First Author's note—This is Alyxx writing. Sorry for the delay, I know I promised this to be posted about a week ago, but well, how should I say this, we got distracted by anime. Fullmetal Alchemist to be exact. Thanks Tash, for beta-ing and to Elizabeth for posting. Just to let you readers know, posting will be a bit irregular now since school let out and the authors are split up, but it will continue!
New author's note - Very sorry for the delay this was meant to be posted mid-summer but there was an email failure that wasn't known about and Tash sort of never got this to beta, and therefore it was never sent to be posted. But hey school is back in so we will be posting more regularly now. Yay.
When the girls got back from bringing the boys to Gayhomme, it became apparent that they had to find some way to educate them about living on Earth. How were they going to do that?
"Hey guys, we should take them to Front Street!" exclaimed Rae. "We can walk around and go to lunch and stuff. It'll be fun!"
"Ummm... it's a long walk to Front Street. Do we want to chance it?" Elizabeth wasn't sure she wanted to take the bishies so far away from the dorms. "Anyone could see them..."
V didn't think that was such a problem. "If people wonder, we can say they are cosplaying."
"And why would they be cosplaying?" asked Alyxx. "Most people don't cosplay every day. At least not in a lame college town like this. Actually, I think I would be surprised if one of these hicks even recognized them. Let's go."
"If they ask, we are having a costume party later. Ok?" V had a point. A costume party could explain it. So, they decided that their first Saturday with Sora, Kairi, Riku, Cloud, Sephiroth, Roxas, Axel, and Squall would be spent at Front Street.
So the next morning, the girls signed out and headed to Gayhomme.
"This'll be fun. Walking. For half an hour. To Front Street. With Cloud and Sephiroth." Alyxx voiced what the other four girls were thinking. How in the hell was this going to work? "Last night it took twice as long to get from Catto to Gayhomme because the two of them wouldn't stop trying to murder each other. Who's gonna stand between them?"
"I will, Cloud thinks I'm Aeris so maybe I'll distract him. Besides, he's hot . . . " said Elizabeth.
"You know . . . I don't think you should keep deceiving him like that. It's kind of, I don't know, morally wrong on quite a few levels. He may need therapy later," reprimanded V.
"Yeah, she's right," agreed Rae. "You're going to have to tell him sooner or later."
"Yeah, you should. Pretty soon, too, I think. It'll just hurt him later on. Not to guilt trip you or anything, but it's just plain wrong," Tash stated.
"I know, I know. I'm going to tell him soon, but I don't want to shock him too much. Once he gets his bearings I'll tell him that I am in no way shape or form Aeris. Ok?"
"All right. I guess we should go get those bishies. What are we going to do at Front Street anyways?" V inquired.
"I don't know. Get food, look in shops, teach them not to swim in the toxic river water. Perhaps teach the life lesson of car plus person equals squish," quipped Alyxx.
"We can't swim here?" asked Kairi.
"See? Who knows what's going to happen today," replied Alyxx.
"No, seriously. What are we going to do for hours at Front Street with beings from another dimension? Rae, this was your idea. . ." said Elizabeth.
"Hey, whatever happens, happens," said Rae. "Who wants to have planned fun?"
The girls arrived at Gayhomme and called down Esteban. "You guys, I can't go with you to Front Street. I REALLY need to study for this big history test I have on Monday."
"Are you sure, Esteban? It'll be so much fun, with. . . biiiishies¡Beneca!" V pleaded. Ok fine she really didn't care if he went. She kind of wanted them to herself. But hey, a girl can put up a front.
"Yeah, chica I gotta study. No choice. Lo siento," replied Esteban.
So Esteban snuck the boys out of a side door so they could meet them in front of Gayhomme. After an absurdly long wait, the girls finally saw the bishies in their borrowed clothes. Sora and Riku came out first, Sora in some nondescript jeans and a band shirt. Riku was in some tight emo jeans and a tighter yellow shirt that looked like underarmor. Axel was in some crazy bondage pants with red stitches and a Mindless Self Indulgence t-shirt. Roxas was almost matching, wearing a My Chemical Romance shirt and some black jeans. Esteban made good with his promise and had Cloud in some American Eagle jeans and a plain blue shirt. Squall had some tight black jeans and his usual white tank top. Sephiroth was wearing black from head to toe. Pure black bondage pants, black tight shirt, black boots, black trenchcoat. Sure it was hot outside, but they had to do something to cover up that wing.
"Wow. Did these clothes look as good on the guys they actually belong to? I don't think they did," an astonished Rae stated.
"I think it's safe to say no, they didn't," replied Tash, equally stunned.
"Umm, guys, let's go," said Elizabeth, purposefully placing herself near Cloud.
"Aeris, where are we going, again? Front Street? What is that?"
"Hmm? Oh . . . me. Front Street is a place here with shops and restaurants and stuff. We go there for fun. Well, it's more fun than here at least," explained Elizabeth/Aeris as they started off.
The redhead looked up at Cloud and thought about what she was doing to him. After all, he loved Aeris, not her. What was going to happen when she told him?
Alyxx and Rae lead the group off to Front Street, cutting through the old college town. Roxas had not forgotten Cloud and Sephi's row the night before, and was trying to keep the villain occupied by asking him an unrelenting stream of questions. "So this Jenova person is your mother?" he asked.
"Of course she is. She is of the Cetra race! I, Sephiroth, am the last remaining Cetra!"
"Cool it, Sephi. We know you have a mother complex. No need to shout it out for the whole town to hear." Alyxx was getting irritated by the green-eyed bishie's tendency to rant and rave in public. The world wasn't exactly ready for the idea that hot video game characters just fell from the sky...
"I do not have a mother complex. Humans betrayed the Cetra thousands of years ago, leading to our demise. That is why I have sworn revenge on Shin-Ra and the humans who destroyed my race!"
"Hey, we will discuss your revenge and your complexes later. I think we're there..." Riku had taken the words right out of Alyxx's mouth. She smiled at him and nodded. Riku had been right, they had arrived at Front Street. Tash let out a sigh of relief at having made the trip without a murder.
"So, shall we find somewhere to eat?" asked Rae. She thought her idea of going to Front Street would turn out great. No one had even seemed to notice the strange boys yet.
The girls decided that the pub at the end of the street would be a good place to go, it was dark, quiet, and no one really noticed you in there. So they set off for the pub. About halfway there, the inevitable happened. Some dumb college student walked up to them with some dumber-looking friends.
"What the fuck is wrong with your hair?" he asked Cloud. His friends chuckled behind them, thinking they were going to see a fight. Cloud started to reach for his sword, but it wasn't there. He had forgotten that Esteban was holding all their weapons for today because they hadn't found a good way to hide them yet. He balled his fists up and was about to say something when Elizabeth stepped in front of him and quickly explained.
"We are having a cosplay dance later and he is dressing as Cloud from Kingdom Hearts. That guy is going as Sephiroth, and he's Roxas, there's Sora, and Riku, and Kairi, and that guy over there is supposed to be Squall. They just did their hair this morning so they wouldn't have to rush it later. The rest of us don't have as much work to do."
"Lame." The college kids walked off, and Elizabeth sighed in relief.
One of the college kids said to the others as they walked away, "What's cosplay? Does it get you high?"
"Good cover, Elizabeth. I guess my idea worked," said V.
"Aeris, why did you stop me? I should have kicked his ass!"
"No ass-kicking in public. It will draw way too much attention. Not to mention getting us arrested," replied Elizabeth.
"And kicked out of school," said Tash. "We definitely don't want that to happen, so no fights, ok?"
The guys grumbled affirmatively. They weren't happy with the idea, but they would go along with it anyway.
"Don't take that as meaning I won't still kill you Cloud. You had better watch your back..."
"Sephiroth I mean it, you will not hurt Cloud. If you guys can't control yourself... we have your weapons, you know?" Alyxx threatened.
"You think I need a weapon to kill him, do you girl?" he replied.
Just as the tension was building up and people were starting to stare at them... Sora noticed something black in a store window. All of a sudden, a keyblade popped into his hand and he lunged at the window.
"Oh my god, a HEARTLESS!" he screamed.
Tash, Alyxx, Roxas, Riku, V, Rae, and Kairi all tackled him to the ground and his keyblade vanished.
"Sora, how many times do we have to tell you, there are no heartless in this world, dipshit!" Roxas hissed into Sora's ear.
The group looked up at the window just to see what had gotten Sora so hysterical.
"It's a plushie. A cute little stuffed toy that looks like a heartless. Perfectly harmless," sighed Tash.
She then looked at Sora.
"And what did we say earlier? No pulling your keyblade. Just because we couldn't really take it from you doesn't mean you can use it. Ok?" explained Tash.
At the same time, Elizabeth was once again explaining the weirdness away to the gathering crowd.
"Just my little cousin, he's obsessed with the Kingdom Hearts video game... He saw the plushie and threw a tantrum wanting me to buy it for him... No that wasn't a sword he pulled, that was just the um, the sunlight bouncing off his watch onto the glass. No really he has a keyblade watch, it's all reflective and stuff..." Thank god for her being an actress... The people started to dissipate and everyone got off the ground and brushed themselves off.
"For the last time, Sora, there are no heartless here. Please don't draw any more attention to us, ok? I doubt any of those people believed that bullshit about you having a weird watch that reflects like a keyblade." Elizabeth was not happy about having to cover for Sora's stupidity. "Now just shut up and don't get us into any more tight spots today, alright?"
Thankfully, the pub was only a block away. They walked there in silence, went in, and sat down at the biggest table. A waitress came by and took their orders. While they waited for their drinks, they glanced up at the TV. Some sleazy news show was on, and someone was giving a report on some strange local news.
"Last night, after some students at NSU had reported seeing a strange light near their dorm, police were sent to the area to investigate. In a large field between two dormitory buildings, a large crater was found. Could this be a sign of an alien invasion? Who knows, but the police found nothing in the crater. Perhaps the federal government has already covered this one up? Is this sleepy little college town the new Roswell? Anyone having any information regarding this strange occurrence, please call 1-800-555-NEWS. Thank you."
"Oh shit." Alyxx voiced everyone's thought. "So who wants to go hide some bishies after lunch?"
Please forgive the absurdly long hiatus. For some reason, my (Tash's) e-mail wouldn't receive the file so I could beta it. We will attempt to update with sporadic regularity for the rest of the school year… at least. Maybe, maybe not, but we'll try.
Thanks for all the reviews!
2007 Anime Suite