A/N: If you read my prologue, you know it'll be a bit extreme. Sorry if it is, so don't continue reading if you feel squimish about it.

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NUTHIN'!!

--
--

Title:

There is a Price for Everything

--
--

A world of fantasy is amazing, but never truly amazing. It is a world as normal as our own, it only seems just as amazing in the eyes of an alien.

But remember, each world has their own laws, and if you are not a native of that said world, those rules will inflict twice the punishment. You who are alien to this world, beware of what lies ahead. Pray hard that you will lose a limb at the most.

Beware.

--
--

Chapter 1

Healin' Soup an' Monkey Tails

--
--

I drifted in warmth, dark but comforting warm. As it wrapped me like a cozy blanket, the silence that cushioned my body was shattered by voices. All varied in tones, expressions and emotions, all of which passed through my unmoving self.

"Will she be alright?"

"Who knows? That's some brutal injury."

"Was she attacked by the Butcher too?"

"Probably, poor kid, she looks young."

"Dun worry Boss, I'll nurse her back to health, I promise that on my thief's honor!"

Voices, voices were flooding my ears. They rang in my head, echoing in the empty space where my brain should have been, and I 'woke' up. My eyes burst open, my body flew upward and a dulled pain throbbed in my right arm. My left hand went to cling for it, only to find it gone, not there, nonexistent.

I stared hard at it.

Shaky fingers tried to trace for cold skin, only to grab at the empty fabric that covered the imperfection. My body trembled as I realized what was going on, despite my anesthetic-induced calm.

My arm was not there. Not even a stump. It was nothing beneath the bandages, only my now lone shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" someone asked, and their concerned hand rested on my left shoulder.

I tried to figure out who this person was, but I felt the haze return and weakness hit my body. It fell back onto the bed, and as I heard the unrecognizable words of the person fade away, I knew that the blackness was returning, and I didn't even think twice as I was swept away in comforting darkness.

--
--

This time, I was actually waking up on my own. Fuzzy colors were blended together in my eyes, but soon enough, everything sharpened. But despite this good sign of health, my body still felt like shit.

' . . . Ugh, what happened?'

I found myself staring at the ceiling. Aged planks of wood were resting on brick-stone walls, while I found several shelves of books lining the walls. I almost gasped at the vast amount, it was endless to me. As my eyes moved about, I found myself looking at the foot of my bed. It was an old bed, which squeaked when I even moved in the slightest. I could tell that my covers were thick, warming, and comfy in their crimson color.

Crimson, red, blood.

I gasped and looked at my right arm, or its nonexistent appearance. I saw nothing there, and I saw the bandages that now covered the ghost appendage. Trembling fingers slowly approached the barren side, and I soon traced the bandages, feeling the rough material, as well as an increasingly dull pain with each slipping second.

I can't believe it.

What . . . what happened?

'Wait . . . how did I . . . who . . . wha?' I thought long and hard. What . . . happened to me? I woke up to find my arm gone, where the heck did this happen? And why did the back of my neck sting so much? And wait . . . how did I end up here, in this nice bed, in someone's . . . house?

I have no bloody clue!

"Oh! Good to see you awake luv'!"

I turned towards the voice, and found myself looking at a beautiful woman. She was petite in frame and had lovely gray hair, hair that could easily be mistaken for dark silver. Her deep gray eyes and strange blue bangs easily contrasted to her pale complexion, while her elaborate dress was refreshing in comparison to my dark and bleak surroundings.

"Who—" OW! I cringed as my throat suddenly stung, and I also found my voice to be very hoarse. It came out deep and nothing like it should have been, almost like a guy's voice . . . holy shit, I sounded like a guy! But wait . . . nope, I do have my semi-nonexistent . . . well, can't call it a rack, can I?

I hate that Asian part of me.

"Am I? Why, thank ya for askin'! The name's Ruby, the next rising star of the Theatre District!" she said as she motioned to herself with delicate fingers, while her voice echoed much eagerness and charisma. She approached me, and I noticed that the other hand was holding onto something: a tray, and there was something on it. On that tray was a bowl with steam rising from it.

Soup?

My nose was immediately captivated by the wafting aroma, being caressed with the smell of creamy chicken, as well as strong herbs. It smelled . . . so damn delicious.

"Lemme ask, what's your name now? I dun want to refer to you as 'that girl!'"

I nodded my head, and without a thought replied with a scratchy voice, "Sky."

Her eyes brightened up, as if my name made things better. "Howya feelin'? Tired? Sore?"

Put on the spot, I couldn't help it if my attention was on that wonderful smell, "A . . ."

My voice was once more scratchy, and I tolerated the pain as I tried to speak again from my harsh pause, "somethin' . . . smells—"

GROOOOOWL.

I looked down at my stomach, feeling my cheeks heat up. But I knew that no blush came.

Ruby smiled and giggled, before nodding her head and setting the soup down on the now existing bedside table by my bed. I reached for the bowl, only to find it plucked away. "Uh uh! You can't possibly hold this, you'll spill it all ova ya!"

"Wha?" I frowned inwardly, my voice really sounded like a guy . . . I want to question someone about whether a girl's vocal chords could almost be equal to the length of a guy's.

"You just woke up, ya haven't eatin' for days, and ya probably can't even get up from the bed! Or do you hav' a stubborn pride?" she said softly as she took up a spoon and dipped it into the soup, drawing my eyes to it. The soup, no, stew . . . it looked so good. It had a nice tawny color, while there were beautiful pieces of golden brown chicken floating in a medley of rustic vegetables and sprigs of herbs. As she pulled up a spoonful of the stuff, she poked the spoonful at me. "Now eat up, you need your strength now!"

How could I say no to good food? I nodded my head slowly, before I closed my mouth over it. In an instant my mouth was invaded by richness and creaminess, and my eyes practically lit up as I chewed. The more I chewed, the more the flavors exploded and melted in my mouth. The chicken was tender, shredded apart by my soft chews, while the vegetables had their own chewiness that I couldn't help but enjoy. Sadly, I had to swallow that mouthful, but I enjoyed the disappearing taste from my mouth. Despite its richness, it was so refreshing, so very tasty!

"It's . . . so good . . ." I said softly, feeling myself grow happy at that one bite.

"Ain't it? It's my special recipe! Ruby's Chicken Surprise! The guys love it, the boss loves it, and now I got another fan of it! So take another bite and be amazed by my culinary expertise!"

I could only nod, accept, and continue eating up this wonderful meal that I was being fed. The more I ate, the more satisfied I felt. The more I enjoyed it, the warmer my body became, and I could ignore the pain in my throat for the price of this wonderful meal; before long, I ate it all up, every single drop, piece, and sprig of it. Ruby set the bowl to the side, and somehow brought out a glass of crisp water. "Now wash it down hun."

I nodded, and I let the cool water wash down the flavors that my tongue was savoring. I smiled, I was feeling very good at the moment, really really good.

"Now hun, you feelin' better?"

I nodded my head, still smiling, "Yeah! That was so good, thank you!" I gasped as I realized something: my throat felt better.

Ruby returned the smile, gracing me with an unusual radiance, "That was my 'special' herbal blend! Scenora leaves hav' this great relieving effect on an irritated throat, while sprigs of tennopas help with healin' the body! AND, I boiled the stem of a botchotch plant, which helps ya with the pain!"

I stared at the empty bowl. That soup, or stew, was a medicine? Wow . . . I want more of it! It was really good, totally different from my experience with my asthma medicine! I couldn't help but feel a wide smile spread on my face. I felt . . . really happy, and warm, and the pain was slowly ebbing away from my body.

"I . . . I feel so much better!" I piped up, my smile still stretched upon my lips.

Ruby smiled back, she really looked lady-like when she smiled, "Now if only the guys would say such nice things! Which reminds me, I'll be back hun." Her smile disappeared as she stepped out of the room . . . what just happened?

As I heard her walk away, I suddenly heard her soft steps become heavy, and then, "HEY! SHE'S AWAKE! NOW GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND SEE IF SHE'S ALRIGHT!"

My eyes were as wide as saucers. I could hear a stampede approaching the door, making me clutch my covers. My eyes were fixated on the door, waiting. Then the steps seemed to stop . . . and when I let my guard down, it slammed open as a bunch of people literally rolled into the room.

"Hey! You're on my foot!"

"Well you're on my stomach!"

"All of you're on top of me!"

"Ger'off!"

I got confused by the symphony of voices, staring at the calamity unfolding before me.

"So you're finally awake? Glad to see you're alright!" someone said, someone who was not stuck in that human ball of entangled flesh.

I looked towards the voice and found myself in the presence of . . . really handsome guy. Sunny gold hair haloed his sun kissed face, while the most captivating blue eyes fixated my gaze. He looked young, probably younger than me, and yet, he felt older than me.

Did that make sense?!

"Hello? You okay there?" the handsome guy asked as he waved a gloved hand in front of my face.

"Oh, uh, ball of limbs," I said with some reason, pointing at the still entangled ball of limbs at the doorway.

The blondie peered over his shoulder, before turning back to me, "Oh that, don't worry, they'll untangle themselves. If not, Ruby will!"

"Huh?"

"GET OUTTA MY WAY YOU DOLTS!" I heard Ruby's angry voice yell out, and I soon saw Ruby at the doorway. Her once kind gray eyes were now like steel, and I almost trembled at the sight of her in her pissed off state. I pulled the covers closer to me, acting like a child with a security blanket as she began to crack her knuckles before the ball of limbs. She raised her foot up, and I watched in horror as she kicked the ball of limbs free. Everyone flew everywhere in a comical fashion, and I gaped at the sight.

"OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!!" I kept repeating as I looked at the result of Ruby's God-like Foot of Punishment. It was freakin' amazing . . . and so very, very, VERY scary.

I felt a hand fall upon my left shoulder, and I found the blondie shrugging his shoulders as he pointed a lax gloved finger at Ruby, "Don't get her angry, or she'll explode. Ruby's always like that if you get her angry . . . or go through her panties drawer!"

I saw Ruby's eyes flare at the blond's words, and ooh, what he said was probably no-man's land. "ZIDANE YOU BASTARD! YOU!!"

As I watched this . . . Zidane character run around, I took notice of his clothes. They looked really cool, a bit worn, but really neat. He had a dark-gray vest over a white tunic, while he had on loose-black pants. He was wearing these weird gloves, were there were sleeve-like parts on it. Yeah, with cuff-links and everything! And he had this weird lacy choker on . . .

Hey, if he hadn't talked before . . . wait, he ain't thin enough to be considered a girl, well, not the way those petite girls are. But yeah, he still had the looks. But when my eyes went towards his probably-fine-lookin'-behind, I found my eyes bulge.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-yo—"

I could feel all eyes on me, even Ruby and Zidane, who stopped running around. Zidane was in the middle of diving away from Ruby's reaching arms.

"What is it?" he asked, almost curious about what I was trying to stutter out.

I pointed a shaky finger at the thing moving.

"YOU HAVE A FREAKIN' TAIL!!"

Everything was silent in that room, everyone was silent, well, until Zidane's lips moved. And behind him . . . the tail rose up in a question-mark motion.

"So? It's normal."

I stared hard at him, at his tail, and back at him, ". . . EH!?"

"OY! What's all the racket? HEY! WHO BROKE THE DOOR?!" a loud and obnoxious voice boomed out, and in came . . . came . . . came . . . A MONSTER!!

I reacted like any normal girl would . . .

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

I made to run for it, only to hit my head on something hard, because everything became black.

--
--

A/N: That's all. Yep, that's it. So far, this is what I got in my head. Sorry if it seems sorta uncreative, I tend to be like that for starting stuff. So I hope you aren't mean like some flamers . . . now that'd suck. But I hope you review, at least give me some constructive criticism here!