Hi! I'm back! It's me Athos! Back to help with the story again
Yeah…. Sure you are.
Boy do I feel wanted…
Hi my name is Porthos. I'm an alcoholic…. Ooo what's that? Something shiny?
Porthos! Act civilized!
Yup…. We finally got Porthos (Chris) to join us this time. Athos (Brenna) too
And I plan on being here for the whole story! Maybe not Porthos though… But me for sure!
Ooo… Shiny…
*sigh* I give up
Go read the story while we deal with Porthos and his shiny… whatever it is. Also, this chapter jumps…. A lot. If you do not like it, deal with it. That is all
October 28, 2009
Chris parked his silver Suburban van in an empty space and shut it off. The vehicle seemed to ring with the silence that settled within. Shawnee turned around from the passenger seat to look in the back at everyone there, Brenna, Jordan, and Aramis in the middle sections of seats and Athos, Porthos, and D'Artagnan in the back.
"Alright everyone. Let's get something straight here. You four…" She said, waving to the musketeers. "Are to stay by our sides and you do NOT leave the group unless one of us goes with you. Understand?" They didn't look too happy at the notion but they all nodded. Shawnee looked at Brenna and Jordan and sent Chris a side glance.
"That clear with you three too?" When they nodded, she smiled.
"Excellent! Then let's go explore the giant indoor marketplace that we call the mall or as I call it, the most boring place on Earth!" She popped open the door and hopped out o wait for everyone else who soon followed (after, of course, some problems with the three getting out of the backseat since the middle seat had to be pulled forward to allow exit.) The four men looked up in awe at tall, pointed, tinted glass and metal archway that stood over a nearby entrance, stopping right in the middle of the road. They pretty near jumped out of their skins when a car approached and honked at them because they were blocking the way. Brenna gave the driver a smile of apology and pushed the four of them over to the sidewalk.
"First rule to follow: Always stay on this." She stomped the cement to show them. "It's called a sidewalk. Staying on this unless we say otherwise will keep you from getting run over, injured and/or killed." Chris jumped in at this point.
"And those are cars. They hurt if they hit you."
"But… how do they move? There are no horses pulling them!" Porthos asked. Shawnee smiled.
"Think of them as coaches without horses. They do the same job as them anyway. Let's get inside everyone." She led them through a two sets of glass and metal doors and into a large open branch of the building. It was busy, noisy, crowded with people, with many stores already within in sight, all selling different products. While the kids were unimpressed by the sights around them, the musketeers looked around in awe.
"This place…" Aramis could find no other words to say, he was struck dumb by the sheer size and numbers. Brenna and Shawnee shared a smiled and chuckled quietly between themselves. Chris grabbed Jordan's arm and dragged him towards a big store.
"Come on! First stop is Zellers!"
"Chris, that's our only stop! That and the food court!" Shawnee cried out. "What's your hurry? Come back here!" The two girls chased after the boys with the musketeers racing after them. They stopped outside the store and Brenna whacked Chris upside the head.
"You're an idiot! We're trying NOT to cause a scene here!" Jordan looked up from the floor wearily.
"Chris… Do you mind? I want my arm back!" Chris dropped Jordan unceremoniously on the floor and left him to pick himself up.
"Ok then. There's your arm back." Jordan glared at him and stood. Aramis offered him a hand up and they both glared at Chris. The tall boy just shrugged and smiled.
"Come on you three. We've got to get some clothes for these guys and we have already caused enough noise. Can we possibly behave long enough to at least get them one outfit?" Shawnee asked, her tone being one of annoyance. The men's section was in the left side of the first floor upon entering from the mall. They walked over, getting weird looks from the other people in the store as they passed due to the men's strange clothing.
"Ok… You four spread out and go pick out a shirt that you want. And Porthos… Nothing really bright and flashy alright?" Brenna said, narrowing her eyes at the tall man. Porthos shrugged and smiled at her before the four men dispersed into the clothing racks.
"Do you think they'll actually pick something… decent?" Shawnee asked Brenna with a slightly worried air.
"I hope so… Or we're going to have to do it for them." Athos was the first to come back carrying a black button down shirt. Brenna nodded in acceptance and he smiled.
"There seems to be a lot of clothing here. It makes it a little hard to choose." He commented, watching the other three browse the racks. Shawnee snorted and looked away with a sneer.
"Yeah… Only if you're the right size for the clothes." Brenna sighed and gave her a sharp look.
"Don't start Shawnee." The girl shrugged and wandered over to a hat rack curiously. Porthos and Aramis came over, carrying a blue-grey shirt and gray shirt respectively, to which Brenna gave thumbs up in approval.
"You've got the right idea now. Hurry up D'Artagnan! We can't spend all day here." The musketeer captain was still weaving his way through the racks, being oddly picky. Shawnee sighed and stomped over, plucked up a white t-shirt with black trim and shoved it into his hands.
"Here. Just take this and let's go." She said as she pushed him back over to where the others stood waiting. Brenna smiled.
"Now we'd better make sure they fit. Wouldn't want Shawnee having to pay for something that doesn't fit." She led the party over to the men's change rooms and the lady there looked up at them with raised eyebrow as her eyes scanned over the clothes the men wore.
"We need four fitting rooms please." Brenna said politely. The woman nodded, smiling, and walked into the small corridor behind her to unlock four of the rooms. Brenna then waved the musketeers over to follow her and she shoved one into each room.
"Try on that shirt, come back out and show us then go back in and change back into your other shirt. Then we'll get out of here." Chris groaned in boredom.
"But this'll take forever! Can't we just go get food now?" Jordan rolled his eyes.
"We can't leave them here."
"Why not?"
"After what happened in Talize… Not a good idea." Shawnee put in. They waited rather impatiently as Brenna went through the whole deal of having the musketeers show her that the shirts fit and then go back in and change back. When it was finally over, Shawnee checked her watch irritably.
"That's it then. Time to pay for this and go get something to eat." The boys walked off and the girls and musketeers followed, heading for the row of cash registers by the entrance back out into the mall. They stood in the shortest line there was and waited as the people in front of them paid and left. Aramis looked at the grey machine curiously as they drew nearer and jumped when it made loud beeping noises as the cashier punched in numbers. When it was their turn to cash out, Shawnee pulled out her black wallet and extracted a plastic grey card and handed it to the cashier.
But before she could swipe it, the woman gave a yelp as Aramis leaned over the counter and into the small space before the machine and began to push buttons. The woman picked up a phone and went to dial for security when Jordan reached over and grabbed Aramis' arm.
"Come on uncle!" He said, stressing the title. "You shouldn't be doing that!" Aramis let himself be pulled away from the register and out of the store, back into the mall where Jordan sat him down on a bench and sat with him to keep an eye on him.
Shawnee walked out, a red plastic bag swinging from her hand and a stern frown on her face. She walked up to Aramis and grabbed his collar angrily.
"Next time you decide to make an idiot of yourself and us, warn us so we can stop you! Crazy old fool priest!" She dropped him unceremoniously back on the bench and walked down the wide corridor.
"Come on guys. Supper time." She led them to the food court which was packed with people of a variety of ages from the smallest of children to the oldest of seniors and long lines of people waiting to order food. They luckily found two tables of four that were close to each other and were able to move them over so it became one big table.
"What do you guys want to eat?" Brenna asked curiously. The four of them stared at her blankly, unable to respond.
"Brenna remember? They don't know anything about the food we eat." Shawnee said smiling and chuckling. Brenna rolled her eyes and gave her a light punch on the arm.
"Don't be a smartass. I was being polite. Unlike someone I know…" Shawnee shook a fist at her and playfully growled.
"Look why don't we just get them something from everywhere?" Jordan suggested. "That way they can try it and see what they like." Shawnee nodded in agreement.
"I like that idea. That'll work. Off you go you two. You're buying dinner." The boys gave her indignant looks but when her stern commanding look did not change, they stood and went to get started albeit with much grumbling. She smiled victoriously and tipped back her chair on two legs, tucking her hands behind her head.
"They won't be too long… At least I hope they won't."
"Shouldn't we help them? I mean, that's a lot of food they'll bring back, even with only forty five bucks." Brenna said, worrying at her bottom lip. Shawnee just waved it off.
"Relax Brenna I never said we weren't going to help them. Once they get the food and start bringing it over, we'll meet them halfway and carry it the rest of the way while they go get the rest. Nothing to worry about." Now put at ease, Brenna smiled and nodded.
"Speaking of which, here they come now!"
Porthos let out a loud belch and patted his stomach happily.
"Such excellent food you have here." Shawnee held her nose; her face screwed up is disgust.
"Next time you go to do that, cover your damn mouth!" Chris checked his watch curiously.
"Hey Shawnee… Think we've got some time to look around on our own?" The other two looked at her hopefully. Shawnee frowned.
"Yeah I guess… Is that alright with you four? We'll be right back. Fifteen minutes tops I promise." The musketeers shared a look of confusion at the request.
"I don't see why you have to ask us for permission." D'Artagnan said. "If you want to wander then off with you." Shawnee gave him a wane smile.
"It would be rude to simply stand up and leave without telling you. After all, you are our guests here."
The other three stood up with her and they all split up to head for separate stores. The musketeers sat there in silence for a moment, watching them leave and when they were out of sight, sighed heavily.
"This time is absolutely crazy!" Aramis said in annoyance. "How do these children stand it?" Athos sighed and looked around at the busy people.
"These people all seem to be in a great hurry. But to what end? To go where?"
"Who knows Athos. This time is simply strange." D'Artagnan muttered; taking a small sip from one of the sweet drinks the boys had bought. Porthos winked at a passing woman and she gave him an insulted look and marched off with her nose in the air. His face fell.
"Even the women are different in this time." He said sullenly. The other three resisted the urge to laugh at the large man's failure and continued watching the movement around them to pass the time, although it was moving at somewhat of a snail's pace. Athos pulled out his pocket watch sometime later to find that the time the kids had said they'd be gone had long since passed.
"The kids are late. It has been half an hour." He said worriedly, looking around at the corridor openings to see if he could spot the kids. Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan began doing the same but they had no such luck either in spotting the teenagers.
"Maybe we should go look for them. Something could be wrong." D'Artagnan said, biting his lip.
"That sounds like a good idea." Porthos exclaimed standing. "I saw some stairs earlier. I think I will try up there."
"I will come with you." Aramis added, standing as well. "It's better to have more than simply your wandering eyes searching the second floor."
"Then D'Artagnan and I will search this floor." Athos stated as the pair of them stood. "I am sure we will find the kids. This… mall cannot have too many shops that they would go to." The four men split into their groups of two and went their separate ways for their searches then split up again when there was more than one way to travel.
When they had climbed to the top of the long staircase, Porthos went one way and Aramis the other in hopes of covering more ground. As Porthos walked, he soon found himself standing outside a store where it seemed many women were walking in and out of and a smile grew on his face. He strutted into the store, all confidence, but that look was quickly shattered as he found his widened eyes drawn to a large picture on the wall of a woman. And she wasn't wearing the most covering of clothes…
Aramis wandered aimlessly, scanning the faces he passed. His eyes glanced to his left and he stopped, staring at the store curiously. It was filled with books and outside of the store was a table with a couple of people browsing what was on the table. He approached quietly and found there to be more books there. He picked up a black leather bound volume and flipped it open only to not understand the words in any meaning and put it back down. He picked up another and gave an exclamation of shock. It was a Bible. And it was written not in Latin but in French.
'What kind of time have we become trapped in?!'
Athos and D'Artagnan wandered aimlessly, one on each side of the corridor, peering in every store on they passed. They met at the end of the corridor where it spilt off into two more and shared a look before Athos took the one on the left and D'Artagnan took the one on the right.
'Now that was actually rather fun!' Shawnee thought to herself as she strolled back in the direction of the food court. 'I hope the musketeer behaved themselves… Although I don't what'd I say to them if they didn't' She rounded a corner and scanned over the seating in the middle of the food court looking for four telltale people and frowned. She couldn't see them.
"Shawnee!" A voice called and Shawnee turned to see Brenna walking up to her.
"Hey Brenna. Find anything interesting?" Her friend nodded and the two of them stood talking at the edge of the food court, waiting for the boys to show up.
"Quick question for you Brenna… Do you see the musketeers at all in the seats? You're taller than me so I'm hoping you can get a better view." Brenna frowned and looked, her eyes searching quickly.
"Actually… I don't see them anywhere. Do you know where they are?"
"Not a clue." The two girls shared a look for a few seconds, Shawnee's expression blank, Brenna's curious, when their eyes widened suddenly as the realization hit them.
"The musketeers are gone!"
"Hey you two!" Jordan called out, Chris following. "You guys are early." The two girls bolted towards them and each grabbed one of the boys' arms and pulled them along as they marched.
"What the hell is going on?!" Chris demanded as Brenna dragged him along.
"We'll explain in a minute Chris!" Shawnee said, her voice slightly panicky. They stopped in front of the mall's fountain and as it sprayed a jet of water that reached up to the second floor, they made a plan.
"The musketeers are missing. We have to find them before they cause all sorts of problems and get themselves in trouble and most likely arrested for misconduct." Shawnee said firmly. "Any suggestions?"
"How about we get one of those rope things cowboys use and catch them that way?" Chris suggested. Brenna frowned.
"No Chris." She sighed, running a hand down her face in exasperation. "We spilt up in pairs and go look for them. Chris and Jordan check the top floor and Shawnee and I check down here. We meet back here at the fountain in an hour." Brenna grabbed Shawnee's arm and dragged her off back down the corridor and the boys headed up it and then climbed into the elevator after it was empty of people and rode it up to the second floor.
"Now what?" Jordan asked. "Do we just walk around and hope we find them?"
"That's if they're even up here." Chris grumbled, rolling his eyes and walking off in an arbitrary direction which Jordan simply followed. Their walk took them to a bookstore where there seemed to be a man yelling at one of the cashiers. The boys gave each other a raised eyebrow look and stared for a few minutes.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Chris said without breaking eye contact or changing expression.
"Yup." The two of them held out flat palms and began to hit them with their other fist.
"Rock…" First hit. "Paper…" Second hit. "Scissors!" Third hit and their choices were revealed. Jordan groaned and with drooping shoulders, clomped over to the store. Aramis was standing there waving a Bible about and demanding questions of the cashier, a young woman in her early twenties who seemed awfully close to tears. Jordan hooked his arm around that of the ex-musketeer turned priest and dragged him from the store with him still trying to make his questions be answered. As they passed the table, Jordan grabbed the Bible from Aramis' hand and tossed it back onto the table and toppling over three others stacks of books which in turn toppled more and soon the books decided to spill off the table. The cashier came out of the store and stood there screaming at the two as they walked away and returned to Chris.
"Man that girl looks pissed! What was he doing Jordan?" Chris asked, laughing.
"He was yelling at her about something to do with a Bible he picked up in there." Jordan looked at Aramis with a raised eyebrow and the priest looked back over his shoulder at the store and glared.
"We better find Porthos." Jordan said and the three continued along their way, walking in silence and looking into passing stores until suddenly, Chris let out a wolf whistle and stopped in front of a store as two women left.
"I think I know where Porthos might be…" Aramis said with a small smile. Chris smirked at him.
"Well then, I'll go in and check." The tall boy walked in the store, his head held high, as the other two shared a look outside the door.
"How long do you think this'll take?" Jordan asked.
"I am not too sure. With Porthos, it could take quite a bit." Aramis answered, watching the inside of the store. Porthos came into sight with a woman who seemed to be giggling and the two males watched as Chris walked over to them and interrupted. The two of them talked for a moment but the woman made a comment and Porthos made to follow her but stopped when Chris grabbed his arm and went to drag him from the store. Then they both stopped and froze, looking up at large picture of scantily clad woman on the wall, their jaws practically hanging to the floor.
Time passed and Jordan and Aramis began to grow impatient. They tapped their feet, they sat on the bench, they paced back and forth, they peered in the store; still neither man came out. Aramis frowned and looked at Jordan.
"They should have come out by now. Go in and check on them would you?" Jordan gave the priest a sour look and stood with a sigh and walked into the store.
"Hey you guys! What are you looking… at…." Jordan slowed to a stop near Porthos and Chris and looked up at the picture.
"Wow…"
"Yeah Jordan… You said it." Chris muttered with a slightly dazed smile.
"Come along you three! We're leaving." Aramis had followed Jordan in after a few minutes when he didn't come out with the other two and was now holding onto their collars and forcibly dragging them from the store despite the angry protests.
"I haven't seen any of them yet." Shawnee said dejectedly, looking around at the people as they passed them. Brenna frowned and looked further down the corridor anxiously.
"We'll find them. They can't have gotten too far in here after all!" They found themselves passing a music store when a loud yell came from within and made them stop.
"Did you hear that Brenna?" Shawnee asked.
"Yes." Brenna answered.
"Did that sound like who I thought it did?" Shawnee asked again.
"Yes." Brenna answered again. They pushed through the crowd that had gathered suddenly around the front of the music store and stopped in shock.
"No Uncle Athos! Don't throw that!" Brenna cried, running forward to try and stop him.
Ten minutes prior…
Athos had been wandering down the corridor alone for quite some time, glancing into every store with an uninterested air. However, there was one that did catch his attention as there was the sound of low volume music drifting out. He walked in the small store curiously, examining everything and picking up the small squares of light see-through stuff with pictures on them and words he could not read.
He noticed a person standing in front of some sort of box and wearing some sort of hat that fitted over their ears and they were tapping their foot and swaying. When the person left, he went over to the strange box with its funny shaped black headgear and slipped it on his head, and looked around curiously when he found all the sound muffled.
Athos removed the headphones, holding them in his hands for a moment, before he put them back o and began to push buttons on the machine. He frowned when nothing happened and no sound came except a soft buzzing noise and he tried again. Still nothing but a soft buzzing came from the headphones and he became frustrated. He tried one more time and the buzzing stopped and he smiled to himself at his own ingenuity.
However that smile soon turned to an intense grimace of pain as his ears were assaulted with booming noise and loud voices. He held his hands to his ears, forgetting that the sound was coming from the headphones and found his anger at the contraption rising. He didn't notice that he'd started yelling and didn't notice the crowd of people growing, watching him as he struggled.
Now…
Athos whipped the headphones off from over his ears and smashed them harshly against the wall in a strong throw. Brenna grabbed his arm and dragged the dazed ex-musketeer from the store, Athos muttering vicious curses the whole way that had older women gasping in snooty distaste and younger people storing his words to memory. Shawnee ran up to the counter in a panic and pulled a twenty dollar bill from her wallet, frantically pushing it towards the person behind the counter.
"Here's twenty bucks. Use it to pay for the damage and please don't call security!" She begged, dropped the bill on the counter and sprinted away after the pair, finding them sitting on a bench as Athos recovered his senses.
"Is he alright?" Shawnee asked worriedly. Brenna bit her lip in thought.
"I hope so… I'm getting the feeling that it was really loud rock music playing in those headphones. He may be a bit out of it for awhile." Shawnee nodded and helped Brenna pull the man to his feet.
"We'd better find the others before anything else happens." She checked her watch and frowned.
"The hour is almost up. Let's head back to the fountain." The trip back to the fountain was relatively peaceful; no other disasters occurred but this was hardly comforting to the two girls because no disaster meant that they had not found any of the other three musketeers. As they arrived at the fountain, Shawnee's eyes widened in shock. There, standing right by the fountain was D'Artagnan. She went to make her way towards him but he did not see her and walked away, chuckling to himself at some thought he must've had. A large group of people blocked the way through and she growled in frustration, pulling lightly on her hair as she thought. She looked to her right and smirked, an idea forming, and she climbed the fountain steps then clambered onto the edge of the deepest part of the fountain (which would only come up to maybe her thighs if she was standing in it.)
"D'Artagnan!" She yelled, trying to get the man's attention. He didn't hear a thing, more preoccupied by the things around him. She growled again and standing up higher on her toes to try and allow her voice to echo further, she shouted a different name.
"Charles!" The man in question froze and spun around, searching hurriedly for who had shouted. Shawnee waved at him from the fountain edge but suddenly she began flailing frantically, eyes widening as her feet slipped from under her and she fell back into the fountain water with a cry.
"Shawnee!" Brenna yelled. She stopped at fountain edge, staring at her friend as she sat there soaked to the bone in the icy fountain water. She began to chuckle at Shawnee's predicament and offered a hand shaking with laughter to her.
"Glad to see my suffering is so amusing to you!" Shawnee yelled at her angrily, flicking locks of her drenched hair from her face. Athos and D'Artagnan stared at her, their lips rather pinched looking as they held back their laughter. A raucous laugh sounded from nearby as Chris and Jordan and Porthos and Aramis approached and caught sight of the girl that resembled a drowned rat. Shawnee gave them a vicious glare as she twisted her now curly, chestnut coloured locks to free the mass of water, spilling it all over Athos and D'Artagnan's boots. The men gave indignant cries but Shawnee ignored them.
"We are leaving right now. No excuses." She stated; her voice calm but menacingly cold. Her shoes squelched unpleasantly as she walked, the rest of the group following her towards the door they had entered the mall through in the first place.
"Shawnee… How did you know my first name?" D'Artagnan asked; his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"That is no one's business but my own." She snapped. Jordan looked up and winced as they passed beneath an area where there was a peaked glass roof.
"Hey Chris… Do you think we should tell her that it's raining outside?" He whispered. Chris looked at him, glanced to Shawnee quickly and looked back to Jordan.
"Let's just let her find out for herself."
Oh… my… God… This chapter was seven dang pages long!!! I am simply insane . Hopefully it didn't drag too much for all of you but don't expect an update for a bit. I need a bit of a break.
That'll learn you for writing so much.
Shut up Chris…
I'm sure they liked it.
Don't forget to review and thanks go out to Ignotus Angelus and Kimyco for their reviews.
See you later!