There was nothing but silence throughout the wasteland. Even the wind had silenced itself, blown out after a raging duststorm. If someone cast their eye over the rubble and dust they would see nothing, (possibly due to the fact that they were dead.) If that dead someone went searching though, they might find what appeared to be the dilapidated remains of a school, skeleton-filled buses still parked out front. And, if through the grubby corridors this ghostly adventurer managed to find their way, they would find a rather tacky looking library and hear small voices. Whispering and laughing, sounding like the voices of ghosts, they were the only noises they could hear for miles around. These small voices, as you may have guessed, are really what this piece of writing is about. We will now bid our ghost a warm farewell and see him on his way, for the real story is about to begin.

-o-x-o-

"Throughout the library, amidst the children's books and motivational posters, live a small family of stitchpunks; robotic ragdolls whose main purpose was to survive the war that wiped out humanity. Across every country are groups of them, created for various reasons. Whether they were to preserve information, try to recover mankind or simply have a chance to exist, it was all down to their creator - and how much they told their invention before they had to face their inevitable death. The protagonists of this story live in a small town in the country known as 'England,' all brought to life by different creators, all as close as friends could be... What do you guys think?" a small stitchpunk asked excitedly, looking at the others around him. He was dark grey in colour, with a moss green flick of hair obscuring the top if his eyes and a piece of paper clutched in his carved, wooden hands.

"Are you really writing a story about us?" was the first response. This came from a black and blue banded 'punk, big in build, who had a long, black strip of fabric covering his optic lenses. The first nodded.

"Yes! I thought it would be something to occupy myself with until I can work out how to get to the second shelf of books, because they are very high and I cannot keep asking to be lifted up."

"Well I think it sounds great, Maho, don't let Jet put you down. He's just jealous that you're better than writing than him," a female voice chimed in. This girl was small, had white fabric covering her body with several patches of red where it had torn in places, and a pair of toy glasses that were pink and shaped like hearts resting atop her lenses.

"Please, I insist that you call me by my full name... It is Mahovina, not Maho..."

"I'm sorry," the girl responded with a small laugh, "I forgot that you don't like nicknames."

"Hey," interrupted a male who was sat up on a table and looking down at the other stitchpunks, who were gathered in a circle on the floor. This stitchpunk had pinstriped purple fabric that was fraying at the chin, and wore several pieces of string and elastic bands around his middle as well as having a small pouch filled with pins, paperclips, and thread. "Are you gonna mention us in your little story?" Mahovina nodded quickly, pointed the large pencil he was holding at the paper.

"I am going to bring us up later and note small details about us... How I do not like abbreviations or being given nicknames, Zen always wears some kind of clothes made for a doll, Jet wears a blindfold that he cannot see much through because he prefers seeing shadows, Flash does not like to be without small supplies in case he needs to fix something up, Aura can remember everything she hears, sees and reads, Tallulah has springs in her legs and can fall from great heights without breaking... Speaking of which, where are those two?"

-o-x-o-

"Are you sure about this?" asked a light blue stitchpunk with golden lenses and a curtain of blonde hair that covered most of her face, "This seems kinda dangerous, Tal..."

"Trust me, Aura," replied another 'punk whose black fabric with brightly coloured patches stood out against the faded carpet of the hall, "I'm sure it'll work just fine. And even if it doesn't it'll be better than just hanging around in that library all day! How many times have we left there since the war ended? Even when it became safe to leave there we never did and it's starting to drive me up the wall! I was called 'Tallulah the adventurer' when I was created and I plan to live up to my name!"

I'm pretty sure you were just called that as a joke... Aura thought, but kept her opinion to herself. She didn't want to say it out loud and offend her; she hadn't been raised like that.

"Now come on," Tallulah continued, "we have places to be!"

They'd been just outside the library door as they talked. They stitchpunks used to just keep it open at all times so they could go in and out, but once when Jet and Flash had been wrestling and playing around they'd run into it and slammed it shut. It had taken a few days to finally open it again using a lot of jumping, lassoes, climbing on chairs and shoving. Since then they'd kept several books wedged in between the door and the frame to stop it from permanently shutting again. Aura was sat on an atlas while the multicoloured 'punk stood in front of her and her legs swung slightly.

Tallulah began running down the hall at top speed, not stopping until they reached the end. There was a metre high wall topped with a window frame that had once contained glass. No wind blew through, and the fact that it was the start of summer meant that it was pleasantly warm. "If we can just get up there," she said to herself, (Aura was still jogging down the corridor,) "we'd be able to see into the outside world... We never get to see it properly, and it'll seem really close up here."

"Tal, you're so fast..." sighed Aura when she caught up.

"I'm not that fast, you should just try running instead of being so slow," the patched girl replied. She pointed up at the window before Aura could respond. "Do you think there's any way of getting up there?"

"Not that I can think of... I don't think there'd be any safe way."

"Come on, you have an eidetic memory, you've got to have read something that would help us!"

"Give me a moment, Tal, and I'll think of something," Aura said softly, shutting her optics and focusing. After a few moments she opened them again, smiling confidently. "I have an idea, 'though it might take a while to get supplies."

"Brilliant!" Tallulah exlaimed, "Let's get started!"

"They can't be in here, they'd have heard us asking where they are. They probably wanted to have a look outside," suggested Zen. Jet rolled his optics, (no one seeing, of course.)

"They're always talking about going outside, but they never do."

"When you say they, I assume you mean Tallulah." Mahovina said quietly as he went back to his writing, "Aura has always made it clear that although she shows interest in what lays beyond the walls we live within she is afraid to venture outside." Jet nodded then shrugged.

"Whatever floats your boat, Maho."

"Mahovina," corrected the small stitchpunk.

"As I said, whatever floats your boat."

"They won't have gone far, we'll just wait 'til they come back and ask where they've been," Zen said a little stubbornly. The others knew better than to argue with her. Even if they'd had wanted to argue they wouldn't have had time for at that very moment they heard a voice they recognized as Tallulah's calling out for them from the library's entrance.

"Guys! Guuuys! I have a plan to get outside!"

"Do you need my help?" Flash yelled in response, adding 'as always' in his head.

"I especially need your help, Flash!"

"Is it another one of your ridiculous plans?" he called with a laugh and stood up, although from where he was in the library he couldn't see her as there were shelves blocking the way

"No," she replied, "I really do think it'll work this time! And even if it doesn't it'll be one hell of an adventure!"

-o-x-o-

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my story! I've been working on this chapter for ages, and finally got it uploaded. I don't know how frequently I'll be able to write chapters because I'm very busy with school and trying to find a job, but I will still try my best~

Thanks, again, and remember to review and support your local fic author, heh heh.

~StardustVeins