exist... after all I have done and you destroy everything."

The words had stung her and cut into even at that moment. She had been naive, so naive when they had given her the pithos. Perhaps those were the times she would grow up as she had kept within Hope. There had to be this moment in order to make things right again. If only he would have understood. What they had done to him so they had done to her.

There was so much shame in her at that moment, a defeated guilt as she could not meet his eyes. She had taken her steps away from him before she would ever speak. What would an apology serve her? There was so much more that could have been said but would he listen? Would he even hear her?
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~Present Day~

A jar had been such a silly notion even if it was the truth. For now she kept with the illusion and the story so well. The glass trinket boxes had been forged and created with their spark of energy and power tucked within. A solitaire wish within every box she had gifted upon those chosen.

Bit by bit she was making amends for the destruction she had brought upon the world. Even as a Giver of Gifts there was so much that she had done under the direction of the Order that the name one had given her fit her more then another. The Plague. The Lovely.

Both were names that fit her well in different fashions and she wanted nothing more then to set it right. In her end of days as they rapidly approached the last chapter she had done what she could to work towards setting things right.

One of the boxes had been left to David and Riley, the other to Edward. There would be more to hand out but for now she would hold on to them. There was still time, there had to be.

She would do what she could. She would make things right. If only... if only he would forgive her.