This is my first attempt at writing any Fanfiction, so constructive feedback would be great!
I apologise that some of the characters are acting out of character here at the beginning of my story. The idea is that they will develop as I show the reasons they become so dead god-damn tough! ;)
Also, sorry this chapter doesn't actually include Up and Taz together, it's more of a set up for some of the other characters that will hopefully lead to exciting events afterwards. I've tried to be individual by adding other characters… hopefully my ideas for them will work out!
I don't know if I will continue this.. I've started writing a second chapter but I've never really written anything else before so I don't know how this will work out... Anyway thanks for reading!
Chapter 1: Thrown in at the Deep End
She was still small, but that was the only similarity between herself and the adolescent female standing before her. Okay, her hair was still jet black, but had been raised to shoulder length due to the curls her sister had a special talent for forming. With the help of a curling iron, makeup and some 5 inch heels, Brisa Benitez had transformed her sister from a sweet little 5'0 girl into a stunningly beautiful 5'5 woman.
"Tasanee?" Brisa had been waiting quite a few minutes for an answer to her question. "Taz, I said what do you think? Don't tell me all my hard work has ido a la basura!"
"No" Tasanee spoke for the first time in roughly an hour. She had been silent the entire time Brisa had helped her get ready, and had let her sister do all of the talking, which was unusual for Tasanee.
"You're quiet Taz. You don't like it? Yo lo sabía." Brisa brushed her brown hair behind her ear, a gesture only those close to her would recognise as worry.
"No Bree. No." Tasanee tore her gaze from the mirror and looked into the brown eyes of her sister, "It's just..."
"What Tazzy?"
"That's not me in the mirror. It can't be. She looks so...hermosa."
With a sigh, Brisa relaxed her face to its typical smile. Her sister had always doubted herself; people had always pushed her down and made her feel small. To be fair she was short, but that didn't mean her confidence couldn't be big. Sitting down on the stool Tasanee had been restricted to while she had curled her hair, Brisa patted her knees.
"Why don't you come over here and take a seat on my lap?"
Tasanee turned, unsure if she'd heard her sister right.
"What?"
"You heard me! Like when we were kids? Remember when your ball got caught in the tree and you couldn't reach it because you were so little? Or when your favourite book had a page torn out of it by accident? You'd come crying to me and I'd tell you to come sit on my lap"
"Bree, I'm not nueve anymore."
"Yeah, but you aren't an adult either, well at least not for another ten minutes anyway! Oh, come on Tazzy? Por favor, para mí? Besides, the world always looks a little bit brighter…"
Tasanee saw her sister's brown eyes pleading with her to finish their phrase. All Taz had ever wanted was to grow up but now, in the final minutes before that want came true, all she wanted was to be nine again playing outside with her sister. She didn't know where she was going to go or what she was going to do. In some ways it was fortunate that all that would be decided for her, not that Tasanee knew that.
So, with a sigh and a flash of a smile, Tasanee lightly sat upon her sister's lap and ended her phrase.
"…from on top of a lap."
Beaming, Bree swiftly gave Taz a sisterly hug. She'd always been protective of her even though there wasn't much of an age gap between them, but Taz was so little there looked like more than there was.
"You remember two years ago Tazzy?"
"At your Quinceañera? Sí."
"You weren't allowed to wear any make up then. I remember you begging me to just put a little on you, enough to make you look pretty but not enough for mamá to notice you had any on."
"But you wouldn't."
"Sí Taz, I wouldn't. You know why I wouldn't?"
Tasanee sighed, this was an obvious question. Her sister may be older than her, but she underestimated how much she knew through reading and observing the world around her. Besides, this answer was an obvious one; Mexican tradition.
"A girl's Quinceañera must be the first time she wears makeup. Women wear makeup, not little girls"
Brisa chuckled. "They were mamá's words to you weren't they?"
Tasanee echoed Brisa's laugh "Sí, I had asked her before I came to you to ask. Apparently both of you valued tradition highly."
"No Tazzy. I said no to you that day not because of tradition, but because you already looked pretty. You need to start believing in yourself hermana. You are the girl in that mirror. And yes, you are beautiful Tasanee. You always will be."
Both girls smiled. "Now, get back up before you crease your dress por favor! Mamá worked so hard on it, I think I may like it even more than the one I wore!"
"You looked beautiful at your Quinceañera Bree, just as you will look beautiful tonight."
Brisa's short red dress was a huge contrast to the flowing, pale blue layers of Tasanee's own.
"I hope Leo thinks so!"
Of course, Leo. It was a sort of family tradition within the Benitez family to marry a man that you meet at your Quinceañera. Of course, it wasn't law. It was just that both Tasanee's grandparents and her own parents had all danced together at their Quinceañeras, and then there was Brisa and Leo. Tasanee had no doubt that Leo would be proposing soon even if Brisa was only seventeen, and she was pretty sure she would say yes.
"You're crazy about him aren't you?" She paused, "Bree, at your Quinceañera, how did you know it was him?"
Putting her hand on Tasanee's shoulder, Brisa said softly.
"Tazzy, I just knew. The first time he put his arm around me I felt something, and I knew I needed him. I'd follow him wherever he went because I love him." She smiled, "and who knows you may meet your man tonight too!"
Tasanee groaned, but before she could reply her mama burst into the room.
The giant metal zappers on their starship weren't going to be enough. The crystal white robot ship was too heavily shielded; even the lasers firing from the artillery-pods weren't going to penetrate its walls.
Fortunately, after 10 minutes of ineffective gunfire, the commander realised this as well.
"Lieutenant, come in Lieutenant."
Up grabbed his radio.
"Commander, this isn't working. Their ship…"
"I know Lieutenant, you're taking your platoon in on foot. We've gotta shatter as many tin cans as possible before they start to spread across the whole of Mexico, you understand?"
"Yes Commander."
"Radio me when you're ready, but dead god-damnit you better be fast Up."
"I will be Commander, over and out."
Up knew this had been coming, his first mission leading a platoon as Lieutenant. Getting to his feet, he left the artillery-pod and shouted for his platoon to come together. Most were already standing by the starship's doors and the rest were leaving other artillery-pods. All were geared up.
"Alright platoon, listen up!"
Silence.
He stared every man, and occasional woman, right in their eyes.
"I want every single one of you to go out there and smash these tin cans to pieces! I will not have this town destroyed, you got that? We can stop it, and we will stop it! You hear me? Good!"
He didn't believe what he was saying. The little Mexican town was of no significance to the G.L.E.E and wasn't worth saving. The robots were only attacking here because it was in central Mexico, and they could work their way outwards from there to take the country, and then the continent. There was nothing worthwhile here, but it was his job to save these people, and Up always got the job done.
"Commander? Ready down here when you are. He briskly shouted into his radio.
"Doors opening Lieutenant. Over and Out."
"Oh, Tasanee te ves hermosa. Mi hija..." Maya Benitez barely recognised the young woman standing before her. She put one arm around Tasanee before beckoning for Brisa to join in the embrace.
"…Mis hijas. How beautiful you both look! Tasanee I am so proud of you, soon to be a young lady and to embrace the life before you. Nothing makes me happier than you two girls." Making sure she didn't break down into tears in front of her girls, Maya Benitez quickly changed the subject.
"I've come for your shoes Tasanee." Then she realised, "Why are you wearing them? Your father is meant to change your flat shoes to those heels to symbolise your passage into maturity! No recuerdan la tradición? Take them off!"
Reluctantly, Tasanee removed her heels returning to her usual, shortened state. Why tradition was so important to her mother she would never understand.
Looking straight into eyes that looked so much like her own, she gave the shoes back to her mother. Although she did not look as glamorous, at least she was more comfortable with bare feet.
Maya turned to her eldest daughter as Tasanee realised how alike they looked. All three of the Benitez women had the same deep brown eyes, however Maya and Brisa's hair was the same shade of coffee brown, unlike Tasanee.
"Two minutes! Te amo tanto." She quickly gave each of her girls a kiss on the forehead and opened the door. "No llegues tarde" she sighed, and exited the room.
Tasanee turned to Brisa and both girls rolled their eyes simultaneously. Their mama had always been fussy over small things. Although Tasanee had always liked things to be in their proper place and looked after her possessions with care, her Mama took organisation to the next level.
"Everyone will be waiting Tasanee, are you ready?"
Thoughts clouded Tasanee's mind. Where would she go after this? She would get through tonight, laughing, eating, chatting and dancing with a few boys… but what then? Suddenly feeling very lost and vulnerable, she thrust herself into her sister's arms.
"What am I gonna do Bree?"
She always had the answer.
"Tazzy, you're going to take my hand and we're gonna walk into that room filled with everyone you know and we're gonna show them how fabuloso you look. Then you'll dance with all the hombres, maybe find the one you want to spend your life with and live happily ever after! But most importantly…"
She raised a hand to Tasanee's chin lifting her head up, "…You are going to have fun tonight Tasanee."
They smiled in syncopation, but Bree's face changed quickly to shock. "I almost forgot!" Running to her bag she pulled out a small box, "I remembered from my Quinceañera! You said how much you loved them, and I want you to wear them tonight."
She thrust the small box into Taz's baby hands. Opening it, Taz remembered the subtle diamond earrings Brisa had been wearing those two years ago. In their small Mexican town, jewels like this were very rare. Brisa had saved for months to get these earrings and now…
"I want you to keep them, to remember me always. Yo siempre estaré cerca, no importa la edad que tenemos, o lejos nos lleva la vida. I'm so proud of you too Tasanee."
And with another quick hug and a flash of a smile they held hands and turned to face what they thought was just the doorway. Little did they know they were about to face so much more.
Up faced the doors and waited.
They didn't open.
Why were the doors not opening?
It was probably just panic, nerves because he wanted to do a good job as Lieutenant… but this had been too long.
"Doors?" he shouted. The troops gazed at each other blankly, apparently not knowing why the doors were still closed either.
"Dead god-damnit!"
Up pushed his way through the platoon until he reached the manual control pad. He punched in his code. He scanned his hand. This was taking far too long, the robots would be on the planet's surface by now. They'd already had the head start. He punched in the commands and…
The door slid open.
The troops ran onto the newly formed battleground, with Up hastily following behind.
He hoped they weren't too late.
"Leo!"
"Correr!"
Seconds before, Leo had virtually smashed through the door, frantically yelling at Brisa in Spanish. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her back into the room, away from Tasanee, realising there was no way out.
Tasanee twisted round to face them. She saw them crouched on the floor, Brisa nodding in tears as Leo whispered into her ear. Confused and frantic, Tasanee ran back to the door to see what was going on.
Then she heard it.
A Crash.
Another Crash.
A Louder Crash.
A Closer Crash.
They were here.
Spanish (According to Google Translate)
Ido a la basura! - gone to waste
Yo lo sabía - I knew it
hermosa - beautiful
nueve - nine
Por favor, para mí? - Please, for me?
hermana - sister
Oh, Tasanee te ves hermosa. Mi hija - Oh Tasanee you look beautiful. My daughter
Mis hijas - My daughters
No recuerdan la tradición? - Do you not remember the tradition?
Te amo tanto. - I love you both
No llegues tarde - Don't be late
hombres - men
fabuloso - fabulous
Yo siempre estaré cerca, no importa la edad que tenemos, o lejos nos lleva la vida - I'll always be close no matter how old we get or far apart life takes us.
correr! - run!