Kingdom Hearts: Shattered Bonds & Broken Hearts (Athene & East)

LadyAthene

LadyAthene

Supernova
Joined
May 12, 2015
Location
West Coast, USA

16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Medgar Evers College
15:28 PM EST

"I'm very disappointed in a lot of you. This exam was by far one of the easier ones. We went over each and every single answer to these. Particularly which king not only sponsored, but encouraged, the British to sail off and eventually land in what is now known as Jamestown. King. James. The. First!"

A frustrated hand slammed down hard on the wooden desk beside him. The figure in question was nineteen-year-old Shania Young's Advanced American History teacher. As much as she enjoyed him and his classes ... gestures like that were ones she could do without. Granted, she knew and understood it wasn't directed at her. Unfortunately, it had succeeded in making the young woman jump slightly.

"Thankfully," the instructor stated, "There were some of you who proved you have been paying attention."

Even though he had omitted names, almost every head turned and looked back at Shania, who promptly covered her paper. They weren't wrong, and a few noted the red "100" in the upper right corner of her test.

"Of fucking course," one of the students sneered, "Go figure the fucking red skin would know that kind of shit."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you dare forget you're in my class! I'm not tolerating you to speak to anyone in such a manner!"

"Of course you'd protect Lil Miss Shania. She's your perfect pet, after all."

Crimson began to paint her face as she lowered her head, biting firmly on her lower lip to restrain herself. By now, the instructor's face was already beginning to turn red also; but instead of being fueled by embarrassment, it was rage. "If you wanna be able to successfully pull off the 'high and mighty' kind of mindset with me, step one would be not half-assing your exams like most of you have been doing. Now .... really. Last I checked, I was supposed to be teaching eighteen to nineteen year old young adults, not brats ten years younger. Act your damn ages."

Right as three thirty rolled around, the bell rang, but not before the teacher quickly rose a hand.

"Nu-uh. I dismiss you all, not the bell. Sit down .... all of you. The sooner you write your homework down, the quicker you can leave for the day." To help prove his point, he stayed silent. Anyone who attempted to move to the lone door leading out of the classroom would have it blocked by their own professor. Finally, the rebellious attempts and attitudes ceased after a good minute and a half of protesting.

"There. Now ... everyone will have to do this, regardless of how well or poorly they did. So you can debunk that foolish theory that I have 'favorites' here. I expect an essay on why the founding of Jamestown was so significant. It must be a minimum of five pages."

A chorus of groans rang out, but the instructor refused to change his mind.

"Considering I should make it ten with how many of you failed this exam, be glad I'm offering some lenience. These essays are due next on Monday the twenty-second. No excuses. That's almost a whole week to get this done. Now you all are dismissed."

Everyone practically ran out, looking and acting as if they'd just gotten a physical beating rather than being assigned something relatively simple like a paper. Shania was, as almost always, one of the last pupils to leave. Before she exited, a hand gently fell atop her shoulders.

"I'm sorry for their behavior. Pay them no heed, though. It's not your fault you actually care. In fact ... I respect and appreciate that you come here and give me your complete and undivided attention."

A weak smile crossed Shania's face as she bowed her head politely, "Oh, it's ... no problem. Really, it isn't. History's always been one of my favorite classes. We often forget our roots. It's a bit of a shame."

"Indeed, it is. And that's why I take the 'tough love' approach with everyone. Try to, anyway. What's the point of me teaching any of this if no one's going to take this seriously? At least I have you and a few others giving me hope. Anyway ... enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. Know that no matter what they try to say, you'll have my support."

"Thank you, Mister Thompson. That really does mean a lot to me."

Offering her teacher one final bow of her head, she turned and exited the doors of Medgar Evers College, beginning the slow and steady walk back to her efficiency. Thankfully, no one had been waiting for her like Shania half-expected. Good. She didn't want trouble, for one. But more importantly - point number two - she actually had a decent idea on how to begin with her history assignment. And even if it wasn't due for six days, she wanted to get a head start on it. This way, she could focus and knock out her other tasks that needed to be done.

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16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: A small efficiency on Church Ave.
18:02 PM EST

The walk had taken twenty minutes, mainly due to traffic. It was always hell, and that - sadly - applied to just about every part of New York. But as someone who had been born and raised in Brooklyn, she couldn't help but notice it seemed to especially be worse here than any other area.

Whatever the case, she had managed to get three of the five pages typed up. She was stuck, but not because she didn't know the answers. Rather, Shania was at the point where she was close to almost sounding as if she would repeat herself. So, she was backtracking, seeing if there had been any pieces that she may have missed and could expand upon. Light-brown orbs scanned her laptop screen, hoping to find something .... anything.

Maybe this is where you take a break?

The abrupt ringing from her cell phone seemed to agree. Once again, the poor Iroquois jumped, shaking her head at herself and taking a slight breath. Then ... she rose her eyebrow. That ... was an unfamiliar number. Well ... she could tell them they got the wrong number, if push came to shove.

"Hello?"

"Yes, is this Shania Young?"

"It is. May I ask who this is?"

"Of course, though it won't bring me any pleasure to tell you. This is the Brooklyn Police. We're calling because your brother is in our custody."

Her head fell against the back of her seat, a defeated sigh passing her lips. Her left hand rose, lightly rubbing her forehead. "W-What'd he do? It's nothing serious ... is it?"

"Not to the degrees you may be worrying about, but in their own rights, yes. A DUI and Disorderly Conduct."

Shania slowly nodded, weakly groaning. And then .... a thought dawned on her. "Wait .... did he call me already and I just missed it somehow?"

"No, no. He has been ... less than cooperative since we arrested him. We only just got to a point where he's been somewhat civil with us, so we're making the call on his behalf."

"How much? There is a price to bail him out, right?"

"Afraid so, yes. Five-hundred."

Shania groaned again, face palming as the amount echoed in her ears. For a bit, it seemed like she was going to hang up and refuse to get her own brother out. But after at least a minute or two of silence, she spoke up, "Okay ... okay. It's gonna be a bit, but I can come up with the money. A bit as in several hours, give or take."

"Alright, Miss Young. Again, I truly am sorry. Have a good rest of the day."

Her eyes rolled as she hit the "End" button, crossing her arms in frustration over her chest. "Damnit, Emrie .... " Shania muttered, exhaling deeply as another breath passed her lips. "That's basically all of my rent money, you bastard!"

Still, there was one saving grace, and it was in the fact he was safe. He hadn't gotten killed or otherwise hurt. Despite his most recent choices being horrible ones, Emrie and Shania had been pretty close.

Another reason this had upset her; she'd hoped that maybe this year could be the one where he could get away from his ... less-than-pleasant 'friends'. But going off that call, it was fair to assume he hadn't yet done that much.

Well .... you're not gonna get the money by just sitting around.

A slight grimace appeared as she picked her phone back up again.

"Oh, Shania! Hey girl, it's been a while!"

"Heh, yeah. I suppose it has. Umm .... listen. Is there ... ??"

"Say no more! Even if we were busy as all hell, there's always room for you to come over and work for the evening."

"Great. It's kinda a family emergency, so I really need it tonight."

"I can hear it in your voice. Don't worry, sweetie; just come on over and work your magic like you always did. I'll see about giving a good word so you can get more generous tips."

"Thanks, Jessica. I appreciate this."

Now that her plans for the night had been adjusted, Shania was quickly working on adapting to them. She hastily grabbed her wallet, car keys, and looked over herself. Thankfully, her 'side job' had more than enough outfits, so she could go in what she was wearing now and change upon arriving.

Am I missing anything?

Her eyes found the cell phone still in her hands and pocketed it away. After double, triple, and even quadruple checking to ensure she had everything, Shania briskly left her small efficiency. Were anyone else around, they would have heard the door slam. To say Shania was upset would be an understatement; truthfully, she was a bit pissed. Just as she'd hoped for positive changes to come to her brother, there were certain things she'd wanted to avoid for the rest of her own life. Doing this was one.

But for one evening, she could tolerate breaking her own promise. She would make it worth the time, effort, and energy that would be put in. And she would have no qualms relaying how much work she'd put in for her only sibling once Emrie got picked up.
 
15th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Owl's head Park
23:45 PM EST

at this point Emrie had lost track of exactly how many drinks, shots, cans, and bottles he had consumed, he was pretty sure it was around the amount of too much, but for some odd reason he didn't exactly have a care. The night had started out pretty standard for his usual monday, going to a job he hated, and working his shift, but after his shift he had gotten a text from one of his mates that the crew was getting together. From there it had been a bunch of bad decisions one after another. From hitting up every bar in Brooklyn that they could find till they got kicked out of it, too driving around town on their bikes, and now through a public park.

The rev of the motor engine still sent a thrill through Emrie's body as he felt the Yamaha surge under him. The wheel kicked up a trail of dirt and mud, smoke rose from the rubber as he burned the grass, drawing in the dirt doing a semie circle that finished of his 'masterpiece' his half signed name. It would take a gardener a few weeks to put it right.

It was around that point that he heard the siren of a cop car, he turned to his friends, and one word was spoken between them. Drive. The six of them had each burst into a different direction, and Emirie had been the unlucky one, spikes had been laid down closest to the exit he had run for, and before he knew what was going on, his tires were shredded.

He was dragged into the cop car, all the while telling the police to go fuck themselves, among other things. The line 'get off my property you fucks' may have been screamed a few times. As he had been cuffed, his head smacked against the hood of the police car, he screamed about how this was against his rights.

The cops reminded him gently that he had the right to remain silent.

"I'll wave that right in your face like I waved my dick in front of your wife. Yah fucking pigs can't get it up!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

18th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Drunk Tank
13:08 PM EST

Sleep had been rough, but easy, the bed was a touch itchy, and there had been no sheets, when he had finally woken up he had found a toilet in his room, which was very useful. He had no real memory of what had happened the night before, but he certainly knew what he had ate, and drank. Green mush apparently if the toilet was anything to be believed. His stomach contents emptied, and then emptied further.

He heaved and vomited until he had nothing left in his stomach contents, and that had been the early morning. When he had finally started his interrogation he had the record read back to him, all the things he had said after the meranda rights had been read. Considering his case was more about a DUI, and disorderly conduct, and his raving headache he hadn't really needed a public defender to come all the way down here.

This was not his first time in this situation.

The lack of any and all coffee, had however not helped him. He had eventually gotten some water after asking, and now he was thinking over his options.

If he had them call his mates they would get taken in on the same offenses that he was, calling mom or dad was strictly forbidden, he refused on principal to go crawling to them for help.

He had left home because he had wanted to be a free spirit, a decision he had regretted almost as soon as he had slammed the door with a backpack of his things.

He had stayed in contact with his sister, but over the last year he had fallen in further with his gang of friends. He had done things that were far more directly illegal than just a dui, and he was glad that he wasn't on trial for any of that. Theft, and breaking and entering into a few really old buildings, tresspassing, the usual teenage delinquency.

Still the ticking of the clock was making his skull scream in agony, every second felt like agony.

This was a wake up call, he couldn't keep at this, he needed to make a change. He needed to get help.

But mom and dad were forbidden, he would not go crawling back to them.

His sister than was the only option. He wrote out her number, handed it to the cops. "Shania Young, she's my emergency contact, call her, she will post my bail."

and I will be in her debt for a long time. She was his younger sister but between the two of them, it was clear who the responsible one was.
 

16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Brooklyn Police Precinct, Drunk Tank Area
23:47 PM EST

As Shania parked her Ford Expedition outside the address she'd gotten prior to leaving the strip club, the Iroquois had to think what was more unbelievable; that she found herself at this place, or where she'd just left. Neither were locations that she had really envisioned herself being. And although it was true that she wasn't here because she had fucked up, knowing why didn't make it completely better for herself.

Her fingers tapped against the steering wheel; for the briefest of moments, she seriously contemplated pulling out of the parking lot and leaving. Giving Emrie a silent but powerful message; get yourself sobered up and out of this goddamn mess yourself.

... No. In the end, she opened her door and went inside. Not just because it was for her brother, but it'd make all the effort she'd put over the past five hours go to waste. Shania was definitely not going to be so foolish as to pretend those five hours hadn't actually happened. Granted, there was no evidence on her body in any form or fashion to give away what she'd done. The most of a clue would be the lingering scent of cigarettes; but anyone who knew her would also know it just meant she'd been around people who indulged in cancer sticks, not came from herself.

As such, she was clad in the same clothes she'd worn before entering the strip club, a comfortable jeans and top combination, with boots replacing her usual choice of sneakers. Her heels clicked as she stepped down swiftly on the concrete, not bothering to hide her annoyance at being here, nor forgetting why she'd come at such an ungodly hour.

.... Well, maybe not ungodly. But definitely unorthodox.

Thankfully, the fact it was approaching near midnight helped Shania out a bit. There weren't nearly as many cops, and the ones that were still around seemed ... professional. There were some perverted ones, of course. But just like the traffic, this seemed worse in Brooklyn than any other area of New York; but then again, maybe that was a really weird, biased opinion Shania had formed over the years.

"Evening, ma'am. What can I do for you?"

Wordlessly, Shania reached back and pulled the money out, slapping it gently down on the desk. Only afterwards did she speak up, "Emrie Young ... this is for his bail so he can come home. I'm praying he hasn't had access nor asked anyone to smuggle any liquor to him?"

"Your assumption would be correct. He's only had water around. Whether he's asked or requested any is another story." The officer thumbed through, nodding in satisfaction as he counted exactly five-hundred in a combination of twenties, tens, a few fives, some fifties, and even one Benjamin.

"Very well. Do you want to wait here, Miss Young? It's recommended; however, since you're family, exceptions can be made. I will need to make one quick search before letting you in." As Shania rolled her eyes, he quickly added, "Standard procedure, miss. I'm sorry."

"No, no .... you're right. It's just .... been a long night and ... I kinda feel like I got that search done already, but .... "

Shania nodded, slowly taking a deep breath whilst closing her eyes.

"Go on. Because ... I do wanna come back with you."

"Very well. Either lean against the wall or desk and stay put, please."

Shania silently planted her hands firmly down on the front desk, leaning forward and parting her legs far enough to allow the cop a decent enough pat search. It was ... just enough, though she felt fairly certain there were a few very close gropes snuck in. Maybe that was from allowing people to freely touch her over the past five hours. Either way, Shania didn't expect to immediately get rid of feeling really sleazy, not even with the most thorough shower. It'd definitely take time to get rid of all the 'dirty' still lingering on her.

"Okay. You're good. You can take your possessions and come with me."

Naturally, he'd only found her car keys, wallet, and cell phone. Some spare money inside the wallet, her license, the usual stuff. Nothing to warrant that Shania was somehow attempting anything shady, though.

The click-clacking of her heels resumed once again, this time loudly echoing in the halls. And from the way they were impacting the floor, it was pretty easy to tell she was making that type of noise on purpose.

If you haven't sobered up yet, too fucking bad. I'm gonna make you, Emrie!

She was remaining mostly civil for now. But if anyone took a moment to peek at the expression on her face, they would note a very sour look adorning Shania's face. No efforts to hide her disappointment or anger were being made, and likely weren't gonna happen anytime soon.
 


16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Brooklyn Police Precinct, Drunk Tank Area
23:47 PM EST

Emrie had spent the last few hours sleeping, throwing up, drinking water, and rethinking all of his life choices. Questions like where did he go wrong? Why were his friends all complete assholes, and of course what came next? He had no cellphone, he smelled awful, no shower in the tank. No sheets or matress either, his back was sore he was sleeping on a raised slab. He felt better, the water had helped with the headache, but he had gone almost a full day at this point without eating. He was half wondering if she would even come get him.

"Emrie Young Your bail has been posted, please stand up, and proceed to the front of your cell." His headache had abated, but even so he winced when he heard the door unlocking. He stood up dusted himself as best he could, and walked out into the hallway. "Upfront." The guard called, having Emrie and Shania walk ahead of him.

Emrie looked to his sister, and gave her a bit of a sheepish look, he didn't really have much to say at this point. He kinda wished she hadn't come to see him get out of the tank, the fact that he hadn't showered yet meant he stank to high hell, and didn't want to get close to her to spare the details, however he did catch the smell of cigurette smoke on her. "Thank you."

Emrie didn't know what else to say about that, walking out to the front his items were handed back to him. "In addition to your bail being posted, do you remember the terms of your plea bargan?"

"yes, but you have to remind anyway." Emrie said with a roll of his eyes.

"Emrie Young, this is your second alcohol related offense, the first time you were let off with a warning, this time you caused damage to public property under the cost of 10,000 dollars." Emrie rubbed his arm and looked at the ground, feeling like a child as his notes were read off in front of his sister. "Further more during your arrest you resisted an officer. In order to avoid jail time you have agreed to six months probation, during which you will attend weekly sponsored AA meetings, and 600 hours of community service which you will perform by cleaning state parks. Your liscence has been suspended, and your bike is impounded, If you comply with your probation these items will be returned to you, do you understand?"

Emrie rolled his eyes, he did not have a drinking problem, it was only a problem if he ran out. He scratched the back of his neck feeling bad, but knowing once they got out of this building it was gonna get so much worse as he looked to Shania. "Yes." His voice was more embarrassed than anything else when it came down to it.

finally with his effects returned to him, he got out into the cold night air, and looked towards his sister. He didn't really know what to say to her at the moment. "I'm sorry." He said softly, he could smell the smoke on her, he knew she had quit that club a while back, after all he had been a frequent costumer of the place, it being the best tit club in brooklyn.

Still, he knew she had disliked the place, and quit, so the smoke smell meant she had to pick out a shift to bail his ass out of the fire. "I'll pay you back." He said softly, not sure how he was gonna do that, his phone had a text on it from his boss, well as of that text ex boss. Apparently he had been locked in the tank during a work day, and this was his 8th missed shift in the past 2 months.

"Once I find a job." He said softly under his breath. Rock... bottom. "Um... I'm currently a touch homeless as well." He had been crashing at a friends place, and with all that just happened he did not want to go back there.

"Can I impose on you for a bit more?"
 

16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: Brooklyn Police Precinct, Drunk Tank Area
23:54 PM EST

It wasn't that Shania ignored Emrie when she finally found herself standing across from her brother. The better wording, rather, was ... what could she say? Right at that moment, nothing came to her. No greeting, most definitely. No curse words - not yet, at least. Not at the risk of getting her own self in trouble somehow. All she knew was he looked horrible ... and smelled as bad.

"You're getting in a shower when we return."

The words were snippy, if not a tad bit hasty. But they were spoken very clearly, implying she wasn't leaving room for him to argue with her about that. Overall, Shania wasn't usually a demanding woman, nor student. Right now though? She figured it was a more than fair enough exception to make.

"Sir, can that ... ??"

But Shania stopped, already having a feeling that - unfortunately - the reading of Emrie's terms could not wait. So ... she forced herself to patiently hear the cop out. Try to, anyway. The truth was, Shania was exhausted and actually very hungry. She hadn't had a full meal since lunch. Snacks had been earned and gotten during her breaks, but they were very ... small, all things considered. Not because the staff was mean or anything; Shania had just been on a huge adrenaline rush in order to come up with the money and focused more on, as Jess had said, 'working her magic' than her own appetite.

However, even Emrie would note her eyebrows raising upon hearing the words '600 hours of community service'.

... Maybe a few hundred, sure. But six?

She'd definitely see about contacting someone to see if that could be lowered. But not now. Later .... like a few days or so later.

Right as the cop completed his reading, Shania turned on her boots and exited. Her right arm rose, pushing down on the unlock button, and causing the headlights of her Expedition to flash a few times to signal the SUV was able to be entered.

"Yes, actually you can. Not because of pity or some other petty reason."

Shania turned, looking sternly into Emrie's eyes.

"I thought you promised you were done with those fuckers! Do you not care about me?! Or mom and dad, even? You could have died! Even though - for some unholy reason - drunk drivers tend to survive over the sober ones they hit, they can die. Does that matter to you? Did it never fucking cross your mind?!"

Tears quickly streamed down Shania's face, her hands gripping tightly onto the steering wheel.

"You're coming back with me for one major reason. Okay ... two. It'll be one way to know for sure those assholes can't find or bother you. But two ... you're still family. And luckily for you, as furious as I am, I'm hungry. Wanna ... grab McDonald's or something before getting home? I don't feel like cooking. I'm serious though; get in a shower when we get to my place. I don't care if it's before or after you eat ... but you are doing that. Is that clear?!"

Finally, Shania felt confident enough to turn the keys in the ignition and start the car up. She drove away, at the very least. Not yet to any specific place, but definitely to ensure the cops couldn't try to accuse her of loitering or doing something stupid in an attempt to get her in legal trouble.

" ... I really hope this will be the last time in a while we see each other on less-than-pleasant terms. Putting that aside .... I really am glad you're safe, Emrie. Also kinda wish we would speak more than just once a year."

The last line was mumbled, but still audible to her brother. Shania latched lightly onto her lower lip, finally rolling the windows down a bit, allowing some of the October breeze to flow inside and gently blow her raven black locks slightly. It also served another purpose ... one that she didn't need to remind or pester the hell out of her brother about.

Hopefully not, anyway.
 

16th October, 2018
Brooklyn, New York
Exact Location: McDonalds Drive through
24:12 PM EST


Shania made Emrie shrink in his seat if the day could feel any worse it somehow was watching his little sister cry over him was a bit shocking. Mostly cause it was another cold slap on just how bad his actions were, another quick wake up call that was getting him to try and get his act together. He let out a sigh and looked out the window for a moment trying not to look at her while she gave him a talking too about drunk driving.

Of course there was nothing he could really say to her that mattered in that regard he had done it, and he couldn't change the fact. He could thank his stars that he had survived it, especially on a motorbike. He could point out he hadn't really gotten on the street, but that wasn't entirely true, he remembered racing some of the other idiots he had for friends that day.

He rubbed his head for a moment feeling his hand was cold which was refreshing against the pounding of his head. He was starved, but he didn't really want anything greasy, his stomach probably wouldn't be able to handle much heavy food. "I think I'm done drinking." He said softly. He looked back at shania as she started the car and the two started to drive.

"Yes I would like food please."

Stopping at the drivethrue Emrie ordered the McChicken, and a large fries, with a drink. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, wishing that he could have at least paid for the meal, but his wallet was empty, the only thing in it, were his ID, a couple of unchecked lotto tickets, and mothballs. Finances tended to drip through his hands like water with no account of savings. "I've..." He didn't want to make excuses for himself, he had to take full responsibility for what he did.

"Cutting you guys out was wrong of me, but please don't call mom and dad yet, I... I want to try and make things better I really do, but I can't face them yet." He had basically spat in their parents face by leaving, he had been openly hostile, and he knew they would accept him back the moment he went to them, and that was exactly why he felt like he couldn't. He felt like an idiot after all he had done, and some tears did escape his eyes. "Listen... I fucked up, but I'm going to stick to this." He said softly under his breath. "I promise I am going to do better than this." He felt the guilt about not seeing her more often and nodded. "And part of that... means that I'm going to stay closer to you."

"So have you started working at the club again?" He asked curiously though his voice was quiet cause he knew it was a sensitive topic. Partly so he could ask the follow up. "Do you think they need a line cook?"

the place had a grill, and some shit food, he knew for a fact that there were kitchen staff, and he had experience working in a kitchen. He didn't really care that it was a tit bar, he was going to just need a job.

He stared at the floor once they had the food, and sighed, he had rolled down the window to help blow fresh air on him.

10th September, 2018
New York City, New York
Exact Location: Shania's Home
24:32 PM EST

Getting into the place, he had one priority, and he didn't even wait till he was in the bathroom to start taking off his clothing, his shirt was ripped off with abandon the moment he got into the door, the thing reeked and his skin was glad to be rid of it. "Do you mind if I toss my clothing in the washer?"

He didn't actually ask, he knew it would be needed so he did it, stripping himself entirely, and tossing it in the washer, standing in the hall with a towel wrapped him just to keep the illusion of decency, that was if she was looking at him at all.

Sweat glistened from his body, he was sickly, his eyes slightly hollowed, and he had shivers and chills running down his spine, that caused him pain. Drunk Driving may not have been his only cause of death, considering it was more than a full day since his bender he was starting to wonder if he had been close to dying of alcohol poisoning. Stepping into her bathroom, he dropped the towel and started to run a very hot shower.

Instantly as the water started to run over his body he was more comfortable, the water ran over him helping to heat his core, raising his temp, the steam helped to clear his head, of the last of the pain, and after having spent all that time on a hard bench his sore back finally had a chance to stretch out and feel better. Scrubbing himself clean with the same array of flowery scents that his sister used was good too. The herbal scents of flowers she used made his hair at least smell nice, even if his wasn't as long as hers.

His shower, had run a touch long, water dripped from his muscles, and as he looked himself over in the mirror his eyes had more life to them, he wasn't cold anymore, sick maybe, but it would fade when he woke up tomorrow. He checked over his face, no bruises that was good. He looked and felt better than when he had gone in.

Wrapping himself in his sisters bathrobe he walked out of the bathroom turning on the washer so that he would eventually have clothing to wear again.

He could use the last of his savings to buy some stuff, but for right now unless he went back to Tony's all he really had was the clothing on his back. Which meant right now under the bathrobe, he was completely naked.

Walking to the kitchen he sat down to enjoy the meal he had been given.
 

"You better be," Shania bitterly replied. "I'm still a few years too young to drink, so no alcohol of any kind is in my place, anyway. Another reason I'm perfectly fine allowing you to stay with me."

For a bit, she had almost felt like continuing her lecture, but at this point? It'd be mindless - or at least redundant - ranting. From what she'd seen so far, Emrie had seemed to get the hint that she was very upset with him. More than that, though, he actually looked like he was truly feeling horrible about his choices.

Not that he'd had a problem lying or anything. But now ... it was like watching someone have an epipheny and realize just how much they'd fucked up. Good. He needed a wake-up call, and truthfully? If the scolding hadn't done it, resorting to a low blow was really close on Shania's To-Do List.

The drive would remain mostly quiet. Shania only talked to give her order, getting a Big Mac meal and upgraded to large. She didn't typically eat out, but ... she really hadn't been kidding when she hinted not being in the mood to cook. Besides, Shania very seldom had 'cheat' days. If she couldn't be overdue for one that had a more positive incentive behind it .... well, Shania would take what she could get, she supposed. It wouldn't be her proudest day, but .... she'd live.

As would Emrie.

"Only for the evening, but --- "

And then ... Shania damn well did a double take. Thankfully, she at least waited to do so at the safest possible place; a red light. "Wait a fucking second ... how do you know about that place? Are you ... did you watch me and I never saw you?!"

Her head plopped against the rest as she let out a long, very heavy sigh.

" ... It wasn't just because I worked there, was it? Well ... scratch that. I guess ... it kinda doesn't matter huh?"

Finally, a weak smile crossed her face. "Anyway, yes. They are still looking to hire anyone for pretty much any job. Congrats. Now, it seems we each have something we don't want mom and dad to know. So ... I'll trust you to talk to them when you're ready and ... I guess I'll do the same. If and when needed." She shrugged casually. "That's basically a side, and very emergency-heavy job. I only go back when things like tonight come up. I don't otherwise head to the club."

By the time the siblings got to Shania's home, it was well past midnight. Almost one in the morning, in fact. Shania took her food plus any trash that would have been left over inside. The trash was tossed away. Her head turned in time to see Emrie already half-nude, the sight causing a new hue of red to paint her face.

"Nope, go for it. In fact, that was --- h-hey! Emrie, what are you ... ??"

Shania gawked, though only for about ten seconds before quickly turning her head as her brother literally started stripping almost immediately after stepping foot into her residence. Her head shook as she watched her elder brother walk away, being cautious not to have her gaze turn into a full-fledged stare.

After her brother got out of her sight, Shania exited the living room, going and picking her late dinner up. She began to head to her room, though not before placing her shoes near the front door, and even locking it. Though the walk was actually brief, it felt much longer ... likely due to how exhausting her day had been. But finally, she entered her own room, eliciting a sigh of relief as she found the familiar white walls.

If this were a permanent house, the walls would be a different color. Alas, she had avoided painting the place in case she ended up getting something more long-term. Besides, it'd save whomever may or may not move in here the extra trouble ... or so she figured.

To make up for this, however, her walls were littered with posters and art of various Disney princesses. On top of her wardrobe dressers and just about every surface were trinkets of various forms and fashions. From glass figurines to a few pieces of jewelry out in plain sight. There was even a glass rose clearly inspired and 'from' the Beauty and the Beast film.

Despite being nineteen, Shania could act a whole decade her age. In some ways, she was a child at heart, and it was easiest to see when it came to Disney. Her love for the franchise had never faded; though ... it had become somewhat bittersweet after certain 'decisions' were made. Like taking over certain shows, particularly Star Wars. It just ... was one of those things Shania would never agree with.

Her head moved from side to side, dismissing the mental debate that almost started as she instead focused on what was in front of her eyes now; her laptop. More specifically, the essay she'd began to work on before getting the phone call to see about picking her brother up.

An annoyed sigh passed her lips. She couldn't recall for the life of her where she was going. With that revelation, Shania saved what she had and turned her head, hearing the water turn off. The young Iroquois gave a low whistle to indicate where she was, turning so she was facing her bedroom door, and dug her hand inside. She took the burger out, opened it, and carefully began to eat.

Just like she wasn't in the mood to eat, the same applied to heeding most her usual rules. Including eating at the more typical place, the dining room. After finishing up and having a brief talk .... there was a very, very high crash that poor Shania was gong to quickly pass out. And truthfully? She figured - hoped, anyway - the same would apply to Emrie.
 

"Yep entirely because my little sister worked there, and I wanted to watch her shake and dance." Emrie rolled his eyes at the notion that he had only known about the club because she worked there. "I'm older than you by five years, I'd been going to that club for three before you started working there."

That said it wasn't like he had averted his eyes when she had taken the stage. He had been shocked of course. Who wouldn't have been if their little sister was suddenly on stage doing a dance and taking off their clothing, but it had confirmed one major thing. Both of them were adults, capable of making their own life choices. He had never really judged her, it was a job after all.

And the assurance that they were hiring for anything and everything made him relax. Working behind the kitchen of a bar was at least something. Fixing up burgers and shit wings was far far better than staying on the street doing nothing, and working evenings meant that it wouldn't interfere with his Paroll stuff, as that was usually mornings and afternoons.

She explained that it was more just an emergency thing that she kept her foot in the door so that if things like this came up she would be okay. Turns out his sister was a lot smarter than he was. "I've never kept up a savings account, another thing i need to change." All of his money had flowed through his hands and usually left him with nothing to keep for himself.

when they got home silence had fallen around the time Emrie had started stripping, to be honest he just didn't want to be in clothing that smelled like complete shit anymore.

and after his shower, the only thing that protected any semblence of decency, if Emrie had that at all, was his bathrobe. With the washer starting up, it looked like he wasn't going to be getting any kind of clothing that would fit him for a while.

after he had finished clothing he looked at Shania. "Do you have like an Ex's shirt or anything that would fit me? maybe some shorts?"

The amount of clothing he had left at his ex's over the years could probably equate to an entire persons wardrobe. He also assumed Shania was single because there were no signs of a male living here at all, there had only been one towel on the rack (hers,) one toothbrush at the sink, anywhere a person would have expected to find a second item for a couple he had found only one.

The exception was a guest bed, which was properly made, and clearly hadn't been used for a long time. "Thank you again, for letting me stay." He said softly.

Tomorrow he was gonna have to try and either get some of his shit back from the guys, or figure out a way to afford new clothing.

Either that or he could borrow his sisters stuff, but something told him that if her jeans looked tight on her they wouldn't exactly fit him.

"I know you don't really have a reason to trust me at this point, that I've depended on you, and probably broken more promises than i've kept, but... I want to do better than this. I don't want to make you cry again, so I'm gonna try and do better." He moved in and kissed his sisters forehead before waving her good night, and retreating to the guest bed. Looking around the room for a moment.

He pulled out the cellphone, looking it over, and swiped a quick text to a contact. 'Hey asshole, just got out of prison, thx no thx, I'm dropping by tomorrow and getting my shit.'

He then turned off his cellphone and put it on the desk. letting out a heavy sigh. some part of him wanted to call those assholes up, and even go out with them again, he knew they would be up, probably out partying without him. It was pointless to want to be with them, he would only end up making worse choices with them around.

He needed to cut them out of his life.

But gods he wanted a drink.

Did he have a drinking problem?

He let the robe fall of him, his toned body reflecting in the full length mirror on the back of the door, he looked himself over for a moment. He had a few bruises, a cuts and scars, but all in all his tanned brown body, didn't seem in so bad shape. he watched his muscles flex for a moment or two, before stepping towards the bed and falling onto it. The soft sheets were so much more welcoming than the hard slat he had slept on the night before.

It was times like this he really wished he had his PS2, he would be grabbing that tomorrow. His small collections of games was one of the things he had managed to keep with him at all times. He eventually grabbed his phone, and just had it play a familiar song the melencolic tune played softly as he started to drift off to sleep. Reminding him that things didn't always end up so bad. he could improve this situation.
 

" ... An ex?"

Shania quickly covered her mouth, fighting the urge to choke or bust out laughing. A few chuckles, however, did escape. Her head quickly moved from side to side, her right index finger raising. After helping down the Big Mac with some of her Coke, she started explaining, albeit while still laughing softly.

"Who do you think you're talking to, huh? Me? Have an ex? That's a hilarious thought. I ... no. I umm ... haven't found anyone worth dating. And the ones that looked like I could maybe take a chance? They've ended up proving to be racist pricks."

A disappointed expression crossed her lips as Shania's empty hand lightly traced over the tattoos on her face. They had been what she got upon hitting eighteen. It was more or less a modernized version of a rites of passage. Her parents personally ensured she got the tattoos done by another Iroquois who was skilled in using a needle. It'd hurt, of course, but Shania, her parents, and Emrie had watched the process with great pride.

The pain had been very well worth enduring, as were the end results.

"You'd hope after .... ohhh .... several hundred years, that the Caucasians would have learned some common decency towards us. Guess that is too much to ask for."

Another sigh passed her lips as she snuck a glance towards the rose. That was another reason she had never let go of her love for the movies; if she couldn't have a happy ending - or at least relationship - it lifted her heart to see other women have better fortune. Granted, she was a bit envious. But there was more joy than jealousy whenever she watched any Disney film. Or, in the rare cases where no one hooked up with one another, a mix of sympathy and sorrow.

"I ummm .... lemme see. I may have at least something, though."

Setting her cheeseburger down in its box, she stood up and knelt beside the lowest dresser. After a bit of rummaging, she tossed over a pair of sweatpants.

"It's not much, but they stretch out, so they should fit and be comfortable. My shorts or ... anything else, really, would be far too tight for you."

Taking a break from the burger, Shania changed her target, now grabbing and devouring some of the fries. Her head tilted curiously as she heard her brother seem confused on why she was helping out. "Didn't I make that obvious?" she asked after swallowing the food. "You're family. You'd do this if roles were reversed ... wouldn't you? You'd help me out, even if it meant bailing me with money earned from a strip club?"

Not that there weren't other reasons. But right at that moment? None of them mattered nearly as much.

When Emrie walked forward and gave her forehead a kiss, she gently wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in a hug. "Your recent choices and actions may have been stupid, but it doesn't change you're my brother. I love you, damnit. And that's exactly why I got so frustrated with you. You can do so much better, too. Way more than those jerks you've been seeing and speaking with. They're toxic ... so I really, truly hope you're dead serious about getting them out of your life. They don't deserve you."

Second chances had been drilled into them both pretty firmly by their parents. Even if Emrie was technically right that she didn't have to trust him, she was at least going to offer him an attempt to redeem himself first.

"I'm gonna finish eating then go to sleep. I hope you have a good rest."

Sure enough, a bit over twelve minutes later, Shania would toss her trash away. She looked down at herself .... and decided to do her own shower and change in the morning. She was tired, even more so with the adrenaline finally dying down. Wordlessly, Shania turned any remaining lights off in the efficiency, finally doing so to her own room last. After deftly but gently pulling a hair tie out, allowing her hair to come undone from its ponytail, Shania took a few minutes to gently brush it out.

And when that was done?

She promptly collapsed on her bed, almost instantaneously lulled into a peaceful sleep.

It would likely be a few hours before a figure would begin to form in front of Emrie's eyes. Maybe it was the soundtrack he'd listened to. Whatever the case, he would very easily recognize the young woman soon standing mere paces away from him.

"We need you. You and your sister. Emrie ... please help us."

Yuna kept her staff held firmly in her right hand, stretching her left out.

"Come with me. Someone should be speaking with your sister now while I'm communicating with you."
 

Oddly the thought that She hadn't seen anyone worth dating was kinda relaxing. He found her amusement at the suggestion kinda aleviating. He knew his sister was an adult woman, heck he had watched her 'work' and yet the idea that his sister hadn't been able to find anyone worth her time was a bit sad. She was a beautiful woman, and it was a shame that no one else really seemed to notice that.

Her comment about the white people being indecent made him laugh. While Emrie did have a tattoo of his own marking, and did acknowledge his own membership of the Oneida tribe, he had grown up watching T.V. Playing games, and living outside of the reserve, their parents had made that choice a long time ago. Simply put the time of the haudenosaunee was another era, and one that he was certain he would have found uncomfortable. That didn't mean he didn't enjoy the stories, and history, just that he was a bit more realistic. "White-man gave us electricity so they can't be all bad." He said in a more joking tone.

She tossed him a pair of sweat pants which he folded in his arms he would use them tomorrow. He smiled at her, and when she asked if he would have done the same for her, he nodded. "I would do anything to see you safe and at home." He said softly. He nodded. "I love you too."

He would live better to try and hold up that end of the bargan and protect his little sister.

Sleep did come eventually if a touch uneasily, and when it did he saw a very familiar figure to him. She outstretched her hand towards him, and mentioned his sister, he was immediately more confused.

"I haven't had this dream since I was like...2007? and you usually had a lot less clothing." He said softly thinking to himself. He was looking at her with avid curiosity, moving closer, ignoring the hand, and even reaching out to touch her dress, lifting it slightly, but mostly he was feeling the texture of the silk, for a dream this was exquisitely detailed. He didn't even think he remembered the dress he was holding and the fact that it had flower print. "Huh, the motion in the videos always made me think they were stars."

"Also sister's not usually involved." Then again she had just baled him out of prison, and worked at a strip club, his mind could wander to that side occasionally. "And this is a very detailed dream... you know I always preferred this look for you, they tried a lot of different costumes in ten-two, but it never worked for me... and neither did Pain that fem-squall reject had enough edges, Rikku was nice looking, but every time I saw her little alarm bells would go off in my head telling me she was jail bait. I guess there is Lulu, but her taste in men was awful. Don't get me started on Wakka."

"You on the other hand, the height of elegance and beauty. A martyr for the people, kind and beautiful... I had a lot of dreams about you. I wanted too do a lot of things to you m'lady." He looked up at Yuna, a soft smile on his face, that was slowly turning red out of embarrassment. "This is a touch too detailed to be a dream isn't it?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Shania slept she would be greeted by a figure not quite human, and not alltogether dog. It had horns, and fur, a slightly wet nose, familiar in all respects to her, encluding the gallant clothing. He tried to bow, but it was clumsy, unpracticed something he had clearly either not done in a long time.

"Greetings Shania, I don't have long." The beasts voice was gruff, a low snarl to it. "Forces of evil are gathering, that none alone could deal with, but you and your brother are the key to this. Someone he is familiar with will talk to him, as it seems I was the one closest to your heart, which is why we can talk now."
 

"Hmph. I guess they did do a few things that helped us out."

Shania quietly mulled on her brother's nods, flashing a knowing smirk as she slowly nodded. "Okay ... yeah. You got me there. I may not use electricity for the exact same things as you, but ... I do need it all the same."

Those had been the very last words that Shania distinctly recalled telling Emrie. And now .... she found herself in the weirdest dream possible. And yet ... it felt so real. In fact, the closer she got to Beast, the more realistic it felt as opposed to fake. But everything he was saying ... that meant this had to be a dream, right?

There was very likely a look plastered on poor Shania's face. One of shock, awe, confusion, and even bewilderment.

Her head shook ... wondering if that would help her wake up. Nope, but ... it did confirm at least one thing. She was having some sort of ... vision? Dream? Something, that was for damn sure.

"I .... o-okay, wait a minute. Let me get this all straight. Forces of evil are gathering ... in your world? No one can handle them; yet me and Emrie could? Why? How? I mean ... look at me. Beast, I'm no fighter like my ancestors probably were. And even if that wasn't true, I have no weapon. No nothing. Are you really sure you found the right person?"

Her teeth briefly gripped onto her lower lip before Shania added, "When you say 'evil forces', do you even know what - or whom exactly - it includes? Are we talking about Gaston? Someone else completely? Or ... is that an unknown factor?"

Shania gently shook her head, "I'm not trying to sound like I distrust you. But just ... this is kinda hard to believe upon first hearing."

Please believe me. I'm really not trying to bullshit you or anything, she inwardly added, ensuring her eyes remained locked onto the Beast's.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

"Excuse me?" Yuna replied, clearly taken aback at the rather abrupt answer. Despite not hearing all of the details of his other dreams, the mere implication she had less clothes was more than enough for the summoner to get brief enough ideas. They made her own face flush ... before she quickly shook her head.

"I-I'm serious. Listen, I can understand this probably feels really weird to you. But the last thing you're experiencing is a .... ahh!"

Before her dress could be pulled up too high, Yuna's instincts kicked in. Without much of a second thought, she smacked Emrie's hand, blushing a bit more.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. But please, I'm imploring for you to stop and pay attention. More to my words than my appearance. Please ... "

Yuna waited for Emrie to heed her, slowly yet patiently pacing back and forth. When the first cue was given - be it a simple nod or hearing a response, she offered him a gentle smile and continued.

"There we go. Now ... I don't have long. But I can say this much; there's far more than simply my world in peril. Midgard, Luca in particular, and many other foreign names. Ones that while I myself don't recognize, many of us have found allies from the other individuals in these places. We've tried banding together ... and in some regards, our efforts have worked. But not permanently. This is where you and Shania come in. I know this is complicated, very much so. But you two have the only powers that can save any of us and help set things correctly."

Yuna's head whipped around, as if she heard or sensed something, before glancing back over towards Emrie.

"I'm using a considerable amount of my mana while laying low from Seymour. This will all be much easier to relay to the two of you when you both arrive. Please, hurry!"

This time, Yuna reached over and grabbed onto one of Emrie's arms. When nothing happened, a slight frown appeared on Yuna's face.

"I'm probably using too much," she mused to herself, slowly nodding. "Okay. Then keep focusing, because what I'm about to ask is especially important. The moment you wake up, you and your sister need to stand in front of a mirror. Be sure you're both ready. Just .... concentrate. Whether it's thinking of me, something else that makes you happy ... do not lose your focus. You should arrive, though I can't say where exactly, unfortunately. Teleportation is fickle like that."

A mingled whimper and gasp would be the last thing he'd hear before Yuna disappeared as quickly as she came into view.
 

The slap got his attention, that didn't happen in his dreams, and the reality of everything was sinking in, this was confusing as fuck. Yuna was telling him that there was something he could do that none of the others could? Midgar, and other planes of reality. He rubbed his cheek for a moment. "No, no I deserved that."

He hadn't realized he had been talking to a real woman, and not some fictious summon of his imagination. the instructions were so very awkward, he and his sister needed to get in front of a mirror, and think happy thoughts? this sounded like pixie fairy dust nonsense. Not the usual type of magic in an FF game.

"Wait Seymour is involved in this? What the hell, how many times do you have to kill a guy before he stays dead?" He shook his head disregarding the many, far too many boss fights. "and what exactly am I supposed to do about any of this if you and the others can't handle it?" It seemed there was no time to explain the magic energy used to sustain the dream faded as quickly as it had come, and he found himself waking up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't know all the details!" The loud outburst from beast was born of frustration and his short temper. She was asking too many questions. "Listen, I don't know the why or how, you and your brother are important. A power chose you, and it's taken us a long time to find you both anyway!"

"We do know that it has to be you, and Emrie." He said sternly with a huff. "As for if Gaston is involved, no he is only a mortal." He shook his head. "No, I don't know all their names, but among them are a powerful enchantress, one whom commands the very powers of hell, and all aligned under a king of the dead."

"Bell would have been better at explaining this." He muttered then looked around for a moment. His head tilting as if hearing some instructions from another person.

"When you wake up, go to the mirror with your brother, think of happy thoughts, and." He paused for a moment. "That will bring you into our worlds, we aren't sure where, but know that many are out there. The people are in danger, from my castle to neverland. Make sure to hold hands so that you aren't seperated. and... look for the north star? What does that even mean!"

Beast let out a frustrated sigh, before he too vanished back into the dark, leaving Shania to wake up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blinking softly Emrie sat up in bed, and stretched out, his clothing was in the washer last night it would need to be moved to the dryer, than he could go... get his shit.

the dream... it hadn't really been a dream though and he wasn't sure what was going on. He sat up in bed, confused, his hand went over his head for a moment, no headache, and a far more comfortable sleep, he could get used to living here.

He stretched out, looking at himself he glanced over his body, he didn't really feel like he had slept much, he still felt tired, his body hadn't even come with his usual morning wood. instead his cock was flacid, as if he hadn't just touched Yuna.

the thing that sold it was when he blinked for a moment, and felt his face hurt. His hand went to the side of his face where a bruise had formed over night. "What the fuck..."

Clothing could wait, He crossed the house in a handful of strides, and opened the door to Shania's room. "Hey sis, I just had the weirdest fucking dream!"
 

Shania hastily nodded, her hands raising and staying beside her head. "Sorry," she sheepishly replied, her palms slowly lowering after at least a good minute or so had went by. Unfortunately, the more Beast spoke, the more bewildered Shania felt as opposed to less. She tried to pay attention, though. It sounded important ... no matter how odd or amiss. Beast was many things. Harsh, yeah. Short-tempered? Definitely, as evidenced.

But a liar?

Nope. Never. So ... even if this all sounded incredibly crazy to a degree of insanity ... there was no reason not to believe him.

Buuuut with all due respect, are you sure you're the closest to my heart?

It was true that a lot of her most expensive things were from the film he starred in. But if Shania was going by her very first Disney movie she'd fallen in love with, that would be The Little Mermaid. Her personal favorite, however, was Pocahontas. Probably a cliche answer ... but she didn't care about that.

We? Wait, who is we?

A slight fear of incurring Beast's full wrath kept her from asking. Still, from what he was describing, Hades was definitely one of the people he was talking of. A powerful sorceress ... Maleficent?

But ... why? What would they all gain? Hell, how had they banded together?

There were more questions coming to her head than answers.

"Huh? Neverland's ... in trouble?"

That made Shania swallow nervously. What about Peter Pan though? God, something really was wrong.

"I .... okay, okay. I get it ... your instructions, anyway." Of course, looking for the North Star in a mirror was technically impossible. But disregarding that one part, she wasn't simply saying the words to falsely reassure Beast. "Where are you going?!"

As Beast disappeared, Shania woke up with a start, panting quickly. Shivers trailed through her entire body as she held herself, even pulling some of the covers up over her to warm her up. Her head lowered as she dwelled on everything that had been relayed to her.

I'm so scared now .... can I really just do this?

Before she could try to figure that answer out, Emrie walked in. Very much nude, which made Shania shut her eyes. "Gods, brother, do you mind?! I'm sure you're used to not worrying about being barged in on, but --- "

However, when he began to state he had his own dream, her original thoughts moved to the back of the proverbial line.

"You had one too? Beast visited me. So .... whomever visited you ... did they say something about a mirror? I know this is crazy, but I think what we just saw and heard? That's real. So we need to try this. But before that, you need to get dressed. Even if only partially."

.... Damn, that was what I forgot before falling asleep; putting the clothes in the dryer. They were likely done by the time you finished eating and whatnot. Shit.

Which meant unless her brother was fine wearing likely semi-wet clothes ... he'd probably go to wherever they'd end up half-nude. But honestly, as long as it was with something on, Shania could handle that.
 

Beast? It took him a few moments because that wasn't a name he was directly familiar with until he looked at her desk, and the glass rose. Disney? Yuna had mentioned that there was more than just her worlds at stake, but this seemed kinda weird. Oddly he could believe an RPG world getting out of hand a lot easier than an old fairy tail turned disney original.

He blinked when his sister told him to go get dressed he regarded himself, but didn't show any embarassement. "Sorry I've been living the last few years in a very small house with four other guys, you get used too a lack of privacy at some point." He said with a soft shrug, and left her room. this had to be crazy right?

The fact that he was willing to humor this was odd even to him. But either they would stand in front of a mirror and save a couple of worlds, or they would look like idiots and go back to sleep, no harm no foul really. He grabbed the sweat pants she had handed him last night. "Yuna from final fantasy ten." He rubbed his hand for a moment looking at the slight bruise from when she had slapped him.

"I don't think I made a very good first impression." Attempting to remove someones dress was never a good first impression not to mention the fact that he had talked down about all her guardians. If they found her he would need apologize to her. "But she was as cute as I remember."

Still she had invaded his dream, sure he had very little decency but there was rules, you couldn't just invade someones mind and expect that to be okay.

With pants back on he walked back to Shania's room. "Okay, I'm wearing pants... Should we do this right away or get some coffee first?" Oddly he got the impression that the danger was immediate.

He grabbed his cellphone, and looked at the time. "Hopefully this whole saving the world thing doesn't take too long, I'd hate to end up a wanted criminal because I missed the parole meeting." He sighed and would follow Shania to a mirror. The question of why them? why a drunk, and a history major?

He sighed softly. "I guess I'm with you, this whole thing is kinda goofy, but I'm in."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Facilier was curled up on the floor, a moment ago, he had been in a much worse, his friends having turned on him had spent what felt like an eternity devising a million little tortures for him, and now he was on a cold stone floor, he looked around for a moment, and unsure what was going on. It was the first time he felt like he could breath in a long time which sent him into a ravenous coughing fit, and he slowly collected himself, his eyes started to work again, his hands had flesh on them, he quickly pat himself down to find that he was fine.

"What is it with you Mortals, you have one little brush with death, and suddenly you're all concerned about with your body parts being in the right place." Facilier looked up towards the voice, and saw a man, grey ashen skin, and blue fire spouting from where hair should have been. Calling him a man was not exactly fair to the creature.

"Who."

"Hades, god of the dead, wealth, and the underworld, oldest of the Olympians." He said extending a hand, Facilier was hesitant to take it. "Course if you would rather go back to dealing with your friends."

That sold the man, and he took Hades hand, whom helped him stand up. "Listen it's a lot of bargening to get to this point, I'm dealing with a lot, right now, whole master plan thing, So I don't really have time to explain everything I got like 12 other meetings today. So I wanna cut you a deal."

"I got you your body back, got you living, and breathing, and if you wanna stay that way I need you to do a couple of jobs for me." Hades moved around to a table in the center of the room showing it off along with the stone pieces. Facilier nodded.

"What's the job friend, I am of course always a servant of the damned." He said with a small bow. Hades waved his attention off and rolled his eyes.

"Listen for now I just need you to help me eleminate a couple people, little shards of light that would get in the way of a plan." He looked at the board for a moment. "See, I'm tired of being down here, when me and my brothers devided up the place, Zues picked the heavens, Poseidon got the oceans, and I got stuck down here, it's not done well for my complection, but there are kingdoms out there, places where my brothers don't have all the power, and I want them. Help me get them, and I'll cut you in on a piece of my kingdoms wealth... I mean god of money I got more of the stuff than i can spend."

As if to prove his point he pulled out some american green, and lit it up turning the stuff to ash. "Like I said it's just burning away with me, but you and your friends, well I can sponsor you to be sure."

Facilier was at the mans full attention. he smiled. "Well, then my friend I say that's a deal, who do you need me to get rid of."

"Oh I think you will enjoy this first one." He held out his hand a stone piece appearing in his hand a small effigy of a frog. "Get rid of her, and this time do it right."
 

Fair enough, I suppose, Shania admitted. Not aloud though, mainly because it would just give Emrie an excuse to tease her back. It didn't happen too often, but there had been some nights Shania fell asleep with nothing at all on or simply a bathrobe. Then there were even a smaller handful of days where she remained that way. All because of the same reason. She lived alone. And if anyone ever came to visit, they always gave more than enough of a notice so that Shania could be presentable in time.

When she heard whom had shown up to Emrie, Shania merely smiled.

"Lady Yuna, huh?"

The two siblings had often talked with one another about their particular fandoms they loved. This included bringing up names of characters and even towns in hopes of converting the other so they could both love the other franchise respectively. It only worked to certain extents. Never fully. However, Emrie did succeed in embedding the name of the Summoner perfectly into Shania's head.

Her eyes widened, however, when he hinted he'd actually tried something pretty dumb and perverted with Yuna.

"Geez, what's wrong with you?! You don't just try to randomly strip people either."

Despite shaking her head, a ghost of a smirk formed. And should Emrie think he'd imagined things, he'd hear no doubt one of the most bold statements uttered from his own sister. "But ... I can't blame you too much, I suppose. She is beautiful. I love her eyes especially. Still ... if we ever find her again, none of that. Alright?"

Hmm ... so Final Fantasy is also in trouble?

That was what it was sounding like, anyway. Whatever the case, this also appeared to be not only a legit plea the two had heard, but a very urgent one.

"I have a feeling we'll get quite the wake-up call upon arriving. We won't likely need caffeine much, if at all."

Slowly, Shania stood up, walking with her brother in front of a small mirror adorning her wardrobe closet. She quietly interlaced her fingers with Emrie's, remembering the advice that this was needed.

"To avoid getting split up," she muttered. It was probably - hopefully - obvious. Just in case not, though ... she didn't want to confuse him. They were already going into something that was baffling enough as it was.

"We can't really see the North Star here, so ... I guess just look straight ahead or something?"

One last deep breath would pass her lips before a sudden, very bright light flashed in front of their eyes. Shania lifted her empty arm up to shield her vision, wincing as her eyes briefly stung.

As her arm lowered, she could feel a breeze gently caressing her skin and clothes. Shania's sight adjusted ... and as it did, her mouth fell agape. Her heart leaped and stopped almost simultaneously as they found themselves atop a very familiar cliff. A grin adorned her face as she peeked down and found yet another tell-tale feature that only seemed to strengthen where they were. A very recognizable waterfall pouring into a lake below the cliff.

"No way! Oh .. my ... god. I ... I can't believe it. Emrie, we're .... "

She turned excitedly, looking straight at her brother.

"We're in Jamestown!"

The happy features disappeared, replaced by that same sense of urgency and worry. "And yet ... I can better feel and see what Beast meant. It feels .... off. Pocahontas wasn't already here, which would mean we appeared ... sometime after the beginning of the movie. So ... I'd imagine John and the others have probably landed by now."

Even with the logic Shania was using to reassure herself, it didn't completely work. There was still a nagging sensation that something was wrong. Very much so.

"Come, let's see if we can find John Smith, Nakoma, Grandmother Willow, the Chief, or Pocahontas herself. Anyone who can confirm or deny what we heard for sure."

A sly grin spread over her face as she turned, looking as if she were fine with the idea of walking. After taking three steps away from the ledge though, Shania swiftly pivoted ... and jumped off. Taking the high dive and landing rather gracefully in the cool, crisp water. Her head resurfaced as she waved from below.

"Come on in! The water's really good! Sorry, not sorry!"
 

"Her fault, you don't just invade a young man's dreams okay? that's where we put the actual fantasies." Emrie knew it had been wrong after the fact, but the start of it had just been a very convincing dream after all, it was difficult for him to imagine any situation in which invading someones mind wouldn't lead to learning a bit too much about that person's wanton desires, so it really was Yuna's fault for that.

He sighed this seemed so dumb. She said that if they met Yuna he had to be better behaved and he laughed at that remark. "I know I made a bad first impression, if we find her again I will have to do a better job of limiting myself, I think I may have traumatized the poor girl."

Then again she was a summoner, she had seen far worse things than either of them had ever seen. He walked to the mirror, when his isster grabbed onto him, he nodded. "If this doesn't work I'm going back to bed, and we never speak of this again." Seriously without dropping acid or any other mind altering substance this was too weird. Yet he already had a sinking feeling that this would just work.

Think happy thoughts, well that was easy enough. He was holding Shania's hand and whenever that was the case he felt a lot stronger for some reason. Then the light hit them, it was blinding and he had to block it out with his other arm.

he was blinking for a moment when he saw what was around them, his visions still having spots for a moment as he started to work it out. He heard Shania talk about this being James town, and he paused for a moment.

"Uhm, that doesn't really bode for us does it? I mean don't get me wrong we are immune to the smallpox, but this time frame and movie don't exactly favor the savages from what I remember." He tried to make light of this completely insane situation he was standing in.

He looked down at his cellphone checking it over, no signal, and the internal clock wasn't moving, he couldn't access apps, the thing was basically bricked. "Of course, this is like a hundred years before the first cell tower is invented."

He looked between the two of them. "How can you tell that we are in a movie." He paused to look over the vibrant water color of the world around them, the grass trees, and everything around them being much more lush with life. The world screamed both warm and inviting, and yet unrealistic in just how colorful it all was. "Oh... Okay than, but I don't sing."

He followed his sister, he didn't recognize the landmarks at all, didn't know how to navigate, and was stuck wearing only pants, the ground tickled his feet, and instantly he regretted the choice of not taking the soggy clothing in the washer. Or even getting fully dressed. "We are woefully unequipped for this."

He watched his sister jump off the cliff and into the water, he looked at her for a moment like she was insane, now he really regretted his choice of not getting the wet clothes from the laundry since even these pants would be soaked through, and they barely held back any information as it was. He was too much of a coward to dive, instead taking a step back, and leaping to do a cannon ball.

"And just like that, our clothing is soaked. It feels like there was zero point to getting dressed." He said as he started to tread water. Following after her.
 

Shania waited for her brother to splash beside her. His previous questions had been heard ... she just didn't want to keep raising her voice to talk with him. Besides, they weren't supposed to be here. It'd probably be a dangerous thing; to raise her voice and risk allowing anyone else to hear her. As she began to swim towards the shore, her head moved from side to side.

"I don't know for sure if we're in the movie. However ... if - like you said - Final Fantasy worlds are also in trouble, it makes sense we're in the movie."

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "I very highly doubt we time traveled back and are in the real world version, but ... all more the reason to find someone else. It'll help confirm which guess is right."

If only because Shania felt like she knew the movie much better, that was easily her preference.

"Ohhh, don't worry. Everything between the Natives and English came to a halt, remember? Fighting stopped. In the worst case scenario, we need to be cautious on whom we speak to. But this isn't the absolute worst place we could have ended up in. We'll be fine. I promise."

A smile appeared as finally, the two siblings arrived on the shore. Shania grunted slightly as she pulled herself out of the water. While walking, her feet seemingly guided by an invisible guide, she rose her hands and began squeezing any excess water out of her hair.

" ... We both knew that, though. But hey, on the off-chance these dreams we had turn out to be completely accurate? I'm sure we'll figure something out. 'Chosen ones' don't typically get selected then forced to fight with no way to defend themselves, after all."

.... Wow, don't you sound crazy?

Perhaps. But honestly .... hope was helping her from panicking. And that, in turn, was keeping them from having died mere minutes ago, or even right after appearing in Jamestown.

Emrie and Shania would walk for about ten more minutes. Right before even Shania was considering suggesting taking a break, she recognized the area they were walking towards. Another body of water - likely a pond due to how small it had been compared to the lake - surrounded by numerous vines was nearby.

"Oh thank god! Grandmother Willow! She can shed some light on this!"

Shania ran forward, noting - but simultaneously ignoring - that some of the leaves on the vines looked ... darker in color than they should be. It wouldn't be until she moved the vines aside that her eyes widened and mouth fell agape.

"W-What? No ... "

The massive tree had been burned. The vines, it seemed, were some of the very few parts of what used to be Grandmother Willow that remained. Otherwise, every other leaf, the roots ... every inch of the two-hundred plus year old tree was completely gone and turned into ash. Shania's head shook slowly from side to side, her body now beginning to tremble and shake. "This ... can't be! This never even happened! Why?! Who?! I just .... "
 
"I don't it's been like eight years since I watched any of these movies." He admitted, but he had to agree there was some logic, if they had been chosen for this task they couldn't exactly be left high and dry. As they dried off, he sighed his track pants now soggy and uncomfortable he would have rather taken them off but decided to to just let them cling to his skin. His shorter hair was easier to brush the water out of, but he was now following Shania.

looking around he had only faint memories of ignoring his sister as she watched this movie time and time again. He had watched it with her the first 3 times, but by viewing six hundred when she could qoute every word of the film he was usually doing anything else. Now however he was kinda wishing that he was more familiar with the movie cause he had to walk the path along with her.

He was too used to the modern world, the ground hurt his feet as he walked, while his sister seemed much less bothered. He shivered feeling cold despite the fact that it was a warm mid afternoon, He was starting to think that this may have been a mistake following the advice of characters from fantasy, even so he followed his sister with nothing really to say on the matter she knew this place, and he already felt hopelessly lost.

When they found the willow tree, he blinked for a moment. The damage that had been done to it, he moved around the base of the tree for a moment. Looking at the burns on the ground. The grass was covered in ash, but under it all was green. He had seen a hand full of fires before, even started one in his kitchen by accident when he had been learning to cook.

This didn't look natural to him. "The trunk, and tree are burned away, but the grass is green right up to the stump." He said softly.

Looking over it moving through it, he gave his hand on his sisters shoulder, trying to comfort her, while at the same time trying to make sense of it. "And this willow was old, it's bark was thick, old trees don't burn easily." He didn't want to focus on the fact that the tree had been living in more than the way a tree normally would be. He could imagine that would give it a lot more... resistance to things like fire.

"I'm pretty sure this fire wasn't natural." He said softly, nothing else was burnt, none of the other trees just this one. It kinda reminded him of Mustangs ability from FMA, or.. "firiga?"

Before his mind could go too far into it, there was the sound of ruffling, and a young man standing over the hill with a musket in hand. The young red head had something odd about him, his hands trembled slightly and he drew his weapon towards the pair of siblings. Emrie could kind of recognize the guy, but couldn't put a name to the face. He could however see the immediate danger.

The man didn't speak, raising his gun to level on the two, and Emrie was already grabbing his sister to pull her behind him as the man fired, and the bullet went wide. "Run!"

This time he didn't really have an objective, it was just to hightail it away from this point, to get a move on, and put distance between the two of them, and the white man with a gun. "I thought you said there was a ceasing of hostilities! he seems pretty hostile!"
 

"I just .... "

That was as far as poor Shania could begin to speak, let alone comprehend. She was equally confused and heartbroken. Her head weakly moved from side to side as she nervously gulped.

"O ... Okay. The fact we found where Grandmother Willow should be does mean we're in the movie - or at least that same setting. Still though ... "

Her head continued to shake, with her body following suit.

"This wasn't ... this was never supposed to happen. Who ... ?? There was literally nothing to gain from doing this. I ... "

Shania stopped, her head tilting as she began examining the fire and how it was spread. More specifically, exactly what Emrie was pointing out. Whomever was behind this had made sure to only burn the trunk as well as Grandmother Willow herself. "But then ... you'd have to be able to freely manipulate fire in order to do that. Yeah .... yeah, I don't think this was natural either."

In fact, the more Shania examined the remains, the more certain she felt that her sibling was correct.

"The rest of the forest - or a good chunk of it, anyway - would have burned down also. Yet ... this was a very precise, single target fire."

Her eyebrow rose upon hearing the word 'Firaga'.

"You think one of the villains from your games did this?" Her head tilted again as she looked at the tree, "I ... suppose. They would be perfectly capable of that sort of magic. But ... "

That was when Emrie yanked her away. She stumbled forward, looking up in a mix of shock and annoyance. The sound of a musket firing, however, helped her understand why he'd acted that way. Her head turned, but Shania didn't dare stop running.

"Thomas, wait! We're not here to fight you!"

Shania yelped as another bullet whizzed by, barely avoiding nicking her shoulder.

" ... The fighting halted at the end. So .... I would say we're in the middle of the film, but .... I don't know if that's even true. With what we saw regarding Grandmother Willow, we're just ... in the same location as the movie. But someone is preventing certain things from happening, or somehow ruining the canon storyline. That's what it's seeming like, anyway."

Meanwhile, another Native American's head quickly lifted as the bang! echoed throughout her homeland. It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but the truth was Pocahontas had been - to put it bluntly - in a 'funk'. Grandmother Willow wasn't the only person dead. So were her father, Kekata, Nakoma, and even Kocoum.

John Smith, though alive and well, had been almost as hopeless as she had been alone. They had thus been forced to hide.

However ... when another gun shot rang out, she turned and looked over to John, nodding firmly with a determined smile. "I think they're finally here."

The past few nights, she'd seen two shadows. They stayed hard to make out, and thus difficult to determine if they were friend or foe. But now ... something about those visions was making her feel like finally, they may have found a new source of hope. She highly doubted it was a coincidence ... even less so upon pulling the compass out and holding it in her hands. The small black arrow began to spin quickly. When it finally stopped, it pointed right where the sounds had come from; east.

The princess kept the compass held, allowing John to grab his own gun, helmet, and anything else he needed. Once he was ready though, the two ran off to go investigate whom exactly was being shot at. And, just as importantly, if they were linked to her dreams and could therefore be a solution to the ongoing problem.
 


"I don't think he's too interested in talking!" He said quickly staying up right and running away from this situation was the smart thing to do. The man was working to reload his riffle as he chased after the two native adults. Emrie was glad that he had never taken up smoking like a lot of his friends his heart was pounding in his chest, and he was already feeling like his legs were hurting, but he had friends whom would be in ragged coughing fits and easy targets for the bullets that were slowly being shot at them.

Thomas was oddly silent on the matter, they were too far away from the man to see eyes that were devoid of life, milky, and tired, like he had been working for days, his features gaunt with the signs of hunger. The man was more a Zombie than an actual human. And the thing that was keeping the two alive was the fact that he was a terrible shot with the musket.

The third powder shot however struck a target, Emrie cursed as he fell over, it was a grazing wound along his leg, the bullet had drawn some blood, but it was shallow, lacked the impact of a modern bullet, it just hurt. "Fuck!"

He stumbled to get back up, but was otherwise fine, he knew first aid, he could handle a cut and not die. The main thing was that it cost him time.

John heard the gun shots, and nodded, towards Pocahontas, when they had sailed for the new world he had envisioned a lot of things, but jamestown had become a bit more of a nightmare than he had ever wanted it to be. The two had been trying to stay hidden with not much more to do than that. It had been a good chance to get to know her, but at the same time the two were stuck living off the land, with none of the usual British niceties he was accustomed too.

All because of the demon that had joined them before they set sail.

He followed her, hat on, gun in hand towards the sound of gun fire. He saw it was Thomas, chasing after two more Natives, in odd dress, though really no one here had the type of stuff he was used to wearing so he didn't know exactly what was going on.

Still it was Thomas, he couldn't shoot the man. He watched as the third shot rang out and the male dropped down.

He couldn't shoot Thomas, but chose instead to do his best to close the gap. Running into the open revealing himself caught the attention of his once best friend whom turned his gun towards John, but by the time Thomas had reloaded the Musket John was already within the distance to deck the man.

Thomas fell back unconscious for the moment. The hit knocking him down hard. John may have spent the last few days hiding and running, but he had slept and eaten well thanks to Pocahontas's lay of the land with her as his guide. "He's down!" He called out to the others. Taking some rope and working to tie up his old friend.

"Sorry buddy, I'm hoping you feel better after this than i do."
 

Shania frowned. If this had been almost any other explorer, she could maybe better understand.

But .... Thomas was John's best friend. He was never like this. Goddamnit, nothing's the same!

That made her fists clench in sheer anger. With this entire universe seeming hellbent on killing them here and now, was there any possible way they could help? It was feeling less and less likely. Which made her own shaking increase. She'd promised Emrie not too long ago they'd figure something out. But how could they when she was feeling so very lost?

"Fuck! Emrie!"

Shania stopped dead in her tracks, squatting beside her brother and helping him get back up.

"Sorry. This is probably gonna hurt, but come on ... "

What had started as a run was reduced to a half-jogging session. Shania was fine. Still, she was purposely avoiding running too fast. She didn't want to further agitate her brother's leg, after all.

Slowly but surely, she was getting worn out from the running too. More specifically, the primary issue was both she and Emrie had come here barefoot; a mistake that she solely took the blame for. At the very minimum, she should have encouraged Emrie to get those, as well as grab her own. It'd at least help Shania ignore the urge to stop and make them both easier targets.

"Emrie ... "

When he dropped back down, Shania wrapped her arms tightly around her brother. If this was really going to be the end, so be it. But she wasn't allowing him to die alone. A lot of this had largely been her fault. She'd pushed for them to take Beast's advice and leave home right when they woke up. They'd come in here very unprepared. All because she'd been so worried about what seemed like a mere dream being real.

Not only was it very much a real message they'd gotten, the situation was even worse than she imagined. Shania's eyes narrowed as Thomas began to reload the musket, slowly sauntering towards them. Her arms shook as she continued holding onto Emrie. Her eyes gulped as she prepared for the worst to come.

Only to hear a new set of footfalls, which caused Shania's eyes to re-open again.

"John? Please tell me you're ... not hostile."

"You know him?"

And before she could mentally prepare herself for the sight, Pocahontas herself walked out after hearing the immediate threat had been rendered unconscious.

"Yes. I know both of you. I umm .... I'll explain when we get somewhere safe. It's a long story, and it's probably going to sound very strange."

"It can't be weirder than what we've seen and endured." A noticeable smile was on Pocahontas's face as she looked between the siblings. "You're like me?"

"Mhm. Iroquois, to be exact. Ready, Emrie? Three, two .... up!"

Hoping the countdown had helped, she stood with her brother, allowing him to use a shoulder. Or anything that would keep enough pressure off his leg from making the injury worse than it was.

"There's medicine back at .... what's left of my village. I'm no medicine woman, but I learned enough from Kekata. I should be able to help your ... lover out?"

"Oh ... no, no. Not lover. Brother."

"My apologies," Pocahontas quickly apologized, blushing lightly. "This way. With any luck, he," She gave a nod towards the unconscious - and now bound - Thomas, "should stay out long enough to give us time to treat him and learn more about you two."

Shania offered the princess a quick bow of her head, moving steadily forward as they began following after Pocahontas.
 

"It's not that deep." Emrie said softly as he was helped up, by his sister he winced. His leg would heal fine, the bullet had missed the bone, he could feel the muscle and flex his ankle it hurt like hell, but it was just a scratch. he walked limping and stayed with Shania as they moved about. He was with her now till the end of this, he couldn't believe that she had thrown herself atop him. He would have rather she had ran and protected herself, and not just stuck around to die. But they had come to this place together, and he was glad to hold onto her now.

When Pocahontas confused them for lovers he blushed, and shook his head. No despite what he had told Lady Yuna dreams about Shania had been few and far between. He was mostly unworthy of the amount of trust, and love she put towards him. Certainly he had never done anything to really earn it before now.

"Thank you." Emrie spoke softly as he was helped to his feet, he gripped his sister and smiled lightly as he stumbled his way with her. The camp seemed like a solid idea, medicine was good, not that he exactly trusted the medicine of her people, but at the moment that seemed to be the best idea that they had. "Please lead the way."

He looked around as they walked. "So to explain us, we are from..." He paused for a moment trying to think about how best to explain this. He couldn't exactly say time travel, he didn't think that the two of them would completely understand that idea. These two were still from a world that had technology hundreds of years older than what he or his sister were used too.

"Well there is no easy way to say this, but we are from another world." He said softly, wincing and breathing heavily. "In our... world, you two are..." he paused again. "Historical figures," he wasn't going to get into the actual story, this was the happy Disney'TM version after all. "From me and my sisters point of view, you two existed almost two hundred years ago, but we know of the story, how it was supposed to go, something in this version is very, very wrong."

Walking to their villiage he groaned in pain as he was sat down in one of the tents as Pocahontas gathered the medicine he would need. "Something doesn't really belong here."

John picked up his old friend Thomas, and walked behind them, his eyes drifting back hoping no one else had heard the gunshot, bringing them out of hiding would be very bad. He listened to the claim that the two were from another world and nodded. In all honesty it wasn't the strangest thing he had heard in the past few days.

"I think I know what doesn't belong, the expedition team changed leadership a little ways back, the new guy called himself a military adviser. When he arrived he was preposterous, but soon Ratcliff started listening to him, and from there he took control of everyone. I tried to warn the tribe, the man had ordered the waters poisoned, and what you see is the result of that choice."
 

" .... Here we are."

Pocahontas would guide them to what used to be her village. Now, it was more akin to a ghost town in the most literal sense of the word. There were still some torn down tents. Debris consisting of broken, splintered wood was around the four. A small make shift fire pit hinted the extra wood had been put to good use, and it had allowed Pocahontas to not only ensure John Smith ate, but remained warm. It wasn't winter, mind you. But it was getting close to that time of the year, so it was chillier than usual.

Although there were no physical bodies, droplets of blood could be seen still on the ground. Some more so in certain areas than others.

Pocahontas leaned down, pulling open the flap of a specific tent. Inside were rugs made from skins of various animals. This was likely where Kekata had worked if one had to guess, as there were other numerous items that had a very 'medicine doctor' feel to them.

While Pocahontas grabbed a bowl with some crushed-up herbs, and now taking the form of a thick paste, Shania sat down and began to listen. She would have been fine with Emrie doing all of the talking. However ... when he spoke up and uttered the wrong amount of time, she giggled, her head shaking.

"Two hundred? No, no; double that, my dear brother. Four hundred years. Sixteen hundred and seven was when King James the First sent the British off to sail into the New World."

Pocahontas didn't stop ... but she did blink, her head tilting curiously. She recognized the year, at least, was correct. But .... her eyes briefly met John's. "You ... hinted you had a leader? Is that actually his name? King James the First?"

When it was confirmed, Shania blushed. "I umm .... know a lot. Not that Emrie doesn't, but history is one of my stronger suits. As is ... the movie you're in, and the company who makes them."

"Wait ... we're historical figures that are in .... a what now?"

"A movie. It's something you watch for entertainment. Think of .... " Shania's fingers snapped as a decent enough analogy came to her mind, "A much more advanced version of watching a dance. Any kind, for that matter. It's really a lot more complicated than that, but ... that's the simplest explanation to use. At any rate, movies can be about anything or anyone."

"And ... someone made one about me?"

Shania nodded, "Technically ... the whole journey. So even John was included, as well as Thomas."

Pocahontas couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. After coating her fingers in the cream, she gently lifted Emrie's leg. "Hmm .... looks like it went through. Okay. This may sting a bit, but try to be still." Slowly, she began moving her hand along the wound, making sure to cover every inch which - thankfully - wasn't too big or wide. It was just a musket, after all.

When John brought up some new person, Shania felt her heart flutter. That was it, huh? The source of why everything had gone so horribly wrong. It scared her ... probably because this person was an unknown factor. An even more nerve-wracking thought considering she knew everything else about this universe.

"Who ... was this person? Did they give a name by chance, John?"

A new thought dawned on her as Shania quickly flushed. "Sorry ... I forgot my manners. I'm Shania. My brother's Emrie."

Pocahontas merely flashed an understanding smile, not looking the least bit mad or annoyed Shania seemed to temporarily forget her manners.
 

Emrie hissed in pain as Pocahontas looked after his wound he was lucky the shot hadn't taken out that much of his leg, hadn't hit bone, just a very deep scratch, and the bullet was even accounted for, the small ball of metal had been caught inside his pant leg, the fiber of the track pants having caught it on the way out. He picked up the small ball of metal, and looked it over.

"Good to know that while we are in this world we can get hurt." He said softly, it wasn't an ideal lesson but it seemed the gift the two of them were supposed to have was not invulnerability as he would have hoped. Which brings him back to the question why they were chosen. He nodded when his sister corrected his dates.

As Pocahontas started to work on his leg he leaned back for a moment.

John listened to everything that was going on. "Your names are.. odd, young is a British last name, none in Pocahontas's tribe even used them."

"four hundred years, things changed. Europeans colonization efforts were massively successful, and eventually america became it's own unique country, it fought the British Empire, kicked your ass and got control over our own taxation, the bill of rights borrowed a lot of laws from the Haudenosaunee. There were some fumbles along the way, Slavery, a couple world wars, racism isn't exactly behind us, but like the last name implies even we have some white blood in our veins, grandma on our father's side. It's not perfect, but humanity on a whole has achieved some truly grand things by our time." He tried his best to gloss over the tragedies and highlight the good the people had achieved by his time, but he knew that it wasn't perfect by any means. "Course this isn't our exact past, more like another earth entirely." He winced in pain and gave a low hiss.

John nodded slowly he only really kept up with about half of what the two strangers were saying, but it did give him some hope that things would get better. When Shania asked about the person whom came along with them he nodded. "He called himself Kefka, a strange man indeed. He dresses like a harliquin clown, and at first we thought little of him, but from the moment we got onto land he started to take durastic measures. Because of him the Tribe was wiped out almost entirely, he poisoned the water supply, and from there he started working people to death. When he tells you to do something you go about doing it, it's this strange control he has over others."

The name lit a spark in Emrie's mind, and he nodded. "Kefka, Yeah I know that name." He said with a small sigh. "Your world wasn't the only one that reached out to us, there are a hand full of others. He's from another, another earth."

"This story is just getting more confusing." John said with a roll of his eyes.

Emrie turned towards his sister, speaking more to her than the other two. "Kefka's a mad man, a super soldier of sorts, He was infused with magical power, his goals are always nighilistic, and he will do anything to achieve them. If he's set the men of James town to digging something up, you can guarantee that whatever he is digging for is bad news for everyone."
 

Shania smiled softly as John commented on their names. "A lot has changed over the years. Naming is one of those things, particularly with others who are Native American. Many people have non-Native sounding names. The short version is ... almost everything has changed. Medicine, technology, even exploring. Ships are a lot faster and sturdier ... no offense to you or anything, of course. Alas, our life is by no means perfect, just as Emrie said. There are certainly flaws. Regardless, we have advanced in our way ways."

Pocahontas had her own intrigued look. Now it seemed like she was curious to learn more about the two siblings' world, as well as John's. But was that even doable?

Only time will tell, she decided. For now, her focus remained on Emrie's leg. When she finished dispersing the cream and bandaging the wound, Pocahontas gently laid it back down on the skinned rug.

"You probably should try to use support again. I'm not sure what you should or shouldn't do, truthfully. But if your world is the way Shania hinted, I'll trust you to know what would be the smart and unwise decisions to do with that wound."

When John finally relayed the name of the other person who joined, Shania's eyes widened slightly.

" ... Kefka? Wait ... the same one you've mentioned before?"

There was a reason that name stuck. A very good one, in fact.

"As in ... the same villain that has actually succeeded in any of his plans? That Kefka?! How ... are we even supposed to deal with someone like him?"

If she hadn't felt uncertain before, now Shania really didn't understand why they had been visited. Surely, there had to be a mistake.

Fuck the fact we're barefoot. Now even if we had a weapon ... it'd be practically useless.

For the first time since having their weird dreams, Shania felt how Pocahontas had been not too long ago; completely helpless. No matter how hard she tried to think of solutions, none were coming to her.

"How ... have you two been avoiding a monster like him, anyway?"

Pocahontas smiled softly, gently placing a hand on Shania's shoulders. "It definitely hasn't been simple. I'm not going to pretend it's been otherwise. But ... this isn't the only place we run to. We have a few other small camps we use to rest and eat in. This is, however, our primary location. It's also the only one that has medicine hidden away. Usually ... we can hear the soldiers approaching. Since they have metal clothing as well as weaponry, it makes a lot more noise. You saw earlier that if we have to fight .. John can do that pretty well. It's really when Kefka's around that things are more ... difficult to handle."

"Yeah. From the small bit I do know of the man, I believe that."

If he can even be called a man to begin with, Shania internally added.
 
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