-Breeza, six years ago-
Rain fell down onto the playground in one of the cities established on the planet of Breeza. Most of everyone who played on the playground had left the moment it started to pour down rain, all except one child. On one of the swings sat a nine year old covered up in a dark blue hooded raincoat. Her blonde hair was covered by the blue hood, hiding her forlorn eyes.
A young man with silver hair wanders into the playground. He was covered with a grey jacket and black pants, while his hair was kept dry from his borrowed and out of place bunny umbrella. The worried man spots the little girl hunched over on the swings and sighs with relief. He was happy to find her out here, fearful she would get herself sick again. The silver haired teen runs over to her with a sincere smile.
"There you are! You shouldn't make your mother worried running off like that…" His turquoise eyes notice the tearful gaze on the red eyed girl. She sniffled and wiped her nose on her raincoat sleeve wanting to cry again.
"Liddy, what's wrong?" chaos asked. She just continued to hiccup and sniffle on the swing making him mutely groan over the emotional child. "I can't help if you never tell me how," chaos said.
"He's gone…" the little girl whimpered.
"Who's gone?"
"My friend, he said he would always be there. Even when I got really sick. But, but now that I'm better again…he left me all alone. I'm all alone again," Liddy cries clutching the chains on the swing and lowering her head. chaos frowned watching the girl cry. He was one of a few who bared witness to the girl's loneliness. The girl he knew was always without others her own age to play with. The adults in her life he knew would give her more attention if they could. But the girl's mother was always working, her father was never around, and the adults left to babysit her were always too creeped out by the peculiar child. He pitied her situation, thinking no one deserves to feel so lonely. Especially one so young.
The silver haired teen crouches down to the girl's level on the ground, one pant knee getting wet from the damp playground rocks. He holds the umbrella over her crying head and gives a gentle smile. The girl looks up at him noticing the umbrella over her head.
"Lydia, how could you say that? You have so many people who care about you."
"No I don't, if anything happened to you or mother, I'd have nobody. I would be alone, with everyone being scared of me."
"Liddy…"
"How could he just leave and never say goodbye? Friends are supposed to tell each other everything," the girl whimpered as chaos mutely sighs. The young man ponders for a moment thinking of this girl's imaginary friend, the one she always seemed to be playing with. Although he never got the name of this 'friend', he sometimes had suspicions on who it was. Then again…his mannerisms never sounded like him. chaos stops pondering and thinks of something to cheer up his tearful niece.
"I don't know the answer, Liddy. But, I think, perhaps his will went to a better place." The young girl stops sniffling, almost skeptical of the idea.
"His will?" chaos nods as he continues to explain.
"Yes, the world around us is filled with the wills of mankind. When we pass away, our wills move on to the next realm….or well…I suppose you can call it 'heaven'. But sometimes, certain wills feel attached to this world. Their hearts feel sad or unfulfilled, looking for something to help heal them."
A sweat drop drips from his face realizing how 'out there' the explanation sounded to the preadolescent girl, her expression still skeptical. At least she stopped crying, he thought. chaos continued to explain witnessing her red eyes stare dubiously.
"Perhaps your friendship with your 'friend', had healed his heart and helped his will move on." Chaos notices the girl wipe the tears from her eyes appearing comforted by the idea.
"But why didn't he say goodbye," sniffles the girl.
"I'm sure he would have, but maybe it would have made him sad to say goodbye." He takes her small hand into his gloved one and says, "Lydia, I'm sure your friend would want you to be happy. With how kind you were as a child, and how much you think fondly of him, I'm sure one day you'll see each other again."
The girl finishes drying off the last tear from her eye finally looking him directly in the eyes. He catches the fleeting glimpse of his rival wearing her innocent eyes.
"You think he is up in heaven? Just like father?" chaos hesitates at the mere mention of him, almost biting his lip before he says, "Yes. I'm sure of it."
The little girl's eyes radiate with warmth, her smile curling on her lips. chaos matches her expression glad to make her happy again.
"There's a smile! A smile as lovely as your mother. The two of you always have beautiful smiles," chaos's words compel the girl to blush next to him. He chuckles lightly and gets the girl to stand up and leave the swings. He holds the umbrella over the two of them, walking close so they didn't get too wet from the rain. "Uncle," said the girl. "What you said…I hope it's true."
chaos smiles with reassurance to the girl. The young man then guides them out the park towards their trek to a welcoming and dry home, with an anxious mother waiting.
"Remember this, Lydia. What we do has more impact on others than we think," the two continue on with the tallest one shielding both of them from the rain.
-Present Time-
She found herself face down in a puddle of water with rain soddening her clothes in the drizzle. Her head felt hazy getting up from the ground on wobbly feet. Lydia's eyes focus on the world surrounding her, everything coming back to her senses. She could hear rain falling down, her eyes seeing the playground surrounding her. Lydia's body starts chilling up from wet rain once she stands up. The girl turns her head to the swing set from her memory perplexed by the not so new world.
"What am I…doing back on Breeza?" The girl looks down to see her uncle's borrowed bunny umbrella cast aside on the ground. With caution she picks up the umbrella and opens it for some protection from the elements. The soaked school girl walks while holding the umbrella and crossing a free arm shivering.
"I hadn't seen this place in years," the girl shivered walking down the pathway out of the playground. She observes the playground start to shift into the city streets once she steps out of the greenery. When the girl steps onto the sidewalk, she looks in awe at the eerie display. She frowns with trepidation now walking past a sea of mannequins frozen in different walking poses on the walkway. "Okay, first I wake up in a playground with a bunny umbrella…and now I'm frolicking on a sidewalk filled with mannequins. God…damnit…" Lydia's face turns blue looking at the unsettling mannequins, their faces all covered with the same painted on, stoic mask. She wanders in the rain looking around for a place to call for help, her wine colored eyes catching the glimpse of a ghostly pink apparition. Thunder rumbles as she turns around to get a look at the specter, who had disappeared into the mannequins.
She wearily starts walking again, feeling like this was a repeat of the Darth Vader dream. 'Was it them again?' Lydia's thought quickly wandered at the possibility of the dreams being more than dreams. It seemed like ever since she had that hallucination about the man in black, she was having the worst dream yet. It was like 'Alice in Wonderland'…but with Star Wars cosplayers. There were four of them now, none of whom she recognized, and none of whom she wanted to befriend. Just what the hell did a bunch of dudes dressed up as Darth Vader themed birds want with her of all people?
The pondering girl shudders feeling a presence behind her, her breathing close to a pitiful gasp. Lydia turns back around, and is greeted by the ghostly mass of pink orbs. The once friendly orbs from before formed the shape of a man twitching and groaning a ghostly groan. Lydia turns pale looking at the apparition and bumps into a mannequin once the ghost starts to reach for her. The frightening ghost moaned in unintelligible cries, trying it's hardest to reach out to her.
The girl's eyes flash a brilliant pink, triggering the sea of mannequins to twitch and come to life as random civilians. Lydia gawks at the sidewalk now filled with people coming to life in the rain. The apparition takes the opportunity to grab the girl's hand and shakes her with desperation. Lydia felt sick and terrified as the apparition moaned, "I…can…not…be…"
Lydia screamed and wrestled her way out of the ghostly grip, running through the fake civilians. The now malevolent will started to chase the girl down the street with thunder booming in the distance. The girl gasped for breath running as fast as she could away, while the apparition gained up on her trying to grab her with swirls of pink lights. Lydia panics as she sprints and pushes through the door to the first thing she saw. A light came on at the sound of a tiny bell ringing from the swinging door. Lydia pants and shivers with her bunny umbrella still at her side.
After a few gasps of air, she looks around to see that she had wandered into some café. No, by the look of the Japanese décor and the large menu of teas and assorted treats, she had stumbled into a tea shop. The tea shop had an inviting air, the rain soaked girl almost beckoned to stay inside for warmth in its mint green colored walls and the smell of delectable pastries.
"Ah, look what the rain dragged in." A low calm voice sighs from the back of the tea shop sitting in a wooden booth by the window. She recognized her uncle sitting there with his short silver hair. He was wearing a pair of long white baggy pants, and a skin tight navy body suit paired with an orange and navy blue vest. chaos looked content with his relaxed shoulders and crossed legs. He sat up straight happily sipping a cup of green tea with a plate of miniature cookies beside his tea pot.
"I ordered a pot of tea with sweets. Quite marvelous they still offer this special now a days," his darkened turquoise eyes greeted her with a kind smile as her face contorted into a WTF expression. He conveniently ignores the girl's face by sipping one more time from his cup of tea. He sits it down on the table and pours a second cup.
"If you still want a cup, you better come here before I drink all of it." The incredulous girl walks up to her uncle. "Dude, how? What the hell, h-how did you get here?!" yelled the girl.
"You should stop gawking like that. It doesn't look good on a pretty face," her uncle teased. Lydia replies with a glare and reluctantly sits down on the opposite side of the booth. This didn't make sense, she knew uncle could teleport sometimes at will, but he wasn't supposed to be here. Then again, he came to visit them on Fifth Jerusalem…when he was supposed to be lightyears away. AND then AGAIN, how on earth did both of them get to planet Breeza?!
The girl watches her uncle with suspicion as he stares back at her with a calm stoic expression. He sits with the eerie stillness of a fascinated cat, eyes hiding his mental game of strategy. The two have a moment of awkwardness between them, Lydia noting the same distinct feeling that followed her when she was at school. All that was missing was the-
The girl scowls when she notices the man tapping his finger on the table unconsciously. "Seriously? Must you do that?"
"Excuse me?" chaos narrows his eyes at the girl, Lydia then confidently lets her attitude slip. "That tapping, must you keep tapping like that? Geez, that gets so annoying." Her comment is rewarded with a smirk from chaos.
"Never took you as someone who gets fussy over small habits. I remembered you being a rather carefree girl." chaos chuckles and smirks back, "Course, you seem to get just as irritable as that mother of yours.
"I-I beg your pardon?!" growled the girl. "You don't know jack-shit about me."
"Hmmmmm…Let's see, your name is Lydia. You currently go by the last name 'Vein'. You are fifteen years old, an only child to a single mother who has a shaky background at best. You attended Kansanshi Secondary School since November, you're multilingual, and have terrible taste in music with mismatched television preferences. Hmmmm, what else? Oh, I forgot about that boy you like. But honestly I think you could do better," chaos chuckles with a condescending tone as the girl looked back at him perturbed. 'Dear GOD! Has, has this guy been reading my diary?!'
"Would you like to hear more? You are quite an open book, my child. That mother of yours certainly didn't teach you anything about keeping secrets." chaos stops himself when he runs into a related thought.
"Oh, what am I going to do about her. I wouldn't have been so close to catching her if it wasn't for you, and you are playing your part just as expected." chaos continue to smile at her with an unsettling air. Lydia was now trying not to divert her gaze from the intimidating man, still perturbed by his odd behavior. None of it made sense. The only way it could make sense was if perhaps…
"Who the hell are you?" asked Lydia. The silver haired teen just smiles back, passively letting his demeanor frighten the girl.
"All in due time will that be revealed," replies the imposter. He takes a last sip of his tea, drawing out the suspense as if he were the star of his own drama. "There is too much about you that I cannot trust just yet. Fortunate for you, I know you know nothing about your mother's whereabouts. But, this still doesn't mean well for you if your mother never complies."
The imposter moves up from his seat as the creeped out Lydia is overwhelmed with the vision of red eyes bearing into her soul. A chill spreads throughout her body, her head spinning while the imposter just watches her space out. "Until we meet again, child, try to dream just a little longer."
The teenager is sent swirling into darkness for what felt like mere moments, until the stunned girl jolts up from her bed with a gasp. Lydia clutches her head holding back her nausea when she hears a small thump beside her bed. The dizzy girl turns her attention to the floor, looking down to see an old book had fallen from the bed. The girl grabs the book from the floor, examining the cover with the pieces starting to form.
