Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Life And Times of 18 ❯ Hero ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer-I forgot to mention that I don't own the songs, but you already know that.

Hero

Irisa was praying. She wanted to leave, to get out of this awful place. It was out of her power. It was out of her brother's power. It was in God's hands now. Maybe he would help them, maybe not. It never hurt to ask.

"Please, please, God," she whispered. "Take me out of here, me and Nathan both."

I am so high

I can hear Heaven

On the other side of the room, Nathan was praying the same thing. But he didn't look too enthused.

I am so high

I can hear Heaven

"And what are you two doing?" said the sharp tongue of Mrs. Wicken, hands on hips, looking at the two of them.

"Praying," Irisa said.

"What have I told you?" Mrs. Wicken yelped. "If your God cared about you at all, he would not have sent you here in the first place! What are you praying for?"

"A family."

"A family? That's a laugh! Who would want you, you useless idiots? I am your family! Now, get of your lazy rears! You think the bathroom will scrub itself?" She threw a bucket at Irisa and a scrubber at Nathan. "Get going!"

The twins looked helplessly at each other and quickly obeyed.

But Heaven,

No, Heaven don't hear me

"You think we'll have to do this when we get adopted?" Irisa said, filling the bucket with soapy water.

"If we get adopted," Nathan said.

"'If'? What do you mean, 'if'? We're gonna get adopted! We'll be out of here! Away from That Woman!" 'That Woman' was what everyone called Mrs. Wicken behind her back.

And they say that a hero could save us

I'm not gonna stand here and wait

I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles

Watch as we all fly away

"Yeah, Irisa. You've been saying that for how many months now?"

"Have more faith than that, Nathan. I haven't yet given up the hope that love can save us."

Nathan threw down the scrubber and stood up. "Oh, what do you know, Irisa? Mama loved us, and look what she did to us! She killed herself and Daddy! She sent us here!"

Someone told me

Love would all save us

But how can that be?

Look what love gave us

A world of killing

And blood-spilling

That world never came

Irisa stared at him, stunned, before talking in a low, deliberate voice. "Maybe so." She stood up, brushing dust of her ragged clothes. She looked like a pale forest wraith in the blinding light on the ceiling and her muddied clothes. She looked at him in the eye, tears in her eyes. "But I'm not giving up! We're going to get adopted! We're going to leave this horrible place! And you'll see that love WILL save us!" She turned on her heel and fled the bathroom.

And they say that a hero could save us

I'm not gonna stand here and wait

I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles

Watch as we all fly away

Days passed, turning into months. The twins turned 9 years old on April 24th without even a 'Happy Birthday' from Mrs. Wicken.

"Hey, IN!" one of the boys, Robert, called. The twins had earned the nickname 'IN' because of their first initials, and how they always hung out together, even when they were fighting

"Yeah?" Nathan said, not even looking up.

"Wanna play Slap-Jack?" Robert held up a pack of cards that Mrs. Wicken had won by sending in Marlboro cigarette proofs.

"Whatever," Nathan said, setting up the card table. Robert dealt the cards and the game was on.

"Irisa! Nathan!" Mrs. Wicken called in the middle of the game, causing them to lose their concentration and Robert to win the round.

"Yeah?" Irisa called back listlessly.

"Come out here! A man wants to see you!"

Irisa and Nathan dragged themselves to their feet and walked into the main office part of the building.

Mrs. Wicken was waiting there, a couple waiting there, too. The man was tall, had short brown hair and hard brown eyes, and had the hard-set features of a hard-set man. His wife, however, was smaller than him, had curly brown hair and soft brown eyes, and her features were soft. This was the kind of woman you could trust.

"Irisa, Nathan," Mrs. Wicken said, "these are the Thomas and Lily Anderson. They are interested in adopting you."

Their eyes widened.

"They live in Massachusetts; they're only in New York for a visit. However, they are fully prepared to adopt. They already have a son, Will, but they want you two."

Lily looked at the twins with her soft brown eyes and smiled weakly. "You two are twins, right?"

The two nodded in unison.

"How old are you?"

"Nine," Irisa said.

"You two pack up everything you have…" Mrs. Wicken started.

The two gave her identical glares.

"Oh, right, your only property are your clothes. Well, you just wait while we file these forms, and then you're out of here."

"I told you," Irisa whispered in Nathan's ear.

Know that the world isn't ending

It's love that I'm sending

To you

Nathan made a face. He was still worried…

It's in the love of a hero

And that's why I fear

It won't do

The form signing went on for three hours, during which the good-byes were said. No one was really sad to see them go, for the twins were the most anti-social pair ever seen there.

Finally, it was done, and the twins were waved off.

"Get in," Thomas ordered, wrenching open the car door and gesturing inside. Both got in silently as Lily took her seat in the passenger side.

Thomas got in, slammed the car door, and sped off.

The drive lasted for hours, during which neither twin spoke. Orally, that is. They had taught themselves sign language when they were 7 years old and talked back and forth with their hands.

"Thomas, you took the wrong turn," Lily said.

"No, I didn't," Thomas said irritably.

After 5 minutes of being lost, Lily again said, "Thomas, I really think you took the wrong turn."

Thomas wrenched the car to the side of the road, jerking the twins from their seats even though they were buckled in. Savagely, Thomas grabbed Lily's chin and wrenched her face to face his. "If I say I didn't make the wrong turn, I didn't make the wrong turn," he snarled at her. "You got that?"

Lily nodded fearfully, and Thomas pushed her face away and started the car.

Irisa and Nathan looked at each other with shocked faces.

And what they'd seen was only the tip of the iceberg.

The car drove on, away from the orphanage and into a new chapter in the twins' lives.

And they're watching us

(Watching us)

Watch us as they all fly away

I've heard this song many times for an anti-android story, but the first as a pro-android story. Nice little twist of irony, ain't it? I shortened the end, hope no one minds.

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