Perplexing Changes.
By Evelaunce.
Ch. 1: A different experience.
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I could hear the rain pelting heavily against the half-open window that was right behind me.
I slowly glanced around the corner, but no one was in sight. "That's strange..." I slowly crept through the darkness, looking for any signs of danger, but there was none.
I finally found the desk with the information slip on it. I quickly grabbed for it, and as soon as I had it in my grasp, I felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of my head.
"What are you doing boy!" The voice was very deep, and harsh.
I could feel my stomach churning, and my legs almost gave out. "I'm dead..." those words kept racing through my head.
I felt his hand clamp onto the shoulder, then I was roughly pulled around. The man was a monster, he probably stood almost seven feet tall, and a long ugly scar was visible on his stern face.
"Do you know what stealing from the turks will get you boy!?" He grabbed the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground, then pressed the gun to my chin.
I was too shocked to say anything, but lucky for me, I was a fast thinker. I slammed my knee into his stomach, and then came crashing to the floor.
I quickly recovered, and shot to my feet.
"Get back here kid!" Two gunshots rang through the warehouse, but I wasn't hit, so I ran faster towards the exit.
"H-hey! Where are you going!?" A man about my height ran in front of the door, but I was determined to get out of here alive, so I braced myself, and burst past him and out the door.
"After him! Don't let him get away!" I looked back, and seen the man that had blocked the door pull out a gun, and start to run after me.
I was normally fast when it came to running, and I could get out of pretty much any situation, but now it was probably just adrenaline rush, but it felt like I was keeping pace with the wind.
Two more gunshots rang out, then another man appeared in front of me.
I couldn't stop soon enough, so I had to break through him.
Just as I ran past his left side, his arm shot out, and grabbed my arm. I desperately punched at his face, and to my amazement, he lost his grip.
I kept running through Deling, until I came to a corner. I was out of breath, I had no weapon, so I had to find a hiding place fast.
I frantically looked around, then my eyes came across a small church just across the street.
"Perfect." I smiled inwardly, then quickly ran for the front door.
I was now soaked from head to toe from the rain, and I didn't know if my pursuers seen where I went, so I decided on going inside the sanctuary.
The wooden door creaked as I walked into the sanctuary, the noise echoed through the whole room, but for some strange reason...no eyes were on me.
I seen that everyone except for a sharply dressed man up on a platform was on their knees.
I sat down in the pew that was at the very back of the sanctuary, and let out a long sigh of relief.
I listened as hard as I could, but I couldn't hear any noises outside, or no footsteps.
"Lord! Come down in this sanctuary!" I directed my gaze at the man up on the platform, he was standing strait up, with both of his hands lifted into the air, and just by looking at his face, he looked like he was somewhere else.
I looked around, and seen that every other pew had at least three people on their knees, and I could hear their muffled voices.
I focused on the person in front of me. "Lord, please stop this violence, help these gang-members, help them to settle their differences, to see that what their doing is wrong..." All of a sudden, the man squeezed his eyelids tighter, and became silent.
For some reason I couldn't move, I had never heard something like this, "Settle...our...differences...? HA! Like that would ever happen!"
Of coarse I was in a gang, we called ourselves Tok. We were a smaller gang, with just a few members, but we were one of the best for getting important documents from the bigger, more powerful gangs, namely...the turks.
My roaming thoughts came to the piece of paper in my coat pocket, and I smiled inwardly. I knew that this document alone would give us enough money to hire at least two new people, and get us the right equipment.
I listened to the muffled voices for a few more minutes, then I leaned back in my pew, and relaxed my tense muscles.
The service went on for probably another hour, and everyone was still on their knees, praying.
"...Rinoa, could you please go to the piano?" I looked up, and my breath caught in my throat as soon as I seen her, she was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
I watched her walk behind the large piano, then she started playing softly. I was mesmerized by the melody, then she started singing.
"Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God almighty!" She had the best singing voice I had ever heard, and soon everyone but me was standing, and fervently singing along with her.
The song ended, then the man up on the platform walked behind the pulpit.
"...Church...I trust that you all were helped, and I hope to see you all tomorrow morning." He smiled warmly, then everyone moved from the pews.
I quickly stood up, and walked towards the door, but before I could get through it, the man from the platform stopped me.
"Son!...Hold up there." He calmly walked toward me. "It's nice to see a new face." He smiled warmly, then extended his hand. "I'm Cid Kramer, the pastor of this church."
I looked at his hand for a minute, then up at his face. "Squall...Squall Leonhart..." I didn't really know what to say, so I just gave him my name, then shook his hand.
I seen out of the corner of my eye, that a woman was walking towards where we were standing.
"Mr. Leonhart---"
"Just call me Squall." I corrected quickly, not liking the sound of 'Mr'.
"...Squall, this is my wife, Edea." He motioned towards her, and she extended her hand.
"Squall Leonhart.....ma'am..." They obviously didn't have a clue as to who I was, so I decided that for now I would try to be somewhat polite.
"W-well...I have to go..."
"Alright then Mr. Leonhar--- I mean Squall...I hope you'll join us tomorrow." He smiled again, then with a silent nod, I left the church.
I noticed that it had now stopped raining, as I walked down the street.
"That was weird...I thought all church people...were snooty...guess I was wrong." I couldn't get the thoughts of that service out of my head.
Why were they praying for the gangs of this town? And why did they treat me...like that after just meeting me? This was all something new to me, for I had lived on the streets ever since I could remember, and it took a very long time for anyone to gain someone's trust.
My thoughts kept going back to that song, and the pastor...this was something that I had never experienced before, and for some reason...I actually wanted to go back tomorrow morning.
I was lost in my thoughts until I found that I was in front of the door to the building which acted as Tok's headquarters.
I cautiously looked around, then after I seen that the coast was clear, I pushed the door open.
I walked through the building, until I came to the old painting at the end of a short hallway. I slid the picture up, and pressed the correct code, then a panel in the wall to my right slid back, revealing a hidden staircase.
"Squall! Where have you been!?" I looked up and seen Irvine Kinneas; the leader of our small gang standing in front of me.
"...Nowhere..." I answered.
"...Whatever, anyway did you get it?" He asked, holding out his hand.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it wasn't easy." I quickly retrieved the document from my coat, and slapped it into his hand.
"I love you man! I don't think anyone else could have gotten this!" He exclaimed, while carefully studying the piece of paper.
"What do you expect from the best in the business." I laughed, then walked past him.
"Hold up there, I got a call from Danny today, he has a new job for us...or namely...you." He quickly stopped me, then stuffed the piece of paper in his brown coat.
"What am I doing this time?" I asked, not turning around.
"It involves the turks again, he needs sufficient dirt on them, so the cops can go after Donovan." He explained.
"Don't Dan know that Donovan is too slippery for the cops? Why does he even want to try?" I asked.
"He needs to create a diversion, he knows that there is a shipment of Horse coming in two days, and he wants to get his hands on them." He explained.
"Fine...but when does the job have to be done?" I asked.
"I need documents...anything that the cops could use, by noon tomorrow." With that, he walked past me, leaving me to think in the hall.
I slowly walked toward the room that acted as the sleeping quarters. My mind was on the church service tonight, I sort of...wanted to go tomorrow, but my job came first.
I laid on the bottom bunk, thinking about what I could do. I knew that it would take me all morning, even if I did get up earlier.
"Hey scuz-ball, what are you going on my bed?" I looked over at the doorway, and seen Zell casually leaning against it.
"...Sorry...just thinking..." I answered absent-mindedly.
"Yo, is everything ok? I've never seen you like this before dude." He pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"Y-yeah, everything is fine, I'm just thinking." I answered.
"Ok...well if ya need to talk, I'm here, anyway we're all going to Monty's tonight, you coming?" He asked, leaning back so only two of the chair's legs were on the floor.
"...No...I'm gonna hold off tonight..." I answered.
...CRASH!
I looked over, and seen Zell on the floor, along with the chair.
"...You must have something wrong with you! You never pass up a chance to go to Monty's!" He quickly picked himself up from the floor, and stared at me with a shocked look.
"Look! I just don't feel like going to clubs tonight, besides the last thing I need is a hangover tomorrow morning." I snapped.
"Geez dude, you don't have to get all moody, anyway see ya." He quickly ran out of the room, and left me to myself.
I felt really tired, so I crawled up into my bed, and fell asleep.
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Ok, well that's the end of chap one! Does anyone like it? Tell me if you do ;)
Ok well, I'm a Christian dude if no one knew, so I'm going to do a story that is Christian based, HEY GET BACK HERE!!! (locks all the doors and windows) ok well I'm not gonna go into all that Theology stuff, this story is gonna be like a very good book I just read, called "The Cross and the Switchblade" it is a very good book, so yeah...thats the new idea.
Ok so now for those of you that don't know already, Dynast of a Warrior...sadly is going to be discontinued, Reminiscence of an Almasy, was only meant to be a one-shot, but Wrong Intentions will be continued till the end...whenever that will be...ok so that's whats up.
Ok well, I gotta go so C YA