This was another idea I had and I wanted it to be written down before someone else thought of it or I forgot about it. I won't be working on this until my other story is finished, but I will start it right afterwards.
"Goodnight, Tesla," a voice called back to the small monster in the door design room. The monster, a small white haired monster with large goggles stuck to his face, looked back at source of the voice and waved back. He coughed a goodbye to the female who shut the door quietly behind her before taking off and vanishing from view. Tesla scrubbed the sweat off his brow while removing his glasses to clean them with his white lab coat. He sighed contentedly before placing the goggles back on his black eyes that were connected to his gray body by small antennas. He waltzed over to the door that he had just created before stepping back a little to admire the work done.
It had taken the small monster an entire semester for him to build the master piece and he was very pleased with his work. The door was regular in size as most were and it had a white paint along with a golden swirl flowing down the left side of the door. He had painted the color of the door based on a dream he had received two nights before actually beginning the process of creating the door and found it as a sign from the universe to put it on his door. Many of the other students had poked fun at the design and called him names that he didn't wish to repeat aloud or to himself. Tesla didn't understand why some had gotten the fundamentals of door design faster than him when he worked twice as hard as any other student. It irked him immensely but he didn't let it get between him and his love of the art of door design.
It wasn't his forte, but he had always wanted a minor in door design and MU offered a great program for him to study with. Tesla worked and worked to make the door with his friend Lizzie, a green three eyed, three horned and pale skinned female with a love of art enough to rival his passion for science. Although it was his idea to draw the swirl of gold on the door, it was Lizzie who had painted the magnificent piece of artwork and given Tesla the credit. Lizzie was picked on, much like Tesla was, for the way she looked so the two understood one another perfectly. And together they were a deadly combination of brains and imagination that earned them many great grades in most of their projects together. Tesla was sure that he was in love with her, but soon realized that she didn't return his feelings. He was hurt, but understood that her happiness was just as important to him as science. And with that said, he decided to just be her friend.
"I would love to test this baby out," Tesla sighed sadly and rubbed the grime off his hands while patting the door with his free hand. It was a work of art that he planned to send to the Great Door Design Contest. The doors were tested and graded on their design along with the inhabitant on the other side. The greatest scarers in the world were invited to scare the inhabitant on the other side of the door and Tesla hopped that it was his idol that was chosen for his door. It would be a dream come true; the door, the scarer, the fame and maybe the girl? Tesla shook his head in dismay; that wasn't important to him. The door and his fame was.
Tesla scratched his head and a wave of drowsiness flooded his senses. He yawned while stretching his arms over his head and placing all of his paper on his desk in the corner. He was tired and didn't want to hear how great his roommate, a large purple spotted monster, was when he got back. Tesla didn't despise his roommate, but he certainly didn't like him either. He was conceited and totally full of himself, not to mention his excuse to everything was that he was a 'Sullivan' a famous scarer or something along those lines. Tesla knew he wasn't scary and didn't want to compete with Sullivan for a spot on any frat. He didn't care much for scaring and the only reason he appreciated it was due to the fact that he could wake up a lot faster due to electricity.
Tesla prepared to shut off the door for the night, but a small creak froze him to the ground. Tesla slowly turned towards his door and swallowed his fear, but he also wanted to know where it had come from. In horror, Tesla realized that the door had been cracked open and the inside of the room was visible to him. Tesla wanted to shield his eyes like the world inside was forbidden to him and that only scarers should ever see such a thing. But curiosity over powered his sense of good, and he uncovered his eyes to peek inside. Only a minute, Tesla, if you get touched by a kid its all over for you.
Tesla scanned his surroundings for any monsters that might want to rat him out to the teachers or his superiors and have him kicked out of the program, or worse, the school. He licked his lips before removing his goggles from his two eyes and making his way inside the room that was of his making.
It was simple and reminded him of the dorm rooms back at the MU. It had baby blue walls marred with images he couldn't make out in the darkness and posters sloppily posted onto the wall. A mirror sat on the wall in the back corner and in the middle of the room was a blue bed that looked comfortable to the touch. The sheets smoothed to perfection and the pillows fluffed into a layer of comfort. Tesla felt the bed calling out to him; begging him to lay on it and make himself at home. And as tempted as Tesla was he remembered that this was the human world and that the inhabitant of the room could pounce on him before he could scream or beg for help. He walked with cautious steps and tip toed over to the bed, he touched the silky soft covers and felt it warm his gray skin. "No, Tesla, don't do it.." he whispered to himself.
Before Tesla could pick up on the presence in the room, a shadow flew from the corner of the room and pounced on him. Tesla's scream was muffled by a warm hand covering his mouth and Tesla wiggled in the grasp of the shadow. "Quit..moving!" It ordered and Tesla stiffened instantly. His eyes were slammed closed because he didn't dare look up at whatever had grabbed him. He was praying to himself that it was Lizzie, hey, he would have even taken a teacher at that point. But when he opened his eyes he saw a much different and shocking sight.
A human. It was human with long black hair that hung from her head and alert brown eyes boring into his own. He knew it was a female because she had acute eyes that reminded him of Lizzie's and the dean of the scaring program; filled with seriousness but a hint of interest glittering in them. She had tanned skin that seemed to glow in the moonlight streaming in from her window in the room. She had sharp features with high cheek bones and thin lips set in a hard line, but her eyes held a curiosity similar to his own. She was wearing gray shirt with the letters California or Bust in large black letters whatever that was. She had long pants that looked soft and fluffy much like her bed. She had one had on his mouth and the other on his throat, and Tesla could see black spots dancing on his vision.
"The hell?"
"Le-Let g-go!" Tesla managed to choke out, and the human's eyes widened with shock. She released him from her strong grip and fell backwards on the carpeting below. She stared up at him since he had risen to his feet, but was unable to look away from the human who had just tackled him to the ground. The two beings studied one another, both unsure what to do with the other. Well mostly, Tesla knew that he was in big trouble because a human had seen him. He should have tried to scare her and maybe she would have ran. Now that he took a better look at her, he realized from her long legs and build that she wasn't a child, but a teenager.
"You...you can understand me?" The Tesla managed to say again, and she crawled on her two legs then reached a hand out towards his face. Tesla was still frozen from shock that he barely noticed the five fingered hand ghosting over his skin and he tried to speak back, but she removed her hand away before he could lift his own to touch her face. She was sitting on top of him again and glaring at him with scared yet still awed eyes like a child's.
She nodded. Tesla had to keep himself from gasping in shock; they could understand what he was saying! And he wasn't being poisoned. He was fine, actually, he felt no pain and wasn't as afraid as he thought he would have been upon meeting a human. He had figured from stories that humans would be grotesque and fearsome looking creatures, but she was thin and almost fragile looking like glass. He wondered what she thought upon seeing him, obviously shocked, but she wondered if she was afraid of him.
"Would you mind getting off of me...umm, Miss...?" Tesla asked in a soothing voice he didn't know he was capable of, but he figured that he was so panicked that he went into cunning mode.
"Maya," the human answered back in a hard voice and Tesla nodded.
"I'm Tesla, and I go to Monsters University," Tesla greeted and watched the human's eyes open with confusion, "it's a school on the other side of that door, that's my home." Maya cautiously stepped back away from him and looked over at door where Tesla had entered. He was sure that her eyes were scanning the dim light of the door design and skimming over his paper work that was lazily dumped onto his desk or the floor. He was certain she was looking at the scream cans with intrigued eyes. Maya released Tesla, whose hands flew to his throat to pacify the ache that her arm had left on his throat. She stood up on her two long legs and walked towards the door with quick steps, "wait, Maya, don't go in there!"
It was too late. Maya stepped over the threshold and her feet tapped against the cold ground of the laboratory and before Tesla could gasp in shock she was flipping through his papers, "what is all of this?" Tesla scurried out of the room and snatched the papers from the taller human without fear and shuffled them back into order ignoring the glare of the tall human.
"Now go back to your-
"Lab Power System shut down in five, four, three," a mechanical voice ordered of the intercom and Tesla's eyes widened. He had forgotten all about the shut off time in the lab and hadn't checked his watch before entering the door. In order to save power, the school turned off the power of the lab and wouldn't turn it back on until the first class of the day began the next morning. But he couldn't wait that long! Tesla knew he had to move fast before Maya was locked in the monster world with him without anywhere to go or any idea where she was. He appeared behind Maya desperately trying to push her into the door, but she shoved him back unsure why she should be high tailing it into her own world, "two, one."
The lights flickered off and Tesla let out a annoyed howl before tearing his finger through his hair. He couldn't understand why the human hadn't put two and two together when the announcer told them about the lab power shut down instead she stood around like she had nothing better to do then waste time. Question upon question filed itself into Tesla's mind as he fumbled through his coat pockets for a flashlight that he always kept on him. His fingers clasped the small device and he flicked it on then flashed it in Maya's direction. He tapped his foot angrily on the ground and Maya stared back at him without expression.
"What were you thinking?! I said not to go into there, but what do you do? The exact opposite!"
"I'm sure your superiors told you the same thing about my 'world', right?" Maya retorted back using air quotes for world.
Tesla stared up at the female with a baffled expression before gaining back his cool self, "that's not the point! The power is off and I can't get you back to your world until morning."
Maya shrugged absentmindedly, "then will get here first thing tomorrow." Tesla slapped his palm to his forehead and began to mumble incoherently. It was a disaster for him; a human was talking to him and she was walking around the monster world, where no human should ever step foot. He paced the floor while keeping the flashlight on Maya the entire time and cursing himself for becoming momentarily interested in her upon meeting her. He was stunned to see a human and then his common sense had fled him instantly making him only think about speaking with her. If she wasn't there with him, he probably would have bragged to Lizzie that he had seen a human before she did, even if she didn't believe him. It was a mistake for him to trust her; a human was a human no matter what.
"That's not the point! What am I supposed to do with you?! Your not exactly easy to hide," Tesla snapped back at the small monster who groaned again and slumped against the wall of the canisters. He heard them clutter above and didn't mind, it would have been better then being caught with a human. Tesla was sure that things were going great for him; his teacher had recommended his door go to the contest, Lizzie was warming up to him, he was getting good grades, and he was finally going to buy his dream car. But Maya happened, the black haired human appeared, and walked ,literally, into his life. He couldn't trust her, but if he went to the authorities he would be in even bigger trouble, "oh, fine! Will get here early, but first I need you to wear something a little less...ummm, human."
Maya nodded and Tesla sat up from the wall before making his way to the door and giving it a good shove with his left hip. The two beings crept slowly out of the room and looked both ways with the flashlight before continuing out of the room into the hall. Tesla didn't realize until then how creepy the school looked at night with the lights dancing off the walls and the creeks of the floor underfoot and hoped that Maya wasn't as frightened as he was. Tesla started to question the female's sanity due to the fact that she didn't seem as terrified or shocked as he thought any human would be. But, Tesla reminded himself, she was a kid at one point and she must have seen her fair share of monsters. Tesla also reminded himself that teenagers no longer fear monsters as they age and it was obvious that this was the reason why Maya was not afraid.
They crept through the darkness of the halls and both jumped out of their own skin at every sound that the old building produced. Tesla stuck close to Maya even if the taller being tripped over him often and mumbled words he didn't know the meaning of. He flashed the light around every corner to be sure that no one would see him with a human. They rounded yet another corner and the bright light of the small device fell on an all too familiar figure. Lizzie.
"Hey, Tesla, is every-" Lizzie froze in horror when she saw the strange shape of a human behind Tesla. Tesla gulped nervously, what if Lizzie screamed? What would happen to him if Maya was discovered? "Tesla! I-It's a hu-human!"
Tesla rushed over to the his friend and tried desperately to calm her nerves, "it's okay! She's not bad, she's almost nice!"
Lizzie gripped Tesla's smaller form and rattled him, "it doesn't matter if she's nice! She's a human in a world of monsters! What were you thinking, Tesla?!"
Tesla placed a soft hand on Lizzie arm and heard Maya's soft footsteps coming towards them, "it's okay, Lizzie, listen. Will send her back to her own world as soon as the power turns back on tomorrow. Please, don't tell anyone." Lizzie slapped Tesla's hand away from her own and gripped her chest in a hug. She looked from Tesla to Maya and back to Tesla. He could tell that she so desperately wanted to believe him, but she was on edge at the sight of an actual human.
"I don't believe we were," Maya began as she took a step towards Lizzie. Lizzie gasped and covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She looked at Tesla with a bewildered expression.
"T-the hu-human ta-talked to m-me," Lizzie managed to stutter out before her body swayed to the side. Maya reacted better than Tesla expected and caught the female monster who had fainted from surprise when she heard Maya speak to her. Tesla's eyes switched between the two females and wanted to scream in frustration at the moment. I'm so screwed.