Welcome to Glass Wings, sequel to Guardian Wings. EDIT: fixed a few inconsistencies I found, and some spelling things.
dis: i need to get my hands on the new game. if i need to buy it, do you think i own it?
"Will, no, we have drama today, remember?"
"C'mon, Brie, we've got time to kill before drama club starts, let's go!"
"Will, her house is on the other side of town, we'll never make it!"
"And when we DO and I prove you WRONG, Aubrie, then what?"
A pair of teenagers stood in a city park. One, the female, had long red hair that fell in gentle curls around her face and sparkling blue-gray eyes. Like her name, she was tall and slender, and moved with an almost inhuman grace. The other teen was a young man about her age with rich brown eyes and short, spiked blonde hair. His body was lean and muscled, and his every move screamed strength.
"Oh come on, Brie, you want to hear the next part as much as I do."
"Willow, drama starts in fifteen minutes. Even if we did make it, it would take Grandma Gabby longer than that to tell the story, and then Ms. Withers'll get pissed because we're late!" Willow gave an exasperated sigh.
"Fine, Aubrie," she said, "We'll go later." The two teens walked back into the school building, intending to head to the reptile room to kill some time.
In that room, Willow immediately went over to her favorite snake. It was the biggest, and the oldest, in the room and had been there since her mother was a senior. The snake had even been named by her mother, and was called Cursa.
"Hey, Curse," Willow said affectionately. The snake, a large red-tailed boa, looked up at her. Willow took Cursa out of her tank and wrapped her around her neck. Aubrie looked at the snake and shuddered.
"I don't see how you can do that," he commented.
"You're just a wuss, Brie, Cursa's a sweetheart," Willow said. Looking at the clock on the wall, she swore. Unwrapping Cursa from around her neck, Willow put the snake back in her tank and turned on the heating lamps. They'd be on later anyways for open house, and Cursa was always more mellow when she was warm. Turning, she grabbed Aubrie's arm as she went by, and dragged him out the door.
Somehow, but a stroke of luck, the auditorium was right near the snake room, and they slipped in the door just as drama started.
"You're late! Again! I can't have the princess and the stage manager late!" screeched the director, Ms. Withers. She made exaggerated motions with her hands as she spoke, a testament to how long she'd been the drama coordinator. "Willow, hurry and get into your costume! Aubrie, get back behind the curtains!"
Willow rushed off to put on her costume. It was an elaborate dress with long sleeves and a flowing skirt. It was powder blue to bring out her eyes and still not clash with her hair.
"We'll start with Act Three, Scene Two, at 'You fill my heart'. And Brian, with FEELING this time!" Ms. Withers said. "Start!"
"You fill my heart with such fire, I feel as though I may burst into flame! Come, Princess, be my bride!" Brian recited, throwing as much feeling in as he could.
"Oh, but I mustn't! I must remain here with my people, or I fear my lands will be taken over!" Willow replied. "My Uncle wants nothing more than my death and kingdom, he will settle for nothing less!"
"Oh, Princess, you are my love! I cannot keep this a secret any longer: I was sent by your uncle!"
As Willow went through her lines, one phrase kept popping into her head: 'Damn this is corny…' Soon, but not soon enough for Willow, drama was over. She shrugged out of her costume backstage with a sigh of relief.
"Thank god that's over," she said to Aubrie as they walked through town ten minutes later. "Now we can get to Grandma Gabby's place for the next part of the story!"
"You're such a child, Will," Aubrie replied.
"Come on, Brie, You know you like them too. People who live in the sky and can grow wings on command… Mama likes the stories, too."
"Aunt Ari's a dreamer, Will."
"Oh, hush, you. Aunt Andri's a dreamer, too, she just has the means to express her dreaming," Willow retorted, referring to her father's sister-in-law.
"Right, Will. Come on, we're almost there."
The two turned onto a back road and finished walking the final half-mile to their grandmother's house.
The house was a nice old building. It was a peach-rose ranch house, with a large gnarled maple outside. The tree was in full color and the orange and gold leave stood out brightly against the late October sky.
Abandoning all pretense of maturity, the two raced each other to the front door. They were laughing to each other the whole way, even as the door opened to reveal a woman in her seventies with slightly-graying chestnut hair. The woman's green eyes sparkled with life, clearly stating that she intended to be around for a long time yet.
"Ah, there you two are. Come in, I'm sure you want me to keep telling the story," she said warmly to her grandchildren. Grinning like little kids, Willow and Aubrie practically threw themselves into the big chairs in the living room while Gabrielle got settled.
"Alright, where did I leave off?" she asked.
"You left off at the part where the party is in the Confection Village and they meet the heir of the Illusion Nation," Willow said without missing a beat.
"Ah, yes… Well, once they met the Lady and left the village, they realized that the golden card that they had worked so hard for was gone. The Imperial suggested that they retrace their steps…"
---
"…And then the one-winged young man grew a second wing, and they turned white. He cast out his spirit guide, completing the betrayal. And the rest you'll hear another time," Gabrielle said. The two got up and glanced outside. The crisp blue October sky had turned to fiery brilliance as the sun set, casting an orange glow over everything.
"We should be getting home, Will. Aunt Ari's gonna wonder where we are," Aubrie said. Willow nodded.
"Thanks for the story, Grandma Gabby," she said, giving Gabrielle a hug. They headed out the door.
They were halfway down the walkway when something caught Willow's eye. In the maple tree, hiding amongst the brilliant orange leaves near the top, something sparkled in the sunset.
"What's that?" she asked her cousin. She pointed at the object.
"What's what?" he asked her back, looking to where she was pointing. When he didn't see anything, he looked at Willow. "I don't see anything, Will."
"It's shiny…" she said absently. She went over to the tree and started to climb the branches. She went up the tree swiftly.
"Will, come on, get down, you'll fall!" Aubrie called. Willow ignored him and reached out for the object. It looked like a broken pendant on a silver chain. It was tangled in some leaves on the very end of a branch, and she leaned out to try to reach it.
It happened so fast there wasn't time to react. Willow lost her grip on the tree branch and fell. She hit at least three branches on her way down, and hit the ground with a thump. She didn't move.
"Will?" Aubrie asked. "Willow?"
She only vaguely heard him as everything went black.
"WILLOW!"
---
Willow woke up in a forest. Her first thought was 'Where am I? And what's with the little red lights?'
"Um… Hello?" a male voice called out. "Can anyone hear me?"
Willow looked around for the source of the voice. Everything was blurry to her, but she found the person.
He looked like he was about nineteen, only a year older than herself. He had wild blue hair ('Blue hair?' Willow asked herself) and golden eyes. He wore a fairly nice set of gray pants and worn-looking shoes, as well as an old shirt that said 'Your village called, they want their idiot back.' Inexplicably, she felt drawn to the young man. He felt familiar, somehow, and Willow was curious to figure out why.
'Yeah, I'm here,' she answered. The young man jumped.
"Someone's here?" he asked, voice hopeful. "Someone I could bond with?"
The word 'bond' made something twinge in Willow, and suddenly she felt herself being drawn towards the boy as if she was being pulled by a string. She collided with him, and everything vanished except for the pounding heartbeat in her ears. When the world came back, everything was clearer than before.
"Hey," the boy said, "you really are here! My name's Brennan, and you're my new Guardian Spirit!"
Willow's mind flashed back to her grandmother's stories and her aunt's paintings.
'You're Brennan,' she said. He nodded. 'My name is Willow.'
Please leave a review? I only got two for my last update on Guardian Wings...