Authors Notice: I began this story about 4 years ago and I'm only posting it now. How sad is that? Anyway it has been a long, hard task to complete but I'm happy with the results. You may recognize some of the female characters from an account called the Angels of Fate (I'm one of the members, so yes I have permission to use them). I don't own the Ronin warriors nor the Warlords, though at times I wish I did. I DO however own one of the universes, all the gods and goddess', and any characters you don't recognize. I'd also like to take this time to thank my editor and Beta *coughBeta-Halfcough* for all the help she gave me in getting this story up and running. If not for her it never would have been posted, so Thank-you Jess. I'd also like to send a shout out to the amazing authors of "The Bob Files" Cat and Caitlen, you guys are awesome. Their fanfiction is mentioned during the first half of this story and plays a minor, yet fun part in our tale.
~.~ indicates thoughts.
~*~ indicates scene change.
Falling into Dreams
~ It's Friday. We've got a four day weekend. We're sleeping over at Julie's house. Maggie finally remembered to bring me in 'The Bob Files' to read. ~ "Oh My Gawd! It's the Apocalypse!" Jess cried out as she ran through her mental checklist.
"Why do you say that?" Maggie asked sarcastically as she got up from where she landed after her last flip.
"I was just thinking of all the things going on right now and I couldn't think of anything wrong and Julie and Amanda aren't trying to kill each other and we're eating chocolate and Bridget isn't yelling at us!" Jess paused to catch her breath as Maggie called the other girls over and filled them in on Jess's fear.
Bridget, seeing that Jess was truly freaked out, tried to comfort her. "Aww poor Jess, there is nothing to be worried about. It's not the apocalypse."
"Yeah," cut in Julie. "Me and Amanda have that all planned out. 'Manda! Get the book." {Author insert : 'Layla!!! Get the hose!' We now return you to your normally scheduled program.}
"Yes Master." Amanda called as she ran over to the pile of bags sitting on the steps of their high school. Hearing this, Jess's face took on an expression of total confusion as Bridget and Maggie burst out laughing.
"She lose another bet?" choked out Maggie, who was trying to compose herself. "Yep," responded a gleeful Julie. "She bet me that I wouldn't pants Bubbles in the library at lunch today."
"Eww!" Screamed Maggie, Bridget, and Jess collectively.
"Tell me about it! He was wearing Xena boxers!"
"Too Much Information!!!!!!" was the sentiment Julie received from that last statement.
"So how long has she got to be at your beck and call?" Maggie asked with an evil look in her eye as she watched Amanda pull a huge black notebook from a book bag covered in pins.
"Just till Sunday, Mags" replied Amanda as she handed Julie the book. On the cover in magazine letter was written 'Apocalyptic Acts Made Easy, or How To Take Over The World: Written and Illustrated by the DSU.'
"So what would you like to know first, deary?" Julie asked as she slipped on her reading glasses and flipped open the large book. "Location, first warning signs, dates, participants?"
"Uhhh no, no. Umm just that it doesn't take place anytime soon," replied Jess in a smiling tone of voice.
"Let's see. Warfare, plagues, enslavement of all malekind... uh, Dominatrix rulership. Hmm..." Julie continued to mumble under her breath as she flipped through her and Amanda's book, completely missing Jess's, Maggie's, and Bridget's shocked expressions and Amanda's look of pride.
"Oh! Here it is. Nope, nothing for another twenty years or so Jess. Absolutely nothing bad in the works for you to worry about ruining our weekend." Julie said as she finally looked up from the book and pulled off her glasses.
"Ok! Thanks Jules, *yawn* I'm bored now," Jess said as she walked over to where Bridget and Amanda had gone to on the steps. Bridget was reading new music for band while Amanda worked on a story in one of her notebooks.
"Maggie? Where is that story you brought in for me?" Jess called out to Maggie who had gone back to doing sporadic flips on the schools front lawn.
"It's in my bag. In the, uh, Big Red book, I think."
"K!" hollered Jess as she dove her head into Maggie's bag looking for the elusive 'Red Book'.
"Eureka!! I have found the holy grail!" screamed Jess as she ripped the book from the tight confines of Maggie's bottomless pit of a book bag. Gripping the book tightly, Jess ran over to 'her spot' underneath the tree in the school front lawn and began reading. Unbeknownst to the young girl she was being stalked.
The strange beasts that were stalking her were known by one title when they were like this: 'The Double Scythe Union'. Members two. Blood sisters who were similar in appearance, long braids that changed periodically in style graced both girls heads, matching hazel eyes that had a habit of changing color quite frequently, and an evil grin that could make a nun weep.
They surrounded the occupied girl, one on either side. The red head was on the left and the black-haired girl on the right. "So Jess?" started Amanda who was on the right. "Yes?"
"Whatcha reading?" asked Julie, who was standing on Jess's left.
"Bob Files," Jess murmured, not really paying attention to what was going on around her, as she was already caught up in the magic of the story.
"Ahh." The deranged sisters replied as the edged closer. "The Holy Grail," said one. "Yea, One of the most sacred of texts known to anime-fi-ed kind," said the other. They were quiet for a moment.
"What part are you on?" asked Amanda with a look of evil interest in her darkening eyes.
"Uh....Ya know the part where they play toss Caitlin at the aquarium? Uhhh, hey, guys? Did you and the others base 'toss Jess' off 'toss Caitlin?'"
"Yes."
"Ok."
During this time, Maggie had migrated over to where Bridget was reading on the steps and plopped herself down and began to work on her latest work of art.
"Hey Jess, lemme see that for a sec! You've got to see my favorite part!" said Julie as she ripped the files from Jess's grasp. Jess screeched, "Hey! Give BACK!!!!"
"Hold on. Ow!" whined Julie as she wrestled with Amanda to keep control of the story. "No!" Screamed Amanda back at Julie as she began to pull harder. Jess, getting even more angry than she was to begin with, did the only thing she could think of (short of killing the two and burying them in a shallow grave off of highway nine): She called for help.
"MAGGIE! BRIDGET! Help! They took my story and won't give it back!"
Hearing the littlest of the Imps call for help, Maggie and Bridget ran to see what was the matter. When they reached the fighting trio they had to pause to make sure they weren't seeing things.
Jess had her hands wrapped around Julie's throat. Amanda had her hands wrapped around Jess's throat. Julie was holding onto the book while turning blue from lack of oxygen. All in all what Maggie and Bridget saw was a mass of tangled arms, legs, and paper.
When they finally stopped laughing the two girls decided that the quickest way to break up the 'fight' would be to get the story out of the pile. And Julie with it. Seeing an opening Maggie dove right in pushing and pulling her way through the tangle of body parts while Bridget grabbed onto Amanda and way trying to separate her hands from Jess's throat. After a full five minutes of this Maggie finally resorted to biting Jess on the hand, making her shriek and let Julie's neck go, allowing the other girl to finally breath again. Thinking fast, Bridget, and Maggie made their moves quick as can be and pulled their friends apart. The result was two separate piles of people all gasping for air trying to figure out what had happened.
"Alright. Would somebody like to explain why you all decided to kill each other over a fanfic?" Maggie said as she pulled the aforementioned fic from Julie's hands, ignoring her mild protest. Almost immediately the three girls started talking at once. Unable to decipher what they were saying Maggie let loose with a New York taxi whistle, making everyone wince, and as predicted shut up.
"Now shall we try that again with a little more order?" The girls nodded, their heads downcast in shame for not behaving like the almost adults that were.
"Seniors in High School should not be acting like immature six year olds fighting over the better Barbie doll. You and you and you," Bridget said as she pointed to each of the girls in turn "Should act like the mature adults I know you can be rather than the riff raff that Mr. Rudy thinks you are."
A moment of silence went by and then the laughing started. Even Bridget was on the ground cackling. "Oh my God, B, that was so funny, ah ha ha ha!" cackled Maggie as she rolled on the ground with the others.
"Ya! You sounded just like Sister!" said Jess, who at this point had tears rolling down her cheeks because she was laughing so hard. Amanda and Julie just laughed. They didn't have enough air in them to make a coherent sentence between the two of them.
When the girls finally quieted down they agreed to give Jessy back her story and moved to sit on the steps together, as no one wanted anymore grass stains on their clothes to explain when they got home on Monday. A few hours had passed since school had ended and while band practice had ended only an hour ago the girls were getting a bit restless....and hungry.
"Julie? When is your brother going to get here? You did remember to ask him to pick us up, didn't you?" Bridget asked as she opened her book bag up and pulled out a bottle of water.
" Soon. He said that Amanda (his girlfriend) was coming up today to spend the next few weeks with us and that he would probably wait until she reached the house before taking off to get us." Julie said as she reached over Amanda to grab her own bottle of water from her book bag.
"And why would he be doing that?" asked Maggie in between bites of her chocolate bar.
"Because there is supposed to be a really big storm tonight and he wants to make sure that she gets home alright so that he wont have to be worrying about her while he's driving us around town picking up our supplies for the weekend."
"Oh," was Maggie's only reply as she took another bite of her chocolate bar and continued to scribble in her notebook of the moment.
A few moments of silence passed before Jess let out a huge sigh as she checked her watch and began to glare pointedly at Julie before stating, "Julie, it's 5:30, your brother WILL be here in ten minutes, right?"
Not looking up from her place in her book, Julie responded with, "He'll be here soon. You know how my family is, Jess, everyone is late for everything."
"Why does that not reassure me?"
Julie shrugged and smiled, but left Jess's question unanswered.
While this stimulating conversation went on dark clouds were forming overhead. Figuring that her brother would be there soon enough, Julie got up from her spot on the steps and began to pack up her scattered belongings. This simple yet strange action caused the others sitting around her to do the same. By the time the five girls were done packing the clouds forming overhead had begun to release a gentle misting rain.
"Hey! It's raining!" Maggie exclaimed as she looked up from shoving the last of her books into her already over-cramped bag.
"So?" Amanda asked, obviously not impressed with this latest bit of information. Maggie gave her a look and huffed a little bit before brightening up again and saying, "I'm going to go jump in puddles!" and jumping off the stairs to go do what she had just said.
Not one to be left behind and miss out on good messy fun, Jess called after Maggie as she ran down the steps to follow, "Oh!!! Wait for me Maggie!!!! Save me some puddles!"
The two girls began to dance around, laughing as they splashed each other, ignoring their three friends who had decided to stay sane for a little bit longer and remain dry until a big gust of wind sprayed them with water, leaving them wet and bored as they had all packed up their things already. Seeing how much fun the two imps were having, the remaining three quickly shed themselves of their mental restraints and ran to join in with the messy merry making.
"Look, a car!" Amanda yelled, but no one heard her over the rain. She couldn't tell if it was Joey or not, but figured they'd better be prepared if it was and grabbed their bags. She sloshed back to her friends, burdened with all five bags. She started to complain when Bridget noticed it was lightning and tapped her on the shoulder. Amanda started helping her get the other girls' attention.
Lightning now hit the tree in the middle of the school's front yard, making Maggie, Jess, and Julie stop dancing around. The girls grabbed their bags from Amanda now and huddled together. The rain started coming down even harder, and the lightning picked up. The rain was so heavy; they couldn't see even a few feet ahead of them as they tried to get back onto the steps of school. They grabbed hands like they had to when it rained in Williamsburg. They were still closer to the tree than to the school when Jess tripped and fell. As the girls stopped to help her up, the lightning got closer. It was as though it formed a circle around them. The girls screamed as the largest clap of thunder yet sounded and a large bolt of lightning headed straight for them. The girls passed out, but before they could hit the grass, they had simultaneously disappeared.
The car finally pulled up in front of the school. Julie's older brother frowned to his girlfriend. "They were supposed to be waiting for us."
Amanda noticed something on the macadam in front of the car and got out despite her boyfriend's objections. She picked up a large pack of papers and got back in the car. The title page simply read "When Angels Fall." She had a strange feeling.
When the pair returned to Julie's house, Amanda decided to read the book she'd found at the school. ~ Why had we gone there again? ~ She wondered. Shrugging, she began to read. A few pages into the story, Joey approached her and asked what she was doing. Amanda replied the obvious, reading, and so Joey asked her what she was reading. Without looking up from the story she was now engrossed in, Amanda replied, "When Angels Fall."
Joey laughed and gave his girlfriend an odd look. "This says 'The Bob Files.' What are you smoking?"
"What do you mean, I swear when I picked it up it said When Angels Fall on the cover! And it was written in gold," Amanda argued.
"Fine. It must have been blurry vision from the rain, because that clearly says 'The Bob Files,' and it's written in black," Joe said. Amanda nodded and Joe said he'd let her get back to her reading. Amanda returned to her book, but she couldn't help thinking, ~ I don't know what it is... but I feel like I'm forgetting something. ~
~*~
Three figures stood around a loom. The first was smiling, the second frowning, and the third merely had a peaceful expression. Imp, the woman who looked as though she were only a teenager and was better known as the Maiden, smiled," Soon, my sisters, they will be reunited with the others. There will be much joy!"
The woman whose appearance was of an old, wrinkled hag- the Crone- frowned. Her name was Diana and she replied to Imp: "True, but their journey is just beginning. There will be many trials, heartaches, lies, and betrayal. There too will be death and much suffering."
"You are both true, sisters. There will be great joy and terrible suffering, difficult trials and grave errors, and yes, Diana, horrific death, but then too there will be miraculous rebirth and beautiful new life," Hestia, the pregnant Mother figure, said, giving a secretive smile. She added, "There will be much peace."
A dark shadow now crept over the loom the three women surrounded. They instantly lost their smiles and glared. The shadow seemed to have a mind of its own, as if it were a physical entity. It spoke in a hideous voice before roaring in laughter, "If they can survive."
The sisters Fate glared at the unwelcome shadow. Together in one voice they quietly said, "Be gone Chaos, you have no right to be here in the light. The battle has just begun. Our Warriors are just getting into place. The war has not been fought yet. Mark our words, before the final battle, our Angels will welcome the Warriors and they will welcome the light!"
"Ha, ha, ha. Once they discover the truth, they will turn away... just like they did all those years ago, Hestia. They will despise you for making them what they are and they will hate those men for following your children. They will turn against one another and when they do," Chaos gloated, laughing again, "And when they do, I will be there to welcome them home. They will come; you will fall. And I shall reign over all the darkness for there will be NO LIGHT!" Chaos laughed again, overconfident as she usually was, then disappeared dramatically leaving nothing but a wisp of thankfully odorless smoke.
There was silence as the sisters Fate and then Imp started to cry. Hestia and Diana tried to comfort her when suddenly she looked up wearing a broad mischievous smile. Imp whispered, "He may be right about them being angry with us when they find out the truth, but I guarantee they will not turn away from each other. They may try but I doubt they'll get very far, anyway." There was a glint of deviousness glowing even brighter due to the residue of the Fate's tears.
Hestia and Diana's faces assumed worried expressions. Diana whispered back, "What have you done?"
"I borrowed a few of Brother Cupid's party favors," Imp replied with a wink.
Diana was not happy with the younger's flippant reply and snapped at her, "What good will those do? They love each other, always known it. We created those 'girls' to be the perfect match for each of the Warriors. Even if they were reborn in different dimensions they would have always known that they were missed something!" She paused to let her harsh words sink in and was about to begin again when Hestia cut her off.
"What she is saying, little one, is that they love each other, for them, there is no other, ever. Those arrows would be of no use. If darkness can come between them then love will die, and us with them. Hence Diana's harsh words."
"True, Hestia, unless the arrows are not meant for love." Imp's cryptic response was met with looks of dawning understanding.
Diana gave the tiniest of smiles and mouthed, "iron bonds?"
"Yep! Exactly!" Imp laughed again. "We'll pierce their hearts when the fighting starts."
"They'll know that we intervened," Hestia cautioned. "They'll be even more angry with us than ever."
"True, Hestia, but we knew there would come a time when we would have to reveal everything to them. We have postponed it for far too long a time already. I believe the time of revelation is growing closer even as we speak," Diana replied. She continued when neither sister spoke up. "I have contacted the last son of our children. He was killed in the first battle for power but has agreed to be renewed in order to help the last daughter care for and reawaken our Angels."
"Anubis," it was a statement from Imp, not a question.
"There will be many challenges the first week when they arrive," Hestia spoke now for the first time since her warning. "I believe it would be best if they did not know about the Warriors when they first arrive; give them time to adjust to their new," she gave a small chuckle, "I mean old surroundings."
Imp interrupted her by asking, "I know we know what is going to happen, I mean, we are Fate! So why are we leaving so much up to, well, chance?"
The older women looked at her with smiles. She was such a cute little child to them, so young, so naïve, barely five centuries older than the earth. She did not yet understand the ways of things.
Diana now spoke again, "We may be Fate but humans, nay, all creatures, have free will. Fate can and often does change in the 'blink of an eye.' These humans control us. We are forced to be their servants by our own purpose. We can only control what they allow us to control. If they ever learned this, they could bend time, heal with their minds, use telepathy, teleport, call on the elements, communicate with all creatures, if they would only open their eyes and truly see what lay before them."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, little one, someday you'll understand." The older two shared a 'look' over her head. "Yes, one day you will understand."
Hestia now walked away from the loom to an alcove that rose from the mist at her feet. She reached inside and pulled two large pieces of crystal and a small pink satchel from it. As she rejoined her sisters, a low clear table and three cushions replaced the loom and they sat down.
"Here, here, enough talk. I have sensed the Angels' departure from the other realm. Kayura and the warlords are in place. The girls will be arriving momentarily in their 'new' dimension. I don't know about you, dear sisters, but I would like to see what will occur when the Angels realize they've left their own dimension," Diana said. Imp sighed and now joined the other two at the table.
"Since you wouldn't let me look through the tapestry to see the details, can we get started now?" Imp said.
"Of course, little one. Let us watch and see what develops." As they gathered around the crystal-lined table a picture formed within the two large crystals Hestia had placed on it.
~*~
A small glade hidden within the nether realm had appeared in the Fate's crystals. Four warlords stood in a circle, each wearing a ceremonial kimono showing the seasons each represented. A dark-haired lady- a Guardian- stood in the center of their circle. Lightning began to flash though no thunder could be heard. Kayura, the Guardian, had begun to recite an incantation and now it echoed as she chanted the spell given to her by the Fates. The wind began to howl now, rain poured from a cloudless sky. Fires lit where the lightning struck and the ground crumbled leaving a circle outside the warlords' own.
As quick as the lightning was flashing, it formed a solid blinding light. As Kayura reached the pinnacle of the spell her voice grew with each word. When she spoke the last word, a blare of thunder crashed and the lightning seemed to explode.
The raging elements ceased. The warlords now lay where they had been knocked down outside the engraved circle of earth. Within the circle, the Angels lay as though they had fallen asleep at a party- in a heap, draped over one another There were bags and paper fluttering around them. Kayura was sitting at the edge of the circle, shaking with exhaustion. She managed to speak only three words before she fell into a well-deserved faint.
"They have come."
~*~
The three sisters of Fate smiled as they watched over the exhausted and unconscious people in their crystals. Many thoughts were racing through their minds, though one was the same in each. With both relief and trepidation, the Fates could only realize: "It has begun."
~*~
Looking down upon the same scene the Fates were watching from within an enclosure of solid darkness, Chaos watched in malicious glee. Her thought was similar to the Fates, but tinged with her sinister nature: "Let the games begin."
~.~ indicates thoughts.
~*~ indicates scene change.
Falling into Dreams
~ It's Friday. We've got a four day weekend. We're sleeping over at Julie's house. Maggie finally remembered to bring me in 'The Bob Files' to read. ~ "Oh My Gawd! It's the Apocalypse!" Jess cried out as she ran through her mental checklist.
"Why do you say that?" Maggie asked sarcastically as she got up from where she landed after her last flip.
"I was just thinking of all the things going on right now and I couldn't think of anything wrong and Julie and Amanda aren't trying to kill each other and we're eating chocolate and Bridget isn't yelling at us!" Jess paused to catch her breath as Maggie called the other girls over and filled them in on Jess's fear.
Bridget, seeing that Jess was truly freaked out, tried to comfort her. "Aww poor Jess, there is nothing to be worried about. It's not the apocalypse."
"Yeah," cut in Julie. "Me and Amanda have that all planned out. 'Manda! Get the book." {Author insert : 'Layla!!! Get the hose!' We now return you to your normally scheduled program.}
"Yes Master." Amanda called as she ran over to the pile of bags sitting on the steps of their high school. Hearing this, Jess's face took on an expression of total confusion as Bridget and Maggie burst out laughing.
"She lose another bet?" choked out Maggie, who was trying to compose herself. "Yep," responded a gleeful Julie. "She bet me that I wouldn't pants Bubbles in the library at lunch today."
"Eww!" Screamed Maggie, Bridget, and Jess collectively.
"Tell me about it! He was wearing Xena boxers!"
"Too Much Information!!!!!!" was the sentiment Julie received from that last statement.
"So how long has she got to be at your beck and call?" Maggie asked with an evil look in her eye as she watched Amanda pull a huge black notebook from a book bag covered in pins.
"Just till Sunday, Mags" replied Amanda as she handed Julie the book. On the cover in magazine letter was written 'Apocalyptic Acts Made Easy, or How To Take Over The World: Written and Illustrated by the DSU.'
"So what would you like to know first, deary?" Julie asked as she slipped on her reading glasses and flipped open the large book. "Location, first warning signs, dates, participants?"
"Uhhh no, no. Umm just that it doesn't take place anytime soon," replied Jess in a smiling tone of voice.
"Let's see. Warfare, plagues, enslavement of all malekind... uh, Dominatrix rulership. Hmm..." Julie continued to mumble under her breath as she flipped through her and Amanda's book, completely missing Jess's, Maggie's, and Bridget's shocked expressions and Amanda's look of pride.
"Oh! Here it is. Nope, nothing for another twenty years or so Jess. Absolutely nothing bad in the works for you to worry about ruining our weekend." Julie said as she finally looked up from the book and pulled off her glasses.
"Ok! Thanks Jules, *yawn* I'm bored now," Jess said as she walked over to where Bridget and Amanda had gone to on the steps. Bridget was reading new music for band while Amanda worked on a story in one of her notebooks.
"Maggie? Where is that story you brought in for me?" Jess called out to Maggie who had gone back to doing sporadic flips on the schools front lawn.
"It's in my bag. In the, uh, Big Red book, I think."
"K!" hollered Jess as she dove her head into Maggie's bag looking for the elusive 'Red Book'.
"Eureka!! I have found the holy grail!" screamed Jess as she ripped the book from the tight confines of Maggie's bottomless pit of a book bag. Gripping the book tightly, Jess ran over to 'her spot' underneath the tree in the school front lawn and began reading. Unbeknownst to the young girl she was being stalked.
The strange beasts that were stalking her were known by one title when they were like this: 'The Double Scythe Union'. Members two. Blood sisters who were similar in appearance, long braids that changed periodically in style graced both girls heads, matching hazel eyes that had a habit of changing color quite frequently, and an evil grin that could make a nun weep.
They surrounded the occupied girl, one on either side. The red head was on the left and the black-haired girl on the right. "So Jess?" started Amanda who was on the right. "Yes?"
"Whatcha reading?" asked Julie, who was standing on Jess's left.
"Bob Files," Jess murmured, not really paying attention to what was going on around her, as she was already caught up in the magic of the story.
"Ahh." The deranged sisters replied as the edged closer. "The Holy Grail," said one. "Yea, One of the most sacred of texts known to anime-fi-ed kind," said the other. They were quiet for a moment.
"What part are you on?" asked Amanda with a look of evil interest in her darkening eyes.
"Uh....Ya know the part where they play toss Caitlin at the aquarium? Uhhh, hey, guys? Did you and the others base 'toss Jess' off 'toss Caitlin?'"
"Yes."
"Ok."
During this time, Maggie had migrated over to where Bridget was reading on the steps and plopped herself down and began to work on her latest work of art.
"Hey Jess, lemme see that for a sec! You've got to see my favorite part!" said Julie as she ripped the files from Jess's grasp. Jess screeched, "Hey! Give BACK!!!!"
"Hold on. Ow!" whined Julie as she wrestled with Amanda to keep control of the story. "No!" Screamed Amanda back at Julie as she began to pull harder. Jess, getting even more angry than she was to begin with, did the only thing she could think of (short of killing the two and burying them in a shallow grave off of highway nine): She called for help.
"MAGGIE! BRIDGET! Help! They took my story and won't give it back!"
Hearing the littlest of the Imps call for help, Maggie and Bridget ran to see what was the matter. When they reached the fighting trio they had to pause to make sure they weren't seeing things.
Jess had her hands wrapped around Julie's throat. Amanda had her hands wrapped around Jess's throat. Julie was holding onto the book while turning blue from lack of oxygen. All in all what Maggie and Bridget saw was a mass of tangled arms, legs, and paper.
When they finally stopped laughing the two girls decided that the quickest way to break up the 'fight' would be to get the story out of the pile. And Julie with it. Seeing an opening Maggie dove right in pushing and pulling her way through the tangle of body parts while Bridget grabbed onto Amanda and way trying to separate her hands from Jess's throat. After a full five minutes of this Maggie finally resorted to biting Jess on the hand, making her shriek and let Julie's neck go, allowing the other girl to finally breath again. Thinking fast, Bridget, and Maggie made their moves quick as can be and pulled their friends apart. The result was two separate piles of people all gasping for air trying to figure out what had happened.
"Alright. Would somebody like to explain why you all decided to kill each other over a fanfic?" Maggie said as she pulled the aforementioned fic from Julie's hands, ignoring her mild protest. Almost immediately the three girls started talking at once. Unable to decipher what they were saying Maggie let loose with a New York taxi whistle, making everyone wince, and as predicted shut up.
"Now shall we try that again with a little more order?" The girls nodded, their heads downcast in shame for not behaving like the almost adults that were.
"Seniors in High School should not be acting like immature six year olds fighting over the better Barbie doll. You and you and you," Bridget said as she pointed to each of the girls in turn "Should act like the mature adults I know you can be rather than the riff raff that Mr. Rudy thinks you are."
A moment of silence went by and then the laughing started. Even Bridget was on the ground cackling. "Oh my God, B, that was so funny, ah ha ha ha!" cackled Maggie as she rolled on the ground with the others.
"Ya! You sounded just like Sister!" said Jess, who at this point had tears rolling down her cheeks because she was laughing so hard. Amanda and Julie just laughed. They didn't have enough air in them to make a coherent sentence between the two of them.
When the girls finally quieted down they agreed to give Jessy back her story and moved to sit on the steps together, as no one wanted anymore grass stains on their clothes to explain when they got home on Monday. A few hours had passed since school had ended and while band practice had ended only an hour ago the girls were getting a bit restless....and hungry.
"Julie? When is your brother going to get here? You did remember to ask him to pick us up, didn't you?" Bridget asked as she opened her book bag up and pulled out a bottle of water.
" Soon. He said that Amanda (his girlfriend) was coming up today to spend the next few weeks with us and that he would probably wait until she reached the house before taking off to get us." Julie said as she reached over Amanda to grab her own bottle of water from her book bag.
"And why would he be doing that?" asked Maggie in between bites of her chocolate bar.
"Because there is supposed to be a really big storm tonight and he wants to make sure that she gets home alright so that he wont have to be worrying about her while he's driving us around town picking up our supplies for the weekend."
"Oh," was Maggie's only reply as she took another bite of her chocolate bar and continued to scribble in her notebook of the moment.
A few moments of silence passed before Jess let out a huge sigh as she checked her watch and began to glare pointedly at Julie before stating, "Julie, it's 5:30, your brother WILL be here in ten minutes, right?"
Not looking up from her place in her book, Julie responded with, "He'll be here soon. You know how my family is, Jess, everyone is late for everything."
"Why does that not reassure me?"
Julie shrugged and smiled, but left Jess's question unanswered.
While this stimulating conversation went on dark clouds were forming overhead. Figuring that her brother would be there soon enough, Julie got up from her spot on the steps and began to pack up her scattered belongings. This simple yet strange action caused the others sitting around her to do the same. By the time the five girls were done packing the clouds forming overhead had begun to release a gentle misting rain.
"Hey! It's raining!" Maggie exclaimed as she looked up from shoving the last of her books into her already over-cramped bag.
"So?" Amanda asked, obviously not impressed with this latest bit of information. Maggie gave her a look and huffed a little bit before brightening up again and saying, "I'm going to go jump in puddles!" and jumping off the stairs to go do what she had just said.
Not one to be left behind and miss out on good messy fun, Jess called after Maggie as she ran down the steps to follow, "Oh!!! Wait for me Maggie!!!! Save me some puddles!"
The two girls began to dance around, laughing as they splashed each other, ignoring their three friends who had decided to stay sane for a little bit longer and remain dry until a big gust of wind sprayed them with water, leaving them wet and bored as they had all packed up their things already. Seeing how much fun the two imps were having, the remaining three quickly shed themselves of their mental restraints and ran to join in with the messy merry making.
"Look, a car!" Amanda yelled, but no one heard her over the rain. She couldn't tell if it was Joey or not, but figured they'd better be prepared if it was and grabbed their bags. She sloshed back to her friends, burdened with all five bags. She started to complain when Bridget noticed it was lightning and tapped her on the shoulder. Amanda started helping her get the other girls' attention.
Lightning now hit the tree in the middle of the school's front yard, making Maggie, Jess, and Julie stop dancing around. The girls grabbed their bags from Amanda now and huddled together. The rain started coming down even harder, and the lightning picked up. The rain was so heavy; they couldn't see even a few feet ahead of them as they tried to get back onto the steps of school. They grabbed hands like they had to when it rained in Williamsburg. They were still closer to the tree than to the school when Jess tripped and fell. As the girls stopped to help her up, the lightning got closer. It was as though it formed a circle around them. The girls screamed as the largest clap of thunder yet sounded and a large bolt of lightning headed straight for them. The girls passed out, but before they could hit the grass, they had simultaneously disappeared.
The car finally pulled up in front of the school. Julie's older brother frowned to his girlfriend. "They were supposed to be waiting for us."
Amanda noticed something on the macadam in front of the car and got out despite her boyfriend's objections. She picked up a large pack of papers and got back in the car. The title page simply read "When Angels Fall." She had a strange feeling.
When the pair returned to Julie's house, Amanda decided to read the book she'd found at the school. ~ Why had we gone there again? ~ She wondered. Shrugging, she began to read. A few pages into the story, Joey approached her and asked what she was doing. Amanda replied the obvious, reading, and so Joey asked her what she was reading. Without looking up from the story she was now engrossed in, Amanda replied, "When Angels Fall."
Joey laughed and gave his girlfriend an odd look. "This says 'The Bob Files.' What are you smoking?"
"What do you mean, I swear when I picked it up it said When Angels Fall on the cover! And it was written in gold," Amanda argued.
"Fine. It must have been blurry vision from the rain, because that clearly says 'The Bob Files,' and it's written in black," Joe said. Amanda nodded and Joe said he'd let her get back to her reading. Amanda returned to her book, but she couldn't help thinking, ~ I don't know what it is... but I feel like I'm forgetting something. ~
~*~
Three figures stood around a loom. The first was smiling, the second frowning, and the third merely had a peaceful expression. Imp, the woman who looked as though she were only a teenager and was better known as the Maiden, smiled," Soon, my sisters, they will be reunited with the others. There will be much joy!"
The woman whose appearance was of an old, wrinkled hag- the Crone- frowned. Her name was Diana and she replied to Imp: "True, but their journey is just beginning. There will be many trials, heartaches, lies, and betrayal. There too will be death and much suffering."
"You are both true, sisters. There will be great joy and terrible suffering, difficult trials and grave errors, and yes, Diana, horrific death, but then too there will be miraculous rebirth and beautiful new life," Hestia, the pregnant Mother figure, said, giving a secretive smile. She added, "There will be much peace."
A dark shadow now crept over the loom the three women surrounded. They instantly lost their smiles and glared. The shadow seemed to have a mind of its own, as if it were a physical entity. It spoke in a hideous voice before roaring in laughter, "If they can survive."
The sisters Fate glared at the unwelcome shadow. Together in one voice they quietly said, "Be gone Chaos, you have no right to be here in the light. The battle has just begun. Our Warriors are just getting into place. The war has not been fought yet. Mark our words, before the final battle, our Angels will welcome the Warriors and they will welcome the light!"
"Ha, ha, ha. Once they discover the truth, they will turn away... just like they did all those years ago, Hestia. They will despise you for making them what they are and they will hate those men for following your children. They will turn against one another and when they do," Chaos gloated, laughing again, "And when they do, I will be there to welcome them home. They will come; you will fall. And I shall reign over all the darkness for there will be NO LIGHT!" Chaos laughed again, overconfident as she usually was, then disappeared dramatically leaving nothing but a wisp of thankfully odorless smoke.
There was silence as the sisters Fate and then Imp started to cry. Hestia and Diana tried to comfort her when suddenly she looked up wearing a broad mischievous smile. Imp whispered, "He may be right about them being angry with us when they find out the truth, but I guarantee they will not turn away from each other. They may try but I doubt they'll get very far, anyway." There was a glint of deviousness glowing even brighter due to the residue of the Fate's tears.
Hestia and Diana's faces assumed worried expressions. Diana whispered back, "What have you done?"
"I borrowed a few of Brother Cupid's party favors," Imp replied with a wink.
Diana was not happy with the younger's flippant reply and snapped at her, "What good will those do? They love each other, always known it. We created those 'girls' to be the perfect match for each of the Warriors. Even if they were reborn in different dimensions they would have always known that they were missed something!" She paused to let her harsh words sink in and was about to begin again when Hestia cut her off.
"What she is saying, little one, is that they love each other, for them, there is no other, ever. Those arrows would be of no use. If darkness can come between them then love will die, and us with them. Hence Diana's harsh words."
"True, Hestia, unless the arrows are not meant for love." Imp's cryptic response was met with looks of dawning understanding.
Diana gave the tiniest of smiles and mouthed, "iron bonds?"
"Yep! Exactly!" Imp laughed again. "We'll pierce their hearts when the fighting starts."
"They'll know that we intervened," Hestia cautioned. "They'll be even more angry with us than ever."
"True, Hestia, but we knew there would come a time when we would have to reveal everything to them. We have postponed it for far too long a time already. I believe the time of revelation is growing closer even as we speak," Diana replied. She continued when neither sister spoke up. "I have contacted the last son of our children. He was killed in the first battle for power but has agreed to be renewed in order to help the last daughter care for and reawaken our Angels."
"Anubis," it was a statement from Imp, not a question.
"There will be many challenges the first week when they arrive," Hestia spoke now for the first time since her warning. "I believe it would be best if they did not know about the Warriors when they first arrive; give them time to adjust to their new," she gave a small chuckle, "I mean old surroundings."
Imp interrupted her by asking, "I know we know what is going to happen, I mean, we are Fate! So why are we leaving so much up to, well, chance?"
The older women looked at her with smiles. She was such a cute little child to them, so young, so naïve, barely five centuries older than the earth. She did not yet understand the ways of things.
Diana now spoke again, "We may be Fate but humans, nay, all creatures, have free will. Fate can and often does change in the 'blink of an eye.' These humans control us. We are forced to be their servants by our own purpose. We can only control what they allow us to control. If they ever learned this, they could bend time, heal with their minds, use telepathy, teleport, call on the elements, communicate with all creatures, if they would only open their eyes and truly see what lay before them."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, little one, someday you'll understand." The older two shared a 'look' over her head. "Yes, one day you will understand."
Hestia now walked away from the loom to an alcove that rose from the mist at her feet. She reached inside and pulled two large pieces of crystal and a small pink satchel from it. As she rejoined her sisters, a low clear table and three cushions replaced the loom and they sat down.
"Here, here, enough talk. I have sensed the Angels' departure from the other realm. Kayura and the warlords are in place. The girls will be arriving momentarily in their 'new' dimension. I don't know about you, dear sisters, but I would like to see what will occur when the Angels realize they've left their own dimension," Diana said. Imp sighed and now joined the other two at the table.
"Since you wouldn't let me look through the tapestry to see the details, can we get started now?" Imp said.
"Of course, little one. Let us watch and see what develops." As they gathered around the crystal-lined table a picture formed within the two large crystals Hestia had placed on it.
~*~
A small glade hidden within the nether realm had appeared in the Fate's crystals. Four warlords stood in a circle, each wearing a ceremonial kimono showing the seasons each represented. A dark-haired lady- a Guardian- stood in the center of their circle. Lightning began to flash though no thunder could be heard. Kayura, the Guardian, had begun to recite an incantation and now it echoed as she chanted the spell given to her by the Fates. The wind began to howl now, rain poured from a cloudless sky. Fires lit where the lightning struck and the ground crumbled leaving a circle outside the warlords' own.
As quick as the lightning was flashing, it formed a solid blinding light. As Kayura reached the pinnacle of the spell her voice grew with each word. When she spoke the last word, a blare of thunder crashed and the lightning seemed to explode.
The raging elements ceased. The warlords now lay where they had been knocked down outside the engraved circle of earth. Within the circle, the Angels lay as though they had fallen asleep at a party- in a heap, draped over one another There were bags and paper fluttering around them. Kayura was sitting at the edge of the circle, shaking with exhaustion. She managed to speak only three words before she fell into a well-deserved faint.
"They have come."
~*~
The three sisters of Fate smiled as they watched over the exhausted and unconscious people in their crystals. Many thoughts were racing through their minds, though one was the same in each. With both relief and trepidation, the Fates could only realize: "It has begun."
~*~
Looking down upon the same scene the Fates were watching from within an enclosure of solid darkness, Chaos watched in malicious glee. Her thought was similar to the Fates, but tinged with her sinister nature: "Let the games begin."