In Another Life

Chapter 2

A Day In The Life of WHO!

POV: Lina Inverse

Ah! This was the life! A comfy bed, warm blankets- - what the hell was that noise!

I make several attempts to find the noise and kill it, but I only manage to topple myself out of my bed. What the- - where am I? I don't know of any inn's that have carpet! Or such unusual curtains- There's glass behind these weird things! Glass! Am I in a castle?

No, it's far too warm. In fact the warmth is coming from right below the window! What is this weird thing? It's radiating heat... I don't touch it (I'm confused not stupid. It might burn me). Where am I? This room isn't rather large. All around me there are bright colorful pictures of people with big eyes and various colors of hair. It's rather tidy, there's two bookshelves filled with books- a box, probably one to hold jewelry... I open it.

Yup. But it's all crap jewelry. Pretty to look at but not worth more than a few copper. Oo! Gold! Hm... But only two pieces. There are figurines on the dresser. A wizard, dragon, some type of fairy... What the hell?

I pick up a small metal object. It looks like a... pin. It's too small for a broach. It's a figure with short purple hair. Black pants, a black cape, a staff with a red- - wait-a-minute! This couldn't be!

"Xellos?" I mutter in shock. Another one- - this one has blue skin and is wearing all white- - and this one is wearing white and pink! "Where am I?" I go over to the door and open it.

I enter into a hallway. Not very wide at all, I look right, there are two other doors, and a opening to what could be more hallway or stairs. To my left is a room with a- -

"Hey you!" I step forward and the girl steps forward, a look of anger and confusion on her face as well. Why is she so angry! She wasn't the one who was kidnapped! "You-!"

I halt. It was a mirror.

I notice because it was over some sort of basin that was embedded into the counter. (It also helped that the mirror needed a cleaning.)

But that wasn't me.

Inches away I stare at-- her.

Light brown eyes. Brown eyebrows. Brown, straight shoulder length hair. And my skin isn't as pale as it should be. I look down. Short. I'm still short. But the views different. I feel my sides then my stomach- I've gained weight in the stomach area but- - I HAVE BREASTS!

"I HAVE A CHEST!" I screach. I run back into the room. A measuring instrument! There has to be one! I look around tearing apart through the closet- then under the bed. I pull out a basket that has pictures of spools of thread, needles, and pin cushions on it. I rummage through it and, "AHA!" I find a tape measure!

I immediately measure myself. Hips- - 35, All right! Waist- - 28, which is a lot worse then my normal twenty - two inches. And finally- - Breasts: 36.

Thirty - six.

Thirty – six..

Which is more then my 32 inch chest!

I let out a crow of delight.

Okay, not the best measurements, but for a pair of breasts (and these ones aren't so bad!) I don't think I care too much!

My euphoria dies quickly.

But this isn't my body. Meaning, where is my body? Someone must have used a spell to switch them! Do I even recognize this body? No, but then again there isn't anything significant about the body I'm in. Could blend into a crowd and not notice at all. Maybe she's a victim too? Or perhaps this body was just a shell and someone's using my body!

I need to get out of here! I look down at myself. I'm wearing flannel pajamas. Clothes! I need clothes.

I rush over to the closet and slide it open.

What the hell? This girl must have an outfit for every day of the month! At least twenty shirts- - several pants, dresses, skirts, shorts- -

I grab a pair of dark blue jeans, pull them on- - ugh! Too small. I grab another pair of pants, they are black, with silver- - fastenings? Not sure- on them. Ah! Perfect. Now a shirt- - I jump as my door opens.

"Hey do you have my shirt?"

I whirl around and find myself face to face with a girl who has black hair down to her mid-back (it's one of the worst cases of bed hair I've ever seen), she's wearing a large blue shirt with dolphins on them and a pair of loose violet pants.

"What! Who are you? How did I get here?"

The girl blinks, then scowls, "What are you talking about? I want my shirt, Jaime. We have to get to the bus in twenty minutes."

"Bus?"

"It's Monday! School! NEXT Monday we have off!" she snapped. Whoa. I thought MY sister was grumpy. I shudder. No, Luna was much worse.

She goes to my closet and rifles through it and grabs a large black shirt and then walks out of the room.

Okay. So that was weird. Either she knows I'm not this 'Jaime' (Wow, a plain name to match) and is acting otherwise, or she has no clue. I grab a large shirt, much like the one she grabbed (best to blend in) and while putting my arms through the holes the door opens again. Doesn't anyone know how to knock?

"You up? Jaime, why aren't you wearing a bra?" I pull the shirt down to cover myself and turn to face a woman. She has curly black hair (it's mussed up too) and a large night gown on.

"A what?" I ask.

"You're bra." She points to the floor at the end of the bed. There is a discarded shirt, two pairs of pants (one of them being because of me) and a strange white thing. Hey, it looks something like what Naga wore. Only that looks like it would cover more.

"Huh?"

"Put on a bra, otherwise you'll have boys staring at your breasts." She turns around and starts closing the door, "Perrin are you dressed?" The door shuts.

I go over to the contraption. I'd seen Naga put on her top before so it should be rather simple... yes, there are the hooks- - A few minutes and curse words later, I'm fully dressed and that girl is back. Her hair doesn't look brushed, just pulled back into a ponytail. She's dressed in a jacket, pants and the black shirt. I can't read the writing.

I CAN'T READ THE WRITING!

Where am I!

"Grab your backpack we have less then five minutes!" I stare at her blankly and look around. A pack? A pack? Ah! I grab the red pack she hopefully was speaking of and turn to her. "Where's your jacket?" I blink.

"Er..."

She huffs and goes to the closet, grabbing a coat. "Here."

And with that she's leaving. I follow after her and she leads me down the short hallway, down carpeted stairs which lead to a room. She opens the door on the left and we exit, she locks the door and I am staring out into... A different world. It's cold. Colder then it was where I should have been. It was summer. This feels like winter. She starts walking and I follow.

"Hey!" I snap. She slows down.

"What?"

What should I say? Should I give away that I'm not who she thinks I am? What if she's the enemy and just doesn't realize something has happened? It might be the only thing keeping me alive. What if she's not? What could she do to help? I don't sense power from her. In fact, she feels as if there is a void of magic. In fact, it seems to be a part of the very earth. As if the earth itself were leaching away the magic- Could I still do magic!

She's walking but staring at me in confusion while I just stand there numb with horror. What if I've lost my magic!

"FIREBALL!"

Nothing. The girl is now staring at me like I'm nuts. The trees don't even look singed. Oh no.

No no no no no no.

"NO!" I cry.

"Jaime. Stop acting like an idiot. You should really stop watching Slayers. It's starting to mess with your head."

"Suh- Slayers?" My temper is rising (namely because my fear is).

"You're no Lina... THE BUS!" She suddenly turns around and starts jogging.

I'm no Lina?

Wait... how... was that just coincidence!

I start running after her. But it's not as easy as it should have been. This body isn't used to running and after fifty feet I'm starting to gasp for breath. Couldn't the person take a healthy run now and then!

I don't know what it is, but it was orange. And large, and rumbling. She climbs through a door way and I stare, hesitant. There is a person sitting on a chair in front of me. A steering wheel (like the kind you'd find on a boat, but more oddly shaped) in front of them.

The old woman looks at me expectantly, and cautiously I step on to the bus. There are at least twenty children... ah, there's that girl. At the very back. I go and collapse next to her, catching my breath. The- - bus, slowly begins to move then pick up speed. But more important matters first.

"Luh-" I gulp in a breath of air, "Lina who?"

She gives me a look. It's plain she thinks that the question was ridiculous.

"Listen, Jaime, I'd love to Dragon Slave the school, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to go about pretending I'm Amelia and start preaching justice. People are going to start thinking you're insane if you keep this up."

My mouth flops open. Dragon Slave? Amelia? Justice?

"How- - Amelia can't do the dragon slave!" I should know. I fought not to teach her!

"Fine, change it to Fireball. But you know what I mean!" she was pulling some strange device out of her pack.

There was something strange. About her speech. Something was wrong with her speech.

"Say that again." I tell her.

"What?" She asks exasperated.

"Dragon Slave. Fireball."

"What! Why?"

"I- -" I fumble for a lie, or something that will get me what I want. "Because I... just thought of something."

"About the dragon slave?" she looks confused.

But there it was. That tug. That buzz.

"Something is wrong." I mutter.

She looks irate. "Can I listen to my music now?"

"Huh?" I'm confused. Music? Where? There weren't any instruments.

"My CD player." She attaches something to her ears.

"S-sure."

She presses a button on her device and then turns to face the glass window.

Something is wrong here. And as I concentrate to the chatter around me, the buzzing is constant. I close my eyes and focus. My magic is still within me. But something is draining and pulling from it. Like there is someone tapping my personal magical energy. On top of it, there is something from the outside dampening my powers as well. But I still have enough to try and focus...

It takes me quite a while, but just as the 'bus' pulls in front of a large building I realize something.

They aren't speaking my language. And I'm not speaking their's.

Author's Notes: Year's later, I finally add to AND finish this. The rest of the chapters are all short, sweet, and are over within six chapters. PS: It's really hard writing in present tense. Forgive the errors.