Chapter 2
Light peeked through the window, shining on my face and illuminating the room in a soft, yellow glow. I groaned and sat up.
"Morning already?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and looking at the clock. 8:00 AM. Even on the weekends I can't sleep past 8. That just sucks. I looked around the room to discover that it was empty. "Those guys flaked on me!" I exclaimed throwing back my covers and jumping out of bed. "That's just annoying!"
I stretched and did a few warm-up moves, punching the air in a fiery flurry of passion. After I let off some steam, I noticed the note on top of one of the made beds.
Went outside. Will see you later today.
-Squall and Cloud
"Hmpf," I noised, putting the sheet on the desk and picking up my towel and a change of clothes from the closet. "I did all those warm-up punches for no reason then." I shrugged, went to the bathroom to shower and get ready, and came back to the room. The place seemed oddly empty for the guys only being there for half a night. I sighed and plucked a book from one of my many shelves. I also grabbed a dark brown hoodie for warmth, and put it on over my maroon t-shirt. Slipping on my shoes and locking the door behind me, I proceeded down to the main floor of the building. I went out the doors into the open air and inhaled deeply. I love the smell of morning air. It was early enough that not many people were out, but late enough that it wasn't freezing cold. I walked about halfway down the sloping path from the door and stopped by the rail. Hitching my butt onto the cold steel, I faced the trees away from my dorm, and started reading.
I didn't realized how good of a book this was until I hit page 20. My eyes seemed to fly across the pages, absorbing all the juicy details of the fascinating book from the intense action sequences to the gushy love scenes between the protagonist and his lover. About half way through the book I heard two distinct voices out of the many background noises of passing people.
"Where are we?" One asked.
"I don't know." The other replied.
"Maybe we should ask that girl over there."
"You go ask her."
"Why me?!"
"Because, it was your idea."
"Agh," he replied and walked over. "Excuse me, but do you know where we are?" I looked up from my book to see a male with curved, spiked blond hair standing in front of me. He wore a yellow, chest high jacket with white trim. Black pants, with the right leg going down to mid calf and the left stopping mid thigh, were under black overalls that cut off a bit below the waist. A chain was attached to his belt and curved down to the hidden loop of his pants. On his left arm was an elbow length metal glove that attached to his shoulder plate with course, red mesh. On his other hand was a black, leather glove. There was a silver necklace around his neck with a strange symbol on it. He wore yellow shoes and short, black socks. He looked to be about 19.
Next to him stood another blond boy with shoulder length hair. He wore blue cargo pants, a white, sleeveless shirt and a green, sleeveless vest that stopped about mid chest. There looked to be three or so overlapping and criss-crossing brown belts around his waist with a holster on the left side. He had on silver, knee length combat boots, black gloves, and blue cuffs with silver cuff links. He looked to be about 19 also, but was a head shorter than the other boy. The other boy looked to be about the same height as Squall and Cloud, which was a couple inches taller than my 5'5. This boy also seemed to have a yellow furred tail waving around behind him. It looked too real to be fake. That is just not normal. They both had blue eyes. What is with the Aryan race thing all of a sudden.
"You are in Omaha Nebraska. The University of Nebraska to be exact." The taller man smiled and sighed. "I'm guessing that didn't help, right?"
"Not really," he replied. "Why do these things always seem to happen to me?" I looked at him strangely before turning my attention to the other man. He seemed to be looking at me in interest. Creepy.
"Might I ask your name?" He asked walking closer.
"Might I ask yours first?" I answered, snapping my book closed and hopping off the rail.
"Zidane Tribal," he smirked bowing slightly. I felt as if he was doing this in a mocking fashion. Smart ass.
"Mine's Tidus," the other one said clenching his hand into a fist and knocking it against his chest. I giggled at the motion. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," I laughed, waving my hand in dismissal. "My name's Kai Ashford."
"What's this?" Someone said from behind me. I turned to see Squall and Cloud.
"I seem to have picked up some more lost little sheep," I replied. "What did you two do this morning?"
"Nothing important," Squall said. "What are you doing here?" He asked Tidus and Zidane.
"Getting lost," Tidus replied. "What are you doing here?"
"Wait, wait. You four know each other?" I asked putting up my hands for silence.
"I suppose you could say that," Zidane said from beside me.
"We are more acquaintances," Cloud said. "Meeting one in battle does not make friends." I ogled at his response.
"Okay then, but no fighting here."
"Of course not!" Tidus exclaimed waving his hands around for emphasis.
"Wouldn't think of it," Zidane said, his tail twitching. That thing still weirded me out.
"Kai, you said there was a map we could look at?" Squall questioned, interrupting the conversation.
"Umm, yeah. In the history wing. I'll show you." I led them across campus to McLean Hall, home of economics, history, mathematics, languages, political science, and women's study. I hate all those subjects. The walk over wasn't so bad, except everybody was staring at us. The boys looked astonished and the girls jealous. It wasn't my fault all the extremely hot guys flocked to me like mice to cheese. I was greeted by some people and given nasty looks by others.
"Why are we getting all these looks?" Tidus questioned as some girls gave him a flirting glance.
"I'm not sure," Zidane said, "but I enjoy it." He winked at some passerby's. I swear those girls were going to fainted on the cement.
"Keep dreaming junior," I grumbled sticking my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. Both Squall and Cloud smiled at this comment. I can't believe I made the two stoic men smile. Hooray for miracles. Finally, we arrived at McLean Hall and walked inside. Ascending three flights of stairs and turning to the right, we were confronted by a large map. This thing was huge, taking up over half the hallway. It was a world map with all the countries, capitals, seas, oceans, imaginary lines, real lines, and everything else on it. I went over to the North American continent and pointed to Omaha, Nebraska.
"That is where we are," I stated dropping my hand. All four of the guys looked at each other. "Does any of this map look familiar to you?" I asked furrowing my brows.
"Not really," Tidus said smiling. I can't understand how he can smile at everything. What a goof.
"This takes us back to square one," I commented, turning towards them. "What now?"
"We can't do anything at the moment," Cloud said crossing his arms. "All we can do now is figure out why we are here and try to find a way back home."
"I don't mind it so much here," Zidane said smiling at some women walking behind him. They giggled as they hurried away. I rolled my eyes.
"Well, it's noon, and I'm hungry. Anyone want to join me for lunch?"
"Food, where?! I'm starved." Tidus exclaimed
"You're always hungry," Zidane said.
"Hey, I'm still growing!"
"Sure you are," Squall said. Everyone except Tidus chuckled as we made our way to the dining center. Not much was talked about for the rest of the day. Only Tidus and Zidane were talkative, questioning me about this city, country, continent, culture, money, politics, fighting, and everything else. You name it, we talked about it. It was soon eight PM and time for band practice. No, not that kind of band with the dorky nerds who play the horn. It was practice with the members of my rock band.
"When will you be back?" Squall asked me as I picked up some stray music from around my room. It was even squishier in here now that there were four mats spread across the floor. It was like a labyrinth of people, blankets, clothing, and spare paper (I suck at keeping my room clean).
"Probably about ten or eleven, depending on how bored we get halfway through."
"Do you need anyone to walk with you on the way back?" Tidus asked lifting his head from where he was laying.
"Nah. The roads are well lit. I think I'll be fine." I waved them a goodbye, telling them to stay in the room, and left. The sun was setting as I walked the way to the Center of the Arts building were my band practiced every week. It only took about five minutes to get there. During the walk, the setting sun cast red, yellow, and orange hues upon the clouds, trees, and reflecting glass. I hummed a tune and smelled the lush leaves that flew in the breeze. Once I arrived at the Arts building, the excitement started to pick up. It was jam session night. A bunch of the local bands got together a couple times out of the year to play with one another. It is awesome when five or six lead guitar players duke it out in an all out technical battle of wits and skill.
"Kai!" Brian from the band Flaming Penguins yelled, waving me over. He was laying upside down on one of the big, fluffy armless chairs in the hall. He was strumming chords on his acoustic guitar while the other members of his band played the see-who-can-juggle-the-most-crap-at-once game. So far I saw Zeek juggle two drum sticks, a bag of cheap picks, and two hacky sacks at once. I can't even juggle two normal sized balls much less all that. I shook my head in astonishment as I walked over.
"Playing guitar and letting all the blood rush to your head all at once. You always were a multi-tasker," I stated, grabbing a drum stick from the aerial display and twirled it between my fingers. Brian laughed as he sat right side up. I waved off his ridiculous glee and went to get my guitar. If everyone was going to be as crazy as the Flaming Penguins today, then it was going to be a fun evening. On to the jam session!
After three hours of playing, and me kicking serious ass, the session stopped. Bleeding fingers were wrapped in bandages, and everyone went home. I bid farewell to my band-mates and left the building for my room. As I left, I noticed how much three hours changed the face of the earth. The once bright and sunny skies now lay shrouded under the dark of night. The air was crisp and cool from the drop in temperature. I breathed in deeply and sighed a breath of relief. I love the night. I began to walk back when I heard a growling noise. Stopping in my tracks, I looked around for the source. Out of the shadows of the trees stepped a dog. Or, I think it was a dog. It looked like some sort of alien German Sheppard. The ears stood erect as the thing growled at me with too long teeth. Instead of fur, there was tough and calloused skin of red and peach. The claws, six inches long, flexed on the ground. I widened my eyes in shock as the thing walked slowly towards me. I started to back up in fear when two more of those monsters appeared. Now I was scared shitless.
I turned tail and ran in the other direction. Before I took five steps, one of the alien-dogs grabbed my right leg with its teeth and bit, hard. I screamed in pain and crashed to the ground as another jumped on my left arm, leaving deep scratches, and the third took a chunk out of my right thigh. Tears poured down my face as I groped around on the ground for a weapon, any weapon. My hand reached a large rock and I seized the chance. Twisting onto my back, I smashed the rock into the head of one of the creatures. The thing whimpered in pain and crashed into the other two monsters. Ignoring the searing pain, I jumped to my feet and started running. Hearing the monsters behind made me run even harder. Fear and terror gripped me as I flew down the road toward my dorm.
Half way there, I spotted a stick on the ground. I scooped it up and turned to fight. I was done running. Swinging the flimsy stick like a baseball bat, I readied for the attack. The stick smashed into the skull of one of the creatures lunging at my face. The monster fell to the ground as another took its place. How many of these things where there? I swung again, only for the stupid stick to shatter in my hands. Crappy piece of wood. I dropped onto my side and curled into a ball, protecting my face with my arms. Realizing that they would tear me limb from limb, I prepared myself for the worst. I heard one of the alien-dogs jump towards me, but didn't feel the impact. Curious, I lifted one arm to look. Squall stood above me wielding some sort of gun crossed with a blade. He swung it at another monster and cleaved the thing in two.
"Are you alright," he said dispatching another one.
"That's a stupid question," I gasped attempting to uncurl from my defensive position. Before I could stand up, Cloud appeared out of the shadows, dropped down to the ground, and scooped me into his arms.
"Will you be okay?" Cloud asked Squall.
"It's only a couple weak fiends," Squall answered. "I'll be back a few minutes after you." Cloud nodded and took off running towards the dorms.
"You can put me down," I said. "I can probably walk."
"No," he replied. "You are wounded and need treatment. Walking on an injured leg can further the pain and seriousness of the injury." I fell silent went along for the ride. Who are these men? Do they all have such nice swords and great fighting capabilities? What attacked me and why? All these questions raced through my head as we arrived at the dorm door. I pulled the key out of my pocket and unlocked the door, all from the safety of Cloud's arms. He climbed the three flights of stairs, walked down the quiet hallway, and went into the bathroom. He set me down on the floor and told me to stay as he went to fetch the first aid kit from my room.
"Doesn't that guy get tired? I must be heavy," I said to myself as I grabbed the ledge above my head and pulled. The effort it took to stand was incredible. Pain shot through my leg like a thousand white hot daggers whenever I so much as bumped it. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I hopped over to the sink in front of me and clenched the porcelain. Panting from the energy it took to move this far, I turned on the sink and let the water run cold. While I was waiting for the sink to fill, Cloud, Squall, Tidus, and Zidane all entered the bathroom.
"What happened?!" Tidus practically screamed while he freaked out over my injuries.
"How the hell should I know?" I growled at him. "Some dog monsters just attacked me for no reason!" I gasped, practically falling over from the pain. Zidane and Cloud were immediately at my side to catch me. Tidus seemed to run all over the place as he worried. Squall walked over with two towels in one hand and the first aid kit in the other. He dunked the towels in the water and let them soak while he opened the kit and readied some of the antibacterials and bandages.
"You're going to have to remove your pants so I can see the damage," he said looking at me. I screwed up my face and looked at all the guys. I was very modest when it came to clothing.
"It has to be done," Cloud said, shifting me so I sat on the ground. Zidane held my back as I unbuttoned my pants and shimmied them down to the top of my legs.
"You're going to have to help me," I said blushing. This was so embarrassing.
"Tidus! Stop shouting and help," Squall ordered him. Tidus immediately calmed down and went to my side to help get my pants off. It was a painful process of pulling, peeling, and bleeding. I tried not to gasp at every painful jolt, but failed miserably. After awhile, we finally got the pants peeled off to reveal the ugly truth of my injuries. Chunks of flesh and skin were gouged from my right leg, and multiple deep scratches covered my left. Some of the slashes were so deep that you could see the bone! Squall immediately took a towel from the sink and began to rinse the blood from my legs, both dried and fresh. After the initial cleaning, he applied antibacterial and salves to coat my legs. From there, he carefully wrapped each leg in gaze and white bandages.
"Now for your arms," he said. Zidane went to fetch my pajama pants as I carefully removed my shredded hoodie.
"That hurts! And this was my favorite hoodie," I growled as I tossed the ruined clothing aside. My arm wasn't nearly as bad as the legs. The only things there were deep scratches and a weird burning, stinging sensation. Again, Squall washed the area well, applied antibacterial and salve, and wrapped the wound. Luckily, the scratches only covered my forearm, leaving all the muscle intact. Zidane had returned by the time he finished.
"I like your pants," Zidane commented holding up the purple pajama pants with white clouds all over it.
"For your sake, that had better have been the truth." Zidane smirked and helped me slide the pants on. Cloud and Tidus stood me up to pull them over my hips. I sighed in relief and out of tiredness. How long did this ordeal take? What time was it? Where did I put those damn drugs? I had some pain-killers stashed somewhere around this place.
"Time for bed," Cloud said scooping me up into his arms again.
"I can walk, you know," I grouched at him. I was tired and didn't want to rely on everyone around me. After being mostly self-sufficient for many years, asking for help felt very awkward. It felt like I was asking too much from them.
"You shouldn't walk on your right leg for awhile. The wounds need to heal at least a little before you put stress on them," Squall commented packing up the first aid kit.
"Can you at least let me wash my towels? They shouldn't stay in blood soaked water like that."
"Leave it took me!" Tidus said as he started to drain the water and fill it with clean stuff. Was he always so cheerful? And why couldn't I do my own towels?
"But…"
"Go to bed, Kai. That was some ordeal you went through," Zidane said taking one towel from Tidus and scrubbing it with soap in a different sink. "We can handle things here." My response was cut off as Cloud walked out of the bathroom. I was quiet all the way down to my room. When we got there, Clout set me down on the edge of the bed, handed me my night shirt, and turned away. I stared at the shirt for a few seconds.
"I must be a real idiot," I said glumly. Cloud turned and looked at me. "I couldn't even fight off a stupid dog-monster. I'm a real weakling."
"No one could expect you to fight off a fiend. You have no battle experience." Cloud knelt in front of me. "Kai, you are not weak. You probably haven't even picked up a sword before, right?" I stared at the floor, averting my eyes. Cloud got up once more and turned his back. "Change and go to sleep."
This time I listened, pulling off my current, ripped shirt and replacing it with the blue night shirt with a flame logo on the breast. I then pulled the covers down and scooted myself onto the bed. Cloud came and helped me into a comfortable position. Squall, Tidus, and Zidane entered just as I pulled the covers over me.
"Are you sure you're alright!" Tidus asked again.
"Of course she's not alright," Zidane chided as he hung the clean, wet towels on the rack behind the door. "She just got mauled by a wolf fiend." I practically covered my head with the blanket as my face turned red.
"The question now is what was a fiend doing in this world?" Squall asked everyone. "I assume that fiends are not common around here?" I shook my head.
"I know," Tidus said smacking his fist against his other hand. "Maybe, the fiends traveled here by space ship!" I groaned as his head was smacked by Squall.
"It is more probable that they were sent here by someone," Zidane commented laying down on his mat. "That would be the reason why Kai was attacked."
"Maybe it was a coincidence?" Tidus questioned. Cloud smacked him over the head.
"Think it through. If we were here and all met Kai, would creatures from our worlds come here to attack just anybody?"
"Your worlds? How did you end up here? Are your worlds similar to mine?" I asked. Everyone looked at each other in question.
"Our four worlds are more similar to one another than yours is. Your world has humans, we speak the same language, our mannerisms are the same, but other than that, our worlds are different," Squall said.
"How so?"
"In our worlds, there are people who can wield magick, like fire and lightning," Zidane said sitting up.
"There are great summoners, who can call upon the most wonderous beasts to fight for them!" Tidus commented.
"Many smaller fiends walk the earth, giving trouble to the local towns people," Cloud stated.
"All the political systems are completely different, leading to different social structures and customs," Squall finished. I nodded my head in understanding.
"So, does that mean you are from different universes or dimensions? Or just from different worlds in the same solar system?" I asked.
"Cloud and I were doing research this morning, and we concluded that we live on different planets scattered through space. We are from the same dimension. That is why our time-line is the same," Squall said crossing his arms in thought.
"Time-line?"
"The series of events in which something happens," Cloud inputted. "If one day passes here, then one day also passes on our worlds. I would suspect that the same number of years has passed on all our planets, we just record them differently." I nodded in understanding.
"So, if you were all sent here, how did you get here?"
"The crystals," Zidane said. "It would explain why we got here so fast."
"Maybe we were summoned!" Tidus exclaimed. Both Squall and Cloud smacked his head this time. He whined because of the pain and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, why not?"
"Because summoners summon the faytes," Zidane said. "We are obviously not faytes."
"You could be here because of me," I said slowly. The thoughts were still coming together in my mind. "Like Cloud said, it couldn't be just coincidence this happened. Maybe you were sent here for some reason involving me. Though I can't see why."
"We can think about why tomorrow," Squall said glancing at the clock.
"You mean we can talk about it later today," I corrected seeing as though it was three AM. The time normal people were asleep. The room filled with noise as the four guys settled in for the night. "Thank god it's Saturday." I whispered.
"Why is Saturday so good?" Tidus asked.
"No school." With that, I turned over, as best I could, and fell asleep.
