Disclaimer: I don't own The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A/N (original): Thank's for reviewing so soon after I posted this, Bowie321! And I admit that some of my other my recent stories haven't really been very good.

The room itself was grimy and badly lit. In fact, the only source of light happened to be some sort of blue, glowing, gloopy… stuff leaking from one of the many machine. That bothered Janet. Even a girl who knew nothing about science could easily tell that radioactive-looking gloop was bad news. Even though she'd lived through the pro-atomic era Janet still didn't trust anything so foreign. Anyway, by the time she'd gotten to high school people knew the dangers of radiation. Even people like Janet.

There seemed to be a lot more of the futuristic machines in this room, too. That's what The only thing that didn't look like something out of a science fiction film was ancient looking water heater in the corner. It also seemed to be one of the only things not damaged. The fact that some areas of the floor were somewhat safe to step on was a fact that made the situation better. Always look on the bright side of life, as the saying goes...

It took Janet a moment to find the crying person thanks to the room's lack of light, the person's lack of movement, and the soot that covered nearly everything in sight. This made Janet pity the poor woman even more. How distressed she must be! Clearly, she'd given up to some degree. Perhaps she'd totally given up.

Janet walked toward the person very slowly, to avoid scaring the poor dear. Indeed, it was the odd redhead (Janet had pretty much figured that out by then). Though Janet had been scared of that woman when they'd first met, she now realized that Magenta was the nicest person around - besides that naïve young girl called 'Columbia'. That meant Janet wasn't afraid.

Soon Janet realized that the redhead was muttered something in a foreign language as she cried. A prayer, perhaps? What religion was she? Janet was somewhat moved by this strange aight and almost wanted to flee the place. It always made her nervous, religious stuff. Though her mother always told her to respect the religions of others as long as no harm was done. That accepting attitude was a bit liberal by the standards of most Dentonians. The town consisted of mostly just Protestants with a handful of 'minorities, like Catholics, mixed in. Jews weren't exactly tolerated there and Janet hadn't even met a black person until she'd been on vacation to the city. It was sort of sad.

Carefully, Janet kneeled down beside the beautiful woman - who looked far from lovely at this unfortunate time - and placed a hand on her shoulder. By then Magenta still hadn't noticed Janet. All her attention seemed to be on the charred pile of rags. Janet began to feel sick when she realized that the piled of rags probably wasn't actually a pile of rags. It was something far more important.

"T-t-that's your brother, isn't it?"

The sound of Janet's voice startled Magenta. Bitter with grief, she beat at Janet's chest- very hard. Thought it hurt quite a bit, Janet still sat there.

"Go away," Magenta growled.

"When's the last time you slept?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because you'll get sick if don't." Janet took a deep breath. "And your, er, brother wouldn't want you to get sick."

Magenta glared at Janet, eyes red from both crying and lack of sleep. "You never knew him, so how would you know what he would or wouldn't want?"

"He loved you. If he loved you, he wouldn't want you to be sick," Janet replied stubbornly. "A person who really loves you wants you to be happy. Not sickly- even if it's for their sake."

"I've got to stay here until four this evening," Magenta explained, after a moment.

That didn't make sense to Janet. "Why?"

"Because I must watch over him. I can't bury him until I've watched over him for 12 hours… it's a cultural thing."

One of the most important things that Janet's mother ever told her was to never argue over somebody else's religion. It only leads to trouble and… blood shedding.

But she'd never told Janet what to do if somebody's beliefs were physically hurting that person.

Janet hated making decisions for herself. She'd replied on other people's advice for her whole life. Now she couldn't get help from anyone. No, she needed to think of a plan right now without leaving poor Magenta alone. Suddenly, she thought of something that seemed clever enough.

"Can I watch him for a while?" she asked.

"What?"

"Well… somebody must watch over him for 12 hours. What if I took over so that you could rest?"

"No!"

"If you don't take a break, you might fall asleep halfway through or something," Janet pointed out.

"I would never abandon him…"

"I know that. But you can only stay awake for so long before your body can't take it anymore. Nobody can stay awake forever."

Magenta sighed wearily. "Fine. I'll sleep now. I'll sleep right here in this room."

"Fine."

Only minutes after they'd agreed on that plan, Magenta fell fast asleep. And, even though she thought it was a bit silly, Janet watched over poor Riff Raff. Her mother always said to be accepting when it came to this sort of thing. Always being kind and caring and goodly to everyone would reflect well on one's family. That's what Janet was supposed to be - a good member of the family. But what family? The traumatizing past day or so had made her see these strange people as a sort of new family. Extremely stressful situations do that, unbeknownst to Janet. She'd suffered with five people at the hand of Frank and, by surviving with them, become something akin to a sister to them. Yet she also felt distanced from Brad all of a sudden. How odd it all was!

Meanwhile, still lying on the theater floor, Columbia awoke.

It took her a while to remember all that had happened in the eight hours before she'd fallen asleep. Most of it made no sense- even by the castle's deranged standards.

She was about to move from underneath the blanket when she realized that Brad had his right arm around her waist. Cute. Smiling to herself, she snuggled up against him. It felt nice to be in the arms of a relatively sane person.

And it was warmer like this. Even though everyone's clothes were now dry, she still felt pretty chilly. That room had always been colder than the rest of the castle.

Though this was comfortable and she was still quite tired, Columbia couldn't fall back asleep.

So she lay there for what seemed like hours (but probably wasn't).

Finally, Brad awoke.

"Janet?" he mumbled. "I had the strangest dream…"

Columbia suddenly felt very guilty. "Er, I'm not Janet… and it wasn't actually a dream…"

Before he could cry out in terror, she put a hand over his mouth. "Shh! If Frank wakes up, he'll get upset. Especially at me! He hates people cheating on him, even tough that's what he does to them. Surely you noticed that last night when he freaked out about Rocky and Janet. Please don't freak out! I won't hurt you, Brad, or anything like he might."

Though she loved Frank dearly, she knew he wasn't very nice to most people. Last night she'd realized he was crueler than she'd thought before. He'd killed Eddie! This terrible fact made her want to give her

As she pondered all this, she slowly realized that Brad now held her tighter. Like some sort of teddy bear he needed to keep safe. Though Columbia didn't really know it, Brad's world was falling apart. All that had happened the previous night had turned his whole life upside down. Everything was all topsy-turvy in his once-organized mind.

One idea kept going 'round his brain. It was simple - borderline instinctual, even. If he couldn't keep himself safe from trouble and pain he needed to keep someone else safe. Telling Janet- who'd betrayed him on a whim- that everything's okay was his way of coping with life. Now he needed to fill that role even more. Not that he realized this, even as he held Columbia in his arms and stroked her short pink hair.

She didn't understand why he was doing all this either. Though she also didn't attempt to move away and happened to be quiet grateful. This near-stranger named Brad was very kind, she thought to herself. Much kinder than most men she'd met. Even Eddie had been rough in a way. Brad was like a teddy bear or pillow or something. How adorable.

The next person to open their eyes happened to be Rocky Horror himself.

As he sat up he dimly realized that sleep wasn't something he'd ever experienced before. How odd it was, waking up like this! His eyes felt sort of funny and his blonde hair was all messy now.

But why?

Yes, why did anything happen the way it did? Why? Why? Why?

Being 'born' a full-grown adult with almost no memory of anything wasn't good. He wanted to be smart like everyone else. Rocky wanted to learn…

A/N: So... now our four protagonists have 'motives'. Well, not really motives. I'm not really sure what to call them. Wishes, maybe?

Anyway, at least the chapter establishes the people the story focuses on (and hints at character development).

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