A.N: Odd premise, this one, though I suppose all of my stories should have something weird to them if they are to be unique. Nonetheless, I hope you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 1: Creative Measures
"Kill me now, kill me now, kill me now..." Edelweiss' little sister chanted as the plane came to a final stop on the pavement. A cheerful voice welcomed them into Narita International, going largely unheard by the impatient passengers just waiting for the last syllable so they could get off the damned flying tuna can.
Well, that was how she and her sister felt.
Edelweiss and Adelaide Rozenfern, sisters and fellow fosters, were in Japan to take advantage of the elder's emancipation, which meant that there was no more need to worry about getting adopted into a family that didn't want them as a package deal; now they had to worry about schools and work and how to get food and decent shelter so they didn't die from stupid stuff like starvation or exposure. There was also that pesky thing about being part-fey (it was how they stuck together for ten years), but that was mostly solved with their grandmother's grimoire and diary in the Duffel of Emergency Supplies that never left Weiss' sight.
Despite the deep urge to break through the window (she could do it -just trace Sharpened nails around the seams and pop it right out...) Edelweiss made herself and her sister wait until they were the last in their seats before getting up and getting their luggage. They passed the baggage collection -they had intended to buy clothes in the city along with everything else -and tolerated the security checks with grace before they finally exited into Tokyo.
The older brunette ran over her mental checklist one more time, absently getting on the train and making sure Adele was in her periphery at least. Shelter was already guaranteed for her and her sister near XXX Academy (don't ask how she got in there) as well as the furniture and necessary fixtures, so she just needed to do some basic groceries, some shopping for clothes and school supplies, she figured that uniforms would be easy to get later on...
Meanwhile, Adele was babbling on as usual: "...and I hope our place isn't too far from a mall, and they would be selling Pocky somewhere in there, too, so that we'll have a good stash just in case of sweets emergencies..."
Smiling indulgently, she nodded with a look of utmost concentration on her face at all the right points, going for all the world like she was actually following her baby sister's verbalized thought processes. At least half of her mind was, as always, devoted to assessing all the possible threats and exits out of the train car if everything went pear-shaped and how to disappear again until the time was right for them to resurface.
Unfortunately, her senses, refined as they were to supernatural or immediate threats only, was unable to detect something of a more mundane nature.
A construction worker nearby wiped his row, pleased after a hard day's work. He was lifting steel beams to the upper levels, and had just finished with the crane arm at about level with the train tracks right beside the site. It was empty, of course, of any material that may cause it to tip unsteady in any direction unsupervised. But as he walked out, intending to take the subway home (and inwardly congratulating himself on scoring such a convenient workplace), the brake that hadn't been properly secured loosed, swinging the heavy arm into the train tracks. Right in front of an incoming train.
For the first time in a long while, the Tokyo Metro was the scene of one of its worst accidents to date. The worker who left the brake free was charged with gross negligence causing death and jailed accordingly, his reputation and image in his local community tarnished forever. But it didn't change the fact that the driver and about fifteen other people on board the first car were dead.
It only took Edelweiss a split-second to convulsively grab hold of her sister before the train buckled. The metal and plastic pill they were in physically crinkled like cheap tissue paper as passengers were either crushed between the pieces or hurtled into it with enough speed to squelch their heads as though they fell from a skyscraper. Based on her mental calculations, her momentum would likely break her spine – leaving her a quadrupledic, but alive. Even better, it meant that Adelaide would live through this mostly unharmed.
As if detecting her older sister's thoughts (wouldn't put her powers past it, they knew she would protect their vessel without reserve – that was what the Warriors were for), her Power whipped and flickered, enveloping them both and winking out faster than the time it took for them to breathe.
They landed on a snow-covered grave, cold and exhausted and definitely not in Japan anymore. It didn't get this cold in the island country unless it was maybe Hokkaido, and it never got this bad because Edelweiss had taken her sister there on a visit one winter and they knew...
Then there was a man coming up the hill, dressed in red Chinese robes like what she'd only seen in paintings of people like Confucius or the Yellow Emperor, and she was so tired and just wanted to sleep, but she got up and stood over her sister's unconscious form, determined to put up some sort of fight on her behalf.
She too met Morpheus before she got back down on her knees.
Edelweiss awoke to warmth, the smell of tea, and the feeling of bandages around her head. A tray had been set on a stool beside the bed, with some food and a steaming cup of dark tea. Suspicious (and panicking just a bit, she couldn't see her sister - calm down), she flickered a bit of Power to scan for poison or drugs before deciding it was safe. Tentatively grasping the spoon and dipping it in, the fey Warrior found that she quite liked the taste.
The door opened. "Ah, thank goodness you're awake!" she exclaimed. She looked thirteen or so, some two or so years apart from her baby sister, and she fairly radiated innocence. Looked like the man's daughter, the one who found them. Somehow, Edelweiss felt absolutely no threatening vibes from her.
'So people like that do exist, then,' she thought, nodding slightly as she did so. "Ano, my sister; might you know where she is? She was with me when your father found us on the hill," she added.
The girl thought hard, then brightened. "Of course, I'll get Father! Please, stay put while I do so." She politely closed the door and ran off, shoes tap-tap-tapping softly away with a swish of skirts.
Edelweiss closed her eyes and began to think. Nothing had gone according to plan.
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Jade Celandine, out!