Prlogue

Where am I…? Sally thought and thought. Although she was awake, she could only perceive darkness. The air around her was cold and had a subtle scent of alcohol. She also felt a semi-hard surface that felt like a bed. The only thing keeping her company was her own toughs, with a little game she called "assemble the blurry memories" trying to make out her blurry memories.

"Sally!" The young girl heard a familiar warm voice.

Father…?

A moment passed before she was able to open her eyes. Slowly the darkness faded away letting her see. The first thing she noticed was Looking around she first saw her worried Father standing next to her, then she noticed a man wearing a lab coat. It appears that they were in the middle of a conversation before she woke up, as the man looked startled and quickly called for backup. How long was I asleep, she wondered.

"Everything will be alright." She heard her father say as he held her tight.

In the next few days of her awakening, some notable changes had started to occur within Sally. The most noticeable trait was that half of her hair changed from a charcoal colour to pure white. What worried most people was her incapacity to express emotions anymore. The doctor advising her Father that it must be due to the shock and will fix itself given time.

"What do you mean you can't do anything?" her father's scream and the sound of shattering glass echoed through the hall, reaching the girl's ears.

"You should be happy that she has even awakened, Mister Amaranth." The doctor tried to calm the middle-aged man down.

"What will people say?" He exclaimed loudly.

I don't really care… Sally thought. Maybe it was because she had issues remembering what had happened in the past two years, or maybe all she wanted was for her father to care about her well-being. Maybe if she was able to recover what was lost, he would love her again. She thought maybe if she became normal again he would value her. Actually, Sally had noticed that she lacked something that everyone else had. She couldn't express her feelings like normal people did; however, the doctor explained that this was a side effect and that she should eventually be able to express herself with time.

***

"Sally, I heard you were having issues with your grades. Therefore, I hired a personal tutor," the girl's father said and presented a professional-looking woman.

Her father exchanged a few words with Sallyher before leaving the house.

"…Welcome home…" she mumbled, watching him drive away through her window.

***

"What do you mean you were bullied?" Her father firmly looked at her.

"The other kids at school keep on pushing me around, and throw my stuff away, and-" "Sally was interrupted upon the impact of her Father's hand with her cheek. A burning sensation told her that her cheek had already started to swell. While she felt the pain, Sally wasn't able to cry or express it. Maybe this is his form of loving, she thought. as she felt her father's hand slap her.

"This only happened because you allowed others to hurt you, Sally,." he said in a monotone voice. "You should never allow others to hurt you." He added.

Sally brought her cold hand up to her cheek to help with the throbbing she felt. swelling cheek.

"…Okay…" She said in a low tone. Her father made a phone call and looked back at Sally.

"What are you still doing on the floor? Stand up. You are starting combat training at 2 pm. You are now excused."

***

"Don't worry Sally, I'm sure he didn't mean to be this harsh," Marry said and patted her head.

"… Marry." Sally Sue's heart felt like it was slowly tearing apart, but she was unable to shed a tear.

"I'll always be there Sally," She said in a soft voice while holding her tight. The warmth given off from Marry slowly made Sally forget the pain in her chest.

***

Somewhere along the line, Sally realized that she lost more than her memories, but also the love of her father. Although her memories were still a blur, she knew how much he used to treasure her. Standing in front of a mirror Sally held a glass knife. If I get rid of the hair he dislikes... would he love me again? With a swift gesture, Sally slices through her long silky hair, grazing the side of her neck at the same time.

"Oh... I'm bleeding...." Sally looked in the mirror and accepted that it wasn't the hair he hated, but it was her new self.

"Maybe I should end his suffering... His eyes are always cold when he looks at me..." Sally took a moment to complete if she should just run away or end her life. It didn't take long before she concluded that ending her life would cause less trouble for everyone.

"Okay, even if I don't do it right, I won't feel any pain either way." She said in a soft doll-like voice.

"SALLY!" a familiar voice yelled as the door slammed open. "Don't you ever dare do that!" For the first time, Sally saw Marry cry, and it was because of her.

"I'm sorry." She placed down the knife and held Marry in her arm like she had done for her so many times.

"I can always tell what you are thinking Sally. Don't ever leave me..." Her voice was softer than usual, almost fragile as if it and her heart had almost stopped.

"I promise I won't ever leave you." Sally made a promise that she would never forget."I promise, Marry" She didn't know why, but she never wanted to see Marry cry again.

***

"There's Sally Sue. I heard you might get cursed if you get too close to her." a student whispered.

"That wouldn't surprise me. Remember Justin? He never came to school after that." another one added with a trembling voice. Sally was fully aware of all the rumours going around but she didn't care enough to clear them up. Actually, no one ever confronted her about it.

"You should know better than to gossip about baseless rumours." she heard Marry say on occasion to any students gossiping about anything and everything.

"You're right." They apologize and walk away. Unlike herself, Marry was respected by everyone.

***

"Now class, I present you Sally Sue Amaranth., She'll be part of our class for the rest of the school year," Sally's homeroom teacher introduced her.

"Wow, isn't she the daughter of one of the generals?" One whispered.

"Please rest assured that like the rest of you, Miss Sally has passed the entrance exam, but was unable to start school till today."

"I heard she's been in a terrible accident that caused her hair to change!" another said.

"Welcome to Azalea. You can sit next to Marry," the teacher said.

"It's my pleasure to meet you all." Sally flashed a smile like she had practiced many times in the mirror, before heading to her seat.