An explosion shook the ship but she just kept running towards the center of it. Showing no fear she jumped over fallen debris and went on her way. She was a space pirate. In the year 2265 space pirates were a small dangerous group, but she was surpassing them all. Her name was Ella. She was a scrawny thing that was an inch below the average height considered for a woman and though she was nothing special physically she had a very special talent to make up for it.

Coming to the inner hallways of the ship, someone finally spotted her but it didn't catch her by surprise. "Hey!" they shouted. Ella looked at them impassively. "What are you doing here? The ship has a hole. You have to-" In the middle of this sentence the man spotted her arm which had the long flowing fire tattoo that marked Ella as a pirate. His eyes widened. "Pirate. Pirate! There's a-" Ella made an impossibly small movement. The man hear a roar. He turned in time to have a tiger pounce on him and knock him to the ground. He screamed and tried to defend himself. The tiger bit and scratched at him. Ella watched impassively as the man writhed and struggled against nothing. Nothing was there. She flicked her eyes back ahead of the her then took off running towards the treasure that would be hers.

When she turned the corner she skidded to a stop, dull light green eyes filling with excitement when the device strapped to her pants suddenly started beeping. This meant she was close to the room which held those priceless jewels. Turning off her intergalactic handheld map, the red headed young girl rushed towards the door, punching in the code Aimee had hacked from the system. Smiling once it was open, she hurried inside and pulled the sack off her shoulder, thanking Aimee in her head for disabling the security system as she swept the jewels into the bag with ease.

Suddenly the ship shook violently and at this point Ella knew she had only a few minutes to get out of the ship before it went down. Closing the bag, she turned on her intergalactic map, turning corner after corner until she came to a giant hole in the ship. "3, 2, 1.." she counted, grinning when a small two person ship suddenly pulled up to the hole, the cockpit opening to reveal a slightly tanned girl with short blonde hair. "Right on time, Aimee."

"Just get your ass in here. Can't have you going down with the ship," she mused, blue eyes gazing at her from behind a pair of thick black rimmed glasses.

"Of course because without me where would you be?" Ella teased.

"Shove it, Ella"

Laughing when she told her to shove it, she laid back in the seat, jumping slightly when she thought she felt something brush up against her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just tired," she muttered as she closed her eyes, not even opening her eyes to watch the ship finally crash. She dozed until they went back to their ship floating some miles away from the now destroyed ship. Blinking when she felt heard the hanger open, she stretched, hopping out of the small ship as Aimee did the same. "Here," she told her, throwing her the bag that was full of priceless jewels. Expecting her to put it in the safe, the two of them walked out of the hanger and down into the cockpit where two other females were waiting.

"Did ya get it?!" squealed a short girl who looked to be around the age of fourteen, long blonde hair pulled up into pigtails. She resembled Aimee quite a bit but this was to be expected since she was her younger sister.

"Yep," Aimee said with a grin, holding up the bag as she threw it to her little sister. "We might not have to do a job for a few weeks now."

"Can we go on vacation?" asked Aimee's younger sister.

"I don't know about that Annie,"

"I think we should go on vacation. All we do is job after job… it gets tiring after awhile!"

"How else do you think we can rise to the top you moron?" muttered a dark haired woman sitting in the front of the cockpit. She looked to be older them all of them- most likely in her early twenties. Brown hair that barely brushed her shoulders was pulled back as her cold dark brown eyes glared at Annie who she found to be an utter annoyance.

"There's more to life then power, Cin." Annie muttered, sticking her tongue out at the moody woman who she liked to refer to as the dragon lady.

"As much as I love listening to you all squabble I think I'm going to go lay down for awhile," Ella said suddenly, quickly leaving the cockpit and heading down to where her room was. Hitting the button to open the door, she rubbed her temples as she collapsed onto her bed as she desperately wished her headache would go away. Rolling onto her side she closed her eyes, letting out a sudden gasp when she saw something with dark yellow eyes crawling towards her. In her haste to get to her feet she fell on the floor with a loud thump, blinking when the creature that was crawling towards her vanished.

"Are you all right? I heard you scream." Aimee said, walking into the room as she stared down at Ella with a worried expression. The two had met a year ago in a shady bar. At the time Ella had been nineteen and Aimee twenty. Ella had been trying to become a great space pirate and Aimee was somehow drawn into that lifestyle, spontaneously joining her with her younger sister who she had custody of. About four months ago they literally found Cin and rescued her, the twenty four year old sticking with them which was her stubborn way of saying thank you. "Need a hand?" she inquired, holding out her hand to Ella as she stared down at her.

"I'm fine. I just have a headache."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Aimee I already said I was!" Ella snapped, accepting her hand as she got to her feet, gesturing to her friend to leave. "I'm fine. It was only a dizzy spell, okay?"

"If you say so."

"Will you go now? I need to take a nap," Ella told Aimee, sighing in relief once she was finally alone.

~*~

She was sitting on a roof, her long red hair tied behind her as she stared at a large museum across the street. That was there next hit. It had been a few days since they attacked that ship and the entire galaxy was talking about it. Her bounty had even gone up and that made her almost giggle with excitement. The higher your bounty was the more valued you were in the pirate world which was extremely important to her. She was determined to be the best and become better than even the current pirate kings. Ella was on her way to achieving her dream though. At only nineteen she had accomplished so much. Most space pirates struggled for years to make a name while she had done it in only a year.

It truly was amazing but she had a secret and in a way it diminished everything she had accomplished in the past. Ella was able to create powerful illusions and she had, had this power since she was a little girl but hadn't used it until her teenager years. It was then she started to hone her skills and thanks to her ability to create such illusions she was able to become an infamous space pirate in such a short amount of time. However, there was a draw back to this power and it reared it's ugly head the more powerful her power became. Ella was not able to always control her illusions and when she could not control them they started to affect her… which they had started to due lately. She had been using more powerful illusions to trap and confuse her victims and half of the time she wasn't able to control it.

She hadn't told anybody. It had been happening for almost a month now and sometimes she would see or feel things that weren't there. Ella was finding it hard to function now but the fear of being trapped in one of her own illusions and getting cut off from reality completely was something she could ignore. She needed her power. In order to rise up and best the pirate kings she needed her power of illusion even if it did indeed drive her crazy.

Gasping suddenly, Ella suddenly whirled around when she felt a hand on her throat, smacking herself in the face with her braid as she found herself face to face with some sort of shadow. Feeling the hand on her throat tighten, she gasped, fought, and tried to scream but the hand only got tighter. Letting out a strangled whimper as her vision started to blur, the hand vanished just as she was about to pass out as the door to the roof she was on open, Ella trying her best to gather her wits.

"Ready?" Aimee asked, having come up here to get Ella for their hit at the museum. They were planning to steal some paintings and in less then an hour they would be putting their plan into action. "Ella… you paler then usual. Are you sure you can go through with this?"

"Aimee I'm fine," Ella muttered, lying through her teeth as she took a deep breath. She was fine now well at least physically she was. The choking had never happened. However, mentally and emotionally she was shaken up by how real it had been. This was the first time one of her illusions had affected her so badly.

Aimee knew something was up. She wasn't stupid. Something just seemed off about Ella but the problem was she had no idea what that something was. "Maybe we should just cancel the hit-"

"No way, Aimee! We've already put to much time and energy into it. There's no way I'm going to let all that go to waste."

"Fine go ahead and be a stubborn idiot. See if I care," Aimee snapped, turning around and leaving Ella alone on the roof. About ten minutes after Aimee stormed away Ella left the roof and headed to where they had everything set up, both her and Aimee promptly ignoring each other. It was quite obvious to Cin and Annie who just rolled their eyes and decided to not get involved in their little lover's spat which was actually a fine decision. "Ready?" Aimee suddenly asked Ella, glaring over at her as the red head glared back.

"I'm /always/ready," she hissed and within minutes she was in the museum via a ventilation shaft. Looking around, she took off once she was sure no one was around, turning corner after corner as she kept up her fast pace. Aimee was only able to disable the security systems for only ten minutes so she had to make sure she did this quick-

"Hey who the hell are you?!" someone suddenly shouted as Ella cursed under her breath. "Intruder!" he screamed, the security guard reaching for his gun as Ella closed her eyes for a spilt second and then quickly opened them. Suddenly the man was caught up in the feeling of drowning, dropping his gun and holding his throat as he desperately gasped for air.

Smirking, Ella was about to resume her journey to the vault when all of a sudden she felt like she couldn't breath. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath as she tried to force herself out of her own illusion but she was unable to do so, eventually falling to the ground much like the guard had done a few seconds before.

~*~

"She should've been out by now," Annie muttered as she watched the place from the window where Ella was supposed to exit the museum with an anxious look on her faces. Glancing at the clock, she frowned when she realized they had less then three minutes before the security system went back on. "Do you think something happened?"

"I don't know but earlier on the roof Ella was acting odd.." Aimee whispered. "However, Ella is good. She would never fail."

"Everyone has they're moments of failure, Aimee. Even Ella and it's a long time coming considering all the success she's been having," Cin muttered as the sisters stared over at her because Cin rarely spoke of her own accord.

"A minute and a half now."

"I'm going to go look for her," Cin suddenly announced, shaking her head when Aimee got up to follow. "The less people that go in there the better."

".. but what if you don't make it out before they find you?"

"Then I guess we're screwed," Cin said with a bitter smile before rushing out of there and going in the same way Ella had gone in. Following her trail, she came to a sudden halt when she came across an incapacitated Ella, rushing over to her as she crouched beside her. Roughly shaking her, she stiffened when the alarm suddenly came on and as she realized they didn't have much time she decided she couldn't wait for Ella to wake up. Lifting Ella in her arms with ease, she ran the way she had came, having to duck inside a room when three security guards suddenly ran down the hall. Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she continued her journey to the shaft. It was difficult to push Ella inside and drag her and herself out but somehow she managed to do this.

"Mm.." Ella suddenly moaned, her eyes fluttering open as she stared up at Cin who was glaring down at her. "What… happened?"

"The time for questions isn't now. We have to get out of here," Cin muttered, climbing out of the shaft first and once she was out she helped Ella out who was still a bit out of it. Ignoring her protests, she scooped the girl in her arms again and made a dash for their hideout across the street from the museum. She knew if she let Ella attempt to walk there they'd get caught so the best thing for the both of them was for her to be carried. Sighing in relief once she reached the building, she carried the once again unconscious Ella upstairs, ignoring the worried looks of Aimee and Annie as she laid her down gently on the floor.

They didn't leave the abandoned building for another hour, Cin carrying Ella as they made their way back to the dock. Once they were finally in the ship, Cin brought Ella to her room while Aimee stayed with her. She didn't wake up until the next day, a look of confusion and panic appearing on her face when she finally did open her eyes because for a second she didn't know where she was. "… Aimee what happened?" Ella coughed out as she struggled to sit up, blinking when the half asleep girl suddenly jerked up violently and stared at her with a strange expression on her face. "What..?" she asked, letting out a yelp of surprise when Aimee hugged her.

"You nearly got caught you know. If it hadn't been for Cin you probably would've been sent to prison for the rest of your life."

"Oh…" was all Ella wa able to say as it all came back to her.

"Oh? That's all you can say?"

"Well yeah. What else can I say?"

"I don't know… maybe explain what he fuck happened back there?"

"I had a bad day. Even the great Ella has a stroke of bad luck."

"Ella don't bullshit me. I know something is going on with you. The only thing I don't know if what the hell that actually is."

"There is nothing going on-"

"I know you well enough to realize when something is up and if you cared about me even a little bit you'd let me in!" Aimee screamed, frowning when Ella just sighed and looked away. "Ella you were nearly caught. Don't you realize that?"

"Of course I do! I'm not a fucking idiot!"

"Then you can understand why I'm worried! Something is happening to you and I don't like it."

"Aimee…"

"Ella don't give me any fucking excuses. Either tell me what's going on or I'm gone," Aimee said seriously and if there was one thing Ella couldn't deal with it was Aimee leaving her so in the end she saw no choice but to tell her the truth. Hesitantly, Ella told Aimee about her power and reluctantly about the side affects. Once she was done Aimee just stared blankly at her before suddenly smacking her upside the head which caused her to just gap at her.

"What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot," Aimee muttered, sighing as she hugged Ella. "Promise me you won't use it anymore."

"Aimee I can't…"

"Ella please don't use it anymore. Can't you do that for me?" Aimee begged, smiling faintly when Ella reluctantly nodded. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah."

Still smiling, she hugged her and even though she knew Ella was reluctant to make such a promise she felt like she would come through for her while Ella wondered how the hell she was going to keep it.

~*~

Ella was finding it difficult to keep her promise because she didn't think she could do it and a week after the botched hit her will was tested. They were targeting a bank that night and the plan was almost perfect. However, Ella didn't know what would happen if she ran into someone. Would she panic and use her power? Sneaking into the building everything surprisingly went smoothly but as she was on her way out she ran into two security guards. Eyes widening she tried to make a dash for it and managed to dart past the two but there was this nagging voice inside her that told her she needed to make sure they didn't follow even though she probably could out run them. "Sorry Aimee," she whispered, swallowing nervously as she closed her eyes and quickly made an illusion, nearly getting caught up in her own illusion.

Turning around and running out of the bank, she lied to Aimee when she asked her if she used her power and sadly she believed her. Climbing into her bed later that night, she decided that maybe she could control her illusions after all. She hadn't had any problems this time so there really wasn't any need to stop. Snuggling into her pillow after this thought she quickly fell asleep but her sleep was far from peaceful. She kept having nightmares that night, waking up several times and seeing things that obviously weren't there. Somehow she did keep falling back to sleep, waking up the next morning with a start.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she yawned, she stretched and was about to climb out of bed when the room started to spin. Blinking a few times, she rubbed her eyes again, a scream escaping her when a large white creature jumped at her and clamed onto her arm. Trying to jerk her arm out of it's hold, she kicked it, scrambling backwards as she held her bleeding arm to her trembling form. Soon another scream escaped her when she saw the shadows in her room coming towards her, tears streaming down her cheeks as they started dragging there unnaturally sharp nails down her arm. This left welts and when the welts mixed in with the bite mark she screamed louder then she ever had before.

"Ella why are you screaming?!" Aimee cried as she ran into the room, rushing towards the screaming and trembling girl on the bed. She had been saying goodbye to her sister and Cin who were going to pick up some food when she heard what sounded like a scream. Heading back inside the ship, she picked up the pace when she realized it was Ella screaming. "Ella what's wrong?!" Aimee shouted, roughly grabbing the girl and shaking her so she could snap her out of whatever she was in.

When Aimee entered the room all Ella saw was this dark figure rushing towards her so she automatically tried to scramble away from it. Crying out when the figure started shaking her, she panicked and feared the worst, shoving it away as she climbed off her bed and stumbled towards her dresser. Stiffening when she felt that figure grab her, she reached for her groped for her pocket knife which she knew was on her dresser and once she found it she flipped it open instantly. Whirling around, she cursed at the figure, stabbing it in the neck as she ignored it's screams and just kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing until it finally crumbled to the floor and stopped moving. Chest heaving, she dropped the knife and collapsed to the floor, her vision blurring as the dark figure she had stabbed started to resemble someone familiar but before she could really tell who it was she passed out.

She was out for nearly a half an hour before she groaned, cupping her head in one of her hands as she struggled to push herself into a sitting position. Ella couldn't remember much. All she could recall was being trapped in a horrifying illusion and then attacking some dark figure. Coughing, she looked down at herself and noticed the blood on her hands which caused her to shriek. Trying to wipe it off on her jeans something caught her eye and as she turned to see what it was she nearly threw up. It was Aimee's lifeless body that had caught her eye. She was laying motionless on the floor covered in blood and what appeared to be stab wounds… oh fuck.

"No, no, no…" Ella whimpered, unable to believe that she had stabbed Aimee to death. Crawling over to her she pulled her into her arms, not caring about getting more blood on her as she buried her face in her hair. "Aimee I'm sorry… please just wake up. I'll keep my promise next time," she whimpered, rocking back and forth as she clutched Aimee tightly to her, unable to believe or accept that she was dead.