Disclaimer: Obviously Rainbow Brite and all it's characters belong to respective owners. I claim no ownership rights by writing this fan fiction. However the plot belongs to my twisted imagination.
Author's Note: I started writing this ages ago back in 2003 I think. I've grown a lot as a writer since then so I've done a complete overhaul of the two chapters I've had posted. I fully plan on continuing and finishing this story now that I finally have the time. Hope that you enjoy. A special thanks to anyone who read this before and is reading it now, I hope you like the changes and will continue to read as I continue to update.
Also I am looking for a beta reader for this story because I have a hard time catching my own mistakes. If you are interested email me at aloniayahoo and include the word beta in the subject line. Thanks!
o
o
o
(((¯·.
Chapter 1 .·´¯)))
((((¯·.Shattered
Rainbow.·´¯))))
o
o
The tiny key glittered in the palm of his hand like the secret little treasure it was. He has purchased it off a back alley merchant for a few cans of food. Little did the seller know that this key could possibly save the world.
Brian could hardly believe that he had found it at last. The last time he had seen it was in a shoe box in the top of his closet. Secreted away and nearly impossible for any one to randomly come across. It had been one of the biggest secrets of his life and he had been devastated when he thought he had lost it.
He had been forced to evacuate his home on the sunny California coast when the news of an impending tidal wave hit. This wave had been caused was an illegal nuclear device testing that had gone wrong. It ended up covering the entire western coast line leaving most of it ruined homes and families in pieces.
After that the United Nations council demanded action from those who had set off the device. This only led to a large scale war. The people who had been devastated struggled to survive. What was formerly the western coast became a graveyard picked over and abandoned.
When Brian had returned to his home with his parents after the tsunami they had found their house was nothing but a pile of rubble. All of their possessions, their life completely gone. Brian's dreams of attending college were crushed and he was forced to live in one of the new cities that sprung up on the edge of the devastation.
He had spent two years scavenging and doing any work he could find. Money was scarce and food was even scarcer. The world had become a dark, grim place where people fought every day to survive. Meanwhile the countries money was spent on expenses for the on going war.
"Thanks, friend" Brian said tucking the small key into his pocket, keeping his fingers coiled around it. The small glittering thing was a ray of hope bringing back memories of a simpler time. Back then there had been light and color in the world. In his heart he felt that Rainbow and the Color Kids could perhaps start to set things back to right in the world. All he had to do was find them.
He made his way through the dark streets of New San Diego keeping his eyes open and alert. It was dangerous to be wandering alone at this time of night but there had been no way for him to avoid it. There were a few shady characters on the street but none of them seemed interested in Brian who was not carrying anything of interest to them.
It was just starting to rain as Brian reached his small house located in a dark alley. He had constructed it himself of old scrap metal and car parts. The front door looked as if it once belonged to a safe or a secure room. Making sure he closed it tightly behind him he light his lantern and pulled the key from his pocket once more.
Suck luck finding the little treasure tonight. It might not even have been his original key, perhaps Rainbow had other friends like him out there and it was one of theirs. He didn't care, all that matters was that it worked. With a deep breath he headed over to a broken down old armoire that was against one wall. It was too small and covered with numerous dents and dings but none of that mattered right now, all that mattered was that it had a door with a key hole.
Nothing else in the world seemed to matter as he lowered that tiny key toward the key hole. Holding his breath he turned it and pulled open the rickety door. A rush of elation rocket through him as he was greeted with the sight of a gorgeous blue sky a fuzzy soft rainbow expanding out into it. Brian glanced around his house but once before stepping onto the rainbow and leaving it all behind him.
The atmosphere was whipping around him as he raised high up into the sky. Beneath him the expansive city of New San Diego grew smaller and smaller. Extending beyond it only miles away was the devastation and emptiness that the tidal wave had cause to the coast. He felt his throat tighten just looking down at it and the mess left behind. The rainbow swerved harshly tearing his gaze away from it. He pulled his collar up high against the drizzle of rain that was pouring down making him cold and uncomfortable.
He stumbled a bit as the rainbow jerked and fell causing him to lose his footing. In all his memories he never remembered that happening. Panic filled him as he looked down at the rainbow path beneath his feet and noticed it was fading. The color was quickly leaving it making it dim and grey. Far below him the ocean was racing by dangerous and deadly.
Brian fell to his knees trying to grip onto the rainbow. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea after all. It seemed things had changed in Rainbow Land too. Then the rainbow splintered a loud creaking filling his ears. It was the only warning he got before the whole rainbow shattered. Fear took over as he suddenly found himself falling. He couldn't help but scream in terror.
Abruptly he stopped as something strong grabbed his collar. He was yanked upward and faster then thought he was astride a beautiful dark colored horse. A woman was sitting in front of him, her long dark hair lashing around both of them.
The horse was galloping along the dark clouds each hoof creating a great peel of thunder to roll along as it struck. Its long white mane and tail spread out behind it flowing freely. He could feel its powerful muscles moving beneath him as they sped across the clouds.
"That was stupid" the woman said with out turning to look at him. Her voice was rich and lush and seemed as powerful as the thunder storm they were riding upon. Brian lurched as the horse leaped and he grabbed a hold of her suddenly. The deep sent of rain that clung to her and the sound of her voice was all too familiar. There was only one person this woman could be.
"Stormy?" Brian croaked in surprise. His brain was racked with images of the spunky little girl and the dark horse she always rode.
"Nice to see you too, Brian" she said her voice a bit sarcastic. All her concentration was on the ride in front of them. He could no longer see where they were going since they were surrounded by the darkness of the storm. They rode in silence for a long moment before the clouds broke and he found himself looking down on what was once Rainbow Land.
Without even having to ask he knew this was the reason his rainbow had broken. The landscape below was gray and long rents were torn through the ground. The fields were now mud all their greenery lost. The houses that the sprites and Color Kids had lived in now stranded were just below him, all the color sucked out of them. Crumbled, cracked and torn the houses were but bleak shadows of the colorful buildings they had once been.
Stormy slowed Skydancer looking down on the once colorful land herself. Carefully she slid down from the horse and looked up at Brian for the first time. All traces of the little girl she had been were totally gone. Her face had become darkly beautiful a dark lightning bolt tattoo starting at her hair line flashed down her face, over her eye, ending at the tip of her cheekbone. The purple hair that had always been pulled up was now flowing free and had darkened considerably. She wore a simple pair of black jeans and a tight fighting black tank top. Brian had to admit he was immensely attracted to her even in this strange setting.
"What happened here?" Brian asked as he slid off the horse slowly looking out at the ruins. The Color Castle even lay ruined and torn only a few towers left to show where it once stood. There was no sign of Rainbow or any of his other friends.
"Things here changed, just like they did on earth" Stormy answered stonily as she stared down.
"But what happened" Brian demanded. Stormy sighed and turned to look at him furrowing her dark brows.
"Only Rainbow can answer that" she said as the cloud they were standing on started descending rapidly bringing them down into the depths of the ruins. Stormy stepped off the cloud and Brian followed grateful at last to be back on solid ground.
"Where is Rainbow?" Brian asked. Stormy motioned toward the ruins of the color castle, the skeleton of the castle looking dark and lifeless.
"See for yourself" she said turning back to Skydancer. Brian gazed at her for a moment before turning and heading toward the doors of the castle. The hung loosely on their hinges obviously blasted open by a great force.
It had once been a great hall where all the color kids gathered with Rainbow. Now it was only a shell of its former self. Taking a deep breath he headed further into the hall, stepping cautiously over rubble. He could almost see them there, their smiling faces and their laugher. One of the few things still standing in the hall was a statue of a woman.
Moving across the room he inspected it carefully. It was a soft colored whitish-blue stone. She was slightly shorter then him with long ringlets trailing over her shoulders and back. The dress she wore flowed down her body pooling on the floor at her feet. It was so lifelike, and perfectly intricate. Suddenly the statue turned its head and looked at him, her lips opened wide and her scream filled the hall.
He fell backward terror flowing through his body. He landed hard on the ground pain jolting through his body. Slowly he opened his eyes, the stillness in the room chilling him to the bone. The statue was facing back the right way as if it had never moved. Slowly Brian climbed to his feet, taking a few steps towards her again. This time she didn't move, not even when he reached out and touched her cold stone face.
Brian turned quickly and fled the castle. Stormy was waiting for him there a knowing look on her face. His flesh was covered in goose bumps but it wasn't from the chill lingering in the air. Something really terrible had happened here.
"You saw her then?" Stormy asked not waiting for an answer before she continued, "She's been like that for years now Brian"
"Who did this to her?" he inquired angrily staring at the smug looking dark woman in front of him.
"We don't know its name" came another voice from near by. Another younger woman stepped out from behind the remains of a house.
The first thing he noticed about her was the unnaturally pink hair tumbling around her shoulders. The dirt and muck that clung to her body did not hide the stunning color. She was tall only a few inches shorter then he was. Her cool pink eyes regarded him, eyeing him up and down. The only garment she wore was a torn black dress, tattered at the hem.
"Pink" Stormy said coolly nodding at he woman.
"Tickled Pink" Brian spluttered realizing who she was at once.
"Brian, thank the light you've come" Tickled Pink said as she moved forward her bare feet making no noise on the cracked and broken pavement. She looked so sadly beautiful standing there looking out over the ruined country of Rainbow Land. Silent tears poured from her pink eyes as she reached out to take his hands.
"I would have come sooner if I could, if I had known there was an attack going on here" Brian stuttered a little at her touch and the sight of her so grown up.
"The creature, whatever it was turned Rainbow to stone without a thought" Tickled Pink said her voice choking up. Brian shook his head and shushed her for the moment, impulsively pulling her into his arms.
"She's the only one left her with the sprites" Stormy said her voice still like ice. Brian looked over the mass of pink hair in his arms at her.
"The others?" Brian asked softly not wanting to disturb the young girl as she cried in his arms.
"They fled. There was no one for them to turn to and no way to bring their Rainbow back. If any of them had been captured there would have been no way to bring her back, we know that at least" Stormy spoke softly gazing over at the destroyed walls of the castle.
"Where did they go?" he asked as Tickled Pink finally stepped away from him and started collecting herself.
"Earth, they each went to a different place on earth" Stormy said as she touched Tickled Pink's shoulder gently, nodding reassuringly at the other woman.
"All of you are so old" he paused looking at them both, "I thought the color kids never grew up"
"We didn't. When we started to that's when we knew that something was really wrong" Tickled Pink said giving Stormy a small smile in gratitude for her comfort. Brian sighed and shook his head.
"Things have been really bad on Earth too some of the color kids might even be dead" he said hating the words as they fell from his lips. Tickled Pink immediately shook her head.
"The sprites would know that's part of their special bond with the color kids" She explained. Brian sighed and looked around at the crumbled buildings and the broken ground again.
"Is there anything I can do?" He asked after a few moments silence between the two of them.
"Perhaps" Tickled Pink spoke up eyeing him, "You might be what was missing when the Color Kids were trying to fix Rainbow"
"You have to be kidding me" Stormy said rolling her eyes a little.
"Me?" Brian squeaked. He flushed a little at the noise, it wasn't often he was in the company of women. Tickled Pink looked at him with a glimmer of hope in her pink eyes. He swallowed hard.
"I could try and round up the color kids, see if there is anything we can do" he said a bit shyly. Tickled Pink was nodding before he finished his sentence.
"There's no guaranteeing you can do anything, Brian. By bringing them back here you'll be putting them in danger" Stormy said practically shouting. This made Skydancer stamp his foot sending tiny sparks skittering across the destroyed ground.
"We have to do something" Tickled Pink said softly.
"Yeah" Brian agreed feeling himself filling with resolve at the thought of helping Rainbow and his childhood friends.
"Neither of you are giving up on this, are you?" Stormy asked exasperated as she looked at them both.
"No" Brian said firmly.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you" Stormy said shaking her head.
"All right I don't know what we will be able to do for Rainbow but I am sure they are going to need Star Sprinkles to do it. See what you can do to get the factory up and running and the mine productive again" Brian said with a little smile as he looked over at Tickled Pink.
"Of course, the Sprites will be happy to have something to do" Tickled Pink said her soft voice laced with excitement.
"Stormy, if you'll give me a lift back to Earth?" he asked her tentatively. She seemed so distant and stand-offish. Nothing like the overly loud, joyous Stormy of her younger years.
"If you insist, I even know where one of the Color Kids is" Stormy responded patting Skydancer on the neck softly.
"How will I find the others?" Brian asked gazing over at Tickled Pink.
"They will be able to find each other, but Brian they might not remember you or Rainbow land at all. So be careful" Tickled Pink warned.
"Thanks, I'll do my best" he said turning toward Stormy and her horse.
"This is crazy" Stormy said with a sigh as the climbed onto Skydancer. Brian climbed up behind her trying to make him self comfortable on the dark animal.
"Maybe it is" Brian said softly as he put his hands on her waist softly. A large storm cloud was brewing beneath them. Dark and menacing just like Stormy's mood.
"But you're doing it anyway" she said as the cloud started rise. Brian looked down spotting Tickled Pink running towards the color cave. Sprites were gathered at its mouth waving up at him excitedly.
"Yes, yes I am" he responded grimly remembering the terrifying statue that was Rainbow. At that moment he knew he would not fail. He would find the color kids and restore Rainbow Land and then perhaps they could help bring some peace to earth.