This idea just hit me one day when I was listening to my RENT soundtrack and saw my old Wizard of Oz movie on a shelf.
Many characters will be a bit OOC. I just have to twist them a little to fit into the roles. Please forgive me and try to just enjoy the story, haha.
This first chapter is the weakest. This is the only part of the plot I was unsure of, so I just kind of threw it together. Bear with me, it gets better.
I don't know exactly how dark this story will get, but I may have to raise the rating in the future.
Every time you don't review, a puppy dies.
Chapter One: Welcome to Alphabet City
"Oh, honey, don't bark so loud!" Angel chided.
Her small mutt Akita simply looked at her questioningly, then turned her little head out the window and began barking again.
She sighed. Angel Dumont Schunard was a young drag queen who lived in some small, nameless town in Kansas, or as she liked to call it, "Nowheresville." Angel did not want to live in Nowheresvile, you see, she wanted to go to some big city like New York and break into show business as a performer or maybe a drummer. She often dreamed of such things.
However, New York was far from her mind today. Today was Christmas Eve in Nowheresville, and Angel was driving some baked goods to her family a few hours out of town. She was taking her little dog, Akita, along for the ride. Akita had come wandering onto Angel's property about two weeks prior with a collar that said nothing but the name "Akita Evita," and the kind-hearted artist had taken her in.
She was beginning to regret it.
Akita, as cute as she was, had a barking problem. Well, it was more of an addiction. Her yapping, while normally quite bothersome, was currently doing even more damage by distracting Angel from the task at hand: find the freeway that would lead her to her aunt's house.
"Shh, honey, be quiet please! Mommy needs to focus right now." Angel pleaded with the pup. She turned back to the road and tried to remember her directions.
"Let's see, get on the interstate going north… okay then." Angel glanced down at the map sitting on her dashboard. "I think the onramp is coming up here in just a minute – Akita!" Angel shrieked, half-laughing. Akita had chosen this moment to latch onto Angel's face and begin licking it madly.
"You're gonna mess up my makeup!" She fussed, still giggling. "Okay honey, sit in the back for awhile, all right?" She pried the animal off of her face and set her in the back seat next to a black, sequined purse. Akita, apparently giving up, squirmed around a bit and fell asleep. Angel turned back to the road.
"Where was I… ah yes! The interstate! There it is." Angel zoomed forward and onto the freeway. "Wonderful! Now I just go along here for about three hours and take the exit into downtown!" Angel smiled to herself.
Three-and-a-half hours later, she wasn't smiling.
"Where's that damn exit? I don't recognize any of these stops. I should have been there by now…"
Angel pulled off the freeway and onto a narrow, unoccupied street. As she puttered along, she glanced again at her map.
"Where did I go wrong? Unless… did I get on the freeway going the wrong direction?" She studied the map more closely. "Yes, that must be it, I – Woah!"
Angel looked up and realized with a jolt that she was heading for what she could only describe as some sort of black hole. Unable to stop in time, the car shot into the strange vortex.
The mysterious hole now resembled the inside of a tunnel, but it was too dark to see anything, really. Suddenly, Angel saw a figure fly out in front of the car. It was dark, but she could tell that it was a young girl. She almost looked like she'd jumped. The drag queen covered her face with her hands and shrieked, but there was no way for her to stop the car. She heard a sickening thump even over her own screams as the vehicle collided with the girl.
Overwhelmed, Angel stopped really attempting to do anything and just continued to hide in her own arms until she felt the car finally jerk to a stop. Cautiously, she lifted her head and looked around. She glanced at the back seat and saw that Akita was badly shaken but unharmed. She was even too shocked to bark. Angel then peeked at her surroundings. She was in what looked like a run-down old city. She didn't see any people around. Shakily, she opened her car door and stepped outside. She took a deep breath and looked down at the front of her car, knowing what to expect. It wasn't as bad as she thought.
Lying on the ground in front of her was a woman wearing a black dress with red-and-white stockings and lovely red shoes. She had dark red hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Though Angel guessed that she was young, her face showed signs of aging, probably due to stress or worry. The odd part was that Angel didn't see any blood or signs of trauma anywhere on the girl. But she was clearly dead. The drag queen was so busy studying the figure that she didn't notice a woman walk up behind her.
"Hello there! Welcome to Alphabet City!"
Angel jumped and turned around. "Oh sugar, you startled me!" She found herself face-to-face with an important-looking woman with jet black hair and a business suit. Well, face-to-face wasn't the best way to describe it. The woman was at least a foot shorter than Angel herself.
"My apologies. My name is Alexi Darling! We haven't had any newcomers in a long time, so please excuse my excitement." Alexi stuck out her hand.
Uncertainly, Angel shook it, then remembered her dilemma. "Um, look, I don't mean to come on such bad terms, but this woman here… she just appeared in front of my car while I was driving… I couldn't stop… and well…" Angel stepped to the side, hanging her head, and allowed Alexi a full view of the redhead.
"Oh! Why, that's April!" Alexi cried, shaken.
"April?" Angel inquired.
"Oh yes! Hmm, well, don't feel too bad about what happened. April's been nothing but trouble. She lives in the eastern part of town, and apparently takes pleasure in terrorizing everyone around her. That girl was downright wicked."
Angel took a moment to process the information. "I'm sure she was just misunderstood."
"Unlikely! Anyway, it doesn't matter. Someone probably pushed her in front of you! It's not like there was anything you could have done anyway. You clearly couldn't control your car. Oh! Speaking of your car…"
Angel turned to look at it and gasped. She hadn't noticed at first, but the entire right side of her car was totaled. She realized then how she had stopped moving so suddenly: she had crashed into a tree.
"Oh damn, that's gonna be expensive." She sighed. "Now how am I going to get home? Home! Wait a minute!" Angel had been so wrapped up in April that she had forgotten the vortex incident. "Excuse me Alexi, but, where is this? You said Alphabet City? But what's that?"
"Alphabet City, hon! You don't know what this is? It's the biggest city in Oz!"
"Oz?"
Alexi threw her arms in the air dramatically. "Have you lived under a rock your whole life or something?"
"No, I've lived in Kansas."
"Kansas? Never heard of it. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Your car is done for."
"Well, isn't there anything I can do?"
"Hmm… I can't think of anything. Oh! I know! You can go see the governor of Alphabet City! They say the guy can work miracles. Besides, I hear he's loaded. Oh, speaking of which, he's very greedy. You'll need to give him something in return for the favor. Ah! Here we go!" Alexi bent down and unscrewed a gold ring from April's finger. "You can use this!"
"That's not very respectful…" Angel mused.
"Oh, she's dead. She won't mind. Here, take it!" Alexi pushed the ring into Angel's palm. "Now, to find him, follow Jaune Street all the way until you hit downtown. That's where Governor Benjamin Coffin III lives."
Governor Coffin? How depressing. Angel thought.
"EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME!" A loud voice boomed from seemingly nowhere. Angel jumped a foot in the air. Alexi jumped three.
"Maureen!" The frightened woman squeaked.
"Who's that?" Angel turned in the general direction of the sound.
"She's an enemy of the government who stages protests and sometimes uses underhanded means to rebel. But more importantly, she and April were best friends. She has eyes everywhere. She probably already knows you killed her."
"I thought April didn't have any friends?"
"Well, I didn't count Maureen." Alexi shrugged.
"What, I don't matter?" Maureen pouted, appearing next to Alexi and breathing down her neck. Alexi screeched and fell over. Angel got a good look at her.
Maureen was tall and had long, curly brunette hair that fell down past her shoulders. She wore black leather pants and a tight-fitting jacket, complete with leather boots.
She turned on Angel. "You! You're the little bitch that killed my April!" She pointed a long, manicured finger at the performer. "How awful!" She grabbed Angel's wrist and yanked her forward, then gasped dramatically when she saw the ring. "YOU GIVE THAT BACK! You didn't even know her! That ring is sentimental! Hand it over!"
Angel shrank back and examined the ring in her hand. As over-dramatic and clearly evil this Maureen was, she had a point. Maybe she'd be left alone if she just gave her the ring.
Alexi interjected. "Now, now Maureen. Let's just talk this through…"
"I'm not talking to you!" Maureen snapped. She pushed her hand against Alexi's chest and clicked her tongue. Alexi let out a sharp cry and fell down, clutching her heart.
"Maureen, chica! Stop all this shouting!" Another voice materialized. Angel blinked, and now there was a cute Latina girl standing between her and Maureen. "And stop electrocuting the innocent!" She thunked Maureen in the forehead. Angel felt weak-kneed. She was thoroughly confused.
"Meems?" Maureen was taken aback. She recovered her composure quickly. "Go away! I should get that ring and you know it!"
"You should calm down." The girl said. Her voice became hypnotic. "Just calm down. Take deep breaths. Leave this nice lady alone. Go home." She spoke slowly, accentuating every word, and Maureen responded to the soothing words.
"All right Mimi… I'm going…" Maureen vanished.
Angel blinked. How could people just disappear like that? This was strange.
And it was going to get stranger.
