Ajin

This was a familiar feeling. My arms and legs were chained to the walls, the sprinklers were on to keep me from summoning my ghost, I was gagged to keep me from using my paralytic voice, and I was blindfolded. Must've finally been taken off the tranquilizers. I couldn't tell for how long it had been since this started, I just knew that it started on a mission out in Afghanistan, when I discovered I was an Ajin. I'd heard about them before. People who couldn't die. I had felt bad for them, forever unable to leave this world behind once their time came, to not be bound by the sufferings of the world. Even worse still was that they were dehumanized by both the government and the media. Any Ajins that had been discovered were likely being tested on.

When I'd been shot in the head in an ambush, I'd been surprised to wake up with a gasp, and resumed fighting with my even more surprised comrades. They didn't say a word about it until after we'd wiped out the insurgents, but back at camp, they asked me a slew of questions. I answered them the best I could, and prayed they wouldn't turn me in. My faith was rewarded, as they never said a word to anyone.

My luck ran out when a new guy joined the squad to replace a dead squadmate. When he saw me come back after taking 5 rounds to the chest, he reported me instantly. When the containment unit came, I dropped my gun, and gave up. They may be taking me in for who knew what, but they were still brothers, brothers who had family. I couldn't shoot them, but I should have run when I had the chance.

The door opened for the first time in forever, and in came frenzied footsteps, "Don't worry, I'm here to save you. I'll get you out." Came a masculine voice. I heard the chains being snapped by bolt cutters, one by one as I was freed.

I took off my gag and blindfold, and gave him a quick thanks. He nodded only once, and told me to follow him. I didn't really have a choice. He knew this facility, and I highly doubted that this would be a trap.

On the other side of the door, were some clothes on a table, and a bunch of scientific monitoring systems that were beyond me.

"Quick, put on those clothes, and let's get out of here. Today's Christmas, so most of the staff are at home, but there's still a skeleton crew, and we can't get caught."

I grunted in response, and started putting on the clothes. I had to hand it to this guy, he picked out some really good clothing. Cushy socks that breathed, steel toed combat boots, standard Marine combat pants, a white t-shirt, underwear, long spandex underwear, a heavy brown coat, a black neck warmer that would cover my neck and my face up to my nose, a pair of black tinted shades, a short brimmed military styled black hat, and fingerless black gloves. I would be well disguised for traveling.

"Done? Good. Let's get going. Once we're safe, I'll give you the rest of what you'll need. Come on!"

We left the facility, sneaking our way through the many corridors into the garage, where we got into a van, and left in a hurry.

We drove on for a few hours, and arrived at an abandoned warehouse, "Ok, this is it. Knock on the door 5 times, pause, and knock once more. When they ask, tell them your name, and they'll let you in."

I put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a smile, "Thank you, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

He smiled back, and nodded. I hopped out of the van, walked up to the closest door, and followed his instructions. Inside, I met a wiry man who carried a pump shotgun, and looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. He directed me down a few hallways into an almost empty room. Inside, was a man behind a table that had a large duffle bag on it.

"Have a seat." He gestured at a chair opposite to him, and I sat in it.

"Ed, do you know who we are?" I shook my head, "We are the Ajin Rights Movement. Largely, we provide safety for Akins that may have been discovered, and we work to achieve the basic human rights we deserve.

"Right now, I'm here to lay out the options we have for you. Would you like to hear them?" I nodded with a stoney face, "Alright. Well, the simplist, and also least helpful, is that we send you on your way without anything more. I doubt you want that option. The second option, is little better. It being, we give you some supplies like money, food, water, a fake ID, and a weapon or two if you want. We could even direct you to Russia for sanctuary. Despite their reputation, they actually have nothing against Ajins like most of the world seems to have. They have granted sanctuary before, and have said as much that they will continue to. The third is much more complicated and will take a while. That being, we create an entirely new persona for you. Fake birth certificate, Social Security card, plastic surgery to change your looks, the entire works, and house you while you rebuild your life. The last option, one I would hope you'd choose, would be for you joining our cause I'm working behind the scenes. You won't have to do anything you don't want to, though we'd still expect you to at least help out. So, which option would you like to take?"

I was stunned at the depths that these people said they would take to keep me safe. But one question dominated my mind, "How can you afford all of that?"

He smiled, "We're Ajins, we can regenerate organs if they're removed. We sell those off to groups who are more than willing to buy them from us at very genorous prices. So what'll it be?"

I had already made up my mind. I wanted to do most of this on my own, and there were a few people I wanted to visit, "Option two. What can you spare?"

I had to admitt, those other Ajins were pretty nice people. Back when I still watched the news, they had made Ajins out to be heartless. But these guys had done me a massive favor. A nearly perfectly sharp Ka-BAR knife (a Marines best friend) and a classic M1911 .45 Colt pistol. It was simply made, but the stopping power behind the heavy bullet made me feel safe. They'd even given me a hefty sum of money, as well as fake IDs and a passport.

Now, I was outside my wife's house. It had been nearly 7 months since I'd been captured, and standing here, at the lip of the driveway, I was struggling to not cry, not run away, and not just crash through the door all at the same time. Instead, I just had this goony looking smile on my hidden face as I tried to act as normal as I could walking up to our front door.

I wonder if Kyle is going into kindergarten yet. Does he remember me? I wasn't around a lot before I... we knew what I was. Always taking tours in the Middle East.

I had arrived at the door. Steeling myself, I knocked firmly on the door, and waited. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but the door eventually opened to Jackie. My wife.

"Yes? Can I help you?" She asked.

Smiling and crying at the same time, I pulled down my neck warmer and pulled off my sunglasses, "I guess you could say that." Her face broke my heart. She looked absolutely terrified.

"What's wrong honey?" I asked, starting to feel a little afraid myself.

She whimpered, "Please don't hurt me!" I felt like I died a little inside.

I stuttered out a confused, "W-what? Why would I? Jackie, it's me, Ed! Your husband. Remember?"

She cringed away, but didn't close the door, "Please, just go away you-you monster!"

Another part of me died. All those months, the only thing I'd thought about was her and Kyle. And now she was afraid of me for what I was.

"Jackie, you're hurting me. I'm the same Ed you fell in love with. I'm the same Ed that fell in love with you. I still love you. I'd never hurt you. Don't you know that?"

She shook her head angrily, "Just go away!" And slammed the door in my face. I stood there for a second, stunned and crying.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Jackie, I don't know why you're afraid of me, but... I won't give you a reason to be. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. I love you."

I stepped away from the house, and walked down the street, donning my disguise, and openly weeping.

It was snowing heavily, but I didn't care. I'd been walking for days now, not having stopped the whole time. I felt empty, without hope. This must be what it felt like to be dead inside.

Police sirens screamed from behind me. I didn't pay much mind to it, even as it stopped right behind me.

The doors opened, and a man yelled, "Freeze!" I stopped, and turned to face the officer. The officer was wearing a winter jacket of the police department, and pointing a 9 millimeter at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked with a broken voice. A shot ran out, the zip of a bullet passing by my ear. I immediately dropped to the ground while drawing out my pistol. Officers were good at their jobs, but they were a far cry from being crack shots.

My own pistol roared out a response, sending a bullet straight into his leg. He cried out in pain as he collapsed, clutching his leg.

Unthinking, I went over to him, and applied a turnaquit to keep him from bleeding out. I went to his car, radioed in his position, and booked it.

I was sitting in a small snow cave I'd dug on a hill. I was cold, but it didn't matter. When you can't die, very little does. I yawned, and confident I wasn't going to be found, let myself fall asleep.

*Meanwhile: in Equestria*

The Elements of Harmony had Discord surrounded, and the Princesses had managed to disable his Chaos magic. Bored, he listened to the little upstart, Twilight, drone on about how he had been wrong in his attempt to use friendship for his own personal gain.

He knew that for the moment, he was beaten, but that would matter very little. For he had one last trick up his sleeve.

"And now, we banish you to stone Discord!" Twilight finished her speech, charging up her horn and beginning the spell.

"Alright fine, but you should know one last thing."

Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof, "Yeah? And what's that?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that I helped a race of creatures from another planet into space exploration. When I told them about you, they seemed very interested in taking over. I believe their exact words were, 'We'll wipe them out of existence.' They're called humans and come from a violent planet called Earth. Look a little like you, only without any fur or a muzzle."

And the spell finished, sending a blast of a rainbow charging at Discord, sealing him in stone, preserving a disturbing smile.

Ed

I woke up from a nightmarish dream of a monster made of many animals laughing at me. I was so terrified, that I immediately rushed out of my snow cave, and ran deeper into the forest. I didn't have a destination, I just ran. I ran and ran, ignoring every sensation besides my terror of the dream.

My foot caught on a root, and I was sent flying into a snowdrift. Instead of hitting the cold snow, I smashed into a hard surface that broke my nose.

Bleeding profusely, and letting out a few choice curses, I picked myself up, and looked at where I'd fallen.

Cobblestone? Where'd all the snow go? Someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Teleportation spell not going the way you planned?" A soft, feminine voice asked. It sounded as though she was trying to console a child.

"Ha ha, very funny." I replied sarcastically.

"I wasn't being sarcastic. Many Earth... wait, where's your tail?"

Tail? I turned to look at the lady, and immediately got over my irritation as my entire mind shut down. It looked vaguely like a human, except it was covered in purple fur, had a horn and wings, giant expressive eyes, a muzzle, and a long tail. Might I add that this creature was naked, and had mammory glands? Granted the fur covered them, but she was still naked.

Finally, my mind caught up with my eyes, and cofusion addled my mind.

"What... are you?"

She tilted her head, just as confused as me, "Uh, an alicorn?"

"Huh?"

"A pony with the strength of a Earth pony, the magic control of a unicorn, and the wings and abilities of a Pegasus. You aren't from around here, are you?"

Standing myself up, I shake my head, "N-no. In fact, I haven't the slightest clue of where I am. 'Ponies' like you don't exist where I'm from."

"Oh, where's that then?"

"Earth."

Her face paled, "You wouldn't happen to be a human, would you?"

I wondered how she could know that, seeing as how I couldn't possibly be on Earth anymore, but I let that slip from my immediate concerns. If she knew what humans were, maybe she could send me back!

"Yeah! How'd you know? Are there more humans like me here?" She didn't answer me though. Instead, she retreated back several steps, yelled for the guards, and a strange light began to surround her horn.

"What? What'd I say?" Again, she didn't answer me. The light from her horn fired at me, slamming into my body with the force of a cannonball, sending me flying across the street into a heap.

I moaned, clutching what I knew were broken ribs. I coughed up some blood, which probably meant that one of my ribs had punctured a lung. I weakly pulled down my neck warmer to get the blood drenched cloth away from my mouth.

While I laid in the street, hooves clopped up to me, "For conspiring against Equestria, you are hereby under arrest, human."

"Fuck man, I just got here!" I gasped out. There was an impact against my head, and my vision faded out.