A/N: This'll get into the 'verse you know soon enough! I'm kind of waiting for some reviews before posting the next part. I hope you like it!
Aubrey Blake stared across the ocean smiling contentedly. Her toes dug into the sand as she sang her favourite song softly to the wind. One hand holding a half eaten pear, and the other tapping out the beat of her song. Peaceful.
That peace was soon interrupted by the shriek of her best friend, Harmony as she ran by at full speed. Aubrey laughed as Harmony spun and landed in the surf.
"Aubrey! The water's great! Swim?" Harmony splashed Aubrey and started to pout. "Come on!"
"Jeeze, way to be impatient!" Aubrey smiled as she kicked her sandals onto the dry sand and threw her pear into the trees. She ran into the water after Harmony laughing. They swam out past the break to the calm, blue water and floated on their backs staring up at the sky.
"Why doesn't everyone live like this?" Aubrey knew too many answers for Harmony's question, but she knew her friend didn't want any of them.
Aubrey tried not to think of time as she closely studied the ghostlike silhouettes of the three moons that seemed to be floating over them in the silent blue sky. Their home planet, Tranquility, is and always had been the only planet to completely model itself after Earth-That-Was. Though Tranquility did not have the same exact geographic features that Earth-That-Was had, it had its own oceans, Rain forest, deserts, glaciers, and mountain ranges even though it was significantly smaller. The technology was as advanced as on Sihnon and Londinium, but not everyone chose to use the newest forms of technology. Some liked to live life simply. Others - like Aubrey and Harmony - like a little bit of both.
"We should get going, Harmony. My mom said I could only stay out until one, and we have to go the pier to get dinner." Aubrey grinned maniacally. "I'll race you to the shore!"
"Oh that's not fair!" Harmony whined. Everyone knew Aubrey could swim faster than anyone else in the area. "Let me get a head start then count to three." She smiled and started off towards the shore.
Aubrey positioned herself. "Un, doux, trois!" Immediately her arms and legs rocketed her forward, and she soon caught up with Harmony and passed her. Her fingers brushed sand and she put her feet on the ground and jumped onto the shore. She shook the sand out of her wet brown hair and watched as Harmony climbed onto the beach, breathless. "I win once again."
"Surprise, surprise." Harmony cracked a smile and came up in front of Aubrey, brushing her light brown hair from her face. "Where to?"
Aubrey looked up to meet Harmony's gaze, their matching purple eyes locked and she grinned. "The same place as always! Come on." She turned and put on her sandals.
They ran to the pavement and jumped on their bikes. Both standing on the pedals, they raced through the streets to the pier. The wind dried their hair and they laughed loudly, cutting through groups of smiling people.
"Hey Aubrey!" A redhead yelled from behind the counter of an ice cream stand. She waved to Aubrey, scoop in hand.
"Hey Missy!" She put her hand on her forehead and promptly saluted like an old fashioned soldier and laughed.
Harmony took her hands off the bars and stretched her arms out to catch the breeze. They soon slowed in front of a diner on the end of the pier and leaned their bikes on the side of the building. They pushed through the door and slid onto two seats side by side at the counter.
"Hey Manny, can we get some drinks over here?" Aubrey made a mock angry face then broke into a grin when a man with short blonde hair stuck his head out from the kitchen.
"Of course, your heiness!" He bowed and then ducked back into the kitchen. He returned with two Shirley Temples with two cherries in each.
"Thanks Manny." Harmony high fived him in greeting and continued to sip her fizzy red drink.
"When do you two go back to school?" Manny leaned forward on the counter, untying his dirty white apron in the back then pulling it over his head.
"Three months." Aubrey glanced at Harmony and they broke into wide grins.
"You two are lucky." He looked to the kitchen then back to the girls. "The usual?" They nodded. "Comin' right up."
The two friends ate and talked for the next hour. After they were done, Aubrey led the way to Jasmine, their favourite night club. It only allowed people from ages 16 to 18, so everyone knew each other. Harmony pulled Aubrey into a group of their friends on the dance floor. The music was old, but everyday the old music was new. The dj was always getting old music and playing it at the club.
The music pulsed through them as they danced with their arms in the air. Harmony's boyfriend, TJ came up behind her and then circled in front of her, she laughed as he started dancing like an idiot. Aubrey turned away, smiling and was approached by her friend Sabine who immediately grabbed Aubrey's hands and they danced like no one was watching.
Aubrey sighed as she pulled into her driveway at exactly one A.M. She put her bike in the garage and walked through the door into the kitchen. Turning on the light, she saw a note on the counter from her mother. It was brief and said she was out for the night in the next town over with her friends. Aubrey rolled her eyes at the thought of her mother partying.
She was an only child, so the house was completely empty besides herself. Fatigue setting in, she wandered up to her room and fell onto the bed, exhausted. Another perfect day in the life of Aubrey Blake.
Later that night
Aubrey awoke to a loud scream coming from outside the window. She shot up in bed and pulled up the shades. What Aubrey saw terrified her to the point that she could do nothing but bring a hand to her mouth. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she saw her world falling apart in front of her. There were ships in the sky setting everything alight. They were Alliance, ripping apart her home, taking some and slaughtering others.
Suddenly the door burst open and Aubrey turned to see several Alliance men with guns pointed towards her. She laid her head back on the wall and her eyes bulged. She feared her life was to be ended soon, and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Aubrey Marie Blake." Her eyes opened to a man who looked at her with apathetic eyes.
"Yes." She tried to keep her voice from shaking. After the word escaped her lips, two men came up and held her arms down as a third came at her with a cloth. She screamed as he pushed it onto her face, and she thrashed wildly until everything went black.