They were sitting around, like they always did, around a huge marble counter, looking at the red book that had been left there. They watched it like it was a snake, like it was going to jump up and bite one of them any minute. There was a long silence, which was unusual for them.
"I think we should open it," Jefe finally said, running a hand through his somewhat long dirty blonde hair. Cool ice blue eyes watched the book without fear, his green Pick of Destiny in his hand. Shifting his olive army jacket around his shoulders, he turned his eyes to the one sitting next to him.
"I think that could be extraordinarily bad," Ellie pointed out, gray eyes meeting his blue ones. Her dark blonde hair was streaked with red and black, standing out against her shoulders and the brown hoodie that covered them. Her hoodie was open, revealing a black shirt with a large gray wolf on the chest. In the sleeves of her sweatshirt, two holes were visible and her thumbs slipped through them, silver pentacle rings showing on her fingers, a matching pentacle on a black cord around her neck.
"What's the problem? It's just a book!" Mars, ever-skeptical, ran a hand through her mid-back length chocolate waves, rolling her eyes. Her eyes were an indeterminate hue of blue, green, gray, and maybe even a touch – only a touch, mind you – of hazel. Pouting full pink lips, she brushed a stray lock off of her slightly tanned cheek, watching the others around her counter very carefully. Pulling her long legs up a little more, her skinny jeans visibly tightened around her long stems, as did her knee-high Converse boots. A beautiful white T-shirt with a geisha across the chest in what looked like rainbow ink contrasted so strangely with the beat-up jeans and worn-out Converses. Adjusting her fedora on her head, the boyishly figured girl looked up to her boyfriend, who was holding her on his lap.
Shooter just shrugged, not really having much to add, but giving them all a wide grin and hugging Mars a little closer to his chest. His hair was short and dark, but curly around his ears. On top of those black curls was nestled a perfectly marvelous black top-hat. He was probably as pale as Ellie, who hardly ever left her house, but his eyes were almost as dark as his hair, a tiny light inside of them revealing that they were in point of fact brown. He was dressed in a black World of Warcraft T-shirt, which had inscribed on the front in red, dripping letters – like blood – "Glory to the Horde" with the shield of his allied team on it underneath a day-glow orange sweatshirt. His baggy black pants had chains hanging off of them, and his nails were painted with chipped black nail-polish. A pair of rather worn black skater-sneakers covered his feet, laced with black and white checkered-patterned laces.
"I'm hungry," announced Inu-Tiffy, who sat to the left of Jefe, pushing up her thin glasses a little. She was sitting in a rather canine-like fashion on her stool. Glacier blue eyes watched everyone from her friendly, open face. "Can we decide and get something to eat? I'm starved!" She shifted a little, the position of her body showing off that she was generously well-endowed in the chest and hips area, with a little bit of meat around her waist. Her short hair, golden blonde and wild, stuck out a little around her face. It was cut short, only reaching about to the lobes of her ears in the longest places. She shifted again, impatient, and her well-endowed chest pressed a little tighter against her black T-shirt, decorated with luminous purple roses and vines of dark green thorns around the symbol for her favorite band, His Infernal Majesty. Light blue low-rise jeans showed off a little bit of her belly, as well as a little bit of her white underwear in the back.
This was remarked on by China, who rolled her amber-green eyes and stated, "Tiff, say 'no' to crack." Inu-Tiffy blushed, shifting and pulling up her pants a little bit. China just rolled her eyes, heavily lined with black eyeliner and sat back a little on her stool. Her black and gold glasses had wider frames than Inu-Tiffy's, possibly giving her a more mature look. Adding to this maturity was a white button-down shirt with three-quarter sleeves, and the cuffs folded up to brush the sleeves of her olive green sweater. A pair of plain jeans and sneakers completed the look, although it was hard to say what her style was. It was not all that uncommon to see China with bright pink dye in her hair, wearing tight black corsets and bondage trousers; although lately her hair was a blonde-highlighted brown and she wore generally more…normal clothes, giving off the vibe that she was normal. But, not many people in their little "group" were fooled. China turned her eyes back to the book on the table, before sighing and running her fingers through her hair irritably. "I'm really tired of everyone jumping to the supernatural conclusion every time something shows up that we don't remember buying." She looked at the end of the counter. "So, we have three votes to open the book, and one vote no, and one vote for us to hurry the hell up and decide so we can eat. What do you think?"
Shinju sat with her elbow on the counter, cheek in her palm, thinking. Red hair hung down to her shoulder-blades in its braid, the blue tips standing out against her dark tan skin. Cream-colored eyes looked at the book in thought, her long fingers drumming on the table. French-manicured nails made a little bit of a clicking noise as she did so – just because she knew that it drove Mars NUTS! She was dressed in a black T-shirt with the letters "WWTD" on the chest in bright red, although they were peeling a bit because the iron-on transfer was terribly old. On the back, slightly hidden by her thick braid read "What would Tasuki do?" complimented by a rather large picture of the aforementioned Tasuki, shirtless, holding a bouquet of flowers. She wore a pair of black phat pants, with a bright green seams on them as well, with a pair of black furry boots. It was winter outside, after all. Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, she looked from the book to her toying alternately with the moon and sun and the pentacle pendants around her neck.
"I'm not sure." She finally murmured, long lashes brushing her cheeks as her eyes closed with a sigh. As she opened them again, she reached out across the table, looking the book over. "I certainly think anything is possible…I mean, our powers enough are proof of that." Shinju fiddled with the tag on the top, which they had barely translated from the fairly old Japanese characters. It read Universe of the Four Gods. The title sent a pleasant little tingle down the redhead's spine, and she wondered if it really was the book she thought it was.
"There's only one way to find out." Shooter grinned widely, snatching the book from her and sliding his finger under the wax seal. Nothing happened.
"Well, guess that answers that question." Jefe looked back at Shooter, right before the pick hopped out of his hand and started to play something…strange. Something they hadn't heard before, but something they recognized to the roots of their being.
"I TOLD YOU SO!" Ellie snapped, grabbing Jefe's arm tightly. They started to go in, but they all grabbed one another.
Inu-Tiffy grabbed onto Ellie's ankle with a squeal of "AMIBOSHI, HERE I COME!"
China grabbed Inu-Tiffy's free hand, Mars clung to China's calf. Shooter had a rather firm hold on Mars around her waist, and Shinju caught the edge of Shooter's jeans. They fell forever and only for about five seconds, all of them screaming at the top of their lungs like six-year-old girls.
Finally, they landed. Inu-Tiffy sighed, letting go of Ellie and standing up. "Well, we're lucky that we landed on this nice, squishy person." She chirped. The others mumbled in agreement, before hearing a voice yelling at them, muffled because of all the bodies.
They jumped up as Shinju stood, brushing herself off. She looked around a second. "Where's China?" No one could find the brunette anywhere.
"Probably outside, reading, wondering 'WTF,'" Ellie finally answered, looking around. "So, where ARE we?"
"If I had to guess…somewhere in Konan," Mars looked at Shinju, "Looks like you were right."
"For once," Jefe added, as Shinju's grin dampened quite a bit. The redhead pursed her full caramel lips before she stuck her tongue out at her friend. There was a little bit of muted chuckling before they all took battle-stances.
A group of rough-looking men stepped forward, all brandishing weapons. "Now, now, no need for that." The leader smirked, "Just hand over your valuables and the ladies, and you won't come to any harm."
"Oh good Lord," Ellie's voice was flat and emotionless; "You think they do this often?"
"Nah, they've gotta be amateurs," Shooter agreed, smirking as he took a stronger stance. Mars was suddenly surrounded by balls of glowing green light, Jefe's pick started to dance in the air in front of him. Ellie glowed black and Inu-Tiffy dropped to all fours, growling. Saliva dripped onto the ground from her jaws, scorching the earth beneath her feet.
Shinju just stood there, a little off to the side. Her powers weren't exactly anything special, and not exactly helpful in battle. But, the black Lycra leggings underneath her pants started to tingle, urging her forward. The robbers or slave-traders or whoever they were didn't know what hit them.
Half of them were on the ground with acid-burns, bomb marks and what looked like boils. The other half were just bruised and burned because they had gone after Shinju, Jefe and Shooter. The group stood there, breathing heavily, before they started doing what any other normal group of teenagers in that situation would.
They screamed like four year old girls for about ten seconds, gathered up all the weapons they could find off of their would-be captors (as well as all the loose change) and headed off towards a more populated area. Jefe shifted the gigantic sword on his back so that it didn't weigh on him so much.
"So, now what, Spazz," He asked, looking over to Shinju.
"Why am I always the one who has to have the plans?!" Shinju snapped at him, arms crossed over her chest a minute. "Mars is the smart one!"
Mars blinked at her friend, as Inu-Tiffy whimpered and sat by Ellie's calves. Ellie sighed, shaking her head.
"Look, we're going into town. Probably, we can find someone to get us back home. Right?" The blonde girl looked around at everyone else, who grumbled and nodded. So, they trekked for several hours through the woods, tearing up Mars's Converses something awful.
They made a makeshift camp in the forest that night, Shinju making up a magick fire for them. They all sat around it, wondering what the hell had really happened to them. Mars sat, leaned up against Shooter's shoulder while trying to clean and bandage up her feet before they got too infected. The soles of her shoes had gotten torn off somewhere through their travelling, as they had insisted to stay off the road, in case there were more of the robbers/slave-traders waiting for them.
Ellie and Shinju sat on the opposite side of the fire, Inu-Tiffy huddled up against Jefe. Jefe looked more than a little disgusted, but made no attempt to push her away. Ellie sat a little bit away from the fire, as Shinju kept it going by the sheer force of her will. She had always been more adept at "talking" to the fire than any of the rest of them.
Finally, Jefe pulled out the pick and let it play. The rest of the group started to hum to themselves, before Mars finally started to sing.
"The world ends without a tragedy,
Time is melting into history…"
"The sky is falling,
Voices crying out in desperation
Hear them calling," Ellie sang with her.
"Everybody,
Save yourself," Shooter's voice was a soft alto, mixing with the two girls' voices almost perfectly.
"The world plays its angered symphony,
Lost inside eternal mystery…" Inu-Tiffy leaned a little more on Jefe, her eyelids growing heavy as she stared into the flames, singing with the other three.
"The sky is falling,
Voice crying out in desperation,
Hear them calling.
Everybody, save yourself…" Jefe's voice, on the other hand, was a darker tenor, possibly turned so by the pick's dark melody.
"Doesn't matter what you say," Shinju set her hand in the flames, her eyes flashing a dark red a moment. Everyone was jerked out of their daze as she pulled a flower of fire out of the pit of flames, "Doesn't matter what you do.
We all end up this way,
There's one thing left to say to you…" She seemed hypnotized by that flame dancing in her palm.
"The sky is falling,
Voices crying out in desperation,
Hear them calling," The others sang, but Shinju was silent. "Everybody,"
"Save yourself…" She finally sang, "Save yourself,
Save yourself,
Save yourself,
Save…yourself…" She slipped the flame back into the fire, her eyes going back to being colored cream. Shinju looked up with a small sigh.
"We should get some sleep," She murmured, moving back away from the fire, "It should keep going all night without burning down the whole forest." Lying back on her bed of pine needles and leaves, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Hoping sleep would scare the darkness she had felt stirring away.