Chapter 1

White overlapped with gray like a spill of paint as the sky was torn open, a lightning bolt parting the stormy clouds above. The jagged fracture of light hung in the sky for a mere moment- a picturesque example of nature's fury- before disappearing as quickly as it had come. A rattling clap of thunder followed just seconds after, shaking the very earth with its might. Mingled rain and hail poured down from above. The water crystals were small, but their damage was mighty, and the dirty figures slogging through the mud had to pause frequently to scrub away the blood running down their faces from the knife-like, icy edges. Then they continued on through the howling wind as if they were taking a stroll through the park, each outfitted in drab brown cloaks that covered their entire bodies. The hoods were pulled down over each person's eyes, letting only their grimly set mouths remain subject to the weather. They were all carrying eggs. There must have been a hundred people, all bearing a single fragile life within their hands as they moved along.

The group stumbled through the woods as silent as ghosts. Only the sound of their boots signaled that there was life in the ravaged land at all. They seemed to be heading straight for a grove of willow trees in the distance. It looked quite out of place among the towering pines which surrounded it. Each cloaked figure hugged their egg close to their chest, hoping to protect it from the biting cold. Nothing else stirred besides the shuddering trees.

As the crowd reached the grove, they entered without any hesitation. As if something magical were at work, the howling wind stopped at once. The rain turned from a hammering monsoon to a light drizzle. Hail disappeared altogether. Though the sky above was still dark and ominous, it seemed to be walled off from the outside world altogether. Overhanging tresses of leaves, tinted with blends of red and brown, gazed watchfully at the passing group as they traveled between their boughs' winding trunks. Finally, they reached a secluded, overflowing river and stopped.

"We're here."

The single voice was quiet, but the surrounding grove was quieter. Nervous whispering broke out among the rest of the people at the statement, but it took only a raise of the speaker's hand to silence them. She stepped away from the group and let the dim light from above wash over her, which highlighted her pale complexion and light brown hair that spilled out from her hood. The waters gurgled softly at her approach, as if they had been expecting her, and then continued away downstream. The egg she held was not much unlike the other ones- a mismatch of colors turned dull by the dirt and rain. It had a few blunt spikes one one end, but that was the only feature of it that separated it from the others in any way. Its holder sighed softly as she stepped into the soft silt. Water gushed up to her ankles and then her calves as she walked further in. The rest of the group watched in deathly silence as she reached the slow-moving current. There, within the cool blue stream, she set the egg. It began to bob downstream, slowly but certainly.

She moved away, and others followed her lead. Each set their tiny vessel housing life afloat, and one after another the small eggs followed the spiky one in the lead. They began disappearing around a bend not far off, and soon the final one had slipped from sight. The cloaked figures all bowed their heads for a brief moment before gazing towards their evident leader. She sighed and nodded with satisfaction.

"My brothers and sisters, we have completed our duty. Let us return home."

They murmured quietly among themselves as they turned back, but were soon drowned out by the wind and rain as they left behind the willows. Once more the storm raged around them, and before long all of them had disappeared into the dark with no intent of returning.

"Honey, if you don't get down here within five minutes, I'll hand your ticket off to the first unfortunate soul I find on the streets!"

Oh, crap! The girl tangled up among her comfortable sheets would have normally brushed off her father's warning and returned to the blissful clutches of sleep, but today was different. As she practically rocketed out of the covers and hit her head on the bunk bed above before scrambling to her dresser, all she could dwell on was the fact that she was prone to screwing up like this. Her thoughts were a whirlwind of confusion. Clothes, clothes, clothes. Dammit, what to wear? At the very least, she consoled herself, she'd packed her bags last night. But that left very few options for comfortable outfits. All that were in her bare drawers now were semi-fancy clothes her friends had tried to get her to wear over the years. Ugh. She eventually chose a loosely fitting floral tank top and jeans, which she threw on with all haste as she tumbled into the bathroom to wash her face and get ready.

Ten minutes later, the girl limped down the stairs with a brand new bruise on her forehead, light brown tresses falling into her eyes due to a messy brushing, and a grouchy attitude to boot. But she looked presentable, and at this point that was enough to satisfy her. She emerged into the small living room with a suitcase under either arm and a backpack slung over her shoulder, sighing heavily when her dad smiled with understanding in her direction. He ran his fingers through his dark hair as he turned towards the mudroom.

"You look lovely, sweetheart. To think that my daughter is finally going off to college!" he gushed, opening the door and ushering her outside into the fresh air. She blinked painfully at the sunlight, but it didn't matter much, because the two of them quickly got into a small car which rattled out of the driveway, talking up a storm to one another. The girl was practically bursting with eagerness, despite her rude awakening. She chattered up a storm about how she was going to be attending one of the most prestigious universities in all of the regions, going on and on about her plans until she was quite out of breath. Nevermind that her father already knew all of this. He, too, looked enthralled.

Half an hour came and went, but it seemed like only minutes had passed before they arrived at a bustling train station. The turning in of tickets, the lines, the cereal bar the girl jammed into her mouth as she waited... it all passed in a blur. Before long, she was standing at the edges of a throng of people, waiting with tense excitement to board the train soon to be arriving. She checked her watch- five more minutes. Good. That gave her some time. She turned slightly around and sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey, Dad?"

Her father straightened himself instantaneously, a sheepish smile crossing his face as the girl noticed him taking pictures, and put away his phone in a snap. "Yes, sweetie? Do you need something?"

She giggled slightly at his antics, coming closer to stand on her tiptoes and give him a kiss on the forehead. However, the smile on her face was quickly fading. "I love you."

"I love you too, my little Fu-Fu. Ah, it's been so long since I called you that! I'm going to miss having you around, even though I've spent the last thirteen years with you."

Her face flushed red at the childhood nickname, but she didn't say anything else on the subject. She rather clutched the straps of her backpack tighter and looked down. Despite preparing herself mentally to ask her father this, her body still refused to give her confidence. Her voice came out as quiet and shaky instead of the powerful sound she'd been imagining.

"Do you think Mom would be proud of me?"

The question was simple, but the answer was not. Her father put a large hand on her shoulder, and she glanced at it. This was the same hand that had patched her wounds, cooked her dinner, and gently set an egg in her own palms nine years ago that would become her best friend. So why did it feel so foreign now? Her heart twisted in pain at his brief silence.

"I do not doubt for a second that your mother has watched you grow up into the fine young woman you are, and was beside you through all of the highs and lows. Certainly she knows you will do great things in your life."

A smile slowly spread across her face. Granted, it wasn't a large one. But it was enough to lift her spirits. She embraced her father, and for just a few moments the noise around her seemed to melt away. The beeping of cars, the loud conversations between others, the footsteps echoing through the chamber... it all disappeared. But all too quickly it returned.

"Oh! That's your train, sweetheart!"

Her head snapped up at his exclamation, and she watched the crowds slowly merge into lines that shuffled up into the cars of the sleek gray locomotive. She immediately got in one more kiss on her father's cheek before snatching up her two suitcases and following the leads of the others. Before long, she had gotten inside and found a seat next to the window and a compartment above to put her suitcases in. She leaned against its sill and stared out at her father, who was waving with enough intensity to cause some people to walk well around him. She giggled and returned the wave. Then the train hissed and lurched forward, beginning its slow journey towards the opposite end of the region. She noticed her reflection in the glass- tears were welling up in her deep blue eyes. She watched the station, a mere gray splotch against the cheery blue sky, until it had disappeared into the distance.

At long last, her journey had begun.

"Excuse me, miss? Do you mind if I sit here?"

The girl was awoken from a deep slumber by someone tapping on her shoulder. She sat up and glanced over at the person who had spoken. She was tall and lanky, wearing a disheveled outfit made up of a tie-dye shirt with colors so bright it made her eyes hurt, skinny jeans, and hiking boots that matched the color of her eyes and nearly reached her knees. Her long black hair was pulled up into a ponytail to frame her fawn-brown eyes, which were sparkling with eagerness. The former winced at the thought that this person was probably very talkative and would keep her up the whole way, and was about to suggest she sit somewhere else, but upon further observation there seemed to be no other empty seats in the car. Many people were standing. She admittedly wouldn't like to be one of them. So with a heavy sigh, she moved her backpack below her feet and gestured for the girl to sit there with a quiet grumble.

"Oh, thank you so much, miss... miss..." the younger girl trailed off, unsure of what to call her.

"Fumiko. Fumiko Madoka. But call me Fumi, okay?" she sighed, trying her best to sound welcoming but instead giving off a kind of "leave-me-alone" vibe. Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to notice, and she executed a flawless fifteen degree bow before sitting beside her and plunking her overstuffed backpack on her lap.

"Okay, then! Thank you, Miss Fumi! Can I call you Fumi-chan?" she gushed, unzipping her bag and rifling through the contents. Her voice was like a foghorn, and some others who were trying to have their own conversations shot her some dirty looks. But she was oddly unfazed by their glares, and continued to chatter senselessly like she herself had been in the car. In a wave of storytelling the girl quickly forgot her earlier question, and Fumiko hardly had a chance to reply anyways.

At first, she tried to sound interested. She occasionally nodded, laughed a bit, or made some crude observation. But her new traveling companion hardly stopped to breathe and honestly seemed to be talking less to the one sitting next to her and more to herself, and so soon Fumi gave up trying to do anything and just made an attempt to fall back asleep. She failed. All she managed to learn that was of any use from the strange young woman in the next hour was that her name was Kiyoko Takahashi, she was eighteen years old, and that she was also headed to a college down in the south. Oh, goodie. They'd sure have a handful with her. She checked her watch again as if by impulse. The train was scheduled to arrive at three in the afternoon, and it was only eleven. Only four more hours with this talkative nightmare.

"College, here I come..." she sighed to herself. Then she buried her head into her hands and tried to drown out the clamor around her. This was going to be painful.

Little did Fumiko know, her life was about to get a lot more noisy.

Hello there, citizens of fanfiction! I am pleased to introduce to you one of my latest and greatest stories, which is also going to be an SYOC. I love these things, man. I'm not usually one to join them, but I always have a lot of fun bringing other peoples' characters to life with my own goals in mind for them. I haven't done one in awhile, though. Nobody actually knows this, but I had another account on this site before I eventually gave up on it. My writing was sloppy, my plots were horrible, and despite the friendships I'd formed I just slowly lost interest in posting there. It's pretty dead now. Surprisingly, there are still people following the only story I have up. I should probably delete it. But anyways, I've improved a lot over time, and now I think I can finally create a proper story and finish it well. I already know where I want to go with this fanfic anyways- I just have to fit the characters I receive into it.

Heh, I know what you're thinking. Will she just shut up already and talk about where I should be submitting my character? No worries. Even I'm bored of me. I'll just tape my mouth closed and point you in the direction of the character form.

Everything you need to know is going to be on my profile. Ignore all my Pokemon Fallen crap- I mean, unless you want to read it. Aggressive coughing. The story is super neat. Go check it out.

Have a great day!

-UnamusedAron