*Rose P.O.V~ The Next Morning*
I woke up to the sound of Hazel and Sally's shouting and Calvin telling them to quiet down. I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. I got out of bed and went to my closet. I put on a hot pink long sleeved shirt with rhinestones on the hem and black shorts. I put on my Converse and put my hair up in a ponytail. I stared at the tips of my hair and decided that I needed to cut it again. Maybe I'll do it in my signature style or just trim the tips. I'll have to ask my sisters.
I went downstairs after I had washed my face and brushed my teeth. I saw that everyone was either inside the living room or in the kitchen. I saw Calvin chasing Hazel and Sally around the couch. Jeremie, Ulrich, William, Hope and Faith were watching them. I went into the kitchen once I had told the girls that they shouldn't run inside the house. Inside was Aelita, Yumi, Sissy, and Molly.
"Good Morning," I say.
"Morning Sis," Molly says as she finishes cutting the apples.
"Morning Rose," Aelita, Yumi and Sissy said.
"Need any help?" I ask.
"No. But you can make Hazel's medicine," Molly says.
"Alright," I said.
I turned to leave and went back up to my room. I grabbed the vials for Hazel's medicine and put them in my pocket. I walked out and saw that Odd was walking out of his room.
"Morning Sleepyhead," I said with a smile.
"Morning," he said as he hugged me.
We went downstairs and into the living room. We all ate breakfast and after Hazel drank her medicine, we were all sitting in the living room when the doorbell rang. Yumi went to answer it and I heard Herb asking if they could come inside. Yumi let them in and lead them towards the living room.
"Hi, Herb. What brings you here?" I asked once they were in plain site.
"H-hi Rose. I just wanted to see if you were here, seeing as that you missed school for a month," Herb said.
"Oh, that. I left France when my brother contacted me," I said.
"Brother?" Herb and Nicolas asked.
"Yes. Brother. I'm Calvin Mendoza. Rose's older twin brother," Calvin said as he stood up and shook both their hands.
"You're only older by two minutes," I said as I rolled my eyes at him.
"Still older than you," he said.
I shook my head at him.
"The reason I left was because Calvin had gotten custody of our other 6 sisters," I explained to Herb and Nicolas.
I turned my attention towards the girl who was with them. She had black shoulder length hair with red highlights on the front. She had the skater girl thing down pat.
"Hello. I don't think we've ever met. I'm Rose Mendoza," I said as I held my hand out.
She shook it as she said, "Sam"
"Nice to meet you," I said with a smile.
"Likewise," she said.
She let go of my hand and turned towards Odd.
"Hey, Odd," she said with a blush across her cheeks.
"Hi, Sam," Odd said coldly.
"You're still mad about what happened at the skating tournament?" she asked.
Odd didn't reply.
"Come on Odd! What was so important that you had to know what Ulrich said?" Sam asked.
"We had a meeting for the band," Odd said.
"I thought you guys gave up on the band," Sam said.
"We started back up right after I told you," Odd said.
"Yeah right," Sam muttered then pointed at me, "Why does she live here? Why can't she live with her brother and sisters in a hotel or something?"
"I live here because they were so kind as to give me a place to live at when my ex-boyfriend burned down my apartment," I told her.
"Doesn't mean you get to live here with my boyfriend," Sam said with a smile.
"Liar. Odd is mad at you for keeping him from going to the meeting. And I can tell your lying by your aura," I said.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"I'm a physic," was all I said as I turned to go sit back down.
"Well at least I have parents!" she screamed.
I stood still and was about to turn around and retort something at her when my head started to hurt. I held my head between my hands and I fell to my knees. I faintly heard them calling my name when I was sucked into the darkness.
*Calvin P.O.V*
I caught Rose before she could hit her head on the carpet. Her hands fell to her sides and her head fell against my shoulder.
"Rose, wake up!" I said as I shook her.
Her head lolled to the side and I gasped along with my sisters.
"She can't be Dream Walking! She can't!" Hazel cried out as she hugged Rose.
"Hazel…" Molly said as she gently pulled her away from Rose.
Hazel clung to Molly.
"We have to take her to her room. One of us will stay with her until she comes through," Hope said.
I was about to gather Rose in my arms when her eyes flew open and her back arched. She screamed and I faintly heard someone chanting in another language.
Greek? The only one who knows Greek is… no. Not him, I thought
"What's going on?" Sam asked when the wind inside the living room started picking up speed.
"Mendoza family come home and see what has become of it," a man said.
"Gate Keeper?" Hope and Faith said.
We soon found ourselves inside the Main Town Shops. The Lyoko Warriors, Sam, Herb and Nicolas had come with us. Herb and Nicolas hugged each other when they saw the town.
"H-how did we get here?" Herb asked.
"The Gate Keeper brought us here," Hope said.
"Why?" Sally asked as she looked around.
"Because you need to see what has become of our Clans or more importantly, your home," the Gate Keeper said as he appeared in front of us.
"You will lead us through the town?" I asked.
"No, I cannot leave the Gates unguarded. But Rose will show you the way," the Gate Keeper said.
"Rose? How is she… eh! Were is she?" Molly asked.
I finally noticed that Rose was no longer in my arms. We all looked around until we heard a giggle. We looked over and saw Rose next to our family shop. Her hair was in her signature style; shoulder length with bangs hanging over her right eye. She was wearing a simple white dress. She smiled at us then turned around and went around the back of the store.
"Rose, wait up!" Hazel yelled out as she let go of Molly and ran towards Rose.
"Hazel!" Molly cried out and ran after her.
We ran around the store and saw the back of Uncle Marcus's store and Aunt Claire's store. Rose was standing in the alley and she ran towards the other end. We ran after her and stopped when we saw that the Fur Section was desecrated.
"What happened here?" Molly asked as she picked up Hazel.
"The Eternals did this right after we were captured and brought to the human Dimension" Rose said from where she was standing.
She was on top of the platform at the center of the Section. She turned around to acknowledge us.
"They came during the day and nearly killed all of our people. All managed to escape to the Underground Caverns while a few were captured and enslaved like we were. All the other Clans fell the day we were captured. But they still believe that we will come back to them. They whisper to each other the prayers of the Goddess. They talk in hushed voices about ways of our return and if we bring allies with us," Rose said.
Suddenly I heard the voices of people.
They will come marching in here with allies from the human world.
They will save us before the Great Battle.
They will lead us into a world filled with peace and in harmony with the humans.
I covered my ears and saw that my sisters did the same.
"Make the voices stop! We will help but not now! We need to gather our energy!" Sally, Hope and Faith cried out.
The voices fell silent and we all turned to Rose.
"Sam, Herb and Nicolas. Please help us free our home. This was the place were each Supernatural being lived in harmony with each other until the Eternals became corrupted. Will you please help us?" Rose inquired.
"How? All of you have something unique that will help you. We don't," Sam said.
"We have weapons and armor suitable for anyone. The best of their kind," I said.
"We'll help you then," Sam said.
"I need not ask you guys, because I know you will help me," Rose said as she smiled at the LW's.
"Damn, right you are," William said.
Rose smiled and closed her eyes.
"Gate Keeper, take us back. Let us awaken," she chanted.
The wind picked up again and soon we were back inside the living room. Rose was lying near me. She groaned and opened her eyes. She sat up and supported herself with her left arm.
"Rose? Are you okay?" Odd asked as he knelt beside her.
He placed his arms around her shoulder and she placed her head on the hollow of his neck.
"My head hurts and I feel like it's going to explode," Rose said.
"Want a glass of water?" Aelita asked.
"Yes, please," Rose, said.
Aelita left the living room and went to the kitchen. Sam went up to Rose and knelt in front of her. She threw her arms around Rose and said, "I'm sorry!"
"For what?" Rose asked.
"For saying that I have parents. If I had known where you come from and what has happened," Sam said.
"It's okay. You didn't know," Rose said as she hugged Sam.
Aelita came back with a glass of water and Rose drank it. We all started to talk to each other when Herb asked the question that made each of us uncomfortable.
"Where are your parents?" Herb asked.
"We'd rather not talk about it" Molly muttered as she played with Hazel's hair.
"Why not?" Nicolas said.
"I'll explain. They have a right to know," Rose said.
All of us nodded and Molly hugged Hazel tighter.
"Calvin and I were 14 at the time they died. Our mother and father had distanced themselves from us after Sally was born. So by the time Hazel was born which was 5 years after Sally was born, all of us were very aware of the fact that Mother didn't cover Hazel properly which resulted in Hazel having breathing problems," Rose said.
"Hazel had turned 1 a few days before the accident. We celebrated and our parents had given her tons of gifts and we thought that was suspicious. They gave her clothes that would fit her until she was 5 and when our birthdays passed they gave us clothes that would fit us until we were; 16, 15, 13, 11 and 9 years old, respectively. When the news about their deaths reached us we were all shocked. Had they known that they were going to die?" Rose asked.
"A day after their deaths Calvin and I took over the family shop and took responsibility for our siblings. Our Uncle and Aunt would have helped but they had their own problems so we decided to not trouble them. Calvin and I became parent figures for Hazel and we taught our siblings to fight, both with the martial arts and street fighting," she added.
"If someone were to ask Hazel who her father is she would say our father's name but then say that the father figure she has known all her life is her brother," Molly said as she hugged Hazel.
Hazel smiled big.
"How did they die?" Sam asked.
"They were murdered," Calvin said darkly.
"And that is the cruelest way to die… in our world," Molly added.
"Normally people die in battle or by training. Murder isn't that high in our world like it is to yours," Faith said.
"Well we have to go now," Herb said as he stood up.
"Well good bye," Nicolas said as he walked out of the living room.
Herb followed him saying that it was bad manners to leave without everyone else saying good-bye.
"Don't worry about your secret. It will be safe with me and I'll make sure those two keep it a secret as well," Sam said as she hugged Rose good-bye and left.
"So you guys have been taking care of your siblings since you were 14?" Odd asked Rose
Rose nodded. She smiled as she said, "But at least I was able to. I learned patience when taking care of Hazel and Sally. Since Sally was lonely most of the time Hazel would always be with her and she became an energetic girl,"
"Rose. Can we go shopping? I want some coloring pencils!" Hazel asked.
"Sure thing sweetie. Just let me make a bottle of your medicine then we'll go." Rose said as she stood up and headed up the stairs to her room.
After Rose made Hazel's medicine we all went to the mall.
