Kairi: Well then… Thank you to everyone who read Feather Faith and did not bother to inform me that it was horrible… (And that was mostly sarcasm.) On another, completely happier note… I'm back! With a much, much, much better version, which has obviously been renamed. So, read and enjoy! (I'll just be in the back eating popcorn.)

Hope Flies – Chapter One

CLOZA

You walk into a dark room. It's barely illuminated, but your eyes adjust quickly. You're supposed to meet someone here. The woman (Twila Hogan, did she say her name was?) said she wanted to talk, but you seem to be alone.

You stand by yourself for a few minutes, checking the clock on your phone every once in a while. You're about to turn and leave when another door, one you hadn't noticed before, opens. A woman with very short, dark hair steps into the room, her silvery-gray eyes scanning the area quickly.

"Come this way," she says, waving you forward. You contemplate leaving for a few moments, but then decide to follow her. She closes the door behind you and leads you down an even darker hallway. The lack of light causes you to notice that her eyes seem to be glowing a light silver. Or is that just your imagination?

"We're almost there," she tells you. Then she opens another door and you step into the room.

It's well-lit, unlike the last, and it's huge. It seems to be a private garden of some sort because there are trees and grasses and flowers all around. "This is my sanctuary. A series of hidden doors and corridors keeps it hidden from people who like to search thoroughly," the woman explains, sitting in the lush green grass. It's quite long, reaching up to your mid-calf. "Please, sit. What I must tell you will take quite a while to recount," she says.

You decide to sit down next to a tree and lean back against it. The woman, now that you can see her more clearly, appears to be in her early thirties. She's wearing a dark blue tank top with tight black pants and black combat boots. There is a silvery, cat-like marking on her right shoulder, and her black hair is trimmed short, so short that the longest strands are only a few inches in length.

"Alright. Let's hear it then," you say, finally speaking up. The woman smiles.

"I told you over the phone that my name is Twyla Hogan," she begins. "But that's not my true name. My true name is Raven…"

"Raven, hurry up! Big Brother's gonna start without you!" I smirked at the thirteen-year-old boy running in front of me as I pushed myself harder.

"Really now?" I asked, shooting out in front of him. We were running past the tiny strip mall on the east side of town, and we still had a ways to go. The boy's shaggy, sand-colored hair flipped around in the breeze even without him running. I was certain that my own black hair would be flying all over the place, were it not contained in a simple black ponytail holder.

The boy cried out in surprise as I passed him. I was four years older than him, but that didn't mean that I was slow. I was only seventeen, and despite having lived all my life on the streets, I was in my prime. I wasn't going to give up, on anything.

The two of us raced across the street. There weren't any cars going along, so there weren't any problems there. I grinned. "Hey, Kyle! You're losing!" I yelled back at my friend. I heard him laughing. The storage unit we were headed for was on the far side of the lot, so we still had a ways to go. Not that it mattered at that point, as I was so far ahead of Kyle that he wouldn't have any chances to catch up whatsoever.

We reached the storage unit in what must have been record time for us, but it still wasn't fast enough for Veronica.

"I don't know why we even bother waiting for you two slowpokes. You're never going to show up on time," she whined as we walked past her. I rolled my eyes. The storage unit meeting 'room' wasn't the blonde's thing, so she tended to stay outside until Dylan called us in. Looking around, I had to smirk. Kyle and I weren't the last to arrive today, after all.

"Hey, Raven! Whose house are you staying at tonight?" another, smaller blonde asked from across the room. I shrugged.

"I dunno, Silvia, but I've got my little hobo palace set up not far from the pond," I told her. She rolled her eyes at my name for the scrapped-together tent I was referring to.

"My room's cleaned; you can spend the night with us," she told me. I smiled.

"Alright. Thanks," I replied, looking around the 'meeting room'. There were large, industrial-style wooden crates stacked all around in the twenty-by-forty storage unit, and in the center here, they were arranged in a mostly circular pattern, leaving space for the walkway that came in from the opening. There were thirteen of us, so seating arrangements weren't a problem because of this.

Each of the seats was marked by a different colored rug depicting a different animal. Kyle was already sitting down in his seat, marked by a yellow rug with the depiction of a ram. To his right was Veronica's seat, which was marked by a snake on a green rug. Then there was the break for the pathway. On the other side was a silvery rug with a cat on it.

That's where I sat. I pulled my knees up to my chest and waited. I knew from a quick glance around that the missing members were Lawrence and Mayne, and that if they weren't here yet, they'd be a while.

I was thinking about my 'hobo palace' when Zoë, a quiet, dark-haired girl who wasn't afraid to use a knife on herself walked over and sat in the spot next to me. Mark, who belonged on the white rug with the black horse outlined on it, didn't seem to mind. Actually, Mark rarely seemed to mind anything.

"Hey. I heard you're staying at Silvia's tonight," she said, her soft voice catching my attention. I nodded.

"Yep. Why?" I replied. She shrugged.

"Cheryl's back in town. She brought the good stuff," she told me. I sighed. I knew exactly what she was talking about, and after the police had apprehended me the last time I had gotten drunk, I wasn't sure I wanted to go another round with Zoë and her sister. Those two could hold their own against grown men. I, on the other hand, could only handle so much.

But, I hadn't had alcohol in a while, and when Zoë said 'the good stuff,' she meant, 'the good stuff.' I wanted to try and stay clean, well, as clean as I could get at that point, but something inside my head was begging me to accept her offer. "When?" I asked. Zoë smiled slightly.

"Tomorrow night, then," she replied before getting up and heading over to her seat, a brown rug depicting a boar. Aaron, a relatively tall man, sat between her and Kyle on an indigo rug that depicted a rooster.

Dylan, our oh-so-wonderful leader, was sitting in his seat like it was a throne. I could barely see the golden rug underneath his black coat, but I knew that there was a picture of a dragon on it.

Finally, the late duo, Mayne and Lawrence, arrived. I could hear Veronica whining that they had taken so long, but, after exchanging a look with Jessamine, or Jessie as she prefers, we both started snickering.

"Jessie, have a seat," Dylan told her. The turquoise rug to his right depicted a rabbit, and that's where the redhead sat. "Veronica, Mayne, Lawrence, get in here!" he called. The trio came, redheaded and wild Lawrence first, who took his seat to the left of Dylan on the violet rug showing a tiger. Mousey little Mayne came next, taking the final seat of the six to Dylan's right, between Jessie and Zoë. Her rug was gray with an ox on it.

Veronica was the last in, and she took her seat as the three wandering members found theirs. Roark's rug showed a black background with a white rate on it, while Silvia's rug was blue with a dog and Ray's was red with a monkey.

Finally, all thirteen of us were sitting in a circle. Dylan looked over at Mark, who stood and took the laptop he was handed. It was already turned on, and I remembered that Dylan had been doing something on it when I had come in with Kyle.

I sighed, knowing that I'd have to do what Mark was doing during the next meeting. Except that he can type quickly, and I can't.

"As this second week comes to an end, we, the members of CLOZA, meet once again in order to re-affirm our grasp on the ties that bind us together as representatives of the Zodiac," Dylan began. I mentally translated his words to: 'It's time to talk about boring stuff again.' Dylan continued, despite my mental translations. "We have multiple items on our agenda today, including standard CLOZA assignments, special assignments, a dueling tournament, and the housing of our dear Cat."

Translation: 'We're going to talk about things everyone except me is going to do for the next two weeks and then we're going to figure out who is going to keep me out of my hobo palace.'

Then something caught in my brain.

Dueling tournament?

The next thing that ran through my mind was: Please, please, PLEASE let me compete!

Oh, yeah. I guess I should back up and explain a few things that are probably confusing you. First, CLOZA. It stands for 'Cooperative League of Organizations of the Zodiac, America.' We're actually the Illinois division of CLOZA. There are forty-eight divisions, one for each of the continental states. Each member is aligned with one of the twelve Zodiac signs…

Second, yes, Dylan did call me 'Cat'. And no, the cat is not in the Zodiac. It was left out of the Chinese Zodiac, though apparently it was substituted for the rabbit in the Vietnamese Zodiac. The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac plus the cat make up the available positions for each division of CLOZA. During our meetings, we're supposed to refer to the others by their animal. So, I'm supposed to call Dylan 'Dragon' and Silvia 'Dog'.

And I get called Cat. Or Kitty by Veronica. I've given up correcting her.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, tuning out of the meeting while assignments were discussed. I never got any assignments because 'the cat is not an official member of the Zodiac and so cannot complete that which must be done by the Zodiac'. Translation: you're not really a member of the group.

So why do I keep showing up? Oh, right. Because Dylan likes sending us to dueling tournaments and I'm actually allowed to go to those… So long as he's only sending one or two people to duel. Any more than that, and it becomes 'a statement of CLOZA's goals and ambitions'. In other words, since I'm not a true member of the organization, I can't compete.

I held back a sigh as Dylan pulled out a set of manila folders. Since I would have to type next meeting, this was my job this meeting. I walked over and took the folders, glancing at the animal on top to identify who the assignment was for. The first time I had done this, I had handed them out to all the wrong people and had to be corrected multiple times. Now, it was a simple task to check the animal and hand the folder to the correct person.

There were only five folders, so after passing them out, I took a seat. Now that the assignments and special assignments (the details were in each folder) had been covered, we could get on with the dueling tournament. This, I would definitely pay attention to.

"The World Championship is taking place in four months at San Francisco," Dylan began, pulling out a piece of paper. "The requirements for entry are as follows: The participant must use a legal deck that has been approved by tournament authorities. The participant must have placed in the top sixteen of a regional tournament. The participant must not be participating in any other tournament at the time of the World Championship tournament."

"Well that's easy. Everyone here has legal decks, and no one's stupid enough to host a tournament during the World Championship," Lawrence commented. Dylan shot him a look that he missed, although at that point he was done talking anyway.

"What about the regional tournament?" I asked. Dylan nodded.

"The tournament in Chicago next week is a regional tournament. The top sixteen will be qualified to join the World Championship in four months," he said. "I have six participant forms. The other six will have to settle for watching," he added. I felt ice crawl across my heart at his words.

No, I wouldn't get to compete this time. After all, how could I…

…when I wouldn't be going to this one at all?

Kairi: So then… That is a MUCH smoother beginning than Feather Faith had…

Male voice: No kidding.

Kairi: -yelps and turns around, then spots a black-haired man sitting on top of a bookshelf- Zylar! What are you doing here? You haven't even been introduced to the story yet!

Zylar: -shrugs- So? I was bored.

Kairi: -sighs- So I guess I'm going to have to deal with you 'helping' me for this story, huh?

Zylar: Yup. Just like Tobias in Destiny Call and Dark in A Spatial Tear.

Kairi: Whatever… -turns back to readers- Eheh, sorry about that… Please leave a review, even if it's really short! We'll be back… er… whenever the next date in my profile is…

Zylar: November 22nd, aka. Thanksgiving.

Kairi: Oh, right… I still need to finish that little Thanksgiving special I was doing… Well then, I'm off! –poofs-