Here's the first chapter. It's been a while since I've put anything on Flames are not accepted but helpful criticism is…If you don't like the story then don't read it.
Disclaimer: What are you talking about? You mean that I don't own all the Final Fantasy goodness! That's outrageous. Poo…Okay…I don't own Final Fantasy game or characters…
All was quiet in the home of Jessica …except for the playroom down stairs. Sounds blared from the TV screen as Jessica's fingers flew across the Playstation's controls, she stared in concentration as her friend sat beside her; Amanda sat typing on Jessica's laptop, working on the stories that they had been working on earlier that week.
Jessica looked over at Amanda. "Want some soda?" She asked. She put her video game on pause.
"Are there any cold soda in the 'fridge?" Amanda asked.
Jessica shook her head. "No…but we can flash cool it." She replied.
Amanda suddenly smirked. "Have any tangerines?" She asked. Jessica sweatdropped.
"Amanda…don't start." Jessica said as she poked her friend in the side. They had once written a story names Tangerines…. it all started with the strange fruit. They walked out in to the garage; Jessica did some sort of acrobatic trick to get the sodas from their place in the garage. Amanda stood on the steps watching in curiosity as her friend stood with one foot on the bumper of her father's car and the other on a shelf next to the drink, she went to take a step only to sweatdrop.
"Jessica…." Amanda moaned. Her friend looked at her friend over her shoulder.
"What?" Jessica asked.
Amanda lifted one foot off of the steps. "My feet are sticking…" She whined. Jessica shook her head and went back to rummaging through the drinks.
"Get over it…." Jessica said as she found two sodas that they both would like. She sighed as she jumped on to the steps. "You're such a weenie…" she said as she passed Amanda on the way up to the kitchen.
Amanda blinked. "We both know that…" Amanda said as she followed her friend, they placed the sodas in the freezer for a couple of minutes so they could get cool.
Amanda was typing on the computer when suddenly the screen when blank, she blinked. "Jessica…. your computer did something weird."
Jessica leaned over to take a look, she narrowed her eyes. "You ran the battery down…" She said pointing over to the little light on the side of the laptop, it had a small picture of a battery and it was blinking… "Hang on-I'll go get the recharger," she said, taking the steps upstairs two at a time. She wandered into her room, picking her way across the mess (J/N: There really ish a huge mess in my room… sweatdrop) to grab the recharger from its plug.
Amanda, who had followed her, looked around and sweatdropped. "Jessica…you really need to clean your room…" she commented.
Jessica rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively. That's what they all said. "Bah…I know where everything is…" she said. She turned, pointing an index finger at Amanda, a gesture much like what a character would in a video game…possibly Demyx. "Let me just put it this way-your disorder is my order. Your chaos is my order," she said. She then broke the dramatic moment by simply shrugging. "To put it short-sometimes it helps a little to be ADD." Hopping over a pile of papers (one of many), she said, "Now let's go."
They headed down the stairs, plugging the recharger into the wall and laptop. They just sort of sat around/hung out for a while…when there was a crash of thunder outside. A wide grin spread across Jessica's face.
"…Alright!" she said, putting down her controller for a moment and balling her hands into fists, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Storm, storm, storm, storm…" she chanted. As she looked over to see Amanda staring at her, she blinked. "Whaaat?"
Amanda shook her head. "…You're insane…"
"…No…" Jessica corrected. "I'm loopy. There's a difference."
"How?"
Jessica shrugged. "You find it."
It had been about two hours now-more than enough time (or at least Jessica hoped) for the laptop to fully recharge. "Oh good…looks like its ready," she said.
Amanda blinked. "How do you know?"
Jessica shrugged as she reached over her to take the recharger out and grab it. "I'm guessing," she said. "Yuki will not fail meee-oof!" As she flailed a bit, she accidentally lost her balance, falling onto Amanda's lap. Amanda sweatdropped.
"…You really are loopy…" she said as Jessica continued to stretch her fingertips to grab the laptop.
"Al…most… Fingers…not…long enough…" Jessica ground out over-dramatically. Amanda sighed and shoved Jessica off her lap who fell to the ground with a thud; she glared at her friend who sat on the couch. " Nya….." Jessica stuck her tongue out at Amanda who returned the favor. There was a moment of silence when everything went black…literally.
"Damn…" Amanda sighed, "There must have been a power surge…the lights are out." She heard Jessica shuffle around her.
"No duh…" Jessica replied sarcastically.
Amanda stood up only to fall back to the ground with excruciating pain spider webbing across the top of her skull. "Owww…." Amanda moaned as she gripped her head, she heard the slight creaking sound as the low chandelier swayed back and forth (A/N: Seriously…it's only about shoulder high…I've cracked my head on it twice…). "Jessica…screw you and your damn chandelier." Amanda moaned as she felt the bump on her head, she was about to stand up when she thought of a better idea. She crawled on her hand and knees until she thought she was clear of the chandelier…but not far enough.
Jessica sweatdropped in the darkness when she heard another thud and yelp, "Are you alright?" Jessica asked, all she received was an angry groan. She shook her head and opened her laptop, the screen light very dimly lit the near by area. By no means was it enough to see well but to just get their bearings. Amanda glared at her. "What? It's not my fault…my parents are the ones that decided to make the dinning room in to the playroom…"
She winced as she heard a crash coming from downstairs. "Oh crap…the bunnies must be really freaking out down there. C'mon Amanda-we're checking on the bunnies." They grabbed some granola bars (J/N: The loss of the peanut butter bars was unbearable for Amanda! Well, okay, not really. P) and headed down the basement stairs. "…Amanda…" Jessica said, still using her laptop as a flashlight. "…You're right behind me…so don't…fall…" she said, the threat clearly and entirely all over her face.
…And of course, the gods of fate hate her, so…Amanda slipped. And fell.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Amanda shouted, sounding very much like the woman in the Naruto Squeal video on youtube that we love so much.
"Amanda-AMANDA! I'M HOLDING THE LAPTOP!" Jessica shouted. No doubt that would wake up her parents, but…hell, she worked hard for her laptop! She was /not/ about to let it get busted now. And yet…
CRASH! BANG! BOOM! MOO…moo…?
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" (J/N: Long enough? XD)
"Jessica! LET GO!" Amanda shouted as she felt Jessica's arms clamp around her neck, the laptop burying itself in to her shoulder as they fell in to darkness. "LET GO OF MY NECK!"
Amanda felt like she was drifting in water, it was a very detached feeling. She didn't open her eyes at once but once she did…she wished that she never did. She saw Jessica floating a few feet away in a test tube filled with green liquid, her hair floating around her head. Amanda guessed she was in a similar situation, her eyes suddenly widened and her hands went to her throat; if she was immersed in a vat of liquid than why wasn't she drowning?
A noise started drifting through the test tube and the liquids within, Amanda turned her head to see where they were. They were in a lab obviously just looking at all the scientific equipment; she saw a man sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. Just by looking at him she could already detest him; his narrow face widened in to a smirk. He stood up, his white coat swayed as he walked over to where Amanda hung suspended in the rest tube. " Well well…" He laughed; his voice was slightly disoriented by the liquid. "Didn't think that you would regain consciousness so soon."
Amanda's face suddenly went blank as she raised her right fist and flicked the scientist off.
"Hey…don't knock it until you try it…" the man said.
Amanda went a little bug-eyed, sweatdropping, and then simply resorted to shaking her fist VERY FEROCIOUSLY at the man. …Did it do any good? No…in fact, it just made him laugh…like they later found out he often did. Too much, in fact.
…ANYWHO…
Meanwhile, Jessica woke up. Her first thought, oddly yet understandably enough was: '…When did I fall asleep in the pool…? …When do I EVEN go into the pool…?' But eventually when she managed to get all her floating hair out of the way, she looked out of the test tube and looked around. About to take into account her surroundings, she decided to suddenly gag instead. 'The water….salty…icky…DISGUSTING! …It reminds me of the tap water at my aunt's house in Charleston… And…HOW AM I BREATHING IN ALL OF THIS! OH GOD!'
But after a moment, she thought, 'Well…I /am/ breathing, right? So wait! Freakish lab, human imprisonment, icky salty breathable water stuffs! Either we're in jail or…' Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to scream. "AAAALIEEEENS!" …And that's when she gagged again…and noticed that her voice didn't seem to be having that much effect.
Amanda noticed her awakening and seemed to realize what Jessica was trying to say by reading lips…or knowing that 'aliens', 'government', and 'conspiracy' would be some of the first things that would pop into her alien-obsessed government conspiracy nut friend. She gave the X-Files addict a look that said, 'Alright, calm down wannabe-Agent-Mulder. The lab belongs to a /human/…not a /alien/…'
Jessica looked over at her. And stared. And there was a long pause before she opened up her mouth again. "CONSPIRACCCCCY!-Bleeeh…"
Amanda rolled her eyes. "……"
Jessica seemed to stick out her lip in a pout for a moment as she crossed her arms, then suddenly frowned and raised an eyebrow as her toes touched something and sort of…rolled it around a little bit. She looked down to notice that her toes were rolling around some sort of nail…or screw…or whatever. "What the…" she muttered, getting used to talking in the nasty water, even if it was, well…nasty. She twitched, then tried reaching down as best she could. Finding that this wasn't as easy of a thing to accomplish as she had hoped, she finally decided 'the hell with it' and picked it up with her toes instead, bringing her toes up to her hand to take the nail. She held it up to eye-level, staring at it for a moment with eyes narrowed, and then held it out.
"WHAT IS THIS! I COULD GET TETNIS FROM THIS THING YOU EFFIN JERK!" Seeing the guy outside seem to blink and smirk slightly, shaking his head (at his own carelessness, her foolishness, or a little of both), she then added, "YEAH, YOU JUST COME IN HERE! I'LL KICK YOUR EFFIN SCRAWNY LITTLE ASS!" She began to tap on the glass for a moment, being just generally annoying if nothing else, before finding out that she could actually scratch out messages. She blinked; studying the nail for a moment, then began to scratch stuff in.
First thing: …Effin jerk…let us out…and go effin die…
The man blinked, and then shrugged, seeming to pretend that he couldn't read it.
Jessica glared, forgetting that her message was probably backwards, and then began tapping on the glass again just to be generally annoying.
The man twitched, then rolled his eyes at the immaturity of the teen, walking over and opening a little door thing on top.
The first thing that came to Jessica's mind was one of her favorite quotes from 'The Life of a Pumpkin'. An echo-y voice… 'Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom…' She reached up, seemingly in slow motion to reach up through the tiny little doorway thing that she could only stick an arm through (what /was/ she trying to do, anyway…?) but only managed to get her fingers with the nail through (J/N: Hah! Stab his hand!) Before the nail was suddenly snatched away.
"Ah, thank you for handing over the nail," said the man.
…The voice was enough to get on her nerves-just like nails screeching down a chalkboard would drive anyone insane. …Honestly, it sounded like a parrot! …And just to indicate this…she decided to do a little chicken dance…
The man stared at her for a moment like she was insane…and Amanda was admittedly giving her the same look. Jessica suddenly stopped, looked from one to the other, and then began to flail around. "WHAT!" she exclaimed. "HE SOUNDS LIKE A PARROT!" She then blinked and couldn't help but snicker a little as she turned back to the man. She made a little paddle to the surface of the water and wedged her hands and feet onto the insides of the glass, just for a second to let her mouth emerge and let her voice hopefully be carried over through the tiny door. "Hey…hey…" she said, hardly able to contain her laughter. "…Polly want a cracker?"
She then burst out laughing, but that seemed about enough to make her slip and fall back into the water. The sudden shock of going from breathable air to breathable water was enough to make her gag and start sort of…coughing…underwater…yeah…
Amanda watched her, then rolled her eyes. '…Idiot…' she thought, watching the somewhat-ticked-off man shut the little door and roll his eyes, shuffling out of the room. Jessica seemed to go alarmingly still-but from what Amanda eventually noticed, she was still breathing. …Oh good. She was just unconscious…
…Crap? Now what…?
She looked down at herself again, then back at Jessica, then had to do a double-take. What the…they were close to nakey…! …Well, okay, they were missing most of their PJs and stuck in mostly their underwear, a bra and panties, but…that would still mean that…
…Okay, now she had half the mind to yell at the pervert…if he came back in, of course…
But he didn't, and seeing as how she had nothing left to do, nothing left to insult, the fact that she was tired but probably wouldn't be getting out anytime soon. Something caught her eye; there was a small message that had been carved in to the glass about eye level. Let's get out of here… Amanda smirked, 'Yea…let's get out of here…' she thought as she drifted to sleep.
They didn't know how long they were in there…stupid scientists didn't have the common sense to put a clock in the lab. All that they knew…it was a very, very long time…..
YEARS…okay, only one year later… ;; After the whole Jenova…war…thing!
"Yukiro, you know that we're supposed to be in school…" called out a voice from down below as a boy around the age of seventeen or eighteen headed up to the second story inside balcony. He was around the average height of 5'6 and pale with an athletic frame. His hair was long and white (albino, maybe?) pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck. His eyes were a crystal blue color. He wore a white t-shirt and black jeans, though a small bulge could be seen in one of his pockets-fire materia.
A boy that looked identical to him, only with long black hair worn down and violet eyes, and a thin frame instead of an athletic one, carefully made his way up the rickety, cobwebbed staircase, following the sound of his younger twin brother's footsteps. Instead of a white t-shirt, he wore a black turtleneck and black jeans, and he had no materia-didn't need any, at least not for his element. He carried a wooden staff, though not so much as for fighting as for using to help with his…his disability.
"Bah…school, schmool," Yukiro called back down. "I get a day off from work, like hell I'm going to spend it going to school! …Besides…I accepted this as dare. No way am I going to chicken out! And I've always been curious about this place, so it all kinda pans out…or…something…" He shrugged. "Either way, we're here, we're looking around, let's just explore the place already!"
The older twin sighed, following the younger brother's creaking footsteps with the aid of sensitive hearing. "If you fall through the floor, I'm not saving you…" he warned.
"Don't need it! And besides-I know you would…" Yukiro called back with a grin and a small wave-seen or unseen.
Connor rolled his eyes. "I know…because I'm just too nice…" he grumbled. They passed into a bedroom, Yukiro looking around through the bookcase.
"Hm…what would make good proof that we actually went in…?" Yukiro wondered, reading over the titles.
Connor sweatdropped. "Now you're /stealing/ from the mansion..!"
Yukiro rolled his eyes. "C'mon, it's not like anyone lives here. Everything is just gathering dust-nobody will care if we took something from here or not…" he said. "Ah! How about this one?" He pulled on a book that said 'Secrets of the Cetra.'
…And opened up a secret doorway…
Connor frowned. "Yukiro…?" he asked. "What just happened…?"
"Um…the bookcase moved…and now there's a little secret entrance…" Yukiro explained. He stepped out, onto the rickety sort of staircase that wound down. No banister…oh boy.
"Erm, Connor…maybe you should stay up here…" Yukiro suggested.
Connor frowned. "…Why…?"
"This winds down pretty far…and there's no banister to make sure that you don't fall," Yukiro pointed out.
"…I'm going…" Connor said.
Yukiro paused, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "…Come along, then…" he said, heading down the winding staircase. "But be careful!"
He didn't need to tell Connor twice. Even though Yukiro seemed to be keeping a close eye on his older brother, Connor didn't seem to need too much help.
When they reached the bottom and wandered down a sort of cave-like hallway, Yukiro grinned. "This is so cool… I wonder if there's some sort of dead body stored down here or something. This place is supposed to be haunted, after all…"
Connor rolled his eyes. "I don't smell rotting flesh or anything…" he said. He then paused and frowned. "But I do hear…breathing? Wait…what?"
Yukiro blinked. "Seriously…?" He paused. "Are you sure you're not just hearing stuff?"
"Yeah…" Connor said. He then rolled his eyes. "And I'm always hearing things…"
"You know what I mean!"
The two wandered into a library/lab. Yukiro looked around, looking up at the test tubes. "Heeey…hey!" he exclaimed. He walked over to the test tube, knocking on it for a moment.
Connor blinked, making his way over. "Yukiro…? What's going on?"
"There are two girls in some sort of tubes…" Yukiro said. His cheeks turned pink. "And…um…they're not wearing a whole lot of clothes… What the…"
Connor frowned. "…We're still in the mansion, right?" This place was too much like where he once was…
Yukiro seemed to notice his distress, glancing over and frowning. "Hey, don't worry," he reassured in a quiet voice. "We're nowhere close to there. We're still in the ShinRa mansion…" He observed the test tube for a moment, looking around. "…Now to get them out…" He reached over, grabbing the handle to the red head's test tube.
Connor sweatdropped, snapping out of his memories. "Wait a second, Yukiro…make sure that the test tube is drained before-!"
SPLASH! WOOSH! POO-CHK!
"…Opening it…" Connor finished futilely.
Yukiro looked down at himself, soaked with some sort of nasty water, then trying to shake it off of him and wring it out of his clothes and hair the best he could. But then, before he could get very far, the girl fell out and onto him, too, causing him to blush even more. "Eh…! U-um… Connor…" he started, grabbing the girl by the arms and pushing him back a little bit, towards his older twin. "Here…take her…"
Conner held out his hands and Yukiro placed the girl in to his older brother's grasp. "There's another girl…Let me get her." Yukiro said, he was careful to drain the test tube before he opened it. Yukiro leaned in to grab the girl when her eyes suddenly snapped open…
Amanda was asleep when she felt the liquid leave and deposit her on the bottom of the test tube; she stirred from her slumber when she felt someone's hand brushed against her arm. She snapped her eyes open and saw a figure, 'You bastard.' She thought as she lashed out, her first connected with its target.
Conner heard the sound of flesh meeting flesh and a howl from his brother, "Yukiro?" He heard a moan from his brother.
"We haven't even introduced ourselves and I'm already getting hit…" Yukiro said as he held his nose.
Amanda gripped the side of her test tube as she shakily pulled herself from her test tube; she could feel the liquid remaining in her chest rattle as she breathed. "Where are we?" She asked, her voice weak but her eyes drifted over to where Jessica lay in the arms of a boy with violet eyes. "Let go of her," Amanda demanded as she took a step out of the test tube, she felt her legs give out from her body weight; they hadn't been used in over a year, the ground rushed up to meet her.
"Erm…alright… So long as you don't hit me, too…" Connor said somewhat meekly, edging away a little bit.
Yukiro rolled his eyes. "Connor…" he said. "Don't." He caught Amanda just in time. "Here…" he said, helping her stand steady but still holding her up.
"You mean…you're not with the freaky scientist…?" Amanda muttered.
Yukiro sweatdropped. "Freaky scientist…?" he asked, frowning a bit. Was she talking about the same scientist that he knew…?
"Yeah…the one with the black hair…" Amanda replied.
Yukiro blinked, somewhat relieved at hearing that. "Black hair…?" he said. No…the one that he knew had white hair…and, well…he didn't really want to think about that scientist at the moment. "Um…no…" He paused for a moment, finding the moment a little awkward. "Erm…I'm Yukiro… And this is my brother, Connor…" He sweatdropped, blushing a bit more. "And you and your friend really need some clothes…"
Amanda looked down and blushed a bright red. "Eh… Um…" She cleared her throat a little. "Oh dear…"
Stay tuned for more….Be nice and review…Thanks