“F.O.D.D.E.R.”

Karasu 091207-091807

So. We had to write a short story for Creative Writing class. Joy. Not only couldn't I write slash, my mom thought it would be in poor taste to write about a school shooting. But, this came out instead. It's a lot better, I think. This is just the first part, because my computer's monitor crashed (as some of you know). The second, ending part will come later. How much later?

I have no clue.

--

Summary: (One-shot, violence) Bittersweet victory…

--

Looking around, there’s total destruction. Buildings blown up, streets cracked and pieces thrown in every direction. The dust was barely settled at my feet.

How disappointing. We fought. Hard.

We just lost.

--

“Have you heard the news yet?” Austen leaned forward on her perch, which consisted of the arm of my couch.

I raised an eyebrow, “What news?”

She blinked her lime eyes incredulously, “F.O.D.D.E.R. is gaining more members. Almost five thousand people signed up yesterday. The Tenretni is really getting the word out. My grandmother says that this is just like World War IV, when they had internet drafts, only the Tenretni is a more sophisticated form of—“

“Five thousand?!” Ai perked up. It took him that long?

Austen scowled at being interrupted, but nodded.

“Jeez,” Ai breathed. His hands combed through his electric blue hair in a frenzy. I knew this whole situation was tough on him. I mean, his half-brother and sister practically ran the organization that was attempting to overthrow the government.

But, c’mon, it’s 3085 for Chrissakes! The whole “taking-over-the-world”-thing is so a thousand years ago.

“How many years do they say it’ll take before F.O.D.D.E.R. is strong enough to take over?” I asked. Our government was fighting hard to keep F.O.D.D.E.R. at bay, but I had feeling that it was only a matter of time before something horrendous happened.

Austen fiddled with a strand of her multi-coloured hair, “According to the Tenretni… about three months.”

I was blown away! I knew F.O.D.D.E.R.’s following was enormous, but I just couldn’t believe it!

I heard Ai sigh in the background.

“Did you see any information on why the members’ eyes are white?” I unzipped and rezipped the bottom of my shorts uneasily. Ai glared at me.

“Supposedly, the members’ eyes turn white after they join. They inject some sort of unidentified substance into the veins of the members. It turns their eyes white, that way they can identify each other. Nothing like being subtle, right? Well, at least, that is what I heard,” she tapped the toe of her red boot against the floor. I looked at Ai, who looked like he was about to walk over and sock me.

He saw me glance at him and spat, “My eyes are naturally white, Abingdon. You don’t have worry your pretty little head.”

Deciding I wasn’t going to retort, I sunk further into the couch. Austen reached over to play with my single braid.

“Has your mom come home?” I asked her.

Her eyes shadowed and I knew the answer.

“She will,” I patted Austen’s hand. A ghost of a smile flitted across her face.

“If F.O.D.D.E.R. hasn’t killed her yet,” Ai mumbled. I shot a hard look to Mr. Pessimistic Pants before comforting Austen a bit more.

But I couldn’t help thinking, what if her mom never came back…?

--

“Shh!” Austen elbowed me. I looked up in time to see an elegant, purple-haired gal stride onto the raised platform. Her long hair swayed around her knees and a medieval flail hung at her side. She scanned the crowd with white eyes.

Adnohr.

Ai tried to look uninterested, but he was failing.

“Good evening,” Adnohr spoke, “You are gathered here today because our king, Axe, has a proposition for you all…”

I nudged Austen, “Why are we here again?” I looked around at all of the white-eyed people around me, and I was slightly embarrassed by my own maroon eyes.

“It is educational. We need to know what F.O.D.D.E.R. is up to,” she said matter-of-factly.

“But, won’t they know we’re not members?”

She placed a hand over my mouth, “If you say it loud enough, they will. Other than that, we could be new members. It takes twenty injections to change eye colour. And it changes slowly.”

I nodded and turned my attention back to Adnohr in time to see her spot Ai. She placed a hand on her flail as a type of warning. Ai narrowed his eyes.

“And now, King Axe,” Adnohr stepped out of the way and Axe stood proudly on the platform. Even though Axe and Ai were half-brothers, they looked almost nothing alike. Ai, like his name, was Japanese. Or, well, half. He had the pretty almond-shaped eyes and sleek hair. Axe, on the other hand, had silver-blond hair that was half-curled as if he’d just wandered out of the royal bed chambers.

The one thing the three of them had in common, though, were the white eyes.

Axe scanned his followers, a slight smile on his face. Dread bubbled in the pit of my stomach, although I didn’t know why.

He started his spiel, and I tuned him out. Austen would listen enough for the both of us, so I opted to look around the crowd. Most of the people gathered around us, I know. My neighbor, my other friends’ parents, the man who worked at the flower shop, the owner of the theatre.

The thought that almost everyone that lived in our town was part of F.O.D.D.E.R. depressed me. Were we the only ones fighting back? Of course, my and Austen’s parents were fighting avidly against this evil organization. But, that’s why we hadn’t seen them in almost a year.

Axe had paused in his speech, and for a moment, I was baffled. Why was everyone looking at us?

“When I say ‘go,’ run,” Austen frantically whispered to me. Okay, that was the last time I wasn’t listening.

“Go!” She screamed. My legs pumped as hard as they could in a direction. I really didn’t care which one. I just knew that I had to get out of there.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ai run toward me. His legs were longer, and more powerful, so he caught up to me quickly. He grabbed my arm and drug me through the crowd that flourished daggers that sliced my skin. Ai looked back to me, and I saw a thin line of blood flow down his defined collarbone.

“We have to hide,” I said. I guess I get the award for pointing out the most obvious things.

He shot a look back to me that said ‘well, duh,’ and he ducked behind a covered wagon. Psht. That’s random. Ai pulled me into the wagon and pulled the tarp closed.

We calmed our breathing and he whispered, “Where’s Austen?”

“She went the other way, I think.”

His white-out eyes shadowed.

I placed my hand on his, “She’ll be fine. Bertholi will take care of her.”

He nodded.

I guess I should explain, though. Bertholi is the weapon that Austen uses. He’s a type of puppet that her grandmother invented. A robot-human hybrid, if you will. We all use weapons. Ai has a samurai crane katana that his grandfather passed down to him. Both Axe and I use halberds, albeit, his has a reach that’s a foot longer. Adnohr, of course, has her flail. When the news about F.O.D.D.E.R. erupted, everyone started brandishing weapons. It was a defense mechanism.

“We can’t stay here too much longer,” I whispered. Our breathing was still irregular, but we couldn’t take the risk. Ai knew it, too.

He poked his head out of the tarp. Voices of the F.O.D.D.E.R. members echoed off the walls of the alleyway we were in, but they sounded far enough away so that we could make our escape. Tentatively, we hopped down and hugged the wall. Ai drew his sword, but, lucky me, I didn’t have my halberd on me. I was depending on Ai to protect me, but if we got separated… Well, I didn’t want to think about that.

We got around the maze of the bazaar fine, and out of the walls that separated where the F.O.D.D.E.R. members lived from the rest of the society. Ai and I didn’t look back as we ran, fast and hard, back into our city limits.

“Ai, Abingdon!”

I let out a sigh of relief. Austen. She ran to me and I caught her in my arms.

“You made it,” I was close to tears.

She flipped her grey and pink hair haughtily, “You say that as if you did not believe I would make it, Ab.”

“I’m just glad you did.”

Austen cradled Bertholi in her arms (usually he would walk beside her or be carried) lovingly, “Thanks to Bertholi, I was able to make it out okay. He really is a great help.”

I grinned to her.

“We’d better get back home,” Ai muttered. I’m surprised he called the place we lived home. It wasn’t much of one. But, this was no time to argue, so Austen and I followed.

The citizens that were left in our dingy city watched us with curious eyes. We walked tall, with a purpose. Though, I wasn’t quick to say that they looked up to us. Most of them were just waiting for us to fail, or get captured.

Psht. As if that would happen.

--

“What happened?!” Austen screeched. The top hinge was broken on the door, causing it to fall back against the wall. But that wasn’t the only thing that was amiss. Our clothes were strewn across the floor, over the furniture, and just… all over. Water an inch thick coated the floor. Everything was ruined.

Obviously, some one had done their job right.

“Axe,” Ai spat, his eyes narrowed.

My eyebrows rose, “How d’you know it was him?”

Ai splashed through the shamble angrily, cursing, “I lived with him for sixteen years of my life, I know when he’s destroyed something. He goes all out and ransacks the entire place, no matter if he’s got his sights set on one specific thing. Trust me.”

“Would he come here himself?” Austen inquired. She held Bertholi tightly, for if she dropped him, it… it just wouldn’t be good.

“Now’s the time I wished I wore waterproof shoes,” I muttered darkly, cursing Austen’s shiny red boots. She smirked to me playfully. “So… any ideas?”

“Find a new place to live is pretty high on the list,” Ai pointed out sardonically.

“Well, immediate ideas.”

Austen picked up one of her grey dresses with two fingers, “Clean up.”

I nodded and walked (even though it was more like wading) over to the closet. My hand was on the doorknob, twisting it, before I heard Ai’s yell. Too late.

I caught a fleeting glimpse of my friends running toward me before all went dark…