Lady Saffron: While I was on hospital duty (and waiting around for the mothers to give birth, which can take loooooooong, hehe!) I played around with this thought about the Sky Dancers being a cartoon and how we get pulled into their world. So, this story came into being. Hope you like it!
This is collaboration with AlyssC01's idea, also a fellow fanfiction writer.
Cheers!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Sky Dancers. I do own Melanie, Libby, Asta, and the story.
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PROLOGUE
The song filled the room. She twirled around, letting the song take her as it grew louder. At the couch she saw her babysitter, her attention on the book she was reading. The little girl didn't mind. She continued to spin and spin, imaging she had white gossamer wings of her own. She closed her eyes and stood on her tip-toes, spreading her arms wide as she let herself fall forward…
Chapter I: Hands and Portals
Ding-dong!
She stood waiting for the door to open. She slowed her breathing and pulled her hair into a high pony tail. She had woken up late that morning, nearly forgetting her appointment with Melanie Adams. She dashed through her morning rituals of getting ready and hopped into the bus that took her to her destination. Straightening her shirt and fanning her face, she let out a long sigh to calm her nerves down. She checked her watch: three minutes early.
Ok, she thought. Not bad.
"Asta!" the door swung open and revealed Melanie. She was a middle-aged blond woman with red streaks through her hair. Her bob suited her.
"You cut your hair," exclaimed Asta as Melanie drew her into a hug. Asta pulled back and looked at Melanie. "It looks great."
"So sorry to call you up on short notice," apologized Melanie as she led Asta to the TV room. "Dan had an emergency at the construction site, and no one was left to monitor the shop."
"No need to worry, I'm fine," smiled Asta. "You know how Libby and I get on well. We'll be having Barbie playhouse and tea by the time you and Dan come home."
"That's why I love you," Melanie gathered her keys and bag from the kitchen counter. "Libby loves you too." Libby was Melanie's five-year old daughter. Melanie and Asta stood just outside the TV room.
"I owe you, Mels, really, if it weren't for you…" she trailed off.
"Oh, bah," Melanie waved her hand. "You don't have to keep thanking me, Asta, once is enough. Libby! Look who's here?" she called to her daughter. The brown-curly-haired angel turned her attention from the television and looked toward the doorway. Her smile spread across her baby face.
"Asta!" she squealed as she got up and ran for Asta. Asta caught Libby and spun her around.
"Love!" she hugged back. Then Asta's attention went to the television. "Mels, is that…?"
"Yup!" Melanie nodded as the familiar theme song played. "It's what you used to watch when you were little. The Sky Dancers," she laughed.
"But it looks…new," she walked toward the television and stared, the colors vibrant, better than she remembered them.
"Digitally remastered, all that jazz," Melanie shrugged. "It's on DVD, rare edition, but I had to get it. They don't make cartoons like they used to, and I don't want Libby growing up on Ed, Edd, and Eddy," she rolled her eyes. "Anyhoo, I have to get going. You two have fun with tea!" and she was out the door.
"We will," Asta looked at the closed front door. She set Libby down, the little girl giggling and sat in front of the television. Asta took her shoes off and sat at the couch, curling up and watched the screen as well, the figures dancing and flying in their colorful costumes. She sighed, her memories running through her mind when Melanie used to babysit for her and bring these tapes with her. Asta remembered she had adored these cartoons, the dance sequences, the vibrant colors, the whimsical tunes of the harps, the different cultures of the winged races… she had also believed that one day she would be like Jade, Camille, or Angelica in those cartoons. But as the years wore and high school issues took over mind, her love for the Sky Dancers was pushed to the back-most thoughts of her mind.
That's why she was surprised at the gush of emotional attachment and delight that escaped her as she watched with Libby. The years her love for these childhood characters that had laid dormant sprang to life. She laughed quietly.
"Perhaps that's where I got my love for hip-hop dance," she shook her head as she saw Camille and Slam do a number on the floor. "Subconsciously, unconsciously, whatever," she whispered, smiling. She remembered too when she was little, she had pretended she was flying and dancing among the Sky Dancers, Melanie always telling her not to "fly" for she always fell face down on the floor. The fall stung, but that never discouraged Asta to get up and do it again. Perhaps that's why bruises didn't bother her as much as her other dance classmates were, fretting over the ugly blue-purple scars on their skin. She smiled when she saw Libby re-enacting her childhood routine of pretend flying and dancing across the TV room.
"C'mon, Love, let's get something to nibble on," she called to Libby. She got up and headed for the kitchen. When Libby didn't reply she turned and readied to call her again. Asta's mouth was frozen in silent horror as she saw Libby's hypnotized form being slowly lifted off the floor. Gray and electric hands emerged from the television, slowly pulling in the limp body toward the screen.
"NO!" she found her legs and raced to Libby, knocking the child out of the monster hands. Instead, those hands grabbed her ankles, sending electric bolts racing through her body. Asta groped for something to hold on to, but all she got was carpet burns on her fingers. The hands were pulling her in faster. Soon she was waist-deep inside the television screen. Asta didn't know whether to laugh at the absurdity of the situation or scream in fear.
"Libby!" she screamed, but the little girl didn't stir. Whatever happened to her, she was knocked out cold. How was she going to explain this to Melanie?
Asta's hands ached, gripping the edges of the television screen. Her sweat-slicked hands desperately tried to pull herself through the portal that led from the real world to the television world. Suddenly she had weird flashes of old Saturday cartoons like Captain N: The Game Master. How did he get out of Video-Land?
With one might tug, the electric-gray hands pulled her deeper into the portal, and everything around Asta fizzled, the television screen and Libby slipping faster and faster from her vision.
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