Turns out, my house is like a block from the school, maybe less. How convenient is that? I've spent the past few days trying to get comfortable in my home, familiarizing myself with the space around me and everything it would seem I did before the accident. I absolutely love listening to music, found that out within a few minutes of opening this laptop I have in my nightstand and I have all sorts of things on the said laptop that allow me to change the music around, mess with the beats, press songs together. I came upon this amazing set of headphones early on the first day, plugging them in to flip through my saved work as I scan through the files left on the outside of the apps. Going through all of it was easy enough, it almost felt like remembering, like my hands knew what to do without needing permission. As of right now, I haven't been able to pull anything new from my memory, but my anxiety has lessened significantly, and I find myself feeling more relaxed like I've accepted it will come to me in time.
The second day I had a real conversation with my ring, I don't even know what to call it, so let's say sword, because that's what she really is, just hidden in the form of a ring. Yes, I gave her a gender, it sounds like a girl voice so... that's how we are going to play this. I know this whole thing is... freaking crazy, right? Well anyway, she explained that a summoner is someone who is bound by an oath to protect the world and its inhabitants. I am able to call upon my summoned, those I have protected or saved in the past, that hold the power to help. I focused on the ring and how to change it, how to get it to come forth as a sword. Turns out it's simpler than you would think, and by the end of the day, regardless of the strain it had on my body, I was able to change it without much thought. I wondered why I was able to wield such a heavy weapon, turns out being the summoner has its perks. I'm very fast, tested that out on the treadmill, made it all the way to the fastest speed... we won't talk about how clumsy going faster makes me, also found that out at top speeds on the treadmill. Ahem... anyway, I'm freakishly strong, not like Hercules or anything, but strong enough that if someone about three times my size tried to pick a fight I could mess them up pretty good. So I'm kind of like... a badass, of course.
*Oh shut up, you need to focus on school.* I laugh softly and finally actually look at where I'm going, watching the few people here and there turn into a mass for orientation. Scooting around them I jump as a shrill whistle blows out next to my ear,
"Welcome to Barden! What dorm are you in?" I blink a few times and step back,
"Uh... I live off campus, thanks..." The woman's cheery demeanor falters none, my hand lifting to tuck some stray hair behind my ear as she pulls out a map to show me a few "important places". I hear the blasting of a radio and turn to find a boy staring right at me, he sits up and pretends to play a riff with the song, ruined only by the moving of the vehicle. I can't stop my smirk, taking my new rape whistle as I move to head off in search of the library."Okay... got my books, do I need anything else..." I ask myself while I look over the list of stuff in my laptop I wanted to do. Library, cafeteria, check out the showers for if I work out before class or run out of time. I decided I should work out every morning, see what kind of limits my body has... that should be fun. I lift my hand to shut my laptop,
*Make sure you go through the activities fair, you might meet some of the people from before, and maybe they can give you some answers.* I roll my eyes, looking around a bit as I lock eyes with a girl across from me before I can stop my mouth,
"You're pretty bossy..." The other girl had been staring at me for a while now, "Uh, I didn't mean you... I was talking... nevermind..." She continues to stare with an annoyed look on her face, and I can't stop the word vomit, "No english...? Yes, english? Just... tell me where you're at with that...?" Looking down I spy her orientation sticker, "Kimmy-Jin?" Still she doesn't respond, "Uh... alright... probably sleeping with her eyes open..." I rise and pack up my stuff, making a quick dash from the awkwardness, feeling her stare on my back long after I've left. Moving through the mass of people I make it out in the open and head back to my house, schedule in hand. Pressing through the door I chuck my bag onto the sofa, plopping in the chair,
*You were supposed to go to the activities fair!* I roll my eyes and get up to grab a snack,
"There is literally no point, I won't sign up for anything, I don't do groups." I can almost hear my sword pouting at me,
*But we could figure some stuff out... please?* The scoff from my lips is immediate,
"Fine, but I want something in return... I don't know what yet." Biting my bottom lip I press back out the door, locking the deadlock before I go, "Besides, I'm sure my super good friend Kimmy Jin will miss me if I'm gone to long." This pulls a laugh from her, I'm quick to school my grin into a mask of indifference as I weave back into the mass of college kids. The first thing to catch my eye when I get back to the school grounds is Barden DJs, perhaps I already knew people from here, considering my background. Looking down at the flyer I don't even get the chance to start reading before I hear,
"Deaf Jews..." Looking over I catch the eye of a blonde, the girl smiling. My mouth opens to attempt conversation, though I find myself giving pause, her eyes showing more emotion than I expected. It feels like she is searching for something,
"SHALOM!" We both jump, and the eye contact is gone, a smile firmly plastered to her face,
"That's not a real word! Keep trying!" She yells in a heavy accent, her eyes turn back to me, "I'm Amy by the way." Her smile is huge and my mouth finally works for me,
"Not many Jews where you're from?" A blush rises on my chest, I'm quick to turn on my heel and walk elsewhere when her attention is drawn back to the two gentlemen at the booth. I hug myself gently before moving on, catching the eye of a few people here and there, but none as prominent as the blonde girl. I'm a little out of it so I almost run straight into a hand offering a flyer up to my face. I stare quite blankly at it, the first word catching my eye being 'acapella',
"Oh right, this is a thing now." My eyes skirt to the side of the paper, looking up at the culprit who thinks this would be something I would enjoy. My breath catches in my throat, chest constricting as I quickly avert my eyes from gorgeous blue sapphires, only to have them caught by a blonde's pair of emeralds. These two women, with their makeup done just so, and their hair flowing in perfect waves, and their mingling scents wafting towards me... have turned me into a blushing wreck in mere seconds. From the looks of it though, they seem to be struggling with something also, or maybe that's just wishful thinking. Luckily, the redhead is the first one to speak,
"Totes. We sing covers of songs but we do it without any instruments. It's all from our mouths." I attempt a smile, but I know they can tell it's fake when their disappointment shows on their features,
*Does someone have a crush? On not one but -two- women?* I feel the sword tease me, and I can't stop my mouth,
"Yikes." I breathe out quietly, I don't need something messy like a crush while I figure this out. Though I didn't mean the word as a response, it seems the girl is going to ignore it and continue on regardless,
"There are four groups on campus. The Bellas. That's us. We're the tits." She smirks at me with this statement, and I find my face boiling further under her insinuating stare. I turn to find some reprieve with the blonde but I'm receiving the same treatment, so my eyes instead find relief in the ground, "The BU Harmonics. They sing a lot of Madonna. The High Notes. They're not particularly motivated. And then there's..." My eyes dart up and find a bunch of boys singing and prancing about, chuckle softly, "The Trebles. So, are you interested?" My head answers with a shake, trying to keep my mouth under cont-
"Sorry, it's just, it's pretty lame." Well there we go... the word vomit I can only assume is happening because I can't seem to get my body under control around these women,
"A-ca-scuse me? Synchronized lady dancing to a Mariah Carey chart-topper is not lame." It's the blonde's turn to attempt conversation, and that only makes my nerves worse, fingers digging deep into my pockets as I shrug,
"We sing all over the world and we compete in national championships." I know I should walk away, but before I can even so much as move my face scrunches up with confusion,
"On purpose?" Now the blonde has pushed forward and is almost in my face, her scent billowing around my nose with the intensity of her movement,
"We played the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, you bitch!" I feel my brow quirk and a smirk involuntarily pulls to my lips. It almost seems like that alone made her back off, her body language uncomfortable. It honestly looks like she is in the middle of battling trying not to strangle me and trying not to kiss me, but I won't push my luck,
"Oh! What Aubrey means to say is that we are a close-knit, talented group of ladies whose dream is to return to the national finals at Lincoln Center this year. Help us turn our dreams into a reality?" I keep my smirk, realizing I've disarmed the duo, and shake my head slowly, attempting to get this lump out of my throat,
"Sorry, I don't even sing, it was really nice to meet you though." I'm officially being ignored by the blonde, I can tell by the way she stiffens and turns away from me. The redhead gives me a radiant smile regardless, nodding as I turn to head off in another direction. The feeling I try to leave behind is one of confusion and a little bit of arousal. My body yearns for me to turn back and get just one last look, but I know better and refuse to allow it.
*What was that?! You totally bogged it all up with those girls!* I can't stop my eyes from rolling as I look at my ring,
"If I take you off, can I still hear you?" She doesn't answer, keeping quiet as I stride up to my house. I freeze, staring at the open front door for a long moment before I slowly make my way inside, summoning my sword as I go,
*Be careful, I know you locked the door when we left... and we may be able to beat most things, but there is still something out there that did this to us.* I merely nod, pressing through the front room carefully. I feel goosebumps rise on my skin as I hear a weird noise through the opening to the kitchen. Taking a deep breath I jump through,
"Whasat!?" I yell, sword at the ready.
"No No! My beautiful face! Don't hurt the money maker!" The first blonde from the activities fair flops to the floor, arms covering her face as she rolls around. I keep my sword at the ready,
"What are you doing here?" I try to calm my racing heart as the girl on the ground peeks through her fingers. I look up and it seems she has pulled food from my fridge, a familiar sticky note on the counter. "You're -that- Amy?" I ask, brows pressing together when she nods, "Get up then... tell me why you're here now." She is quick to do as I say, even with the sword lowered away from her. Snatching the food she puts her finger up in the air,
"Just... one sec, really need this." She dishes it out and puts it in the microwave, and from the way she moves about the kitchen, getting her things, it's pretty obvious she's lived here before. I clear my throat and we stand there awkwardly until the microwave beeps,
"So..." I jut my thumb back towards the living room, turning to head that way. I plop into the chair, no chance of my space being inva-"Ack!" I jump back as she settles herself atop the armrest of my chair, a cheeky grin in place,
"Back to not being touchy-feely eh?" She says around a mouthful of food,
"Well... a stranger has broken into my home..." I mutter, getting up to move. A hand stops me and when I look up into her eyes I see a deep seeded sadness. She moves to the couch and rests her elbows on her knees, food set on the table,
"I'm Amy... and I'm your best friend." She laughs around the bold statement, eyes watering a bit, "I miss you Beca. We all do... and I'm not allowed to tell you how this happened, the only thing I can tell you is how we met before this... but first..." She disappears into the kitchen again, coming back with two drinks, "My Fat Amy especial!" I keep my face carefully blank, lifting it for a sniff after it's been transferred to my hands. Blinking a few times, my eyes start to water,
"Dude... I'm not drinking this..." I lean forward to set it on the table and she groans from her seat,
"Come on! You didn't even try it!" Her hopeful eyes don't budge me, my head shaking without hesitation,
"Maybe later... so you say you're my best friend huh? Then you should probably know I get a bit impatient when put under the right stress?" She laughs at this like it's some inside joke I don't know about yet,
"Oh Beca... I wish you remembered..." her voice is soft, eyes sad again, "Anyway, buckle up half-pint this is a long story. Firstly, how it all started... well it was a long time ago in a galaxy far far... just kidding! There is this huge corruption on this world, so large in fact that all summoners were called to fight in the war, ergo you. Well, there was this huge corruption, but thanks to you and your summoners it's been crushed down into almost nothing... almost." Her thumbs twiddle a bit, "Our friends, everyone who lived here before... we were all part of that corruption in one way or another... not by choice mind you." She takes a few gulps of her drink, cradling it close to her as she looks at everything except me, "It seeped into our minds and took our worst fears, used them against us, then when we were vulnerable it took over our bodies, used our powers to do awful things. Those were hard times for us, Beca... we were controlled, but we still had to see what we did, destroying everything in our path... We never knew who controlled us, we only knew what we were supposed to do at that moment." She takes another deep swig of her drink and sets in on the table, taking a bite of food as she continues, "Those that fought on your side fought hard, and you guys were winning without a doubt, taking out corruption and absorbing our powers as we were saved. Alas, there were also areas where you were losing, some of the weaker summoners powers stolen as they fell, this created a power rift and those that would normally take out many of the corrupted had to really battle it out with the ones who had killed summoners." Her eyes scan my face, probably to make sure I haven't dazed out, but I smile softly to reassure her, and the smile is returned, "Anyway, it wound up being the strongest against the strongest, the battle waged on for days, but we were well taken care of, we were kept safe, after the corruption anyway." I tilt my head, asking softly,
"Where do I come into this story?" I try to pull her from her sad thoughts but this seems to only fuel the sadness.
"Patience Shawshank..." I make a point not to comment on the new nickname so she can continue, "The magical beings who started the corruption were demons, to say the least, stealing the life from humans for their army, destroying everything in their paths..." She bites her lip, lowering her eyes to the ground in what I've deemed an uncharacteristic move from the confident woman, "I did some shit... you know... but then you exploded into my head, it was crazy!" She smiles at the memory, her hands coming up, "It was like you were fighting me but I was also watching? Man, it was cool... needless to say you won out, which made me the first of those you can summon. Even then though, you only called on us when you absolutely had to. Unlike some Summoners who ran their summoned ragged, and hardly fought at all, which was their downfall in the end." Her hands continue to "help" her talk, and I feel the corner of my lips lifting as I listen intently, "Anyways after you saved me I helped you as you continued to wage war, that was nearer to the beginning. We went to get St-..." A sharp ringing fills my ears, her lips still moving but I hear nothing. I lift my hands to gently grasp my ears and she stops, the ringing dying down at a gradual pace. My brows furrow,
"Say that again... please... we went to get who?" She gives me an odd look, but continues regardless,
"We went to get Sta-..." The ringing comes back louder than before, and I crush my ears against the noise,
"Stop, stop, stop!" I shake my head, Amy's own tilting a little,
"That must be what was put in place to keep you from finding everyone else..." She bites her bottom lip, "You won't be able to hear about the others from me until you've actually met them... those are the consequences put into place to make sure you don't get to the end of the memories to fast." She looks like she wants to tell me more, but a slight twinge of guilt comes over her, "I'm sorry, short stack, I didn't mean to hurt you." I shoot a glare her way, but I make sure to add a small smile, "Yeah you didn't like that one before either, but you get used to it!" And she's back to her smiles and joking, her hand gesturing for me to take a drink. I lift the drink and take a small sip, face contorting immediately into one of displeasure,
"Oh, that's nasty!" She laughs, a full, warm, belly laugh as she flops back onto the couch,
"Oh Beca! I missed you!" She looks like she wants to hug me, but refrains thankfully, I'm not quite ready for that,
"Well this was good, it was a good talk, but I have to go to bed now, I start work and have school and all that." Amy's brows scrunch and her eyes meet mine,
"Work? Why would you do that, you have plenty of funds to support us for years and years... you haven't looked at that checking account yet, have you..." She questions lightly, I shrug my shoulders and sigh,
"Wasn't exactly on the front of my to-do list after I woke up and couldn't remember a single thing... so do I need to walk you home or...?" I try to be polite, but I'm exhausted after today and I really want to hit the sack,
"Oh no, I live here, moved all my stuff in after we met because those are the rules. We meet outside this place and I'm allowed to come back. I'll admit I was a little rambunctious, but it's what I wanted, so to prove to you I'm one of your summoned, and trustworthy, I want you to go upstairs. After you do that, get out your cool sword thingy and summon 'The Tank' and I will come to you." I sigh heavily, rolling my eyes as I head up the stairs,
*Don't act like that, this is good news, we got a ton of information and we found one of our summoned.* I look down at my ring and sigh more dramatically, focusing as the ring unravels and morphs into the heavy sword I've become accustomed to. Turning in the flat space I lift the sword towards the sky,
"What... do I even say... just the tank or... what?" I ask awkwardly, then from downstairs I hear her holler,
"I summon, The Tank!" I blink a few times, taking a deep breath as I lift the sword again,
"I summon, The Tank!" Immediately blue light bursts all around me, I'm unable to see the house any longer as the power flows about, a sphere of different shaded red's pops up from the ground and starts flowing through it. It feels like the wind picks up as my clothes shift a little around me. The sphere slams into the ground right in front of me, and Amy appears,
"Man, that feels good..." She cracks her neck then clenches her fists together, "I'm ready to fight for you!" The blue light gives way to the regularness of the room, my smile immense,
"That was awesome!" I do a little jump as my sword turns back into my ring, hands clapping a few times, "That was so cool..." I murmur while I come back into myself, "I felt stronger... like you were boosting my energy or something..." She gives me a megawatt smile, turning she moves to one of the rooms, opening the door. I think I see a hint of a blush on her cheeks, she speaks so quickly I blink a few times to let her next words digest,
"This is my room, thank you for allowing me to stay, I have to rest now!" She cuts off the conversation so rapidly I am startled, rolling my eyes as I turn away from the shutting door and head into my room for a good nights rest.