Chapter One

Four Years

The view from the hills south of the coastal town of Eastbourne could only be described as magnificent. From atop these lush green mounds that descended from the white cliffs of Beachy Head, you could get the sight of Eastbourne as a whole. You could see the spires of the churches, the Sussex Downs University to the north, the Eastbourne Pier jutting out into the grey British waters, all mixed within a mass of red tiles that made up the majority of the rooftops through the Victorian town.

Sitting with her back against one of the few trees dotted around the hills, Tanzi Sakamoto was simply staring at the view, a small smile playing on her thin lips. She would often come up here simply to take in the sights. The feel of the ocean breeze ruffling through her straight black hair and the smell of the salt water made her relax and let the tension ooze out of her muscles.

Even though she had lived in Eastbourne for the majority of her life, Tanzi could never get over the strange atmosphere the Victorian architecture gave her. She had grown up in the urban jungle of Tokyo, Japan, living among the tightly clumped buildings and seeing the skyscrapers reaching up to the sky. Coming to England had initially frightened her. It had seemed too open with the rolling fields and farmland. Every year that passed Tanzi would never lose that childlike feeling within her heart.

While the inflection of Japanese had long since disappeared from when she had moved to Eastbourne with her mother, Tanzi retained the look of her parents. Small in stature with pale skin and pitch-black hair, intelligent eyes and a narrow face, she often felt like the odd one out. During secondary school she had managed to survive the many stares and questions of the students – after all, there weren't many foreigners in a town like Eastbourne, especially not Japanese. After school the looks and questions had died down a lot, though Tanzi still felt like she hadn't gotten the hang of the culture.

"Hah… Hah…"

Tanzi turned away from the town splayed out before her at the sound of heavy breathing. Rising from the crest of the hill was a woman around her own age pushing her way up the incline. Tanzi smiled and quickly stood up, turning to offer her hand.

"Christ… Tanzi… You really need to choose a better look-out spot." The woman accepted Tanzi's hand and pulled herself up in front of her friend, her free hand gently clutching her back.

"It's good exercise, Ruby."

"…My back refuses your so-called exercise," Ruby Ascot replied with a small grimace. Her shoulder-length red hair was thrown every which-way from the wind as if it had a mind of its own, flashing out brightly. Her open olive shirt fluttered as well, revealing the Razor's Edge t-shirt underneath.

If one were to glance at Ruby they would see a happy-go-lucky woman who wanted to see the best of the world. And while - to an extent - that was true, if you deigned to look closer you would see a complicated history upon her face. Her bright smile was true but held a sense of sadness behind it. The lines upon her forehead made her seem older than she actually was and her eyes had seen much grief and misery.

Four years before, Ruby had seen the skies split open and had never forgotten the image floating high above in the sky as her love lay still beside her. England had been abuzz for the first month after that incident but when no follow-up to the mysterious event ever followed it was written down as a movie stunt taken too seriously. Once a year passed it was merely a story to talk about every now and again. After two years it was gone to the annals of strange history. But Ruby never forgot. How could she? That day had been one to remember from sunrise to sundown. So much had happened back then...

"I've brought snacks," Ruby said as she sought to interrupt her own thoughts. She shrugged off her backpack and sat down cross-legged. Tanzi followed suit to sit beside Ruby. Tanzi had met Ruby when she had looked for a position at the Purple Pike, the restaurant where Tanzi had been working. Ruby had been given a chance and proved herself to be a brilliant worker. Being as Tanzi was the only other person around Ruby's age they naturally got on. Tanzi still found it hard to believe how nice and sincere Ruby had been. It was clear that there was something Ruby was hiding but then again who didn't have skeletons in their closets? Tanzi certainly had her fair share.

After half a year the two of them had been having their own financial problems. The Purple Pike was a brilliant place to work but an influx of staff had meant less overtime – which meant less pay. They had been talking about it before Ruby had suddenly made the offer to flat-share. Tanzi didn't need much pushing to accept the offer – after being friends with Ruby for a while she realised that being around someone like that was perfect for her. Tanzi had been known around the Purple Pike as somewhat stoic and shy but Ruby was able to get her to open up.

It had been nearly exactly a year since Ruby had shown up in Eastbourne that she had gotten extremely melancholic one night. Tanzi couldn't figure out what was wrong but Ruby had started drinking the night away; so Tanzi had joined in. It was a night the two of them regretted but a night that helped them grow closer as friends. Tanzi could remember clearly waking up in the morning to see Ruby on the edge of the bed, crying like a small child. She had explained about a woman named Sabrina Holland that Ruby had fell in love with. That night had been a year to the day of her death and Ruby had let the grief get to her and admitted that she used Tanzi to gain some measure of comfort.

For Tanzi, it was the first time she had ever lay with a woman like that. She had her fair share of boyfriends who had found something alluring in her Japanese descent but sleeping with Ruby had been strange. Part of her enjoyed it, Tanzi believed, but overall she felt that it wasn't right for her. So the two of them had agreed that the night had been one to forget about. Ruby regretted offering and Tanzi regretted accepting. Neither of them let it affect their friendship and still lived in the same flat, watching movies on the couch and just generally being in a comfortable position in their lives.

"I've got cucumber and cheese sandwiches," Ruby threw over one cling film package over to Tanzi. "And some sliced egg ones," another package landed in Tanzi's lap. "And various bits and pieces as well." Ruby opened the backpack to show Tanzi the contents.

"Hungry?" Tanzi asked with a small smile.

"More like I got excited cooking," Ruby shrugged. "I'll blame you for that one. If you weren't so terrible at it I would never have got into it."

The two women chatted and laughed as they sat atop the hill overlooking Eastbourne, neither of them knowing what the grim future held for them nor how their lives would be changed irreversibly.

Trainers skidded against damp grass as the figure turned the corner. Mud spattered up the back of her legs but she paid it no mind. She pushed forward and hit the path again, her trainers beating off the white gravel. The path curved left and right before swooping around to a small bridge over an even smaller river. She passed the bridge in a blur and as soon as she reached the double lampposts just ahead of the bridge she pressed her feet down to skid to a halt. Gravel pushed around the soles of her trainers but she came to a stop.

Paige Calloway swept her long hair out of her sweaty face, glancing down to the watch on her wrist. Five minutes. That was a new record. She breathed in slowly and then out slowly, allowing her heartbeat to slow down a bit. She walked over to the nearest bench that overlooked the pond in Shinewater Park and took a sip of water from the bottle that was latched at her hip.

After suitably recovering, Paige started the trek back to her apartment, looking forward to the hot shower that waited for her. The five-minute sprint had worn her out, her muscles straining as she walked.

Running was one of the only things Paige felt at home doing. As a student at the Sussex Downs College, she was still trying to figure out her place in life. However, most of the lessons bored her and she found herself getting bad scores – not because she was bad at them, but because she simply had no interest in them. Sports and history were the only two subjects that interested her but she felt like neither of them held a future for her. While she enjoyed sports, she wasn't so into it that she wanted to do it for a profession; and while history intrigued her with the many battles humankind had waged over the years she just couldn't imagine herself sitting at her desk with dusty old books trying to uncover the great mysteries of history.

She hated the fact that she hadn't found a goal for herself yet. But what else was there other than sports and history? English made her drowsy, maths hurt her head, science was far too complicated and the other optional courses held no particular interest for her.

Paige didn't even have anyone to talk about these problems with. At college she was considered somewhat odd. Was being quiet so peculiar to people? Few people even attempted to talk to her and those that did found her unappealing to talk with. Paige couldn't help it. She didn't have any interests to talk about. No favourite TV shows or movies, she enjoyed any kind of food and found the weather okay. Her parents had said that maybe it would be good to throw in a white lie every now and again but Paige wondered what the point of lying about her own accomplishments was. All lying did was bite you in the ass.

Though, among it all, Paige had one thing that was unique to her. Something she believed no one else had. Something that made her special. Now that she thought about it, perhaps that was what people found strange about her. The fact that she talked to the wind.

…And the fact that the wind talked back, even if only Paige could hear it.

It wasn't just the wind that Paige heard. It was the trees, the grass, the sea, anything that belonged to mother nature. Paige had always been spoken to like this ever since she was a little girl and as such never thought it was strange. It was only once she started school that the teachers commentated about her imaginary friends. When it continued through Primary School, it became a serious concern.

Paige eventually learned not to talk back to the voices in front of others but sometimes she couldn't help herself. For the longest time she thought maybe she had some kind of mental problem, something wrong with her brain.

Then the skies opened up over London and Paige discovered that the voices were real, not a figment of her imagination. She still couldn't explain it but at least she knew that something decided that she was worth speaking to. The wind would often speak to Paige almost like a child. It would ask how her day had been, whether she had made any new friends or discovered any new interests. Sometimes the voice would ask about boys causing Paige to blush; other times it would ask about her inner feelings and Paige could speak out her true thoughts without any thought of judgement.

It meant the world to have somebody listen to her worries, even if that someone was merely a voice upon nature itself.

A/N: Paige Calloway is credited to Angie2282, Tanzi Sakamoto is credited to SevenFlags, and Ruby Ascot is credited to gothtealpha in me! I'll tell you what, for those of you who may have read the stories these ones are loosely based on, it is so nice to return to Tanzi and Paige. I always did love those two as characters! Thanks as always to those of you who take the time to read this ol' series of mine!