Chapter 1: Invader Lea

It was a bitter chilly evening in Virginia. The trees were naked, the snow wasn't going anywhere, and driving on the icy road was like flirting with Death. The starless, dark sky was a nagging reminder of how late I was. I was on my way home from class and already knew my siblings were trashing my room. My housemate wasn't present there either, preferring to stay the night at her boyfriend's place since he lived on campus rather than deal with my siblings. This left two unchaperoned minors occupying the place. I could imagine the disaster.

I was about to make a right turn when a black hole formed in front of my car. Shrieking, I slammed my foot on the brake but it was too late. The person who appeared out of nowhere collided with my windshield with a loud thud and a crack and went flying somewhere. I screamed hysterically as the car skidded on the ice but I managed to steer the wheel and regain control of the car before it could spin.

My breathing was too quick.

Placing a hand on my chest, I willed myself to slow down.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

I will not have a panic attack. I will not have an asthma attack.

I gingerly touched the redness on my neck where the seat belt had rubbed against it and sighed in relief as there were no cuts or bruises. It could have been so much worse. I parked the car and turned off the engine.

Oh my god I hit someone.

OH MY GOD I HIT SOMEONE!

"Shit!" I cursed repeatedly as my fingers fumbled to turn the key and turn the car off. I lunged out of my seat to go check on the person but forgot about the seat belt so I was quickly thrown backwards into my seat.

"Ugh, use your brain, you idiot!" I smacked my palm to my forehead.

I glanced at rear view mirror but found no trace of whoever I hit. Panic started to seize my nerves when I couldn't find anyone but then I spotted something red among the white snow. Not blood. Red hair. Thick red, spiky, disheveled hair.

I stared at what seemed to be a male figure wearing a black cloak. For coming out of a black hole, he looked human enough from this distance. I stared at where he laid, debating whether or not I should check to see if he was alive. Dude came flying out of a black hole, okay? And I couldn't think of a plausible explanation of where he came from. Any normal person would hesitate in getting out of their car to check on the alien.

Cautiously I stepped out of the car to inspect the damage but only found my front bumper dented. Another sigh of relief escaped my lips. At least I wouldn't have to worry about a way out of here. I opened the trunk and located my brother's metal baseball and swung it a few times to make sure it was usable.

Oh yeah. As if I really needed to defend myself, but hey! Like I said, this crazy alien popped out of a black hole! How was I supposed to know?

I slowly stepped closer, inch by inch, and craned my neck to get a better glimpse of the...thing.

His arms were spread wide around his body but everything below his waist was buried in the snow. His head was tilted back and if it had gone any further back he would have snapped his neck. His face was towards the dark sky, making him look like he was peacefully asleep.

Too peaceful.

For someone who was just hit by a car I couldn't find any traces of blood, and that both relieved and worried me.

I poked him with the bat and quickly jumped back but got no response. I poked him again. And again. And again.

Nothing.

Maybe he was dead?

"Owwww," I heard him grumble and he began to move. I screeched and whacked him on the head. He slumped back down and didn't move. I waited a few minutes. I poked him. No response. I growled in frustration with myself.

Well if he wasn't dead before he might be dead now.

I stepped forward with some new confidence, leaned down and felt his neck for his pulse. A cloud of air left me as I sighed in relief when I found one. I looked him over, deciding he looked very human and around my age. His face had angular characteristics and his forehead now had a smear of blood from where I got him with the baseball bat.

Spectacular.

I called my brother on my cell phone and got an answer on the fifth ring.

"Where are you?" he snapped. "You are SO late. Mom's going to have your ass. You were supposed to take us home hours ago."

"I just had an accident," I said. "I hit someone."

There was a pause. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a sore neck."

"Are they okay?"

I looked down. "I don't know."

"That's reassuring," he said. I could see him rolling his eyes in my head. "Have you called the cops yet?"

Why didn't I think of that? Stupid, rattled brain. "Not yet. Can you get a hold of Mom and tell her what happened? I'm going to be late so she'll need to pick you up."

A mixture of annoyance and concern weaved into his voice. "You know she's gonna flip out, right?"

"Yeah, I'll deal with her later," I told him. "Right now I have to make sure he's not road kill."

"What about the car?"

"Minimal damage," I said. "Nothing I can't get you to fix later."

"Oh well gee thanks."

"Bye Marino." I hung up and stared at the unconscious guy.

If it was actually a guy. I failed to mention to my little brother that this thing might not even be from our planet. Would calling the cops be a good idea? What if the hospital didn't have what it needed to heal itself? What if this caused the world to go into a full panic because there was an outsider? Would people start thinking that the planet was about to be attacked?

I reasoned that I also didn't have the resources or the time to fix it up and then dialed the emergency number anyway. My call was interrupted by Marino, so I transferred to the other line and walked away from the alien.

"What?"

"Mom wants to know how could you have been so stupid as to hit them," Marino dead panned. "And I'm staying overnight. Apparently she wants me to keep an eye you in case you screw up again."

"Of course, this means I'll also have to take you to school tomorrow morning." I debated with myself in whether I should tell the truth. I exhaled nervously, knowing it was going to sound crazy. "He popped out of a black hole."

"Sole, we've all popped out of a birth canal at some point of time."

I chuckled at his humor, feeling somewhat less tense. "No, seriously. A black hole opened up in front of my car and he came out of it. Hit my car head on."

"Really? Cool! Hey wait, that means you can't call the cops or take him to the hospital." Leave it to my little brother to find this fascinating instead of alarming.

"Don't be ridiculous, Marino, he's injured."

"Yeah but if he's an alien the hospital will keep him and you'll be interrogated," he said. "It'll set you back with your university."

I scowled. The cops having him or the hospital keeping him wasn't my problem. He, and the rest of the world, might be safer there. Who knows what kind of hazard he presented. The interrogation, on the other hand, was a problem. I had no desire to deal with government authorities or missing time at school. I had final exams coming up that I did not want to make up for.

I almost asked him what he suggested but I already knew he'd want to take the alien home with him if he could get away with it. Our parents wouldn't have any of it, of course, but that didn't mean he'd at least try to keep the alien there. Frustration grew as I became uncomfortable with the idea of hiding the alien at my place until further notice. That didn't solve the issue of his injuries though.

"So what am I supposed to do with a wounded alien? I'm not a doctor." I walked back over to the body.

I couldn't see any signs of breathing or moving. He was just lying there in the snow.

"Yeah, but you've got classmates who are pre-med majors…right?" He sounded too hopeful.

"That doesn't make them experts, and you know they're not gonna want to keep him a secret," I said, glancing at the alien. Then again, he looked human. Maybe my classmates didn't have to know and I would just tell them that they could practice their knowledge on him.

Eh. I didn't see that ending well.

"Gotta try something though," said Marino. "I'll see you soon. I have to check on Fiore."

I heard a muffled sound of movement and looked over to see striking green eyes staring back at me.

Red alert: Baseball bat is out of reach.

We stared at each other in silence until he smirked. "You hit like a bitch."

This is it!

My heart nervously pounded in my ears. I felt around for something to hit him with but I had no mace or pepper spray in my coat pockets.

Wait, he said something. What did he say?

There was a deafening silence until I asked, "Are you going to eat me?"

An eyebrow went up. "Why…would I eat you?"

"You came out of a black hole," I stated.

He was amused. "And so I must want to eat you?"

"Only logical explanation I have so far."

He snorted. "Not very logical if you ask me."

I looked around for the baseball bat. "Then feel free to explain what would someone or something want after coming out of a black hole."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "Girl nearly beats me to death and is more concerned about whether or not I want to eat her." He wiggled an eyebrow. "You know, in other circumstances, I would have taken that question completely different."

Did he...did he actually just...seriously?

Note to self: Make sure you KILL the next thing that decides to pop out of a black hole.

I scowled. "I'm assuming that your disgusting, perverted attitude is a sign that you're perfectly healthy, regardless of getting hit by a car."

I arched an eyebrow at him as he sat up and dusted the snow off his sleeves.

"Like I said, you hit like a bitch. I've been hit by much worse."

"Then quit your complaining."

"Oooh. Fiesty. I like that," he smirked.

What is wrong with this thing…person? I stared at him blankly, contemplating on what I should do when he took out a bottle with something green in it and downed it. "What was that?"

"It's called a potion," he answered, nonchalant. "Are you always so inquisitive?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you always so annoying? Who the hell are you? First, you pop out of nowhere and hit my car, scaring the shit out of me, then you SURVIVE without so much as a scratch, and now-"

"Woah! Tone down the noise," he interrupted, waving me off. "So dramatic."

Maybe I had actually died after I lost control of the car. You know? I hit my head too hard, or I hit a boulder, or a tree fell on top of me. These scenes were just the last flashes of my brain until my soul was sent to oblivion.

"My name is Lea. L-e-a," he said. "Got it memorized?" He pointed to his forehead.

"Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Well, as you can tell, I'm not a girl," he said, a vein of annoyance on his forehead. "You're supposed to tell me your name."

"My name? Right. Sole," I said. "S-o-l-e."

Lea stared at me curiously. "The shoe? Or Soulay?"

"Soul-leh." I corrected his pronunciation.

"Weird name," he said.

"So...a potion, eh? You're not going to grow horns or other extra appendages, right?"

"Again, weird." He gave me a funny look. "The potion is just healing me."

"Oh," I said. Well at least I don't have to worry about his injuries now. "Where are you from? Outer space?"

He actually laughed at me! "You could say that."

I slowly began to retreat to my car. The baseball bat was probably forgotten somewhere in the backseat and I had no desire to remain in close proximity to the alien. As cool as some other people would think that is, I'm totally for living instead rather than being subjected to having some spawn from hell burst out of my abdomen.

I've seen Alien vs. Predator too many times.

"Where are you going?" he shouted as I opened my car door. "Oh wait, lemme guess. You're picking up...what was his name...Marino?"

I stopped in my tracks and spun around to face him. "You were awake the entire time, weren't you?"

He smirked. "No worries, I'm one of the good guys."

Oh yeah, because that completely settled my nerves. "Right. Well. It was nice meeting you, but like you've said, I have a place to be. You...go do what you need to do." I returned to the driver's seat and just as I was putting on the seat belt, he opened the passenger's door.

He bumped his head against the top of the car as he slid in. "Holy crap who sits here? A dwarf?"

"What are you doing?" My voice hit a high note. "Get out of my car!"

"Awww you can't just leave me here, darlin'." He adjusted the car seat so he could stretch his legs.

I glared. "And why the hell not?"

He flashed me a mischievous smile. "Seriously? You would abandon someone you hit with a car? You're not even going to offer me a ride to shelter? You could have broken my legs."

"You walked to my car so I highly doubt I've broken your legs, and you have already informed me that you've been hit by worse things and survived." I gave him a pointed smirk.

He wagged his gloved index finger at me. "That still means you owe me one, and I'd like a ride all the same."

I paused. He wasn't wrong. I did hit him. Damn it.

"Where do you want to go? Do you even know where you want to go?"

A bigger grin played out on his face. "Your place sounds great."

Blood rushed to my face. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

My head was reeling. "What do you mean, why not? Why should I? You're a complete stranger to me. You may not even be human for all I know. And health wise, you're perfectly fine, so you have no need of my assistance. If you're just looking for a place to crash, I can give you a ride to a motel."

"Motels sound like they need money, of which I have none." The palms of his hands faced up, signifying his pitiful stance. "I'm a poor man."

I glared at him. "A homeless shelter would do just as well."

He stared at me in disbelief. "Wow, you're pretty heartless."

I opened my mouth to retort but found myself closing it. I tried again, even pointed my finger at him as I tried to correct him, but stopped short.

Damn it again.

"Ugh, I'm so going to regret this." I ignored his arrogant, pleased face as I put the car in drive. After a few moments of driving, I figured I could have fun with this and started to swerve. The first swerve sent him into the car door and he shot me a glare, but then I hit the brakes suddenly and he jerked forward.

"Lady, can you even drive this thing?" he sneered.

"Sorry," I lied. "Roads are icy. Put your seat belt on." He scowled, looking unsure as to what that was. "This thing." I pointed at it.

He rolled his eyes but complied and slept for the rest of the drive. There were many times I debated whether or not I should kick him out of the car and leave him at the side of the road for someone else to deal with, or I should change direction and drop him off at a homeless shelter like I previously considered.

Alas, my guilty conscious would gnaw at me.

I pulled up to a two-story brick house. The roof-tiles had many different shades of blue and the windows were wide, which always meant well-lit rooms when the sun or moon was out. A chimney stuck out on the right side. It was the roof that fascinated me when I first saw it. I was reminded of scales on a fish and the way the scales glimmered in the water when the sun hit them.

I parked the car into the driveway and shook him by the shoulder but he waved me off in his half awake slumber. "Do you want to stay in the car where it's gonna get really cold? Or do you want to come inside and be warm?"

Green slits glared at me. "Fine."

He cracked his bones as he stretched, groaning as he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. I didn't even bother to tell him to be more gentle with it as I made my way to the front door. A small Christmas wreath was on the door despite it only being early November but Alessia, my house mate, adored Christmas and started putting up decorations right after Halloween.

"So this is the person you ran over?" a voice greeted me cheerfully.

A teenager with a squared face framed by dark brown messy hair and curious hazel eyes gazed outside from the upstairs opened window. Fingerless black gloved hands waved at me and I sighed. Marino, my dear annoying little brother, shot me a grin after he spotted the alien. "He looks normal."

"Looks can be deceiving," I mumbled. "Where's Mom and Fiore?"

"Gone home already," Marino said. "She picked up Fiore and left. Wait right there! Can't have him entering the house yet until we know he's not hostile!"

He had already disappeared from the window before I could tell him that the red haired moron was, so far, only manipulative. frowned. Mom hadn't even bothered to stick around to check if I was okay for herself. However, it wasn't anything new. Marino appeared at the doorway, holding the door open for me as I dragged my backpack and purse into the hallway. His black extra large shirt made him look lanky and as if he was wearing a dress over his jeans. He leaned against the door to prevent Lea from entering.

"So, I heard that you popped out of a black hole?" Marino raised an eyebrow. "And you look pretty healthy for someone who was just hit."

Lea smirked. "I might have."

"He swallowed something green." I plopped my belongings on of the kitchen chairs. "Said it healed him, but let me know if he starts to glow."

Lea and Marino sized each other up. Lea was a head taller than him though, which made it easier for Lea to claim himself the alpha male.

"Marino." He stuck his hand out.

"Lea, commit it to memory." The red head lion-lookalike introduced himself and shook his hand.

Marino snort-laughed. "Don't count it. Alzheimer and dementia runs in our family." Marino didn't take his eyes off of Lea. "Are you a Martian?"

Lea folded his arms over his chest. "Not that I know."

"Are you sure?" Marino stroked his chin thoughtfully but in doubt.

"I'm sure."

"How sure?"

Lea mused. "I'm about…twenty percent sure."

"That's comforting."

Oh here we go. I headed to the kitchen to let the boys interrogate each other. My nose was welcomed by the scent of pizza on the stove. I eyed the leftover food and empty cans of soda and sighed at the mess that was left behind from my eight year old younger sister. Fiore really needed to learn table manners. The guys were still circling each other suspiciously while I picked up the melted cheese from the floor, the pepperonis from the chairs and wiped away marina sauce. I trashed all the empty cans and then noticed the sink filled with dishes.

I sighed again.

At some point Marino permitted Lea to come in but I had been too busy cleaning up the place to notice. I had taken it upon myself to set up the extra air mattresses that I kept for my siblings in case they wanted to sleep over and made Marino's bed in the living room. I left the other mattress for Lea to figure out, feeling as if my debt to him had already been paid by allowing him into my house.

I stared at Lea. "Hey, are you gonna sleep in that?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at himself- what seemed to be a black uniform with a cloak appeared to be intact. "Unless you have a better idea?" He wiggled his eyebrow at me and I threw a pillow at his face.

I felt uneasy to have him in my house. Why didn't I just set him up in a hotel? I could have paid for it and let that settle the debt. Oh hindsight. How I hate you.

"So neither of you answered my question," said Lea. "Where am I?"

"You mean to say that throughout your entire discussion with him, you haven't pieced together your location?" I frowned and Lea glared at me.

"This is planet Earth," Marino replied, elbowing me. "You are in the United States of America, specifically in the state called Virginia. You'll have to ignore her. She lacks social skills."

"I do not," I defended myself. "I just have low tolerance for-"

"Where are you from?" Marino shoved me aside. "What are you here for? Can we help?"

"Some place you haven't heard about." Lea curiously looked at the deflated air mattress and looked at Marino's bed already made. Marino took that as a hint and began to show him how to put air in the air mattress.

"You're just going to give us vague answers, aren't you?" I asked.

Lea gave me an impish grin. "You got it!"

I rolled my eyes. "Good night, boys. I'm going to eat, work on my papers, and get to bed."

"You're leaving me alone with him?" Marino jerked his thumb at Lea, a quizzical look on his face. "Did you hit your head?"

I tried to rub the ache out of my head by massaging my forehead. "Marino, I'm already tired and I have a paper to write for a class I have tomorrow. I'm just going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust that you'll be smart enough not to get yourself into trouble." I shot Lea a glare. "Don't devour my brother. If you want food, it's in the kitchen. Help yourself but clean afterwards. I'm not a maid."

Lea made himself comfortable on the air mattress. "Yes ma'am."

I headed to the bathroom and immediately applied ointment to my neck. The skin had gone from light red to furious, chafing red. I caught my tired dark brown eyes in the mirror and decided I was going to skip doing my paper. I'll do it in the morning after I've had seven hours of sleep, or maybe three.

After changing into pajamas, I put my hair in pony tail and slid into bed. Sleep took me before I could even begin counting sheep.

I'm gonna sing The Doom Song now! Doom doom doom doom doom, doom doom do DOOM

I groaned at the sound of GIR from Invader Zim singing the doom song. Lea and Marino were singing along. I should have butchered the red lion-mane haired freak when I had the chance. Rolling back over in bed, I pulled the covers up to my chin and tried to block out the noise, but their horrible singing wouldn't stop. A growl clawed at my throat as I yanked off the covers and stomped to the living room.

I glared at the singing duo. "It's 3 AM."

The two of them were sitting on the floor in front of the television, eating popcorn and grinning from ear to ear. Lea had a very loopy look to him as they both waved at me vigorously.

"Good morning sis!" Marino chirped.

"Heeeeeyyyy, it's the lady who hit me." Lea grinned ear to ear.

I shot Marino another death glare. "Well?"

"I might have given him something," Marino chuckled.

Oh God. "What the hell did you give him?"

Lea snorted and swatted Marino on the arm. "Ssshhh! Sole might hear you. Remember? We said that this was our secret."

"He said he was still experiencing some pain so…I might have given him some Vicodin." Marino rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

I face palmed. "You gave him Vicodin? How could you give him anything without considering the consequences? He's an alien! Who knows what our medicine will do to him!"

"Because Vicodin was the first thing I found, and give me a break. I wasn't just going to sit here and listen to him complain." Marino looked at me fishy. "Why do you have Vicodin anyway?"

"They're not mine. Alessia had her wisdom teeth removed last semester. She said she didn't need the Vicodin though so it's been sitting in that cabinet," I explained, rubbing my eyes. "Turn off the T.V. and go to bed."

"Wait!" Marino got up and grabbed me by the sleeve. "He's been talking about some really weird things."

Part of me was curious. Part of me wanted to crawl back into bed.

I crossed my arms. "Like?"

"Heartless? Something about different worlds," he said with a shrug. We stared at him. Lea had his eyes closed and he was humming to himself, leaning side to side. "You should use this to your advantage. He's totally drugged."

I smacked the back of his head. "You planned this!"

"What? It's not like we were getting answers when he wasn't drugged!" He held up his hands defensively.

I rolled my eyes, sighed, and sat in front of Lea. "How are you feeling?"

He opened his green eyes wide and gave me a cheesy grin. "I didn't have a heart once."

"That's not biologically possible," I said and looked at Marino. "How much Vicodin did you give him?"

Marino shrugged. "The amount didn't kill him."

"Not yet," I muttered.

"Seriously!" Lea nearly shouted, falling forward. "I didn't have a pulse!"

"That means you had no pulse, but still had a heart," I countered, pushing him up so he could sit properly. "Which means you were technically dead for a period of time."

He giggled before asking, "Did you know that I can make magic?"

I scowled, not really in the mood for magic tricks. "Nope."

"See, look!" He held out his hands and out of nowhere appeared a large, red circular metal weapon with eight silver spikes and two black handles shaped in a cross in the middle. Fire licked at the handles, then disappeared.

I yelped, jumping from my sitting place. "ATTACK!"

"Really?" Lea looked around confused. "From who?" He held up his weapon to his eyes to scout. "I see no heartless."

Marino shoved me back into my spot and held onto me, keeping his voice calm. "That's…an interesting weapon you have there."

Lea grinned, waving it around. "It's awesome!"

I sucked in an anxious breath. "Hey! Be careful with that! Don't go destroying my place!"

Marino pointed at his weapon. "What exactly is that?"

"They're my chakrams," he said and then in a deeper voice. "I call them 'The Eternal Flames'."

"Fantastic. We're all going to hell in a basket."

"Oh stop being so dramatic," Marino scowled at me.

"Did you not hear him? He said 'them', which means he has more than one of those," I snapped.

"Yeah, so?"

"I love you two," Lea announced loudly, wiggling in his spot.

"I think he's doing a butt dance," Marino whispered to me after a moment of silence. "Seriously."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "And you wanted me to get answers from him. He's too drugged up."

"You quit too early." Marino stuck his tongue at me. "So, Lea, why have you come to Earth?"

Lea proudly held up his weapon, causing me to move a few inches away. "To become a Keyblade Master!"

"A Keyblade Master?" We both asked in union.

"Aw, damn. I'm holding the wrong one," Lea pouted. "Why doesn't it come out when I want it to?"

"What exactly does a Keyblade Master do?" I'm assuming world domination. What else would a blade be good for?

"To protect worlds!" Lea exclaimed. "I have to find the Keyhole first and protect it!"

"Well…I'm sure you can find a keyhole somewhere," Marino laughed.

Oh teenagers and their hormones.

I jabbed him with my elbow. "Cut that out." I gave Lea a serious look. "What will this Keyhole look like?"

Lea smiled, closed his eyes, and slowly fell backwards. He passed out on the floor and his weapon vanished.

"Great. Just …great," I muttered.

"Well, at least we know we're not on his menu," Marino said. "What if he sleep attacks?"

I glanced at him curiously. "Sleep attacks?"

"You know, like sleep walk, but sleep attack since he conjures weapons out of nowhere," Marino explained.

"Would you like to be buried next to your dead guinea pig?"

"Oh shut up." He tossed a pillow at me but missed.

I studied Lea for a moment, considering my options. Deciding he wasn't going to be a threat for the night, I headed back to my room. "Good night, little brother."

Marino sighed. "Night."

Locked bedroom door? Check. Fluffed up pillows? Check.

I collapsed onto the bed.

And woke up at 8 AM to the sound of someone screaming for help.

Does it never end?

I covered my head with a pillow but it didn't smother the sound out. It got worse when someone started banging on my door. Groggily, I went to the door and swung open to find Lea with a bare chest.

He glared at me. "What the hell is taking you so long? Didn't you hear us?"

"What is your problem?" I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out and tried to calmly run my hand through my hair to fix it.

"My problem is your little monster," Lea replied hotly. "She cut up my shirt and cloak!"

"My little monster?" I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. Ugh. It was too early for this crap.

"Mom dropped off Fiore after inspecting your car," Marino informed me, his head poking into my room. "And Fiore hasn't stopped trying to cut his hair."

"She didn't come inside?" I frowned.

Marino huffed. "Nope. She said she wanted to see you at the house later."

I shouldn't have felt disappointed, seeing as this happened often, but my heart sank anyway.

"You gave her scissors?" I asked, changing topic. "You know how she is with sharp objects."

"I didn't give her anything," Marino frowned, folding his arms. "This idiot thought he was good with kids and handed them over to her thinking she was normal."

"No, I said I was normally good with kids," Lea corrected him.

I rolled my eyes and trotted to the living room, finding my eight year old baby sister sitting in the middle of the room with a huge grin on her face.

Fiore had an oval shaped face with brown eyes that looked yellow when the sunlight shone on them and curly, bouncy brown hair. A few of her baby teeth were missing, giving her a slightly eerie smile. She waved the hand that held the scissors.

"Fiore," I started. "How many times have I told you not to play with scissors?"

"SOLE!" she greeted me with a happy shout. "HOW ARE YOU?"

I winced at the volume. "Good morning, Fiore, I'm fine. How are you?"

"SWEET!" Fiore jumped onto the couch and began bouncing.

"Fiore, I need you to get down from the couch please," I said, bringing out her favorite cereal and a bowl. "You can have some of this if you play nice."

"YAY!" She hopped off and the scissors dropped to the floor. She climbed onto one of the chairs and poured the cereal in until the bowl was completely full. My lactose intolerant little sister began devouring her cereal without milk but still made the slurping noises.

I looked at Marino and Lea, the two of them standing at the door way to the kitchen and keeping a safe distance from the so called demon child.

Fiore needed constant attention and had a strong appreciation for sharp objects. Years ago, when I gave her my old Barbie dolls, she ripped off their heads to give them haircuts. She took Marino's old dinosaur toys and pretended to cut them up so she could cook them—it was her way of saying 'Take that dinosaurs! I'm stronger than you!'

"So…do I want to know where your shirt went?" I asked, digging through my purse. My Albuterol had to be left somewhere.

Lea disappeared and reappeared with his black shirt and cloak. I took his clothing and checked out Fiore's handiwork, noticing how she actually cut along the seams. I smirked, knowing she had done that so she wouldn't get into too much trouble.

"I can fix this," I said.

"You can?" Lea's eyebrows went up.

"Yeah but in the mean time borrow Marino's clothes. I'm sure he's left some over," I told him, nodding my head to Marino. "Go ahead. They're probably in the bottom drawer of my dresser."

Marino shot me a look. "I don't think he'll fit. He's bigger than me."

"That's what she said!" Fiore laughed at our shocked faces.

"Let me guess, you taught her that?" I frowned at Marino.

Marino's hand went behind his head, giving me a sheepish smile. "Maybe. Do you think we can just get some of Dad's clothes? He'll probably fit those."

"Probably, but that means he'll have to go home with you guys," I said, then after thinking, "and that he'd go without a shirt all day."

"Don't pretend that you don't like what you see." Lea gave me a cocky grin.

I rolled my eyes and returned to looking for my medicine. "Marino, see to it that he gets something while I fix his clothes."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Marino vanished into my bedroom.

"And you," I said, pointing at Lea. "Keep an eye on Fiore. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

Lea changed subject, trying to get out of babysitting. "Why don't we all just leave to get your Dad's clothes, hm? I mean, Marino even said I wouldn't fit into his clothes."

"I have a better idea!" Marino shouted from my room. "Why don't we take him out for shopping?"

I stared down the hallway to my room, wondering if he had taken Vicodin himself. "Um, are you paying for his clothes? And since when do you enjoy shopping?"

"Well it's not like you're shopping for me," he replied. "We're shopping for an alien!"

"No," I answered.

"Why not?" he whined.

"I'm not going anywhere with you three." I found my inhaler and stuffed it back into my purse, happy to know it was still in the place I left it.

"Why? Because I'm annoying and he's shady?" Marino returned with an armful of shirts.

I frowned. "You do realize we'd have Fiore with us too? And that doesn't fix the 'now' problem—Lea is still shirtless and will not get into any stores while shirtless."

"Oh right." Marino handed Lea the shirts. "Have fun trying them on."

Since Lea successfully got out of watching Fiore, I kept her from getting into the silverware and hid the knives as he tried the shirts on. Several of them cut off at his stomach and were too tight at the shoulders, making the shirts looked like they had shrunk in the drier.

Lea settled on a blue shirt with a superman symbol on it. It was still tight but at least it covered him. "As long as I don't move my arms, it shouldn't tear."

"Can we go shopping now?" Marino asked.

I shook my head. "I have class at ten."

"It's almost 9—we have time!" Marino insisted.

"Really? An hour? It takes me just thirty minutes to drive there. No, we don't. I have to shower, get ready, drive there and hopefully find a decent parking space," I argued.

Then I groaned when I realized I never got to work on my paper. Why does this happen to me?

"You mean I have to be stuck like this?" Lea looked like he couldn't breathe. "And with them?"

"Hey, it's not so bad with us," Marino pouted.

Fiore was gone from the kitchen though. "Marino…locate the missing ninja."

He sighed but went to look for her, yelping and running back into the kitchen with her chasing after him with a steam iron. "Help! Crazy child with an iron!"

"It's not even turned on," I pointed out.

"She can still hit me with it!"

I raised an eyebrow, wanting to explain it was too heavy for her to lift and hit him but decided to let it go instead. With little effort, I took the steam iron from her. "Fiore, this is not a toy." I gave Marino the steam iron to put back in its place. "Fiore, why don't you go play with Mr. Cuddles?"

"Mr. Cuddles?" Lea asked as Fiore nodded her pretty little head and went to her packed backpack to find Mr. Cuddles. She pulled out a black stuffed animal bat that had fangs and big red eyes. She curled up silently on the couch with Mr. Cuddles and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

Maybe I should just skip class.

"So…shopping?" Marino poked me with his finger.

"I gave you an answer," I said.

Marino wasn't giving up though. "Come on! I'll even pay for him!"

"What if I just drop you off?" I offered.

He looked at me surprisingly. "You trust me to be in the mall with an alien and a child?"

"I would hold you responsible, yes," I said, sensing the impending doom as I said the words. Our parents were going to kill me.

Lea must have sensed it as well because he opened his mouth to reject the entire idea but Marino cut him off. "Heck yeah! I can handle it!"

Lea doubted that. "Why don't you just …not go to class?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean skip?" It's like he read my mind.

"Yeah!" And now he was hopeful, completed with a big smile.

"Nope," I said. "Education comes first."

And I'll probably ask the professor for an extension on my paper. I'll explain that I was in a car accident, show my neck for proof, and perhaps he'll take pity on me. Professors were students once, too. He'll understand, right?

Lea waved me off. "It'll always be there. Come on, you don't need to be there today."

"Oh, that's right. Why would we want to improve our education?" My voice was laced with sarcasm. "We should just kill each other to eliminate the competition."

"Sounds legit." Lea smirked.

"I'm going to class. That's not up for discussion," I snapped and retreated to my room to prepare myself for the day.

"Wait, don't you have class?" I heard Lea ask Marino.

"No, we're on holiday. Universities don't have certain holidays off," Marino explained.

The drive to the mall was peaceful. Marino had checked the car first to make sure it wouldn't explode on us and decided it was safe, but that I needed to replace my front bumper. He reminded me that the dent on the front bumper had been there before Lea crashed onto my windshield, so technically speaking Lea had done no damage to my car.

How fortunate.

Lea was in the passenger seat, staring out the window. Marino kept Fiore busy with Mr. Cuddles. I pulled up to the entrance to the mall, stopping right in front of a pet store and glanced at Marino.

"Marino, make sure you have your eyes on her," I told him. "She will try to play hide and seek with you, she will try to run away from you, she will try to steal, and she will throw a tantrum if she doesn't get what she wants."

"I know," he said. "Stop nagging me!"

"Good luck," I said to Lea, who didn't look too happy. "I suggest that you find a new human host family. These two will drive you insane."

"Maybe I should have done that sooner," he mumbled.

"It won't be that bad!" Marino kicked the passenger seat. "I'll lead us to the right stores and you'll just have to watch Fiore!"

Lea groaned. "Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?"

"Just leave already," I said. "Or I'll be late for class."

I immediately began my drive to school after the trio got out of my car, only glancing at my rear window to watch them enter the mall. I shook my head, hoping nothing would go wrong but expecting the worst.

Suntiger: Hello! I wanted to explain a few things. The name theme in KH is sky, earth and ocean so I stuck with that but I used the Italian language. Sole- Sun, Marino- marine/of the sea, Fiore- flower. Also, the setting of this story is in Virginia because Pocahontas took place in Virginia. I'm just using a modern version of Virginia. I do plan on making this more family oriented since the games put a lot of focus on friendships.

Comments, questions, corrections, and concerns welcomed! Please review!

I do not own anything but my characters and the plot. Also, this is not a self-insertion story.