Fan Fiction ❯ Rememberance ❯ Bright Shiny Lights ( Chapter 1 )

The book fell from her rigid fingers and clattered to the floor, pages bending and ripping forever tainting the item. It was so obvious it seemed stupid. As she regained her senses, she broke into a run out the front door and sped down the front steps, leaping over most of them. Tires screeched as she ran into the dirt streets without a second glance, she jumped back a few feet to make sure the vehicle didn’t hit her. To her surprise, the person driving was the one who owned the home she had just exited. They had turned her away the night before and, none too kindly. The driver’s eyes widened as he put the pieces together in his head. He realized the girl had broken into his home.

“Jon!” he said loudly. Instantly, his son threw open the door of the car and stepped out. The girl had no time for confrontation and broke into a run. She ran into an alley with Jon in hot pursuit. Halfway down the narrow alley she realized there was a large wooden fence blocking her way. Reaching the barrier she ran up and over as fast as she could, grasping the top ledge with her hands and vaulting herself over. She dropped onto a pile of trash bags and kept running. She heard a loud thud on the wooden fence behind her and knew that the boy was still in pursuit. She dashed from the other end of the alley into a small street with only one car in sight, right next to her destination. Recognizing this car as well, she prayed it wasn’t too late. Pushing open the large wooden doors of the church she stepped inside and let them swing shut behind her. With shoulders raised she walked down the aisle, observing the few scattered people sitting in the rows of benches. Some were praying, some reading, and she knew at least one other was there for the same reason as she. A priest walked forward with a red velvet pillow covered by a black satin cloth draped over a shape in the middle. The girl’s eyes lingered on the pillow until she remembered there was another here waiting for that object. She glanced around looking for anyone suspicious, unfortunately she never had the chance to look at the driver of the car. She still knew it wasn’t just a coincidence that she had seen it so many times in the past few weeks. The priest placed the pillow into a glass case that stood at the end of the aisle locking it with a skeleton key that he had hanging around his neck. Bowing with his eyes shut for a moment, no doubt praying, he finally left the room. At that moment she decided to make her move. The doors behind her burst open and a force like a gust of wind washed through the church. She looked back and noticed it was her pursuer, Jon, standing in the doorway. His eyes instantly fell on her, and he advanced toward her with a snarl crossing his face. She was out of time, she needed to grab it and get the hell out of here before somebody else got a hold of it. Ignoring the boy once again, she pulled up her right sleeve bearing her arm and a silver bracelet with a large, unique red gem centered on it. Bordering the gem was a design of barbed wire and roses. Turning from the boy she ran down the aisle, noticing someone in the corner of her eye, she looked over her shoulder. A young boy was jumping from bench to bench toward the glass box, his eyes glancing quickly at Jon then back to the glass case. He was close, so close he could almost touch it. She knew she wouldn’t reach it in time, he was moving too fast. Turning her bracelet to a small light blue gem she placed her finger on it and then pulled her hand away from it quickly. She thrust her open hand outward, palm facing the leaping boy. A large gust of wind came from her hand knocking the boy out of place just a moment before he reached the box. He was pushed to the wall of the church and hit it so hard it knocked the air from his lungs. The pedestal holding the pillow wobbled slightly under the force of the wind. Dropping to his knees, the young boy looked up to see that the girl had run forward. She pushed from the ground and spun through the air, kicking the glass prison around the pillow it shattered into thousands of pieces. Those who hadn’t looked up at the boy while he was being pushed into the church wall were watching now. The girl reached into the mess of glass and wrapped her hand around the clump under the black satin sheet and turned to run back down the aisle. Instead, Jon was standing there with his fists clenched; she eyed the brass knuckles now adorning his fingers. He tilted his neck from side to side to let the joints pop loudly. The few churchgoers in the room had shuffled off to the sides of the room whispering to each other as they watched, wondering what was going to happen. Her hand was throbbing as blood dripped from the satin cloth sticking out from between her fingers. Small pieces of glass fell to kiss the soft carpet of the church without a sound. The boy at the side of the church slowly got to his feet and rolled his shoulders, releasing the kinks from her attack. He pushed the red hair that had fallen in his face back, tucking it behind his ears. He glared at her and slowly walked forward. Inhaling deeply, she exhaled with a grunt. As both boys began to run at her, she turned and ran through the closest door leading her to the staircase that led up to the bell tower. She ran up in circles followed closely by the boys. Jon didn’t care about what her new possession, all he wanted was for her to pay for disrespecting his father and his home. The other boy wanted nothing more than the object in her hand, and couldn’t care less what happened to her. Making it to the top, she looked out the small portal and could tell this would be a painful drop. Shoving the object into her pocket she leapt from the building, doing her best to land in the bushes below. She managed to do so with numerous cracks and snaps, leaving a large dent in the top of the bushes. Pulling herself to her feet, she stumbled from the foliage. Looking back up from where she had jumped, she could see the two boys looking down at her contemplating their next move.
She darted off down the street and made a sharp right, almost running into an elderly man and his wife. They backed up with startled gasps but she kept running without a word. Spying a large red building in the distance she smiled as she saw the wooden staircase that led to the roof. Apparently there was work being done on the building and the steps had been quickly erected for easy and quick access to the problem and their tools. As she ran up the steps, they shook under her footsteps and the workers all looked at her, attempting to tell her to leave. She simply ignored them and walked to a shaded part of the roof. She was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, all she wanted was to bathe and drink something cold. Releasing her tight grip on the object in hand, she let it drop from her bloody right hand to her clean left one, the satin cloth falling to the floor of the roof forgotten. She lifted the object to the light, letting it sit between her thumb and forefinger. Twisting and turning the object, it glistened in the sunlight as she smiled broadly. Pulling up her sleeve a little more, she turned her bracelet around until she came to a design of two dragons facing each other. Both were belching clouds of fire, and in the center of the fire was a large dent, she placed the black gem into the slot of her bracelet. Instantly, there was a bright flash of light and the wind began to stir around her like a tornado and thunder could be heard. The sunlight disappeared and she could hear nothing but the howling of the wind. A large pain jolted up her arm and throughout her body. She clenched her teeth and grasped her left wrist tightly with her blood soaked hand. Another jolt of pain followed by another and another until it was just continuous pain, nothing but pain. Her ears rang harshly and her eyes blurred and rolled. The pupils of her eyes constricting and contracting, until they had changed to a shape similar to a cat’s, but horizontal. The colour of her eyes changing to a deep maroon with leopard spots of black. “This wasn’t what I expected,” she thought, “this wasn’t supposed to happen.” She felt her teeth get sharper and her nails get thicker and longer. Her vision cleared and her ears stopped ringing, everything seemed to return to normal. Unable to move she breathed heavily, her hand still clenching her wrist. Her eyes rolled back and she passed out.~>~
Tiffany sat straight up, the covers falling from her chest to her lap, her messy bed hair falling over her shoulders. She peered at the window as the bright light dispersed. She shook her head and blinked, looking back at the window. “What the fuck…” she muttered to the night. Concerned she jumped from bed and turned to shake the body still rolled up in the covers. “Hey get up! Something is going on!” she said in a hushed voice. It was too quiet to speak loudly; it would only cause a headache. All he did was grunt and roll over, digging his head into the pillow ignoring the nagging woman. She scoffed and walked over to his side of the bed, trying to be careful not to trip on the scattered clothes and shoes. She raised her hand and smacked him hard up the back of his head. His eyes shot open and he glared up at her.

“What!” he asked annoyed. “There’s something on the roof! I saw a bright light, something’s wrong.” He rolled his eyes and sat up shaking his head of sleep and blinking until his eyes were used to the darkness that engulfed the room.

“Are you positive you weren’t dreaming Tiff?” The girl in question folded her arms and looked down at him.

“P.J. I am positive it wasn’t a dream.” Knowing if he didn’t check it out he’d never hear the end of it, he reluctantly put on his sweat pants and a random t-shirt, which ended up being inside out, but he didn’t care. Running his hand through his hair he got to his feet and slipped his right foot into his closest sneaker and his left foot into his closest slipper. Walking slowly from the room he grabbed a flashlight and flipped it on, turning to face Tiffany he shined the light in her face.

“Knock it off!” she exclaimed lifting her hand in front of her eyes blocking the light. He chuckled and headed for the door to the hall.

“You’re going to join me right? You are the one who saw the light,” he said waving his hands in the air, the door clicked open and he stepped into the hall, followed shortly after by Tiff, who made sure to grab the apartment keys. “Now why am I going up here, shouldn’t we call the landlord or Area 51 or something?” Tiff just nudged him and smiled. At least he was in a decent mood considering the time, not many people were happy being woken up at 3:45 in the morning. They walked up the stairwell and made it to the roof. Slowly, P.J. pushed open the door and shone the light out to check for large birds, killers or unidentified flying objects of any sort. He walked carefully out onto the gravel-strewn roof and searched for anything out of place. Tiffany followed closely behind, propping open the door with a large rock. She scurried up to P.J. and looked around for anything suspicious.

“I know I saw something, I’m not insane.” She said as she walked forward, looking around as best she could in the low light. She heard something move and almost jumped out of her skin.P.J. walked over to her when she started waving at him to come, she placed a finger to her lips and pointed to a lump in the corner of the rooftop. He shone the light over in its direction, realizing quickly it was a body. There was blood on its hands and wrists. Now worried it was some suicidal teen he shoved the light into Tiffs hands and jogged forward, slowing his pace as he got closer. Once next to the person he crouched down, wondering if he should touch the body and try to help, he reached out but retracted his hands at the last second. If this was some sort of body, he didn’t want to touch it and be linked to it somehow, becoming a possible suspect. Busy trying to make up his mind P.J. just stared at the lump, whoever it was still seemed to be breathing from the noise he heard.

“Hey… wake up. Are you alright?” he grabbed the person’s shoulder and rolled them over onto their back. He noticed from the figure the person was female, and still breathing. Her right hand flopped onto his lap in a very uncomfortable place. He stepped back letting her hand fall to the floor. He looked down and noticed that there was now a large bloodstain on his crotch.

“Aw shit!” this isn’t what he wanted. He’d have to burn the pants now; it seemed the most logical thing to do after watching so many episodes of CSI.
The girl on the ground moaned and her face tightened up, finally her eyes opened and she spoke with a scratched voice.

“What happened?” she asked looking at the silhouette next to her. What was that pain? Where’d all of the wind and workers go? Why was it nighttime? “I’m not sure, my girlfriend saw some weird light and told me to check it out.” The bloody girl knew exactly what light he spoke of; she had seen it too, before the pain started. Lying on her back, she stared up at the twinkling stars.

“Where am I?” noticing this place was indeed different than the place she had run to.

“The government still hasn’t renamed this place yet. It used to be Seattle though.” The girl looked over to the boy and furrowed her brow.

“Used to be Seattle? As in past tense?” The boy nodded and cleared his throat.

“Perhaps you’d tell me why you’re up here?”

The girl sighed, “It’s a long story, and I’m not in a story telling mood. I have to figure out what happened. Thanks for the help and all, but go away.”~<~ Tiff kept her distance, she had seen her share of dead bodies and wasn’t in the mood to see another one. Then she could hear a distant muffled conversation and was relieved to know whoever it was wasn’t dead. It still didn’t explain the bright light she had seen though. She walked a little closer, hoping everything was ok and wondering if they’d need to run this person to the hospital. She noticed that P.J. was getting to his feet; he began to walk over to her. She didn’t fail to notice the fresh stain on his pants. “I think we should get her some help, she asked me what year it was… when I told her she started muttering to herself about time travel and stuff. I think she’s either insane or stoned.”

Tiff shone the light on P.J.’s crotch “And what’s that all about?”

“Oh, well, her right hand is covered in blood and glass. When I rolled her over it flopped onto my pants.”

Tiff nodded her head. “Did you get a name or something?” P.J. closed his eyes and exhaled, how could he not ask that of all questions. “Lets bring her to the apartment and see if we should call someone.” Tiff wasn’t too fond of the idea but agreed anyways. She walked over to the girl who had once again fallen unconscious. P.J. crouched down and gingerly lifted the girl, trying to keep her as comfortable as possible.
Tiff held the doors open as they made their way back to the apartment, she also laid some towels over her couch before they put the girl down, not wanting it to get stained with blood or dirt or whatever else the girl may be caked in. P.J. put her down lightly and then stood there examining her, she had oddly long nails and just a strange feel in general. Tiff noticed it too but said nothing. She instead grabbed a bottle of water and some Tylenol for their newfound friend.~>~ Travis decided to jump from the church, but he didn’t aim for the foliage, that would just slow him down. He landed in the middle of the dirt street leaving a small crater where he stood. Taking off with amazing speed he saw the girl run up the side of a building on some rickety wooden steps. Construction workers were yelling and arguing, but apparently she didn’t feel like listening, he followed swiftly, Soon after the girl had reached the roof Travis reached the bottom of the steps. Wasting no time he dashed up the stairs, one snapping beneath his feet. He watched as the girl dropped the gem into her hand, no doubt planning to put it to use. Running as fast as he could, he ran up behind the girl before she shoved the gem into her bracelet. There was a blinding flash of light and he recoiled, closing his eyes. The wind picked up blowing his hair and jacket every which way. The girl fell to her knees clutching her arm, obviously in pain. She moaned loudly through clenched teeth and he noticed her nails grow longer, he knew she was changing. Into what exactly, he didn’t know. The wind died and his surroundings came back into view. It was night and everything was different. The construction site was gone; the roof was different, worn down as if it were an old building. He caught the girl as she fell backward, not wanting her to get hurt even more. He strode over to the edge of the building and peered down. There were lights in the streets that certainly weren’t there moments ago; the street was no longer dirt. And his favorite tavern was no longer there, instead it was some place called “Hooters.” “What in the world?” Deciding to figure out this situation later he walked back to the girl and eyed the bracelet. The gem was still there, shining in the moon and starlight in all of its glory. Travis unclasped the bulky bracelet from her wrist and pocketed it. “It’s for your own good,” he said softly, knowing they were now somewhere completely different than before and they both knew nothing of this place. He heard a door creak open from across the roof, a beam of light shot out from the door followed by a man holding a small flashlight. Never had Travis seen such strong light flow from a man made device like that. But he had no time to admire the item; he immediately leaped from the ledge of the roof to the building next-door and crouched down, wondering what these people would be like. He watched for a while, the man had brought an accomplice with him, a female. He watched as the man nervously rearranged the injured girl and spoke with her. Though he only had one useful eye, it was sharp and he could see everything clearer than he could when he had both of his eyes. In the end the male conversed with the female he had brought along, then they took the girl inside. Travis wondered if he should follow, he too wanted to question the girl, wondering if since he had taken the gem away from her perhaps she transformed back to normal. He’d have to sneak in later or come up with some sort of plan. Until then he decided to take a nap beneath the stars.~<~ She sat quickly upright, right hand throbbing and her entire body sore. She looked around the dimly lit place with keen eyes. Her vision was sharper; she could see small details as if it were daylight. It had taken her a moment to remember why she had changed, why her hand was throbbing and why she was in some strange location, which seemed completely alien to her. Swinging her legs around the edge of the couch she dug her elbows into her knees and rested her face in the palms of her hands, thinking. She tried to remember the conversation with the man who had found her, she only knew they spoke because she remembered everything but the words. He had said something about Seattle; it had changed drastically or something along those lines. She decided to drop it for now and think about it once she was feeling better. Lifting her head she could see the dried blood that caked her hand and the sparkling pieces of glass that were too small to grab and yank out, yet still caused enough pain to make one wince.
She got to her feet raising her arms above her head and stretching out her back. She looked up at her fingers that were intertwined and noticed something was horribly wrong. Where was her bracelet? Both angry and frightened she turned and tore off the towels that protected the couch, and then pulled the couch cushions from their resting place. They flopped behind her onto the floor in muffled thuds. She looked and saw nothing that resembled her precious bracelet. She turned and walked down the small hallway; opening one of the doors she saw a small bathroom that was very clean, as if it was hardly ever used. She opened the next door down the hall, just a small closet filled with towels and toilet paper. She came to the final door in the hall and opened it, making no attempt at stealth. She saw two bodies in the bed that sat against the opposite wall. They were both breathing steadily and she could hear the female snoring slightly when she exhaled. Walking towards the bed she raised her hands and sent them crashing down onto the bed, grabbing the ankles of the inhabitants who jumped up startled. Tiffany had gasped and on reflex pulled her foot away and flicked on the bedside lamp. P.J. just sat up wondering why Tiff was waking him up again. “Where is it?” she asked in an eerie voice. Both P.J. and Tiffany had no clue what she spoke of.

“Where’s… what?” asked Tiff getting angry at the idea that the girl they had saved would act so rude. The girl swung her eyes over to Tiffany and enjoyed the look of shock and confusion that filled her eyes. Tiffany stared into the girls eyes, wondering why they were so, strange. She zoned out, enraptured by these amazing eyes. It was all new to the girl at the foot of the bed; she could hear exactly what Tiffany was thinking. She was worried that she’d kill them both, and wondered what she was asking for, they had done nothing but put her on the couch for the night. The girl looked away from Tiffany and instantly she snapped back to reality. This time she decided to try her little trick on the man of the house. She looked into his eyes, but to her dismay couldn’t hear anything. She scratched her head and ran a clawed hand over her face. “My bracelet where is it?” she said directing her question to the man, he merely shrugged.

“We didn’t take anything from you, believe me Tiff has more than enough jewelry.” Tiff nudged him then folded her arms, her mood dropping at a rapid pace.

“You’re saying you found me without a large, thick silver bracelet that was engraved with numerous designs and had several different gems of size and colour?” The couple shook their head in sync with each other.

“Sorry, perhaps you dropped it on the roof?” Suggested Tiffany with a small smile, trying to be a nice hostess, or hostage. The girl pondered the thought; these people seemed to be telling the truth. Perhaps during whatever it was that brought her here the bracelet had slipped from her wrist. “Show me how to get to the roof.” She demanded. The couple sat there, waiting for the other to get up from the bed. Tiff glanced over at P.J., and then kicked him hard in the shin. He took the hint and got up from the bed, slipping on his sneaker and slipper again, he led the way to the rooftop.~>~ Travis had slept rather soundly for someone with a million small rocks digging into their skin all night long, the city had changed, but how much he did not know. He did not know that World War III had ended only four years prior to his arrival. It was all thanks to a man in Seattle; he was the richest man in the world. Volunteering to pay for planes, weapons and other such necessities for the military. Most of the world had turned on the US and the US fought back proudly, with amazing force. Terrorist attacks were common in the States during this era, New York, L.A., Seattle, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Washington D.C. were just a few of the cities that were attacked constantly. They had become rubble, monuments had fallen, including the famed space needle which was blown in half by terrorists in the elevators packing enough explosives to level a ten story building. How they got past security you may wonder, it was rather easy when the guards were dead. The attacks continued, killing thousands upon thousands. Eventually civilians began to take matters into their own hands, including those who at first were against the war. Towns where firearms were still legal in homes and workplaces were much better off than those that had made them illegal. Men, women and children all had to do what they could to survive. As time passed and other world leaders were assassinated by the US, bombings stopped and finally came to an end. Countries that were our allies all flocked to help rebuild the country. The new leaders of the previously opposing countries had sent as much help as they could; yet kept a lot to rebuild their own homes. Piece by piece the country was rebuilt and whole again. Fallen monuments were left and the many bodies of victims were cremated and their ashes scattered into the blue ocean. Most of what was Seattle had been rebuilt, not like it had been before, just a lot of apartment buildings for families and people who needed homes. That’s all the government was building, were buildings for homes, the ‘stores’ and other luxuries like restaurants and bars would have to be rebuilt by the citizens of the town. But Travis was oblivious to all of this; he just slept peacefully on the roof cradling the bracelet against his chest, his red hair blowing softly over his face in the breeze. A door slammed, echoing and awaking the slumbering boy. He pushed himself up onto his knees and pushed back the hair that had fallen in front of the right side of his face. He always had his hair covering his left eye; he didn’t want anybody to see the clouded, dysfunctional sphere. He was blind in his left eye and didn’t need anyone but himself knowing it. It was his weakness, his only weakness. His eyes darted to the roof he had been on the night before with the girl, he saw the girl and the man walking around. The man pointed over to the corner where he found her, Travis knew she was looking for the bracelet and his hands instantly clenched on the item.~<~ She ran over to the corner of the roof, dropping to her knees and checking every spot. She ran her hands over the gravel, wondering if there was a little crevice her bracelet may have fallen into then covered with rocks as the wind blew. She knew she was just being ridiculous, the bracelet was gone. She doubted it was destroyed when she came here but she also wasn’t conscious at the time and anything could’ve happened. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in rage then slammed them down into the gravel. She immediately regretted her decision feeling her right hand sting in pain all over. She hissed and got back to her feet, carefully cradling her right hand close to her chest.

“Its not here. I need ice.” P.J. nodded and held the door open for the girl, she slipped through without a word and they walked back to the apartment in awkward silence. The scent of bacon and eggs was light in the air, making their mouths water. When they opened the apartment door they were greeted with a warm wave of air smothered with the scent of a steamy breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon. The girl ran quickly to the kitchen and took a seat at the table, forgetting the pain in her bleeding hand. She scooped up the fork and knife and sat there staring at the plate as Tiffany walked it over. The girl wondered if she was purposely walking slowly or if she was just being impatient. It didn’t matter though, the second the plate hit the table she began to scarf down her meal with delight. P.J. stared at the girl with amusement; he had never seen anybody eat like that, except in the occasional movie. He grabbed his own plate and sat down across from the girl who was currently gulping down her share of the orange juice. “Do you want something to wrap your hand in? Or maybe you’d like to shower?” Tiffany offered as she sat down glancing towards the girl. She looked down to her arm and noticed the mini rivers of blood running slowly down her skin.

“Oh man, I forgot about that it doesn’t hurt anymore,” she said surprised, wondering if she had made a piece of glass go too deep in her skin hitting a nerve or something. She nudged her hand, knowing she should’ve felt some sort of pain, she could still see the glass shards twinkling up at her, reflecting the lights of the kitchen. Clicking her jaw together she looked back and forth, but wasn’t concentrating on the room but thinking of why she couldn’t feel the glass in her hand anymore. She grasped her hand firmly with her left hand and shook it violently, Tiffany gasped and P.J. stiffened waiting for the girl to burst out in a cry of pain. Instead the girl began to giggle, hoping what she was thinking was true. She grabbed her fork from the table, lifted it above her head ignoring the worried faces of the couple. She brought the fork, prongs faced down, towards her thigh with great speed. A small fountain of blood emerged after it forced its way through her thin pants then her skin. The girl looked down at her leg then jumped up to her feet, her chair falling backward with a loud crash as it hit the ground. The girl pulled the fork from her leg and tossed it into the sink. “I can’t fucking believe it… I can’t feel pain.” ~>~w00t! Chappie one all done. Hope you enjoyed it! More to come asap ^.^Edited by Migz ^.^ (Stina/Ansem is on vacation… Jerk >.>)
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