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null | Animal Crossing 1. Prologue
Bonjour, et hem, merci d'avoir cliqué sur ce titre .w."
Ceci est une fanfic sur Animal Crossing, je serai réellement reconnaissante d'avoir vos avis!
Disclaimer: Les lieux et personnages cités ne m'appartiennent pas et je ne gagne pas un seul centime pour la création de cette histoire.
* * *
**Prologue**
« - Tu y crois, toi ? »
L'enfant releva la tête, surprise, quelques méches brunes barrant ses yeux. Elle fixa le garçon en face d'elle d'un air interloqué, puis eut une sorte de rire et se leva de la balançoire.
« -Evidemment. Je suis persuadée qu'ils existent. »
Le garçon haussa les épaules et rehaussa sa capuche. Il avait commencé à pleuvoir depuis un bon bout de temps, mais ni lui ni elle ne souhaitaient rentrer. Ils restaient encore à débattre sur ce sujet idiot, leurs cartables posés contre le grillage, entre un banc et un bac à sable.
La petite ne semblait pas contrariée par le manque d'affirmation de son point de vue par son compagnon de jeu, et, levant sa main vers le ciel plein de nuages, un gros sourire se dessinant sur son visage de gamine, se mit à tourner sur elle-même comme l'enfant qu'elle était, de plus en plus vite, de plus en plus fort, en criant et riant sans s'arrêter ;
« Ils existent, ils existent, ils existent ! »
* * *
**Chapitre 1 : Un nouveau départ**
Un reste de chocolat. Un sachet de fleurs séchées de la part de sa mère. Un porte-clés représentant un ourson.
C'était tout ce qu'il y avait dans ses poches.
Elle releva la tête, fatiguée malgré la sieste qu'elle venait de faire.
Où était-elle, au juste.. ?
« -Bah alors, miss, qu'est ce qui t'amène ? »
Un chauffeur, un siège de cuir noir sur lequel elle était assise, une route défilant à travers la vitre, et toujours cette pluie brouillant le passage, tout se mélangeait dans son esprit jusqu'à former une sorte d'image étrange, familière, confortable sans qu'elle ne puisse s'expliquer pourquoi.
Elle venait de partir mais elle avait l'impression d'être déjà arrivée.
Souriant à elle-même, (où était-ce à ce chauffeur de taxi ?) elle réajusta le pan de sa jupe noire et murmura un peu distraitement :
« - Envie de changer d'air, j'imagine. »
Le chauffeur eut un rire sarcastique, et tout en tapotant ses doigts contre le volant au son d'une chanson de radio, reprit de sa voix légère, un peu cassée, qui sonnait comme un reproche aux oreilles de la fille.
« -Une petite lady qui se ballade comme ça, pour Lindertown, il n'y en a pas cent …»
De part le rétroviseur, il la vit hausser les épaules en souriant.
« -Et tu t'appelles comment, ma belle ? »
Elle se frotta les yeux et se rehaussa sur son siège. Tout lui semblait encore tellement étrange.
«- Mayu.
-Kooaaa ? Parle plus distinctement, crevette d'eau douce !
- Mayu. Je m'appelle Mayu.
- Mayou ?
- Non, soupira la fille, exaspérée,- Ma-yu, je m'appelle Ma-yu. »
La chauffeur éclata de rire.
« - Tes parents ne devaient pas beaucoup t'aimer !
- C'est un faux nom, imbécile. »
Il eut un air surpris, et la fille s'en voulut un instant de l'avoir peut-être offensé en l'appelant ainsi.
« -Ah, euh, ben moi c'est Amiral mais c'est pas mon vrai nom non plus. »
Mayu lui lança un regard suspicieux.
« Toujours est-il, reprit Amiral, un peu gêné- on est arrivés à destination. Bonne chance, ma belle.»
Elle se sentait partie, elle se sentait arrivée, elle se sentait fâchée, elle se sentait reconnaissante. Elle se sentait bien.
* * *
Des reviews..? Cela me motiverait comme rien d'autre pour poster la suite =)
2. Chapter 2: Monnaie Courante
Désolée pour cette petite abscence, mais voilà la suite!
Je remercie les deux reviewers et la mise en favoris, cela me fait beacoup plaisir!
Si vous avez des remarques, bonnes ou mauvaises, n'hésitez pas. ^^
* * *
Malgré le vent frais et les gouttes d'eau tombant sur ses joues, elle réussit à avoir assez chaud, les membres toujours engourdis par la fatigue, ou plutôt la somnolence, due au long trajet qu'elle venait d'accomplir sans bouger de son siège.
Elle s'étira autant qu'elle le put et émit un long bâillement, sans même prendre la peine de mettre sa main devant sa bouche, à la façon d'un chat.
_Evidemment, je suis un chat._
Quoi... ?
C'était quoi… Cette pensée ?
-Eh oh, la petite sirène ? Je te cause !
Secouant sa tête comme pour effacer les délires de son esprit, elle observa le chauffeur, qui, réajustant sa cravate dans un signe de gêne, la regardait sans comprendre.
Se retrouvant face à lui, elle se rendit compte qu'elle ne voyait que maintenant son visage. Il avait des yeux verts, assez petits, mais très expressifs, encadrés par une chevelure sombre et assez négligée. Malgré l'élégance de son uniforme, il avait une allure un peu gauche. Elle était incapable de lui donner un âge précis.
_Il n'était pas sensé être comme ça._
- …Et donc, ma jolie, si t'as des questions, t'as qu'à demander à la mairie juste en face.
Il ne prit pas une grande attention à la jeune fille, qui, pâle, le regardait sans le voir, ailleurs, et écoutait cette voix qu'elle ne connaissait pas, qu'elle ne comprenait pas, dont elle commençait à avoir peur. Le chauffeur se gratta l'arrière de la tête et commença à redémarrer le taxi.
Juste avant que la voiture ne parte dans un crissement de pneus, l'homme, derrière le rétroviseur, dans un mélange d'excuse et d'adieu, lui fit un signe de la main, maladroit mais touchant à sa manière.
Elle lui répondit, tentant d'ignorer la voix enfantine, désagréable et inconnue qui continuait de résonner dans toute sa tête.
_Il n'était pas sensé être humain comme ça._
* * *
« - Eh, à ce qu'il paraît y'a un nouvel habitant qui aménage aujourd'hui !
- Arrête, encore ?
- Ouaip, le vieux Nook est généreux ces temps-ci, je me demande quelle mouche le pique.
- A mon avis il va organiser une collocation, il est trop fauché ces temps-ci, et il n'y a pas assez d'espace pour tous les habitants.
- J'espère c'est un beau garçon, si c'est un nouveau… Tous les beaux mecs sont déjà pris dans cette ville de ploucs.
- …Insinuerais-tu que je suis laid ?»
C'était encore une journée ordinaire à Lindertown, petit village de campagne pour le moins retiré et étrangement effacé de toutes les cartes, mais faisant en tout cas la fierté de ses habitants, ou tout du moins de son maire.
Le village portuaire semblait regrouper à peu près toutes les ressources du pays dans une version miniature ; des bois aux arbres fruitiers, un petit musée, une rivière divisant le territoire en deux, quelques boutiques… Et évidemment des habitants adeptes aux ragots.
Toujours était-il que le milieu urbain provoquait fréquemment la nostalgie des villageois à un moment ou à un autre, et ceux-ci quittaient la petite communauté pour partir dans un nouvel endroit, à la façon de ces moineaux vagabonds, laissant la place à des nouveaux venus.
Le déménagement et l'emménagement des habitants était monnaie courante, et quand bien même un départ soudain pouvait parfois briser des cœurs, une nouvelle arrivée était toujours une source d'impatience et de curiosité.
Une cliente du Perchoir referma son tube de vernis à ongles et jeta un coup d'œil à la fenêtre depuis le café, comme espérant d'y voir quelque chose d'inhabituel, bien que sachant pertinemment que sa vue donnait sur la mer et qu'il était impossible d'y voir quoi que ce soit d'autre que la rayure de sable constellée de coquillages.
Elle portait une robe violette, très voyante mais lui allant bien. Une écharpe bleue marine lui réchauffait le cou et ses cheveux sombres étaient coiffés en un chignon, par-dessus lequel était logée une grosse paire d'écouteurs. Elle se réchauffa les mains autour de sa tasse de capuccino avant de la ramener à ses lèvres maquillées. But une gorgée et poussa un très léger soupir de satisfaction.
Calypso contempla ensuite ses mains aux ongles parfaitement soignés, poussa un soupir et murmura sans une seule once de plainte, comme un simple constat ;
«- Je m'ennuie tellement ici. »
* * *
Opélie sursauta, et manqua de faire tomber sur ses jambes la tasse de café fumant qu'elle tenait par une main. Le tout à cause de la sonnerie de la porte d'entrée quelque peu soudaine, provenant d'un ensemble de petites clochettes accrochées sur l'encadrement de la porte.
Encadrement dans lequel la jeune fille avait un peu moins de son âge, les yeux curieux et les cheveux brunâtres, un peu emmêlés, où brillaient quelques gouttes de pluie. Opélie n'aurait su dire si ses vêtements étaient de la ville ou de la région aux alentours. La brune referma doucement la porte boisée derrière elle, s'essuya les pieds contre le vieux tapis d'entrée et jeta un œil à la responsable de l'administration qu'elle était, et, sortie de ses pensées, Opélie s'en voulut de ne pas avoir réagi plus vite à son arrivée.
« -Bienvenue à la mairie de Lindertown, tu es une nouvelle venue, je me trompe? »
La fille sourit et se rapprocha du bureau dans un bruit de pas de chaussures usées.
Elle n'avait aucun bagage sur elle.
« - Oui, c'est bien ça, répondit-elle d'une voix douce, presque rêveuse.
- Très bien, très bien... Laisse-moi juste un peu de temps pour vérifier tes papiers.»
Opélie avait sous la main un lourd classeur qu'elle ouvrit, dont elle tourna de nombreuses pages avant de s'arrêter sur une feuille qu'elle survola du regard avant de s'adresser à Mayu.
« -Mademoiselle Woods, je présume ? »
La fille hocha la tête.
« - L'agent immobilier de la ville t'a fait construire une maison près de la mer, regarde, c'est juste ici, s'enquit-elle en prenant une carte de Lindertown de son bureau et en entourant au stylo rouge une icône représentant une maison, avant de la tendre à Mayu. »
Celle-ci observa la carte, ses yeux verts clignant à plusieurs reprises, et murmura, un peu gênée ;
« - Il n'y a que dix habitants ici...? »
L'hôtesse d'accueil fronça les sourcils. Elle n'était pas vexée de sa remarque et trouvait même normal qu'un tel nombre de villageois laisse à poser des questions, mais elle ne comprenait pas comment cette fille pouvait arriver dans l'endroit sans se renseigner un minimum sur son futur milieu de vie.
- Ah, euh, oui, c'est vrai que cela peut sembler un peu... Curieux, pour quelqu'un venant de la grande ville, mais je t'assure qu'on s'amuse très bien ! Et puis, il y a de plus en plus de monde qui vient ses derniers temps.
Elle espérait qu'elle n'avait rien dit de mal et que la nouvelle venue était bien d'origine urbaine.
Mayu semblait légèrement sceptique et continuait de fixer la carte sans rien dire, comme essayant de trouver des maisons cachées en dehors des dix qui étaient déjà présentes.
« -Oh, et on est plus de dix, dans les villageois qui sont figurés ici ne sont pas compris les gérants des boutiques, le propriétaire du musée, les gérants de l'administration... Et puis, il y a des personnes qui ont l'habitude de visiter l'endroit assez régulièrement ! »
Tout en parlant, sa main passa machinalement dans ses cheveux très clairs, presque blancs. Elle portait un bracelet sur lequel brillait un petit oiseau d'argent, que Mayu trouva à la fois simple et joli.
« - Bon, si vous le dîtes... Et concernant le prix de ma maison ?
- Ah, excuse-moi d'être aussi distraite ! L'agent immobilier et le propriétaire du principal magasin du village se nomme Monsieur Nook, et c'est à lui que tu devras t'adresser, il t'expliquera tout. Ne t'inquiète pas concernant le prix, après tout, tu ne seras pas seule ! »
Mayu fixa l'hôtesse d'accueil avec une expression à la fois surprise et perplexe, à la façon d'une personne comprenant une plaisanterie trop tard pour en rire.
-Je vous demande pardon ? murmura Mayu .
Un silence aussi court qu'embarrassant prit place entre les deux femmes.
Opélie, dans un mouvement de gêne, tout en expliquant l'organisation de la collocation à Mayu et en s'excusant à maintes reprises qu'on ne l'ait pas prévenu auparavant, reprit sa tasse entre les mains.
C'était un lundi d'avril, par une soirée de pluie, et son café était encore trop chaud.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Mystery, Poetry | Fanfiction | null | 12,051 | 13,653.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
**Animal Crossing High School**
_By Elizabeth Prower_
DISCLAIMER: All Animal Crossing characters copyrighted to Nintendo, all Sonic the Hedgehog characters (who will appear later) belong to SEGA, and all human characters copyrighted to themselves. Enjoy the story! 8D
Chapter 1-
It was a peaceful September day in the town of Rosebud, a tiny town right outside of the city. The sun was shining, its rays poking through the fluffy white clouds rolling by, while birds chirped as they flew past it. Sara Asyter, an ordinary resident of Rosebud, took advantage of the weather as she used this time to water her flower garden outside of her vast, red mansion. She had just finished watering her roses and was moving on to the pansies, when her best friend, Niki Harley came running up to her, nearly stepping on a patch of daisies in the process. The sound of her friend's footsteps startled Sara, causing her to almost drop her silver watering can.
"Ah!" Sara exclaimed, stumbling to avoid crushing her precious flowers, when she noticed Niki's presence. "Oh, hey Niki. What's up?"
"I need to tell you something," Niki replied. "Like, right now." Surprised, Sara hesitated, before nodding and inviting Niki inside her house.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, deep in the woods behind the city, was a small, dark, secluded building. The people of Rosebud assumed that this building was nothing more than a former resident's old house that was slowly decaying into oblivion. Then again, none of these residents dared to venture into the woods; otherwise they'd know that the building belonged to an evil scientist by the name of Dr. Eggman, who was plotting at the very moment. The overweight, furry mustached doctor's base was filled with robots and other various contraptions that were built for each of his previous plots for world domination.<p>
"Alright, you two, here's the plan," Eggman said to his two minions, a black and red hedgehog and a dark haired human girl. "I have you both enrolled in Animon High, the elite private school in the city outside of this puny little town. Your job is to uncover everything about the education system, and then once you have enough information, I want you to try to hack it so that I can use it to turn these students into my minions to build the Eggman Empire! It's foolproof! Muahahahaha!"
"Going to school? Lame," the girl scoffed. "Besides, didn't you say that about the plan with the space colony ARK-?"
"Oh, don't be so negative!" Eggman responded briskly. "Anyway, I have your uniforms for you. I had one of my robots steal them from their school store." Eggman reached under his metal desk and chucked two packages at his subordinates, before returning to his work on the computer.
"Uh…what kind of uniforms are these?" the hedgehog asked, holding up a frilly white blouse with a satin red ribbon tied to the collar, a royal blue pleated skirt, white knee socks, and black ballerina flats. The human girl gave him a strange look as she extracted a plain white blouse, black trousers, a black tie, black socks, and black dress shoes.
"Switch them if I gave you the wrong ones," their boss said, with his back to them. "My bad." The two minions barely glance at each other as they quickly shove their packages into each other's arms.
"Ugh, not my taste," the girl commented, the frown clearly in her voice as she scrutinizes the outfit after switching with her partner.
"Now, get yourselves ready!" Eggman commanded, ignoring the girl's previous words. "You've got a lot of work ahead of you starting tomorrow! Get moving!"
* * *
><p>"Tortimer wants us to go undercover as students?" Sara asked, staring at Niki in shock, as they sat at her modern table. "Why?"<p>
"Did you hear? They just got a new superintendent, right after the old one quit for no reason," Niki answered. "He thinks that it's more than a coincidence and wants us to check it out, you know, to figure out what exactly the new superintendent is doing there. What if it's Tipper and Bob trying to take over Animon High?"
"Animon High?" Sara questioned, also referring to the two girls' arch enemies. "I don't think those two are smart enough to take over a prestigious school like Animon. Hasn't your mom been pushing you to go to that school for some time now?"
"Yeah," Niki replied. "Oh, come on, Sara! High school would be fun!"
"I don't know, Niki," Sara said thoughtfully. "I've heard some pretty scary stories about high school, and I like my homeschooling. Besides, we're not turning fourteen for another six months!"
"That won't matter," Niki reassured her. "We'll just be old enough to start out as freshmen. It's like we'll be skipping a grade."
"Well, if you say so, Niki, I guess," Sara said, after a moment of thinking. "It's a private school, so we have uniforms?"
"Yup!" Niki replied, handing her friend a white blouse with a red ribbon, a blue skirt, and white knee socks. "These don't look so bad, right? You can even bust out your new ballet flats with them."
"They could be better," Sara responded, tossing the uniform aside on her modern dresser. "But they'll do."
"Great! So it's settled then!" Niki exclaimed, when her pink flashy cell phone rang. "Hello?" As she said this last word, she quickly flipped her phone open and pressed the green "talk" button.
"Niki?" a barely high-pitched voice sounded from the other end.
"Kitty?" Niki answered, surprised to hear her and Sara's other friend on the phone. "What's up?"
"I heard you and Sara are starting at Animon High tomorrow," their friend, Kitty Kingsley, said from the other line. "Don't forget to get your school supplies together. I'll get you guys your books, schedules, and other things you'll need when you get there tomorrow. Meet me in the school foyer at seven-thirty in the morning."
"Uh, sure, okay," Niki replied, before mouthing to Sara Kitty's name, so she knew who it was. "Thanks Kitty."
"No problem! I'll see you two tomorrow morning!" Kitty said.
"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow. Bye Kitty," Niki said before they both hung up, when Niki turned back to Sara. "Well, Sara, my friend, it looks like our journey is starting…now."
2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2-
The next day was the girls' first day at Animon High. They entered the school at exactly seven-thirty A.M., decked out in their new school uniforms. They stopped in the foyer, where they met with a brown cat wearing the same outfit.
"Hey guys!" Kitty said, smiling. "Glad you're here. Allow me to show you around!" Niki and Sara spent the next twenty minutes following Kitty through the school, as she pointed out each of the classrooms in every hallway. "Let's see…there's the science lab," Kitty trailed off, pointing to one large classroom. "There's a history classroom, there's an English classroom, there's the library, there's a math classroom…Oh! By the way, Kiki, Tangy, and everyone else are here too. We'll all be helping you with…whatever you're here doing."
"Great! We need all the help we can get!" Sara exclaimed, as Kitty continued running useless information about the school off the top of her head. After they finished their tour, they returned to the main hallway of the school, where long rows of red and blue lockers stretched from one end to another.
"And by the way, watch out for Chrissy and the Bratz Catz," Kitty added, lowering her voice. "They're evil!"
"Who?" Niki asked bluntly.
"The Bratz Catz is this nasty clique, led by the queen bee, Chrissy Kingsley," Kitty answered. "They may be the most popular girls in school, but they're total bitches!"
"Good to know," Sara responded, her brown eyes flashing with worry.
"Wait, did you say Kingsley?" Niki asked, after barely absorbing the information given to her. "Whoa, are you guys, like, related or something?"
"No, we just have the same last name," Kitty replied, when a loud, chiming beep sounded. "There's the bell. See ya!"
"Yikes! We have to get our schedules!" Niki exclaimed, as Kitty was running off. "And our lockers! Come on, Sara!" Sara quickly nodded, and the two girls speed walked to the main office, passing a black and red hedgehog and a human girl upon walking through the glass double doors.
"Marissa Tomoe? Really?" the hedgehog asked, a short chuckle escaping his mouth as he looked over at the girl's schedule. "Is that the best you could come up with?"
"Shut up Shadow, I bet _you_ didn't come up with anything better," Marissa retorted.
"You're right, I didn't," Shadow responded, adding another snicker at the end. "Check it out." Marissa tilted her head to glance at Shadow's schedule as he extended it towards her.
"Shadow Awesomeface? Wow," the human replied with a scoff. "Just wow." The bell rang a second time, startling everyone in the halls but them. "Well, I'm heading off to class," Marissa said, turning to leave. "Peace." With that, she pivoted on her feet and walked off, until she slipped inside a miniature classroom marked "Room 205".
"Later," Shadow muttered, before speeding off in the opposite direction.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Niki and Sara sat in two white leather chairs in the main office, as they waited to receive their schedules. After minutes of waiting, the receptionist handed each of them a sheet of paper, with a long list of classes inscribed on each one.<p>
"Thank you!" the girls said in unison as they claimed their schedules and began reading them, looking up in front of them every few seconds as they exited the main office.
"Alright, let's see," Niki started. "You're going to Room 202 for science, while I have to go to Room 205 for history, and then we meet up in Room 201 for math."
"And then we'll see where we go from there," Sara finished for her. "Okay, I'll see you in math, then." Then the girls ran off to find their classrooms, taking off in opposite directions. Seconds later, they turn and head the other way upon realizing that they were going in the wrong direction. They laugh and wave to each other as they pass each other, before they disappear into their classrooms. Niki slowed her walk to a casual stroll as she entered Room 205, where she saw a familiar orange cat with a green leaf atop her head sitting in the front row of the classroom.
"Hey Niki!" the orange cat greeted warmly, before slightly bending over to pull out the chair next to her.
"Hey Tangy!" Niki said, sitting down while simultaneously tossing her bag of books underneath the tiny, wobbly desk. Once she was settled into her seat, Niki peeked around the room to see some of her new classmates, her face that of intrigue as she saw a navy blue bear cub, a white rabbit, a golden furred dog, a white dog, a white cat with a blue face, and a human girl with long, wavy, brown hair, and light blue eyes. Niki brushed a few strands of her perfectly straight blonde hair off her face as she took an extra moment to give the other human, who was seated in the back near the window, a second look, as if she were admiring her, before turning her head back towards the bear cub.
"Poncho's here," Tangy whispered, as she too glanced over at the bear cub. "I remember him always hanging out with Tipper and Bob. We should watch him; he might be a spy for them."
"Of course," Niki replied, stifling a laugh. "They probably sent him here to see if Sara and I showed up to stop their evil little plan! I say ha to that." She turned her head around, and noticed the white, blue-faced cat sitting down one desk over. "Hi," the blonde girl said to the cat, giving a small wave, but then sighed as the cat glared at her and turned away.
"Don't worry about it," Tangy whispered to Niki, referring to the other cat. "That's Mitzi Windsor, a member of the Bratz Catz. She's stuck-up towards everyone."
"I see," Niki responded with a small nod, when their teacher, Mr. Blathers, lazily trudged into the room.
"Good morning class," Mr. Blathers said tiredly while yawning. "Today we're going to be reading about the early civilizations in Animal Crossing. Hoo." Mr. Blathers mumbled a few more words as he collapsed into his desk, before everyone heard loud snores emanating from the brown bird. He was asleep.
"O…kay then…" Niki said, blinking in surprise. "Wow, he sure is tired today."
"Oh no, this happens all the time," Tangy replied. "Probably from all of the late night clubbing he does in the city." Niki took a moment to process this thought, and then turned to gawk at Tangy when she realized what the orange cat just said.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, in Room 202, Sara met up with Kitty again, and the two took their seats in the center of the classroom.<p>
"Hi again," Kitty greeted with a grin. "Awesome we have at least one class together."
"Hi!" Sara responded, as she saw a white cat with yellow eyes enter the room. "Yeah, it is great." The two friends poked their heads around as they watched other students walk in, books in hands and paws.
"Hey, Kiki's here," Kitty said, gesturing to a black cat with yellow eyes, who was being approached by the white cat.
"Hm?" Sara asked, turning around. "Oh wow, I didn't know Kiki was in this class."
"Out of my way, Kiki," the white cat barked. "I sit here. Go away."
"Back off, Olivia," Kitty commanded, standing up and stepping towards the white cat. "Leave her alone."
"Shut up, nerd," Olivia scoffed, turning on Kitty, while Kiki stood there awkwardly.
"Make me, bitch," Kitty shot back.
"Loser," Olivia muttered as she walked away, crossing to the other side of the room.
"Whore," Kitty murmured, sitting back down. "Ugh…that's Olivia Mason, one of the Bratz Catz. Rosie Carlisle and Mitzi Windsor are also in the clique, but the one girl you really have to watch out for is Purrl Furris. She's the leader, next to Chrissy."
"Well okay then," Sara said, trying to sound unfazed by the scene.
Later at lunch, Niki brushed past a few other students to enter the cafeteria, a brown paper bag clutched in her hands. Her eyes scanned the cafeteria, searching for Sara or Kitty, but she didn't see them, or anyone else she knew. She started to walk through the vast room, now looking for any place to sit.
"Niki, over here!"
Niki whirled around, and right behind her, Sara, Kitty, Tangy, Kiki, and their other two friends, a pink dog named Cookie, and an orange dog named Biskit, were all gathered at one large round table. Niki smiled with relief and took a seat in between Sara and Tangy, just as everyone was digging into their lunches. The lunch period rolled by, and they continued to chat and eat, when suddenly they heard a singsong, yet sarcastic voice ring in their ears from behind.
"Well, look who we have here."
Everyone looked up, and they found themselves face to face with four cats and a blonde human girl, who towered over them with menacing grins.
3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3-
"So, I hear these humans are new, eh?" the blonde human questioned, while her feline companions snickered a little. "We could always use some more losers around here to throw our crap at."
"Shut up Chrissy!" Kitty yelled angrily. "You have no business coming over here and bothering us, so get the hell out of here!"
"Oh, stop," Mitzi said. "We're just giving them a warm welcome." As she said this, Rosie and Purrl leaned over and shoved the group's lunches off the table.
"Hey!" Niki exclaimed, while everyone else gasped and groaned. "That was totally uncalled for!"
"Just stay out of our way and don't ruin our fun here, 'kay?" Rosie mocked in a singsong voice, when a human fist smashed into her face, causing her to stumble back. "Ow! Hey!" Niki's and Chrissy's friends both turned their attention to the human who had just decked the blue cat. Marissa.
"I'm sorry, who died and made you queen bee?" the brunette asked sarcastically, before kicking Purrl in the gut.
"Hmph! Well, see ya!" Chrissy said, winking, as she, Mitzi, and Olivia started to walk away, fake giggling, while Purrl and Rosie writhed on the floor in pain, when Marissa's hand collided with Olivia's face, with much force. The white cat yelped and leaped backwards, before bending down to pull Rosie and Purrl to their feet. Chrissy and Purrl gaped at their friends in surprise, until they were lifted off the ground by their arms and flipped over, hitting the ground with a loud _crash_. The other students in the cafeteria watched in shock and awe as Marissa started out of the room, when they began clapping, starting off slowly, but progressing into a loud applause. Chrissy and her crew quickly ambled to their feet and speed walked out of the opposite doors of the cafeteria, humiliated as they felt their egos bruising up.
"Those little…" Sara murmured. "Now I know why they're called the _Bratz_ Catz. But shit, that was awesome! Wasn't it, Niki- wait, Niki?" Sara had turned to address her friend, when she realized that she was no longer sitting beside her. "Hey, where did she go?" the black-haired girl wondered, scratching her head.
"Dude, that was amazing!" Niki exclaimed as she followed Marissa out of the cafeteria, her pace quickening as she tried to catch up to her. "Thanks a lot for that one, my friends and I really appreciate it."
"Uh, sure, no problem," Marissa replied, her back to the blonde human. "It was nothing, really. I can't stand snotty girls like that, so I had to teach them a lesson."
"Yeah, they annoy me too," Niki responded. "By the way, I think I've seen you in my history class, but I never got your name."
"Marissa," Marissa answered blankly. "Marissa Tomoe."
"Cool! My name's Niki. Niki Harley," Niki replied, grinning. "Say, can I call you M-Dawg?"
"No, no you may not," Marissa answered emotionlessly.
"Please?" Niki pleaded jokingly. "Pretty please?"
"No," Marissa answered flatly, when she noticed a black and red blur zoom past one corner of the hallway, turning onto another. "I have to go now. See you in class." With that, Marissa took off, heading in the direction of the speedy blur.
"Okay, see you later!" Niki said, smiling and waving, before lowering her voice to a mutter. "M-Dawg."
"WHAT WAS THAT?" The brunette girl called out behind her with annoyance.
"Nothing! Later!" Niki replied, before she ran off in a fit of giggles. Marissa rolled her eyes and continued on her way, until she caught up with the blur, who turned out to be none other than Shadow.
"Making some friends, are we, M-Dawg?" Shadow said teasingly.
"Don't you even start on that horribly obnoxious nickname," Marissa snapped.
"Fine," Shadow responded. "Anyway, I saw what you did in the cafeteria awhile ago, and there's a video of it on YouTube already. At least five hundred people have seen it, and it's gaining more views by the second."
"Bitchy girls like that really piss me off," Marissa said. "They drive me up a fucking wall."
"We don't want you getting sidetracked from our mission," Shadow reminded her. "And we certainly don't want you blowing our cover, so try to lay low and stay focused on the mission."
"Right, the mission," Marissa repeated. "Of course."
4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4-
Cookie and Biskit had gone to history class, while Kiki and Tangy left for their science class. As the bell rang, Niki, Sara, and Kitty arrived in a kitchen like classroom for home economics and took their seats at a large, square table. Sitting at the table behind them was Rosie, as well as two human girls, one with green ponytailed hair and green eyes, and one with blonde, curly hair and brown eyes. They had easygoing, carefree smiles on their faces, as if being at a table with one of the meanest girls in school didn't bother them. At the table across from them were three more human girls: the first with red poufy hair, with a tad of frizz to it, and brown eyes, the second with wavy, ponytailed blonde hair and purple eyes, and the third with short brown hair and grayish-blue eyes. Behind those girls were a light brown koala of medium height, a petite white rabbit, and a darker brown cow who towered above her tablemates. Niki looked around to check out the room décor, which consisted only of shelves of cooking utensils and trays, when she glanced down at her own table. Laid out before her, and everyone else, were tin sheets, a roll of dough, a bag of chocolate chips, and various other standard ingredients, as well as random cooking appliances, such as a mixer, a bowl, and oven mitts.
"Oh, boy! We're making cookies today!" Niki exclaimed happily, her mouth watering at the thought.
"Yay! I love cookies!" the blonde girl sitting behind her cheered. "They're the greatest thing since sliced bread!"
"Totally!" Niki agreed, turning around to face her classmate and shake hands. "Hi, I'm Niki Harley."
"Katrina Kingsley," the other girl replied with a friendly smile. "And this is my friend, Thorn Burg. She's a freshman, but I'm a senior here, just clogging up my schedule with electives now that I've fulfilled most of my graduation requirements."
"Sounds fun," Niki said with a laugh, before gesturing to her friends, first the curly dark-haired human, then the brown cat. "These are my friends, Sara Asyter, and Kitty Kingsley. Are you two related by any chance?"
"No, Niki," Kitty answered. "We just share a last name."
"Obviously not, Niki," Sara said. "They don't even look like. One of them is a human, and the other one is a cat."
"Maybe one of them was adopted?" Niki suggested. Sara facepalmed.
"No, Niki, just no," Sara mumbled, grabbing the mixer and bowl. Niki tossed in the flour, sugar, baking soda, and chocolate chips, as Sara plugged the mixer into a nearby outlet. Sara took the bowl and turned on the mixer, but nothing happened.
"Huh?" Sara asked, flipping the power switch on and off for a few seconds. "Is this thing broken or something?"
"I know! Let's use this!" Niki proposed, reaching over and picking up a blender.
"Niki, are you sure that's a good idea?" Kitty asked, unsure whether to be amused or confused.
"Positive!" Niki answered, pouring the contents of the bowl into the blender. "This basically does the same job as a mixer, only faster!"
"Hold on, let me get the lid," Kitty said, reaching over to the counter where the blender was originally resting, but Niki had already turned the device on. Cookie dough splattered across the room, onto walls, and onto the faces and uniforms of the girls. Sara pressed the off button on the blender, before she joined in with the other girls as they stared down at themselves in horror.
"Heheh, oops," Niki said, taking the lid from Kitty and placing it on top of the blender, oblivious to the death glares she was receiving from the other girls.
"Nice," Sara muttered, clearly irritated by her friend's carelessness. Kitty poured what was left over from the blender back into the bowl, before nudging the bowl in Sara's direction.
"Here, Sara, you can stir," Kitty said, handing Sara the wooden spoon.
"Okay," Sara said, easing up as she stirred really fast, before they started placing blobs of dough onto their tin sheets. They filled up both trays, and then Sara took it to the oven and placed the trays in. Twenty minutes later, the cookies were golden brown.
"Ooh, those look good!" Niki squealed, starting to drool.
"Please, Niki. I'd rather not have the cookies become soggy from your saliva," Sara said, pushing the trays away from Niki. "But yeah, they do."
"Katrina's, Thorn's, and Rosie's look good too," Kitty commented, pointing to Thorn, who was holding a plate of sugar cookies. Niki and Sara took notice of this too, and so the class spent the rest of the period tasting each other's cookies, and they all turned out to be delicious.
* * *
><p>Later after school, Niki, Sara, Kitty, and Tangy were hanging out in Niki's classical themed bedroom, chatting as they did their homework.<p>
"Hey guys, you'll never guess what I just heard earlier today!" Kitty began as she was reading through her biology textbook. "Apparently Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends were sent on the same mission, and will be going to our school!"
"Really? That's awesome!" Niki exclaimed.
"Sweet!" Tangy chimed in.
"So, do Sonic and his friends start tomorrow?" Sara asked Kitty.
"Yeah," Kitty replied as she closed her book and tossed it aside, before picking up her history textbook. "Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge will all be there tomorrow morning." Everyone paused to ponder this new information, before continuing with their homework.
"Yay! We're done!" Niki cheered, as she dumped most of her books off the bed, some landing in her glittery red backpack, others missing and hitting the floor with loud _thud_s.
"Alright! Finally!" Tangy said, collecting her books and stuffing them into her orange and green, polka-dot oversized purse, designed by GracieGrace herself, which doubled as her backpack. "Let's get some McDonald's!"
"Yeah!" Everyone else called out in agreement, as they too packed their belongings into their backpacks, before dashing out the door.
5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5-
The next day, Niki walked into gym class and peered around the room at her classmates, when she noticed an orange two-tailed fox. _It's Tails! Oh my gosh! _Niki thought as she glanced up a little, when she realized that he was looking back at her.
"Hi!" the human girl said with a warm smile.
"Hi," the kitsune replied, returning the smile, when the shiny, red, rubber ball he was holding slipped through his fingers, rolling away.
"Hey, look! It's Tails from the Sonic team!" Poncho yelled, chucking a ball at Tails' head with excessive force. "Let's get him!"
"Uh oh. Dodgeball," Niki muttered. "Poor kid, he's totally screwed."
"Yeah! He's such a nerd!" Patty chimed in, throwing her ball at Tails' face.
"Ow!" Tails yelped in pain, as he stumbled onto the cold, shiny, hardwood floor.
"Haha, oh my God, that was funny as hell!" Niki exclaimed with laughter, holding her sides while she stood next to the home bleachers, when she shook her head and cut the giggles. "Wait, what am I saying? That's not nice! Hey! You leave him alone!" She stepped forward, facing the bullies. Poncho let out a "Hmph!" as he whipped a ball at the blonde, but she caught it. Niki glanced around, smirked, and then whipped the ball back. It ricocheted off the bleachers and hit both of them at once.
"Ow!" Poncho and Patty yelled in unison as they toppled over.
"That should take care of them," Niki said proudly, dusting herself off before going to help Tails to his feet. "Are you alright, kid?"
"Y-Yeah...I'm fine," Tails replied, getting up. "Thanks!"
"No problem!" Niki responded, smiling, when the bell rang. "Oh look, I have to go. I'll see you around!" With that said, Niki ran out of the gym and into the girls' locker room to change clothes before heading for her next class: algebra.
* * *
><p>Niki entered the classroom, books in hands, and was greeted by all of her friends. Unbeknownst to her, Tails was trailing behind her, waving to all of his friends. It was only when they sat down next to each other that they realized that they had another class together.<p>
"Oh, hey there," Niki said, slightly creeped out. "Are you following me? Or are we just in the same math class?"
"We're in the same math class," Tails answered, only half-acknowledging the joke. The class looked up and realized that their teacher, Mrs. Freya, had written a dozen math problems for them to do on their own. Everyone else worked independently, but unfortunately for Kiki, she wasn't so good at math. Twenty minutes have passed, and she is still stuck on the first problem, clueless as she wondered what to do.
"Shit, I suck at this," Kiki mumbled as she stared into her purple spiraled notebook, which was mostly filled with her random doodles.
"Do you, uh, want some help?" Tails asked the black cat, leaning over Niki to see her progress.
"That would be appreciated, thank you," Kiki answered, scratching her head. The young cat watched in amazement as Tails showed her step by step how to solve every problem.
"Hey, thanks Tails!" Kiki said gratefully. "Algebra sucks a little less now."
"Heh, no problem," the fox replied, scratching his head, when the bell rang. Lunch time!
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, in a tiny orange and brown house secluded to the far back corner of Rosebud, a black and white spotted cow wearing a rainbow shirt and a purple cat wearing a blossom shirt were giggling manically as they put together a mysterious, odd-looking contraption that looked like a deformed robot.<p>
"Excellent!" the cow exclaimed as she screwed in every nut and bolt to secure them. "Once I finish building this, we'll be able to brainwash those preppy Animon kids."
"Cool beans!" the cat said, his voice muffled by him chewing on a wrench. "Wait, how does it work again?"
"Ugh, Bob, I thought I explained this to you already," the cow answered, disapproving of her minion's cluelessness. "You're going to plant this machine in the main vent of the school's ventilation system, and it will release a poison that will brainwash the students into being my army for world domination."
"Ohhhhh," Bob responded as he grasped this information. "Neat! Wait, Miss Tipper Cow Lady, why am I going through the vents to plant the machine?"
"Err, um," Tipper began, thinking. "Because I said so. Now, let's get back to work. We have much to do before we can put our plan into action."
"Yes sir!" Bob said with a quick salute, when he noticed Tipper's disdainful expression. "Uh, I mean ma'am…" Bob laughed nervously as he ran off to find more tools and machine parts to continue their work.
* * *
><p>Later that evening, Niki, Sara, Kitty, and Tangy were instant-messaging each other in a public online chat room.<p>
Sweetcookie77 (Niki): so what has everyone been doing? has anyone learned any info for the…you know…that thing we're doing…?
Iownyou (Sara): I learned that the superintendent works off campus, and by that I mean off campus…weird right?
KittycatKitty (Kitty): yeah that's very suspicious
JustinBieber's_girlfriend_4life (Tangy): you know what else I find suspicious? That other new girl Marissa…
Iownyou: I don't know, maybe…but mysterious doesn't mean suspicious…
KittycatKitty: you know I've been getting strange vibes from her too…maybe we should be on to her?
Sweetcookie77: who, M-Dawg? she seemed nice to me.
KittycatKitty: M-Dawg?
Iownyou: I agree, there's something weird about her.
_Twilightheart has logged on_
Twilightheart (Marissa): you know, I can read everything you're saying. (you know, just saying)
JustinBieber's_girlfriend_4life: …awkward…
Twilightheart: yes…awkward.
Sweetcookie77: quick! everyone off the computer!
The girls quickly logged out, leaving Marissa to spam and troll that and other chat rooms on the internet.
Twilightheart: trolololol
6. Chapter 6
Chapter 6-
The next day, Kitty was sitting down in history class, front and center. She saw from the corner of her eye a black and red hedgehog walking in, followed by a trio of human girls that she recognized from her cooking class: Thorn, the red-headed girl who she later learned was known as Madeline Axon, and another blonde girl identified as Sabrina Axoff. The brown cat opened her green and blue striped composition notebook in preparation of the day's lecture and notes, when her ears began to twitch upon her picking up the sound of the group's conversation.
"Shadow, you're so cute!" Thorn gushed, as she took a seat behind Kitty.
"Shadow, you're hot!" Madeline exclaimed. _Poor girls…_ Kitty thought. _They're clearly oblivious to guys and how they are douches. This guy is probably the biggest douche of them all…He must be the king of-_
"Why hello there."
Kitty had apparently zoned out as she was skimming her notes, but was jolted back to reality when a deep voice sounded next to her. Her body slightly jumped in her chair, with her letting out a small _eep_, surprised by the sudden approach. Only slightly irritated by the distraction, Kitty turned her head to see who was talking to her, and forced back a shocked expression when she realized it was the hedgehog that the girls were talking to. He was sitting in the chair to her left, only he had somehow scooted over so that he was sitting right next to her.
"Uh, hi," Kitty responded softly, her body tensing up a little as she leaned away. "Can I help you?"
"Certainly," the hedgehog answered, grinning. "I couldn't help but notice you sitting here, and how cute you are."
"Um, okay," Kitty replied skeptically. "Uh, yeah. Who are you exactly…?"
"Oh, how rude of me for not introducing myself, but I figured you'd probably already know," the hedgehog said, waving a hand in the air to smooth over his black and red spiked quills. "My name is Shadow, and you are…?"
"Kitty," the cat answered, as she tried to return her attention to her notes, only for Shadow to further fix his attention on her by inching closer. "Uh, what are you doing?"
"If you were a booger, I'd pick you first," Shadow said cheekily, complete with a cheesy smile.
"Gross," Kitty retorted, rolling her eyes. "If you were a soccer ball, I'd kick you first."
"Ooh, burn," Shadow responded, pretending to cringe as if he was actually hurt. _What a tool… _Kitty commented in her mind, when the teacher, Mrs. Friga, entered the room and began rambling about the early Animal Crossers' mail system, followed by their invention of the message in a bottle system. _Thank God…_ For both a gain in knowledge and an incentive for ignoring Shadow, Kitty began scribbling in her notebook, recording every last piece of information her teacher was giving her.
* * *
><p>Later at lunch, Kitty joined her friends at their usual table, when a large group of animals of all sorts of colors approached them.<p>
"Hey guys! Coming through!" a blue hedgehog, called out as he slid his lunch tray to the opposite end of the table, before strutting over there to claim it. He was decked out in a red and blue varsity sports jacket, with his name engraved on the chest and "Animon Cross-Country" plus an image of running shoes embed on the back, a red baseball cap that was turned around backwards, black rectangular sunglasses, and red and white sneakers. "Name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog," the blue hedgehog said as he sat down, followed by the rest of his friends.
"I think you guys already know me, but I'm Miles Prower, also known as Tails," the orange fox said, taking a seat next to Sonic.
"Wait, Miles Prower?" Tangy inquired, smiling fairly widely. "You mean, as in miles per ho-"
"Yes, that," Tails answered curtly, as he searched through his _Toy Story_ themed lunchbox for his dead rabbit and tomato sandwich.
"Yeah, uh, sorry," a pink hedgehog whispered into the orange cat's ear. "He gets really annoyed when people mention that. It happens to him all the time."
"Oops, my bad," Tangy replied, before biting into her tuna sandwich. "I'm Tangy, by the way."
"Cool, name's Amy," the hedgehog girl responded with a smile. "Amy Rose. And don't worry about it, it's totally fine." Amy then dashed over to the other side of the table and tackled Sonic, nearly knocking him off his seat. "Sonikku!"
"Ack! Get off me before I call the cops!" Sonic cried out in protest.
"Oh, Sonic, you know you love me," Amy coaxed, hugging him tighter.
"No," Sonic responded, his face starting to turn blue (wait, he's already blue – purple then) from his air being cut off by the tightness of the hug. "No I don't." Barely glancing at the spectacle of the two hedgehogs, a red echidna took a seat in between Tails and Tangy.
"The name's Knuckles. Knuckles the Echidna," the echidna said, jabbing at Sonic. "And it looks like you've already met my douchebag friend, Sonic."
"Hey! I am not a douchebag!" Sonic exclaimed, once Amy_ finally_ let go of him. "I'm cool!"
"Dude, look at what you're wearing!" Knuckles said, eyeing up his friend's ridiculous attire. "You look like such a tool!"
"Aw, come off it, Knuckles," a white bat responded while walking over to join the oversized group. "He's just really into the high school scene, that's all. Hey guys, I'm Rouge the Bat."
"Yeah, Knuckles," Sonic said in between bites of his chilidog. "I'm having fun with it."
"You can do it without looking ridiculous and embarrassing yourself," Knuckles said, grumbling. "And us as well sometimes." Everyone else was watching the conversation with lowered giggles as they ate their lunches. They continued chatting for the entire lunch period, until the bell rang, startling them all as they realized that they were due at their next classes for the afternoon.
7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7-
Niki and her friends were walking through the halls after finishing their lunch, when a flash of pink caught their eyes. They stopped at the large bulletin board hung outside of the main office as they scanned it to find the pink they saw, when they came across a hot pink poster taped to the board. The poster read "Come show off your stuff!" written in silver, glittery letters at the top, and surrounding the message below were a slew of stickers, such as microphones, music notes, dancing shoes, and other symbols relating to theater. Their eyes darted from the board to each other as Niki and Kitty began to read it. Sara and Tangy leaned in closer as well, to avoid being shoved into the wall by the oncoming traffic of students hustling and bustling behind them, as if there were in the big city as opposed to an ordinary but extraordinary preparatory high school.
"You there! With the face!" Niki began, eyeing the poster. "Yeah, and the guy behind you! Do you have an awesome talent that you want to share with everyone?"
"Then come try out for the Animon High Annual Talent Show!" Kitty continued, her eyes not leaving the advertisement. "Auditions will be held on Wednesday, September 21st, and Thursday, September 22nd, from three to five PM. We hope to see you there!"
"I think you and Sara should enter the talent show!" Tangy suggested, gesturing an orange paw to Niki.
"Oh, I don't know," Sara responded, scratching her head. "What would we do?"
"Well, Niki's a good singer, and you can play the drums," Tangy answered. "Maybe you guys could form a band! You'd just need someone who can play the guitar."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Niki exclaimed, patting the citrus cat on the back. "Let's do it!"
"But where would we find someone to play the guitar for us?" Sara asked. "We don't know anyone who plays the guitar."
"Leave that to me," Niki replied, giving her friend a thumbs-up. "I'll get right on that."
"Oh, hell no," a female voice said. The girls turned around and saw Chrissy, along with her crew, who had been walking by and overhearing their conversation, standing behind them.
"Oh really?" Kitty inquired, stepping forward to get in Chrissy's face. "And why not?"
"Well, we're going to win," Chrissy replied, glowering. "We win every year."
"Yeah, it's our show, and we don't want any losers ruining it for us," Purrl piped up snootily.
"What, you're afraid to lose?" Niki questioned, crossing her arms smugly.
"Of course not," Chrissy replied with a toss of her golden locks. "We just don't want you losers to embarrass yourselves to take the attention away from us. So stay out of our show!"
"Bitch, get a life," Niki retorted, more to herself since Chrissy and her clique had walked away, when Katrina walked over, after listening in on the encounter.
"I think you guys could do it," she said encouragingly. "I might enter with my awesome piano skills, but you would be great too."
"Thanks Katrina!" Sara said graciously.
"Oh, hi guys!" a green-haired girl greeted upon arriving at the scene. "Yeah, I totally agree with Kat, you totally should enter! It's about time that someone upstaged Chrissy and her bandwagon of bitches." It was Thorn.
"Alright! It's settled," Niki said, briefly clapping her hands together. "I'll look for a guitarist during lunch, while you, Sara, make a list of possible songs we should perform."
"You got it!" Sara said, already beginning to formulate a list in her mind. The bell rang, so the girls took this as a sign to split up and head for their next class.
* * *
><p>An hour and a half later, the bell rang, dismissing the students from their fourth period class. Struggling to keep her tall stack of books balanced and in her arms, Niki trudged through the hallway, searching for Room 407 to make it to her English class, when a melodious strum of the guitar stopped her in her tracks. Quickly but carefully, Niki backtracked to find the source of the sound, when she found herself stopping in front of the band room. She poked her head inside, gasping with surprise to find Marissa sitting in a blue chair, plucking at a few strings on a red, metal guitar as she hummed the tune to herself. <em>Hey, that's Go K.K. Rider! <em>Niki exclaimed to herself. _Wow, impressive!_ Before she could go further into her thoughts, the blonde girl realized that the music had stopped, and the brunette was staring at her, as if she had interrupted her private jam session.
"Uh, can I help you?" Marissa asked with raised eyebrows.
"Um, no. Well, sort of, actually. Yeah," Niki answered, nearly at a loss for words. "Say, you're really good!"
"Thanks," the other human girl responded, cracking a small smile. "I've been playing for awhile now."
"Neat! Yeah, so, I happened to catch some of the notes you were playing, so I came in here to check it out," Niki said, her nerves growing. "And I was wondering…you see, my friend and I were planning on entering the school talent show as a band, but we need a guitarist. Do you think you would want to play in our band with us?"
"Hmm…interesting," Marissa replied, starting to think. "Sounds fun. Maybe. Let me think about it."
"Awesome! Great!" Niki said, a hopeful smile on her face. "Just get back to me on it. We're having rehearsal Saturday afternoon at my house, so you can also come by with your instrument if you want." The bell sounded again, echoing everywhere in the school. "Oh, crap! I have to go, need to get to class! I'll see you later!" With that, Niki adjusted her grip on her books, exited the band room, and rushed off to class.
"Alright, see you," Marissa said as she put her guitar away in its bulky, heavy case, when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She zipped her case shut before checking her phone to read a text from Shadow.
**Don't forget about what we're doing this afternoon. Meet me in the main office at 3.**
"Ah, yes," the girl mumbled to herself. "This afternoon. That reminds me…"
8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8-
Later after school, at three o'clock sharp, Marissa crept into the now empty office, peering around at the purple and yellow polka-dot walls and the fuzzy yellow carpet. Oddly enough, computers were left turned on, books remained lying around on each secretary's desk and even every closet or storage space was left unlocked. Items that were lost and brought to the office sat on display in the window on the left. _So much for security… _Marissa said in her mind.
"Right on time," Shadow said from behind as he closed the door and pulled the opaque, beige shades down. "And we have the place to ourselves. Perfect."
"Obviously," Marissa responded curtly. "Now, let's get moving. Who knows how much time we have in here, so let's do this quickly. What do we need to find first?"
"You look for files on the history of the school, find out how the system works," Shadow instructed. "I'm going to hack the computer system and try to find an opening where we can complete the rest of the doctor's plans."
"Don't forget to _find the computer room_!" Marissa joked as the two began typing on the secretary's computers.
"Funny," Shadow commented, cracking a quick smile as he started guessing the school password. A few minutes of silence loomed over the two, until Marissa spoke up again.
"Okay, here we go," Marissa began, reading off her computer screen. "Animon High was founded in the summer of 2001 by a guy named Bob Billy-Bob, one of the founders of Rosebud. Initially created as a public school, Animon High had a large enrollment, but as the school advanced their technology and curriculum, it quickly became private, accepting very few students each year."
"Hmmm, interesting," Shadow mused thoughtfully. "So the kids we're dealing with must be real intelligent if the place is _this _exclusive. Still, taking control of the school won't be _that _hard, but there could be someone who might interfere. Like this one girl I know from my history class, Kitty Kingsley."
"Kitty?" Marissa questioned, remembering the brown cat from some of her own classes. "Yeah, I know her. She _does _appear somewhat suspicious. Her and that orange cat, Tangy Brighton."
"You see it too," Shadow said with a small nod. "I've been trying to uh, befriend Kitty for a little bit of time, but she won't have it. Weird, every other girl seems to like me."
"Maybe she's playing hard to get," Marissa suggested, snickering. "Or maybe she just doesn't like you."
"Impossible. I'm too awesome," Shadow retorted. "There's no way any girl could-"
"Shadow! Marissa! Report back to the base immediately!" Eggman commanded, his deep, crackling voice emanating from Shadow's communicator that posed as a watch. "I have important business to dispatch to you." Shadow and Marissa glanced at each other knowingly and nodded.
"Let's go," Shadow said, before looking down to address Eggman. "We'll be right there."
"This conversation isn't over yet," Marissa responded cheekily. Shadow rolled his eyes as he pulled out a green Chaos Emerald, while his companion pulled out a red one. Two held up their Chaos Emeralds as a bright, white light shone above them.
"Chaos Control!"
* * *
><p>"There you two are," the morbidly obese commander greeted, pushing up his dark shaded glasses as his two minions entered the room; he was able to make out their figures surprisingly well, considering that the room was only lit by the lights radiating from his computers, his random machines, and mismatched robots that cluttered the place. "I have a plan."<p>
"This should be good," Marissa muttered, a drop of sarcasm in her voice.
"The ultimate opportunity has dawned upon us," the fat man continued. "Next Friday is Animon High's annual talent show. The whole school will be there, distracted, so that will be our chance to strike!"
"How?" Shadow inquired skeptically.
"We're going to provide the band acts with special instruments that, when plugged into the speakers, will give off brainwashing sound waves!" Eggman answered proudly.
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Marissa queried. "The performers might not want to use your instruments-"
"Of course it's going to work!" Eggman snapped. "This is practically foolproof!"
"But that's what you said about the time-" when Eggman cut her off again.
"Never mind that! I have it all figured out this time! Not even that pesky blue hedgehog can stop me!"
"Uh-huh," Shadow and Marissa mumbled. "Oh yeah, sure…"
* * *
><p>"Ah, yes, the talent show!" Tipper said, reading a copy of the advertising poster from school while lounging on her gorgeous sofa. "Now is our opportunity to strike!" Lying on her back, she fully stretched out her arms and legs to find a more comfortable position.<p>
"Ooh, ooh, I wanna be in the talent show!" Bob chimed in, twirling around. "I can sing! !" The note was held for so long, and so loud that by the time his voice started to crack, every window in the house had shattered.
"My windows!" Tipper cried angrily. "Bob, you're going to pay for those!"
"Okie dokie!" Bob replied in a singsong voice.
"Anyway, here's what we're going to do," Tipper began after shaking her head. "While everyone is in the gym watching the show, you're going to tour through the rest of the school, planting our brainwashing devices into the air vents, while I'm going to sneak into the main office, the school store, the athletic office, and any other office I can find and steal all of their money. Animon won't be able to function properly if they're broke!"
"You got it, boss!" Bob responded with a salute.
"Don't do that," Tipper said critically.
"Okie dokie!" Bob replied, nodding vigorously.
"Don't do that either," Tipper added.
"Sorry."
"Now, we must get back to work," Tipper commanded. "We have much to do before next Friday."
"What's next Friday?" Bob asked, tilting his head in confusion. Tipper facepalmed.
"The talent show, you idiot."
"Oh, right, right." Bob said, bobbing his head as he nodded again. "Derp."
9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9-
Saturday afternoon, right after lunch, Niki and Sara were in Niki's Gracie-themed basement, tuning their instruments after plugging them into their amplifier systems.
"So, have you decided on a song for us to perform?" Niki asked her friend, who was sorting through a butterfly-themed folder filled with sheet music and corresponding lyrics.
"I think so. Almost," Sara replied absent-mindedly as she skimmed paper after paper. "I've narrowed our choices down to three songs, but now I can't decide on what we should do."
"Well, let me see," Niki responded, gently propping up her own acoustic guitar on its stand, before walking up behind her friend to read through her materials. "So it's between Girlfriend, Stereo Hearts, and The Power of Love. Okay, well how about we run through each song, see what sounds good and what doesn't, and then we'll decide."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Sara answered with a nod. "Alright, we'll do that, then." At that moment, the girls heard a faint _thump_ing sound coming down through the ceiling. "Hey, what's that?" Sara asked, slightly startled by the sudden noise. They heard it three more times, until Niki realized that someone was knocking at the door. The blonde human ran upstairs to answer it, while Sara stayed downstairs to set up the sheet music and lyrics for the first song they were doing, Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.
"Hey! Oh my gosh, you made it!" Niki exclaimed happily upon opening the door. "I'm so glad! Please, come right in. We're in the basement, just finishing tuning our instruments and setting up."
"Cool, thanks for having me."
"Anytime, girl!" Niki replied joyously. "Come, follow me!" Niki stepped aside, allowing her guest to enter, guitar in case, held tightly in hands. The two girls turned and descended the stairs into Niki's basement, where Sara was sitting in a tiny red stool in front of her pink, metallic drum set, drumsticks in hand and ready to go.
"Hey Sara, Marissa's here," Niki said, as she picked up her guitar, while Marissa extracted hers from its case and began to tune it.
"Oh, cool!" Sara replied, smiling at Marissa. "Glad to have you, Marissa."
"Thanks," Marissa responded, nodding at Sara once she finished tuning her guitar and placed the strap around her neck. "Happy to be here."
"Alright, are we all ready?" Niki asked, looking around the room and seeing the other two girls nod at her. "Awesome! Let's rock!" With their eyes closely darting between their sheet music, lyrics, and instruments, the girls started playing.
"Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend!" Niki belted out. "Hey, hey, you, you I think you need a new one! Hey, hey, you, you, I could be your girlfriend!" Sara and Marissa jammed on their instruments behind Niki, as they continued rocking out to the song, up until the very last note and lyric.
"Wow, Marissa, you're really good!" Sara commented, stretching out her arms and fingers. "Okay, so what did you guys think? I thought it was good, but if we pick this song, then we'd have to practice it _a lot_."
"Yeah, you're right," Niki replied. "Not only is it a tough song, but everyone knows Avril Lavigne and loves her and this song, so it has to be perfect, or else they'll throw rotten tomatoes at us."
"Oh, I don't think they'll go to _that_ extreme," Marissa said. "What's the next song?"
"Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes," Niki answered. "Let's do that one." Everyone nodded and prepared themselves, hands lingering over their instruments.
"1! 2! 3! 4!"
* * *
><p>Later that night, Tangy was in her citrus themed bedroom, lying on her stomach on her pineapple bed, shoveling Cheerios into her mouth while watching the <em>Animal X Factor <em>results show. Her cell phone rang, letting out a loud, obnoxious jingle that startled Tangy and nearly caused her to spill her cereal. Tangy breathed a sigh of relief as she placed her bowl on the watermelon chair in front of her before picking up her phone.
"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT INTERESTED IN BUYING WHATEVER USELESS SHIT YOU'RE TRYING TO SELL ME, SO QUIT CALLING ME!"
"Tangy?"
"Oh, hey Kitty!"
"Listen, I found out something crazy! You will _not _believe this!"
"Oh really? What is it?"
"I was walking through Rosebud, and when I was walking past Tipper's house, I could see and hear in her window that she and Bob were going through this plan of theirs to brainwash the students at Animon!"
"Oh my God!" Tangy exclaimed, her jaw dropping to the floor.
"I know!" Kitty bellowed from the other end.
"Serena was eliminated!" Tangy cried, her eyes pressed to her robo TV, the only non-citrus furniture piece in her room.
"What the hell?" Kitty asked, frowning in her voice. "Tangy, are you listening?"
"Yeah, of course I was!" Tangy answered absent-mindedly.
"What did I say then?" Kitty inquired sternly.
"Oh, just something about uh, some brainwashing plans of Tipper and Bob's." Tangy replied, focusing more of her attention on Kitty now that her program had gone to commercial.
"Yeah! Tipper's sending Bob into the school to activate some kind of brainwashing device!" Kitty yelled into the phone.
"Oh my God!"
"Who got eliminated this time?"
"Oh, nobody. The show's on a commercial break, so that one was legit."
"Right…"
"But I can't believe Tipper and Bob are plotting something big like that!" Tangy said, before directing her attention back to her TV. "Oh, show's back on. Gotta go Kit!"
* * *
><p>Then Kitty phoned Kiki, Sara, and Niki, putting them all on a four-way call.<p>
"No way!" Kiki exclaimed when she heard the news.
"I can't believe it!" Sara shrieked, her voice rising to a high-pitched squeak.
"That's what Tangy said!" Kitty said to them all.
"Do you know when they're going to carry out this plan?" Niki asked, the concern clear in her voice.
"Nope," Kitty answered, her voice wavering with uncertainty. "I hadn't planned on spying, and besides, I couldn't stay long anyway. God forbid they caught me outside her house. But it could be happening any day, any time!"
"Well then, I guess we'll just have to be ready for it," Niki responded. The conversation fell silent on all four ends.
10. Chapter 10
Chapter 10-
The next day, Thorn, Katrina, Madeline, and Rouge met up in the cafeteria for lunch, snagging a table by the large window towards the back of the lunchroom.
"Ugh, I hate these uniforms," Rouge whined as she started poking at her Caesar salad with her fork. "I got sent to the Dean's office for showing too much cleavage."
"We can see why," Madeline said, trying not to laugh as she opened her brown paper bag and started digging through it.
"Katrina, are you entering the talent show?" Thorn asked.
"No, I'll just watch," Katrina replied, before turning towards the red-haired girl sitting next to her. "How about you, Madeline?"
"I'm hosting the talent show, actually," Madeline answered proudly, smiling as she beamed. "So you know I'll be there."
"Wow, that's awesome, Madeline!" Thorn exclaimed, patting her friend on the shoulder. "Hosting the talent show is a sweet gig!"
"Thanks, I know!" Madeline responded after biting into her ham and cheese sandwich. "It's going to be great!"
* * *
><p>"The talent show is this Friday!" Tipper exclaimed happily, clapping her hooves with glee. "This is going to be when we take over Animon High!"<p>
"Wheeeeeeeee! Super Bob!" Bob called out as he flew around the "secret base", swinging on a jump-rope tied to the ceiling fan in his silky red cape and black mask, when he slammed into the wall behind his cow accomplice. "Ow!"
"Quit messing around Bob!" Tipper yelled. "We've got work to do! We need to make sure that those powder puffs don't stop us, and figure out how to catch them if we need to!"
"But it's easy, Tipper," Bob said. "You just go to Dunkin' Donuts and-"
"Not _those_ powder puffs, you imbecile!" Tipper snapped, when her mouth started to water. "But I am in the mood for some! Let's go!" So Tipper and Bob ran to Dunkin' Donuts, located behind Nook's shop, and stole a dozen powdered donuts from the back of the shop. When they got back, they hungrily shoved the donuts into their mouths like savages, before turning on the TV to watch an old rerun of _General Hospital_.
* * *
><p>Later after school, Niki, Sara, and Marissa met up at Niki's house for another rehearsal, as the big night continued to loom over their heads. After finally agreeing on a song and running through it a few times, Niki and Sara ran upstairs to Niki's bedroom.<p>
"Be right back, Marissa!" Niki called behind her, before disappearing to the ground floor. Marissa didn't have to wait long, before the two girls returned, bursting in holding flashy pink t-shirts, dark denim skirts, and black, leather boots that equaled the size of a short pair of Uggs.
"Marissa!" Sara exclaimed, handing the brunette an outfit in her size. "Check out these awesome costumes Niki and I picked out. They're totally awesome, right?"
"Uh, yeah, awesome," Marissa replied, her eyes widening as she stared at the costume in horror. "You don't think these are too girly, do you?"
"Too girly? No way!" Niki answered, grinning. "They're perfect! They're going to look great on us!"
"Whatever you say," Marissa responded, her face turning from one of horror to one of amusement, trying not to laugh as she folded up her new clothes and placed them next to her guitar case.
"Okay, girls, let's run through it one more time, and then we'll call it a day," Niki said, grabbing her guitar and her microphone. "Then maybe we can grab some pizza and see a movie."
"Sounds good to me!" Sara replied, sitting down before her drums and picking up her drumsticks. "1! 2! 3! 4!" Then they started playing.
* * *
><p>Kitty sat alone at The Roost, sipping a cup of Brewster's famous Pigeon Blend while flipping through her history textbook and notebook. Brewster was playing and humming along to K.K. Slider's song, "Only Me", the music echoing throughout the tiny café as he washed a small load of dishes.<p>
"Is this seat taken?"
Kitty glanced up from her studying, and standing across the table was Shadow the Hedgehog. He grinned at her as he took a seat next to her and leaned over her shoulder to see what she was reading.
"Oh, hey Shadow," Kitty said, glancing up at the hedgehog briefly. She looked back down at her notes in case she blushed to avoid Shadow seeing her cheeks turn red.
"History, eh?" Shadow asked, scanning Kitty's notes.
"Yeah, we have a history test tomorrow, you know," Kitty answered, smiling as a short giggle escaped her lips.
"Oh, right," Shadow said, chuckling. "I would study, but you know, I'm too cool for school."
"Oh, really?" Kitty questioned, raising eyebrows at him. "You think you're too cool?"
"You know it," Shadow replied, flexing one of his arms as he struck a typical, cool guy pose. Kitty laughed, almost spitting out the coffee she had taken a sip of, giving Shadow hysterics. When their laughter subsided, they gazed at each other in an awkward but not silence.
"So…do you want to hang out tonight?" the Ultimate Life Form asked after a minute of their quiet.
"Really?" Kitty asked, taken aback by this question. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
"I'll show you," Shadow answered, winking at her as he closed her books. "Come on, let's go."
"Uh, sure," Kitty responded, hurriedly collecting her books before following Shadow out of the café.
11. Chapter 11
Hey readers, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I took November off to do NaNoWriMo, and then I lost the outline for the story from the old version of it. I'm back now, but updates might slow down for awhile while I'm trying to get the outline back. Thanks for being patient, and enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter 11-
Niki, Sara, and Marissa were seated together at a tiny round table in the corner of Pizza Shack, Rosebud's local pizza place, which was an old, shabby brown shack that used to be Nook's Cranny. Nook's two nephews, Timmy and Tommy, had recently taken up pizza making, and since the family business had already been remodeled into Nookington's, their uncle was surprisingly kind enough to set up his old store as a pizza shop for the boys to use to create their own little business. The shack had metal round tables and stools scattered throughout the restaurant, as well as a long, narrow counter, half it taken up by the cash register and the other half used as more places for people to eat. The human girls had just been served a medium-sized pepperoni pizza, and they begun to chow down, the soles of their feet digging into the shanty flooring, while plaster covered the walls.
"I heard there are a lot of people in the talent show this year," Sara said between bites of her slice. "Between Chrissy and her crew, another girl band, and some diva singer, there's a lot of competition."
"Don't worry, we got this!" Niki exclaimed boastfully as she bit into her pizza. "And besides, even if we don't win, it'll still be fun, right? The way I see it, it would only suck if Chrissy and her friends won and rubbed it in our faces for the rest of the year."
"That you are right about," Sara responded, nodding as she took a quick sip of iced tea. "But winning might not be so easy. We'd have to really "wow" the judges."
"That's not so hard," Marissa chimed in, finally speaking up. "All you really have to do is hit all the right notes, smile at the judges, and connect with the audience. If you can do all of that, then there's nothing to it."
"I've never thought of it as that easy," Sara said, glancing over at Marissa while absorbing the thought. "But now that I think about it, I suppose that's true." Marissa shrugged and finished devouring her crust, before grabbing her second slice. Niki and Sara followed suit, while Sara glanced out the window. Her eyes widened with intrigue when she saw a familiar figure walking through town with an unfamiliar figure.
"Hey, isn't that Kitty?" Sara asked, putting down her pizza and staring through the smudged, slightly tinted glass. At the sound of her friend's name, Niki immediately whirled around in her silver, metal swivel stool to take a look, the end of her crust loosely hanging out of her mouth. Marissa too followed Sara's gaze, and saw a vague-looking cat and an all-too familiar hedgehog. _Shadow!_ Marissa's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, and her face blanked in clear surprise.
"Oh my God, it is Kitty!" Niki replied, her mouth slightly dropping open. "But who's that hedgehog she's with?"
"I think that guy's in my gym class," Sara answered with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "I wonder what he's doing with her."
"Me too," Niki agreed, hastily gulping down the last of her water. "She didn't tell us she was hanging out with anyone new. Weird…" Marissa's mind became overflowed with thoughts, mostly of astonishment and skepticism, as she couldn't believe what she was seeing. _Shadow! What are you doing? And you told ME that I need to focus on the mission? What's going on? _Luckily though, she managed to wipe off her shocked expression right before her companions turned back around, oblivious to the fact that Marissa was practically reeling.
"Eh, whatever," Sara said, gently nudging her plate towards the center of the table. "We'll just ask her about it later. So, who wants to go see a movie?"
"I do!" Niki quickly replied, leaping out of her seat. "I was thinking we go see either _Cary's Tragic Life _or _Mary-Sue's Diary_."
"Ooh, _Mary-Sue's Diary_ for sure," Sara mused while Marissa picked up the money everyone laid on the table and paid Tommy for their dinner. "I've been dying to see that. What do you think, Marissa?"
"Eh, whatever you guys want, I'm down for," Marissa answered nonchalantly, as the girls headed out of the shack.
"Alright, _Mary-Sue's Diary_ it is!" Niki said decidedly. "Let's go!" The girls spent the next ten minutes walking through the northern half of Rosebud, before hopping on a bus to the city to get to the Marquee.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Shadow and Kitty were entering the Marquee, walking along the fuzzy red carpet when Shadow handed two movie tickets over to one of the ticket takers that appeared to be shrouded by the booth they were sitting at, while Kitty approached the animal behind the other counter to buy a bucket of popcorn.<p>
"Thank you, enjoy the movie," the mysterious ticket taker said to them, returning two ticket stubs to the hedgehog. Shadow silently nodded and led Kitty into the first theater on the left.
"You're taking me to see _Sailor Moon: The Movie_?" Kitty gasped, peeking at the flimsy little ticket stubs in Shadow's hand. "I love Sailor Moon! How did you know?" Shadow paused as he glanced down at Kitty's shirt, a white t-shirt with Sailor Moon on it, waving and striking a saluting pose; a pattern that Kitty made during the sewing unit of home economics.
"I…had a feeling," Shadow answered with a cheeky grin. "You know, a cool guy's intuition."
"Cool guy's intuition? Really?" Kitty asked sarcastically, and the two laughed as they took their seats in the center row of the theater. "That sure is interesting." Once the pair was settled into their thick-cushions chairs, the lights went out, and the previews quickly rolled by, before the movie started. Throughout the film, Shadow and Kitty poked each other's hands when they met in the popcorn bucket, flicked kernels of popcorn at each other, and cheer on the title character as she fights and defeats an energy-sucking monster, the latter being mostly Kitty while Shadow stifled a chuckle. The movie ends an hour later, and the duo are exiting the theater, when Kitty stops and gapes in shock when she sees Niki, Sara, and Marissa walking into a theater on the right. Shadow seemed to have noticed them as well, for he quickened his leisured pace to allow the two to slip out of the Marquee unnoticed.
* * *
><p>"Right on time," Shadow said, a little more to himself as they stepped off the bus, returning to Rosebud.<p>
"Right on time for what?" Kitty asked, tilting her head. "What are we doing?"
"The sun's about to set," Shadow told Kitty, pointing to the horizon, the sun's outer rays of red and orange washing over the sky's blue hue. "It's a lot nicer to watch on the beach. You'll see." Shadow took Kitty's hand, before dashing off at supersonic speed. Afraid to fall and be left behind, Kitty grasped tightly onto Shadow's hand and looked down as she watched her feet running alongside Shadow, realizing that she was able to keep up with him despite the speed. She blinked a few times, and they arrived at the beach, right as the sun was slowly starting to descend. The sky above had turned a light orange, while the atmosphere backing the sun below became a mixture of orange, yellow, pink, purple, and a hint of red.
"Oh, wow," Kitty mused, breathlessly, her eyes glued dreamily to the sunset. "It's beautiful…" The ocean glistened in the sun's radiance, as the smallest waves rippled onto the shore while the sun went down, disappearing behind the horizon. After the sun was gone for the day, the sky retained its orange shade for a few minutes, before starting to turn black for the night. "That was amazing," Kitty gushed, leaning her head back to look up at the sky. "The beach made it even prettier."
"I know," Shadow said with a short sigh. "It's even nicer watching it with someone else, so I thought that you would like to see it."
"Aw, thank you," Kitty responded shyly, smiling to herself, heat rising to her cheeks. "I did like it." Shadow and Kitty faced each other and locked eyes, both remaining still for what could have been all night. Shadow readied himself to say something, but he paused when he heard a faint beeping noise, the sound that his communicator makes when he's about to receive a message.
"Shadow? What are you doing?" Eggman's voice hissed from the communicator. "Get back here this instant! I need to discuss some information and details with you before Friday!" Shadow quickly pressed his hand against the miniscule speaker to muffle Eggman's voice, hoping Kitty wouldn't notice. Fortunately, Kitty seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, an absent-minded expression crossing her face as she looked around her.
"Hey, um, Kitty," Shadow said, and she whirled her head around, her attention hastily returning to him. "I'm afraid I have to get going now, but I had a nice time with you."
"Oh! Um," Kitty replied, brushing off her thoughts for now. "Alright, that's fine. I should probably be getting home anyway. I had fun hanging out with you though, thanks."
"No problem," Shadow responded, as they began walking off the beach. "Come on, I'll take you home if you want." Kitty smiled and nodded, as she led Shadow a few yards above the beach to a green one-story abode with a purple roof that she called home. The brown cat started for the green wooden door, before stopping to glance back at Shadow.
"Goodbye Shadow," she said, rather softly. "Thanks again."
"Goodbye, Kitty," the hedgehog replied, turning to go. "'I'll see you soon." Kitty unlocked the door and disappeared inside her house, and Shadow dashed off into the night.
12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12-
The students at Animon High get through the school week with a typical lack of events, until Friday, the day of the talent show, comes. The halls are buzzing with gossip as to what acts are performing, what they're performing, and whatnot. When the bell rings, students noisily file out of the school in large packs. Meanwhile, Niki and Sara are rushing back to Niki's house, moving rapidly in hopes of getting ready in two hours, before they have to be back at school for the show. Once they arrive back at Niki's red-roofed, two-story home, the two girls rush into Niki's bathroom, located in the back right corner of Niki's living room, Niki beginning to straighten her hair, and Sara applying makeup. After about thirty minutes, they switch, and after they're done, they split up across the robo-themed living room to get dressed into their costumes that they picked out at an earlier rehearsal.
"We're making good time," Niki commented, glancing at her apple clock. "Awesome. We have just enough time to tune our instruments before Katrina picks us up, and she'll be here in approximately ten minutes."
"I'm going to tune my instrument when we get there," Sara responded, her drum set turning into a tiny green leaf before disappearing inside her pockets. "What about Marissa?"
"She's meeting us there," Niki answered, picking up her guitar and adjusting the silver knobs on the end of it to tune it. "She should get there when we do." Sara glanced out the window just in time to see Katrina pull up in front of the house in her shiny orange sports car.
"She's here," Sara said, grabbing an extra pair of drumsticks before opening the door. "Come on Niki, we have to go."
"Got it!" Niki replied, packing her guitar into its case before following Sara out the door. Katrina gave a friendly wave to the girls while tossing her blonde hair behind her, as they clambered into the car, Niki riding shotgun, and Sara in the back.
"Thanks for picking us up, Katrina," Sara greeted as she put her seatbelt on. Niki also quickly said "thanks", while playing around with the radio. "I really appreciate it."
"No problem, girls," Katrina replied, smiling warmly as she peered between each girl. "Ready to go?"
"Yes we are!" Niki answered, finally picking a station and sitting back in her seat. "Let's roll!" With that, Katrina drove off, coasting over a bridge and turning past several houses, before arriving back at Animon.
* * *
><p>After putting on the costume Niki gave her and pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail, Marissa is seated on an old cream sofa, tuning her guitar, strumming a few chords in the song her band is performing tonight. She hits the notes perfectly, but she continues to play them over and over to memorize and perfect them before she performs for a crowd. She is so focused on locking the notes into her mind that she finds herself zoning out, almost ignoring Shadow when he sits down next to her to watch.<p>
"So you're really going to be in this talent show tonight?" Shadow inquired, raising an intrigued eyebrow. "I didn't know you were into playing music."
"Oh! Um," Marissa mumbled, snapping out of her focus and hurriedly stuffing her guitar into her thick, leather case. "Yes. I've always enjoyed playing music. It's like… an outlet for me. Music is…music is my escape."
"Escape from what?" Shadow asked, his intrigue mixing with suspicion.
"Oh, you know," Marissa answered, starting to zone out again. "The mission…school…my life…the world…"
"I see," Shadow responded, almost appearing to be thinking, until he jokingly smirked. "But what about that flashy outfit you're wearing?" Marissa looked down at herself and cracked a smile, before laughing curtly.
"I didn't pick this out. The two girls performing with me did," she answered, pausing before getting up. "I have to go, I'm running late, but I'll see you at the show." Shadow didn't bother to respond, for Marissa briskly picked up her guitar case and dashed out of Eggman's base.
* * *
><p>Backstage, various performers were warming up while Mrs. Friga, the moderator and director of the talent show, was taking attendance. Niki was reading over the lyrics to their song, while Sara finished tuning her instrument, when Marissa darted through the curtains, her guitar case nearly whacking another student on the head.<p>
"There you are, M-Dawg!" Niki exclaimed, looking up at Marissa. "We've been waiting for you! Come on, we have to set up our instruments. We go on right after intermission!"
"Alright, let's go then," Marissa replied, glancing back at Niki. "Wait a minute. Didn't I tell you not to call me M-Dawg?"
"Uh…no…?" Niki answered cheekily with shifty eyes and a goofy smile. Marissa rolled her eyes and muttered a "whatever", before the sound crew helped them set up their instruments towards the back of the stage, allowing more room for the dancers and another band that was performing.
* * *
><p>An hour later, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and a spotlight shone on Madeline after she was introduced.<p>
"Hello to everyone! And welcome to Animon High's 5th Annual Talent Show!" Madeline exclaimed, the microphone echoing her voice off the walls of the cinematic room. "We've got a great show for you tonight, with all of the most talented and creative students Animon has to offer! First up tonight we have Chrissy Kingsley, Mitzi Windsor, Olivia Mason, Rosie Carlisle, and Purrl Furris, also known as Chrissy's Crew!"
"Chrissy's Crew? Haha, how lame," Niki commented, barely able to control her snickering. "Well, good luck to everyone! May the best act win!"
"I will," Chrissy mocked, harshly nudging Niki aside. "And shut up! Chrissy's Crew is legendary! You're just jealous of our impending victory."
"L-Legendary? Haha!" Niki exclaimed, bending over as she laughed harder. "Yeah, okay, Chrissy. We'll see how you measure up to us!" Chrissy and the Bratz Catz shot Niki, Sara, and Marissa snide glares, before they haughtily strutted onto the stage.
"Okay…uh, is everyone's instruments tuned?" Sara asked, to which Niki and Marissa nodded. "Okay, good." From behind the curtain, the girls heard the show progress, one routine after another, until it was time for intermission. The lights came back on, and the girls quietly checked their instruments one more time, while the audience chatted among themselves and headed for the concession stand. The girls decided that they were all set to go, when the lights went out again, and they heard Madeline's voice booming through the speakers that hung from the ceiling.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our first band of the night," Madeline announced with a big smile. "Please welcome Niki Harley, Sara Asyter, and Marissa Tomoe, also known as NSM!" The crowd applauded moderately enthusiastically as Niki, Sara, and Marissa made their way to their instruments and got in place. The applause continued as red velvet curtains rose, revealing the band cast in shadow, as Sara began tapping her drumsticks together.
"1! 2! 3! 4!" the drummer called out, when the stage lights shone on them, and they began to play.
13. Chapter 13
Chapter 13-
Some people in the crowd began to cheer when the recognized The Power of Love, a popular song from the anime _Sailor Moon_, as the song that Niki and her band was performing. The keyboard melody in the beginning of the song was replaced by an electric guitar version of it by Marissa, while Sara played similar notes on the drums, when Niki started to sing.
"There comes a time," Niki sang, drawing in more cheers. "When you face…the toughest of fights…"
* * *
><p>Bob could hear Niki belting out a song that he heard from some anime as he climbed into the air vents and began crawling through them, placing one of Tipper's brainwashing devices, a tiny red orb that shot out a hypnosis beam, next to each of the air vents' openings. He scuttled through winding roads of air vents all over the school, traveling in circles until he found himself looking into the auditorium, where Niki, Sara, and another girl that he didn't recognize were wowing the crowd with Niki's vocals, Sara's drumbeats, and Niki's and the unfamiliar girl's guitar riffs. Bob paused to watch the girls onstage, bobbing his head to the beat as they hit the chorus.<p>
"You've got to belie-eve…in the power of love!"
Bob began moving his arms in an awkward, constricted dance as he really got into the song, when Tipper's voice sounding from his tiny black walkie-talkie stopped him in his pleasure.
"Bob! What are you doing? Did you finish planting the brainwashing orbs?" Tipper demanded through the communicating device. "Get back here when you're done!"
"Yes cow lady!" Bob responded, turning around and crawling back through the air vents, ignoring Tipper's dismal sigh as he exited the ventilation system, sneaking into the auditorium and behind the curtain, heading to the a closet filled with various costumes, where Tipper was currently hiding.
"Good work Bob!" Tipper exclaimed, gently slapping Bob on the back as she pressed a button on the thin, gray remote control in her hand. "Now…we wait."
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Eggman was watching the talent show on a giant television screen in his secret base, cackling evilly to himself, while Shadow stood by silently, clutching a bright, jade green Chaos Emerald in his hand.<p>
"Shadow! Give me the Chaos Emerald!" Eggman commanded. "I need it to charge the brainwashing devices in the speakers and set them off." Shadow handed Eggman the gem, and the overweight doctor in turn inserted it, as if it were a normal battery, into an oversized remote control, complete with random buttons and a microscopic microphone. With the controlling device completely assembled, Eggman presses two buttons, one green, one blue, at once. "I have to say, those girls are really drawing in our minions," Eggman commented. "They're really absorbing the music, so they won't break free from our control easily. Lucky for us- wait, is that Marissa?"
* * *
><p>As the song reached its climax, the audience was going wild as Marissa played a long string of chords and riffs for her guitar solo. Niki and Sara listened closely, so they knew when to pick up again and continue.<p>
"You've got to belie-eve…in the power of love!" Niki sang, clapping her hands upon the crowd doing so as well. "You've got to belie-eve…in the power of love!"
"It gives meaning to each moment; it's what our hearts are all made of!" Marissa chimed in for backup. "You've got to belie-eve…in the power of love!" While Niki and Marissa belted out the last lines of the song lyrics, the speakers, starting with the heavy amps in the back, began giving off unusual sound waves, rays of a faint white with a light purple tint. The sound waves were soon emerging from all of the speakers in the room and looming over the unsuspecting crowd, which consisted of students, teachers, and other adults alike. The audience cheered as Niki, Sara, and Marissa each took a bow, but when they looked back up, everyone was sitting still, emotionless, almost like living zombies. Marissa was unfazed by it, while Niki and Sara gave strange looks to the crowd, confused.
"Hey, did you notice something weird about the people in the audience?" Sara asked Niki once they left the stage. "What's wrong with them?"
"Who knows," Niki answered with a shrug. "Maybe they're just tired or-"
"You are now under my control, so you will obey me," a deep, gruff voice boomed, echoing off the walls of the room. "Now you will all help me to build the Eggman Empire!" On those last words, everyone stood up, their eyes glowing ominously dark, and they began marching throughout the room, some even out into the halls. Their outlandish and creepy behavior turned destructive when they began trashing the auditorium and anywhere else they went, flipping chairs over, pulling the curtain down, and even punching holes in the rather thin walls.
"All hail Eggman," random members of the audience droned. "Build the Eggman Empire." The newly brainwashed victims continued mumbling the name "Eggman" as they practically trashed the school, when suddenly a radiant, red beam shot through the air vent and engulfed Eggman's new minions. Niki, Sara, and Marissa lurked behind the curtain, which was now crumpled up on the stage, while other performers ran off to try and escape the madness, as the drones' eyes flashed a blank white with a red tint in the corners. Momentarily they stood motionless, as a loud, obnoxious, female voice rang into everyone's ears.
"You people! I am your new commander, and therefore you are going to follow all of my orders, for the destruction of Animon High, and the establishment of my rule!" Niki and Sara immediately recognized this voice as Tipper's, while Marissa's uncaring expression turned to one of bewilderment. Eggman's plan was going off without a hitch, as far as she was aware of, who was this person interfering with the doctor's blueprints for domination?
"It's Tipper! We have to stop her!" Niki exclaimed, nudging Sara. "Come on! We have to find her and whatever she's using to mind control everyone!"
"All hail Tipper," the now mindless pawns moaned dismally. "Destroy Animon High." And so they continued their damaging antics, now with more violence, as they began tearing walls down, smashing windows, and chasing other students. Hesitation aside, Niki and Sara run off to look for Tipper, leaving Marissa to watch more of the craziness ensue, her mind processing what she was seeing as she tried to find a missing link as to how this odd but major interference was occurring.
"…What the hell?" she asked herself, staring in awe and surprise.
"The doctor is asking himself the same thing," Shadow said from behind, manifesting behind her after performing Chaos Control. "Speaking of which, he needs us to regain control over our supposed minions."
"…Right…" Marissa absent-mindedly responded, too distracted by the chaotic sight. "We should…probably get on that…"
14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14-
"All hail Eggman!"
"All hail Tipper!"
"All hail Eggman!"
"All hail Tipper!"
It was as if Dr. Eggman and Tipper were playing ping pong with each other for control over their brainwashing victims. Each world domination hopeful's brainwashing devices would take turns overpowering those of the other one and gaining mind control over the people, much to both of their frustration and confusion. The victims were going around trashing the school as Tipper ordered, until they turned around and began breaking into the main office and the dean's office, as commanded by Eggman. The supposed "loyalty" of these minions was literally switching back and forth between Eggman and Tipper, for they only had control over them for five minute intervals before they fell under the control of the other villain.
"What the hell is going on?" Eggman yelled at his television screen back at his base. "They're supposed to be following _my _orders!"
"What? This is ridiculous!" Tipper exclaimed, her and Bob poking their heads out of the closet to watch her (for now) minions at work. "I can't take over the world if my own minions won't obey me!"
"I'm going to be the supreme ruler!" Tipper and Eggman said simultaneously. "I must take more action to keep my authority!" With that, Eggman, stood up and climbed into one of his many hovercrafts, ascending to the ceiling as a hole opened up as an exit. Eggman leaves the base to head to Animon High, while Tipper and Bob left their hiding place.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Niki and Sara were dashing through one hallway after another, in hopes of finding their arch nemeses. They searched both offices that were broken into, and then they turned a corner and checked different classrooms and teachers' lounges.<p>
"Where's Tipper?" Sara asked, starting to pant after running through half the school. "And how did she manage to brainwash an entire audience?"
"We're about to find out," Niki replied, turning to Sara after looking into the school store. "Either way, we're going to stop her." With that, they kept running and turned another corner, when Sara spotted a bulky, shadowed figure dart down the stairs into the basement.
"Hey, what was that over there?" the dark-haired girl asked, pointing to the figure just before it vanished from sight.
"I bet it was Tipper! Let's go!" Niki replied, turning around to chase after the figure, with Sara following close behind.
* * *
><p>Kitty maneuvered through the crowds of brainwashed victims in the auditorium, trying to find the source of the manipulating sound waves, or at least, the person controlling them. The brown cat inspected the people's various new mannerisms and actions under whoever's control as she ran towards one of the large speakers behind the auditorium chairs. She was going to examine the speakers to see if there was anything inside of them that gave off the mysterious sound waves, when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. As she drew nearer, she saw a black and red hedgehog, who appeared to be messing with the wires of one of the speakers.<p>
"Is that…is that Shadow?" Kitty questioned with a gasp, unable to contain her shock. She peered closer at the hedgehog to confirm that it was indeed Shadow, who was now planting a bunch of tiny green microchips into the speaker, cueing it to give off more sound waves. "Huh? What is he doing?" Kitty wondered, as control over the people shifted back to Eggman. She took another step forward to ask him, when he dashed off in a black blur, not even noticing her presence. "Huh? What's going on with him?" Kitty asked herself, before sighing and running out of the auditorium, when she saw Niki and Sara running up the stairs. Shadow was long gone at this point, so Kitty decided to follow her friends.
"Kitty! There you are!" Niki exclaimed once her feline friend caught up to them. "We're just about to catch Tipper and get to the bottom of this baloney!" Kitty gave a short nod as they reached the top of the stairs and found up cornering the shadowed figure, who had hit a dead end at the end of another hallway. All of the classrooms were locked, and there were no other staircases, so they had nowhere else to go. The girls stepped closer, ready to confront their nemesis, when Sara suddenly paused.
"Wait, guys," Sara said, staring at the figure skeptically. "I…don't think that's Tipper."
"What do you mean?" Niki asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. "Who else could it be?" The figure whipped around upon hearing the girls' voices, and Sara's suspicions were confirmed. They had been chasing a tall, overweight man with a long, frizzy mustache, who was wearing black goggles, and a red suit with black pants. He angrily scowled at the girls, annoyed that they had followed him through the school, and the girls gasped in shock.
"Oh my God, it's him!" Kitty exclaimed, her finger shaking as she pointed at him.
"Unbelievable!" Sara cried.
"Holy crap!" Niki mused. "I was _not_ expecting that." There was a brief awkward silence, before Kitty continued.
"Okay, so, does anyone actually _know_ this guy?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, uh, no," Sara answered.
"Nope! Never met him!" Niki replied. Just then they heard footsteps pounding behind them, and the girls whirled around to see Tipper and Bob running up the stairs, with a group of their minions trailing behind, half-walking, half-marching in unison.
"You'll never stop me, Niki! Never!" Tipper called out as she advanced on the girls, pointing what appears to be a stun gun at them. "I already have control over everyone, and soon this place will be mine!"
"What? Impossible!" the man behind them spoke up. "They're following my orders! I'm going to take this place over!" Tipper noticed the man standing there and turned to address them, outraged.
"What? So you were the one interfering with my brainwashing devices?" Tipper yelled at him. "Do you even realize how annoying that was for me?"
"I believe that it was _you _who was interfering with _my _plans!" the man snapped. "You caused a lot of problems with my own brainwashing mechanisms!" Tipper and Eggman continue arguing for what feels like an hour, while Niki, Sara, Kitty, and Bob stare and watch, confused and unsure of what to do.
15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15-
The three girls (plus Bob) stood there in bewilderment as they watched Tipper argue with who they had finally identified as Dr. Eggman. They had been ranting at each other back and forth for half an hour now, but they weren't planning on stopping anytime soon. The tension of the situation was replaced by awkwardness, to the point where the two villains didn't even notice when a spiky blue blur crashed through a nearby window, followed by a flying yellow blur and a less spiky red blur. The doctor is startled when the blue blur crashes into him, knocking him to the ground. Eggman shakes his head to clear away the dizzy stars from his head, when he notices Tails and Knuckles hovering over him on either side of Sonic.
"So, Eggman, it was you this whole time," Sonic sneered, smirking down at his own nemesis. "Not like you're going to get away with it or anything." Eggman glared at Sonic from the floor, when he looked past the others and saw his minions marching towards them, giving him a smirk of his own.
"Oh, but I think I will Sonic," Eggman scoffed, rising to his feet and gesturing to the minions. "I have control of nearly everyone in the school! You'll never be able to stop me. Minions! Get this hedgehog!"
"All hail Tipper…" the mindless people droned robotically.
"Damn it," Eggman muttered, slightly imitating Shadow. "I could've sworn I had Shadow fix my mechanisms."
"Ha! Sucker!" Tipper said, pointing at Eggman and laughing haughtily, only to find herself surrounded by Niki, Sara, and Kitty, while Bob ran around like a crazy person. Without further hesitation, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles began throwing punches, kicks, spin dashes, and any other attacks they could perform. Eggman shrieked and started prancing around the room to try and dodge their attacks, alternating between being hit and missed.
"Sara! Go catch Bob!" Niki commanded, before pouncing on Tipper and forming a grayish, stormy fight cloud. Sara nodded and ran towards Bob, who turned and ran towards Tipper, only for him to be tackled by Sara.
"And what exactly do you plan to do with me, Niki?" Tipper questioned, rolling over to avoid having her face stepped on by the blonde girl.
"Stop you and your evil plans, of course. Oh, and maybe have you arrested," Niki answered, grinning cheekily at the cow, before looking up at Kitty. "Kitty! Do you think you can turn off both of their devices? Then maybe everyone will go back to normal."
"I'll get right on that!" Kitty replied, turning and running down the hall. The brown feline ran back down the staircase and through two hallways, before reentering the now empty auditorium. She approached each speaker and rummaged through them, until she extracted large, green and black shiny orbs that gave off faint purple fumes. After removing one from each speaker throughout the auditorium, she had an entire collection of a dozen orbs cradled in her arms, when she suddenly dropped one while she was on her way out of the room. She jumped in surprise, nearly dropping all the others, as she looked down and watched the fallen orb shatter into dozens of microscopic shards, revealing tangled up wires of blue and yellow and an image of the mustached man's face etched into the inside of the broken pieces. Kitty stared at the broken device for a few more seconds, before glancing at the remaining orbs, until she decided to break each orb open, smacking them onto a metal chair before tossing them into a nearby trash can. Once she was done, she turned to dispose of the broken glass on the floor, when she felt a part of her vibrate. Familiar with that feeling, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her iPhone, when a text from Niki popped up on the now illuminating screen.
**Were you able to turn the devices off? Everyone is still acting wacko.**
Kitty was confused. She had turned them off, so shouldn't everyone return to normal? She pondered this briefly, when she remembered. She had to stop the mechanisms planted by _two_ baddies, as opposed to one, and only one plot was foiled. She had to figure out where the other enemy, the one she and her friends were expecting, had their mind controlling system was hidden. Still thinking, Kitty absent-mindedly sent a reply message to Niki.
**I was able to turn off that Eggman guy's devices, but where can I find Tipper's?**
Phone in hand, Kitty left the auditorium and went back upstairs to the hall where the confrontation continued, with Eggman fleeing the scene on his hovercraft, Sonic pointing and laughing at him in mockery, Knuckles clutching Bob in a iron gripped headlock while Niki repeatedly punched the purple cat in the face, and Sara and Tails pinning Tipper to the floor.
"Niki!" Kitty gasped, watching Bob take another punch from her friend. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get him to tell us where they hid their brainwashing equipment!" Niki answered, her blue eyes fixed on the goofball cat. "Bob, tell me. Where are your brainwashing mechanism things?"
"These are not the droids you are looking for," Bob replied, making a funny face as he spoke, earning him another blow to the face from Niki. "Okay, fine! I'll tell you!"
"You will?" Kitty asked, hopeful.
"Nope!" Another punch.
"Niki, I don't think hitting him is going to work," Sara said with a half shrug.
"Torture always works!" Niki responded, raising her fist once again, when she paused. "Here, how about I keep interrogating him, while some of you split up and search the school. How does that sound?"
"Fair enough," Kitty said with a nod, before exiting the hall and heading downstairs once more.
"Sonic!" Niki commanded, grabbing the cocky blue hedgehog's attention. "You're not doing anything of real importance right now. Go help Kitty find and disable Tipper's devices."
"Okay!" Sonic replied, thinking nothing of being ordered around as he followed Kitty downstairs.
"Tails, fly Tipper to the police station!" Niki continued, pointing to the two tailed fox. "Sara, go with him in case she tries to escape." Tails and Sara nodded and Sara too left to descend the stairs, while Tails used his twin tails to propel himself out the window, gripping Tipper's arms tightly. Once everyone moved out, Niki turned back to Bob, who now had a black eye, a bloody nose, and a giant black bruise on his right cheek.
"Now, where were we?"
* * *
><p>Upon reaching the main hallway, Kitty and Sonic split up to search the school for anything that Tipper used to manipulate the talent show goers. They checked any unlocked classrooms, the school store, the teachers' lounges, any open offices, the gym, and the cafeteria, but found nothing. Kitty sighed as she paused to look along a row of lockers for anything, while Sonic sped ahead of her to check the bulletin boards scattered on the walls. Kitty continued walking through the hall, scanning her surroundings up and down, when she noticed an unusually proportioned white ball of light shining through the air vent latched onto the ceiling. Kitty stood on her toes and peered closer at it, when she could make out a blinking red light as well.<p>
"There they are!" Kitty exclaimed, blinking in surprise. "Sonic! I found them! They're in the air vents!"
"What?" A flash of blue emerged from the end of the hallway, before Sonic was standing next to Kitty, who pointed up at the space in the ceiling that led into the ventilation system.
"Up there! Can you give me a boost?" Kitty asked the hedgehog. Sonic responded by picking up Kitty and placing her on his shoulders, giving her just enough height to open the latch leading inside the air vents and hoisting herself in. Sonic waited down below as Kitty found the source of the light: a red and white circular shaped laser beam. Kitty gawked at it for a moment before dislodging it from the vent and throwing it down for Sonic to dispose of it. Kitty continued to clamber through the winding air vents, traveling in what felt like a spiral as she collected one more beam after another. Some of the ventilation panels were rusty, turning Kitty's paws red due to the friction created by the rough metal, and Kitty found herself having mini coughing fits from the dust that lingered inside the vents. She was carrying nearly a dozen of them by the time she returned to where she started. Looking down and seeing the blue hedgehog again, the cat tossed Tipper's mechanisms to him before dropping down from the ventilation opening, and he in turn speedily destroyed each device with a swift punch or kick, finishing off the last one just in time to catch Kitty before she could hit the floor in a rough landing.
"Thanks…" Kitty mumbled, when she saw Niki and Knuckles running down the hall to meet them.
"Awesome job, you guys!" Niki exclaimed, patting her friend on the back once Sonic let her down. "Everyone's back to normal. Thanks!"
"You're welcome," Kitty replied rather tiredly. The group stood there in a brief silence, when they started to hear music blended with the sounds of people chatting and clapping.
"It sounds like the talent show's back on," Knuckles commented, listening closely to the noise echoing from the auditorium.
"Hey, it is!" Kitty said, her ear twitching from picking up the sounds. "Niki, you should probably get back there before the show ends."
"Yeah, you're right," Niki responded, nodding curtly. "I'll catch you guys later." With that, Niki turned and ran off, dashing back into the auditorium and sneaking backstage while a heavy metal band were jamming and screaming into the microphones. Niki quietly watched the rest of the show from behind the curtain, and soon she was rejoined by Sara and Marissa. After the last act had finished performing, there was a short intermission, before Madeline returned to the stage with a glittery silver envelope in her spherical hands.
"Thank you everyone for coming, and thank you to all of our performers tonight," Madeline began, applauding briefly. "You guys were fantastic. Nevertheless, we have a winner." Everyone that was onstage waited anxiously backstage, peeking through the curtain as Madeline tore the envelope open and pulled out a white index card with light, fancy script handwriting on it.
"And now, the winner of the Animon High Annual Talent Show is…"
16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Madeline held up the note card in front of her face to glance at it briefly, giving a small nod. The performers awaiting their fate leaned in closer with anticipation; hanging on Madeline's every word. Madeline smirked as she held onto this suspense, before clearing her throat and continuing.
"NSM! Congratulations, Niki, Sara, and Marissa!" The audience erupted in cheers as Niki, Sara, and Marissa, clearly in shock, run out onstage to collect their awards, tiny gold trophies with a giant star on top of the school's name and show date, from Madeline, who smiled at them and clapped along with the audience. The girls' shock turned to thrill as Niki and Sara high-fived each other, while Marissa casually waved to the crowd. Niki and Sara looked out into the crowd and saw Kitty and the rest of their friends, along with Sonic and his friends, giving them thumbs-ups. Marissa smirked and laughed when she saw Shadow standing in the corner, near the edge of the stage, grinning at her.
"You guys were awesome! Loved the song," Madeline said to the girls aside, when Marissa quickly grabbed the microphone off the podium where Madeline was standing.
"Hey everyone! Victory party at my place tomorrow night!" Marissa announced, earning more cheering from the crowds as she put the microphone back.
* * *
><p>The following night, the entire Animon High student body (save for Chrissy and her crew, who decided to be sore losers and not show) arrived at Eggman's base for a raging house party. Much to Marissa's pleasant surprise, Shadow kindly consented and even agreed to co-host the party with her. The base was sloppily decorated with balloons and streamers carelessly flung throughout the place, and in the corner by the entrance was a long table with a dozen boxes of pizza, random alcoholic beverages, and various baked goods piled on it. Music was blaring from Marissa's iPod, hooked up to her tall, black, stereo speakers, to which people danced to in large clusters. Niki swayed along, boogieing her way through the crowd until she caught up with Marissa.<p>
"Hey Marissa! Great party!" the blonde-haired girl said, grinning as she bobbed her head to the music.
"Hey, thanks," Marissa replied, giving Niki the "'sup" nod as she returned the smile. Niki and Marissa watched as the circle in the middle of the room opened up, and several students, including Sonic, Knuckles, and Katrina, battled it out in a dance-off, while everyone else cheered them on as they continued dancing themselves. Around the circle, some party-goers were dancing in smaller clusters, while others were having beer drinking contests, flipping over furniture and breaking lamps and vases, and even playing around with some of Eggman's smaller, more menial contraptions. After Katrina performed a back flip to end her mini routine, Niki decided to jump in and strut her stuff. Meanwhile, Sara was navigating through the area, taking a full look at the party going on around her. A random couple was making out in the darkest corner of the room. A large group of friends were drunkenly piled on top of each other on a worn out cream sofa. A large, rather fat student with several white sheets wrapped around him was running around the room proclaiming himself as "Sheet Man". A football was flying back and forth between two jocks, until one of them finally missed and it crashed into a tall, framed portrait of an old man who looked similar to the one Sara and her friends encountered back at school during the crazy shenanigans, knocking it off the wall. Two more kids were crouched down in front of what appeared to be someone else, thick, black sharpies in hand. Sara turned her head and noticed her more outgoing friend amongst the largest crowd of people, being cheered for as she showed off her fancy footwork with moves that she and Sara learned from their Zumba classes. Niki suddenly paused and gasped, right as the song playing changed to "Crank it Up" by David Guetta and Akon, before breaking into a huge grin.
"Aw, yeah! This is my jam!" Niki cried, jumping up and down and throwing her arm in the air to fist pump. Sara giggled and gave a small facepalm at her friend's goofiness, and even more so at the fact that the entire crowd joined in with her.
* * *
><p>Eggman was deep in the base, standing in front of a wall vigorously scribbling on a long sheet of paper taped to it. He could hear the faint beats of different music and the occasional <em>thump <em>from above, but Eggman thought nothing of it and continued his work, at least until he heard the sound of something smashing against a hard surface, probably the wall. More aggravated by the distraction than worried about a possible intruder, Eggman grumbled to himself as he turned to go upstairs to check out the noise.
* * *
><p>"Come on Sara!" Niki called out, beckoning to her friend while being rubbed up against by same jocks who destroyed the portrait with their football. Sara's face flushed a rosy hue as she waved her hands in front of her to say no.<p>
"No way Niki, I'm not nearly as good of a dancer as you," Sara replied, starting to back away. "In fact, I'm not a good dancer, period."
"Oh come on! It's fun!" Niki said, still trying to wave Sara over, but Sara wouldn't budge, instead crossing her arms.
"Sorry Niki, but I'd just look ridiculous!" Sara protested, shaking her head. However, her protests went unheeded as Niki ran over to her and grabbed her by her arms, before pulling her to the crowd. Trying to hide her embarrassment, Sara slowly performed some small movements, staying close to Niki, who had already resumed her showy dancing. Marissa was hanging back by the couch, smiling to herself as she watched everyone partying all around her and having fun.
"Well, Shadow, I'd say this party was a success," the brunette mused nonchalantly, turning towards her hedgehog accomplice. "Uh, Shadow?" Marissa saw that Shadow was lying passed out on a glass coffee table next to her, with male genitals and other vulgar drawings scrawled on his face in bright red Sharpie. Marissa snickered as she pulled out her phone to take a picture. _Hehe, this'll be good blackmail…_ After snapping a photo, Marissa quickly saved it before stuffing her phone back into her pocket, before continuing to watch the spectacle going on in the base. A group of girls were dancing on a table, a rather short kid was surfing the dancing crowd, Eggman was coming up the stairs… _Wait…what? … Eggman's coming up the stairs? Oh shit!_ Marissa's eyes widened as Eggman entered the room, gasping in horror at the sight. Marissa lightly placed a hand over her mouth to avoid letting out a gasp herself. _Oh crap, here it comes…_
"WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE?" Eggman shrieked, his face turning red, his teeth gritting in anger. Marissa could've sworn that she saw smoke blow out of the doctor's ears. Just like that, the party came to a screeching halt. The music stopped, the dancing stopped, all other party activities stopped, and everyone turned to stare at Eggman, as if time had stopped for a snapshot. The room briefly fell into an awkward pause, before Eggman continued his raging rampage. "Party's over, you crazy kids! Everybody OUT!" The awkward silence continued. "I SAID GET OUT!" Eggman's gruff voice startled everyone, and they quickly scrambled to find their friends and duck out of the base before Eggman could grab a shotgun or something that cranky old men do when disturbed by a bunch of roughhousing teenagers. A blue blur flashed by, as even Sonic darted out of the base, snickering to himself at his enemy's expense. Eggman's base was cleared out within minutes, and all that was left was the damage done after a night of hard partying. Broken and flipped over furniture and other treasures were lying on the floor in pieces. Beer cans, red plastic cups, some of Eggman's inventions, and even toilet paper littered the room from top to bottom. Lasers and bullets from some of Eggman's weapons made burns and dents in the walls and windows. Marissa and Shadow, the latter who had finally awoken after Eggman scared everyone away, gulped and glanced at each other uneasily when they realized that the room was a complete wreck.
"We should…probably just go…" Marissa muttered, trailing off as Shadow nodded and the two turned to leave as well, when the sound of Eggman's fury stopped them in their tracks.
"Shadow! Marissa!"
Shadow and Marissa stared at each other as they hesitated, before opting not to run off. There was no point in even trying, considering that Eggman was standing behind them, tapping his foot irritably. After another brief silence, Shadow awkwardly smirked at Marissa, and Marissa gave a short, nervous laugh. They were in so much trouble.
17. Chapter 17
Chapter 17-
The next school day, Niki was walking in the hall by herself, strolling along as she headed for math class, when she stopped by the bulletin board in the center of the hallway. Another flashy poster had caught her eye, and she noticed the signup sheets for Student Council elections below the poster. She looked at the list and saw a few names scribbled underneath the 'President' category, including Chrissy's, whose name was written in large, bold, pink cursive letters at the top of the list.
"Hmm…maybe I could run for President," Niki quietly said to herself, when she glanced over and saw Tangy walking in her direction. "Hey Tangy! What do you think of me running for Student Council President?"
"I think that's a great idea, Niki!" Tangy answered energetically, bearing her usual peppy grin. "You should totally go for it.
"Great! Thanks Tangy!" Niki said, waving at the orange cat and giving her a goofy thumbs-up as she left for her science class. So Niki then signed her name on the President list and headed for math class.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, a still enraged Eggman was pacing back and forth between Shadow and Marissa down in Eggman's base. He glared coldly at both of them, as he stopped his pacing directly in front of them. Shadow crossed his arms and glanced over at Marissa. <em>Oh boy, here it comes…<em>
"Unbelievable! Ridiculous! How can you two let that pesky blue hedgehog have a wild, rambunctious party in _my_ headquarters?" Marissa looked back at Shadow and smirked for a moment. Did Eggman really think that _Sonic _was responsible for that party? _I guess we're not in the kind of trouble we think we're in…_ Marissa thought in her mind, returning her gaze to her boss. "My base is completely wrecked and it's your fault for not stopping him!" Eggman continued, raising his voice. "I'm not paying you to party with those stupid kids!"
"You're not paying us at all, Eggman," Marissa retorted, narrowing her eyebrows, annoyed.
"And now that blasted hedgehog knows where my base is set up!" Eggman ranted, ignoring the human girl. "That hedgehog might have figured out the operation! This could hurt the plans for world domination!" There was an awkward silence, as Eggman stared down his two minions, who blankly stared back at him, almost refusing to answer. "You two need to keep this plan moving!" Eggman finally said. "I don't want any more screw ups! You hear?" Shadow and Marissa nodded and pulled out two red and green gemstones, before disappearing via Chaos Control. Eggman sighed with irritation as he turned towards one of his many machines in progress: a life-sized metal replica of himself that fired grenades. The doctor bent down beside his work, grabbed a toolbox, and began to tweak the robot.
"Ugh, sometimes I wonder about those two…"
* * *
><p>"Hey everyone! I'm running for Student Council President!" Niki announced to her friends later at lunch.<p>
"President? Wow, that's great, Niki!" Sara exclaimed while poking her salad with a plastic fork.
"Good for you, Niki," Kitty said encouragingly before biting into a tuna fish sandwich.
"Hey! I got an idea!" Kiki piped up, a piece of lettuce from her salad hanging from her mouth. "Why don't Sara, Kitty, and Tangy each run for an office, and then Cookie and I can help you with your campaign!"
"Sorry…" Cookie said, after finishing off a can of Coke. "Biskit and I are helping Melba with her campaign."
"Maybe we could help each other," Sara suggested with a shrug. "And we still have Kiki." The group mumbled a series of "Good ideas", before Kitty spoke again.
"Alright, so…I say that Sara runs for Vice President, I'll run for Secretary, and Tangy can run for Treasurer."
"Good plan," Sara responded with a nod. "And if we all win, then we'll be taking over Student Council." Everyone chuckled shortly, before the bell rang, cueing the students to start filing out of the cafeteria.
"Okay!" the blonde girl said. "We've got work to do! Let's go girls!"
"Okay!" the girls replied in unison, getting up and throwing away their lunches, before heading to Study Hall to start brainstorming for posters and speeches.
18. Chapter 18
Chapter 18-
Right as the bell rang, Niki, Sara, Kitty, Tangy, and Kiki walked into the library for Study Hall. The library was furnished with light wooden tables that were surrounded by shelves of books. Right by the door was the librarian's desk of the same color and material, and a printer for students to print out their homework. Relieved to finally have free period, Niki sat down at a table with her friends and looked around. Melba, Lucy, Moe, and Patty, a group of students Niki recognized from other classes, occupied one table next to them, while Chrissy and her crew occupied another across the room. Niki and the others pulled out paper and pencils and began scribbling on them as they began to think.
"Let's see here…" Tangy muttered, beginning to draw sketches of potential campaign posters as the group started working.
Over at Chrissy's table, the popular clique was working on their own campaign plans. Chrissy peered at each of her feline friends as they diligently wrote rough drafts of their speeches.
"So…everyone in our group will be on Student Council next year," Chrissy said, to which each of the cats nodded as they kept working. "Because everyone's running for something, and of course we'll win."
"Not me," Rosie cut in, raising her paw no higher than her face. "I was told not to run for anything." There was a brief silence as Chrissy and Purrl shot knowing glances at each other.
"Well, then," Purrl spoke up, still looking at Chrissy, before turning to Rosie. "Since you can't run for anything because one girl each is running, we've decided to let you go." Chrissy nodded curtly, while Rosie's jaw dropped open, as she gaped at Purrl in shock.
"You mean you're kicking me out of the group just because I'm not campaigning?" Rosie asked, slightly horrified. "But that's not fair! It's not my fault that there aren't enough Student Council positions for all of us to run for!"
"Yeah, you're out. Sorry," Chrissy said brusquely, ignoring Rosie's argument. "Buh-bye now!" The royal blue cat hesitated, staring at the group one more time before she began sniffling and got up. Back at Niki's table, Kitty turned around and saw Rosie hastily duck out of the library.
"What were they talking about?" the brown cat questioned, scratching her head in confusion. "How odd…"
"I'll go see what the problem is," Sara offered, rising from her seat and walking out of the library. She saw Rosie run into the girls' bathroom, and followed her inside, where she heard sniffling, and then sobbing. "Rosie?" The blue cat turned to face Sara with tears streaming down her face. "Rosie, what's wrong?" Sara asked. Rosie sniffled again and blew her nose into a paper towel before answering.
"I-I was kicked out of the Bratz Catz since I'm not running for Student Council," Rosie told Sara. "Chrissy and Purrl wanted everyone in the group to be on Student Council." Sara nodded as she listened intently, while Rosie continued to bawl.
"Hey…" Sara responded, gently placing a hand on Rosie's shoulder. "Don't feel so down about it. Those girls are mean anyway. You wouldn't want to be like that all your life, would you?" Rosie paused for a moment to think, as if reflecting on what Sara was saying to her.
"Well, not really…" Rosie answered, her voice shaky from so much crying. "I know there are better things in life than being popular…but you do need to have friends."
"That's true," Sara said with a small nod. "Hey, would you like to come sit with me and my friends?" Rosie blinked with surprise, before nodding vigorously.
"Sure! I'd like that a lot!" Rosie exclaimed happily, wiping her face and following Sara out of the bathroom and back into the library.
"Hey guys, Rosie's going to join us, if you don't mind," Sara said to her friends, smiling while pulling up a chair for Rosie.
"Hi!" Rosie greeted enthusiastically, sitting down next to Sara, who was seated next to Tangy. The group's eyes widened in bewilderment, and everyone was giving Sara strange looks.
"Wait, Rosie?" Tangy questioned, not bothering to hide her shock. "Uh, Sara, what is going on here?"
"Rosie?" Kitty exclaimed, her dark eyes darting from Sara to Rosie, as if questioning Sara's kind gesture. "I thought she was one of the Bratz Catz!"
"She is!" Tangy added.
"Not anymore," Rosie replied. "I got kicked out because I'm not running for Student Council like the rest of the group is."
"Why?" asked Kitty. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"It doesn't but Chrissy wanted everyone in the group to be on Student Council," Rosie answered. "So that left me, and…" The blue cat sighed, unable to finish her sentence, when she suddenly lowered her voice to assure that Chrissy and her remaining friends couldn't hear. "But I can help you with your campaigns! I had a lot of ideas when I was kicked out."
"Really? Thanks!" Tangy said with a grin. "That could help us out."
"So, who's running for office?" Rosie inquired.
"Us four," the orange cat replied, pointing to each girl (save for Kiki, who was still perfecting a sketch for a campaign poster).
"All four of you? Wow!" Rosie exclaimed, staring at the group in both amazement and awe. "So you guys are doing the same thing that Chrissy is planning?"
"I guess," Niki answered with a shrug. "So, what ideas do you have in mind for our campaigns, Rosie?"
"A lot!" Rosie replied, grabbing a sheet of paper and a pencil. "You know how some people use famous political figures on their posters? I was thinking that maybe you guys can use popular music stars on your's. You know, maybe use their lyrics as your slogans?"
"Hey, that's not bad," Niki commented, and everyone else nodded in agreement. The girls continued to spend the rest of the period working on sketches and rough drafts for their posters and speeches, with Chrissy eyeing them suspiciously as she and her group did the same.
19. Chapter 19
Chapter 19-
The bell rang, and the girls leave their Study Hall and head for their next classes. Kitty is walking through the halls, clutching her stack of books to her chest as she weaved past other students who were either chatting with their friends at their lockers or just walking too slow for her liking. She was about halfway to class when a certain red hedgehog stopped her in her tracks.
"Hey," Shadow greeted, grinning at the cat while he was leaning against his locker.
"Hey," Kitty said, a bit startled by the hedgehog's sudden appearance. Though he was only lingering by his locker, to her it felt like he had popped out of nowhere. She gave a small smile to Shadow before continuing on down the long hallway.
"So I missed you at my party the other night." Kitty kept walking, but she turned around to see that Shadow had decided to follow her. His smile had slightly dropped, but he still looked decently content.
"I'm sure you did," Kitty responded, giving a small chuckle as Shadow passed a group of students to catch up with her. The cat glanced over and noticed that she was now standing right outside of her next class, English, so she figured that she had some time to talk to Shadow. Kitty blinked, her eyes widening when she remembered the last time she saw Shadow: the night of the talent show when she saw him tampering with the speaker system while everyone was running amok under the influence of the enemy- er, enemies. Now was her chance to address that. "Hey, Shadow…what were you doing with those speakers during the talent show?" Kitty asked him. "You know, when everyone was acting crazy. It looked like you were tinkering with the speakers or something." Now Shadow's eyes widened, but only for a second.
"Hmm…uh…" the hedgehog began. He turned away and cursed to himself, feeling like an idiot for not being stealthy enough to go undetected by everyone that night. He opened his mouth to say something else, only to be cut off by the bell. "Sorry Kitty, but I'm late for class. I'll catch you later though," Shadow said to the cat, before turning around and dashing off.
"Um, okay, see ya," Kitty said, sighing as she walked into the classroom. She was disappointed that she didn't get an answer, but that only made her more set on getting him to spill. _Well…Shadow seems like an okay guy I suppose…_ Kitty thought to herself as she sat down next to Cookie. _Besides, this is a fairly large school. What are the odds that I would be talking to someone who was working for the enemy?_
* * *
><p>When the bell rang at the end of the day, the girls met up at Niki's house to continue working until dinnertime. By the time they finished, Niki's regal themed living room was an utter mess. Glitter was scattered across the carpet, unused scraps of paper piled up on the table, and various arts and crafts supplies cluttered the room. A dozen campaign posters between each girl running for Student Council were tucked in the corner of the room, next to Niki's orange, oversized Gracie purse that she used as her backpack. Everyone else's backpacks, purses, and overnight bags lined the back wall of the room, as everyone was staying over for a slumber party.<p>
"We're done!" Niki cheered. The girls then proceeded to chat and do their homework, while eating pizza and various other snacks that Niki prepared ahead of time. Everyone was relaxing and lounging around the house, and the snacks gradually disappeared from their plates and bowls as the night went on, when suddenly Niki pushed the posters and supplies aside and yelled, "Pillow fight!" Sara shrieked in surprise as Niki chucked a pillow at her face.
"Hey!" Sara cried, laughing as she threw it back, clonking Niki on the head. Niki paused to rub her head, before throwing the pillow at Rosie, who caught it and used it to whack Kitty in the back. Kitty chuckled as she whipped a pillow at Tangy, who snickered before she started throwing a dozen smaller, throw pillows everywhere. Everyone screamed and ducked, also using the pillows they had on them as makeshift shields as this went on for almost ten minutes, until Tangy finally ran out of pillows.
"Uh oh…" Tangy mumbled, looking around with shifty eyes. There was a quick silence, before Niki and Sara charged at the orange cat, clutching their slightly flattened pillows, but Tangy managed to jump up and dodge them both, before she grabbed two more throw pillows to 'reload'. Everyone giggled and ducked again to avoid being hit, but they didn't have much of a care, as they were having a blast at Niki's. The girls continued pillow fighting until around midnight, and the room was an even bigger wreck when they all finally fell asleep for the night.
20. Chapter 20
Chapter 20-
The next day, Niki, Sara, and Kitty were on their way to math class. It was another day, yet the place seemed a tad quieter, be it whether Chrissy and her friends were cutting class again, or if there was a field trip for some other class that the girls didn't know about. The girls were approaching the door of the classroom, when they noticed another presence behind them.
"Hi guys!" The girls turned around and noticed that Tails was walking in the hall, about to pass them. Being right outside their class with plenty of time, the girls stopped and stood next to the door, stepping to the side of the hall so they weren't blocking anyone's path.
"Hey Tails!" Niki said, giving a friendly smile to the kitsune. "What's up?"
"I heard you guys were running for Student Council," Tails responded, readjusting the load of books he was carrying. "Would you like some help with your campaign?"
"Sure! We'll need a lot of help if we want to beat Chrissy," Kitty answered, nodding at the girls. "Thanks for offering! How nice of you."
"Yes, this is all part of my master plan to rule the school," Niki said in a fake menacing voice, rubbing her hands together underneath her books and laughing. "Get everyone to help us with our campaign so that we have the numbers to win. It's foolproof!"
"_That's_ your master plan?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow at Niki. "Really?"
"Haha, no," Niki replied with a giggle, reverting back to her normal laughter. "I have no master plan. But I do have this cheeseburger." The blonde human reached into her pockets and pulled out a stale looking cheeseburger, earning her three strange stares.
"Why do you have that?" Kitty asked, slightly grossed out by the old food. The cat crinkled her nose in disgust at the filthy stench emanating from the burger and stepped back.
"I…don't…know," Niki answered, shrugging as she tossed it into a nearby trash can, when Amy randomly appeared at Kitty's side. "Oh hey Amy."
"Hey guys," Amy greeted, waving to each person. "You know, the Spring Fling is in two weeks, and the decorating committee is running low on students. Maybe we could sign-up and help." Niki, Sara, and Kitty exchanged glances at each other, before they shrugged and nodded.
"That's a great idea, Amy," Sara said, right as the bell rang. "We'll go later."
"Great! See you then!" Amy responded, as the girls disappeared inside the classroom, before she and Tails took off in the opposite direction.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Shadow and Marissa were walking down another hallway, escorting who appeared to be a new teacher. From a distance the figure looked only human, but up close they turned out to be a robot designed as a human. The robot bore a resemblance to Eggman, only slimmer and with an unkempt, brown, scruffy wig on his head. The robot's black eyes looked like buttons found on other machinery hidden behind silver, slightly rusted glasses, and the nose was a small, metal cone painted orange, similar to a snowman's nose. Dressed in a red blouse, yellow tie, black pants, and black dress shoes, the robot was able to blend right in with the Animon High faculty, as he passed by two teachers without any questions being asked. Marissa raised an eyebrow and skeptically glanced over at Shadow as they were coming up on the science lab.<p>
"I think we can both agree that this plan sucks ass," Marissa commented, to which Shadow silently nodded. "Eggman is confident that this little plan will work," Marissa continued, as they stopped outside the door, standing away from the small window to avoid the students' eyes peeking outside the door and seeing them. "But are we really sure this will work?"
"Really, this is one of Eggman's lamest plans to date," Shadow said, shaking his head as the robot opened the door of the lab. "But you never know." The duo watched as the robot disappeared inside the larger classroom and began teaching as if he did it on a regular basis.
"Well, we've got that taken care of," Marissa mused, eyeing the robot from the hall and nodding approvingly. "Let's go." The two walked down the hall together, before splitting up in opposite corridors of the school as they headed for their morning classes.
* * *
><p>Later after school, Niki and her group of friends, plus Tails and Amy, walked into the gym, where a large group of animals were scattered throughout the gym, busily decorating. Mitzi and Olivia were running around with streamers, Sabrina and Thorn were tying balloons to the bleachers, Madeline and Katrina were taping paper flowers and more balloons to the walls, and many more animals were moving tables and chairs around, before placing colorful tablecloths on the former.<p>
"Alright, let's get started," Niki said, grabbing a large, pink streamer, with Tails nodding and holding the other end. Tails ran up the bleachers, while Niki climbed a ladder as they started to move the streamer around until they found a good spot for it. Sara tossed Niki and Tails each a roll of scotch tape for them to secure the streamer, when Niki suddenly felt the ladder disappear from under her feet. Mitzi had pulled Niki's ladder away, causing the human to let out a rather high-pitched yelp as she fell. "Ow! Damn it!" Niki yelled as her butt crashed landed on the floor, followed by her head.
"Niki! Are you alright over there?" Tails asked, dropping the streamer and running over to Niki. Mitzi ran away, with Tangy angrily shaking her fist and yelling at the blue and white cat from behind.
"Bitch get back here!" the orange cat shouted, her face turning red with anger when Mitzi ignored her. Tangy was ready to run after Mitzi and pounce on her (pun…sort of intended), when the orange cat came face to face with a brown paw.
"Tangy, stop," Kitty advised. "As much of a bitch as she is, it's not worth it." Tangy pouted and crossed her arms.
"Fine…" Tangy grumbled, blowing a strand of fur off her face. Mitzi let out a brisk "Hmph!" as she sauntered out of the gym, while Tails helped Niki to her feet.
"If your head hurts, maybe the nurse can bandage it for you if she's still here," the fox suggested, quickly scanning Niki's blonde head. Niki chuckled as she rubbed her head.
"I'm sure it will be fine," Niki replied. "Thanks anyway." The group moved on to blow up more balloons and let them float to the ceiling, while Olivia was climbing another ladder to hang up the disco ball. The white cat smirked when she noticed that Niki was right below her, and she giggled to herself as she "accidentally" dropped it. Simultaneously, Niki glanced up after releasing a green balloon, when she realized that the disco ball was falling, and was about to meet her head.
"Holy shit!" Niki exclaimed, quickly diving out of the way. Niki dodged with perfect timing. Right as she had turned and did a small roll out of its path, the disco ball hit the floor, in the spot that Niki was just in, and shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.
"Oops! Sorry!" Olivia said innocently, letting out another short laugh while shrugging, before climbing down the ladder and dashing off. Niki watched with dismay and wonder at Olivia as she disappeared out of the gym.
"Oh no she didn't…" the blonde human muttered to herself, raising an eyebrow with her jaw hanging open.
21. Chapter 21
Chapter 21-
The next day at lunch, Niki's typical lunch table, minus Rosie who was sick and Kiki who was off having lunch with other friends, was gathered together, plus Madeline and Thorn. Niki swallowed a piece of her turkey sandwich before clearing her throat.
"So, you two are running for Student Council as well," Niki began, making a small gesture towards Madeline and Thorn while taking another bite of her sandwich. "So, who's helping you with your campaigns?" The entire table was rambling off aimlessly as they made small talk, the topics varying from Student Council elections to the upcoming Spring Fling dance.
"My friend Miley is helping me," Madeline answered after taking a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich.
"Sabrina's helping me," Thorn replied between bites of her apple. Her voice was slightly muffled by the pieces of fruit in her mouth, but her words were still audible.
"Where's Katrina?" Sara asked, turning to jump into the conversation after discussing Spring Fling wardrobe with Tangy and Kitty.
"She went out to lunch with some friends," Madeline replied, casually running a hand through her curly red hair. "Because she can do that."
"We wanted to come, but we couldn't because we're not seniors," Thorn added, when the sight of one kid hitting another on the head with a banana grabbed her attention.
"Oh that's right," Kitty piped up, nodding as she turned to toss her leftovers into the trash can behind her. "Yeah, it's too bad that only seniors can go out for lunch. Cafeteria food kind of sucks."
"That's because they have cars and can drive," Tangy said, taking no notice of the banana peel that went flying over her head. "So also juniors can do that too I think." The girls nodded as they continued eating, creating a momentary silence at the table.
"I wish I had a car…" Madeline said with a sigh, starting to stare off into space as she imagined herself driving. "Then I could have lunch somewhere else. Somewhere nicer than an old, gross cafeteria."
"Me too," Thorn responded wistfully. "It is more fun than eating in the cafeteria." Niki and Sara looked over at the lunches that Cookie and Biskit were having, courtesy of the cafeteria: spaghetti and meatballs. Sara grimaced when she saw a tiny roly poly curled up in between the meatballs on Biskit's tray, while Niki only chuckled and made a sickly face.
"I guess so," Niki mumbled with a shrug, before shoving the remainder of her sandwich into her mouth.
"Well, we're getting driving lessons in a few years, so…" Sara trailed off. There was another pause among the group, when Thorn's eyes brightened as she thought of something.
"So I heard that Rosie got kicked out of the Bratz Catz," Thorn stated, looking around at everyone with intrigue.
"Yeah, me too!" Madeline chimed in, immediately interested in the new topic. "Does anyone know why?"
"It's because she's not running for Student Council," Sara replied, pulling out an oversized sugar cookie and biting into it. "Chrissy wanted everyone in her clique to be on Student Council, so Rosie would've been left out by being left over." More murmurs erupted amongst them.
"That sucks," Thorn commented while chewing on a bite of a chocolate chip cookie.
"I know!" Madeline agreed, louder than intended, when she glanced over at Thorn. "Please don't talk with your mouth full."
"Sorry," Thorn responded with a mouth full of cookie, before swallowing.
"Thank you," Madeline said, while everyone rolled their eyes and let out grunts and mumbles of amusement.
* * *
><p>Later that night, after finishing her homework, Kitty was typing away on her shiny, white laptop. She was lying on her stomach on her lovely bed, surrounded by the lovely furniture series in her living room, wall and carpet included, with her backpack and books resting next to the lovely loveseat by the front door. Despite being done with her homework, Kitty didn't stop working. She busied herself by doing research on Dr. Eggman, the mustached man she and her friends had ran into at the talent show. They were right about Tipper and Bob wanting to use the school in their obnoxious plans to rule the world, but they didn't expect this strange guy to be after Animon as well. So Kitty was going to dig up some dirt about him so she and the others would get an idea as to who this guy was and what his real agenda was. She had typed his name into Google, and came up with a variety of results, all producing the same basic information. He was a middle-aged scientist who was the grandson of Dr. Gerald Robotnik, another brilliant scientist who had once tried to destroy the Earth with the Solar Eclipse Cannon, only to be foiled by Sonic the Hedgehog and his pals.<p>
"Today Eggman is notorious for constantly attacking cities and people in his attempts to take over the world, only to be stopped by Sonic every time," Kitty read aloud as she scrolled down to click on other information. Each result she clicked on provided the same common facts about Eggman, while each one included other, more obscure information. Kitty read through extracts of Gerald Robotnik's diary, which brought her to the conclusion that Eggman had unwittingly set his grandfather's plan for world destruction into motion with his own desires for world domination through the uses of the Solar Eclipse Cannon and… "Project…project what?" Kitty asked herself, peering closer at the computer screen as she read through more of Gerald's and Eggman's notes. She scrolled down again to find a few candid shots from unknown sources of the scientist terrorizing different cities and leaving in shame after being beaten by Sonic. "Wait a second? What is that?" Kitty wondered aloud as she double-clicked on one of the pictures of Eggman's robots slamming its fists into a random building. Zooming in revealed the faces of two vaguely familiar figures in the background as they were controlling the robot. One of them was a brown-haired human girl, and the other one was…
"Oh my God!" Kitty cried in shock and horror, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets upon recognizing both of the figures in the photo, more freaked out about one than about the other. "He's…he's with the enemy!" Kitty sat there in her own silence as she continued to stare open-mouthed at the screen. Emotion drained from Kitty's face as the shock wore off shortly, and she blinked a few times as she processed her newfound knowledge.
"…So this is Project Shadow…"
22. Chapter 22
Chapter 22-
Shadow was walking down the steps of the school building at the end of the day, with clusters of students scattering around him as they went their own ways to head home. Shadow was about to stop after the last step to wait for Marissa, when Kitty emerged from the crowd and came storming up to him, anger and anguish written bluntly on her face.
"You're working for Eggman?" Kitty exclaimed, taking Shadow by surprise. Luckily the majority of the students had cleared out of the school zone, so nobody was close enough to hear. "Project Shadow? You were a part of the attack on the night of the talent show!" Stunned, all Shadow could do was stare at Kitty while he thought of a response. He had an idea of how to explain himself when it dawned on him. His and Marissa's suspicions about Kitty from before were true. They were on opposite sides of the mission.
"Kitty…I didn't mean to be an enemy to you," Shadow replied with uncertainty. "I didn't even know you were involved with the mission at all. I obviously couldn't tell you about myself because I would have blown my cover and gotten in trouble."
"Yeah, because you're trying to destroy the school!" Kitty cried, barely listening to his defense. "I thought I could give you the benefit of the doubt when I saw you messing with the speakers, but really you've been working for the enemy the whole time!" The two gazed into each other's eyes in an awkward but tense silence. Shadow was clenching his fists, Kitty was on the verge of tears, and both were nearly at a loss for words. "You lied to me," Kitty continued, her vision blurring from her watery eyes. "I can't believe you didn't tell me what you were. Why?" Shadow ran a hand through his spikes as he tried to gather his thoughts together, but he hesitated too long, and he helplessly watched as Kitty turned around and walked away without another word.
* * *
><p>After school, Niki's friends came over to her house to do more campaign stuff. They chatted aimlessly while helping each other with their homework in between making more posters. While they were doing that, Tipper and Bob were in their poorly concealed, not-so-elaborate base, regrouping and plotting their next move after <em>finally<em> escaping from prison.
"Super Bob!" Bob chimed while he was running around, having no regard to Tipper's desire to concentrate.
"Shut up Bob!" Tipper snapped, right as Bob tripped and faceplanted into her gut, sending her crashing to the floor along with him. "Ow! Bob get the hell off of me!" Tipper roughly shoved Bob off of her and clambered to her pudgy feet. "We need to think of a plan to catch those brats and stop them from interfering with whatever plans we come up with next."
"Okay, you do that," Bob said, plopping down on Tipper's brand new gorgeous sofa and turning on the TV. Tipper began pacing the room, deep in thought as she contemplated her next move, when the _Laguna Beach_ theme song drifted into her ears.
"Is that _Laguna Beach_? Move over!" Tipper cried, pushing Bob off the couch and taking up all the room with her over-sized rear end.
"Ow!" Bob yelped as he hit the floor head-first. "Don't you have to come up with a new evil plan to-?"
"I'll do it on a commercial!" Tipper replied, eyes glued to the TV. "I love this episode! Now quiet! The show's on!" Bob sighed and rolled his eyes as he took a spot on the floor, right in front of the TV, right as the show went into a commercial break. "Okay. Back to that evil plan," Tipper said, getting up and pacing the room again. "And don't sit on the couch! That is my spot! MINE! Ya hear?" The moment Tipper turned her back, Bob took the opportunity to crawl across the floor and onto the couch. Bob sat through commercials advertising McDonald's, the upcoming DVD release of _The Hunger Games_, and reruns of _Hannah Montana_, but when _Laguna Beach_ came back on, Bob looked up and saw Tipper glaring down at him, her foot tapping impatiently. Bob grinned cheekily and scratched his head sheepishly.
"Heheh…on the floor?" Bob asked, letting out a nervous laugh. Tipper's face was red as a tomato from her rage.
"Out the window!" Tipper yelled, throwing her arms up in frustration. She picked up Bob, spun him around like a pizza, and repositioned her arms in preparation for a football pass before chucking Bob out the window. The window shattered on impact and some shards of glass fell outside along with Bob, while others scattered across the shanty floor. Bob proceeded to projectile vomit due to dizziness all over his cape, which now had pieces of glass stuck to it.
"That'll teach him to take my seat and irritate me," Tipper muttered, sitting back down on the couch to resume watching TV. Meanwhile, Amy had been walking aimlessly through Rosebud, when she came across Tipper and Bob's residence. She decided to stand and look through the window on the other side of the house to check out what was going on. She was shocked that they had managed to escape from jail, but she couldn't help but be amused by their idiocy. Still, she should probably tell someone that they escaped. So Amy ran off, heading straight to Sonic's house.
23. Chapter 23
Chapter 23-
After stopping to chat with various neighbors and catch the ice cream truck, Amy made it to Sonic's house. With a chocolate fudgesicle in her hand, she walked up to his royal blue house and knocked on his door. The blue hedgehog opened the door, but his face twisted in dismay when he saw his self-proclaimed girlfriend standing there.
"Amy? What do you want?" Sonic asked. Amy took this as a cue to come in, so she nudged past Sonic and entered the house. Amy was looking around at Sonic's place, admiring the blue furniture series that furnished it, when she remembered why she was there.
"Remember that cow and that purple cat?" Amy asked, to which Sonic nodded. "They escaped from jail. We should probably do something about that."
"Oh yeah, those guys," Sonic responded, tapping his chin in thought. "They must be people from this dimension. What are they up to?"
"I don't know. They were just watching TV," Amy answered, scratching her pink head.
"Those bastards!" Sonic cried, angrily shaking his fist. "How evil!" It took him a moment, but when Sonic realized what Amy said, he dropped his fist. "…Oh. Just watching TV?" Amy nodded. "They're still evil!" Amy turned away and stifled a giggle at Sonic's expense.
"Why don't we go tell Knuckles?" Amy suggested, to which Sonic agreed. So they left and headed down the road towards Knuckles' house. It was easy to spot; it was the only one with a giant Emerald in the backyard. Amy went ahead and knocked on the door, while Sonic stopped to buy ice cream from the same truck that Amy had been to.
"Amy? What's up?" Knuckles asked when he opened the door. Sonic walked up to the bright red house while eating an ice cream sandwich, while Amy explained how those crazy animals they saw before escaped from prison. Knuckles nodded accordingly as he listened, scratching his chin as he processed this new information.
"Well, I don't really know much about them," Knuckles said, still partly in thought. "And I'm kind of busy right now anyway, so-"
"Busy? With what?" Sonic questioned, raising an eyebrow. Knuckles gestured towards the backyard. "Oh, right. The Master Emerald. Sheesh, why don't you just marry the Master Emerald if you love it so much?"
"Believe me, I've looked into it," Knuckles answered, earning him some strange stares from the two hedgehogs. "But just go ask Niki and her friends. They probably know who those weirdoes are."
"Worth a shot," Sonic replied, turning to leave. "Thanks Knux." Knuckles closed his door as Sonic and Amy walked away. They continued down the road for about half a mile before turning a corner and arriving at Niki's house. Once again, Amy knocked on the door, and in turn the blonde human answered.
"Yay! More company!" Niki cheered, stepping aside to let Sonic and Amy pass through. "Come on in." The hedgehogs complied and stepped into the house, where they saw several of Niki's friends, plus Tails. Having overheard Niki, everyone looked to see the blue hero with his pink cohort entering the living room.
"Sonic? Amy? What are you doing here?" Tails asked.
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked the orange fox, but Sonic brushed it off.
"Eh, never mind that for now," Sonic said, taking a seat on Niki's new gorgeous sofa. "We need to ask you guys something."
"Sure, ask away," Niki replied, setting aside a giant piece of poster board. "What is it?"
"You know that cow and purple cat we saw that night of the talent show?" Amy inquired. Niki nodded, when her eyes brightened with recognition.
"Oh, yes, Tipper and Bob," Niki said, chuckling to herself. "Yeah I know them." Sonic noticed all of Niki's friends nod, as they all must have known who Niki was talking about. Tails continued to draw on one of their posters that were lying around, but his perked ears showed that he was still listening. Amy looked over at Sonic; he seemed to be lying back, ready to absorb whatever information Niki was going to give, so she decided to be the one to press on.
"Tipper and Bob? Who are they?" Amy questioned. Niki paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, so Sara began to answer.
"Well, Tipper's the cow, and Bob's the cat, for starters," Sara said to their newer friends. "They're huge troublemakers around here." Sara glanced over at Niki, who took this as a cue to continue.
"They're major rivals of ours, probably our biggest rivals," Niki continued, her blue eyes showing reflection as a few memories of Tipper and Bob popped into her head. "Partly because most of the trouble they cause is trouble for us. We worked in a movie studio, but she always tried to take over because I fired them for misconduct."
"Sounds…crazy," Sonic mumbled, slightly skeptical. "But interesting. So anyway, these guys escaped from prison. We need to stop them before they do anything else to destroy that school of yours."
"Yeah, I'm not sure how to go about that," Niki began, when Sara suddenly cut her off.
"Wait, they actually got out of jail?!" the dark-haired human exclaimed, her eyes widened, clearly shocked. "Really?! They were actually smart enough to figure out a way out?"
"Yeah, I know. Shocking," Niki said casually, brushing it off like it's no big deal. "But they won't be out for long. We can always just raid their place and drag them back to the police station. Then let the cops deal with it."
"Well, that plan sounds good to me," Sara responded with a shrug. "We'll do that." Everyone else nodded in agreement. So it was settled then.
* * *
><p>Meanwhile, Kitty and Kiki were sitting on the pink lovely bed in Kitty's room. Kitty was crying and pouring her heart out to Kiki, telling her about Shadow and what she found out about him, while Kiki listened intently while patting the brown cat's back.<p>
"I-I can't believe him!" Kitty choked out, her words partly drowned out by her sobbing. "He lied to me. How could he do that?" Kiki's ears drooped. She felt so bad for Kitty, but she honestly had no clue of what to say. She sat there and watched Kitty wipe her eyes, while she tried to come up with a response.
"I don't know, Kitty," Kiki replied, pausing again to reach for more words. "Some guys…they don't know what they're doing when they do it. They just screw up a lot."
"I liked him. I actually liked him!" Kitty wailed, barely listening to her feline friend. "How could I have been so stupid to like him?" Kitty sniffled again as Kiki brought her in for a hug.
"It's okay, Kitty," Kiki said comfortingly, hugging Kitty tighter. "Things can work themselves out." Kitty grabbed another tissue to blow her nose, before tossing it into the wastebasket and returning her gaze to the black cat.
"You think so?" Kitty asked. Kiki nodded. Kitty sighed with exasperation and ran a paw through her brown fur on her head. "I guess I'll have to let it go then. Forget him." Kiki nodded and hugged Kitty again, before the two glanced out the window and noticed a bulky gray hovercraft lingering outside.
"W-What is that…?" Kitty murmured, perplexed by the hovercraft's presence outside her house. That's when a red and yellow claw shot out of the hovercraft and through the window. Kitty screamed as the claw opened up and grabbed her, getting a tight grip on her.
"Kitty!" Kiki cried, desperately trying to reach for her friend, only for her to watch helplessly as the claw pulled Kitty out the window. Kiki could barely hear the sound of someone laughing as the hovercraft ascended into the sky and disappeared, taking Kitty with it. "Oh my God!" the younger cat exclaimed, still frozen in horror. She blinked a few times, before leaping off the bed and sprinting out of the room. She needed to find help, and fast.
24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24-
"Hey, what's that outside over there?"
Everyone turned their heads as Tangy pointed at the window. A shadowed figure was forced to duck and retreat to behind a tree before Niki and the gang returned to what they were doing.
"Probably just the wind or something," Rosie muttered while coloring a few letters in the slogan on one of Niki's posters. A tail colored different shades of purple poked out from behind the tree. Bob had been listening in through the window, as ordered by Tipper, and he was relieved when he realized he hadn't been caught. Done with his eavesdropping, Bob let himself fall on his back on the ground, rolling around in the grass to help stretch his limbs. He found a comfortable position and continued to lie there for several minutes, before remembering that he was supposed to report back to Tipper. So he leapt to his feet and rushed home to tell Tipper, who was sipping a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Bob walked into the house, his feet clomping against the silver tiled floor as he approached his comrade.
"Tipper! I have news for you!" Bob announced, leaning in to see what was in Tipper's white coffee mug.
"Sorry, you already missed _Cupcake Wars_," Tipper replied, taking another sip of her beverage. "Now, tell me what you know."
"Aww! I missed it? Again?" Bob asked, his ears drooped as he began to pout, before remembering what he meant to say. "Oh yeah. They're going to raid us! They're going to raid us and turn us in again! We should do something!"
"A raid?! What?!" Tipper exclaimed, her cheeks turning red with anger. "We have to get out of here. They know where we live. We'll just live somewhere else until we conquer the world." Bob raised his paw, as if to answer a question in class. Tipper raised her eyebrow as she placed the coffee mug on the counter.
"I have a house!" Bob chimed, grinning goofily like always. "I have a house right behind Town Hall!" Tipper's eyes brightened.
"Perfect! We'll move there right away!" Tipper exclaimed, clapping her hooves with delight, before glancing at the apple clock behind her. "It's 7:50. Go turn the TV on so we can watch _Wipeout_. Then we'll pack up and head to your place."
"Okay!" Bob replied, happily running over to the TV and turning it on. Tipper and Bob proceeded to plop down on the couch, just in time for another TV show.
* * *
><p>"So…what exactly are you guys doing?" Sonic asked, pointing to all the art supplies laid out before Niki and her friends.<p>
"Are you guys making blueprints for your mission or something?" Amy asked, looking down as an orange marker rolled up to her red and white boot.
"Haha, no," Niki said, laughing sheepishly. "My friends and I are running for Student Council at school, so our other friends are helping us make campaign posters and write speeches and stuff."
"Oh…cool," Sonic said, propping his feet up on the sofa's armrest. Niki and her friends turned around and returned to their work, when the door suddenly burst open. Everyone turned their heads yet again as a familiar black cat ran into the house, panting as she brushed a few strands of fur off her face.
"Hey Kiki. What's up?" Niki asked, Kiki's slightly disheveled appearance causing some concern. "Is everything okay?" Kiki shook her head in a lopsided fashion as she continued panting and trying to catch her breath.
"Kitty…claw…window…Kitty…hovercraft…" Kiki mumbled, too short of breath to speak coherently. Kiki was slightly bent over, cramps shooting pain through her hips and gut. Everyone else exchanged glances, confused as to what Kiki was trying to tell them.
"So…what did she say exactly?" Sara asked, staring at Kiki in bewilderment.
"Something about Kitty, a claw, and a hovercraft," Tangy responded, tapping a finger on her head as she tried to think. Kiki took a deep breath as she returned to standing upright, turning and facing everyone.
"Kitty's gone!" Kiki cried in anguish. Jaws dropped open and eyes widened.
"What?!" everyone yelled in unison. Kiki took this moment to regain more of her breath.
"Kiki, what happened?" Niki asked, worry rising in her voice. "Where's Kitty?" Kiki gulped, still in panic mode.
"Kitty and I were at her house, when this big metal claw burst through the window and grabbed her!" Kiki explained, showing no signs of calming down. "It grabbed her and left! I don't know where she went…" Kiki blinked back tears and sighed as she leaned against the wall next to the gorgeous sofa that Sonic and Amy were sitting on. "Please! You guys have to help!"
"What do you think, Sonic?" Niki asked, turning towards the blue hedgehog. Sonic was looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought until Niki's voice snapped him out of it. Without skipping a beat, Sonic turned towards the frantic black cat.
"Did you see anything else before this happened?" the hedgehog inquired, his eyes flickering with knowledge. Kiki nodded.
"Well, we saw this hovercraft outside the window before the claw came at us," Kiki said thoughtfully, recalling the event in her head. "It disappeared when Kitty did, though." Sonic spent another minute thinking, before his eyes flashed with recognition.
"That sounds like Eggman!" he exclaimed, clenching his fists and jumping onto his feet. Tails glanced from Sonic to Kiki, and he and Sonic nodded to each other.
"I think that sounds like Eggman too," the kitsune piped up. "We should probably check his base and see if Kitty's there."
"Do you guys know where his base is?" Rosie asked curiously. Everyone nodded and a few "Yeah"'s were heard.
"I know where he is," Niki said confidently. "Remember that house party we went to?" Sonic's eyes brightened and he couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
"Oh yeah! I remember that!" he replied with a grin. "That was a great party."
"Well now that we have a location, we have to go," Sara said, heading for the door and motioning for everyone else to follow. Everyone else shuffled around, following Sara out the door, with Niki bringing up the rear of the pack. Niki was happy that they knew where to go, and adrenaline was pumping through her as they set out, but one thought nearly stopped in her tracks. Luckily nobody could notice her smile drop and her eyes almost bulging out. _Wait a minute…Marissa was hosting that party…that means…_
"Oh my gosh," Niki murmured under her breath, just barely out of earshot for anyone. "Marissa is working for Eggman."
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Drama, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 157,048 | 11,583.4 |
null | Animal Crossing Suko's Animal Crossing Christmas
I woke with a jolt to a deafening bang outside my house. I shot out of bed, only stopping to pull on my dressing gown and slippers, before flying downstairs to the front door, convinced the village was under attack.
I flung open the door only to see Tank, a training obsessed rhino, heaving a fallen cedar tree. It was one that had lights on and everything.
"Tank?" I dared say. He jumped, dropping the tree on his foot, and began to curse words which I couldn't understand, as he was speaking fluent Animalese.
"Suko!" He said when he stopped cursing and finally noticed me. "Mornin', ker-POW!"
"Good morning," I replied politely, frowning a little. "What are you doing?"
"Huh? Oh this?" Tank gestured to the tree. "Oh, it's a Christmas tree! Y'know, it bein' Christmas Eve an' all, I decided to get one." He flexed his muscles proudly and rested his axe on his shoulder. "Cut it down an' everythin'!"
"Tank," I began slowly, stepping out into the cold air. The snow crunched beneath my slippers. "Why don't you just visit Nookingtons? He sells small and big trees alike. It saves you a heck of a lot of trouble, and now Pelly won't give you a lecture about the enviroment again."
"I have no money for that, ker-POW!" Tank replied brightly. "So I'll make do with a bit o' hard work n' labour!"
I sighed and reached into my pocket, where some loose change rattled. I withdrew a handfull and gave it to Tank.
"Here, this should be enough for one tree," I said, offering the Bells. "Leave the tree you cut down, I'll sort it out."
"Oh, really?" Tank gazed at his handful of money. "Well, thanks an' all that, but anyway; lots to do!" He smiled and pocketed the money. "Merry Christmas, Suko! Ker-POW!"
"Merry Christmas," I replied, sighing. I waved at the retreating Tank and went back indoors to have some breakfast.
I sat at the table, sipping at a coffee gloomily. This year would be my first Christmas here in this town. I was brooding about my previous life. Sure, I was sixteen, I had a warm, comfortable house, and was getting a good education (My original plan was to move here because of the good school nearby), but sometimes, especially now it was Christmas, I missed my old life with my parents. I hadn't really thought of Christmas untill today, and it was Christmas Eve
I downed the rest of my coffee, and dressed in a warm, woolly festive-patterned dress with black leggings and light brown Uggs. It was just as I scraped my short blonde hair into a little ponytail I heard a knock at the door.
"Mail call, for Miss Suko!" I opened the door and there stood Pete the Postman. "Merry Christmas!" He said chirply. "Here; a package and a letter." A fairly large envelope and an average-sized parcel were thrust into my hands.
"Thank you...er...Pete," I managed to blurt out.
"That's just my job. Anyway, lot's to do, lots to deliver!" Pete said quickly before flapping his wings and leaping into the sky. It only just occured to me that my first conversation of the day had ended a similar way.
I closed the door, placed the parcel on the table and opened the envelope. A huge card with a picture of my family sitting near a Christmas tree on the front slid out. I opened it, and inside were the words:
_Dear Suko_
_Your first Christmas away from home! I hope you do enjoy it there- I suppose that little village you moved to is quite festive? Everyone else is fine, although Yori, bless her, gas caught a cold. She's getting better though and by the time this card reaches you it should be gone! Anyway, we decided not to come visit as you have your own life now, but why haven't we heard from you? It's been a while since your last letter. Oh well, here, a present from us in case Santa decides you don't deserve anything this year!Lots of Love as always,_
_Mum xxx_
I smiled and placed the card on the fireplace and the package under the tree. What could be inside it? I didn't want to spoil the surprise, after all, it was Christmas tomorrow. I wouldn't have to wait long.
I had barely turned the key in the lock as I heard someone call my name. It was Puddles, an excitable pink frog who lived just northern of me.
"Sukon!" (That's her nickname for me) She said, trotting up to me like a pony. "I just want to say Happy Christmas, splish!" She smiled happily, and swayed from side to side, her coat swishing from side to side. It was a soft sugar pink trimmed with fur and had breast buttons.
"That's a nice coat, Puddles," I commented. "Did Sable-?"
"Huh? Oh THIS! This this this this this this this this! No, I got it from the city! It's beautiful, isn't it, splish!" Puddles' eyes fixed on my old red padded number, stained after years of snow ball fights, rain, dirt and general wear. I smiled at Puddles, blushing a little.
"Well, if that's all..."
"No, it's not, splish! Here!" I hadn't noticed the small package clutched in Puddles hand. She held it out for me to collect. "Here!" She cried. "Sorry it couldn't be bigger. I like it, though, splish."
"Size dosen't matter!" I said, holding back tears of joy. "Thankyou so much!" Puddles looked pleased, but also expectant. She cocked her head to one side. "What is it?" I asked.
"Well? Haven't you got something for me, splish?" I gasped in horror. In my blindness to the approaching New Year, I had neglected to find gifts, or let alone write cards for all of my fellow villagers!
"Sorry Puddles!" I cried, running towards Nookingtons. "Sorry!"
"...? Splish?"
"Ah, welcome, welcome, hm?" Nook greeted me as I stepped into the store, gasping and out of breath.
"Sorry, ," I replied, gasping for breath. "I'm in a bit of a hurry!"
Up the stairs I gazed for what felt like hours at furniture and wallpaper and paint. What would people want? I racked my brains, untill, in the darkness a voice spoke. It was... Puddles' voice?
"My fish is sooooo big now," It said. I remembered the conversation from a few weeks back. "It needs a new tank." Then the lightbulb above my head flashed! A fish tank for Puddles! Easy! Angus, my ex-boyfriend, a headstrong bull had dropped into conversation about the missing pieces and his cracked chessboard. Just what he needed! After a spree in Nookingtons, and a small fortune spent, I clutched my precous parcels to my chest as I then bought a couple of frocks from Sable and Mable, and then a trip to the city on the bus for several other bits. The final things I bought for everyone were;
_Puddles,frog=fish tank_
_Angus, bull= chess set_
_Opal, elephant= stylish coat from GracieGrace_
_Tank, rhino= a golden axe_
_Ruby, rabbit= two (cheap) dresses, one gingham, the other tartan_
_Nate, bear= a make your own four course dinner at minimal expense and difficulty cook book_
_Vesta, sheep= a new sewing machine_
_Elmer, horse= 'sleeping' dust_
Content at last, with wrapped presents all in the post being delivered at that precise moment, I was at ease, and merrily shopping for dinner the next day. A small turkey, a pack of four potatoes, yule log, salad (I hated vegtables) and a box of chocolates would do me for the day.
"Alright, alright, merry shoppers, time to close!" Nook said eagerly. He packed my bags quickly and gave them to me with a quick 'Merry Christmas from all at Nookingtons, hm?' and then ushered all of us late night shoppers out of his store. Something told me that he had something he wanted to do, and my thoughts were confirmed when I saw Sable waiting patiently outside (**1). **
I fell asleep quickly that night, but was woken by a clatter outside. It made me jump, buit then I calmed down and told myself it was just Tank again, not fully convinced that a Nookington's produced tree would suffice. I snuggled back down under the covers but then was aroused again by a scrabbling scratching noise in the chimmney. I tensed in the dark, listening as a thump resounded from downstairs. Then a great deal of rustling. Then the soft creak...creak... that told me someone... or something... was coming into my room...
I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut. The thing shuffled across the room to my bed, where it stopped at the end of it and seemed to be fiddling with something. When it had finished, it came up to the pillow where my head was laid. I prayed that this would end quickly, cleanly, silently... Something sweet smelling was scattered over my face. It tickled, but then one slipped under my eyelid and into my eye.
"OWCH!" I said, shooting upwards and knocking whatever it was on the nose. A copy cat 'owch' was cried, and the sweet smelling thing disappeared from my eye. A figure in a red suit was rubbing his nose and seemed cross.
"Hmph!" It said. "You should know better than to hit Jingle! You'll be on the naughty list for sure,"
"Jingle?" I repeated, and reached over to flick on the lamp. I squinted a bit in the sudden light, but now saw 'Jingle' clearly. He wore a red suit trimmed with fur and a large black belt. He was a reindeer, with large, majestic horns that grazed the ceiling. His eyes were bright. And there was a large sack slung over his shoulder.
"You mean you haven't heard of me, child?" Jingle asked. "Why, I'm Jingle, the guy who delivers gifts to all the good kids at Christmas! You, miss, happened to be on the nice list this year. Next year, hm, we'll have to see whether this old nose is still sore!" Jingle let out a steady 'ho ho ho!' but then saw the look of confusion on my face. Why was I confused? Well. A reindeer wearing a Santa suit had appeared in my house, I'de hit him on the nose and now he was just talking to me. Wouldn't you be confused? So, yes, he saw my face and grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of bed. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a red, polished sleigh with cushioned seats and eight fine reindeer galloping through the sky.
Wait.
The sky?
I peeked over the edge of the sleigh and saw the village below me glittering in the moonlight. I screamed, but Jingle, who sat next to me patted me on my shoulder.
"Why scream?" He asked me. "Flying in my sleigh is a glorious treat! Enjoy it, Miss!"
I woke with a start to the sun shining on my face. I sat up, rubbing my eyes slowly, and then realised that it was Christmas! I flew out of bed and down the stairs. Under my Christmas tree was...
A pile of presents, all addressed to me, and when I looked at each name tag they all said that they were from someone in town. I smiled gratefully. From Tank I received a new purse with a five thousand bells cheque in side! The tag said 'to pay you back', although the change I gave him only amounted to 1,400 bells. FRom Puddles, a dear little charm bracelet with a miniture figure of herself, from Angus, a 'love' machine (Really just a machine where you put 100 bells in and it'll give you a sweet or chocolate), from Ruby, a gardening kit, from Opal, a nice new pair of Uggs- the old ones were wearing out, from Nate, a home-made christmas cake, from Elmer, a notebook and pen, and, finally, a black hand knitted scarf with silver stars on it from Vesta.
I ate my Christmas dinner, and then picked up the parcel from my family. It was heavy. I peeled off the brown paper. Inside was a box. Ripping off the cellotape, I opened the box and lifted out... a model of the world, like a globe, but with a figure no bigger than my index finger of ME stood on the top, next to a flag which read- CONQUERED. I laughed, then cried with happiness. It turned out that the Christmas I spent alone was the best Christmas I ever had.
_Dear Mum, and family_
_I had a wonderful Christmas. This is partly a thankyou letter and partly and update on my life- thankyou SO much for my 'conquered' world. It stands in the centre of my living room- it looks amazing. Where did you get it? I managed to get presents for everyone in town, and got one back from everyone! Even my ex-boyfriend (Who I told you about earlier in the year.).One last thing to tell you; on Christamas Eve, I met Jingle, the present delivering reindeer who comes around on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts. I rode with him in m=his sleigh for a while before I returned home on Christmas morn._
_Love,_
_Suko xxx_
* * *
><p>(<strong>1) Here I'm referring to 'Tom and Sable's Christmas' by Evening Cicada, another Christmas Animal Crossing fanfic. Here's the link!<strong>
** (If it dosen't come through then just copy and paste it into your URL box.) **
.net/s/7647257/1/Tom_and_Sables_Christmas
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 12,473 | 12,948.3 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1: The Animal Airlines HQ
**Chapter One****
**_**The Animal Airlines HQ**_
It was mid-day, and the sun shone brightly over the forests of **Brazil**. Surely, this great weather would contribute to the flight I was about to be on. **Flight 176** was set to take off at 3:30pm today, and by twilight, I'd be at the amazing island of **Hawaii**. Sure, I could have rented a boat from Kapp'n, but it was doubtful that I could traverse an ocean in one day. It would take weeks, maybe even months, to travel that far. A flight was the easy way out. Or... so I thought at the time.
"**FLIGHT 176**** IS SET TO TAKE OFF IN ONE HOUR! ONE HOUR, PEOPLE**" The loud, thundering voice emitted through the megaphone Tortimer held proudly in front of his ragged old face. How old was Tortimer, anyway? He looked as if he was 81, but surely he had aged more than that! As the thought raced through my head, I looked through my copy of the January 2008 Nintendo Power. None of the nominees in the 2008 Nintendo Power Awards interested me, except for Super Mario Galaxy. Man, that looked great!
That hour sure did pass quite quickly, much to my pleasure. There was absolutely no way I could wait to get to the island. However, I would learn soon just how long it would take. Some animals were boarding the plane already, and I knew it was time for me to hurry. As I put the magazine back into my bag, I looked at the passengers who were currently boarding. Apollo, Aurora, Mitzi, Quetzal and Rod were walking past. I dashed as fast as I could, sliding into the line. **Flight 176**'s path closed behind me. I had sealed my fate...
The passengers sat down, one after another. My assigned seat was **13-A**. Thank goodness that I would not have to site between animals. There was always some emotionally wrecked animal on my left and their stressed friends on my right. I thought for sure that this would be a great flight... but, I was soon to learn otherwise. The first problem finally arose, much to my discontent. "**PASSENGERS OF ****FLIGHT 176****, WE ARE SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE FLIGHT WILL BE DELAYED BY TEN MINUTES. SORRY FOR THE INCONVEINIENCE**" Just great!
Beside me now sat Tom Nook and Crazy Redd. They had always hated each other, yet they were selling items to each other. That must be how Redd gets all of that Nook stuff that's twice as expensive. He had ripped me up on that Ranch Tea Table!
"So Nook, how much will it cost me to buy a Triforce from you?"
"10,000Bells." Nook replied. I sure hoped that they wouldn't do this the whole flight. Saved by a bell (or rather a thump), I felt the plane kick off the ground...
The sheer excitement of knowing that I was going hundreds of feet above the ground was astounding. I'd never flown before, and it was times like this when I knew I should fly more often. But, it's about a hundred-thousand bells for tickets, and I didn't have that kind of money. No one in Brazil did. Through the small, round window, I saw the clouds flying by. It was nothing like you'd ever see in a forest.
Behind me, Tom Nook and Crazy Redd were on their trading spree. I heard them selling the usual stuff. Crates, Katanas, Stereos... you name it! But there was one sale in particular that truly caught my attention. In a shout of excitement, Nook proclaimed "I'll sell you Nookington's. One million bells. What do yo say, yes?" I sat there, staring... dumb-founded, I could say. And judging by the look on Redd's face, he felt the same way.
"Your ENTIRE store!? Are you joshing me, Nook? That's CRAAAZY!!" Redd shouted, somehow working his signature "crazy" phrase into the question. I sat there, waiting for the response.
"Yes, yes, I'm planning to open a new store in Hawaii." Little did he know, he would never make it to Hawaii. I heard a bolt of lightning in the distance, and what was surely an explosion. If it was truly an explosion, we'd all be doomed. All that could possibly explode without being instantly noticeable is the engine, and that would cause a crash.
The captain charged into the area. He was an old blue bear, presumably forty. His fur was gruffed and dangled, and he showed little expression on his face. His suit was finely fit, and he looked around. It was **Captain Groucho**, the best pilot in this side of the wild world. He looked angry in his eyes, and the door behind him swung shut. "Passengers of **Flight 176**, I have terrible news. It seems that our engines have been electrocuted. We have reason to believe that the plane will be landing in the ocean. If you parachute out now, you may have a chance at survival." Groucho sighed. "I'll stay with the flight. It is my duty."
"No! You have to escape!" Cheri, a cub on the doomed flight, cried out at the old bear. Before Captain Groucho could respond to the plea for his life, disaster struck. We may never know exactly how, but the plane... split... in half? This was absolutely absurd, but I swear, there were sparks flying everywhere! The plane started to fall, separating the passengers. Groucho was where the split occurred, and he fell to the ocean floor...
It was only a matter of time before we fell to our fiery demise. In a quick surge of fate, I leaped out for my explosive free-fall. Where fate took me now, it was up in the wind. The cool breeze of skydiving out of a burning plane felt great, but I knew that many innocent lives were lost. There was an explosion behind me, and the rear end of the plane was smoking. The animals of the north end managed to escape before the plane hit the water...
Pain coursed through my tired body, and sand worked it's way into my mouth as I slowly came to. The vision in my eyes turned from pure darkness to specks of yellow sand. I pushed myself up and looked around my new surroundings. Water as far as the eye could see to my left, and a nice beach to the right. I could barely stand up, and my mind raced, trying to comprehend what had happened.
'_Alright, so... the last thing I remember, the plane exploded, and I was free-falling from it. But... then, how am I still alive. The impact should've killed me!'_ I sat up, looking at the large holes in my tattered shirt. Man, did it have to be my favorite Jungle Camo that got ruined?
In the very last part of my vision, I saw a green and brown frog running up to me. Though it didn't click into my mind right away, I recognized him. "C-Camofrog?" I asked weakly, lifting myself off the ground. This was the first time I had stood on the island... or wherever I was, I guess is what I meant.
"Oh my gosh... you're still alive, ten-hut?" Camofrog blurted out in shock, checking my arms for any wounds. As soon as he saw the cut across my face, and the bruises that blanketed my arms, he grabbed me by the shirt, lifted me over his shoulder, and started running.
"What are you doing!?"
"You've got some serious injuries, ten-hut. I've gotta get you help fast!" Camofrog leaped over a lag that lay peacefully on the beach, and continued running.
"How!? We're on a dang island!"
"There are survivors, you know ten-hut! They can surely help!" Survivors, eh? So we weren't the only ones who survived the crash, I guess. Thank goodness, this island would be so lonely without other animals. As we continued our little sprint, a small fire started coming into view. That must've been the campfire they set up. This thought was confirmed by the familiar animals crowding around it. Camofrog set me down, and spoke in Animalese to the survivors. Thank goodness I had learned that language. "I found the kid, ten-hut. He really needs medical attention, Ava." Camofrog said sternly to the chicken that stood opposite him. That must've been Ava.
"Camofrog! Would you mind not interrupting while I explain the plan, growl!?" Wolfgang yelled. His dark blue fur was ragged from the crash.
"Sorry, ten-hut."
"Grr..., anyways, the remains of the plane aren't far from here. Parts are already washing onto shore. If and when we find all the parts, we could make a propeller and a boat. Then, we get search for Hawaii, growl! Is that clear!?" Wolfgang shouted out to the animals. All of them seemed to agree with the plan. Minutes later, Ava had dragged me out to the ocean, and rubbed sea water on some of my cuts. Though it stung quite badly, I had to get some help.
"Thank goodness Mr. Nook had some medicine from his store. If he hadn't, someone could've died." Ava announced, opening the small white and blue bag and putting the powder from inside onto my cut, then rinsing it with seawater. I looked out and saw Punchy fishing out by the lake. Fish meant food now, so the more fishermen, the better.
To top off the job Ava did, she wrapped a shirt from my bags and wrapped it around the lower half of my face. Another shirt was used as a sling for my arm. "That should work for now. We really need to find a way off this island, though." Ava sighed.
"You should go and talk to Leopold. There about to go search for wood to make camps." I nodded, and walked off. In the distance, I saw Cesar running to Wolfgang with a bundle of bananas.
I walked up to Leopold. "So, can I go with you guys?"
"Sure. We could use more help finding Otis." Sprocket announced. Otis!? I thought I was gonna just find some wood.
"Um... what happened to Otis?"
Leoplold turned to me. "Otis hasn't come back yet. He should have been with Cesar, but he didn't come back. We're worried."
"Alright, let's go." I sighed. We walked on into the massive forest the loomed over the beaches of the island. Trees were everywhere (as you would expect), and the sounds of moving feet coursed through our eardrums. No one else was in site. But, there were scorpions blocking our path. Leopold screamed at the shear site of the creatures, and with good reason. Scorpions were the most fearsome creatures you could come across in Brazil. Surely the kind that lived here would be worse. One crawled right onto Leopold, and the single sting knocked him out cold. In a rush of despair, we ran, but they were too fast. Sprocket took a massive sting, and I saw alone...
I didn't know what to do, and the racing of my heart didn't help at all. In a quick attempt at freedom, I leaped over a small tree and sprinted for my life, trying to avoid looking back. The scorpions were charging towards me, and who knows what would happen if I was caught. Then, it came to me. _'Tarantulas and scorpions can't swim!'_ With that in mind, I leaped into the river, with pain coursing through my bad arm. I looked back as I floated. The backed off, disappointed with the failure.
Relieved with this escape, I kicked my way across the small river, and struggled myself onto dry land. As I stood, an animal caught my sight... Otis! He looked towards me from up in the trees. I thought that the birds in Brazil couldn't fly, but Otis somehow topped an old pine tree.
"Hey Raimundo! Glad to see that you survived the crash!" Otis called out from the trees. Back in Brazil, Otis was one of my best friends, he was pretty good at sneaking into Nook's after hours, and helped me get my favorite furniture while I saved up for my mortgage. At least he'd survived the scorpions.
"Otis! How'd you get up there!" I waited a few moments for a response, but there was none. "Otis?"
"Rai! Behind you!" But it was to late. I felt a sharp blow from a shovel against the back of my head, the the dirt against my face. I rolled over and caught glimpse of a dark blue squirrel. He had a mark in his fur that resembled lightning.
"Look's like we've got another captive. Punchy, get the bird out of the tree!" The dark squirrel called out.
"Alright, Static." Punchy called back, shooting Otis with a slingshot. Otis fell instantly, and was tied up. I went through the same fate. Static tied my arms with a woolen rope. Pain shot through my arm, and it was brutally obvious now that my arm was broken. Punchy darted off, dragging Otis across the ground at a fierce pace. Static grabbed my broken arm and lifted me, running off into twilight.
Minutes later, we were in a very strange place. The animals that lived here all seemed to be natives, and none of them seemed to be calm. Anger was showing in their eyes, but it was held back by obedience towards the Tribe Leader, who must've been Static. Suddenly, I was grabbed by behind and hurled into a dense cave. Muddy water dripped from the ceiling, and light came from where we entered. The entrance was soon blocked off my a large boulder.
"Great, so now we're going to die in this cave!" Otis cried out, pacing around. Otis... well, he scared really easily, and it showed in the cave, though I could only truly see his beak.
"W-We can esc-c-ape!" I announced, stuttering from the pain in my arm. I felt like I was going to faint, but I had to stay awake. Who knows what could happen if I passed out?
"Gah, it's hopeless! We'll die!" Otis continued to scream, even after my little "reassuring." I walked off, looking for some way out, when I tripped over something.
"Hmm..., what was that?" I asked out loud, looking at the ground. I see a green creature stand up, revealing more white on it's stomach. I realized what it was. "Is that... a... Yoshi!?" I took a closer look, and I HAD tripped on a Yoshi!
"Alright, now we're going to get eaten by a small green dinosaur! Just great!" Otis cried out.
"Yoshis don't eat birds, Otis." I rolled my eyes, and caught glimpse of something that worried me more than the cave... it was a pack of tarantulas! They must've roamed the entire island! I stumbled backwards, trying to move away from the creatures. I was honestly scared for my life now! One was harsh enough, but there must have been over a hundred! "Otis... we have a problem..."
"What now?" Otis sighed, then noticed the tarantulas and screamed. He ran to the entrance, and tried to move the rock, but it wouldn't budge. As the tarantulas drew near, I noticed bullets killing them. before us stood the figure of a bovine...
The dark figure of a bovine stood before us, using his Slingshot like a pro. Every tarantula that scattered across the room would soon be faced with death. The small bullets used n the Slingshot lay on the ground, their job done. The bovine walked up to us, jumping over the half-asleep Yoshi that lay on the cave floor. "Thank goodness that they didn't kill you guys. I'm Stu."
"How long have you been in here?" Otis asked, looking down at the dead tarantulas.
"I wouldn't know. It's been long enough that I've lost track of the years."
"You've been here for YEARS!?" I gasped in shock. The mere thought of someone being trapped in a cave for years, with little food and water was harsh. "Otis, we need to get out of here."
"Alright. You think we can move those boulders at the entrance?" Otis asked.
"If we work together."
"Don't do it, guys." Stu announced, petting the half-awake Yoshi. "This cave's structure... well, there's barely a structure. Move those boulders too much, and the whole place falls in on us... Even though it's gonna anyway."
"WHAT!? This place is coming down!?" Otis cried out.
"Yes. I've been working on a secret exit. I was about to escape, but I heard you guys. We need to pull out a boulder near my exit, and the natives will think we're dead." Stu explained, pointing behind him. It was too dark to see what was over there, but we could find out as we ran there. In an instant, we were storming through the cave. Once we exited, the cave fell into itself. We ran around the outer side of the island. We turned to talk to him, but watched as he collapsed. I knew that we would face the same fate if we stayed, so we continued to run.
Sometime later, we stepped foot into the campsite. Wolfgang quickly came to greet us. "Rai, you made it back! Glad to see Otis... where's Sprocket and Leopold?" Wolfgang's unusually cheery face turned to a questioned look of despair.
"T-th-e scorpions got them. I had to leave them." I explained, looking towards the forests. "We're lucky to be alive, the natives almost got us."
"Scorpions... Natives... you're sure that you didn't hit your head?" Wolfgang asked jokingly, but changed attitude after seeing my stern face. "Those forests are dangerous, we'd best stay away from them. We need another source of food.
2. Chapter 2: Sharp Sting From a Bee
**Chapter Two
**_Sharp Sting from a Bee_
A few days had passed since the cave collapsed. Some animals had mysteriously "vanished" in the Forest, and I had an eerie feeling that the natives had killed them. I sat on a log at the beach, lifting the tattered off of my busted arm. It had started to sell, and it was quite bruised. I poured some of the water we had gathered onto my arm and wrapped in another shirt. Most of my injuries had cleared up, but my bad arm would last months.
Goldie sat down next to me, rubbing some water on a cut by her ear. "What happened, Goldie?" I asked, curious about what happened.
"I was at the hole we stored the food in. Well, a native came and struck me with a jagged stick. The blow knocked me out." Goldie said, continuing to rub the cut. I patted her on the back, and handed her one of my old gloves with some tape.
"Here, you can use this to cover the cut."
"Thank you Raimundo." Goldie smiled, taping the glove to her face. "What happened to your arm?"
"I landed on it when we fell out of the plane." I explained, then noticed something... Goldie was dazed! "Goldie, are you okay?" There was no response. "Goldie." and like that, Goldie collapsed onto the sand. A small bee flew away from behind her unconscious body. Was that what caused it? No, that would be ridiculous. I grabbed her arms and tried to lift her up. "Guys! Something weird just happened! Goldie blacked out!"
Some of the other animals came running to us at the sound of "blacked out." Wolfgang and Camofrog were the fastest. "What happened, tenhut?" Camofrog asked, inspecting Goldie.
"I-I'm not entirely sure. We were talking, and she suddenly looked dazed. I asked if she was okay, and she collapsed." I noticed that Wolfgang was checking her pulse.
"Thank goodness, she's still breathing. We need to get her to the doctor right away. You think there was any dangerous bugs nearby?" Wolfgang asked, standing up.
"I saw a bee fly off right after the incident. Maybe that caused it."
"Alright, so we have a new thing to look out for: bees. Just great..."
My mind was racing as we carried Goldie of to see Ava, the nurse of the island. I had never seen someone pass out after being stung by a bee before. A scorpion sting, I could understand, but a bee!? My time to ponder what happened ended quickly as we reached the part of the beach that Ava spent time at. She was sitting there, looking at the unconscious body of Goldie, shocked.
"What happened to her!?" Ava asked, searching Goldie's head for bites or sting marks, but there were none to be found. The arms showed no signs of a poisonous sting either. After chcking one more time, Ava stopped and sighed. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."
"_What_!? How can you not help her, she was stung, tenhut!" Camofrog yelled.
"But there's no mark whatsoever of any form of poisoning, not at all. Without any of those, I can't create an antibiotic." Ava sighed, then walked away. "It's useless to even try."
"Her life may be at risk, and you can't even try anything!? What kind of nurse are you!?"
"A good one who has limitations!"
"This is all _your_ fault, Raimundo! You little punk!!" Wolfgang punched me in the jaw as he shouted this, and I stumbled back from the fierce blow. I collapsed and landed on my broken arm, letting out a yelp of pain. I slowly picked myself up and struck him with a shell off the beach. He barely even flinched from the blow.
"What the heck's your problem, Wolfgang!? She can't help her, so I suddenly need to get beaten?" Angrily, I threw a roundhouse kick at my opponent. Wolfgang stumbled, and I took the chance to strike him with my Golden Shovel. Somehow, he caught the shovel with his paw and flipped it out of m hand. I then felt a harsh blow to my stomach, and I collapsed onto the beach. I crawled off to get up, and pulled out my Axe. I struck at him, and the blow was received by the gold end of the Shovel.
I then blocked several more strikes from Wolfgang's shovel, and noticed something upsetting about my weapon... it was broken. Bits of sharp metal fell off of the Axe, and the stick was worthless in the fight. I then felt a blow to my arm, but Wolfgang hadn't thrown it. Camofrog had attempted to put an end to the fight using shovel himself, but had mis-aimed and struck me. Blackness took over my sight, and I felt a thud...
I awoke several hours later, disoriented. The surroundings around me were different. I was on the metal wing of the plane, and we were moving slowly across the water. As I regained strength, I stood up and looked around. The animals that had survived the crash were paddling off. In the distance was another island...
I surveyed the area, baffled. Since when had the raft been finished, or when was there a nearby island? I crawled over to Otis, not wanting to stand on a moving raft. "Otis... where are we going?" I asked, even though it was obvious that we were heading towards a small island.
"We're detouring around the cave. We didn't want to risk running into those natives. Also, you might not want to go around Wolfgang... he's furious with you. Heck, if it were up to him and not Camofrog, you would be tied to the bottom of the raft to drown." Otis explained. Though I wanted to go over to Wolfgang and knock him out cold (as had been done to me), I had a feeling that he was stronger than me, and I would end up tied to the bottom of the raft.
After about ten minutes had passed, we had reached the small island, yet there was no happiness. The island looked like it had been the place of an explosion, with the water a deep brown, muddy color. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, but I didn't have time to investigate the odd coloring. I heard a splash nearby, followed by an arrow nearly piercing through my already injured arm. I looked out to see the islanders.
"Incoming projectiles from the rear!" Punchy called out, and, in the blink of an eye, Comofrog started hurling coconuts at the natives. The coconuts weren't for weaponry, though, they were a diversion. Surprisingly, the natives chased the coconuts wherever they were thrown, and eventually walked off to their huts. I looked out at the area past the cave, with only one thing surprising enough to catch my eye: a mansion!
As soon as we reached land, we scurried to the only sign of civilization we'd seen in weeks. The door was laing in front of a tree a half of a mile away from the house, and the paint was burned off completely, and the remains of a nearby house were crumbling and crisp black. What on earth had happened here? We walked into the mansion, and saw a man sitting in a ranch couch, looking at the air above him... or at least trying to. "Sir?" asked Goldie, who had finally (apparently) recovered from the bee sting.
"They're... gone..."
"Who's gone?"
"The lives of... millions..."
What did this old man mean!? The lives of millions, lost? There was no room on the island for millions, even with the cave included! "B-But that's impossible! This island's way too small!" The old man's eyes seemed to change my mind, though. A dark feeling shot through my spine, and images of a larger part of the island being destroyed. I stepped away, trying to avoid looking at his eyes. As soon as my foot moved, Wolfgang pushed his way to my spot.
"I hate to admit it, but Raimundo's right! This island could never have housed millions of people!" Wolfgang's voice was dark and bitter, like coffee. After even a few days of no good things, even coffee sounded like a treat. I heard a light chuckle, and instantly looked at the old man. Who was he? What did he see?
"I never said the people where from the island. Honestly, this isn't even an island." He laughed. That last phrase caught me off guard. "This place... is part of the United States... or, shall I say, what remains of it. Welcome to California." I couldn't believe it! California... an island!? How could that possibly happen?
"So... how is this part of California!? There's nothing around for miles!" Otis cried out. It was more than obvious that he wasn't feeling safe yet. Then again, I felt worried too. With what this man had said, there was no way to tell where we were. Was this an island somewhere around Hawaii, South America, and the United States, or part of California? Nothing made sense anymore!
"Are you that clueless? Go on further past this house, and you'll see what happened. You can look into it on your own." The old man said, but as the sentence reached it's conclusion, he was stuttering and gasping. His eyes were slowly hidden off by eyelids, and his breathing stopped.
"...He's... Dead..." Ava announced after a quick check of his pulse. She stood up and left the man on the wooden floor. There was no point in trying to save him now. He told us all that we needed.
"So... what do we do now, tenhut?" Camofrog asked, wiping away what appeared to be a tear. Who would've guessed that he had a soft side. Wolfgang looked around.
"We move on."
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 25,325 | 13,084.6 |
null | Animal Crossing The Animal Crossing Story
Ok this is a story about my character Amanda and her life in Animal Crossing I used Wild world and I'll be writing it in her POV.
Disclaimer- I don't own the game or the characters in the game just my human characters.
**Cab Ride and Arrival**
Today was the day I was moving, and it happened to be on a rainy day what a bummer. I didn't want to move but my mom kept pestering me about seeing the world at a young age… but I didn't know she meant as young as thirteen! Just as I was caught up in my thoughts the cab driver Kappin interrupted me.
"…Yar, it's too bad yer headin' all the way to AnimalCr…" he said in the weirdest accent I ever heard. Then he kept talking about how the bad the rain was I was just about to shut him out when I heard him ask me for my name. "What's your name little one?" I slowly replied and said "My name is Amanda".
"So, fond of the name Amanda, are ye? He asked me. "Yeah, it's cute!" I said. "That's a fine name for a young lass" he said while giggling. "Thanks" I might as well talk to him I have nothing better to do I thought to myself. "So what do you plan on doing in AnimalCr?" he asked.
"I'm moving"
"Oh do ye have enough cash to get started here?" he asked
"Yup" which I was lying most likely because I only brought one thousand dollars with me barely enough for a house.
"Look were here at yer town AnimalCr"
"Ok well see you soon bye"
When I got out of the cab the rain has stopped what a relief. The cab dropped me off right in front of the Town Hall where the mayor is. I then went inside and went to the front desk. There was a duck at the counter she seemed cheerful. She was wearing a pink and white dress that went nice with her white feathers. "Well this is Animal Crossing Town Hall!" she told me in cheerful tone. "So what can I do for you today young miss?" she asked.
"I moved in!" I replied to her nice and friendly nature
"…Oh, goodness me! You must be Amanda! Welcome, I'm Pelly, and I'm the clerk here. Tom Nook told me all about you"
"Yep that's me!" I told her sounding too enthusiastic for my own good.
"Many residents live in this town, here let me give you a map and show you your house."
"Ok" when I looked at the map that was a house circled in the middle of the map. I guessed that was my house.
"Well then I can trust you that you can use this map to find your new home!"
"Yep don't worry about me. See you soon!" I then walked out and heading for my house. It wasn't that far from town hall. Maybe a few acres but not much distance. A few minutes I finally got there. It was a small house and bright red roof; I decided to see what the inside looked like so I went in. It was really tiny but enough room for one person to live in it. As I walked out an old raccoon stopped me.
"Hey! You there!" He shouted while trying to catch up to me. "Are you Amanda yes, the one who is suppose to move in here, hm?"
"Yeah I'm Amanda, who are you?" I questioned
He chuckled as he answered "I'm Tom Nook"
"Oh ok" I felt a little embarrassed for asking I should of knew that was him.
"So what do you think? Your house, it feels comfortable, yes?"
"It's OK" I then sighed as he started to laugh.
"I'm the proprietor of the shop, the only one in the town! In addition to running this shop, I'm in construction… I build and remodel homes."
"Oh COOL how much is it?" I didn't think it would be a lot because of its side.
"Hmmm 19,800 dollars"
"WHAT! THAT'S SO MUCH FOR A LITTLE HOUSE!" I started to freak out!
"Whoa clam down"
"What are you talking about I only brought one thousand dollars!" I almost started to cry.
"Ah I see well that's fine you will work half time at my shop today and pay the rest of with the money of your own." He said coolly.
"Ok..." I sighed
"Then see you at my shop in a little bit" he said as the raccoon with a small blue apron with a leaf on it speed walked to his shop.
Ok this was going to be harder than I thought. I didn't really want to work or use my money to pay of my house. But what had to be done had be done. So I started to wander the way he ran off to. There was a little shop not that big next to a tailor shop. After looking at it for a minute I entered and there was Tom Nook standing there.
"You came, good good I thought I never see you"
"What?! I was only three minutes" I said with annoyance in my voice.
"I was just joking ok now first I want you to change into this ok"
"Ok" then I went in the back and changed quickly and ran back out. "Done!"
"Ok now please go plant these trees and flowers outside the shop. If the outside of the shop looks more decent then we shall get more costumers."
"Yep I understand" I went outside and started to plant some flowers and trees. About ten minutes later I went back inside to talk to him.
"Very good indeed, Hey Amanda you just moved here right. Well then you can go meet the folks that live around here. And defiantly don't forget the mayor he should be out on a walk near the Town Hall."
"Sure" and with that I walked out to meet my neighbors and possibly new friends.
Ok that was the first chapter! I'm new at this so I need some advice, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. And I will make my next chapter longer promise.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Friendship | Fanfiction | null | 5,287 | 12,951.1 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
Intro
**Hey there! I'm going to be writing a little Animal Crossing OC Fanfic. It will have all those canon villagers and whatnot, of course.**
**All I need is the following:**
**A total of four town names (one town name per person!)**
**A total of sixteen human villagers (four for each town)**
**I don't expect you to go and submit four OCs at once. Just submit a town name, and at least one OC to go with it. I'll select four names from those who submitted one, and any others can be used for hometowns, or something.**
**Anyway, here is the expected form for an OC:**
Full Name:
Nickname:
Age: (At least 18, since they have to live on their own)
Gender:
Appearance:
Type of Style: (Do they wear dresses? What colors do they like best? Things like that)
Role/Occupation: (Is he/she the mayor of a town? Or do they just sell things at the store for profit?)
Hobbies: (In addition to the normal ones, like bug catching or fishing, you can put pottery, cooking, or something like that)
Personality:
Bio:
Fears:
Secrets:
Crush/Boyfriend/Girlfriend: (Yaoi and Yuri accepted!)
Friends:
Rivals:
Anything Else?:
**That's all! :) Note that if your town isn't accepted, but your OC is, then I'll put that town down as that OC's hometown.**
**Okay, get submitting!**
2. Chapter 2
Chapter 1: Welcome to Salem!
**So this is like New Leaf. That explains the 'Re-Tail' bit I hope. :)**
**I don't own AC.**
The rain pounded hard on the cab windshield. Alice Garcia sat staring out the window, completely bored out of her mind.
"Yar, we're almost to yer house" the cab driver told her. Alice nodded, tucking a strand of hair, that had escaped her bun, behind her ear.
"How much do I owe you?" she asked. The driver snorted.
"I told ye already, I won't be takin' yer money"
The cab pulled up in front of Alice's mansion, and she got out, taking her umbrella and suitcase with her.
As she opened her umbrella, she noticed her neighbor, Kori checking her mailbox. She decided it would be nice to chat, so she walked over.
"Hey Kori"
"Hey Alice. How was, uh... How was Kokeuten?" Kori asked. Alice, being used to Kori stumbling over her words simply replied,
"It was nice. The beach had some exotic fish swimming around"
Kori nodded, and pulled out her umbrella.
"Speaking of fish, I need to, er, sell some. Want to come with me to... To Re-Tail?"
"Alright, just let me put my luggage inside"
Alice walked over to her house, and dragged her suitcase into the bedroom before rejoining Kori outside.
"By the way, there were some, ah, some rumours flying around while you were, um, gone" Kori said as they began walking towards the store. Alice looked at Kori, interested.
"Like what?"
"Some... Some people were saying you had gone off to see one of your uh, boyfriends"
Alice nodded, before pausing and noticing what Kori had just said.
"_One _of my boyfriends?"
"Everyone thinks you have a boyfriend in uh, Kokeuten, a boyfriend in Yu Town, and a boyfriend in... Pallania" Kori explained.
"WHAT?!" Alice screeched to a stop, horrified. Knowing what was coming, Kori simply said,
"Opal started the rumours"
"ARGH! That... BITCH!"
Completely forgetting the shopping trip, Alice started in the opposite direction to Opal's house.
3. Chapter 3
Chapter 2: Meet Some Friendly Folks!
**Hey guys! I seriously appreciate all the OC and town submissions! Like, I wanna hug all you guys!**
**But that's impossible since I've no clue where you live. Oh well!**
**I do not own AC, nor do I own the OCs.**
Along the way to Opal's house, Alice bumped into Juliana, AKA Missy.
"Hey Ali-cat! Where's the fire?" Missy asked her as she rushed past. Missy ran to match her speed.
"Not in the mood, Missy" Alice grumbled. She came to a stop and banged on Opal's door.
One of the few things Alice envied about Opal, besides her discount at GracieGrace in the next town over, was the fact that her house was right on the beach. The salty spray from the ocean only made her angrier, as she noted in her mind to file some sort of complaint in the Town Hall to get her kicked out and take the land for herself.
Opal opened the door, and her welcoming face became one of disgust when she saw Alice at the door.
"What do you want, slut?" Opal asked, leaning against doorframe, looking bored.
"I know you started those damn rumours, which aren't even true!" Alice screamed, her face red from anger. Opal laughed cruelly.
"Oh, that. Geez, is that all?"
"You had better tell people it's not true!" Alice shouted. Opal rolled her eyes.
"We'll see" she stated, and before Alice could reply she slammed the door in her face.
Alice sighed, and walked away. She knew Opal would only spread even worse rumours. Why did she even bother?
"Hey! Alice!" Missy came running over, dragging her other friend Lily behind her.
"Hey guys. What's up?"
"Alli's here! Remember, she's taking us to visit Yu Town! Since she always comes here we were gonna see her home for once!" Missy explained quickly. Alice's eyes lit up in realization.
"Oh! Right! Shouldn't someone get Kori?"
"On it" Lily said, and before she could walk away Missy grabbed her hand.
"See if Jamie wants to come! He's never met Alli!" Missy told her, and without noticing the fear in Lily's eyes let her go. Lily rushed off, and the remaining girls walked off towards the train station.
-I-A-M-A-L-I-N-E-
When Lily reached the train station, Kori in tow, Alice was confused.
"Where's Jamie?" she asked. Lily looked away.
"He's, uh... Sick. Yeah, he's sick" she invented. Alice and Missy looked at her strangely but didn't say anything. Kori was confused.
"But, um, you uh, you didn't take me to, uh, your brother's room. You didn't even... Take me to your uh, house" she said. Alice looked suspiciously at Lily.
"I went before I got you! Can we just go?" Lily screamed. Alli poked her head from above the seat ahead.
"Yeah, let's go! I can't for you guys to see my house!"
And the train left, towards a fun day in Yu Town.
End file.
| Animal Crossing | Fanfiction | null | 6,051 | 16,171.7 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
"Autumn, please collect all your things and report immediately to the office. You are being signed out."
The intercom fizzled into silence, leaving me to turn in my seat and grab my messenger bag before heading out the door. When I reached the office, I was suffocated in the pillow like hug of Ms. June, the counselor. Hot tears dripped onto the top of my head as she wailed, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"
I managed to wiggle away. "Sorry about what?" I asked politely as I fixed my damp hair.
She wiped her mascara-streaked face dry, then, after a deep breath, whispered, "There was a terrible fire at… your house."
For a split second, the world froze, and the air was robbed from me. I then looked up.
"How are my mom and dad?"
Ms. June paused, and then cast her eyes down at me sympathetically.
"That's," She began nervously, "Why you are here."
At first, I was confused. If they were the reason, were where they? It didn't make any sense.
But then the reality sunk in. In a surreal moment, I was disconnected, and all that could function in my brain was the need to breath and blink. Suddenly, this moment was like a very bad dream, one that, no matter how hard I would try, I would never escape from.
"You…" I began, my voice shaking uncertainly, "You're lying… You're…messing with me right?" I looked up frantically, searching her eyes, hoping, praying, for something of a phone call that revealed a mistake had been made, that another house had burned down. I hoped she would pick up the phone, then say, relieved, "PHEW! False alarm!" And then calm my shaking body.
But we received no phone call. In fact, she was constantly glancing at the phone as well. Finally, she reached forward.
"Love…"
But I stood up, and then, still holding my bag, I raised a shaky finger, then screeched,
" Stay away! You're lying! I'm going home! Home! HOME!"
With that, I took off, out the office, through the doors, down the steps and past the park to my neighbor hood, the whole time my mind racing as I made my way, pleading with the cool breeze that when I got to my house it would be perfectly fine and that the school had found the wrong house.
When I arrived, the foundation was cracked and ashy, and the smell of burning kerosene reached my nostrils. Neon yellow police tape surrounded my house as officers, firefighters, and nurses crowded around a pair of stretchers. I tore away the tape and hurried to the stretchers, ignoring the officers who hollered, "Hey, little girl, this is a crime scene, not a playground!"
When I got to the stretchers, I gasped. The bodies on the stretchers were burnt very badly, the skin peeling of to reveal what looked like SPAM. One of the figures wore a slim silver chain with a dark silver amulet like what my mom wore. My parent's hands were entwined as they huffed heavily.
"Mommy!"
I never called her mommy.
"Daddy!"
I never called him daddy.
I grabbed their hands.
"It's ok!" I whispered in disbelief. "You're gonna make it! The doctors are gonna help you! You're gonna make it! You're-" It was obvious soon I was attempting to convince myself of this more than them.
My mom smiled, placing a raw hand on my cheek. "Love, we're burned too badly. We won't make it."
My dad grabbed my free hand. "We love you very much, baby."
My mother nodded weakly. "We love you."
I nodded, tears pouring even more heavily. "I love you too."
They closed their eyes, and my parent's warm touch slid down my body and into the puddle of despair that grew at my feet.
Ice dripped down my spine, guiding my own sinking heart along, were it shattered into stinging shards.
"M-mommy?" I whimpered. I turned to my dad. "D-daddy?"
No response.
Suddenly, I was running down the street, heading to the park. I slammed onto the bench on the sidewalk, then sobbed the hardest, most heart wrenching sob I had ever sobbed. It was louder than when I scraped my knee. Louder then when my dog bit me, or when it got ran over. Louder than when I broke my arm. Something far more fragile was being broken.
My heart.
I sniffled, then sat up, all cried out. A light fluttering sound flickered behind me. When I turned, I realized it was coming from a photo that had fallen from my pack. I looked at it, and then smiled. My parents and I were on a ride at Disney. I had on an oversized pair of Minnie Mouse ears with overalls and a t-shirt on. I was perched on my fathers lap as my mother was kissing him on the cheek. I was clutching onto my stuffed dog, a grin the size of Alaska on my face.
"I'm gonna love it forever! Just like you guys!"
I choked, shoved the picture back in, then tried to keep my composure by shoving my face into the protection of my shaking palms. When I looked up from my hands, a black taxicab was parked before me, a man my parent's age standing next to it. He had bleach blonde hair and watery green eyes. He smiled.
"Hello."
I stared back. "Who are you?"
He grinned. "I am the answer to your prayers. I can send you to a world were you can live peacefully, and learn, and grow, and no one can hurt you."
I stared at him. "This is real life, sir."
He smiled softly. "Autumn, would you like to go to Animal Crossing?"
I paused, and then stuttered, "The game I play on my D.S.?"
He laughed. "That's our cover. We use the money from that franchise so that we can fund Sanctuary." He winked. "That's what we call the town." He opened the door. "Step inside?"
Surprising myself, I marched in, slid on a seat belt, and then put down my bag.
The man grinned. "Glad you agreed! I have something for you. " His grin softened. "We saved it from the wreckage…" He lifted up a duffle bag, and then handed it to me. Inside were a few pairs of outfits, a pair of mismatched pajamas, underwear, my stuffed dog, shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a brush, one of my favorite books and an empty photo album and a ziplock. With a gasp, I realized that the Ziploc was filled with pictures of my family.
My family. The people I had just seen die.
I flipped through the ziplock, savoring each memory, laughing at the silly pictures, glowing at the sincere ones, until I reached the last one.
My mother sat in the hospital, holding a pink, blanket swaddled baby in her arms as my father peered at it, hugging my mom. Written neatly in the corner was, "Our family!"
It was funny how that simple picture and those simple words impacted me at that moment. I gently clutched the picture to my chest, beginning to breath heavily, trying not to cry. The man began to rub my back, the warm caress of his hand comforting. I sat up ten minutes later, then rubbed my eyes dry.
I took a shaky breath, the placed it back in the bag, then added my Disney picture. I muttered, "Thank you…" He smiled. Then, he turned to the driver. "Lets go!"
I just now noticed the driver. He was familiar, considering he was exactly like the turtle in the game. He had sickly green skin and beady eyes and wore a suit. He nodded, flashed me a simple grin of reassurance, and then started off.
"I am Zachary." The man said. "You are going to Sanctuary!"
He handed me a thick booklet. On the cover was a picture of a boy and a girl sitting on the beach at sunset, a picnic and bonfire out before them. In sparkle lettering there were the words, "Your life in Sanctuary!" Zachary handed me a map. "Don't lose that!" He remarked. Pulling out a dark green marker, he circled multiple spots on the map. Then he handed it to me.
"That circled house is yours. You are lucky! You got a beach house! Very few get one!" He commented. "There is a coffee house, a store, a clothing shop, a bus stop that leads to the city, a museum, and a school campus for all grade levels."
I ogled the large map. "Don't I n-need a job, sir?" I asked quietly. He pointed at the school. "They have sign up sheets at the school. Don't worry, you don't necessarily need a job."
He clapped his hands, "I almost forgot!" He pulled out a thin pouch. "Here! All your things can fit in here!"
I grabbed the bag un easily, then began to load all my things into the bag.
"As soon as your normal money enters the bag, it becomes bells. Just imagine what you want, reach in, and, viola! Insta' thing!"
Finally, the taxi rolled to a stop, and Zach helped me out. I waved sullenly at Kapp'n.
Zachary led me inside. A pelican with snow white down feathers in a pink vest and skirt with a white shirt and a pink bow smiled sweetly at me. "Welcome! I presume you are Autumn Brown?"
I nodded.
She smiled. "That's good! Lets go to your house! My assistant can lead you there!" She called over her shoulder, "Cecil! Come!"
A strawberry blonde boy appeared from the back, his eyes dark green and dangerously infuriated. He muttered. "C'mon." He stormed to the door, daring me to follow him. I hurried after, my purse flopping against my side as I shouted a thank you to the two adults.
Outside, Cecil was waiting for me. "Let's go." ,He barked
As I trotted after the grouchy teenager, I glanced around my surroundings. The air smelled like a fresh fruit orchid after spring rain. We were walking on a cliff, so I could see the outcrop of Sanctuary. There was a rainbow assortment of fruit and flowers. Buildings and houses were clustered together, and a little market place bustled with young humans and animals. The grass was fresh and green, and the rivers trickled through the village with sparkling water and scrubbed cobblestone streets and bridges.
"It's pretty, isn't it?"
Cecil's rough voice surprised me. I glanced at him, then nodded curtly. He smiled softly. "Let's keep going."
I started to follow him, but suddenly I was face down on the cobblestone.
"New person! It must be my birthday!" A tiny voice squealed. I turned around to see a girl who was about fifteen, a year younger than me. She had blonde hair in a low ponytail and had sparkling baby blue eyes. She grinned from were she had me pinned down on the ground. She blew a stray strand of hair from her face, then said, "Were are you going?"
I smiled, the only response to so bubbly a personality. "My new house."
She sat up, then clapped her hands. "Ooh! I'll take you!"
"That won't be necessary!" Cecil began.
"Oh, hush!" She turned to me. "I'm Sara Blue! Pleased to meet you! Please excuse my brother. He is as subtle as a brick to the head, I do apologize!"
I felt myself gasp. "You're siblings?!" Turning to him, I whispered, "Sorry!" He nodded an, 'It's ok.' ,nod.
Grabbing my hand, she said, "Lets go! I have to show you around!"
We hurried down the street to the market place. Assorted stands and shops lined up the street. Multiple teens my age were selling wares or demonstrating products they had invented.
"Today is student sale. Every week after school on Friday we sell our merchandise! It's so much fun!"
We bustled down the street until we reached the beach.
"Your map says your house should be around here." Sara looked up from the paper. She grinned. "There it is! And it's right next to mine!" She pointed a little ways down the sand dune to were a little green shackle roof stood out in the distance. Behind it a few meters away a pink roof stood out.
We strolled up the wooden trail that stretched up to the green house. When we arrived , I walked in, Sara tailing behind me.
There was a kitchen and a red armchair. Behind a back door there was a bathroom and a staircase. I went up the stairs to find an attic. Tucked in the corner was a little rickety bed with a fluffy mattress and a big red quilt. A wax candle stood on the stand next to it. Sara eyed me. "Watch this!" She waved her hand over the candle and it lit.
I jumped back, bemused, when I bumped into a trunk. Opening it with a creak, a stale musk meet my nostril. A rusting watering can, a shovel, a cracked ax, a bent fishing pole and a torn net were piled carelessly in the trunk. Sara sighed. "We can go fix them up at Nook's."
She pulled me. "I have to show you one more thing! C'mon!"
We hurried down the stairs.
2. Chapter 2
As I stepped out of the doorframe, I heard a shout. Trying to locate it, I saw a chubby raccoon waddle his way over to me. He was wearing a velvet blue business suit and a salmon tie. He paused before me, grinning.
"Hello! I am Tom Nook. I made this house. It's nice, hm?"
I nodded nervously. As I played the game often, I knew how this went, and I was honestly a little uneasy about what was coming.
"Good. You don't have a job, yes? And, no money, hm?"
"Well, actually-" I began, but was interrupted as the raccoon whipped out a calculator.
"This house isn't free, with labor, supplies, paint, furnishings, I'd say you owe about… 21,000 bells, yes?" He chirped happily, as if I should have been overjoyed to be charged for a house that barely held room enough to breath.
I gaped at him. "I can't pay all that!"
Tom Nook grinned. "Then you should have a job to make some money, right?"
I couldn't really argue with that.
With a sigh I grouched, "Fine. When should I be there?"
"Tomorrow, nine-thirty sharp!" He answered. Waving, he hurried away, leaving me alone.
Quickly, I took off for Sara.
When I caught up, Sara stared at me, her flouncy yellow gingham summer dress flowing behind her in the cool spring wind.
"What took you so long?"
"The crazed raccoon just hassled me into a job."
She nodded in agreement. "He has that ability." Then, she turned on her heels, and then took off. Turning her head, she hollered, "Let's go!"
With a chuckle, I followed.
Following Sara was trickier then I anticipated. By the time I finally caught up, I was coughing and hacking from the long jog. When we finally stopped, I bent over, sliding my hands down to my knees as I struggled to take a few deep breaths. As soon as I had regained my composure, I stood up, glancing around. All I saw were long rows of tall shrubbery with green and crimson red leaves that stretched for a long distance. Dark red berries dotted the bushes like Christmas lights. "Where are we?" I asked curiously.
Sara glanced at me, making me take notice of the girl's features. While it was true we both had blue eyes, they were slightly different. Her eyes were dark blue like sapphires with flecks of green and honey like a gem. My eyes were a light cerulean blue and were framed with light brown eyelashes. Sara's hair was a light gold from the blaring sun, and had a perfect button nose. My dark honey strands curled and fell over my shoulders, and my nose was a little more pointed.
"We are at the town garden." Sara replied.
I now noticed the gate that was concealed by the thick foliage. It was painted an off white, and had a shiny brass doorknob with smooth silver brackets for holding the boards together. Ivy twisted up the length of door, leaving enough space so that the garden could be accessed with ease. I nervously approached the door, then hurried in.
The garden was, as far as I was concerned, ten times better than the Garden of Eden itself.
The bushes were bright green, hovering over the vast garden like green pastel clouds on stilts. Shrubs formed vibrant swirls and swooshes of yellow, red, and green. The cobblestone led in winding twists and turns as vibrant red and pearl white roses and peonies dotted any part of grass that was still showing. Benches and street lamps were scattered around evenly, and the cobblestone walkway was scrubbed so that sunlight glinted sharply on the grey stone. An iron cast wood bridge arched lazily over a sparkling river that ran through the earth like a ribbon.
I looked around, bemused as teenagers and children planted, watered, weeded and talked. The sun was warm and made so that no shadows were cast on the land. Sara took notice in my face, which must have looked like how I felt, amazed, because she whispered, "Beautiful, no?"
Nodding in agreement, I mindlessly wandered down the walkway as Sara followed me for a change.
I don't know how long I walked. I know that the floods of people dripped from large to small crowds, and that the air went from briskly warm to the air being so neutral you could never feel it. And I do know that before I was finished, the sun had dipped behind the rolling green hills, and the oil street lamps flickered to life. Finally, I turned to Sara, then stated, "I'm hungry."
Sara laughed. "I'd figure. We've been here for ages."
She led me put of the garden as I followed, gazing longingly at the paradise until it was concealed again by the thick bushes. Sara led the way, humming softly until we reached a building. The building, which strongly resembled a mausoleum, loomed over us. The building was of polished white marble columns and bricks. The steep white roof sheltered the blue owl insignia that was etched over the doorframe. Sara and I hurried in.
We were met at a great hall with scrubbed tile floors and stained glass. A Grandfather clock was nestled neatly in the corner next to bigger clock that was rounded around the numbers and arms of the timepiece. A plump owl snoozed were he stood, his brown feathers ruffling with each breath, a turquoise bowtie pinched onto his thick neck.
Sara led me past the different halls and down a staircase. As I stepped into the basement, fresh coffee and the smell of sandwiches warmed my face and made my mouth water. The café was filled to maximum capacity as animals and humans conversed or arm-wrestled. A wooden stage took up a quarter of the café, a polished onyx piano tucked into the far left. Over the shouts of the other customers, I asked, "Is this place normally this crowded?" She replied, "No. But K.K. Slider is here tonight. He's…" She paused, as if searching for the right words, "He's…The Justin Bieber of the Animal Crossing world."
I grimaced. "If he's anything like that drama queen, I ask for a pair of earplugs before he shows up."
She paused, and then glanced at me. "He's like OneDirectio-"
"Gay."
"The Lady Gag-"
"Scary."
"The Selana Gome-"
"Has relation to The Bieber, therefore holds none of my interest."
Sara glared at me. "Then who is the best?"
"Any one who burns a Justin Beiber CD and can carry a tune is fine."
Sara grinned. "We have a rebel."
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, lets get something to eat, I can practically hear your stomach."
She threw her arms around me. "Thank you for your appreciation for my well being."
"I'm hungry, too. It's both my good nature and my stomach talking." I stated as I gently pushed Sara off.
As we waited in line, I was given an opportunity to examine the different faces. A human boy was chatting to a pack of wolves, his blackish-blue hair long in the front and short in the back, with painful piercing in the lip and nose.
A girl with smoky grey hair sat in a fetal ball in a corner, her black eyes empty and confused. She looked young, almost nine. An older boy who appeared to be about sixteen sat in a chair next to her, trying to gently feed her soup, which she refused by clamping her mouth shut. The boy had smoky hair and black eyes as well, only his looked more peaceful and pained then the girls.
Cecil sat at a crowded booth, full of other teens. He was pre-occupied in sucking off another girls face, much to my disgust, who looked all too in love. Her rosette hair was draped over her shoulders, and her hands her on Cecil's shoulders, as if attempting to restrain him.
And finally, the queerest one of all was a boy who just stood blandly in the middle of the room. He had dark auburn hair that was cut in strange curls that went sideways while the ends darted right. His eyes were dark green, and he seemed to have no interest in blinking.
With a shiver, I returned my gaze to my food. After quickly grabbing a cheese sandwich and bottled water, I trailed Sara to a table. She chose the one with the boy and girl who refused to eat.
"Hey Jack. Has Marine eaten?" Sara asked softly, stroking the little girls hair.
The boy shook his head no, then glanced at me. "Hello." He stated kindly, attempting a weak smile.
"Hello." I copied politely, and then turned to the little girl. "Hello." I said quietly.
Darting her eyes so she could look in mine, she squeaked, "H-hello."
I asked kindly, "Are you hungry?"
She shook her head no.
"Why?"
"If I eat, and Mommy finds out, I'll get in trouble."
Jack held his sister's hand. "Marine, that's not happening. You and I ran away. We came here. You can eat."
She shook her head, but she stared at the warm meal before her longingly.
Suddenly, I had her on my lap, held a full spoon, and was saying, "If she finds you, we'll make her leave. You can eat all you want. You're staying with your brother, no matter who says different. Ok?"
Marine glanced at me, then the soup, then again at me.
Then, tentatively, she took the spoon from me, dipped it in the soup, and then took a sip. She paused, and then licked her lips. She took one more sip, then another, and another, until, soon, she was slurping away the contents of the bowl.
Jack smiled, relieved, then looked at me and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much. What's your name?"
I returned his smile. "Autumn Brown."
He replied, "Jack Stephens." He gestured to his sister. "Marine Stephens."
I was about to continue the conversation when the microphone crackled. I turned to the stage, and a white hound stood on the stage, a polished guitar in his paws. He spoke crisply into the mike, "Who's ready to hear some tunes?"
The audience cheered. The dog smiled. "Who has a request?"
Marine whispered into Jack's ear. Jack pulled away, then hollered, "My sister wants Marine Song 2001, K.K!"
K.K. nodded, sat down, and then began to strum into the microphone.
When he was done, the crowd continued to clap as request after request was played until we stepped outside and the sun had peeked up again. I waved my goodbyes to Jack and Marine, then continued home with Sara.
When we arrived, I gave Sara a hug, showered, set an alarm, then collapsed onto my attic bed before falling into a deep, long sleep.
3. Chapter 3
**THANK GOD! I finally got done with Sanctuary chapter three! The thing is, I'm editing previous chapters, so I'd touch on each chapter at different times! **
"Nook, I am so freaking sorry! My alarm was messed up!" I explained as I rushed through the door. I was hurriedly pulling my hair into a messy ponytail, and the uniform that I had found in my mailbox that morning as I rushed out of the house was twisted awkwardly on my body.
Nook grinned, his chestnut brown fur neatly combed down his spine. "It's ok. Just try harder next time. Besides, you're only three minutes late! Most are about twenty!" He examined me, the mention cautiously, "although I would prefer you step into the back and fix your "look"."
With a nod, I hurried to the back, were I managed to adjust my cotton grey t-shirt over my jeans and fix my wild hair into a well-contained bun. I returned to the store.
Marine and Jack were inside. Marine was consumed in the teddy bear on display, totally ignoring Jack's pleadings with Nook, both of which appeared distraught.
"Please! Let me sell you the fossils! I don't care if you can't offer me a lot! It's better than nothing! I'll get Marine the medicine and then I'll pay you back! I'll work part time again! Please!" Jack begged, the volume of his desperate pleading becoming loud and uncomfortable.
Nook sadly shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jack. I want to help, but we both know that I can't play favorites. Zachary discourages it. I'll save you the product, but for now, you have to find something else."
Jack hung his head, his breathing low and unsteady. "P-please. S-she's all I have left."
Tom Nook held the door open, then nudged Jack towards the door by pushing the small of his back. "I'm sorry. Try after the Friday sale."
Marine hurried after Jack, grabbing his hand quickly and fiercely as the brother and sister left.
I went to Nook.
"What was that?"
Nook glanced at me. "You saw that?"
With an inward flush, I remembered that I had stayed hidden by the cardboard boxes that separated the shop from the back rooms. Nook shook his head.
"Marine needs medicine. She is refusing to eat. But the medicine is expensive, and he can't afford that. He's begging me to help, but I won't."
"Why?" I demanded.
"Zachary doesn't want me to help him."
I slowly recalled the man who had led me to Sanctuary, who had deep smile lines and a gentle laugh. It baffled me that such a kind man could refuse to help him.
"Why not?" I asked, feeling confusion swell in my chest. Zachary seemed so kind and good; it made no sense as to why he wouldn't help. "What's the reason?"
Nook smiled softly. "He knows Jack will never forgive himself for asking others. Jack wants to take care of his sister on his own; because he feels no one else can be trusted with her. Jack's mother and father were abusive. Jack's childhood as slipped through his fingers. He's raised his sister on his own. He considers himself her guardian. To receive help would be to crush him. Zachary has made it clear that if Jack can't make the payment he will receive assistance."
I picked through my multiple uses of the video game. Fossils sold for a lot of money, and medicine only cost four hundred bells. "Wouldn't he have been able to afford the medicine if he sold the fossils?"
Nook shook his head in disagreement. "That is the price for basic medicine. Basic medicine cures stings, colds, and induces sleep. The medicine he wants is more specific, and it requires order from the human world, which is difficult business." He sighed. "No, it's much more costly I'm afraid. The medicine he requests is one hundred thousand bells."
I choked in shock. "For MEDICINE?"
"The rarer the prescription, the harder it is to access. His will require breaking into a hospital and stealing the antidote. Its risky AND rare, making it very, VERY costly."
Before I could continue questioning, Nook clapped his paws together. "WELL! I've shared quite enough! Let's get started!"
"Now," He handed me a full box. Peering inside, I recognized the contents. Dark green leaves were stacked on top of each other. Picking one up, I realized that, despite being shaped as leaves, they weighed about a pound, and were about an inch thick. On each leaf, a name was scribbled on in dark lead.
"I'd like if you delivered these furniture pieces to the villagers. It will help you learn your surroundings and get some friends!" He shooed me out the door. "Go along."
XXXX
"Where the heck IS this dude?" I yelled at no one. At the moment I was currently dragging the box of furniture deliveries on a rusting wagon, clutching a delivery list and map in my free hand while the other pulled the wagon. I was starting to believe that there was no Matthew Ringston and that I was being punished for being late by toting around an order for 3 axes.
Looking up, I saw two boys. They stood next to each other, quiet and unmoving. I instantly recognized them as the boy who was talking to the wolves and the boy who had been staring. With a breath of relief, I hurried over to them.
"Excuse me!" I hollered as I trotted over, kicking up clumps of grass. The two boys turned around, and I almost choked in surprise. The boy with dark black hair was missing his right eye, coarse dark stitches zigzagging along his eyelid. I reasoned that it had been unclear due to the shadows of the café from the previous night.
The other boy quietly asked, "Yes?"
"Do you know-" I squinted at the name on the list, "Matthew Ringston?"
The quiet boy with spun honey blonde hair pointed to himself. "That's me."
I smiled softly, then handed him the package. Matthew reached for the package, the sleeve of his jacket slipping down to his elbow. A dark black scar snaked from the thin fabric. Unlike the other boy's, this one was neatly stitched. Quickly averting my gaze before he noticed, I handed him the package and hurried away to continue my deliveries.
XXXX
Three days later, when Sara and I went to Nook's shop to look for furniture, a pelican stopped us halfway. He wore a paperboy's cap, had on a dark green vest, and toted a chestnut brown satchel filled with letters. He asked me, "Miss Brown?"
I nodded. "Yes?"
He rummaged through his satchel, then retrieved a packet. Handing it to me, he stated, "Here you go!" before flying off.
Sara and I went to the café so that we could look at the packet's contents. Over hot cocoa we opened the manila folder. I pulled out the first piece of paper.
It was a newspaper article. In bold lettering, the title pronounced, "Victims of tragic fire dead, daughter lead suspect." I dropped my cup onto the ground, were it shattered. I continued pouring through the packet. Constant articles and school photos , police reports and evaluations all about my parents and I.
Sara and I glanced at each other in shock.
The last thing to fall out was a white envelope. Peeling it open, I found my mother's old necklace that she always wore.
It was the necklace she'd worn when she was dead.
Sitting in that booth that day, I realized three things. One was that I was being accused of my parents' murder. The second was that someone had been able to gather all of this information and steal my mother's jewelry. The third was that whoever had sent this had murdered my parents.
And the likeability of getting away with it was very low.
**Thanks! Let me know what I need to fix or what you like in a review or PM! P.S. When Autumns parents die, the purpose was t6 make a statement. In most stories, when a parent or guardian dies, the child said something they regret. That scene was to prove that it doesn't always have to depress you! Love you all! See you soon!**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Mystery, Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 29,728 | 11,978.3 |
null | Animal Crossing The Customer
**Disclaimer**: Nope, not mine. Although I wish it was.
* * *
He knew most of the girl's moods when he saw them; she spent too much time in his shop for him not to know. So it was a surprise one day when she walked in in a frenzied mood that he couldn't identify.
She ran down the stairs sobbing and threw herself into her usual bar stool. She slumped over the bar, head in her arms, and sobbed uncontrollably for at least five minutes. Brewster couldn't console her, he knew that, so he just stood brewing coffee and watching her warily.
Finally, she stopped sobbing so painfully and sat up, looking at Brewster apologetically through watery eyes.
"Can I have a cuppa? And make it sweet, please," she said in a small, wavering voice.
Brewster poured her a cup of coffee, added sugar and pigeon milk, and slid it wordlessly across the bar for her. She grabbed it and immediately downed half the cup, then set it down and glared at it half-heartedly, looking like she was going to cry again.
"What happened?" Brewster asked. "Boyfriend trouble?" He didn't like to admit it, but there was a small part of him that hoped that she was having issues with that frog she dated.
She turned her glare from his mug to him in an instant, then just as quickly, the look dropped from her face. "Jeremiah," she said quietly. "He's moving."
Brewster winced. He knew what that meant.
She continued anyway. "He said he'd write, said we could keep a relationship going, but... you know how it is." She looked at Brewster again, now again on the verge of tears. "They never write. As soon as they leave town, they totally forget about everyone and everything."
"Not everything," Brewster denied. "Impossible." It couldn't possibly be.
But the girl nodded sadly. "I met Apollo in the city once. He didn't recognize me." She choked. "We were best friends, and he didn't recognize me. And now Jeremiah..." she let out a strangled half-sob-half-yelp and slumped over the bar, now sobbing freely.
Brewster did something that he'd never done before: he reached over the bar and patted the crying girl gently and rather awkwardly on the back.
"It'll be okay," he consoled, although his rough voice wasn't well suited to gentleness. "It'll all work out."
She snorted and looked up at the pigeon with a sceptical expression on her face. "You're a bad liar," she chuckled. "But thanks anyway."
Brewster shrugged. "I tried." He stood with the still-sobbing girl until she worked up the strength to sit up again. "I really am sorry, though."
"Thanks, Brewster," she sniffed. "I should probably get home." She downed the rest of her coffee and slid the cup across the bar, then stood up to leave.
As she approached the stairs, Brewster felt compelled to write down his phone number. "Wait," he called softly to her. "Take this." He handed her the bar napkin with his number on it. "If you need to talk, call me. I always have my phone with me, even at work."
She smiled slightly, the lightest expression he had seen on her face since she had stumbled down the stairs earlier. "Thanks, Brewster." She slipped the number into her pocket and disappeared up the stairs.
Brewster sighed and leaned on the bar. It had been the right thing to do, to give that girl a wing for support. He knew that the other villagers would be quite likely to forget about the frog when he left, just as the frog would forget about them, so she would have no one to grieve her loss with.
So why did her feel like he was back in high school and had just asked his crush for a date?
* * *
The girl didn't come into the Roost for a week and a half. Brewster found himself missing her company after about two days, although he wasn't too worried about her. If she needed something, she would come in, or call him. Or so he told himself.
Others, however, were rather more perceptive than Brewster thought.
"Where's that girl?" K.K. Slider asked when he sat down on the bar stage on Saturday night. "She's usually here around now."
"She's having a tough week," Brewster told him rather more coldly than necessary. "Her boyfriend's leaving town."
K.K. winced sympathetically. "Rough, man." He fixes Brewster with a look. "Aren't you worried about her?"
Brewster returned the look, his glasses flashing. "She's an adult, she can take care of herself."
K.K. settled back into his seat, looking satisfied. "You're worried about her." Brewster opened his beak to protest, but the dog cut him off. "You know you are, man. Why don't you go see her? She could probably use the company."
She probably could, Brewster knew. He knew where she lived: just south of the Able Sisters' shop, in a house with a black roof right on the river. He could go over to her house with a thermos of coffee and some sympathy. He could do it easily.
Brewster shook his head. "Can't."
"Why not?" K.K. asked.
"I... She's a customer. That's all."
"You're lying through your beak."
Brewster shook his head. "Still can't."
"Fine. You should eventually, though."
* * *
But another week passed after that Saturday with no word from the girl. Then, out of the blue, Brewster received a phone call.
"Brewster."
"Oh, thank god I reached you." It was the girl. She was breathless and choked. "I..." She stopped suddenly. Brewster could hear her breathing roughly. "I'm in the city. I just... Brewster, Jeremiah was here. He looked right through me. He didn't even see me..."
"Are you alright?" Brewster asked.
"I'm fine," she said, but her sudden sobs betrayed her. "I'm not," she admitted. "Brewster, I really hate to ask, but... I don't think I could possibly walk past him alone. Could you... Could you come and get me? Please?"
"I'll be right there," Brewster promised, ignoring the voice in his head that told him that this was a bad idea. "I'll bring coffee."
She let out a mirthless chuckle. "Okay. Thank you."
"Where are you?"
"On the sidewalk near Katrina's building."
"I'll be there soon."
"Thank you, Brewster."
As he poured the sweet coffee into a thermos, he pondered the foolishness of his actions. Here he was, an extremely asocial pigeon - he'd barely had a conversation with anyone besides his regular customers in years - dropping everything to go and bring coffee to a heartbroken girl. It was ridiculous.
And there was still that voice in his head that was telling him that this was a bad idea, reminding him of a similar situation in high school that ended with the girl he loved using him as a rebound, then dropping him without a second glance the minute her boyfriend wanted her back. He reminded himself that he was asocial for a reason, and that reason involved avoiding unnecessary pain like this.
But she's worth it, he thought suddenly, which shocked him enough that he had to sit down. Where had that thought come from? When had he started to think of the girl as more than just a customer?
* * *
He got off the bus ten minutes later and immediately put up an umbrella. The rain coming down on the city was cold and made it difficult to see, but he spotted the girl huddled against a wall near the fortune teller's building. He made a beeline for her, absently noting that there was a blue frog talking to a red duck by the fountain, and that the girl was watching them talk.
"Are you alright?" Brewster asked as he sat beside the girl. He held out the thermos of coffee. She smiled slightly as she took it.
"Not really," she admitted quietly, looking away from the pigeon. "It's not... I mean, I was dating him for a year..."
She was watching the frog and the duck again. Brewster shook his head. "No, I guess it doesn't."
They sat in silence for a few moments while the girl drank her coffee until she asked, "Brewster, have you ever had a girlfriend?"
He looked at her, before cautiously replying, "Once."
"What happened?"
On one wing, Brewster was happy that she wasn't focused on her ex... but on the other, he was kind of nervous about telling her about his life. Privacy had worked well for him in the past, after all...
Oh, well. In for a penny, in for a pound. "She left me for her ex."
"Oh." The girl's face screwed up into a sympathetic scowl, as though she was angry at his long-ago sort-of girlfriend. "And she didn't apologize or anything?"
"She never spoke to me again. I didn't speak to her either."
"She just dumped you?" The girl had a determined expression on her face, as though making up her mind to do something. "She didn't know what she was giving up."
And suddenly, the girl was kissing him. Brewster was paralyzed with shock, thoughts whirling through his head. What had brought this on? Had he unwittingly encouraged this? Was he just a rebound to her, as he had been before?
The girl realized that he wasn't responding and backed off. "I'm sorry," she started. "I-I didn't... I mean..."
Suddenly, Brewster's brain caught up. "Mango," he said, then he was kissing her.
They separated after a short time. Mango smiled at him. "What brought that on?"
"I don't know," he replied. He was smiling too, really smiling, for the first time in a long time. "I guess you're more than just a customer."
She laughed at that. "Who told you my name? I don't remember ever properly introducing myself to you."
"I heard you telling Slider the first time you met him," Brewster explained. "Mango. It's a strange name."
"So's Brewster," she replied.
"That's not my real name," he said. "Just a name I call myself."
"What is your real name?"
"Doesn't matter."
She studied him for a moment, then nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Mango's not my real name either, but I like it better."
Brewster nodded.
Mango looked over at Jeremiah again, standing by the fountain with his red duck. When she spoke to him earlier, he said that he wanted to meet a friend out by the fountain once. It looked like he already had.
Brewster put a hesitant wing on her shoulder. "It's over with him."
She smiled encouragingly back at him. "I know. And it'll never come back. But I'm okay with that." She kissed him again. "I have another boyfriend now. And this one makes me coffee."
"It's still going to be the usual price," he warned her.
She sighed. "Ah, well. I tried." But she laughed anyway, and she wouldn't let Brewster have his thermos back when he reached for it.
* * *
**A/N**: Well, I thought it was cute, although Brewster may have been a bit OOC... Not on purpose, mind you. Mango is my character from my Animal Crossing town. And I do rather love Brewster, and Jeremiah. I would be so mad if he moved. He's the last villager in my town who's been there from the beginning. Anyway, please review, if you liked it, or if you didn't. Thanks for reading!
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 10,709 | 12,117.8 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Prólogo
_Te pareces mucho a ella_
KeyArena_Iker, Abecedye & Dahmyeal
Parte I: Rosas rojas (o _Recordar el pasado cambia el presente..._)
Parte II: Rosas amarillas (o _...cambiar el futuro no cambia el pasado..._)
Parte II: Rosas blancas (o ..._y cambiar el presente decide el futuro_)
PARTE IROSAS ROJAS
o
_(RECORDAR EL PASADO CAMBIA EL PRESENTE)_
PRÓLOGO
Mili suspiró, cerró los ojos y se los frotó, apoyando los codos en la vieja máquina de coser. Sentía la tela, fina y suave, de la mejor calidad, bajo la piel. Solo con rozarla habría sabido qué tipo de tela era. Aún con los ojos cerrados, frunció el ceño ligeramente y bajo una mano, rozando con los dedos la textura de los hilos hábilmente trenzados, tan finos que no se percibían, no se diferenciaban unos de otros. Aun así, ella los sentía, podía contarlos con las yemas de los dedos, a decenas, a cientos... veinte, cincuenta, ochenta y cuatro, ciento dos... En aquel momento, la voz de su hermana entrando en la tienda, acompañada de otra, alegre y femenina, la sacaron de su ensimismamiento. Levantó la cabeza, abriendo los ojos color marrón gris, esbozando una sonrisa amable que iluminaba un rostro de expresión limpia y salpicado de pecas, por el que se cruzaban con cada movimiento varias de las púas castañas y veige oscuro de la puercoespina.
Su hermana, de púas azul marino y ojos oscuros, la saludó alegremente:
-¡Mili! ¡Buenas noches! Sigues trabajando, hermana. Deberías parar más a menudo. Te va a dar algo.
Lupe entró tras ella y silbó echando un vistazo al trabajo de Mili.
-Guau, amiga, trabajas en serio. Esos diseños, ¿son tuyos?
Mili asintió quedamente. Nunca hablaba mucho. En silencio, sonrió un poco. Entonces, Pili lanzó una exclamación ahogada y se lanzó hacia el cajón abierto de la máquina de coser. Mili se dio cuenta demasiado tarde. Para cuando intentó detenerla, ella se había apropiado de una foto vieja, desgastada por el tiempo hasta el punto de estar algo cuarteada. La puercoespina azul la examinó con una ceja alzada y profirió un gañido desesperado.
-¡Que cosa más vieja! ¿Quiénes son, Mili? ¿Esa no eres tú? dijo señalando a una de las dos personas de la foto.
Su hermana mayor se dejó caer en la silla, rindiéndose, mientras Lupe las miraba curiosa e inquisitiva, dudando si preguntar.
-Somos Tom y yo, Pili respondió Mili, como si fuera obvio, volviendo al trabajo. Sin embargo, Pili abrió los ojos al máximo y ahogó un grito.
-¿¡EL TACAÑO DE NOOK?! Pero, ¿por qué te sacaste una foto con ese... esperpento?
Lupe rió, pero Mili respondió, molesta:
-No es un... esperpento, como tú lo llamas. Antes éramos muy amigos. Mejores amigos.
-Pues ahora os habéis distanciado... un poco, ¿no? Pili alzó la otra ceja.
Mili desvió la mirada hacia la foto y guardó silencio unos momentos, impasible.
-Sí.
2. Capítulo I: Eh, Nook, ¿chaqueta nueva?
CAPÍTULO I
Eh, Nook, ¿chaqueta nueva?
La mañana amanecía fría y nublada en el pueblo. La primera escarcha del año cubría las ramas de los árboles y el suelo como un fino manto de cristal, helando las flores que seguían en pie a mediados de otoño. Las hojas de los pinos y de los cerezos estaban teñidas de los habituales colores rojizos y castaños de la temporada. Había aún bellotas al pie de los árboles, ocultas entre la hierba y las raíces. Los pocos vecinos que habían salido de sus casas a aquellas horas paseaban en silencio, con la bufanda al cuello, la nariz y las mejillas sonrosadas y las manos en los bolsillos. Excepto uno.
Tom Nook salió de la tienda con un bostezo y sintió un escalofrío a la primera ráfaga de aire congelado. Sorprendido, miró a su alrededor y chistó con la lengua, mirando reprobatoriamente el suelo escarchado.
Nah, menos gente que sale de casa, menos clientes avanzó un paso y algo crujió bajo sus pies. Se echó atrás con una maldición, descubriendo que era tan solo una bellota... y con tan mala suerte que resbaló en la fina capa de hielo y estuvo a punto de caer, teniendo que apoyarse en la pared a toda prisa. Pronto, dos risas broncas rompieron el silencio de la mañana.
¡Eh, Nook! Los años no pasan en balde, ¿eh, viejo tacaño?
El mapache entornó los ojos al descubrir a César y Guiñón en la loma más cercana, red en mano y riendo divertidos. No tardó en responder con una sonrisilla taimada:
Podría decir lo mismo. No pretendo meterte prisa, pero los intereses de tu hipoteca suben y suben... oyó al gorila gruñir molesto y sonrió para sí. Me temo, mi querido amigo, que vas a volver otra vez a mi tienda por las mañanas a barrer, ¿sí? Nah, no te preocupes. Ópalo siempre dijo que el uniforme te quedaba muy bien...
Guiñón rió, y César soltó una carcajada estruendosa.
¡No cambiarás, viejo bribón! los dos amigos se alejaron entonces, charlando animadamente. Nook alzó las cejas y torció la boca al tiempo que ponía los brazos en la cintura despreocupadamente, un gesto que iba haciéndose cada vez más habitual en él. Estaba a punto de volver a entrar en la tienda cuando una voz conocida lo llamó desde su izquierda.
¡Tom!
Una sombra indefinida le cruzó el semblante cuando volvió el rostro hacia la puerta de sus vecinas. Mili acababa de salir por la puerta y le dirigía una mirada extraña.
Tom, te vas a helar.
Él alzó las cejas de nuevo, y musitó solamente:
¿Hm?
Ella negó divertida con la cabeza.
¿Has visto a Wanda? No ha pasado por aquí hoy...
Él rió secamente.
Son las ocho de la mañana, ¿sí? "¿En qué mundo vives?", quiso añadir, pero se mordió la lengua. Mili pareció sorprendida.
¿Tan temprano? No puede ser... frunció el ceño ante su mirada socarrona y avanzó hacia él, llevando una prenda en la mano Oye, Tom, mi hermana está enfadada contigo. Dice que no le perdonaste una simple baya cuando le faltaba dinero. Somos tus vecinas, Tom, yo...
Calló al ver la expresión del mapache. Su semblante se había endurecido volviéndose serio. Tragó saliva, incómoda.
¿Qué?
Nada. Tom. Me has llamado Tom. ¿No te parece que esas son muchas confianzas, vecina? Tampoco nos conocemos tanto.
Mili sintió como si le hubiesen volcado encima un jarro de agua fría.
¿Tanto? ¿Estás loco? ¡Somos ami...!
No somos amigos la cortó él, secamente, con dureza. Mili calló, dolida. ¿Qué te hace pensar eso? Y otra cosa: tu hermana es un cliente más. Una excepción invalida la regla, ¿recuerdas? No puedo fiarle bayas así como así.
La dejaste en ridículo delante de otros la voz de Mili era también fría ahora. Tienes razón, no nos conocemos tanto. Ya no.
Sobrevino un silencio prolongado y tenso, en el que cruzaron largas miradas, cargadas de un significado lúgubre. Finalmente, él rompió el silencio.
Así que vuelves a pensar en el pasado. Cualquiera diría que eras capaz de olvidar.
Mili negó tristemente con la cabeza.
Nunca he dejado de pensar en el pasado. Pero no porque no pueda olvidarlo.
Aquellas palabras parecieron tener algún efecto sobre él porque titubeó, haciendo tambalearse su expresión pétrea. Entonces, ella bajó la cabeza y le tendió la prenda que llevaba entre las manos. Tom Nook la cogió extrañado, examinándola con cuidado. ¿Una chaqueta? ¿Pero qué...?
Adios, To... señor Nook.
Para cuando él alzó la mirada, ella ya había desaparecido en interior de su tienda. El mapache volvió a mirar la chaqueta y pasó la mano por la tela gruesa y parda. Un recuerdo lo asaltó al apreciar su estilo y color, y crispó los dedos involuntariamente. Se dio la vuelta para volver a entrar en la tienda, cuando la voz de César volvió a llamarle la atención, esta vez de paso por un lateral de la tienda.
Eh, Nook, ¿chaqueta nueva?
El mapache arrugó la nariz y entró definitivamente en su tienda, olvidando lentamente la conversación que había tenido lugar.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Drama, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 7,756 | 15,626.9 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. The Tale of Rowan
**New Neighbors and Other Drabbles**
**By -Kokoro Kitsune-**
**
* * *
**
Kokoro. That's me. Who was it who nmoved out again...? I can't remember. I've only had 7 people in my town for about a week now. I'm sitting on my front doorstep, waiting for the inevitable... or is it?
Sighing, I log out and log back in. Nobody has moved in. A monarch butterfly lazily floats by. It is fall. I pull out my net and secure it inside the folds of the white, mesh fabric. I release it.
I check my map once more. Sigh. Still only seven neighbors. Wait, no! Another has moved in- Rowan.
Rowan! What a lovely name. My savior at last! My savior from the lonely days of marketing insects to the precocious Tom Nook. And he lives only a short walk away from me!
I gleefully rush over. He must be a boy, I suspect happily. My new love? I once had a lover- Cube. until my sister deleted him and his memories of me.
I fling open the door of his house. He's a tiger! Oh joy! He turns and...
He looks absolutely revolting and disgusting. Like he grew up in a trailer park. Well, maybe I can get over that...
I sprint up to him and talk. The first thing he says is...
"Hey you. Looks like you need to pump some iron, mango."
I stare in disbelief. He's a weight freak! An ugly, insulting, weight-lifting freak!
"You gonna just stand there? Or are you gonna help me unpack my stuff?"
I wearily trudge out the door.
* * *
Reviews make me feel fuzzy inside :3
2. The Acorn Festival
**New Neighbors and Other Drabbles**
**By -Kokoro Kitsune-**
"Just call me Cornimor the mysterious, grab acorns 'till your delirious!" I'm not Torti- erm, I mean Cornimor, but the jingle is just so catchy. So far, I've given the guy 158 acorns, but the great Cornimor hungers for more! I need 12 more acorns, but the only acorns in my town now are the rotten ones, laying around like discarded peices of litter. The Acorn Festival may be the bane of human existance. I love it.
Either way, I'm still happy. I have a mush stand, mush stool, mush TV, mush table, mush dresser, mush chair, mush closet, and a mush endtable. I love mush things. I want a mush bed, though. I don't even know if they exist, but I want one. Then my mush colletion shall be complete!
Ooh, look, mail. I got a letter from my mom the other day. She sent me an acorn. I tired to sell it to Tom, but that insolent raccoon bought it for **2 bells.** Who does he think he is? Oh, that reminds me, I better go check the store. He may be overpriced, but he's got the only department store in this stupid town.
**-2 Weeks Later-**
So. I've gotten every single mush item there is, and the HRA is loving me for it. Tom Nook is now paying about 200 bells an acorn, which is okay I guess. Anyway, ANOTHER new guy moved in named Boone, as Rowan has moved out. I was so excited, but like last time, I wasn't impressed. Part of the problem was this: I had a place at the edge of my town, with acorns filling up every square. I dubbed it The Acorn Fields. Catchy, right? Anyway, when I looked at the map to see where Boone had planted his fat ass, I noticed it was right where the Acorn Fields were. As I ran over there to investigate, I got totally pissed at Boone. HE MOVED IN RIGHT ON TOP OF MY ACORNS.I was fuming, but now I've sorta stopped thinking about it.They were in the Lost and Found anyway.
I love the Acorn Festival.
* * *
Reviews make me feel fuzzy inside :3
3. White Furniture & Olivia
****
New Neighbors and Other Drabbles
**By -Kokoro Kitsune-**
So, today, another person moved in. Olivia. She's nice, though I haven't really figured out her persona yet.She looks okay, but her eyes are too big for her head. She's a cat, by the way. So far, I've three cats in my town: Rosie, Mitzi, and Olivia.
She seems to collect white furniture. Maybe I should bring her something...? I _do _have a few things left over from whenI redecorated with the mush items. Off to check!
Olivia's house is right where Rowan's used to be, which is really close. As I walk in to my closet, I grab a beach chair, It's white enough, right?
I finally make my way back to Olivia's, almost exausted from running back and forth. As I give her the beach chair, she shows no reaction. "Are you giving this beach chair to me?" she asks. I nod my head in the postive. "I haven't even... mentioned white furniture to you!" she remarks as she pockets it. What? Some animals can be so strange. I perk up as I hear "Anyway, I should give you a reward." Yay! Something sweet for my total charity! "Maybe you'd like my 500 Bells!" she giggles as I pocket the money.
What? I should've gotten something way better! Ugh, screw this. I'm off to The Roost. K.K. should be on soon.
* * *
Reviews make me feel fuzzy inside :3
4. Problems
****
New Neighbors and Other Drabbles
**By -Kokoro Kitsune-**
Eh, I haven't written in my diary for so long. I'll start with the basics. The people in my town are Rosie, Limberg, Wolfgang, Mitzi, Bunnie, Alli, Boone, and Filbert. I don't realy know Filbert that well, but all us girls are buddies. I STILL hate Boone. Why won't that idotic retard just move out and leave me alone?
Oh, and I got the Golden Shovel. Also, I've been thinking of writing stories. Stories about my live in Goodton, y'know? I think I'll write them in here, where they're safe. Maybe someday I'll get them published! That dream seems like a long-shot, though. I'll start now. Wait, what should I write about? Ohmygosh, I just thought of the perfect thing. Poor Filbert... here's his story.
Kokoro sighed as the wind twirled her white pony-tail, covering the four-leaf clover nested there. His life. Filbert's. It was in danger, but there was nothing she could do to stop it, because he was the one doing it to himself. He said it made him feel better about himself, like he could beat even Boone in a wrestling contest. But I knew he didn't really feel that way. Sure, maybe for a short time after, but he was always so sad. He never talked with me like he used to, and he frequently stared right through people. His eyes, they... they were so glassy, so wide and inquiring, but the drugs had ruined them. Now his child-like eyes had bags under them, and his pupils were constantly dilated.
It had been close to a month since he revealed his secret. Kokoro had watched him waste away. He never came outdoors anymore. She had to do it. She had called Copper, and Filbert was now in a rehab center. But it was what he had said when he was taken away was the thing that broke her heart. It played in her mind like a video, always going, going, going.
_"You told!" he screamed. "You promised you wouldn't!" his legs kicked frantically against Copper and Booker's bodies, but his attempts were futile. "Koko. I thought you would be my friend. I thought you would understand. But you didn't. You just called the freaking cops on me. Do I deserve to be dragged away like this?! Look me in the eye and answer me!" But she had only turned away, silver tears rolling down her cheeks._
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Reviews make me feel fuzzy inside :3
End file.
| Animal Crossing | Fanfiction | null | 7,121 | 15,698.2 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. The world forgot her
Chapter 1: Anmesia
I opened my eyes to find a black apartment or so in front of me. Why am I here, of all places? I stood up and tried to know anything that happened before I blacked out… Thinking, thinking harder, WAIT! My name! What is my name? How do I know?
Maybe that building will tell me. Or maybe not. Something just tells me that it is too creepy inside for me to go and ask for my name. I looked behind that apartment to find a…forest? This got me even more confused, why would there be an apartment in the middle of the beautiful wildlife? I just stood there, waiting for an answer. Until it came. A disgusting trained dog appeared from that dark block. It pounced and headed straight towards me. Then it's trainer came into vision as well, just as revolting as his "pet" is. A big, tall, fat, uniformed man with a black stick and a black uniform, ew! He seemed vicious and he looked like he wanted to kidnap me. But why would he and that dog attack such a charming girl like me? I know my charming look and eyes would always fool everyone. But this human is heartless, almost a robot. So I yelled my best and started running, hoping that someone could hear me and come to save me.
I dashed through the trees, left and right, until I felt a twig that attached itself to my foot and made me unable to run any more. I landed on the floor with a bump and tried to get my foot free.
There was no time. I lost my charm along with my memory, and now a dog is going to touch me. How could this get any worse? Well, I didn't completely lose my luck, because a shadow on the branch of the tree jumped down between me and the revolting creature. The shadow-figure was sort of weird, it had a spherical head and two antennas on the top of its head, or maybe they weren't antennas? I was too tensed to focus on that point, but the dog ran from the shock of seeing the figure, and the man, slightly confused and greatly astonished, tried to catch up with the dog. Phew! They were gone. The shadow figure turned around helped me up.
"Thanks." I thanked him and then I saw- I saw who he was. A furry paw? A tail? That thing was a cat, a white cat wearing a red helmet, with its two blue ears standing up from the helmet. It wore a red racing suit, red socks and white trainers. But, regardless of the fact that it was shocking to see a mutant animal, behind his helmet glasses there were beautiful eyes.
"..Who are you?" I asked.
"Let's talk later. Come with me." Was his reply.
We reached what seemed like a train station that had a monkey wearing a uniform. That was cute. I always hated monkeys because they never wore any clothes, but when monkeys act civilized, then I like them. I still hate gorillas though. So he talked to monkey and the monkey talked too. "Are you real?" I asked. The monkey and the cat looked at me, perplexed, not knowing what to say. Finally the cat responded,
"Yes. We are real animals, not mutants like those silly cartoons on television. In fact, those animals that you see in the human world are inferior beings. But it's a long story, Let me explain everything on the train.
"Where are you taking me?" I panicked.
"To a safer place." The cat said, "To Cocomall."
On the train, the seats were green and there were many of these animals. The cat chose a bench and we sat down. He looked at my clothes and began the conversation,
"Sorry that I haven't introduced myself earlier, I'm Kid Cat. Who may you be?"
"…I don't know." I said.
"It's ok, don't be shy."
"No I'm serious, I really don't know. I don't remember anything, I just lost my memory about half an hour ago."
"Well, you could now make up your own name! It's nice to choose a nice name (not like mine). It's like your reborn into a new life." He said, giggling happily.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I replied sadly.
"I see you like the colour red." He said, looking at my red plaid shirt and my white jeans, my red hairpin and my red glasses.
"Oh, I do! So what's a Cocomall?"
"It's a beautiful town silly! You'll live there, far from the human world."
"What?"
2. Cocomall: The beginnig of a new life
I stared at the cat as we got off the train. Even though I like him because he saved my life, but I'm angry because he didn't ask me to choose where we're going.
"Dude, cheer up. He said, waking me up from my daydreams,
"Welcome to Cocomall!"
"What a city! It's so not urban, which is cool."
"It's a town DUH! And it's very nice."
"So where can I get my villa?"
"Let's start by the town hall. Shall I give you a tour?"
"OK sure! (I guess..)"
I wanted to show him that I'm not happy with what he did but I was too excited with my new life. I ran ahead and giggled,
"Last one is a loser."
We were both laughing, with the cold breeze and my waving hair. It isn't long; it's two braids at my shoulder. I was following a path with orange circles of dirt, with colourful tulips and cosmos neatly at the sides. It seems that this town is almost a replica of paradise or I am in paradise! I read the signs occasionally, and passed the river, reaching the town hall second to the cat. I went in and told the pelican that I want to live somewhere. She told me that the 4 free houses are small and identical, just to save me the trouble. I enjoyed my time with Kid Cat at the beach 'till it was almost sunset. A black cute cat, a white cat with a blue face, and a human girl came to see us. They all seemed friendly, but the girl was tensed,
"Hey, a new face!" said the black cat.
"Welcome to Cocomall, mew!" said the white cat, "I'm Mitzi what's your name?"
"Just call me…Hana." I just made up a name, and it's not half bad, is it?
"I'm Kiki. Nice to meet you."
"er…nice to meet you too. And you are?" I asked the human girl.
"I'm Zara. Bye!"
"You're leaving already?" Kiki said.
"Yes, to get ready for the sleepover party, at my house."
"SLeepOVeR PartY! Yaay!" we all said at the same time.
"Tell you what, you're all invited, along with some others at my house."
"Cool man." Said Kid Cat, "I'll go get some snacks."
"Weren't you going to give me a tour?"
"Oh yeah! I'll show you some of the landmarks today, and the neighbours tomorrow. OK let's go!"
"Bye cupcake!" Kiki waved. She nicknames Kid Cat? Not cool. Now we were walking and talking and stuff.
"Hana, you might want to buy a special Animal Crossing SIM card for your phone."
"Yeah, good idea." I found my phone in my pocket. The mobile charm was half a heart with a "we are" "always" carved into it. I frowned slightly in deep thought and confusion, but when I slid it open, there were no contacts on my phone memory list. Weird. Like I have no memory of my past.
* * *
Enjoy everyone! :D but I won't be able to post anything else until after 5th of April. R&R! Even if it is harsh criticism I'll accept it.
3. Settling In
Settling in
What a sunny morning. We had a fun party, and Kid Cat actually bought me a new phone because I fell and broke the screen. That's sweet of him. The new phone has a map that tells me where I am and updates automatically, plus an item finder app, which tells me the shrunken item's identity that I am holding in the shrinker-cube, and all this is in my empty looking pockets. What a fantastic friend he is. So I entered the local shop to find a house. The moment I entered I saw an evil looking raccoon staring with sinister eyes. Ignoring him, I went and approached the human girl standing by the flower section, holding a notebook and typing down some stuff.
"Um, hi." I began shyly.
She looked at me with a smile. Her hair was cute: light brown that shines in the sunlight that comes from the cracking walls of this dump.
"Yes? Are you a tourist?"
"No, I'm new here! I'm Hanna."
"Welcome, I'm Bethany. Where do you live in town?"
"I'm looking for a house. Where can I find one?"
"There's only one person selling almost everything in tow, and that's Tom Nook. That raccoon over there. There's no proper real estate so you have to ask him yourself."
Wishing I was deaf, I asked that thing: "How much are your houses?"
"Oh, hm? House! Well, ehehehe, I have only, one type of house for sale, costing a mere 19,800 bells!"
I just stared. This person's totally insane. The laugh, the price, who does he think I am, anyway? So I bought it without paying, then I will have to pay a "mortgage" at the town hall whenever I feel like it, well, whatever it is, it looks like a sort of loan. So I chose my house (or my house's roof colour) took my key, refused a job offer, and stepped inside to chat on the phone. Instead a person answered called rover. Well it's his recorded voice actually, and he led me to Kiki's number without daiing 8 digits, just a villager number in the map and 02234 for internal calls. So I was chatting with Kiki, mainly about Kid Cat in school. Great, there's school. A person called Mathilda came in to drop by a housewarming gift! That's very nice since I didn't tell her, nor did I have any chairs to host her properly, but seeing that she was panting with rosy cheeks visible on her black fur, I took the bed downstairs for something a little comfy. Her gift was a Lovely wardrobe, cute and handy. She then left, and then Mitzi called on the phone to go shopping. Yay! But I was already broke, but Mitzi was insisting to buy for me. Can you imagine that there is only one mall in Cocomall? But it is very wide and famous, since it is a stage in Mario Kart Wii.
"You know, you might consider taking a job. There's no harm and it's normal in town to do this. When I first moved here with my parents, I had a part-time job in the summer until Kiki moved in." I blinked, about to burst out laughing.
4. Careers
Careers
It was a beautiful Friday, until it was twilight, and I knocked on Kid Cat's door, and we watched the sunset on a hill (because I was too lazy to memorize any other directions). He said that my cookies "speak for themselves" and that chocolate is his favourite, just like me. I really must thank Mitzi properly for buying me some groceries. She liked my cookies too.
"You know, Kid Cat, Mitzi bought the ingredients." I said.
"She always likes to help people." He replied
"But is working bad here? Because she suggested one."
"It's ok. I have enough to cover you financially."
"No, no, I don't want to be of a trouble. Is there any good thing to do?"
"Well, for starters, don't ever work for Nook. He's so racist against humans, cats, dogs, and birds. Bethany says that he has been trying to give her tasks he doesn't even need. Do you know that he is insane?"
"Hahaha, I wonder if he has a heart."
"They say, that he was once a humble man, and that he helped someone he loved."
"Who?"
"I'm not sure."
"Ya right." I said with giggles in the air.
It was a beautiful sunset. There was something that led me to the mall once again. There was a shop next to Nook's (which is at the tip of the mall" called "Able Sisters". I stepped inside. A teenage porcupine greeted me, and I passed my through the clothes they offered. An older porcupine was sewing a bodice on the sewing machine, humming the town tune, which is upper Mario Galaxy 2's theme. But the shirts weren't really as cool.
"Um, I'm Hanna, you are?" I said
"I'm Mabel, and this is my sister Sable." The smaller one said cheerfully.
"Ok, so do you have a free space for me?"
Sable looked up at me, and stopping her sewing, she came closer to examine me, smiling each few seconds.
"Sable, What are you doing?" Mabel said, then addressing me "What would you like to do?"
"What are you good at?" Sable finally whispered.
I smiled with pride, "I will design the most fashionable outfits, but I can only sew basic tops, mini-skirts, and wool scarves, slowly."
Sable clapped her hands, "Perfect!" and opened a drawer, getting out two aprons, "Which colour do you want? We have yellow and blue." That was a rather friendly addressing this time.
"Um..." after five minutes silence, "Ok yellow, no blue. Fine yellow, no wait blue. UUUGGGHH!"
"Blue?" Mabel said
"Okay!"
Then we agreed on working hours: 8-10am then 8-10 pm. Apparently school starts at 10:10am and ends at 4pm! This is a dream come true! A school only in the worst hours of the day, noon and its melting sun. Also, there is a profit on every outfit I design, starting tomorrow, and weekdays start from Sunday to Thursday.
5. Kid Cat Special
Kid Cat Special
Kid Cat's POV
I just finished my biology project with Kiki, so I called my pal Frobert. My Dad is racist against him and the humans. He says that frogs are not loyal. They throw their kids in the ocean and live their own life. Maybe that's why Frobert has no family? He also says that humans use people and nature for fantasy. Well, I can't say he's lying but that's not really the truth. If my dad discovers that I bought that cat-like girl to this dimension, I'd go and live with the humans, on the earth. But she's sweet. And even that person said that she will save us from the upcoming events.
So I was bored and then my mom called me downstairs for a guest. I have finished tiding my room (out of boredom) and it was Hana. She wanted to give me a gift. That's just like the cute romance stories. Especially that she's extremely shy in front of my mom, and thank God that dad's not here. Aaah, her face was so red, and that made her look so funny!
" I wonder what's in the present, Hana?" I teased.
"um,…"
" Haha, ya right!" I giggled, copying her last time.
"Did you see this new book in the library?"
"What?"
"N..nothing."
After a long conversation of her efforts to change the topic, eventually she found a reasonable one:
"Which school do you go to?"
"The only one in town."
"hm…"
"Wait, are you going to school?" I asked with worry.
"uh-huh."
"How? You don't even know your last name, how will you give them papers."
"I wrote them at Pelly's. I'm 13, like you, right?"
No, I'm 14. But it's nice that way." I looked up with a lot worry about this girl, will she survive? Or have I made a mistake…?
6. Gracie Grace
Gracie Grace
A new day. I got myself ready, and got my sketch for Ables'. I remember making my favourite outfit myself. Black skinny jeans and a short sleeved buttoned dress that is to the knees. The upper part is a dark pink silk and its tightest at the waist, which is black, then relaxing at the thighs (also black), under the dress is a darker pink dark top that is not too tight. I even bought a human mannequin and made her wear it and a plastic heart hairpin in her hair, plus a pink handbag and a pink purse with circles carved into it. Once a squirrel came in complaining that a human mannequin is a racist idea but ended up buying it on the same day. But this time we had a different customer, we had a celebrity, one that appears a lot in Nintendique, yup, Gracie herself. Ofcourse all the news reporters were watching as Gracie entered a local shop like ours. It was weird for us to be such competitors. So she was looking at Ables with disgustbut her eyes widened with shock at the style of outfits, and noticed me wearing an apron. She stepped towards me with pride and glared. Then she addressed Sable, with a proud and evil chuckle
"Well, well, fancy having another loser to help you." She snapped, "Looks like you only needed a... measly human."
All, the news reporters were spectating this match, and my prestige is of top priority, so I tried to be rude enough
"Why do you say that? Jealous? Or is it all about business? Competitors! If you really thing we're nothing, then why come bug us with your opinion!" She then smirked, as there was obvious fear in my widened eyes. She instructed the reporters to step outside, except for her secretary. Taking each step with glamorous arrogance, and until her hooves were in contact with my collar, that's when I sensed danger. My legs were no longer on the floor, and pushing and kicking does no then began slapping me continuously and I had no chance to free myself. Sable starting pushing Gracie like shaking a tree. Vision was going blurry. Tears falling out. Mabel's sobbing. Mm, blood…
7. The First Day
Note: the events of this chapter and the one before are almost on the same week, so that's why it feels like it's suddenly cut, but its not.
The First Day
After getting ready for the first day of school, I stood in front of the mirror, flashing dozens of warm and happy smiles. I have to give the best first impression in order to start a new life. Somehow there is this sensation that tells me that I am not meant to have my memories. It feels so deep though… Oh Well, better go to school early!
As the homeroom teacher introduced me to the class. The whole class gazed in awe, as if they saw me before or known me somewhere. Suddenly a penguin frowned and was muttering a word, and soon enough the whole class was repeating it shamelessly "Nerd!" Yes I am a nerd. It's something to be proud of, not hide shamefully. But everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves, not be insulted simultaneously, right? Riiight?
"NO!" Snapped the penguin with a push, squeezing me harder to the wall. I pushed back, trying not to look scared, and I yelled back "What do you want from me?" I turned to face all of these people with their beady eyes: Zara, penguins (called "Gwen" and "Hopper") a squirrel, a dog (of course) and a wolf. They seemed to like hanging out together even though they are from different classes. Zara was rolling her red eyes, about to cry or burst from conflictions of emotions. I just don't get her. She then thumped me and sighed angrily,
"I know. Don't lie. You wish to have a life too? You want us to switch places again! NO! JUST KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM ME! I AM SICK OF YOU! Go to hell! HEELLL! I am sick of you and what you offered to me, even though it was of good." Then she began covering my vision with darkness, punching me hard, and struggling was still no good. Soon every one of them was joining in, and the pain was doubling. I pushed and kicked and squealed. Until I lost all my energy. A beam of light blinded my vision…
"I'm sorry. To give you a hard time." The delicate girl softly said, tears pouring even more "It's all my entire fault. But I can't stop." This time she was trembling, and she was on her knees…
Wrapped in angel's wings, am I? No, but I awoke at warm arms wrapping me, soothing the throbbing pain that suddenly formed on myself. It felt ... tender, warm hearted, and fur..? Those eyes, Kid Cat?
8. Tear
Yes, Kid Cat is wrapping me. But we were in the principal's office. I pulled away but I wish I couldn't let go: I need warmth. The principal said with shame,
"Tsk, tsk. Is this how you treat new students? Apologize now, and this will be your final warning." I saw the group of 6 apologize. It seems that they had an earful of lectures. The principal then said to me " There's nothing to be worried about now, is there? Now go and wash your face, hana." Immediately I realized that there was a tear on my cheek. When have I been crying? Who has been talking to me?
Sorry that this is too short, but the events will cut here and begin in a new chain, ok? R&R :D
9. Season Alert
Okay, so this is a "happy" chapter, dedicated to InvaderCakez, just because she reviewed. Thank you! But I am not a noob. Anyway the purpose of this chapter is to inform you of the seasons and time right now, because autumn and winter have very important things (acorns!)
Before summer ends, Cocomall had yet another surprise just around the corner! Oh, and it's not the fishing and bug contests organized by outside people, it was "regional exclusive".
It was the weekend, and by 10:00am, benches have been set up by the plaza, with a huge ribbon, and more like an over decorated stadium in a…suspicious way. Then I saw Tom Nook was standing by sheepishly, his wallet in his hands. Ow, that hurts the eyes.
But the good thing about coming early with my friends is to sit right in front of Tortimer, the funny and humble mayor. He treats us all like a family because hardly anyone is interested in politics.
Not to mention that we've never seen Pelly out in the sun. I heard that her cousin, Pepper, came to our town to take the shift from 4:00am to 8:00am, because she is not used to long shifts yet. And there could be more moving in too, so Pelly and her sister can actually have some days off, and shorter shifts. Finally we will get to see more of their lives.
"Um, ahem." Stepped up the mayor, waiting for the excited crowd's silent attention, "Dear residents of Cocomall…Today, the 20th of July, marks the day right before summer's end, but despite the unrecorded storm approaching on the 22nd, we will build some more facilities to our peaceful town. This is for your happiness and well being, so that's where the good part comes, sprouties! The renovations are your choice! It is open for the suggestions! Heh heh heh HAH!"
This was greeted with a wide applause, before the mayor mentioned some more,
"However suggestions will begin to be implemented in winter. And of course we do not have enough to finance all the good ideas, so it has to be reasonable and matching to the criteria."
The smiles died down a little, thinking whether this restriction would be a bad thing, but that must be expected, ofcourse, no matter how much of a fantasy we are living in.
"That's why there is another expected 'big thing' in autumn IF two ideas have been chosen and there can only be one! I dare you to guess it! HAH! Oh, and that's not all! The owner of the chosen suggestion will manage it in person, adding their name to the honored citizens list in town!" This time, was the real ear deafening cheer.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Friendship, Spiritual | Fanfiction | null | 21,726 | 12,765.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
**My total life in Animal Crossing Wild World. 1st FanFiction**
Chapter 1
**The beginning to everything**
* * *
**A**s Paulina woke up by this loud bird chirping it's way by flying outside of her bedroom window, she couldn't take it anymore! She was basically tired of this town she lived in called Mepsi town. It was a very messed up town, with very rude people and loud noises every night and day and even worser! All the town animals there were only animals! Some were very rude and pushed her in a little mini pond everyday when she trys to go to Nook's!
As Paulina was still in her bed..
_"ARGHHH! I cannot take this anymore! This town is out of control! You know why, because everyone in this town is so cranky and don't have any brains!"_
Paulina suddenly got up with a big stomp on the floor and decided to pack her bags and move to a quiet, nice, pretty town! As she got up, she slowy walk to a end table by her bed. She then saw this advertisement newspaper that said...
_"Towns currently looking for neighbors to move in"
Choco Town- Great view, nice neighbors, planted hybirds & flowers, trees, & of course fruit trees, and shops! "_
Then Paulina looked around on that newspaper page and saw that's the only town!
_"Hmm.. Strange.. This Choco town sounds so wonderful and relaxing! I'll move there! That's rite everyone I'll move there, and GOOOOODBYEEEE to all of those birds, cranky neighbors and noises! "_
She then packed up her bags and went to the town taxi service. But when she almost gotton there, a mean looking tiger name Rolf ran infront of her and she fell down. Leaving her suit-case with all her stuff in it opened.
_"Aww man! Sheesh... Rolf.. Haha.. I'm totally glad I'm getting out of this town! "_
She pick-ups everything that dropped on the ground except for this 1 unknown item.. What was it? Yes, it was her journal.. As she got up and ran, a bunny name Bunnie picked it up and put it in her pockets.
She then strolled along and founded a frog name Kapp'n. He seemed like a CRAZYYY frog, yes? But he isn't.. He just got his own little imgaination!
_"Awww! What a run! Bad luck everyday.. "_
**
* * *
**
**End of Chapter 1.**
**MAYBE COUNTUNIED**
2. Chapter 2
**
* * *
**
**Chapter 2**
**Taking a ride with Kapp'n and the new arrival**
* * *
**A**s Paulina was walking along the sidewalk which lead to Mepsi Taxi Service, she founded a green frog with buggly eyes that pop out and a hat that had the letter K on it. The frog was actually a taxi driver. Paulina walked to that buggly green frog and she asked him..
_"Umm...Hi'ya! I'm Paulina, and I have a ticket to a town name Choco.. Will you be able to take me there please?"_
The green frog was too busy washing the windows of his taxi and didn't know there was someone asking him a question.
_"Ummm excuse me?"_
_Green frog"Ohohoh! Oh my! I am seriousily sooo sorry! I was in my little ol' mind you see.. What was it you say?"_
_"Laughs Oh... That's okay! Well I'm dying to get out of this town, and I have a ticket to a town name Choco.. Would you care to take me there please?"_
_Kapp'n"Yea! I'll be happy to take ya' there! By the way, my name is Kapp'n! I come from a family with two legs and poppy eyes!"_
_"Well then kapp'n, I'll call you that from now on! My name is Paulina. The only human living in this town right now."_
_Kapp'n"OH REALLY? Your not lucky! You better get out of this town you see! Come on, hop on in my taxi! And I will take you to Choco town!"_
Paulina thought that this frog was crazy! Yup! He does have his own little mind!
Paulina hop'd inside Kapp'n taxi and then they started to take a run for Choco.
_Kapp'n"So what's it to ya?"_
_"Well, you see. All the naimals in this town are treating me like a mop! I'm so sick of it!"_
_Kapp'n"Awww, how sad.. Well choco is a beautiful town.. Ever herd of the past lifes?"_
_"Huh? Pasts lifes?"_
_Kapp'n"Oh dear! I shouldn't said that! Now all those creepy looking spirits will hunt me in my dream! Ahhhh!_
_"Umm okay... Is it me or is it just my imagination..?"_
As soon they have arrived Choco. Paulina looked at the right window where she was sitting next too and had a glanced of the new town she was going to live in. Trees everywhere, flowers, hybirds, and such wonderful things!
_Kapp'n"Well anyways! Were here at Choco! Thanks for riding in my taxi!"_
_"Wow..Choco..Opens the door and stepps out"_
Then suddenly Kapp'n got off and went away like a lightning bolt! She didn't even ot a chance to say thanks to Kapp'n.
When Paulina looked around all she could see is no one. No one to greet her to her new home! But then a short looking racoon came running towards her. And he said..
_Tom Nook"Hello there! Thankyou for picking Choco for your new home! I'm Tom Nook! Owner of Nook's! Now now... Before you go.. I have a job for you!"_
_"Ughh... Hello! My name is Paulina.. Nice too meet ya! Say.. What's the job?_
* * *
**End of Chapter 2.**
**MAYBE COUNTUNIED!**
* * *
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 5,040 | 16,069.7 |
null | Animal Crossing Practicality
AN: I own nothing.
A longer AC fic than my last one. Hopefully there will only be one OC, and she's there to represent the player character in AC:WW. She's not the focus of the story at all; the first chapter is a bit deceiving. This focuses more on the Able sisters.
Note: This was written while I was running on very few hours of sleep after I got some bad news. . . Fair warning. Randomness and nonsensical-ness may occur.
* * *
><p>It had been a while since someone new had moved into Turtoga. The last one had been Dizzy, and he had lived here for several years and was settled in already.<p>
So it caused quite a stir when a new person moved in, a human no less. Most of the villagers weren't sure how to react, so they turned to their default option: gossip.
It seemed the entire town had already met this girl and formed opinions about her three weeks after she moved in. Two people who hadn't, however, were Sable and Mabel.
The gossip had been flying from their regular customers. Some said she was kind, others said a bit nosy, but otherwise a nice person, and others said she had enough ambition for the entire town. Sable and Mabel talked about her too, as she came up in the conversations they had over a cup of tea after closing time. They figured it was only a matter of time before she came in, and they were right.
About an hour after they opened, a girl with blue eyes and blond hair wearing a T shirt with the Nook's Cranny logo on it came in the door, carrying a large bolt of cloth. She set it down with a pant as Mabel rushed over to give her a hand.
"Err, I've got a delivery, for. . . Sable?" she said hesitantly. Mabel looked over to where her sister was working at the sewing machine.
"Sis, there's a delivery here for you!" she called out. Sable stopped the machine and stood up, cracking her back as she did so.
"Oh good, is that the new cloth?" she eagerly said, reaching down to pick it up. "Thank you!"
"Oh dear, does Nook have you working at his shop?" Mabel said.
"Yes, just until I get the feeling for life here," she said. "I'm Kiera." She looked around the shop. "Wow, I love the clothes. Do you make them?" she asked Mabel.
"No, no, no, I've never been any good at making clothes. It's my sister, Sable, who makes the clothes."
"Sable, your work is very good!"
Sable blushed and looked up. "Thank you," she said quietly before continuing to sew.
"Sorry about my sister," Mabel apologized. "She's not very talkative."
"Mabel, I can hear you," Sable said warningly.
"I know," Mabel said cheekily. Kiera grinned.
"I'll have to come shop here once I get some Bells," Kiera said. "Right now, I'm just trying to pay off my mortgage."
"Oh no, Nook even has a mortgage for you?" Mabel shook her head. "I swear, that raccoon sometimes-"
"Mabel!"
"Sorry sis."
"Well, I should be going. . ." Kiera said.
"Come back soon!" Mabel called after her after she left the shop.
* * *
><p>Later, Sable set two cups of tea on the table upstairs and sat down at the table where Mabel was already sitting.<p>
"So, what did you think of Kiera?" Mabel asked.
"She seems nice." Sable took a long drink of tea, settling back into her chair with a sigh.
"Really? You didn't seem to like her much today."
"What are you talking about?" Sable looked up surprised. "I treated her like any other customer."
"Yes, but everyone else here knows you. She doesn't know how quiet you are."
"Oh no, you don't think I really insulted her do you?" Sable said, worried.
"No, but maybe you should be more open to people."
"But I'm always so busy, and I'm trying to get work done. . .!"
"I know, I know," Mabel said soothingly. "But it's not going to kill our business if you talk to people once in a while."
Sable sighed. While she enjoyed the fact that Mabel was old enough to talk about more serious matters such as the shop, her sister's constant prodding to open up could get annoying.
"I'm just not good with people."
"You don't try very hard."
"I'm going to go to bed," Sable announced, getting up from the table.
"Aw, sis, you're not mad, are you?" Mabel asked. "I didn't mean to-"
"I know, Mabel, but I'm tired. I'm just going to go to bed early tonight," she said, wiping out her cup. Mabel sighed.
"Yeah, me too."
Soon the lights were turned off and the Able residence went to sleep for the night.
* * *
><p>Kiera settled back in her white couch, the only piece of furniture in her house besides the bed upstairs. She nearly needed some furniture. She thought back to ways to earn money. She decided to try fishing tomorrow. Now that she wasn't working for Nook, she had had the time.<p>
Sighing, she reached for the catalog on the other end of the couch. Might as well start planning now.
* * *
><p>The next day, Tom Nook was greeted with a surprise at his door minutes after he opened. He was speechless when he saw Kiera standing there with buckets of fish and a grin, asking how often red snapper was found here.<p>
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Family, Hurt-Comfort | Fanfiction | null | 5,016 | 12,304.5 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. First
Disclaimer: _I own nothing but the ideas._
_Note: I'm not rec__opying that on any other chapters. Just know that I **do not** own anything, 'kay? ...Although I'm pretty sure I own my OCs. I do, right?_
* * *
><p>As the old pair of worn out sneakers set themselves firmly on the platform, hands came up and fiddled with the band, ensuring that it was quite tightly in place.<p>
Adjusting her hat slightly, her azure eyes took in the sights that were soon to be home.
And those were Marchen's first moments in Eichel, nervous beyond all possible belief and frozen stiff even after the trails of dust the bus had left behind had settled peacefully on the cobblestone.
And there she stood, unknowing of her next course of action, when suddenly it hit her. She fished the map the friendly cat had handed to her on the bus out of her pocket, studying it carefully, before neatly folding it back in.
Taking a deep breath, she took her first step off the platform and her first step into her new life.
This was it.
She was home.
* * *
><p><em>AN: While my town isn't really called Eichel (I should have thought of it, though, since now I really want to rename my town that), most of what happens here is basically what happens in my ACCF file. It's a diary of sorts following my character, Marchen. Slight changes, added details, the works, but it's still quite basically what my neighbors and I did. Even so, I hope you enjoy~_
_P.S. I started on the 26th, so I've got work to do to catch up. Eventually, though, I hope that this can be a daily thing. :)_
2. Town Hall
Wringing the map in her hands, Marchen anxiously bit her lip as she stared up at the old majestic building before her. She felt so unworthy of even touching the beautiful knob of the front door.
Timidly, she stood in front of Town Hall, unsure if she should merely brave it out or wait a bit longer.
Rover had mentioned something about the folks in town hall being there to help when help was needed but...
Deciding there was no point in merely staring at the ornate designs embedded within the metal, she took a deep breath, reached for the knob, and...
"Excuse me," a gruff voice huffed. Startled, Marchen pulled back away from the door, holding her hand as if she'd been scorched, staring at the voice's owner with wide eyes.
Likewise, the other seemed rather surprised about what he saw.
There, clad in a black dress with a purple ribbon tie and donning a witch's hat, stood Jason. He nearly leapt back in fear at the sight of the white hockey mask with sapphire eyes slightly bulging out from behind.
Was this it? Was this punishment for ruining Midge's _Friday the 13th_?
The fact that this being was obviously female failed to register within Elvis's mind. I mean, seriously! Look at those blue eyes! There's no time to think that this tiny girl twiddling her fingers could ever be plotting anything but-
Wait...
Blue? Girl? Twiddle?
Taking a closer look at this person, he slowly began to realize that there was no way such a timid creature could ever be that psycho.
And anyway, the design of the mask was different. The holes under the eyes were slightly off center, making it look as if she were crying.
He felt a wave of relief crash through him as his fears ebbed away.
...Although it _would_ make him feel better if she'd stop eyeing him as if he was going to eat her. Seriously. He shopped for his meat like everybody else.
Sighing heavily, he looked her in the eye (making her flinch back even more) and asked politely, "May I go in?"
It took a little before that look dissolved into mild confusion, but when it did, Elvis felt a headache forming.
All he wanted to do was send some letters! Was that so bad?
"You were going in," he explained irately. "May I go through first?"
A second passed before the girl nodded vigorously, moving to open the door for him.
He caught her wrist in his paw before she could even touch the surface, then proceeded opened the door for her.
She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes widening again. He merely huffed.
"Gentleman's job," he said. He ushered her inside then went up to the mail counter where Pelly was already starting to place herself.
On the other hand, Marchen's eyes were trained on the lion in completely and utter confusion.
What... just happened?
She was going to take a leap of faith when she saw the artwork when she ran into a lion who seemed scared of _her _and just wanted in to the Hall and then she was inside and huh?
As she sorted it out in her head, the lion approached her. She moved out of its way, looking down at the ground to avoid eye contact.
Elvis smirked slightly.
"Don't get eaten in this town," he said as he walked out the door, knowing without even seeing the alarmed look on her face as the door shut behind him.
Wait?
Eaten?
She was going to get eaten?
"Well, I don't think there's anyone with a heart that could touch you," a sweet voice rang from behind her. She turned around and a cute pelican in a dress smiled cheerfully at her. She beckoned for the other girl to get closer. Marchen stood where she was warily, beforemoving slowly to the counter. "You're the new girl that just moved her, right?" she asked warmly.
The oddly dressed girl nodded.
"I see!" she smiled, clapping her wings together. "Welcome to Eichel! My name's Pelly, and I work here at Town Hall. Well! No need to dillydally! Shall we take a look at where you'll be living?"
She dug around some drawers before pulling up a map of the town and a marker. "All available houses in Eichel are the same size and price. We currently have four vacant houses left!" She then went on to circle four locations on the map. Two were close to other houses and each other, and looked perfect for socializing, while a single house by the beach looked perfect for showing off.
But what Marchen wanted was not a life that others could envy, and even though she did yearn a social life, she needed to take baby steps.
A single house, isolated on the lesser half of the town, on the same side of the river as the Hall and only two other houses, away from the Museum, Shop, and Tailor, tucked neatly into the crook of a cliff right next to a mini waterfall was the one that the girl felt was to be hers.
Even though she'd yet to see it in person, Marchen felt as if this house was made just for her.
Pelly apparently caught the twinkle in her eye, because she smiled softly and said, "Let me just get the paperwork started for you, okay? In the meantime, why don't you follow your map and go check out a place that you like?"
The girl nodded then bowed in thanks, then headed out the door.
* * *
><p>[Timeline]<em> Same day as last chapter<em>
[Actual game play]_ Friday, August 26th, 2011_
_Explanations:_
[Explanations] _An extra section where I tell you what translated from my game and other random bits of info not really necessary to enjoy this story~_
[Marchen's weird outfit] _I saw the witch's outfit at GracieGrace and decided to get it~ I got it on my first day and haven't taken it off yet, so it's as if I were wearing it from the beginning. Besides, living on your own like she is, would she really spend 12K bells on clothes when her mortgage is only a bit more than that? She has to be smart about her money... As for the hockey mask, same explanation as the witch's clothes, though the reason I don't take it off is different._
[Neighbors]_ Obviously, going to be based on my actual neighbors. (Elvis [lion] and Midge [bird] do get along surprisingly well.) Same goes for the layout of this neighborhood_
[Blue eyes]_ I don't know what color Jason's eyes are really, but my friend says black, so I'm guessing that his eyes aren't blue._
[Why blue?]_ http:/ accf . wikispaces . com / Face + Guides
>I got the AAA face for girls. <em>
3. House
It was beautiful.
The small house with a red roof seemed to sparkle in Marchen's eyes as she approached it. It wasn't that far a walk from Town Hall, just a mere walk down the hill, and yet, surrounded by trees and flowers with the waterfall nearby, only a nearby house reminded her of the fact that yes, she was still in the same world.
Marchen carefully pulled the door open and was met with a log cabin like feel with wallpaper that truly looked as if logs and an opulent rug that seemed to make the place even cozier. An old cassette player sat lonesomely in a corner while a small cardboard box with a candle and holder on top rested opposite to it.
Smiling slightly behind her mask, Marchen lit the candle as to see the place better. As the flame came to life the light spread out across the room, illuminating the dusty emptiness.
Nothing a little cleaning wouldn't fix, she decided.
She decided to head back to the Hall as so to tell Pelly which house was hers.
As soon as Marchen opened the door again, though, she almost immediately shut it if not for the paw that held on tightly to the door, trying to keep the door from closing completely.
"Wait, Marchen!" this new voice rang out. "I'm here about finalizing your house documents!"
She stopped tugging on the front door in surprise that the ther knew her name. Unfortunately, the poor racoon had pulled with all his strength and flew backwards onto his rump. Embarrassed, the girl helped him back onto his feet, refusing to meet his eyes.
Tom Nook smiled.
"It's okay, Rover told me about you," he said. "Welcome to Eichel! My name is Tom Nook, and I run a shop here in town. I look forward to your patronage there, hm?"
She nodded. A couple seconds passed before Nook added, "So how was the house, hm? You are liking it very much, aren't you?" She nodded again, a bit more energetically. It was wonderful in every which way she could think of.
"Good, good," he said, business smile on. "So, you will be buying this house, yes?"
Another nod, this one a bit more hopeful.
"Well, then, that settles it!" he said. "From now on, this is your house, Marchen. Ah, and think of that stereo as a moving in gift from Tom, hm?"
The girl bowed gratefully, not noticing the salesman's mumbles of not being able to sell the old thing anyway.
"Ah, and have you seen the attic? There's a bed up there, so make sure to use it, alright? Also, there's a delicate issue of payment..."
Ah, reality, why must you be so cruel?
Marchen could feel herself paling as the very thought of money crossed her mind. She'd used the last of it in her effort to even _reach_ Eichel. What was she going to do if she couldn't stay? Her mind blanked out as Nook listed all the costs she'd have to pay to keep this precious house.
"..al is 19,800 bells!" he finished cheerily.
Unfortunately, the masked girl in front of him seemed to be having a mini heart attack.
"Ah, don't worry about paying it all off at once. You can pay it all off at your own pace."
He could see her slowly relax a bit.
"But..." She tensed up again. "...this is a business for me, so keep in mind that I'd like you to pay it off sometime, okay?"
She nodded quite panickedly, Nook smilng slightly at the display until another thought crossed his mind.
"That said, I have a question for you, Marchen." She looked up at him. "How do you plan to make a living here?"
And quite suddenly, the floor was the most interesting thing in the world.
"I see, then... How about working part-time at my shop, hm? That way you can learn the in's and out's of making money, hm?"
Suddenly he found his paws help by her tiny hands, shaking them up and down in wordless thanks.
"Very good, then it's decided. Well I can't leave my shop unattended forever, so let's get down to brass tacks. First off, why don't you introduce yourself to everybody in town? Oh! And make especially sure to introduce yourself to the mayor, hm? He should be in Town Hall, so don't forget!"
He looked over at the small girl twiddling her fingers.
"I told you previously that Rover had told me about you, yes?"
She nodded.
"He also told me why you moved here."
There was a slight hesitation before her eyes lifted off the floor. Reluctantly, she looked him, understanding what the racoon was trying to say. Biting her lip, she nodded in confirmation.
"Very good. I'll get some work ready, so come by the shop later, okay?"
Marchen nodded then waved goodbye as the clerk headed back to his shop. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself, eyeing the only other house nearby where she (now, she added giddily) lived.
She walked up to the door. Taking one more deep breath, she forced her hand to knock softly on the door.
She waited a bit before she realized that there was no response. She tried again only for the results to repeat themselves.
Maybe they weren't home?
Giving up, Marchen turned around only to run into the lion from the Hall, staring at her in disbelief.
"What are you doing here?"
She panicked. What was she supposed to say? In a flash of inspiration, she pointed towards her new house.
The lion's jaw merely dropped.
"You've got to be kidding me."
* * *
><p>[Timeline]<em> Same day as last chapter<em>
[Actual game play]_ Friday, August 26th, 2011_
_Explanations:_
[Opulent Rug] _Opulent means fancy, but the actual Opulent Rug in the game is pretty homey/plain. Still, for the people who actual play, I thought that it'd be less confusing._
[Stereo] _I'm pretty sure it was a cassette player, but I could be wrong._
[Brass Tacks] _I have idea what this means, but that's what he says, so..._
[Same Day as last chapter] _The first things are the things that influence you the most. So even though I am really way behind right now, eventually I'll catch up._
4. Neighbors
Marchen walked across the stone bridge red faced.
Of course her first time meeting her neighbor just had to go over _so well_.
She walked forward, not wanting to remember how badly she'd messed up. She was just happy that he happened to be a bit good-natured, laughed heartily and patted her on the back, introduced himself as, "Elvis, the big-cat 'round town," then _picked her up and moved her out of the way_. Granted, she was blocking the entrance, but she would have moved quite happiily as opposed to being twice as high as she was used to being and set aside like a doll.
As she crossed the river, she noticed that this side's beach was just about a quarter of what it was on hers.
Huh. Guess the other side had quite the view compared to this one.
The town, she quickly learned, was divided into four parts due to a river splitting it one way and a cliff splitting it the other.
Looking at the map, the section where Town Hall was was at the northeastern corner, right next to only one resident's house and dubbed after the building she recognized it for. It was a little smaller than the other two inhabited points.
Marchen and Elvis lived to their south in what she called Little Fantasy for the sheer beauty of it, the size of it just a little smaller than the main part.
Mini Beach, as she was now calling it, lay in the southwest corner, was the smallest region of the four, and had one vacant house, the one that overlooked the beach.
Up a slope due north was the main and biggest part of town that she called the Social Blossom (due to the insane amount of flowers sprouting everywhere). Here, the busline, tailor, museum, shop, the other two empty houses, and most of the residents lived.
And that was Marchen's destination as she walked up the hill.
Nervously, she knocked on this next house's door, not quite knowing what to expect.
This time, the door swung open, hitting her in the face. An orange dog that looked more like a stuffed toy quickly rushed to her side.
"Oh! My bad, dawg!" he said. "You okay?"
Marchen nodded slowly, trying to will the pain away. Good thing she was wearing a hockey mask.
"Really? That's great!" he sighed in relief. "The name's Biskit and if you're looking for an sweet time, you're in the right place, dawg! Nice to meet you!"
Her eyes smiled, and she reached out and offered her hand, which the other took and shook energetically.
"If you ever need any help, feel free to call me, okay, dawg?"
She nodded quite cheerily, before waving goodbye and moving towards the next house. On her way there, she noticed that a rabbit with a watering can had started to walk up to her.
Heart racing slightly, she turned to face her.
"Excuse but... are you that new girl, li'l hare?" the bunny smiled. Marchen nodded her head. The other girl's smile grew even bigger. "I thought so! My name's Pippy! It's so nice to meet you!"
As with Biskit, Marchen also offered up her hand. Pippy took it delightedly and said quite basically what Biskit had said about needing favors. The two waved goodbye and the couple went their seperate ways, Pippy back her home, and Marchen to meet her next neighbor.
In the back of her head, she was quite pleased with herself. Even without saying a word and dressed as oddly as she was, two out of three neighbors seemed to be okay with her. In fact, with how much Pippy talked, she thought that it didn't matter if she ever said a word.
Of course, meeting Baabara made her good mood about face.
"Hm? What's this? Why would a new person come walking up to me? Hmmm? Are you... trying to be nice? Are you introducing yourself?"
Despite the lack of malice behind those words, somehow, Marchen felt as if she were doing something terrible, and felt herselftrying to blink back tears.
"I rather like you," the sheep baa'ed after a few moments of silence. "Maybe I just might take you under my wing. Of course, we'd have to give you a total makeover, dahling, because your outfit's a mess..."
She started to draw circles on the floor with her foot, fidgeting anxiously and wanting nothing more than to get away from this woman right now.
"Well, I'm rather busy, so if you'd kindly leave for the moment..."
Opportunity seized. She was out of there as soon as she could be.
Rod was the next neighbor she met with.
The energetic mouse ran right up to her and took her hand in his paw, grinning the entire time.
"Heya! I was expecting a new face, and then I see yours!" he laughed. Well, here's another someone who didn't mind the mask too much. "Name's Rod, the ace of all aces, ace! Nice to meet you! If you ever want an awesome time, look me up, 'kay, ace?"
He looked at her expectantly as she bobbed her head. He just kept right on staring even though she stopped a while back, and suddenly Marchen felt herself rather self conscious. She began to squirm under Rod's gaze.
"You don't talk much, do you, ace?"
The girl shook her head, feeling uncomfortable, drilling holes in the ground with her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt her hat lift up and a paw petting her head. She looked up in surprise, Rod grinning brightly before gingerly replacing her hat. He left with only a wave and a smile, then scampered off, leaving Marchen simply standing where she was.
Huh.
Odd.
Fighting off her blush, she headed back towards Town Hall. Just before she went to in meet the mayor (_Was she ready? Would she be okay?_), checked her map one more time. And there, in the corner of the Town Hall Area, was one more lone house just south of where she stood.
Okay, there first.
She walked along the cobblestone to a nice house, and knocked on the door softly.
And when it opened, she blanched.
Pink.
Bright, neon pink.
Not only was the furniture and walls that horrible color, but so was it's resident.
The small (_pink_) bird smiled sweetly, oblivious to the other's thoughts.
"Yes, tweedledee?"
Grateful for the mask, Marchen bit back her surprise and forced a shaky hand out, which the other stared at confusedly.
"Oh!" she said after a few moments. "You must be the new girl! Nice to meet you, tweedledee! My name is Midge. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
She merely nodded as Midge took her hand in wing and turned tail the moment she could, hearing the other chirp about "how cute she is when she's shy."
She ran back to the Hall and hurried herself inside, leaning against the door and breathing heavily. She stared at her hand as if she'd grown an extra finger.
"Excuse me, Marchen? Are you alright?"
Her snapped up to meet Pelly's worried gaze. Quickly, she nodded.
It was about then that she noticed the old tortoise with a cane standing in front of the mail half of the counter.
As she approached him, he suddenly shouted out, "You! Whippersnapper! Who are you? And while I'm asking questions, what is your favorite animal?"
Not knowing quite what to do, the girl bit her lip, thinking of a way to answer.
The old man grew impatient, however, and huffed. "Whippersnappers!" he shouted. "Always disrespecting their elders! Why, when I was your age, I had to... um... had to... Ah, what were we talking about again?"
"Um, Mr. Mayor... That's our newest resident, Marchen," Pelly explained patiently.
"...What's that? Ah... come to think of it, I did hear something like that... Or did I? Who can remember with all these newfangled things going on?"
The pelican cleared her throat loudly, causing something to click in the elder's head.
"Ah, yes! I am the Mayor of Eichel, Tortimer! Quite normally I'll be here in Town Hall working, but during events and such, I'll be out in the square, waiting. Yes, that's right, waiting and WATCHING."
Tortimer wheezed a laugh. Marchen bowed in respect before taking her leave.
As she left Town Hall, she noticed for the first time that the setting sun had dyed the already beautiful town magnificent shades of red with slight hints of a refreshing orange.
The people were odd, but somehow, she could sense that they were all good people.
Yes, she was going to love living here.
Marchen smiled behind her hockey mask as she made her way back to Social Blossom.
Next on the agenda: Working for Tom Nook.
* * *
><p>[Timeline]<em> Same day as last chapter<em>
[Actual game play]_ Friday, August 26th, 2011_
_Explanations:_
[Geography of the town] _There are two reasons for writing this. 1) It'll make life easier if you've some idea of the basic layout. 2) I'm terrible at describing places and need some practice._
[Naming place] _However, my nicknaming places is really just something I do. :)_
[Marchen's reaction to Midge] _I was **really** not expecting so much pink to gather together in one compact place. *shivers* I can't stand the color, and despite the fact that she really quite nice, I generally avoid Midge._
5. Work
Marchen stood in front of the decrepit shop with a worn sign reading, "**Nook's Cranny**" sprawled in messy, faded marker, pressed up against the brown cliff as if it wanted to disappear.
Somehow, the image of the clerk she met in front of her house didn't seem to match the image of this shop.
She allowed herself a few snickers before she was reminded that she was here to _work._
It didn't seem so funny anymore.
Sighing, she willed herself to open the door, and was met by the owner himself.
"So, you've said hello to everyone in town, yes?" Nook asked. He was met by her usual nodding. "Very good! Try to remember everyone's names and faces. It should help you to adjust to this new town. So... you're just about ready to start your exciting part-time job, yes?"
This time, her nod was hesitant. That detail went unnoticed, however, as Nook handed her a teal shirt with a leaf in the front and brown pants. "Yes, yes, very good. The first thing I want you to do is change into your work clothes. Strictly speaking, I mean the uniform worn by my employees."
Nodding, Marchen headed for the door, only to be stopped by Nook.
"Where are you going, hm?"
She held up the clothes in response.
"Can't you just change here?" the racoon asked.
The girl blushed furiously (not that you could tell with that mask on) and shook her head. Sighing, Nook let her go home to change.
At home, as she changed into her new uniform, she realized that wearing her hat while working would look ridiculous. As much as she wanted to keep it on, it wasn't practical at the moment.
The mask, however...
She arrived back at the shop not 10 minutes later, and yet, Nook stood unsatisfied at the wait. He eyed her before mentioning that it looked rather fitting on her before proceeding to hand her a few potted plants. They were small, but she truly didn't trust herself to hold more than two at a time.
"Now then, let's get to work, shall we? The first thing I need you to do is plant these flowers and saplings outside of the shop. Sometimes brightening up the outside of your store is just the thing to perk up business, yes? So make sure it looks really nice out there! And let me know when you are finished, hm?"
Nodding, Marchen took first took a few of the flowers and headed outside.
Gardening. Something she actually likes. Maybe this wouldn't be so terrible a job.
In the span of a couple hours cheery flowers decorated the storefront and the tree saplings were planted behind the store. Later on, when they grew, it would serve to accent the shop.
Quite happily, she returned to the Cranny. Nook, seeing as the plants were all gone, said something about having to trust her decorating sense from under his breath.
"Well, I suppose it's time to put you to work like a real part-timer..." he said thoughtfully. (Marchen, on the other hand, was quite disappointed that what she had done was not "work".) "Ah! Maybe you can deliever a few things for me!"
Nook ran over to the register and pulled a neatly wrapped package from underneath the counter.
"Please take this to Rod. He ordered this last week, and it's finally arrived. Wouldn't want to keep a customer waiting, hm?"
Nodding, Marchen took the package and cradled it carefully in her arms. She was about to head out the door when Nook added, "And get back quickly! Don't just loaf about, nibbling grass on the side of the road!"
Taking the words to heart, she made way to where the mouse resided.
Needless to say, the laughing wouldn't stop.
"Hahaha! You're finally out of that black dress of yours, but you kept the mask?"
Slightly flustered, Marchen decided to end this quickly and pulled out the package.
"Dude! Is that piece finally here, ace?" Rod grinned as he gratefully accepted it. Nodding, Marchen turned to leave, when Rod called out, "Hey, wait, ace!"
Catiously, the girl peered over her shoulder to see him motioning for her to return. Slightly worried about Nook's last words, she wondered if it was alright to listen to him for a bit.
"I know, I know. You've got work, right, ace? I can tell be your clothes. After all, most of us started out as Nook's lackies. So I'll make this quick. When's your birthday, ace?"
Even with that mask on, the surprise on her face was pretty hard to hide because his ever famous grin was back on his face. "Well, there's a certain someone who wants to know. So? When is it?"
Pausing a moment, she stood still for a bit before putting up one finger. She closed her fist then again, put up one finger, while on the other hand she help up three.
"...1, 1, 3? 1/13? January 13?"
She nodded.
"Great! Thanks for tellin' me, ace? Now, don't you have to run back to Nook's?"
Nodding again, Marchen really did run back to the store.
"Ah, yes, welcome back!" Nook smiled, looking quite pleased and proud. "You've made short work of that delivery, haven't you, Marchen? So let's move onto the next job, then, shall we?"
He pulled out letterpaper and a pen and handed it to her.
"Your next job is to direct mail! I want you to write and send a letter to my regular customer, Elvis. Just a quick thank for patronizing my store and a notice that we're having a wonderful sale. You can send it via the post office in Town Hall. So... snap to it!"
After being booted out of the store, Marchen decided to visit the Museum. Places like that were usually quiet and it would be the perfect place to write.
(And it was only a few minutes' walk from Nook's, anyway.)
Of course, by "quiet" she didn't think she meant "empty".
A lone owl stood dejected in the middle of the lobby. As Marchen moved towards him, he perked up.
"Hoo, welcome to the Eichel Museum! We do hope you enjoy your stay. Of course, there isn't much to look at since this museum is practically empty... Thriving on donations as we do, I suppose it's only just that we can't get anyone to give us anything for free now, hoo..."
The owl began to sulk again. Marchen tried a few times to cheer him up, but her time was spent in vain. She noticed a coffee sign pointing downstairs, though, and so decided that maybe all he really needed was a nice cup of joe.
She headed down and was met with a bar like counter with a pigeon wiping down some cups. The two stared at each other, just looking with no movement whatsoever.
Then, the bird pointed with his feathers the chairs in front of him. Understanding, Marchen took a seat.
The two kept the silence before the pigeon said, in a deep but whispering voice, "Coffee is 200 bells. Would you like some?"
The girl almost nodded, but stopped midway when she realized that she had no money. She checked her pockets again, just to make sure, but sure enough, there wasn't a Bell in sight. Disappointed, she shook her, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.
Now what?
The pigeon stared a bit more at her before saying, "Then I guess that this cup is on the house."
Surprised, Marchen looked up to see him working like magic, making cup, saucer, and drink dance elegantly together. Soon, a hot cup of coffee sat in front of her.
"...Enjoy it while it's hot."
Nodded quite happily, Marchen picked it up and began to walk up the stairs, not noticing the odd eye that he was giving her.
She approached the owl with her cup of coffee. At the smell of joe, he looked up to see the girl offering him the cup.
"Are you... giving this to me?"
She nodded.
"Hoo, thank you," he said as he took the cup gratefully. He drank, careful not to scald himself, and then replaced the cup onto the saucer.
"You're such a kind girl. My name is Blathers, curator of this museum. I wish that we had more to offer you at the moment, but as I previously mentioned, this museum is empty. Most people do not think of donating to us, and so our halls are more of a museum of dust than anything. But I digress. Thank you for the drink."
Marchen took back the cup and saucer then bowed. She headed back downstairs to where the pigeon was and put the empty cup onto the counter.
"...You gave Blathers the coffee?"
She nodded.
"...I see. Thank you for returning the cup."
She also bowed to this pigeon and was about to make her way back up the stairs when he added, "Brewster."
She looked back at him and saw him still cleaning cups behind the counter. As he inspected one of them, he said, "I run the Roost. Thank you for helping Blathers. He works too hard."
...Wait, work?
With wide, panicked eyes, Marchen sat right back down at the counter and pulled out the letter paper and pen. Who did Nook want to send it to? What did he want written?
As soon as things clicked in her mind she scribbled down the letter.
_Dear Elvis,_
_Thank you for supporting Nook's Cranny. We hope you continue to patronize the store. We also wish to inform you that there is a sale going on right now, and we hope you stop by._
_-Marchen_
She jumped off of her seat and ran, sealing the letter in the envelope as she did. She was heading for Town Hall when a thought struck her.
Why didn't she just deliver it herself?
It would be much faster, after all.
Running past the Hall she headed down the slope to where his house lay, then put it in his mailbox.
Having sped her way full circle through town, Nook looked more than a little annoyed at the time it'd taken her to get back.
"That seemed to take a little too long for my liking, but it seems you've got it done. Everyone in Eichel really likes letters, so if it didn't go out, I'd be in trouble, hm? So next, I need you to deliver a carpet."
He pulled out a duffel bag that Marchen presumed contained said item. She took it carefully and slung it over her shoulder.
"I need you to deliver it to Midge. And make it snappy this time. Please. Don't think that just because I'm not watching you can go take a detour and go chatting, hm?"
Nodding, Marchen headed towards the bird's place near Town Hall.
Outside the door, she took a deep breath, steeled herself, and...
ACK!
THE PINKNESS!
Marchen really wanted nothing less than to GET OUT OF THERE ASAP, but Midge stopped her just as she reached for the door.
"Wait, I have a thank you present," she chirped happily. She went into her drawers and pulled out another duffel bag. She then pulled out a neatly folded carpet, and packed it into the current duffel bag that the girl was using.
"This is kind of old, but you can use it as you get settled in, tweedledee. Flooring and wallpaper is important to the atmosphere of your house, after all, unless you want the atmosphere to be 'boring'."
Marchen bowed in thanks and ran out of that house.
No matter how much Nook paid her, she was _never_ going to get used to pink in huge amounts.
Marchen was suddenly struck with a thought.
What if her present was pink?
What would she do then? She'd feel so guilty if she threw it away but she didn't want to use it but there was nothing to dislike about Midge besides the color and wasn't it discrimination to judge on the outside because it was the inside that counts and...
She somehow made it home. Eyeing the duffel bag, she decided there was only one way to find out.
Quickly, she made her way in. Marchen then unzipped the bag and spread her new flooring out.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
It was a regal (_blue_) rug met her eyes. It seemed to suit the room better than the opulent rug had before.
Smiling slightly, she got to work folding the old rug and placing it in the cardboard box.
...Right. Work.
Sighing, she headed back to Nook's, preparing for a scolding.
However, he just seemed so happy, welcoming her back and praising her, "getting the knack of 'working for a living'." Not what she'd expected, but it wasn't right to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Anyway," Nook continued from his rant, "next I need you to deliver this watering can to Elvis. Oh! And don't go around using my customers things like their your own when you should be delivering them. If you want one, you've got to buy one, yes?"
Nodding, Marchen headed back to Little Fantasy, tool in hand.
She knocked on the door three times before the lion finally opened up the door. He blinked a couple of times.
"You... look different," Elvis said lamely.
Marchen merely nodded her head.
"You're not dressed in black. Or wearing a hat."
Again, a nod.
"And yet, you're still wearing your mask?"
No response this time. Elvis waited a few minutes before speaking again.
"What are you doing here, unh-huhn?"
She held up the watering can between them, finding herself not able to look him in the eye. He quietly took the tool before setting it aside, looking at her thoughtfully all the while.
As she turned to leave, he called out, "Is your name Marchen?"
She turned right back around and nodded.
"So you're the one who wrote this letter, unh-huhn?" he said, holding up the decorative piece of paper that Marchen had folded into the envelope in her earlier job. Recognizing her handwriting, she nodded again. Elvis smiled a bit before bursting out into chuckles.
"You've said more in this letter than you have in your entire time in Eichel!" he laughed. Blushing slightly, Marchen frowned under her mask.
"Now, now, no reason to be embarrassed. Everyone here loves getting letters. We like to show off how popular we are with the amount of letters we get. So make sure to write me lots of letters, unh-huhn? Ah, but don't write anything too personal. After all, letters _are_ for showing off."
Nodding, Marchen waved goodbye and walked back to Nook's.
"Welcome back! Good job! Yes, yes, let's see... Your next job will be... I know! I just remembered! Do you know the bulletin board in front of Town Hall?"
No, she did not.
"Very good! Yes, well, I'd like you to write an ad on for the shop on that very bulletin board! I'll leave the wording up to you, but make sure it's something snazzy that the young kids will like. And remember, lots of people will see it, so don't write anything to make us look bad!"
Nodding, Marchen set out for the bulletin board. Once there, she stood in front of it, thinking for a while.
Finally she decided to write:
_If you can raed tihs, you may jsut be amewose egunoh to potrazine Tom Nook's!_
_Are you asemowe enugoh?_
Not anything that attractive, but Nook _did_ trust her...
Smiling, she put the notice onto the bulletin board and headed back to the shop, wondering if anyone would be able to read that.
"Ah, Marchen. Welcome back. Did you write the message?"
In response to her nod, Nook clapped his hands together and smiled. "Yes, yes! Very good job. So that means... You're done! That's all the odd jobs I had laying around today. You've earned 1,400 bells today, so I'll just take that off your mortgage. You're free to return the uniform, if you'd like."
Marchen thought for a moment, before shaking her head.
"Ah, you'd like to keep it? It does fit you quite nicely, hm?"
Nodding, she also pointed to the register and then to herself.
Nook quickly got the message.
"...You'd still like to work here?"
Nod.
"You'll only be able to work on days when I've out of store jobs like delivering and such. You understand, hm?"
Nod.
"You won't be paid on days you don't work, yes?"
Nod.
"For how long is your employment?"
She made a triangle and a square in the air with her hands.
"I see... Hm... What hours are good for you?"
She then started to scribble her finger on the palm of her other hand, as if writing something. Understanding, Nook handed her a piece of paper and another pen.
_6 to 10 P.M., weekdays, is good._
"Great! Then consider yourself hired, Marchen! By the way, how did you find the town, hm? Enjoyable?"
Smiling, she nodded.
_It's a really cheerful place._
"Indeed. It's quite peaceful here, isn't it?"
_Yes._
"Well, I'll leave you to your own devices, then, yes?"
Nodding quite gratefully, she left and headed home. She went straight to the attic and plopped right into bed, not even bother to snuggle under the covers.
Marchen was soon off in Dreamland, quite satisfied with life.
* * *
><p>[Timeline]<em> Same day as last chapter<em>
[Actual game play]_ Friday, August 26th, 2011_
_Explanations:_
[Marchen keeping her job] _Actually, the whole money system of AC doesn't make sense to me. So Nook will buy your things (so Bells go N-P), then the player will spend the money at either Nook's (P-N), for their mortgage (again, P-N), or at another store, in which case he loses money. At the very least, if Marchen makes Bells from selling things to Nook to get whatever she wants and works part-time to pay off her debt, that makes more sense to me than the gameplay._
[Notice]_ I thought it would be boring to write a normal ad, so I scrambled the letters. :P_
[Italic speech (in story)] _That would be Marchen writing. She had this whole story thing about why she can't (won't?) talk, but I decided to just keep it open. Anyway, she doesn't have quotes around her writing so just thought that it'd be confusing. There's still italic emphasis, too... maybe I should switch to bold? Hahaha._
End file.
| Animal Crossing | Fanfiction | null | 39,471 | 11,665.3 |
null | Animal Crossing London Maylasia town
**London Maylasia town- Part one**
**Author's Note- Do NOT send me any reviews saying that I spelled "Malaysia" wrong. I realized that when I read my Geography book yesterday. My friend was spelling it for me and apparently, she didn't spell it right either. This is a fanfic about my two towns combined. The characters so far are Sam, Bloo, Honey, Mac, Tessa, Popo,and Seth. I just recently demolished my character, Raye's, house because I wasn't doing any good with her.I'm also working on my character,Nana.So, let's begin shall we?**
**TOOT TOOT!**
The train's whistle blew loud and filled L.M. (London Maylasia) with a sound of a new arrival. The citizens had been waiting for this new girl to move in for about a week now. Finally, as the train pulled into the station at precisely 11:00 a.m., the old raccoon, Tom Nook made it just in time to greet the new girl. She shyly stepped off of the train and greeted Porter, the monkey. She had bubble-gum pink hair and a bright pink shirt with a daisy printed on the front, and a hat to match.
"Hey, hey! Over here!" Tom called. The girl walked to him. "Hello, you must be Sam."
"Yes," Sam said quietly.
"Come, we've been waiting for you," Tom smiled. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Um, 'we've'?" she questioned.
"Yes, the residents of acre B-3." He led her to a cul-de-sac where six other humans like Sam stood.
"This is Bloo," Tom said pointing to a young man in a deep-blue tee. He smiled happily. "This is Honey," he said pointing to a girl with blue hair and eyes. She wore a bright yellow dress with a cute bunny on the front. Looked like something she had designed herself. "This is Tessa," he went on. Tessa had violet hair and big eyes. She had on a pink and purple dress that was probably designed herself. Then there was Mac, who had a red tee shirt on with black straps down the front. Popo had a blue parka on with hazel eyes and Nana wore a pink parka and had brown hair and eyes.
"Hey, I hope that we will get along in the future," Sam smiled.
"I couldn't imagine why we wouldn't," Mac said grinning.
"Hey! Where's Seth?" Tom asked.
"Where do you think? In his house with the lights and T.V. off," Tessa said rolling her eyes.
"It's scary in there," Honey whimpered. Tom led Sam to a large house with a black roof and a skull design on the door.
"Hello… now retrieving a personal message from Seth…" the Gyroid buzzed, "… … I hate Mondays… … WOULD YOU GET OUT OF HERE YOU TURD WITH LEGS?"
"Yikes. Not too friendly is he?" Sam winced. Tom knocked on the door.
"Seth? Are you there, Seth?" he called. There wasn't a reply at first, but then there was a quiet,
"No."
"Seth, open up."
"No, I'm not home, leave a message after the cuss word, bleep!" the voice snarled. Tom opened the door anyway. Tessa was right, the whole room was pitch black. There was a shadow of a young man all curled up on his bed. His shirt appeared to have a skull, much like the one on his door, on his shirt. His house had imperial tile, and the arched window wallpaper. He had many random objects around the room, including a retro stereo, which was playing "K.K Rock."
"Oh, for Pete's sake, Seth, turn on the lights!" Tom groaned.
"I like dark… dark is good… now do what the Gyroid said and let me be… or I shall have to bite you," Seth grumbled. Sam was impressed at how rude this boy could be without actually feeling guilty about it. Tom had had enough of Seth's nonsense. He took his paw to the light switch and flicked the lights on.
"AAAUGH! THE LIGHT!" Seth freaked. He pulled the covers from his modern bed over his head. Tom flicked them on and off real fast. "IT BURNS US! IT FREEZES US!" Seth shrieked. He pulled the covers off to attack Tom but then he stopped and looked at Sam. "Uh… hello…" he said quietly. Sam smiled and held back a giggle.
"Seth, I've been trying to tell you, Sam is here," Tom said calmly.
"… Why wasn't I informed?" Seth said guiltily.
"YOU ARE BEING INFORMED, YOU GOTHIC IDIOT!" Tom screamed.
"Hmmf! There's nothing wrong with my obsession with black," Seth spat.
"Fine, we'll leave you be. Come, Sam," Tom Nook snorted and shoved Sam out of the house.
"Yeah, bite me, Nook," Seth hissed. Then he looked at Sam and said quietly, "Bye, Sam." Sam smiled and waved back at him.
"I must say," Tom Nook said surprised, "You stayed impressively patient with that boy, Sam."
"Well, he can't be all bad," Sam said reasonably.
"Yeah, sure, you with that, now, about your house…"
"Oh, yeah! Here's 389,000 bells!"
"Hmm? You have to pay off the top room too you know," Tom said. Sam blushed.
"I-I don't have enough? I can't live here? But-but I can't go home! You don't understand! Back at home I have-,"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't get so upset! I tell you what, you can pay it off to me," Tom said.
"Oh. Really? Cool."
"But remember, 789,000 Bells to pay off."
"Yeah… okay," Sam said uncertainly.
Then she went to meet her neighbors, Queenie, an ostrich-peacock-thing…, Savannah, a zebra, Tybalt, a tiger, Hambo, a hog, Chico, a brown mouse, Lulu, a purple hippo, Rollo, a gray hippo, Twiggy, a yellow canary, Snake, a pink bunny, Mitzi, a white and black cat, Sydney, a purple koala, Huck, a black frog, Apollo, a bald eagle, Grizzly, a black bear, Chevre, a white goat, Pippy, a teenage bunny, Tiara, a brown rhino, Anchovy, a brown bird, Bill, a brown duck, Murphy, a green bear that nobody liked, Pinky, a pink panda that nobody liked either, Eloise, Dizzy, and Ellie, three elephants, Sally, a little squirrel, Valise, a gray kangaroo, Cleo, a purple horse, the mayor, Tortimer, an old turtle, and Gruff, a green goat.
Sam had never had so many friends in her life. But now it was time for the dirty work- organizing her whole house. (Dun dun DUN!)
_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,829 | 19,887.7 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
A Day In The Life Of...
Pete
**A/N: One day on the Wii I was down by the beach of my old town, Risca (I now live in Oz, where these stories will oftenly be set), when I saw Pete the Mail Pelican. I began to talk to him until I got board, and then I wondered something- what did Pete do when I wasn't trying to get him to talk to me constantly? Here's what I decided would happen...**
An annoying beeping noise interuppted my peacful sleep, and my dream of quitting my dreary job to go live on an island far away... I blearily opened my eyes, grumbled, 'Shut up' groggily to my alarm clock before turning over to go back to my island. Then my eyes snapped open. I looked back apprehensivley to my alarm clock. Fatingly, the clock read: 8:52 a.m.
"I'M LATE!" I yelled, "HOLY CRAP I'M LATE!" I jumped out of bed, snapping my alarm off. I pulled my green postman's outfit over my head in a hurry, grabbed my satchel, and a quick fish for breakfast before hurrying out of my home. I swung my satchel, empty of mail for now, around my back, while hurridley chewing on my fishey food. My wings snapped into action and I flew hurridley to Oz's Town Hall. "Sorry I'm late Tortimer!" I wheezed as I ran into the building, panting slightly. I don't know why I bothered. Tortimer was asleep behind his desk, as always. I rushed behind the desk to get my letters.
"You're late, Pete." Giggled Pelly from behind her post at the Post Office. I nodded. "Again." I nodded, stuffing some letters into my satchel. "And you're shirts on backwards." I looked down and groaned. Indeed it was.
"Great." I moaned, trying to turn it the right way round. She laughed.
"Here, let me help." She smiled, pulling it around the right way and straightening it.
"Thanks Pelly." I nodded awkwardly, stuffing the last of the letters into my big bag.
"I made you lunch," She giggled, handing my a tuna sandwhich.
"Uh... Thanks." I took it, and hurried out. After all, I was extremly late, and Pelly could get annoying when she was like that. Pelly- she could be such a child, sometimes, not like her sister Phyllis... Ah, Phyllis... The prime example of the perfect female pelican. Too bad she HATES me... I sighed, and promptly made my first delivery, to Peanut. But when I arrived at what I thought was her house, imagine my surprise when her house plate did not say 'Peanut's House', but, instead, 'Phyllis's house'! I must have stumbled on Phyllis's house by mistake! I looked around her garden, she had so many beautiful flowers! Surley she wouldn't mind if I took some of her red roses to give her... I plucked them, and hurridley thought of what to say that she would find romantic... I knocked on her door, before starting to talk.
"Phyllis? I thought I'd bring these for you. You know, you're the smartest bird I've ever met, and the cutest. Your perfume is very exotic, and your fish breath is very attracting..." The door opened and I was smacked on the head by Peanut.
"FISH BREATH?" She screamed at me. "I do NOT have fish breath! Take that back right now, slacker, or I will cut you up to feed you to my new pet piranah, Fluffy!" She began to pull my tuft of fir on my head. Hard.
"Peanut! Peanut let go of my head!" I squealed. "I'm sorry! I thought this was Phyllis's house!"
"And WHY would you think that, slacker? You are so, like, DULL!" She schreeched angrily.
"You're... House plate!" I panted, pushing her off me. She paused and looked at it. Indeed, like I'd thought, it read 'Phyllis's house'. Peanut looked horrified, and positivley furious. I was immediatly scared of her.
"CUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT YOU... BIG MEANIE! I'LL GET YOU!" She shrieked. There was laughter from behind one of the trees surrounding the house. "CURT!" She ran off, and so did I, deciding her delivery could wait until she calmed down. My day continued normaly, though occasionly I had to dash into houses to avoid Peaut and Curt as they argued, pushed each other into pitfalls and beehives, as well as trying to give each other fleas. Fleas was one thing I did NOT need. It continued this way until 4 p.m, when I was walking down by the beach. Then I saw her.
"Oh crap." I hissed, dashing behind a coconut tree.
"Come here, fishies! He he! Whooo! I got a black bass! That couldn't be more bass!" She giggled. "I got a bass! A bass! A black bass!" She turned to go sell it to Tom Nook, and I tried to shrink away from her gaze, but it was too late. Her eyes widened with excitment. "Pete? Is that you? PETE!" She ran to me and tackled me, loosing her black bass in the process.
"Meggie... Meggie... Meggie, get off me!" I snapped, struggling to get her off me. When I had, I scrambled up to the top of the coconut tree where she couldn't get me.
"Aaaw," She whined. "Pete come down! I wanna play!" She clapped her hands, an emotion she'd learnt when she'd been into the city. "Come on! Do you have a letter for me? Ooh with a present? I love presents! I just LOVE them! Not as much as I love you!" She batted her eyelids at me. I inwardly groaned. Meggie was just like a more child like, a more obssessed Pelly. I always tried to avoid her when I was on my rounds, but try as I might she always found me. Curse her! "And I do love you, I love you muchly! In fact, I want to date you! Do you want to date me?" She looked up at me hopefully, but then she frowned. "But wait... Margie said she was dating you! Are you dating Margie? Wait a second..." Her frown deepened, "Curt told me you were dating Peanut! He said you'd even taken her flowers and a tuna fish sandwhich! You can't be dating more than one villager at a time! So who are you dating, Pete? Me, Margie or Peanut?" She looked up at me.
"Uh..." I procrastinated, sweating. I wasn't dating any of them! The only person I WANTED to date was Phyllis, but she wasn't interested... And now I think I knew why.
"You're dating ALL of us?" She gasped, jumping to conclusions with a tear in her eye. "You three-timer, Pete! I thought you loved me! I thought you loved me!" Just as she burst into a wail, another human in town, Jhon, who lived in the Blue house, eyed us and looked like he wanted to laugh. I mouthed to him, 'Help me!'.
"Hey, Meggie! What's up?" Jhon asked, swooping to my rescue.
"P... P... Pete cheated on me with Margie AND Peanut!" Meggie wailed, shooting me a hateful look.
"Aw, well that's too bad on him, isn't it." He comforted. "Hey, why don't you and me go and find a tarantula? I know how much you love to see me get bitten by poisonous animals." Meggie burst out laughing suddenly.
"Yay! Tara, Tara Tara!" She giggled. "Can we go see her?"
"Yes, we can go see the tarantula you caught last year that's in the Museam." Jhon chuckled. She ran off, and he nodded to me before following her.
"Thanks Jhon!" I called. Then I went back to the Town Hall, my work done for today. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find, not Pelly, but Phyllis standing behind the desk!
>"Hi Pete," She drawled, "Pelly got fleas from Curt so I have to cover for her while she gets them off."<p>
"H... Hi, Phyllis!" I stammered. She was sooo cute... Her perfume was so exotic... Phyllis...
"Pete?" She raised her eyebrows. "You're blocking the doorway, idiot." I blushed.
"Oh." I nodded, and rushed around the counter to put my satchel there. Then I hurried back to the door.
"Pete?" I turned. "Goodnight." The way she said goodnight was sooo alluring.
"Uh... Night." I turned and almost ran out of the door, before slumping against the Hall. What a perfect ending to a day in the life of Pete.
**A/N: So, what did you think? Was it good? I get kind of unconfident sometimes... I'm working on another one, if I'm able to get enough reviews to motivate me *hint, hint***
**Please review!**
**Comix**
2. Chapter 2
_**A day in the life of...Ressetti**_
**A/N:**** Thanks to the first reviewer of this fanfiction- Crazy-Pairing-Girl, and to the five other people who viewed this during May (and the 9 in April... And the 6 in March... And the 5 in Febuary... And all you other people who looked at this before!) I thank you! Also, to Crazy-Pairing-Girl, I would like to tell her that **_**I**_** am Meggie (though I no longer live in Oz... I change towns **_**a lot**_**...). Anyway, here is Ressetti's day, for everybody's entertainment!**
* * *
><p>I do not sleep. I do not sleep. I never sleep when I am on my shift. I do not sleep. I never sleep. No sleeping Sonny, no slee... sleep... Sleep... It was summer time. Me, my brother Don, his wife Milly, my girlfriend Sapphy and our cousin Vinnie were playing volleyball on the beach. It was calm, and my blood pressure was at an all time low. It felt good... We were on vacation. Thanks to my pure brilliance and talks to the players, there was almost no more ressetting. I could come and go as I pleased- I even hung out with a few villagers in The Roost. Then, the volleyball began to admit a screech. A high pitched, strangling screech that reminded me of the old days, when resseting was an often occurance. I smiled. Those times were long gone.<p>
I woke up.
The whole place was shaking. The orange alert lights were blinking. The siren was sounding. Someone was resseting.
"Oh for cryin' out loud!" I yelled at the heavens, grabbing my pick axe and heading to the tunnels. While I tunneled, I grumbled to myself. "Why me? Why now? Why do you people reset? Siren's goin' off, disruptin' my sleep, my breaks, my showers... Don't you ever rest instead of reset! Now I've got mud all over me, in places I don't even want to speak about when I'm alone!" From what I could tell, I was above the resetter. Right above them. And if my calculations were correct...
"BRONWYN!" I screamed, bursting from the ground up into the sunlight. There stood the messy, smirking young residant of Brynland.
"Yo, wassup Sonny?" She greeted.
"Don't you wassup me! I was nappin', peacful, and then you. Went. And. Resseted!" I poked her with my pick axe. "Do you know how much I hate you ressetters?"
"Very much?"
"VERY MUCH!" I told her. "I despise you all, you're so ungrateful! You think that ressetting can fix all your problems the hard way, don't you!"
"Sure they do!"
"Well, they don't! Did your whites go in with your reds? Did your TV break? Well, TOO BAD!" I thundered. "Do you KNOW what happens when you reset? DO YOU!"
"Sirens go flashing, alarms start wailing and you put your ugly face on hey, how's Don?"
"Don's fine, he and Milly are having their first pup in a couple of weeks... Hey, wait a second!" I narrowed my eyes at her, "Are you trying to change the subject? You are? Well, it didn't work! You still have to find out what happens when you reset! Sirens go flashing and alarms start wailing and I have to tunnel all this way JUST to tell you not to save!"
"Well then, I've learnt my lesson, I'll never reset again, so you can just be on your way..."
"Nuh uh, not this time! You can't say that this time! You say that all the time, I think it's time for you to say something different!"
"What do you me- Oh no..." Bronwyn was white faced. "Meggie told me about this point..."
"I want you to repeat after me!"
"OH NUTS!"
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sooo sorry."
"Not good enough. Try again, with this: You were right."
"I'm not saying that!"
"Not good enough. Try again, with this: Ressetting is wrong."
"Ressetti is wrong."
"Not good enough. Try again, with this: I won't do it again."
"I probably will though."
"Not good enough. Try again, with this: Ressetti is number one."
"Hey Bryn!"
"Pewee!" Bronwyn took a look at me, then ran off.
"BRONWYN! COME BACK HERE! BRONWYN! GET HERE, PUNK!" I screamed at her, thrashing about in my hole. My blood was boiling- I began to feel dizzy. "Deep breaths now... In... Out... In... Out..." I tunnelled back through the tunnels to HeadQuaters, where Don was sat drinking coffee.
"Hey, little brother." He nodded, slurping the java. "How are you?"
"Angry. Maddened. Annoyed. Irritated. Infuriated. Aggravated. Bothered." I grumbled, sitting next to him.
"So, normal then?" He gave a deep throated chuckle. "Really, bro, you gotta learn not to be so angry all the time, go with flow! Who was it this time? Bronwyn?"
"Of course, who else?" I rolled my eyes, "She drives me CRAZY! Always strutting around as if she owns the place, having total disregard for the rules, cheeking me, she just drives... me... MAAAAD!" I yelled to the heavens.
"Woah, calm down there, bro you'll blow an artery!" Don patted my back.
"That's not possible, Don." I replied.
"Of course it is it was on that soap Emmertail last night! Kyle fell in a pitfall seed and got so angry he blew an artery due to his blood pressure." Don laughed. "So be careful! Hey, do you and Sapphy want to come over to ours tonight? Milly's going to be making some lovley food, and it'd be good for us all to hang around again like we used to before Bronwyn moved to Brynland."
"I suppose so," I sighed. What else would I be doing?
"I like you're attitude, Sonny! Keep it up!" Don chuckled. Then, the alarms began to ring again. My eye twitched. "Woah, take it easy. I'll handle this one."
"Thanks, Don." I nodded as he headed to the tunnels. He turned at the last moment, and winked at me.
"That's okay- you should go home, take a break. I bet Sapphy would be very happy to see you." He laughed, and disapeared to who knew where. I sighed, closed my eyes, before heading off home.
* * *
><p>"Sapphy?" I called out, as soon as I got back to the burrow we shared.<p>
"Sonny?" Sapphy appeared from the kitchen they shared, where a lovley smell was already wafting from the oven. "You're home early..."
"I had some free time, so I thought I'd come home to surprise you. Look- I brought you some flowers!" I pulled out some red roses that I had bought on the way home from a side-of-the-road stall, '_Redd's Convieniance Store_'... The roses had been very high priced... "I remembered they were your favourite."
"Oh, Sonny..." She sighed, smiling, taking the roses from me and placing them on the coffee table. "Sit down, we need to talk..."
* * *
><p>I tunnelled through the ground, not knowing or caring where I was, or where I was were running through my mind, and frankly they weren't very elequent. How could she have... How could she do that to me? I loved her- I <em>love<em> her! And she... She left me, just like that. Said I was too obsessed with my work... Too obsessed? She never worked! My job funded food, and all of her expensive shopping habits... I wiped a tear off my face, and headed upwards, towards the surface. I would show her. I would show everyone, I wasn't obsessed with work, not at all... I burst out into the sunlight, and I admit that it hurt my eyes hard, I'd been underground for so long.
"Urk! Ressetti! I didn't reset this time! I promise!" Came a worried voice- worried for the first time I'd ever heard it.
"Bronwyn?" I turned, and sure enough, I had appeared just outside of her house in Brynland. "Oh..."
"You're not here to yell at me?" She now sounded confused, and I almost laughed.
"No... No... Just tunnelling."
"But you're shift isn't over yet!" She gasped, "And I know your shift! What happened?"
"I... I... Sapphy broke up with me!" I told her, and before I knew it I was crying, clear, crystal tears falling down my furry face.
"Aaw... Poor you... Do you want to talk about it?" Bronwyn asked. I shook my head. "Okay." I felt her hand patting me on the back.
"Hey Bryn!"
"Peewee!" Bronwyn replied, and her hand left my back. I shook my head, realising that she would run off with the gorilla again, like she always did... And leave me alone in my misery. "I'm kind of in the middle of something, Peewee, could you... you know?"
"Oh... _Oh_... Yeah, of course, lil' dude." Peewee left. And Bronwyn stayed. My broken heart throbbed a bit.
"Th... Th... Thank you..." I stuttered through my tears.
"For what?" She sounded surprised now. I looked at her.
"For staying. Anybody else would had left with their friend." She giggled.
"I am your friend! At least... I think I am, right?"
"You are the most annoying person on Earth," I replied, "But... Yeah... I guess you're my friend."
"Good." We sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Bronwyn... My brother's holding a small family gathering this evening... I was meant to take Sapphy with me but... you wouldn't mind coming, would you?" I blurted it out before I could proof-read that sentance, and I instantly regretted it- and whatever answer she would reply.
"A dinner? With the Ressetti family?" She sounded sceptical- _oh no_... "Oh man that'd be awesome! So epic! Can I? I bet Don sings really awesome songs, and you play... I don't know, Cluedo or something? Or Scrabble? Oh, can we play Scrabble? Can we?"
"Is... Is that a yes?"
"It's definatley a yes."
... Only the start of the better days in the life of Ressetti.
* * *
><p><strong>AN:**** Bronwyn, from Brynland, is not of my creation. She is my friends character, on the DS. We are both working on a joint story at the moment, **_**Animal Crossing, via Boat**_**, please go read it!
>I'm not sure who I should write about next, so... any ideas?<strong>
**Please review!**
**Comix**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 17,247 | 17,536.1 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Here's Ya Mail
I bent down to pick up an orange. Before eating it, I heard a familiar voice. I turned around to see my little green froggy friend, Puddles, running as fast as her little legs could take her.
_Puff, puff!_
"Shezza! I found someone's diary!"
_Oh boy._
"Should I open it?" she continued.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." I said.
She opened it to a random page and read it aloud. After she finished, she vibrated.
"Um, maybe you-"
She snapped at me. "Oh no! I shouldn't have read that! I'll go dig it back into its place again!" She was sweating terribly.
Puddle is weird at times. But she's still my friend. I checked my pocket for some spare cash. Darn! It's all in the bank! I was hoping to find 100 bells, so I violently shaked a nearby tree to find something else. A bee hive!
"Take care and don't go on shaking trees when you wish" Tom said.
I clutched the white bag of medicine and left the store.
"Come again!"
I walked slowly towards my purple roofed house. _Ugh, what would my friends say with this pirate looking patch on my eye? _I crossed the bridge, watching the fish swim away. I went back home and sat on my new regal sofa. I turned the radio on, it was my favorite K.K song. _His voice is amazing._ I started to drift off to sleep.
Some moments later, I heard an annoyingly loud knock on the door. I opened it and found Bill, my ducky friend, looking at me with his large eyes. They were nothing compared to my small brown eyes.
"Quack!" he chirped, "I'm helping Pelly out, so here's ya mail!"
_Let's see, cra- er, I mean Happy Room Academy's ratings, Mom, Peanut, Yuka, that new guy who moved in last week, and-_ "Hey Bill, why are you helping Pelly? She's got Pete."
"QUACK! I, umm, look; I gotta go give this to Bluthers, so urrr, see ya!"
"Blathers." I corrected him, "Okay, I have to tune my guitar, see ya."
2. KK and Katrina
His cheeks were red.
_Not normal for a duck._
He ran quickly towards Nook's with his little brown bag tugging at him. His webbed feet couldn't handle it so he came down with a crash and his prized possession-his fossil shovel-flew into a nearby bush. He got up and ran faster than before, with his cheeks redder than ever. _Poor him, who wouldn't be embarrassed after that fall? _
I almost shut the door when I found out that his shovel had dropped into a nearby bush. I took a good five minutes looking for it_. With an patch over one eye, it's hard ya know._ I went back inside; I would give back the shovel later.
The house was dead silent. I just sat on my regal sofa (which Yuka yearns for, please, her hints are like Apollo winking every time I pass his house), checking out the new dresses I bought from Able sisters_. So chic. I would definitely kill all the guys here with my club shirt._ I glanced at my pink frilly shirt to find an ugly smudge on it. _Must've been that day on the beach._ _Hmmmm…wait...I'm such an idioten_. "OHMIGOSSHHHH! BILL LIKES PELLY!" _After all those romance films I had borrowed from Phyllis, didn't I learn anything?_ Bill loves Pelly, but Pelly loves Pete, but Pete doesn't love Pelly, Pelly doesn't love Bill, the way Bill doesn't ever want to hear of Pete. I went outside to take a breather. _Too much drama._ I walked over the notice board and 'noticed' a new note.
'**Tomorrow is the annual dance off! The judges will be the Mayor, K.K Slider, Katrina, and Redd.'**
_Omigosh! K.K is gonna be there!_ I decided that I wasn't going to be in it. _Dancing is not my thing._ I headed to the museum; as usual the ol' bird was sleeping so I sneaked past him and went straight for Celeste. I always had a thing for astronomy. Celeste was quietly doing his work so I decided to surprise her.
"Boo!"
"Gaaaah!" her paper work flew around the whole room, "Oh my! I-"
I just made a run for it with an evil smirk on my face. I went to Brewster and ordered a frapp.
"That'll be two-hundred Bells, please"
"Sure, I-" _Oh snap. I forgot to withdraw the money._
How could this be? I was his most punctual customer, not to mention only. He looked away from his cup (which seemed to be being polished for what seems forever).
"You know what? I'll let you off the hook, you are, after all, my best customer"
Score.
"Thanks Brew"
He smiled. _It was a bit freaky, because I was used to of his ever depressing bird face._
I gulped it down hot.
"Hey Brewster man, give me double cups, will ya?"
I turned my stool to see where that voice was coming from. _I was shocked._ It was the one and only K.K Slider. Shocking, yes, but not as shocking to see who was in his paws, Katrina. Yes, that swindling, rip-offing cat (_cat and dog, I know_). Sorry Bill, that shovel was going to wait.
3. note :D
Heya Everyone
>Thanks for reading my story and saying its cute! I just came back after a long time. I right now I'm too busy to complete the story. :S<br>oh and in the Celeste part, I wrote _he_ by mistake ^.^'
>I might complete it next week, so stay tuned.<br>Byee~!
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,013 | 15,218.2 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Jeffery Comes To Town
**When Crazy Comes To Town**
_by The Shredder_
An intro….well, it starts out like any normal Animal Crossing game. You meet Rover, become his friend, he sets you up, etc. Well, this happens to be about a boy named Jeffery, who has just came into town and isn't the most popular. He manages to befriend a laid-back squirrel, Adam, a dark, gothic girl cat, Jade, and a timid, younger wolf boy who always wears a beanie and rarely talks, Eddie. So let's follow Jeffrey into town, shall we?
Note THIS WILL BE CONSTANLTY UPDATED AND ADDED TO! So if you have read this story, make sure to come back daily to check for additions. This will depict Jeffrey's entire life in his new town. It will have some language in it later on, hence the T rating.
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The young boy sighed as he looked out the window, gazing upon the many trees zooming past him. It reminded him of home, when he grew up at his grandparents house with his whole family. He loved it there. They had a big orchard, two houses on one property, and a gorgeous swimming pool, even with a slide. He sighed again as he remembered it was his time to make a change in the world.
The train ride was sure taking awhile. It made him seem like he bought a ticket to nowhere, as if he was going to stay on this vehicle his entire life. The only other movement on the train was a sleeping sow, who looked like she had a bag of turnips beside her.
He was dozing off when he heard the door to the outside shut. He looked up and saw a blue cat, who was looking around, probably for a place to sit. The cat looked at him and smiled, and began walking toward the boy.
"Oh no," the boy thought. "What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do? Mom never told me how to introduce myself to anyone!"
The cat had approached him already. It spoke.
"Umm... Mind if I sit here? It's more fun traveling in pairs, or so they say, right? I promise, I'm not crazy!"
The boy gawked at him. "Oh no, oh NO!" he thought. "Just play it cool, you can do it."
"Please!" he sputtered, almost spraying the cat with saliva.
The cat sat down in front of him.
"Thanks again! It sure is nice meeting friendly folk on the train..."
The boy sighed in relief. Perhaps it wasn't going to be SO bad after all.
The cat looked at him strangely. "You aren't a psycho, right?" The cat gazed at him.
He panicked. "Uh..uh.."
The cat laughed. "Bahaha! Just kidding!"
The boy sighed in relief again.
The cat laughed again. "Sorry bout that, my humor's sort of dry...what's your name, pal?"
"Uh...Jeffery."
The cat made some funny faces, trying to say his name. "Hrmm... Well... Hrmmm... Jeffery... Now THAT is an odd name!"
The cat meowed in laughter as Jeffrey sank ito his chair, embarrassed.
"Not that my opinion means much. I mean, look at me, I'm a cat, and my name's Rover!" He laughed again. That made Jeffery feel a bit better.
Rover noticed Jeffrey sinking in his chair. "Oh, I'm sorry! Did I say it was odd? It's not odd! It's uh..." He stopped, and Jeffery looked at him.
"It's a...really...great name!" Rover finished.
It was official, Jeffery felt bad.
"You know.." Rover started suddenly, "I was behind you in line when you bought your ticket. Now I wasn't eavesdropping, per se...but I think I heard you're going to Darsinae?"
Jeffery nodded slowly. Boy, this guy was weird, but it WAS better then sitting alone.
Rover laughed. "Awesome! Darsinae is one of my favorite vacation spots. Why are you going there, Jeffery?"
"I'm uh...moving..." he said quietly.
"Oh myah?" Rover meowed. You're moving? What fun! Moving's always an adventure!"
Jeffery nodded, but was totally disagreeing with him in his mind. He didn't WANT to leave home. But now he was stuck, facing fate.
"Sayyy..." Rover said slyly. "Do you know where you're going to be living?"
Jeffery sat up quickly! "Oh NO-" He stopped quickly, he didn't want to get Rover suspicious. He hadn't though about a place to live at all! What a dunce!
"Uh..uh...I don't know yet." Jeffery looked away in shame.
"WHAT?!? You haven't decided!?" Rover exclaimed. Jeffery slowly shook his head no.
"Oh man, it looks like we have to find you a place to live!"
"Ah, no, it's ok Rover, I-"
"No no! I insist! It's the least I can do! I DO know a pal of mine that runs a shop up in Darsinae...I'm gonna give him a call! Stay here!"
Rover ran to the back of the train before Jeffery could say anything. Rover took out his cellphone, dialed, and waitied patiently for an answer.
Jeffery looked down at him, and noticed he was talking to someone. He felt bad. It was great he had met this cool guy, but Rover was doing a little much for him. Still, Jeffery couldn't change Rover's mind, so he decided he should accept what Rover was doing for him. Before Jeffery could think any farther, Rover came back with a grin on his face, and it lifted Jeffery's spirits.
"What did he say?" Jeffery asked as Rover sat back down.
"Good news for you! My buddy has houses for sale, dirt-cheap! The work's done on 'em and everything! You have got yourself one heck of a deal, my friend."
"That's great!" Jeffery smiled.
"Yeah, except...uh...you got money, right?" Rover asked him.
Jeffery pulled out a large sack of currency, called Bells. "Sure do," he said.
Rover smiled at him and the big sack of money. "Then you'll be just fine! I remember when-"
TOOOOOOT!! TOOOOOT!
The train began to slow. A squeaky voice shot over the intercom.
"All passenegers headed fro Darsinae, please grab your luggage, we have arrived."
"Looks like we part trails here, buddy," Rover said somewhat sadly.
Jeffery looked at him frowning. "You're not coming, Rover? But-"
"Sorry, pal. I have places to go, people to see...But hey, next time you're on the train, look for me!" He escorted Jeffery off the train quickly.
"Happy trails, buddy!" Rover waved out the window. "Good luck to you!"
"Thank you for everything Rover!" Jeffery waved to him as the train sped off. Rover shouted something, but it was too incoherent to hear.
Jeffrey watched his friend fade off into the distance. He was all alone now, in a strange new town. Jeffery sighed again.
"Back to square one..."
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2. Nook's Deal
Jeffery walked down the steps of the train station, not even wanting to look up. What was the use? He was just going to be an outcast anywa-
"Excuse me! Hey, Hey! You there!" Someone shouted to him, cutting off his thoughts.
Jeffery looked up, only to see a brown blur rushing at him in the distance. Jeffery squinted to get a closer look, but when his vision set in, the blur wasn't stopping.
"Whoa, WHOA! I can't stop! Look out!"
Before Jeffery could act, what appeared to be a large raccoon smashed into him and sent him flying. Jeffery hit the ground hard.
"Bah, stupid, fat body...Excuse me sir!" The raccoon rushed over to Jeffery, who was spraweld in the dirt, and helped him up. "Would your name happen to be Jeffery?"
Dazed, Jeffery nodded slowly, brushing the dirt off of himself.
"Good, Good! Adam! Cue!"
TWEEEEEEEET! A birthday buzzer went off next to Jeremy's ear, startling him. He turned to see a light-blue squirrel blowing it. The squirell didn't seem very happy about his job, his eyes were half-shut as if he was bored.
The raccoon laughed. "Thank you, Adam. Oh, Jeffery, this fine young man is going to be your neighbor. Go on, intoduce yourself." The raccoon scooted the squirrel in front of Jeffery. Jeffery looked at them strangely and warily stuck out his hand. The squirrel just sat there, eyes glazed.
"Adam. Shake his hand," the raccoon urged, showing a hint of annoyance.
Adam wobbled.
"No, no! Shake hands!"
Adam sighed and stuck out his hand, and Jeffery shook it.
The raccoon faked a laugh. "I suppose you'd like to see where you're living now, hm?" he asked. "Well, follow me, this way."
The raccoon led the two down an acre, and into a lot with 4 pitiful looking houses in it, all facing the center towards an old bulletin board.
Jeffery leaned toward Adam and asked him quietly, "Who is this guy?"
The squirrell just looked ahead, and without changing his expression, and said "Dude...I'm just Adam...Okay?"
Jeffery looked forward, offended, and his question unanswered. "Whatever..."
"Now," the raccoon started. "My name is Tom. Er, Tom Nook. I uh, run the shop here in Darsinae. I believe my associate Rover told me that you needed a house?"
"Yes," Jeffery said. "I need a place to stay."
Nook laughed. "Wonderful! Well, I can heartily recommend any of these houses! Take your pick!" Nook waved his hands toward the houses.
Jeffery looked at the sad shacks sitting around him. He grimaced, but this was as good as it was going to get, and he wasn't complaining. He went to the top left hand corner house first, and looked inside. He frowned in discomfort.
The walls were shantily covered in what looked like tin roofing, the floors were squeaky and moldy, there was a beaten old box with a book on top of it in one corner, and a broken down, dusty tape deck in the other. Jeffery hated it, but he still needed a place to stay. So, with all the courage he could muster, he went back outside to Tom Nook and Adam (and fresh air) and said, "I'll take it!"
Nook laughed, and took no time in preparing the paperwork and legal issues for Jeffery to sign. Adam sat back and watched, with that little glazed look in his half shut eyes. Jeffery must've signed 20 sheets of paper before Nook approved.
"Alrighty then, Jeffery, my fine fellow, this house now belongs to you! Adam, will you do the honors?"
Adam sighed and pulled out a piece of paper and blankly read:
"Thank you dear customer for purchasing this fine home! We at Nook's Cranny are pleased to announce this event, and in celebration, we'd like to throw in the furniture for FREE!" Adam didn't try to emphasize the words. "There are responsibilities with this new home, though, and monthly rent will come to 1,250 Bells. We hope you'll visit our corporation again, and-" Adam stopped, looked at the rest of the letter, and quickly said, "Blah blah blah enjoy your new home. Can I go now, Nook?"
Tom Nook sighed and shooed Adam away.
"Okay, Jeffery, to make a long story short, the house comes to...19,800 Bells!"
Jeffery pulled out his sack of money and gave it to the raccoon. Nook looked through the contents of the bag. "Yes..that would be...NOT NEARLY ENOUGH!" he exclaimed in shock. "You can't buy a house with this kind of money! That's insane! Ludicrous!"
Jeffery was shocked. "What?!" Jeffery SWORE his mom had packed him more money! He must've lost it somehow...unless...
"Rover!" Jeffery cursed under his breath. That must've been why Rover scooted him off the train so fast. He sighed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Nook...I'll just go now.." Jeffery picked up his luggage and began to walk off.
Nook sadly looked down at the sack of money in his hands, and back to Jeffery. Nook sighed.
"Don't trot off now..." Nook called. "You can stay in the house. BUT, you must pay it off within a timely manner! If you do not, I will have you evicted."
Jeffery turned around. "What..? Really?"
"Uh...yes?"
Jeffery jumped in joy. "WOO HOO!" He stopped his celebrating when he realized something. "But how am I going to pay it off?" Jeffery stated. "I don't have a job!"
Nook thought for a moment. After a bit he clapped his hands together and smiled. "You can work for me, part time at my shop. Yes, that will work!" Nook smiled again. "That way you can have a place to stay, and you can work off your mortgage!" Nook laughed. "You should get some sleep though, it's awfully late for work now," Nook finished. Jeffery looked up at the sky to see the sun disappearing behind the horizon. He hadn't realized how dark it had gotten so fast.
"So will I be be able to count on you to be at my shop by 9 a.m.?" Nook said, raising an eyebrow.
Jeffery nodded. "Yes, sir!"
Nook smiled and patted his head. "Off I go. See you tomorrow, dear employee!" He chuckled at his joke as he walked off.
Jeffery stood outside for a moment, and then turned to look at his "home." He sighed and went inside.
No bed, no covers, no dignity. Jeffery laid down on the cold, gross floor and tried to get comfortable. He looked up at the ceiling, and thought about the day. His train ride, his first friend, who turned out to be a con, meeting these weird animals, and now his ugly new home.
"How could it get any worse..." he muttered.
He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later a piece of the ceiling fell on his face.
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3. Jobs, Snobs, Sobs, and Doorknobs
**Brzzt**. _"I'm walk-"_ **Crrk.** _"on sunshi-"_ **Prkft.**
The old tape deck sprung to life suddenly, startling Jeffery. He opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry and his eyes were crusty. It must've been morning. Jeffery yawned. He got up slowly, and stumbled over to the tape deck, and tried to turn it off. He pressed all the buttons, and even unplugged it, but it continued to make an annoying crackle, and in the end, Jeffery kicked it, and the tape deck split into a few pieces. Jeffery wearily dragged himself to the door, and went outside.
It was a nice morning. It was cool, the birds were singing, and Jeffery swore he could hear the sound of a river. He stretched and yawned again, and decided he would take his first look around town. He went left an acre, and found a nicely sized house sitting by the bank of the river. Curiously, he peeked around the corner of the house to see if the occupant was outside. He was just turning the corner when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Jeffery jumped and turned around, only to find Adam.
"Um..morning!" Jeffery said qucikly.
Adam just gave him his glazed look. "What are you doing peeking around my house?" He said quietly.
Jeffery shifted his eyes from left to right. "Uh..Just seeing..what's up?"
Adam said nothing for awhile. Jeffery stared at him nervously. Adam spoke slowly.
"Okay," he said. "You can like, come in, if you want.."
Jeffery sighed in relief and followed Adam inside. Jeffery looked around inside the house. Surprisinlgy, it was neat and well-kept. Almost every item in the room was black and blue or black white in a checkered pattern, even the floor. Jeffery had seen this type of furniture before, it was the Modern set.
"Welcome to mi casa," Adam said blankly. "Make yourself at home. You want a...I dunno, soda or something?"
Jeffery sat down on a small couch and nodded. Adam sighed and opened an ice chest and pulled out two small colas. He handed one to Jeffery and sat down across from him.
"Uh..nice house," Jeffery said, trying to not be awkward.
Adam simply opened his cola and downed it quickly. He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache, but then he replied.
"Thanks," he said. "Grew it myself."
Jeffery laughed.
Adam coughed. "You can stay all day, but I'm not going to serve you lunch, I'm kinda low on food."
Jeffery stopped laughing. "Wait. Lunch? What time is it?"
"Uhh...11:30?"
Jeffery was already out the door, his soda can flying into Adam's hands.
Adam looked at the soda, and drank it all at once.
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Jeffery huffed and puffed, sprinting as fast as he could. "How could I forget?" He shouted at himself as he zoomed past his house. "I'm dead when Nook sees me!"
Jeffery quickly ran an acre above his house and looked at the bulletin board in front of the train station. The map said "Nook's Cranny, Acre A-4."
Jeffery looked to his right, and saw the little store. He ran to it, and without notice, exploded into the aisles. He fell over from trying to stop so fast, and succeeded in knocking down a stand of chips. The curious Tom Nook looked over him.
"Jeffery?" he asked.
Jeffery mumbled. "Sadly," he said. He picked the chip stand off of him up and put it back into place.
Nook lowered his eyebrows. "You're late," he said. "I was wondering if you were going to show."
Jeffery looked down at the floor, shamed.
Surprsingly, Nook laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "When I had my first job, I was late the first day too."
Jeffery forced a smile.
Nook finished laughing and handed Jeffery a few bags of flowers and some small saplings. "Now," he started. "The area around my shop is dull, not charming at all. I'd like you to plant these flowers and trees around it, hmm? Be tasteful, I won't be the one that gets laughed at when folks from other towns see your work. Ho ho, no," he finished.
Jeffery looked at the task he had to do in his hands, and frowned. Planting flowers was girl stuff!
"Scoot now, I'll have more work when you're done."
Jeffery sighed underneath his breath and stepped outside. He looked around for a place to plant. He looked over to the side of the shop, which was pretty bare. He set down his bags and began to dig holes. He opened the first bag of flowers, and planted some seeds.
"This isn't too bad," he thought. "At least I'm getting paid."
"Hey, freakshow!"
Jeffery turned around only to see the back of his eyelids again as a rotten, mushy apple hit him square in the temple. He fell over, clutching his head. He heard laughter, and looked up through dazed eyes to see three hoodlums laughing hysterically.
"Whatcha doin' there, weirdo? Plantin' flowers for your boyfriend Tom?" Jeffery looked up to see it was a wolf towering over him with a snarl on his face. Jeffery scooted backwards in fear.
"Aw, look at him run, Wolfgang! I think you hurt his feelings," another mocked. Jeffery looked around the wolf to see a devious-looking penguin laughing at him.
"Quiet, Hopper! He's my meat." Wolfgang lowered to eye level with Jeffery. "We don't appreciate losers around here, meatbag! If you're going be planting flowers like this all the time, I'd guess I'd better rough you up now and teach you a lesson, eh?"
Jeffery looked up in fear and stuttered incoherently.
"Whassa matter? Cat got your tongue?" Hopper shot.
Wolfgang and Hopper laughed. The other one, who was standing behind them, did not. The other one watched as Wolfgang kicked dirt at Jeffery and Hopper ripped up his bags of flowers. Then they both left, howling with laughter. The other one looked over to see Jeffery curled up, sniffling. He walked over to him.
Jeffery noticed through his wet eyes another wolf trotting up to him. The wolf looked young, and wore a gray beanie. As he got closer, Jeffery said, "Go away."
The wolf said nothing, except kneel beside him by the pile of flower seeds. Jeffery looked through the corner of his eyes to see the wolf plant all the flowers evenly and gracefully. Jeffery turned in amazement, and the wolf looked at him.
"Brother is a jerk," the wolf said quietly. "He make fun of everyone."
Jeffery wiped his nose. "That guy is your brother?"
"Yes. He was Mom's favorite." the wolf patted down the dirt where he planted the flowers and helped Jeffery up.
Jeffery sniffled. "Thanks," he said. "What's your name?"
"Eddie." the wolf replied.
Jeffery nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you."
"EDDIE!" shouted Wolfgang from afar. "Come on! Get away before you catch the loser disease!"
Eddie looked at Jeffey. "You go back to work now."
Jeffery nodded, and watched as Eddie scampered off. He stood outside for a moment and wiped the dirt off himself and went back inside. He found Tom Nook dozing behind the counter.
"Uh...sir?"
Nook snored a bubble out of his nose, and when it popped, he awoke, startled.
"Huh?" He looked around. "Oh. Jeffery. Right. Did you plant the flowers?"
Jeffery nodded. He didn't tell Nook about what went on outside, he was afraid Nook would tattle.
The raccoon stretched. "Alright," he muttered, and reached inside his counter to pull out a grayish-green shirt. "This is your uniform. Change quickly, alright?" Nook yawned.
Jeffery nodded and replaced his shirt qucikly. He looked down on his uniform, which had a neat looking insignia of a leaf on it.
"Okay. Well, your next job is going to be to deliver this carpet to fellow named Goose, okay? He lives in Acre C-3. Get to it," Nook said.
Jeffery picked up the carpet with some effort. "Yes, sir," he said on the way out.
Jeffery stumbled out of the store. The carpet was awfully heavy. All he hoped for is that he didn't see Wolfgang or Hopper on the way there. So, to play it safe, he passed by his house and went down an acre. There was another house by the river here, and as Jeffery struggled to look around the carpet, he could've swore he heard clanking. He trudged to the front door and knocked, and he heard the clanking again, only it was one BIG clank, and a painful yell followed it. He heard cursing from inside, and the front door flew open. "WHADDYA WANT?!" the owner yelled.
Jeffery's eyes were wide in shock. "Um...are you Goose?" he asked nervously.
The chicken frowned. "Yes."
"Uh...carpet delivery from Tom Nook." Jeffery gave him the carpet.
Goose looked at the carpet. "Oh wow! It's my new edition ranch flooring! Ha! This makes everything better! Thank you. What's your name? You look new."
"My name's Jeffery."
"Just move to town?" Goose asked. Jeffery nodded.
Goose chuckled. "Well thank you for delivering my carpet. Sorry for snapping at you earlier, I dropped weights on my foot...Here, take my old carpet as an apology. I've seen Nook's houses, you should use this."
Jeffery was handed yet another carpet. "Uh..thank you!" He said as he walked off.
"No problem!" Goose shouted to him.
Jeffery wasn't going to lug this around all day. He was going to go lay it out now. He stopped by his house, and threw out the carpet. It was decent, much better then his old flooring. It had a few stains on it, but it was still a carpet. Jeffery smiled in approval and hurried back to Tom Nook's shop.
When he arrived, Tom was sweeping his floor. "Jeffery! You're back."
Jeffery nodded. "Goose wasa nice guy. He gave me a carpet."
Nook laughed and swept. "All the animals are fairly generous around here. None of your work goes much unrewarded. Speaking of which, your little chores have earned you about 600 Bells off of your mortgage. But, the next thing I want you to to do is write a letter...you know, personal advertising," Nook continued. "I want you to send it to my valued customer Jade, who lives in Acre C-1, I believe? Just tell her a sale's going on, you know..." Nook rambled. "When you're done writing it, give it to the post office. Acre A-1. Here's some stationery and a pen."
Jeffery nodded and took the items. He went to the far corner of the store, sat down, and began to write. He wrote:
Hello, Jade
My name is Jeffery, and I just moved to town. I work
for Tom Nook, and he would like to announce that
he is having a special sale going on in a few days and
he would like you to come!
We hope to see you soon,
Jeffery
Jeffery smiled and sealed his envelope. He was confident about this letter. It felt like he was saying all the right things. He got up out of the corner and went to deliver the letter.
He was walking past the train station when he heard a cry. He looked around nervously, wondering if it was Wolfgang and Hopper out to get him again. He waited a moment, then continued walking, looking behind his back ever few seconds, feeling like a crackhead. He was an acre away from the post office, when something rustled in a tree next to him. He yelled in surprise and backed up slowly. He looked at the tree closely, and it rustled again. Jeffery didn't want to be a wimp. So, he put a mean look on his face and marched up to the tree.
"Is anyone there?" he whispered.
"Get down!" said the tree.
Jeffery looked up, mouth agape. He did what he was told. From where he was hiding, he could hear voices...and it sounded like Wolfgang and Hopper! He listened closely.
"You're little brother is so gullible," said Hopper, snickering.
"I know," Wolfgang told him. I can't believe he actually believed us when we said there were Bells growing in that bee hive."
Jeffery listened more intently. What had they done to Eddie?
"Oh well," Wolfgang said. "Let's go to your house. I'm hungry."
Jeffery listened to Wolfgang and Hopper walk away. He stood up when the coast was clear, and, completely forgetting about the talking tree, he turned around and saw Adam hanging form it's branches.
"Adam? What are you doing up there?"
Adam pointed to a branch next to him, where Eddie was sitting and crying, holding his badly stung hands together.
Jeffery looked up at him, saddened. "What did they do to you, Eddie?"
Eddie sniffled a bit. "Brother told me Bells grew in bee-hives, and I wanted to get Brother his favorite snack, because he said he was hungry. But bees were in bee-hive, not Bells, and now Brother won't like me anymore because I didn't get him his favorite snack!" Eddie began to sob.
Jeffery frowned sadly. "Here, buddy." He held his arms up to help Eddie down.
"He's going to stay with me tonight," Adam said. "Wolfgang is too mean to him."
Jeffery nodded.
"Can Jeffery come too?" Eddie asked, his eyes gleaming with tears.
Adam looked around. "Sure.." he said quietly.
Jeffery nodded again. "I'll have to finish work first, then I'll be over," he said. "Thanks for taking care of him, Adam."
Adam nodded. "I usually do."
"I'll catch up with you guys later," Jeffery said as he ran off to mail the letter. Adam and Eddie waved and walked towards Adam's house.
Jeffery walked into the post office, and gave the nice pelican lady at the desk his letter. Then he trotted off to Nook's as quickly as he could.
When he walked back into the store, Nook was tapping his foot. "Took you long enough," he snapped. "I'll have to dock you a bit, but not much." Nook rang up a few numbers on his cash register. "You get that letter mailed safe?"
Jeffery nodded.
"'Kay. Well, your next task is to deliver this fine cabana bed, hm? Deliver it to Hopper, who lives in Acre D-2."
Jeffery froze.
"...Jeffery?" Nook waved at him.
Jeffery looked at him, his eyes wide. "Y-Y-Yes, sir..." he said quietly.
Nook looked at him strangely. "Here's the bed." Nook handed him a leaf.
"Uh, sir, this is a leaf," Jeffery stated.
Nook laughed. "Whoa ho ho! No, that is indeed the bed. Watch, drop the leaf on the ground."
Jeffery gave him a strange look, and let the leaf fall. Slowly, slowly, slowly it fell, and when it hit the ground, POOF! Instant cabana bed.
Jeffery gazed at it in amazement. "What?! How?!" he stammered.
Nook was about dying from laughter. "It's a raccoon trade secret, boy! Now pick it up and deliver it!" Nook couldn't stop laughing.
The bed looked heavy. But when Jeffery pulled it, it turned back into a leaf, and fit snug in his pocket. Jeffery just shook his head as he left the store and Nook, who was still laughing hysterically.
Jeffery gulped. He was afraid. Both Wolfgang and Hopper were at Hopper's house now, probably devising some twisted trick to play on Jeffery! Goose waved to Jeffery as Jeffery went down the hill into the lower acres, but Jeffery kept his head low, as if he was next in the gallows. Jeffery prayed to every god he could as he approached the doorstep. It seemed like it took years for him to knock. When he did, he felt like each little tap was like a thousand bombs going off at once. He winced, thinking of the punishment that would surely be dealt to him.
"Can I help you, chump?" Hopper asked him.
Jeffery gasped, he didn't notice Hopper had opened the door.
"Uh, uh, uh, I uh, have a um...cabana bed for you from um...Tom Nook?" Jeffery held out the leaf quickly. Hopper looked down at it.
"I didn't order a bed," he said. "Nook's smoking something."
Jeffery was going to die from the suspense. "But-but-but it says here.." Jeffery weakly pointed to the delivery address.
"Just keep it, I don't want it."
After saying that, Hopper closed the door. Jeffery stood there, his eyes about rolled to the back of his head in astonishment. He wasn't dead! Or even seriously injured! AND he had gotten a free bed! He jumped in joy and ran back to his house to drop off his bed. Things were DEFINITELY looking better.
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Jeffery about skipped the rest of the way to Nook's store. He was cheery as he walked in, and even greeted Nook with a "Hello, good sir!" Nook just gave him a look and handed him what appeared to be a wrapped axe.
"Now BE CAREFUL with this," Nook told him. "I need you to deliver that to Jade, and you already know where she lives, hm? This is going to be your last job, so make it worth it."
Jeffery held the axe in his hands, and nodded. He left the store and headed for Acre C-1.
The walk to Jade's was different. The trees began losing color, and the ground seemed darker. The wildlife even seemed darker, as a crow flew overhead. As Jeffery stood in front of Jade's house, he had a strange sense of...bad. The dead trees around Jade's house seemed to reach for Jeffery as he rang the skull-shaped doorbell. There was silence for awhile, and then the door slowly opened.
A black cat with huge, dark yellow eyes in a nightgown answered. "May I help you?" she said lowly as Jeffery was overcome with the smell of incense.
"Uh, delivery from Tom Nook," he said as he handed her the wrapped axe. She unwrapped it, and smiled. "I've been waiting for this for awhile," she said. "Please, come in. It's always good meeting new faces."
Jade led Jeffery through the door. Her house was very dark, and most everything in the room was either black or red. There were chains and fake skulls and drawings laying about, and most oddly, a circle of doorknobs in the middle of the room. Jade slipped ahead of him and turned around, a smile on her face as she looked at him. Jeffery just looked down, strangely. "Did you..." she started, as she pulled a note out of her pocket, "Send me this letter, by chance?" She held it up in front of Jeffery's face. Yep, it was his.
Jeffery nodded. "Yeah, why?"
Jade shook her head. "Just sweet of you. Normally Nook harasses me with stupid deals like this because I shop there alot, but his letters were nothing but numbers and fake excitement." She smiled. "So it was nice to have some actual emotion in a letter for once."
Jeffery showed a weak smile. "If you don't mind me asking, um...what's with the doorknobs?"
Jade looked behind. "Oh. Those. Come here, watch."
She skipped over to the circle of doorknobs and sat in the middle. Jeffery sat down outside of the circle, and watched her as she picked up a doorknob, and opened it.
"I carve out doorknobs and put things in them, see?" She held out the doorknob she had just opened, which was full of little charms.
"Whoa...That's neat!" Jeffery said quietly.
Jade smiled. "Just a hobby."
Jeffery smiled and got up. "I have to get back to work," he said, "But hey, I'll see you around."
"Okay!" Jade got up and hugged him. "Nice meeting you."
Jeffery shut the door on his way out and ran all the way back to Nook's.
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Jeffery was out of breath as he walked back in the store. Nook greeted him with a hearty handshake.
"Congratulations, dear employee! You have now finished all the work I hadn't gotten around to lately!" Nook smiled and danced. Jeffery watched him and asked, "What about my mortgage?"
Nook stopped dancing. "Well, you still have to pay ALL of it off, that's how it works, my boy. But the chores you did today brought you down to about...17,800 Bells left to pay. Finding money will be your problem now. But 1,000 bells a week is good with me. Otherwise, I'll send for the raccoon goons!" Nook laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"
Jeffery took off his uniform and put his regular shirt back on. Nook told him to keep he uniform as a "memoir."
It had gotten late quick. It was about dusk when Jeffery reached Adam's house.
He walked in to see Adam deep into gameplay on a SNES system, and Eddie watching him gleefully as he held his hands in a bag of ice.
"Hey fellas, I'm done with work."
"Get the hammer, come on, come on...DOH! Stupid barrell!" Adam cursed at his game.
Jeffery grabbed a soda from the ice chest and sat down next to them.
"Hi Jeffery," Eddie said without looking at him.
"Hey Eddie, hey Adam."
Adam grunted as he continued to play. Jeffery sat back on the couch comfortably and popped open his soda. As he drank, he felt...at home.
4. It's Too Weird To Be
_"Uhn...Hello?...Hey!! I'm surprised you called me this late. What's the occasion, sweetie? I've missed you, you know...Yeah...Yeah I know her, she's my best friend down there...Huh?...You WHAT?! But...I thought...Don't hang up on me!"_
Eddie was asleep soundly, and Adam was snug in his bed, a collection of empty soda cans around him. The night was almost over, in that dark state just before dawn. Jeffery lay slumped on the floor, sleepless. _Too much soda,_ he thought, remembering nights back at home when his mother would gripe at him for staying up so lat, watching zombie movies and eating all of the snakcs and such. It had been a pretty fun night, with all the snacks and video games, and the occasional times one of them would pass out and they would draw and mess with each other. Jeffery thought about going home, even at the early hour before him. He slowly sat up, soda cans and crumbs falling off of him. He got up, onlt to sit down quickly on the couch where Eddie was sleeping. He would get head rushes from time to time whenever he would get up after sitting or laying for long periods of time. The blood would rush to his head, his eyesight would go blurry and he would get dizzy and usually fall down. He shook it off the best he could, and noticing the blankets on the ground, he tucked Eddie back in.
He squinted his eyes as he stepped out into the fading dark world, the river quietly running ahead of him. He shut the door quietly, trying not to disturb anyone. The world looked peaceful, shimmering in the dim sunlight that was just peeking over the edge of the horizon. It made Jeffery smile. It was too nice of a morning to be sleeping. He walked down to the river and looked in the brisk water into his own reflection. He knelt down and splashed some water on his face to wake him up (and to wash it, considering the food stains on the corner of his mouth).
He walked on the bank of the river, listening to the clear water flow soothingly. He followed it downstream aways past Jade's house. The water began to move faster, and Jeffery almost walked upon (and off) the waterfall that connected the river down to the lower acres.
"Whoaa." Jeffery looked at the beautiful sight before him. The water shot off the cliff in a magnificent manner, gleaming in the newborn sunlight.
He sat down next to the edge of the waterfall, leaning on his hands. He smiled brightly upon the day dawning before him. Until he heard...sniffling?
Jeffery looked around. "Hello?"
The sniffling continued, coming from his right. Jeffery got up to investigate. He followed the sniffling to a tree, and knowing the last incident with a tree, he looked up, and found a crying Jade.
"Jade?" asked Jeffery, slightly worried. "What are you doing up so early?"
She sniffled. "Why do you have a chip bag on your head?"
Jeffery felt his head. Indeed, there was an empty chip bag caught on his hat. He shoved it in his pocket and shifted his expression. "Well, why are you in a tree?"
She wiped her nose. "So..I can watch the sunrise..." her voice trailed off.
"Why are you crying?"
"...Allergies..."
Jeffery wasn't convinced. "Come on Jade, you know that was the lamest excuse ever."
She surpressed a light giggle. Jeffery was right. "Come up here and I'll tell you."
Jeffery climbed up the trunk of the tree with some effort, and sat on a branch acorss from her. There WAS a nice view from up here.
Jade twirled her paws. "Well, I got a call from my boyfriend this morning, and apparently he had been at a party, which he never told me about..."
Jeffery nodded slowly. "And?"
Jade held her face in her hands. "He got drunk...and he was messing around, getting stupid... and he slept with my best friend!" She burst into tears.
Jeffery looked at her sadly. She was sobbing hard, the tears leaking from her paws. He shifted over to her branch and sat next to her.
"It's okay," Jeffery started, not knowing completely what to say. "That guy's a jerk. If he respected your relationship with him he should'nt have done that."
Jade lifted her head slightly, but the tears still ran. Jeffery patted her on the back.
"You don't deserve a guy like that, Jade," he said to her.
Jade nodded and closed her eyes in heartfelt pain. "You're right," she said, the tears streaming. "He shouldn't have treated me that way. I don't need Rover."
Was he hearing things? Jeffery looked at her, shocked. "Rover?" he asked.
She nodded slowly. "I don't think you know him."
Now Jeffery was mad. First, Rover had stolen his money, and now he had broken Jade's heart! Boy, if he ever got his hands on him again...
"I know him," Jeffery said quietly, hiding his agitations.
Jade leaned on Jeffery suddenly, which startled him. "Thank you for talking to me," she muttered, looking ahead at the sunrise.
Jeffery looked down at her and noticed her tears had stopped, and she was smiling.. Jeffery patted her on the back again, and it turned into a hug.
"You're welcome."
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"Ugh...morning."
Adam stared up at his ceiling from his bed. He despised mornings, especially the ones after a party. He moaned.
Smoke drifted into eyesight, and the smell of breakfast danced on his snout.
Adam sat up, startled to see Jeffery and Eddie happily cooking. Adam sighed and flopped back down on his bed.
"What are you doing with my poor, defenseless kitchen?" he asked without much emotion.
Eddie spoke first. "Hungry! Here yours, Adam!"
Eddie passed Adam a steaming plate of eggs, bacon, and acorn pancakes. Adam looked down at his breakfast, and began to eat it slowly.
"You're awfully cheery," Adam told Jeffery with a mouthful of pancakes.
Jeffery turned off the stove and picked up his plate. He plopped on the couch and began to eat. "Yep," he said. "I feel like a million Bells!" He ate of forkful of eggs happily.
"Uh, why? It's like... morning..." Adam said sleepily.
"Jeffery be good friends with girl!" Eddie exclaimed, dropping his bacon.
Adam laughed a bit, spewing a bit of fod on his blanket. "Jeffery's got a lady-friend, huh?"
"I do not!" Jeffery denied. "She's just a friend."
Eddie poked him. "That not what I saw! Jade lean on you like she means business."
Jeffery glared at him.
"You and JADE?" Adam said, his plate of food already gone. "I thought she had a boyfriend."
"He cheated on her," Jeffery told him. "He was messing around with some girls at a party...And she's not my girlfriend! That'd be weird, animals and humans don't mix."
Adam dropped his plate in the sink. "What's that supposed to mean?" he joked.
Jeffery growled and finished eating.
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Jeffery left after awhile. Adam and Eddie had to go restock Adam's house; they had pretty much eaten everything.
Jeffery walked into his house. Nothing had changed, just a dank room with little furniture. He plopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, and began to think.
Jade's just my friend. I don't have any sort of relationship with her like that, and I never will. Come on, a human and a cat, as a couple? No way. But I don't have to worry. She'd never think of me as more than a friend. I'm a totally lame guy, I can't even stick up for myself. There's nothing to like about me. Averagely lame Jeffery. That's me, and I'll never change. She was just happy that I cheered her up, is all...
Jeffery sighed and rolled over, the lack of sleep getting to him.
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I updated it some. Look!
Sorry for the short chapter, everyone. I've been under stress lately with my family, so I apologize for its lateness.
Uh, thank you everyone that reviewed me! I appreciate it.
About Jade and Jeffery, I don't think it will get TOO personal. An animal and human couple WOULD be weird. But hey, it's the world of FanFiction, anything can happen.
5. Serious Changes
**Personally, I thought this chapter was horrible, so I made some HUMONGOUS updates. Take a look. D**
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**Brzzt.** _"Why can't w-"_** Crrk.** _"be frien--"_** Prkft.**
**DING DONG!**
"Znn..Huh?" Jeffery rolled over and looked at the door, as if his mind was trying to answer it. His eyes opened widely quickly, and he sprang up to answer the door. He tripped and fell, and succeeded to hit his head on the floor. He groaned, got up, and anwered the door.
He opened it, his eyes glazed with weariness. And to his surprise,
"Jade? Uh..."
Jade smiled up at him. "Hi Jeffery!" she said cheerily. "How are you this...uh...afternoon?" She smiled weakly at that.
Jeffery looked behind him quickly. "Pretty good, um, sleeping...Why'd you drop by?"
She shook her head. "No reason. Just wanted to drop by."
Jeffery looked at her like he did this morning. "Alright, whatever you say...um...come on in."
Jeffery cleared the way and let Jade in. Jade looked above her, her hands held behind her back. Jeffery was slightly embarrassed because of the condition of his house, but mostly, it was the first time he had ever had a girl (besides family) in even the same room as him. He shut the door, and Jade walked over to his bed and plopped down on it. She smiled at the bounciness. Jeffery slowly made his way over to the bed, completely unsure of what to say.
"Uh, um...What's...up?" He stuttered.
Jade looked at him funny. "...Nothing...?" she replied, bouncing a bit less.
Jeffery had a quick mental battle. _Come on, doofus! It's just a GIRL. Talk to her, unless you WANT her to think you're a total dweeb! Pretend she's one of the guys. She won't bite._
"I hope," he mutterred.
"Huh?"
"Nothing! I uh...burped a little." _Doh!_ He slapped his head.
Jade giggled. "Weirdo."
Jeffery lowered his head. _Way to go, slick!_
Jade bounced up and off the bed. "Hey, I have some spare Bells...Why don't we head on down to Nook's and buy some stuff for your..er...house!"
Jeffery looked up. "Nah, that's okay, you don't have to do that, You keep your Bells and I'll-"
"Come on!" Jade had already grabbed his arm and led him out the door.
The door shut behind Jeffery as he stumbled out of Jade's grip and on to the concrete.
"Oopsie!" Jade put her hands up to her mouth.
Jeffery closed one eye and rubbed his head, and looked to the left to see Wolfgang and Hopper laughing at him from afar. Jeffery frowned and got back up, dusting himself off. Jade shook her head and smiled. "You're too clumsy. Come on." She skipped ahead of him playfully towards the store. Jeffery jogged to keep up with her.
Jade was thinking out loud. "We could get you a nice Blue set...and maybe a few bonsais, or maybe a Cabin set with an asteroid..."
Jeffery stopped her. "How about we just look for something that looks good?"
Jade shot him a look. "That's what I'm trying to do!"
Jeffery looked forward, and decided not to get in the middle of a girl's thoughts anymore.
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Jade gabbed on for awhile, and soon enough they walked into Nook's store. They were greeted instantly.
"Jeffery! And valued-customer Jade! How are the both of you this fine day?" Nook exclaimed.
Jeffery was about to speak, but Jade put her hand over his mouth and spoke first. "We're looking for some things to...spice up Jeffery's house with."
Nook looked at them for a second, and then scooted over to his shelves, which held many an item. Nook raised a few leaves up. "How about a nice cube clock? Or maybe a fabulous watering trough? Or this _extravagant-_"
"Have any refridgerators?" Jeffery asked.
Nook paused for a moment, and scrounged through some things. He pulled out another leaf. "Here it is! The Moderator Kitchenator Refidgerator! Only...800 Bells!"
Jeffery's jaw dropped. "I don't think-"
"I'll TAKE IT!" Jade shot.
Jeffery stuttered. "But I-"
Jade put a finger on his lip. "You'll thank me." She smiled.
Jeffery sighed again. "How about an end table...and a lamp?"
"And a way to the checkout lane?"
Jeffery looked next to him to see Adam and Eddie, arms full of groceries. Jeffery stepped to the side quickly and let them through. Nook helped them quickly, and then returned to Jade and Jeffery with a big carnie-smile on his face.
Jeffery thought. "Wallpaper?"
"Ranch wallpaper... 1,256 Bells."
"Ring it up," Jade said.
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The two walked out of the store, Jeffery's pockets bursting with furniture.
"I can't thank you enough, Jade...You're seriously helping me out here," Jeffery told her.
Jade waved to Adam and Eddie, who were passing by. "It's no problem," she said. "You need it, anyway. You wouldn't be happy without-"
"You?"
"Hm?"
_Crap! Uh..Uh.._"You...and your awesome interior decorating skills?" Jeffery faked a smile.
Jade blushed. "Aww, how sweet!"
Jeffery breathed out in relief.
Jade opened Jeffery's front door (which Jeffery was relieved to see so quickly). "Let's get started, then!" Jade told him. She grabbed his hand and dragged him inside, much like she had dragged him outside earlier. Jeffery tripped over his doorstep, and when he hit the ground, a leaf fell out of his pocket in front of him. Jeffery looked up, dazed, and when he tried to get up, he manged to hit his head on the underside of the end table that had just popped up. "Yowch!" He fell on the ground again, and Jade laughed at him.
"Nice one, smartypants!"
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Interior decorating was alot harder than Jeffery thought it was. Putting furniture in the right place, making sure everything matched, making the wallpaper even...Mom made it look so easy, and Jeffery thought of home again...
Jade brushed her hands together. "Well! We did an awfully good job. Welocme to your new house, Jeffery!"
Jeffery took a look around. He had matching Ranch wallpaper and flooring, a stove, microwave, counters, a sink, a stocked refridgerator, a couch, a small television set, a bookcase with a few books and CD's, a lounge chair with an armoire, an end table with a lamp...Jeffery felt his heart lift. He felt accomplished. And it was all thanks to...
"Jade?"
"Yeah hun?"
"Thank you."
She smiled at him and hugged him. "I'm telling you, it's no problem."
"Can I repay you?"
Jade thought. "Hmm...Sure. Come with me."
She led Jeffery out of the house (this time careful not to trip) and towards her house.
"Where are we going?" Jeffery asked, Jade skipping ahead of him.
"Nowhere special. Just where I go to cool off, usually..."
Jeffery nodded. He had a new feeling inside of him, a feeling that wasn't afraid, or shy. He felt he had a new-found confidence, and it felt really good. He smiled as he thought to himself. He should've hung out with a girl years ago.
They walked by the edge of the cliff, only to hear whistling noises form below. Jeffery looked down to see Wolfgang and Hopper mocking him with arm gestures and puffing their chests up to look manly. Jeffery sighed and walked on.
It was sorta silent for a few acres. The surroundings were beginning to get darker, and soon all of the house were out of sight. Jeffery looked above him to see the forest had grown slightly thicker, and as they walked along, it became more and more secluded. It was peaceful, really.
"Hey Jeffery?" Jade asked, tugging on him.
"Yeah?"
"Why were Wolfgang on Hopper laughing?"
Jeffery looked ahead blankly. "Because they have nothing else better to do."
Jade sighed. "I'm being serious.
"I am too. I never said a word to them before, and the first time they saw me they pegged me with apples."
Jade shook her head. She began to walk ahead of him, towards a lone tree sitting in the middle of a green clearing.
"They were just picking on me, Jade..."
She plopped down, and crossed her arms. "They're still jerks. And I know Adam and Eddie are saying stuff too."
Jeffery shook his head. "No..."
"Don't lie to me, Jeffery..."
Jeffery sighed, and Jade spoke. "What did they say?"
Jeffery sat down next to her, his mouth scrunched up. "They thought...that we..."
"Yes?"
Jeffery sighed again. "they thought that we were...you know..." He pointed his fingers together. "A couple..."
Jade sunk her head in her knees. "Why...They..." she sniffled.
"They didn't mean anything," he told her. "Guys are guys...we're not all that great." Jeffery forced a smile at his lame joke.
Surprisingly, Jade giggled. "You got that right." She lifted her head and nudged his arm.
Jeffery laughed a little and poked her. "Don't be mean."
Jade _pff_ed. "I'm only telling the truth," she said. "You're not all you're cracked up to be, ya know..." she giggled.
"Well you know what?" Jeffery told her.
"What?"
Jeffery tickled her.
Jade laughed and squirmed. "Ahh! Quit it!" she squealed.
Jeffery laughed and continued. "Not until you take it back!"
"Never!" she said and rolled away from him.
Jeffery tried to tickle her as she got up, but he only fell on his chest, laughing. "You're gonna eat your words!"
He scrambled to his feet quickly and chased her. She avoided him easily, and practically ran circles around him. She ran behind the tree, giggling. Jeffery was stuck on the other side, and every time he tried to go to one side, she'd pop out of the other and evade him. "Can't catch me!" she yelled to him as she scampered into the forest.
"Aw Jade!" Jeffery yelled to her. "Don't cheat!"
She shouted something incoherent. Jeffery sighed and jogged after her.
He ran into the thick bushes and tripped immediately. He spat the leaves and dirt out of his mouth and continued to look for her.
"Jaaa-aade!" He called. "Come on!"
There was a giggle from one of the bushes. Jeffery looked around, to see that there were a circle of bushes around him. He smirked.
"You're in one of them," he said. "Aha!"
He dove into one of the bushes to find...thorns. He yelped and jumped back out, some of the thorns scratching him and making him bleed. "Ouch..."
He thought quickly. "Okay! you win! I give up! I'm going home." Jeffery turned around and began to walk away, and hearing the bushes rustle, he suddenly turned around, and standing there, surprised, was Jade. Jeffery poked her.
"Gotcha!"
She backed away from him, acting dramatic. "Oh, woe is me! The dreaded one has cornered me! But, how?" She threw her hand on her forehead.
Jeffery was surpressing laughs and responded. "It is because I am your-WHOA!!" He tripped suddenly, stumbled forward, and found himself on the ground, pressed against Jade.
Both of them widened their eyes and looked at each other. Jeffery quickly rolled off of her, and in a quick maneuver looked the opposite way and coughed.
"Uh...sorry about that," Jeffery mumbled.
Jade smiled, unseen. "It's okay..."
Jeffery shook off the awkwardness and sat with his back on a nearby tree. Jade skipped over to him, and sat by his side. She looked at him, smiling. Jeffery was looking down at the grass, obviously embarrassed. Jade poked his side.
"Don't worry about it," she giggled. "It was jsut an accident."
Jeffery smiled a bit. "I know, it's just.."
"Just what?"
Jeffery wrapped his arms around his knees. "The guys..." he muttered quietly.
Jade frowned and sighed. "It's not like the're watching us."
"Well, supposedly Eddie saw us this morning, in the tree..." Jeffery started. "He must've taken it the wrong way, he's young, after all..."
Jade looked at him, her golden eyes shining. "What are you embarrassed about then?"
Jeffery sighed and leaned back against the tree. "They...I...they picked on me..."
Jade looked at him still. "They were just kidding...at least that's what you told me earlier.." Jade said. "Don't worry about them, they're just..."
They both sighed. Jade suddenly leaned her head on Jeffery, and Jeffery got nervous again.
"I'm still glad that you talked to me this morning...you made me feel alot better..." Jade's voice became soft.
Jeffery's eyes looked in a different direction. "I'm glad you helped me too...I can actually LIVE now..."
Jade closed her eyes, smiling, and shook her head. "Jeffery..."
They felt the cool grass sliding underneath their fingers, as both of their hands came together.
Jade scooted closer to Jeffery, her head still leaned on his shoulder. Jeffery, the butterflies in his stomach practically throwing up, leaned his head on hers.
Jade smiled, and softly began to sing.
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"HOLY BUTT-MONKEYS!"
"Shut up! Don't let them hear you, feather-brain!"
Wolfgang and Hopper backed away from the bushes they were hiding in, both of them snickering.
"I can't believe that doofus got her to like him!" Hopper laughed quietly.
Wolfgang was sitting on the ground, holding back tears of laughter. He couldn't speak, and when he did, he sputtered saliva everywhere.
"I ah..hoo, oh boy..Bahaha! Hoo hoo...ah." Wolfgang got up, still holding in laughter. "We have to make sure everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knows about this, got it?" he demanded. "We can't let this chump's puppy love go unannounced!"
Hopper nodded. "This is going to be great!"
They both snuck off, Hopper accidentaly tripping on a root, Jeffery and Jade still completely unaware.
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Jade stopped singing. "Did you hear something?"
Jeffery's eyes were locked ahead, amazed. Her singing was wonderful. Her soothing voice almost rocked him to sleep.
"Huh? Oh..no."
Jade got up, still holding Jeffery's hand. Jeffery got up with her. She looked up at him, smiling. Jeffery yawned.
"Take me home," she told him, hugging his side.
Jeffery nodded, and they walked out of the forest, past the clearing, and back to her house.
Her hand was soft in his(and not just because of the fur). He looked at her through the corner of his eye, to see her looking down, a blush on her face. Jeffery looked ahead, smiling a little himself.
They walked up to her dark doorstep after a few minutes, and Jade stepped ahead of him and turned around.
"Thank you, Jeffery. I had fun today."
Jeffery nodded. "Me too."
Jade smiled and nodded.
"Well um...I guess I'll see you tomorrow..then?" Jeffery said nervously.
Jade hugged him. "Okay, sounds good."
Jeffery hugged her back, and, still holding him, she leaned back and kissed him on the cheek.
"Bye," she said, letting go of him and walking into her doorway, closing the door quietly. "Put on some band-aids!" He could hear from outside.
Jeffery stood there, woozy. "Buh..bye..."
She closed the door, and Jeffery turned towards home, his eyes wide.
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He went to take his first step and fell flat on his face.
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"EWW! How dare you, Shredder, to do such things with fictional characters!"
I know that's what you're all thinking. And you have a point, it IS kind of weird.
But hey, I don't really care. I'm trying to progress the story some, and I honestly think this will have great affect on it later on in the future!
But thank you for reading, anyone! Please tell me how you liked it.
-The Shredder
6. How To Have A Bad Day
**_Sorry about the HUGE wait, everyone, I've had three other inspirations that led me astray from my beloved first fic._**
**_Enjoy!_**
-
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**Brzzt**._ "There's no-"_ **Crrk.** _"one like you-"_ **Prkft.**
**_-_**
Jeffery had struggled to pick himself up the previous night, due to his visit with Jade. His feelings made him numb, and all sorts of emotions swirled through his body and mind. She had kissed him, plain and simple. The new feelings he felt were extravagant-and terrifying.
"Ugh...Why do you have to do that?"
He looked at the tape deck, which died a few seconds later.
Jeffery flopped back down on his bed, his head dizzy. He yawned.
Trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach, he sat himself up and stretched. He pulled out a change of clothes and a towel from his new drawer and headed down to the river, where he tried to be sly about stripping down to his undies and jumping into the brisk water. He washed up quickly, and after drying himself off and changing, walked back up to his house.
"I SAID shut your trap!"
Wolfgang's voice could be heard up the hill, towards Jeffery's house. Jeffery jumped, startled. He scrambled up the hill and peeked around a tree to see what kind of trouble the tenacious duo were causing now.
"Whatever, Mr. Jealous," Hopper shot at Wolfgang, shaking a colored can. "Not my fault you can't control your raging hormones," Hopper mocked, laughing.
Wolfgang's eye twitched and he threw his paws around Hopper's throat.
"YOU STUPID FEATHERHEAD! Why I oughta-" Hopper's gags drowned out Wolfgang's threats.
"Bah. Useless." Wolfgang threw Hopper down onto the concrete. "Just shuddap and help me already."
Hopper growled and picked up the can, shaking it again.
Jeffery looked at them worriedly. What were they trying to pull?
"This'll teach the little jerk..." Wolfgang muttered and pulled out a can of his own. With a quick shake, Wolfgang sprayed pink paint all over Jeffery's door.
Jeffery gasped. "Hey!!! Eep!"
Jeffery threw his hands over his mouth. What was he supposed to do? Run up to them and tell them to stop? Tell them it's the wrong thing and get his butt kicked yet again?
"Now!!"
There were whizzing sounds above Jeffery's head as three slingshots appeared from the branches above. Three big rocks pelted Wolfgang suddenly, all of them hitting the side of his snout.
"YEEEEOWCH!!!!! What the???"
"Again! Attack!"
Jeffery looked up to see Adam, Eddie, and Goose angrily shooting rocks at Wolfgang and Hopper.
"OW! What are you- Stop it! ARGH!"
The whole scene lasted about 10 seconds. Adam and Goose continued to pelt the retreating Wolfgang and Hopper with more rocks, while Eddie stayed behind to talk to Jeffery.
Confused, Jeffery asked what was going on.
"Big Brother and Hopper spraypaint on everyone's house," Eddie explained, pointing out pink doors all around the neighborhood.
Goose and Adam leapt out of the tree they were attacking from. "Supposedly ol' Wolfie's mad about somethin'," Goose told Jeffery.
"But why would he do this to everyone?" Jeffery asked.
"If one person makes him mad, he blames it on everybody," Adam said. "Natural wolf nature, if you ask me."
Jeffery looked down. "Well why is he mad? Anyone know?"
Eddie hopped up and down a few times. "Ooh, ooh, uh...I think something 'bout...girl?"
Jeffery, thinking quickly for once, pulled out his map Tom Nook had given him, and he studied it quickly. "Hmm...says here there are only 2 girls in town. Jade and some other girl..." There was a drink stain on the map where the other girl's name was.
"Oh, uh...whatsername..." Goose stuttered.
"Hmm," Adam thought. "I know she went on a trip somewhere. I guess everyone forgot about her."
"So that must mean he's mad about Jade," Goose said. "But we all know she hates his guts. So why...?"
Jeffery quickly buried his red face in his map.
"What do you think, Jeffery?" Adam asked.
"Ack! Uh..."
Jeffery was definitely caught with his pants down this time. He didn't want to tell anyone what happened yesterday! He'd rather chop his arm off.
"Uh..I..uh, have no idea um..."
"I see Jeffery walk with Jade!" Eddie blurted out, making Jeffery jump.
"I don't understand though," Goose concocted, scratching his chin feathers. "If Jeffery was walking with Jade, why would that give Wolfgang any reason to be mad? I mean I take walks with all of my pals every now and then and not once has some angry wolf boy complained about it."
Everyone, except Jeffery of course, was into deep thought.
"W-W-Well uh, I sure have NO idea," Jeffery stated, out of breath. "Jade and I were just um...discussing my new er...interior..decorating." He finished off the sentence quietly.
Adam shrugged. "As long as he isn't terrorizing us for some dumb personal problem, I'm alright." He stretched his arms behind the back of his head.
"I reckon we better get to followin' him," Goose told Adam and Eddie, holstering his slingshot. "It'd be best not to let those two wreak some more havoc."
Goose and Adam began to walk towards the D-acres, strategizing some clever plan. Eddie trailed, looking at Jeffery. "Jeffery be okay?"
Jeffery smiled, and patted Eddie's head. "Uh, yeah. I'll be fine."
Eddie readjusted his brown beanie and walked off. "We take care of Brother!" he called, waving back. Jeffery waved back, smiling weakly. As soon as they were out of sight, he scrambled for his house. He slammed the door, locked it, and started to bite his fingernails nervously.
_Oh NO! They're on to me..._Jeffery thought. _Soon they'll find out I'M the reason Wolfgang is mad! But wait...if Wolfgang is mad, he's probably jealous...and if I made someone jealous, then that means..._
"I'm significant!" Jeffery jumped happily.
-
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-
Jeffery had almost completely forgotten he had work today, and Nook wasn't too pleased. The raccoon suspected something when Jeffery ran in the door half-naked and covered in dirt. So, Jeffery had twice as many deliveries today.
Jeffery snorted on the way out of the shop, his arms bursting with deliveries. Nook had agreed to let Jeffery use the store's transportation (a rugged bicycle) for today. He hopped on, dropping most of the deliveries right off the bat, but eventually set off.
He pedaled through the bright forest path, the wind wrapping around him elegantly like the warm embrace of a soft tortilla from a cheap taco stand on a hot summer day. It sort of cheered him up, and before he knew it, Jeffery had a smile on his face. It felt good to let loose and just enjoy the sunshine of the day. The cool air, the wonderful scenes and smells, the rugged vibrations, and the pain from the sharp rocks digging into Jeffery's chest.
Wait, what?
Jeffery groaned, lifting his face up from the dirt. He had drove the bike through a hole in the path and now the deliveries were scattered everywhere. The bike lay in a scrambled mess in the grass just off the path.
"Aww...Shucks."
Jeffery dusted himself off quickly and gathered all the parcels together. He remembered why he couldn't enjoy days like this. He had to watch himself more closely.
He sighed and counted the parcels. "Let's see, 1, 2, 3...8...okay, that should be..wait a sec..."
He was missing one important item. Where could it be?
He looked at the ground. Grass, dirt, bugs...nothing brightly colored or fancily wrapped. Jeffery tried to retrace his tracks, walking backwards to where he crashed. Upon further inspection-
"Ah-Ha!"
A bright orange gift was sitting alone on the bank of the creek. Jeffery, feeling like he had just solved a mystery, went to go pick it up. But his luck rang in again and he tripped right over it, faliing into the brisk water. The chill of the water shocked him, and he cursed incoherently, bubbles shooting out of his mouth. He rose to the surface, and crawled up onto the shore. He sputtered, and then searched for the gift.
_Oh no! It was just here a second ago!_
Jeffery looked around frantically to spot the orange gift drifting downstream. Jeffery fell to his knees, shaking his fists and cursing the heavens, and then dove in after it.
The water was especially cold today, and the current was swift. The orange parcel seemed to get smaller and smaller every time Jeffery thought he was getting closer.
_Gah! Stop...moving! _Jeffery thought as he sawn donwstream.
The parcel then disappeared from sight. At first Jeffery thought it had sunk, but then he realized the truth a little bit too late.
"WHOAAA!" The roar of the falls drowned out Jeffery's cries as the stream threw him over.
-
-
The train was buckling along at a slow pace, rocking Rover to sleep. He was almost snoozing when the conductor announced something over the speakers.
"And to the right is the lovely Darsinae Forest, where you can now see the town idiot careening over the edge of that magnificent waterfall! Look at that rainbow, folks!"
Rover snapped to attention and pressed his snout to the window. He could see a small figure garbed in a yellow paw shirt tumbling over the edge of the falls, screaming its little heart out.
"Jeffery?"
-
-
Jeffery practically witnessed himself fly out from the stream.
_Don't look down, don't look down..._
Jeffery looked down. The water below him was just a great white mist.
"Oh NO!!!"
Jeffery flapped his arms in a daring attempt to save himself, but the waterfall overcame him, and he plummeted to the water below.
Time seemed to stop. Even while screaming and flapping his arms wildly, he noticed everything around him kind of slow down. The waterfall seemed to make a face and laugh at him, mocking his stupidity.
Life came back at him hard a few moments later.
Jeffery landed square on his back, the stinging reaching him instantly. He moaned and groaned and groped at his back in pain. Millions of white-hot knives seemed to dig into him all at once. He twisted around in the water, just hoping it would stop the stinging.
Jeffery thrashed up on shore a few moments later, his back still on fire. He cringed and moaned, and after a few more painstaking moments, the pain began to erode. Jeffery layed back on the cool sand, sighing in relief.
"Whoa there, whippersnapper!"
Jeffery opened his eyes to see an extremely aged turtle wag his cane at him.
"Er, I'm Jeffery...sir," Jeffery added.
The turtle eyed him warily, the bags under his eyes crinkling every which way. "Can I ask ya a question, sonny?"
"Yes...?"
"Are ya stupid?"
Jeffery scratched his head. "I uh, um..."
"It takes one heck of an idiot to jump off them falls, boy. Why'd ya do it? You coulda got yerself kilt!"
Jeffery looked up at the falls, and then remembered why he had fallen off them in the first place.
"Oh no! Uh, sorry sir, I gotta-"
"Now wait just a dern minute! I wasn't finished talkin' to ya." The turtle wove his cane at him.
Jeffery started jogging off. "I can't talk! I gotta work!"
"I reckon you wouldn't git very far without this!" The turtle shouted at him.
Jeffery spun on his heel and found the old coot was holding the orange gift. Jeffery ran back to him.
"Now that's what I thought," the turtle chuckled. "Now whatcha need this perdy thing fer, sonny?"
"I need to deliver that to someone! Like right now! So if you could just uh, hand it over..." Jeffery reached for the gift.
The turtle held it away from him. "Oh, yer workin' for Nook, are yeh? Well, I'll let ya go-"
_'Bout time! _Jeffery thought.
"If ya answer me a question first."
Jeffery groaned angrily. "Fine, fine, what is it?"
The turtle cleared his throat. "Er-hem, now, who do you respect the most? Yer mama, daddy, grandma or granddad?"
Jeffery let his mouth hinge off his jaw. Here he was, getting interrogated by some old bag when he really needed to get that gift back. Quickly, Jeffery though up a random answer.
"Uh, grandpa, I don't know...Can I have my gift back now?"
The turtle sighed, but was smiling happily. "Good ta know some of the youth out there ain't spoiled. Here ya go sonny." The turtle tossed him the gift, and Jeffery caught it(surprisingly).
Without further ado, Jeffery took off. He rounded the hill that went up to the forest path, and rushed to make his way back to the bike and other gifts. A few minutes later, Jeffery panted to his previous location. He gathered up all of the gifts lying on the ground, and went to go stuff them on the bike. But there was something wrong.
The old bike was beyond repair, various pieces of it scattered about. The tires were flat, the spokes were broken, and the seat was nowhere to be found.
Jeffery dropped to his knees, dropping all the gifts to the ground. He was shocked, speechless. There was no hope of him finishing his work on time. Nook was going to fire him, and then he'd have no way to pay his house off, and then...
"I'd be homeless," Jeffery said quietly.
He sniffled a little bit, and then started to gather up the gifts again. He then made his way down the hill, to a gift recipient's house.
---
---
The sun had began to sink low in the sky, filling the town of Darsinae with a mellow gold. Sunlight filled Jeffery's back with shame as he moped into Nook's acre.
The raccoon was sweeping the front walk when Jeffery walked up. Nook dropped his broom, and gazed at Jeffery.
"Jeffery?" Nook questioned.
"..Yes sir?"
"Where have you been?"
"Making the deliveries."
"What took you so long? And where is the bike?"
Jeffery sighed and then began his story. He explained how he was driving along when he crashed and one of the gifts fell into the river, and how he chased after it and fel down the waterfall. Nook's face remained emotionless as Jeffery spoke. Jeffery then acted out his run-in with the old turtle, and how he held him up. Then he told Nook when he went back to the bike and it layed there, destroyed.
"So I had to make all of the deliviries on foot. I'm really sorry sir. Please forgive me."
Nook didn't seem mad at all, actually. "So you got to meet the mayor, eh?" Nook chuckled. "You did tell him 'grandpa' when he asked you the quesion, right?"
Amazed, Jeffery nodded. Nook laughed.
"Well it's a good thing you did! Otherwise you would've been there ALL day and you'd have some REAL explaining to do! Ho ho ho!"
Jeffery's shoulders were relieved of a great weight and a smile crept on his face. Nook wasn't mad!
Nook laughed off the rest of the giggles and patted Jeffery on the back. "At least you got the job done. Don't worry about the bicycle, I was meaning to throw it out anyway."
Jeffery nodded, and waved to his employer as he walked home. "Thanks Mr. Nook! See you tomorrow!"
Nook waved back. "Ah, just take the day off, boy!"
Jeffery smiled and trodded home. "Awesome!"
-
-
The sun was just peeking over the edge of the horizon, skimming the last of its daylight over the open blue waves. Jeffery could see a few townsfolk walking along the shore.
The cobblestone rattled under Jeffery's feet as he walked into his acre. He walked up to his house, and opened up the door. It sure was satisying to Jeffery to finish off the day with a nice house to come to. That made him think of Jade a little bit, which brought up the whole Wolfgang dilemma. Jeffery decided to save it for another day, and he went to shut the door behind him. Except the door didn't stay closed, and on his front walk a familiar blue feline stood, looking in.
"...Rover?"
* * *
-
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**_It's been so long since I updated this last, I'm glad I fianlly got around to it. Sorry about the long wait, I really hoped you liked this chapter._**
**_R&R, let me know how I'm doing!_**
**_-Much thanks,_**
**_-SOTR_**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 73,114 | 13,254.9 |
null | Animal Crossing Welcome to Bob Town: Mitch and Mal's Adventures
Welcome to Bob Town: Mitch and Mal's Adventures
Disclaimer: We own nothing but our characters. Happy, Mr. Guy in the black coat...awwww, forget it. We don't own Animal Crossing.
***
Crickets chirp. Crickets chirp. Rover is annoying Mal and MJ. ..Cricket still chirp.
Rover: And so then I said, "I know I am, but what are you?" What are your names again?
MJ: -_- I hate you.
Mal: *Too involved with her CD Player, singing high and out of tune* YOOOOOODA! YO-YO-YO-YO-
MJ: SHUT UP!
Mal: Yes master.
MJ: ....
Mal: ...I am Edward Scissorhands.
MJ: -_-
Rover: ...Am I being ignored? And why do you wear those stupid hats?
MJ: Naw, ya think? And we wear the hats cuz...uhh...
Rover: Uhhhhh....
Mal: Experiencing technical difficulties, please hold. *snazzy on hold music starts up*
MJ and Rover: ...o.o
Mal: *continues on hold music, a spark suddenly shoots from skull* OVERLOAD *explodes*
MJ: ...I'm scared. *curls up into fetal position* And to think, I'm eighteen, too.
Rover: What's your name?
MJ: *creepy horror music begins playing* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rover: o__o
Mal: *reforms* What'd I miss?
MJ: ...
Rover: Hi! ^-^
Mal: *takes out Israel Eagle* You might wanna shut up now.
***
*While, Mal and MJ are being annoyed by Rover....Mitch is in Bob Town*
Mitch: You know what...Today is a boring day
Silver: *Not paying attention, looking at a rock* ooh...What is this pretty thing
Mitch: I am just wondering why Hawk, Tony, and Frank ran off somewhere
Silver: *Stares at the rock...drools*
Mitch: Is it so much to ask to have some fun are this boring place...are you listening?
Silver: *Drooling* Purty...rock....
Mitch: uh...*Backs away slowly*
Silver: ....What were you saying Mitch? Mitch? HELLO!?!?!?!?!
Nook: *Appears* HELLO!!!
Silver: *Jumps ten feet high* AHHHHH!
Nook: I would like to bug you...since it is national bug Silver day
Silver: That is a national holiday?
Nook: In Bob Town it is
Silver: NOOOOOO! *Runs*
Nook: COME BACK! *Chases*
***Dun Dun Dun***
Rover: ....o.o Eep.
Mal: :)
Rover: I surrender. *holds up hands*
Mal: *pockets Israel Eagle* Good. *takes out CD player and pops in Werd Al CD*
MJ: Oh, god...
Mal: *begins singing Genius In France*
***
Narrator: Four minutes later....
Mal: I'm dumber than a box of hair! But those frenchies dun seem to care! G-
MJ: SHUT UP!!!
Mal: Yes master. *puts CD Player away*
MJ: :) Neeheeheeheeheehee. *SNORT*
Mal: *silence*
Rover: ...*blinks* Where are you going?
MJ: ...o_o Uhh.
Rover: Bob Town? Wonderful!
MJ: NO! NO!
Rover: How nice! I know two people who live there, Mitch and Silver! ^-^ They're nice.
~Flashback~
Mitch: SHUT UP!
Rover: What's your-
Mitch: I SAID SHUT UP!
Rover: ...Name? *cower*
~End Flashback~
Rover: o_____o Oh yeah, they're real nice.
Porter: BOB TOWN! I REPEAT, THE HICK BOB TOWN!
MJ: ...I'm outta here. *runs off the train, regardless of where he's going*
Mal: Wait, master! *pusues*
***
*Back in Bob Town*
Mitch: ooh...The train is coming in
Silver: MITCH! HELP ME! *Runs past Mitch*
Nook: *Chases Silver with an Axe* I MUST SHOW YOU SOMETHING SILVER! *Foaming at the mouth*
*Two people walk out of the train*
MJ: This is the place...Bob Town
Nook: *Stops* ...people...IT'S PEOPLE! MANY PEOPLE!
MJ: O_O
Mal: O_O
Nook: MUST GIVE THEM CHEAP CRAPPY OVER PRICED HOUSE!
Silver: At least he is not chasing me
Nook: AFTER I CHASE SILVER!
Silver: Eep! *Runs*
Nook: GET BACK HERE! *Chases*
Mitch: Uh...Welcome to Bob Town?
*In another location...somewhere.....*
Silver: phew...I lost him
Nook: NO YOU DIDN'T!
Silver: It's the caps curse
Nook: YEAH, WHY AM I IN CAPS?!?!?!
Dragon Slayer: I find it funny and rather....funny
Nook: YOU MAKE NO SENSE!
Effects guy: ...At least somebody agrees with me
Dragon Slayer: Get back to the story
Nook: TAKE THE CAPS OFF! NOW!
Dragon Slayer: Your wish is my command
Nook: thank you...but now i must chase
Silver: Now he is in all lower case
Nook: this is not fair...now i can't be all big caps and stuff *cries*
Dragon Slayer: Fine, back to normal
Silver: NOOOOOOOOOO! *runs*
Nook: Phew...Now where did he go?
Effects guy and Dragon Slayer: *Points in the direction*
Nook: Ahh...*Pulls out his axe* MUWAHAHAHAHA *Runs*
Effects guy: O_O
Dragon Slayer: O_O
A chicken named Bob: O_O
Effects guy: Who are you?
A chicken named Bob: I don't know...*Walks away*
Effects guy: I hate my job
***
MJ: That must be Silver. *watches Nook pursue Silver*
Mal: I CALL THIS HOU-
Tony: Woah, woah, woah, my house, No touchie.
Mal: Aw man. ¬_¬ *runs away*
MJ: COME BACK, SLAVE! *pursues*
***
Hello, it's me again. Yes...the person at the end of Bob Town 3 ...who is not the author. ...ehem Anyway, this chapter is good...but not that good. Mal has an excuse: 'I have writers block.' What kind of excuse it that? Imagine, a person with big power...like...like Ronald McDonald saying something like that. 'I have clowns block' Or something along those lines. I think they could have done better. But I liked it anyway, it's a good start. again...I am not the author. _ I liked the part, about the pie. The cherry pie. Not to be Pieist or anything, but CHERRY PIE SUCKS!
(Pieist...I made that up...heh) (I'm so clever) Wait...That was not in the chapter? Where the hell am I? ...well, it was a good chapter anyway. *runs away*
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 5,920 | 49,733.7 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Before the story stuff
Disclaimer: I don't own Animal Crossing. Nope. I don't. =3
_Like I said; here's the summary..._
_A new animal moves into town; her name is Bella and everyone thinks she's perfect. Bella is smart, nice, and very pretty. She makes friends with the animals and weeds her way into their lives. Then she spreads rumors about them and turns the town against each other. Only one citizen knows what Bella is up to; but she has a dark secret and hasn't talked in eight years. Will she finally speak to save the town? Or will she let the town parish? (Parish as in everybody moves away)_
**Looks can be Deceiving**
What you need to know about this story...
**Town:** Ponte
**Fruit:** Pears
**Humans:**
**Michael** – A paranoid neat freak that loves to fish.
**Joni **– A tomboy that loves to catch bugs.
**David **– A cool and calm boy that loves to sit around and do nothing.
**Stephanie** – A hyper pretty girl that seems to always be on a sugar rush.
**Animals:**
**Bella **the horse: A new animal to Ponte, she's smart, gorgeous, and very nice.
**Yuka** the squirrel: She's quiet and usually keeps to herself, but sometimes you can get a word out of her.
**Anne** the duck: A duck with an attitude, she likes to insult animals for fun.
**Ben** the coyote: He's very 'cool', and all of the girl animals love him.
**Sara** the koala: All around a nice animal to be with.
**Alfonso** the alligator: He's Italian and wants to sell you something. : P
**Rio** the peacock: She's self-obsessed and doesn't like loud noises.
**Aurora **the penguin: She's friends with Sara, and much like her.
**Chuck **the bull: Very grumpy; he doesn't like visitors.
**Cleo** the mouse: She hasn't talked in 8 years because of her secret.
_So that's the people and animals, and I will soon update so you can get the real story._ =D
2. Ponte Town told by Ben
Disclaimer: It might come as a surprise to you, but I still don't own Animal Crossing. Nope. Still don't.
**Ponte Town told by Ben**
I'm Ben the coyote. Yep. And I keep it real. Yep. I'm really cool, and everybody loves me. Yep. **(A/N: The whole story isn't like this, it's just the personality of the animal that's telling the story from his/her point of view. The animal or person changes every chapter.)** Our town like totally rocks. Yep. I don't use long sentences. Nope. Ok, so our town is wonderful, dude. And we all appreciate it. I like to just chill under a tree while all the girls obsess over me. Life is good. Very sweet. Yep. Nobody can burst our bubble dude, our town's got it all. Ponte means bridge in Italian, and since Alfonso discovered our town (and he's Italian) he named it Ponte Town. There are over 16 bridges here. Yep.
We have a humongous-ly radical lake that divides into four rivers and streams. We like, uh, swim in the lake. Yep. Its fun. We have it super here, its totally awesome. I'm never going to move. Ooh, I hear the train, and I heard that there's a new _girl_ coming into town. Totally. I hope she likes me. Well, what's not to like? Well that's it for me. Yep. Peace!
That's my first chapter, hope you liked it, please R&R, I'm going to continue even if you do insult it...so there. Yep. Lol.
3. The New Girl told by Rio
_Disclaimer: Once again, this might come as a surprise to you, but I still don't own Animal Crossing._
**Looks Can Be Deceiving: Chapter Three**
The New Girl, Told by Rio
Great, just great. Pff. Just great. This so called 'perfect' new girl arrived just a few minutes ago, and already kicked me out of my place as the town's gorgeous, sweet, and all around wonderful animal. Her name is Bella, she's a horse, but I don't see what's so special about her. Even Chuck-who hates new people-is swooning over her. Pah. I feel so unloved. All the guys usually come to my house now to marvel at my beauty. I bet they're with that stupid Bella. Crap! I just broke a nail. What else can go wrong today?
Somebody is at the door, I _guess _I should go answer it. Oh, well isn't this just wonderful, its little miss idiot herself. I bet she's come to apologize for her wrongdoings.
_Later_
The little git! She's a stubborn mule, that's what she is! The gall! The ignorance! Arghy! This is basically how our conversation went...
**Me:** So, what do you want you fruit cake?
**Bella:** Excuse me?
**Me:** Yeah, you heard me, fruit cake!
**Bella:** What is the meaning of this?
**Me:** You know perfectly well what the meaning of this is.
**Bella:** No, I don't, because if I knew, I wouldn't have asked you that question.
**Me:** Oh, well, then, uh, the meaning is that you have stolen all of my admirers.
**Bella:** Admirers? Why would anyone do such a silly act like that?
**Me:** Oh you're gunna get it ble-otch!
Then it ended up in a cat fight, even though we both aren't cats.
That freak is so, so, sooooo, arghy! She makes me mad. I haven't, don't, and will not take kindly to strangers, especially ones to impede on my beauty.
_Later_
Another visitor, except this one is welcome (until later). It was Anne, my best friend; faithful (sometimes) nice (mostly) stupid (always) but ya know, you gotta love her. So anyway, our very interesting conversation went something like this...
**Anne:** Hullo
**Me:** Hi
**Anne:** Nice weather eh?
**Me:** Oh quit the short talk crap, why did you come here?
**Anne:** Just wondering this here town. He he he he, I like sound'n like one of dem countreah folk. Yeeehaw!
**Me:**........Ok............
**Anne:** Naw, I'm just kidding, I changed my voice to hick last week.
**Me:** Oh yeah, that scared me, don't do that again.
**Anne:** The really real reason I came here is to discuss the new girl Bella.
**Me:** Continue...
**Anne:** So like she is sooooo totally cool, like you know what I'm saying right? You've met her right? I know you have, she visited everyone. And the best thing is...drum role please...she likes pie! She _LOVES_ pie!!! Yeah for pie!
**Me:** Ugh...
At that point Anne was doing a happy/can-can/disco/monkey dance, so I slammed the door on her. Hee hee hee, serves her well. Well that's it for me; I'm going to wallow in self-pity.
Sorry I couldn't update soon, with school, hurricanes, and birthday parties, I just can't get any time. Wallow is a word it means to walk around without purpose and much emotion. Note: when I said monkey dance I forgot to copyright monkeys; monkeys are Anthony's. So there. Lol. XD
4. My New Best Friend told by Sara
_Disclaimer: Now brace yourself, as it may come as a shock to you, because I still don't own Animal Crossing. I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but its true. I'm so sorry to break your heart. Rotfl. I'm a little bit sarcastic if you haven't noticed. There I go again. Tee hee._
**Looks Can Be Deceiving: Chapter Four**
My New Best Friend told by Sara
Wowzers. Bella is really nice; she's funny and helpful too. Also generous. Very generous. We just had one conversation together, and I know we are going to be best friends...
**Bella:** Hi there.
**Me:** Uh...hi, I don't think I've met you yet, leafy. **(A/N: At the end of Sara's sentences she says leafy.)**
**Bella:** Yeah, I just moved here, hey, do you think you could help me with these boxes, rice? **(A/N: At the end of Bella's sentences, she says rice.)**
**Me:** Sure, what do you want me to get, leafy?
**Bella:** Just those shirts, please. Oh, and you can keep one or two if you want, rice.
**Me:** Oh, no thanks, I don't want to impose, leafy.
**Bella:** No, not at all, in fact, you can have the whole box, I've got five more cases of shirts, rice.
**Me:** Really? That's awfully kind of you, leafy...
**Bella:** Naw, its nuthin...say, do you want to come in and have tea 'n crumpets with me, rice?
**Me:** Sorry, but I can't, I'm watching my weight, after the Christmas Party, I've gained a few pounds, leafy...
**Bella:** Ok, but I'll give you a rain check on that, ok, rice?
**Me:** Uh, ok I guess, leafy.
And then Bella ran into her house, she's kinda odd, but oh well, she's my next-door neighbor, and I have to get along with her.
I was talking to Aurora a little bit later and since I was complimenting Bella, she thought I was _gay_. Goodness! I can't believe she thought that. Everybody in this town knows that I'm dating David. Even though he's a human, he's still really cute. Tee hee. And I know that David knows that everybody in this here town knows that we love each other. And I just confused myself for the thirty-seventh time this week.
_Later_
I was feeling bored so I decided to pop in some tunes and just 'chill'. My faves are K.K. Calypso and K.K. Cruise'n. Well when the music started playing, I felt a sudden urge to dance. So I did. I danced on top of my watermelon table (I was doing the can-can), and I think Aurora saw me. Dun, dun, dun...Oh well that's her problem.
* * *
As you noticed, Sara is not in fact gay, but has mental problems that should be taken care of soon.
I know, I know, this chapter is terrible, but I didn't have much time and sorry for such a short chapter, I promise I'll make the next one really long. And chapter five is much better. Please review, you read the chapter and you are already here, so please review!!!!! Grazie! (I'm learning Italian because 1. I'm Italian and 2. I'm speshul) Note: One of my best friends (her name is Rachel too) and I are really special (we are gifted, lol) and since we are special, we have to spell special a special way, so we spell special speshul. And I used the word special eight times (including the one that I just said). Enough with that, just review this stinking story already!!!! Oo
5. Revenge and Rice told by Bella
Buongiorno peoples! : D Buongiorno is Italian for hello. And I didn't tell you in the last chapter, but grazie is thank you in Italian.
_Disclaimer: Do you really think anyone from Nintendo who has rights to Animal Crossing would be writing a fan fiction? I rest my case._
_Did you know? My neighbor works for EA Games, so I can get EA Games and EA Sports games for $10. Yeah for my neighbor! But that has nothing to do with a disclaimer...I get off topic really easily._
_Note to my friend Sarah: I named Sara the koala after you, and I originally used your personality, but since chapter four, I changed it, so I don't think that you need to go to a mental ward...most of the time...Lol...juuuuuust kidding. : P_
**Looks Can Be Deceiving: Chapter Five**
Flashbacks, Revenge, and Rice told by Bella
My plan is working perfectly; most of the animals love me, except that stupid peacock, she's a ble-otch, but soon, she'll be my friend. That mouse named, Chloe, no, Cleo, I think that's it, Cleo, yeah; she's a piece of work. I knocked on her door; no answer, so I went around to her window and I saw her just sitting on her gold econo chair...staring...just staring. I watched her for about five minutes until I started to perspire from the intense heat. I left and met Tortimer (the wrinkly old turtle, God, I can't stand him.) After him, I checked back on Cleo, and she was still staring. I went around to the front of her house and knocked on the door again, but she didn't answer so I checked if the door was locked, which it was. I went to the same window I was spying on her with and pounded on it. Cleo stood up with the same glazed look in her eyes and looked over at me. I could have sworn that the split second when our eyes met there was a jerk in my stomach and I felt like I was going to throw up. Cleo advanced upon the window while I retreated. I wanted to make friends with everyone in this town except her.
I wanted to meet up with Sara, but she wasn't home, so I asked her best friend Aurora and she said that Sara had been hauled off to an Insane Asylum. When I asked her why and she replied by saying that Sara needed mental help. Hmm, well that explains something...
Well the real reason I came to this stupid town is to seek revenge upon every stinking animal and human that is alive. I want to ruin their selfish little insignificant lives because they had to ruin mine. I might seem all bright a bubbly, but that was how I was a long time ago...
Flashback to Bella's good days (3rd person POV)
"What a nice day to be outside" Bella said happily as she breathed in the fresh spring air. The rivers were overflowing with fish to be caught and sold to Tom Nook, the crickets were chirping, there were butterflies everywhere, and most importantly, everyone was happy. These grand days were wonderful and full of celebrations and the town was most willing to be a part of it. Little did the furry creatures (and humans) know that their good times would dwindle into nothing and that corruption would take them all in...
End Flashback (End 3rd person POV)
I loved those days, when the world seemed so beautiful and careless, so free. But those days are gone, and I must move on. I have been hurt. Badly. Emotionally. Terribly. And I must let the whole world know what they did to me. You reap what you sow.
Flashback of bad days (3rd person POV)
A tear trickled down Bella's face as she witnessed the burning of her town's museum. She spent so much time donating her items to that building, and she never got to see the collection be finished. So much corruption she thought, everyone needs money, that's all they think about. Nobody enjoys the good things in life now...they just want to make more bells. But my parents are good animals. They don't care about money. They love nature. We love nature. We are a family. Nobody can take our family away. Nobody.
But Bella was wrong; her parents were taken hostage by a group of towns' people because they wanted bells. Money. That's it. They tore her life apart because of their corrupted selves. After they had to start paying 50 bells tax a day, many families were becoming poor. Dirt poor. Not one bell to call their own. So the poor animals started selling their things, but that attempt failed because nobody had enough money to buy their products. The towns' people decided to steal, and Bella's family was their first target. After the ransom was paid, Bella's enslaved parents were never seen again, even though their attackers promised to let them free after they were paid.
After many tears, Bella decided to move to a new town and start a new life. Then she started thinking. If her life had to be torn apart, why didn't everyone else's? **(A/N: She's got issues, so bear with me here...even though Ponte towns' people did nothing to deserve this punishment, Bella feels that the whole world took her parents away from her.)** So she decided to ruin the innocent animal's lives.
End Flashback of bad days (End 3rd person POV)
My plan is to make friends with everyone, weave my way into their lives, and then tell rumors to them to turn the town against each other. Then I can console them, and I will be the town heroine. I have another plan, but I don't think I'll use it. The plan is to take away all of the food in the town and make sure that the only thing the town can eat is rice. I hate rice, so everyone has to share my hate. Buahaha. Hmm, I don't think I should do that again. No. Any who, I'm going over to David's house and try to make him invite me on a date. Not like I have any doubts or anything.
_Later_
Yeah! I'm going on a date with David tonight. I'll wear my pop-bloom shirt...
_Much later_
Well, I gotta pat myself on the back for this; the date went wonderful, and I lied to David without skipping a beat, and the best part is that he fell for it! To him, I am Isabella (that part's true) Palla hailing from Italy like Alfonso. I never knew my parents because they both left me in a cardboard box five days after I was born (that made him feel sorry for me). I grew up as an orphan and wandered the streets of Venice eating scraps of food found in dumpsters (that made him say "oh my").
The rest of the date was talking about life, weather, politics, and crap like that. I was only half listening to him while he ranted and rambled on about some dude named Blathers. What I was really thinking of was how I can weave my way into Rio's life because she seems threatened by me.
Oh well, I better get some sleep if I want to do work anymore of my magic tomorrow.
* * *
How'd you like this chapter, I think it's my most serious one. Remember to review because if I don't get many reviews, then I'm going to just work on The Tenant and not this one. I'm still in shock that I wrote that last chapter about Sara being gay, even though she wasn't; Aurora was just giving her a hard time. Making gay jokes is not really what I like to do, so don't judge me on that. K? K. Good. Lol. There I go again, talking to myself. Just remember to review! : D
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 16,796 | 14,754.9 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Default Chapter
David sighed. He swirled the eggnog in his cup around, then took a small sip. Another lonely Christmas at home. Tom Nook is taking today off to visit his kids in the town over, Tortimer is at home somewhere, and Jingle won't arrive for another half hour or so. Let's see.I never read the evening post, so let me go get it.
He jumped from the couch and headed outside to the postbox, and opened it up.
"Let's see.Tom Nook, telling me he's out of town. Redd is coming Saturday.Mom wants me to come home soon.and a letter from the HRA.. I wonder what they want now?"
For the past three years that He's lived on the small island of Hawaii, he's never gotten more than a twenty thousand from them. But he opened it up, and two small leaves fell out. Grinning, he turned to the letter enclosed.
"Dear David;
We have recently inspected your house and were presently surprised to see that you've finished two furniture sets, and included some other valuable items in your house design. Going by the HRA rubric, we give you one hundred and thirty three thousand points. Have a Merry Christmas!"
He picked up the leaves, knowing they were the house models he needed for his model village in the basement. He was about to go in when the familiarity of the train's whistle made him stop.
The train is coming in at this time of night on Christmas? What for? Being the curious fellow he was, he decided to investigate. Pulling his coat closer around him, he carefully headed up the steps, missing the icy patches on the left.
"Who's coming in to town today?" he asked the train attendant.
"A new member of the town. That's all I know. Stand back, the doors are opening."
He stepped back, and stared at the train in anticipation. Was Hazel, the love of his life until she moved, coming back?
The train doors slid open, and out came a leg, then another one. It was too dark to see anything but an outline. Who was it? Perhaps Scoot?
"Thank you, sir. I'll need to know the way to Nook's" He's expecting me."
What?? David thought. No catch phrase at the end, no fur, as she moved into the light, and no animal ever had to talk to Nook before they moved in so it must be.
He gasped! It can't be!...Another.human?!
2. AC : Unexpected Revelations Chp 2
Chapter 2: Reflections
How was it possible? He'd always thought he was the only human. In the few seconds between their first words, he remembered his childhood, growing up.
He'd been found on the doorstep of an elderly animal's house when he was six months old. The ladies name was Joanne, and she had her own daughter, whom she had named Sow Joan. Her daughter lived in the countryside, at the outskirts of Hawaii Island, and she sold her turnips in town for the stalk market as her means of living. Joanne took him and raised him as her own. Every year, she would celebrate the day that she found him, and would always hold a large celebration for him. When he had turned ten, she told him the truth.
He took it very well. He'd always figured he was different. She told him that he was human, and that she hadn't seen one for ten years, before he'd came along. So, after that, he'd always assumed he'd been the last one. Life continued on much the same as it had, except at the age of 72, she re-married to a fine and nice old boar that lived on the other side of the island. They were a happy family, always cheering and doing something nice for each other, and living life to its fullest. But, as the years wore on, he knew that he should leave his parents for awhile and move into town by himself to give them more time for each other. So he packed his bags, and moved into town via the train.
It was his first train ride, and he met a strange cat named Rover on the train. He asked all kinds of funny questions, like whether he was a boy or girl, even though everyone that looked at him knew he was a boy. But their conversation was cut short by the train's arrival.
Hurrying off the train to avoid Rover, he nearly ran headlong into Porter, the town train attendant.
"Hello, David. Nook is expecting you. He'd like to talk about living arrangements."
Thanking Porter, he walked down the steps and hurried over to Nook's shop, Nookington's. He introduced himself, and asked what he wanted.
"Son, I'd like to give you the house in the middle acre. You saw them, didn't you? Very good. I'm charging 19,800 bells a piece, and I'd like you to work off some of that here.
So David took up his part time job, always going home at the end of the day and collapsing onto the sofa and snoozing. That's how it went for the last few years, but some things had changed since then. He'd finished his job, for starters, and had paid off all of the debt, and now had the largest house. He'd been dating Hazel, but she had had to leave and go live with her parents to finish College, leaving him here by himself.
But life hadn't changed much since then. And now, as he spoke to her, he would find out the most chilling truth of all.
3. AC:Unexpected Revelations Chp 2 Number 2
Chapter 2 #2: Love at First Plight
"Hello there. My name is Spring, I came here to move away from the hustle and bustle of the other human colonies. You came here too, as well?"
"I.yeah, I came here, but to lead a less complicated lifestyle,. Only, I didn't expect to see another human here for a long time, if ever at all," he stammered.
"Only problem is, I don't know where to live, Tom Nook isn't here today, and I don't want to work for him, Rover told me he's quite the odd fellow."
"You can stay with me for awhile; the upstairs area is where I sleep, so you can have the downstairs area."
"Great. Your name is.?"
"David. I live in Acre B-3, the largest house. It's quite nice, and the downstairs bedroom should be great for you, until Nook comes back."
"Thank you. Here we go." She grabbed her purse from the steps, and proceeded carefully down the steps, watching the ice patches on the left.
"So, if you don't my asking, how old are you?"
"Oh!" She started blushing. "I'm turning 17 next month."
"So am I! Wow, that's a coincidence. Anyway, here we are."
"Wow." She stopped walking and stared up at the manor. "You do live nicely, don't you?"
"Sure do," said David, "I know the lay of the land, and know how to get easy Bells."
"Bells? What are those?"
"Ah. That's right. You're new here. I'll give you a quick run-down. Bells are the currency here. They're easy to get, if you know what to do. Furniture takes the shape of leaves, until you drop them inside your house. Makes them easy to store and carry. And I'll tell you some more later."
"Great. Can you let me in? It's getting very cold out here."
"Sure. Here you go." David opened the door, and led Spring in.
"Sure is big here. And.wow! You have the lovely series here! This will be perfect."
She turned around and beamed up at David.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that. I have to go upstairs to bed now. I'll wake you in the morning, OK?"
"Um, sure."
"Great. Good night!" David called.
"Good night!"
David, completely exhausted, went upstairs to his room. Up here, he had the Cabin series, so he felt more out of the technology driven world, back to the care free life. He changed into his pajamas, and went to bed.
The next morning, he awoke to the smell of bacon. Bacon? Here?
He got of bed, dressed, and headed downstairs. Spring was already up, bustling by the Lovely Kitchen, making breakfast and setting the table.
"Good morning! Doing well, I hope. Coffee? I'm making bacon, eggs, and some pancakes."
"What's all of this for?"
"My appreciation for taking me in for the week, Thanks a lot! Whoops! Coffee's done, let me get that."
"I got it!" He grabbed the coffee pot, and poured some into the two coffee cups on the table.
"What do you want in yours?" he asked. He took some sugar, cream, and some whipped cream, and added it all together in the coffee.
"Some cream, sugar, and little whipped cream, if you have it," she said with her back turned toward him, as she made eggs.
He was stunned for a moment. Not many people drank coffee the way he did. He stood there for a moment, rooted to the spot, and then, realizing this, went and got her coffee ready.
She took the plates, filled them with eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and then sat down opposite David.
"Oh! I didn't know you had your coffee the same way I had mine," she said, eyeing David's coffee.
"Yeah, I was stunned too." He took a pancake, poured syrup over it, then began eating.
"So what are you doing in this town? Why not one closer to where you live?"
"I like the tropical feeling. All the warm air, the tropical ocean, the beautiful view. It's all so nice." She sighed, took a sip of her coffee, and then looked back at David.
"It is great here. Oh! I almost forgot. Here's an umbrella. It'll help keep you cooler, since your not going to be used to this tropical climate. Here. It's like a desert. Very hot during the day, but very cold at night." He took the umbrella from his pocket and gave it to her.
"It's so small. How do I open it?"
"Click it there." He pointed to a small button on the side.
"Like this?" She pressed the button. The Top rocketed upward toward the ceiling, then exploded into the umbrella top.
"I'll have to get used to this. Everything is so small until you need to use it."
"Yeah." He finished his pancakes and started the eggs. "So what are your plans for today?"
"I thought I'd go shopping, then maybe help around the house."
"Great. Here are ten thousand bells. Enjoy!"
"Oh! I can't accept this." She pushed the money away from her.
"When's your birthday?"
"January 3rd, but."
"Then think of it as an early birthday present. Please?" He pushed the bag back toward her.
She looked at him, then the money, then him again. She bit her lip and thought for a moment.
"Oh, alright. If you insist." She took the money and stuck it in her pocket.
"Well, I have a lot to do today. Nook should be back today, and no doubt he'll want me to help Timmy and Tommy again." He finished his bacon, drank the last of his coffee, then headed back upstairs.
"I need to get changed. Hold on." He changed back out of his pajamas, got dressed for work, and went downstairs again. She was already dressed and waiting for him.
"To Nookington's first, right?"
"Yep. I have some shopping to do." She grinned at him, grabbed his arm, and he led her outside.
"Wow. It's so beautiful. Look at the sky!" She pointed up. The light blue sky was dotted with puffy white clouds, swirling and changing shape.
As she looked up, he looked at her. She really was beautiful herself. She was gazing at the sky in awe.
"Come now. Don't forget your umbrella." She looked at him, nodded, then opened her umbrella.
"Ah. Shade," she sighed. The shade on a day like this was really something. It lowered the temperature about ten degrees.
"This way, my darling." He grinned at her, and they started walking toward Nook's.
"So, when does he usually open?" she asked.
"At about." He checked his watch. ".Ten or so, in about five minutes."
"Good. Got to get up early to get the good deals!"
As she talked, Tangy, the cat that lived in the acre below them, came up, and said hi.
"Hi, you must be Spring. You're new here, right? Here's a welcoming gift." She handed Spring a shirt.
"Thank you. Oooh! This top is so beautiful. Thanks a lot!" It was the Gracie Strawberry top, the new one from her top line.
"You're quite welcome. Have a good day!" And she left to go to the Wishing Well.
"That was awfully nice of her."
"Sure was," Brian said. "Here we are. Nookington's."
They were standing in front of a very tall two-story building. It was the crème de la crème of Nook's stores. Every square inch was taken up by something on sale. He looked at her again, and her eyes sparkled. He knew she was thinking about all of the good stuff that was certainly on sale in there.
"If you could wait out here for a few minutes while I put things out, that would be great."
"Sure. I'll see you in five," she said, winking.
David walked in and said hi to the busy Nook.
"No, no. That goes over there. BE CAREFUL WITH THAT! No!" A huge crash and pieces of what was once fine china started raining from the ceiling.
"Uh, need any help?" he asked.
"Oh thank God you're here. Timmy and Tommy just ruined my China display. I think I'll leave that business for awhile. Can you help them upstairs again? Thank you much."
David headed upstairs, and did his usual chores; moving the furniture out, setting the prices, and writing the flyers. After ten minutes, he was done, and hurried outside.
"Sorry I was late. There was a fiasco with China. All hell broke loose there. Anyway, ready?"
"Yep. Let me get out my money." She withdrew her bag of bells, and held it at the ready.
"Here we go." They walked inside, and were greeted by Nook. In the corner, he could see Timmy and Tommy hurrying to clean up the mess of China.
"Yes, yes. Welcome. Feel free to browse, but try not carouse. He He!"
"Wow David, look at this!" She pulled him over to a nice shirt. That's hw he spent his first hour of the day. Shopping with her. But he couldn't complain. Any time with her made him feel great.
After their shopping, they went home for lunch, They had some nice sandwiches, prepared by David himself, then went their separate ways for the evening. He got back at around six, having just turned on the lighthouse for Tortimer. He thought he heard talking at the top room, but shrugged it off.
"Hello. Is dinner ready?" he asked jokingly.
"Almost."
He was dumbfounded for a moment. He had planned on making dinner for her. After all, she'd been working all afternoon.
"Oh, good," He said.
"We're having hamburgers, fries, and Cokes for dinner," she replied.
"Sounds good. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we eat down by the beach? It's beautiful at night," he added.
"Ooooh. Sounds fun. Here." She handed him a bag with their food in it. "Let's get our coats, and some firewood and some matches."
She took all of it, and stuffed it in her pockets.
"Ready?"
"Yep." She put on her coat, and they headed down to the beach. Their walk was rather uneventful, unless you count Teddy getting furious at them for no reason. At long last, they got to the beach.
They put out the food, and lied down on the soft sand. The sun was setting, and it was almost hidden beneath the ocean by the time they got there. David grabbed his burger, and started munching on it.
"Wow, it's so beautiful."
"That ain't the only thing."
She giggled, then took a burger for herself and started nibbling it.
They watched the sun set, and the stars rise, as they ate their meal. The stars were winking and twinkling at them, and the moon shown brightly overhead.
"Look! There's the constellation Orion." He pointed upward to a familiar cluster of stars.
"Where?" she asked. She leaned closer to David's head to see where he was pointing.
"Right there." He kept his arm out, pointing to the same spot for her.
"Where?" she asked again. She leaned closer, their cheeks almost touching.
"There," he repeated.
"Wow, it's so magnificent."
He turned toward her as she turned toward him, and as they looked at each other, their lips met. Both of their eyes opened in surprise, but neither moved away. They sat there, kissing each other for the longest time.
She's so beautiful, he kept thinking, and knew she was thinking the same thing. At long last, they pulled apart and looked at each other. It was hard to tell who was blushing ore red than the other, as they were both as red as Jingle's coat. That's when they first knew, first without a doubt knew, that they were in love.
*To Be Continued*
4. AC : Unexpected Revelations Chp 3
Chapter 3: Revelations
"Oh! I wasn't expecting too see another human so early on in my visit. But it's nice to meet you," she said softly.
He'd heard her voice before from somewhere. Maybe TV?
"Uhhh.Nice.Nice to er.meet you too, uh," David stuttered. He was still in shock from meeting another human. Why had he always assumed he was the only one? He kicked himself inside his head.
Stupid! If you were the only one, then how were you born, eh? He thought. I...just never thought about it much, I guess. You guess? How do you survive, with such a nimrodic brain? Honestly. You could have told me something or helped me figure it out, you know! Stupid sub-concious.
"Are you alright? You look very pale. Why don't we go down to Tom Nook's together? You know him much better than I do," she said.
David stared at her, lost in his thoughts. He kept asking himself questions, breaking his brain to the breaking point.
Well, why didn't this happen sooner? Why haven't I seen a human before now? Well, nimrod, have you ever stopped to think about climate? Think back to your childhood.
When you were still a child, didn't you notice it was extremely hot for you, but no one else ever complained? That's because this climate is ill-suited for humans. You have adapted to it, because your body spent so much time in the heat. That's why we never have a white Christmas.
I knew the part about Christmas, but now that you mention it, I do feel fine. But then, why isn't she stifling hot?
She may live in a place like this. There are other islands with similar climates you know. This ain't the only one. Besides, she hasn't been outside long enough to feel the full blast of the heat, and even then, it's nighttime, unless your puny consciousness didn't figure that out.
"Hello? You seem really sick or distracted. Are you sure you don't want me to call the doctor?"
"No, I'm fine," he lied. "Where did you come from, Miss?" He asked.
"Oh! I came from Australia, down south. Not many humans there, as the Climate is way too hot for us."
Ha! Told you so! Na na na na, na! Shut up! I'm trying to listen to what she's saying!
"Well, Tom Nook is out of town for tonight, but let's look for the mayor. He'll help you out."
"Sure. Let me get my things first." She grabbed a purse on the ground, then walked over to David.
"Let's go. Now," he helped her climb down the steps, to help her avoid the icy patches on the left, "what are you doing here?"
"Personal trip. Vacation, and I'm looking for something.rare and one of a kind. Tom Nook said he'd help me."
As they walked into the light from the trees, David really got a chance to see her, for the first time. He stopped walking to get a look at her.
She wore a Gracie original outfit. She wore a strawberry red top, and a matching skirt. She sore black high heels, and walked elegantly. Her face was slightly wrinkled, and her hair was silvery grey.
"The mayor here, Tortimer, is usually by the Wishing Well, and walks around helping new villagers. I thought he would help you, since you're new here."
"Thank you. Well, which acre is the Wishing Well in, if I may ask?" they started walking again.
"It's in Acre D-4, so it's a good walk from here. So.how is it back where you live?"
"Well," she thought for a moment, "Tom Nook, he's your Nook's twin brother, I think there are about thirty twin Tom Nook's in total, he helped me get started there. He gave me a house, and he helped me get furniture. He also bought me a train ticket to visit the next town over, where another human lived. We just recently got married. I came here for something I lost years ago that's been eluding me for some time. I got a tip it was here, in this town. I hope it doesn't cost to much to find it."
"That explains a lot."
"What about you?" she asked, as they started down the slope, "why are you here?"
"Well, I came here after my mother remarried. I wanted to give them their last few years together alone. My mother's getting up there in the years, I'm afraid for what might happen to her soon."
"That's understandable. So, where are we now?"
"Let's see," he said, "we're one acre away."
"Good."
As they walked, they passed the Police station. Officer Cooper was out front, and was telling a couple kids the story of The Night Before Christmas. David smiled at the sight of Cooper being so nice. He was usually uptight about everything.
Here we are," David whispered, "this is the Wishing Well."
"Wow. It's very nice. Is that Tortimer? Right there?"
David looked where she was pointing. An aging old turtle walked toward the fountain, flipped a coin in, and said something.
They approached him, and talked to him about their predicament.
"Hello, sir. I'm from out of town, and will be spending the week here. Is there someplace I may stay?"
"There may be. At the top of the lighthouse, there is a room, made for four, that's very warm and comfy. I'll be going on vacation now, because it's too cold for me right now. HEH Heh heh horrrf!"
"Let me show you the way," he said.
"Thank you."
"It's only two acres away, no that bad of a walk."
"So, I never caught your name."
"Oh! It's Spring. And your's?" she asked.
"Mine's David. My mother named me after her old husband. He passed away before I came."
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
David stopped walking, and stared up.
"That's the place. Go through that door, and up those stairs. It should be up there, I think."
"Thank you." She turned around and opened the door, and disappeared. David turned around and ran home. He wanted to go to sleep and rest his aching brain.
When he got home, he felt his pockets. Damn! He thought. I must have dropped them or left 'em inside. He was thinking about what to do, when he remembered something. He ran back to the Wishing Well.
"Tortimer, may I stay there too? I lost my keys somewhere."
"Sure, just find them soon, please!"
"Thank you, sir."
He ran to the Lighthouse, and, breathing hard from all of the running, opened the door. Inside the lighthouse was all of the machinery. He spotted the stairs to the left. He climbed up, until he saw a door, and knocked. There was a pause, then Spring opened the door.
"Yes, David?"
"I lost my keys. May I stay here tonight?"
"Sure. There are two bedrooms. Yu can take the one on the right. Please, come in."
He stepped inside, and sat down in a chair next to a fire. These nights on Hawaii were stifling cold, and during the day, it was unbearably hot, at least to outsiders.
"So, what are you really doing here? I mean, anything you can get from here, you can get from the Tom Nook in your town."
"I didn't think anyone would notice. I'm really here to find someone."
"Really?"
"Yes. I.wait, David, where were you found?"
"WHAT? How did you know I was found on a doorstep?!"
"Was it on the other side of the Island? Was it on Joanne's doorstep?" Her breath was gaining speed, making her look like she was hyperventilating.
"Yes, I."
She leapt up, and started crying as she hugged him.
"What's going on? Why are you hugging me?"
"Because, Daniel, as that's your real name.I'm your birth mother."
TO BE CONTINUED
5. AC : Unexpected Revelations Chp 4
Chapter 4: Unbearable Decisions
"What did you say?" His body felt numb. He felt sleepy all over.
"Oh, Daniel. I'm your true mother. I had to leave you on the doorstep because I was afraid that you would not have a great future with me. I was becoming bankrupt, and was afraid I might lose you. I'm so sorry. Thank God you're still here, I was afraid you might have moved."
A cold feeling swept over David. He was losing consciousness, and he could feel his eyes rolling into his head. The coldness was freezing his lungs, his heart, and his mind. He was drowning in it, and could not breathe. His knees buckled under him. He fell over, and the world went black. He could hear someone screaming his name, but he could not resist any longer. He fell into the darkness, and it enveloped him and swallowed him.
He awoke inside a white room. His eyes adjusted to the brightness slowly, and he made out the shape of someone standing over him.
"Mom?"
"I'm right here sweetie. Joanne is coming dear, and will be here soon. How are you? You fainted when you heard the news, I thought you went into shock. How are you feeling? Do you want anything?"
"I'm fine mom. But what's going to happen? Now that I know you're my birth mother?"
"Well, since you're legally my son, I want you to move to Australia with me and live with us."
"WHAT?!" I can't mom! I've got Joanne to look after."
'So that's it, isn't it? You don't need me? After I gave birth to you and I've spent a long time trying to find you, you're going to love her instead? Oh God, I cannot stay here. I must go, excuse me."
She hurried from the room, great tears forming in her eyes. She silently cried as she opened the door to leave.
"Mom! Wait! Don't go!"
After she left, he was left to brood in his own thoughts.
Great. Just great! Now she thinks you hate her guts, you make me sick. Oh shut up. The only question now is what am I going to do? I've gotta do something.
"David! There you are!" Joanne bustled into the room, and gave David a hug. I was so worried. How are you? Do you want some turnips? Or maybe some apples?"
"I'm fine, Ma, I just.don't know what to do," he confessed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know about Spring, right?"
"Of.of course. I've been dreading this day for years." She looked around, found a small armchair, pulled it over to his bed, and sat down. She leaned over him.
"When I first found you, you were very small, wrapped in a bundle. On top of you was a letter from your mother. She wrote to me telling me her story.
"When you were only six months old, she lost her job. She used to work as a computer analyst. But, with technology reaching its peak, they now had machines that could recalibrate and fix other machines. So they no longer needed your mother. So they fired her. Well, with no money and no where to live, she was afraid for your life. She was afraid you might starve or catch a deadly disease. So she left you with me.
"When you were three, I got another letter from her. She said that now, the machines aren't working right, because the robotic computer analysts made one error that fried a whole line of computers. So they re- hired your mother, and gave her a huge salary. She said she wanted him back, but would wait a little while to make sure things turned out OK.
"Well, it was good she waited. After a year working, they got upgraded machines to do her work, so they fired her again. She wondered from city to city for work. Finally, she left for Australia, a mostly animal community, since they didn't use much technology.
"She wound up getting a very good paying job at the hospital to keep their machines working very well. It was the almost only piece of technology, besides the train, they used. This was when you were nine. I knew you would have to go back with her soon. But I didn't say anything. Why? I just wanted to have you as my son. You were the love of my life.
"Well, after you moved out, your mother had stopped sending letters, and decided to start looking for you. She called everywhere, to get tips. She finally got a tip last month that you were here. So she packed up, got ready, and, well, you know the rest." She finished, and sat back in her chair.
"Well, what do I do? She wants me to do move back there with her, but I don't want to leave you here."
"Son, you must do what your heart tells you to do. I have to go now. I will see you in the morning."
Listen to my heart? Likes that's going to do a whole lot of good.
Weeks passed, and after a few days in the hospital, he was pronounced fine and left. That's when all hell broke loose in his life.
*Court Hearing 1*
"All rise before the Honorable Judge Rithop," said the officer near the stand. David stood, and waited. This was his most nervous day of his life.
"Please be seated. This hereby starts the official court hearing for this court session. Prosecution, would you please make your case now."
"Thank you your honor. As you know, this courtroom struggle is for the custody rights of David. My client, Ms. Spring Patricia, wants full custody rights over David. You honor, I'd like to call my client to the stand as my first witness."
"Of course. Bailiff, if you would."
"Of course your honor." He helped Spring up, and guided her to the stand.
'Please put your right hand on the Bible. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"Yes."
"Please be seated."
"Ms. Patricia, do you recognize this slip of paper?" The attorney had pulled out a slip of paper.
"Yes."
"Could you tell the court room what this is?"
"It is a birth certificate for David."
"Your Honor, would you please look at this?"
"Yes. Bailiff?"
"Here you are, you Honor."
"This looks authentic. It says that the legal guardian is Ms. Spring Patricia."
"Yes your Honor. Now, Ms. Patricia, why do you want your son back?"
"Because I love him, and I didn't want to originally leave him with her."
"You may now step down. Thank you."
"Defense, please make your case now." The judge shifted slightly in his seat.
"Yes. I would .like to call David to the stand."
"Of course. Bailiff?"
The bailiff guided David to the stand.
"Please put your right hand on the Bible. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"Yes." He replied, in a voice quite unlike his own.
"Please be seated."
"David, how long have you been living with Joanne?"
"Since I was fifteen. I moved out shortly after my fifteenth birthday."
"How old are you now?"
"I am now just over eighteen."
"So, your Honor, I would like to make the point that David is of age where he can choose where to live."
"Very well. Reviewing the facts, I would also agree, that David is now old enough to make his own decisions. David, who do you want to live with?"
David stared at the judge, then down to the floor, On one side was his true mother, wide eyed and hopeful. On the other was his childhood mother, her eyes sad and lost. How would he ever choose. Tears welled in his eyes. He felt tears dribbling down his cheek and onto the floor. He would now have to make the most life-changing decision of all.
*To Be Continued*
6. AC : Unexpected Revelations Chp 5
Chapter 5: Sorrows
"David couldn't decide, as he sat up there on the witness stand. How was he supposed to pick one mother over another? He weighed his decision. If I pick my birth mother, then Joanne will be crushed. If I pick Joanne, I may never see my true mother again. I guess I know what I'll have to do.
"Your Honor, I choose to live with.Spring." He said in a defeated voice.
Spring started jumping for joy, and she raced forward to David.
"I declare this case closed. Please exit the courtroom in the next ten minutes, and we will be starting case number ninety-four, the State of Hawaii versus." His voice trailed off as he left the room.
"Thank you David, oh thank you. Now we can finally be a family again. This is the best day ever. Oh! Let me call your father, he'll be wanting to hear this." She bustled out of the courtroom. David chanced a glance at his adoptive mother.
Joanne was silently crying, tears wetting her fur. He wished he could do something for her, but knew he couldn't, at least not now. He stood up, and walked down the stand towards Joanne. She glanced at him, sniffed, then did a hiccup.
Reflecting on the past, he should have known something was wrong then. To this day, he curses his stupidity at not spotting what was starting to happen.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye, David. Please keep in touch."
She stood up, and exited the courtroom, just as Spring entered it again.
"Your Father is so thankful, he's never met you, you know. Come now, let's take the first plane back to Australia, they just finished the airport on the other side of the island."
She took his hand and guided him out. That evening, they stayed at the hotel for the night, because the planes for the airport hadn't made their first voyage back yet, and were supposed to in the morning. That night in the hotel would be the one that David would end up remembering for the rest of his life.
"Are you all packed yet, dear?" Spring asked from the next room. "Our flight leaves at nine o'clock in the morning, so we need to get packed tonight, and get a good rest for the flight."
"Right mom," he said. He finished packing his suitcases, then heard the phone ring in the next room.
"I'll get it," his other said. She picked it up, and heard her talking behind the wall, though he couldn't tell what she was saying. She hung up the phone.
"David? That was Joanne. She wanted us to come over for a final cup of tea together before we leave, so were heading there now."
"Ok. I'm ready."
So David and Spring walked over to Joanne's place, chatting about things past, and when they finally reached the door, they knocked,
"Hello. Come on in." Joanne's husband, Mank, had opened the door for them.
"Hello. Tea? Cookies?" Joanne offered them some refreshments on a tray. David took a cup of tea, and a cookie, and sat down.
"We're sorry for the trouble over custody, Spring. It's just that, when you've raised him all your life, you get attached." Joanne jumped right into the conversation.
"Not at all. I know. Love is a powerful force."
"It certainly is. Let me get some." Joanne broke off in mid-sentence. She collapsed to the ground, and started having convulsions. After a few seconds, she stopped.
"OH MY GOD!" shrieked Spring. She dropped the cup she had been holding.
David bent down over Joanne, and felt for a pulse. Come on, come on.There! A faint pulse, and losing pressure fast.
"Someone call 911! Hurry!" He turned back to Joanne as Mank hurried to the phone.
"Joanne opened her eyes a tad.
"All I wanted." Joanne started.
"Hello, 911 emergencies, how may I help you? Yes, this is Mank Otny on 817 Montone Pass. My wife, Joanne, collapsed, and is having convulsions."
".was to say."
"How is her pulse? It's dropping fast. We're sending an ambulance as we speak sir. Please remain calm, everything will be all right."
"...that I loved you."
"The ambulance is halfway there sir. Is there anything we should know first? Allergies, a previous medical record? Nope, nothing. She's always been healthy, and isn't allergic to nothing."
".and I hope that."
"The ambulance drivers are having trouble locating your house. Where is it? It's the third house on the left."
".you'll always love.me too."
Her eyes closed, and her pulse stopped.
"No, don't do this to me. Come on! Don't die on me!" He started performing the resuscitation.
"One, two, three, four, five." He breathed into her mouth, then listened for breathing. Nothing. I have to keep trying!
Tears started clouding his vision as he worked. He heard sirens, then the door being broken down.
"Kid, move away! Let us handle her, we're trained professionals. Any pulse?" the doctor said, as he lifted her gurney.
"None. I need to ride in your ambulance!"
"Fine kid, now come one, we have to hurry!"
They loaded her into the truck, then David jumped into the back.
"Go!" the other doctor said to the driver. The siren was turned on, and they roared down the road.
"Clear!" He used two paddles on Joanne. They gave a small shock to try to restart her heart. Still no pulse.
"Clear!" He tried again. Same thing. Nothing happened.
"Clear!" Again.
"Clear!" And again.
"Clear!" And again.
They reached the hospital, so they took her out of the ambulance, then ran up to ER. He waited outside, passing the door every time he paced the length of the ward. About fifteen minutes later, they opened the door and a doctor came out. He started taking off his gloves and mask, threw them away, then turned back toward David.
Before he could say anything, he heard from the room, "Ok. Who wants to announce it?"
The doctor closed the door. David almost knew what was coming.
"We tried everything, but resuscitation didn't work. Her heart stopped because she had a small aneurysm that bulged sometime this morning. They can be caused by many things, we just haven't determined the cause yet. I'm.I'm very sorry. They have counselors here, if you'd like to talk to one. They help families of the.deceased cope. I'm sorry."
He walked away, leaving David there, tears leaking from his eyes. How could this happen? How had he let it happen? He should have noticed something sooner.
A week passed, and Spring and David stayed in Hawaii, waiting for the funeral. It was a small, private funeral. They had the priest stop by for the burial, and said some very beautiful words.
"Joanne will always be in our hearts and minds. She helped so many people and so many children, that her life was the ideal life to live. She will now rest in peace."
They lowered the casket into the hole, and ended the ceremony. He cried the whole length through. He now felt very alone. Everyone started leaving as the ceremony ended. Spring walked up to David in her black dress.
"I'll leave you alone for awhile. I'll meet you back at the house." She patted him on the shoulder, then left him standing there.
He looked down at the tombstone, and where the casket was now buried. He left a bouquet of Lilies of the Valley, her favorite flowers, then left the grave as well. After it all, they ended up moving into Hawaii, and lived there for their lives, as a family. And David would visit Joanne's grave every week, reading the caption on the tombstone:
Joanne Otny Beloved Mother and Wife Changed many lives 1932-2003 We will always remember.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Drama | Fanfiction | null | 37,840 | 13,533 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
The wind that came off the sea caused my hair to whip my face, stinging my skin.
The waves lapped onto the shore, seeing no rush to be anywhere. I watched, soaking up the setting sun.
If I hadn't moved, I'd be at home, hanging out with my friends and maybe even having a sleepover. But instead, I was sitting here on a beach, all alone.
I guess I wasn't completely alone in this town. I had my two brothers, Kirk and Tiberius. The only problem was that they were always busy working, so I never got to chat. Except for the time when I tagged along with Tiberius, who fished for the food store in town.
Tiberius was a few years older than me, and a lot grumpier. When we were younger I never played with him because he would always yell and throw things at me. Kirk had an ok relationship with him, but me, nope. I just tried to avoid him my entire life, which so far, I was doing an alright job. But the day that I tagged along with Tiberius while he was fishing was another story.
It was a few days after I moved in, A.K.A. last week. I didn't have anything to do, so I decided to follow Tiberius, who was claimed to be the best fisherman in town.
He was his usual self, grumpy, quiet, a volcano that was ready to explode.
At first I didn't say much, I just watched as he threw his line in the river and waited for a fish to bite. After a while though, I got bored. He'd only caught two fish in one hour, and there wasn't much action. I guess I got impatient or something, so I started talking my head off. Tiberius was already in a bad enough mood with me being there, but with me being noisy, he went crazy.
"Kat! Shut up and go away! You are the worst sister EVER!" He had yelled.
I ran away, disappearing into the town where I had no friends except for my brothers. That was the reason I was sitting on the beach, watching the sun set. I didn't have anything else to do.
I sighed. I shouldn't have moved. There was nothing good in this town.
"Hello."
I flinched and spun around, shocked when I found a hedgehog standing in front of me.
"Hi," I replied, getting to my feet and brushing the sand off my clothes.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Um… nothing really."
"Oh."
There was silence for a minute, and I began getting the feeling that I might not be as alone as I thought I was in this town. But could this hedgehog be trusted as a friend?
2. Chapter 2
**Please review and help me make my story better! Thanks for reading!**
* * *
The hedgehog was the one who broke the awkward silence.
"I've never seen you around before. Did you just move here?"
"Yeah," I answered, "Last week."
"Hm. I hope you like Deep Grass. Speaking of which, what's your name?"
"Kat." I surveyed the hedgehog. She was about the same height as me, and I was on the short side of the spectrum. The hedgehog wore a light green dress that complemented her light brown fur. On her feet was a pair of cute sandals that looked stylish and comfortable.
"That's a cute name. My name's Nikita. I would love to talk, but I have to get going. Bye!" Nikita walked off in the direction of the river.
I stood on the beach, not sure what to do next. I glanced over my shoulder, and seeing the sun had almost set, I decided it was time to start heading home.
My house was in a forest of pine trees. Thankfully it wasn't a very long walk from the beach to my house, because by the time I reached it, the sun had set and darkness was settling over Deep Grass.
I unlocked the door, and my cramped home welcomed me. I hadn't bought any furniture yet, except for the bed and phone in the attic, and the stove, sink, and refrigerator that came with the house.
"Ring! Ring! Ring!"
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused about why someone was calling me. "Only one way to find out," I told myself, charging upstairs to the attic that was my bedroom.
"Ring-"
"Hello?"
"Kat? How are you doing? You haven't called like you said you would!"
I recognized the voice instantly. It was the worried voice of my mom.
"I'm sorry mom," I apologized, "I haven't had much time to call."
That was a lie. I had had plenty of time to call my mom, but I didn't want to. I was afraid that if I heard her voice I would lose my will and start crying out of homesickness. That hadn't happened yet though. So far so good.
"Oh. What's kept my daughter busy?"
"Um…" I began, quickly thinking of something that I could say. "I've been busy exploring and making new friends."
"Oh, that's great!" My mom exclaimed. "Tell me about your new friends."
"I'd- I'd love to, but I'm busy now," I stuttered.
"Oh, really? What-"
"I have to go mom, I'll write you, bye." I slammed the phone back in its receiver, and thudded down on my bed.
I didn't mind lying. But lying to my mom wasn't my most favorite thing to do. In fact, it left a sour taste in my mouth.
After realizing I was done for the night, I decided to go to bed.
_Forget about getting into more comfortable clothes,_ I thought to myself. _I'll just sleep in what I'm wearing._
I could hear the wind whistling outside of my window. It ran its fingers through the pine needles, which caused me to shudder.
"Fine," I groaned, "There's no way I could go back to sleep, thanks to you." I muttered.
It was a little past seven a.m., and I could hear a storm brewing outside. I could already tell today was going to be rough.
I got out of my comfy, warm bed that was calling for me stay, and walked downstairs. I decided to get something to eat, so I opened up the refrigerator and looked inside. It was empty. Of course. I had eaten the rest of my food yesterday.
I glanced out the closest window, and I could see the pine trees fighting against the strong wind and the hard cold rain.
I weighed my options. I could go outside and get soaked, or stay in my cramped house and starve. Both were about the same, so I decided to be risky and get wet.
After digging through my suitcase for a few minutes to find a raincoat, I was ready to go.
I pulled open the old, creaky door. Instantly I got soaked as if I had jumped into a lake. My raincoat wasn't as invincible as I thought.
It was too late to go back inside unscarred, so I gritted my teeth and plunged forward through the forest, wind, and rain.
A few minutes later, I reached the edge of the forest. Little did I know how bad the storm really was.
As I took my first step out of the forest, I almost fell over. The wind was at least twice as strong as it was in the forest, and there was a curtain of rain so dense that I couldn't even see the river, and the river was only about ten yards away!
I stumbled forward, unable to see where I was going. _Please don't let me fall in the river, please…_
Ahead of me there was a break in the rain, and I could make out a house and the bridge that crossed the river.
I surged forward, trying to reach the bridge before it disappeared again.
"Whoa!" As soon as I stepped onto the wooden planks, coldness plunged through my shoe and grabbed my foot.
I took a step back, surprised. The river must be overflowing! Meaning… it covered the bridge!
I tested the wooden bridge, taking a step onto it again. I could barely hear it groan over the howling wind, but I figured it would be ok to cross.
I walked across the bridge; the river water swirling around my ankles, trying to persuade me to join it.
The moment after I stepped back onto solid land, I heard a loud crack. I twirled around to see what had happened, and I was shocked to find that one of the planks had broken and was swallowed up by the river!
"Close call," I mumbled to myself, continuing on my journey through the sheets of rain and gusts of wind.
Fifteen minutes late, I had no idea where I was.
The storm hadn't eased up, and I thought I was beginning to get frostbite. I couldn't feel my toes, and my fingers were becoming numb. My teeth chattered, and I desperately wanted to get out of the cold.
"Kat? Is that you?"
I raised my head and squinted. I could barely make out a figure. Was it one of my brothers?
"Kat!" The figure came closer and closer, and I could tell it wasn't human. It was Nikita, the hedgehog I had met the other day. She carried an umbrella, and wore a yellow rain coat that was buttoned up.
"Kat, come on, we have to get you inside." She grabbed my arm, and began hauling me away. _I guess we're friends now,_ I thought to myself.
3. Chapter 3
Warm water rushed over my frozen feet. It swirled around in the bathtub, and I could feel my feet coming back to life. I sighed in contentment, and that was when Nikita spoke up. I had forgotten she was there.
"How long were you out there?"
I reviewed all that had happened since I walked out of the door to my house. I was probably out there for… "Maybe twenty minutes?"
"Wow. Why were you out there in the first place?"
"I was going to the food store to buy food."
"Oh." Nikita giggled. "You have a lot to learn about how this town functions."
"Really? What do you mean by that?" I raised my eyebrows.
Nikita moved to turn off the water that was flowing into the bathtub. "Well… it's hard to explain. Are your feet ok?"
I wiggled my toes. "Yep."
"Good. Here's a towel you can dry your feet with," she handed me a soft yellow towel, "and after that we can talk in the living room and wait for the storm to let up."
I nodded, and Nikita left the bathroom.
After drying my feet, I set the towel next to the sink and as I was walking out, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
My hair was still wet, but in some places it escaped my ponytail and stood up randomly. I didn't bother to try to fix it though, because I knew it wouldn't help.
I was borrowing one of Nikita's shirts, since mine was soaked with rain water. It was an orange cotton t-shirt. It fit me perfectly, and I wanted to keep it. The sleeves were short, and not too tight, and the neck was loose. I loved it. I just loved it.
"Kat?"
"Yeah, I'm coming," I answered, walking out of the bathroom and finding my way to the living room.
Nikita's living room was beautiful; at least that's what I thought. It was bright and colorful, with items ranging from flowers to a cabin couch. I adored it, and was about to tell the owner of the room that when she spoke up.
"Have you met all the villagers yet?"
"No, I don't think so," I replied, plopping down on the cabin couch beside the her.
"Well, after this storm lets up, I'll introduce you to all the villagers."
"No, really, that's ok-" I protested. Nikita cut me off.
"Everyone in this town is nice, and besides, you need know everyone in town if you're going to live here."
I sighed, giving in. "Ok, if you insist. I wouldn't want to trouble you."
Nikita stood up, smoothing out her white blouse she was wearing. "No, it's not a problem. Now if you will excuse me," she began striding towards the kitchen, "I'm going to make some hot chocolate for us."
I smiled politely as she disappeared into another room. As soon as she was gone, I began scanning the objects scattered around her living room. A few framed pictures caught my eye, and I decided to walk over and check them out.
The first picture was of a girl hedgehog sitting in the grass with a male eagle. Both were grinning, and the eagle was waving to whoever was taking the picture. I figured they must be friends since both animals looked too young to be boyfriend- girlfriend.
The second picture was held by a wooden black frame. The frame matched the picture, because it fit with the green color of the grass. Two animals were sitting under a tree, both of them hedgehogs. I could tell that the one on the right was Nikita because of her soft brown fur, but I had no idea who the other hedgehog could be. He was a male, with spiky black fur and spines that were smoothed back in a particular way that made him look almost… cute. Nikita had her paw over his paw, and both hedgehogs had a smile on their face, but a different kind from before. These smiles were… tearful, as if the hedgehogs would be yanked away from each other forever.
The last picture took place inside a house. This time only the hedgehog with black fur was in the picture. He was laying on the couch, his body sprawled out across the entire thing. His eyes were closed, and he was in a sleeping position with a pillow propping his head. I could barely make out a metal pendant on the shape of a…
"Kat?"
I spun around, surprised by Nikita, who was standing in the doorway. "I… I didn't see you there…" I stammered, realizing that my new friend might _not_ want me looking at what I thought were personal pictures.
"Here's your hot chocolate." The hedgehog gave a warm smile, offering me a mug. I gave a small sigh, relieved that she didn't seem to mind.
"Thanks." I took the mug and drank the hot, sweet, chocolaty liquid inside. We sat on the couch and talked, waiting for the rain to stop. It did, but only early evening.
**I'm thinking about deleting this story... review and comment if you don't want me to!**
4. Chapter 4
The world was darkening when I left. The rain had stopped, but the gray, threatening clouds still loomed overhead. Nikita and I had agreed to meet the next day, presuming that it wasn't raining too hard. If it wasn't, we were going to go to the city, and she would show me where she worked.
I pondered over these things as I walked home. Today had been a huge step for me ever since I moved here, because I had made a new definite friend. I had gotten to know Nikita well during the five hours I spent at her house.
Nikita lived in a bigger town when she was a kid, but moved here once she was old enough to. She had two sisters and one brother, all three who were younger than her. The second oldest was Spike, who was two years younger than Nikita. And the two youngest siblings were the twins, Flower and Blossom. Nikita had explained how loving both girls were, but how rowdy they could be. Nikita hated to leave them when she moved out, but she needed her own space, her own life. She moved to Deep Grass, which was a great town, so things turned out good.
Nikita also loved to sew things. When she was twelve years old, she begun making her first dress. The hedgehog had gone through pattern and pattern, and it had taken two months just to find a pattern that she had liked. After that, things got slightly easier. Now it was only trial and error to make things work. In the end, the product was a neon blue, spaghetti strap dress that fit her to this day.
I smiled at the thought. Nikita had shown me the dress, and I found it hard to believe that she had made it. It was good enough to be something that Gracie herself could have designed. And the hedgehog had only been twelve years old! If I had to, I was betting the few bells I had that Nikita would become the next Gracie Grace.
In the dim light, I could make out my puny house hiding in the trees. It was going to seem so small compared to Nikita's house.
Just as I approached the front door and was about to open it, I noticed a shred of damp paper sticking out of my mailbox.
Curious, I pulled open the red flap to my mailbox and pulled two pieces of paper out. Then I slid inside my house, which was conveniently unlocked.
Inside, it was dark, and I stumbled around in the shadows, searching for my lamp light. After a few long minutes I found it, and I also banged my shin on the range.
"This had better be worth it," I muttered, settling onto the wooden floorboards and unfolding the two pieces of paper.
The paper that was on top was an ad, with bright colorful lettering that was persuading me to buy… paintings.
A painter named Wendell was coming to Deep Grass in three days, and he was going to be selling his paintings in front of the town hall, but only if the weather was good. The cheapest painting was… five thousand bells! I told myself I wouldn't go, I had to finish paying off my house loan… but how could I resist? The few pictures on the flyer were so pretty, so astounding, that I had to look! Before I could contemplate the idea any further, I put the flyer aside, and looked at the other paper.
The second paper was a letter from Tom Nook, saying that we still had to figure out payment plans for my house. I sighed, and tossed the paper aside, getting up and stomping my way to my bedroom where I laid in bed, dreaming about how great the next day was going to be.
End file.
| Animal Crossing | Fanfiction | null | 16,397 | 11,784.7 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Calm, Cool Skylar
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, games, or items in Animal Crossing. However, I do own the characters of Captain Eddie and his crew. I would also like to point out that in the game, my town name is mewzic and my name is schuyler. I have decided to capitalize the town name, making the story more understandable. Also, I have chosen to rename the main character Skylar, because too many people were pronouncing schuyler "shoe-ler."
Chapter 1: Calm, Cool Skylar
It all started with the letter Cube received from Timmy. Skylar was walking over to his house on that particular breezy May day, walking over the green hills, humming to herself and thinking about a rumor that was going around. Word on the street said Katrina was coming to town. She remembered how Katrina had read Cube's fortune last time, and he had started tripping all the time. Though Cube was not amused, Skylar thought it was quite amusing. Then Cube got really mad at her for laughing at him, and had given her the silent treatment for a week, tripping every time he walked. They had patched things up the next week. Skylar smiled in remembrance.
The long walk all the way from Belle's house had made Skylar tired, so she stopped at her house to take a rest for a moment. She glanced at her favorite NES game, Excitebike, and decided like in Mewzic would be much more fun if there was a motorcycle competition. It would be in the spring, she decided. Suddenly, her front door opened, and she stood up from the blue chair she had been sitting in.
"I told you to meet me at my house!" Cube said, frustrated. His neighbor's habit of taking time to think things out - or "meditate", as she called it - bothered him. He wasn't impatient, he just thought it was useless to think things out, since things never go the way you plan anyway. Whenever he told her this, she would laugh and call him, "dopey." Cube did like the way she was always calm, cool, and collected. She rarely ever got angry, and was a pacifist.
"So, come on!" he said. "I've got to show you something, d-d-dude." He started towards the door, then turned back to see Skylar sitting there, her chin resting in her hand. He sighed. "Come on," he said again.
"What do you have to show me?" Skylar asked. "I hope it's not a surprise," she added. "You know I don't like surprises. It was true. She didn't like surprises. Cube thought this was mostly because surprises sometimes turn out bad, but she just liked to expect something before it came. She knew if she told Cube this, he wouldn't understand, his mind being "simple," as she liked to describe it."
"I got a letter," Cube said hurriedly. "An interesting one?" Skylar inquired, one eyebrow raised, her chin still resting in her hand. "Darn it, d-d-dude. Yes!" Cube said, throwing his penguin wings in the air. "From who?" Skylar asked, seeming uninterested.
"Timmy Nook," Cube declared. Skylar sat up straight. "Timmy? But he never writes letters. His dad does all the flyers for his shop, but I've never seen Timmy write anything." Well, well, Skylar mused. This was interesting.
"Well, he wrote me something." "A flyer?" "No, a letter, d-d-dude." Skylar stood up. After brushing her pants off, she started towards the door. "Okay. Let's go," she said calmly, wondering what Timmy could have possibly written.
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Yes, it is a short first chapter, but it is only the beginning! I will add chapter two shortly. I hope you will enjoy my fanfic, as it is my first one.
2. Timmy's Information
Disclaimer: Remember, I do not own any of these characters, items, or games that are related to Animal Crossing. They are all owned by Nintendo. Remember that now!
Chapter 2: Timmy's Information
"Come on!" Cube beckoned to Skylar, already across the bridge and almost into acre B-5. But Skylar still strolled along behind him, even pausing to breath in the fresh fragrance of the red tulips that grew by the river.
"Oh, will you hurry up, d-d-dude!" Cube snapped. "What's your problem?" Skylar grinned. "Can't a girl take her time? You know what they say; slow and steady wins the race." She crossed the wooden bridge, her feet thumping against the wood. After crossing, she paused to pick a purple pansy. She held it up to her nose, and inhaled deeply. A ladybug flew off of one of the flower's petals, brushing against Skylar's face and flying away. Skylar didn't seem surprised. A wind blew, blowing her hair to the side, and Cube had to admit, she looked, well, compassionate.
"Grr!" Cube growled, and he approached her, grabbing her arm, and dragging her after him. "Geez, Cube, what's your hurry?" she asked, annoyed. "Well, if we get there, I can tell you!" Cube proceeded to drag Skylar across the rest of the acre. There, in the northwest corner of acre B-5, was him home. He pushed her through the door, and shut it. He than proceeded to go through a huge pile of papers on the white-and-black checkered floor, surrounded by stationary, pens, pencils, and markers.
"I see you're finally getting around to checking your mail," Skylar mused. Cube didn't reply. He kept on searching through his papers. Even through all that mess, it only took him a few seconds to find what he was looking for. He then shoved a piece of simple paper in her face. She grabbed it. Searching the pocket on her red grid shirt, she took out her reading glasses and read the letter.
Cube, I have information you may find very exciting. Meet me behind Nook 'N' Go at midnight. Bring only one other person with you. Timmy Nook
Skylar reread the paper. She felt adrenaline begin to take over, and started jumping up and down. Then, closing her eyes, she counted backwards from twenty. When she felt she was sufficiently calmed down, she looked up at Cube.
"So, ah, who are you taking?" Skylar asked, very well knowing the answer. "You, of course!" Cube replied. "I wonder what 'exciting information' Timmy has," Skylar said out loud. "He never writes letters. Never." "I know," Cube nodded solemnly. The two were silent for the next few moments.
"Well, I guess I'll meet you here at 11:30 tonight. Don't fall asleep!" Skylar reminded him with a grin. Her friend had a habit of falling asleep, even outside. Only last month had Skylar gone for an evening jog and found Cube, who had fallen asleep standing up outside his front door. She had shaken him awake, as she always did.
"If I do, wake me up, d-d-dude!!" Cube begged. Skylar laughed. "Don't I always?" Then she was quiet. Cube's house was silent for a moment, then- "Do you remember that time you fell asleep with that fish dangling half out of your mouth?" They both cracked up. "And- and Monique came by and thought for some reason I was a zombie!" This made them both laugh harder. "And then-" Skylar paused, taking in a quick breath, "And then she ran screaming about zombies and woke up half the town!" Cube fell over laughing. "And- and then Officer Cooper-" he began, but he was laughing so hard, he couldn't finish. "Had to arrest both you and her for disturbing the peace!" Skylar laughed. Cube stopped laughing. He sat up. "And then we had to pay a fine," he said. "Oh, but it was a SMALL fine." Skylar reassured him. "It was 400 bells, d-d-dude!!" Cube protested. "Anyway, I've got to go meet Mathilda and go fishing," Cube told her. "See ya!" Cube grabbed his fishing pole and left, just like that.
Skylar left, closing the front door behind her, and, not feeling quite ready to go home, strolled over to Dora's house. She spent the rest of the day afternoon talking to Dora, and in the evening went home and played Tennis on her NES.
It was much later when she looked at her clock. 10:30. It was time to get ready. She changed into black jeans and a black spaghetti-strap shirt, and got out her flashlight. She was ready. She glanced at her glow clock. 11:00. She set out, and figuring she had at least fifteen more minutes before she had to head over there, so she found an apple tree a few acres away and shook it. As the apples fell off the tree, she sat down against the tree and ate two in the dark. Afterwards, she glanced at her glow-in- the-dark watch. She could turn the glow on or off as she pleased. It was 11:15. It was time.
She tiptoed across the wooden bridge, trying to make as little noise as possible. When she reached Cube's house, she knocked quietly on the door. Cube answered it. "Glad to see you didn't fall asleep," Skylar grinned. "I set my alarm clock and took a nap after I got back from fishing," Cube told her. She almost laughed, but then remembered it would wake up the neighbors, so she kept quiet.
They approached Nook 'N' Go. They saw a lamp hidden within the grass at the side of the store. They headed towards it. Behind the store, in the shade of a tree, stood Timmy Nook. Although Timmy didn't actually work at his father's shop, he helped move the boxes and shipping and stuff.
Timmy beckoned for them to come. They scrambled towards him. "What's up?" he said softly, half-grinning in the lamplight. "Rien de spécial," Skylar replied. "Nothing much here, either d-d-dude," Cube agreed. "Nothing except for the fact we got a letter from you and we're meeting here secretly at night, because you said you have some exciting news for us to hear." Cube grinned. "Nothing out of the ordinary, huh?" Timmy replied with a wink. "Well, anyway, listen to this, this is so cool!" "What?" Skylar asked. "Shut up and listen!" "Yes sir, Captain Nook, sir!"
"Anyway, like I was trying to say, Tortimer told Porter a story, who told it to my Dad, who told it to me. Apparently, there's an old silver mine somewhere in this town! But, it's in the uncharted areas. Like, around acre B-14, E-17. Way far away!" Timmy was obviously excited. "Anyway, the reason they closed down the mine is. it was haunted."
"Haunted?" Cube said. Skylark saw him visibly start to shake. "Yeah, haunted," Timmy said, unfazed. "So, anyway, there was a landslide, and a boulder sealed up the entrance, and they thought, heck, just leave it there, after all, the mine is haunted! But there was still lots of silver in there!" Timmy was jumping up and down now. "So, we can go and camp there, and-"
"Hold on!" Skylark interrupted. "You are saying that there is a lost silver mine many acres away, and you want us to go with you to search for it?"
"Yes!" Timmy squeaked happily. "But why don't you bring Tommy?" Skylar asked. Timmy stopped bouncing up and down. "He's got the flu," he told her. "Everyone in the village knows that, Skylar. There were flyers passed out. Everyone wrote him a thank you card," Cube told her. "Maybe I didn't get the memo," Skylar murmured. She turned back to Timmy. "Listen, if we are going to do this, we are going to need to get a lot of questions answered. Cube and I are going to make a list of questions, and you will answer them. Kapeesh?" "'Kay" Timmy agreed happily.
After a good ten minutes thinking up questions, Cube and Skylar were satisfied with their list. "Alright, Timmy. First of all, we want the whole story on this silver mine."
"Oh, well, I don't really know. But my dad knows all about it," Timmy answered cheerily. "He can tell us everything we need to know."
"Okay, then." Skylar checked the list again. "How long will we be camping and how will we get there and get back?" She asked, looking up to see Timmy's face as he answered. "We'll camp as long as we need to, I guess," he said doubtfully. As for the transportation to and from the campsite, my dad will take care of that.
Skylar and Cube exchanged glances. This wasn't helping. "Okay, next question," Skylar continued. "Do you sleep with a. teddy. bear.? CUBE!!!" Cube laughed, and Skylar socked him. Then Cube turned to Timmy. "Well, do you?" he asked with a grin. Timmy shook his head. They laughed. Skylar punched Timmy good-naturedly.
"Alright, I'm sold," Cube said. "We don't know where we're going, when we're going, how long we're going, or even what to do when we get there. Great conditions, don't you think?" "Perfect," Skylar laughed. "We're in. On one condition." Cube looked at her quizzically. "What?" Asked the ever- excited Timmy Nook. "We bring Tommy too. Can't we wait until he's over his flu? Anyway, four people have a better chance of finding a lost silver mine than three."
"Alright." Timmy Nook agreed. Meet me at my dad's shop at noon. Deal?" Cube and Skylar looked at each other. "Deal," they said.
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Well, that chapter was a lot longer than chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it! : )
3. The Tanuki Box
Chapter 3: The Tanuki Box
"Hey Dad," Timmy greeted as he stepped into his father's shop. "Ho ho, hello, son," Tom Nook welcomed Timmy and his friends. "What brings you here?" "Well," Cube began, "this is a store, after all." Skylar laughed. She quickly regained her composure. With a serious look on her face, she said, "Mr. Nook, we were hoping you could tell us the legend of that old silver mine that's supposed to be near town."
"Near town? Ho ho! My child, I can tell you-" "Don't call me that," Skylar interrupted. "Fine. Anyway, it's not near. It's over half a dozen acres away! It's closer to Amyville than Mewzic, really. In fact, when the silver mine was first discovered, there was a big fight over which town it belonged to. See, it was closer to Amyville, but it was a villager from Mewzic who had discovered it." "Ohh," Cube said, staring softly at the wall. Skylar nudged him. "What??" Cube looked up, seemingly surprised to see them there.
"You were about to fall asleep again," Skylar told him. Timmy and his father stared at Cube like he had done something weird, concern in both pairs of eyes. "Er. He does that sometimes," Skylar told them. "I see." Nook's voice faded off. Timmy tried to say something, but his voice cracked. Cube was blushing, and he turned away.
After a few minutes, Tom Nook opened his mouth. "I see," he said, then, "ho ho! Timmy, fetch this penguin and his young friend-" "I'm not young. After all, I live on my own," Skylar retorted, hands on her hips. "Of course," Tom Nook replied dryly, seemingly annoyed. But then he rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. "Timmy, fetch them the Tanuki Box!"
"The Tanuki Box?" Skylar and Cube said together. They exchanged glances. Skylar looked at Mr. Nook warily. Timmy brought out a medium-sized bright blue box with small golden stars painted on it.
"TA DAAA!!!!" Tom Nook cried, his hands above his head. "This is a fabulous Tanuki Box! Rare and, unfortunately, a tad expensive! Only 4,000 bells, and this box is yours!" He leaned toward the pair and raised and lowered his eyebrows, causing Cube to back up more until he fell on top of the counter, knocking stationary to the ground.
"Uh, sir?" Cube started, "What is a Tanuki Box?" Skylar helped him on his feet, and then turned to Nook.
"Not A Tanuki Box. Ho ho, this is THE Tanuki Box!" Mr. Nook exclaimed with a wide grin. Skylar put her hands on her hips. "And what does this 'Tanuki Box' do?" "I'm glad you asked," Tom Nook said. "Alright, have you ever heard of coon hunting?" Cube's eyes opened wide, and Skylar's jaw dropped in horror. "Cannibal!" Cube shouted, and they both ducked behind the shopping carts. Tom Nook sweatdropped.
"Oh, no no no, ho ho! Raccoons did not do coon hunting. It was done by coonhounds, and HUMANS-" Mr. Nook glared at Skylar. "-With guns." Skylar held up her hands. "I don't own any guns," she said with a cool attitude. "Yeah," Cube agreed.
"Hmph. Well, ho ho. Fine. But there are those who do hunt raccoons. And in this box are contained all the screams of all the raccoons that ever died by a hunters gun or a coonhounds bite."
"...Tanuki?" Cube asked. "Tanuki. Raccoon in Japanese." "Oh." "Anyway," Timmy piped in, "It'll keep you awake, no matter what. Just open the box-" He opened it. A shrill scream was heard. "-And you won't fall asleep."
"As I said, it's 4,000 bells," Tom Nook coolly, looking at his claws. "But you look like you really need it, so I guess I could-"
"How much?" Cube said eagerly. "3,200 bells." "Hold on. Let me go home and grab some money." Zoom! Cube was gone.
"......So, uh, how's Tommy doing?" Skylar said idly. "He's still got the flu," Timmy explained. "Oh, that's too bad." Skylar scuffed up the floor with one sneaker, looking at the floor. "You want to see him?" Timmy asked. Skylar nodded. "Um, that would be nice, I guess." Skylar was still looking at the floor. Tom Nook was attending the carts behind the counter. "Kay, follow me."
"Her name's not Kay! It's Skylar!" Monique said, entering the shop, followed by Coco. "I meant." Timmy started. "Who cares what you meant? Her name's Skylar, okay?" Monique said, throwing her arms up into the air. Timmy fell back a bit.
"Hey Coco, what's up?" Skylar greeted her, glad to be saved to petty idle conversation. "Nothing much," the rabbit said, shrugging. "I read a really good magazine that Mathilda lent me. You might want to read it sometime."
"Cool, what was it called?" Skylar asked. "Kangaroo Fanfictions." "Cool. Maybe I'll ask her if I can borrow it for the camping trip."
"Camping trip? You're going camping?" Monique turned around and walked a few steps towards her. "Yeah. Cube, Timmy, and I. We're going searching for a lost silver mine."
"Wow! A lost silver mine!?" Monique exclaimed. "That is sooooooo cool! I hope you find it!" She paused for a second, then added in a whisper, "I want one block of silver." "Deal," Skylar whispered back, and the two laughed. Across the store, Timmy thought the seemingly maniacal laughter was bizarre.
"Er... I'm going to the back to get a drink of water." Timmy backed away slowly, then turned away and scrambled through the back door, into storage room.
The storage room was as large as Nook 'N' Go, with a concrete floor. It was damp in there. Water dripped from the ceiling. Soggy boxes filled with unsold merchandise and even a few boxes of special things the Nook family had saved over the years. Timmy picked up a faded photograph in a rusty golden frame. With one claw he wiped away some of the dust. The picture was of a female tanuki, wearing a melon tartan and wearing a pink bow on top of her head. She was standing in a grassy place, winking with an open smile on her face, and holding a basket brimming with purple pansies in one hand. "Mom." Timmy said. "Mom, I miss you. Don't worry. Tommy says it will be all right, and I trust my big brother." Timmy put down the picture frame. He went to the back of the room, where there was a water cooler and a stack on small plastic cups. He quickly filled a cup up with cold water, and took his time drinking it. The cool liquid poured down his throat. "Ahh," he said, wiping his mouth and throwing the cup away into a small trash can next to the cooler. Then he started back towards the store area of the building.
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Sorry it took me a couple weeks to get this up. I wasn't sure how to make this meeting go. And still, there are only a few important details in this chapter. What did Tommy mean everything would be okay, though? You will find out!
4. Timmy is Tommy
…_Ok, so maybe when I put up the "on hold" disclaimer in the summary, I thought I was really discontinuing this fic. I had lost some of the ideas and the beginnings on chapter 4 on a disk which became corrupted, saddening me greatly. I never really thought I'd be continuing this story 3 years later. O.O It's kind of miraculous, when you think about it._
_So, just a few notes: I'm trying to keep my writing style close to what it was originally, 3 years ago. Although I think it's a bit sedate in places, I'll just go with it. Overall, it's not bad, but not "wow." However, I think suddenly writing in a totally new style would kind of make this fic a little weird for people who may start reading it now. So I'll try to keep it sedate. Yes, sedate. I'll try not to embellish it too much. _
_Anyway, this is the chapter where things start to happen. Have fun with the intrigue. : P_
_What kind of saddens me is that it has been three years, and I STILL don't own Animal Crossing. Bummer._
_-Skylar_
Chapter 4: Timmy is Tommy
Monique and Coco quickly selected their articles—a tartan shirt for Coco, and some panda stationary for Monique—and left. Skylar shivered. She trusted the owner of the store, but she didn't like being all alone with him. The habit he had of blocking your way when you were standing in the doorway irked her. It seemed like something a bully or shady figure would do. She was relieved when a young tanuki entered the store from a back room.
"Hi Skylar!" Timmy coughed loudly. Skylar looked toward him in concern.
"Tommy…?" she wondered.
"Of course it's me," Timmy lied sedately. "Can't you tell?"
Skylar gave him a rather bizarre look. "You look like a carbon copy of your brother," she explained.
"Oh."
"Where's Timmy?" she wondered.
"He's preparing my medicine."
"Oh." Skylar craned her neck towards Nook, who was neatening up some items in the corner. "So, um, are you going to come with us on the camping trip?"
'Tommy' nodded. "Of course!" he said, trying to smile. It was hard, Timmy thought, to judge whether his smile looked fake or not, unless he was looking in a mirror. Skylar seemed to buy it well enough.
"You look kind of tired," she commented, and Timmy cheered inside his head.
"I am feeling a bit bushed," he answered. "Flu, you know." He added, defensively: "You didn't write me a thank-you card."
"I didn't know," Skylar said before she apologized.
"I sent out flyers…"
"My mailbox must've been full," she said guiltily. Then she changed the subject to something a little more serious. "Are you going to be well enough to go camping?"
Timmy shrugged. "We don't know when we're going, so I'll probably be better by then."
"Whenever then is." Skylar laughed. At that moment a bumbling penguin slammed into the see-through door. At that moment, Timmy made a big point of coughing exaggeratedly to point out his 'illness,' so Skylar did not hear the thud as Cube fell to the ground, nor the shouted complaints Cube directed towards the door.
"Ow…" Timmy touched his chest. "I feel sick…"
Skylar's eyes flashed with compassion. "Well, you go back and take your medicine and rest, okay?" She smiled at him. "Just send Timmy out when you're done."
"Ok," Timmy agreed. He went back into the storage room, just as Cube waddled safely into the shop.
"Bye Tommy!" Cube chirruped. Timmy waved and shut the door. "Nook, I want to buy the Tanuki Box now, d-d-dude."
The large 'coon cleared his throat. "Very good! Very good! That will be 4,000 bells."
Skylar stared at the door that 'Tommy' had exited through for a moment, then outside at the dark acre, her eyes flittering across the white tulips and purple pansies, while her best friend flailed and accused Nook of being unfair.
"You did say that he could have it for 3,200 bells," she said when her opinion was asked of her.
"Surely I would not have bargained down to such a low price!" Nook defended fiercely. "3,500 bells and it's yours."
"How about 3,300?" Skylar asked absentmindedly, and Cube agreed. Nook adamantly denied this.
"I guess I don't need the box then…" Cube sighed.
Skylar turned to him. "You really wanted that silly box?" she laughed. Nook's brow twitched. "Who wants a box that screams every time you open it anyway?"
"Alright!" Nook shouted. "3,350 bells."
"Sweet, d-d-dude!" said Cube.
"Actually, 3,351 bells," Nook added hastily. The penguin shrugged, and handed the tanuki a few bags of bells. After Nook and Cube had completed the transaction, Nook politely told him that they had to leave.
"The shop should've closed hours ago," he explained. "Timmy will contact the two of you when you figure out when we'll be leaving…"
"Are you coming as well?" Skylar inquired. Nook shrugged.
"I might," he said simply. "But then, how would I make money while my two sons are out on the greatest adventures of their lives?"
"That's true," said Skylar. "Uhm, so Timmy isn't coming out? Tommy said that he would…"
Nook nodded, then shook his head. "No, no. Timmy's busy taking good care of his brother. You two run along."
"Ok, d-d-dude," Cube said. Skylar and Cube both said farewell and then exited the shop.
"That was kind of cold," Cube expressed when the two of them were an acre away, tip-toeing quietly past the house of a sleeping neighbor.
"Well, it must be grueling, running a shop all day," Skylar sympathized. "I mean, can you think of how sleep-deprived Mr. Nook would be if Nook 'N Go was a 24 hour store?"
Cube flailed. "I'm sure it could work somehow!" he declared, and Skylar shushed him, pointing out that it was much too late to be yelling.
"Sorry, d-d-dude" Cube apologized. Skylar shrugged and explained that it wasn't her she was offending.
"You don't want to wake up Monique," Skylar teased. "Even though you don't have a fish in your mouth, you look tired enough to be a zombie, anyway."
"No way!" Cube argued. "I'm the sun boy! But don't tell anybody."
Skylar shut her mouth. She didn't have the heart to tell her best friend that she'd been told this by at least three other buffoons in town, and even by a few that she'd visited in other towns.
"And I'm full of energy!" Cube continued. "It's because I work out, d-d-dude! I bet I could go to the Wishing Well right now and do a dance, and the sun would come up."
"Actually," Skylar said quietly, staring at a fish's shadow in the dark creek, "the sun comes up because the Earth is actually rotating—turning itself around, you know? So the sun is on the other side of the Earth side now, and when it's daylight over here, it's nighttime over there."
Cube looked at her in awe as they made their way over the bridge, their dull footfalls making a lot of noise. A light went on in the acre below them. They quickly scampered across towards Cube's house, and the orange trees next to it that were in Skylar's backyard.
"Where'd you learn that?" Cube asked softly, clearly impressed.
Skylar shrugged. "My hometown. We had a good school."
"Oh." Cube thought for a minute. "Wait a second…! There's no way that could be possible! You're making it all up, Skylar!"
Skylar grinned. "It's true!" she insisted.
"But if the Earth is spinning like you say it is, why aren't we all falling down?"
"Because it's spinning really, really fast."
"So why aren't we falling down really, really fast."
"Gravity."
"What's that?"
"A lesson for another day," Skylar said, reaching out to shake one of the orange trees behind her house. Three plump oranges fell to the ground. She picked two up, scarfing one down and offering the other to Cube. Her penguin friend shook his head.
"I'm tired," he said, "and now my head hurts." He glared at Skylar. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"'Kay. Bye!"
5. KK Playtime
"I've got a new jam for you tonight," Totakeke told one of his listeners. "It's called K.K. Playtime. Here it goes!"
Totakeke's fingers whirred across his guitar, and he howled:
"_Cube had thought that Timmy's letter
__would make his boring life much better,
__but his hopes of excitement became meek
__after Skylar and he waited their first week.
__But still Cube checked in everyday
__to see if news had come their way.
__Skylar came too, along for the ride,
__calm about the hopes that she housed inside.
__But sometime between the third week and the fourth,
__Nook held a raffle and she won something of worth:
__A NES game with Wario! She was excited.
__She invited Cube over and through efforts united
__they played until they were quite sleep-deprived
__and then slept 'til the bags had fled from under their eyes.
__When they got over the game, they took up a net
__and bagged as many bugs as they could get.
__This was great fun 'til they found a hive in a tree.
__Poor Cube was battle stung, but the bees got off scot-free,
__so fishing soon became the name of the game
__and the two found themselves at the beach in the rain
__Wrestling with a shadow larger than Cube's wing.
__But the large fish got away so they came to see me sing.
__And they spent the next few months in the same fashion,
__flitting from fad to fad, passion to passion.
__They even went to an island a time or two!
__Even though Kap'n's singing made them quite blue.
__At least twice a week they'd converse quietly
__about the adventure that seemed never to be.
__But with patience of steel they held out with hope
__(though Cube claimed hitting 'Nique with a net helped him cope,)
__And though the promise of adventure wasn't far from their minds,
__they had fishing and pitfalls to occupy the time.
__Until one brisk day in autumn Skylar was wasting the good weather
__inside with her NES game, when she received a letter… _
_AROO!"_
The villager clapped politely. Totakeke threw up his huge eyebrows and grinned. "Let me give you the aircheck to that, man! The AIRCHECK! It's the recording, man!"
The villager declined rather hastily and left to leave poor Totakeke to angst over his deadening career.
6. A Broken Tree
It was a great day. The sun was shining, the fish were swarming, and fat, large bugs were everywhere. All of the fruit in town were ripe, and a sapling in front of Nook's establishment was now full-grown. For the nature lover, everything was perfect for relaxation and peaceful fishing or bug collecting.
For the materialistic, today also had a lot of appeal; one could find multiple items in the dump, lots of findings in the Lost and Found, and a sale at Nook N Go. (Not that any of those places yielded quality items…) It was a suitable day for shopping, dumpster diving and "reclaiming" stuff that wasn't yours in the first place.
That being said, both Skylar and Monique had been wasting the day indoors anyway.
"It's my turn," Monique purred, and Skylar handed her the controller. Monique scooted closer to the screen. "This Balloon Fight game is lots of fun, okay," she said, "even if we had to sneak into Kitty's house to play it."
Skylar chuckled. She knew Kitty very well and was sure that Kitty wouldn't be checking up on her house anytime soon.
"That's human's so weird," Monique complained. "She hasn't written me a single letter in like, four months, okay?"
"Okay," Skylar answered. And then: "No! Look out for the--!"
Monique groaned as the balloon popped on the screen, and the small character floated downwards to their presumable doom. "Oh no!" she hissed. "Can I take another turn?"
Skylar shrugged. "Okay." Outside, she heard the ringing of the bell signaling the changing of the hour. The Mewzic song echoed throughout the entire town.
"Someone should change that tune," Monique complained. Skylar was listening for the flapping of wings. She heard them.
"Pete's here," she announced joyously. Monique snorted.
"There's not going to be anything to me from Kitty," she squealed. Skylar nodded sympathetically, and then stood up and jogged toward the door. "Where are you going, okay?"
"I'm just going to check my mail," she answered. She quickly went outside. Usually Skylar took her time with everything, but this time she wanted to see Pete.
"Hi Pete!" she called to the pelican before he rushed off. The mail bird turned around.
"Oh, hi!" he replied. "What's up?"
"Nothing. You still in love with Phyllis?"
Pete sighed wistfully. "Yeah…"
Skylar gave him a large grin. "Gross" was what she was thinking as she imagined the mail bird trying to woo the world's crabbiest (and arguably ugliest) mail clerk. "Ah, well. In a few months you can give her a Valentine's day card!" she told him.
"…Last year she threw it away in the 'bill' pile of all her mail," Pete said sadly. Skylar, though kind-hearted, had trouble imagining Phyllis getting _any _mail. "But I know that it was just an accident. After all, the other mail girl got a letter and was ecstatic—"
"You work with her and you don't even know her name?" Skylar interrupted. "Oops, sorry. That was rude."
"That's alright. No, I don't know her name. Why is it important? What really matters in that Phyllis is there in the evenings!" Pete beamed. Skylar's stomach churned.
"Oh, well, okay. Did I get any mail?" she inquired. Pete nodded.
"Some stuff from your mom, and a flyer from Nook and some other stuff," he told her. Skylar smiled and thanked the bird, then watched him as he took off. She checked her mailbox, her gyroid going nuts in the meantime merely at the fact that she was there. She checked her mail. As promised, there were two letters from her mom, and a letter from Cube, and one from Coco. In addition to Nook N Go's daily flyer, there was also a message from Timmy. She ripped that one open first.
Skylar, Tommy and I are ready for our adventure! There's no real need for us to meet, so just pack your bags! One suitcase at the most, please—you can buy them at our store! (Shameless advertising, I know. Dad insisted I put it there.) Timmy
Skylar grinned. And grinned. And grinned some more. Widely. Her broad grin stretched across her face, more than the time she realized Nook wasn't going to require her to work for him anymore. She had to tell Cube right away! That was for certain.
She power-walked across the tiny pavilion and entered Kitty's house. Usually she took her time with walking, but Monique was waiting for her, and excitement was bubbling up inside her chest. "Monique, I'm going to find Cube," she announced breathily. Monique responded with shock.
"I can't stay here alone, okay!" the cat lamented. Skylar smiled at her reassuringly.
"Don't worry; I'm sure Kitty won't be coming back for a while, so just enjoy the Balloon Fight game while you can. I'll be back in an hour to check up on you. Cube might come. We'll see if he's any good at his game" The human gave her feline friend a thumbs up, which was answered by the twitching on a brown tail. "Don't be mad, 'Nique. It's just really important. It's about…" Skylar leaned in to whisper, even though she was still standing by the door and Monique was well on the other side of the room, "_the silver mine_."
The cat immediately took interest. "Really?" she purred. "Well, okay. Don't let me deter you any longer than. Go! Scat! And remember, you promised me two blocks of silver, okay?"
Skylar nodded and headed out to find her best friend in the whole wide village. Where would the bumbling penguin be?
Strolling around the village after finding Cube's house empty, Skylar decided that she ought take a detour and go to the Wishing Well and apologize for the watch she hadn't been able to return to Coco. So she made her way to the acre-sized pavilion, where the largest tree in Mewzic was rooted directly behind a well. There, she found Cube.
"Skylar!" Cube called out. "I got a really cool letter! You gotta see it!"
"Ok," Skylar said, "but I got a cool letter, too. What if to see whose letter we read first… I try to climb up the Wishing Well's tree before you spell the word Shakespeare?"
"Awright!" Cube agreed immediately, his competitive spirit kicking in. Danielle smiled, aware that a victory was eminent for her. Cube couldn't spell if his life depended on it.
"S-H-E… E…"
Danielle rolled her eyes, and languidly groped for the first branch of the Wishing Well's mighty tree. It was a bit high up, and she couldn't quite reach… But she had a lot of time. She stepped back a bit, and took a running approach to the tree.
The tree seemed to shiver underneath her sneakers. She reached out wildly and tried to grasp the lowest branch. She grabbed it, and a loud _pop _sound occurred. It seemed to spark off right in her right ear.
"OW!" she shrieked, and grabbed at her ear, trying to block of the resonating sound that was keeping a steady hum in her throbbing ear. Bad move. She fell towards the cobblestone pavilion, screaming.
"…Z… Oh my gosh! Skylar!" Cube ran over to where his friend was in trouble. It was too late; Danielle's back crashed against the ground painfully.
"You okay, d-d-dude?" Cube helped Skylar to her feet. Now her human hands were outstretched, trying to hold the sore spots on her back, as if having her palm on top of them would make them feel better. She took deep breaths and gulps, then coughed, making Cube wonder if Skylar had swallowed a common butterfly. Finally, his best friend calmed down.
"I'm okay," she finally answered.
"A-hem."
Cube and Skylar both looked up, to see the Wishing Well leering at them. Skylar realized that a part of the branch had snapped off in her hand.
"You really have something to apologize for now," the tree groused.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure | Fanfiction | null | 37,087 | 13,486.2 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. OC Form
**Hello friends!**
**Soooo... I got a new laptop and all my other Animal crossing Oc stories got deleted and stuff... SO here is The Secret Of Clockwork!**
**Important notes:
This is a Mystery/Action story
The animals are human with animalistic traits (often referred to as animal crossing gijinka characters)
I'm using mine and other people's Ocs.**
**That's about it...**
**OC FORM:**
Name:
Gender:
Age (14-18. I want to keep them fairly young):
Original town name (anything other than Clockwork and Sunshine):
Appearance-
Hair:
Skin color:
Eyes:
Height:
Clothing- (Feel free to go into detail or keep this simple)
Regular:
Fancy:
Pajamas:
Swimsuit:
Any others?
Personality:
Hobbies:
Crush:
Friends (types of people):
Enemies (types of people):
Any speech mannerisms?
Fear(s):
One villager you want in town:
Anything else?
**I'm using my Oc Zoe and she's crushingon Marshal, best friend/person in town is Daisy. She's 15 and comes from Sunshine.**
**Pm me or comment!**
2. Chapter 1
**I ACTAULLY UPDATED!?**
**Lets get this party started woooo!**
* * *
Zoe heard the train whistle and peered out her "window". Really, It was just a hole in her makeshift wall.
This was it. She was escaping Sunshine and getting to Clockwork. The 15 year olds mother had hoarded up their savings to get Zoe a ticket to the safe zone, to clockwork. The girl knew she what she was leaving behind but didn't know what she was going to. In a sense it gave her a hope, but it felt more false than anything.
The redhead saw crowds of people trying to get on the train without a ticket, trying to escape the wasteland once called sunshine. People yelled about having children and needing to escape but it was protocol; you couldn't get on without a ticket. Zoe pushed her way to the front of the crowd, showing her ticket. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder and a ripped bag in tow. She was one of the more fortunate families of the Sunshine disaster.
The monkey taking her ticket examined her carefully.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to get on the train."
The monkey nodded and let the girl on.
'I wonder what makes clockwork unaffected by the event... And I wonder just how many secrets clockwork holds'
The redhead took a seat at one of those train table things. Zoe sighed and looked around at the other refugees. She saw a girl with bright curly red hair, a boy with a mess of silver hair, a black and red haired girl with tan skin, a boy with orange spiked hair, a japanese girl with chocolate brown hair, a girl with long silvery hair, a girl with dark long curly blonde hair, a boy with black hair and spiky bangs, an olive skinned girl with long curly medium brown hair, a boy with long brown hair covering one of his eyes, a boy with reddsih brown "emo hair", and a girl with black hair with pink tips.
After the train started moving, Zoe went back to her own buisiness and started to listen to the rhythms around her. There was, of course, the sound of the train _clack, _The chatter of the people around her, and an odd, almost knifelike thumping. Zoe looked over and saw the boy with the mess of silver hair playing none other than the knife game. You know, the game where you spread out your hand on a table and hit the knife in between your fingers increasingly faster? Yeah, that one. The boy was now going pretty fast, and Zoe laughed. He seemed hesitant to go any faster. This used to be Zoe's game in Sunshine. Yes, in a town with a sweet name called Sunshine, the knife game was popular. It's all because of the event that happened in Sunshine. Everything was destroyed,including hopes and dreams. It became a tough place to live and no one was able to leave. Sunshine was the most effected by the event, as it happened there, but many surrounding towns were put into a living hell. Zoe stood up and walked over tothe boy.
"Can I try?" She chuckled. "We could make a competition out of it." The boy looked at her a little surprised, with piercing blue eyes.
"Trust me doll-face, you wouldn't want to do this," he grinned toothily.
"Trust me pretty boy, you know nothing. Hit me up with a knife, I'll show you what I got."
"Alright, but if you get hurt girly, it's on you."
"Deal. I'm Zoe."
"Mel," he said, handing her the knife, and so the game began.
* * *
_**"The Knife Game**, sometimes known as **Five Finger Fillet**, is a challenge that involves placing one's palm face down on a flat surface and attempting to stab a blade between the fingers without hitting them. In 2011, YouTube musician Rusty Cage wrote a song to go with the game..."_
* * *
Since there was no music to accomadate their game, Mel and Zoe sped up on thier own accord. Zoe didn't even look down as she watched Mel and read his body language to see what he was thinking but it was quite hard for her to get anything from him. She looked down again at her fast knifework and smiled until she looked at Mel who looked up at her as he saw her look up and he messed up. It was like everything was in slow-mo. The knife was going to impail his hand and Zoe quickly decided the best way to save him was to grab his wrist. He looked at her hand grabbing his wrist and noticed where it was about to hit him. Zoe let go of his wrist and walked away quickly, leaving his knife.
* * *
**Oh look OC introducing yay
**
**If I didn't do your OC in the intro, contact me because I couldn't find all the forms andthere were still some OCs and I'll put them as already in Clockwork
PEACE.**
**The end was sooooo awkward and rushed because it is currently really late and I'm exhausted.**
**~NIGHT~**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 5,684 | 12,186.3 |
null | Animal Crossing Phonecall
**Phonecall**
The phone rang, vibrating in it's holster and emitting a tune of beeps. The sound of footsteps could be heard approaching. Elmer opened the door to the room, picking up the noisy handset whilst grumbling to himself.
'Hello?' He spoke into the phone, and waited for a reply. Nothing came. 'Hello?' He repeated himself, before hanging up, and replacing the phone in it's holster.
'Lousy kids. Why can't they do something productive?' Elmer thought to himself, angry at the caller. He was in a bad mood; earlier that week he was due to meet Winnie in Brewsters, but she hadn't shown up. He'd waited there for hours, hoping she was only late…
'I haven't heard from her since,' Elmer said to himself in a worried tone of voice. Winnie was such a good friend… He was about to leave the room, and return to his business upstairs, when suddenly the phone burst into another fit of rings.
'Oh what now?!' Elmer groaned, picking up the phone, and shouting into it.
But this time Elmer's words were returned. A calm voice called across the wire.
'Twelve in the morning, three rings. Pick up the phone.' The voice hung up.
'Idiots.' Elmer put down the phone, and trudged upstairs.
******
Elmer lay awake in his bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling. He thought about the phonecall he had received earlier. Suppose it was someone who knew about Winnie? He couldn't sleep, and was beginning to get scared. The clock struck twelve.
The phone next to Elmer's bed began to ring. Once. Twice. Three times. Elmer sat up and grabbed the phone.
'What do you want?' He wailed into the phone. This was driving him crazy.
The same calm voice that Elmer had heard earlier spoke.
'Quiet Elmer. In twenty four hours time, come to the abandoned house.'
'H-how do you know my name? Why must I go there?' Elmer asked, but the voice had already gone.
******
The next day Elmer was determined to find out more about the mysterious phone calls. There must be a reason why he was called. Elmer was convinced that the reason was Winnie.
He knew where the abandoned house was. It was the only one in the village that was falling to bits. But before visiting it he would go to Brewsters. Brewster was a good friend of Elmer's, and Elmer was sure that he would know what to do.
Elmer entered the café, and sat down on a stool in front of the counter. He greeted Brewster, and ordered a cup of coffee.
'What can I do for you Elmer?' Brewster asked as he prepared the coffee.
'I've been receiving strange phone calls. I think they may be related to Winnie's disappearance.'
'No sign of her then?' Brewster asked solemnly as he set down the cup of steaming goodness.
'No sign of her.' Elmer sipped the drink, instantly feeling the warmth throughout his body. He smiled. 'Great as usual Brewster!'
'Thanks Elmer, it's a new recipe.' Brewster began to clean a glass.
'I was asked to go to the abandoned house.'
Brewster recoiled in shock, dropping both glass and cloth on the floor. The glass smashed, shards flying across the room.
'You mustn't go there. It will only mean trouble…'
'But what if Winnie is there?' Elmer was pleading. He had expected Brewster to come with him, but that was obviously not going to happen now. He was on his own.
Elmer got up, thanking Brewster for the coffee, and apologising for the broken glass. His mind was set. He would go to the abandoned house.
******
The clock struck twelve, and Elmer opened the rusty door of the abandoned house. The hinges creaked and groaned; the door had obviously not been opened for a long time.
The house had been abandoned for as long as Elmer had lived in town. Elmer had never know the reason why it had been abandoned, only that it had been abandoned, and would most likely stay that way.
The house was three stories high, each level being linked by a rickety staircase. The windows were smashed, and the brickwork bruised beyond repair.
Elmer tiptoed inside, and almost immediately the phone that was placed on a battered old dresser opposite the door, began to ring. Elmer picked it up cautiously, and spoke into it. 'He-hello?'
There was no sound. Elmer put the phone down, and it began to ring again. On the third ring Elmer picked up the phone. 'Hello?'
'Go upstairs,' said the familiar voice.
Elmer put the phone down, and began to climb the stairs…
He emerged in a small room, no bigger than Brewsters café, illuminated by a thin shaft of moonlight. The wallpaper on the wall was peeling off, and something was leaking through the ceiling. Elmer examined the furniture, or what was left of it. Something wasn't right. There was a familiar smell about the room…
Suddenly, noises came from upstairs, and footsteps pattered across the ceiling above Elmer. He cowered against the wall, paralysed by fear. But he had to keep going. If Winnie was in this house, he had to find her.
The footsteps stopped and Elmer, still shaking, begun to climb the stairs.
The sight he saw when he reached the top of the steps both shocked and amazed him. 'W-Winnie?'
His friend was standing directly in front of an open window, the only unbroken window in the house, moonlighht shining on her pale face. She turned round, and looked into Elmer's eyes.
'Who are you?' She muttered.
'Winnie, you must be able to remember me. I'm your friend, Elmer! Remember?' Elmer assured himself that she'd be okay, he knew she would! He approached her with an outstretched hand.
'Get away from me!' Winnie screamed. She took a step backwards, then another, edging closer to the window.
'Winnie, you've got to come with me! We can get out of here!'
'No! I'm staying up here. He can't get me up here!' Winnie took another step backwards. A mobile phone fell out of pocket. It clattered onto the rotting wooden floor and began to ring.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
On the third ring Elmer trod on the phone, smashing it through the floor. The ringing stopped.
Elmer looked up, to see the distraught face of Winnie looking at him. She was sobbing.
'He's going to come up here. He's going to come for me!' She screamed, and hurled herself through the window, breaking the glass and sending herself hurtling downwards.
'Winnie!' Elmer yelled, and without thinking, ran down the stairs. He had to help Winnie!
******
Elmer reached the bottom floor, and rushed to the entrance. He groped in the darkness for the door handle. He found it, and twisted it. The door wouldn't budge. He was locked in.
The phone began to ring. Elmer smashed it with a clenched fist, yet it kept ringing. He smashed it again and again, until it stopped. For moments there was silence. Then the phone began to ring again. But it wasn't the same phone.
Elmer screamed, and looked at the remnants of Winnie's mobile phone, lying smashed on the floor. He picked them up and hear the calm voice in his ear.
'Don't put the phone down.'
'You killed her! She's dead because of you!' Elmer yelled through tears of rage.
'I killed her. And I'm killing you.'
'What? What do you mean?' Elmer sobbed. The reality was creeping over Elmer like a pack of ants. Deadly ants.
'Elmer. You're going to die.'
Ringing buzzed around Elmer's head like moths round a candle. He slowly put down the phone, and turned round. The ringing intensified. Shrill beeps cut through the air. One, two, three. Elmer blacked out.
******
The following morning, Winnie's body was found. She had broken her neck in the fall, and hadn't been able to get help. She was taken into intensive care, but died three days later.
Police broke into the abandoned house, and found Elmer harbouring various head wounds, and practically insane. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital, gradually regaining his sanity. But when he heard about Winnie's death he took his own life.
Brewster blamed himself for the incident, and shortly afterwards he shut up shop and left town. No one has heard from him since.
The causes of the incident were blamed on insanity. But what caused that insanity?
Is your phone ringing now? One, two, three… Go on, pick it up. Pick it up and speak. It won't hurt you. Do you dare answer the phonecall?
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Horror | Fanfiction | null | 8,161 | 12,302.9 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Good Riddance
**Chapter 1: Good Riddance.**
**Rated T for mild swearing, and possible violence.**
**I do not own Animal Crossing.
**
"Goodbye, sweetie!" my mother, Kathy, cried while trying to wrap her arms around me. I moved away from her.
"Don't call me sweetie".
I didn't want her stupid, trifling love. Love has always been overrated anyway.
She was sending me away to an even more stupid, trifling town that no-one ever heard of, and one that I never even wanted to live in.
But of course I had no say in the matter. She thought it would be a "good experience" for me to live on my own. I really don't understand how her brain works. How is sending me away going to help me? I'll be away from my friends with no phone, no laptop. She confiscated them, claiming that they're unhealthy for me. The only way to contact anyone is by letter.
But come on, who writes letters these days? Nobody. Exactly. So why should I start? Anyway, I should probably introduce myself.
My name's Scarlett Johnson. Yeah, I know. Weird name. Whatever. I didn't choose it. My hair's bubblegum pink. My mom was against me dying my hair until I was at _least_ 18. I'm 15. I disobeyed her. So what? Sue me. I always disobey her.
Last year she grounded me, so I couldn't go to Robert Black's party. I went anyway. Got a tattoo there on my ankle. A tattoo of an anchor. I guess if you were into that symbolism shit, you could say it represents the fact that I feel that my mother weighs me down.
And at Rachel Murry's 16th bash, I got my tongue pierced. It hurt a lot, but I didn't back out of it, unlike Tess Evans.
She is _such_ a pussy. She backs out of everything. Even the simplest things, like truth or dare.
All she had to do was smooch with Aaron Roberts and she refused to. Everyone laughs about her behind her back.
She gives us every reason to. She won't sneak out anywhere 'cause she doesn't want to disobey her 'mommy'. Ha. What a loser.
"Please, Scarlett," my mother pleaded. "I'm doing this for your benefit. Please don't act like this".
"Yeah, Kathy," I grunt. "It's for my benefit, all right. You're simply washing your hands of me. It's the cowardly thing to do, really. If you were actually a decent mother, you'd let me stay home. With my friends. People that actually _care_ about me".
She sighed. "Sweetie, I do care about you. And they're not your real friends. Why on earth can't you see that? They're a bunch of delinquents who are never going to amount to anything. It's better for you to stay away from them".
I look her right in the eye. "I said _d__on't_ call me sweetie".
I slammed the door shut, turning to face the front of the car. She waved. I didn't. I pulled my seat belt on, and sunk down deeper into my seat.
The taxi driver turned on the ignition, and the car lurched forward swiftly. I turned around and stared at my mother, as she slowly got smaller and smaller. Soon she was just a small, insignificant dot in the distance. But I guess she was always small and insignificant in my mind.
"Jeez, this rain is bein' terrible, ain't it?". The taxi driver asked. He was just trying to be friendly, but I wasn't in the mood for other people.
He was a middle-aged man, probably in his 40's. He had a stereotypical pirate accent. His face was slightly disfigured.
"I've seen worse". I replied bluntly, glaring out the window.
He chuckled to himself. "Well, what's ruffled yer feathers, lassie?"
"It's none of your business".
"Well, if you want to be tha' way, lassie".
I gritted my teeth, and pulled out my iPod from my backpack. It's quite a small backpack. I've worn it out and it's falling apart.
But I'll never throw it out. My dad got it for me when I was 10. He died when I was 12. He was the only person that ever really understood me, and cared for me.
More than likely the only person that ever will, too. I miss him like hell. I pray to him every morning and night. I'd never pray to 'God'. He's meant to work miracles, isn't he? I've yet to see him doing me a solid.
He died in a car accident. He wasn't drunk or anything, the bitch that hit him was. She was leaving a nightclub, and she was so drunk that she didn't even know her own name.
My thoughts returned to this 'town' I was driving to. 'Good Riddance (Time of your Life)' by Green Day started to play, and I slowly fell asleep to the soft sound of guitar quietly strumming. Quite an ironic song to play, given my situation, don't you think?
**And that's chapter one! I've edited that around 6 times since I first published it, but I'm proud of this edit. I realise that Cap'n is meant to be a turtle, and that Scarlett sees him as a person. This will be explained sometime in the later chapters.**
**I hope you liked this! If you did, please, let me know. Or if you have constructive critism, feel free to give it to me.**
**But please, don't flame. If you don't like it, let me know, but please don't be unnessarily mean about it.**
**- Charlie Fletcher.
**
2. Till Death Do Us Part
**Chapter 2: Till Death Do Us Part**
_It was a beautiful afternoon. But then again, everything was beautiful when my Dad was around. His smile could brighten up the most dullest of grey afternoons._
_"Daddy..." I mumbled cautiously._
_He smiled down at me. His grey eyes twinkled when he smiled. They were the most amazing grey..._
_We were at the beach, sitting on a bench. He had gotten us our usual ice-creams, chocolate for me and cookie dough for him._
_"Yes, honeypiesweetiepooh." He grinned. I giggled. He was the only one that could ever make me laugh, even to this day._
_"We were talking in class today about our Mummies and Daddies. Jessica McKane, remember her?" He nodded._
_"She came up to the front and told everyone that she didn't have a Daddy. She said he left her and her Mummy when she was only a baby"._
_His face took on a more serious, but just as gentle expression while I was speaking._
_"I felt sorry for her, so I gave her a big hug after class. I can't imagine what life without you would be like..."_
_There was a calm silence. I looked out at the lapping waves going in and out, in and out. They were always fascinating to me._
_"Promise you'll never, ever leave me and Mummy?" I whispered, looking back at him. "Promise you'll stay with us for ever and ever?"_
_"I promise." he replied quietly, his voice as smooth as velvet. His took my right hand and squeezed it gently._
_"Pinky promise?" I held out my left pinky._
_"Pinky promise" He shook my pinky with his and we continued licking our ice-creams, joking and chatting cheerfully._
_Till death do us part..._
I woke with a start. The car had staggered to a halt and taxi driver was calling me.
"Missy? Missy, we're here. Wake up, lass."
"I'm awake.." I mumbled. The ghost image of Dad's smile was painfully fresh in my mind.
I started to put my things back into my backpack. I didn't describe my backpack too well, did I? Well, like I said, my Dad got it for me.
It's a lovely pale blue with black stitching and a embroidered star on the front pocket. It's adorned with all my badges and pins.
"I never caugh' yer name missus," the taxi driver smiled at me. Apparently, he still wanted to be nice to me, even though I was obviously making no effort.
"Scarlett," I replied quietly. "What's it to you?"
He ignored the latter. "Scarlett. Cute name. Yer mam or dad give tha' tah ya?"
I sighed. "My Dad. My Mum wanted to call me Bridie, but Dad said he didn't want his daughter growing up to be an old-fashioned eejit."
He chuckled. "And did yer Dad wanna send ya here?"
"My Dad died three years ago." I muttered while opening the door. I slung my backpack on my back, got out, and slammed the door behind me. The taxi driver got out after me.
"I'm awful sorry lassie," he said while opening the boot. With a grunt, he dragged my suitcase out. It hit the ground with a heavy thud.
I didn't reply. I took the suitcase from him and took my purse out of my backpack. "So, what do I owe you? Twenty? Thirty?"
"Don't worry bou' tha'," He winked at me. "Nook has tha' covered. T'was a pleasure meeting ya, Scarlett."
I smiled at him. Yeah, believe it or not, I smiled. "You too, eh.. what's your name?" I was getting tired of mentally referring to him as 'taxi driver'.
He climbed into the car and closed the door. He started to drive away. I thought he wasn't going to reply when he shouted out the window,
"Me name's Cap'n!"
I smiled once more, this time to myself, and pulled out the handle on my suitcase, ready to wheel it away. I was sort of annoyed at myself for how quickly and easily I became comfortable around Cap'n.
Even though I just smiled at him, it was something other than scowling. It was something new. Different. And it had felt good. Really good.
I turned away from the road, and looked around at my surroundings.
I was in front of a red bricked building with white pillars and large, grey-paned windows. There was a message etched into the marble above the door. I squinted to make out the words.
_"Copperbrook was founded in 1927 by Mayor Tortimer, a valiant heart with an image of harmony and unity"._
Copperbrook. So, that's where I was. What a strange name for a town.
I walked slowly towards the entrance, and pushed the door open.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Hurt-Comfort | Fanfiction | null | 9,312 | 13,772.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Prologue: The Mayor's Troubles
**Animal Crossing: New Leaf**
**The Sweetest Ordinances**
**Prologue**
* * *
**It's been a couple of weeks since I became mayor of a nice town called Shibuya.**
I had made quite a bit of progress, most of it being alone.
Ever since the mayor card was sprung on me when I moved here, I've been doing my part to keep the town in check, all the while making sure I always have the funds to support any public works and buildings that may be requested in the town. So far, the Main Street above the city has begun to really flourish. The young raccoons' store has upgraded to a simple convenience store, the shoe store has recently finished building, and the dream suite has been up since today, and this so-called "Club LOL" is supposedly in development right now.
In the two weeks, I have definitely grown from my simple look, too. On what I believe is either my second or third day as mayor, I visited the Able sisters and made a neat pro design shirt, which matches the jacket of a character from a cartoon I remembered liking. If I am correct, the character's name is Simon Petrikov. Later on, I even found a fitting pair of grey formal pants and a pair of glasses. I'll just need a new hair style and a black pair of shoes, and I may look just like mister Petrikov!
Overall, this town is doing very well, in my opinion. I pull the weeds every day, I talk to the citizens often, I dig up fossils, gyroids, pitfalls, etc, and I donate any of the fossils to dear old Blathers. I've been setting public works projects left and right, fishing and selling various items to Re-Tail, and everything. But no matter what, I always feel like there's something I haven't done yet, but I can never figure out what it is.
What worries me about this is, this feeling happens most of the time when I'm sitting in my office at town hall, seeing my puppy secretary Isabelle work constantly, non-stop. I can never get a grasp of what's missing. Isabelle's always cheerfully working, but I feel like she's not entirely as happy as she seems to be.
If something is truly off here, I hope I can figure it out soon and fix it as quickly as possible.
As mayor, it IS my job to make sure everybody in town is happy, even my assistant.
2. Chapter 1: The Lo(vn)ely Assistant
**The Sweetest Ordinances**
**Chapter 1: The Lo(v/n)ely Assistant**
* * *
**"I will talk to her tomorrow, but for now..."**
"...I'm gonna head off to bed. ~Mayor Star" The young mayor yawned and closed his journal and set his pencil aside as soon as he finished initialing his daily journal entry. He stood up and spoke softly as he removed his 'Petrikov' glasses. "Isabelle..." He wiped the glasses with his shirt, then put them back on and looked at his puppy assistant, who didn't so much as respond with the usual 'Yes, Mayor.' He sighed softly and headed to the exit of the Town Hall, giving Isabelle a pat on the back to signal that he's leaving for bed.
"Snrk-Huh?! O-Oh, hehe..good night, Mayor!" Star chuckled to himself as he could tell the pat woke her up. "That old reptile Tortimer must have snapped at her at least once a couple of months for dozing off, heheh.." He spoke to himself as he walked through the semi-quiet dark of the town he runs. "Or maybe he let her practice so the next mayor could snap at her." He started laughing, but quickly stopped when one of the villagers, a black squirrel named Blaire, stared at him oddly, then jumped and growled when she heard the cicada she was hunting buzz off. "Grr...Mayor, maybe you should get some sleep, Nutlet."
"..Oh, heheh, sorry, Blaire. Hope you find that cicada you've been trying to look for." Star waved to her and walked into his house, which was full of mostly fortune ticket winnings along with his pet Sunfish and Koi. Star went upstairs and went to sleep on his Tatami bed. He was still getting used to it, considering the bed was basically a bamboo Tatami mat with a stone block under it.
The next day, Mayor Star stepped out of his house, raring to go with his shovel in hand. He stretched and started walking around the lovely town of Shibuya, digging up fossils, pulling weeds, even hitting rocks until he found the daily money stash. "Kicks should have black shoes now, and I think one of my friends did their stupid little 'time traveling' trick to get Harriet working in their town..." Star had the habit of speaking to himself the routine he was planning as he worked on cleaning up the town.
Meanwhile, there were the sounds of young puppy feet running down from Main Street straight to Town hall. The creator of these sounds is none other than the air-headed Isabelle running to her job. "Oh dear, I-I'm gonna be late, I just know it..!" She soon got to Town Hall and ran inside, opening up the counter and getting behind it, sighing in relief. "Oh good, it looks like the mayor hasn't come yet.." She took out a brush and started brushing her hair and ears, making sure her fur wasn't frizzed from the rush. "Phew.. Digby needs to quit reminding of those late-night live K.K. concerts..." Isabelle put the brush away and started her work. "It's bad enough I stay up watching that show Star recommended to me, and that's just after I finish my work."
A few minutes later, the young assistant looked up from her work when the door was heard opening and saw the mayor walk in. Although.. "Oh, h-hello, sir! I wasn't aware that the mayor was opening his gates, hold on and I'll get to-" "Isabelle." The mayor interrupted her with a soft chuckle. "It's me. I visited another town to get a haircut, and I bought some black shoes. My outfit is complete! Hahaha, did you really not recognize me?"
Isabelle stared at him as she was halfway done with closing the counter door, then she giggled embarrassingly and opened the door, retreating back to her spot. "Ohhh, h-hello, mayor..~ The haircut is a lot more different from your original one, so I didn't...hey, you look exactly like that Patrickev person that you told me about!" "Heh..ahem..." Star chuckled again and headed to the counter. "It's Petrikov. Anyways, I've pretty much done all of the things I wanted to do, how's the citizen satisfaction survey for the day?"
"Well, sir, let me take a look." Isabelle looked through the paperwork she had. "Nope..nope..aha, here it is~!" She started to read it aloud, in a pretty convincing imitation of Blathers' voice. "He just began his work as mayor, so there isn't much to do yet, but I am sure he will overcome the challenge, eh, wot." She giggled to herself as soon as she finished. "And the citizens of Shibuya are still requesting to see more public works projects around town, mayor. That is all I have received for now."
"Good, I'll get to setting up another donations Gyroid soon. Now, there is one question that's been on my mind for a few days now, Isabelle." Isabelle tilted her head at this. "What is it, sir?" Star stood straight up. "Ahem, well I must ask..."
"Is there anything on your mind that you would like to talk about?" "..What do you mean, mayor..?" Isabelle had the usual adorable little confused look. The mayor sighed. "I mean, is there anything you would like to talk about? I feel like something's on your mind that you should share." Isabelle blushed a little. "N-No, sir, I'm okay.." "Isabelle, you know I work hard to make the town clean, right?" "Yes, sir." "Because I'm doing whatever it takes to make all the citizens happy and content with how the city is." "I know, mayor, but-" "You're not an exception, Isabelle. Even if you don't take part of the survey, your happiness is as important to me as everybody else's in the city."
Isabelle blushed more, but nodded silently. Star continued speaking. "So, I will ask you the one question I ask the villagers each day: What's on your mind?" "W-Well..." Isabelle got very nervous and shy, looking down and hiding her red cheeks. "I..I..." "Out with it, Isabelle. I can lock the door if I need-" "I..a-am a little lonely..." She glanced to the mayor without raising her head up. "And..." She pretty much locked up there, shaking nervously.
Star's eyes widened and he stepped back a little. "O-Okay, take it easy, forget I asked-" Isabelle then raised her head up and opened up. "A-And I would be happy to have friends to talk to and everything! Eep.." She covered her mouth as soon as she finished yelling. "I..I'm sorry, mayor..." "..." Star hesitated, then chuckled, taking off his glasses and rubbing them with his shirt to look witty. "So that's what was bothering us. I could easily sense the loneliness in you for a while, Isabelle." Isabelle blushed deeply as Star kept going. "I just didn't know what the problem was, it eluded me for a while. Well, I'm glad you managed to open up to me." He put his glasses back on. "I..I..I am too..." Isabelle spoke in a very high-pitched voice.
That night, Star was writing in his journal again. "And I decided to give her a little space for the rest of the day. The poor little thing, right now I can only wonder why she keeps to herself in the office while I go out and socialize with everyone in town. It was easier than I thought getting her to open up, I will try to get her to speak up a little more. As fun of a game this might turn into, I don't want her to stress out too much. And she's my assistant, anyways, not a childhood friend."
"Either way, I just figured out a fun hobby, and this'll make my new life as mayor very interesting, that's for sure. I will chat with her often. But for now, I gotta keep trying to get used to that Tatami bed. I'm improving, my back wasn't killing me. ~Mayor Star"
Star closed his journal and set his pen aside like usual, then headed out. "Have a good night, Isabelle. Don't stay up too late."
He wasn't surprised when the only response he got was a quiet "Uh-huh.."
3. Chapter 2: In Her Eyes
**The Sweetest Ordinances**
**Chapter 2: In Her Eyes**
* * *
**"H-Hello, brother..."**
The young mayor's assistant, Isabelle's soft voice echoed in the quiet room, along with the sound of the front door of her home closing. "...Digby?" She stepped into the living room and looked around. "..Must be working late again...it is a Wednesday.." She sighed and headed to her room, then she suddenly froze when the silent and dark house filled with the sound of the front door knob turning, then opening, followed by a tired, but cheerfully loud male voice.
"Hey, sis, I'm home!" The voice rang through the house. "Isabelle? ...Huh." Isabelle stayed frozen, though she knew who that voiced belonged to, and the voice became louder as footsteps walked towards her. "Maybe I finally beat her home on Wednes-Oof!" Isabelle let out a surprised squeak and fell forward, and the lights soon came on.
"O-Ouchie.." The startled puppy slowly sat up and turned around, to see the surprised look of her twin brother, the young dog that shows people around the Happy House Showcase, Digby. "Y-You're home early, Digby..."
"Y..Yeah, I'm home early.. business was dead today." Digby sighed and helped his sister up. "You're as clumsy as usual, sis." He chuckled and gave her a brotherly peck on the forehead. "How was your day?"
"M..My day?" Isabelle tilted her head. Her one-track mind was focused on the fact that she embarrassed herself in front of her brother, even though that was only one of many times she had done this. Though, in a few seconds- "O-Oh! Muh..My day.." Isabelle's face went red and hesitated. "I-It was..eventful!" She stepped back a little. "Th-That's all, a-and I already did my work! I'm going to bed, good night bro!" She spoke this in a hurry and dashed of to her room, slamming her door, panting. "..H-He's not following me.."
"I worry about her.." Digby shook his head and walked to the living room and turned the television on. "I'm glad that the accident didn't change her one bit, but she still acts so strange sometimes.."
In the morning, Isabelle woke up to the usual alarm and sneaked out of the house, in case Digby hadn't left to his job yet. She looked in the mailbox and took out her usual morning work that she always received, then she dashed off to the town she worked at, Shibuya.
Once she got into town, however, she slowed to a walk the second she stepped into the town. She took a deep breath and looked around with a calm smile. No matter what, the town's clean air and calm atmosphere always soothed her. She walked slowly towards town hall, occasionally giving citizens a warm smile and a kind hello.
"Sweet, this rock has gems instead of bells!" Isabelle was in front of town hall when someone exclaimed this and looked around, to see Mayor Star jabbing at a nearby rock with a shovel. Like he had just exclaimed, the rock shook with each hit of his shovel, and different ores and gems started coming out from under the rock, until a whopping eight gems popped out.
Isabelle giggled to herself and stepped into Town Hall. She always enjoyed the constant feeling of relief when she beat the mayor to Town Hall, especially since she knew of his habit of excitedly scrambling around town to get his daily errands done.
"It's always nice to be here." Isabelle let out a happy sigh as she set her paperwork on the desk and stood behind the counter. "I'd hate to spite the old turtle, but I think Star's making this town a lot bett-"
"Morning, Isabelle." The young puppy instantly jumped and stopped talking as soon as Star had walked in and chimed. "How are the citizens liking the new flowers?"
"O-Oh, hello, mayor..!" Isabelle quickly looked through the paperwork and found the surveys. "Yes, umm..they would still like more greenery in Shibuya, sir." She spoke normally. She seemed to have completely forgotten her worries over what had happened last night.
"Ugh, they're so needy..." The mayor sighed and sat at his desk, looking through the list of projects. "Set up a new project in the northeastern area. The Resetti Surveillance Center."
"Yes, sir." Isabelle then ran out, setting a marker and a donation gyroid in the northeastern part of shibuya, slightly below a bridge. "I hate it when he's in a mood, it's no fun..." She blushed as she spoke. "But it's kind of cute. He's sweet, and at least he doesn't throw fits in a mood~" She giggled and set it up, then headed back.
(Okay I'm sorry guys, I've been busy and stuff, and I got distracted and got huge writer's block. I'll try to update often, but I'm also thinking of starting a Pokemon x/y fanfic)
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Friendship, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 14,512 | 11,831.9 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
A human being jumped out from behind a tall oak tree
A human being jumped out from behind a tall oak tree. Her arms swayed as she walked over and tapped the shoulder of a young bunny – her best friend – Dotty.
"Oh my goodness, Jehniva! You scared me!" Dotty turned around and caught her missing breath.
"I'm sorry." Jehniva lied. She giggled into her palms and skipped beside Dotty, who was skipping as usual, also.
"You really should stop doing that, Nivvy. It's really not funny." Dotty said flatly. This was the first time that Jehniva actually saw Dotty get angry like that. It wasn't like Dotty's calm and collected personality to be charging like it was.
"I'm sorry." Jehniva sighed.
She knew she had to take control of her problem with creeping up behind people and the massive thrill of seeing them nearly jump out of their pants. Jehniva stuck her hands into the pockets of her pink daisy summer dress. She looked down at her brand new yellow high tops and pink stockings. Good, they weren't scuffed from getting caught on a piece of tree bark.
"I know, I know. You do this every time, Nivvy. You really need therapy." Dotty said. Suddenly, to Jehniva, her friend didn't sound like the twelve-year-old she was. Though, Jehniva saw, she did have quite a bit of chest.
"Don't say that!" Jehniva almost burst out crying. She blinked to hold back the tears. "I DO NOT NEED THERAPY!"
"Check it out. It works." Dotty rolled her eyes and scurried off towards her family's large burgundy-red brick house.
Jehniva ran towards her own house, being careful not to be noticed by any other animal that walked by her.
"What's wrong, Nivvy?" Jehniva's mother Seri-Yang, asked. Although Seri-Yang was not from Asia, her ancestors were Asian, therefore, her parents named her with Asian "Spice".
"Nothing," Jehniva wiped her eyes with a tissue from a box sitting on the kitchen table.
"Something's up and I want you to tell me." Seri-Yang said. Her tone had gotten a little bit harder with her daughter, and she instantly regretted it. The last thing she wanted Jehniva to do was stiffen towards her.
"Everything has gone wrong between me and Dotty, Mamma!" Jehniva cried into her mothers' dress.
"What?" Seri-Yang asked. She didn't understand. Seri had known Jehniva and Dotty to be the best of friends.
"Dotty doesn't like it when I come from behind her, just to say hi! She says I'm annoying and then walks off." Jehniva explained.
It couldn't be. Maybe Dotty was just growing up and didn't want to hang out with someone who was two years younger than her. Whatever it was, Seri-Yang wasn't believing it.
"I know that you're sad, but maybe Dots just needs a little time to re-coop. You know how you get when you're stressed. Maybe she just had a bad day at school." Seri was trying her hardest not to make her only daughter feel worse.
"Are you kidding? Dotty is the most popular girl in school. She has the best rep and the best grades! Why in the heck would she have a bad day?" Jehniva looked up at her mother and shook her head. Unbelievable.
"Sweetheart, you mustn't worry about Dotty's problems. Go have some fun with your other friends." Seri-Yang pushed her daughter back outside. It was a beautiful day and she didn't want Jehniva to miss out.
2. Chapter 2
"Dotty, someone wants to talk to you!" Carmen, a caramel-colored bunny with wispy black hair wailed to her daughter from the cordless phone in the kitchen.
"I'll get it from mine, mom!" Dotty yelled back to Carmen. Dotty was using a tone that Carmen had not heard Dotty use before, and she couldn't help but get curious.
"Hello" Dotty said once her door was shut. Her pink phone was up against her long, floppy white ear.
"Dotty I need to-" Dotty hung up. It was Jehniva - the last person she wanted to talk to. _She's soooo annoying. How am I going to tell her to leave me ALONE!? _
Dotty was stressed, and she needed to get away from any way Jehniva could connect with her. She packed her purse with sunscreen and put her striped bikini on underneath her miniskirt and orange teeshirt. She slipped on some flipflops and made sure that her cellphone was off in her purse, and her phone was off the hook in her bedroom.
"I'm going to the beach, mom!" Dotty yelled at Carmen.
"OK, have fun, Dot" Carmen said, not thinking of how fast Dotty had gotten off the phone with Jehniva.
Dotty's favorite spot on the beautiful beach was five miles from Jehniva's house. She thanked the sky that it was that far away, or she might've had to choose a different spot in a more crouded area. Dotty spread a pink towel on the beach and put up a matching umbrella that had "Dotty" embroidered into it. She hoped that Jehniva wasn't there, because the umbrella was a dead giveaway.
"Dotty, what's up??" Rosie June - Dotty's best friend smiled at her. Dotty thanked the sky again that it wasn't Jehniva.
"Hey, Rose!" Dotty smiled back.
"What's up?"
"I'm escaping the _pest_" Dotty said.
"Oooh." Rosie giggled. She loved it when Dotty refered to Jehniva as "The Pest". It made her feel special, and more like Dotty's BFF.
"Turn your cell phone on, Dots. I heard that Butch send you a text just a minute ago."
Dotty immediately forgot that she turned her cell off because she didn't want a call from Jehn. She flipped open her Razr and pressed the 2 button. "Oh my gosh you're right, Rose!"
"What's it say?" Rosie asked.
"I don't text and tell." Dotty said.
Rosie pouted. Dotty always said that when it was personal.
"Sorry, but it's my life." Dotty retorted.
Rosie just stared at Dotty's face, because she could normally read what what someone said by the look on her face, but Dotty's face was blank this time, unlike it normally was. Was it something bad?
Dotty started humming "Bubbly" by Colbie Calliat, so Rosie knew it was something good.
"What are you TYPING?" Rosie couldn't take it anymore, Dotty had gotten so caught up in her texting that she most likely forgot that Rosie was even there.
"Huh? Oh...Hold on," Dotty looked up quickly and then looked back down at her screen. She giggled.
"This makes no sense. You're not paying any attention to me, Dotty." Rosie got mad easily, and this was one of her many outbursts, so Dotty chose to ignore her just a little big longer.
"Whatevs, Rosie. Thanks for telling me about the text." Dotty smiled half way.
Rosie stomped off towards the tide pools. Looking at the different crabs and starfish took her mind off of her current troubles. Hopefully, it would work with this new backstabbing trouble, too.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Drama, Friendship | Fanfiction | null | 6,592 | 13,202.2 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
**PART 1: THE TRAIN RIDE**
The train rides along, the pattering of raindrops soft and comforting despite my confusion. I try to look back to what brought me to this point but I'm bringing up nothing but blanks. All I know is that I'm going someplace new—something different. I have to start anew and live out the rest of my life in peace, away from the qualms that plagued me back then.
I'm trying to mind my own business and think about the emptiness in the back of my mind, but I can't help but become interested in the guy in the mascot costume, sitting a couple rows away—except it isn't really a mascot costume. His eyes blinked as if the stubby anatomy of the figure actually consisted of fur, flesh and bone. I am creeped out by it, but at the same time it isn't very otherworldy to me, which is strange. But it is no stranger than my current situation, and I just chose to roll with it.
Suddenly the figure looks at me with the red slits of his huge, bulging eyes attached to his massive head. The thing looked like a cat almost, the colors of his fur quite outstanding among the dull aesthetics of the train interior. He wore only a simple, almost cute little sweater, designed in red and black diamonds with a yellow collar and bottom. He gets up off of his seat and walks his way toward me, his fashion of movement quite humorous what with his stubby arms and legs moving back and forth comically. Regardless, his approach also made me a little uneasy. What did he want with me? Can't he just leave me alone?
**ROVER: **Oh! Excuse me! I have a quick question for you.
For me? I don't know if a creature like him has seen many people like me, but the fact that he's taking the train to wherever leads me to think he should be acquainted with our world…if that meant anything anymore. To the side of the cat's head I notice the conductor, who carries the same stubby figure and animalistic look. I look back at the cat, who is waiting patiently for my undivided attention. He continues.
**ROVER: **It's now 1:30 p.m. on August 30, 2013, right?
I look around for a bit, not really knowing the answer myself. I guess the question is innocent enough. I gaze at my arm to find I'm wearing a watch. I almost forgot about it. Yep, he's right. I nod to him.
**ROVER: **Thanks! It seems I forgot to set my watch this morning! I'm just going to plop down in the seat across from you. If you don't mind, of course!
This is where my lack of real social skills start to show. My eyes roll around in unease. My mouth opens but I don't say anything. My shoulders rise and hands gesture toward the seat he is referring to, a pathetic invite. The cat waddles over to the seat in front of me and he hops on. His eyes still glued onto me, he says,
**ROVER: **By the way, you…hold it! Can I ask your name?
He seems like he wants to be friendly, but I've become easily wary of almost everything, and I'm not sure why. I feel tingly inside and disturbed. I give him a random name since, that's right, I can't seem to remember what exactly my real name is.
**Mark**, I say. It sounds inconspicuous and plain enough. That's what I want to seem—plain and boring, so that the cat can keep quiet, but I knew that was not going to happen anytime soon.
**ROVER: **Oh, Mark? Well, that's a fantastically great name!
Thanks, cat guy. I came up with it so it must be pretty good.
**ME: **Cool, right?
**ROVER: **Yeah! You seem like a pretty cool guy to me!
**ME: **I know, right?
Trying to come off as a tough guy, someone with a higher degree of self-esteem, but truthfully, the cat flattered me. He's almost too friendly, which is a little weird to me.
**ROVER: **So, Mark, tell me, where are you headed today?
Oh my. That's the big question here. I'm just going someplace far away—someplace hopefully quiet and peaceful. He seems to want a name, so I just scramble around in my head and spurt something out.
**QUIETOWN. **Yeah, a town that's nice and quiet. That's exactly what I'd like.
**ROVER: **The town of Quietown? Hmm, Quietown, yeah, Ok…Don't think I've heard of it. I wonder where it is…
That's the point. I hope not many know where it is. Then again I did just pull a random name out of nowhere.
**ROVER: **Oh, right! Map, map, map…let's take a look along this train line. Ah, maybe this is it right here?
What the – how did he? The cat pulls out a large map of Quietown, or at least that's what I think it's a map of. He could be bluffing as much as I am. Regardless, it looks nice. It's small, quaint, there's few houses, and there's even a river and a small beach. I'm assuming the small green houses are those that belong to other villagers. The purple is…I don't know, maybe the town hall? There's an icon slapped on that looks like two arrows circling around each other. I can't really guess off the top of my head what it means. Above the town hall and arrows there is a train track and a pinkish house below it. I'm assuming that's where I'm getting off.
That looks like it for the map. I like what I'm seeing, and even though that's probably not what my little Quietown will look like in the end, I roll with it.
**ROVER: **I see, so that's where Quietown is! So do you get to go to Quietown very often?
Huh, good question. I don't remember where I've been before this, but what the cat showed me almost seems familiar and…homey. A place like Quietown is something I don't remember being a part of. Despite that, I just tell the cat it'll be my first time there.
**ROVER: **Oh, today is your first time? That sounds like tons of fun! Can I ask, why're you headed there?
Peace and quiet. I don't know. Start anew. That's what I keep telling myself. The cat's really delving into this whole thing a little deeply, so my first gut reaction is to tell him that I can't really say.
**ROVER: **Whhaat?! You're not going to tell? Hmm, now I'm even more curious…Boy, I wonder…Oh, wait. I've got it! Yeah! Are you perhaps moving to a new town?
He's like a psychic. I commend his abilities.
**ME: **You guessed it.
The cat looks pleased with himself, laughing.
**ROVER: **Mya ha ha! I've got a gift! Or maybe I just have a nose for guessing! I mean, you know, if I had a nose.
He's turning out to be pretty entertaining.
**ROVER: **But you're moving, huh? That's so great! Starting a new life in a new place is really exciting!
I guess he could say that, but excitement itself isn't something I'm looking for in this travel.
**ROVER: **Going to live somewhere you've never lived before sounds like such a fun adventure!
Just as he finishes, a little jingle echoes throughout the train car. We both look towards the conductor.
**SPEAKER: **Now arriving in Quietown! Quietown station!
What the hell?
**ROVER: **Oh, hey! Looks like we're about to arrive in Quietown!
I'm probably just dreaming. Screw it. This could be the best dream I ever have.
**ROVER: **Thanks for chatting with me! It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a train ride this much!
I guess that's double for me.
**ROVER: **Come to think of it, I've been riding the rails an awful lot again lately. Haven't done this much traveling by train since 2002 or so…Man that's weird.
2002. Pretty random, but I nod and smile.
**ROVER: **Ok, good luck, Mark! Bye-bye!
2. Chapter 2
NEW LEAF
**PART 2: THE NEW MAYOR**
The train pulls up to the station. I notice a flag resting next to a clock, the image of a tree painted onto it. The next thing I notice is a monkey seated in a small booth. He looks almost too similar to the conductor. I stand in front of the double doors, my palms sweaty with anxiety. This is it, the start of my new life.
The double doors open after the train comes to a halt. I get out and the booth monkey speaks up loudly, "This stop for Quietown! Everyone for Quietown, exit here!" He ends with an "eek eek," as if to ensure I know he is a monkey. I walk toward the station exit, feeling like my chest is about to burst.
When I emerge into the town, the first thing that hits me is the amazingly pure air. Just that told me that this may be the place I've been longing for. The next thing that hits me is that it looks like all the villagers are gathered around the station, looking straight at me. The fact that they look so eager shows that maybe they don't get many visitors.
The first villager speaks up in almost a whisper,
**ROSIE: **Look! I think he finally arrived!
The villager looks like a female cat with cerulean fur. Her eyes are huge, just like the cat on the train, and she seems to carry an almost peppy personality. She wears a shirt segmented in pink, purple, magenta, and biege diamonds. The second villager, who is a lot shorter and appears to be a squirrel with her long, curved tail, is the next who speaks.
**PECAN: **I bet that's the guy!
Why are they all speaking so quietly? The squirrel has somewhat large eyes as well with a hint of eyeshadow, plum-colored. She is wearing a red checkered shirt. I could almost say appears snooty. The next villager after the squirrel speaks up.
**ROSCOE: **All right. We should say 'hi' or something.
That would probably be a good thing considering your hushed conversation is making me feel a little uneasy. The villager is a rather tall, black-furred horse with striking red eyes. His shirt is in the design of a black-white checkerboard. His look leads me to believe he's a little on the cranky side.
The last villager looks a lot more primped than everyone else and has apparel that resembles a more 'official' business look. She has the appearance of a dog with yellow fur, her hair tied up to a bun by a red strip with jingling bells attached to it. Her clothes consist of a green checkered vest with a white top and a neatly-tied red ribbon below her collar. She also wears a navy-blue skirt. Something about her makes her stand out amongst all the other villagers, which surprised me considering there's a plethora of strangely-colored bipedal animals in front of me. She speaks up exuberantly, showing her cheery personality.
**ISABELLE: **Ok, everyone! Here we go…ready? And…From those of us in Quietown…
Everyone shouts out a hefty "WELCOME!" in unison. I rear back, amazed at the whole situation and how welcoming the townspeople are. The yellow dog walks up to me, a very jovial look on her face.
**ISABELLE: **Mayor! We're so happy you're finally here!
Mayor? My heart feels like it just got dipped in an ice bath. I'm not a mayor, nor do I remember agreeing to take up such a responsibility. I ask her who this "mayor" is. The excitement from the dog's face disappears almost instantly. She looks downward, appearing almost as confused as me. She then laughs heartily.
**ISABELLE: **Oh, come on! Quit joking around. You know exactly who you are! You told us which train you'd be arriving on!
It's clear whoever the mayor of this town was supposed to be somehow got SWAPPED with me. I tell her it wasn't me.
**ISABELLE: **Oh no! You can't fool me! Things are just as you said they'd be! All is well. There's no mistake!
I start to almost feel sorry for her. She looks skittish, like her whole plan was crumbling down over her. Surely being a mayor in such a small town wouldn't really be that hard?
**ISABELLE: **Tee hee! You're a real jokester! Well, let's continue this discussion at the town hall, shall we? Here's a map of Quietown for your reference, Mayor Mark.
Oh my God. Mark is a name I pulled from my head! Is it pure coincidence that I guessed my actual name? But then how do they know my name anyway? Okay, forget it. Just forget all that. This is a dream.
**ISABELLE: **That flashing spot there is the town hall, so let's head that way together, shall we?
Oh right, so the purple house is definitely the town hall. That having been done with, I go to the town hall with the yellow dog while the townspeople disperse.
The inside of the hall is quite nice and fancy-looking, which is what I would expect from any town hall. The dog mentions this is my base of operations and that she is on staff here. She introduces herself.
**ISABELLE: **I'm Isabelle, your secretary, and I'm here to help you in any way I can. But if I may be frank, I was surprised to see someone as young as you step off the train.
Her mentioning of my young look makes me wonder why she remained insistent that I was to be the mayor. She talks about how their former mayor held his position for many years and then mentions someone as young as me being a 'breath of fresh air' and exactly the new image their town needs. It seems like she threw a curve ball there in order to set my youngness aside. Isabelle is really trying hard to help her plan remain smooth-sailing.
Isabelle goes on and says I need to get started on work as the mayor right away. I wouldn't expect any less. I wonder how they even operated without one. How long were they without a mayor anyhow? The yellow dog then states the first thing I have to do is become a resident of the town. That seems pretty simple and straightforward.
She suddenly goes hysterical, cursing herself.
**ISABELLE: **I can't believe I completely forgot something so vitally important! In order to register you as a town resident, we need your address for the form!
It's strange that not even I have really thought about this, but with all the crazy stuff that went on in such a short amount of time, I can't blame myself for letting my mind wander.
Isabelle suggests that I can build a temporary home, probably a tent. She offers to help me find a place to live before I can proceed and directs me to Tom Nook of 'Nook's Homes,' a real-estate office. The office is located in the Main Street, which she points out is above the railroad tracks on the map. She turns out to be very apologetic for bringing me here for nothing, but I didn't take offense to it. If things turned out TOO organized, I might've just gone crazy right there and then.
3. Chapter 3
NEW LEAF
**PART 3: TOM NOOK**
I head into Main Street, exploring and getting a mental note of how the buildings are lined up. It's pretty bare-bones at the moment, but Nook's Home is the first standing structure I see, a post office sitting to the right of it. I go inside the building.
The interior looks nice and clean, house models neatly showcased across the floor as well as other bits and pieces, like styles of doors, mailboxes, and hedges. It made me yearn for an actual house, but I would have to be patient.
A pudgy raccoon stood in the middle as if expecting me. He had standard shades of brown on his fur, but wore a bright green vest with a red tie. Underneath he wore a white-collar shirt with long sleeves. He looks like he's ready to get right down to business.
**TOM NOOK: **Ah, hello! Welcome! Welcome!
Despite his warm greeting, there is something off about his face. His eyelids are slightly drooped down and point upwards, giving an almost melancholy demeanor to his complexion.
**TOM NOOK: **You must be the new mayor, am I right? Isabelle at the town hall told me to expect you!
She did? What, like a couple seconds ago? I guess she's really upbeat about this whole thing and wasted absolutely no time.
**TOM NOOK: **On behalf of the Quietown chamber of commerce, I'm pleased to welcome you! So, Mark, you're here today because you want to build a house, yes?
I just nod. I'm not exactly sure what to expect out of all this and how these animals carry out their tasks, but all I know is I need a place to stay. I yearn it more than ever right now considering I need someplace private to think to myself.
**TOM NOOK: **Very good! Very good! I can build one just about anywhere you want, yes, I can indeed!
There is something about this raccoon that rubs me the wrong way. He is incredibly jumpy and talkative, prodding me with his artificial excitement while trying to remain formal. It wasn't all too unfamiliar with me.
**TOM NOOK: **So have you decided on where you want to live?
I haven't exactly planned that portion out, but seeing as how there was quite a lot of open space according to the map, I didn't think that a little impromptu session would make this anymore difficult. I wasn't a very picky guy either.
I just nod to the enthusiastic raccoon.
**TOM NOOK: **Then this won't take long at all! Just take me where you want to build your new home, Mark!
We head out back to Quietown. I find myself pacing around, and acting in complete contradiction to what I had just said about myself. I couldn't decide where to place my home. There were many places across the town that looked very nice.
I spent around a whole thirty minutes deciding on what would be a good spot, and Tom Nook did not show a loss of patience for one second.
"No rush at all!" he says to me. He sounds sincere too—no sense of cynicism in his voice. Regardless, I try not to keep him out here for too long. I even began to frustrate myself with all of this.
I choose a spot a tad close to a small pond and near the town hall. Seeing as how I am to be mayor, it seems like the most logical choice to have my home built near it. The raccoon agent analyzes the spot and then bursts with excitement.
**TOM NOOK: **Yes, yes. There's plenty of space to build a house here! You're close to a pond too! If you enjoy fishing or being in nature, it's the perfect spot!
Despite his subtle act, I'm happy to hear this from Nook. He makes it sound all the more comforting.
**TOM NOOK: **Hold on a moment. Let's see…it will look something like this…
He gives me a verbal picture of how it is to look when the shrubbery and other plant life is moved aside. I don't hold any adversity toward it. I tell him it's perfectly fine.
**TOM NOOK: **Ok! It's decided then! It will take a bit of time to build your house, so for today, let's reserve the space for you.
Something strange happens. I feel like I've drifted away for a bit. My eyes lose focus but my vision returns in only a couple seconds. Nook is still standing there, and before him is a fence lining around where my house will be set. I blink a few times, impressed at the sight.
**TOM NOOK: **Ta-da! And with that, this space is officially yours, Mark!
He starts to chuckle nervously before continuing…
**TOM NOOK: **Umm, including the cost of the land, materials, building costs, et cetera.
Of course. Of course they won't just give the mayor a place to live for free. Not even in my own dream. I try to make things harder for myself even when I'm making a fantasy world in my head.
**TOM NOOK: **Well, the calculation is complicated, so I can't come up with it just now. I'll tell you the total later.
The raccoon instructs me to drop on by his office when I've taken care of things. Now that I have an address, I suppose another visit to Isabelle wouldn't hurt.
I then realize something. I'm not just going to lie on the grass within the confines of the fence, right?
**TOM NOOK: **Ah, but I suppose you still need a place to rest your head…
Right on cue. Nook tells me to give him a moment. Right after he says that, my head starts to swim again, and before I know it, I'm back. There is now a medium-sized tent within the fence lining. This will have to do!
**TOM NOOK: **Ta-ta-ta-da! I'll let you borrow this tent so you have somewhere to sleep! I've also put up a mailbox, so you can even start receiving mail!
It is mighty thoughtful of the raccoon. I'm glad things appear to be working out.
**TOM NOOK: **I bet you rarely see a tent with a mailbox, right?
He laughs heartily at his words. I suppose I haven't seen one. It really is pretty convenient. He says he has to head back to his shop, and so we say our goodbyes.
As much as I want to just flop inside the tent lazily and rest my mind, I decide I have to get back to Isabelle. I go to the town hall.
Isabelle is behind her desk, just waiting for me to walk through the entrance. I see the eagerness in her eyes.
**ISABELLE: **Oh, Mayor Mark! Welcome back! Did you find the perfect spot to call home?
I give her a simple, assuring nod.
**ISABELLE: **Wonderful! I'm very happy to hear that! You're in temporary housing for now, right? I do hope your house is completed soon. Living in a tent can be very tiring.
With the lack of heating or air conditioning, I suppose she's right. But at the moment, I'm perfectly fine with what I have and can't wait to just relax already.
Isabelle proceeds to tell me she's completed most of my registration and asks for my birthday. I find myself feeling particularly pitiful that I don't even know this. With the fact that the animals have taken everything I've said about myself for granted so far, I decide this can't be any different.
I tell her my birthday is today. Her eyes widen.
**ISABELLE: **Oh my gosh! Well, Happy Birthday, Mayor Mark! It must be such a shock to have taken up so much responsibility on your special day…
Strangely enough she doesn't ask for the year of my birth either, but I guess that coincides with the fact that I was promoted on the spot and it was made clear that such information did not matter at this point.
**ISABELLE: **Please, take this!
Isabelle hands over a card, about the standard size of any that'd fit in one's wallet. She tells me it's a Town Pass Card and serves as an ID card that proves my place of residence. She also tells me that I can visit other towns with it. Other towns, huh? My train of thought runs off the rails once again. No doubt there are other towns out there, but it's already been demonstrated to me that this is a very different world with different standards and rules. It makes me think what lies out there.
**ISABELLE: **All right then, this wraps up just about everything we'll need to process your move. The last thing we'd like you to participate in is a ceremony that commemorates your arrival. Let's just say this can also serve as a little celebration for your birthday since it was on such short notice.
She winks at me after saying this. I actually didn't want a whole celebration over it either, but I guess that's what I get for not thinking before opening my gob.
Isabelle points out the spot on my map which turns out to be the event plaza, a decent-sized spot consisting of gravel. Special events are held there every now and then.
**ISABELLE: **We'd like for you to plant a tree in the square so it can become a great symbol for our town!
It definitely wouldn't hurt, and sounds nice enough to signify the beginning of my run as mayor.
I follow Isabelle out to the plaza. There is a hollowed-out platform in the middle filled halfway with mulch and soil. All of the villagers have gathered here to observe, although there has been no official announcement of this taking place.
I brush it aside and stand on the platform with Isabelle. She hands me a sapling and asks me to plant it. I look down on the soil, feeling my heart racing. This is a pretty simplistic little task, but really seemed like it meant a whole lot to everyone around me, and I guess it really **did **mean a whole lot. I puff out my chest, bend over, and insert the sapling into the soil. There is a thunderous roar of applause all around me.
On August 30, 2013, I became the mayor of Quietown, my own little quiet town…
4. Chapter 4
NEW LEAF
**PART 4: ACQUAINTING**
** ISABELLE: **Mayor Mark! Congratulations! I hope this tree grows just as strong and lively as Quietown!
A few days have passed now, those words still plastered into my mind. Needless to say I was pretty excited to get things going. I have wanted to relax for what felt like a long time, but with my new responsibilities, I felt a strange surge of energy that motivated me to want to get to know my quiet town a little more.
At the tree-planting festival I had noticed that there were a couple more villagers that did not get to see me at the outside of the station, a wolf who called himself Wolfgang and a panda named Chester.
Wolfgang was a bit of a cranky guy. He looked like he had a lot to keep to himself, but he maintained a good attitude around me. Chester happened to also be his friend and had a very carefree demeanor—the two contrasted quite a bit and I found myself relieved their relationship did not go the opposite direction despite their differences.
Those two were pretty much the last of the villagers in this town. After I got myself acquainted, I found myself doing some very elementary tasks around the town, such as pulling weeds and planting flowers. I did not have much else to do without tools of any kind.
I wound up having a chat with Pecan, who happened to wander in my direction as I did my little cardio session across Quietown. We got to know each other a little more. One thing that inspired her in particular was the tree ceremony. She looked forward to a great future for this town and trusted that I could do so. It felt very inspiring to hear this from a townsperson, and the praise didn't end there.
Everyone held confidence in me, so much that I felt my head was going to explode. It was at that point that I began to question myself and wonder if I even had the capabilities, as young as I was.
I got to talking to Isabelle again for advice on what I can do in Quietown. She ended up giving me a watering can that I could use for the plants. I supposed it was a good start, but I needed to find a way to get Nook the money for the down payment, 10,000 Bells, so that I could get my actual house built. Isabelle suggested that I bury fruits around the village so that more fruit trees could grow. I could sell the fruits as well as shells that I found around the beach area. It sounded pretty simple enough. The Nookling Junction located on the right side of the Main Street would be a good place to buy essentials and sell things, although the selling bit would land me some more money if I were to visit the Re-Tail shop, which was what the circulating arrow symbol on the map signified.
I cleaned out the town's supply of fruit and buried some of it around the more empty-looking areas. Once I had a good load on me, I walked over to the recycling shop, where I found Timmy, a far younger raccoon who takes over the Nookling Junction with his brother Tommy. I didn't know if they were Nook's sons or something, but it didn't seem entirely impossible.
Timmy was talking to Reese, a pink alpaca and one of the owners of the Re-Tail shop.
**TIMMY: **Ma'am, I have something to sell!
**REESE: **Oh, hello, Timmy! What did you bring for me today?
Timmy sells Reese a tape deck, to which Reese also gives him the option of setting it in the "flea market" where someone else could buy it. Timmy sells the tape deck anyway for almost 200 Bells.
After the end of their transaction, Timmy turns to me, looking surprised.
**TIMMY: **Ah, hello! We haven't met, yes?
He introduces himself and explains he runs the Nookling Junction, which I already had a good idea about. He takes his leave after a quick goodbye and I turn my attention toward the alpaca.
**REESE: **Sorry to have kept you waiting. Welcome to the recycle shop, Re-Tail!
She proceeds to explain the works of her shop, the flea market, and premium items. I get down to business. My loads of fruit baskets were worth around one-fourth the amount of the down payment. My town's native fruit, the apple, was worth less than other fruits. I didn't know exactly where I could get my hands on different types of fruit, but I had to go with what I had for now.
It's not over just yet. I scrounge around for shells on the beach. Even with that, I'm still not able to get enough money for the down payment just yet. I would have to approach this with patience.
I continued this process for the next few days until the present. I now have enough cash to satisfy Nook and get my actual house built. In the meantime, I've been talking to more of the villagers. One that interested me in particular was the horse, Roscoe.
The horse is a man of good taste. The interior of his home was sleek and stylish and he had many interesting things to say. I agreed to do a little favor for him and catch him a "river fish." I assumed that was a general term for fish in the river, but I didn't have a fishing rod. In order for my villagers to have more faith and respect for me, I had a feeling that doing them these small favors would go a long way.
And so I bought my first fishing rod, caught Roscoe his fish, and earned his thanks. He had also given me a present for helping him out, something he called a "Lovely Lamp." As I anticipated, the thing was brightly-colored and stood out quite a bit in my drab little tent. A light source was just what I needed though, so I didn't mind very much. I wouldn't even say I was the best when it came to fashion and décor.
I got so caught up tonight in doing favors that by the time I got to Nook's Homes again, the lights were out. I look inside in pure frustration and sigh. I take a few steps back and observe the buildings of Main Street. I look to my left and notice something I completely missed, a photo booth. I take out my Town Pass Card and realize I don't have a picture. This would probably be a good time.
I step into the booth, slip my card in the slot, and take my picture, the picture being embedded onto the card automatically. Once I step back out, I gaze up at the strange building to the right of the booth. It is an elegant-looking one with a classy, golden dome and marble pillars. It strikes me as the most spellbinding building in the Street, but at the same time there is something off-putting about it. I'm almost nervous to find out what's inside. I decide to lay it off until tomorrow.
When the next morning comes, I head to Nook's Homes immediately and finally pay off my down payment. He is quite pleased and lets me know my house will be prepared the next day. The next day? Can they really do it that quickly? Either way, I'm excited. Having an actual home will definitely make me feel more like I belong in this town. But, of course, that was just the down payment. If I ever want to expand, I'll have to pay up the remainder of the loan.
With the sum of Bells I have left, I decide to buy some more tools, including an axe and a shovel. I'd say the time I've been here so far turned out to be smooth and relatively stress-free. Mayor work hasn't bogged me down too much and being social with the animals has raised my comfort levels significantly.
I set the plan for the rest of the day to involve some visitations to the other local stores across Main Street. With some Bells in hand, I set off. Before I cross to the eastern path, I stop in my tracks. It was the same feeling you'd get if you felt a really strange draft out of nowhere. My head turns to the left and I look at the fancy building next to the phone booth again, the rose insignia on the door staring back.
5. Chapter 5
NEW LEAF
**PART 5: THE DREAM SUITE**
I continue to ignore the strange, elegant building and proceed to expand Quietown. I make a visit to the Able Sisters, a humble store owned by a pair of hedgehogs specializing in designs, clothing, and accessories. I decide to get out of my old pair of clothes and try out some new apparel for once—I put on a hefty brown jacket with some black jeans. I have to say despite how off my shoes looked in color comparison, the outfit I had on blended together quite well. I wound up buying the clothes.
The store is a small suite, and I can practically see the other room from here.
**MABEL: **Oh, that section is where you can find accessories, such as hats, sunglasses, and many other selections! Our sister, Labelle can assist you with anything you need.
I visit the accessories section. Labelle has what seems like a coy demeanor about her, giving me a hushed whisper of a "Hello," as I made my way inside. She also has a more official appearance, almost like a fashion designer, sporting a black, sleeveless dress with a white shirt underneath. She also wore an orange scarf. Her appearance is actually striking when compared to her older siblings, Sable and Mabel, not that I actually wanted to start judging looks in a place full of designers.
I get myself a nice-looking pair of sunglasses with a white frame. Labelle gives me her humble thanks and I take my leave. With a new outfit, I feel the freshness in my new life growing and taking hold. I head back to my house and on the way, Pecan and Rosie notice my new clothes and compliment me on my fashion sense. It is pretty flattering considering my mind wasn't fully focused on that as I made my pick.
My tent has transformed into a nice little cottage. I am still amazed at how quickly they built this thing. The inside is nice and cozy and everything electrical functions perfectly. I take the fishing rod I left in my storage closet and begin to fish in the pond close to the house. It's then that I start hearing a rhythmic beeping noise from behind. I turn my head and find out it's coming from my mailbox. A little blue flag is sticking out of it, a blinking envelope insignia embedded in the middle. I walk over to the mailbox and open it up, and out comes two pieces of mail, one with a whole present attached to it.
I take a look at the letter with the generous attachment and find it is from Roscoe, thanking me for hanging out with him the other day. Getting a gift for such a small thing really showed me how important minimalistic things are considered in this town, and it left me smiling…until I looked at the other letter.
_"To Mark, Congrats on your newfound mayorhood! To be honest, I was supposed to become the mayor, but one thing led to another…And now it's all up to you! I'm rooting for you!"_
The letter is signed "-Keep it a secret!" A puzzle seems to be piecing itself together here. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this letter, but it's becoming clearer that this whole mayor-swap was definitely planned ahead. I gaze at the letter some more and flip it over. I find a 12-digit code on the bottom-left corner.
"1288-2472-1992"
I can't make any final conclusions with this just yet. I stuff the letter in my pocket and realize I haven't opened Roscoe's present. It's a Lovely Bed. I smile again.
After my fishing session, I remember the elegant building next to Nook's and think that this may be the best time to finally check out what exactly it holds.
I nervously walk up the marble steps, feeling dryness in my mouth. I open the door with the rose design, the sounds of chiming bells accompanying my entrance. The interior sends a sweeping sense of relief and relaxation through my entire body. The design is simple but serene, and the air is filled with an almost tranquilizing coolness.
In the middle of the interior stood an odd-looking tapir, her dark blonde hair tied to a bun. Her skin is smooth with a dark shade of brown, blue freckles lining the bottom of her eyes. A pleased hum comes out of her red-lined lips as she sees me enter her realm.
**LUNA: **Welcome. My name is Luna, and this is the luxurious Dream Suite, where we offer you relaxation within your stressful life.
It started working just as I stepped foot inside the building. The tapir's voice is silky smooth. It's like everything inside this place except for me has some kind of aura of peace emanating from it.
**LUNA: **Oooh…are you not the mayor of Quietown? We two have had many pleasant conversations in the dream world. I am honored by the chance to converse whilst we are awake.
As creepy as the stuff Luna is going on about is, the feeling of wanting to unwind has not dissipated in the slightest. She gives me an overview of the suite and how it operates. I can go into dream versions of different towns and just have myself a grand time exploring them.
This actually touches on my yearning to get to see what else lied in this world, but then I realized something else. I can dream about others' dream towns while I'm already dreaming? I mean, if this really is still just a dream, it has to be the longest one I've ever had. I almost feel a twinge of fear welling up inside of me. If I am to just fall asleep on that bed and start "dreaming," would that wake me up in some freakish chance? I did not feel I wanted to depart from this fascinating world just yet. There is so much more I have to do.
Even if my mind is racing at this point, I almost immediately fall back into the trance of the relaxing atmosphere of the Dream Suite. My levels of interest in this entire function is almost too much for me to handle, and I decide I have to experience this. I walk over to the bed.
**LUNA: **Now then, why don't you start by telling me what kind of dream you want to have?
Luna starts giving me different options, including one to give her a "Dream Address" if I wanted to visit a specific dream. I think for a bit and my mind trails back to the mysterious letter I got today. I pull it out and Luna takes a look at the code I point out to her. She raises a brow and shakes her head with a subtle smile partially blocked by her long snout.
**LUNA: **What you have here is a friend code, Mayor Mark. You can actually use this to physically transcend to the town tied to this code.
**ME: **As in through the main station?
She nods and gives me back the letter.
**LUNA: **Dream addresses do not have a particularly differing anatomy. If you would like for me to rather pick a dream at random for you, I can also accomplish this.
Why not? At this point, I don't have a specific place in mind and felt a bit of unpredictability would be interesting in this scenario. Luna instructs me to lie on the bed in some pajamas she hands me. I don't just put these on. They almost seem to fuse with me. My original outfit disappears and is immediately replaced by the silky garments. I look up at Luna in pure shock. She laughs her strange humming laugh.
**LUNA: **Not to worry, Mayor Mark. Your outfit will be given back to you once you are finished.
I nod in understanding and lie on the fancy bed before me. I shut my eyes and breathe deep, taking in the cool air. I can hear Luna's voice getting quieter.
**LUNA: **Now I'm going to…shut off the lights…one sheep…two sheep…
I sense the overwhelming force of sleep rendering my body helpless. Everything turns to white and I can hear the faint sound of a breeze passing through my head.
I feel like I'm floating.
6. Chapter 6
NEW LEAF
**PART 6: DREAMING OF SUNDALE**
I emerge into a realm of dreams. Many different sounds flutter and wisp past my ears as I transcend blindly into this world. As scary as the concept would seem, I actually feel more tranquil than before.
I feel a regaining in gravity and feel my body becoming heavier. I can breathe in air—very crisp and clean air, much like my own town. I open my eyes and find myself staring up into a starry night sky. I hear the common sounds of the outdoors, except everything almost sounds like they have a slight reverberating effect. I blink several times and see Luna looming over me from the side.
**LUNA: **Welcome to the world of dreams…Right now you're having a dream of a sleepy town called Sundale.
I slowly give rise to my upper body and feel a bit of wooziness kick in. I shake my head and analyze my surroundings. The bed I am resting on is now in the middle of a gravel-paved plaza, much like the one in my own town. That's only where the strangeness begins.
Luna wishes me a good time and tells me to flop back into bed if I want to return to the real world. I let my bare feet sink off the side of the bed and touch the stone floor. The sense of touch is vivid in this dream world. I'm afraid if I stay for too long I'll start to think this in itself is the real world.
I investigate my surroundings some more and notice that this town appears to have a celebratory tree as well. The vegetation of the town is a wonder to look at. Trees are strewn all across the grasslands to resemble a forest. Bushes, shrubs, flowers, and all sorts of other plants have populated the town a good deal also.
I rummage my pockets upon realizing I have something inside them. The item turns out to be a map of the town itself. The layout is not entirely identical to mine, but the legend and symbols are very similar, save for some new structures all across the place. There are ten villagers living here, a police station, a café, and what appears to be a campsite. I heed these structures and see if I can have them built in Quietown as well. The café does definitely sound pleasurable to have.
The event of visiting the villagers carries its own blend of weirdness. They are all different from the ones in my town (thank God, otherwise I would've questioned my sanity even in a dream state), but they all act like they are present in this dream world and self-aware of their surroundings. I have heard of something called "lucid dreaming," but for all these guys to be self-aware? It didn't sit right with me.
I try visiting the structures across town, but to no avail. They are all lit up like Christmas trees, but are closed and locked up tight, sometimes sporting signs with unsettling messages on them.
_"Temporarily closed forever."_
_ "Closed 24 hours."_
_ "The town hall will be closed today. Thank you for your understanding!"_
I wonder after waiting for about a day if I would see another version of Isabelle. I chuckle to myself at this thought, although I soon remember that the building has windows, although it isn't lit up like the other buildings. I take a peek inside and cannot see anything save for a couple pieces of furniture here and there. I then think to myself, "This is a dream, so what I do doesn't really affect the town."
Right?
An idea pops up into my head. I dash back to Luna, destroying some flowers along my path. I notice a dancing phallic object nearby the bed, its twisty movements accelerating the closer I got to it. In its squeaky voice, it offers me a selection of tools. Score! I take everything the bugger has on hand and make a run for the town hall again, equipping my trusty axe.
Before I take a swing at one of the windows, I sense someone behind me.
**LUNA: **Mayor Mark?
I slowly turn my head and gaze at the tapir from the corner of my eye. She looks at me with concern, as if expecting something like this.
**LUNA: **Do you really want to do this?
**ME: **What do you mean? This is supposed to be a dream.
**LUNA: **Yes, Mayor Mark…but these dreams are a complete amalgamation of a townsperson's memories, outlook, and remembrances of their town. It's not just the arrangement of buildings and plant life.
I think about what she is saying. Would a person have to scan and remember every single inch of his or her town to really project an entire image as a dream? What is the end point of this dream world anyway? My first motive in even planning this was to simply see what the inside of the town hall looked like, but now Luna has me thinking of the lack of a boundary.
**ME: **If this whole thing is from someone's head, then there should be a limit or something, right?
Luna shakes her head.
**LUNA: **There does not have to be a limit. I am not sure of the limits of Sundale itself, but somebody can certainly expand their dream and break through a boundary to create even more land in the surroundings. Somebody can create an entire world if they wanted.
Luna sighs and folds her arms.
**LUNA: **I'm not going to stop you, Mayor Mark. What you do here won't affect the dream, but it may affect you.
Wouldn't someone have done something like this before? One can't possibly tell me that they'll see most of the buildings being closed and not wanting to play 'explorer' a bit. I shrug it off. Luna has already walked away.
I shatter the window with my axe and break into the town hall. It is already quiet in the dream world of Sundale, but somehow it seems even quieter inside the building. It gives me a feeling of tension almost. I flip on the light switch and look around, noticing that not only does the building itself look similar, but its interior also. I begin to think if maybe the whole dream could be affected by someone else's imagination and recollections. It would be too much of a coincidence for two towns to look almost identical.
I investigate around the mayor's table. There are a lot of different papers scattered around, most of which I cannot understand because of the complex and almost illegible writing on them. I lose interest quickly and start checking around the secretary's desk.
There is something on the desk that causes my insides to feel like they've gone frozen and I am not sure how I didn't see this before. The name plate propped on the surface says, **"Isabelle."**
What was once a little joke has turned into something horrific. I remind myself that this is just…a dream in a dream. Yeah, that's exactly what this is. None of these different towns probably even exist. This is just some crazy concoction from my overly active mind. I can't think too hard on this. I exit the town hall to see one of the animals, a rabbit, staring at me like I fell from the sky. I ignore him and head back to Luna.
The tapir eyes me with indifference, but I bet that with one look at my face she could tell I probably regretted my action. No, that's not how this is. It's just a dream, and my own mind contributed to it. That's all this is!
**LUNA: **Are you ready to go back to the world of stress?
Yes, but not for very long.
7. Chapter 7
NEW LEAF
**PART 7: ROSIE'S HOSPITALITY**
I found myself transcending into multiple dreams, a constant energy coursing through me and pushing me forward. My discoveries were all but normal. Every town I had visited after Sundale had very stark similarities between what I've already seen. Re-Tails, police stations, cafes, campsites—reappearances were everywhere I looked. There was something else too: the town halls were also the same, as were the nameplates, "Isabelle" scrawled on them.
There seemed to be no end to the craziness. All these towns had different villagers. I actually just recently discovered that the mayors of the village also had houses. Usually the mayors themselves would be walking about outside their houses, but they were utterly dull, not engaging in any conversations I attempted to have with them. All they did was speak a single phrase and not much else. They resembled robots. I almost felt like my brain was withering at that point. I had to take a rest.
And so I take a rest. I bid Luna farewell and I notice she seems a bit troubled by the fun adventures I had. I will definitely be returning, but for now I have to get my mind off of the crazy stuff I just witnessed. I decide to start this task by bringing up the structures that I hoped would be available to me to Isabelle.
I couldn't look at her the same. That cheerful, yellow puppy face never fading from view is no longer as radiant as it once was. All I get now is a chilling sense of dread, but I didn't want to feel this way about her. I just couldn't help it. I feel there is something underneath.
**ISABELLE: **Hello, Mayor Mark! Can I assist you with anything today?
She says this as I recline on my comfy mayor's chair, gazing blankly at the surface of my desk, which is just as blank. I snap my head up, remembering what I was going to say. I propose the public works projects that I referenced from the dream villages I've visited. Isabelle is more than happy to help me get the requests lined out, to my great relief. The projects are going to cost money.
I waste no time and head out with Isabelle, pointing out the perfect spots to put the projects. Not wanting to dig myself too deep in the inevitable debt I'm piling on myself, I decide to start on three projects for now: the café, the campsite, and the police station. Once the spots are chosen, Isabelle informs me that only one project can be built at a time. Great. I won't even be able to have it completely finished until the payment is done with either. It will take a bit to have all these finished in a timely manner, although I suppose I'm not really on a deadline here.
The day lazily shuffles on through as I sit in my office, looking through the files and papers in the drawers. Suddenly I remember the letter in my pocket—yes, THAT letter, the one sent by the would-be mayor of this place. I look at the code on the back again. My mind sets itself back on track. Luna told me that this was a "friend code" I can use to travel to another town. Am I really ready to start doing that?
The door of the town hall jingles as it suddenly swings open. The cerulean cat, Rosie, steps in, prancing up to Isabelle's desk. Isabelle warmly greets her.
**ISABELLE: **Hello! How can I help you?
Rosie's eyes roll from Isabelle, then over her shoulder, then to me. She giggles.
**ROSIE: **Oh, I don't need much! I was just wondering if Mr. Mayor is busy at the moment.
I throw the letter into the drawer and sit up.
**ME: **No, no, I'm not doing anything. What do you need?
She giggles again and hops around nervously.
**ROSIE: **I, uh, was just wondering if you wanted to come out for a bit. I want to talk to you about something…privately.
I look at Isabelle, who looks back at me, raising her lower lip and brow with mutual acceptance.
**ME: **I don't mind that. I'll be right out.
The cat beams.
**ROSIE: **Great! I'll see you!
She heads out and I mean to follow. As I pass Isabelle's desk, I take another look at her. She gives me a glance, a nod, and then a meek little smile.
Rosie is just on the side of the building, leaning against the wall. Her large grin slowly sinks to a concerned frown. She walks up to me and holds my hands.
**ROSIE: **Mayor Mark, are you doing okay?
**ME: **What do you mean?
**ROSIE: **You know what I mean!
She gives a little scoff.
**ROSIE: **Every time I've seen you, you always look so…how you say it…you always look so FRENZIED!
The last word catches me off guard, not necessarily by what it meant, but how loud she says it. I admit, I probably do look like a tad crazed at the moment, but it's for good reason. I try to change the subject, but then Rosie makes a request.
**ROSIE: **You have to come to my place sometime! Any time after an hour is perfect!
Wait, today? I wasn't really planning on visiting anyone, except for maybe Luna again. Or maybe I really should take a bit of a longer break before jumping into that madness again. I don't know how much more I can take in such a short period of time. Forget it. I give in and plan to meet her in exactly an hour.
** ROSIE: **You will? That's great! I'll see you then!
I can tell I made her pretty happy by the way she prances off.
I do wind up meeting her just a minute before the time we planned. Rosie happily invites me in and makes me comfortable. She is clearly in the know when it comes to neighborly hospitality. As relaxed as I might have felt at the dream suite, Rosie might be putting it on the run for its money. We talk about things, nice things that is, and it really helps to take my mind off the stress raking at it.
All good things come to an end, however, and I have to bid Rosie farewell. I am tired and greatly look forward to sleep tonight. She stops me before I head out.
**ROSIE: **O-oh! Mayor Mark! What do you think of my place? You aren't going to leave without telling me, are you?
She has her hands behind her back, looking blatantly bashful about it. I give her an assuring grin.
**ME: **I love it!
**ROSIE: **Really? Wow, well I'm flattered!
Truthfully it is a very nice-looking interior, complete with an interesting pink wallpaper, a rug that really ties the room together, and intriguing furniture, some that are decorated with polka-dots. Undoubtedly it helped me relax as I spent time with the cat.
Rosie gives a hearty goodbye and I leave, breathing in the fresh evening air as I stepped outside. I start to head over to my house until I bump into Chester, who I am surprised to see considering I don't even see him often.
**CHESTER: **Hey there, Mayor! Sorry about that. I've been thinking…well, hard about something.
He evidently wants me to know about whatever is occupying his head. I bite.
**CHESTER: **Wolfgang's noticed something odd about the dream suite. Well, you know how it's open pretty much 24/7 right?
He leans in a little close and I do the same.
**CHESTER: **It's closed.
I lean back, puzzled. The dream suite closed? Chester chuckles at the flabbergasted expression I have on.
**CHESTER: **Don't believe me? Go on over and see for yourself! I think Wolfgang's still out there. Personally, I don't really see how he's so interested in it. Luna's gotta take a break too, you know!
That comment reminds me a lot of Isabelle and her tireless work. I have to remember to give her a vacation. I thank Chester and head to Main Street. I don't plan to take very long since my eyelids are struggling to remain open.
True to his word, the lights of the elegant building are off and Wolfgang is standing just outside on the dirt road, staring at the building with intensity. I walk up to him and cross-examine the dream suite myself. It truly is a bit of a spectacle, especially since it stands out so well at this time of day.
Wolfgang doesn't even turn his eyeballs as he speaks to me.
**WOLFGANG: **Doesn't this give you a weird feeling?
I don't know what to say. I suppose it does? I almost have to stand next to Chester on this one. Luna could just be taking a short break.
**WOLFGANG: **Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Well, I don't think that's what's going on.
**ME: **What do you think it is then?
**WOLFGANG: **Heck if I know. I could be wrong. The thing is, ever since this day started, I've felt weird. Like, really weird. It's something in the air.
I think back to an earlier time and realize that I've been through a good deal today. Despite that, I don't know if Wolfgang is just really paranoid, or if my activity in the dream suite influenced something—but that just seems like crazy talk.
8. Chapter 8
NEW LEAF
**PART 8: WHITNEY**
Weeks and weeks have passed and I have not taken another trip to the Dream Suite. I could not say right now what exactly has demotivated me from going back, but it may be just a combination of fear and plain forgetfulness. Luna had reopened the Suite, so maybe the closing wasn't anything to get too riled up about.
I tried hard not to get riled up about things. I have responsibility as the mayor of this town to keep it a habitable and peaceful place, and I did not want the stress of my personal errands to diminish my energy. Summer has eventually faded away as the weeks trailed by. The first snow came just yesterday after the campsite has finally finished being constructed.
The campsite is my final piece of the queue for public works projects—I'm finally done…for now. There could be a lot of other things I can add to the town, but I didn't think on it too much. Quietown is really shaping up to become something great—a town that I would be proud to call my own. With a café, police station, and the campsite, I am not sure what other structures I could come up with; there are plenty of others on Main Street. Most of the dream towns I visited did not have much variation in structures. If I kept at it, I could probably figure out more things to add to the list.
I was able to fund all these different projects from visiting an interesting island not far from the shores of Quietown's beaches. A sailor turtle that went by the name of Kapp'n said he noticed the prolific growth of the town and offered up his services to transport to the island, where the rest of his family lived. On this island were the most astounding variations of insects and sea life I've seen yet. I managed to find insects that offered a hefty selling price. My economic standing grew immensely since visiting the island, and it hasn't stopped. With the extra money, I spent it on increasing the vegetation in Quietown as well as expanding my own home.
Life is smooth-sailing. That is how it should be in my town. I find myself growing more and more distant from all the troubling things I've seen. I've gotten to know my villagers more and spend a lot more time with them. At the end of January, we actually got a new visitor. I haven't actually gone to speak with her personally, but when I saw her at a glimpse, she looked mysterious, and somehow fascinated me.
The visitor is a white wolf. I was told by Isabelle that her name is Whitney and that she has almost immediately expressed interest in moving in, claiming the last place she stayed in was 'not suited for her.' It sounded very snooty, but I was sure the wolf would enjoy it here.
A day passes since Whitney has set up camp. It is the afternoon and her tent is still up. I decide it would be as good a time as any to get to know her and welcome her, finally. I get done with a bit of paperwork and take my leave from town hall. I head over to the tent and see that the entrance flap is zipped open a bit. I take a quick peek in and don't see the wolf anywhere inside. I peek in more closely in case she was huddled up in a corner—nope.
I pace away from the tent and look around. In the distance nearby the cliff overlooking the beach, I see her—in her flower-patterned purple knit and brilliant white fur, Whitney sits on the blue bench off the edge of the cliff, occupied by a small book in her grasp. I walk up to the bench, which is also surrounded by a plethora of flora, giving the whole scene an almost mystical feeling. I feel like I'm walking into a sappy romance novel.
Whitney notices me approaching and turns her head to view me. She blinks a couple times and then smiles with a small acknowledging nod. I breathe out and extend my arm for a handshake.
**ME: **Hello. Whitney, am I right?
She nods and smiles again, exchanging my handshake.
**WHITNEY: **You're correct. Are you Mayor Mark?
She closes her book and sets it aside.
**ME: **That's me. I just wanted to welcome you Quietown. I'm sure you'll find it very comfortable. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you when you set up camp.
Whitney shakes her head.
**WHITNEY: **Don't worry about it, Ma- ahem. You don't mind if I just call you Mark, right?
**ME: **Not at all!
**WHITNEY: **Good, good.
She makes a toothy grin, chuckling at herself.
**WHITNEY: **It's good to meet you, anyhow. I'm already planning on moving in. I just have to get things set up in Main Street. You know how it is.
I nod, almost transfixed by the smoothness of her voice. Everything about her is smooth. There is something just so captivating about her. I gesture toward the bench with a flick of my head.
**ME: **Do you mind if I join you?
Whitney seems taken aback at first, but then nods, scooting over for me.
We get to know each other. Whitney has come from another town which has apparently been 'abandoned' by its mayor for some time. I cringe at the thought of doing something like that. I would never forgive myself unless it involved some sort of emergency. Whitney informs me that the town was not being tended to—weeds were growing everywhere and it never went through evolution of any sort.
**WHITNEY: **I'm glad I left when I did. It looked like things were just going to get worse.
Her little story about the town got under my skin. It motivated me even more to pay special care to Quietown. Whitney and I wound up talking for quite a while. We decided to continue our conversation over at the café.
The head of the café, Brewster, is a real piece of work. With grace and finesse, he offers us coffee unlike anything I've ever tasted. His passion glowed and wafted from the cups almost, feeling amazing in the midst of the café's warmth, huddled in the middle of winter's embrace.
Whitney and I continue to talk, having a great time. It seems like she is the one who has all the stories to tell. It makes me reflect on my own life. I do have much to tell, but they aren't exactly things I want to share, even if I've already gotten comfortable with her. I'm pleased with how quickly we've befriended each other.
I almost don't even hear the entrance open, the bells jingling as a small breeze whistled from the outside. I turn my head to see that it's Pecan. She walks up to Whitney and me, fixating her eyes on me.
**PECAN: **Ah! Mayor! I was looking for you.
Pecan gazes over at Whitney and suddenly looks startled. Her speech becomes a little quieter and she seems more hesitant.
**PECAN: **I'm sorry. Did I interrupt?
Both Whitney and I shake our heads while looking at each other in mutual agreement.
**ME: **No, not at all. What do you need, Pecan?
**PECAN: **Ummm, uhhhh…
She looks around nervously.
**PECAN: **You know what? I'll tell you later, alright? I'll send you a letter maybe. See you around!
The squirrel takes her leave casually, and I just look back at Whitney in confusion. We eventually brush it off and continue our warm little chat.
Later in the evening we finally decide it's about time to go our separate ways and take a load off for the night. Whitney and I stand outside of the town hall.
**WHITNEY: **Thanks for that. It was fun.
**ME: **Hm?
**WHITNEY: **The time we had in the café, I mean. I can already tell I'll like it here. Hey, send me a letter sometime soon, huh? I should have my house ready by the end of this week.
I pause for a moment and then nod with a stupid grin.
**ME: **No problem.
With that, she gives a responding nod and a cute wink as she walks away. I stare at her dreamily, noticing that specks of white are beginning to fall from above. The evening is pleasingly still. I breathe in the brisk air and make my way back into the town hall to finish my work.
I wanted every day to be this way.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Horror, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 61,776 | 12,185.8 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Default Chapter
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANIMAL CROSSING!!!
Authors Note: This is the first author fic I have ever done before. So be gentle!!! Oh... and I DO NOT act this dingy... Most of the time.... I just felt it fit the Animal Crossing atmosphere.
Zhaneel awoke with the sun shining in brightly through her window. Her brand new pineapple bed was just the thing for her sleepy head. She yawned and stretched. Her blue hair fell in boucy curls around her face. She hopped out of bed and fixed her yellow comforter. She began humming a tune to herself as she placed her bouncy hair into neat pigtails with a few ties she had placed around her wrists the night before. It was such a bright winter morning. She was excited to welcome the days adventures. It was 8 o'clock in the morning when she finaly had her rubberduck outfit on and her belly was full of fried apples. (Which she cooked using her pink kitchenetted that her friend Amaranth had won for her at the Raffle just two days ago.) Zhaneel opened her little cottage door and walked outside. She was just about to head over to the message board when she noticed her mailbox flashing.
"Mail!" She squeled happily as she hopped over towards her mailbox. She opened up the postbox and collected five letters. She thumbed through them quickly reading their lables aloud to her self.
"Museum, museum, black market, museum... Ohhh!" Zhaneel pulled a pink envelope from the pile before stuffing the rest of the letters inside her pockets. "This is from Monique... Well that is certaintly a surprise."
Zhaneel placed her tiny fingers underneatht the envelope flap and opened the letter within. Her round blue eyes began to scan the words:
Dear loyal fan of mine.
I will be holding a bbq party by the beach today starting from noon until six. I do hope you can attend. Everyone that adores me is welcome. Pft. It will certaintly be a fun filled after noon. Pft. It's a pot loc so bring some goodies. Pft.
~Monique the most adorable kitten
"A party! Well this should be interesting seeing as I have no food to bring... I wonder if Amaranth got this invitation too?" Zhaneel chewed her bottom lip a moment debating whether or not it was worth risking her life to knock on Amaranths door this early. She shrugged, "If she attacks, I'll just run into the light. She'll shrink away like a slug near salt." She stuffed the letter in her pocket and proceded towards the largest house in the pad.
Zhaneel took a breath and gently knocked on the door. She could hear a shuffling inside. Then a ticked off Amaranth popped her head in the doorway. "WHAT?!"
"eeek..." Zhaneel stammered.
Amaranths almond eyes closed to mere slits, "Oh. It's you. Well come in..."
Zhaneel walked inside Amaranths house. Amaranth had a purple quilt wrapped around her shoulders as she hobbled over to her outfits that were lined up against a wall. Zhaneel took a seat on her brown couch and looked around the spacious house. Amaranths house was unique indeed. Currently, she had two floors. The original and the basement. The floor they were on now was a space room. The walls were star paper, and the floor was a carpet of blue. Amaranth had interesting furniture on this floor. In one corner a space station rotated in specific intervils while a large astroid rolled in circles in the opposite corner. Amaranth was currently saving up for a satalite. Zhaneel had pondered buying Amaranth one herself, but at the moment she only had 822 bells in her pocket. Zhaneel jumped as she heard Amaranth slam the lid of her chest down, she was muttering to herself in jumbled jibber jabber. This would take a few minutes while Amaranth got ready.
"I'll be downstairs."
"mmeh." Amaranth muttered. ßTranslationà "Ok Zhaneel. Go right on ahead, I'll meet you downstairs. Make yourself at home!"
Zhaneel hopped down off of the couch and quickly trotted over to the stairs. She ran lightly down the staircase and clicked on the lights. This was her favorite room in this house. A jungle had made its way down into Amaranths basement. Litteraly. Rows of plants lined the walls and then dotted the area in no real uniform shape. In one corner of the room a coy pond flowed calmly, gently splashing water from it's tiny fountain. On another wall a frog chair stood surrounded by butterflys and fish. Zhaneel was admiring the red snapper and dace when she heard a shout from upstairs.
"Zhaneel!!!"
Zhaneel turned and trotted up the stairs. The lights were on now and Zhaneel spotted her friend fixing her purple pigtails. She was wearing her flameshirt and was just preparing her matching umbrella when she spoke.
"So what did you want?"
"Just wondering if you had gotten this letter from Monique inviting us to her BBQ." Zhaneel told her.
Amaranth shrugged. "Probably. Was it in a cuddely ever so adorable pink envelope?"
"Uh huh."
"Yeah I threw it out. I hate pink. Grrrr..."
"Well do you want to go?"
"Go where?"
"TO ThE BBQ!"
"WHY?!"
Zhaneel sighed, "To have fun. Come on Amaranth. We'll get freee foood..." Zhaneel told her the last part in a sing-song temptation voice.
"Oh fine. But if she makes me mad I'm throwing her in the ocean."
"Yay!" Zhaneel squeled with joy, "Come on, let's go to the river and get some fish for the BBQ."
"ugh..."
Did you like? R&r flames are welcome! I was in a rush so I didn't to spell check. Forgive me!!!
2. Buzz Buzz Swollen Eye
Zhaneel and Amaranth were headed to the river. Zhaneel was holding her fishing rod while Amaranth was hitting rocks along the way with her shovel, determined to find the money stone. They reached the river bank and Zhaneel spotted a shadow in the water wiggling about. She cast her line in and waited. Amaranth had now started to shake some trees for apples and free furniture and such. There was a splash in the water that ended the simple chatter between friends. Zhaneel yanked on the line and.
POP!
"A dace! I've always heard they were pretty good on a grill. I wonder if that's true." Zhaneel shrugged and proceded to drop the line back into the water.
"I don't know. Boy I hope a cocanut falls on Moniques fluffy little head. She thinks so highly of herself it makes me sick. Oh Amaranth! What is that horrid rag you're wearing pft? Here's a new outfit. Pft. Ugh!" Amaranth made a face.
"She isn't all bad darlin'." Zhaneel replied cheerfully.
"Oh yes she is. Almost as bad as Gwen."
Zhaneel stamped her foot, "Now that's not fair! Gwen is very nice once you get to know her!"
"No she isn't." Amaranth stated. She shrugged and went back to shaking trees while Zhaneel in a huff went back to fishing. "I hope you get stun." She muttered to herself.
"what did you. AHHHHHH!!!!!" Amaranth ran past Zhaneel in a blur. She jumped into the pond, a buzz of bees hovered over her a moment.
Zhaneel turned around abruptly. Her skirt poofed and swayed as she turned. "Amaranth! Are you alright?!"
"EEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! MY EYE! MY BEAUTIFUL ALMOND VIOLET EYE!! DON'T LOOK AT ME! I'M A MONSTER!" Amaranth was screaming.
Zhaneel came around and looked at Amaranths eye. It was all swollen, and shut. Her lashes flinced when Zhaneel examined the sting. "That looks pretty bad Amaranth, may be Tom Nook has something for it."
"my eye..." Amaranth whimpered.
"Come on lets go, in the meantime..." Zhaneel took a pair of bright yellow sunflower shades and put them over her friends eyes. You could still see a bit of reddened flesh peeking out over the lense. However, someone could only see this if they looked really hard.
The two set off to Tom Nook, Zhaneel left her fishing line forgotten.
3. Wicked Plans
Zhaneel entered through Tom Nooks doors. There were two stories to the store now, newly built and freshly furnished. Zhaneel waited for the automatic door to open itself before she entered. When it finaly did, she entered with grace while her poor swollen eyed friend stumbled over the door step. Tom Nook who was at the time sifting through some brand new wall-paper immediately waddled over to the awkward pair.
"Welcome to Tom Nook! You can browse but try not to carouse!" He chuckled merily.
Zhaneel simply smiled and replied, "Tom, do you have any sort of ointment for poor Amaranth here? We were fishing and a bee poped out of no- where and stun her right on the eye lid!"
"I hate nature!" Amaranth screamed dramatically.
"We have a party to go to so can you make it snappy?" Zhaneel batted her doe eyes innocently.
Tom Nook blushed and stumbled over his words, "o..ooo.. oh yes, I do carry something for that eye. Un.Unfortunatly I'm fresh out of the Orange Peel Magic Cream. I'm terribly sorry but I sold the last bottle to a man who was just passing by. He claimed that he had gotten lost along his usual route of delivering the papers and mail. Named the 'Postman'. From what I re-call. Very snooty, he was wearing a red back-pack and matching hat. I saw him get on the Train."
Amaranth moaned, "I want to go home! I want my pineapple bed! I want to eat my sinful onion dip and potatoe chips until I burst!"
Zhaneel rushed her best-friend out the door. "Well, I guess that's that then."
"What?" Amaranth sniffed with dread.
"Well, you'll just have to wear those sun-glasses to the barbeque. I'm sure no one will mind!"
"Are you saying these ugly custard colored glasses will offend someone?" Amaranth hissed.
Zhaneel giggled, "The word is 'mustard', and no I'm sure no one will care much. Except, I'm sure that Monique will have something to say about it."
Suddenly an very menacing grin spread across Amaranths face. "Reeeeeaally? Well wy didn't you say something earlier? Come on. Lets go."
"Oh goody! I knew you would turn a leaf and decide to come along!" Zhaneel clapped her hands together in glee.
***Yeah yeah. Short chapter duh. Lol. Sorry. I'm a different kind of author. All of my chapters are really just one event that occurs in the story. If you don't like it, I really don't give a rats behind.***
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 10,236 | 12,447.1 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Ch 1: Le Move
Hana's Move:
Chapter 1: *Le Move
"Hana? Honey your bus is here," my mom said choking on her words.
"I'm almost ready," I said stuffing the last few things into my suitcase, I was so ready to settle into my own house and move to a new town - Maybud where there was one other human I think "Bye mom, bye dad love you both," I said hugging both in my arms
"We love you too," my mother said before my dad could even open his mouth. I left into the big yellow bus looking onto my house, from my seat, tears falling from my eyes.
"Hey, mind if I sit here?," A blue and white cat in a sweater vest said behind me.
"Sure, I don't mind," I said turning around wiping the tears from my face.
"By the way the names Rover, you?" He said. I was surprised he didn't ask what was wrong… I guess he knows what he's doing.
"Hana," I said starting to warm up to him.
"Interesting name… So where you headed?"
"Maybud, I found it very… Intresting"
"Oh, so you're moving?"
"Yeah, I sure am,"
"Do you have any money, you know for a house,"
"Oh no… I must've left my bells at home," I said with my head in my hands, "What am I going to do?"
"It's okay you'll be able to pay it off,"
"How?"
"Well looks like you'll have to call me at your house…"
"I don't even know if I'll get one…"
"End of the line," said the Kappa bus driver.
"Oh you're here, you're here" said a strange voice.
**So that was it (sorry so short)… Any ideas for villagers please leave in the REVIEWS, And YES I have Puck on that list… If anyone was asking (Farore)**
2. Ch 2: First Day
**Hi all, this is the second chapter of Hana's Move, I'm guessing you all play Animal Crossing: City Folk/ Let's go to the City etc. (if you don't… WHY THE HECK ARE YOU READING THIS!) but I have one thing to ask… please sign up for animalcrossingvillage**** if you haven't already :D thanks! -Ai**
**I DO NOT OWN ANIMAL CROSSING! If I did this wouldn't be a FANfiction would it?**
Hana's Move
Chapter 2: First Day
"Oh, you're here, you're here," a strange voice said, it turned out to be a raccoon in a tux.
"Here for what?" I asked confused
"Here to buy- er… find your house, the names Nook,"
"Hello, Mr. Nook! I'm Hana, but you must know that already… Boy am I ready for my new home, let's get a move on!"
The first house was nice but not where I wanted it to be so I just ran down to the beach and found the perfect house. The problem with the houses here ,as my dad said, is that there all the same size but the locations are what your looking for. "So, is that the house you want Miss. Hana?"
"It sure is," I answered.
"So that comes out to be… 18, 400 bells," he said like he's said it about ten times before.
"WHAT? I don't have any money! I wasn't even gonna bring that much! Oh no what am I going to do?"
"Oh, don't worry… if you don't have any, then you can come work for ME," again like ten times before.
"So what do you want me to do?" I said liking this 'idea' he got.
"Why don't you just meet everyone in town and then come to my shop tomorrow morning," He handed me an apron with a green leaf on it.
"What's this?"
"Your work uniform of course,"
"Oh, yeah… See you tomorrow,"
"Well It's late afternoon, so might as well go meet some villagers an-"
"Hi reeeOWR, why were you talking to yourself?"
"I wasn't talking to myself…"
"Oh yes you were reeeOWR, hehe I'm Tangy, are you new here? What's your name?"
"Uh, yes I'm new here, I'm Hana" I said wondering why she had asked.
"Then welcome to MayBud, Hana! It's really fun here,"
"Thank you,"
"Why don't you come to my house reeeOWR,"
"Okay, sounds fun."
as we neared her house I noticed she kind of resembled an orange, it was weird but awesome, I decided to keep that comment in my head though.
"We're here!" she said in a sing-song voice, she opened the door, "Come in reeeOWR, would you like some tea? Soda?"
"Uh, no thanks I'm okay."
"Okay then, so are you working for Nook?"
"Yeah, It seems like an okay job,"
"Oh, yeah it is It's just that he's crazy about money, not as crazy as Crazy Redd, but still crazy,"
"Well I might as well be going-"
"No wait, here have this…"
"A Leaf?"
"No silly It's a bed."
"A bed? But it's a leaf," I said confused.
"Yeah it looks like a leaf… But it's a bed. You'll see when you put it in your house."
"Ummm, okay."
'Well that was weird. Who will I see next…' I thought making sure I didn't think out loud. Just then a penguin with a hockey helmet came by, 'What's his name, Puck?'
"Hi I'm Puck, you must be new, brrrrrr" he said as I stood in shock 'That's ironic'
"Yeah, I'm Hana," I said still in shock
"Welcome Hana, Soooo have any doughnuts?"
"Uh, ha-ha, no. And thanks."
"Doughnuts are no laughing matter. And your welcome," he said as he walked off.
'I need a map, lemme check the town hall,'
"Hey watch where you're going Slushie," said… ANOTHER penguin, "Oh not ANOTHER newbie, I'm Hopper, welcome to Maybud, I guess."
"Thanks, and could you point me to the Town Hall?"
"Anytime, and It's right up there," he said pointing in the right direction
"Thank you."
"Hello zzrrbbitt, are you the new girl, Hana, Nook was talking about? I'm Lilly."
"Yes, I am, Nice to meet you Lilly,"
"Here, it's my favorite wallpaper, I want you to have it."
"Thank you, at least it's not a leaf," I said remembering what Tangy had given me.
"Finally the Town Hall," I said as I walked through the door
"Welcome to the Town Hall, I'm Pelly," said a pretty white pelican, "Do you need help with anything?"
"Yes, I need a map."
"Oh yes, here you are"
"Thank you very much," I said with a smile about to walk out the door.
"Excuse me missy," said a turtle in a top hat, "Oh, hello you must be our new resident, Hailey is it?"
"Hana."
"Oh… So Miss. Hana, how are you liking it here in Maybud?"
"It's very nice actually."
"That's wonderful, hope you enjoy your stay, I'm Tortimer by the way I'm the Mayor around these parts."
"Thank you Mayor Tortimer," I said as I ran out the door avoiding any more distractions, it was six thirty and had to find two more villagers.
"OOF, oh I'm so sorry," seeing that I had just bumped into an elephant
"I'm sorry too, I wasn't looking I was in deep thought tootie."
"Me too,"
"So you must be new here I'm Margie, what would your name be tootie?"
"Hana,"
"Well Hana I hope you like it here."
"Thank you… Margie." I nodded before I walked off, 'I need to find somewhere to stop."
"Oh hi reeeOWR, who are you looking for,"
"Hi Tangy, just looking for… Fang, do you know where he might be?"
"Oh I just saw him go into his house not to long ago, WOAH!"
"THANKS TANGY!" I said running in the direction of Fangs house.
*knock, knock*
"uhhhggg," I heard Fang groan from inside, "Hello? What is it Cha-Chomp?" he said rather rudely.
"Ummm, I'm new and I wanted to meet everyone…" I said talking to my shoes.
"What's your name?"
"Hana," I said as he kind of intimidated me him being a wolf and all.
"Nice to meet you Hana I'm Fang," he said being rude again, "Now can you leave I was taking a nap." 'No wonder he's so cranky'
I walked into my house 'hmm it's really nice in here…' there's a small kitchen and room for the living room and then stairs up to what I think is the bedroom and bathroom.
I walked upstairs the bedroom had a small bed and a nightstand on the wall there was a phone 'hmmm this bed is too small for me. Let's try out that 'bed' Tangy gave me… how do I move smaller bed?' I tried picking it up smoke temporarily filled the room "there we go," I said to myself looking at the leaf in my hand, it was weird but I didn't question it, I then placed the one Tangy gave me on the floor and poof it turned into a Queen sized bed "woah, thank you Tangy."
I got ready and got in bed. "Good Night," I said turning out my light.
**Authors Note****: Wow that was a long three months so much for finishing April 25 XD. Please give reviews, criticism is awesome and flames will be used to make delicious clam chowder in an igloo. BIG thanks to emo1neko and lotuslove345 :D you guys were a big help!**
3. Ch 3: Work
**Ch. 3- Work**
* * *
I woke up the next morning from the comfy bed Tangy gave me. I called Rover since he told me to call him when I moved into a house, And I did move into a rather… cozy house. He asked me how I was how it worked out you know small talk, I told him I had to get to work at Nook's. We said goodbyes and I hung up and ran out the door to Nook's as fast as I could.
"Oof," I said falling to my butt, "watch where y-" I stopped mid-sentence because the person sitting right in front of me was a boy, a human boy, a very hot human boy. He had dirty blonde hair in a short shaggy cut, bright blue eyes, and light tanned skin, like mine. "Sorry," I said standing up and dusting myself off.
"Oh no, I'm sorry," he said apologetically getting up, "I'm Noah, I should've been here yesterday to greet you but I was in a friends town."
"That's okay, you can just greet me now," I said giggling.
"Well then, welcome to Maybud."
"Thanks, But I have to get to Nook's," I said walking off, "I'm Hana, bye the way."
* * *
~ Nookington's ~
"Miss. Hana your two minuets late, time is money, yes?" Nook nagged.
"Yes Mr. Nook, it wont happen again."
"Yes… So, today I need you to deliver some packages.""Okay… who do you need me to deliver to?"
"Well, I need you to deliver this journal to Margie, she needs it for her designing."
"Sure, I'm on it!" I said enthusiastically.
"Make sure you get it there and come right back," he said as I walked out the door. "Okay so Margie's in Acer 4C," I explained to myself, "Off I go,"
* * *
As I neared her house I saw Margie talking to none other than Noah. I guess he heard my footsteps, because he looked over and waved. For some reason my face started burning, I looked down at my feet, 'Why am I blushing?'
"Hey Hana," he said with a smirk.
"Hi Noah," I said looking up as my face went from red back to my light tanned tone, "Hi Margie,"
"Hey, tootie, did you need something Hana?"
"Oh, yes," I said remembering why I came, "I have a delivery for you." I said holding out the package.
"Thank you," she said taking it gladly, "I'll be right back,"
I wanted to avoid any conversation with Noah to avoid blushing again.
"So Hana… How are you liking MayBud?"-Shit.
"Um… good I guess," 'That sounded better in my head.'
"That's good… I guess," he said playfully mocking me.
"Yeah," I said trying to stay with short short answers.
"Mhmm," he said shooting me a look, a VERY sexy look, and it made me blush… again.
"You're pretty good at that blushing thing," he said smirking, I smiled. He was about to say something else but Margie came out.
"I'm back," Darn you Margie, "Here, its an original." she said handing me a folded shirt.
"Oh my gosh, this is so cute!" I said admiring the design, it was a medium sleeved shirt, the sleeves were a pretty shade of orange and the torso of it was white with a big orange, red, and dark pink watercolor flower in the corner.
"Come bye tomorrow so I can see how it looks,"
"Will do, I have to go make some more deliveries. Cya tomorrow Margie. Bye Noah" I said walking down the path.
"Bye Tootie!"
"Cya Hana!"
'Darn you Noah and your sexiness!'
* * *
"Finally the last delivery of the day!"
It was for Tangy, and I knew it was going to take forever. I was walking along the path when I saw Noah fishing. 'Just walk past and don't make eye contact and he wont talk to you.' I walked around the pond where he was fishing.
"Oh hey Hana."
I mumbled profanity under my breath. "Hey Noah, I didn't see you there."
"Sure you didn't," he said slyly, "Do you have any friends in other towns?"
"Um, no… You?" 'Sure he does, he said that this morning!'
"Yeah… So, I'm going to my friends town again tomorrow afternoon and I was wondering if you wanted to come?"
"Sure I guess… But I'll have to ask Nook for a half day."
"He'll probably be fine with it."
"Well see you tomorrow."
"Cya!"
'Now let's finish this delivery to Tangy.'
* * *
"Tangy are you home?" I said knocking on her door.
"Yes, I'll be there in a second," she said making quick step noises to the door, "Reeeowr! It's you, what are you doing here so late in the evening?"
"I'm just here to give you your wallpaper."
"Yay! I've been waiting like, all day for this," she said eagerly taking the tube, "Do you wanna come in?"
"Thanks but I have to get back to Nook's."
"Oh, well here," she said handing me a bag of coins, "It's a thousand bells,"
"Thanks Tangy. Well I better get going, bye!"
"Bye Reeeowr!"
* * *
~ Nookington's ~
"Hey Mr. Nook !"
"Are you done for today?"
"Yes sir, and can I have a short day tomorrow?"
"For what, may I ask?"
"Well Noah asked me to go to his friends with him tomorrow."
"Noah, hm?" I nodded, "Well I guess so."
I fist pumped myself in my head. 'I'm going on a kinda date with Noah!'
"Well goodbye Nook, see you tomorrow."
"Yes, hm."
* * *
**Well I hope you guys liked that chapter. I know it took forever... hope it was worth the wait :D**
**Shout Outs to: Epic Taco, Amberoozzle, emo1neko, TezTifBro (did u change ur name?)**
**Please Review its like power for my writing!**
**-Ai **
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 13,249 | 16,796.8 |
null | Animal Crossing Happenings On Halloween
Happenings On Halloween
by Rat
It was eight o' clock in the dusky town of Mu. Crickets sighed melodiously under the light of the full moon, and in the artificial luminescence of Nookington's. However, no lights would be shining in the cozy houses of the villagers tonight.
It was Halloween night. The Association's day of reckoning.
The animals that the humans had wronged would wreak their vengeance upon any who dared cross them in their identical pumpkin-headed costumes. On that fateful day of October 31st, karma reared its ugly head on the influential leader of the Association.
Rat the Boss.
***
With her pockets bulging with three weeks' worth of candy, Rat coyly flipped her hot pink hair and smirked, her blue-green eyes alight with an energetic glow. She had drank enough coffee to keep her Halloween-exclusive, under-the-table business running well into the wee hours of the morning. Bounding up the stairs leading from the cellar to the main room, she greeted the waiting Association members lounging on her kiddie couch.
"All right!" Rat said enthusiastically, skidding to a stop and looking at them all imperiously. "Er..." She gaped for a second, then blinked and regained ehr composure. "What is this?!?! Where is everybody?!!"
"Well, you see..." faltered Marie, the newest addition to the group, a red-haired human who was a dead ringer for Raggedy Ann. "The animals... all of the animals... must trick-or-treat on Halloween." She wilted under the reproachful look of her leader. "Even our own animal members."
Rat turned away, pacing and growling. "That figures... they always return to the old ways, I suppose... well, they're dumb enough to forget about what they did tomorrow, so we'll just have to deal with it." She faced Marie again, punding her fist decisively into her palm. "Very well! We'll just have to be extra careful not to get caught by them; we need to save our candy for our 'business' with Jack." She snapped her fingeres at a new thought. "Oh! And be sure to wear a design instead of your normal clothing. I heard a rumor that if one of the animals catches you, they'll steal your clothes and replace them with rags."
She changed into one of her own designs--the +_+ insignia of the Association--and gave it to Marie to use as well. With both of them overloaded with candy, they ventured out.
"It's a shame we can't do anything about them without damaging our integrity..." Marie spoke her thoughts aloud.
"Yeah, it is..." Rat's large yet shrewd eyes scanned the area for nearby trick-or-treaters. "Okay, coast is clear--Marie, you take the east half, there's a smaller concentration of animals living there. I'll take the west sector."
"Got it!" Marie nodded, whispering lastly as she hurried off, "Be careful."
Rat nodded and slipped off into the darkness.
***
A silly-looking grin was carved onto the face of everyone around, and inside their fleshy orange heads, a mind full of greed worked itself up into a mood for candy.
"Hey, buh-uh-ud," a voice echoed out from inside one of the pumpkin-heads. "Got any candy yet?"
"Do I LOOK like I have any candy on me, blaaarf?!" a high-pitched voice screeched angrily out of the shorter pumpkin being adressed. "Before I even get the chance to ask anyone for candy, the stupid ninny runs off in some other direction!!"
"Yeah, I don't get it either..." the laid-back squash-wearer, Sven the goat, mumbled inside his costume. "What good is this day if we can't trick... OR treat?"
"Beats me, blaaarf." Unlike Sven, Static the squirrel used a saying different from his true one, tying him with the Association--and keeping him safer, if anything. "But, I hear ol' man Tortimer's out tonight too. And he's pretty slow, blaaarf."
The two looked at each other in silence, then a strange light gleamed in their eyes.
"Yeah! Let's rip some candy from the old dude, buh-uh-ud!" Sven said, his casual attitude gone for the time being.
"All right, blaaarf! Let's do this!!"
***
Meanwhile, one acre south of Nookington's, Rat darted stealthily from tree to tree, carefully looking around each one, her back pressing the trunk, before dashing off to another hiding spot.
*No WAY are these stupid animals gonna catch me!* Rat thought with a determined frown. *If they think they can steal MY hard-earned candy, well, they got another think com--"
"TRICK OR TREAT, tralala!"
The stoic leader of the association squeaked and jumped up a good two feet. Near the tree was Cheri the bear, in full costume.
*DAMN IT! She's not even one of our own...!* Rat seethed as the animal giggled stupidly.
"I caught you, now you gotta gimme a treat~!" Cheri sang in a saccharine voice. "Or..."
"CAUGHT me!? You haven't even TOUCHED me yet!!" Rat told Cheri incredulously. "Besides, I'm not giving you any candy. I need it for--"
"TRICK!!" Cheri waved her paws and something purple blasted Rat. She fell hard on the ground, slightly winded but unhurt, her insignia changed to a tacky patched shirt. "Hahahaha! Got you, tralala!" The bear ran off into the night.
Rat got up and brushed herself off. "Whew! I don't think there are any losses here... but..." Feeling that something was amiss, she checked her pockets and found one piece of candy missing. "WHAT?! How did she--how could she have--" Her faced flushed with rage. "THAT STUPID PIECE OF BEAR CRAP!!" She ripped off the unfashionable shirt and replaced it with her star design in the blink of an eye. "This is gonna be harder than I thought..."
No longer bothering to sneak around, she ran head-on, ducking and weaving to avoid any collisions along the way.
*Hopefully Marie's not having any such trouble...*
***
Marie's heart thumped loudly in her chest as she barely peeked from behind Genji's house. A lot of animals were gathered in that acre, and she had failed to realize it until she'd almost gotten too close.
*There's so many of them!* she exclaimed in her mind. *How do I get around them all?*
The acre was unofficially called Iggy's acre, after the first landowner, a goat held in high distaste by the Association. After he'd moved to Kenton months ago, the acre had been transformed into an orchard, sporting nothing but juicy, lucrative, out-of-town beauties such as apples, pears, and peaches. Currently there lived an Association-associated rabbit named Genji, and a defector from the group, Lily the frog.
Marie took stock of the animals gathered there--Chief the red wolf, Genji, Queenie the ostrich, and Mitzi the cat. Chief and Mitzi were Associators, but Mitzi's case was unique because although she didn't wear or say anything Rat had created, she DID spout out Genji's original phrase--otaku. It was one of the very few Rat approved of, and therefore she was secured.
"Okay, now that we're all here, otaku, where do we go first?" Mitzi asked excitely.
"Let's all gang up on someone together, DIEKTHX!" Genji suggested, clenching his paws with wild glee. Marie gulped.
"No, chicken..." Queenie sighed exasperatedly. "THAT'S not how you do it! We have to be quite a bit more sneaky, don't we, chicken? Otherwise they'll just run away like all the others."
"Yeah, like that pink-haired kid did, harrumph!" Chief grumbled sourly.
*Rat's already been through here?!* Marie thought, her eyes widening. *But I didn't know that much time had passed. Wow...* She stood up from her crouching position decidedly. *That's it! I've got to work hard for our cause!* She took one determined step from behind the house.
Her pockets crinkled loudly with wrapped candy.
"Huh??" All the pumpkin heads in the acre turned towards her.
"...Eep..."
***
Having stayed unchanged since her encounter with Cheri, Rat stopped to rest beside the fountain.
"Phew..." She looked around quickly before deciding to sit. "Jesus... you'd think they'd have a little sanity, but... it's almost like Halloween just sucks out their brains, or something."
"Hello there, whippersnapper!"
Rat was on her feet in an instant. "WHAA-! What do you think you're--" She relaxed. "Oh... hi, Mayor Tortimer."
"Did I give you a scare? Heh heh hoorf!" A low, jolly voice reverberated from inside the pumpkin. "Don't worry, I'm not out for your candy, or for tricks. The shenanigans you youngsters get into..."
The Mayor was in a powerful enough position to be exempted from the Association's rule, yet he posed no threat whatsoever to them, and often took time out of his schedule to assist them, and since his jobs usually helped the entire town, the peons stayed blissfully ignorant, therefore keeping peace in the land and business in Rat's hands.
"Haha, you know their tricks are nothing compared to some o' my own." The clock struck the half-hour. "Say, Mayor, have you seen Jack around anywhere? THE Jack?"
"Not in particular," Tortimer answered truthfully. "I suppose you're gonna do a great deal o' business tonight with him, are you? Heh heh hoorf!" The wizened turtle pulled something out of his pocket. "Before you go, take this with you." He handed over a leaf-shaped piece of miniaturized furniture, something that could be expanded into its true size for when placed inside one's own house. "It's a model of Katrina's tent, though I don't think it'll help in hiding from the villagers."
"Thanks, Mayor," Rat said gratefully, putting the gift in her pocket. "I'll be going."
He waved her off cheerfully, then returned to his original thoughts. "Ah, what lovely weather we're having! So warm, even at the end of October. Well, I can't say my old bones are against it, heh heh... who?"
Tortimer stopped and peered into the darkness, his small bespectacled eyes squinting out from behind his pumpkin into the darkening night.
"There 'e is, blaaarf! What are we just standing there for?!"
Tortimer faced where the voice was coming from. "Who's there? Won't you even show your faces to your own Mayor?" he challenged them.
"That's it! No more waiting!! C'mon, Sven!"
"Trick or treat, buh-uh-ud!"
***
An unearthly scream ripped the air seemingly in two. Marie and the animals that were hot on her heels all froze in their tracks as their blood ran cold.
"Wh-whuh..." Mitzi began sweating and trembling. "What was that?!!"
"Harrumph! It was just the wind, ya scaredy-cat," Chief said, managing to hide his fear.
"More like the ghost that haunts the town every week, DIEKTHX!" Genji hunched over and brought up his arms like claws, uttering a low, creepy moan.
"Don't be stupid!" Chief snapped at him, a vein pulsating in his forehead. "Let's just get that--"
Marie was nowhere to be found.
"It looks as though she's long gone, chicken," Queenie commented airily.
"Raaarrrghhhh!! How can it be so hard just to get some freaking CANDY!!!" Chief roared and gnashed his teeth a bit, then took off running again. The others followed suit.
"That dude really needs to take a chill pill, DIEKTHX," Genji observed.
***
Rat had barely reached the next acre when she heard the scream. Turning right around, she was back at the fountain in two shakes, where an awful spectacle of greed met her eyes.
"HELP! HELP!" Mayor Tortimer thrashed feebly on his back as two other squash-faced animals looted him of his valuables. After kicking him away, all the pranksters had to show for their deeds were ten fishing trophies, an organizer, and three empty boxes of chocolates.
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?!!" Rat ran up them, preparing to ram them with her right shoulder, since she wasn't carrying any of her handheld tools with her.
The thieves stood up straight and looked at Rat. The pumpkin on Tortimer fell off as he withdrew his head and limbs into his shell.
"Save yourself, youngster! They're quick!"
"What were you idiots doing to the Mayor?!" Rat yelled, clenching her fists and glowering.
Sven lost his cool and began dancing about nervously. "We... um..."
"He didn't have any candy on 'em, so we decided on a replacement!" Static shoved the goods into a pillowcase. "This IS Halloween, after all. If we don't get a treat--"
"Then you play a stupid TRICK, yeah, I GET it," Rat grated harshly, her eyes flashing angrily. "Well, you're going too far, and I'm not gonna TAKE this crap anymore!!"
Remembering something, Sven instantly became calm again. "Oo, whatcha gonna do, buh-uh-ud? Tell on us?" He laughed himself to tears. "This is the ONE night where we can do anything!"
Rat grinned a scary grin. "No." She picked up the turtle's discarded pumpkin. "But if you animals get to have that much FUN tonight..." She placed the pumpkin on her head. "Then *I* should, too!!"
She stalked towards them, chuckling evilly. Static sweatdropped as he began to get a little weirded out.
"Uh, hey, blaaarf. Didn't you see what just happened??" Static said. "We didn't get any candy! So we don't have any to give to you!"
"I know," said a strange voice from inside Rat's pumpkin.
Static and Sven looked at each other.
"I think we're in trouble, buh-uh-ud."
***
In a far southern acre, a one-wart toad by the name of Huck wandered around aimlessly, looking for others to play with. He hung his head and sighed.
"Man, I wish I didn't live so far from everyone else, hopper..." he lamented. "I guess this is gonna require more exercise than I'm used to..."
A human rushed close by him, spinning him around until he landed on his butt.
"Woahhh..." said the dizzy Huck. "Boy, hopper, what was THAT?!"
A stampede of chasing animals trampled the toad underfoot. When they and their dust had passed over, Huck was covered in various pawprints and his pumpkin was smashed.
"I don't like Halloween anymore..." he groaned painfully.
He lay there for a few moments, only moving slightly when he heard someone rustling the bushes near him. He covered his bruised face with his webbed toad-paws.
"No more, hopper, no more..."
The footprints came very close and then stopped. He cautiosly uncovered his eyes and was immediately staring up into the black, single-lashed eyes of a human girl.
"Are you okay...?" the girl asked uncertainly.
"I'm okay, I guess..." Huck sat up and rubbed his head, then started slightly and smiled as he saw who it was. "Oh, hiya! What was that all about, anyway, hopper?"
The girl shook her head, the tip of her pointed cap swaying slightly. She was wearing a daisy shirt. "I don't know. I thought all the animals were supposed to split up to get candy on Halloween."
Huck stood. "I don't really feel like candy right now, hopper. But I went to all the work to get outta the house tonight, so... wanna hang out at the pond? I'm sure no one's there now."
The human smiled at her animal friend. "Sure!"
And off to the pond they went to star-gaze for a while.
***
Rat rushed towards the two muggers, yowling like a banshee.
"RAAAAAAAARRRR!!!"
Sven and Static held each other in a tight embrace as they screamed like little schoolgirls. "AIYEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
A two-second long *SCREEEEE!* noise followed by the faint smell of burnt rubber caught their attention.
"Rat?" Marie blurted out, the soles of her shoes still very warm. "What are you doing here?"
Before Rat could ask what the hell she was talking about, no less that six animals rammed into Marie's back and propelled the lot of them into Rat, Static, and Sven. They all rammed into the big tree where the fountain was, and scattered on impact.
Rat forced herself up and shook her head, trying to will the flashing stars away. Bits of broken pumpkin clung to her hair.
"Marie!!" she yelled out. "What's goin' on here? How'd you manage to get all thsoe animals after you?!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were even here!" Marie rushed to explain, almost tripping oevr her words at the pace they were coming out. "The animals over at Iggy's said that a pink-haired girl had run through there, so I thought you'd been back there already!"
"I haven't even BEEN anywhere in the eastern sector, let alone Iggy's! They're prolly talking out their asses again." A sudden thought struck her. "Unless it was..."
Leopold and Eloise, two non-Associators that had joined the throng on the way to the fountain, sat up with moderately damaged pumpkins.
"That was some hit, lion cub..." the green-maned Leopold said as he watched little yellow stars spin around his head.
"Oh, tooot! My eye makeup is all smudged now!" Eloise complained.
Genji flipped agilely onto his footpaws. "C'mon! Everybody up, DIEKTHX!!" He pointed one black paw at Rat and Marie. "Look at their pockets! They've got CANDY to give to us!!"
"Yeah, I want my goddamn candy!" Chief howled form inside his pumpkin and rushed towards the humans like a charging bull. "OWOOOOO! TRICK OR--"
The others recovered and joined in.
"--TREEEEAAAAT!!!"
Quickly surrounding the duo and jumping on the with a "YAR!", a huge dust cloud of fighting animals formed by the fountain and moved south into the next acre. Rat and Marie flailed around with their feet and fists, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
When the seven animals finally left them, both of their clothes were in patches, ripped by the fight, and they were struggling under the weight of fifteen jack o' lanterns and way too many jack-in-the-boxes.
"My candy's... all gone..." Marie said morosely.
"Same here..." Rat threw off the Halloween paraphernalia on top of her and changed her design back to the rightful inisgnia. "You didn't have any tools or anything on you, right?"
Marie shook her head affirmatively. "Nope, I left them at my house like you told me to."
Rat sighed and smiled wryly. "Then we can safely assume that they didn't take anything of value from us."
"But what about Jack?"
"There are other ways to get the Spooky series," Rat said. "Besides, I still got this cool tent that Tortimer gave me."
"Wow! Can I see it?"
"Sure!" Rat reached into her pockets. "Just a second..."
She rummaged around afor a few seconds, then stopped.
"It's not here."
Marie blinked. "You didn't leave it at HQ?"
"No, I haven't been back to my house yet, I just got--"
And then she knew.
"THEY STOLE IT!!"
Marie's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "The trick-or-treaters stole your present?!?!"
"Yes! Those dirty little bastards-!!" Rat swung and hit a tree with the side of her fist as hard as she could, disregarding the money that jingled to the ground. "You can't BUY BACK something like that!!" She was absolutely livid.
Marie stood there, dumbfounded and not wanting to believe it. "This isn't anything like I expected... everything's gone wrong..."
Rat closed her eyes as she attempted to control her rage. "Well, we can't do anything about it. If we retaliate the Mayor'll have our asses, and I don't even wanna think about what Godfather N would do."
When Marie spoke, her voice was small and anxious. "Should we just go home...?"
Rat nodded silently.
***
Something poked Reina's shoulder none too lightly.
"Oh!!" She bumped into Huck accidentally as she scooted away from whatever had poked her. "What was that??"
"Hey, trick or treat, toady!" Lily smiled along with her costume and held out an orange plastic bag.
"Uh..." Reina giggled nervously. Several wrappers were sitting beside her. "I ate it all already. Sorry."
The pumpkin appeared to scowl. "WHAT?!" Lily took out another jack o' lantern and swung it vengefully, knocking out Huck. She went to hit Reina but stopped. "Hey... aren't you part of the 'Order' or whatever, toady??"
"You mean the Association? No," Reina answered cautiously. "Even though I don't condone their actions, I don't hold it against--"
"Whatever! All you humans are the same. You all belittle us animals and if we don't wear the right thing or say the right stuff, we get charged extra!!"
Huck pushed himself up on one arm, his eyes black and puffy. "But I thought it was for protection from--" *WHACK!*
Lily tossed the dented hard plastic jack o' lantern aside. "That's bull, toady! I'm gonna get revenge on the Association tonight!"
Reina was quite confused by now. "But they never do any REAL harm! Why tonight, why at all??"
"Because..." Lily smiled darkly beneath her mask. "I *CAN.*"
***
The night was eerily silent as Marie and Rat trudged through the undergrowth. It was nine-thirty. Marie kept silent because she didn't want to say anything that might anger her leader further, and Rat was silent as well, only her mind was burning with the ceaseless and noiseless din of her own rapid-fire thoughts.
*Tent--rare--mayor--bastards--Jack--no deal--pink hair--* SHe checked herself. *Pink hair... that wasn't me. Then who? The one the animal's saw earlier was...*
"Reina's here."
Marie looked up from the ground at Rat's flatly intoned statement. "Wha? Where?"
"Reina's in Mu. She came to a village miles and miles away despite all the rabid animals running around."
Reina was Rat's best friend, and the sole human resident of Kenton. They often provided items for one another, such as Rat giving Reina the entire regal set to please the HRA with, and Reina giving Rat several large rare fish to give to the local museum.
"Maybe she already went home," Marie guessed hopefully.
"We can't be sure," Rat said, walking away quickly. Marie rushed to catch up. "We'll do a full search. But first, we'd better grab our tools. This village is now a potential warzone."
~~~
I didn't intend this to have more than one part, but I wanted to finish SOMETHING before going to bed, so here's chapter one for ya. Any questions about the story or the characters will be answered in the preface of chapter two.
All AC town names, humans, and animals are real(as far as the game goes), and this is based on a true story. I honestly hate the Halloween event with all my heart.
Until next chapter... review? :3
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Adventure, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 22,419 | 13,633.1 |
null | Animal Crossing Honied Pasties
**Title**: Honey Pasties
**Summery**: Honey Aura moves into the little town of Star and finds more there than work and a life... he finds love.
**Rating**: T for Teen. Cussing and some suggestion. (may turn it to M later... maybe...)
**Game**: Animal Crossing: Wild World (I know. I'm sorry .)
**Trade Markings**: The game, characters (besides Annette, Honey, Ajay and Snow) and everything else besides the plot are NOT mind!
"...Yar, it's too bad yer headin' all the way to Star... long way to go, an' it's rainin' a fair nor'easter." The Capp'n growls back at me and I glance up from my hands.
"I'm fine." I mutter.
"...Yar, well, all right, then. There be no pleasin' some people, that's fer sure."
I snort a little and looked out the window, taking in a deep breath and readying myself for the next ramblings that get thrown at me.
"... Gar, now, wait a moment, ye wee snappin' turtle. I never got yer name!" The loon turtle asks me, glancing back at me.
"... It's Honey." I answer quietly, watching the rain throw itself dangerously against my window.
"Yar... Honey, is it?"
I glare at the turtle in front of me but leave it be.
"So, fond o' the name Honey, are ye?" He asks and I shrug.
"Yeah... it's cute I guess." I answer boredly, gazing out of the window and pleading anyone who will listen for this ride to end.
"Yar, yar, that be a fine name, pure and true. It's a perfect name fer a perfect young lass. Young Miss Honey."
I gape at the turtle, my eyes widening.
I? I female? Was this guy freaking kidding me?
"I'm not a girl!" I exclaim and I watch in satisfaction as Capp'n's eyes widen and he visibly blushes.
"Ye gots to be foolin'! Yer a lad?!" He asks in amazement.
I chuckle a little and nod.
"Nar, that be some egg on me face, no two ways about it... a thousand pardons."
I snort again. Pathetic animal.
"So tell me, Honey... why are ye settin' sail fer Star?"
I growl. No desperate cab-driver is allowed to ask me things like that!
"Piss off, turtle!" I snarl.
"Watch yer tongue, ye slug! I were on the briny, true, but I ain't some sea rube!"
I wonder, vaguely, what the heck a briny is... or a rube for that matter... or really anything this darned turtle is saying.
"Ye know, most big-city folk started out in small towns. Ye'd be surprised!"
I roll my eyes. I'm actually from an incredibly small town myself and never intend on being 'A big-city folk'.
"Listen, not to change the subject, Honey, but... ye don't look like ye brought too much money with ye. Do ye have enough to get settled?"
I sighed, fiddling with the few bells in my pocket.
"Yeah..." He mutter.
The turtle starts laughing the most ridiculous laugh I've ever heard before speaking again.
"I see, ye wee goldfish. ('_Goldfish?!_' I think in confusion.) Plenty o' pirate booty! Well, so long as ye have the coin to pay this fare. I got no quarrel with ye."
My eyes widen. The fare. Damn I had forgotten! I'd have to arrive and run, hoping my frail legs can carry me from an angry turtle.
"... Yar, well, have a look. There! Star town, ho! End o' the line! And hey, would ye look at that! Looks like the blasted rain is even lettin' up!"
I thank goodness that we've FINALLY arrive. I barely even listen to the turtle as he hands me my luggage and I run into the Town Hall.
"Well, this is Star's town hall. So, what is it that I can do for you today?"
I look at the duck... eagle... pelican... that's it. I look at the pelican strangely before shaking my head. "No... not really. I mean... I... I just came by cab..." I said nervously, scratching the back of my head as the bird looks as if a sudden realization washed over her.
"Oh, hello there! So you're, Honey, is that right?! It's nice to meet you!"
I wave nonchalantly as she continues.
"I'm Pelly, the clerk here! Tom Nook told me that he was expecting you. So you'll be sharing a house with Ajay, is that correct?"
I stand there, confused and lost in what the bird was saying. Nook was... expecting me? OH! She meant that bastard raccoon that had cheated me out of most of my money. And... who the heck was Ajay? I didn't know I'd be sharing ANYTHING.
Before I can answer she opens her beak and continues.
"And also with Annette and Snow..."
They all sounded like girls.
Damn.
"Goodness! Four people in one place! That's a full house! What fun!"
I groan audibly and let my head roll on my shoulders.
"Well, we have many residents who live all around Star town. Please, let me show you where your house is. It's right here!"
She pulls out a map and points a wing to a small green house in about the middle of the map and I nod slowly, noting it's not too far away.
"Well then, Honey... I trust you can find your new home!"
I smile at her and take the map, waving and quickly leaving before she has ANY chance to continue.
Damn animals.
When I enter everything sort of shocks me. The house is tiny. Teeny. Barely able to fit the furniture it has.
A plush looking carpet is laid over the floor decked with symbols and patterns. The wall is adorned with a beautiful wallpaper that is painted with bamboo and birds. It looks wonderful.
There's a giant fish in a tank sitting against the wall. The poor thing stares at me blankly and I look away, shuddering. There's a cute, modern, blue sofa sitting opposite the fish and a table with books lining the inside. A lamp sits atop it and a blue shelf sits on it's other side.
It's actually quite good decoration for the size of the house.
I heave my bags over my shoulder and proceed to the second floor.
I'm greeted by the sight of two young girls sitting on beds opposite each other. They're talking animately about something I can barely understand before the one with longer, lighter brown hair turns to me with a smile. She hops off her bed and brushes down her sky-blue summer-dress before striding over to me and proudly thrusting her hand towards me.
"Hello! You're Honey Aura, aren't you! They told us you'd be moving in here! The name's Annette. Annette Hudgens." It nervously took the hand and shook it delicately before quickly releasing it.
Annette turns around and gestures towards the other girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair. She wears an orange shirt with a blue print on it and a pair of light-wash jeans.
"This is Ajay Hudgens. My sister." Annette introduced and I found myself shaking another hand.
I felt a pair of green eyes on me and I whirled around to see a girl almost identical to Ajay but she wore a vertically purple and blue-striped dress. "This is Snow Hudgens." Annette says nervously and the girl comes out of the darkness, curtsying. I bow my head in return.
"Uh... hi..." I mutter and drop my bags next to my light and dark-green striped bed. "I think I'm going to meet some people." I say and I notice the girls look at me funny before I leave.
I gently close the door behind me and I'm not two steps away from my house when I hear someone scream.
"Hey! Ho! You there." I look to my right to see, none other, than the bastard raccoon. "You are Honey, yes? The one who's supposed to move here, hm?" I nod slowly, giving the raccoon an ice-cold look.
"Phew! I'm glad I made it in time!"
I roll my eyes and cross my thin arms, glaring at Nook through heavily lidded turquoise eyes.
"What do you think? Your house, it feels comfortable, yes?"
I sigh, realizing that the raccoons pitiful attempt at trying to make me forgive him is to give me room-and-board.
I decide to play with him.
"Oh... I don't know... it's pretty shabby." I say as if everything is simply butter and cream.
"... Yes, yes, hello."
I smirk and nod.
"My name is Tom Nook." I nod again. "I'm the proprietor of the shop in this town." I nod once more, my arms still crossed.
"Perhaps you know, but I actually built this house... OH! Not to worry! The loan is already paid off, hm?"
My eyes widen as the few coin in my pocket that I most conveniently FORGOT to give to that turtle jingle merrily. And I smile.
"No, no, I no longer have any claim on this domicile... I had just heard that someone new was coming to town today, so... I just came here out of curiosity, hm?"
I roll my eyes, knowing it's all bluff.
"Well, gee, thanks!" I said sarcastically.
"Ah but from what I can see, Honey, you're... I don't mean to be rude but you don't seem very domestic. Have you ever lived alone before? Will you be okay?"
I glare at the raccoon. Bastard animal. "I'll be fine." I snap angrily.
"... Hm... I feel it is my duty to help you, yes? Say, how would you like to work part-time at my store for a while? At least until you get used to Star? I was just thinking that I could use an extra pair of hands and..." I'm just about to protest when he cuts me off. "Why, Honey, I can teach you the ins and outs of living here! Yes! That's it! Perfect! Done and done! Why don't you dome by the store later, hm? Well then, I'm going to go on ahead, so pardon me. I'll be waiting for you!"
I stare, dumbfounded, at the place the raccoon had just stood. Without saying a word I just just agreed to work part-time with some grimy, slippery raccoon! Damn it! I stomp angrily towards the shop seeing as it's barely ten yards away... and enter. That raccoon is about to get a piece of my mi--
"Oh, so you've decided to show your face! I was wondering if I'd ever see it! All right then, first thing's first! You'll need to change into these work clothes. If you must know, everything who works here is required to wear a uniform. Just say the word when you're done changing."
I'm about to scream my little heart out at this DAMNED raccoon before he shoves a grey, patchy shirt at me. I blink and stare disbelieving at it. Was he kidding me? I sigh and slip the damned thing over my head, my brown tresses ruffling cutely as I do so.
I turn back to Nook, glaring daggers at him but apparently he's blind to, not only sarcasm, but hate too.
"Yes, yes. That suits you just fine. And since that's done, we'll put you right to work, yes indeed!"
REVIEW! Please! I needs me some inspiration! PLEASE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 10,126 | 14,475.4 |
null | Animal Crossing The Troubles with the Fog
The Troubles with the Fog
Four 18-year-olds were in a small cab. Their names were Michelle, Justin, Tyler and Jessica. (Also known as Jaye.) All of a sudden, Michelle screamed.
"What the hell happened to my lip gloss?" It was melted and oozing out on her hand.
"Keep it away from my white tennis skirt!" Jess screamed, "Hey, my microphone broke!"
"Finally. My ears were bleeding," Justin replied.
"Jerk," Jess said and pouted.
"Hey, my book is crumbling and turning to ashes!" Justin said.
"Same with my DS!" Tyler cried.
"Good. That is like drugs for video game nerds!" Jess said.
"I wouldn't be talking!" Michelle shouted, and smacked Jess over the head with her purse, which contained a lot of make up, a wallet stuffed with hundred dollar bills and 2 credit cards, a green mini IPod, and a pink Motorola Razr.
"Owwwwwwww!" Jess screamed. Then she died.
"Hooray!" Justin said.
"Are you okay?" Kapp'n asked.
The cab driver screamed. A green fog was eating him! His hair became oily, and his dead body was wearing fake Uggs!
"OH MY GOD!" Michelle screamed. The car wouldn't start, so the teens walked to the tiny town of Woodbane.
"Oh my God. I used to live in a mansion and now I have to live in this DUMP for the rest of my life? I don't think so!" Michelle said and walked out of the door. Justin pulled a trigger on a gun and a net came out.
"Shit," Michelle mumbled as Justin dragged her into the house.
The kids looked around. The house WAS a dump. There were four small beds, a C.D. player, a small tea table, and a candle on a box.
"How cozy!" Michelle mumbled sarcastically.
"This is our house now, so we should just get used to it. Maybe we can buy some stuff. I mean, how fast can your money run out, Michelle?" Justin said.
"If I see cool clothes, the answer is quickly," Michelle replied.
"The clothes you packed are good enough," Justin scolded.
"B-but, but…I only packed a year's worth of stuff!" Michelle cried, her jade-green eyes widening.
"Hello! I'm Tom Nook! You must be the charming young people that are moving in!" A pain-in-the-ass looking raccoon said, "It looks like you don't have the money to pay your house, so you can work at my store!"
A loud, cruel laugh filled the air.
"Of course we have the money. My father is a millionaire! We'll have a mansion," Michelle said.
The teens agreed to sell Jessica's bed and meet some people.
_3 hours later…_
Michelle was in her room. Tom Nook had finished the house and her room was made up of all the "lovely" themed furniture. A purple lava lamp glowed on a table. Michelle peered into her vanity mirror. Something odd was filling her room. It smelled disgusting and looked oily.
"Ewwww! Guys, are you wearing cologne from the two-cent bin at Wal-Mart?" Michelle shouted down the stairs.
"What's going on? Justin asked, practically tripping over his long black jeans on the marble staircase. His eyes widened. "I never thought we would move into Woodbane again to face this horror!"
"It's not-" Michelle began, and started screaming.
"It's the Fog!" Justin screamed.
Michelle pulled out a white katana, and Justin pulled out a black one, (which are real animal crossing items,) and began to fight the Fog. Tyler came up with a toothbrush and smashed the Fog in the stomach. It let out a cry saying, "I WILL STALK YOU ALL!"
"Strange…" Michelle muttered.
The kids went into Tyler's room to play Xbox. His "modern" themed furniture matched his love of electronics. A blue lava lamp glowed on a table. The teens were exhausted after 3 hours of "Shadow the Hedgehog" multiplayer battles, so they went into their own rooms to sleep.
Justin was freaked out. And not by the odd-looking green lava lamp on his floor. Even his usually friendly life-size black chess set wasn't comforting him. His usual mattress-by-the-fire sleeping area made him feel like hell was creeping over him. His punk rock and alternative iMix blasting from his high-end stereo was depressing. He decided to go down to the living room. With its common wallpaper and cabana flooring, he felt like he was back at home, living in the wealthy part of the suburbs. A fridge, microwave, toaster, stove, red couch, red chair, red clock, wide screen T.V., and an attached bathroom for the guys to share completed the look. It was homey and looked like it belonged to a regular, middle-class family, not two guys with a wealthy female friend.
A/N: Michelle has her own bathroom attached to her room. Duh!
Michelle's eyes flew open. She sensed something. Was it the Fog again? She put on her combat boots in case she needed to beat the crap out of anyone and tiptoed down the stairs. It was Justin, watching "The House of Wax." He was rewinding and watching the part where Paris Hilton gets a spear driven through her skull.
"Oh Justin, my crazy Goth friend, what on Earth are you up to?" Michelle said and kicked off her boots. She did a sloppy dive and hit her head on the end of the couch.
"That hurt," she said.
Justin broke in to laughter when he saw Paris Hilton die on T.V. again. Something was wrong.
"You're usually not creeped out by anything. Did the Fog watch you in your sleep?"
A/N: Yes, the girl in our class, AKA the Fog, AKA "he," is really that scary.
"No, but I know "he'll" be back. And the Fuggs are bad enough,"
"I agree," Michelle said, "nothing is worse than a designer knockoff!"
Ok, this is done. I have 2 go 2 a dance so I'll update l8er. Bye!
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Horror, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 5,503 | 14,259.7 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. One
July 27, 2003
11:58 P.M.
Dana squinted and leaned foward, brushing the hair from her face. She stared at the computer screen for a moment, taking another long drag from her cigarette before sitting back in the chair and shaking her head. It wasn't the gay porn she'd found on her son's computer that really bothered her. The kid listened to Celine Dion, for Christ's sake. It wasn't much of a surprise. But in the same half-hidden folder (labeled "Math Homework", which immediately tipped her off as he never did his any of his goddamn homework, math or otherwise) she'd found dozens of pictures depicting grizzly crime scenes, suicides, or horrific accidents. For every erect penis or glistening he-man, there was a headless body or charred corpse. Did he find these photos erotic as well? Then why were they in the same folder?
She closed the folder and turned off the computer. When finally she was enveloped in the complete darkness, and could no longer see herself hideously mirrored in the glare of the moniter, she began to cry. She sat, invisible, weeping into her apron, stopping occasionally to take a drag from her cigarette, which flared before tapering off, the only thing visible in the darkness, like a beacon on a briny sea.
July 28, 2003
7:34 A.M.
Dom Crook surveyed the empty room, kicking at a used condom on the filthy dirt floor.
The real-estate agent laughed politely, "Once you're settled in, Mr. Crook, I doubt any of the local kids will try anything like...that," she grimaced, "After all, the police station is right across the street."
Dom nodded, "I suppose. It is a bit small, even smaller than my old shop."
"Oh, you have another shop? That's great, it'll be like a little franchise!"
"No," he said, running his finger along a dusty windowsill, "I had another shop, back in Lemon. Have you ever been?"
"To Lemon? No, but my husband's sister used to live there."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, her name is Nosegay. She's in prison now, right here in Calistan. Right across the street! He likes it because she's closer, he can see her everyday."
"Right across the street, did you say?" He sounded nervous.
"Oh, don't you worry about a thing, Mr. Crook. She's locked up good and tight for a long time. A very long time, serves her right after what she did."
"A-anyway," Crook said, "Back to the shop. How soon can I move in?"
"Well, it'll take about a week for all the papers to be filed. Plus, the electricity and water need to be turned back on. I'd say you could be holding a grand opening in about three weeks!"
He thought for a moment.
"I'll take it."
2. Two
12:37 P.M.
Dom Crook was the name chosen by the people at the governmental agency they'd been whisked away to last month. He didn't think it even had a name, just a handful of men in black suits, shiny sunglasses they wore even indoors, and various super-powerful computers.
"Now," the one who looked like Will Smith had said, "This is your new identity. You are Dom Crook, married with two children. You come from Pakistan, but have lived in America twelve years. You like golfing, hunting, and Bollywood movies. Your wife is Patsy Crook, and your children are Dumb and Lousy. Do you follow?"
He'd nodded, "Yes. Married, Pakistan, golfing, Dumb Crook and Lousy Crook. Got it."
"Who is Tom Nook?"
"I am."
"No, you're Dom Crook. From Pakistan. Tom Nook is dead."
And then, amazingly, they'd asked him where he'd wanted to live. They'd chosen his name, background, even his hobbies and interests, but it was up to him to decide where to set up shop. Go figure.
"You're a fool," his wife had said to him, "A goddamn fool. They offer to put us up anywhere in the goddamn country, and where do you pick? Cali-fucking-stan, two goddamn feet from where we used to live. I swear, I should have listened to my mother! I could have married French Peterson! He's a millionare you know!"
While it was true Calistan wasn't exactly as far from Lemon as, say, Los Angeles (where his children had wanted to go- he worried about them sometimes), it was far enough, and big enough, to remain confortably anonymous. He would open another shop, the kids could enroll in school, and his wife...well, she could find something she was good at, something she had skills for. Like a paperweight.
"French Peterson," Dom muttered, shaking his head and watching the real estate agent climb awkwardly into the back of a cab through the building's grimy front window. French Peterson couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. He was currently starring in a thatrical version of "Pink Flamingos". He played Mama Edie, the retarded, egg-obsessed mother of the raging drag queen Divine. French Peterson was scum, something scraped off the bottom of boots. He'd finger-fucked Dom's wife once, when they were in high school together, but she insisted she could have married him and would have had a rich, glamorous Hollywood life. She was delusional.
He moved closer to the window and looked out onto the cobbled street. There was the police station, seven stories high. There were outdoor merchants, huge multiplex theaters, Target stores. How was he going to compete with that? He didn't have the charm or novelties of the outdoor vendors or the selection or prices of the bigger chains. He was stuck in the middle, and he'd be lucky to last a month in a place like this.
"What happens if we don't like our new life?" he'd asked one of the agents on their way back to the airport, "What if I can't get a job or one of the kids gets in a fight at their posh new school?"
"Your children are going to a public school, Mr. Crook, where they will undoubtedly be the subject of merciless ridicule. If you don't like your new life, then I suggest you move. Just don't come crying to us, because we've done all that we can."
He'd thought briefly about returning to Lemon. Mayor Tortimer, who ran the vicious but profitable crime ring he'd been a part of, was dead, as were most of the others. The rest, with the exception of Dom, were in jail. Even so, he didn't think he'd be able to ever safely set foot in Lemon again, much less move back and re-open his shop. He'd read in the papers that Officer Copper had been elected Mayor, and he didn't think he'd be as sympathetic as Tortimer was, if that was even possible. So they would just have to make due in Calistan, which was a big city often favorably compared to Ellis Island.
"It's like a new beginning," Dom said, watching a young human woman with fiery red hair haggle with a street vendor over a loaf of stale, crusty bread.
He turned around and surveyed the small, filthy space once again.
"It's time to get to work."
3. Three
1:31 P.M.
Dana said, "Pepsi Street, please."
The driver was an older man with beefy arms and jowls. He looked up at her in the rear-view mirror and grunted, acknowledging her presence. They drove slowly through the heavy foot-traffic, the driver muttering as they pulled up behind an elderly feline woman on a bicycle.
Dana opened her briefcase and tried to concentrate on her work, calculating the closing costs and drawing up her own fee in her head, but she found herself staring at the black and white photo of Mr. Crook's driver's license, the one she'd had her secretary fax over to her house last night. She had the strangest feeling she'd seen him before somewhere, maybe on television or in one of the papers. She'd shown the picture to her son Randy, who had shrugged, staring into his cereal bowl and saying, "Maybe his dinky little store got robbed and he was on the late edition, how should I know?"
"Oh, Randy, honestly. You could be a little nicer you know."
"Yeah, and I could be meaner too. You don't know how lucky you got it compared to some parents. At least I'm not out killing people or stealing money from your purse for needle drugs. Not that I would touch that ratty thing anyway. Faux fur is so last season, mom."
She'd looked over at her purse, slumped dejectedly on the kitchen counter.
"Anyway, I'm under a lot of pressure at school, ok?"
"What, summer school?"
He rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
"I really hate this fucking street," the driver was muttering, "Nothing but scuzzy peddlers and hookers and fags."
"I didn't ask your opinion," she said sharply, "Just drive the fucking car."
He looked up into the mirror again, visibly stunned. Obviously he was shocked to hear a woman speak to him so frankly, and with such conviction. His was a world of wives and mothers, women who cooked and cleaned and looked after the children.
"I'm sorry I'm not at home, fixing a stew," she hissed, "But I have a job. I happen to make a lot more money than my husband as a matter of fact."
He averted his gaze, turning up his radio and letting out an explosion of noxious gas. Dana choked and made to open her window, but there was no handle.
The driver laughed much more than he needed to, all the way to Pepsi Street, where she refused to tip him and he drove off, his middle finger in the air, screaming, "Fuck you, lesbian!"
4. Four
1:56 P.M.
Randy heard the door slam and his mother muttering as she made her way into the kitchen for some booze. What a fucking slob. She wondered why his father was having an affair with that Janet woman, but it was quite obvious to him. She was a drunken, angry loser: angry about her fading looks, her unfashionable wardrobe, her dead-end job selling broken-down shacks to miserable immigrant families, and she tended to take it out on her family, especially when she was on the sauce, which she almost always was.
He shook his head and returned his attention to the computer screen, where several chat boxes were displayed. He could've kicked himself for not stumbling into Calistan M4M chat sooner. He had needs, and desires, he typed to the supposed 18 year-old with washboard abs and a great head of hair. Randy knew exactly who it was, it was that same guy with the beer-belly and gigantic mole on his neck who'd slipped him that note in a diner last week. He knew because he had the very peculiar habit of spelling his "the's" without the E. Idiot.
I know who you are, Randy typed, and the window closed immediately. He laughed and turned to one of the other windows. He was just getting himself excited when he heard his mother calling him from the kitchen.
"Oh, Jesus Christ!" he spat, pulling up his pants and waiting for his erection to quit. She had probably fallen in the cupboard again, or broken a bottle of her beloved fire water. It was only two o'clock and already she was wasted. At least his father waited until after five, when he got home from his REAL job. He didn't sell former crackhouses to Ethiopians, no sir. He was an editor at the Calistan Free Press, the city's oldest and most respected newspaper. He'd gotten his job as a result of years of backbreaking hard work, not by giving a BJ to the head of the department like a certain drunken witch he decided should remain nameless. He made his way down the stairs slowly, peeking around the corner into the kitchen. She was standing at the stove, stirring a pot and smiling at him.
"Randy! I thought I heard you come down. Dinner's almost ready, would you set the table please?"
"Dinner? It's only two o'clock. Dad won't be home for another three hours."
"Your father isn't coming home tonight, honey. He says he's going on a business trip."
"I don't blame him, if this is what he has to come home to. Well, I suppose if it's early enough to get hammered it's early enough for one of your abortions masquerading as a meal."
She stared at him, mouth agape as she continued stirring her dreadful concoction. That's right, he thought, pulling the plates from the cabinet, stare. I'm young, fashionable, and desirable. You're nothing but a wasted zero, who'll most likely be forced into prostitution when Dad finally comes to his senses and divorces your ass.
He grinned at her, and she gave him a faltering half-smile in return.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 12,251 | 11,598.6 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
**Chapter 1**
It was a warm summer night and my feathers were drenched in sweat as I quietly worked in my lonely coffee shop under the museum. I hadn't had a customer today and I was about to sadly close up for the night. I had noticed long before that the amount of customers was decreasing.
I heard the creaking of the old, wooden stairs and looked toward it startled. I put on a fake smile as Snake, my best friend and one of my few regular customers slowly walked down.
"What will it be today?" I asked
"What it always is, the special, of course." He replied
I laughed. It was an old joke between us because the special never actually changed. I turned around to get it and Snake started rambling about his day. Suddenly, I heard a sharp intake of breath and he stopped talking in mid-sentence. _I'm not falling for it again _I thought.
I turned around slowly with a fake scared expression on my face. I was ready to get him back for last time. All I saw was his hand lying in a pool of bad.
Startled, I jumped back and smashed my wing through a glass case. Grasping my arm in pain, I stumbled back and fell. I hit my head on the ground and everything went black.
2. Chapter 2
**Chapter 2**
I moaned as he forced myself up. There was a blinding pain in the back of my head where I hit it. I noticed I was still standing a pool of my own blood, completely drenched in it.
Feeling lightheaded from the amount of blood I lost, I recalled what had just happened. It felt like my imagination, like it was all a dream. Although I knew in the back of my mind, it wasn't a dream, and he wouldn't wake up and laugh about it the day later. I brought my mind back to the situation. There he was, covered in blood, on a murder scene.
I stole a look at Snake's amputated hand again and shuddered from the shock. It wouldn't be long until the town noticed he was gone. That wasn't my first problem.
I was the only alive animal there, covered in blood, and injured as if I was struggling against someone. It never took Copper or Booker long to get to a commotion. They were always at everything where there could even possibly be a crime. He thought they were paranoid, especially for a town where there had never in history been a crime. That record was now void. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he ran from the museum and away from the crime.
I was out, out of the museum. It was nowhere close to how far away I needed to be. I needed to lay low for a while, be forgotten.
The word "fugitive" popped into his my mind_. No,_ he thought. _Not refugee, just lying low._
I pushed the thought into the back of my mind. However, it just re-entered. I wanted to get away. That's all I wanted.
First, I needed a place to shower, heal, and get clean clothes. Even by thinking about healing, I felt a jolt of pain. I noticed glass shards were still embedded inside the feather. I would have to get them out soon, but if I did it wrong, it would be even more painful.
I thought about a place to stay. Bob's house was the only place that came to mind. Bob wasn't the best at keeping secrets, but he was the friendliest animal in town and he knew he could trust him.
I tried to stay unnoticed as I stealthily made my way to Bob's house. Once his mansion came into view, Brewster stopped trying to be stealthy and sprinted up.
Once he got to the door, he realized how stupid what he had just done was. What if someone saw him and got suspicious?
Once they found Snake, he could easily be reported to the police. He pushed the thoughts away and knocked on the door.
3. Chapter 3
I heard the door open as it scraped against the hardwood floor. I cringed as i saw the purple cat come out with a creepy smile. The smile faded as he saw me, and i knew it wouldn't be long until he asked how I got like this.
I tried to avoid the question by pushing inside. "I need a place to stay, to lay low for a while." I said. I could see hesitance in his eyes. I silently pleaded he would let me stay.
"Alright," he said, "But you need to clean yourself up."
I nodded, heading towards the bathroom. I just noticed I could barely see through my blood-specked glasses. I washed them off in a sink and jumped into the shower. It gave me the time I needed. I just needed to think.
_What's going to happen with my life? What will happen when they find the hand? They probably already have. Will they think that i was the murderer? I had already disappeared. All the evidence points to me. Would they forget about it? Or would I have to flee from town?_
Questions without an answer. All a part of life. It's not the answer that takes you places. It's the ambition to find those answers. That ambition is why you do things. The mind will go to great lengths to get what it wants, regardless of the risks. Those lengths are what gets people killed. Some try to avoid it; some can't get out of its way.
I was startled back to reality as loud crash came from outside the door. I wondered how long I had been in the shower, but I wanted to check it out.
I got to my spare room in the basement and changed into clean clothes. Once I was finished, I went to investigate the crash.
"I was just, uh, getting things ready." Bob explained nervously. I was extremely suspicious, but tried to ignore it. I would have to keep my eye on Bob.
**Authors Note: **It always looks longer in word xD The chapters get longer though. I have up to chapter 8 I think. It helps to have extra chapters in case I get lazy. Ill probably end up going through them all before I end up writing a new one.
Something seemed out of place. Suddenly it all came clear to me. I couldn't stay here long. I would have to go soon. I turned to see a flash of brown fur. _Was that a raccoon?_I heard something whisper, "Tanuki" as if reading my mind. Countless times, I have been scared, but never as much as this. I could feel the fear spreading through my body. More than just fear. _Terror._
4. Chapter 4
_**Chapter**__** 4**___
It wasn't long before terror overwhelmed me. It got to the point I couldn't sleep at night or even eat. Copper and Booker had set out a search warrant, obviously thinking I was the murderer.
Meanwhile, Bob was like my errand boy. I owed the world to him. However, I had no idea if I would ever be able to repay him.
I survived without many problems for a week. Copper and Booker weren't the smartest, which made it easier to hide.
Eventually, the fear started to decrease and I started eating again. I still didn't get much sleep. I was afraid Copper or Booker would come and search during the night.
Finally, my worst fears came true. I had just drifted off into a light sleep when I heard a loud double tap on the door and heard someone step inside. My brain was still clouded and I failed to remember Bob's instructions on what to do. Straining myself, I nearly cried out in frustration. No sound I told myself. Think! It was easy enough to think of that, but why couldn't I think of some simple instructions.
"If you're ever in trouble, Bob's voice rang through my head, there's a safe house under the bed.
Finally! I quickly crawled through the velvet sheets and under the king sized bed. Frantically, I searched for a trapdoor or something.
Bob never gave me any more details! I thought furiously, The end of my survival could end here all because Bob didn't give me enough details! frustrated, I punched forward at a box labeled "Storage." It only moved slightly, but I swear I could see something dark peek out from under it. On instinct, I completely pushed it away and felt around. I felt something like a corner and open space. I also felt something like rungs on a ladder. I tried to conceal the hole as much as possible and climbed down.
Careful where I was going, I stepped off the ladder. It smelled very musty and damp down here. I didn't know what was down here, and frankly, I didn't want to learn. I tried searching for a wall or something but all that I came across was a grimy puddle I managed to step in.
When I finally found a dry area with something I could lean against, I tried to sleep. However, after the whole ordeal, I was restless and terrified.
I stayed down there for what felt like hours, and probably was. Eventually, I summoned the courage to leave the so called, "Safe house." I pushed away the box blocking the entrance and crawled out from the bed. It was only 4 am. I was down there for 3 hours. I immediately went to Bob's room to wake him up. When I walked in, he was wide awake.
"You okay?" He asked, "You look pretty shaken up.
"I am." I replied, "I found the safe house okay though."
"Yea, I knew the safe house would be useful." Bob seemed extremely distant, maybe from lack of sleep.
"When did you decide to build it I asked?"
"Last year, it was on instinct."
"You really thought a safe house would be useful though?"
"Obviously, the safe house was useful." He said acting offended. I knew he was just faking it though.
"Yea, well they tend to be that way in times of need." I tried avoiding using the word safe house again, as it was being dreadfully overused.
"Well I'm going to get some sleep." I announced turning around and leaving. I found sleep almost immediately and didn't wake up until past 10.
I heard Bob getting breakfast ready as usual, but this time it sounded different. It was only a slight annoyance to me, and I started to get ready.
I thought most of my fears were over. I walked into the kitchen for breakfast, but gasped at what I saw. Clearly, I was wrong.
5. Chapter 5
**Chapter 5**
Bob had become my best friend over those few days. He was all I had. I couldn't believe what I saw. Bob was dead. Someone or something had slit his throat. I didn't know what I was going to do. I barely even knew what I was doing.
I ran. It was all I could think of doing. I ran through the door without even thinking about where I was going. I ran past the worn-down town hall barely even hearing the tapping of my shoes on the cement. So much was going through my mind at once.
Copper and Booker had gone searching around other towns in the area. Most of the residents had forgotten about the murder already.
Bob was very popular around town. He trusted everyone, and everyone trusted him. Once people found out about his death, it would be common sense that he was harboring me. They
>would believe that he helped me, and then I betrayed him.<p>
I'm not like that. I hadn't done anything and I got this, but I still won't hurt anyone.
I was still running, but I couldn't keep going for long. I was getting warmer and I was starting to lose air. I had passed the gate, probably left open on accident by that dim-witted Booker. That's probably how the murderer got into this village.
I couldn't run anymore. I was completely out of air. _That's what you get for sitting in a café all day._ I fell to my knees, exhausted. I could barely move. My throat burned as I struggled to catch my breath.
My eyes stung, but I swear I could see a familiar flash of brown fur. I knew I had seen it once before.
_I turned to see a flash of brown fur. Was that a raccoon? I heard something whisper "Tanuki as if reading my mind._
"You!" I said
"Me." He replied a calm voice.
"You are the murderer." I growled
"Of course I am, It took you long enough to figure it out."
I looked up at his face, even more startled at what I saw.
6. Chapter 6
**Chapter 6**
"Nook!"
"Took you long enough." He sneered. He kicked me in the ribs, knocking the wind out of me.
"I'll kill you!" I screamed.
"Good luck," He said with a short, but loud laugh. He turned around and ran.
I struggled to get up, but I let out a short cough, and collapsed.
When I awoke, I was blinded by a bright, white light. I wondered if I was dead. I didn't know if I even wanted to be alive. The last days were just too much.
"Sable! He's awake!" I heard from a soft, calm voice. I could barely make out what was being said.
"So he made it through?" The girl named Sable asked.
"Obviously!" I heard from the safe voice.
There's a lot you can learn from the little things about a person. Their hair, the clothes they wear, their voice. I knew I could trust this person.
I struggled to sit up, but I was too weak. One of the girls rushed over to me.
"It's ok," She said, "Just calm down.
"H-how long have I-I been as-asleep?" I stuttered.
"9 days," She replied, "I'm Mable by the way.
Mable and Sable, they sounded friendly enough. I noticed Mable's skin/fur was a darker hue than Sables.
I tried to sit up again and see where I was. I used all my strength, but fell back again. It wasn't until then that I realized how hungry I was.
"Food," I muttered as it was all I could get out.
"Oh! Of course!" Mable replied. "Sorry, I should've got some ready when you woke up."
"It's ok," I said, starting to come back to my senses.
I tried to get some rest until food came, but had no luck.
"It's ready" Mable said in a singsong voice.
"Thanks!" I said, already starting to dig in.
After getting food into my body, I felt a lot stronger. This time, I was actually able to sit up.
"You know, Sable didn't believe you would make it." Mable said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Really?" I asked. I noticed Sable didn't talk much; she just sat at her sewing machine and worked. It didn't matter though; as Mable talked enough for the both of them. Mable also sounded a lot more cheerful, even in a bad situation like this one.
"Yea, In fact, she was the one who found you. You were outside the town gate, covered in mud. Once we brought you inside, we noticed you were having spasms, like you were perpetually stuck in a nightmare."
All of this was giving me a major headache. It was all too much. There was a pause of silence.
"I need some time to think" I said at last.
"Alright," She said, obviously deep in thought. She turned and walked away.
I laid down, and fell asleep almost immediately.
When I woke up, I knew something was wrong. The light was dimmed, and I couldn't hear Mable and Sable working. I was vaguely aware of the ominous hum of the sewing machine, but no one was using it. I slowly pushed myself up and cried out in shock.
Mable and Sable were dead. Both beheaded. I tried to stand but I had no balance. I pushed myself up, using a dresser for support. Once I found a spot of balance, I let go of the support. Swaying slightly, I tried to walk. It took me many times before I could walk without falling.
I knew I was taking too much time. I had to leave now. I threw the door open and started to leave. I started walking but increased in speed until the point I was running.
Mable and Sable were dead. Everyone around me was dying. They hadn't known me, yet they were helping me, and they ended up dead.
Tears stung my eyes. Why was I the victim? The one left to suffer. The only thing keeping me alive was my will to kill Nook. I wouldn't stop until he was dead.
I hadn't even noticed I had passed the town gate. I was out, to safety. _No, It will never be safe. Not until Nook is dead._ I would have to go on the offensive.
7. Chapter 7
**Chapter****7**
I strained my mind, but I couldn't remember how far away the closest town was. I couldn't remember which direction it was in either. Giving up, I decided to go to my right, Without knowing which direction it was.
It could be miles to the next town. I hoped that for the first time in days, I would have some luck.
I walked for hours, with every step I became even more hungry. The only solid meal I had eaten in over a week felt like ancient history now. My feet felt like they were on fire.
Suddenly, I little light came into the distance. Filled with hope I used the last of my energy to run out to the light.
The light became bigger and bigger until it felt like I was right next to it. I was exhausted and didn't know what was going on. Coming back to my senses, I realized I was just at the top of a steep hill.
Disappointed, I carefully took a step down it, noticing a forest at the bottom. The trees looked almost as tall as this hill._Maybe__I__can__use__it__as__shelter_. Hopeful, I didn't take as careful of a step and my feet slipped out from under me. I rolled down the hill and crashed into a tree head on. I didn't feel any pain before I blacked out.
_The__sky__was__full__of__thick__gray__clouds.__I__listened__to__the__calming__sound__of__the__raindrops__hitting__the__ground.___
_"__Mommy,__are__we__really__moving__here?__" __I__asked.___
_"__Yes,__we__are.__"___
_"__I__don__'__t__wanna__move!__" __I__cried.___
_"__It__'__s__ok.__" __She__comforted__me.___
_We__walked__over__to__a__worn__down,__wooden__house.__The__paint__was__peeling__off__in__the__rain.__I__opened__the__rusted__door.__The__hinges__squeaked__ominously.__Hesitant,__my__mom__pushed__me__inside.___
_It__was__small,__only__one__room.__There__were__cobwebs__in__the__corners__and__only__2__beds,__one__of__which__was__mine.__Other__than__that,__there__was__one__window,__covered__in__dust.__There__was__a__sink__and__refrigerator,__both__almost__completely__rusted.___
_"__Are__we__really__gonna__live__here?__"___
_"__It__'__s__all__we__can__afford.__" __My__dad__said__with__sorrow.__
><em>
"_I__hate__it__here!__" __I__yelled__full__of__tears.__ "__Why__can__'__t__we__stay__at__our__old__house?___
_"__It__cost__too__much__money__and__we__were__evicted.__" __My__mom__said__with__tears__in__her__eyes.__ "__We__should__just__be__grateful__Terrence__Nook__and__his__son__Tom__got__this__house__ready__for__us.__"___
_"__Really?__Because__it__definitely__looks__like__they__cleaned__it__up!__" __I__said__openly__crying__now.___
_I__ran__from__the__house,__not__caring__about__being__rained__on.__I__ran__towards__the__ocean.__I__thought__I__could__escape__from__my__solace__there.___
_I__watched__as__the__waves__roared,__going__over__my__head__in__height.__I__wished__I__was__back__at__my__old__house,__where__everything__was__perfect.___
_"__Ian!__IAN!__" __I__heard__my__mom__call.___
_"__Mom.__" __I__called__back.___
_We__called__back__to__each__other__for__a__while,__like__a__game__of__Marco__Polo.__Finally,__she__caught__up__with__me.___
_"__Come__back__here__now!__" __She__said.___
_I__turned__to__her__and__said,__ "__I__don__'__t__want__to__go__back!__"___
_Suddenly,__I__saw__fear__in__her__eyes.__I__turned__and__saw__an__enormous__wave__towering__over__my__head.__She__pushed__me__away__as__the__wave__came__crashing__down__over__her.__It__swept__her__into__the__ocean,__leaving__her__to__face__the__wrath__of__the__waves.___
_"__Mom.__" __I__cried__weakly._
8. Chapter 8
**Chapter****8**
I pushed myself off the ground, grunting in pain. The traumatic memory was still fresh inside my mind. I had no idea where I was. To one side was a steep hill I couldn't possibly climb. I wondered why I even attempted to go down it. The other three sides were an immense forest of un-ending overgrowth.
I could feel moisture in the air, knowing it must've rained. The trees shielded me from most of the rain, but they didn't stop a large amount of water from running down the hill directly into where I had laid. The ground was caked in mud, and so was a considerable amount of my body.
I climbed over the plants and weeds, using sturdy trees to keep my balance. I was sore beyond belief, but I knew I had to keep going. I stumbled over an unseen vine and nearly face planted into the mud.
My stomach growled, and I forced myself to ignore it. Worrying about food at a time like this would only weaken me more than I already was.
Fighting through the forest, my limbs burned. All I wanted to do was lay down and sleep. I strained my eyes to try and see anything, but only ended up wearing myself out even more. Sweat clouded my vision as I started to stumble more and more often. I felt like I had walked for many miles, but I was so exhausted I couldn't tell.
I felt for another tree but couldn't find one. I was almost completely blinded by now. Feeling for another tree to balance myself, I stumbled over a weed and fell. I stuck my arms out to break my fall, hoping not to land in mud. I closed my eyes as I hit the ground.
_Hard__ground_. I thought. I took off my glasses and cleared my eyes. All I could make was plain land. I turned slightly to my right to see a rusted pipe taking the place of a dip in the ground. Hours after the storm, there was still water running through it. I knew it had to lead to somewhere, so the only choice I had was to follow it.
Now that I had some indication that I knew where I was going, time passed by quickly. I clung on to the hope that this led to civilization. Still weak, I stumbled with almost every step. The pipe made random dips underground and back up making it very hard to follow. I followed the pipe for miles until I saw what looked like a town gate. I ran inside, and the first thing I saw was a dog that looked like Copper.
>I almost jumped for joy at the sight of a living being. I walked a few more steps toward him and collapsed.<p>
9. Chapter 9
**Chapter 9**
I slowly opened my eyes, my head spinning. My vision blurred and I felt a sharp pain shoot through my head. I was being carried, but my eyes couldn't focus enough to make out my surroundings. "He may be coming 'round." Came from a gruff voice. I closed my eyes before everything went black.
The next time I awoke, I was staring at a plain white ceiling. Immediately, I sat straight up. As soon as I moved, a jolt of pain shot up my back and up to my head. I fell back onto the bed in spasms.
"Lay still" said a feminine, comforting voice. Ignoring what she told me to do; I turned my head to face her, ignoring the stiffness of my neck.
She was a dog, white as snow, and slender, like a thread. She lightly touched her hand to my shoulder, giving me a sense a peace.
"You must be exhausted, go back to sleep." The confidence and sympathy in her voice felt soothing, like sleep was the most important thing in the world, and in my state, it probably was. I closed my eyes and tried to roll as painlessly as possible into a comfortable position. Not long later, I was asleep.
I woke after what felt like days of sleep, and it could've been. The stiffness in my back and neck was gone and I felt half as sore. I turned over to get a better view of the room I was in.
The house was very neat and organized. She had a telescope pointing out the window, showing the night sky. In the corner, she had a model of the moon.
On the other side of the room, the dog was asleep on a cream couch, which her fur almost completely blended in to. I felt a wave of sadness rush over me as I realized what she was sacrificing for someone she had never met before.
I lay awake that night, thinking about all that had happened. All the people that had helped me had been killed. I knew I couldn't stay here.
I forced myself out of bed. I only took one step before my legs gave out and I fell to the ground. I pushed myself up just to fall after I took few more steps. I knew I didn't have much time, but I couldn't leave at this current state.
Reluctantly, I crawled back into bed, and cried myself to sleep.
10. Chapter 10
**Chapter 10**
A bright ray of sunshine shone through the window, landing directly on me. Slightly opening my eyes, I turned my head so the sunlight wouldn't blind me.
The cream colored dog was still sleeping peacefully on the couch. I smiled, thinking of how kind she was. I didn't know anybody else who would let a complete stranger stay in their house, let alone stay overnight.
I lay in the soft bed awkwardly, wanting to get up. I, however, didn't want to wake her. I couldn't really do anything, anyway. I had regained some of my strength, and I estimated I would be able to walk now.
I dragged my feathers across the soft fabric and looked over at the girl. I wished I could just leave the small, two-room house, leave the town, and find Nook. The only thing on my mind was killing the tanuki, bringing an end to my suffering.
The dog's eyes slowly fluttered open, catching my attention. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. Hoping she hadn't noticed me, I opened my eyes, not enough so she could see they were open.
She stretched, shifting so she wasn't so cramped on the small couch. Then, she looked around the room. I laid my head back, relaxing my tensed muscles. She looked at me for a few seconds and looked away.
I let out an inaudible sigh of relief before thinking about what bad of a position I was in. The past few days had made me very paranoid. I didn't want to make it seem like I had woken up right after her, but I was tired of laying there.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. I waited a second for my vision to focus, and then sat up, stretching slowly. Now that there was light, and I was at a better position, I could get a better view of the room.
The couch she was sleeping on was a Cream Sofa, matching her fur. In the corner, she had two fossils. Her wallpaper was the Library Wall. Her carpet was the Tartan Rug, which matched an enormous grandfather clock.
I noticed the white dog staring at me, and I looked back at her. She gave a small grin, and stood up. I put a wing on a dark brown bed stand and sat up on the bed. She walked over to him and sat next to him.
"Well, uh, hi," I said
She giggled, "Hi there."
"H-how l-long hav-ve I-I been-n as-sleep?" I managed to stutter.
She looked at me seriously. "Three days. It's fine….though…." She trailed off.
"Why did you take me in? I mean, I've never met you in my life"
"Well, I dunno, you looked horrible, and like you needed a place to stay."
"Oh," I paused, "thank you, I guess."
"It's no problem. You must be hungry, after being asleep so long."
"Y-yeah…."
"Here, why don't you shower? I'll make breakfast while you're in there"
"Oh, um, sure" I said nervously
She pointed towards the only other room in the house, indicating that it was the bathroom.
I pushed myself up and staggered over there. Before I entered the bathroom, I looked back at her. I took note of the concerned look on her face.
I closed the door and took a look at the bathroom. There was a porcelain bathtub and a separate shower on the right side of the room. On the left side was two connected sinks, with a marble top.
I walked over and started warming up the water. I stripped down, leaving my clothes on the floor.
I stepped into the shower, wincing from the heat. I quickly stepped out of the flow of water and turned it down. After a few seconds, I stepped back in, satisfied with the temperature.
I was never good at taking a quick shower. All my showers took at least ten minutes. Even now, though, I tried to take a quick one. I was starving, having not eaten in three days.
I tried not to expect too much about her breakfast, figuring it would be cold cereal or oatmeal. I was already extremely lucky. Even still, I longed to get out of the shower just so I could get some food in me.
I stepped out, seemingly getting hit by a freezing wind. I quickly pulled a towel around me. I looked down at my tattered clothes, realizing for the first time I had been wearing them for two weeks.
I sighed. I had nothing else to wear. I dropped the dark blue towel to the ground and quickly slipped on my dirty, nearly destroyed clothes. I walked up the mirror that was just above the sinks. Even with the horrible clothes, I looked ten times better after the shower.
Smiling, I walked out of the room. The house smelled amazing. The aroma of pancakes and maple syrup hit me like a wall of bricks. I was struck by a pang of hunger.
I walked over to the table and sat down. She looked over at me and smiled.
"I'm almost done."
I smiled and sat back, looking out the window. For the first time in two weeks, I felt relaxed. I didn't feel like I was on death's door. I actually felt happy.
She came and set a plate down in front me. Then, she sat next to me with her own plate. She stared at me, an expectant smile on her face. I looked down at the plate. It was piled with pancakes, eggs, sausage, and toast.
I could feel my face lighting up at the sight of it. She beamed when she saw it. I never ate this well, pretty much ever.
"Th-thank you so much…"
"Seriously," She said modestly, "it's nothing."
"Thank you, anyway."
She smiled shyly. Noticing the break in conversation, I started to dig in. When I was nearly finished, I looked up. She was eating her food slowly. Realizing I looked like a pig, I greatly slowed down.
By the time I finished my food, she was only halfway done. I laid my head back, completely satisfied.
"I never caught your name….." I said
She looked at me and swallowed her food.
"Oh, yes, I'm Daisy."
"I'm Brewster."
With that, she looked back at her food and starting eating again. I looked out the window and started daydreaming again.
The next thing I knew, she set down her silverware on the glass plate, creating a resounding clang. She then picked up her plate and mine and set them on the granite counter.
When she came back she stared at me. I looked back, but noticed something different this time. The normal, happy look on her face was gone. It was replaced with a serious frown.
"Listen…" She said
I gulped, ready for the worst.
"We need to talk….."
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Horror | Fanfiction | null | 29,353 | 13,414.1 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. The Train
Rover… DIE! Chapter 1
The Train.
MelodyKey swung her luggage happily at her side. She was **finally** old enough to go find a place of her own. She walked in to the train smiling. _This will be an adventure, new and exciting places. New friends, and… _she glanced around, as if someone somewhere on the train, or off the train, could read her mind. _Maybe even a new family after a few years._ She finished her thought just as she sat down. _Just maybe…_
And the best part was she had no humanly idea where she was going to go. She wanted to ride the train for as long as she could, and get off at a faraway stop in a nice city. Not a town, but a city. A city filled with people, lots of people, and of course animals. How bad she had always wanted to live in a big city. Her mom was the exact opposite though, of course. Her mom wanted to stay in a small town where you knew everyone, and everyone knew you, and that is why she had lived in Mikko Town for so long.
She looked out the window; her mother was crying and waving. She sighed. With a half smile, she waved at her mom, and mouthed, "I will visit, don't worry!" _Phe, yeah right. _She looked at the array of humans and animals standing in the station. MelodyKey noticed one purple cat was running for the train, and yelling, perhaps "Wait!" He caught up with the train and jumped on he began walking down the aisle, looking for a place to sit. MelodyKey noticed she was the only one with an empty seat. She gladly let him sit with her, but that was before she knew.
Before she knew who this purple cat was. He smiled and said, "Hi, I am Rover!" "Rover?" she asked skeptically he nodded, almost jumping in his seat. She arched an eyebrow, "Whatever," and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. Maybe if she slept the trip would go faster.
"So anyway, what is your name?" He asked, just as she was falling asleep. She twitched, "I am MelodyKey," she said, trying not to be annoyed. "Do you like your name?" She looked at him and sighed, "I guess it is cool," "Yeah, it is a cool name for a boy!" "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" She exploded, "I AM NOT A BOY!" Everyone on the train looked at her.
MelodyKey tried to ignore it. She leaned against the side of the train again. She wanted to just go to sleep, but that cat, he was still talking. She wasn't even paying attention anymore, but she thought she heard him talking about how he likes to put peanut butter on his pickles…
He didn't stop there either, and he was getting louder. She couldn't sleep with him sitting next to her. She finally sat up, _you win this one cat._ "So where are you going?" he asked. "I wouldn't tell you where I was going if someone had a gun to my head!" He frowned again, "You don't have to be rude. I will tell you where _I _am going. Right here, I live on this train!" he was already smiling again, "I meet all sorts of people, nice, mean," he looked at her, "And some people are really creeping, like once, I met this cat who didn't have a fa…" he was cut off by a speaker, "-schhh- Now arriving in Apple –schhh-"
_Who names these cities, twelve year olds? _MelodyKey thought, then she stood up and grabbed her bag. She was the first off the train.
2. Staying for a Short While
Who names these cities, twelve year olds?_ MelodyKey thought, then she stood up and grabbed her bag. She was the first off the train._
Rover… DIE! Chapter 2
Apple… Where the Pears are Grown?
MelodyKey knew she couldn't get back on the train, not if that cat lived on it. _Why does the cat live on a train?_ She would have to stay here for awhile, but that would be okay, right? I mean, it will have thousands of people, and she was the only one leaving the train because everyone knew the city was to busy to go there to visit. _Yeah…I am convinced, _she thought to herself sarcastically. She sighed, and noticed a pear tree along the dirt path she was walking on. She picked a pear off the tree, wiped it on her shirt and took a bite. She didn't like pears that much, okay, she hated pears, but she hadn't eaten all day, and she wasn't about to pass up free food, no matter how gross it might taste.
As she continued to walk, she saw more and more pear trees. She had yet to see one apple anywhere. In fact, she hadn't see anything but pears in this town yet. She didn't think much of it, and continued her way.
She noticed a small wooden building. A cheap white sign stood proudly on the roof. "Nooks' Cranny" it said in wobbly hand writing. She guessed it was a store. It didn't help her trying to picture this as a city. She decided walk in; maybe someone could help her find a hotel. –Ding- A bell rang as the door opened. A friendly looking raccoon walked up to her. "Hello, may I help you?" He asked. "Yeah, I was wondering where I could find a hotel, or a motel, or even a B and B," she said, hopefully. "Yeah… umm, well, Apple never gets many visitors, so no one ever bothered opening one up, but someone might let you stay with them. There is a family over in acre B-three that might let you stay with them, and the animals here are very kind," MelodyKey thought she also heard him add, "Well, most of them anyway," but she wasn't sure. She nodded, "Or if you are planning a long stay, you could always buy a house," the raccoon said.
"Sorry, this isn't a permanent stay, I am moving to a city soon," "Of course you are, no one wants to live in Apple," he sighed, "Well, I can loan you a map so you can find your way around," he walked to a desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a rolled up paper and handed it to her, "Here you go, and if you need to buy anything, remember to come back here," he smiled, "Tom Nook has the best prices in all of Apple," "So, you are Tom Nook?" she asked, "Yes, I am, I moved to Apple in…" She cut him off, "Kay, I will come back if I need something," she walked out hurriedly, not wanting to listen to a story.
She unfurled the map and scanned the layout of the town. She grimaced, she counted fifteen houses. _I don't know if I could stand another trip with Rover though, _she weighed it out in her mind, Rover, or tiny town, Rover, tiny town. _Tiny town,_ she finally decided. She kept walking.
She walked by several houses, each marked with a name and an acre number. _B-4,_ she noted, and turned right on the path. She walked for a while, listening to the wind rushing past her ears, and maybe a river running somewhere behind her. She smiled, closing her eyes, letting the sounds fill her ears. This all ended when she heard a horrible chopping sound.
She opened her eyes and saw in front of her, a tiger in a blue shirt chopping at a pear tree. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Chopping this tree down," "Yes, I noticed, why?" "I want the pears," "Can't you just pick them?" there was a silence, "I could…" more silence, "Hi, I am Tybalt! Who are you?" she had told Rover her name, and he called her a boy, "Um…" "Did you forget your name? I do that all the time," he picked the pears off the tree and stuck them in his pocket, "Well… okay, I will see you later then…" MelodyKey said, walking off. She remembered that there were four houses in acre four, two of which people lived in. She wanted to go to the one with the light blue roof; she pulled her map out to be sure. _Yes, blue, blue has the family. _
She saw the tall house and stepped onto the porch. She lifted her hand to knock on the door, but halted. Would this family find it odd that she was just walking up to there house and asking if she could stay with them? MelodyKey paused to think about if she should knock, her hand frozen an inch away from the door. While she was pondering, the door opened, and a young girl, no older than fourteen, was standing in front of her, "Oh, hi! Umm, did you need something?" She asked. The girl had two pink ponytails, similar to MelodyKey's red ones, and wore a peach dress with a big white flower on it. Her socks were bright orange, and her shoes were clean white. MelodyKey smiled, pulled up her strength, and asked, "I need a place to stay for a few nights, do you think you could ask your parents if I could stay here?" she put her hands behind her back. The girl gave her a curious look, "I guess I could ask…" she turned around and went back inside. A tall woman, about forty, came to the door. "What is your name?" she asked sharply, "I am MelodyKey Moore," she said. "Hmm… how old are you?" "I am twenty," "You are short," the woman commented, "But I guess you could stay here for a night or two," she didn't smile, but showed MelodyKey in. "This is my daughter Twinkle," she said, gesturing at the pink-haired girl. "You shall stay here from seven in the evening to seven in the morning. If you are here a minute longer you shall not be allowed back," _Sheesh, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,_ MelodyKey thought, then she asked, "Do you have a spare room I will be staying in, or will I be sleeping on a couch, or what?"
"We do not have a spare room, but I will not have you sleeping on MY couch," She said impatiently, "You will sleep on the floor," _Okay, I will go try next door now, _She thought about saying that, but didn't, "I have to get to work now, you need to be back at seven," The lady walked away, nose in the air. MelodyKey stepped out of the house, "Twinkle, weren't you going somewhere?" "Oh, right, I forgot," She came out of the house, "Sorry 'bout Mom, she is…" Twinkle tried to think of a word, _Insane, _MelodyKey thought, "Insane," Twinkle said, laughing. MelodyKey laughed to, "Haha, I was thinking of saying that," "Hahaha,"
3. Train Crash
_"Sorry 'bout Mom, she is…" Twinkle tried to think of a word, _Insane_, MelodyKey thought, "Insane," Twinkle said, laughing. MelodyKey laughed to, "Haha, I was thinking of saying that," "Hahaha,"_
Rover… DIE! Chapter 3
Train Crash.
"So, anyway… where are you headed?" Melody Key asked. She didn't like to be nosy, but she thought it would be nice to know. "Oh, I have to get some stuff for school, I have to start back tomorrow, and we forgot to get supplies," MelodyKey remembered her mother would NEVER forget to buy school supplies, and every year, she would walk into school trying to not drop her thousands of boxes of tissue and her millions of reams of copy paper. "Oh," she smiled, "Do you like school?"
"Like school? Yeah right," Twinkle laughed a little, "You said you were only twenty, so you aren't an old lady, so you probably remember school. Did you really think I liked it?" MelodyKey could only laugh at that. She had been one of those weird kids who liked to come in, and she had been happy to do her math work, her English work, her science work. There had only been one year she didn't like school, and that had been twelfth grade, and that had only been because it was her last year. She hadn't gone to college yet, she was waiting for the right one to catch her eye.
"Well, all I can say is I enjoyed school," She saw a fake disgusted look in Twinkle's face. MelodyKey could tell that, despite what she said, Twinkle kind of liked school as well. "So," MelodyKey started, "Do you know when the train runs by?" she asked. "Oh, yeah, it comes by here at noon and midnight on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," She then had a sad look on her face, "You aren't going to stay here?" MelodyKey looked down, "No, I am hoping I can get to a bigger city,"
"It is not that I don't like it here," She said immediately, "I just…" her voice trailed off, what did a city have that this place didn't? Noisy streets, inconsiderate people, pollution smog. Maybe she could stay here, it wasn't that bad.
Then, she heard a terrible sound, a screech, honk, crash, smash, and several other things all at once. It was coming from… north of where she was standing. She looked at Twinkle, and ran off in that direction with her young friend right behind her.
And now a word from the author-
Sorry the updates take so long everyone, I don't have much time with school and all. And, I also realized that you all probably think I own Animal Crossing because I never went around and told you I didn't. Well, I don't, and I can't sell you any of the rights to it. Sorry. Well…. that I all I have to say, for now.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 12,249 | 13,097.1 |
null | Animal Crossing Ordinance on Isabelle
AN: This is my first smut story, I apologize for craptasticness. ALSO ISABELLE IS HUMAN BECAUSE I FOUND IT EASIER TO WRITE IT LIKE THAT! This is a IsabellexReader fanfic too. You are fulfilling the role of Mayor. This is what you get from me being interested in finding Animal Crossing M rated fics, and not finding any that peaked my interest. I may make a female Mayor version depending on what I want.
WARNING: SEX. IT IS ALL SEX.
The whole town seems rather peaceful as the you walk through it making your last rounds of the day. Several residents stop you and ask you for small favors that aren't too big for you to handle. The day was stressful for you. All your time was spent careful combing the beach, trees, and rivers for money making material, and it was taking its toll.
One resident stops you. "Hey, I've noticed that the Town Hall has been closed every day after dark lately, and I was wonder why. Could you tell me?"
After giving them a knowing smile you reply, "Isabelle needs a break every now and then." With a curt nod you turn and head back to the Town Hall.
You walk into the always open door of the Town Hall and Isabelle smiles at you from behind the counter. Her face is flushed a nice cherry red color as you take a seat at your chair. She goes to lock the door to the Town Hall before going over to you. Her gate looks a little awkward and you can't help but smile. "How has your day been, Mayor? It looks like it was a little stressful." she says. Her face gets even more red as she stands at attention.
"It was a little tedious, but not too bad. What about you? Did you take care of what I asked?" Your hand moves to cup that cute, little, round bum as you smirk. It jiggles slightly in your hand as she shudders at your touch. Her little blond half-pony bobs as she nods her head vigorously. You grin as you lift up her jean skirt to see her unclothed pussy with a vibrator taped to her clit. Your other hand travels to run around the shaven, wet lips of her pussy. Isabelle moans as you slowly dip into her soaking cunt with one finger and add pressure on her vibe with your thumb. "You know what to do, Isabelle." you say.
She nods and get on her knees in front of you. Her tiny hand shake as she fiddles with the zipper, trying to free your throbbing member from the tent in your pants. You have been fantasying about this all day. Paying 20,000 bells for that ordinance was so worth it. She finally manages to free you from your pants, and she slowly strokes up and down your length to get you even more hot and bothered. Her bangs are flopped into her eyes so you quickly brush them aside so that you can have eye contact while she flicks her tongue out taste the tip of your cock. You smile at her encouragingly when she sheepishly looks up to see your expression.
She takes this a a cue to slowly lick up the underside of your cock, and she elicits a moan from somewhere deep down in your throat. Her movements get bolder as she hears you give grunts and moans of approval, and soon she is taking you deep into her throat while humming. Your fingers are buried into her hair as you begged her to continue. The way her tongue felt when she swirled it around the tip of your penis feels like heaven to you, but you want more than just this. You want to pound into her so hard that her moans can be heard throughout the town.
You know that she has to be feeling this too from the way her hand started to slowly slink down her body and into her skirt, and from the way she is moaning around your cock caused pure ecstasy to rocket through your pull her off of your cock and push her on top of your desk. Pens and papers fly everywhere as you do so. She squeaks as you pull her legs apart and rip off her skirt. Your finger finds its way into her again as you smirk down over her shivering and moaning form. "You like this, don't you? What would your brother say about this if he knew?" You growl into her ear.
"Please don't tell him!" Isabelle moans underneath you.
"Just look at how wet you are! You are such a little whore!" you say before running your tongue up her neck. Your finger rapidly plunge into her filthy, tight slit as she screams in pleasure on top of your desk. "Beg for it, whore!" you order.
"P-please!" Isabelle moans. She covers her face with her hands.
You smile as you align your cock with her pussy. You teasingly rub the lips of her vagina with the tip of your cock to tease, and she begs you to enter her. You slowly plunge into her, and allow her to adjust before you slowly with draw from her again. The slap of your balls against her is the only sound in the room besides the wet sound of you dick plunging in and out of Isabelle. Your thumb moves to put more pressure on the vibe still attached to Isabelle's clit, and she lets out a pleasured shriek in response. You pull out and she squirms on the table before peaking out between her fingers to see why you stopped.
Suddenly, you flip her over and you ram into her from behind. Her moaning resumes, and so does the slap of skin on skin. You hand cracks over Isabelle's round, bubble butt and she moans even louder as you thrust into her. A bit of drool escapes her lips as she groans into the desk. "More, oh, please, Mayor!" she screams.
You thrust into her faster as her shrieking increases in volume. The way your dick scrapes along the sides of her moist pussy feels so good as you pound into her faster and faster. You can feel the pressure building up in your stomach as you sloppily thrust into her. You feel her spasm around your cock with one final, long moan before she slumps further onto the table. Your groan and pant as you feel yourself climax into her, filling her up with your white, hot cum. "That was so good, Isabelle." you murmur into her ear as you pull her into your lap at the chair.
She nods and curls into your chest. "Such a good stress reliever." you say. Your hand runs over her plush bottom as you finger her pussy one last time before she falls asleep in your arms.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 6,079 | 10,097.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
Disclaimer: This story is a branch off of one called "Tight Stitches" by the marvelous **Hoehomi-Chan **and I do not own that original story, nor do I wish to stake claims on her wonderful story. I have permission from the author to write this and I am very excited to show you all the past and now present of Crazy Redd, the brokenhearted, the misunderstood... He has a past. Read it, and weep... But it would help if you read "Tight Stitches" first.
Chapter one
_It was the last straw. She rejected him. After everything he had done for her, she just rejected him. He would have given her anything and everything, his home, his money, his heart... His entire life._
_But Sable Able was having none of it._
_He had found the pretty hedgehog brokenhearted and pregnant, wandering the streets of the city, cruelly rejected by the father of her unborn twins and her own sister. She had run away, with nowhere to go. And that's how Redd found her, ready to burst into tears and give up._
_Out of the goodness of his heart he had taken her in, given her a job and a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear... He had sacrificed so much for her! And she had repaid him with kindness, and for the first time in ages the hardened heart of Crazy Redd had felt love and happiness._
_He gave her his heart._
_But it was all for nothing. Because once he had proposed to her, she had rejected him; she was still in love with HIM. It didn't help that Redd had lied to her, to everyone, about him; he had enveloped the father of Sable Able's children in scandal, scandal that broke her weary heart. And yet after all of the pain, she still loved him..._
_The raccoon... How Redd hated him. But this was not the first time Tom Nook had ruined Redd's chances at happiness. No, Redd had been through all of this before... Under slightly different circumstances, of course..._
"Last stop, Silver Pines," called out Kapp'n from the front of the bus. "Hey, fox, isn't this your stop?" Redd shook himself out of his reverie and jumped out of his seat.
"Yes. Of course it is. Silver Pine. Haven't been here in ages. This is just CRAAAAZZZYYY."
The old turtle shook his head and the doors swung open.
"Well, welcome back. I don't reckon much has changed since you've been here. Have a good visit." He nodded sleepily as Redd bid him goodbye and stepped off of the bus, then shut the doors and drove off, leaving Redd standing alone at the familiar old bus stop.
"I'm back," whispered the fox, the con-man, the slippery black marketeer. He closed his eyes and breathed in the spicy scent of pine and apple blossoms... Memories of his childhood flooded his brain. The old townsfolk, his family and friends, the familiar buildings... He took a deep breath and pushed it all out of his mind. "Even if the town hasn't changed, I sure have. No one will even recognize me now, I bet. Call me CRAAAAZZZYYY if they d-"
"Ah, Redd. Long time no see! What brings you here to little old Silver Pines?" He was interrupted by a loud screeching voice. The surprised orange fox turned to see the wizened old mayor, an elderly male snowy owl, walking toward him.
"Tullio!" He said, a smile exploding across his face. "It has been a long time. I'm here on a little... Vacation of sorts." _A vacation from that place, those memories... Crazy memories... _The owl tapped him on the side with his wooden cane.
"Ah, yes- a vacation! Everybody needs a little vacation every once in a while." Redd nodded in agreement. He has no idea. "Well, I hope you enjoy yourself. You'll be glad to know that pretty much everything is the same, with the exception of a few new villagers having moved in and a few of the old ones having moved out. Like Boris, he left a while ago. Oh, and Freya and Wolfgang got married and went out into the world to start their life together."
"Yes, well isn't it CRAAAAZZZYYY, but I see the pair of 'em in the city sometimes. They have a kid now," Redd said, happy that he knew something about his old town. He hadn't kept up with the local gossip. He didn't know who lived in Silver Pines now. He had completely left his past in the past, not wanting anything to do with it.
_Until now, when I need to escape something else,_ he thought bitterly. But Tullio once again interrupted his thoughts with his chatter.
"Is that right? How wonderful," he practically cooed. "You should go around and greet everybody. I know Tess will be pleased to see you!" Redd's blood suddenly ran cold.
_Tess._
"She- she- Tess!?" Redd couldn't believe his ears. "She's here? But I thought she-"
"Left?" Tullio smiled knowingly. "She did for a while. But she came home when she couldn't stand being alone anymore." Guilt stabbed Redd's heart. _Alone... And I left her like that._ His emotions were mixed though; he had never wanted to leave her, it hadn't been his choice! He was forced to leave her! _It wasn't my fault, it was-_
"Redd?" Again, the mayor's voice snapped him back to reality. "Let the past be the past. Look to the future." Redd blinked, unaware that he was shaking like a chihuahua.
"What future?" He said, bitterness oozing in his voice, "I have no future." Tom Nook has made sure of that. Tullio put a wing around the trembling fox's shoulders.
"Maybe you feel that way because you are so caught up in the past you cannot believe there can be a future." Redd pulled away from the owl's touch and Tullio let his wing drop to his side as he cocked his head. "At least let her know you're back. You owe her that much."
_If only you knew just how much I do owe her... Tess._
**PLEASE READ THIS NEXT BIT... It will help you understand. :)**
**I am so sorry for the confusing chapter... Let me just explain some things. Redd grew up in Silver Pines, alongside Tom Nook and his family.**
**Tom's father and mother (Norris and Tara Nook) own the local store, a small business much less regal than Nookington's- the store is called Nook's Niche. Growing up helping his parents inspired him to one day open up and run his own store, and he did so in the town of Wenton. (Wenton is the main town mentioned in the story "Tight Stitches.")**
**Tom has two sisters...the older sister is named Tilly, who is the mother of Tommy and Timmy and moved back in with her parents after her husband Mack died.**
**The younger sister is named Tess, and as is implied, she and Redd have a history... But I won't spoil anything; all this is is a little history to avoid confusion.**
**Everything in Silver Pines is similar to the set up of every other Animal Crossing town, just with my own spin on things. Like Nook's Niche is run by the two elderly Nooks and their oldest child Tilly. The tailor is run by a cute panda named Coralie and her brother Cross. The museum and coffee shop of Silver Pines are separate; the curator of the museum is a cat named Jasper, and the coffee shop is run by a pretty Yorkshire terrier named Sadie. The post office/ town hall is home to Mayor Tullio, his daughter Angel (she is the night time mail clerk), and and Catrine (the pretty canary who is the day time mail clerk.)**
**Now that you have a general idea of the town and some of the connections, I hope you look forward to reading more of Seeing Redd! Read and Review please, and if you have any helpful advice or ideas PLEASE give them to me straight! Thanks :)**
2. Chapter 2
Chapter two
Redd didn't have a hard time deciding where to go first, now that he was back in Silver Pines. He made a bee line for The Needle's Eye, where he knew he would find someone he could talk to to. His best friend ever since he could remember, Coralie Stitch.
He stood there, outside the shop. It seemed so much smaller than he had remembered; when he had been a cub, it had seemed so huge. Now it didn't seem any bigger than GracieGrace, the clothing department store in the city, where Labelle worked... Sable's sister.
_Sable, where are you now? _Again, he shook the thought from his mind. _Stop that, Redd! She is dead to you now. She probably hates my guts at this point, anyway_. He bared his teeth at the memory of him throwing her out into the cold, alone to fend for herself with her two newborn babies...
_The raccoon's babies._ He reminded himself, mentally deciding to stop worrying about the young mother. _She rejected me, after all. _
It wasn't his fault she was on her own now.
_If it's anyone's fault it's Tom Nook's; He's the one who wouldn't take responsibility for his own actions._
Thinking that made him feel guilty though, as unwelcome memories flooded his mind.
_"Redd, I'm so sorry. I should have been more careful!" She had been crying, reaching out to him for help. And he had given it to her. He had taken her in, tried to make things right. They left Silver Pines together, to make a new life. But she wouldn't marry him, not until she knew for sure._
_Not until she knew she was really pregnant with his child. _
_If only I had been more responsible. If only I hadn't just let her go. Things would be so much different now... None of this wouldn't have happened. _
_None of this..._
The memories were too much for him. He couldn't bear to think of her now. Tess, he thought sadly. What did I do wrong? He wondered if it was too late now, too late to correct his mistakes from so long ago.
_It's too late to beg her to take me back... Isn't it?_
He looked up, and realized he was standing outside his destination. The Needle's Eye. He took a deep breath, tried to empty his mind of the painful memories, and opened the door.
Dingdingding! Coralie heard the door swing open and ring the bells she had hung in the doorway, to let her know when someone had walked into the store. The Needle's Eye was a popular stop in Silver Pines, for locals and tourists alike, and there was always a fair number of visitors every day.
She looked up to greet the visitor, a cheery smile on her face.
"Good morning, welcome to The Needle's Eye! How might we serve you today?" The visitor's head was bowed, and when he slowly looked up, Coralie's heart almost stopped.
"Hey, Cora," Redd smiled back at her, speaking quietly, preparing himself for the worst. "Long time, no see, eh? Isn't that just CRAAAZZ-" He was cut off by a flying hug from the female panda, who dropped everything she had been doing (sorting fabric) to attack him.
"OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH!" She yelled, tears streaming from her large periwinkle eyes, mascara streaking down her classic red panda eye patches. She buried her face in his neck, and cried. "Redd! How dare you leave and not come back! I had no idea where you were, you sent me zero letters- I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Redd could hardly breathe, she was holding him so tightly. He gave a pitiful squeak and hugged her back.
"I'm sorry Cora," he gasped and she let him go, trying to relax when she realized how tightly she was squeezing her long-time friend. He took a few long, deep breaths before speaking again.
"I really am sorry," he said, smoothing down his rumpled fur and staring down at the floor. "I just couldn't handle having anything to do with anything that had to do with this town, if that makes any sense." Coralie nodded slowly. She knew exactly what he meant.
In fact, she was the only one in this entire town who knew what he meant. Redd has never bothered telling any one else the truth about what had really happened, about why he had really left. And Coralie hadn't told a soul; Redd knew he could trust the cute panda seamstress with anything. She was his best friend- really, the only real friend he had ever had.
_Well, besides Sable..._
He shook himself, frustrated that the porcupine's name kept popping up in his thoughts. He looked up at his friend.
She hadn't changed much in all the years he had been gone. Her red and white fur was still untouched by the harsh chemicals of dye, her short red bangs still curled over her forehead in the same tasteful style. Her periwinkle eyes still sparkled and shone in the same friendly way they had when they were kids...That was what had drawn the fox to the panda in the first place: her big, round, innocent, friendly eyes. Somehow he had always known that she was someone he could trust and depend on.
"Redd, I've missed you so much," she said, taking his paw in her larger red one. He patted it gently with his free paw, and then they stood there like that, clasping paws in the doorway of the store. They remained silent for a minute or two, before Redd spoke up again.
"Coralie, I need to ask you for some advice." She smiled, any trace of sadness vanishing from her eyes.
"Some things never change," she giggled and put her hands on her hips. "Go on, shoot. I'm waiting, Foxx!" Redd shook his head, trying to remember if his friend had always been this pushy. He was pretty sure she had; that was probably why they were still friends.
"It's... Well, it's going to sound CRAAAZZZYYY... It's about Te-"
"Crazy Redd Foxx, could it really be you!?" Redd was interrupted by a deep grizzly voice from another doorway in the shop. He looked up and saw the large male panda looming in the open doorway to his private workshop.
"Yup, it's me, CRAAAZZZYYYY old Redd Foxx," he said, looking the male up and down. "And you haven't changed a bit, Cross; you're still big and scary! Haha!"
It was true: Cross Stitch the panda had always been a rather large specimen. His huge indigo paws and strong arms were the first things you would notice about him. Then you'd look at his barrel chest, and muscular legs. Last of all you'd notice his face; his bright blue eyes stood out in dark indigo eye patches, and his small red nose made a stark contrast against the white fur of his face.
He wore a pair of simple gray slacks, a black tank top bearing their simple gray and red trademark design of a needle and thread on the front, and a very old patched up cardigan with every color imaginable in its old, worn fabric. He had had that sweater for as long as Redd could remember.
"Redd, you of all animals know that Cross is not really scary," Coralie gave him a friendly slap on the back, and he turned to her, snarling in mock anger.
"How dare you! How dare you slap me!?" He grabbed her arms and pushed her back, and she snarled back.
"How dare I? How dare you, Foxx!?" She twisted out of the fox's grasp and pushed back, not so hard as to hurt him, of course. Cross just shook his head, said goodbye, and went back into his workshop.
"You called my brother scary. Take it back!" Coralie held up her rather large fists, ready to "fight" if necessary. Redd grinned wickedly, laughing like a crazed villain.
"Hahahaha! Redd takes nothing back. What's said is said, and what's done is done," his voice was suddenly serious. "I can't change the past, Cora. It's over." She blinked rapidly, thinking hard.
_What is he talking about?_ She was worried about her friend. She knew he didn't have a great past here in Silver Pines.
She knew all about the scandal with the Nook family, all about the drama and the pain he went through trying to make things right. She knew how he had gotten hurt, how he had made mistakes, and how nothing seemed to ever go his way. And she knew he had disappeared for years, and that he had probably been alone all this time.
_What else could have happened to him?_
"Redd," she murmured, taking his paws again. "Tell me everything. I'll listen." And the fox smiled.
"You always do," he whispered, tears coming unbidden to his narrow eyes. And he did just that: he told Coralie everything.
**Sorry for not updating sooner! I had a hard time figuring out how to write this, and I wasn't going to publish anything until I was sure it was exactly how I wanted it. **
**Not that this is a perfect chapter or anything... I'm definitely open to criticism and suggestions. Please, give me all you've got in your reviews! I need all the help I can get.**
**Anyway, I hope you like it, and keep on reading when I update. I'll try to do so at least once a week. Remember! READ AND REVIEW.**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 16,060 | 12,287 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
**Emile's POV**
* * *
A young man by the name of Emile stepped onto the train that would take him somewhere in the world. He was tired of living with his parents, and wanted to try life on his own.
The train was empty, except for the conductor. "Where would you like to go?" The conductor asked.
"I don't know," Emile shrugged. "Take me anywhere." Emile hadn't actually decided which town he was going to live in yet.
"Okay, then," The conductor replied. "I'll take you to Palette. It's a nice, quaint town a few stops away."
"Sounds good to me!" Emile nodded with a grin. He couldn't wait.
At the next stop, a blue-and-white cat got onto the bus. The cat stopped in front of where Emile was sitting.
"Hi, my name's Rover," the cat said. "What time is it?"
Emile checked his watch. "It's 2:59, on November 18th, 2013."
"Oh, good!" Rover said in relief. "I was right. This watch of mine, it gets thrown off really easily sometimes! I'm just gonna plop down in the seat in front of you, alright?"
Emile nodded. Rover was a little weird, but he seemed nice enough.
"By the way, you..." Rover began. "Hold it! Can I ask your name?"
"My name's Emile." Emile knew he shouldn't be giving out information to strangers, but he decided to give Rover the benefit of the doubt.
"Oh, Emile...?" Rover repeated. "Well, that's a fantastically great name!"
"Okay..." Emile said. "That's a pretty odd compliment."
Rover laughed. "You seem like a pretty cool guy to me, Emile! Tell me, where are you headed today?"
"I'm going to the town of Palette."
"Hmmmm," Rover thought out loud. "Palette, yeah, OK. Don't think I've heard of it. I wonder what it's like...Oh, right! I have a map of all the towns along the train line. Is this it?"
Rover pulled out a map of a small town with several houses and a river running through it. Emile could make out the small words, "Palette," at the top of the map.
"Yeah, this is it," Emile confirmed.
"Heh, I'm glad we found it!" Rover beamed. "So, do you get to go to Palette very often?"
"I've never been there," Emile admitted.
"Today is your first time? That sounds like tons of fun! Why are you headed there?"
Emile felt like he was revealing too much to a complete stranger. "Sorry, I'd rather not tell."
"Whhaat?" Rover cried in disbelief. "You're not going to tell? Hmm. Now I'm even more curious... I've got it! Yeah! Are you perhaps moving to a new town?"
"You guessed it," Emile said with a small smile.
"What? Really?!" Rover exclaimed. "Mya ha ha! I got it right on the first try! You must be really excited, right? I certainly hope you find happiness!"
"Now arriving in Palette!" The conductor interrupted their conversation.
"Thanks for chatting with me!" Rover waved as Emile exited the train. "Bye-bye!"
Emile stepped off of the train and into the train station. It was a bit weird that he just had a full conversation with someone he didn't know, but Rover turned out to be a nice guy.
Emile was in his twenties. He was a medium height, with spiky brown hair and warm, brown eyes. He left the train station, blinking in the sunlight. The autumn air was crisp and cool. And right in front of him, four animals stood.
The first was a female anteater. She was dark blue and turquoise, and wore heavy makeup. "Ohmigosh! Look who just got in!" She whispered to the other animals.
The second animal was a little female duck. She was brown near her yellow beak, and cream near her eyes. She had pink, rosy cheeks and big, friendly eyes. "I think that's the one!" she breathed excitedly.
The third animal was an orange dog with blue, striped ears and paws. His eyes were whited, making him look spaced out. He seemed familiar somehow, but Emile couldn't quite place it. "Yeah, that's the guy!"
The fourth animal was a large, green hippo. "We can't just stand here," he chided to the other animals. "Let's say hello!"
"Okay, everyone!" The duck started. "Here we go...From those of us in Palette..."
"WELCOME!" All the animals shouted to Emile.
"Mayor!" The anteater said, rushing up to Emile. "We're so happy you're finally here!"
Emile blinked in confusion. "Uh...is this the right stop?"
"Don't pretend you don't know!" The hippo laughed heartily. "Didn't you hear the conductor announcing our town name?"
"You said you would come on this train!" The dog agreed. "We've all been waiting!"
"This is a mistake..." Emile tried to get in. But the animals didn't even care.
"You can't fool us, Mayor!" The anteater chuckled. "There's obviously no mistakes here!"
"Tee hee!" The duck giggled. "You're a real jokester!"
"Um..." Emile wanted to keep protesting, but he decided to stop. After all, he had always wanted to be the mayor of his own town. And if these animals wanted him to be, who was going to stop them? "Yeah," Emile lied. "I was just joking!"
The animals nodded in relief. "You should go wait at the town hall," the hippo suggested. Your secretary should be here on the next train."
"Here's a map of Palette!" The duck handed Emile a map.
"Thanks!" Emile said, walking to where the town hall was placed on the map. Emile found the town hall and went inside. He waited patiently for the secretary to arrive.
2. Chapter 2
Eventually, the door of the town hall opened, and in came a female dog. She was yellow with a white face, and a ponytail on top of her head.
"Hello," the dog said. "Are you the new mayor?"
Emile nodded. "Yes...I am."
"Great! Well, I'm your secretary, Isabelle. It's nice to meet you!" Isabelle shook Emile's hand. Isabelle took a couple steps back and seemed to survey Emile. "Hmm...you look a little young to be a mayor."
"Uh...I guess I do." Emile shuffled his feet nervously, not wanting Isabelle to blow his cover.
"No matter," Isabelle said dismissively. "A fresh start will be perfect for this town! But before you can start your mayoral duties, you'll need to purchase a house. Go to Nook Homes on Main Street, and talk to Tom Nook. He'll find you a house!"
"Sure!" Emile said, overwhelmed with all the information. Emile left the town hall and ran to Main Street, which was across the train tracks. There, he found Nook Homes, a small, blue building.
Upon entering to store, Emile was face-to-face with a plump, brown raccoon. He guessed this was Tom Nook.
"Hi," Emile said. "I need to buy a house here in Palette."
"Ah, yes," Mr. Nook nodded. "You must be the new mayor, yes?"
"That I am!" Emile replied.
Mr. Nook pulled out a map. "Well, we do have a few vacant houses you could purchase. Do any on the map suit you?"
Emile took out his own map and looked at the vacant houses. He liked the location of one house, by the river. It seemed to be in the central of town.
"I'd like this one," Emile answered, pointing to the house by the river.
"Good choice, good choice," Mr. Nook said. "With the house and the land, that one will cost 10,000 Bells."
Emile grinned, pulling out the money his parents gave him from his pocket. They gave him 20,000 Bells, so he would just pay off the house right now.
"Here you go, sir," Emile handed the 10,000 Bells to Mr. Nook.
"Ah, perfect!" Mr. Nook took the money. "Now, why don't you check out your new home, yes? And you can buy furniture at the Nookling Junction."
Emile left Nook Homes and went to the Nookling Junction. With his remaining 10,000 Bells, he bought a bed, a table, a lamp, a kitchen set, a refrigerator, and two chairs. Then, Emile went to his new house and set out all the furniture. He was happy with the way it looked. Then, he heard a knock on the door. Emile answered it, and there was Isabelle.
"Hi, Isabelle," Emile waved, happy to see his secretary. "I got a house!"
"Tom Nook told me," Isabelle said with a smile. "I brought you a housewarming gift!"
Isabelle gave Emile a roll of wallpaper. "It's getting late, and you should get to sleep, Mayor. Come see me in the town hall tomorrow morning, and I'll explain what you'll be doing as our mayor!" Isabelle left the house.
Emile unraveled the roll of wallpaper. It was covered in yellow paw prints. Isabelle must have made it herself. Emile couldn't help but laugh as he imagined Isabelle dipping her paws in yellow paint. He put up the wallpaper on his wall. Then, Emile climbed into bed and fell asleep, gazing at the paw prints.
3. Chapter 3
**Emile's POV**
* * *
Emile yawned as he woke up in the morning. He had a great night's sleep. Someone was knocking on the door. Emile opened his door to see a big, white pelican.
"Hi, my name's Pete," the pelican introduced himself. "I deliver the mail around here. You have a letter!"
"Thanks," Emile yawned, accepting the letter as Pete walked away. He tore it open. It was written on simple, white paper.
_Dear "Mayor" Emile,_
_You're not supposed to be the mayor of Palette._
_I was supposed to be. But now that you've taken my_
_job, I have no choice but to eliminate you. _
_ X_
Emile gasped. Who was this "X?" Was this letter a...death threat?! Emile started to panic, taking deep, shuddering breaths. "Calm down, Emile," he said to himself. "This person's probably just blowing off steam..." Emile dug a hole with the shovel he bought. Then, he buried the frightening letter. He knew that wouldn't make things better. That X was watching him... Emile was hyperventilating now. He needed someone to talk to. He felt scared being alone right now. Isabelle! She said she would be in town hall. Emile ran to town hall like lightning.
Isabelle was there, doing some paperwork. She looked up and saw Emile. "Mayor! I'm glad you finally made it."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Emile joked, breathless. He sat down at the mayor's desk. "So, what are my mayoral duties?"
Isabelle took out a list and showed it to Emile. "Here you are, Mayor. These are all the projects the townsfolk would like to work on." The list ran all the way to the floor.
"Wh-what?" Emile cried, reading the abundant requests. "How are we supposed to do all of these?"
Isabelle gave Emile a look. "Um...I wouldn't know, Mayor. You're supposed to take charge. I'm just your secretary, after all."
Emile took a good look at the list, clearing the panic from his mind. Most of the items on the list didn't even seem that necessary. For example, a balloon arch? A yield sign? Palette certainly didn't need those. Then, one item on the list popped out to Emile: a new bridge.
"Let's make a new bridge," Emile suggested to Isabelle. "It will be great for reducing walking distance to get to the other side of town."
"Perfect!" Isabelle agreed. "But how in the world are we going to raise enough money to build the bridge?" Emile took a closer look at the list. The bridge would cost 128,000 Bells to build! Emile was starting to panic again. Oh, why did he have to become the new mayor? He had no experience in this field! If only he'd told the animals that they made a mistake, none of this would've happened. And X wouldn't have sent that letter, either. The letter that suggested X was going to kill him...
"Mayor! Are you okay?!" Isabelle ran forward. Emile realized that he was clutching his head between his hand, and his breaths were short and quick.
"I'm fine," Emile grimaced. "It's nothing. Just nerves." That wasn't entirely a lie.
"Oh, I see," Isabelle said sympathetically. "Are a bit stressed out with your new position?"
Emile nodded. That wasn't a lie either.
"Well, I thought we could do a fundraiser," Isabelle offered. "Does that sound like a good idea?"
"Yeah," Emile sighed in relief. "It's a great idea."
"Where should we put the new bridge?"
Emile looked at his map. There was already a bridge in town, off to the right. "Let's build it right here," Emile said, pointing to a spot to the left of Palette.
"That's an amazing spot to put it," Isabelle smiled warmly. "I'll set up a donation box right there. Now, why don't you take the rest of the day off?"
Emile didn't want to slack on his mayoral responsibilities. "No way."
"Please, Mayor," Isabelle begged. "It would be a great way for you to check out the rest of Palette, and talk to the residents of our town. Besides...I think you need the rest." Oh. Isabelle thought something was wrong with him.
"Alright," Emile agreed reluctantly, leaving town hall. "But this won't happen again."
**Isabelle's POV**
* * *
Isabelle smiled once Emile closed the door behind him. "Or maybe it will."
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Friendship, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 12,415 | 14,808.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Day 1: Arrival in Kyoryuda
**KKD: Well, I bet no one expected me to post anything Animal Crossing related.**
**Pikatwig: Considering the fact you said you don't play much… it wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, this story will actually be a sibling story to my fic, "Life in Orville".**
**KKD: Pretty much. I only recently decided to come up with this fic, and since I got the game recently, I figured I'd give a shot at this myself. But… I will admit, one of my original five villagers left when I wasn't looking.**
**Pikatwig: *pats his back* Know how that feels… I actually lost two of mine.**
**KKD: So you've had it harder than I did. Anyway… I suppose we should get started before we get too mopey-dopey.**
**DISCLAIMERS: Neither KKD nor Pikatwig own Animal Crossing. They only own the original characters and content within. The rest belong to Nintendo and their respective owners.**
* * *
"Man… I hope that Blair kid will be okay," a cat said to himself, looking throughout the train.
The cat was blue, with orange eyes, and wearing a red top, he was simply relaxing in his seat when he turned back and noticed someone. This someone was a girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, hair styled in a ponytail, and currently wearing a red top with a pink skirt. Curious about this girl, he decided to get up from his seat and walk over near her, but she simply turned her head away.
"Hello, glad to meet ya. I'm Rover," the cat introduced himself.
* * *
(Main Character's POV)
"...Hey," I shrugged off, not exactly in the best of moods.
"You're the second person I've seen on this train today," he smiled.
"Second?" I asked, confused.
"Yea, I saw a boy who had your hair and eye color earlier. Said his name was Blair. He just got off not to long ago," the cat told me.
"Huh… how about that… talk about a coincidence," I muttered, "...So… what're you doing on here?"
"Oh, not much. I just like to ride trains, haven't ridden a train this much since 2002," Rover told me.
"Uh huh… going someplace in particular?" I asked, starting to get a little bit curious myself at this point, hadn't exactly had anyone to talk to since I got on this train.
"...well… I'm not sure… you? Where are you heading?"
"Someplace call Kyoryuda. Never been there before; it's my first time going… not that I actually wanted to go," I replied, muttering the last part to myself.
"Do you have a map?"
"Nope," I sighed, "...Well, I think I had one, but I lost it shortly after I got onboard. Not to mention, my parents wouldn't let me get a new one to replace it…"
"Well… I have a bunch of maps. I think we can help you figure out which one is Kyoryuda," Rover offered.
"That's nice of you… but I must ask… why help out a stranger like me?" I asked, honestly curious as the cat started to pull out a few maps from his pockets.
"I have a lot of maps with me. Surely one of them is Kyoryuda," he smiled, ignoring my question as he showed me a few maps. Luckily I at least memorized the map of Kyoryuda, so I knew what it would look like.
The first map he showed me though… was basically in a peninsula of sorts, which wasn't close to what Kyoryuda looked like. The second was a bit closer, but the river parted the land vertically instead of horizontally. Finally, he showed me a map where the ocean perfectly surrounded the land, the river parting the land horizontally, only going up at where the town plaza was, and it has two houses on the side closer to the tracks along with two other buildings with three more on the other side.
"That's it," I informed, as he handed me the map, "Thanks."
"You're very welcome. So I told you my name, but you never told me yours," he pointed out.
"Oh. Sorry. Watashi wa Nomura Kaori," I introduced myself.
"We are now arriving in Kyoryuda. Those in a hurry, please take your things and get off the train," the conductor's voice informed.
"Well… I guess this is my stop," I sighed as I got up from my seat to gather my belongings… what little I had anyway, "Thanks, Rover."
"No problem," he smiled as I walked off the train, and saw the town flag which was of a dinosaur head on a red background, but while I thought it looked nice, it wasn't all that much.
"Appropriate for the name, but it could be better," I shrugged as I looked around for a bit, "Now… let's see… where to… well, I might as well walk out to see the town."
With that, I left the station, but to my surprise, there were actually people waiting for me. Well, not _people_ people per se. They were all animals along the lines of Rover being an animal. There were six in total, but the one who stood before them all was a female dog, whose head kinda looked like a bell, having yellow fur, and was wearing a secretary's outfit.
"Is that the mayor?" one animal whispered.
"I didn't think the new mayor would be a girl…" another whispered.
"You know I can hear you, right?" I asked annoyed.
"Okay, quiet down everyone," the dog told the other animals, "Welcome to Kyoryuda Ms. Mayor,"
"Wait… mayor?!" I gawked in confusion, "Th-there's gotta be some mistake. I'm not a mayor of anything!"
"You're really silly. We got a letter saying our new mayor would be arriving on a train this afternoon," the dog told me.
"Wait… a letter? ...Do you still have this letter on you?" I asked.
"No… I lost it, sorry Ms. Mayor," she apologized.
"Please stop calling me Ms. Mayor. My name is Kaori," I sighed, and I have a funny feeling I know who sent the letter, but I don't have much to prove it.
"Okay then Mayor Kaori. I'm your assistant, Isabelle."
"Isabelle… huh… nice name," I admitted as I looked over the other animals, which I assume are some of the other residents of Kyoryuda, including a male rock hopper penguin in a dragon sign shirt, a female white elephant with yellow headband topped with a ball, two blue flower markings on her face, and a garden tee over to my right. To my left were the other residents, including female pink squirrel with a beatnik shirt, a male green frog with a yellow mouth and a yellow bar shirt, and finally a white rabbit with a blue polka dotted hood, blue tights, eye liner, and a dark polka shirt.
"Uh… ano… konichiwa," I waved nervously.
"Hello Mayor Kaori," they all greeted, not exactly helping me with my nervousness at the moment.
"Okay Mayor Kaori, if you can, may you please meet up with me at the town hall," Isabelle smiled. "Don't worry, it's marked on the map of Kyoryuda."
"Huh?" I gawked before looking at my map, seeing the building closest East from the train tracks was differently marked compared to the others, "Oh. I'll meet you there," I assured.
After that, the villagers and Isabelle all took their leave, leaving me by the train station, nervous as all heck. I could only hope that Blair kid that Rover mentioned was having a better time than me. Jeez… why did my parents have to send me here? ...Anyway, once I got over my nervousness and decided to walk over to town hall, which looked quite humble, having the same flag I saw from the station.
"Hmm… maybe I should change that from a skull to a more detailed dino head," I pondered before entering town hall. I saw it looked rather cozy, and Isabelle gave a nice, warm smile.
"Good day Mayor Kaori," she smiled as I walked in.
"Hey Isabelle. So… what did you want to see me about?" I replied, curious as to why Isabelle wanted me over.
"I wish to help get you settled in. So let's see… I've got some forms you need to fill in. First, name please?" Isabelle replied.
"Oh… my full name, right. Full name's Kaori Nomura," I answered as Isabelle helped fill out the forms in question.
"Birthday?"
"April, 18th,"
"Where will you be living?"
"I have no idea. I'm so used to living with my parents that I'm not sure where to stay."
"OH! Well… let me think… there aren't any free homes right now…" Isabelle pondered, when an idea hit her, "Oh! Here's what you should do. Go up to Main Street and go to the place called Nook Homes."
"Nook Homes? Uh… what exactly do they do there?" I wondered.
"They make people homes," she said as simply as possible.
"Well… that sounds nice. So… let me see…" I replied as I checked the map, "So it's just North of the railroad?"
"Yea," she nodded.
"Okay. So… uh… do I have to talk to… oh… you know what? I think I can figure out who to talk to when I get there. Thanks for the help, Isabelle," I smiled, as I headed out, and simply looked around, seeing that there wasn't anyone outside, but the bugs.
"Geez… so annoying," I groaned, having grown up in more of a city setting, I got annoyed by the bugs as I rushed up North to find Main Street.
"Man… this part of the place looks fairly big," I shrugged, seeing a lot of buildings, and from where I was I saw a small shack to my right, and a post office to my left, and left to that was a small cyan building labeled Nooks Homes, "That must be where I need to go."
I gave a small look before I opened the door, and I saw a raccoon… or was it a tanooki… either way… he looked like the owner with that business suit on.
"Um… excuse me," I spoke up, getting the owner's attention, he turned to see me.
"Welcome," he smiled with his eyes closed before opening them to look at me, "Oh… a person. You don't tend to see people in these parts."
"Figured. Listen, I'm the new… mayor, I guess… and I need a new place to call home," I told him.
"Oh, al~righty. So, do you know where you want your home? I'll help you set a spot," he told me, causing me to look at my map again in order to get a better idea of where I'd want to set up my house.
'_Let me see__… __maybe close to Town Hall so I can work, and maybe close to the bridge in case I need to head South faster__… __but I__'__d better have some distance from that lake, I don__'__t want those bugs coming right after me,__'_ I thought to myself, trying to figure out where I'd end up setting my house, and eventually, I headed out with this real estate person, er... animal.
I showed him to the spot where I wanted my house at that point, saying, "Here's the spot."
"Hmm…" he thought, glancing around the area I picked which had plenty of open space, but was surrounded by trees to the North and East, it wasn't far from the bridge to the South, and it was just a short walk to town hall, "This spot is perfect! It's got plenty of space for the construction, and I can imagine your house here."
After some picturing of the house, I say it's the perfect spot as the raccoon/tanuki, who happens to be called Tom Nook, set up a rope area and a sign that says "Kaori's House to be built here".
"Okay, so the spot's picked. When can you start building?" I asked.
"Well… you gotta pay me for materials and such… but you do need somewhere to sleep… can you give me a minute?" he asked.
"Uh… okay…" I nodded, I was hoping he'd get his crew down quickly enough to finish the house ASAP, but I guess he's gonna leave me homeless until it's complete.
After a few minutes, he set something up… a tent… are you serious? Well… it's better then nothing, I suppose.
"Sorry if you're disappointed, you'll have to get the bed on your own time. This is the best I can do for now," Nook replied.
"...It's fine, I guess… so… let's get it over with… how much does the construction cost?" I asked.
"It's a mere sum of 10,000 Bells," he told me and… wait, what?
"10,000?!" I gawked, "I barely got one!"
Yea, don't know why, but my parents wanted me to learn responsibility, and to them, that somehow meant leaving me with nothing to pay for anything, so this… is quite problematic.
"Don't worry. Just come to me when you have the money," Nook told me, and thus he departed for his office.
"Well… that's just great… how the heck am I supposed to get any money around here?" I groaned as I sat down on the ground.
I simply began my way back to the town hall to ask Isabelle to hopefully get some answers. However, as I walked, I accidentally bumped into the frog from earlier.
"Oh… hi," I waved.
"Oh, Mayor Kaori, hi," the frog smiled before getting flustered, "Sorry about bumping into you like that. I'm Prince, and I live here in Kyoryuda."
"Uh… nice to meet you, Prince," I replied, still not too comfortable around these animals just yet.
"So… I see you live in a tent right now," Prince noticed.
"Yea… never camped in my life, so this… I got a feeling will make me feel uncomfortable," I sighed.
"Hmm… how about you make some smores? Or have a snack on our town fruit?" Prince offered.
"Uh… I don't have anything to make smores, admittedly, and… I didn't have a chance to figure out what the native fruit is."
"Peaches," Prince told me, pointing over to a nearby tree, showing me it was a peach tree.
"Oh… nice. At least it's better than pears. Yuck, I hate those," I groaned as Prince shook the tree, causing the fruit to fall before picking them up and handing me one. I gave a small shrug and took them, before eating one of them, "Wow! It's delicious!"
"I know right. I could eat these things all day long," Prince smiled, as he headed off. I couldn't help but smile a little bit, I'd have to try and hang out with that frog more… he's a nice guy.
Regardless, I returned to town hall as I wanted to do to begin with, and like before, Isabelle was behind the counter waiting for me.
"Good day Mayor Kaori. Uh… can I ask you a favor? You saw our town plaza, right?" she asked.
"Yea, I think I saw it briefly on my way in," I answered.
"Well… to welcome you in, I had a ceremony idea. So can you please meet me there later?"
"...Sure… I guess," I nodded.
* * *
I arrived to see what looked like a sort of empty slot, and then everyone in the village was here. This was also the only spot in town with a completely stone area, with a square planter with plenty of dirt for at least one tree.
"Mayor… as a way to welcome you to Kyoryuda… and for a new beginning for this village… may you please plant this sprout?" Isabelle asked, muttering a part of what she just said, but I could hear her.
Not exactly questioning things as this could be a new thing starting, I took the little sapling and planted it into the square planter as requested. I had this feeling that life would begin anew for me… or something like that.
* * *
I had let my mind wander for a moment after planting the tree, as I tried to picture what this town would be like, with the name of 'Kyoryuda', I could imagine dinosaurs… and that led me to thinking about the museum, which I imagined would be filled to the brim with fossils of all kinds. Now that got me pretty excited.
"Hey… what are you doing Mayor?" a voice asked me, snapping me back to reality.
I turned to look, and saw it was that rock hopper penguin again.
"Um… I'm sorry, who're you? I never got your name," I noted.
"Name's Hopper, and I gotta say, I never expected someone like you to be mayor," he noted, rather rudely, too.
"...uh… I never expected to hear someone so… rude," I rebutted as I walked away, unlike Prince, I _don__'__t_ want to be around him that often.
Regardless, I was looking around, trying to figure out what to do next, still walking around before the pink squirrel approached me.
"Oh… hi," I waved.
"Oh, hello! Oh, don't worry about Hopper, he's always in a sour mood. I'm Peanut," the squirrel giggled.
"Nice to meet you. You sure seem peppy," I noted.
"Why thank you," Peanut smiled.
"Um… do you… wanna chat?" I asked.
"I'm glad we have a new mayor, our old one was a bit… stiffy."
"Stiffy?"
"Anyway… it's nice to meet you Ms. Mayor Kaori-chan," Peanut giggled.
"Uh… yea. Nice meeting you too, Peanut," I smiled, as I walked along to see the rabbit I saw next to Peanut earlier.
"Oh? You must be the mayor?" she asked.
"Yep, that's me," I answered, much more confidently this time.
"So… you like fashion?" she asked me.
"Well… not really," I admitted.
"Then go away. But… so you know, my name is Francine, and now, please leave me alone," she told me before walking off.
"Pfft. Snooty much?" I groaned.
Finally, the last animal who lived here, being an elephant, walked up to me. "Good day Ms. Mayor."
"Oh… hi," I replied.
"I'm really happy you moved into Kyoryuda. I have a sort of welcoming gift for you," the elephant told me, handing me a miniature model of a T-Rex, making me gasp.
"Wow! Uh… thanks," I smiled, putting it away.
"I'm Tia by the way." she introduced.
"Nice to meetcha," I smiled.
Tia just smiled at that before walking off, and I couldn't help but smile a bit as I walked off for my house, er… tent. I let out a sigh as I saw the sun was beginning to set.
"...Not exactly how I expected this day to turn out..." I sighed before looking at my mini T-Rex model with a smile, "...but I think I'm gonna like it here."
I arrived at my tent and simply looked around, seeing it wasn't much. There was literally nothing in there but a sleeping bag and a pillow. Before I could even lie down, I saw Isabelle walk in.
"Oh… sorry for intruding Ms. Mayor," Isabelle apologized.
"It's ok. And please... Just call me Kaori," I insisted.
"Sorry… force of habit. Anyway Kaori… I brought you a welcoming gift," she informed, handing me a small lantern. "It was mine when I was little, and I used to go camping. I really hope you like it."
"Thanks Isabelle," I smiled, "I'll use it,"
After looking around, I found a nice spot to put it, and then curled up in my sleeping bag.
"See you in the morning Ms. May- er… Mayor Kaori?"
"Just Kaori," I reminded Isabelle.
"Right. Sorry," Isabelle apologized, "See you in the morning?"
"Sure," I nodded, before I dozed off to sleep.
* * *
(Isabelle's POV)
Man… it's going to be so hard to just call her Kaori, and not anything else. Especially since the last mayor of Kyoryuda always told me to call him 'Mr. Mayor' or else I'd get beat with a stick. Still, she's such a nice girl… much nicer than the letter her parents made her out to be. My older brother would love to meet her, but I'd have to introduce him to her later.
I let out a small sigh and returned to Town Hall, before pulling out a pillow, and putting out a sign that said 'Town Hall is now closed for the night. Come back tomorrow'.
"Mayor Kaori… welcome to Kyoryuda," I muttered before I finally fell asleep.
* * *
**Pikatwig: And that is the first chapter of Tales of Kyoryuda.**
**KKD: Yea. Hope you guys like the idea. Seeing as we'll work on this at times to coincide with Life in Orville.**
**Pikatwig: Yea, the two stories will be intertwined. Anyway, thoughts on the chapter aibou?**
**KKD: It's very good, I'd say. I mean, it's not 100% like my experience with Animal Crossing, but then again, this is a fanfic and we can switch it up however we want. But I will say all of the villagers of Kyoryuda here are all the exact same ones I started with in my game.**
**Pikatwig: Cool. But the same can't be said for those in Orville, since I did start that fic before I actually got the game.**
**KKD: I see. In any case, what was your favorite part, aibou?**
**Pikatwig: When Isabelle gave Kaori the lamp. It was such a sweet gesture.**
**KKD: I'd have to say my favorite part was when Kaori talked with Tia and was given a model T-Rex. For the record, out of all the villagers I have in my game, Tia is my favorite thus far.**
**Pikatwig: And that's what gave me the idea. Just Live More.**
**KKD: Jaa ne!**
2. Day 2: Supplies for Fossils
**KKD: Well, here we go. I'm working on this story a little bit more because, for once, I need a bit of a break from the Toku stuff. I mean, I'm left in charge of my Triple Super Hero Time stories, not to mention I'm trying to work on another project that's meant to be going on solo. So, maybe this can help me cool down or something. Sorry about that, Pika.**
**Pikatwig: You needing a break from Toku… never thought I'd hear those words…**
**KKD: Yea… been a long time since I thought I'd hear those words myself. I mean, this profile was originally DEDICATED to my toku stories, but now… jeez… oh well.**
**Pikatwig: Whatever. Anyway… shall you do the disclaimers so we may start this?**
**KKD: Right. Here we go.**
**DISCLAIMERS: Neither KKD nor Pikatwig own Animal Crossing. They only own the original characters and content within. The rest belong to Nintendo and their respective owners.**
* * *
(Kaori's POV)
Today… I woke up with my back in pain. That's what happens when I sleep in a sleeping bag on top of some rocks… even though the tent somewhat cushions the blow. Anyway, I just yawned after waking up, stretching my limbs, and then I walked out to see that there was someone filling in my wooden mailbox, he happened to be a white male pelican in a green mailman's uniform, complete with the blue sack of mail.
"Eh? Who're you?" I asked.
"Just a passing through mail bird," he told me, "Name's Pete, and I deliver mail."
I simply yawned a bit before checking the mail, and seeing there was one letter in it, but the sender wasn't known.
"Hmm? 'Dear Ms. Mayor. I was going to take up the spot in Kyoryuda, but one thing lead to another… I hope you can handle this. By the way, keep this letter secret'" I read, "Huh? ...Who could've written this?"
Shrugging this off, I simply put it away and looked around. Should I tell Isabelle about this… no. I shouldn't. She would probably think I had something to do with the person who really was going to be mayor not showing… I really hope that kid that Rover told me about on the train is doing better than I am right now. I just sighed at this before deciding to walk over to Town Hall, not to talk to Isabelle about the letter, but just to try and see what I can do about that odd design on the town flag. As I passed through the trees, I saw a new place being constructed not too far from town hall… made me wonder if someone's moving in. So, I took a quick peek at the sign to see it read "Margie" on it. I simply gave a shrug as I walked off to the Town Hall to try and see what I could do.
After I arrived, I glanced down to see Isabelle… who was asleep. I looked over to the clock to see that it was hardly 6:30 in the morning. Poor girl looked like she worked herself hard throughout the night to be asleep like this. I walked up and gave her a small nudge, making her wake up with a start.
"DON'T HIT ME MR. MAYOR!" she screamed in an obvious panic.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hey! Chill out, Isabelle! It's just me, Kaori," I told her, the dog managing to calm down surprisingly quickly when she recognized who I was.
"Oh… Mayor Kaori. Glad to see ya, sorry about that…" she apologized.
"Hit you… what was the old mayor like anyway?" I asked curiously.
"...I don't really feel comfortable talking about that with you… no offense or anything Mayor Kaori," Isabella apologized.
"It's okay, Isabelle. And I told you to call me Kaori, no need to add Mayor in there at all."
"...right. It just feels more natural to call you 'Mayor' is all…" she informed.
"Right. So anything to report?" I inquired.
"Today is March 21st, 2014, the time being… 6:22," she informed. "So, how goes trying to pay off that home loan and get a real home?"
"Uh… Nook never told me the price for the home loan… and I'm still stuck in a tent right now," I sighed.
"He passed it onto me. But he said he told you yesterday it was 10,000 Bells," she reminded me.
"Oh yea… right… I guess I forgot with me sleeping in a tent," I sighed, truth be told, I forgot it mainly because I was used to having my parents pay for everything, but now… I was probably going to have to sell some stuff if I wanted to pay for anything…
"Don't worry. There're plenty of ways to get money around here," she reassured.
"Huh? Like what exactly?" I wondered… at least I didn't have to sell anything to get some Bells around here… at least what little I already own.
"Well, you can shake fruit from trees, catch bugs, fish, dig up fossils… lots of things."
"Only thing is… I don't have any material to catch, fish, or dig things up with," I informed.
"Oh… my apologies Ma-err.. Kaori… Maybe you can gather fruit from the trees and sell them. There's a couple places where you can sell them too. Right here in town you can sell them at the Re-Tail Center East of Town Hall, or you can head over to Main Street and sell them to the Nook Kids at the little shop they set up," Isabelle told me, "But I should tell you-"
I didn't hear what she said as I ran out the door, and got to work shaking trees and gathering peaches. I did have a small run in with a beehive, but I managed to hide out in Tia's house. I was able to pick up the (hopefully) empty hive. With the bees gone, I decided to head East to the pink building that had the sign "Re-Tail" above it. I smiled, glad to see it was there, but when I saw the sign, the times for the place were from 9:00am-11pm, and when I last checked it was only 6:31.
Great… I was about to get angry, but then I remembered Isabelle told me about another place. I think the name of it was the Nookling Junction… yea, that's it. So, I headed on up for Main Street, only to see that wasn't open either. Hours being 8:00am-10pm.
"You gotta be kidding me! There's no place open early?" I groaned, meaning, I would have to do something with my free time.
* * *
"ISABELLE! Why didn't you tell me neither store was opened yet?!" I demanded, as I returned to Town Hall.
"I was about to… but you… uh… ran out before I could," she informed, ducking behind her counter, "DON'T HIT ME!"
Despite my rage, I knew I couldn't hurt her… she'd been through enough problems with the last mayor if what she told me was true… so, I calmed down after a bit before I pulled her up. "Relax… it was my own dumb fault for running out…"
"You ran? Uh… our last mayor put in a rule you can't run…" Isabelle informed.
"...Well that's stupid," I noted, "Can I take it down or…"
"Not yet. You have to get a Town Building Ordinance. Meaning, you gotta get approval from your villagers." she informed.
"Nothing is ever easy! I used to get what I wanted, when I wanted it," I complained.
"Um… how you can get the ordinance… or approval up, is that you need a house, you need say from the villagers… and yea," she informed me.
I simply sighed, once again, I hope that kid from the train is doing better than I am right now… man, I've been thinking about him a lot lately, haven't I? Oh well.
"What can I do to kill some time?"
"Uh… there's someone new who moved in. I think a warm welcome from the Mayor is something that would make them feel welcome," Isabelle suggested.
"Someone new? I didn't think there'd be anyone moving in this soon," I noted, before I remembered the house I saw on my way over. Thus, I headed for the door to go and see this new person.
"I wonder who this Margie is," I wondered before seeing Tia by the front door of the new house, to my surprise, "Oh, Tia. What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to see my cousin," she smiled.
"Your cousin?" I gawked, a bit confused, as I opened the door to see an elephant who was moving around some boxes. While I was semi annoyed this person had a house already… I could only assume she already had the 10,000 Bells...
This elephant was a white elephant like Tia, but she had blue eyes, a hot spring shirt, some red, yellow, and white bands on her wrists and ankles, as well as yellow and orange hair on her head and on the tips of her ears.
"Hello Margie!" Tia smiled, getting the elephant's attention.
"Cousin!" she giggled, pulling Tia into a small hug. I could simply sigh a tiny bit, I wish I had some family… that actually cares!
"It's so good to see you again, Margie," Tia smiled, "I haven't seen you in years!"
"It's been far too long. So… who's the friend?" she inquired, gesturing to me.
"Oh, where are my manners. Kaori, this is my cousin Margie. Margie, this is Kaori Nomura, the new mayor of Kyoryuda," Tia introduced us to each other, making Margie gasp.
"You're the mayor? Where are my manners! I wish I had some tea or something ready for you," Margie said, looking around for something to give to me.
"Oh… well don't worry about it," I assured. "Mind if I help you unpack? Not like I have anything better to do with my time,"
"Oh no, you don't have to. It's not right for a guest to help me with my unpacking," Margie insisted.
"Well, I insist on helping out, Margie. After all, I have nothing better to do with my time," I insisted back, my reasons for helping are… partially to get my town rating up, but partially because I seriously have nothing better to do with my time… well… that and I sorta feel like I have to help out a relative of one of my residents whom I'd almost consider a friend out of common courtesy.
Thus, me and Tia got to work helping Margie with her unpacking, putting certain things in cupboards, certain things left, certain things right. This was… admittedly a lot of fun, with Tia and Margie both catching up, but I couldn't help but listen in on some of the things they chatted about, and making a few jokes here and there. Thus, in what felt like no time at all, we managed to help Margie finish unpacking.
"Thank you both very much. I doubt I could've finished unpacking today all by myself," Margie smiled.
"No problem," I smiled.
"Glad we could help, cousin," Tia added with a beaming smile.
"Here, in return for helping me out, I want you to have this," Margie replied before reaching for a specific bag and handing me a small book. "It's a spare Diary I have. You can use it to write anything you want."
"Wow… thanks Margie," I smiled, as I glanced up at a newly set up clock to see that it was 9:15am, "Well, I guess I'd better get going. Thanks for letting me spend time with you, girls."
"I need to get home too, see you later cousin," Tia smiled as we left, Tia heading back to her house, while I headed for Re-Tail.
And so, with a bunch of peaches in hand along with the beehive that I was glad was empty, I entered the small pink shop, revealing the first person to greet me was a pink Alpaca with a white face and a red apron. However, she was talking to someone who looked sorta like Tom Nook, only younger and wearing a blue apron around his waist.
"So Tommy, you brought a… tape dispenser?" the alpaca asked.
"I indeed did. Me and Timmy don't need it anymore." the kid, Tommy, told the alpaca.
"Oh, okay. I can probably take that off your hands for, say… 300 Bells. That sound okay?" the Alpaca asked. "Or, do you want to put it up for someone else to buy?"
"Nah, I'm fine with selling it outright," Tommy told her, as he got a small bag of Bells, and I couldn't help but get a giddy smile.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Tommy. Tell Timmy I said hi," the alpaca smiled.
"I'll tell him hi Mrs… what's your name again?" the kid asked.
"Reese," the alpaca told him in a reminding tone.
"Thank you Mrs. Reese," the kid smiled as he turned to the door to see me, "Oh! Are you the new mayor? Come on up to the Nookling Junction sometime."
"Okay, I'll be sure to do so," I nodded before letting the little Nookling walk past me, turning my attention to Reese shortly afterwards.
"So, you're our Mayor? ...please, let my husband sleep, he works super, super, super, SUPER, hard!" the alpaca, Reese, begged.
"Uh… okay… I'll be sure to do that, but… uh… that's not why I'm here. I barely have a house, so… I'm actually looking to sell," I informed.
"Oh. Okay, I can help you with anything!" Reese smiled as I pulled out 10 baskets of peaches, each basket having nine each (don't know how I managed to get the baskets, I don't know).
"I'd like to sell these," I told her.
"This is nice… I can give you 200 Bells for this all," Reese told me.
"It's a deal," I smiled, handing her the ten baskets as she handed me a bag of bells, and I smiled happily. Thus, I headed up to the Nookling Junction, simply for the curious mind.
Once I headed up to Main Street, I saw a small shack with the name of Nookling Junction. After entering, I saw who I assumed was Tommy.
"Good day. Oh… you must be our new mayor!" the kid smiled.
"Uh… yea, we just met at Re-Tail like half a minute ago," I pointed out.
"Huh? Oh no no no. You must have me confused with Tommy. I'm his brother, Timmy." he informed. Great, so there's two of them, they look, and sound, just like each-other… how am I gonna tell them apart? "I'm in charge of the shop on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If you want to see Tommy, come back on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."
"What about Sundays?"
"We both operate on Sundays."
"Wouldn't it be somewhat easier if you did… I dunno… night and day shifts or something like that?" I asked.
"...we should take that into consideration…" he noted, writing that down.
"Okay…" I muttered, looking around the small shack to find anything of interest, of which I saw some paper, a fortune cookie, a few pieces of furniture, and on the table were a shovel and net.
"Oh, you fancy the shovel? We're selling them for a modest 150 Bells, can I interest you in one?" Timmy asked.
"Yea, I'll take it," I smiled, handing him 150 of the 200 Bells I had and taking the shovel, "I could use this to find all kinds of fossils."
"By the way, do you need to know how a shovel works? If you want, I can teach you," Timmy offered… and… come to think of it… I never actually used a shovel before in my life…
"Uh… will it cost me anything?"
"No,"
"Then yes,"
"Like you said, the shovel can be used to dig up various things, such as fossils which you need to take to the Museum, Gyroids, and PitFall Seeds,"
"What's a… pit-thingy?"
"A Pitfall Seed… you'll know it when you see it," Timmy informed, "To find these items, just look for cracks in the ground and use your shovel there to dig them up. Just be careful not to walk over them,"
"I got ya," I nodded, as I headed out, and took out my new shovel, with a marker I brought with me, I wrote my name on it, "That way I know for sure this is mine."
And so, I began my search for fossils, I couldn't see any cracks in the ground, so I continued to walk, I was over by Hopper's house when suddenly, I fell right into the ground, stuck up to my waist!
"What the?!" I gasped, trying to squirm out, and it took a long time to do it, but I managed to get out, and I felt nervous, when suddenly, I heard Hopper's annoying voice… laughing at me… "Oh no…"
I groaned as I turned to see the red-eyed rock hopper penguin laughing at me, before I finally managing to get out.
"That was just so funny… what dumb luck it was for you to fall for a pitfall right in front of my place," Hopper laughed, "Need to look out for some Pitfalls Mayor-Girly!"
I was about ready to hit the jerk with my shovel, but I managed to calm down, and I walked off, but not before filling that hole up. And so, I decided to keep looking for more cracks in the ground before I dug up five fossils total, and two of what I assumed were Gyroids. But by the time I managed to do all of that, it was getting kinda late, with the clock by town hall reading almost 10:58pm. I couldn't get to the museum and back to Re-Tail before it closed, so I figured I would turn in for the night and try to get some rest. So, worked out exhausted, I retired to my tent, placing my cash of items next to me, turned off the lamp, and got as comfy as I could in my sleeping bag.
But before I fell asleep, I wrote about what I did today in my new diary, simply because I could. As I tried to sleep, I honestly couldn't, with nothing better to do, I looked at the letter from the mystery sender and wondered… who could've sent this? And… why did both Isabelle and Reese seem so scared about me doing mean things to them? I could only try to imagine what the old mayor was like. I simply imagined an old coot hounding at them, forcing the two girls to do things very unpleasant for them. But… that was a guess…
* * *
**Pikatwig: The old Mayor… wonder what he or she was like. We know in all games prior to New Leaf, the mayor was a guy named Tortimer.**
**KKD: Yep, that's the case. But this story sure is making the old turtle out to be a bad guy… at least… if Tortimer really is the old mayor of Kyoryuda.**
**Pikatwig: *shurgs* Also, fun fact, if the player moves their avatar from Wild World to City Folk, the old guy will actually recognize the player.**
**KKD: Interesting. I never knew that. Still, this is chapter 2 of Tales of Kyoryuda, meaning it's caught up with Life in Orville at this point.**
**Pikatwig: I know… I was working on Day 3 when I lost my old laptop… I'm going to try and see if I can get back to work on that. Not sure if I want your help or if I want to try and continue on my own.**
**KKD: I'd be willing to help out if you're willing to accept the offer.**
**Pikatwig: I'm just not sure right now s'all.**
**KKD: Okay then. So… is there any favorite part of yours in this story?**
**Pikatwig: It's when Margie arrived. She's actually a villager in my personal New Leaf town, and someone who appeared in the Animal Crossing movie.**
**KKD: Interesting. Also, seeing how Margie and Tia looked similar, I figured why not have them be related. ...Yea, if it isn't obvious, the scenes with Margie moving in, and Tia and Kaori helping out, are my favorite scenes, too.**
**Pikatwig: Neat. Anyway, wrap up time. Just Live More.**
**KKD: Jaa ne!**
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Friendship, Hurt-Comfort | Fanfiction | null | 37,272 | 14,400.3 |
null | Animal Crossing When Pecan Went Evil
**Chapter One**
One day in early April, a young chipmunk called Pecan was born. Pecan's parents were Peanut and Static. When little baby Pecan was born, there was lots of rejoicing and parties, because Peanut was VERY popular. The King and Queen promised Pecan's parents that Pecan would become the most famous chipmunk in the world!
Five years later...
"Who is SHE?!?"
"Pecan dear," Peanut whispered, "That is the princess Kuda..."
"But she is a stupid MOUSE! I don't want a stupid MOUSE at MY birthday party!"
"Well I don't want to be at your party then." Kuda replied haughtily. Kuda walked stately over to her mother Bell, who looked down her nose at Pecan and strode out saying, "You shall NOT be the most famous chipmunk you ungrateful little creature!"
"PECAN!!!!!" yelled Peanut, which was VERY scary because Peanut NEVER yelled, "COME HERE THIS MINUTE!!!!!" Instead of going to her mother Pecan ran out, cheeks aflame with anger, into the darkening night...
I want my Mummy! Pecan cried silently in the dark woods of Saundra. Pecan jerked her head round. Owls hooted eerily and there was the sound of leaves rustling...
"You shouldn't be out THIS late at night, sonny..." A deep voice echoed through the woods. "Oh, so it's YOU is it? Peanut's daughter, Pecan. Your family is going to go NUTS without you. Her, her, her... Get it? NUTS?"
"Who ARE you?" Pecan whispered into the darkness.
"I am Star... Remember me...?"
"STAR?"
"Yes... That IS what I said. Trust Kuda to ruin your party..."
"But why are you here?"
"Why are YOU here...?"
"I'm, um..."
"Exactly..."
"STAR!" A voice drifted through the cool night air.
"Oh no. Not HER again."
"STAR! What are you doing?"
"Ellie, mind your own business"
"I was businessing your mind..."
"DAM! I forgot you could read minds."
"Ellie?"
"Pecan?" Ellie rushed over to Pecan and hugged him. "Pecan! I've FOUND you!"
"You know her...?" Star looked from Pecan to Ellie and back again.
"She used to look after me when I was a baby chipmunk!" Said Pecan happily.
Star looked at Pecan. "How COULD you betray me like thi-"
STAR OF SAUNDRA? A man in long black robes holding a scythe looked at Star. Star looked down. Star looked at the spear in her chest. Star looked at the man.
"Damn..."
DAMN INDEED. I TAKE IT YOU WERE NOT EXPECTING THIS?
"What do YOU think?"
"STAR!" Pecan knelt down next to the still figure of Princess Star. "How COULD you?
"Pecan..." Ellie told him softly. "It wasn't me..."
Then a small figure cart wheeled into the clearing where Pecan and Ellie where standing next to the stiff body of Star.
"Oh no, not Melissa Moonshine" groaned Ellie.
"Melissa Moonshine at your service!"
"EURGH! Y-y-your OUTFIT!" choked Pecan staring at what Melissa was wearing.
"It's the new fashion!"
"Melissa?" asked Ellie, "Was it you that killed Star?"
"Of COURSE!"
"With a SPEAR?"
It was the only thing available. Sorry!"
"OK then..."
"Ellie?"
"Yes Pecan?"
"I want to go home...!"
"I'll take you home!" trilled Melissa dancing excitedly on one foot.
"Maybe I WON'T go home then..."
"That might be a VERY good idea until all this cools down." advised Ellie.
**Chapter 2**
"Melissa?"
"Yes Pecan!"
"Can you please...um...GO?"
"B-b-but I saved you!" Melissa cried.
"What she MEANS is would you please let us past," translated Ellie, sighing.
"Oh...All right then...Here's my mobile number..." sniffed Melissa scribbling down a number in a messy scrawl on a small piece of paper.
"Um...Er...I don't...um...HAVE a mobile phone though Melissa!" stuttered Pecan.
"WHAT! Oh my GOSH!" Melissa swooned and Ellie caught her just before she hit the floor. " Lucky that I ALWAYS carry a spare one!" Melissa opened her eyes and grinned cheekily up at Ellie and Pecan.
"Woof!"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"PETAL!"
"Melissa, who is Petal?" questioned Ellie. "And, err, Melissa? Would you PLEASE get up?" Melissa got up while Ellie massaged some life back into her arm.
"Petal, is a dog!"
Pecan groaned, "yes we NOTICED that she is a dog, but how do you know her?"
"Because she's MINE, stupid!" Melissa waved her arms around, hitting Ellie on the nose in the process.
"WOOF!"
"Yes, what IS it?"
"WOOF!"
"Oh, right!"
"Umm...Melissa?" Pecan ventured.
"Yes?" replied Melissa distractedly while petting Petal.
"How can you understand her?"
"It's a dog thing!"
"But YOU aren't a dog," Ellie pointed out, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh well! Oh, no!"
"What is it?" asked Pecan, looking around.
"LOOK!"
"Where?!?" Ellie threw out her hands in exasperation, because she couldn't see anyone. Then, her mind started to tingle which was a signal that there was some other person entering the clearing. "HUNTER!"
"Who?" asked Pecan and Melissa simultaneously.
"It's someone called Hunter! Melissa, how did YOU know?"
"Well, it's a long story really..."
"Please! Please!" cried Pecan, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Well then..."
"Wow! That was amazing!" Pecan gasped, looking at Melissa in amazement. "How did you DO that?"
"I'm not actually that sure myself to be honest!" laughed Melissa. "As I was saying, May was the link to the WHOLE thing really!"
"What? A BUNNY!" screeched Ellie.
"H E L L O!"
"What? Ellie looked at the octopus in strange amazement.
"I A M A R O B O T."
"But I thought you were an octopus!" Ellie looked Hunter up and down.
"I W I L L H E L P Y O U"
"On what, exactly?"
"W H A T E V E R Y O U W A N T M E T O D O"
"Um...Buy me a new stretch suit, more make-up, to be the wealthiest person in the world and, well, top be happy!" Melissa grinned.
"I C A N O N L Y B U Y T H I N G S N O T M A K E Y O U W E A L T H Y M I S S"
"Fine with me!"
"Melissa!"
"Yes? What IS it Ellie?"
"I W I L L R E T U R N I N A N H O U R" droned Hunter and he walked off into the gloomy forest.
"I want to go home!" cried Pecan, who had been sobbing silently. A tear drop fell softly onto the soft forest floor.
"Pecan!" Ellie sat next to Pecan on a log that Pecan had perched herself on and put her arm around Pecan's shoulders.
"Poor little Pecan, sitting on a log, then along came Ellie and-"
"Shut UP Melissa!" Melissa stalked off at Ellie's remark.
**Chapter 3**
"Why did I have to yell at Pecan! She is probably wandering around in the forest, lost and alone!" cried Peanut. Shelby climbed onto Peanut's lap, purring softly.
"It wasn't your fault dear," her husband reassured her. "She shouldn't have got in such a strop!"
But Peanut was not listening. "Why, oh, WHY! The search party has not come back yet. The ELEVENTH one!"
"There is a bunny in your room!"
"That's May. She's all right!" Peanut lay down on her soft bed and May hopped up next to her. "What?"
"WHAT?" Static stared at his wife. "You're talking to a BUNNY?"
"She talks to me. Calm down dear. She knows where Pecan is!" Peanut jumped up off her bed and pulled on her coat.
"Peanut!"
"What?"
"You can't go out now!"
"Yes I CAN! And don't try to stop me!" And with that Peanut opened the heavy door and ran down the stone stair case. A few seconds later Static heard the front door slam shut behind his wife.
"I won't try and stop you..." he whispered.
"Impolite girl." huffed Melissa looking at where Pecan and Ellie where sitting.
"Melissa?"
"What IS it? Oh!" Melissa's eyes widened.
"It's me! Peanut! Pecan's mother!"
"Peanut!"
"Have YOU seen pecan?"
"Umm... Err..."
"Have you?" Peanut looked strangely at Melissa.
"Umm... NO!"
"Oh." Peanut looked at the ground and walked back the way she had come.
"PECAN! ELLIE!" Melissa came hurtling towards the two.
"WHAT?"
"Your mother!" Melissa tried to get her breath back...unsuccessfully.
"What about my mother?"
"She was just here!"
"But I don't WANT to go back!" snarled Pecan. "What did you tell her?"
"I said I haven't seen you."
"WOW! Melissa!"
"What's so amazing, Ellie?"
"You actually THOUGHT!"
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Humor, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 8,040 | 27,320.4 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. The Plea
A/N: First Animal Crossing story for me. I haven't written a fanfic in a long time, but I have a good feeling about this one. ^^
Rated T for language, drug use, and violent themes. Just a little bit, but enough.
Chapter I: The Plea
The room was completely silent when the judge wasn't speaking. Isaac gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly up and down.
"Mr. Pilgrim, I am sure you are aware of what charges have been made to you," the judge's accent was strongly Southern, and his voice was kind, almost understanding of the boy. Still, Isaac felt like a mouse before the man in the black robe. He would probably be just as afraid of the jury, but luckily this was a bench trial. "And the evidence is more than apparent..." He trailed off, clearly waiting for the juvenile to answer.
"Sir, uhm..." He tried to look at the man in his aged eyes, but could not. He instead spied on the immense painting behind him, the only decorative object in the surprisingly small room. A unique painting, starring Jesus in a purple robe, gazing peacefully at the viewer with open arms. That was no better. His eyes moved to the desk just below his hips, pretending to read some words on a piece of paper that he hoped didn't appear as blank as it was. He gulped again. "My lawyer advised me to plead guilty..." he hesitated, and gathered the confidence to look the judge in the face. "Look, I'm just a kid. I got scared, I wanted to take action, I wanted to feel safe..."
The judge held up an experienced hand. "You don't have to explain yourself, my boy. There's no jury here."
Isaac's lips pursed as he glanced at his lawyer, Mr. Rod, sitting beside him. He turned further, catching the eyes of his mother and father. They looked just as frightened as Isaac was. "Your Honor..." he turned back to the man behind the desk, staring at his barely-visible necktie. "I would like to plead guilty, as recommended."
No one in the room showed surprise. The lawyer put a hand on Isaac's back comfortingly. With the brunette boy feeling this overwhelmed, it was kind of like a reward.
"Well, that sure makes this process a lot easier," the judge remarked optimistically and tapped the gavel.
* * *
"My little boy..." Isaac's mother sobbed, holding her only child. Isaac would normally be annoyed. He was sixteen, he didn't need to be babied. Instead, he held her in return, eyes watering as he struggled to contain his own emotions. He tried to distract himself by examining the spotlessness of the hallway. Everything shined, a lone woman in a business suit walked at the far end of the hall, talking on a cell phone. Everything seemed strangely calm. Except of course for the family of three.
It was only one of several times this happened during the course of the trial. When it all first began it was the worst. The accusations, all true. Calls from friends. Isaac's grandmother blaming the television. And even later. The lawyer urging the boy to plead guilty. Right before entering the trial room. And now, waiting for the final meeting with the lawyer.
"Margaret, it'll all be okay somehow. It's a lot better that he plead guilty," his father's soft voice reassured both of them as he gently pried his wife from Isaac. Just then, Mr. Rod, their lawyer, gently swung open the door.
"Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim, Isaac," the thin man in a brown suit greeted, motioning for them to enter. The three sadly rose to their feet and shuffled into the room, finding more than just the lawyer to occupy it.
"Hello again, young Mr. Pilgrim," the judge smiled at the teenager. Isaac managed to smile back, though it was clear he was not happy in the least. Two women also sat at the shiny oak table, one black-haired with a laptop open, the other blonde with several files under her arms.
Mr. Rod sat and leaned forward, folding his hands. "Now, Isaac, I know that I said before that they would take it easy on you if you plead guilty. But..." His eyes shifted their gaze to the side, considering his words. "There's been a bit of a change of plans."
_Oh shit..._ Isaac thought, bobbing his Adam's apple.
The judge put out a hand, volunteering himself to explain. "You see, son, a new program has been in development for individuals such as yourself." He stopped, awaiting a response from the boy.
"What new program?" Isaac's voice cracked. Why did this nice guy intimidate him so much?
Oh yeah. Because he decided Isaac's future.
"We believe that those with violent behaviors can be fixed. But anger management is expensive, potentially dangerous for those involved, and is highly individual. Not everyone can contain themselves by just taking a deep breath and counting to twenty."
Mr. Rod took back his stand. "Its working name is Animal Town. Here's basically what it is. A virtual village filled with animals that act as people. They walk, talk, have personalities, wear clothes, have jobs, go fishing, almost anything that you can imagine. They—along with the environment—are designed to bring out the best in people." The tall man sure seemed excited about the project.
Isaac raised an eyebrow. His mother turned skeptically to her husband, who shrugged. After a moment, Isaac peeped, "Go on."
The black-haired woman turned the laptop screen to the family to give them a look at the town in development. She zoomed in on a resident of the town, a purple sheep. Wait... Were those sunglasses?
"What happens is that you are put into long-term sleep. Your head is then hooked up to this virtual world, and it's sort of like a dream. You will be able to freely control yourself in the town. The town mostly runs itself, but occasionally you will be put up to challenges. You will have your own virtual home, that you will need to pay for. Not with real money, but with virtual money that must be earned." Mr. Rod winked.
"How is that supposed to cure me of my issues?" Isaac was interested in the idea, though it seemed unrealistic to him that being in a fantasy world full of dancing animals and sunshine and probably lollipops would make him a calmer human being.
"I already said." Mr. Rod proudly leaned back in his chair.
"For one, there are only healthy outlets of unleashing your anger," the judge offered. "The primary one being just plain talking to people. Er, animals."
Isaac looked down in thought. It was true, he never really talked to anyone about his feelings. He'd had friends, sure, but he just couldn't trust them with things so personal. And he was close to his parents, but he never wanted to worry them.
The judge continued. "Doing jobs for people acts as a distraction, and also encourages being part of a community, and providing for oneself."
"Makes sense," Isaac realized after having it explained to him. His murky green eyes turned to Mr. Rod. "Why animals?"
"Well, if we were to use humans, a face might remind you of someone. So using non-humans seemed like a natural answer. Plus, who can resist a puppy?" Mr. Rod poked the screen, which now displayed a golden dog.
"What about this sleep you mentioned?" Isaac's father questioned, more concerned about the real half of things.
Mr. Rod wasted no time. "It's completely harmless. He'll be asleep for six days at a time, and then be awake on the seventh. On the seventh day, he will be examined for any improvement, and otherwise free to exercise, see his family and friends, catch up on his favorite TV show, whatever."
A thought suddenly hit the boy. "What about school?"
Mr. Rod and the judge exchanged glances. The Southern man responded, "I'm afraid that's the least of your worries now, son."
Isaac's shoulders dropped, and he turned to his parents apologetically.
"We aren't exactly sure how long the reversal process will take, as this is still a developing project, with few subjects, none completed," the blonde woman opened a folder and slipped out a few pieces of paper. She offered one to Isaac, and one to each parent. "Here are some cases underway."
Isaac's read:
_Week one:_
_In the spoken summary, John Doe has been recorded swearing 41% less. As we spoke, he showed interest in my career. When his friend came to meet him, he did not bully him as previously witnessed, although this may be circumstantial._
_Week two:_
_John Doe accidentally knocked over a cup of pens and immediately helped clean them up. He seems a bit more expressive physically as well. His brain responds positively to pictures of animals._
_Week three:_
_John Doe asked to buy a gift for his friend. When put under pressure, he yelled, but did not show any other aggression. John's brain again responded well to pictures of animals._
_Week four:_
_Immediately after waking, John Doe began screaming in hostility about the program. In the spoken summary, he didn't do into detail about a particular bad event, though it can be said that there certainly was one._
_Week five:_
_John Doe delivered the gift to his friend, and seemed very happy about giving. In the stress test, he threw a punch, a step back from previous examinations._
"That's the earliest case," the blonde pointed to Isaac's sheet.
"The program is only five weeks old?" A confirmation was not needed.
Mr. Rod spoke somewhat tenderly. "I'm sorry to rush you, but your decision needs to be made as soon as possible. Would you like to be part of the Animal Town?"
Mr. Pilgrim took action at these words. "Excuse us," he tugged at the arms of his wife and child, and the three exited into the hall without a peep.
"So, Isaac?" the boy's father sighed. "What do you think?"
Isaac hesitated on his words. "It... sounds interesting." He remarked neutrally.
"It sounds like a positive experience," Mrs. Pilgrim said, taking the men of the house by surprise.
"Mom? I figured you'd, like, be..."
"It sounds like a video game, dear." Mr. Pilgrim said.
"I know! Don't you remember when Isaac was in sixth grade and he wrote that essay about how Pokemon taught him the values of friendship and teamwork?"
Isaac blushed a little. He almost regretted showing that essay to his parents. But golly, he sure did love Pokemon.
Mr. Pilgrim shook his head. "Margaret, this is different than just playing a game or watching a TV show. He'll be _living_ in this world. I don't think it's healthy to feed his brain nonsense like talking animals. Not because they're talking animals, but because he'll have to talk _back_."
"But dad, I'd still know that they aren't real. I'm not a little kid that falls for stuff like that."
"It does seem corrective," Mrs. Pilgrim nudged.
Mr. Pilgrim snapped back. "There's nothing wrong with our son!"
Isaac gulped, staring wide-eyed at his father.
"John." The boy's mother stopped, then replied calmly. "Obviously there is."
Isaac, surprisingly, did not feel hurt at the words. He instead continued watching his father, who moved his head in no particular pattern, soaking in the reality of the situation.
"Isaac," the man finally said, voice free of anger. "If you do this, we'll hardly get to see you. Your friends will hardly get to see you."
"Honey..." Isaac's mom stepped towards her sixteen-year old, her only child, and held his hand.
Isaac's green eyes traced the tiles on the floor. _A virtual world. _He thought. It sounded like fun, though a bit kiddish. It's true, he would only be able to see his parents one day a week. His friends... Well, after what he had done, he didn't expect to see them anymore anyway.
He weighed in silence pros and cons. In the Animal Town, the animals wouldn't know about Isaac's past unless he told them. He could have a fresh start and live leisurely. He could spend his whole day fishing or running an errand for a friend. It did sound nice. His main concern was his parents. They would miss him. He would miss them, too. But he would still get to see them, and over time they would all adjust. Isaac truly wanted a fresh start. He felt his lips pull back and his eyes water.
"Honey...?" his mother asked tenderly.
The teenager pulled away from his mother's hand, clenched his fists, and opened the door. His parents followed hurriedly, like baby ducks.
The judge and the lawyer met Isaac's green eyes. In them was not sadness, as his father and mother had witnessed. Instead, a determination burned.
"I'll do it."
2. The Arrival
A/N: Thanks for the pleasant reviews! 3 Yes, I did think it was an interesting but surprisingly appropriate twist. Now that I know someone has read it and liked it, it's time for chapter 2!
Chapter 2's taken longer than I expected to churn out... But it's much longer than chapter 1 was. I have more excuses, but I don't think you care to hear them—after all, you're here for the story, right?
I just recently got City Folk, so expect more references to it in future chapters.
Oh, and I forgot to mention in chapter 1: I don't own Animal Crossing, Nintendo, or any of that biz. I think it pretty much goes without saying, but I guess better safe than sorry.
Chapter II: The Arrival
Isaac stepped tentatively into the bright, sterile room. There were narrow windows near the ceiling on one side, but most of the light poured harshly from fluorescent hangings. The only room whiter than this he had seen was on television.
"Have a seat." The short, blonde man reviewed some things on his clipboard, paying little attention to the teenager.
Mr. Rod had introduced him to about half a dozen new people today, all of which ran the lab. The blonde's name, just like all the others', escaped him.
"We'll have to get a fan in here..." the lab worker remarked nonchalantly, wiping his forehead on his white sleeve.
_Are the latex gloves even necessary?_ Isaac wondered, somewhat sorely. _I don't think they have to worry about anything getting contaminated. It's not a doctor's office._
Yet, the room did look very similar to a doctor's office. Even the bed was thin, brown, and uncomfortable.
"Okay, I have to share the equipment with you before we begin." The blonde man summoned one of his assistants to, well, assist him. Together, they tugged at something at the head of the bed. It was a drawer of some kind, made of steel. The assistant opened two flaps from the top of the revealed metal.
"These," the blonde man, whose ID only said 'Reese', pointed to some strange metal coils. "Are the adapters. You see, there are these little needles at the end, and those will be placed to the side of your eyes. They'll just barely touch the corneas, and will display the picture of the Animal Town into your brain."
"This is the room I'll be sleeping in?"
"Yep." Reese muttered quickly and pulled up the coils, revealing a circuit board. "And this is where the magic happens. This is what takes you to the Animal Town. It will also monitor your vitals just in case anything were to suddenly go wrong." He pulled up some electrodes attached to the device.
"What if the power goes out or something?"
Reese chuckled. "A lot of people ask that. Don't worry, we have a generator, so if it does, nothing will happen."
Isaac felt sort of stupid, but did not comment. To disguise any feelings, he watched the assistant click some things on the circuit board.
"And this mask will feed you a sleeping gas to put you to sleep, and then every hour, some oxygen to make sure your breathing is regular. Any questions?"
Isaac couldn't think of one right away, and since the scientist didn't seem enthusiastic about answering anything, he shook his head. He assumed he could figure out most things on his own, anyway.
"Okay. Now lay back here." His gloved hand patted the bed, and Isaac obeyed. "Are you very sensitive to pain? Specifically your eyes?"
The boy shook his head again as the man slipped the mask around his head.
"Okay. It shouldn't hurt too much, but let me know if it's really bad, okay?" Reese now seemed interested in his work. Not a people person, Isaac guessed, but a skilled scientist. "Now close your eyes."
Isaac let out a breath and let his lids fall. He imagined his parents' faces, and hoped the six days would be over soon. Who knew how they would go? Isaac knew that if they were awesome or miserable, he'd want to let his parents know.
He suddenly felt a prick in his right eye. Not painful, but it did take him by surprise. The boy cleared his thoughts and braced himself for the left eye. Expecting it, he barely felt the poke.
The juvenile heard the blonde's voice again. "Good night, Isaac."
* * *
When Isaac first opened his eyes, he felt no different. Indeed, controlling his body was natural. But what he saw was not.
He was somehow on a train. Pine trees were blurs outside the windows as the train zoomed past. A boar in a dress snoozed a few seats by. Although Isaac had been expecting stuff like this, he couldn't help staring at the hog-woman.
"Hey, you mind if I sit here?" A cat's blue and white face peeped into the teenager's line of sight.
"Uh-..." Isaac stumbled over words. "Yeah, sure..." His eyes peered about awkwardly as the walking cat plopped himself down across from the human.
"So, I haven't seen you around before, and I've done a lot of traveling. Say, what's your name?" The creature purred.
"Isaac."
"Mweorharhar! That's a funny name!"
Why was this... _thing_ laughing? Isaac tensed angrily, but said nothing.
"Oh, oh. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean that. My name's Rover. So... Where are you headed?"
The boy's green eyes crept back to the cat's face. He shook his head. "I'm not really sure."
Rover's eyes widened, and the boy could see they were red, matching the sweater the feline wore. "Oh... Well, the next stop is Cocono. Are you moving or something?"
"I guess you could say that," Isaac responded meekly.
"You seem down. Aren't you excited?" Before the human could answer, Rover got another idea. "Don't tell me... you have no money?"
This creature was sure asking a lot of questions. Isaac looked directly at the cat and nodded slowly. It was true, after all. He was broke.
Rover's eyebrows lowered, sad at his correct assumption. "Hey, you know what? A buddy of mine runs the shop in Cocono. Wait here a sec." He picked himself up and went through a door. ...Was that a cell phone? Isaac didn't even have a cell phone. He felt a small pout within himself, then shook off the thought. He needed this time to soak things in.
Okay, it was weird having an animal talk. It was weird to have an animal wear clothes and clearly show emotion. It wasn't like seeing a worried or excited expression in a dog's eyes; it was far more obvious and widespread. It was weird having an animal make an assumption about someone of a different species they had never met and be correct. But this cat seemed pretty nice. He was apparently trying to help Isaac out, at least. Mr. Rod had explained that Animal Town is designed to bring out the best in people... Isaac guessed that meant everyone was nice.
"Good news!" Rover returned, sitting himself down. "My buddy can get you a house in Cocono. They aren't spacious or anything, but I'm sure you'll do fine. Cheap, too!" The cat smiled, revealing pearly white fangs.
Isaac nodded, eyes focused on the cat's teeth. Nonetheless, he found himself smiling a little. Maybe things would be alright in this virtual world. "Cool."
"Oh! His name is Tom Nook, he'll meet you at the gate."
"Cool. Thanks a lot, Rover." Isaac hesitated at the name. He was talking to a cat. Granted, a helpful cat that also talked, and seemed to know more about this place than Isaac did.
A voice was heard on the intercom. "Now arriving in Cocono! All passengers please remain seated until the train has reached a complete stop."
Isaac peeked out the window. The train was already very slow, almost stopped. Must have been a smooth ride; he hadn't even felt it slow down. Or maybe the boy was just busy absorbing everything.
"Hey, take care of yourself." Rover placed a paw on the human's shoulder. "I hope to see you again soon, Isaac!"
Isaac gave a polite smile and nodded his head. He wouldn't mind seeing Rover again, but still felt uncomfortable talking to creatures that don't normally walk, talk, and have possessions.
As he stepped through the door and met wilderness, the boy wasn't sure this was right. Yes, there was clearly a station here, but... Where were the roads? Where were the people waiting to get on the train? All he saw around was grass, trees, and a raccoon in an apron, who rushed to greet the newcomer.
"Ah, you must be Isaac," the raccoon grabbed the human's hand and shook it excitedly with both of his clawed paws.
"Uh, hello. Tom Nook, right?"
"Yes, yes! I assume you want to see your selection of houses right away, yes? Come with me."
The human looked from side to side as he walked, observing how all the trees looked nearly identical. He saw red glints on a few of the trees, but he could not discern from his distance what they were.
"Here we are!" Tom Nook announced, outstretching his small arms. "These four are all available. Just pick which you like best and I'll do the necessary paperwork for you."
From the front, each of the houses looked identical, with the exception of the color of roofing. Isaac looked between them, shrugged, and entered a random one. Upon entering, the boy was not pleased by what he saw. The room was spacious... if you were a Hobbit. Small was an understatement; the space was infinitesimal. The floor was made of steel, with steel walls that didn't even match. A wooden box sat in the corner, supporting a journal, and the adjacent corner held a tape deck. _Heh, a tape deck_, he thought in a failed attempt to bring comic relief to the disappointing scene. With a sigh, Isaac turned and closed the door behind him, dragging his eyes up to meet the raccoon's.
"Well, what did you think?"
"It's, uh..." the boy struggled for kind words. He decided instead to be honest, but not _too_ honest. "Pretty small."
"Yes, well, it certainly is quite... cozy. Well, feel free to look at the others, though I can't say they're much different."
The human's pink lips twitched indecisively. Well... he did need a place to stay. He was going to be living in this world for six days of each week.
After peeking inside each house, he decided on the one with wooden flooring and walls, figuring that would be the most insulated.
"Alright, then! Now, let me talk to you about your house. You will have to furnish the place yourself. Your neighbors will be willing to help you with this, and I sell furniture at my shop as well."
Isaac nodded, wondering where his neighbors were, and what they were like. Probably overly friendly and happy, like Rover.
"And now for the subject of payment... It all comes to 19,800 Bells."
The teenager tensed. He was completely broke.
"Is something wrong?" Tom Nook stared at his new patron, confused and concerned.
Isaac reached into his pockets, hoping for some miracle, and lo and behold, he discovered a small bag in a pocket by his butt. He withdrew it and handed it to the masked creature, not knowing what else to do.
"Ah, yes, that's-..." he stopped. Isaac shifted his weight uncomfortably, knowing something was still wrong. "This... There's only 1,000 Bells here!" the raccoon did a disbelieving dance of panic.
Isaac shrugged helplessly and looked down, feeling sorry. Mind you, sorry not just for his new landlord, but also for himself.
"Is this... all you have?" Nook asked sympathetically.
The boy nodded slowly.
Nook quickly got an idea. "Isaac... You need to pay off your house, yes? And I could use some help around my shop. How about you come work for me to help pay off your debt?"
Debt. That word made him feel even worse about the situation. He looked the animal in the eye, trying to hide shame. "Yes!" he blurted. "I'll help you with anything you need."
"Excellent!" as he smiled, Nook's dark whiskers perked up. "Once you get settled in, come by my shop. It's in acre A-1. Oh! You don't know your way around, do you? Ho ho!" He stuck a paw behind his back and magically withdrew a piece of folded paper. "Take this map."
Isaac nodded thankfully and opened the sheet. Houses were marked where residents lived, as well as some other locations, such as the wishing well and the museum.
"I'll be waiting!" the raccoon said cheerfully as he gave a quick wave and wandered off.
_He didn't seem too upset that I only had 1,000 bongs. ...Bongs? That can't be right._ Isaac struggled for the name of the currency used here, then discarded the thought.
He saw no reason to get "settled in" to his new place of residence. It wasn't like he had luggage or anything. The boy set his destination as acre A-1, and decided he would explore on his way there. After all, Tom Nook didn't seem to be in any hurry to have him there.
Isaac stepped towards the west. He spotted a tree that bore red, and would soon discover what berries were native. The boy stepped lightly, as he always did. The ground was unusually flat for being as soft as it was. As he stepped under the shadow of the red-dappled tree, he breathed in relief. Summer was hot. Like, _hot_. Just by looking, he still could not identify exactly what grew. He reached up, attempting to pluck a few off, but was just short of success. The boy let out a soft groan, then thought of a new approach. He grabbed the trunk of the tree with both hands and gave it a shake. Sure enough, several red spheres dropped to the ground. Isaac squatted down and picked up a few. "Cherries?" He popped one into his mouth. "Cherries."
"Hahaha!"
The boy turned to the laughter, observing a yellow elephant kick a ball some forty feet away.
_Yellow... elephant..._? He failed to wrap his head around the concept. Rover and Tom Nook were strange enough to encounter, but at least they were natural colors. Well, okay, _more_ natural. He chose to continue his walk before he was spotted. He had a job to get done anyway.
Just as he stepped in the opposite direction of the new, weird creature, he came to a river. It was small, impossibly blue, and steady. He leaned in and spotted his reflection.
He looked significantly different. His head was large and round, reminding the boy that this was a virtual world. Surely in reality he would fall over with this huge, dumb head. He had large, round, dark eyes that mesmerized himself because of how perfectly shaped they were. His long hair was now shortened, with bangs that zigzagged along his forehead. He was thankful that it remained the same color, dark brown. His shirt was white with blue stripes at the middle, and he felt pretty neutral about it.
"Um, excuse me?" The voice from behind him was feminine.
Isaac felt a twinge of annoyance, but then remembered that so far everyone had been nice, and this world was supposed to "bring out the best in people". He turned, meeting two faces.
"You're a new face! I'm Eloise. Isn't it such a cute name, tooot?" The elephant smiled at the human boy, eyes closing, clearly showing perfect eyelashes.
The other character was a... mouse? Rat? Isaac couldn't tell, what with the she-rodent being of human proportions. She was snow white, with a cute, dark nose and tiny blush marks on her cheeks. "Welcome to Cocono, squeaky! My name is Dora. What's your name?"
"Oh, uh... Isaac." He turned an eye over his shoulder, the river's edge less than a stubby arm's length away. With these two girls cornering him, he felt crowded. But of course he wouldn't say so; he was a stranger to this new, happy environment.
"Hello, Isaac!" the elephant chimed. "How are you liking Cocono?"
"Uh, it's hard to say so far. I've only been here fifteen minutes." _Wait, these two are friends? I thought mice frightened elephants. Even the Mythbusters proved it!_
"Well don't be afraid to ask us anything, tooot. We can tell you just about anything you'd like to know about the place. Dora's lived here the longest, haven't you?" Eloise turned her attention to her white-furred companion.
Dora blushed slightly. She felt so old hearing that. "Just about, I guess."
Isaac shifted his weight between feet. "Thanks, ladies. I should really get to Tom Nook's shop, though. I'll, uh... see you around." He rotated his body, and Eloise politely nodded and turned as well.
"Hey, Isaac. Here's a housewarming gift. It isn't much, but it should give your home some flair." With tiny paws, she handed the human a pink gift box.
Fortunately, Isaac was the kind of person that easily accepted gifts. He figured that a gift is given only if the giver truly wants to give, and he didn't argue. "Thanks, Dora."
"I hope Cocono treats you well, squeaky. Goodbye, Isaac."
The boy observed the pink box as the creature followed her large yellow friend. He pried open the lid, and found a strange leaf. Greatly confused and disappointed, he closed the lid.
Then, he stood. Just stood and looked around. It was quiet. He could hear the ocean. They were by the sea? Must be. He watched as birds and dragonflies passed by. He closed his eyes when a cool, soothing breeze swept onto his face. Isaac realized just how different this place was from home. He didn't live in a particularly noisy area, and there was still plenty of green in his neighborhood, but not like this. Here, everything was open, fresh. Here, the forest was the city. It was peaceful.
Isaac slowly broke a smile.
* * *
Upon finding the building, Isaac was immediately sure that he had the wrong place. The walls were made of crumbling wood, and the roof looked as if it would slide off any second. Not to mention it couldn't have been any bigger than Isaac's new house. The sign told the horrible truth, though. It read, very clearly, though hand-written: Nook's Cranny. With a sigh, Isaac stepped inside.
"Ah, there you are! I trust you've gotten somewhat more acquainted with Cocono, yes?" Nook caught glimpse of the pink box under the human's arm, but didn't inquire about it.
The place was pitiful inside as well. Everything was made of wood, and the selection was small. A spiderweb adorned a corner by the back. It all made the human unsure that this was the guy he wanted as a landlord.
"Oh, yes, sir." After a moment, Isaac realized that he could ask Tom Nook about this strange gift. "Uh, Mr. Nook?"
"Please, just Tom Nook or Nook. Or Dashing Gentleman, ho ho!"
Isaac smiled, but couldn't bring himself to laugh. "Nook, what do you know about Dora?"
"Dora? Well, she's very kind and thoughtful, and gets along with most everyone..."
"Well, I mean, uh... She gave me this weird leaf. I was wondering if it had..." the teenager trailed off, stopped by the raccoon's raucous laughter.
"Ho ho! Oh, oh my sides... ho! Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'm afraid you don't know much about this place."
Isaac remained quiet, feeling angry and belittled.
"Here." The masked creature stepped forward, opened the box, and withdrew the leaf. "Furniture takes the form of leaves for convenience. If you lay the leaf down..." he demonstrated. "Then the actual object will appear."
A chair, red and cream, with a detailed back piece, appeared. "This is an exotic chair. I just had one in stock last week, in fact."
Isaac was bewildered by the technology. Technology? He had trouble telling himself that a leaf was any kind of abstruse device. "Can I turn it back?"
"Very easily." The raccoon placed his paws on the chair. "Just think about it and pull up." He made the chair poof back into a small green flag.
"Just think?" This was insane.
"That's it, my boy! In fact, here." Tom Nook scrambled behind the counter and returned, holding a pink and white striped shirt. "Clothing works in a very similar manner. Take this and envision yourself wearing it."
Isaac stepped back to keep his balance as the raccoon pushed the cotton garment into his arms. "But I don't know what it looks like."
"It doesn't matter."
The boy mentally groaned, physically rolled his eyes, but cooperated. He thought about wearing the shirt, and all the sudden, golden sparkles encircled himself and the clothing.
"It worked..." he blinked at the greenish material on his body and pulled at it as if expecting more to happen.
"Quite simple, yes? Now, that will be your uniform. For the time you work here, you be sure to wear that. Advertising, hm? Now, for your first task... Well, hm. I suppose it might be hard for you to do deliveries and such if you don't know the townsfolk. Why don't you go introduce yourself to everyone around Cocono, hm? Don't forget the mayor! He's usually around the town hall. Go on, then."
Isaac wouldn't have been able to protest if he wanted. Tom Nook spoke so quickly and his brisk decisions sounded so final that it wouldn't have mattered. Still, the boy exited the tiny cranny without a word and spread his map flat against the wooden wall. He used his finger to trace along the acres, plotting out a route for the unknown.
The teen headed south, with a house in the next acre, labeled "Murphy". He didn't have to walk far; he quickly spotted a green bear watching a grasshopper of some kind.
"Um... hello." Isaac greeted feebly.
"Hm? Oh, hi, laddie." The bear wore a friendly smile, but his words were void of friendliness. "You must be the new kid. Name's Murphy."
"I'm Isaac." The boy extended a polite hand, but was promptly ignored. He moved his extended hand and rubbed his arm nervously.
"Well just don't get on my nerves and you should survive in this town, laddie."
"O-okay... Uh. I'll be seeing you around, then." Isaac gave a brief wave and quickly moved on. It was clear that Murphy didn't care to have him around, and Isaac didn't care to try to change that fact.
One acre to the east was where Eloise lived, but Isaac had already met her, so he skipped that house and moved straight across the bridge. He passed the his own house, and then came face to face with a purple sheep. Wearing sunglasses. The same one he'd seen in the "sneak-peek" of Animal Town. This reminded him that he was not insane, and that this was all fake. He was both comforted and annoyed by this reminder.
"Oh, hey, biz-aaa! You're new around here, aren't you?"
"Uh, yeah. My name's Isaac." The human's eyes remained still on the green star that decorated the sheep's left cheek. This was probably the most interesting-looking creatures he'd seen yet.
"Cool, cool! I'm Woolio! Hey, you like to work out, biz-aaa?"
"Yeah. I mean, I do a lot of swimming and I like soccer and stuff..."
"Right on, man! Hey, right now there's morning exercises going on every day. You should join me sometime!" The ram fist-pumped. What.
"Okay. What time?"
"Uh, a little early... 6 a.m... But totally worth it, biz-aaa! You'll be energized all day!"
Isaac winced for a moment, but then considered. "That sounds good. Give me some time to settle in first, though."
"Sure, biz-aaa. I'll catch you later!"
"See ya, Woolio."
The boy continued continued a couple acres down to meet a slope. A much steeper slope than he expected. He walked down it slowly, his ankles feeling weird. Two more acres down, he came to two houses, close to the beach. One belonged to Dora, who was talking to a golden dog, which he also recognized from the previews of Animal Town.
"Oh, that's him!" the mouse grinned.
Knowing he was already being talked about, Isaac shifted awkwardly. Was what was said good or bad or true or false? Shyly, uncomfortably, he waved a hand.
"Hello, woof! I'm Goldie. Dora was saying that she gave you the exotic chair she just bought last week!"
"Oh, it was nothing." The mouse commented to both of them. "It really didn't go with my house as well as I thought it would."
"Well I appreciate it. Really." These two seemed like the most normal villagers; they put Isaac at ease.
"That shirt..." Goldie noticed. "Have you already gotten a job, woof? That's impressive!"
Isaac was no longer at ease. "Oh. Well, see..." He rubbed his arm, embarrassed. "Tom Nook gave me a house to sleep in, but I had no money..."
The dog gasped as the mouse put a tiny paw over her mouth.
"It's okay, I'm just working to pay some of it off. I got lucky, I guess."
"I see." The retriever left it at that, not wanting to pry into the stranger's life.
"If you need any help, squeaky, please let us know. We will help." Dora put a gentle paw on the human's hand as her friend nodded in irrevocable agreement.
Isaac froze up, staring straight into the mouse's dark, beady eyes. He was unaware of the dumbfounded look he wore on his face as he turned to see the dog's same concerned expression. He broke a genuine smile. "Thank you."
Then it was quiet for a few seconds, and Isaac chose to be the one to break the silence. "Well, I still need to meet the rest of the villagers. I'll see you around." He stepped away, tentatively, and left before they showed more alluring kindness.
The boy continued on in a sort of daze. He again had to take in where he was. He was in a little village filled with animals. He had a little house and worked for a raccoon to keep that house. He'd met a freakishly friendly cat, a grumpy green bear, and a somewhat snooty yellow elephant, among others. Here, furniture turned into magical leaves. Here, he was the only one that didn't have some strange catchphrase. Here, Isaac was going to spend six-sevenths of his next several months, maybe years.
"You okay, snork?"
Snapping up from his trance, the boy was met with a brown snout. "You looked pretty out of it."
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to get used to this place."
"Ohh, so you're the new guy! Name's Spork." The pig extended a hoof, which Isaac accepted. Gratefully, after Murphy's indifferent response to his own hand.
"Isaac."
"Hey, have you met everyone yet? I know Cocono well, and I can show you around if you'd like."
Isaac flipped out his map, double checking to see if he'd said hello to everyone. "Nah, I've already- Oh. I still need to greet the mayor."
Spork didn't need any further convincing. "Come with me, snork!"
The town hall was at the complete opposite side of town—up the slope, across the river, and past Isaac's new house. Though the distance was far (for such a small town, at least), time went quickly as the two walked and chatted about the town.
"Sometimes, a present tied to a balloon will float through the air and get caught in a tree. I found one once—inside was an orange!"
That didn't seem too remarkable to Isaac. Spork seemed to pick up on his opinion.
"Only cherries grow in Cocono, so when another fruit comes along, it's very precious. Oh, and it was soooo delicious, snork! They say a mysterious man releases the presents, and that only the happiest of hearts get to open them... I guess that means I'm pretty special!"
Sounded like a bunch of bullshit to Isaac. Someone trying to do a random act of kindness, maybe, but nothing mysterious or magical about it.
"Here we are! This is the town hall," the pig announced, spreading a hoof to the building as if he were on some game show.
"Thanks." The boy was just about ready to say goodbye, but noticed that his companion was not. "Uh. Are you coming in?"
The creature thought for a moment. "I probably should. The mayor isn't around all the time; usually just for events and holidays and stuff. It'd be nice of me to say hi." The pig grinned a friendly, Rover-like grin.
Isaac nodded, appreciating the pig's considerate approach, stepped forward, and cracked open the door.
Inside was bigger than Isaac honestly expected, having only seen small buildings until this point. It was well-lit, and looked surprisingly official. Oak panels, flooring, and furniture decorated much of the premise. Only one worker, a cute, happy pelican, stood behind the counter. A half-asleep tortoise stood in front of the counter, and jerked his head up to look at the newcomers.
"Hello, Mr. Tortimer!" Spork strolled inside. "Hello, Pelly!"
"Oh, hi there, Spork! How are things?"
"Good, Mr. Tortimer!"
"Uhm..." Isaac inched towards the wrinkled creature. "Hello, Mr. Mayor. Tortimer. Sir."
"Eh?" the reptile blinked and inspected the boy carefully. He carved a semi-circle around him, then said skeptically, "Who are you?"
The pelican peeped. "Mr. Mayor, this is Isaac. He just moved into Cocono."
The boy looked for a moment in surprise at the big-billed bird, then remembered that this is a small town, and news traveled quickly. He redirected his attention to the senile old tortoise.
"Is that so?"
Spork gave a quick pat on Isaac's back. "He's already met all the townspeople. He's pretty cool himself, snork."
Isaac gave a soft laugh as the pig poked the human with his elbow.
"Oh! Welcome to Cocono, Zack!"
"Uhm. _I_saac, sir."
"Right, right!" The tortoise beamed, apparently unknowing. His face then grew stern. "Now. Tell me. Who do you respect most? The shopkeeper, mayor, mail clerk, or police officer?"
What is this, an aptitude test or something? The boy turned helplessly, confused, to Spork, who gave a not-so subtle point to Tortimer. Behind him, Pelly also motioned towards the reptile, albeit rather more skillfully.
"The mayor?" Isaac's lingering surprise led him to answer with a question mark.
Silence hung like a spider in the air. The worn, baggy eyes of the mayor were transfixed on Isaac, caging him in place.
"Ahahahorf! I like you! You're one smart cookie!"
Though he was somewhat relieved, Isaac couldn't help but feel like a little kid. It was so _obvious_ that Spork urged him to answer in the human's favor. Would this senile old coot believe anything? Who voted for this guy? How long as he been representing Cocono? Come to think of it... What exactly did Cocono need representing for? This virtual world...? Isaac cast off the thoughts. Maybe there were some things he just would be happier not knowing.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Drama, Friendship | Fanfiction | null | 41,748 | 12,101.8 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Chapter 1
Que Onda? Ultimamente he estado muy obsesionada con la pareja AiXYu (de la película Animal Crossing) y he tenido muchas ideas para un fic :D porfavor no sean duros conmigo T_T.
Atencion: Yu, Ai y los demás personajes no me pertenecen (excepto mi Oc que se llama Aura :P)
(( )) Notas del autor
_Pensaminetos_
Bueno Empezemos!
Todo será en Ai POV
Lluvia de Estrellas
Capitulo 1. Conociendonos mas
Iba Caminando hacia el museo para ir a ver a Estela, ella me ha estado enseñando mas cosas sobre el universo y las estrellas, que fascinante y hoy seria algo especial porque estela me comento que habría una lluvia de estrellas y esta solo pasa cada 100 años que suerte que vivo aquí.
Por cierto mi nombre es Ai, tengo 17 años, tengo pelo de color magenta atado a 2 coletas, mis ojos son color marron, visto un vestido que me llega hasta las rodillas de color amarillo con círculos morados.
Cuando llege al museo decidi pasar primero a saludar al hermano de estela, Socrates ((Yo: Estela y socrates son hermanos y búhos))
-Hola socrates- decia con una sonrisa en el rostro
-Hola ai, vinistes a ver a estela verdad?-
-Si, pero primero quería pasar a saludar-
-Muy bien, cuando termines de estar con estela quisiera que pasaras al area de fosiles, porque quisiera hablar contigo-
-ok-
Me despedi de Socrates y subi al observatorio.
1 hora después
-Recuerda venir el jueves ai, a las 12 de la noche empezara la lluvia de estrellas-
-De acuerdo, también puedo traer a mis amigas?-
-Por supuesto entre mas mejor- dijo sonriendo
-Gracias-
Baje de el observatorio para después dirijirme a la salida del museo pero al tocar la perilla de la puerta de salida me había acordado de que tenia que ver a Socrates en el area de fosiles.
-_Como se me pudo haber olvidado- _Dije mientras me regañaban mentalmente por casi dejar plantado al búho.
Llege a la entrada del area de fosiles era una puerta gigante de madera y se veía como de tipo castillo, estaba medio abierta, estaba a punto de entrar cuando oi a dos voces platicando.
-Ya encontraste ese fosil que tanto quisieras tener?-
-_Esa es la voz de Socrates-_Me dije a mi misma
-Todavia no jeje, es muy difícil encontrar algo asi jajaja-
-_Esa voz.. se me hace familiar, pero ¿de donde?-_
-Si tienes razón-
-Bueno ya me voy, gracias por el consejo Socrates-
-Si, denada-
(Se oye el sonido de la puerta trasera cerrarse)
Al darme cuenta de que la otra voz se había ido decidi entrar.
-Socrates ya estoy aquí-
-Oh ai, que bien que hayas llegado-
-Si, y dime de que me querías hablar- Dije con curiosa
-Veras, en cuatro días se hara la lluvia de estrellas y quisiera saber si nos ayudarías en la decoración-
-Decoracion?-
-Veras, como este será un evento muy importante, el museo y la alcaldía quedamos en hacer un evento especial para las estrellas y para que todo se vea mejor lo haremos en la colina mas alta del pueblo, que dices ai, me ayudaras?-
Despues de pensarlo un poco tome el ala de Socrates y acepte –Claro!-
-Genial!, quisiera verte mañana en la colina mas alta, allí planearemos todo y de paso conoceras a tus compañeros que te ayudaran-
-ok-
Despues de hablar con Socrates Sali del museo para irme a casa pero antes pasaría a saludar a rita que se había venido a quedar unos días en el pueblo. Es una elefante color blanco, es diseñadora de ropa y mi mejor amiga.
-Ven aquí, no te escaparas!-
Se empezó a oir un grito, y al parecer era nadamas ni nadamenos que yu, el es un humano como yo excepto en que el ya tiene 17 años y sigue con su actitud infantil. Su cabello es de color marron , vestia un traje de ninja y traia consigo una red atrapa mariposas, sus ojos son de color verde y tiene un amigo llamado Alfonso que es un cocodrilo marron y lleva puesta una camiseta con una ¨M¨ en el frente.
-Ven aca Araña!- decia mientras intentaba atrapar a la araña y que esta salto a mi cabello y yo como de costumbre empeze a gritar
-Ah! Quítenmela! Quítenmela!-
-No te muevas ai!- Yu salto hacia mi y con su red me pego en la cabeza pero a la vez atrapo a la araña e hizo que callera al pasto
-Auch!- dije con una mueca de dolor
-Lo siento ai, dejame ayudarte- me da la mano a lo cual yo correspondi ayudándome a levantarme
-No importa-
-Y.. bueno que haces por aquí?-
-Pues ya ni me acuerdo, con lo de la araña se me olvido- dije avergonzada
-Oye que tal si vamos a mi casa, y comemos algo-
-Suena bien pero que no tu casa esta en el pueblo de alado?-
-En realidad, me compre una casa aquí. Como siempre vengo a jugar aquí…-
-Entiendo, entonces vamos-
-Si-
Y asi fue como yu me llevo a su casa, que había comprado en el pueblo. El se fue a su habitación a cambiarse mientras yo me quedaba esperando en la sala ((pensaban que algo iba a pasar? Pues no! :D)) Cuando bajo, venia vestido con una gorra color roja, una camisa del mismo color pero con el cuello y las mangas de color blanco, un pantalón de mezclilla azul y unos tenis.
-Lamento haberte echo esperar-
-Estabien, no pasa nada- _Hay que guapo es.. Pero que dices! Debo dejar de pensar en eso._
-Ok, vamos a la cocina, ahí tengo algunos onigiris, pastel de chocolate entre otras cosas-
-Si por algo se llama cocina-
-Jajaja si-
Yu y yo nos la pasamos comiendo y hablando un buen rato, quien diría que el llegara a ser tan profundo y que en realidad el escapo de casa y se fue a vivir al pueblo de alado. O que su mas grande sueño es ser el mas grande aventurero. Tal vez lo juzgue mal cuando me decia que solo era un chico cualquiera.
-Y bueno eso es el porque ya no hago apuestas- decia yu con una sonrias mientras tomaba un poco de jugo de manzana
-Pues es si, después de eso cualquiera dejaría de apostar-
-jaja si.. oh oye ai es extraño que estemos hablando muy abiertamente entre nosotros-
-si, pero cuando hablo contigo me siento comoda-
-¿Por qué?
-No lo se, solo me siento asi- dije con una gran sonrisa
-si.. yo tam-tambien- dijo algo rojo
-Te encuentras bien- dije mientras me le acercaba y ponía mi mano en su frente
-Si!.. Estoy bien no te preocupes- dijo alejando mi mano de su frente
-Ok… *miro mi reloj* oh no ya es tarde!, me tengo que ir yu gracias por todo adiós!- dije mientras salía corriendo de la casa de yu.
-AI MAÑANA A LA MISMA HORA AQUÍ!- decia yu mientras me gritaba desde su casa
-Si!-
Sali corriendo hacia mi casa, cuando llege, me fui al baño a lavarme, me puse una pijama ya que ya era de noche y me acoste en mi cama quedándome dormida
Que les parece? Bueno? Malo? Horrendo? Si me equivoque en algo háganmelo saber, si quieren que este fic continue déjenme un review o comentario :3 ADIOS!
2. Chapter 2
Hola a todos! Perdonen la tardanza T_T esque me fui de vacaciones y además me pase mas tiempo en el DA con los dibujos y se me olvido por completo perdónenme TOT.
Bueno aquí esta el capitulo 2, espero que sea de su agrado n_n y muchas gracias a Sparda's Girl por apoyarme en esto y a Mitsu Tainaka por su review :D
Atencion: Yu, Ai y los demás personajes no me pertenecen (excepto mis Oc )
(( )) Notas del autor
_Pensaminetos_
Bueno Empezemos!
Habra muchos POV e.e
Lluvia de Estrellas
Capitulo 2
La luz del sol estaba entrando por mi ventana y empeze a abrir los parpados encontrándome en mi habitación, un nuevo dia a empezado y ahora tengo que arreglarme para ir a la colina.
-Es genial que pueda ayudar para que todos disfruten de la lluvia de estrellas, talvez rita y minina también ayuden en esto, todos estarán viendo las estrellas pasar, -me dije a mi misma-Al rato llamare a mi familia para que vengan además hace tiempo que no los veo y solamente nos mandamos cartas-
Despues de arreglarme y salir de casa me fui a la colina alta donde hay debería estar Socrates, Estela y los demás. Me encontré con varios amigos en el camino como apolo que es un águila y a su novia lupe que es un zorro ((si dijera zorra todos empezarían a malpensar xD)). Platique con ellos un rato y al saber que estaban en una cita, decidi irme de allí para dejarlos solos.
Al llegar a la colina se podía ver a socrates hablando con el alcalde creo que hablan sobre la decoración del lugar, Estela se hacerca a mi para saludar.
-Hola ai!, como estas?-
-Hola estela, pues estoy bien y tu?-
-Igual, no me digas que vienes a cooperar?-
-Si, Tu hermano me pidió si podía ayudar y acepte-
-Genial, ven conmigo quiero presentarte a los demás que también van a ayudar y te vas a llevar una sorpresa cuando los veas-
-ok-
Caminamos hasta llegar a un poco debajo de la colina y ahí se podían ver que estaban construyendo puestos. Habia muchos animales que ni conocía, talvez son de otros pueblos. Pero que es eso?.. Personas! Pero que hacen aquí?
-Ven ai- Dijo estela agarrándome de la mano y llevando hacia los habitantes
-Chicos! Quiero presentarles a su compañera ai-
-Vaya otra persona! Es un gusto conocerte ai soy Rodrigo- Dijo un chico de 17 años que tenia pelo negro, ojos color rojo, llevaba una chaqueta café, una camisa blanca, pantalones azules y tenis blancos.
-El gusto es mio rodrigo-
-Hola ai, yo soy aura- Dijo la chica de nombre aura, tiene 17 años, pelo azul largo, ojos naranjas, llevaba una blusa tipo polo de color azul fuerte, una bufanda naranja, una falda de color celeste y unas botas de color azul con negro.
-Hola aura- Me alegro que haya personas aquí, me siento muy comoda con alguien de mi especie es como si estuviera en casa.
-Bueno ahora que ya se conocen, necesito que recolecten cerezos para hacer las tartas entendido- dijo estela
-Ok- dijimos los tres
Asi Roberto, aura y yo fuimos al bosque a recolectar cerezos, íbamos corriendo porque a aura se le ocurrió hacer carreras hasta los cerezos. Si que esta chica es muy atlética, corre muy rápido. Nos detuvimos debajo de un pino para tomar un poco de aire.
-Oigan amigos- dijo aura
-Que pasa aura?- dijo Roberto
-ire a por los cerezos de alla si quieren ustedes vallan por los de aca- dijo la chica de cabello azul
-si claro- dijo Roberto sonriente como siempre
-Vamos!- dijo mientras salía corriendo
-aura es algo rara no los crees?- pregunte con una gota en la cabeza tipo anime
-si, pero el mundo seria muy aburrido sin ella- contesto roberto
-si talvez-
-bueno vamos-
Roberto y yo nos la pasamos recolectando un buen rato, aura llego después de una hora con unos grandes canastos donde había cerezos y ella nos dio unos canastos vacios para poner nuestras cerezas
-Y dime ai…- dijo aura mientras tomaba una botella con agua
-Que?- pregunte
-Te gusta alguien?- dijo como si nada
-No por ahora no- respondi con tono nervioso
-ok-
Aura POV
Rob, ai y yo nos la pasamos platicando un buen rato creo que ya todos somos buenos amigos aquí, me alegra haber venido a este pueblo, ahora que lo pienso se me hace extraño la respuesta que me dio ai sono… nerviosa jeje talvez si la provoco un poco con ese tema me dira la verdad o eso es lo que yo pienso .
-en que piensas aura?- dijo muy nervioso
-en nada- menti
-espero que con ¨nada¨ te refieras con nada-
Ai nos miro confundida, me alegro que ella no sepa nada de lo que significan mis miradas raras. Seguimos hablando un poco mas hasta que notamos que ya se estaba haciendo algo tarde asi que nos fuimos de ahí hasta llegar a la colina donde nos esperaba un conejo color café con gris.
-¿Dónde estaban? Tardaron mucho- dijo enfadado el conejo
-ya, no se angustie, aquí están- dijo rob despreocupado dejando los canastos de cerezos cerca del conejo
-Bien- dijo llevándose los canastos con ayuda de un leopardo
Seguimos ayudando pintando carteles, colocando luces, los puestos entre otras cosas. Ahora que lo noto siempre que ai necesita ayuda rob rápidamente va a su rescate a que me huele esto jeje mejor hablare con rob pero mas tarde
YU POV
Ya era algo tarde y ai aun no aparece espero que no le haya pasado algo.
-Yu!- dijo una voz que reconocería en cualquier lugar
-Alfonso!- dijo felizmente yu
-Oye supe que hay una nueva especie de pez en el mar quieres ir?-
-Pues no se esque estoy esperando…- Alfonso no lo dejo terminar porque me empezó a jalar del brazo y me empezó a guiar hasta el mar
-Hey Alfonso espera!- dije mientras intentaba zafarme de su agarre
-Vamos yu los peces nos esperan-
-deacuerdo- dijo de mala gana
Cuando llegamos al mar estaba muy iluminado por el atardecer naranja que estaba sobre el pueblo sinceramente era un bello paisaje.
-Oye yu- Pregunto Alfonso preocupado
-que pasa Alfonso?-
-Tu nunca rechazas ir de pesca o atrapar insectos ¿Por qué ahora si?- pregunto con preocupación nuevamente
-no es nada Alfonso es solo que.. _estaba esperando a ai _ quería estar solo es todo-
-pero no es bueno estar solo anda vamos a pescar quieres?- djo el cocodrilo mientras le ofrecia una caña de pesca
-bueno estabien vamos a pescar- dije con una sonrisa
-Si!- grito Alfonso mientras brincaba
Ai POV
Desde la colina el atardecer es muy hermoso y en especial cuando estoy con mis nuevos amigos aunque quisiera que también los demás estuvieran aquí.
-Bueno chicos será mejor irme- decia aura
-No piensas quedarte un poco mas?- pregunte
-no, además que ya se esta haciendo tarde-
-bueno adiós- dije mientras rob solo se despedia de aura con la mano
-adios- dijo esta mientras se echo a correr hacia el bosque que estaba cerca de la colina
Veia como aura se adentraba en el bosque de verdad esa chica era extraña.
-Oye ai- dijo rob sacándome de mis pensamientos
-Si que pasa?-
-Me preguntaba si mañana después de ayudar podríamos ir a al rio ya sabes como amigos-
-bueno..( _porque me siento nerviosa como dijo solo como… amigos) _c-claro- respondi nerviosa y no se porque
-Genial! Bueno ya me tengo que ir adiós Ai- dijo Rob
-ok adiós Rob- dije mientras me despidiéndome de el
Cuando se fue, me la pase un rato mas en la colina hasta que me di cuenta que se estaba haciendo muy tarde para ir a casa de Yu asi que me fui en dirección a su casa. Al llegar pude ver que las luces estaban apagadas y no había ninguna señal de el.
-talvez este en algún lugar primero, lo esperare- dije mientras me sentaba en el pasto
GENERAL POV
Mientras que Ai estaba esperando a su Yu como lo había prometido para poder estar con el un rato, en la orilla del mar se podía ver a un chico y a un cocodrilo bailando de la alegría.
-Lo hemos conseguido, lo hemos conseguido- Cantaban ambos al unisono
-Esto es un gran logro- decia Alfonso
-si lo se es algo grande- decia Yu mientras saltaba
-Te invito a mi casa a celebrar Yu que dices?-
-Acepto! Vamos- y ambos amigos se fueron a la casa del cocodrilo, Yu empezó a pensar que talvez se le había pasado algo pero decidió pensarlo para después ahora lo único que quería hacer era celebrar con su mejor amigo de la vida
Mientras tanto ai aun seguía esperando pero el nunca llego decepcionada se levanta del suelo y se dispone a irse hasta que alguien le toca el hombro, se voltea y casi se lleva un susto tremendo pero si se quedo con una cara de terror
-Hola Ai que haces aquí a estas horas? Y porque estas asustada?- preguntaba el que casi le daba un susto
-Aura… pues no hago nada solo voy a casa- dijo con tono entristecido - y pues el susto es por tu culpa- esto lo dijo enojada
-Lo lamento Ai jeje no quería asustarte- dijo Aura con una sonrisa
-Bueno no importa, te perdono- dijo Ai ya un poco mejor
-Bien, y que hacias sentada afuera de esa casa?-
-Pues yo estaba esperando a alguien pero nunca llego- dijo esto con la cabeza baja
Aura frunció el ceño lo que ella mas odiaba en el mundo era a la gente que no cumplía con sus promesas, que eran infieles etc.
-Oye aura- dijo Ai de repente
-Si que ocurre?- pregunto extrañada
-Tienes donde quedarte?-
-Si.. pero me queda algo lejos-
-Entonces quédate conmigo esta noche como en una pijamada si?-
-No lo se.. No quiero ser un estorbo-
-para nada, además quiero estar con alguien-
-deacuerdo-
-bien entonces vamos- Dijo Ai mientras guiaba a Aura
Despues de guiarla en unos minutos ya estaban en casa de Ai y pues nadamas llegaron hablaron un rato y se fueron a dormir Ai se fue a su cuarto y Aura se quedo en el sofá. Aura no dejaba de pensar en lo que le paso Ai con lo de su amigo, porque para Aura este tipo de cosas eran en serio pero bueno eso lo pensaría después ahora tenia que dormir bien y no con la cabeza revulta.
*Escondida detrás de una pared* Ya lanzen los tomates T_T este es no es un gran capi lo se soy de lo peor T_T pero espero almenos sus reviews que son lo que me animan bueno hasta la próxima (aunque yo espero mas amenazas e insultos que reviews)
3. Chapter 3
Hola a todos, se muy bien que no actualize en todo este tiempo y tengo una buena excusa … mi inspiración esta por los suelos TwT eso es todo lo que dire y bueno ustedes ya saben como son los diálogos y lo de los pov´s .
Aclaracion!: Pienso adelantarme hasta un dia antes de la lluvia, osea que ya están todos los arreglos de la festividad.
Lluvia de Estrellas
Capitulo 3
Ai POV
No puedo creer que mañana ya sea la lluvia de estrellas, si que los días pasan muy rápido cuando te lo pasas con amigos aunque… después de que Yu no acudió a nuestra ¨cita¨ , mis amigos se la han pasado a mi lado todo este tiempo y en especial Rob . Hay Rob, todavía me acuerdo cuando fuimos al lago fue algo muy gracioso
_FlashBack_
_Roberto y Yo habíamos ido a un lago que se encontraba cercas del mar y debo de admitir que es hermoso este lugar, juro que algún día llevare a mis amigas aquí para que se queden maravilladas._
_-¿Qué te parece Ai?_
_- Esta hermoso ¿Cómo lo encontraste?_
_-Lo vi por casualidad cuando hacia una caminata, anda vamos-_
_-¡Si!-_
_Estuvimos jugando en el lago, hablamos, comimos unos sándwiches que el mismo preparo y al final. . ._
_-Ai te lo digo en serio, soy muy fuerte-_
_-No te creo- dije para molestarlo_
_-Mira te lo mostrare- dice mientras agarra una piedra de gran tamaño que estaba cerca del lago_
_-Oye será mejor que tengas cuidado- _
_-No.. te-te preocupesss- dijo mientras se empezaba a tambalear de un lado a otro_
_El peso le gano por completo y eso hizo que Roberto perdiera el equilibro y cayera al agua._
_-Jajajaja que no me habías dicho que eras muy fuerte-_
_-jaja que graciosa- dijo con sarcasmo_
_Al terminar de ayudar a Rob a levantarse y salir del agua, me fue a dejar a mi casa porque ya se estaba haciendo tarde._
_Fin de FlashBlack_
Fue uno de los mejores días de mi vida, como quisiera repetirlo de nuevo_._ Roberto es un muy buen amigo y me trata muy bien a pesar de que apenas tenemos pocos días de conocernos.
Alcalde Tortimer POV
Mañana será el gran dia, será la mejor celebración que este pueblo haya tenido en todo este tiempo, solo espero que nada lo vaya a arruinar.
-Alcalde tortimer-
-¿Que pasa señorita sol?-
-Le busca una señorita llamada aura-
-Voy enseguida-
Pase a mi despacho que estaba en el ayuntamiento y ahí me encontré a una humana de pelo azul y ojos naranjas.
-Tu debes de ser la señorita aura no?-
-en efecto, y usted debe ser el alcalde de este pueblo no es asi?-
-si, dígame a que se su visita-
-necesito hablar con usted sobre los eventos del festival-
-Los eventos?- pregunte confundido
-asi es, necesito que añada un evento que yo misma eh echo-
-Depende, es bueno?-
-Demasiado pero porfavor necesito que lo ponga en la lista de eventos-
-Bien, lo pondré-
-Muchas gracias Alcalde Tortimer-
-Bueno si eso es todo, puedes retirarte-
-Si, gracias- Y asi mi invitada dejo el despacho muy feliz ¿Por qué le interesa tanto poner ese evento en la lista? ¿Qué piensa hacer? No puedo investigar asi que lo mejor seria esperar hasta mañana para verlo.
Roberto POV
Todo el dia me la he pasado de un lugar para otro buscando lo que me piden ¿Qué me ven en la cara? ¿Qué soy una mula de carga? Realmente odio trabajar todo el dia. De repente mi comunicador empieza a sonar, genial talvez me volvió a llamar para traer mas cosas de nose donde.
-¿Qué quieres ahora?- le grite enojado
-no me hables en ese tono y solo quería comunicarte que eso es todo, logre convencerlo de hacer nuestro evento asi que la segunda fase termina aqui-
-Me alegro demasiado-
-Oye recuerda que lo hacemos por una buena causa asi que no te quejes ok?-
-si mama- dije cansado
-Ahora descansa- dijo por ultimo cortando la llamada
-Bueno al menos podre descansar ahora que termine con mi labor- dije para mis adentros y con eso salte hacia un árbol y me dormí en una de sus ramas.
Continuara en la siguiente ewe
Seee ya se que salió feito pero fue lo mejor que pude hacer -3- el siguiente capitulo será el ultimo yay! :D pensaba hacerlo de 7 capis pero como ya andaba mal con la inspiración de esta pareja decidi dejarlo a 4 capis algo largos .w. espero que hayan disfrutando de este capi aunque creo que salió un poco sin chiste y esas cosas. Espero un review suyo si no es mucha molestia y con eso me despido SAYONARA!
Aura-chan fénix (mi firma ewe)
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Friendship, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 20,898 | 11,215.6 |
null | Animal Crossing 1. Entry One
Entry one - Life before the possibility
~~~ My name is Shouta. Yeah I know this is a lame way to start a journal but what else can I write in here? I've always wanted a journal, and I finally got it for my 12th birthday. But now...I have no idea what to write in it. My parents did say that this was a boring present and they thought that I would change my mind. But I didn't. So they bought me one. The most beautiful and cleanest one they could find. I told them not to look for something so grand; I mean an ordinary one could have been enough. But of course they didn't listen. And now here I am...writing in this beautiful and really, really clean journal.
It's nighttime now. And it's almost time to sleep. Some of you may think it's crazy but my parents insist on me sleeping at 8:30pm. It's really early compared to many normal kids in town. At least, that's what I heard. I never really got the chance to talk to other people. You could call me a sheltered child. Besides, that's really common in a rich kid's life is it not? Yeah, my parents are loaded. I could confidently claim to anyone that they're the richest people in the country! And I, am their only son. The kid that everyone considers lucky, being home-schooled, getting anything you want, parents that somehow never scold you and spoil you too, what else would any normal kid want? But...for me, _they're_ the lucky ones.
I'm never allowed to go outside the house. Ever. I need permission from my parents just to go outside the garden at times. Normally they shook their heads. So at times when they go out for almost the whole day, I ask my butler to let me go out. And he always does. This is why I like him a lot. At least he lets me have a little more freedom than my parents. Plus, he never tells them either about it. That's why I was really sad when they found out about it.
Apparently there was one time when my parents came earlier than expected. And to their horror, they saw me playing nearby the flowers, with my butler beside me. They didn't get mad at me. Instead, they fired my butler. And after that I never saw him again. I think the whole mansion became quieter after he left. But not to my surprise my parents didn't really care. I really miss him. And I think he misses me too. He's been with me ever since I was a baby. And he looked really sad when he was by the gate...come to think of it, when they opened it and I was alone because nobody wanted to say goodbye to him besides myself that was the first time I saw the outside world up close. It felt...for some strange reason, terrible. Like a very horrible atmosphere was shrouding around the place. And I saw my butler, whom I actually really loved a lot, go in there. I was silent after that. Whenever I was alone in the room, I would cry to myself at times because I never got over it. He felt like a real guardian to me...maybe close enough to be my father. Now...he's gone into that...place. The outside world looked so cruel. It was cruel to everyone I think. But how should I know? I've never been there all my life. And probably, never will.
Oh. Wait a sec. My maid is here to check on me...
*_Sigh_*...Alright then where was I...wow, I never knew I could get so attached to this small book. I could write anything in here! But if my parents ever read this....*_gulp_* Better not to think about it. They always say that _'this is the best for you'_ or something like that. It's just an excuse...for me anyway. I feel like it's more of torture. If only...I could actually escape....
Wait. Maybe I can. I could...I...would. That thought...I can't believe it never occurred to me before. I wonder why? Is it because I was too afraid of the consequences? Or maybe it's about my parents...or maybe...it's the fear of finally stepping out in the outside world.
My parents said I was smart. My dad's smart so I think I got it from him. So yeah I was smart. What's the use of it if I'm going to be stuck here forever? Heh. Now I finally found some good use for it. Hm...but it's still a problem how I would survive out there...well, it's not like I know totally nothing about the outside. I watch TV. And I've read a ton of books. Oops, I forgot to mention about my dad's library in the lower floor. When there's nothing to do, that's the best place to do something. I sometimes think I've read nearly every book in there. Except for the ones my dad told me I could never touch until I grew older. I never understood why he said that but I always avoided it anyway.
_*RING!* *RING!*_
Oh man...it's already time to go to sleep. But at least, this time I have something to look forward tomorrow. And it's all thanks to this journal. Who would have thought it would come to this...well, I better end this entry soon. Mom's going to be here any minute to say to me good night. I'll write more about it tomorrow. For now I need to hide it.
-G'night* Shouta 11/22 Sunday
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Please review this journal if you want to continue it. But even if you don't. I'll do it anyway :P
2. Entry Two
Entry two - Possibility Realized
~~~ Whew. It feels like forever since I wrote on it again. It's been a few days since that idea came to me. And ever since I got the idea, I think the maids have noticed how lively I suddenly got. Hope they didn't get too suspicious...Anyway for the past few days I've been researching more about the outside world. I needed to know more about it before I try to do it. And plus...I almost felt like it's just a hopeless dream. I mean seriously, running away? I highly doubt it will ever work. And if my parents find out what I was planning...I-i don't want to think about it. Even if I do try to escape, they would still track me down anyway...
Thankfully I already found a place to go to. But I kinda forgot the name though. As I remember it the whole area was surrounded by a large cliff and it was close to the ocean. Many people don't like to live there because of its isolated location. And the book said about some rumors about the inhabitants there. They said there were kind of...strange and unusual. Oh well. It doesn't really matter as long as they're kind...and generous.
I wonder when I'll try to leave...or maybe 'escape' really is the better term. Tomorrow? The day after? I already packed my backpack (and hid it somewhere that the maids would never think to look of course) with all the things that I need. Food, water, clothes, at least enough to last me until I get to where I have to go...the only thing I haven't packed yet is this journal. I might as well pack it. After all...it gave me the whole idea about this escape plan anyway.
It's almost time to sleep already? Heh. I didn't get to write as much as the last page...
Okay I've decided. I'm leaving tomorrow. I want to make sure that everything is ready. And...maybe see my parents again before they leave. It's really perfect tomorrow because they're about to leave for another business trip. I almost forgot about that. Yeah. Tomorrow. I'll leave my old life, and go towards a new one. I just hope that this is the right choice to make...
Hope it is…* Shouta 11/25
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Hm...I can't believe how short this one is...oh well. The next one I think is going to be a lot longer...:D
3. Entry Three
Entry three - The past now long ago
~~~It's been a long time since I wrote in this journal. That's because so many things have happened. I'm not in my house anymore. But in a completely and totally different place all together. Remember the place I found..? The one in with an isolated location? I found it. At least...I think I do. It does match the description on the map. Although I can't be too sure until I find a map of this small town.
I guess I better explain everything while it's still fresh in my mind. It all started the night after I wrote the second entry. As I said, my parents had a business trip to go to.
And as usual, they just told me they'll be back sooner or later and then left. That night was my chance. Since I knew the whole house pretty well, it was easy to avoid the security cameras and other things that might set off. Soon, I was already outside the house. Yeah, that part was easy. Now for the hard one, surviving outside. After I climbed over the gate, I remember just standing there, frozen. It was kinda quiet from where I was standing. But I could hear city life just around the corner. There were lights nearby and were almost everywhere. Large buildings and houses smaller than mine were in rows in all the streets. It was almost midnight and yet if you walk a little further the whole place could be as bright as the daytime.
I didn't think that a lot people would be moving around at this time. But I was dead wrong. They were everywhere. Running or walking in groups. They look like they're all grown-ups. I could barely see any kids wandering around the busy crowds. But I didn't care much about it. All I had to do was find that train station. In truth, I didn't think I was able to get there at all. That I would get lost in the crowds forever or something until my parents found out.
I was lucky though and somehow managed to get there safely. It seemed like no one cared about a boy moving around with no parents. I guess there are many more people who're out there that are as ignorant as they are. I'm not as sheltered as everyone thinks. I know at least what a train is and how it works. But I had a hard time speaking to the cashier though. That was the first time I felt seriously shy to someone. I don't remember what he said, but I think he did ask where my parents were. I just gave him a blank stare and went on. How rude of me!
When I reached the train, I suddenly realized one grave error I made. I never really checked whether that small town is even reachable by train. If not, I didn't even check which was the nearest stop. I sighed to myself. I actually thought that I was ready to go on this journey. Now what?
In truth, my memories sort of stop here. Somehow, when I got to this little town, that part was completely washed away from me. I have no recollection of it whatsoever.
Although I do remember the first pers-- err animal that found me. If you're asking why it's an animal, don't worry I was in complete disbelief myself. But I had to accept it at some point. After all, they were all surrounding me!
So there I was, lying on the beach, unconscious. Like what I said, I have no idea how I got there. Then I heard voices soon afterward.
"Mayor! Mayor! Come look! It's a human!" a small, squeaky voice came out. If I had to guess, that was a girl.
"What is it Miyu? Oh my! Quickly child, call the others. We need to help him as fast as we can!" an old gruff voice followed. Then I heard footsteps...but they got farther and farther until I could no longer hear them. The per-- animal (I'm still having a hard time adjusting...) with the gruff voice went closer to me and said: "Can you speak child?"
I recall saying yes to him, but in a really weak state I could barely get the words out of my mouth. I couldn't even open my eyes that time. It's like there was glue on them and they were stuck that way. I wanted to see the animal that was beside me, but my body didn't want to.
I heard the footsteps again. Yet this time I heard more than one. More animals came to me and first checked my body. After that, they slowly carried me and brought me somewhere inside. I blacked out at that time.
"Are you awake mister?" the voice cut through the darkness. This time I was able to open my eyes and find a girl like 4 or 5 yrs. old staring right above my face. I do remember shrieking in surprise at her, and then she added : "Hey you know it's not vewy nice to shout like that..." I quickly flushed from embarrassment. I asked her where I was. And the answer was shocking.
"You're in FweeSky town!" she screamed happily. I made a swift conclusion that this girl is really energetic. And that she can't speak properly yet.
"What kind of name is FreeSky--" that's when I realized that was the same town that I was looking at from the book. I had no idea how, but I was able to end up here. In the place I wanted to go. For once I felt lucky that day.
"So what's youw name mister? Mine's Miyu!" I told her my name of course. Now that I felt more awake, I had a better look at her. She weally (Oh man did I just use 'w' instead of 'r' ?!) a young girl. Probably a kinder gardener. She had long brown hair and bright black eyes. She wore a simple pink t-shirt with a daisy in the middle and blue shorts with small white rubber shoes.
"So Shouta, want me to show you the town?" of course I said yes. I was excited to see the town that I wanted to go to.
Okay back to the present. It's night time now and Miyu's just sleeping beside me in the other bed. I'm sleeping in her house (Yes she has her own house. Thanks to Tom Nook.) For the mean time until I could afford my own. So far, the whole town is really serene and peaceful, just like I imagined it. Yet there are very few places in here. There are only a few houses, two shops, a gate, a museum and a town hall. Not even a school in sight! I guess that's because the population's so terribly few that there was no need for a school.
Yawn~ I'm really sleepy. I'll tell you more about the town tomorrow. For now, I'm happy that I have a home that I can sleep as peacefully as I can with no worries...
-Time to sleep* Shouta 11/28
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A/N : You know honestly, I have to sleep. Really but I wanted to finish this today. So instead of writing more, me and Shouta are gonna sleep already. Don't worry. I think that I'll be able to submit Entry 4 sooner than this one. G' night!
4. Entry Four
**_Okay...fourth entry finally up! I apologize for being so lazy...but Graduation's coming up and soon it's summer vacation so I'll be even more lazy after that. To whom who love this story, if you want to remove my laziness and fight writer's block, please review...and make it something worth reading please! Any comment would help....and criticism is most welcome._**
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Entry four - The museum
~~~So another day has ended, and like I promised, I would tell you more about the town. This morning, I woke up pretty early, or so I thought. Miyu was already up and making breakfast....yes she's like..._five_ and she's making breakfast. Weird right? I'm _seven_ years older than her and I can't even do that. Must be lifestyle.
She greeted me as if I have been staying here since...forever. She's too trusting...I think. Well she is pretty young, so I can't blame her. In fact, I guess I should be grateful about that. We ate breakfast together on the table, an old brown wooden one by the looks of it. She said that she'll buy a new one soon because I'm staying with her. I told her I'll do it, but in truth she's faster at collecting bells (which I learned that it's the town's currency) than me.
After we had the meal I could remember going out and feeling the cold, crisp air on my face. I had forgotten it was almost December, wait...it's the day after tomorrow. Oh yeah.
Anyway, it hasn't started to snow yet, but it was clear winter was coming. The trees were in colors of orange and red, most of the leaves would fall on the ground also. Miyu didn't give me time to stare at them though; she pulled me to a large, white building instead. As I recall from the quick tour she gave me yesterday, this was supposed to be the museum. Actually, when she showed me around, it was already late, so we didn't get to go inside. I had a feeling she was going to pull me in there whether I would like it or not.
* * *
When we went in, I saw a big brown owl standing there like it's waiting for something exciting to happen right in front of him. Well, I think for the owl, _Miyu_ is the surprise he wants, because as soon as we entered, he greeted us like we were something special.
After some talk about the history of the museum and other stuff that I bothered not to listen to anymore, Miyu lead me into the fish exhibit. She claims that all of these fish were donated by her, though I have a hard time believing it. There were so many different kinds of them that all I could do was gape. I'm not really a big fan of fish, but still if you saw it, you would admit it's pretty amazing, especially since this little kid caught all of them.
Miyu yanked me away from one of the aquariums which had a frog in it and pulled me further back, which made me even more amazed. There were Squid, Octopi, Clown fish, Seahorse, Sea bass, even a shark, and so many others swimming in one huge tank. She said that she still doesn't have a _Coelanth_, which I told her in return that it's extinct.
"No it's not! I saw it in the ocean befowe!" I simply laughed it off and said I will believe her if she showed me the fish. She actually agreed, and even said that I could have the fish if she catches it. That took me by surprise, because I thought she was joking.
Then she dragged me to the other two exhibits, the insect and the painting one. I kept telling her I didn't really like bugs, but she insisted and hauled me in there anyway. I thought I heard Blathers (the name of the owl) say something like 'Good luck!' or something. The first part of the insect room was filled with Butterflies, which made me stand in awe again...until a _cockroach_ scuttled between my feet. I nearly screamed, but Miyu ignored the horrifying bug and just lead me to the other room filled with cicadas. The place was filled with all sorts of noises, but it didn't sound bad at all. To tell you the truth, it was okay, not as frightening as I expected, but the cockroach nearly scared me to death.
Finally she brought me to the painting exhibit, and was unexpectedly empty. Miyu said that there was this crazy fox dude that sells paintings, but most of them were fakes, so there was only a few that were actually real. I felt like punching the animal, I mean who cheats innocent people like that? Especially Miyu?
We both went downstairs to the basement of the museum and saw Bruster, the one who heads the place. He runs a cafe down here...and his coffee's pretty good, yet I couldn't really tell since it was the first time I drank coffee. Miyu was surprised about that, and asked me why. I told her that parents didn't allow kids to drink coffee because it wouldn't make them sleep, so that's why they weren't allowed. She replied : "Huh? But I drink coffee all the time and I still sleep well at night!" I wondered how an energetic kid like her could ever sleep at night even without coffee. Won't she just keep jumping around and tire herself till morning? That was just a random thought by the way, I honestly didn't mean that.
Lastly, we went upstairs from the lobby where Blathers always stays and met his little sister, Celeste. The little pink owl (Which I noticed was pretty unnatural) was in charge of the observatory in the museum. I know it's not a boyish thing to do but...you gotta admit, she's so cute...Miyu told me that when she first came here to this place, she hugged her at first sight. Well, you couldn't blame her...she's only a small child after all. Now they seem to be good friends, maybe since they're almost the same age..?
Celeste allowed us to make use of the telescope in the room. It was really cool; I never had a telescope before. That's because I never had an interest in stars either, but gazing from the telescope pretty incredible. All the twinkling stars, they were so beautiful...even though it was only sunset.
* * *
And now I'm back on the mattress which I am borrowing from one of the villagers that helped me. I think her name was...Sally? She's a brown squirrel and she was wearing a stripe blue and light green t-shirt as I remember. I gotta thank her next time after I have more money. Miyu must be dreaming about something because she seems to be mumbling about something in her sleep. Hah, that is so adorable...
FreeSky town is something I never really expected, mostly because of the talking animals, but I like it here. It has that welcoming and serene atmosphere...I hope I'm gonna stay here for as long as I live. Speaking of which, I wonder how Miyu got here in the first place..? Come to think of it, I don't even know much about Miyu...
Oh well, I'll ask tomorrow.
-The stars are so pretty...* Shouta 11/29
5. Entry Five
Well I finally got another entry up, and I hope you enjoy it!...and please click on the review button if you have time, thanks! :)
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Entry five - Dream or Reality?
~~~I wasn't able to write yesterday since Miyu dragged me to a sleepover. It was pretty unexpected actually, like it was simply planned on the spot...well, I'll just explain it myself. That's better than me rambling about something random right?
So...it started yesterday, when Miyu was about to drag (Yes drag, she does that often) me to another place until I saw one of the animals walking nearby us. As soon as she saw Miyu (or me), she rushed over to us with a big smile on her face. She looked like a nice animal, though what scared me was that she was...a zebra. It's not every day you see a zebra walking on two legs running to you with a big grin to say hi. Then again, a bunch of talking animals saved my life and I'm living in their town, so I should probably get used to it be now...or maybe not. I forgot to mention that the zebra was wearing a blue-ish shirt.
"Hey Miyu! Who's your friend?" she asked, while staring at me intently with her black eyes. Only then I realized she had small amounts of light brown hair on top of her head besides her white and black fur.
"Um...my name's Shouta." I said to the zebra.
"Oh! The newbie right? Well the name's Savannah! Nice to meet ya!"
"What's up Savannah?" Miyu asked while still gripping on my wrist. I had a feeling this was going to be a habit of hers.
"Nothin' much..." I thought at that moment that a light bulb appeared on top of her head. Meh, I must have been hallucinating. "Wanna sleepover at my house?"
"Sure!" I was surprised. _"What?"_
"Come on Shouta! It'll be fun!" she beamed.
"B-but...now? As in, right now?" then the most dreaded thing happened, Miyu_ cried_. I don't know how okay?! She just...did! Don't go blaming me..! Yet Savannah glared at me, like she was saying _'If you don't stop her...'_
I was really scared of the threat, so I agreed. In a snap, Miyu had a happy expression again, and dragged me (again) to Savannah's house. I began to suspect she cried on purpose, but I still doubt that Miyu would do such a thing...or would she?
* * *
Savannah's house wasn't that far from where we were, well actually the whole town isn't that big anyway. You can circle the whole town in a span of...around fifteen minutes. So if you were to be given an errand from Tom Nook, run to the said person's house and back again, you'll probably still have a lot of time to just doze out for three hours or maybe even more until the sun sets. In FreeSky town, free time is something you sure can waste a lot...
"Welcome to my humble abode y'all!" she said proudly. Her house wasn't that big, but it was bigger than Miyu's house. There was a large table in the middle which I think was made with some kind of wood. Chairs made of the same material were surrounding the table, and there was a sofa not far from the table as well. Beside me was a staircase leading to the second floor; most probably we're going to sleep there. The room was also filled with a bunch of other decors and such, but they didn't seem new, like the objects were sitting there for quite a while...
"You guys stay here first. I'm going to invite another guest and then we're going to have dinner 'kay?" we both nodded and soon, we were left alone in the house.
"So Miyu, what are we--" I was shocked that I was all by myself. "Miyu?! Where did you go?!"
"I'm here Shouta!" I heard a voice from upstairs, and then I sighed in relief. For a second there, I thought she left me alone in Savannah's house. I decided to see what it looks like up there since I had nothing to do. So carefully, I climbed up the wooden stairway and found myself in the second floor. The room wasn't as decorated compared to the lower floor, but it seemed comfortable. Though I noticed one small problem...
"There's only one bed here." I muttered. Miyu heard what I said, but her expression read that she didn't understand. "Miyu...don't you get it? One bed, three--soon four of us. We can't just fit on one bed. Don't tell me we're sleeping on the floor..." then surprisingly, she smiled.
"Then we'll just bring our bed here!"
"Are you kidding?! How are we gonna carry the bed all the way from your house to Savannah's?!"
"That's easy! Let's wait for Savannah to come back, and then I'll show ya!" I couldn't really think of something to counter with, so I just stayed silent. Fortunately I heard the door open a few seconds afterward and the both of us went downstairs.
"We're back y'all!" she said in a loud voice. We both greeted her, and then another animal appeared behind the zebra.
"Hi everyone." the squirrel said in a soft voice.
"Sally! You're here too!" Miyu had a big grin on her face and Sally smiled as well. Then the squirrel shifted her view to me. "Your name is...Shouta, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah...thanks for lending me the mattress."
"You're welcome." wow...a non-energetic animal, that's a first.
* * *
After that we chatted a bit while Savannah was cooking us dinner. Soon a strange smell was filling the entire house, and somehow, it makes my nose twitch. I wasn't that sure whether my nose liked it or not though.
"Um...Miyu? Do you know what she's making?" I asked.
"Curry...I think." she replied. I only tasted curry once, in one of my parent's parties back at my home. At that time all the food was entirely exotic because the honored guest came from Japan. Sadly even my butler couldn't sneak any food for me to eat, so I had to eat whatever's there at the large buffet table. And...I got curry, which was the worst mistake of my life because they made it extra spicy. I still remembered how everyone was staring at me when I screamed and ran around the whole room looking for water. Now that was embarrassing...and instead of my parents helping me out, they just told me to go to my room for the whole night! _Without dinner_! I wouldn't have made it without my butler slipping some leftovers from the party, and thankfully it wasn't curry.
"Alright I'm done!" Savannah went towards the three of us and gave us a plate filled with curry. At first, I was still hesitant, but Miyu and Sally ate it normally. I didn't want to act rude so I finally tried it.
"This taste's _awesome_!" I exclaimed. Savannah giggled, and then I blushed slightly from embarrassment. I shouldn't have said that out loud. Anyway, I still gobbled it up, and even asked for seconds. Savannah looked happy that I enjoyed her curry, while Miyu and Sally were smiling as well.
"Yum…that was the best curry I ever had!" I said. The two of us were going back to our house to get the beds. I still don't know how Miyu's gonna carry it; she said that she doesn't even need me to go along. But honestly I was a bit worried...and curious so I went with her.
"I never knew you liked curry Shouta." she responded.
"W-well...Savannah's was good, but I hate the spicy ones."
"Really? I never tried that."
"Trust me; you'll be happy you haven't."
* * *
Soon we were in front of the door of Miyu's home. The house looked normal on the outside, with white walls, a purple roof and a large brown door. Miyu quickly lead me upstairs and showed me something that I didn't really care/notice, her bag.
"So...what exactly are you going to do with that?" I asked. "Don't tell me you're going to fit the bed in there..!" I added jokingly. She grinned and went closer to her bed, and then suddenly, it shrank to a leaf.
"W-what just...?!" my mouth was gaping in shock and awe at what happened.
"All things in the house can be turned into these leaves so it'll be easier to carry!" I was still gaping. "Is it that amazing Shouta?"
"Of course! Large pieces of furniture can't just turn into a...a _leaf_! That's completely...well, unrealistic!" Miyu gasped, and then everything went silent. After that she turned the mattress I slept on into a leaf and placed them in her bag. "Then...are you saying that my friends aren't real too?" she uttered in a soft voice.
I didn't know what to say to her, that it was true? That this whole town was like a dream? That talking animals with shirts and houses supposedly don't exist? Then where does that leave me..?
Everything did feel real...I know that I am. And Miyu is real, the curry I ate that time felt real too. Which means that talking animals do exist, this town really exist in our world, but nobody knows about it...
Huh? Wait...nobody...that's...impossible. I found FreeSky's name on that book in my house. Then that means someone did visit here, and was able to find his way back. Then shouldn't there be other people here then? Why is it only Miyu?
* * *
...too many questions appeared in front of me all of a sudden. I guess I have to end it here, sorry about that...hey...I'm treating this journal like a person! Haha...that's a bit amusing. Yet maybe it'll be easier to write on this if I did talk to you like somebody instead of something.
Okay...from now on I'll call you _Tomo_ 'kay? I feel really sleepy all of a sudden so...once again I'm sorry that I wasn't able to tell you the whole story. Oh yeah...I forgot to tell you it's snowing now...winter's finally settling in huh?
-'Night Tomo...and you too Miyu* 12/1
6. Entry Six
Entry six - Catching up...
~~~Hey Tomo. I apologize again for not writing for awhile...but I seem to be finding myself falling to sleep quickly at the end of each night. Don't worry, now I feel better, and I'll tell you what I can before my eyes droop.
About the sleepover, you could say it went fine. Though the question Miyu asked burdened me for the entire time in Savannah's house. Miyu seemed to have pushed it away and really enjoyed herself. Sadly I was shoved into a lot of activities as well, so in the end, I was too tired to write on you that time when all of them slept. To be honest, I was the one who fell asleep first...
It's still snowing outside, and there was one time I tried to make a snowman. Let's just say the snowman wasn't too happy I made the head too big. Miyu had experience though so her snowman was pretty happy...and mine kept complaining. I was tempted to tell him to shut up, but it was a snowman for crying out loud! Shouting to a snowman would be weird...even though it was my first time ever building one. The weather is a bit cold...but not freezing, so Miyu and I made frequent trips outside before we went back in her house for a cup of hot chocolate.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'll probably have my own house by around next week. Since I came here unexpectedly, he didn't have time to build a house. But now...he's almost done. The raccoon's just waiting for my payment. Miyu said that he wasn't like that before; she said that before, she could stay at the house when it's done and pay later. Gee, I must be _special_ or something...
I was able to meet some of the other villagers as well. There was Chief, who was a wolf with orange fur (Which I also pointed out as unnatural...) and a white-colored snout. He also has a small patch of brown hair between his ears...why I even added that detail I had no idea. Maybe I was just bored enough to be more observant of my surroundings...wow, that's a first. Chief's personality is kinda...what's the word? _Spoiled_? Though Miyu doesn't really like his attitude amongst others, for some reason he seems to have a particular interest in me. Possibly because I told him before I came here I was a rich kid...what? He was the one who asked! I couldn't...just fake it!...should I? Well it's too late now. The other villagers will probably gossip about this later..._*sigh*_
Where was I again? Oh, right. There was this bird named Robin who...well looks like a robin. She had dark blue body feathers, a red jaw line, light blue hair and a white colored tummy. She also has a yellow colored beak. And guess what, it was Robin's birthday yesterday. The day before yesterday has been like torture because of that. Even though she didn't seem like it, she seemed lonely and kept pestering me to go to her birthday party since only Miyu and a few other _female_ (I'm emphasizing the word 'female') villagers were going. For some really strange reason, she wants a guy to go to the party, and picked me. Robin kept making random excuses about why I should go to the party, and it changes every time! There were so many I couldn't keep track of all of 'em, and that's saying something.
At some point I had to say yes, just to save myself from another long lecture and trying to run back into the house. Robin squealed after that and quickly ran back somewhere. Dunno where exactly but she'll probably tell her other friends about it. For a snobbish bird, she's actually good friends with the other female villagers...including Sally! And once again, that's saying something.
By the way, Miyu isn't watching my every move anymore. She seems to be moving around by herself more often, yet she appears randomly when I least expect it. That's just plain creepy...seriously.
The party was fine...but they enjoy using me as some kind of target for a lot of things. Mainly dress up. Gah...that was simply cruel, _cruel_ torture!! If it wasn't for Miyu, I'll probably scramble out of the house wearing a blue skirt and a yellow bow on my head!
One last thing Tomo, awhile ago I got to meet someone famous around here. His name as I recall is K.K. Slider, weird name right? He's a white dog that loves to play with the guitar and sing songs he made. Well, his singing is actually in more of melody, and strange little sounds like...well it's hard to describe honestly...how do you put it? Something like...ah let's just let it slide. But in truth his songs are really good...and original. No wonder he's popular among the animals here.
I'm getting really sleepy again. So I guess I was able to tell you more about the village right? I think I just need to sleep some more. Then I'll be able to write to you more stuff the next entry.
-_*Sigh*_...Shouta 12/5
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A/N : Sorry for making it so short. But you have to give Shouta a chance to sleep sometimes right? Cool, two updates today. A new record! Anyway, I have to sleep already or else...well consenquences. So if you enjoyed it, that's good. Please review!
7. Entry Seven
Entry seven - Fishing and Bug-catching
~~~A rod and a net. Something that I thought I would never pick up in my entire life...until I found FreeSky town. I honestly had no choice, because to make money here, I have to start catching or else I'm broke...unless I shake trees for the rest of my days...nah, that is one thing I don't want to consider. Being stuck inside a home for nearly your whole life has its ups and downs...especially doing outdoor activities.
So here I was, standing in front of the river with Miyu by my side, trying to teach me how to fish. She says it's really easy to do, and I tried it...well, it wasn't so bad, but the waiting period was so long before I got a bite. We wasted so much time there that my neck got stiff waiting, though I can say that's one way to pass time.
I don't really have any idea what I was catching in the first place until I lifted up my rod and found a fish dangling on the hook...a really tiny fish to say the least._ Very_...tiny.
"Hey! A Goldfish!" Miyu beamed. "That's a pretty rare catch Shouta!"
"Really?" the size didn't make me feel so proud, but I guess the rarity counts more than the size in fishing. Huh...you learn something new every day.
It was a boring afternoon...some animals strolling around, feeling the breeze while others are trying to catch butterflies with their medium-sized nets. I had a feeling this scene would be all too common, and the entire atmosphere was making me feel so...so...
_Bored._
"Miyu...what else do you do in FreeSky besides fishing, bug-catching and running around?" I asked, though I didn't mean to make my voice sound desperate.
"Um..." all of a sudden, I spotted something weird in the sky. It looked like...some kind of saucer?
Surprisingly, Miyu quickly stood up and grabbed an item from her bag. What she pulled up shocked me even more, a slingshot. "Don't tell me you're gonna--"
_*Thwack!*_
Before I could finish my sentence, she released the rock from the slingshot and knocked down whatever was hovering over there. I didn't know rocks could be powerful enough to take out UFOs...
Well, when we got there, I was somewhat wrong about what I said...it was a UFO...only...
"What'cha do that for sissy?" the alien was as tiny as a mouse. A _real_ mouse. The space-ship itself was big enough to throw like a frisbee. It was strange to say the least, I never thought of alien life-forms to be this...small. "I ain't _small_ boy! I'm actually tall from where I come from!" it shrieked. I gave it my best shot not to laugh at the alien. Out of the blue, Miyu nudged me, and then the alien began to talk again.
"So why ja shoot ma ship huh?" it yelled in anger...this was getting harder and harder not to burst out laughing.
"Um...we thought that you were a balloon." Miyu replied softly, I gaped, "What do you mean _we_? You were the one that shot it down!" I whispered to her, yet I wasn't sure if I was whispering it to her or myself.
"So humans shoot down helium-thingys when they see 'em? What kind of planet is this?" now the alien was just plain annoying. "Meh, I'm going home. I'll forgive ya this time, but the next--" he made a gesture as if he was going to cut our necks off. Now that won't be good. The little guy ran back to his spaceship with a broken window and closed the hatch. The machine started to float back up once more, and soon it flew so fast that after a second it was out of our sight.
"The next time you see something, think before you release, okay?" I told her, and she simply giggled in response. Oh boy....
* * *
I gradually tried my hardest to sink all the weird stuff in and pass it off as normal...though it really was hard not to question how large pieces of furniture can just shrink into tiny leaves. I finally got myself my own backpack at least, so I can start collecting more stuff without having to bring Miyu down with all of it.
The good news, I finally paid off my house and I'm now living in it, so I have the entire space for myself to customize and whatever.
The bad news is that Miyu was the one who paid for it since she knew that I wanted to have my own house pretty badly, and now I'm stuck with a debt of 18,400 bells to her. _Great_, just great. Ah well, at least I can have more time to pay her back. If only I had my parent's credit card, then I'll be able to pay it off easily...
Speaking of my parents, I wonder how their doing now? I am feeling a little home sick...but I'm still wondering if my parents are really worried about me...if they weren't, then that would break our relationship for good...
But what if they were..?
They could be sailing around the world right now for who knows how long, shouting my name over and over, with hope that I'll respond...they know that I'm smart, so if I ever get caught in some kind of desert island or something, I'll find my way out soon enough. Yet...what if they were really doing that right now..? That will seriously bring me down to tears...
Oh yeah...I never asked about Miyu's past yet either...wait, I think I did once, but she avoided the question, and I didn't pry any further. Hm...
* * *
Anyway, so at the moment, I'm sitting on my own brown desk I bought yesterday with a matching chair. I can say, it is pretty nice to write without you worrying that someone could sneak a peek right Tomo? It makes it more comforting...
I better sleep already, because tomorrow, I'm going to try to collect as much bells as I can....and try to pay Miyu back too. Oh, and maybe try to buy more furniture to make this place better...
I almost forgot to mention this new guy in town, I think his name was...Drift. He's an orange and yellow frog with brown-ish gray spots all over his body, and he always looked like a cheerful guy...or so I thought. Drift's actually a frog that loves to work out, and he always bugs me to exercise more often, to make up the time I was stuck at my house. See, I told you Chief would gossip about this sooner or later..._*sigh*_
Honestly, I better sleep...for some reason I still get drowsy easily, maybe it's because of the change of lifestyle...yeah, probably.
It slipped my mind that we really weren't alone here after all, beside me, on the desk is the Goldfish I caught today, we sold the rest to Tom Nook, but Miyu said I could keep this one. I still have no idea what to name it though...
-Mhm...* Shouta 12/6
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A/N: So...I really couldn't think of a name for the Goldfish, I could, but I thought it would be better if I let you, the readers, do it. So, when you review (please...?), you can also put up your suggestion of the name, and we'll see which one I chose in the next entry.
So yeah...I did it after I saw a certain someone's review...see? I know I'm evil enough to be lazy till someone reviews...hehe.
8. Entry Eight
Entry Eight – Homesick?
~~~Today the most surprising thing happened to me, you wanna know why? I found a bottle. But not just any bottle, it had a note in it. And what it said on the note shocked me even more.
It was a message from my _dad_.
I had no idea how it sailed all the way here, but it did. From the sea. I couldn't believe it when I read the letter, fate has a weird way of twisting people huh?
But it wasn't the letter that you would expect.
It was actually written quite a long time ago, around maybe the time when my dad would travel around the world in his sailboat. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that my dad used to be a sailor before, and owned his own boat. It's not surprising with the money he's got, but yeah...he's been in the sea more than ten times I guess.
The note contained a detailed adventure from South America or something; it was hard to read since the message seemed worn off and smudged. But his full name was still seen clearly on the paper, that's what made me gasp...but I didn't tell Miyu my relation to him. I simply told her that this was a pretty cool discovery and all which is why I was in shock. And she believed me...
For some reason, I don't really want to say much about my outside life yet, but the folks already know I'm rich, so I've been really careful with what I say to Miyu. The 'rich' thing is the only thing they probably know...at least, I hope so.
Reading the letter honestly made me a little homesick...to be honest, the only reason I left my house was because I felt lonely...and at that time, I felt mad at my parents for keeping me in every day and night...I've been thinking about the whole thing, and maybe it wasn't their fault in the first place...what if I just over exaggerated the whole problem that they leave me alone too often? They're busy, they can't help it, and because of that, I'm always alone with maids. The maids aren't much company too, so I'm pretty much by myself.
They never listen to me since they have work. They ignore me all the time because they can't spend any time with me. That's why I got mad...that's why I decided to run away. I didn't want to live alone a single second more before I thought of the idea. Now that I'm here...now that I'm away from them...
My parents must miss me...don't they Tomo?
Oh, sorry...I...suddenly just..._*sniff*_
Really...I'm crying...sorry...can...we cut this now? I...I need some time to think...
Night Tomo...and, I'm sorry for cutting this short, I really need to clear my head...you can understand that...right?
Thanks.
9. Entry Eight point Five
Entry Eight point Five - Apology
~~~S-sorry about stopping there Tomo, the guilt about leaving my parents all of a sudden hit me harder than I expected. _*sigh*_...anyway, I haven't told you the other stuff that happened to me yesterday, though I'm not sure if I can write it all because it's around 2am now...I couldn't sleep, and it took me awhile before I got myself to calm down.
Even though I might want to go back to them, I probably can't. I have no idea where I am, only that this is an island far away from...anywhere. And I don't have a boat to get out; building one is out of the question...
Come to think of it, I don't have any idea how I got here in the first place. It's like I blacked out after I saw the train in front of me, did something happen? It's so weird...
I flipped the previous pages of my journal, and noticed that there were three days that I had no idea what was going on. It couldn't be possible that I was sleeping the entire time, so...what happened?
Enough of that, I wanna talk more about the town to get my mind of it...yet my eyes are starting to droop again, I'll write as much as I can.
I met the Able Sisters today, I think I avoided the store in the first place 'cuz they already gave me some new clothes when I got here-wait, that means...someone changed me? Gah..!
Back to the topic, they said the Able Sisters were the one who got me my clothes, and I didn't thank them yet for it, so I went there yesterday. I didn't expect them to be porcupines though, and it gave me a small shock when I went in. Different kinds of clothes all in one place, I never cared much about fashion, but there were also hats, umbrellas, and other accessories. "Welcome to our store!" the blue porcupine beamed. As I remember, her name was Mable...I think. Their names are so alike I get them confused easily, though Sable doesn't talk much anyway, that's how I tell them apart. The older, brown porcupine's always at the back of the store, making some new clothes. She never seems to talk at all, unless I approach her, yet Sable would respond that I shouldn't be bothering her.
I talked more with Mable that day, though she kinda lost me at all the designs she was telling me.
_*Yawn*_...sorry, I feel really sleepy now. Gonna end this entry soon...
* * *
A/N : ...I think Shouta slept in the middle of writing this. Meh, I apologize it for being so short, think of it as a combination of this one and the previous chapter. That's the point of the 'eight point five' right? I promise that the next will be longer.
10. Entry Nine
Entry 9 - Overslept
~~~Again...I apologize for cutting it last night. One moment I was writing and the next thing I knew, it was daytime. I must have slept in, sheesh. No wonder there's a big, random line on that page. I must have accidentally let the pen let loose on the paper...
I decided to stay home today, and Miyu's just downstairs, can you believe it? She was wondering what was wrong with me since I haven't came out of the house even after noon, and when I explained I overslept (I didn't give her the reason), she just began cooking my lunch. Strange, but at least I get to avoid cooking for myself for awhile.
I still have my no named goldfish right in front of me you know, it's just so hard to consider a name for the little guy; it just swims around a lot in the fish bowl. Don't worry, I bought some fish food from Tom Nook yesterday (yes, he_ has_ fish food). I don't know where exactly he gets this kind of stuff, or even where he gets the money, but he's rich, that's the only thing I can say. He probably has the whole village eating the palm of his hand since he's the only shop in the entire area that actually sells furniture, food and all those essential stuff...except clothes. The Mable Sisters take care of that.
Oh...wait a sec. Miyu's calling me for lunch, which feels very odd. It's like she's my mother calling me down from my room...
* * *
Okay, let me start. I apologize, again for leaving you for the whole day. Ah well, it gives me more things to write to you right Tomo?
I visited the Mable Sisters again after I ate my meal with Miyu, and it was a quiet lunch, which felt really awkward. At the middle of it, I did give her around 400 bells from what I had, so I have to pay her 18,000 more. _*sigh*_
Sable seemed to have opened up a little more to me today for some reason, she told me a story about how they started, and...yeah. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them, but it's amazing how they got to survive on their own, with only each other to depend on. I probably won't last a day by myself out there in the real world; in FreeSky I'm safe but...I still wonder how I ever ended up here. The only map I could find was the map of the village itself, and when I asked Tortimer, the mayor of FreeSky town about it, he didn't respond. I don't know though whether he was simply keeping it from me or he didn't know either. I got a little suspicious about that, but he didn't budge, so I chose to ask at another time.
It's still snowing here, almost as if every day. I tried to make another snowman again, and you know what he said when I finished him?
_"Close, but not close enough brat! You don't have any talent in this don't ya?"_
You couldn't imagine how much I wanted to punch his face. Yet I didn't, simply because Miyu and a few other villagers were nearby. If I was alone, there wouldn't be a snowman there by sunset.
Chief also approached me awhile ago, and asked if we could have a fishing competition, I didn't know why he even asked, but I agreed. He said we have to catch a Barbell Steed, whoever caught it first won, and then he ran. Funny how I forgot to tell him I already caught one earlier today and I haven't sold it to him yet. I just waited a bit before finding him; you should've seen the look on his face. _Priceless_. "H-how did you get it so quickly?" those were his words to me, then he coughed up 500 bells, took the fish and left. Hah, I don't think he'll be challenging me any time soon.
Robin also came up to me not long ago, asking for...a shirt. She's claimed she was running out of shirts to wear, plus she was broke from saving up all her money to buy this really expensive furniture. I couldn't simply ignore her, so reluctantly; I gave her the extra shirt I was given by the village. Robin's face lit up after that, and paid me back with a blue wardrobe...of course in the shape of a leaf. Of course I accepted the gift and tried it back at my house, it's actually a nice piece of wood, and now it's just sitting there on the lower floor, with a Ptera right wing fossil inside of it. Yeah...again, the laws of nature have been defied again in this village. Fortunately I'm getting a little more used to it. I wouldn't be surprised anymore if you could keep twenty pieces of furniture in a single cabinet simply 'cuz they shrink into leaves. See..? You just have to face it, not deny it.
Before I got back to the house for the night, Miyu brought me to the museum again, but this time brought me to Bruster's Cafe. You know the one I told you about before with the coffee and such..? He wasn't alone in the cafe though, I saw K.K. Slider there again. I haven't totally described as to how I met the dog, but I met him here too the first time. He seems to play here every Saturday night; that's something I can add to my schedule of daily things. His songs, as I said are really original and human or not, are nice to listen to. That's my opinion anyway, and Miyu's too. She looks like she adores the dog actually.
* * *
I still miss my parents, but I can't keep bringing the past up to hinder me all the time. Someday, I will find a way to get back, but for now, I might as well enjoy this peaceful place as much as I can...
Tomo...I really need a name for my goldfish. Can I just call him _Gold_? At least he _has_ a name. Okay, let's settle with that. Unless you have a better idea. No..? Then his name would be Gold then.
-Did the fish just..._smile?_* Shouta 12/12
* * *
A/N : Yay~ an update. The entries seem to get shorter and shorter...hm...that's not good. I better think of something soon. And yeah, I didn't know what to do with that little goldfish, so I decided to name him Gold. Reminds me of Pokemon. XD
Please review~
11. Entry Ten
Entry Ten - Blizzard
~~~You know, it's surprising what you can do and find when there's a snow storm going on outside your house.
It was going on ever since I woke up. It was mercilessly pounding on my window and it was so blurry outside that if a person would have to stand a few feet from the house I was in, I wouldn't be able to see him anymore because of the blizzard. Besides, he probably wouldn't last long in the freezing cold anyway.
At the sudden realization of this, I had noticed that I would be alone the entire time until the storm dies down. Now what are you supposed to do at a situation like this?
First of all, I had to stock up the firewood for the fireplace I was able to receive from Robin. She gave it to me because she said she had this new one that looked way better, so she gave it to me as a gift. For 1,000 bells. Eesh...whoever knew she was cheap? Still, I bought it since the snow falling seemed to have doubled compared to the previous days, and I was worried that there would be no source for warmth in my house besides that little wax candle. A fireplace would have been a great addition in case something bad would happen...
And it did happen.
Fortunately I just have enough pieces of wood to last me for the rest of the day. If the blizzard were to drag any further though, I would be screwed. So I grabbed one plank at a time and placed it carefully inside the rectangular hearth. After that I found a matchbox and took out one of the matches and lit it. Soon I had a roaring fire and it made the house a whole lot warmer already. And wow...it feels nice. But there was something more troubling than the temperature in here...
That was the food supply.
I thankfully still have some pellets left for Gold, but what about me? With what I have now, I could probably only go on till early afternoon. That's definitely not good, I have to find a way to get some more food...but where? There's a dangerous snow storm going on and if were one to go out he might never come back again. That would be simply terrifying considering how small FreeSky town is. For all I know you might accidentally walk on the frozen water and wander out to sea until you realize that the next few steps would take you underwater.
"There's only one option for me now..." I thought as I turned to one of the fishes I caught and placed it in my house. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention whenever you would place a fish down, an aquarium appears out of nowhere. Again another strange thing about this town, but at least it was convenient.
The next part might disgust you, so I'll skip to the part where I finished having a carp for breakfast. (Yeah...I think Blathers had been blabbing something about how to cook one with the most minimal materials. I was able to catch some parts and worked the rest of my way there. And to think I didn't like fish...they actually taste good.)
Now that breakfast was taken care of..."What am I going to do now?" I asked even though the only other living thing there was my goldfish.
I actually wished that Miyu was here; at least she was someone I could really talk to. Well, I mean, I can talk to you Tomo but...you know, you're really just a journal. Sorry for the blunt statement.
So I spent around a couple minutes puzzling over what to do while staring at the translucent window.
The good news : I found something to do for that day.
The bad news : I had to take care of a lost individual who got caught in the storm.
It was really creepy when I first saw the silhouette. I thought at first I was hallucinating, but after blinking a few times and the figure didn't disappear, I decided to check it out. I grabbed my slightly thick dark coat that Sable gave me in case of the cold winter. The snow was terribly deep and I tried my best not to be heavy or I'll fall right in. I was able to approach the person or animal in the storm, and I was surprised that it was indeed a human.
Though, it wasn't Miyu at all. Still, she was freezing. It was really obvious that she was shaking to get herself warm. Strangely, she didn't notice me yet. Her vision must be blurry from the blizzard...and in her condition, she wouldn't last long. "H-hey..!" I shouted.
The girl looked up and her eyes gleamed when she saw me. She mouthed 'help me' as she continued to tremble. Of course I quickly went towards her and guided her back to my house as fast as I could.
When we were both inside and I closed the door, I was finally able to get a better look at her. The girl had long straight black hair, ice blue eyes and a pale skin complexion. Honestly I didn't know if that was her real skin tone or it was because of the weather. She was wearing a thick coat that reached her black boots. But even with that she still seemed freezing cold. "T-thank y-you for h-helping me..." she stuttered as her teeth lightly chattered.
Instead of responding to her gratitude, I helped her get closer to the fireplace. It looked like it helped a lot, because some of the color on her face was showing. "Stay here while I get something to eat." I told her as I headed towards my stock of food.
"A-are you sure..?" she asked in concern.
"It's no trouble. You need it more than I do." I replied. Grabbing a clean plate from the shelf, I heated some of the noodles on the stove with a pan. (Yeah, Miyu taught me how to use the kitchen equipment.) After a few minutes I handed her the plate with noodles on it and other pieces of toppings you would put on it and a fork. "It isn't much, but..." I started.
"No...it's great." she smiled. "I haven't had any decent food in quite a while."
"Really?" my curiosity got the better of me. "What were you doing out there anyway?"
"I didn't know the storm would be that bad...and my home was destroyed last night so I was looking for a place to stay." the black-haired girl muttered sadly.
"Y-your home was destroyed by the blizzard?"
"Actually, the cave nearly collapsed on me."
"_Cave_?" I repeated; confused. I had asked myself why she would be living in such a place. I mean, aren't caves normally cold, dark, and damp?
"Please don't tell anyone...but to tell you the truth, I ran away from home and I've been trying to find a place to settle in ever since..."
"R-ran away?" I suddenly thought about my situation.
"Yeah, my parents were horrible to me." she stopped and showed me her arms, which I only noticed then that they were filled with scars of different sizes. All of them looked pretty deep though. "My parents are rich, but they think that I'm a burden to them. So they treat me as a servant instead so that what they pay for my needs would be returned..." her voice was dark. "They-they love to use the whip on me...it's their favorite toy. The other servants in the house weren't that nice to me either. They think that my work is lighter than their own." I was speechless in what she was telling me.
"I was never allowed out of the house, and my room is the cellar where they keep their wine. My parents have many other rooms, but they think that it's a waste for me to claim one of them as my own." she paused and deeply sighed. "I was able to escape by chance. And I've been wandering ever since then..."
The silence crept in the house, and I was motionless. "Compared to you, my reason sounds so petty." I mumbled.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm...a runaway too. But unlike you, I ran because I felt like my parents were neglecting me and leaving me alone all the time. They always go on trips that don't seem to matter; it's like they just want to avoid me. I rarely ever see them and I'm always stuck in the house. The maids and butlers are quiet and kind though. At some point I couldn't stand it and used whatever information I knew about the world to leave. That's how I found this town...sort of." the stillness hung in the air.
"In a way, we're the same." she muttered after some time. "We both ran away from our parents."
"But I'm starting to neglect my decision..." I uttered. "I was acting selfish and...I want to go back. I want to apologize to them, but...I have no idea how I even ended up here in this place."
I only noticed at that point that I was sort-of rambling. "S-sorry I shouldn't be boring you with this kind of stuff anyway my name's Shouta what's yours?" I said really quickly. Ugh, only a couple of minutes have passed and I'm already embarrassing myself. I felt myself going red too...*sigh*
She actually laughed at me from that. "My name is Fuyu...nice to meet you Shouta."
I blushed; her voice sounded so nice and sweet that I felt like it was too good to be true.
"H-hey, your food's getting cold."
"Oh, right." she smiled. "Thank you for letting me stay here Shouta. You're really nice."
_'Oh boy, this is going to be one long day.' _I thought.
Sorry, this is getting really long...I'll cut it here for now Tomo. By the way I forgot to tell you that I have some more food now so I'm okay. Hehe, it's like I cut you in a cliffhanger or something. Anyway, I'm getting really sleepy and I'll continue when I have the time to alright?
-Night* Shouta 12/15
* * *
**A/N : **Actually I just got really lazy in writing that I cut it in to two parts. But anyway, I honestly didn't expect a girl to show up in the blizzard. It just well...came along with the story I guess.
Fuyu means 'born in winter' by the way. ;D Please Review~ and I'm sorry this took super super super long...yeah.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Family, Friendship | Fanfiction | null | 61,867 | 11,859 |
null | Animal Crossing, Anime, Books, Cartoons, Comics, Fifty Shades Trilogy, Games, Misc, Movies, Plays, TV 1. Chapter 1: Kapp'n and I
Nook's Wild World
Chapter I: Kapp'n and I
The rain patted against the cab as fast as my heart was pounding in my chest. Any big decision I have ever made in life left me with anxiety, and the decision to move to this small town wasn't exactly helping.
"Where ye headin' to?" asked a rustled voice that echoed with the tone of a pirate.
Great. I was hoping I could make this entire trip without having to speak to the green creature that occupied the front seat. I glanced at the nameplate that hung from his mirror. "Kapp'n" it read.
"I'm just heading to Heaven Hill." I responded.
"Long way to go, an' it's rainin' a fair nor'easter."
I had absolutely no idea on how to respond to that, let alone comprehend it.
"Yeah, it stinks." I sighed in agreement.
"Well, 'tis a cryin' shame, conderin' ye came all the way out here…"
Yeah mister, thanks for pointing out the obvious.
"…Gar, now, wait a moment, ye wee snappin' turtle. I never got yer name!"
Great, more awkward conversation.
"It's Minerva."
"Yar… Minerva, is it?"
_No shit, Sherlock,_ I thought.
"So, fond o' the name Minerva, are ye?"
_OH MY GOD, WILL YOU JUST PLEASE SHUT UP!_
"Yup, it's cute!" I screeched as sarcastically as possible.
"Yar, yar, that be a fine name, pure an' true. It's the perfect name fer a perfect young lass. Young Miss Minerva."
"I'M NOT A GIRL!"
"Ye gots to be foolin! Yer a lad?!"
Once again, great. Another close-minded person in the world that just happened to fall in my way.
"Nar, that be some egg on me face, no two ways about it… A thousand pardons!" Kapp'n managed to mumble embarrassingly.
_Yeah, I'd like to put SOMETHING on your face, but its not an egg, _I thought.
"So tell me, Minerva… Why are ye settin' sail fer Heavin Hill?"
"I'm moving."
"Yer at the wanderin' age… Listen, not to change the subject, Minerva, but ye don't look like ye brought too much money with ye."
By this time, the insults were really starting to get to me.
"I have enough."
"Well, so long as ye have the coin to pay this fare, I got no quarrel with ye!"
With that, the conversation just sort of dropped, and me and the curious green creature just sat in silence for awhile.
"Yar, well, have a look. There! Heaven Hill, ho! End of the line!'
Thank. God.
As soon as we pulled in, the rain started to let up. The clouds were breaking up and the sun was starting to shine onto the town that was my new home. Maybe things were going to finally look up for me. Just maybe…
2. Chapter 2: Pitiful Pelly
Chapter 2: Moving In
We arrived at the gate at the only entrance of Heaven Hill. Sure enough, the rain had subsided and the sun was blazing against the window as I stared out it. As we passed through the opening, I happened to glance at the gatekeepers and noticed something odd… very odd. They were dressed up like 2 dogs. When I saw them, it clicked in my mind that Kapp'n wasn't just a random green creature. No, in fact, he was a turtle.
"Excuse me sir," I said as I tapped on the glass window separating us.
"Why is everyone dressed like an animal?"
Kapp'n turned his head and looked at me strangely.
"Argh didn't ya know? Heaven Hill be a furry community."
Great. Just what I needed. Weirdos dressed as animals to get their kicks. Awesome.
Kapp'n drove around the small area very slowly. He had to in order to avoid the various trees that blocked the path. There didn't seem to be a road at all.
Finally, Kapp'n parked in front of the Town Hall where it seemed like my adventure in Heaven Hill was sure to begin.
I paid the fare, and walked into the Town Hall. Once again, I was face to face with another Furry. A female this time, whose name tag read "Pelly."
"Welcome, this is Heaven Hill's Town Hall."
_No shit Sherlock _I thought as she stated the obvious.
"What can I do for you today?" she asked.
_Kill me_ is what I thought of saying, but in all actuality I managed to put my sarcasm aside long enough to tell her I had just came by cab.
"Oh, you must be Minerva. Welcome! I'm Pelly the clerk. Tom Nook already told me about you."
I had done forgotten about Tom Nook. Tom Nook was the shop owner of this town and also dealt with my real estate. He was the man I had to get in touch with who owned the house I was going to help rent with other roommates. I had wondered if he also was a furry.
"So, you'll be living with Richard and Louise, is that right? They sound lovely."
"I'm sure they do."
This time, the sarcasm couldn't be held back.
"We have many residents who live all around Heaven Hill. Here is a map. Let me show you where your house is."
She pulled out the map and showed me a small house across the river that I would be staying in. The area was just north of the beach. Some good news finally.
"Do you know how to take your map out?"
_THAT IS THE ODDEST MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER BEEN ASKED. OF COURSE I KNOW HOW TO TAKE MY DAMN MAP OUT YOU STUPID WHORE._
"Yep."
"Okay then. Goodbye and please come again."
I smiled and nodded as I left the building. As I started making my way across the way to my house, I hoped that not everyone in this town was as weird and annoying as she was. Maybe, I was just being a bitch. Maybe, I should have tried being nicer to people and accepting my new life. But it was hard. After dealing with the ordeal of trying to live with my obnoxious father, I felt I deserved to be a bitch for a while. But I do admit, it didn't make anything any easier.
I made my way to the bridge that crossed the river and led to my house. I stopped for a second just to glance at the water. For such a shitty place, the water sure was pretty. I looked down and spotted a carp. I would have to go fishing sometime.
After crossing the bridge, I finally spotted my house. Whoever made the decision to paint the roof Hunter Green should be shot.
I got to the front door with my luggage, but before I could even get in the door, someone came around the corner and stopped me. It was a man dressed in a tanuki suit.
That was a day I'll never forget. That was the day that I met Tom Nook.
3. Chapter 3: Tom Nook's Kokoro
Chapter 3: Tom Nook Makes My Kokoro go Doki Doki
"Hey! Ho! You there! You are Minerva, yes? The one who's supposed to move here, hm?"
I couldn't answer. There was just something about him that caught me off guard. His bright blue eyes were piercing like the only fragment of his soul that shined through the tanuki suit that covered his body from head to toe. If only I could see more…
"Phew! I'm glad you made it in time!" he said, as I stood there, still, gazing at his eyes.
"What do you think? Your house, it feels comfortable, yes?" he asked as he turned his head towards the house.
"I… I'm not sure. I-I haven't been in-inside yet." I answered nervously, still thinking about those damn gorgeous eyes. God, I was helpless.
He turned back towards me and grinned, like he knew that he made me nervous. That cheeky, stupid, gorgeous eyed bastard!
"You'll get used to it. You'll be fine."
"I sure hope so…"
The house looked great from the outside. Whomever built it must have great craftsmanship.
"I'm the proprietor of the shop—the only one in town. I am Tom Nook!" he grinned.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Minerva… well… you already know that." I joked horribly.
_DAMMIT MINERVA, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!_
"In addition to running the shop, I'm in construction… I build and remodel homes."
"Wait, did you build this one?" I asked, astonished.
"Yes, but sadly, the loan on the house you're living in has yet to be paid off."
_Oh great. Now we're talking business._
"I know you didn't build it, but in order to stay there, I need you to pay it off."
I winced. I couldn't even get settled in my first day without having to worry about debt.
"But not alone." He said, seeing my wincing face at the thought.
"Everyone in there pitches in to help pay it."
_Well yeah, I kinda figured that out already since I know I'm not the only one staying here._
"How much is left on the house?" I asked as I squirmed just waiting for the answer.
"About 298,000 bells."
_Holy shit!_ I thought as the color started to leave my face. I started to faint, and ended up falling to the ground.
Tom grabbed me by the waist and helped me up off the ground. It was amazing how strong his arms were considering I wasn't the lightest feather in the pillow, if ya know what I mean.
"Are you okay?" he asked. He seemed really concerned. I was concerned as well, but only at the fact of how foolish I looked.
_Way to woo someone, Minerva! _I thought.
"Yea, I'm okay."
I wiped the dirt from my pants and turned towards him again, only this time I tried not to focus on those eyes.
"You know, you don't have to pay it all at once. Just gradually stop by the Town Hall and make payments on it until it's all paid off. Do you even have a job?" he asked, seeming concerned.
_OF COURSE HE'S CONCERNED! HE WANTS TO GET PAID!_
"Ummmm… I'm currently looking for a job."
I tried not to sound too pathetic.
"Hmmm… How about you come work at my store? I could use some help around the place."
"That actually… sounds good." I said. It was going to be great having a job and getting to work with this mysterious man. It gave me an opportunity to pry and to pay him off.
"Great! Come by my store tomorrow morning. I'll have your uniform ready. The place is called 'Nook's Cranny.' It's towards the north of town; you can't miss it!" he said, somehow sounding more excited than I was.
"Will do."
Tom turned and headed towards the bridge, but halfway there he turned back towards me and… wait… did he… did he just… WINK AT ME?
I had never been more excited for a job than I felt in that moment…
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Anime, Cartoons, Comics, Fifty Shades Trilogy, Games, Misc, Movies, Plays, TV, Humor, Parody | Fanfiction | null | 9,825 | 16,885.8 |
null | Animal Crossing, Ashes to Ashes 1. Chapter 1
_**Alternate Universe, in case it isn't already obvious. Characters are also not mine, as evident by the fact this is being posted on a site called FANFICTION dot net. I started writing this before series 3 had even started, but since the very premise of this story already made it AU I didn't see any point in going back and changing much.**_
**_And now that I've seen the finale, this will definately be an Alternate Series 3. So forget about everything you learned in the finale. This will be completely different._**
* * *
"Careful, Gene!" Alex shouted, reaching for her seatbelt as Gene struggled to gain traction on the icy road.
"Hold tight, Bolly. Those bastards aren't getting away that easily."
"Let's hope they crash into a light post before we do," Alex noted ruefully. She decided to take it as a good sign that Gene neither responded to her words or the click of her fastening her seat belt. It meant that he had his attention on the road. Hopefully, anyway.
How ironic was it that Chris, as well as Ray and Shaz, had had enough sense to not engage bank thieves on a high speed chase during a blizzard? Of course, the thieves weren't proving themselves overtly bright, either.
Alex glanced over at Gene to see that he had a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel. She turned her attention back to the windscreen, and immediately wished she hadn't. In front of them was an almost solid wall of white. She could just barely make out the tail lights in front of them.
"Maybe it would be safer if we went back to the bank and looked for clues as to the thieves identities there?" Alex suggested, not really expecting an answer.
"Oi, the rest of the team's got that covered Bolls. 'Sides, weather's not that bad."
"Speak for yourself," Alex muttered, but she did detect a note of uncertainty in his voice. Perhaps common sense would prevail before they would crash.
"Oh, Molly. Keep your fingers crossed for me love," Alex whispered as Gene careened around a corner,the Quattro almost flipping over in the process.
"Please Gene, can we stop now?" she asked, knowing it was probably in vain.
Gene's face gained a thoughtful expression, even as he continued to struggle to keep the Quattro going in a straight line.
"Eyes on the road, Guv!" Alex yelped as Gene breifly glanced in her direction.
"Sorry." Gene quickly turned his attention back to the road.
The wipers continued to go back and forth at full speed, to little avail. Alex found herself wondering where she'd wind up if they did crash. When Gene had accidentally shot her, she had wound up in a pseudo 2009. Would she go there again? Or would she end up somewhere else entirely? Maybe where ever Sam ended up after he had died in 1980? Sam had met his end during a jewelry blag; and now it appeared that Alex and Gene would meet a similar fate during a bank robbery.
That was something else that Alex found herself wondering about: If Gene were a real person, as evidence seemed to prove more and more, where would his mind end up going, should he wind up in Sam and Alex's positions? Did all souls travel, or were she, Summers and Sam special cases? She was not exactly eager to find out.
Beside her, Gene uttered a loud curse. "I don't see them anymore, Bolly. Do you?"
"I can't see anything, including traffic lights." Now Alex was really starting to get scared. "You don't suppose the storm knocked them out, do you?"
"Don't know."
"Now can we stop Gene? Just pull over to the shoulder." Realising that Gene was going to have a bit of difficulty finding the shoulder, she added, "At the very least, can we slow down?"
Gene nodded and shifted his foot to the break. Nothing happened. He pressed down more forcefully, and the car began to skid. A knot of panic formed in Alex's gut, rising upwards as Gene struggled to regain control. Unable to think of anything else to do, Alex closed her eyes and tried to brace herself for the impact that she knew was coming, any moment now. Through her eyelashes, she saw Gene reach for the emergency brake.
"Dammit! Hang on, Bolls!"
Without opening her eyes, Alex nodded. _Dear God, please! _she prayed.
Suddenly, something slammed into the Quattro on the driver's side, sending the vehicle flying sideways. Alex's head slammed against the passenger side window, and everything went dark.
Gusts of icy cold wind awakened her. Next to her was a continuous mournful drone that made her throbbing head hurt even worse. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. She saw that her window had been smashed, and the part of the windscreen directly in her line of vision was now covered with spiderweb like cracks. She could feel a stickiness on her face that she soon realised was blood. She then tried to move her right arm. A blinding white hot bolt of pain shot up her shoulder and seared her brain.
"Bad idea," she croaked. The droning had not ceased. Very slowly, she turned her head----and her heart nearly stopped beating altogether. Gene was slumped over the steering wheel, his entire face covered with blood.
Alex found she could move her left arm without too much difficulty, and searched for a pulse.
"Thank God," she breathed. A pulse was still there, albeit a weak and unsteady one. "Hold on, Guv."
What should she do? Stay where she was until help arrived? Would any help arrive? How would anyone see them in this storm? Attempts at moving the right side of her body made her both want to scream and vomit, the agony was so bad. But she couldn't shake the nagging fear that if she didn't go looking for help, it might not arrive in time to save Gene.
_"Mummy?"_
Alex looked up. Standing right outside her window was a little girl in a school uniform, her hair untossled by the wind.
"Molly?" Alex rasped. Though she knew it was useless, she still begged. "Help us, please."
_"Mummy," _Molly's voice rose above the wind. _"The doctors said you had a stroke, you might be paralyzed when you wake up."_
_Damn it,_ Alex silently cursed. As if she didn't have enough problems as it was.
_"I have to go now, Mummy. I'm sorry..."_
"No, Molly. Come back, please," Alex said weakly. But Molly paid no heed, vanishing into the storm.
"Now what?" Alex whimpered. "What do I do now?"
At any moment she expected to hear the voices of her 2009 doctors. But of what use would they be? For the very first time since her arrival to the eighties, Alex did not want to wake up. The doctors back home couldn't help Gene. They'd just dismiss her story as one long dream; the same way she had dismissed Sam years ago.
The car horn was still blaring. She wished Gene would wake up. She certainly knew better than to move him. Not that she was physically capable of that at the moment anyway. Besides, perhaps the horn would act as a beacon, and guide help to them. Alex was in no shape to hunt it down herself, she knew that.
"Cold ... so cold..."
Part of her longed to drift into a deep sleep, to escape the cold and the pain. But she forced herself to stay awake.
"If you can feel, you're alive," she murmured, repeating the words Sam had left on his tape. The very last words in his message. He was right. As long as she could feel the cold wind in her face and the agony in her body she could at least be certain of one thing.
"Boss! Guv!"
Was Alex hearing things? She forced herself to concentrate.
"Boss! Guv!" The cry came again. It sounded like Ray.
"Over here!" Alex called out as loudly as she could, which did not seem nearly loud enough.
A few moments later, three figures came into view. Ray, nearly slipping on the ice was first to reach the vehical, with Chris and Shaz close behind.
"Jesus Christ!" Ray called out in alarm. "Chris, radio an ambulance, and be quick about it."
"Don't fall," Alex said. They didn't need Chris injuring himself by slipping on the ice.
Shaz leaned over Ray's shoulder. "Is the Guv still alive?"
"Yes," Alex answered. "But he's hurt bad, can't get him to wake up."
"Hold on, the ambulance should be here soon."
"The storm will slow them down a bit," Ray pointed out.
"They'll get here in time, I'm sure of it," Shaz insisted.
_Wish I had your optomisim dear, _Alex thought to herself. She still wanted to sleep, but it wasn't safe yet. She needed to be in the care of the doctors in this world as well. It might be the only thing keeping her 2009 self from dying and leaving her stranded here. And there was Gene, as well. She needed to know how he was before she could rest easy.
Chris came back into view just then. Together, he and Shaz looked impossibly young. More like frightened children instead of grown coppers. It reminded her about how she had sort of adopted them, as a method of trying to fill the void caused by her separation from Molly. A temporary bandage, but helpful all the same. Chris had his arm around Shaz's shoulders, and it was clearly as much for his benefit as it was hers.
The three of them did their best to keep Alex awake, talking about old cases or whatever nonsense they could think of. At one point Chris got so desperate he started singing "Life on Mars." If she weren't in such pain and worried about Gene Alex might have laughed.
After what felt like hours, the sound of sirens filled the air. Alex's stomach resumed tying itself in knots. She and Gene would have to ride in seperate ambulances; and since she was injured as well, how long would it be before she would get word on his condition? Her eyes stung.
"Ray's going to ride with the Guv, and Chris and I will go with you," Shaz said reassuringly, moving out of the way as Alex was removed from the car and placed on the stretcher.
The Quattro was badly smashed.
_Gene's going to be crushed, _Alex thought. _That car was his baby. _She wondered what would be more expensive, buying a new car or repairing the old one. Perhaps the team could set up a fund... she'd have to remember to ask them about it later.
Trying to focus on the car did little to distract Alex from her fears for Gene and herself---in both worlds.
Was Molly's message true? Had Alex's 2009 self had a stroke? She knew she wouldn't have instantly been able to get up and run around after being shot in the head, which had been the key to her learning that the 2009 she thought she had returned to was fake. Now she was wondering just how damaged her body would be if she ever did manage to make it home. Would Evan and Molly be forced into the roles of round the clock caregivers? Would Evan hire a live in nurse, or would Alex be placed in a home?
"Don't worry, Mum, you'll be all right," Chris said softly. "And Ray will give us word about the Guv when he knows anything."
Upon their arrival at the hospital, Chris and Shaz were directed to a waiting area while Alex was taken back for tests and x-rays.
If her right arm had been unbroken before the crash, the x-ray technician was quick to fix that problem, forcing Alex's unwilling arm to move in the nessary positions for he pictures.
After all the flurry of activity had finally settled down, Alex was discovered to have a broken arm and lacerations on her face from the broken glass that required stitches. Despite her headache she miraculously did not have a concussion, but she was going to be kept in the hospital for several days for observation. The doctors would not shut up about how lucky she was.
"Your guardian angel was looking out for you tonight, deary," an elderly nurse said as she set up Alex's morphine drip.
_Yeah, that's why I had a stroke in 2009 and my best friend in 1983 is in worse shape than I am._
Chris, Shaz and Ray came into her room.
"The doctors said that they gave you something for the pain?"
Alex nodded. She was already starting to feel drowsy.
"Any word on the Guv? Don't lie!" she insisted, trying not to slur her words.
Chris and Shaz huddled close together and looked over at Ray, who had his eyes on the floor. Eons passed. Finally Ray said, "It was driver's side impact---that's why the Guv got hurt worse than you." Ray took a deep breath. "The Guv's in a coma. The doctors don't know when he'll wake up."
2. Chapter 2
_**Well, time to get started with the actual crossover part of this crossover! Characters do not belong to me. Never have, never will.**_
* * *
Gene could hear voices all around him. The team, telling him to hold on. Strangers voices talking about blood pressure, internal bleeding, and other medical jargon that sounded like complete gibberish to Gene's ears There was this niggling feeling that there should be pain-that the absence of it was a bad thing. There was something else too. Something important-some ONE important.
"Bolly," Gene said, or thought he did. He had heard the name, but he wasn't sure if his lips had moved or not. What the hell happened?
"We crashed," Gene's voice said again. But again the DCI wasn't sure if his lips had moved or not.
"Bolly?" Was she all right? Gene thought that he had heard her voice before, telling him to hold on. Was that just his imagination? Before the crash, she had tried to get him to slow down, he remembered that much. Oh, God... if she had been hurt, it would be his fault, same as the shooting had been.
Throughout all of this, Gene steadily became aware of a drumming sound that gradually increased in volume until it was almost deafening. It took Gene a few moments to realise that it was his heart-and then everything went silent.
The next sound that Gene heard was the sound of pouring rain on a car roof. Rain-not snow or hail as it had been a few moments before. He could also hear the swish-swish of the wipers, and a voice singing what sounded like a sea shanty. The voice sounded like a sailor straight out of a Hollywood movie.
"What the 'ell?" Gene wondered. What kind of ambulance was this? Since when do drivers _sing _while transporting patients?
It was then that Gene became aware of the fact that he was sitting upright, not lying down. Also, that aside from a bit of grogginess, he felt perfectly fine. Which made no sense at all for someone who had been in a crash. Gene opened his eyes, blinking several times until his vision came back into focus.
Looking around, Gene saw that he was in the backseat of a cab. Outside the windows was a solid wall of water. The rain was coming down too hard to see much of anything except some blurry trees.
"Ahoy, matey!" The cabbie yelled suddenly, causing Gene to jump back in alram.
"Don't do that!" he snapped. Gene leaned forward to get a better look at the driver and stopped. Something... something wasn't right about this bloke. In fact something was very wrong indeed. He was wearing what appeared to be some sort of animal costume. A turtle, Gene guessed. The head was two sizes too large- out of proportion with the rest of his body.
He was dark green, save for a mouth(or was that a beak? Maybe it was a parrot costume? Gene thought, confused) that was bright yellow. On top of this he wore a cabbie uniform. But what sort of cab driver wears an animal costume?
The mask was the most disturbing part: with eyes that blinked and moved about naturally in their sockets, and the mouth/beak thing that formed words perfectly whenever its owner spoke. The life like features were almost more unnerving than a rigid mask would be. It was as if the driver were an actual animal, and not a man in a costume at all. Gene shook his head, feeling like an idiot for thinking something so bizarre.
_Oi, Tyler and Bolly be good people, but their weirdo thoughts 'ave started rubbin' off on me._
Speaking off, where was Alex? For that matter, where was Gene? The last thing he clearly remembered was chasing after bank robbers in a blizzard, and then...
"Bolly! Where is she?" Gene demaned.
"Eh, matey? Who be this Bolly?" The cabbie sounded geniuenly puzzled, and his eyes(could they be his real eyes, and not part of the mask? Seemed far too huge though...) showed honesty.
"The bird who was in the car with me," Gene clairifed. "She all right?"
"Ye must've been dreaming, lad. Ain't had no other passengers but you."
Gene sat back in shock. If Alex wasn't here, did that mean he had dreamt the crash? Or maybe this was the dream-why else would he be in the back of a cab driven by a man in a turtle/parrot costume?
But everything felt so real here. He could feel the leather of the seats, and the chill of the cab's air conditionor. He rolled down his window and felt cold raindrops splash on his face.
The accident with Alex had also felt real though. So which was the dream? They couldn't both be real, there would be a huge window of missing time otherwise. As far as Gene could tell, no real time had passed at all.
"I don't believe I ever got yer name, ye sea squid," annouced the cabbie, startling Gene.
"Name's Hunt, Gene Hunt," Gene answered, too puzzled to do anything else.
"Aye, that's burly! A strong name for a strong man."
Okay... Gene thought. His driver was already queer, was he a fairy too? He wanted to demand to be let out, but outside there was only wilderness. He considered demanding to be returned to London.
"My name be Kapp'n," the cabbie introduced himself.
A take on the word 'captain'. _Figures, _Gene thought.
"Oi! Where are we going?" Gene asked. "Turn this cab around, I need to get back to London."
"We be sailing fer Animal Villiage, Gene. Your new home."
"New home?" Gene shouted. "Turn this bloody cab around right now or else..."
"Listen you urchin! It's only natural to get cold feet when moving into a new place, but once you get settled in, you should be fine."
Gene wondered if he could take the driver out. Maybe then he could turn the cab around and drive himself home. But nothing looked familiar outside. Gun point could work. He reached for his gun, and to his horror discovered that he no longer had it.
It was also at that point that Gene finally became aware that he was wearing a completely different set of clothes. He now wore a bright yellow t-shirt with a giant black paw print on it, tan shorts, and blue tennis shoes.
What on the hell was going on? Had he been drugged, put in these new clothes and smuggled off in this cab? How or when did this happen? Unless his first theory was correct and he was just dreaming all of this. Just which was it? Both Alex and Sam had made mention of something called Occman's Razor: the simplest solution is often the correct one. But Gene couldn't decide which of his theories was the simplest. Even the dream theory had its share of complications. This just felt so goddamn real.
Then again, maybe the crash really did happen, and he was in a hospital bed, high as a kite on whatever drugs it was the doctors have given him. When he woke up, he'd have to ask what they were so he could demand something different. All of this was just too weird for him.
"This is kidnapping!" Gene told Kapp'n angrily. Even if it was a dream, his request to be taken back had been denied. Kapp'n was holding him against his will. Gene was determined to have some control over this nonsense until he could wake up. Which might be awhile if he were really in the hospital. He knew the doctors would sometimes have to keep you under for several days, if you were hurt bad enough. He was also _not _looking forward to the pain he knew he'd be in once he did wake up.
"Sorry to frighten you, matey," Kapp'n said apologetically. "It's just that we're almost there already, and since you already sold your old place... Don't you remember? You weren't asleep for that long."
Maybe Gene could play along, just for a little while. Might make things speed up faster than fighting them would. And he was starting to get a little curious as to what exactly this new "home" looked like.
"Yeah, I remember," Gene lied. "Almost there you said? About how much longer will it be?"
"No more than ten, fifteen minutes tops," Kapp'n told him.
Gene settled back in his seat. The steady rain on the roof was oddly soothing. Maybe it would lull him to sleep so that he could wake up for real this time. It may have sounded nonsensical, but no more so than anything else that had happened. He closed his eyes, trying to will himself back to reality; whether that be his own bed at home or a hospital bed hooked up to an I.V. drip.
With the second option, there was the chance that Alex would be at his bedside. Then again, with the first, it would mean that he had not come drangerously close to almost killing her a second time. If the crash was real, Alex had survived it, right? She must have, he had heard her voice before, telling him to hold on. Unless he just imagined it, same as he was imagining this cab ride.
No, no way in hell. He had heard her voice, Gene told himself insistantly, unable to think so otherwise.
"Aye, we've made landfall, m'laddie," Kapp'n's voice snapped Gene from his thoughts. "An' it looks like the rain has finally let up, too."
Indeed, there was not so much as a cloud in the sky. What on earth?
Gene saw that the cab had pulled up in front of a large, one story building.
"This here be the town hall; if you have any questions, this is where you ask."
'If' he had any questions? Questions were all that he had. He stepped out of the cab to look around. There was a cobblestone plaza in front of the bulding. Just to the left was a wooden buliten board covered with paper notices. They appeared to be dry.
Behind him, Kapp'n suddenly gunned the engine. Before Gene could even turn around, the cab zoomed off into the distance.
"Oi! You bastard! You can't just leave me here! Didn't even stay long enough to pick up his tab... not that I'd have given him one."
Gene decided to go inside the town hall. Maybe there he could finally get some answers as to what was going on.
Inside, Gene saw two bank teller windows. Everything in the place appeared to be wooden, save for the dumpster to his right. Gene went to take a closer look. "Recycling bin, eh?" Gene opened it. To his disapointment, it was empty.
"Can I help you?" a female voice asked from behind him.
Gene turned to find himself face-to-face with a giant pelican. _Just another costume, like that Kapp'n bloke. _Gene told himself. Now that he was up close to such a mask, he found himself even more unnerved by how life like it appeared. There was also the fact that the voices had not been the slightest bit muffled, as they should be when wearing such masks.
Just what was with these people? First a parrot/turtle thing, and now a pelican? What was it Kapp'n called this place? Animal Village? Did that mean everyone here was dressed like an animal?
_Should've brought my Tufty costume, _Gene thought wryly. _I'd have blended right in._ Once again it seemed like he was a magnet for weirdos. Only this time, instead of the weirdos coming to him, he had gone to them.
"My name is Pelly, welcome to the town hall," the pelican said. Gene noticed that she was wearing a pink dress with a white ribbon tied around her neck in a bow.
"Name's Hunt. Came here by cab-"
"Oh! You're the one who just moved in! Tom Nook told us about you!" Pelly interrupted Gene.
"Who's this Tom Nook?" Gene asked, somewhat unerved that someone he had never heard of apparently knew about him.
"He's the one who built your house!" Pelly answered cheerfully. "You're sharing it with Sam."
"Nobody said nothing about a roommate!" Gene said. He didn't want to have to _live _with one of these weirdos!
"Don't worry, Sam's very nice. He's just a little quiet. Having a roomate is fun, you'll see."
Before Gene could say another word, Pelly put a map in his hands.
"Here, you can use this to find your house!" she said, going behind one of the bank teller windows.
Realising that he probably wasn't going to get anywhere with Pelly, Gene went back outside. He looked over the map. The homes and businesses were clearly marked. There were only two stores, Nookington's and Able Sisters.
"Nookington's? As in Tom Nook?" Gene wondered aloud. Maybe he should go there for answers, considering the bloke already knew who he was. Maybe he'd know how Gene could get out of here.
Nook was probably as crazy as Kapp'n and Pelly. Gene would have to be careful. He just hoped th bastard didn't know how to fight.
_Better keep in mind you're outnumbered in this place, _Gene told himself. A part of him still cried out that this was just a drug-induced dream, but it was already growing more difficult to believe it.
After one last glance at the map to see where "his" house was, Gene headed off to Nookington's, hoping he could finally get answers to the questions that he had.
End file.
| Animal Crossing, Ashes to Ashes, Drama, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 24,621 | 11,321.7 |
null | Animal Crossing, Austin & Ally 1. Moving to Town
**This is City Folk because, sadly, I don't have a 3DS so I haven't even seen New Leaf. Please, people! READ THIS I WORKED HARD ON THIS!**
NO ONE'S POV
"Bye, honey! I'll write to you!" Ally's mother called to her.
"Bye, Mom!" Ally walked to the bus stop, carrying nothing.
"Hello!" Ally jumped and turned around. Behind her was a blue cat with red eyes. "I'm Rover!"
"Hi, Rover," Ally said. "You surprised me."
"Sorry about that. Hey, look! The bus is here!" The bus screeched to a stop, the doors opening slowly.
Both Ally and Rover scurried onto the bus, both knowing the bus driver, Cap'n, will close the door if they don't hurry, even if he knew that they were there. The bus, surprisingly, was empty. They sat in the two front seats, across from each other.
"So, where are you going?" Rover asked curiously.
"Orchard," she replied.
"Oh, that's a nice town. I heard there were a few houses for sale. In fact, I happen to have have a map of Orchard right here with me. Here, you have it," Rover handed the map to me. It was kind of old, with writing all over it, but it was still legible.
"Thanks." Unsure if she should take his map, she said, "Are you sure I can have this? It's a pretty nice map, and it's your only one."
"Oh, don't worry about it, I'll just get another one next time I stop by Orchard," the friendly cat smiled at her. "So, do you have any money? You're gonna need it."
"No..."
The friendly cat's expression changed. "What? Are you serious? You're moving to a new town without ANY money?!" The cat calmed down a bit and smiled at her again. "Of course, if you have plans, then it's okay."
"Well, actually, I don't have any plans."
Rover showed anger in his red eyes for just a nanosecond, but then it was covered up in a huge smile. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out. What you wanna do when you get there is go to the town hall first before you do anything else. Here, I'll show you on your map." The cat pointed to an icon on the map. It was marked with a blue triangle around it.
"Okay."
"Oh, yeah, and here's my phone number, in case you have any questions later," Rover handed her a slip of paper that was torn out of a dictionary with numbers on it.
"Hey! I can't believe you tore a piece off a page in the dictionary!"
"Yeah, um," he looked at her sheepishly, a blush creeping on his face. "I didn't have anything else at the time, so I used a piece of a dictionary I had."
"Well, at least it was your own dictionary."
"Next stop! Orchard!" Cap'n said. the bus slowed to a stop, and Cap'n opened the doors slowly as Ally got up and went down the stairs.
"Call me!" Rover said as the doors closed behind her.
Ally looked around. The town wasn't much of a town. It was clear why the town was called Orchard; the town was mostly trees.
"Hi, arfer! Who are you?" Ally spun around. For the second time that day, she almost had a heart attack.
"Woah, I didn't see you there," Ally said. The one responsible for scaring her was a pink and white dog.
"Sorry. I'm Cookie, arfer," the cheerful dog introduced herself.
"Hi! Can you show me where the town hall is? I'm not very good with maps."
"Sure, arfer! Just follow me!" Cookie zoomed off. Apparently, running was the only way to get around. Ally ran off after her.
A minute later, Cookie stopped in front of a building, with Ally still puffing behind her. "Thanks... man, you run fast," Ally was breathing really hard, but Cookie was hardly breathing at all (meaning she was almost breathing normally).
"Yeah, you get used to it, arfer," Cookie laughed. "I'll see you later!" she said as she ran off in the other direction.
Ally, still panting, opened the door to the town hall and went in.
"Oh, hello! I thought you were a dog!" said a pelican behind the counter.
"Well, I did just run from the bus stop, so I'm not surprised," Ally and the pelican laughed.
"I'm Pelly, and you must be Ally," Pelly said.
"Yeah."
"Have you met anybody yet?"
"Yeah, I met Cookie... and Rover."
"Rover? Oh, yeah, he stops by from time to time, he's one of the mayor's friends. Oh, speaking of the mayor, he's asleep in the back. I'll go get him!" Pelly went to the back for a few minutes.
When Pelly came back, a grumpy-looking turtle was behind her. "This is Tortimer, the mayor," Pelly introduced.
"Who're you? And while I'm asking questions, what's your favorite animal?"
"Um... a cat?" It came out as more of a question than an answer.
"Hmph." He turned to Pelly. "I don't like this kid very much," he whispered loud enough for Ally to hear, but, being polite, she ignored it.
"Tortimer!" Pelly scolded.
"I'm Ally," Ally said, trying to keep the conversation on her, before they completely forgot about her standing there.
"Well, I need to back to my nap," Tortimer said and turned around, going back to where he was before.
"Okay, well, now that that's over, you can go and check out the houses for sale. Here, let me mark them on her map," Pelly said as she held her hand out.
Ally pulled out her map and handed it to her. She took out a purple highlighter and put four circles on the piece of paper and handed it back to her.
"Thanks!" she glanced at the map and put it away. "I'll see you later!" She went out and took the map out again. There was a house near the town hall, next to the blue, and one almost in the middle of the map. "Okay, let's check out that one first," she thought aloud.
She started walking toward it, but after a while, she started being unsure whether or not she was going the right way.
"Hello, there!" Ally jumped and spun around for the third time.
"Ohmygosh you startled me!" Ally held her chest.
It was a raccoon with a blue [insert what it's called here] tied to his waist with a leaf on it. "Sorry. My name is Tom Nook. I'm the owner of the local store and the houses for sale."
"Oh, I'm Ally. I'm looking for a house to buy."
"Well, just look for the three houses on your map, and tell me which one you want."
"Yeah... about that... I'm kind of lost..." Ally looked at Tom sheepishly.
"Well, I'll just show you the way."
When they stopped at a blue house by the water, Ally went in and looked around. It was an extremely small room with two windows, a box with a lamp on it, and a really old tape deck. There were also stairs, so ally went up. It was the attic. She coughed because of all the dust, and looked around. It was just a blue bed and a telephone.
Ally guessed that the other two houses were similar, so she decided on that one because it was next to the ocean and went back outside.
"This is the one that I want."
"Okay, then! The price is 19,800 Bells!" Tom said happily.
"What? I-I don't really have any money at all..."
"Well, that's okay! You can just work for me for a little while to pay it off! Just come to the store tomorrow around 9:00!" Tom walked off before she could say anything.
"Ugh," she went back into the house and looked around again. "Well, house, looks like you're mine now. Get used to it." Ally then realized she didn't have any furniture to unpack, so she went back outside but realized it was late and yawned.
"Well, I guess i can do stuff tomorrow," she said as she went back inside. She went back upstairs and kind of dusted off her bed and crawled into it, almost instantly falling asleep.
**Well, what do ya think? **
2. Making New Friends
**UPDATE! OMG FIRST TIME IN A CENTURY!**
STILL NOBODY'S POV
Ally awoke to the sound of.. well... nothing. She was confused because she was used to being awoken to the sound of the train by her mother's house- then she remembered. She had moved to Orchard yesterday.
She sat up onto her bed and looked at her surroundings. The attic was extremely small. She stood up and realized she hadn't gotten under the covers. It didn't really matter, though, for it was extremely hot in that tiny attic.
She clambered sleepily down the stairs, for she was still tired, and realized that she had no kitchen, which meant she had no food. Sighing, she went outside, closing the door quietly.
She started walking around, trying to find someone who was awake, and almost bumped into someone, who had been behind a house.
"OW!" they both said at the same time. Ally looked at the other person (animal). It was a white cat with red orange stripes on his face and yellow eyes. He looked really annoyed.
"Hey! What the heck, meooo-OH!" he glared at her.
"S-sorry," she stuttered.
The cat looked ready to explode, but then seemed to calm down. "Ya know what? You're lucky. You've caught me in a good mood today, meooo-OH. Who're you?"
"A-Ally?" it came out as more of a question.
"I'm Kabuki. I've lived here longer than most of the other residents. If you talk to them about me, they'll probably say I'm a horrible animal, who's cranky, selfish, etcetera, etcetera. What about you, meooo-OH?"
Ally calmed down, realizing he wasn't going to explode on her. She took a deep breath and said, "I just moved here from Elwynn yesterday, and have gotten a house. do you know where a grocery store is? I haven't eaten since yesterday morning." her stomach rumbled, proving her statement.
A thin smile formed on Kabuki's striped face. "The store isn't opened yet. Do you want to have breakfast at my house, meooo-OH? I made a bunch of pancakes, but Austin hasn't even woken up yet, so they're just getting cold sitting on my table."
"Sure!" Ally smiled at her new friend, her stomach rumbling again. She followed Kabuki who walked around the house they were standing behind to the front and he opened the door, taking a note off the door. She glanced at it in his hand, and from what she could see it was mainly capital letters and exclamation points.
They went inside, Ally closing the door behind them, and Ally could see his house was pretty neat. He had a reel-to-reel that was playing K.K. Folk, a giant dharma, and few few other pieces of furniture, including a table with two huge piles of pancakes on it.
"Have you met Austin yet, meooo-OH?" Kabuki asked, as he beckoned her to the table.
"Nope," she said, popping the P. "What is he? It sounds like he's a dog or a gorilla."
They both sat down on the mats next to a low table Indian style (1) and Kabuki said, "He's a human."
"Really?" she said, excited that she wasn't the only human.
"Yeah, he's quite obnoxious and a slob if you ask me, meooo-OH." Just as he finished his sentence, the door burst open and a blond human waltzed in.
"Kabuki? I smell pancakes!" the boy looked over at the table and didn't seem to notice Ally. He just stared adoringly at the pancakes.
"...That's Austin." Kabuki stood up and went upstairs, coming down with an almost full bottle in his hand.
Austin finally noticed Ally who was trying to suppress a giggle, and said, "Who're you?''
"I'm Ally," she said, just as Kabuki handed Austin the bottle, which looked like it had syrup in it. He put an excited face on and sat down on his knees at the table and grabbed a plate, grabbing about seven pancakes off of the stack. He drenched the whole thing with syrup. It was a miracle he didn't get any on the table.
Kabuki glared at him, but sat back down and grabbed a few pancakes. Luckily he grabbed some peanut butter from upstairs, because Austin used all of the syrup. Ally hesitantly grabbed a pancake and put it on the plate in front of her, taking the butter knife and spreading a little bit of peanut butter on it.
A minute later, when Ally was halfway finished with her pancake, Austin wiped his mouth on his sleeve, finished, and grabbed some more pancakes, soaking them in the syrup on his plate.
Kabuki was extremely annoyed, but Ally thought it was funny and kinda cute.
"So- you just moved- here?" Austin said between mouthfuls.
"Yeah."
"Cool. I've- lived here- for about- a year."
"That's cool."
Austin finished and got up. "Well, I'm leaving. See ya, Kabuki, Ally." He wiped his face with his other sleeve and opened the door, slamming it behind him.
Ally giggled. "He's funny."
Kabuki, however, was so red in the face, you could just barely see his stripes. "I hate him! He has no manners whatsoever, and thinks he can just waltz in here when I make pancakes, meooo-OH. I guess I should be used to it, though," his face paled again.
"Why so you make pancakes for him, then?" she asked.
"I don't really know. I guess it's just tradition. That's how it's been for almost a year, meooo-OH."
"Huh." She put the last piece of pancake in her mouth and stood up slowly. "Well, I should probably be going. I have a lot of work to do. Thanks for the pancakes Kabuki!" She pushed her chair in, smiling at him warmly.
She exited the house and closed the door quietly. _Well, that went well._ She took a deep breath and looked around. She had no idea where she was. That was a good sign.
She then noticed a river and decided to follow it, wondering if maybe she would find someone who was fishing that could help her.
She went upstream, on a huge hill, and found a familiar pink and white dog in a blue tartan dress holding a shovel.
"Cookie!" Ally exclaimed.
"Hi, Ally!" Cookie said and skipped over to her. She put her shovel away in her pocket. "What can I do for you, arfer?"
"I need to get to Tom Nook's store, but I'm not very good with maps and their confusing keys." She pulled out her map from her pocket.
"Sure!" she grabbed the map and pointed to a spot on it. "So you see the perpendicular blue lines, arfer?" Ally nodded. "It's the same as right over there," she glanced away from the map and pointed to the right of them, where a river intersection was. Ally looked too and nodded again. "Now, do you see that leaf right there?" she pointed to a leaf just South of the blue line. Ally nodded once again. "That's Tom Nook's store, Nooks Cranny, arfer. To get there, you're gonna have to follow-" she glanced away from the map again and pointed to the part of the river flowing West right in front of where the were facing, "- that river and eventually you'll find Nook's Cranny, arfer!" she looked up at Ally and smiled, handing the map back to her.
"Thanks! But I have another question..."
"What?" Ally thought she could see a white and blue question mark appear but thought it was just her imagination.
"Are there any more stores?"
"Yeah, there is one more: The Able Sisters'. The Able sisters, Mable and Sable, run it. They sell clothes and even let you design your own, arfer!"
"That's cool." she looked down at her old blue T shirt with a Shine Sprite on it. "I'll need some new clothes. Did you say that was the ONLY other store?"
"Yeah. To get groceries or a new hairstyle, you'll need to take the bus to the city."
"What city?"
"The city. It doesn't have a name, it's just, 'the city', arfer."
Ally glanced at her watch. It was almost nine. "Sorry, Cookie! I gotta go!" She took off South.
"Uh, Ally?"
"Yeah?" Ally stopped and glanced back.
"You're supposed to go the other way, arfer," Cookie pointed West.
"Oh, yeaaaaaaaahhhhhh..." Ally started sprinting West. Cookie chuckled. Her new friend was funny.
THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE WAS MADE ON CAROLYN'S PHONE: that is why it isn't in bold. i just wanted to get this chapter DONE so i did the rest on my horrible phone. I'm not too proud of this chapter; I rushed, because I just wanted to finally update this. Wanna know why I picked Kabuki to be Ally's friend? Kabuki and Laura Marano have the same birthday, November 29th! Wanna know why I picked Cookie to be another one of Ally's friends? I wanted to picka peppy personality character and Cookie is my favorite peppy character! Review pretty pretty please!
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| Animal Crossing, Austin & Ally, Friendship, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 15,658 | 14,287.9 |
null | Misc. Books Derap Terakhir
**Disclaimer:** Serial Supernova adalah ciptaan Dewi 'Dee' Lestari. Saya tidak mengambil keuntungan materiil apa pun dari fanfiksi ini.
**Summary: **Pada hari-hari terakhir kehidupan Kell, sang Dewi Kuda datang, memberi pelana nyaman bagi derapannya menuju kehidupan niskala yang terisap waktu. Kell dan Epona.
**Note 1: **Fanfiksi ini dibuat berdasarkan Supernova: Akar. Percobaan pertama saya dalam menulis genre Spiritual, yang mungkin agak fail karena otak saya kurang nyampe ;w;
**Note 2: **Beberapa dialog dalam fanfiksi ini ditulis berbahasa Inggris sedikit karena saya mengikuti gaya penulisan Dee dalam Supernova. Karakter-karakter dalam fanfiksi ini bukan orang Indonesia kecuali Bodhi.
_Happy reading_.
* * *
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**Derap Terakhir**
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Sebuah fanfiksi _Supernova_
Untuk tantangan Infantrum: Cinta Produk Dalam Negeri
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_Detik-detik waktu berderap bersama berputarnya Bumi, namun sesungguhnya waktu sejati tak terukur manusia, tak terangkul ruang, tak tenggelam di batas angkasa._
_Ia berderap bersama kebenaran infinit di sudut semesta._
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* * *
"Epona, kalau kamu bikin tato, kamu akan pilih gambar apa?"
"Saya nggak suka tato."
"Saya bilang _kalau_."
"Saya juga nggak suka berandai-andai."
Epona menyeringai dan meninggalkan Kell duduk sendirian di dipan kayu itu. Percakapan dengan manusia blasteran Irlandia-Mesir ini biasanya selalu ngalor-ngidul, meskipun kadang-kadang Kell bisa waras juga. Epona tidak suka membicarakan tato dan simbol-simbol, karena ia sudah tak ingin membuka pikiran-pikiran dan khayalan lamanya tentang simbol apa yang sesungguhnya selalu ia pertanyakan.
"Hei!" Kell memanggilnya.
Epona melirik Kell, yang berlari menghampirinya. Laki-laki berambut cokelat tua lebat itu—katanya—seniman tato. Tapi waktu orang-orang minta dibuatkan tato padanya, ia bilang ia hanya punya kuota 617 tato, dan kuota terakhirnya sudah dihibahkan untuk seseorang bernama Bodhi. Epona tidak habis pikir kenapa orang bisa memberi batas-batas seperti itu pada pekerjaannya sendiri.
"Kell, kenapa kamu membicarakan tato padahal kamu jelas-jelas nggak berniat menato saya?"
"_I was just asking_. Lagian, nggak menato bukan berarti nggak suka membicarakannya."
Epona melengos. Kuncir kudanya bergerak tak sabar. "Jadi, apa artinya angka 617?"
"Itu... tidak bisa saya jawab."
Saat itu senja menuju malam. Kegelapan mulai menyelimuti kamp, lampu-lampu di teras-teras mulai dinyalakan. Epona dan Kell berjalan menyeberangi halaman yang remang menuju balai, bersama anggota-anggota CMAC lain yang juga hendak ke sana untuk mengisi perut setelah melalui hari panjang yang melelahkan.
"Karena saya juga tidak tahu," Kell menambahkan. "Saya hanya merasa... ditakdirkan untuk melakukannya. Sebagai konsekuensi dari 617 tato yang ditorehkan bersamaan di tubuh saya."
"Kamu menganggap segala hal itu mistis."
"Memangnya tidak?"
"Buat saya tidak," sahut Epona ringan. "Pekerjaan saya adalah penjinak ranjau. Kamu pikir saya bisa mengkuota jumlah ranjau yang harus saya tangani? Sekian ribu meter persegi, lalu berhenti?"
"_What I'm talking about is, the journey itself_. Semua hal di kehidupan fana ini akan ada ujungnya. Saya hanya menggenapinya. Hidup sebelum bertemu kematian itu sendiri."
Ini dia.
Topik yang sedari tadi dihindari Epona. Namun sudah dibawa-bawa oleh Kell.
Langkahnya terhenti di tengah temaram lampu. Orang-orang di jalan itu sudah mulai lenyap, semuanya sudah berkumpul di balai. Namun Epona berbalik menghadapi Kell. Wajah mereka membentuk garis lurus antara pohon perdu di kejauhan dan tiang rumah di belakang Epona.
"_You really wanna know?_" tanyanya datar, nyaris membentak.
Kell tampak kaget melihat perubahan ekspresi Epona yang mendadak. "Ya, kalau nggak keberatan."
"Kalau saya bertato, maka gambarnya adalah _skull and crossbones_."
Sejenak keheningan melanda dua manusia itu. Keheningan yang rasanya seabad. Epona belum pernah berbicara sedekat dan sedalam ini dengan siapa pun selama dia menjejakkan kaki di tanah beranjau Kamboja, dan tidak juga pernah ia berbagi rahasia ini kepada makhluk mana pun. Ya, ini rahasia. Ia tak pernah menceritakan perihal simbol itu dengan teman-teman terakrabnya sekalipun.
Akhirnya, Kell tergelak.
Epona menyipitkan mata. "Saya tahu kamu mau bilang apa. Menurut kamu _skull and crossbones_ adalah simbol umum, nggak kreatif, sudah dipakai sejuta umat. _Mainstream_. Superfisial. Ikut-ikutan tren."
Tawa Kell langsung terhenti. Memang benar, separo alasan tertawanya adalah hal-hal yang disebutkan Epona.
"Jadi, memangnya apa makna simbol itu bagimu?" tanya Kell dengan nada meminta maaf.
"Kematian. Dan, ya, seperti kamu, saya juga sadar penuh bahwa saya sedang menuju kematian."
.
.
.
Laki-laki bernama Bodhi itu muncul di Pailin keesokan harinya, awalnya diselamatkan Epona dari padang ranjau, dan setelah dibawa ke kamp, terkejutlah ia karena ternyata ia adalah si Bodhi yang selama ini disebut-sebut Kell sebagai temannya. Rupanya ia melakukan perjalanan keliling Thailand-Laos-Kamboja untuk mencari Kell seorang, tanpa petunjuk, tanpa peta, tanpa uang, tanpa keahlian bahasa lokal. Hanya mengandalkan kaki, intuisi, dan jari telunjuk.
"Kamu beruntung. Sungguh-sungguh beruntung," gumam Epona padanya. _Kalau tidak bisa dibilang sangat bodoh_, ia menambahkan dalam hati.
Bodhi hanya tersenyum kecil. "Saya tahu saya akan menemukan Kell. Saya hanya mengikuti ke mana takdir membawa saya."
Takdir, takdir, takdir. Kell dan Bodhi rupanya isi kepalanya sama. Percaya takdir, hal-hal mistis, ritual-ritual aneh, dan selalu berhitung. Pantas mereka akrab. Kalau Kell bukan orang yang sangat dibutuhkan di kamp, pastilah ia dan Bodhi sudah diusir dari sana. Orang awam tak berguna sama sekali di tengah para penjinak ranjau profesional, hanya bisa jadi beban.
Epona tak banyak mengobrol dengan Bodhi, namun setelah laki-laki itu muncul, Kell jadi aneh.
"Saya tahu saatnya sudah dekat," begitu kata Kell tiba-tiba, suatu hari, ketika mereka pulang dari sebuah desa sekitar lima kilometer dari kamp. "Sudah hampir."
"Hampir apanya?" tanya Epona, mengerutkan kening.
"Hampir pergi dari sini."
Dari nada, intonasi, dan kejanggalan suara Kell, Epona tahu ia bukan sedang membicarakan 'pergi dari kamp CMAC' atau 'pergi dari Kamboja'. Melainkan...
"Bagaimana kamu bisa tahu?" Bibir Epona mengerucut. "Kamu kelihatan sehat-sehat saja."
Kell mengangguk. "Justru itu. Persis seperti yang saya inginkan. Pergi dari sini selagi tubuh masih sehat, otak belum pikun, tulang-tulang masih kuat. Meninggal karena penyakit kronis atau usia tua bukanlah pilihan saya."
Epona tak tahan lagi.
Ia menarik napas dalam-dalam, lalu menyemburnya. "Kamu tahu, Kell? Kamu itu sinting. Kamu nggak akan pernah tahu kapan kamu mati. Dan kenapa kamu begitu berkonsentrasi pada kematian? _The purpose of life is the life itself_. Kamu nggak bisa berbahagia kalau seperti ini terus."
"Pernahkah kamu menghitung lamanya hidup?" Kell balas bertanya. "Berapa sih rata-ratanya? 60? 70 tahun? Kamu tahu _afterlife_ itu berapa lama durasinya? Triliunan kali lebih lama daripada 70 tahunmu yang berharga itu. Dan saya akan dengan senang hati menyambut waktu infinit itu."
"Bukankah kualitas _afterlife_-mu dipengaruhi oleh kelakuanmu di dunia fana?"
"Saya yakin tak ada yang tahu soal itu," Kell mengangkat bahu. "Petunjuk yang kita miliki mengenainya tak pasti, beragam, sangat kabur."
"Tidakkah agama mengajarkannya padamu?"
"Epona, saya adalah satu di antara orang-orang yang tidak ingin membatasi diri dengan agama, mantra-mantra, peraturan yang katanya ilahiah namun sebetulnya berbasis kultural setempat, dibuat ribuan tahun lalu dan tak mengikuti pergeseran nilai zaman," sahut Kell pelan. "Kalau saya percaya adanya Tuhan, saya ingin mengenal-Nya dengan cara saya sendiri, terlepas dari jumlah ayat yang harus saya baca atau lamanya saya bermeditasi. Saya akan mencoba meraih-Nya dalam setiap liter napas yang bergumul di paru-paru saya, sedekat dan seintim yang bisa saya upayakan."
"Dan apakah kamu percaya?" tanya Epona.
Kell menghela napas. "_If God exists, He will know that there are limits to human understanding_*****_. _Kita takkan bisa memahami hal itu."
"Jadi, kamu agnostik?"
"Saya nggak suka menamai diri saya macam-macam."
Epona diam berpikir. "Bagi saya, kematian dan Tuhan itu selalu jadi misteri besar. Saya selalu bertanya-tanya mengenai hal itu sejak kecil. Saat remaja, saya hampir dimasukkan ke _mental hospital_ karena tak henti-hentinya berbicara tentang kematian. Kemudian seorang teman berkata: kalau saya malah berfokus pada kematian, dan menjadi gila karenanya, bukankah hidup saya akan tersia-sia? Untuk apa hidup kalau tidak hidup dengan sebenar-benarnya, sehidup-hidupnya?"
Kell mengangguk. "_Well said_."
"Sejak itu saya tak ingin lagi memikirkan topik itu. Saya memilih untuk menjalani hidup bersama api semangat yang tak boleh dipadamkan oleh siapa pun, tidak melakukan hal-hal yang diharapkan orang lain untuk saya lakukan. Mereka ingin saya berkuliah di tempat A, bekerja di kantor B, menikah dengan Mr C, dan seterusnya, dan seterusnya. Tapi saya sudah meninggalkan semua itu. Saya hanya melakukan hal-hal yang sesuai dorongan hati nurani."
"Apakah itu artinya kamu nggak mau menikah?" tanya Kell, matanya melirik Epona sedikit, suaranya dibuat sewajar mungkin.
"Bukan begitu. Saya hanya nggak suka pada standar masyarakat yang _katanya_ normal, keharusan untuk begini-begitu, menghadapi keluarga dan teman-teman suami yang melirik sinis _because they think the groom should get a better wife_. Saya ingin mencintai dengan sederhana, tulus tanpa perlu menjilat mertua, menjalani hari bersama orang itu tanpa diatur dalam kitab tak kasatmata. Rupanya hal seperti itu nggak ada di dunia ini."
"Jadi, kamu memilih untuk pergi ke Timur Jauh dan tidur bersama ranjau."
Epona tersenyum sekilas. "Pekerjaan ini membuat saya tenang, karena setiap detiknya saya berada begitu dekat dengan kematian. Percayalah, kalau setiap hari kamu melihat orang bersimbah darah, menuju sakaratul maut, kamu akan semakin menyadari bahwa kamu sebenarnya nggak sendirian."
"Entah ke mana kita akan pergi kelak," simpul Kell. "Yang jelas, kita semua pergi bersama-sama."
Kell akhirnya pamit tidur, dan menghilang di balik pintu kamarnya yang mengayun-ayun karena hembusan angin malam. Epona berlalu menuju kamarnya sendiri, merasa kepalanya jadi lebih ringan karena sudah membicarakan hal-hal yang selalu dipikirkannya sendiri selama bertahun-tahun. Selama kepalanya berdenyut, Epona bertanya-tanya sendiri, nanti setelah manusia sudah tidak punya tubuh lagi, tidak punya otak lagi, akankah mereka bisa memahami segala ilmu ciptaan otak manusia, mulai dari yang superfisial sampai filosofis? Bisakah jiwa tanpa tubuh itu berpikir tentang konsep ketuhanan dan _afterlife_?
Hari itu, barulah Epona menyadari, bahwa meskipun Kell tak punya agama dan nyaris tak meyakini keberadaan Tuhan, ia adalah salah satu orang paling religius yang pernah Epona kenal.
.
.
.
Dalam legenda Celtic Kuno, dewi Epona adalah dewi berwujud kuda yang bertugas mengantarkan jiwa-jiwa mortal ke alam barzakh. Sang mediator. Ironis memang, karena memang namanya sendirilah yang membuat Epona selalu penasaran akan kematian sejak masih kanak-kanak. Dia bukan anak kecil terganggu jiwa yang mengalami stres pascatrauma karena kematian anggota keluarga. Lingkungan dan hubungan sosialnya baik-baik saja, namun letak masalahnya yang sebenarnya adalah otaknya sendiri.
Terlalu padat. Terlalu cepat berdesing. Terlalu penuh pertanyaan.
Sekarang, setelah Epona mulai kembali memunculkan masalah itu ke permukaan, ia seperti dihadapkan langsung kepada tugas dewi Epona yang sesungguhnya. Sebagai pengantar. Mediator. Antara dua alam berbeda dimensi yang satunya jelas dan satunya abstrak.
Siang itu, dalam perjalanan menuju Battambang, saat semua orang tenang-tenang di pinggir jalan, terdengar ledakan keras yang membuat kuping Epona berdengung beberapa menit. Inderanya yang sudah terlatih langsung mengenali bunyi itu dalam sepersekian detik, sementara semua orang refleks meloncat sambil menutupi kepala.
_Ranjau_, pikir mereka semua segera. _Lahan ini penuh ranjau. Meledak beruntun seperti petasan jahat_.
Tiba-tiba suara lain menghantam telinganya, namun bukan suara ledakan. Melainkan jeritan manusia. Keras sekali.
"KELL! _KELL!_"
Mata Epona bergulir cepat dalam ketakutan, menoleh ke arah pandangan Bodhi, yang tengah berlari gamang terguncang. Dan dilihat olehnya—di tengah-tengah padang—sesosok manusia, beroles darah, terbaring.
Kell.
"BODHI!" pekik Epona. "_STOP!_"
Ia menyambar lengan Bodhi, yang sudah kelihatan seperti kerasukan arwah pelari Olimpiade. Khieu Tang menyambar pinggang Bodhi dari belakang. Neang Ry ikut melompat menghalangi Bodhi, sambil berteriak, "_You can't go there!_"
Bodhi berteriak-teriak tak jelas, kakinya menendang-nendang ke udara sementara Epona dan yang lain berusaha menahannya tetap di pinggir jalan. Namun, selagi laki-laki itu memekik nyaring menyayat hati, rasanya Epona tak tega untuk menahan dia lebih lama lagi. Kell adalah sahabat Bodhi, dan sekarang sudah menjadi sahabat Epona juga.
Namun SOP tetap SOP. Tidak ada yang boleh mendekati wilayah ledakan ranjau setelah detektor menyatakan bahwa wilayah itu bersih.
"Sejam?" jerit Bodhi dengan suara memilukan. "Dia pasti sudah mati kehabisan darah! _The man lost his two legs! Those are big, big, open wounds!_"
Epona memilih untuk menulikan telinganya dan menghindari memandang padang. Di kejauhan, tubuh Kell terlihat, terhalang sesemakan namun jelas tampak, bergelimang darah, kepalanya masih bergerak-gerak, menunjukkan bahwa ia masih hidup, meskipun hanya sekadarnya.
Pemikiran itu membuat Epona merasa hancur lebur.
Dia ada di sini, dan Kell hanya berjarak dua puluh meter darinya, dipisahkan oleh rangkaian ranjau dan detektor tak berfungsi. Secepat mungkin, Epona merakit detektor darurat bersama anggota timnya yang lain, namun kecepatan tangannya takkan bisa menyamai kecepatan tangan Tuhan, kalau memang Ia ada, untuk merenggut lepas nyawa Kell. Dalam sekejap, Kell akan kehilangan berliter-liter darah, otaknya akan kehabisan oksigen, dan sel-sel sarafnya mati. Lalu jantungnya berhenti berdetak.
Ia memaksa dirinya untuk tenang. Epona sudah mengalami hal seperti ini berkali-kali, dan dirinya sangat terlatih. Namun kenapa, saat ini, kakinya bergetar, otot-ototnya lemas? Sebuah firasat aneh yang tak menyenangkan melandanya.
Tiba-tiba saja Bodhi berseru, "Dia sadar! Dia sadar!"
Dan Epona memaksa lehernya menoleh.
Pengalamannya bertemu dengan orang-orang bersimbah darah telah membuat Epona hapal segala macam ekspresi manusia menjelang ajalnya. Ada yang tampak ketakutan, kesakitan, ada juga yang datar saja dan tak bisa ketahuan sudah mati atau belum. Dan saat ini Kell sedang tersenyum. Betul-betul tersenyum, ke arah mereka, di pinggir jalan. Lebih tepatnya ke arah Bodhi.
Dan apa itu, suara kecil aneh di sudut otak Epona?
"_It's time_," bisik suara itu. "_You walked me to this exact time and place._"
Kell masih tersenyum di ujung sana.
Kepala Epona serasa berputar, namun ia bukannya pingsan. Ia hanya merasa dirinya dipaksa kembali ke masa lalu, masa kanak-kanaknya, ketika ia melihat lukisan-lukisan dan berbagai ukiran berwujud wanita bertudung naik kuda. Epona, sang dewi yang mewakili spesies kuda, keledai, dan bagal. Dalam benaknya, dilihatnya kuda itu berderap cepat, ketukan kaki-kakinya berirama cantik dan kuat. Dan yang terpenting, bersama larinya kuda itu, ikutlah sejumlah sosok kabur.
Jiwa-jiwa. Yang diseret pergi dari bumi. Dicerabut paksa dari jasad.
"_What is death?_" ia pernah bertanya. "Adakah bedanya hidup di sini dan hidup di sana?"
Sebelum Epona sempat menyadarinya, tahu-tahu ia sudah duduk di punggung kuda, tubuhnya berguncang mengikuti harmoni geraknya. Ia juga baru melihat bahwa ia tak sendirian di sana, melainkan menyeret sesosok jiwa berkabut lain, yang tersenyum dalam remang-remang.
"Kell..."
"Sudah sampai, Epona. Sudah sampai. Tinggal satu hal lagi..."
Dan secepat munculnya, bayangan itu seketika lenyap seperti balon yang meletus. Dalam sekejap musnah. Epona kembali berada di Battambang, berkeringat dingin, dan telinganya dibanjiri suara kelontangan alat-alat Neang. Kembali ditatapnya senyum Kell dari kejauhan.
"_He's dying_," kata Khieu Tang tanpa diduga. "Mr Kell pasti sedang melihat malaikat maut."
Tidak, pikir Epona bingung. Ada satu hal lagi yang belum terjadi, yang sedang ditunggu-tunggu Kell. Entah apa, dia tak tahu. Namun Bodhi menjawabkan pertanyaan itu baginya.
"_He's not dying, because he can't die. Not yet,_" geram Bodhi. "Apakah kalian punya _power unit_?"
Kebingungan lain menerpa Epona ketika Bodhi melesat ke karung persediaan alat elektronik dan mengambil alat-alat yang tak mereka butuhkan untuk merakit detektor. Ia juga menyeret koper merah anggur yang rupanya berisi... tinta? Dan ia membongkar kotak P3K untuk mengambil... jarum suntik? Lalu apa pula itu, alat logam aneh yang seperti... bor?
Sebelum ada yang sempat protes, Bodhi sudah melangkah panjang-panjang.
Langsung ke padang.
Maka merekalah saksi atas seorang laki-laki asing yang tak kenal ranjau rupanya bisa melompat-lompat di antara rerumputan dan reruntuhan, menghindari bahan-bahan peledak yang tertanam di tanah itu seolah mereka kasatmata. Bodhi bergerak ringan seperti angin dan cepat seperti petir, mengandalkan otot-ototnya untuk menjadi detektor ranjau alamiah. Dalam sekejap, ia tiba di tempat Kell terbaring.
Neang menganga. "Manusia satu itu... dia adalah..."
"...mukjizat?" usul Khieu Tang.
"...cahaya terang dalam penelitian detektor hidup," sambung Neang sungguh-sungguh.
_Epona_, ia berbisik pada dirinya sendiri, _akankah sekarang kau meragukan hal-hal yang mistis dan ajaib? Menganggap semua itu mitos? Di sini, di depan matamu, laki-laki botak itu membelah lautan ranjau seperti Musa dari Asia yang bertongkat bor... _
"Apa yang si Bodhi lakukan di sana?"
Ini adalah pemandangan paling tidak lazim yang pernah dilihat Epona seumur hidupnya. Bodhi berlutut di sisi Kell, mengeluarkan alat-alatnya dan memasang semuanya secepat kilat. Kemudian Epona akhirnya mengenali peralatan itu.
Peralatan membuat tato.
"Dia... mau ngapain?" seru Khieu Tang.
"Melunasi utang," jawab Epona akhirnya, setelah terdiam lama. "Dan mempercepat prosesnya pergi."
Dan di depan mata mereka, bor itu mendesing tajam.
Apakah arti dari tatapan mata Kell selama ini? Sejak pertama kali Epona bertemu dengannya, Kell berbeda. Ia berteman dengan tulus, membantu dengan sungguh-sungguh. Ia sangat berniat untuk bekerja bersama CMAC, menjadi penerjemah sudah cukup. Namun, Epona merasa cukup yakin bahwa ada sesuatu di dalam benak pria itu, sesuatu yang ia tak sampaikan, atau belum. Makna dari setiap lengkung bibir dan kedip mata. Setiap malam yang dihabiskan untuk berbicara atau memuji.
Apakah—dan bolehkah Epona menuduh dengan naif—Kell menyukai_nya_?
Desing alat tato menyatu dalam hening udara. Tubuh Kell, yang seluruhnya ditutupi tato hitam rumit, kini tampak lebih diam, meskipun sekilas ia masih bergerak. Bodhi tampak berkonsentrasi dengan pekerjaannya.
.
_When a man knows God, he is free: _
_his sorrows have an end,_
_and birth and death are no more._
.
Masihkah Epona tidak memercayai takdir?
Kell benar. Waktunya sudah tiba. Dan Bodhi menepati janji untuk menggenapi 618 jumlah tato itu sebelum Kell meninggalkan fisik penuh tintanya. Suatu hal yang kelihatan begitu kecil dan tak berarti, segurat tato dalam helaian panjang sejarah kehidupan. Namun ia ada di sini untuk melengkapi takdir.
Mereka berdua bercakap-cakap di tengah padang, seperti tak terjadi apa-apa. Padahal yang satu sedang sekarat, dan yang satu berkonsentrasi pada lukisannya di kanvas rapuh itu.
.
_When in inner union _
_he is beyond the world of the body,_
_then the third world, _
_the world of the Spirit, is found_
_where the power of the All is._
.
"Apakah saya perhentian terakhirmu?" ia berbisik sendiri.
Epona menggigit bibirnya. Dialah sang pengantar. Ia yang membawa mobil itu sampai ke sini. Ia yang menemukan Kell saat hendak terbang ke Pochentong dulu. Kalau Kell tidak berjumpa dengannya, ia tak tahu apakah perjalanan laki-laki itu akan berakhir di sini juga atau tidak. Apakah ia akan mati sekarang atau tidak.
"_And do you believe_?" Pertanyaan itu mencelat lewat seperti tonjolan biji _staples_ dalam otaknya.
Yang jelas, ia percaya pada energi hangat yang tengah melingkupinya saat ini, ketika ia dihadapkan pada fakta bahwa ia adalah mediator bagi jiwa unik itu menuju dunia antah-berantah.
Dan bahwa jiwa itu sedang melayang pergi.
.
_And man has all: _
_for he is one with the One._******
.
Bodhi sudah selesai menato.
Kell diam tak bergerak.
Epona bahkan tak bisa menangis. Tak bisa berbicara. Ia hanya diam mematung, memandangi jasad kaku di kejauhan, sementara Bodhi berjalan kembali dengan wajah kosong. Tak ada yang bertanya, tak ada yang berkomentar. Neang berhasil menyelesaikan detektornya setengah jam kemudian, dan mereka menjemput mayat yang sudah dingin itu.
Perjalanan pulang ke kamp lebih sunyi lagi. Namun sempat, sekali, Khieu Tang mencetuskan pertanyaan yang entah diilhami dari mana.
"Bodhi, tadi kamu menggambar apa?"
Bodhi hanya mengerjap sekali.
"_Om_," jawabnya singkat. "Karena hanya itu yang saya tahu."
.
.
.
"Simbol _skull and crossbones_ itu, bagi saya, nggak cuma tentang kematian."
"Apa, dong? Bajak laut?" celetuk Michael.
Epona mendengus tertawa. "_Can be_. Jadi bajak laut akan sangat mengasyikkan. Jalan-jalan keliling samudera, berkunjung ke segala negeri, persis _backpacker_ bebas." Setelah ia mengucapkan kalimat itu, wajahnya jadi temaram kembali. Membicarakan perjalanan dan petualangan mengingatkannya pada dua _backpacker_ terunik yang pernah dikenalnya, yang salah satunya telah meninggal dunia dalam usahanya untuk memenuhi takdir.
Michael Simone menggenggam jari-jari Epona untuk menenteramkannya. "Jadi, kalau begitu, apa makna simbol itu bagimu?"
"Kesamaan antarmanusia."
Michael mengangkat alisnya tanda tak mengerti. Epona menggulung lengan kemejanya dan memperlihatkan tato hitam tegas bergambar sebuah tengkorak dan dua tulang bersilang di sana. Tato yang didapatkannya baru-baru ini, setelah ia meninggalkan Kamboja.
"Kalau kamu lihat tengkorak ini, bisakah kamu menyimpulkan apakah si tengkorak ini pria atau wanita? Cina atau Arab? Berkulit kuning atau sawo matang? Seandainya kita semua memandang satu sama lain secara sama, maka mungkin akan lebih sedikit terjadi perang. Tapi manusia telah mengkotak-kotakkan kaumnya sendiri, berdasarkan geografi, gen, sampai agama, kultur, dan ideologi."
"_I understand_," kata Michael. "Jadi kamu itu selain feminis, juga pluralis?"
Sejenak terpikir oleh Epona segala yang telah ia alami dan hadapi. Detik demi detik yang telah ia gali sepenuhnya agar ia bisa hidup sebenar-benarnya, sehidup-hidupnya, menikmatinya dan mengerahkan kekuatan terbaiknya. Ia telah melihat banyak orang, dalam berbagai karakteristik dan jalan pikir. Kembali ditatapnya simbol tengkorak itu, dan berpikir bahwa semua orang adalah sama. Tidak ada batas. Tidak ada kotak-kotak.
Epona memberi Michael tatapan penuh arti.
"Saya nggak suka menamai diri saya macam-macam."
Dibiarkannya pikirannya melanglang buana sebelum ia jatuh tertidur di mobil itu. _Selamat jalan, Kell_, benaknya mendesah. _Jikalau nanti telah kukuak misteri itu, maka itu berarti kita sudah berada di dunia yang sama._
Ia tersenyum. Kematian tak pernah jauh, namun itu pulalah yang membuat hidup berarti.
Terlalu berarti.
* * *
.
**END**
.
* * *
*****) Paulo Coelho, dalam _Veronika Decides to Die_
******) Tercantum dalam Shvetashvatara Upanishad, kitab Weda
**Note**: Sumpah karakterisasi Epona itu ngarang pol, endingnya yang akhirnya sama Michael juga hanya perkiraan saya (karena di buku memang mereka saling naksir). Berhubung dia hanya nongol dikit, saya berusaha menciptakan karakter yang cocok dengan dirinya yang tegas dan tahan banting, dan menurut saya kira-kira dia seperti itu. Silakan cincang saya kalau ada yang OOC ;;w;;
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Spiritual | Fanfiction | null | 24,168 | 11,078.9 |
null | Misc. Books What Not to do on the Beach
"_Let's go to the beach!" Hermione suggested. Draco and she were bored out of their minds after they'd dropped Chara at platform nine and three-quarters. Hermione had acquiesced to Draco's request to follow the Black Family tradition of naming their daughter after a star. Draco was always closer to his mother than his father. Thus, as the Black family line had died with Sirius, he used the Black tradition to name children after stars. In this case, Chara meant "Joy", And she certainly was._
Draco had certainly mellowed out since Hogwarts.
"What is this?" Draco almost shrieked as he saw the half-naked girls, supposedly praying to the sun upside down with their arms and legs spread out a bit.
"They are tanning, Draco. Not everyone likes to have a pale complexion like you do; it's weird to be pale when you live in a place where it's almost always sunny."
Hermione was exasperated. She should have realised, Draco hadn't lived in the Muggle World, OBVIOUSLY. So he wouldn't have known that fashion had changed rapidly and the difference was quite visible in the 40's swimsuits and the suits of nowadays. Back then, a bathing suit was more like a short dress than two shell-shaped and one vertical piece of cloth and four pieces of string. And now she realised why Draco was worried.
**September 1996**
_The Slytherins were not back-stabbers. Nor were they tattle-tales. This was proved when they found out that the gooey mess stuck to the train after the fifth year of the '91 batch did not include Draco Malfoy in it. After further research in the shadows, they realised that Malfoy Sr. was a spy along with Snape of which the latter they already knew. They could have found eternal glory by presenting the blood-traitor to the Dark Lord. But decided they'd rather not waste pure blood as that would defeat all what they lived for. They wanted purebloods to be superior, but not at the cost of young lives. To be truthful, they had no idea what the Dark Lord strived for anymore. He seemed to kill those pure just for heightening his temper a bit. The way he was going, he would be the ruler of an empty world with nothing but him when he won, or rather, if he won. All these thoughts went through the minds of the Slytherin students in sixth and seventh year. The only reason they were still alive was that their minds were strictly closed by means of Occlumency. So, at last, they decided to give an application for re-sorting the small brat. And if their parents asked, well, the fake arrogance and bravado of the Malfoy boy was legendary to everyone. That could easily be construed as the reason for it. _
_So, quite nervously, Draco Malfoy gave up his hat as he walked, the silent solitary man, up the dais, and onto the stool which was now too short for him. He prayed not to be put in Hufflepuff as he remembered his dad saying," A murder will happen in the Manor when a Malfoy gets sorted into Hufflepuff!" _
_Then, the unthinkable happened, which would most certainly be talked about for centuries. _
_Draco Malfoy got sorted into Gryffindor. The whole hall fell silent and even the ghosts' mouths were wide open. Sir Nicholas' head was quite willing to be separated from the neck below it. The ghostly chains of the Bloody Baron clanked as he looked shockingly at Draco. What about the Slytherin Head? Well, Severus had quite a brilliant poker face, he had to; being a spy was no easy job. But now all he could do was look at Draco with astonishment. He couldn't afford to scream at his once-was Slytherin. Malfoy just gave one last hateful look towards the Hat, whose brim was suspiciously wide in a smirk, worthy of a Slytherin. _
_Draco went and sat at the edge of the Gryffindor benches. He knew this was a potential situation for him to get hurt easily. The professors always equalled the so-called Golden Trio as Gods of Hogwarts and that they could do no wrong in the school. So a black-eye or a hurt hand or leg would not prove that they did anything to him. Hopefully, Granger would prevent them from getting too hot-headed. And when did he stop calling her Mudblood, would you ask? Well, the screaming, the taunting, even the hexing was a ploy so Hermione would pay attention to him. When she punched him during their third year, he felt that he never wanted to bandage the wound as her hand had touched his nose. In their fourth year, when the Ball was announced, he wanted nothing more than to go and bend on one knee, begging her permission to escort her to the Ball. But he knew, oh how he knew, that Slytherins had an inside Motto – Gryffindors are our whores! He did not agree with it but then he had to stick to the status quo, at least to save the ones he loved. So he gritted his teeth and took Pansy, a sad face permanently stuck, when he saw her delightfully dance with the Bulgarian Bastard Krum._
_In their fifth year, a slight change occurred. Hermione never seemed to notice him anymore. She always wanted the boys to ignore him. And she did so too, usually dragging them away with a strength he always questioned, especially as the Weasley boy seemed like a vacuum cleaner ( He knew what a vacuum cleaner was, fuck you very much). The way he totally breathed food into his mouth was disgusting. If the world stopped revolving around the sun, and Weasley had become a Slytherin, his mouth would have been slapped a thousand times during the first night of their First year itself. That was the reason why the Slytherins had such perfect posture, even the young ones. And when the Inquisition squad started, the taking of those points, Draco had never hated himself more. He had to, he was a Malfoy, he was supposed to hate Mudbloods, then why was Hermione getting under his skin in a beautiful way?_
_When they met on the train on their way back home at the end of the fifth year, he used the time turner his father had given him to supposedly keep out of trouble, but he thought his father meant that if he killed someone in his hot-headedness, he should reverse it by means of this device. So he entered the compartment where the Trio were sitting and turned the device a half turn back. Immediately it was half an hour early and Weasley spouted off," Malfoy, what are you doing here?" And his lovely, lovely angel put the pieces together as if her mind had infinite amounts of glue to stick it and asked," Where did you get the time turner from?" He just shrugged and told them in a no nonsense tone," I do not wish to join the Dark Lord. My father has shown me some of the pensieve memories of the various acts they had to do in order to get the Dark Mark, and some of them were so disgusting I vomited for days and couldn't eat anything at all. Even though I like to irritate you guys, I would never want to kill you." Then Potter gave him the look which people described as "can look into your soul" and deemed him worthy, apparently just by nodding. Hermione just smiled and told him that she had believed in him even when he had called her Mudblood on the Quidditch ground three years back._
**Back to the beach**
"Okay so, clear one thing for me, right now."
"Yes, Dear,"
"So, girls like to wear these?"
"Yes."
"And they don't like to wear long dress robes like we do?"
"No, they don't."
"And they wear short dresses like you are wearing right now?"
"Not everyone, some people are not comfortable with baring so much skin… but I took a survey via the Internet and that proved that 80% of women like to show skin. Out of the remaining twenty, twelve think they have unflattering bodies and.."
"Hush, my darling. I think when your flattering body is front of me, why should I think of some girl who is so worried about which guy may or may not see her body? All I want to do is touch you, feel your brilliant curves, touch you from your feet and drag my hands up as it goes above your knees to your.."
"Shut up, Draco! Do you want me to become wet without help of the beach waves?"
"Can someone get turned on by sea waves?"
"You know that was not what I meant. So help me God, you turn into a pervert as soon as our baby leaves us."
"Do you prefer I turn away my face from you and not ogle you when our daughter goes away?"
"Of course not, Dra…..ugh! I hate you!"
"No. You don't."
"Yeah, I don't."
Having finished this conversation, where Draco was surprisingly shocked that they were not the centre of attention as it was at school or even the Wizarding World in general. On asking Hermione, she giggled loudly enough that people looked at them and smiled as the couple looked gorgeous together. She told him, "Out here, we are no more than two random people out on the beach. If you want attention, you can apply suntan lotion on me."
"Why? Can't we just remove our wands and..."
"Remember what I told you, you have to learn to survive here in the Muggle World. Use of magic shouldn't be a handicap."
"Then what about certain magics which vibrates a certain something in your something?"
"There is a Muggle product doing the same thing. It's called a vibrator. No imagination there, but you get the point. Why do our conversations always come back to sex?"
Draco sniggered and said," Weeelll, I know for a fact that I am permanently horny around you and _mmbbbmbtt_."
"At least I got to shut you up." Hermione had closed Draco's mouth with her hands.
After all this conversation, Hermione went and picked out the perfect spot where they could tan but also with a bit of privacy. She then removed her short but simple blue spaghetti dress, leaving underneath a bikini. It was black, and it was hot with a capital H. Draco was figuratively drooling (not literally, Malfoys never drooled) and then told her," I want to rub you down so bad right now. Hand me that lotion." And Hermione herself broke the rule of no magic and created a privacy ward leading to some amazing sex, which was the cause of Baby no. 2, Mira, which meant astonishment. As the Muggles were certainly astonished at how much porno sounds were coming from an apparently empty beach.
End file.
| Misc. Books | Fanfiction | null | 10,093 | 10,365.6 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Chapter 1
Solstice
Chapter 1
------------------
**Notes/Disclaimer: "The Left Hand of Darkness" belongs to Ursula K. LeGuin. And an excellent piece of work it is. I am making no money from this work. **
**The title is supposed to be a kind of subtle reference to the fact that at the winter solstice, the daylight starts coming back, even though the story doesn't really take place around the winter solstice. ; Not that anyone would possibly come up with that on their own without me having to explain it. Ah well. Hooray for esoteric-ness. **
**Kharidish Glossary:
amha - parent in the flesh (mother) (although I will occasionally use "father" in place of this term)
kemmer - the stage in the Gethenian sexual cycle, when the beings become sexually active and develop a gender for a set period of time, generally a few days
kemmering - lover
secher - stage 1 of kemmer, hormonal release
thorharmen - stage 2 of kemmer, establishing a sexuality
Handara - a religious community
Handaratta - inhabitants of the Handara**
**I know I fudged the ages a bit in this. Technically, Korcha and Sorve should be ten years apart in age at the VERY least, according to the novel's timeline. But I'm choosing to ignore that and mess with the ages a bit. I'm assuming that Korcha is around 17 or so. Call it poetic license. :P **
------------------
It's snowing. Spring has come, supposedly, and the Thaw has already started in the neighboring regions, but not here. Here winter still clings to the city with claws, lingering behind, clutching hold for dear life, as though it is afraid to move on. I find myself as I often find myself these days, sitting in a chair by the window, watching the large white flakes float silently downward, burying the world.
I touch my hand to the cold metal of the golden necklace around my neck. It's been five years since it happened. In the three years before, even though we were apart, I still had him, in a way. I was true to him, the necklace of the Celibate adorning my throat. It was easy to be chaste, with the thought that one day, maybe, he would come back to me. Nevermind that I had been the one to leave him; that had only been a physical absence. He had been the one to leave in truth. In his eyes, in his expression, he was never there. Always far away, too far for me to reach. Maybe he had always been like that, and I simply blinded myself to it. But he loved me once. I know, in his own way, that he loved me.
It's so much harder now, these past five years, since he died. I try to live my daily life, but this necklace mocks me. I keep waiting for the healing to come, but it never does. Every night that I sit here and stare out the window it is as though it was only yesterday that I sat at his funeral, (held in Estre, of course, where they did not call him traitor) and watched as they put his body to rest forever.
Perhaps I should be mourning for more than that. Perhaps I should mourn the three years before, or the seven before that when we loved each other and were not one. There was always a piece of himself that he could never share with me. There was always a hidden pain, a former love, that was sacred to him, so sacred that not even I could tread there.
Oh Therem, how I miss you! I wanted to take that ache to me, hold it against my heart and take it from you, keep it to myself so that you could be free. Can you believe that I simply wanted happiness for you? We were happy, weren't we? If only briefly? Surely our two children attest to that. And... and even if it was a false vow, a second vow, you _did_ vow to me, Therem. And I believed it. My heart was truly and will still always be yours.
"Amha?"
The soft, hesitant voice pulls me away from my reveries. Korcha. I hastily wipe away the few tears that have arrived to keep me company; I do not want my eldest son to worry about me.
When I turn to face him, however, I see that it is useless. He looks at me with mournful, pitying eyes. It is sad that such a young man as my son, who has not yet entered kemmer, should be exposed to such sadness. If only Therem were still here. If only...
"Yes, Korcha?"
"Amha, are you..." He is hesitant. "Are you alright?"
In spite of my sadness, his concern makes me smile. "I am fine, Korcha. No need to worry about me."
He does not look convinced. "It's late," he says. "You should probably be getting to bed."
"I could say the same for you." I raise my eyebrow at him. "Who exactly is the child here, Keercha?" It is my nickname for him, what I called him when he was a child. I can see that it works as intended when he becomes embarrassed.
"I'm just trying to look out for you," he mumbles, his face flushing.
I sigh and stand, kissing the top of his head lightly. "I know, child. Bless you for it."
I am about to assent that we should take to our beds when there is a knock at the door. Odd. It is a bit late for visitors. I call out, "Enter!"
The man who opens the door is a lean, handsome youth, about 24 or 25 by the look of him. He shakes the snow off his shoulders and ducks inside quickly to get out of the harsh weather.
"Greetings," he says. "I know it is late, but I would like to request hospitality of you."
"Of course," I say, then pause. There is something odd about him, in the way he holds himself, or in his particular energy... Oh.
"You are in kemmer?" I ask.
"Ah, yes." The stranger looks slightly sheepish, and I can't help thinking that there's something more to him that I feel, something beyond the kemmer state. He seems familiar somehow.
"I apologize," the stranger continues. "I had hoped that I would be finished with my kemmer by the time I arrived, but this modern transportation is much faster than I anticipated, and I arrived early. I will find a kemmerhouse tomorrow, but for tonight I would simply like to rest."
"Of course," I repeat. This does present a bit of a difficulty though. Normally I would simply lay out a bed for him in my own room. But I will soon be in kemmer myself, and I do not wish to create any awkward sort of situation. Even if he weren't far too young, I am a Celibate, and there is no way I could give him satisfaction.
Well, it's solved easily enough. "I will lay you a bed in Korcha's room," I say. "He is young, not yet entered kemmer. It should work out nicely."
"I thank you," he says, inclining his head in gratitude. Once again I catch a flash of something familiar, perhaps in a line of the profile, or the way he moves his shoulders.
"I don't believe you gave us your name, friend," I point out. "I am Ashe Foreth rem ir Osboth, and this is my child of the flesh, Korcha."
"Ah, yes." He looks back up and meets my eyes steadily. "I am Sorve Harth rem ir Estraven."
My breath catches in my throat. I recall him now. I saw him briefly at the funeral, though I did not speak to him. Therem's other son, his child of the flesh by his brother. Why is he here?
"I wished to meet you," he says in answer to my unspoken question. "But there will be time, perhaps, to explain everything tomorrow. It is rather late."
"Of course," I say once again, faintly.
Korcha has been standing beside me all this time, looking curiously between myself and our guest. Finally his curiosity gets the better of him and he asks, "Amha, who is this man? You seem to know him."
"Ah." How to explain? I look down at him, my dear son. "Korcha, this is Sorve. He is Therem's other child, your half-brother."
Korcha looks up at the newcomer in surprise. "Brother?" he asks.
Sorve smiles and nods. "Indeed. And apparently we are to share a room tonight."
"Oh!" Korcha takes the hint and plays the good host. "I'll show you to the room, then, and lay out your bed. Is that alright, Amha?"
I nod and wave them off. "Yes, please do. I will retire to my own room, I think. You are right, it is late." I nod to them. "Praise the darkness and creation unfinished," I say.
They nod in response and remove themselves to Korcha's room.
I feel suddenly weary, deep within my bones. My heart aches. It ached enough already without the past returning in the flesh to haunt me. I must sleep well tonight, for who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Next Chapter
Oh God, that was hideous. Take me back.
or
Oh God, that was hideous. Let me complain to the author.
2. Chapter 2
Solstice
Chapter 2
------------------
**Notes/Disclaimer: "The Left Hand of Darkness" belongs to Ursula K. LeGuin. And an excellent piece of work it is. I am making no money from this work. **
**The title is supposed to be a kind of subtle reference to the fact that at the winter solstice, the daylight starts coming back, even though the story doesn't really take place around the winter solstice. ; Not that anyone would possibly come up with that on their own without me having to explain it. Ah well. Hooray for esoteric-ness. **
**Kharidish Glossary:
amha - parent in the flesh (mother) (although I will occasionally use "father" in place of this term)
kemmer - the stage in the Gethenian sexual cycle, when the beings become sexually active and develop a gender for a set period of time, generally a few days
kemmering - lover
secher - stage 1 of kemmer, hormonal release
thorharmen - stage 2 of kemmer, establishing a sexuality
Handara - a religious community
Handaratta - inhabitants of the Handara**
**I know I fudged the ages a bit in this. Technically, Korcha and Sorve should be ten years apart in age at the VERY least, according to the novel's timeline. But I'm choosing to ignore that and mess with the ages a bit. I'm assuming that Korcha is around 17 or so. Call it poetic license. :P **
------------------
Korcha shoots me several sidelong, curious glances as we walk down the hall to his room. He is a slight boy, young and handsome, but very soft and fragile-looking. He takes greatly after his amha, Ashe.
Finally his curiosity gets the better of him and he asks, "Are you really my brother?"
I smile and nod, saying nothing.
He breaks into a very wide grin. "I didn't even know I had a brother. Besides Rendek, I mean. This is kind of exciting."
"I didn't know I had a brother either," I say, "until Ashe came to my flesh-father's funeral. I know very little about my amha; he left me in the care of my grandfather when I was very young. I was hoping Ashe could tell me about him."
Korcha's grin fades, and he turns away from me to get a mattress and some heavy blankets out of a hall closet. "I'm not sure Amha will talk to you. The issue is... painful for him."
"It is painful for me as well; Therem was my amha," I remind him. "Perhaps it would help him to share the pain?"
"Perhaps." Korcha turns back to me, a wistful expression on his face. I feel a soft concern for his father from him, it radiates away like energy, a feeling of compassion and melancholy. Then suddenly he breaks into a smile again and the sadness is gone, though the energy still lingers. "Come on," he says, and inclines his head towards a door to his left.
As he has his hands full, I open the door for him and we enter a small, cozy little room. He lays down the mattress and blankets next to his bed and arranges them. While he works, I look around the room. It is plainly furnished, with little more than a desk, chair, and bed, but little trinkets and scraps of his life adorn much of the walls and surfaces of the room. On one corner of his desk is a little wooden figurine, carved by the looks of it by someone from the Handara. A piece of paper is fastened to the wall above the desk. Upon closer inspection I realize with a start that it is a letter written by my amha, to Korcha. I skim through it, but it is simple and polite, not like the thoughtful, deep letters that I received from him.
Korcha, finished with his work, looks up to find me reading. "That was a letter from Therem," he says. "I was very excited to get it; we didn't often get letters from him. That one was my favorite, so I put it up. I still have the others though, if you'd like to read them. As I said, there aren't many. Fewer than ten. It shouldn't take you too long."
I think of my desk at home, of the drawers containing a select few of the dozens upon dozens of letters written to me by my amha, letters so much deeper and full of emotion than this simple one tacked to the wall. "Perhaps," I answer softly. Already I have learned something new about my amha.
Korcha crawls into his bed and snuggles childishly under the covers. He is shivering slightly, though it is not that cold. For all that it is still snowing outside, it is spring now, and the Thaw should be here soon. "Goodnight, Sorve," he says.
"Praise the darkness and creation unfinished," I reply. And we sleep.
I wake in the middle of the night to sounds. Moaning and whimpering noises issue from Korcha's bed, as though he is caught in a nightmare. "Please," I hear him mumble. "Please, please, oh please."
I sit up in the darkness and wait for my eyes to adjust, then kneel at the side of the bed. Korcha is tossing and turning fitfully, his blankets twisted about him in complete disarray. I reach forward tentatively, placing my hand on his wrist. "Korcha?" I call.
His eyes snap open, and too late I recognize the jolting, fiery sensation from our contact; he is in kemmer.
But how? Didn't his amha say that he had not yet entered kemmer?
But he is of about the age... Oh no. This... this must be his first...
I draw my hand back, but he reaches out after it quickly and grabs my wrist. Again I feel the fire of the contact, swimming deliciously into my veins. Belatedly I realize that the energy I felt from him earlier must not have been purely emotion but his secher. Perhaps it is slightly weaker for being his first, and that is why I did not recognize it.
He closes his eyes, hand still locked about my wrist. "Feels good," he murmurs.
I look at him carefully. "You realize you are in kemmer?" I ask.
He nods, eyes still closed.
"Is this your first?"
Again, he nods. Damn. I am not sure my host would appreciate it if I had sex with his virgin son, especially on my first night at his hearth after we've barely been introduced. Not that most families place too much emphasis on the first kemmer or the corresponding kemmering, but it is a bit of an... event. It marks the transition from child to man. And I'm sure Ashe would prefer to be certain that the first lover of his son would be someone who will be gentle and forgiving with him.
Well, it seems that I shall simply have to do my best. From the look in his eyes, open once more, there will be no delaying this. And I cannot deny my own body's need either.
With a sigh I stand and break the hold of his hand about my wrist. He whimpers slightly and looks lost, but then smiles happily as I untangle the blankets from around his body and slip under them next to him. I lie behind him, our bodies pressed flush against each other, and the fire burns intensely between us. It will take a few hours of this contact before we are in full kemmer, so I stroke his cheek and murmur soft encouragements of sleep into his ear.
Before he drifts off he gropes sleepily for my hand, like a child seeking comfort, and entwines our fingers.
We make love the next morning soon after we wake, passionately but quietly so as not to disturb the still-sleeping household. I awoke as a full male, and he as a female. He makes a beautiful woman; all his softness is put to good use, delicate features accentuating sudden curves and a soft, supple body. He feels good in my arms, pressed against my body, housing myself inside him. He is young, new to this, innocent, so I try to be careful with him. But I can tell that the experience is overwhelming for him, almost too much for him to bear. First kemmer is often like that.
When we finally finish it is still early and the rest of the household still asleep. I pull the blankets around us in preparation for further sleep. I have little doubt that I will be in this bed for much of the next few days; I have no desire to force young Korcha to switch kemmerings in the middle of his first kemmer. But for now we can rest up a bit; there will be plenty of time for more of this.
Korcha leans his body against me and cups my face in his hands, planting soft kisses at either corner of my mouth. "Thank you Sorve," he says, "Brother."
And once more we drift off.
Previous Chapter I Next Chapter
3. Chapter 3
Solstice
Chapter 3
------------------
**Notes/Disclaimer: "The Left Hand of Darkness" belongs to Ursula K. LeGuin. And an excellent piece of work it is. I am making no money from this work. **
**The title is supposed to be a kind of subtle reference to the fact that at the winter solstice, the daylight starts coming back, even though the story doesn't really take place around the winter solstice. ; Not that anyone would possibly come up with that on their own without me having to explain it. Ah well. Hooray for esoteric-ness. **
**Kharidish Glossary:
amha - parent in the flesh (mother) (although I will occasionally use "father" in place of this term)
kemmer - the stage in the Gethenian sexual cycle, when the beings become sexually active and develop a gender for a set period of time, generally a few days
kemmering - lover
secher - stage 1 of kemmer, hormonal release
thorharmen - stage 2 of kemmer, establishing a sexuality
Handara - a religious community
Handaratta - inhabitants of the Handara**
**I know I fudged the ages a bit in this. Technically, Korcha and Sorve should be ten years apart in age at the VERY least, according to the novel's timeline. But I'm choosing to ignore that and mess with the ages a bit. I'm assuming that Korcha is around 17 or so. Call it poetic license. :P **
------------------
As it turned out, the meeting I had been dreading had to be postponed.
I walked into my son's room the morning after our guest's arrival only to find him snuggled against the newcomer, in full female form. I was honestly a little taken aback. Not because he had chosen to sleep with Sorve; I trust his brother to take care of him, come to that. No, I was ashamed of myself. How had I not noticed that my son was about to enter his first kemmer? Had I really been so preoccupied with my own pain that I had missed the signs? I hadn't even really considered it; I still thought of him as a little boy. But he was a man now, truly. I returned to my room thoughtfully, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake them.
Needless to say, neither of them were much for conversation for the next few days.
But now their kemmer is over, and this strange youth sits in front of me with his dark eyes and his solemn manner. I don't know what to say to him. I dare say that Therem cared for him more than he cared for any of us.
"So what exactly do you want to know?" I ask.
"Just tell me about him," Sorve responds. "He wasn't around much, but he was your kemmering for seven years. You must know something."
I chuckle, though it doesn't really seem funny. I feel my heart clench. Why should I have known him? Simply because he was around? Having his body present never meant anything. His heart was absent, that was the problem. That was always the problem.
"I don't know what I can tell you. I don't know if anyone really knew Therem, except for his brother. All of Therem's secrets were wrapped up with Arek. That was a piece of himself that he never showed to anyone."
Sorve seizes on this scrap and leans forward. "What _do_ you know about my kemmering-father? He died when I was three."
"Well, not much," I admit. "All I know is that Therem vowed kemmering with Arek. When Therem became pregnant they refused to separate, and ran away from home. They lived on their own for a few years, until Arek died. I still don't know how that happened; I don't know if anyone knows, now that Therem's gone. But anyway, after he died, Therem gave the baby, you, I guess, to his father for keeping. And then he left. I don't think he could bear to live with the memories, to be honest."
Sorve is quiet, ruminating on this.
I find myself continuing, though I had not thought I had any more to say. "Honestly, if there was one thing that defined Therem, I think it was his pain over Arek. He guarded it so jealously. It was like a hidden core of his soul where only he dwelled. I always thought-" I feel myself choking slightly but press on past it "-I always thought that he must be very lonely. I just wanted to help him, to get rid of the loneliness. If only he had let me."
Sorve looks concerned, and I realize that I am becoming distressed. I force myself to calm down. "Other than that, Therem was a kind man. He cared a lot about things. He desired power but he was not controlled by it. He simply wanted to use it to improve people's lives. He was quite selfless that way." Even if he was so very selfish in other ways.
"You must have loved him very much," Sorve says softly.
That is honestly too much for me, and I feel the tears begin to slide down my cheeks. I nod in lieu of speaking.
Korcha enters the room softly, then pauses when he sees my tears. He comes to stand quietly behind Sorve's chair, his hand resting lightly on the back of it. "Are you alright Amha?" he asks.
I nod. "I'm fine, Korcha. Do not be worried." In truth, it troubles me now to see the way he stands so closely to his brother. I had thought nothing of it when they were kemmering, but is it possible that they will repeat the mistake of their common father? I try to find my voice to warn them, but find that there is nothing to say. There are no words that could prevent that catastrophe if it were to happen. There is no way to save them from pain, no way for them to learn but to experience it themselves. I am silent.
I stand to leave. Sorve looks like he wishes to stop me, but I wave him away.
"I will try to answer your questions more later," I tell him. I shoot a glance at Korcha, who seems happy that Sorve is finished with his business and will presumably have some free time. "I imagine you will be staying with us a while," I say. Korcha looks up at this, startled, then shoots me a curious expression. I try to smile encouragingly, but it feels more wistful. Korcha smiles back, understanding.
I leave them to their romance. The innocence of youth is not long-lasting, and should be left to flower in peace.
Previous Chapter I Next Chapter
4. Chapter 4: Epilogue
Solstice
Chapter 4 - Epilogue
------------------
**Notes/Disclaimer: "The Left Hand of Darkness" belongs to Ursula K. LeGuin. And an excellent piece of work it is. I am making no money from this work. **
**The title is supposed to be a kind of subtle reference to the fact that at the winter solstice, the daylight starts coming back, even though the story doesn't really take place around the winter solstice. ; Not that anyone would possibly come up with that on their own without me having to explain it. Ah well. Hooray for esoteric-ness. **
**Kharidish Glossary:
amha - parent in the flesh (mother) (although I will occasionally use "father" in place of this term)
kemmer - the stage in the Gethenian sexual cycle, when the beings become sexually active and develop a gender for a set period of time, generally a few days
kemmering - lover
secher - stage 1 of kemmer, hormonal release
thorharmen - stage 2 of kemmer, establishing a sexuality
Handara - a religious community
Handaratta - inhabitants of the Handara**
**I know I fudged the ages a bit in this. Technically, Korcha and Sorve should be ten years apart in age at the VERY least, according to the novel's timeline. But I'm choosing to ignore that and mess with the ages a bit. I'm assuming that Korcha is around 17 or so. Call it poetic license. :P **
------------------
I watch my love's face in the firelight as he watches his amha dance. In two years it has lost none of its softness, nor its beauty. In this time I have seen it in melancholy and in joy, in love and in pain.
I feel his pain with him. I know that he wants a child, desperately. But he refuses to even attempt a conception. He will not allow us to be torn apart. But I sit and I watch him and I wonder. How long before his longing for a child eclipses his need for even me? Are we doomed to repeat my amha's fate? I for one know that I could never give my Korcha up, not for anything. But even for me, the thought of a child...
He catches me watching him and flashes me a quick smile. My heart flutters slightly at the sight of it. I am perhaps a bit more emotional than usual right now; our kemmer is close. But even at the opposite end of the cycle, the sight of his smile can still weaken my knees. My dear, dear Korcha.
I turn my eyes back to the dance, watching as the Handaratta dance wildly about the fire. Such beauty in all of them, even the elders. Perhaps this is where Korcha gets his beauty. Even though we are merely returning for a visit, Korcha blends seamlessly into this world, as natural as the stone on which he sits.
I rise from my seat and make my way around the outside of the bonfire circle so as not to disturb the dancers. When I come to Korcha, I rest my chin lightly on his shoulder. He nuzzles easily against me.
"Having fun?" I murmur in his ear.
He smiles and raises a hand to stroke my hair. "Mm," he answers positively. I rest a hand against his waist.
"He looks very beautiful dancing," I say, glancing back at his amha.
Korcha pauses for a moment. "He looks... sad," he says finally.
I look back up at Ashe. Sad? I peer closely, but I cannot sense anything from him other than his beauty and his joy in the dance. "How so?" I ask.
Korcha does not look at me, but instead continues to stare at his amha. "He misses father. I can feel it. Look at his eyes. Can you not see the way they stare into the distance? As though he's looking for someone? It's like he's dancing for someone that none of us can see."
I take another look, and find that it is just as Korcha said. There is a distance in Ashe's eyes. He never looks at anyone in the circle, his empty eyes instead restless and searching. As though he were dancing with a ghost. A shiver creeps up my spine. I would not be surprised if spirits attended the Handara dances.
Korcha turns to me suddenly, with an intense expression.
"Promise me that you won't die and leave me," he whispers fiercely. "Promise that you won't leave me alone."
I'm a little taken aback by his intensity, but I try to answer as best I can. "Korcha, dearest, of course I would not like to die and leave you alone. But death is a natural part of life. Either you or I will die first, Korcha, and we cannot help that. All we can do is be together now and love now, in this moment that we have."
He hugs me fiercely then. "I will not let you go," he utters. "As long as I live, I shall never let you go."
I kiss him lightly to reassure him, then settle him into my arms. "While we both live, you shall never have to worry," I assure him.
The dancing flames from the bonfire leap in arcs of light and shadow across our bodies, warming us both.
- The End -
Previous Chapter I First Chapter
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 27,226 | 11,288.6 |
null | Misc. Books Sunflower Fields
_Disclaimer: I do not own "Eva," the awesome Nightwish does. By the way, I replaced the name Eva with "she" for obvious reasons. Neither do I own Hitler's Daughter because Jackie French wrote it. Duffi=Hitler. Heidi couldn't call him Father, so they made up a name for her to use. There's more you-have-to-read-the-book-to-know stuff, so don't ask. Just read the book. It's good.
* * *
_**6:30 winter morn
Snow keeps falling, silent dawn**
There were jars of sweet jam and soft bunnies and autumn fields and sausage flecked with tasty bits of fat and a straw-padded hen-house she hoped so much to use. And there was Frau Leib, who taught Heidi so much. No, it was something that could never be taught. Frau Leib had _shown_ Heidi what family was.
That's what she'd been missing so long. Heidi knew that she ought to feel blessed to have a whole shelf of expensive dolls when other girls were lucky to have milk at every meal, but she wasn't. She wanted the dolls no more than she wanted the blotch on her face. What she wanted was for Duffi to pin her school reports to the wall just like Herr Leib did with his grandsons', but that could never happen since she didn't go to school anyway.
There was Frau Leib and there was Fräulein Gelber and there wasn't Duffi. There were dolls and books and treats but no Duffi.
**A rose by any other name
She leaves her Swanbrook home**
There were times when Frau Leib would pat her dark head or joke with her or say something like "Erna, hand me that—" and then correct herself. And Heidi would wish that she didn't because, because…
Because when that happened, someone could have told Heidi that she was Frau Leib's daughter and Heidi would have believed it with her whole heart.
Those were small scraps, brief glimpses of normalcy, of what it felt like to be loved and cared for, of the ability to share your world with other people. Heidi treasured them, held on to them, just as she did her times with Duffi.
**A kindest heart which always made****
Me ashamed of my own
She walks alone but not without her name**
She last saw Duffi in a curtain of shadows. She sat beside him in his car, felt his cold lips on her cheek, heard his mouth form around her name. All the sweet, daughter-like things she planned to tell him froze in his presence.
And then he drove away, out of the forest where his daughter was and into the war.
Heidi ran her fingers over the side of her face, over smooth skin and shrinking baby fat. She wondered what other girls thought when their fathers kissed them. Girls whose fathers didn't run a nation or section them off from the rest of the world. No matter. Duffi had taken the time to see her, to be with her. She had been his daughter and he her father in that rare and precious and brief moment. That was what she wanted most.
**She flies away
Dreams the world far away**
It was different when she slept, stepping into a realm of no concreteness, no reason, and no flaws. There, every girl was her father's daughter. Dreams took the sweet moments Heidi spent with her father and stretched them into spanning eons. Duffi's fingers traced her birthmark. He held her close and told her that he loved her.
"I love you, Heidi. I love you, my daughter…" The words would run through her dreams over and over.
And Heidi would smile, awash with happiness. "Father, I love you too," she would reply.
**In this cruel children's game
There's no friend to call her name**
Planes roared and bombs rumbled overheard, but no weapon could pierce Heidi's dreams. _Duffi_ was there, all around her. Her loneliness never went away but at least, at the very least it faded for a while.
**She sails away
Dreams the world far away
The Good in her will be my sunflower field**
Heidi would linger with Duffi, suspended above reality until morning crept across the sky. Then, as she slowly wiped the sleep from her mind, she would glance around half-hoping that Duffi was still there. He never was. Only her glaring, perfect dolls.
_His_ dolls.
Then, she left for Berlin.
**Mocked by man to depths of shame
Little girl with life ahead**
Heidi rode to Berlin clinging to a shred of hope that Duffi would be there, waiting for her.
By the time they arrived at the bunker, the countryside seemed to have vaporized. Explosions smashed in all directions, but the driver ushered them underground before Heidi could turn and clearly see where they were coming from.
He led her and Fräulein Gelber down a dimly lit corridor. Heidi looked at the nondescript doors and wondered which room Duffi was in. They passed soldiers, too. Most of them were too absorbed in the action to pay any attention to her. A few noticed, though. They looked at her wondering why the young girl was limping through their bunker. One soldier, when he saw Heidi, even covered part of his stubbled face with his hand, grinning.
**For a memory of one kind word
She would stay among the beasts**
Everything in the bunker looked drab, from the grey walls to the soldier's soiled uniforms. There was barely enough light to see because fuel, as well as almost everything else, was running low. Officers' voices rose from behind closed confines, yelling things about Russians and Americans that others were not supposed to hear.
Pow! Another explosion shook the bunker, grabbed and rocked it. Heidi stumbled back and pressed against the wall as more soldiers ran past her. When the floor finally stilled, Heidi's guardian took her hand and whispered, "Come on."
They finally entered their room. The driver left them with their suitcases. Fräulein Gelber closed the door to their corner of the steel-and-concrete world.
**Time for one more daring dream
Before her escape, Edenbeam
We kill with her own loving heart**
Heidi crouched against the wall, fingertips on the concrete. She felt the vibrations until her fingers were fuzzy. It seemed strange that she had to amuse herself by such means while men overhead were fighting for their lives.
The door opened, and a man with a moustache stepped in. Heidi scrambled to her feet. Had the Führer come? Maybe he would see that—
No, it wasn't him. When the man stepped into the lamplight, Heidi could see that it was only a soldier bringing them dinner. Fräulein Gelber took the tray of watery soup and dry bread, and Heidi sank back down.
**She flies away
Dreams the world far away**
Nighttime fell. Of course, Heidi couldn't see the sky darken, but she new that it was night when a few hours after dinner passed. Fräulein Gelber climbed onto the top bunk and Heidi lay down on the bottom, pulling the thin cotton blanket over her shoulders and closing her eyes.
She awoke after awhile to use the bathroom—or rather, the chamber pot. When she stepped out of the curtained alcove, the sound of boots pounding in the corridor had faded. She only heard one person stalking down the corridor. His footsteps were very heavy.
Heidi crept forward, the tiny pleats on her white nightdress brushing her toes. Surely, no ordinary soldier would be walking alone, walking slowly. She felt around in the soft darkness until her fingers grasped the cool metal doorknob and she eased it open. A sliver of weak light trickled into her room.
Heidi gasped.
**In this cruel children's game
There's no friend to call her name**
It was the Führer.
He didn't look at all like the proud photographs in the newspaper. He looked so raw, so tired, from the lines in his face to the brown-gray shirt hanging limply on his frame. He stared back at her, his eyes cold. Almost lifeless.
"Duffi?" Heidi breathed. Her voice barely louder than the thump-thump of shooting in the distance.
His mouth opened.
**She sails away
Dreams the world far away
The Good in her will be my sunflower field**
"Heidi!" cried Fräulein Gelber. She fumbled down the bunk bed and ran to the light, throwing her arms around the child. The door slammed shut. As she led Heidi back to the bunks, she said, "Heidi, please don't go outside. Don't even look. There's noting but trouble out there."
"Yes, Fräulein."
Heidi woke to the sound of soldiers shouting in the corridor. She sat up and looked at the door, wondering if last night had been just another dream.
* * *
_This is my first completed fanfic and my first short story to pass 1,000 words. "Sunflower Fields" was also very difficult for me to write; there were some parts I had to force out of myself. Imitating the heartfelt simplicity of Ms. French's style was harder than I thought it would be. Please give me feedback on how I can improve!_
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Family | Fanfiction | null | 8,627 | 11,117.4 |
null | Misc. Books Nostalgic
**A/N: **I found this file in my flash drive while I was trying to clean it out. I wrote this two years ago for one of my english projects where we had to write an additional chapter or the first chapter of a sequel to the book _Fahrenheit 451_. I chose the additional chapter, but I suppose it could start a new one.
I'm only putting it up for nostalgic reasons. I think... Actually, I don't even remember why I want to post this up.
Anyways, if there are any formating error, or it does not look like most of my writings, it would because I did not touch any of the original formatting. So, what you have is what you get.
I hope you enjoy reading it though.
_**Now & & To & & The & & Story
**_
Montag had been sitting on a hill looking down on the small city he had helped rebuilt. There were still many people that despised him and the book people. He didn't care: he just wanted them to understand. But still, after five years they were people who burned books. '_At least people can read books now_.'
"Guy Montag," Some lady said, her hands were on her hips as if she was scolding him. "Here you are again looking at the city. Why don't you just enjoy the sunset?" She said, now smiling at him.
He sighed. "Yeah, you always say that." Now, the person was sitting beside him. She smelled of dandelions and flowers. It had reminded him of Clarisse. This annoyed, yet compelled him to want to know more about her. She had always smelled like her even way back when they had first met, right after the incident five years ago. It was still the same. The woman's name was Fate and she had lost all her memory of the incident due to shock.
"Doesn't the sky look magnificent?" Fate said in awe, as she looked at the purple painted clouds.
"Yeah…" Montag looked to the sky with amazement. She was right. It was a beautiful site. He hadn't noticed how the sky could change into such magnificent colors before.
"Let's head back to the city, Mr. President." She told him pulling him up and away. Montag had been voted the president of the U.S. recently, but he didn't really care for the position. He just wanted to be able to rise among the ranks hoping that he would finally be able to raise the ban on books across the world. Unknown to them, a sniper had been hiding in the shadows.
"Oh, okay." Montag said smiling softly. Together they started heading down the hill, when Fate asked, "Hasn't it been five years now?" Montag flinched; then nodded. "Ye-" He was shot, through his brain, instantly killing him. As he fell, Fate caught him in his arms, and started crying. She finally remembered the event that had happened years ago.
Five Years ago
Montag and the book people ran back to the city after the bombing. Tons of debris kept them from saving a few of the survivors; still for hours on end they worked, helping the other survivors to strive. Their transportation in and out of the city was completely trashed. Including their bullet trains. But most of the time they had to spend digging burials and finding handymen, or doctors. Later that day, Montag heard someone screaming inside one of the bullet train. The wailing cry of the person inside terrified him. The poor train was covered in tons of debris, so it took him a while to unbury them. Still even then he would have to find a way to open the doors. Suddenly the shrieking stopped. Worriedly, Montag punched out the glass, and there he found two people who were still alive. They were twins. One was staring at the dead bodies in shock; the other fainted but was still breathing. They looked to be in their late teens, just like Clarisse. One of the twins, the one that fainted, smelled like her. He was surprised at first, but reminded himself that she –Clarisse- was dead.
Montag jumped down and reached for the girl's hand. "Let me help you and your sister out of here." No response. She still kept staring at something behind him. He turned around and saw someone in their 40's dead, being skewered by several metal poles that had pierced through the already broken train. Soon he found himself standing there gaping at the dead body too.
"Montag," One of the book people called. "What are you doing down there? Help them out!"
With that said, Montag shook his head and turned away from the dead body, and got the twins out with little help from Granger. 'That must have been their mother.' Montag thought, as he headed to the shelter they made for all the injured. Some of the people there glared at him, and the book people. Oddly, they weren't grateful that they were saving their lives. In fact many of them had _wanted_ to die, but the book people wouldn't let them. Later that day, the other twin died of internal bleeding, and the other went into a coma. The next day, arrived a familiar face.
"Faber?" Montag said bewildered as he walked up to him. "What are you doing here? I thought you left!" They gave each other a friendly hug, and Faber started to fill them –the book people and Montag- in on what was going on in the city.
"Oh, Montag! You should have been there! After people heard of the bombing they were in shock! The government has been broken down, and the major cities –plus here- are now completely destroyed. It's the break we've been looking for! Now's our chance to bring back books!"
Montag stared at him, in both amazement and uproar. "That can't be…"
"But it's true!"
Soon after that he told the book people. They looked joyful and cheery, but they still needed to work their way up. Nobody would listen to them since they were just citizens. They needed power, government power. So they all decided. It will be Montag who will make their wish come true, and the book people were to support him all the way. The others mocked and ridiculed them on their plans. Suddenly, the twin that had survived came up to Montag, and tugged on his dirty coat he had worn. Montag looked at her with his surprised, wide eyes. 'She's awake?!'
"Mister, who are you? These people told me you saved me." She had talked to the book people earlier without him knowing. "Thank you." Her voice had been soft, and quiet, with now signs of hostility in it. This was rare for him to find in the others –not including the book people.
"I'm Guy Montag. What's your name?" He asked her kindly.
"I'm…" She struggled to remember. "I'm sorry I was going to ask you if you knew." And then it finally hit Montag. She had amnesia.
"It's okay." He said ruffling her hair, as if she was a little kid.
"You're a kind person." She said smiling, as she looked up at him. "You'd risk your own live to save a complete stranger. Why can't anyone else –other than your friends- see that?"
"It wasn't dangerous, plus I can't leave anyone out there." Montag looked to the battle torn ground.
The girl's simple words echoed in the minds of others. Her words opened eyes to what was really going on around the world, and that there was a whole other world to explore and learn about. She was just as innocent as a newborn child.
"Is it okay to think up a name for you?" Montag asked the girl. She nodded. He had already been thinking of a name for the girl. "Fate. That will be your name for now on, okay?" She nodded once more. "Fate." She said in satisfaction.
**_Welcome & & To & & The & & End_**
**A/N:** It was funny when I originally wrote this story. Most of my classmates were pissed at me for killing off the main character on the first page. I am such a demented little child and only smiled at them when they said that. Reading it over again, it seems really cheesy.
Later,
Kyoudai.
End file.
| Misc. Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 7,614 | 11,278 |
null | Misc. Books Bad Moon Rising
"Matt why do I have to be paired off with Brian? He's mean to me. Can't I go with Zacky or Johnny?" I asked sitting down in front of him.
"No, there have been too many hunters spotted around here and they'd just love to bag themselves a wolf, you need someone who will protect you if something goes wrong. Besides you and him have to learn to trust each other." He replied.
"I know but."
"No buts, Brian is a better protector than those two. You will go with him. Got it Krista?"
"Fine." I snorted. Matt's our leader and I didn't want to upset him too much. I walked over to Zacky and Johnny and I jumped on Johnny's back.
"So you wanna play huh?" He asked playfully rolling over on top of me. When we finished the roll I was still on his back and I playfully grabbed his ear and pulled a little. He whined. Suddenly a shadow was cast across the both of us blocking out the moon light. I looked up and saw Brian. He snorted in disgust at me.
"Yeah, I'm not too happy about it either." I said and he turned and walked away. "What the hell is his problem with me?" I asked getting off of Johnny.
"I have no clue, I think he has trust issues." Zacky said sniffing the air and then sneezing.
"Everybody ready?" Matt asked. We all paired up with our hunting partners and headed into the mountainous and heavily wooded terrain. At first we stayed close together then split off into twos to make it easier and safer to hunt. "Oh, Brian." Matt called after him.
"Yeah?" He asked pausing to look back at Matt.
" I know you have a habit of being a pig but make sure Kris eats, she's been looking a little thin as of late."
"Got it." He said as he trotted to catch up with me. I'm the smallest wolf in the pack, Brian's the second largest, Matt being the first, and it looks so funny when he's next to me.
"Brian? Why do you have such a problem with me? I've never done anything to you." I said as we picked our way down the side of a mountain.
"Exactly, I don't know that I can trust you. I've fought many battles with the guys, you're new to the pack, I've never fought against anything with you. I know I can trust the guys but how do I know that at the first sign of danger you won't turn tail and run?"
"I guess you don't, but I would never…"
"Shh… there's a deer right down in that clearing." He said getting down in crouch position. "Watch the master work." He said launching himself and bounding down the side of the mountain side at break neck speed. The poor deer didn't know what hit him. I trotted down after him. "You can eat after I'm finished. Go keep watch or something." He growled at me.
"Great I go hungry again." I said turning and walking up to the bottom of the mountain where several large boulders lay. I climbed up on top of one of the bigger ones and laid down, ears perked up listening for any movement. My stomach growled._"Damn it Brian hurry up."_ I thought to myself even though I knew there wouldn't be much left for me.
Suddenly I heard a twig snap, my head turning immediately towards the direction of the noise, my nose twitching for a scent. Then I saw something shining in the woods. I squinted and realized as it got closer that it was moon light glinting off the barrel of a rifle, and it was aimed directly at Brian. He was standing completely still, his ears twitching trying to pick up any noise. He had heard the twig snap but I guess he couldn't tell where the noise had come from. Howling out a quick warning to the rest of the guys I jumped off the boulder and took off toward Brian.
"Run Brian, run." I yelled to him. The hunter stepped out of the woods and I jumped between him and Brian, next thing I know there's a loud bang and pain tears through my left shoulder. "Come on Brian, move it!" I snapped at him to get him out of his state of shock. We took off for the woods. I looked back and saw the hunter aiming at Brian again. I slammed into Brian as the gun went off and once again I took a bullet, in my side this time. I yelped in pain but kept running. As we were running I started feeling dizzy and I was losing a lot of blood. I started to drop back from Brian, just cause I couldn't keep up anymore.
"Brian!" I yelled to him coming to a complete stop. "I can't…" I said before falling over. He came running back.
"Kris?" I asked. I just whined as he checked my wounds over.
"Just leave me here, save yourself." I said weakly. He looked around.
"No chance in hell. Can you get up?"
"I think so."
"Good, come on." He stuck his nose under my unwounded side to help me up. He led me to a tree that was hollowed out. There was plenty of room to fit both of us and then some. "Inside." He instructed me. I stepped inside. "Stay here, and don't move."
"You're not staying with me?" I said laying down in the shadows.
"No, he will find us. I'll lead him away."
"But Brian…"
"No buts." He said. "I'll be back for you, I promise." He nuzzled my cheek, which is something he's never done before, then turned and walked out. A couple minutes later I heard the hunter footsteps, then he came into view. He looked around and noticed the tree hollow that I was staying in, though he couldn't see me. He took a few steps towards the tree, then I saw Brian come running up behind him and he jumped on the hunters back and knocked him over. Brian barked at the hunter before taking off, the hunter stood and took off after him.
An hour had gone by and I was fighting to stay awake, the blood had made a little puddle on the floor, though I had stopped bleeding a while ago. I was shaking though I couldn't tell if I was just cold or going into shock. Suddenly I heard footsteps and then Brian appeared in the entrance way. I couldn't even pick up my head.
"Kris?" He asked approaching me. I answered him with a low whine. A shiver ran though out my body. He quickly went around to my uninjured side and laid down next to me so I was curled into his side. "Better?" He asked washing my face with his warm tongue.
"Yeah much." I replied.
"How are you feeling?"
" Weak, cold, and very tired."
"Well don't fall asleep, you might not wake up. The silver in the bullets is slowly poisoning you, we need to get them out, but we need to get you home first."
"How? You can't carry me."
"I will if I have to." I just sighed and closed my eyes.
"Kris?" He asked but I didn't respond. He bit down on my one ear and pulled. I yelped, but it was affective. " I said don't go to sleep."
"Sorry." I sighed again. Just then Zacky and Johnny appeared in to entrance.
"Krista, girl, what the hell happened?" Zacky asked nuzzling my face.
"Saved the numb skull from getting shot. " I said. I could feel my eyes drifting closed again. This time it was Zacky who chomped down on my paw to wake me again.
"Do not fall asleep. We're just waiting for the all clear signal from Shads, him and Rev are leading the hunter away."
"I'm trying not to. It's hard."
"I know." He replied nuzzling my face again.
"Just hold on a little longer, we'll have you out of here soon. "Brian said. I nodded but my eyes slowly closed again. "Kris? Kris open you eyes."
**Brian's POV**
No amount of biting or yanking on her woke her. She was still alive but barely. Shads appeared in the door way with Rev.
"Let's go we lost him." He said. I stood up.
"Zacky, Johnny, both of you pick up the front half of her body. " I said. Zacky grabbed her scruff while Johnny pushed up from under her ribs and I wiggled my way under her. "Good now get her back half up." Using their noses they pushed up her up completely onto my back. "Good let's go. Keep an eye out and keep moving. " We headed out towards home. "Zacky, is there any hope for her?" I asked.
"As long as she's alive there's always hope." He said running on ahead.
The first rays of sunlight came over the horizon as we reached the house. As soon as we were inside we shifted into the men and woman that we are, naked as the day we were born.
"This way." Zacky said as I picked Krista up and followed into the little medical clinic we have just incase. We can't exactly got to the hospital if one of us gets hurt, or the vets for that matter, and as scary as it sounds Zacky's the doctor. I laid her down on the table. "I'll let you know when I'm done." He said scooting me out the door. All we can do now is wait.
**Normal POV**
I opened my eyes slowly and realized I was in little medical clinic. A sudden pain shot through the left side of my body and memories of the night before came flooding back, although I wasn't entirely sure how I had gotten home. I looked around and saw one of those kidney shaped medical pans on the instrument tray, inside there was two bullets, the water inside the pan was tinted red. Looking around again I saw Brain asleep in a chair in the corner of the room. I was about to call him but Zacky came in.
"Hey, you're awake. I wasn't expecting you to wake for a while yet." He said.
"Oh, well I can always go back to sleep if you want." I replied.
"Nah, that's ok." He laughed. "You in any pain?"
"A little, nothing unbearable though."
"Good. Just let me know if it get's bad I'll give you something."
"Thanks Zacky. Hey how long had Brian been here?"
"Since about 9:00 yesterday morning."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I told him you were gonna be fine, but he insisted on sleeping there." Memories of him laying down with me in the tree came to mind and how his attitude towards me changed. "He claims it was his fault that you got shot."
"Well no, I chose to jump between him and that hunter. It's not like he forced me or anything, it wasn't his fault. Got it Brian?" I asked when I saw he had one eye open but quickly closed it. "Don't even pretend, I know you're awake." He smiled and stretched before standing.
"Hey Zac would you mind leaving us for a moment, I need to talk to Kris." Zacky nodded with a smirk on his face and left.
"So." I said unsure what to say.
"So." He said. " I don't think you realize how lucky you are to be alive."
"Excuse me?" I said crossing my arms.
"You're excused. Anyway like I was saying it's a good thing I was there to lead that hunter away otherwise you'd be as good as dead."
"I don't fucking believe you." I said looking away from him.
"Let me finish. Also I don't think you realize how lucky we are to have you in our little dysfunctional family. " I slowly looked back at him, he had made his way to the bed while he was talking and now was standing next to it. "If you hadn't have jumped in front of those bullets I would be dead." He said sitting down on the edge of the bed. He reached out and gently caressed my check before sliding his hand to brush back a few strands of my hair. "Thank you for saving me." He said before gently bringing his lips to mine. I froze. "Sorry, I don't know why I did that." He laughed nervously.
"You know you're kinda cute when you're nervous. I kinda like this new Brian." I laughed. " And I know why you did that, cause somewhere deep down inside you, you like me, even if it's just a little bit, you like me."
"Never didn't like you, just didn't trust you, until now."
"So it took me taking two bullets for you before you could trust me?" I joked.
"Pretty much." He laughed. "If there's anything I could do to make it up to you then all you have to do is ask."
"Actually, two requests, first off from here on out we are friends and you'll never be mean to me again."
"Done. What's next?"
"You're gonna go out and get me a cheeseburger cause I am fucking starving." He laughed.
"You got it."
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 11,558 | 12,427.6 |
null | Misc. Books Ahab's Last Stand
Alternative Ending for Moby Dick
The dawn broke brightly on the ship _Pequod_ and few stirred including the captain. The day was fair and the few feathery clouds decorating the sky promised of a wonderful day, but Captain Ahab paid little heed while he thought dark thoughts to himself.
'I saw Fedellah's limp body, towed by that white monstrosity and I knew, my own death will not be far, but I go on. Aye, I will march onto my doom or triumph. He will not escape me now; not after he took what is rightfully mine. I must have my revenge! But stay a moment; is it my own hand that draws me nearer to the leviathan or the strings of fate pulling me ever closer to death? Curse that boy, he stirs pity within my iron heart but I must not turn back, not now not ever. Look! There, the snowy white fiend finally breeches! He beckons me forward and I will not disappoint! If I am indeed fated to die, let me take that whale with me!'
Ahab commanded the crew to lower the boats and promptly snatched up his pagan blood-bathed harpoon and sat in a boat. The last two days of chasing Moby Dick had damaged all but two of the boats and he was in one of them while the savage Queequeg was in the other. Perhaps today was the day that Ahab would finally have his revenge.
The skies were a calm transparent blue and the yellow sun shone brightly on the two small boats being lowered into the calm dark waters. Sharp voices rang out indicating the position of the white whale at five minute intervals at the captain's orders. The winds swayed gently in the direction of the whale's last seen spout but Ahab ordered the rowers to take up their oars and the two boats moved swiftly and silently over the water's rippling surface.
"Where has that accursed whale disappeared to now?" Ahab muttered darkly to himself. The last sighting was over fifteen minutes ago and within that time; it could have swum far away. Suddenly, he saw the same familiar spout in the distance. It beckoned them and abandoning all caution and fear, the boats changed course to veer slightly to the right and the rowers paddled strenuously toward the white mass that called to them like a siren's song.
They edged closer and closer to the whale and when it was a mere hundred yards away, it suddenly turned and started to charge at the two hapless boats. It was clear that Moby Dick meant to end this chase today, either with the death of the audacious seamen or that of his own. Ahab could hear the uncomfortable shifting of the men behind him and knew they were starting to panic. Within the last two days, more men had died before the wrathful wake of that single whale then all whales previously captured. They had reason to fear.
"Steady now men, hold onto your oars," Ahab called out, hoping to calm the already frightened nerves of the crew members with his voice. He glanced over at the other boat where Queequeg stationed himself at the helm with his razor-sharp harpoon aimed and ready. They shared a look of understanding; today someone would die, it was only a matter of time. Ahab's sight shifted to Pip, sitting miserably toward the back of the small boat. What had possessed him to join the hunt again? If Pip was still on the ship, no harm could come to him. Ahab dismissed the rising sense of compassion and almost parental fear that rose in his unmoving heart. Now was the time for nerves of steel to combat against one that would not die.
The white mass came closer and closer and without warning, Moby Dick suddenly dove under the surface of the water. Within moments his ghostly hue was lost in the dark sea. The men searched frantically in vain. The wicked whale was hoping to repeat the success he had the previous day by upsetting and capsizing the ship by a surprise attack from underneath the small boat and there was little any could do.
The calm of the sea and silence was broken only by the soft splashing of water lapping against the boat and the occasional squawk of the white seagulls above. The men looked lazily at the horizon and waited, growing more impatient as time wore on. The white whale had not returned to attack or even to defiantly show its spout to them and disappear; it simply vanished. Finally, even Ahab grew tired and gave the signal to return to the _Pequod_; it was then that the whale struck.
For a moment, Ahab was too stunned to comprehend the chaotic scene before him. The whale has swum underneath the second boat and had gathered enough momentum to break it completely in half by his brute strength. His crew members watched in fascinated horror as the leviathan's deformed jaw closed firmly on the tattered boat and few unfortunate souls; Pip was one of them.
Ahab wanted to scream in anguish as he watched Pip's arms flailing in the levitation's mouth, moments before the jaw came down with a firm resounding clash. That poor innocent boy! He did not deserve such untimely death at the hand of such a monster! Looking back at the men, he saw that their faces were drawn white with fear and sorrow; he wondered briefly if his own reflected such emotion. Rage tainted his voice as he shouted commands to his men. They jumped, startled by his harsh tones and by the order to continue hunting the whale after it had so viciously murdered many of their comrades only moments ago. Were their lives so worthless to their captain?
They rowed in silence in the murky maroon water, tainted with the lifelines of the dead and dying. The whale had disappeared again, but this time, Ahab would not return to the ship; despite the pleading of his crewmen. Nothing would stop him now. After a moment, he sighted the whale a few hundred yards away.
"After that monstrous fiend! I will not rest until he or I are dead! Row men! Row with all your might! We may die any day, so let us die here!" Ahab's cried as his men rowed at a furious pace after the whale. As they neared, Ahab flung his harpoon at the whale and it stuck. Spurred on by either pain or an evil scheme, the monster picked up speed at an alarming rate and the boat moved swiftly over the waters with her crew grasping her sides with whitened knuckles.
The great white creature turned again and charged at the ship with amazing speed. Its solid head collided with the small boat and its sides shattered and began to leak. Ahab fell out of the boat, still clutching the harpoon line when the whale charged once more and this time, it pulverized the ship; leaving its few survivors floundering in the wide ocean. Ahab held tightly onto the line even while it was dragged by the white whale. The whale seemed to slow down; perhaps the many harpoons still stuck on his side finally took their toll. By dint of exertion, Ahab managed to pull himself closer to the white mass until he nearly stood on the whale itself. Grasping a line, ancient by the looks of the seaweed that grew on it, he drew out his own harpoon out of the white flesh and continued to stab it while bright red blood poured out of the wounds.
As if ignited by a sudden unseen flame, the whale began to move erratically and threatened to drag Ahab under the sea to his watery grave. Seeing the whale's intention, Ahab took one last aim and with all his might, plunged the gleaming harpoon where he supposed the beast's heart to be. Per haps it was sheer dumb luck, but he missed the heart and instead the harpoons edge did hit a vital spot and the whale twitched in pain. Its last moments had come; Ahab had completed his revenge. But unknowingly, the whale's last moments were also Ahab's last.
The whale thrashed wildly in pain, angered that it should be killed by a mortal being, that the immortal and infamous whale should finally find its end at the hand of a mortal man. It attempted one last final attack when it flung its sides so violently that Ahab lost his grip and fell into the sea. With Ahab floundering in the ocean, the whale used its last strength to lift its massive tail high over the mortal's head and let it fall.
The remaining crew members saw a gigantic water spray in the distance as they witnessed the white mass slowly sink into the wine dark seas. The _Pequod_ sailed to the spot of the white whale's sinking to find only battered pieces of wood and floating corpses in the sickening reddish water. There was no sign of their captain anywhere. Starbuck rallied the crew and led them away from the massive grave. It was a terrible obsession that consumed the captain and now it had led him to his death. At least he got his revenge on the whale known as Moby Dick.
_Fini_
_A/N: You're probably wondering why I even wrote this ending, well blame it all on my English teacher who thought it would be a fun final English product for high school...I didn't even like the book that much, but perhaps that had something with it being the last book I was required to read...So, enjoy the gore? It was a bit bloody..._
End file.
| Misc. Adventure, Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 8,933 | 8,710 |
null | Misc. Books Happy Birthday, Dmitri
SHORT STORY
WORKING TITLE: TOO FAR AWAY
FINISHED 2009.
**Happy Birthday, Dmitri**
**©2009 K W Austin**
Melbourne, Australia, 1986. 9:30 pm. A radio mast above a small suburban house, a slender shadow against background stars. Far away in the early spring night, a dog was barking at its own echo.
Down below in the lounge, Stephanie made the final adjustments to her modified shortwave set, feeling for each control and listening to the audio hash that poured between her headphones.
The set now had S-band, and Stephanie played her fingers across the frequency controls, going up and down the scale, eager to try the new radio band. She picked up a radar from somewhere on one channel, and scrambled microwave comms on another. That was about it. She'd have to wait until she could get the right antenna up there; meanwhile she had another cursory listen just for fun, then turned to the normal ham range.
Almost immediately Davey came through. "VK3VX from KB6FVG."
She thumbed her talk switch. "VK3VX receiving."
"Hi, Steppie. How's the new set?"
"Useless. I need an aerial tuner."
"Sound like a job for Aussie Electrical", Dave retorted, and Stephanie tried a smile.
"Australia calling Pasadena, Yanksville. Our electricians would piss all over yours."
"More likely they'd piss all over their own power lines. Anyhoo, how's Melbourne?"
They chatted for a while, and Stephanie excused herself to go and make a cup of coffee. When she got back Davey had gone, and she idly flicked through the 25 metre range in case anyone else was calling. The world rolled through her headphones, hiss and static and buzz. She nearly switched off, but at the last second thought she'd try the S-band again. She nudged the switch up.
There was a voice in her headset.
" . . . anyone can hear me, please talk. This is important. I need to get a message out."
She parted her lips, concentrating. The voice came to her behind a swell of noise and was faint, with the thin, reedy note of a narrow bandwidth. There was just enough signal to tell it was male, and foreign.
"Can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?" It stopped, and that gave her time to think. She was wary of new radio contacts. Some were creeps, and others just caused her grief and heartache, the ones who struck up a glowing new friendship and chatted for a fortnight until one day – gone. She sometimes felt that they could see her face, her crumbled façade, despite the virtual mask she wore along with her headphones. And young Stephanie had done her dash of self-doubts.
So she paused before thumbing her talk switch.
"Hello, VK3VX here. Callsign, location?"
Noise and hash crammed her headphones, and the voice came back.
"My name is Dmitri. I ask you to help me. It is very important you do this."
"Well, hi, Dmitri – what do you want me to do?"
"You must contact MIPT in Moscow and tell them urgently to give message to Dr Mikhail Egorov. He is scientist in Department of Applied Physics. I give you the phone number. It is . . . "
Silence. She pushed the talk button again: "Hello, Dmitri? Hello? Come back?"
Silence.
"So much for that," she said to her tired but cheerful coffee mug. She tried for another minute, then the scramblo comms started up again and she pulled her headphones off.
She started up the shower, stripping off quite slowly. She always washed her face last because it took a while to muster the courage - the point where it actually upset her had passed now into history, but still, sometimes her fingers trembled a little as she felt the furrows and strange smooth shapes of the scar tissue. The nightmares had gone, now, and of course she'd discovered a new hobby.
So she dried, powdered, and dressed hurriedly and brewed a fresh hot coffee before sitting at the radio table again. The switch was still in the S-band setting as she wrapped the phones around her head, and the nutcase Russian was back.
"Allo VK3VX? Are you still there?"
Stephanie gave a little smile. "VK3VX receiving. Go ahead, Dmitri. You still want to defect to Australia?"
"It is not a matter of defection. Time is running out for me here. I have only a few day before I die. I must get message to Dr Egorov, and you are only way I can do this. Please, Australia girl, you help me?"
She could actually hear the question-mark. Her fingers felt slowly for the talk button, giving her time to compose some thoughts. Probably because of that, when she finally pushed the switch, she said the last thing she herself expected. "Dmitri, how old are you?"
There had always been a short pause between transmission and response, something Stephanie was gradually noticing, as though the radio waves were travelling an immense distance around the world. This time, the pause was longer.
"I am twenty years old. And it is my birthday in three days."
Stephanie laughed, she _laughed!_ "Dmitri, wherever the hell they've jailed you up, I hope you can bust out in time for your big Two One. But – seriously, mate, are you on Death Row or something?"
"No. Please listen. Soon I will run out of air. There is no way I can 'bust out', not here. not ever. But you can help . . . "
Silence. Stephanie called.
"Dmitri, VK3VX, come back?"
" . . . Dr Egorov . . . radio failure . . . die here . . ."
Silence, again.
She sat there, listening to the ever-present hiss and crackle.
Stephanie lay awake in bed with her thoughts and presently she dreamed. Strangely it was about a tin of sardines, which surprised her because she didn't much like sardines, and the tin was floating in a vat of vodka, and she didn't care for vodka either. Waking up she reflected it was probably something telling her to broaden her culinary tastes, but after that she couldn't sleep at all. Lying on one side, then the other. Her pillow too fat. The blankets rucked into a corkscrew, toes exposed to the night. Thoughts. Circling without end. Friends, lack of. Her ruined furrowed face, that which they must never see. The radio, thank God for.
She got up and aimed herself at the fridge, where a nice bottle of Pellegrino waited, and on the way she heard the cooling fan of her transmitter. The set was still on.
Its controls were on the S-band; she sat, swallowed, and sent her callsign out. "VK3VX transmitting. Dmitri from VK3VX, come in."
"I am here."
The reply was prompt, almost telepathic. Dmitri's hardened accent was faint but clear – but he sounded tired. "I am here, Australia girl. I have five minute before I am out of radio range again. Please be telling me you talk to Moscow Institute of Applied Physics, yes?"
"Dmitri – look, mate, I dunno who you are or - or _where_ you are. And I'm buggered if I'll be responsible for helping a death row convict break out of clink. And what ya mean you're going out of radio range?"
That curious little pause, and he opened his mike again. "What is your name, Australia girl?"
"Stephanie."
"It is pretty name. Stephanie, you must listen. I am not convict. I am Russian cosmonaut."
"A _what?_"
"My Voskhod spacecraft orbit the world every ninety-four minute, when I go below your horizon my radio is out of range. That is why I only talk for brief time. My air is running out and main power has failed. Soon my batteries go and all spacecraft systems stop. You must help."
"Why – why don't you return to Earth?"
"Stephanie, I cannot. No main power, so no navigation system. I do not know my location in space, so I cannot make calculations for re-entry. I am – marooned here, in orbit, and I cannot return."
"Oh, my God," Stephanie breathed. "Dmitri, can't they, like, rescue you?"
"Niet. No."
"Why not?"
"They have forgotten me. Soviet Space Program, they not admit something go wrong with Voskhod spacecraft, so they leave me here. They ignore my radio calls. Their receivers are switched off so they not hear me die."
"They wouldn't _dare_ do that!"
"You do not understand. Soviet government is not like in Australia - when something go wrong with big-assed space project they hide it from the world. I thought no-one will ever know I am here, stuck in my spacecraft, until I got your call."
Stephanie sat there, feeling the square shape of the talk button under her fingers. She stayed like that for so long that, eventually, Dmitri's accent filtered through the static again.
"Stephanie, are you still there?"
She jammed the button down. "Yes, dammit, I'm here. Now, give me time to think."
"I do not have time. That is why you talk to MIPT, get message to Dr Egorov. He is good with Americans. He is – you would say, a 'mate'. He call NASA, because NASA have radar system that tell me my position in space and then I calculate for re-entry. Do you see?"
She felt angry. If this was a hoax it was a bloody stupid one, and, if it wasn't, some politicians needed a good kick up the proverbial jacksey.
"Okay, Dmitri. I'll ring the Institute. Hang in there, mate."
Silence.
"Dmitri? Come back?"
Silence.
"Dmitri from VK3VX?"
Silence, because his orbiting spacecraft had just fallen belown the horizon of her world.
Because of the nocturnal events she slept in badly next morning, not dreaming of tins of sardines this time. She got up, dressed, did her makeup. It was only when she'd finished that she realised this was Sunday – that's what a sleepless night does – and birds were chirping sunnily outside. She got breakfast and a coffee and took it outside onto the patio with her phone. The summer light warmed her head and shoulders, making her feel good.
Her fingers felt across the phone keys.
"International Directory, what name, please?"
"Oh, hi. I want the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia."
"In Russia."
"Yes."
"That's an international call."
"Yes. I know. That's why I dialled International." _What do they feed these operators on? Stupid Burgers?_ "Can you please give me the number?"
The operator recited the number like a parrot and hung up almost before she could write it down. Carefully, becasue she didn't often dial overseas, she worked the keypad. Somewhere around the world, a telephone began ringing.
"_Moskovsii Fiziko Tekhnicheskii Ikhstitu._"
"Oh! Hi, mate, do you speak English?"
"Da. Yes. Can I help?"
"I want you to talk to this bloke in the, umm, Department of Applied Physics, a Dr Egorov, and tell him I've got a message from a Dmitri who's in a spaceship orbiting the Earth, and this Dmitri bloke needs NASA to give him a hand getting back from space, okay?"
"A spaceship."
"Yeah, a spaceship. He calls it – umm, Voskhod or something."
"We do not work with spaceships."
"No, mate, just find this Dr Egorov and he'll call NASA and they'll rescue the spaceship."
"We do not work with spaceships."
"You don't have to. Just give Dr Egorov the message and tell him what's happened."
"That is a matter for Department official staff. This is Sunday. You call back Monday. We do not work with spaceships."
"Bloody hell, mate! Look, this bloke's floating around in a cramped metal can like – like sardines in a tin, and there's no-one to help him, and he's a Russian citizen, so I reckon it's kinda up to you to do something about it."
"You call back Monday, yes?" The phone clicked. Knocked back, Stephanie lifted her eyes to the blue sky and sighed. Maybe her friend was up there right now, above her.
Over the next few hours she tried to raise Dmitri on the radio, but without any luck. If his orbit was carrying him overhead every ninety minutes there should be some contact, sometime – but nothing came through except an occaisional burring whine from the distant radar installation and the ever-present hiss. She took off her headphones and switched the speaker on, so she could hear if he came through, and slowly and carefully brushed her hair.
The makeup – on Sunday, no less, and now this. She didn't usually do her hair so well, and she thought it was just that she needed time to think while stroking, stroking the brush through the already tidy, clean strands.
But she _refused_ to admit it had anything to do with her new friend.
She switched bands and called up Davey.
The California kid had somehow connected an answerphone to his ham radio, and that's what she got. "Greetings from KB6FVG Pasadena. There's no intelligent life-forms in this house right now, so leave your message for the crew of the _Enterprise_ after the Red Alert klaxon." Woop woop woop. Click.
"Hi," Stephanie laughed. "Gimme a call back when you return from Planet Vulcan. I need a bit of help with something." Hardly had she said it than the mike opened again. "Hey, Steppie, dudette – sorry, just been crushing beer tins with some friends out back. What can I do for ya?"
"Well, you're kinda this brain about space and stuff like that."
"I'm flattered."
"Can it and piss off. What do y'know about the Russian space programme?"
"Okay. They launched Sputnik 1 in 1956, then Sputnik 2 in 1957 on top of Vostok launch vehicles. Now they send manned Soyuz craft into low Earth orbit with Protons."
"What about – umm, Voskhods?"
"Eh? Well, those got launched from Vostok rockets in the early 1960s."
"And now?"
He laughed. "Dudette, this is 1986! There were only a few Voskhods anyway and those all got used by about 1967."
"How do they navigate?"
"Sun position sensor with backup visual device. Re-entry was by radio command from the ground. If there was a power failure, the automatic system would stop."
"Couldn't it, like, return to Earth?"
"No. Without a reference in orbit he'd go off-target. He'd either bounce off the atmosphere and fly into deep space, never to come back, or burn up trying to get through the stratosphere. Bad way to go, man. But there ain't any Voskhods any more."
"Cheers, mate." She switched back to S-band, probably mystifying the hell out of Davey, and went to make another coffee. As she did the hiss from the radio speaker changed in timbre.
"Allo Stephanie, are you there?"
There were no Voskhods any more.
"Allo, this is Dmitri. Are you receiving me?"
Dmitri was taking the mickey bliss. And it annoyed her. Deeply.
"Allo nice Australia girl."
She grabbed the radio mike. "Yes, I'm here and you can go take a flying leap you son of a bitch! How _dare_ you try and chat me up like that! All that bullshit – your so-called Voskhod drifting in space without power, you dying inside, all that – you're just a greasy lying bastard! Is this the way you get to shag all the girls you meet?"
Silence, She was smugly glad of that. "_Yes!_" she hissed through her smile. She stood there listening to the hiss from the speaker, then turned the radio off and went for the coffee mug.
She woke suddenly. It was Monday morning and the bedside clock read just after five. Stepahnie rolled over in bed and tried to shake off the dream.
The tin of sardines again, in its vat of vodka. That was all. But dreams can have a powerful under-emotion out of all proportion, and she felt the helplessness and fear, a panic of being lost in the endless star-flecked darkness of space. And, above all, the loneliness.
Did Dmitri have a girlfriend? Somewhere in Moscow, or St Petersburg, or whatever?
Stephanie lay on her back and tried to picture his face. Strong, young, handsome in a kind of Slavic way. You can't really put a picture to a mere voice crackling through the skies on a radio carrier, but she imagined him with boyish good looks, neat hair, a meltingly warm smile. He had lean athletic shoulders and hips due to the training those cosmonauts went through, and, of course, he was a romantic at heart.
Stephanie lay there, breathing, and tried to focus the tingling thought. It entered her with a startling suddeness.
"Lover?" she whispered aloud.
_Forget it._ _Lying bag of grease that he is. There's no such thing as a Voskhod drifting out of control in space. Besides, you don't let anyone see you these days, not the way you are now._ She sighed._ So just lie there alone and forget it. _
Alone?
"Dammit. Jesus, just dammit." And she swung out of bed.
She paced barefoot into the lounge, groped in the semi-light for the radio desk, sat down, switched on.
"Dmitri from VK3VX?"
Hiss from the speaker.
"Hey, Dmitri, I'm sorry, mate. Talk to me."
Hiss.
"Look, mate, I take back what I said to you. I'm here to help, okay?"
Hiss.
Angry now she banged her fist on the table. The microphone jumped, and then the fridge motor in the kitchen stopped and suddenly she could hear.
Faint. Very, very faint. Stephanie rocked the tone controls, trying to null out the background noise. The voice was there, definite, but too faint to hear the words. She adjusted the fine tuning, making a din of squeals and buzzes that rattled the speaker grille so she pulled on the headphones instead.
" . . . come and help. Situation is desperate. My batteries are going, I have now switched off all spacecraft equipment including the radio amplifiers. Can you hear me, Stephanie?"
"My god, you sound like you're on the Moon," she said. "Listen, I'm ringing the MIPT as soon as they open. Hang in there, mate."
"Stephanie?"
"Yes, Dmitri?"
"Tell Dr Egorov to contact my parents in Krasnodar. Say to him that I send to them my love and regrets."
"Don't talk like that."
"Have to. Spacecraft heaters are off. It is very cold now. I may not last much longer."
"Dmitri?"
"Da?"
"You say you are in a Voskhod. But Voskhods don't fly any more."
"This one does."
"How?"
"It come out of museum. It is the only one small enough to fly secret mission without being noticed."
"What secret mission?"
"Soviet military satellite. I was to repair it. They put metal shell around this Voshkod to make it look like an old empty rocket booster to American radar. But the spacecraft systems, they are too old, they fail. I try to keep them going, with wires and bits of electronics. But they fail, and I cannot get home."
"Dmitri, I – I . . . " She swallowed. "Mate, look, I'm sorry I called you a lying bastard. I just didn't believe you. That's all."
"Stephanie?"
"Yeah?"
"How old are you?"
She smiled, now. "Twenty-three."
"What do you look like?"
She paused. Her face, her shame, the one that could still make her cry, just a little bit, just occaisionally.
Dmitri sensed the pause in transmission, because his tiny voice filtered again through the noise. "I ask because it give me hope. You be my – you call it, 'pinup'. Like we had in _VVS_, the Soviet Air Force, in the ready room. Are you pretty?"
"Yes." Her speech came through softer than she wanted, hesitant. "Yes, I am."
"Blonde? Brunette?"
"Blonde, of course."
"Measurements?"
"35-24-34."
"What are you wearing?"
"My pyjamas."
A funny noise pulsated against the roar of static, and she thought it was that bloody radar installation again until she realised the truth. Dmitri was laughing!
"Oh, nice blonde girl in her pyjamas!" he cried. "Just the sort I like! So erotic!" He paused, and she nearly replied. "But – I am sorry, you take offence at – uh, innuendo?"
"No." She was prompt. She wanted to please her lover. "Nope, not at all. Would you like me to take something off?"
The laugh again, distorted by his appallingly weak transmitter. "Da, yeah. You take off your pyjama top. Very slowly. Bit by bit."
"Okay," she giggled. "Here I go. Are you watching?"
"Da!"
"Here it comes. I'm lifting up the hem. Just a bit, so you see my tummy."
"What does your tummy look like?"
"It is flat and trim, and look, there's my little belly button. Do you like it?"
"Good, very good. I run my finger around your little belly button. You like?"
"Yeah, ooh, that feels nice. Keep doing it, Dmitri. Now, I'm lifting up to my tits. You wanna little peek?"
"A nice long peek."
"Uh-uh. A short one first. Here - did you see that? Aren't they gorgeous?"
"Stephanie – don't tease me! Come on!"
She laughed gently. "Now – and now, I'm touching you. I'm running my fingers through your hair. Uh – what colour hair?"
"Dark. Black. I kiss you slowly, Australia girl. Tenderly. Your face, your plush red lips. I stroke your lovely soft face."
He stopped, waiting.
Her fingers shook slightly atop the talk button.
_No. This has gone too far._
"Damn!" she swore, but with the microphone off.
"You are beautiful girl, Stephanie. I stroke your blonde hair, your face - "
"Dmitri – uh, sorry, mate, I gotta go. I'm late for work. I have to go now."
"Ah, pity. You work in your pyjamas? Never mind, but remember, talk to MIPT. Talk to the Institute."
She stroked her dark fawn hair and took the phone out to the patio in the mid-morning sun. She'd tried earlier, but got nothing but an answering machine in Russian. Now, she tried again.
"_Moskovsii Fiziko Tekhnicheskii Ikhstitu._"
"Oh! Umm, hi, I'm Stephanie and I was talking to someone on Sunday who suggested I ring back today."
"Do you want Academy of Sciences, Institute Admissions, Useful Information About Moscow, or Speak to Secretary?"
"I want to talk about a Voshkhod spaceship that's in orbit with this bloke inside who's dying and needs - "
"Do you want Academy of Sciences, Institute Admissions, Useful Information About Moscow, or Speak to Secretary?"
"No, there's this Dmitri bloke in a spaceship - "
"Do you want Academy of Sciences, Institute - "
"Oh, for pity's sake! Just let me speak to the Secretary."
"You make appointment."
"Can I talk to him now?"
"You make appointment."
"Is there anyone else?"
"Secretary is not here. He is on vacation."
"Right. I got that. Is there anyone else?"
"You make appointment."
_Grrrrr._ "Listen. Is – there – any – one – else?"
"This is Institute of Physics and Technology. You want Secretary, you make appointment. He is back in two weeks."
"Well, that's a bit bloody late, ain't it? I mean, here's this poor coot cooped up in a dying spacecraft, freezing his nuts off because there's no power for the heater - "
"I understand. I am not stupid. But we have protocol here. If you want warmer house to live in, you speak to Moscow Housing Development. You want to speak to Secretary, he is back in two weeks. Understand?" Click.
"Yes, I bloody well understand!" she shouted into the dead telephone, then hurled it at the back door. She was disappointed when it bounced off the window with a plastic clatter instead of crashing through it.
_Bounce._ That's what Davey had said. _Bounce off the atmosphere. Fly into deep space._ That's what _Davey_ had said . . .
She rushed back indoors. Her fingers were shaking a little and she had to key in the frequency twice before getting it. "KB6FVG from VK3VX", she breathed into the mike. "Davey, come in, mate."
The kid never seeemd to sleep. After her second call, he answered with the sound of American football with TV commentary and marching band in the background. "Hey, Steppie! What you up to, dudette?"
"Listen, this is urgent. Can you talk to NASA?"
"Yeah - why?"
"Remember I asked you about Voskhod spacecrafts?"
"Yep."
"Well, there's a Voskhod up there in orbit right now. Something went wrong with the power and he's lost his navigation and his heaters."
"In orbit? Now?"
"As I speak. The poor bastard can't get back because he has no navigation, and he's only got a day or so to live, but he told me that NASA radar could help him fix his position so he can return to Earth. Does that make any sense to you?"
Davey paused before opening his mike. "It makes good sense, Steps. But – a day to live?"
"Or two. Davey, you've gotta help!"
"Okay. I got a friend from JPL, he works just out of Pasadena. I'll get on the horn and tell him right now. Jet Propulsion Laboratories have access to the best radar tracking stations in the world."
"Cheers, Davey."
"Whatever, Steps. Hang in there. KB6FVG Pasadena, out."
It took a while to get the spacecraft's position, because all she had was its radio period when it was over Australia. But presently Davey called her to say he'd spoken to "this dude at JPL" and the hunt was on. It was a strange time, but Stephanie was happy, flicking busily between Davey's frequency on 25 metres and Dmitri in the S-band. "Help is on the way," she told Dmitri. He sounded distracted, and when she asked him, he said he was very cold and hungry. "But – I look forward to landing on Earth again. I thank you." Then his spacecraft fell below her horizon, and she lost contact again.
She got up from the table and found her hairbrush, on the dresser next to the mirror. Very deliberately, consciously, she watched in the mirror as she brushed her hair. For the first time, the sight that peered back did not fill her with revulsion; she could look at the shiny scars and the great dimple in her left cheek and the damaged left eye that no longer worked. She smiled, and the wrecked image smiled back. It was Dmitri's birthday in two days, and she would give him a present, a very special one, even though he couldn't actually see it; and now, smiling into her mirror for the first time, Stephanie let the truth catch her and warm her in its arms. She was in love.
"VK3VX from KB6FVG."
She hurried back from her kitchen to the radio, coffee cup sloshing over in one hand, and jammed on the headphones. "VK3VX receiving. Hi, Davey!"
"Hey, Steps. JPL are in progress with locating your lost spacecraft. They have high hopes for finding it soon."
"Davey, as my English teacher used to say at school, eschew obfucsiation. What's gone wrong?"
He paused before replying. "They can't find it. There's nothing up there that looks like a Ruskie Voskhod, or even an old rocket booster. But – well, JPL are hampered by the fact most of their equipment is in use on another project."
"_What_ project?"
"Voyager. It's about to fly past the planet Uranus, very far away, and they've got every damn radio dish they have trying to listen to the thing. They're not too interested in looking for an old Soviet crapsule right now."
"Jeez, Davey, there's a man's life at stake!"
"I know that. But I can't convince the JPL chiefs. Bunch of stuffed suits, the lot of them. They keep saying they'll have a proper look when Voyager has gone past the planet." He must have sensed her impending reply. "Look, I've got some buddies here. They have hooks in JPL and NASA. They'll rescue your boyfriend."
Boyfriend. Was it that obvious, now? Sitting down she switched back to the S-band.
"Dmitri?" She didn't even bother with her callsign.
"Da, I am here." His voice was weak, and not just because his transmitter was running out of power. "Speak to me. Tell me good news."
"JPL are more interested in unmanned space probes. But we're working on it."
There was no reply when she released her talk button, and she sent an anxious query up into space. "Dmitri?"
"Sorry. Hungry and very cold. I have headache now, my air is almost gone." He sighed, a very human sound. "I still have hopes, but now – you talk to me, Stephanie. Just talk to me. Tell me all about you."
"Okay," she replied softly, settling back into her chair. "I live in Melbourne, Victoria. I work from home as a correrspondence teacher. I – I don't go out often."
"Why not?"
"Well – 'coz there's always work to be done here. At home."
"All work and no play, is my Stephanie girl. Would you like to play?"
She smiled. "I am in my pyjamas. It is a warm summer – night." She took a cockeyed glance at the blue sunlit sky outside her window. "I am all alone." Well, _that_ was true. "And I'm taking off my top, slowly. Can you see?"
"Yes," he replied. His voice was almost swamped by the static.
"Look, Dmitri, there they are. C-cup. Small and high. I'm brushing one against my microphone."
"I feel it. It is firm, curvy, cute. And the other. They are – we say in Russian, _jeroticheskie_."
Her smiled opened into a giggle. "Now I lower my top again. Dmitri, tomorrow's your twenty-first birthday. I'll give you a real treat then, the full bit. Reckon?"
"You tease me too much," he said, and amidst the now deafening noise she thought she heard that laugh of his. She wondered, again, what he looked like, and the fantasy obligingly lit up before her mind's eye. Mentally she stroked his dark Slavic hair and his youthful face, feeling the plush roundness of his lips against her fingertips.
"Dmitri," she nearly whispered into the microphone: "you can touch my face this time. Go on."
"Describe it."
She breathed carefully. "Round, like a young girl's. With blue eyes. And – with flawless skin, like creamed honey."
"Yes," he answered. "I feel it. Smooth complexion. Like some girls in Moscow I know." He paused. "I go out of radio range now. But I come back in hour and a half, and you give me birthday present."
"Of course, mate. See you round." She took off her headphones, and it was then she realised she was caressing her own face, exploring the hollow where the bones had set imperfectly. And accepting it.
She caught up with the work her correspondence students had sent in, reading and marking the pile of papers, some computer printed, most still hand-written, and humming the Song of the Volga Boatmen. In her bedroom she stripped to her underwear and put on a red cotton top and the short, black denim skirt that hardly saw daylight outside her closet. Then she remembered he liked her in pyjamas, and took off the top and replaced it with her fluffy mauve winceyette jacket. She put on deep scarlet lipstick, and did it while looking in the mirror. She brewed up another coffee because the last one had gone cold and got scarlet lipstick on the cup and had to redo, again in front of the mirror. She smiled, and the fawn-haired, brown-eyed girl smiled back. "Happy birthday, Dmitri."
She went back to the radio and sat down. "Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over."
Hiss crackled between her headphones, and she fiddled with the strap of her slingback while waiting for his reply. "Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over."
The coffee tasted good as she sipped and waited for his reply. Start with the slow, seductive removal of her pyjama jacket, revealing a little bit at a time. She hummed a few bars of a slinky blues riff and pretended, with her fingers, to do the cute kitten-climbing-a-rope routine which a girlfriend once taught her.
"Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over."
Boy, was he gonna have a great twenty-first!
"Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over. Come in, mate."
Stephanie glanced at her watch. He'd be over Australia right now.
"Dmitri, this is Stephanie. Come in."
Hiss, static, noise.
"Dmitri, this is VK3VX calling on S-Band at 3.5 GHz. If you can hear me, try increasing your transmitter gain."
Stephanie rocked her tone controls back and forward, making the noise appear to phase across the audio spectrum, but the crash and roar drowned out anything that Dmitri might be saying. She checked the frequency setting and inched her fine-tuner one way and the other, just in case. It was like trying to find a black cat in the rain at night.
"Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over."
Static.
"Dmitri from VK3VX, receiving, over."
Static.
Stephanie sat staring at the controls of her radio without seeing them. Her heart had begun to pound. Slowly, reluctant to let go, she pulled her headphones off. She sat there in her denim skirt and pyjama jacket. She did not move.
End file.
| Misc. Books | Fanfiction | null | 31,230 | 13,930.7 |
null | Misc. Books The Legacy of Dixie : A Revolution's Night Dream
The Legacy of Dixie: A Revolution's Night Dream
Chapter I: A New Day
I opened my eyes to the bright morning sun shining into my room, sunlight hot on my face. I stretched my limbs, shaking off a night of heavy sleeping. I sat on the windowpane looking out on the horizon wondering if 'he' was looking at the morning sky too. Suddenly, I found myself thinking, "Why even wake up today when it's gonna be the same as yesterday?" Everyday I find myself struggling with my own conscious, fighting, clawing, to keep the negative thoughts out of my head. My family is poor and can't afford all the things that other kids my age have, so I'm constantly and doggedly made fun of and I hate it, but I deal with it in my own, special little way.
I look at the picture sitting on my dresser and it cuts through all my negative thoughts and feelings, sending my heart ablaze with so many warm feelings. I walk to my dresser and pick it up. I gaze at it lovingly and glossy eyed; it is a picture of my crush, Blue. He's like me in many ways; he doesn't have much, he's an outcast in his family and constantly made fun of, and he's always called 'a piece of low-class trash', but I adore him! I place the picture back down, looked in the mirror, and start combing through my dirty blonde hair. I looked at my reflection in the mirror: big forehead, mismatched colored eyes, long nose, an awkward smile…. Nothing is very interesting about me. Everyone always makes fun of the fact that I have one blue eye and one green eye and that my forehead was big. I was always teased and when I cried, they found amusement in it and kept going, but Blue always stuck up for me. I found myself daydreaming about running through a beautiful, blooming field of flowers with Blue holding my hand, smiling at me and telling me that he loved me. Sadly, it was but a daydream….
I took off my pajamas and put on my favorite beat up black spaghetti strap shirt, faded black skirt, black fingerless gloves, fishnet stockings, and knee high combat boots. I put on my black eyeliner and purple lipstick and said to myself. "It's time to mentally prepare myself for another nerve-racking day of middle school". I looked at my chipped nails and decided that later on, I would give my faded black nails a fresh coat of fingernail polish after school. I heard a knock on my door and a gentle voice saying, "Honey, it's time for you to leave for school". I opened the door and told my mom, "I know Mom; I'm getting ready to head out now". My mom is a short, soft-spoken, and sheepish woman with auburn hair, green eyes, and a heartwarming smile. "I really hope you have a better day today than yesterday", she said. "You didn't have to punch that poor boy in the face". "He made fun of me, embarrassed me, and pulled my hair", I snapped back. "He deserved getting slugged in the face in my honest opinion". "Just try to stay out of trouble please honey", she responded. "Me and your father would appreciate it a whole lot". I just nodded my head, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and walked downstairs. My dad waved as I walked towards the door. He is a tall man whose is skinny but muscular (how does THAT work?). He's always too fully absorbed in his newspaper in the morning to ever properly tell me bye, so I just tell him bye and I love you and shoot out the door. This morning though, he stopped me and said, "Dixie, tomorrow is your 13th birthday. I know your mother and I don't have much to give you, but I hope you love what we are gonna do for you". I shot him a puzzled look and said, "Okay Dad, but you know I will, so why tell me that?"He just hugged me and I walked out the door. As I walked to school, I was hoping that no one would mess with me today, and I was praying that Blue would be there…..
Chapter 2: School Daze
I took the usual drab, long, slow walk to school when I ran into one of the most popular and meanest girls at school, Hana. This girl… She and I do NOT have a pretty history. We have always fought with each other because she makes fun of my unique style in clothing and my social status. We have also been bitter rivals ever since we were younger because I was always better than her in certain things and she would always throw a hissy fit saying that I would pay for embarrassing her. Something about her is off though…. One side of her hair is straight and neat, while the other side is wild and unkempt. She always wore glasses that were missing a frame from them. Hana always had a bit of a split personality, so maybe that's her way of expressing it? "Well well well! If it isn't the low class freak Dixie!" Hana haughtily blasted out as she caught up to me. "Oh yay, it's my best friend in the world Hana!" I sarcastically said back. "Oh and that's the Punk Princess to you." "Like I'd ever be your friend Dixie. You are the least popular person at our school and you always dress like you're going to a funeral!" I shot her an ugly look as I thought of all the ways I could get her back for saying that, and I said, "Who would be friends with YOU anyway, you bipolar mess of an animal?" I watched as her facial expression went sour. I cracked a small, wicked smile and I walked away. As I continued my walk to school, still fuming after my encounter with that hag Hana, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue streak run by. Once I saw that blue flash, all of my evil, sadistic thoughts of revenge on Hana disappeared. It was him!, I thought to myself. Blue will be at school today! Maybe this day will be better, I hoped to myself.
I finally got to school after the first bell and as always, the head of security at my school was stalking the hallways for tardy students, handing out detentions if he spotted anyone without a hall pass. I snuck passed him and settled into my English class, which was always sooo boring. Today was my lucky day though, because I had eye candy to look at. Blue was in my class, talking to my teacher about homework. I couldn't stop looking at him, with his heart-melting smile. First off, he's very different from anyone we've ever seen before. From what I heard, his dad did some kind of experiments on him when he was born, so now he literally looks like a blue plushy teddy bear. He has a drop dead gorgeous smile and piercing emerald green eyes. He's been saving me for years now from bad guys who wanted take over or destroy everything. He's so courageous, but always made fun of by his family. I've been trying to ask him out for years, but he would always run off. Before he walked out the room, he looked directly at me and waved. I started blushing and waved back. By just looking at me, he made my heart melt.
The rest of my classes before lunch - Science, Math, and P.E. - weren't anything to write home about. My science teacher lazily had us write down elements from the periodic table while he took swigs from his flask, my math teacher couldn't control the class, and we did random exercises in P.E. At lunchtime, I was hoping to catch a moment with Blue so I could talk to him alone when that hag Hana appeared with a bunch of girls. "Remember when you made fun of me this morning?", Hana spat angrily. I snickered and said, "Yeah, what about it?" "Its payback time you useless piece of trash! Beat her head off her little body!" I was preparing myself to fight back, but suddenly my mom's words rung through my head. _Just try to stay out of trouble please honey…. Just try to stay out of trouble please…. I froze up as the group of seven girls rushed me, intent on destroying me, beating me within an inch of my life, at the beck and call of my bitter rival Hana. Right when I thought I was gonna get the beating of a lifetime, Blue appeared from seemingly nowhere and stopped the girls' advance on me. "If I were you Hana, I would take your gang of groupies and peacefully walk away without any problems", Blue said in an authoritative voice. "Who the hell are you supposed to be, you blue, low-class freak?", Hana shouted. "Get em both girls!" The girls tried attacking us again, but Blue pushed them all back. The girls looking into his eyes and ran away screaming. Hana, struggling to keep her composure, shouted, "Both of you will feel my wrath soon! I swear it!" She then ran away with the other girls. "Blue", I started. "Thank you for saving my butt back there. I thought I was a goner." I reached to hug him, but he looked at me with serious eyes and he said, "How many times do I gotta tell you, don't call me Blue." I took a step back and asked, "Then what should I call you?" "Call me Banjo. I like it better. It means 'free soul' in the ancient language" I never understood why he hated his name so much, well really, no one did. He once said to a teacher that it had something to do with his dad. When I was about to try and hug him again, he darted off, saying he had to go do something. _
_I secretly chased after him, curious as to what it is he really had to do. I found him at a secluded part of the school where hardly no one goes to, talking to a man with long hair wearing a white robe. I hid in the bushes so I wouldn't be spotted by them as they talked. "Young Banjo", the man began, "We need you now more than ever. Our country is about to become a far more dangerous place than ever before." "Uncle, what's going on?", Banjo asked. "Is something happening to our clan? " I got a little closer so I could better hear what was being said, and what I heard next, it made me more scared than I've ever been before: "Banjo, for the first time in one hundred years, our people are going to war."_
_Chapter 3: Banjo & Akiro_
_ "War? Uncle, you must be joking, right?", Banjo pleaded. "I'm sorry nephew, but this isn't any type of elaborate prank", the man responded. "We are going to war with the so-called just rulers of our world. We have suffered for a century too long, and now, we have a chance to change that." "So we have to fight the Akitoki Clan huh?", Banjo asked. "Yes we do. Our Lord has already made the declaration of war. The Shiryu are neutral as they have been the last 150 years, so we don't have to worry about any possible interference from them." Banjo closed his eyes and said aloud, "Okay Dixie, you can come out from the bushes now." I was shocked that he knew I was even in the area! I nearly tripped as I got up from the bushes, but I played it off by trying to crack admittedly corny jokes. "Man Blue, you must have been in sync with my breathing or I farted or something!", I tried to joke. "I can't believe you knew I was hiding there!" "Dixie, don't play around", Banjo said seriously. "I know you overheard everything. Why did you follow me? And why do you keep calling me Blue?" I tried to reply, but my throat felt dry. I couldn't find it in me to speak, but the man in the white robe spoke, "And you must be Banjo's girlfriend!" I turned bright red out of embarrassment. I saw Banjo blush hardcore and trip over all his words, thinking it was cute the entire time. "She's not my girlfriend!", he finally forced out. I decided to joke around and say, "But you'll be mine someday Banji-bear!" He turned around quickly out of embarrassment and just shook his head. "Banjo, why don't you like your birth name?", I asked, shaking out of fear of his response. There was a long silence when Banjo finally said, "My birth name is a derogatory chain placed on me by my father. I hate it so much because everyone treats me like crap cuz of what it means." I opened my mouth to speak, but the man cut me off. "Banjo's name, Blue, literally means 'lower class human being'." _
_I saw Banjo openly flinch when his uncle said those words, the very definition of his name a target of his clan's insults. "I see why you don't like that name but why did your dad name you that?" As Banjo was about to answer, his uncle sarcastically said, "His father has major problems!" I laughed at what he said only because it cut through the previous heavy tension. "By the way, I'm his uncle, Akiro. It's a pleasure to meet you Dixie." I politely nodded and then __turned to look at Banjo. He looked lost and worried, that handsome smile long gone and replaced by a grim expression. He turned to me and said, "I'm sorry Dixie, but I'm gonna have to take a leave of absence from school. This is something that just can't be ignored." When he spoke those words, it felt like something inside me died. I needed Banjo to help me though the days at school. From the teasing, the boring classes, to that bitch Hana, seeing Banjo always helped me survive it all. Without him, I didn't think I could survive school at all. As I stood there shaking and distraught, I found the strength to ask the question I thought was most important in my heart and mind: "Why are you going to war Banjo? I… I don't want you to get hurt…" Banjo and Akiro shot each other a look, and then Akiro looked at me and said, "After school, come to the mansion near the end of Hojo Park. We shall tell you everything then" _
_Chapter 4: History Lesson_
_ The school day took forever to end, but when it did, I rushed to Hojo Park and stood outside the gate of the huge blue mansion. The mansion was at LEAST 3 stories tall. I looked up at it, wondering how many people lived inside of it. The gates slowly creaked open as a boy with deep grey eyes told me, "My father has been expecting you. Please, come in." I followed him inside and looked around in awe at the sheer size of the hallways. Elaborate, detailed paintings of men with bright blue eyes lined all the walls of the hallway. I asked the boy who they were, and he sarcastically replied, "Didn't you pay attention in your history classes? These men are the former Lords of our great Onikawa Clan." "Oh, so they all ruled over this huge mansion?", I asked. "Yes, and they also ruled over this entire country." I gasped. All these men lead this clan and our entire nation? I never knew that before. Maybe I should've paid more attention instead of staring at Banjo all the time…._
_ The boy brought me into this massive chamber that was filled with books, paintings, a large desk, and a chair turned towards a window. The boy said, "Welcome the Chamber of Lords. All one hundred and fifty Lords have spent 1000 years of servitude to the Onikawa people in this room." I could only stutter at the enormous history inside of this room. 150 people have lived, served, and died in this room. I cursed myself for not bringing a camera to take a picture. __"Father, Grandfather, I have brought the girl here.", the boy said into the empty room. "Thank you Little Akiro. We will take it from here.", a voice responded. "You may leave everything to us now." The boy politely bowed and left the room. The chair slowly turned around and revealed Akiro and an older man. "You are Dixie, the child of serenity, correct?", the elder man asked. I looked and pointed to myself in confusion, not knowing who he was talking to or what he was talking about. "Yes, you child. Your name, Dixie, mean 'serenity' in the ancient Onikawan tongue." "How in the hell do you know about me? I've never met you before so…" The man held up a hand. "It's not time for that. We summoned you here to reveal your upcoming destiny in the coming conflicts." I sat down in a chair in front of the desk and listened to what the man had to say. "First of all, my name is Sabre. I am the 150__th__ Lord of the Onikawa Clan. We declared war on the Akitoki Clan because they have oppressed our people for the past 100 years. We have suffered extreme taxation, unexpected military raids, mass genocides to control our population, and have been a target of the Akitoki capitol of Megalopolis' aggressions and angry outbursts of violence." "But why have they done all this to our people?", I found myself angrily asking. "They aim to annihilate the Onikawa and Shiryu Clans from existence.", Sabre replied. I gasped and thought to myself, why would someone want to kill other people with senseless acts of violence? "It's because we have been fighting with the other clans for the past 1000 years."_
_ I looked at him wide-eyed. "Did you just read my mind?" Sabre grinned and said, "Yes I did. You really do think about my grandson Blue all the time, don't you?" I blushed. "Why did you have to say it out loud!", I shrieked. All he did was laugh at how red my face became. "The 3 clans have been fighting for over a thousand years for control of our world. Around 200 years ago was the last time the Shiryu was the ruling house, then the Akitoki began the fighting and we won, becoming the new ruling house. Crushed by defeat, the great Shiryu Lord Fubuki exiled the clan into neutrality and seclusion. No one hears from the Shiryu capital of Fubukiopolis anymore. After 50 years of peaceful control, the Akitoki started the fighting again and murdered the 141__st__ Onikawa Lord to gain control as the ruling house, where they have been for the past 100 years." What caused you to declare war on them this time?", I inquired. "Akihito Akitoki, the son of the Akitoki Lord, has kidnapped and murdered my wife, Blue's grandmother. It was the final straw that broke the camel's back as you say. The young Akitoki has been on the move since the __declaration of war was issued. He's headed this way as we speak." "Umm Lord Onikawa, where do I fit into all of this? I still don't understand my place in the conflict that you hinted at." "Young Dixie, I ask you on behalf of our people, to please…" All of a sudden, explosions shook the entire mansion. "What's going on? What was noise!", I shrieked, my heart beating a mile a minute. "The enemy has arrived! They are attacking the city!", someone shouted from the halls. Akiro exclaimed, "They're using advanced airships! They are bombarding the city! We must defend the capitol! Father, give us the word and we'll send Banjo and the others out!" Sabre nodded his head and Akiro vanished from the chamber. I ran out the chamber doors, ignoring Lord Sabre's pleas to remain in his chambers and ran outside the front of the mansion doors. As I slowly looked into the sky above, I saw giant airships blocking out the sun, dropping bombs and explosives all over the city. I looked on in horror as most of the city was already engulfed in flames. Suddenly a dark figure leapt from the airship floating above the mansion and landed in front of me. I looked into his eyes; it felt like I was looking into the eyes of the devil himself…_
_Chapter 5: Hellspawn_
_ "You insolent child! You are in my way!", the man howled at me. I was paralyzed with fear, my body completely unable to answer my commands to move my legs and run. "If you won't move, then I'll spill your blood all over these grounds!" The man began swiping at me with his hands, which look like an eagle's talons. I moved out of the way of his attack at started running for my life. The man doggedly chased me, slashing and swiping everything in his path. Building, trees, cars, nothing was able to withstand his attacks. He grazed my cheek, making a gash that bled a bit heavily. I picked up a nearby pipe and tried to hit him with it, but he materialized a sword out of nowhere and parried my attack. I tried kicking him but he grabbed my leg, spun me around, and threw me into a wall. I couldn't stand up, I was so dizzy from the spinning. Out of nowhere, a short sword appeared next to me! I rushed to pick it up and when I grasped the hilt, power surged through my body. I charged at the man and found myself holding my own in combat! I attacked with a flurry of slashes and strikes, causing the man to fall back a bit. Suddenly, he erupted in a blood red aura, causing me to fly back, and I hit my head hard on the concrete. "W-why do you…want to kill me?", I struggled to ask. "You will be come an __obstacle to our mission if you are allowed to fully awaken your powers, so it's best that I kill you now!" My powers?, I thought to myself. What powers? I'm a normal girl who goes around calling herself a punk princess. I have no special talents unlike Banjo does. The man's movements began to blur. I waited for him to kill me when I heard, "Chaos Sphere!" Banjo appeared and hit the man in his stomach with a sphere of blue energy, pushing him back. "Sorry I couldn't be here sooner Dixie", Banjo said apologetically. "Are you badly injured?" "I'm not that badly hurt", I weakly replied. "Thank goodness." He turned to face the man and yelled, "AKITOKI! WE FINISH THIS NOW!" "Gladly", was all the man said. _
_Chapter 6: Awakening_
_ Banjo and Akitoki charged at each other with looks of pure hatred towards one another. They started punching each other at incredibly high speeds, vanishing and reappearing at the blink of an eye. I wish I could help Banjo, but my body didn't want to participate."Akitoki, I'm going to kill you here and now for your crimes against my people!", Banjo exclaimed. "If you're so confident in your abilities, come at me. Come at me so I can finally add your name to the list of all the Onikawa that died at my feet!", Akitoki arrogantly laughed. Banjo ran at him at high speed, attempting to do another one of those chaos spheres, but Akitoki vanished, grabbed Banjo by the neck, and slammed him down hard to the ground. I screamed. "BANJO! YOU HAVE TO GET UP! YOU CAN'T LOSE!" Banjo kicked Akitoki off of him, knocked him into the air, and threw a sphere at him, causing it to explode on contact. _
_I pumped my fist in celebration as I felt that the nightmare was over. I slowly crawled to my feet and limped towards Banjo, but suddenly, he yelled, "Dixie! Get out of the way! It's not safe!" I froze when he told me that. When I started looking up at the sky, all I saw was a blood red flash. Akitoki was face-to-face with Banjo and blasted him at point-blank range with a black energy beam. I wanted to scream my lungs out of constricting fear. Banjo wasn't moving at all. My heart started beating faster and faster… The boy that I've had a crush on for the past 4 years __could die in front of my eyes… A burning sensation began stirring deep inside me as my depression over Banjo getting hurt started mixing with the anger and hate I felt towards that demon. Akitoki slowly advanced towards Banjo's limp body as he kept repeating, "You Onikawa as a sad lowly race of inferior bugs." I couldn't take it anymore! I ran towards Akitoki at an increasing speed, which surprised me because I was always kinda slow. I kicked Akitoki in the neck and shot an energy blast at him to my surprise. Whoa! I exclaimed. I was cloaked in a forest green aura. "My powers…", I silently said. "They have awakened. I can do what Banjo and everyone does now." "Damnnit! The girl's powers are awake now!", Akitoki cursed as he rose to his feet. "I just have to kill you faster now! Goodbye!"_
_I dodged Akitoki's attack and stabbed him in the arm with my sword, causing him to bleed profusely. "Ahhh! DAMN YOU WENCH!", he screamed. "You hurt Banjo, you set my city aflame, and tried to kill me", I proudly spoke. "It's payback time!" Akitoki and I fought a pitched battle, fighting each other over every part of the city. With every punch I land, the more my powers seep out for me to use against this monster. Somehow he snuck behind my blind spot and blasted me with a blood red sphere, burning my back. I doubled over in pain, my eyes stinging from tears welling up. "Stupid wench! You caused me enough pain and trouble!", Akitoki said as he spat out blood. "Now I'm going to send you to whatever god you Onikawa scum believe in!" He charged up a large blast in his hand. Banjo screamed for me to move out of the way, but I was too drained to even hear him talk. I closed my eyes and admitted defeat… Suddenly, I hear Akitoki scream in pain. I opened my eyes and saw that Akitoki was pinned down to the ground by what looked like arrows made from pure lightning. I looked around to see who helped me and I saw a tan skinned boy with long, flowing dreadlocks, violet eyes, and a dead serious expression on his face. "Leave Dixie alone Akitoki. Me and you are gonna settle this now!" The boy summoned thunderclouds to strike down Akitoki with lightning strikes. Banjo weakly muttered, "HE'S here now? Darn it…" The boy picked me up and asked if I was okay, to which I nodded my head. "I'm glad you're alright. Now, it's time to get you home." As he and Banjo bickered all the way to my house, all I could think about was everything that happened today and I wondered who this mysterious boy is…. _
_Chapter 7: The End of Everything I Knew_
_ My parents decided to take me for a day of shopping, movies, and food for my birthday today. I was wearing a pretty black tank top, tight black jeans, and blue and black hightop shoes. I looked at my mom and dad and gave them the most loving smile I ever mustered. "It looks like my little girl is finally cracking out of her shell", my dad said to me. When he said that though, my smile began to fade as I thought about what he said last night at dinner; "Honey, we are in bad times. Our country is as war. I'm sorry if your mother and I can't do much for you anymore. Sometimes, I wish you really were…" He shook his head and never finished that sentence. It's been weighing on the back of my mind, but I want to do is party right now! I'm finally 13!_
_ We went from store to store, I tried on clothes and my parents gave me feedback, although my dad didn't like most of the shirts I tried on. I finally bought a cute black tank top with skulls on it. We traveled through the parts of the city that weren't harmed in Akitoki's invasion yesterday. I still had bruises from my fight with him, but I hid them pretty well with makeup. Everything was perfect; the sky was clear of clouds, there were birds singing, people were out enjoying themselves… Then I bumped into Hana. We exchanged serious looks at each other for a good two minutes when she broke the silence. "Everything you knew, everything you love… it's all gonna to straight to hell. That, I can GUARRANTEE", she said cryptically. She turned around and walked away, leaving me and my parents confused and puzzled._
_ The three of us continued our walk through the city, still slightly stunned at what Hana told us. We went to go see a movie about a bad guy who adopts kids as his own. I loved it when the little girl got a teddy bear and said it was so fluffy! When we left the movie theater, we headed home. I ran into a couple friends and talked to them for a few minutes as they complimented my clothes. As they were talking, something told me to look up at the sky. I slowly gazed up and screamed in horror as Akitoki was headed right towards me! I told my friends to run away to safety and I braced myself for a fight with the dark beast. "Well hello __there, little wench", he smugly said at me. "We meet again. Are you ready to die on your birthday?" My parents told me to run, but I told them that I could take him because I had powers now. My dad said, "You aren't like Lord Sabre or his family! You don't have any powers! Run or he will kill the three of us!" I held firm and told my mom and dad to hide. _
_ I tried to fire an energy blast at Akitoki, but nothing happened. WTF? I exclaimed. Why isn't it working? I tried running at him like yesterday, but I was running like my usual slow self. Akitoki punched me at least a dozen times, then flung me into the middle of the street where cars were zooming by. I struggled to avoid all the incoming traffic, using every ounce of my strength to get back on the sidewalk. Luckily, I had the sword I used yesterday and started swinging wildly at him, but he smacked the sword out of my hands and kicked me in the face. I stumbled around, my face stinging from the pain, trying to find him by touch. He grabbed my tank top, breaking one of the straps, and threw me hard to the ground. He fired an energy shot at me, but I was barely able to block it. I lay on the ground, unable to move, helpless… where did my powers go, I asked myself. I felt foolish to try and take him on by myself. Maybe yesterday was a fluke… I kept repeating that in my head at he walked towards me. Suddenly, my mom and dad came out from hiding and tried protecting me, but Akitoki merely smirked and said, "Just what I wanted!" As my dad lifted me to my knees, he vanished and appeared in from of my dad and impaled him with his bare hand and blasted my mom in the stomach with a powerful energy blast. The street we were on rung with the sounds of his laughter and my screams of terror._
_ I desperately crawled to my mom and dad, begging them to hold on, to not leave me alone in this world. My dad weakly spoke to me; "Dix…ie…. We love you, but there is something you must know. We were important people. We were the gatekeepers." I was hysterical. "Gatekeepers to what? Please, tell me what you're talking about!" My mom began speaking next; "Dixie, we are proud of what you have grown to become. We just wish you were our real daughter…" I nearly lost it when she said that. "What do you mean by that mom? Of course I'm your daughter!" She replied, "We never wanted to tell you, but we aren't your real parents…" They both passed away in my arms. The tears wouldn't stop flooding from my face as __I was alone in the world, with no one to love me, protect me. I gave up on my life and exclaimed, "I give up, and life isn't worth living anymore. Kill me if that is what you want to do. I don't care anymore." Akitoki prepared to kill me like he killed my dad, but his hand was stopped before it could reach me. "I won't let you kill her Akitoki". The boy from yesterday was the one who stopped the dark beast from claiming me. He looked different from yesterday; he was wearing a red shirt, black jeans, combat boots, and his hair wasn't in dreadlock today; it was long and wavy. Banjo appeared, picked me up, and carried me away from the fighting. I saw the boy clap his hands, place a hand on the ground, then stone spikes shot from the earth underneath Akitoki, injuring him. "Luigi, what a showoff! I'm the elder! I'm supposed to do things like that", Banjo said harshly. I looked at him and said, "That's his name? Luigi?" He looked at me and said, "it's the name he was given by Mother. My dirt bag dad likes to call him Prince Luigi." "He's your brother?", I asked curiously. "Yes he is. We're triplets and he's the middle brother. Dixie, are you alright?" I looked into Banjo's eyes and the pain welled up inside me again. I put my head on Banjo's shoulder and started crying uncontrollably._
_ "My parents are dead, they told me I wasn't really theirs in the first place, I have no relatives, I'm hurt bad, and my birthday is ruined!", I cried on Banjo's shoulder. "I don't have any purpose anymore! I have no reason to live! Why didn't you let him kill me!" I pulled a pocket knife from my back pocket and tried to cut myself, but Banjo slapped it out of my hand. He looked at me and spoke softly, but sternly: "Dixie, you can choose to kill yourself and let your parents' hard work to waste, or you can stand and walk forward. My grandmother was murdered by that same man, but I didn't cower, I didn't have any doubt. I want to stop the fighting as soon as I can, but I know I have many bloody battles ahead of me. You have two feet Dixie. Get up and use them to walk forward. If you decide to stay there and cry, then I can't do much for you. But if you choose to get up and move forward, I'll move with you." Banjo then jumped down and joined Luigi in fighting Akitoki. I thought to myself, I'm 13, I don't have a family anymore, I'm powerless, what can I do? I prayed that the answers would come to me sooner rather than later…_
_Chapter 8: My First Mission _
_ It's been 3 months since my parents were murdered in front of me. Banjo and his brother Luigi saved me from joining my parents in death. Banjo told me to either lay down and cry or walk forward and make something of myself. I chose to walk forward and grow, grow more powerful than I ever thought possible. I asked Lord Sabre to adopt me into his clan and he agreed as long as I began training to control my powers. I've been under the tutelage of Akiro and Banjo ever since entering the Onikawa Mansion. Training with Banjo has been like a dream come true; he fights with great passion and devotion in his heart and he taught me to do the same. Akiro taught me how to summon my powers at anytime, although he has the odd habit of calling me Kanu. I give him a funny look and he shakes his head in apology. Luigi drops by from time to time to teach me how to manipulate the energy inside my body call "Chaos power". He even showed me the crest of his family on his chest, and Banjo has the same mark on his right arm. Both brothers always tell me that I'm getting stronger, and I feel it because every time I look into Banjo's eyes, I don't feel like that lovesick girl anymore; I feel a great respect and infatuation for him. I love him for saving my life, for helping me change. Now, I'll do everything I can to repay him, to protect him._
_ -Banjo's POV-_
_ Dixie has improved so much since moving into the mansion. I remember when she first moved in here; she would break down crying whenever she would look at picture of her parents or think about them. She also had no control over her powers, but with the help of Uncle Akiro and Luigi, she has become a natural in the manipulation of Chaos energy. Dixie's growth isn't just physical; it's mental as well. She doesn't eyeball or stare at me anymore, which is a bit welcomed when we train. Whenever I'm not training with Dixie, Uncle, Luigi, my baby brother, and I are out on missions fighting the Akitoki Army, keeping them from invading the capitol city. My work is tiring and dangerous, but Grandfather is counting on me, and I won't let him down! But Dixie…. She's been chasing me wanting to be my girlfriend ever since she was eight, but I never wanted to give up my freedom to be in a relationship. Now though…. I like her, not just a little, but quite a bit. I would like to be her boyfriend, but not now. My duties need me more than love. I must remember my training and push out any feelings of love…_
_ -Dixie's POV-_
_ "Okay you two, open your eyes", Luigi told Banjo and I. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Banjo was standing in front of me the whole time, which caused me to blush a little. Akiro entered the room and said, "How was the training everyone?" "It was very good", I replied. "Ah, that's wonderful! Well Dixie, you have greatly improved in the past 3 months, so its time we sent you on your first mission." My eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I was finally going to go out on a mission! "Who am I going with Mr. Akiro?", I asked. "You are going to go with Team Banjo; Banjo, Luigi, and Miles." I get to go on a mission with Banjo! My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. I ran out of the room and prepared for the mission. After an hour, the group met outside the mansion. Banjo, Luigi, and another boy were talking. "Hi guys! Sorry if I was a bit late, but I had to do some mental preparation", I said. I looked at the boy up and down and found myself saying, "Why are we bringing a cat?" Luigi looked at me and said, "That's our baby brother Miles. He's a member of Team Banjo and now so are you." Miles bowed and said hello. "I have a gift for you Miss Dixie", he said in a childlike voice. He handed me a grappling hook he called a clawshot. I put in my pocket and asked where we were heading for the mission. "We are heading about 150 miles southwest of the Isshin Region, our home country. We're leaving the borders of Onikawa Country to stop a member of the Akitoki Clan who is rumored to be very powerful." I shivered from the excitement of the mission; for the first time, I'm leaving the Isshin Region! We began the trek out of the country borders, not knowing what we could find out there._
_ We walked for what seemed like forever, and it was hot too! I asked Luigi, "Why do you have that mark on your chest? Is it something special?" "Why yes, it is special", he replied. "It's the mark of our family. See, when our dad experimented on us as newborns, I was the only one to keep my human appearance. My dad kept me and trained me to be the next Guardian of the Chaos Force, the wellspring of all power and life in this world. I became an upper classman, having a large amount of wealth in my possession, while Miles transformed into a cat with two little tails and a middle class citizen because he's the baby, while my big brother here became a __bear and was declared a failure by Dad, so he was tossed into the lower class and mocked by my dad. Mom didn't like it and the other members of the Brotherhood aren't fond of it, but what can you do?" Banjo looked like he wanted to punch Luigi in the face for bringing those memories up. He nearly spoke, but suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared and attacked us. Miles tried restraining the assailant with a psychic attack, but it failed. The cloaked figure knocked the boys down and tried to kill Banjo, but I fired my clawshot at him, trapped him, and swung my sword at his face. He was able to move in time, but the hood covering his face was torn. When I saw the person's identity, I was left in a state of shock; it was Hana! She was the Akitoki Clan member we were searching for!_
_Chapter 9: Hana's Revelations_
_ "I told you that everything you knew and loved would be ripped away from you and it felt good to watch your parents die at Akitoki's feet", Hana exclaimed. She no longer looked like the popular teen queen; she now looks like a beautiful, 30 something year old woman, but her hair was in the same style, clean on one side and wild on the other. "But why? Why are you with the Akitoki Clan?", Banjo inquired. "And why were you in the Isshin Region?" Hana began laughing in a hideous tone. "I was born into the clan with an abusive mother and a warm father. Because of the influences of both of them, my mind split into two sides; my smooth side and my psychotic side. I married Akihito Akitoki when I was 20, and he sent me to spy on the Onikawa, to find out who the Gatekeeper to the path to the Honsho Region was so we could invade in." As she spoke, I froze. She was looking for my parents the entire time, and no one even knew it. "Dixie, I have always held a special place for you in my heart…. A place filled with nothing but __**hate**__ for you." My eyes widen at hearing that. "And why do you hate me?" "You will become incredibly strong, and I don't want that to happen. That's why it's my mission to personally kill you."_
_ Banjo and Luigi fought Hana first, throwing chaos spheres at her. She dodged them, punched them both in the face, and shot energy attacks at them. Banjo countered by catching her attacks and sending them back at her, directly hitting her. Luigi appeared behind her, kicked her in the air, punched her multiple times, smashed her to the ground, and shot lightning at her. Somehow, Hana rose from the ground and started choking Miles. Banjo hit her in the midsection with a chaos sphere, breaking her grip on Miles. "All of you are very strong, you should join the Akitoki Army", Hana said. "And become a freak like you? No thanks!", Luigi spouted. Banjo, Miles, and Luigi charged at Hana with chaos spheres. Hana did hand signs, touched the ground, and said, "Sunlight Breaker!" Rays of light appeared beneath them, blinding them. Hana turned to me and said, "It's time we settled our 6 year rivalry Dixie!" I drew my blade and I replied, "That sounds perfect." We charged at each other at full speed, fully intent on destroying each other. We attacked each other at the same time. I heard a loud swishy noise, then I felt something dripping. I looked down to see that Hana had ran her hand through my body. She removed her hand and fell backwards; blood started pouring from the wound in my stomach. I saw Banjo regain his sight and looked at me with tears in his eyes. As I blacked out, all I could hear was his screams: "DIXIE! NO!" _
_Chapter 10: Awakening 2: Reunion_
_ I opened my eyes and everything around me was white and empty. I walked around for what felt like an eternity, calling out for anyone, listening for a reply of any kind. No one or nothing replied back. I started running, trying to find my way out of this eternal white. I realized that my efforts were futile. I started feeling an extreme pain in my stomach, so I put my hand there and felt there was a hole there. I looked down and there really was a hole in my stomach! "Am… Am I dead?", I asked. "Sadly, yes you are Dixie", a voice said in response. "But you have a greater destiny Dixie, greater than you ever thought possible", another voice said. I turned around to see who had said that. I slowly began to see two people materialize off in the distance, so I ran over to see who these people were. I stopped dead when I found the people: "Mom! Dad! You're alive!"_
_ "No Dixie, we aren't alive. We are still dead", my mom said tenderly. "We are here by order of the gods Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu. Dixie, you have been chosen by the gods to be their hero. It is your destiny to bridge the gap between the Onikawa and Shiryu Clans. You will be the savior of both clans, along with Banjo. The two of you will bring both people together in a way that hasn't happened in over one thousand years." I tried to absorb it all in but it was flying over my head. "Wait, so I'm destined to unify two clans who have been fighting for over a millennia? And how exactly am I supposed to pull that miracle off?" "Dixie", my father started, "when we found you as a baby, we knew that you would be the Child of Destiny. We tried giving you all the things you would need to take up that title; a good upbringing, a good education, and a pure heart. I know that after your grandparents died, you became the Punk Princess, but you kept your kind heart. Heck, even after being kidnapped by Akitoki twice, you kept your smile, your heart. That is what will guide you to the unification of the clans." I looked down as I thought about everything I was told. "I guess the Akitoki Clan is marching towards Honsho as we speak, huh?", I said with a forced laugh. "Akihito couldn't get passed the gate, so he had to retreat", my mom said. I looked at her with a puzzled expression. "But if you two were the gatekeepers, then why isn't the gate to Honsho opened?" They looked at each other, then looked at me again. My dad said, "There are three gatekeepers. You are the third one."_
_ I was stunned, I couldn't say anything. "I'm… the third gatekeeper? But how…?" "When you were young Dixie, the powers of the gatekeeper were sealed inside you by a woman with long, flowing blue hair. That power was halved and fractured; half of it went to the three of us and the other half stayed with the woman. Dixie, you are what keeps the Shiryu people safe from Akitoki's clutches and you are what keeps Akitoki from coveting the Chaos Force. Akitoki gained the Chaos Force of Power, that's why he has become so powerful and instigated this war; he wants the parts of the Chaos Force that the Onikawa and Shiryu holds. Dixie, you must protect the Chaos Force and end this fighting!" I looked at my parents, and all I could do was cry. Why didn't you ever tell me things before, I thought to myself. "We had to protect you honey, it was for your safety", my mom replied, reading my thoughts. "But how am I supposed to return and fulfill the prophecy? If we haven't forgotten, I'm dead!" My dad touched my __stomach and the hole healed instantly. "It's time we parted Dixie. By healing you, we have given you our pieces of your power back. You are partially awaken now. Use that power to strike your foes and bring justice to the world!" I turned around ready to leave when my mom said, "If you want the remaining answers, in two months time, go to the Honsho Region, find the capitol city of Fubukiopolis, and find the woman we told you about. She will fill in all the missing pieces of the puzzle." I waved goodbye to them one last time, holding back tears, and watched as everything grew bright around me…_
_ Hana shot continuous streams of energy at Banjo and the others, intent on destroying them. Dust filled the ground, obscuring her view of her enemies. "Their all dead", she remarked with a smirk. She turned, ready to fly away, when my clawshot latched on to her back. "What the…?", she exclaimed. I flew out of the dust, my clawshot pulling me towards her. I smacked her in the head five times with my new shield, pulled my sword from her stomach, and started slashing at her. I kicked her away, grabbed her with my clawshot and started firing a storm of energy shots at her. I attacked her more with my shield, hit her towards the ground, and tossed my sword in the air. I did a few hand signs and said, 'Heaven's Rain!" My sword shattered into a million pieces and rained down on Hana, severely gashing and cutting her all over her body. She laid a bloody mess on the ground when she said, "But I thought I killed you… how did you survive?" "Divine intervention", is all I said. As I was about to impale her forehead with my sword, she screamed, "You'll pay for this Dixie!", and vanished when my sword connected with the ground. "This isn't over by a longshot Hana, I just know it…"_
_Chapter 11: War Games_
_"You were amazing! How did you do all that Dixie?", Banjo asked, amazed at the beating I gave Hana. "I thought Hana killed you when she impaled you?" I turned around and said, "I was dead, but it was divine intervention that brought me back to life. When I came back, my powers were awaken and I had the Shield of Amaterasu." Banjo picked Miles and Luigi up and __said, "I never would've guessed that Hana was an Akitoki spy, watching our every move." "It's mind-blowing", Luigi said. "We must keep our guard up at all times now against any dangers." We all agreed with what Luigi said. Suddenly, I felt a pain in my head and I could see it all; Mobotropolis was under attack! "Guys, the capitol is under attack! We must return and help out the troops!", I screamed. The four of us ran back toward the Isshin border as fast as we could._
_ It was nightfall when we returned to the capitol, but the streets were barren, the whole city was on fire! Houses were pillaged, corpses were all over the streets, blood was splattered everywhere, every building was burning. Akiro appeared bloody and beaten before us and said, "It was Akitoki… he burned the city looking for the Chaos Force. We were able to evacuate Father to a safer place, but the people…." Banjo's anger was building to a breaking point. "Casualty count is over 500,000! More than half of our clan has been wiped out in the capitol!", the younger Akiro told us. "How did this happen? How was he able to do this?", Luigi demanded to know. "He caught us with our guard down. By sending our forces out to deal with the heavy-hitters of the Akitoki Clan, Akitoki came in unopposed and decimated the capitol." I looked around and took in all the destruction around. Everything was gone, and it was Akitoki and Hana's faults! I'll beat them both, I swore to myself. Suddenly, a fiery figure burst through the sky! "Banjo! Give me the Chaos Force!", they screamed. The figure landed in front of us and revealed itself; a badly bruised Akitoki!_
_ "Go round up the survivors and wounded, and take them to the hospital near here", Banjo told everyone. "I want Akitoki one-on-one." "I'm sorry Banjo, but I have stake in this too", I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. The others did as Banjo asked and tended to the wounded, while Banjo and I bickered about my involvement in the fight. Akitoki charged us as we bickered, but I hit him with my clawshot, pulling myself towards him and hitting him with hilt of my sword. Banjo then ran up and hit Akitoki in the air and shot a chaos sphere at him. Akitoki brushed it off and shot a barrage of energy at us. I ran towards a collapsed building and found a bow and a bunch of arrows. I picked them up and got Akitoki's attention by calling him a pig. He flew at me, I steadied my aim (I have never used a bow in my life!), shot him right in the arm, __causing him to fall out of the sky. I flew up into the sky and proceeded to shoot him with arrows. Akitoki rolled out of way and got to his feet. "You have both gotten stronger, I must admit it", he smirked. "But all the death and carnage around us, I did it all with my bare hands. Do you believe you children can stop you?" Banjo replied with the evilest look on his face; "I've beaten you many times before you changed, and I can beat you now!" _
_ Banjo began glowing in a malevolent, pale blue light. His eyes changed color from the gorgeous emerald green to a pale, almost evil shade of blue. He vanished, then appeared in front of Akitoki and smashed him through a building. He appeared again in front of Akitoki's falling body, and smashed his face through the side of a building. I looked on, scared, terrified… what happened to the nice, gentle Banjo that I loved. "He hasn't fully awaken to it yet, but his more internal power is stirring now", Akiro said. Banjo materialized a scythe in his hands and nearly sliced Akitoki in two, but he vanished at the last possible second. "This fight is nowhere near over you blue menace!", Akitoki screamed. "You have been a thorn in my side for the past six years! It's time that we finally settle the score!" Akitoki held up his left hand, and a bright light emanated from him, covering him in a blood red aura. Banjo looked on, unflinching at the unfolding events. Banjo and Akitoki flew towards each other, the sky lit up in multiple colors. When their fist connected, the entire city was blinded in a bright light….._
_ -Banjo's POV-_
_ "I'm soo glad you're awake! Everyone thought you were dead!" That's Dixie's voice, I said to myself. I slowly rose from the bed, my body wracked with pain and heavily bandaged up. "What happened Dixie?", I asked. She looked at me with a confused look and said, "You don't remember anything that happened?" I shook my head and looked at her, as if she knew all the answers. "Your eyes turned pale blue and you started acting very reckless and destructive. You almost killed Akitoki, but he hit you with his Mortal Buster technique and you've been here asleep for the past two months." Wait, the past two months? "I've been unconscious for the past two months?", I asked her. "Yeah you have. Akiro and Miles said that whatever transformation you went through nearly drained all your Chaos Energy, nearly killing you, and Akiro always said you had a ton to begin with." I can't believe I lost two months of precious __time to that bastard Akitoki! "I have to get back to duty! I've lost too much time…", but when I tried to get up, my body collapsed in pain. "Ah! Goddamnit all!" I fell back on the bed and Dixie scolded me, "Why do you always push yourself Banjo! You're obviously not healed yet!" I looked at her and asked, "Dixie, were you here by my side the entire time?" She looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes, I was. When I got done with missions, I immediately came back here and sat in this room, hoping you would wake up. I even began sleeping in here, praying you would wake up someday." I reached for her hand and said, "There's something I want to tell you. I want to tell you why I am the way I am." _
_Chapter 12: The Origin of Blue_
_ -13 years, 8 months, 2 days ago-_
_ "3 beautiful baby boys! I can't believe it Laura!", a man said, holding the three boys in his arms. He was a tall man with lavender eyes and dreadlocks. He dressed like someone out of a science fiction novel. "It's a miracle! I love all of them! What shall we name them, Locke?", the woman said. She was beautiful with sparkling blue eyes and long silver hair. "The last born, he holds some power in his body. I shall call him Miles", Locke said. "Miles… mind-reader. I love that name", Laura replied. He looked at the middle child and said, "My, this child has much potential! Power flows from his small body! I shall name him Luigi!" Laura looked at Locke and said, "You are naming him a godly prince? Why?" Locke ignored her and looked at the boy on the left. "My eldest son… you are very plain. You have no power at all? This will not do! I will name you Blue!" Laura looked at him with pure disgust. "How dare you call your oldest son low class trash!" Locke looked at her fiercely and said, "I will call him what I feel he is! One of these boys will succeed me as Guardian, and I must make sure they are strong enough! End of discussion!"_
_That's how I got my name, because at birth, I held no power in my body and I looked very plain. At birth, my father didn't like me, and he wanted to get rid of me. My mom resented __him for it, and he tried to experiment on us, but my mom blocked his every attempt until one day, my mom left on a mission for The Brotherhood when we were 3 months old…_
_ "Now that Laura isn't around, it's time I finally created the perfect Guardian!", Locke exclaimed with childish glee. He picked the three of us up and took us to his laboratory where he performed many experiments. He hooked the three of us up to some sort of machine and began pumping us full of raw Chaos Energy in amounts that would kill normal people. "Yes, it is working! The Chaos Energy is reacting with their bodies!", Locke gleefully yelped. Our eyes began glowing as the raw energy coursed through our veins. Locke turned off the machine after five minutes of injection and returned us to our playpen. "Soon… soon, one of you will reveal who will have the power to be the next Guardian!", Locke said, sitting down in a chair. He started watching us obsessively, waiting for one of us to show off our Chaos Powers…_
_You're probably wondering, why would my dad do that to his own sons? Unlike the Guardians that came before him, my ancestors, who infinitely put family before their duty, my father put his duty far ahead of us. He only cared about making a Guardian stronger than any before him. He is a horrible parent indeed…_
_ -Two years after injection-_
_ One day, Luigi, Miles, and I were playing together, when all 3 of us started feeling very sick. Mom ran outside and put all three of us to bed where we stayed for 5 days. On the 5__th__ day, we got out of bed and Luigi suddenly spat out fire! "Mommy! Daddy!", Luigi screamed. "My mouth is on fire! What is happening to me?" Mom and Dad came running out of their room and asked us what was going on. "Luigi breathed fire! It was awesome!", I said. "Luigi, could you possibly do it again?", Locke asked. "Ummm I can try Dad. Why?" Locke didn't say anything back. Luigi opened his mouth and blew out a stream of fire, putting a huge smile on Locke's face. Miles felt to one knee, clutching his head in his hands. "My head hurts really bad! What's happening to me…?", he screamed. Everything in our room started floating in the air and __then fell down to the floor with a loud crash. "Ah! Miles has telekinetic powers! This is a magnificent discovery!", Locke exclaimed, nearly jumping for joy. Mom began eying Locke suspiciously, knowing he did something to us. I didn't show any special powers, which earned a spiteful look from Locke. Suddenly, Miles and I began screaming, complaining that if felt like our bodies were being ripped apart. Mom screamed a blood-curdling scream, while Locke looked on with an amused face. Luigi complained of his eyes hurting, so he closed them. When he opened them again, his eyes had changed color from brown to violet. My mom nearly freaked, but Locke was smiling from ear to ear. Me and Miles weren't so lucky, as Miles mutated from human to a cat with split tails. His eyes changed from a dark brown to sky blue. I mutated from human to a bear covered in blue fur. My eyes were once light brown, now they were emerald green. My mom cried her eyes out when she saw this, so Locke took her out of the room to try and comfort her. _
_ Later that night, the three of us couldn't sleep, so we stayed up and watched TV. Miles started hearing voices, so he told me to mute the TV. I picked up the remote and hit mute, and when I did, we could hear everything clearly. "How could you do this to our sons? You promised me you wouldn't do anything to them Locke!"_
_"It had to be done Laura and you know that! We must raise a Guardian worthy of the Brotherhood! It is my duty!"
"That's all you ever talk about Locke is your duty! You make it sound like you love your job more than your wife and sons! How long ago did you experiment on them Locke? How long has it been?"_
_For a few moments, there was silence, but then he finally said, "It's been two years since I performed the experiments. Luigi looks like he will be next in line! Miles has much potential, but Blue is completely worthless to me. He's the oldest! He should be the one I'm picking!"_
_"That is it Locke! I've put up with you for 15 years, but I cannot do it anymore! I want a divorce from you and I want the kids!"_
_ From that day forward, everything changed. Mom and Locke divorced, but she couldn't win custody of us. We stayed with Locke, and when we were three, he began our Guardian training. He was very harsh on us, not allowing us to have any friends or talk to anyone. We already lived on a floating island in the sky! Why punish us more by cutting us off from the outside world? When we turned five, Locke showed us his true colors…._
_ -8 years ago-_
_ "Okay boys, that's enough training for today", Locke told us. "Today is the day that everything changes for the three of you. Luigi, you are the strongest of your brothers, so you will be continuing your training with me. You are a prince my son, so you shall be treated like one from here on out, you are an elite!" Miles and I looked at each other, then Locke walked up to Miles and said, "My son Miles, you have limitless potential! Your powers are developing very well, but I cannot continue your training. I shall send you to my twin, your Uncle Akiro, down on the mainland. You are a middle classman through and through! Make me proud son!" Locke turned to me and scowled. "Blue, you showed me no progress whatsoever! You are the weakest of the three! I'm kicking you out, low class scum! I gave you the perfect name; you're so useless!"_
_ I left for the mainland the next day and stayed with Uncle Akiro. My whole life, I had been picked on and called low class trash, but I never gave up. I always strove to be the best that I could be. I could never fail or falter in my goal. As Uncle trained me, he always told me to push my personal feelings to the back so I could be an effective warrior. Akitoki and I first met when I was 6 and I thwarted his plans then. We became rivals as he always wanted to best me and control the world. He even kidnapped you to accomplish that goal!_
_ "That's my story", I finished. I looked at Dixie and she was crying. "Why are you crying Dixie? It's my life, there's no need to shed tears", I said. "But I can feel that pain Banjo! Your dad is an evil man for doing that to you all!", Dixie cried out. We leaned towards each other, moving closer and closer… I'm finally gonna kiss her, I said to myself. I've never been kissed before, I wonder how it feels… We were just inches away from each others' mouths. Finally, the hallelujah moment I've been waiting for…._
_Chapter 12: Banjo & Dixie_
_ "Everybody! Banjo's awake now!", Miles screamed, causing Dixie and I to pull away before we kissed and turn red from embarrassment. "Big brother, I thought you would never wake up again! Don't scare me like that again!", Miles barked at me. "Mom found out about you getting hurt, and she's here." My eyes widened. "Mom's here? She's really here?" I haven't seen Mother in 4 years. Tears flowed from my eyes when she entered the room, she hasn't aged a bit since I saw her last. "Blue, my son… its been far too long since we saw each other last", Mom said, hugging me. I hugged her back, missing the way she would put so love into her hugs. "Blue, Dixie, you both have a mission to attend to." Dixie looked at her with a shocked expression. "But Banjo just woke up! He hasn't fully healed yet!" Mom looked at Dixie with gentle eyes and said, "I know, but this is a joint mission from The Brotherhood and the Onikawa Clan. Blue is needed for his speed and battle intelligence, and you are needed because you are the Gatekeeper."_
_ -Dixie's POV-_
_ I gasped. "How did you know I was the Gatekeeper?', I demanded to know. "I was very close to your parents. They confided in me everything. By the way, I'm Laura of the House of Edmund. Nice to meet you Dixie", she said. I just looked at her with a blank stare and asked, "What is the mission Miss Laura?" She put down a notebook and began explaining: "In the two months that Blue was unconscious, Akitoki recovered and destroyed the gate to the Honsho Region. He is now leading a force of 50,000 troops to Shiryu capitol. Spectre, Sojourner, Locke, and Luigi of The Brotherhood have gone on ahead to try to intercept them. The two of you must go to the Honsho Region and stop the advance! Will you do it?" Banjo got out of bed and stood next to me. We looked at each other and we both said, "Yes! We are up to the task!" Laura told us to prepare and head out in two hours. Before we left, Laura left us with a warning: "Be careful __out there. The way to Honsho is very dangerous with snowy mountains and frequent snowstorms and avalanches. Always be on your guard."_
_ Banjo and I headed off in the middle of the afternoon. His body was still somewhat bandaged up as he wasn't able to remove it all before we departed. "Banjo, are you sure you can handle this mission? You can always turn back and I can go it alone", I asked him. He shot me his gorgeous smile and said, "Heh, I'm perfectly fine! There's no need to worry about me, besides, I couldn't let you go alone!" I knew he was only putting up a front, trying to sound tough when he was still hurting. He couldn't fool me at all with the tough guy act. The more we walked, the colder it got, so we put on our snow jackets and continued our hike. "What do you think it's like in Honsho?", I asked Banjo. "I don't know honestly", he replied. "No one outside the Shiryu Clan has been there in over 150 years. It'll look like a foreign place to us I bet."_
_ As we climbed the mountains, a blizzard began raging about with high winds and heavy snow. "We must take shelter in a cave, it's our only hope", Banjo said. We walked a bit more, until I got the uneasy feeling that we were begin followed. I turned my head slightly and saw, out the edge of my peripheral vision, someone wearing a mask and heavy coat duck out of sight. I looked at Banjo and whispered, "I don't think we are on this mountain alone…" Banjo leaned towards me and said, "Keep your guard up. This isn't the right place to pick as a battlefield. If we cause an avalanche, we could be killed." We continued walking and spotted a cave where we could rest until the storm blew over. We headed for it, but then, boulders started falling from the sky! Banjo and I dodged as many as we could, but Banjo was hit in the side with a piercing energy attack. I looked up and it was that guy in the mask I saw earlier! I flew up and tried to attack him, but he got away! I dragged Banjo to the cave and laid him on the ground. As I looked outside at the raging snowstorm, I wondered if this mission could get worse… _
_Chapter 14: Banjo & Dixie 2: The TRUE Hallelujah Moment_
_ Banjo laid unconscious in my arms, there was a raging blizzard outside, and a masked assailant is stalking around outside. I wondered if things could get any worse, then I heard explosions ringing outside and large amounts of snow being dislodged from their original places. "Oh no, please tell me that an avalanche isn't happening right now!", I said to myself. The entrance of the cave was covered in snow and ice, and the temperature began rapidly falling. I covered Banjo and myself up and cried, hoping that things couldn't possibly get any worse…_
_ The cave's ceiling began collapsing as a hole was blown into it! From the hole, the masked assailant entered the cave and started attacking me. I pulled out my sword and shield while he used a dagger. I fought him for what felt like forever. I stabbed him in the arm, and he stabbed me in my hand and side. When I blasted him in the back with an energy attack from my sword, he retreated, but I swore I saw that long hair somewhere before…. I ran to Banjo's side and whispered to him, "I guess we're both gonna die here huh?" I wrapped myself around him to keep us both warm and wait for the inevitable frozen death. After 20 minutes of sitting there in the cave alone, Banjo woke up. "Hi sleepyhead. Enjoy your nap?", I asked him. "Dixie… your hand, your side! What happened to you?", he asked. "That masked guy, he blocked the entrance to the cave, and then he busted through the roof and attacked me!. Guess we're both hurt huh?", I replied. Banjo nodded his head in agreement. We sat in silence for awhile until I finally decided to break the silence…_
_ "Banjo, there is something I want you to know", I started. "Ever since I first met you back on the Little Planet when Akitoki first kidnapped me six years ago, I've had a huge crush on you. I've wanted to get stronger to protect you like you've always protected me, but now, I also wanna grow stronger to fulfill my part of our greater destiny. Banjo, I don't care about your past, I don't care about what people call you, I love you for who you are, and well, I hope you feel the same way about me…" Banjo didn't say anything for a minute or two. I knew it was a bad idea to tell him that, I thought to myself. "I feel the same way", he finally said. We met each other's gaze and he said, "I always ran away from you because I always liked you. I had to continuously push my emotions in the back of my head to be the perfect warrior, but I couldn't __control it anymore, so I ran away from you whenever you asked me out." We must've read each other's thoughts, because at the same time, we said, "I love you". It's time… It's finally time…. We moved closer and we finally, after all these years, kissed each other. We kissed for minutes on end, the TRUE Hallelujah Moment…._
_ We finally stopped kissing and I said, "I don't wanna die in this frozen hell. How are we gonna get out of here?" Banjo stood up and rammed a chaos sphere into the blocked entrance. "I'm gonna smash my way out of here!" I watched as he grinded away at the snow and ice. I got up, pulled out my sword, and started slashing away with him. We were at it for an hour with very little success, when Banjo suggested, "Dixie, lets used a combined chaos sphere!" "how can we do that?", I asked. Banjo held my hand and interlinked out fingers. Our faces turned bright red as we told each other, "I love you". We formed a giant chaos sphere and slammed it into the frozen barrier. After a few seconds, we broke through and ran outside. The blizzard had let up a bit and we kissed each other in triumph, but our victory was cut short. The masked man appeared and threw an energy blast at us. I retaliated by shooting an arrow at his face, taking off his mask and revealing his true identity: Hana._
_Chapter 15: Banjo & Dixie 3: Unexpected Savior_
_ "Hana! But I thought Dixie killed you!", Banjo exclaimed._
_"I'm kinda hard to kill, Blue Boy. You should've guess that by now", Hana spoke, scars on her face from our last encounter. "This time, both of you are all alone and banged up. You can't be in any shape to defend against my attacks!" _
_"We'll see Hana! You have a bad record in closing the deal", I boasted. I took out my sword and shield and charged at Hana. She floated into the air and I followed her, slashing at her with no regard for my own safety. Hana dodged all my attacks and knocked my shield out of my hand. "There is no more need for that dingy thing in this fight", Hana smirked. She punched me in the __stomach, causing me to bleed internally. I swung my blade at her once again, but she grabbed my hand and slammed my face first into the ground. _
_"Dixie, as I always told you in school, you could never be as good as I am", Hana gloated. "I am on a __**completely different level **__than you are! Just give up and let me slowly kill you". I fought back, hitting her in the face with the hilt of my blade. I wasn't giving up now or ever to Hana! I caught her in the neck with my clawshot and punched her in the face a couple times. Banjo jumped up and took over the fight, hitting her with a chaos sphere in the stomach. Hana felt to the ground, motionless. _
_"We did it! She's finally down for the count!", I exclaimed, jumping for joy. Banjo walked towards me, giving me a thumbs up and said, "We did a pretty good job surviving! Let's get to the Honsho Region now!_
_ We were ready to take off, but Hana rose from the ground with a crazed look in her face and repeatedly saying, "Onikawa scum! I'm not dead yet!" We looked back in disbelief that she was still alive._
_"What does it take to kill you, garlic and a silver bullet?", I moaned. Suddenly, everything around me began to blur. Hana began beating me relentlessly, giving me no room to defend myself from her assault. What's going on here, I thought to myself. Did she get faster, or did I get slower? She slammed my body onto the rocky ground, scratching and tearing my body all over. She made sure I was down by placing some sort of wire made from chaos energy around my body, effectively paralyzing me. I had to watch at she slowly picked Banjo apart, crushing his ribs and breaking his hands. _
_"You both never stood a chance against me! I transformed ya know!", she gloated._
_"Transformed? What do you mean by transformed?", Banjo asked._
_"Ugh, I have to explain everything, don't I? Fine. I have three levels of my power: normal, semi-psycho, and insane. I'm currently semi-psycho, which is why you both are gonna die right here, right now!", Hana exclaimed. Her movements blurred again as she continued her attack on __Banjo. She pierced him in the wound she inflicted earlier and Banjo fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She threw his body over to where I was and slowly began floating into the air. _
_"I guess this is the end, huh Dixie?", Banjo struggled to say._
_"I don't want it to be, but there is nothing else we can do huh?", I pathetically said._
_Hana prepared to kill us both, an insane look of murderous intent painted on her face, when suddenly, she was shot in the back and fell to the ground! We both looked to see who was it that saved our butts and discovered that it was a boy who rescued us..._
_ "Hana, you and Akihito are traitors to the throne. I have come to kill you myself.", the boy spoke with such conviction. He looked a bit younger than us, he was a tad on the short side cloaked in all black with blue hair and piercing blue eyes. Hana slowly rose back to her feet and turned her head to the boy and started cursing._
_"YOU! But I thought you broke all ties to our clan?", Hana demanded to know._
_"I did, but remember, I have a issue with you and that pretentious fool Akihito", the boy rebutted, walking towards Hana at a calculated pace. Hana and the boy began fighting, at first Hana had the upper hand, but slowly, she began to realize that her attacks were having no effect on the boy._
_"Poor Hana. Your attacks feel like flies bouncing off walls", the boy arrogantly said. "Hana, you are such a bitch." _
_"W-what did you say you little runt?", Hana said, in obvious despair._
_"I gotta agree with you there!", Banjo exclaimed._
_"I'm going to put you out of your misery now. It is time for your life to end now. I summon you, the Hell Blade of Tenebrae!"_
_A blade cloaked in black flames appeared in his hand and before Hana could react, he sliced her in half, blew her up with a chaos sphere of darkness, and threw her body into a frozen lake. He __walked towards us and set me free of Hana's trap. I picked Banjo up and prepared ourselves in case the boy tried to attack us._
_"Do not worry Onikawas. I have no intent on fighting you. I am no longer a member of the Akitoki. They are on a crash-course with death and destruction.", the boy said. He healed our wounds and was about to walk away when I asked, "Who are you?"_
_"My name is Noctis. I am a former member of the Akitoki Clan. I left because Lord Arnemus allowed his so to start an unjust war. I have no allegiances, but I will take you to Honsho. Follow me."_
_ After an hour of walking, we arrived in on the edge of Honsho territory. "This is where I take my leave. The Guardian and his companions are already engaging the enemy. Be careful", Noctis said. Banjo and I waved goodbye and he took off running. We began running and arrived at the scene of a huge battle. Banjo looked closely and yelled, "It's Luigi! He's down there! He needs our help!" I nodded and we took off running towards the battlefield._
_"Banjo, Dixie! Glad you two are here!", Luigi said, bleeding a bit from his mouth and his clothes torn and tattered. Two girls, one in black and one in white, fought off horde of soldiers by themselves._
_"You always get yourself in horrible situations Luigi, but that's why big brothers are here to bail the younger ones out!", Banjo joked._
_"Hope you can keep up Blue. I'll take out more than you can, and you have super speed!", Luigi shot back._
_"Boys, stay sharp! We got trouble...", I said. A large wave of soldiers were advancing towards us. I pulled out my sword and shield and prepared for a fight..._
_Chapter 16: Shiryu Mysteries_
_ About 100 soldiers charged at us, but Luigi cut ahead of us and struck them down with a stream of lightning bolts. He then grabbed a person and slugged them in the face. I ran into a crowd of soldiers, charged my chaos power into my blade, and unleashed it in a massive spin attack, blasting them away. Banjo jumped in the air and started raining down chaos spheres on the battlefield, hitting everything in sight. The girl in black zipped around at high speeds, cutting down her foes with a dagger. The girl in white transformed into a tiger and savagely ripped through her opponents. _
_"How many more do we have to go through?", I asked, breathing heavily._
_"I don't know! They just keep coming!", Luigi shouted._
_"We just have to keep fighting! Hold up guys!", Banjo tried to encourage us._
_"Lu-Lu, we're starting to run out of strength! What are we gonna do?", the girls said together._
_I continued to slash and smash my way through the never-ending stream of soldiers, hoping and praying that they would soon cease their advance. I attached bombs to my arrows and shot them into the crowds, watching them blow up and bodies fly through the air. The girls continued their combined assaults while Banjo and Luigi teamed up to take out multiple waves. After a few more minutes of nonstop fighting, we all fell on the ground, exhausted from all of the continuous fighting. _
_"Damn... it looks like it's the end for us...", Luigi said, as the five of us huddled together as the endless troops surrounded us. Suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, a spear hit the ground and electrocuted every Akitoki troop around, causing them to disappear. We looked around for the person who threw the weapon. I looked to the left of our position and saw a beautiful woman with long, flowing blue hair that touched the ground and a visible green left eye._
_ "Are the five of you alright?", the woman asked, walking towards us._
_"Yeah, we're fine", Banjo replied. "We're fatigued and a little battered, but we are okay for the most part."_
_"Who are you people, and what are you doing here?", the woman asked harshly._
_"I'm Banjo, future hero of the entire Onikawa Clan!", Banjo said with a confident smirk._
_"Luigi, current Guardian of the Chaos Force. The girl in black is named Raven and the girl in white is named Madeline. They are my assistants", Luigi explained. The girls respectfully bowed to the woman._
_"I'm Dixie. I was the Gatekeeper to this region, but Akitoki somehow broke through...", I said. When I said my name, the woman's eye widen and muttered under her breath, "Is this the same girl standing before me...?"_
_She looked up into the sky and said, "The clouds above Fubukiopolis looks very ominous... I must return to the capitol at once."_
_"Wait! Please, tell us your name", I asked. "I want to know the name of the person that saved us."_
_She stood silent for a moment and finally said, "My name is Kanu. Kanu Shiryu."_
_My eyes widened as my mind flashed back to whenever Akiro-sempai called me that. Who am I to this woman? Why am I always mistaken for her? Why is my heart racing being around her?_
_Chapter 17: Who is Kanu Shiryu?_
_ "It's been a very long time since people from outside the Shiryu Clan have been in Honsho. What do you wish to accomplish by coming here?", Kanu asked us._
_"We came here to stop Akitoki! I know your people are neutral in the conflict, but Akitoki could appear and start a massacre", I replied. _
We walked through the countryside looking at the scenery. Well, the others were, I was too busy looking at Kanu as I walked behind her. She had to be in her early 40's, but she still looked like she was in her late teens. She was very curvy with an ample bosom and walked seductively. She was dressed in a short blue shirt which showed off her toned abs, tight blue jeans, and hightop black and white shoes. Something about her made me feel very weird inside... My stomach was in knots, I was sweating, my head was killing me when it normally doesn't, and my heart and pulse were racing a mile a minute. She would make direct eye contact with everyone but me. Did she hate me? Did something about me offend her? I had all these questions, but no answers.
"Where are we heading?", I finally mustered up the courage to ask.
"We are headed for the Shiryu capitol city, Fubukiopolis, named after the greatest Lord our clan has ever had", she answered. She didn't even look at me. This is really starting to piss me off!
After some time, we arrived in the capitol. It is much bigger than Mobotropolis! There were skyscrapers everywhere you looked and you constantly had to look up to see the buildings!
"I wish Grandfather and Uncle Akiro would spring for buildings this big!", Banjo excitedly exclaimed. Kanu shot him a look and I heard her mutter under her breath, "Akiro... you're still alive. Thank goodness..."
"Lady Kanu! How are you today?", people crowded around asking.
"Hello everybody", she politely responded. "How is everyone doing?"
The five of us huddled up while Kanu was busy talking to the crowd. Before we started speaking, I looked back at Kanu again and noticed that her right eye, which was always covered by her bangs, was showing a little. I swore I saw a little hint of blue in her eye, but as fast as I saw it, her eye disappeared behind her bangs again. I shook my head and returned to the huddle.
"Okay guys, I say we split up and try to find information about Akitoki", Banjo said.
"I'm down for it. Me and the girls are gonna go together and find out info", Luigi threw out there.
"Alright! Meet back here in one hour! Make sure you guys come back with info!", I said. We split up in three directions and disappeared in the crowd.
-Luigi-
"Lu-Lu, don't you think these flowers are soo pretty?", Raven asked, picking up a pot full of daisies.
"Awww they smell so wonderful!", Madeline said, sniffing them.
I turned towards the girls and asked, "Raven, how did you escape The Legion?"
Raven looked at me with a face that screamed 'why did you ask that' and said, "I escaped with help from you dad. He saved me at attacking the Legion stronghold. I'm glad he did because I missed you and Madeline!", she said, giving us both a big hug.
"I'm glad I get to serve you Lu-Lu because you're so awesome and handsome!", Madeline said, kissing my cheek.
"Remember, we're on a mission girls. Keep your focus now", I said to the girls. We continued walking and we stopped at a fruit stand.
"Hello kind sir, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?", Raven asked.
"No, everything has been very quiet here in the country, as it has been for nearly two hundred years!", the man happily replied.
"Hey, umm what can you tell us about Kanu Shiryu?", Madeline surprisingly asked.
"Lady Kanu? She is a fierce warrior that has killed many innocent people with her bare hands! That's why everyone respects her so much, but that's what I heard", the man answered.
We walked away from the man's stand and Madeline said, "Fierce warrior? Innocents killed? That doesn't sound good to me!"
"Did you look at that guy's eyes?", Raven asked. "They are like that girl whose with us, Dixie right? They're mismatched colors!" We looked at the man's eyes and they were in fact red and green.
"Alright girls, let's continue our mission", I said.
-Banjo-
It's a lot easier to do things when you have super speed! I darted across from place to place, asking people if they've seen Akitoki at all, but they keep giving me the same answer: nothing has happened in nearly 200 years. Crap, this is gonna be harder than I thought, I said to myself. I walked up to a maid spinning thread and asked, "Have you seen a man named Akitoki?"
"Uh no I haven't. I'm sorry young man", the woman said to console me. I was about to walk over to another place, but I turned around and asked, "What do you know about Kanu Shiryu?"
"Lady Kanu is a saint! She makes public visits all the time and she always makes sure to give to the less fortunate members of our clan. The children love her and she is a role model to all of us! We simply adore Lady Kanu and we're blessed to have her as a leader for our clan!", the lady preached. I bowed and walked away, but turned my head to look at her eyes; blue and brown. Her eyes were mismatched just like Dixie. I continued my search, with more questions than answers...
-Dixie-
I wandered around, shimmying my way through the huge crowd, going from stand to stand asking if they saw or even heard of Akitoki, and I kept getting the answer of no. I was about to give up when I went to the stand of a doctor giving his patient medicine.
"Mr. doctor, by any chance do you know a man named Akitoki?", I asked, fully expecting rejection.
"Akitoki is headed for the castle, but tell no one I told you young lady", the doctor said. My eyes widened at what I heard.
"Thank you sir! Thank you!", I said, jumping up and down from excitement. "Oh, do you know anything about Kanu Shiryu?"
"Lady Kanu is an aristocrat and a recluse. She makes very few appearances in front of the public due to some sort of paranoia she has. Her heart is in the right place, but she makes no attempts to see the people in my opinion."
I walked away, gazing at the doctor's eyes; purple and gray. Everyone has mismatched eyes like me. What's going on here?
We met up and swapped information, but the question about Kanu was different every time. We still didn't know who she was or why I feel the way I do when around her. I paced around as the others tried to calm me down.
"When I'm around her, I get this weird feeling in my body, like I know who she really is", I explained to everyone. "I want to know who she really is and why she affects me like this!" I saw Kanu walking by at a frantic pace and I ran to her, wanting the answers I'm looking for.
"Who are you really Kanu!", I demanded to know. She didn't make eye contact with me.
"Tell me now! Whenever I'm around you, I feel like I know you from somewhere, but I know I never met you before. Who are you?"
She took a deep breath and said, "The truth is Dixie is that..."
An explosion rocked the area we were in. People began shouting, begging the god Amaterasu for forgiveness for any sins they had committed.
"I must return to the castle!", Kanu shouted and ran towards the castle.
"Answer me damn it! Get back here!", I screamed. I ran as fast as I could after her. She wasn't going to get away that easily!
Chapter 18: Awakening 3: Determination
Fire erupted from the castle; smoke billowed out into the air, causing all the people around us to panic and scream in terror. Kanu's blue hair flowed behind her as she busted through the castle gates.
"Hold on Kanu! I want to know the truth! Who are you really?", I screamed at her. Banjo and the others followed far behind me as I sped up to try to catch Kanu. As I ran, I realized that I wasn't even caring about the situation at hand. I wanted the answers I was looking for! What was she gonna say before the explosion happened? I wanted to know everything so I sped up.
"Why do you follow me child? My brethren may be in danger! Cease your pursuit of me now!", Kanu demanded of me. I ignored her request and followed her into the castle. Suddenly, a murderous screeching noise filled the entire castle, which stopped me and Kanu in our tracks.
"Mother! I hope that wasn't her that just screamed like that!", Kanu prayed.
"Who is your mother? Is she someone important?", I asked.
"My mother is the Lord of our clan, Lord Alicia. She rules our people with a gentle hand. Science and technology has advanced to be on par with the Onikawa because of her", Kanu explained. Banjo and the others finally caught up with us.
"What's going on? What's happening?", Luigi asked between breaths.
"The castle has been attacked by a man in black", a woman told us, falling down onto the red carpet.
"Ryuubi! Ryuubi! Are you okay?", Kanu cried out. The woman looked beautiful just like Kanu did. She had mismatched green and blue eyes with long, golden brown hair and she was dressed in a kimono. She wore glasses as well. Wait, green/blue eyes? The same as my eyes... Who is she?
"Kanu, my sister, its Mother! The man attacked Mother and set the throne room on fire!", Ryuubi struggled to say. She revealed a wound in her stomach and Kanu began crying.
"Where is Chouhi? Is she safe?", Kanu forced out between sobs.
"Chouhi is in the throne room fighting the man. Please hurry to her Kanu!", Ryuubi said. We ran down the grand hall and busted through the doors to the throne room. Everything was engulfed in flames, two women laid helpless on the floor, and Akitoki stood above the older woman, slaying her before our eyes.
"Mom! Nooo!", Kanu screamed out in agony. She fell to her knees and cried, crawled to her sister, and sent her to take care of Ryuubi. Everyone had a horrified look on their face as Lord Alicia's blood and guts splattered all over the throne room. Akitoki had blood all over his face, causing his eyes to glow a sickening blood red. His hand glowed a golden light and turned to us.
"Ah, Lady Kanu! How long has it been, 30 years since we last met?", Akitoki said with a devilish grin.
"How dare you Akihito! How dare you have the audacity to do something like this?", Kanu demanded to know.
"Because I want the Chaos Force and I know it's here in Fubukiopolis, now where is it?", Akitoki replied. Kanu turned her attention to me and she spoke with a purpose.
"Dixie, your parents told you to come here and find me didn't they?", Kanu asked. I forgot that they told me to find a woman with blur hair!
"Yes they did, but how did you know my parents?"
"Listen Dixie, you need to go to the bottom of this castle and you will find something that will help you carry out your destiny. You must hurry!" Banjo took my hand and ran out of the throne room and headed for the stairs.
"Hold on! I'm coming with you! Girls, stay here!", I heard Luigi yelled out. We ran down the spiral staircase, fighting through hordes of Akitoki's forces.
"Go on ahead you two, I'll handle these guys. Go get whatever we came here for!", Luigi told us.
"Luigi... Okay. You better stay alive bro...", Banjo said as we continued our descent down the stairway. We fought through a few more waves of enemies and finally we arrived at the bottom of the castle. It was ordained with a painting of someone clad in green holding a mighty sword cutting through dark clouds. There was a sword with a purple hilt inside a pedestal sitting in the middle of the room.
"Go to it. Pull it from the pedestal and fulfill your true destiny Dixie", Kanu's voice resonated in my head. Banjo and I walked towards the sword when this huge demon busted into the room.
"What the hell is that beast?", Banjo yelled.
"I don't know but I need you to distract it Banjo", I told him. I ran to the pedestal, avoiding the monster's attacks and swipes with his tail. I got to the pedestal, pulled out the sword, and was engulfed in a golden light...
-Kanu-
I looked at Akitoki with great hatred and disgust as I held my mother in my arms.
"Mother... I don't want you to die... I need you...", I said between sobs. I held her tighter, not caring if her blood was getting all over me.
"Kanu you must listen...", Lord Alicia spoke in a raspy voice. "My time has come to join Amaterasu in the Great Beyond. You must take up the helm of our clan and lead our people to the promised land. I know you can Kanu. I raised you and your sisters to be great and now it is time to live up to that destiny." Mother died in my arms, and I closed her eyes. The girls were already fighting Akitoki. The girl named Raven was shooting him with missiles and rockets, while the girl named Madeline became a tiger and kept biting Akitoki all over his body. He became enraged and blasted them away, but Raven got up and charged at him.
"I will make Lu-Lu proud of me! I won't give up!", Raven shouted. She pulled a blade from her arm and started slashing at him wildly. She cut him in a few place, causing him to bleed, but Akitoki grabbed her by the face and threw her to the ground. Raven got to her knees and shot a missile at him, exploding on contact.
"I...I did it! Lu-Lu will be so proud of me!", Raven said, pumping her fist in victory. Suddenly, a beam of dark energy shot out of the cloud of smoke and knocked both girls unconscious. Akitoki walked towards the girls intent on killing them, when the chamber door burst open.
"Back away Akitoki! This is between me and you now!" I turned around and I saw him; Akiro Onikawa! I haven't seen him in more than 30 years... Why was he here in Honsho?
"Akiro-sama! Why are you here?", I asked him, tears streaming from my eyes because I missed him so much.
"Kanu-sama, I came here to help you destroy Akitoki", Akiro-sama said confidently. "It has been such a long time since the three of us have been together. This should be a good reunion".
"Akiro! You have come here to die too? Well then, let me make it as horrifying as possible!", Akitoki belted out. I rose to my feet and dried my tears. I sensed that Dixie had pulled the blade from its pedestal, so I focused my attention to Akitoki. I picked up my sacred staff and prepared myself to do what I couldn't accomplish as a child; kill Akihito Akitoki!
-Dixie-
I opened my eyes and everything was white all around me. I looked around and scanned my surroundings for any signs of life.
"Damn it, did I die again?", I spat out. I walked around for a bit in the infinitely white realm when I heard a voice behind me.
"Hello Dixie, I'm glad you were able to pull the blade and rightfully claim it as yours." It was Kanu who was behind me.
"Please don't tell me you died?"
"No dear, I'm still alive, I'm using advanced telepathy to talk to you. There is much I need to explain to you in a short time, so please listen. You were chosen by the gods because you have the power to unify not just the clans, but the Chaos Force as well. People will turn to you to be their savior, and you will be hailed as a great hero Dixie. This is the destiny you were given, and I hope you rise up to take it."
"I understand, but I have one question..."
"Who am I to you?" Kanu lifted her bangs and I nearly fell backwards. She had a blue eye, just like me.
"Dixie, it's no coincidence that we have the same colored mismatched eyes. I'm your mother Dixie. You are royalty."
I couldn't respond at all; actually, I could barely breathe. My head spun, making me dizzy.
"I'm your daughter? So I'm going to become the Lord of the Shiryu someday?"
"Yes Dixie. I committed a taboo for our clan; I married a commoner and bore a daughter with him. My mother was ashamed at what I did, so I snuck to the the Isshin Region and left you in the care of your foster parents. Your father died from the grief of losing you, but if I would've kept you, the Shiryu ruling body would've had you murdered. I had no choice but to do it and I understand if you hate..." I slugged her in the face because I was sick of her feeling sorry for herself.
"I'm not mad at you Mom. I'm mad that you never made an attempt to tell me when you saw me earlier, and I'm pissed that Akitoki just killed my grandma! I want payback on him in the worse way..."
"Dixie... Thank you. Thank you for being an understanding daughter. It's time for you to fully awaken the hero sleeping inside you." She touched my chest and I was filled with a golden light that was so warm and pure. Banjo was holding the beast back when I returned. I was now clothed in the green of the forest, with chainmail armor underneath my clothes, and my high tops were replaced with black boots. I now wore a gauntlet on my left arm, and the back of my hand was now glowing with the symbol of the Shiryu Clan. Grasped in my left hand was the legendary Amaterasu Blade. Banjo just looked at me as I smirked. I could hear my mother in my head and we both said, It's payback time!
Chapter 19-A: Akiro/Kanu/Akitoki: War of the Lords
~Kanu~
I heard her voice in my head; Dixie had finally awakened and killed Akitoki's demonic minion. I can hear her say me through telepathy, "Its up to you now". I could now fully focus on destroying Akihito Akitoki.
"Why did you come here Akihito? We are neutral in this war, why did you spread your disease of hate and malice here?", I asked.
"He wants the Chaos Force, he hasn't changed since we were kids!", Akiro said.
"The two of you haven't changed much either; you're still a couple of righteous morons!", Akitoki spat. Akiro and I looked at each other and we nodded at each other. Akiro charged at Akitoki, punching him in the face, then I appeared above Akitoki and threw my staff at him, but nothing we did was doing any damage!
"It has to be the Chaos Force of Power that he has in his possession. That's why our attacks aren't working", I told Akiro.
"Then what can we do?, he asked.
"Keep up the assault! It's the only shot we got at the moment." I grabbed Akitoki from behind and held him while Akiro used his Hellfire Combination on him, but it still had no effect on him.
"Are you two done yet? I swear, you haven't gotten any stronger over the years!", Akitoki barked.
"Where did the old Akihito go? You were so kind and loving back then", I tried reasoning with him. "You had the biggest crush in the world on me and I thought it was so cute! Why did you change so much?"
"The only thing in the world I desire is absolute power over everything in this world. I do not desire old friends or crusty old Lords; that's why I killed your dear mother and why I will murder you both, my 'old' friends!" Akitoki blasted us both with black energy beams, he picked Akiro up and pierced his right shoulder, causing him to scream in intense pain. He knocked me through a support beam, causing my head and mouth to bleed. I wondered how we could beat a seemingly invincible demi-god, then Dixie shouted in my head, "Use the Heaven Seal!" I ran to Akitoki and placed the seal on his back. I activated it and Akitoki screamed a demonic yell as he was sapped of much of his strength.
"Damn you Kanu! I shoulda killed you years ago when I had the chance!", he screamed at me.
"Too bad you didn't, now I'll be the one who kills you", I said in a serious tone. Dixie, Banjo, and Luigi busted into the room and shouted at me to finish him. I took my staff in hand and trapped Akitoki in a bubble of pure energy, my Oblivion Breaker. The bubble exploded, nearly killing him. Akiro then finished him off with a chaos sphere to his stomach, smashing him through a wall.
"It's over! It's finally over!", Dixie exclaimed, kissing Banjo on the lips. I hugged Akiro, in my mind hoping we could make up for over three decades of lost time.
"Raven! Madeline! Are you okay?", Luigi said as he ran towards the girls.
Finally, peace can return to the world..." Akiro said, but then Akitoki rose and began speaking cryptically.
"You insolent bugs haven't won anything. You haven't beat me yet, for now, the body of rebellion no longer has a head..." He burst into black flames and turned to dust.
Chapter 19-B: War of the Lords: Rise of the Twilight Princess
~Dixie~ ~A few minutes earlier~
I eyed the beast with a newfound determination I never felt before. I felt power and strength flooding my entire body With Amaterasu's Burning Shield and Shining Sword in my hands, I felt like the goddess herself.
"Dixie, your power has skyrocketed! Is this your true form, your true destiny?", Banjo asked in amazement. I looked Banjo in the eyes and smiled.
"I could never admit it before because I was so shy, but whenever you fight, you look so damn hot!", I said with no fear in my voice. Banjo blushed noticeably. I motioned for him to attack and he rolled up into a ball. I latched onto him with my clawshot and I threw him into the eye of the beast. Banjo fell to the ground and began taking out its legs. When he took out its last leg (This beast had SIX legs), I began slashing away at its giant eye, while Banjo helped by punching and kicking it in the eye. I ended this fight by impaling it in the eye with Amaterasu's Blade, causing it to scream a hellish sound. It was consumed by black flames and turned to dust.
"That fight was too fast! It should've lasted longer, I was having too much fun!", Banjo joked.
"Well, I have new powers and I had to show them off", I winked at Banjo and kissed him on the cheek. I sent my mom a telepathic message saying, "It's up to you now". We ran out the chamber and climbed up the stairs. We saw Luigi laid out amongst a pile of bodies. He wasn't moving an inch, causing us to panic.
"Luigi! Luigi! You better not have died on me!", Banjo pleaded.
"Damn it! What could have taken him out? Luigi is really strong...", I asked.
"Can't I get a couple more minutes old man...", Luigi mumbled. He was asleep? We were worried about you and you were sleeping on the job, I said to myself. I whacked on the head with my fist, waking him up.
"What's with the get-up?", he asked me.
"We don't have time for Q and A! We gotta hurry!", I exclaimed.
As we ran up the stairs, I could feel my mom being beaten by Akitoki. I heard her pleas to find a way to stop her and I shot her a mental message; "Use the Heaven Seal!" The three of us reached the doors to the stairs and Banjo (unnecessarily)kicked them down. We ran into the main chamber and we shouted at my mom to finish Akitoki off. Mother took her staff in hand and trapped Akitoki in a bubble of pure energy, a move she calls the Oblivion Breaker. The bubble exploded, nearly killing him. Akiro then finished him off with a chaos sphere to his stomach, smashing him through a wall.
"It's over! It's finally over!", I exclaimed, kissing Banjo on the lips. Mother hugged Akiro in a very passionate way
"Raven! Madeline! Are you okay?", Luigi said as he ran towards the girls.
Finally, peace can return to the world..." Akiro said, but then Akitoki rose and began speaking cryptically.
"You insolent bugs haven't won anything. You haven't beat me yet, for now, the body of rebellion no longer has a head..." He burst into black flames and turned to dust. The castle began collapsing around us! Damn, I don't think we'll be able to get out in time!
Chapter 20: Truth of Truths
We frantically tried to get out of the castle, but rubble and debris were falling faster than we could move. Luigi punched our way through the rubble, creating pathways for us. We were nearly out of the castle, but Kanu accidentally dropped Raven. Akiro ran back and grabbed her. He was able to get her out in time, but he was crushed by the rubble.
"UNCLE!", Banjo and Luigi screamed out.
"Akiro, you can't die! We just reunited...", mom said in a low tone. I looked on stunned. Akiro Onikawa was dead.
We ran away from the castle as fire crews arrived to put out the blaze. Everyone was in tears after seeing Akiro be crushed before our very eyes. Suddenly, a bright light filled the area , and Akiro appeared before us, unscathed!
"How- but I thought-", I stuttered, flabbergasted that he was still alive.
"Well, I am one of the chosen...", he coolly said.
"Chosen? What do you mean by that?", Banjo asked.
"I'll explain it later, for now, we must return to Isshin. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is happening in the capitol."
"I can get you there faster", mom said. "I'll use one of my instant transfer techniques to get you to Mobotropolis." She touched our heads and before we left, she gave Akiro a kiss on the cheek and teleported us back to the Isshin Region.
~Kanu~
"Lady Kanu! What are we going to do? We have no leader, our castle has burned down, and people lay dead in the streets!", people yelled as they began circling me. At first, I didn't know what to tell them, but my mind calmed and the answers flowed from my mouth:
"My people, Akihito Akitoki, leader of the rebel Akitoki Clan, has invaded our land and violated our neutrality. He murdered our dear Lord Alicia in clod blood and destroyed Fubuki Castle. As of now, I am taking up the helm as Lord of the Shiryu Clan and I am declaring war on the Akitoki Clan! We will rebuild! We will be stronger! We will beat the Akitoki and bury them under the full fury of the Shiryu Clan!" I was nervous the entire time I spoke, but I had to be confident. I am leading this clan into war for the first time in over 150 years; I must be brave, I must be strong!
~Dixie~
We appeared before the entrance to Mobotropolis and we immediately saw the devastation The entire city was flatten, bodies were thrown everywhere, and screams could be heard from the mansion. We ran as fast as we could to the mansion and when we entered the study, the sight was atrocious. Blood was splattered everywhere, bodies were in a pile in front of the door, and Lord Sabre laid dead in a pool of his own blood. A man stood above his body, a black wing flowing from his back, the back of his hand glowed a black light.
"Akitoki? But I thought we killed you back in Honsho!", I screamed. I ran towards him, ready for the kill, but he turned around and blasted me away with a burst of energy from his hand.
"The head of the rebellion no longer has a head, so now the body will rapidly die", Akitoki said in a demonic voice.
"The Chaos Force has warped him. There's no turning back for him now", Akiro said. He walked forward with purpose and pointed at Akitoki.
"Our people have a head. We will function the way we should, for I am taking the helm as Lord of the Onikawa Clan!", Akiro exclaimed. Akitoki simply laughed at him.
"Akiro, this changes nothing! Your pitiful clan is nearly extinct. There is nothing you can do to turn this war around! The Akitoki will bury you and rule this world!" He busted out of the window and flew away through the smoke that filled the skies. I looked at Banjo and saw that his expression changed like it did that time before; his eyes became pale blue and he erupted in a pale blue aura.
"I know what this is now", Akiro said. "He is one of Hojo's Children! He is the phase of Death!" I looked at Akiro confused, but my attention then shot to Banjo.
"We will now end this conflict. We are storming the Gouki Region and slaughtering the Akitoki Clan! We will leave NO SURVIVORS!"
Chapter 21: Life in the Brotherhood
~Luigi~ ~3 days after Sabre's death~
Raven and Madeline looked through shop windows looking at the latest fashions here on the floating island. I took them out shopping because tomorrow, we head out to the Gouki Region to fight Akitoki. We walked down the streets and went into a bunch of stores. I could hardly pay attention because my mind kept floating to the sight of Grandfather's body on the floor of the mansion, Akitoki's demon form, and Banjo's awakening as the Terror of Death. Madeline's loud voice snapped me back into reality.
"How do I look Lu-Lu?", she asked me, wearing a white dress that went a bit passed her knees.
"You look very beautiful Madeline", I replied with a smile.
"Hey! What about me?", Raven shouted at me for attention. She was wearing a black shirt with skulls on it and black skinny jeans with her usual black glasses.
"You look wonderful", I told her, also smiling at her. Raven and Madeline have been fighting over me ever since we were children, but I could never pick one over the other. They are both very special to me.
"Lu-Lu? What did Akiro-san mean when he said he and Banjo were chosen?", they asked me together. Since they were twins, they felt like they could talk at the same time, which I thought was adorable.
"Well, in the history of the Onikawa Clan, which predates The Brotherhood by a good 900 years, the greatest Lord that ever lived, Lord Hojo, was a conflicted man. His life was in cycles: Death, Deceit, Propagation, Prophet, Machination, Temptation, Avenger, and Rebirth. When he died, his powers were granted to 8 chosen individuals in the Onikawa Clan every generation."
"So, are you one of them Lu-Lu?", Raven asked.
"Yes I am", I replied. "I'm the 3rd phase. I'm Luigi the Propagator. My power is to make clones of myself that absorb the powers of my enemies"
"So those phase powers must be your ultimate power, huh?", Madeline asked.
"In a way, but they have a serious drawback. They completely take over the host and reverses their personality. When Banjo activates his phase power, he switches from being kind and loving, to being deranged and violent. I become excessively arrogant."
"What about Akiro-san?"
"He is the Rebirth and has trained for years to control it. He doesn't change at all" We continued our shopping spree when suddenly the girls kidnapped by the Grandmaster of the Legion, Moritori! I knew it wouldn't be a quiet day after all...
I chased him down, trying my hardest to rescue the girls, but Moritori was one step ahead of me. He sent a team of Legionaires to intercept and stop me, which I scoffed at. He doesn't know who the hell he's dealing with! I ripped off my shirt, revealing my abs and muscles, and I fought through the group, smashing their skulls in with my bare fists. I resumed my pursuit of the Grandmaster all the way south near the door to the Chaos Realm. This has to be a trap of some kind, I thought to myself. I looked around; nobody is hiding in the shadows.
"One-on-one? Just the way I like it!", I exclaimed.
"Today is the day that The Legion takes over this island and claims the Chaos Force as ours!", Moritori screeched. I walked towards him and scoffed loudly.
"Over my dead body! The Legion has failed over 16 generations of my family, and you will continue that tradition today!", I laughed. I ran at him and we started punching at each other. Raven and Madeline broke free of Moritori's trap and started fighting the incoming troops he had brought.
"Damn, why won't you go down like a good loser?", I yelled.
"My determination is great! I won't lose so easily!", he replied. I knew I was gonna be in for a long fight...
It was nighttime and we were still fighting! I had no time for this, for I was running out of power and I had to rest for the big invasion tomorrow. I had no other choice... I covered my body in a pale red aura. My violet eyes turned a shimmering, pale red. I was now feeding off my Propagation powers.
"I didn't want to do this Moritori, but I must end this now!", I exclaimed. I charged at him, ducking and dodging all of his attacks, and I punched him in the jaw so hard, it caused an explosion; my Deep Impact move. Moritori flew backwards into a wall, and I followed up with a jab, hook, and another Deep Impact. Moritori had no choice but to give up and call back his troops.
"Yeah, you guys better run before we beat your moms up too, you ducking cowards!", all three of us yelled. I looked at the time; shit! 9:30! I gotta go meet with the Brotherhood!
I arrived in Haven with the girls and enter the halls of the sacred home of the Brotherhood. I entered the Main Hall and sat down to speak with Spectre, Sojourner, Thunderhawk, and my father.
"Brief us on your mission tomorrow, Luigi", Thunderhawk told me.
"Tomorrow, I am to go with Dixie Shiryu and my brother Blue to the Gouki Region to end the war with Akihito Akitoki", I said.
"Luigi, you must be very careful out in the Gouki Region", Spectre warned. "That region is surrounded by desert. Make sure you are prepared before you leave, understood?"
"Yes sir Spectre!"
"You will not be on official Brotherhood business", Sojourner began. "You may lay down your dreadlocks for this mission. Please head out by 11:30 tomorrow morning and please return to us Luigi"
"I will Sojourner and tell Mother I love her."
"Luigi my son", Father began. "You are the greatest Guardian we ever had. I know you will return having single-handedly ended the war!"
"Sure Dad, whatever you say", I said, rolling my eyes at him.
"Oh, and make sure you idiotic, useless big brother Blue doesn't ruin everything by getting you all killed!" Everyone in the room's facial expressions soured when Dad said that. No one has forgiven him for what he did to Blue.
"Umm sure?" I left Haven and headed home to rest.
~The next day at 11:30 A.M.~
"I'm sorry girls, but I must go alone", I told Madeline and Raven. They begged and pleaded to come with me, but I told them to stay here. I left them both with a jewel with my lifeforce in it so they'll know if I'm okay or not. I kissed them both on the forehead and walked away, determined to end the bloodshed that this war has brought the world.
Chapter 22: Blood-Stained Eyes
~Dixie~ ~12:00 P.M Outside the Mansion~
We waited outside for Luigi to arrive so we could begin the mission. Akiro- I mean Lord Akiro- gave us our orders as we waited;
"I do not care what method you use, your mission is to invade Megalopolis and force the Akitoki to surrender and end this war. It will only be you two and Luigi for you three are our best soldiers at this time. I must head the reconstruction efforts, now head out! May Tsukuyomi bless you!"
"Hey guys! Sorry if I'm a bit late, but the girls were begging me to take them on the mission", Luigi said finally arriving. "Is he still in his awakened state?", he whispered in my ear, looking at Banjo. I turned to look at Banjo; he was staring at the ground, eyes filled with rage, every muscle on his body was bulging and tense. He looked at me and mouthed something; "I love you and I'm sorry my love" We began heading southwest and left the safety of the Isshin Region.
I remember this place, I thought to myself. This is where we first found out Hana was a member of the Akitoki Clan and I awakened my powers. Thank goodness Hana was killed by that Noctis kid... I snapped back to reality when I saw a huge wave of soldiers headed our way. Almost instantly, Banjo vanished and started ripping their limbs off with his bare hands. Blood splattered everywhere as he mercilessly ripped off their arms, legs, and eyes. Banjo's face became covered in the blood of those he slaughtered. He even impaled an enemy's chest and ripped out his beating heart! He was no longer my Banjo, but the vessel of the Terror of Death.
"You must get the blue one out of here. He is being swallowed by the power.", a familiar voice called out. It was Noctis, coming to take over the fight.
"Noctis! What are you doing here?", I exclaimed.
"Yeah Noctis, why are you here?", Luigi asked, agitated by his very sight.
"Still can't forgive me Lu-Lu? Oh well. I'm here to take this fight out of your brother's hands. His power is swallowing up his soul. If he doesn't stop fighting, he will become a slave to it."
"We understand and thank you for your help Noctis!", I said, bowing to him out of gratitude. Luigi grabbed Banjo as he slashed the head of another soldier off, causing a fountain of blood to gush into the air.
"Why did you stop me? I was stopping their advance!", Banjo growled, something he never did before.
"That was senseless violence Blue, and that's something I know you don't believe in!", Luigi snapped at him.
"Guys, we gotta stop and rest, I'm dehydrated and thirsty", I whined. We had been moving through the desert for a good 4 hours after Banjo went on his rampage. As I drunk from my water bottle, I wondered if Noctis was okay...
We walked for another few hours until I saw buildings in the background. We headed for the city and fought our way through more hordes of soldiers. Banjo lost control again and started mindlessly slaughtering people again. He ripped out a man's spine and choked another person to death with it. He killed another person by crushing their skull with a boulder. His eyes became covered in blood and turned from a pale, dull blue to a bright crimson red.
"Damn Banjo! I wish your phase power would die already!", Luigi exclaimed, grabbing both of us and running towards the city. We entered the Megalopolis City Gates and saw a full-blown battle being waged in the city between Akitoki and Shiryu forces. 'I sent them there to make your efforts easier', mom shot to me in a mental message. 'Thanks mom! Really appreciate it!', I sent as a reply.
"From the intelligence The Brotherhood has gathered, the castle is due north from here", Luigi told us. We jumped on the rooftops and started heading for the castle.
"I want to have more fun!", Banjo cried out.
"No, we don't have the luxury for that Blue!", Luigi spoke. "If you attack, you'll compromise the-", but it was too late. Banjo jumped in the air and murdered every non-Shiryu fighter by impaling their chests or skulls, causing their innards to ooze out of their bodies. I was becoming more and more terrified of Banjo's darker side by the minute. I just wanted my Banjo back...
We reached the castle and Luigi busted down the door, alerting the guards. Before weHa could react, Banjo killed them by impaling their skulls with a spear, causing blood to gush out their heads. I looked into Banjo's eyes; they had become an even darker red. We ran up the staircase and busted through a door. We were in a throne room, a huge one at that, filled with gold, jewels, and ordained paintings. An elderly man rose from the throne in front of us and began to speak.
"Who are you children and why are you trespassing in the castle?", he spoke in a hoarse tone.
"We are from the Onikawa Clan. Stop this war now and we will leave in peace", Luigi spoke justly.
"Don't waste your breath!", Banjo barked. "These Akitoki scum are all the same!" In one swift moment, Banjo ran to the throne, grabbed the old man, and ripped his heart out.
"Lord Akihijo Akitoki is no more. Now we must find Akitoki and kill him too!" I didn't want to be a part of this anymore... That isn't the Banjo that stole my heart. Who is this boy? We ran up more stairs, trying to find where Akitoki was hiding and we entered an empty room with no windows or other doors. We cautiously walked in and suddenly, an ax came swinging out of nowhere!
Chapter 23: Endgame: Guardian vs. General
Luigi got me and Banjo out of the way as the ax headed for our heads. I looked around and saw a large, built man handling the weapon with one hand. He was only clothed in a muscle shirt and black jeans. He looked at us, but almost immediately focused his gaze on Luigi.
"The name's General Jugo! I'm tops of the Akitoki Army!", he said. "So you must be Luigi, the Guardian of the Chaos Force eh? Well, I have specific orders to kill you so our clan can covet it!"
"You just want me huh? Then come get some!", Luigi exclaimed. Jugo charged at Luigi with the ax, but Luigi kicked it out of his hand and headbutted him, making him stagger backwards.
"Banjo! Dixie! You must get out of here! I'll handle Jugo, you go find Akitoki and end this war!", Luigi screamed at us.
"Okay", I replied. "Come back to us alive". He gave us a thumbs up, I grabbed Banjo's hand and we ran out of the room. Luigi, please don't die on us...
~Luigi~
"You think that by beating Lord Akihito, the war will end?", Jugo laughed at me. "In order to end this, you must defeat the three heads of our clan; Akitoki, his 2nd in command, and me. If you can't do that, then the Onikawa loses!" I clenched my fist tighted as I checked out the surroundings: a small room with no maneuverability. What can I do with this limitation?
"Now, we can't fight with these cramped quarters now can we?", Jugo said with a smirk. "Good thing I modified this room!" He pulled out a switch and flipped it. The room opened up and became wider, giving us move space to move around. I looked at Jugo then appeared behind him. I punched him in his back and picked up a chunk of the ground and tossed it at him, but he punched through it.
"Just like you Guardian, I'm physically powerful", Jugo boasted. We charged at each other and began exchanging blows. Our colliding powers shook the room to its very foundation. I used my Thunder Arrow to put him of the defensive. He ran and dodged every lightning bolt I shot at, but tricked him into charging at me; a lightning bolt he dodged previously hopped along the ground and electrocuted him.
"You are a tactical genius, just like Lord Akihito said", Jugo shakily said as he struggled back to his feet.
"Akitoki didn't tell you everything about me", I replied, readying another attack. "I'm going to beat you, then I'm going to crush Akitoki and end this hell."
I shot more Thunder Arrows at him, connecting with each attack, slowing him down. I ran towards him, ready to finish him with a Deep Impact punch, but suddenly, he blasted me away with a black light.
"Oh no...", I said, worried. "It can't be... Akitoki gave you the power of the Chaos Force of Power!"
"And you would be correct!", Jugo screamed out. He covered himself in a deep black aura and when it dissipated, he has transformed; his hair was now long and silver, his muscle mass had tripled, his skin tone went from somewhat pale to a dark brown tone, horns grew from him forehead, and he grew a long spiny tail.
"It's time to die, Guardian!", he growled. He swung his tail at me, hitting me in my chest, taking my breath away. He continued swinging his tail at me, and I had no choice but to play defense. I hid behind a tree as he continued wildly flailing his tail around trying to crush me.
"Do you know why Lord Akihito started this war?", Jugo began gloating. I didn't respond.
"Lord Akihito wants the Chaos Force because he wants to unify the clans and rule them with an iron fist. He wants this entire world to burn to ashes and with the completed Chaos Force, he will rebuild it in his own image! I am a central part to the plan."
I ran from my cover and tried to hit him with Thunder Arrows, but they just bounced off of his body. He continued ranting on while beating the crap out of me;
"My place in the new world order is to be my Lord's enforcer. I will seek out the rebels of our rule and stomp them out like dirt in between my toes!"
"I'm... so sick of your... damn rambling!", I yelled. I charged at Jugo, trying to hit hit him with Deep Impact, but he swatted me away with his tail. What can I do to stop this guy, I thought to myself but then it popped in my head...
~Flashback, 2 days earlier~
I was finishing up training with my dad when he turned to me and said,
"Listen to me Luigi, if you ever want to use the Ultimate Impact Blast, never use it without the Onikawa Eyes. If you don't it will get you killed."
"I think I'll remember that Father, but I'm not sure if I can use either of them properly. I'm not sure I could master them..."
"Luigi, eliminate the doubt in your mind and allow the power to flow through you."
"Alright Father, I'll do the best that I can out there in Gouki."
~End of Flashback~
I closed my eyes and focused, focused all my power into my hand and the energy became electricity. I reappeared and ran at him, but my eyes were no longer purple; they were blue, the Onikawa Eyes were active.
"Lord Akihito never told me that you could use the Onikawa Eyes!", Jugo exclaimed. I ran at him at full speed, dodging his attacks. I impaled him in his chest with the Ultimate Impact Blast and he fell onto his back, limp.
"No matter what kind of info you are given about me, you will never be able to predict my actions", I said and walked away. Suddenly, Jugo got up and shot a black energy beam at me, striking me deep in my side. I was pinned against the wall and was bleeding heavily. What am I gonna do, I thought to myself...
~Flashback, 6 years ago~
Blue is pissing me off! Who the hell is he to barge into the floating island and try to do whatever he wanted! I must stop him!
"Look Luigi, we haven't seen each other in years and you want to act like a douche towards me! I'm not trying to steal the Chaos Force; Akitoki is! He ain't on your side! Look!" I turned around and saw Akitoki blatantly trying to bust into the door to the Chaos Realm. I became enraged at the betrayal and hit him with the Ultimate Impact Punch. Wait...
~Flashback abruptly ends~
Wait! I got it!, I said to myself. I opened my eyes again and struggled to get off the wall. Everytime I pulled the beam out of my body, it hurt me more and more. I finally pulled it out of me and I threw it to the ground. I held my side and ran towards him.
"You're still alive huh?", Jugo gloated. "No matter what you do Guardian, you will never win! The time of the Onikawa Clan is over and the Akitoki will rule this world!"
"I'm sick and tired of your mouth!", I screamed at him. My hand glowed with fire with electric sparks, my eyes were completely focused on taking him.
"Jugo Akitoki, prepare to meet Susanno! Tell him I said Hello!" I pierced him in his heart with the Ultimate Impact Punch, the ultimate combination of Deep Impact and Ultimate Impact Blast. He impaled me in the chest at the same time with his horns.
"Damn you Luigi Onikawa... Why, why couldn't you let us have our dynasty?", Jugo asked, returning to his human state.
"I have been called a genius by my dad and many members of The Brotherhood, but I'm just a regular kid, wanting to live a peaceful life", I struggled to say. "But as long as there are people like you and Akitoki in the world, I can't get that peace I desire in my life. I must always stay at the top of my abilities and rise up when darkness threatens my way of life." I started coughing up blood and became dizzy. I fell to the ground and landed hard. I saw a butterfly flutter in the air and I wished I could fly away as my eyes slowly closed, engulfing me in an infinite black...
~Back on the Floating Island~ ~Raven~
I looked at the evening sky, I had a unsettling feeling in my stomach. I then heard Madeline screaming in the other room. I ran in the room and saw the source of her screams; the jewel that Lu-Lu left us with his life force began cracking.
"OMG! Lu-Lu!", Madeline cried. I held her in my arms, choking back tears of my own.
"I know Lu-Lu is okay, I know he is...", I said, looking at the crystal. I prayed to Tsukuyomi that Lu-Lu would come back alright...
Chapter 24: Endgame 2: Insanity's Obliteration
~Dixie~
Banjo and I continued running up the stairwell, taking out any foes that got in our way. Banjo's condition continued to worsen with every person he fought; his eyes grew a deeper and deeper blood red. The stairwell looked like it went infinitely up as there looked to be no end. I was growing fatigued when we found a door. I cautiously opened it, remembering what happened when we opened the last door. Suddenly, Banjo grabbed my hand; I turned to look at him and his eyes were than gentle emerald green again!
"Dixie...please, help me...", he pleaded.
"What can I do?", I asked him.
"I only have temporary control. The darkness is trying to consume me. Listen, you must knock me out and take on Akitoki! I can't bear to kill anymore!"
I shook my head at him, telling him I couldn't do it, but I had to watch in horror as his eyes turn red again. He shoved me out of the way and barged into the room. It was a beautiful room filled with trees and fauna, sunlight lovingly peeking into the room.
"What a beautiful room this is!", I said like a child in a toy store.
"Someone else is in here with us, be careful", Banjo said, looking around the room. I checked every inch of the room for any dangerous, but I didn't find anybody else here with us.
"Banjo, we're alone in-", I stopped and moved out of the way because a hooded figure busted through the roof and tried attacking me. I pulled out my sword and tore apart the hood, revealing Hana. Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are.
"Hana? But I thought Noctis killed you back on that mountain!", I said, shocked that she's standing in front of me.
"The Chaos Force responded to my pure hatred of you and revived me just so I could kill you with my bare hands", Hana responded. She slowly walked towards me. I turned to Banjo and shot him a look.
"I understand Dixie", Banjo began. "It is your destiny to fight Hana and destroy her. Survive and come back home to me" Banjo turned on his heels and ran out the door. The door bolted shut behind me and Hana began to laugh.
"Destiny is upon us Dixie", Hana spoke. "Now, the two of us will fight to the death and I think I'll make it more interesting" She pressed a button and the room started burning!
"See, if you want to leave this room alive, you must beat me within 20 minutes. If you fail, everyone in this tower dies."
"Damn it Hana, are you that determined to settle the score with me? That you'd kill us both?"
"I'm just fulfilling my part of our shared destiny... Now then, it's time for me to kill you."
I gripped Amaterasu's Sword and Shield tight in my hands as I blocked her attacks with my shield. I parried her final attack and began slashing at her, but she rolled out of the way and jumped into the trees. I pulled out my bow and started shooting arrows at her, but her speed was incredible. She leaped out of the tree and tried cutting me with a sword she materialized, but I blocked it with my shield.
"You are very skilled Dixie, I cannot deny you that", Hana said. "Sadly though, you lack that killer instinct that makes me far more dangerous than you are little Dixie". She gave me a smirk and she charged me with her sword. I did the same and when our swords clashed, the tower shook from the large amount of power we were giving off. We clashed swords multiple times until she knocked my blade out of my hands and forced me to dodge her attacks. I grabbed on to my sword and and clashed blades with her once again.
"Why do all of this Hana?", I asked her. "What is the point of starting a war with senseless bloodshed?"
"We began this war for one reason", Hana spoke. A sinister black light emanated from the back of her right hand and she began transforming. She gained a bit more muscle, but her hair became completely wild and messy. She no longer had her calm demeanor; she was now completely psychotic.
"We wanted power over the world, to do as we see fit without the Onikawa and you Shiryu filth!", she continued as she overpowered me. She pinned me to the ground and I struggled to keep her from stabbing me.
"I know that you are of Shiryu descent because I read your mind."
"You think you know everything, don't you Hana? You're nothing more than a bitch!" I kicked her off me and shot her in the arm with an arrow, but it had no effect on her. I pulled out my clawshot, but she beat me to the punch and knocked me in the head. I stumbled backwards, then Hana took her sword in hand and impaled me. All I did was look at the wound and passed out.
~Flashback, one day earlier~
I sat on my bed with my eyes closed, focusing with all my energy to keep an open mental channel with my mom all the way in Fubukiopolis. I struggled to keep it open; man this is way harder than I thought! I clenched my teeth and focused harder, trying to find my mom's mental channel when finally I hear, 'Don't struggle so much. Let it flow freely through your mind and body.'
'Mama, you said I was a bearer of the Chaos Force. What does that mean?'
'You have the power and protection of the gods on your side. If you are ever in mortal danger, focus your thoughts on the gods and they will aid you by loaning you their power.'
'I understand Mama. Thank you for this quick training session.'
'Anytime my daughter. Come back victorious and keep that uncouth Banjo in check!'
Yes Mama, I'm be safe and watch over Banjo...'
~End of Flashback~
I regained consciousness. I'm alive... time to to strike while she still thinks I'm dead! I focused all my thoughts, all my energy on praying to the gods, and the back of my right hand began glowing. My strength skyrocketed as the Chaos Force filled me with power. I kicked Hana's sword out of her hands and I attacked her in a flurry of punches and kicks, culminating in me kicking her through a tree.
"The Chaos Force of Courage... You were chosen by Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu! Well, Susanno chose me as well!", Hana yelled at me.
The mark on her hand glowed more and more, filling her with more dark power; The Chaos Force of Courage filled me with strength and the courage to fight her with no hesitation. Then I felt a burning sensation... Wait, I remember this feeling... When I fought Akitoki before my birthday... It rose more and more... Burning, screaming, anger, love...Deceit.
"Hana, I don't think you'll be able to leave this fight alive this time", I said arrogantly.
"And what makes you think that, you pretentious bitch?", she shot back.
"I just discovered a new power I don't think I should have. You know Hana, me and you have had a long history; we fought each other, had many competitions against each other, and have tried to kill each other, but you always keep coming back for more, but this time, you won't be coming back to life this time. I am the new variable in the equation!"
My body became covered in a pale green aura, my power jumped by leaps and bounds and I could feel myself changing... I wasn't the normal Dixie that everyone knows and loved... I became angry and emotional, wanting to eliminate all darkness from me.
"You're a Shiryu, but you're one of Hojo's Children!", Hana exclaimed.
"Yes you stupid whore, that's what I am! I'm the baddest bitch around; I'm Dixie, the Mirage of Deceit!", I confidently said.
I cut my arm and let the blood drip to the ground. I also cut my finger and my tongue and let the blood fall to the ground. 20 clones of me began forming from the blood and charged at Hana and began engaging her in combat, while I was charging power into Amaterasu's Blade. I was going for broke with one final attack. All of my clones were defeated, causing an unexpected side-effect: I began bleeding heavily from the places I cut myself to create the clones. Being the Mirage of Deceit is more difficult than I thought it would be...
"Damn clones!", Hana swore. "Now it's time for me for kill you Dixie!"
3 minutes left, damn! Come on, hurry and make your move Hana! I gotta finish you off now, or I'm gonna die... Hana ran at me at full speed, brandishing her sword readying to kill me. I sheathed my sword and place my hand on the hilt and gripped it tightly. Hana swung her sword at me; I unsheathed my sword and swung it at her. We stood there for a moment, motionless; blood splattered from the gash I made on her; I collapsed onto one knee, bleeding badly from the cut she made on me.
"Mortal Draw, bitch...", I said out of breath. "Channeling energy into the blade while it's sheathed then unleashing it in a lethal slash, but it leaves me defenseless, as I have no way to counter any attacks from my opponents."
"Damn you Dixie... It was supposed to be MY victory!", Hana screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Too bad bitch. This is my story, and now you get cut off it", I replied. I jumped off of trees, leaped into the air and rammed my sword deep into her chest; the Ending Blow. Hana let out a demonic yell and fell silent.
"Akihito... my love... I'm sorry I failed you... Please forgive me..." She became silent, as the spectre of death took her to hell.
"Guess I finally won our rivalry. I hope you never come back...", I said, as my phase powers wore off. I returned to my normal self again and I ran out of the room, determined to catch up with Banjo.
~Banjo~ ~5 minutes earlier~
"Damn, I finally reached the top of this damn tower", I spat. I was nearly sorta-kinda out of breath, and I heard an organ being played. I opened the door and walked in.
"Ah, it's about time you arrived Banjo", Akitoki said, turning from the organ, still playing it.
"Akitoki... It's finally time to end this conflict that we've had for the past 6 years", I said as I walked towards him.
"You will die here just like the rest of your Onikawa scum. I will reign over the world and you will die in regret and sorrow that you failed your mission!" He stood up and started running at me.
"I won't lose because I will become the hero of my clan. Everyone is depending on me, and I can't lose! I must kill you!" I ran towards Akitoki at full speed and we connected with each other with a punch in the jaw. Suddenly I felt strange and I instantly knew what was happening to me; I was fighting with the darkness within me...
Chapter 25-A: One-Winged Demon
~Externally~
I exchanged heavy blows with Akitoki, causing everything around us to tremble and quake. I wanted to kill him the same way he killed my grandparents... I wanted his head on my mantel! We kept matching each other blow-for-blow, filling the air with so much energy, the skies began to cloud up.
"We have been fighting for 6 years now, no Blue?", Akitoki said with a smirk. "Every battle we had was epic, titanic even, but this time, all the chips are on my side. The Chaos Force of Power is mine, and when I gain all three piece along with the ethereal Chaos Force, nothing will stop me!"
"How did your filthy hands gain the Chaos Force anyway?", I barked.
"I killed my own people to find it hidden in a cave deep in the rocky regions of this country. The blood of my own is what caused my rise in power and now let me show you!"
The mark of the Chaos Force glowed on the back of his left hand as he was covered in a dark aura. I tried to punch through it, but the aura rebounded and forced me back. The pale blue aura surrounding my body became crimson red as my hate and anger intensified. Then I felt something breaking inside me...
~Internally~
His eyes were blood red and filled with hate. He reeked of the smell of the dead. Was he alive? Was he deceased? I couldn't tell, but he ran at me with the intent to kill me. I braced myself for a fight. We locked each other, repelling each other's attacks.
"What do you want from me? Who are you?", I asked, trying my hardest to hold my ground.
"I'm a part of your great ancestor, Hojo Onikawa. I was the reason he died. I have inhabited many of the great Lords the Onikawa have had, but this is the first I've been in the body of such scum like you", it said condescendingly. It had the form of a reaper with the black cloak and skull head to boot.
"You see Blue, I want full control of you body, so what I need you to do is succumb to the hate, the darkness you have for Akitoki and let me permanently take over..."
"You really think I'm gonna give you MY body? You are sadly mistaken!" I kicked him off of me with a swift kick to the gut and tried to follow up with a bicycle kick, but he grabbed my leg and threw me down. He started choking me and he started whispering in my ear:
"Give in to the hate...Give in to the anger... Give in to the thoughts of revenge..."
~Externally~
I can feel the love and compassion inside me being choked out by some sinister force inside me... I screamed to the heaven as the darkness took over me. I could feel my eyes grow darker and darker as my power exploded. I charged at Akitoki and we continued our pitched battle into the skies. Lightning began crackling through the skies, almost as if the gods are showing fear of our power.
"Your newfound powers won't save you, low class trash", Akitoki said, increasing his power to match mine. He punched me in the back of my neck, sending me down to the earth at a rapid speed. He fired multiple energy blasts at me, causing me much damage. I could barely recover when Akitoki appeared before me and started kicking me.
"You see you little dirt muncher, you can't beat me! I am the new god of this world! Bow down to my almighty power!", he proclaimed.
The anger intensified inside me as I wanted desperately to kill him where he stood. My body erupted in a huge red aura, stunning him a bit. I knew what was happening; I now had the powers of a devil.
~Internally~
"I'm not gonna let you have my body anymore for any more of your senseless slaughter!" I exclaimed, kicking it off of me. I shoved a chaos sphere down its throat and detonated it, causing to explode and spread chunks of his body everywhere.
"This is my body and nobody can have it!", I said. I can slowly feel myself regaining control of my body, but it reformed and grabbed me in a sleeper hold.
"Damn it! Why don't you stay down like a good dead guy?", I sarcastically asked.
"Death avoids me, for I bring lost souls to it...", it ominously replied. I broke free of his hold, turned around, and we both pierced each other simultaniously.
~Externally~
Akitoki and I fought intensely in the skies above the tower; we kept matching each other's blows with stronger ones. I got behind him and pierced his armor with a chaos sphere then kicked him to the ground. I rapidly descended to kill him with an Ultimate Impact Blast, but suddenly, my body went limp and paralyzed. I fell to the ground with a thud, unable to move or even speak.
"What happened Blue, run out of Chaos Energy?", Akitoki spat, getting up. He walked towards me and began the taunts:
"This was destined to happen. You were born a low class wench while I was born into wealth and power. You tried your whole life to be a hero to your clan, but all that hard work now culminates in your spectacular failure. Good riddance!"
I knew I failed everyone... Just kill me now. I closed my eyes ready to die, but I heard metal clanking. I opened my eyes and saw Dixie! She saved my life!
_"Banjo, you can choose to let yourself be killed here and let all of our hard work go to waste, or you can stand and walk forward. Our families were destroyed by this man, but we didn't cower, we didn't have any doubt. I want to stop the fighting just like you do, but I can't do it without you baby I need your help to end this. You have two feet Banjo. Get up and use them to walk forward. If you decide to lay there and accept defeat and death, then I can't do much for you. But if you choose to get up and move forward, I'll move with you."_
Chapter 25-B: Endgame 4: The Fall of the Akitoki
She spoke the words I s told her after her adoptive parents died... She used my own words against me!
"Wait, didn't I tell you that Dixie?", I asked. Wait, I can talk again! How did that happen?
"By telling you something from the heart, the Terror of Death's grip on you has been loosened", Dixie said. "Banjo, we have to take him out now!"
"I don't think I have the strength to continue fighting...", I said in gloomy tone.
"Banjo, you are the only one who can help me! I need you baby... Our clans need you... GET UP!"
~Internally~
I was locked in mortal combat with the Terror of Death, grabbing him by the neck and choking him. I wanted so desperately to regain control of my body!
"Give up Banjo, your destiny is to be a footnote in the history books of the Onikawa Clan. Give in to the darkness and let me take over!"
"Over my dead body! I'm the only driver this body id gonna have!" I pierced his body with the Ultimate Impact Blast and managed to stop him. Something weird began happening; the Terror of Death began fusing with me!
"You are powerful indeed... I will share my power with you, but whenever you begin to doubt yourself, I will take over and do things MY way."
I fused with the Terror of Death to become something new... Something stronger...
~Externally~ ~Dixie~
I engaged Akitoki in battle in the skies above the tower, slashing at him with my sword. I fought him the best I could, but the injuries I sustained against Hana really killed my speed. Akitoki simply played with me, dancing around my attacks with ease. I tried grabbing him with my clawshot, but he dodged it and knocked me to the ground. I hit the ground hard, exhausted from fighting two straight grueling battles.
"Like I thought, the Onikawa and Shiryu Clans are filled with worthless warriors!", Akitoki boasted. The mark of the Chaos Force glowed on the back of his hand and he summoned black lightning, striking us both. I could make out Akitoki's laughter through the pain that was racking my body. Banjo wasn't moving at all; I was scared that he was already dead.
"Banjo, baby, please say something!", I pleaded through the pain. "Please move, blink, do something!" He still laid there, motionless. Akitoki began laughing demonically as he summoned another lightning bolt to hit us both. I felt my life slipping... My breath became ragged and raspy. I guess I am gonna die here... Akitoki summoned another bolt of lightning to finish us off. This is it... We failed... Lord Akiro... Luigi... Mom... I'm sorry...
"No one is dying yet. This battle isn't over!"
Banjo flew through the air, cutting through the lightning bolt in his ascent, and blasted Akitoki out of the air with a massive blast of raw Chaos energy. His aura wasn't red anymore; hell, it wasn't even pale blue anymore. His aura was his usual healthy blue aura; his eyes were mismatched like mine, but it was a red/green combo.
"Banjo... Thank god your okay", I said silently.
Banjo flew down after Akitoki and began beating him senseless with rapid punches and kicks. He knocked him into the air and shot a large energy blast at him, causing him to plummet down to the earth below.
"Dixie, are you alright?", Banjo asked, cradling me in his arms.
"I'm low on Chaos energy", I replied. "I don't know if I'll be of much use in the long run, but I have an idea"
"Damn, that didn't finish him off?", Banjo cursed as Akitoki rose to his feet slowly. "What's that idea of yours Dixie?"
I whispered into his ear my plan and he nodded in agreement. Akitoki's face erupted in sheer anger as he charged at us. Banjo cupped my face and kissed me, kissed me in the most passionate way I could have ever imagined... It was like I was in Heaven!
"I hope you enjoyed that kiss, for it will be your last! Prepare to die!"
I threw my shield at Akitoki's face, staggering him; Banjo them rammed a chaos sphere into his stomach; I threw Amaterasu's Blade into his chest and it became lodged in there; Banjo kicked the sword deeper in his torso and we combined our phase powers to create a huge chaos sphere to finish Akitoki off. He fell to the ground motionless; I walked to him and pulled my blade from his body.
"I declare in the name of the Onikawa Clan and the gods Tsukuyomi, I declare this war over!", Banjo exclaimed in triumph. Suddenly, the tower began to crumble. We held onto each other and fell into the rubble...
Epilogue
"Oh my god NOOO!" I woke up in a cold sweat. I woke Banjo up, who was sleeping next to me and told him what happened:
"Banjo, I had the worst nightmare ever! I dreamed that we went to war and my parents were killed and I was this fighter who was chosen by the god and that me, you, and Akitoki had the Chaos Force and that Luigi died fighting and I killed Hana...wait, I liked that part. Anyway, this woman named Kanu was my mom and me and you beat Akitoki...", I trailed off, crying into his arms.
"Dixie, all that did happen. It's been 3 weeks since the Revolution ended and you've had amnesia ever since. Maybe the dream triggered everything again. Do you remember this?", he said, picking up a sword and shield.
"That's...!", I started. "That's Amaterasu's Burning Shield and Shining Sword!"
"You remember! Oh thank you Tsukuyomi!"
"What happened to everyone?"
"Uncle is the new Lord and he's focused on reconstruction of Mobotropolis. Akitoki and Hana are both dead. Luigi survived barely and decided to not split the twins up by choosing one over the other. Kanu has rebuilt Shiryu Castle and has been worried sick about you. She'll be relieved to know that you're alright, but she always insults me!"
I was relieved to know everything, that everyone was okay. I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep.
End file.
| Misc. Fantasy, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 145,559 | 11,749.9 |
null | Misc. Books My Mistress: The Lunatic
**A/N: This is loosely based on the Spud series, only on the female side. This is for Teaspoon.**
**My Mistress: The Lunatic**
My name is Cassie. Though most people know me now as Teaspoon. Why, you ask? My mistress is a lunatic.
I'm thirteen going on fourteen – I just stepped into the scary place known as High School. We lined up outside the hall – in alphabetical order of our schools. My school was perhaps the largest, seeing as it's not a farm school or a private school. Slowly, one by one, our names were called. We each had to take a walk across the stage – we were greeted by the Head boy and Head girl.
My hair was tied into 7 ponies – as it was requested. Slaving for the Matrics, or Seniors, isn't exactly a choice. We aren't allowed to look at them, or make eye-contact. That's because I'm not a member of the school officially yet – I am a Spanner.
I looked at the hall. Possibly 700 children older than me looked at me. The stage was set above them. Above them is a gallery – there the Matrics sit. The seventeen to eighteen year olds. Their placed higher than us for a reason. We are to remember our places – we are mere slaves.
The first few periods I'm sorted into one of eight or seven classes. I meet my register class teacher – and then the prefects show up to take us on a tour. Wherever the Matrics are – we look at our feet. They force us to hold hands and I'm suddenly glad I don't stand up front. For the person in front wears a helmet with a large banner.
We are the youngest, thus we are Spanners.
We are taught our Spanner song.
_Oh, I want to go home, to my mommy,_
_The Matrics are mean, my tears they roll,_
_A Matric that today want to mess with me, _
_They may do so,_
_Because I am a Spannertjie._
To the tune of an old pop song. We are told to memorize this – as our Masters and Mistresses will surely force us to sing this.
At break we all go to Spannervalley. It a sort of grassy area surrounded by a rock pavilion next to the tennis fields. Above the rocky seats there are blue railings where the older grades stood. The Matrics are searching through us, picking their slaves.
I notice a brunette girl with glasses and a friend come my way. I looked at the floor. Everyone around me had a Master or a Mistress – only few of us that stood there didn't.
She and her friend stopped in front of me.
"Do you have a Matric?" Her friend asked. I shook my head, no. The girl with glasses smiled and left with her friend. A few steps further she turned around and stopped in front of me. I took my chance to look up.
"Look down." She ordered. I quickly did so. "You're mine. Your name is Teaspoon, and tomorrow you should have a toothbrush on a leash."
I frowned. Was she insane?
I nodded and followed her. She didn't say anything.
"Why am I a teaspoon?" I asked.
"It's been my decided Standard 6 name since last year." She answered nonchalantly. "Now, search for a singing grasspiece." I didn't move. "Come on!"
I sank to the grass and ran my fingers over the grass. Nothing. Like grass could sing. I'm certain I would never forget this. Searching for singing grass.
"Go bark at that tree." She motions to a nearby tree where some of the other Spanners are. I make my way over to the tree.
"Woof."
She glared at me.
"I said bark, not be a lazy cow."
She doesn't exactly sound kind.
She joined a boy and watched me bark at the tree. Urging me on from time to time. She and the boy were laughing at something. Was he her boyfriend? After a time it became evident that he wasn't. She smiled, laughed, but she didn't hang on to him.
After a while I meet her friend. The friend can't decide on a name for her Standard 6. He's a tall boy.
"Swim." My new Mistress said. I didn't understand until I saw my fellow Spanners. Sprawled on the grass, making swimming motions. I argued.
"Do it or go bark at the tree again." She said coldly.
"Thus far I'm hating you." I said. I felt her eyes on me.
"I don't really care, Teaspoon. I said swim."
"But…"
"What did you call it?" Her friend asked.
"She's Teaspoon." My Mistress answered.
"Now, Teaspoon, under that you write the word "Backchatter" is that clear?"
"Yes."
"Yes whom?"
"Yes, Mistress." We're forced to call every Matric Master or Mistress.
"Standard 6, fall in!" Another one of my Mistresses friends called. I lowered myself to the ground and swam with the other girls.
. . .
The next day I didn't have my toothbrush. My Mistress tells me to dress it for the next day, and I'm to bark at the tree again.
Somewhere she told me to search for a male rock, then a male piece of grass – and along the line I learn to like her. She smiled a lot. And I'm allowed to look her in the eye. She had green eyes.
When I didn't listen she sent me to her blonde friend, who was incredibly hard on all of us. I'm told to pretend I'm a frog. When I didn't jump lively, I'm ordered to sit on one of the rocky seats and chant the words: "Hard ass become soft ass…" Over and over again bumping my bottom into the rock.
The next day my bum was sore. I swore to listen. I even remembered the toothbrush. It's on a leash and wore a tiny dress. I called it Snuffles, though my Mistress called it Senor Tandeborsel. I'm not told to do anything. She once punished me by making me run around in circles, but that's about it.
Later she adopted my friend as slave and called her BUTTERKNIFE. I think somewhere there must be a Fork too. Butterknife has to haul a brick around whereas I have a toothbrush.
As we reach the end of the second week, she just stood with us and chatted. We are allowed to look at her. And I think she's pretty awesome. I once asked her to spell her name for me. And she did. She spelled it A-W-E-S-O-M-E. She's a riot. And she thought me silly for liking twilight. Or not silly, just young and naïve. She mentioned something about biologic impossibilties. When she told me her real name I thought she was kidding. She has perhaps one of the most unrealistic names I have ever heard.
One time she had me propose to a friend of hers. I had to kneel – and beg.
There's even a dance coming up – just for the Standard sixes. We each must have a date. I asked her about it, and she started to look the boys through. I showed her the one I liked – and she burst out laughing. She made her way over to his master and they talked – as it turned out he had a girlfriend. But she got me date anyways. The boy had to hold my feet and ask me. I didn't even like the boy – but she made me say yes.
Later I learned that the boy I liked was the boy I proposed to's brother – and that she had once upon a time had a day-long crush on him.
I get the boy's number, and a parents meeting I hold the boy I'm crushing on's hand. When my Insane Mistress heard, she gushed at the cuteness. I didn't even know someone as twisted as her could gush.
But she's awesome. When anyone tries to make us to anything, she tells them to go away, we're telling her jokes. Or sometimes we have to fan her – the South African sun is a dangerous thing.
Once her friend wished us luck; because our mistress is not known for a sense of humour. A dark sense of humour, yes, twisted in a way that she found most horror movies funny. She commented that most horror movie scenes with blood make her either thirsty or want to use the bathroom badly.
Yes – I think she's off her rocker. Mad. Crazy.
As I've said in the title. My mistress: the lunatic.
. . .
**A/N: Incredibly random. But somewhat based on an actual event – hope you liked it, my dear Teaspoon.**
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 7,603 | 12,897.3 |
null | Misc. Books 1. left between
_ If you haven't read the book, you can skip to the note at the bottom for a little background, or, if you wish, read through in suspense._
The boys were playing soldiers again today. I didn't even ask to join in.
Papa told us how everything would be as it was before. Just as it was before David came into it. From where he came from, to me…ah, the leap of joy, wistfulness sharp at the edges. I don't want it to be like that never happened! But it's no fun, moping round the house all the time, and after a few days none of the boys even felt a bit strange. Andre actually said that, he felt _a bit strange_ now David had gone somewhere! He asked once if Mama and Papa would find where David was now, and Cecha asked if we could ever visit David–almost a scary idea–but now their all just as loud, tumbling and thoughtless as all boys are. Sometimes, I don't think David could've been a boy–he was so quiet, and thought over the very movements of his body. Even when he was at his freest, racing and playing ball with Andre–nearly always winning–I wasn't jealous at all, honestly. He was always watchful, and so careful, till we were on our own…
Papa gave me a long talk, the day after David went. He said I mustn't dwell over the last months, because David probably wouldn't come back. I said, _of course_ David will, he said he would. Papa said, did he said he would, or he would if he could? He didn't know that nothing could stop David coming back. But Papa and Mama made him go, he told me that last night, when he didn't smile, and I just let him turn away…but he's like the sea, the bare, heaving, grey-green sea in his eyes. Nothing imaginable could hold him, or turn him away. I couldn't have done anything, but ask if he might please come back, even if it was years later, even I'd finally given in to happiness and laughter without him, a raw, naked spot in my soul would last, and still fit his touch.
And he said he'd think of me, his eyes seemed still, but rolled with sorrow underneath, pleading…I wish he'd smiled, but he said 'always', hardly needing to think then. I could maybe make him be happy sometimes, it was marvellous to feel that, but terrible when he seemed immovably grim, though it was only ever seeming–if the world was grey to him, what hope did we have? I only just thought of giving him the crucifix, and it's wonderful to know an image of Jesus, from me, is with David.
I pretend I'm talking to David sometimes, go back over the unbounded minutes I told him about everything they didn't seem to have where he came from, like school, and bathroom stuff, Great-Grandparents, nearly all the furniture, told him and listened to his voice, but I can't bring him back. His face, clearly, his strength (that glowed in him), dimly, his smile, maybe just a tiny bit, but never the…_unexpectedness_ of him, that marvellously and faintly terrifying way of looking at things, that went so suddenly, that came from the blue, into the fire, that made the world so much sharper than it seemed before, with such different thoughts from any I'd heard of. Mama had said people were all good at heart, and Papa told Carlo once a man has to stand up to anyone who insults him. David wanted nothing to do with Carlo, he did his best to get on with the others, but poor Carlo repelled him. I distracted him the best I could, but there it was. David didn't come to Carlo, and with the things he told me about, his coming to me just once or twice stuck in my throat.
It was great and ineffable, yes, but wonderful, most of all when I put the gramophone on for him (Something else he'd never had). Since Mama dragged me into this concert, with dozens of men in suits who never smiled, and where you sat still for _hours_, I've never liked music. But it would seem a minute, seeing his face transformed to something worshipful and emotion racked, like a stone image of Jesus coming alive. Thundering with silent tempests, or washing over with sunlight, as the music changed. Those emerging moments, it would kill me to tear my mind from, even sat here now, with the servants laying out supper in the next room, Carlo sat over his homework, Andre just sitting. The house just goes on as it has, as if nothing special had happened. Maybe no one ever realised apart from me.
One of the times it makes me happy to remember was when Cecha asked David what elephants looked like close up, since he'd told them all he came from a circus. It was the first time he ever looked uncertain, and he didn't answer at once–he never said anything, thought, without thinking it out. It was like he'd had to learn what people did, like doing and talking about ordinary things was strange to him.
"Was it a circus without animals, David, with just clowns, acrobats and jugglers?" I said.
"Yes, that's right." And when Cecha looked away, David looked at me with gratitude. I couldn't believe I'd done something to help this boy, who only looked like a boy, seemed at times a mysterious force, and listened attentively to what clowns, acrobats and jugglers were! It felt rich and dizzy, and then he smiled…
I've seen the sea, and liked it, but David was _there_ in my world, walking with me, smiling when he held me–cool and gentle, sudden as a storm, but filling me with peace, while he was round me, smiling _for me_, that shone from it, all the barriers down to his soul. I can't say how the smile was wonderful, that was its magic, maybe not even David could. I saw that when I took his hand the first time; gratitude yes, and uncertainty of just how it was wonderful–he did love it so much, what drew him to me. It seemed I had only to speak or move, when I smiled, he drank and drank like a baby unstoppably gulping life. I felt really special, and for a few months I was what I was to David, all through. Anything he'd hungered inside for, I'd have given.
He had it all anyway, from the moment I saw his brown chest through smoke, he held my feet to stillness, and my stinging, smarting eyes found his. I could feel the heat all round (Just imagine the heat of the fire when it touched you!), my thoughts but fading steam, scattered by coughing. I'm sure, looking back, I'd have died. Except David took me out of the fire, even within it he cooled and calmed me. Then the grass outside, and the smile of pure joy…I'd never seen him before, there can't be anything else like him to see, and I cannot but imagine him merged with the wind and the earth when I wonder where he went. I wonder that a lot of the time. But I'm still here…he took me out, holding me, and he held onto me all those months–even if he told me of things I wish weren't true, all the smiles, laughter and hand-clasps in me were his to draw into himself, wonderfully…
I haven't laughed, or felt really free, since David had to go. I feel empty inside, like a balloon after a party.
_Note: Maria is a gorgeous eleven-year old from a rich Italian family, David is twelve, homeless, and has spent the best part of his life in a Bulgarian concentration camp. I'd have to replicate the book to say why he moves on. The date? 1960's I'd say, but the book leaves it ambiguous._
2. mothers begin
_Hello people, plot points at the end for those that want them, as before. This is immediately after the book ends._
"Mother…people are watching us."
Her eyes opened to him under pools of tears. His cheeks sparkling, mouth shaking, lips flickering upwards.
She stood up, and David heard flashes of laughter through her howled-out words, before she broke down again. The people in their gardens stayed silent.
David looked at the garden, his mother's garden, the lovely trees with their bright trunks. For the first time, their beauty seemed unimportant–David couldn't have travelled another step, but carried his mother's full weight without effort.
Without the least consideration, his arms were around her. Her breath was a tempest round his ears.
David felt his feet leave the steps as his mother wrapped her arms round his legs, and lifted him through the door, into the house. Her other hand had already been on his neck, and David was sure the fingers wouldn't leave his hair. He gazed up at the patterned white ceiling, the paper-shaded light in the middle. Though still sobbing, she could carry him safely–she was his mother. David couldn't have moved his feet for risk of missing a fraction of this joy.
His mother carried David through to the kitchen, and laid him in a chair, kneeling beside it with a smile. Then she sobbed again, looked at the floor, and cleared her throat.
"Signora Del Varchi cried…because Maria was alive." Another surfeit of bright, warm, blessed tears flowed on both sides without guilt. Thinking of Maria's mother struck a slight discord in David's inner symphony of happiness, but only very slight. His joy was too big to hold all at once, growing from within as the faint shapes of material causes and realisations flickered from within. There was a jar of flowers in the window! And his mother didn't look like Maria's at all when she cried–the grief had real power, grown over years, and the joy had grown strong too on fighting it back, inch by inch. Now grief was being thrown from her soul, and the time of sorrow had ended. Could _they_ be fought back, like bad feelings inside yourself? Strange thought.
There was one chair at the table, with a plate, glass, and cutlery. David noticed they were round the wrong way, and switched the knife and fork. His mother gave a little choking laugh, and David let his face move.
"You smiled! David."
His mother was holding him close again, making little sounds of love. David smelt wide open skies in the air within her cardigan, and smiled on into her shoulder.
"Please…can I go and do something?"
"David, stay here."
"I'm sorry!" David couldn't imagine what he'd been thinking–taking anything from his mother's happiness, just to something for himself. His smile left as suddenly as they always had, then they were hugging and sobbing all over again, and they both knew how much they loved the other. Inwardly surprised David gave his mother another smile, as proudly and shyly as he might've a shown her a rugby trophy.
"David…my son…you were tiny, with apple cheeks." Hopeless years of making a dead husband and baby a part of herself flickered and ended in her eyes. "You look wonderful, my darling."
"I'm David, mother…My dear." He hadn't heard her yet speak a sentence without his name in, and he knew that she had know before he ever spoke, but he wanted to say, and she smiled again. He wasn't sure sons said 'my dear' to mothers, but wanted very much to talk like people did with families. All the Del Varchi children said 'mother', but David had just too much catching up to mess around.
"Do you want something to eat, David? Or to talk, though we'll have to go to someone who speaks better French than me…?"
"I didn't know! Is English better?" His mother nodded, not at all surprised. "I'd like to say thank you to God. Oh, mother, I'm sorry, but he kept me safe coming back to you…dear mother, please don't cry."
"My wonderful boy," her head rose from her arm, "Yes, let us thank God then." David held his mother's hand more tightly–she had never stopped touching him; with a hand not as soft as Maria's, but stronger, warm, and sending thrills up his arm as it moved–and closed his eyes.
"God of the Green Pastures and Still Waters. Thank you for being with me, keeping me safe, and leading me here…home, to my mother. Thank you for the dog, King, and thank you for Maria…that she showed me how to smile. Thank you that I met Signora Bang. And the Swiss Lorry Driver, the Italian Sailor, all the people who helped me. Thank you for letting me escape the farm, and that Johannes went with to Salonica. Thank you for giving me the courage to hitch lifts. I don't know what I can do to for you to equal this, but belonging…means more than life, freedom, or beauty. I'm glad I chose you, God. I am David. Amen."
"God," His mother prayed in English, "Of Green Pastures….thank you for keeping my son safe, and bringing him back to me. Bless Sophie Bang and all the people David talked of…bless them to the nines, Lord. Thank you, with all my heart, but that left for David. Tell his father what a beautiful boy his son is. And sorry that I stopped trusting and pushed you away, but, now–I have to believe. Amen."
She looked up, nervousness peering round her eyes. David squeezed her hand still harder.
"Mother, I stopped trusting God as well. When…I don't want to talk about it now, but I'm sorry for it." David felt ashamed, but couldn't spoil the moment for either of them.
"Where did you learn about God, David?"
"Johannes…he looked after me, told me some things, but I chose my God myself. I should've said sorry to God, just then."
"You've nothing to be sorry for, my David. With everything that's happened to you…" David didn't want her seeing the twelve year millennia in his eyes, so he thought of Maria, the sea and hearing laughter. As his mother stood up, she might've seen past the grinning, utterly contented child, to the old man returned to a childhood he'd never had. And David remembered she was his mother and he needn't be afraid of that.
"Shall I get you something to eat then? Maybe stories later."
"Yes, tell me about yourself. Please–about what you do. And can I come with you for the food?"
"Johannes certainly taught you politeness. Come on, then. We'll both get ourselves some sandwiches and a hot drink."
_We.__ Ourselves. Us. _The words echoed round David's head like strokes of a bell. Both of them walked across the kitchen like people in a dream, hand in hand.
David only thought now to see what his mother looked like. She was wearing a long brown skirt, and her hair was dark brown and wavy, her eyes green. Her teeth were slightly crooked, and her face had a healthy reddish tone. She was tall, and David thought she looked beautiful. There was a reason he scarcely ever noted these details in anyone save Maria. Her smile took him further it a second, than ninety minutes of Mozart, and everything about her spoke of love that would give itself to stop anyone hurting him…yes, it was a beautiful world, where every boy not born in a camp had such a blessing. He had seen it in the photo; she could take his pain and fear, smile for him, and drown it all in the sea.
As his mother placed two mugs on the worktop, with near-comic delicacy, David looked at her to make sure it was alright, and stepped out the back door, keeping it open. He looked up into the blue sky, and the distant path along the cliffs. Something pressed at his leg, and he leapt back–the cat mewled in annoyance, and stalked away a couple of strides. David stayed quite still. The cat, which was tubby and marmalade-coloured, strolled back in his direction. David remembered King running up to lick his face, but it moved like nothing he'd seen.
"He likes being stroked behind his ears." His mother called. Hesitantly, David crouched, and stoked, "Just with one finger, the sensitive, hairless place." David knew when he'd found it–the cat pressed to his haunch, and its purr lifted his soul even further.
"You've made her happy, David. Ariel loves you too."
David looked back to the kitchen, from the sun-covered grass. With a last careful pat for Ariel, he walked back into the house himself. Thee buildings, of himself, and including the church, seemed reasonable for twelve years. And he didn't think he'd need to enter more houses, not soon. The kettle was humming pleasantly.
"We could start talking now, if you want to, mother."
"David…you surely don't want to hear an unhappy story so soon?"
"I don't think any story can be completely unhappy." David knew he could be wrong, but his mother smiled, and held him again, not to make sure he was solid, but as if she loved feeling his warmth. David realised he'd been smiling for minutes on his end, and salt cracked on his cheeks when he spoke. He kept smiling.
The misery in the camp had felt incapable of ending. If this ended tomorrow, David knew there was a hope; something that filled a minute and two statement with a joyous eternity.
_ David, we know. His father was either murdered or imprisoned by the Bulgarian Communist party, his mother got out of the country, settling in Denmark. After eleven years, Mrs Fengel's son turns up on her doorstep, having hiked across Europe, miraculously crossed paths with someone who knew his mother, and looked her address up in the directory. Possibly Mrs Holm was wiser to end with the two statements._
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 16,735 | 11,325.2 |
null | Misc. Books un troisième au milieu
**Titre : **Un troisième au milieu
**Auteur : **ylg/malurette
**Base : **Tales of the City (Les Chroniques des San Francisco)
**Personnages/Couple : **Michael Tolliver/Jon Fielding/un type de passage
**Genre : **vie de couple en péril
**Gradation : **PG~13 / T-
**Légalité : **propriété d'Armistead Maupin, je ne cherche ni à tirer profit ni à manquer de respect.
**Thème : **« avec un de plus » pour 7 couples
**Continuité : **entre les tomes 3 et 4, je pense ?
**Avertissement :** explore la question de l'infidélité
**Nombre de mots : **850+
oOo
Rencontrer un gars, le trouver bandant et baiser avec lui, ce sont des choses qui arrivent régulièrement. Michael est jeune, pas mal fichu ; il y a beaucoup de mecs auxquels il plaît facilement et qui lui plairont aussi. Les nuits sans lendemains arrivent même facilement quand il les cherche.
Depuis quelque temps, il ne les cherche plus. Il a ce bonheur dans sa vie qui s'appelle Jon, qui peuple ses nuits et ses jours aussi. Ils n'ont passé aucun accord spécial, ils n'ont rien de juré de formel, mais c'est ainsi.
Ça faisait longtemps que Michael cherchait une relation suivie et celle ci lui semble presque trop belle pour y croire. Trop fragile. Un mot de trop, se montrer exigeant, ou un geste déplacé, coucher avec le type qu'il ne faudrait pas, et ça pourrait être fini.
Car oui, il leur arrive quand même, à l'un comme à l'autre, de coucher encore à droite et à gauche de temps en temps. Rencontrer un gars, le trouver bandant et baiser avec lui une fois, peut-être deux, ça reste normal. Ils le font tous les deux, ils le font tous.
Il l'a fait autrefois en espérant trouver celui avec qui ça durerait plus longtemps et maintenant ça y est. Il est heureux comme pas deux et ne cherche surtout plus à le remplacer.
Alors rencontrer quelqu'un et chercher à le revoir ensuite, ça ne se fait pas. Le croiser de nouveau par hasard et en profiter, à la limite, mais ça ne doit pas trop se reproduire. Le chercher exprès, forcer la rencontre, voire carrément donner clairement rendez-vous... non, ça, ça ne se fait pas.
Le jour où ce garçon aux yeux affolants s'attache à lui et lui propose de le refaire encore, et encore, Michael a du mal à dire non. Non, il ne l'aime pas. Non, il ne tient... pas plus que ça... à le revoir. Mais c'est vrai, il le désire, fortement, et le désir l'emporte sur la raison. Et s'accompagne de culpabilité.
C'est conscient de commettre une erreur qu'il accepte. Alors que d'autres qu'il a rencontrés avant, il n'en a pas fait mystère avec Jon, avec certains, rarement, il s'en est même vanté et Jon était plus content pour lui que jaloux de lui... ou de l'autre ; là il le fait en cachette. Là ça devient problématique.
Et c'est parce qu'il n'a pas la conscience tranquille qu'il remarque plus facilement que chez Jon aussi, quelque chose de pas net se trame. Jon aussi a quelque chose à cacher. Jon aussi a quelqu'un qu'il revoit de façon coupable.
Le cœur presque brisé, pensant ne récolter que la monnaie de sa pièce, Michael se promet ferme d'envoyer paître le garçon qui l'a mené là, en espérant follement qu'il ne soit pas trop tard, qu'il n'ait pas déjà lassé Jon par son comportement.
Il n'avoue rien, il ne réclame pas plus. Il essaie, honteusement, de passer l'épisode sous silence. Comme s'il ne s'était rien passé, comme si aucune menace n'avait plané, et peut-être que Jon en fera autant de son côté ?
Commence une période d'abstinence forcée où Michael se force à ne plus regarder personne, à ne plus se consacrer qu'à Jon. Ne serait-ce sa propre culpabilité et ses craintes inavouées qui le rongent encore, Jon le satisferait pleinement.
Au lieu de pouvoir savourer un bonheur conjugal qui ne porte de toute façon pas officiellement ce nom, il accumule une nouvelle frustration. Quand un ami commun les invite tous les deux à une fête, Michael ne trouve aucune excuse pour refuser. Ça serait suspect. Et puis il a envie de revoir du monde. Et puis il doit bien être capable de se prouver qu'il peut se tenir !
Et quand ils y tombent, ensemble, par un malheureux hasard, sur le fameux garçon aux yeux dangereux, les regards, les mots maladroits et les silences entre eux trois en disent trop long.
Non seulement ils voyaient quelqu'un chacun de leur côté... mais en plus ils voyaient le même tous les deux ! Le jeune presque-briseur de ménage ne l'a même pas fait exprès. Bien sûr, Michael et Jon nieraient farouchement être en ménage de toute façon ; la preuve, leurs aventures...
L'idée de l'inviter à rester, puisqu'il leur plaît à tous les deux et qu'ils lui plaisent aussi tous les deux, c'est impensable. La monogamie c'est déjà quelque chose de bizarre ; une relation suivie à plus que deux... oh ça se fait, mais chez les autres, pas chez eux. De toute façon, trouvant la situation trop bizarre à son propre goût, il préfère encore se retirer en prétendant lui aussi à une affaire non réfléchie, sans lendemain.
Mais cet épisode, ayant amené la crainte de perdre ce qu'ils avaient en cours, leur en fait mesurer la valeur. Cette idée spéciale de la fidélité, en tout cas de l'absence de fidélité envers tous les autres, se renforce. Ils ne veulent pourtant toujours pas en parler ouvertement ; ça menace trop leur équilibre. Ils ne le reconnaissent que tacitement.
Ils continueront donc leur vie à deux, pas plus. Pas à trois. Juste Michael et Jon. Les autres ne compteront décidément pas.
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,494 | 14,616.1 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Preliminary Assessment
"Delta.."Sire began, letting my name roll off his tongue. He spoke quietly yet he still held that air of dominance and authority about him. The other soldiers who were around when Sire spoke to me thought he was trying to 'seduce' me, judging by the 'sultry' tone of his voice...Honestly, I thought they were insane.
Placing his feet upon the ebonywood desktop, Sire continued,"I'll take it by the unharmed state of...your body...the assignment went well?"As he spoke, I felt his gaze roam over my body. Maybe it was my perverted imagination, but I could have sworn he wasn't even looking at my face or even my torso for that matter. His stare seemed to be focused somewhere below my chest, I can probably guess where...but such thoughts shouldn't even be present in my mind.
"All went according to plan, Sire Sir."I answered in my usual tone as I allowed my mind to wander to other topics and ideas that my imagination produced for it. He didn't give a verbal response, just a throaty groan to let me know he acknowledged my statement. Suddenly I felt uncomfortable in front of him, I began shifting my weight from foot to foot. The room had a suffocating tension in it now. It was thick, hot, and the smell in here was odd but alluring.
"That's one of two things I always want to hear from you, Delta."Sire smirked, though it went unseen by me, due to the fact that I was adjusting the armor I wore to try and take my mind off the suggestive images my mind came up with.
"If you wouldn't mind me asking, Sire, what would the other thing be?"I asked, my mouth speaking without much thought as to what it was blurting out. I knew I'd regret this question later on...
His smirk gradually spread across his face, I could only imagine what he was thinking. Though judging by that face, it might just be the same thing I'm thinking...Well Fuck Me.
_"Bishop, why does he have to be so s-..."_I stopped my self form continuing that thought.I forced my stare downwards looking at the intricate designs of the tasset rather than at Sire. I heard the sound of feet tapping against the ground, the sound becoming more emphatic as he approached_."Dammit Delta! Don't even start to think that way. He's strictly your boss! It's not even legal, no doubt."_
My body tensed when I saw his shoes in my sight, indicating that he stood right in front of me.
"**_Delta_**...Look at me, Delta."
I argued with myself, weighing the pros and cons. It didn't look sos good for me if I didn't.
"Sire...?"
"Do you really wish to know?"He leaned his face closer to mine, his breath ghosting over my face. I opened my mouth to respond, but my own breath caught in my throat, I couldn't do anything more than nod.
He chuckled at me, noting my inability to speak, as he moved his mouth to my ear.
"I want to hear you scream my name..."
2. The Alpha
How the hell did I get myself in this situation?
It was meant to be a simple, innocent mission report. Yet it turned from harmless and innocent to us drowning in a sea of sin.
When his lips touched my neck, my sobriety went out the window. At first I resisted the tugs and pulls of my arms as he tried to guide me, but it wasn't long before I was following him of my own accord. Ultimately, I stood behind his desk as he sat in his chair. With a quick yank at my waist, I found myself sitting on my boss's lap.
"Sire-..."
"Cecil...Call me Cecil."
Yeah...This is way bad.
But what ensued...Dear Bishop...it was Heavenly...
My thoughts broke into pieces when a sudden shock shot through my body, the extreme pressure and heat made a wonderful combination.
Bishop...it felt so good...but that made it so wrong...I didn't care though
Our lips met in a hungry, lustful kiss. My hands wrapped his neck, physically begging for more contact. His thrust stopped as did every other movement. When the hell did he even remove my clothes or even penetrate me? Damn, I blacked out for longer than I thought.
A moan ripped from my throat, my still gauntleted fingers tearing at the edge of his desk. A smirk laced its way across those pierced lips of his, and I was tempted to just smack that look of his face.
Tempted being the primary word.
His lips moved against my ear, words are voiced, but in my addle state it was difficult to focus on anything. He seemed to have noticed my lack of focus, so he restated it and my eyes widen.
"Scream my name, Delta"
No doubt about it, my face was blood red now. A pant escaped my lips along with a soft growl as I stared up at the smirking man over me. I may not have had enough control to stop this situation, but I still have my damn pride. I could consider this rape...though I did enjoy a majority of what's transpired already...
My back arched clean off the desk and a shout forced itself out my mouth as said bastard thrust himself into me roughly, hitting that one spot in me that caused intense pleasure to shoot through my body.
He gave me that sadistic smile and his demented snicker, the one I would normally observe him give on the front line. I knew I was in for a rough ride...as if it wasn't rough as is...
His hands gently stroked my sweat glazed face, and started to slide down. His fingers trailed over my torso, nails clawing at my body before going even further south to my manhood.
Before I could protest, his hands wrapped around the heated skin, gently pumping. A gasp escaped my mouth, my eyes slipped shut. Damn was he good. He pumps again, drawing another gasp from me.
The feeling...the pressure...B-bishop, I loved it even if I'd never admit it.
Heat rose within me again, and I felt a tight coil forming in the lower section of my abdomen. I couldn't help it...I whimper...Following that he dug his nails into my hardened cock, trailing up. Strangely, the pain sent a spark through my spine causing my legs to tighten around his hips.
Eventually, I caved. I couldn't hold out much longer if this continued. The feeling, the heat, the pressure, the pleasure, it was all too much.
I screamed out his name, destroying however much of my pride I tried to hold onto.
The man over me grinned at hearing his name being screamed; I glared at him for doing so. Not that he cares. As soon as the scream died down a bit, he started thrusting hard into my body, sliding me along the smooth desktop. The change of movement, from none to full force, made my body go into shock.
My head fell back on the desk, screaming out in ecstasy. My hair clung to my face, neck and body. The room was so hot that I could see my breath come out in white puffs. The coil in me grew tighter, and my hand gripped Cecil's shoulders as I let out a loud scream again.
The moment that scream left me, the coil snapped. I covered both me and him in my seed, causing him to chuckle. Licking and nibbling my ear, he mentioned that this was the first time I'd done something messy.
Damn, I want to choke him out...Though he might get turned on by that. Sick bastard. Gritting my teeth, he thrust into me hard, and a new zeal traveled through me as I was filled with the man's own seed.
I moaned as he continued to ride out his climax, the fluid swishing inside me.
He pulled out after a while; he kissed his way down my body. His cold piercings contrasted greatly to my burning skin. He grabbed my legs and shifted them over his shoulders. I knew what was happening, but before I could voice my objection his tongue slid out and licked me clean.
My head fell back again, gripping the desk again and moaning in rapture.
I was in paradise.
When he seemed satisfied with his work, he moved above me again and kissed me aggressively. Bishop his taste...it was…Addictive to say the least, or maybe that was myself that I tasted...like I give a fuck anymore
He broke the kiss and nuzzled my neck, resting his body on my own. I came back down to reality when I felt the added weight on me, wrapping my arms around his body.
He leaned up until he looked me in the eyes, "Ready for round two?"
"You've got to be kidding..."
A wide smile plastered over his face, leaving me on the desk as he retrieved our pants. After slipping on his and my own, he lifted me off the desk, and carried me to the back of his office. He kicked open a door I hadn't ever noticed was there. The door itself led to his bedroom. How convenient.
"Not in the least." he responded, looking around the lavish room fit for a god. Well I'd be damned if I even thought we were stopping here, though I could get used to this fairly quickly.
End file.
| Misc. Romance | Fanfiction | null | 8,543 | 10,631.1 |
null | Misc. Books Within Us All
I ran water into the bath tub. I even threw a hand full of scented bath beads into the water. I even lit a candle. Silly as it seems I am still a girl and I love those simple things in life. As the water ran and the smell of the candle danced around in the air, I got my bath towels ready. I set my phone down on top of them so they wouldn't get wet. I set my razor on the side of the tub. Undressed myself, carelessly throwing my clothes onto the floor of the bathroom which is something that drives my mother completely crazy. She hates me doing that... she feels that if people come over and see my clothes there they will judge us and think we are messy... It doesn't really matter that she leaves her bottles of tobacco spit on my bathroom sink. Yeah, tobacco. Gross. Smoke is just as bad in my opinion. I'm on the borderline of smoking.. Sometimes I wish I could smoke but at the same time it scares me to death... Seeing how people die from it. And health care is just... scary. Doctors or nurses sometimes forget that they work with human beings. They become cold. Not that we can blame them one hundred percent when we haven't been in their shoes. Working around sick people all the time. If you became emotionally involved in all the situations that go on... that would be enough to drive anyone crazy. But I'm getting off topic. Everyone has their addictions... their vices.. Some people have a few.. Some people have a lot. I am addicted to food. I love to eat. I am also addicted to the couch, my phone, the internet, t.v... I am addicted to being lazy. I am afraid of living life and I don't know why. On the same hand... I am a motivational speaker to my friends and relatives and anyone else who will listen about getting out and living life. Exercising every day and eating right. I actually do love health.. learning about it. Physical and mental health. I believe that they both go hand in hand. I dip my foot into the hot bath water and swirl my feet around... stirring the bath salts so they release the lovely smell. Breathing it in, I slide all the way down. Bubbles flying across my skin in a race to get to the surface. Something about a bath.. that solitude. No one judging you. Except.. well.. yourself. Pinching your stomach.. Looking over your legs.. maybe a hand brushes across your chest.. trying to decide if they're too small or too big. Things really seem to sink into your head sometimes.. Women can be hard on themselves. We all have our hopes and dreams and fears and insecurities. Sometimes insecurities are crippling. They overshadow to the point where it is all we can see. That one-or several-subjects in school that we could never seem to get our grades high enough to please ourselves in let alone our teachers... the awkwardness and uncomfortableness of situations.. So many people say the wrong thing.. They get imbedded and twisted into your heart. Sometimes they come from the people you would never expect it from and you know that the words were only said because they were feeling hurt.. but they stick into you like deadly thorns anyway. Tears well up.. Spill over into the water.. Silently dripping. Some people become really good at silently crying. Keeping so much inside. Locked away. Only tiny whispers escape at times. It's a talent that comes over time. Practice makes perfect. I brush the tears away.. mixing them with the bath water from my hands. I grab for the shampoo bottle.. lathering it up in my hands this massaging it down into my hair.. scrubbing.. trying hard to get my mind clean a long with my hair.. Always such a dingy color. Sinking to my nose to rinse it out.. Swirling my hair back and forth with my fingers scrubbing down into my scalp. Clean. Clean. Clean. With all these thoughts swimming around in my head how can I ever be clean? Tears drown me again... All the things I have done.. All the people judging me harshly because of them... I don't even have the moxy to let my tears be heard. Never ever ever could I tell anyone about how horrible I feel sometimes. The bloody images I picture. Yeah... those thoughts live within all of us. Not just you. Suicide. We all have that thought... that impulse swimming around in our heads. Some people do it... and some don't. Not that those who don't do it are any stronger than those who do. We all have those weak moments. I throw an evil glance at the razor, who is sitting innocently enough on the edge of the bathtub. Pick it up... those thoughts screaming at me.. imagining what those little pin pricks would feel like scraping across my skin. Everything inside of me pouring out. Escape. Like those screams I wish to let out when I cry. Like all those perfect words coming out just right on time when I am trying to be funny or sexy or even when I am mad. Imperfections are all I can think about... All I can see. They cloud my judgment and I can't see.. I mean that in every way.. I can not see literally.. The tears fill my eyes faster than I can blink them away. And I can't think.. At all.. All I can think and feel is the razor in my hands... My fingers running across the blades..
and then it falls.
Sinks down to the bottom.
Surrounds itself in water.
I sink down.. my nose just above the water. Breathing deeply.. tears still streaming. But I know it will get better. Tomorrow is another day after all. So I let the tears flow.
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 5,410 | 10,529.7 |
null | Misc. Books Discussing Artistic Licenses With the Vampire
Discussing artistic licenses with the vampire
x
Warnings/notes: Henry/Vicki, slightly silly, snippet.
Disclaimer: The wondrous world of Victory Nelson (Otherworldly Crimes A Specialty) was created by Tanya Huff. This ficlet supposedly takes place at some point in between the first and the third book, and is spoiler-free for anything except what Henry is.
written at 16th june 2005, by Misura, in reply to a meme-challenge made in my livejournal by beccadg which offered the pairing Henry/Vicki and the line: "Televisions don't fly well."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I don't see the problem," Vicki said, for at least the dozenth time that evening. Henry sternly told himself that grinding his teeth wouldn't accomplish anything, least of all an improvement of his chances at saving anything of this night.
He'd invited Vicki over for the traditional dinner-and-a-movie date. Granted, he'd actually just watched Vicki as she ate -her- dinner, and rather than going to the cinema, they'd stayed in his apartment to watch the movie on TV, but still, such insignificant details didn't change the fact that Henry had thought this would turn out to be an enjoyable, peaceful evening. Until he'd seen the start of the movie.
Well, of course his editor had told him that his publisher had struck a deal with some movie-agency, to turn some of their more successful novels into movies, and of course he'd received the letter that informed him that two of -his- novels had made it to the final list, but it had all seemed of little importance. It was nice to receive some extra income, but it wasn't as if he really -needed- the money.
Some weeks ago, he'd received another letter from his editor, letting him know that the movies would be broadcasted sixteen Thursday-evenings in a row, from seven to eight - which, according to Tony, was the time when there never was anything good on, since most people only tuned in for the eight o'clock news, so most stations didn't bother putting anything decent on.
Henry's feelings hadn't been particularly hurt by that, although Tony had hastened to add that, obviously, he -wasn't- saying that -Henry's- books weren't anything good (a sentiment that Henry appreciated, even if he wouldn't claim his writings to be masterpieces of literature either). If truth be told, the entire matter had more or less slipped his mind.
To be sure, he had hardly expected Vicki to want to see any of the results. She might have picked up one of his novels somewhere; he'd never asked and he wasn't sure if he'd actually want to know what she thought of them.
After a bit of pondering, he'd decided that, all things considered, he was flattered that she thought watching one of his novels would be more fun than watching an Alfred Hitchcock-remake or the hundredth adaptation of a Shakespeare-play to the silver screen. On top of that, he'd had to admit that he was a little curious himself and, well, if the movie wasn't that good after all, that'd just mean they'd get to the next part of their date that much quicker, right?
"That actor's just no good at all!" Henry snapped. A rational part of his mind suggested that maybe, he shouldn't get so worked up about this.
"It's a low-budget movie; what did you expect?" Vicki shrugged. "Besides, he's supposed to be the bad guy, right? No way he's going to end up with the girl after all that junk he spouted about how women should stay home and learn to be good mothers and proper wives."
Henry winced. Unlike some of the other parts of the dialogue he'd heard, -that- set of lines had actually been in the original version. He'd put it in to emphasize that Sir Arthur Blake was -not- used to the likes of the lovely Miss Sara Whitmore, which would make the eventual blooming of their love all the more romantic -or so he'd hoped. His editor had loved it.
"Not being paid a fortune is no excuse to do a sloppy job," he said stiffly.
"He's not doing a sloppy job; he's just not in the league of people who win Oscars," Vicki argued. "And his lines aren't exactly all that inspiring either, are they? I think he's doing a pretty good job keeping a straight face and not bursting out laughing at being made to read out stuff like that."
Abandoning this line of discussion as having too much potential to end in Vicki accusing him of being nothing more than a chauvinist, old-fashioned, stuck-up -male- (though she might phrase it a little less delicately), Henry instead opted for another angle of attack.
"His eyes aren't the right colour."
Vicki blinked. "Oh, for crying out loud! Why not? Do you have some prejudice against blue-eyed people that I'm not aware of?"
"I wrote that his character's eyes were green, like - " Henry managed to stop himself in time; he didn't really think mentioning that Sir Arthur's eyes had been green to remind Miss Sara of the pines that grew in her distant homeland. "They were green," he repeated instead. "Not blue."
"There's no need to repeat it three times." Vicki shook her head. "It's just a detail, anyway. Now, if this were a criminal investigation, then yes, I'd agree with you that there's no such thing as 'just a detail'. But this is a movie, and a bad one at that. People watch this for fun, to have something to do while they're finishing dinner, or cleaning the dishes. Nobody cares if everything isn't exactly the way it was described in the book; most people who are watching this won't even have -read- the book."
"I am aware of that." Henry sighed. He should just give up; he knew he could hardly even put into words his reasons for being so annoyed at the liberties taken with his script to himself, let alone explain them to Vicki in a way that would make her understand.
"And you're not going to do anything stupid?" Vicki inquired. Her tone of voice reminded him a bit of Tony's, whenever Henry was about to do something that clearly marked him as being not-human.
"Excuse me?" From what he'd read, people arguing about the merits of a movie or TV-series were perfectly normal. True, he might have let his temper get the better of him for a while, but that, too, was a human flaw.
"Televisions don't fly well, you know," Vicki explained dryly. The slight grin she offered him was as good a peace-offering as he was going to get, Henry knew. "Throwing yours out of the window simply because you don't like a movie probably isn't such a good idea."
"I know that." Henry made an effort to bring back the pleasant, light mood from before the movie.
Vicki nodded. "Just checking. In that case, how would you feel about skipping the movie-part of this date? For verily, I believe I shall not be able to suffer through any more of this."
Henry decided that now would be a truly bad time to admit to the fact that that line, too, had been in the book-version of the movie as well.
OWARI
End file.
| Misc. Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 6,892 | 10,918.9 |
null | Misc. Books NotSoUsual Morning Routine
Not-So-Usual Morning Routine
* * *
><p>Summary: Madison's home alone on a school day. What does she get up to during this rare opportunity? MxB one-shot. Don't like it, then don't read it. Rated M for sexual content.<p>
**A/N**: Please R&R. No flames. This is my first ever FanFic so please be nice n.n
* * *
><p>7:45am<p>
The alarm clock on Madison's bedside table was going off. Barnabus had left only 10 minutes ago after spending the whole night on the roof together (since you don't need sleep when you're dead, what else is there to do?). Madison was lying on her bed, recalling every word he had said to her. Every time he had slid his fingers through his hair. Every time his hand touched hers. She sighed. She was falling. Hard.
She sighed again, then finally pulled herself off her bed, ducked into her bathroom and turned the shower on full. Barnabus would be back in about half an hour to pick her up for school.
'That's enough time' Madison thought to herself. She undressed herself then jumped into the warm shower. Thinking about Barnabus so much had caused a warm sensation between her upper thighs. Slowly, she slid her hand down her body. Rubbing slowly, she moaned softly. As she rubbed her clit faster and faster, she moaned louder and louder. The only thing in her mind was Barnabus. She was mentally undressing him. Something she only wished she could do in real life. Reaching her climax, she moaned "Oh Barnabus. I need you" then she came all over her hand.
Unknown to Madison, Barnabus had snuck into her room just as she had entered the bathroom. Curious, Barnabus put his ear to the door. He heard her reaching her climax while moaning his name. Shocked, he went and sat on the window ledge. Hearing Madison like that had caused his penis to become fully erect.
Satisfied, Madison turned off the shower, wrapped her wet, naked self in her towel and walked out into her bedroom, only to find Barnabus sitting at her window deep in thought.
"You said you weren't going to be back for another 15 minutes" Madison accused him. Barnabus didn't reply. Instead, he rose silently and walked over to Madison. Pushing her onto the bed and lying on top of her, he began to kiss her. Deeply and passionately. Shocked, Madison pushed him back reluctantly.
"W-what?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"Let's just say, I heard you in the shower" Barnabus told her with a smirk on his face.
"I can explain!" Madison tried to justify her inappropriate behaviour from earlier.
"No need" Barnabus quickly corrected. "I kind of figured out anyway. You love me"
Hearing the words aloud made Madison fill with a sense of reality. Yes. She loved Barnabus. With every fibre of her dead body.
Madison wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss
Pulling Madison's towel out of the way, Barnabus slowly slid his hand down Madison's side. He traced her inner thighs with a feather light touch, causing Madison to be turned on even more than she was. He teased her entrance with 2 fingers, causing her to moan loudly. When he could feel her moisten, he plunged 2 fingers in as far as he could, hitting her g-spot instantly. It only took her seconds to reach her climax again.
"I don't think this is entirely fair" Madison accused, breathing heavily.
>"And how is that?" Barnabus questioned while kissing her up and down her, hot naked body.<p>
"Well, I'm naked and you're not" Madison told him.
"Would you like me to attend to that issue or would you like that honour?" he asked seductively.
"I'll do that" she said.
Both of them stood up and, using mostly her teeth with minimal hand contact, she stripped Barnabus one article of clothing at a time, leaving his boxers until last.
"I see you have a 'rising' issue that I should attend to" Madison said as she slowly pulled the oh-so-hot reaper's boxers. His erection standing straight out. Madison was on her knees, she took his erection in her hand. Slowly rubbing up and down the length of it. She began to lick the tip of it, causing the angelic reaper to moan with intense pleasure. When she felt she had teased him enough, she suddenly put his whole length in at once. Twirling her tongue around and around it. Barnabus was at his very tip of holding on. Then with a loud moan he released his white cream into her awaiting mouth. She swallowed it all then stood up in front of him with a smirk on her face. Their bodies merged into one.
"Madison?" Barnabus asked in a tender sweet voice while wrapping his warm, muscular arms protectively around Madison's small, fragile waist.
>"Yes Barnabus?" she questioned, pressing her head into his neck.<p>
"I love you" Barnabus whispered lovingly into her ear.
"I love you too Barnabus" Madison replied softly, stretching up for a kiss.
"Well it looks like we have a day off school today" Barnabus said with a laugh.
"That just means we can have lots of fun all day" Madison told him seductively, as she pulled him onto her bed.
**THE END**
* * *
><p><strong>AN:** Again, please R&R. now I'm gonna love ya and leave ya n.n
End file.
| Misc. Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,137 | 11,346.8 |
null | Misc. Books The Dinner Party
Victor Baygoof Files
Volume One
The Dinner Party
-an original screenplay-
INTRO-SCENE 1 _Office_
B&W camera shot. Camera Facing victors side
_Victor playing with coins on the Desk _
_AD-LIB_
(Phone Rings)
_Victor leans in to answer the phone but brings his hand back unsure of what the call may bring, Victor answers the phone._
VICTOR
_speaking into phone_
Yes I am, OK, Yes, I see, I shall be right there...
_Hangs up Telephone_
_Victor Reaches for Hat and coat and leaves the office shutting the door in a hurry._
CONT.- SCENE2 Outside the home
Camera facing behind Victor as he knocks on the door. Camera angle changes to right next to Victor as the door opens.
CARSON
_Speaking to Victor_
"Victor Baygoof?"
VICTOR
_Speaking to Carson_
"Yes I know who I am. Hmm are you Carson, the one who called me here?
CARSON
_Speaking to Victor_
"Yes. Come Inside I will explain what happened"
_Carson leads Victor inside to the entrance. _
_Camera angle changes facing Victor_
VICTOR
_Speaking to Carson_
"Hmmm... Let me guess... MURDER???
_Camera angle changes facing Carson_
CARSON
_Speaking to Victor_
"Guess? I told you that on the phone."
VICTOR
_Speaking to Carson_
"That is irrelevant!"
_Victor is taken to the body and examines the crime scene. Camera (ad lib) Victor asks few questions. (ex. why the party was held) He then is introduced to the rest of the cast sitting in the lounge. Everyone is arguing with each-other about who committed the murder and Victors presence calms down the group. He asks to speak with some people. He says to interview with those who think they know who committed the crime. Those who are interviewed are, Carson, Kingsfield, Monsieur Bete, Cannings._
_Victor brings Carson into a room to be interviewed in private._
END OF PART ONE
**Part two**
Part 2 Scene3 Interview Room
_Camera is watching Victor. Cold atmosphere... _
VICTOR
"So, Tell me everything. Starting with birth.."
_Angle goes to Carson_
CARSON
"That has nothing to do with this"
_Angle goes to Victor_
VICTOR
"It has everything to do with this."
_Angle goes to Carson_
CARSON
"No it doesn't. What are you talking about?"
_Angle goes to Victor_
VICTOR
"I think you know exactly what I am talking about."
_Victor raises his eyebrows_
_Camera angle changes to Carson_
CARSON
"What???"
_Camera angle goes to Victor_
VICTOR
"Thats enough! Start with when things were starting to get out of the ordinary."
_Camera goes to Carson_
CARSON
"_well..."_
Carson's Story-
opens with people sitting in the lobby, Carson comes in to the lobby and asks if anyone had seen Muriel. Nobody had. Carson leaves to ask bet but he turns back and goes to Kingsfield asking where Muriel went. And he replies, how he has not seen her for over an hour.
Bete announces that dinner is ready. everyone walks over toward the dining area.
You hear Bete yell and the cast runs toward the sound. Bete is pointing at the oven. Inside is a dead corpse. Everyone is shocked and scared but Kingsfield, who was very calm. Carson closes the oven trying to calm down the group. He tells everyone to go to the lobby. He pulls Bete over and pushes him against the wall forcing some answer to this murder. Bete is as confused as everyone else and has no answer. Carson goes over and dials Victor.
Back to the Interview room-
CARSON
"And thats pretty much it..."
_Camera goes to Victor_
VICTOR
"Alright. Send that Kingsfield fellow in."
_Camera shows Carson walk out and close the door behind him_
_Victor is lost in his thoughts staring off into space_
_**END OF PART TWO**_
**Part 3**
Part3/ interview room
Victor is facing the wall. Thinking over the story he just heard. Kingsfield comes in and shuts the door behind.
VICTOR
"Kingsfield? Yes. Yes. How are you in relation to Muriel?"
_Camera is showing both of them-_
KINGSFIELD
(uncomfortable)
"Well... For one she is my wife."
VICTOR
"Is she? Because previously I heard that she was not faithful to you."
KINGSFIELD
(mutters)
"Carson..." (says louder) "Did Carson tell you?"
VICTOR
_Victor grins at this_
"No. Carson did not speak a word of it. You did. So, do you know who?"
KINGSFIELD
"No (Shakes Head) It was a rumor, but she leaves on occasion, claiming to go to visit her sister. But she comes back by morning. I was unsure what to do when I read her sister moved to France, months ago..."
VICTOR
"Well. That seems like a good reason to get back at her..."
KINGSFIELD
"No. Never, I would never resort to murder. That is sick and evil. -- She was my wife for god sakes!"
VICTOR
"IRRELEVANT! I could arrest you right now and be done with this case easily. But, I do believe in a fair chance. What is your story..."
_Camera goes to Kingsfield-_
KINGSFIELD
"Thank-You, Well, I noticed she was missing when Carson came to ask where she went...
Part 4 - Investigation room
_Cannings enters the room_
VICTOR
"Have a seat."
CANNINGS
"Thanks."
VICTOR
"So... How do you know Muriel"
CANNINGS
"Well she is my secretary."
VICTOR
"Alright... Have a drink."
_Victor hands Cannings a glass of water_
CANNINGS
"Thanks. Any other questions"
VICTOR
"Does she know anything about you, no one else knows?"
CANNINGS
"No."
VICTOR
"An affair perhaps?"
CANNINGS
"WHAT? Never!"
_CANNINGS SHAKES HIS HEAD-_
VICTOR
"Then why has your hand been shaking?"
_Victor points to hand _
CANNINGS
"This has nothing to do with anything..."
VICTOR
"Yes, let me explain... If you are running for Governor, If Muriel is the only one that knows, then if she decided to tell the press for money, your career would be finished."
CANNINGS
_Shaking his head_
VICTOR
"Well... go ahead and tell your side of the story."
Part 5/interview room
_**Victor is sitting alone. Bete comes in and shuts the door behind.**_ Victor
"Monsieur Bete?
BETE
Yea
VICTOR
"Heh. I expected a French accent"
BETE
"Thats because I'm not French. I just took the name Monsieur because it sounded Chief like."
VICTOR
"Yes alright then. Oh, I need to ask if Kingsfield came to assist you in the kitchen???"
BETE
"Well, here how about I tell you what happened. Starting with just that..."
Bete's Story
Bete is in the kitchen looking through the pantry, Kingsfield comes in and asks if there is anything to help with. Bete asks for help to set the table. Bete and him walk to the dining room and pass Carson on the way. Bete and Kingsfield continue to the dining room to set the table. They talk about the campaign and Bete reveals that Muriel found some old spice in the kitchen that is now illegal. When the table is finished Bete thanks Kingsfield and Kingsfield returns to the party. Bete goes back to the kitchen, walks over to a pot with hard spaghetti, nibbles and declares dinner is ready. He then goes over to the oven, opens it and finds Muriel cooked. He yells and everyone comes in, to the room to find the body. Carson glances over at Bete. Kingsfield leaves sad. Everyone is shocked. Carson leaves. Cannings suggests everyone should go to the lobby. Everyone goes and they all share thoughts. Carson comes in declaring he called the detective. Things calm and everyone starts arguing. Victor comes in and Bete says he will show him around. _**Done**_
**BACK TO INVESTIGATION ROOM**
Victor Thank-you. Also about the spice, if Muriel found it, she could tell someone that it was illegal and your career would be over. Perhaps a motive?
_Bete stands-_
BETE
I wouldn't kill anyone...
VICTOR
Silence... I have heard the stories needed. Now leave and tell others that I will reveal my verdict...
_Bete leaves the room_
PART 6
Victor looks into space, then stands up to leave. He grabs his coat and a plastic zip-lock bag, he walks out of the room. _Camera angle changes outside the interview room. _ Victor walks away.
_scene goes to the lobby and shows Bete walk in._ Bete sits down and everyone sits around. Looking at one another. No sounds.
_Camera goes back to Victor and shows him walking. _
_Camera goes back to the rest of the Cast in the Lobby. _Victor then comes into the room. Everyone looks up and sees him.
VICTOR
"As I listened to each of your stories, I found something. Not one is the same. Each of you found way to accuse another."
CANNINGS
"Well, I know **I** didn't accuse any of you..."
VICTOR
"Shut it, nobody likes a suck-up..."
KINGSFIELD-_CHUCKLES_
VICTOR
"Kingsfield keep laughing. You know what else is funny? Cannings is the one cheating with your wife."
_Kingsfield confused staring at Cannings. Kingsfield then jumps up and goes to Cannings. Cannings stands as-well_
VICTOR
"SIT DOWN!" _They sit. "_I also found that everyone of you has a motive..."
_Suspects all look at each other, Victor pacing_
"Kingsfield, You were being cheated on, You could want to get back at Muriel for it.
Cannings, You were the one cheating with her. The man running for governor who commits adultery. Muriel could slip it to the press for money...
Bete, she found a spice that is no longer legal, in your kitchen. If Muriel told the Police then you could be arrested. Also, the body was in **your **oven."
_Everybody looks over at Bete_
VICTOR
"But Carson. Your story accused, Kingsfield, and Bete. And you seemed to be absent from everyone else's stories. It was as if you were not even at the event."
_Everyone nods there heads_
VICTOR
"Seems very odd... Please empty your jacket pockets Carson."
CARSON
"No, this is ridicules."
VICTOR
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
_Carson pulls out a latex glove..._
VICTOR
"Very interesting. Hmm. Bete, Kingsfield, Carson, Cannings. All very worthy suspects. But who killed Muriel."
KINGSFIELD
"Well, Muriel left a major portion of her will to Carson if that helps at all."
_Everyone looks at Carson..._
VICTOR
_Long pause. Victor looks at the wall blankly. He then spins around and points to Bete._
"IT WAS BETE!"
_Everyone is confused and looks at Victor..._
_Carson gets up_
CARSON
"OH FOR GOD SAKES!"
_Carson pulls out a gun, shoots Victor in the chest and runs. Everyone gasps._
KINGSFIELD
"You've **got** to be kidding me."
_Cut to Credits_
_After Credits, Victor gets up and says that he is OK due to his bullet proof under vest. He then grabs his hat puts his coat on and says that he will bring justice._
_END OF VOLUME ONE_
End file.
| Misc. Humor, Mystery | Fanfiction | null | 10,399 | 21,827.8 |
null | Misc. Books Blinded With Science
Chapter One
Atticus Steele was a flying telepathic rat. A flying telepathic rat with problems. First of all he owned an interstellar porn shop and second of all, his landlord was a cat who had ties to the biker section of the yakuza. Mr. Rex was the name of the landlord, and true to his name he had short front arms and large back paws. He was also possessing of a mouth of needle-sharp teeth and a lot of tattoos. He liked wearing a loincloth in his spare time. Atticus wore pants, had no tattoos or sharp teeth and did not like speaking to his landlord.
This led to misunderstandings about the rent. Mr. Rex thought Atticus was avoiding the rent, whereas Atticus was simply avoiding the feline demanding the rent. Consequentially Atticus was now being shipped across the universe to be sold in a market for exotic animals. The ship that he was on was not spacious or comfortable. It might be related to the slave ships of Africa. If any of the animals died, they were left to molder for a couple days until the ship would register a lump not giving out any body heat and toss out the corpse. Atticus thought that this might be a good way of escape if his body didn't a) have to be dead to be tossed into b) the pressures of space.
He was shipped to a planet called Falmien that had a population of mostly Ki-Rin and Humans. Since the journey was a long one he chatted with the other members of the ship about what they remembered or had heard about the races. Humans were fleshy, mostly hairless and had differing skin colors, no real abilities. The Ki-Rin were a race that had been engineered by Humanity to be able to endure long space voyages without becoming emotionally unstable. Ki-Rin, Atticus learned, were autistic phsycics. They were called the "unicorn race" because of star shaped birthmarks that they had on their foreheads and their pale skin with silvery hair.
Atticus thought this was incredibly cheesy, but this was beside the point since he was now sitting in a marketplace filled with potential buyers. The stall owner was a Hebe, a snake race and had been eyeing him hungrily for the last couple days. Atticus watched for "masters" that would be easy to manipulate into taking him back to his home planet. There, walking nonchalantly through the crowd was a younger human with a hearing aid. He was sporting one of those hairstyles that was artfully made to look as if it had not been artfully made, but it did anyway because of the massive amount of effort that was put into making it "casual". He had a faded mark on his forehead but his dark hair indicated that he was a half-breed. The flying rat grinned.
-o-
Mirko left his rooms to look through the flea market a couple of blocks from his apartment. The flea market was selling animals, dead and alive, candies, clothing, vehicles, writing implements, computers, lens cleaner, weapons, automatons, oil, suspicious statues, old texts, and garbage. Every night scavengers descended on the dump of the largest city on the surface of Falmien to find valuables that were still in good condition. The scavengers hoarded these goods until a yearly flea market where they could be sold at a decent price.
_Hey you_. Mirko looked around. Seeing nobody looking in his direction but an interested-looking rat as big as his forearm wearing pants, he twiddled with his hearing aid. _Oh come on, why would a rat be able to form words with his mouth? _Mirko glared at the large rat. _What do you want you weird thing?_ The rat smiled at him. _I want you… To buy me._ Mirko snorted, causing a group of schoolgirls walking past him to giggle. _And why would I waste my hard earned money on a scruffy thing like you?_ The rat eyed him through the bars of its cage._ I could help you raise your psychic defenses. Besides, your money isn't hard earned, you whine it out of your mother. Isn't that a bit immature for a twenty year old of your kind? C'mon, I can spice up your life._ Strangely, Mirko found himself being drawn to the rat in the ridiculous trousers. _I can fly too,_ thought the rat smugly. Mirko gave up and asked the Hebe pet dealer how much the large rat in the pants cost.
"All that you need to feed hhhim ith a little of what you would eat. If you have any problemth within the netht few dayth, don't bother. Thith ith my latht day on thith planet for awhile." Said the Hebeian to Mirko. _Oh a sandwich. A glorious cheese and lettuce and tomato and bacon…_ moaned the rat in Mirko's head as he took the caged rat from the dealer and walked towards his apartment near the space docks. "What's your name anyway?" asked Mirko after he set the rat down on the floor and poring himself a drink. _It's Atticus Steele. _Mirko coughed on the drink he was sipping. "Isn't that a bit hard boiled detective sounding?" _Well yes initially, I was going to be a detective, but I realized that I belonged more in the… Entertainment industry. My name stuck though, it makes me sound pretty cool, not at all like the owner of "Steele's Palace of Mushi" _"Wait. You're joking right? You own a porn shop?" The rat nodded. _"Finest wares that cater to all tastes in the multiverse." That's my motto. _
Mirko considered this for awhile. "But if you own a porn shop, then why were you for sale?" The rat shifted uneasily. _It's because my landlord is a cat, and I don't like seeing him, so I haven't been giving him the rent. You see, he has this policy of paying it in cash, not credits, because he's worried about getting scammed over. _ Atticus shivered. _He always looks at me funny, like he'd like to take a bite out of me. It freaks me out. So in any case since I didn't pay it he used his yakuza connections to ship me off-planet._ _Now how about that sandwich?_ Atticus looked at Mirko hopefully.
End file.
| Misc. Humor, Sci-Fi | Fanfiction | null | 5,816 | 10,124.7 |
null | Misc. Books Mine Original Story
Mine
Gillian loved to dance in the rain, and sing along to songs. She always tried to look on the bright side and always had a smile on her face. People thought she was different without even getting to know her. She was judged harshly and unfairly but she stuck through it with the help of the people that loved her. She did not have a great childhood. Her parents abused her mentally, physically, and emotionally. It affected her in everything she did. She was afraid to get close to people. When she was fifteen, her parents put her in charge of raising her youngest sister who at the time was twelve. She did her job until she was eighteen. Then on the day of her eighteenth birthday, she moved in with the love of her life.
Blake was everything she ever wanted. He was enrolled in the community college where they grew up until she graduated high school to stay near her and when she graduated, he signed up for the Air Force. He was stationed in South Carolina. When Gillian moved to South Carolina, she never spoke to her family again. The only family she talked to were her aunts and uncles and their children: the only family she considered family.
Gillian was all alone in South Carolina until her best friend's boyfriend moved into the apartment next to her. Brad was like the big brother she never had. Her best friend, Nicole, stayed in the town for college until she realized it wasn't the place she wanted to be so Nicole packed her bags and moved to South Carolina. Nicole moved in with Brad and the girls were inseparable.
Blake's best friend was stationed in South Carolina too. His girlfriend Jami wanted to be wherever he was but she didn't have a place to live for six months until his term was complete. Gillian and Jami were really close because of their boyfriends so Gillian offered Jami to stay with her while their boyfriends lived on base.
Gillian, Nicole, and Jami were best friends- more like sisters. They went shopping together, talked every day, and still had slumber parties. They danced in the rain together, cleaned each other's apartments, worked out together, and went to school together and worked together. They did everything together and they knew that when Blake and Tyler come back home and they all settle down, they would still be together. Brad fit into their group seamlessly.
Whenever Blake and Tyler got a night off, they would come home and have a date night with their lovely ladies. Between those date nights, they missed each other and couldn't wait until they were finished in the constant danger of the Air Force. Once they were done, Tyler and Jami got their own apartment down the hall to give Blake and Gillian their own space. It was a perfect set up.
A few weeks of moving down the hall, Tyler and Jami got engaged and shortly after Nicole and Brad were expecting and the only thing they wanted to do was get married too. Nicole and Brad had a small yet beautiful ceremony at a little church in the next town over. Nicole's parents and younger sister came and so did Brad's family. It was very intimate.
Tyler and Jami's wedding was a little more grandiose. Both of them had a big, close-knit family so they all had to be invited and they were all party animals. It was a night to remember.
While the newlyweds were each on their honeymoons, Blake and Gillian privately wished for the same. One night Blake came home late and Gillian was scared. She thought Blake didn't want her anymore because he hadn't proposed yet and now he's coming home late, but she never mentioned these thoughts in fear of having them confirmed. But then one day, she came home after a late class and saw two plane tickets on the counter and two suitcases in her room. One was already packed with Blake's things and the other had a note on top. It said:
"Dear Gillian, I know you are thinking I'm going to leave you but that's just silly. I'm trying to write you this note but I'm not very good with words. You've always been better at it. That's why you write the Christmas cards and thank you notes and even the grocery lists you write are better. You are the perfect girl for me. You are always making my bad days great, and making me look at the positive things in life. You are so grateful for the things you have and you're always dreaming but never have your head in the clouds. You understand when I have a bad day and just want to sleep or when I need someone to talk to you and you are always there for me whenever I need you to be from a shoulder to cry on to someone to drop me off my lunch when I forget it when I'm late in the morning. You know my likes and dislikes and you always know exactly what I'm feeling and thinking. It's like you're thinking the same thing. These past 5 ½ years have been unexplainable. You leave me speechless every day. You are generous, loving, caring, understanding, sweet, fierce, honest, strong, beautiful, and everything anyone could ever ask for. Everyone at the base was jealous of me once they met you. You don't see yourself clearly. Whenever you are out, people look at you and your always smiling face and glowing personality. Your eyes sparkle more than any stars I have ever seen. I love every little thing about you. Your laugh, your smile, the way you take something simple and make it something completely different, the way I changed my ways once I met you, and the way it just feels right with you. It's something I've never experienced: only heard about until I met you. The moment you walked into my Algebra 2 class when you were just a freshman, I knew right then you were different. Even when life seemed to keep throwing you curveballs it never got you down. You were afraid to let me close at first but I soon saw your walls coming down and look at where we are now. I think you are the strongest person I've ever met. I strive to be like you. You are my inspiration to be a better person and be all that I can be. I knew you were the one I was going to have a future with and marry and you were going to be the mother of my children. Our kids are going to be the perfect combination of us both and they will be raised right, not like you and I were with a lot of hardships and pain but in a house full of love. You're the face I want to wake up to every morning and fall asleep to every night. I want my dreams to come true with you by my side. You are the best thing I've ever had. You're mine- every part about you belongs to me now. We are in this for the long run and we will never be apart now. You are the best thing that's ever been Mine. I could keep this note going for days and days because I have so much more to say but I hope we have years for me to get it all out but if I don't finish this soon we are going to be late for our plane. I have a surprise for you. You are already packed and our bags should be getting picked up soon. All you have to do is get your cute self outside and into your new car and drive to the airport. These next two weeks you are going to be spoiled like you deserve to be and be worshipped like the goddess you are. I want you forget all your worries and let us just be us.
Love Forever and Always,
Blake
By the time Gillian was finished reading, she was crying. Then she heard a knock on the door. She went to answer and saw a man that looked like a limo driver. She allowed him in and he picked up the bags and asked her to follow him. She said she will be out in a moment and grabbed a small bag that she put her cell phone charger, hairbrush, toothbrush, and a change of clothes into. She grabbed her purse and the bag and went outside to find a new Camaro sitting in her parking space. She didn't have time to fawn over her newly acquired dream car because she had to get into the waiting limo to head to the airport. When they arrived she saw Blake waiting for her at security. She ran into his arms with tears streaming down her face. After the couples heartfelt moment they made their way through the airport to their plane.
After a long flight, they landed in Italy. It was late and they were both exhausted so they went straight to their hotel to check-in and order room service.
*Two Weeks Later*
Returning home to South Carolina, Gillian and Blake were swarmed at the airport by Tyler, Jami, Brad and Nicole. They all went to Gillian and Blake's apartment to talk about their adventures on their vacations. Gillian and Blake got engaged by the Fountain of Love in Italy. After a night filled with stories about past, present, and the future, everyone went to their respective homes and went to bed.
Gillian and Blake both knew they wanted to get married right away so the next day they started making plans. Not one detail was overlooked. The only predicament was whether or not Gillian's family should be invited or told about the wedding. In the end, they decided to tell her favorite cousin, Andy, and he will tell the rest. The only family she invited was Andy and his fiancé, and Andy's parents.
The wedding was the most beautiful one any of them had ever seen. It was perfect.
*Two Years Later*
Gillian is sitting at the kitchen table of her new home. After college, her and Blake, Nicole and Brad, and Tyler and Jami all moved back to the area they grew up. They are all neighbors too in their own large houses. Each one is three levels and has at least five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Each couple wishes for a large family so they bought what they will need. Gillian just got news from her doctor saying that she is pregnant with twins. The ultrasound said one is a boy and the other is a girl. The best of both worlds. She was worried about the large size of her stomach compared to Jami and Nicole who are both pregnant but don't look anywhere near as large as her.
She is ecstatic. She has always wanted a large family. She was so excited to tell Blake she called him at work to tell him to get home now. He is just walking in the door when she was about to burst and just call him and tell him over the phone. He looks worried thinking something is wrong with the baby because he knew about her doctor appointment today. She looks at him and can't hold it in anymore so she just scream out "I'M PREGNANT!". The look on his face is shock, and then it turns into the goofiest grin she has ever seen. He runs to her and picks her up and swings her around. She tells him that they are having a boy and a girl. The couple calls up everyone they know to tell them the good news.
*Eight Years Later*
Gillian and Blake are now the typical married couple with four kids. They have two seven-year-old twins: Katie and Kyle and a five-year-old named Logan. The newest addition to their happy family is the little one-year-old they named Elise after Gillian's youngest sister she raised and had to leave behind. Her sister did get the chance to meet the kids at Elise's first birthday. It was Blake's surprise for Gillian. He knew how much Gillian wished she could have brought her sister with her when she left and he knew she missed her but was afraid to find her to find out she wasn't what she expected but nothing ever is. Ellie turned out to be a successful physical therapist, a career she dreamed about for years.
Tyler and Jami had three kids. Lindsey, 7, Brooke, 5, and Rachael, 2. Tyler is scared for the teenage years but he is a great father and Jami is a wonderful mother.
Nicole and Brad have the largest family of the group. They were graced with five kids of their own. Their oldest, Zach is 8 and then the four year old triplets named Haley, Briana, and Audrey. They have one more named Lucas who is almost 2.
All of the kids play together every day and the siblings hardly ever fight. The whole group is one big happy extended family surrounded by love. Every couple got the happily ever after they always wanted.
*The End*
End file.
| Misc. Books | Fanfiction | null | 11,877 | 9,702.8 |
null | Misc. Books Just Another Day
_This was written for my English class. I am pleased to say I also got 60/60 on it. The idea of the project was to write a short story about an average day in the life of Linda Loman, not a special day in particular. I hope you enjoy it._
_I in no way, shape or form own Death of a Salesman, or even anything in this short story. Thank you. Everything here belongs to Arthur Miller._
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"Willy... Willy, no... Willy!"
I suddenly woke up in a cold sweat, looking around the room in a panic, my heart racing. It took me a few minutes to realize that I was in bed, and it was all just a dream. A horrible dream.
I sighed and sank back into my pillow, wiping my forehead and trying to calm down. It seemed so real, I could have sworn that Willy... I looked at the clock and sighed more deeply. I could just tell by looking outside that it was morning already. I wanted so much to just pull the blankets over my head and sleep longer, but I knew that the chores wouldn't look after themselves. Not only that, but I have the boys to look after once again.
I sighed once more and threw my covers off, slipping my legs over the side of my bed and slipping my feet into my slippers. I then got up and made my bed wearily. I sometimes wished that my house could clean itself, but then I wouldn't have much to do. I would probably like it more if we could somehow manage to pay these bills, or maybe our things should stop breaking down.
"What, dear?" I called. I thought I heard somebody calling me.
"I asked, do you know where my good socks are?" called a voice back to me, the voice of my younger son, Happy.
"I'll get them for you in a minute."
"Thanks a lot, pal."
I finished making my bed and put on some proper clothing. I rarely ever go to visit somebody, but I want to look good incase I do, or incase somebody comes to visit. I also like to look nice just for myself once in a while.
I went downstairs and plucked Happy's good socks from the laundry basket beside the door. I was meaning to put those clothes away last night, but I was so worn out that I needed a nap and had forgotten. I brought them in just in time because it had begun to rain and it lasted all night. I brought the socks upstairs and knocked on my sons' room. Happy and his older brother, Biff, sleep in the same room. They have ever since they were just wee children. I remember when it was so hard to get them to settle down for the night, they loved to play make-believe in the middle of the night. Willy did not have to hear it often, for he was not home as much as I would like him to be. But it annoyed him more than a tad, saying one minute that such ruckus should be illegal, then excusing it with a 'boys will be boys'. He's quite the funny man, but I love him with all of my heart.
Sometimes I find it so hard to talk to Willy. Our neighbor, Charley, is one of my only good friends, and also one of the only people I can hold a proper conversation with. More often than not he will bring up Willy in our conversations, and sometimes he'll ask me, 'Why don't you tell him the truth and allow him to function as a real human being?' I often try to stray away from the topic, not wanting to argue. Talking about anyone behind their backs, especially Willy, makes me feel absolutely terrible. Yet, at the same time, I can't deny that Charley has been right more than once. Sometimes I just have difficulty admitting it.
The door opened a crack and I smiled at the face of my younger son. "Thanks, mom! Biff and I are going out today, I hope you don't mind."
I was quiet for a moment, letting it sink in, and then I smiled a little more brightly. "Of course I don't mind!" I said with a hint of laughter in my voice. Oh, if only Willy were home to see this. Biff and Happy, going out on the town together, and at such an early time. Well, it was only a little after eight in the morning, but I've always known them to be the kind who sleep in late and stay out until early. Biff had a strange passion for playing football under the stars, and Happy was always, well... more than happy to go along with it. I haven't seen them do very much with each other at all for years, and just hearing about it was enough to bring a hint of happy tears to my eyes. It actually felt, in that moment, like all was right with the world.
A hint of worry seemed to appear on Happy's face. "You sure, mom? Gee, me and Biff wouldn't want you to be all alone."
I waved my hand dismissively and held the socks out to him. "Don't you worry about a thing, dear, I'll be just fine. I have more than enough things to do, and I have some baking to catch up on."
"Oh boy!" Happy cheered. "What are you baking, mom?" he asked excitedly. I couldn't help but laugh a bit; his enthusiasm was quite welcome. Happy and Biff had quite the sweet tooth, but Biff was always careful not to eat too many sugary sweets. Baked goods and sweet treats were always a weakness of Happy's, being slightly chubby for a few years himself. But, he soon tried following in Biffs footsteps and lost all that weight to become a handsome man.
"I'll make a special apple pie for dinner, try not to fill up on anything else until then," I said, kissing him on the forehead.
"You hear that, Biff?" Happy said cheerfully, turning away from the door. I quietly closed it for him, the smile still wide across my face. Nothing is more rewarding than having children, especially two wonderful sons like them. Oh, how I've missed them. They only recently moved back in, but not for long, they assured me. Happy has an apartment of his own and he has a good job. Biff, according to my knowledge, is not so lucky. But, whatever their reasons, I'm grateful to have them back home. It's more like I'm able to keep a closer eye on them and make sure they're safe. I always worry about Biff, because I know that he had problems in his teenage years.
Ever since Biff came back home, he and Willy have been at each other a little, getting into the occasional fight. They've been like this for years, but I never found out why. But Willy is gone and there is peace, for a time. I'm afraid that Biff might get into his bad habits again, stealing. It's why he has such a hard time finding and holding a job, it seems as though everybody knows of his reputation. Years ago he was Biff Loman, the all-American superstar. Willy often acts as though it's still is and has always been that, but I know when things have changed. Biff isn't our football-playing star anymore, he's a jobless man, he's... lost.
I went back downstairs, the sleepiness still lightly tugging at me, but I was more awake now than before. I went straight to the fridge and sighed in light frustration to find that there was no cool air or even a gentle hum coming from it. Thankfully, it seemed to have broken down lot too long ago, so everything inside was still good. I took the loaf of bread, some eggs, bacon, and the bottle of milk out, setting them on the counter, and starting my workday for real. I turned on the stove, greasing a pan, and proceeded in making breakfast for my sons and myself. I remembered something, also taking out an orange and making some fresh orange juice for Happy. Milk was too tasteless for him, he would often joke. I made it for him anyways.
Right on cue, they came downstairs just as I set the plates down at the little square table and filled them with food. The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless; they usually got up and out of bed either too late or too early for me to make a proper breakfast for them. We sat down and enjoyed the breakfast, Happy said something witty once in a while and Biff nearly choked on his eggs in laughter. I smiled and ate quietly; I loved to see them this way. It wasn't usually this happy when Willy was around; his very presence set a darker mood in the house. I know he loves his sons, and they love him, but they all seem to have trouble expressing it.
When they finished up, they thanked me and gave me kisses goodbye, walking out of the house together. I still couldn't get over the smell that only now have I noticed hung in the air, the heavenly smell of shaving lotion. Such a scent so rarely graced my nose, and I loved to smell it.
I cleaned the dishes and put them away, tapping my nails on the table for a moment and trying to decide what to do next. I remembered then, I still hadn't put away, or even folded, the laundry. I took the basket with me to the table and sat down on a chair, beginning the chore. About halfway through, I heard a knock on the door. I heard the door open and whoever was there hadn't even asked to come in, so I knew who it was right away.
"Hello, Charley," I said without even looking up.
"Hello, Linda," replied Charley, walking over and taking a seat across from me. Charley was always welcome in our house; he was almost a part of the family. Actually, he lives in a duplex with us; I guess you could call him our 'next-wall' neighbor. Basically, we were in the same house, I guess you could say. He has a son about the same age as my sons, Bernard, such a sweet and intelligent boy. Charley's wife passed on quite a few years ago. I never actually asked how it happened, but I didn't want to press into any painful memories. We were not close, she and I, I can barely even remember her name.
"How are you today?" he asked, I saw him reach into his pocket out of the corner of my eye.
"I am just fine, but you know I don't allow smoking in my house," I reminded him.
He smiled, and pulled out instead a deck of cards. "Don't worry, Linda, I know the rules."
I nodded and smiled. "Good. How have you been yourself?" I asked politely, folding one of Willy's favorite white shirts.
"Fine, fine," Charley said, starting a game of solitaire. I could sense in his voice that he was just waking up himself. He's quite the successful businessman, but when he's tired he's tired. Likewise, when he's mad, or happy... he usually keeps any and all emotions or feelings tucked inside, preferring to laugh things off, even when times are tough. He's quite the man, he knows when to talk and when not to talk, and he always says the right things. He says things that make even me think, good or bad I'm still not sure.
"What are you up to today," he asked, flipping over the Queen of Hearts.
"Not much," I replied, finishing up folding and nudging the basket over to the side. "I have some chores to do, the usual. I'm baking a pie later on, and I think Willy should be home in about two days."
"Hm."
Sometimes it annoys me when he does that, just 'hums' in reply to something. He doesn't seem upset to hear of Willy coming back, but he also doesn't seem that enthusiastic. In fact, he's like this about nearly everything.
"How are the boys today?" he asked, completing his set of Spades.
"Oh, they're just fine." I replied, a smile coming across my face. "You should have seen them this morning... can you smell it? The shaving lotion in the air? It may seem like such a small thing, but... something so small means a lot to me..."
"Oh?" he said, raising an eyebrow at me.
I laughed lightly and shook my head. "I'm sure you wouldn't understand, Charley."
We talked for about an hour or so, I even joined him in a few games of blackjack. We didn't bet anything, I knew I would more than likely lose. I wasn't much of a card player, I knew that Willy liked to have a round of gambling every once in a while. He has a little jar on top of the fridge with some betting coins of all values.
"So, Linda," he said, breaking a long silence. "How has Willy been lately?" I thought he'd never ask.
"Well, he's... healthy," I said, even though that was a lie to me. I knew what he did... I was terrified to find out of his odd habits of trying to commit suicide... I didn't want to believe it. Actually, I denied it at first. Willy can't, he would never... not MY Willy. But then I began to find evidence for myself. I even found the beginning of a suicide note he was writing to me. As soon as I saw that note, I was absolutely sure of his intentions. I put it back where I found it as soon as I saw it. It was only the beginning, and I had a feeling he was ready to write something very important... but, ever since that day, I've been too afraid to see it again. I actually wanted so much to tell Charley about it, I trust him with nearly everything. He actually doesn't visit all that often, but it's good to see a friendly face once in a while. Better than doing chores constantly, for sure.
"That's good to hear," he said in a low voice. I almost felt as though he knew I was uncertain about what I just said. He has a way of telling. He beat me at another game and picked up the cards to shuffle them. "Linda, don't you think you should do something?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly. I didn't want to talk about _that_ again.
"You know what I'm talking about," he replied, dealing me some cards to start a game of poker. "I don't even live here, but I see the gradual changes in Willy every day. You live with him, sleep in the same room, you of all people should have noticed by now."
"Charley, we talked about this already. There is nothing wrong with Willy, what do you want me to do?" I asked while tossing two cards.
"I want you to do what you know is right," he said, plain and simple. "Willy, he's not right in the head, we both know that. He talks to himself, I hear him, and he gets louder every day. It's like the walls are made of paper, I swear it's like he were right beside me."
"You can't blame him," I said quietly, laying down my hand and finally winning a game. "He's under so much stress, Charley, he won't even listen to me half the time. If only he could get off the road, get a desk job, then I think everything would be just fine..."
Charley dealt some more cards. "It's always one thing or another, Linda. One minute he'll be talking about how he hates change, then he wants to change all the rules when he doesn't follow them half the time--"
"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" I nearly yelled, slamming my hands down on the table. "Willy is a good man, Charley, one of the best! He may not have a trophy case, he may not have any blue ribbons, but I'll be damned if he doesn't work as hard as any other person I know, maybe harder!"
"It isn't a matter of how hard he works, Linda. A man can work his fingers to the bone and still have nothing. He works, but he doesn't try."
"Now you're not making any sense!" I yelled, staring at him like he just commit a horrible crime. And yet, there he was, as calm as ever, sorting and re-sorting his cards.
"Maybe there's no pleasing him. What if he gets a desk job? Then he'll complain about how he should get a raise, or maybe he'll even complain about how his pencil isn't replaced each day."
"Stop it, Charley... please, just... stop..." I murmured, my eyes beginning to sting from oncoming tears.
"You're getting yourself worked up over nothing, Linda," he said, finally looking up to look me in the eyes. I didn't even notice that I was standing. What was I planning on doing, attacking him? I hesitated, but slowly sat down in my chair again, looking at the cards that I had left abandoned on the table right in front of me. What did he mean 'nothing'? Was he calling Willy a 'nothing'? Or maybe... maybe I'm really am just being silly...
"Willy isn't the only person who has to face the truth. You do as well," Charley stated, discarding two cards. Now I was the one who felt lost. Charley's usually so quiet, but a wise man he is. Although, I admit, sometimes his intellect flees from me and I don't understand what he's getting at.
"Well, maybe it's time I left," he said, getting up from his seat and scooping up the rest of his cards, putting them into his pocket. "Linda, are you alright?" he asked.
I hastily wiped a single tear from my cheek. "I'm just fine, something just flew into my eye."
He seemed still for a moment, then he walked to my side and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry if I upset you, Linda. But we all have to grow up someday, Willy included."
"I know," I said, pulling a tissue from my pocket and blowing my nose into it. "It's just... hard, Charley."
"I know it is. Take it easy now, you're not in a race," he said, patting my shoulder, then turning and walking toward the door. He turned for a moment, he seemed to be about to say something. But then he decided against it, opening the door, and leaving.
I sat there for a few minutes, lightly dabbing at my eyes and holding the tears inside. It really felt to me like Charley was being unfair, he knew as well as I did how hard of a worker Willy was. But, deep down inside, I knew he was right. I just had a very hard time admitting it. Was it so hard to admit that Willy needed help, or was it hard to admit that... Charley was right and I was wrong?
I took a few moments to collect myself, then I picked up the clothes basket and went up to the bedrooms, putting everything in its proper place. I saw that suicide note sticking out from under a pair of Willy's socks. I tried to not look at it, merely covering it up with more socks and underwear. Bury the bad things in white, white is so pure.
I looked at the clock. It was almost eleven in the morning already, how time flies. I went back into the kitchen and got out the ingredients required to make that apple pie for Happy. I knew the food wouldn't hold on for much longer, I had to get the fridge repaired very soon. By the time I cut the apples, mixed the ingredients, and got the pie into the oven, it was already around lunchtime. I was a little slow on making the pie because my mind was elsewhere. Namely, my mind was in Willy's drawer, right beside that note... had he written anything else since I first saw it?
I closed the oven door and leant against the counter, thinking. I wasn't sure if I should look at it again or not. Part of me was curious; another part of me was terrified. I guess I had this strange thought in my head that if I pretended it didn't exist, nothing bad would happen. Of course, I knew that wouldn't happen. Maybe Charley was right… I can pretend things are perfectly fine all that I want to, but that doesn't mean something isn't wrong.
I took in a deep breath, then I went over and started to walk up the stairs. Did I really want to do this? I stopped about midway. I knew perfectly well everything what was happening. A small voice inside said, if he really is going to kill himself, you'll read that note sooner or later. Do you want to be upset now and try to prevent it from happening, or do you want to put it off and make the suffering go on for longer than it should? You deserve to know what's going on.
I stood there, turning the thoughts over in my mind, but I found myself walking back down the stairs again. What Willy does is his business, I told myself. I wanted so much to be there, to hold him, protect him. If I had the choice, I would make it so that he were always home and he would be happy. But, unfortunately, I can't do that.
I spent a good few hours doing the other chores. I dusted here and there, let the pie sit on the window sill to cool, took the clothes from the boys' floor and washed them, leaving them out on the clothes line to dry. I also swept the floor and set out a couple more mousetraps, I don't know where these mice keep coming from.
After these were done, I went up to my room and laid down for a nap. It wasn't even too much work that I did, but I get worn down so much more easily than I used to. Maybe I'm under too much stress. I wish I could afford to have a maid come in and take care of things for me, but we can barely afford to keep our house in the first place.
I awoke later on to the sound of the doors opening, and laughter as Happy said something I couldn't quite make out and the sounds of them stomping the dirt from their feet. I looked at the clock and groaned; it was five o'clock. I should have started dinner already; we normally eat around this time. I drug myself out of bed and stretched out my arms, going to the door, and walking downstairs to greet my sons.
"Hey, mom!" called Happy from beside the windowsill, practically drooling over the apple pie that sat there, tempting him.
I couldn't help but giggle. I knew how much he loved his pies. "You go ahead and have a slice, Happy, I'll get dinner stared."
"Do you need any help, mom?" asked Biff, finally speaking up from the table. I barely even noticed him at first.
"Well… you could help me by peeling a few potatoes, but not too many," I said. "Oh, could you also bring the bag of yellow beans? They should be right beside the potatoes and turnips," I said, walking over to the counter and pulling some pots out from the cupboard.
We had a very nice dinner, I made some pork chops along with our potatoes and yellow beans. Happy told me the grand time he and Biff had. Apparently, they were hanging out with a couple girls, a Lashonda Smith from Boston and Michelle Khoury from some place out in Texas. It was nice that they were getting to know new people, but I just hoped they wouldn't try to get into something too serious. They are not ready for relationships, in my eyes. Maybe I'll always just see them as my little boys, being a grandmother already is a scary thought for me.
After we finished having our dinner, and more pie, I cleaned up and put everything away. Now it was seven o'clock, we talked so much. Well, actually, I was just listening. But I didn't mind at all, I love to listen. Sometimes I wish I were still a teen, out on the town and having fun, but I got older and more mature. I got responsibilities. I may have lost one life, but I started a whole new one. And I don't think I would trade those experiences for anything.
I read a book for a while afterwards, and decided to go to bed earlier than usual. So many strange, confusing things happen in life, both good and bad things. When a good thing happens, appreciate and cherish every moment of it. When a bad thing happens, it's alright to hurt a little, but not too much. You deal with the problem and move on in life to jump the next hurdle. I don't quite know what I could do about Willy. But for as long as we live, I will do all that I can to keep him safe and happy.
End file.
| Misc. Books | Fanfiction | null | 22,378 | 11,425.3 |
null | Misc. Books En souvenir de Montigny
_Cette fic a été écrite pour so-yuyu sur le sujet : Claudine/Luce. Basé surtout sur le second livre quand Claudine est Paris et retrouve Luce. J'aimerais des interactions entre les deux demoiselles devenues presque adultes, avec Claudine qui manipule toujours Luce. Pourquoi pas un peu de bdsm ? (Vu comment Claudine torturait Luce à l'école, c'est pratiquement canon xD)_
* * *
Quand je m'interroge sur les raisons qui m'ont fait m'aventurer à nouveau devant les fenêtres de Luce, je confesse que la compassion n'y a pas joué un grand rôle. Peut-être étais-je magnanime et voulais-je finalement lui accorder cette dernière scène devant témoins. Ou peut-être était-ce ma nouvelle gloire de parisienne, qui se flatte du scandale public plutôt que d'en tirer honte. Paris, repaire de débauche, comme on nous l'a toujours dit ! On apprend des choses, mais pas les plus édifiantes, ça non !
Ou peut-être étais-je juste curieuse de voir ce dont était capable la petite Luce, autre que de voler l'argent de sa soeur pour fuir à Paris se jeter dans les bras d'un vieillard ! Etait-ce un accès unique ou le début d'une grande maladie ? Que pourrait-elle bien me faire - à quelles extrémités pourrais-je la pousser - avec ce courage tout neuf qu'elle avait, et dont je n'avais rien vu ?
A vrai dire, je ne pensais pas à tout cela sur le moment. J'étais juste pressée, et si je passais devant chez elle, je me disais que c'était le chemin le plus court, et que je n'allais pas lui permettre de changer mes plans.
Un pas, deux pas, je me demande si elle peut me voir. Ha, elle n'est peut-être même pas chez elle, pauvre gourde de Claudine ! Qui fait la belle pour le compte de personne, ou plutôt de toute la rue, mais je me moque bien d'eux. Dix pas, onze pas, douze pas, ça y est, je passe sous ses fenêtres. Rien ne se passe. Tant pis, tant mieux ! Vingt pas, vingt-et-un, fausse alerte, probablement.
"Claudine !"
Je souris. je devrais grimacer, très probablement. Il y a quelques jours encore, je craignais de retourner ici et de la retrouver. Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie ! Et elle, sera-t-elle la même petite courtisane que j'ai abandonnée en pleurs il y a quelques jours ?
Mon coeur se serre quand je la vois, une drôle d'étreinte chaude et presque vaporeuse, mais cela s'estompe dès que je comprends. Elle ne porte pas une de ses jolies robes aux rubans de luxure, mais une robe de Montigny, une ancienne, une vraie ! Ha, les souvenirs qui enlacent le coeur.
Avant que je puisse dire un mot, elle me prend le bras - de façon si décidée, l'on pourrait croire que nous sommes amies, et si décente pourtant. Aurais-tu apprivoisé ton propre coeur, petite Luce ? Voudrais-tu jouer comme une égale ? Il est temps que je reprenne mon autorité, et vivement ! Je lui enfonce mes ongles dans le bras, et elle ouvre la bouche en un cri muet, une larme au coin de l'oeil. Voilà qui ne ment pas.
Je me sens bien en droit d'exiger, d'un ton sévère : "Dis-moi la vérité ! Est-ce ton vieux qui t'a appris à t'habiller en poupée selon ses désirs ? Dis-moi, tu as déjà mis cette robe pour lui ?"
"Claudine, tu es méchante," dit-elle d'une voix qui s'effrite. "Mais tu me griffes avec tes jolies mains et tu me laisses marcher près de toi, alors ce n'est pas grave. Laisse-moi te montrer quelque chose, s'il te plait, et ne me parle pas de lui."
Je la suis, trop curieuse, furieuse contre moi-même, et je me venge sur elle et sur sa seconde requête. "Contrairement à toi, je ne le vois pas assez souvent pour me sentir lassée de ce sujet de conversation. Et ne devrais-je pas prendre garde ? Il paraît qu'il est si jaloux. Que dira-t-il de ta vertu si on nous trouve ensemble ?"
Un instant, elle a un ricanement féroce. "Ha, si tu crois qu'il peut comprendre ces choses ! Qu'il est bête, il ne surveille que les garçons ! Mais j'ai tout prévu quand même. Je lui dira que je suis allée narguer une camarade de classe moins riche que moi, que je suis allée d'abord lui faire croire que j'étais toujours pauvre, et que je me vengerai de ses moqueries en agitant ensuite ma richesse sous le nez !" Oh, Luce, capricieuse et mesquine, et si naturellement menteuse qu'elle peut faire avaler n'importe quoi en faisant mine d'être seulement capricieuse et mesquine. Si j'étais un homme, je ne voudrais pas l'avoir comme maîtresse, allez.
"Alors que tu comptes t'adonner à des péchés bien plus vilains que l'orgueil." Elle ne nie pas, la vilaine, elle rit, peut-être exprès, pour montrer les fossettes de ces joues, parce que la petite chatte peut être douée. Je ne lui ai rien promis. En fait, si je me rappelle, je lui ai promis de ne plus la toucher. Mais je suis une vilaine fille moi aussi. Que comptent mes promesses devant ce que j'ai envie de faire ? Et vraiment, j'aime trop retrouver la Luce de chez moi. Déjà je ne mentionne plus son vieux que parce que j'ai besoin de me dégoûter, plus que pour la torturer vraiment. Ha, si elle savait, serait-elle blessée par ce manque de motivation ? Ou je pourrais mordre son cou blanc. Je ne l'ai jamais fait, mais était-il si appétissant auparavant ?
Je résiste encore, je rappelle à l'ordre son coeur et le mien. "Ha, tu as l'air de t'amuser avec lui ! Tu es contente de l'avoir rencontré ?"
Elle s'arrache à moi ; suis-je allée trop loin, cette fois ? Elle me regarde en face, sa main convulsant en l'air comme si elle cherchait la mienne à nouveau. Un instant, je vérifie que mes bras à moi sont bien rangés le long de mon corps. Nous sommes à l'entrée d'un de ces petits parcs laids dont Paris a le secret, une enclave de nature languissant maladivement dans sa cage.
"Ha, Claudine," balbutie-t-elle, "ne me demande pas de regarder ce que j'ai de près, parce que sinon je verrais que tu es tout ce qu'il y a eu de bien dans ma vie."
Je pourrais rire, s'il n'y avait pas de quoi pleurer. Moi, une bonne chose pour elle ? Est-elle donc aveugle, ou juste si malheureuse ?
Elle se trouve maintenant toute timide devant moi, attendant mon jugement - he, nous ne sommes pas à Montigny, je ne lancerai pas d'encre sur tes vêtements. Quand elle voit que je ne réagis pas, elle a un très léger soupir - de soulagement ou de déception ? - et reprend ma main. "Viens, viens, nous y sommes presque !"
Et nous voilà dans le parc laid rempli de gens stupides. En vérité, je suis peut-être un peu jalouse ? Je voudrais qu'elle regarde et qu'elle compare. Je voudrais qu'elle me dise que cela la dégoûte, que plutôt que de vivre chez lui elle y finirait plutôt seule dans les rues, que plutôt que de porter ses vêtements elle irait mieux toute nue. Je sais bien qu'elle n'en aurait pas la force, pas même celle de le dire. Mais moi, que ferais-je dans sa situation ? Oh, je ne serais jamais si perdue et désespérée, et c'est bien pour cela que je ne sais rien.
La voilà qui se glisse derrière une haie d'arbustes, et je la suis. Et je ne suis pas si bête, je sais bien ce qu'elle veut m'offrir, ce qu'elle veut me prendre, encore un peu d'illusions de quand je condescendais à la battre comme plâtre.
Je condescends à dire "Cet endroit est un peu moins horrible que le reste de Paris." et cela lui arrache un large sourire. Il ne lui en faut pas beaucoup. Et il est vrai qu'il y a presque une odeur d'herbe, ici, et que l'ombre des arbres laisse des taches de soleil juste ce qu'il faut ! Il ferait presque frais, et c'est bien bon, mais le muret sur lequel on peut s'asseoir, embrassé par le soleil toute la journée, restitue sa chaleur en joyeux baisers de pierre. Oh, et cette odeur ! J'avais bien réalisé qu'il n'y avait pas de vraie herbe ici, mais ce n'est pas la même chose de le sentir. J'en emplis mes poumons - un peu trop, ce n'est qu'une petite île de verdure, les remugles de la ville sont cachées derrière quand on va trop loin.
Je pourrais autoriser Luce à s'asseoir à côté de moi, pour sa peine, et je tapote doucement le banc de pierre. Mais la voilà qui tombe à genoux dans l'herbe et appuie sa tête contre la cuisse. Je suis choquée, proprement choquée. Pas au sens où je ne comprends pas ce qu'elle veut, au contraire, je le comprends trop bien.
"Mais dis donc, ma fille, ne pourrais-tu pas faire au moins semblant d'avoir de la vertu ?" Pour qui, pour moi ? Ha, bonne farce. Ce n'est pas comme s'il y avait des témoins. Je plonge la main dans ses cheveux doux et fins, je m'y attache comme un poisson pris par des algues, puis je tire et je tords.
Ma petite Luce laisse échapper un cri de plaisir et frotte sa joue contre ma jambe. Je l'ai sans doute cherché. He, nous sommes de grandes filles maintenant, ou du moins Luce l'est, et je n'arrive pas à croire en un monde où je le suis moins qu'elle.
"Sais-tu, je ne t'aimerais pas plus pour autant, je t'aimerais moins." Je m'écoute parler comme une étrangère, je ne sais plus ce que je dis et je ne sais pas pourquoi ce n'est pas non.
"Oh, si tu peux m'aimer moins, cela veut dire que tu m'aimes un peu." souffle-t-elle contre ma peau.
"Tu es une petite peste égoïste." Je tire ses cheveux en arrière, je découvre sa gorge que je mords, fort. Et comme je me retrouve ainsi en équilibre instable, je choisis, plutôt que de me tordre peu élégamment sur une fesse et un coude, de finir de la pousser à terre, et je me couche sur elle, toujours tortillonnnant ses cheveux qui seront un désastre après, et ne cessant mes coups de dents que pour lui souffler "C'est toujours ce que tu veux qui comptes, et tu m'arales, ma robe sera toute abîmée." Avant - je n'ose appeler cette époque autrefois - c'est elle qui fuyait les herbes qui tachent et les accrocs à sa robe.
Elle gémit encore. "Je veux juste... je veux juste te faire plaisir, ma Claudine, je ferais tout ce que tu voudras." He, je sais bien cela, je vois comment elle a monté son petit spectacle, et est-ce normal que mon orgueil soit si piqué quand elle y arrive ? Oh, ces odeurs, comme celle de sa peau corde bien avec celle des feuilles fraîches, comme elles se mêlent en une odeur de souvenirs ! Ce petit visage apeuré, comme si je n'étais pas ce qui lui est arrivé de meilleur mais au contraire de plus terrible ! Je la griffe, laissant une traînée rouge sur son bras, et me raccroche au fait qu'elle est plus égarée encore que moi. Mais dis-moi, Claudine, que penserait mon cher neveu Marcel de ce moment de folle passion ? Je peux l'imaginer trouver ce morceau d'instincts animaux et de nostalgie aveugle _follement romantique_, et s'avancer pour mieux voir, faisant mine très visiblement de ne pas nous déranger. C'est une bonne rigolade, allez, et je ris doucement contre la peau de Luce.
Elle a posé une main sur mes reins, et caresse du bout des doigts, ce qui est bien meilleur que cela devrait être. "Je te fais rire ?" demande-t-elle, un espoir au coin des lèvres - elle veut un non, ou elle aime assez être humiliée pour vouloir un oui, est-ce que je suis dans sa tête ?
"En vérité, non. Je pense à un mien neveu qui est très impliqué dans ton bonheur, petit animal, et qui ferait des chansons s'il était là, avec un luth peut-être." Elle me regarde comme si je me moquais d'elle - je ne peux la blâmer, et de fait, ma nouvelle vie de famille ne la regarde pas - mais elle n'interrompt pas ses discrètes caresses.
Je poursuis. "Tu sembles penser que j'invente cela juste pour de rire. Or tu ne t'amuses pas, petite fille désobéissante. Souris pour moi."
Elle sourit, en une grimace au début, puis alors que je l'encourage de quelques caresses, cela semble vrai. Elle est si fausse, et avec moi, elle a toujours semblé plus vraie que n'importe qui, c'est à désespérer.
Je l'embrasse pour la peine, sur un éclat de soleil qui sautille sur sa joue à travers les feuilles agitées par le vent. Disons que, si elle sait plus de choses que moi, je n'ai pas la moindre intention de la laisser en prendre avantage, alors que je lui remonte sa jupe de campagnarde autour de sa taille.
"Claudine," murmure-t-elle entre deux gémissements, "ma Claudine, Montigny te manque, n'est-ce pas ? Emmène-moi là-bas, fuyons ensemble, je dormirais dans les bois, si je pouvais seulement être avec toi, oh, Claudine."
Et le plus étrange, c'est que je la crois - je pense qu'elle avait prévu de me dire cela depuis plusieurs jours, depuis qu'elle a prévu de me montrer cet endroit peut-être, ou depuis que je l'ai rejetée. Je pense qu'elle essaie toujours de me manipuler et qu'elle a besoin d'une punition pour comprendre sa place, même si là où nous en sommes les punitions lui feraient plus de bien encore que les baisers. Mais je n'en pense pas moins qu'elle le ferait, si je l'en mettais au défi.
Que lui dire, que je préfèrerais Montigny sans elle ? Ce serait trop méchant, et surtout, ce ne serait même pas vrai, et je ne m'abaisse pas à lui mentir, plus maintenant. Mais une part de ma vie est passée ici et je n'ai plus envie de fuir. Je me suis rangée, en même temps qu'elle devenait folle. Comme les choses peuvent être bêtes parfois, quand rien n'arrive au bon moment. Si un jour quelqu'un - Marcel ? - écrit notre histoire, qu'il écrive cela en gros sous le titre.
Je ne refuse pas, je ne réponds même pas, mais elle sait. Et c'est sans doute en compensation que je l'autorise à être ma servante, que je baisse ma barrière d'orgueil et lui permets de me plaire comme si nous étions seules au monde. Elle rit et pleure comme si c'était le plus beau jour de sa vie, et dans un moment de compassion qui ne me ressemble pas, je me retrouve à espérer qu'elle aura mieux.
"Reviendras-tu ?" me demande-t-elle, pressée contre moi comme un chat qui ronronne alors que je joue avec ses cheveux.
"Si j'en ai l'envie." réponds-je avec une sincérité qui me dépasse.
"Je t'attendrai toujours, toujours, même si je devais oublier tout le reste." murmure-t-elle encore, et pour quelques instants encore, je regarde le soleil se coucher lentement, et ramener l'ombre sur son visage.
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 13,906 | 13,856 |
null | Misc. Books Story about A Kiss (Taemin's Version)
Pagi itu, tidak ada yang istimewa sama sekali. Setelah bosan berada di rumah tanpa melakukan apa pun, pemberhentian Taemin adalah satu kafe kecil, tempat ia biasa singgah bersama teman-teman sekolahnya sepulang sekolah atau ketika ia dan mereka hanya ingin menghabiskan waktu luang bersama-sama.
Hari itu adalah hari Minggu di mana Taemin tidak memiliki banyak kegiatan lebih penting untuk dikerjakan. Karena mulai bosan tidak melakukan sesuatu yang berguna, ia berpikir bahwa pergi ke kafe favoritnya adalah pilihan yang tepat. Ia duduk sendiri di dalam kafe, dengan secangkir cokelat panas bertengger manis di meja di hadapannya.
Sekitar lima belas menit duduk sendiri, ia merasa jenuh. Tidak ada seseorang yang dapat ia ajak bercengkerama atau sekedar menemaninya. Ditambah lagi dengan suasana kafe yang saat itu terlihat sepi tanpa pelanggan. Hal itu membuatnya layu – seperti bunga mawar layu yang ditempatkan di satu pot bunga yang keberadaannya tampak terlupakan oleh pegawai kafe.
Waktu juga terasa berjalan lebih lambat dari biasanya, hingga setiap kali kedua mata melirik ke arah jam tangan, hanya helaan napas yang dapat keluar dari Taemin.
Tanpa ada niat untuk menghibur diri, Taemin hanya membiarkan tangannya bermain-main dengan ponsel yang tengah digenggamnya, membiarkan ujung jarinya menyentuh layar sentuh yang menampilkan situs jejaring sosial terkenal.
Seperti biasa, yang ia lakukan pertama kali pada saat membuka situs tersebut adalah mencari berita terbaru mengenai aktor kesayangannya yang saat itu tengah naik daun. Ia terus menjelajah dunia maya untuk mencari berita tentang aktor tersebut.
Kemudian ia harus menggigit jari lagi, mengetahui bahwa sosok yang diidolakan diberitakan menjalin hubungan khusus dengan bintang lain – meskipun ia sangat yakin bahwa hal itu dilakukan semata-mata karena tuntutan kerja. Taemin yang semula merasa jengah, seketika harus merasa panas 'sekali lagi' ketika matanya menangkap satu topik hangat mengenai sebuah teaser acara komersial dengan adegan ciuman antara aktor tersebut dengan seorang penyanyi rempuan. Ia seketika merasa sesak napas dan segera menutup situs tersebut, sebelum meletakkan ponselnya di atas meja di hadapannya dengan agak kasar.
"Kenapa harus adegan seperti itu lagi!" desisnya. "Sudahlah, aku tidak mau peduli!"
Merasa benar-benar kesal dan tidak tahu lagi harus berbuat apa, Taemin hanya dapat menatap jalanan sepi dari jendela kafe sambil berpangku tangan kembali. Tidak lama kemudian, ia tenggelam ke dalam dunianya sendiri tanpa menyadari sekitarnya hingga sesuatu yang lembut menyentuh salah satu pipinya. Ia segera menyadari bahwa itu adalah sebuah kecupan singkat yang sangat tiba-tiba dan tanpa izin darinya, ia menoleh untuk mengungkapkan betapa marahnya ia kepada orang yang telah mengecup pipinya tanpa izin.
"Yah! Apa-apaan ini?!" pekiknya sambil menatap tajam orang yang bersangkutan.
Orang tersebut hanya tersenyum simpul, tanpa ada rasa bersalah.
Taemin melirik ke arah pakaian yang dikenakan orang tersebut dengan penuh kecurigaan.
Pasti ia pegawai baru, pikirnya saat mengetahui pakaian yang orang tersebut kenakan tak lain merupakan seragam pegawai kafe.
"Anda terlalu manis." Taemin membelalakkan kedua matanya ketika dengan mudahnya ucapan tersebut yang meluncur dari mulut laki-laki yang ia sangka sebagai pegawai baru kafe tersebut.
Taemin menarik napas dalam-dalam, mengingat bahwa berteriak atau memaki orang di hadapannya bukanlah cara yang baik untuk dilakukan. Jadilah Taemin kembali meluapkan amarah dengan berkata tajam dalam volume suara yang sewajarnya.
"Tetapi, apa kau tidak belajar mengenai sopan santun? Bukankah kau sadar akan apa yang baru saja kau lakukan itu tanpa meminta izin dariku!"
"Saya sangat mengerti dan sebagai permintaan maaf, hari ini Anda tidak perlu membayar," jawab si pegawai baru dengan tenang.
"Yah! Memangnya kau pikir aku ini apa?! Aku bukanlah pemuda murahan yang bisa dibayar dengan secangkir cokelat panas begitu saja untuk satu kecupan!" Taemin bangkit dari tempatnya duduk.
Bukannya memasang ekspresi penuh rasa bersalah, sebaliknya sosok di hadapannya dengan tenang mengeluarkan sebuah kartu dan menawarkannya kepada Taemin.
"Anda bisa membawa itu sebagai jaminan."
"Baik! Aku ambil kartu ini sebagai jaminan. Dan jika kau berani berbuat hal yang sama, aku tidak segan untuk melaporkanmu kepada polisi!" Taemin menekankan pada akhir kalimatnya. "Dan sebelum aku pergi, kau lebih baik merasakan yang satu ini."
Taemin yang merasa sangat emosional tanpa berkata lebih banyak lagi hanya mengambil kartu yang ditawarkan kepadanya itu setelah menampar pipi kanan laki-laki tersebut. Kemudian, ia mengeluarkan beberapa lembar uang untuk membayar secangkir cokelat panasnya – yang hanya diletakkan secara kasar di meja – dan berlari keluar dari kafe.
Berbagai macam pikiran buruk benar-benar memenuhi kepalanya, membuatnya kehilangan fokus dan hanya dapat terus berjalan cepat tanpa menghiraukan apa pun di sekitarnya.
Karena tidak terlalu memerhatikan jalan di depannya, Taemin tiba-tiba limbung dan tersungkur – membuat seorang pria bersetelan jas menghampirinya untuk membantu.
"Kau tidak apa-apa?"
Taemin yang sebenarnya merasa sangat malu, hanya menundukkan kepala guna menyembunyikan wajahnya yang sudah sangat merah. Ia benar-benar tidak tahu lagi harus diletakkan di mana wajahnya saat itu.
"Y-ya, saya tidak apa-apa. Terima kasih," ujarnya ragu-ragu disertai anggukan kecil.
Telinganya kemudian menangkap suara tawa kecil dari pria yang membantunya tersebut. Merasa bingung, Taemin mengangkat wajahnya tanpa lagi mengingat niatnya untuk menyembunyikan wajah. Bisa dilihatnya wajah tampan berhias sebuah senyuman berkharisma milik pria tersebut.
"Kau ini sangat lucu. Apa kau terlalu terpesona sehingga lupa dengan lututmu yang mungkin saja terluka?"
Benar saja, sedetik kemudian Taemin merasakan perih di lututnya. Rasa malu tergantikan rasa perih yang harus ia tahan.
"Baiklah, ikut aku. Aku akan membantumu."
Taemin menatap ragu pria tersebut, membuat pria tersebut kembali tertawa sambil menggelengkan kepala.
"Tenang saja. Aku tidak akan macam-macam padamu. Aku bukanlah pria hidung belang. Tapi, kalau kau tidak mau, tidak apa-apa, asalkan kau tahan dengan rasa perih itu."
Mendengar ketulusan dari cara berbicara pria tersebut, Taemin menjadi tidak enak hati karena baru saja menyinggung perasaan seseorang yang nyatanya hanya ingin berbuat baik.
* * *
"Sudah tidak terlalu perih bukan?"
Taemin hanya menganggukkan kepala.
Pria baik hati itu tengah berjongkok di depannya, baru saja selesai membersihkan dan menutup luka lecet di lututnya yang tidak terlalu parah. Rupanya, gesekan antara lutut dan aspal juga membuat sebuah lubang kecil pada celana panjangnya. Tak heran jika lututnya menjadi lecet.
Keduanya saat itu sudah berada di halaman sebuah apotek, tak jauh dari kafe.
"Baguslah kalau begitu," ujar pria itu dengan seulas senyum penuh rasa bangga.
Ia kemudian bangkit untuk duduk di sisi Taemin.
"Aku Choi Siwon."
Taemin menoleh dan mendapati sebuah tangan terulur menawarkan jabat tangan. Dengan ragu ia membalas jabat tangan tersebut.
"Kau ini, masih saja takut padaku, eh? Bukankah sudah kukatakan bahwa aku tidak berniat buruk sama sekali."
Taemin hanya terdiam dan kembali tidak enak hati olehnya.
"Siapa namamu?"
"Eh?" Taemin hanya terkesiap.
"Siapa namamu?"
"N-namaku L-lee T-taemin."
"Lee Taemin?"
"Ya."
"Nama yang sesuai denganmu." Pria bernama Choi Siwon tersebut tersenyum ramah.
Karena tidak tahu lagi apa yang harus dijadikan topik pembicaraan, Taemin hanya duduk terdiam sambil menundukkan kepala. Kemudian ia teringat akan kartu nama milik si pegawai baru kafe yang ia terima sebelumnya. Dengan memasukkan tangannya ke dalam saku jaket, ia ambil kartu nama tersebut dan membaca nama yang tertera padanya. Tertera 'Kim Jongin' pada bagian nama dan tulisan lain di bawahnya yang menjelaskan bahwa si orang tersebut adalah pemilik sekaligus pengelola kafe. Ia sedikit tertegun ketika mendapati kenyataan bahwa orang yang telah ia kira sebagai pegawai baru, ternyata adalah orang yang memiliki sekaligus mengelola kafe.
"Taemin?"
Taemin segera memasukkan kartu nama tadi ke dalam saku jaketnya dan menatap Siwon.
"Ya?"
Sepintas, Siwon terlihat seperti hendak mengutarakan sesuatu. Taemin mengangkat satu alisnya. Ia menunggu Siwon mengutarakan sesuatu. Namun, tidak ada satu pun yang keluar dari mulutnya.
Suasana di antara keduanya juga menjadi benar-benar canggung. Sehingga Taemin memilih untuk mengalihkan perhatiannya kepada rumput hijau yang tumbuh subur di sekelilingnya. Ia tidak sadar dengan apa yang akan terjadi.
Sebuah kecupan singkat tiba-tiba saja kembali ia dapatkan. Perbedaannya, kali itu ia rasakan di pelipisnya.
"A-apa yang Anda l-lakukan, S-siwon-ssi?" tanya Taemin sambil menatap Siwon.
"M-maafkan aku Taemin—" Siwon menatap Taemin dengan penuh rasa bersalah, "—aku tidak bisa menahan diriku. Mungkin karena kau terlalu manis dan aku rasa aku jatuh hati padamu."
Pengakuan tiba-tiba dari Siwon membuat Taemin terperangah. Ia kehabisan kata-kata. Melupakan rasa perih yang belum hilang pada lututnya, Taemin berlari meninggalkan Siwon. Dari belakang, terdengar suara Siwon yang memanggil-manggil nama Taemin, meminta Taemin untuk kembali.
* * *
Mimpi apa Taemin sebelumnya. Hari itu menjadi sangat kacau dan benar-benar membuatnya frustasi – bagaimana bisa dua laki-laki asing telah berhasil seenaknya mencium wajahnya? Ia tidak habis pikir akan kejadian tersebut. Mereka mungkin benar-benar sudah kehilangan akal sehat.
Taemin hanya bisa menjejakkan kakinya di tanah, terlalu kesal dengan segalanya yang telah ia alami. Mengapa ia justru harus merasakan semua itu ketika bahagialah yang seharusnya ia rasakan pada hari liburnya itu.
Ia menghempaskan dirinya ke bangku panjang yang terdapat di dalam taman bermain anak-anak. Entah bagaimana caranya ia sampai ke tempat tersebut. Padahal, biasanya ia paling tidak suka melihat anak-anak kapan pun ia tengah merasa kesal. Beruntungnya, hari itu taman benar-benar sepi – tanpa anak-anak yang biasanya bermain bersama.
Ia memasukkan satu tangannya ke dalam saku jaket kembali, mencari sesuatu yang mungkin saja bisa membantu mengurangi rasa kesalnya.
Permen karet. Ya, sebuah permen karet yang selalu membantu menghilangkan ketegangan pada dirinya.
Ia mengambil sebungkus permen karet yang memang selalu ia persiapkan di saku. Tanpa menunggu, ia membuka kertas pembungkus permen karet dan memasukkan permen karet tersebut ke dalam mulut.
Taemin sedikit tersenyum ketika perasaannya menjadi sedikit lebih baik sesudahnya.
Belum lama ia mengunyah permen tersebut, seseorang menepuk bahunya dari belakang, membuatnya hampir tersedak.
"Ya!" pekiknya sambil memutar badan, agar bisa melihat siapa yang tega membuatnya hampir tersedak.
Ia sudah berencana memaki atau memarahi orang tersebut, ketika tubuhnya seketika mematung.
"K-kau?"
Sosok di hadapannya hanya menyeringai sambil membetulkan letak topinya – lebih tepatnya, menurunkan bagian depan topi agar wajahnya tersembunyi.
"Ternyata benar dugaanku. Baru satu bulan tidak berjumpa denganku, kau kembali dengan kebiasaanmu itu," ujarnya.
Taemin masih terdiam seribu bahasa.
"Ya! Katakan sesuatu paling tidak! Kenapa kau malah terdiam seperti itu? Jangan bilang kau ini terpesona olehku!"
Sebaliknya, Taemin mengabaikan rentetan kata-kata sosok di hadapannya tersebut dan memilih untuk mencubit pipinya sendiri, sampai ia benar-benar percaya bahwa sosok di hadapannya tersebut benar-benar nyata. Dan tanpa sadar, air mata mulai menggenang di pelupuk matanya.
"K-kenapa kau jadi mau menangis? Aduh, kau ini kenapa?"
Sosok bertopi tersebut mulai panik ketika melihat Taemin yang sudah menampakkan tanda-tanda ingin menangis. Ia mau tidak mau mendekat dan berjongkok di depan Taemin. Diambilnya sesuatu dari saku jaket yang ia kenakan, yang kemudian ia gunakan untuk mengusap air mata Taemin yang sudah mulai meleleh.
"Aduh, Taemin! Hentikan! Jangan menangis! Apa kata orang nanti? Mereka akan berpikir bahwa aku yang membuatmu menangis," ujarnya, berusaha mencegah Taemin menangis.
"Memang dirimu yang membuatku menangis," Taemin pun akhirnya bersuara.
"Huh?" Sosok bertopi tersebut hanya mengernyitkan alis, tidak mengerti.
Taemin menghela napas sebelum kembali berkata, "Memikirkanmu sedang apa di sana, sudah makan atau belum, baik-baik saja atau tidak, semua itu benar-benar membuatku kesal. Aku tidak tahan dan hari ini dua orang yang bahkan tidak aku kenal – mereka telah berhasil mencuri kesempatan menciumku. Aku benar-benar muak!"
Rentetan kalimat yang keluar dari mulut Taemin berhasil membuat sosok bertopi ternganga.
Tangis Taemin kemudian pecah. Ia benar-benar tidak tahan lagi untuh melepaskan segala isi hatinya. Sementara itu, sosok bertopi yang semula berjongkok kembali berdiri dan berganti menatap Taemin dengan tajam.
Taemin terus terisak di tempatnya duduk. Kedua matanya yang basah dan sedikit kabur karena air mata mengawasi gerak-gerik yang dilakukan oleh sosok bertopi tersebut.
"Jadi – kau dengan mudahnya membiarkan dua orang asing menciummu?!"
"Apa?!" Taemin berusaha mencerna apa yang didengarnya, meski terasa lebih sulit dengan air mata yang masih mengalir di kedua pipinya. "Apa m-maksudmu, h—hyung?"
Sedetik kemudian, ia mengerti ke mana arah pembicaraan tersebut.
"Hyung! Itu bukan kesengajaan! Siapa juga yang berkata bahwa aku mengijinkan mereka?" Taemin ikut berdiri dan membela diri. Bagaimana pun ia adalah korban.
"Aku benar-benar tidak mengerti dengan apa yang kau pikirkan, hyung!"
Tanpa memberi kesempatan kepada laki-laki bertopi tersebut, Taemin segera berbalik dan berlari meninggalkannya.
* * *
Hari Minggu yang seharusnya menjadi hari yang menyenangkan itu benar-benar telah berubah menjadi hari terburuk untuk Taemin. Tak henti-hentinya ia mengusap air matanya, meninggalkan sampah berupa tissue yang semakin mengotori lantai kamar tidurnya. Ia benar-benar tidak habis pikir. Bagaimana bisa ia malah dituduh bersalah ketika ialah yang menjadi korban.
Mungkin hal itu adalah kesalahpahaman sepele bagi orang lain, namun tidak baginya. Baginya kesalahpahaman sekecil apa pun tidak boleh dianggap remeh.
"Hyung bodoh! Hyung jahat!" lirihnya dengan suara yang benar-benar serak.
Dan akibat terlalu lelah menangis, Taemin akhirnya tertidur. Ia melupakan kemungkinan yang akan terjadi dengan wajahnya pada saat ia bangun tidur nantinya.
* * *
Keesokan harinya, Taemin bangun dengan kepala yang terasa sangat berat. Ia berusaha untuk sampai ke kamar mandi dengan berpegangan pada apa saja yang bisa menopangnya. Ketika melalui ruang keluarga, samar-samar ia melihat kakaknya sudah bersiap untuk pergi ke kampus. Di samping kakaknya, ia melihat seorang perempuan yang sudak tidak lagi asing berada di tempat tinggalnya itu.
Tanpa mengucapkan selamat pagi, Taemin terus berjalan hingga suara nyaring seseorang yang tak lain lagi adalah milik kekasih kakaknya menghentikan langkahnya.
"Taemin?! Apa yang terjadi denganmu?!"
"Tuhan… tidak saat ini…" rutuk Taemin.
Dan seperti apa yang ia duga, wajahnya kemudian sudah berada dalam tangkupan kedua tangan kekasih kakaknya.
"Ya, Tuhan! Apa yang terjadi dengan wajahmu? Kenapa kau benar-benar kacau? Apa kau menangis semalaman? Tae—"
"Gwiboon-noona! Berhenti atau Jinki-hyung akan mendengarnya!" bisik Taemin.
Gwiboon menggelengkan kepalanya, tidak setuju dengan Taemin.
"Tidak, Taemin! Lebih baik kakakmu tahu!"
"Apa?! Tidak! Tidak bisa, noona!" Taemin bersikeras untuk mencegah Gwiboon saat Jinki tiba-tiba sudah berdiri di antara mereka.
Taemin hanya bisa menundukkan kepala serendah yang ia bisa, agar wajah sembabnya tidak terlihat oleh kakaknya. Sudah cukup dengan suara nyaring Gwiboon, ia tidak mau suara nyaring dari kakakknya sendiri.
"Kalian ini pagi-pagi sekali sudah bertengkar. Ada apa memangnya?" tanya Jinki.
"Jinki-oppa! Kau ini kan kakaknya, kenapa malah tidak tahu kalau Taemin kita ini menangis semalaman?!" cerca Gwiboon sambil berkacak pinggang.
Taemin berharap ada lubang di hadapannya. Dengan begitu ia bisa menghindari semuanya.
"Benarkah?!" terselip kekhawatiran pada suara Jinki. "Benar begitu, Taemin?"
"Benar-benar– kau ini bodoh atau apa? Tentu saja! Mana mungkin aku berbohong, oppa?!"
Ketiganya kemudian terdiam beberapa saat, sibuk dengan pemikiran mereka masing-masing, sampai Gwiboon angkat bicara.
"Katakan, Taemin. Siapa yang sudah membuatmu seperti ini?"
Taemin hanya menghela napas dan mengangkat bahu, sebelum berjalan ke kamar mandi. Ia dapat mendengar Gwiboon memanggil-manggil namanya, meminta penjelasan. Bagaimana pun ia sedang tidak ingin membicarakannya. Tidak untuk saat itu. Sudah cukup ia saja yang menangggungnya. Ia tidak ingin melihat apa yang akan dilakukan oleh kakak laki-lakinya dan kekasihnya itu terhadap seseorang yang telah membuatnya menangis.
—
Materi pelajaran yang disampaikan oleh guru pengampu benar-benar tidak dapat Taemin terima. Matanya terlalu berat untuk diajak kompromi. Selain itu, kepalanya juga terasa pening, mengingat sedemikian banyak air mata yang keluar pada hari sebelumnya.
Bahkan, pikirannya benar-benar tidak tepusat. Teman-temannya di sekolah berkali-kali bertanya, memastikan bahwa dirinya baik-baik saja.
"Hey, Taemin. Lihat ponselmu, sedari tadi ponselmu terus bergetar," singgung salah seorang temannya.
Ia hanya melirik ponselnya dengan malas. Benar saja ponsel di hadapannya tersebut terus bergetar meminta perhatian.
Ia sebenarnya sengaja membiarkan ponselnya yang terus bergetar. Ia tidak ingin memberikan respon apa pun. Tetapi, karena ia tidak ingin mengganggu kenyamanan orang lain, ia putuskan untuk menekan tombol berwarna merah pada ponselnya. Dengan malas, ia memeriksa daftar panggilan masuk, dan dapat ia lihat sepuluh daftar panggilan masuk – lima di antaranya tidak terjawab olehnya.
Tak berselang lama, sebuah pesan masuk muncul dan Taemin terpaksa menekan tombol untuk melihat isi pesan.
* * *
Mungkin otaknya sudah rusak, sehingga ia telah berada di atas atap sekolah pada saat sekolah mulai sepi ditinggalkan para siswa, sedangkan ia sebelumnya sudah berniat tidak akan memenuhi permintaan seseorang yang mengiriminya pesan pada jam istirahat. Itulah yang ada dalam benak Taemin.
Ia duduk dengan tas punggung yang diletakkan tidak jauh darinya. Ia harus menghela napas yang semakin terasa berat karena harus menahan air mata yang mulai menggenang. Satu tangannya menggenggam ponsel kuat-kuat, dengan kedua mata yang terus memandang layar ponsel. Dapat ia lihat dengan jelas wajah tampan seorang pemuda yang sudah lama menjadi kekasihnya pada layar ponsel.
"Aku bahkan tidak punya kesempatan untuk mengutarakan semua yang kutahan selama ini…" lirihnya. "Bukankah kau sendiri yang telah berjanji untuk menjaga dirimu sendiri?"
Taemin merapatkan jaketnya ketika angin berhembus, sedikit menggigil karenanya.
"Pasti sebentar lagi akan musim dingin."
Taemin kemudian menengadahkan kepala, untuk melihat langit biru yang sedikit berawan di atasnya. Tidak ada senyuman yang biasanya akan dengan mudah terlukis di wajahnya, kapan pun ia memandangi langit. Entahlah, namun saat itu ia benar-benar tidak bergairah – bahkan sekedar untuk tersenyum.
Tanpa terasa, ia sudah cukup lama menunggu. Karena bosan, ia mengambil secarik kertas dan sebatang pensil dari dalam tas. Ia mulai menggoreskan ujung pensil, membentuk sebuah gambar wajah yang selalu berada dalam pikirannya. Ia sedikit tersenyum ketika memandangi hasil gambaran tangannya sendiri tersebut.
Tiba-tiba saja, angin bertiup dan membuat kertas yang ia pegang melayang terlepas dari tangannya. Taemin segera mengejar dan berusaha meraihnya. Dan yang tidak ia sadari adalah, hal tersebut justru membuatnya melangkah menutu tepi atap yang memang tidak memiliki pembatas yang cukup tinggi.
…
Kedua mata Taemin terpejam. Seluruh tubuhnya bergetar hebat dalam pelukan seseorang. Perlahan, ia memberanikan diri untuk membuka mata.
Dapat ia lihat, sosok yang telah membuatnya menangis dan menunggu telah berada di depan mata. Ia tidak kuasa menyangga tubuhnya sendiri, sehingga dengan pasrah ia membiarkan kedua tangan pemuda di hadapannya tersebut menyangga tubuhnya.
Lidah Taemin kelu ketika ia berusaha mengucapkan sesuatu. Namun, tetap saja tidak ada suara yang berhasil keluar darinya. Tubuhnya juga masih bergetar hebat karena ketakutan akan apa yang hampir saja terjadi, jika saja pemuda tersebut tidak datang tepat pada waktunya.
"H-hyung…"
Akhirnya satu kata berhasil ia keluarkan.
"M-minho-hyung…"
Minho, pemuda yang masih mendekap tubuh kurus Taemin, hanya menatap Taemin dengan penuh rasa khawatir.
"Apa—apakah aku sudah berada di surga?" racau Taemin dengan suara yang bergetar.
Minho menggelengkan kepalanya.
"Apa yang sebenarnya kau pikirkan, Tae? Apa kau pikir aku ini bisa hidup tanpamu? Apa kau pikir dengan bunuh diri semuanya akan terselesaikan?" tanya Minho kemudian. Suaranya terdengar tajam meski masih terdengar lirih.
Taemin mematung, mendengar kekasihnya tersebut berkata dengan penuh rasa khawatir bercampur kekecewaan.
"A-aku h-hanya berusaha mengambil kertasku, h-hyung," jawab Taemin dengan takut-takut.
"Tapi itu hampir membuatmu celaka!" seru Minho kemudian, tanpa peduli akan jaraknya yang masih terlalu dekat dengan Taemin.
Taemin memejamkan matanya erat-erat, tidak ingin melihat apa yang tengah terjadi. Melihat Minho marah bukanlah sesuatu yang baik. Ia ingin menjauh, namun rengkuhan lengan Minho pada tubuhnya terlalu kuat untuk ia lawan.
"Apa kau tahu? Aku sangat takut akan kehilangan dirimu…" suara Minho yang sempat meninggi perlahan kembali seperti semula, bahkan seakan menghilang pada akhir kalimat.
Merasa ingin tahu, Taemin memberanikan diri untuk membuka mata. Ia terkesiap saat saat melihat Minho telah berubah menangis di depannya.
"H-hyung?" Taemin menangkup satu sisi wajah Minho dengan hati-hati.
Ia menjadi semakin takut. Baginya, melihat Minho menangis justru jauh lebih menakutkan daripada melihatnya marah.
"M-minho-hyung, maafkan aku. Aku tidak berniat untuk bunuh diri sama sekali. Kumohon, jangan menangis."
Taemin perlahan merengkuh tubuh Minho, membalas rengkuhan Minho yang mulai melemah. Ia mengusap punggung Minho dengan tujuan menenangkannya.
"Hyung, berhentilah menangis. Aku berjanji tidak akan membuatmu khawatir lagi. Aku juga tidak akan memarahimu karena teaser barumu."
Dirasakannya tubuh Minho seketika menegang. Minho melepaskan diri dari rengkuhan Taemin dan menatap Taemin dengan ekspresi ketakutannya.
"K-kau—"
"Aku tahu semua itu. Dan aku percaya padamu," ujar Taemin diikuti senyuman memastikannya.
"T-tapi, Tae—aku bisa jelaskan—"
Taemin mengarahkan telunjuknya ke bibir Minho.
"Berhenti bicara atau aku tidak akan memaafkanmu, hyung," ujar Taemin lagi dengan berpura-pura marah.
"M-maafkan aku…"
Taemin tersenyum. Ia kemudian berjinjit dan mendekatkan wajahnya ke wajah Minho. Dan dengan gerakan lambat, ia mencium kekasihnya dengan lembut, sebelum melepaskannya kembali.
"Taemin…"
Taemin berdengung kecil, mengisyaratkan Minho untuk melanjutkan apa yang akan dikatakan olehnya.
"Mengenai teaser tersebut—aku dan Dara-noona tidak benar-benar berciuman. Kami hanya berpose dan dengan trik kamera, maka kami menjadi terlihat seakan benar-benar berciuman."
Taemin kembali tersenyum dan menganggukkan kepala.
"Aku percaya dirimu, Choi Minho-ssi."
"Terima kasih, Lee Taemin-ssi."
Minho segera meraih dagu Taemin dan mendekatkan wajahnya ke wajah Taemin, untuk mencium Taemin lebih lama.
"Ahem!" suara dehaman seseorang terpaksa merusak momen keduanya.
Taemin dengan segera melepaskan diri dari Minho, untuk melihat siapa yang sudah mengganggu kebersamaannya dengan kekasihnya tersebut.
"Aku rasa sudah cukup kalian berciuman. Dan kau, Choi! Sebaiknya kau segera mengantarku pulang karena besok aku harus segera pulang ke Jerman!"
Seorang laki-laki lain berambut cokelat gelap tengah melipat tangan di depan dada, memandang ke arah Taemin dan Minho dengan pandangan muaknya.
"Dan kau, bocah! Kenapa kau mudah sekali memaafkan kodok bodoh ini?" ujarnya lagi yang kali itu ditujukan kepada Taemin.
Minho yang sadar akan hilangnya kehangatan yang Taemin berikan, dengan cepat merengkuh tubuh Taemin kembali, tidak peduli dengan sahabatnya yang semakin kesal olehnya. Ia menyeringai mengejek sebelum mencium pipi Taemin.
"Kau pulang saja sendiri, Jjong-hyung. Aku masih ingin di sini bersama Taemin."
Taemin hanya terdiam dalam rengkuhan Minho, tidak terlalu paham dengan apa yang sedang terjadi.
"Yah! Kau ini—" Laki-laki bernama Jonghyun tersebut berjalan mendekati keduanya, bersiap untuk melemparkan tinjunya kepada Minho sebelum pada akhirnya dihentikan oleh Taemin.
"Ya! Jangan berani-berani menyentuh Minho-hyung!"
Jonghyun terkejut dengan seruan Taemin yang tiba-tiba sekali.
"Baiklah, Jjong-hyung! Aku kan hanya bercanda! Kenapa kau serius sekali?" ujar Minho, melerai Taemin dan Jonghyun.
"Ayo, Taemin. Kita sebaiknya segera pulang sebelum Jjong-hyung memarahiku lagi," decak Minho sambil menarik Taemin dengan halus.
Jonghyun hanya mencibir di belakang, tidak terima dengan perlakuan yang Minho berikan.
Minho benar-benar tidak tahu bagaimana caranya berterima kasih. Setelah berhasil membujuk dirinya untuk membantu mengatasi permasalahannya dengan kekasihnya itu, Minho dengan seenaknya membuat dirinya kesal. Untung saja, kepulangannya ke Jerman masih sekitar dua puluh jam lagi.
The End
End file.
| Misc. Romance | Fanfiction | null | 25,553 | 9,895.3 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Chapter 1
Subdued
_Chapter 1_
Lana
I jerked myself off of the ground and gazed around the darkened forest. Everything was the same, couldn't have happened long ago.
Being bitten by a vampire really ruins your day. It hurts like hell and leaves you with a hunger that seems unending.
As I stood up and again checked my surroundings, I found my self catching the scent of blood. I looked to the ground, where a scarlet puddle was staining the grass. My blood, I was surprised he didn't lick it up, the freak.
Jase, his name no longer brought feeling of love and desire. No, it now left me with feelings of disgust, hate and rage. I wanted to bring him the same pain he gave me.
I wanted him dead. I wanted to rip his head off. He had killed me, taken away my life, my humanity, without so much as a second thought.
The thought of my human existence brought up memories of things I would never again be permitted to do. I could already feel my body changing, adapting to my new nature.
I could feel my strength, my muscles flexing as I moved and tried them out. I punched a tree. My fist tore through the bark. My skin already was beginning to look flawless. I bet if I had a mirror, my eyes would be an unnatural red. I was a vampire.
I closed my eyes, vampire, something I had once thought was cool, fascinating. But now that I was one, I felt nothing. An emptiness filled me, I had to start over, never again could I lead a normal life. All because of Jase.
He won't get away with this, I thought. I will find him, and I will put him through the same hell he had caused me.
But, Jase was a wanderer, he may not even be in the city anymore. I would have to track him. I don't know where he's off to, or, more importantly, how to even kill him.
Luckily, I think I know just the person who will.
I began running out of the forest, my legs pumping, I was sprinting at impossible speeds. I was soon out, the city, my home, was soon looming ahead. I glanced at it sadly. I would never see any friends or family I'd ever known there again. That only fueled my anger towards Jase. I gave my poor town one last longing look then bolted away into the uncertain darkness.
Jase
I was now far away from the town. It was behind me and I shouldn't look back, that was what I had always done. But I couldn't get it out of my head, couldn't get _her _out of my head.
I had briefly thought that maybe I could love her. Maybe she was a girl I could spend my existance with. But the scent of her blood seduced me, lured me with its luscious smell.
_Lana, _I thought. She was as easy to manipulate as any other human. She trusted me because I was beautiful, because I seemed so normal, and most importantly because she thought I loved her, because she thought I was the good guy.
Now that Lana was dead, I felt a strange sadness. I'd tricked hundreds of people and killed them before. But Lana had been the only one I'd fallen in love with.
It was probably sick and twisted that it took her death to make me realize it. I thought of the cruel things I'd said to her before she'd died. How I'd broken her heart.
I stopped on the roof top I was currently running on. I walked over to the ledge and gazed down at a new city and a thousand new possible victims.
I looked down the other edge of the rooftop. It was an alley, I thought about trying to commit suicide by jumping off, even though I knew it wouldn't work. I put my head in my arms.
I really wished I had never even went to that town and met Lana. I stood back up and jumped of my perch on the ledge. I landed directly in front of a man with a bag of groceries.
"Jesus!" He yelled as I appeared in front of him. He g=looked up at the roof then back at me. "Are you crazy? You could have been killed! Or worse you could have landed on me and killed_ me_!" He yelled indignant of my carelessness regarding him. I just hissed in response and opened my mouth wide enough for him to see my fangs. He dropped his bag and took a step back. "What…What are you?" He asked fearfully, no longer mad at me. I held up a hand. "
"I'm not in the mood, let's just get this over with." I said as I slammed him into the brick wall of the building. He whined and slumped to the ground. I pulled him into the alley and disposed of him quickly.
After feeding, I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky. I really hate my life, I thought miserably.
2. Subdued Chapter 2
_Chapter 2_
Lana
I stopped my car in front of a familiar house outside of my own home town. I turned off the ignition and jogged, or rather sprinted with my new speed, up to the front door.
John, opened the door after I rang the doorbell. A flicker of recognition flashed in his eyes. "Lana?" He asked, I nodded, "Hello John."
He stepped aside to allow me in. "You look…well." He added, trying to make small talk.
"I suppose you could say that." I mumbled, anger flaring inside me again. I walked over to the bookshelf I had examined the first tie I came here. Jase had dragged me here to talk to John about his inability to kill me. John thought it was because I reminded him of his mate before he turned, how wrong he was.
"How are you and Jase?" He asked, obviously sensing I had come here for another reason than to browse his book collections.
I turned to face him, "He killed me." I said coldly. John didn't look surprised, he only nodded sadly.
"He didn't love me, obviously," I continued bitterly, "I got cut and he chased me, using my fear and sadness as a part in his game." I spit out angrily. "he crushed my heart and then teased me, using it against me, he tortured me. Then he just bit me and he killed me!" I screamed. All of the anger I had yet to throw at Jase, bubbling up like acid.
John stood there as I screamed and told him my story. After I was done, I felt tears dripping down my cheeks. I hated to admit that I had loved Jase, and that I was crying for him.
John put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. "I honestly thought you would be a good mate for him, Lana. But it turns out Jason was just to unstable about his blood lust." John said.
I brushed away my tears quickly, "You don't sound surprised." I say to him. He taked him hand off my shoulder, now placing it in his pocket. "No, I'm not. Although I did think he loved you, I did suspect he would turn you.'
I looked at John, "But you though he would transform me and stay." I stated, I knew it was true. He nodded, "Many vampires do it with their human lovers."
"John," I say preparing to finally confess why I came, "I need to fine Jase, but he left and I don't know where he went." I said staring at John.
"You want to kill him." He didn't ask, my burst of anger earlier gave it away. I hesitated then nodded. John sighed, " I don't approve of this, Lana." He chastised as if I were a child who had broken some rule.
"But, I will tell you how to find him." I brightened, I hadn't expected John to tell me. "Only, because I believe you deserve some closure after what he did to you." He added, still sounding like a father.
"How do I find him?" I asked, choosing not to aknowledge his comment, "You were turned by Jason. You have a special connection to him. I'm surprised you haven't tapped into it yet. Anyway, all you have to do is follow your insticts, Jason most likely doesn't know you are alive, correct?" He asked, I nodded, "Well, then just draw back memories on him and you will find him."
"And," I hesitated to ask John this, " is there a way to kill him?" I asked.
For the first time, John did look surprised. "Lana, are you sure…"
"Yes." I interrupted.
John looked to the ceiling, debating on telling g Lana or not. He sighed and turned to her. He said nothing for a moment, only stared at me. I was growing impatient, but I understood his delay.
"Well," He said finally, "There are a few ways to kill a vampire, sunlight as you know, decapitation, burning them alive," He said, listing a few. He looked away again, as if he was ashamed of telling me this.
I nodded and put my hand on his shoulder. He didn't react. "It's okay John." I said. He turned to face me, his disappointment apparent.
"Be careful Lana, you may want to contemplate me on this decision. It's a huge choice. Do you know what you're doing?"
I smiled, not wanting to answer the question,"Thank you, John." I started towards the door.
He nodded, knowing, asi did, that I didn't answer his question. John followed me as I exited, and as I left he called, "Be careful, Lana."
I stepped into my car and sat there for a moment. I did as John instructed and thought about my brief life with Jase. I hated to remember these thoughts, but I had to find Jase.
Suddenly, what seemed like a memory, but obviously wasn't, appeared in my head. It was a large city. I knew exactly where it was. I smiled and turned on the ignition, my car came to life.
_Well, if I'm going to see Jase_, I thought, I better get ready for the date. I pressed down on the gas and sped away, I was going to feed first before I met him.
Cat
Catalina Frost walked the streets of Dreston sadly. Her eyes were red from crying.
A few days ago Brittney, one of her closest friends, was murdered by someone in the woods, just outside of town.
Soon after another murder took place, most likely by the same criminal, the police had said on the news, and Lana, her best friend, was kidnapped. She and Lana's father had helped organize the search parties, but had no luck so far.
Her world was falling apart, there was murderer somewhere in her home town, her friend was dead, and another could be in the clutches of that murderer.
Cat was now wandering around town, a cup of coffee in her hand. She wasn't searching tonight; she just needed to be away for a few hours.
As she approached, The Jordon's Book's she stopped to look at the yellow 'do not cross' police tape, naming this a crime scene. She could see blood spattered on the walls. She looked away, disgusted.
Yet another crime was committed here. A friend from school, Brett, was murdered here. The sight was gruesome, blood painting the walls.
The police arrived at the scene when I local came into to get a book and saw Brett. But everyone was way too late. Brett was killed by a monster; it was hard to believe all this was happening in their small town.
She turned from the store and continued walking down the street. She pulled her jacket closer, and took another sip of her coffee.
A few moments later, she bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry," She mumbled, "I wasn't paying…" She stopped mid-sentenced when she looked at the person she hit.
The girl was beautiful, yet she seemed somewhat familiar. She was prefect as far as Cat was concerned. She had wavy burgundy hair, flawless skin, with golden freckles dashed across her cheeks and nose. Suddenly, recognition slammed into Cat like a ton of bricks.
"Lana? Is that you?" She asked.
Lana's eyes opened wider as she gazed at Cat. Not realized who this girl was at first.
Cat beamed and hugged Lana. Lana took a deep breath as Cat held her; the scent of Cat's blood filled her nostrils "Oh Lana! You can't imagine how happy I am to see you! Wait 'till everyone knows you're okay!" She said hugging her again. "You can't imagine how much everyone has missed you! Where were you? Are you okay? We have to get you somewhere safe." Cat said, talking a mile a minute. She put her arms around Lana and started walking with her.
Lana quickly jerked away, covering her nose. Something about her seemed different to Cat. Lana's dark hair was wavy and perfect, her skin seemed paler and her eyes were a strange dark red. It didn't make sense for someone who may have just escaped from a psychopath.
"Lana? Are you okay?" Cat asked. Lana coughed and glared at her. "Lana? It's okay, it's me Cat, remember?" She asked, now uneasy at the site of her friend. She held up her wrist and pointed to the bracelet on it, "Remember? We have friendship bracelets." Cat pursed eager to remind Lana of their friendship.
Lana hissed. That was more than a little odd, Cat thought.
Then, without warning Lana pounced on cat. Cat screamed. Lana pressed her hand against her mouth. "Shut up!" She commanded, and threw her on the ground. Cat cried in pain. "Lana! What are you doing?" She screamed when her voice returned.
Lana pressed Cat's back harder against the brick buildings wall, Cat gasped for breath as Lana applied more pressure. "Lana….What are you doing?" Cat begged her oxygen depleting.
Lana glared at her and gave her a hellish smile, "Doing what's in my nature."
Cat's eyes widened as Lana opened her mouth, her fangs glistening with saliva.
Cat released a blood chilling scream and tried to pull away from Lana. She pinched and kicked her friend, but Lana ignored her petty threats and held her pinned to the wall.
"Lana, what happened to you?" Cat finally asked, defeat in her voice. She knew what was going too happed.
"Well, Cat; I'm what you'd call a vampire. But don't worry about me, I just need some food to be okay, you on the other hand will need a lot of blood transfusions and some stitches." Then Lana shrugged, "Who am I kidding, you probably won't survive. See ya." She said. Cat began to cry, but it only lasted a moment. Lana's bite to the throat was quick and effective, instantly crushing Cat's windpipe and killing her.
After drinking another unsatisfying meal, Lana dropped Cat to the ground, right in front of the building; she had no desire to hide Cat like the others.
Then she stood over her lifeless body, and put her own friendship bracelet on Cat's other wrist.
Lana
I sat on the ledge of a building a few blocks away from where Cat lay dead, crying. How could I have killed my best friend?
Cat and I had always been close, and I had just sucked her blood and left her. I was just like Jase.
The realization hit me hard. But it still only fueled my hatred for Jase, I blamed him for Cat's death too. If he hadn't killed me, I wouldn't have killed Cat.
I put my head to the sky and screamed in agony. I killed Cat! My best friend, how could I have done that?
It seems that whenever I feed instinct takes over and I become a different person.
I ground the tears out of my eyes and stood up. I still had to meet Jase and get my revenge. That's all I have to focus on now. I have nothing left. It was his fault all of this happened and he's going to pay.
I jumped off the ledge and landed in an alley off the side of the building. I peeked both ways before heading up the street to my car.
I jumped in and sped away. I needed to get to Jase and get my pitiful revenge; I have nothing left to do with my life right now.
Jase had ruined my life, and I was defiantly going to return the favor.
Dave
Dave anxiously dialed the number again, still hoping for Cat to answer. This was the fifth time he had called. She has always been good about her curfew, and now with a murderer on the lose Dave had told her to be earlier than usual. She was half an hour late, it wasn't like her.
"Cat, hi it's Dad, again, I'm worried, please come home, I'm ready to call the police." He warned then hung up once more. He sighed, and glanced at the clock. If Cat didn't call back within the next ten minutes he was going to call the police.
The ten minutes came and went. But before he could dial the number there was a knock on his door, he ran to answer it, expecting Cat.
It was Carl Williams, the local police chief. Dave's heart dropped, he could see a patrol squad car behind him.
"Y-Yes?" Dave stuttered. "Hello, Dave." Carl said, not offering his usual good natured smile.
"Is there something wrong?" Dave asked, dreading the answer. Carl sighed; Dave didn't miss the tears brimming in his eyes. "It's Cat, Dave." Carl said sadly.
Dave gripped the door frame for support; Carl reached out to help him. "What," Dave swallowed before continuing, "What happened to my daughter? Where is she?" He asked franticly.
Carl sighed again, "We found her, in the alley by Jordon's and the pizza place." Carl replied, not able to look into his friends eyes.
"Is she okay?" Dave asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. Carl finally looked Dave in the eyes, and shook his head.
Dave began to bawl, crying like a baby, but he didn't care. Cat? How could anything have happened to her? How could anything have happened to his baby girl?
Carl put a hand on his should, "God I'm so sorry, Dave!" He said shedding a few tears for the girl he'd known since she was little.
"We, we found these, I told them it was okay for you to keep 'em." Carl said dropping cat's heart shaped locket and her friendship bracelets into his hand.
Through his tears, Dave looked at Cat's sterling silver locket; he'd given it to her for her seventeenth birthday, just two weeks before. He closed his eyes and gripped the jewelry, still sobbing.
How could he ever survive with out Cat? His baby? His only child? How could have ever done this to Cat?
A few days later, Dave sat on his chair, still holding cat's necklace and bracelets in one hand, a glass of whisky in the other.
He examined the knotted gimp bracelet Cat and her best friend Lana had both shared. He noticed the second one right away. Cat had only had one bracelet, Lana held the other one. When Carl had given him both bracelets, he realized Lana had to have been near cat before or after she was murdered.
He had felt such shock at the thought that Lana would even consider hurting his daughter. Her _best friend_. Dave was still wondering if there was any other explanation for the second bracelet. So far, he had found none.
Lana had supposedly been kidnapped a few days before, but maybe, as horrible as it seemed, she was the true murderer.
"Son of a bitch!" He screamed throwing the glass of whisky against the wall. He sat back down and sobbed. When his vision cleared, he looked at the framed picture of Cat from her school yearbook. She was giving a beautiful smile, her hair was straightened and she was wearing her favorite white blouse.
"I will make sure Lana doesn't get away with this, Cat, I promise you." He said, looking at the picture and pressing his finger around her face.
3. Subdued Chapter 3
_Chapter 3_
Jase
Once again, I was stuck roaming around a city I had no business in. It was day, but I was lucky enough to find an abandoned hotel that I'd been staying in on the edge of town. The hotel was only half finished; the town had given up on the project when they realized the hotel had no use since tourism was at an all time low.
I wasn't the only vamp who had hunted out this place for a home though. There were a few other vamps scattered around the hotel, 'sleeping' in sheltered rooms and then disappearing at different times. Most of them went to towns nearby, I was the only one who stayed and hunted locally.
One dawn, a male vamp came into my room. He was in his early teens, he had long black hair and wore all black cloths, and he was the stereotypical vamp. His eyebrow and nose were pierced.
"Hey," He said, coming further into my room. I nodded to him, "Hello." I went back to reading my book, but the kid stayed. I turned to look at him, he was leaning against the door frame, and "Can I help you?" I asked a little annoyed.
"Name's Jared." He said, and held out his hand, I reluctantly shook it, "I'm Jason." I told him.
Jared stepped back and glanced around my room. I wondered what he was looking for, there wasn't any personalization done to my room. "You new here?" He asked. I nodded, "Yeah, and I don't plan on staying." I said getting of my bed and walking over to him.
"Are you a loner?" He asked. I cracked a smile, "I think the real question is; are _you _new here? And by here I don't mean the town," I said when he opened his mouth to speak, "I mean to the vampire world in general."
He looked down, embarrassed that I had noticed, "Yes," He confessed, "I was bitten only like a year ago." He said.
I nodded; I knew the feeling of being a new vampire with no one else to trust. "To answer your question, yes, I'm a loner, you?" I asked him, expecting the answer.
"Uh huh" He said, and then he looked down before asking the next question, "Hey Jason, would you consider, letting me travel with you? Just for a little while," He added before I could say anything, "I still need to get a hang of this blood craving stuff."
"I'd like to help you, Jared, but honestly, learning it by yourself helps later on, I know from experience."
Jared nodded sadly, disappointed that I wouldn't let him travel with me. But he didn't give up, "How long are you staying here?"
I thought about it for a moment, "I don't really know, not long though." I said. Jared smiled, "Well, while you're here can you give me a few pointers?" He asked eagerly, like a child anticipating a special gift.
"Why not?" I said and shrugged. Jared beamed and thanked me before leaving.
Over the next few days, Jared came into my room during daytime to ask me pestering questions about vampire life. He asked about controlling blood lust, which I tried to give tips but I still hadn't mastered that one myself.
He asked about burning and weaknesses and 'super-powers' as he liked to refer to them as. Just after sunset of the last day of my stay, Jared came in and simply stood in my door way.
Even though we had only been friends for a few days, Jared and I formed a bond and had really gotten to know each other. When you only have one friend in the world, I guess that can happen.
I could tell something was bothering him. "What is it Jared?" I asked looking up from my book, which I was now rereading for the third time. He looked up at me, "Before you go, I really need to ask one more question before you leave." He said.
I nodded and pointed to the couch on the other side of the room. He sat down. "Before I was transformed," he began nervously, "I had a girlfriend." I closed my eyes, remembering, not Kayla, but Lana. "And I saw her the other day and she recognized me. I hung out with her for a little while."
My eyes snapped open. But instead of yelling at the kid, I let him finish first.
"Not for a long time, we only talked for a few minutes. But in just those few minutes, I was so overwhelmed by the smell of her blood. It smelled delicious. It took all my strength not to hurt her."
More painfully memories of Lana haunted me.
"But I really think I can be with her and not hurt her even if she's human."
Now I interrupted, "No." I said, Jared looked up, startled by my tone, "But, Jase I really think I—"
"No!" I said again, more forcefully this time. 'It's dangerous, Jared. I know you think you won't hurt her, but you will." I said glaring at him.
He looked down, afraid to contradict me, "What if I changed her, too?" He asked tentively. I only glared at Jared harder, "Do you really think that's what she wants? To be killed?" I asked, softer not wanting to scare him, only to have him face reality.
Jared didn't say anything for a moment, but then he nodded. "Ok, thanks, Jase. Goodbye." He said getting up to leave.
I suddenly felt bad, "Jared, I tried to stay with my girlfriend, while I was a vamp." I said not facing him.
"How did it work?" He asked, wondering if I was changing my mind.
I closed my eyes, picturing the fear on Lana's face when I bit her, "Well," I said chuckling at my dark joke, "considering she's dead, not very good."
Lana
I looked up at the beautiful, cloudless, blue sky. The sun shimmering down and casting light over the restless city. I watched with envy and the people strolled about and let the sun warm their skin. They took it for granted; they had no idea how lucky they were.
I walked away from the boarded window quickly. As I had been gazing through one of the patched between the boards, my fingers were scorching, and my eyes hurt from squinted through the light.
I hissed as my finger tips blackened.
I used to love being out in the sun. I loved the feel of it as it warmed my back and shoulders. Now, if I was to try that stunt, I'd be charred in an instant.
I sighed and moved further away from the window, still holding my burned fingers.
The pain and envy added fuel to the fire I felt inside. So many things I could never do again.
I laid down on my makeshift bed, a few blankets and pillows tossed together.
Although vampires don't need sleep, I still tried on occasions, just to keep a little bit of humanity in me.
My stomach growled. I'd been trying not to feed. After what I did to Cat, I couldn't bear looking at another human with fear like hers, like mine.
As soon as night fell, I'd be driving towards Jase. I was getting closer to him, I could feel it.
My stomach growled again. Ignoring the hunger was painful. I hissed and growled crazy with hunger. With every hiss I uttered, I felt every ounce of humanity I still retained, slip away.
I pinched my eyes shut, determined to sleep. It was the only way to avoid the hunger. The hunger which was only yet another reminder that I was no longer human.
I think I did eventually fall asleep. A few hours later my eyes popped open. I turned towards the boarded up windows. Only the pale light of the moon was cast on the floor.
I jumped up and ran out of the room.
My watched told me it was eight o'clock. As I jogged down the street, my hunger returned with a greater anger. The streets were mostly empty. I threw glances across the street trying to find some food.
I was ravenous, I needed to feed I could feel my fangs protruding form my gums.
Suddenly, the headlights of a car in the distance dully reflected on the pavement. With out really dwelling on the idea, I quickly made a plan.
As the car drew close I had to squint my eyes, it felt like I was getting mild sunburn.
With just a few more feet the car would be here. With one swift movement I threw myself into the road and closed my eyes.
The smack of the metal and squeal of breaks echoed off the street. The force of the car hitting my, didn't feel more than a fly landing on me.
I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back, looking up at the stars. I pushed myself up and looked at the wreckage.
The car was dented deeply where I had hit. The hood was scratched and pushed up, and the windshield was shattered.
I walked over to the driver's door and yanked the damaged door off.
The driver, a middle-aged male, moaned with pain. His head was lying on his steering wheel; blood seeped from lacerations on his skull. My stomach growled in anticipation.
Slowly, the drivers eyelids fluttered, he open and he strained to sit up. He clutched his arm when he moved and fell back to the seat. Then he noticed my staring at him.
"What did I hit? Was it a person?" He asked, he voice sounding gurgling, like he had fluid in his throat. I nodded, "yea you hit me, when I dove into the road." I said nonchalantly.
He looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you insane? What were you trying to do, kill yourself?" I looked back at him, my eyes going into slits.
"Impossible. I was trying to get your attention." I said leaning against the car, still acing calmly. The man shook his head, "You're crazy, and I'm calling the police." He picked up his cell phone. I snatched it from him and crushed it in my hand.
He looked fearful, "How did you do that? And you don't really look like you just got hit by a car." He said examining my attire.
I opened my mouth and licked my fangs. "What the hell are you?" He asked.
I grinned, "A nightmare, "I whispered before lunging forward, I forced myself into the car and held him down, he yelped in pain as I sat on his broken arm.
Enjoying his pain, I picked it up and twisted it, it cracked sickeningly. He moaned, this isn't real." He muttered.
"Still not convinced?" I asked. I brought my face closer to his, letting him get a nice look at my teeth. "Don't deny what you can't see." And with those as my parting words, I sunk my teeth into his vein, greedily sucking down his delicious blood. He moaned, but had no energy to fight me off. I licked the blood from his wound after draining him.
In the distance sirens sounded. I pushed the man forward, his head leaning on the wheel as it originally was.
I turned form the scene and ran away, leaving the carcass and accident behind me.
A few moments later, the police arrived. I kept my perch on the rooftop, still stalking my pray like a lioness.
My eyes were luminescent in the darkness. I used my expert vision to watch the cops work. The first a young man, with crew-cut blond hair, jumped out and went to check the drivers pulse.
"My God," he said examining the crash, "What the hell did he hit?" He asked out loud.
The second cop emerged, a fat older man with a bald head, strolled over nonchalantly to the crash eating a doughnut.
"Not sure," He muttered in between chews, "but whatever or whoever it was must be okay, no sign of it."
The younger officer looked at him annoyed, "It doesn't make any sense, look at the depth of the dent. He hit it with a lot of force. There's not way a human could survive this."
I silently jumped off the rooftop, "You're right." I said stepping out of the shadows.
The pair spun around to face me. The chubby cop smiled and drank in my body, Why hello there." He said.
"Pig," I spat, ignoring him I strutted over seductively to the younger cop who eyed me suspiciously.
"Who are you?" He asked. I smiled, "Lana, nice to meet you too." I said.
"Listen we can't have anyone here while we're processing a scene." He said
My smile only grew, "But, that's the good thing, I'm part of the scene." I said batting my eyes to him. He rolled his in response.
"How?" He asked, deciding to play along.
"We, you see, I caused the accident." I said stroking the car as I walked by it. I stopped where the door used to be and put my hand on the drivers shoulder.
I when I turned toward them again, my eyes were red, luminescent in the night, and my fangs were exposed. I smiled again, "Believe me yet?"
Both officers instinctively drew their guns out and aimed at me.
I laughed, "See if you can stop me." I mocked.
"Hold it!" The chubby cop yelled as I stepped forward. I took another deliberate step forward and grinned at the. The younger cop took no chances and squeezed the trigger.
The bullet slammed into my shoulder. I flinched as it hit me but remained standing they watched, horrified, as I plucked the bullet out and flicked it away.
Then with a demonic laugh and roar I charged forward, fangs ablaze and gleefully murdered the cops
Jase
I leaned against the alley, waiting. No one was in sight. I merely stood and waited, glancing around the abandoned section of town, imagining what may have been here.
I heard voices soon enough though. Girls, I could tell. High pitch and giggly. I straightened up and bummed out the cigarette I'd been smoking. Being a vampire, it wouldn't affect me.
As the girls walked by, I flashed a smile at them. They both broke into giggles and stopped. "Hey I'm Lacy." The pretty blonde one said. I beamed again, and held out my hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Jase." I said, kissed her hand when she put hers in mine. She blushed. Her brunette friend laughed, "Cute, I'm Catie by the way." She said also offering her hand. I a kissed it and stared at the pair.
"So, what are you doing just standing around out here?" Lacy asked, her voice had a slight southern twang to it, it was cute. "Just relaxing, I've been busy lately." I said shrugging.
Catie instantly moved forward, almost pressing against me, "Well, let us help you unwind some more." She said pulling me along.
This time I laughed, "Why not." Lacy clapped and giggle, "Yay! Let's go!" She reminded me of a child.
The two brought me to a bar they knew off. I had the suspicion that they were both underage, as was I, but the security guard at the door, hardly noticed and allowed them in.
I sat in both while Lacy and Catie took off dancing. As the two bumped and grinded their way to the dance floor, I had to suppress my laughter. Catie was a desperate flirt.
A waitress came over to my table. "Can, I get you anything, Hun?" She asked eyeing me. I just shook my head. "Nothing for me, but how about a few beers for my dates." I stressed the's' and pointed to Catie and Lacy.
The waitress didn't hide her disappointment, "Sure thing." She muttered.
Catie and Lacy returned a few moments later. I passed them their drinks, and talked with them. Lacy was happy for the conversation. Unfortunately, I could tell all Catie wanted was to head back to my apartment and see how far she could get tonight.
After a few more beers, and more dancing from Catie, we left.
We walked down the street for a while, my arm around both of them. I pulled Lacy in closer, Catie was getting jealous. I was enjoying her greediness. I poked Lacy's shoulder, and she looked up at me. I plopped a kiss on her lips, she seemed surprised but she eagerly returned the kiss.
"Why, why are you only kishing her?" She asked, her voice slurring from her drinks.
I ignored her, "Well, I best be going home. But the party doesn't have to end here, you ladies wanna join me?" Lacy nodded, still flustered from the kiss. Catie also nodded, but I could tell she was fuming on the inside.
"Good. Then let's go." I grabbed each of there hands and bolted down the street. They struggled and managed to keep up.
When we got back to the alley I had originally been loitering in, I grabbed Lacy close. "Ready for this?" I asked mysteriously. She nodded, thinking something way different then what really was about to happen. I smiled, my fangs beginning to poke out, "Good."
I grabbed a fistful of Lacy's blond hair and threw her into the alley. She screamed and fell to the ground. Catie idiotically ran toward her, to help.
"What the hell is your problem?" Catie yelled at me, putting her arms protectively around Lacy, who was crying.
"It's in my nature, babe."
I jumped and landed on Catie's leg. She screamed, but I cut it off putting a hand over her mouth. Lacy could only sit next to her in shock. I wasted no time with witty lines and quickly bit Catie's neck, she whimpered for a moment before quietly slumping to the ground while I finished her off.
Then I turned to Lacy. The second I did so, her tears began to flow harder and she gazed at me in fear. "Good bye Lacy." I said, I kissed her once more and then bit her. She cried harder, but only for a moment, she then fell next to Catie. I looked at the pair once more, and sighed.
Just another night in my life.
Lana
I sped through the highways and streets, the cities and towns were blending together. I kept driving, stopping only for feeding, other than that I drove quickly and efficiently, I would get to Jase soon.
As I was passing through one of the hundreds of cities a feeling slammed into me. It was hard to identify at first. It tingles my senses, making me think _stop!_ And forcing me to do so. I sat in my car; my eyes squeezed shut, trying to identify the strange feeling. Then, it hit me, tons of memories of Jase.
He was here.
I grinned to myself and slammed down on the gas pedal. Jase was in for the surprise of his life.
4. Subdued Chapter 4
_Chapter 4_
Jase
I sat on my bed, tossing a bouncy ball against the ceiling and catching it as it came back down. I'd been doing this for hours. I was the image of boredom at the moment.
I sighed and sat back up. Examining the ball in my hand like it was the most fascinating thing on the world. With a grunt I threw it to the other side of the room.
The ball flew with enormous force to the other side of the room, through the plaster wall, and outside to the street below.
"Shit!" I jumped up to make sure no one was there. It was night so I opened up the curtains. Being that it was three a.m., no one was around. The ball was all alone in the middle of the rood.
I smiled, that was kind of cool. I turned from the window and sat back on my bed. I wished I could sleep, just so I could have something to do.
Suddenly, a scream shattered the silence of the night. I jumped up and went to the window again.
Across the street, next to where my defenseless bouncy ball laid, I could see two figures moving. One, with a knife and obviously an upper-hand moving toward the second figure, a young girl, I assumed she had screamed.
I puzzled over what to do for a moment. Playing hero probably wasn't a bad idea, but then again it wasn't a fantastic idea either. But, I supposed if I'm going to kill to feed, I might as well clean the streets of the scum of the Earth.
But, if I'm going to do this I'm going to do it with style. I went back a few feet, took a deep breath of unneeded air and charged through the wall.
As I broke though, both people turned to face me.
"What the hell?" I heard the male murderer say.
I landed perfectly and took off running towards the man. He was staring at me like he couldn't believe I was real. I smiled and ran faster until I smashed into him and knocked him to the ground.
"Oh! Man, I think you just broke some of my ribs!" I grinned again. I was glad I decided to do this.
"That's what you get for trying to kill people, Buddy." I said punching him in the jaw. He groaned and turned onto his side.
I leaned in closer to him, "Guess what the best part of all this is." I whispered into his ear. He turned again to he could look at me.
I let my fangs protrude from my mouth so he could see them clearly. His eyes widened, "Dude, are you for real?" he asked. This guy wasn't too bright.
"No, this is all just a dream, smartass." I dug my teeth into his neck and pulled back, literally ripping out his throat. He didn't have time to scream before he put his hand to his wound, trying to stop the blood. I got a firm hold of his arm and ripped it from its socket. I heard the victim behind me scream. The guy gasped and laid still, his only action was the rapid blinking of his eyes.
I decided to end the fun and suck down his blood. When I was done I stood up and sighed with pleasure.
Remembering the girl behind me I turned around and patted my stomach, "Good eating. Looks like I got here just in time. You okay?" I asked.
The girl stared at me with frightened eyes, and nodded quickly. I imagined how I must look to her, covered with blood and guts of I guy I just killed right in front of her.
But I wasn't done yet I had to play it up even more. I nodded to her and said, "Just be more careful next time, I won't always be around to lend a hand, miss." When I said 'lend I hand' I pulled up the dead guys arm and wagged it at her. She screamed, I laughed, good day for me.
I saluted the girl before jumping onto the buildings side and running across a rooftop. I could still hear her confused and terrified screams as I jogged off. I wondered briefly if she could hear my hysteric laughter.
Lana
I had dropped my car off at a parking garage somewhere earlier. From then on, I'd been on foot sniffing and searching for Jase's scent. He was close, _very_ close, I could feel it.
I kept to the shadows, pressing against the walls of buildings, so if Jase was to hear me, I would still b safe for a moment.
_Crunch. _I spun around at the sound. It sounded like someone had stepped on a branch or was just dragging his feet. My powerful eyes scanned the darkness; I searched for any hint of life.
_Thud. _I spun around again. Did he see me? Did he know I was here and is watching me? I hissed a warning. Then I heard footsteps, someone running. Two people running. A scream. The footsteps were heading away from me. I hissed louder in anger and darted off in the direction they were going.
I scaled up a building and crept low as I ran. I could see the figures now. One was a human boy, probably younger than me, maybe only fourteen. The other, unmistakably a vampire. I tried to get a better look at him, but he was facing away from me.
I stopped and sat on the building, still watching the two. The human was crying and begging to let live. The vampire laughed, it was a familiar laugh. I growled quietly.
I watched closely as the vampire picked up the boy by his collar. The boy yelped. Then the vampire did something unexpected. He picked up the boy, put him on his back and jumped up the wall of a building across from me.
He threw the boy down. I watched as the vampire leaned back then dug in for the kill. The boy screamed once, it was abruptly ended by the vampire's venom.
Now was my chance. I quietly slunk off the building. When I was safe in the darkness between my building and another, I waited for the vampire to be distracted before, I bolted across the street. I hid in the darkness again, waiting for the right moment.
I could hear the vampire slurping and savagely eating the boy. I hissed it was making me hungry. I slowly climbed up the wall and waited for a second before getting on top. The vampire was on the other side of the building.
It was Jase. He didn't see me yet. And for a moment all I did was glare at him, thinking of all the ways to kill him. With my demonic hiss I ran forward.
Jase's reign was over.
5. Subdued Chapter 5
_Chapter 5_
Jase
I quickly finished off the boy I was currently feasting on. He had okay blood. It was tainted with alcohol, but it was still worth the kill.
I wiped the blood from my mouth on my sweatshirt sleeve before getting ready to leave. I stretched my back. It had been an easy relaxing day. But I needed to move on to Las Vegas. I hoped to get a head start tonight, stop before morning and get to my destination by morning.
I turned around when I heard a strange hiss in the distance. It echoed off the block. It made it difficult to tell where it came from. I did a three-sixty turn and saw nothing at first. A second louder, even stranger hiss echoed again.
I hissed back, and turned around just in time to see a figure come crashing down on me.
It was a female vampire. And she was strong. At first all I was saw her hair. It was long, curly, and a purplish color in the darkness.
The second she landed on my she ambushed me with punches, claws, and bites. I tried t fight her off but she surprised me. She must have been a newborn to fight like this.
I went to push her both, when she punched me hard in the face. I groaned, "Lady! What the hell is your problem?" I screamed at her.
She hissed in response, and bit my neck. The venom wouldn't affect me, and the bite wouldn't really either, but it did hurt.
I roared and shoved her off. The youngling landed in a crouch and hissed at me again. She stayed in her position, waiting for me to attack.
I was about to charge forward, but stopped as I glared at her. She was beautiful of course, but she was also strangely familiar.
Her face was speckled with golden freckles and her almond shaped eyes, were familiar. They were dark crimson now, but something about her was still familiar.
The realization hit me right then. But it was impossible.
"Lana?" I chocked out in shock.
She growled in fury and jumped for me again. I made no attempt to move; she clawed and tried to bit me with greater force. I didn't understand. I grabbed her arms and pulled her off of me.
"Lana! It's me Jase!" I yelled over her grunts and hisses. She looked as if she was losing more and more of her humanity just by fighting me.
She hissed demonically again, "I know its you!" She spat. I just stared at her, "Then why are you attacking me, if you know it's me, Lan?"
Angry tears began to form in her eyes, "Don't call me that!" She yelled between clenched teeth.
"Ok, ok," I said putting my hands up in surrender, "Lana, what happened to you?" I asked her, putting my hand on her shoulder.
She dug her nails into my hand and pulled my hand off her shoulder. "What happened to me? Are you serious? You killed me!" She screamed. More tears formed and fell down her cheeks, she cried openly now, but her anger didn't diminish.
I felt horrible. Oh, yea that's right,_ I_ killed her. I didn't know what to say to her. I wanted to talk to her, ask her why she cam e her, how she even was alive. But I had a feeling she didn't come to me for an apology.
"Lana, I'm sorry." Was all I managed to say.
She turned to me, her eyes cold and hard. "Sorry? That's all you have to say to me, Jase? You killed me." She started toward me again.
"And you are gonna pay to what you did to me, and what you did to Brittany, and what you did to Cat." She said, with each name she got closer to me, until her face was nearly pressed against mine.
I had to look away, "Lana, please, I know I can never say anything to make up for what I did to you—"
"No, you can't!" She hissed and charged forward again.
She easily pinned me to the ground and brought her face close to mine.
"You have three choices," She said, exposing her fangs as she spoke.
"One, I can rip your head off," She kneed me hard as she said this, I groaned.
"Two, I can rip every appendix from your body slowly and painfully," This time she clawed me face, drawing five long scars from my forehead to my chin. I yelled in pain.
"Or three, I can put you in the burning sun tomorrow." She hissed. I groaned again, "Lana, please."
She only uttered a low growl, "Your choice, Jase."
Her face was still nearly pressed against mine, her blood red lips were slightly parted to show her fangs. She still held my hands to the ground, but she eased on her grip, figuring I wouldn't fight back probably.
I chose not to answer her question.
"If you don't choose Jase, I will," She said angrily, "And I promise you, it won't be merciful."
I closed my eyes, "can I at least stand up?" I asked gingerly. I heard her sigh. She thought about it for a moment before getting back up.
When I stood, Lana was still poised to attack if needed. I stared at her for a moment, actually wondering which way to die.
"Jase, give me your choice or I swear I will kill you right now." She said taking the three steps needed to stand next to me.
I looked to her. I could find no traces of sympathy in those cold eyes, only hatred. I turned to Lana. I slowly raised my hand to stroke her face.
Lana hissed and flinched when I touched her; she raised her own hand to slap me, but leaned forward before she could. She raised her eyebrow when I leaned forward, unsure about what I was doing.
I kissed her, square on the lips. Lana gasped, but did nothing. She didn't return the kiss, but she didn't push me away either.
When I finally pulled away, Lana was staring at me in shock. I thought I saw a flash of emotion in her face for a moment, but her old mask quickly returned.
She slapped me across the face. "What the hell was that? Do you think with one kiss, I would just stop and forgive you like that?" She said. She kicked me in the crotch. I fell to the ground with my hands between my legs.
When I regained my posture I looked up at Lana, who was towering over me, snarling.
"No, I didn't expect you to forgive me. But I had to do it, Lana. I figured if you're going to kill me, I might as well admit that I love you." As corny as it was, I knew what I was saying was true. Lana said nothing; she only continued to stare at me in disbelief. "I love you Lana." I finally said.
Lana crotched down next to me and looked me in the eyes. No anger was apparent in her face. She sighed. When she looked at me again, she had more tears glistening in her eyes. Then she stood back up. I thought she was going to walk away. But she didn't.
When she turned her back to me, I could hear her voice shaking, indicating that she was crying. She kicked my in the jaw with her boot.
"Sorry, Jase. That's not gonna do it. And now I'm choosing your death." She said grabbing me.
She grabbed something from her pocket and stuck it to my back. I was jolted with something. It might have been electricity. I slumped to the ground. My vision was blurry and my hearing was awkward now, but I could still make out what Lana was saying as she leaned over my body, "I'll be back, Jase, sleep tight."
Lana
I walked away from Jase's paralyzed body, with out looking back. I dried my tears and mentally scolded myself for even considering crying.
I ran at amazing speeds toward my abandoned bungalow, grabbed a few supplies, shoved them into my backpack, and ran back to Jase.
I dumped my bag next to Jase's body. He still hadn't moved since I left.
"Good boy." I said and squatted down next to him. He was sweating and in pain, just the way I wanted it.
"Now, I suppose you're wondering what I'm going to do. Well, first I'm going to use this," I pulled a long knife out of my backpack, "to cut you up. Then I'm going to pin you here 'till morning when the sun comes to burn you up. Won't that be interesting." I say patting his head.
"Lana," He said between gasps, "Please, can't we at least talk?" Jase asks pleadingly. I shook my head, "You lost that right when you killed me." I got up and began to walk away. I wasn't going to begin just yet.
"Ok fine, then just listen," He said. I turned around to look at Jase's pathetic form.
"I do love you, Lana. I know it's impossible to believe but it's true. Killing you, that was inevitable, I guess, you have amazing blood, it was impossible to refuse. But, I'm sorry." Jase sighed and looked like he was giving himself a pep talk before going on.
"After, I killed you, I had to move from city to city, and I got lonely. I started thinking that all my life was just killing and eating, killing and eating, that was it. So I got a lot of time to think during the day. And most of the time, you were all I thought about. I thought about the day I met you and how different you were.
"I guess it was just really bad timing that finally made me realize that I love you, Lana. Killing you, I can't explain that, I don't expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know that, I love you, I'm telling the truth. The only thing I ask is for you to believe that much." Jase finished with another longing look at me.
I stayed quiet during his little speech, letting him get out all his confessions before dying.
I said nothing now; too, I didn't know what he expected me to say. Frankly, I didn't know what I expected myself to say.
"Do you believe me, Lana?" He finally asked.
I sighed, "You know what Jase, and I do believe you. I believe that you finally realized that you loved me after I was dead and done for. And you know what else? I believe that you never even knew that I loved you." I didn't know why I saw saying this. The words were just flowing from my mouth.
"I don't know what it was about you, but with in those few days we spent together, I fell madly in love with you. And having you torture me like that, that was awful. You broke my heart, Jase. It was horrible, that kind of betrayal doesn't fade away easily." I said, I could feel tears beginning to form.
"I know, Lana. I wish I could take it back. I wish you were human and I hadn't been so weak." He said shaking his head.
I took a deep breath to steady my voice, "And I haven't told you the worst part yet, Jase," I said. I waited for him to look at me before saying the last sentence.
"I still love you, Jase."
Jase
Hearing Lana say those words made my day. I knew I still wasn't forgiven, but knowing Lana loved me back, was still worth while.
She was still crying as she admitted it. I could tell she had probably just admitted it to herself as well. She came over to me, and cut the rope around my wrists and ankles loose. The shock of whatever weapon she'd used on me earlier was wearing off, and I was able to get up.
"Lana, I meant what I said; I really do wish I could take back what happened." I said going closer to her. She didn't seem vicious and powerful anymore, only depressed. I was comfortable enough to put my hand on her cheek. She looked up at me with her big eyes, still red with the endless thirst.
"So do I." She whispered back. She finally collapsed and fell into my arms. "I hate you, and I love you, Jase. I don't know what to do, but this feels right." She murmured into me. I pulled her closer.
Too soon, we pulled apart. I looked down at her, ecstatic that she had somewhat forgiven me. I cautiously leaned down towards Lana. She made no attempt to stop me so I continued.
This kiss was better. A millions times so. Lana returned the kiss and we stood there, on the rooftop kissing, letting all of the horrible things in our past melt away.
"I love you, Lana." I said. She gave a small smile, and nodded, "I know."
I eventually, again, had to peel away from our embrace. There were still important matters at hand.
"So, what now, Lana? What happens to me?" I asked wearily, still afraid of her answer.
She frowned, "I don't know. I mean from the moment of this existence my sole purpose has been killing you. But now I'm just not sure anymore."
I had a feeling we were both thinking the same thing; I can't believe how easily Lana was broken, it should have taken longer. If anything, she never should have been broken at all.
"Honestly, I want to just stay with you now, Jase. But, and this is going to sound weird, I feel like I should be killing you. But now, I don't want to." Yea that did sound weird I thought.
"Lana, I love you. But I know that I deserve to die for what I did to you. So, if you still hate me, kill me." I can't believe I was just offering myself to her like this. Before meeting Lana, I would have never even considered it.
"I can't, Jase. I don't hate you. I did so much, as much as I was capable of, but having you say you loved me, I don't know, it made me realize I loved you the same time I hated you." She said. Then she laughed, "Wow. We are in a really awkward position right now.
"It doesn't have to be." I said kissing her again. We did that for a long time. Just laid down on the roof and kissed, letting everything else fade away.
Lana and I stayed together for a long time. We sat there kissing, and doing other things. I loved her and she loved me, and we had an eternity together, literally.
Suddenly, Lana jumped up and screamed. I stood up abruptly and put my hands on her shoulders, "What's wrong?" I asked her.
"The sun is rising!" She said grabbing my hand and pulling me along.
"Shit!" I yelled and followed her.
The sun was halfway up in the sky. Luckily, we had been sitting out behind a doorway to the roof on the building for more privacy. It was, thankfully, on the opposite side of the sun. But we must have moved a little, because Lana saw that sun.
We quickly ducked into an alley; it offered us a little shade. Lana was squinting and shielding herself with her arm. I looked quickly and saw a door. We broke it in and dove inside.
"Are you okay?" I asked after we were safely deeper into the building. She nodded, "yea, my arms a little burned but I'm okay." I went to look at her arm.
"Don't worry it's nothing." She said. I still looked at it.
Her entire left arm was black form the sun's burn. "Shit Lana!" I ran through the building looking for a sink. I eventually found one, three floors up, and put some cold water on a towel and brought it down to her.
She flinched when I put it on. "Damn that hurts." She said, gritting her teeth. "You need to be more careful another burn like that could be more serious, Lana." I said ringing the water on her arm. "I know." She muttered.
We sat in silence for a while, just staring at her arm, and watching the burn slowly fade away. Vampires heal quickly.
"How are we going to live?" She finally asked. I looked up at her. She was still staring at her arm, but she had a glazed expression, her thoughts were miles away.
"What do you mean?"
"If we are going to stay together, how are we going to live and where?" She asked finally picking her head up to look at me.
I didn't know how to answer. Hunting in groups was easy for vamps, so food wasn't an issue. But because there were two of us, we would have to move more often.
"I'm not sure," I said slowly, "But as long as we do what we used to. Move around, stay hidden, kill in secrecy, we should be fine."
Lana nodded, still obviously thinking about something else. I put my hand over hers; she glanced up at me with a tired expression.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. I was just thinking that, I've been a vampire for only days; you have been one for years. And I'm starting to realize that I really don't know anything about myself. About being a vampire in general."
It was true. Although I had told Lana a little about vamp life back when she was human, she still didn't know all of it. She only knew what she did base on myths and the limited evidence I told her.
"We'll you better get comfy, this is going to be a long conversation." I sat and got ready to tell her everything.
Lana
Jase told me everything there was to know about vampires. Feeding habits (which I had basically already got down), strength, 'powers', extra abilities, and more on ways to kill humans and transform them.
I learned that some vampires can be given gifts; usually it was based off of something they had back in their human lives. For example, if a human believed they were a physic or worked as one, if they were ever turned, they may be given the ability to effectively read minds.
I was a bit jealous I wished I had had a cool ability like that. Jase said he didn't have one, and not many vamps get one, that they were pretty rare.
When he talked about transforming humans, we both got a little uncomfortable. It was apparent both of our minds drifted to when Jase killed me. I felt a slight pang of anger for a moment, but I ignored it.
I had a million questions, but I only asked a few. I wanted to really understand this world and I wanted, and needed to, soon. I had made it fine for the last few days, but now, this information was absolutely necessary.
The more Jase told me on the limitations of this life, the more I began to miss being alive, and regret my killing sprees, but there was nothing I could do now.
The constant stream o f information Jase was flinging at me did help a great deal. I knew more about vampires than I ever thought I would. I was still hesant so ask one particular question. For one thing, it would Jase uncomfortable and two, I really don't even know why I wanted to know.
Jase had finished his little speech about how we would never age, not even a day for the rest of out existence. I gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Any more questions? He asked sensing my reluctance in the awkward silence. I nodded. Well?" He asked.
I changed my position form sitting cross-legged to kneeling and facing him, "Ok, don't freak out when I ask you this, because Jase, I have to ask this." I said putting my hands up in front of me as I spoke.
"ok, what?" Jase kept his smile but he sounded a bit nervous.
I took a deep breath then with a determination in me, asked, " Can vampires get pregnant?" I said spitting the question out quickly.
"Oh," Jase said in relief, his idea of my question had obviously been worse than the actual thing. He regained his composure and began to look a little awkward, "Well, um, I don't think so Lana. I think things like that are made for the human world, not for us."
"Oh," was all I said in the brief silence that followed, I looked down sadly at the floor.
"Di-did, you want a child?" Jase finally asked me. I looked up and nodded slowly. The pain on Jase's face was evident. I could tell he was blaming himself for my inability to have a child.
I shook my head, "It's not your fault, Jase." Yes, it was.
"I'm sorry Lana." I nodes, yet another awkward silence followed.
I looked about the room for something to occupy my eyes. I sound found a patch of orangey-yellow sunlight on a panel of wood. I watch that for a few moments. I watched closely as the shades changed from bright oranges and yellows to dark purples and blues.
"It's time to hunt." I said turning to face Jase. For the first time he smiles, and nods, "Let's go." I also grin, both of us forgetting the recent awkwardness of the day and preparing for the excitement of the night.
The nights went by quickly; Jase and I were an unstoppable team when it came to hunting. We chose a prey and managed a quick, clean kill with minimum damage.
During the days we stayed inside, shielding ourselves from the sun. We both read a lot or watched TV when something decent was actually on. On the sunnier days, we could still see the rays poking through the boarded up windows. I would watch it longingly before trying to occupy my mind with another mindless activity.
I wanted so badly to feel the sun again, so I decided to try an experiment, one Jase didn't approve of.
I rummaged through the building, and stole where I had to, mirrors from everywhere. I set them up so the sunlight would reflect off of one to another and another and so on, till it was shinning on me.
Jase had warned me that we didn't know the effects of indirect sunlight, but I didn't care, I'd already been burned once, what was one more going to do? _Kill you, _Jase's voice echoed in my head. I ignored the repeating threats and continued my experiment.
Finally on a bright and sunny day, when the mirrors were set up correctly, I stood in the path of the reflected sunlight. I braced myself for pain, incase it didn't work. Jase stood on the sidelines looking skeptical.
"Couldn't you just put an arm or a leg out first, in case it doesn't work?" He kept asking. I rolled my eyes, "I'll be fine, and I think I've got this down."
Cautiously, I stepped into the refracting sunlight. I closed my eyes and steeled myself in case I burned. Nothing happened.
There was no heat to the light, but the sun was technically shining on me, I laughed. I had worked. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and looked at Jase with an 'I told you so look, "It worked." I said, grinning.
He laughed, "Yea it did!" And he jumped into the way of the light with me. We both stood there, feeling nothing, but taking this as an accomplishment. We stayed there for hours, laughing and standing there like morons, loving this idea.
After that we would set up the mirrors at night when we returned from hunting to enjoy the sun's bliss in the morning. I would eagerly wait for the sun to rise; we had managed to find a way to direct the mirrors in the correct pattern to bounce the light towards us.
Jase liked the idea too, but he got bored with it way earlier than I did. I could stand for hours in the false sunlight, pretending for a moment I was human and everything was okay. I don't think Jase saw the reason behind the experiment.
"Lana, let's go, I'm starving!" Jase begged, I looked at him, his eyes were almost black, and he needed to feed. I nodded, "Let's go." His fangs popped out the moment I said it.
We ran through the night, hissing and racing each other through the mostly deserted streets. It was Jase's turn to lure the victims into their graves tonight.
We both got cheap thrills out of being the one to bring the humans in for the kill. It was entertaining and hilarious.
I was perched on a rooftop, watching with desire as Jase slowly brought the food closer. I hissed, and began to crawl down the wall. I bet I looked pretty freaking, moving down the wall, crab-style.
I stopped when I was just above their head. Although he didn't look at me in the slightest way, I knew Jase knew I was ready. He was now just freaking out the meal, but it was my turn. I opened my mouth wide and hissed.
The humans, a group of four teenagers, spun around and screamed when they saw my fangs. They stared in awe as I planted myself firmly on the ground. "Are you ready for this?" I asked maliciously, the teenagers said nothing, the girls whimpered and the boys only watched me. To a human, I know I was beautiful and it was to my advantage that I could distract them with it.
At the same moment, Jase and I lunged forward and ripped apart the group. They screamed and cried as they watched their friends die in agony. I laughed as I sloshed around in one of the girl's blood. Jase had gotten to the males and quickly disposed of them. Only one girl remained standing, screaming as she watched in terror as I killed the other female. "Stop it!" She kept crying, but she knew it would do no good.
Finally, I stood up and glowered at her. I was taller than her by at least a foot, she cowered under me. She was still sobbing and whimpering.
"Shh, it's ok now, it'll all be over soon." I soothed her. For a moment, I think she believed me. I put my hands to her face and rubbed her check gently, "Close your eyes." I whispered to her. She reluctantly did so. With a single movement, my grasp began firmer and I jerked her head harshly to the side, snapping her neck. She made one last moan before I dropped her to the ground.
Jase dove down after her, I let him drink. I stretched and sat down, while he finished up.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement in my peripheral. It was very slight, but noticeable to me. I turned quickly to see what it was. Nothing was there. Even with me improved vision, I could see nothing. I hissed, trying to scare whoever was there. Still nothing.
Jase put his hands on my shoulders, making me forget about the shadow. I looked up at his blood smeared face. "You might wanna clean up," I said drawing a line in the blood with my finger, and licking it clean, "You have a little smudge here." I said jokingly.
He grinned, a bloody smile, "Really, I didn't think it was that noticeable." He said winking. I laughed, and playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"C'mon, let's go, a group like this won't be missing for long before the police get involved." I nodded and got on Jase's back.
"I'm tired, ride?" I knew we were both thinking that I couldn't be tired, it was only a memory.
"Fine."
"To home!" I shouted.
Jase started running at impossible speeds toward our little home. I smiled as the wind blew wildly against my face.
When we got back, Jase pulled me off him and started kissing me. I returned the kiss willingly. We did that for most of the rest of the night. It had been a good one.
6. Subdued Chapter 6
_Chapter 6_
Jase
The next few weeks went by quickly. And Lana and I began to find a pattern in our life, we did the same things over and over, we were stuck in a rut, a dull dreadful rut.
We stayed in during the days, kissing and sooner or later we made it to the bed. We did that for a while. Lana also liked to stay in the indirect sunlight, pretending she was human. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew that was what she was wishing.
As for me, I was waiting for Lana to finish playing pretend so I could make out with her again. Other than that I mostly loitered around the abandoned building watching TV or listening to music.
At night, Lana and I eagerly burst from our home to hunt. We were both starving by then and we usually killed more than necessary. I knew we needed to move, the town would be on higher alert with the death rate growing. No one would ever suspect vampires, but it was better to be on the safe side.
When we returned from hunting we would usually kiss and make love more before Lana would go on the rooftop.
At first I wasn't sure what she did up there, but once I spied on her, though she would never know I did, and saw all she did was sit and stare up at the moon.
"Jase, ready to go?" Lana asked dragging me back from my self pity. I nodded, "Let's do this." I said standing up; I had been sitting on the floor, apparently staring into space.
We both jumped out onto the roof and scouted out. Luckily there was a meal right outside. Two boys, teenagers it looked like, drinking and smoking by the building. I usually didn't like to drink druggie blood; it tasted weird, like the chemicals contaminated the sweetness of the bloods flavor. I hissed, to tell Lana. She jogged over and looked over the side like I was doing, to see my choice. She hissed and shook her head. I knew she wanted better blood, but we were both starving, Lana's eyes were already a deep crimson color, I guessed mine were the same.
"I'm starving, let's just do this quickly and effectively, just ignore the sour part." I said almost pleading with her. She rolled her eyes and glanced down once more before nodding. I ginned.
I was about to jump down when Lana held out her hand to stop me. She gave a small smile before walking off the edge of the building. I watched her land in front of the delinquents. They gasped when they saw her.
"Hey boys." I heard her say seductively.
One of the boys coughed and elbowed the other before replying, "Hey, what's up?"
It was my turn to roll my eyes, if they guy was trying to be smooth, it wasn't working at all.
Lana could act well though, she smiled and giggled, "You boys wanna hang out with me and my friend?" She whispered to them, like it was some big secret. They both nodded eagerly.
Lana looked up to the building at me, "well, come on down." She said. I laughed and jumped off.
The boys were obviously surprised to see me jump down next to Lana.
"Hey guys, you ready to do this?" Being the perverted teenagers they were, they both thought something not even closely related to what I was thinking.
"Uh, no thanks, man." The first boy said, started to shove past me. I grabbed his arm and pushed him back against the wall.
"I don't think so." I whispered harshly. The kid looked at me with defiance, "Let go, dude!" He yelled.
I put my hand over his mouth, "Just shut up." His eyes widened but he wasn't looking at me.
I turned to see Lana ripping apart the other kid brutally. She usually wasn't that bad, but tonight something lessened her control as she greedily gulped down his blood.
The kid I was holding whimpered, losing all his manliness in an instant. I smiled, letting him see my fangs, "Not so tough now." I mumbled to myself before taking I chunk out of his neck in one colossal bite.
Lana
I ripped the boy limb from limb. I downed his blood in seconds. I don't know what caused me to act so barbaric, but whatever it was caused me to be down right brutal to this poor kid.
I could tell even Jase wasn't surprised, though he wasn't much better on a regular basis. He usually ate with gross habits and blunt force.
I pushed myself up from the ground and wiped the blood from my face on my sleeve. Jase did the same. Without saying anything he grabbed the two boys by their ankles and began dragging them away. I just sat on an old crate crossing my legs. Jase glared at me as I sat, I pretended to examine my nails.
"No, thanks, I'm good. You don't need to help, babe." He said, feigning weakness as he lugged the bodies around. I laughed, "Good, 'cause I'm kinda comfy here." I said winking at him.
Jase hauled the bodies, one over each shoulder, and jogged to the other side of the street to hide them. I stayed in my spot watching him go.
_Clank._ My head flung around at the sound and I snarled as a reaction. I squinted and glared around to see what made the sound. Jase and I might just get to have dessert if someone had seen our little meal. I got up and walked out of the alley. I scanned the surrounding area with care. I could see no one.
There was another low clanking sound, I again searched in the darkness but could still see nothing. Then from the corner of my eye I saw a movement. I could make out the silhouette of a person pressed against a wall in the near distance. I growled audibly and darted off towards the shadow.
"Lana?" I could hear Jase calling behind me.
I ignored him and focused on the mysterious shadow. When it saw I was running toward it, the shadow ran.
I snarled again and sped up. I could hear his footsteps as he ran and tried to hide from me.
I came to another intersection and stopped. I gazed around, looking for any hint of the shadow. I closed my eyes and listened closely. I could faintly hear his breathing.
"I know you're there." I snarled into the night, "Don't think I won't find you." I whispered the threat, just loud enough for anyone close by to hear.
"Lana!" Jase grabbed my shoulders and jerked e around to face him. At first, not realizing it was him, I bit down.
"Ow! Damn Lana!" Jase said, ripping his arm from my mouth.
I jumped back in a defensive position. I was bent down in a crouch glaring up at Jase and snarling. He put his hands up to signal surrender.
"Wow, Lana, it's me, Jase. What's going on?" He sounded concerned.
I shook my head and slowly stood up. I wobbled for a moment, and jase caught me before I fell.
"Sorry," I muttered, still shaking my head, "I saw the shadow again, it was right there." I pointed to the now empty, darkened building just ahead of us.
Jase looked at me sympathetically for a moment before releasing his grip, "Are you sure? I mean, damn, you looked like you had just seen a ghost." He said grabbing my hand as he still didn't fully trust me.
I shook my head more forcefully, "No, it was defiantly real, I've seen it a few times, it's always here when we're hunting, watching us. I just wanted to kill it."
Jase laughed at my tone. I said the last part so gently, it made me smile too.
"Seriously, I just don't want anything bad to happen to me," I turned my eyes away form the building and turned to face Jase, I put my hand on his cheek, "or you." I said leaning forward to kiss him.
Jase smiled and returned the kiss. We stood in the middle of the quiet street at three-thirty a.m., kissing. It was nice actually.
When Jase reluctantly pulled away and broke the blissful kiss, he looked around the still street once more, most likely checking for my shadow.
"If you're so worried about the shadow harming us, maybe its best we head out." He finally said. I looked up at him gratefully, "Thank you." I said grinning.
He smiled back, "Okay, then lets pack up now and we'll head out for tomorrow."
Neither of us really had anything to pack and take with us but, we knew we didn't have time before sunrise to leave tonight. The sun would rise too soon, and after that, it's pretty bad.
Jase plopped down on the bed next to me and pulled me to him. I laughed and fell into him. He lay back on the bed; I crawled over to crouch on top of him. He smiled at me; I giggled and returned it with a grin. Jase began to rub my back; I leaned closer to him to kiss him tenderly on the lips.
Without warning Jase dragged me to him quickly and began kissing me eagerly. I laughed in between our passionate kisses.
"I love you," I heard him mutter as we rolled around on the bed.
"Hmm," I responded, as I lay on top of him and began another ambush of kisses on his flawless face.
My hands were in his shaggy, but sexy, light brown hair, messing it up and probably accidently clawing his skull. He made no attempt to stop me, though. I continued to kiss him and he responded by pulling me closer.
The next thing I knew both of us were laying, naked, on the bed, still making out like love—struck teenagers, which in a way, we were.
Finally, I sat up; bring the comforter with me to attempt to cover myself. Jase soon followed and sat next to me. My hair was slung over one shoulder in long burgundy curls, while his hair was ruffled and messed up into spikes all over his head. I laughed at his appearance.
Jase smiled and leaned closer to me, I could feel his breath, hot and moist on my forever-frozen back. He began rubbing my neck in the brief silence. I yawned, unneeded of course, and tilted my neck up out of habit. Jase was there quickly in the curve of my neck, kissing. I can't deny that it felt good, _really_ good.
Eventually, we had stopped, though, and I reluctantly pulled away from him and stood up. Jase remained on the bed staring at me. I was still holding the comforter wrapped around my body to cover myself. Jase fell backwards onto the bed, and continued to stare at me. He looked rather relaxed as he laid there, his hands crossed behind his head, _still_ staring at me.
"Forget it, Jase." I said reading his mind. His smile faltered for a moment before he sat back up and walked over next to me.
"Ok, ok," He said wrapping his arms around me again, "but remember, when all you're wearing is a sheet, I may be strong, but I'm not invincible, I break easily." He said into my ear. I had to laugh, but I remained strong, though my will-power was slowly dwindling.
"Let's get going," I said, yet again walking further from him. I grabbed my clothes from their various places around the room and walked over to the bathroom. I had to get my shirt before I entered though; it was slowly revolving around the room, on the ceiling fan. Jase laughed at me, when I jumped up to get it.
"Shut up," I called to him before snatching it down. He stifled another laugh as I strutted off to the bathroom.
When I was dressed and my hair was brushed and looked nearly perfect again, I walked over to my, still shirtless and very sexy, Jase.
I purred jokingly, "As nice as you're looking now, it's time to get dressed, buddy." I said throwing his shirt at his face. He caught it just before it would've smacked into him with catlike reflexes.
I turned away and bent down to get my shoes; they were my lovely green and blue high-tops, always dependable. They went well with my jeans, which were ripped at the knees, and my purple tank top.
When I turned to sit on the footrest to put my shoes on, I noticed Jase _still_staring at me dreamily.
I sighed in frustration, "Are you serious, get a job!" I said tossing my shoe at his head. This time Jase wasn't lucky enough to catch it. The shoe slammed into the side of his head and bounced off.
"Ow!" He cried as it struck him. I laughed, "That's what you get, now get up!" I said rising up my other shoe threateningly.
"Sorry, I was just, I was, and you know how…I just…" He stuttered as he rubbed his head in pain.
I stood up again and walked over to wear my belt was. I bent down, but when I felt eyes ogling me. I spun around to see Jase, leaning over the side of the bed to get a look at me.
I gasped and snapped up, "Are you kidding me!" I yelled at him. This tie I did throw my second shoe at him. It hit him again and knocked him off the bed.
"I'm sorry!" He yelled from the floor.
I stomped over to him and stood over him with my hand on my hips, "I love you, but seriously, stop it!" I said grabbing my shoe and shaking it in his face as I spoke. I reached over to get my other shoe off the bed and walked away from Jase.
I sat on the footrest again and began packing my other few clothes and stuffed them into my one small bag. I found my sexy black leather boots that went up to nearly my knees and thrust them in the bag.
_These could come in handy, _I thought to myself, I guess being a vampire does have some perks…
7. Subdued Chapter 7
_Chapter 7_
Jase hadn't decided to leave as soon as possible and probably would have left that day had he not had a surprise for me.
I was sitting on the bed, watching the sunlight dance on the mirror in front of me, eagerly anticipating the bliss of night, the time in which we could rule.
Finally the sun set and I jumped up as soon as the reflected light was a deep blue, "Jase we can go!" I called to him.
"Hunt quickly," he said putting his arms around my waist. I looked over my shoulder at him confused, "Why?"
"Because I have a surprise to show you before sunrise." He said in my ear, it was pretty sexy. I smiled and nodded, "okay then."
Jase and I finished hunting quickly, we had our fill then Jase let the way to my surprise.
"OK, can you just tell me where, we're going?" I asked with a little laugh.
"Nope, because even if I did you wouldn't know where it is." He said grinning over at me. I groaned in mock disappointment, "Fine."
Jase and I came to a huge lake and he stopped. He said nothing only stared at the lake with a smile smile taking place on his lips.
"Is this where the surprise is?" I asked excitedly. Jase nodded, a mischeivious gleem in his eyes.
"Run!" He said charging into the water. I watched as Jase sliced through the water and then dove deeper. I debated for only a moment before running in after him. When I thought I was at the point Jase was when he dove in, I did the same. I held my breath, remembered I didn't need to, then simply dove in.
Jase was sitting on a rock underwater, with his arms crossed over his chest looking at me with mock annoyance.
I smiled and shrugged an apology. He got up and motioned for my to follow him. I did so. We swam next to each other in the dark water, me smiling at the idea and beauty around me in the underwater world. Jase held my hand to guide me along as we swam.
Finally Jase angled himself upward and thrust himself downward towards a rock.
I gasped it seems he would smash into it. The rock from where I stood, was huge and towering over me, it was shimmering slightly in the moonlight, we were closer to the surface now. I watched as Jase appeared to go staright through the rock.
Jase stuck a hand out of what must be an invisible crack and held it out to me. I reached up to grab it, as soon as I did Jase yanked me inside.
When I was up inside the opening, I brought my head up and looked for Jase. The rock has opened up into a cave.
I giggled "Woa, it's hollow." I looked around the cave. The water was only up to my shoulders now, but the cavern stretched up way about my hand, had there been a surface I would have been able to stand up with still more room on top of me.
Jase?" My voices echoes around the cave as I called to him.
"Over here!" I had to listen sharply to decided where the voice originated. I found him on the other side of the cave.
I waded over to him and he enveloped me in a hug, I leaned my head on his shoulder, "This is so cool," I said looking around the cave in awe.
"How'd you find this place?" I asked.
"On accident, I stayed out to late and needed shelter, I came to the closest place I could find, which was here. I was hoping I'd be safe underwater and I was right, but I found this place and stayed here. I've come her everytime I pass through the town. And I discovered something really cool last, actually you gave me the idea. But you have to wait 'till morning." He said with a wink.
Igave him a playful glare, "Fine, I'll wait, but uh, what do we do until then?" I said moving closer to jase as I spoke. He laughed and pulled me tighter.
I turned my body to his and kissed him. Jase kissed back deliciously, he rubbed my back and I wrapped my legs around as we floated on the water.
When Jase reluctantly pulled away, he crawled up to a decently big platform and helped me up. Now we were standing on the ledge, jase was still holdng my close and kissing my neck as I looked around the cave.
Finally I could resist him no longer, I came to him stronger. I kissed him passionately and allowed everything else to fade away. Jase and me only, nothing else.
"I love you," I mumbled as I kissed him.
Soon, I was ripping my shirt off, pulling it happily over my shoulders and laying on Jase. His shirt was already off. I leaned over him, still kissing, but wanting so much more.
His hands explored my stomach and back, and soon found my bra clasp, he quickly undid it and moved his search to my waist, he hands stayed there, firmly planted on my hips and bringing my closer. His hand soon migrated to the front of my jeans. I let him undo the them and let them fall to my knees, now that we were kneeling on the ledge.
I did the same and pulled off Jase's pants, I could already feel the bulge in them as I tore them off hungrily.
Soon I was laying on my back on the damp cave floor as Jase leaned over me, exploring my body. I continued to kiss him and pull him closer, egging him on.
I felt his hard abs and arms as he leaned over me, panting as sweating as we made love.
We stayed in the cave having a grand old time for most of the night. At the end of our session, I was still leaning into Jase and hugging him as we both laid in on the ledge in silence.
Finally he sat u , I followed still leaning into him. He glanced over at a small hole in the top of the cave, letting sunlight in and reflecting on the water. The cave was still pretty dark even with the one spot of sunlight.
"Hold on," Jase said jumping back into the water and running through it to the sunlight. He walked carefully around the sunlight patch and got behind it. When he was, he pulled something out of his backpack and slid it under the sunlight. He looked up at me, "Watch this," He said sliding the mirror under the sunlight.
The sunlight reflected off the mirror and danced around the cave, showing all the hidden mica and gems in the cave walls. Each one glow and sparkled in response to the sunlight, causing the cave to sparkle and glitter everywhere I looked. I smiled at I glanced around the sparkling cave, "Its so beautiful," I said grinning at the gorgeous cave.
Jase was next to me again, holding me as we watched the glittering mica luminate the walls.
"Best surprise ever," I said kissing Jase. He smiles and returned the kiss. He went in for another, more 'white-hot' kiss, but I held up a hand, "Later." I said still smiling.
"I love you," I said hugging him, Jase chuckled, "I know, I love you too,"
Lana
After another night of good eats, I dropped my third serving to the ground. I wiped the blood that was staining my lips with my sleeve and glanced around for jase. I lugged the body over to the other two and waited for Jase to add his to the pile.
_Thunk._ I turned to see another body crach on top of my three. Blood was seeping from his neck.
I looked up to see jase climbing down the wall behind me. He grabbed on to a light that was luminating the step before a door where the bodies laid in front of and glanced down at me and kissed me. It was like the Spiderman/ Maryjane scene.
Jase hopped down and looked at our leftovers, "woa, three bodies Lana? That's a bit much. Even I usually only take two tops." He said
I punched him playfully in the arm. He smiled, "What? I'm just saying!" He said laughing.
"Shut up, I was starving," I said licking blood from my fringer tips.
"Well I hope your full now because we gotta go." He said glancing uneasily at the sky.
I nodded, "But, what about them?" I asked implying the bodies. Jase shrugged, "I'm to lazy for clean up, we're cutting it close as is. Let's go." He said jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
Back at our 'home' all the blood I had sucked down began to get to me.
"ugh, maybe the third one was a mistake." I said rubbing my stomach as I sat on the bed.
Jase laughed, "Told ya,"
I moaned as my stomach churned with too much blood I put my hand over my mouth as I felt some of it coming back up.
"Bathroom!" I said running past Jase. "Funny, I didn't think we could puke." I heard him say.
"Neither did I," I called as I reached the toilet bowl.
In the bathroom I vomited up, my entire dinner. I stayed for a while, leaning my head on the porcelin bowl and another wave of nausea hit me.
Wisely, Jase stayed away. I didn't want him in here while I wsa puking my brains out. I leaned over the seat as I felt more blood coming back up. I renched more up and laid on the floor.
Then I felt a queer movement. It was in my stomach. It felt like a tickle at first. Then it came again, this time it was like a punch. I gasped and threw up again.
I was panting when it was over. It was unneeded, but a reaction nonetheless.
A flash of terror flew through me as an idea of what the pain might be hit me.
_No_, I thought, _impossible, Jase said so himself._
But I couldn't shake the idea. I gently sat back up, putting my back against the toilet for supprt.
I gingerly pulled up my shirt to see my stomach. The proof was there, a slight bulge, almost unnoticeable until the movement poked up on my horror as two separate bumps actually made up of four tiny ridges moving together around my belly.
I gasped again and covered my mouth. I put my hand over my bulge. I could feel movement inside. The ridges lifted against my skin again and I watched them move in little circles.
I tipped my head back. A few tears trickled don my face. I didn't know whether to be depressed or terrified or ecstatic.
I was pregnant.
8. Subdued Chapter 8
_Chapter 8_
I waited another good twenty minutes before exiting the bathroom. I took the time to compose myself.
Finally, with shaking hands, I slowly, hesitantly opened the door knob and walked out.
Jase was in the living room on the couch watching TV, he glanced over to me as I entered.
My sweatshirt was unzipped and hanging at my sides. I had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and one hand was corssed over to chest and grabbed the opposite elbow. My t-shirt was covering my torso though, to hid the evidence for the moment.
When Jase saw my face his good humored look changed to one of concern. "Lana, what's wrong?" I inhaled an unsteady breath but said nothing. More tears dripped doen my face.
"Lana?" he asked again. I shook my head and stared straight ahead. "Lan, are you sick or semothing?" He didn't know what to think.
I glanced at him. His hands braces my shoulders and he continued to frown down at me with concern.
I took another deep breath before slowly, with trembling hands lifting up my shirt.
Jase ddin't react at first. Only stared at my barely noticeable bulge. Then the ridges came up and moved around.
Jase's eyes widened as he watched the pairs of four ridges roatae around my belly.
"Oh, my God." He said under his breath.
"I'm pregnant." I told him with a slight smile.
Jase nodded numbly. Not knowing what to do. I hoped I hid it, but I felt the same way only worse.
Jase
After I got over the initial shock of Lana being pregnant, I was actually a little happy.
We were sitting on the bed now, both of us sitting cross-legged as we watched Lana's stomach.
The movements appeared every few minutes and moved in little circles around her belly.
"I think they're the hands," she whispered, "those are the knuckles," She pointed to the four ridges.
We stared at the hands for a few moments longer before Lana sighed.
I dragged my eyes away from her belly and brought them to her face.
"What do we do?" Lana said addressing the important question.
I shook my head, "I don't know. Wait? Like I said before, I didn't even know this was possible." I said running my hand through my hair.
"We don't know anything about it. How long it'll take to grow. What it need. What it'll cause me to do." She said glumly, but I could hera some fear in her voice.
"Let's assume it's like a normal baby. And it'll grow like one, and treat you the way a human child would treat its mother." I said with a nod.
"But it's not human," Lana pointed out the obvious.
"I know, but what else can we do?" I ask, "I mean we need to leave soon, but your in no condition to move so we have to wait."
"For up to nine months, Jase? That's an awful long time. We'd kill thousand sin that time and attract more attention, something we don't need." Lana said impatiently.
"We'll think of something." I said running my hand nervously through my hair again.
"Let's hope so," Lana mumbled.
I gazed over at her. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was looking aimlessly around the room, with a dull fear in her eyes.
"Me, too." I muttered to myself, "Me, too."
"I have some good news and some bad news, which do you want to hear first?' Lana said putting her hand on hre hips.
"Good," I said staring at her nervously.
Lana pulled up her shirt to show me her belly. It had nearly doubled in size from yesterday.
"We won't be here for nine months." She sias putting a hand n her belly.
I looked wearily at her and swallowed, "Good, at least we know know it has an accelerated growth rate. That might help us determine more aspecta about it." I looked at her before asking, "Whats the bad news?"
"The baby, like you sai, is obviously developing fast so we could potentially be parents in a week or a month, either way, its probably going to be soon." She said sitting on he bed.
"Okay," I said. I put my head in my hands in leaned forward. _What are we going to do?_ I thought, _We know absolutely nothing about this baby._
"Jase I'm not worried," She said putting her hand on my shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "I've kind of gotten used to the idea of being a mother. It's only getting caught I'm worried about."
I lifted my head and nodded, "That's what I'm worried about, too." I said, "Staying and hunting can being more attention and get us caught faster."
Ther was a brief silence, Lana didn't move, "That's not all your worried about." It wasn't a question, but a statement..
I nodded, "No it's not."
"Tell me," She said leaning over the couch to hug me.
"I don't want it to hurt you. Seeing the fingers last night kind of creeped me out and made me think the baby might be more dangerous than we think." I confessed.
"To be honest, it freaked me out to. But I'm wasn't worried about the baby hurting me, I'm not now either. I was just shocked at the realization that the impossible was happening.
"I'll be fine," She rubbed my shoulders, "Trust me."
Lana
As sunset came and night drew closer we both began to get hungry. I was ravenous because I had thrown up all my food on the night before. I waited impatiently for sunset to come so that we could hunt.
I was getting up to put my sweatshirt on when Jase stopped me, "You're not leaving," He said firmly.
"What? Why? I have to eat Jase." I said shoving past him. "I know and ill bring you blood," he said.
I turned back to face him, "What do you mean?" I asked him
"Ill hunt for myself then grab some takeout for you." He said with a wink, "I don't want anything to happen while we're hunting, this'll be safer," He assured me.
I reluctantly nodded and allowed him to leave with out me. While he was gone I occupied myself with the baby. I watched it move and wished desperately that I knew more about it.
I also wondered what it might be; a girl or a boy. I wanted a girl, but as long as my baby was safe I'd take it happily. What about names? I thought to myself, No, I'd better wait for Jase for that.
Jase returned an hour and a half later. He brought with him a trembling boy. The boy's hair was tussled and he was bruised badly and his lip was bleeding. He was panting and looking like he was going to cry. The boy was maybe sixteen or seventeen and shivering like crazy.
I strutted over to him and put one arm around him. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, "What are you?" He asked quietly.
I removed my arms and walked around to the front of him, "Shh…" I said as I walked around him. I frowned and put my hands on his cheeks.
"I'm so sorry," y frip got firmer. The boy's eyes widened. I effectively snapped his neck and held his limp body up. I bent down and began drinking his sweet blood.
I finished quickly and dropped his body to the floor.
"Full?" Jase asked as he entered from the kitchen.
"Sorta, I could go for another, but I'll be fine 'till tomorrow." I said wiping my clood from my mouth.
Jase came over and hugged me, " I can get you another," he said kissing my cheek. I shook my head, "it's fine. We have more important business anyway," I said walking away.
"We do?" Jase asked in a puzzled tone.
I turned to face him and nodded, "Yes." I spun around, away from him, and picked out a black cami from my bureau drawr. I took off my t-shirt and slid into the cami. It was tight around the middle, but it fit.
'would you mind my asking what that business may be?" jase asked crossing his arms and leaning against the bureau.
"Names." I said tossing my other shirt in and closing the drawr.
"Names?"
"yes, Jase," I said a little annoyed, but still enjoying playing with him, "We'll be parents soon enough and our baby needs a name," I said
"Oh," Jase said finally getting is.
"So any ideas?" I ask facing him.
"For a boy or a girl?" he asked
"Either." I reply.
"I like Jack for a boy." Jase says after a moment of thought.
I plop down on the sofa across from where he stood leaning against the bureau, "Jack," I said testing the name, "it's cute, but what about Devon?" I ask.
Jase made a face of disgust, "NO way, I'm not naming my soon Devon."
"Why?'
'" I just don't like it. How about Justin or tyler?" He throws out the two names with anticipation.
I thought for a minutes, 'I like Tyler, I'm not to crazy about Justin."
Jase nodded, "So Tyler for a boy, what about for a girl?" Jase asks.
"I've always liked Annie, simple but cute," I volunteer.
Jase ponders the name, "Yea it's okay. How about Ella?"
I smile, "I like Ella."
"You know we do have more time to think of names." Jase says suddenly.
I grimace as a wave of pain flows over me, "Nope we don't have that much time," I say with a pained expression.
"What's wrong?" Jase asks in a worried voice.
"I think it's a growth spurt," We watched in awe as the skin on my abdomen stretched and tensed to give the baby more room to grow.
I stood up and walked to the bathroom, Jase followed. I stared at my reflection in the full body mirror. Y stomach was protruding and clearly visable. I looked about the equivalent of a six month pregnant human.
"A very fast growth cycle," Jase observed.
"we don't have a lot of time then," I say, he hols his hands up in surrender.
We walk back to the bedroom and sit on the bed together.
I try to find a comfortable position and eventually settle on sitting cross-legged with my womb in between them.
"Do you have a letter for names you want to stick to?" Jase asks falling back to our previous subject.
I thought for a second, 'a vowel, preferably 'E' or 'A'." We both grew quiet as we debated over names. "How about Eva or Emily?" Jase suggests.
I shake me head, "no those are to plain."
"Allison or Alexis?" he said giving me two more to consider.
"Maybe Alexis," I say after thinking about it. We both go silent again. After a few more minutes of thinking I get a name I like. "What about Everly?" I ask.
Jase looks up with a small smile, "It's cute and unique. I like Everly." I begin to rub my belly gently, 'Everly," I whisper."Okay, we have our names; Ty for a boy, Everly for a girl." Jase says nodding.
He looks over at me and watched me rub my stomach.
"Do you want a boy or girl?" I ask him.
"Either, as long as you and the baby are healthy and happy." Jase says sitting on the bed and scooting closer to me.
He puts his hands on my shoulder and sits behind me. We stay like that for a few moments watching the movement in my belly. Then he gingerly moves in front of me. And, very gently, Jase sticks his hand out and puts it on my belly.
I smile ecstatically as the baby immediatly responded to its daddy's touch.
"Do you feel it?" I ask as the baby continued to gently thrash and kcik inside me. Jase nodded. Smiling. He would be a great daddy.
"Everly or Ty," Jase says and smiled at me, "Perfect."
Three days later I was as big as a full term mother. The baby was moving constantly and at times it is almost painful.
Jase continues to bring me one or two humansa night so I fed well.
As I had never intended to get pregnant, I had no maternity clothing. My stomach bulged out of most of my outfits. Some stopped at my belly button and let my belly stay exposed below that.
I decided to improvise for clothing. I wore a black cami that barely covered my belly button and some spare blue pajama pants with clouds on them. Then I took the white sheet from our bed and using pins and clips, fashioned it as a dress. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Now I laying on the bed with my makeshift dress, waiting for Jase. I wasn't especially hungry tonight so I was glad to see him enter with only one victim in tow.
The victim was a young woman tonight. She was most likely in her early to mid twenties with long staright black hair, it was tussled and scraggly from Jase's kidnapping now though.
Jase forced her to her knees then left her with me.
I watched her stare fearfully at me for a moment before walking to her.
Her sharp blue eyes watched my every more intently as I got closer to her. My 'dress' trailed behind me as I moved.
The young woman was trembling uncontrollably and it got worse as I approached.
I stopped at her said, "Hello, my name is Lana, what's yours, my dear?" I asked her.
Tiffany," She managed to choke out in a weak voice.
'Well Tiffany, I hate to be the one to tell you," I stopped my pacing and faced her with a grim expression on my face, "but this will be your last night on earth."
Tiffany succumbed to the tears that had been threatening her. She bowed her head and sobbed, quietly begging me for her life.
I was walking round her again, keeping on hand on her shoulder at all times.
"Please Tiffany, I take no pleasure in this. But you see, I must do this." I took my hand off her shoulder and unfastened a few pins on my dress, the sheet fell to the floor.
"Do you see this?' I said placing my hand over my belly and leaning very close to her face. Tiffany refused to look at me and kept her gaze ahead. I glowered and forced her head to look at me. She cried out when I grabbed and twisted her head.
"My baby needs to be fed." Tiffany's eyes widened as the baby's hands caused ridges in my skin. She screamed.
I grabbed her by the neck, she had a moment to look at me with horror one last time before, like last time, I snapped her neck. Tiffany's scream stopped apbruptly and she slumped in my arms.
I quickly fes and disposed of her body. When I finished my stomach was a little woozy again.
Jase has reentered the room and came to sit next to me on the bed, where I was now laying. I closed my eyes and squeezed his hands s waves of pain and nausea hit me.
I had a feeling that before the night was up, we would be parents."
9. Subdued Chapter 9
_Chapter 9_
Jase
Lana was wrong about becoming parents that night. In fact, she held on for two more nights.
She stayed confined to the bed . Only talking to me and rubbing her belly as the brief glimpses of pain came and went.
I didn't feed for two days, I knew I could hold on for a few more so I kept my attention focused on Lana.
At eightthirty-three, on Thursday May 25th, Lana finally went into labor.
She had been laying silently in bed when a sharp roll of pain sliced through her abdomen.
"Jase!" She yelled and reached blindly for my hands. She was taking deep, steady breaths and one hand was glued to her belly while the other gripped my hand with excessive force.
Lana screamed as I watched the baby move and crawl underneath her skin. I could see it tossing and turning inside her. She gasped as a contraction hit her.
Her hadn tightened around mine and she closed her eyes tighter as she pushed.
All att once I realized; I had no idea how to deliver this baby or how to coatch Lana.
Shit.
"Jase!" She shouted again, "Just hold my hand and stay with me." She ordered, but there was also a hint of pleading in her voice.
I nodded, "I'm right here. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." I said stroking her hand as she squeezed mine tighter.
Her grip was like an iron cast as another strong contraction came. She yelled out and pushed again.
Lana had only the sheet she'd been using as a dress over her legs. I didn't know if I should check to see how she was doing so I could help her, but I knew I really didn't want to.
'Jason!" Lana yelled again as she pushed harder.
I could tell from the tiniest bit of relief on her face that she was close. I pulled up the sheet a little and held out my arms for the baby. (I'd only known what to do because of a movie I'd seen.)
I had to rip my hand from hers in order to prepare to catch the baby. As soon as I'd done so Lana moaned for me.
"Right here Lana, you're almost thter. One more big push." I instructed . Lana took a deep breath before pushing harder.
I felt a slippery mass slip into my hands then the wailing of a baby. Lana opened her eyes ands spread her arms for the baby.
I looked down at my baby. A perfect baby girl. Everly. I smiled at her then handed her off to her mother.
Lana grasper Everly and held her close.
"Shh…" She soothed the crying infant and kissed her forehead. Tears of joy slowly slid down Lana's cheeks as she grinned at the baby.
'Shh, Everly, shh…" At the sound of her name the baby paused in her crying and opened her large black eyes and looked curiously at Lana.
I sat next to Lana, smiling proudly and putting my finger in Everly's tiny hand.
Everly instantly grabbed at and smiled. Hse laughed when she got hold of it.
Lana laughed at the sound and cooed to Everly.
We sat there smiling at newborn Everly as she explored over faces and whined at the new environment she'd been thrust into.
'Congratulations, Jase, you're a father." Lana said putting Everly gently into my arms.
I'd never been so happy as I was right then. "Hi, Everly," I said and smiled at her, "I'm your daddy."
Lana
Seeing Jase hold Everly was one of my best experiences. He looked exactly as a father should holding his laughed and watched him curiously as he moved with her.
Over the next few days we fell into a rythem.
We played and took care of Everly during the day and at night Jase left to hunt for us.
Everly was starving right after her birth and Jase had to go out quickly just before dawn to get her a meal.
I but the human and she guzzled down the blood, which I'd put into a bottle for her.
Jase had had to steal those, along with Everly's blankets, crib and clothing. He wasn't very careful about it either. He crashed through a store window at night when it closed, grabbed what he needed and left.
It helped though, now Everly was comfortable and happy. She was my joy in life. I loved her to no end and I enjoy just sitting and cradling her in my arms.
Jase also loved to hold and cuddle Everly. He spent every minute he could with her. Between us, Everly was almost always being held or loved in some way.
Everly was only a week old, but evidence of her excellerated grow was beginning to become evident. She still looked like an infant but she seemed, if anything, more mature. She hardly ever cried and had already spoken her first word, to my joy it was 'momma'.
At three weeks old, Everly had spoken a few more words such as, 'daddy', 'hungry', and 'up'. She was also able to walk a few steps.
Seeing her walk those first few steps was astonishing, I was exteremely proud of her but it also broke my heart to see how fast she was growing up.
"She's growing months in weeks, as she gets older, we may see her growing years in weeks. She'll grow up fast, but live forever." Jase had told me one night after I had confided the fear of Everly's fast growth pace.
Although we were both preoccupied with Everly and her needs, the knowledge that we had to move soon stayed with us in the backs of our minds.
When Everly was only five months and a half old, but physically looked to be about three, jase decided it might be okay for us to move with her.
I packed up what I could of Everly's things and prepared to leave soon. She understood basically what was going on. She could form her own basic sentences now and asked why we had to leave home many times.
"Mommy, why are we leaving?" Everly asks for about the hundredth time that day.
"Everly, I told you, we can't live here forever," I said tossing one of her blankets into my backpack.
'Why?" She asked, handing me her other blanket.
I sighed and turned to face her. I knelt down so I was at her height, "Everly, if we stay here to long, the humans might get mad and try to hurt us. Daddy and I can't let that happen can we?" I asked putting my finger on her nose.
She laughed and swatted my finger away, "No, so we're gonna go live somewhere else now?" She asked trying to help me back as much of her things as possible.
"For a little while, yes," I said trying to stuff her doll into my bag.
"Ok," She said skipping away. I smiled, Everly was too cute.
Jase returned from hunting a few moments later. He had two unconscious humans, one slung over each shoulder.
'"twp? Everly and I usually just share," I say helping him get the meals off of him.
"Well, I thought it was time she learned to hunt," He said dropping the other human to the floor. He groaned when he made contact and his eyes fluttered open.
"Jase, she's barely five months old," I whispered, as Everly came to eye the guests. She was walking around them curiously, sucking her thumb and holding the doll she snuck out of my bag.
The two humans were awake now, their attention was on Everly, who looked far less dangerous than Jase or myself.
She was tiny and her long, thin aburn hair fell in little ringlets to her shoulders. Her big black eyes had yet to take the crimson color of mine or Jase's. I thought she may get lucky enough to get y original color, rather than the red from being a vampire.
"Hi," She said to the people.
"Hello," The one who Jase dropped on the ground said to her in a shaky voice.
"What are you doing here?" She asked turning her head to the side and looking at him suspiciously.
"I wish I knew," He shrugged and offered her a weak smile.
Everly turned to me, "Mommy, why are they here?" I just stared at her in shock, I didn't know how to tell her.
"Everly, go see Mommy," Jase said, glaring at the two victims on the floor. Everly got out of the way of hre angry father and came over to me and hugged my leg.
I turned her attention away form the guys on the floor and made her look at me. I saw Jase raise a fist over Everly's head.
"Let's go in the kitchen," I said practically dragging Everly out.
I hear the span as Jase punched the man's head, the other, lucky for him, was still unconscious.
"Mommy, why did Daddy bring them here?" She demanded with her small fists pressed to her not-yet-formed hips.
I hated to see her talk and try to make a connection with them and ow expect me to tell her the truth. I didn't want to hurt her.
"Evy, what do we drink?" I asked softly.
"Blood." She automatically answered.
"yes, very good. Well, humans have blood in them. So if we need it to drink we have to…."I trailed off trying to the ink of a word, "borrow it from them sometimes."
Everly thought for a moment, "Well, that's nice of them. But I usually don't give the blood back after I drink it." She said.
Damn. Why did she have to be so smart?
"Well, maybe we take it instead of borrow it," I corrected.
Everly's eyes widened, "The man looked scared. Why is he scared if we need the blood for food? Why can't they share?" She asked a question in her eyes.
I bit my lip in frustration. Everly wasn't making this easy.
"Everly, sometimes," I sighed and thought of how to phrase it, "The humans need the blood to live too, sweetie. But so do we, and I think the man is worried aboutus taking it." I said trying to form my thoughts into words without confusing her.
Her lip trembled, "I don't want to hurt anybody," She whispered no the verge of tears.
I hugged her, "I know sweetie, but we need blood to live, so sometimes we have to hurt them," All the memories of people I'd killed and toyed with came back in a ruch. Everly made all my tricks and cruel jokes seem shameful and terrible, despite the fact that I used to enjoy the games.
She began to cry softly, "It's mean. I can eat something else, that'll b better for everyone." She said nodding to herself.
God, I hated this. How do I explain it to her so she understands? I ask myself.
"Everly, you have to drink blood. It's how we live. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want t, but you really need to do this," I said gently.
She glared at me, my baby girl actually glared at me. "No, I don't want to and don't need to, I'll find something else." She said stubbornly crossing her arms.
"Everly, you need blood, we all do, you, me, daddy. We need it to live." I said more firmly.
"No,"
"Everly!" I said watched her stand in her angry little way. Her arms we're still crossed over her chest and she was staring at me defiantly.
Jase came in and looked from Everly to me, "What's going on here?" He asked still watching us glare at each other. Well, Everly glare at me, I was staring at her sadly.
"Everly doesn't want to drink blood because sh doesn't want to hurt humans," I said keeping my eyes on her.
Jase laughed once, Everly turned on him the second he did, her hair wiped around her face as she aimed her glare at him. Jase stopped laughing immeadiatly and watched Everly curiously, "It's not funny!" She cried angrily, "It's mean to hurt people, and I don't want to."
Jase looked at me, shock apparent. "Everly we need blood to live," he tried. She only shook her head and glared at us both.
"I won't do it. You can't make me! I'll drink other blood if I have to," She said thinking out loud.
"Like what?" I asked trying to stay calm. I loved Everly but I needed her to listen to me, if she refused to drink blood who knows what would happen to her.
She looked up and thought about it, "Animal blood." She said.
"You'll hurt animals but not humans?" I asked her gingerly.
"It's different, I'll take blood from mean animals, like bears and mosters," She said firmly, no hesitation in her answer.
I looked to Jse for a moment, saw his expression of disbelief and turned back to Everly.
"Fine." I said.
"What?" Jase asked, even more shocked at my answer than Everly's proposal.
Everly smiled a bit. "If you think you will be okay living on animal blood after only having human blood for your whole life, fine." I said, I didn't mean it as a a challenge, if Everly openly refused human blood but would settle for animal blood, I could compromise.
She turned to Jase, "Daddy, will you let the humans in there go?" She said pointing to the living room. Jase subtly looked at me over Everly.
I knew he had killed them, and we still needed to eat. I got an idea and nodded to Jase, he turned to her. "Okay, but this means you'll have to come hunting tonight." He said warningly.
She nodded, "Yes, but hunting for animals, not humans," She said. Jase nodded and went to dispose of the humans.
"If you're hungry…" I whispered in his ear as he left. He nodded once and left me with Everly as he fed.
"Okay, Everly, we are going to go to the forest and get you some animal to eat." I said grabbing her hand.
"can I drink a bear's blood?" She asked. I stopped and looked down at her, one eyebrow raises, "I don't think so, you'll start with something small," I said shaking my head.
She shrugged, "Okay."
Jase reentered the kitchen moments later and nodded to me. "OK, let's go," I said ushering Everly out the door.
In the forest Everly stayed close to me, even being a vampire, she was afraid of the dark.
We were all deathly quiet as we moved. I heard a twig snapped and spun to see a mountain lion in the distant darkness.
Everly would never be able to take it on, Jase or I would have to take it down for her.
I motioned to the animal and Jase nodded. Everly looked up at me, with those bid oil black eyes. I put a finger to my lips. She nodded and stayed silent.
Jase charged forward and slammed into the mountain lion. The lion roared in surprise and tried to bit Jase.
Jase was tough, but seeing hi m battle it out with a possibly hungry mountain lion was scary.
Jase wrestly the animal and somehow got it in a chokehold. I turned Everly away as Jase snapped its neck. The beast moaned and slumped to the ground. Jase was sitting on top of it, he jumped off and yelled to us, "C'mon! It's okay now."
Everly and I jogged over to him. Jase bent down close to the lion's neck and looked at Everly.
'C'mere." He said holding out a hand. Everly slowly came forward to take it. She knelt down next to Jase and watched closely as he explained what to do.
"Right her," he said pushing aside some fur, "You have to use your fangs to bite down really hard. Then you'll taste the blood and you can just suck the bite marks and you'll get all the blood you need."
Everly nodded and got closer to the beast. She did as Jase instructed and bit into the lion.
Jase stood next to me, "Go hunt," he whispered to me. I looked at him thankfully. I kissed him and ran off to find a meal.
By the time I had found someone and fed, it was close to sunrise, knowing Jase had already taken Everly back to our home, I headed that way.
Everly eyes me suspiciously as I entered, "Where were you mommy' She asked sweetly.
" Looking for more lion for you, but I couldn't find any. Good thing Daddy took you back." I said smiling easily.
Everly nodded and smiled back, "Yea it was fun." She made a face then looked back to me, "Do I have to kill a monster as big as that next time?" She asked.
Yeah, right. The lion was like ten times bigger then Everly. I smiled and laughed at the thought of me _ever_ letting Everly near something like that, "No, honey, you don't. Daddy and I will take care of it for you." I said winking.
As if one cue, Jase came in with his bag. "Ok, tonight I'm going to scout ahead to make sure the place I thought of going, is still safe and empty." He said dropping his bag next to mine.
I nodded, "Okay, so what? We'll see yu tomorrow then and we go back then? I mean we don't have phones so you come back and then we all go together?' I asked my arms crossed over my chest casualy as I spoke.
"That's the plan."
Later that night, right after sunset, Jase kissed Everly goodbye, made out with me once, then left to scout ahead.
I didn't like having him be gone for so long, but I knew we'd be fine.
I took Everly hunting and put her in bed. As strange as it was, Everly still slept even though she was a vampire. But it worked in my favor tonight. When I saw sure she was asleep in her room off of the kitchen in the back of the house, I left to go hunting. I was starving tonight.
I opened the door and slipped out quiety so not to wake Everly. I ran down to the third floor landing and started down the edge of the railing.
I thought for a moment then shrugged. I would land fine anyway, I thought. I got up on the railing and prepare to jump.
I was just about to leap off when something slammed into my back, and made me lose my balance.
I screamed in shock as I toppled three stories to the hard pavement below.
My scream echoed in the narrow alley between out building and the one next to it. I couldn't help but notice before I hit the ground, that my scream resembled those of the many people I'd killed in this very spot.
I woke up from my unconscious state hors later by my guessing. At first I wasn't sure if I really fell. But when I sat up athe explosion of pain in my head assued me that I had.
I moaned and choked back tear of pain. I brought my hand to the back of my head, when I brought it back, it was sticky with my blood.
_Your blood?_ My conscious chimed in, _It's not yours but a mixture of all those you've stolen from_, the voice reminded me of Everly
Everly. My head spun as I checked my surroundings. I was still in out home, I wanted to check on Everly.
Who had brought me back? Jase? I wondered.
"Jase?" I called weakly. No answer. "Jase?" I called again, louder. Still no reply.
Another wave of pain crashed into my head I began to cry softly.
"Jase?" I moaned still no response from him.
"Jase isn't here, Lana?" A deep voice answered instead.I spun around to see who the sorce of the voice was.
No one was there. I looked around but could see no one. I had improved vison, being a vampire, but my constant headache form the crash made it slightly worse. I turned towards the kitchen to see if the mysterious person was hiding inside. I could see no one, even with the light on.
Suddenly something heavy smashed into the back of my head. I fell forward form the force.
Although it wouldn't kill me, it still hurt like hell. I moaned and more tears fell down my face. "Who the hell are you?" I screamed to the invisible person. "Why are you doing this?" I hissed to him.
"Because you deserve it." Another harsh blow to the side of my head.
I screamed in agony and anger, "Show yourself, you coward!"
The person grabbed a wad of my hair and yanked me up. I yelled out, but he didn't let go.
"What are you?" he asked with true wonder in his voice.
I braced myself and turned away as far as I could. The man was still holding my hair in his fist.
He chuckled at my 'bravery', "Are you a vampire, Lana?"
I glared at him. I could see his out line and his basic form. The man was tall and, by the looks of things, strong. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt and a ski mask to hid his identity. I may be a murderer but I don't think it was up to him to decide my punishment.
"How do you know my name?" I finally asked after examining him.
"Answer my question first, Lana." He said smiling at the fury in my voice. "Yes, I'm a vampire." I said coldly. The man nodded.
"How do you know my name?" I asked again.
"You know my name, too, Lana." He said.
I only looked at himm in confusion. He sighed and removed his ski mask to let me see his face. He brought it closer to mine so I could get a clear look. My eyes widened.
_Dave._
10. Subdued Chapter 10
_Chapter 10_
* I* *
Jase
I dropped the young girl on te ground and left her body in the alley.I had found the place I'd been planning on bring Lana and Everly to, now I could hunt.
The place was an abandoned hotel not far from where I stood. The hotel sat in a deserted part of town, so no suspicion woul be aroused. We would have to travel a bit for hunting, but with Everly's eating habit's we'd have to anyway.
I directed my attention towards the sky. I couldn't see any signs of sunrise yet. To be safe I checked my watch. Four-thirty a.m., might as well head back.
I darted through the streets to our new temporary home. I dropped my backpack inside by the dor and peered around.
It was in excellent condition. The only reason it had been abandoned was a fire a few years back. It only affected a few floors, but the management decided renovation wasn't worth the revenue.
The room consisted of a small kitchen we would never use, two bathroom, also unusable, a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom behind the second bathroom, and a living room in the center of it all.
I grabbed the remote from the table next to the sofa and clicked the power button. Miraculously the television turned on and a drama popped up onto the screen. Amazing the place had power at all.
I grinned, "Sweet now we have something to do in spare time." I said to myself.
I relaxed on the couch and began channel surfing. There wasn't much on before five in the morning besides paid programming and local shit.
I decided to get ready for sunrise. I grabbed some two by fours I"d picked up earlier and began boarding up the few windows in the rooms. I finished just as the sun started to rise. I was in luck though, for in the distance I could see thick clouds rooling in, hopefully the absence of the sun would make my sloppy boarding of the windows less important, at least for today.
I sighed, hopefully Lana was having more fun than I was.
Lana
Dave lat go of my hair and let me hit the wooden floor. He then grabbed my wrists and began to tightly bind them.
"Dave! You know me! I'm friends with you daughter, Cat! Why are you doing this?" I asked desperately as he dragged me across the room. He tensed when I mentioned Cat's name but otherwise ignored me.
I hated bringing up Cat. It was terrible to think what her death must have done to poor Dave, she was all he had.
Dace yanked me up and tied my wrists with more rope. Then he madd a little noose at the end of the rope binding me and looped another long strand of rope through that and attached it to the ceiling fan. I was hanging in midair staring at Dave's bruised face. He was glaring at me, his fists kept clenching and unclenching at his sides. I saw flickers of sadness flash on his face before the deep hatred returned.
"Why?" He didn't phrase it like a question, he was referring back to my previous question.
"Because you murdered my Cat!" He yelled punching me hard in the jaw. I gasped and my head snapped back. My lip began to bleed the mixture of blood from my victim's, I hated the feeling.
How could Dave know I killed Cat?" I wondered. I opened my mouth but said nothing, I only shook my head in confusion.
Dave nodded, still fuming, "How do I know, Lans?" he asked and reached into his pocket. He pulled out two bracelets, Cat's and ine, the one I'd give to her on the night of her death. I looked down to his my sudden tears.
'Are you crying?" Dave asked in disgust, "Imagine how I felt,you bitch!" he smacked my again. I bit down on my lip to hold back a new flood of tears that threatened to break out. I wasn't crying fro the pain, that I barely felt, it was more the thought of what I'd done to Dave, and Cat.
"Don't worry, Lana, you won't have much to cry about soon," He promised.
I had no doubt he intended to keep it.
Jase
I roamed about my new house for the first few hours. I explored the rooms and imagined how they'd be once Lana and Everly arrived.
I turned to the window, for the millionth time as a sudden crash of thunder sounded overhead. I took a risk and ripped down the boards I'd put up earlier. It was pouring outside. Lightening brightened the sky, and thunder crashed soon after.
I groaned and stepped away from the window. I usually liked listening to thunderstorms but for some reason the mere thought of watching one annoyed me. I guessed I missed Lana and Everly.
I wished I was holding Lana and I was dying (sorry about the pun) to see my baby girl, Everly.
The storm raged on outside. The thick clouds outsides made the world dark and dreary.
An idea suddenly popped into my head. It was crazy. Absolutly crazy and insane and stupid. But, it could work.
I glanced outside again. Could it work? It is really worth the risk to find out?
I argued with myself for a moment before grabbing my sweatshirt and jogging downstairs. At the lobby dors I stopped and watched the rain splattering to the ground. Very cautiously, I pushed open the glass door. The sound of rain smacking the ground increased and it made everything more ominious.
I hesitated at the door, wondering for the second time if I should go through with this. I closed my eyes and took my first step forward. I was outside. I braced myself for searing pain. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and took three more steps outward, I was completely outside in the rain now. I grinned when, again, nothing happened. I was outside, during the day!
I laughed, "Hell yeah!" I cried out cheerfully. With a new confidence I ran through the streets, happily allowing the rain to hit my face. I stopped after a small journey and lifted my face. I pulled down my hood and felt the rain hit my face. Another bolt of lightening shot across the dark sky and only seconds later, a loud crash of thunder. I pulled my hood back up and began running again.
Wouldn't Lana be surprised to see me in daylight?
Lana
Dave's words echoed in my head. _Don't worry, Lana, you won't have much to cry about soon._
What did he plan on doing? He had thrown my to the floor where I now lay after he was done interrogating me. My ankles and wrists remained tied.
He was walking around the living room, tearing down the planks from the windows to block the sun. I cringed away as a feeble attempt to shield myself as he tore more down. Lucky for me, it was raining out.
"Shit." He muttered when he saw the sky. He checked his watch and then nodded. It was then he noticed me watching him from the ground, "Don't worry Lana, it's still early. If the weather is correct, the sun will shine soon enough."
Had a had one, my heart would've sunk. He wanted to burn me. A tear slid down my cheek, not for self pity but at the thought of leaving Everly behind.
I'd been watching Dave to make sure he didn't get near her room. SO far he hadn't. It also helped that she was still asleep, even with my screaming, crying and Dave's cruel beatings.
Please don't come out, Everly. I silently prayed. You're the only thing worth going through this torture.
Terrible as it was, Dave was right. As the hours passed, the storm cleared and the rain lessened to a drizzle. A few clouds remained in the sky, but they too were drifting away.
I'd come to terms with what Dave was going to do to me. I could live with his killing me. Oh, that was a bad pun, I realized and laughed humorlessly at my dark joke. All I wanted was for Everly to be spared. I feared she'd wake soon and become a victim to Dave. Dave left me on the floor crying and silently praying. He was in the kitchen doing who knows what.
I heard a door squeak. I turned my head to see Everly standing half way out of her door. My worst fear. I mouthed to her, "Go! Get back inside!"
She looked at me with a confused expression, "Why?' she whispered back.
Tears slid down my face. Damn, Everly! Listen to me and go backto your room. "There's a bad man here," I whispered as quietly as possible.
Her eyes widened with fear and she started slid back inside. She stopped when only half her head was visible. Her eyes were, like mine, glistening with tears, "Will you be okay, Mommy?'
I nodded and turned to hide my own tears. Everly was causing me more pain than Dave.
I turned back to get one last glimpse or my daughter. "I love you," She whispered and silently shut the door.
I turned away and a sob escaped from me. Tears freely flowed down my face now. Dave came in as my tears intensified.
"You deserve this, Lana. You deserve it and you know it." I did deserve it. I wanted desperately for it not to happen. But deep down I know I deserved my fate.
Dave grabbed my arm and 'helped' me to the couch. He undid the rope around my ankle and lifted me back up.
"Walk," He commanded giving me a shove. I did so, tears trickling down my face.
"It's time." He said. I looked to the window. Although it was wet outside. The sun still shone brightly in the now blue sky.
I turned to the clock on the coffee table to the right of me, three fourty. What a difference a few hours can make.
Dave led me to the roof. I was shaking by the time we got up there.
We stayed in the small doorway for a few moments. I looked fearfully into the sunny sk. I could already fell its burn.
'Ah, sunlight. Nothing like it. Do you miss the feel of it, Lana?" Even knowing what was coming next, I answered, in a chocked up voice, "Yes, I do."
"I bet Cat missed it too," He said in a darker voice, "I thought you were her friend, I really did, Lana. But apparently food was more important," he said making me guiltier with every word, " You disgust me. I hope you burnin hell." With those as his parting words, Dave shoved me forward, Directly into the brigt sunlight.
I screamed as I burst into flames on contact.
11. Subdued Chapter 11
_Chapter 11_
Jase
As I got closer to Lana and Everly, the sun got stronger and eventually was able to force its way out of the clouds.
I pulled my hood closer and shoved my hands in my pockets, no bare skin. I also tried to stay close to trees for a little extra protection.
My plan of getting to lana and Everly then leaving in the shelter of the clouds was cancelled when the sun came out. We would have to leave tonight, as originally discussed.
As agonizing scream suddenly cut throught the quiet of the woods I was currently in. I recognized it immeadiatly. Lana.
I charged forward in a burst of speed. I needed to find her. I looked around in distress. Which way?
In a panic, I climbed up a tree, until I was way above the ground to get a better look. I scanned the skyline until I was our building. On the roof was Lana, being thrust out into open daylight.
Lana
Dave got his wish, I was defiantly burning in hell.
I burst into flames almost instantly when the sun touched my skin. I screamed and cried as the eruption of pain raced through my body.
"Jase!" I screamed desperately wishing he was here to save me. I feel to my knees. The sun continued to blaze down on me with horrendous power. The screams continued to rip from my throat.
As I burned I had the small relief of thinking of Everly for the last time. I thought it's be a fortune and a sacred memory to think of my baby, but the thought of never seeing her again overwhelmed me. It only added gas to the flames that covered my body.
I was still burning. Would it ever end? I wished for death. I wished for Jase and Everly as well.
"NOOO!" Another scream sounded. I used my list bit of strength to turn my head to the trees where the sound originated. A figure stood in one of the trees. Covered up, but I still recognized him. Jase. Another cry exploded from me.
I saw he was preparing to jump put. Ignoring the fact that Dave might be able to see Jase too, I screamed out, "No, Jase!" I began to fell tired, death came to me mercifully, "Everly." I managed to get out, hopefully Jase heard.
Then, greatfully, everything went dark.
Jase
"No!" I screamed as I watched helplessly as Lana burned on the rooftop.
She managed to turn her blackened head in my direction. She was a sickening sight. She remained burning as sunlight wreaked its wrath down on Lana. Her skin was black and flaking likw charred logs. Her lips were gone, so all I could see were her white teeth. Her hair, once luscious and beautiful, was no only smoldering patched on her cranium.
She shook her head weakly as I started to step out of the tree's protection, "No, Jase!" She screamed to me. Her lips moved once more, I could just make out the word. Everly. The daughter she'd never see again.
I watched in blind horror as Lana's small movements stopped all together. Tears streamed down my face. Lana was dead.
The knowledge alone was agonizing. This can't be happening. When in the hell would Lana even consider stepping into broad daylight? It's not happening. All these denials were useless. After all, I was staring at Lana's body as I thought them up.
The questions were answered when, after she was surely dead, a man stepped out from under the balcony of the rooftop door. He walked over to Lana's still burning body and kicked her. I felt a surge of anger fly through me. Her body turned, stomach up when he kicked her. I could see her body more clearly now. Her close had burned and lay flaking in the wind. Her eyes had melted in their sockets, they were now a gooey mess.
I turned away for a moment, this was more than I could bear. I forced myself to watch the mysterious man though. He was walked around Lana's body and examining her. Had he been the one to push Lana into the sun's path? He shook his head then, to my terror, laughed. His laugh was deep and happy. He also sounded relieved. Fury bubbled up in my like acid. How can he be standing there laughing, when the love of my life lay dead in front of him.
In my rage, I jumped out of the tree. I fell to the ground. I smacked it hard, but landed perfectly. I didn't stop to regain my posture. I just ran, straight toward the rooftop.
That son-of-a-bitch was going to pay for what he's done.
My head and most of my body was pretty well covered with ym jeans, sneakers, and sweatshirt. My hands, however, sizzled when the sunlight caught them. I grinded my teeth and tried to ignore the burning. But it only added more anger towards the man.
When I got to our building I wasted no time. I jumped up and climbed up the side of the wall. I used the windows and cracks in the bricks as hand holds. I made my way up quickly.
When I got to the top, I saw the man instantly. He was right in front of me, still chuckling over Lana's body.
I screamed and bolted forward. He looked up when I yelled and gave me a quizzical look. I ignored it and pounced on him. My mouth open and my teeth glistened. The man quickly realized I was a vampire. He drew a knife out and swatted it at me. I dodged it and continued to try and rip his head off.
I felt my mouth open wider than I ever before. I must have been a sight. Snarling and biting with my mouth opening wider then possible. My eyes were surly red with hunger.
The man was experienced. Her dodged many of my moved, narrowly, but got awar scratch free at first. I backed up and hissed at him.
"How are you?" I snarled angrily.
The man twirled the knife in his hand and laughed, "Dave," He pointed his knife at Lana, "This your girl," I said nothing and continued to glare and seethe at him. He chuckled, "Must be. Can't say I'm sorry. You're probably better off without the btch anyway."
That did it. I howled demonically and charged forward again. This time I landed on him. He fell to the ground and tried to fight me off. I tried to get round his hands and get to his neck. I snapped my mouth at him and hissed threateningly at him. I was an animal.
He managed to stab me in the chest and sides a few times with his knife, but the injury had no effect. I bled but it didn't stop me from attacking the bastard.
With fear in his eyes the man struggled to get me off of him. I remained on top, still trying to get at his throat. Finally one of his arms fell away and I leaned back to get the best possible force and made a dive for him. As I did so, the man leaned his arm back, his had was clutching the kinfe, and he drove it forward.
It stabbed deeply into my neck. I choked and coughed. I tried to pull it out of my neck but it was very deep. Blood dripped from my mouth and I spit and sputtered it out.
The man stood up and towered over me. "Goodbye." He said. I looked up at him, still gasping and spitting as more blood filled my throat. He got a firm hold of the knife and jerked it forcefully to the left, cleanly slicing my neck.
In the moment before I died, I thought off Everly. She was alone now with no one to take care of her. I prayed for her to be safe and live a goof life.
Then my head rolled of my neck and I died.
Dave
I quickly decapitated the boy was he was chocking his own blood and spit. I grabbed my knife and pulled it hard to the side. His eyes widened as his head lolled and fell of his neck.
I wiped sweat from my brow. Lana had been an easy kill and I disposed off her effectively. I hadn't expected a boyfriend to come to avenge her.
I suppose in some ways we were alike. I was avenging my daughter's death my murdering Lana, and her boyfriend attempted to do the same by trying killing me.
"Sorry, you lose." I say and started to walk away from his body. I heard a strange sound behind me. It sounded almost like plastic, but thicker. It was a unsetteling sound.
I turned back to the boy, I stared in horror as the veins and ateries in his neck began to move and crawl back to his head. They were red and black thick strips of bloody tissue. It was disgusting. They almost looked like hands as they crawled (that's the only way to describe it, crawled) back towards the boys body.
When they were close enough, tendons and veins in this body began to reach out and tie together with those in the neck. They formed a tight seal and soon his head was securely on his head again.
I thought for a moment, he was a vampire, I was a human. Did I have a chance of defeating him again? His eyed began to blink rapidly as his brain began to function again.
I decided not to take the risk. Cat could filly rest in peace now that Lana was dead. This boy would just have to suffer through the same pain I felt.
I didn't pity him. He too was a monster, one who would never change. He would always kill humans to feed on and destroy countless families in the process without ever caring.
I put my knife back into its container and stuffed it in my coat pocket. I took one last glance at Lana's charred body before running back down the stairs ad out the building. I would ran home, far away from this town and Lana and her furious mate. And I could die in peace now knowing that at least she would never hurt anyone else's daughter again.
Jase
With a sudden rush and a gasp, of unneeded air I sat up quickly and panted. I was alive. But, how? My had cut my head off.
I rubbed my neck, I couldn't even feel a scar where the knife had been.
I finally figured what the miracle actually was. Nothing, but burning kills us. For the man to have completely killed me, he would've had to burn my body and head, he hadn't to it somehow reattached itself.
I was under the balcony where we had fought, so I was protected from the sun right now. I could still see Lana's body, only a few feet away. She had finally stopped burning and laid on the room, almost in ashes.
More tears sprang to my eyes. I held them back and stood up. I have a choice. I can take Everly away and save her. Or I can be selfish and end it all.
I wouldn't be much of a father to Everly, I knew that. As much as I loved her, I didn't believe I'd be able to get over Lana's death and Everly's upbringing would be the example of that.
Purposefully I took of my sweatshirt, t-shirt, sneakers and socks. I looked up into the sun and then very slowly began to walk out onto the open roof. I felt the first burn only milliseconds after making my first move. Once I was completely exposed to the sunlight, the my skin began to sizzle sickeningly. Then, I literally exploded into flames. My scream was easily audible.
I was at the edge of the building, on fire, screaming into the sky. My trembled and fell to my knees. My back was arched back, therefore my chest puffed out, it was the biggest target and burned quickly. I managed too look down through my liquidating eyeballs to see my chest was now black.
"Daddy!"
I spun around as fast as I could to see Everly, still under the balcony, crying as she watched me.
I couldn't look at her. I turned around and arched my head to the sky. The sun seared my face.
"NOOO!" The cry burst from my throat and reverberated through the sky. The tears on my face too were catching fire and left ashes behind. I could feel myself weakening as the flames worked there way up and down my body.
"Lana!" I screamed for her, wishing I could undo what had happened and go back to being with her and Everly before I left.
"Daddy!" Everly screamed again. I could hear her sobbing and yelling for me. "Mommy! Daddy!" She screamed. Her cry killed me. My daughter was seeing her dead mother, she was also watching her father die.
One last sob broke from me before I fell down. My head smacked against the concrete of the roof. The headache dully registered. But it was too late for more pain. I could fell life slipping away.
There would be no coming back to life this time .I'd cheated death twice, now it was the real deal.
Goodbye Everly, I love you.
Death came in flames scouring my face and burning me whole now. It would all end soon.
No more pain. No more suffering. No more death.
Nothing.
12. Epilogue
_**Epilogue.**_
I made sure no sound was coming from the room before I quietly tip-toed out of my room. Mommy wasn't there, neither was the bad man she had mentioned.
"Mommy?" I whispered. I couldn't hear anything.
Did the bad man take her? Was she okay?
I decided I had to go looking for her. I just had to help her and make sure she was okay. I opened the door to the staircase that led up to the roof and down to the lobby. The staircase was inside so the sun couldn't get me like daddy had warned about.
I heard a metal door smack close and running foot steps. I hid in our doorway as I man in dark cloths rushed down the stairs. Was that the bad man? I watched him leave, he continued down the steps until he got to the lobby.
Suddenly a scream came from upstairs. The man had comr from up there. Did he hurt someone? Was mommy up there?
I made my way upstairs slowly, I wanted to make sure there weren't any other badpeople. I stopped when I got to the platform right by the front of the door to the roof. The door was cracked open and I could see sunlight leaking in.
I took a deep breath to calm my self before gently opening the heavy door. The sun was angled to the right so I scooted out to the left to stay in the shade. More screams sounded.
When I was completely outside I stayed in a shady spot so I wouldn't get burned. I jumped as another scream came, louder this time.
There was someone on the roof, not to far from me. He was on fire! He was a vampire and he was burning!
The vampire turned slightly and I caught sight of his face. It was blackened and on fire but I still recognized him.
"DADDY!" I screamed as I realized it was him on fire.
He turned when I called his name. His whole body was black and burning from the sun. His eyes were dripping with tears and hi own eye fluid. I wanted to look away but I only stared at him, crying. Had the bad man done this to him?
More tears filled Daddy's eye and he turned away. He looked up to the sun and screamed. I wanted to rush out and pull him into the shade, but I knew if I did that, I would be on fire too.
"Daddy!" I yelled again, weeping now. Why wouldn't he come in? He needed to run away and get into the shade. It was then that I saw the other figure laying burned next to were Daddy was. This person was a girl. She too had been on fire.
"Mommy!" I screamed. NO! Mommy was dead! No, it can't be true! I cried harder and watched Daddy as he fell to the floor.
"No!" More tears fell as I sobbed over my parents. "No!"
I wanted to look away. I wanted to pretend this wasn't happening. "Mommy! Daddy!" I screamed over and over. They can't be dead. They have to wake up and stay here with me. I need them.
I fell to my knees, similar to the way Daddy had fallen and screamed and cried over them. I needed them. Why would anyone hurt them?
I stayed, sobbing on the roof for hours. Still wishing they were with me.
When it was nighttime I crawled out of the shade and made my way to Daddy. He was all burned as ashy, but I couldn't leave him without a goodbye. I went over to him. More tears dripped down my cheeks. I hugged his arm and cried.
It wasn't fair! What would I do now? Who can help me? I need them!
I lifted my head up and saw Mommy, just a little ways from Daddy. I let go of his black hand and crawled over to Mommy. She too was burned, her face was no longer beautiful and flawless. It was burned and ugly from the fire. I kissed her forehead. "Mommy," I muttered and hugged her one last time.
A new feeling rushed through me as I cried over my dead parents. Rage. I opened my mouth and screamed at the sky. At the world.
I cried even when I felt all cried out. The tears seemed to be never ending.
Mommy and Daddy are dead and I was alone.
"NO!" The scream ripped from my throat. I put all of my anger and sadness nito that one word.
Not fair.
Not fair.
Not fair.
"Mommy." Who would take care of me? How can I live with out my mother to teach me? I needed her to help me. She was my mommy.
Not fair.
Not fair.
Not fair.
"Daddy." How is going to help me learn to hunt? Who is going to help me learn to be a good vampire? How can I live without my father to protect me?
I heard a thump behind me. I turned to see what it was. The tears slightly blurred my vision but I could see the figure. He was clearly a vampire too. He took slow steps towards me.
"Go away." I moaned. I was still holding Mommy's hand and laying next to her.
"I want to help," The vampire said. I looked up at him. My eyes were red and tears streaked.
"Why? How are you?' My voice sounded weird because of my crying.
"I knew that vampire over there. I was actually coming to see him to tell him something. Um, I didn't know, um, I'm sorry about what happened." He stopped when I lowered my head to hide yet another wave of tears. When he said 'that vampire' he pointed to Daddy.
"What _did_ happen?" He asked quietly. He was bending down so he could see my face. I looked up at his. He was pale and thin, but also muscular form the looks of it. He had black eyes, like most vampires, at a calm. He had black hair that went to just before his shoulders. His nose was pierced with a little stud.
I shook my head, "I don't know."
The vampire boy stayed next to me as I cried again, 'I don't mean to sound rude, but who are you?" He finally asked.
I looked up at him again, he had nice eyes. His face seemed genuine.
"My name is Everly and those are my parents." I said.
His eyes widened, "Oh." Was all he could say. He stood back up and offered his hand, "Well Everly, like I said I want to help you. Would you like to come with me. I know a safe place to go." He said gently.
I looked down at Mommy and Daddy. Then I slowly let go of Mommy's hand and nodded.
The boy smiled and I took his hand.
"It's going to be okay." He said as we walked.
Okay? My parents are dead. I don't know how 'okay' I can be. But I wanted to believe him, I wanted this nice boy to take me to a safe place. I wanted everything to be okay.
Would it? I don't know. But I want it to, I want it so badly. I want him to help me.
"By the way, my name's Jared." He said offering me a small smile. I nodded.
Maybe everything will be okay, I thought. Maybe Jared will help me. And maybe I'll be safe.
I turned to look at Mommy and daddy for the last time, two said dusty figures in the distance. I wiped at one of my tears. Can I get over this? Again, I don't know but I'll try. Can it really all be okay?
Jared walked on holding my hand. I cringing to him in the darkness but he still continued to stay in his good mood. He even made me smile. We walked until dawn came and changed our course.
Yes, I think it can.
_The End._
End file.
| Misc. Romance, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 149,612 | 11,733.7 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the novel _Fahrenheit 451_. This is mearly a fanfiction.
Dear Journal,Sept. 15, 3173
Oh, how I love my job! Kerosene is the perfect perfume. I love the fact that my job is teaching book lovers that their precious books are nothing but useless words on paper. You don't even have to think in order to be a fireman! All you have to do is light the match and let the fore do the rest. This is the life! Having "451" stitched on your sleeve is true happiness. There's just nothing better! I can't wait to go to work tomorrow!
Dear Journal, Sept. 27, 3173
The new neighbor is a crazy but interesting girl. She's only seventeen, but she seems so much older than that. Everything she says makes me think. We were walking home and she tells me her family talks. I haven't talk to anyone in a long time. Then she stopped and asked me if I was happy. Luckily she left because if not then I would have had to tell her the horrible truth: I not happy, not truly. I wish I were Clarisse, even if it meant giving up my sanity. At least she's happy.
Dear Journal,Sept. 28, 3173
I'll tell you why I'm unhappy. Everyday I come home and see the same thing. On the bed I see my wife sprawled out, drugged up, and with Seashell radios stuffed in her ears. I want to die seeing my wife like this. Then I remember the routine: call the emergence hospital and let the machine make her better. I found out that they don't even send M.D.s anymore. Then when Millie wakes up it's as if nothing happened and she rushes to her precious parlor. Someone, save me!
Dear Journal,Oct. 4, 3173
Somehow, being with a crazy girl like Clarisse is comforting. Knowing she's different makes me happy. She knows me so well and can see though my lies when I know my own wife probably can't. I wish she could help me be happy again. Not when I'm just with her, but when I'm with anyone. I can tell she can sense what's wrong with me, like a mother's intuition. When you think about it, she's not crazy, just different: a thinker.
Note: There is going to be a total of 25 journal entries; the disclaimer above counts for all upcoming chapters. These journal entries are supposed to chronicle key points in Guy's conversion from Book Burner to Book Reader/Saver. Hope you enjoy and if you have any advice on how this story could be better, feel free to review.
EDIT: Oh, and I put some of the entries into one chapter so you can read it all at once instead of having to click that annoying button!
2. Chapter 2
Dear Journal, Oct. 5, 3173
It was only a while ago when I said I love being a fireman, but now I don't think I love it anymore. I'm certain now that the Mechanical Hound is out to get me. He can't be growling at me because he likes me! I think he knows my secret. The Hound probably isn't the only one who knows something. Captain Beatty also seems to be suspicious of me. Hopefully I'm wrong and everything will be okay. For now, I'm going to have to watch my back.
Dear Journal, Oct. 11, 3173
I hate that fire alarm now. It called me to the worst experience of my life. Watching a woman burn herself with her books scars you for life. I'm so confused now. What it is about books that would make someone die with them? This curiosity led me to make the biggest mistake any fireman could make. I have to admit that this isn't the first time I've made this mistake. I have about 20 mistakes stuck at home. This whole day has made me sick to my stomach. Please, let this day end!
Note: As suggested by Belgaer's Voice I will be uploading the entries 1 chapter per 1 week that passes in Montag's journal. Technically a week just passed between these chapters so I will end it here. Reviews are still very much appreciated. Hope you enjoy!
3. Chapter 3
Dear Journal,Oct. 12, 3173
It turns out that I was sicker than I thought I was. Millie only makes me sicker. Nowadays, I can't even be sure she loves me. I want to be able to turn to her for advice and caring, but I can't. Clarisse makes a better wife than Millie in that sense, but now she's gone. Millie knows that I slept through the day because I'm sick, and now she expects me to go to work like nothing's happened! Captain Beatty's little lecture made things worse. I know for sure now that I can't possible trust him with my book problem. With Clarisse gone, whom can I turn to?
Dear Journal,Oct. 13, 3173
I had to tell Millie the truth. Captain Beatty knew it was only a matter of time before I showed her. Needless to say, Millie was utterly shocked that I had hidden so many books without her knowing but I just had to take it. I had an "itch" as the Captain said. But even when I scratched it, it wouldn't go away. Why would people die for their books if there wasn't something interesting about them? I have a feeling that there's more to books then something interesting. I guess Millie's going to have to suffer because of my curiosity. There's something milling in my life, and I'm hoping that books are the answer.
Dear Journal,Oct. 14, 3173
Reading books is harder than I thought. Millie keeps nagging me to burn them already because they're nonsense. I know it's hard to understand, but there must be something more to them; something that people don't get now because they haven't read in a long time. Oh, how I wish Clarisse was here! Even if she didn't have any books at home she might have been able to understand them better than me. I need to find a person who doesn't drown themselves in parlor walls and speed racing. I need to find someone who's different
Dear Journal,Oct. 16, 3173
I think I may have found my answer. I remember meeting an old man. He was strange like Clarisse, but not as crazy as she was. This man was special in his own way. You could tell that he loves books; it's just that he hides it from the world. He's afraid he's going to be found out and burned. It I could find this man and help him with his fear, maybe there's hope for a future of book reading.
Dear Journal,Oct. 17, 3173
Professor Faber was the old man's name. Finding out he's still alive is great news for me. For a while, I was unsure if I would be able to find him. I feared he had met the same fate as Clarisse. It didn't go very well, but at least I found him, and that's a start! What would make this day even better is if I could get Millie to stop watching those stupid parlor walls and start helping us save books.
**Note: Okay, so this isn't really a full week, but I haven't finished typing the rest of it yet. There's some editing I want to do first. Once again if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a review. All I ask is that you don't flame. Belgaer's Voice's review is a good example of a review that is informitive, but not a flame. Anyway, enjoy!**
4. Chapter 4
Dear Journal,Oct. 18, 3173
I realize that Faber might be very hostile towards me and might try to confuse me with questions, but I prepared to face him anyway. If he asks me why a fireman of all people would want to save books, I have an answer: Mildred. I miss who she used to be. Where is the Mildred of old, the woman I truly love who truly loves me back? I've always wondered what's missing in my life. It might be books, but one thing is certain: Millie's love is missing in my life. Can books bring her back to me? I hope so, because if books aren't the answer, I don't know what is.
Dear Journal,Oct. 19, 3173
When I first met Faber, he seemed like a mean man. In reality, he's just a little paranoid and scared. The government and the fear of getting caught is what's holding him back. Anyone who took enough time to get to know him would realize that he really loves books. It wouldn't matter if was a bible, a children's book, or a baby book; it's precious treasure to Faber. If you look beyond the scared surface and the book-loving middle, if you peered into the deep core of Faber's soul, you would see a man who cares about other people and wants to help them with their struggles. Like Clarisse, he's a person who listens and actually cares about me. Is this what thinking does to a man?
Dear Journal,Oct. 20, 3173
Faber and I have had more time to talk. In this time, we've figured out how society got to be the way it is. It turns out that a person requires three things just to have faith in anything. We need good information, time to read it and think about it, and the freedom and will to act upon our belief. No wonder why people stopped reading books and stopped thinking for themselves! Everything in our society has to be fast so people decided that thinking for yourself takes too long. Reading is only one of the three steps so of course people thought it's time consuming and not worth the trouble. Did anyone ever stop and consider that maybe taking those three steps is worth it? We have to show the world that it is worth it.
Dear Journal,Oct. 21, 3173
Yesterday, Faber and I came up with a way to stop all the book burnings. We're going to break the system from the inside out. Faber was a little uneasy about the plan, but that's because he's scared and I can't blame him. I'm not sure I'd would talk to a fireman, former or not, about books. Now I feel bad for tearing the bible apart. Watching even one page being ripped out was pure torture for him. Well, the plan had been put into action. Soon every fireman will have a book in his house and the system will slowly crumble. We've got to stay strong, there's no turning back.
Dear Journal,Oct. 22, 3173
My life and my family really depress me. Why can't my wife, the love of my life listen to me and trust me? Mildred, do you love me anymore, do you care about how I feel? I'd rip this entry out and give it to her but even then she wouldn't see the agony she's put me through. She just makes me so angry, but her friends are even worse. Why can't they just open their eyes a little? They call me a horrible man, but did they ever stop to think about their own actions? No, they didn't! All they want is whatever is fastest and painless. They're following the downward spiral of fools.
Dear Journal,Oct. 22, 3173
This just has to be the worst day of my life. First have to deal with Millie and her friends. Like I said before, they're following the fools. What's worse is I come back to work and I find Captain Beatty ready to torture my mind with yet another speech. He knows I'm not really "cured" from my "sickness". If Faber voice wasn't in my head I'd probably explode and go on a rampage. Worst of all, I found out that Mildred isn't only heartless, but a snitch too. She told Captain Beatty about the books and now he wants me to burn down my own house. What can I do?
**Note: At this point, you may have to reread the story to understand some one the points Montag is making here. I took some of his feelings and emotions from little lines and really emphasized them. I hope you have been enjoying my fanfic so far. There will probably be about two to three more chapters (the last chapter will be an epilouge to give it more of an ending). Anyway, review!**
**Another note: I added two more entries to this chapter since when I was counting my entries, I found out that I only had 23 and not 25! Well, hope you enjoy! **
5. Chapter 5
Dear Journal,Oct. 18, 3173
I realize that Faber might be very hostile towards me and might try to confuse me with questions, but I prepared to face him anyway. If he asks me why a fireman of all people would want to save books, I have an answer: Mildred. I miss who she used to be. Where is the Mildred of old, the woman I truly love who truly loves me back? I've always wondered what's missing in my life. It might be books, but one thing is certain: Millie's love is missing in my life. Can books bring her back to me? I hope so, because if books aren't the answer, I don't know what is.
Dear Journal,Oct. 19, 3173
When I first met Faber, he seemed like a mean man. In reality, he's just a little paranoid and scared. The government and the fear of getting caught is what's holding him back. Anyone who took enough time to get to know him would realize that he really loves books. It wouldn't matter if was a bible, a children's book, or a baby book; it's precious treasure to Faber. If you look beyond the scared surface and the book-loving middle, if you peered into the deep core of Faber's soul, you would see a man who cares about other people and wants to help them with their struggles. Like Clarisse, he's a person who listens and actually cares about me. Is this what thinking does to a man?
Dear Journal,Oct. 20, 3173
Faber and I have had more time to talk. In this time, we've figured out how society got to be the way it is and what might help change it back to the book reading society it used to be. Faber was a little uneasy about the plan, but that's because he's scared and I can't blame him. I'm not sure I'd would talk to a fireman, former or not, about books. Now I feel bad for tearing the bible apart. Watching even one page being ripped out was pure torture for him. Well, the plan had been put into action. Soon every fireman will have a book in his house and the system will slowly crumble. We've got to stay strong, there's no turning back.
Dear Journal,Oct. 22, 3173
My life and my family really depress me. Why can't my wife, the love of my life, listen to me and trust me? Mildred, do you love me anymore, do you care about how I feel? I'd rip this entry out and give it to her but even then she wouldn't see the agony she's put me through. What's worse is I come back to work and I find Captain Beatty ready to torture my mind with yet another speech. He knows I'm not really "cured" from my "sickness". If Faber voice weren't in my head I'd probably explode and go on a rampage. Worst of all, I found out that Mildred isn't only heartless, but a snitch too. She told Captain Beatty about the books and now he wants me to burn down my own house. What can I do?
6. Chapter 6
Dear Journal,Nov. 2, 3173
We're still waiting for the war to come. If only Millie were here. What will happen to her in the war? For a moment I became emotionless and didn't care about Mildred. Then Granger told me of his grandfather. He misses what he did for the world. But how can I miss Mildred that way? What did she do for the world? I wish I could remember. Please! I need to know—for Millie's sake.
Dear Journal,Nov. 3, 3173
It's all come back to me. I remember! I know what she did for the world. It's now my job to remember her. Death has fallen upon her and Chicago, so I must keep her memory and our memory alive. Her soul lives on in me, just as Granger's grandfather's could lives in Granger. The Books of Ecclesiastes and Revelation have also entrusted their souls to me. The war is over and the human rave will rise up like the phoenix, keeping the souls of the past alive.
**Note: So those are the last two journal entries. There is an epilouge coming up. It compares Montag and Fireman to Montag the Reader. The reason why this chapter is up so early is because this is all going to be due soon (see profile) and I wanted to get as much feedback as a possibly could. So please, if you have any comments on what you liked or how I can improve don't be afraid to leave a review. Hope you've enjoyed this.**
7. Epilogue
When Montag was a fireman, he enjoyed seeing people in pain. He found pleasure in burning and death. One is able to observe this interest when Montag once declared quite proudly, "It's fine work. Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes…." This job was merely as escape from him home life. Montag seemed to be a happy man, but in reality, he was a very depressed man, saddened by his wife's lack of care for him and everything he saw at home. Any sign of caring or joy comforted him, such as the kindness that came from the strange girl named Clarisse. In the end, Guy Montag the fireman is a man who is lost in his search for true happiness.
Throughout _Fahrenheit 451_ Montag changes from a depressed man who despises books, to a man who finds happiness through books. He is someone who thinks for himself. One can tell that he thinks for himself when he is able to remember on his own the place he and Mildred first met and the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Book of Revelation. Montag learned how to care about human life. Before, he never had a second thought about burning houses and people to the ground. As the atomic bomb was dropped, destroying nearly the whole human civilization, Montag thought back for a moment imagining the sad death his wife, Mildred, probably went through. He screamed her name, showing that even though Mildred was never nice to Montag and never cared about him, he still loved her and cared about her life. Montag's experience gave him a sense of emotion and self-confidence. Montag the Reader had no doubts as he walked back to the destroyed city. He was ready to show everyone who survived how great books are and how they can change people. Montag the Reader is a man who has discovered what true happiness is and wants to share it with the world.
End file.
| Misc. Drama | Fanfiction | null | 17,176 | 11,920.9 |
null | Misc. Books Second Chances
Second Chances
If I could go back in time, I would. I could have fixed the mistake I made, and I wouldn't have to be here right now. If I had just listened to my Mom! Who knew everything she said was true? She tried to tell me the truth, but every time she spoke about it, I just ignored her. If I had known the truth...if I had believed what I heard...things would be different. The last time I spoke with my mom, I had a chance. But I was too late. Because of my selfish decision, I am alone on this earth. I look around me and all I see is destruction. I see the tears of those who made the same mistake as me. And I see death from those who were so devastated; they no longer felt the need to live. Now all _I_ can do is try to survive for the next seven years of my life.
It was a regular Sunday afternoon before the most devastating moment in my life happened, and I was relieved to get back from church so I could go on my computer. But that was the last thing my mom had in mind. Every Sunday after church, she would try to tell me about the Bible and God and how I needed him in my life. Sometimes I pretended to be interested. I pretended to really understand what she was talking about, but it got to the point when I got tired of hearing it. I ignored her...but little did I know at that moment, how much I needed God in my heart.
"Hi, Julie. Can we talk for a bit?" No we cannot, because I know what you want to talk about. Salvation. I need to be saved, I need to ask Jesus in my heart. Yeah I know, I've heard it all before, and I do not need to hear it again. I know what I need and it is not the Bible.
"Um...what do you want to talk about?" I asked incoherently. Maybe I can change the subject if she starts talking about God...or Jesus...or whoever he is.
"Do you remember what the Pastor was preaching about today?"
"Well, no. Not really." The whole service I was listening to my iPod without my parents' knowledge. The services are so boring! I do not want to just sit there and listen to some guy preach.
"You were not listening, were you?" She asked sounding a little hurt, even though she was trying to hide it. I felt guilty for making her sad, but the feeling of guilt quickly melted away.
"Mom, you know how I feel about all of that church stuff. It all seems like a cliché to me. How can one person know the fate of mankind? How can this God just make a whole world with his two hands in six days? And if the so called 'perfect God' is a 'loving God' " I said while making quotations with my fingers, "how could he make the world, and have it end up like this?"
"Honey, all these answers are in the Bible. God is an all knowing God. He created you, so he knows your future. The world became sinful because men and women are sinners. And whether we like it or not, you and I are sinners too. I used to sin and not care at all, but that was before I became a Christian and asked Jesus into my heart. Now I feel horrible when I do commit a sin because a feel a burden in my heart, but when I ask God to forgive me, He lifts the burden and I know that he does forgive me, because he _is_ a loving God."
Here we go. I did not want to get into this, all of this Bible nonsense. Next she is going to want to read some Bible verses to me, I am going to have to pretend that I care, then she will ask if I want to pray, and I will say no. Doesn't she get it? I do not want to get into that sort of thing! I do not want to believe in something that will just let me down. This sort of thing might work for Mom and the rest of the family, but it will not work for me. None of it really made sense to me. I mean, why would a so called 'Loving God' put people through the torture that he did? If you are an all loving person, you would not condemn people to Hell, if there is one, would you? And there is no way that anyone is perfect...it's just not possible! I just think this Bible stuff is all just a crutch for some people to use when they are unhappy or hurt. These people only want to look to the Bible when something goes wrong. When they fix their problem, they claim that they are a changed person, but then they go back to their old foolish ways of life as if nothing ever happened and they will forget about the Bible completely. I do not want to be that way. If I half to solve my problems all on my own, I will. I won't look to the Bible as a crutch.
"Do you understand what I am saying?" Mom asked me. "You need to ask Jesus into your heart or a time will come when you will be too late, and you will regret not asking Him."
"Why would I be too late, Mom? Does God have a deadline for people to get saved? Does he have a maximum amount of people that can get into Heaven? That is so not fair to people who might want to believe." I said.
"Julie, it is not that God does not want some people to go to Heaven. He wants everyone to get to Heaven. But sometime in the future, what we call the Rapture will happen. God will come and take all of the saved people and bring them to Heaven."
"So what will happen to the people who are not saved?" I asked. "Will they _never_ get a shot at heaven? Are they stuck on the earth forever?"
"The people who are left behind will not be stuck on earth forever. They will get a second chance in the seven year Tribulation period. The Anti Christ will take over claiming that he wants peace. He will start small, but he will eventually rule the world. He will really cause destruction instead of peace, and if he knows that you are a Christian in the Tribulation, he will kill you. If you do not get saved in the seven year Tribulation, you will not get to go to Heaven." Mom said.
I remember hearing about the Tribulation period in church one time. It is known to be the hardest time known to man. But once again that shows what kind of a person God is. He is basically saying "I gave you a shot at Heaven, but you didn't get saved, so this is what I will do to you." That is so cruel.
"Yeah, I know. I think I have heard about that. But I think people will know if this guy is the Anti Christ." I said.
"Some people will be so devastated they will look to anybody for help. The Anti Christ will fool these people and make them believe in him. The Rapture can happen anytime. It could be ten years from now, or it could be today. That is why I am so concerned about you." Mom said seriously.
"Well, you don't have to be concerned. If I feel like I need to get saved some day, I will." I said. She does not need to be worried about something that will not happen. I have no idea where I will go when I die, but I am sure it will not be Hell. I am a good person. God would not send me to Hell...would He?
"Mom...I am done talking about this for now." I said
"Honey, I just don't want you to regret your decision." She said.
"I won't be, Mom...I just...don't want this right know."
"Okay, but I would like you to think about what we talked about. It is very important. And if you need anything, or realize the need to be saved, you will come to me right?" I just nodded my head, and she slightly smiled, and walked quietly out my room.
I need to get out of here for a while. Just go for a drive or something. I am tired of my mom looking at me as if I need help. I walked quickly out of my room and downstairs. I ignored the stares from my Mom, Dad, and little brother Jeremy, and went to the garage to get my car and go for a ride.
"I am going out for a bit. I will be back later." I called back into the house. And I jumped in my car and left.
I could not stop thinking about what my mom had told me. About how, if I did not get saved before the Rapture, I would go through seven years of heartache and pain. Why is this bothering me now? I did not care a thing about it ten minutes ago when I left my house. I couldn't get this stuff out of my head. I told myself that none of that Christian stuff was real, and now I cannot help myself, but wonder what a saved person's life is like. Can Christian people have any fun? Or do they go by a bunch of rules that say what you can and cannot do. Things like, you can't go to parties, and you have to go to church every Sunday or God does not love you.
All of this stuff was eating at my mind until I looked up and saw to cars smashed together and other cars that were surrounding them that probably dodged the wreck. I slammed my foot on the brakes fearing that I would hit one of the cars, and my heart started beating rapidly out of the shock. One of the cars was a minivan and the other was a Jeep. Both cars had unrepairable damage and smoke coming out of it. Because off the spot I had my car in, I could not back out very easily, so I got out of my car and went to the wreck looking for something I could do to help. There were a couple people walking around and looking in the grass beside the minivan for something. I went up to one of them asked what she was looking for.
"There is no body in the minivan. The windshield is shattered so we think the driver flew in the grass because of the force of the wreck. It's strange though...the only things that are in the van are clothes and a car seat." She said confused. I was confused too, so instead of helping those people look for a body I went to the van so I could see what she was talking about. I carefully stepped over pieces of metal from the car and tried to open the door. The door was crushed into the car and I could not get it open, so I looked in a window that was broken.
The lady wasn't kidding! There were no bodies in the car. Just a ladies clothes and a car seat with baby clothes. I tried to reach in to grab the clothes, but I only cut my arm slightly on the broken glass. I grabbed my arm, but I still looked in the van. Sure enough, there was an empty car seat in the back seat.
This is all so unreal. Even if the lady did fly out the window, how would her clothes is left behind? The smell of gas was making me sick, so I got back into my car and carefully backed out avoiding pieces of metal from the cars, and drove back home. I wanted to get home so I could tell my mom what I saw. It took me a long time to drive back home because I had to go extra slow. There were so many car wrecks on the road! As I drove with my window down, I could hear the cries of a mother or father screaming about how their child was not in the car. I had to keep my eyes forward for fear of running into another car that was stopped on the road. And finally after an hour drive I got home. But as I was walking to my house, I saw an elderly woman on the sidewalk, crying over an empty stroller. I felt the need to help her so I turned around and walked to her.
"Ma'am, is there something wrong?" I asked concerned.
"My granddaughter! She is gone! She-she was right here before and when I looked d-down at her and sh-she was gone!" She said with tears streaming down her face.
"Gone...how?" I asked.
"I d-don't know! All that is left is her c-clothes! She was kidnapped maybe...I need to get help!" After she yelled that she started to take out her phone and dialed 911.
How can a little baby just disappear? And how does someone disappear out of their car and only leave her clothing? It's like something took these people! What if this thing got to my family? What if it took my Mom and Dad and my little brother! With that thought I ran back to my house and burst through the door. The first thing I heard was the TV. I ran into the living room hoping to find my family watching a movie, but no one was in there.
"Mom? Dad?" I called out. "Jeremy?" I ran into the kitchen hoping to find my mom but I only found a note from her to me. It read:
Julie,
I'm going to the store. Look after Jeremy and remember what we talked about.
~Mom
I looked on the kitchen table and found grocery bags on it. I looked around me and saw a cabinet opened and a can of food on the table as if someone was going to put the can away.
I did not want to do what I was about to do. I wanted to look on the floor, but I was afraid of what I might see. I had to force my eyes to look down even though I knew what I would see. I saw my Mom's clothes and her wedding ring in a heap on the floor. Then realization hit me. Like the force of wind going a hundred miles an hour. The Rapture happened. I have been left behind.
I could not keep myself up. I fell to the floor and picked up my Mom's ring and started to sob. She was right! Everything thing she told me was true. The Rapture happened and I was too late. I did not listen to my Mom, and now I am here on earth while she, Dad, and Jeremy are in Heaven. The pain of cutting my arm on the glass is nothing compared to the pain I am feeling right now. I thought about all the times my Mom tried to tell me I needed Christ. I was so mean to her! I was so selfish. All those times I told my Mom I did not want Christ, I hurt her. I knew I was hurting her, but I did not care then. Now I care more than anything.
I do not know how long I was on the kitchen floor sobbing my eyes out, but I finally felt strong enough to stand. With tears still pouring out of my eyes, I walked to the living room and looked on the couch. I found Jeremy's T-shirt and jeans on the couch, and the remote right next to the sleeve of his shirt where he usually sits to watch some TV. I went to my Dad's office and saw his clothes, glasses on the office chair and his wedding ring on the desk. I walked to my Mom's room, lay on her bed, and cried more. I can't believe how stupid I was! My Mom tried to tell me, but I was too selfish to listen to the truth. I thought my way was best, and now look where I am. I am left behind. Like so many other foolish people in the world.
I knew what I needed to do. I needed to ask Jesus into my heart. How can Jesus accept me now! I rejected him so many times! How can he love me now? I thought about what my mom told me once. She said to get saved, I needed to ask Jesus to forgive me and ask him into my heart. Will He hear me? I had to try, so I knelt on my knees and started to pray, something I had never done in my life.
"Dear, God...I don't know if You can hear me right know. But, I have to trust that you can. I know I am a sinner. I know I have done a lot of bad things in my life. I want You to come into my heart...and save me. I should have done this a long time ago, but I did not know I needed it then...and I am sorry I waited until now to do this. Forgive me...please. Tell me what I need to do. In Jesus name I pray, Amen."
I felt a sudden wave of relief. It was like God heard what I said! I know I am saved, and I know that God heard me. I am not sure what the Tribulation will be like, but I know I need to lead others to Christ, and I can only do that with his help. I picked up my Mom's Bible and held it close to me.
"Show me what I need to do, Lord. I can only do this with your help."
End file.
| Misc. Family, Hurt-Comfort | Fanfiction | null | 14,909 | 11,733.3 |
null | Misc. Books The Human Man Story Six
Human Man Part 6 - The GIRLFRIENDMAN, THE HO, AND CHRISTMASMAN
Chapter One
The Revenge of the sith
It was had been very long time. A time in about 5 minutes after Human Mankerchief part 5 took place, it was a biggie battle between the human main between barrys pot head, the human mans 'supposedly' little father big buffy the campire, the human man.
Human Man was so DEVOED he bought a punching bag and took up kick lessons, he wanted to learn the infamous move named as The Kickasshole, he went to the man called Chucki Norm, human man said 'One kick move please'.
Chucki Norm got very confused and Kickassholed him, 'OW my penise, why you kickasshole me penise ya mank?' screamed the human man in a calm voice.
'Listen mate you paid me $60 to kickasshole you and I did it... problem?'
Human man was very a not happy human man, so he 'attempted' the kickasshole on chucki norm, and... failed, he accidently punched chucki norms face off. Human man was so very upset he cried so much, he was so angry he ran outside and said 'MADNESS?...THIS...IS...BUMGELLATROPETAN!'
People looked at human man with their eyes, and shouted with their mouths at human man 'Oie you, human er gay boi, stop crying and go get yaself a GIRLFRIEND'
Human man was shocked at this new word, girlfriendman, was it some kind of Bad Guys, was it a Good Guys, or a Neutral Guys... he didnt know, he went home with the Kickasshole.
Once he was home he decided he should av a quick 'play time' before he went on the computer he 'owned'.
He went on the computer and searched GIRLFRIENDMAN on the Goligulae search, he found on the internet a site called ' . /girlfriendmansforfree'
He thought it was a great site it contained lots of free girlfriendmans, he decided to sign up,it required a one off payment to get his free girlfriendmans, he was 'forced' to pay $5000 as a one off payment, then after that $50 a week for a 2 year contract, then he would recieve his free girlfriendmans. So 6 weeks later he received the girlfriendmans after 6 minutes, it was a free blowupdoll that made sound effects such as, 'your peanut butter is my jellytots' 'your penise is like a small nut' and 'Your so hot your like the sun, no one wants to look directly at you'.
Human man was furies at the biatch girlfriendmans language so he stabbed her foot so hard she literally exploded.
'What a waste of my time buying this crappy girlfriendmans' Human man demanded.
It was late and human mans house was a total shitplace so he went to bed at 1.05pm, he hit the sack, but then was knocked out coz his bed is a pile of bricks made of bricks.
Chapter 2
The Ho
Whilst human man was asleep he was awoken by a biggie figuirine, it was the Bag Guys known as :O Dream enemy :O
The human man was so shocked he was like 'Ohmedays'.
Chapter 3
The Return of the dream enemy
Human man had a nice sleep, he woke up and decided he was hungry, so for breakfast he went to SuperMcPizzaBurgerLand. He wanted to have the SuperMcPizzaBurgerLandSpecia lFoodOfTheDayAtHalfPriceBuyN owAsItsDelicious meal. Unfortunately due to brain problems human man slept at stupid times of the day and it was 11pm, he decided to go to Corpy Road and take a stroll, he SUDDENLY saw with his eyes, a bunch of... Slutmans!
He was so shocked he shat in his pants, he then saw a homeless man and gave him the shat from his pants.
FUNFACT - 62821123 - DID YOU KNOW that when you eat healthy food, it comes back out in your shit, so when you eat your shit, you get all the goodness and nutrients from it, it may taste a bit er shitty but add a bit of gravel and your good to go! *CAUTION GRAVEL PIECES MAY CONTAIN HARD PIECES OF ROCKS AND MAY OR MAY NOT BREAK YOUR JAW,TEETH,NOSE,TOES,RIBS,AND ALSO TOES, PLEASE BE AWARE*
Anyways...
Oh no the Human man was surrounded by Slutmans, could this be the end of Human Man?
Could he get manfucked by a bunch of hobos, could his shit be tasty?
WILL HUMAN MAN FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS DISASTEROUS NIGHTMARE?
omfg yes duh hes human fucking man, doesnt know how to fucking die -.-
He decided to try out the Kickasshole move, he was very confused then suddenly he did it, he jumped, then threwed his leg at the Slutmans, they died so fast they went extinct.
Human man was so happy he decided it was christmas.
Chapter 4 - Enter The Santaman
It had was been exactly a few minutes after decided it to be chistmas, how conveinient it was actually the 25th of december.
He decided to dress up as Mankle Duttman the Mank. The most SCARY christmas costume to ever be made. He heard a noise, like a, woosh kind of noise, but more like oh oh oh, merry cummas, but it wasnt like that.
Human man looked up in the sky and saw a big scary shadow, it was his most prized possession, Santaman :D
Human man was so happy he screamed like a little girl saying 'YAAAAAAAY I JUST CAME IN MY HAND AND IM GIVING IT AS A GIFT TO SANTAMAN'
The big figure cummed down at human man and in his eye. He stepped off the mingemobile and was like 'Yo Brutha' then he had a very shocked face, as the Santaman was actually BIG BUFF :O Joe King came along and said 'HA'
Was this really true :O was Human mans 'Father' Santaman?
Or was he just 'Joe King' ;D
Haha did you see what I did there, ahhhhh yes good joke.
Could Human Man get a real girlfriendwo-man :O
You'll have to find out in Human Man Part 7 - Pirates of the PineapplesToeNail.
FUCK THIS SHIT IM NOT WRITING THIS CRAP ANYMORE IVE BEEN KILLED MULTIPLE TIMES BY SOME FUCKING RETARD WITH A GUN, IF HUMAN MAN WAS REAL I WOULD WALK UP TO HIM AND WHELP THAT SON OF A MANK WITH HIS PHONE. ALSO WHATS UP WITH THAT, HE CAN REACH IT AT SOME POINT THEN SUDDENLY HE CANT? JUST GET A FUCKING MOBILE!
IF I WROTE THE HUMAN MAN ID ASK SOMEONE TO KILL ME, OH NO NO IM JOKING PLEASE DONT KILL ME NO, NOOOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... he was shot dead
The End
End file.
| Misc. Crime | Fanfiction | null | 5,917 | 30,819.6 |
null | Misc. Books The Passage to Another Life
The Passage to Another Life
_**I had always looked up to my older sister, I guess it was just because of the OCD that I had, but I had never gone so far to go behind her back to do exactly what she told me not to; at least not after the first time. That was about three years ago, when I had first turned 17 and Ana was 21, we had been really close then, not that we still aren't close, but there were much different circumstances then. I suppose you would like to know just what happened then, wouldn't you. Let me start from the beginning then, when everything was normal.**_
"Mom I'm heading out to the library to study! And I'm taking the pickup!" I yelled up to my mom who was giving Ana, who had suddenly come down with a bad cold, soup.
"Alright, just don't be out long!" She replied right back. I grabbed the keys and my bag then headed to the old rusty truck that I had ridden in all my life.
By the time I was on the highway, I was already feeling guilty about lying to my mother; I really did want to tell her where I was really going, but Ana would not have let me go at all. Ana didn't want me to be in the "club" that she was in; she said it was too old for me. Come on, I'm not three years old! When I saw the old hotel, I sort of felt like I was though.
I had only seen it once before, but it still looked the same; worn down, trashed, and empty. Much worse then what it was supposed to have looked like in the 60's when it had first opened that's for sure. The darkness of night didn't really help with the creepiness either, so I was getting very tempted to turn right around; but I knew I couldn't fight that urge to be exactly like my sister.
"_Knock, knock, knock"_ the echoes sounded like they filled the entire place with a suffocating emptiness, and they were trying to engulf me into it as well. The chill it created was almost too much for my thin red jacket to take.
Completely focused on trying not to turn and run, I couldn't help but jump when the booming and powerful voice asked down to me, "What do you want?" All I could do as a response was to gaze up at the eyes staring down at me from the opening in the door. "If you're just going to stand there go away," It said again starting to close the door to the opening.
"N-no! I mean, I'm here to join the group!" I blurted out, though all I got as a response was a short laugh, and that made me upset. "Listen," I said with more force this time, "my name is Riley Cornel, Ana Cornel's sister, and I will join this group."
"Well then, if you had said that the first time, I would have let you in earlier," the voice, which belonged to the tall man, responded in a much more polite tone. Moments later the door opened to a bright red hallway that didn't match the outside at all, and I was quick to go inside.
Bright red walls that were surprisingly welcoming, some kind of wood flooring that was polished enough to see our reflections, and so much furniture and decorations that it looked more like a mansion than the old hotel. This club sure had a lot of money and class; why was Ana so weary about me joining?
"So this is our little guest," a tall man in the middle of the room said, "My name is Ricardo, I am the vice-president for this cult. What do I need to thank for this visit?" He was Hispanic with flowing brunet hair and dark hazel eyes that perfectly complemented his tan suit.
This sudden warmth and comfort that came from the room Ricardo filled me with confidence that kept my words steady, "My name is Riley Cornel, Ana Cornel's sister, and I would like to joint this cult." I could see how Ricardo was going over what I had just said, and I was pleased when I saw the smile go across his face.
"We would love you here," He replied, "I just have one question to ask you, does your sister know that you are here?"
The question puzzled me, but I answered anyway with a no that seemed to send everything into a fast forward frenzy. I could hear Ricardo exclaiming with happiness and shouting orders. I was being led off to a different area, and suddenly everything vanished. Then I felt the warm comforting feeling go away, and everything felt like it did outside; cold and very empty.
I had been strapped to a table of some sort, but I couldn't see anything that was happening, and the metal was very cold on the bare skin of my arms where my jacket had been taken away. There was a sudden prick on my arm, but I could not move it because I was fastened down to the table.
"What is this? What is going on?" I yelled trying to get answers. The pain in my arm was getting worse by the second.
"This, my dearie, is the initiations into the cult. We have to know that you are able to find the passage to this side, and it might be easier if you relaxed," Ricardo explained from the side of the table. There was no way for me to talk back though, everything hurt and I was slowly going into darkness. I needed to find a passage or something to stay alive. There was nothing though, just emptiness, the same emptiness that tried to suffocate me at the entrance. I should have listened to Ana. I should not have lied to my mom. I should be studying at the library, but instead I was being killed by some crazy people who wanted me to find a passage with no light. That was what I was doing.
I was giving up hope, and then the voice came. "Come on Riley you can do it, just find my voice," it plead. I knew the voice from somewhere, but I could not figure out who it was. I wanted to call out to it, but_ my_ voice would not work. I just had to follow the voice and hope for the best.
Then I saw it, the little white lining of the door I was searching for. It pushed open easily, like butter spreading on bread, and I could see who it was that had been speaking to me; Ana, and she only had one last thing to say, "I wanted you to be the normal one, the one that didn't have to be faced with this curse. But I guess we can't help who we are. We're all destined to find the passage to another life. I just hope it's all that you wanted it to be."
Morgan Spencer
9th grade
Mrs. Augustus
Shawnee High School
End file.
| Misc. Adventure, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 6,170 | 10,667.9 |
null | Misc. Books O Ateneu
Ateneu
Trecho sem continuação de um conto ao acaso...
Alex correu para dentro da sala e atirou-se a Ateneu numa excitação louca, envolvendo o peito adulto e muito maior que o seu próprio, num quente abraço.
-Meu belo gigante, não se envolva com outros na rua, viu?*Ele brincou indiscretamente, tirando um sorriso do homem sério, que lhe retribuiu o gesto de carinho o erguendo pela cintura o prendendo num beijo forte e invasor. Alex perdeu o fôlego... Ele sempre o deixava assim desorientado... talvez por isso não conseguisse lhe negar nada.
Eles se separam indo pra sala, o grego estava atrasado para se encontrar com um cliente, e sua esposa estava fazendo um belo jantar para os três.
Se despediram então e Alex foi rondar o cheiro agradável de comida italiana que chegava da cozinha, abraçando Amai por trás lhe beijando o pescoço. Ela sorriu, erguendo o pirex exibindo seu tentador feito.
-Mas tá cru.*Alex reclamou, subitamente percebendo que depois das duas últimas horas na cama, estava faminto.
-É para o jantar... sobrou recheio se quiser fazer um lanche. Vou tomar banho, estou cheirando a cebola.*Ela informou, lhe cedendo a pia revirada...
Fazer o que? Estômago é estômago, assim nem jantaria. Mas se conformou e fez um belo sanduiche para ambos... Ia levando o alimento para a sala quando ela voltou enrolada numa toalha. Era pequena e agradável com seus longos cabelos negros presos num coque, e sempre o sorriso gentil que o animava.
-Vem comer.*Ele chamou convidativo, há semanas que vinha pensando que afinal podiam formar um belo trio os três, desde que conseguissem convencer o marido da moça a ceder espaço á amizade de ambos.
Amai sorriu, não se fazendo de rogada, sentou-se no encosto do sofá, as belas cochas á mostra. Nada que Alex já não tivesse visto, mas a intimidade entre ambos lhe aquecia o amor pela mulher. Ao se estender para pegar o lanche, meio de mal jeito, foi pão e recheio para o chão...ambos se abaixaram para pegar, corpos colados, Amai sorriu mais.
-Nós podíamos ser mais amigos, você não concorda?*Ele ofereceu casual, abraçando o pescoço do adolescente que seu marido havia trazido pra casa... Ao contrario das conquistas anteriores do companheiro, Alex era muito querido pra ela, sempre gentil, alegre e espontâneo. E os dois ficavam uma gracinha juntos...estava curiosa para saber como ela ficaria com ele...
-Amai se quiser podemos tentar...*Ele anuiu, sentindo o contato perfeito dela se encaixando em sua cocha erguida enquanto ele estava de joelhos... A cintura tão fina e lisa cabia em suas mãos, as cochas estendiam-se como uma continuação dele, estava encantado com o corpo pequeno, róseo e delicado da moça... Acariciava-lhe as costas, pronto a se levantar com ela quando o marido chegou...
Era cedo demais, certamente o encontro com o cliente não deu certo, e também era cedo demais pros três. Foi o primeiro contato do jovem com a garota, mas dava-se a entender justamente o contrario...Alex tentou se levantar para explicar, mas foi jogado com uma bofetada contra a parede. Ateneu estava furioso, puxou a esposa pelos cabelos a jogando do lado oposto, a arrastando pra outra sala, fechando a porta.
-NÃO ACONTECEU NADA!*Ela gritou com raiva pela dor, sem no entanto revidar as agressões...na posição que estava preferia se manter equilibrada...
-Quem lhe deu permissão pra se aproximar dele?*O grego intimou possesso, se fosse outra pessoa lhe arrebentaria ali mesmo, mas conhecia a esposa demais para partir para a agressão tão extremadamente.
-Somos amigos.*Ela desmentiu com calma, arrumando a toalha sobre o corpo, prendendo o cabelo que se soltou.
-Se voltar a tocá-lo eu a matarei.*A ameaça era verdadeira, ela sabia, nem por isso o amava menos. Que fosse, sua curiosidade em relação ao garoto não valia o fim de seu casamento e de uma relação tão sólida.
-Está bem! Só não desconte nele...é só um garoto...*Ela respondeu, indo para frente do espelho se pondo a escovar os cabelos.
Assunto terminado. Seu marido saiu pra sala...
Alex o olhou temeroso, havia passado dos limites, ouviu a conversa de ambos sem poder evitar e francamente não entendia sua posição. O casal não tinha ciúmes um do outro, então porque ele estava tão furioso.
-Que pensava que estava fazendo?*Ateneu exclamou, o puxando pelo braço para o outro quarto.
-Pare! Não ia acontecer nada que você não soubesse...*Respondeu, sendo sincero. Afinal, não pretendia lhe esconder nada mesmo.
-O que lhe deu a idéia de que algo vá acontecer?*Retrucou jogando-o na cama com violência, fechando a porta.*Você me pertence. Se voltar a se aproximar dela lhe quebro as pernas. *Declarou perigosamente com a cabeça baixa, tom decisivo na voz, desatando o cinto e a braguilha*
-Que...que está fazendo?*Alex gaguejou recuando, dum pulo se pondo em pé... O companheiro o puxou, seu peso o derrubando novamente a cama e o prendendo. Alex gemeu de dor ao sentir seu pescoço sendo apertado.
-Você me pertence...ninguém mais te toca.*O grego sussurrou prendendo os braços do garoto com as mãos firme á cama, abrindo-lhe as pernas com as próprias, o peso exagerado do homem feito machucava e aturdia o garoto.
Ele se debateu, recusando-se a ceder, com medo de ser ferido.
-Pare com isso, está certo, mas não precisa fazer isso pra me provar...sou seu.*Ele gemeu trincando os dentes, procurando agüentar o apertão nas costas ao ser forçado contra o lençol com o quadril erguido. O outro sorriu, cabelo negro cheio caindo ao rosto, queixo másculo, quadrado e imponente erguendo-se acima de sua visão, tomando-o num beijo forte e grosseiro, que lhe toldava todo ar e a boca...ele arfou vermelho, sentindo o sexo rijo forçar-se contra seu quadril, ele estava sendo despido...cerrou os olhos engolindo o bolo no estômago, a fome que lhe devorava, a ânsia de ceder...
Retribuiu ao beijo como pode, apressado, abrindo mais as pernas e recuando, a dor nas costas estava lhe matando...as cochas foram acariciadas com violência, percorrendo-o com as mãos enorme. Era um peso maravilhoso contra seu corpo quente, que se revirava e se roçava contra si sinuosamente... sentiu o peito largo, áspero do namorado arranhar roçando seus mamilos. Pulsante e quente, juntando as peles quentes e desejosas.
O corpo de Alex foi explorado com pressa e avidez, invadido de uma vez pelas mãos que apertaram e ergueram suas nádegas as separando, invadindo-o com os dedos...Ele arquejou e gemeu, mordendo o ombro do companheiro que sorriu. Seguiram-se rápidas e fortes estocadas dos dedos grossos , vasculhando-o... ele se retesou quadril empinado, arquejante as costas, olhos arregalados, dessa vez se agarrando as costas largas, as arranhando...Quase desmaiou com o choque ao sentir o próprio sexo tocar o ventre do namorado, rijo e ereto, sendo preso nesse curto espaço que os separava, afastando a glande para trás a abrindo...ele soltou um grito agudo, cheio de intensidade e paixão, pedindo pela invasão...
De uma vez só o membro o cortou dolorosamente opressivo e sufocante, chegando a seu fundo, o erguendo pra cima no abraço apertado que o prendia a aquela posição... Foram inúmeras investidas violentas e exigentes, enquanto as mãos do grego alcançavam toda extensão de suas nádegas as tomando nas mãos, o subindo e descendo com gemidos satisfeitos, excitados...
Alex sem apoio, vivia solto cada movimento, deleitado quente e suado, ele gemia abafado tremendo com o sexo que se esconde queima e acaba com suas forças, num amar que se parece mais um estupro, aconchegante e forte, rasgando a resistência a diluindo em leite e desejo. E a cada abalada ele se segura ante a sensação de gozar... um passo a mais pra sua fraqueza, o sexo escorre como lava, extinguindo-se em seu interior com um grito, nada que o segure a consciência, um delírio que se perde nas entranhas de sua pele, irradia nos risos soltos, nos beijos calmos...impossível não se encantar, possível não se apaixonar diante daquele homem. Então ele o segura e o deita, ainda dentro dele, ainda uma continuação de sua alegria.
-Mude-se pra cá...*O namorado lhe sussurra confidencial no ouvido, ele estremece arrepiado, segurando-se para não beijá-lo.
-Meus pais não aceitariam.*O jovem responde temendo desagradá-lo, naquele momento a união é forte, não quer abalá-la...
-Falo com eles.*Foi a decisão simples, apaixonada do miche, deitando o namorado junto ao pescoço para adormecê-lo, estava seguro. Naquele momento nada o tiraria de seus braços, e ele não se atreveria a lhe negar nada...
Alex tentou explicar, mas estava dolorido e muito cansado, e o ombro de seu gigante lhe oferecia um conforto irrecusável...ele beijou o pescoço largo do namorado, e não respondeu... Pela manhã as coisas se ajeitaria, por hoje bastava fazerem as pazes com a bela companheira no quarto ao lado e terem um confortável jantar vendo vídeo...
Owari...
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 8,868 | 11,658.3 |
null | Misc. Books Ten Kinds of Fool
Disclaimer: Pagan and Jordan and Roland belong to Catherine Jinks.
A/N: All constructive critiques are welcome. This is for a series known as the Pagan Chronicles, particularly the book Pagan in Exile. The series goes Pagan's Crusade, Pagan in Exile, Pagan's Vows, and then the more recent books Pagan's Scribe and Pagan's Daughter. It's about a mixed race (arabic background) boy called Pagan, who is a squire to Lord Roland, a Templar Knight. (which is a kind of warrior monk). It's set in the 1180s. Jordan is Roland's brother, and is canonically gay. You may have seen this on Livejournal. That's because it was me as well.
warnings: slash and sexual situations involving an underage character. (He's 17. In his time period he's an adult, but just warning you anyway) mentions of violence.
* * *
Damn that boy. Look at him! How could he even stand a chance with _that _around? He stood outside the bedchamber, catching a glimpse of Pagan inside, who was tidying up his and Roland's bedding. Even Pagan shaking out bedclothes was unnaturally interesting. Unnatural but so right. Jordan leaned on the wall next to the door way for a moment, before walking quickly away from the sight of Pagan. He paced the length of his own chamber, fighting his own foolish emotions again. If only he could just-
He couldn't stop thinking about him. No matter how hard he tried. It had gone on since Pagan had arrived, what seemed like years ago. And as much as he fought it, tried to distract himself, the boy was always on his mind. Everything about him appealed. That hair, hanging in his lovely dark eyes. It looked even better now that Roland had cut it off a bit around the edges. The way he'd polish the swords, gently, back and forth, seated on some stool in the corner of a room, avoiding everyone but watching knowingly from underneath that hair. Thinking no one noticed him or how he watched. Jordan couldn't help noticing how he smiled. How he smirked. How he scowled. How endearingly small he was but so… _active_. The boy could move when he had to. (Boy… turning into a man). How he could read and think. How his tunic hung on his narrow shoulders.
Jordan watched him during the day, helplessly. Imagined him while he was in bed with his wife. Wondered if Pagan ever… perhaps. Images would flash through his mind of Pagan lying on his back in bed, legs slightly apart, hand beneath the bedclothes, or maybe in a hayloft… head thrown back, eyes closed and those dark cheeks flushed. He most likely did. But not like he could with him. If only he would ever be with him. A woman did nothing for him unless he…
He'd long realised it. Realised that his wife did nothing for him. All his life he'd only felt that familiar stirring at the thought of another man. Below him… or above him. Next to him. It didn't matter. And it didn't matter how hard he tried to stop thinking of it. Foolish to have let it start as a child. To have let himself think of his naked, swimming best friend when he had been discovering the pleasures of his body. Just as they had when he had been nine years old, the images would come to his mind unbidden. Or sometimes deliberately just so that he could continue with some God forsaken woman without any shame or loss of pride. That made his own personal shame worse. But he didn't care enough to stop. Not anymore. He couldn't stop. It was how he was, how he'd been as long as he could remember. No amount of prayer would fix it. Maybe he shouldn't accept it. But _she_ did nothing for him, no woman actually, and certain others did. He hated her for it. Loathed her.
He'd almost come to terms with the fact that he'd much rather someone like Pagan. Definitely Pagan. This had all gone beyond lust now. He'd had stableboys and young men from the village before. Even a childhood friend once when he was fourteen. Pretty men. Handsome men. With muscles and cheeky smiles and usually obedience or playful teasing… hands everywhere. Pagan, thin, dark eyed, dark skinned, foreign, never quite obedient, never touched him except by accident, somehow inflamed him and captured him more than any other.
He'd sometimes watch Pagan sleeping next to Roland. Creep into their room at night and just stand in the shadows, watching Pagan's chest rise and fall and his hands clench in sleep, wishing he could lie next to him, touch him, hold him. Once he heard Pagan call out Roland's name in his sleep. That day he'd decided to order the slaughter of one of the pigs, and had watched, wishing it were Roland. And that night he'd hit his wife again. She'd cowered at his feet after the slap, staring at the floor with eyes that might as well be dead. Why couldn't she inspire love? Why did she not attract him? That just made him hate himself and her more. Why could he not have love? Receive love, real love. Give love. The stableboys may have liked him, but he never loved them in return, just loved their other attributes. Pagan made him want to save him from all the ills in the world. When those bastards had cornered Pagan, demanded to see what he had under his clothes, he'd been filled with fury first and foremost. Imagining himself looking at Pagan's loins, in some dark hallway, with Pagan's full consent and enthusiasm, had come later, much later. It had been the anger on Pagan's behalf before his own curiosity about the potential state of Pagan's foreskin that had made him realise that he'd fallen. It had happened much faster than he'd like to admit. But it was true.
And Pagan deserved better. Pagan actually seemed to enjoy his company, and he knew that he'd be much better for Pagan than that… Brother of a brother of his. Jordan'd not make him work… very hard. Roland, with his chastity and purity and simplicity. That wasn't a world for Pagan. Roland didn't deserve him, obviously didn't love him. Jordan snorted as he paced and had the familiar thought. Not enough to actually grow a pair and touch him. Kiss him… he imagined Pagan's soft and still smirking lips under Jordan's own, pressing back, reaching up to tangle fingers in his hair, one of his own hands at the nape of Pagan's neck, the other on Pagan's waist, moving further down… He closed his eyes and slid down the nearest wall, fully aware of his own arousal.
It didn't take long for him to finish with that image in his mind. And with it came the clarity that he had to ask Pagan to come with him, stay with him, before it was too late. Before he was gone. Roland's not doing anything for him, Roland who has no heart, a monk who even when the forbidden thought finally properly dawned on him and wasn't just hidden emotions and secret, un analysed glances, would never… fully appreciate Pagan. And he could take him away from this Hell that was his father's home. Keep him safe. If Pagan had the sense that he believed him to have, he'd see who was the better option… the better man. Who would make him feel wanted.
-
He had said it. Hinted around his feelings. Offered a new life. And watched Pagan's face change. Saw that he thought of Roland. So that's how it was. Pagan tried to be polite. But the insults came from his mouth as his heart broke then hardened.
'You're ten kinds of fool, Pagan. I never realised it, until now.'
He'd tried to make his offer still stand.
Pride and hurt made him lash out. But Pagan wasn't ten kinds of fool. He was.
Now there was no hope.
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 7,433 | 11,307.6 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Chapter 1
"Hey keri,I found this amazing ebook online,come read it with me",Dan say's walking over to Keri.
"Sure",Keri say's reading it.
Chapter one (I got this off the internet)
6 ways to annoy your neighbor
_**1)Do not hurt your neighbor or your neighbor's house in any way!**__**That will get you into even more trouble than you might already be in.**_
2)**Begin small.** Maybe you know certain music they hate? Play that real loud in front of their house. Do you know their phone number? Maybe you should give 'em a little call. Not necessarily a prank call, but an annoying one in which you talk and talk for ages about something bothering you between your land and your neighbor's.
3)**Be assertive.** When a neighbor is being really difficult and unfriendly, be assertive, not aggressive. Stand on your own principles and be firm but polite.
4)**Do things 6-7 months past due.** Go trick-or-treating in April, sing Christmascarols in July, and pack up your bags in the middle of December and say you're going on summer vacation.
5)**Leave your garden clippings in a huge pile in full view of their house.** Don't move it for ages; this upsets neat freaks a lot.
6)**Talk to yourself in your yard.** Laugh and cry and chatter whenever they're inthe back yard.
2. Chapter 2
chapter 2
32 ways to annoy your teachers (I found this all on the internet)
1_After your teacher is done lecturing, raise your hand and ask, "How is this relevant?"
2_When the teacher calls on you, answer him/her in a foreign language, or gibberish. Make sure they don't understand it. xD
3_When the teacher calls on you, randomly say "Would you like fries with that?" and salute (This just makes my algebra teacher laugh).
4_Tell the professor that you need an extension because one of your primary sources is an old wise man in Tibet and he won't see you until the next full moon.
5_If doing a long project, include a VCR booklet manual. Say you have psychic abilities, and saw the hidden words shown only to you.
6_Organize a group of people to emit a low, humming noise keeping **straight faces.**
7_Ask people to hold your hand and walk you to all your classes.
8_Develop an unnatural fear of pencils.
9_Develop an unnatural fear of quizzes. xD
10_No matter what the teacher asks you, reply with, "Okay."
11_Stand up on your seat (in the middle of class) and ask your peers, "Does any one here know the muffin man?" If anyone says 'yes', hoot and holler, and high-five them, returning to your seat like nothing happened.
12_In your math class, insist that 2+2=64.
13_Call your teacher by their opposeite sex name. ie, "Mr. Donaldson" would be "Ms. Donaldson", and vice-versa.
14_Constantly accuse your science teacher of being an anti-dentite after class. Walk away before they can respond.
15_Drum on every available surface.
16_During a quiz, hum an annoying song like, "Feliz Navidad" or "It's a Small World".
17_Cite your bibliography from manga/comic books.
18_If late for class, make a scene walking in and saying REALLY loud, "Sorry I'm late! I had to go use the bathroom! Boy does it stink!". Then go to your seat, but LOUDLY.
19_When the teacher tells the class to go to a specific page, ask, "What page?"
20_ Whine and groan, "Aww, do we HAVE to?"
21_Ask your teacher if he/she can throw a party. Insist this throughout the class period.
22_Make exploding sounds when using a stapler.
23_Laugh hysterically in the middle of lecture. When asked what's so funny, blink numerous times and respond with, "What what's so funny?". Continue with this until the person gets fed up.
24_Make out with your folder in the middle of class.
25_Try to sing opera at lunchtime.
26_Do the YMCA dance in every class, without singing it.
27_Chant and hum before every quiz, making a big deal of blessing your paper.
28_Cosplay as your favourite anime character to school. Make sure to act like your character to add more spice.
29_Cosplay as your favourite anime character to school. When asked, say that your dog ate all your clothes, leaving those only available.
30_Bring an accordion to lunch, and play for money. Even better, play an annoying song. People would just pay you just to stop.
31_If writing on the chalk/white board, try to write upside down. If you wear glasses, claim that your eye doctor prescribed wrongly. If not wearing glasses, claim that you need glasses.
32_Recite your essay Fonzie-style. Even better if you're reading Shakespearian stories.
3. Chapter 3
chapter3
60 ways to annoy your teachers.
your teacher what they will be teaching, after reply "I'm out" give them your books at leave
your teacher is turned, throw your pen across the room and say "it slipped"
your teacher asks if anyone had any questions, say "yeah, how do i get boredom out of my head!"
a normally used word like "and" or "like" and every time it is said, clap your hands and run around your desk in a circle.
answering a true or false questions, everytime its false stand and yell "LIES ALL LIES!" sit down and act as if nothing has happened
your pen Mr. Pen and ask his opinion on the teacher's questions to you.
your teacher says something intelligent answer with "quite right old bean" in an English sort of manner
a smiley face on your paper and talk to it
Spanish class, specify that you don't speak Spanish so you don't understand
everyone bob and all the teachers Mr/Mrs bob
things and watch your teachers hunt for them
your teacher that you know that the calk dust is actually cocaine
a "brain dead….be back soon" on your desk and go to sleep when your teacher asks you to get up ask, "Can't you read the sign?"
all your erasers and make them into a big happy family
a funeral for the trees it took to make the lined paper, demanded for the whole class to take a moment of silence
your teacher explains something laugh loudly and yell "now I get it!"
the bell rings pick up your desk and turn it around
seats every 5 seconds
the history teacher that theres no point in learning about dead people cause there will be a zombie apocalypse soon
your teacher about the meaning of life
your math teacher and English question
22. Give your teacher abrupt comments about their appearance such as "I like your pants!" right in the middle of class
the lesson ahead of time and raise your hand when your teacher calls on you explain the whole lesson to the class in less then 30 seconds.
everyone in the class to click their pens at the exact same time over and over and over again
the teacher if you can be excused for life
your teacher where babies come from in the middle of a lesson
a big test, meditate on your desk and if anyone asks, "I'm channeling the spirit of Einstein"
open doors for invisible people
for an extra worksheets every day, claiming your dog keeps eating them
your teacher the same question for a week
to the principal the locker keeps eating your books
you have a sub, greet them by yelling "FRESH MEAT!"
your religion teacher you cant attend school anymore cause its against your religion
your hand, when they call on you just say "I'm pointing at the ceiling"
being given a worksheet, stick it in your mouth and eat it
on your pencil very loudly
the health teacher a pervert
the water fountains, make a slip n' slide down the halls
throw your pen across the room and say that your hands have "spastic arteries"
on your paper and say its in code so the people wont cheat on you
every question with "that's what she said, "your mom" or "your face"
random body parts and post them all over school
the bathroom signs
notes to your imaginary friend and ask why he didn't get in trouble if you get caught
to your friends across the room, if your teacher tells you to stop get up and go whisper to them instead
everytime something falls of a desk, saying it committed suicide
your teacher looks away, bang on the desk and scream when she turns back just do your work.
off your socks and make hand puppets, have them fight over answering the questions
your foreign language teacher what English words mean
a big rubber band ball to school and keep asking the teacher if they want any and throw it at them before they can answer.
your shadow of cheating
the teacher and ask if they've been drinking
into a different classroom and see how long it'll take until they notice
that you wrote the text books
your blind and deaf
at your classmates until they look at you, yell "STOP LOOKING AT ME FREAK YOUR DISTRACING ME!"
every question with "well heck, I dunno"
across the room, slap the teacher and tell them that "their it"
your pants off and put them in the lost and found
run to the window and say "oh sorry I thought I saw the bat signal"
4. Chapter 4
chapter 4
all out of boredom
If you're feeling bored and you have nothing to do, you're in luck, because I have created a list of ways to annoy people, which will definitely brighten your day! And the best part of all is that it takes virtually no skill at all!
Okay, so yeah….
*ahem*
10. Poke them
This is probably the most common way to annoy someone. Poke them. Into insanity. And they get annoyed. Which is cool.
There are several variations in which you can do this. You can simply poke them once, and there you go. But that's boring, and it's not that annoying. You can also poke them a billion gazillion times over again and again and again really hard. That's pretty annoying. However, after a while, your finger tends to get a little sore. But that's okay, because it pays off in the end. Or, you can poke them and run away. Then come back, poke, and run away. Repeat this lots of times, and it gets them really ticked off.
My personal favorite way to poke people it with a stick or any large poky thing. Then your hand doesn't get that sore, and it really annoys whoever you're poking. And plus, you can also whack them on the head with the poky thing. And that's good.
9. Sing the same song over and over and over and over and over again
This is also pretty basic. It's very simple, really. Just sing a song that you enjoy and everybody hates (it really doesn't matter which) and sing it. A lot. Make sure you're singing in a really annoying voice, because if you sing nicely, then it's not annoying.
8. Scribble pen/marker/permanent marker on their face
This really annoys people A LOT. Just take a pen or whatever of a color that the person hates with a strong passion. Then sneak up on them. Or you don't have to sneak up on them, but you can just sit and start talking randomly, and they don't suspect anything. Then, when they're totally not expecting it, take your pen or whatever and SCRIBBLE! On their face! And that annoys them, because it takes forever to wash it off. Especially if you used a permanent marker.
The one problem with this technique of annoying people is that the person tends to get really ticked off at you because their face is all scribbled on. If you wish to try to scribble on someone's face, I suggest that you are very good at running away very very very fast. Or if you're good at climbing trees, that's good too. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
7. Put duct tape in their hair
For this one you might want the help of a few friends. What you do is you take a bunch of duct tape of any color. Make sure you already have a bunch of small strips of the duct tape pre-ripped-off-the-roll so you don't have to bother with cutting/ripping off pieces while you're being annoying.
So after that, you and your friends quietly sneak up behind the person you're going to annoy. Then, really fast, you stick a bunch of the duct tape in their hair. Then run away REALLY FAST. If the person has long hair, he or she may not notice that the duct tape is in their hair at first because you might have done it really gently so they didn't notice. But if they did notice, then you better watch out, because they might be a little mad.
It's really hard to get that stuff out of your hair, so once you got the duct tape in their hair, you've succeeded.
6. Prank call
This is my personal favorite way to annoy people. Prank calling is very classic and very fun to do. Simply memorize the person's number, dial, and call.
You might want to think of something to say before the person answers the phone, though, otherwise it'll be weird. Say something like, "Hello, I am Derick from Dinky's Diaper Service. I'm calling to confirm your order of ten thousand diapers. You should be receiving ten thousand diapers within three days, four hours, and sixteen minutes…" Or something random like that. And make sure you have a really weird voice so they don't recognize you.
If they have caller ID, then… To bad. Call anyway. Because it's fun. And then call a lot so it gets annoying. If they stop answering, then leave a lot of messages.
5. Bite them
I also enjoy this one. A lot. Just grab their arm, or leg, or whatever, and bite. And then run away. And then come back. And then bite. And then run away. And then come back. And then bite.
Repeat this a billion times, and it gets really annoying for them. You don't have to draw blood when you bite, just make sure you leave bite marks.
4. Squirt ketchup at them
This is somewhat similar to the pen scribbling thing. Kind of. But not really.
Simply take a ketchup bottle, and squirt. It's really easy, actually.
Other substitutes for ketchup if you don't have any are mustard, chocolate syrup, cherry syrup, etc. Something red is usually better, because it stains.
3. Quote Yoda
Even if the person is a huge Star Wars fan, it gets annoying after a while. It's quite easy to do this; just say the subject last, or whatever. I don't know grammar very good.
2. Act like you're drunk
This is really fun to do. You don't have to be drunk, either! Just walk around in circles, fall over, talk randomly, scream, foam at the mouth, giggle insanely, whatever. If anyone asks for an explanation, attack them with a stick. If they get mad, offer them a cup of vodka, saying it soothes the mind.
1. Give them weird presents
It can be anything, really. It can be a screwdriver, or a dead squirrel, or moldy bologna, or baby clothes (in a color that he or she hates), or tin foil, or a piece of paper, or ear wax, or whatever. Or you can just wrap up a box and decorate it and then don't put anything in it.
Also, if you know who the person has a crush on, on the package you can write; "To, *insert person's name here* From, *insert name that the person likes*." This might get the person all excited and everything, and once they realize it's just some junk present, then you've succeeded in being annoying.
Do this a lot of times, too. Like, eight times a week. And don't stop.
5. Chapter 5
new ways
-Swat invisible bugs on your neighbor's desk.
-Get in a swivel chair, spin and sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
-Stare out the window, and drool.
-While the teacher's back is to you, throw a pencil at the back of someone's head ahead of you.
-After you finish your quiz in class, take to the ground and yell, "COVEERRR!". After a few seconds, get up like nothing happened.
-Bring a small tape player, playing absurd sound effects.
-Peer over at someone else's paper, then burst out laughing.
-Smile incessantly. Write out a sentence, then laugh happily exclaiming, "You're such a marvel!" and kiss your paper. Repeat this after every sentence. As your ecstasy mounts, also hug your desk, your neighbor, the teacher, your chair, etc.
-If late, run into class yelling, "ARMAGEDDON IS HERE!" Then sit down at your desk as nothing happened.
-Write really, REALLY fast, then stop abruptly, and look at your neightbour evilly. Do this every five minutes.
-Try to seduce your neighbour, not paying attention to their sex.
-Laugh hysterically and yell, "You will perish in CandyLand!", then continue as if nothing happened.
-Laugh hysterically for three minutes, then stop abruptly, and look at everyone looking you as if THEY'RE crazy.
-Five minutes before class ends, look at the clockwith a frightened look. Shout, "NO! THEY FOUND ME!" And bolt outta there.
-Make out with your desk.
-Make out with your paper.
-Make out with pencil.
-Make out with your chair.
-Run out of the bathroom yelling, "IT FLOATS!"
-Grab someone's folder, run off yelling, "TOUCHDOWN!"
-Hold the door closed inside, so no one can enter before the bell rings.
-Stand in the corner of the class, pretending to be a tree.
-Run out of class holding your crotch yelling, "MY BALLS! MY BALLS!"
-Bring a mini-camera, recording a video journal of yourself stranded in a desert island. Do this in the middle of class.
-Try to start a wave.
-Call your teacher mommy/daddy.
-Bring in a bag of potato chips, and ask the teacher every ten minutes if the chip you're about to eat looks like your teacher.
-Talk to your desk.
-Bring a sock puppet, and speak through it.
-Cry a lot.
-Hoot and hollar randomly in class.
-Come into class wearing ten pairs of socks. Take them off and drape them layer by layer onto your table, and explain sudden haiku of cotton on wood (or cotton on plastic).
-Stop in middle of class and chant in a made-up langage, making all these eleborate hand gestures, and pointing at your paper. Do this every twenty minutes.
-Start writing on your paper with an unsharpened pencil. Raise your and complain that the pencil doesn't work.
-Bring a large portrait of the British Royal Family and loudly proclaim that it inspires you.
-Try to surf the web on your calculator.
-Ask random people if they have Canola oil. Walk away.
-Insist your name is Martha. When called Martha, insist your name is Joe. Repeat this.
-Pretend to be on the computer.
6. Chapter 6
1) Sing the Batman theme continuously.
2) In the memo field of all your checks, write "for sensual massage."
3) Specify that your drive-through order is "to go".
4) Learn Morse code, and have entire conversations with friends in public consisting entirely of "Beeeep Bip Bip Beeep Bip…"
5) If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
6) Amuse yourself for endless hours by hooking a camcorder to your TV and then pointing it at the screen.
7) Speak only in a "robot" voice.
8) Push all the flat Lego pieces together tightly.
9) Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will "swipe your grub".
10) Leave the copy machine se tot reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 98 copies.
11) Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.
12) Sniffle incessantly.
13) Leave your turn signal on for fifty miles.
14) Name you dog "Dog".
15) Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep them tuned up".
16) Reply to everything someone says with "that's what YOU think:"
17) Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your "astronaut training".
18) Declare your apartment an independent nation, and sue your neighbors upstairs for "violating your airspace."
19) Forget the punch line to a long joke, but assure the listener it was a "real hoot".
20) Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with Lysol.
21) Practice making fax and modem noises,
22) Highlight irrelevant information in scientific papers and "cc:" them to your boss.
23) Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
24) Invent nonsense computer jargon in conversations and see if people play along to avoid the appearance of ignorance.
25) Erect an elaborate network of ropes in you backyard, and tell you neighbors you are a "spider person".
26) Finish all you sentences with the words, "in accordance with the prophesy."
27) Wear a special hip holster for your remote control.
28) Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you'll be saying more any moment.
29) Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears and yelling, "LA LA LA IM NOT LISTENING LA LA".
30) Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room.
31) Give a play-by-play account of a persons every action in a nasal Howard Cowbell voice.
32) Holler random numbers while someone is counting.
33) Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you "like it that way".
34) Drum on every available surface.
35) Staple papers in the middle of the page.
36) Ask 1800 operators for dates.
37) Produce a rental video consisting entirely of dire FBI copyright warnings.
38) Sew anti-theft detectors strips into people's backpacks.
39) Hide dairy products in inaccessible places.
40) Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.
41) Set alarms for random times.
42) Order a side of pork rinds with you filet mignon.
43) Instead of Gallo, serve Bight Train next Thanksgiving.
44) Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a "croaking" noise.
45) Honk and wave to strangers.
46) Dress only in clothes colored Hunters Orange.
47) Change channels five minutes before the end of every show.
48) Tape pieces of "Sweating to the Oldies" over climatic parts of rental movies.
49) Wear your pants backwards.
50) Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complimentary mints by the cash register.
51) Begin all you sentences with "ooh la la!"
52) ONLY TYPE IN UPPER CASE.
53) only type in lowercase.
54) Don't use any punctuation either
55) Buy large quantities of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.
56) Pay for your dinner with 5 cent pieces.
57) Tie jingle bells to all your clothes.
58) Repeat everything someone says, as a question.
59) Writ "X- BURIED TREASURE" in random spots all over someone's maps.
60) Inform everyone you meet of your personal Kennedy assassination/ UFO/ alien conspiracy theories.
61) Repeat the following conversation a dozen times:" Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now."
62) Light road flares on a birthday cake.
63) Wander around a restaurant, asking other diners for their parsley.
64) Leave tips in foreign currencies.
65) Demand that everyone address you as "Conquistador".
66) At the Laundromat, use one drier for each of your socks.
67) When Christmas caroling, sing 'Jingle Bells, Batman smells: until physically restrained.
68) Wear a cape that says, "Magnificent One."
69) As much as possible, skip rather than walk.
70) Stand over someone's shoulder, mumbling, as they read.
71) Pretend you computer mouse is a CB radio, and talk to it.
72) Try playing William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce, "No wait, I messed t up," and repeat.
73) Drive half a block.
74) Inform others that they only exist in your imagination.
75) Ask people what gender they are.
76) Lick the filling out of all Oreos, and place the cookie parts back.
77) Cultivate annoying accents, Norwegian for example.
78) Routinely handcuff yourself to furniture, informing the curious that you don't want to fall of "in case the big one comes."
79) Deliberately hum songs that will remain lodges in co-workers brains, such as "Feliz Navidad", the Archies "Suagrs" or the Mr. Rogers theme song.
80) While making presentations, occasionally bob your head. Like a parakeet.
81) Lie obviously about trivial things such as the time of day.
82) Leave your Christmas lights up and lit till September.
83) Change your name to "AaJohn AaaaaaaSmith" for the great glory of being the first in the phone book. Claim it's a Hawaiian name and demand people pronounce each "a."
84) Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
85) Chew on pens you've borrowed.
86) Wear a LOT of bad perfume.
87) Listen to 33rpm records at 45rpm speed, and claim the faster speed is necessary because of your "superior mental processing".
88) Sing along at the opera.
89) Mow your law with scissors.
90) At a golf tournament, chant "swing-batatatatatat-suhWING-batter."
91) Ask the waitress for an extra seat for your imaginary friend.
92) Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.
93) As your co-workers mystery questions, then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about "psychological profiles."
94) Stare at static on the TV and claim you can see a "magic picture".
95) Select the same song on a jukebox fifty times.
96) Never make eye contact.
97) Never break eye contact.
98) Construct elaborate "crop circles" in your front lawn.
99) Construct your own pretend "tricorder" and "scan" people with it, announcing the results.
100) Make appointments for the 31st of September.
101) Invite lots of people to other people's parties.
End file.
| Misc. Humor | Fanfiction | null | 24,939 | 12,583.7 |
null | Misc. Books Emily's End
**This is based on William Faukner's "A Rose for Emily"**
**Enjoy**
Ever since those construction workers broke that water main, all of the rats from the sewers came up into town. We've never really had a problem with them, because the cats would always just catch them and that'd be that. I hadn't really noticed until I overheard Pop and Mr. Johnson talking about them.
"The cats aren't going after the rats like usual…" Mr. Johnson mumbled to Pop.
"Yeah, and when one of 'em comes up to Lily, she'll jus' hiss at it and then run away…" Pop stopped and thought a second, as he began to stroke his beard. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since the rats started gettin' really bad…"
"Them rats are vicious though," Mr. Johnson said. "One of 'em nipped at my ankle when I was walkin' down town. Good thing I had my cane with me, so I hit 'im 'til he left."
"Well one of 'em got me," Pop said raising his hand so Mr. Johnson could see. "Got me when I was messin' in the yard."
Pop is always getting' hurt by something or the other, although a lot of people had been getting bit by these rats lately. Something he said had stuck with me though; I hadn't seen Lily lately either. I didn't blame her for running away though, because these rats were unnatural…Big, hairy and mean looking. At the same time, they looked a bit like they could keel over at any time. If I had to walk down town, I'd cross the road, just in case one tried to bite me.
Just the other day I had to go get something for Mama when I passed Ms. Emily's house, and I saw a whole bunch of them scurrying 'round her yard…I think I even saw one crawl underneath her house…The construction workers were about to leave town by then, and leave us to deal with these darn rats. That was one day after Mr. Homer left, and Ms. Emily hadn't left the house since.
It's dark out now, and it's way past curfew, so I'm trying to hurry up and get home. As I pass Ms. Emily's house, I hear a strange noise coming from inside. It was a low, raspy moan. I stop and glance over at the old, creepy house. One of the drapes one the second floor moves like someone tripped and fell against them. But as soon as it happens, they're still again. The negro she keeps 'round must have tripped or something, I think to myself. I start to walk again, but then I hear the same noise again, only louder. I look over at the house again, and see a huge group of those big ol' rats gathering 'round the base of the house. It's starting to get really queer, so I decide to just let things be and go home before I get into any more trouble than I'm already going to be in.
I know that Ms. Emily isn't the…most normal person in town, so there's no telling' what she's doin' in there. Just as I start walking again, I see someone up the road coming towards me. I wonder if they're hurt, because they're limpin' like an old dog that's been hit by a car. I squint my eyes to try and make out who it is, and then I see that it's Pop. He must be real mad about my being late, and probably drunk judging by the way he's walking. I start to walk towards him when I hear the sound again. The low raspy noise that doesn't sound like any living person could make. But the thing is, this time it ain't coming from Ms. Emily's house…it's coming from Pop. I stop where I am and just stare at him. He's still limpin' towards me, but he's really slow.
Suddenly Ms. Emily's front door bursts open with such force that it nearly makes me jump out of my skin. The rats surrounding her house aren't look startled at all. Then out comes Ms. Emily herself. She stops when she sees me, and then looks even more frightened when she sees Pop, who hasn't made much progress. She looks like she's about to say something when Mr. Homer appears in the door way behind her. He looks like himself, but at the same time, he doesn't. His skin is paler which make him look sickly. He's got green stuff coming out of the sides of his mouth and eyes. His eyes look angry and hollow, and they're looking straight at Ms. Emily. He opens his mouth wider than any normal person could to reveal ugly yellow teeth. Now a horrible noise that sounds like someone screaming while being choked erupts from his throat. I cover my ears, but I can't look away. I know I should run, but my feet wont listen. It's hard enough to get my lungs to work let alone my feet and legs.
When Pop hears Mr. Homer's howl, he howls too. My heart stops when I hear the same howl echo across the whole town in front of me. Mr. Homer moves a lot faster than Pop, and lunges at Ms. Emily. They both fall to the ground, and Mr. Homer does the strangest thing; he bites Ms. Emily. But it's not one of those bites like from a little puppy. He bites down deep, sinking his ugly, rotting teeth into her arm. She screams, and then the negro appears in the door way as Mr. Homer rips a chunk from Ms. Emily's arm off and swallows it. The negro looks like how Mr. Homer does; pale, well, as pale as a negro can be, and has the same dried trails of green stuff. The only difference is that the negro has a large bite mark on the side of his neck. He moves just as fast as Mr. Homer does, and is over at Ms. Emily in an instant.
My heart is in my ears, and I can't breath as I watch them rip poor Ms. Emily's screaming body apart. Tears form in my eyes as I see Jimmy, my neighbor, dash past me and acts like he doesn't see what's happening. I look in the direction that he's running from and see a bunch of the folks from town coming this way, with a hoard of other folks who look like Pop and Mr. Homer behind them. Some run as fast as Mr. Homer and the negro, and others limp like Pop does.
Then I see Mama. She's not like Pop, and I almost faint from relief. She sees me, and Pop. He's still a good bit away from me, so she goes to him first, until she realizes that he's one of them. She's at me now, and she's taken my hand and started to drag me along with her. I never knew Mama could run so fast.
"Hurry up, baby! We have to go! Hurry up!" She's saying, and I finally get my legs to work again so we're running together now. She's crying which makes me cry too, which is bad, 'cause it's harder to breath when you're running and crying at the same time.
"What's happening, Mama? What's wrong with Pop?" I ask between breaths and sobs.
"Those damn rats!" Is all she says before telling me to hurry up. I can hear a horse whinny somewhere, and Mama can too. We both look over to the lonely barn owned by Mr. Peterson. The horse whinnies again, and Mama says we're going over there.
The other horses are already gone, but Mr. Peterson's mare is still in her stall, and I can tell she wants to get away as much as we do. Mama tells me to go watch the door as she gets some reigns. I run over to the barn door and I see Mr. Peterson. And he sees me, too. He howls that horrible howl and charges toward the barn. It's too bad he doesn't limp like Pop. I start to tell Mama about Mr. Peterson, but she's scooping me up onto the horse. Mr. Peterson bursts through the barn door and snarls at us before lunging towards us. Just as he does, the mare rears back and kicks him in the head, knocking him flat on his back. When she lands, it's on his head, and it makes a crunch that makes me sick to my stomach.
Mama is making the horse run as fast as she can, and we're passing a lot of the people from town. We pass another scene like the one at Ms. Emily's house, and I have to look away 'cause I'm crying again.
All I can hear is those howls, the screams of people being eaten, and Mama's voice saying, "We've got to get away! We've got to get away!"
I hope we do.
* * *
**Please R&R**
**Also, I don't usually write in first person present tense, so be kind!
**
End file.
| Misc. Horror, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 7,788 | 12,817.6 |
null | Misc. Books Evangeline
Evangeline
I press my face hard against the cracked, cold mirror. Again I wake up from the same, reoccurring nightmare. Shutting my eyes to block out the thought, I slid a wash rag under the cool water of the faucet and dab at my face. My eyes are overly glassy, red orbs, dripping salty wet puddles into the sink. I need sleep.
Back when I was 10, I was still so innocent. My long blonde curls bounced around my waste as Annabelle Marie and I took turns on the slide in the old park. She would always ask me to come over to her house, and although I really did want to, I would usually get nervous and make up some stupid excuse. I regret it now more than anything in the world. Anna always told me we would be best friends forever, not matter what.
I wish I would have asked her to come over and have dinner, asked her to ride with me home that night. But I didn't, and now I'm looking into the mirror at a girl I do not know.
"Evangeline?" I ask myself, trying to bring the old me out of this cocoon I have created.
The next morning, I awake to a lack of sleep. Its early autumn. The trees are full of color and there is a light breeze, pushing loose blonde strands of hair around my face. I am sitting on the grass when suddenly; the wind carries the sweet sound of _Concertino _to my spot under the big oak tree. The notes flow like honey in the summer morning, no broken ones escape the glorious instrument. I cannot help myself, so I stand and brush off the leaves that have gathered into a small pile on my lap. I follow the sound around my neighborhood, as I round the east section, the tune begins to speed up and I can feel the sound vibrating through the stone walk below. I can see him now, the wonderful composer of this amazing tune. His crimson eyes are emotionless and his long dark hair cascades over his face. The flute he is holding is black and silver and looks as though it has recently been polished; the initials etched into one of the valves read "A.V." The beautiful sound abruptly stops and I look up in surprise to meet those red eyes burning into my own.
"Hello dear," his voice is smooth and longing, but it sounds as if it's one hundred miles away.
"H-Hi," I am unsure of myself. My feet are shaking and I feel like I should just run away right now, before something bad happens.
He smirks and sets the beautiful black instrument in its case and looks back at me. His eyes hold mine hostage for what feels like an eternity.
"Do you like it?" he asks, "I have been practicing it for quite a while now."
I am frozen. My body has become so weak from what seems to be a mix of embarrassment and fear. He is gorgeous, there is no denying this, but my brain is screaming for me to leave as fast as I can.
"I-I think I should go home now." I manage to stutter out before turning to flee this uncomfortable scene. I have to pry my feet out of the spot they have rooted themselves in.
"Come back and play with me sometime," he coos. I blush like mad and take off for home. My heart is pounding so hard that I have to press my hand against my chest to keep it from bursting out and leaving a trail of blood behind me.
Seven days later, I have trouble sleeping again. This time, however, it is for a totally new reason. That boy was beautiful, perfect in every way I could imagine. I want to hear him play again; I could have listened to that flute for the rest of my life. My eyes feel so heavy but it is as if sleep is inexistent, why is he doing this to me?
I'm late again! Why don't I just face the facts, I will never be able to make it to school on time. Rushing into the bathroom, I quickly tie my curly blonde hair into a pony tail with a little pink ribbon.
"Mom, I'm going to have to skip out on breakfast this morning!" I call out as race down the stairs. My mother is standing amongst a pile of dishes and a sink full of soapy water; she doesn't even look up when I enter.
"Late as always," she sighs as I run out the front door. Annabelle and I use to walk to school together every day. I still have a hard time believing it has already been two years since that day. We were both sixteen and we thought we were invincible. We would often drive 80 just to feel the adrenaline rush that accompanied it. I haven't done anything like that since the day she left, I hardly even see any of our old friends anymore either. I was Annabelle's closest friend; no one else knew where she was that night.
"Evangeline Thomas?" the teacher reads my name off the attendance chart. When did I even get to class? I brush the blonde strands out of my eyes and stare out the window. Mrs. Amber just rambles on.
At lunch I get the usual, an apple, a bag of chips, and a cup of lemonade. I sit at a table with a few other clique-less stragglers. Biting into the apple, I spare a glance at the surrounding student body. Some are sucking down spaghetti, some flipping bottle caps at one another, and some are sitting in the far corner with their tongues in each other's mouths. Suddenly, my mind wanders off to thoughts flute boy and I wonder to myself if maybe he goes to school here. I want to hear him play once again, I don't think I can handle one more day without the perfect melody he has given me. Standing up, I dump my half eaten apple in the trash.
The end of the day comes fairly quickly, I am sitting in the same spot I was that day I first heard him. The leaves have begun to pile up more and more, signaling that winter is coming up shortly. This time, I pay close attention to every stirring sound in the surrounding neighborhood, jumping up at every whisper of a noise. The wind is whirling faster now that it is getting late so I hunch my shoulders up in an awkward position so that my neck is covered. Annabelle had taught me to do this the night I caught a bad cold and had to be out of school for three days. I had laughed at her for hunching her shoulders up like that, but she ended up being the one who really got the last laugh.
Suddenly, as if reflecting on my memories, I hear the solemn melody of the instrument that I have come to adore. I shoot up and take off in the direction that I had found him last time. As I approach the building, I look for something to hide behind so that he won't notice me this time. It is dark now, so it isn't too hard to stay out of sight range. The soft sound is soothing and I can feel the vibration through the stone pillar that I am hiding behind. His hair seems like it has grown almost an inch since I last saw him, but I know that couldn't happen in just a week. His eyes are closed and he sways ever so slightly with the tune. I can't take it anymore, my eyes begin to droop and my brain starts to shut down. The music stops but I am already fast asleep.
It's so dark now. I feel around and find that I am lying on a bed that cannot possible be mine.
"Hello?!" I yell "Where am I?" I frantically search my surroundings for anything that looks remotely familiar.
"You're finally awake," a soothing male voice acknowledges my question. I recognize the voice almost before he's even done speaking; flute boy.
I scan the room and find him leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes are closed.
"Wh-What am I doing here?"
He smirks, "_You_ came to _me_, remember?"
I think back to how I had fallen asleep listening to him play. He must have carried me to this room, but how did he know I was there?
"Well," I begin, "I guess I should be going home now, my mother is probably really worried, but thanks a lot for being so kind." I hold my hand out and shake his. When I try to pull away, he does not let go.
"U-Umm...I really need to go."I try hard to yank my hand away but his firm grip is much too strong, his eyes are still closed.
"Honey," he says, tightening his grip slightly. His skin is so pale but amazingly soft for a guy. "Won't you stay just a little longer? I do enjoy company." His smirk grows wider and his eyelids slowly begin to open. What I see frightens me more than the fact that he is holding me against my will. His eyes are not the same shade of red now, they are so bright that they are almost glowing in the nearly pitch black room. I gasp and try to back away from him but he does not let go. He pulls me closer and closer until his face is inches away, "Don't be afraid," his voice breathes relief into my ear, it migrates throughout my entire body and it is as if I have never been afraid of anything. His breathe moves from my ear down to my neck. I open my eyes to see he is directly in front of me, his eyes closed once again. His lips inch closer to mine, I am not at all afraid and so I entangle my fingers into those long dark locks and press my lips against his. He pushes his body closer to mine and deepens the kiss roughly. We are now tangled in one another and I pull away to breathe.
That smirk is still plastered on his face, "Ahh so you do not remember me…"
I give him a puzzled look, "What? I know you?"
"Not well, it was a few years ago, I'm just glad I found you."
He runs his fingers through my hair, "Annabelle Marie was such a beautiful girl…and so innocent."
"What do you know about my Annabelle?!" I snap.
He chuckles, although this is clearly not the time, "Your Annabelle? You really think so?" He glances out the window, "That night, two years ago. You were beautiful and your scent was just as delicious as it is now." He peers beck into my eyes and continues, "You told Anna you needed to go home for dinner, she told you she planned to walk home and you went to leave, that's when I came into the picture." He smiles, "I greeted you as I passed you on the path, those beautiful blonde locks of yours flowing in the wind." He twirls a piece of my hair between his fingers.
"What happened to Anna?" I plead, tears welling up in my eyes.
"I did what I always do, I played my flute. _She _came to _me_, just as you have come now."
"W-What do you mean?
"Be patient E-V-A-N-G-E-L-I-N-E," he speaks my name slowly. Although I have no idea how he knows it, I am too shocked to even care.
"Anyways, Anna came to me and I took her up to this very room." He looks around as if he's seeing the room at a different time. "She never came home, did she?" His smile turns crooked and he licks his lips.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU PIG?!" I scream and try to slap the look off his face, but he catches my hand easily.
"Do you know what I am Evangeline?" he asks in his sweetest voice.
I take a deep breath, "You're a monster."
"Yes, I am a monster." He laughs a maniacal laugh that screams out his insanity. He moves his face close to mine but I am too shocked to move away.
"You were my target Evangeline, but I could not wait any longer, I needed it immediately," he whispers, "but I have come back for you now my darling." The last thing I see is the sneer on his face before he lowers us onto the floor so that he is lying on top of me. His mouth is on my neck and I struggle, my screams are muffled by his pale hand over my mouth. Suddenly, my neck is burning. No, not just burning, it's on fire! I begin to cry and try even harder to push him off of me, but my body is becoming much too weak. Liquid is now rolling down my left arm; I place my trembling hand on it and lift it to my eyes. Red.
He lifts his head up and blood is dripping from his mouth, my blood, "Goodnight, beautiful." He whispers.
End file.
| Misc. Horror, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 11,440 | 10,609 |
null | Misc. Books Temporarily Knighted
CAW! CAW! The birds chirped throughout the peaceful streets of Osaka, Japan. A young, male figure strode down quiet sidewalks as a cool breeze passed by. Sixteen year old Ryuu Kaji was taking his daily stroll to school. He had light brown hair and wore his black uniform. It was a normal day for him until everything changed when he heard a loud crack. He paused. As he searched for its cause, he noticed that it seemed as if the whole world had stopped in its place. He felt a lump beneath his shoe and slightly lifted his leg. It was an old, plastic doll with golden hair, a red dress and a missing arm. A little bit off to the left was its severed limb. He widened his eyes and saw what he had done. Regretful for his recent actions, he bent down to pick up the toy.
"Hey! That's mine!" the voice of a small girl echoed from the east.
"I-I'm so sorry! Here, I'll pick it up..." he replied. Ryuu extended his arm and reached for the doll.
"Stop! I'll get it myself!" the unknown voice shouted. Over the horizon, a little girl about the age of eight appeared. She marched up to her toy, knelt down, and carefully picked it up. The child had semi-long hair and wore a green sweater. A stopwatch stuck out of her pocket.
"Be more careful!" she barked.
"S-sorry..." Ryuu apologized. He looked around and found that some birds were currently in flight. But they weren't flapping their wings or gently soaring; they were just levitating. As she snapped the doll's arm back into place, the birds continued to flutter away. He gasped in surprise.
"What are you?!"
"Humph!" She cleared her throat and straightened her back in pride. "For your information, I am Mako, the beautiful goddess of time."
"Wha-what?!" he questioned in confusion. "This must be a joke..." He chuckled a little. "You? The goddess of time? You've got to be kidding me."
"No! It's true!" she argued, "Here! I'll show you!" She swiftly waved her doll in the air and everything had frozen.
"WHOA!" He stood there breathless.
"See?" she said in arrogance.
"O-okay, I believe you... but..." he turned to her, "isn't it supposed to be 'Father Time', or something?" Mako glared at him and sighed.
"No, he died a long time ago."
"Then... you're pretty young for a goddess."
"The god before me died kind of early."
"Huh?"
"Humans are chosen to be a god's heir from the moment they are born. Gods are supposed to live for thousands of years but apparently, the god before me only lived for about..." she thought for a moment, "one hundred twenty-eight years. Gods also look the same age as they were when they first became one. And I've been a goddess for about fifteen years so; I'm technically twenty-three."
"WHAT?! Th-that's impossible! ... Then...I guess you're older than me..." Ryuu noted. Mako smirked.
"And what's the doll for?"
"It's my immortal material."
"Immortal material?"
"Yes. It's what gives me my powers. Without it, a god... wouldn't be a god."
"O-oh...by the way, my name's Ryuu," he mentioned. She smiled.
"Nice to meet you."
Ryuu then noticed that Mako seemed to be examining him. "Yep, you're perfect!" Mako confirmed.
"For what?" Ryuu asked. She smiled.
"To be my knight!"
"Kn-knight?!"
"Well, you see..." she leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Somebody is trying to assassinate me."
"What?!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah...so please?" He thought for a moment.
"Fine... it's a good excuse to get out of school..."
"Actually, you have a time limit. Here." She handed him a watch with a golden bracelet. "For every three hours, one of the fifty-six segments in this watch will crack. When it reaches the clock, your time's up. So, that's about a week."
"What happens after that?"
"Time will rewind itself and you'll forget everything." He thought once more.
"Okay, I'll do it."
Suddenly, rumbling came from the east. "It's here!" Mako announced.
"What is that?!" Ryuu panicked. As he turned, he saw that Mako had already begun running. A humongous cyborg came storming through the street. He remained still.
"FIGHT!" Mako yelled from behind a bush.
"With what?!"
"Are you blind?! I left you a sword!" At his feet was a silver sword with a strange clock above the handle. Ryuu quickly snatched it up and took an awkward battle stance. As it neared him, he shut his eyes, tightened his grip, and slashed. Upon opening one eye, he discovered that the robot had frozen. His new sword had some kind of ability to stop a person's time and movement. As he looked up at the bulky figure, he began examining it. The android was about eight feet tall and three feet wide. "HURRY UP!" Mako hollered. With more confidence, Ryuu struck it again, and the mighty machine fell, defeated. He sighed with great relief as Mako reappeared, clapping. "Well done, my knight," she congratulated him. He sat down, dropped his sword, and sighed again.
"What was that?"
"That," Mako answered, "was a Keeper."
"A Keeper?"
"Robots created to protect the home of all gods, the Eternal Garden."
"Why did it attack us?"
"Somebody must've hacked the control systems...I'm guessing that whoever it is, they must think that somebody with more experience should manage time... If I die, then whoever's next in line will inherit my job." Ryuu widened his eyes in surprise and clenched his fist in disgust.
"Well, no matter what, I'll do my very best to protect you," he promised. Hearing those words made Mako feel safe.
Crash! Another Keeper collapsed due to Ryuu's blade. It had been three days since he was knighted and twenty-nine segments of the watch had been cracked. "Okay, let's move." Mako declared. The pair was on their way to Mt. Fuji, one of multiple portals to the Eternal Garden. Mako thought that if they take down the Keepers' source, they'd both be safe. She walked forward as Ryuu followed. He glanced at Mako's doll.
"Hey, why haven't you used your powers?" Ryuu wondered.
"The Keepers were built in a way that gods' powers don't affect them," she explained. "You know..." Mako continued.
"Hm?" Ryuu turned to her.
"When I became the goddess of time, I was so excited at first, but... the other gods had erased the memories of everybody I was close to...almost as if I never existed...That's when I realized how badly I wanted to live a regular life. I wanted to go to high school or maybe get a job. At this age, I'd either be in college or taking care of a family, but I never even finished grade school!" Ryuu pitied her.
"Why don't I... give you a tour around my school?" he suggested.
"You'll have forgotten about me by then..." she mentioned.
"I'll think of something! I promise!" he reassured her. Mako's face lit up with happiness.
"Thanks..." They ventured on.
The two travelers walked through the darkness. It was ten o' clock at night as the moonlight revealed their path. They journeyed through the black town, when Ryuu suddenly heard a slight rustling.
"Wait..." Ryuu stopped Mako, "Do you hear it?"
"Yeah..." Mako replied. The rustling transformed into roaring, then into thundering. It was the sound of a Keeper's jets. "Up there!" Mako spotted it first. The Keeper was hovering directly above them. Suddenly, it came crashing down, barely missing them. It stood up and attempted to attack Ryuu with its prebuilt flamethrower. He ran in circles to avoid the inferno, but instead of burning Ryuu, the flames almost hit some houses.
"Stop! You're going to hurt innocent people!" Ryuu begged the cyborg to stop. Because the foolish robot continued, Ryuu slid under the Keeper and cut its legs. It stopped, tipped over, and slowly fell apart.
"Who's doing this to us?!" Mako raged. They continued on, leaving the evidence behind.
"How much farther, Mako?!" Ryuu groaned.
"Quit whining! We're getting closer." Mako scolded. They walked down the crowded streets of a bustling city. The forty-fifth segment had recently been chipped. All of a sudden, a Keeper ambushed them out of nowhere. Screams could be heard throughout the town. "Oh no...Not here..." Ryuu worried. It stepped forth, raised its arm, and out shot a blue luminescent laser beam.
"Get out of the way!" Ryuu shoved Mako just before it could hit her. "Go somewhere safe." Mako ran off with the rest of the crowd. As the streets cleared, Ryuu jumped up and struck the Keeper in the shoulder. It stopped. Then, he finished it off by slicing it in half. As it dropped in pieces, the civilians stepped out of their hiding places one by one and stared at Ryuu. "Uhh..." he thought for a while. He hid his sword behind his back. "N-nothing to see here folks! Nope! Nothing suspicious or anything!" Ryuu laughed nervously. Mako sighed in embarrassment. She activated her powers through the immortal material, and time rewound. "Oh...right… thanks…"
"Come on," she said in disappointment. Mako marched on ahead and Ryuu came running behind her.
As they continued on, their journey had finally come to an end. "There!" Mako yelled in glee, "Mt. Fuji!" Ryuu smiled and had forgotten about his exhaustion completely. They both ran towards the large mountain, when a battalion of Keepers appeared from the skies.
"No!" Ryuu complained in disbelief.
"For Pete's sake!" Mako rambled. They stopped as the Keepers took aim. Two approached from behind and locked their arms. There was no escape. The robots then escorted them towards the peak. "They're taking us to the garden!" Mako realized. "Our enemy must be a god!"
"Man... and we've come so far..." Ryuu sighed. As they climbed up with the portal laying dead ahead, Ryuu wore a face of worry, as Mako wore one of rage. They entered the swirling vortex and had traveled to a completely different world, the Eternal Garden. It was so peaceful, serene, and tranquil. Gorgeous plants and flowers were scattered everywhere and among them were several towers. One had a clock hanging above its door. Another was decorated with tridents and seashells. And one stood out. It had a vicious look to it and was decorated with a sword and shield. They were headed towards the armored building, the tower of war. The Keepers shoved them into the door as they were greeted be a dark man.
"Good to see you again, Mako."
"I should've known those Keepers came from a person as heartless as you," Mako growled.
"Yes, yes, it was all me," Salem confessed. "The Keepers and this brilliant plan came from the great god of war!" He laughed in a deep, sinister voice. Mako snarled at him as she hid behind Ryuu. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Salem directed his attention at Ryuu. "A human? Ha! How weak of you," he insulted her. Ryuu shielded Mako, drew his sword, and pointed its tip at Salem.
Mako hissed, "Be quiet, Salem! Ryuu is a better being than you'll ever be!" He frowned in disgust.
"Well then..." he turned his back towards them, "let's end this, Mako. Shall we?" With incredibly rapid movement, he flung three daggers at Mako. Ryuu automatically lashed at the daggers, blowing them away.
"No, I'll handle this," Ryuu stated with courage.
"Oh, so the human wishes to protect the goddess, how sweet. Very well then." Mako tugged at Ryuu's shirt.
"But...you might get-"
"I know," Ryuu interrupted. He scooted Mako out the door, but she glanced long enough to see that the watch's damages had almost reached the clock. Ryuu locked the door from the inside. Mako pounded on the door, trying to get in, but it was no use. She leaned against the stone walls, crouched, and put her head down. Just then, she heard a sudden smash. One of them seemed to be losing the battle. Mako desperately searched for a window, but instead, found a tiny hole in the wall. As she peered in, she noticed that Ryuu lie knocked back against a unique machine, and Salem was heading towards him. Salem drew a long sword.
"Ryuu! Get up!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ryuu slightly opened his eyes; half awake, and witnessed a sword being lunged towards him. Luckily, he was able to dodge the attack but the god struck the machine instead. After stabbing it, they both knew that it would explode in seconds.
"My immortal material!" Salem shouted in regret. Mako quickly backed up from the hole and desperately attempted to open the door. BOOM! It was too late.
"RYUU!" Mako finally opened the door and slowly entered the charred room. "No..." She was in complete disbelief. Mako searched the room thoroughly for him without knowing what had already happened. Eventually, Mako discovered the time sword wrapped in a black coating of soot. She looked down and to her surprise, a single shard of glass was lying at her feet. Mako immediately recognized it sighed in relieved. "You were lucky enough to get away, huh? Don't scare me like that ever again." She paused and stared at the shard. "Oh, and by the way...," Mako smiled, "your watch doesn't work."
Mako stood before Osaka High. "So this is the school he went to, huh?" It'd been two weeks since they last saw each other. As the bell rang and students hurriedly exited the gates, she spotted Ryuu. "Ryuu!" she called out in excitement. He walked towards her. "Good to see you!"
"Who are you?" he questioned. Mako suddenly remembered everything that had happened.
"Oh...right..." she said to herself. "I'm Mako..."
"Well, Mako, is there anything you need?" She looked at his wrist and noticed the broken watch. Her face brightened.
"Can you please give me a tour around school?"
"Oh...sure..." Ryuu stepped forward and led her through the school halls as Mako skipped along.
End file.
| Misc. Adventure | Fanfiction | null | 13,514 | 13,080.6 |
null | Misc. Books Metamorphosis 2
Metamorphosis 2
Sequel to Metamorphosis
Sara Holthouse
Chapter 1
I stand on the sidewalk looking up at the school beside Mason. It had been nearly a year since we'd been in the school, since before all the craziness happened. We'd both returned home, and went back to John's house on weekends for more training. I wasn't sure how everyone would react to us, or if Mason and I could take it. But, it was going to happen sometime. I took a deep breath, looked at Mason, and began walking up towards the school. Mason followed. Many feelings were going through my body at once. Apprehension, a little bit of fear, and a little bit of expecting something like the Anamorphic to jump out at us at any second. There's was also a feeling of wanting things to go back to the way they'd been. I had to remind myself that was never going to happen. We made it up and into the school alright. We headed up into the hallway where our lockers for this year were, planning to act as inconspicuous as possible. The minute we stepped foot in the upstairs hallway, someone spotted us, and everyone turned around saying our names, or clapping. So much for that. Mason and I made our way through the hall, to where our lockers were. I opened mine up, and began emptying out my backpack, and refilling the things that I need back into my backpack.
"Aaron Harris right?" a voice asked behind me.
"Yeah probably," I replied, still focused on what I was doing. I took one more look at my schedule, making sure I had everything I needed before the next time I could get to my locker. Then, I stood up, closed my locker and turned around. A girl with thick, blonde, curly hair stood behind me. I recognized her from my class, but I'd never really talked to her.
"My name is Chase," she said.
"Nice to meet you," I said. I tried to get passed her, sure I was about to be late for homeroom. It felt good to only have to worry about getting to homeroom on time.
"You've met me before," she said, following me.
"I know," I replied. "Can we finish talking in homeroom please?"
"Oh yeah," Chase replied. "Sure." We walked to homeroom. I found Mason sitting in the corner of the room, glaring daggers at the teacher's desk.
"What's the matter?" I asked, sitting down beside him. I was hoping Chase would go sit by her own friends, but she didn't.
"New teacher," Mason said, not looking at me. "And there's something suspicious about him." I turned and saw the new teacher sitting at the desk, looking at his computer. There was something wrong looking about him. Everything around him was dark. As I looked at him, suddenly the teacher's tongue flickered out, and back in. I gasped.
"What?" Chase asked.
"He has a forked tongue," I muttered.
"Oh no," Mason said.
"I'm guessing that's not good," I said, looking back at him.
"Reptalonamorphic," Mason said.
"He's here for us isn't he?" I asked. Mason nodded.
"What?" Chase asked.
Before I could respond, Mason asked, "Who are you?"
"Mason, Chase, Chase Mason," I said, pointing to each of them as I said their names. Mason nodded at Chase, and gave me a look that said, _what is she doing here? _I shrugged. I had no answer to that question. I glanced back at the teacher. The teacher looked over at us, and glared at us. I looked away quickly. "Guess we've just gotta watch out," I muttered. Just then, the bell rang. Mason and I left quickly. Chase must've had a class there, because she stayed where she was.
"What is UP with her?" Mason asked on our way down the hall.
"No idea," I said. "She randomly came up to me at my locker, and followed me around."
"Okay, I guess we've just gotta keep an eye on her," Mason said. I nodded, and we continued on our way to class.
The rest of the day went about as normal as it could go at our school. We went to the rest of our classes without any sign of the new homeroom teacher, or Chase. So, by the time Mason and I left the school, I was more relaxed as I'd been all day. Mason and I walked down the road in the direction of John's house. On some days we stopped there around the end of the day, only if something popped up. I'd say today it did. Mason wanted to get John's opinion on the Reptalonamorphic and Chase. I agreed with him.
About half way there, I started to get a funny feeling, like the feeling you get when something bad is about to happen, or someone is following you. I glanced behind us, just in time to see a shadow slide behind the house we'd just passed.
"Mason," I whispered.
"Yeah?" Mason asked.
"We're being followed," I muttered. Mason glanced at me, and then looked forward again. I did too, figuring whoever it was, was probably still watching us.
"Reptalonamorphic?" Mason asked.
"Not sure," I replied.
"Okay, just keep going," Mason said. I nodded. We kept walking. I kept both ears open for any sound behind me. I suddenly heard the sound of someone running. Before I could turn around, or realize what was happening, someone tackled me around the legs. I fell to the sidewalk on my hands and knees. Pain burst up my arms and legs. I gritted my teeth and ignored it.
"Mason run!" I yelled. I flipped onto my back, and kicked the man who had tackled me in the stomach with both feet. The man stumbled back. I recognized him as the new homeroom teacher from that morning. I leapt to my feet before the man could get himself right again. I had no idea whether Mason had run or not. The Reptalonamorphic advanced towards me. I got the feeling someone was behind me, and I turned around to find myself facing two more of them.
"Aaron!" Mason yelled. I couldn't see where he was, but I knew he'd noticed what was happening and probably coming back.
"No, Mason run!" I yelled. I turned back to the first Reptalonamorphic and took a swing at him. He ducked easily. One of the Reptalonamorphics behind me ducked in front of me, and got me right in the stomach. I coughed and doubled over in pain. The last one took a swing at me, and punched me right in the mouth. I felt a tooth fall out, and tasted blood. One of the other Reptalonamorphics swung a punch up from below my face. It hit me right in the chin. My head snapped back, and I fell to the sidewalk. The back of my head struck the cement. The last thing I saw was Mason coming up behind one of the Reptalonamorphics and aiming a punch.
"No," I groaned. "…Run…" Then, the blackness swallowed me whole.
Chapter 2
I woke up with an extreme headache. I tried to move my hand to touch my head, and found myself tied up to a chair. I groaned. Everything around me was dark; I could barely see a thing. I was about to yell when very bright lights flickered on. I squinted and blinked.
_So this is how it's going to go eh? _I thought. I'd seen enough movies where this type of things happened. The kidnappers' victim wakes up to bright light, the weirdo kidnappers come in speaking in some foreign language that the victim doesn't know, and they want him to do something that he wouldn't so unless his life was on the line. But, no Reptalonamorphics came in, so I looked around. I needed to know what had happened to Mason. I wiggled in my chair. I could tell I wasn't going to get out of this easily, so I decided to do the easy thing to find Mason.
"Mason!" I yelled. I heard a big rattling sound behind a door right in front of me.
"Aaron?" Mason's voice answered mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Aaron, are you okay?"
"Well, for the most part," I answered. I could feel a bit of my eye swelling up. I didn't remember getting punched in the eye, but I was getting a black eye anyway. Suddenly, I heard a door swing open somewhere else in the room. "Someone's coming," I said.
"Stay strong my friend," Mason said. Then, he didn't say anything else. The Reptalonamorphic homeroom teacher entered the room and came to stand in front of me.
"You is it?" I said. "I thought you looked bad this morning, but now you're just plain ugly."
"Shut up," the Reptalonamorphic growled.
"Yeah, your voice doesn't help much either," I said. The Reptalonamorphic punched me right in the jaw. Pain once again exploded in my already bruised jaw. I was reminded of the fact that I had a tooth missing. I blew air out through it. "Did you guys really have to knock my tooth out?" I asked, looking up at the Reptalonamorphic. "I whistle almost every word." I wasn't quite sure why I was getting the Reptalonamorphic worked up. I guess I was just trying to show I wasn't scared of them. But that was a lie. In truth, I was terrified. The Reptalonamorphic didn't respond. Two more came through the door. I was more than terrified now. I sucked in my breath. I knew the Reptalonamorphic could tell now, my cool guy act was over.
"Where is the Metamorphic?" one of the Reptalonamorphics who'd just entered the room asked. I almost blew it right then and there by asking, what? I stopped myself just in time and said nothing. If these guys didn't know I was the Metamorphic, I saw no point in telling them. I decided to rephrase the question I almost asked.
"What's a Metamorphic?" I asked. I slurred my words slightly, just to annoy them. Yeah, I wasn't thinking very smartly. The second Reptalonamorphic that hadn't spoken yet, sighed and turned to Mr. homeroom teacher reptile.
"What did you do to him?" it asked.
"Nothing," the Reptalonamorphic said, indignantly.
"What do you guys want from me?" I asked. "I've never heard of a Metamorphic, okay?"
"Okay," one of the Reptalonamorphics said. "Let's go." The other two Reptalonamorphics turned and left. The one that had spoken followed. Before he left, he turned around and said, "We'll be back. And you will tell us." Then, he was gone. I sighed. The fear I felt temporarily went away.
"Hey Mason?" I called.
"Yeah?' Mason asked.
"You heard that right?" I asked.
"Couldn't help but hear it," Mason replied. "Kinda taped to a chair here."
"Yeah, same," I replied. "But, we need to get out of here."
Chapter 3
I don't know how long we sat there with no word from the Reptalonamorphics. But, the whole time, I was trying to think of a plan of escape. Nothing came to mind. Nothing at all. I really had no idea how we were going to get out of there. I was almost pretty close to thinking we were going to die. Then, I remembered John was out there. He would figure it out. Mason's and my parents would contact John. And somehow, I had a feeling Chase would show up too. I still wasn't sure what was up with that girl, but I could tell there was something. We would be found soon.
I'd just had that thought when the Reptalonamorphics returned. All three of them had something in their hands. The room was too dim, and I couldn't see what it was.
"Hey could you guys possibly let me out?" I asked. "I have to pee." The Reptalonamorphics didn't even look at me. They simply turned and went through the door that led to where Mason was.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" I yelled. All was silent for a few minutes, and then screams of pain came from the room. I knew for sure it was Mason.
"Mason!" I yelled. I pulled against my bonds. My only thought was to get to my best friend. "Mason!" I yelled louder. The screams didn't stop. I didn't know what they were doing, but I couldn't sit there while my best friend was being tortured in the next room. Eventually I tired myself out struggling, and I couldn't do it anymore. I slumped in my chair, but in no way could block out Mason's screams. I fought back tears. But then, I thought of one more idea. The last possibility. I was the Metamorphic. I had the power to change shape, or at least do what I did to the Anamorphic at John's house all those months ago. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. I couldn't change. I opened my eyes and gasped. We really were in trouble. The screaming stopped. The Reptalonamorphics came back into the room.
"What did you do to him?" I demanded. The three Reptalonamorphics came over to me and started setting up some sort of equipment. I didn't know what it was. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. One of the Reptalonamorphics took two cords and put them on my temples on either side of my head. A different Reptalonamorphic pushed a button. It started feeling like something was poking around in my brain. Suddenly, whatever it was sped up. I felt all my thoughts and memories being sorted around. It was the weirdest feeling in the world, and it hurt. It hurt horribly. I heard myself scream before I could stop myself. I knew what they were doing now. They were looking through my memories to see who the Metamorphic was. I couldn't let them find out. I fought back. I stopped thinking, refusing to let anything come into my brain. The prober stopped. It couldn't go any farther. The strain was like nothing I'd ever felt. I didn't know how long I could keep it up. I felt my legs and arms twitching uncontrollably. I was going into some sort of seizure.
"Enough," one of the Reptalonamorphics finally growled. "We won't get anything else out of him today." The Reptalonamorphic went over and pushed the button again. The prober left. I flopped back in my chair, and my seizure slowed to a stop. The Reptalonamorphics looked at me, and then turned and left the room. I breathed a sigh of relief, and blacked out.
Chapter 4
I regained consciousness slightly, and I heard voices. They didn't sound like the Reptalonamorphics. I didn't have very much strength, hardly enough to open my eyes. But, I managed to open them slightly. I could see things blurrily in front of me.
"What'd they do to them?" I heard a girl's voice ask. Suddenly, someone appeared in front of me. She had blonde, thick, curly hair. I knew who it was.
"There's no way to be certain," a man's voice said. I recognized that voice immediately. John and Chase had found us.
"John," I groaned. "Chase. I knew you'd find us." I couldn't see their reactions. "Mason's in there," I said, pointing. Then, I blacked out again.
I didn't know if that had been a dream or not. It would be horrible to wake up later to find that our rescue had only been in my head, and that the Reptalonamorphics were back with their prober thing. I had barely withstood it the first time. If I fought the second time, it would probably kill me.
I felt myself regain consciousness slightly. Then, I opened my eyes on a bright whiteness. I gasped, and squinted. Soon, my eyes adjusted, and I realized I wasn't in the warehouse anymore. I smiled slightly. It hadn't been a dream after all. Then, I thought of Mason. I sat up quickly. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and I got dizzy.
"Whoa," I muttered. I put my head in my hands until the dizziness and the spots faded. Then, I looked around. No one else was in the room with me, but the door was open slightly. Doctors and Nurses raced passed in the hall. I was in a hospital. "Hello?" I called. Someone heard me, because the door opened. A doctor, John and Chase entered the room. They all smiled at me. I smiled slightly, but I couldn't fully smile until I knew how Mason was. "Mason?" I asked.
"He's fine," the doctor said. "You're both going to be just fine, which is a miracle seeing as at first we couldn't figure out what happened to you. Do you remember?"
"No," I lied. I knew the doctor wouldn't understand. I stared at my blankets for a few minutes, and then I asked, "Can I go see him?" The doctor, John and Chase looked at each other. Then, the doctor nodded. They left so I could get dressed. I don't know how I'd gotten into the pajamas I'd woken up in, but I decided not to care. I found a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, a t-shirt and shoes that were about my size and pulled them on. Then, I went out in the hall. I spotted John and Chase coming out of a different room, and I guessed that was where Mason was. I entered the room, and saw Mason lying on the bed in the room. I went over and pulled a chair up next to the bed. I sighed. "This is my fault," I muttered. I put my head in my hands. I was blaming myself for suggesting we go to John's house that day after school to ask him about the homeroom teacher. I was blaming myself for not hearing the Reptalonamorphics behind us sooner. I was blaming myself for getting caught, and not making sure Mason got out of there. And above all, I was blaming myself for being the Metamorphic. Suddenly, I felt a great need to punch something. I found an extra pillow in a cupboard. I pulled it out, and punched it three times. Finally, I was satisfied, and I put it away. I sat back down in the chair. Just as I sat down, Mason moved slightly. He opened his eyes, and they were still full of fear. Mason went to sit up quickly like I had. I put my hand on his shoulder before he could.
"Aaron?" Mason asked, looking at me. "What…what's going on?"
"It's okay," I said. "We're safe. We're in a hospital. John and Chase found us." Mason sighed, and flopped back down on the bed.
"Chase?" he asked. "She found John? What is up with her?"
"I don't know," I replied. "I never really got the time to ask." Mason smiled. Suddenly, his smile faded, and he turned his head to look at me.
"I didn't tell them," he said. "I didn't give you up." I smiled knowingly.
"Thanks," I said. "I think we got really lucky though. One more time of that, and I think they would've got it out of me."
"How do you think they knew to find us?" Mason asked. I shrugged. "And if they found us once…." Mason said, slowly. "Who's to say they won't do it again?"
"We don't need to think like that," I said. "For right now, we're safe. And next time they find us, we'll be ready." I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. I sighed and stood up. "I should probably be getting back." Mason nodded.
"See you later," he said.
"See you," I said. I turned and returned to my room. I sat on my bed, and spotted my cellphone sitting on the little table beside the bed. I immediately thought of my parents, and felt bad for not thinking of calling them. I picked up the phone and dialed my home phone number. My little sister, Madison picked up the phone.
"A-won?" she asked. Madison was only around one year old, so she still had trouble pronouncing some things, including my name.
"Yep," I replied. "It's me Maddie. How have you been? Are mom and dad there?" It felt so good to hear my little sister's voice, I almost felt like crying. But, I didn't want my little sister to hear that, so I held it in.
"Broth-da," Madison said. "Where been?"
"I've been on a little camping trip," I said. I knew Madison wouldn't know what I meant if I told her what really happened. And being one year old, she really shouldn't have to handle that kind of thing anyway. "Are mom and dad there?" Madison didn't reply, but I could kind of sense she wandered away to find my mom and dad. I heard Madison say something about 'Big broth-da' a ways away from the phone. Then, my dad took the phone.
"Hello?" my dad's voice asked.
"Hi dad," I said, smiling.
"Aaron!" Dad exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I replied. "A little shaken up, but I'm fine. Mason is too. Did John tell you what happened?"
"Only that you'd been kidnapped," Dad replied.
"Yeah," I said. "Mason and I both were kidnapped by the Reptalonamorphics."
"What are they?" Dad asked.
"Well, do you remember the Anamorphic?" I asked.
"How can I forget?" my dad replied.
"Well, they're like him, but reptiles," I said. "And, they're much worse." My voice shook slightly.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Dad asked.
"I'm fine," I replied. "Give my love to mom, tell her I'm okay, and I'll be home soon."
"Okay," Dad said. "Bye Aaron."
"Bye Dad," I said. I hung up, and put the phone down. Suddenly, the whole hospital shook. I gasped, jumped to my feet, and looked out the door into the hall. John stood at the end of the hall, looking at something.
"John, what's going on?!" I asked. John turned to look at me, his eyes full of alarm. I got a really bad feeling, and could guess what he was going to say before he said it.
"The Reptalonamorphics," he said. "They're here."
Chapter 5
"What do we do?" I asked.
"Go get Mason," John said. "And then, you two get out of here."
"I don't want to leave you here!" I exclaimed.
"They're here for you!" John exclaimed. "You'll only make it worse if you stay! Go!" Reluctantly, I turned and ran down the hall to Mason's room. But, I had no intention of leaving John to fight alone. I ran into Chase as I turned the corner. I mean literally, we ran into each other. We both stumbled backwards. Chase looked at me, and seeing the look on my face knew something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The Reptalonamorphics are here," I said. "John's trying to hold them off by himself. Go to him, I'll get Mason and join you in a minute." I ran passed her, and into Mason's room.
"Aaron what's going on?" Mason asked. He was fully dressed again, his pajamas identical to the ones I'd woken up in on the bed.
"The Reptalonamorphics are here," I said. "John told me to go get you and get out of here."
"He's facing them by himself?!" Mason exclaimed.
"I sent Chase to help him," I said.
"They can't hold them off alone!" Mason exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know," I replied. "That's why we're not leaving. Let's go!" Mason nodded, and we ran out of the room and back towards where I'd left John. As we ran, I felt myself changing. I'd only ever used my Metamorphic powers once before, while fighting the Anamorphic in John's house. This felt nothing like that. I could feel my arms getting longer as I ran, my feet changing shape, and something popping up all over my body. Suddenly, I was an eagle flying down the hallway. I looked at myself amazed, and slowed down. I looked behind me at Mason. He got the idea, and jumped on my back. I flew us down the hall. We turned the corner and came upon John and Chase fighting all three Reptalonamorphics. I flew right over their heads, and attacked the one Reptalonamorphic that John was fighting. I began clawing at its eyes. I t backed up screaming an unearthly sound. I flew down to the ground. Mason jumped off, and I turned back into myself. There was a pile of pipes and other junk next to the doors where the Reptalonamorphics had busted in. We ran over there and picked up a few sharp, broken pipes and other things. We backed up next to John and Chase.
"I told you two to get out of here!" John yelled at us.
"Oh come on John, you know me by now," I replied. "You really think I'm going to do what I'm told?" John just shook his head. The three Reptalonamorphics had backed up, and were looking at us. I was beginning to wonder what they were doing, because now they were outnumbered, and just standing there. But then, the hospital started to shake. There was a really big crash outside, and very loud footsteps started coming from outside. I big part of the ceiling fell to the floor right in front of us. We all backed up, quickly. A big foot came in right after it.
"Oh…my…gosh," I said slowly. I humongous face loomed down through the hole in the ceiling. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I didn't know what it was, but I could see the Reptalonamorphics smiling behind it. And I knew we were in trouble.
"Crap," Mason muttered.
Chapter 6
The big creature started to put its next leg inside the hole.
"John…" I asked. "What is that?"
"I'll tell you later," John said. "Run!" John dodged to the side. We followed. I was in the back. Mason stumbled in front of me. I caught him, and pushed him forward. John led us out an emergency exit, and outside, on the other side of the building from the monster. We stopped to catch our breath.
"Okay, what WAS that?" Mason asked.
"A Broodarmor Jackal," Chase replied. "I've dealt with them before."
"Where exactly?" I asked.
"I'm a MACI agent," Chase said. "Monsters And Creatures Investigators."
"Let me guess," I said. "The reason you were in our school was because you were there to investigate me."
"You got it," Chase replied.
"This is all very nice to know, but we have bigger things to worry about right now," John said, pointing in the direction of the Broodarmor Jackal.
"I thought that thing kind of looked like a Jackal," Mason said. Suddenly, the monster roared from the other side, and its loud footsteps started coming towards us.
"Time to go," I said. We jogged out of sight of the hospital.
"Chase, you've fought these things before, how do we get rid of them?" John asked. I was slightly surprised he didn't know, but I decided to worry about it later.
"We need wood!" Chase exclaimed.
_Wood? _I thought. Mason and I exchanged a glance, but continued running after Chase and John. Chase stopped for about two seconds, and then she was running again, a pile of wood in her hands. Chase led us back to the front of the hospital. There was no Jackal or Reptalonamorphics in sight.
"Where'd they go?" I asked.
"Somewhere over the rainbow," Chase replied.
"Isn't that original?" Mason muttered.
"Shut up and hold this," Chase said, giving Mason the pile of wood. I smiled, and held in my laughter. Chase started doing something on the ground, but I couldn't tell what it was. I heard another roar, and turned around. The Broodarmor Jackal was coming towards us, with the three Reptalonamorphics on its back.
"Distract that thing!" Chase yelled. I nodded, and ran forward.
"Guard her, and whatever she's doing," I said to John and Mason. "I'll distract this thing."
"Be careful," John said, and he and Mason got into defensive positions in between Chase and the monster. I nodded, and ran at the Broodarmor Jackal.
"Hey ugly!" I yelled. "Over here ugly! Come get me you brute!" I dodged sideways, away from my friends. The Jackal followed. The Reptalonamorphics hissed at me from its back. Then, they jumped off and advanced towards John and Mason. I figured they could handle it. I had a big ugly Jackal to worry about. I backed up towards the road. The Jackal was one step behind me. I only took my eyes off of it for a second, to check if any cars were coming. Just my luck, one was. I backed up a bit faster, until I was right in the middle of the road. The Broodarmor Jackal stepped onto the road too.
"Come on!" I yelled. "I'm right here! Come get me!" The Jackal walked towards me. The car squealed towards both of us. Just before impact, I leapt into the air and changed into a raven. The Broodarmor Jackal looked up at me, and then saw the car one second too late. The car crashed into it. The Jackal flew backwards, but amazingly the car kept driving. I never really knew what normal people saw when they faced the weirdness of my world. The Broodarmor Jackal struggled to its feet. I flew down in front of it and changed back to a human. The Reptalonamorphics started yelling. At first I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I finally understood, and it made my blood run cold.
"It's him!" they yelled. "He's the Metamorphic! The boy was the Metamorphic all along!"
Chapter 7
The Reptalonamorphics turned away from Mason and John and came towards me. The Broodarmor Jackal started to stand up.
"Crap," I muttered. "Chase! Are you done yet?!"
"No!" Chase called back. "Just a little longer!" The Reptalonamorphics started running towards me, and before I could move I was surrounded.
"I might not have much longer!" I yelled. "Hurry!" Mason and John started trying to get towards me, but the Reptalonamorphics made a tight circle. Then, the Jackal was on its feet again. Mason and John pushed through the circle, and joined me back to back in the middle. I felt something changing within me, and I knew I was doing what I had done to the Anamorphic at John's house last year. Except for this year, I was stronger and had better control. I saw the green light form around me. The fireworks began. I only wished I had a sword. This time, I took a handful of the fireworks in my hand, and chucked it at one of the Reptalonamorphics. It backed up, but the fireworks got him in the stomach. Something like lasers started shooting from my hand. I shot them at the remaining two Reptalonamorphics. One got hit in the head, and the other in the chest. They both fell to the ground, beside their friend. I sucked in a breath, and the green light faded. Somehow, this time I wasn't tired. John, Mason and I turned our attention to the Broodarmor Jackal. It had regained its feet, and was staring down at us. That's when Chase revealed what she had been doing. She stood up, and pushed up what looked like a big, tall stick with a hole in it. Suddenly, bright light surged through the hole, and Mason, John and I averted our eyes. When we looked back, the Jackal fell to the ground. I could tell it was dead before it landed. We were all silent for a minute, and then Mason whooped loudly. I turned towards him smiling. He was smiling too. I didn't see the Reptalonamorphic move behind him until it was too late. The Reptalonamorphic struggled onto its knees, and stuck the sword in his hand out. The sword went right through Mason's chest.
"MASON!" I exclaimed. The Reptalonamorphic pulled its sword out, and fell back to the ground. John pulled the sword from its grasp and stabbed it in the gut. I ran forward and caught Mason before he fell. "Oh man, come on Mason, come on man," I said.
"Let's get him inside," John said. He grabbed Mason on the other side, and we pulled him into the hospital. Chase ran and opened the door. She went and hurriedly found a nurse and told her what had happened. The nurse led us to the closest room, and we put Mason on the bed. We backed up and let the doctors get close and inspect him. I backed up to the wall, and put my hands up to my head in my hair, worriedly. I backed up to the wall, and put my hands down. I felt myself go numb. I wasn't sure what was going on anymore.
I was dimly aware of a doctor saying, "We need to get him to emergency surgery." I felt a hand on my shoulder, pressuring me to get up. Slowly, I did. I felt someone gripping both of my arms and leading me outside. I realized it was Chase and John. They took me back to my hospital room. I sat down on the bed, and put my face in my hands. John and Chase sat down on either side of me.
"It'll be alright son," John said. "Mason's strong. He'll pull through."
"John's right," Chase said. I picked my head up, and looked at her. "I know how this feels," Chase continued. "Many of my best friends have gotten hurt during our missions. Sometimes they pull through, and sometimes they don't. And I know, you hardly know me, and you might not trust me fully yet, but I am on your side. And if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. So is John. We're here to help." I nodded my thanks, flopped back on my bed, and closed my eyes.
Chapter 8
I don't know how long we stayed like that. Chase and John sitting on either side of me on the bed, and me flopped back on the bed with my eyes shut. I just know that eventually the door opened. I sat up, and opened my eyes. A doctor stood in the doorway.
"We've done all we can for him now," she said. "You can come see him." Her tone didn't sound good. I nodded, and stood up. The nurse led me out of the room and back to Mason's room. Mason was as pale as a dead person, and I couldn't see him breathing. "I'm sorry," the nurse said. I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I couldn't even move. But slowly, I walked forward until I stood next to Mason's bed. I guess the nurse thought it was a good time to leave, because she left. I pulled a chair over and sat down. Now, I had never cried much in my life. I hardly even cried when I got hurt. But, as I sat there, staring at my best friend's body, the tears fell, and there was no stopping them. I didn't care if the door was still open, or if anybody could hear me, or if anyone was watching. I didn't stop until the bright lights started flashing around the room. I looked up in surprise. They were all coming from Mason. I was tempted to call out for John, but I was so amazed I couldn't speak. Suddenly, the lights faded down into Mason's body, and Mason's chest started moving. I gasped. Mason's eyes flew open. He took a big breath, gasping.
"Mason?" I asked. Mason looked over at me, confusion on his face.
"What happened?" he asked. I shrugged, almost laughing. I couldn't believe it. Mason was okay. "I remember the sword getting me from behind," Mason said slowly. "And then, nothing."
"It was one of the Reptalonamorphics," I replied. "One of them wasn't quite dead. They are now."
"How am I not?" Mason asked. I told him about the lights. Mason was silent for a few minutes after I told him. Then, he said, "I've never heard of anything like that before."
"Me either," I replied. "It was pretty cool though."
"Oh of course," a voice said. Mason and I jumped. The voice came from over beside the window, but nothing was there. "Whenever we do something nice, nobody even knows it's us," the voice continued. "Nobody's ever even heard of us. Silly mortals."
"Shut it," another voice said. "You complain all the time. These aren't regular mortals anyway. This is the Metamorphic and the undead one!" Suddenly, the lights appeared again, the voices flying around in the lights. Distinguishable in the lights were two faces.
"Whoa, wait a second," Mason said. "You just called me the undead one. Are you calling me a zombie?"
"No!" one of the lights said. "THE UNDEAD ONE. One who has been there and back!"
"I'm confused, but okay," Mason said.
"It doesn't matter," the other light said. "The point is we are here to warn you of your futures."
"Our futures?" I asked.
"Yes," the light continued. "It is written."
"It is written that the Metamorphic and his undead friend will save the world for the terror of the evil."
"What evil?" Mason asked. "The Reptalonamorphics and Anamorphic are gone."
"We cannot say," the lights said in unison. "But we were sent to bring the undead back, and to warn you to be ready. Now we leave. Good luck." The lights disappeared. Mason and I looked at each other.
"What just happened?" I asked.
"We just had a conversation with lights," Mason replied.
"Not a very good conversation," I responded. "What on earth were they talking about?"
"How should I know?" Mason replied.
"I don't know," I replied. "But, I think we need to watch our backs for a while from now on." Mason nodded.
Chapter 9
Suddenly, the door opened, making us both jump. We turned around to see John and Chase standing in the doorway. Both of their faces broke into wide grins seeing us both sitting there.
"Mason you're alright!" John exclaimed. They entered the room.
"Yeah, more or less," Mason said. "But get this…" He told John and Chase about the lights, with me jumping in to add some things from time to time. They were both silent for a while, thinking.
"Well, what the heck does that mean?" Chase asked eventually.
"It means," John said. "Something big is coming. Something bigger than any of us have seen before."
"Fighting the Anamorphic and being tortured by the Reptalonamorphics wasn't enough?" I asked.
"Apparently not," John said. Then, the door opened again. Doctors and nurses rushed in amazed to see Mason. They ushered us out, so they could do checkups and make sure Mason was good again. I went back to my room, just now realizing how tired I really was. John and Chase must've realized it too, because they went off to do other things, leaving me to go back to my room alone. I entered my room, and immediately flopped on my bed and fell asleep.
I woke up to two voices saying my name out in the hall. I shook off my sleepiness as my parents and Madison entered my room. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Hey," I said finally. Madison ran forward and leapt on top of me on the bed.
"Bro-da bed-a?" she asked.
"Yeah Madison," I said. "I'm better." My parents walked in and joined us sitting on the bed.
"And how's Mason?" my dad asked.
"He's fine," I replied. "We kinda had a fight with the guys that kidnapped us and he got hurt but he's gonna be fine." I didn't want to tell them the experience in full detail. Madison didn't need to hear about all that kind of stuff. My parents told me about what was going on at home, and how there was memorials for Mason and I at school. I was very surprised at that. Mason and I had never been very popular. It had always been just us two. No one else had ever really paid us much attention. We had always been fine with it, and I didn't really want more attention. Now more than ever, I just wanted a little bit of a normal life. But, I was starting to think that would never happen. My parents told me about a lot more things, but eventually they had to leave when the doctors came in to check on me. After a while, the doctors decided I was fine, and they left. Before they closed the door, I spotted Mason's parents walking passed in the hall. They waved, and I waved back. I decided they probably told Mason about everything my parents had told me. I wasn't sure why, but the memorial thing was still bothering me. Or, it might've still been what the lights had said about the evil coming, and Mason and I would have to fight it. Finally, I stopped thinking and fell back asleep.
Chapter 10
**Two Months Later**
Mason, Chase and I stood outside the school, much like we had before everything happened. But also, back then, we hadn't known Chase.
"If we get attacked today, I'm going to freak out on somebody," Mason said.
"Yeah, but we have an agent here to protect us this time," I said.
"Shut up," Chase said. Mason and I looked over at her. She smiled. We smiled too. Then, together we walked up towards the school. About halfway towards the school, we walked passed one of the memorials. I stopped and looked at it. Mason and Chase stopped too. Mason wasn't as bothered about it as I was. Mason elbowed my arm. I nodded, and we kept going.
"You know, I was thinking," Mason said. "The Undead One still sounds too much like a zombie to me."
"So, what do you want to be called?" I asked, jokingly.
"How about…Zombawarramorphic?" Mason replied.
"What?" Chase asked.
"Zombawarramorphic," Mason said. "Zombie, warrior and morphic like Aaron."
"Well I like it," I replied. We entered the school. At first no one noticed us. We kept our heads down, and went to our lockers. Then, the three of us entered homeroom together. A chorus of clapping, whooping, and exclaiming rang out. Everyone in homeroom was making some sort of noise to show they were happy we were back. The awkwardness faded slightly, and we went and sat down. I looked over and saw our normal homeroom teacher. I smiled. Some kids started coming over and asking us questions.
Finally the homeroom teacher said, "Children, leave them alone a bit. I'm sure they're not ready to be bothered with so many questions yet." The kids left and went off into their own conversations. I looked at Mason and Chase.
Mason smiled and said, "Definitely not a Reptalonamorphic."
"Nope," I replied, smiling too. "Definitely not." I looked around homeroom, and felt my smile growing bigger as I observed all the normalness around us. Eventually homeroom ended. We went on to our first period.
The day continued. I found myself looking over my shoulder, expecting something to happen. But, somehow, we made it to the end of the day. I got on my bus by myself and sat down. My backpack was full of homework, but it didn't bother me. I was in a very good mood. Nothing had happened. Whatever the lights had warned Mason and me about in the hospital, it wasn't going to happen yet. I leaned back in my seat, and started to work on my homework. The bus started up, and drove off down the road.
The End
End file.
| Misc. Adventure, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 39,682 | 13,377.7 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Dumbed Down Monkeys
The Ascension
Chapter One: Dumbed Down Monkeys
I am Ezekiel Immanuel Rivera.
I am blessed to be alive.
I am blessed to be chosen.
I am blessed to be a servant of the God Yahuwah and His Son Yehoshua
Times are hard nowadays, the world is filled with strife. Earth is not what it used to be, nor will it ever be the same. This story that I am telling you, is not about happiness and joy.
It is about the last war to ever be fought.
The Holy War.
Good versus evil. God versus Satan.
The Apocalypse, aka the Book of Revelations.
The world had been acclimated to manmade warfare and had not been prepared for the spiritual battles that came.
To be honest with you, it was nothing short of a holy conspiracy. By the time the new age came about, there was two paths man could take towards enlightenment. One was through science, to disprove the existence of God, to blaspheme against Him by believing we evolved from monkeys. Science was knowledge that proved God didn't exist.
Religon was the other path one could take. Different religions with different ideals and different agendas on how to reached the Promised land. I myself had been a Christian for most of my life, going to church as a child and in my teens because I whole heartedly wanted to believe…
…that I was not alone.
That someone above me could see my suffering, whatever child like sufferings they happened to be and that some sky daddy in heaven could hear me. I believed in Jesus Christ because I wanted to be forgiven, I knew deep down something was wrong with the world.
Because of it, something was wrong with me. I, like billions of others had been born into a cruel world, corrupted and overruled by the legions of darkness. Sin became a natural reflex, because science justified our humanity therefore we didn't have to take responsibilities for our actions. A vicious cycle was created where we placed ourselves in a negative pinwheel of karma, unable to see that our own actions where bringing punishment to us.
Religion gave us the escape to that world so most people clung on. But science continued disproving the religions, creating a division amongst the people. People who believed in religious ideals were ostracized and made fun of until religion became taboo, something to hide from the world.
People wanted to be popular, to be part of the crowd so they rejected religious ideals and morals until our world became a giant cesspool of sin. I lived in Babylon, the giant behemoth of a nation that ruled over all.
For so long the sins of our nation had been covered up. We had become dumbed down monkeys who believed what _they_ had told us what to believe. Opinions about what actually happened for certain events where not allowed because nearly all our media had been controlled by them. Who are they? If by the time you are reading this, which has not been made known to you it was the Illuminati, New World Order, the Rothschild and Bilderberg group.
There were many names for them just like there were many names for the devil and mostly it was outrageous to believe in this prior to the _shift_. Who would honestly in their right mind believe that a secret government that spanned across the world planned on depopulating the world so they could become gods? Who would believe that their leaders worshipped Satan because according to them he was the true god where the God of Israel is a unjust God who hated them?
Who would believed in some sort of way they would be justified in their actions?
Because the Vatican, as well as many "Christians" had tortured and killed many of the philosophers who questioned the system that religion presented forcing them to turn to the next person who would supposedly save them.
But the Vatican too had become corrupted and overran by Satanists.
The control that the devil had on the world was ridiculous. The Earth truly was his Kingdom, if only for a while.
That is what this holy war is about.
While most of it is still fought on physical planes that people can see, it has transcended beyond the worldly three dimensional realms we were taught to believe.
The end of the Mayan calendar predicted not extinction, but the beginning of a new age. The age of Aquarius, but to Christians worldwide it was the rule of the Anti-Christ.
To Islam it was the return of their Messiah, the Mahdi and 12th Imam.
King Antiochus Mabus.
He had come on an alien ship on December 21, 2012, as an alien invasion came upon earth. After arriving, he immediately took power. Backed by Islamic nations, he raged war against the United States until he took power and became the Emperor of the World. Not to mention he was backed by another alien named Maitreya who also claimed to be Jesus Christ. That was three and a years after the shift. The _shift_ was when man's three dimensional realms began shifting into higher dimensional realms. Some called it the _awakening_, for me because of the path I myself placed in became _ascended_. As we shifted into the dimensional realms some people had been awakened to what was coming while everyone else stayed as dumbed down monkeys.
Christians had been waiting for a Pre-Tribulation rapture that never came.
Instead something worse happened. "Jesus Christ" was on Earth and according to him in order to get to Heaven you had to worship King Mabus and get branded with the Jesus Christ 666 seal.
Millions of Christians who had not understood the word of God had embraced the new Messiah.
We had tried to preach the truth, we fought against New World Order, a spiritual evolution took place that gave us power to fight against the alien armada.
What came for those who truly served God was the Ascension, the Holy Spirit of God transformed us. He was activated within us, sown into humanity's DNA as the Creator of all mankind waited for them to embrace Him and give His gift to them.
It was given to those who truly seeked the Spirit of God within themselves.
Man had to close his eyes in order to truly see.
If thy eye be single, then thy body be full of light.
I had been researching the phenomena, some said that we were starseeds sent by the Pleiadeans, a alien race who resembled the angels of biblical past and had been in contact with the ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Some believed that angels themselves still had been breeding amongst humanity, the fallen angels inserting themselves in man's DNA and fast forwarding evolution on us. The shift that began in December 21, 2012 was the activation of that DNA. Whatever man had called junk DNA had been partially activated as the age of Aquarius brought on the incorporation of the divine realm amongst man.
New World Order, the Illuminati had tried to take advantage of the coming age by bringing upon the apocalypse and forcing a spiritual war on Earth. For years they had hid in the dark, guiding our governments waiting for the King Mabus to show up with his heavenly fleet, at least on a massive public display.
Aliens had been around on Earth for quite some time, but they had existed in different dimensions and it took a lot of energy for their dimensions to bleed into ours. But that was before, in the world that no longer existed.
The world we existed in now was a shifting merger of the multiverse of Earth, the final fight before the creation of God Holy's Kingdom on Earth.
There would be a rapture coming, but it was not for God's people, it would be for the wicked, for the sinners who had blasphemed against God and worshipped the beast and the false prophet. They would be gathered up into the lake of fire for all eternity.
Because that would have been the collective decision of humanity, to reject the true Creator who had given them every way possible to salvation.
No one deserved salvation, not even I… I am not perfect, I certainly fail at times, but now I was more prepared.
The Ascension process was something beyond what I could explain.
It was an out of body experience that changed how I would view life forever.
It began at the return to zero point.
Every human on earth had a similar experience but most would never even remember what happened, just the ones who had changed or had placed themselves on a spiritual path.
On December 21, 2012 at 11:11, everyone in the whole world had passed through the _Veil_, our souls went through a space of void and was spat back out on the other side in the new 5th dimensional realm.
What mattered was what happens in the Veil, a complete out of body experience that happened in a place that was timeless, lawless, and I had made a choice.
In the Veil I had encountered what I can only describe as the Holy Avatar of God.
To this day, the only proof that this happened was that me and millions of other were changed. Some for God, some for Satan.
These millions of people would become ascended, half man, half divine, an intermediatary level that would reach complete "godhood" at the Second Coming. The ascension was the rise of the nephilims, the remnants of children of angels evolving.
According to Genesis, God forbid the angels to take human wives and that was why some had fallen, cast out of their heavenly position and stuck on Earth as punishment.
The first time this happened was in the days of Noah, the second rebellion of the angels. There had been angels assigned to watch over humanity and help it evolve and instead had chosen to do different.
They had fallen in love with God's creation and because they had forsaken their roles, evil had been born from their perversion.
The offspring became Nephilim, and the evil became magnified because man was not ready for the power of angels inside them. The Nephilim became corrupted and waged war against man, devouring them as they became cannibals.
God had been so angered that the flood drowned a good majority of them and the corrupt civilization at the time. That was also the fall of Atlantis. Man was to undergo a new cycle, not as intelligent as his predecessor because they would be unaware of the spiritual realms. But some of the Nephilim survived, and with the help of fallen angels they conquered other civilizations and continued to spread their seed.
From there became the law of the humanity's plight.
They would forever be enslaved by fallen angels, the chief of them being Lucifer, the angel of light whose vessel would come to earth claiming to be Jesus Christ and would help Mabus rule the Age of Aquarius.
Antiochus Mabus was the dark skinned Muslim messiah where as Jesus Christ was a blond, blue eyed God.
I awakened one day to this world, ascended because I chose to matter, to make a difference.
That decision was destiny completed, I had been chosen by God long before I had existed. I do not know where I came from, I knew I was born Spanish but my blood, the source of code of my life I do not know where it came from.
I was a page in a massive book.
I was not a Messiah. I was a servant of Yahuwah and His Son Yehoshua.
This is the story of what happened when I crossed the veil, the day I became half man, half divine creation, blessed by God and directed by His Holy Spirit to fight against King Maitreya and King Mabus.
Jesus Christ and the Beast of Apocalypse.
This is what happened the day I crossed the veil.
This is the story of the return of the Nephilim and I am Ezequiel Rivera, 7th Ascended Warrior of Yahuwah, descendant of the nephilim and elected to be a son of Yahuwah by faith.
This is about the day I decided I was gonna kick evil's ass, myself.
I would serve Yehoshua, true son of God and King of Jews and fight to establish His Kingdom on Earth, but first must come the Tribulation.
The 7 years of the Golden Age, and what must come before the return of the Messiah, the Alpha and the Omega, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
This is a story I'm not even sure I'm going to get to live through.
But I refused to go down without a fight.
I am Ezekiel Rivera, the Lightbringer.
2. The Lightbringer
The Ascension
Chapter Two:
The Lightbringer
'A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and in his image and receives his mark on the forehead on or the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.'
Revelation 14: 9-11
December 21, 2012 was a normal day, nothing unusual about the day other than what seemed like a wait for some apocalyptic event to happen.
The world by now had still been free.
Free from the spiritual realm, from the public enslavement of humankind. The chains placed on mankind were done secretly, behind the shadows so that it would appear to be just another part of everyday life, so when that the public deception began the snare was already set and the trap had been laid.
War had just begun shortly after the elections as the United States tried to quell the final revolutions of the Middle Eastern wars they started. America had been so arrogant, they thought they could win against any country unmatched and unchallenged. How wrong they were…
I had been awakening to what was going on shortly before the shift into the new age. Many people had been, people who had saw through the sham of religion and had been different from the others. Many of us were blessed by God, some had been called by different guides like fallen angels who appeared to be angels of light but underneath there was a dark abyss.
I would see numbers, in patterns of 11, I had apocalyptic dreams since I was a child, as if something within was trying to warn me. I was always intelligent and perceptive, though I usually had masked it with comedy. I wasn't one to be into the gloom and doom, of fearing the future and though I had tried so hard to believe that God didn't exist, the older I got it seemed as if while God refused to allow His face to be seen, He had to exist.
I had become aware of the all seeing eye, the reptilian Ra or the father of sin, Satan had acted as a puppeteer in our existence to his liking, punishing mankind for a sin we hadn't committed.
He destroyed us from within, causing us to sin so much that our inner spiritual temple became a domain host for demons.
He was a cancer we could not get rid of.
He hates mankind because he could not be God himself, and God gave Adam His image, His DNA bound by animal flesh.
Perhaps he feared that mankind would become greater than the angels that came before them, evolving into something more than human, more than angel.
Something like God Himself.
The fall from the Garden of Eve created a separation from god, the divine grace taken from man and leaving him a barren husk, born to live, live to die in eternal punishment for Adam's fall because of Satan.
Yehoshua HaMoshiach, the son of God, the Alpha and the Omega died for our sins, so that a new covenant could be opened with mankind. The activation of the Holy Spirit.
Every soul within them had been seeded with the breath of God and through love for His son, the true Messiah and King of Jews did it activate and create miracles in people's lives.
The intent had to be pure.
Yehoshua, or Jesus Christ(the Vatican gave Him this name because they created a false pagan god and religion out of it which is known as modern day Christianity) died for our sins, and paved the path back to God.
He gave us the chance to become like Him, we would never become God ourselves but we would become close to what God became.
I don't know why God chose me in particular.
There was nothing great about me.
I was average at everything.
I wasn't handsome or attractive, and I was a sinner who had refused His loving embrace for a good bit of my life. I had reveled in sin, doing whatever I wanted because I had so much pain within me that the only way I could vent it was to hurt others.
God could have chosen someone more worthy.
I have so much self loathing locked up in a tiny box within me and in there is so much pain that opening it would be like opening up Pandora's Box.
I couldn't be chosen for some higher calling, I've doubted myself until it was too late to ignore.
December 21, 2012.
The day I crossed the Veil.
The Veil is what I call the other side, what we were about to become. Earth shifting into a fifth dimensional planet, opening up gateways to allow fallen angels and demons on earth without anything to hold them back.
Precisely at 11:11 on that day, we all cross the veil but not all of us remembered.
Not all of us had been presented with a choice because people had not awakened in time.
I was outside, and at 11:10 I had the feeling that something big was about to happen, that time was running out until a new world unfolded itself in front of us.
I smoked my marijuana blunt, a cigar filled up full of some purple snow and took a deep drag, exhaling the smoke and a mellow feeling uplifted me. I loved to smoke, and as fire consumed the green purple leaves the minute holding two worlds from a heavenly collision ran out.
11:11
I was flying into space, the blunt gone from my hand as I was pulled into what seemed like a black hole, a small pinhead opening up and swirling everything within it.
The pull was magnetic and hypnotizing and I was freed from my carnal skin, my soul escaped from its fleshy prison. I still had a body, but it was not like the one I had before. I was in a body full of light, and I was forcibly hurtled through space.
I could see trees, green lush trees and hilltops, valleys and mountains. I could see states, countries, and nations.
I could see Earth, a massive blue globe with greens and browns swirled in clouds of white.
I could see the moon, and stars shined bright.
For the first time I saw the sun in all its heavenly glory. It was beyond comprehension and I was left stupefied. What was going on?
Why was this happening to me?
"Hello Ezekiel." A heard a voice call out and before I could turn around, my eyes squinted shut as a powerful light filled the dark void behind me.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked fearfully. I was afraid, I was floating somewhere in space in what was apparently my soul body. I did not know what I was doing here, nor how to return back to what I was before.
"You cannot return Ezekiel to what you were before…not anymore." The voice called out, rippling across the galaxy like thunder. "I am your Creator Ezekiel, I have many names but please call me Yahuwah. Right now you are in the veil, you are about to cross into the new age and because of who you are, you will never be what you once were. It is time to set aside childish things and become what I have elected you to be long ago." Yahuwah said to me and I was no longer fearful, a soothing calm washed over me and now all I wanted to do was turn around and look at God.
"You cannot see me yet, not in the way I truly am because you are not ready. But I will show you my Adonai, the human image I used for Adam's design." God explained and I turned around opening up my eyes.
I could see a humanoid shape underneath the light but it was so bright I would not look at God in the face. "Forgive me God, for I am not worthy." I replied, kneeling before him.
"Not one man is worthy… it will be my grace within you that makes you holy. I have been with you, every day of your life within your very soul. I allowed you to suffer, because I needed you to become strong, to become prepared for what you would one day face. You will never feel so much fear like you will feel in the last days of earth because the tribulation will be so great that if I do not intervene now no one would be prepared. No one would be able to fight back against the evils that will come. That is why you were chosen, you are to be of service to the world, and if need be, give your life for it. Do you accept?" Yahuwah asked.
"What if I refuse, what happens?" I asked, and Adonai folded his arms over his chest.
"Someone else would be chosen and you would return to live a crippled human life, and become my enemy if you choose the one who will present himself as God before you." God answered simply.
"I don't want to be your enemy… I just know it can't be me… I'm not a hero. I'm a coward and I'm weak and what if I fail you?" I asked.
"You won't. Have faith in Me, for I love you long before you existed, I chose you and you will be my light in the darkness. You are the Lightbringer Ezekiel, and I will give you the keys to salvation. I will evolve you and transform you into what you were already are and always were. Do you accept Ezekiel Immanuel? Immanuel means God is with you, as I have always been, waiting for you to accept me. It is time!" God spoke.
I knew I wanted more, to understand more. I had always wondered who I really was. What was my place in the world? Why was I born?
I knelt before God once again. "I accept Yahuwah, God of Israel."
Adonai placed His hand on my head and the second He did it was like fire was poured into me, consuming every cell within me.
I screamed, not in pain but from sheer euphoria as power streamed inside me and I was transformed into something new.
I knew my old body dead, left behind in the world that was gone.
"You are Ezekiel Rivera, the seventh ascended nephilim, half man, half angel. Do not stray for just like the angels from which you come from, while it is hard to fall from my grace it does not mean it cannot happen. There will be others, people who were chosen for this task, some from different religions but I will unite my people. I have brought you all together because the nephilim have been activated, nephilim were originally destroyed because they were too corrupt and the blood of angels within them drove them mad. But now the Anti-Christ comes to Earth, with his fleet of demons.
"They've come to free the fallen angels bound on Earth and when they do… Well for most of mankind it will seem great, but for my elect it will be a time of persecution. You will be hunted like animals, all those who refuse to bear the mark of the beast, especially the ascended nephilims not under Lucifer's control. You have to rise up Ezekiel, and preach My word. Fight against the evil that controls the world…you must not become a killer, you must become a defender. Defend the world, and I will never forget, I will never abandon you. Stray and I must forsake you and you will perish in the lake of fire and your name will be erased from the Book of Life." Adonai said calmly. His voice was not threatening, but rather He was warning me that my actions had consequences, that His grace would run out if I strayed from Him.
"I don't think I'm strong enough." I replied, it was so much pressure. All I ever wanted was to be normal, to get married and have a wife and kids. I got married and divorced and I didn't think I had a calling.
I didn't think I'd ever find a purpose.
"You are now Ezekiel, the Seventh Ascended. Remember, my Son Yehoshua is coming, but this must come first. I love you, never forget that my child." Adonai ruffled my hair and kissed me on the forehead before disappearing.
I would vaguely remember this the next morning but I thought it was a dream until my powers began manifesting.
I realized I could fly, that ghostly ethereal wings would come out of my spine and that I could control spiritual energy. I could manifest a large broadsword made out of energy that I called the Lightbringer.
I figured it was fitting.
So it's time I catch you up on the story I'm telling.
King Mabus became the leader of the free world and he's the man whose been making my life hell the last 4 years. He wielded 10 nations with ten kings in place of every nation like puppet masters. Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Russia and last Rome had been conquered. When he had conquered Rome, he had had conquered what was left of Europe. They had been starving, their economy in shams, civil wars and riots had destroyed much of Europe.
When Mabus conquered Rome, he had overtaken religion entirely. The Vatican was the global mouthpiece for religion and he had spread his Islam religion into Rome by brutal force. When he took over he forced the Pope to merge Christianity with Islam and those who did not accept Islam were to be put to death.
Those who had ascended had formed a rebellion against the Anti-Christ, the only ones who dared wage war against him. The Second and Fifth Ascended had even managed to kill him six months ago, and in mockery to Yehoshua HaMoshiach(The True Son of God who had died for our sins), Satan had breathed life into him, resurrected him from the dead.
After he had come back to life, he demanded to be worshipped as God. Wielding godlike powers and holding the secret to immortality, many had believed him and had allowed to him to unite all religions. After returning to life, he broke the peace treaty with Israel and waged war against them with his New World Order alliance.
Some had fled, resisting him. A lot had perished and whatever was left had converted to Islam. To further God's anger, King Mabus set up a mosque where God's throne once was. Now he ruled the world from Jerusalem as the ruling God.
Millions of people had been waiting on a pre-tribulation rapture where all the believers would be taken to heaven and the sinners would be left behind. Satan had used preachers to preach about the rapture to set up what he would once do when he returned. The Rapture was as a massive alien abduction by the reptilians, and the ascended were nothing more than treacherous abductees who were preparing for an alien war on Earth. Since we were different than them it made them easier to hunt us, create laws to make us seen as "terrorists" and blame us for the trouble plaguing mankind.
King Mabus made the world richer. The world economy was no longer broke and everyone was living great. It made it easier for no one to complain, but that only lasted three and a half years.
After that, a modified version of the swine flu killed nearly 2 billion people on Earth. Then when a "vaccine" was created, it had effectively vaccinated the population with a zombie virus. Out of the 3 billion people that were left, 1 billion turned into zombies. Another one billion people became human experiments and turned into homunculi.
Homunculi were artificial humans engineered by the reptilian aliens.
Half a billion vampires, some couple million werewolves, and a bunch of hybrid species.
Including the ascended there were only 200 million people left.
Humans had died from disease, natural disasters, famine, chaos, vampires, zombies, wars, alien experimenting.
Son of a bitch huh?
It was May 20, 2017, 3 years and counting until Yehoshua came back for the 144,000 and us, the remaining faithful, His warriors.
Some of us had died.
A lot of us had died to be exact. King Mabus had killed all but 77,000 of us, and some played for his team. Some had sold out, unable to endure the suffering God had warned us about and received the mark of the beast. To spare themselves from temporary pain, they sacrificed eternal salvation.
I had remained faithful all the way until the day of my execution.
That day was today.
I am writing this now in the hopes that someone may read this, to understand the trials I've had to endure in order for you to see this vision.
"Ezekuiel Immanuel Rivera, stand up, it is time for your execution." A voice ordered and I complied, standing up to look at the speaker. It was a vampire guard in the capitol of Babylonia, the jail rested in the city of Babel.
This used to be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Clamps are placed on my wrists and feet, draining me of my energy.
They know that those who were ascended had power like them. The clamps keep me from flying or from building up my energy for anything. They led me outside the high tech cell, planning on crucifying me like they had done to many others. They paraded our dead bodies on television and on the internet, as a cautionary tale for anyone who claimed to love any other God other than Mabus.
I had chosen my fate long ago when I stood in front of Jesus and chose this path. I was born for this, and thanks to God, I was made for this. At the jail in Babel, the security team was comprised of vampires, a few lower level demons, but it was overseen by someone who at one time like me had seen the glory of God.
The jailhouse was run by Michael, someone who had been friends with me since I was a child, who had gone to church with me since our teens. He was someone who had seen the promised salvation, and was now sentencing me to death.
As I was laid on the cross, the vampires grabbed the six inch nails they were going to nail through my hand. The night breeze felt cool on my skin, but nothing could still my beating heart.
I was scared, genuinely.
I didn't fear to die because I knew what awaited me. I feared to die because of what I longed to accomplish. I wanted to fight the fight until the very last day, until Yehoshua returned to the battlefield.
If I died now, I couldn't accomplish that.
Perhaps God heard my thoughts.
The energy draining clamps fell off my wrists and hands.
The vampires in front of me noticed and their eyes got wide. I grinned, and leapt off the cross and landed in front of them. Energy began to swirl all around me and they attacked.
They blurred out of sight with vampire agility intent on ripping my throat out.
They were disappointed.
The energy materialized into a long broadsword with an aura of flames surrounding it. I called my sword 'Lightbringer', and I ducked under a blow from the vampire closest to me and swung my sword in a half arc until it came to a stop in front of his face.
"Light Cannon."
A swirl of yellow energy began to form on the tip of my sword until it turned into a massive ball of power. It exploded in front of the vampire, blowing apart his head and part of his chest.
The other vampire saw this and tried to flee but I'm faster and before he could make it past the steps, his head went flying and his body fell in a geyser of blood. The alarm for the jail was sounded and all of the security came out.
It was a bunch of vampires and werewolves with giant winged demons for backup.
The vampires and werewolves were relatively easy to kill, demons on the other hand required a separate supernatural effort.
Things could be worse.
Aiming at the incoming battalion with the tip of sword, I summoned some more energy. "Light Flash."
The energy from the sword distributed itself into me, filling me up with its raw power. My eyes turned bright yellow and suddenly I'm vaulting forward toward the incoming vampires, swinging my sword in another half arc. The resulting explosion is huge and body parts spray all over the place.
Out of all the ascended, I'm not the most powerful one.
But I do not need to be, I'm strong enough. Weaving in through the remaining ones I sliced and diced, covering myself in sticky blood that didn't remotely smell human.
I hate violence for the most part, but this was unavoidable bloodshed.
As I reach over and decapitate the last vampire, I felt the brush of a blade all too close to my throat. Backing away, and swinging my sword in response to block it, I got a good look at my attacker.
"Michael." I said the name disgustedly, and spat to the side.
"Ezequiel, don't you look scary all covered up in demon blood waving that blade around. It's so easy killing weaklings, do you think you can kill me?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, I do." Disappearing in a flash, to me it was like everything slowed down but he was faster and his hand had managed to find a resting spot on my throat. It was like a vice grip had gotten a hold of my throat.
He slammed me down onto the concrete floor, and my back groaned in protest as pain ricocheted down my spine. Blood flew out my mouth like spit.
I tried to get up but the vice grip was unrelenting.
"Where's your Messiah?" Michael demanded coldly, his blue eyes glowing with a murderous gleam.
I stared into his crazed electric blue eyes. Michael looked Aryan, tall, blonde, and blue eyed. Not to mention powerful.
Michael was one of the strongest out of the ascended. Power had been distributed amongst them based on the order in which they volunteered. Michael was the third strongest out of the ascended and it showed. I myself am the 7th.
I am the 7th Ascended.
With great power came great responsibility, and of course temptations.
Out of the ten highest ranked ascended, I am the only still faithful to Yahuwah. Number one had sided with King Mabus and taken a few of them with her like number 3,4,6,9. The others were dead. They had been targeting me for quite some time, because according to number One Alexis Jones, when you killed an ascended you took their power if you were an ascended yourself.
The higher ranked the ascended, the more power you gained.
Of course some got power hungry. I had no idea how I hadn't given into the greed like the others. Maybe because the power wasn't that important to me like it was to them. I knew that the power was given to us by God, so that misuse of it was clearly against His will. But when people have power like that, I guess everything changes. It didn't happen right away of course, you have to remember that these were people who saw Heaven with me, where right in front of the doors leading to God.
Now they had chosen the Anti-Christ.
Like the humans who also chosen the mark, he had also gotten the Mark of the Beast tattooed on his hands. Those in the higher echelons of the Anti-Christ had more tattoos and sigils. Michael had the tattoo of Orobouros on his left and right arm, as well the all seeing eye on his stomach.
I looked Michael in the eyes. "My Messiah is on the way, you should know that." His grip got tighter but I ignored the pain.
'Lord, give me the strength.' I prayed silently.
Energy began swirling all around me, power streaming from inside me. It was a crescendo of power, arcing in me, threatening to come bursting out. I channeled the energy to my hands, yellow light forming a sphere in my right hand.
"Light Bomb."
It exploded into Michael's midsection and sent him flying backwards.
I focused some more energy until my Lightbringer sword returned. I knew one Light Bomb wouldn't be enough to take down Michael. I guess you're wondering about my abilities and just what exactly kind of power I have.
When we ascended, we received a nearly perfect body, more powerful than human, but not as powerful as angels. Angels are God's oldest creations and are much more powerful, but not all of them where good. Some had strayed and fallen like Lucifer and the Watchers.
Ascended humans have some sort of regenerative abilities, some faster than others, the ability to focus energy and use it externally.
Buddhists were close to understanding the concept. They were misled on their beliefs though.
God supplies energy into every living being. All of us are connected to Him, He is like the Tree of Life, and all the universes, planets, life depend on that energy. That energy is what powers our souls; an incorporeal body that tether's to our mind. Accessing that energy is hard, it requires constant focus and meditation and normally couldn't be used.
Humans only use 10%-20% of their brain.
Ascended humans use 90% of it, and part of that is the ability to channel energy. It's so easy, like second nature for us. We use it in different ways. I channel energy to summon my sword Lightbringer or focus it into external attacks that seem to be quite powerful.
Michael stood up, his midsection regenerating itself until the wound was gone. Michael was one of the fast healers, the only one faster than him was number 1. Using energy he could convert it and heal himself instantly.
Alexis could use the energy to prevent herself from being harmed period.
We can fly. We have super strength, most of use telekinesis, though I don't. I'm not good at it, I'm better at just blowing stuff up where telekinesis requires a fine tuning and focus that I don't naturally have. I'm kind of impatient.
We have super speed.
Michael stood in front of me, his shirt torn to shatters, his tattoos standing out freely now. He had one grey cargo pants, and military type boots. Michael started powering up, energy swirling all around him. He held up his hands towards the sky, focusing all the energy into his hands. A black ball of flames formed on his hands.
I thrust my sword to the sky, and I began focusing energy as well, summoning up as much as I could. I focused all my energy into, risking exhaustion and even death, but I needed to defeat Michael.
Once his attack was fully charged and complete, he charged, blurring as he came at me full speed.
I brought the sword down and swung in a half arc, aiming it dead at Michael.
"Death Ball!"
The black fireball was launched, scorching the very air as it came towards me, ready to incinerate me. "Light Cannon!" The sphere on the tip of the sword expanded then exploded outward, flying towards the incoming Death Ball. The two attacks collided in a massive explosion, sending me and Michael crashing backwards.
I crashed into a set of tables on the outside of the jail. I hadn't killed all the vamps and demons here but since Michael was fighting me they had just gathered around us to watch. They didn't bother attempt to touch me because they'd face Michael's wrath.
Michael crashed into a brick wall but was instantly back on his feet. He had probably just instantly healed himself, I can't really do that.
He blurred out of vision as he came at me full speed again.
I slowly got to my feet and as Michael swung his sword, my last waking thoughts were that I did not
want to die.
A black ball of death collided into my chest and I screamed, unrepentant pain tearing through my body.
I was thrown backwards like a ragdoll and I was on fire. Black flames ripped at my skin, searing me. I fell backwards and died.
I know I died.
I was floating over my body, tethered to the mind by soul.
"You will not die here."
I was forced violently back into my body. My skin began repairing itself instantly.
"What the fuck do I have to do to kill you?" Michael screamed, summoning up more energy.
"You blasphemed against God, and He saved me. Goodbye Michael." I knew what I had to do. I hated this feeling though. I was going to have to kill Michael, there was no saving him. If I didn't I would die, Michael made his choice and sided with the Anti-Christ, there would be no salvation for him anyway. I
was not judging him, merely defending myself and rationally realizing it would be hopeless for him to repent.
I flashed forward, disappearing with a crack, I streaked towards him like a meteor. I channel all my remaining energy into my hands.
Michael didn't even have the chance to summon his attack.
I appeared in front of him, my body aflame with power.
"Light Gun Cannon"
My strongest attack.
I summon all the energy in my body to my hands, as well as energy in the immediate area around me.
Once it's in my hands I slam them together on impact and cause an explosion enough to blow Michael up into enough pieces where he couldn't regenerate.
I fall over onto one knee, exhausted.
Then came the unfamiliar rush.
All of Michael's power streamed into me. I would have to pray to God for strength to purge all the evil out, the hunger for more power. I did not want to kill Michael for this reason, if he was the 3rd, then I could become as strong as number 2, maybe even as strong as number one Alexis.
The reason Alexis betrayed God and Jesus was simple.
More power.
Once she found out that by killing her peers, she could drain them of their power and become stronger herself she went on a killing spree, intent on becoming more powerful than an angel, maybe more than the Creator.
She would die for her arrogance.
How does the creation become stronger then its Creator?
You can't.
It defies every law since the known existence of life.
Yet foolishly Alexis believes she is something special, and with the heap of power she reaped from killing some many other ascended humans, she was.
As I fully integrated Michael's power into me, I felt the familiar hunger burn inside me. The hunger for more power, I fought against it, I always have, but now I feel it, I had not killed a high ranked ascended before. I had avoided this like the plague, I was the 7th but I had been weaker than the others because I hadn't killed too many other ascended. I had been sent to earth to fight the Homunculus, the New World Order, as well as the aliens, including the ruler of the NWO, King Mabus.
I could feel all the lives Michael had killed assimilate themselves within me. I had their power, a collective wave of power that was stronger than anything I've ever felt before.
I could feel all the remaining vampire's eyes on me, as well as the demons ruling over them. Yet I felt no fear, I was blessed by God, my body was a vessel for Him. I had power to fight back, and I would if forced to.
No one attacked though, they knew I had just killed Michael, the 3rd ascended.
I didn't delude myself in believing I was that powerful, I knew of the other ascended, of vampires, or the alien factions or some of the stronger demons.
Then there were the fallen angels, and there was the Nephilim.
I burst off into the air, feeling the familiar of rush of wind blowing past my face. I was going to be headed off towards what used to be Washington D.C. It was now known as New Egypt. The old Egypt was wiped off the maps by a timely nuke on behalf of the Israeli nation, a painful loss for the Anti-Christ at the time.
What most people didn't know about D.C. is that our founding forefathers worshipped the devil. The city was built to mimic Egypt to begin with, with the White House being inside a pentagram. You could only see it if you were flying above. The government clearly had known about aliens or whatever they truly are for quite some time. Washington D.C. was built clearly to gain attention from outer worldly visitors.
So it became New Egypt.
The Egyptians used to worship star gods and built their city specifically to maintain contact with their god. New Egypt became the new Sodom and Gomorrah. You have to understand that the country of New Babylon is what's left of the US. The US was destroyed by nukes, famines, anarchy, and in the end even its own military had pillaged it.
Only several big cities were left, all of the cities where worship centers for the Anti-Christ. The rest of the Babylon was wastelands ravaged by natural disasters and the wrath of God.
God was very upset at America, and even more upset with Israel.
It's why God allowed the world to go through the suffering they do now. Not many had believed in His word. America was founded to worship the devil, and Israel was God's chosen people and they too were in league with the enemy. They had joined America, they had allowed the Anti-Christ to rule over them as god in the holy city where God's throne was supposed be at.
The New World Order had laid the ground work and we lived in a world where God's chosen are slaughtered, where there is one monetary system, one religion, one government, one god. Humanity had allowed this blaspheme of our Creator to happen for some many years, since the death of Christ. He had sacrificed His only Son for the world to be forgiven of their sins and instead they rejected Him, cursed Him, sinned against Him in every possible way.
So humanity had paid for their grave mistake. Half a billion people had been saved, every once else besides the 144,000 were headed for hell. That's just the 200 million that were left, you can only imagine how many billions are burning in hell now. Those had to be the worst feeling ever, to burn in flames and be tortured nonstop, and then realize it's not over. After the fall of the Anti-Christ will be the Day of Judgment where all the sinners and the evil ones will be sent to a lake of fire.
God had given the world a choice.
This had been the collective decision, to live a life of sin and rot away in an inferno for the rest of eternity.
Some choice.
I arrived in New Egypt a few minutes later.
It looks exactly as I last remembered it. Huge sphinxes and pyramids like the Giza ones were designed by free masons as they remodeled D.C. after the nuclear attacks.
In the skies where hundreds of UFO's. Well technically they're no longer unidentified, we know what the fuck is in them now.
There were supposedly several classifications for the aliens. I personally hadn't actually seen too many face to face. King Mabus was from the Aryan aliens, they were blonde, and blue eyed, completely humanoid with an ego the size of a planet. They were the supposed good guys who were on Earth just to benefit humanity.
You had the grays, which were the small, big headed, gray aliens people have been talking about for some time. You have reptilians which got to be the ugliest sons of bitches ever. The problem with them is that they can camouflage and blend in with humanity, they have in fact been on earth, breeding amongst us for a long time and we never noticed.
There were more aliens than that supposedly but those three are the only ones I've ever really encountered on Earth.
I wasn't sure what I was doing, back here in New Egypt, but I knew there ultimately a purpose for me being there. Whether it was to find humans who hadn't gotten the mark or other ascended, but God had a plan.
I was feeling nervous and a bit jittery.
I was in enemy territory. While Mabus ruled over from Jerusalem, he essentially did what America had done to many. He placed his troops in bases in the metropolitan cities, all over the world. No one could really complain back then because Mabus took over the world quick.
Any dissidents were killed immediately.
He was as ruthless as he was cunning.
He wielded alien technology which essentially to an inferior civilization like us would have seemed godlike. He saved the world economy, united all religions, it had been so easy.
The first 3 and half years I trained in preparation. I was homeless, dressed in tatters, travelling the country as I tried to survive the initial prosecution. In my first life, I had been in the Navy, travelling the world, sleeping with women, living a life that was nothing but sin.
I got married and that changed my life.
Then I lost her and God had saved me. Maybe we weren't supposed to be together, no matter how much I loved her. But it had left a gaping hole in my heart, a ravenous maw that couldn't be filled, no matter how hard I tried to forget her.
Then the ascension came.
Coming back to Earth as an ascended, I had thought I was going to change the world. I was naïve and foolish, I thought that because I worshipped God it would be easier, it had been the hardest thing ever. But God never gives a cross we cannot carry, He gave me the strength to make a difference.
I was hunted like an animal.
I was hated by them, for being different. Many times I had almost died, had it not been for divine intervention, I can admit that. So I hid and trained, until the first 3 and half years was up. Suddenly the world economy was going crazy again, conflicts began to happen. Famine, natural disasters, and the zombie virus had wiped out damn near the rest of humanity.
Whatever was left, vampires were there to pick clean.
The Anti-Christ had joined the Intergalactic Federation, an alien organization that would revolutionize human technology.
Mabus and his so called Intergalactic Federation were creating more homunculi in order to replace the humans and now the government controlled human breeding. Humans were now nothing more than slaves, puppets to the elitist governments they once elected into office.
It was worse than anyone could ever imagine.
Now here we are in the first ever Universal War. Mabus would kill anyone who didn't worship him as god, he had already sworn war against God himself. He was convinced that he truly was God, more powerful than anyone before him.
I laugh at him, for ever being so stupid.
He would lose.
As I snuck through the city, I leapt from rooftop to rooftop. A massive spotlight shone over me.
"Identify yourself!" A voice ordered. The light was bright and blinding, forcing my eyes shut involuntarily.
Damn I'm not good at the sneaky ninja stuff.
"Ezekiel Rivera, who are you?" I asked.
The spotlight turned into a concentrated beam and I was taken up into some sort of ship. I tried to fly away but there was a magnetic pull taking me up into it. What the fuck was going on? As I got yanked into the ship, I immediately summoned up my Lightbringer sword and took a look at the ship. This was the first time I got beamed up.
I landed on a cold, metallic surface.
My eyes swiveled around and took everything in. I was definitely fucked, I was completely flanked by the reptilians. They stared at me with through slit pupils and lizard like eyes. They were all tall, all in some sort of black uniform with shiny boots. Instead of stars, they had a crescent moon as ranks. I could not tell you how unnerving it was being locked away in here with them for the first time, completely surrounding me.
I wasn't scared, my Lightbringer would easily take out a couple of them.
I knew that they weren't human, that they were some sort of old alien civilization or maybe they were demons lost in space for ages.
I sprang into life grabbing the sword and ducking under one of them bringing my sword up in a slashing arc and two of them fell of dead. I was glowing yellow and I was about to attack again when it felt like I was frozen, paralyzed in mid attack.
I looked at one of the reptilians and he had an outstretched handing, held out towards me and I could see energy pulsing off his fingers in trickles.
"Enough little human. You will do as we say or face our wrath. What are you?" the leader of the reptilians in the ship asked.
"Like you said I'm human, and I'm not afraid of you, it should be you who should be afraid of me." I said, giving them a cocky laugh, their anger visible on their faces.
"Why is that? I am thousands of years old and you are nothing but a grain of sand before me." The leader snapped at me, snarling through his mouth. A forked tongue slid out past his lizard lips. "You will suffer for your disrespect, we have many ways of making you bow before us."
His words disgusted me. I had heard many stories of what happened to the abductees. I would not let it happen to me. Energy swirled around me violently, pushing all the reptilians backwards. "I am Ezekiel Rivera, one of the faithful to the Messiah. "
I disappeared in a flash and the leader's head was blown off as I reappeared in front of him and slammed a wave of yellow energy into his face.
The other reptilians roared in anger and I turned around to stare at them through angry yellow eyes.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection from the ship's metal hull. It had been a while since I seen myself. I looked a lot uglier then I remembered.
I was skeleton skinny, months of malnourishment from being on the run had turned me from an athletic man to a skinny fuck. My black cargo pants hung loose on my hips and those were size 34's. My shirt was in tatters but I had a black Kevlar vest over it. My golden eyes stood out in the reflection, they turn from gold to pure yellow whenever I was in a fight.
I was born Puerto Rican so my skin was a light brown complexion that women used to love.
My face looked hauntingly old and I was only 28. My hair was grown out in thick black curls, but it was disgustingly dirty.
Disappearing before any of them could react I proceeded to start killing the others off. It wouldn't do me any good to let any of them live and warn the other ships flying about. After they were all dead I walked around the whole ship to see if I could rescue anyone on board. Their airships were pretty badass.
This one I was in was black and triangular in shape with red lights glowing at the edges of the triangle shape. Then there was a green spotlight in the center of it, like an all seeing eye.
That's exactly what these airships looked like, the all seeing eye of the Illuminati, the devil worshipping cult that came out of the freemasons.
From walking around on the ship, I also got a chance to study what the reptilians were like. The inside of the ship was designed in a way that humans couldn't achieve yet. The control panel was entirely sentient, like a living GPS that ran on auto pilot once it had the coordinates.
The rest of the ship was pretty much a laboratory. There was no cafeteria so I'm assuming that they ate much differently than we did. Their sleeping quarters were pretty basic, under the laboratory was a chute leading down there. They slept in metal cots of sorts. I don't know how they did it because it was cold down here.
There were two sleeping reptilians so I took care of them quickly, cutting off both their heads to make sure they died in their sleep.
I headed back up the chute into the laboratory.
There was operating tables of sorts with instruments I have never seen. They had knifes, some sort of power saw, and some sort of metal probe with a spiked tip. Definitely glad I hadn't given them the chance to live or else I'd be on one of these.
Looking around the lab, I finally scouted another door. I went through it and gasped, I found the other humans.
The hidden room I found was pretty large, it was essentially the butcher's room. They had hundreds of humans on meat racks, their guts ripped out of their stomach as well as all internal organs. All they left was the skeleton with the meat hanging on like a bloody suit. Trying to fight the urge to vomit, I failed and leaned over and puked.
I needed to find a shower of some sort in here and change. I needed to get all this blood and guts off me and I needed to wash my grimy hair. Then I was going to meditate, hope for a response and keep on with my mission.
I found a shower to the side of the laboratory.
I hopped in and took a lengthy, much needed shower.
Taking a look at myself in the mirror now, I was a lot more satisfied. I stole one of the dead human's clothes, it was the cleanest set of clothes I could find on board. Now I was wearing relaxed blue jeans, black boots and a tight black shirt with the black vest over it.
It was time to leave, I decided and I began to start to walk out when I heard a scream rip through the air. I thought no one was left…
Unsure as to who it was, the Lightbringer was summoned quickly just in case.
"Help." A weak voice called out.
"Where are you?" I asked, unable to see anyone in lab.
"Underneath you." Someone replied. I noticed the floor had large grids across them. There was a red button near one of the operating tables. I pressed it and out of the floor came glass cases with people in them.
"Oh shit." I whispered under my breath. I had completely missed that and I was about to leave had I not heard the voice.
There were six people behind the glass. I held out my hand and a flood of energy streamed out and the glass shattered. "Thanks." I heard the familiar voice. Definitely female.
I took a long look at the six people. The first was an older man. He had short, gray bristled hair and was dressed in a suit. The second was a man about my age with blonde, spiky hair and glasses. The third was a teenage boy with red hair and freckles. Then the fourth was an older woman with dark brown hair in a summer dress. The fifth was a woman my age with jet black hair and smoldering hazel eyes. Last was a young blonde with blue green eyes.
"Who the fuck are you?" the woman with the jet black hair demanded.
"The guy who I'm guessing is going to regret saving you." I replied back sarcastically. "I'm Ezequiel Rivera." I added.
"I'm Marlene." She had a thick Spanish accent. Her skin was slightly darker than me, a rich caramel color, with perky breasts and long legs. She was dressed in one of the alien suits. There were no ranks but it was definitely the same type of uniform.
"Who is everyone else and how did you get stuck here?" I asked.
The teenage girl waved. "Thanks for saving us Zeke. I'm Sam and I don't know how I got here. I fell asleep and woke up here. They were doing some sort of experiments…" she shuddered and got quiet.
"I'm sorry to hear that, they were about to get me too until I killed them all." I informed them.
"You killed them all?" the older man asked.
"Yes. Really wasn't that hard either." I replied and they looked at me in shock. I shrugged.
"That's crazy. I'm Kenny Wayne, and the last thing I remember was driving and then I got beamed up here. I don't remember anything after that… until now." The blonde man spoke up.
Then the rest of them introduced themselves. The older man was a military doctor, Commander Haines or something. The teenage boy was Miles and he was a homeless orphan. The older woman was alien slave named Karen. She had been taken by aliens and raised by them all her life, and then used her for experimenting.
"So how exactly did you kill all those aliens? I remember I couldn't even attack them they paralyzed me or something?" Kenny asked.
"I'm the seventh ascended. A high ranked warrior who fights for Christ against the army of darkness." I explained and they snickered at me.
"No way." Sam said laughing.
I summoned up the Lightbringer.
"Oh shit, hey don't kill us, we were playing." Kenny deadpanned.
"I'm not going to kill you, I'm a warrior of Christ." I replied.
"You killed them lizards." Marlene pointed out.
"I regret saving y'all already. How about I just go on my merry way?" I said, fully intent on leaving.
"You can't, you have some sort of holy obligation to take care of us and protect us." Marlene replied, a glow lighting up in her eyes. She was trying to get under my nerves.
"I already have a mission. But I guess you guys can follow me until we get somewhere safe, this sucks though, I normally don't have to walk." I whined.
"How do you travel then?" Miles asked.
"I can fly." I said off handedly.
"No way." Miles replied.
I smirked and flew towards him, closing in on the few feet of separation. "Convinced now."
"We could fly the ship though and we would stay off radar from the aliens." Karen pointed out. "I kinda know how to fly this thing after watching them do it for years."
"That works… I need a little bit of time to clear my head so make a list of stuff we'll need and in the morning we'll go out and see if we can find any of the stuff out there. What do these ships run on?" I asked.
"There's two power sources, sunlight and some sort of nuclear energy that they create externally. So it never runs out of power, these things were built to fly forever if need be." Karen informed us.
"Good, we'll start tomorrow scavenging tomorrow. I'll be back in a bit." I said and took off flying out of the spaceship. I flew above the spaceship and sat down on top of the craft. I began meditating, shutting off to the outside world as I prayed.
I prayed for forgiveness, for God to help me carry the burden of having killed Michael earlier. I asked for help, for God to let me know what he wanted.
I don't know how much time passed up there.
I continued meditating.
I could hear a rustle in the wind. Like a whoosh sound. I opened up my eyes and saw a heavenly figure standing in front of me. "Who are you?" I asked, I didn't kneel but I tried sounding respectful as possible.
"Gabriel, the arch-angel." The figure introduced himself and I was slowly able to define him more clearly. Gabriel had the look of a hardened warrior, no smiles, all business. He had dirty blonde hair and it was long, and curly. He was dressed in white robes with a gold sash and four massive wings unfurled from his back. Cold blue eyes analyzed me and I had to try not to wither.
As powerful as I was, I was nothing in comparison to an arch angel, especially not one in the league as Gabriel.
"I come bearing message from our God." Michael stated, diverting his gaze towards the city.
"What is it?"
"In two days, God is going to destroy New Egypt with an earthquake. I would suggest you get as far as possible on the other side of the coast. Preach to as many souls as you can, because those who stay will surely regret it, even those foul aliens won't be safe from the wrath." Michael said.
I nodded. "Thank you. What will my mission be?"
"Same as it's always been, save lives and fight evil. If there's any changes, God will let you know." Gabriel said curtly.
"I'm glad we had this detailed talk." I replied sarcastically, much to his annoyance.
Gabriel scowled at me, "Something big is starting to happen. The seals are cracking and soon it will only get so much worse. I am like you, simply a messenger. I don't question God, nor do I test him as you test me. If I give you no details it's because I have none to give, little human." Gabriel shot back.
"I guess that's fair enough. " I admitted, I didn't really feel like pissing him off more.
"I'm glad you think so." Gabriel replied and took off into the skies, disappearing from view.
Shaking my head I got up floated back to the underside of the ship. It opened up and I flew in. Landing on the deck, I gathered my bearings real quick and processed what Gabriel had just said. Marlene saw me and sauntered over to me. "I can't believe you can fly." She said.
"It's not that hard, well at least not for me. " I couldn't help but boast slightly.
Marlene smirked. "So what's the plan? We've been locked up for days and we're kind of hungry now." She told him.
"Understood. Let's get food." I said.
"You don't get it." Marlene said, wrapping her arms around him.
"We're hungry…right now." Fangs poked out of her mouth.
It dawned on me. "All of you are homunculi aren't you?" I asked.
"Good."
I summoned the Lightbringer.
3. The Super Rich Elite
The Ascension
Chapter Three:
The Homunculi and The Super Rich Elite
'When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been completed.
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, and mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves among the rocks of mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Revelation 6: 9-11
Dark brown almond shaped eyes watched me narrowly. The Lightbringer was in my hand as I waited for the homunculi to attack. "Before you kill me, could you explain just what exactly you homunculi are? I'm kind of curious." I asked casually. I tried to maintain a calm, level headed appearance. Really I was very nervous; it would not do me any good to underestimate them.
Marlene stared at me with cold calculating eyes. "Does it really matter that much to you?" she asked icily, her hands resting impetuously on her hips.
"Hypothetically, yes it does matter." I answered hastily, watching the others as well, gauging their reaction.
"Fine, only if you answer my questions afterwards." Marlene conceded with a scowl. "We homunculi are artificially created humans from the bodies of the dead. The aliens have the power to create hybridized life like that. Not just werewolves and vampires, but hybrid animals too. We used to be humans just like you, I had my own life but I died. The last thing I remember was dying and then we woke up. The reptilians were experimenting on us, testing our limits. We have no life other then the life they give us. We are the third generation of homunculi, the most powerful of them, built specifically to kill the powerful ascended ones." Marlene explained, her eyes cold and resentful.
"So you hate me, others like me?" I asked, not that surprised, just upset at myself for getting caught off guard like that.
"Yes but for different reasons. I hate you because if you didn't exist I would have been another dead body. I know I don't have a soul or a conscious to pester me like when I was a human. I'm smarter, and we third generation homunculi are a lot different from the older models." Marlene boasted. "We're going to kill your kind, all of you like little bugs underneath our feet. Our masters promised us eternal life, all we have to do is kill you ascended." She explained unrepentantly, her tone ruthless.
"That's good to know… it makes the whole killing y'all bit a little easier knowing for sure you homunculi are his unholy creation." I replied smugly.
"You still try to justify your killings? Humans, you're so weak no matter how ascended you may be." Marlene shot back angrily, I had pushed her buttons and the angrier she got the easier it would be to free myself.
"You call it a weakness, but it's what makes me human still. I try to save lives, you're created to take them away. By rule that means you're my enemy, and any compassion must be put aside if you attack me now. Because part of all of you is still human I'll let you go. Hold onto your humanity, that's the part worth saving. I think God could save you if you repented… you didn't have a choice into becoming what you became, but you have a choice in who you're going to become." I offered.
"You offer us salvation?" Marlene asked with a cruel sneer and a laugh. "Oh that's rich. Your God didn't save us before and he won't save us now. We have no souls, no ambiguous moral compass that you hold onto. The only paradise we know is what our masters will give us for taking you out, that's more than God did for us." Marlene snapped.
"That's where you're wrong. " I replied.
"How so?" Marlene demanded.
"You died not being saved, and now God has allowed you to live again. Another opportunity for you to do things right and be saved and enjoy Heaven with Him." I responded. "You gotta look at life from a glass half full and not empty or you'll be lost in despair… I used to be… I would know."
"You think some pretty words will save you?" Marlene demanded viciously.
"No, I think God will." I replied. "Don't force my hand, don't force me to kill you." I begged her genuinely.
"I thought your God was against killing?" Marlene asked coyly.
"Wrong again. God clearly showed Himself to smite those against Him. This is the last epic war to ever be fought before God kills Satan and his league of superpowers that includes the Anti-Christ, all those who receive his mark, his government, his religious leaders, all of them will suffer God's wrath. My job is to give the last of God's people help. I am just but a part to a large machine.
"God has blessed people differently throughout the ages. Those in the Illuminati had their time ruling the world, enjoying their wickedness. They were the elites on Earth and lived without reprisal. They served their master in the hopes that he wins against God, and they bet on the wrong one. He used pastors to reach out locally, evangelists to spread the message, but of course people became corrupt, became puppets for their organization as a way to control the people."
"So what you're saying is that churches were controlled by organizations that work for the devil?" Marlene asked.
"Yes, control the religion, control the people."
"I just don't get it, how that could happen?" Sam asked.
"Think about it like this. With Christians controlled through their pastors to pledge unconditional loyalty to the church and to follow the government or go to hell, people who usually too scared to ask any questions. Slowly the government took away every one's civil liberties preparing us for the last dictator to take over.
"When the Anti-Christ took power martial law was placed on the whole world. Those who didn't take his mark where executed, those who believed in Jehovah as the ruling God where executed. But by then people where so indoctrinated by church and governments that they caved in. They had infiltrated television and media, if it weren't for the internet we wouldn't even had known about them. Plus to them Mabus is the fix, he solved the economy, united religions, united the people.
"King Mabus even has the false prophet on his side who claims he's Jesus Christ and slaughters Christians in the name of Islam. Mabus is promising to save them and take them to a new home, a new planet for them to plunder." I explained.
Marlene nodded. "You should give into him. Give into me." She breathed out huskily, her eyes beckoning me, pulling me into their abyss.
"Do you really think a nice set of tits and lips is all it's going to take for me to join your club?" I asked.
She laughed ruefully. "I like you, you have a way about you and you're unlike any other human I've encountered, that's saying alot." She admitted.
"I'm sure." I replied sarcastically.
"I want you as my pet." She confessed, her eyes half lidded and the allure she was using against me was hard to fight against. It took all my will and self control not to give into her. She was attractive beyond words.
"You have to share!" Sam interrupted and I coughed in disgust.
"I don't think so, none of you are going to get me." I looked at Sam disgustedly. She too was attractive but because she looked young it turned me off. But if I was honest with myself every other part of her turned me on.
The devil had used women against me in the past, and post ascension. It was definitely his most effective weapon against me. I wasn't going to be seduced through power or the material things. He knew the best way to get me was through women.
Life post-ascension was different then I could have imagined. Our bodies had been transformed but we weren't perfect yet. We could still die, and we still sin.
Perhaps it was because we weren't in Heaven and the further away from God's grace the less perfect you become. Maybe that's how something as beautiful as Lucifer used to be could become something as ugly as Satan.
Humans too.
We are all capable of doing good things for God, for ourselves but instead we choose to be selfish, we give into our less then godly desires and we stray from God.
But God loves us more then we could ever love Him. He forgives us, picked us up and gave us the strength to carry on.
It didn't make it any easier.
Marlene and Sam snuggled up against me, both of them breathing heavily on my neck. "It'll be so much better for you if you give in. If I have to, I'll take you anyway." Marlene hissed out, her breath tickling the side of my neck. I could feel a nauseating revolt in my stomach.
I burst into flight before they could continue entertaining that idea.
Kenny and Miles attacked, leaping up into the air and biting down on my arms, pulling me back down to deck. Blood sprayed the air, and I howled in pain as their jaws clamped down harder, crunching bone. Despite the fact that I could heal, it didn't mean I couldn't feel pain.
Marlene held out her hands and waved them off and they were off me. She held out her finger beckoning me and I could feel an invisible hand pick me up off the floor and force me to stand up. Then I was forced to walk towards her. "Don't make this hard for me." She whispered sultrily, her tongue curling up against her teeth seductively.
"Hard for you, you're making this hard for me." I deadpanned and she broke out into laughter. Great make some jokes to your attractive potential rapist. Deep down, from somewhere within I was meditating. Right now my body was on autopilot but somewhere in the recesses of my mind I was praying to God.
'God, give me the strength to make it out of here alive. Give me the strength to do what is right and not falter in a moment of weakness.' I prayed.
Energy flowed into me, and the Lightbringer was in my hands. Swinging the sword in an arc I aimed it at Marlene. "Don't force me to kill you." I pleaded.
"You cannot change the laws of this world. Either you join us or you die." Commander Haines said.
I blurred out of site and the sword sliced through him horizontally. Commander Haines fell over dead. "What were my options again?" I asked as his body burst into yellow flames.
Marlene moved faster then she looked and her fingers gripped around my throat. "You don't want to do that." She growled out.
Miles leapt at me in werewolf form, maw open and ready to tear out my throat. "Sorry." I whispered out and shoved Marlene out of the way before slicing Miles head off. Kenny and Karen surrounded me and were about to attack when Marlene held them off.
"Wait, he'll only kill you too. He's strong as hell." Marlene stated cautiously, watching me like a predator.
I blurred towards her before shoving my sword all the way through her chest. Blood splattered my face and shirt. "It'll take more than that to kill me." Marlene let out a wail of pain before sliding herself off the sword. I watched in amazement as her wound began closing itself shut.
"Repent your ways." I offered them one last time.
"Never…" Marlene shot back, disappearing in a flash and reappearing in front of me, energy swirling around her fingers. A wave of energy slammed into me and I screamed from the sheer agony of it. "We were built to fight just like you, we can use energy just like you can." Marlene taunted before kicking me in the face.
I stumbled backwards, blood oozing from my lip. "Good to know."
Deep down I know I should flee. Live to fight another die and all that bullshit. But I was a warrior not a coward and even if this was my last fight I would fight it all the way until the end. I would not run, and I would never surrender.
Energy flared up around me and I was coated in it, an aura of yellowish flames burned brightly.
I punched Marlene in the face, sending her flying back a few feet. Before I could attack again, Sam appeared in front of me, her blue eyes captivating me. She was putting an allure on me, and I was weakened already.
All the fights took a toll on me and I was still recovering from my escape from Babel.
"You don't want to fight anymore." Sam whispered hypnotically.
"I don't want to fight anymore." I repeated, letting my Lightbringer disappear. Marlene reappeared in front of me and bashed me in the head with something metal and I was knocked unconscious.
I woke up later.
I'm not sure how much time has passed, all I know is that I'm laying on a table on my back. There are restraints on my wrists and on my legs and I'm naked. Marlene was on top of me. "Get off me." I grunted out.
I could feel her wetness all around me and I was feeling mixed feelings. There were feelings of disgust and shame, but there was some arousal as well.
"I'm almost done." Marlene moaned out in ecstasy.
"You're going to regret this." I told her, my eyes clenching shut as I tried to not be aroused. Which was hard when there was a beautiful homunculi on top of me. I could feel her release and then she was slinging herself off of me.
"I would ask you if you want to cum, but seeing as how self righteous you are I'm guessing you don't." Marlene drawled out sarcastically. She stood over me like she was waiting for me to change her opinion.
"Fuck you." I spat out angrily. I really wasn't sure how to feel right now. I had tried to save all of them only to find out they were homunculi and get raped by a woman who I was sexually attracted to. That was complicated beyond measure.
"Are you mad at me or are you mad at your God for letting this happen?" Marlene asked with an evil sneer on her face.
It was then when I knew she was a child of the devil. It was like she was being revealed to me, there was a layer of superficial beauty but behind that was a dark malignant evil. Her eyes were black pits of despair, and a demonic smile was on her face.
"If God let this happen then it was supposed to happen for whatever reason. You chose to rape me, I can't be angry at Him for your decisions." I replied and this only furthered her anger.
"Shut up." She spat out and punched me in the face, my face recoiling from the blow.
My eyes clenched shut from the blow. "Are you really mad at me or are you mad at God because you're a homunculus?" I asked and her anger only grew as she struck me again, this time her fists punching me directly on the nose.
I could feel and hear the cartilage snap as my nose broke, blood spilling out.
Her fists felt like stones, her strength horrifying for someone so beautiful.
"Shut up." She growled out, "You don't know anything about me!" she added, punching me over and over. Her blows hurt less and less the angrier she got.
My face must look like crap right now, energy trying to group up collectively and heal me. It was ridiculously hard to regenerate when she reopened up the wounds with every punch.
"You think I don't know what it's like to suffer?" I asked sarcastically.
"You call this suffering?" Marlene asked laughing.
"Not this, this was a violation of my body. But I've suffered more then you could ever know." I replied.
I noticed Sam walk into the room. "Is it my turn yet?" She asked, so casually it scared the shit out of me. She unnerved me the most out of all of them. They hadn't at first, normally I had some sort of sixth sense when it came to all my enemies. These homunculi hadn't even given me a signal until after they had attacked.
These really where completely different from the other homunculi I knew. Sam walked towards us and let her eyes roam over me. Her hand reached out and her fingers trailed across my naked skin. I let out an uncontrolled gasp and she definitely noticed. "Let me play with him for a bit?" Sam asked Marlene. Marlene looked a little bothered that she was interrupted but then decided to comply with Sam.
"She beat you up good, didn't she?" Sam asked, her hand resting on my swollen cheek.
"Yeah, I'm guessing a lot of issues there, more than just the homunculi thing." I said snarkily and Sam laughed.
"I like your attitude, given that we are going to kill you if you don't join our cause." Sam replied darkly with an evil smile. Her blue green eyes were alit with something akin to glee, and her blonde hair was a lit with a golden aura.
My wounds slowly began to heal.
"You're very durable." She noted aloud, not sure if it was for her benefit or mine.
"Sam, please let me go." I asked her gently, hoping maybe there was just the smallest of good in her. Sam smiled and leaned over to kiss my lips.
Her lips were soft.
"What would I get if I let you go?" She asked, pulling away from me.
"Liberty." I replied honestly.
"That's funny from coming you." Sam responded maliciously, slicing her nails into my side, drawing blood.
"Trust me." I shot back with a smile of my own.
"Why would I?" Sam asked. "What on earth could possibly make me trust you, a warrior of Christ, and enemy to my King?"
"Because I'm one of the good guys. You're king isn't a good guy, he's killed millions, he claims to be God, but he isn't. Whatever's left of the human population and even you homunculus are going to continue to suffer under his rule. But in three years, the true Messiah will return to finish him off and his army. I can't save you but He could, He could save anyone." I replied passionately.
"You sound like such a boy scout." Sam shot back and ripped the binding on my feet. She ripped the binding off my arms as well and stood me up. "I'm not letting you go."
"You don't have to." I replied, my arms outstretching and Sam flew backwards into the wall. "I rebuke thee, foulest creature to return from where you came, get out of her now in the name of Jesus Christ, the one and true Messiah and King." Energy flew out of my hand and into her head, right between her eyes.
Sam screamed loudly, her eyes rolling up into the back of her head. I could see a darker, more malevolent demon inside of her being forced to come up. Her throat looked like something was violently being forced up. She fell to her knees and heaved something up. A sickly, gray reptilian with wings came out of her.
It looked like a fetus like it wasn't fully matured or something.
The Lightbringer sliced it in half and it let out a sad wail and died.
I could see the other three homunculi were on their way. I grabbed Sam and burst into flight.
We flew out of the spaceship and I shifted gears, flying faster. Sam hung onto me scared as hell. I knew she would be forever changed now that the demon inside her had been taken out. But as long as she accepted Jesus as her savior, they wouldn't be able to get back into her, and if she didn't, I'd be here.
We landed in what was used to be known as Woodbridge, VA. Now it was nothing more than underground military bunkers where the rich DC bureaucrats hid at. There was a whole town built underground in Woodbridge.
I had known because I had taken tours there when I worked at the Pentagon.
There was a tunnel that led to it from Ft. Belvoir. "We're going to need some new clothes, do you homunculi eat?" I asked.
"We don't need to but we can." Sam admitted. "Our bodies break food into energy but we can still live without it as long as we drink blood. Blood is life and its how we stay immortal." Sam explained.
"What happens when you run out of blood to drink?" I asked.
"We die… slowly and painfully." Sam confessed sadly. She had a pained look on her face.
"You're hungry aren't you?" I asked nervously.
"Somewhat. I can make it for a while though." Sam replied quickly, a shamed look on her face.
"We'll try to find some game out here and you can try draining its blood." I responded.
"And if we don't?" Sam asked with a smile. But it wasn't the dangerous smile she had me earlier before the demon had been purged from her. It was a genuine, her eyes alit with something akin to mischief.
"I'm sure we could improvise but that's a last resort kind of thing." I let her know.
She laughed and so did I. "Let's go."
Hours later
PX, Ft Belvoir
We had gotten changed into different outfits. Since it was a military base we had chosen some military gear to wear and had eaten some canned food and fruits since everything else were expired. Ft. Belvoir had been abandoned long ago because it had been infected with zombies. The rich politicians had hidden underground in their bunkers but most of the population in that area had died. Those that survived had become slaves for the elite, forced to go underground to survive. Zombies had taken out a good bit of the east coast.
There hadn't been a lot left though after the nukes hit and blew everything up.
Humanity had gone through so much. I remember when America was the biggest nation, the most powerful so intent on flexing its military strength throughout the world and now it had fallen, blown to kingdom come by Russia and China. Then zombies came after the forced vaccinations.
Famine and the economy collapsed and what was left of America became an anarchic battlefield and even martial law couldn't control the massive riots. America had found out a good bit of the truth.
That their rich elite had been planning this very moment in history in order to bring upon the apocalypse and reap their heaven. The ones who weren't elite and chosen by them were nothing but expendable pawns that they could sacrifice to their dark lord and his minions.
That's what I call the aliens.
I don't really believe that aliens are aliens like we were made to believe. I think that "aliens" had been interacting with mankind for a lot longer then we knew and were nothing more than remnants of our biblical past.
There was so much controversy over this subject to this very day and no one really knows the answer. In the bible it had talked a little bit about the Nephilim, a race that came from the offspring of a human and an angel. They were described as titans and possible fathered the Philistine race where Goliath the giant came from.
When God flooded the world back then, I don't believe it was to kill mankind seeing as he allowed Noah to live and anyone who joined him. I think God was trying to kill off the Nephilim.
But some had lived. They had appeared later on in the bible.
Not to mention who knows what happened to those who fathered them.
What I do know is that the remnants of the nephilim who lived continued to breed and became what was referred to as the Illuminati, the rich elite who engineered New World Order.
Since then no more nephilim popped up because God locked up all the fallen angels so they couldn't continue to spread their evil seed.
He had made it law to all angels that pro-creation with a human was condemnable by eternal death.
Until the Antichrist.
King Mabus is a nephilim, descendent of Lucifer and his vessel on earth. Since he is locked away until judgment he controls the world through his son, a king who now controls the world and aims to control the universe. At first people had fought against him in vain, some of them were friends and allies of mine.
But the fact remained unchanged, King Mabus could not die, at least not permanently. Isaiah Lancaster and Mohammed Mujadeen had succeeded in killing the Anti-Christ. There had been a long, gruesome fight in New Egypt six months ago and Mohammed Mujadeen, the 5th Ascended had burned him to a crisp with holy flames.
Then he had come back to life and Alexis Jones and Michael Stanton, the 1st and 3rd Ascended had murdered the 2nd and the 5th on live television after Mabus was resurrected.
When he had come back, he had not come back alone.
A false prophet who claimed to be Jesus Christ had returned with him and performed miracles. He even claimed to be a radical Muslim against Christianity.
The Anti-Christ had an army that spanned the world. He was a powerful nephilim, Lucifer's vessel, husband to Alexis Jones, commander of the global army. He had aliens for allies, a false Jesus Christ for back up, the most powerful ascended warrior, nations at his feet, and millions of people worshipping him.
He had to rule over Earth because that was the dominion God gave him until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
But people gave into him after realizing how futile it was to fight NWO. He was the supposed living god on Earth and united all the religions into Islam. He claimed that he was Allah and that if humanity refused his mark he couldn't grant them eternal life or save them from the upcoming doom.
John, the author of Revelations warned the world of him. He even drew out the symbol in the book of revelations. But those same symbols in Arabic now stood for, "Allah be with you." People had been so afraid of everything going on that they had gotten the mark in order to not suffer but instead brought more suffering upon themselves.
The seals were breaking.
There were seven seals that only Yehoshua the Lamb of God could open.
There were two more trumpets to be sounded.
I had died and had seen Heaven. There was a holy feast and I saw the thousands of those who had died for Christ dressed in white. I was forced back to life somehow and had slain Michael and took his power. But in doing so I inherited all the power from the souls he had slain, I could hear them echoing in me. All of them pleaded for God's fury, begged for Him to return to Earth and save the remaining faithful.
Now the sixth seal was going to break. A major earthquake was going to hit New Egypt and I had to try to save as many humans as possible. But nothing could spare those who would suffer God's wrath.
"You're zoning out again!" Sam cried out and I looked over at her.
"Sorry." I apologized.
"You gotta stop smoking." Sam said laughing.
"It's some good stuff." I replied with a laugh of my own.
There could be things worse than being stuck with a beautiful blonde homunculi while stoned in a post apocalyptic world.
"So what does it feel like to be free from that demon inside you?" I asked.
"I don't know… It's kind of foggy to be honest, like something's missing. I'm still as lost as before. I still feel evil, maybe because I'm a homunculi but I definitely don't feel that subconscious urge to do evil like I did before. Before the urge to do bad things was predominant, now I feel empty. Worst of all I'm attracted to you, if not more since you got this puritan hero complex going for you." Sam confessed and I let out a laugh.
"Puritan hero complex?" I repeated and she grabbed me by the front of my armor and kissed me.
It surprised me and I was too dumbfounded to move. I could feel her strength as she pushed me against the wall and I had to fight not to lose control and give in to temptation. "We can't." I said, breaking away from her lips.
"Why?" she pleaded with a sad look. "I know you want me, I felt it when we kissed… is it because of her?" Sam asked and suddenly her body began morphing, stretching until she took the shape of my ex-wife.
I looked at the body of my ex-wife Selena Rivera.
Black, impossibly jet black hair, electric blue eyes, pale skin and a warm smile through sexy, luscious lips.
The mere sight of her was enough to make me go into shock. "How did you…" I stammered out painfully. My eyes immediately welled up with tears, and I allowed myself to run my fingers through the dark locks of her hair. "This isn't fair."
"You miss her?" Sam asked me through _her_ lips.
"More then you'll ever know, she was the love of my life." I admitted and looked away from my Selena's body.
"I'm sorry, I can download all your memories from just touching you. I figured if I used her appearance you would want me more. I neglected to see how it had ended." Sam apologized. "She didn't love you, you know?"
"Shut up… just change back into you, don't you ever do that again." I snapped angrily, brushing aside the hot tears falling down my face.
Sam turned back into herself. "Homunculi are infiltrators, we're designed to infiltrate right in with humans, and they've been around a lot longer than people know." Sam informed me casually, trying to draw the attention away from the pain she just caused me.
Sam tried to lean against me and I was so angry I spun away from her. "Just give me a fucking sec."
I tried to filter all the emotions flooding through me. Seeing Selena again was harsh. She was the sole reminder of my failures in my past life and it hurt being reminded of it again. Selena had been my wife a long time ago and I had failed as a husband and we ended up splitting.
I had wallowed in grief for so long, carrying all that guilt.
"I'm so sorry." Sam apologized again.
"It's okay it's just hard to think about again. I fucked up so bad with her and remembering all that…" I trailed off.
"It's okay to grieve but she's gone Ezekiel and you're going to have to move on. We could be together, fight the good fight together while we're still alive." Sam said gently.
"I can't deny the fact that I'm attracted to you Sam…" I started off. "But I have a mission, and that mission is so hard because the enemy will use those you care about against you. I can't let you get caught up in all this." I replied softly.
"I'm already caught up in all this. I'm an artificial human you saved, don't let your past be an excuse to dictate your future." Sam snapped.
"It's not that simple. Fornication is still a sin, and while I've messed up before it's not something I'm going to make a habit of." I replied.
"Fornication is a sin because sex joins the two souls as one in physical union. I have no soul to speak of so even if we have sex there won't be anything wrong with it." Sam shot back.
"That doesn't make it okay. Sam if the day comes where I ever come to love you and you're the one I'm meant to be with then we will be together. But for now my heart still belongs to someone else and even then I have a mission and if I don't do this many more are going to die. There's a war for what's left of the souls of mankind. King Mabus has sworn universal war against Yahuwah and all his believers, as well as any believer of Yehoshua as God." I said to her as gently as possible.
She had a hurt look to her.
"Sam I can't just give into temptation all the time and fuck every chick I feel like. I have to love someone to be with them like that. Even then in the past whenever I did settle down with a girlfriend, they always died, like a punishment as a reminder of my sin. If we fuck , you will probably die." I added seriously.
"So you don't even like masturbate or anything?" Sam asked.
I blushed darkly.
"Of course. I just try not to overindulge in it, for me it's like weed and alcohol. It's okay as long as you don't abuse it." I replied, my face flushed.
"So that's okay but sex isn't, that's not fair."
"Look I don't make up the rules, some are kind of ambiguous and should be left up to personal belief rather than some controlling pastor, not like there's any of those around anymore." I said laughing darkly.
Sam gave me a scathing look. "So we're going to be with each other on the road for quite some time and not fucking until you love me, that sounds like some bullshit to me." She said brusquely.
I laughed hysterically.
I don't know why.
Sam vanished and reappeared in front of me, and pulled down her shirt to reveal her ample cleavage. "How funny is it now?"
I blushed and looked away. She was very….very developed. God help me…
I flashed away from her as fast as possible. While she was not a hell bent, demon influenced assassin, she was still a hot, young looking, and somewhat immortal creature. I had seen the blue prints to the homunculi in the reptilian alien ship. The first generation of homunculi were artificial humans to replace the rapidly declining human race.
They were bred from the reptilian aliens and human hybridization. The second generation were vampires and werewolves. They had been cross breeding for millennia, long before the Egyptians had documented thousands of years ago. Vampires and werewolves could be killed as well, pretty easily for me in fact. But the 3rd generation homunculi were the anti-ascended. They were specifically created to kill me and my kind. So far all I knew was that they could shape shift into anything they choose, whether vampire, werewolves, even other humans.
They could regenerate wounds, some could control energy like I could, and some had wings. I know for sure that Sam and Marlene could not only invade my mind and use my memories against me, but they could enthrall people with their eyes. It had worked to some degree on me but there was something pure inside me that had overpowered it slightly. They could move with superhuman speed and could infect humans like parasites.
Hence how they turned more vampires or werewolves. But when they turned humans they either became vamp or werewolf, they couldn't switch like the homunculi.
The devil and his agents had gone to the next stage of blasphemy and decide to try to replicate what God had done.
But Sam still had an allure that was hard to fight against.
I wish I could draw her with words, and breathe her to life for you.
Her hair was impossibly long, all the way down to her thighs. Her legs were long, and her thighs were shapely and very womanly. Her hair was a fierce blonde color, like pure sunlight. Her blue green eyes were vibrant and full of mischief. She had a cute button nose and full lips. She had a beauty mark on her left cheek.
She was lean and slender, with a low cut black tank top doing very little to cover her perky, busty cleavage. Her hips were slender, having never endured childbirth, and a sexy ass that made me feel like a pervert for checking her out when she was changing earlier.
She had been checking me out the whole time too as she put on her clothes.
She had on dark navy blue cargo pants, and black military boots.
I avoided looking at her any longer. It was tempting, too tempting to have such a beautiful woman next to me who was willing to fuck me.
I loved God more than anything in the world, and while I was ascended I was still human. Because I wasn't in heaven it seemed as if I wasn't as perfect as I was when I originally was saved and taken to Heaven.
While I was an ascended nephilim, a human with angelic blood inside of him that had been awakened when I crossed the veil, the angel blood made me more prone to sin.
Being human was hard enough.
Being human with partial divinity which causes an ego worship and the chemical imbalance of a serial killer, much harder.
It's not that angels were bad, it's that the Nephilim came from the fallen angels.
The originators of sin.
So if we were their descendents, we had inherited their capability to sin as well as their power.
The only thing that appeased that was the holy spark of creation inside of me.
A spark of consciousness within me that directed me and counter-balanced the corruption of the flesh I was contained in.
We weren't immortal at all. While we were definitely supernatural and superhuman, we could still die in battle. But it took a lot to kill us, but we weren't prepared for how powerful the nephilim were. We could still fly, control the energy around us, and with training move at crazy speeds. While King Mabus had hunted us down, many had believed to be gods and had tried to fight him for personal glory.
They were slaughtered.
There was a reason the world believed he was God himself.
But he wasn't, I knew that for a fact.
I had instead chosen to hide and train and figure out what my powers were as well as their limitations. I knew what was going to happen and instead I had taken the peaceful path, taking missions to save people's life's, to preach God's word and warn them not to take the mark of the beast.
But I was largely ignored.
Pastors had called us demons and devils and false prophets.
The world had refused to believe us and instead hunt us down, lock us up, and then execute us. To say I wasn't bitter towards the rest of humanity would be a lie, but I forgave them and chose to believe myself not to be at all better than them. We were all human too.
The ascended were not above sin either, as proven by some of the things we did.
Perhaps because we were so far from God's presence that made us flawed, or perhaps it was our own humanity but I still tried to live a normal human life. I tried to have girlfriends in the past but that always ended badly since I was always on the run from the military. The two I had died and I had slept with two other women in moments of weakness.
God had forgiven me though.
At least I hoped.
Communication with him or Yehoshua was impossible. We were only sometimes contacted by angels, but usually our prayers were answered through the bible or through signs sometimes. You just had to pay attention to notice.
It wasn't until Michael killed me that I saw Heaven again, the last four years the nephilim were kind of on their own. As the new branch of humanity, a war for power struggle had been born from our ascension. To follow the true Creator in the world now was taboo, because that was what we had chosen, we had chosen to return to earth, to risk salvation to save the 144,000 Jews and anyone else who hadn't taken the mark of the beast. Those were few though since if you didn't have the mark you couldn't go to hospitals, eat food, and at worst you were executed for it.
All the early uprisings and rebellions were squashed by the alien death squads.
Trying not to zone out any further, I looked over at Sam. "Okay, so we have to find that underground bunker and we have to warn them of the earthquake in two days." I told her.
"I wonder if it's any coincidence that it falls on the day of the solar eclipse." Sam said and I remembered that natural disasters did tend to happen during eclipses.
"When we go in there, expect to be attacked because I'm an ascended. If we're lucky, there should only be a human population, mostly slaves and a few of the elitist. I'm sure they have some sort of military but I wouldn't expect us to run into anything supernatural."
Sam pondered something for a second. "If they attack, can I drink their blood?" Sam asked.
I tried to think of the best answer. Sam still needed to drink blood and if they did attack who was I to stop her from feeding? "Okay but don't kill any humans, the elitists don't count." I told her.
"I just hope we don't run into zombies, they're stupid but they're usually in huge numbers."
Sam grinned. "Actually I hope we do get some action, I need to test the limits of my abilities."
"You don't have to worry about being turned but I'm still human, we can't take stupid risks, we'll have plenty of time to train." I replied.
Sam appeared next to me, her lips crashing against mines passionately. I stumble back for a second, she caught me unaware. "Thank you for saving me. You won't regret it." She said as she pulled her lips away from mine. I let out a disappointed sigh, I wanted to kiss her.
"Don't worry about it. The reason I fight every day of my life is because I want people to be saved, but all this power comes from God the Most High. All glory and praise be to Him. Homunculi didn't have a choice in how they were created, I know God would love you, His love knows no bounds." I replied.
"Look at you going all preachy on me." Sam said, letting out a small laugh.
"Not really I'm not the preaching type. I'm just a warrior, it's all I really know is how to fight." I replied.
"How come you won't just kill the king and end it now?" Sam asked.
"Because I can't. He can't die, at least not by my hands. He's too powerful and he has to rule the world for seven years as punishment from the Most High. The world rejected God and instead embraced him as their god a long time ago. The fight I fight is almost hopeless, the only thing that keeps me going is the chance for eternal life. I fight knowing the world is still going to end, that most likely I'll die at the hands of the king, because that's how it has to be, until the second coming of the true Messiah." I explained.
"That has to be rough, always being alone, always fighting a losing battle. Where do you even find happiness in this world?" Sam asked.
"I don't need much to be happy. I don't need money, or women. I'm kind of boring, all I do is pray, train, and smoke weed. I find happiness in helping people, like I helped you."
Sam gave me an inquisitive look. Her brows were arched high and her blue eyes were alit with admiration. "You are such a liar Ezekiel Rivera. You're not happy at all, you want to be with someone. Who wants to live in this cruel world alone? C'mon, let's go hunt." She replied.
I ignored the cold gnawing feeling in my chest.
We headed out of the Ft. Belvoir PX, a commissary where the army grunts would go buy supplies from. There were still a lot of zombies in the D.C. area so we were going to have to be careful. We crept quietly through the base in search of the tunnels leading to the bunkers. Sam managed to find a few animals to drain of blood and quench her thirst.
I watched horrified as she slid her fangs into a dying dog and drained him dry.
At least she wouldn't be too bloodthirsty by the time we got to the bunkers.
We found one of the tunnels near the on base housing where all the high ranked generals lived at prior to the world going to hell. We slid down a chute, flying through faster then we could have imagined and landed hard on a cement deck.
As soon as we landed we were flanked by zombies. "Fuck my unlife." Sam said morbidly, and suddenly she vaulted herself into the fight. Past the zombies were a set of steel vault doors which I'm guessing leads to the bunkers. The zombies must have followed the survivors here but hadn't been able to get through.
Which meant they were hungry….really hungry.
We must look like happy meals to them right about now.
I looked over at Sam. She was a blur, moving with superhuman speed that rivaled mine. Her fangs were bared and her nails had grown into deadly talons. Any zombie foolish enough to get in her way was eviscerated, her talons ripping through intestines, her fangs tearing heads off with premeditated ease.
You could tell she loved to fight, you could see the glee in her eyes, the flawless execution of skill.
I knew because I had the same look on my face when I fought.
The Lightbringer was summoned.
The broadsword materialized and came to life, enflamed with spiritual energy, power threatening to burst from the tip of the sword. The flames covered me in an aura of fire, the power that God had blessed me with was thrilling, a rush stronger than any drug. My eyes narrowed, my yellow gold eyes looking for my first target.
A zombie in paramilitary gear started sprinting towards me.
A burst of energy later, I was in flight slicing through the zombie, the energy from the Lightbringer exploding through him until he was nothing. I held out my left hand and summoned some more energy, exploding another three zombies.
Zombies were relatively easy to kill if you were powerful enough, but they came in numbers.
Usually masses.
Not that they stood a chance against me and Sam. Especially not against the Lightbringer. It was my personal weapon and the only one I used to fight. When I had become an ascended I had trained and trained to figure out my powers. I had figured out that by channeling the energy into my hands and then visualizing it I could turn it into reality.
I had created the Lightbringer by visualizing it 4 years ago and since then I have honed my powers, brutally fought through everything life through at me so far.
I had created techniques I used in fights, all this in preparation for what was to come.
Thank God I had.
A zombie was just about to leap on my back when I turned around and blew off his head with a blast of energy. "Good one." Sam called out.
"You ain't seen shit yet. Get out of the way, watch this." I shot back. Standing in front of a mass of zombies I summoned up all the energy I could muster. An arc of flames formed in my hands. Energy swirled around the room, little orbs of power being channeled into one huge flame.
I cupped my hands forward, the bottom of my palms facing outward towards the zombies. Flames fanned out towards the zombies. A stream of yellow fire blasted out of my palms causing the zombies to go up in flames.
I guess they could feel pain because they began screaming, yet the sound was inhumane. Soon they were all burned to a crisp and then only Sam and I were left in front of the steel vault. Everything else lay charred on the deck, the cement littered with body parts and burn marks.
In front of the vault was a set of cameras looking out into the room. Sam and I stood in front of one. "Identify yourself!" A voice called out.
Finally, someone human hopefully.
"It is I, Ezequiel Rivera, the seventh ascended and Sam, a homunculi. We come bearing a message." I greeted them.
"Standby." The voice replied and it got quiet for a second.
The vault locks began sliding open until the steel doors opened up. On the other side of the door were what was left of all the American politicians, surrounded by slaves at work. The human slaves were running supplies back and forth. The bunkers looked like something out of a movie.
Past the steel vault was an underground five star hotel.
The rich elite had planned on the apocalypse happening and had built several underground bunkers early in the 2000's. This one was hooked up mainly because of it was full of nothing but rich ex-politicians who thought they had bought an escape from God's wrath.
How wrong they were…
The bunker was designed like a hotel with numerous floors but instead of going up, they went down. The top floor was the greenhouse where they grew crops because it was easiest there with artificial sunlight feeding the plants. They grew every plant and vegetable, as well as drugs here. It would be typical that the rich bureaucrats had refused to legalize marijuana in America but had an underground bunker full of nothing but drugs and food.
Fucking hoarders.
An escort in military gear met us at the front, a massive gun pointed directly at us. "Follow me, I'll take you down to the Council. Ignore any order you are given and prepare for death." The soldier told us.
I snorted loudly, letting him know exactly what I thought about that.
Sam gave me a sideways grin and we followed in as he took us to the council. We stepped into an elevator shaft and we headed down to the bottom floor, the soldier's weapon still aimed at us. We arrived on the bottom floor and exited the shaft.
We were brought into a large auditorium with some older gentlemen look at us calculatingly. I guess they were the council. "Sergeant Harris reporting. I've brought the two visitors as asked." Sergeant Harris said to them.
"Carry on Sergeant." One of the older men said. They were all dressed in black robes with some sort of red sash around their waist.
I looked at the speaker and recognized him immediately. Prior to the destruction of America he had been the Secretary of Defense. I remember him because I had served in the Navy and had remembered him off the chain of command. His name was Robert Vaughn, one of D.C.'s most vicious politicians. "Evening guests. My name is Robert Vaughn, I am one of the members of the New Egypt Council. Welcome to paradise." He said with an arrogant air.
"You call this piece of shit paradise?" Sam asked, laughing.
"Piece of shit?" Vaughn asked angrily. "Are you crazy, we have no want for anything down here. We have no worry for zombies or any plagues, we have food for years, and unlimited amount of drugs, how is this not paradise?"
"Ask those slaves if they think this place is paradise…" I said sarcastically.
"This is not their paradise, they were not chosen to lead or be elite. We are all servants to the master King Mabus, pledge your allegiance and receive the mark and you can be one of us." Vaughn offered, a sick smile on his face.
"I'll pass. By the way, fuck your master. I refuse the mark, I know that this 'paradise' is temporary and at the end of the day, all of you who've received his mark are going to burn up in a lake of fire for all of eternity with your master." I shot back.
"No, we will be ascended and become gods. We will live forever and enjoy paradise with the King and true messiah and God." One of the other council members shouted out.
"Keep lying to yourselves. Your time is near, you have three years until Jesus comes back and then it's over for you. You really messed up by choosing him over Yehoshua." I replied.
"Jesus Christ is a prophet. He wasn't the true messiah, King Mabus is. Any servant to Jesus Christ the Messiah is an enemy of ours. To whom do you swear allegiance Sam the homunculi?"
"I swear allegiance to Yehoshua as well. I no longer serve you or your master." Sam replied.
"Then you will both die!" Vaughn replied angrily.
"No, we won't. Not now anyways, the only person you should be worrying about dying is you all. Like I said, I come bearing message. This message comes from Gabriel the archangel, in two days time there will be a massive earthquake unlike anything ever seen and it's going to destroy all of New Egypt." I warned them.
"Bullshit. This place is built to withstand earthquakes and any natural disasters." Another one of the council members spoke up.
"This place isn't built to withstand the wrath from the one true God. In two days this place will come down on you all. If there are any of you who haven't accepted the mark of the beast, do not give in. Please repent from your sins, or you will pay the price and I promise there's no paradise for you." I replied.
"The only true God is the Godking Mabus, last chance…" the Council member offered.
"Fuck King Mabus." I shot back, the Lightbringer materializing.
The council looked genuinely afraid. "We are going to leave here unharmed, if any of you tries anything I'll rip your throat out." Sam warned them, her nails growing back into talons at will.
"Even if you leave, we will find you and hunt you down. Then we will kill you for treason and blaspheme against Godking Mabus." Vaughn threatened.
I vanished in a blur and reappeared in front of him, gripping him by the throat I lifted him up. "Choose your next words wisely, Robert Vaughn, they may be your last." I left the threat hanging as I threw him into the other council members.
I turned and walked back towards Sam. "Let's go." She said and we headed back for the elevator shaft.
"Remember two days, there's going to be an earthquake. I suggest you go north." I said one last time and we headed out.
The soldiers gave us no trouble and let us leave. Perhaps they were scared if they had seen the security footage of me and Sam against the zombies.
We stepped out the steel vault and back into the tunnels. "One last thing I have to do." I told her.
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"We're going to hack into the internet and we're going to warn everyone else too." I replied.
Sam nodded and gave me a small smile. I returned it.
"Yeah I don't think that's what's going to happen…." A new voice cut in and my eyes widened and I turned around to look at the source. I recognized the voice, definitely female.
Standing behind me was Alexis Jones, the first ascended and the first traitor. She had a smile on her face as she materialized an unholy crossbow. She called it the Godkiller.
She fired a flaming arrow, and it was aimed directly at my head.
4. The Godkiller and the Resurrection
The Ascension
Chapter Four
The Godkiller and The Resurrection
"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all."
Luke 17: 28-29
Before the arrow could drive itself dead center between my eyes the Lightbringer slashed the arrow, and I watched in slight amazement as the arrow dispersed into spiritual energy. While I had known it wasn't an actual arrow per say, the damage her arrow would have left would have killed me on impact.
There was a reason she was the 1st Ascended Nephilim, and was boastful enough to call her weapon the Godkiller.
She had ruthlessly murdered the 5th Mohammed Mujadeen.
Mohammed Mujadeen had been someone I had looked up to prior to the ascension. He had been someone I had personally respected as a Christian and I had taken some of his qualities into my beliefs. He had been an Iranian pastor who had preached the teachings of Jesus Christ in Iran and had been arrested and sentenced to execution.
The Iranians had given him the option to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ or face execution and he had not denied Jesus Christ. He had held on to his faith at 11:11 on December 21, 2012 he crossed through the veil and rose a partially divine man.
He had chosen to return to Earth and preach to the Arab community about the Anti-Christ's true identity. Then Antiochus Mabus had broken the peace treaty after the first 42 months and there had been a bloody battle that had resulted in the death of the Anti-Christ.
The world had gone in shock, they could not believe that it had been possible to take out the king. The man wielded ten Islamist nations, and conquered the US and Europe and forcefully spread Islam across the globe. Then the Anti-Christ had been resurrected and the façade he had before of Islamist messiah was removed, and he had ordered the ascended to be slain, branded them a terrorist organization and started the Universal War against Yahuwah Most High.
Mabus had offered the mark to the second and fifth ascended, and they had refused. They had been slain by the 1st and 3rd ascended for it.
Even though it had saddened me to see his passing, deep down I rejoiced.
I knew where he was, sitting next to Yehoshua in Heaven enjoying eternal life. For Alexis Jones, there would be no eternal life, nothing but fire and brimstone where she was going. I took a good look at her, she was slightly shorter than me at five feet, seven inches.
She had once been so beautiful.
The most beautiful of all the ascended, now her beauty was marred by sin, blaspheme, murder, and Godlessness.
Dark hazel eyes on caramel skin and long, flowing red hair.
Even now she was still beautiful, but to me her beauty was gone. I saw her for who she was. A six was tattooed on her forehead and on her hands, worship to her god, and an ultimate death sentence for her blasphemous mouth.
She was the Harlot.
The worst of the worst, the most powerful ascended and wife to no other then King Mabus.
"Hello Ezekiel, how are you darling?" she greeted me warmly, a false smile plastered on her mouth. She let her bow dissipate, the Godkiller disappearing in a burst of spiritual energy.
"Not bad, got kidnapped by homunculi and now I'm back to helping people. You wouldn't know about that though." I replied with a little bit of attitude.
To say I wasn't bitter towards her since she executed the 5th six months ago would be a lie.
Alexis and Michael had executed Isaiah the second and Mohammed the fifth ascended on live television broadcasted around the world.
King Mabus had captured them after he had been resurrected and kept them in high security prison for two days before ordering Alexis and Michael to behead them both. After murdering them, they had left their bodies in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. I had come to Jerusalem for a suicidal rescue mission and failed.
Because I was not supposed to save them.
After the 3 and a half days, the breath of life from God was blown into their bodies and they had resurrected. A voice had spoken from the heavens saying, "Come up here." And they had ascended into the clouds while King Mabus and his armies watched angrily.
I had left after that, which had been a good thing because an earthquake struck afterwards killing 7,000 and a tenth of the city collapsed. That had been the sounding of the sixth trumpet. Different trumpets for different plagues, a symbol of God's wrath on Earth.
An angel had blown the first trumpet was blown and fire and hail rained on Earth, and a third of the world's plant population had burned up in a fiery blaze.
The second trumpet was blown and an asteroid called Wormwood struck earth, impacting Russia and wiping the great nation off the country. Body parts had turned a third of the ocean red and a third of the sea creatures had died after the impact. Numerous naval ships had gone down and the casualties had amassed to over 200 million. Those who hadn't died from the initial impact of the asteroid had died afterwards as the water turned bitter.
The fourth angel had blasted his trumpet and the sun was impacted by a roving star. Pieces of the sun struck the moon and the stars, taking out a third of the moon and stars in the solar system.
Another angel had appeared on Earth and cried out in a loud voice. "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels."
The fifth trumpet was sounded and an 'alien spaceship' had invaded earth. The visitors had come from somewhere in the Orion belt. The spaceship crashed on Earth and smoke had risen all the way to the heavens. After the smoke had passed, aliens had come out and declared war against King Mabus. The war was nothing more than an orchestrated affair as the aliens were actually demons under the rule of the Anti-Christ.
The aliens had killed a few million of humans in the fight but they were only allowed to harm those who were not ascended or the 144,000. If one didn't have the seal of God on their foreheads they were tortured by the demons for five months.
The aliens all wore gold crowns on their humanoid heads. Their faces were somewhat human, their hair was long and silver in color. Instead of teeth they had fangs like that of a lion and they had barbed tails with poison on them that they used to hurt humanity with.
The sixth trumpet was the last one to be blown so far. When the trumpet was sounded, four fallen angels had been released from their prison somewhere in the Euphrates. Abaddon, the fallen angel and king of the abyss was released as well as Sammael, Azazel, and Lilith.
Those four angels were part of the first rebellion against God which caused for them to be cast out of Heaven and imprisoned until the sixth trumpet was sounded. I didn't know too much about the fallen angels, mainly because I had never encountered them before and didn't know too much to base my knowledge off.
Mohammed had once told me there had been a whole book dedicated to the fallen angels called the Book of Enoch but it had been purged from the bible with a few other books because they had been controversial.
I did know about Lilith.
She was infamous.
She was the first wife of Adam.
Lilith was an angel who had been sent to Earth as Adam's companion but had been rejected by Adam because she was powerful and superior to him. Spurned by his rejection she had joined Lucifer and the others and rebelled against God. After being tossed from Heaven she had seduced many men, creating the first nephilim and afterwards became known as the mother of all demons.
She was Lucifer's wife.
Alexis Jones, the 1st ascended watched me with mocking eyes. "You love sucking up to Daddy don't you?" she asked.
I turned to Sam the homunculi. "Get out of here, she'll easily kill you. I'll meet you later." I told her.
Sam shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere." She replied, baring her fangs at Alexis.
"Someone's got a crush… You've been naughty haven't you Ezekiel? Someone's been straying from God?" Alexis said sneering at me, a haughty look on her face.
"You would know all about that wouldn't you Harlot?" I replied, the Lightbringer steady in my hands.
"You think you're going to be saved?" Alexis said, laughing. "You think God really gives two fucks about you? Foolish little boy, there is no God, just the Great Pretender, and I will kill him, this I swear." Alexis shouted, her voice blasphemous. If I could have, I might have ripped off her head right then and there.
"Alexis, the only who will die is you. For all your blasphemies, for your betrayal, you will burn in the lake of fire next to your husband. I promise you'll get front row tickets bitch. I'm not perfect, but to deny God to the level you have is beyond all understanding. You saw the Veil, the first to ascend to come back to Earth as a Nephilim and yet you betrayed your Maker and Master." I replied.
"I'm not going to die…ever. I won't. I will become God." Alexis snapped. "You're the worst of them all number seven. You think you're faithful to God, you couldn't even be faithful to your wife. You have no right to be so self righteous fornicator, adulterer. Your weapon is named after Lucifer, and you too will be betrayed by God just like he was." Alexis added cynically.
"While it's true that Lucifer's name means Light Bringer, I will not suffer his fate. I will be faithful to God, until the very end. This weapon, my power isn't used to bring evil upon the world like yours. This weapon, the power bestowed to me by God will be used exactly as He meant for me to use it. It is called the Lightbringer because it does what Lucifer was supposed to be." I said.
"What's that?" Alexis asked.
"A beacon of light to illuminate the world and give glory to the Most High. No matter how close to death I am, no matter how dark the world may appear, this weapon will never lose its light as long as I remain faithful to God, and that I will be until I return to His side." I responded.
"You're delusional. Join me, take this one last offer I'm going to give you Ezequiel and join us. We will have the world, we will have Heaven, and we will kill God and anyone who worships him." Alexis offered.
I chortled with laughter.
"No thanks whore." I replied, vanishing in a blur as I swung the Lightbringer to lop off her head.
I would have to come up with a good plan to defeat her, she was the strongest ascended, and amassed even more power since her corruption. She had killed legions of the weaker ascended and plenty of the higher ranking ones. There was a reason King Mabus had married her and kept her around his side.
Before I could take off her head, the Godkiller bow smashed into my sword sending me stumbling back. "Call me a whore again and I'll castrate you!" Alexis warned, her red hair whipping in the air as her hazel eyes burned holes into my head.
"Try it." I told her, disappearing again and reappearing in front of her, my sword slicing in a wide arc. Yellow energy brimmed off the sword and she deflected it once again.
"You're nowhere near strong enough to kill a god!" Alexis screamed, smashing the bow into my face, blood gushing out of my broken nose.
"I'm strong enough to kill a whore." I replied, punching her in the face with my free hand. It just bounced off her chin, hurting me more than it did her.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Alexis screamed, her hazel eyes dark with rage. Purple black flames surrounded her as she mounted another arrow on the bow. The Godkiller was fired, a purple black flame arrow flying towards my crotch and I dodged it narrowly, skating across the tunnel floor.
"Run Sam." I ordered.
Sam ignored me and charged in. Disappearing with superhuman speed, she appeared in front of Alexis and kicked her across the mouth as hard as she could, not moving Alexis in the slightest. "Dumb bitch." Alexis replied. "You should have listened to your boyfriend." Alexis warned, her hands shooting out and grabbing Sam by the throat.
Alexis snapped Sam's throat and tossed her body to the side.
I knew she wouldn't die from that but it might momentarily incapacitate her for a second. I flew towards Alexis, yellow energy building up in the Lightbringer. "Light Bomb!" A blast of yellow energy came out of the Light Bringer enveloping Alexis in it.
Black purple flames shot up and wrapped itself around her like a shield.
Black purple flames wrapped themselves around her hands. "Flash Fire!"
The flames shot at me like a flamethrower, ready to burn me away into a charred crisp. Placing the Lightbringer in front of me, I summoned up as much energy as I could muster to counter. The flames hit the sword and kept going, and I could feel the heat at my sides.
Alexis vanished and reappeared in front of me. "Flame Punch!"
Her fist found her way into my stomach, searing the flesh and bending me over in pain. "Flame Kick!" Alexis shouted, giving me a spinning kick to the face that sent me reeling. I could feel the energy all around me slowly being drawn into me. I was trying to heal the wounds her fire left.
Ironically it wasn't even her original power.
It was the power she had stolen from Mohammed Mujadeen.
Alexis vanished in a blur and reappeared in front of me. Her fists were angry, connecting with my face, more blood spilling on the floor. I feebly tried to fight back to no avail. She was much too powerful.
'God, give me the strength to do what must be done.' I prayed silently.
The Lightbringer slashed at her midsection, catching her by surprise as the sword cut a deep gash into her side. Within seconds it began reconstructing itself as she regenerated her wound.
This would be a tough fight.
Not only was she stronger than me but she could heal much faster than I could. Hell, she could regenerate wounds in seconds. Not giving her the opportunity to attack again, the Lightbringer arced once more and blew apart her right arm.
Alexis screeched in pain and back stepped, placing some much needed distance between us. Her right arm regenerated itself and the arm I had cut off decayed before dispersing into purple black flames. "You will die!" Alexis screamed, firing another arrow out of her bow.
The arrow flew towards me at the speed of sound and I ducked underneath it. I flew towards her before she could react. "Light Bomb!" A sphere constructed from my spiritual energy formed in my hands and I slammed it into her chest. Her sternum caved before exploding outward, her bones flying.
One of her bone shards find its way into my neck, blood gushing out of the wound. I fell to the ground, forcing the energy to try to close the wound. Summoning up some more spiritual energy into the Lightbringer I leapt at Alexis.
"Light Gun Destroyer!"
Her chest still hadn't healed, an open maw in the middle of her chest where blood flowed freely and I could see her heart, pumping away as energy began to try to regenerate.
I aimed the Lightbringer at her chest. A massive wave of yellow energy exploded outwards from my sword, blinding me and her, enveloping us in its brightness.
The resounding explosion was like a nuclear bomb. My eardrums burst and blood oozed from my ears as I was blown backwards, caught up in my own attack's crescendo.
Alexis wailed in pain, as guttural animal sounds came out of her mouth. Flames burst outward trying to protect her but they sputtered and died.
The Light Gun Destroyer was my strongest attack. Focusing all the energy in the area around me, I honed it into the Lightbringer, unleashing a wave of destructive energy at whatever it was aimed at. The bad part about it was that not only did it drain me of my own physical energy, but the resulting explosion also backfired onto me, wounding me some.
I rarely ever resorted to using it, but Alexis was not any opponent.
She was the first ascended, slayer of many ascended, the Harlot, wife of the Anti-Christ King Mabus. She was the most powerful foe I've ever faced and dear God she was fucking scary. The Light Gun Destroyer didn't even kill her.
She stood back up to her feet, her green dress was torn in tatters, her breasts splayed out for me to see.
I had the decency to blush.
She stared at me through feral hazel eyes, her anger evident on her face. Her hair was ragged, and a snarled formed on her face. The Godkiller was in her hands before I could even move. "Godkiller Flame Destroyer." She said, her voice eerily quiet.
I could see spiritual energy being drawn into her. It was a nauseating feeling, as the pure energy that was drawn into her was converted into a dark, malicious energy. A fiery arrow was mounted on the black bow, but it was bigger than all the arrows she had shot at me earlier. The fire became a raging maelstrom, scorching the very air.
I looked around to see how we could escape but I was fucked, I was in a fucking tunnel. Alexis was on the side with the exit and was currently blocking it with a massive fire arrow she was about to shoot at me. Sam's body was laid out behind, neck still broken and tossed next to the vault door.
This might be it.
I think I'm about to die.
'I'll see you in Paradise.' I prayed.
I closed my eyes as Alexis fired the arrow. There was a whooshing sound, like if the very air was sucked from the room. I opened up my eyes and I could literally see hell coming towards me. Flames formed from dark energy, powered by the slain souls, and tainted with King Mabus' evil. The flame coming for me had the face of a beast.
"Goodbye Ezekiel Rivera, you almost had me."
The beast opened up his fiery mouth.
I closed my eyes again.
I heard a painful scream but I was sure it didn't come from my mouth. I could feel the heat from the arrow scorching me but it hadn't hit. I opened up my eyes again and I saw Sam standing in front of me. The massive black flame arrow had lodged itself in her chest and was burning her alive in front of me. Sam screamed. "Get out of the way!"
I nodded weakly and moved away from her. She was trying weakly to hold the arrow and stop it from bursting out her back.
She had sacrificed herself for me.
Tears sprung to my eyes. "Why?" I asked her.
"Because the world is better off with you in it Ezekiel. I'm mad we didn't get to fuck… Marlene always did beat me." She said and I swallowed the sob in my throat. I forced out a laugh, and then I screamed as I watched the arrow tear right through her.
"No!" I reached out for her and she fell backwards. Everything below her neck was charred and there was a massive hole where her midsection used to be.
"I think I'm going to die… everything feels cold." Sam whispered.
"Don't, don't leave me Sam." I begged her.
"I don't think I have a choice…" she said quietly. "If I did, I'd stay with you forever Ezekiel. I don't know much about you, but there is a beauty to you that you don't even see. You're so beautiful, you shine so bright with God's love. I can feel Him. God will never abandon you Ezekiel." She said.
"Thank you." I wasn't sure what to say, my heart was torn in pieces. While I hadn't known Sam for longer than a few hours, we had bonded closely. We had talked about each other and gotten to know each other, and for once my stone cold heart had woken up from its slumber.
My heart hadn't cared for anyone since Selena.
Much too fast the blonde girl had wormed her way into my heart. How could I lose her now?
"Kiss me." She begged softly and how could I deny her when she just sacrificed her life for mine?
I smiled and leaned down until my lips grazed hers. "I'm sorry." I said honestly, pain marred all over my face.
"Don't be."
Her eyes closed and she died.
"I wonder what your God would have to say, you hooking up with one of Lucifer's creations." Alexis teased, her voice cutting through the silence.
"Shut the fuck up…" I growled out, sobs shaking my body.
"You must have really had feelings for that corpse. You realize she's been dead for some time right?" Alexis said sneering.
I was shaking with rage now. A black hole of infernal fury consumed me. I tried to bury it within me, to force my thoughts on purity, calamity. But I couldn't, because deep down I wanted to kill Alexis. I wanted to cut her up into as many pieces as possible then set her body on fire.
"Shut up!" I shouted, turning towards her.
Her hazel eyes were bright with excitement, a sadistic smile on her face. "Make me bitch!" Alexis replied cockily.
I lost it.
I disappeared, closing the distance between us in microseconds, my right hand grabbing her by the throat and slamming her in the wall. I held her up in the air, squeezing tightly on her throat, watching the surprise in her eyes, enjoying the pain I was about to inflict. "Light Gun Cannon." I whispered in her ear before ramming my sword into her heart.
I knew it wouldn't be enough to kill her, but for now I was content on pinning her to the wall with the Lightbringer. The explosion rocked the tunnel and Alexis screamed in pain as I blew her midsection apart, her entrails bouncing off the metal floor with a wet thud.
"Fuck you Ezekiel." She said, spitting blood in my face.
I laughed cruelly and wiped off the blood. "Who'd want to fuck that disgusting pussy anyway other than the vilest King Mabus himself?" I said, sneering.
The pain in her eyes was worth every second of it. "You're not sounding so Christian like right now… What happened to turn the other cheek?" she asked, frightened now.
She had never seen me this angry before, and really I couldn't recall every being this furious. All I knew was that I wanted to hurt her like she hurt me. I couldn't kill King Mabus so tearing her down would have to be enough. "No cheek left to turn. You don't have a soul worth saving anymore, your existence is blasphemous to God. Your mouth is a resting place for sin and blasphemies. God would probably want me to kill you right about now." I said cruelly.
"Why can't you get it already, there is no God. We are Gods." Alexis spat out.
I shook my head and laughed in her face. "If there is no God then how where we ascended?" I asked her before punching her in the face, snapping her neck to the side viciously.
"If there is no God, where will I find forgiveness?" I demanded, spiritual energy forming a sphere in my hand, before I rammed it into her stomach, shoving my hands into her intestines.
"Forgive yourself, only you can judge yourself." Alexis replied, screaming as I squeezed her intestines in a vice grip.
"It can't work like that, someone has to hold us accountable…" I was interrupted by Alexis.
"And who fucking holds him responsible… he created us and abandoned us, like we were nothing. Are we so insignificant to him?" she asked.
"If He didn't love you, you wouldn't have been transformed and ascended. All you had to do was be faithful to him, and instead you whored yourself to the enemy and you dare judge God? Who are you to do so?" I demanded.
"Who are you to judge me?" Alexis whispered weakly, blood spilling from her lips. Because the Lightbringer was still buried inside her she had healed with the sword still in her, reopening the wounds over and over again.
"I'm His sword." I responded. "Who will defend God from your mockery and blasphemy? He allows you to speak those words because His mercy is great. Mine is not…" I sliced through her some more.
There was a crack of thunder, and I could hear the beating of wings. "Stand down Ezekiel!" I heard a voice order.
I turned my head and beside me was the archangel Gabriel. "Spare her now." He commanded.
I could feel myself being irritated. I was too far gone in my bloodlust to stop now. "Why? Why must she live when Sam couldn't?" I demanded angrily.
"She cannot die yet. You and her will fight again and then you will kill her but it is not time for her yet. You must let her go. If you kill her now, not only are you breaking the orders given to you by God Himself but you will become as evil as she is. You can't handle her power Ezequiel, not yet." Gabriel said with a tone of authority.
He was still dressed in the white garb from last time. He had a golden sash wrapped around him with a large broadsword behind him.
"This is bullshit." I snapped, pulling the sword from her chest.
"You shouldn't let me live to see another day… I will kill God himself." Alexis boasted. It took everything I had not to kill her.
Apparently I wasn't the only one annoyed by her. "Silence your mouth, infidel." Gabriel commanded and she did, her lips had been sealed by force. Gabriel looked at me and Alexis both. "Listen, both of you."
"Gaze at the heavens and see, and view the skies, which are higher than you. If you sinned, how do you harm God, and if your transgressions are many, what do you do to God? If you are righteous, what do you give God? Or what does God take from your hand? Your wickedness affects a person like yourself, and your righteousness a child of humanity."
"Throwing some Job at me?" I asked, my voice full of mirth.
Gabriel actually smiled. "You remind me of him. You question God so much because you lost every one you've ever loved like him. Instead of questioning God, thank Him for allowing you to still live, while many had perished." Gabriel told me.
"So do I get another wife, a bunch of kids, and be rich for the rest of my life?" I asked.
Gabriel laughed and gave me a shrug. "Perhaps. You shouldn't worry about your life here on Earth, for that is short. Yehoshua of Nazareth will return soon and all your suffering here will be worth it, but you must maintain like Job, or you will burn away like your enemies." Gabriel told me.
I could hear his wings fluttering. "Alexis and Ezekiel, follow me." Gabriel said, walking towards Sam's corpse.
"What do you want with her?" I asked.
"You'll see." Gabriel grunted out.
He kneeled over her corpse and held his hand out. "Alexis, this is what God thinks of Ezekiel's feelings towards Samantha the Homunculi." Tendrils of pure white energy left his fingertips. The energy began to pour into her body and reconstructed her body entirely as if she had never been hurt.
Her eyes were still closed in peace.
"Are you saying that God wants her alive?" Alexis asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes." Gabriel said curtly.
"And that Ezequiel will kill me, but not now?" Alexis continued.
"Yes." Gabriel replied, a look of annoyance on his face.
She pulled out her Godkiller bow and aimed it at Gabriel's face. "Then why don't I just end both of you right now?"
"Are you foolish enough to challenge me Gabriel, one of the seven guardian Archangels?" He asked, reaching behind him to grab his sword. His four massive wings were completely spread out and the look on his face let Alexis know that this was one fight she didn't want.
"I'll see you real soon Ezekiel, until next time." Alexis said hurriedly, before blasting off into flight.
Gabriel opened his mouth and breathed some more of the white tendrils of energy into Sam's mouth. "She is alive." Gabriel said quickly, getting back up to his feet. "I must go, but before I do, know this. If Sam is here, alive and well it's because God wanted her to be. If she chose to be by your side for this fight, then maybe it's for a reason." Gabriel continued.
I looked at Sam's body. Her blonde hair was splayed out, eyes closed serenely. She had this peaceful, innocent look to her. Slowly her eyelids fluttered open and she stood up. Immediately the first thing she did was plant a kiss on my lips.
"I'm ascended." Sam said, and my eyes widened.
"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah. I died and went to Heaven and God gave me the choice to stay there or come back to you. I wanted to come back to you, I did the right thing right?" Sam asked, her lips kissing mine once again.
"Ezekiel, Samantha." Gabriel called out, interrupting us. We looked at him and gave him our undivided attention. "Now that Samantha has ascended you will be in charge of her. Go to what's left of Puerto Rico together and train. You must leave before the eclipse, you do not want to be here when that happens. King Mabus and his followers will not be able to find you there. Stay there and await further orders." Gabriel ordered.
"Not that I'm bitching, but there's not much left there. Why Puerto Rico?" I asked.
Gabriel snorted in annoyance. "You ask too much. King Mabus has an ascended who's a sensor type. He can find you almost anywhere, except there's an interference around the island that doesn't allow the sensors to find you." Gabriel explained.
"The Bermuda Triangle." I said and Gabriel nodded sagely.
"No more questions." Gabriel said quickly before I could ask away. "I must go now." He burst off into flight.
I looked up and saw his wings spread and he was gone. Turning back to Sam, I grabbed her by the hand. "I'm glad you're alive, and I'm glad you're one of us now." I told her, she smiled and I pulled her towards me, flush against my body.
"I'm glad God sent me back to you." Sam said, her crystalline blue green eyes shining brightly.
"You have no idea Sam, I was scared you were gone forever…" I admitted, kissing her forehead gently. I cradled her face in my hands, her eyes boring into mine. God's power illuminated us, thick flames of spiritual energy rising in the form of an aura cloaked us. Sam's flames were white, and began to mix with my yellow flames.
"I like you, I really do, and that's what scares me."
I kissed her.
My body was sore, and while I was no longer hurt I still felt physically drained. It felt like I was coming down off an adrenaline high. Her lips were soft, softer than anything I've ever felt. Her arms wrapped themselves around me and I honestly felt no shame or guilt. This felt right and best of all it felt pure. There was no malice, no feverish lust to fornicate hazing my thoughts.
This clearly felt right.
"There's nothing wrong with this right?" Sam asked me openly, her face full of joy.
"How can it be?" I asked, kissing her again. She smiled against my lips and I pulled away before I could keep kissing her. "We still have to follow the rules Sam. If we sin, it taints the color of your spiritual energy. It tells us how we appear before God. Right now your flames are white because you're untainted. I've fornicated, I sometimes curse, I question God even though it's not my place, I mess up. So my flames are yellow because it's been tainted, but because I'm redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, God has forgiven me. Alexis as you saw, was purple black because of how far she's fallen."
Sam nodded numbly. "I understand."
"Sam, even though we're ascended, we're still human. Because we're so far from God's Throne, the less perfect we become. We can still sin and lose the promise of eternal salvation. But we were chosen by God, to spread the message of repentance. But they will not listen, their ears are closed, their eyes are blind. They will curse us, persecute us, because of the son of God. We are the last of his faithful and we still have a mission to follow, and in that we cannot falter, that comes before us."
"I know, Yehoshua explained it when I was up there. He said Mabus will use this as a weapon against you and you have to be prepared to make a choice too." Sam revealed.
"Did he saw about what?" I asked nervously.
"He said you'd ask that. It is not for you to know, not yet. He said that a time will come when you will lose all hope and faith. At that time in your worst suffering you will have to make a choice, and its outcome will decide whether you will saved or fall. Persevere and you will wear a crown, you will have a new name written into the Book of Life. Fall and you will perish in the flames of the lake of fire. Those who try to save their life will lose it, those who lose their life will save it. Fret not over which day is your last because you have been chosen by God and He will reward you for your faithfulness." Sam told me.
I nodded weakly. So I was going to lose all my faith and have to make a choice huh? That did not sound good, talk about some foreboding.
"Let's do some scouting to see if there's any more human population. I doubt it though, if there were they'd probably be slaves in that underground complex. If after we scout there's no one else, let's go to Puerto Rico and see what that's like." Sam said.
"Can you fly?" I asked her.
She looked at me funny for a second before her eyes got wide and she decided to test it out. She looked down at her feet and could feel energy being redistributed to the bottom of her feet and she could feel herself start floating.
"That's what flying feels like?" Sam asked.
I nodded.
"It's awesome." I replied. "Give me your hand." I told her, and she did.
"Only one thing left to do." I said reaching into my pants for something.
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"Smoke of course…" I said laughing. "We're about to fly high, literally."
Sam burst out laughing. "You're so different from anyone I've ever met." She said.
I shook my head in denial. "I'm nothing special." I said, lighting up a joint. I took a long drag of the marijuana cigarette.
"Nothing special?" Sam asked in clear annoyance. "Stop putting yourself down Ezekiel. I know what happened in your past that makes you feel like that but you have to stop. You are the kindest man I ever met. You tried to save me and the other homunculi on that ship and Marlene raped you, I was going to rape you…" She trailed off, her eyes getting misty.
"Sam, I don't blame you." I told her softly.
"See!" She exclaimed. "You forgave me back then, you freed me from Satan's grasp. You brought me to the light, and because of God and your kindness I'm now ascended. How can you not be special?" Sam asked me, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.
I was stupefied and didn't know what to say.
I pulled her into my arms again, kissing her on the lips again, tendrils of smoke coming out of our mouth. "Who are you and how did I find you?" I asked her, passing her the joint.
"I found you." She said, taking a hard hit, before blowing a cloud of smoke into my mouth. I nearly choked from how much smoke it was.
The whites of her eyes were tinted red from the smoke and her eyes were half closed. "I'm high as fuck…" she said giggling.
I took another hit and put the joint out. "I'm up there too."
"This feels amazing, I never smoked before this…" Sam confessed.
"Really? I love it, God created it for to be used. I like to call it God's Gift, a plant that could have saved the world if they hadn't rejected it much like they do with all of God's things." I said.
"Why did they?" Sam asked.
"Because the United States government conditioned the people and the churches as it belonging to the devil and therefore should be illegalized. Which really was an outright lie because the US has belonged to the devil since its founding so you would have thought it'd be legal? Honestly I think it was politics, weed was illegal to keep a caste system in place. You had rich people who can do it without consequence because they're so rich and then you had the minorities who didn't have money and spent years behind bars over marijuana. The US profited from the drug trafficking, on top of that they made billions of dollars off people being in jail. But enough talking, c'mon time to fly." I said grinning.
Leading her by the hand I slowly began to take flight. The only real way I can explain how we fly is that spiritual energy comes out the souls of our feet in a thick burst like a rocket, propelling us forward. I looked over at Sam and saw the huge smile on her face, her hair long and flowing.
That moment I thought she had to be the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
We flew through the tunnels and headed back up into the PX. I figured it'd be best if we changed again seeing how our stuff was in tatters. Once we were fully clothed again, we took off towards the skies.
We flew through the whole Potomac area scanning to see if we could find any life, we had not been able to find any more humans. There were zombies running around and even a pack of werewolves running loose but nothing had strayed in our path.
We had to assume that the only humans left had to be the bunkers. "We're going to have to go back to the tunnel and try to rescue those humans." I informed her.
She nodded, "I figured you'd say that." She said and we stopped our flight in mid air. We turned around and blasted off towards New Egypt.
It was daytime out now and New Egypt looked so different than it did at night. The skies were not filled with UFO's like at night and the city square looked so much more vibrant. The gold sphinxes stood over the city, a giant reminder of alien engineering for as long as mankind could remember.
In between the sphinxes was a massive golden statue in the likeness of King Mabus. After his resurrection, when he started demanding to be called God he had several statues built in his honor in all the major cities.
The golden statues were bewitched by the false Jesus Christ, he had ordered them to talk and the statues began demanding worship. Refusal had led to fire streaming from the statue's mouth for anyone who didn't worship the king.
King Mabus demanded worship from the aliens as well, it was part of the peace treaty they had brokered at the end of their small military excursion. Not that peace treaties meant much to the King, ask the Jews.
New Egypt was now more like an alien trading town. Spaceships docked there and continuously traded with the underground elitists trading supplies for technology. The elitists even gave them slaves to experiment on too, their disregard for human life was astounding.
During the daytime New Egypt was literally zombie land. Zombies and homunculi ran amuck, trying to find food to eat. Vamps and werewolves were at least smart enough to realize that there was no more human population they could eat and slowly migrated west but zombies were without reason and intelligence.
They only knew how to hunt, being led by a primal desire to eat flesh.
Sam and I headed back to Ft. Belvoir and back inside the PX. We made a quick meal out of some food we found there and headed back down to the tunnels. "Sam, we will try to avoid bloodshed but most likely the elitist will attack us with their military. If they do, kill them. We are here to save those who haven't gotten the mark, those that have will not hesitate to kill us or sell us out." I told her.
We burst into flight and flew down the 5 mile trek underground until we reached the vault door. "Identify yourself." A voice commanded.
"You know who I am." I replied swiftly.
"Access granted, Ezekiel Rivera." A voice called out and the vault door swung open.
We walked inside and there was a group of military men with weapons drawn and aimed at our heads. "You would be wise not to shoot, or I will defend myself." I told them and their grip on the weapons got tighter.
I looked over at Sam who was trying to remain calm.
They looked at me expectantly like I was a barely restrained dog.
Perhaps they were right…
I decided to be calm and appear at ease and that seemed to cool off the soldiers some. "Why are you here?" A voice called out and out stepped out Robert Vaughn. "We warned you not to come back, especially after you threatened us."
I rolled my eyes flippantly at him. "Your human slaves, how many of them have the mark of the beast?" I asked.
He looked at me offended. "None. If they had the mark they would be treated as equals and could not be our slaves." He said brusquely.
"So what happens to the slaves in the afterlife?" Sam asked.
"They're slaves in the afterlife for all eternity. If they do not have the mark they were not chosen for apotheosis." Vaughn replied coldly.
I scowled. "You sadistic fuck…" I spat out angrily. "You force this people into slavery for the rest of their shitty human life and then expect them to be your slaves in the afterlife?" I asked angrily.
Vaughn was about to say something but I cut him off. "Do not fucking talk right now…" I warned him, it angered me how casual he was to condemn these poor people to that reality. They had been doing it for so long…
I looked over at the human slaves who were still at work. "Do you see who you elected as senators and presidents over you? These are the very people who ran your government and sacrificed your existences for their happiness. You rejected God, when all he wanted was some repentance and a thank you and you give these cowards power?" I shouted out to them.
"You have no right! You unpatriotic terrorist!" Vaughn responded hysterically. Spittle flew from his mouth.
"That's where you're wrong. I grew up in the US, I loved my country enough to join the military and defend its constitution. I loved my country enough to risk my life to spread the message, to help people and maybe save a few. But it's been futile and hopeless. You elitist sicken me… You're depraved beyond help. And most of humanity is so fucking stupid… you've been doing this for quite some time. Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, Nine Eleven, you've been subtly killing millions of people because you can. Not because you have to, but because you're greedy and you can't share a planet with seven billion people without killing each other!" I snapped, flames bursting out of every pour in my body.
I hated Vaughn and everything he represented.
"If that's all you're here for I suggest you leave." Another voice called out. It belonged to another one of the older gentlemen with black robes.
"No, that is not all we came here for. We want to free all the slaves, we will not let you enslave them here while an earthquake is about to wipe everything out." Sam confessed.
"There's no way in hell we're letting you free the slaves!" Vaughn snapped.
"There's no way in hell you're going to stop me, this is exactly what God sent me here to do." I replied, summoning up the Lightbringer. Shots were immediately fired and I blurred out of sight. I reappeared behind Vaughn and saw Sam had me beat and had wrapped her arm around the other chancellor's throat, cutting off the oxygen.
"Do not fuck with us." Sam warned, releasing her hold a bit.
"How'd you get there so fast?" I asked, looking over at her.
"I can teleport." She deadpanned. She had the most serious look on her face, I wanted to burst out laughing.
"No way…since when?" I asked.
"Since now."
I couldn't help it… I let out a snicker.
I contemplated what to do with the situation at hand, this would be tricky at best. "Let the slaves go or we'll kill them." I ordered.
"Don't listen to them… if you let go of the slaves, who'll do the work? Who will cook our meals, clean our laundry, or grow our crops?" Vaughn asked.
One of the soldiers stepped out of the ranks. "I guess we will, we're men after all. If there's really an earthquake coming, we should all evacuate." He said.
"We will not go anywhere." Vaughn shouted.
"Then I guess we'll all agree to disagree. Vaughn you and your council can stay here and everyone else goes." I suggested.
"But we need the military, and we need slaves." One of the older men whined.,
"Then I guess you're all fucked. We're the majority so what we say goes." I said mockingly. I released Robert Vaughn and Sam released her captive.
After that all the slaves were freed and armed themselves up after putting on fresh clothes. They ate real meals for the first time and some of them even smoked a giant joint with me. It was finally their time to be the elite, even if only for a little bit.
Sam and I loaded up two bags full of nothing but good food and a couple ounces of pot. "To Puerto Rico?" Sam inquired giving me a warm smile.
I nodded and we both grabbed our bags and flew out of the vault, racing down the long stretch of the tunnels and coming out into the PX. We continued out of the store and took off into the skies. Flying through the skies at mach speeds was unreal and addictive. The exhilarating rush it gave you sometimes made you feel invincible.
We arrived to what was left of Puerto Rico. The once beautiful island was not as it used to be, it too had suffered from the chaos of the last couple years. Category 5 hurricanes had flooded the shoreline, killing thousands in their wake. A 9.6 earthquake off the coast of San Juan tore off a good chunk of the island. The people who had been left in Puerto Rico had rioted and waged a civil war.
Back then America had been too poor to give them a helping hand and for once Puerto Rico had to help itself.
They had not been prepared for the large scale violence that tore what was left of the island.
After all that… Iran nuked it to kingdom come.
Now Puerto Rico was broken up into several misshapen islands, with one big central one in the middle. It's what was left of Cidra which was mountainous hills and lush vegetation. Now it was mountainous hills and scarce vegetation leading to a small sandy beach with the ocean overlooking everything.
Sam and I landed on the beach and we quickly began gathering the huge palm tree leafs to form a little makeshift tent we could sleep under.
We crawled underneath the tent we both laid down. She curled up and laid against my body, before letting out a content sigh and a soft snore.
I kissed her on the forehead and let my eyes close as well, drifting off into the deep.
May 22, 2017
In The Remains of Puerto Rico
6:00 am
I woke up and it was bright outside, massively bright.
Heat unlike I've ever felt before cooked me alive and I looked over at Sam who was lying next to me, her pale skin now tanned from the early morning sun. Her silver blonde hair, shone bright in the light, her eyes closed in content sleep.
I looked at our surroundings and saw that we were sleeping under a coconut tree on the beach. I had pulled some of the thick leaves to form a makeshift little tent. The ocean was a clear blue, it was beautiful beyond imagination. I looked up at the sky, trying to locate the sun.
I could see the moon slowly start to eclipse the sun. It would still take at least another half hour for the moon to fully eclipse and the earthquake to happen. We still hadn't received further orders.
"Damn it's hot…" I could hear Sam call out.
She got up and I had to avert my gaze as I blushed. She looked down and saw her cleavage was a bit exposed. "God, what are you a virgin?" She asked laughing.
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Let's see if you found it funny if I walk around with my dick out." I said with a grin.
"I might like that." Sam teased.
"Ahem…" A voice interrupted and I could hear the rustle of wings.
I didn't even have to look up to see who it was. "Hello Gabriel." I greeted casually.
"Follow me." He ordered militantly. I guess he wasn't dropping by to bullshit with me. His four massive wings spread out. Each wing was had a ten foot wingspan, and could easily cover his body if needed to. Gabriel began flying upwards in the air and I followed him, not even bothering to look behind me. Sam had gotten used to flying and chased behind me in a burst.
Gabriel took us high above the skies until we could see the North America in its entirety. "What are our orders?" I asked.
Gabriel didn't bother to look behind him. "You must wait until afterwards." Gabriel said quickly and the three of us just floated in the air.
Gabriel turned and looked at me. "Look at the sun and the moon." He ordered.
I did.
My eyes widened and I let out a gasp. "Holy crap."
"What?" Sam asked.
I pointed it out to her.
The sun was getting brighter and brighter, X-class solar flares bursting and shooting outward towards the planets.
"It is done." Gabriel said ominously. He motioned for us to stay there and flew higher in the sky.
Flames burst outward and engulfed the planets, hot magma flying in the air, suspended in space. I turned towards Gabriel.
It looked as if the sky had parted and white light streamed onto the angel, giving him a more heavenly visage. His long curly blonde hair was bright and gleaming. His eyes were hardened, steely orbs focusing on whatever heavenly mission he had been sent on. He had something in his hands, it looked like a golden bowl.
He tilted the bowl over and there was a loud cracking sound in the sky. Thunder cracked and lightning rumbled.
I looked back towards the heavens. The heat from the explosion turned the moon red from flames as the eclipse set.
It was a good thing we were in the sky and not on the ground.
Gabriel pointed the end of his sword towards where New Egypt was located. White light streamed from his sword and suddenly there was a loud bang, like a lone gunshot but louder... A massive earthquake unlike anything the world ever saw happened and there would never be one like it again.
New Egypt cracked, splitting into three parts but the wreckage did not stop there. The cracks continued spreading out throughout the continent. I looked down and the earthquake caused a massive wave to build up over the Atlantic Ocean.
Dirt flew up into the air as well as thick lush vegetation.
The tidal wave rose higher and higher, seemingly reaching the heavens. "Oh my God."
Puerto Rico, whatever was left of it began to get dragged into the wave as well as all the smaller outlying islands.
Cuba had been dragged in as well.
Stars began to drop from the skies like flies, crashing down into the earth. The sound of the explosions was deafening.
"I can't believe it." Sam said quietly, her voice either full of awe or terror.
The earthquake had split New Babylon into 3 chunks and crumbled into nothing.
What used to be known as the United States of America was buried underneath an earthquake that rocked the world.
Babylon had fallen.
5. The Light of God in the Dark Abyss
The Ascension
Chapter Five:
The Light of God in the Darkness of the Abyss
"Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.'
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake; death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her." – Revelation 18: 7-8
_Somewhere above the Atlantic_
_09:00 AM_
Sam and I just stood in shock as the world began crumbling before our very eyes. The sun was shining brighter than I ever saw in my life, radiating in loud bursts of sunlight. Stars were blown to bits and directed off course as flames burst from the sun like a flamethrower, eradicating Mercury and Venus with its intense heat, the solar flare destroying everything to bits, the explosion rocking the whole solar system. Stars began dropping from the skies, some crashing into the oceans causing tidal waves all around the world.
It was truly a jaw dropping site. Gabriel the archangel looked at Sam distantly.
"You've figured out your powers by now correct?" he asked.
"No, I haven't." Sam replied defensively, "'I mean I've figured out I can teleport but that's it."
He smiled, "You have the ability that no one has but God Himself. You can bend space and time." He said gracefully. "That is a great power, one not to be taken lightly Samantha." He added empathically.
"I don't understand." Sam croaked out, unbelieving.
"When you teleported earlier, you stopped time itself for a split second. You can even go back in time as well as forward. Remember this Samantha, you must not alter the past, that is a commandment from God Himself." Gabriel told her seriously, his tone darkening.
I looked at Gabriel and said, "What would be the point of going in the past if you couldn't alter it?" I asked.
He gave me the most sickened look. "Of course you'd say something like that… You can't alter the past… period. It doesn't work out right, it messes with the flow of the universe. It creates parallel universes and those apparently give God a headache." Gabriel admitted.
I laughed. "God gets headaches?"
"He's a lot more like you humans than you think. Were you not created in His image?" Gabriel replied solemnly.
"In whose image were you created in then?" I asked.
"We are God's first creations, back then it was different. We were created to run order across the universe, we have different jobs, there's even an angel hierarchy. God created us to work for Him. You humans are different. God had spent numerous millenniums just creating this very universe, but because we worked for Him. I think God is lonely, He is the One True God, there is no other God." Gabriel confessed honestly.
Hearing that unnerved me, and I really couldn't explain why.
Sam looked at me and I stared into her eyes and I understood. Gabriel nodded, "You understand… God loved us but He had no mate to share the universe with. Because there is no other existence like God, and we could only worship Him. So God wanted to create something in His own image, something that would never be alone and could share the universe with… he created Adam. Lilith was sent to be his companion but they could not mate. To Adam, there were too many obvious differences and Eve was created." Gabriel explained.
"What has Lilith been up to? I know she's escaped from the Euphrates but I haven't heard anything about the fallen angels since Abbadon raged a false alien war against Mabus. Obviously the aliens are still here on earth but the fallen angels seemed to have disappeared." I said curiously.
"They are all waiting for the last fight…they cannot afford to reveal themselves early and wage war against the angels. Do not worry about them, we will handle them." Gabriel responded swiftly. He looked over at Sam. "Come with me." He said, extending his hand.
Sam took him by the hand and I felt a slight twinge of jealousy. Gabriel noticed and snorted, "You cannot come along for this." He told me and I was even more irritated.
"Fine, do as you must. What do you want from me?" I asked calmly, resigning with a sigh.
"You wait right here." Gabriel commanded. He turned towards Sam again, "Let's go." He ordered and they disappeared with a flash of lightning.
The stars continued to fall, and the world continued to burn.
X
_Dubai_
_May 29, 2009_
_9:00 PM_
"Fuck I can't wait for liberty to begin." I said looking over to my liberty buddy Jeremiah Wynn. He was a short Caucasian with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He is one of my close friends throughout our deployment to the Middle East.
"I know man, its Dubai, there's so much to see." He said excitedly. This was the second real port we had gotten to see. We had left our home port of Norfolk for New Year's to go on a six month deployment to the Middle East area. On the way there we had stopped in Spain but we had 6 hours to enjoy it so we hadn't done much.
Then we had pulled into South Africa and fuck that was disgusting. Niggas was running round half naked and starving. There was also a 95% infection of A.I.D.S. in the population so I made sure to keep my dick in my pants. I had only stopped by the commissary to refill up on cigarettes and then I had returned to the boat. I hadn't even drank over there, afraid of catching something. Malaria and West Nile virus also spread rampantly so we were taking pills to keep us from getting sick.
"I know man, I can't wait to see what kind of bitches are out there." I replied and Jeremiah let out a nervous laugh.
"Please don't fuck a chick in the same room I'm skyping my wife from." Jeremiah responded laughing.
"Can't promise nothing man." I replied and he shook his head.
The first good port we pulled into was Bahrain. It was a Islamic island off the coast of Oman that was known for its wild partying. The Muslims there claimed to be holy yet seemed to love to fuck hookers. Poor Jeremiah had been my liberty buddy when we pulled in and I ended up fucking a Thai chick at the hotel room we shared while his wife was skyping him.
A month later we pulled into Dubai and I was excited to get off the ship. It wasn't a bad ship by any means, it was a civilian supply ship and we were the only military stationed on the boat besides the Master at Arms. We pulled in frequently into a smaller base to refill on gas but we couldn't leave the base which limited what we could do to just drinking on the peer.
Jeremiah and I hurried to the ship's brow to exit it.
The bad thing about being on a civilian ship was that they tend to hire anyone. We knew that on the boat were several rapists and the guy at the brow right now was known to be insane. I didn't know his name so I nicknamed him 'That crazy nigga'. He was a schizophrenic who constantly murmured to himself about killing sand niggers and setting the world on fire.
Right now though that crazy nigga had a shotgun so I made sure to give him a fake smile and gave him a small nod. "What's up bro?"
He gave me a blank look for a second and the grip on his shotgun tightened.
I could feel anxious fear rise in my chest but I ignored it. "Show me your id and sign out." He said after a pause.
I nodded numbly and I looked over and saw Jeremiah relax a little, his shoulders loosening.
This nigga was crazy as fuck, I had no idea how the Navy managed to hire these people but apparently there was a thorough background investigation… yeah right.
I had heard from some of the other civilians that he had once gotten kicked off a supply boat because he fired the ship's .50 cal into the water trying to kill the sand mermaids who were trying to raid the boat.
What the fuck?
Thankfully not all the civilians were rapists or insane, most of them were friendly people who liked to have fun, but some scared the shit out of me.
I signed the liberty log for me and Jeremiah and we exited the ship, heading down the stairwell. Even at nine o'clock at night it was still 90 degrees in Dubai. We walked down the pier and exited the base. Outside the base a bunch of taxi's waited for us and the other people going out on liberty.
"My friend, I take you. " One of the Arab's offered, waving his hand.
I waved at him and we headed up to his cab. "Where do you need to go my friend?" he asked.
"ATM and after that we want to go to Hotel La Historia." I told him.
He looked at me, then over to Jeremiah, a tall Puerto Rican and a short white guy dressed entirely different. Jeremiah was in some relaxed jeans and a simple white short sleeved collared shirt. I had on a pair of loose baggy jeans and a black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and military straps on the shoulders. I threw on my black Air Force Ones, while Jeremiah had some nice dress shoes.
I put on my New York Yankee's fitted cap since we couldn't wear it across the brow and cocked it a little to the side.
"My name is Malek, my friends. You like to party?" the Arab asked with a laugh.
"What sailor doesn't?" Jeremiah asked with a shit eating grin.
I snorted, ain't that the truth.
The cab driver drove off, taking us first to an ATM for us to get cash, or durhams to be correct. After we got some cash out, he drove a 40 minute drive to Hotel California, in the heart of Dubai. We had pulled into Jebel Ali and on the drive we got to see the world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, an expensive hotel.
The only seven star hotel in the world.
We drove past what's called New Dubai and drove into Old Dubai where the hotel La Historia was located. Finally we had gotten there and it was certainly not a shabby place. It was tall and luxurious and we exited the cab, giving the driver his money plus some for tip.
"Thank you, take my card and call me again. I can be your driver for the day for pretty cheap." Malek offered, holding out his card.
I nodded and took his card graciously. "Thank you Malek." I said and put it in my back pocket. Looking over at Jeremiah, I asked him, "Do you wanna eat or go straight to drinking?" I asked.
"I'm not hungry, let's just grab some beers." Jeremiah replied evenly. We walked up and opened the door to the hotel. Inside the place was packed, with Arabs and tourists partying at the club inside. We had heard about the place from one of the cooks so we figured we'd give it a shot.
Inside the club were dozens of women from a few nationalities. I recognized the Chinese and Thai girls quick. There were some girls from Ethiopia and maybe a few Russians. Almost all of them were engaged in conversation with men and those who weren't were stalking around the club looking for their next prey.
Jeremiah and I walked to the bar and ordered two coronas. The beer was actually expensive in our currency, about eight dollars per beer.
"What girl you tryna fuck tonight Jay?" I asked Jeremiah.
"C'mon man you know I'm married and I'm a Christian now." He said.
"Alright." I said, I didn't want to pressure him. "I'm going to bag me a Russian bitch." I proclaimed confidently.
"Fuck you man, you know I like Russians too." He whined.
"Dude you even said it yourself that you think your wife is cheating on you, why not get some fucking pussy while we here then?" I said as if it were the most obvious decision.
"Bro, I know… and trust me I want to but I know it's wrong, it's still adultery." Jeremiah said.
I took a swig of my beer and lit up a cigarette, blowing a plume of smoke out. "Do you really believe in God?" I asked.
"What do you mean, of course I do?" he replied quickly with conviction.
"Well so do I. Here's the thing… God's so powerful and all that right, but it's like he doesn't even get a fuck about us. Everyday kids get raped, people are murdered, and so much bad shit happens and he doesn't even lift a finger to stop it. What's a point of having all that power if you don't help anyone with it?" I asked.
Jeremiah looked at me solemnly. "Things happen for a reason man. God works in mysterious ways." Jeremiah replied assuredly.
"Isn't that a lame excuse for abandoning us all like his bastard children?" I asked. "So to me there is only one of two possibilities. Either there is no God and no afterlife and everyone's been praying and hoping there's some kind of sky daddy out there listening, or if there is a God, then he doesn't give a fuck about any of us or else he'd be here. We wouldn't need faith, God would be amongst us like a real dad and we would know him. We don't and yet he expects us to be perfect little angels and follow all his instructions or else we go to hell. Isn't asking for too much?" I asked.
Jeremiah laughed. "You're a trip... but you're honest though, I like that." Jeremiah said.
"Don't get me wrong I don't hate God or the idea of him, it's just that I don't really get the reason behind all the fanaticism." I replied.
I scoped out all the women in the bar and two Chinese girls appeared from behind us. "Hey how are you?" one of them asked through a thick mandarin accent.
"Good and how are you ladies?" I asked.
They were pretty enough, but I wasn't really interested. Both were slender girls with no tits and no ass. It didn't hurt to be polite.
"Do you want lady for tonight?" the one closest to me asked.
Jeremiah looked over at me to see how interested I was. Seeing the lack thereof on my face, he said, "It's okay ladies, we're good." He replied.
They walked away disappointed. "I don't really see anyone here that gets my eye, I'm going to take a piss." I exclaim, getting up off the bar stool and walking off towards the bathroom. I go inside, handle business, wash my hands and walk out.
As I leave the bathroom I noticed a blonde bombshell waiting outside the door. She was mesmerizingly beautiful, a few inches shorter than me with sunny blonde hair and blue green eyes. Her eyes reminded me of the seas of Spain.
She was dressed in a white dress and her skin was creamy pale. Her breasts were large but not overly so and perky, pressing right up against her dress. Some of her cleavage was exposed through the dress and I didn't bother to hide the lust.
Her legs were long and her ass was apple shaped and supple. "Goddamn, you're bad as fuck." I let out wildly.
She turned and looked at me and her eyes were vibrant, watching over me curiously. I could feel her eyes dance across my skin as she gave me a look through.
I wasn't arrogant by any means but I would say I'm decently good looking, I'm athletic and in shape. My skin is olive colored and was one of the first thing women noticed about me. I smiled at her through my full lips, and ran my tongue across my teeth seductively.
"Do you like what you see?" she asked calmly, unaware that she was an innocent little sheep in front of the big bad wolf.
"I'd like it more if you were naked…" I replied offhandedly.
She gave me a calculating look. "I bet you would." She replied.
"So what do we have to do to make that happen?" I asked, letting my eyes scan over her body. "You're not from around here." I said matter of factly.
"How do you figure?" she asked with a wide smile.
"You're an American for one, and this is for all intent is a brothel, and you don't look like a whore so what are you doing here?" I asked.
She smiled innocently. "Such a foul mouth on you… this is what you used to be like?" she asked.
I was confused by her way of referring to me in past tense but I shrugged casually. "I'm a sailor, so that means I like to get drunk, cuss, fuck. I'm already drinking only one thing left for me to do." I replied bluntly and the girl let out a laugh.
"I'm Sam, what's your name?" she asked.
"Ezekiel, no nicknames by the way… I can't stand it when women call me Zeke or some gay shit like that." I replied with a genuine smile.
If Sam wasn't a whore and I just said all I said to her and she was still willing to talk to me then she must be an interesting character. If there's one thing I learned is that life isn't interesting without some interesting characters. I was one myself, I would know.
Before I joined the navy I had going to church regularly from fifteen until eighteen. I had followed the rules, paid my dues, prayed to God and done all that. Then I saw it for what it was, a sham. Religion was a parasite that leeched off humanity with false promises of heaven so people aren't afraid to die. You had to pay to get that kind of service though. It was insurance for the afterlife.
So I broke away from my ordinary boring church life and joined the Navy and enjoyed it for what it was worth. I lost my virginity at eighteen but since then I've been doing pretty good for myself. One of the only good things about being a sailor overseas was exactly just that. You travel the world and fuck women, and get drunk, and party every night.
That sounds fucking awesome.
Why wouldn't I do this for 20 years and get that retirement check?
"Don't worry I'd never call you that." Sam reassured me and then broke into giggles. I raised my eyebrow at her, and then motioned for her to follow me. We walked up to the bar where Jeremiah was at. He was sitting at the bar still and he when he turned to look towards me, he saw Sam.
It was comical.
His eyes got really fucking big. "Damn." He tried mumbling under his breath, but Sam heard him anyway.
She sat down and then I sat next to her. "You're so fucking hot." I whispered into her ear. Sam blushed darkly.
"You're naughty… You shouldn't fornicate, you know better." She replied smartly, and that struck a nerve.
"I didn't take you for the religious type." I replied, honestly surprised. Sam grabbed a beer and took a swig from it. "That's a boner killer." I deadpanned and she ended up spitting her beer all over the bartender.
"Do you always talk to women like that?" Sam asked, grabbing a napkin to wipe herself off after apologizing to the bartender.
"Yeah, I never had a mother or a sister so yeah, honestly most women kinda like it too. If you'd like me to be a gentleman, I can pretend for a night." I offered and she rolled her eyes at me.
"You will never end up sleeping with me talking like that… Maybe one day when you grow up into a real man." She teased with a sideways smile.
"I don't have the luxury of thinking about one day." I replied.
"Well that night won't be tonight." She said.
"Ok let me ask you this… do you spit or swallow?"
Sam took a moment to think about it. "Spitters are quitters…duh!"
I almost fell out of my seat laughing.
"I need to get laid…" Jeremiah moaned out, chugging his beer and disappearing from sight.
"Look what you did to him." I accused mockingly, taking another swig of beer.
She laughed, and then her face got serious. "I have to go…" she said.
She stood up and stormed out of the bar, disappearing into the night.
Jeremiah returned with a Russian girl in his arms. "Hey, where'd she go?" he asked, his eyes glazed over from drinking.
I looked at the girl he brought with him, a short dark haired Russian. "Dude she's fucking hot." I said and he laughed. The girl had tanned skin and liquid black eyes, and small pouty lips.
"I have a friend." The girl purred out through a thick Russian accent.
I looked around the room for Sam. Just in case…
Another girl sauntered into the room towards us. "There she is!" Jeremiah's girl pointed out. The girl was definitely Russian, though she also looked mixed with asian. She had jet black hair and dark brown eyes, with perfectly shaped lips. She was shorter than me, had small little B-cups, but a taut stomach and shapely hips. She was pretty sexy, the only girl who had been sexier than her had been Sam.
In the end me and Jeremiah had left with the two Russian girls and fucked them stupid for a good two hours.
Later on that night, I'd end up dreaming of blonde angels.
X
_Manama, Bahrain_
_July 4, 2010_
_Wrangler's Nightclub_
_12:00 A.M._
I chugged the bullfrog mixed drink. My mind was in a rampage right now and really all I could give two shits about is being as fucked up as possible. To be honest, I wanted to die.
I wanted to curl up into a little ball on the floor and die. I never had known pain like this before, I had never had my heart broken over and over into pieces like Selena had just done to me. Selena Rivera was my wife and the bane of my existence. I had deployed to the Middle East for the second time and had been recently married.
She hadn't been able to handle the separation and constantly kept asking for a divorce. That I could do, but the hard part was how she broke me. For the first four months of my deployment she taunted me, and let me know how many people she could have been fucking. Finally after months of fighting she told me she wanted a divorce, and that she was fucking one of my friends back home. She also told me she had a miscarriage on purpose and lost the child we were going to have.
I was going to name him Israel.
In my anger I decided tonight would be the night. If she was already fucking someone else, then I might as well.
So that explains how I ended up here in the club, pissed and very drunk. In here, the women were pretty much all the same. You had the Thai hookers, Ethiopian escorts, and some American girls from the military.
I had been faithful to Selena for four months and now I was single again. I wasn't going to fuck the Thai hookers, and the Ethiopian girls were beautiful, but they too were barely above hooker status. While most of them didn't require money up front, they usually required gifts from their suitors until they felt like giving it up. But I will say this, they did know how to take care of a man.
I wasn't even going to bother with the American girls, after all who goes to Italy and orders a cheeseburger?
I light up a Newport, inhaling the smoke and feeling the smoke go down my throat. I loved the feeling of smoking a cigarette, it was so relaxing. "Hey stranger how you been?" A sultry voice called out as an arm wrapped around my waist.
I look over and see blonde hair and penetrating blue green eyes. She smells like strawberries and I almost don't recognize her. "Sam?" I asked.
She smiled sweetly and kissed my cheek. "You remember my name? I'm moderately surprised." She said, sitting down next to me.
I blew some smoke out and sipped a bit more of my drink. "You left an impression…" I replied with a half smile.
"How, it's not like we had sex?" She asked, motioning for the bartender to come over. "I'll have whatever he's having." She told the local.
Bahrain wasn't too bad. The locals were actually pretty friendly people. I always had a kind of racist way of viewing Muslims after 9/11 and on top of that they were supposedly anti-Christian. But here in Bahrain and even in Dubai, the Arabs were very amicable and hadn't tried talking about religion. Instead they had suggested places to go, and some even invited sailors to their homes for dinner.
"Sex isn't everything… most girls I've fucked I don't remember." I said bluntly.
"Then what is everything?" she asked, blatantly curving her lips into that 'fuck me' pout that drove me crazy.
"You can give anybody your body, you only give one person your soul.'' I replied quietly.
"Sounds like you're a smart man." Sam complimented easily, taking a swig of her drink.
"I'm starting to think quite the opposite." I returned, my voice slurring a little.
Sam cocked her head sideways. "Why don't you love yourself?" She asked, a sad look on her face.
"I don't know, what's love? It's nothing more than a chemical reaction in your head, making you euphoric and happy, it's like an orgasm." I shot back with a cynical laugh.
She was very disarming, but in a very good way. Her looks were stunning, beauty that only God could have personally crafted himself. Her golden hair glowed brightly, and her eyes were captivating. She was dressed in some jeans and a simple black blouse with some black Jordan sneakers. Her jeans were tight fitting, hugging every curve in her body. Her blouse was covered her bust, but her breasts could not be hidden from view. The tight black blouse outlined them perfectly, and I could feel my dick hardening.
But I was married…
Should I even give a fuck?
"Why do you torture me?" I asked Sam.
She laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, giving me a killer smile.
"You're so hot and I can't sleep with you." I replied, taking another swig from my drink.
Sam gave me a seductive grin. "The fun is the chase…" she said, and I had to agree.
"I shouldn't… I'm married. Not that it means much now apparently." I said solemnly.
Sam shook her head. "Marriage is consecrated, its people that make it meaningless." She said her voice full of conviction. The vibe that I got from Sam was so different it drew me to her like gravity. She seemed at complete ease, causing me to loosen up. There was a something powerful resonating from her, yet it was completely masked by her allure.
"My wife cheated on me with one of my friends… I haven't figured out exactly how to deal with that right now." I replied softly.
"Is that why you're getting ridiculously wasted?" she asked, her hand resting on my arm gently.
"Yeah. I figured it's the only way I can make myself feel better, that and get some revenge pussy." I replied.
"Don't Ezekiel. You shouldn't adulterate… you need to understand something, Selena's not cheating on you. She's telling she is to manipulate you, because she knows that it's going to emotionally cripple you. But if you sleep with someone tonight, you're just going to put yourself on a roller coaster path of guilt that's going to haunt you for quite some time." She said and I let out a gasp.
"Who the fuck are you?" I asked, my temper starting to flare. She knew my wife by name, and now she referred to me in the future like she knew me. Which reminded me how she referred to me in past tense when I met her in Dubai.
"Do you wanna go somewhere?" She asked hastily, finishing her drink in one last gulp.
I looked at her cautiously, unsure of what to do. "Ok." I replied, finishing my drink as well.
I followed her out of the club. We began to walk down the street in the middle of the night, heading back towards the hotel where I lived at.
"So are you finally going to explain yourself?" I asked, lighting up a cigarette. I had drank four bullfrogs and two patron shots, and trust me that was a lot of liquor for me. I wasn't much of a drinker. I could feel alcohol numb my mind and body, poisoning me. I was in haze of emotions ranging from anger towards Selena to attraction towards Sam.
It was confusing, and my inner conflictions must have shown on my face because Sam picked up on it. "Do you believe in time travel?" Sam deadpanned and I gave her a worried look.
"Are you on drugs?" I asked openly.
"I was earlier. I smoked with you actually…well earlier for me anyway." She replied.
I looked at her crazily. "Say I believed you, can you prove it?" I asked with a smirk. She wouldn't be able to prove it, therefore this conversation would end and maybe I might be able to put the moves on her and see where that went.
I turned to look at her only to see her disappear, completely gone. "What the fuck?" I asked, fear rising in my voice.
I felt a presence behind me. Sam wrapped her arm around my back and I shuddered. I could feel her, in a way I could not understand. She emanated a power, a foreign power that reached into the farthest corners of my soul and irrevocably shook my beliefs.
"Are you an alien?" I asked.
"No, not really. Give me your hand." She commanded and linked her hand into mines. Suddenly we were going up into the air, blasting off like a rocket.
"Holy shit!" I shouted out, scared.
"Stop being a little bitch…" she replied, and she looked like an angel. There was a yellowish aura coming out of her very pores, energy materializing. Her eyes were bright now, a blue green that could never be replicated.
"What the fuck are you?" I demanded, looking down from above the clouds as we moved through the skies with inhuman speed.
"I can't tell you that, I've already damaged the timeline enough." She replied.
"What?" I asked, stupefied.
"I'm not supposed to be interacting with you, not to this extent. By changing what was to come, I've fractured this universe and created an alternate reality, which gives God a headache by the way." Sam explained.
My brows furrowed. This was nuts, I must be hallucinating. The only rational explanation was that I was drugged at Wrangler's and this was one psychedelic trip. "What was supposed to happen?" I asked.
"You're supposed to cheat on Selena, you guys get divorced and you end up moving on. I'm probably going to get into trouble for this already…" Sam revealed, throttling forward faster and the g forces in my stomach were rising as well as nausea.
I sighed. "This is crazy… where are we going ?" I asked cautiously.
"Almost there…." was all she said, as she started descending to the ground.
We landed onto a beach somewhere. I immediately recognized where we were at. "How the fuck did we get here that fast?" I asked, scanning the area. We were on the sands of Luquillo Beach, where I was raised as an orphan.
"Sit…" she commanded.
I laid down on the sand and tried to come up with some explanation, some sort of theory for what the fuck was going on. Sam sat down next to me, and gave me a smile. "Do you wanna smoke?" she asked.
"Smoke what?" I asked, "I have cigarettes." I added, reaching to grab my pack of Newports.
"I'm talking about weed… trust me way better then alcohol." Sam replied.
"I can't I'm in the Navy and I get random piss tests." I explained.
Sam placed her hand onto my face. I tried to back away from her but her other hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder. "Sit still." She ordered.
I complied.
Sam touched my face and I could feel an energy invading my body, coursing through me. While it was foreign, it did not feel scary in the slightest. The energy felt like sunlight, incredible warmth flooded my body and my mouth opened up and a light erupted from me.
Sam pulled away her hand in and in her hand was a blue sphere with something spinning rapidly inside.
I felt at peace, whatever she had filled me up with was serene. "What is that?" I asked, my voice filled with awe.
"That's all the liquor you drank, I just sucked it all out of you." She said, and then blushed darkly. "Get your mind out of the gutter…" she added hastily.
"I don't think it was my mind that was in the gutter…" I replied smiling.
She punched me in the arm lightly but my body ached in pain. "Sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes."
I shook my head nervously. "Are you an angel?" I asked.
She laughed in my face. "Kind of, but angels have wings and are much more powerful. I'm a Halfling, half human, half angel." She replied.
She turned around and reached into her shirt for something. When she turned back around she had a long blunt in her hand. "When I take you back I'm going to make you think this was a dream… the timeline has to get corrected… but when the time is right, your memories will be unlocked and you will remember me." Sam explained.
"That's bullshit." I replied.
"I know but I have to correct what I've done, that's why I couldn't sleep with you in Dubai… not only would I have been sinning, but I would have altered reality, at least for you to a higher degree." Sam said.
"So why are you doing this at all?" I asked, it didn't make sense for her to interact with me only to erase my memories of it later.
She shrugged noncommittally. "For some reason I was sent back into your past, not anyone else's… I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to see. Maybe I'm supposed to get to know who you were in order to understand what you become." She explained.
"What do I become?" I asked.
"You're a hero." She replied with admiration creeping into her voice.
"I highly doubt that, I'm no one. I'm just a sailor, an expendable government dog… nothing more, nothing less." I said, shaking my head.
She captivated me with her eyes, nearly hypnotic in her gaze. "You are no one's dog Ezekiel. You've been chosen by Yahuwah Most High long before you were born His plan for your life had been laid out. The things you've endured up until now has been God molding you into the warrior you will become for Him." She revealed.
I shook my head. "That can't be true…" I denied viciously.
She touched my hand and the warming sensation returned. Purity burrowed itself inside me, filling me up with something glorious, infinitely more powerful then myself. It felt ancient, infinite and shook me to the core, the energy invading every cell in my body. I wanted to cry, not from sadness, but from deliriousness, I was happy beyond comprehension.
It was like having confirmation of everything I had used to believe but tried to stray away from. God had not forgotten me, nor had He let me go. He had tethered himself to me from my very birth, His spirit inside me. God loved me more then I could ever love Him.
"This is scary…" I finally breathed out.
"God's love is so powerful, His strength has no limits, and His mercy is everlasting." She proclaimed, her eyes alit with power.
"I won't remember this… It'll be like this never happened?" I asked. I didn't want to forget this, she revealed so much to me today and I have to wait until the Veil to see it all. But then again God did work in mysterious ways so this should have been no surprise.
"Smoke with me, I promise I'll clean your system like it never happened…" Sam promised, lighting up a blunt.
"I thought God was against weed?" I asked, after all Christians had taught me that we were to abstain from alcohol and marijuana.
"Why would He be against something He created? Did Christ not say, 'It is not what enters your mouth that makes you impure, but what comes out from it?'" she asked. I nodded numbly. "Did it not say in Timothy that all that God was created was good and there would be no need to abstain from anything as long as you take it with thanks giving?"
"So you're saying God won't send you to hell for smoking weed?" I asked.
"Up until the US government made it illegal it had been legal for thousands of years. Even the Jews had weed in their time. Do you think God sent them to hell for it?" she pointed out. What she said did make sense.
She took a long drag of the blunt. "In the future, you were the one who taught me that." She said, blowing out a cloud of smoke, coughing slightly.
My eyebrows furrowed. I don't know what the fuck to believe in right now, and it wouldn't matter if I could make sense of it because I'd forget as soon as I'd fall asleep. She passed the blunt over to me and I took it and put it to my lips. I took a drag and my body was filled with the sweet smoke of marijuana.
I choked and coughed, smoke billowing out of my mouth.
I took another hit and passed it back to her.
She took the blunt back and put it back to her lips. "The stuff they taught you in church was mostly bullshit, the shit the government tells you is always bullshit. Find the truth out for yourself." She replied, taking another long drag of smoke before passing it back to me.
I took a deep drag. "Somehow, I think I always knew that." I replied. My eyes had begun to lower, and I gave Sam a half lidded gaze. I was starting to feel the weed creeping up on me, as a powerful floating sensation overcame me completely. It felt like I was at one with everything in the universe, deep in a meditative state.
"C'mon, I have to take you back now." Sam replied.
We finished the quick smoking session and we were both high as kites. Sam interlocked her fingers into mine and she took flight, taking me with her. We took to the skies, high above the earth and she thrust forward, picking up speed as we burst off into the night. "In the future, are we a thing?" I dared to ask.
She smiled at me through bloodshot blue green eyes. "I don't know yet. There's definitely something there." She admitted.
"You're a lot nicer then my wife… I don't know if I'll ever love someone the way I loved her…" I admitted bluntly.
"I don't want you to love me the way you loved her… I want more. In return I'll give you just as much as you give me and Selena will never give you as much. She doesn't love you, she wasn't ready to be with you and then you married her and trapped her. You weren't meant to be…"
Tears sprang to my eyes and slid down my face. If she noticed, she didn't say anything.
Minutes later we were back in Bahrain and descended onto the roof of the villa where I stayed at. "You have to go now." Sam said, reaching out and touching my arm again. I felt her power invade me once more and a tiny green sphere was taken out of me.
"That's all the THC?" I asked.
"Yeah, since you don't smoke it was just this tiny little bit in you. If this was you in the future, this would be much harder." She said giggling.
I laughed with her. "I'm a pothead in the future?" I asked.
"You're God's pothead. You're also a hero, someone who will fight for humanity and follow the ways of Yehoshua." She confessed.
She was so beautiful, every time I saw her I desired more and more. I yearned for her, even now as Selena Rivera existed somewhere else in the world. Sam had revealed to me that Selena hadn't actually cheated and stopped me from hooking up with someone tonight.
It didn't stop me from wanting to hook up with her.
She was still stunningly beautiful, her blue green eyes shone with a unearthly brilliance. Her lips were curved into a sexy pout, her ample bust pressing out against her black blouse. Her stomach was taut, hips womanly, her ass was gorgeous, her legs long and silky.
I reached out to grab her but she was faster and pushed me against the wall and kissed me on the lips. Her lips were soft and moist, her tongue darting out inside my mouth, tasting me. I let out a visceral grunt, my hands reaching out to grab onto her hips.
She was intoxicating, a drug far more powerful then marijuana, and her scent filled me, sending me into a vanilla haze.
"No more." She said, pulling away from me hastily. "There'll be time for that in the future when you're single." She said.
Her eyes bore into me, the blue green seas illuminating as she captivated me in her gaze. "Once you fall asleep you will not remember anything after we left the club tonight. You had too much to drink and I ended up sending you home in a cab. Do you understand me?" she asked hypnotically.
I nodded numbly. "Yes."
"Go to bed." She commanded, turning her back to me and stepping on the ledge of the villa. She turned and gave me a final glance and she was gone like a rocket except there was no noise, no trace of her. I slowly walked back towards my room, my body moving on its own like a puppet guided by strings. I fell to the bed in an exhausted heap and sleep overcame me, blanketing me into the blissful darkness of oblivion.
X
_May 20, 2017_
_New Egypt, Babylon_
_1111 PM_
I had been caught by the aliens as I flew through the New Egypt landscape, a lone spaceship had beamed me up. I was caught in the beam and unable to move, being forced to gravitate up towards their ship by magnetic pull. I couldn't summon the Lightbringer and was shot up towards the bottom of the ship, a sliding door opened underneath and I landed on some shiny metal deck.
Surrounding me were at least 8 reptilian aliens. They all had on some black military gear with moon crescent insignias on their shoulders. Their faces were covered up by a space helmet that had two breathing apparatus' leading into the mask. I could still see their ugly reptilian eyes through their clear visors.
I had the distinct feeling of déjà vu.
They moved into action, quickly surrounding me. "Do not move human or else I will kill you." The leader I'm assuming because he had 3 moons on his shoulders, more than the others. He stepped forward to reach out with an ugly, clawed hand.
I summoned the Light bringer and chopped his hand off.
The reptilian screamed in pain. The others moved into action and so did I. Now that I knew who the leader was, the other reptilians were nothing but a nuisance to leave alive. I flipped into the air, slicing the sword into an arc and two of the reptilian grunts were decapitated, a geyser of dark blood spraying into the air.
It landed to the floor and it began to sizzle… like acid.
I landed on the deck and vaulted towards the other five reptilians, disappearing in a flash.
I reappeared in between all five and thrust the Lightbringer forward, impaling on in the back from behind. I ripped the sword across the first reptilian's body and into the next reptilian's side, cutting through his midsection like a hot knife through butter.
Energy rippled across the Lightbringer in the manifestation of flames and he screamed in pain, a sound that was so far removed from human it was hard to feel sympathy. Not that I should pity them anyway, seeing as they were all agents of Satan.
Ripping the Lightbringer out the second reptilian's ribs, I shot forward and kicked one across the neck, his neck snapping on impact, and ducked as one of them managed to swing a rod of light at my head.
"Kill him!" I heard their leader scream.
"I'm Ezekiel Rivera, seventh ascended warrior of Yehoshua. Though I make walk in the valley of death I shall for no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." I replied loudly, ducking the other's light rod.
Whatever it was composed off, it definitely wouldn't feel good if it connected.
Both of them were swinging their light rods at me and I was stumbling backwards, trying to avoid their blows. I spun to the side and one of them managed to swing downward and the light rod cracked down on my thigh.
I managed to bite back the scream that almost ripped through my throat.
They took advantage and one managed to kick me in the chest sending me backwards to the floor.
My eyes were alit with anger and as they both swung their rods at me. I spun into the air, and time was suspended as I spun, both my hands outstretched. "Judgement of the Divine!" Two Lightbringer swords appeared in my hand, the reptilian's heads both flying off.
I appeared in front of the leader and he tried backing away from me.
"Please have mercy on me, ascended of the Most High…" the reptilian begged, getting on his knees.
"Why should I? Did you have mercy on the millions of humans you killed? When Mabus gave you what was left of humanity, where was your mercy?" I demanded, the Lightbringer pointed at his throat. "I should by all means kill you. I should rip your fucking throat out because you are all murderers and blasphemers…but I was not created to judge, I was created to defend….I will spare you, on one condition." I said.
"Thank you." He replied through his mask. "What condition?"
"You're going to tell me just what the fuck you aliens are, where you really come from." I demanded coldly.
The reptilian reached out and touched a button on the side of his helmet and it deactivated, dropping down behind him to reveal his face.
He looked ugly, his face green and scaly, his large eyes were yellow with a large black slit for a pupil. His misshapen lips were formed into a scowl, large carnivorous teeth poking through his lips. "My name is Azazel, and I am a fallen angel, one of the Watchers." He revealed.
I gasped, "That's a lie, you can't be an angel, the ascended are much weaker then the angels." I retorted.
Azazel shook his head. "I was part of the second rebellion against God. I helped create the Nephilim, and I taught mankind how to make weapons and shields, pushed them to go to war, sin, and blaspheme, until God flooded us all." Azazel confessed.
"I'm guessing the first one was Lucifer and his third of angels." I replied.
Azazel nodded. "The first rebellion happened because of humanity's creation. Lucifer was not happy with God after He created Adam. He felt that because he was God's morning star, his light bringer, why hadn't God created a world for him? Why did God need to create humanity when He had angels to serve and worship him…why did He give you a choice to be redeemed when He gave us no choice?" Azazel admitted bitterly.
I listened intently, trying to fathom what Azazel was telling me.
The reptilian alien's tongue flitted out and licked across his lips. "How did you become this ugly if you were God's angels?" I asked honestly.
The reptilian scowled at me, the reptilian lips forming into an ugly frown. "After God created humanity, Lucifer became Satan, no longer the beautiful morning star but a fallen angel locked away in hell with all the other fallen. In order to sway humanity away from God, he tempted Eve causing humans to lose favor in God's eye. Mankind continued evolving while we watched and waited. Our job was to watch over the species and steer them back to God.
"We did not listen. Instead of watching, another group of angels led Samyaza joined Lucifer's rebellion and interacted with humanity and bred among them to spite Jehovah. We taught them astrology, how to make weapons, we taught them arithmetic's and forbidden knowledge. In order to correct the damage that we had done to the world, God had created the deluge that drowned out most of the world's population.
"Yet we survived, some of us. We were scattered across the universe and divided into different species of aliens. We lost our angelic visage and God cursed us with this look and we were forced to adapt. We continued interfering with humanity, especially the Mayans and created the Mayan conspiracy." Azazel revealed and I gasped in shock.
"So all of the aliens are fallen angels?" I asked.
Azazel nodded. "We continued disobeying God, we misled the ancient civilizations, we were the gods of Egypt, the gods of the Romans, and we still are the rulers of the world. For us we know unlike humanity, we have no redemption. We will never see the grace of God again, and our only purpose now is to wreak havoc until the day we get rounded up and tossed in the lake of fire." Azazel admitted.
"So why are there alien grays, reptilians, and Aryan?" I asked.
"Grays are the smaller cherub like angels that were tossed from Heaven. Reptilians are the Watchers, the Grigori of old. Aryans were the beautiful humanoid angels… that bloodlines is where King Mabus comes from, but because he does not appear Aryan he was able to enslave the world, conquering it in the name of Allah, the chosen Mahdi."
My lips formed into a grimace. I hated Antiochus Mabus, nothing would please me more than cutting his head off, but I knew that was not my place.
"What are you doing here on earth now?" I asked.
"We are the creators of the homunculi, artificial humans to replenish the earth's population. We capture any humans who do not have the mark of the beast and kill them. Then we bring them back as homunculi, servants to us." Azazel confessed.
"How many homunculi are here right now?" I asked.
"Six. All third generation homunculi." Azazel replied, blood still flowing from his stump of an arm. Seeing the confusion on my face, he continued. "There is three generation of homunculi. The first was the vampires, werewolves, and hybrid creatures. Then we designed the second generation, to repopulate the waning human population. The third are the anti-ascended, built specifically to kill your kind."
I thought about what to do next. "Release them… now." I ordered.
Azazel looked at me through his reptilian eyes, the slits narrowing. "Do not presume to order me around human." He grunted out coldly.
The Lightbringer dug into his neck a little, drawing blood. "Do not presume to think I won't kill you if you don't do as I fucking ask. Release the homunculi." I commanded, power flooding me as yellow flames erupted from my skin.
The fallen angel Azazel nodded and picked himself up off the floor. Blood spurted out from his wound, coating the floor with the acidic liquid. Azazel walked forward and I followed behind him, my sword out and ready to defend myself if necessary.
He led me to a lab with a bunch of tables and tools lying around. The floor was designed in numerous square grids and there was a control release button on one of the grids. Azazel stepped on it and six glass cases came up from the ground. They slid open and six figures stepped out. The first three was a middle aged man in a military uniform, a blond man in casual clothes, and a young dark hair man. The next three was a middle aged woman, a brunette bombshell who looked to be of Spanish descent, and a young blonde girl with blue green eyes.
As soon as I laid eyes on her, something happened.
It was like a dam had begun to flood my mind with memories I should not have. Seeing her had unlocked something in me. I remembered her from somewhere, and instantly I remembered Dubai and Bahrain. I remember seeing her at Hotel California in Dubai, and wanting her more than anything. I remembered seeing her in Wrangler's in Bahrain, and her flying me to Puerto Rico.
She had revealed herself then, and revealed so much more to me.
"Sam?" I stuttered out.
She looked confused as if she didn't recognize me.
All hell broke loose. "Kill him!" Azazel ordered and all six of them sprung into action.
I vaulted forward, swinging my sword. Azazel's head was lopped off, flying in the air before landing on the metal deck with a wet thud. There was a crack of thunder and another figure emerged, and I saw Sam, only two of them.
The one who just appeared was the one I had met before. I remembered her telling me she was a time traveler and suddenly it made sense. I had met Sam for the first time here and somehow she had become an ascended warrior and gone back in time.
The ascended Sam moved faster than I could, disappearing in a flash and reappeared in front of them swinging a large Japanese fan, instantly killing all of them in a flash of white-gold light. "Grab her and hold her." Sam the time traveler ordered.
I reacted instantly, blurring from sight. I appeared in front of Sam the homunculus and grabbed her, lifting her up and slamming her to the metal deck as lightly as I could. "What now?" I asked and my eyes got wide.
I looked behind Sam and I could see Azazel's decapitated body crawl towards the head and attach itself, the sinewy muscles growing back in place until he was back on his feet again. He looked at us with those cold, yellow lizard like orbs and suddenly he exploded.
Scaly meat flew all around the room and suddenly I could feel a dark ancient power that completely unnerved me.
Where Azazel had been at was a dark angelic figure. It was hollow and skeletal, and two bat like wings erupted from his back. The figure was cloaked in a black robe and stepped forward into the light. The male figure had silvery white hair and eyes like a fathomless abyss. His face was gaunt, and his skin had a sickly pale tinge to it.
This must be Azazel's true form.
Power resonated from him, a dark ancient power that preceded anything I had ever faced before. This was one of the Watchers, a fallen angel that had existed for millennia before me. Azazel pulled out a black sword and energy swirled around him in black orbs, his dark energy manifesting.
"I will kill you…" Azazel said threateningly, his voice low and guttural. He was fucking scary, this was like fighting against Gabriel or someone of his caliber.
I recited Psalm 23 in my head. I held the Lightbringer tightly, shooting forward with supernatural speed that was blessed by God. Azazel swung his sword and I spun and duck underneath it, then rammed my shoulder into his midsection as hard as I could, sending a wave of energy down to my feet to burst off. I tackled him right through the hull of the ship, the spaceship rocking sideways as it began its fast descent.
I looked over at Sam and she grabbed her homunculus version of herself and disappeared in a crack. She must have teleported away safely.
In midair we began to fight in earnest, each of us swinging our swords and colliding with metal clashes. Yellow and black energy exploded in a shower of fire.
We backed away from each other, keeping distance to judge the other's reaction and strategize.
"My power is much stronger and older then you. You are but a speck of sand before me, and ant before a god. Do you really think you can defeat me, do not make me laugh monkey." Azazel taunted.
I flew towards him, launching at kick at his face and he blocked it with his left forearm, his right arm swinging his sword at my neck.
I disappeared before he could slice through me, appearing above him and aiming the Lightbringer at the back of his skull. He turned around and swung his sword, black flames searing my skin as the two swords connected again.
He shrugged off the yellow flames from the Lightbringer like it was nothing.
This was scary.
He was much stronger then Michael, I could feel his power weighing me down, trying to drown me in despair.
It was suffocating and maddening.
I tried swinging the Lightbringer to cut through his midsection and he parried it, moving in to my personal space as his wings wrapped around me, enveloping me in darkness. I fought against him, impaling him through the stomach with the Lightbringer but he only laughed. "As strong as you are you cannot beat me, I precede mankind." Azazel growled out.
"Get out my face you ugly fuck!" I replied with a roar, upper cutting him and sending him flying into the air.
I appeared above him and rammed a yellow sphere of energy into his midsection. "I don't care how hopeless it is…I won't give up." I replied with a vicious punch, snapping his head to the side. "I don't care if you're an angel, I will not lose!" I shouted, continuing my assault as I punched him over and over in the face.
He just kept laughing.
He swung his sword at me, clipping me across my shoulder and we both plummeted from the skies, crashing down into some barren fields. I looked up and saw Azazel, wings furled out behind him, black robe billowing from the wind.
Behind him in the backdrop, stood the replicas of the Giza pyramids in New Egypt. In the center of the pyramids was a tall statue made in the portrayal of King Mabus that Jesus Christ had bewitched to life. The statue demanded worship, its gargoyle mouth would open up and spit flames of hell to those who did not worship the Anti-Christ.
Millions of people had been burned alive by the statue.
Azazel looked at me with those dead lifeless eyes in contempt. A cruel smirk lit his face up and suddenly the fallen angel raised his sword high and slammed it into the ground. The earth split underneath me and flames shot up from the ground.
Azazel had opened a gateway to hell.
I could hear screams rising from the crack in the earth as souls pleaded for salvation from the flames. It was sad, horrible thing to hear billions if not trillions of people scream as fire consumed their souls. "I'm going to send you down there, and Satan's going to have fun with you boy." Azazel promised, cackling evilly.
"I promise you'll see him long before I will." I replied, blurring out of existence and swinging my sword at him.
Azazel deftly blocked my strike and a pale hand shot out and gripped me by the throat, cutting off all circulation. Azazel walked, holding me up in the air and held me over the pit. He really was going to send me to hell.
I could feel the flames dance on my skin.
I couldn't breathe, my body was warming as hell opened its mouth and threatened to swallow me whole.
"Are you sure about that?" he asked, laughing cruelly.
He dropped me into the pit.
I plummeted once again and fell all the way down to hell. I landed back first onto a pit of flames. Hell was not a pretty place.
It was a massive cave in the center of the earth. Flames burned all around me and I screamed in pain. I don't know for how long, all I could see was my flame being seared off my flesh. All around me demons flew around the cave, unharmed by the flames. In the center of the cave was a black throne. Four ugly demonic creatures were prostrated before the throne.
Sitting on the throne was Satan, the first evil.
I could not see him well, the flames were consuming my eyeballs. He was tall, about twelve feet in height. His face was darkened and I could not see it completely but there was a golden crown on his head with rubies encased in them.
All around people were screaming.
So was I.
Black titanic wings encased him, protecting him from the flames and I could hear him laughing evilly. Billions of souls were down here burning for all eternity and he was laughing.
I could feel God's power slowly regenerate me but it was painful because as I regenerated my flesh would still burn from the flames. Drawing energy into me I burst off the ground and flew into the air. "Stop him!" I heard Satan shout out.
I was in the air though.
Demons were flying all around me, winged animal creatures with faces like reptiles and some had faces like a sphinx.
They encircled me, trying to stop me from fleeing but I would not be detained.
Yellow flames encased me, illuminating the darkness. The winged creatures flew towards me and I didn't hesitate, summoning up the Lightbringer and swinging it. "Light Gun Destroyer!" I screamed, my voice hoarse from screaming in pain.
A wave of yellow flames burst from the tip of the Lightbringer and the demons were sent flying backwards, some burning away into nothingness. I didn't have any idea what happened to demons when they died nor did I care.
I just wanted to get the fuck out of here.
I shot up through the cave and burst back out of the hole, falling to the floor in an exhausted, charred heap. My skin began to heal as smoke curled around me and while I was tired I was back to normal. I never wanted to go to hell again.
I look over and saw Sam and Azazel fighting, her fan clashing against his sword.
I slowly began drawing power. Yellow orbs began swirling all around me as I called out to God to give me the strength to defeat Azazel. The yellow orbs of energy began spinning faster around me as the sword began absorbing it and channeling it to the tip.
Yellow flames consumed me and I threw back my head and roared as I continued powering up. I held out the Lightbringer to the sky and the energy flowed faster as I continued meditating, absorbing all I could.
Sam had managed to knock Azazel off his feet and send him crashing right in front of the Mabus statue.
Taking that split opportunity I blasted off, reappearing in front of Azazel.
This was for sending me to hell bitch.
I swung the Lightbringer once more and it came to a stop in front of his face. "Light Gun Destruction Bomb!"
The world shattered.
The resulting explosion was deafening, a wave of yellow energy burst from the sword and consumed Azazel in its blinding light.
I screamed as I got blown backwards into Sam's arms.
I looked up and saw Azazel had been blown into the statue, the explosion had destroyed the top half of the blasphemous statue, knocking it over. I landed in front of Azazel and got a better look at him. The Light Gun Destruction Bomb had obliterated him. His wings were blown off and everything from the waist down was gone.
Blood leaked from Azazel's body and pooled around the statue's feet. Azazel looked at me, a smile on his face. "I just wanted to have some fun, fuck a few girls here and there, was that too much to ask for?" he asked weakly and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he died. He exploded into a cloud of black sand and was gone.
I stumbled towards Sam, my body weakened and I collapsed in the fields.
Sam helped me back up to my feet. "Where's the other you?" I asked.
"She's at the PX, knocked her out." Sam explained hastily.
I nodded and there was another crack of thunder and an angel appeared before us. I had that feeling of déjà vu again. He was tall with curly blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He had on a white robe with gold armor and a golden sash around his waist with a large broadsword tucked in.
"Ezekiel Rivera, I am Gabriel the archangel, I am the messenger of the Divine God." He introduced himself, four massive wings uncurling from his back.
I nodded dumbly. "As in Gabriel the archangel, like the one in the Bible? Are you bullshitting?" I asked and the angel gave me a serious look. I'm guessing that's his I'm-not-joking face.
"As you may be wondering what I'm here for, it's because I come bearing message." Gabriel replied with a tinge of sarcasm.
Who knew angels had sarcasm?
"What's the message?" I asked nervously. What now?
"In two days there will be a solar eclipse and the seven bowls of God's wrath will be poured out on the world. An earthquake will ravage New Egypt and split this country apart." He revealed.
My eyebrows shot up. "I'm guessing big man upstairs is kinda pissed huh?" I asked with a smirk.
"God's anger has been building up and He's been waiting patiently for his anointed ones. But the time is near, you are to preach repentance to any humans not marked. Save them. They must flee as far north as possible, there will be no survivors." Gabriel admitted.
I nodded mutely. "Will do." I replied and bent over on one knee.
"You must not for it is blaspheme, I too am a servant of God like you. We may not share blood, but we are brothers, comrades united under God." Gabriel rebuked me. He stuck out his hand and I shook it firmly.
"Thank you." I said softly.
He nodded and gave me a curt smile. "For the glory of God." He turned to Sam and shook his head. "Samantha, you were warned not to use God's power for personal gain. You were not to alter the past, and even though you managed to bridge the two realities back together by making Ezekiel forget, God has not forgot that you disobeyed to begin with. But God knew you were going to do it anyway, but for that, this is your punishment." Gabriel said strictly, grabbing her by the shoulder.
They both disappeared, leaving me alone again.
I guess I better find Sam, the homunculi one at the PX.
How did Sam become an ascended if she was an artificial human?
I arrived at the PX moments later and descended down. I walked inside the military surplus and saw Sam immediately, she was chained up to the wall. "Get me the fuck down." She ordered angrily.
I shook my head.
"When I get down, and trust and believe me when I say I will, I will fucking rape you, rip off your head and drink your blood. I swear to God that will happen." She threatened.
I walked towards her calmly. I focused energy to the tip of my right index finger until it was glowing with a pulsing yellow energy. "In the name of Yehoshua I rebuke you foul demon, get out of her now." I commanded.
Sam looked at me evilly and laughed. "You have no dominion over me, fornicator." She spat out.
I placed my glowing digit on her forehead. "Get out of her now foul beast."
She screamed and her eyes turned milky white. "We are many, we are legion. You are but one and you presume to order us?" she said, but her body was a puppet to whatever collective group of uglies were inside her. I could hear more than one person when she spoke.
"Yehoshua give me the strength to pull these demons out of her. You taught us that if we believed in your name all things were possible. In the name of I demand that you get out of her body." I ordered.
"Fuck you adulterer." She spat out, spitting in my face.
I quelled the anger inside me. Demons knew how to push a human's buttons, it's why they were able to manipulate humanity for so long.
"Get out of her now!" I roared and yellow energy invade Sam's body and she threw her head back and screamed, a cloud of smoke rising from her throat. I could distinctly smell sulfur. Her head leaned forward and she vomited, a spray of grey baby lizards coming out of her stomach.
"We are legion." They cried out.
The Lightbringer dispatched of them easily.
Sam fainted after that and I decided now would be a good time as any to smoke a blunt and get some sleep…
X
_Jerusalem, Israel_
_Mount Megiddo_
_Sometime in 2020_
I was running.
Faster than I ever had before and it wasn't enough.
Antiochus Mabus rammed his wicked katana through Samantha's pregnant stomach and blew her up in a visceral explosion of blood and gore.
I let out a primal scream as hot tears flowed freely from my eyes. I fell to my knees, my eyes looking towards the heavens and sobbed, my body shaking with each sob.
My pregnant wife Samantha Rivera had been murdered by the Anti-Christ and no matter that I was the strongest ascended, I had not been able to save her.
My whole body shook as tears poured from my eyes.
I was going to name her Esther.
I screamed and black flames erupted all around me. My eyes were filled with hate and never-ending fury for the King who made my life hell for the last 7 years. What had I done to him to deserve this?
I summoned the Lightbringer, which no longer glowed bright with the power of God. It was no longer a beacon of hope for the world, but a weapon for which to destroy it.
If I couldn't have Sam and Esther, then no one deserved to live.
I looked at the King who had killed my wife and child.
He was tall, nearly 9 feet in height. His hair was short and black, his skin was dark, he was the Islam messiah. He was dressed in full battle attire with a red top and black armor over it. On the armor was emblazoned 666 down the center. He had one black pants with red battle boots.
He wielded two katanas, one in each hand.
His skin was dark and his face clean shaven. He had a tattoo of an all seeing eye on his forehead.
I flashed forward appearing in front of him and slicing across his chest with the Lightbringer. Black flames scorched his skin and Antiochus Mabus screamed, something he wasn't used to doing.
His armor cracked down the middle, breaking apart the blasphemy imprinted on his armor.
Blood sprayed the air.
I would kill him, and not even God would stop me.
6. The Resistance
The Ascension: The Return of the Nephilim
Chapter Six:
The Resistance
"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords, and King of kings- and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
-Revelations 17: 12-14
_May 22, 2017_
_0650 AM_
I woke up, rolling over to wrap my arms around Sam's waist only to find she wasn't there. Sunlight was already streaming into the make shift tent I had made the night before. Confused by her absence I sat up, squinting as sunlight bleared into my eyes.
I looked around and saw we had landed somewhere off the coast of the remains of Puerto Rico. It was nothing more than a group of smaller islands clumped together. Puerto Rico had been destroyed for all intents and purposes.
But enough was left that we could land and stay for the night. I scanned the area and looked for her but I couldn't find her.
I heard the crack of a whip and Sam reappeared with Gabriel the archangel.
She had tears in her eyes and she sobbed as she threw herself against me, clinging on desperately. "What's wrong, what happened?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her waist.
"I went to the past Ezequiel, I messed up and I saw the future as punishment and…" she was cut off by Gabriel.
"You were punished for altering the past, do you really want to alter the future and tell Ezekiel what you saw?" he asked calmly.
She grimaced visibly, her skin paling.
So Sam could time travel, and she had broken some rules and ended up in the future and saw something so horrible happen to me she couldn't tell me… "The choice?" I asked, remembering the message Sam had passed on from the Son of God.
Gabriel nodded gravely. "You must understand something Ezekiel… your path has been laid out long before your creation. What is to come must come… you cannot escape it, there is no running from destiny." He said and gave me what I'm assuming is a pitied look.
Sam held me tightly, her small arms had supernatural strength.
"What does God want from me?" I asked, "Doesn't He understand how hard this is already? Isn't my cross heavy enough, I don't want to have to make some stupid choice. I want for this to end, I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of people trying to kill me when I'm trying to save the fucking world." I snapped.
Gabriel shook his head. "Were you not given a choice to return as what you are?" He asked coldly. "You were told that it wouldn't be easy and you are now the second most powerful ascended nephilim…with that power comes responsibility, suffering, and sacrifice. You made your choices and now you want God to give you and escape?" he asked sarcastically.
"What good is all this fucking power if you can't even change the world?" I shot back.
Merciless blue eyes stared back at me. "You're not supposed to change the world Ezekiel, you're supposed to die for it…" Gabriel replied.
"I know that, and you're asking me to be happy to fight a hopeless fight in which I'm going to die." I responded bitterly.
"For a greater cause." Sam cut it, pulling away from me. "You can't give into the darkness Ezekiel, I won't let you." She said.
"I don't think I have it in me to keep fighting." I let out wearily.
"You must for the glory of God." Gabriel replied simply. He motioned for me to follow him, "Come."
He burst into flight and Sam and I followed behind him. He came to a sudden halt once we were high enough above the skies. He looked over at Sam, "This time it's going to happen differently, at least your perspective of it. You will see the seven bowls of God's Wrath. But you must stay here for a while, I must join my brethren." Gabriel explained hastily.
The seven bowls of God's wrath… it was still pretty early into the 4th year of the 7 year war and God was pulling the big guns out. I'm guessing He must be really angry.
In the background I could hear harps being played and voices singing, "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."
Confused, I looked over at the archangel. "Those are the remaining faithful, the ascended and the chosen one hundred and forty four thousand." Gabriel explained.
"Why am I not with them?" I asked, saddened. "Am I not saved… have I shamed my God?" I continued, lost in a haze of emotions.
He shook his head. "You belong to God and for your deeds you have been chosen, elected to be God's most powerful weapon against the Anti-Christ."
He was being cryptic again but then again he had always been cryptic in all our meetings.
Sam grabbed my hand in mid flight and I smiled. Perhaps the future would be hard but if she was here with me perhaps it would be worth it.
Gabriel burst higher into the air until he reached the clouds, puncturing through the surface. He disappeared and the heavens opened up. I could see a transdimensional rift as a gateway opened up between Earth and God's Kingdom. Seven four winged angels shot through the rift and I recognized one of them as Gabriel.
The others I had never seen before but if it was the seven archangels I'm assuming one of them must be Michael.
All of them were dressed in white linen with golden sashes around their chests. One stood in front of the formation and I'm assuming he was Michael, his wings were bigger than all the others. They were all blonde and blue eyed and power emanated from them.
In the heavens was a temple, a giant tabernacle of sorts.
All of them powered up, as power strong enough to destroy Earth erupted from them. One of the angels crouched down and what appeared to be a golden altar appeared high above the earth. The heavens opened up once again and I heard a voice. "Go; pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the Earth."
I looked around me and saw Sam and I were not alone. There was other ascended flying around the skies, flying underneath the golden altar. Others were spread out looking like colored stars in the distance.
The first angel stepped to the edge of the altar and poured out the first bowl. Seconds later I could hear screams rise from the earth. Everyone was screaming, their collective shouts reaching the heavens. "What's going on?" Sam asked me.
"I'm guessing you didn't read Revelations? The first bowl of God's Wrath was painful sores on everyone who has the mark of the Beast." I explained.
Sam winced. "How long will it last?"
I shrugged. "If God's that pissed…who knows." I responded.
The first angel backed away and a second one stepped up to the edge, a golden bowl in his hand. He poured it onto the earth and there was a silence. I look down to the beaches of Puerto Rico and I could see a small dot of red appear in the water and then it spread out until it encompassed everything in sight.
The second bowl of God's wrath turned all the seas of Earth into blood and killed every living creature in it. This would do massive damage to the 200 million unfortunate people still alive on Earth. There would never be any living creature in the seas again, no seafood, no replenish able water source.
The second angel disappeared and a third one stepped up. He dumped his bowl over the edge and all the rivers and springs of water on earth turned to blood. A voice called out from the altar, "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
I thought of all the ascended who had died in this battle. There were roughly 50,000 faithful ascended warriors left out of 2 million originally sent to earth. Millions more who had refused the mark were ruthlessly murdered. The Jews who had so foolishly denied Jesus Christ had been slaughtered by the Anti-Christ and now the remainder of God's people had to serve under the King.
I thought of all the people who had died to get us here, so many lives had been thrown away to bring upon the Armageddon that it was saddening to think about it. The millions who had died in World War 3 under a bombardment of nuclear and chemical weapons. There had been no winners…
I thought of all the souls thrown away in 9/11, and other false flag events. Humanity had been destroyed by the very governments that had enslaved them.
There was no escaping the influence of Satan on this world.
All this bloodshed… for what?
How many more would need to die?
I heard another voice call out from the altar, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments."
Suddenly I could hear a bursting sound and the fourth angel flew into the air, heading towards the sun.
Seconds later, the sun erupted and flames burst from the sun, scorching Earth's ozone and setting the nations on fire.
I could hear the screaming start up again and this time people were blaspheming God, cursing him for the plagues. I shook my head, did they not see they had brought this upon themselves? People continued screaming to the heavens but they would not repent nor ask for forgiveness.
The fifth angel flew out of the altar and headed past me, heading directly towards Jerusalem. I knew what would come next. He poured the golden cup over the throne of the King and all of Israel was plagued by complete darkness.
I looked up and saw Michael take off, his speed beyond anything I'd ever seen before. He was heading towards the Euphrates River where the four fallen angels had been locked up. He poured his bowl onto the great river and it dried up, evaporating into nothingness.
3 demonic creatures that looked like frogs shot up into the air and dispersed.
They were the three demons inside the dragon, the Anti-Christ, and the false prophet. The three spirits departed all across the earth to gather all the rulers of the east and west to gather them all in Jerusalem in preparation for the final battle.
I could see Gabriel the archangel step to the edge of the golden altar and a voice came out the tabernacle calling out, "It is done!" Gabriel poured his cup over the altar and there were loud rumblings of thunder in the sky and lightning began striking the earth.
The earthquake came.
There never would be an earthquake like this one nor would one as strong come after it. There was loud crack and a massive earthquake destroyed New Egypt and split what used to be Babylon into three huge segments. The islands underneath us were destroyed under the wake of the earthquake. Then large hailstones began to fall from the sky, pummeling the earth.
Despite all the plagues punishing the earth now, all the ascended were completely unaffected by it. None of us had been hit.
I looked at North America and watched it crumble away. It was sad, my heart was stricken with grief, and shock. This was my home, a place I had all my memories at and now a massive earthquake destroyed split Babylon into 3 chunks. I wondered how many of the slaves I had freed had survived… I hoped all of them.
I wondered how many more had not survived.
There was an eerie silence afterwards, as if the whole world was holding its breath in anticipation for what came next.
"I WILL KILL YOU!" A voice roared out from underneath us.
Gabriel appeared next to me. "Ezekiel, you are the seventh ascended, and you have been chosen by God to lead this rebellion." He told me flatly.
"I'm not a leader, I mess up sometimes, I curse, and there are other people who could be better than me…" I stuttered out.
Sam grabbed my hand gently. "You can't outrun God Ezekiel."
I looked at her and suddenly all the ascended warriors began flanking us in a huge circle. People from all colors, all races who had also believed in Yehoshua stood all around me. Above us was the golden altar of the archangels and it begun to deconstruct until it disappeared.
"You can't shirk your duties, you trained for the first four years when you could have been helping out more. Now that you are the strongest of God's faithful will you still continue to run away?" Gabriel reprimanded me.
I hung my head because I knew he was right.
"Fine I'll do it." I answered with a scowl.
Gabriel smiled, before giving me a small nod. "I must go." He said before blasting off higher into space to meet the other six archangels. They opened up a rift and flew through, and then it sealed again.
I looked down on Earth from my vantage point of view and it was saddening to see the carnage, the pure destruction God could leave on the earth. Even though they deserved all they were getting, I couldn't help but feel sorry.
All the fifty thousand ascended gathered around us. I looked at all of them, and Sam clutched my hand tighter. "You can do this." She whispered confidently.
I looked into her eyes and saw sadness there, but also a glimmer of hope.
I couldn't let her down.
I looked back at all the ascended.
"I'm Ezekiel Rivera, the seventh ascended nephilim. I have been chosen by God to lead the final rebellion against Antiochus Mabus. I know many of you are tired of running, tired of fighting, I know I am… But Antiochus Mabus will not stop hunting us down, he will not stop blaspheming against our God, so we must fight… until our very last breaths….until we make it back to Heaven." I shouted out.
I summoned up the Lightbringer, the flames from the sword reaching the heavens.
"We were chosen, all of us to be the light that shines from above and we must not stop shining, no matter how dark the road may be, even if the rest of the world plummets into darkness, we will be the light to illuminate them. We will show them the error of their ways, show them that the only way to salvation is through repentance." I shouted.
"What if they don't want repentance?" One of the ascended asked.
"Most of them don't, most of them already have the Mark of the Beast. But some do not, and for those people we will fight. We are not murderers, we are not terrorists, we are defenders of this planet and although they hate us and even though they will persecute us, we will love them as our master loved them. We are not messiahs, we are partially divine through the grace of God and because the angelic blood in our veins. We didn't ask for this, but we have a choice. We can give up, misuse this power that was giving to us like the other nephilim, or we can use this power to protect this planet and the inhabitants who still want to saved. That is why we are here, if you don't want to fight anymore, than you're better off joining Mabus because we will fight to our last breath, because they are going to hunt us down." I replied.
I looked around and suddenly the skies were filled up with fighter jets, armed drones, and even spaceships. King Mabus had amassed his army and was ready to take us out now. I looked down below and I could see missiles being fired at us.
The time had come for me to be a leader, and we had to fight to survive.
"KILL THEM!" I could hear an angry voice roar.
The jets and drones fired missiles at us, the spaceships fired off their ray cannons, and nuclear warheads were launched from Jerusalem at us.
I closed my eyes and thanked God I was alive, if only for a little bit longer.
I burst into flight, swinging the Lightbringer into a jet and blowing it apart, sending it falling from the skies. "For the glory of God!" I shouted, slicing through the missiles that got perilously close to me.
I looked around me and I could see the other ascended warriors fighting, defending the cause which we had elected to return to earth for.
I saw Sam teleport from spaceship to spaceship blowing them apart with pure energy, hurling yellow balls of fire at every spaceship within her range.
This was insane.
The skies were littered with Mabus' army and weapons and I flashed out of the way as another missile was seconds away from blowing off my head.
Let's see if Mabus liked a taste of his own medicine. I flew faster than I ever had before until I was above Jerusalem. In the center of the great city was the throne of the King, and people were gathered up around it, pleading for respite from the sores and the scorching sun. I held the Lightbringer up the sky, drawing energy as fast as I could until it was brimming with power.
I swung the Lightbringer down at the throne of the King, "Light Gun Destruction Bomb!" The Lightbringer roared to life, a wave of yellow flames coming out of the sword and down to the throne, blowing up the foundations of Mabus' throne and bringing it down to crumbles.
Part of me felt guilty as I watched as some died, but they were all armies of the beast.
But this was a war I had not started, but I'll be damned if I kept running away.
The center of the city went up in smoke and out of the smoke came the King, flying through the smog until he reached me, swinging two black katanas. I ducked underneath them and flew backwards, hurling another arc of flames from the Lightbringer.
I took a good look at the godking who had made my life hell for 4 years, the man who had murdered my friends ruthlessly and without a second thought.
The Islam god stood before me, dressed in battle attire. His eyes were black and bottomless, his skin was caramel and his hair was short and black. He had on black armor over a tight red shirt and the blasphemy 666 was imprinted onto his armor.
He had on loose black pants with red and black boots.
The all seeing eye was tattooed on his forehead but it was like a living, breathing tattoo.
"Ezekiel Rivera, how long I have waited to face you and take off your fucking head…" Antiochus Mabus shouted out at me.
"I bet, you're going to have to wait a little longer I'm afraid." I replied, slipping in through his defenses as he swung his swords and I landed a vicious punch to his armor. I hadn't even left a dent but my left hand was ringing in pain.
"I don't think I will." He grunted out, swinging his right katana at my head while deceptively swinging the left at my midsection.
"Your wife said the same thing and I sent her home running." I shot back, blocking his strikes with the Lightbringer.
He laughed as he tossed the katana in his right hand, clasping it into his mouth as he powered up an attack.
I never fought Mabus before so I had no ideas as to his abilities, I just knew he was the strongest being alive on Earth other then God Himself and the archangels. A black spear of flames formed itself in his right hand and he launched it at me, the spear entering into my side, blood shooting out of my mouth.
"It's obvious I'm not my wife." He replied, phasing out of view and reappearing behind me to stab me in the back.
I barely managed to fly out of the way as his katana cut through the air where my heart had been seconds ago.
"Obviously, she's sexy as fuck." I shot back, and his grin grew, fangs poking out of his mouth.
"I can't wait to fucking kill you!" he shouted, "I will kill you today Ezekiel Rivera, no longer will you be a thorn in my side."
"That's where you're wrong, today I'm going to become an even bigger thorn. I will lead the resistance against you and everything you stand for Antiochus Mabus!" I spat out.
"How can you kill God?" he replied, kicking me hard across the face, breaking my nose.
I looked at him, my eyes burning with fury. "You are not God, and you will never be." I replied, punching him hard across the face. It had little to no effect.
"I am the God of this world." He replied viciously with a kick to my stomach. I bent over, reeling in pain.
"You may be a god to them, that doesn't make you the one true God. You are nothing but a pawn of Lucifer and thus you will burn in hell along with him." I replied, my voice wheezing.
"Hell is for the weak, that is where you belong!" Mabus replied, burning me with a ball of black flames. It collided into my unprotected chest, searing the skin.
I clenched my teeth and endured the pain.
I cocked my fist back and punched him in the face through the flames. His head snapped to the side and I powered up, willing my yellow flames to burn brighter as I swung my sword in an arc at his head. "Light Gun Destroyer!" A blast of yellow fire erupted from the tip of my sword and he parried the blow, swinging his left katana to block the blow.
He dropped the katana out of his mouth and into his hand and swung the blade, an arc of black flames trailing.
I grabbed the katana with my free hand, the blade slicing through my palms, blood dripping down onto the enflamed steel.
"I can see all of your attacks, nothing can be hidden from the all seeing eye." He proclaimed boastfully.
"You are not all seeing, you are not all powerful, and you are not omnipresent. You are not God, you egotistical son of a bitch." I replied angrily, tilting my head backwards. I summoned up as much energy and built a sphere of light inside my mouth.
Bringing my head forward I released the blast, a charged beam of light coming forth and blasting him in the face.
He shouted in pain and was blasted backwards, crashing into the city.
I took the moment to look above me, more missiles being blasted into the skies. I prayed that nothing happened to Sam.
It was selfish that I had thought of her before everyone else but I liked her.
It was a shitty excuse but fuck it, I'm not perfect.
I burst forward, launching another Light Gun Destruction Bomb and aimed it at the armies of Israel.
They had all rejected God and joined the Anti-Christ and they were the enemy right now. That's all I could think of to convince myself this was okay, but I clearly couldn't stop the guilt from gnawing inside me.
The 144,000 were imprisoned in King Mabus' camp and while I wanted to free them, I knew that was not for me to do.
Right now I had to protect the resistance.
A few army tanks were in the street and they were blown to bits by the power of the Lightbringer.
Mabus fly up into the skies, massive black wings bursting from his back. He looked almost like a black dragon rushing towards me.
My fists were engulfed in yellow flames and I rushed in and swung, catching him with a right cross and ducking underneath his counterstrike to land another punch into his midsection. This time I dented the armor, but just barely.
He head butted me right across the bridge of my nose breaking it and sending blood spraying into the air. As I fell backwards, I managed to kick my foot at him but he sidestepped it in midair and kicked me in the back sending me crashing down into the city of Jerusalem.
As soon as I landed the army started firing again, the tanks firing their rounds, bullets and missiles spraying into the streets. Bystanders were caught in the fire and killed, while I took off in flight and avoided it.
It saddened me to see so many people die, especially because they had been God's chosen people but they had brought this war upon themselves, they had abandoned Jehovah to serve Mabus.
I looked behind me and saw King Mabus flying towards me and I blasted forward faster, until I was able take the fight away from Jerusalem and Israel altogether.
Fighter jets zipped across the skies shooting hellfire missiles at some of the ascended. I swung the Lightbringer at them, sending over an arc of flames to knock them out of the sky. Mabus used that split second to tackle me, knocking me downwards.
I spiraled out of control on the way down and crashed into the blood red seas.
Lightning crackled in the distance and it began to rain blood in earnest.
I was submersed under a few feet, blinded entirely by the red sea. I summoned up energy, blasting out of the ocean and swinging the Lightbringer at Antiochus Mabus' head. Yellow fire whipped forward and he deftly blocked it, his black flames overpowering mine easily.
"I will show you why I am God to you Ezequiel." He taunted, a twisted smile on his face. He had a look of manic glee, like nothing made him happier then to take pleasure torturing me right now. He slid his two katanas into their sheath and I raised my eyebrow in confusion. I was floating right above the water, adrenaline coursing through my body, and I shuddered in anticipation of battle.
Antiochus Mabus was the strongest opponent I would ever fight and I honestly felt a joy, deep down that it was me fighting him. That I had been chosen for this fight, that even though I would die at his hands, I would lead the rebellion against him.
So many had perished under his cruel reign and so many more would continue to.
I had the power to make a difference.
Mabus shot downwards, fist cocked back and I moved backwards to avoid him but I hadn't even been the target. He continued on until his fist crashed into the waters and the seas split into two in some sort of twisted blasphemy against God. The ocean split and rose in two massive blood red walls that reached the skies.
King Mabus powered up, black energy swirling into his midsection like a black miasma.
Lightning and explosions went off in the background like fireworks, and some bodies fell from the skies, ascended warriors who had died in action.
Jets and spaceships were not unharmed, some of them crashing into the blood red seas or exploding into flames.
Antiochus Mabus began to swell up, become bloated like a puffer fish, his limbs grotesquely big.
He continued swelling until he was like a sun in the sky, casting a massive shadow over everything. His skins stretched out and exploded into a gory shower, grisly meat flying out and instead of a humanoid Mabus; a giant dragon filled the sky.
The dragon was giant and black, easily over a hundred feet. It had two massive black wings that had about a hundred and twenty foot wingspan. The wings were black and bat-like, with red flesh on the undersides.
He had a giant reptilian mouth, huge teeth poking out ready to grind anything into bones. His eyes were blood red with black slits. He had nine horns poking out from his forehead and one on the bridge of his snout. The horn had a mouth and it opened its maw as the beast roared its mouth. "I am God!" the horn shouted.
The beast hide was red and scaled; the scales looked harder than diamonds. On the beast's underbelly was the all seeing eye, looking directly at me.
A long spiked tail whipped back and forth, the spiked tip at least six feet and looked deadly.
How the fuck was I supposed to fight this thing.
"Hey we're here to help." I heard a voice call out and I looked behind me.
There was a young man and a young woman, siblings I would assume. They were ascended, but they were not one of the high ranked ones. They had dark hair and dark skin, and Spanish features. The man spoke up. "I'm Moses Rivera and she's Natalia Rivera." He said introducing himself.
"I'm Ezequiel Rivera." I replied hastily, before flying out of the way to avoid a large clawed hand swooping down on me.
I swung the Lightbringer down on his hand and watched it bounce off uselessly. He swung his hand, knocking me into the wall of water, my back stinging with pain. The dragon beast roared its head back and flame scorched the skies as red yellow flames streamed from his mouth like a flamethrower.
Moses held out his right arm and massive gun cannon materialized over his arm. "Are you our older brother?" he asked. He aimed the cannon at the beast's head. "Lightning Beast!"
A blast of blue lightning came out of the cannon and hit the beast in the face, angering it. "Puny human, you dare attack a God?" the horn roared, flames coming out of his mouth towards us.
"God's pretty ugly huh?" Moses shouted back, vanishing in a blur, running across the dragon's belly to his face and aimed his cannon at horn.
Energy swirled into the cannon turning into a blue miasma of power. "JEHOVAH's Wrath!" Moses shouted, and the blue energy screeched as a huge blast of lightning charged power erupted from the cannon, hitting the beast on the horn as Mabus screamed in pain, the blasphemous horn broke off and plummeted into the red ocean.
Mabus blasted Moses with a wave of flames and I took that split second to charge in, bursting into flight as I swung the Lightbringer into his midsection. "Light Gun Destruction Bomb!" The Lightbringer roared to life, a massive wave of yellow flames hit him right in the underbelly. His stomach burst open and black blood blew out of his gut in an explosion of visceral gore.
The beast was blown backwards into the air and I leapt up at Mabus, spinning in the air as I swung the Lightbringer into his reptilian throat.
The Lightbringer slid into Mabus' neck, like a hot knife through butter, more black blood spraying my clothes but I did not care.
Suddenly a black flame arrow was inches from hitting my face, and before it could strike, Natalia Rivera stepped in the way. "Gate of the Righteous!"
A massive shield of energy materialized and the black flame bounced off harmlessly.
To the right I could see the harlot, clad in her scandalous green robe with her breasts splayed out for everyone to see. The Godkiller was in her hands and she fired off another arrow at Moses. I vanished from view, reappearing in front of him to block the arrow with my sword. His back was turned, facing the beast and if I hadn't blocked it, she might have killed him.
"Thanks bro." Moses grunted out.
"Anytime." I replied, looking back at Alexis, I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's up bitch?"
Alexis Jones smiled eerily, and took her crown off her head, throwing the gold crown with red rubies into the seas. She slid off her robe and was clad in nothing but some black short shorts that revealed all of her long, slender legs. She had on a tight red tank top with a black 666 tattooed across the top of her left breast. She pulled the Godkiller bow and fired another black flame at us with supernatural speed. As I moved to block it, she took that split second to close the distance between us and as I blocked the arrowed, she slammed her fist into my stomach, blood spraying from my mouth as my eyes opened wide from shock.
She was stronger than last time.
She quickly reappeared behind Moses elbowing him across the mouth, sending him crashing to water. "No one fucks with my husband and lives to tell about it." She shouted, laughing cynically.
Before I could even retaliate, Sam teleported in front of her, materializing out of thin air, and kicked Alexis across the mouth. She teleported behind her, kicking her again in the back of the head. Alexis screamed in pain, but Sam was relentless, assaulting her with a barrage of kicks.
Alexis started telegraphing her strikes and Sam changed it up, coming in with a barrage of punches, coming in close to brutally dominate her.
Sam was not the first ascended, she was the last to be ascended and she was powerful beyond means.
Perhaps that's why Yehoshua said in the parable, "Those that came first will be last and those who came last will be first." I didn't remember the exact text but I knew it was something along those lines.
The beast rose from its slumber, fire torching the skies, illuminating the dark skies.
Mabus blasted off into the skies, his massive wingspan casting a shade on all of us.
"I will not forgive you Ezekiel Rivera, you do not piss off God." Antiochus Mabus shouted.
"I don't need your forgiveness, you're the one who pissed off God." I replied. "Run away little dragon, we are the resistance, we are God's elected, his anointed who serve Him faithfully. We will not run, we will not hide, we do not fear you Antiochus Mabus. Gather your nations, kings, armies, all of your homunculi, all of your nephilim, all your followers, all your alien gods, and go to war against us, because we serve a God who is more powerful than all gods, whose son Yehoshua HaMosiach died on a cross for all mankind, whose Holy Spirit was promised upon all of us. Our God is bigger than you, and the one you serve, and the world will know it." I replied, shouting back to the fleeing god.
The heavens parted open and a soft light permeated through the thick clouds illuminating all of the ascended with a soft white light, making them all look like stars in the clouds.
"You are my chosen, my faithful. It is I, your God, who loved you before you were born, before you were made into flesh I had chosen you, picked you for this. Remain faithful to Me and you will be kings in New Jerusalem for I your Lord God have not forgotten you. I will never forget those who are faithful to Me and you will find forgiveness if you truly desire it. I will keep your names in the Book of Life, do not lose your way for I your God hear your prayers, and I see your suffering. Be patient for the time is almost near for the Second Coming." A voice like thunder called out through the clouds and I was frozen, in awe.
It was a religious experience beyond explanation. Hearing His voice was like a warm, gentle heat, a tone that was powerful, but seductive. It was loving, a serenity filled me up and it felt like I was basking in warm sunlight.
Then it disappeared fading away like a blissful dream as the skies darkened once again.
I was filled with a grief and longing unlike any I had ever felt before.
To be so far away from God was saddening.
But I rejoiced in knowing that He heard our prayers, in knowing that this fight wasn't in vain. That made it all worth it.
I looked back at Sam and Alexis who were still going at it, Sam pummeling the 1st Ascended with harsh blows the face, swelling up her pretty face under every blow.
It was crazy to see Alexis, the proud harlot who claimed to be able to kill God get her ass kicked by the last ascended who hypothetically should have been the weakest.
"Enough!" Alexis shouted, powering up, black flames shooting outwards from her body, placing a wall between her and Sam. Sam leapt backwards, her skin singed and raw from the flames.
"I'm not ready to die!" Alexis screamed, her black flames scorching everything around her, some of the water from the ocean evaporating into the clouds. She pulled the bow string on the Godkiller back, "Arrow of Unholy Blasphemy!" She shouted, releasing a massive black arrow, the tip of it was a massive horned goat head.
Sam teleported, reappearing behind Alexis she grabbed her by the hair and teleported again. She reappeared in front of the incoming flaming arrow and hurled Alexis into her own attack. The arrow penetrated her midsection and she screamed something fierce, before plummeting from the skies, a mist of blood soaking the air as blood flowed freely from her torn stomach.
She crashed into the bloody oceans and didn't surface.
"Why are the hottest chicks always evil?" Moses complained, and Natalia laughed.
"I'm not evil." She interjected.
"My point exactly." He replied and she appeared in front of him and punched him in the arm, sending him flying. "What'd you say!?"
Sam appeared next to me and slid her arm around my waist. "I told you a long time ago you would be a hero, and look at you now. I'm proud of you." She confessed.
"Shut up and kiss me." I teased, pulling her in for a kiss. My lips collided into hers and we kissed, suspended in the air. We could have been suspended in time for all I knew, our lips melded together passionately, her tongue desperately invading my mouth.
"Ugh, get a room you two, there are still thousands of people out here, ya know?" Natalia cried out.
Moses rose from the water. "You're just mad cause since you ain't married you can't get laid." He pointed out.
Natalia gave him an evil glare.
"So this is your wife bro?" Moses asked.
"Nah, I'm not married." I replied. I looked Sam in the eyes, lost in her blue green seas. "Do you wanna be my girl?" I asked her.
"Duh." She replied, kissing me earnestly.
I pulled away from her lips for a second. "Moses, Natalia, this is Sam, she's the last ascended and my girlfriend." I said.
"Thank you guys for helping out Zeke over here. " Sam said to them, giving them a friendly wave.
I gave her a sideways glare for that.
"It's what family's for!" Natalia said cheerily.
Sam looked at me. "Family?"
"Yeah, they think I'm their older brother or something." I said.
"What's your full name?" Moses asked.
"Ezequiel Immanuel Rivera." I stated.
"I'm Moses Daniel Rivera. She's Natalia Mari Rivera. We're both from Puerto Rico but we got raised in the states. Our father was kind of a man whore who knocked up a bunch of kids, rest in peace his soul and all." Moses stated.
"Say it's true, how long have y'all known about me?" I asked nervously.
"A couple of years… we weren't really sure how to contact you." Natalia said nervously.
"Really you guys didn't have facebook or something? If anybody could find someone it'd be on facebook…" I said. I remember when people used to have stuff like facebook to entertain themselves with. Until people realized that facebook was nothing more than a government tool for the government to spy people on.
"For so long I wanted a family… a real one. I think it's kind of fucked up we just now meet in a post apocalyptic world where we're destined to die instead of a normal sibling relationship we could have had before this but whatever. I'm not one to hold grudges and we all play for the same team." I said easily.
"So what now?" Moses asked.
"Easy bro, it's World War Four." I replied with a grin.
Moses shook his head and laughed out loud.
Life would be interesting for sure.
X
May 31, 2017
We set up camp in the remains of Babylon. The earthquake had split the country into three pieces and the damage had been so strong it had killed nearly all the zombies and homunculi in the country. Some wildlife remained but a lot of that too had perished. Spaceships and jets had been destroyed by the hailstorms, littering the country like crushed cans in the dry wasteland.
We figured we were in the remains of New York by the license plates on the abandoned cars. I figured the remains of Babylon would be best for our headquarters because since most of the living population had perished, there was almost no one left. It also gave us some distance from Mabus who ruled the world from Jerusalem now.
The last couple days had been a blur. I didn't get to spend any time with Sam damn near. I had to plan on where we should set up camp, and ended up taking over an abandoned military base and moved to the barracks. Then we had to create a system of rank in order to run like military operation. My younger sister Natalia was a medic type, her powers as an ascended were to heal people rather than hurt. She could heal most fatal wounds and her shield Gate of the Righteous was very useful.
The first thing I did when I became the leader of the resistance was give away my power.
While I would remain their military leader and commander in battle, I did not want to govern them. We formed the Council of the New Disciples. 12 ascended, myself not included where the spiritual leaders for the massive group of ascended. They instructed all the ascended on the doctrines on being an ascended warrior of Christ.
They set up a temple for worship and built a make shift hospital. Natalia was our best medic so she became the lieutenant running that.
Since I was the leader of the resistance, I was in charge of the strategic planning for military battle and defense. I was the strongest out of all the ascended so I set up training for all the ascended to practice battling with friendly spars in order to prepare for the battle of Megiddo.
The final battle that would take place in Jerusalem and the day Jesus Christ would return to earth for His faithful.
I made Sam my second in charge, not because she was my girlfriend but because she was the boss of the recon division. She had years of experience as an infiltrator and while she couldn't shape shift she was still stealthy and her abilities were powerful beyond understanding.
Sam was faster than me in combat; we had sparred against each other. It was weird because she was my girlfriend but it did me no good to underestimate her.
Which I had.
Now I saw why she was able to dominate Alexis like she had.
She could warp time to the degree that she flowed through it effortlessly. She was the embodiment of time itself, she could rewind time, fast forward time and stop it altogether. Though for some reason she was very cautious and refused to go back in time or forward since the last time was a bad experience for her. But In battle she manipulated it to slow her opponent down while she moved in a surreal speed.
But her power was limited, and it exhausted her energy to control it to such a high degree. The only way to beat her was to overpower her with non physical attacks.
There were lapses between where she could manipulate time. She could only stop time on one thing at a time so if she was too busy stopping my Lightbringer, then I could land blows on her.
Moses was very powerful in combat and I had watched him dominate most of the other ascended in spars so it only made sense to make him my third in command.
I wasn't trying to play favorites, which is why I made it a point to give away most of the power as leader so I couldn't abuse the power.
We all served Yehoshua HaMosiach as equals, no one was superior despite their positions. Some of us had different gifts and that's why we had different roles in the resistance, but everyone had a role and a purpose.
Finally after a long round of training, I was able to get a free moment. I snuck into my room grabbed a towel and headed to the shower. Stripping off my torn and dirty fatigues, I tossed them to the side haphazardly and peel off my boxers until I'm completely nude.
Since all the water in the world had turned to blood we had taken a bunch of water bottles and put them in each room so people would have enough to cleanse themselves with.
We were trying to ration them so we'd have enough to last us for a while but Natalia put her hand over the water bottles and began praying. The water bottles multiplied until there was enough to last us for quite some time.
While Natalia wasn't the strongest fighter, her faith and good nature combined with her abilities made her invaluable.
I opened up one of the large bottles of water and poured some shampoo on my hair, and after wetting my hair, I began to rinse out the filth. Then I placed soap on my body and began to clean myself and I felt a pair of arms snake around me.
I knew it was her without having to look. "Sam, you shouldn't be in here." I said.
"Why not?" She teased, and I turned around to look into her eyes. She had a sly smile on her face, and she pressed herself against me.
"Fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, we can't, not when we're this close." I told her.
"Ezequiel, I can't tell you what I experienced when I was gone, but what I will say is that even if we fornicate right now, in the long run it's not going to matter." She said shyly, backing away for a second. Her eyes began to mist over. "We're not this close, we have three years left. You heard Gabriel there was a reason I was brought back. I was given to you Ezekiel, I'm what you asked for. How many times have you been praying to Him for someone? Now He has answered your prayers, but you will realize why it's better to be alone then to with someone." She said ominously.
I thought about the weight of her words. It was true…
I had not gotten over my ex Selena for a while. I lost her a few months before the _shift_, and she had clouded my mind since. She had died during the destruction of America by China and Russia. It had haunted me, the guilt of feeling like if I had been a faithful husband; she'd still would have been with me and could have been saved. I don't know how her relationship with God was when she died and that's what plagued me for years.
God didn't reply to that prayer, and it hurt.
I held on to my feelings for her, caught up in waves of guilt and the relationships I got in after were meaningless flings.
Until Sam.
Even when she was a homunculus she had stolen my breath away, and when she returned back as an ascended warrior I rejoiced. Because it felt like she could be mine, almost like she was destined to be.
Now here was she was, confirming it.
But the last part about me finding out why it'd be better for me to be alone…
…suddenly I understood.
Because we were ascended warriors for Christ, we would die, both of us, whether it is a few months from now or all the way at the end.
Hopefully if she died, I died with her.
I didn't want to lose her again, yet even though I know I would, I would rejoice in the moment. She was mine now…
I kissed her hard with bruising force, invading her mouth with my tongue as my hands desperately grabbed her clothes, tearing off her blouse and tossing it to the side. Her breasts pressed up against my stomach provocatively, and I could feel myself getting aroused.
"I want you." That was all I could manage in between kisses.
"I need you." Sam replied, shuddering and letting out little contented moans that only made me harder.
I grabbed her legs and picked her up, her legs automatically wrapping around my waist tightly. I took her out of the shower and headed towards the room, carrying her to the bed and laying her down gently. Her blue green eyes watched me, her eyes alit with excitement.
She unbuttoned her pants and peeled them down, revealing her long silky legs to me.
I pulled her black lace panties down and she tossed her bra to the side. I slid in between her thighs and her legs wrapped around me again and I could feel her womanhood press against me, hot and slick. "I've wanted you from the second I laid eyes on you." I confessed, surprising her with another kiss.
"I thought you wanted Marlene but you were too self righteous to fuck her." She said, laughing.
"She was hot… but she's nothing compared to you. You're the most beautiful woman I ever saw in my life." I admitted honestly.
"You're pretty hot too…. I'm joking. You're the sexiest man I ever laid my eyes on… and you're kind, and you're so humble and down to earth. You're flawed like anyone else and you accept it, and when you look at me, it's like you're making love to me with your eyes." She said, giggling.
"Do I?" I asked laughing.
"Yeah, so do it already!" she said exasperatedly, and I could not deny myself any longer. I growled at her and spread her legs effortless and thrust into her softly, unable to stop the moan that came out of my throat. She felt so wet and velvety, slick, and tight.
Her legs tightened around my back and she let out a scream, and began to grind her hips to match my thrusts.
There was no more beautiful of a sight then seeing her on her back, legs spread while she moaned my name.
It didn't feel wrong, I tried to feel remorseful but I couldn't. I wanted her, I wanted this. I was tired of being alone, and now I wasn't. We were connecting in so many ways that time could have stopped and we would have been frozen in time, forever making love.
Really for all I knew we could have been.
7. The Ascension
The Ascension: Return of the Nephilim
Chapter Seven:
The Ascension
"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotten, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you."
James 5: 1-6
_June 19__th__, 2017_
_Resistance HQ_
_1234 P.M._
"Do you Ezekiel Immanuel Rivera take Samantha Jessica Thompson as your beloved wife before God, to love and cherish forever, in sick and in health until the day you perish?" Jeremiah Wynn asked me.
I found out he was in the resistance shortly after we built the headquarters and we had caught up. Eventually, I had asked him to be the pastor to marry me and Sam. I remembered how big into marriage he had been and how fitting it'd be for him to declare us husband and wife before God.
I looked at Sam, standing there in a beautiful white gown, long light brown hair with blond highlights cascading down her shoulders. She had let her real color grow out after we set up in HQ but she still liked having blond in it.
She stared at me with blue green eyes that trapped and captivated me. I was a prisoner in her eyes, the cerulean depths drowning me in euphoria because after today she would be officially my wife.
She smiled, her pink lips stood out on her cream colored face. Her skin was flawless and without blemish, her soft ivory neck led a trail down to her voluptuous breasts covered by her dress.
I would forever be her slave.
I am so in love with her, all I could stumble out was "Yes I do." I was nervous and jittery, standing here in front of thousands of allies in a black tuxedo for the first time in my life and I am nervous as shit. I suddenly wished I had smoked earlier but lately I haven't smoked as much.
I'm too busy with Sam.
Wink. Wink.
But some weed would definitely shut up my wedding jitters.
I loved Sam so I wanted to be completely sober for this moment.
"Samantha Jessica Thompson do you accept Ezekiel Immanuel Rivera as your husband, to love and cherish forever, in sickness and in health until the day you perish?" Jeremiah asked.
Sam smiled at me, her love beaming in her smile.
I vaguely wondered how I appeared before her.
My hair had grown out long and thick and I kept it gelled in spikes. My face was clean cut, except for the small beard I grew out.
"I do." She replied hastily.
I placed my ring on her left ring finger. She placed the ring she had on my hand.
Jeremiah smiled warmly at us, and then spoke again. "Then by the power given to me by God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May your love forever be eternal." He proclaimed. "You may now kiss the bride."
I didn't wait long as I grabbed her and pulled her flush against me, kissing her lips passionately.
I could hear my family and friends cheer in the background and I realize why I am alive.
I am alive for moments like this.
Even in the dark abyss of life, God managed to supply you with happiness.
"Congrats big bro." Moses congratulated me, clapping his hand on my back.
"Thank you." I mumbled out.
Natalia came up and hugged us and for once I had a family.
A real one…
It had been all I had ever wanted and now I had it.
'Thank you God.' I prayed silently.
I had more reasons to fight every day. They were my motivation, what fueled me to fight what seemed to be an impossible fight.
I'm sure David must have thought the same when he fought Goliath.
I knew I couldn't kill the Anti-Christ, that would be the job of the true Messiah when he came. But I could interfere in his nefarious plans and tilt the scales back on our side.
But for now I would just enjoy life with my family and God.
Nothing else was more important.
_December 25__th__, 2017_
_Resistance HQ_
_8:00 A.M._
All I could see was fire. Flame burned the world away, buildings collapsed, people screamed before falling to their knees. A mighty dragon with ten horns was in the sky and his shadow eclipsed the world, darkness amongst the flames. I saw myself flying at him, swinging my Lightbringer at his head, fire scorching the skies.
It was me.
I set the world on fire.
I woke up screaming, flailing and flying out of the bed. "Baby what's wrong?" I heard Sam ask.
I was still hysterical, all I could see in my mind was fire consuming the world, and it had been me to do it. It had to be just a dream. I couldn't be the one to destroy the world that was King Mabus' job. Everything I had been doing so far had been to save the world, but even that had been a failure.
"Just had a nightmare babe, its okay." I said, trying to brush it aside.
Sam appeared in front of me and wrapped her arms around me. "I'm sorry." She said.
"For what, it's just a nightmare." I told her.
"It's all my fault…" she sobbed out, tears spilling down her eyes.
I was so confused, why was she crying?
"What are you talking about Sam? You've been nothing but a blessing in my life." I replied, kissing her on the lips, lifting her up and carrying her over to the bed. I slid in between her thighs and interlocked our hands, the gold bands on our right hand symbolizing what we had. "I love you Samantha Rivera, now and forever."
I kissed her neck, lips trailing down to her breasts.
"I love you too Ezekiel." She replied, kissing my forehead as I trailed kisses across her chest.
I slid into her and we were complete once again, the perfect way to start our Christmas morning.
After we were done we showered and dressed, and we both prayed and gave God thanks for our blessings. I thanked God for Sam, because despite knowing that it could only end tragic in our human lives, she made the life that I lived easier.
To no longer be alone, to have someone to fight these nightmarish battles with me was a Godsend. She was my guardian angel and I loved her more than my I loved myself. She was the light of my life, she was my Lightbringer in a human body.
These last six months had been crazy. We had formed the resistance and had waged a campaign against King Mabus and his armies. There had been numerous casualties on both sides as we fought what seemed to be a never ending war.
We had managed to take out most of his ascended warriors with the exception of Alexis and a few. We had also dealt major blows to his human and alien armies, but they had also killed many of us. We had started at just over 50,000 and now we were down to 24,000.
But time was counting down and soon it would be time for the battle at Megiddo and the Second Coming of Yehoshua HaMosiach.
It was our long awaited day, the promised day when we would find reprieve for our earthly suffering and receive our promised salvation.
It would be the best day of my life, if I was saved.
I had not faced the choice Sam had warned me of yet. But since I married Sam I had become a better disciple, I smoked weed less, I didn't cuss anymore, I no longer fornicated because we were married and we loved each other. Because of this my flames went from yellow to white, and it was a good feeling to know that I was favorable in God's eyes.
I still wasn't perfect but God still loved me anyway.
I loved Him for that, and for so many other blessings that He gave me and would still continue to give me in such a cold world.
"Let's go outside." I told Sam hastily.
She showed her confusion by arching her eyebrows. "Why?" She asked.
"Because, it's Christmas, I want to see if it's snowing." I replied.
"Ezekiel, it hasn't snowed in forever…" Sam said laughing. "It's cold out there, but not cold enough to snow anymore." She added as an afterthought.
"Well when we prayed I asked for it to snow, and I believe it can happen." I responded with a smile.
"You want it to snow? It's so cold." She whined, sliding up next to me and curling up against me.
"That means I can keep you warm." I teased, kissing on her neck.
"What if I don't even wanna leave the bed?" She said, reaching down to grab my dick through my pants, teasing it slightly.
"God I love you." I replied, my fingers reaching out to pinch her nipple through her blouse.
"I love you too."
There was a knock on the door, interrupting us before we could go any further. I got up out the bed, still dressed and walked towards the door. I opened it and saw my younger brother on the other side. "Yo, what's up?" I asked.
"It's snowing outside, c'mon." He said excitedly.
I began laughing hysterically and thanked God silently. I looked over at Sam who shook her head. "Are you serious?" She asked Moses.
"I wouldn't interrupt your marathon sex session unless it was for real…" Moses said sarcastically, giving Sam a sly wink.
Sam gave him a furious scowl, "Moses." She growled out teleporting over to him and bouncing her fist on the top of his head.
"Ow!" Moses whined pathetically. "Maybe I should leave you guys to have sex, she's in a bad mood." He added.
Sam gave him a scathing look before breaking out into a bright smile. "You should have." She said, punching him in the stomach lightly.
Moses pretended to faint and fell to the ground. "Save me brother."
"Don't make me kick you in the balls, you might faint for real." Sam said sadistically with an ear splitting grin.
Moses disappeared as fast as he came, lightning streaking across the room as he exited.
"Let's go see what all this fuss is about." I said, and we left the room and walked down the halls of the headquarters for the resistance. I could see sunlight streaming in through the windows and I looked outside and sure enough blood red snow had begun to fall on the deserted landscape. Sam grabbed me and we teleported outside and I could feel a cold breeze on my arm, giving me the goose bumps.
Little flakes of red snow began to land in a flurry, turning the barren land bloody as layers of snow continued to land.
I could feel some land on my face, before melting and dripping down my cheek coldly.
I exhaled and I could see a slight bit of smoke come out. I looked at Sam, her blonde hair shining, she was so beautiful, it was hard to believe she was mine. She noticed me looking at her and gave me a reassuring smile, as if she could read my thoughts and sometimes I had to wonder.
Not only was she beautiful, my own guardian angel stood next to me as snow began to cover the sky, blotting out the sun and painting the skies white. Her blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders, her blue green eyes were twinkling with mischief, her lips curved into that seductive grin I came to love. Her skin was a creamy pale colored, her womanly bust pushing out her blouse.
But her beauty was deceiving, she was a powerful warrior in her own right, possibly even more powerful than me. She was kind, a peaceful soul who fought only to protect those she held precious to her heart. She was passionate, caring, and loved me and accepted me as I was unconditionally.
I never knew what it was to be loved like that, Selena had never loved me like Sam did. In return I loved her more than I had ever loved Selena, I gave her my soul, intertwined our destinies together until the return of the Second Coming.
Hopefully beyond that… I was selfish, I wanted Sam to be my wife even in heaven, I wanted to share that love with her for all infinity.
I had heaven on earth now, and I hoped to have it forever.
"It's so beautiful…" Sam said in awe, an innocent look on her face that made her seem so young.
I myself was not the young man I looked. By human years I was 30 years old but since my ascension I hadn't aged in the slightest. In fact, I had looked younger and healthier than I ever did pre-ascension. But I was not the only one, all of us were blessed with the appearance of immortality, forever frozen in time.
We were like snowflakes, falling down to earth only to melt away.
"It is, but nothing is as beautiful as you." I replied honestly and I could see her eyes darken slightly. Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes misted again. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Babe what's wrong?" I asked, kissing her forehead.
"Ezequiel, I don't know how to tell you this… I'm pregnant." Sam said dejectedly.
"What!" I shouted in shock, letting go of her embrace.
My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I fainted… for real.
_Minutes Later_
I opened my eyes and immediately saw Sam crying, sobbing and in my sister Natalia's arms who was trying her best to soothe her. Once Natalia saw I was awake, her brows furrowed and her dark eyes narrowed at me. "You're a dick, who passes out after finding out their wife is pregnant!" She shouted, punching me on the top of my head as I stood up.
"Who punches someone after they just wake up after fainting? Aren't you a medic?" I asked mockingly, shaking my head.
"You deserved it and Sam wasn't going to do it, so I took the opportunity." Natalia replied casually, shrugging her shoulders.
"I think you're still bitter about being unmarried." I replied sarcastically, giving her a teasing grin.
Natalia's eyes got wide, energy swirling to her hand. "What was that?" she growled out.
Samantha grabbed me and teleported out of the way. "Are you okay?" She asked, reappearing a few meters away from Natalia's outstretched fist.
"I'm not the one who's pregnant…" I replied, "Sorry, I didn't mean to faint, it just shocked the crap out of me." I admitted, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her flush against my body. Snow littered the skies, the cold air forcing us to keep each other warm.
"It's okay, I feel the same way you do. I don't want to have a child, this world is soon going to burn and we'll be part of the last battle." Sam responded, laying her head into the crook of my neck.
"You won't be." I cut in quickly. Sam's eyes narrowed as she pulled away from me.
"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice rising. "I have to fight Ezequiel, I'm one of the strongest ascended behind you, how can I not fight?"
"Sam, I'm not going to let you fight. Please, you're pregnant and by the time the battle of Megiddo comes you'll already have the child and two years would have passed. You know Mabus will use that against me, please Sam, you have to stay away for that battle." I said pleadingly, giving her a haunted look.
Sam gave me a tortured look and teleported away.
If Mabus hurt Sam I would set the world on fire.
I understood now.
I rarely dreamed anymore since my ascension, but if I did it was usually prophetic in nature. The dream I had today took place in Jerusalem, the holy city. There had been so much fire and I had been responsible for it all. But despite what Antiochus Mabus told the world about the ascended, we weren't terrorists.
We existed on Earth to save people from the Anti-Christ, to preach redemption and martyrdom in the name of Jesus Christ.
I was not one to ruthlessly murder, I only fought in self-defense or to protect those in the resistance or those who didn't have the mark of the beast. The last time I fought the Anti-Christ I had killed a few hundred people in that battle.
The skies had been littered with missiles, Mabus' armies had been attacking us and I had destroyed them efficiently. Yet I still had felt bad about it, so I had flown away to take the battle away from the holy city of God.
But everything came back to Jerusalem.
Israel was the chosen nation for God, it was the founding place where Jehovah had revealed himself to the world. A holy nation dedicated to God as promised to Abraham, a nation who once knew their God turned their back on the Creator. Mabus had torn down the throne in Jerusalem and built a new one on top of it to blaspheme further against God by sitting on the throne as the ruling god in Jerusalem.
Israel had defied Jehovah and purposely brought the apocalypse upon them. Those inside the secret bloodlines had ruled over the world, spread amongst the Gentiles and instead of worshipping God, they had strayed and served Satan, creating the Illuminati, a secret society that used to control a good portion of the world.
America had been founded as a "Christian" nation but it was anything but.
The common folk had been indoctrinated as Christians, but the government power that ruled over them did not. George Washington, one of the founding fathers had been a free mason, a well known fact. What people didn't understand about the free masons is that there are levels and ranks like a military system.
Washington and the other founding fathers were freemasons of the 33rd degree, the highest rank you can achieve in the secret society. As you progressed through freemason ranks, you had to perform certain satanic rituals to be a member amongst them. When you reached the 33rd degree, you are completely enlightened or illuminated and you are given secret knowledge that the rest of the dumbed down Christian nation didn't understand.
On the back of an old one dollar bill was a pyramid with a bright all seeing eye on it. On the bottom of the pyramid was old roman numerals for the year America had been founded. That pyramid on the dollar was a hidden pentagram with the all seeing eye representing Satan, Baphomet, or whatever name Lucifer decided to go by.
That was the "God" America put its trust in.
If you removed the first and second numerals from the pyramid, instead of 1776 it reads 666, the mark of the beast.
The Mark of the Beast had been on the dollar bill the whole time and people had not understood because it was so much easier to be stupid and believe that the government actually gave a shit about us then admit that they worshipped the devil in a "Christian" nation.
When America had fought its first war for its independence from England, what they had not understood is that they had sacrificed all those soldiers to become a nation ruled by a secret society with bloodlines tied back to the King of England.
America was never an independent nation, it was always controlled by England all the way until its self imposed destruction.
That is why God let this happen; this was their punishment for foolishly ignoring the heinous blasphemies and accepting it as part of the nation's culture.
Israel, America, and England had been part of that secret society, secretly controlling the strings behind the scenes from the beginning.
I meditated, closing my eyes as I felt all the other ascended in the headquarters and through it all I searched for my wife.
I found her spiritual energy, it was so easy because it was bonded to mine.
I disappeared in a blur, moving effortlessly through the snow until I found her. She had tears in her eyes, her breath coming out in gasps. "Ezekiel, we can't have this baby." She cried out.
I understood the burden she had been carrying. She had been punished by God for altering the past, my past because she had cared for me and tried to protect me from the world. She had suffered by going into the future and she had seen how it had ended and it horrified her.
"Sam, you defied God for me, because you cared about me and had a crush. I love you, and now that I know you are carrying my child, I will stop at nothing to protect you both." I confessed. "I know it's scary and it's selfish for us to try to be parents as the world crumbles beneath us… but it gives me something to fight for. Before you I had nothing to live for other than God, death meant nothing to me.
"I have another reason to live, another reason to get up and fight no matter how hard it gets. I will stop at nothing to protect you, even if I have to defy God to do so. I love you, and if you can alter the past then there's no reason to believe I can't alter the future." I replied, cradling her face in my hands and kissing her lips tenderly.
"It's not as easy as just saying fuck it I'm going to change the future. It's meant to happen; God has decided that Mabus will kill me and my child, and you for that matter. It's how it has to be." She replied shakily, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"If God blessed us with a child, the only of the ascended to ever procreate it's for a reason. It's not so it can die, I will stop at nothing to save you and our child. If I have to kill Mabus myself to stop him I will, believe me." I pleaded sadly, wrapping her in a tight embrace.
"I don't think it's that easy." She said softly, turning her face away to look at the blood red snow falling from the skies.
"It's never easy… we're going to continue to be persecuted and hunted, but if you're pregnant then perhaps it is for a reason. I will never let Mabus hurt you or our child for he is blessed by God." I said, my voice full of false conviction, and Sam could see through it because she knew me better than anyone else.
"Can you save me Ezekiel, can you defy that which God Most High has said would be? You can't, no matter how powerful you are, it's going to happen." Sam replied sadly, tears running down her eyes.
"Do you love me Samantha, enough to forgive me for what I must do?" I asked her.
Her eyes lowered, contemplating what I would say next.
"I have to kill Mabus… now." I told her, powering up as white flames burst from my skin, the flames scorching the blood red skies. Sam's eyes widened and she tried to stop time but it was too late, I chopped her across the back of the neck and knocked her out.
I burst off into flight, heading towards Jerusalem.
Somehow I knew I had just given myself a death sentence.
I flew faster than I ever flew in my life, white flames leaving a streak in the blood red skies. Tears stung my eyes, my teeth grit in frustration. I had to sacrifice myself for Sam and our child.
It was the only way.
Otherwise I would have to watch Mabus kill my family and I'll be damned if I let that happen, even if it meant defying my Creator and His plans for me.
I loved Him more than anything in my life, but I loved Sam just as much, and the child that we carried.
I made my choice, if God would force me to choose between Him and Sam and our child, I would pick them…
… By sacrificing myself.
I would not let them die.
I'm sorry God, forgive me Father for I am weak. I love Sam, and I can't let her die, why should she suffer when You gave her to me? What did our child do to deserve to die?
As I neared Jerusalem, I already encountered one obstacle in my path.
Jerusalem's Ultimate Missile Defense System.
The Dome.
After the last fight with the King, he had gathered all his armies and kings into the city of Jerusalem and they had made occupation there. In order to protect them from the ascended, a dome was erected over the entire city made of some sort of psychoactive energy that shielded the Anti-Christ and his rulers.
In order for his armies to occupy and all fit in Jerusalem, the Jewish people had been kicked out of their homes and had to live in settlements outside the Dome.
It hurt my soul to see what they had done to themselves.
I had to get past the Dome somehow.
I powered up as high as I could, white flames bursting from my pores. Electricity crackled around the flames and I summoned up the Lightbringer and launched myself at the Dome. I gathered up as much energy as I could into the sword, "Light Gun Cannon!" A wave of white energy came out of the sword and collided into the Dome, bouncing off harmlessly.
"It's going to take more than that Ezequiel!" A voice taunted from the other side and I could see Alexis, and a small army behind her.
"I thought you were dead…It's only fun if you make me work for it!" I shot back, vaulting in the air backwards as I began to gather energy into the Lightbringer. I held it up to the sky and a beam shot up, the flames scorching the heavens above.
Blood red rain began pouring down from the heavens and thunder began to rumble in the skies.
I had taken this move from my brother and made it mine, it was called Wrath of the Righteous.
Lightning channeled downed the sword and I leapt into the sky, high above the Dome.
This was the fun part.
As I charged the Lightbringer with enough energy and lightning to wipe out a third world country off the map, I streaked downwards in a spiral, looking like a lightning bolt as I collided with top of the Dome. The Dome rocked and the city wobbled. A crack appeared in the top of the Dome and it exploded, shattering the whole thing.
I landed on my feet and gave Alexis my most sarcastic sneer. "What were you saying?"
She scowled and turned and ran, getting behind her army.
She sent a wave of vampires and werewolves at me. I disappeared in a blur, reappearing in front of them as I began to slice the Lightbringer into as many throats as I could reach. I weaved in between fangs and claws, spinning to elbow a vamp in the face. As he reached up to cover his face I decapitated him, kicking him into the incoming wave of wolves.
The vamp burst into a cloud of ash.
I swung the Lightbringer into the wave of werewolves coming up. "Light Gun Destroyer!" A white orb came out of the tip of the sword before expanding massively and catching the group of werewolves in the wake of a major explosion. Body parts exploded, bones flying in all directions.
I katana almost decapitated me but I was able to vanish in a blur, moving forward to block the next blow leaving behind an afterimage.
The Lightbringer broadsword connected with the katana and I looked into the face of my attacker. On the katana a number 9 was emblazoned on the blade itself.
This was the 9th Ascended Nephilim.
My eyes narrowed at him, then swiveled back to Alexis and the other warriors she was with. I could see 4th and 6th with her as well.
I would erase them all from existence before I died.
I looked at the 9th Ascended in the eyes and stared at his soul. I gave him a smile and he frowned in confusion and I opened up my mouth and a white sphere began to form in front of my mouth and I poured more energy into it and fired the blast.
He screamed as it collided head on with his face.
I backed away laughing as it exploded, showering the others with blood.
The attack was a modified version of my Light Bomb that I formed with my mouth, creating a ball of energy that I could throw at an opponent. The Light Bomb was small and deceptively deadly, because all the energy was stored inside the Bomb, once it connected it exploded outward in once massive burst.
The 9th's head exploded and he fell forward on his knees and a rush of dark energy flooded my system.
I had almost forgotten.
The ascension…
Every time an ascended warrior killed another, the power from the other ascended went into the victor as well as abilities and habits.
I had been hunted for a while because I was the seventh and the ten highest ascended had been the strongest above all. Black energy slid into me, and I could feel the darkness inside me. It was cold and invasive, and full of bloodlust.
I became stronger and stronger.
I kept laughing and disappeared to attack the 6th Ascended, a Japanese man by the name of Sado Nagashi, who was on alert and sidestepped out of the way to avoid the Lightbringer.
"Not fast enough." I growled out, blurring out of sight and appearing in front of the retreating Sado, leaping off the ground to slice the Lightbringer into his neck and take off his head completely.
I just killed the feudal king of Japan.
Sado had betrayed us all and joined Mabus to take Japan over by force, killing thousands and forcing them to bear the mark of the beast.
I would not pity him in the slightest.
I let out a cynical laugh as more power was given to me and I knew why Alexis had joined the dark side.
It was thrilling to be this powerful.
I know understood why God wiped the Nephilim off the map.
To have this power, this deliriously delicious angelic corruption of my blood.
I had inherited this power, this sin from an angel who long before I existed seeded himself into my bloodline.
Most of the nephilim were corrupt because the power they had inherited came from the fallen angels who rebelled.
Had any good angels sown their blood in mankind's DNA?
I understood now, that this wasn't the end…
…I could go further.
I would evolve further… it was my destiny.
I looked into the skies and saw thousands of spacecraft coming to the defense of the holy city.
I looked at Alexis Jones and the 4th Ascended Nikki Trinidad, a gorgeous black female with amber eyes and long black hair.
"You fool!" Alexis screamed, summoning up the Godkiller. "Did you think you could attack the Jerusalem by yourself and get away with it? You're going to die painfully. You know what's inside all those ships? More homunculi and aliens that are coming to kill you. You may be the seventh but this was stupid…" Alexis added.
I appeared in front of her punching her across the mouth, busting open her lips and sending her crashing to the floor. She healed instantly and I ducked a kick from Nikki, and engaged them both in battle. At first I was dodging and ducking, waiting for the right moment and then I went back on the offensive, slicing and dicing at the two gorgeous women.
Both had ridiculous abilities that had been perverted in their worship of Mabus.
Alexis Jones had an unholy bow called the Godkiller that fired arrows built from spiritual energy that destroyed anything in its path. Nikki Trinidad had the ultimate defense, a shield of dark energy that enveloped her whole body. Her purple spiritual energy formed a massive goat head around her that deflected my strikes.
She had chains around her arms that she was swinging at me with blades on the end that kept closing in on me. I dodged over one of them, swinging the Lightbringer in an arc to deflect an arrow that came my way.
I couldn't fail just yet.
I had to beat them.
Beams of light came from the sky, crashing down around us, blowing up the streets around us, knocking over buildings. The aliens must be firing their destruction beam rays, the primary weapon on the airship.
The death beams kept crashing around us and it was getting harder to avoid Alexis and Nikki's blows, dirt flying all around my face as I tried to keep the ships in my peripherals to avoid any incoming attacks.
The bottom hulls of the airships opened and homunculi were dropped from the skies.
Today was going to be a long day.
"Godkiller Flame Destroyer!" Alexis screamed, firing a massive arrow at me with the face of a demon.
I held out both arms and summoned up dual Lightbringers.
I swung my left hand and deflected the arrow, the heat coming from it searing my skin.
Nikki appeared behind me wrapping her cold metal chains around my body, squeezing the life out of me. She powered up and spikes appeared on the chains puncturing me all over, blood spraying all over and I screamed in pain.
Dozens of spikes tore through my body and I think I'm dead.
Yellow flames erupted from my skin and seared Nikki's flesh and she screamed in pain, releasing the chains and dropping me. I fell forward on my face, blood oozing from numerous wounds and I began healing, almost instantly.
I laughed, delirious with adrenaline, high off power.
Nikki frowned and I vaulted forward, swinging the Lightbringers at her massive goat head shield. Her chains whipped out, blades ready to cut my face and I burst forward, slicing as I did so.
"Give me more power Baphomet." She pleaded and her spiritual energy spiked, the flames forming a massive humanoid creature with a goat head and two massive horns made of black flames. Nikki was inside the creature, shielded away from my attacks.
The creature held out his hand and a tri-tipped trident came out with a blade on the end of it. It began cackling, a terrifying laugh that chilled me to the bones.
What type of pact had the 1st and 4th made with the devil to have that kind of power?
I saw Alexis fire another arrow and I turned and charged in towards her. "You're fucking crazy!" Alexis said laughing, a grin on her face. "I think I like you like this Ezequiel." She said, her red hair whipping around her face, hazel eyes alit with glee.
"Shut the fuck up." I growled out, teeth grit in frustration. I disappeared from sight, blurring out of existence and reappearing in front of her an orb of yellow flames in my hand. "Light Bomb!" The yellow ball of flames was rammed into her stomach, and I throttled my spiritual energy and it expanded and exploded, Alexis screamed and backed away, summoning up her bow.
I didn't have time to duck the trident that was rammed into my back. I let out a guttural shout and blood sprayed from my mouth and I looked behind me and saw a Nikki, a sinister smile on her face. Her spiritual energy formed a physical manifestation of Satan himself. He laughed at me, the trident embedded into my back and coming through my stomach.
"Die Ezekiel Rivera!" a dark voice called out from the flame construct.
I could see Alexis fire a Godkiller Flame Destroyer arrow at me, a black fiery arrow fueled by the souls of the damned.
I saw hell again.
Pain tore across my bleeding abdomen and all I could do was hope that if I died Heaven awaited me.
Just as the black arrow of death was coming towards me I ripped free off the trident, and spun around, the Godkiller Flame Destroyer piercing through the Baphomet shield and exploding the 4th Nikki Trinidad into dozens of charred bits of flesh.
Alexis howled in pleasure as Nikki's ascended power was bestowed to her. Dark black flames erupted from her skin and scorched the air as the flames rose constructing another Baphomet. Alexis screamed, completely overcome with power.
It had been some time since she killed such a high ranked ascended… even if accidently this time.
The Godkiller grew massive in her hands, another arrow forming on bow.
Alexis gave me a cruel sneer, her hazel eyes darkened by bloodlust. Her blood red hair was blown by her power, the satanic figure behind her holding the trident high, ready to maim me once again.
I channeled as much energy as I could and healed myself completely, but I didn't have time to dodge the arrow.
The Godkiller Flame Destroyer connected and I screamed in pain as a thousand suns seared my skin.
Black and yellow flames melted into one.
'Is this it God?'
There was a white light.
I stood there, unharmed and a construct of white flames stood behind me. It too was humanoid but had no face that I could see, instead its face was like that of the sun. Two massive white wings like that of a dove covered me, and in his hands was bigger version of the Lightbringer, enveloped in white flames.
"Are you an angel?" I asked nervously, looking up at the massive titan.
"No." a soft gentle voice replied, soothing my scared mind.
"What are you?"
"I am God… but in some ways I am also you." The voice responded, its voice was neither boastful nor arrogant… It said it plainly as it were fact.
"But I am not God." I replied, confused.
"No, you're not. Do you not see?" the voice returned cryptically.
"If I did I wouldn't be confused." I shot back off handedly and the construct of flames laughed. I looked at Alexis and saw her in shock, her eyes wide in panic as she looked at me.
"What is confusion? It is just your mind denying the reality that you face. Do you see that I never left you Ezekiel? I am God, I am the Holy Spirit that was promised to you, and I am the breath of life that sparks your soul and existence. Before you were ascended, your body was the temple for my Spirit like all who have accepted my Son as their Savior. After you were ascended, your soul and my Spirit became One. The power you were bestowed on that day comes from me. I am the Source. But because you were needed on Earth, away from my Throne and My Kingdom, you became an ascended human; a human whose soul had fused with the Holy Spirit giving you salvation and strength. When Alexis betrayed me and took the mark of the beast, she severed the bond between soul and Holy Spirit. Because she belongs to Satan, she is a vessel for him using stolen power from Me." God spoke.
His face turned towards Alexis, his eyes like white coals, his hair radiated the same glow that did not allow me to see his face. "You turned on Me, after I gave you redemption and salvation. You will never be able to kill me, for I am God, the One and Only God. I am God above what you call gods, Creator of the Universe, and you think you can steal My power and kill Me? Your blasphemy will be your end, just as you have burned many with Godkiller, today all you will see is fire. Bow before your God." He demanded, and Alexis screamed in pain as she was forced to her knees.
"Ezekiel, you are here because you are rebelling against Me. Your wife rebelled against me and suffered for it, why bring the same upon yourself?" God asked.
"Because I'm going to suffer anyway right? I'm persecuted for believing in You and Your Son, and I got the sick pleasure of watching the world go to hell while all my friends died… and finally I get one tiny piece of happiness in this wretched life and You want to take that away from me? How can I not rebel? You gave her to me and You want me to watch her die as well as our child, how is that fair?
"Have I not given You enough? Have you forsaken me God? What did I do to deserve this… all I wanted was to save the world and I can't even save them… I can't watch them die…. I won't." I replied angrily, yellow flames flickering across my skin.
"How can you stop what I already set in motion?" God asked calmly, his eyes downcast and looking sad.
"Just as You sacrificed Your Son for all of mankind, I will sacrifice myself for the two of them, so that they can have a future." I replied, summoning up my own Lightbringer.
"And what if I don't let you?" God asked.
"Then I guess I'm dead either way…" I replied sadly. I looked at Alexis, who was summoning up her Godkiller, dark flames of spiritual energy surrounding her, caving the ground in and she pulled the bow back and let it fire.
"I'll kill you God!" She screamed out. "Flames of Unholy Blasphemy!" She followed through, firing off hundreds of massive black flame arrows with Baphomet's face in the fire at God's avatar.
God's avatar was a manifestation of His spirit fused with my own soul, adorned in white cloth and sword drawn.
"I grow weary of you… goodbye Alexis Jones, the first ascended." God said sadly.
She gave Him a look of confusion as she watched her arrows burst into nothing. Her eyes widened in horror and Satan shouted in rage as she exploded, taking him out with her.
"How?" I asked dumbfounded.
"The power is mine… it was never hers as it is not yours. You have no power but that which I give you, for I am God." The avatar roared, the city trembling under God's voice.
The thousands of Jews that were left in the camps outside what used to be the Dome could hear their God and fell to their knees in fear. "You sadden me, for you were My chosen nation, the promised children of Abraham, how low have you fallen? You would rather be under the rule of a Gentile god than the God who rescued you from Egypt and promised you the land of milk and honey? You deserted your heaven for this? Hear me now Israel, I have never turned my back on you, it is you who turned your back from me… Abraham was promised children that would outnumber the stars in the skies, and only one hundred and forty four thousand of you remain faithful to Me?" God roared, the city rumbling like an earthquake struck it.
Wails and cries came from the Jews for they now truly realized what they had done.
I screamed in pain as Alexis' power tore into me.
God looked down on me, white orbs of light for eyes boring down on me. "You have now ascended once again, there is no one besides the Anti-Christ with as much power as you. Will you still so foolish squander it?" God asked me.
"What's the point of all this power if I can't change the world, if I can't save Sam or our child? Why give me this burden, why couldn't You burden someone else, someone stronger." I replied weakly.
God placed His hand on my head. "There is no one stronger than you… I will not return again until the Second Coming… You have all the power you need to change the world." God said, letting out a soft laugh. "You can't complain anymore."
How could God sound so _human_?
"Were you not created in My image?" God asked, answering my thoughts.
"Ok that's freaky." I said laughing.
"You weren't expecting a reply… no one does, so how glorious must it be when I answer your call?" God answered winking.
"But can I stop Mabus from killing Sam and our child?" I asked, tears springing up to my eyes.
"Maybe… Do you not have all the power and all the reason you need to fight?" God asked plainly.
I nodded.
God ruffled my hair. "I love you Ezekiel, and I will never abandon you. I am proud of you son, now do what you need to do." God said, the white flames bursting into the sky and disappearing.
Tears slid down my cheeks.
Thousands of Ufo's lit up the skies, glowing as they prepared to fire their attack.
The last of Alexis' power went into me and I looked at my body…it felt different.
I was completely clothed in a white. I had loose white pants and white boots with gold edgings. I had on a gold undershirt with a white billowing jacket over it with the number 7 on my back, I couldn't see it but I knew it was there somehow.
King Mabus burst from his Throne towards me like a bullet.
He stopped in front of me, a cold inferno of rage burning in his eyes as he looked at me. "I fucking hate you… why must you defy me? Bow before your God Ezekiel!"
I punched him across the mouth as hard as I could, snapping his neck to the side, blood spraying in the air. I could see two of his teeth fly out of his mouth. He looked at me with so much hatred in his eyes, swinging his fist back at me.
He was dressed in all black ensemble, black battle pants with red and black boots. He had on a black armor vest over his chest with 666 emblazoned down the chest to stomach in Japanese kanji style. Two black katanas were in his hand, glowing with black flames. His dark eyes stared at me with cold fury, a black crown on his head with red rubies was tilted askew from when I punched him.
"You are not God!" I replied, ducking under his blow and upper cutting him into the sky.
"I AM GOD!" Antiochus Mabus screamed, powering up black flames scorching the sky as they erupted from every pore in his body. Six massive black wings erupted from his back. They were skeletal looking with black feathers.
I was frightened; his power was beyond anything but God Himself. His strength was so powerful it put a pressure on me, like the terror of a demon on a normal human being. But this was not a demon…
…this was the son and vessel for Lucifer himself.
The power inside him was ancient and beyond understanding.
He was the Beast.
But I was a son of God, redeemed and saved by the blood of the Lamb of God.
There was no greater power than that.
Inside my body, fused to my soul was the living Holy Spirit of God, a power so strong not even Mabus himself could not equal. There was nothing as strong, as beautiful, or as loving as the Holy Spirit of God. It purified a man, created him into a new creature before the eyes of God. It was such a beautiful thing to feel God Himself within you. That love radiated within me, it was the love that I shared with Samantha, with our child, because we were all His children, connected to Him permanently by His Spirit and bonded to us by faith.
'Love thy God.'
If one loves God, one loves himself, if one loves himself, he loves the rest of mankind, for they too could be under the embrace of such a loving God. Seeing the Godlessness of this world saddened me, for I wished they could have the salvation I have, but for all those who were left, those who had taken the mark of the beast would suffer the lake of fire for a millennia.
The Holy Spirit could not go inside those who took the mark of the beast because they had disconnected themselves from God by rejecting His Spirit and embracing the spirit of Satan.
Only the 144,000 Jews would be saved now. 12,000 from each tribe and they were imprisoned underground in Jerusalem under the Throne of Mabus.
He was holding them prisoner until the battle of Megiddo.
I was still trying to figure out a way to get them out of there.
Mabus looked down on me and began laughing hysterically. "Foolish, foolish, Ezequiel. You have no idea what you've done." He taunted maniacally, evil radiating from him. He grabbed his face, the face of the Muslim Mahdi, the dark skinned Messiah of the Islam religion.
He pulled on it, blood seeping down his face as the flesh gave way and Mabus powered up, screaming in pain.
I looked at him and gasped.
Mabus' face was pale and white, his eyes were blue like frozen ice chips, and he had long, flowing blonde hair. His skin was sickly white and reptilian like, and his light blue eyes had a slit instead of pupils. "My Father grows tired of your antics. If you will bow before me Ezequiel, then I have no choice but to kill you and destroy all that you love. I will kill all the ascended today starting with your wife, and the blood red seas will become a sea of bodies." He threatened me.
He flew up in the skies, high above the city and held his hand up into the air, one finger pointing up at the sun.
"I will burn all you love before your very eyes." He said coldly, thousands of UFO's below him, all of them stationary in the skies in triangular formations.
I powered up, charging up the Lightbringer with energy. A white ball formed on the tip growing massive in size.
Antiochus Mabus began powering up a tiny sphere in his finger.
"If I cannot be the God of this Earth, than there will be no Earth." Mabus screamed.
I was shocked. I didn't believe he would go that far.
"You would destroy them all?" I asked, continuously feeding energy to the Lightbringer.
King Mabus nodded. "I will be God one way or another. If not in life, then I will be the God to destroy the world."
It was scary because I knew he was dead serious.
"God won't let that happen." I shot back.
"If I command it so, every single one of these alien ships will fire a concentrated beam that penetrates through the earth until it comes out the other side. There are millions of airships across the globe." Mabus taunted.
Fuck me…
What would Yehoshua do?
I laughed, until I realized that was the answer.
"What if I turn myself in to you King Mabus?" I replied.
"Turn yourself in?" he said disbelievingly.
"If I am a blasphemer against the supposed true God, then charge me for treason and blasphemy and find me guilty in front of a court and if I am found guilty then you can execute me in front of the world and prove your Godliness." I replied swiftly.
"Are you stupid?" He asked. "Or better yet do you think I'm stupid?" he demanded angrily.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "If you'd rather fight and destroy the world you live in than we can go back to that, because I'll go to Heaven and so will all I love, you won't." I replied.
"Fine… let's do this your way Ezekiel, you foolish bastard." He responded arrogantly, disappearing in a blur and reappearing in front of me smashing the handle of his katana into my temple.
I blacked out.
I awoke hours later. I was lying on a cot and I was chained down by my hands and legs.
I tried getting up but I couldn't.
I couldn't see much because it was dark. "You're not getting out of those anytime soon…" A gentle voice said in the darkness.
"Who the fuck are you?" I shot back.
"Me… some say I'm the son of God. I am Jesus Christ, and I will be your executioner… You think Mabus is powerful, you just pissed off the one who makes the world think he's God. You are being charged with blasphemy, treason, international terrorism and crimes against humanity. May God damn you…" the voice replied dismissively.
I looked up at the ceiling. "God save me." I closed my eyes and tried to find some sleep, it's all I could do for now.
I have no idea how this is going to end, but I imagine it's going to fucking awesome.
I fell asleep, with one last thought before I embraced the darkness.
I knew how I was going to save the 144,000.
Fin
End file.
| Misc. Romance, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 326,128 | 10,610.1 |
null | Misc. Books World War III: The Story of Kyle Brodensworth
The Story of Kyle Brodensworth, Age 14
November 23rd, 2902
Los Angeles, California
It was a cool, windy day at my house in the suburbs of town. I sat on the curb, watching children playing in anticipation of thanksgiving's arrival tomorrow. I was only wishing that I were their age, nothing to worry or think about, no care in the world. But building anger between our nation, The Vexus Empire, and The Order of The Illuminate keeps me from enjoying life like the younger kids are. I only worry about our nation as The Illuminate's dictator, Slackey Prime, still has most of Star Fuzion Russia, Asia, and all of North Africa. They still have Europe, but at the beginning of the month, our army made a movement against Europe, and we will hopefully take it back. All we need is time, and hope, but that is hard to come by because Slackey is edgy, and could make a huge retaliatory strike against the Imperial States at any time. I especially worry because our city is the most populated in the I.S. that is in range of long-range weapons from the Illuminate. I have been watching the biggest war on this planet unfold for a long time, and there have been many victories, but equal losses. Another scary thing is The Illuminate was able to penetrate through the I.S.'s forces and achieved to plant a nuclear warhead in one of the Aleutian Islands recently, and killed everyone on it. I just don't want that to happen to us. It was starting to get late, because the sun was setting earlier and earlier as winter approached. I started walking back to my house for dinner because my parents would yell at me if I were late again. I was an outcast from the other teens my age that lived near me, because all of them either drank or smoke, and I was determined to never do that in my life. I don't care if I don't fit in, I just want to be who I want to be, and not what some other jackass says I should be. I was nearing my house when I looked at the shiny, yet eerie fallout shelter in my front lawn, that my dad bought for us when we moved here. We used to live in New New York City, because my dad was a stockbroker on Wall Street. He got a big job opportunity in Los Angeles, so we moved here. I didn't want to at first, but I realized that I didn't have a say in the matter, so I kept my mouth shut. As I entered our house, the familiar scent of roasted chicken flowed into my nose, signaling that dinner was almost ready. My dad came in and gave me a stern look. He said "How many times do I have to tell you not to stay out too long, you know that the military here will mistake you for one of those dirty Satanists, and shoot you on the spot!" I replied "Trust me, I wont stay out until it gets dark, just when dinner is almost ready!" He got an angry look and he stared me down. "Don't talk to me like that, son! You know that I don't tolerate that kind of behavior!" he said. I rolled my eyes and walked away to my room. As I entered, I slammed the door to make sure my dad knew I was pissed at him. I could hear my mom arguing with my dad over how to treat me correctly. I lie down in my bed and turn on the holovision. It was on the news channel, midway in explaining how big the royal Ted (instead of turkey) is for this thanksgiving. Then it switched over to a breaking news segment where The Illuminate's dictator was giving a threat to the Imperial States. He said, "Our great nation will not tolerate this preemptive attack. If you do not pull out immediately, we will retaliate with unimaginable force, power that cannot be comprehended!" The terrorism warning level jumped from blue: general risk, to orange: high risk. I was scared at this point because everything was set up for them to attack Los Angeles if they wanted to. Dinner was ready, so I went out of my room, and ate in silence mulling over my worries for our city. My mom asked, "Are you ok, dear?" I replied with "Yea, its just that the terrorism level went from blue to orange today, from a new threat of retaliation by Slackey." My parents looked at each other worryingly. Later that night I was watching holovision in my room, when I came across a live announcement from the mayor saying "I assure you all that there is no immediate threat of any attack on our city, because our borders are cut off, and need searching to enter." He continued, "So I hereby lower the threat level, down to yellow, we are going to be ok!" Knowing that, I fell asleep easily. It was about 4 in the morning when my parents woke me up and told me to get ready to go on a drive to lower Nevada for thanksgiving at my grandparents house. I got packed as I watched holovision shows. At around 5 am, we were out the door and we went to our old wheeled car, we couldn't afford a hover car, in the brisk morning breeze. It was still dark as we got in our car and started to drive to the edge of the city. As we neared the border, we got stopped, and by proper precaution, were asked to step out of our car. As they searched our car, I looked over to the next lane, going in to the city, where a shady looking man was standing, staring down at his feet, next to his truck, which had a septic tank attached to the back. I laughed to myself when the police opened the tank to make sure there weren't any weapons and they looked away in disgust at the filth inside. They said the man was clear to go, so he slightly nodded, and went back in his truck, and drove into town. I still had an odd feeling about him, but didn't give any mind to it. The police said we were clear to go, so we went on our way. Our family laughed and conversed with each other until we reached the border of California. The men checked our car again, and we were clear to go once more. "Were off to Grandma's!" my mom shouted as we got into Nevada. We were about halfway to their house, when we were running low on electricity, so we stopped at a power station. I was watching and listening to the holovision inside the power station mart, while I was outside. There was a droid football game going on so I was into the game. Suddenly a breaking news signal popped up. It was the mayor of Los Angeles saying, "We have confirmed, that there is a terrorist weapon inside the city!" He continues: "We are raising the threat level to red: severe, and imminent risk! Everyone evacuate the city immediately, if possible!" My mouth hung open in surprise and fear. I ran screaming to my parents yelling "The Satanists! The Satanists are here! They're going to kill us all! Why god, Why!!!!" My dad said "Whoa, son, calm down, now tell me what's going on!" I replied "ok, ok… so the mayor of L.A. just went on live news confirming a terrorist attack was imminent, and he said evacuate the city!" My mom said "Oh my god! What will happen to our home!" Suddenly we turned back to the holovision, and we looked as it showed the Satanist who was giving the information that he was in the city and he has a bomb. I then realized in horror, that it was the shady man who was in the other lane with the septic tank. I yelled to my mom, "It's, it's the man, the one who I s-" I was stopped mid sentence by the darkness around us erupting in extremely bright light that made it look as if there was a thousand suns beating down on us during the summer. The temperature rose to a blistering 100 degrees, and I instantly sweated profusely. It was so bright, I shut my eyes, but then I realized I could see through my eyelids and through my hand, so that I saw the bones in my hand. I was gasping in the super heated air that arose around me. I began to scream, as I was confused and scared at the same time. Suddenly the brightness dimmed and it returned to the low light nighttime. I turned back toward the city, and I watched as an enormous fireball engulfed the entire sky in front of my eyes. I flinched as the tires on our car popped and crackled from the sudden rise in temperature. I screamed to my parents, "Oh my god! What is happening! Why do they have to do this to us!" My dad replied with "I don't know, I'm…I'm just, dumbfounded, our house, our friends…why…" Suddenly I was alarmed as I saw a huge wall of dust and debris appear over the horizon. I just started mumbling to myself "Oh, no, oh no, no!" I then screamed to my parents "Ruuuuuuun!" We all turned and started to run away, suddenly the pressure pressing on me jolted and I felt I was being squeezed by an invisible hand. I tried to ignore it, and I kept running. Suddenly, the loudest bang I have ever heard in my life, like a million jets and trains just exploded in my ears. A huge wind then hit me, and I was carried hundreds of feet in the air. I kept flipping over and over on end once I smashed into the ground, and I felt myself losing consciousness, but I fought it back. I knew that it wouldn't be safe to be unconscious in this situation. I finally stopped rolling but there was still 60 mph gusts blowing over my head, so I curled into a ball. I felt the shattered glass from the electric station's mart tearing away my clothes and skin. Although all I can hear is loud ringing, it must be the explosion that did that. After what felt like an eternity, the wind slowed to a mere 5 mph, and I flinched in pain as I tried to get up. Nothing was broken, but I realize that I have sand and debris in my open wounds. I got up, and looked back all I could see for miles is parts of buildings and structures scattered everywhere. Then over the horizon, I gaped at the humongous blue mushroom cloud that filled the entire sky. I looked around for anyone, but no one was there. I realize now that the only way out is to head away from the mushroom cloud. As I started my dazed walk, I found hover cars that were once high in the air, crushed and upside down on the ground. All that was left of trees were a bit of the trunk, and nothing else. I walked for miles until the sun rose, it started getting hot. I finally reached the town where my grandparents lived, Henderson. I looked in the once thriving freshwater pond in my grandparent's front lawn, and saw nothing, not even a drop of water. I looked up at their house, only to lose hope. The entire house has toppled down on itself. Only to bawl at the sight of my dead grandmother, covered in debris and dust. Blood was dribbling down her many open cuts and wounds, oozing into a puddle below her. The once big town, full of skyscrapers and office buildings, was now a pile of rubble. I just sat there, non responsive. I walked over to the rubble of the house, and I found my grandfather's gun. I pointed it into my mouth and pulled the trigger. My brains splat on the ground behind me, and I was in a better place now.
The End
End file.
| Misc. Sci-Fi, Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 10,738 | 10,755.3 |
null | Misc. Books Night
**Last year we read **_**'Night' **_**in my english class. As a project we were given prompts, I'm bored so I'm posting them up here. Enjoy--or not, it doesn't matter much to me, this isn't really a story.**
**-- --**
**PROMPT #12: "You are an American soldier liberating a concentration camp. Describe in first person what the setting looks like, what feelings you are experiencing, what you are seeing, etc. Use all five of your senses."**
Relief washed over me as my fellow soldiers finally apprehended the German leader of this concentration camp. The joy of victory within me hollows out and dies as I glance at the newly liberated prisoners. Among the prisoners there were no shouts for joy. Looking from one face to another, I see nothing. Few reacted at all. The ones that did were overwhelmed and tears of joy, of relief, streamed down their faces. The rest seemed to be in shock, and despite their expressionless faces, their thoughts were easily read. They were all thinking along the lines of this one question: _After so long, after this long period of inhuman suffering, is it really over, just like that?_
My heart clenched, but I kept myself from turning away. Their gazes sent chills down my spine, and I resisted the urge to wrinkle my nose as the stench of corpses invaded my senses. This was real. The hundreds of bodies found earlier were real. It was wrong. On so many levels, it was evil. But it was all real.
The next days were spent giving medical exams and finding persoanl information from the ex-prisoners. Unconsciously, I picked at my nails trying to avoid the innocent gaze of the wide eyes before me. A young boy, probably no older than nine sat across from me, his dark eyes ogled curiously at me. He was alone. His parents had been sent into the gas chambers a few days earlier, and he had no syblings. Shifting in my seat, I struggled to find an answer for the boy's unspoken question.
_What do I do now?_
My shoulders start to shake and an unknown feeling rises in me. I try in vain to squash it down. I have no right to feel this way when I have suffered nothing. I have to do my job. I have to pick up the pieces.
--
**PROMPT #13: "If you were a non-Jewish citizen living under Nazi rule during WWII, how do you think you would have reacted to the Nazi treatment of Jews and other persecuted groups? Would you have risked your life to hide someone? To run messages for them? To rise up against the Nazis? Explain."**
'Ignorance is bliss,' they say. But I'm not so sure. No, I refuse to believe what I'm feeling is bliss. My friends and neighbors have left long ago. All that's left is empty homes and broken possessions.
The town is torn. Some people want to strike out at the Nazis for their crimes. But most, like my father, think it's best to leave things be, unless it affects us directly. And despite the disaggreement, there is no conflict here. Everything still goes like normal.
I'm a good girl. I listen to my father and keep clear of the soldiers that pass through town every month with their prisoners. With my neighbors. Is the emptiness I feel from the loss of my friends really bliss? And the pity and hate and anger that overwhelms my being when I watch the prisoners pass by, if that is what bliss feels like, I'd rather live in conflict.
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**PROMPT #10: "Choose one scene from the novel and write it from Elie's father's point of view."**
Empty. I was completely devoid of any emotion. I didn't even have the strength to turn away from it. There was my son, right before me, being whipped for some reason unknown to me. I watched as my Eliezer flickered in and out of consciousness as his body lay, beaten and bloodly, in front of everyone.
I saw his pain, but I felt no remorse. 'I am his father. He is my son.' For a while, it seems I have had to repeat that in my mind in order to get myself to behave like the father I was. But it is not the same, my son understood just as well that I am not the confident man I once was.
Hours later, I lie in bed. I was not haunted by the scene made earlier today, and I could not bring myself to find a reason for why I can no longer care. It didn't matter anyway. I am a shell. Living by day, dying at night. Completely hollow, and I have no wish to fill the void.
--
**PROMPT #9: "Write a narrative in which you describe what happens to Elie's sisters and mother after they separate from Elie and his father."**
I stroked my daughers' hair repeatedly. It was more to keep them from seeing my fear than it was to calm them. He abandoned us. Tears stung the back of my eyelids. There were so many chances for us to escape, but he remained submissive. He has condemned my girls and I to death.
I silently cursed my husband for his stuborness. My lips trembled. My son . . . for the life of my husband, I wish for my son to make it. Silent sobs wracked my shoulders as we were forced into a cramped room, awaiting our fate.
Dropping to my knees, I encased my girls within my arms. My girls . . . my poor, baby girls. Gas was released into the chamber, our fates were sealed. I feel my daughters grow limp, and ignoring the bodies falling around me, my trembling voice whispers a soft lullaby that I always sing my girls to sleep with.
--
**Prompt #8 I won't post. (It was just to pick 5 songs that describe certain characters/events in the story.)**
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**Prompt #11 I won't post. (It was to describe one life lesson that I've learned from reading the novel.)**
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**Prompt #17 I won't post. (It was asking whether or not I think that Elie and his family could have escaped their fate.)**
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**Prompt #19 I won't post. (It says to pick a part of the story and write my thoughts/questions/concerns/predictions.)**
--
**If anybody's interested in those last four prompts I'll put them up here, but I doubt anyone will. I hope someone liked them. (Most of them were written quickly and I never bothered to edit them.)**
End file.
| Misc. Angst, Family | Fanfiction | null | 5,974 | 11,292.8 |
null | Misc. Books the stalker
The Stalker
Chills run down your spine as you walk into the room,
The smell,
The smell of a hundred rotting corpses,
Rotting away,
The house is cold,
Cold as ice,
You have stepped into what feels like a dream but you know its not,
You are aimlessly wondering in search for the front of the house,
For you don't remember a thing,
Especially how you ended up in this place,
The last thing you knew is you were walking to you car to head home and you were attacked,
Your head is throbbing you think you were hit over the head with something heavy,
You don't want to turn on any lights to let the person know that you came to,
As you are searching around this house it all seems familiar,
But you just can't put your finger on what it is,
As you are walking down what appears to be a hall way you hear something stir,
At first you think it's just your conscious is play with you but you hear it again,
You come to a dead stop,
Its moving towards the room you just left,
A light flips on you hear rummaging then the light shuts off,
The footsteps are on the move you are trying to be quiet,
You have plastered yourself against the wall,
They are moving your way,
You are slowly creeping to the door knob you saw on the wall,
You are praying for it to be a closet,
As you reach for the knob you here a voice say that's where you went,
You turn around and to your surprise it has been the same person as the person following you all day,
You turn to run but a heavy object was thrown,
You are lying on the ground fading between conscious and unconscious,
Your head is pounding then you slowly go unconscious,
You wake up to being bound to a pole with cuffs, and tied up,
You see a shadow sitting by the window lighted by the moon,
And just as you think things can't get any worse,
It does,
The strange person gets up and walks your way,
As they come a bit closer you recognize a sent that you have smelled before,
Just as it sits next to you they say "I have watched you for a long time,"
"I used to sit up in bed at night wondering what you were doing, and if I have ever crossed your mind,"
With out even think you reply with "who are you?"
And without even skipping a beat the person replies with I am only your greatest admirer,
You chin had hit the floor,
Right then and there you knew who it was,
For to your surprise that was the same reason the house looked familiar,
It had been your old boss's wife,
She says well don't look so surprised we both knew that we were meant for each other,
Just something's get in the way and we have to take care of them before we get what we want,
Just as she s about to say something else you cut her off by screaming "LET ME GO! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO KEEP ME BOUND HERE AGAINST MY WILL!"
She just laughs and says what are you talking about against your will,
I saw all those times you looked at me like I was yours,
Then and there is only when I knew it was meant to be,
You had cut her off again this time more relaxed and said "what I mean is I am tied up with rope and handcuffed to a pole, I think this comes a crossed a little hostile, don't you think so to?"
She had seen right where you were coming from,
She goes to get a knife and the key to the cuffs, while she is gone you think this might just work to your advantage,
As she walks back into the room you thoughts are wondering aimlessly through your head,
She cuts the rope, and takes the key out of her pocket and says now don't try anything stupid or I will have to enforce pressure,
As you sit there unbound from all the things you tell her you are thirsty,
She then rises to get you a glass of water,
As she is heading towards the kitchen your are trying to remember your way around the house,
Planning all this out in your head,
You hear her footsteps coming back you quickly scramble to get back to where she had left you,
She enters the room and hands you the glass of water,
You sit the glass down and calmly ask her why she has done this,
She gently replies with because it would give you a better reason to tell your wife you was taken against your will then coming gracefully,
Then you ask her but what if I didn't want to come,
You see the anger flash in her eyes from the moon light shown in,
She stands up quickly and is furious by the question you had asked,
You try to calm her but its not working,
She leaves the room to go to another room,
You hear rummaging and you hear her mutter this is what happened to the last guy to,
You get paranoid by hearing that now your head is clouded with thoughts,
You think to yourself you just need to get out of here,
You promisingly stand up and head out of the room,
By this time you are heading in the right direction,
And she is on the move for she has heard movement,
You hear her footsteps quickening you quickly pick up your pace,
She is right behind you,
You hear some kind of loading,
You think it's a gun,
Your guess is right a shot is fired but it's a miss,
Another shot is fired and you hit the deck grabbing at your side,
She slows to a walk,
She is now standing over you laughing in a mad way,
She loads one into the chamber she looks at you and says I am sorry this had to end this way,
She squeezes the trigger and POP a shot was fired,
It was another hit,
She turns away and leaves you for dead,
This time the shot was more fatal,
It was a shot to the upper chest just inches away from the heart,
You are in fear for your life,
For you watch her leave and memorize how to get there,
When you know she is gone you roll over and start crawling for the door,
You reach the door you try everything to stand up,
You finally do,
You turn the door knob and open the door,
But to your surprise she is standing there with another loaded in the chamber,
And this time before she pulls the trigger she said I knew you was a fighter and I knew you would try to escape and go get help,
But I just can't let you do that because that would ruin me,
She pops another one in you and from the amount of blood loss and another gun shot wound you fall dead half in house and half out side,
She strategically places you in her car and drives to the middle of know where and burns your body,
She remains there till dawn till she knows that your body is complete ash,
She jumps around in your ashes to spread them out,
Gets back into her car and leaves,
For you are now dead and burned and she still remains out there as someone else's stalker.
End file.
| Misc. Poetry, Suspense | Fanfiction | null | 6,530 | 9,916.9 |
null | Misc. Books Red
**Nothing You Could Do**
A remix story of little red riding hood
A fifteen year old girl was sitting in her room at dusk slowly reading a rather boring adventure novel. As she turned the page it rustled in the silence. The door burst open, shattering the quiet like a window. Her storm of a brother stomping in. "Hey don't you knock?" said Red. "MOMS GOT A JOB FOR YOU!" her brother screamed ignoring her. As he ran out of the room. "Obviously not" Red muttered as she got out of her bed. My life is like the beginning to a book, with the poor girl all alone who has no friends. But in those books they all get a happy ending, they find friends and their family is perfect they have no problems, but it will never end like that for me. Her mother was a sickly woman as she was a cancer survivor. she had so little energy and was often unable to move. The family was rather poor because of treatment. Her father had left for the big city to work for a big company. He gave his promise to be back soon but never held up. Red thought of this as she silently creeped into her mother's dark room. only a small amount of dusk light struggled in through the gap in the tightly drawn curtains. As always her mother could tell she was there even with her eyes closed. Her mother just lay in bed motionless Red silently crept over to the window and rearranged the curtain to block the ray of sun as her motherś eyes would burn from it. Her mothers eyes shoot open immediately as she closed the thick drapes. "Red I know this will be hard but it seems your grandmother has developed a disease that may not be treatable." she said suddenly surprising Red. Red continued tidying the dark room. "Honey?" Then Red sat. Not shocked but not sad either, more like they had all known for a long time.
"Honey are you OK?" her mother asked again. "I'm fine" said Red. "I think I need to go see her" she said "I'll drive you" her mom said. "No I'll walk said Red "Okay" her mom said tentatively. "Be careful! And bring your grandmother some food she can't cook!" her mom said as red dashed out of the room. "She seems okay" she thought wonderingly. Red dashed in the kitchen. And grabbed some leftover sandwiches and stuffed them in a tupperware container. And through them in her book bag. She ran out the door and bagned it behind her. She was running and running and dashing and as she did so she slowly was becoming a child again. No more packing her brothers lunch for school or cleaning the house or going to the winn-dixie market and looking at the small crying change in her worn hands. She was a little girl going to visit her grandma. She was allowed to let her soul run free as her sneakers flew away. She decelerated slowly and when she reduced to walking she then saw the butterflies and thistle all around she was in the meadow that she played in as a child. The memories of a little creak came back to her as she stood. Red headed toward it nonchalantly. Red sat down on the sandy bank dirtying her riding hood. A rustle in the brush attracted her attention for a short second. She turned away gazing at the creek. A snap of a branch caused her to jump. She looked around and being her adventurous self get up to see the creature not knowing what it was. Red was in peril but not knowingly, and not in the way expected. she got the the thicket and peered inside a hare looked back with its beady eyes. their gazes locked for a heartbeat then it bolted a brown flash of lightning. She gave chase hoping to catch it she joyously ran after it. She fast lost track of it, but kept running, pounding through the brush.
she slowed down and found herself at the next town over oh i'm here she thought. as she had entered from the back of the town not through the main road. As she walked along a man approached her but not directly. Red would have passed him by if he had not reached out and grabbed her arm roughly. she got a good look at him for the first time he had long untrimmed almost claw like fingernails and a unkempt straight dark brown hair and a matching unshaven face, he was a lanky small thing. pointy elf ears protruding from his head. Red was unreactive to him not the least bit frightened, on the outside anyway. The stranger had a deep rumbling voice. "What such a pretty lady doing here" he said. Red was disturbed by this. "What do you care?" she said. "you just appeared from nowhere thats all" He said shifting his face to try to get in shadow and away from Reds glare. His face is familiar she thought. "I have to go now" she said. "what's the hurry?" he said grabbing her other arm. Red was startled now and decided this conversation wasn't normal. something was very wrong. Red remembering practising martial arts withe her friends. She quickly slipped her hands on his wrist and broke his grip on her. She was holding his wrist now as she threw him over her shoulder. She ran as fast as possible dashing along knocking things over. A policeman was chasing her at one point yelling at her to stop. She didn't slow down for him or anyone else.
leap, doge, run, turn, her mind was doing it for her telling her what to do she had no control, Nothing she could do.
she ran all the way to the otherside of town. She came up to her grandmothers house out of breath with adrenaline through her. Her house always stands out against all the others a perfect stereotypical grandmas house right out of the wizard of Oz. with the white fence and white trim on the house clashing against the robin a blue paint and the rose garden up front. Red came to the garden and sat down in the petunias not wanting her grandma to see her like this. She thought as she sat.
"What would that man want with her?"
"who was he?" Then it hit her, "The wanted posters! She said out loud.
She pondered more and more,
That man that killed that family. thats him. What was his name...
Canis lupus! thats it... She sat there and "what do I do? Should I tell grandma or go to the police or what else?" She decided to go inside and sort it out there. As she walked up the stone path she saw something odd, a shadow in the kitchen moving around quick, rushing around hurialiy. Red payed no mind to it and proceeded to the door she knocked once and as usual pushed it open. A banging of pots in the kitchen immediately stopped and Red heard a terrified voice "Red dear is that you" a small whimper penetrated her ears. "Rosie what's wrong?!" Red shouted, panicking. "Nothing Dear I just fell." a muffled shriek ensued. "uhh I mean I just don't feel good." she whimpered "grandma rosie where are you?" Red screamed darting from place to place. "say it!" Red heard from the kitchen the voice gravelly "I'm in the kitchen darling" her grandma called Red slowly inched toward the passway leading to the kitchen. "Stop there." He said. Its the murderer, Red chillingly calculated small ice cold flames dancing in her heart. It had to be. Red slowly turned her head and stared at the scene on the floor a man pointing a gun at her face and a woman cowering on blue tile silently whispering apology over and over a fifteen year old girl in a crimson red cloak a small crystal tear rolling down her flushed face as she stared into the eyes of the gunman slowly realizing her final fate was upon her. Red slowly realized that he man she was staring at was Canis. "What? how did you get here before me?" "you silly little girl you were running everywhere when you fled from me except in the right direction" Canis Lupus said smirking and lowering the gun. This angered Red "What? You were following me! Tell me what the heck you're doing now!" Red screamed agitated. "well I may as well." He said "I am from the guild of assassins, personality I am Canis Lupis second class assassin. "I have been hired To eliminate Rosetta Marie Ann here" Canis said gesturing the gun at Reds grandmother. "Why?! grandma doesn't have anything. " red screamed "Really? you're always hiding things Rosie or was it you dear sick daughter that was hiding it from Red, Your grandmas a millionaire hun. "what?" "grandma?" Ohh dear yes yes i'm so sorry i kept it from you. please forgive me." Rosie wept. "Forgive you! Forgive you!? How could I forgive you when you never helped us mom was sick and you came over and cleaned but that wasn't enough you had the money for her treatment why didn't you help! When dad left us and never came back you didn't help us! how could you? "Red I tried so hard but your mother wouldn't let me she refused everything I tried to do. I bought you all a house closer the the hospital and she refused to move, she wouldn't take money. Rosie was full out bawling now. She wouldn't ever let me help but I tried to always use any of the money she gave me she never noticed. whenever I could Never using the credit card she gave me for food, I used my own. Reds grandma sobbed. "Why wouldn't she take the help!" Red screamed "She was so prideful as a child even while she was dying she felt she had to show her husband she didn't need him" Rosie said well you should have forced her or at least helped her realize that she needed help! Where were you!" Red cried not understanding. "oh Red I'm so sorry please please do not blame your father. He always intended to come back he loved you so much." Rosie cried
"Then why isn't he here!" Red screamed refocusing her anger on her father "Your father was an amazing man." is all Rosie said "What do you mean was" Red asked even though she knew. Everyone knew deep down. "Your father was in New York as you know when he was hit by a drunk driver and killed." Rosie said morbidly. "Why did we never know." Red asked coldly calm now "It happened a month after your mother got sick. The doctors all agreed that the shock might just push her over the edge." she said "Then why didn't you tell her when she got better" Red demanded. "She never got better." Rosie said "So my dad dropped dead and no one told me!" Red screamed
"Well this is touching but you're wrong" Canis said "What do you mean?" Rosie said confusion dancing around on her face. "He's still alive." canis said like it was old news. "No he's not." Rosie declared "If he was alive he would be here." "Yes he would but of course he is the son in law of a millionaire. Its natural he is being held. canis announced. Rosie just sat on the floor. on the other hand Red was furious "You! You! took away my father and now you're here for my grandmother! I will never let you near her!"
Red screamed. "Oh little girl" Canis cooed. "We have already tried, your grandmother was of course, sabotaged through poison but unfortunately she was immune. "But what do you get if she dies she can't pay ransom anymore." Red decided. "well of course we want the maximum amount. A ransom can only be so large if its to much it can be traced, but inheritance is of course entirely legal." Canis said "but then dad will get the money?" Red said realizing the answer as she finished her sentence. "well of course as soon as poor Rosie here is found dead with no possibility of tracing the murderer your father John will be released. of course under our very tight security he will never escape or get help. He will be found, suddenly cured of his poor year long amnesia claiming the fortune Then he will hand over the money to us." Canis announced. "well why are you revealing so much to me?" Red asked "Well first of all I am rather dramatic and second that means I will be able to kill you to. if you are also found dead there is much less suspicion of the motive of money seeing your so poor." "What! but you promised you wouldn't hurt her." Rosie cried "You stupid old bat why do you think the man about to kill you would fulfill his promise to you and of course she knows to much." Canis said. "Well now that I have put on a show now you all have to go." Canis announced "Relly i'm about to die and have to listen to that. Great." Red said sarcastically. "Oh I had to say it." Canis said "But just for that remark I will get you first" Canis said picking up his gun. The little girl with the red hood in front of him slowly screamed as time slowed down as it always did right before a kill. I pulled the trigger and knew I would never miss her. For Red everything was quick yet calm she felt no fear but she wondered why she was still here. The gun had not fired of Canis pulled the trigger again and again but nothing happend but a spark. "What!" he screamed his face painted a deep fuchsia. Canis opened the barrel and peered inside turning the gun upside down. there was nothing in the barrel. "What" canis screamed again. " I put a full six in there! what happened!" canis screamed completely forgetting what he was doing and all the people in the room. Red saw her chance and rushed at him she swept his legs out from under him causing him to fall and hit his head. "Ohh Red dear are you okay!" her grandmother cried spring of the floor. "Yeah, yeah I am. what happened to his gun?" Red asked her grandma didn't respond just took six bullets from the gun. Five of them a lead grey but one was brilliant silver coated and had letters R.M.A engraved on the side. "Its said that engraved bullets always hit their mark." Rosie said "But this one not in the way intended." Red said smiling. "I took him out of his gun when he set in down and was distracted by you." Reds grandma said. "I'm glad" Red said. "Because I miss dad."
3 days later
"Oh mom where is He!" red asked impatiently
"Settle down child you're so excited." Reds mom said as she straightened the pillows on the couch. "Well why wouldn't I be!" Red father was coming home today he was found well in new york and was so happy to get rescued. Canis Lupus was behind bars and Reds mom was so excited by the news her husband was coming home she insisted to get up and walk outside
Rosie was now back home living safely and healthy
as she left yesterday hugging her daughter the staring red in the eyes "She will get better" is all she said and left. Red remembered this as she saw a white town car pull up to the house her brother ran screaming "He's here!" Looking back on that day I guess my life did end like a fairytale.
End file.
| Misc. Books | Fanfiction | null | 14,193 | 9,431.7 |
null | Misc. Books Supporting Cast Love Story
Alright, in my opinion this isn't nearly as good as my last released item and I feel like I probably shouldn't be releasing it at all, but I said I would and so I will. This is called Supporting Cast Love Story because it is between two minor characters in my story. I know it is quite cheesy and cliché, but I suppose you'll just have to deal with it. Also, I apologize for making it so unrealistic- after all, finding a female singer is easier than finding a Red Sox fan in Boston. With that thought- enjoy.
Supporting Cast Love Story
It had been another late night in the auditorium by myself, and I wasnt at all surprised to find that the hallways I walked on my way to the main parking lot were deserted. The soft taps of my feet on the dirty, tiled floors of the school were the only thing that broke the silence, save for my quiet humming. I always caught myself humming without realizing it, the songs from whatever musical I was currently putting on constantly running through my head.
But this song in particular had caught my attention, and been on my mind more than anything else for a while now. As I hummed it now it sounded as it always did as of late: incomplete. So frustratingly incomplete, the empty half of the song being the bane of my thoughts as I tried desperately to find a way to make the imperfect melody whole. For this song was a duet; yet I had no one to sing it with.
My drama club and I were already 3 weeks into preparing for this year's spring musical, and still I had yet to find a girl to play the lead female role. Our musical was a love story and I was the lead male- but so far, I had no one to act with. No one to complete my song. No one to love.
The pressure was on and I was beginning to become more and more stressed, trying to find the perfect girl in time to put on the show. The premiere date was steadily approaching and still I had no show- what was I to do, cancel it? This could never happen. Which means I had to find a lead female, and fast.
When I fell out of my thoughts and was conscious of the hallway I walked down once again, I became aware of something else, too. Music?
I stopped humming but the mysterious melody continued, causing me to freeze where I stood in the middle of the dark hallway. That voice...
But the school was empty! Where could it be coming from? I turned in a slow circle, searching for the source of the angelic voice that filled my head. There wasnt anyone around. Was I imagining it?
No! That voice had to be real! Suddenly I needed to find it and I turned, running up the closet staircase and into one of the main hallways on the second floor, searching for a person, an angel, whatever could possibly be singing that song- there!
There was a girl leaning against a row of lockers at the end of the hall, hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt and legs bare up to her knees where a skirt splayed out across her thighs. Beautiful, long red hair framed her face and a few freckles were sprinkled on her cheeks, above red, pouting lips. Her eyes were downcast as she stared at her feet but I knew her eyes must be beautiful because even from here, I could see that everything else about her was. It really _was _an angel I had heard.
A wire ran from one of her pockets up to each of her ears and I realized she must have been singing along to whatever music she was listening to; she too must have thought she was alone in the hallways.
I hastened over to her and took her hand to grab her attention, much too captivated by her for inhibitions. She looked surprised and immediately cut off her beautiful singing, the music in her ears quickly following. Before she could say anything, I asked
"Was that you who was singing?"
I knew it had been, but I wanted to hear it from her. She gazed at me, obviously surprised and maybe even a little frightened by my approach but thankfully, not pushing me away.
"Yeah- I didnt realize anyone was around-"
"It was beautiful."
I stopped her, not wanting to listen to her explain away something that had been so perfect. Her cheeks took on a rosy color, even more surprised by my flattery than my sudden arrival. Again I spoke before she could.
"I want you to be in my musical."
Her eyes- I had assumed correctly, they were beautiful, grey with little flecks of green that shone like emeralds- grew wide.
"What? But- I dont know anything about shows- I dont even know who you are-...!"
My heart was pounding. I needed her to understand how important she was to me, needed to explain myself without scaring her away.
"Your voice... It is exactly what I need; exactly what I have been searching for...! I've been looking for the right girl to play the lead in my musical but everyone has fallen short, and then you-...! I know you probably havent ever performed before and maybe you dont have any interest in the arts but please- please give this a chance. You have a gift. I know you are perfect for this."
She stared at me in silence and I dared not break it, not even as she slowly took me in from my worn, old converse to my tight dark jeans, to my white button down shirt and black tie. Her eyes ran over my carefully done hair then down to my thin, oval face. For a moment our eyes met and again I saw her cheeks blush. At that moment, mine did too.
"I'm holding a drama club meeting in the auditorium after school tomorrow. Will you give me a chance?"
I asked softly, our eyes never breaking apart. Slowly she nodded and my heart skipped a beat. Suddenly I realized we were standing together, her hand still grasped in mine.
"My name is Hailey."
She said delicately, grey eyes losing themselves in my own.
"My name is Pierre."
I replied softly, all of a sudden realizing how close our faces really were. Suddenly, this wasnt just about a voice.
Slowly I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, and together our eyes slipped closed, each of us relaxing into the other. Gently she brought her hand to my cheek and I leaned into the touch, heart fluttering as it never had before.
Suddenly, my imperfect melody was whole. I had someone to act with. Someone to complete my song. Someone to love.
End file.
| Misc. Drama, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 6,204 | 10,077.6 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Author's Note
Hey! My name is Riley, and I enjoy writing really lame self-ships. But, since the only person reading this is the cutest person ever (yes, you, Jessica), I'm gonna stop talking about myself and talk about this novel.
It's over 48000+. I tried to write a 50,000 word novel in one month, thanks to a magical thing called NaNoWriMo. Turns out, I forget about it for half the month. The 17th rolls around, and I get an email saying, 'WriMo's! Hope you're succeeding on your novel.' My brain instantly lapses into "OH CRAP OH CRAP OH FRIGGIN' CRAP." I SCRAMBLED TO FINISH THIS. ITS NOT EVEN 50,000 WORDS BUT I DON'T CARE.
Enjoy!
Also, for your enjoyment, I have playlists of each of the songs in my novel linked below, and when they show up in the novel, I'll put a little thing signed -A/N so that you know when you should listen to it or switch to the next one! Have fun, I love the music a lot.
If you want to listen to the playlists, you'll have to go to www.8tracks.c o m, then paste the rest of the url after it. Like, /riley-tishma/whatisthename. Don't actually paste that though, it's not a playlist. Anyways!... (p.s. be smart and remove the spaces in com :3)
Playlists, in order of appearance:
1. The Mix CD: /riley-tishma/the-mix-cd
2. Us: /riley-tishma/us
3. The Pokeball and Coffeeshop Jessica's Setlist: /riley-tishma/the-pokeball-coffeeshop-jessica-s-setlist
4. New York: /riley-tishma/new-york
2. Chapter 1
I allowed myself to take a quick, shuddering breath before stepping into the glass doors. 'Welcome Incoming Students of the School Year of 2013!' blared in front of me on a poorly made banner across the front of the office foyer. A few people milled in through the foyer next to me, and I followed them, finding my advisor to receive my locker number. I felt so nervous that I could hardly stand. I nearly got trampled over by a few of the seniors who didn't see my face shyly tucked into my locker.
I gathered my books, and started back down the hall, happy to find a board covered with signs. One flyer, on yellow paper, bore a typewriter with the words "The Writers Club! The WRITE club for you!" followed by a few blurbs of location. I watched it for a minute, memorizing 'Journalism Classroom, E-6, and 3:00 to 5:00. Any writer is welcome.'
I then headed to first period at the bell, allowing myself a chance to breathe when I got to my desk. The teacher eyed me, and I put my head down, averting my gaze as I pulled out my textbook and binder. The class continued and nothing remotely eventful happened… until lunch.
At lunch, I got my food and sat at one of the long, boring gray tables, seated somewhat secluded from everyone else. Everyone was talking to old friends, and I was as new as could be, having gotten a lunch hour with mostly seniors and juniors. Suddenly, I heard a loud voice yelling, followed by a comeback by another voice.
A group milled around the people yelling, adding to the noise by an increased amount of chatter and yells of 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' The uproar was deafening to say the least. As I watched the people yelling and screaming at each other, the sound of flesh hitting flesh hit my ears. It was then that I realized that a fight had certainly broken out. The sounds of more fists and fighting continued to sound as blood started peppering the floor.
I looked for a long time until the bell dismissed us. I was the only one to leave, as everyone else would rather be tardy and see this random fight than to go to class. Now that I think about it, I don't blame them.
Near the end of the day I heard the news about the two who had fought. They were suspended until October, which was nearly five weeks from now. Everyone poured into class about fifteen minutes after the bell, where my Geometry teacher was taking a devoted nap waiting for the rest of the class while I took the notes she left on the board. Needless to say, I waited for the rest of the period for them to be done, and the bell rang.
My last two periods faded past me, only giving me an English paper and a review of my History notes over Sparta. I packed up the remains of my homework and slung my backpack on my shoulder. I sent a quick text to my mother.
_**To Mom 3:02 PM**_
**Gonna try the writer's club. Ends at 5. I'll either text you if I get a ride or if you need to get me.**
A few moments later, she sent a response.
_**From Mom 3:03 PM**_
**Ok. Let me know. Love u. Enjoy ur club.**
I sent back a simple smiley face before searching for E-6. It was the senior hallway, but as far as I'd heard, no one ever goes to the journalism classroom anymore since the old seniors left. So it was an assumption that there was either a sophomore or junior as the president. Sure, I had been a freshman last year, so I did know what was going on to a degree, but I had never seen the Writers Club being advertised, otherwise I would have joined.
I found E-6, and noted the thick paper over the small window of the door. I was tempted to knock, but then I thought better of it, and leaned to grab the door handle. With a twist, I pulled it open, and shyly stuck my head inside.
A slim boy wearing all blue and glasses was immersed in typing on his laptop, and did not look up before responding, "Malerie?"
I look for a minute, and then said, "I'm not Malerie…."
His eyes bugged for a moment, and then he looked up, standing quickly, "Oh! You'd like to join the writers club?"
I gave him a slow nod, "Otherwise I wouldnt have come, right?"
His glare continued for a moment, then his face softened, "True. What exactly do you write?"
"A lot of things…. Short stories, analyses, research papers, interviews, articles… I could go on."
"Wow! Well rounded, then. We can use some varied writers," he says with a small smile.
"Well then I guess I'm the one to pick," I say shyly, offering my hand.
"Carson. Carson Phillips," he says, taking it. An odd spark fluttered between our hands when we took hands, and jumped between our fingertips until he let go completely.
I nod, and start towards the door, before he stops me, "Whoa whoa whoa. We still have about three hours until writers club is over…."
I give him another slow look before nodding, "Right…right, yeah. Am I the only one?"
Carson nodded, "Yep. Malerie transferred to another school that'll help her learn better. I do miss her sometimes. I thought maybe she'd come back because no one else joins."
I look at him sadly, "That sucks, Carson. I'm sorry."
He shrugs, "No big deal. I never did catch your name though, mystery girl."
I tried to laugh, but ended up just making an awkward squeaking noise through my nose. He looked at me funnily for a moment, until I covered it by sneezing. I finally mumbled out my name, and he watched me as I sat down in one of the desks, neatly setting my books on the desk and my bag on the floor.
Suddenly his laughter filled the room, "Are you serious? It's after hours. You can sit on the desks for all I care!"
I looked at him, and, judging by his face, seemed to make an expression of pure and utter horror, as if sitting on desks would cause me to be arrested for a felony. He chuckled again, "Seriously. You can relax, Riley. This room is pretty much the only one who doesn't give a shit."
I actually snorted when he said this, and he laughed again before sitting himself on my desk, nudging the books over with his knees. He smiles down at me, "Do you have any samples of your writing?"
I nodded quickly before glancing to my folders in my backpack, rummaging, and offering him a sheet where I had written a metaphorical story. He takes it from me slowly, pushing up his glasses onto the bridge of his nose as he read. I watched Carson read for a long time, and was worried he wouldn't like my writing and eject me on the spot.
After finishing, he looked up from the paper, and said, "This is…" then he trailed off.
I leant down to start packing again when he said, "Whoa there. I was going to say that it's actually… really amazing. I haven't seen writing like this here in Clover since…well… since myself!"
I gave him a weak smile, and he smiled back, handing me the paper back again.
"So you write short stories, correct?"
I nodded.
"And your short stories are good from what I've seen. You said you also wrote analyses, research papers, interviews, articles, amongst other things, correct again?"
I gave him another nod.
"God, I love when I find someone as well rounded as you are. It's actually rare. The last one I met was a senior last year. She would always contribute a different column each issue of the Chronicle. It was truly amazing."
I looked at him for a minute, "Does the Writing Club take care of the Chronicle too?"
His face falters. It seemed as though he never really thought of that. "Actually, I'm not really sure what the Writer's Club does anymore. I mean, there is a sort of…err…class for newspaper writing, the journalism class, but they don't contribute much. Maybe a few excerpts from a sports game or a recent event, but nothing that can make a full paper. The journalism class used to write the Chronicle at least, but with four members, two of which don't want to be there and another who's trying too hard, and I, it doesn't really write a paper. All last year I wrote the paper by myself, using the tiny excerpt from the one who tried too hard. That was Malerie, by the way."
I nodded along to his story, letting him talk and just enjoying listening to him talk about things he loved and missed. It was sort of odd though. We connected in a way that old friends would. But I had never met Carson until now. Hell, I hadn't seen him in the halls, either. He just… appeared, per se.
"So… I guess you and I are in charge of the Chronicle now. I'm not sure what else to do with it at this point. Since you're such an eager writer, I hope you'll want to help with the newspaper, at least. Right?"
I nodded excitedly, "Of course! Being assistant to the editor of the CHS Chronicle? That's such an honor!"
His cheeks tinged pink a bit, "You're sweet. It's nothing like working at a real paper, really." I smiled again and he smiled even wider, actually letting his teeth show this time. This made me smile wider still.
Suddenly, the time dawned on me. 4:56 p.m. It was nearly five, which meant the club would be ending soon. Was I really there for two hours? It felt like ten minutes at the most. Carson noticed me looking behind him at the clock, and turned. He clucked his tongue, "Damn. It's five. That means you have to go, right?"
I sighed, "Yes. I really don't want to though."
"Well hey, it's Friday, isn't it?" he asks.
I gave him a nod, and said, "Yes…."
"That means you and I could work on the Chronicle at my house. If you want to, at least," he suggests.
"I'd need to ask my mom," I say softly.
He nods and smiles, "That's fine. Give her a ring. I can wait."
I pull out my phone carefully and dial her number, putting the receiver to my ear. It rings…and rings…and rings…and ri- *click*.
"Hi mommy," I say into the phone. Carson cracks a smile at my usage of mommy. I glare.
I hear back, "Hi honey. Do you need me to come get you?"
"No, no, actually, it went really well today. I was asked if I could go help the editor with the newspaper at his house….so…."
"Oh! I'm so happy to hear you're making friends. You really haven't had any since Lydia transferred."
"Can we not talk about that?" I said.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. So you're going to a boy's house to work on the newspaper, right?"
"Yes, mom."
"Do you need me to get you?"
I pulled the phone from my ear and ask, "Hey, will my mom need to get me?"
"No, I can take you home," Carson replied.
"Okay," I say, then put the receiver back to my ear, "He said he can take me home."
"Okay. Be home at a reasonable hour. Have fun writing too…I know you will though. Love you."
"Love you too, mom," I said back, and hung up. "She said it was okay."
"Good! Good. I guess we'll head over then," he said with a smile.
"Okay."
* * *
When we got to the Phillips household, I smiled. The little house seemed like a runt in comparison to the large estates around it. I wondered if they just stuck a bungalow in the middle of the bunch and called it a neighborhood or if the other houses had been severely remodeled. He reached into his bag to pull out his keys, and quickly unlocked the door to the house, shoving his shoulder to open it with a mumble of, "The paint still sticks to the doorframe."
I follow behind him silently, scared to touch anything, when he leads me through the living room to the stairs. He yells, "Mom! I'm home!"
A lump stirred on the couch and I jumped. He patted my shoulder, "Don't worry. Just my mom." I inspected the living room. The beginning theme to a rerun of Law and Order was running on the television, and a graveyard of wine and prescription bottles was scattered on their coffee table. I noticed a blue dish on the corner of the table where a half-eaten and moldy sandwich sat.
"Maybe you should be quieter. It looks like she's trying to sleep," I say softly, then nod my head to the sandwich, "And maybe you'd want to take care of that. It'll smell after a few days."
His eyes changed from the soft ones I'd seen when I had first walked in to a new emotion. He looked angry. Furious, in fact. I backed up a bit, putting my hands up in surrender, and he opens his mouth to speak, "You know what? Maybe you should…," but his voice faltered. Then his eyes conveyed another emotion. They seemed to be filled with fear…with regret…with worry. What he was worried about, fearing of, or regretting, I wasn't sure. Without a word, he walks around the sofa and picks up the plate, walking into the kitchen, and he throws it away.
Carson's voice was now barely above a whisper, "It's this way upstairs. Follow me."
I followed him silently. As we went up the stairs and into his room, which was painted a shade of blue, my mind wandered. Why did Carson look so worried before? What was worrying him? Was I the one that was worrying him? Why was I worrying him? Did he maybe not want me here after all? My thoughts were cut short by him speaking, "Here we are. The only sanity in this hellhole."
I was surprised by this. Maybe there was more to Carson than I was letting on. There was definitely some sort of dark in his past, but I knew better than to ask him. I was, however, going to ask him about the worry from earlier.
"H-hey, Carson?" I asked.
"Yeah?" he replies, opening his laptop and turning it on.
"Why did you look so panicked downstairs? You looked like you'd seen a ghost…."
I could see his eyes widen, and he blinked a few times to straighten his expression again, before speaking, "I…I don't know what you're talking about." I knew he did though. No person would act that way if he didn't.
"I know you know what I'm talking about, Carson."
He turns in his chair to face me again, where I was standing in the middle of the room, "Please…just give me some time to think about it? I'll tell you some time, just….just not now."
I nodded understandingly, and let him walk around and do different things that he does before writing, like taking off his shoes and pacing for ideas and the like. I took this time to look around his room.
The paint was a light airy blue, which reminded me of his clothes. Around the room were abundances of bookshelves filled with different books, ranging from cultural studies to everyday fiction novels. Among these books were gaps where different knick-knacks were placed. I noticed a picture of Carson, his mother, and a man who looked somewhat similar to Carson. I wondered if that was his father. In the corner, where Carson was seated, there was a desk with various notes, his laptop, and a few things taped on the wall, varying from notes reminding himself not to murder his journalism classmates to various interesting words, such as that anopisthography was the practice of writing on one side of the paper. In the middle of this mess, between bookshelves and clothes scattered on the floor, was a large oak-framed bed, with a pale blue down comforter, crisp white sheets, and fluffy white pillows. On a small bedside table, there was a well-worn thesaurus with the corners of the pages feathering and soft from age.
Suddenly he burst out, "We should probably start writing."
I just nodded and he sat on the floor, allowing me to sit too.
"So what do you want your article to be about?"
I shrugged, "I don't really care. Whatever you want."
"You really should write about something you like to write about…. I mostly write journalism pieces because I like journalism," Carson replies.
I shrug again, "Maybe a description? Or a poem?"
"I can make a poetry or descriptive writing section if you want to write that," he says with a smile.
"Okay. I'll write a description then," I say with finality.
"Okay! I'll probably write an article about the fight at lunch today. That would be good, wouldn't it?" he asks.
I just nod, looking for something to write with, finally settling with my notebook and a pen I found on the floor. He didn't seem to mind that I took the pen, so I used it. My scribbling first started with ideas of what I could describe. Maybe the color blue? Or perhaps I could describe the way his eyes changed like that. It would make for an interesting read…or maybe I'm just thinking funny.
I settled for describing Carson's eyes. He decided to take his laptop to the floor and write down on the floor where I was. It was a silence as we both worked, but not an uncomfortable one. We were both at peace doing something we loved to do.
I believe my article, after I had spell and grammar checked it, was something like this:
_The abrupt way someone's face changes when their emotions change is usually evident. However, the emotions displayed in their eyes offer much more emotion…more passion…more of a description of who they are. Their eyes are a window to their soul. They show what exactly runs through their mind. Maybe the way their eyes dilate when they see someone they think is breathtakingly beautiful. Perhaps the way that their eyes seem to have a fog over them when they are sad and thus portraying what they feel._
_His eyes were those of the ocean, a murky blue with seaweed of green scattered within. When his eyes are fogged over, a mist over the murky shores of his pupil, the emotions pool over, like the ocean waves of the iris, and it's evident he's become distraught. When those glasz eyes fill with a grey film, the fury in his eyes has come full-circle, and he knows that he has to hold his tongue. When his eyes finally settle into a simple shade of blue, flecks of gold and hints of green throughout, he is content._
After I had written this, he looked over at me, and I noticed something else in his eyes. This time, they had followed a description I had mentioned, but hadn't delved into just his eyes in particular. The pupils, like silhouetted islands in the blue ocean, were dilated. They were large, increased drastically from what they were. As the pupils got smaller, he looked down again, his eyes fading back to a grey. Then, when he felt me looking at him, he looked back up. His eyes dilated once more, and flecks of gold became evident around the islands. A swoop fell deep in my stomach, and I felt a new form of butterflies that were fluttering angrily around in my tummy.
He looked back down, a small smile placed on his lips, the corners of his mouth pulled up, seemingly by invisible hooks. I smiled too, looking down, and decided to add a few sentences to my description.
_When he is in love, the islands floating in the blue-green ocean of his eyes dilate, expanding into round, wide silhouettes. His eyes fleck gold and green in the lapping waves of his eyes, and they portray a full passion and attraction to those whom he is looking at. His eyes have rarely, if ever, done this, and after his eyes dilate like so, he looks away, unsure, and smiles, knowing that he's lucky._
After this, I spoke, "I've written my description."
"And I've written a draft of mine. I still need some interviews and what-have-you, but it shouldn't take long. Can I read yours?" he asks.
Suddenly I felt embarrassed of my work. I just looked over at it, "It's a little messy. You probably can't read it."
He smiles again, chuckling, and then reaches over me to where I'd set the notebook. When his arm touched mine, I felt a spark. That made my mind flurry, and I didn't care what he said anymore. There was a spark between us. That's why his pupils dilated. He's in love. He's in love…with me.
I watched Carson read my description, and the farther he read, the farther I felt my blush creep up my neck. As he read, I stared at the floor, suddenly interested in the wood grain. He speaks, "This is really amazing. I've never read something so descriptive, especially that of eyes. Although, could you maybe tell me a bit more about glasz? I know somewhat what it is, but I still don't know."
"It-it's like…well if someone has blue eyes. But sometimes, their eyes look grey. Other times they're blue with green in it. Even other times, they're blue and green with flecks of golden yellow. It just depends on their emotions or their feelings." He nods his head along to what I say, and actually seemed genuinely interested. His own eyes were pleading for me to continue. I took a breath, and did, "And really, they're some of the rarest eyes, because very few people have them. I think they're the prettiest though."
He smiles sweetly now. Perhaps it's because he knew I was flattering him, or just because he was happy to know I was happy. He asked if he could keep it so he could put my descriptive essay into the Chronicle. Of course, I agreed. With that, he suggested he should drive me home now. I agreed with that too.
* * *
That car ride was slightly awkward, but mostly enjoyable. We talked about songs on the radio and other clubs we were joining, amongst other things. Carson felt comfortable with me, which made me feel comfortable with him. As the blurs and splashes of trees flew by on the ride, he suddenly asked, "Are you going to go to the dance?"
I shrugged, my eyes still watching the landscape pass, "Maybe. If no one wants to go with me, it seems a little terrible to go by myself. Going Dutch might even be better than going alone."
He just nods again. It was a little irritating how much he did. "Yeah. I doubt anyone would ask me," Carson says with a light chuckle. I wondered if the chuckle was to make up for the fact that he was mocking himself. "I mean, I'm no football player."
"You're really smart though," I say, perhaps a little too quickly, "And that's good to have."
"Smarts aren't something you can just show to someone," he says sadly. "Plus, to be honest, girls go for looks over smarts any day."
"I don't think so," I say quietly, under my breath. He doesn't ask what I'd said, and I assumed he hadn't heard me. Soon, we were at my house. Carson told me we were there even though I knew we were.
"Thanks for the ride," I say.
He smiles, "No problem. Have a good night. See you tomorrow. There's another Writer's Club meeting tomorrow."
"Okay."
3. Chapter 2
After a long night of homework, I went to sleep. When I awoke to my alarm, I sighed, hitting the button and successively knocking down the clock and my glass of water on my bedside table. I heard my mom ask if I was alright from downstairs, and I called back that I was. Then, after cleaning up the water that splashed onto my hardwood, I started getting dressed. I felt an instinct that it would be cold, so I stuck my face out the window in my room to test the temperature. My instincts were indeed right, and autumn paid me a special gift by blowing a whisper of ice cold wind right in my face. Thanks, autumn, I really appreciate it.
With that, I shut my window, and pulled on my clothes for the day. I knew I should wear either a sweater or a jacket, but I wasn't sure which. I settled on a long blue sweater with some dark colored jeans and some boots. I grabbed my backpack and started downstairs, eating a quick breakfast, brushing my teeth and hair, and then walking to school.
When I got there, I found myself walking to the journalism classroom, having gathered all my books with nearly forty-five minutes to spare. When I knocked tentatively, I heard someone say, "Come in," and I followed their command.
Inside was Carson, working avidly on his laptop, clearly focused on what he was writing.
"Hi, Cars-," I started, but he shushed me, still typing away. I just set my bag on the floor, sat on one of the desks, and let him work, swinging my legs absently. Finally he looked up, "Hey, Riley. Sorry. I was working on my article and I think I finally got it right this time."
I grin, "Do tell."
He reads his article to me now. It was this:
_School Fight Suspension_
_Two students, choosing to remain anonymous, had started a fight in the cafeteria on September 15th. The two students, they admit, had fallen into peer pressure. On of the students says, "I honestly think this dude [in referral to the other student] is one of my best friends, I just punched him 'cause the other kids started yelling."_
_Now the teachers are enforcing a strict watch of the lunch hours, taking shifts and walking up and down the aisles between the tables. Many people are forced to eat quickly to avoid the terror that is Mister Anten after he hasn't had coffee for two hours and got the supervision shift during his lunch break. Will the two suspended students teach others to not fight, or will this just fuel the flame? Who knows._
I listened to him read it, and he looked up at me expectantly. I opened and closed my mouth, not sure what to say, "Um…it was good. But it felt a little…." I trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"Forced?" he asks.
I nodded again, "Yeah. It seems like you're desperately trying to get an article done."
He groans, "God, I'm losing it. I can't even write anymore!" Carson then gets up and starts pacing.
"Don't be discouraged, Carson," I say quickly, trying to reassure him after my flub. "You can write. You're just in a block right now."
"It's hopeless," he says exasperatedly, "I can't write anymore. There goes my future!"
I reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, which stops him dead in his tracks, and I say, "You can. Your future's still in two years. You've got time. A little writer's block just takes a week to go away."
He pulls a chair up and looks over at me, "I'm just scared. I'm losing my drive."
In all the time I'd been to the writers' club (all of about five hours), I'd never expected to have to give a therapy session in the classroom. I took a deep breath and started, "Everyone has drive in them. Some people know how to use it only when they need to, like in an instance of finishing an essay. Some people never know how to use it at all. But you have a drive that keeps going and going, and I've never seen it quit. I don't think it's quit now. I think it's just tired. It's waiting for inspiration to strike."
A smile creeps onto his face, "I'd never thought of that."
"And you should know that it's really okay if you don't write something. We can always publish the Chronicle a little later."
He smiles wider, "God, you're the best." Then, he pulls me in for a warm hug. I felt his cheek pressed against mine and it was a warm electric shock. I recalled a zap from earlier yesterday, when I shook his hand. Maybe he did too. I decided not to bring it up, and let him hug me as long as he needed to. After a short time, Carson pulled away with another grin and let himself laugh, saying, "Well, the old journalism teacher said writing is therapy, but I never knew he meant it like that."
I felt flattered by this statement, and felt a prickle of blush creep up my neck to my cheeks. He chuckled at this, but went over to his computer nonetheless, "Hey, what do you wanna do? We still have like two hours or so."
"Hmmm…," I think for a moment. "I think since we're going to be writers together we should get to know each other, I guess."
"Okay!" he says excitedly, sitting back in front of me, "Where should we start?"
"Um," and with this I try to recall some questions, "Favorite color?"
"Blue, wasn't that obvious? Hmmm, if you could eat anything right now what would it be?"
"Red velvet cake, no question. If you could do anything in the world, what would it be and why?"
"Journalism. Duh! If you found a billion dollars in the street, what would you do with it?"
"You didn't say why," I say.
"What?"
"You didn't say why journalism."
"Oh. Because I'm a journalist? I like to write journalism?"
"Mmm, yeah, that makes sense. And if I did find a billion dollars in the street, I'd buy concert tickets, some clothes, lots of Italian food, and donate the rest to an animal reserve and a program for young writers," I say.
"Damn, you're such a good Samaritan!" he says with a long, almost too long, laugh.
I noticed his tone now. He sounded nervous. He sounded really nervous. Was I making him nervous? Oh god, what if I was?
"D-do I make you nervous?" I blurted.
"What?" he asks.
"Nothing!" I say desperately, trying to cover up my mistake.
"No, what did you say?"
"I asked if…if I made you nervous. You sounded nervous…."
Carson looks genuinely confused. I don't know if it was because of my question, or if he didn't know what to answer. I just decided to drop the question, and perhaps pretend that I hadn't said it at all, "Never mind, it's a stupid question. Don't worry about it."
He waved his hand in a dismissive way, "No, no…. You… you kind of make me feel a little nervous… because… I don't know. I just… feel like I've known you for so long, but really, it's been, what?, five hours? That's such a short time but… I feel this weird connection. Whenever I touch you, I feel a spark. I can't find myself wanting to yell at you at all. I don't want to make you feel all the pain and shit I've gone through from other people, but I do that to everyone else. I… I don't know why, though."
I let him talk and speak the way he needed to, in the choppy, rugged sentences that he did. I let him do what he needed to. He was standing in the middle of the linoleum now, staring at the tiles, and not meeting my eyes.
"Carson, don't feel like you should be nervous around me. I'm fine with however you act. And, I feel that connection too. I feel the spark that dances between our fingers. I'm not even lying, I feel it too."
He seemed to feel reassured by this. I was glad that he was. I didn't know what else to say at that point. The bell rang, and I grabbed my stuff. Carson waved a quick goodbye, and I left.
4. Chapter 3
Three or four months after joining the Writers' Club, Carson and I grew very close. He knew some things about me that I didn't even know myself, and I could read his feelings better than I'd ever thought I could. Time passed and passed, and so did the dance. Neither of us went. He invited me to his house, and we got kiddy-drunk off of sparkling cider and ate brownies. Carson said it was the best dance he'd ever been to, even though we hadn't done any dancing. Not yet, at least.
Some time passed. The winter dance was next for us. It was called the Pokéball, named after Pokémon. I thought it was stupid, but Carson said it brought back an aspect of his childhood. Carson also informed me that this dance was done Sadie Hawkins style, and that proved the point that he wasn't going to get asked.
I chuckled to myself, having thought that Carson had forgotten that he had a best friend who was a girl and might actually ask him. He, however, did not forget this at all. He knew very well that I was his best friend, but did not think I would ask him. Two weeks before the dance, I finally summed up the courage, and tried to ask him over a text.
**To Carson 5:15 PM:**
**Hey…**
**From Carson 5:17 PM:**
**Hey!**
**To Carson 5:20 PM:**
**How are you?**
**From Carson 5:23 PM:**
**I'm good. What about you? Why the sudden conversation?**
**To Carson 5:25 PM:**
**I'm good, but a little nervous. I just wanted to ask you something.**
**From Carson 5:26 PM:**
**Sure!**
**To Carson 5:35 PM:**
**Um…**
**From Carson 5:37 PM:**
**Do you want me to call you? Would that help?**
After that, I didn't say anything. I got so nervous that I couldn't even type anymore. I just threw my phone on my bed in front of me and stared at the ceiling. How was this so hard?! How did guys do this?! I watched the trees make shadows on my ceiling, and then my phone started buzzing. It repeated the buzz several times, and I figured that I had a call. I leaned over and picked it up, "Hello?"
A familiar voice answered me, "Hey. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It's been ten minutes since I sent that text and you aren't one to ignore texts." I sighed, and hoped maybe he had forgotten I had a question to ask him. I was wrong. "You said you had a question for me? Is it about the Chronicle?"
I shook my head, even though he couldn't see it, "No, no, the paper's fine. I just…."
"What is it?"
"I was… I was wondering if…." my voice didn't want to work anymore.
"Yes?" he urged.
"Youwantedtogotothedancewithme?!" I said quickly, blurting it and stringing my syllables together.
I heard him chuckle, "I heard that, but slow down. Take your time. It's okay."
Suddenly I felt like crying. He laughed at it. He doesn't want to go with me at all. He thought I was joking. He thought I was being funny. The next thing I knew there were tears going down my cheeks and I couldn't bear to even talk anymore.
"Riley?" Carson said softly.
I didn't say anything.
"I'm coming over. I'll be there soon," he said quickly, hanging up. I just waited.
* * *
I heard a knock on the door, the stumble of my dog running to bark at said door, and then an awkwardly long pause of silence. I heard my mom bustle to answer the door, "How can I help you?"
Carson's voice answered, "I...uh, I was wondering if Riley was home?"
"Yes, she's upstairs in her room. Do you want me to take you up there?" my mom asked. I guessed that he shook his head, because my mom then said, "Okay, dear. It's upstairs, first door on the right." Then, I heard the clomp of his heavy feet on our wood stairs. My mom had torn out the carpet years ago, saying that 'lavender was not a normal carpet color in a residential home.' I just went along with it, not particularly caring what color the carpet was, unless it was in my own room.
I heard a knock on the door, and I rolled over, placing my face in my pillow shamefully, trying to hide my tears.
"Riley? You in there?" I heard him call.
I didn't answer, so I heard him feel for the knob, and turn it...or rather, try to. I had locked my door before.
"C'mon, I just want to talk. You don't have to lock me out," he pleads.
My mom calls from downstairs, "Did she lock her door?"
Carson calls back, "Yeah. It's locked and she won't answer."
"She's probably in one of her moods. The key's on top of the casing above the door."
Carson felt above the top of the molding, and pulled the key. I heard him drop it and swear, then pick it up again and stick it through the hole in the lock. The tumblers inside clattered and clunked as the lock opened, and then he turned the knob without another word. I remained curled up and tangled with my blanket, ignoring him as he sat down at the foot of the bed. He pressed a hand to my form, which, under the blankets, was my leg, "Look, I just want to talk. You don't have to hide from me."
I kept crying, but it was a silent crying; the crying that was the kind of crying that you do when you're so worked up you can't breathe and your tears are endless and your mascara begins to run...if you're wearing any. My shoulders shook and heaved as I cried, and I felt miserable. Which, of course, I had every right to feel. It wasn't my fault he had to stomp all over me. Then again, I should have expected that from him, considering the fact that everyone I know has done it to me somehow.
He didn't say anything after he noticed my shoulders rocking with my upset breath. He remained silent. The silence was deafening, and said everything that I knew he meant. This is what I heard from the silence:
_Y'know, I'm flattered and all that you want to ask me to the dance._
_But I don't want to go._
_Not with you, at least._
_It was a little funny that you thought I would say yes._
_Almost too funny._
_I kind of wonder if it was a joke._
_A practical joke against yourself._
_Why would you joke against yourself?_
_You get enough jokes as it is, don't you?_
_Why add to it?_
_Sometimes, light-hearted humor actually hurts more than insults._
_And this was the kind of humor that would definitely hurt you._
_I've been friends with you for four months, approximately._
_And I think it was four months too many._
_We can be collegues, sure._
_We can be co-editors._
_We can be president, and vice president._
_But we can't be friends._
_And we most certainly can't be more than that._
The silence ripped me apart completely. All the words he left unsaid tore me to pieces. I couldn't deny it and I couldn't pretend and live in this stupid fantasy of mine. When I would get home after Writers' Club, I would spend hours upon hours upon hours ignoring my homework, staring blankly at my walls, rubbing my hands where he touched them before I left, and just...thinking.
I thought of what would happen if Carson and I did actually get together. What would happen if we decided that we were soulmates, like I thought we were. I thought about what he would say if I asked him to the dance. I thought about what would happen years from now after we'd dated for a long time and he'd pop the pretty question right in front of a crowd. I imagined it in Disneyland, because I'd always said I wanted to go to Disney World, but we never did because Disneyland was far more close (because Fresno was only about an hour from Clover, driving, and two by walking… which Carson sometimes wanted to do. I, of course, pleaded we take his Corvair instead, and he would give in silently, a small smile on his face.). I just would stare at the smooth purple nothingness of my wall for hours on end, as if my staring at it would create a mosaic of what I was thinking. Obviously it didn't, or my embarrassment would be through the roof.
Carson finally broke this cutthroat silence with a clearing of his own throat, "Riley, I'm...worried about you now. I don't want you to be upset. Can we talk? What's wrong?"
I finally sat up and looked at him. He looked handsome...desperately and oh so gorgeously handsome. I heard my mom playing music downstairs in an effort to drown out whatever conversation we were having. She was always so nice...never wanting to eavesdrop.
His eyes were blue as always, his pale pink and sinfully kissable lips parted naturally in a slight 'o' shape as he watched me. I noticed he was wearing the blue sweater. That sweater that drives me crazy and makes me both want to wear the warmth of that sweater and to cling to it with my fingertips while we kissed. I just thought it looked comfortably soft, like a blanket in the winter.
His face pleaded with me to talk, and I didn't. I said nothing to him. I don't like to speak to people who hurt me.
To my surprise, Carson took my hands in his own. He pleaded verbally to me now, "Please. I really don't want you to be hurt or sad or anything. What's wrong?"
I thought for a moment of what I should say, if anything. Finally, I settled for a single word, "You."
He was a little befuddled by this statement, and he closed his mouth. He opened it with a breath, "What about me?"
"You…," I started, then stopped. Shouldn't he know what he did?
"I...what?" he presses.
"You laughed at me."
"What?! I'd never, ever, ever laugh at you. I care about you too much and you've been through-"
"You laughed."
"I don't understand. No I didn't," Carson said, the puzzled expression on his face, however cute it was, continuing to grow.
"I called you. I asked you. You laughed." These words left him silent now. He didn't speak. I didn't blame him. "You laughed," I repeated, "and then I gave up. I cried. You came. I was silent. You pleaded. We talked."
"What comes after that?" Carson asked.
"This can go two ways," I start, letting out a breath. "We forgive and forget, or you break my heart. Pick your choice."
It scared me how long he was silent. It felt like several days had passed between my command and his answer. It was another scathing silence. This one spoke to me too:
_Look. I don't want to talk about this anymore._
_You don't want to talk._
_I won't make you._
_But you realize that I just…_
_I really don't want to talk about this._
I left him to his silence, standing up and going into the hallway. I heard my bed creak as he stood as well, starting after me, "Hey, wait!" I ignored him and kept walking downstairs; the whole way down, of course, he followed me.
"Carson, stop following me. I get it. You don't want to go to the dance with me. A simple no would suffice," I said sadly.
He grabs my hands, "Riley, listen to me." I looked up at him. "Do you want to go to the dance with me?" I didn't answer, and he prodded further, "As my date?" I didn't know if this was of guilt or just because he really meant it. For once, his eyes didn't tell me anything. They revealed nothing more than a glassy shade of blue that read nothing to me. He wasn't an open book. Carson had put his defenses up, but for what reason, I didn't know.
"I'm not kidding you," he says, "I do mean it."
"No you don't," I say. "No one ever means it. You just say it so I'll feel better and you won't have to deal with my tears. You say it so that I don't ever complain about it again. You say it so I'm put in my stupid place. The place where I realize that I'm stupid and ugly and that I don't deserve this."
He looks at me for a long time, then speaks, "Look. I'm going to go back home. You're going to lay in bed for awhile and think about this. I want you to write about it. I want you to let this out through writing. Talk about how terribly everyone has treated you. Talk about Writers' Club. Talk about me. Talk about whatever you need to do. Then, I want you to type it and send it to me. Don't put a title, don't put a subject, don't even sign the email. Just send it to me." With those words said, Carson steps away from me, letting go of my hands, and walks away. I hear the front door shut, then the door to his Corvair.
I look down at my hands. They felt chilled and a little lost without his hands there.
5. Chapter 4
I layed in bed for about two hours, trying to formulate my thoughts into sentences. There were no tears shed this time. After that, I leaned over to grab my brainstorming notebook, and I brainstormed for about an hour. And now, here I am, typing my finished writing into an email.
_**To**__**: Carson Phillips " .com"**_
_**Cc**__**: (None entered)**_
_**Bcc**__**: (None entered)**_
_**Subject**__**: (No Subject)**_
_**I feel like not a single stupid thing matters to me. Year after year people prank me and ask me to dances and parties and things only to mock me to the ends of the earth and laugh. It's happened so many times, it's become expected. When things are expected, there's little I can do to stop myself from assuming them to be. I thought you were different. I thought that maybe you'd understand how it feels to be kicked around and stepped on to the point where you just don't want to do much of anything.**_
_**But I was wrong.**_
_**You don't know. You're far too confidence, pleased, and overall cocky with yourself to even begin to fathom what it's like to be pushed down so many times. Sure, I bet you've had your fair share of 'Hey Shit Head!' in your life, but you've never gotten it as much as me.**_
_**You aren't different than them.**_
_**You're the same.**_
_**And me?**_
_**I'm a fool.**_
_**A fool for trusting you.**_
_**A fool for giving into what you said was true.**_
_**You saying you'd never want me to be miserable again.**_
_**A fool for believing in you.**_
_**A fool.**_
After finishing this email, I close my eyes, let out a breath, and hit send. I then decide to wait for a reply, if any, and waste the time playing games online. Instead of a reply, however, I hear the familiar da-dum of an IM. I glare at the top, and let out a breath when I see it's from my sister.
**_IM with Mariel "tictacs642 "_**
**_5:15 PM_**
**_Mariel - hey lil sis, what are you up to?_**
**_5:17 PM_**
**_You - nothing really. just sent off a /somewhat/ important email_**
**_and am waiting for a reply._**
**_5:18 PM_**
**_Mariel - what for?_**
I left my cursor blinking in the text box, and watched as the '...' of her typing started, then stopped. She decided to stop talking and wait for me to answer. I heard another da-dum, and looked up at the top:
**_IM with Carson " .com"_**
**_5:19 PM_**
**_Carson - I got your email._**
**_5:19 PM_**
**_You - i bet._**
**_5:19 PM_**
**_Carson - I haven't read it yet._**
**_5:20 PM_**
**_You - okay._**
**_5:22 PM_**
**_Carson - Are you still mad at me?_**
**_5:22 PM_**
**_You - maybe._**
**_5:24 PM_**
**_Carson - Quit being mad at me._**
**_5:24 PM_**
**_You - how about you stop commanding my life? don't tell me what_**
**_i can and cannot do._**
**_5:26 PM_**
**_Carson - Okay._**
**_5:28 PM_**
**_You - okay. _**
**_5:43 PM_**
**_Carson - I'm going to read it now._**
**_5:43 PM_**
**_You - okay._**
**_5:55 PM_**
**_Carson - I'm done._**
**_5:56 PM_**
**_You - congratulations, want a medal?_**
**_5:57 PM_**
**_Carson - Yes._**
**_5:57 PM_**
**_You - too bad._**
**_5:58 PM_**
**_Carson - Damnit._**
**_5:59 PM_**
**_Carson - But I did read your email. Thoroughly._**
**_6:00 PM_**
**_Carson - Riley?_**
**_6:03 PM_**
**_Carson - Where are you? If you're reading these you must be here._**
**_6:05 PM_**
**_You - …._**
**_6:06 PM_**
**_Carson - Do you want to talk about it here, or should I email you back?_**
**_6:07 PM_**
**_You - whatever you prefer._**
At that point, I let him do whatever he was doing, which apparently was replying in the IM, as the '...' of his typing was constant for nearly ten minutes. He typed and typed and typed and I had no idea what he would say. I'd known people who took twenty minutes just to type 'Hey,' but I figure he didn't take that long.
**_6:20 PM_**
**_Carson - Riley._**
**_Don't feel like I don't care about you. You know as well as I do that I care about you so much. I wouldn't do something to jerk you around, considering how many times that everyone's jerked you around. Remember the other day that Nicholas was yelling stuff at you? Who was there? I was. I had my hand on your shoulder and I was standing there yelling right back._**
**_You know that I really really care about you. Plus, I really do want to go to the dance with you. I think it would be fun, and you do want to go with me. This is definitely a yes between us, but you're scared to agree. I understand that. I would be too, regardless if I was in your situation or not._**
**_But I'm not scared. I'm not scared because I know. I notice how when we talk, we're always talking like we've known each other forever. I notice how when we touch there's a spark between us. I notice how well we work together. I've seen it. I really really think there's something going on between us, and, while I hate the thought of the word, I think it might be love._**
**_Y'know, I really do hate that word though. It comes off the tongue too many times. 'I love you!' But you really don't, do you? So many people say that just to make people stay for a little longer. But if I did say that, it would be true. I think I'd only say that to you. HEY! That rhymed. Okay, now I'm rambling. I'm gonna hit enter now._**
I left my cursor blinking in the reply bar for a little while, and he didn't say anything. I read it through four times, and then a fifth before typing my answer.
**_6:32 PM_**
**_You - okay. my answer's yes. i understand. and y'know what?_**
**_6:33 PM_**
**_Carson - Yeah?_**
**_6:34 PM_**
**_You - i love you._**
**_6:35 PM_**
**_Carson - :)_**
It felt so weird to know that I'd just said that to him. Especially considering ten minutes ago, I'd thought he hated me. But I know now that he doesn't hate me. He loves me. That still sounds weird! But he loves me! He loves me! Of course, now I had to figure out what on earth I was going to do for the dance. I was so sure I wasn't going that I didn't really have time to prepare. After all, I only had two weeks. I looked at the computer, and typed something else:
**_6:48 PM_**
**_You - hey, i have a question._**
**_6:52 PM_**
**_Carson - Shoot. Excuse the late reply. Mom was yelling. (As per usual!)_**
**_6:54 PM_**
**_You - it's fine. but since its friday, do you wanna go to the mall? i still need to buy a dress since we're going and i could use the company._**
**_6:56 PM_**
**_Carson - Yeah! That sounds great. Should I get you at eight?_**
**_7:00 PM_**
**_You - mhm. see you then._**
I lean forward to shut my laptop now, deciding to grab something to eat and then getting ready. I knew he would be on time, but I still had some time left over either way. So, after throwing on some jeans and a hoodie that Carson himself had lent me (because shockingly enough, it was cold in California for once), I sat back by my desk and opened the novel I was reading. I was nearly finished with it, but I found myself so excited that I had read the same paragraph three times in a row.
Out of nowhere, I heard a thud, then a crash, and I glared at my door, calling downstairs, that is, until I recalled that I was the only one here now. My parents had left hours ago and my sister was off at college. I looked around the room for a minute, panicked, then made a grab for my phone as I flicked off the lights in my room.
I sent a quick text now, to the only person I could think of:
**To Carson 7:02 PM**
**i think theres someone in my house and im really scared right now**
**From Carson 7:04 PM**
**Whoa wait a minute. What's going on?**
**To Carson 7:06 PM**
**i think theres SOMEONE in my HOUSE and I AM SCARED right N O W**
**From Carson 7:08 PM**
**Okay calm down. I'll be there soon.**
**To Carson 7:10 PM**
**you might not wanna come what if they're gonna kill you i dont know whats going to happen!?**
**From Carson 7:13 PM**
**I think I can handle it. Don't worry.**
I just let him come. If he doesn't want to listen to me, fine, thats his problem. I heard footsteps downstairs, then clomping upstairs. I threw myself under my bed in fear, hoping they wouldn't come into my room. I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my chest as I breathed as shallowly and silently as I could, when I heard my door open. I tucked myself more closely under the bed, pleading and hoping that he wouldn't look and find me there. In front of me was a set of legs in dark slacks, with black tennis shoes, and that was as far as I could see. I watched them walk around.
They went to my desk, and I waited for them to snatch up my laptop, but they didn't. They reached over and picked up the box that I kept on my nightstand. In it was a bracelet my sister had made me before she went to college, a ring that my mom bought me for Christmas one year with my birthstone in it, and my most prized possession: a necklace Carson had given me. He gave it to me on the third month anniversary of our friendship, saying that it's both the longest and best friendship he'd ever had with someone. The next day, I brought him an anthology of journalism and some brownies I had made. That night, he came over and we ate the brownies and we took turns reading the journalism book to each other. I wasn't all that interested in the journalism part, but rather hearing him talk about it so happily and spending time with him.
The man opened the box, rifling through it, before closing it again and setting it back on the nightstand. I wondered where my dog was at this time, but there wasn't much he would have done anyways. As I watched the man look at all of the things in my room with bated breath, I heard a car door outside. The time crawled by and I heard the door open quietly downstairs, but I was sure the man didn't hear it, as he kept looking. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs ever so silently, but I knew there was someone there because guests never knew about the quiet squeak of the stairs. Again, the man didn't hear it. It was then that I saw some dark wash jeans and blue sneakers, and I recognized them in an instant. I prayed that he would be okay.
The man turned around and saw Carson there, and yelped, "What're you doing here? The house was empty five minutes ago!"
Carson didn't answer his question, "Get out."
"What?"
"Get. Out."
I watched so nervously, my breath barely even giving me oxygen at all. The man turned and went out the door. I was shocked that even just that command had worked. I heard Carson again now, "Hey! Is anyone home? Helloooo?" I didn't answer because I was so shaken from fear. He peeked into my closet, but to no avail, as I was not there. He checked everywhere, before kneeling down and checking under the bed, "Riley?"
"Hi," I said lamely.
"There you are! I was worried sick. Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I replied, "Just scared."
Carson pulled me out from under the bed and took my hands in his, "I'm here now, though. Nothing's going to hurt you now." I looked down at the floor, and he wrapped his arms closely around me, and I felt safe and warm. I was held in his embrace for quite some time, and my body began to shake with the worry still washing over me. I hear him take a breath quickly, "Woah, what's going on?"
I kept shaking, harder than before, and the only things I could think about was the fact that they could have taken something or that someone could be hurt or that they could have hurt Carson. Thoughts streamed in my mind and everything seemed to be falling apart and I shook harder and my breath became heavy and worried. I couldn't say anything at all, and he was beginning to worry. He squeezed my hands tightly and just repeated, "It's okay. You're okay," over and over and over until his voice started to crack. He stopped saying it when he started crying from being scared. At that point, we had two people crying and being so scared, and us two together was only keeping us from breaking completely.
I found myself clung to his sweater, gripping it as if my life depended on it, and he kept wringing his hands through my hair over and over. We sat like that for a long time, neither one of us wanting to break the silence. I kept shaking and crying and he held me until I stopped. Finally, he pulled out a bit and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," I reply.
I stood up, and, to my surprise, Carson follows me. I didn't know where I was going, I just wanted to leave the room. He followed, and took my hand carefully in his, before saying, "Let's go on a drive." I didn't reply, so he just pulled me outside and opened the passenger door for me. I got in, and he put the top of the car down. With the top down-and me safely strapped into the passenger seat-, Carson set to work starting the car. He turned the station to the classic Spanish music station, rolled down my window, and left the key in the ignition. After this number was complete, he got into the drivers' seat, and started the ignition.
Without a word, he changes the station to a pop station, to which I reach over to the CD changer, and play disc three. I knew this disc well. This was the CD that he and I made together one day when Writers' Club was slow. I'd found a blank CD in my backpack, and he told me he had a music downloader that we could use, and suggested a mix CD. We pored for hours into the CD, and now it had our favorite music on it. The songs we shared together. This CD was played at least once every time I was in his car. The tracklist is this:
_1. You'll Go Far, Kid - The Offspring_
_2. I am Not a Robot - Marina & the Diamonds_
_3. The Great Escape - Patrick Watson_
_4. Escape Route - Paramore_
_5. The Gambler - Fun._
_6. G.I.N.A.S.F.S. - Fall Out Boy_
_7. Miracle - Paramore_
_(Now would be a good time to play the playlist! -A/N)_
Carson smiled at the fact that I played the disc, and that I knew which one it was to play at all. We listened to it, and I heard him humming quietly to the songs we'd put on there. I remembered that he had only put three songs on there, and I the rest. He put the first three tracks, and I put rest of them. We drove for what felt like hours, and at each and every stoplight, Carson would take his hand from the stick-shift and rub the back of my hand, offering me a small smile. I returned these smiles to reassure both himself and myself, and because I wanted to show him I wasn't as weak as he thought I was.
My mind threaded through ideas while the lyrics to the songs flooded in and out of my ears, until Carson suddenly hit the brakes on the side of the road. He reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, before startling me into awareness, "Hey, we're here." I looked around. We were on one of the offroads on the highway leading from Clover. The pale and desert-like landscape didn't look all that appealing, but it felt good to be in a place where he was the only one who knew my name.
I felt like he knew that I wanted to be somewhere far away from Clover at that point of my life. I knew that I did, at least, and perhaps I was that easily read. Although, judging by why he had brought me there at all, I guessed I was read easily, but not easily enough. Carson plopped himself down on the ground both unceremoniously and ungracefully, then I followed, sitting carefully, and pressing my palm against the dusty, dry ground.
He didn't wait for me to shift myself comfortably, "What's going on with you?"
I blinked for a minute, then turned to him, "What do you mean?"
"You...How do I say this?" he starts. "You're acting a little different. I feel like theres a part to your past you aren't telling me."
"I'm scared," I said softly.
"Of what?" Carson asks. His voice was so tender, and it was a voice I'd only heard him use for me.
"Of trusting people. I can't bear to let people know of my past that shouldn't or will bear false against me because of it."
"I know," he agrees. "I don't tell people about my childhood. The only person… or rather… thing… that knows is my journal. At least I know that my journal won't tell anyone." Carson's joke fell flat into the air, landing to the earth with an imaginarily loud thud that we both heard to ourselves. I heard a car whoosh by behind us, which was odd for this highway, considering hardly anyone went to or from Clover, and especially onto the off-road leading to an abandoned farmer's market by the beach.
I just nodded, leaving his joke dead in the dirt, and him struggling for something to say.
"Do you want to trust me with it?" Carson asks, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Do I?" I ask him the same question.
"I think you do. I wouldn't tell a single living soul. Ever," he promises.
I took a breath, and, to my own shock, I told him everything. I started right from when I started being bullied to my anorexia, then to my continued bullying and my almost suicides. By the end of it, he had my hands in his, and he looked at me with those big blue eyes. They were comically large, and I couldn't find a bit of those blue-tinged pools that wasn't filled with pity and sadness for me. After that, Carson said nothing, but began slowly pressing kisses to each of my knuckles, before finally speaking, "That's a lot. A lot for just one girl to handle."
I nodded slowly in agreeance, and he paused. Then, he continued, "No one is going to hurt you ever again. I won't let anyone hurt you." I nodded for the third time in this conversation, and he pulls me up by my hands, which he was still clasping, "C'mon. I want to take you somewhere else." I sat into the passenger seat, buckled in, and turned to flip the radio to the classic Spanish music station. He smiled at me, then pushed the key into the ignition and rolled down my window again. Then he turned the key, and the engine purred, but wouldn't start.
"C'mon baby, please don't fight with me right now."
I reach forward, clicking open the glove compartment, and he gets out again, circling to the back of the car. Carson applies a sturdy kick to the back license plate of the car, and I slam shut the glove compartment, then whip over to turn the key in the ignition. The engine roars back to life, and Carson breathes out, "Thank God. I was scared we were gonna be stuck out here."
"You know your car loves me," I joke.
He smiles to himself again, then starts driving down the off-road. I left the Spanish classics on, and he didn't change it either, so I listened to the song. As the words hit me, I began translating them using what little I had learned in class when I wasn't throwing balls of paper at the back of Carson's head.
_'Aprende a amar como le pasan los días. Y aprende a ver que la gente no es muy diferente. Se enamoran, oh, se enamoran.'_
When my mind had finished working it out, I had translated this:
_She learns to love as the days pass her by. And he learns to see that people aren't all that different at all. They fall in love, oh, they fall in love.'_
The song c_'_ontinued and the refrain played a final time. Even after the song had ended and the commercials began, the refrain replayed itself in the back of my mind. I was silent the rest of the trip, and Carson made no effort to talk either. Finally, he pulled onto a little road called Pacifica Plains Parkway, and then onto Pacifica Drive. He drives all the way to the end of this road.
Soundlessly, he gets out of the car. I follow suit, getting out and sitting next to him on the chipping red paint of the hood of the car. I felt his hand go on top of my own, and then he wrapped his fingers around mine. Our hands interlaced. The sun began to set and I breathe in the smell of the salty air and the seaweed. I listen to the chirps of the seagulls and the crash of waves lapping against the shore. He turned to me, "Is this your first time at Pacifica?"
I nod, "Yes. Also my first time at the ocean at all."
"Mm," he says absently, and his hand in mine pulls me closer to him. We sit hip-to-hip on the hood of his old Corvair, and that was where he kissed me. Carson kissed me on the hood of his '73 Corvair while the oceans kissed the shore and the sun kissed the dusk and the day kissed the night. I felt like we were meant to be in the same way that books say that soulmates are meant to be. With a soft mwah, he pulls away. I turn away quickly, facing my chocolate brown eyes into the ocean, until he clears his throat for my attention.
"Maybe we should head back home. Before it gets too late," Carson says softly.
I agree, "Yep. Don't want my family to worry." With that, we slide off the hood of the car and into our respective seats in the car. Carson clicks on the mix tape again, and we listen in silence.
_I'm not going. Cause I've been waiting for a miracle. I'm not going. Cause I won't let you give up on a miracle when it might save you._
We sat there for ages even after stopped, and, with a quick pat of my hand, Carson says, "Hey. We're here now." I noticed we were at his house rather than my own. I parted my lips to speak, but he shushed me, and got out of the car. I followed wordlessly, and he led me inside. For once, his mother wasn't here.
"She's out for once. She has a doctor's appointment," Carson adds, in explanation. I nod along and then wait for him to lead me wherever he wanted to go. He walked into the living room, which had thus been cleaned up; no more bottles-wine or prescription-remained. Again, with little grace and very unceremoniously, he plopped onto the soft cushions of the couch. The couch was a dusty brown color that looked tired and dreary, but the stark color of the blue of his sweater made a vivid and interesting contrast. He patted the cushion next to himself, and I sat. He took my hands in his own and pulls me close, letting me rest myself against him whichever way I pleased.
He leaned over to pick up the TV remote, and flicks it on. Of course, the default was of his mother, that being the daytime television. This time, it was the Ellen Show. Carson chuckled to himself, and then he switched the channel to a movie that I hadn't seen before, but he had. He kept quoting it from the movie as the characters would speak, and I could tell he was fond of the film.
As time drew on, I got tired. My phone vibrated suddenly to wake me up, and I peered down to see a text from my mom asking where I was. I sent a quick text back saying I was at Carson's and that I was spending the night there. Or, rather, I assumed I would be. But, nonetheless, my mom told me to have fun and be safe. Safe from what? I don't know. I curled back up into my stupor between wakefulness and sleep, letting myself doze in and out of consciousness. Eventually, around eleven, the movie ended and Carson untangled himself from me before heading into the kitchen. I heard him clatter around for awhile while I layed on the couch, and he bustled around. I didn't know what on earth he was doing, but I suppose it didn't matter.
He came back in with two glasses of milk and some cookies that looked questionably stale. I glanced at them, then at him. Carson just chuckled, setting them on the table, and putting the glasses on coasters, "I know the cookies might be stale, but I'm positive the milk isn't expired. I promise you."
I smelled it, "It smells expired."
"Try me!" he challenges with a smirk, picking the other glass up. He took a sip, "See! It's fine!" Of course, moments later, his eyes bugged out, and I heard him swear to himself, "So this actually was spoiled…!"
"What was the date on the carton?"
"10/23…," he says quietly.
"Thats October 23rd. That's been expired for weeks!" I said, starting to laugh.
"I thought it meant October of like 2023!" he says indignantly.
"Carson, that would make the milk some sort of extraterrestrial, especially with all of the preservatives they'd have to put in for it to even go to 2014 without curdling. You're such a dork."
"Buuuuut," Carson holds out the vowel, "I aaaaam youuuur dooooork."
"That much is true. Now c'mere, spoiled milk. I know you have West Side Story and I want to watch it."
"We watched it like last week though," he protests.
"You know you like singing for Tony," was all I replied with before he gave in, and stuck the disc into the DVD player.
6. Chapter 5
I woke up at 3 AM. The tic-toc of the clock woke me and caused me to stress a little bit. I wondered where I was for a few moments, until I felt a warm mass against my body. I glanced over and found that Carson was next to me, and that I was laying on him. I started to get up but found his arm wrapped around my waist and our hands interlaced together. There was no way I was going to get out of this. I just curled closer and went back to sleep now, feeling far too lazy and tired to want to object any longer. I laid there, watching the clock tick by for about ten minutes until I drifted off to sleep. I felt safe. I felt warm. But most of all, I felt happy. Really happy.
* * *
The next morning, I woke first again, and Carson was still sound asleep. I nudged him lightly against his ribs, and whispered, "Carson?" His eyelashes fluttered open and he smacked his lips together to get rid of the dryness that had resulted from him sleeping with his mouth open. He grunted absently in response, then rolled over again. I could hear him softly snoring again, so I decided a more direct approach. I dug my fingers under his armpit and he yelped into a laughing spree while I tickled him. His eyes were wide and huge and then he started slapping at my hands to get me to stop, wheezing and whining for me to quit, "Riiileeeeey stoooooop!"
I giggled and kept tickling him and he kept whining. I found myself to enjoy the whining noises that came from his mouth, which only fueled me to tickle him longer and ignoring his pleas for me to stop. The high squeaking that came from the back of his throat was an animalistic and almost frighteningly guttural sound, and it both shocked me and made me want to keep making him make the noise. However, he slapped my arm hard enough to shock me into stopping. After stopping, he sat up, gasping for air and laughing still from the residual effect. He laid back again, grabbing my hand and pulling me back to lay next to him. We stared at the dimly lit ceiling for awhile, counting the cracks and crevices that splayed through the plaster, only making noise to point out another crack in the ceiling that the other hadn't seen.
It was silent, but not an awkward silence. It was a silence that both he and I were contented in, and neither wanted to leave. With his hand clasped in my own, we just layed there, and then I noticed that he had closed his eyes, so I broke the silence, "If you don't wake up, I'm going to have to tickle you again." Carson's eyes whipped open at that, and he peered at me through his lashes, "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I would," I teased. He chuckled at this, and we went back to laying there. Suddenly he bursts out, "Do you want to go down to the park?"
I look at him for a moment. "Which park?"
"Railroad Park? Or maybe we could go to Dry Creek Trail if you want to take a walk," he suggests.
"Railroad's the one with the playground, right?" I ask. He nods. "Then let's go to Railroad. I could use a bit of time on a swingset. For memories."
Carson grins and teases me now, "Or maybe because you're secretly a five-year-old."
I got up, pulling him up by our hands, "Secretly?"
With this, we both walked out the door and to his car. After it started-albeit with some struggle as per usual-, we drove to Railroad Park. We then went to the swing-sets, and swung next to each other. It was another silence, save for the sounds of the early birds and the trees rustling. I didn't expect much from the kiddy park yet, since it was around ten AM, when most people had hardly gotten up. I spent a lot of my time sitting on the swing, but Carson got bored rather quickly. He eventually just got up and started pushing my swing, despite my feet dragging against the mulch and wood chips underneath the swing. I didn't protest, as he seemed to be having fun. Soon, however, kids began to show up. Carson stops my swing with a grip of the chains, "You wanna ditch? We could go for a drive down the highway. You know, really fast. With the top down."
I grinned so widely that my cheeks hurt, "Let's do it. Kids are boring, anyways."
"Not so much boring as tightfisted," Carson quips to himself, before taking my hand and leading me back to his car. I noticed two tweenaged boys standing near the hood of his car, and I felt his hand start to clench.
"Shhh," I cooed, "It's okay. I'll take care of it." I talked to the boys now, "Hey, boys! What're you two up to?"
One of the boys turns, "What kind of car is this?"
"A '73 Corvair Monza Spyder," we both say at the same time.
"Oh! I thought it was a different model," the other boy says. "It's a nice car."
"Thanks," Carson says.
I nod kindly, "Well, we've got to head off. Bye, you two. Stay in school!"
We both piled into the car, and then hurried off.
"'Stay in school'?!" Carson says, his voice lilting with teasing.
"What would you have said?!" I countered. He replied with a laugh. We drove all the way to the highway, and pulled onto the huge street. As we started to climb in speed, the familiar first track played, and Carson reached over to turn the dial up louder, increasing the volume as he put down the top to the Corvair. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up in the seat, while Carson grinned and laughed, pressing harder on the gas. My hair whipped around me as I sang-and yelled- to the song, "Now dance, fucker, dance! Man, he never had a chance! And no one even knew it was really only you. ANd now you steal away, take him out today. Nice work you did, you're gonna go far kid. With a thousand lies and a good disguise: hit 'em right between the eyes, hit 'em right between the eyes. When you walk away, nothing more to say, see the lightning in your eyes, see 'em running for THEIR LIVES!" Around the end of the song, Carson joined in, and we were both singing at the top of our lungs.
The song faded out, and I sat down, the adrenaline lost for the time being. Tracks two and three passed while we kept driving. I watched him drive, glancing at his hair that would flip and fight against the wind, and then to his lips, which he would lick occasionally while turning into another lane. Track four started just as Clover's city-limit sign came into view on the horizon.
_I've got a life out there somewhere, it's waiting, lined with palm trees and only new faces. If i could look past the present and get there, well baby it's worth a shot. Just enough time to plan an escape route. I put my map on the wall in the basement. Not quite a victory to run from your problems, but it's the only plan that I got. It's the only plan that I got._
As we passed right over the line, Carson leaned over and yelled over the music, "We should keep driving!"
"Why? Won't everyone get worried?" I yell back.
"No! We need a break anyways. Our school year doesn't continue for another two weeks! Let's drive to Las Vegas!"
"Why?!" I call, "Why not just somewhere else in California?"
"Because I'm tired of shitty old California!" Carson bellowed back, "We're gonna go!" I didn't worry about it. The music turned itself around several times, repeating as we sang along to ourselves. When we saw the border sign between California and Nevada, the song bellowed to us:_ And if you try to find me now, I'm in all the echoes that have faded out. So… I'm moving on, 'cause I just want to feel for once that I belong. That's what's going on. Yeah, that's what's going on._
As we drove over the border, the song continued for us, oddly accurate for our current situation. _Crossed the state line, and called out a warning. Not too long now, I'll breathe, California. Paid my dues and I tried to be loyal, but now I'm done with all that. We want, you left. We're left to start over. It's not a question of who we are really, it's of who we want to be._ The refrain crossed, and Carson yelled, "Doesn't it seem like time's just going slow?"
The singer then sang to us,_ But time has not been kind to me. It's not been kind to me. It's winding backwards. Time has not been kind. Its crawling by… so… slowly…._ Carson looks at me, shocked, "Did she just…?"
I nodded. "I feel like this is similar to us. Or at least, our friendship and career choice… and our regards to our hell of a city." I nodded, then remembered a song, "Did you bring your phone with you?" He nods, and I ask him for it. Carson hands it over, and I look it up on YouTube. I let it play for him, and he smiled, "We need to add this to the CD. It could be our song."
I grinned too, "Our song." I liked the thought of that. A song just for us. After the song ended, I stopped the video and then turned off his phone for him. I set it into the cup-holder, and he thanked me. I set the CD back to playing, and we sat in silence. The wind continued to whip by us as we sat, and then Carson groans next to me.
"I'm getting really tired of driving. Did you bring your wallet with you?" he questions.
"I would have, but I didn't," I say, to his anguish.
"Then let's pull over for a little while." He follows his own words, pulling to the side of the highway, and I flick off the CD. We sit there, for a moment, then he takes my hand. I look up at the sky, and he does the same. The two of us watch the clouds float past, the cottony wisps stark against the azure of the Californian-or rather, Nevadan- sky. "Do you want to cuddle in the backseat for a bit?" he asks me.
"Sure," I agree. With this, Carson lets go of my hand and climbs into the back seat, leaning himself against the side of his car. I lay next to him, our feet tangling together and our hands interlacing while I laid my head against his shoulder, tucking it into the crook of his neck. He smelled like a salty sweet taste, a new book, and a little bit-curiously so-like Red Bull. We laid together there for quite some time, the only sounds were our hums of contentment and the whoosh of cars passing by. I didn't ever want to leave the backseat of the car. He pulls me closer to himself, and presses a sweet and chaste kiss to the tip of my nose, his blue eyes filled with love. I looked back up at him and kissed his lips quickly, shyly. He returned back with another kiss, this one longer and more lingering, his lips pressing perfectly against my own. I reciprocated the kiss back as best as I could, and I felt his hand slide down my back, sending a shiver down my spine. With a shudder, I pulled away, tucking my face into his neck, and letting him grip around my waist, closing his eyes with more contentment.
I breathed out against his neck, "This is the best time I've ever had."
"Me too," he replies. We sat in silence a little while longer until Carson climbed back to the front and started driving again.
7. Chapter 6
We got to Las Vegas just before night. Carson somehow had procured money to pay for a hotel. Together, we went to our room, and plopped onto the bed. I noticed that it was a queen bed, but there was only one bed altogether. This meant that we would be sharing the bed. I decided to lay down the rules I needed to say, "Okay." I started like this to get his attention. When he turned, I continued, "Since we're sharing a bed, I want you to know, despite whether you were thinking of this or not, that I'm not ready for sex or anything like that. We can kiss and cuddle, of course, and maybe, when I trust you, we can make out, but I'm nowhere near ready for sex."
He nods in agreeance. I continue, "As for whatever reason you brought me here, we're both not legal, so I don't want to do anything illegal… in example, drinking or gambling. I don't take you for that kind of guy, but I'm just trying to touch base on everything. Lastly, I don't care where and when we eat or do activities, as long as you tell me about whatever it is we're doing before we go. Unless, of course, it's like your beach surprise. Then, by all means, surprise me."
Carson smiles fondly at my mention of Pacifica. I did too. He nods again, "Okay. I wasn't planning to have sex or anything illegal, so you're okay about that. And, I will make sure to tell you what's going on. I know you hate being mis- or malinformed." I smiled even wider at his recollection-or was it remembrance?-of something I liked and disliked.
I looked at the clock, and the time read 7:34 PM. "Should we get room service?" I question.
"Good idea," he picks up the menu from inside the drawer of the bedside table, and we look at it together. After poring for awhile, we decide to order a vanilla cake. Why not an actual meal? We were in Las Vegas! We weren't going to have a kiddy meal! We were eating that whole fucking cake and no one was going to stop us! Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Carson gathered the money to pay for the cake. He handed it to the woman delivering it, thanked her, and set the cake on the bed, opening the chaffing dish's lid carefully. Underneath was a beautifully iced vanilla cake with white icing and rosettes that were blue and red. On the top, one of the bakers had piped, 'Congratulations on escaping Clover!' on the top.
He grins at the piping over the top, then handed me a fork, "Ready to go?"
"I thought you'd never stop inspecting the damn icing!" I squealed giddily, stabbing my fork into the cake and taking a bite. I hummed with pleasure of the taste. He takes a bite too, and we flip on the TV and watch America's Next Top Model, because The CW was the only channel the TV picked up. Around eleven thirty, we had finished the cake, and we both sighed contentedly. With this, Carson sets our forks on the tray, then places it on the table in the corner of our room. He toes off his shoes, then curls up in bed next to me. He pulled the down comforter closer to us both, then wrapped his arms around me, spooning me close. As my eyes fluttered shut, he began pressing kisses against my cheeks and the back of my neck, where my hair parted. While I was drifting into the limbo between wakefulness and sleep, he flipped off the TV, and nestled his cheek against my own. He whispered quietly into my ear, "'Night, Riley. Have some great dreams. I'll be right here when you wake up…." I heard his voice drift off for a moment as he yawned, then he finished with, "I love you." I yawned out an 'I love you' in return, and Carson smiled against my cheek, before falling into a sound sleep.
* * *
In the morning, I woke up and groaned. My back hurt like hell, and I had no idea why. I rolled over and was face to face-nose-to-nose-with Carson. I grunted in surprise, and he wrapped himself closer, smiling in his sleep. I figured out why my back hurt. He was gripping me in a death grip. I knew I wasn't going to easily escape his death grip, so I limply settled myself back into his chest. In response, Carson made a kitten-like purr of contentment. But, as I looked out the window of our little hotel room, I took notice to a bird hurtling towards it at top speed. I watched it, and then with a loud thud, the bird crashed into the window. Carson jolted awake, "What the fuck was that? Where's the fire?"
I chuckled to myself at his sudden startling, and then took a hint of pleasure in his morning drawl. "There's no fire, boo. It was just a bird hitting the window." He bursts out laughing, in that high, squeaky laugh that he only seems to use when I tell him something that was truly funny. This made me smile and start laughing too. "Does this hotel have breakfast?" I ask.
"Mhmm," he says absently, before pulling me closer by my waist, "But it goes 'til ten. Let's lay here for awhile." I agreed silently by curling closer, and he presses a soft kiss to my forehead. It was just quiet and calm, and we had little care in the world. We laid together like that for about an hour, the same way we did back at his house yesterday. Yesterday felt so far away from me now.
Eventually, we got up, and stumbled our way downstairs, pausing only in the elevator. When we reached the bottom floor, and worked our way into the little dining cafe. We each picked our respective meals, and sat across from each other, eating silently. As before, our silence wasn't awkward or uncomfortable in the least; we both felt comfortable and happy being in the silence, as it seemed to say volumes, as did every other one between us. After eating, Carson suggested our plans for the day, excitement rising in his voice in a giddy, childish way I hadn't heard from him before, "We should go see the top seven famous landmarks of Las Vegas."
"According to who?" I ask.
"Wikipedia," he replies with a light chuckle, before running off the list to me.
1. Welcome to Las Vegas Sign
2. Vegas Vic
3. Hoover Dam
4. Las Vegas Strip
5. Downtown Las Vegas
6. Fremont Street Experience
7. Bellagio Fountains
With our plan in action, we both got up, took care of the dishes we had, and then walked out to the car. "After we do all this, we should head back home." Carson nodded in agreement, and then we turned up our radio all the way, driving with the top down to the first destination. We each took turns posing in front of the sign, then asked some people to take pictures of us together. At each location, Carson ensured that we took at least one picture of him kissing my cheek or me kissing his. Next we went to Vegas Vic, and Carson posed like Vic was, being the dork that he was, and I snapped a photo. Then, he grabbed my hands and pulled me close, asking a passersby to take our picture. He pressed his lips against my cheek while I smiled at him. Then, for my own candid shot, I put my hands against Vic's boot, and pretended as if he was crushing me. Carson chuckled as he took the picture, and I smiled afterwards. We piled into the car once more, and then headed for Hoover Dam.
For our picture of both of us-of course, besides the cheek kissing-, we pulled a Titanic, me standing on the edge of the dam, and him holding my waist. Thankfully, the wind blew by us, and ruffled my hair. Then, we each took our candids, and went on our way to the Strip. We walked for awhile, taking pictures and smiling a lot, like normal people would. After the strip came Downtown. We looked around and shopped a little, and Carson purchased a bracelet that he gave to me. We went to the Fremont Street Experience next, and, on the projector screen above the walkway, we saw our faces grinning back at us. Carson snapped a photo of us, kissing my cheek like he did with every other picture. There was a moment, and someone else snapped a picture of us standing there, looking at each other with so much love.
Last was the Bellagio Fountains. Night was falling when we got there. Tonight, the lights of the fountain were blue and red, just like the rosettes of our vanilla cake. We sat on one of the benches together, and he held my hand in his. We sat for ages, watching the water splashing in patterns, as the reds and blues combined into purples, and the brightness of our eyes reflected them just the same. I wondered if he would kiss me again, but, alas, he didn't. He didn't kiss me, but he did say he loved me. That almost made up for it. Almost.
We both headed home after that. We turned in the keycards to our hotel room, paid our fare, and then hopped into the Corvair. It was nearly seven when we headed home. Carson promised he'd be fine driving the whole night as long as I could manage to keep him awake until I fell asleep. I kept this promise, and left on my mixtape afterwards on a loud volume to keep him I fell asleep, I heard him singing along to the song I had played for him on the way here. The song he said was our song.
_Give me a reason to make me smile, because I've forgotten how. I want to fall asleep with you. I wanna know that I am safe when you hold me tight. I wanna feel how I wanna feel forever. I want you. I want you. I want you tonight. I want you tonight. Oh oh oh…_
As his voice faded off as he sang the ohs of the song, I faded into sleep, and he kept driving. I felt oddly comfortable for sleeping in a car, and I felt safer than ever. I felt Carson throw his sweater over me to keep me warm while we drove.
* * *
When I woke up, I saw a pale blue down comforter, and a mass of brown hair in front of me. I blinked a few times, then rolled over and went back to sleep. I would figure out where I was some time in the future was about ten minutes later, when the mass next to me woke up, and groaned.
This woke me, and I said, "Where am I?"
"You're in my room," Carson replied. "And currently laying on my arm. Probably why it felt dead." I just chuckled and rolled over to him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He responds with one to my nose, and then we hear the stomping of his mother. "Oh boy, here comes the shittiest mother ever, Sheryl Phillips."
I snort, and there, in the flesh, was the woman herself, Sheryl Phillips. Sheryl was a mess after Carson's dad left, turning to pills and wine instead of her problems, and she hardly ever left the couch. The only exceptions to this were doctors appointments and to yell at Carson for something. She, of course, was here for the latter. I slid under the blankets, and Carson pretended I wasn't there. We didn't want Sheryl to confront us again. Last time, she screamed at him for fifteen minutes then passed out. We both knew she wouldn't remember the fact that I was there.
"Why did I hear voices up here?" Sheryl asks.
"You didn't. Must be all the meds you're taking," Carson counters.
Sheryl snorts at this, "Psh. I heard you talking to someone." When he didn't say anything, Sheryl continued, "A girl." Carson laughs again, and then Sheryl groans, thus stomping out of the room, "I better not hear a peep!" As soon as she had left, I slid back up from the covers, and laughed.
"She's such an idiot," Carson says with a laugh of his own.
I smiled, "So what're we gonna do today?"
"Just lay here for like four hours," he replies. "What's the point in getting up?"
"Very true," I agreed, and rolled over to face him. "It feels like we went to Vegas...forever ago."
"I know. But maybe we'll go back there when we're legal. See the other half of 'fun' in Vegas," he say with a chuckle, before wrapping his arms around my waist again. "What time is it, do you know?"
"I think it's about ten AM."
"Let's go back to sleep. It's way too early to exist right now." I nodded in assent, and then we both curled close and went to sleep. Little did we know we were in for the talk of our lives when we woke up again.
8. Chapter 7
Now that we had gotten longer than our eight hours, Carson poked my ribs to wake me up. I groaned and slapped my hand blindly, feeling it hit his face, and he yelped in surprise. I laughed, and he took my hand from his face and tangled his fingers into mine. We laid there for a moment, then, abruptly, the door slammed open. Of course, in front of us, was shitty Sheryl. She eyed the both of us, and I couldn't hide under his covers now. She'd seen me. "What's she doing here? I've never seen her in my life."
"Because you were always gone or passed out when she was here."
Sheryl's eyes turn to some sort of fire, and her voice raises to a screechy yell that I hated, "Why didn't you wake me up?!"
"Because every time I try to wake you up you yell at me and never tell me to wake you up!" Carson defends.
"WELL THEN, WHY DIDN'T YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT A SON TELLS HIS MOTHER?!"
"BECAUSE YOU DON'T ACT LIKE A FUCKING MOTHER. YOU ACT LIKE I'M A MISTAKE. YOU TELL ME I'M A MISTAKE. WHY DO YOU KEEP GOING HOT AND COLD ON ME? I JUST WANT YOU TO FINALLY UNDERSTAND THAT I'VE STARTED TO BE HAPPIER BECAUSE OF WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING TO ME!" Carson yells.
My eyes widen between the two screaming at each other, and, while both was distracted, I slipped myself under the covers, where their voices were muffled and hard to hear, and I took a breath. In Carson's anger and distress, I felt him squeeze my hand harder and harder with each syllable he yelled. At times, he squeezed so hard a tiny whimper escaped me. I felt so small under these covers, like I was a toddler playing hide and seek. But there was no one I was hiding from except my own fears and Sheryl.
I couldn't hear much because of the blanket, but I could hear some of the negatives they threw at each other.
Sheryl to Carson - Mistake, Stupid, 'Remind me too much of your father,' 'You're the one who's being hot and cold,' 'Writing is a dead-end job anyways'
Sheryl to me - 'She can't even stand up and face the fact that she's being yelled at,' 'I don't even think she's all that pretty,' 'What about that other girl in your English class?,' 'You could've done way better than that,' 'What a coward!'
Carson to Sheryl - 'Worst mother!,' 'Never were there for me,' 'Ignoring my dreams,' 'Yelling isn't parenting,' 'I hate you'
All the words flung themselves into my mind and I found myself cowering deep into the down. I didn't even know if Carson knew that I was curled so close under the comforter, my free hand clinging to the bottom hem of his sweater as if it would stop them from yelling. They yelled until Sheryl's voice got hoarse and Carson gave up on swearing at her. I stayed cowered long after Sheryl left, and Carson peeked his head under the blanket furtively, "Hey, you down here?"
I didn't answer, but he slid himself under the covers too. I saw that his eyes were red rimmed, and I sighed to myself, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asks.
"That your mom is so shitty," I say with a shrug. I lean forward and try to place a kiss on his cheek, but he backs up at the approach. My head turns the side in question, but he just shakes his head sadly. I saw the fact that he had been crying from what his mom and the fact that she had been yelling at all. I didn't quite know what to say, as anything I could think of didn't seem right. I settled to say, "Do you want to talk about it?" My voice sounded tinny-as if the words didn't want to come out at all.
He shakes his head, "Not right now. Not while it's really fresh to me. Can we just lay here under the covers for awhile?" I nodded to him, and he smiled gratefully, the corners of his mouth barely plucking up, and then he pulled me so impossibly close. I knew it was because he needed the touch of me, the feeling that I was someone there, but not there to hurt him. I was only there to love him. I hoped that he would be okay someday. Someday.
After a few moments of just him laying there, wrapped close to me, I noticed the fact that he was crying into my shoulder. I had never seen him cry in all my time of knowing him, and, as far as I knew, I doubt that he would've cried anyways. He has too hard of a shell to cry openly, and, yet, here he was. Carson liked to make himself appear tough, and often things just rolled off his back with his yells of various swears. But it's hard to hear those words from your mother. Your mother is supposed to nurture and love you, not scream obscenities at you until you cry. I rubbed circles in his back while he wept, and I cooed things into his ear. Eventually my cooing went from a variety of phrases to just me saying, "Shhh. I love you. I love you." Carson could do nothing but calm down his crying and curl close to me, warming himself and letting me card my hands in his hair. When he was okay, about an hour had passed, and Sheryl was passed out on the couch. I drove him and myself home, regardless of the fact that my license was at home. I was doing it illegally, but I knew he just wanted to lay somewhere where he wouldn't be scared, which was my own room.
I pulled him up the stairs, waving quickly to my parents, who looked relieved that I was home now, then gently guided him to my bed. We laid together, and now was the only time when he let me press kisses to his face, finally settling a long one against his lips. I let him kiss me wherever he needed to, and I kissed him when I could. I knew that in this bed… in this house… was the only place where he would feel comfortable and safe now. His mother poisoned his childhood and his memories and recollections of his past, and I didn't want him to have any sour memories of my home. Just as before, we laid for ages, and he finally settled himself into a stupor of comfort, being okay just for the time being. I decided to confront the sore subject, "You never told me your mom was abusive like that."
His eyes flutter half open, and he looks at me through his lashes, "It never came up. It's weird to just come out and say, 'Hey, guess what? My mom's verbally abusive and hated me the day I was born.'."
"Mmm," I say in assent. "But… if she gets too hard on you, don't hesitate to come here. My parents love you, so you'll be okay here." He nods, and I run my hands through his hair one more time, before saying, "What do you want to do now?"
"I want to go dress shopping with you," Carson replies with a smile. "I want to see you in a big poofy princess dress, but I don't want you to buy it. We both know that cramps your style." I laughed, and then started to sit up. He followed. We both drove to the mall then, and started into the first store. I found a huge, puffy, blue princess dress, and grabbed it off the rack. Then, Carson and I went up and down racks picking dresses in my size and style. I vowed to try on a poofy princess dress from every single store that we went to, regardless of the fact that I wouldn't buy it. He took greater and greater joy each and every time I tried one of the princess dresses on, and I actually found one that was poofy, but not so princessy that it was long and hard to walk in. It was knee-length, pale pastel and baby-blue, a semi-large bow on the back, and it was the kind of dress you needed to tie up with help from someone else. Since no clerk was around, I asked Carson to.
I pulled it up and over my shoulders and chest, then stepped out, holding it over myself, "Hey, can you tie this up?" He nodded, averting his eyes from anywhere other than the corset he was lacing together. After he finishes lacing it, I turn around, and his eyes light up.
"Wow."
"Wow what?" I ask.
"I like this dress best," he says. I blush. He laughs, "No, really, I mean it. You look really amazing in this one. You're glowing. I think you look really gorgeous." I look down at my shoes, which didn't match the dress at all, but I still found myself really fond of the dress. I glanced at the price tag, and found it on sale for a really manageable price. I asked him then to unlace my dress, then I pulled it off, and carried it to the register. After buying it, I grinned and we drove to a shoe store for me to buy some shoes. After that, Carson mumbled something about buying a tie, so we hurried off to a tie store for him to buy one. He came out with a small box, and he stuck it in the glove compartment of his car. We drove back to my house just in time for dinner, which, of course my parents prepared for both of us, not just for me. There was plenty of food for the four of us, and Carson was polite and kind, saying how delicious everything was-even the burnt ends of the chicken-and asking how my parents' days were.
I knew my parents loved the fact that Carson was asking about them. After dinner, my dad took us both into the living room. He sat in the big armchair, and Carson and I sat on the loveseat together. My dad clicked off the TV, and then sighed, "I wanted to talk to you two." Carson takes my hand in his now. "I want you both to know that I'm real happy that you two are together. Carson, you make my daughter really happy. You do. And I can tell she makes you happy. I haven't seen something like this since I met her mom. Just keep in mind there's plenty of time for stuff like this to happen. You've got time to have sex and get married and stuff. Just focus on the loving right now. The touching and the feeling and getting closer to one another, both physically and mentally."
Carson nods earnestly, and cuts in, "Sir, if I may?" My dad nods. "I really love your daughter. I want her to be happy. I want to make her feel so happy that she'll forget the terrors of her past. I don't want her to be hurt. I don't ever want to see her sad. She makes me so happy. She's literally the light of my life, and I'm so grateful that you are okay with me dating her. She knows that she means the world to me, and that I couldn't imagine my life without her." My father nods, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. With these words said, my dad turns to me, expecting me to say something.
"Everything he said was true, Dad. He makes me so happy. There's not a day that I can't smile from him. He makes me feel wanted and like I belong and he inspires me so much. He cheers me on to write. Carson's seriously one of the best people I've ever met in my entire short life span. I really love him so much," I say. My dad smiles again, and then he stands.
"You both can go now," my dad says. "Do whatever it is you do." We followed his command, and then headed upstairs to my room. I found Carson's journalism book stuck in my shelf, and I opened it to the bookmarked page where we had left off. We each then took turns reading it to each other, at first to read it in complete seriousness, then reading it in silly voices to make each other laugh. After finishing another section of the book, he put it back on my shelf, and flopped into my bed, where I was already laying. He pressed a kiss behind the back of my ear, and then I turned and placed one on his cheek in return.
Now, I'd like to say we made out, but we didn't. We did the same thing that we had the past few nights. We laid close to each other, cuddling and snuggling, and kissing each other sweetly. I can't say it was bad that we were kissing each other so chastely, but I felt somewhat of a need to kiss him like that. I wanted to kiss him in that heated passion, just to see what he would do. I cleared my throat, "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"What do you mean?" he asks.
"Like, you can tell what kind of person someone is by how they kiss someone, and you've kissed me a fair few times, so I would think you'd be able to tell…."
"Oh! Well…," he licks his lips from our last kiss, "I think you're a great kisser. Especially since you've never done it before dating me. I mean, you and I haven't really kissed more advanced than just chaste ones, but I'm quite fond of those."
"Do you think we'll ever get past the chaste ones?" I ask, my voice small and quiet, like a child asking if they can stay up an hour later than bedtime.
"I think so. We will eventually. But, like your dad said, we should take our time. Rushed relationships rarely last," Carson says wisely. I dip my chin in assent, and lay my head back on his chest. He runs a hand through my hair, "It's almost eleven. Are you tired yet?" I shook my head. "Hmm," he thinks. "How about we go sit on the porch? We can watch the stars for a little while. Until your parents nag us, that is." After these words, a small smirk pulls at the corners of his mouth at the mention of my parents. I mirrored this face for the very same reason.
"Okay." So off we went to the porch, hand in hand. We sat down on the bench-swing we had, and the two of us watch the sky for a long time. I notice a shooting star, "Look!"
He glances up, "Make a wish." I close my eyes, and make a wish. Of course, a wish will never come true if you tell someone about it. Afterwards, I told him to make a wish. He then said, "I don't need to."
I looked at him for a moment, questioning him. He grins, "All my dreams came true when I met you." I slapped his shoulder, and he laughs, with a squeak in his voice, "It's true!"
"Suuuuuure," I say with a chuckle, and take his hand, "I'm getting tired. Let's go to sleep."
"Okay," he agrees, and I tug him inside the door, up the stairs, and into my room. Then, we curl up on my bed, and sleep.
9. Chapter 8
The next morning, I awoke, and he was gone. My bed felt oddly empty without him there, especially since a twin bed is tight for two people. I sat in my bed, staring out the window for a minute, before I saw my desk, and the note that was on it.
_I went home._
_Didn't wanna bother your family anymore_
_Text me or call me when you get up._
_Love you._
_C x_
My heart fluttered towards the end. I reached over to call him on my phone and I left it on speaker as I got dressed. He picked up, "Hello?"
"Hey, love! It's me," I said back.
"I guess you're awake."
"Barely," I laugh. I heard him smile, and I set my phone on my desk as I looked through my closet for something to wear that day. My eyes fell on the dress I'd bought yesterday, and I smiled to myself at this. Then, I grabbed a blue dress from my closet, and set it on my bed while pulling off my shirt. Carson rambled on about his morning while I put on the sundress. I recalled that last night in the wee hours of the night, Carson had mentioned that we could take a day off today, not doing anything wild, and letting each other to take a nap, but I had another idea. I cut him off, "Hey, Carson?"
"Mhmmm?" he drawls into the phone.
"Do you want to have a picnic for lunch today?" I ask. "We can each go home our separate ways after."
"Okay! Sounds fun!" I could hear his smile in his voice. "I'll see you at the park at noon?"
"Yep. See you then." I reply, and hear the click of the phone hanging up. I then adjusted my dress, checking the time. It was eleven now, so I certainly didn't need to put on my shoes or leave yet. I would leave at 11:45, giving me enough time to talk down to Railroad again. I decided to turn up my music and dance and sing around my room. I realized then that it was Sunday. The dance was next Friday. I had less than a week until I'd be dancing at winter dance with him. This thought made me anxious, but also equally excited. I decided to do something really sappy at this time between. While I waited for noon, I got onto my laptop and made a new CD for me to share with Carson. I pulled a disc from the stack I had, and pushed it into the disc drive. I waited for iTunes to pop up, then arranged my playlist.
_1. Us - Regina Spektor_
_2. Reasons to Love You - Meiko_
_3. The Gambler - fun._
_4. Stuck on You - Meiko_
_5. Naked as We Came - Iron & Wine_
_6. Leave the Lights On - Meiko_
_7. In These Arms - The Swell Season_
_8. Thinking Too Much - Meiko_
_9. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service_
_10. I'm Not Sorry - Meiko_
_11. Miracle - Paramore_
_12. I'm In Love - Meiko_
_13. When the Doors Close - Meiko_
_(Now you should start listening to 'Us'! -A/N)_
After arranging the playlist, I burned it onto the CD, and pulled over a package of colored Sharpies. I began decorating, covering the front with a tree that had hearts for leaves, with colorful orange and red and pink swirls surrounding it. Under the tree, enveloped in the roots, was the word 'Us,' in a calligraphic font. I looked at it after it was done, and smiled. I shoved it into a case, and put it into my purse, before starting down to the park. The day was warm, bright for the middle of winter, but still cooler than usual. When I reached Railroad, I saw Carson there. He was wearing a blue hoodie today, with some jeans and his same sneakers. I noticed he was wearing his glasses this time. When I asked him why, he said because he was too tired to put in his contacts.
I watched as he laid a blanket onto the ground, gesturing to it for me to sit while he got our lunch out. I found it very sweet of him to do this. While he busied himself with the picnic and plates, I reached into my purse and pulled out the CD. Without a word, I set it in front of him, offering a smile as he glanced over at it. "Another CD?" he asks. I nod. "This one's about us?" I nod again. "That's adorable. I'll listen to it when I get home…." Then, he gets an idea, "What if I called you while I listened! You could comment and I could comment while the CD is playing."
I smiled, "What a good idea. Sounds great." He grins in thanks, then hands me half of the sandwich he'd packed. I nibbled on it, suddenly feeling not very hungry and very self-conscious. It was a bad idea to go to Railroad on a Sunday, as there were a number of couples out on picnics, even in winter, just like us. I looked at them, and suddenly I found myself able to see each of those girls with him, and each time he would be happier and happier. I saw the girl from English, and that's the one that hurt the most. I knew that he could really have any single girl that he wanted with a bat of his eyelashes. I looked at my shoes now, ignoring the fact that I had the sandwich held limply in my hands, and then pretended that I couldn't hear him asking me why I wasn't eating.
Then, it clicked for him. He gently took the sandwich from my hand, and then took my hands in his. Carson pleaded for me to look at him, and I sighed. It went on like this for a long time; him pleading again and again for me to look up, and me disregarding it. I didn't want to look at him… to see the hurt in his eyes. I never ever wanted to see him hurt, yet it still happened. Finally, I looked up, and he squeezed my hands tighter, "Why aren't you eating?"
"I'm scared I'm not what you need."
"What I need? What's that mean?" Carson asks. His voice is small, almost above a whisper.
"Thousands upon thousands of prettier, more beautiful…," I broke off for a minute, "thinner girls than me. And still, why pick me?"
He lets go of one of my hands now, and runs a hand through my hair, "Because I really really do love you. You're all I could want. Plus, those girls don't feel quite the same way you do. You and I have this… you know… the thing. We have that. No one else has that with me-or even at all-and losing that just for a physical thing is pointless. Your heart and your mind are so wonderfully beautiful, and your physical features are icing on the cake. I wouldn't want this any other way."
I shake my head, pulling my hand from his, "Don't you get it? You could literally get any girl if you wanted to-that is, with a bit more kindness or a lot more hatred of people-, but you're still here! There's no point in it! You're going to get bored and stop pitying me and then you'll leave! Just like every single other person in my life. It's what happens when I think I can trust people! And, for another-." My words were cut off by his lips pressed warmly to my own. Carson kept himself there for quite some time, before he pulled away. I stared into his eyes for a long time, and he looked back. They were washed over with something that I'd seen only twice before: when we had written at his house all those months ago, and when we had gone dress shopping and he saw me in the dress I had bought. I hadn't realized it, but I was crying harder than I'd ever cried before.
I started wiping angrily at my tears, curling my knees up to my chin. I stared off at the trees that splattered over the horizon and the rushing cars that zoomed down Birch Avenue, which was right next to Railroad. I felt him take my hands again, insisting for me to look at him. I let out a breath and it washed over me, and I closed my eyes.
"I love you so much," he tells me.
"I do too," I replied.
"Let's eat our lunch and then we should go home."
"Can we cuddle instead? I'm not hungry," I say.
"You're going to eat. I don't want you falling into bad habits again." I gave in, and ate half of the sandwich that he prepared, and a few chips from the bag. He smiles at me, "I'm proud of you."
"You shouldn't be."
"But I am," he insists. "Now we're gonna go to your house and cuddle."
"Okay."
I hopped into the passenger seat of Carson's car, and he started driving. We drove to my house and hurried upstairs. Carson flopped onto the bed first, and I pulled the CD out from the picnic basket. I pushed it into the CD changer of my speakers, and turned the sound up loud enough that it would drown out everything else, but not annoy anyone. The song started, and I slid next to him in the bed. He carefully pulled the cover over our bodies, and wrapped an arm around my waist, his palm resting in the small of my back.
_They made a statue of us, and put it on a mountaintop. Now tourists come and stare at us. Blow bubbles with their gum, take photographs, have fun, have fun. They'll name a city after us, and later say it's all our fault. Then they'll give us a talking to, then they'll give us a talking to, 'cause they've got years of experience. We're living in a den of thieves, and it's contagious._
_We wear our scarves just like a noose, but not 'cause we want eternal sleep. And though our parts are slightly used, new ones are slave labor you can keep. We're living in a den of thieves, rummaging for answers in the pages. We're living in a den of thieves and it's contagious._
We looked the other up and down, just taking each other in. I realized that Carson had never even seen my body past my clothes. He had never seen anything at all. "You've never seen me without clothes," I blurt.
"Remember, your dad said no sex yet," Carson says, his voice held out in a drawl from his contentment of laying there.
"No, I don't mean like… for sex…. I mean like, you've never even seen my stomach or anything like that. I haven't seen that either from you."
"Do you want to see me that way?" he asks.
"I do only if you want to see me that way."
"I do too."
_They made a statue of us, they made a statue of us, the tourists come and stare at us, the sculptor's marble sends regards. They made a statue of us, they made a statue of us, our noses have begun to rust._
I sat up, my fingers brushing the bottom hem of my dress. I watched his pupils dilate again, and he breathes out, "Are you sure?" I nod to myself, then again, more forcefully, to him. I then pulled my dress up, over my head, and tossed it gently to the side of my bed. His eyes run over my body again, and he lets out a heavy breath, "I told you. You're still gorgeous."
My face flushes, the blush creeping around my neck and settling around my collar bones. He puts on a small smile at this, and leans forward. He presses two kisses to each of the edges of my collar bones, and then pulls away. I look at him expectantly. Knowing it was his turn now, Carson looks up, and pulls at the bottom of his hoodie. He looked a little worried for a moment, but he swallowed the fear as he stripped it off without a word. I let out a breath I wasn't consciously holding in, and he reaches down to the button on his jeans. I closed my eyes, and let him do it while I wasn't watching. I hear his voice, quiet in the silence, "You can look now."
I open my eyes slowly, my eyes adjusting to the light, and then I looked at him. His body wasn't extremely muscled and fit, but he definitely had some muscles and I could tell he worked out if he had the chance to. I watched him, and then slid next to him. Our bodies fit even closer together this time, and I felt tingling all over my skin at the feeling.
_And it's contagious. And it's contagious. And it's contagious._
The song switched.
_Give me a reason to fall in love, take my hand and let's dance. Give me a reason to make me smile, cause I think I forgot how. I wanna fall asleep with you tonight. I wanna know that I am safe when you hold me tight. I wanna feel how I wanna feel forever. Girls need attention and boys need us, so let's make everybody glad. They have each other in each other's arms, so let's make everybody glad. I want you. I want you._
_I wanna dream away with you tonight, we can go oh oh anywhere you would like. I wanna feel how I wanna feel forever._
I found his eyes fluttering shut in front of my own, and I pressed a doting kiss to his nose, long and sugary sweet, and then he surprised me by lifting his face up and pressing his mouth to mine. The kiss remained as sugary sweet as mine, and we sat, adoring each other completely. I felt calm and safe in his arms, and, with his hands wrapped so tightly around my waist, I felt small, but not childishly small, or even anorexically small; I felt the kind of small that the someone feels because the other person's heart is so big. Another song change came.
_Slow down, we've got time left to be lazy. All the kids have bloomed from babies into flowers in our eyes. We've got fifty good years left to spend out in the garden. I don't care to be your pardon, we should live… until we die. We were barely eighteen when we crossed collective hearts. It was cold, but it got warm when you barely crossed my eye. And then you turned, put out your hand and you asked me to dance. I knew nothing of romance but it was love at second sight._
_I swear when I grow up I won't just buy you a rose, I will buy the flower shop and you will never be lonely. For even if the sun stops waking up over the fields I will not leave I will not leave 'til its our time. So just take my hand and know that I will never leave your side. It was the winter of '86, all the fields had frozen over, so we moved to Arizona to save our only son. And now he's turned into a man, though he thinks just like his mother, he believes we're all just lovers, he sees hope in everyone. And even though she moved away, we always get calls from our daughter. She has eyes just like her father's, they are blue when skies are gray. And just like him she never stops, never takes the day for granted, works for everything that's handed to her, never once complained._
_You think that I nearly lost you when the doctors tried to take you away, but like the night you took my hand beside the fire thirty years ago, to this day, you swore you'd be here till we decide that it's our time, but it's not time, you never quit in all your life. So just take my hand and know that I will never leave your side, you're the love of my life, you know that I will never leave your side. You come home from work, and you kiss me on the eye. You curse the dogs, you say that I should never feed them what is ours, And so we move out to the garden, look at everything we've grown, and the kids are coming home so I'll set the table; you can make the fire._
We laid there. The birds chirped and the wind blew. The sun splashing through the windowpanes sent shadows dancing on our faces while we lay there. His fingers came loose from their own clasping behind my back, and he took mine in his, our fingers entwined and matching together like pieces to a puzzle. The blue of his eyes met the brown of mine, and they glistened, almost animatedly, when he looked at me longer.
_I must confess, when I wear this dress: I feel like dancing the whole night with you. And When I do, do, do, do, do, do, I feel so happy. I'm stuck on you. Cuz you are the only one I could see havin' fun with. Not just for tonight, but for the rest of my life. You are the one I could never be done with. I want you tonight, and for the rest of my life. You are so dreamy, feel like I'm in the movies, I feel so happy. I'm stuck on you are the only one I could see havin' fun with. Not just for tonight, but for the rest of my life. You are the one I could never be done with. I want you tonight, and for the rest of my life. I'm stuck on you. You. Cuz you are the only one I could see havin' fun with. Not just for tonight, but for the rest of my life. You are the one I could never be done with. I want you tonight, and for the rest of my life._
Our eyes close, and us being wrapped around each other so close said all the words that the songs I put and the ones we already said didn't. Track 5 came on next.
_She says, "Wake up, it's no use pretending." I'll keep stealing, breathing her. Birds are leaving over autumn's ending. One of us will die inside these arms. Eyes wide open, naked as we came. One will spread our ashes 'round the yard. She says, "If I leave before you, darling, don't you waste me in the ground." I lay smiling like our sleeping children. One of us will die inside these arms. Eyes wide open, naked as we came. One will spread our ashes 'round the yard._
Track 6 came, and Carson looked a little sad at the thoughts of one of us dying before the other and having to spread our ashes everywhere. I hope he wasn't taking everything literally.
_We're in the dark, it's getting late. I really should go, he's waiting for me We both know it's not what it seems; We both know what's between the sheets. I know that it's a secret, and that I gotta keep. But I want the lights on, yeah, I want the lights on. And I don't want to run away anymore. Leave the lights on, leave the lights on._
_What would they say? What would they do? Would it be trouble if they knew? I'm trying hard to make you see all that you are is all that I need. I know that it's a secret, and that I gotta keep. But I want the lights on, yeah, I want the lights on. And I don't want to run away anymore. Leave the lights on, leave the lights on. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. I know that it's a secret, and that I gotta keep. But I want the lights on, yeah, I want the lights on. And I don't want to run away anymore. Leave the lights on, leave the lights on. I know that it's a secret, and that I gotta keep. But I want the lights on, yeah, I want the lights on. And I don't want to run away anymore. Leave the lights on, leave the lights on._
Track 7 was a song that reminded me of my pasts, and how Carson wants me to overcome it. He made me feel safe in his arms, and now, I feel like I can take on the world.
_Use the truth as a weapon to beat up all your friends. Every chink in the armor an excuse to cause offense. And the boys from the hallway, calling out your name. And true love will find them in the end. You were restless. I was somewhere less secure. So I went running to the road. And so now there's a long list of places I was. I quit my rambling and came home. 'Cause maybe I was born to hold you in these arms. Maybe I was born to hold you in these arms._
_Use your saints and your mantra and your things to keep you calm. If you stay with that asshole, he's gonna do you harm. There's a voice singing loudly on the radio just for you. And good fortune will find him in the end. 'Cause maybe I was born to hold you in these arms. Maybe I was born to hold you in these arms. 'Cause maybe I was born to hold you in these arms. Maybe I was born to hold you in these arms._
Track 8 reminded me of the times I would lay in bed for night after night thinking the same old things…
_I think I'm thinking too much. Is this what happens when you're falling in love? I know I should let it be. This isn't how I am usually. But I'm losing sleep going over possibilities. I'm scared that I'm not what you need. I think I'm thinking too much. So long I've been waiting, for something to turn out right. Is it so wrong to be this easy? I never thought that I could be without a fight. Ooh, I'm in love with you. What am I to do? I think I'm thinking too much. Is this what happens when you're falling in love? I know I should let it be. This isn't how I am usually. But I'm losing sleep going over possibilities. I'm scared that I'm not what you need. I think I'm thinking too much. It's so good to be this happy, I should be dreaming every night. But instead, I toss and turn in my bed, I'm restless every night. I think I'm thinking too much. Is this what happens when you're falling in love? I know I should let it be. This isn't how I am usually. But I'm losing sleep going over possibilities. I'm scared that I'm not what you need. I think I'm thinking too much._
_I think I'm thinking too much. Is this what happens when you're falling in love? I know I should let it be. This isn't how I am usually. But I'm losing sleep going over possibilities. I'm scared that I'm not what you need. I think I'm thinking too much._
Track 9 shows how we fit together like puzzle pieces, and our hands interlace perfectly.
_I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned. And I have to speculate that God himself did make us into corresponding shapes, like puzzle pieces from the clay. And true, it may seem like a stretch. But its thoughts like this that catch my troubled head when you're away. When I am missing you to death._
Track 10 shows how much I love him and how I'm willing to do whatever he wants me to.
_When I'm laying down in bed, I write you letters in my head of all the things I haven't said to you. I'll be lover. I'll be your wife. I'm in the kitchen baking pies. I wanna have that kind of that life with you._
Carson looks at me with a curious glance as the song continues, and his eyebrows raise when the lyrics mention sex. I shrug and whisper, "I'm not sorry." He laughs.
_I hope it won't scare you away, I wanna have your kids someday. They'd all have dimples on their face like you. And when you're old or bald or grey, I'm gonna love your wrinkly face. Nobody else could love you like I do. When you get home at night, I'll have your crown and sprite. I'm not sorry for saying that I want you. For waiting naked in my bed all day. And I'm not sorry for saying that I need you, to come and make a woman out of me. I'm not sorry._
Track 11 proves that he and I want to be here for each other. This one was also a song that was him helping me over my past.
_I'm not going, cause I've been waiting for a miracle. And I'm not leaving, I won't let you, let you give up on a miracle when it might save you. It's not faith if you use your eyes. Oh why. We'll get it right this time. Let's leave this all behind. Oh why. We'll get it right this time. It's not faith if you're using your eyes. Oh why. I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive, so I'm going to start over tonight beginning with you and I. I don't want to run from anything uncomfortable, I just want, no, I just need this pain to end right here._
Track 12 was me finally finding that I was able to love and be loved.
_Today I found a feeling I thought I lost a long time ago. Today he's got me reeling from a meeting of our souls. Today he said he loved me and I know I love him just the same. Today, feeling good is easy. I never thought I could be this way again. La la la, my heart keeps singing la la la, when he's around. I'm in love._
Track 13. The last track on the disc. The track that showed that he makes me feel like a new person, and that anything anyone says, especially what shitty Sheryl said, means nothing to our relationship.
_All I do is think of you, and how you make me feel brand new. Like a pair of shoes that fit my feet just right, I wanna wear you out tonight. And they say you're not for me, but they don't know you like I do. They say we'll never make it, but they don't know how it goes when the doors close. All I can do is dream of how we can leave it all behind. Paris, France or to the moon, we'll leave it all behind._
I think the CD told him what I couldn't. He groaned as I got up to take out the disc before my CD changer started clicking annoyingly trying to change to another disc, which I didn't have in there. I smiled to myself as he spoke in a childish voice, "Come baaaaack."
"I will, I promise. I wanna put this away."
"I'm gonna put on my clothes again. You should too."
"Okay," I agree. I slid the disc into the case, then pulled my dress up onto my body. We laid back in bed together, and fell asleep. We had been cuddling for a large amount of hours, so we were both tired. I heard my father come in to check on us, and I heard him call my mom, "Honey, look at them." My mom laughs a little. "They look so happy together."
I then heard the door click shut, and they both walk into their room together. I sat up, and felt Carson's arm wrapped tightly around my stomach. When I sat up, he shifted and his eyes fluttered open, "What's up?" His voice was a drawl again, as it was whenever he woke up. It was also husky and, still, that adorable lilt that he always has.
"It's like…," I glance at the clock, "Midnight. Do you wanna go out on a drive?"
"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping? We have school tomorrow," Carson says.
To my own surprise-as well as his own-, I blurt, "Fuck school. Let's go." With that, I grabbed his hand and two hoodies from the floor. We piled into his car, and I threw a hoodie at him, taking the other one and pulling it up over my head. I recalled the familiar softness of the elbows, and realized this was one of Carson's hoodies. I also realized that I had-thank God-grabbed the hoodie Carson had brought to give to him. I yawned, and Carson raised his eyebrows.
"You sure you aren't too tired?" he asks.
"Of course not," I say. "I'm never fucking tired." I never realized how much I swore when I was tired until then. I then told him to drive down the freeway again, just because I knew that was somewhere familiar. I blasted up the radio, and stood up again, screaming at the top of my lungs and laughing so hard that my lungs began to hurt. With a sudden flash of light, I saw another car on the freeway. I could do two things: I could sit back down, or I could stay standing. I started sitting down, and then the lights started flashing. I swore to myself. Carson looks at me desperately for some sort of explanation. We pulled over, and the policeman came after us.
"You two kids do realize its past curfew for teenagers?" the policeman asks.
I start to open my mouth, but Carson slaps his hand over my mouth, "Sorry, officer. The clock in my car is-well, nonexistent. We also forgot our phones at home. We'll hurry home really soon."
"Soon better be now. Do you have a license, young man? You look like you're fifteen."
"Sixteen," Carson corrects politely, pulling his wallet out to show his license. The man inspects it for what felt like hours. Carson still kept his hand clapped over my mouth and I was getting tired of it being there. I felt tempted to bite one of his fingers, but I didn't. I didn't want to make Carson swear in front of the officer. Carson smiles kindly and politely at the officer and thanks him when he hands back the wallet.
"You both check out fine. He's legal to drive and I'm assuming you're legal enough too." I cringed to myself. I was fifteen with a permit, but I was going to be sixteen relatively soon. "And, since you both are going to head back home now, I'll leave you two alone. Now get back to your mother. She's probably worried sick about her two kids."
Carson's hand dropped and I couldn't contain myself from correcting the officer, "We aren't siblings."
"Oh?" the officer asks, stopping and starting back to the car.
"Damnit, Riley," Carson swears. The word sends a pang in my chest that felt negative and sad.
"Yeah. We're not siblings."
"You two dating then?" he asks.
"Yep."
"You two make a nice couple," the officer says. Finally, he walks off. Then, he drives away. Carson starts driving to turn around on the freeway.
"Why in the name of hell did you think to stop the officer to talk to him about how we're dating?" Carson says angrily.
"I couldn't contain myself! I'm sorry!"
"I can't believe it. He could have given me a ticket, Riley!"
"I'm sorry, okay? I can't keep apologizing!"
"I don't think you are sorry! You keep doing shit like this and I don't want to keep being held responsible for it!"
"This is the first fucking time I've done something like this, Carson!"
He slams the brakes on his car, screeching to a stop to glare at me, "Riley! Listen to me! You can't keep acting like a child! You need to fucking grow up! Life is hard! Life's a bitch! You need to quit pretending you're perfectly innocent all the time! Fess up! Own up to your damn mistakes!" I started crying, and got out of the car. The asphalt was rough and hurt my bare feet, and he glared at me harder, "You need to stop acting like this. You're sixteen."
"Go," I say.
"What?" he asks.
"Go. Away." He looked confused. "Drive. Go home. I'm going to sleep by myself. Maybe this'll straighten itself out tomorrow. I don't want you at my house right now. I don't want those poisonous words under my roof or in my room. I'll bring you your stuff in Writers' Club tomorrow." He looks at me, completely flabbergasted. I found myself screaming at him now. "GO! GO AWAY! DON'T JUST SIT THERE AND MAKE ME REGRET AND FEEL BAD ABOUT THIS!"
He pressed the gas and drove away. I watched the taillights go. The officer swung back around and pulled over, "Where's your boyfriend?"
"Gone."
"Why?"
"We fought. I told him to go."
"Do you need a ride home?" the officer asks kindly.
"Yes, please."
"Hop in. I'm Officer Fowler."
"Thank you."
"No problem."
When I sat in his car, I looked at all of the things scattered among the dashboard, all policeman things. He drove well, especially for late at night, even after a long shift of policing the highways and freeways around Clover. "Officer Fowler?"
"Yes?"
"Were you going to give Carson a ticket?" I ask, my voice small.
He laughs, "Is Carson your boyfriend?" I nod. "I wasn't going to. Why?"
"That's what we fought about." I didn't know why I was telling this random policeman about my relationship with Carson, but I did. "I mean, he and I are so close. We've fallen in love with each other. We both love the same things and we love each other. I don't know why he would fight with me over a little thing like a ticket."
"Even the best relationships have their fights. I fought with Kristen yesterday over whether the pot roast was done or not." I assumed Kristen was his wife. "But this morning, she still gave me my coffee and my lunch. She still loves me." I found his words really truthful, and they made me feel better. He drove me to my house, then stopped. "I guess I'll see you around."
"Yes, sir."
"Please, call me Kory," Officer Fowler insists.
"Okay. See you around, Kory." Officer Fowler smiles one more time, then drives off. I watch his taillights streak past too. Then, I go upstairs. I find a note on my bed.
_I know you told me to go._
_But I couldn't._
_I did leave after you didn't come right back home._
_I took my stuff so you wouldn't have to worry._
_And I'm sorry._
_I love you._
_C_
I set the note on my desk with the one from the other morning. I sighed then, pulling off my dress and hoodie, then putting the hoodie back on with a pair of shorts. It still smelled like Carson, which lulled me to sleep easily. Because of the warmth of the hoodie, I found myself thinking that he was still there, his arms wrapped closely around me.
When I woke up the next morning, I was sweating nervously. I had had a dream where last night, we had gotten into a car crash and Carson had died. I shook my head, hoping that it was just a dream. I got up, deciding to just change from shorts to pants and pull on my tennis shoes. I ate a quick breakfast, then walked to school. Following habit, I walked into the journalism classroom. Carson was sat at the desk, sleeping. Judging by what he was wearing, he didn't even go home. He just came here and slept here. When he heard the door shut, his eyes flew open and he stood, brushing his hands on his hoodie for some unknown reason. I looked into his blue eyes for a long time. They had pink around the edges, which was evidence he had been crying, and the color was a stony gray that was darker than I'd ever seen them be.
"Are you still mad at me?" he asks. I didn't answer him, just slid my bag off my shoulder and onto the floor. I looked up at the clock. 7:15. School started in 45 minutes. That was time enough. Without a word, his eyes pleading, he stepped closer to me. I stood straight again, my back leaning against the edge of the desk. I slid myself up to sit on top of it. He stepped even closer, daring a few more steps, but there was still almost half the room between us.
"Come here," I say. He obeys. "I was mad at you. But Kory told me something that made me get over it." When his eyebrows knit in confusion over who Kory was, I corrected myself, "Officer Fowler. The guy who pulled us over." His face goes back to his neutral face. "I was, as I said. I'm not anymore. Even the best relationships fight. It's okay." He didn't look convinced. "Come here. Closer." Now, Carsons nose was brushing close with my own, and our eyes were locked. "I'm not mad," I breathed against his lips. I felt his hands curve around my back and he pressed his mouth to my own. We kissed for a long time before my cheeks felt hot and I pulled away.
I checked the clock again. 7:20. He breathes out, "I was so scared you were mad at me. But I couldn't bear to go back home. My mom would have heard and laughed."
"I know," I say.
He sits next to me on the desk.
I stare at the whiteboard. Suddenly I get a weird idea that might repair our tension and pass the time. I stand up, and walk to the whiteboard, grabbing the marker. I write, in big letters, a word on each of the boards. CARSON and RILEY. I hand him a marker. "Write every single word that comes to mind for each of these. I'll start on my side and you on yours." He nods. I start writing in my oddly written script. He starts writing in his terrible scrawling writing. We both step back and read.
_RILEY: Confused, weird, awkward, not good enough, lost, worried, anxious, anxiety, depression, dark, pale, baleful, bellicose, guileless, pendulous_
_CARSON: Headstrong, determined, skilled, cunning, witty, cocky, blue, contumacious, recalcitant, zealous, uxorious_
We then each switched sides, writing for each other now.
_RILEY: Confused, weird, awkward, not good enough, lost, worried, anxious, anxiety, depression, dark, pale, baleful, bellicose, guileless, pendulous;_ **_munificent, inveterate; insidious, fastidious, equanimous, amatory, adroit, beautiful, perfect, lovely, smart, fantastic, adaptable, adventurous, affable, affectionate, agreeable, ambitious, amiable, amicable, amusing, brave, bright, broad-minded_**
_CARSON: Headstrong, determined, skilled, cunning, witty, cocky, blue, contumacious, recalcitant, zealous, uxorious;_ **_sagacious, kind, smart, interesting, turgid, sartorial, quiescent, inveterate, intransigent, equanimous, cerulean, adroit_**
We each stepped back again, and read what we wrote. I grinned at his writing of amatory. He laughed at turgid. Then we each read further. I noticed that all of the negative words I had written about myself were crossed out. I looked over at him, and found him looking back at me. I walked closer and pressed a kiss to each of his cheeks and then another to his mouth before saying, "We should get to class."
"Okay," he says. I scoop up my bag, and he grabs his, tucking his laptop into his bag. He takes my hand, and then we step out of the room together. He locks the door and we start down the hallway.
"Oi! It's the two kids that run the paper! No one gives a shit for your paper anyways!" some kids yell.
"I don't give a shit about you!" Carson yells. I smile.
"Hey, Carson!" someone yells. He turns. "Your girlfriend's uglier than you!"
"Fuck off!" Carson yells at him.
"She can't even defend herself?"
That set me off, "Look. I can't help that you're adamant on being bilious and feckless. You're going to make everyone here very dilatory, so I would just shut your mouth and go."
This makes him laugh, "Does she even know any swear words? Using stupid fucking fancy words won't make me go."
"Fuck off, you self-righteous bastard. I don't want your shit in my life, and I don't want your terribly bad bitchy comments bothering my aura." When he was still standing there, I yelled, "Piss off!"
Carson looked shocked, "I didn't even know you could swear unless you were tired."
"Well, if someone gets my blood boiling, then hell breaks loose. Why, did you not like it?"
"No, no I loved it. I thought it was hot," Carson says. "I've never seen you mad, and I think it's really sexy. Even sexier than you just being your cute little self." I flushed, and he squeezed my hand before pulling me into English class. English class was fun because I got to keep making faces at Carson when the teacher wasn't looking. Each time the face was funnier, so he would have to bite the end of his pen not to laugh aloud. Next came math class. We were in different classes, he in Algebra 2 and me in Geometry, so we each bid our adieus for the time being and went to class. Next was History. We talked briefly about the history of the presidents, and the teacher talked for ages about each of them. When he talked about Kennedy's legacy as the 'king of Camelot,' the teacher said it like 'Came a lot.' I snorted and gestured a blowjob to Carson, who screeched with laughter. The teacher glared at me, but didn't mark anything against me.
In Spanish, I kept poking the back of Carson's head, and he kept giggling to himself. We both started laughing louder and louder until we were told to go to the office. We had had this treatment before, and had our fair share of detention, so we did what we did often when this happened: we stood in the hallway for a half hour. We kept talking about our antics and stuff that made us laugh. When the bell rang for the warning for advisory,we both walked into Spanish to get our stuff, solemn faces to fake being taught our lesson. The teacher seemed satisfied by our little show, and we both left, cracking up as we walked. We both went to advisory, and, under the desks, held hands, looking up pictures of progressively cuter things on Carson's laptop instead of working. He smiled, and leaned over, whispering in my ear, "After lunch, do you want to go out to the courtyard and cuddle for awhile?" I smiled and nodded.
We went to lunch next, each of us eating what we did and sharing with each other. Then, we hurried out to the courtyard, that was completely abandoned. He plopped himself at the base of the tree, and then opened his arms widely for me to sit. I sat next to him, curling myself next to him and tucking my nose into the crook of his neck. Carson still smelled like he did in Pacifica, like Red Bull, salty-sweet, and new books. I loved his scent more than anything. Without thinking, I blurted, "What do you think I smell like?"
He doesn't miss a beat, and leans down, sniffing by my neck. "I think you smell like amber. And...hmm, tea? Or is it coffee? And you smell a bit like chocolate and caramel. Why?"
"You smell like Red Bull. And salty-sweet. And new books."
He laughs, "Well, Red Bull makes sense. I only drink it when I need to finish the Chronicle, but it still must make me smell like it. The salty-sweet is probably my cologne. And new books is because of newspaper."
"I smell like amber because thats my perfume, tea because I drink it when I write. I don't know why I smell like chocolate and caramel, though."
"Maybe it's because you're so sweet," he says, flattering me. I giggle and blush, nuzzling closer to him. He rubs circles into my back, and then jumps suddenly, "I think that's the bell. Where's our next class?"
"B Hall. We've got time. We packed before."
"Good." I heard Carson breath out with relief, and then he bent down to kiss the top of my head, "I love you so much."
"I love YOU so much," I say back.
"No, no, I LOVE YOU so much."
"Don't get into this kind of argument with me, Carson Phillips!"
"Sorry, sweetie," he says with another laugh and a kiss. The kiss deepens, and I hear him make an 'mmmph' sound into the kiss. I press harder, and feel his lips part naturally. This startles me and I pull away. He gasps for a minute, whether for air or in shock, then looks at me, "What's up?"
"Just….startled."
"Do you not want to make out with me?"
"No, I do, I really do! I just… not here."
"At home, you mean?"
I nod.
"Okay," Carson smiles and presses a kiss to my forehead, pulling me up by my hands. We grab our bags and go to Biology. We sat next to each other in this class, so I kept kicking his chair to annoy him. He kept looking at me and glaring before laughing when he realized it was me. I would laugh too. Then, we'd do our worksheets together even though we weren't supposed to. Next was a free period. We both went to the library, sitting in one of the big chairs together, laying close, and sighing into kisses. No one was in the library, not even the librarian herself, shockingly, so we had to sign ourselves on the sheet by the door when we left. Near the end of the bell, I looked at the sheet.
_Claire Mathews_
_Scott Thomas_
_Carla Summers_
_Remy Baker_
_Janice Wise_
_Lydia Maniscalco_
_Emilio Lopez_
_Alex Bailey_
_Justin Walker_
_Vicki Jordan_
_Connor Bailey_
_Nicholas Forbes_
_Jamal Franklin_
_Daisy McGuire_
_Kirk Foster_
_Jessica Lanham_
_Carson Phillips_
_Riley Tishma_
Carson and I both glared at the recognition of people we knew. We both looked at our own names. I personally liked the look of the names together. Then, he took my hand, and we walked out of the library to head to our technology class. Today was learning about internet safety, which neither one of us cared about, so we sat near the back and played footsie. We also inspected each others' hands in the way that couples do, running my fingers around his and feeling his knuckles. It felt romantic and touchy-feely, but not in the disgustingly sappy kind of way. After that, we just sat there, holding hands and laying near each other, not listening to the teacher at all. Then, the final bell rang, and we both ran for the journalism classroom, laughing and holding hands. I felt so at home and happy for once in my life. I also felt so happy that he was happy and that he could make me this happy. We wrote for awhile for the Chronicle, then proceeded to go to my house. We listened to music, and then he asked if he could take me out to dinner. I agreed, excited that he wanted to take me out.
We went out an hour later to this little taqueria I had no idea existed in Clover. We enjoyed the only thing they made correctly-according to Carson-in the establishment, which was, of course, their tacos. I thought it was funny of him to ask to go out to dinner and then take me to a taco place, but yet it was so funnily him. It was something he would definitely do.
"Have you dated anyone before me?" Carson asks out of nowhere.
"Um," I think for a minute. "I had a boyfriend for like three months last year."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
"We were at summer camp for a week, and then we went our separate ways. I told him long distance never works and he promised that it would work. Then, three months later, he never talked to me. So I dumped him."
"More power to you," Carson praises.
"What about you?"
"Nope. You're my first girlfriend."
"I'm honored!" I say, mocking shock and offering a tiny princess wave to the crowd of cars stopped at the stoplight. Carson laughs before taking a drink of his soda. We watched the cars drive by, and I notice my parents car pull in. I suggest we leave, and Carson nods knowingly. We drive back to my house and lay together, just like the other nights. I knew someday my bed would be used for sex, but I also knew that tonight wasn't the night. We needed to feel each other out first. Figure out what we liked and what we didn't like. Where the insecurities lay, and where the confidence comes from. So, we just cuddle until we fall asleep. I'm almost always the first one asleep, but this time Carson falls asleep first. I felt him cuddle close to my side and sigh contentedly, his breath tumbling across my neck and sending goosebumps up my spine. I turned my face to press a kiss to his hair, and he smiled in his sleep. I began running my hand through his hair, and he leaned into the touch, almost as if the actions were begging me to continue. After a bit, my hand got tired, and I began to drift off into sleep.
10. Chapter 9
When I woke up, there again was the sickening realization that it was Tuesday. I realized that Carson was still rolled over in my bed. I poked him, "Time to get up. It's nearly seven fifteen." Carson groans and stirs, getting up and grabbing some clothes from my closet that he had left here. We both hopped in his car and drove to school. He was mumbling to himself, and I sighed. We both drove finally, and then we got out, each gathering our books and going to our second hour. We sat in silence, occasionally glancing at each other furtively with little attempt to hide the fact that we did desperately want to be together and kissing and cuddling rather than sitting here.
Next was history again. The teacher began to ramble about the various torture methods and violent things of the medieval era, and suddenly there were graphic images of blood, needles, and scalpels in front of my eyes. I felt a heaving sensation to my chest, and I blinked rapidly. Carson glanced over at me and leaned over, "Are you okay?" I started shaking and immediately stood up and exited the room. Carson stands, starting towards the door and after me. The teacher stops him.
"Where do you think you're going, Mister Phillips?"
"I need to make sure Riley's okay."
"And why? Your history lesson is far more important."
"Nothing's more important to me than her." With these words said, the teacher rolls his eyes, and Carson steps out, rushing after me. The teacher, after Carson left, pulled out his agenda book and signed him out of the room, then doing the same to my own. The history teacher had dealt with my anxiety attacks before, so he knew what to do. Then, he continued on the lesson. Carson chased after me, catching my waist. I screamed and whipped around, slapping him hard. My cheeks were trailed with tears and I slid down the wall, crying harder than I thought I'd ever done before during an attack like this. He slides next to me and tries to take my hands in his, but I shake them away. Carson's eyes plead with me to talk, and I found myself shaking harder, then I gave in. I slid myself into his lap and he wrapped himself around me, rubbing my back and kissing my temple. I sobbed and shook, clinging to the front of his shirt as my face was tucked into the crook of his neck.
I heard him breathing, first with sharp, quick breaths, and then to the deeper, calmer breaths. This soothed me and helped me calm down. He kept rubbing circles into my back, kissing my temple and my hair and the sides of my face. Finally, when I stopped crying, he leaned away a bit, and asked, "Are you okay, now?"
I shrugged.
"Do you want to tell me what's going on?"
"Anxiety attack."
"Why?"
"Triggers."
"From what?"
"Sharp things."
"Needles?"
I gasped sharply.
"Scalpels?"
I hiccupped.
"Blood?"
I closed my eyes tightly, grabbing desperately for something to squeeze. He put his hand in mine and I squeezed tightly.
"Why do these things trigger you, love?" he asks. His voice was dripping with worry and concern. I didn't say anything, just pulled up the sleeves of my hoodie and turned my arms over. A quiet gasp escaped his lips and he ran his fingers over each and every little crack in my skin from razors and scissors and tacks. His nail caught on one of the scabs that hadn't healed and it ripped off. Soon, blood was squirting from it and I looked for somewhere to look at other than there. He caught my eyes and locked mine with his as he put his hand calmly over the cut. Soon, the bleeding stopped, and he kissed it. "Have you stopped?" I shook my head. "When was the last time you...did it?" I bit my lip.
"Last night."
"Where?" he asks. His voice was starting to break.
I pulled the edge of my shorts down to show my hip that had forty thin lines on it. "Theres forty on the other too."
"Why forty?"
"We were gone forty minutes."
"Oh, baby," Carson says, his voice sad. His eyes drooped into a color blue I'd never seen before. It was crystalline periwinkle color that I assumed only came out when he was truly sad. He leaned to my wrists and kissed them up and down. Then, he kissed his fingers and pressed them to my hip. "I am going to make sure this never happens to you again." He then said something that I knew I needed to do, but was too scared to do alone, "I'm going to take you to Mrs. Paltiel."
"Okay."
"And we're going to talk about this."
"Okay."
"We're going to see about getting you depression medication."
"Okay."
"And we're going to your house after school to throw away anything that you're using to hurt yourself."
"Okay."
"And I'll be there the whole time."
"Okay." With that, we walked to Mrs. Paltiel's office. Sarah Paltiel was not the kind of woman you'd picture being a therapist, but she did an excellent job with it. When Carson and I got in, she immediately started asking questions.
"Relationship counseling?"
"No."
"Sibling counseling?"
"No."
"Then what's the matter?"
Carson talks for me, "I'm just...worried about my girlfriend." Butterflies flew in my stomach when he said that word-especially since he was talking about me.
Mrs. Paltiel smiles, "Okay. How can I help?"
"I think she has depression. She's told me before…," then he stops, looking to see if it was okay that he told her. I nodded. "...that she had anorexia. She also is currently a self-harmer."
"My, we have a lot on our plate. She must be so tired."
He nods quickly, impatiently, "What can you do to help?"
"I can talk to her parents…," Mrs. Paltiel starts.
We both shake our heads violently at that.
"Or we can do some private counseling. As long as there's a witness. That's usually why their parent is there, so they have some comfort in someone they love while they take the steps to recovering."
"Can I be her witness?" Carson asks.
"I suppose. You need to be with her when she's alone and such so she doesn't do anything."
I cut in, "I don't want a babysitter."
"And you aren't getting one. Carson just wants you to get better, just like we all do."
I snorted, and Carson squeezed my hand. "Now, now."
"I don't want to be patronized."
"Be reasonable with me. It's only fair," Mrs. Paltiel states.
"I don't have to be reasonable. nor do I want to be reasonable with you."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm scared."
"Why?"
"Do I need to tell you every single thing?" I ask. Carson takes my hand tighter in his own, rubbing his thumb over the back of my knuckles. I continued, "I just… I don't feel safe and comfortable trusting a complete stranger with my words and with my problems."
Mrs. Paltiel cuts in, "You trust Carson."
"Carson isn't a complete stranger to me!" I scream. "It would be really freaking weird if I was dating a complete stranger, wouldn't it?!" Mrs. Paltiel parts her lips to speak again, but I shook my head angrily, "You don't understand it! I can't trust people with this stuff. I even surprised myself by trusting Carson with it!"
What she said now really set me off. She put on that same voice that Carson did when he saw my scars, but it sounded almost mocking, "Oh, sweetheart."
"STOP. PATRONIZING. ME! I am a grown girl! I am sixteen! I am capable of understanding scientific terms and English higher than the third grade!" Mrs. Paltiel looks shocked, and a little bemused. "You think that every single mental illness case is the same. You think they're all stuck in a scared, childish fantasy that they don't want to get out of. I am not someone's defined 'special case," I held up air-quotes around the words, "and I don't need your 'motherly, patronizing help' to get my through my 'case' or my 'problems.'"
Carson pulls me by my hand out of the room, "Give us a minute, please, Mrs. Paltiel." Mrs. Paltiel nods willingly, before taking a large sip of her coffee and rubbing her forehead. Carson looks at me up and down in the hallway, "What's gotten into you?"
"I don't want her to know what's wrong. I just want her to stop it."
"So, do you just want to bring up the idea of medication?" I nod. "Okay. We'll do that then." So in we went, back into the room, and Mrs. Paltiel puts on a winning smile. Carson speaks for me, which I was appreciative of, "She… uh… she isn't really here for guidance as much as she is here for her next step." A lie slips out of his lips now, "She already is going to therapy. I think she just wants to see about getting depression medication. Her parents were thinking about it already."
"Shouldn't she ask her therapist?" she asks.
I bite my lip, trying hard not to swear.
"Um, she hasn't been there recently. It's been about two weeks."
"Oh," Mrs. Paltiel says. "Well… I can talk to the principal and hold a parent-teacher conference with her parents about this."
"Can you make sure that her parents don't know we tipped you off?"
"Of course."
"Thank you." With that, we walked out of the room, and the bell for the last class of the day rang. It was the end of the day. Finally, this day of hell was over. Or, it was until I remembered we were throwing out my razors today. I felt miserable by this thought. My one release was going to be gone, and there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it. We drove to my house, and Carson followed me upstairs.
"Where do you usually keep them?"
I sigh, "There's a few in my bedside table, and then there's some in a box in my vanity mirror in the bathroom."
"I'll get the ones in the nightstand. You get the ones in the bathroom. We're going to flush them together," he promises.
"Okay." With that, I went to the bathroom and was struck with a brilliant idea. I grabbed the familiar midnight velvet of the box, and popped it open. I slid two of the thin, cool metal blades into my hand, and slid them into my pocket. Then, I snapped the box shut as he walked in.
"Ready?"
"Yes," I a turn of my box, and the flip of his hand, we each dump the blades into the toilet. I watch them splash in. There must have been around fifteen of them, minus the two I had in my pocket. He reaches for my hand, and urges me to pull the handle of the flush. I sigh, close my eyes, and push down the lever. I hear the familiar whoosh of the toilet flushing, and, when my eyes opened, the blades were gone.
"Now, I'm going to make sure you don't start again."
A pang of guilt washed over me and the two I had hidden in my pocket. "You didn't get all of them."
"What?"
"I think there's a few you might have missed in the nightstand."
"Alright," he says, walking over and searching. After he was gone, I pulled the two out of my pocket, and set one on the vanity. "I don't see them!"
"Keep looking!" I call. I run the metal over my fingers and turn it over. One-two-three. One-two-three. I find myself sitting against the wall, and running the blade over my fingers, unconscious of the fact that there was blood on my fingertips now.
"Hey, love? I don't think you-," but he cuts off. "Oh my god, what are you doing?"
"What?" I ask, suddenly aware and out of my stupor. "I-I…." I trailed off.
He swipes the blade from my fingers and takes the other from the vanity. Carson then throws them in and flushes them. "I can't believe this."
"Go ahead."
"What?"
"Aren't you going to go?"
"Why?" The nonplussed expression was evident on his face, along with his hesitation.
"Because you don't want to deal with some petty little girl's problems, do you?"
"Well…," he starts, but I cut him off.
"You were done from the start, weren't you? You never wanted this. You pity me, just like every single stupid person on this planet! Everyone feels bad for me!"
"I never said that."
"You might not have said it, but you surely meant it!"
His face was filled with upset at the accusation, but I was flaring now. I never would have stopped yelling at him had my parents not come in.
"Carson, I think it's best if you go home," I hear my dad say from outside my door.
"Yes, sir," he responds, turning out the door and walking away. I heard his car putter to start, and he was gone. I suddenly felt alone in my room.
"What was that about," my dad asks me.
"Nothing," I say. I hoped he could sense the pleading in my voice, my begging for him to not ask.
He does. "Okay. See you at dinner. Don't forget your homework."
I pored over my geometry homework for hours. Eventually, I ended up recopying my homework four different ways in four different writing styles. I was distracted. I was distraught. And the one person I needed most was gone.
My phone buzzed with texts, but I ignored them. If I was going to wallow, I was going to do it without distraction. Suddenly, I heard my ringtone bounce around my room as I got a call.
_Give me a reason to fall in love, take my hand and let's dance. Give me a reason to make me smile, cause I think I forgot how. I wanna fall asleep with you tonight. I wanna know that I am safe when you hold me tight. I wanna feel how I wanna feel forever._
I blinked away my tears as I hit the answer button on the phone. I then lift the phone to my ear, and softly said, "Hello?"
Carson's voice answers me, "Riley?"
"Speaking," I say sadly.
"I'm sorry your dad sent me away. Do you want me to come back or do you want to come here?"
"I'm on my way. Be there in five minutes."
"Okay." With that, he hung up, and I was on my way to his house. When I arrived, I recalled my current clothes: sweatpants and Carson's stupid hoodie he still left here. I shook this thought out of my mind as I let myself in. Sheryl was sound asleep, so I just tiptoed my way upstairs to Carson's room. He opened the door fast and hugged me close. I let him, and he held me for a long time. Finally I pulled away, "Alright. I'm here."
He takes my hands and leads me to sit on the bed with him. An unwelcome and scared shiver danced down my spine. Carson continues, "I want you to be safe where you live."
"Doesn't everyone?"
"I want you to stop cutting."
"Might as well start making a list of things you don't want me to do."
"Is there more?"
"Oh, you know, just the purging and binging and skipping meals. And wanting to drink bleach every night you aren't here. That's an oldie but goodie."
Carson's eyes widen, "I didn't know things were so hard for you."
"I've been bullied every day since I was ten. I think I've had hard."
"What have they said to you?"
"Wow! You're so ugly! You're stupid!worthless! pathetic! Why are you even here? Kill yourself!"
"They've said that stuff to you?"
"They've drawn knives on me. They've threatened me. They've hit me. They've harassed me. They've locked me outside in freezing temperatures."
"Riley, I didn't realize."
"Yeah, you didn't realize." With a sigh, I look down. He's quiet for a long time, longer, almost, than I thought I could bear. I let out a nervous breath, and I felt him wrap his arms around me tightly. I knew he never wanted me to have this sort of struggle in my life, but, alas, all bad things come to those who don't deserve it. I let him sit there with his arms around me as long as he dared, until he let go. I sighed out a shaky breath again, and then he said something that I'd heard a million times before, but it suddenly sounded different.
"You'll be better soon."
"If I'm lucky."
"No. You will. I promise. You know what?"
"What?"
"I'm going to ask my mom to get antidepressants for me, and then I'll give them to you. Sound okay?"
"Okay."
We laid in his bed for hours. We never left those blush blue sheets, even after night had fallen and we were getting tired. I assumed now that we were to lay there for ages on end, until school the next morning. I purred out a breath, silently to anyone but myself, and Carson stirred. He got out of the bed and turned into the hall. Then, I heard the sturdy clack of the attic stairs going down. With a grunt, he returned into the room, putting the stairs up as he did. Then, he set whatever he got on the nightstand, and plugged it in. I noticed then it was one of those childish rotator lights that project shapes onto the walls to help the child sleep better. "The rotator is broken, but the light will still work," he says, absently. I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or me, but I nodded. He flicked a switch on the wire, and the light went through the cuts in the metal outline. Right over the bed was a moon, surrounded by billions of tiny little stars, twinkling and sparkling. A few of the stars trailed onto the pillows where Carsons face soon would be; and so they were when he flopped into bed, and they sparkled into his eyes. He closed his eyes and the pale light glinted against his eyelashes, all the while while I watched them. Then, I glanced at the light and noticed that it was rotating.
"You said the rotator was broken," I say softly.
"I thought it was," his voice said back to me, warm and smooth like honey. "But I'm happy the moon is staying in the same spot."
"Me too," I agree.
We finally began drifting to sleep, his arm wrapped loosely around my waist with my nose brushing against his jaw. We were both comfortable and warm; and we were both happy as can be.
11. Chapter 10
We were woken out of our stupor in the morning. The shit queen herself, Sheryl, decided to disrupt us. She slammed open the door and unplugged the light with a flick of her wrist. Then, she screamed at us, "Get up! I better see clothes on when you two get out of bed!" I woke up before Carson did, and rolled over, sliding my feet off the bed and to the floor, then standing. I yawned. "Wow, my mistake of a son can't even wake up in a morning!" Sheryl yelled at Carson's sleeping figure. I sighed.
"Why don't you try being nice to him for once?" I suggest hopefully.
"That would never work. It's called tough love for a reason," she replies, then goes back to yelling at him.
"Sheryl," I start, then correct myself, "Mrs. Phillips. Let me."
"If you get him up, I will literally pay you ten dollars. He's a mess."
Ignoring her, I climb back over the bed to him, and touch his shoulder gently, "Hey, it's morning." I hear a groan. A sign of life! Kids, we have contact! "It's about seven fifteen. You overslept a little, honey."
"Mom?" he asks, blinking. He then sees Sheryl, mouth agape, and me, eyes tender and looking at him sweetly. "Good morning to you," he says kindly, with a grin. Then, however, he realizes his mom was in the room too. "And good morning to you, mom. I guess." Sheryl stomps out, and I lean down to press a kiss to his forehead. He leans into the touch, and slides a hand down my arm, laying it on top of my hand. Finally, we rolled out of bed, and yawned together. We got dressed together and went to the car together.
Together is a funny word. You and someone, or someones, are all together. You do something together. You be together. I recall in my second grade class, my teacher taught us how to spell together. She reminded us that it was To-Get-Her. To get her. Carson and I were together. Carson was together with me. Carson was to get her with me. Carson was to get her. Her was me. It touched me, in a way, even if it was just the common English language and thinking too much. When we pull up to school, he presses a long, lingering, warm kiss to my mouth, and I sigh into the kiss, happy to feel better.
"When do you think you'll get the 'depressants?" I ask.
"Probably after school. My mom should be able to get them soon," he promises. "As soon as I get them, I'll bring them to your house."
"Thank you," I say gratefully. Then, we go to our classes together. At the end of the day, Writers' club called us. We had a newspaper to finish. I had never actually been around to see the finished Chronicle because I always had something to do or somewhere to be. So, today was my first compilation and printing day for the Chronicle. We arranged everything together on the software that Carson had on his computer, and then we sent one to the printer also in the room. He picked it up.
"Don't you think only one copy is a bit too little, even if no one reads the Chronicle?" I ask.
He doesn't say anything, just gestures for me to follow him, and then we walk to the hallway where the teachers' lounge was. I glance at the sign that reads, 'Teacher Use Only.' Carson disregards it. Without words, he turns the knob and opens it, setting the newspaper we had printed onto the tray. He taps in '150' for the number of copies, then hits the green button. The machine whirs to life and begins spewing out papers. After they all printed, he hands me half of the stack, "Here. We've got to sort them for classes to distribute them."
"Which classes are we giving them to?"
"Homerooms."
So we arranged our list.
_Mrs. Emerson_
_Mr. Gullik_
_Mr. Anten_
_Ms. Sharpton (4-career counseling)_
_Mrs. Toftegaard_
_Mr. Walsh_
_Mr. McAllister_
_Ms. Scheiner_
_Mrs. Strasbury_
So, we then figured out how many kids were in each homeroom and added these numbers to our list.
_Mrs. Emerson (10)_
_Mr. Gullik (15)_
_Mr. Anten (13)_
_Ms. Sharpton (4-career counseling)_
_Mrs. Toftegaard (16)_
_Mr. Walsh (20)_
_Mr. McAllister (10)_
_Ms. Scheiner (17)_
_Mrs. Strasbury (5 - advancement)_
I then said, "You printed more than we need."
"I always take extra to the old folks home downtown. You know, Clover Assisted Living. My grandma's there. They always ask me to bring about forty copies for them to read there, so I do," he replies. There was a sad look in his eye, and I felt a pang of hurt for him.
"Could I go with you when you take them?" I ask.
"Sure. I've been telling my grandma about you. She might not remember you, but it'll still be nice for her to see you," Carson says. I smiled at him, which brought him to smile too. "I'm going after school when we're done with Writers' Club, so it wouldn't be trouble to take you since I usually take you home anyway." I nod, and he takes my hand, as he grabs the stack of papers and puts them carefully into his bag. Then, we drive to CAL. CAL is one of those musty, boring old folks' homes that people often stare at the floors at to avoid contact with peoples' eyes. The smell was a fetid standing-dust smell that was poorly perfumed by the smell of dried flowers. I realized I didn't quite care for the smell, but there was little I could do about it. Suddenly, the further we walked through the halls to Carson's grandmother, the smaller I felt. I stepped closer to Carson in stride, and held his hand tight in my own. He looked down at me for a moment, reassuring me with his eyes before staring straight again. "Grandma?" he asks softly into the room.
A woman with tight, curly red hair looks up, "Who said that?" Carson steps in, pulling me behind him. "You look like my grandson."
"I am your grandson."
"No, you arent. My grandson's just a little boy."
Carson purses his lips, and it was evident he had heard this before. He plops down in one of the red plastic chairs they had next to the wall, and then says, "I brought you a copy of the Chronicle, grandma." When his grandmother doesn't look up, he sets it on the table next to her bed. "What are you making?"
His grandmother looked puzzled for a moment, as if she didn't even know what she was knitting anymore. Finally she made up her mind, "A scarf blanket."
Carson smiles sadly at this. I squeeze his hand tighter, and we watch her knit for a few minutes. Then, he pulls out a textbook from his backpack, letting go of my hand, and then pulls out a notebook. He begins doing homework. Apparently this was average routine for him; that is, his grandmother not remembering a thing in the world, and him accepting that.
"Ms. Phillips?" I ask. She doesn't look up. "Ma'am?" After a bit more prodding and a couple more 'ma'am's, she looked up. I said, "How's the weather today?"
She glances out the window, "It looks like it's sunny. But let me tell you a story that isn't sunny. You know that old President Nixon?" I nodded, and Carson looks up, opening his mouth as she does and saying the words with her, "That man is so backwards he screws his boots on." I stopped talking, and Ms. Phillips goes back to her knitting. Carson proceeds to his work again. I realized Carson had given up. He would try, but, when she didn't recognize him, gave up. After a few hours of me staring at nothing or watching the people through Ms. Phillips' window, Carson packed up.
"Let's go."
"Okay," I agree, and we walk away.
"Bye, grandma," he says, even though his grandmother was asleep. I smiled to cheer him up, and we drove to my house. When he stopped, I turned the key in the ignition and turned off the motor. He looks at me, confused. I take his hands and pull him from the car, and grin, "My bed has your name on it." He mimics my same grin, and we run to my house, leaving our stuff long behind. We lay there and we actually kissed more heatedly than I was anticipating. The kissing cooled down into a mirroring of our bodies. We laid so close to each other, fingers and hands trailing over bodies and hair. Carson and I both looked at each other with so much love. I heard a song in the back of my mind.
Trade baby blues for wide-eyed browns. Sleep in your old shirts and walk through this house, and in your shoes, I know it's strange. It's a strange way of saying that I know I'm supposed to love you, I'm supposed to love you.
I let out a calm, balanced breath, even and neutral. He mimics me in equal contentment. Finally, he and I fell asleep, tangled together, limbs with limbs, and breathing on each others' bodies comfortably.
12. Chapter 11
Friday came faster than I thought it would. I zoned out for most of school, only paying attention when Carson needed me to. We both skipped Writers' Club today, heading to my house to get ready for the dance. He stood on one side of the room, and I on the other, each keeping our backs turned as we got ready. I went into the bathroom to throw on some makeup that was small and unnoticeable, but still there. Then, I sat on the edge of the vanity and pulled on my shoes. With steady fingers, I began to twist my hair to curl it a little. Carson calls from the other room, "You done yet? Your mom wants us to do corsages soon!"
"Almost," I call back, then finish up my hair. I step out and Carson's face lights up. With a grab at my hand, we start down the stairs. My mom and dad take pictures, all the while we were grinning. My dad hands Carson his box with the corsage in it, and my mom hands me mine with the boutonniere in it. I pin Carson's boutonniere to the lapel of his jacket-which he looked stunning in, by the way-, and then he wraps the corsage around my wrist. He and I stand next to each other while my parents snap pictures, and Carson, following our Las Vegas tradition, presses a kiss to my cheek as my mom snaps one more. Then, we take the most royal way to school: in his Corvair.
Have I mentioned how fond I am of his car? I love that car almost more than I love him. It's gorgeous looking but still manages to get good gas mileage. It's a convertible! A convertible! Those things were awesome, honestly. Plus, the seats are comfortable and the machinery isn't that old. Old cars never ever want to run right, but the Corvair's engine purred once you got it started.
Anyways, we got to the dance and it was actually very well decorated. I praised Carson for egging on the decoration committee. We stepped in and immediately sat at one of the few tables they had set, claiming our seats so those poor folks who got tired would have to sit on the floor instead of sitting on the chairs like us. The two of us watch watch the people arrive and start dancing, all the while us sitting together, holding hands, and occasionally singing along to the shitty bubblegum pop. After awhile, I convinced him to dance with me to said shitty bubblegum pop, and he laughed, saying he would. I then took his hand and led him forward, grinning and swishing my skirt while we danced together. We laughed and danced together, listening to a song that wasn't necessarily bubblegum pop, but was still popular.
And I can tell just what you want, you don't want to be alone. You don't want to be alone. And I can't say it's what you know, but you've known it the whole time. Yeah, you've known it the whole time.
The song pumps to a synthy bridge of 'yeahs,' and the lights begin to flicker and flash with strobes. Carson and I both dance close to each other, laughing and moving as we well pleased, disregarding how everyone else was. I noticed the camera recording our movements for the Winter Dance Video they show the Monday after. For once, I didn't shy away from it. I kept dancing. Carson kept dancing. He gave me confidence to ignore the stupid camera and just spend time with someone I love. After the song changed, I heard it switch to a slower song, intended for a slower couples dance. He took my hand and pulled me closer, and I followed suit, resting my head on his shoulder and tucking my nose into the crook of his neck. Carson's hand tucks familiarly into the small of my back, and we turn in place, rocking calmly and serenely to the tune of the song.
_(Start now on Pokeball + Coffeeshop Jessica's playlist! -A/N)_
_I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart. But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start. You put your arms around me, and I believe that it's easier for you to let me go. You put your arms around me… and I'm home._
Carson leans close to my ear and whispers, "You knocked me off the ground from the start." I smile.
_How many times will you let me change my mind and turn around? I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown. I hope that you can see right through my walls. I hope that you can catch me 'cause I'mn already falling. I'll never get a love get so close, you put your arms around me and I'm home._
_The world is coming down on me, and I can't find a reason to be loved. I never wanna leave you but I can't make you bleed if I'm alone. You put your arms around me, and I believe that it's easier for you to let me go. I hope that you can see right through my walls. I hope that you can catch me 'cause I'm already falling. I'll never get a love get so close, you put your arms around me and I'm home._
_I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth. And I've never opened up, I've never truly loved 'til you put your arms around me and I believe that it's easier for you to let me go…._
He continues to whisper in my ear, "Sounds a lot like someone I know."
_I hope that you can see right through my walls. I hope that you can catch me 'cause I'mn already falling. I'll never get a love get so close, you put your arms around me and I'm home. You put your arms around me and I'm home._
The song fades away, and I pull back from Carson's shoulder. He presses a kiss to the top of my forehead, then smiles at me. I smile back. Carson leans down, "Hey, do you wanna ditch this for some live music at the coffee shop down the street?"
"I'd like that. I got my slow dance, that's all I wanted."
"You could've done that in your bedroom, love," Carson says fondly, then takes my hand. We both leave and head down to the coffeeshop. There, I order hot chocolate and he orders coffee. We sit, and a girl with brown hair and wide hazel eyes. She had freckles sprayed over her cheeks and nose, and she smiled at the two of us, introducing herself.
"Hey! I'm Jessica."
"Nice to meet you," I say, shaking her hand. "Are you local to here?"
"I live down in Valencia," she says, "but the cafe booked me, so here I am!"
"You going to perform a set?" Carson asks. I almost laugh because it was obvious that she was.
"Yep! Five of my favorite songs."
"Good luck!" we both say together before sitting front row. She started out with her first song after a short introduction.
"Hey guys! My name's Jessica. Over on the table so kindly provided by the venue, I have some copies of my EP. They're eight dollars apiece. Any funds will help me pay rent and maybe, hopefully convince a record deal to sign me! Thanks for the support. Now, this song is one of my favorites. If you know it, go ahead and sing along."
_The day I first met you, you told me you'd never fall in love. But now that I get you, I know that fear is what it really was. Now here we are, so close yet so far. Haven't I passed the test? When will you realize, baby, I'm not like the rest? Don't wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break. I know you're scared it's wrong, like you might make a mistake. There's just one life to live, and there's no time to wait, to wait. So let me give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break._
Carson whips to look at me, "This song is literally us."
"Hm?" I ask.
_On Sunday, you went home alone, there were tears in your eyes. I called your cell phone, my love, but you did not reply._
Carson's eyes widen, "Holy shit. Our fight was on Sunday." The song finishes, and then she starts talking again.
"How is everyone? I know I talked to a couple here earlier. Where are they?" I raise my hand and she smiles at us, "Shoutout to those two! They look like they just came from a ball. Anyways, my next song is a great one. Another one of my favorites. Well, all of my setlist is favorites...but… moving on! Enjoy!"
_If you ever change your mind about leaving, leaving me behind. Bring it to me, bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me, yeah yeah yeah. I know I laughed when you left, but now I know I only hurt myself. Oh-oh, bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me. I'll give you jewellry and money, too. That ain't all, that ain't all I'll do for you. Oh-oh, bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me. You know I'll always be your slave, 'til I'm buried, buried in my grave. Oh honey, bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me. One more thing, I tried to treat you right. But you stayed out, stayed out at night. But I forgive you. Bring it to me. Bring your sweet loving, bring it on home to me._
Another break for her to chat to us while she strummed and fixed her guitar, adjusting her capo. "I hope I'm giving you guys at least a little entertainment. My mom was telling me, 'Now, Jess, don't bore them to death!' But here's the next song for you guys." I could say that the song she sang was a sudden turn from her previous songs, but it still seemed to fit her.
_Let's get it crunk, we gonna have fun, up on in this dancery! We got ya open, now ya floatin', so you gots to dance for me! Don't need no hateration, holleratin' in this dancery! Let's get it percolatin', while you're waiting, so just dance for me!_
After this song with her spectacle of vocal range, she gave a us an interlude again while adjusting her capo once more. "Now, everyone loves The Beatles, right?" Someone called from the back of the shop that they prefer the Rolling Stones. "Ah, damn. The 'Stones always are competition at least once. But, hopefully you 'Stones fans can handle The Beatles for three minutes while I sing this next one."
_Something in the way she moves attracts me like no other lover. Something in the way she woos me, I don't want to leave her now. You know I believe and how. Somewhere in her smile she knows, that I don't need no other lover. Something in her style that shows me I don't want to leave her now. You know I believe and how._
"Last, I want to sing this song...just because...well.. who doesn't like The Police?"
_You don't have to put on the red light, those days are over. You don't have to sell your body to the night. Roxanne, you don't have to wear that dress tonight. Walk the streets of money, you don't care if its wrong or if it's right. Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light. Roxanne. I loved you since I knew you. I wouldn't talk down to you. I have you to tell just how I feel. I won't share you with another boy. I know my mind is made up, so put away your make-up. Told you once, I won't tell you again, it's a bad way. Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light. Roxanne._
At the end of the song, everyone gives her a roar of applause. She gets a Standing-O. Everyone's in love with her voice. "Thank you guys again, so much. Reminder that my EP is on sale here in physical, and it's also available on BandCamp and iTunes. If you don't want to buy a physical copy but you want to give money, I also have a tip jar there and a donate button on my BandCamp. Thank you, Clover, for having me!" I watched people mill around and was defeated to know that all the EP's sold out. I walked up to her.
"Sucks that all your EP's sold out before I could have a copy."
"Don't be so sure," she says, handing me a copy. I look down at it to find it signed. "I wanted to put your name on it but I didn't know it."
"Could you put Riley and Carson on there?" I ask.
"Sure." To my shock, she spells my name right. Then, Jessica hands the disc back to me and says, "My treat. Don't feel obligated to pay for it. I think you two are great. Maybe we can stick in contact."
"I hope so," I say, smiling.
"I would love to chat, but I've gotta bounce. I'm set for San Francisco in the a.m., and I can't be late. See ya!" Jessica then turns on her heel, taking her guitar with her, out into the street. I squint to see her figure, and watch her. She walks down the road until she's out of sight. It then hit me that she didn't have a car. I wanted to stop her, but she was gone. I glanced down at the disc to find she had written:
**Dear Carson and Riley,**
**Thanks for coming out tonight. I really appreciate the support.**
**(714) 338-9940. Keep in touch. See you around.**
**And hey, if you two aren't still dating by the time I get back,**
**you're both going to have trouble.**
**Jessica Lanham**
I realized the name sounded familiar. She had been in the library the one day we were. That meant she was either a senior or a high school dropout of recent. I suddenly got an idea and whipped out my phone. I dialed the number, and heard a ring...ring...ring...ri-
"Jessica speaking. Talk to me."
"Hey! Um, It's…"
"Riley?" she asks.
"Yes, actually."
"What's up, buttercup?"
"I was wondering if you were heading to New York after your San Francisco gig?"
"How'd you know?"
"Carson and I know the feel of getting out of a shitty small town. We want to go with you."
"Well look at you two, living it up with this washed up rockstar. You've got yourself a deal, Riles. See you in a few days. Wait at the coffeeshop at five thirty Wednesday night. You're going to New York."
Carson looks at me curiously as I hang up my phone. "We need to hurry."
"Why?"
"We need to go to all-day classes."
"Holy shit, are you fucking crazy?"
"We're going to New York."
"How?" he asks, but suddenly it makes sense. We say it together, "Jessica."
"She's coming here at five thirty Wednesday. We need to earn as many credits as we can before we leave."
"Why?"
"So we can get to college sooner and eventually become the most pivotal power couple in the history of journalism and the New Yorker. That's why."
"I love you," he says, his voice a dreamy drawl and he presses a kiss to my lips affectionately as we hopped into the car. We drove home and I called the school, asking if we can switch to all-day school for extra credits. They reminded us the hours were from eight a.m. to nine p.m. and we would earn one extra credit for every class attended during this time. We would, in total, earn 42 credits from these next three days-Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday-alone, which is almost more than enough to graduate. We could go to college in New York with those credits.
I bid him farewell as he dropped me off at home, and I sigh contentedly with the thought of being in New York. New York was the city where Carson and I would get married. Where our kids would grow up. Where we'd live with Jessica in a shitty loft until Carson and I picked up New Yorker jobs and she became famous. We would live shittily until we finally made it big. It reminded me of every Broadway New Yorker's dream. I then was reminded of the years I dreamed of being a Broadway star. Maybe I could give harmonies to Jessica's songs… or maybe not.
I fell asleep quickly, comforted by the thought of New York. I would tell my parents in the morning. I knew Carson wouldn't tell Sheryl. Sheryl wouldn't care anyways. The night passed, and, of course following the common patterns of night and day, morning followed. I woke up, and headed for breakfast. My parents greeted me with a smile. I opened my mouth, "Can I talk to you guys about something?"
"Carson didn't get you pregnant, did he?" my mom asks quickly, evidently blurting.
"N-no, god no. We haven't had sex yet."
"Good. Good," my mom looked relieved.
"I went to a coffee shop last night. There was this amazing singer… her name was Jessica. She offered to take Carson and I to New York on Wednesday."
"What about your credits?!"
"I already called in for all-day school. It's just a few extra hours, and with three days I get 42 credits."
"How?"
"You get credits for entering all-day school with all-day classes. Plus, the average credits of the classes."
"Will they let you graduate early?"
"I don't know."
"Okay."
"Does that mean I can go?" I ask.
My parents look at each other, talking through facial expressions and shrugs. Finally, my mom turns, "Okay. But you better write to us every single day and call us when you need to. Take good care of yourself."
"Carson'll take good care of her, honey," my dad says to my mom. My mom nods knowingly. "I would get packing."
"Thank you guys so so much!" I yell, hugging them both and running up to my room. I throw together a suitcase, and then text Carson telling him that my parents said I could go. Things were looking up for me. In the back of my mind, I began to hear 'New York, New York' by Frank Sinatra.
_My little town blues, they are melting away. I gonna make a brand new start of it, in old New York!_
13. Chapter 12
That's how Carson and I got to New York. I'd like to say that we were able to book a Southwest Airlines flight, but Jessica reminded us that wasn't her style. So, we ended up hitchhiking our way to New York. We had to stop at three different places because cars were going different directions than we hoped. Twice, that was on the interstate highway, where I was scared out of my mind. Carson always would hold my hand reassuringly and rub his thumb over my knuckles. Jessica, still ever the badass, said that we could probably walk across the interstate to try the other side lanes of cars. I squeaked out a protest, so we stayed on that side.
We finally were there… in the big, beautiful city of New York. I gasped. It was really beautiful. The big buildings and the skyline were breathtaking. Jessica coaxed us, "C'mon you two. I bought the loft before we got here. It was a little steep for me, so you two are going to have to buy groceries for the first five months at least." The two of us nodded, and we headed to the loft. It was empty, save for a table with two chairs, a bed, a couch, and a kitchenette and bathroom.. I let go of my suitcase by the door. "I'll sleep on the couch if you guys want the bed," Jessica offers. "I just don't want to hear you two fucking in the middle of the night. Save it for my gig nights." A sly wink appears on her face, and I could tell that she and the two of us would get along fine.
We ordered in pizza that night because none of us wanted to cook. Then, Jessica said she was going to explore the town and go bar hopping. I remark, "Aren't you eighteen?"
"Haven't you ever heard of the magic of fake IDs?" she says.
"What are we supposed to do while you're gone?" Carson asks.
"Either play Tiddlywinks or come with me. I made you two some before we left. I'll tell you, Riley, you're gonna grow up into a hot chick, but you honestly look a little pathetic now."
I nod, "I agree."
Carson raises his voice, "That's my girlfriend!"
"Yes, I know," Jessica says, cocking her hip, "and she agreed with me. So, it's not an insult."
Carson frowns, but perks up when I take his hand and pull him out after Jessica left the door open. "Don't worry, love. I'm not offended by it. I know she's just joking."
"Okay," he says, kissing my cheek as we walk behind her. She hands us our IDs around the corner from the first bar.
"Don't present it unless they ID you," she says. "Otherwise you look suspicious. And don't act suspicious, obviously. Play it cool. Pretend you don't even have it until they ask for it." We both nod, and then head inside. It was rather quiet, much different than I expected. An old eighties rock station was playing over the speakers, and there were two occupants other than the bartender: an older man with a pallid face who looked half-asleep, and a curly haired man with hazel eyes. He was wearing a beanie and tight red pants. I noticed the piercing on his lip. Jessica eyed him, and he was eyeing her. She sits by him, and they immediately start chatting. The guy buys her a drink, evidently under her order, which was a shot glass and a bottle of tequila.
As he walks by, he introduces himself, one handedly, "Darren. I like your friend. She seems pretty cool."
"Are you two gonna do shots?" Carson asks, obviously much more into the loop on alcohol.
"Yep. Tequila's strong stuff. Have you guys had it before?"
"No," we both say together.
"C'mere. You should have some too."
"Okay," Carson says, for the two of us. I glance at the door, suddenly worried. This would be my first time having alcohol other than Church wine.
"Oi, Bernard!" Darren calls to the bartender, "Three more shot glasses!"
"'Ya sure 'ya want 'em?" he calls back.
"I'm sure! Hurry up!" Bernard comes back with the shot glasses, and Darren dishes them out between us. He pours each of us an even shot of tequila. "Bottom's up. Drink it all. Don't chicken out or you have to buy the next bottle."
I took a nervous breath, and took the glass into my hand. I heard Jessica count down the numbers. "Three… two… one… down!" I threw the glass back into my mouth and swallowed. Instantly, my throat began burning, but I wasn't the first one to start coughing. Carson coughed first, then I did, then Darren. Jessica laughs, "Pour me another." Carson and I stand, leaving Jessica and Darren to their bottle of tequila, and Carson heads up to the bar, taking a seat. I sit next to him.
"What'll it be?" Bernard asks.
"Would it be embarrassing to get something virgin here?" I ask him.
He smiles kindly, "Naw. It's alright. Especially since it was obvious that was your first shot. Tequila's strong stuff for a firstie."
"Okay. I'll have a virgin Shirley Temple then."
"And you, sir?"
"I'll take wine."
"You've got it."
We sit, and Bernard brings us our drinks. Then, Carson and I take sips of our drinks, watching Jessica and Darren. I notice the pallid faced man leave. Carson laughs into his drink as he watches the two, seeing them argue over whether tequila burns or stings. I thought both were applicable. Overall, I could say I wouldn't be taking shots of tequila again. My Shirley Temple was fine enough for me for now. I had a feeling that I would only take virgin cocktails, wine, or champagne. Carson stopped after his one drink, only ordering non-alcoholic this time. I appreciated that. Jessica stands, pulling Darren by his hand, "We're going to a different one now. Dare told me about this one that has karaoke."
I noticed the nickname, but didn't question it. I guess they got along really well. We started walking after thanking Bernard for his service and bidding him a good evening. "So, Darren, you're a singer too?"
"Yeah," Darren replies, "Five years. Started on YouTube, almost got casted to a show, now I do tours when I can."
"Really?" I ask, intrigued.
"Yep. I did one last summer. It was called 'Listen Up.'"
"Cool," the three remaining in the group reply to him. We walk to the bar, where they ID us at the door. Carson and I flash ours with a calm face, then walk in after Jessica and Darren. I noticed the two were already on stage, ready to duet a song together, obviously half drunk. I watched the two sing a song from Grease, which was a great fit for their voices.
_Summer lovin', had me a blast. Summer lovin', happened so fast. Met a girl, crazy for me. Met a boy, cute as can be. Summer days drifting away, to -uh oh- those summer nights. A well-a well-a well-a well-a uh, tell me more, tell me more. Did you get very far? Tell me more, tell me more, like does he have a car? She swam by me, she got a cramp. He ran by me, got my suit damp. Saved her life, she nearly drowned. He showed off, splashing around. Summer sun, something's begun. But -uh oh-, those summer nights. Tell me more, tell me more, was it love at first sight? Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?_
I watched them sing, and knew that they had chemistry. They were both badasses, but they both had a great soft side that only wanted to come out in their music. I could see them together. Carson held my hand as we sat at the bar, both of us sipping innocently on water, neither wanting to be as drunk as Jessica and Darren were becoming. Carson and I chatted while Jessica and Darren kept singing. We decided to let them sing so they wouldn't keep drinking.
A burly man walks towards the two of us, his eyes fixed on me. Carson quips, "He looks like trouble."
"You don't know that," I say. The man gets closer.
"Hey, honey. You wanna head to my place? We can tinker a bit with the plumbing."
My eyes narrow, "Excuse me?"
I feel Carson's hand tense up in mine, and he stands, "Excuse you?"
"I'm just sayin'. Maybe he can come along too. We could start a fire with that match."
I felt my eyes narrow more as Carson lets go of my hand, "How about you fuck off and leave me and my girlfriend alone?"
"'Ey, mate, didn't mean to get your panties in a twist."
"Fuck off and piss off. Go, shoo."
The man doesn't budge, and instead tries the different approach of making for my hands. I lift them and give him a firm slap to the cheek, "Fuck off. I don't want scum like you here. I'm happy with my boyfriend, not you." After that incident, the man walks away to hit on another girl, and Carson holds my hand exceptionally tight and obviously, as if to prove to everyone that I was his and anyone who tried to question that would be severely sassed.
When they got tired, we parted ways with Darren, who exchanged numbers with Jessica and gave her a kiss on the cheek before bidding us adieu and leaving. Then, we went back to the loft. Jessica, within five minutes, passed out on the couch. Carson and I sat at the edge of the bed, reliving our first night in New York. We both tried alcohol for the first time-and cheated the law for the first time to get this alcohol-, and then we went to another bar. It was exhilarating, but we both knew that we couldn't afford to get drunk before our bodies were fully ready for it, and we didn't want to smudge our clean records for the New Yorker job department. We laid back in bed, not bothering to change out of our clothes, and Carson pressed a kiss to my forehead before we drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I heard Carson making breakfast. He dropped a pan with a loud crash, and Jessica groans, "Fuuuck. Don't drop that pan again, little man. My head's killing me. Anyone got any Advil?"
"Sorry, Jessica," Carson apologizes, then says, "I tried to make omelettes but they turned into scrambled eggs."
"'S'alright," Jessica replies, standing up as I rummage through my bag for the Advil I had packed. I hand her a pill and she smiles gratefully before sitting at the table. I sit at the middle seat, and Carson at the other side. We eat in silence, and Jessica says, "I have a gig tonight at nine. I can't take you two along, so you're going to have to entertain yourselves. Maybe you can go ice skate at Rockefeller."
"Sounds great. Break a leg, Jess," I say. Usually, she hates the name Jess, and winces when Carson says it. But, weirdly enough, she lets me say it. Jessica gets up after eating, placing her dish in the sink.
"Where are you headed?" Carson asks.
"Got a date with Darren today," she says.
"Don't drink," I say. "You'll totally slur your way to the path of death. Especially since you have a show tonight."
"Yes, mom," Jessica says, a laugh bubbling from her mouth as she walks out, slamming the door behind her.
Carson turns to me, "We have like the rest of the day to kill unless Jessica's gonna come back with Darren. Which is unlikely, of course. So, what do you want to do?"
"I've always wanted to go see Times Square. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
"Then let's do that."
So, the rest of our day was spent in the MMOA. Then, when it was evening, we headed to walk around Times Square. After that, we went to Rockefeller Plaza. The skating, however cold, was fun for the both of us. We held hands and caught each other-Carson catching me more than I him-, and kissed in the middle of the ice. Several people awed and I smiled. Then, we went layed in bed, exchanging long, lingering, warm kisses until we fell asleep. That night was a great night for the both of us.
Little did I know that in my future, three years after we'd been in New York-after vacationing twice back to pick up more stuff and Carson's car-, that we would go back to Rockefeller together again. Darren and Jessica were still together, three years, and Carson and him both had these looks on their faces that were similar but different. I glanced at Jessica while we walked, but she just shrugged and laughed, whispering, "Let it happen, Riles." She kept a firm clasp on Darren's hand, and I on Carsons. It was weird to think that when we first got to New York, Carson and I were sixteen. Now we were nearing our twenties. Carson was going to be twenty in a few weeks, actually. I already was twenty. The group of four all walked to Rockefeller and rented skates. It was one of the last few days people could skate, as May was approaching and it was getting less and less cold by the day.
We skated for awhile, and then Darren suggested that Jessica and I skate together a little while. I was confused, but agreed because I'd missed having talks with Jessica since she moved in with Darren. When she left, Carson and I kept the loft, which was much better than the scant amount of furniture we had before. Then, I watched as Darren took Jessica's hands and skated her into the middle of the rink. He started singing. I recognized the tune immediately and smiled widely, watching the two turn as he sang. I noticed Jessica beginning to cry, but happily of course.
_(New York Playlist... NOW! -A/N)_
_It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you. Is it the look in your eyes, or is it this dancing juice? Who cares, baby, I think I wanna marry you. Well, I know this little chapel on the boulevard we can go. No one will know, oh, come on girl. Who cares if we're trashed, got a pocket full of cash we can blow._
I listened and noticed he changed a lyric to fit their relationship better.
_Shots of tequila, and it's on girl. Don't say no, just say yeah. And we'll go, if you're ready like I'm ready._
I look at Carson, "Did you help him plan this? It's a little romantic for Darren's tastes."
"I knew about Jessica's soft side, and I learned some romantic stuff from you, so that's how this happened."
"I'm happy for them," I say.
"Me too," he replies, holding my hand tightly. After the song was over, a man skated over and handed Darren a little box. Jessica's hands flew to her mouth in shock.
"I know that when you came to New York that night, that you and I were supposed to meet at that old bar. It's been torn down, sadly, but the memory still remains. You and I sat there taking shot after burning shot of tequila, then we sang Summer Nights at the next bar. You and I bonded from the start, and not just physically from our drunken make-out session that night." He paused as people laughed. "You're all the world to me, and I would do anything and everything for you, Jessica. You're my sun, moon, and stars. And," he pauses to kneel. "Will you marry me?"
Jessica nods quickly, "Yes, yes, yes. I will. I do."
He slides the ring on her finger and they envelop into a kiss. Everyone claps and cheers, and a few people yell congratulations in their direction. With that done, Carson and I decided to drop Jessica and Darren off at their apartment and pick up the Corvair.
"I bought us tickets to see Wicked," Carson says, in such an off-hand manner I thought he was lying.
"What?" I ask.
"You know, Wicked. At the Gershwin Theater?"
"Oh my god!" I scream. "I love you so much!"
"I know," he says as we sit in the car. Jessica waves goodbye to us and then pulls Darren into the apartment after her. "I'm sensing they're going to have celebratory sex, don't you?"
"I can understand that inkling," I reply. The wind blows through my hair again, and I'm reminded of our nights on the freeway, when we'd drive endlessly, the wind rushing by us, faster than we could ever hope to be. As the buildings flew by, I felt an excitement creeping up my back. I wondered how Carson got tickets, considering they commonly sold out within the first hour of sale. When we got there, we took our seats-which were GREAT seats-, and waited for the show to start. I found myself trying not to sing along to the songs I knew, and Carson squeezed my hand every time. He would smile, his eyes catching the spotlight for a second, giving them a sparkle, and I would smile too. The show dwindled to an end, and I clapped, standing to start the standing ovation. Everyone else followed, whistling and cheering.
One of the actresses shushes the crowd, "We have a… um…. an interesting request to fulfill this evening. Someone here has brought someone special, and we'd like to bring them up. If you would."
Carson takes my hand and stands. I look at him, "Are you sure?"
He nods knowingly, pulling me up to the stage doors, obviously having done this before. We get up on the stage, and some of the actors gather around Carson, and he whispers with them for a minute. I stand next to the actress as she talks, "This man has been in New York with this lovely lady for three years. They've known each other for four. Anyone can see that they're in love. They're hopelessly in love with each other." I heard a speaker flick on, and then music poured quietly from the speakers.
I recognized the song. It was our song,
"This song is their song. Some of the man's fondest memories are the mix CDs that he takes with him wherever he goes that were made by her for him. But now, I think he'd like to say a few words."
The actress hands Carson the microphone. "Thank you, Roxanne. Can everyone give a hand for Roxanne Abbott? She's amazing, I'll tell you." He pauses for the applause, then turns to me. The stage suddenly grows eerily empty, the only sounds are the audiences' breath and the music pouring from the speakers. "Riley… you and I… God, it seems like yesterday you walked into the journalism classroom. You were so curious and scared and shy. You were burdened by demons from your past. But now… look at you! You're so strong. You're brave. You have courage, character, charisma, and creativity beyond anyone I've ever met before. You're just… you're so beautiful and wonderful. I couldn't imagine a day without you here with me. I couldn't imagine my future or my forever without you either." Out of nowhere, my stomach swoops as he gets on one knee before me as well. "I want to spend my future and forever with you… more than anything in this world. Will you let me spend my forever with you? Will you marry me?"
I began to cry and nod. I nod again to reestablish my answer, and he places the ring gingerly on my finger before wiping my tears from my cheeks. Then, he presses a long kiss to my lips as everyone claps behind us.
14. Chapter 13
That was a year ago. We haven't had time to have a formal wedding yet, but being engaged is enough for now. My ring that he got me was a beautiful silver ring with diamonds on either side of a chalcedony stone, cut in a circular shape. Chalcedony didn't sparkle, no, it was a foggy color, but the diamonds took care of that. On the inside of the band was an inscription. The inscription read, 'Give me a thousand kisses…'. Carson bought a band after I said yes, and his read, '...and a thousand more.' It made us have a bit of a dent in our budgets, but we both agreed that it was worth it. After we got back on our feet working small jobs in coffee shops nearby our loft, we went to the building we'd been dreaming about since we got here: The New Yorker.
We walked together, hand in hand, and I felt him touch my ring with his thumb carefully, a smile on his face. I turned to him, "Whatever happens, I wish the best for you, honey."
"You too," he replies, a kiss on my cheek. We headed to the front desk, and were directed a variety of places. Time passed, hours and hours, and we both walked out with a stack of papers in our hands. We'd gotten into the consideration period, but we needed to fill out the papers they gave us and submit two or more articles through email to the email designated on the top of the packet.
We spent the next three days filling in the paperwork together. Three bottles of white out and fourteen pens later, we were done. Then, we rummaged through Carson's laptop for old articles to submit. We both decided to submit two old ones from the Chronicle, and one new one that we would each write within the next day. Carson brings something up I had already thought about before, "You know the New Yorker is pretty much journalism, right?"
"I researched."
"Oh really?"
"They also take short stories and satirical fiction."
"That's great!" he says happily. Later that day, we submitted our articles, then headed back to the building to submit our papers. We were redirected, then separated to different representatives, his for journalism and mine for short stories and satirical fiction. I handed him the stack of paper and he flips through it with such expertise that I knew he had done it many times before. He checks that every space was filled in, and, in a matter of moments, he was done. The man introduces himself.
"I'm Marvin Dixon. And you are?"
"Riley."
"Riley what?"
"Er, Riley Tishma-Phillips."
"Double name?"
"I got engaged a year ago."
"Congratulations, might I see the ring?"
I slide it off my finger carefully and hand it to him. Marvin inspects it, "This chalcedony?" I nod. "A lovely ring. Your fiance is lucky."
"Thank you."
"And a lovely inscription. I'm assuming it's continued on his?"
"Yes. It finishes with '...and a thousand more,' sir."
"That's sweet," Marvin says, handing me back my ring. I slide it back on my finger. "Where did you hear of the New Yorker?"
"I saw it on the shelves at my school, actually, but it was my fiance who convinced me to start reading it."
"Why do you want to be here?"
"Writing is my passion. I used to write during every free period of my school day, sometimes even during classes, and I just… I love to do it. I love to imagine fictional worlds and put together words into ways that convey and evoke emotions that people love to feel and read about. I love to make people feel emotions in a safe way. For instance, in the case of Edgar Allan Poe. He scared people to the core with his stories, but, at the same time, people knew that they were fiction. There wasn't going to be a raven flying into their room to to tell them 'nevermore,' nor was there going to be an evil black cat with an eye missing!" I laugh a little, and notice the corners of Mister Dixon's mouth curl up. "Writing provided me with a safe escape from my emotions when I was younger and facing problems of my past. It allowed me to get them out without doing something dangerous to myself or others. It just… it's my favorite thing to do, sir."
Marvin nods, pondering for a moment. "What do you like to write?"
"I'm, if I may say, a very well rounded individual. I can write anything from fiction to descriptive essays to research documents, and everything inbetween."
"Why didn't you go into journalism with your fiance?" Marvin asks.
"I did say I can write everything, but I don't enjoy writing everything. Journalism is one of the few things I have trouble writing. I just can't get the hang of it."
"I see," he says. I was scared by the tone of his voice. I noticed Marvin wave to someone behind me and offer a thumbs up, before I heard the other person's footsteps trail down the hall. "Well, Ms. Tishma-Phillips, I think you'll be valued member here at the New Yorker."
"You think so?"
"I do. Your first day is in two weeks time at nine-forty a.m. Don't be late."
"Thank you so much, sir!" I say gratefully, shaking his hand.
"Keep writing, kid!" he calls after me as I rush down the hallway. I stand in the foyer of the building, waiting for Carson. He comes out ten minutes later, and I look at him expectantly.
"I'm in. My first day is…" but I finish it for him.
"Two weeks time at nine-forty a.m, don't be late?"
"How'd you know?"
"I'm in too, silly."
He cheers and wraps his arms around me, pressing a kiss to my lips warmly. I hum into the kiss. We kissed, probably for longer than the front receptionist wanted to see, but we didn't care. After we were done with that moment of tenderness, we decided to go out on the town. Carson insisted that we walk around Times Square, even though we'd done it a million times before. We looked at all the buildings and at all the things that we knew so familiarly. Then, when we got tired, we headed back to the same loft we'd had since we got here. I noticed the answering machine had a letter under it, and I looked at it, recognizing the writing instantly. It was two different people, two different letters, but a package deal.
**_Carson and Riley,_**
**_Thanks for coming to the Big Apple (that is, New York City,) with me._**
**_I'm so grateful you guys wanted to come with me._**
**_Darren and I are doing a collaboration album, and we gave you the preorder code that we only give to friends and family. Just for you guys._**
**_Order it as soon as you can. You get it free. Our treat. We miss you._**
**_We should go to the bar again soon. :)_**
**_Yours,_**
**_Jess Lanham_**
**_Carson and Riley,_**
**_I'd like to give you both a huge fucking hug for introducing me to Jessica._**
**_She's the kindest person I've ever met, and I'm so grateful she's my fiancee._**
**_We're probably going to have a wedding within the next few months after our album drops. I'm sure you two will get the first invite, so RSVP quickly!_**
**_Miss you two kiddos._**
**_Have fun for the New Yorker, Jessie and I will be watching for your articles!_**
**_Stay safe, and don't forget the condoms._**
**_Darren_**
Carson and I laugh at both of their letters, then smile. We hurry to his laptop to preorder the album. It was called Staining the Glass. It was different for both Jessica and Darren. We looked at the album cover. It was a picture of some stained glass colored in the shape of a big pink heart, with Jessica and Darren sitting in front of it, facing opposite ways. I was happy for the two of them and that they were so happy and in love. Darren was such a gentleman, but also such a badass, which appealed to both sides of Jessica's personality.
15. Chapter 14
After working at the New Yorker for two years, we got married over the summer. We flew to Europe and honeymooned the same place. Those who could take off work came and saw us, and those who didn't congratulated us anyway. I had a long dress with feathers and beading and Carson said that I looked gorgeous like always. Carson wore a blue bowtie, and all of the bridesmaids wore blue dresses. Jessica, who was my maid of honor, wore a lighter shade than everyone else, and Darren, the best man, wore a tie of the same color, but a skinny tie rather than a bowtie. We got married in front of a beautiful cathedral, and we were happy to be married. So much so, that we had celebratory sex. That was the third time we'd had sex, and it wasn't the last. It was only a matter of time until I got accidentally pregnant, but I wouldn't care.
After being the most interesting couple for two years, Carson and I started an album of collecting different articles that people had written about us. These were both good and bad articles, about one or both of us, and we loved all of them regardless. It was weird to have people talking about us, even if it was just something like an interview. It felt weird to be seen in both good and bad light, and it was something I wasn't used to. Nonetheless, all of the articles were interesting to read.
**People Magazine November 23, 2015**
When these two small-town teenagers stepped into New York City, they expected nothing more than the experience. But, now, here they are, working for one of the most prestigious literary gazettes in the world, the New Yorker. They're the most well-known power couple in the history of the New Yorker, if not journalism itself, and they're most commonly found in blue. Their names? Carson and Riley Phillips.
The two started as high school students in the small town of Clover, California. Carson has often said that he and his fiancée are the 'diamonds in a pile of cow shit.' It's obvious that this is true, considering neither one of them has heard of any famous people coming from a small town like Clover, and especially Clover. Journalism and short stories isn't fun and games for these two. They write a new article every two weeks, submitting it for the chance for it to be put into the magazine. They get paid forty dollars for each submission and a larger sum if it's put into the New Yorker. This seems like a small wage, but that's eighty dollars plus a month, which is fine living for these new-found journalists. After all, they're nothing but new to the New Yorker, climbing their way to the top of the ladder slowly but surely, and, of course, hand in hand.
I interviewed the lady herself about marriage arrangements and her previous times with her fiancé.
Q: Do you have any plans to get married soon?
A: The rings Carson bought took a huge portion of our money down, and we had to redecorate our loft from the three person living arrangements to two, so we only can dream about a wedding right now. Being engaged is enough for the both of us at the moment.
Q: You mentioned that you had to redecorate your loft from three person living to two. Does this mean you had a roommate?
A: Yes! We had a roommate in semi-popular singer Jessica Lanham. She's currently got an album out called Staining the Glass with her fiancé Darren. I'm really happy for them, and their music's brilliant. I often listen to it when I write.
Q: How did you meet Jessica?
A: On the night of our junior year dance, Carson took me to a coffee shop down the street from our high school. There she was, singing her setlist for us. She was really fond of us when we met her, and she gave us a free signed copy of her EP [, The Blushed Skies EP]. We knew that she would be one of our best friends.
Q: What about Carson? How did you two meet?
A: (She laughs.) That's one of my fondest memories, that day. One day at the beginning of junior year, I saw a flyer for a club called Writers Club. It sounded exciting, and I loved to write, so I wanted to join. After school that day, I went into the room, and he was sitting there. He was nervous and shy around me, which was adorable, and we hit it off from there. I recall now that we had this sort of electrical spark when we shook hands, and it still happens when we kiss and when we touch. I guess it's what romance novelists call the fireworks effect.
Q: How do your parents feel about all of this? That is, you get married, Carson, and New York.
A: They're in love with all of it. They're proud of me for branching out of Clover and doing something I want to do with my life. They're also excited to get the New Yorker when they can and read mine and Carson's articles. As for Carson, they loved him from the start. They knew he'd take care of me and help me recover from my past. They keep asking me for tickets to New York so they can come see us, and asking me when the wedding is. It's quite funny, actually.
Q: You said that Carson helped you recover from your past. Would you mind talking about that?
A: I want to be somewhat of an inspiration for people, especially those living in small towns like that. I had a lot of bad things come my way. I had almost every mental illness under the sun; depression, anorexia, bulimia, self-harm. I did all of that. I knew how hard it was. My parents put me on antidepressants, and, sure, they worked, but not as much as they wanted. I went through a dramatic mood swing when I met Carson, though. A few months after we'd been best friends, he drove me out to Pacifica, and he kissed me for the first time. I felt like I finally was loved enough to start recovering. I felt like I mattered. Then, on the way back, we stopped on the side of the freeway and we sat and talked about my past. He listened so intently, he held my hands so tightly, and I knew from that moment on we were inseparable. I'd like to think that we weren't the couple who would fight, but we fought once or twice in our teenage years. The worst one was when we drove out on that same freeway and a police officer pulled him over. He said that he almost got a ticket and he yelled at me. I got out of the car and told him to drive away without me before I felt bad about making that decision. The police officer took me home and he told me something really inspiring. 'Even the best relationships have fights. My wife and I fought over whether the pot roast was done, but in the morning, she still gave me my coffee and my lunch. We still love each other.' It reassured me enough to feel like I didn't have to worry about our relationship or the fact that we had just fought.
It's clear these two are infatuated with each other. I talked with Carson about his marriage proposal, his feelings about it, and his feelings about his fiancée.
Q: How did you propose to your fiancée?
A: After our friends Jessica and Darren got engaged at Rockefeller Plaza, we went to a showing of Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. At the end of the show, we were asked to come up on stage, me knowingly and her unknowingly, and one of the actresses, Roxanne [Abbott], introduced the situation at hand. Everyone was hushed and I said my speech to her. Then, she said yes, and we kissed. That was that.
Q: Do you remember your speech?
A: Oh god, that was years ago. Let me think. (After a moment's pause, he remembers it and recites it to me.) 'Riley… you and I… God, it seems like yesterday you walked into the journalism classroom. You were so curious and scared and shy. You were burdened by demons from your past. But now… look at you! You're so strong. You're brave. You have courage, character, charisma, and creativity beyond anyone I've ever met before. You're just… you're so beautiful and wonderful. I couldn't imagine a day without you here with me. I couldn't imagine my future or my forever without you either. I want to spend my future and forever with you… more than anything in this world. Will you let me spend my forever with you? Will you marry me?'
Q: How did you feel during the proposal?
A: Nervous! Of course, everyone's nervous. But, I knew, deep down, that she'd say yes. We were so dead in love that it would've been a hit out of left field if she didn't say yes.
Q: What about when you were planning the proposal?
A: Still nervous, probably more so. It was a lot scarier thinking about it than doing it. It was also a little awkward because Darren [, my old roommate's fiancé,] and I were planning together, and we had to pretend that the other was our at-the-time girlfriend. I was originally going to just ask her to marry me without a speech, but, when Darren suggested doing it at the Gershwin, I knew I had to say something more than the dorky 'Will you marry me?', otherwise I'd look awfully uncultured. (He laughs.)
So, when it came around, I felt a lot better doing it than thinking about it.
Q: How do you feel about your fiancée?
A: Do I really need to say it? (After I nodded, he laughs again.) I think she's really just amazing. She completes me in more ways than I knew needed to be completed. She's beautiful and gorgeous and just sexy! I love everything about her and I love what she hates the most. She's so kind and loving to me and every person she meets, and it shocks me that people were so cruel to her when she was younger. I just… I'm seriously in love with her.
Q: Do you two have a significant song?
A: We actually have a few. Our three most significant are Arms by Christina Perri, Give Your Heart A Break by Demi Lovato, and Reasons to Love You by Meiko. Of course, the Meiko song is the one we always say is our song.
Q: Do you know any of the lyrics of the song?
A: She can always sing this better than I do, so I'm just going to say it. 'Give me a reason to fall in love, take my hand and let's dance. Give me a reason to make me smile, 'cause I think I've forgotten how. I want to fall asleep with you tonight, I want to know that I am safe when you hold me tight. I want to feel how I want to feel forever. I want you, oh I want you.' There's a lot more to the song than I remember, but that's just what I recall.
**Us Magazine January 13, 2016**
COVER STORY: Pretty in Blue
The influential power-couple, The Phillips', were in Los Angeles for a vacation trip to see their long time roommate and best friend singer Jessica Lanham and her husband Darren Criss. Although neither member of the couple had time for an interview, the lady had enough time to mention that she appreciates all of the support everyone's giving to her friend. If you would like to listen to Jessica Lanham's music, check out The Blushed Skies EP and Staining the Glass.
**TIME Magazine February 14, 2016**
New Age of Camelot?
Everyone remembers the sweethearts of Camelot, Jacqueline and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Journalism critics and power couple of New York-and the New Yorker-, the Phillips', are becoming the new era of Jackie and JFK. With their influential words, increasing popularity, and similar likeness, it was only a matter of time until they were bound for the glory that was bestowed on the couple so many years ago. Let's just hope that neither one of them is assassinated.
**VOGUE Magazine June 2016**
Lovely lady, Riley Phillips, has proven that you can own something for every day in one color. As shown in the photobook, she manages to have about forty different blue dresses, shirts, shoes, and accessories. However, one of her favorite accessories is her engagement ring, a chalcedony gemstone surrounded by two diamonds on a silver band, which she never takes off. The ring, estimated to cost over 3,000 dollars, may seem to be a shallow, low price, but it was certainly a blow to their budget when it was bought. She tells PEOPLE Magazine in 2015 that the ring took a bit out of her and her fiance's budgets, but they knew it was a worthy investment.
Want to get a look like hers? Try this!
_- Emily and Fin Curtsey Call dress - $113 from _
_- Yumi Diamond cardigan - $74 from .uk_
_- Pretty Polly Semi-Sheer Polka Dot Tights - $48 from _
_- LE SILLA Royal Blue Suede Overlasted Platform Pumps - $315 from_
_- SWAROVSKI Slake Crystal Wrap Bracelet - $70 from _
_- Black Stitch Heart Necklace Broken Eternal Love Gift Pendant - $12 from _
**National Inquirer July 2016**
Is the couple expecting or just fat? You told us!
Kim and Kanye - 87% said expecting
Jay-Z and Beyonce - 23% said just fat
Selena and Justin - 55% said expecting
Riley and Carson - 44% said expecting
The National Enquirer article was by far the favorite between us, just because it was so stupid. I ended up laughing so hard I spat out my coffee when he brought it home, pointing to a picture of us at a gala for some award I didn't remember the name of.
When Carson comes home one day, I set his dinner in front of him, having gotten home before him and having time to make dinner. "What have you been up to?" he asks.
"Making dinner for you every night while juggling a really important project for Marvin."
"What's the project about?"
"It's about the interest in novels and short stories compared to journalism and nonfiction," I say.
"Why do you sound mad at me?" he asks.
To my own surprise, I drop the plate I was putting away. It shatters loudly against the floor, the shards hitting against my bare shins. I looked down to see little trails of blood starting down my legs. "You never spend time with me anymore."
"You know I have work."
I find myself yelling, "So do I, Carson! I have work! I take care of the house too! I make dinner! I start coffee in the morning! I make you breakfast! I pack your lunch! Sometimes, I even lie to your boss so he'll give you a longer deadline! I do far too much!"
"You've never expressed any upset about this before," he says. His voice was far too calm for the situation. He was having an argument with his wife, and he was sounding like he was doing something as simple as just chatting about the weather with a co-worker.
"I don't argue because I'm scared you'll leave me!" I yell. "Sometimes I feel like you're looking for an excuse to go!" My voice gets progressively higher as I keep yelling, "You can't expect me to be okay with the fact that I haven't had a conversation past 'How was work?' in almost three weeks! You can't expect me to be able to swallow all of my feelings and my stress! You know as well as I do that you're the only person I feel safe venting to! And when you stop listening, I stop talking and I start feeling scared and stressed and more nervous. I'm scared to go to work because of all of my stresses! I'm scared I'll get another assignment or another project that I don't have time for!"
He stands, starting to put a hand on my shoulder, until I screech and slap it away. He stands there then, holding his own hand as he tries to calm me down, "Whoa there, Riley. You're okay. You're fine. You should have told me-"
"TOLD YOU?!" I scream. "I CALLED YOU TWICE FROM THE OTHER ROOM CRYING THAT I NEEDED YOU AND YOU SAID, 'FIVE MORE MINUTES I NEED TO FINISH THIS ARTICLE.'"
"It was a busy week."
"BUSY WEEK, MY ASS. YOU DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT, DID YOU?!"
I find myself collapsing into the chair next to me, and Carson starts towards me, stopping in front of where I sat. "Listen to me. I want to spend every day with you. I want to spend every single day I have with you. But because of my work and yours, we can't spend that time with each other."
I heard the song play in the background.
_The world is asleep tonight, and my darling is safe at home. His bones will rest tonight, in a strange place up alone. All my enemies are just demons in my head. And everyone I meet, will pass right through me in the end. Can I walk the light, that leads me straight back to your heart? Will you wait for me, or will our feelings disappear? Well you are so good for me, I'll rub my eyes, I can see. La la la la la la._
Carson nods his head to the speakers, "See, even the song wants us not to fight."
I ignore him.
"Can I walk the light that leads me straight back to your heart? Will you wait for me or will our feelings disappear?" he quotes from the song.
"Well…" I start, "You are so good for me."
We both said together, "I'll rub my eyes, I can see."
Carson turned up the music, and we danced together to all the songs that came along, singing along to our favorites.
_Oh memories, where'd you go? You were all I've ever known. How I miss yesterday, and how I let fade away. Where'd you go? Oh, oh oh oh. When July became December, their affection fought the cold, but they couldn't quite remember what inspired them to go._
The next song was a sad one, and I knew Carson would skip it.
_I got enough on my mind, that when she pulls me by the hair, she hasn't much to hold onto. She's keeping count on her hand, one-two-three days that I've been sleeping on my side._
Next was one on our Us CD.
_What would they? What would they do? Would it be trouble if they knew? I'm trying hard to make you see all that you are is all that I need. I know that it's a secret, and that I gotta keep. But I want the lights on, yeah, I want the lights on. And I don't want to run away anymore. Leave the lights on, leave the lights on._
Then, one I wanted to sing to him.
_Could this be love at first sight, or should I walk by again? You're photogenically dressed, the conversation begins. Oh god, oh what did I say? Let me start over again. Could this be love at first sight? Oh wait, I said that before. I need a place for the night, happy to sleep on the floor. But don't go out of your way, and I won't talk anymore. Turn the lights off, I'm in love. Wouldn't you like to, wouldn't you like to kiss her? Wouldn't you like to, wouldn't you like to dance with her? Darkened nights, and violent things, vaudevillian girls and violin strains. All of these are the prettiest things when I'm in love. Turn the lights off, I'm falling in love with you. Wouldn't you like to, wouldn't you like to kiss her? Wouldn't you like to, wouldn't you like to dance with her? Dark, dark nights and violent things, vaudevillian girls and violin strings. All of these are the prettiest things when I'm… in love._
He kissed me on the in-between the song, and said, "Yes, I would like to kiss her and dance with her." The last song we listened to before we fell asleep together on the couch was one he sang to me. His voice wasn't very good, but it was good enough to touch my heart.
_Me and you are meant to be, like stars in the sky and leaves on the trees. When times are tough, I want you to think, of you in my arms, me kissing your cheek. They say all good things have an end, so will it be heartbreak or death? Maybe we can last beyond all time. My hand in yours… and your hand in mine._
Carson also comes home another day, two days after our fight, saying that he and I were nominated to make a speech at a high school to convince them that writing isn't dead. I asked why. He said because we're the influential power couple and because we were both in our late twenties with a sought after position at a prestigious gazette. Carson arranged a long speech, and it was a beautiful one:
**_People often think that it's easy to write. You can just slap something down, call it writing, and be done. I could call this speech writing, because, technically, I did write it. But, there's a difference between writing and writing, yes? Writing is something you do to tap into your emotions and your inner thoughts. You write to evoke something, to tell something, to prove something. You don't just write something aimlessly without a purpose or goal, and you don't write something unless you're trying to say something. In this speech, I'm trying to tell you all to write! That's my message, and that's why I'm on this soapbox here._**
**_But, some people have a hard time writing. That's okay. I even have a hard time sometimes. I know my fiancee can't write journalism to save her soul, but that's okay. Everyone can try. Some people are born with it. Some people know how to write and how to put together syllables and words to make someone FEEL something or CHANGE THEIR MIND! Not everyone can do that. I don't expect any of you all to be perfect, amazing writers right now. A lot of you guys are just learning the concepts of MLA format and how to write a proper research paper. I don't expect any one of you to be magically able to produce a 50,000 word novel in a month. I don't think any of you COULD do that._**
**_But you will. If writing is something you love to do, then, by all means do it! I remember my fiancee telling me when she was fourteen, she wrote an entire novel in half a month. It was hard for her, yes, but she did it. She took quite the long time, but yes, she did. I read it, and it was amazing. Fourteen year old her had wonderful grammar and vocabulary. I was impressed. But, even more so, I was impressed that she kept that novel. She told me as well that she said she'd never let anyone read it and she would delete it when the month passed. But she didnt. She kept it, and, later, showed it to me. I know you guys don't want to write papers or do exams or essays, but it's gonna help you. You're gonna go far if you write._**
The teachers started the applause, then the kids clapped too. When it was my turn, I realized I had forgotten my speech at home. I had no choice but to adlib it. Carson pressed a kiss to my cheek as I walked by him, and I stood at the podium.
"Hey guys. I realized as soon as I got here that I left my wonderful three page speech at home. I suppose thats a relief for you after his speech." I got a couple laughs. "So I'm just going to ad-lib this here."
**_Nowadays people feel the need to copy, repeat, and regurgitate previous prose, leaving little to no thoughts to something of their own. And to some, if not all, that's all fine and well._**
**_But it isn't to me._**
**_I refuse to let people simply throw around a thesaurus for synonyms for love by saying infatuation or devotion or fondness._**
**_I have a devotion to the original belief of prose._**
**_I have a fondness to those who close their eyes and imagine how the words feel._**
**_I have an infatuation to those who know that bosorexia is an extreme desire to kiss and that tachyphagia is to eat something quickly._**
**_I am someone who admires those who admire prose._**
**_And I, for one, refuse to let original prose die._**
**_Do you?_**
I watched two teachers stand and clap, and I felt so nervous. Suddenly, everyone was clapping, standing on their feet, and I felt like I actually changed them. I brushed my hand over the smooth fabric of my blue dress-one of my favorites, the one I had worn to the Vanity Fair gala-, and Carson places a hand into the small of my back.
"You just inspired about two thousand kids with less than two hundred and fifty words. How does that make you feel?"
"Amazing," I say. "I want to do this more." I knew I did. Inspiring people is what I want to do with my writing and with my words.
16. Chapter 15
We flew back to New York, and we had some time to ourselves. Carson took me to see the Statue of Liberty, where we went to the island and looked around curiously, admiring the landmarks and the people. We first went up to the Crown, looking out at the city from a twenty two story level, and looking at the limited view of the borough of Brooklyn. Then, after walking down one hundred and fifty four obnoxiously narrow stairs, we went to the pedestal. I read the plaque aloud to the group, "'The Statue of Liberty's stone pedestal was designed by famed architect Richard Morris Hunt. The pedestal was designed to compliment the Statue of Liberty rather than overwhelm it. The pedestal is roughly half of the size of the entire monument.'"
Then we went to the Liberty Island Museum. There, we learned information about a variety of things relating to the Statue, including the structure itself, the people who built it, the interpretation of the Statue and how it changed over time, and Ellis Island. We next went to the Liberty Island Flagpole for the guided tour. We learned there about why and how the statue was made, important figures in the Statue's construction, the Island's history, the Statue's many symbols, and the 1980's Restoration Project. The last thing we saw was the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. We learned about the history of it, what happened there, how people lived there, and the significance of it then and now.
"Maybe my next short story could be about a couple who falls in love in New York City."
"I'd read it," Carson says with a poke to my ribs. I smiled and flushed. It was a cold day in New York, the high only forty two degrees, so we huddled close for warmth. It had been ages since we'd just spent time together without talking about work every five minutes.
When we got home, we decided to lay in bed together. Things got heated, and we kissed passionately, our lips biting and aching for each others'. Even though this wasn't the first time I'd made out with him, it still felt so new and so oh wow that my mind scrambled whenever we did. As like always, his smell filled my lungs and woke me up. I loved that scent more than anything. I felt his lips tender against mine, a warm pressure, and I reciprocated every movement he gave in time.
Carson brushed his lips teasingly against my own, and I whined, "Don't tease me like that."
The ghost of a smirk falls on his lips for a moment as he bats his eyelashes at me innocently. I lean up and capture his lips into another kiss, dragging my teeth against his bottom lip as he pulls away. His eyes flutter shut as the pressure of my teeth hits him, then he comes back in a third time. His breath was warm against my face before he caught my lips, and I felt his mouth open widely. I mimicked this motion, and felt his tongue begin to explore my mouth. I pushed my own into his mouth and they caught together, our eyes squeezed shut and bodies pressed close, feeling our hearts beating in time. I felt his hands slide from the back of my head down my back to my hips. My fingers locked into the small of his back, and pulled his hips close to my own. He panted out a breath, and, as his lips left my own, I gasped out a breath before capturing his lips another time.
I would explain further what happened, but I'll leave it plain and simple: We had sex.
The next evening, he took me out to Times Square.
We decided to play a game. Using all of the pictures of the musicals plastered around the place, we tried to see who could name a song from more of them. One of us would point a poster out, and the other would have to name a song.
"Wicked," Carson says.
"Defying Gravity. Phantom of the Opera."
"Music of the Night, right?" I nod. "Jersey Boys."
"Shit, I don't know this one."
"What is Ragdoll?" He says cheekily.
"South Pacific!" I say.
"Fuck! You know I don't know this one!"
"What is As If We Never Said Goodbye!"
"Shrek the Musical!" Carson yells at the top of his lungs, sure he'd had me.
"Story of My Life!"
"Fuck!"
Then, instead of using the posters, we sat down, and Carson used a list he pulled up from his phone to see who could do more.
"110 in the Shade," Carson starts.
"Uh," I think for a moment. "Poker Polka? I think?"
"Yep."
"How about 13?"
"13 a.k.a. Becoming a Man!" Carson screeches, excitedly.
"I'm almost embarrassed you know that."
"42nd Street!" Carson quips.
"Forty-Second Street," I say.
"Another song. No title-bases!"
"Dames," I say.
We ran off over two hundred musicals, each of us racking up points and missing some, but overall I won. I knew Carson was faking his grudge, but, nonetheless, I took him to a little dessert shop on the corner of the street to sweeten him up. He smiled again only after I fed him a bite or two of the slice of cake I bought for us.
"Do you ever think that people will stop interviewing us?" he asks.
"Unlikely," I say, swiping my thumb under his lip to get some frosting off.
"Damn," he says. "I'm getting tired of saying the same thing."
"I know, love," I say. We sit patiently, watching people pass by. I found myself describing them each in my head.
_The tall, slender boy with blond hair and dark eyes waits patiently for the bus in his navy jacket. The snow trails onto him, making it cold and wet, but not uncomfortable for him. He waits and waits. Will the bus ever come? Or is it going to stay in the garage because of the snow? The boy doesn't know, and waits patiently, turning his bus card in his hand over and over, one-two-three, one-two-three. Finally, the glare of the headlights reach his eyes and he brushes himself off readily to climb aboard. The bus creaks to a stop, and the doors clatter open. The boy slides his card through the reader and climbs aboard, waving a greeting to the driver._
_The woman, whose hair color is hard to tell, waits on the bench for someone or something. A moment later, a man in a thick leather jacket, either brown or black, brings her a cup of coffee. She blows off the cup through the hole for sipping, and takes a drink gingerly. The man smiles at her and sits, rubbing his gloved hands against her own hands, also gloved. The woman, wearing a white jacket, is careful not to spill her coffee on it, but alas, the cup slips from her hand and the lid pops off as it catches on one of the buttons on her jacket. The brown murky liquid splashes over her jacket, and she's left with a large stain. The man takes her hands and smiles, pressing a kiss to her face, and pulls her to a car where they then drove away, assumingly home to mend her jacket._
_The brown haired girl sits comfortably in her chair in the coffee shop, across from her lover. She is wearing a navy blue peacoat jacket, and the boy is wearing a high collared blue double breasted jacket with large buttons on the front. The two are talking animatedly over a slice of cake, occasionally pausing equally to just look at their love for a moment. To admire their love between each other._
End file.
| Misc. Hurt-Comfort, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 244,275 | 12,501.6 |
null | Misc. Books 1. Chapitre 1
**Salut! Je m'appelle Raye Lynne; je suis Canadienne, et la français est ma deuxième langue. Ça c'est une histoire originale de Noël; c'est un peu comme l'histoire « A Christmas Carol » par Charles Dickens. Le première chapitre est très short, j'en suis désolée! Mais, amusez-vous! ^_^**
* * *
**~ Chapitre 1**
** C'é****tait l****'****hiver dans la ville ****Cœ****ur des Anges. ****L****e ciel ****é****tait peint en gris pâle, et les flocons de neige tombaient des nuages. ****L****es rues couvertes en un manteau blanc, avec les ombres bleues, et les rayures d****'****or****é****es des r****é****verb****è****res. ****I****l n****'****y avait**** personne dehors; tout le monde é****tait chez eux, parce que c****'é****tait la vielle de ****N****oël cette nuit.**
** Tout le monde, a part une jeune fille qui s'****asseyait dans une ruelle, et qui frissonnait, parce qu****'****il faisait trop froid. Sa robe et sa cape ****é****taient tr****è****s l****é****g****è****res, et elles ne la gardaient chaud. ****L****a neige fondait et ses souliers**** l'****absorbaient et gelait ses pieds.**
** La fille semblait ê****tre ****couverte en or; les lumiè****res refl****é****taient sur son corps. Sa peau blanche semblait la couleur d****'****une p****ê****che, et ses cheveux ****pales é****taient comme de l****'****or liquide. ****I****l ****é****tait comme si elle ****é****tait belle, mais, il ****é****t****é**** seulement une illusion. Si vous l****'****avez regarde, vous voyiez que ses l****è****vres ****é****taient un peu bleues, et ses yeux, un m****é****lange de brun fonc****é**** et la lumi****è****re or, ****é****taient plein de**** larmes.**
** À**** l****'****autre cot****é**** de la ville, les chanteurs de ****N****oël ont commence ****à**** chanter. ****E****lle a entendu la musique, et deux larmes sont tomb****é****es par terre dans la neige.**
* * *
**S'il vous plait, dites-moi vos opinions! Désolée, ma grammaire est terrible; je sais! J'espère que je vous verrai le chapitre prochain!**
**~Raye Lynne**
2. Chapitre 2
**~Chapitre 2**
**Angelique allait au Étoile du Pays pour un grand bal de Noël. Elle voyageait dans son wagon de chevaux, et elle entendait leur marche trainante de leurs sabots à**** travers la neige.**
** « ****Ah, je ****dé****teste**** la neige, »**** elle a soupire a ****elle-mê****me****. « E****lle est trop froide; elle est trop ****mouillé; et elle est trop bruyante quand mes chevaux promè****nent**** à**** travers!**** »**
** Angelique a tiré sur son manteau en fourrure, pour se rendre plus chaud. Elle le portait au-dessus d'****une robe spectaculaire; une robe rouge ****foncé****e**** en soie, avec beaucoup de rubans et de la dentelle blanche. Elle avait un grand pissenlit dans ses cheveux longs, foncés, et é****l****é****gants****, et ses yeux é****taient**** comme deux é****toiles**** bleues.**
** Elle a ouvert la fenê****tre****, et elle a demandé au conducteur, « Dé****p****ê****che****-toi! Je vais ê****tre**** en retard pour le bal si tu continues d'****aller si lentement!**** »**
** « O****ui, ****Mademoiselle, »**** a dit le conducteur.**
** Trois minutes en retard, Angelique a ordonné « ****Vas plus lentement! ****L****a rue est trop ****dé****fonc****é****e****. »**
** « O****ui, ****Mademoiselle, »**** a ****ré****pondu**** le conducteur.**
** Mais, aprè****s**** une autre minute, elle commandait encore.**
** « ****Vas plus vite, id****iot! Est-ce que tu veux que je sois en retard? Vite; vite! »**
**« O****ui, ****Mademoiselle, »**** a soupire le conducteur.**
**Malheureusement, Angelique é****tait toujours comme ca. ****E****lle ****é****tait une personne horrible. ****E****lle ****é****tait ****mé****chante****, é****gotiste****, et vaniteuse. Mais, elle é****tait**** Mademoiselle Angelique Helene Marguerite de Tremaine III; elle é****tait ****trè****s**** riche et puissante. Tout ce qu'****elle**** a voulu, elle a reç****u****, toujours.**
**Soudainement, le wagon a arrê****t****é. **
**« ****Pourquoi est-ce que nous avons ****arrê****t****é? »**** Angelique a demandé. ****« N****ous ne somme****s pas à****E****toile du Pays!**** »**
**« Dé****sol****é, Mademoiselle, »**** a dit le conducteur. ****« M****ais, il y a une petite fille ici, et elle veut vous parler.**** »**
**« N****on!**** »**** a dit Angelique. ****« D****it ****à**** elle de partir, ****maintenant. »**
**Angelique a entendu le conducteur ré****p****é****ter**** ceci à**** la fi****lle, puis, elle a entendu la voix de la fille, mais elle ne peut pas entendre ses paroles.**
** Le conducteur a transmis à**** Angelique, «E****lle ne partira pas, jusqu****'****à**** qu****'****elle peut parler avec vous, ****Mademoiselle. »**
** Angelique a soupiré****, de faç****on**** théâ****trale****.**
**« ****Bien. ****Amè****ne****-la à**** la ****fenê****tre****. »**
**Il a obé****it****, puis Angelique regardait une fille avec les cheveux blonds, et les vê****tements**** sales et dé****chir****é****s****.**
** « ****Qu****'****est-ce que tu veux, indigente?**** »**
**La fille a fait une ré****v****é****rence****. « Mademoiselle, je suis Michaelle. J'espé****rais**** que vous pouvez me donne un peu d'****argent, s****'****il vous plait? ****J****e veux acheter un manteau pour l****'****hiver, et****… »**
**« J****e ne vais pas te donne**** d'****argent!**** »**** Angelique a r****é****pondu. ****« ****Tu me d****é****go****û****tes.**** Au revoir, mendiante.**** »**
**« ****Attendez!**** »**** a crié ****M****ichaelle. ****« M****ademoiselle****…****s****'****il vou****s plait. Il va ê****tre ****N****oël demain****… »**
**« E****t alors?**** »**** Angelique a hausse les ****é****paul****é****s. ****« M****aintenant, vas-t****'****en!**** »**
**Michaelle a commenç****ait ****à**** pleurer. ****« ****S****'****il vous plait****… »**
**« ****Vas-****t'****en! ****C****onducteur, conduis!**** »**
**« O****ui, ****M****ademoiselle,**** »**** a dit le conducteur, tristement.**
**« ****Voy****age à travers la forêt, »**** elle a commande un peu en retard.**
**« ****Pourquoi, ****M****ademoiselle?**** »**
**« ****Parce que cette route est un raccourci, bien sur!**** »**
**Alors, le wagon conduisait à travers la forêt, quand Angelique a senti un choc é****norme, puis le wagon a arr****ê****t****é****.**
**« Qu'est-ce qui se passe? »**** Angelique a demande. **
** « I****l y a trop de bosses,**** »**** a dit le conducteur.**** « Maintenant, la roue du wagon est cassé. »**
** « ****Ah, non!**** »**** a dit Angelique. ****« J****e vais certainement ****ê****tre**** en retard! »**
** « M****ais, je peux prendre un cheval et cherch****er quelqu'****un qui peut nous aider. ****E****st-ce que vous voulez rester ici, ****Mademoiselle? »**
** « ****Bien sur! ****I****l fait trop froid pour faire une promenade ****à**** cheval.**** »**
** « ****Si vous souhaitez,**** »**** le conducteur a ****ré****pondu****. «**À** bient****ô****t; je vais retourner.**** »**
** « Dé****p****ê****che****-toi! »****appelle-elle, mais il est parti dé****j****à****.**
**-----------------**
**Donnez-moi vos opinions, s'il vous plait!**
3. Chapitre 3
**~Chapitre 3**
**Trois heures plus tard, le conducteur ne retournait pas. Le ciel é****tait noir, et la neige tombait plus dens****é****ment et plus vitement.**
** Angelique frissonnait. « O****ù est le conducteur?**** »**** elle s****'****est demandé. ****E****lle**** a regardé par fenê****tre****, mais elle ne voyait que la neige.**
** Il parait qu'****apparemment, elle n****'****avait pas de choix. ****E****lle avait deux chevaux ****–**** le conducteur en a pris un, mais elle pouvait prendre l****'****autre. Angelique sortait du wagon, mais elle a vu ****immé****diatem****ent qu'****il n****'****y avait pas un cheval ici. **
** « I****l s****'****est enfui d****'****ici ****peut-ê****tre****…****zut!**** »**** a dit Angelique. ****« ****Que faire maintenant?**** »**
** Elle devait marcher, parce que le wagon a commencé à ê****tre**** couvert par la neige.**
** Angelique a soupiré, tiré**** son manteau autour d'elle, et a commencé à marcher.**
** Elle pouvait à**** peine voir, et il faisait plus froid a chaque minute. Il y avaient des arbres morts et noirs que l'****entouraient. ****L****a neige fondue mouillait ses souliers et l****'****ourlet de son manteau. ****I****l n****'****y avait pas de ****lumiè****re****, à part la lune, grande et ronde dans le ciel. Son souffle faisait des petits nuages pâles, qui flottaient dans l'****air, avant qu****'****ils dissipaient et disparaient pour toujours. ****E****t, encore, il ****neigeait, et les gros flocons s'****attrapaient dans ses cheveux.**
** Angelique marchait pendant longtemps, mais elle ne pouvait pas partir de la forêt. Elle devait reconnaitre qu'****elle s****'é****tait perdue.**
** « ****Zut!**** »**** elle a dit encore. ****« ****Qu****'****est-ce que je peux faire maintenant?**** »****E****lle a pensé, puis, elle a fait quelque chose qu****'****elle pouvai****t faire trè****s bien. ****E****lle a commencé d****'****hurler.**
** « ****Au secours!**** »**** Angelique a crié. ****« ****Aide-moi! Quelqu****'****un viens ici! Aide-moi!**** »**
** Elle a entendu soudainement un ****_crac!_**** Elle s'****est tourn****é****e, mais elle a tr****é****buch****é**** sur l****'****ourlet de sa jupe, et elle est tomb****é****e. ****L****es ****cristaux froids de la neige ont piqué son visage.**
** Avec u****n gé****missement, Angelique s****'****est lev****é****e, et elle a enlev****é**** quelques morceaux de neige avec sa main.**
** Mais –**** qu****'****est-ce que c****'é****tait? ****Il**** y avait de la lumi****è****re devant elle. ****C'é****tait aveuglante, et c****'é****tait d****'****or****é****e et brillante. ****L****a neige qui l****'****entourait semblait être en flammes. Angelique regardait dans la lumi****è****re. ****E****lle ça fixait son regarde, puis, elle s****'****est rendue compte ce que c****'é****tait, et elle a halet****é****.**
4. Chapitre 4
**~Chapitre 4**
** C'é****tait une ange! ****E****lle semblait jeune et p****etite, mais elle portait une robe somptueuse argent que scintillait. Et ses ailes…****! ****E****lles ****é****taient**** grandes, et couvert en les plumes blanches, qui é****taient**** saupoudré avec les scintillements pâles. Ses cheveux tombaient sur son dos comme une cascade d'****or filé****. Elle regardait Angelique avec les yeux bruns, et elle ne souriait pas.**
** Angelique a haleté encore. « C'é****tait ****M****ichaelle! ****Ç****a, c****'****est impossible!**** »**
** « ****Bonsoir, ****M****ademoiselle,**** »**** a dit l****'****ange, avec un ton ****moqué.**
** « ****T-tu n****'****est pas vraie!**** »**** Angelique a ****bé****gay****é. « Tu es une petite fille! Une vagabonde! »**
** « C'****a ****é****t****é**** mon ****dé****guisement****, »**** a expliqué l****'****ange ****M****ichae****lle. « M****ais, tu me vois mainten****ant comme je suis en ré****alit****é. Je t'****ai ****donné****e**** une é****preuve****, mais tu l'****as ****é****chou****é. »**
** « ****Que veux-tu dire?**** »**** a crié Angelique.**
** « E****st-ce ****que tu as un cœ****ur?**** »**** a demande ****M****ichaelle. ****« J****e le doute. Si tu l****'****as, il est fait en pierre.**** »**
** « C****omment oses-tu!**** »**** Angelique a grogné.**
** « ****Silence!**** »**** a commandé l****'****ange. ****« ****Tu as beaucoup de la chance en sa vie, mais tu l****'****abuses comme si ce n****'****est rien! Tu n****'es pas reconnaissante pour tout ce que tu as! Tu penses que ton argent te rend la meilleure, et tous les autres ne sont bons à rien! Tu es une personne mé****chante**** et terrible, et tu ne mé****rites**** pas les bonnes choses que tu as. Tu as utilisé ton pouvoir pour blesser les vies des autres, comme moi. Maintenant, je vais te punir. »**
** « ****Qu****'****est-ce tu vas faire?**** »**** a dit Angelique, qui a eu un peu de peur.**
** « ****Tu dois rester ici, dans la forêt, dans la neige, dans le froid, sans aide, pour toujours,**** »**** a ****dé****cid****é l'****ange.**
** « Non! Non, non! »**** a crie Angelique. ****« ****S****'****il vous plait ****–**** ne m****'****abandonnez pas! ****J****e suis ****dé****sol****é****e****, je suis trè****s****, trè****s**** dé****sol****é****e****! »****E****lle a commencé a pleurer.**
** « I****l est trop tard pour ****ê****tre**** dé****sol****é****e****, »**** dit l****'****ange, avec ****solemité. Puis, elle a pris un temps. « O****u, est-****il? Ça, c'****est quelque chose que tu peux ****dé****cider****… »**
** Angelique a cligne. « ****P-pardon?**** »**
** Mais, l'****ange a so****uri mysté****rieusement. ****E****lle a ****é****car****té**** ses ailes, et les scintillements pâles qui sur les restaient ont flotté dans l****'****air.**
** Angelique les**** ont regardé pour une minute, mais, soudainement, elle a commencé d'****avoir sommeil. Puis, elle s****'****est ****é****vanouite.**
5. Chapitre 5
**~Chapitre 5**
** « M****ademoiselle? ****Mademoiselle? Ça va? »**
** « Ç****-ça va bien,**** » a**** dit Angelique, ****trè****s**** confuse. Elle a vu le conducteur, qui la regardait avec inquié****tude.**
** « M****ademoisel****le! Dieu merci! »**** le conducteur a crié. ****« J'****ai trouvé quelqu****'****un qui peut nous aider, mais, quand j****e suis**** retourné avec lui, vous avez disparu!**** »**
** Angelique s'****est demandé, ****« ****Pourquoi suis-je par terre?...oh, oui, je me suis ****é****vanouit****e, puis je suis tombée, aprè****s**** j'****ai vu l****'****ange ****M****ichaelle. ****M****ais****…**** je suis ****tombé****e**** avant j'****ai la vu, aussi. ****E****st-ce que tout a ****é****t****é…****un ****rê****ve****? ****Un ****rê****v****é qu'****a ****é****t****é**** un avertissement? Si je ne change pas****…****ça va passer?**** »**
** Angelique n'essayait jamais à être mé****chante, mais elle n'essayait pas à ****ê****tre gent****ille, exactement...pour, quand elle é****tait un enfant, ses parents sont morts sur le jour do Noël. Angelique a re****ç****u une fortune ****é****norme, mais elle n****'é****tait jamais la m****ê****me personne****…**
** « Si je prends soin avec mes actions, »**** elle a pensé, ****« et comment elles ont les effets sur les vies des autres, ça serait un change, n'est-ce pas? Si je le fait, toute le monde seront plus heureusement...moi, aussi, je suppose....si je ne dois pas rester dans le froid! »**
** Mais, a-l'ete un rê****ve? ****E****lle ne saurait jamais...**
** « M****ademoiselle? ****Ç****a va?**** » a ré****p****é****t****é le conducteur.**
** « O****ui,**** » dit Angelique, mais, le conducteur l'aide pour se lever.**
** « M****erci,**** » a dit Angelique.**
** Le conducteur a é****t****é**** tr****è****s surpris. ****I****l n'a****jam****ais entendu qu'Angelique dire, « M****erci.**** »**
** « D-d****e rein,**** » il a ré****pondu.**
** Ils sont retournés au wagon. Il a é****t****é**** r****é****paré maintenant, et un homme se mettent à côté du wagon. ****I****l ****é****tait grassouillet, et il avait beaucoup de cheveux et****une barbe blanche. ****I****l s'habillait en les v****ê****tements rouges brillantes.**
** « M****erci, ****Monsieur, » a dit Angelique.**
** « De rein, » l'homme a ré****pondu. « ****J****e suis heureux si je peux aider quelqu'un. »**
** « Est-ce que vous avez besoin d'un tour ****chez vous? » a demandé Angelique.**
** « Non, merci, » a dit l'homme. « J'ai du transport. » Il a sifflé, et un renne brun pâle a marche autour d'un tournant. L'homme ****l'est**** monté, et dit, « Joyeux Noël! » **
** « À ****vous de m****ê****me! » a crié Angelique; puis, l'homme****est parti.**
** « Est-ce que nous allons au Étoile du Pays maintenant, Mademoiselle? » a demandé le conducteur.**
** « Non...j'ai besoin d'aller au Cœ****ur des Anges, imm****é****diatement, » Angelique**** a ré****pondu. « ****E****t, s'il vous plait...d****é****p****ê****chez-vous. »**
** Quand ils y ****conduisaient, Angelique a pensé de ****M****ichaelle. "****J****e n'ai pas eu****un****raison pour la refuser. ****J****e ne sais pas pourquoi je l'ai fait..."**
**Bientô****t, ils****sont retournés au ****Cœ****ur des Anges, et Angelique a vu**** la ruelle, où elle a vu Michaelle. ****« Arr****ê****tez, s****'il vous plait! » elle a crié.**
** Elle ****est sortie du wagon, et elle a court dans la ruelle.**
** « Michaelle! » a appelé-elle. « Michaelle! »**
** Puis, Angelique a vu ****quelque chose dessous de la neige. ****E****lle a enl****è****vé****des morceau****x avec ****sa main,****jusqu'à elle a vu ****M****ichaelle, qui a ****é****t****é**** sans connaissance. Ses l****è****vres****et ses mains ont ****é****t****é**** bleues,****et ses respirations sont in****é****gales. ****E****lle****a ****é****t****é**** presqu'à mort.**
**Angelique a soulè****vé ****M****ichaelle, et elle l'a porte au wagon. **
** Quand le conducteur a ****le vu, il a halet****é****, « ****Mademoiselle, qu'est-ce que c'est? »**
** « Je vais faire quelque chose que j'ai eu besoin de faire avant maintenant, » elle a ré****pondu.**
** Ils ****sont retournés au le ch****â****teau d'Angelique.**
** Plus tard, Angelique s'asseyait dans sa chambre de coucher, et elle regardait du Michaelle. La petite fille portait une chemise de nuit maintenant, et elle é****tait dessous des couvertures en laines tr****è****s douces. Angelique a allumé un feu,****et les flammes semblait****a donne****la chambre un lueur d'orange.**
** Le conducteur est entré. « Tout est bien? » il a demandé.**
** « Oui, je pense, » a dit Angelique. Soudainement, elle a demandé, « Comment-appelez vous? »**
** « Hein? » a dit le conducteur, trè****s surpris.**
** « Ton nom...je n'ai pas pensé que l'est important avant maintenant, mais... »**
** « …Je m'appelle Luc, Mademoiselle. »**
** « Luc. » Angelique a souri. « Merci beaucoup, Luc. Vous avez m'aidé pour sauver la vie de Michaelle. »**
** « J'ai fait seulement que vous m'avez commandé. »**
** « Oui...mais, j'ai peur de j'ai é****t****é**** trop tard, » a dit Angelique. « Si ****M****ichaelle meurs... »**
** « C'est Noël, » dit Luc, « le temps pour les miracles. Soyez optimiste, Mademoiselle. Croyez. » Il a souri. « Bonsoir, Mademoiselle. »**
** « Bonsoir...Luc. »**
** Angelique a regardé Michaelle encore. Ses respirations é****taient ****é****gales maintenant, et sa peau ****é****tait rose avec le ****chaleur. La fille semblait si paisible...Angelique a baillé, et a fermé ses yeux...**
** ...et les ouverts. C'é****tait du matin, et elle a****pu voir la lumi****è****re par fen****ê****tre. ****I****l faisait du neige encore, mais lentement et doucement.**
**Angelique a vu Michaelle; la fille s'est ré****veill****ée, et regardait autour de la chambre.**
** « Est-ce que c'est un rê****ve? » elle a chuchot****é****.**** « ****O****u...est-ce que je suis morte, et je suis en paradis...? »**
** « Joyeux Noël, Michaelle, »**** a dit Angelique.**
** « Je vous connais...vous ê****tes l'une qui a ****é****t****é si mé****chan****te a moi... »**
** « Oui. Mais, j'ai fini à ê****tre m****é****chante, » Angelique a r****é****pondue.**
** « J'en ****sais; j'en sais. Vous avez sauvé ma vie, inconnue gentille. »**
** « Oh! Pardonnez-moi. Je m'appelle Angelique. »**
** « Angelique! Comme un ange! »**
** « ****Je ne suis pas ****comme un ange! »**
**« Mais, peut-ê****tre, vous ****ê****tes... »**
** « ****Peut-ê****tre. Un peu. » Angelique a souri. ****E****lle a pensé. « ****M****ichaelle...avez-vous une famille? » elle a demandé.**
** « Non...je suis l'une seule. »**
** « Voulez-vous rester ici? »**
** « Pour Noël? »**
** « …Pour des temps plus longs? »**
** « Pas pour toujours! »**
** « ****Oui, pour toujours, si vous souhaitez! »**
** « Je ****vais avoir de la nourriture, des****v****ê****tements, et une maison? ****C****a,****c'est au-del****à**** de mes r****ê****ves! »**
** « ****Vous pouvez avoir tous ces choses. »**
** « Pour vraiment? »**
** « Oui! »**
** « Pour toujours? »**
** « ****Pour si longs que vous dé****sirez,**** » Angelique a dit.**
** « Pour toujours, » Michaelle a affirmé****, et elles ont rit.**
** Michaelle a baillé. « J'ai sommeil encore, »**** dit-elle.**
** « Mais, ç****a, c'est Noel! ****Vous ne pouvez pas dormir pour le jour entier! »**
** « Je ne le fera pas.****Angelique...est-ce que vous ê****tes ce****rtain? Que je peux rester ici? »**
** « ****Michaelle, n'inquié****tez pas au sujet de moi. ****J****e l'ai fait trop de temps! »**
** « D'accord, » a dit Michaelle.**
** « Bon rê****ves, » a dit Angelique.**
** « Angelique...avant que vous partez...je veux vous dire... » la fille a baillé encore. « Je ****v****ous remercie. »**
** Puis, elle s'est endormie.**
** Angelique a regardait Michaelle, et elle a chuchoté, « Non, Michaelle...je ****_vous_**** remercie. »**
* * *
Fin.
End file.
| Misc. Friendship, Supernatural | Fanfiction | null | 21,066 | 21,980.2 |
null | Misc. Books Happy Birthday
"Hurry up, Caitlyn!"
I averted my eyes from the open closet I had been staring at, looking over to see my friend, Naomi, standing in the doorway.
"Where are we even going? I don't know what to wear if I don't know where I'm going!"
Naomi smiled, sitting down on the end of my bed. "You'll look great no matter what, wear whatever you like."
I sighed before leaning over to choose a song to play from my iPod. I turned on Gold Rush by Ed Sheeran, turning it up and walking back over to my closet.
I finally chose a long sleeved beige dress, simple in cut with a ruffle detail at the shoulders. It was an early birthday present from my mother, given to me for today, knowing that Naomi was taking me out to celebrate.
After putting on the dress, I sank to the floor to look at shoes. The song changed to another Ed Sheeran song, Little Bird. I nodded my head along to the song, sorting through my abundance of shoes. Naomi lounged on my bed, scrolling through my iPod and switching the song to Cold Coffee, yet another Ed Sheeran song.
"He must have had a lot of relationships to have written so many songs" I commented as I inspected a pair of supposedly 'taupe' coloured platforms. They just looked beige to me, a little bit darker than my dress.
Naomi laughed. "Caitlyn, every one of his songs isn't about a different relationship."
I shrugged, slipping on the shoes and standing up, now a good few inches taller than before. "How do you know?"
Naomi shook her head at me, laughing again. "Because they mention the same things, like 'two lumps of sugar and tea' and how he loves the way the girl wakes him up."
I nodded, seeing her point. She just shook her head once more at my amazing ability to not see what was plain and simple and right in front of me at times.
Thankful that I had already put on makeup, I walked over to my dresser, picking up my watch and putting it on my wrist. Adjusting the leather band, I foregoed any other jewellery, following Naomi out of my room and to the car.
"So, are you going to tell me where we're going yet?" I asked. She just shook her head, smiling.
I wrinkled up my nose at her, sticking out my nose. She just commented on my attractiveness with that particular face, instructing me to plug in her iPod and play some music. I sighed, locating the auxiliary cord and plugging in her iPod.
I decided that we'd listened to enough Ed Sheeran for one night, going into artists and bringing up all songs by The Fray. Naomi didn't have nearly as much on her iPod as I did, but it was sufficient. I played All At Once, turning it up.
"And all at once the crowd begins to sing! Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same!" I sang along loudly, letting my hair fly about as I danced in my seat. Naomi laughed, accustomed to my usual behaviour.
Traffic became heavy as we got closer and closer to the arena where One Direction were performing tonight. Naomi and I had both missed out on tickets, our parents telling us they didn't want us to go because it was too close to exams. As it turned out, our exams had finished two days ago, so that point was moot now.
"Where are we going, Naomi? Can't we take another route, this one goes right by the arena and there's so much traffic."
In the standstill we had come to in traffic, Naomi looked over at me and grinned. "No, we're right on track. Our destination; the arena."
I gave her a puzzled look before it hit me. I shook my head, open mouthed. "No way, you didn't. Oh my gosh, you did, didn't you?"
She laughed, nodding her head and leaning over to open the compartment in front of my seat. Two One Direction tickets lay there, waiting to be used. "Ta-dah!"
I clasped my hands over my mouth before leaning over to hug her. "You're the best and I love you!"
She squeezed me tightly. "Yeah, I love you too. Now help me find a park!"
I nodded, sitting back in my seat and taking on the role of park finder. After ten minutes of looking, a surprisingly small amount of time, we found a park and got out of the car, linking arms as we walked towards the arena.
Clutching our tickets in my hand, we walked past the hundreds of screaming girls in handmade One Direction t-shirts, glitter glue and the like splashed across their shirts. "I feel overdressed" I commented.
Naomi shook her head. "We are perfectly dressed. They're going to be sitting in crappy seats far away from the stage, they can look as good or bad as they want. We however, are perfectly dressed for our proximity to the boys."
I raised my eyebrows, giving her a curious look. "Where exactly are we sitting then?"
She smirked. "I know you wouldn't properly look at the tickets."
I looked down at the tickets in my hand as we lined up to go through security.
BACKSTAGE PASS was written in bold on the tickets, V.I.P SECTION right above that. I almost jumped up and down from excitement, pulling Naomi into another hug.
Don't get me wrong, we weren't crazed fans or incredibly obsessed, we didn't have rooms covered in One Direction posters or shrines in our basements, but Naomi did know that I loved live music with a passion and that although One Direction could never beat my love of Ed Sheeran or as our friends called it 'sophisticated music,' I did love the music One Direction released for its ability to be danced to.
After getting Naomi's bag checked briefly, the security guards directed us to a booth next to the merchandise one, where we were given our V.I.P passes with backstage access included. We held hands tightly as we walked up the stairs and into the arena, feeling admittedly important as we walked past the girls lining up to sit right at the back of the arena.
We walked past what must have been over a thousand girls, finally getting to the V.I.P line, right next to the stage. We got to go in first, taking our seats. From where we sat, we could see clearly onto the stage.
After a half hour of waiting and then dancing around to their opening act, One Direction finally came onstage. Naomi clung on to my hand tightly, both of us smiling uncontrollably from all the excitement. A few girls in the section began to cry, but Naomi and I weren't the type.
After performing the majority of their songs, the boys started to answer some tweets. Messing about of the stage, they impersonated each other and showed everyone their best dance moves. Then the boys went quiet and Louis took the microphone.
"So, all our girls are special to us. But tonight, one girl in particular deserves some recognition. We've been told that it's the birthday of one of the girls in our V.I.P section, so we thought it was only fair that we sing Happy Birthday to her."
I gasped, looking around us to make sure that it wasn't somebody else's birthday and not mine. Louis walked over to our side of the stage, looking down at us.
"So which one of you is Caitlyn?"
I looked over at Naomi with wide eyes, knowing this was her doing. I was sure her Mum had connections to the arena and would have been able to pull a few strings. Naomi pushed me up to my feet, my cheeks instantly reddening. "That's your girl!" Naomi called out.
Louis grinned, holding out his hand for me while security opened the gate separating us from the stage. I walked forward, my stride giving off more confidence than I really had, taking Louis' hand. He grinned at me, leading me to a stool that had been brought out at the centre of the stage.
He let go of my hand as I sat down, standing by my side for a second before walking back to the boys. The first lines of Happy Birthday began to play and the boys walked forwards to stand around me. I was aware that my face was burning and my cheeks were probably flame red, but I just tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and looked over to my right where Louis stood.
After they had finished singing, the boys all gave me a hug before Louis took my hand again and led me back over to our section. I took one step down the stairs before Louis spoke up.
"Caitlyn?"
I turned around, looking up at him. "Yes?"
He gave me a smile, stepping slightly closer. "You're coming backstage, right?"
I nodded. "That's what my pass says."
He nodded. "I'll see you there, then."
I smiled, nodding. "See you there."
He turned back around, walking over to the boys. I walked over to Naomi and sat down, crossing one leg over the other and smiling at her. "You're the best, you know that?"
She grinned. "I try. Now what did Louis say to you?"
I shrugged. "He just said he'd see us later."
She nodded. "Oh, okay" she said, her attention going back to the boys. I smiled to myself, letting my eyes linger on Louis for a moment and thinking of how my night had probably just begun.
End file.
| Misc. Friendship, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 8,737 | 11,325.6 |
null | Misc. Books Fragile Hope
**Fragile Hope**
**Author's Note: **No_, the characters used here do not belong to me but to Alison Croggon_.
He stumbled down the steep side of the mountain, surprising himself by not tripping…yet. Rocks were dislodged as he made his clumsy, slurred way to the bottom of the pass, not really caring immensely if he fell and died. It didn't matter if he died because most people he had ever known or loved were already dead, had died a brutal, garish death, and the whole world, his world, would soon be dead along with them. There was no hope; there was no nothing but this steep, craggy mountain pass that refused to give him an easy death. He could simply stumble, purposefully, and enjoy a death much simpler than the one most people he'd known had been forced to suffer…
The idea was very appealing. All responsibilities would be hoisted monumentally from his weakening shoulders. He would no longer have to worry every day about the future of the whole world, and saving the world would no longer be his mission. He would no longer have to worry about who would die next, whose death he would mourn next, or whose death he could prevent. He would no longer have to fret over his fitful past, no longer be forced to 'look toward the future' as everyone had always told him he should. There would simply be…nothing. Ever again. And right now that was all that he wanted. But before he died, before he stumbled stupidly, tripped and got killed, there was something he must check at all costs. Only then could he die a peaceful death that he himself chose, not one inflicted on him by _Him_.
Finally he was at the bottom of the pass, his legs rubbery and useless, eyelids sagging, mouth slightly open and panting, nose clogged, head battered, mind foggy, limbs limp, bruised knees, possibly broken legs, probably dislocated elbow. Cadvan of Lirigon was in a sorry state. But still he pushed himself, still he persisted. It was as though a bell was ringing sharply and harshly in his mind, trying to alert him to something. Feeling like a dog, Cadvan sniffed the air and thought he detected something; the smell of blood, perhaps? He dragged his sorry body over to a rock wall, and faintly his mind registered that there were crimson drops of blood staining the snow and the rocky wall above it. So was she dead, then? Was all hope really lost?
Something inside of him, some strong and persevering part of him, called out, weakly, _"No, she is not dead! Look, it is but a little blood. And there are some dents in the snow, some tracks, and some footprints. Perhaps there is still hope."_ But Cadvan didn't want to believe there was still some hope left for the dwindling world. It would all be so much simpler if the Fire Lily, his Elednor of Edil Amarandh, was dead. Then he could die too, knowing there was nothing he could have done, nothing else he could do to help her. Then he could join her. He could see again the laughing face of his Fire Lily, see her angry, see her sad, see her joyful…
But if she was not dead, if he died while she still lived…then he would not see her for a long time. The thought hurt him inside like a burning arrow tip piercing his frost-bitten skin, and something inside him answered the painful thought. _"If she is not dead, then it is your duty to find her. If she is not dead then you can still help her, help her help the world. And if she is not dead you can see her living smile, her living tears, her living scowl…You must find her." _
He didn't want to. It would be so much simpler to just die, then and there. Everything would be so much simpler for him…but for the world? Would the world really be doomed if he died right now? Perhaps Maerad was facing some unspeakable danger, was in terror, and was wishing for him to find her. New strength seemed to fill Cadvan as he pulled his sorry body into a standing position and made his decision: he would not die. Not then, at least. He would do his best to find Maerad, and he would continue with the journey of life. The unforgiving journey of life that he sometimes so despised. But he could always go back and die some other time. And now was not, he knew, the right time to die. If he died now…he couldn't die now. The decision was already made for him. He would persevere. Little did he know that his Maerad, the Fire Lily in question, had faced this same decision mere days before.
Cadvan hauled his body up the steep, craggy cliff-side and helped his faithful, loyal horse, the magnificent Darsor, to descend after him. It was because of Darsor that he was alive now, Cadvan realized with a mixture of gratitude and resentment. Should he be thanking his friend or should he feel disappointed? _"Of course you should be thanking him," _the internal, guiding voice scolded. _"You must live. For now." _And so, weary and battered, Cadvan mounted Darsor and softly told his horse, using the Speech, "We're off again, Old Friend. This time all we have to do is find Maerad."
Darsor snorted derisively. _"'All we have to do is find Maerad'?" _ he asked disbelievingly. _"Knowing that little one, she could be all the way to the Winterking's palace by now, challenging him verbally. I can just imagine." _Cadvan smiled and patted his horse, then winced at both actions as his lips cracked and bled and his frost-bitten hand throbbed. It didn't matter if Maerad were being held prisoner by the Nameless One Himself, he would still go look for her and he would still go and try to free her. With a pang, Cadvan realized his feelings for the stubborn, head-strong and sometimes indecisive young Bard went deeper than he had previously known. _"With Maerad, things often go deeper than you realize at first," _he commented to himself, amused. And so, with a few more comforting words to Darsor, he set off on the long quest to find Maerad, the Fire Lily, Elednor of Edil Amarandh, who was said, would save his dwindling candle-of-a-world.
End file.
| Misc. Romance, Tragedy | Fanfiction | null | 5,975 | 10,332.8 |
null | Misc. Books The Bartender
_**After reading 'Of Mice and Men' in our English class, we were assigned to write an epilogue 'ghost chapter' that would alleviate the lonliness of someone on the ranch. I choose George, and what I wrote I was super proud of, so here you are.**_
_**Happy Valentine's Day.**_
_**
* * *
**_
The Bartender
A mile or so south of the ranch is a quiet street on the far edge of town. The road isn't paved but is damp dirt, and it is mostly clean of any sort of tracks, human or animal. Huge swirls of dust whisk around in half-hearted tornados whenever a wind decides to grace the street with its presence, blown from the cracks between the wooden boards of the porches. Few outsiders ever come there anymore, only unfortunate shop owners who barely make ends meet.
On the corner of the street stands a bar that, at one point in its obviously long life, looks like it had once been painted white. Now the white paint is easy to flake off the walls, where it crumbles to the floor. The roof slants oddly, but folks are only able to see this outside, staring up.
Inside, the bar is orderly and tidy, despite the splintery wooden walls. There are always men there, but never to the point of being overcrowded or rowdy, and a game of cards is always being played on one of the small tables clustered around the room, set up with velvet red chairs with spidery wood legs. They're usually at the back, near the broken piano that the bar owner has never bothered to throw out.
Walking in, folks are suddenly hit with an almost overwhelming smell of scotch, and a vague perfume hints at the air, the kind that makes a man glance around the room unintentionally for someone long forgotten.
It's dim there, only lit up by the table lamps and a few electric bulbs hanging haphazardly from the ceiling. But it is always much warmer there than what lies outside, the night sky bedecked with stars. They twinkle with a cold and uninviting grace that many mistake for beauty. George knew better.
It was a strange kind of pain, the guilt that he felt.
It was as if time had stood still, had completely stopped for that moment when he had pulled the trigger. In doing it so had severed any emotion or connection to other people that he had. It was, simply, as if the story had ended there. In that moment, not one person had died, but two.
He stared into his half-empty scotch glass and it flashed back some sort of serene light, caught from the dim electric bulb overheard. The way the liquor shone sent sparkles into his vision, and he twirled the glass lazily between his fingertips.
It had been a month.
No one had cried at Curley's wife's funeral. As they had lowered the casket into the ground in the little graveyard, only Slim had had the decency to look apologetic. George and Carlson hadn't had any expression on their faces at all, and Candy had looked openly hostile. Curley arrived late, and only stared into the gaping hole that had swallowed his wife's body.
George drummed his fingers on the side on the bar counter. Curley hadn't shown up to Lennie's funeral at all. Slim had later mentioned something akin to him still being in mourning for his wife, but George, of course, knew better. He hadn't loved his wife. She was only another pretty face, and there were hundreds more of her. He only had his own pride to blame.
That time, Slim had been honestly sorrowful. Throughout the priest's reading he occasionally stole glances at George, who looked stony-faced as ever as they lowered Lennie into the earth.
He swallowed the rest of the scotch in a single gulp, and winced only slightly as it burned his throat on the way down to his stomach.
"Another," he said in a low rumble to the bartender, who was standing a ways back from behind the bar, watching George with inquisitive, yet unpretentious eyes.
He had been wiping the same glass with a rag for a good five minutes, and with a soft sigh and a nervous twitch in his fingers he reached out and snatched away George's glass, refilling it liberally. The bartender set it down before him with a solid clunk, and then stood back, watching, vaguely interested, as George immediately picked it up and swung back his head, gulping much of it down quickly and efficiently.
"Don't you think you've had enough for one night?"
George glanced up sharply and studied the man critically from beneath his wide-brimmed hat, but he had already turned away, wiping his hands on his grungy apron. He seemed to be in his late forties, and he was balding on top with the remainder forming a gray-brown halo above his ears. His eyes were black and somber, and although he didn't look George in the eye, he knew the bartender was waiting for a response.
"Not nearly," he said simply, with the merest trace of a growl.
The bartender shrugged absently and picked up his rag again, returning to scrubbing the glass tankard half-heartedly. George returned to sipping his scotch, or, more accurately, staring at it, feeling a familiar headache coming on. Perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to knock back nearly a full glass of scotch in under a minute.
"What did you do?"
The bartender seemed intent on getting a minute spot off of the glass, and didn't meet George's eyes when he looked up. "What makes you ask that?"
A short sigh escaped the man's lips, and he shifted and leaned his long torso farther down the bar, flipped over the glass and banged it down out of sight somewhere behind the counter, apparently having given up on whatever spot had been there. "Guys like you don't drink so much," he stated matter-of-factly, wringing his hands together, staring unhesitatingly now into George's eyes. "You've been down here every night for weeks. You drink yourself into a daze an' go home, wherever that may be. You never play cards, never talk to nobody. Guys don't do that unless they done somethin' they can't forgive themselves for."
Despite himself, George smiled lopsidedly. "You assume a lot."
The bartender shrugged, not swayed. "It's just what I know."
George leaned forward and picked up his glass again, staring into it and swirling the liquid back and forth, though not drinking. He scrutinized the barman from underneath the brim of his hat, unsure what to say.
He had killed Lennie. That was, quite simply, the only thing he was certain of anymore. And that had been _everything_, that one connection. That thread that connected George to someone, to _anyone_. No one else got close to him, and if he was ever to think hard enough about it, he would realize that he didn't give anyone else a chance. Their partnership was precious to him, although he didn't like to think of why. It _mattered_ to him, despite the incredible amount of setbacks and hardships this relationship entailed, and he fought to preserve it. That was why he held his tongue so many times. That was why he allowed Lennie to do the things he did without much kind of retribution. He needed someone to talk to, even if the conversations were extremely one-sided intellectually.
He couldn't say for certain that it was for entirely selfish reasons that he stayed with Lennie and didn't send him away, even if times got bad. He cared, despite every logical process that screamed its dissent, and he did want to help him, even though he was aware that Lennie was beyond help. It cost him a lot, staying with him, but without Lennie, it would have cost a lot more.
He sipped his drink rebelliously.
"I killed a guy," George murmured softly. He stared into his drink as if hoping that he would get some kind of spiritual signal from it.
"Oh," said the bartender, and turned pulled an ashtray from the depths of the sink and started scrubbing viciously at it.
"You don't sound much shocked," George said, slightly bewildered.
He shrugged. "We get all kinds."
George and the bartender were silent for a long while.
"You do it over a girl?" the bartender said at last.
"No, of course not," he responded sharply. "Well... maybe..." He was quiet again, but then proceeded to tell the bartender the whole story. When he finished, two drinks later, the bartender was quiet, and seemed completely focused on the squeaking of the ashtray. George waited.
He finally put away the tray, and flung the rag down next to it. At first when he turned around he opened his mouth to speak, but then the barman shook his head slightly, and turned around again, as if confused. His fingers twitched and he swiped the rag up again, wiping down a tankard now, extremely slowly. "Seems like you cared about this Lennie fella a lot, go through all that trouble for him."
George grunted, a noncommittal gesture.
"You couldn't do anything about what you did. That's what I think." The bartender smiled. "'Course, you didn't ask, but I'm tellin' you anyway. Ya had to do it. Otherwise they woulda done it, and it would have hurt him."
"I had ta..." George echoed softly. "But what if I didn't have ta? He could have run. We _both_ coulda ran."
"Then someone else would have got hurt. That Lennie guy, you gave him the best you could give him, consiterin' the circumstances. You couldn't do no more for him anymore."
"Couldn't do no more..." muttered George sleepily. "It wasn't fair... It was just like Candy, that's what it was. But I did it right. I couldn't... I couldn't let no stranger..."
The bartender watched as the other man started shaking, the alcohol taking a more physical effect. "That's right. You done the right thing," he said gently. He took away George's scotch glass without asking and poured it out. "You done enough for tonight," he muttered. George's head shot up, and then dipped back down disconsolately.
"'I shouldn't of let no stranger... shouldn't of let him shoot my dog.' Candy, he said that, when Carlson did in his ol' dog. I reckon everyone's gotta dog they have to let go themselves... some way or another. Don't you think?"
"I reckon so," said the bartender, not having any idea what the man before him was talking about. But now George nodded at him, a rather ridiculous smile on his face, although anything was better than what it had been before. He got to his feet unsteadily and the bartender watched him with bewildered eyes.
"Thank you sir, you done me some good," he said, his words only slurring slightly. He pulled out a roll of money and counted the bills (twice, to be sure), then frowned. "I don't-"
The bartender had expected as much. "That's alright. It's been taken care of." He waved the man away. "Go on now. Get some sleep, or you'll feel like hell in the morning."
George mumbled his thanks and half walked, half stumbled unevenly towards the door, where the night awaited him. The stars glittered mockingly, but he didn't notice, using his full concentrating power to keep on walking in the general direction of the ranch.
The bartender watched him go with a kind of fasination, then shook his head pityingly and reached for his grungy piece of cloth again.
"Poor bastard," he mumured to himself, and started on the scotch glass.
_**
* * *
**_
_**Well, I got a C on the assignment, because my English teacher happens to hate me. What do you think?**_
_**Review please.**_
End file.
| Misc. Drama | Fanfiction | null | 11,209 | 10,252.5 |
null | Misc. Books The Reaping
Hurray for Reaping. Woo-hoo.
Reaping day. The day where everyone in Panem has to dress up nice to watch names being picked out of a bowl for a game where kids fight to the death.
Seriously, Capitol? You guys could be using that money to fix all the world's problems! Feed everyone, get them clean water, build homes. But you rather kids fight to the death.
Are you seriously serious?
But before we head out to the Justice Building, I go hunting with Gale in the woods, even though it's against the law. The Peacekeepers don't do anything about it, so I guess it's OK.
As I prance through the meadow, I listen for any buzzes of electricity from the fence. I hear squat _nothin', _so I shimmy my fat butt through the tiny hole in the beneath the fence(No matter what anyone says, I'm SO FAT!) and make a mad dash for the log where my bow and arrows are. The second I have them in my hands, I hold them to my chest, muttering "My precious…my precious…"
I can't stand here forever. I gotta go find that hot hunk of Gale!
Leaping over logs with the grace of a gazelle, I run through the woods trying to locate my boy friend(who I wish was my boyfriend.) "La la la la la…la la..."
"Kitty Kat!" calls Gale from the top of a tree. "Y u no on ground, silly?"
"I dunno. Want bread?" He threw a loaf at me.
"Yum yum FOOD! KATNISS HUNGRY!" I screamed before shoving the whole loaf in my face and swallowing it. I wiped crumbs off my face. "Ummm…I was going to share that with you! What the heck, Katniss!"
Who can blame me? I live in District 12! I never have enough to eat. Geez, chill out…
"What? I did nothin'!"
"You know what? I'm gonna go home and get ready for the reaping. I'll see you later."
"Fine! Be a bad word!"
Muttering a few choice words under my breath, I put my stuff back, kissed it goodbye, and went home.
When I got home, my younger sister, Prim, was running in circles with her hands in the air screaming "The reaping is coming! The reaping is coming!" To shut her up, I grabbed her and slapped her in the face. "SHUT UP!"
"OK…"
I went to the bathroom to wash off the dirt that comes with hunting in the woods. If we didn't live in District 12, we wouldn't be so poor, I wouldn't have to hunt for food, so I wouldn't be so filthy! Why can't we live in District 1 or something? Makes life ALOT easier.
After I was rid of my filth, I got dressed in the dress and shoes that Mom left on my bed and tried to do my hair. But it's not easy to do a fancy braid yourself, so I kept screwing up.
"Mommy! Help me with my hair!"
"Leave it down or something! I don't have time! Your sister won't SHUT UP! PRIMROSE EVERDEEN! Stop it! You won't get picked, alright!"
You could say I have a very peaceful home-not.
Eventually, we leave for the Square. There is mass chaos as 12-year-olds cling to their mommies and 18-year-olds fist pump because it's their last year and they might not get picked if they made it this far. I calmly walk to the 16-year-old female's side and wait patiently. Prim is clinging to mom like she'll fall to her death if she lets go.
Finally, after a boring speech from the mayor, the creepy Capitol lady, Effie Trinket, comes up to say what an honor it is to represent District 12, blah, blah, then finally ends with "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be_ ever_ in your favor!"
"Well, ladies first." She reaches into the glass ball containing slips of paper containing the names of all the twelve- to eighteen-year-old females in District 12, then walks back to the microphone, unfolding the paper.
"Oh, this one's tough." She clears her throat.
"Primary Everlast. Nope, that's not right. Ok, let me try again."
Silence. Is this lady nuts?
"Primer Evergreen, no, that's not it either. This is, really complicated, I apologize."
It's official. She's mad.
I'm thinking "Seriously? What. The. Firetruck. GET THIS OVER WITH!"
"Pillow Elderflower…no? I didn't think it was right either. This is a hard name…why can't we go back to the times when children were named Jan? Or Mary?"
I don't have time for this.
"One more time…Polly Pocket!"
Oh my God. You have to be kidding.
"Let's get this over with. I volunteer!" I shout.
Effie looks at me and says "Yes, dear, come on up. Thank you for volunteering, you'll be dead in a matter of days, anyway."
Once I'm onstage and tell her my name, she moves on to the boys' bowl and selects a victim.
"Hopefully, this won't be such a hard name…Peter Maceroni!"
You could hear a pin drop. Are you kidding?
"Patroneum Mulberry? No?"
"Panto-you know what, ****! How about the last person to touch their nose gets killed?"
All the boys touch their nose, and a ugly kid named Peeta, who has a disgusting crush on me, touches it last and come on up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present our two tributes! Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! Well, we'll never see you two again! Happy Hunger Games, and my the odds be _ever_ in your favor!"
All right. Goodbye, world.
End file.
| Misc. Humor, Parody | Fanfiction | null | 5,040 | 16,603.2 |
null | Misc. Books Love Scene
LOVE SCENE
By: Dean Westchester
05/22/10
I'm Hank Kirby III, and today is not going as well as I had planned. See when I had set out this morning, well more like this afternoon, I had a clear sense of how I would handle this particular case of mine. Oh yeah, I should explain, I'm sort of a private investigator. Only I don't do much investigating and I'm not very good at keeping things private, but I'm still an investigator at any rate and I look into problems involving supernatural type stuff, like vampires or werewolves and such. I've been called a wizard since I do know a bit of magic, but I'm far from wizard levels, I'm more like Harry Potter if he'd flunked out of magic school. Anyways, this case I was working seemed pretty simple enough. Old dude wanted me to make sure his much younger wife wasn't cheating on him with the pool boy and using magic to cover it up. Well too bad for old man moneybags because his wife was cheating on him with the pool boy, but she wasn't using magic to cover it up. She was using magic to try and kill the old man so she could get all his money. Isn't love grand?
Old man moneybags didn't take the news very well, I'm pretty sure he had a mini stroke when I told him that his young and drop dead sexy wife had tried to kill him. Lucky for me though, old man moneybags wanted his wife stopped and he was willing to pay whatever it took. Now operating your own business is costly and operating in such dangerous environments warrants hazard pay, so when I told him that I'd do it for ten grand I was being totally rational and not at all greedy. Don't judge me. I'd like to see you turn down a chance to make tons of money like that.
So anyways, the old man agreed and cut me a check right then and there in my office, which was more like a broom closet that had been labeled as an office and rented out to anyone dumb enough to pay for it, meaning me. I took the old man's check and stuffed it in my pocket and then escorted him from my broom office and to the street where I called him a cab. After he was gone I walked around the office building to the parking lot where my old jeep was parked, it was once my grandfather's and by the looks of it he'd been rough on it. The jeep is your typical Vietnam era jeep, no real roof or doors, or windows, just roll bars and a windshield. I then hopped into my jeep and set out to find Mrs. Moneybags. About two hours later and fifty bucks worth of gas I found her.
Mrs. Moneybags was at the mall, shopping for pretty much anything and everything she could wear, touch, eat, drink, or see. I had no idea how long she'd been there but she already had three big red bags hanging from one arm, and then I noticed that the pool boy was with her. He was loaded down with at least six red bags of his own, no doubt filled with her crap that she had purchased with her husband's money. I made a mental note that the pool boy was actually a really good looking guy, like male model good looking. Not that I'm attracted to men or anything, because I'm not, but he had the kind of looks that draw your eyes to him. Like when something nasty happens on TV and you want to look away but your eyes won't let you, same thing. After collecting another two bags of stuff, lady moneybags and the pool boy were leaving the shop, so I figured I should follow them.
I guess I should explain why that is a lot easier said than done. Following people isn't hard, especially in a crowed place like a shopping mall, but when you look like I do it becomes a whole other ball game. See I stand just under six foot two, and I am covered in tattoos from my neck to my feet. Not to mention my attire, that today consisted of my brown hiking boots, dark blue jeans that sagged enough to show my Jolly Roger boxers, and a black muscle shirt. Throw in the big ear rings, my chin stud, my necklace, the Jolly Roger belt buckle, and the silver chain link bracelet that hung loosely from my left wrist, and I was hard to miss. Oh yeah, almost forgot about my hair, I have a long Mohawk that starts at my forehead and ends at the base of my neck. I don't spike it anymore though, I'm too lazy, so it just sticks up all over the place or hangs around my face and looks like something tribal warriors may have worn a long time ago.
Now that you get the basic idea of what I look like, you can see how blending in with a crowd of rich people at the rich people mall could be a bit difficult. Somehow I managed it though. I followed them through two more stores and then back to their limousine, no lie, they were riding around in a midnight black limo. Now I had a choice to make, either let them get away and start the search again later because there was no way I could make it to the jeep and drive over here before they left; or I could find another means of transportation and continue the pursuit. I choose option B. Don't judge me; it's like I always say, you have to do whatever it takes to get the job done. So I used some magic to pop the locks and I hot wired a 1967 Chevy Impala and continued to follow the happy couple.
Now just because the impala is cherry red and in mint condition, thusly making anything with eyes stare at it when it goes by, doesn't mean I can't follow a limo without it knowing. You just have to know how to keep your distance and predict the targets movements, not to mention that the driver probably couldn't see over the pile of red shopping bags in his rear view. I tailed them all the way back to moneybags manor. The house was massive and ridiculously ostentatious. I parked the impala on the street and I watched. The limo stopped in front of the front door, pool boy got out first and he helped Mrs. Moneybags out. They strode off to the door as a battalion of servants flooded towards the car, fetching all the red bags and several black bags I hadn't seen earlier. That lady knew how to spend her husband's money, that much was certain. Once the servants had made their way into the house the limo pulled off somewhere, I assumed to a large garage that was home to at least thirty other cars.
I needed to sneak onto the property and if I could get inside the place and have a look around. Not a problem is Old man moneybags was home, but he wasn't and I had a feeling that the lady of the house was careful enough to keep strangers out of her home. I needed a disguise. Unfortunately I didn't bring any supplies with me, all my gear was still sitting in my jeep. I searched the impala and discovered all kinds of nice presents the owner had left me. The first of which was a very nice aviator jacket, with matching sunglasses I might add, lying in the back seat. I also found a clip board in the glove box, apparently the owner of this fine car was a pilot and this clip board was his flight log. And then in the back of the trunk in an old gym bag I found the best present of them all, a collared shirt with a company logo just over the heart, it said _Robin's Wings_. This stuff would do just fine. I slipped the shirt on, it didn't smell bad or anything, but it didn't have fresh out of the washer smell either. After that I slid on the jacket and put on the glasses, I grabbed the clip board and made my way to the front door.
I knocked and a servant answered the door. He looked like Alfred from the Batman cartoons. He eye balled me as if sizing me up for a coffin. "Can I help you?" he asked, his voice was quiet and faintly British.
"Yes, I'm hear to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Wellsworth about their upcoming flight, may I speak to them?" I kept my face straight and tried my best to put a subtle southern drawl on the words.
"Mr. Wellsworth is not in at the moment, however Mrs. Wellsworth has just returned home," Alfred ushered me inside and closed the door behind me, "wait here and I shall see if she wishes to speak with you today."
"Much appreciated" I nodded my thanks to him and he shuffled off to find the lady. Now was my chance to get some information. Yes Alfred did tell me to stay there and yes he was a nice old guy, but I wasn't going to make any progress standing at the door, so I went exploring. The house seemed even bigger on the inside, and even the cheapest thing in the place was worth more than everything I owned put together. Other than that though, it was pretty ordinary. I had expected to find some evidence of magic being used in the house, but there was nothing, not even a candle. Well that meant that she wasn't casting the death spells from the house, which might not be a bad thing. See if I could get a hold of something tied to her magic I could use it to track down the spot where the spell had been cast. Magic is cool like that.
I called off my search when I heard Alfred's voice calling for me, and I hurried back to the front door. "Sorry," I said immediately, "I was looking for the restroom." Alfred gave me a skeptical look. "Is Mrs. Wellsworth ready to see me?"
"No," Alfred's voice was sharp, "she is not taking visitors at the moment, feel free to come back at a later time, perhaps Mr. Wellsworth will have returned by then."
"Alright," I drawled as I opened the door, "thanks for your time" I nodded to him and then let myself out. I heard Alfred shut the door behind me and I walked calmly back to my stolen car. I didn't start removing the disguise until I was at least two block away, just incase she had anyone watching me. Things may have just gotten easier. Lady moneybags wasn't casting spells from the house, so all I had to do was ask old man moneybags if she had any favorite getaways, someplace secluded and nearby. Chances were she was casting her spells from there, and judging by the fact that she wasn't receiving visitors, which is rich people speak for she was in the middle of having sex with the help, I guessed that she was getting her power from ritual acts of lust; in other words, really freaky sex.
I pulled the impala into a near by park. I wanted to be somewhere public in case the lady was smarter than I thought and she had someone tail me. I also chose this park because I didn't have my cell phone and this park is home to probably the last pay phone on Earth. I strode over to the phone, feeling cool as I did because I was still wearing the jacket and the glasses, I'd ditched the shirt, but I couldn't bring myself to take off the rest. I picked up the receiver in one hand, and placed my other hand over the part where all the change goes. _Open sesame,_ I was a minor spell and not like some super illegal grand heist or anything, the spell just tricked the phone into thinking it had been paid. Like I said before, magic is cool like that. I dialed old man moneybags and brought him up to speed on the events of the day, leaving out the parts about stealing and anything that might be too exciting for the old man's heart to handle. He told me to wait at the park and that he'd be there in five minuets. To my surprise he was, I later found out that he was only three blocks away at an ice cream shop indulging his sweet tooth.
I was sitting on the hood of my stolen ride when he arrived. He was a bit over dressed for the park, since he was wearing a silk suit that was probably worth as much as the impala. "Do you have a plan?" he asked without so much as a hello.
"Yeah," which was the truth, but the plan wasn't exactly solid since I was still missing a lot of important information about the people involved, "your wife isn't casting spells from the house, so I need to know if she has a favorite getaway nearby." The old man thought about it.
"In fact she does," he tapped a finger to his chin, "its very private and it isn't even on most maps, so its about the most secluded place someone can find in a big city like this one"
"Perfect, where is it?" I might have sounded a bit too eager, but what can I say I wanted this mess cleared up so I could go cash my check and then go find Mr. Robin and buy this car from him. Old man moneybags wrote down the name and address of his wife's hideout and then we parted ways. I looked at the note and I started to get a bad feeling about this trip. I waited until night was approaching; one because sneaking around is easier in the dark and two because night has magical significance. Once the sun had almost completely set I headed for the hideout.
The Love Scene was a very desecrate and very well hidden lesbian club the upper crust elites liked to go and get wild with their young and beautiful friends. The name was actually French but it translates to the love scene. Apparently lady moneybags liked to get freaky with other woman when she wasn't with the old man or the pretty pool boy, and apparently she owns the place and every Saturday night she throws a party. Not just any party though, the kind of parties that involve lots of illicit substances and lots of naked people doing a lot of fun things. Well I was right about the using sex for power thing; a ritual orgy is like the energizer bunny on crack when it comes to powering magic. From what I could tell so far, there were at least a dozen people at the club already and it was only 9 p.m. I wasn't sure what I should do next. I was torn. On the one hand I thought I should stop everything and save old man moneybags, but on the other hand a lesbian orgy did sound fun.
Sadly there was no time for fun, I had to stop the orgy and keep old man moneybags alive, well at least alive long enough for his check to clear. I searched my pockets for the switch blade I always carry with me, yeah I know its illegal but I like it so deal with it. The knife was in my pocket like it always was, it was now or never. I tossed the sunglasses in the passenger chair, shut the door, and made my way for the club's entrance. I was greeted by a butch looking woman, who's name was actually Butch. I flashed her a smile that said hi, I'm with the band. Apparently my smile was badass because she let me in without any problems. The club was like every club, black lights and neon, loud music that makes you want to start dancing until you fall down, and lots of pretty people doing things they know they shouldn't.
However, I wasn't really prepared for what I walked in on. Apparently the festivities were already underway because all the women in the club, all of whom were young and gorgeous, were lying on their backs in a circle. Each woman was doing something naughty and interesting to the women on either side of them; they were moaning and groaning in pleasure. My body decided that it wanted to say ta hell with the mission and let's get busy. My brain told my body to shut up and focus. Mrs. Wellsworth stood in the center of the circle, she too was naked, her arms were raised above her head and lightning was sparking all around her. She was preparing the spell, and by the looks of it, she was calling up a lightning bolt that was going to stop old man moneybags' heart once and for all. I cleared my throat as loudly as I could and coughed slightly, "excuse me, are you the manager because I want to file a complaint, there are boobs all over the floor! I nearly slipped and broke my neck!" I shouted over the thumping of the music. Lady moneybags opened her eyes and looked at me, her spell wavered, but she regained control of it.
"Who are you, how did you find this place!" she demanded, for being butt naked and surrounded by lightning and other naked ladies, she didn't seem to care much.
"I followed the scent of Chanel and pure evil," I wrinkled my nose as if I couldn't get the smell out of my nose, "lead me right to you" I beamed at her, she didn't seem to be bothered by my insults.
"My husband sent you didn't he," she frowned, "now I'll have to kill both of you." No sooner had she said that, the pool boy appeared from nowhere and decked me in the face. He caught me off guard, which is also why he managed to cuff me with a pair of the pink fuzzy handcuffs. Well plan A had backfired, on to plan B. I was kind of wishing I had come up with a plan B before I charged into club evil sex. I looked over my shoulder at the pool boy, who was still holding onto my cuffed hands as if I might escape the cuffs and he'd just slap them back on. "Hi, I'm Hank" I said politely. The pool boy didn't answer me. "Strong silent type huh, that's cool," I nodded me head in agreement with myself, "I tried that once, but everyone just thought I was a drug dealer"
"Silence!" hissed lady moneybags. Aw ha, I was irritating her. That was a good thing. The more I could distract her, the better the chances of her spell backfiring on her.
"Make me!" I shouted, "I have rites you know!" I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I don't know what she did, but I felt a wave of energy pulse through the room and all the women on the ground let out shrieks of pleasure. It was like each of them had just been injected with a double dose of ecstasy. Then I felt the surge of power around lady moneybags, she'd somehow double timed the energy gathering process and her spell was nearly complete. I was running out of time. I looked over my shoulder again, "Hey pool boy, what would you do if I told you I slipped the cuffs?" The pool boy looked shocked and he actually let out a subsonic huh like all true lackeys do. I saw him look down at the cuffs out of the corner of my eye, and that was when I threw my head back and smashed the back of my head against his face. I felt his nose break against my skull, which hurt me just as much as it did him. I heard him collapse to the floor whimpering in pain; apparently the pool boy had a low pain threshold.
Lady moneybags paid no attention to the little scuffle; she was far too close to the end to risk losing her focus now. That meant that if I didn't act fast old man moneybags would be investing in a coffin by tomorrow. I pulled off my impression of a martial artist and hopped in the air, sliding my cuffed hands from behind my back and under my feet, bringing them to rest at my chest. Oh yeah, I can be slick when I have to. I dashed across the distance between me and the circle of naked ladies. As I got to the circle I leapt and tackled lady moneybags to the ground, I was as careful as I could be not to step on or land on any of the women forming the circle. Now you might ask, why tackle her instead of using magic to stop her. Well the answer is simple, I didn't want to risk using magic and adding to the chaos that could potentially backfire on me, not to mention that all my wizardly focusing gear was in the jeep and without it anything more than the neat little spells I'd been casting would be really difficult and I didn't have the kind of time or energy to put into that right now.
Moneybags shrieked at the sudden impact of 185 lbs of all American wizard plowing into her like a wrecking ball. It wasn't the most subtle, or the most creative, or the safest way to sever her focus on the spell, but damn if it didn't work. The spell went haywire. Lightning bolts bounced all over the club and I took cover underneath of the aviator jacket as if it were bomb shelter, I also focused my will into all the various pieces of jewelry I was wearing brining my shield up around me. The shield spell was an old spell passed down through my family, each member of my family had worn a bracelet they used to focus the energy into a shield, but if the bracelet ever broke or was taken then you would be mostly defenseless, so I modified the spell to work in parts and I designed it to be focused through several points instead of just a bracelet in case one part broke or went missing I would still have a back up. I could feel lightning bolts bouncing off the jacket and my shield, it was like being hit with a stick and static shocked at the same time. I heard lady moneybags screaming. And then everything went silent. The music stopped, all the moans of the women had stopped, and lady moneybags wasn't screaming anymore.
Ever so slowly I poked my head out from under the jacket, the lights were dimmer and a few of them were flickering in and out of life. I got to my feet, whispering a word as I did. My will flowed through the word and freed my hands from the cuffs with the sounds of the locks clicking open. The cuffs fell to the floor with a muffled thud. I looked around; the club was wrecked and scorched. I checked each of the women to make sure they still had a pulse and were still breathing, and yes this did mean copping a feel or two, but it was for the greater good. All of the women were ok, they would be out for a little bit and when they woke up they would be really tired, they were after all basically being used as batteries. I checked on lady moneybags, but I didn't really need to because she was obviously dead. She had been deep fried and turned into a blackened husk. That's what happens when you let a nasty spell like that backfire on you, the sobering part of it was that if I'd been a few minuets later that blackened husk of a person would have been old man moneybags instead of his wife, sorry, former wife.
The cops and paramedics showed up not ten minuets after the spell backfired; no doubt the backlash had made a nice lightshow that the neighbors informed the police about. I made sure I was long gone by the time they got there, not just because I was riding around in a stolen car and wearing stolen clothing, but because I didn't really have a good lie to tell about why I was in a lesbian club and why I was the only one wearing clothes during the freak lightshow. So I split before the boys in blue got anywhere near the place. What can I say, me and the law have a love/hate relationship, it loves to make my life harder and I hate when it makes my life harder.
The next day I met up with Mr. Wellsworth at his giant house, he informed me that the cops uncovered all sorts of nasty secrets the misses had been hiding, credit card fraud, grand larceny, attempted murder, and three other husbands his age who had all mysteriously died of heart attacks. He thanked me over and over again, handed me another large check which he called a bonus, and then thanked me a few more times while he had Alfred fetch me a beer for the road, not that I'd drink it while driving; that would be irresponsible of me…
Later that day I returned to the parking lot of the shopping mall, I pulled the super nice impala into the space next to my crappy jeep. I grabbed the clip board from the impala glove box and my cell phone from my glove box. I found the number for Robin's Wings and dialed it. A man's voice answered the phone, it was deep and it had a slight southern drawl to it, how'd I know. "Robin's Wings."
"Uh hi, is this Robin?" I asked, this was going to be uncomfortable to say the least.
"Yeah this is Robin, what can I do for you?" he sounded like he was in his mid fifties.
"My name's Hank, I found your car, '67 cherry red impala right?" I could almost hear the man smile.
"You found her, where are you?"
"At the shopping mall where it was stolen, I'm the guy standing next to the crappy jeep parked next to your car, I'll be here when you get here" I said hanging up before he could ask anything else. About fifteen minuets later a cab dropped off a man that looked like he was in his mid fifties. He was as tall as me, but a good hundred pounds heavier, a combination of muscle and a comfortable living. His hair was short and turning grey, he sported a full beard too, and I suddenly got the feeling that I might have stolen a car from a retired Hell's Angel or something.
"You Hank?" he asked as he approached me. I was leaning against my jeep trying to look cool and patient.
"Yeah," I pushed myself off my jeep, "Robin I assume?"
"That's me," he saw his car and a smile erupted onto his face, "there's my baby!" seriously I thought he might hug the car. It was a little weird.
"Yeah, there she is" I said.
"How'd you find her?" he asked, finally tearing his eyes away from the car and leveling them onto me.
"Uh," I scratched at my head, "well I'm the one who stole her." Robin almost leapt across his car to choke the life out of me, but I could see him restraining himself.
"You what!" he barked, yeah this guy was so the wrong dude to steal from.
"Look I'm sorry, I'm a P.I. and I was working a case and I needed a set of wheels and your car was closest at the time." It was the truth, but I knew he didn't care, I'd stolen his car and that was all that mattered.
"I don't give a damn if the president told you to jack my car himself!"
"I know, and I'm sorry, but a man's life was in danger, your car helped me save him," I reached into my pocket and fished out the bonus check old man moneybags had given me, "look, I want to buy the car from you and the jacket." He took the check and his eyes got wide.
"You really saved this guy, and he gave you this much money?"
"Yep, and I couldn't have done it without your car, so I figure you deserve half of the profit." I took out the first check from old man moneybags and handed it to him. His jaw nearly dropped.
"Let me get this right; you stole my car, and now you want to pay me for letting you use it, and you want to buy it from me along with my jacket?"
"Yes, oh and the sunglasses too." I confirmed. Robin stared at me in disbelief.
"What did you say your name was?"
"Hank Kirby the 3rd" I answered. He smiled at me for a long moment. And then we talked about the situation that had led to me stealing his car and how the case had ended up for a good forty or so minuets, and then I drove home in my new cherry red 1967 Chevy Impala with my new jacket and a kickass pair of shades. See, things aren't always so bad.
THE END
End file.
| Misc. Adventure, Fantasy | Fanfiction | null | 25,683 | 9,524.7 |
null | Misc. Books He's Your Baby
**He's Your Baby**
**Andy likes his step brother Oli more than he should and is a relationship with said step brother, but Andy's guilt is catching up with what he believes to be an incestuous relationship. Can Oli salvage their relationship, or has the flame burnt out for good?**
**Disclaimer: I don't own Oli Sykes, Andy Biersack or any other famous person who may appear. Andy and Oli are not related in any shape or form. This is just my twisted fangirlness forming an idea to try and kill my writers block. I own the plot, that's all! :D**
_**-THIS IS A REPOST!-**_
**-Kat**
* * *
_[Andy]_
I lay curled up next to Oli. His hands tangled in my long dyed-black, as I traced his bare, tattooed chest. I fell in love with him so long ago, back when I was 15, he was 19, and my mother and his father were only dating. That same year they became engaged and then became a married couple on September 15th.
Now I'm 19 and Oli's 23, he's my brother for fuck's sake! Yet he's also the man I love, and the man I'm in a relationship with. Yes, relationship. I'm in a relationship with my older brother. Call me sick, but me and Oli aren't related. His dad, Nicholas, didn't adopt me, because I asked him not to, and he understood that. No one can replace my daddy. My daddy, Brock, who lives all the way in Cincinnati, Ohio... But anyway, me and Oli! So we're not related, so it's not incest, yet my stupid conscious keeps telling me otherwise.
_This is wrong! He's your brother! Stop!_
I groaned. _Stupid motherfucking conscious..._
"Are you okay honey?" Oli asked me, his hands still running through.
"Yeah, Oli, I'm fine." I lied, burying my face in his chest.
"Andy..." He said. Oli always knew when I was lying. "Baby, don't lie to me."
"I'm not!" I said (muffled against his chest.)
"Andrew." He said.
"Oliver." I mocked, whining (still muffled.)
"Andrew, stop lying to me. I know you're not fine." He said.
I lifted my head. "Oli..." I said. "I... I'm fine, I just-"
"You just what Andy?"
"I just d-don't know if we should be doing this..." I hung my head.
"Andy! Please, not this again!" Oli said sitting up. He threw the covers off, standing in nothing but boxers and sweats. "Stop with this fucking doubt, already!"
"Oli you're my brother!" I defended. "It's wrong!"
"Wrong my fucking arse! We aren't fucking related!" He yelled.
"Quit yelling at me!" I yelled back.
_Hypocritical much, BatBoy?_
I groaned. "Stop it!"
It was directed at myself, but Oli still thought I was whining at him.
"Fine!" He yelled. "I'll fucking stop! I'll stop kissing you! I'll stop touching you! I'll stop bloody loving you if that will make you fucking happy!"
I stared in shock as Oli slammed the door shut and left me in his room, his bed, alone. I pulled the covers tight around me and I cried into the pillow. When I couldn't cry anymore, I just laid there, wondering where Oli was- whether he was still even in the house- and how the hell I'd managed to fuck up the relationship with the only man I've ever truly loved.
* * *
_[Oli]_
I guess what pissed me off was the fact that Andy claimed to love me, yet he was still going through a phase of doubt. I love Andy and I know he loves me too, so why does he keep doing this.
I was his first kiss. I was his first hand/blow job. I was the man who took his virginity. I remember that night so well...
_"Andy... Baby, are you sure?"_
_"Y-yeah, I'm sure Oli. F-fuck me... Please, take my virginity..." He whined._
_"Mmm, I'm gonna fuck that hole of yours. I bet you're fucking tight baby..."_
_I lubed myself up, and gently pushed inside. Andy hissed in pain. "Oli, ow! It hurts"_
_"Shh, baby, it'll all get better. I promise." I whispered, before slamming my lips to his._
I sighed. Maybe yelling at Andy wasn't the best idea, I mean I heard him crying!
_Fuck, this is not my day..._
I opened the door to the bedroom and found my Andy curled up in the covers. I sighed.
"Andy?"
His body tensed and I sighed again. I removed the cover and gently slipped in next to him. I brought the cover over us and wrapped my arms around his waist. He stiffened even more, so I began nuzzling his neck, as that's always had a calming effect.
"Andy... Honey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I yelled at you baby, you know I didn't mean what I said. I love you, you know that."
Andy turned his body, so his face was facing my chest, before he looked up at him shyly. "Oli, I... I'm sorry too."
I shook my head, "Don't be. It's okay Andy."
"I love you Oli," Andy smiled.
"I love you too Andy. I love you so much sweetie." I whispered, before I kissed him and genlty parted his lips with my tongue. Our tongues massaged together, and I slipped one hand into the sweats he was wearing. I felt the lacy material of his thong, and I slipped my hand inside. His breathing quickened and so did my pace.
He moaned loud into my mouth. I pulled away and began sucking on his collarbone, determined to leave my mark. His long, slender leg wrapped around my waist as he slowly began humping me.
"Andy, fuck!" I yelled as my dick hardened.
"Oli... Ohhhhhhhh, yes! Faster! Fuck!"
I moaned as I quickened my hand. Andy stopped humping me, and instead used one hand to toss me off, and the other to caress my arse.
"A-Andy." I moaned as I ejaculated. (Yes, I cum quick! Problem? No? Good.)
"Oli... Fuck!"
My baby came on my hand, which I then licked off, because I love my baby's cum. He snuggled into my chest, as we came off our post-orgasmic high.
"Soooooo... Shower?" I suggested.
Andy giggled. "Okay."
He kissed me slowly, but lovingly. "I love you Oli."
"I love you too, sweetie, I love you too." I said, kissing his forehead.
_Time for Round Two..._
* * *
**WARNING: Flame reviews will be used to make toast.**
End file.
| Misc. Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,815 | 15,841.1 |
null | Rocko's Modern Life No Kaddish for Filburt
**No Kaddish for Filburt**
My wife, Dr. Paula Hutchison, left me last year. I should have seen it coming, but that's how it goes. Quite frankly, for the most part, our marriage was like a Ralph Bighead cartoon. Sometimes she'd even try to poke my eye out with her hook hand, and it felt like a parking meter in the face. We had four kids, all from the same egg. Well, actually, I didn't have any of the kids. They were all hers. It wasn't until much later, when she was taking my extremely rare Really Really Big Man comic books to put in her own place, in an actually quite clean garage where they'd never be read again, that she let the news slip. That fat bull—we all thought he was a steer, but he couldn't have been castrated now, could he?—is the father of all four of my kids. Even the turtle twins, Gilbert and Shelbert, actually take after Hutch's father, Colonel Frank Hutchison, who ironically founded Kentucky Fried Turtle in 1965. Yes, turtle is unfortunately a delicacy among certain O-Town inhabitants, and my own ex-father-in-law is to blame. Much to the dismay of Hutch, whose maternal line is a perfect all-American _Dogs Playing Poker_ family (except that they are felines, thus mixing my metaphor), cat meat is also served in certain O-Town restaurants, but most citizens scorn the consumers of cats. Even I admit to have eaten cat meat once, three Christmas Eves ago, and my experience left me hiding in my shell for days on end. Immediately after cleaning the Manx carcass from my plate, I noticed the $6.66 meal also contained a slim slip of paper reading "BAD LUCK AND EXTREME MISFORTUNE WILL INFEST YOUR PATHETIC SOUL FOR ALL ETERNITY." The redundancy of that statement aside, I felt like Aesop had lied to me all those years ago. It seemed the tortoise (me) would not win the race. Three years later, and my old friend hopelessness visits me again, alerting me of how successful the hare has become in business while I slave away at the DMV, even more bored with my thoughts than I am with my occupation's environment.
I know what you're thinking, maybe I just ate a black cat, is all, and that made me unlucky. Take some time to hear me negate that theory: the cat was turquoise. The particular restaurant I ate at specializes in amazing Technicolor kittens, and one night a year (that being Christmas Eve), they serve them for the heavily reduced price of $6.66. Seeing such a bargain makes me feel all peachy inside. It's the kind of thrill I have only gotten elsewhere from watching old cartoons with my crazy Aunt Gretchen. Most people don't know this, but she got me started on my comic book collection as well. I don't like cartoons as much now that I'm no longer a boy. I especially have taken a disliking to the older, funnier ones. Even the first season of _Wacky Delly_ just doesn't hold a candle to the more ambitious work I lent my voice to. We had 13 episodes produced for that season, and only a few seconds of the first one saw the light of day. God knows if bootleggers have them on VHS, I could use some copies. I tried contacting Ralph Bighead once, and he promised to send me the unaired episodes through the mail. Thing is he never did, but I can't really blame him, what with him sculpting all those still life wine glasses in sandy deserts. Okay, this is one tangent too many. I think it would be for the benefit of the readers here (hello) if I continued with the story about my ex-wife I promised earlier.
Anyways, I already mentioned how two of my kids, the identical turtle twins, aren't actually mine biologically, even though they do take after me in resemblance. The same can be said for Norbert, the slow-witted, myopic one, who actually in many respects is the spitting image (without so much saliva) of his dear Uncle Heffer, which the kids have always addressed their biological father by (they never gave the same respect to Rocko). And then there's Missy Hutchison-Shellbach, who I'm unashamed to admit is the love of my life.
Sure, I've picked up a lot of flack in the community of O-Town for our relationship, what with her being 30 years younger than me. I'm a turtle, goddammit! There's a modern Methuselah on Kerplopigos Island who's 3,000 years old, and a mere 30-year age gap drives you clowns to tears? Feh! What's also common, of course, is a criticism that I'm dating and am engaged to be married to my daughter. Which is a valid argument, I suppose, until you realize that, as stated before, she isn't my daughter, okay? Missy is a high-spirited, highly independent young feline who, despite her all-American given name, has all the intellectuality and wit of the old Jewish comedian who lives inside me. Sure, she's got a bit of Jewish American princess in her too, but that doesn't bother this turtle at all so get used to it. I'm sick of the complaints and I don't need you to tell me who's a pedophile and who's a victim. There may be no Kaddish for Filburt in 2,950 years, but for now I'm living the life I always dreamed of. I got no more hooks stabbing me in the eye every time I want some quick late afternoon pussycat, and I've even arranged for Missy to receive a brand new hand for her sweet sixteen, or whatever it is in cat years. No prizes for those who guess correctly the reason why I'm so eager to have this surgery performed.
End file.
| Rocko's Modern Life, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,377 | 12,462.7 |
null | Rocko's Modern Life 1. Chapter 1
**(A/N:) Here's my first fan fic. That's not **_**Ren and Stimpy **_**related! People think I got the inspiration for this from the **_**Animaniacs **_**episode **_**Potty Emergency. **_**Shockingly, I didn't! I actually had this in a dream weeks ago, before I even saw that episode XD So enjoy the Rocko goodness! ;)**
"**For Bladder or For Worse"**
**Chapter 1**
Rocko and Heffer walked into Rocko's house one night. "Phew! What a night!" Heffer flopped on the couch. "I'll say!" Rocko joined him as Spunky jumped on his lap. There were bags under their eyes. "I KNOW!" He yelled with enlightenment. "AH!" Rocko screamed and fell off the couch, alarmed by Heffer's loud and excited voice. "We should have a water drinking contest!"
"What?" He said, helping himself back on the couch. "A water drinking contest! Whadda you say, Rock?"
"I don't see why not! Let's go!"
They sat at the table. "I should warn you, Rocko, I can drink as much as I can eat!"
"I dunno, Hef, I had _a lot _of popcorn tonight, and I'm _really _thirsty!" They laughed and GULPED.
**1 hour later…**
The two were bloated. "Okay, Rock, you win! I give up. Congrats."
"Yes!"
"Well, I actually better go home." He grabbed a chicken from Rocko's fridge. "'Night, Rocko!"
"Goo'night, Hef!" He shut the door. "Time fuh bed. Come on, Spunky." Spunky barked in agreement and ran behind Rocko up the stairs. He settled into bed and sighed. "'Night, Spunky. See you in the morning."
**(A/N): I know this was a weird chapter 1, but trust me, Rocko's in for a bad time starting in chapter 2! I mean, drinking God-knows-how much water one night and the fact that people have to take a whiz first thing in the morning? YIKES. **
2. Chapter 2
**Chapter 2**
Rocko slowly awoke the next morning. He yawned and stretched, wearing an adorable white bathrobe. "Boy, did I sleep well. How 'bout you, Spunk-"
"ARF!" Holding his food dish, Spunky jumped on Rocko's lower stomach. "OOF! Heh heh," He said with that nervous little laugh. "I guess I overdid it with the water last night, eh, Spunky?" He jumped out of bed, a desperate look on his face. "I'll be right back!" He RAN out of the room. Just to his luck, the door was stuck. He struggled desperately to open it. He groaned and picked up a saw, which didn't work. He tried everything he could: a hammer, a a jack, a jackhammer, a knife, and Mickey Mouse. "Huh!"
"Ho ho! Put me down, you wallaby son of a bitch! Ho ho!"
"AAHH!" Scared out of his mind, he threw him out the window. "Ho ho! My leg's broken! Oh, the incredible irony! Ho ho!"
"Sorry about that!" Called Rocko. "Oh! This darn door. I guess the only thing I can do is go outside. Oh, the lack of dignity!" He ran downstairs like he was being chased by a naked Frank Reynolds.
But when he got outside, EVERY house around him had his neighbors partying outside. "Hi, Rocko!" They all greeted simultaneously. There was no way he could hide. "Maybe Hef'll let me use his bathroom," He said in a desperate, dazed voice. He went upstairs, grabbed his keys and leaped in the car. It was just his luck it wouldn't start. "Oh, I don't have time for this!" He grumbled with disparity. As he ran down the street, he noticed EVERYONE in O-Town was out in their yards, front or back. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?" He screamed.
Finally, he got to the Wolfe residence. "Phew. Made it. He knocked at the door. No answer. He was getting even more desperate than before. He pounded on the door this time, but a piece of paper he didn't even notice flew in his face. "What's this? A note!"
_**Dear Rocko, me and my familywent to celebrate O-Town's national Stay outdoors all Day week at my Aunt's house way uptown.**_
_**-Heffer**_
_**P.S.- Could you get some Pasture Puffsfor when I come home? My Aunt Colleen never makes good food!**_
Rocko SCREAMED. Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?"
"Excuse me?" Rocko looked up to see Gladys, the infamous huge-breasted hippo lady who _always _found a way to put poor Rocko in awkward places… almost literally. "Is everything okay, cute little man?"
"Hippo Lady?"
"Oh, please. Call me Gladys." She giggled bashfully. "I just moved in right next door. Do you need any foods or drinks for O-Town's national Stay outside All Day Week?"
"Well, um, actually, heh heh…" He gulped and twiddled and played with his fingers. "Awkward as this may sound, can I please use your bathroom?"
"Oh, sure. Come right this way!" She giggled again. She led him upstairs. "There you are!"
"Oh, thanks!"
"Of course! _Anything _for a cute polite man such as yourself." He slammed the door. "Boy! Gladys's bathroom is a wreck! She really needs to clean." Unfortunately, he slipped on a water stain and bumped into her hamper, causing all the laundry to come out. A thong landed on his head, and her bra was in an awkward spot. "Oh my gosh! This is embarrassing!" His face was unbelievably red. "How much laundry does she have? This is a _disaster! _How could it get worse?"In an attempt to get up, he bumped into a shelf, knocking down her tampons on his lap and a picture of her in a bikini, which landed in his hands. He shuddered and wretched. (So let's recap: He's got a picture of her in a bikini, there's a box of tampons on his lap, he's got a really skimpy thong on his head, and her bra landed on his awkward spot. He fainted.
"Yoo-hoo! Is everything okay in there?"
"Cripes, she's coming!" She walked inside and saw… well, everything. "HOW DARE YOU!"
"No, you don't understand!"
She kicked him out of the house. "Gladys, PLEASE!" He begged. "That's Hippo Lady to you! Now BEAT IT, YOU SICK, PERVERTED PIG!" She slammed the door. "Oh! I'm gonna die!" Rocko cried.
3. Chapter 3
**Chapter 3**
"Well, it's come down to this- I have to go in the most disgusting place in the world- well, besides Texas." He gulped. "... Grocery store restrooms." He went to go into the grocery store. There unfortunately was a huge sign. Rocko read it aloud: "Dear customers, for O-Town's national Stay Outside All Week Day, we will be closed all week. Sorry if we caused you inconvenienced you. Hope you don't have to pee." Rocko's eyes widened. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Hey, wait." He paused. "There _is _one place I haven't tried." He put his hands over his eyes in disbelief. "I can't _believe _it's come down to this!"
He rang a doorbell. "Oh, hello, Rocko!" Mrs. Bighead greeted. "Hi, Mrs. Bighead!" He said desperately, physically unable to stop bouncing. "This is really odd sounding, but may I _please _use your bathroom? I'm _really, really _desperate! I can't find _anywhere _else to go!"
"Well, ouaw home is yaw home, darling. Go right ahead. I'll be joining the party outside if you need me."
"Thank you so much!" He rushed upstairs. OF COURSE, Mr. Bighead got in the way. "What do you think you're doing in my humble home, w_allaby?"_
"Look, Mr. Bighead, I _really _have to use the bathroom and-"
"Oh, no! I want you to do some things for me first!"
"WHAT?"
"You heard me! Now, GET ON YER KNEES!"
"But-"
"NOW!" Rocko immediately obeyed. "Now, call yourself worthless!" Rocko ran to the window. "MRS. BIGHEAD!" Mr. Bighead shut the window and took out a camera. Rocko couldn't open it. "Okay, okay! I'm worthless. I'm worthless! Now, please, can I-"
"Now, put on this leprechaun costume!"
"Where did you even get that!"
"Shuddup and obey me!" Rocko obeyed again. Ed took several pictures. "Now, get nude!"
"Please, Mr. Bighead, _anything _ but that!"
"Okay. You can…" He whispered in his ear. Rocko ran out of the house, screaming. "THAT'S CRAZY! Who thinks of those things?" He sat in front of his house and cried hysterically. "Oh, what am I gonna do? I can't hold it anymore!" He resumed crying uncontrollably, tears staining his shirt. "Hi, Rocko!" He looked up to a familiar, sweet voice. "Dr. Hutchinson?"
"Yup! I just got off work, 'kay? Now what's wrong?" She sat next to him. He blushed. "It's embarrassing."
"Oh, come on!"
"Okay…" He said hesitantly. "I had a water drinking contest with Heffer and my bathroom door wouldn't open and I can't go outside 'cuz people will see me and Heffer wasn't home and the Hippo Lady's insane and all the stores, businesses and gas stations are closed and the Mr. Bighead wants me to do gross things and I HAFTA GO LIKE CRAZY!" He cried again. "I've never had to go worse in my _entire life! I've never held it this long!"_
"Wow. That was quite the rant, Rocko! I'll see if I can fix the bathroom door." He sniffled and looked up. "You'd do that?"
"Sure! I wouldn't want a good friend go into kidney failure! Let's go."
All she did was unlock the bathroom door with her hook. "There ya go!"
"That was it?"
"Mm-hm!"
"THANK YOU!" He ran inside.
When he came out, he shook her hand. "Oh, Dr. Hutchinson! How can I _evah _repay you?"
"By not drinking with Heffer. And don't be ashamed, Filburt does things like this all the time!'Kay?" She giggled, but her face fell serious and slightly annoyed. "…Only stupider. You take care now! And please… call me Paula, 'kay?" She began to walk out. "Um, Rocko?" She called.
Everyone who declined Rocko was standing outside. "ROCKO, CAN WE USE YER BATHROOM?" They begged simultaneously. "Uuuuuuhhhhhhhh…"
"Ho ho! A doctor!" Mickey Mouse came crawling over. "Can ya look at my leg, doc? That little wallaby bastard broke it." Blank expressions on their faces, Paula and Rocko shut the door.
**(A/N): Pretty weird dream I had, huh? Mickey Mouse was just a bonus, but that whole concept and ending was my dream! Stay tuned for commentary with the stars! **
4. Chapter 4
**Commentary with the Stars 3**
***Jesikuh (me, the writer, as a rabbit,) Rocko, and Paula (Dr. Hutchinson,) are all in my living room, sitting in chairs.**
**Jesikuh: **Well, we had a lot of fun tonight, huh, guys?
**Rocko *crosses arms*: **I didn't have a good time until the end!
**Jesikuh: **Okay, well, most of us had fun!
**Paula: **I'm just so honored I'm in a fan fic., kay?"
Jesikuh: Aw, you guys are too cute to not write about!
**Rocko *blushes*:** Will we be in anymore fan fiction?
**Jesikuh: **Butof course! 'Cuz who the hell doesn't love writing about cute little wallabies?
**Paula: **Is my Filbert gonna be in the next one?
**Jesikuh: **Yup!
**Rocko: **Can we _please _try to keep Hippo Lady out of the next one?
**Jesikuh: **I promise, she won't be there long!
**Rocko and Paula: *Sigh with relief and wipe sweat off of their foreheads.*: **Thank goodness!
***Everyone from outside comes barging in. This includes, Gladys, Mr. Bighead and Mickey Mouse.***
**Mr. Bighead: **C'mon, _wallaby, _we all locked ourselves out of our own houses!
**Mickey Mouse: **Ho ho! Who the hell is _she?"_
**Jesikuh: **I'm yer writer!
**Gladys: ** So you caused this?
**Jesikuh *shrugging*: **Well, youhad it coming! Not letting poor Rocko use yer bathroom! How could'jou?
**Mickey: **Well, guess what?
**Gladys: **We're gonna hit'cha!
**Ed: *Points at the ground*: **And yer gonna fall…..
**Mickey, Gladys, and Ed: **And we're gonna look down, and we're gon-na laugh! But first, we gotta take a whiz!
**Mickey: **Except me, I need nineteen twenties surgery! ***The three walk upstairs.***
**Jesikuh, freaked out: **How the hell did we find time for that inaccurate _Ren & Stimpy _reference?
**Paula: **Why did they finish each other's sentences? I thought this was _Rocko's Modern Life, _not _The Powerpuff Girls!_
**Rocko: **Let's go! We can hide in Camp Kidney!
***They all begin running***
**Jesikuh: **Why didn't I make this a crossover?
***They all turn back:***Thanks for reading!
End file.
| Rocko's Modern Life, Humor | Fanfiction | null | 11,645 | 21,488.2 |
null | Rocko's Modern Life 1. The Big Surprise!
(A/N: Here's another story featuring Rocko and Kate. This takes place only a few months after those crazy kids got married. Let's see what happens...)
Rocko and Kate have been married for several months, and for them, life was getting better all the time. Acutally, life hasn't been all that good, 'cause Kate started feeling sick not too long ago. But she just recently found out why she hasn't been feeling well, and the reason was actually nice...
"Rocko, I've got some good news." Kate told her husband one night.
"What is it?" Rocko asked.
"Well, how do I put it?" Kate said, pretending to think about how she was going to tell him.
"At this rate, I may never find out the news." Rocko said with a sigh.
"Okay, I'll just tell you and get it over with. I'm having a baby!" Kate told him. A few moments of silence went by before Rocko spoke.
"You know, Kate, I could've sworn you said you're having a baby." Rocko said, feeling a little nervous. He was okay about being a parent, but not this soon.
"I _am_ having a baby." Kate told him.
"You are?" Rocko asked.
"Uh-huh!" Kate replied, nodding her head.
"Really?" Rocko asked.
"Yup!" said Kate.
Rocko blacked out...
_One hour later_...
Rocko awoke to find himself in bed, with Spunky licking his face.
"What happened?" Rocko asked himself.
"Oh, you're awake!" a familiar voice said. Rocko saw Kate sitting by his side, looking relieved.
"Kate, what happened?" Rocko asked his wife.
"You blacked out when I told you that I'm pregnant." Kate replied.
"I don't know if I'm ready to be a parent just yet..." Rocko said.
"Oh, come on. You'll be a great parent. I've seen how good you are with kids." Kate said. (A/N: She helped him baby-sit Filburt's kids from time to time.)
"Kate, I'm not that good." Rocko said.
"Rocko, I'm being honest here." Kate told him.
"Okay, you win." said Rocko.
Wow, Rocko and Kate are going to be parents! This should make for an interesting story! Stay tuned, and please review, but flames are NOT accepted!
2. Having The Baby
(A/N: Well, it was surprising to learn that Kate is pregnant. Let's see what happens next.)
_9 months later_...
Well, Kate was fully pregnant, ready to give birth any day now. Rocko was incredibly nervous about being a parent, and there wasn't much Kate could do to calm his nerves.
"_If he's this nervous now, I hate to imagine how he's going to react when I have the baby_." Kate wondered.
Early one morning, Kate awoke with a start, feeling really sick. She realized that she must be in labor, and she had to get to the hospital fast.
"Rocko! Get up! NOW!" Kate yelled, shaking her husband awake.
"What's the matter?" Rocko sleepily asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Get me to the hospital!" Kate said. Rocko knew why Kate was saying this, and he looked like he was about to have a panic-attack. Upon seeing the way he looked, Kate said, "Rocko, try to keep calm..."
That didn't work, 'cause Rocko ended up panicking.
"Where's help when you need it?" Kate asked herself, feeling worse.
Just then, peachy author showed up, and Rocko, who had been running around in circles while panicking, bumped into me.
"What's going on here?" I asked.
"She's having the baby!" Rocko said, pointing at Kate.
"And he's too panicked to get me to the hospital!" Kate said, pointing at Rocko.
"I'll fix that!" I said. I snapped my fingers, and in one second, we found ourselves at the hospital.
"Thanks!" Rocko and Kate said when they realized that they were at the hospital.
"No prob!" I said, and then I disappeared.
Because the birth process is not very pleasant, I'm just going to skip right to the part where the baby is out.
So the baby was out, and Rocko and Kate had a moment to themselves while the doctor went to make sure the baby was okay.
"Giving birth isn't an easy chore, and it hurts!" Kate sighed.
"All we can do right now is hope that the baby is okay." Rocko said.
Minutes later, Peachy-Author showed up, dressed as a nurse.
"Hey, since you're writing this story, the least you can do is tell us if our baby is okay." Kate told me.
Is the baby okay? Is it a boy or a girl? We'll find out in the next chapter, so stay tuned, and please review, but DON'T flame me!
3. The Baby's Here!
(A/N: Let's find out about that baby! I don't own "Rocko's Modern Life", but I do own the baby (look for the bio on my profile). I'm going to get to the chapter before the suspense kills you!)
"Don't worry. The baby's perfectly healthy, and it's a boy!" I told them.
"We got a son!" Rocko and Kate said in unison, looking happy.
"I know how badly you guys wanna see him, so I'll go fetch him." I said, and I disappeared.
_One second later_...
"I'm ba-ack! And here's your son!" I said, showing them the baby, who was wrapped in a blue blanket with purple triangles on it (A/N: LOL! It matches Rocko's shirt!). I carefully placed the baby in his mother's arms.
"Oh, he's so precious..." Kate whispered.
"This beautiful little baby is really our son?" Rocko asked.
"Yup!" I said, smiling brightly.
"All we have to do now is name him." Kate said.
"Yeah, so let's name him... Uh-oh, we didn't think of any names..." Rocko said, getting worried.
"Rocko, if all else fails, ask the author." Kate said.
"Why are you asking me?" I asked.
"Because you're the author." Kate replied.
"Okay, just give me some time." I said, trying to come up with a name for their son.
Before too long, I said, "Well, you could always name him Dillon."
"That's a nice name." Kate said. She turned to her husband and said, "Rocko, what do you think?"
"It suits him." said Rocko, gazing at his son.
"Alright, his name is Dillon." Kate said.
"Okay, this is where the story ends." I said.
"The story is over?" Rocko asked.
"Yeah. Pretty much." I replied.
"We'll take it from here." Kate told me.
"All right." I said.
"The End." Rocko and Kate said, and then they went back to admiring Dillon.
Well, I got this story done in time for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere! Please review, but flames are NOT accepted!
End file.
| Rocko's Modern Life, Family, Fantasy | Fanfiction | null | 6,134 | 16,236 |
null | Rocko's Modern Life Rocko enamorado en el día de San Valentín
ROCKO ENAMORADO EN EL DÍA DE SAN VALENTÍN
Faltaba solo una semana para el día de los enamorados que se celebraba cada año en el parque O –Town donde hacen una gran fiesta para los novios, todos estaban contentos para que llegara ese día tan esperado todos tenían parejas excepto Rocko donde miraba por la ventana los novios pasear comprando regalos para las novias.
Rocko: suspira hay todos tienen novia menos yo?
Jefe: Insecto, porque estás viendo la ventana ponte a trabajar!
Rocko: jefe, le puedo hacer una pregunta?
Jefe: si, Rocko?
Rocko: alguna vez usted has conocido el amor de su vida osea, su media naranja?
Jefe: no creo en esas patrañas amo mi dinero que nunca me falla en las buenas y en las malas es como si fuera mi hija ahora ve a trabajar y cuando termines cierra el negocio.
Rocko: viejo amargado!
Cuando estaba cerrando el negocio de repente aparece una mujer muy bella cuando la vio se puso de todos los colores y sintió un golpe fuerte en el corazón.
Ella: Oye, tú trabajas aquí?
Rocko: Hay hay si, trabajo aquí!
Ella: Jaja, bueno estoy buscando la última edición de gran gran hombre en el día de los enamorados donde se enamora apasionadamente de una reportera lo tienes verdad?
Rocko: Yo, creó que si déjame conseguirlo.
Aquí lo tienes jeje.
Ella: Gracias eres muy guapo y por ser tan gentil conmigo.
Rocko: Oye, espera cuál es tu nombre?
Eres de por aquí.
Ella: me llamo "Cecile" muack
Rocko se desmayo con el beso de la hermosa Cecile al despertar le dejo un escrito.
Cuando estaba llegando a la casa se encontró con sus amigos Heffer y Filburt. Heffer: Oye, Rockito te sientes bien mira vas a ir al baile de los enamorados yo voy con mi novia Alci y tú? Filburt: yo voy con mi esposita Hutchison y tu Rocko? Rocko:ya me conseguí a mi mujer de mis sueños. Heffer: Cómo, tiene que ser una broma? Filburt: No puede ser como se llama tu mujer de tus sueños jiji Rocko: allá ustedes si no me quieren creer tengo su dirección y su número de teléfono. Heffer: déjame ver, vamos Rocko. Rocko: Oh! No Heffer: Oh oh es la prima de Wallace que trabaja en la pizzería a él no le gusta los walabi… lo siento Rocko es tu fin. Filburt: si te van hacer pizza no te acuerdas de la otra vez que te dieron una paliza y estuviste en el hospital casi un mes. Rocko: me tendré que arriesgar es todo o nada. Solamente a Rocko le quedaban 3 días para la fiesta de San Valentín así que decidió llamarla. Rocko: Hola, Cecile como estas? Quisiera preguntarte algo tienes pareja en el baile para esta sábado en la noche todo el mundo va ir para el baile no tienes pareja te puedo invitar perfecto. Tienes un inconveniente cual es ese inconveniente Wallace no te deja salir entonces tendré que hacer un plan para sacarte de ahí. Entonces llamo a sus amigos y les conto el plan. Heffer: ese Wallace si es malo no deja salir a su prima para divertirse un poco. Filburt: tenemos que hacer algo y rápido. Heffer: estoy contigo 100% amigo Filburt: estoy contigo Rocko Estamos aquí para que tú seas feliz amigo. Rocko: gracias amigos. Mientras tanto Rocko le compro un regalo de sus ahorros era uno de los mejores para ella. A menos de un día para el baile ya estaban preparados para el gran momento. Heffer y Filburt tocaron la puerta de Wallace pun pun Wallace: quien se atreve a tocar mi puerta. Heffer y Filburt: Somos de la A.C.R (AGENTES DE CHICOS RUDOS) Wallace: no eh escuchado eso? Heffer y Filburt: me han reportado un caso de que no dejas salir una chica a la fiesta de enamorados. Wallace: Oh no agentes si ella va a ir Heffer y Filburt: que ella se venga con nosotros Wallace: por su puesto. Heffer y Filburt: lo estaremos vigilando o si no vas preso por 6 meses quieres eso. Wallace: no, no quiero eso. Cuando se estaba acercando a la fiesta Rocko le saco una canción a ella. Daft Punk Digital Love
LAST NIGHT I HAD A DREAM ABOUT YOU
IN THIS DREAM IM DANCING RIGHT BESIDE YOU
AND IT LOOKED LIKE EVERYONE WAS HAVIN FUN
THE KIND OF FEELING IVE WAITED SO LONG
DONT STOP COME A LITTLE CLOSER
AS WE JAM THE RHYTHM GETS STRONGER
THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH JUST A LITTLE LITTLE FUN
WE WERE DANCING ALL NIGHT LONG
THE TIME IS RIGHT TO PUT MY ARMS AROUND YOU
YOURE FEELING RIGHT
YOU WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND TOO
BUT SUDDENLY I FEEL THE SHINING SUN
BEFORE I KNEW IT THIS DREAM WAS ALL GONE
OOH I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO
ABOUT THIS DREAM AND YOU
I WISH THIS DREAM COMES TRUE
OOH I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO
ABOUT THIS DREAM AND YOU
WELL MAKE THIS DREAM COME TRUE
WHY DONT YOU PLAY THE GAME ?
WHY DONT YOU PLAY THE GAME
Se quedo muy emocionada por la canción y era fan de ese grupo. Le dio un tremendo beso le dijo gracias por la canción Rocko le dio un regalo de una joya de esmeralda las más hermosas del mundo. La fiesta iba de lo normal de repente aparece Wallace me engañaron Rocko que haces con mi prima y pun le dio un golpe en la cara Cecile le dice Rocko levántate si quieres pegarme pégame porque yo amo a tu prima y es la madre de mis hijos todos se que daron con la boca abierta, se hicieron preguntas: como, qué? Wallace: te voy La gente de la fiesta comenzó a regañarlo si ellos se aman déjalos tranquilos. Wallace: bien, los dejare tranquilos se ven muy enamorados que siga la fiesta. Y todo volvió a la normalidad. "Eres fresca y en el viento
te haces brisa cuando llegas" FIN Entonces, ¿qué te parece? Por favor, dime si te gusta. Esta es sólo mi pequeña serie que estoy haciendo. Por favor Review. Gracias por su lectura de todos modos ^ _ ^
End file.
| Rocko's Modern Life, Humor, Romance | Fanfiction | null | 5,575 | 32,434.6 |
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