Her Guard

Prologue: A New Family

A small 4 year old girl rushes through a forest, her grey, overgrown shirt dirty and torn, fast, heavy footsteps stomping close behind her.

The girl skidded to a stop near the edge of a cliff, her wide grey-blue eyes staring out across the vast ocean, the violent waves bashing against the cliff's edge, her tiny body trembled in exhaustion as she panted heavily, worn out from her escape. 

She could still hear the thundering footsteps behind her, a quick, frightened glance behind her had the small child rushing forward straight into the icy water below, a hand moving out from the shadows in an attempt to grab the child, barely scraping her shirt before she fell straight into the cold depths of the ocean.

The small freckled child felt the sharp sting of the water's temperature hit her skin, nipping at her fragile, battered body.

Her grey-blue eyes closed for a moment as she release a tired breathe, before warm light skinned arms cradled her close, the last thing she saw, was red hair and green eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The small white haired girl woke up in a strange looking room, the area having coral and gold metal appearing decorations inside it, she was settled in a clam shaped bed with a soft blanket covering her, new clothes placed on her that she didn't recognised the look of.

While looking around she heard voices nearby, causing her to jump out, before the bubbles around her caught her attention, shocking her, before the girl took notice she was under water, her shock dissipated when she heard the voices again, coming closer, in her panic she darted under a table nearby, sharp claws developing from her nails, digging into the ground beneath her.

nine figures entered the room, four looked nearly human if it weren't for the fish tail's on their lower half, and one was a small red crab. the tallest of the humanoids was a large male with brown hair and grey eyes, a giant golden fork in his hand, the two women beside him, a red haired woman with green eyes close by his side, holding a small baby, and a woman with purple hair, who reminded the small girl of the bad people she had been around with holding a toddler awkwardly, with two other children by her side. 

With them were 5 small girls, a 4 year old much like the little girl, with green eyes and light brown hair tied up in a long bun with a small crown on her head, the baby was a little blonde haired and blue eyed girl, held by the red haired woman, the other two children following along, A young 3 year old girl with black hair and grey eyes, with a smaller 2 year old year old girl that had dark purplish brown hair and aqua coloured eyes.

The mean looking woman held a 1 year old girl, with brown hair and brown eyes, the woman, didn't at all look happy to be holding the child in the 4 year old girl's view, she looked over at the other two adults, flinching and attempting to scramble backwards once she saw the red haired woman pass the baby to the man, then swim over to the hiding girl.

The red haired woman held her hand out, causing the small child to flinch back, closing her eyes, a gentle hand petting her short, dirtied, messy and tangled white hair, she opened her grey-blue eyed snapped open, looking up tearfully at the woman's kind green eyes, the woman's hand moving to wipe the tears from her face gently with care.

"It's ok now, you're safe here, what's your name little one." the man's voice spoke up from behind the woman, causing both the red haired woman and white haired girl to look up at him, she stared for a moment before tilting her head slightly.

"The bad ones called me 88, but the my big brother called me Mackenzie, but mostly called me Kenzie." She spoke, quietly, looking away, the red haired woman moving to carefully pick her up and remove her from under the table, gently holding her close as if Kenzie were her own child.