The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived... the one that I personally have been giggling over for days on end now... 

IT'S THE FIRST CHAPTER Y'ALL

And it took way to long to arrive. The reason being, of course, as usual, I ended up writing out all my ideas for future plans and completely neglected this.

*LE GIANT SIGH*

Well, now that it's actually here, let's get started. Evan, you ready?

"Ready as I'll ever be, my lady..."

"Oh, if you're wondering, Evan's a Dragon by the way. That's how he deals with me."

"M-My lady!"

"Yep, yep, got it... just roll the beginning notes already."

PRE-READING WARNING: There are a lot of different languages and accents this time around, which I will do the best to write, but I can't possibly do them all perfectly to just please bear with me. If you're confused at why there are lots of other languages throughout the story, then, well, here's your answer. (Ex: Nadia gets Chinese and English mixed up a lot, hence there will be Chinese inside.)

Also, just for like, fun, sometimes I'll add some personal notes too. Not very often though, so they story won't be interrupted. They'll be bold and in italics.

Another thing: please don't kill me if I accidentally portray your character wrong. For example, Nagini is arrogant. I suck at writing arrogant people without making it overly cliche. And Nicolas is seductive. I cringe at every pick-up line I read. Hence, I beg of you not to be mad. Thank you.

Accents:

Vinh - Slight Vietnamese accent, but it's so tiny you don't even notice it's there. ('Less you have supersenses, of course)

Dracaena - Half British accent. Like, half British and half English.

Liesel - German accent.

Evon - A bit of a french accent, not too heavy but it's still there.

Dorian - Argentinian/Hispanic accent.

[For those of you who have OCs who have accents and didn't tell me them... TELL ME THEM NOW.]

Got that all? Great. Now, let us actually begin the story...

"A Chinese Zodiac Applyfic, Act 1, Scene 1!"

*clack*

"ACTION!"

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"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝑪𝒂𝒕."

"I knew this would happen. Could you... live for me?" 

Why... why?

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐈 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐈𝐌?

With a gasp, Ryuu shot up from his bed. He was panting heavily, sweat dripping down his face. "Promise to you..." He touched the bracelet made of mysterious brown locks of hair around his wrist to reassure himself and sighed. "Not that dream again." 

Inside his head, he felt Rita wake up too. That dream again?

"Yeah, that dream again," Ryuu sighed. Judging by how he could hear the neighbors cooking breakfast and getting ready for work, it was probably around 8 or 9 in the morning. 

Rita yawned. That's the third time this week you've woken up because of that. Are you sure you don't want to be sedated? 

"If I wanted to sedate myself, I would be trying to kill myself," Ryuu said, half-jokingly. "And poison is not my way to go, since I would like a clean and preferably painless suicide or death, so no thank you." 

Right... Anyway, what's today's schedule again??

"Why don't you find out yourself?" Ryuu retorted easily, getting out of bed. Even though his sightless eyes slowed him down a little, his limbs moved easily in a well-memorized routine as he worked through the normal morning activities-eating a quick breakfast, brushing his teeth, changing into a comfortable T-shirt and pants, then letting Rita take a turn-at the same time, looking around through her eyes. 

Rita, why the HELL do you still insist on wearing that outfit? He asked dryly as Rita fixed her ponytail in the mirror. You aren't even in the military. How'd you even get it?

"Hey! I'll have you know that these are comfortable as heck, and they also happen to repel most things! And, they grow or shrink to adjust to my ability!" Rita said indignantly, adjusting her hat. "Do you have any T-shirts that do that?" 

No, but I could steal one. "Please don't. I'm pretty sure I bought the last one anyway." 

Mean.

"Rat." 

Gimme back my body already.

"Ryuu, you know perfectly well that if you ask, I won't give it back... What the."

What?

Rita had just so happened to look above her head in the mirror. "Hey, do you see that?"

I don't see a thing, what are you... huh.

Floating above her head was a circle. It was glowing light purple-rose-magenta and kind of looked like a Celtic design... but there was a curled up rat which seemed to be sleeping in the middle of it.

"Probably just hallucinating," Rita dismissed it. Wait, Rita, I- "You can have your body back."

Ryuu huffed as his sight turned black again. "Ugh. Fine."

The rest of the morning went by pretty normally, bypassing the weird circle thingy which didn't vanish. Ryuu set to work writing, Rita helping out by pointing out whenever he spelled something wrong. Whenever he got tired, he let her take a turn at 'driving.'

There was one particular time when she guffawed at his reflection. Oh my gods, IT'S A NEST I SWEAR- MADE OF ICE CREAM- HAHAHAHAHA-

"I'm glad I can't actually see this chaos," Ryuu muttered as he smoothed out what he assumed his hair to look like-or, in what Rita could see, a whorl of purple and pink and white that truly did look like a scoop of ice cream as hair on his head. 

It was around 12 in the afternoon when they received the call. Ryuu had just finished organizing his newly-finished manuscripts when his ears perked up, detecting the faint vibrating of the phone that always came before he started to ring. Thanks to that, not one second after it started ringing he already had it to his ear. "Hello, Raspad-Angela Chuutamu residence?" 

He'd complained about the long name, but Rita had insisted that it was the one they used, so now it was permanently inscribed on the front door plaque. And listed in the phone book. And what his name was filed under in his job forms. 

The long name actually wasn't that much of a problem, since people usually didn't call them, but ever since Rita had helped out with an interrogation with her ability, people gradually started calling more and more often. 

Sure enough, the voice on the end asked, "Ah, hello, this the residence of Rita Raspad-Angela Chuutamu, yes?" 

"Yes." Ryuu put the phone down, not bothering with speaker mode and he put the manuscript away to give to his boss later. Inside his head Rita stirred. I heard my name...

"Could you please hand the phone to her? We have a case we need her help with." 

"Of course. One moment please." Protocol 9, Rita, he quickly relayed, before shouting, "RITA! The police want you again!" 

In a moment's notice she took over and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" Without his hearing, since she wasn't using it and usually didn't, Ryuu simply listened as she held up what seemed to be a single-end conversation. "Oh! Hi, Officer Luigi! Nice to hear from you again, how're the kids? That's good to hear, keep them healthy and fit. . . . Uh-huh, got it, no, no, I can get over there right away! Uh-huh, got it, see you in ten minutes, Officer! Bye!" 

She hung up. "They've got a particularly hard case," She said out loud, although that wasn't really necessary. "Seems to be the violent type too, judging by how Officer's voice was practically dripping with worry." 

Greeaaaaaat, Ryuu deadpanned as Rita strapped on her steel whip. She closed the door and fiddled with the lock, which was old and sometimes difficult to lock properly. Another session of watching you 'interrogate' the other person... while I sit here and do nothing. How BORING. 

The lock finally clicked and she pocketed the key, hopping down the balcony and landing on the ground. As they entered more populated areas, she started talking telepathically. It ain't my fault you can't see and you don't have something as cool as mine.

Wha-Hey! Ryuu protested. That was my ability once upon a time, you know! And I used it far better and more creatively than you do. 

Well, emphasis on the 'ONCE UPON A TIME' part, Ry-chan, Rita said half-teasingly, half-mockingly as she strolled along, whistling a merry tune. 

Inside her head Ryuu grumbled in annoyance. You little... who the hell taught you to talk like that? 

YOU, obviously. 

They continued 'talking' good-naturedly as Rita continued walking towards the police station, occasionally turning her head this way and that upon Ryuu's request to have a look at things. 

Three... two... one...

What are you counting down on? Rita asked Ryuu suspiciously, right before an arm shot out from the alleyway and suddenly she found herself surrounded by a gang of men-about seven or so in all, if she counted correctly, with ridiculously bulging muscles and all dressed in ridiculous outfits and carrying various gangster-type weapons like clubs or iron pipes. 

That. 

Rita sighed to herself quietly, annoyed. Oh, geez. This would put her off schedule by appromixately three minutes, depending on how long they talked. Which, based on most gang studies, seemed to always happen before the beating. Then again, it also depended on how short Ryuu's temper was that morning. There had been one incident where he'd been especially pissed, and beat them all to dust instantly. 

But better to act. She blinked innocently, adding a touch of fear to her voice as she squeaked out, "Oh, my! And what business do these big, bad men have with innocent little me today?" 

The lead guy stepped to the front, wielding an iron pipe. "Don't try to play sweet with me, lass. Last week you beat all of our Western forces to the ground." 

Rita pouted. "Oh, did I? Well, they were the ones who tried to strip me first. Seems right I gave them a good beating." 

"Quiet!" The man slapped the iron pipe into his hand. "We didn't drag you out here to talk. We're here to take revenge for our buddies." 

"Reeeeeeally?" Rita paused, then smiled. "Try it." 

"Don't run that mouth of yours too much, girly!" The leader swung his pipe towards her, but to his shock she caught it. Slowly she stood back up, archaic letters swirling around her as she grew taller and into the older version of Rita. Her hair spilled down her back. The pipe crunched and bent in her hand. 

"Now... do you want to play with me!?" 

- - - 

Neither of them ever noticed the shadow ghosting the corner of the alley, watching it all.

- - - 

"Whew! That was fun!" Rita strolled cheerfully out of the alleyway, brushing her hands off. "I didn't even get blood on my suit! Nice!" 

In the alleyway, the men were all sprawled on the ground, completely unconscious and disarmed. A delicate 'X' was sliced carefully on each of their cheeks, the knife used for that act stabbed through the leader's hand.

I wanted to fight them, Ryuu said in annoyance. You always get all the fun. 

"Like I said, you're blind but the thing is they don't know, and you're also a man," Rita said carelessly as she swung open the door to the police station. "Now be quiet, we're here." 

As if you ever do the same to me when I ask, Ryuu grumbled, but nevertheless quieted down a little.

Inside, Officer Luigi met Rita in the small lobby of sorts. "Ah, Rita! How are you?" 

Rita flashed a dazzling smile. "Fine, thank you! Now, who am I interrogating?" 

"Actually," Luigi said slowly, "Since the one you'll be interrogating is particularly dangerous, we're going to have someone take a quick check of you first to make sure you'll be fine inside with them." 

He gestured towards the door, where a slender male was standing. He had rather androgynous features, and was very handsome overall, with long light coffee-brown hair tied loosely in a long and thin ponytail down his back. The ends were fading into a faded blue, as were the tips of the choppy bangs framing his face and somewhere around in the middle. 

The male smiled warmly, and immediately Rita felt her bones relax, tension leaving them. Of course, she didn't notice and didn't fight against it either. "Hello. My name is Evan, I'll be your tester today before taking you to see the person you'll be interrogating." 

("No, Evan, it's not you-" 

"I know that already, I read the script already you know...")

"You're new," Rita noted offhandedly. "I haven't seen you around before." 

"Well, yes, I'm a new recruit." Evan smiled again, holding the door open for her. "Over here. I'll just ask you some quick questions before taking you to meet the captive." 

Rita waved at Officer Luigi before following Evan into a room. He took a seat, then gestured for her to sit down across from him, which she did. 

"So, let's begin." Evan leafed through some files. "Rita Raspad-Angela Chuutamu, correct?" 

"Yes." 

"14 yrs. of age, and you don't attend school?" 

"No." 

Evan hummed thoughtfully before continuing. "Blood type?" 

"B." 

"You have an older sibling named Ryuu?" 

"Yep." Liar. 

What else am I supposed to say? 'Oh, Ryuu's my weird little mafioso?' 

Shut up, Rita.

"Hm. Birthday?" 

"I don't know." 

"All right. Family?" 

"They're dead." 

"I'm very sorry for your loss. You've been living here for about three years, correct?" 

"Yes, my brother and I couldn't afford a permanent residence before." 

"That's good. Your ability lets you manipulate the age of yourself and whatever you touch?" 

Rita tensed up a bit. How did he... She was pretty sure she hadn't included her ability when filling in the files, but she could've been distracted-also it wasn't like people weren't watching her when she interrogated people here. "Yes." 

"You regularly get attacked by gangs trying to take advantage of you?" 

Again, she wondered how he knew that, but there probably wasn't anything dangerous about that warm smile, so she said, "Yes." 

Evan asked a few more normal questions, before standing up and putting the files down. "Thank you, Miss Rita. That's all I needed to know. Now, if you'll please follow me, the captive's right over here." 

Rita followed Evan outside, where a circle of police officers were surrounding... someone. "Thank you, gentlemen, we'll take it from here." 

The police officers saluted. "Yes, sir!" And went back inside. 

The captive was tied to a chair, a cloth over their head. With a swift movement, Evan reached over and tugged the cloth off... and Rita drew in a breath in slight surprise. 

The captive was certainly handsome, that was for sure, but like Evan, his features were like a girl's at some parts. Messy pumpkin-orange hair spilled messily from his head, stopping a little past his shoulders. A longer part of it hung over his shoulder. When he blinked his eyes open, they were a startlingly sharp cerulean sky-blue electric blue color.

"Hello," A slightly hoarse and musical voice spoke. "It's nice to see you, Ra-I mean, Rita." In one smooth move, he stood up and broke his bonds. Rita couldn't help her jaw from falling a little, because those bonds looked tight. 

And he broke them so easily.

Then the redhead turned to Evan, and his entire demeanor changed. "You idiot! Why'd you take so damn long?! I got slapped three times more than necessary thanks to you!" And he finished by slapping Evan across the face. 

This time Rita's jaw did fall. Uh... what?

Ryuu stirred inside her head. What the F*CK is going on?

Evan rubbed his cheek. "Aww, don't be so mean, Cal, it was necessary! Besides, I was the one who snuck in!" 

"You little-" 

"What is going on?" Rita cut in. "Evan, what the heck is wrong with this guy?" Of course, she also wanted to ask why the redhead wasn't getting immediately restrained again, but more important matters first. 

To her surprise, the redhead barked a laugh. "Evan? ____, that's got to be the lamest fake name ever." Huh? What? Fake name? Then was that un-spell-able name his real one?

Evan flushed. "S-stop that! I was short on time! Besides, look!" He displayed a name tag that Rita had somehow how noticed before. On it was written: Eavan.

"And how the f*ck is that any difference?!" 

"What's your real name, then?" Rita started getting into battle mode. This was starting to get out of hand." 

"___."

"Huh?" SHUT UP, Ryuu! 

Sorry, it's funny seeing you like, 'Huh?' 

F YOU.

"E.A." Evan said slowly. "My name is Ea. Spelled E-a." 

Like the Mesopotamian god? Ryuu asked in her head, just as Rita said the same thing aloud. "Oh, like that water god in Mesopotamian mythology?" 

Evan-or Ea, whatever-raised his eyebrows slightly, then beamed happily. "SEE! Cal, I'm not totally forgotten!" 

"Ha, that's only one person," The redhead-Cal?-brushed himself off and stood to full height, stretching. "Let's get going. We can't stay down here like this for too long since Emp didn't give us full permits, and I really do not want to have to resort to that." 

Ea sighed gustily. "Fine. You're always so pushy." He snapped his fingers and then behind them, what appeared to be a train car materialized out of thin air. It was shimmering, like the galaxy, and looked very magical and very suspicious. 

Rita took a step back. Want me to step in for you? No, I'll be fine, Ry. "Is that your ability?" 

"Hell no." Cal answered. The doors slid open with a puff of smoke. "This is the Celestial Train, currently in 'Zodiac Train' mode." 

Uh... SAY WHAT NOW?

Ea sighed again. "Cal, she doesn't know what you're talking about! I told Emp that he should've just let me do this myself!" 

"Shut up, you sh*tty river, Emp sent me because you're too soft-hearted! Anyway." Cal jerked a thumb at the train doors. "Just step in. We'll explain things once we arrive." 

Arrive where? Rita was dying to ask. Also, she was half-considering to slit their throats right then and there, but then again...

Ryuu sighed in her head. Just get on. If worst comes to worst I can take over, and besides, this is much more fun than watching you have all the fun by 'interrogating' whoever the hell that guy is, who I don't even think is the right captive. 

You're such a baby, Rita shot back, but complied. "Just so you know, if this goes badly," She flashed a bright smile. "It won't end well for both of you!" 

Ea smiled at her again, and again she felt her bones relax for some reason. Why? "Of course, of course." 

Without a second doubt, Rita hopped onto the train. The inside was pretty much what you'd expect of a typical subway car-connected chairs on either side, poles to hold onto, etc. 

What surprised her, though, was that there were more people inside-four, actually, now that she counted. They also had circles floating above their heads, like the one she saw above her own head now.

One was a rather short boy with honey-blonde hair, tanned skin, and magenta eyes (like hers!) that sparkled with what was something that could only be described as a mixture between mischief and excited worry. In fact, even under the circumstances they were in, which probably meant that Ea and Cal had somehow gotten them inside the 'train' without having a mental breakdown, he practically radiated innocence, happiness, and just overall absolute adorableness. Rita made a mental note that, first chance she got, to squeeze his cheeks and give him a hug. Then also possibly use the mischief in his eyes to cause some pranks that would totally not be caused by them happen. There was also a blue beanie on his head. His circle was a golden-ish brown yellow color, with a curled up monkey inside.

So, looks like we're cursed, Ryuu said drily. Rita ignored him and continued observing the others.

Another was a girl, who had black, slightly wavy hair below shoulder-length, and Asian features. Chinese, most likely. She was wearing a pair of scratched glasses and was tilting her head slightly to the side, as if she were contemplating something. A flash of gold alerted her to the golden pig necklace around her neck, which she was twisting. Rita immediately noticed two things about her: one, she had a rather sad aura around her, but that aura was also kind of dangerous. And two, she didn't know why, but as soon as she laid eyes on her several insults sprang to mind-which was ridiculous. Both Ryuu and her were trained not to blow their top or they would lose an advantage over the enemy, since hot-headedness could be taken advantage of... but there was just something about her that made her want to insult that girl. Maybe an ability? Although I can't see how that could be useful... She bit her tongue, not one to pass up a chance at a potential friend. Her circle was brownish-black, with a pig inside.

On the ground was a boy, curled up like a kitten. He had wild bright red hair and seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so she couldn't really observe him that much, though he seemed to be dressed in typical bad boy clothes-nice. And also, another weird thing about him was that he was tied up, with his wrists tied together and what seemed to be a muzzle and a dog collar around his face. His circle was reddish-gold with a curled up tiger.

The final one was also a boy, who had a similar aura to the first. He had curly brown-blond hair and brown eyes. He was fairly tan, with ambiguously tanned skin. Even though by the way he was nervously bouncing his legs and glancing around the train car, Rita guessed he was claustrophobic or at least was sensible enough to be scared of being kidnapped (which, actually, what was happening), there was a tilt of his mouth that seemed to suggest that he was the type that seemed to always be smiling, no matter the situation. He was chatting with the blonde, and his circle like the girl's was brown, just lighter and had a horse inside instead.

As she stepped into the train, both of the boys ceasing talking and stood up at the same time, nearly identical wide, cheerful smiles splitting across their faces. The blonde spoke first. "Hi there!" he gestured around at the train car. "Chill ride, huh? And to think this morning I was thinking about how to cultivate bananas into my daily life better!" He laughed brightly. 

"Oh my gods, no, how can you say that?" The other guy groaned a bit over-dramatically and also gestured around. "Don't you find this constraining? No? Not at all? Like the walls are slowly closing in, and they're going to eat you up soon? And-" 

"我 们 刚-We literally just got f*ckin' kidnapped," the girl spoke up and Rita got that weird feeling of wanting to insult her again, "And what you two are worried about are bananas and claustrophobia?" 

Exactly, Ryuu said. Can I take over yet? Ignoring him, she let a smile take over her face. "Oh, I totally agree. As in, this is a chill ride. Is this like, the coolest ability or what? You could like, summon a transportation mode at any time, and, best of all-you don't have to wait to get a license!" 

"UGH. No. Do not speak that vile word to me," This time the blonde groaned. "Do you know how painful it is to watch people drive, when I myself could totally become a student driver, but apparently 'I'm too short to reach the pedals?'" He did air quotes around the last sentences.

"How old are you, anyway?" The other guy inquired. 

Blondie sighed. "Fifteen."

"I'm fourteen," Rita said, producing her license and waving it around flippantly. "But I drive all the time. When I want to." 

Blondie's jaw dropped. He looked at the license, then at her, then compared their height. "H-H-How?! You're even shorter than me! Which is actually kind of pleasing, but..." 

"Please don't tell me you're one of those types that crashes the car all the time because you think driving is better than running and walking naturally," The other guy sighed. 

"Noooope!" Rita grinned. "My ability lets me manipulate the age of myself and anyone I touch. So all I need to do is make myself older and bam! Instant driving privileges." 

"Actually, she likes walking most of the time." 

"HOLY SH*T-" All of them jumped as Ryuu apparently appeared out of nowhere, looking mystified as he touched himself as if to make sure he was actually there then touching Rita. His appearance was in 'normal mode', for once. "Where the F*CK did you come from?!" The other guy demanded.

Ryuu looked at Rita, and while she had dealt with many of his antics, she'd never quite seen this expression on him-kind of amazed and awestruck at the same time. "I..." He reached out to touch her head and shoulders a little more. "Rita. I can see." 

She gasped. "No. No way!" She waved a hand in front of his face, and his eyes followed her movement. "Okay. What number am I holding up?" 

"A three." 

Rita gasped again, feeling like someone had just slapped her across the face. "That's impossible." 

Ea's cheerful voice rang out from the PA. "Actually, it's not. This cab is equipped with all ability-wiping and curse-wiping functions, which means that as long as he's inside here, he can see. And that's also why he's been separated from you. Thank you for not freaking out!" 

There were slight sounds of him being pushed aside and faint, 'Get the hell out of my way, moron!' before Cal's slighter rougher voice started talking. "Sit down, kids, we're going to depart soon and if you don't sit it won't be pretty. Especially you, previously blind boy." 

Ryuu, still looking slightly disoriented-something that was also highly unsettling to Rita-stepped forwards and immediately pitched forwards. Blondie had to catch him, pushing his sleeves back to reveal some of his bandages. "Woah there! Careful." He guided Ryuu to a seat. "What's up with all those bandages?" 

Ryuu waved a careless hand. "Nothing." Thankfully, the topic was avoided as Rita immediately sat down and started chatting away with him. It was like a special kind of... joy... to see Ryuu's normally blank violet eyes become filled with color, constantly darting everywhere as if to try to take in everything at once.

They were talking so intensely, neither of them noticed as the train rocketed forwards until Rita happened to look up. "Oh! We're moving!" Ryuu immediately pressed his face against the window to try to see what was going on outside. "By the way," She addressed the other people in the cabin, "I never caught your names." 

"I'm Mason!" The blonde introduced himself cheerfully. 

"Colt," The other said, flashing an equally cheerful-looking smile.

"Nien-I mean, Nadia," The girl said quietly, still fiddling with her necklace. "The guy on the floor is Chaol. Apparently, his ability doesn't let him 睡得太多-sorry, I meant get much sleep so he pretty much dropped on the ground and started sleeping the minute introductions were over."

"Ahem, you forgot the part where he almost bashed our brains in," Mason coughed primly. "They literally tossed him in hissing and scratching tied up. With a muzzle."

"And that part," Nadia amended.

"Sounds like we'll get along just fine," Ryuu said, smiling as he sat back down normally.

At that moment the intercom rang again and they heard their two kidnappers-ahem, escorts-arguing.

"What do you MEAN you scared off the Rooster?!"

"Hey, don't blame me, it's not my fault! How was I supposed to know they had two innocent siblings?"

"You sh*tty river, this is why you're SUPPOSED to check their family background BEFORE coming to get them! When you use your stupid smiling power on young kids, they'll follow you everywhere like ostrich chicks! And now he thinks you kidnapped the kids-" 

"Blah, blah, Cal, calm down with your worrying, I got this! Besides-" 

Rita cut in by yelling, "JUST SO YOU KNOW, I MIGHT HAVE LET YOU GET AWAY WITH KIDNAPPING US-NAMELY ME-BUT I WON'T LET IT SLIDE IF YOU DECIDE TO KIDNAP TWO YOUNG CHILDREN! THAT IS NOT JUSTICE!"

"I WILL BE HER LAWYER!" Colt added.

"AND I SHALL GET THE OFFICIAL PAPERS!" Mason bellowed. "AFTER THAT WE WILL-"

Nadia interrupted them with an angry, "你們為什麼都大喊?!" (Translation: Why are you all shouting?!) Thankfully, the tied-up redhead didn't react, just twitched at the sound.

At that moment they heard someone yell, "ADELIA! CORVIN! Rendez-leur vos ravisseurs d'enfants pas bons!"

"Oh, great, look what you've done," Cal said sarcastically.

Ea huffed. "Fine. Then I'll be the one to fix this."

The last thing the group saw before the train skidded to a halt and the windows closed was their two kidnappers going down fix... whatever mess they had just caused. Again.

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𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐.

Evon was having a really bad day. Actually, wait, no, scratch that, he had been having a great day. A spectacular one, in fact. 

Those crazy guys just had to ruin it.

Of course, was he able to tell that it was going to be bad?

Of course not!

He woke up, as usual, when the sun was just peeking its lovely little face from the east horizon. Yawning slightly, he turned slightly and smiled when he saw Corvin and Adelia. Stroking their adorable faces gently, he whispered, "Hey. Time to get up, mon petit soleil, ma petite lune." (Translations will be provided at the end. Or not.)

Adelia was the first to stir, scrunching her face up adorably. "Nooooo," she whined, turning around. "Je ne veaux paaaaaassss..." 

"Mais tu doiiiisss," Evon whispered back. When she still didn't respond he shrugged. "Oh well, petit papillon, you leave me no choice." He reached over and began... THE MERCILESS TICKLE ATTACK!

Naturally, that method worked. Adelia squirmed and squealed, laughing as Evon continued tickling her. "D'accord! D'accord! Arrêtez! Je suis réveillé!"

"That's more like it," Evon smiled fondly as he stopped tickling her. "Okay, now for your brother... Trois.... deux... un!"

At one they both pounced on Corvin, and in almost no time at all their other brother was wide awake in a fit of giggles, gasping for breath. "Nonononoo! Pas l'attaque des chatouilles!"

"Oui, l'attaque des chatouilles!" Adelia and Evon replied happily, and Corvin eventually gave in and woke up.

"Honestly, the tickle attack was over the top," Corvin was protesting ten minutes later, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he packed up his sleeping cloth. 

Adelia giggled. "No, it was quite funny!"

"But it wasn't for meeeeee-"

"Well SUCKS TO BE YOU-

"Hey! What do you mean by that?!"

"You're stinky! That means I don't want to be you!"

"Wha-EVOONNN, ADELIA'S BULLYING ME AGAIINN!"

"Both of you, stop shouting, or we'll get caught," Evon called absentmindedly as he started 'erasing' evidence that they'd been there. "Adelia, don't be too mean to your brother."

"Humph!"

Evon had found this old warehouse two days ago. Now that it was the third day, it was time to move on.

"Come on, this way," He beckoned for them to follow him and grasped both of their hands. "Don't get lost now, okay?"

"Okay!"

After a while of walking (carefully, of course, in the shadows) he stopped in front of a particularly fancy-looking bread shop. 

"We're here," Evon announced, as if they were arriving at their real home, instead of the place where he would *attempt to* rob right now. He escorted them into the back alley gently. "Wait here, okay?" Both of them nodded, big eyes wide. Corvin tugged on his shirt as he turned to leave. "Please be safe, big brother..."

Evon smiled and ruffled Corvin's head. "Of course, Corvin."

"Bring back some good food!" Adelia added, hugging him tightly. He smiled fondly at her too. "Of course, Adelia. You two stay safe back here, and don't go anywhere, okay? Big brother will be back in just a moment." The two nodded and Evon slipped away.

After years of training himself how to steal quietly, he had learned a thing or two. He watched carefully through the windows, casually pretending he was looking at the bread in the window display. When he saw the bakers disappear into the back room, probably to bake more bread or somethin' other that bakers do (no hate I haven't had personal first-hand experience okay) he took his chance. 

Carefully opening the door, he held the bell over the top of the door so it wouldn't jingle and give him away then slipped soundlessly into the shop. The bread nearest to him wasn't even covered by a glass dome, like the other, fancier breads were. This shouldn't be too difficult.

Evon looked around. He could easily run back out the back door, then disappear into the back alleys. There was a security camera on, but he knew how to deflect it. Worst comes to worst he could always smash open the window and also go into the back alleys.

Okay. I think I'm ready. Let's do this. For Corvin and Adelia.

"Oh, Baker?" he raised a hand and put on a sweet, innocent schoolboy look. A moment later a gruff-looking baker popped his head out. "Eh?"

"Can I have two of those bread rolls? Fresh and on the go would be amazing." He pointed towards a plump loaf of bread.

The baker grunted. "Sure thing, sonny. That'll be ******." (No idea how French currency works so apologies, that's censored to avoid any disputes.)

"Of course, of course." Evon dug into his pockets and drew out some coins from his pocket. Fake, of course. He'd made them yesterday and they should still be nice and should fool the baker (who didn't look very sharp) long enough for him to get well enough away.

The baker grunted again and handed him the loaves. "Thank you for your purchase."

Evon waved as he turned around to exit. Even though his legs strained to run away, he forced them to be still. When you're stealing something, the absolute worst thing you could do is run right after you steal the object. Dead giveaway if you do that. I should know, ha ha.

He kept his posture casual and whistled merrily as he exited the shop. Turning down the alleyway he met Adelia and Corvin. "Look what I got!"

His two siblings squealed in happiness. "Bread!"

Evon smiled at them. "Yep." This should last us at least two weeks, maybe more-

His feeling of triumph was ruined when he heard the baker shout, "Oi! These coins are fake!"

... So, turns out the baker wasn't as dull as he looked. 

"Time to run," he told his siblings, scooping them up in his arms and taking off. He ran rather mindlessly as he'd gotten a pretty good bundle today and he sure as hell didn't want to lose them. Behind him he heard a voice yell, "THEY WENT THAT WAY!"

Then the group of angry bakers charged off... in the wrong direction.

Evon skidded to a stop, breathing hard. "Oh, thank goodness," he breathed a sigh of relief as he set the two in his arms down. "I hope you didn't wait long."

"No, not at all," Adelia said brightly, clutching the bread to her chest.

"Good. Then-"

"Ah, I'm glad to see you got away safely."

Evon whirled around to see a pair walk out from the shadows. One was a brunette with blueish ends, and the other was a redhead. 

The redhead rolled his eyes. "As if you were helping. I was the one that drew them away, y'know."

Now Evon recognized the redhead's voice as the one that had guided the mob in the wrong direction. Hesitantly he bowed a little, wanting to express some gratitude for the help, even though he was still slightly suspicious. "Thank you for your assistance, it is greatly appreciated. Now, if you'll excuse us..." He grabbed his siblings' hands and started to guide them away.

"Please wait." 

They stopped against their wills as the brunette spoke again. This time, his voice sounded like it was made of pure sunshine. They turned around. The brunette smiled warmly and Evon swore it was like the sun just came out or something. "We mean no harm. What do you say we sit down and talk for a while?"

Yes, Evon's head agreed. No way, his heart disagreed. Everything about this screamed suspicion and bad-guy vibes. He knew that and went absolutely nowhere.

Adelia and Corvin, on the other hand, seemed to disagree. They pulled away from Evon and ran right to the brunette, clutching onto his legs. 

"Do you have candy?" 

"Mister, are you like the fairy godmother?"

"Can you give us some food?"

"Hey, can you come and live with us?"

Evon closed his eyes, sighing. "Come on, mes petits frères et sœurs, you know better than to be swayed by strangers-" 

Wait. 

The questions had stopped. He opened his eyes.

They were gone. And so were the two strangers.

"Adelia?" Evon looked around. "Corvin? Come on now, this isn't funny..."

When they still didn't appear, he started to seriously get worried. "Adelia!" he shouted. "Corvin! Where are you?"

He ran frantically through the streets, his heart hammering. No. No. I can't lose them too, not after everything that's happened...!

Finally he spotted what looked to be part of Adelia's hair disappeared around the corner and he followed it. 

"ADELIA! CORVIN! Rendez-leur vos ravisseurs d'enfants pas bons!" He ran frantically around to find them, when suddenly out of nowhere the pair appeared again. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THEM?"

"Calm down, they're safe," the redhead said calmly. "They're-"

"They went that way," the brunette said bluntly, pointing ahead. Without a second thought Evon took off in that direction, only to see a pair of train doors opening in front of him... and he was charging full speed right into the train car that had apparently appeared out of nowhere.

Oh. Shit.

He vaguely registered more people inside-another brunette, a pair of siblings, a blonde, and a black-brown-haired girl. "Move, please!" he yelled as he sprinted, unable to stop his running lest he wanted to lose his legs. The people inside sprung to their feet.

"Wait!" The blonde cried out. "You'll-"

Too late. Evon ran into the train, tripped (more like ran over) the still-tied and still-sleeping Chaol on the ground, and before anyone could stop him, gravity did its work and his face ended up inches from Chaol's own, fury-filled face.

Oh, putain.

------------------------------------------------------

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

Chaol thought it was about safe to say that this day was gradually turning from great to worst. First, he saw a weird circle thingy above his head, which apparently nobody else could see. Then, two strangers had just showed up out of nowhere and told his parents that they wanted him to become a successful businessman and would help him study abroad. 

And so, naturally, when his parents apparently gave in without a second thought, he got the heck out of there, expecting that with his abilities he would be able to easily get away, but nooooo. Apparently, the two were much more efficient and stronger than he'd originally thought. Within mere minutes, he found himself tied up in ropes that seemed to cancel his powers out.

"What the F*CK are you doing?!" He demanded as they carried him unceremoniously above their heads. 

"We're going to a fun abroad studying session!" the annoying disarming one replied cheerfully, and the redhead-thank gods-hit him.

"YOU $%$#$*#%#*-!!!"

Then they snapped their fingers and Chaol decided his life was officially ending right then and there when he got tossed into a train car. He hissed and tried once again to claw his way free from the ropes, unsuccessfully.

"Um..."

Oh, GREAT.

Blah blah blah, cue the introductions, blah blah blah. He wasn't interested in who the new people were (although he would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued by their circles, which seemed to be like his) and demanded an explanation.

Well, that was where his day got better. Apparantly this train canceled all curses and abilities. Which meant that, if he didn't actively try and listen... he couldn't hear any other annoying sounds stopping him from sleeping. 

"Oh, f*ck yeah." Chaol curled up on the ground and relished in the feeling of sleeping peacefully. 

He was sleeping perfectly in glorious peace, and would have been glad to keep things that way, when suddenly he was awakened without any gentleness whatsoever as somebody just so happened to run over him. His eyes flew open only to see a pair of blue-grey eyes right in front of him and another moment to realize that this stranger's lips were mere centimeters from his. 

Oh, f*ck no! He not about to let some stranger boy steal his first kiss away from him!

Instantly he sprang up and to his surprise the bonds disappeared and he felt his powers return. Letting his left arm partially turn into a tiger's arm, he swiped at the male-a good swipe that would've decapitated the other, if he hadn't dodged at the last moment. However, part of his claw caught on the other's left cheek, leaving a thin scar there.

"You need to get some fucking glasses!" He shouted, leaping to his feet. The other male frowned and Chaol noticed there were a few feathers sprouting from his hands. "You need to find other places to sleep!" He shot back. "Who the hel-heck sleeps on the floor?"

"I do!" Chaol snapped back. "It's comfortable and there's tons of space. It's obvious that you're the one who needs to get some freakin' eyes and try not step on a person when they're clearly sleeping peacefully for what might be the first time in their life!"

"I wouldn't know," the other male retorted. "I don't like sleeping. And even if I do it's only for a few hours."

Chaol faltered for a moment, not expecting that, but his fire wasn't quite put out yet. He glanced at the other passengers, which also included a new brother-and-sister pair-they were all watching keenly, but none making a move. Well, that's a smart choice on their side, Chaol thought, lips curling up into a snarl. Best not to let them get caught in cross-fire. They could be useful...

"Yadda, yadda, yadda," he said mockingly. "Look, the role of 'Can't sleep because of my sh*tty powers' has already been taken, so go and run home to daddy or mommy and whine, okay? Maybe they can find some other role for you to fill, like 'Blind a**h*le who can't see sh*t when it's right in front of him!" Ha, take that you motherf*cker-

What he didn't expect was for genuine anger to twist on the other's face. He bit his lip. "I don't have parents, you putain de tigre mere-ventouge meref*cker!"

Again Chaol faltered before gnashing his teeth. Dammit. All he wanted to properly maul this guy for almost stealing his first kiss from his virgin lips-at least, his were, Nicolas's certainly were not-but he kept on making him falter.

"Do you think I would care?" he instead said, smirking sadistically. "I live in comfort, and by the looks of you-" he gestured at the other guy's worn down clothes, "-You clearly do not. My condolences, really. It must be so hard for peasants like you to live. I don't understand why God decided to let you people live; he should've just killed you straight away to save him from spawning living dirt on this Earth."

With every word, he saw the other male stiffen more. His hands curled into fists and he stepped closer. "Do you think I'm not perfectly aware of that?" He looked up. "What do you think I think about every time I do nothing but stare at the empty sky, waiting for death to finally claim me? The only reason I haven't died yet is because I have a reason to live on. You, on the other hand?" He let out a bitter chuckle. "All you rich folk. You live in a glittering golden world filled with endless luxury and ignorance. You refuse to look at the cruel truth of reality and because of that you despise and look down on people like us who need to fight tooth and nail to survive every single day, all because we were unlucky not to be graced with beauty, fame, or wealth." He pushed up a sleeve, revealing white scars on his arm. "This is proof. You spend all days in your palaces building and fluffing your own egos, all the while making yourself weaker in the process. You are ignorant and you are weak at the same time. I know I'll never be able to understand what kind of luxury you people live in, and I to be completely honest I don't want to try. If it means a little more pain, then I'm more than willing to still be able to face reality, instead of sugarcoating it and turning away from it in fear that it will shatter the so called 'peace' you have all tricked yourself into believing what this world is." He huffing by the time he finished, eyes flashing defiantly.

Chaol felt something curl in the pit of his stomach. Suffering...? Pain...? Memories of a deadly blade flashing, the throats of his parents slit, blood spraying across the walls and floor, ran through his mind. What does he know about pain? He felt his anger consume him and clenched his fists. "It's you who doesn't understand," He bit out. "Do you even know what I went through before I got taken in by them? I-" The rest of the words got caught in his throat. I watched my adoptive parents get slaughtered right before my eyes, and yet all I did was stand and watch. By the time I could react, it was too late.

But before he could continue, he felt someone touch his arm. "Okay, you two, that's enough." Immediately, he felt... weird. When he looked down, his skin was wrinkled and bony, sunken, and he felt like even a single breath would blow him away. His sight was blurred, but he could make out the form of a baby version of the other male, cradled in the arms of the short girl with pinkish hair in a side ponytail. Suddenly it hit him. He felt old. He grit his teeth, but felt his teeth crack. "Damn you..." he managed to croak. They hadn't met, but he already knew her ability involved age manipulation.

"No, damn you," she replied coldly. "You two are getting way out of hand. Before you start ranting on, please get a room. I am this close-" she pinched her two fingers together to emphasize her point, "To getting out my whip and properly disciplining you."

The new boy, who looked like her older brother, chuckled a little. "Oh, Rita, come on now. Be nice."

The girl, whose name was apparently Rita, huffed and put her free arm on her hip, where a steel whip did indeed lie strapped to her side. "How can I when this guy is being an asshole-" she gestured towards Chaol, then to the baby, "-And this guy is grating at my nerves?!" She narrowed her eyes at both of them. "You're lucky I've already released some steam earlier with that gang, but if this keeps on going..." she smiled scarily. "Then you'll leave me no choice. What I've done to you is only a taste of what I can do. Be grateful I didn't make you blind or deaf."

"That's right." 

A stern voice echoed from above and Chaol faintly registered it as the voice of the cheerful guy, who sounded rather annoyed at the moment. "I didn't go through all this trouble just for you two to nearly kill one another the moment you meet just because you were both in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, if you'll kindly promise not to continue on with this nonsense, I'll let her turn you back to normal."

Chaol was about to protest Heck no! but seeing the other girl's smile he grudgingly complied and nodded. The baby, which he had to admit was rather adorable, nodded violently as well, big eyes looking a mixture of confused and frantic.

"Great!" Rita cheered, instantly cheering up. She clapped her hands together, beaming. "Proooooomise to be good kiddos and not fight?" 

The only thing he could do was nod again. She touched his arm and with another flash of light he returned to his youth. Chaol gasped for breath, quickly moving around all his limbs and stretching them to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. To his relief they were, and he could see and hear properly again. Across from him the other guy was back to normal as well, doing the same.

Chaol eyed Rita warily. She met his gaze head-on and grinned, all the previous danger from before gone-but not completely. He could see it was still lingering there, ready to be called out in an instant's notice. She might be a problem.

"Well, uh, ahem," The brown-haired guy-Colt, that's right that was his name-coughed politely. Chaol noticed he was also side-eyeing the girl. "Let's introduce ourselves. Who are you?" Colt looked horrified at himself for how he said it and quickly amended, "Sorry, I meant like introductions and stuff and-and-Ugh." He threw up his hands, mind clearly still stuck on the mini showdown that had just happened. "You get what I mean."

The new guy smiled a little. "It's okay. My name is Evon, it's nice to meet you all." Now that Chaol paid attention, Evon wasn't all that bad-looking, with messy dark blonde hair and blue-gray eyes-excluding, of course, the severe dark circles under his eyes and the poor state of his clothes. He was skinny with a slight French accent and, Chaol noticed with disgust, about two years younger than he was. Pathetic. He stood down to a mere 17-year-old?

He zoned out for the boring introductions, before turning to the two new kids-both with a glowing purplish-magenta circle with a rat curled up in it above their heads. "What about you two?"

"I'm Rita, and this idiotic guy is Ryuu!" The girl gestured at the boy, who smiled a little. "For once I can get a good idea of what people look like without having to guess."

Mason tilted his head curiously. "Huh?"

"I was blind." Chaol frowned. Huh. And yet... He was pretty sure he didn't mistake the malicious gleam in his eyes when he'd been watching them earlier. Whatever. It's not my problem.

"More importantly!" Colt swung towards Rita and immediately started ranting. Nadia muttered under her breath, "又来 一次 了..." 

"What the hell was that earlier?! You cannot just casually threaten people like that, it's completely irresponsible and not to mention, with a power like yours, there's a million possibilities that you could do with that, instead of releasing steam on some gangs! You could be put in danger any day! It is not healthy for growing girls like you to do such things so early in life, it'll impact your thinking in negative ways and that won't be good for your mindset and health-"

Rita was saved when the doors opened again and a girl quite literally sashayed dramatically in like she was on a model runway or something. She had long wavy dark hair and was quite beautiful, but gave off an arrogant aura. When she spoke even her voice was snooty. "I sure hope these aren't the peasants that I'm going to have to work with," she said disdainfully, looking down on them. "I should be charging you money just to be this close to me. Oh well, peasants I suppose."

After the outburst with Evon, Chaol really didn't feel in the mood for stirring up more trouble, but damn this girl was annoying. He scowled-even more so when he felt Nicolas stirring up inside of him, and before he knew what he was doing Nicolas took over and had swished over to the girl.

Nicolas put a hand on the girl's waist and took her chin between his hands, pulling her body to his and smiling his best smile as he crooned seductively, "What's this? I think I've finally found some suitable prey for the night," he purred, running a hand up her rather shapely legs. "Wouldn't you agree, darling?"

(BLARGH) (THIS IS WHY I HATE WRITING SEDUCTION Y'ALL TAKE NOTE OF MY CRAPPY SEDUCTION WRITING SKILLS DARK I APOLOGIZE)

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the rest of them watching with various expressions-Colt had covered Mason's eyes and plugged his ears, Rita and Ryuu were watching with small smirks on their faces, and Evon was flushed and had covered his eyes too-but had peeked out briefly at Nicolas's pause. Nicolas, never one to miss out on a flirting chance, winked flirtatiously at Evon and was rewarded with a bright red blush as he hid his eyes again.

Gotta focus on the prize at hand, though.

The mentioned 'prize at hand', however, seemed rather displeased, but also charmed. "Well, aren't you the charming one," she replied in a honey-sweet voice, cupping his cheek. "Unfortunately, I'll have to decline. I'm not interested..." She judo-flipped him over her shoulder and drop-kicked him across the car. "IN PERVY BOYS WHO ARE SHAMELESS ON TOP OF THEIR EXTREME PERVINESS!!!"

. . .

The silence was interrupted by Rita's enthusiastic clapping. "What?" she asked, clapping cheerfully. "Gotta pay my respects to a girl who knows when not to fall for boyish charms! I can't believe I didn't think of drop-kicking him earlier, though." Nadia joined in also, more politely though.

"Gods, all you people are crazy," Colt shook his head, letting Mason go, who looked around wildly and gasped. "What happened?!"

"NOTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT," Evon quickly cut in, still red in the face as he hurriedly cut Ryuu off.

Mason shrugged. "Oh. Okay. What's your name?"

The girl sniffed. "Well, you guys don't deserve it, but I suppose shall do you the honor of gracing you with my name. My name is Nagini Devi, it's a dis-pleasure to meet you." She flounced to a seat, sanitized it, then sat down primly with a huff.

Nicolas, on the other hand, abruptly shifted back into Chaol, who blinked. "What the... what just happened? Why am I on the ground?"

"You just tried seducing that lady over there by inappropriate means, you overstepped your boundaries, she got fed up with it, then promptly judo-flipped and drop-kicked your ass onto the ground," Nadia said in a monotone voice. "And personally I think you should stay on the ground."

They were all taken aback by her bluntness and there was a long silence before Mason broke it.

"Well..." Mason whistled awkwardly. "Anybody have a spare banana?"

XXX

Up in the control room, both of their kidnappers were also rather flustered. "Gosh darn," Cal said, falling onto a chair. "He's like the worse version of flirty Erato."

"No, he's more like February when it's Valentine's Day," Ea argued, hiding his face with his long hair. 

"Let's not tell Emp about this," Cal decided. "He'd never let us live it down."

"Agreed."

XXX

It was practically a miracle that they managed to all stay sane for the rest of the ride.

For one, two new people joined them-First, a rather shy but instantly lovable girl named Liesel, whose pale yellow circle (the color matched the pretty primrose in her hair) had a goat inside of it. She was dressed in an oversized navy zip-up hoodie with the words 'OSTERREICH' printed on it. Then came another nervous boy with blue hair, which matched the color of his circle which had a rabbit inside. He fiddled nervously with his camera (which he had been using to take pictures with before he got unfortunately kidnapped) and eventually took a seat (rather far away) from the rest of them.

For another, everyone was still kind of traumatized by 'Nicolas' and his flirting, although Chaol had explained what was the deal with that. Now, the group was just kind of... sitting. Bored, that's for sure, as the train zipped so fast they could hardly see the view outside.

Without knowing it, Evon started singing softly under his breath. "Bonne soiree bonne noit, couvert de roses, equipe d'un cloud, glissez-vous sous le pont. Demain matin si diew veut, voulex-vous vous reveiller a nouveau. Bonne soree bonne suit, garde par des anges, ils montrent dans un reve, vous l'arbre de l'enfant Christ. Dors bien et doucement, regardex dans le paradis due reve..."

"That's a really nice song," Liesel complimented him when he finished, smiling. Evon flushed red. "A-Ah, it's nothing... I have two younger siblings who sometimes have trouble sleeping..." He thought back to the earliest days, when they would have trouble sleeping, he would sing them that lullaby, the same one their parents had sung to them before they ...

Thankfully, he was pulled out of his rather dark memories when the train stopped, the doors slammed open and Cal marched in, carrying a guy who was quite literally fighting and kicking with all his strength. Like Chaol had been he was also tied up, with the bonds especially tight around his mouth, and through his gag they could hear him calling Cal various names in Spanish.

Cal dumped him on the ground unceremoniously. Nagini recoiled. "Um, what is that, pray tell me?"

"That," Cal said, voice tired and sounding annoyed, "Is your newest friend. Enjoy." And he left, muttering under his breath, "Keep calm, keep calm... only two more to go..."

The bonds unraveled and the boy instantly tried screaming more threats, but all that came out were glittery light pink bubbles. Eventually he realized he wasn't going to be able to say anything and just gave the camera the middle finger before sighing and sitting down next to Evon, who gave him a worried look. "Are you eating something strange? I've never seen that happen before..."

The boy shook his head, exasperated. "No. Some sort of weird ability. Whenever I try shouting insults they become those weird bubbles."

"... Ah. I see."

"Lemme try." Nagini turned towards Chaol and started cursing at him-but sure enough, all that came out were pink bubbles. She stopped, huffing and crossed her arms. "Humph."

"That technically wasn't even me-" Chaol tried saying, but gave up.

"Anyway, my name's Dorian," the male introduced himself. "What about you all?" After a quick round of introductions, Dorian first turned to Chaol, looking at his collar. "I assume you had to be forced on too?"

"Yu-up." Chaol popped the p, casually picking at his nails.

Dorian looked at Rita's steel whip. "... Please tell me you didn't use that on them."

She flashed a smile, all teeth. "Nope. I was about to use it on two idiots earlier, though."

". . . Uh. Great." Dorian smiled nervously. "Nice flower there, Liesel." Liesel beamed and patted her hair. "Thank you!" They immediately started chatting about flowers.

Thankfully, before Nagini could ruin the bonding moment with some arrogant comment, the doors opened to reveal a girl in the act of sneaking away. She has slightly tanned skin, black hair that reached just past her shoulders, and had dirt on her face. Like them, she had a circle too, only hers was mottled black and white with an ox curled up inside. Upon seeing them, she immediately froze.

"Uh..." Mason spoke up. "Who are you?"

The girl immediately assumed a sort-of casual position, waving. "Hey there, my name's Vinh-I mean, Ahn Dung-I mean-" She sighed and threw up her hands. "Well shoot, now you know that I'm sneaking out!" To herself she muttered, "Ugh, Vinh, you need to stop messing up your introduction... this is why you can never escape successfully without having to resort to violence..."

"Well, uh, Vinh," Mason said, looking at the rest of them for backup out of the corner of his eye, "Welcome aboard! I promise that we aren't going to kidnap you!"

"That's actually debatable," Chaol said (un)helpfully. "But whatever."

Liesel poked her head out. "What's taking so long?"

Vinh gasped. "OH MY HEAVENS! SHE'S-" She swooped in for a bone-crushing hug. "ADORAB-ahhhhh!"

Liesel had skillfully dodged her hug and now Vinh was sprawled inside the train car on the ground. The doors closed behind her. 

"Ow..." Vinh grumbled. 

"Sorry," Liesel said sheepishly. "I don't like hugs much."

"Oh. Okay." Vinh pouted, then sat down and immediately started chatting her up anyway.

Finally, their last stop stopped in front of store, where through the front window they could make out the image of a tallish girl sitting at the counter, drawing something absentmindedly. They watched Ea and Cal step off (and silently prayed that for once, for once, they'd finish this and they'd get an explanation)

Somehow miraculously, ten minutes later a calm and rather cool-looking girl stepped in. Now that they weren't straining to see through the slightly dusty windows to look at her, they could see her more clearly. She was rather tall, with black to gray ombre-colored hair, which was shaved on the right side. Her eyes were a bright gold color and slightly glittery. She was dressed in a red shirt under a black denim jacket, denim shorts, and black knee-length lace-up boots with gold details. Her circle was greenish-aqua-blue with a dragon curled up inside of it.

"Hi, the name's Dracaena," she said, waving at them and sitting down next to Nagini-not flinching at Nagini's hiss of protest. She looked calm enough, but the moment introductions were over and the train started moving again she stood up and started asking questions.

"First of all, how the heck did you summon this train? Why the heck did you steal a buncha kids alongside me? Where are you taking us? Why in the world did you think it would be a good idea in the first place? Where in the world are going? Did you bother feeding any of these poor kids food? Do you have any destination? Aren't you going to care cluing the very ones you kidnapped in on what's going on and where we're going? And above that-"

Dracaena continued her barrage of questions, which eventually and inevitably ignited the others to start shouting questions of their own. Soon questions and comments were flying left and right, over and under, everywhere and nowhere.

"Why'd you kidnap us?!"

"Where'd you get the orders to get us?"

"How the heck did you even know where we lived?"

"Have you been STALKING US?!" (no thank goodness ^v^')

"I'm hungry, can you at least be decent enough to feed us?"

"Ugh, can we just get this whole thing over with?! When you told me I'd become a model I didn't expect for these peons to tag along!"

"Where are we going?"

"You'd better have a great reason for this unprecedented kidnapping, misters!"

"Can you at least tell us when we're going to get an explanation...?"

"Hey, does anyone know where we can find bread?"

"Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to try and kidnap us without offering a good explanation?"

"When are we going to get an explanation?"

"Can we get out of this place yet, it's a bit suffocating..."

"WE WANT AN EXPLANATION STAT OR ELSE-"

"Actually, we're here," Cal interrupted their questions. Sure enough, the train was coming to a halt and when they looked outside they saw...

Pretty much the coolest building ever in the history of cool buildings.

For one, it was really tall-understatement of the year because in fact, they couldn't even see the top, which was hidden by misty clouds. The glassy walls of the skyscraper constantly shifted-from starry galaxies to a lovely pink sunrise, then back. The entire thing looked like something out of a fantasy dream-or maybe a fantasy sci-fi story. A set of long equally glassy stairs that appeared to be obsidian, flecked with silver, led to the entrance. Snow fell gently from the sky, and even though it was snowing plum, cherry, and peach blossom trees were in full bloom, lining the stairs to the entrance, which was studded with various glittering items that looked like ice frozen in time. Behind and around the building they could glimpse various amazing-looking gardens, all of course in full bloom.

"Woah..." Dorian breathed out. "What is this place?"

"This," Ea said, smiling as the doors opened with a puff of air and he appeared in front of them, "Is where you finally can get the explanation you've all been begging for."

XXX

Translations (all French to English):

[NOTE: THEY ARE NOT IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE. AND I PROBABLY MISSED SOME. IF SO TELL ME.]

1. Mon petit soleil, ma petite lune - My little sun, my little moon

2. Je ne veux pas - I don't wanna

3. Oh, putain - Oh, f*ck.

4. Putain de tigre mere-ventouge meref*cker! - Goddamn tiger parent-sucker motherf*cker

5. Bonne soiree bonne noit, Couvert de roses, Equipe d'un cloud, Glissez-vous sous le pont. Demain matin si Diew veut, Voulex-vous vous reveiller a nouveau. Bonne soree bonne suit, Garde par des anges, Ils montrent dans un reve Vous l'arbre de l'enfant Christ. Dors bien et doucement, Regardex dans le paradis due reve. - Good evening, good night, Covered with roses, Equipped with a nail, Slip under the deck. Tomorrow morning if God wants, Will you wake up again? Good evening, good night! Guarded by angels, They show in a dream, You Christ Child's Tree. Sleep blissfully and sweetly, Look in the dream's paradise. (Brahm's Lullaby)

6. Mais tu dois - But you have to

7. Petit papillon - Little butterfly

8. D'accord! D'accord! Arrêtez! Je suis réveillé! - Okay! Okay! Stop! I'm awake!

9. Trois, deux, un - Three, two, one

10. Pas l'attaque des chatouilles! - Not the tickle attack!

11. Rendez-leur vos ravisseurs d'enfants pas bons! - Give them back, you no-good children kidnappers!

12. Mes petits frères et sœurs - My little siblings

This is the first. And LAST time I will be providing translations...

As for Nadia's Chinese, *blows raspberry* Come to me personally if you really want to know what they mean.

------------------------------------------------

"CUT!"

"Ahhhhhhhrghhhhhh..." *falls to the ground* TIRED AND DEAD

"Geezz... how the hell did this chapter end up even longer than the first?! I felt for sure that it'd end up super short and you'd all be yelling at me for making it too short! Huh. But now... I'm so tired and dead because of my stupid OCD yelling at me to make sure everyone's OC gets equal share of appearances... ugh... "

"Sorry if the ending parts sounded a bit rushed, I wanted to get it over with and publish this so yeah... that was all that was standing in my way so I gritted my teeth and squeezed out the last of my filler Ch. 1 ideas from my 'Ch. 1 Filler Ideas' lemonfolder."

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, YOU MAKE IDEA FOLDERS OUT OF THEM.

"You included so much cursing, I thought the censoring budget would go haywire..."

"Well, Evan, it's called the price of accepting a cool OC from Dark. And being here in general. You'd better get used to it. Also, that's not the point."

"You seem to forget that you curse yourself..."

"It's proof of my maturity! Humph."

Anyway, moving on!

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! The translations were the best I could provide, thanks Google Translate because I only know English, Chinese, some Spanish, some French, and Latin. I know I probably paid a lot of attention to Colt, Mason, Nadia, Chaol, Evon, and my OCs in the beginning, but that's 'cause I needed to fill in the space and thought they'd be fun to write. LIKE I SAID I LOVE YOU ALL EQUALLY.

And I hope you didn't cringe too much at the insults. They ain't my strong suit so I just summoned my inner demon and got it over with. REMEMBER: Any fighting/insults between OCs DOES NOT COME FROM ME, BUT FROM THE OCS AS THEY FIGHT. Okay? So don't come flying at me in a rage. (But real talk now, Evon's speech did come from the bottom of my heart.)

(Also real talk, who here is angry at me for dropping the fancy angst fighting bomb on y'all when we haven't even gotten past one chapter yet? Don't be shy, raise your hand. *expects lots of hands to fly up*)

I included two POV parts this time-from Evon and Chaol, respectively-which means I have an announcement. *Ahem!* Congratulations, iamconfusion34, Darkblaze450, your two OCs-the two that got a POV-have been chosen to be favorited by me! Yaaaaay *jazz hands* (Confusion, this is the surprise I mentioned in the comments with Evon)

Everyone else, your OCs are all very close to me and I love them all, but those two just managed to burrow a teensy bit deeper into my heart.

Of course, eventually everyone's going to become my favorite but for the beginning... just for now, these two.

- - -

Questions:

Bold = Super Important So Please Answer (SISPA)

If y'all don't answer some of them then you're basically giving me permission to do as I like with them. So. You should probably answer them because if you tell me later 'JIMMY WHY'D YOU MAKE THEM DO ______, I WANTED ______ INSTEAD!' I'll yell right back at you, "'CAUSE YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS WHEN I ASKED YOU, DUMMY!"

All told, you should just answer them.

1. How do you think I did with the character portrayals? Thoughts on improvements? Good things? (Glows and Grows elementary-school style, anyone???)

2. What does your OC's ideal bedroom look like? (Will be used for when they move into the high school dorms because duh. Luxury.)

3. Sometime in the story we're going to have to go into a fancy party to find ****** (censored because spoilers). Theme of the party: wedding. What would you like your OC to wear? (Some level of fanciness, obviously) For those of you with male OCs, congratulations, you can slack off and just tell me what color you'd like the suit and the tie to be. For the girls, HA HA HA NOPE. 

4. How's your OC's voice? Like if they sang how would it sound like? (possible later use for goofing off chapter)

5. The 'circle' thingy above their heads is their zodiac seal. Out of the three, head, heart, or body, where would it go the most? (As in, when it gets absorbed it goes to the part that keys in the strongest with them becoming a zodiac)

6. Comment here if you've caught any spelling and grammer (etc.) errors in my story. It turned out wayyy longer than I'd anticipated and I was getting antsy towards the end like I said so I probably didn't edit it properly enough. (OPTIONAL, you can do this if you really feel annoyed about one thing)

- - -

Also, overduelibrarybook89, I'm probably not going to include Nadia's Chinese and English mix-up too much after this, because wow copy and paste can be hella annoying. Of course I'll probably still do it, though. Heh. Just wanted to warn you.

And I think that's it... 

Until the next chapter, my dear readers. JUST SO YA KNOW, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING WITH THIS MONSTER OF A CHAPTER. The rest of the chapters *probably* won't be as long as this one was. (Word Count: 12112.)

See you, and thank you for reading!

-awakened-angel-chan