Chapter 1...Salvation in Miracles
Being normal. A statement that makes us think...'I am normal, I know for certain!' or 'Normal? Haa! Being wacky is the new normal!'
These people haven't experienced pure 'normal'...because, it depends on what you do on a regular basis. There is just one, single problem...if people; who live their life at the extreme tip of a dagger, find that normal...what would be 'different' or 'crazy' in their eyes?
This story will shed light on how a town's life gets torn into oblivion...but still yields as a family...
Dark Star's POV
Darkness. Everything is insufferably quiet...and dark. Everything is silent, except the breathing of millions of other females sleeping, tightly, next to each other. Star knew in a few minutes, a routine of millions of tradition will occur in less than five minutes. She started to reach into the dark, and grope for her 'equipment'.
A minute felt like a second, as the ear-shattering strikes of the wooden bells travelled the room, waking everyone. Star knew this trickery. That was supposed to be an illusion, but she knew the secret to the traumatic alarm clock. As soon as the waking hour strikes, a small group of priests, pacing quickly, run along the beds, striking wooden blocks with a rod.
Everyone knew the procedure, after the first 'round' of wooden clicks, everyone must assist tying each other's constricting corsets and hair structures. Then, a second round of clicks can be heard, signalling the next step in waking up like a machine.
Getting ready, Star draped her cloak over her shoulders. The body-vanishing material was tattered and ripped from many battles. After, she placed her giant black, buckled witch hat on her silver-blonde head.
Given her 'role' in the monastery, she has a little time left to perfectionize herself. Everyone has already gone into the Great Hall, awaiting orders to serve the Fal'Cie.
Out of the corner of her eye, Star found a girl struggling with her corset on the other side of the football field-sized room. The girl was suffering, panting and panicking because of the loss of time. Star quickly hurried over, when she realised the sufferer was Kaitlyn Clearwater. An albino, short girl with crystal red eyes...
"S-Star! Thank god...could you please help me? I must hurry!"
"I can only when you calm down! You need to relax when putting these abominations on..."
Placing her foot against Kaitlyn's back, Star pulled and elegantly tied the jade-green ribbon that keeps every girl's movements in restriction for certain reasons.
"AAAH! Holy...Ooh...hm! This is terrible! I-I need to take it...no..."
"We must hurry, the morning announcement will start in a second!"
Realising that they took too long, Star helped Kaitlyn with the rest of the kimono-like uniform. Running down the maze of hallways, hand in hand, they heard the wooden clicks resonating through the fabric walls... Shadows can be seen, flashing by and vanishing around the corners...
"We are not fast enough!"
"That will change."
Star shuffled in her cloak, arm disappearing behind the ominous fabric. Pulling out, a crystal marble appeared. Quickly shattering it, the chemical mist surrounded their presence. Suddenly, the world flooded by as if light particles were separating in thin air. In what seemed an hour felt like a second!
They both reached the giant, gold gilded door. Having the chemical worn off, they both entered the Great Hall where every single member of the staff assembled for their daily duties...
James' POV
The roaring of the Great Behemoths could be heard from outside the window... The Shiva Orphanage was silent, nestled with the quiet breathing of the few children that reside here. The tower-like building rose above the hilltops and in the view of the bright morning sun.
Light, reflected by the broken glass, reflected all throughout the topmost tier of the structure, giving an angelic feel to the old hallways.
But sadly, the glass worked together with the sun, and found a perfect victim to troll... A certain someone with very sensitive ears...
"AIYA! Yow yow yow...ouch...hot hothothothot...damn... Scorching my ear-fur...that is just perfect..."
Groggy, James oozed out of bed. A shake of the head, and his hair was in the normal fixed spikey position. A few cat-like stretches and a little tail-maintenance goes a long way in his mind. He looked out the window and the clear sun shone into slitted, brown, tired eyes...
"Eww...Another day to begin tormenting myself...ha...true torment is when you realise you are speaking to yourself..." (Sweat drop)
Ungracefully and quickly, he got dressed on whatever was lying on the wooden panel floor. Afterwards, he took some time to lean on the windowsill and look out into the distance...
A vast world stretched in sight, with human-sized plants and flowers. Monsters roam the untamed wilderness, but with the life that is given, we have learnt to live with them.
On the far side to the west, with a telescope, one can see the great and dangerous plains of the Archylte Steppes. An open field that takes up 2/3 of Pulse, the world we live in...
Anywhere you are, you can see Cocoon, a planetary shell and a "paradise" for humans. Built by the Fal'Cie, the shell is floating hundreds of kilometres off the Pulsian land.
On the other side, Oerba, a seaside village filled with a vast populace. A town that also has a guardian Fal'Cie named Anima. A trip that could take days if you didn't take a checkpoint by Taejin's Tower, a tower hanging halfway off a cliff and passes the cloud range...a home for another Fal'Cie named Dahaka.
James realised he was wandering into dangerous territory in his mind. If he kept thinking, he would probably never awaken. He read the clock...10:00 a.m. Time to send the children to school. He went towards the door... In the meantime, a certain ball of fuzz was rising out of the bedcovers...
"Ugh...kupo...kupo!? Where is everything, kupo?!"
James lifted the covers, having a fuzzy bunny-like face with a red Pom-Pom pop out...
"Heh, time to wake up! You need to help the children get ready..."
"Ok...kupo...I'm so tired, kupo..."
"Mog...wake up..."
*snores*
"MOG!"
The moogle shoots out from the covers and quickly gets his clothes on... Quickly floating onto James' head and holding onto his ears, they both left the room.
In the hallway, a curved window was filtering light onto the white, cracked walls. The other side, a round room with a giant spiralling staircase leads to each and every other room. James checked the rooms and found them all empty...they must already be downstairs...
As he reached the last step, a crash and glass shattering could be heard on the other side of the door! The kitchen, which was just behind the door he was standing to, resonated with a giant thud that made him jump!
"Kupo! Kupo, kupo!"
Mog fluttered with his little bat wings to the shabby, wooden door. James pulled it open and ran towards the kitchen, and on the other side was a shocking sight.
The oak closet, containing all of the dishes used for eating, was lying on the ground with shattered porcelain and glass everywhere! What really made him panic was a visible skinny arm protruding from under the giant antique! James did the the only thing he could think of and grabbed Mog, who transformed into a javelin from a puff of smoke.
Thinking fast, and pumped with adrenaline, James brought the tip of the weapon under the furniture, and hauled the huge closet into the air. With Mog holding the closet up, James pulled the body out from under...
The moogle quickly transformed back into himself and frantically fluttered around the little girl. James was checking for pulses all around the body, making sure no limbs were malfunctioning.
The little girl known as Cecilia, was a puny and clumsy little girl. She has long, black hair and had a pair of broken glasses on... She became an orphan when her parents were slaughtered by a pack of Gorgonopsids.
She let out a small groan, indicating she isn't dead...whew...
James let out a sigh and leaned against the wall. If anything happened to his family, he wouldn't even imagine what could happen. As if on que, Mog came flying in with bandage gauze and antiseptics...
As the eldest of the family, he trained himself for these types of procedures, and with only an arm injury, anyone could tend to that...
"Ehhhhh...Mog, I have to...wait. Where is everyone else?"
"Hmm, I think they...I don't know kupo..."
"Go look for them. We are still on schedule here...but she is staying home..."
"Aye, Kupo!"
The moogle went into a flying frenzy, searching where the other girls are. James quickly, but neatly patched up the arm that was really bruised. Taking a pair of pills, he stuck them down her throat and made her swallow.
"Now...I need to bring you upstairs..."
The eyes of Cecilia popped open in a flash, staring at everything with a wondering look on her face. As if she was rebooting or so, she was trying to tune in on the right channel...
"Ehhh, good morning James! Why am I on the floor? What mess occurred here?! James you could cut yourself!"
James just stared in shocked confusion. Just a moment ago, she was getting crushed by a car-weighing cabinet, and now, she doesn't even fit the pieces together!
"Um, you were under the cabinet...when it fell on you...and I got you out from under...it...You don't remember a thing?" (Sweat drop)
"Ehh, nope! ...oh, wait! Now I do! I was getting breakfast ready for all of us and wanted to get plates."
She looked around, finding everything destroyed.
"Ehehe, hehe, heh, he...oops!"
James just rolled his eyes, having clearly lost faith in logic. He quickly searched in his pocket and found a crystal, quickly snapping it, and watched as the room repaired itself in the shimmering mist.
"Ok...time to get you girls ready for school..."
Dark Star's POV
Morning passed, having done with all her boring chores. Noon was approaching with the smell of food from the Great Kitchen...
Star wandered down the hallway, being used to the blinding white and gold walls. As she turned the corner, she saw a group of girls on the other side of another long hallway.
She knew those girls, well, she knows everyone in the small town...but those girls were the ones she enjoys being with. Those girls, James and the orphans and her all see themselves as family, often going shopping or eating together. From here, Star could see four people...Elizabeth, Athena, Rebecca and Pauline. All of them are dressed in the proper, tight monastery clothes...
As She approached, Athena called out...
"Oi! Hi Star. Do you want to go hunting with us? We were planning to explore around the Vallis Media...but we need one more member."
(Sweat drop) "Heh, I would love to join, but I want to visit James...I haven't seen him in the village..."
Rebecca: "But you didn't leave the monastery, so how could you see him?"
"Well...I check from the windows...I have seen the other orphans leave the building, but that was it..."
Pauline: "Aww! You really care! You must really like being with them!"
"Y-yeah...I guess I do...but don't say it like you mean something else!"
Elizabeth: "Come on, no more secrets..."
Elizabeth leaned in close to Star, who was shying away from the inevitable 'subject'. She knew what was coming right after this, but as many times as before, she tried to avoid it..
"We all know you like each other! You guys should totally go out!"
"And for the last time, we don't like each other like that! ...just drop the subject..."
Athena: "Well...anyways...oh! Star wait! I need to go with you! I have something for him..."
"Ok...lets go."
The two headed down the hall, leaving the murmuring and gossiping girls to themselves. Star silently thanked Athena for dragging her out, to which she replied with a small nod of the head...