Disclaimer: I disclaim all these wonderful characters but since Why can't I stay's story line is mine. I'll gladly take full credit for that.
Previously on Why Can't I Stay?
" I don't know every time I try to sit her down to ask she well like any other toddler gets distracted and runs off to play or something. I can hardly get her to sit still. She really is a normal kid Muse. You know still obsesses over cartoon, likes dolls, still won't eat her vegetables, cries when she scrapes her knees and of course loves ice cream. I mean she didn't walk until she was supposing to, started talking around the right age except for the fact that she learned her alphabet in about a day." He shrugged.
"And to think I can't even memorize the titles of my text books." She laughed. "Well dang, when you said it was a long story you weren't kidding." Musa yawned realizing a little over two hours had passed.
"Yea well there's a little more but what you say we save it for another day." He asked getting off the couch extending a hand to her.
"I'm good with that." She sighed smiling up at him.
"God I miss her! And, before you get pissed, I'm talking about my Levi Bike. This truck is shit." Riven sighed
"Your bike's a her? Why?" Musa asked
"Because no way am I riding a dude." He said looking at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're an idiot." Musa sighed pulling out the map again. "Take the next exit." She said.
"Where we going?" Ruby called from the back seat, playing with the toy that came in her happy meal.
"Well kiddo I decided you need to start acting your age so we're going to the zoo." Musa clapped.
Ruby was quiet for a good second before responding. "The gorillas scare me." She deadpanned. "…and the bears, and the lions, and the snakes, and…"
"Told you we should have taken her swimming." Riven mumbled
"Fine, turn around." Musa pouted throwing the map aside.
"Not like you were listening to me anyways." She sighed.
"Maps are for squares." He smirked, taking an alternate route.
"Only you would say something so meaningless am I right or am I right? Come on back me up here ruby." Musa started, turning in her seat to get a good look at the toddler."
"Squares have four sides Riven, so Musa can't be a square. That's silly." Ruby laughed.
"Thank you." Musa grinned turning back around in her seat.
"Well I'm glad we established who got the brains in the family." Musa teased.
"Riven? Riven? Rivvvvvvvvven! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?"
"Not particularly." He mumbled happily
Musa turned back to Ruby shaking her head disappointed. Ruby shrugged throwing her a sympathetic look before going back to playing with her toy.
Musa quickly changes into a swimsuit she picked up at the Aqua Center's gift store. Ruby mimicking her, happily slipping into a frilly yellow one piece after Musa was done changing into hers. She looked positively ecstatic about it all, as she continued to point out obvious things to Musa, indulging her in endless conversation about everything and anything that caught her eye.
"Hey Musa?" Ruby called
"Yea"
"I don't know how to swim, do you?" She asked
"Yup." Musa smiled
"How you learn?" Ruby asked happily
"I fell in our pool." Musa deadpanned. "But hey it worked so no complaints here. I guess it just comes naturally to some." She laughed.
"Makes sense. Iven does too right? He knows a lot right? Right?" She beamed.
"Sure does." She smiled back, opening the doors leading to the large indoor pool.
Riven was already seated at the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the cool, clean water.
"Took you ladies long enough." He smirked.
Ruby let go of Musa's hand hopping over to her brother excitedly.
"Look." She squealed, extending her arms to the side twirling happily on her tippy-toes showing him her swimsuit.
"It's pretty right?" She laughed running to the edge of the pool, she dipping her hand into the water holding on to the edge of Riven's shorts so she wouldn't fall in.
"Hell yea." He laughed swinging her over his shoulders, where she happily sat.
"You're silly." Ruby laughed
"Isn't he just." Musa sighed playfully walking up to him
"She's just jealous cause you're so pretty." Riven smirked in musa's direction, giving her a quick once over.
She wore a simple purple two-piece, but there was nothing simple about her.
Ruby frowned slightly before whispering in his ear. "I think Musa's really pretty." She said. "Me too but don't tell her I said that." He whispered back.
Musa smiled lightly to herself, of course she heard. "Last one in's a rotten ogre!" Musa yelled diving gracefully into the pool.
There was a loud splash soon after which she assumed was Riven.
"Come on Ruby you don't want to be an ogre do ya?" Musa smiled
"I'm already last." Ruby mumbled wiggling her toes nervously at the edge of the pool.
"Alright come on." Riven said swimming up to the edge of the pool where she stood. He extended his arms out as an invitation.
"Don't let go, ok." She said firmly, stepping into his embrace, clutching onto his arms tightly.
"Its ok runt we're right here." He said lowering her into the water. She splashed at first, slightly fearful, but relaxed soon after.
"It's like this." Riven said, laying her on top of the water, one hand under her tummy.
"Now just paddle with your arms." Musa encouraged
She did as told, happily splashing around even if she wasn't going anywhere.
"You're gonna learn in no time." Musa beamed before casually swimming across the pool.
Pulling herself out of the pool, she walked over to where the equipment was stored.
"What cha doing Muse?" Riven called.
"Nothing." She smiled, pulling out two yellow floaties. She threw them at him before diving back in. "It's so she can float, ya know. That's how most people learn."
"Great glad I thought of it." He smirked slipping the yellow floaties onto her arms.
"Credit hog!" Musa yelled splashing him with a big gush of water.
"Don't start something you can't finish Musa." Riven warned sending a nice wave of water her way.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Musa and Ruby yelled in unison getting completely soaked before splashing him right back. Both girls laughed hysterically slapping the water harshly, probably soaking themselves more than him.
"Ruby's on my team!" Musa laughed pulling the toddler towards her. "Yay!" Ruby smiled wrapping her arms around Musa's neck before sticking her tongue out at Riven.
" That's messed up Rube." Riven fake pouted
" Aww don't pout." Musa retaliated with a good spash in his direction, which Ruby quickly joined in at.
Back at headquarters
"So the girl?" An ominous voice spoke
"Located but not seized." Two men answered steps away from their destroyed motorcycles.
"A pity really, and here I though you two would make valuable assets."
"Just give us a chance to explain." The first man spoke up, immediately followed by his comrade "Yea it wasn't our fault we were out-"
"SILENCE! You know well I do not tolerate excuses. Nothing more than tools of the incompetent." He spat
"Tell me do you know where you are. I mean really know where you are. You're where the most brilliant scientist wish they could be. You're standing within the walls of what will soon be known as the founders of tomorrow. What we do here is crucial to the survival of this planet. Where we stand as of now is nothing compared to where Eraklyon, Solaria, or even Melody are.
We are centuries away from obtaining what they take for luxury. While we're stuck here playing on Ipads, barely constructing solar power cars these planets read about that in their textbooks, even skipped over many of our accomplishments because they are so petty in comparison to what they've discovered.
With a snap of their fingers they can teleport themselves, create duplicate of themselves, they've built shuttles that can travel light-years through space. Mere teenagers have access to all this, while our people sit here and only fantasize about such things, or watch it from behind movie screens." He stopped pacing, taking a seat in his chair.
"And yet all I'm asking of you is to retrieve an innocent little three year old." He sighed, "You are relieved of your duties. Exit the building immediately or I will be forced to call upon reinforcements." He waved them off with a flick of his hand.
The two men shared confused looks before sprinting towards the exit.
"Kurt, do me the honor of reminding them to keep their mouths shut." He commanded to his close adviser
"Sir, if I may, I have learn from experience that there is only one sure way to guarantee someone keeps completely on utterly silent on the matter." Kurt responded
"See that it gets done then."
"Very well." Kurt exit's the room
"Now tell me who else thinks they have what it takes to retrieve a three year old. A simple three year old. Unless that too much for you ape-minded barbarians to handle?" He spoke looking around the room at the number of individuals placed before him.
"You." He pointed to his left. "Fetch me the girl, by any means necessary."
"Ok ok, chill out. I give I give. "Riven finally held his arms up in surrender after about forty minutes of their little war.
"My my never thought I'd hear those words." Musa teased
"Yea well two against one isn't exactly what I call fair." He said making his way out of the pool.
"Either way loser buys lunch, and that means you." She smiled handing him the toddler.
"Fine, but I pick the place." He said
"Nuh uh, we won, we pick." Musa said
"You only won by default." He said opening the double doors leading back to the locker rooms
"Doesn't matter." She stuck out her tongue
"I choose!" Ruby suddenly raised her hand from her position on Riven's hip.
Musa and Riven looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders.
"Fine, but if you choose McDonalds one more time, I swear I'm leaving you here."
"Riven!" Musa slapped his free arm
"What? Thanks to her we've been practically living off that stuff." He sighed
"Phooey" The toddler sulked, before beaming at them again. "Ok I got a better idea." She said
"What?" They asked
"It's a secret." She said motioning for her brother to put her down. "Let's change." She said taking Musa's hand, leading her to the girl's changing room.
Riven and Musa shared a confused look before following the toddlers directions.
"Where the hell are we?" Riven asked
"Chuck e Cheese!" Ruby clapped
"Oh yea?" He asked
"Yea!" Ruby beamed
"Well that's great. Now let's go." He said throwing the three year old over his shoulder walking back towards his truck.
"NOOOO!" Ruby whined pounding her little fists on her brother back, before throwing her best puppy dog eyes towards Musa, knowing Riven wouldn't buy it. 'Please' she mouthed
"Ok hold up let's talk about it for a sec." Musa sighed standing in front of Riven, blocking his path.
Success! Ruby though
"No" He said firmly, gently pushing her aside. She didn't budge.
"Come on babe how bad could it be?" She smiled sweetly tilting her head slightly
"God no, those words are nothing but a bad foreshadowing." He said
"Oh come on, it'll be fun." She sang wrapping her arms around his neck. "Please" She pouted.
"Musa" He warned
"Please" She repeated kissing him lightly
"No." He glared
"It'll be really really fun." She kissed him again
"It'll be anything but fun." He pouted
"You'll make your sister really happy, and isn't that what this whole outing was all about?" She asked
"I don't see how anyone can obtain happiness from a giant mouse." He said
"Well than let's find out." She sang, taking his hand and dragging him back towards the entrance.
"Something tells me I'm about to enter a war zone." He mumbled, before shooting a glare at Ruby's happy face, who still hung over his shoulder.
3 hours later
"Never again!" Riven snapped slamming the truck door shut.
"Ever!" Musa agreed hopping into the passenger seat.
"Why?" Ruby pouted holding onto a colorful balloon along with one of those propeller hats perched on top of her head.
"Man that was awful" Musa sighed leaning back into her seat.
" Ms. "It'll be really really fun." Riven mocked her.
"I've been wrong before." She snapped "And you could've always said no."
"I did! Like six times, women!" He slammed on the breaks in time to meet the red light.
"Well then you should have held your ground." She retaliated turning in her seat to face him.
"Yea after you guilted me into it." He glared
"Fine, whatever! Geez just shut-up already. At the end of the day we both agree that we're never stepping foot in another Chuck e Cheese's. Uck" They both outwardly shivered at the name.
"Phooey!" Ruby huffed, taking another mouthful of candy.
"So where are we taking her now?" Musa asked.
"Dropping her off at a friend's." He said
"What for?" Musa asked, a tad bit suspicious.
"Operation take out the Lab Coats is officially a go." He looked over at her
"Uh-huh." She said skeptically
"You said you wanted to help, didn't you, or what getting cold feet all of a sudden?" He asked seriously
"No, of course not! Just wish you'd tell me stuff in advance." She pouted
"Well I'm telling you now." He smirked
Location: Los Angelus, California (You gotta love teleporting)
"What?"
"Chill out women you want the whole damn world to hear." He shhhhed her
"What kind of plan is this? You're insane; I'm not kidding Riven, like literally insane." She cried.
"So I been told." He sighed
"How the hell do you expect me to get in there in the first place?"
"I already told you."
"And that's what worries me, it's embarrassing. I mean what if I get caught?" She asked, clutching his arm. "It's not easy to fake something like this, keep in mind that I've never even really associated with a pregnant lady.
"Come on Musa you know the basics of it. You'll be fine."
"And if I get caught?" She asked again.
"You won't, and if you do, you know I'll bail you out. Come on Muse if not for me than for Ruby."
"That's low." She glared
"So that's a yea." He smirked
"Ugh you already know I'm goanna do it, so why guilt me anymore." She huffed
"That's my girl" He smirked
"Yea when it benefits you" She threw him a side-glance
"Well get to it then momma." He chuckled
"Don't start." She snapped. "You're lucky I'm doing this at all." She climbed out of the truck slamming the door shut.
"Make it convincing." He called out.
"Yea and you shouting that is going to make it that much more convincing." She huffed back.
'This plan of yours have better work Riven'
Taking a long deep breath, she walked towards the large church like looking place, only downside was the fact that a thirty-foot high steel fence surrounded the entire establishment. It looked eerie just by the décor alone, but something else ticked her off. She got a bad vibe coming from the place, almost as if she shouldn't go in. She quickly shook her head clear of those thoughts though, this was the same orphanage ruby and Riven grew up in. I mean they turned out ok right, so it couldn't possibly be that bad.
The place was located a good twenty miles from the closest hint of civilization, she didn't even know that Los Angelus had remote areas, but apparently, it did. Hearing Riven pull off in the background did absolutely nothing to calm her nerves either.
She finally made it to the doorbell; she rang it three times that seemed polite yet still urgent.
"Yes." A voice called out to her
"Eep!" She jumped slightly looking around quickly when she noticed a little box at the side of the gate; she went up to it and held down the small microphone button.
"Umm…" What was she suppose to say? She couldn't just be all like, oh hey I'm Musa I'm just wandering if you could give me the location of the people you've been handing Ruby over to for the past year. Yea-real smooth.
"Umm I kind of need some help." She answered shyly
"Urgent care unit's back the way you came." The voice responded coldly
Musa glared lightly before responding, "That's not the kind of assistance I'm looking for." She deadpanned.
"Come in then." And suddenly the gates opened wide allowing her entrance. She walked confidently up to the front door where a middle-aged woman stood. She had dark brown hair tied up in a tight bun, and a mean scowl painted on her face.
"Follow me." She instructed
Musa followed obediently as the women led her down a scarcely lit corridor. They ultimately arrived at an office where she was told to sit, and immediately did so. She was playing the part of a desperate teen here, which wasn't far from the truth.
"So how far along are you?" The women asked taking a seat behind the large wooden desk.
"Umm…"
"Come now this is an orphanage. Now you don't have a child with you, and I doubt you have one waiting for you outside, so I repeat how many months are you." She frowned
"I'm three months." She confessed
"You don't look it."
"Bad nourishment I guess." Musa fidgeted, oops should've said two.
"Understandable, how old are you?" She asked
"I'm seventeen." She lied. The younger the better, right?
"Do you too need a place to stay?" She inquired
"For the time being yes." She whispered, bowing her head faking shame.
"It won't be for free."
"I wouldn't want it to be." Musa responded quickly
"Good so are you planning on giving the child up right after birth, or will you nurse it for a few days?"
"Right after." She responded quickly
"Then you are required to leave no more than a week after." Snapped the women. "For the time being we'll put you to work, follow me."
"Understood." Musa glared at the women's back before following.
It struck Musa as odd that the place looked a whole lot more like a hospital than an actual orphanage, kinda like a mental institute but not quite. Where were all the toys? The happy alphabet letter paintings, hyperactive little kids running around? She hadn't seen a single kid yet.
"Umm where are all the children?" Musa wondered
"It's quiet time, they're in their dormitories." She answered
"So what exactly am I going to be doing here?" Musa asked looking around
"Well you'll be helping with the children of course." She answered
"Alright, how so." Musa asked.
"Simple little tasks like distributing meals and the children's play toys, as well as laundry."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Don't let these little monsters fool you though. Some are highly deranged, I tell you."
"Oh I'm sure it's just children being children." Musa answered discreetly placing an energy charged hand on the wall.
Back at the apartment
Riven sat behind his desk staring intently at the laptop screens placed before him. If Timmy's software worked the way it should, the second Musa sends the correct type of energy beams through the orphanage; Timmy will have the whole place wired. All he had to do was sit back and watch it all unfold, and provide assistance when and if necessary.
Sometimes it really did pay off to have talented friends.
Here we go first chapter of 2011 Woo-hoo! Which surprisingly is turning out to be a pretty shitty year, not sure why though. Anyways I'm in need of some desperate help from all of you, so please leave me a review or send me a comment letting me know where I should go with all this. I'm having like the most monumental writers block in the history of writer's block-ers, ugh yea.
I hate to say this, but I'm seriously thinking about giving up the story all together (NO DECISIONS HAVE BEEN MADE YET!) but the idea is definitely lingering there. So yea, inspiration would be greatly appreciated.
On a finale note, I really didn't like this chapter. I felt like half of it was just pointless blah blah blah blah blah, but I'd already changed it up like six-hundreth time, so I was like aww screw it. You can just get what you get. Uh-oh! You see, that right there is what I'm talking about. I'm really loosing interest in this writing thing. "Phooey" As little Ruby would say.
Do I sound moody to you? I sound moody to me, ugh. Great and now, I'm blabbering on and on and on….where was I? Oh yea long rambling short, please leave me some kind of advice, criticism or any ideas you might have for the story, or simply tell me how much you loved it or hated it, whichever pertains to you.
Well hopefully we'll hear from each other soon, and if not then luv you all!
Bye!