Post by ADJLFanatic on Jan 17, 2008 20:20:23 GMT -5
AnATNupdateOMFG♥!
Man, you guys, I am so sorry if I haven't left an update in like, two months! :( I've either been swamped or just basically too lazy. But it's a good thing I actually devoted my time into working on ATN this time. I felt so bad after I realized people kept asking me if I was ever going to work on it again. I know you guys are just itching to figure out what is going to happen next.
But, first of all, I hope you're not like WOW excited about this being updated, because all of these events aren't neccesarily that important. The only one that is actually something to keep note of entirely is Kevin and Sarah's scene (if you don't know why, you'll see it coming up). The rest of the scenes will usually have minor occurences that are just there to get the story going along, but in just a sort of random way. There WILL BE, though, foreshadowing, as there are going to be hints dropping all over that are hidden (or just obviously right there) in people's scenes.
Since I don't want to spoil it, then you figure out which dialogues/paragraphs are the ones that have it. It could be ones you least except. If you bribe me, I COULD end up telling you. But otherwise, no exceptions. :) So anyway. I am really, really, REALLY cold right now and I swear my hands just died. It's as if I have to wear gloves in front of the computer until it gets hotter. Sheesh. Well, uh, have... fun? Told you I'd update todayyy. x]
• • •
“All Together Now”
Chapter Five
• • •
Man, you guys, I am so sorry if I haven't left an update in like, two months! :( I've either been swamped or just basically too lazy. But it's a good thing I actually devoted my time into working on ATN this time. I felt so bad after I realized people kept asking me if I was ever going to work on it again. I know you guys are just itching to figure out what is going to happen next.
But, first of all, I hope you're not like WOW excited about this being updated, because all of these events aren't neccesarily that important. The only one that is actually something to keep note of entirely is Kevin and Sarah's scene (if you don't know why, you'll see it coming up). The rest of the scenes will usually have minor occurences that are just there to get the story going along, but in just a sort of random way. There WILL BE, though, foreshadowing, as there are going to be hints dropping all over that are hidden (or just obviously right there) in people's scenes.
Since I don't want to spoil it, then you figure out which dialogues/paragraphs are the ones that have it. It could be ones you least except. If you bribe me, I COULD end up telling you. But otherwise, no exceptions. :) So anyway. I am really, really, REALLY cold right now and I swear my hands just died. It's as if I have to wear gloves in front of the computer until it gets hotter. Sheesh. Well, uh, have... fun? Told you I'd update todayyy. x]
• • •
“All Together Now”
Chapter Five
• • •
The morning blissfully began with the sun slowly rising above the horizon, warming the atmosphere and the citizens of the city with great intensity. Though the sky displayed an optimistic view, the surrounding area below it seemed to have expressed the complete opposite.
“This is terrible,” whispered Kay, staying close by Veronika as much as she could, trying her hardest not to represent any expression of fear that showed, “How could this have happened?”
“You know, I’m not exactly sure,” her pal replied, slowly, who seemed to have noticed the look of apprehension on Kay’s face.
At this time, it was no longer evening, just as it had been when Kay and Veronika first reunited. For some strange reason, Kay had a slight feeling in her gut that maybe it was her own fault for bringing the turmoil in the town. Though, there really was no explanation as to how if she was all the way in Kenya before winding up in Germany. Maybe she just let out a stressed feeling of guilt and blamed herself for one of the worst possible things that could ever happen with her around.
“Well, whoever (or whatever) could’ve caused it, then this person must have happened to like this entire block rather than the rest of the city...”
Kay and Veronika were currently in their dragon forms, soaring high above the air with their wings beating together so that they could both stay in sync. From what she had said and what they were now observing, she was clearly correct. Something looked amiss from midair; especially since the block where Veronika had worked was the only place with true, out-most damage. It might’ve spread to different parts of the town, but other than that, it wasn’t as severe as it had been around the area they had been in late last night.
Maybe somebody in that part of the neighborhood had been a particular person’s target? It was a possibility, but there were truly no leads at that point, so they had figured.
“Something’s definitely wrong with this picture,” agreed Veronika as they made a slightly sharp turn to their right, taking a detour back to where they first began investigating. Kay trailed slowly after her, as she seemed to have been rushing off rather quickly for some reason.
Once the tips of their feet had reached the ground, they gradually returned to their human forms from the tail up (their wings being the ones to have vanished last). Upon doing so, Veronika nearly stumbled when she had almost come in contact with a nearby street pole. A shocked look dawned upon her face, it seemed, but the expression faded quickly.
What seemed to be the true cause of her surprised look had been for the fact that the neighborhood had calmed down. And what had made this seem a bit peculiar in particular was the fact that it also seemed quite... empty. It had been odd, especially since there were all sorts of questions shooting out from one direction to another, more so ever with inquisitive, probable guesses on what could’ve possibly caused, quite simply, a huge gap in the middle of the street and nearly every possible terrible thing that could end up on there.
Kay and Veronika had already asked around earlier, and the closest they could get to a clue on the culprit of the ‘crime,’ was... basically nothing, apparently. It just so happened that at the time of the bang (or uh, boom), it seemed as though most of them had done the first thing that would’ve sparked a reaction; which was basically to look outside their windows, stop what they were doing, or anything along the lines of pausing to take a glance at where the entire ‘explosion’ had originated. Only, the strange part was, when certain people had made the action done so, it seemed to have just come at them, as if they blurred out for a moment and then they just saw the aftermath flash before their eyes.
It was odd, they thought, seeing as usually at least one person would be a witness to the scene. Veronika had also mentioned that when they were talking, nothing seemed to be interrupted by a brief pause in the time stream, or something along those lines. She had inferred that, possibly, it only seemed to take place with the people who quickly rushed over to see what had happened beforehand, seeing as they took that minute or two to freak out for a bit then looked out to take a glance at the calamity (or at least what it looked now).
“Isn’t it weird, though?” Kay started, after there had seemed to be dead silence, “It’s as if something like that just happened in thin air!”
Veronika came forward, nodding slowly in agreement, “I hear you! I wish we would’ve done the same as most of those people, then we could see for ourselves what it felt like; it’s like a sort of ‘sensation’ that seems to be too extremely difficult to explain.”
“Man, this whole thing is just bugging me so much. I wish we knew who did it, so we can get some action going on!”
“But, Kay, we don’t know for sure if it was even a someone who caused it; it could be something that just naturally brought it about.”
“Narrowing it down in an investigation could help us get some leads, probably?”
“Great idea!” exclaimed Kay, turning backwards so that she walking in the opposite direction. Veronika seemed to have frozen dead in her tracks, staring ahead at what her friend happened to not be seeing right before her eyes, “We could search every single inch of this neighborhood and maybe we could find what we- OUCH!”
She stopped, her eyes widening as she turned her head so that she facing the object (or, person) that she seemed to have bumped into. Kay’s jaw nearly dropped, as she eyed at the tall, fully concealed person that she had accidentally ran into, “Uh... I’m sorry...”
At that moment, Kay began to form a scared look on her face, taking the mysterious being’s dead silence as a bad sign, “Really, I didn’t mean it! You can just-” She was then interrupted by two quick swings by the person’s arms, which then tightly gripped around her neck, only not contracted so much as to cause her to lose oxygen and gasp for air.
“NO! Let me go!” then demanded Kay, grunting with full effort to release her grip from the two hands that were placed around her head and shoulders, as to prevent her from motioning a single step forward, “LET ME GO!!”
Veronika then felt that it was her time to take action, rushing over and then took Kay’s legs, making an attempt to free her best friend from the clutches of “evil.” But as they both might’ve predicted, her abductor, indeed, had not retorted or bothered to muster a word in reply. She figured that someone as strong as to not have a problem with grabbing her probably seemed a bit masculine, but she couldn’t tell for sure aside from height and strength (the mysterious person’s voice still wasn’t revealed, as he or she hadn’t bothered to say a single word just yet; maybe they’re waiting for the perfect moment to do so?). Once again, Kay tried to do the only thing she can do; struggle her way from his/her grasp in the best of her ability. She then realized that she hadn’t done what she should have earlier, shutting her eyes tightly and focusing on her dragon form. Veronika had released her grip from her legs.
“Well, why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Kay made a roll in her eyes before taking off into the sky and lunging down quickly to try and knock down her opponent. Apparently, though, it was the greatest idea that she could think of. Learning the hard way, she came down from the air and the still completely baffled ‘enemy’ had thrust both of their hands forward and gotten a good grip of Kay’s right ankle, in perfect timing, may I add. He threw her out into the direction where Veronika seemed to be making her subtle attempt to convert to her own dragon form, but was thrown backwards when Kay had been lunged directly at her. At that point, Kay groaned, having reverted back to her human form. She rubbed her head for a moment then got off, realizing that she was still on top of Veronika.
“Sorry about that,” She groused in revolt, helping her up. Then, she turned towards the person who seemed to still be standing firm.
“Hey!” Veronika called out, “Are YOU the one that caused all of this?!”
Kay looked at her with a slight glare, still receiving not a single response, “I surely didn’t think that’d work.”
“It was worth a try...”
Together, both of them decided to walk a bit closer, as to try and see if there are any other further actions from this ‘said person.’ Gradually, they had also altered themselves into their respective dragon forms. Veronika, a bit less patient than Kay, took off so that she could press on ahead of her com padre, ostensibly seeming to act even more irritated at the malevolent, still-silent figure for its apparent apathy. She had chosen the wrong idea, once again, the person’s hand held up high, and from there, it appeared that some sort of swirling vortex had come from their hands, leading her into a gateway of ‘another world,’ and she disappeared as quick as it seemed.
“Veronika!” Kay exclaimed, crouching down so that she was on all fours and then ambled forward as swiftly as she could. But, doing the same as they had done earlier, a maelstrom had formed at what seemed to be ‘out of thin air’ and she hadn’t been to stop herself from a speed so fast and Kay had ended up inside as well.
And with both of them gone, the figure had done the same.
• • •
The sound of footsteps had seemed to have (ironically) tapped rhythmically along the hard, tile floor as the sound began reverberating back and forth the wide, empty room. Her eyes filled with slight anticipation, but mostly anxiety, as she paced the floor slowly while she had no company around.
Sarah brought her hands together slowly, gazing at the ground below. It wasn’t long before the silence was gradually broken. Her head perked up once she heard another set of footsteps that followed after the sound of a creaking door slowly widening. It was Kevin, who she had been awaiting hours to arrive at her residence and was now finally there. She grinned, gasping a bit softly and she then made her way over to him fleetingly.
“You’re here!” She remarked with a listless look in her eyes, extending her arms to bring him in a tight embrace. When they let go, she shifted over to her left slightly, leaning her head just a bit below his shoulder.
“I’m LATE?” Kevin wondered, bringing his left arm a bit closer to him so that he could look at his ‘imaginary watch’ that was supposedly there, “Already? I swear I thought I was early.”
Sarah shifted a little so that she could look into his eyes, “Well, okay, to be honest, I guess I just sort of... missed you.”
“Really? It’s only been nearly an entire day-”
“Shut up!” She grinned, closing both of her eyes and letting out a soft giggle.
“Well, if you really did, then I would think that’d you look a bit more dressed ‘for the occasion,’ hmm?” Kevin eyed the pajamas she still had on.
Sarah could feel her face burning, as it probably turned a shade so dark red that you couldn’t even notice her natural skin color, “Oh, I... um, almost forgot.”
“...Almost?”
“Kevin!”
“Okay, okay. You didn’t hear it from me, then,” He shrugged a little.
“Fine with me. And I’ll only take a few minutes,” Sarah began to her rush up the stairs and dash towards her bedroom as she made her way through the hall. Before shutting the door, she managed to call out to him, “I promise!”
When it grew quiet, Kevin then seemed to have quickly shrugged off the previous ‘event’ that just took place for that moment in time, walking over to where a couch was and carefully took his seat.
But while he remained completely comfortable at the position he seemed to be in- and the chair he was lounging on- Kevin was unexpectedly startled by a loud thump followed by a sound of a crash (leading to multiple others including a sharp bang; there was also a few exclaims of pain, but I didn’t think I’d need to get to that.).
After that followed a shrill, piercing scream that could’ve come from the only person who was in the same house right now- Sarah.
“Sarah!? SARAH?” He seemed to have suddenly called out in panic, rushing up the stairs as fast as he could after everything the strange noises had concluded, “Are you okay?!”
Sarah seemed speechless for a while, only able to muster out any words that never existed in a dictionary. Basically, it’s like your everyday case of “stuttering when you don’t know what to say.” Only this one seemed to have had a different more particular reason.
“Are you okay?!” He exclaimed again, this time, knocking a couple few of times against her bedroom door, “C-Can I get a yes... or even a no at least?”
Quickly, she dashed over, used one finger to press the lock, and leaned her back against the door. Sarah slowly slid down until she was in a sitting position with her legs drawn in close to her. She seemed to be looking down at herself, holding her hands in front of her, “Nothing is wrong! I swear!”
“You know, you can tell me if it’s-”
“Fine! It’s... it’s... THIS!”
From behind the door, Kevin could hear the tone of her voice being muffled, as if though she had now hid her face in her hands. He leaned his head sideways, pressing one ear against the door, “Um, you know, I won’t know what ‘this’ is if you don’t tell me what it is, exactly...”
“...You promise you won’t laugh?” She asked in a nearly whimpering tone, her voice still completely suppressed.
“Why would I do that?” He wondered, a bit too dazed to realize that the sound of a knob was turning and a door creaking, “I mean, I don’t think I’d really do that to someone like you- WHOA!”
She hung her head a bit low. What now stood (or seemed to actually be slightly towering) before Kevin was not the same Sarah that he seemed to have recognized, but instead, it seemed to be a... dragon? Well, there’s something a bit undiscovered and completely indistinct right there.
“I-I know what you’re going to say; that I’m some completely idiotic looking-”
Kevin interrupted her, still gazing a bit blankly at her now dark green figure, “No! It’s not that! I’m just a bit shocked, you know? Especially since you look... completely different.”
“I know. But the problem is, I don’t even know what happened; it was so... sudden,” Sarah turned away, then stepping over slowly to take a seat on her bed. Gradually, Kevin followed and sat beside her, which had come to be both a bit of a surprise to her, but at the same time, not exactly.
“Well, um... for starters, do you even know what your current form truly is?”
Sarah shook her head, a slightly skeptical look on her face.
“Then, it looks like I’ve got a bit of explaining to do...”
• • •
Uneasily, Florence paced the floor, just right next to where her bed was situated. She stared over the window with a somewhat heavy heart, which she noticed had seemed to have a dim ray of sunlight barely streaming its way in through the room.
“Shade,” She whispered softly, “Where are you?”
Tightly, she placed her hand on the knob and slowly turned it, slipping through the creak then shutting the door behind her. At first, she had decided to scan the area to see if he was just somewhere nearby, only to realize that he wasn’t. Florence seemed to have shrugged off the idea she just thought of and made her way down the stairs.
And as she did, it felt as if she had eventually begun to drift herself from reality, which started once her feet touched the ground below. She thought she was dreaming- but really, was she? It felt like one, considering how her surroundings seemed to have changed since she first stepped down from the staircase.
Florence immediately shut her eyes, rubbing them intensely but found it no use once she noticed that what she saw hadn’t changed the slightest bit. The area around here seemed to be familiar, but at the same time, extremely new to her; it had been nearly unexplainable to even try to comprehend.
But whatever it had been, whether this was real or not, that Florence would just rather skip through things and get everything back to the way it was. She realized, though, that it was best to just "play along with it," at least for now. Who can’t blame a little imagining?
She gasped slowly, after having to have spotted an awfully familiar “face”; that same dragon she seemed to have seen that day just earlier. Only now, she was able to observe her surroundings better than earlier when she was nearly close to dying, even, but let’s not think about that possible outcome.
“Uh,” Her eyes focused on that same creature, watching as it swayed around her in the same circular motion (its constant gliding practically made her dizzy), “Who... are you?”
At first, Florence felt a bit stupid to be asking that sort of question to someone that either doesn’t speak English at all, or just isn’t human... in any way, shape, or form, that is. Sure, there have been countless amounts of dragons that she’s seen dozens of times (even before she knew Shade was one, obviously) and something about this one just seemed to have captivated her in a different way.
“Hey!” She called out in a shocked tone, glancing swiftly from one direction to another, as to try and keep up with the suspending ‘dragon’ that now stood right there. As quick as a blink of an eye, though, it flew off fleetingly before she could even get her hands on it. As she tried to run, though, she then realized that she, herself, had begun to float in the air. It had come to much of a surprise to her, especially since she had no dragon wings herself to be able to do it.
It had now became clear to her that this dragon wanted her to follow her, so she dashed (or better yet, glided) after it. “Come back, please!” Florence exclaimed to it, once again, as if she had been speaking to a stray dog that was so timid that it hadn’t wanted anything to do with humans.
“Come back! Come back!” She repeatedly shouted, practically reaching both of her arms out to see if she could even grab a hold of its long, loosely moving tail that ended up being the one that suspended close to her. But as she was so close as to even actually be able to catch a grip of it, though, she seemed to have missed (even though it seemed impossible to actually have done so). Instead, her arms flailed around and seemed to have collided into something else- or someone else; Shade, “Ack!”
“Shade?!” She gasped, a single hand shooting to her mouth afterwards, leaving her free hand to help him up, “T-There you are!”
“...Huh? What do you mean?” Shade wondered a bit dizzily with his head tilting slightly with confusion, as he was being helped upwards by Florence, “I’ve kind of... been here for a while. Maybe not exactly, but I was around this area; I was on my way back and I saw you here, though.”
“Well, that’s odd,” Florence glanced downwards, still a bit mortified but now mostly puzzled.
Shade crossed his arms, letting out a soft sigh, “Let me guess, something else funky happened this time?”
She nodded in a somewhat dazed manner, “It always feels like I’m imagining things or something, and I haven’t a single clue why. First there was earlier with the whole ‘drowning and seeing a dragon underwater’ thing, now there was me ending up doing it again!- only this time, I’m on ‘land.’ I mean, I haven’t seen you running into any strange encounters anytime yet.”
“...Y-Yeah,” Shade mustered nervously, nearly laughing too much to try and hide his inner feelings, or thoughts, “I, um... uh, guess not.”
At first, Florence eyed him a bit bizarrely, but went back to her wondering once again, “It’s either I’m hallucinating due to lack of sleep, or maybe then, that could also mean there’s something obvious staring right at me in the face and I can’t see it!”
“Well, how about we take your mind off this and we can keep you awake? Maybe then I could prove to you that you need to CALM THE HECK DOWN?”
“Sure, anything that could stop you from doing that,” She giggled softly, as she stared at him, who grinned widely in an obvious and somewhat awkward way to make her laugh, which seemed to have worked, apparently.
(A/N: That’s how most of my dorky guy friends cheer me up; well, my close ones.)
Both of them hadn’t come to pay much attention to where they were going nor what their surroundings had been at that point in time. When they seemed to have finally came to their senses, though, they realized that they ended up at the beach again- when do you ever not?
Shade’s face broke into a smile, as if a light bulb that needed to go off in his head a long time ago had finally done so. First, he glanced over at Florence but then after a second, he seemed to have run past her.
“Hey, Florence!” He exclaimed, making a huge leap and diving straight in the ocean, but not exactly too far (even though Shade knew he could).
Florence was a bit surprised by this, running and taking a pause once she reached the shallow area where the tide was crashing the shore softly; it seemed to be slowing down at this time. She backed away a little and leaned over what seemed to look to be a lifeguard’s post. “You’re crazy, waterbug!” She laughed, smiling amusingly once she saw him come up from the water a little.
“And so late, but I brought food, a few little candles. I’m good for a beach-side picnic, what do you say?- I even had someone make desserts. But first, I dare you to jump in the water.”
“But you never promised a date anyway. And you know perfectly well that neither of us haven’t had any sleep yet. Can’t we just, you know, pick this up tomorrow? Or at least when we’re not so tired?”
He crossed his arms, apparently not taking her explained response as an answer, “We haven’t done anything like this today, and I spent so much time making it perfect.”
“Shade, we have the whole summer to do ‘anything like this’!”
“Come on, please? For me? Can’t you spare at least some time for your boyfriend?”
“Really, it’s getting late and...”
“You seriously can’t take five minutes off your bedtime? We have the whole day to sleep our days away! And I see it in your eyes; you know you want to!”
Florence laughed, letting out a soft sigh. She was quickly convinced that she can only admit defeat, “Well, if you say so. Here I come, then!”
She began to dash quickly and leaping into the ocean, making her way next to Shade once she was underneath the water. She then smiled, gazing over at his direction.
“Thanks for coming,” He grinned with even more please, knowing that his ’work’ was now done, “Follow me!”
Shade took a deep breath then lowered his head so that he was now fully underneath the water. Florence slowly followed and did the same. At first, she shut her eyes and made no attempt to open them (in any fear that maybe something bad might happen, just as it did this morning), until Shade tapped her gently and she saw him looking at her with a hopeful, reassuring look.
Slowly, Florence then saw Shade dash off quickly and she made her attempts to keep up with him. She watched him descend below the water in a deeper depth and Shade slowed his speed so that they could have an easier time proceeding through side-by-side. Eventually, both of them ended up catching a perfect moment to take a glance at one another.
Florence made a finger that pointed to the surface, signaling Shade that they should try to catch their breath now. He understood right away, and she went on ahead of him, pushing her hands in front of her so that she could move faster (for a moment, she even thought she was ‘flying,’ if you catch my drift). They then made their way up, and both of them caught their breaths after inhaling deeply.
What had been such a surprise to both of them was, it was not only sunrise, but it was being accompanied by a slight shower with only a few dark, gray clouds surrounding the blue sky. Beyond the horizon, they could spot a bright, vibrant rainbow that was beginning to form across the atmosphere.