Ribbons

I plucked the ribbon out of the air, making it visible for the Regs to see.

Regs.

Regs is a term short for Regulars, which is what I call the humans.

I felt the smooth fabric between my fingers, letting its power roam over my skin and enjoying the tingling sensation I gained from it.

An orange ribbon. I smiled.

Orange ribbons have a special 'bite' to them.

I twirled the ribbon around, letting it catch air, before releasing it and then sending it over the man tormenting the woman. I could see the ribbon ripple in mid-air and then the transformation take place as the orange ribbon soon took on the shape of a snake.

The snake latched onto the man and curled around his neck, causing him to lose his breath. He immediately let go of the woman as she screamed and ran off. When the man finally went limp in defeat, the snaked disintegrated, leaving behind a simple orange thread.

I strolled over to the man and slipped a lacy, black ribbon around his head, covering his mouth completely.

It was my mark, to let everybody know who killed him.

* * *

"Cai, wait up!" came the bubbly voice of my supposed best friend Elise. I slowed my walk until she caught up with me. Her navy blue skirt flowed around her legs.

"Did you hear? There was another murder last night," she paused for dramatic effect, "another murder by the Ribbon Thief."

"Why do they call him the Ribbon Thief anyway?" I asked, making sure to put emphasis on the him part so it doesn't seem like I know too much. You can never be too careful.

"Because it sounds cool of course," Elise exclaimed like I was the blonde one. Elise was more blonde then anyone I have ever met and she had muddy, dark brown hair. Her eyes made up for her hair since they were a pale blue that seemed to catch the light just right.
I, on the other hand, had dark red hair and brown eyes that never seemed to match eachother. I heard the chiming of the bell, alerting us that class was starting. I gave my farewells to Elise and headed to first class.

The rest of my day was the same as everyday; boring and pointless. Teachers droned on and on about things that either didn't matter or weren't true.

Night fell quickly for me, and I rushed out into the shadows, allowing the ribbons to guide me to my next victim. The different colors of ribbons appeared before me, whispering of the horrors that night brings.

..A ghomage has arrived..

..Follow me Cai..

..This way..

A ghomage?! What would a ghomage be doing here?

Ghomage.

Ghomage were pesky beings with a special knack for being able to take the form of ghouls and used their power to torment the Regs.

I snatched a yellow ribbon out of the air and tied it securely around my ankle. Speed. That's what the yellow ribbons bring.

I lept across rooftops, becoming quicker and more agile with each jump. I soon found the ghomage. I slipped down the side of the building and landed with perfect balance.
The ghomage was a female and was about to snap a small girl in half before I coughed from behind her. The ghomage's scraggly hair hung in her destroyed features. Her lips were ruined and her sclera were a pitch black and the pupils a pale white. Her back was hunched and her fingernails looked more like talons or claws, and her clothes were shredded and stained with blood and grime.

She turned around quickly, to see what made the cough and found me.

"A Ribbon Wielder," the ghomage smirked. "I should've guessed one of you were lurking about."

Ribbon Wielder.

A Ribbon Wielder is one who can control the ribbons. I bet you already figured that out on your own though.

I just returned the smirk and held my hand out for the small girl. "Hand her over and then leave," I commanded.

The ghomage just tightened her grip on the girl. I didn't flinch at the loud crack of one the girl's bones being cracked. Probably a rib or her spinal cord.
I grabbed a ribbon, not bothering to look at the color until it was firmly in my hands. Green.
I dropped the ribbon onto the ground and then immediately felt the earth rumble below us. The ghomage's eyes went wide.

"What is this?" the ghomage hissed. Roots sprung from the ground, cracking the concrete, and wrapped themselves around the ghomage.

"How does it feel to have your bones break?" I laughed. The ghomage seethed in pain and let go of the small girl. I waited until the ghomage was dead before taking the girl to the hospital. I had to leave my mark.

I swung the girl around onto my back and dashed off to the nearest hospital. I set her down outside on a bench in front of the hospital. Someone else will find her.

I wasn't exactly allowed to leave my school since it was a boarding school. I only chose to go to this school to assure the safety of my parents. Plus, sneaking out every night and having Mom and Dad breathe down your neck isn't exactly what I would call fun.

After leaving the girl, I started to rush back to my school when someone stopped me.

"That was incredible," came a soft but at the same time rough voice.

I swung around to look in the eyes of a teenage boy. He wasn't like any teenage boy I had ever seen before though. His messy, white hair was something I had definitely never seen on any teenager. And his eyes were a deep, electric green. He also fashioned 2 scars on his face. One was stretched out over his left eye and the other one led from right corner of his mouth down to his neck, disappearing at his shirt's collar.

He wore a black, duster jacket and fingerless gloves with some strange symbol imprinted on them. I could see the handle of a sword over his shoulder. The handle had a white ribbon wrapped around it. A white ribbon? I've never seen one before. I never even knew they existed.

"What was incredible?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How you handled the ghomage back there. Quick and efficient, like a soldier for Henkahs," he replied.

"Who's Henkahs?"

His eyes lit in surprise, and then mellowed down to a smirk. "Henkahs is not a whom but a what. Henkahs is the organization for Ribbon Wielder's such as you and I."
"I work for no one," I spat.

"Hmm," he placed his finger on his chin for a moment, like he was stuck on a math problem that he couldn't figure out. "It is strange that Henkahs hasn't found you."
"What do you mean by 'found me'?"

"Well, Henkahs has a huge system that can feel the prescence of every Ribbon Wielder there is. If they haven't contacted you by now, then you're either lieing or screwed up."

I gaped at him and then smacked his head. "I am not screwed up! How dare you say that?"

"Okay, now that just proves my point." He rubbed his head and mouthed, 'Ow'.

"Well it was nice meeting you but I have better things to do," I waved at him sarcastically as I stomped off.

Ugh, the nerve of that guy, thinking I'm screwed up. He's probably the one that's screwed up, thinking that there's some secret organization of people like me...

Now that I think of it, I never have met someone who was able to see the ribbons. I assumed there were other people like me or just other people with similar abilities.

Ah whatever. I'll figure everything out in the morning.

I danced off back to my dorm room, using a blue ribbon as a disguise and a yellow ribbon for speed.