A/N:Thanks so much to everyone for your oh-so-sympathetic reviews :D! I really am okay. I had the best weekend at the partay, and came back to twelve emails. Unfortunately, only four were from FF, and just three of those were reviews T.T! Oh well. I'm starting to think I should try that thing where I demand a certain number of reviews before the next chapter. But you know, I really wouldn't be able to go through with that. Or would I?! I think I'd have to make it… five. That'd be pretty fair, no? Meh. I'm too lazy to actually do it.
--LA
Blergh I'm getting tired of writing these :K. I'm going to bribe all of SEGA's lawyers with banana's and peanuts… let's see 'em sue then! Emma triumphant ONCE AGAIN :D!.. but that would involve getting up, and we all know I'm too lazy for that sort of thing.
Together. They had always been together; more than a dozen long forgotten creatures literally living in the walls of a thriving society. Their cultures had long since been mingled and twisted together, then forced into a depressing mould, leaving them contorted and distortedly conjoined. Not one of their numbers seemed to know why or how the small community sprouted in such an unusual place. They lived to survive, and visa versa. What food could not be stolen by night from the kitchen was grown in primitive gardens of minimal fertility, the products of which were always undersized and scarcely edible.
Three orphaned youth led their empty lives in this squalor of existence. The youngest was a tiny mouse, only months old. Due completely to her young age, her silvery fur still managed to feel soft and downy despite hygienic abuse. A young cat of about eight remained constantly by her side, a sort of makeshift older brother. His obsidian fur was matted from a young life full of grime and pain, yet his tangerine eyes remained vividly sharp. The eldest of the three was a rabbit. She had a pretty face hidden by fifteen years of dirt through which kind, chocolate brown eyes only just managed to shine. Days were monotonous and innumerable, but one stood out from the rest as such momentous excitement had never before been seen by the trio.
The figurative morning arrived as every other had; by the sounds of distant footfalls and the muffled, cheerful voices of the early rising inhabitants of the station from far below. One by one, the stowaways in the ceiling raised their filthy heads, ready for another day of their dark, excruciatingly repetitive lives. As usual, the first to rise was the perky black cat, his youthful orange eyes emitting the most minuscule amount of hope to the much older members of their tiny society. He got to his feet, trying to count his blessing as was his customs each doleful dawn. Nothing came to mind except for his usual thanks; for his two friends, for the gorgeous glowing ruby in the center of their "home" which was supposed to be good luck, and for being short enough to not need to crouch because of the low ceiling.
He knew that their entire world was contained in the insulating pocket between the ceiling of the station below and a wall behind which was nothing but endless space. The idea of being only a metallic wall, however high-tech, away from fathomless nothingness was terrifying to the small boy who was thrust so prematurely into great responsibilities, but he refused to admit it as their culture greatly looked down upon weaknesses such as fear. Blocking the disconcerting thought from his mind, the cat turned to the two things which comforted him most in his entire world; the tiny mouse to whom he acted almost as a father figure, and the kind-hearted rabbit who he idolized so for her calm, enduring composedness and beautiful personality and face. Though much older than the other two, she remained ever loyal to her self-assigned duty of injecting as much motherly love and affection that she could into their hollow lives.
Slowly, she awoke and greeted the cat with her usual sweet, gentle smile and lifted the tiny bundle which was the mouse from a pile of rags beside her which substituted the makeshift straw beds used by the adults to sleep on. The cat knew how much she resented that their entire lives depended on stealing from the hardworking society below, who knew nothing of their most certainly unwanted stowaways high above their unknowing heads. Though the children were not allowed to accompany the few who dared to make night trips to the kitchens, they knew much about the rich culture below them. The cat developed quite a talent of picking up stitches of information from the adult's conversations and from the chain of muffled voices below which became like a heartbeat to them; so consistent that they learned to be selectively deaf and ignore them.
Whatever he learned he shared with the rabbit as the mouse was still far too young to understand their situation. She did not seem to be quite as interested as he was, but still listened intently and even produced a steady input of productive ideas and questions which helped the cat in his attempts of figuring out exactly why they were there.
"Maybe they worship it?" she suggested one day in the usual whisper they had been trained from birth to use.
"A tree?" he asked with a bit of scepticism shadowing his low voice. The rabbit shrugged.
"It could be." She answered, absent-mindedly picking pieces of ground-in grime from her long ears. "We know that they are smart… They would have to be to build all of this."
"But you have heard how they talk about it… It must be important to them."
"I am getting so tired of this!" he exclaimed in the closest thing to a shout he dared use. The rabbit knew exactly that he spoke of their origin, and completely shared his emotions.
"I know." She said wearily, gently putting a comforting hand on his arm. "But what can we do?"
Suddenly, a flash of hard determination appeared in his eyes.
"You always ask that." He said flatly. "And I always give you the same answer; nothing. Well I'm tired of nothing. I am going down there."
The rabbit stood up in shock, her head bumping the ceiling.
"You know we cannot do that!" she said, sounding afraid.
"But Va-"
"It would be too selfish. If you were found, you would destroy all of our lives."
"Do you think I would be that careless?"
"Of course not. But if you were caught-"
"I need to do this." The cat said softly, dropping his gaze. "I have got to know."
The rabbit opened her mouth in protest, but slowly shut it again and nodded.
"I understand." She said, a look of determination appearing on her face. "When are we going?"
"We?" He asked in alarm.
"Of course. You are not going down there all by yourself."
"But-"
"Either I come, or you don't go at all."
The cat looked as though he might protest, but sighed, and nodded once in grudging approval.
"When are we going?" she repeated firmly, her brown eyes surveying him.
"As soon as we can."
"You know," she said with uncharacteristic slyness in her voice "There is no time like the present."
The cat grinned.
"Let's go now," He said on a sudden impulse to do something drastic "before everyone else is up."
The rabbit nodded seriously, tucked the tiny mouse into her bed, and tiptoed towards where they had seen the brave adults depart, carefully avoiding stepping on any sleeping bodies. Behind her back, the cat snuck aside to snatch the glorious red gem from its perch. Some good luck was the least of what they would need, but it was a good start. He hurried through the cramped compartment after her, carefully avoiding stepping on any stray limbs or digits. After a moment of silent walking, the rabbit knelt down beside a promising latched door on the dirty floor. She held her ear to the ground, the fur on her cheek picking up some of the grime, marking her face half grey. She brushed it away and carefully pulled the latch.
Below them came a sight neither was prepared for. A sparkling room with white walls and handsome, dark countertops sat only metres beneath their homely dwelling. Never before had their young eyes met so much bleached whiteness. The cat suppressed a gasp, but the rabbit could not contain her amazement. Without considering who or what might be waiting below, she dropped into the clean room, silent except for the tiny patter of her bare feet hitting the tile. Shaking himself from an amazed daze, the cat hastily followed after her, not daring to make a sound. He grabbed her around the wrist and pulled her under a nearby table, the most sheltered spot he could find at a glance. She blinked heavily, and her eyes fell upon a tall, streamline door at the opposite end of the room.
Before the cat could stop her, she glided in an almost dreamlike state towards it. Beside the doorframe there was a silver screen with a list of words. Though she could not read, the rabbit held her finger out and touched it to the monitor. Instantly, the door glowed white. The shining ceased just as quickly as it had appeared. Not completely aware of what she was doing, she pushed open the door. The cat shot out from under the table, almost screaming in protest. Before he could reach her, however, the rabbit walked through the door frame into a mercifully empty hallway which ended in a tall door. EXIT. Despite her illiteracy, this was one of the few words the adults had ever bothered to tell the children. She didn't even consider anything but leaving. It seemed like the only option. Because it seemed like the proper thing to do, she randomly jabbed her finger into a second monitor beside the door. 'Mobius'.
The cat caught up with her, instantly understanding what was going on. The two had a silent argument with their eyes consisting mainly of glares, pleading looks and incredulous stares. But there was no changing her mind. The cat turned abruptly, tears in his eyes. Without putting much thought into the action, he chucked the ruby still in his grasp at the rabbit, but missed as he was blinded from tears. The rabbit stared at him at him, looking extremely hurt, and turned on heel to march into the exit, shutting the door on all she had ever known.
The cat could almost feel his heart tear apart in his chest. No longer caring about being caught, he turned away from the door and slowly walked back to the sterile kitchen. How could she leave them like that? Leave him? Tears oozing through his matted fur, he lifted himself through the carefully disguised trapdoor. Once upstairs he glided past stirring bodies and collapsed with shuddering sobs beside the tiny mouse.
More than thirty years later, Vanilla opened a chocolate eye, heart beating like a hummingbird in her chest.
A/N: Gasp. Can anyone make some connections here :o… Sorry about the ittie-bittie ending paragraph thingy there :P and I know this chapter looks pretty short, but it's just made up of fat chunks of writing with very little dialogue. It actually has a pretty fair word count. Speaking of which, I was just wondering if I'm the only person who is SUPER obsessed with the wordcount button on Microsoft Word. Like I check it every sentence, sometimes more. Does anyone else do that :P? Ahh well. Please review :)!
--LA