DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING PORTRAYED IN THIS FANFICTION, OTHER THAN MY OCS JOYCE, THEO, AND SCARLETTE.
Prologue: Before the storm
6:59am
...
7:00am *click*
-"Another Wonderful morning here in Silver City, broadcasts show cloudy skies tonight and a 40% chance of a drizzle.."
I didn't hear the rest, for I hit the "snooze" button on the alarm clock. Sitting up, I looked around at my room, half asleep. I knew that today was going to be a busy day. I disconnected my phone from its charging dock next to the alarm clock. I lazily stood up and made my way down the hall of the apartment. I saw a note taped to a bedroom in front of the shower room.
'Final exam is today. Scarlett and I are going to be at the geology site. Won't be back until 8 pm, after exam we're taking you out to celebrate your internship. Be sure to be ready to head out by then.' Theo
I smirked at the note and shook my head. My two best friends since middle school, celebrating my achievements like my parents would. I considered myself to be infinitely fortunate to have friends like these, and for finally being one step closer to my career. Being a physical therapist may not sound very exciting, but nonetheless I was stoked to being granted an internship at the local clinic by request of the head director of the medical department at the university. When I delivered the news to my roommates/childhood best friends; I swear I could see tears of joy about to stream down Scarlett's eyes, and a gigantic grin on Theo's face.
Looking at the note made me reflect about my friends, and how unexpectedly we all came to be.
Ours was the quite a story, a trio of outcasts becoming the best of friends, and our relationship only strengthening as we overcame junior high and high school. Theo was the first friend I made in junior high. I thought about the day I met him. That day was also the day where I realized the potential cruelty that a single pre-teen could exert on someone for being different.
I remember it with such clarity, yet it was almost six full years ago.
I was virtually not there; keeping to myself almost always. Yes, I was ridiculously shy, yet the less attention I tried to attract, the more people spoke to me.
And they almost never had a nice thing to say.
Insults ranged from 'Gay' to 'Freak' and beyond. Sure they were annoying, hearing kids say the same thing day after day, but I found them more annoying than actually insulting. So it didn't affect me.
That is, until Brice Wayne decided to take it up a few levels. He was the stereotypical football player. Big, bulky and with a "Worthier than thou" attitude. He was just a linebacker for the Junior Varsity team, but for him that made him a lot cooler than anyone.
It had been somewhere during my seventh week there. I was sitting alone, as always, listening to music in my mp3. I loved rock, from Metallica to Twisted Sister to Queen. Unfortunately kids rather listened to hip hop or rap or whatever. I didn't mind. However, one day he went straight to a bench I was sitting on during free period, and began spewing the most bullshit I've heard that year.
"Hey bro, what are you listening to huh?" He said as he sat next to me and three of his boot –err, CLEAT lickers stood around.
"It's a song from Metallica... Ever heard of Battery?" I asked hesitantly without looking up from the mp3 screen. It wasn't the first time someone tried to do this. Sit down as to have a seemingly normal conversation, only to have them spew out torrents of judgments.
"Nah man. Slim Shady's where it's at. Real men music, ya know?" Typical. Of course, I decided to steer clear of having a discussion. But he had other plans.
"I guess… Don't really like rap or whatever, but if that's what you listen to. I'll just stick to my music"
"Pfft, THAT? I think that you'll like rap if you listen to it. If not, then there's clearly something fucked up in that head of yours" He began taking out some headphones from his backpack.
"No thanks. I heard most of the Marshall Mather's EP when it came out, and I didn't like it at all. Like I told you, I'm sticking to rock and metal and such." Throughout this whole conversation, he plugged his headphones in his own mp3.
"Man, I'm not asking you bro. Once you hear this shit, you'll drop your Shit-tallica and man up" He reached over and with one swipe tore out the earphone in my left ear. It kinda hurt, but I was more annoyed that in pain
"DUDE, WHAT THE SHIT IS WRONG WITH YOU? I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO THAT CRAP SO JUST STOP TRYING!" I shouted as I stood up to walk away. At this point everybody in the courtyard was just looking at our way, waiting for something to happen. I didn't care that those had been the first words most of the school had heard from me since I started attending.
He stood up and walked up to me until we were inches from each other. Neither gave ground. I had it with his bullshit and wasn't going to let him bother me anymore, even if it did mean getting my ass kicked by four JV football players.
"Oh really ya bitch?! What's your gay ass gonna do to stop me?" His dogs closed in on me.
A hand twirled Brice from the shoulder and grabbed him from the collar of his shirt. Holding him was a taller, slimmer guy who looked a bit older than Brice. Though he was slimmer, he was far more athletic and toned than Brice. His name was Theo, and he was captain of the wrestling team. He looked pissed.
A bit behind him to his left, was a girl who I assumed must have been his girlfriend. Ho-Ly crap was she gorgeous. Her silky white skin accented her vibrantly deep maroon hair. Her eyes were just as beautiful as her slim, curvy figure. I was hypnotized by her eyes. Big and innocent, sparkling against the sunlight. I noticed their color. Dark metallic silver. She must have seen my awestruck, dumbfounded expression, because she began to blush and looked down. It was then I took notice of Brice still being held by the collar of his shirt.
"What the flying fuck do you think you're doing, asshole!? If he doesn't want rap, then quit bitching and get the fuck out!" He was inches away from Brice, screaming directly at him. Brice looked like he would soil himself then and there, even his jockeys backed off good couple of feet away. He spoke up with a trembling voice
"W-what? You his bitch now Davis? You're protecting your pimp, is that what it is?" He tried to get his "bad-ass" attitude back, but he couldn't mask the fear in his voice.
"No, I'm shutting your bitch-trap up, that's what I'm doing. If I ever see or hear you running your trap again, I'll make sure you get kicked out of the team without a chance of ever going back, plus I'll purée your butt-ugly shit face till its permanently uglier." With that, he shoved Wayne aside (which made him stumble to the ground) and he and his crooks walked away muttering curses at us.
"Hey," the girl suddenly was next to me, looking deep into my eyes with a friendly expression. I couldn't help but blush. " Don't worry about Wayne, he's a jerk like that. He'll leave you alone" She said in a friendly, pleasant tone.
"Yeah I'm all good. Thanks for helping, not a lot of people seem to care" Now Theo was next to her to, and only shrugged his shoulders in response "Anyway, not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you help me? You don't even know me."
"Well, I heard you were the only other rocker in the damn school, so I was looking for you to see what you were all 'bout. When we got a lead on where you were, we came and saw what Wayne was doing and ta-da, here we are. Name's Theo. Theo Davis" he wrapped his arm around his now smiling (and blushing) lover "And she's Scarlette. Scarlette Truman"
" I'm Joyce. Joyce McCarran. You can call me Joey."We all sat down at the bench. "Really guys, thank you both. It's cool to finally meet someone who isn't all about rap and shit" I unplugged my earphones, took out and connected a small battery speaker to my mp3 from my carrier bag. Immediately, the sounds of "Through the fire and flames" erupted from the speaker. We listened to the song without anyone saying a word until the song ended.
"Sweet tunes man, that was awesome" he said
"Say, you wouldn't happen to listen to... Blink-182 would you?" Scarlett (as I heard him call her)
"I only have a few albums, but if you're interested, I have almost all the songs from Paramore right here" I tapped at my mp3. To my surprise, she nudged me playfully and smiled.
"…You and I are going to get along very well"
I grinned.
I snapped out of my little trip down memory lane, and was instantly reminded of the busy day ahead. I glanced at the alarm clock in my room 'seven oh-five? Wow, way early... Class today starts at nine-forty-five.' Making a mental rundown, I began to plan out the day aloud.
"Ok, so it takes me five minutes to ninja my way over…" Free-running was a hobby I picked up from Theo after he joined track the semester after we met. He was damn good at it, and within a few months of running with him, I could not only keep up, but eventually out run him.
"…so that means I still have well over two hours. Guess I'll clean up around the place and make some breakfast before getting in the shower." To my surprise, the apartment was partly clean already. All I ended up doing was sweeping, dusting, and steam mopping the living room, kitchen, studio, both my room and theirs. When I finished, I looked at the clock once more. 8:16am. Still a long time before class, so I decided to eat breakfast first. After that, and a good 15 minute shower, I shaved, brushed my teeth thoroughly, and stepped into my room and decided on what to wear. I decided on a white casual dress shirt and slim black jeans. Finally ready, I gave myself a quick look-over in the restroom mirror.
I was a good 5'11", possibly 190 pounds. Clear light skin, contrasting the pitch, almost reflective black head of hair, which was (as usual) stylized in a way that curtained my left eye in a diagonal way. My eyes were… odd. As I studied and learned from genetics, I found out was born with a slight genetic mutation. To spare the lesson in genetics about how the slightest change in DNA whilst in pregnancy can drastically affect the offspring, I'll just cut to the chase. My eyes were both rainbow-hued. It's hard to believe, but when you think about it, it isn't impossible, just… uncommon. I used to hate my eyes because they were the main reason I was called 'freak' or 'gay'. But I eventually accepted and embraced my unique eyes. I no longer was a terribly shy, self-despising outcast. I was still, however, terribly shy.
I stepped out of the shower room and made my way back in my room, I packed things I might need for today. 'The laptop's charged and ready. Clean notebook, some pens and pencils for when I get creative. iPod's charged and ready to roll. Headphones, ready. Seems to be everything' All this fit perfectly in my vibrantly white backpack. In the front of the backpack, sewn by yours truly, was an Assassins Creed logo and motto "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" In cursive. I was a diehard fan of the series, and I wasn't afraid to show it.
About to leave, I saw I still had about forty minutes. So I sat down at a couch n the living room and pulled out my iPod and my headphones. I also took the time to take out a bottle of drinking yogurt from the refrigerator. Scrolling through some videos, I found what I was looking for. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic "Dragonshy" I had enough time to relax and watch the best possible thing. 'mm, strawberry banana yogurt, twenty-two minutes of fluttershy, and a nice little night out with my best friends later tonight. This month just got 20% cooler'.
Yes, I'm a brony. And just as with the assassins' creed logo, I had also sewn a yellow-beige patch that had Fluttershy's cutie mark. She really reminded me of myself, and in turn she instantly held a spot close to my heart. Plus she's adorable.
As the ending credits began to roll, I saw the time. Nine thirty. Deciding to rather take a slow relaxing walk to class, I left home. Fifteen minutes were ten minutes more than I needed to get to class, so I took the scenic route.
The whole way, I felt like I was being followed, yet I didn't see anybody. I decided to ignore the feeling, and as I kept walking, I quietly began to sing along with my iPod. My favorite song was playing.
" On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light.
In flames of death, eternal reign, we ride toward the fight.
When the darkness has fallen down, and times are tough alright,
The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight."
As I walked into the building where my class was in, I noticed that not only the hallway was deserted, but other than my blasting headphones, everything was deadly quiet.
Suddenly, the whole hallway began to shake violently. I was frantically trying to keep my footing, but instead fell on my face and continued the earthquake there. I was pretty sure that the earthquake was going to be the end of me. As I looked up, something caught my eyes. Looking at a water dispenser, I saw that the water inside the gallon wasn't even vibrating a bit. I tried to stand up but the shaking wouldn't even allow me to safely rise to my knees even. As I reached out to use the wall to stand, the hallway brightened up, almost as if someone had taken every single lamp, bulb, or illuminating object on-campus and turned them on, inches from my back.
As I turned to see where all the light was coming from, I was met by blinding light, and a sudden jolt of pain that emanated from my toes all the way to my skull. Dropping to the ground in a limp, barely conscious heap, darkness began to seep into my view. Then, the sensation of falling. I couldn't see anything, and only heard the whispering wind, reassuring me that I was indeed falling. Out of nowhere, a soothing, motherly voice spoke above the wind during my blind free-fall.
' I truly apologize, I wish there was another way. But we need you. I need you. Equestria needs you. This is not the end of your life, it is indeed just the beginning.' It said.
There were the sounds of breaking and snapping, a thud, and unbelievably, even more pain. Feeling myself slipping into unconsciousness, I heard leaves rustling, then my own shattered, wheezing breath.
Then, I went cold.
A/N: So very sorry about the constant tweaking with the Prologue, my reviewers pointed out grammatical mistakes and i couldn't leave it like that :C but now I got an Editor and Proofreader! :D I want to thank the readers, reviewers, and followers of Remnants, you guys are just awesome! On that note, Please Read and Review, it makes you 20% cooler and makes me 90% happier ;D. Stay awesome bros! /) Also, if any of you would happen to have suggestions as to songs that my OC should sing (yes its going to be THAT kind of fanfic xD) pleeeaaase leave a suggestion in the reviews, or PM me so i can put up a poll :D Chapter one should be up by now, please R&R on that one too :D! See ya there!