Author's Note- Well, this is a quick, three-chapter story that I came up with, about a sixteen-year-old's adventure on Muse Land. I hope to have this story finished as soon as possible, since it IS only three chapters long. Oh, and also…um…this doesn't have much to do with Final Fantasy, except for the fact that the muses in the story are from Final Fantasy games. Sorry!
This story was original put on my FictionPress account, but I was urged by a friend to put it on here too. This story is pretty much the same as the one on FictionPress, although the muses are different.
Um, we all do know what Muses are, right? Beings who help writers and artists, etc., obtain inspiration? Well, this story features my own four Muses, as well as a made-up protagonist named Ayuno. Hey, I wasn't about to put myself in the story. (glares)
Well, nothing more to say, except please review after reading. It keeps my confidence up and makes me happy—and you all want that, right? (pretends that you said "Yes, of course!" …which you didn't.)
Uh, Plot Hole?- Chapter One
"You won't get away with this!" the hero snarled between clenched teeth. He attempted to wriggle free—but it was useless. "Urrgh!"
"He's right, Bad Guy! You expect these ropes to stop a powerful magician from destroying you?" The mage mumbled a spell incantation under his breath, ready for the ropes to melt away—but second later, they still remained, strong as ever.
"The antagonist never wins, ya know," the warrior beside them said confidently. "Yer evil reign is over!"
"You stupid fools." Bad Guy pimp-slapped the three across the face. "These ropes were created by a very powerful magic spell. You think you can break through them? Just try."
And try they did. They wiggled and squiggled and made strange noises as if all three of them had gone constipated.
The bad guy, efficiently titled "Bad Guy," grinned maliciously, prodding the heroes with his pitchfork. Tight ropes bound the heroes to separate trees, resulting in their inability to move. They mumbled threats at him, but these were all ineffective, for they couldn't do a thing. The forest in which this was all occurring was miles away from the city; no one would be able to save them. It was hopeless. The Bad Guy cackled mercilessly.
"I know your evil plan! You plan to kill them and take me with you, don't you?" the Mary-Sue questioned indignantly from behind everyone, her hair moving beautifully in the wind. "Well, I shall not go with you! I shall stay strong! I shall support the good guys! You will not take me, oh no! I shall—!"
WHACK.
And just like that, the Mary-Sue fell to the floor, unconscious. Bad Guy was not interested in her; she was too much of ditz. He flung a time-bomb on her chest, which was set to detonate in 60 seconds. This was going just as planned.
"So, you're just going to blow us all up, are you?" the hero asked. He laughed. "You do realize that you'll explode too, right?"
"Of course I won't! I have an escape route!"
Bad Guy turned around and walked behind a tree. When he returned, he was dragging a large, beeping machine behind him with various complex buttons on it.
"Ooooooh…buttons!" The Mary-Sue cheered, becoming conscious once more. "I want to press them all!" She sprang forward to smash all of the buttons in.
But the Bad Guy could not have this; the machine would be ruined if the Mary-Sue did anything to it. For this reason, he picked up the Mary-Sue by the hair and flung her into a faraway tree, which withered and died immediately as she touched it.
"So, what does THAT do, eh? Teleport you to another area?" the hero questioned angrily, still attempting to wriggle free from the robes binding him to the towering tree behind him.
"Why, that's exactly what it does. What are you going to do about it?"
No one had an answer.
"That's what I thought," Bad Guy sneered, walking closer to the machine. "You see, the good guys don't always win. Once I press this button—" He gestured to a large, green button. "—I will be sent back to the city, while you fools remain here, to wait until that bomb detonates. There are thirty seconds left. Just try to escape.
And with that, Bad Guy pressed the button and vanished into thin air.
"Well, this is just great…. What are we going to do, lads?" the warrior asked his companions, wondering if the could ever make it out of this alive.
"I…don't know," the hero admitted. He stared at the ground.
There were 20 seconds left.
Suddenly, the Bad Guy reappeared next to the machine, which still remained where it was. He looked around himself and gaped.
"WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?" the three protagonists shouted in unison, wrinkling their noses in disgust at the evil man before them.
"Hmph. The stupid machine must have malfunctioned…." He peered at it and inspected for a short period of time, during which Mary-Sue came running back to him.
"Hey, that was mean of you, Bad Guy," she stated, folding her arms. "You don't just fling people into trees! It's not natural!" But once she had finished saying this, she had no chance to say anything else, for Bad Guy had already gotten annoyed at her presence and eaten her. He rubbed his stomach satisfyingly before turning back to the machine.
Ten seconds were left.
"Why in the hell is time moving so slow, anyway?" the mage asked suddenly. "It should have been three minutes by now!"
The hero shook his head. "You see, normally it would have been three minutes, but whenever there is a timed event in this world, time either slows down or speeds up. It's for out benefit in this situation, so don't complain."
The mage shrugged. "Whatever you say."
"Problem solved!" The Bad Guy grinned. "Later, losers." He shoved the button, and disappeared for a second time—
—only to reappear again a moment later.
"What is HAPPENING?" he shouted, kicking the machine hard, which only resulted in a terrible pain in his big toe. "The stupid machine must be broken!"
"I told you the bad guy never wins," the hero murmured.
"Oh, shut up."
"Well, what are we going to do now?"
The Bad Guy smiled sheepishly. "…uh, plot hole?"
And with that, everyone blew up.
"NO!" the author, Ayuno, cried; this just wasn't working. "Sorry everyone, but this just isn't working out. We can't have everyone blow up!"
Cloud frowned. "Why not? What better ending than everyone dying a horrible, fiery death?"
"Actually, there are a lot better endings," Rinoa stated, rolling her eyes at him. "Like people living, for instance?"
Ayuno growled, frustrated that his story was not going to work out the way he'd planned. He had written all that, with The Muses beside him, and now what? He was going to have to start all over again. Ayuno crumbled the paper up in his fist and flicked it toward the trashcan in the corner of the room; it did not land inside the barrel, but instead fell short and landed somewhat in front of the can, among ten other crumpled up pieces of paper.
The paper that he had given life, given color to—was now dead, lifeless, along with all of the other failed attempts at a fantasy story.
…again.
He slowly turned to Tidus and narrowed his eyes. "You know, this is all YOUR fault."
"What! How is it my fault?" the 17-year-old queried incredulously.
"You were the one who gave me the idea for this story! And now—" Ayuno pointed at the clock, which ticked quietly in the corner of room. "—it's midnight, and I can't sleep without getting it down on paper first. Thanks…A LOT."
Tidus grinned. "Well, how can you blame me for such good ideas?"
Auron walked over to him from his previous position leaning against the wall. "If you were smart, you could've given him the story idea in the morning." His penetrating glare eradicated any notion Tidus might have had to argue; he merely blinked and shrugged.
Ayuno sighed. It was no use for them to argue. "Okay, everyone, maybe we should try this one more time."
The four muses exchanged glances; the way this was going, they would all be up until five in the morning, with dark rings around their eyes and terribly irritable tempers.
The fifteen-year-old Ayuno had been a writer, publishing various stories and fan fictions on different websites, including "FanFiction. Net" and "FictionPress. Com" for a couple of years now. A few months after publishing his first few chapters, two odd-looking people appeared in his room—Rinoa and Tidus. They were his muses, they explained, who were people that only he could see. They went on to explain to him that muses were meant to inspire him to write, and, as he soon learned, most or all writers had some.
It had taken a while to get used to—that is, having muses who no one else could perceive. Every once in a while he was caught talking to them out loud, resulting in a few people giving him very disturbed looks and quickly walking away.
Rinoa was a pretty 17-year-old with very dark hair, which was usually allowed to fall freely to her shoulders. Her eyes were of a light chocolate color, and her complexion was a bit light. Tidus, the most lively 17-year-old Ayuno had ever known, was different. Slightly untidy, long, golden hair. He was a tall young man with considerably creative ideas and thoughts, which had actually surprised Ayuno.
A few months after that, another set of muses showed up: Auron and Cloud. This pair was interesting, for Ayuno recognized them immediately from the videogames Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII, respectively. Both of them were reluctant to explain to him how it was possible for videogame characters to be muses—still, Ayuno managed to live without this knowledge.
"Do…we have to?" Tidus groaned, collapsing in the chair behind him. "Can't we just write an outline, and write the actual story tomorrow? It would make more sense."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Sure, I guess so."
But when his pencil hit paper, Ayuno found that planning an outline led to even more thought and exhaustion, resulting in his nodding off.
->->-
"Hey! Wake up!"
Snore…
"Get up!" Someone was shaking him awake.
Snore…
Then, a stronger voice took over and whacked him over the head with the flat side of a blade. "WAKE YOUR LAZY ASS UP," Auron's voice demanded.
"…nyah?" Ayuno gradually opened his eyelids and saw a very disgruntled Muse glaring at him and pointing to the clock, which read 12:45 A.M. "Damn it! How am I supposed to get any sleep with you guys bitchslapping me with a sword every time I try?"
"You weren't SUPPOSED to be sleeping; you were supposed to be writing an outline!" Rinoa, now seated in a rocking chair near the door, pointed out accusingly.
Tidus nodded in agreement. "Besides, if I'm not allowed to go to sleep, damn it, neither are you."
"Urrrggh…. But you guys are supposed to be my Muses! Can't you just tell me what to write down? Just this one time? I can't get it done on my own, like usual…right now, my mind is too—"
"Dumb—?"
"Annoying—?"
"Slow—?"
"Tiny—?"
Ayuno grimaced at the four of them. "No! I was going to say tired."
There was a pause. Then Tidus sardonically mumbled, "Oh sure, but we don't get tired, now do we?"
"You shouldn't. I mean, what do you do all day? Follow me around; inspire me with story ideas; help me contemplate about the story plots; and go visit Muse Land, where you can hang out and relax all day if you want to. What so tiresome in that?"
Muse Land, of course, was the birthplace of all Muses, where they resided until they were specifically needed by an author. It was then that the Muse made its way to Earth and personally met said author, destined to stay with him (or her) for the rest of his (or her) lifetime. Naturally, Muses were able to go back and visit Muse Land during their own free time, as it was their own homeland, but no human could enter without the consent of their Muse—if they had one.
"Muse Land isn't as perfect as it may seem," Rinoa protested quietly, shaking the hair out of her face.
"How isn't it?"
"Well, it has its problems just like every other place," she said.
"Like what?"
"Like…things."
"What things?"
"Just THINGS," Tidus said, seemingly very annoyed. "Why, do you think being a Muse is an easier life than being a writer?"
"Well…yeah," he said finally, trying not to sound rude. No one seemed offended, but Tidus pursued the topic.
"Would you like to bet on that?" he asked with a mysterious smirk. Ayuno, who was used to these devious half-smiles, was not intimidated. Surely a human's life was much more difficult than that of a Muse! Er…right?
Believing it was, he said quite clearly, "Yeah, I would."
Immediately Auron grinned. "Well then—you're on," he said cunningly. "Here's what we'll do. We, your Muses, will take you on a—tour—of Muse Land for a day." The others looked knowingly at him. "After that time is up, you'll return here, and if you still think your life is harder than ours you win."
Way too easy, Ayuno thought.
Rinoa suddenly seemed to be getting interested in this bet. "And to make things interesting," she added, "if you lose, the rest of us get to vacation for a month. And if you win—we'll stay up day and night for the next week to help you perfect all that you write. Deal?"
"Deal." Suckers.
And with that, Auron made a gesture with his hand, and a yellow door popped up in the middle of the room. It glowed brightly, like a door to Heaven, and seemed to be highly magical. "What's that?" Ayuno questioned, eyeing it.
"A portal," Auron replied calmly.
Ayuno blinked five times.
"STOP BLINKING!" Tidus boomed, but when Ayuno didn't listen, Tidus made to hit him with the side of his sword. Unfortunately, before he could do this, Tidus stumbled on a marble and fell to the floor, spluttering. Heh. I wonder how it got there… -whistles innocently-
"Well? Are you going in or not?" Auron asked impatiently.
When he hesitated, Auron grabbed him by the ankles and flung him headfirst into the door, which burst open immediately.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And he landed on his rear on the opposite side of the door, next to his grinning Muses and a sign that read in neat, cursive letters:
"Welcome to Muse Land."