Dreams:
Rockman X:
First Crystal
Makes me smile sometimes and troubles me
some too
Love, dreams, or logic… they never give me
an answer
So let's get going, like we flip a coin
What happiness, a moment of happiness
When you feel that, that's when the fun
begins
I can change that, change it skillfully
The first step changes it all
- The Oysters
"Huh? Mommy, is that you?"
"Wake up X, its time for
breakfast."
"Aww mom, it's way too early. Can't I sleep in just this once, please?"
"Xander R. Musuko, if you do not get
out of bed this very instant, Lord
help me that I don't kill you where you lie!"
"Yes mother, right away mother!"
exclaimed Xander fearfully.
Hopping out of
bed, Xander hurried to the bathroom to wash up for the morning meal. He looked into the mirror and stared at the
haggard and fatigued looking montage of tousled hair and lines set on by a restless
night's sleep. As he turns on the
faucet, he closed his eyes in hopes of flushing the tormented images of the
past nights dreams, that seem to be haunting him even his waking hours. His hands cupped, reach into the icy water,
a chill surges down his spine right to his very toes. His eyes open, and roam around the room. The bathroom was
meticulously clean from the hardwood floors to the white stucco walls and high
ceiling. Light from the nearby window
cast a bright warm glow that reflected off an old crystal windchime, breaking
and refracting the light onto everything in a myriad of beautiful colors that,
seemingly had been taken from the heavens themselves. Even though the room was small and restricting, in the morning
glow it seemed to grow and come alive with vibrant and stunning majesty, that
one would normally think to be found only in a palatial manor in some far off
land.
Finishing his morning ritual of brush
and floss, Xander headed out of his far from majestic room, to the kitchen
downstairs.
"Hey mom, what's for breakfast?" Inquired Xander.
"So, Frankenstein lives, well to answer
your eloquently put question, its hash browns and choco eggs."
"Man, we have that everyday!" He said in a frustrated tone.
"Xander, don't ever speak to your
mother that way! When you address your
mother or I, you are expected to do so with the utmost respect. Is that clear?" boomed Xander's father.
"Yes sir." He said in monotone.
"What's the matter, didn't you get a
good nights sleep?" said Mother.
Xander shook his
head no.
"That's the sixtieth time this has
happened. If this goes on any longer
I'm afraid you'll die on your feet. Harold, maybe we should take Xander to the Doctors. I'm really getting worried." She said.
"Oh you're pampering the boy. Besides, we don't have the gil to send him
to the doctor." Said Harold sternly.
"That's all right guys. I just have a ton of things on my mind is
all. I'll be fine, don't worry." Xander wished that he could tell them about
the images that haunted his sleep, but he wasn't sure if even he knew what they
meant or why they were tormenting him.
"An eleven year old boy should not have
'a ton of things' on his mind. You
should be playing with your friends outside, or tormenting some poor girl."
Mother said exasperated.
"I don't have any friends, and the
girls never talk to me." He said in a
pitiful manner.
"Oh my goodness, look at the time! If you don't hurry you'll be late for
school! Grab your books, quickly, quickly!" Mother said as she scooted him along and out the door.
CHAPTER ONE: RIVALRY
The sector 5 slums, Xander could not
imagine a more depressing or sorrowful place upon the face of the planet. Dilapidated buildings, disfigured streets
and alleyways, merchants and street thugs promising to sell their own brand of
'joy'. One through the selling of
wonderful items that would somehow make one feel miraculously 'better', and the
other by means of creating their own. The scent of day old cabbage and beer seemed to linger in the air as if
it were a dense and invisible fog never dissipating for any real amount of
time. The slums, not even the light
from the sun could penetrate through the dish that housed the wealthy and
cultivated people above comfortably; all the while enveloping it's underbelly
and it's inhabitance in perpetual darkness.
Bright neon lights spelled out advertisements, stores, diners
and just about every other saying or slogan imaginable. Wallmarket, a place of filth, sleaze, and
wayward souls trying to escape their own personal hell through any number of
distractions, that seem so abundant that one can not go three feet without
seeing, or hearing one.
"I don't think it makes much sense to
put a school here." Xander said to himself.
Housed in a secluded section near the
end of Wallmarket, lay a small shack-like building. Dim light partially illuminated patches of the old building. The walls were old and green with
weathering. Large gaps had formed
between the pine boards caused by what seemed like years of drying and
warping. Mold grew abundantly near the
base of the structure. Size wise, the
building was only thirty meters long, six feet tall and had a width of not more
than twenty yards. Only two windows
decorated the outside on either side of the building, all were cracked or
shattered.
"This school really sucks." He grumbled.
The inside of the building resembled
the outside in most respect, except for the fact that it was a touch tidier and
more crowded during the school hours. Eight forty-five rolled around as children from kindergarten to twelfth
grade bolted though the double doors. It was time for school.
Miss Hoover, the teacher for Xander's
grade level, walked in from a room in the back of the class. Along with her stepped out a short, funny
looking man called Mr. Dew, the principal. Since Mr. Dew hardly ever came in to visit, this caught everyone in
class by surprise. Miss Hoover turned
her head a second and went back to the door that she had come from. She opened the door and stuck her head in
the crack, whispering something inaudible to a person.
Soon after Miss Hoover had spoken, a girl
about the same height as all the other six graders were, with long brown hair
and the deepest green eyes Xander had ever seen stepped out. The principal came over to the girl and
ushered her to the front of the room. In his usually high, voice the little man announced the new comer,
"Hello students, today I am happy to say
that you all have a new comer to join you. I would hope that you treat Aerith Gainsborough here with the same
amount of respect as you do everyone else in this class!"
After the less then 'touching' speech,
Xander could have sworn that he heard Mr. Dew say something about how he wished
that this place would go under, it did less than matter to the child, because
all his attention was focused on the new girl in front of him.
Then, after a few minutes drenched in
awkward silence, the little man left and Miss Hoover told little Aerith to take
a seat near the middle of the room.
The minutes turned into hours again and again until finally, it was the twelve-hour of the day. All the children ran to left side of the pitiful makeshift school, were on the floor everyone had put their lunch boxes. When Xander had come back to his seat to find out what Mom had packed him, he took a quick glance at the new girl, Aerith was her name? Yes, that was it, but it seemed that she had not brang a lunch with her to school! The little boy sat in thought for a few minutes, pondering what to do. He looked at Aerith once more. Oh, how sad did she look, just sitting on her chair! It seemed that she was on the brink of crying! A few more minutes passed by, and Xander finally made up his mind. He got up, and started for the girl's desk. When he reached her desk, Xander could feel the steam escape from his cheeks, signaling his blushing amensly, already he could tell this was going to be harder then he thought. Then, the girl looked at him. Quickly, Xander shoved the brown bag into her arms and bolted back to his desk.
Xander let out a sigh and checked back at
Aerith to see what she was doing now. Much to his surprise, she was looking back at him! Everything on Aerith's face showed her
bewilderment at the strange boy's actions. Right then and there, Xander wanted to die in his seat. Maybe a helicopter would come out of no were
in particular and throw a bomb in, then again, he probably would not be that lucky. The seconds passed by, and the two children just sat there,
looking at each other. Finally, Xander
did the smartest (or dumbest) thing he has done all day. He waved. More time passed as Xander started to feel hot, then cold as the pores
on his body opened to release pent up steam, then all over again. Even more time than before passed until,
she smiled and waved back at the paralyzed but kind, boy.
Slowly, she opened the packed lunch and
took out what looked like a… chicken sandwich, with mayonnaise? This
boy was definitely weird, she
thought. Who eats a chicken
sandwich? Even with the semi-original
lunch, Aerith was very thankful of the boy. Hey…she still needs find out his name!
Xander saw Aerith put down her sandwich and
get up from her seat. For the few
seconds that Xander had to think coherently, he thought that she was actually
coming towards him! No way! There was just no way that she was coming to
him! After these few thoughts that
actually formed sentences in his head, Aerith was upon him.
"Um," she asked shyly, "W-What's your name?"
"X-X-Xander"
She smiled sweetly at him for a moment,
before talking to him again, "Well Xander, thank you for giving me your
lunch. My mom didn't have time today to
make me a lunch. I'm very sorry for
causing you so much trouble."
"No problem, I wasn't really hungry anyway."
He lied, and she could tell.
She gave her new acquaintance a skeptical
look. "Well, thank you anyway. It was
very sweet of you."
The boy blushed. Maybe his day was going to be good after all. Finally, he had a friend to talk to (which
was a girl!) and play with when he was lonely. Who knows, maybe (and much to Xander's hopes) they would get married one
day! Suddenly he shook himself out of
his fantasies and remembered what time it was.
The lunch bell rang and all the kids put
away their lunches so they could get back to school. Silently the rest of the day wore on as Miss Hoover gave the
Social Studies lesson. Soon after came
a math test that Aerith had to stay out of since it was her first day. Finally after the somewhat hard test came
the bell that signaled it was time to leave.
Xander stepped out of the door when he saw
his first friend talking with the biggest jerk in the known world, Tseng. As usual, he was in a white shirt and cakies,
with his jet-black hair tied back in a short ponytail. "Man, what a scrub." Xander whispered to
himself.
Silently he walked over to the two, when
Tseng turned to face his quarry. "So,
little Xander, ready to fight?"
"Yeah I'm ready to kick your butt all over
this sector." Xander said as he readied himself in a fighting stance.
Aerith looked at them both and asked, "Hey,
what's up with you guys? Is there something you two need to resolve?"
"In fact, we do Aerith." Said Tseng.
"Like what?"
"Last week, he gave me detention by making
me disrupt the class."
"C'mon, runt, make a move, unless you have
cold feet?" Tseng said tauntingly.
"No way, now prepare to meat your Maker!"
They lunged at each other, both hoping to
get in a few good hits. They then
started rolling on the ground, getting dirt, and dust on themselves. After watching them a few moments more,
Aerith ran to get Miss Hoover. Soon she
came back out with the teacher and pulled the two "hooligans" away from each
other. "Just what were you two doing? She scolded them. "I hope you two know
that fighting isn't allowed on school grounds! Now who started it?" When
neither answered, she tuned to Aerith with a question on her face.
Before she answered, Tseng spoke up. "It was me, I made Xander fight me… so we
could, uh, find out who gets to walk her home."
Miss Hoover gave the "ruffian" a disapproving
look before telling Xander to go. "Go
on now, get home before I hold you
for detention too." She said as she looked at Tseng.
Before Xander left along with Aerith, she
smiled at Tseng and mouthed out a thank you.
She turned
around and looked at Xander and he her. "So," Xander started, "Where do you live?"
"Sector 6. Why do you ask?"
"Just…"
Their voices were drowned out as they walked
further and further away, into the bright neon lights of Wall Market. Silently they made their way back to their
homes and told each other's parents of how great the day was. Then they slept the night away, preparing
for the next day, hoping to see the other again.
