Author's Note: Okay, this story was epically hard to write. I think I was able to do it, but I'm scared about showing this to you guys. I don't think it's good enough.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything but my clothes on my back and this computer. Oh, and the new minor OC that you'll see. She's not that important to this story, but she is in the branch off of this.
The Darkcasting Saga Chapter 2: The First Night
Part 1: The Not-so-great escape
Charmcaster and Darkstar were swirled in a violet light for a moment, but after an instant they were placed on a rundown street where a badly maintained apartment complex sat looking pitifully at the newcomers.
"This is where you live?" Charmcaster said incredulously.
"It's no mansion, but it's cleaner on the inside, and it's unknown to the Plumbers. I hide here while trying to figure out my next plan. I live in unit number two, though I haven't been here for a while." Darkstar walked ahead.
Even though she had seen worse in the Null Void, Charmcaster was still disgusted by the filthiness of the area. She caught up to Darkstar and made sure to keep on her toes in this district.
Silence followed them into the lobby. The place seemed deserted. "So, why are you living here?" Charmcaster asked finally
"You'll see in a moment. Roia?" Darkstar called out to the darkness.
It took a moment for Charmcaster to see this Roia girl. Her dirty-blonde hair was matted and grimy, as if she hadn't washed it in a while. Her grayish skin stuck to her bones, her hands paper thin, and she had long fingernails. Her face was gaunt. Her eyes were wide and dark, unblinking. She had several violet marks that had a circle surrounding a many-pointed star on her skin, posing the only true color on her skin.
"Yes, Master Darkstar?" Roia said, her voice eerily matching the surroundings, with a strange, unfamiliar accent. Charmcaster didn't understand what was up with this chick. Was she a zombie or something?
"I'd like you to entertain the Lady Charmcaster while I'm prepping up the room. Then you can get back to your hideout."
"Thank you, Master." Roia did a minor bow. Charmcaster watched in horror as Darkstar walked up the stairs of the apartment, leaving her alone with this possible brainsucker.
"So…" Charmcaster said. "Have you always been like this?"
Roia shook her head. "Oh no. I was a powerful alien. Some plumbers drained my powers away. Master Darkstar found me wandering our prisons. We share power, he gets energy from me; I get energy from him. I have to follow orders, or else he cuts off my supply. He said that once I'm done with the service, he would help me regain the old power."
"Oh… really? And what's up with all of the marks and crap?" This girl was creepy. But, considering that this was Darkstar's servant, what was Charmcaster suspecting, a maid with tea and cookies?
"Part of the agreement. It's necessary to make our lives agreeable. When I get enough energy from Darkstar, I'll get beauty back." Roia smiled, teeth as white as a toothpaste advertisement. She reached out to touch Charmcaster's hair. "You pretty…"
"Hands off!" Charmcaster heard Darkstar's footsteps and fled from the zombieish humanoid alien.
She ran up the stairs and ran into Darkstar. She looked up and heard him laugh.
"Creepy isn't she?" Darkstar asked.
"Why did you leave me with her? I thought she was going to suck out my brains and eat them or something. And why does she talk like that?"
"I wanted to show her to you, so that there wouldn't be any strange… encounters in the middle of the night. She was once a rather powerful 'villain,' if you must call her that, in a far off galaxy. She was transported to Earth after an incident with human plumbers, and her power supply is somewhere on earth. She was actually in the Null Void with me, so I got some of her power and made her my servant. After Cooper and the others released me, I got her out of there the same way I used to rescue you. She's a little eccentric, but she's faithful. She wants to regain her power, so we are helping each other to get what we want." Darkstar got out a key, opening the door to the apartment. He gestured her to walk in with an arm outstretched, in a butler-like manner.
"I still don't like her." The sorceress walked into dwelling gingerly, half expecting the floor to collapse underfoot.
"You don't have to. You just had to understand the mutualism of our situation. I help her out; she helps me. You won't see Roia often, she mostly stays in her room writing Fanfiction."
"Fanfiction? Why would a zombie-chick want to write Fanfiction?"
"She is as much of an enigma to me as she is to you. I just take care of her, and she does my groceries." Darkstar laughed.
Charmcaster grimaced. "I could do your groceries, if that would get rid of her. And you didn't explain the accent and whatever."
"She's not the best at English, and she doesn't usually talk that much. Fortunately, our species are from the same subfamily, so her main language translates to my ear. She can be a nuisance, but she's necessary so that I don't have to try and find new sources of energy too often. It's exhausting when I look like this to find my next meals."
"I could do that for you." Charmcaster didn't want to be in the same building with the zombie. The sooner she could get her out, the better.
"I doubt it. I wouldn't want to see your looks end up 'zombie' like."
"You did that to her?" Charmcaster suspected it, but was still mildly surprised.
"She usually doesn't act like that." Darkstar evaded. "I could tell she wanted to spook you."
"You're not answering my question." She walked into a room in the apartment, and Darkstar slammed the door behind her. She banged on the door, but for no avail.
"Good night, Charmcaster." Darkstar locked the door from the outside. Though she banged hard on the door, it wouldn't budge.
It wasn't until that moment that Charmcaster realized that she was now Darkstar's prisoner in a sense. She was to stay with him until he got his oh so 'good looks' back, and until then, she was stuck. This reminded her of the cheesy story about the Beauty and the Beast. Charmcaster definitely wasn't a Disney fan.
Charmcaster looked around the room with disgust. It was just so… plain. Like the boring guest bedroom it was.
Charmcaster sat down on the full-sized bed. Why would she bother to stay here, when she could just try to jar her way out of this stupid apartment, and go back to whatever crime she wished to join in? What could stop her?
Something kept her from doing it, though. She did owe something to Darkstar, and even though she didn't enjoy the terms they agreed upon, she was freed because of him. On the other hand, what did she have to lose leaving him? It's not like he was that important to her. Not really.
Charmcaster came to a conclusion. She set the alarm clock to an unnaturally early hour and got a few things ready. She didn't need to wake the guy up to show herself off.
She crawled into the somewhat musty bed, and closed her eyes so that she could catch up on a few hours up from sleep lost in the horrible dimension of the Null Void.
Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!
Charmcaster groaned. What brought this on? Why was she awoken at this horridly early hour? She slammed down on the alarm clock, and sat up.
3 A.M.? Why would she set her alarm for- and then she remembered. She was going to escape. It was easier said than done.
Though she could easily slip through the door, --which she probably could have done earlier, but didn't want to confront Darkstar—she decided that the broken window would be a better escape instead. Most of her magical artifacts; like her crystal ball, were taken away in the Null Void. So she couldn't leave automatically, but she could still run.
Charmcaster broke the window with a few magic words; the glass breaking but not making a sound. She made the fragments collect together in a neat pile, and slipped out. She used her magic to descend to the ground softly, as to not alert the sleeping residences.
Charmcaster began walking towards her uncle's mansion, but she had forgotten one thing. One little flaw that crashed her entire escape plan.
"Going somewhere, Lady Charmy?" Darkstar's zombie minion asked.
Charmcaster turned to Roia, and flinched. The corrupted alien wasn't alone.
She had bugs with her.
There were a few cockroaches, and other ground creepy crawlies, but most of the bugs were moths. They were of all various sizes, some about the size of her finger, others as big as a pillow. And they were all facing her direction.
"Sorry, Lady Charmcaster. The Master thought that you would try to escape. So he sent me on guard duty with my buggies. I'm going to have to let them play with you…" Roia snapped her fingers and the swarm attacked her. Charmcaster started blasting away the bugs, but for every one that fell, another three didn't. As the roaches crawled into her clothes, she tried to squash them but quickly the mage was overwhelmed with the moths and other creepy crawlies.
As the creatures surrounded the sorceress, Roia smirked. She walked away, and as she did so, she snapped her fingers again, and the massive moths and insects flew and crawled away into the night, leaving a moth-bitten and utterly humiliated Charmcaster on the ground.
Roia turned back before entering her apartment room. "You won't leave again, will you?"
Charmcaster groaned.
"Good!" Roia walked into her residence.
Charmcaster sat up and shook her head. There was no way she was getting back to sleep tonight.
Author's Note: Okay, I'm scared about what your reviews will say. I don't think it's good enough for some people's tastes. My Darkcaster is so, so different from everyone elses, and it's risky to do this. The thing is, the next chapter is even worse... it's Fluff! I'm trying to do this right, but I'm nervous. Can someone tell me that they enjoyed this story and then you'll make my week? Because I'm terrified of flames, though I like to joke that "I eat them for breakfast," because I've never actually had it happen to me. I just "eat" other peoples flames.
Alright, about Roia. Besides this chapter, she's not going to be around too often in The Darkcasting Saga (Unless you guys want her to be.). She plays a bigger role in the branchoff I'm going to do, but I wanted to introduce her. She will be mentioned in the next chapter and stuff, but I wanted to show that Darkstar has someone to take care of the apartments when he's gone at one of his other places. And I wanted to see how well I could write an OC. She's a bit wacko, and I actually made a Fanfiction Account for her. Now I have 3 accounts, and three personifications of me in strange ways. Not saying that Roia is me but... I'm saying that she's someone that I will write stories and put on her Account. Does anyone think that's weird?
Okay, I'm sorry, I've babbled for too long, sorry. You guys can go and review or whatever. Thanks for reading.