Rubricate
(v.) to mark or colour with red
_._._
Dark. It's dark here, and it's empty. I spot red flash in the corner of the void I'm in, and voices start.
Soft whispers filled the air, making no sense to my heavy head. After a few moments, I couldn't remember (or care) about what they were saying. I let the liquid sounds drown out the heaviness of my body.
"-why do they-"
"-Ninten is-"
"-when will-"
"-so it was really true that-"
"-do you love-"
"-what about our parents, won't they-"
"-why did you kill-"
Voices molded into each other, feminine and masculine. They were a stinging, loud and sharp contrast to the dark. Was I even conscious? Probably not, and by the random conversation snippets I figured that I was wavering in and out of the conscious world. Red tainted my vision, but there was a soft murmuring and suddenly I found myself relaxing, although I wasn't aware I was tense before.
You'll do good, but you can't remember why. Poor Ness. Po...or, p...o...o...r... Ne...s...s. I'm... so... h...a..pp...y...
Blackness was the only thing I sensed before any thoughts were washed out and replaced with unconsciousness.
_._._
Waking up, I was sore and groggy. Muscles screamed in discomfort as I shifted on the bed I was on. Great. Running for a solid day without stretching was an awful idea. Mind you, running away from a cafeteria attacking wasn't so amazing either. Mm, cafeteria food didn't sound so bad right about now. with that thought, I forced my eyes open and found it was obnoxiously dark, and not in the nice way it had been before. Letting out a soft groan, and I stumbled from the bed I was on, only to trip over a body.
"Oof!" I gasped, and hit the ground hard.
Ouch, that'd leave a bruise- not that I wasn't covered in them already. The person below me- Mr Duck head, judging by the violently yellow hair- awoke with a start, sparks of psychic energy flying around him from being surprised. I shoved myself off him as fast as possible. Seeing it was me, Lucas relaxed and the diamonds of energy faded away.
"Good morning," Lucas said, and stretched, his back cracking. Gross, I hate that sound. I meant to stay something amazingly witty back, but ended up making a crusty noise that caused me to cough. After clearing my throat and ignoring that amazingly embarrassing moment, I spoke.
"What time is it?" My voice cracked, and I felt my face burn. Great, more blackmail against me.
"Um," Lucas checked his watch, politely ignoring my voice. Thank goodness he's not as much of a dick as his brother. "Three AM."
"Nice." I muttered. I slept for a solid 12 hours. Or rather, I was knocked out. I sent a non-subtle glare at Lucas, who frowned, probably sensing why I was glaring.
"Don't look at me like that." Lucas said, standing and cracking his neck. I shuddered with the sound. How could he do that?
"It's dark, maybe I'm not looking at you." I snapped, aggravated with how early it was and Lucas' morning habits. Ana muttered something in her sleep and I lowered my voice.
"You are. I can sense your frustration peaking when you look in my direction." Lucas said, a cheerful tone making it's way into his voice.
Gosh, he pissed me off. Lucas thinks he's so great with his psychic powers and pretty hair and stunning eyes and- wait. Stop, back up. Was Ninten right about the door swinging both ways? I've only been attracted to girls but Lucas has somehow intruded my thoughts. I've had such a day that somehow suddenly questioning my sexuality doesn't shake me. Honestly? The most worrisome part was my liking of Lucas, of all people. My mom wouldn't care if I was gay. As long as I made good choices; although, to be fair, being chased by whatever 'Starmen' are can't be safe. Sorry, mom.
"You okay?" I snapped out of my train of thought, resuming my halfhearted glare at Lucas. "You've been staring blankly at me for a bit now..."
"I'm fine! I'm just-" I paused, biting my lip. I wanted to snap at Lucas, because technically this was all his fault, and I was just pretty mad at him, but he sounded so concerned that I couldn't find the heart in me. "I'm just..."
"Just what?" Lucas said in a tender tone.
"I'm just confused, mostly. And- oh. What about my mom?" The sudden thought crashed against my skull. I was originally supposed to pick up Tracey- oh, I am in so much trouble when I get home- and Mom must be out of her mind. After dad left for work all the time, she clung onto us like lifelines. Not that she nor I could complain about the cheerfully large paychecks sent home.
"Ah..." Lucas scratched the back of his head. "Um, come into this room and we'll grab some food, and I'll show you what happened."
Passing sleeping figures (Paula and Ana were cuddling, Ninten still looked awful but had been changed into some cotton pajamas, and Claus was nowhere to be seen) I followed as best I could. Lucas closed the off the door to whatever sleeping area we had been in, and switched on the light. The lights were practically dead and really didn't offer us any relief from the dark. Lucas seemed to have been ready for this moment as he already had cookies out and ready. What a gift. They were Oreo's, Ninten's favourite.
Lucas placed the plate on the small table. I grabbed one of the hard, stiff chairs and immediately took a bite of one of the cookies. With my stomach growling and the cookies being obnoxiously good, I almost missed what Lucas had said.
"Your mom thinks you've been kidnapped." Lucas stated. I dropped my cookie in disbelief.
"What."
"Uh," Lucas scratched his head, looking rather unsure of himself. "Technically you have been kidnapped. The Starmen attacked the school, and the media thinks our group of six has been kidnapped by them because we were the only ones missing."
"Out of a school with seven hundred people in it, only us six were missing?" Oh Ness, of all the intellectual things to say at three in the morning to the boy who has ruined your life and yet still manages to be cute. Shout out to me.
Lucas looked a little shocked at the comment, then gave a small laugh, a genuine smile coming to his face.
"I know, right? What are the odds?"
"Just our luck, huh." I ended up cracking a grin too, giggling because wow, am I exhausted and Lucas beamed at me, before his face fell again.
"Yeah, luck..." Shifting nervously, Lucas took a hesitantly small bite from his cookie. "Um, I suppose you deserve to know what is going on."
"Yeah," The grin on my face suddenly felt forced. "I kind of do."
Taking a big breath, Lucas began. My face fell about a sentence in, and I'm sure I began to pale as he continued to speak.
"Uh, let's start with Starmen. Starmen were made about two hundred years ago in this universe, and were used to find PSI users so that a mysterious force could brainwash them into an army. It wasn't Pigmasks who did this, because Claus was already, uh, being controlled by the Pigmasks, and he confirmed that they hadn't done it, and he knew everything that went on in that timeline. Plus in this history, Starmen didn't show up until all the world's were shoved together. They're actually from your original time period. Um, when this world was recreated-"
"Timelines? Worlds shoved together? This world being recreated?" I hissed, trying to wrap my head around everything that Lucas had said. Lucas gave a sheepish smile.
"Haha, yeah. Recreated. Anyways, when the world was recreated after pulling the needles and awakening the Dark Dragon-"
"The Dark Dragon?"
"-That's when Starmen showed up. Only in the past decade have they really been acting up."
I stared at Lucas, who stared back, his eyebrows furrowing.
"What wrong?" He asked.
"Everything you just said went in one ear and out the other." I said. Nothing he had just said made sense, and it was much wilder then finding out he and Claus were two hundred years old. That was pretty wild.
"Lucas isn't the best at explaining."
Claus' voice made us both jump.
"Oh!" Lucas said. "You're awake."
"Never slept to begin with." Claus said cheerlessly. "Let me simplify this for your small head, Ness."
"You should look in a mirror sometime." I muttered, but let him continue, as I had no idea what was going on and my best option was to not piss Claus off, even if I really, really wanted to.
"First off, this planet never really existed. There were two dimensions. One where Lucas and I came from, and one where Ninten, Ana, Paula and you came from. Porky's army and the whole Dark Dragon deal did happen, just in our dimension."
When he mentioned the Dragon he waved vaguely to Lucas, who gave a sheepish grin in my direction. He liked to smile, and he had a cute one, I thought, before yelling at myself mentally and focusing on Claus' monotone (and rather robotic) voice.
"Ninten and Ana are from a different time period then you. They saved the world from Giegue ten years before you saved it from Giygas, which is the same being."
"Hold up-" I knew I looked comically with my current facial expression, but Ninten? My neighbor since I was born had no such adventure, and seeing how he was unconscious in a table from fever it seemed unlikely he could survive an adventure like that. "We fought against Ninten's uncle?"
"Yes." Claus said.
"Kind of?" Lucas said.
I groaned.
"Giegue was originally an alien- the great uncle Ninten has here is just a normal person- but it quickly mutated into an incomprehensible mess of pure evil, which called itself Giygas In your dimension. You fought that with Paula, Jeff and Poo ten years after Ninten, Ana and Lloid. had sent Giegue back into space. "
Ignoring my instincts to laugh at the name 'Poo', I had a feeling that what Claus was saying was very true, and it was stirring a nostalgic feeling in my chest. I hated the fact that Claus was probably right, and if he was, why couldn't any of us remember? The events Claus were telling me seemed much to large and wickedly awesome to forget. It sounded like a video game plot.
"Porky, who was Giygas' right hand man, transported to our dimension-" Claus once again gestured to Lucas. "- after you defeated him. You know the rest from history books."
"History books don't mention a giant Dragon recreating the world, and if we were, per say, in different dimensions, how do you know all this?" I sneered at Claus. A part of me was begging to accept this, and it was growing bigger by the minute, but I had my suspicions.
"I'm getting there," Claus sneered back. "Don't get your panties in a twist."
"When I pulled the needles," Lucas interrupted, while I tried not to strangle Claus, "When I pulled the needles, the Dragon revealed all this to me in a vision-like thing when it merged your dimension and mine. This whole worlds history and culture and land was mashed together and kind of formed together into this mess here. Then I telepathically transferred it to Claus, who, at this point, was alive again. Somewhere along the line, you six and everyone else in our worlds forgot everything."
"Everyone?" I asked.
"Our father injured himself falling off a cliff looking for our mother because he had forgotten she died." Claus said with a emotionless tone.
"Her grave doesn't exist anymore." Lucas added with a monotone voice, sounding detached and eerily like his brother.
Scratching my arm, I felt like a real big dick having them bring up a topic like that to make me believe what they said.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"It was a long time ago." Claus started, his fake eye readjusting by growing larger then shrinking to a pinprick.
"We've done our grieving. It doesn't bother us anymore." Lucas finished, his sweet tone dragging my gaze off Claus' eye to him.
"So," I started on a recap. "I was in a different world then yours, then our worlds were shoved together, and you've lived two hundredish years here before trouble started spewing. Everyone has forgotten everything except you two. And I saved the world along side Paula, the math nerd Jeff and a kid named Poo?"
"Pretty much." Claus said.
What a ridiculous story. And I completely believed it. The words the twins spoke rang some sort of truth, and the fact is, Claus' story (although carried as more of a threat) in the broom closet was starting to make more sense.
"Ah." I settled with that while I tried to mesh my thoughts together into a speakable sentence. "Um, do Ana and Paula know?"
Lucas nodded. "I think Ninten knows some of the history too. In his fever he's been muttering events that happened on his adventure, but we haven't told him yet."
"Will Ninten be okay?"
A nod from Claus and a sweet smile from Lucas calmed the pit of anxiety that was gnawing at my stomach. I released the breath I was holding, and grabbed another Oreo from the plate. Chewing on it thoughtfully, I decided on my next question.
"So," I swallowed my cookie, and grabbed another. "If our dimensions were separate, and then merged, and I had a life before this, why can't I remember it?"
Upon my question, a dark look came across Claus's face, and Lucas became pale, refusing to meet my eyes.
"We don't know." Claus said, stiffly crossing his arms.
"You're lying, you dick." I responded, and he jerked angrily when I called him out. Good, he deserves to be called out.
"We'll let you know when it's the right time." Lucas whispered, unable to tell a lie. He was shifting his gaze, avoiding me. Man, he could at least lie to my face. That pisses me off.
Slamming my hands on the table, I let a few choice words fly from my mouth (and I was rather glad Ana wasn't awake to hear them) that were directed at no one in particular, and Lucas winced.
"Don't be so aggressive," Claus snapped, his fists clenched.
"You're the one talking, mister 'I'm-going-to shove-you-into-a-broom-closet-and-threaten-you.'"
Lucas let out a sharp gasp, and I felt anger creeping up my sides. I was suddenly itching for a fight with Claus, not caring that he was built for fighting nor that he had two hundred years of experience over me.
"Are you wanting to fight, Ness?" Claus snarled, and it felt good to make him pissed off.
"Maybe," I clenched my fists. I had never felt so aggressive in my life. A change had come and to be honest, I wasn't liking it.
Claus slammed me against the wall, Lucas crying out for his brother to stop while I smirked, and it all ended with Claus dropping me as Ninten's panicked, fever ridden cries reached our ears.
"We don't have time for this," Claus said, and he shoved me aside. I hit the wall with a grunt, my sore limbs screaming with the addition of another bruise, and Lucas looked horrified at his actions. Claus was being a dick, and I was ready to punch the emotionless mask off his face even if technically I started the fight.
"I'm sorry," Lucas apologized, and I shrugged, keeping an ear out for Ninten.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter." I lied. It does matter. I'm pissed off. I want to go home.
Another short cry filled the room, and I started for the door, insane worry filling my gut. How could I start a fight while Ninten was sick? Lucas grabbed my wrist, jerking me to a halt. I glared, knowing that annoyance was leaking from every fiber of my posture.
"Dude, Ninten needs me." I said, trying to keep my voice level.
"I know! But, uh, I need to tell you something first."
"What is it?" I snapped. Gentle murmuring had filled the room I had been sleeping in, Ninten's whimpering clearly heard through the closed door.
"There's, uh, a high chance because Ninten is so sick that he might, um, not make it through the fever." Lucas looked at the ground, and I blanched.
"Not... make it?" I whispered, and I tore my hand from his, slamming open the door.
Paula and Ana were hushing my childhood friend, while Claus hooked him up to various machines. Paula looked up and smiled weakly. Ana was on the verge of tears, and had her head bowed in prayer.
"He's not doing so great." Paula muttered, and continued to sing softly to Ninten. Ana's muttering of prayer was intense, and I didn't want to break her concentration, so I found myself by Paula side.
Ninten was soaked in sweat. His face was flushed and looked as red as his bandanna. I brushed some sticky hair from his forehead, and he opened his glassy eyes, starting me down.
"N..ess?" Ninten croaked. I smiled encouragingly, my heart breaking. Lucas was right, and the thought tore at my gut that Ninten might actually die.
"I'm right here you big dummy."
"I'm... So..r..ry..." Ninten gasped, while tears streamed down his face. I wiped them away, not sure what I was supposed to do. I sent Paula a hopeless look. "Giy...Giygas... he wasn't... wasn't supposed to come back..."
My mind drew a blank for a moment, before remembering what Lucas and Claus had explained. I let out a weak laugh.
"Dude," I forced a grin. "I can't remember what you're talking about, which means you didn't mess up as much as you think."
Ninten took a shuddering breath, and Claus sent an urgent look to Lucas, who was standing behind me with his head bowed and hands clasped.
"But... but he came back... and I messed every... everything up..." Ninten wheezed, looking confused. "I... made you die..."
My heart stopped, and Paula sent me a worried glance. It's just his fever, I thought. I'm not dead.
"I'm not dead, Ninten." I laughed nervously.
"Not... not here..." Ninten tapped my head. "In your... your soul..." He struggled to tap my chest, and let his arm flop uselessly after a moment. "I killed you."
"Ninten," I started, and then stopped because what was I supposed to say to that? 'It's okay, we were transported to another dimension so I can't remember'?
A long moan came from Ninten, his breathing choked. Ana's murmuring increased. Claus was still smashing buttons on the machine he had hooked Ninten up too. It looked alien, and way ahead of our time, even though it had been around for two hundred years.
"Well," Claus said running his normal hand through his head. "His fever has peaked to a high, which means he'll learns a new PSI move, or..." He guestured uselessly, but we all got the meaning. Ninten could die.
This is all so stupid. It wasn't fair that Ninten was dying! It wasn't fair that he got to learn PSI, and it most certainly wasn't okay that we were stuck in this situation to begin with. Tears filled my eyes, and Paula rubbed my back. She's a sweetheart and I would've fallen apart without her.
"It'll be okay Ness." Paula smiled, and I grit my teeth.
"I know, it's just... I'm just scared for him."
Paula laughed lightly. "The great and powerful Ness? Scared?"
"Shut up." I said, but there was no venom in my voice.
"Ninten will be fine, he's tough and there's Oreos in the kitchen. There's no way he'll miss that."
I smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Ninten won't die if there are Oreos around."
"Ah," Claus said, vicariously pressing buttons while glancing up to a screen. "You might be wrong about that."
"What?" Ana gasped, breaking her prayer. I felt light headed because Ninten is dying he's dying right now and there's nothing I can do-
Ninten learned Forth Dimension Slip!
A bright light filled the room, and I stumbled back into Lucas. Covering my eyes, the white light still infiltrated my vision and it took a few moments to realize that it was gone and people were talking.
Cracking open my eyes, I took in my surroundings. Ana was sobbing, Paula was staring at Ninten's bed, and so was Claus, with a small grin on his face.
Ninten wasn't on the table anymore, and a small tear in the air swirling with stars and the galaxy was were Ninten once was. I stepped forwards, memorized, and it closed with a sucking noise. I ran my hands over the still warm bed, and turned to Claus with (I'm sure) a comical look on my face.
"Good news," Claus said. "Ninten learned PSI, and he'll live!"
"Where's Ninten?" I said, words tumbling out of my mouth.
"Bad news," Claus said. "I have no idea where Ninten is, and no way to track him."
Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
_._._
Hello hello! I've started work, which means updates will be super slow. The next one I can guarantee won't come until late April/early May. Then it's exam season, then I'm off at summer camp, so unless I don't get that job this story WILL be on hiatus from JULY-AUGUST. not that it makes much of a difference, I'm so slow at updating that I'll just be like normal.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and caught my spelling/grammar mistakes! There are quite a few (haha whoops) so you guys all helping me out is a super help!
Love you all!
Corie
