The inspiration for this story came from mainly... A lot of books. One, I guess, would be Geronimo Stilton: The Kingdom of Fantasy. No, no, no, the characters here aren't going to go off into different kingdoms and such, or else I'd put that on . Or... Or I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, or you'd know it was story theft. Then there's The Books of Elsewhere 1: The Shadows, Witch and Wizard: The gift and so on... Another inspiration would be Pokemon. The characters are originally Pokemon, but I'd change them (and their names) to humans for the time being in the story. And no, there's still no Pokemon or this story wouldn't be here. Anyway... I guess I'd better start writing now!

"Aww man, the electricity went out again!" Saphia groaned, putting her nail polish down onto the bedside table and looking around. Her small bedroom was plunged into darkness, and she flipped open the window to let the moonlight in. The pale blue light illuminated her room, and the ocean blue floor and sky blue walls lit up. Corals, home-made crystals, pearls and little glass mermaids caught the moon's light and made the room glow. Yes, Saphia liked the ocean, the water, the color blue, there was no doubt about it. She stood up to her name: Sapphire.

Opposite her room, her older brother stirred. He was only a few months older than Saphia and the little prankster in the family, but he loved all his siblings all the same. "Geez Saph, stop moaning." He said, moaning himself as he rolled off his bed. He got up and shook his head. "What? The electricity got cut off again? Sheesh... Amy really needs to work this house better..." He pulled a cord hanging by the window and let the soft moonlight spill in, casting fiery glows on the orange and red walls, the deep red plush carpet and the strings of red, orange and yellow fairy lights taped up around the corners of the walls. Jett was proud of his collection of cards, a giant marble that glowed like fire and a little red rowan tree that stood by his bed. His eyes were the color of fire, and although opposing Saphia's crystal blue bedroom, the two siblings got along perfectly (despite bickering sometimes) and he lived up perfectly to that one, name: Garnet.

Emmy, her room next to Saphia's had it's windows closed. She seemed to be asleep, but her grass green eyes were darting along the corners of the ceiling. Dried up flowers were pasted along the wall, and her handiwork in the house's garden showed full potential in her room. There were pots of daises, roses, chrysanthemum, lillies, lavenders, heather, mint and other flowers and herbs everywhere. Emmy didn't mind the plants sharing oxygen with her, as long as they lived. She didn't like the moonlight either, only the sunlight. The sun was the best. It was much brighter, and it supported the moon. Without the sun, the moon would be a dark, dull orb. The sun was perfect. So was nature. So was the emerald shade of her room.

Opposite her room, though, next to Jett's, the dark-painted room was bathed in moonlight. It was etched into every small corner of the room, lighting up the darkest crannies. Kai lay contentedly on his bed, taking in the darkness and the light at the same time. This was the moment, just after supper, even went the electricity went out, it was all the same. He would close his door, open all the windows and lay on the bed. Then it was just him. All around his room were stickers of stars, distant planets, galaxies, pieces of white and black cloths, books scattered on his desk and bookshelves squeezed together on the wall. He heard Saphia's moaning from her room, but ignored her. Some of his siblings were so noisy. Why couldn't they be more like him, or their new born baby sister, who, even as a baby was strangely quiet. Although Emmy was the same, she liked the day too much. He preffered the night. It was much better than the heat of the sunlight. Yes, much better... The moonlight. The night. The moonstone, the one jewel that he loved better than anything else.

The room next to Kai's was silent. Margie inside was fast asleep, and the pearly white walls and clean, milk white colored carpet hadn't even a single speck of dust. Old, thick books were neatly arranged on shelves and the strange liquids that bubbled in various flasks and containers were calm. The entire room was spick and span, and although the shelves were dusted, the pillows were fluffed and the odd-looking tools arranged on the table were placed carefully into their respective spots, the room sent an icy chill whenever you stepped in. It came and went so fast you could never be sure if it was a passing shoot of air or the actual, cold white gleam of a pearl.

The last two rooms were empty. One of them had its shutters closed so that a single candle flickered away, barely lighting up the pink and purple room, the other one completely silent... Sneaking... The kind of room that gave you a jolt when you stepped in. The two eldest siblings, Amy and Toph were fiddling away at the fuse box. "The wires are completely off." Toph said finally, handing the torchlight back to his older sister. "They're all bitten up by rust. We need to get someone to come and fix this..."

"Oh, alright." Amy sighed, pocketing the torchlight as Toph closed the fuse box. "How many times have things like these happened, anyway? Mom and dad are so far away on business, and even though plenty of money flows in for us, it looks like it's not enough for all seven siblings and even the house. How much will a single electrician cost? Toph? Do you have enough money?"

Toph sighed, turned and walked back to his room, looking over his shoulder at Amy. "Don't worry about the cash, sis." He said. "We're all together. We'll figure this put some way or the other." He disappeared into his room, and Amy checked one last time on all her other siblings, twice on the little baby and said goodnight to her parents... Wherever they were.

...

Amy awoke. Had morning come? Had the long, dark non-electricity night gone and passed? Was it over? Her hand pulled open the cord that opened the window, and instantly the whole room was flooded in sunlight. Amy breathed out. Yes, the night was over and they could finally enjoy a new day, although her younger brothers Jett and Kai didn't seem to be fascinated by waking up early in the morning.

Kai, however, being polite said nothing and did as he was told, stalking out of his room like a silent raven. Amy had everyone gather in the dining room to eat breakfast like they always did. She, Emmy and Jett would cook breakfast while the others set the table and watched the baby. Camile, her name was, and she was possibly the cutest brunette that ever lived.

"Aaaaeeeeeighhhhrrmummmblerrr gusquelch!" She squealed, eating her porridge messily, spraying it all over her bib and table cloth. Breakfast-together-time was really the only time she squealed happily and made a mess, while the rest of the day she would play by herself quietly, letting no one disturb her although Amy seemed fine with her attitude during breakfast.

As everyone chatted away (except for Kai) and ate, Amy flicked on the radio and let the siblings laugh to the odd songs that started to play. Breakfast was the time she really enjoyed with her siblings while the rest of the day went silent and unspoken.

The seven, eight including the baby siblings were left alone at home to care for themselves while their rich business parents travelled around the world sending wads of money every few weeks for their children to spend, although the cash was getting sparse and the weeks were stretching into months. But their parents were rich, why would they cut off the money flow? Had they gone bankrupt? No, that would never happen. Their mother often sent postcards with few words and pictures of her and extravagant parties in beautiful clothes that were clearly not edited through the computer or anything else.

The money sent to them was slowly whittling down, bit by bit and only Amy and Toph were starting to realize that. What did that mean? Amy looked around the table full of smiling faces except for Camile's, and smiled for the baby's sake, who laughed and happily threw her porridge into Jett's hair in return. He shot a look at the baby who blinked her large brown eyes at him and laughed, scooping the porridge into her mouth as though nothing had happened.

As breakfast finished and the friendly atmosphere died down, Amy left Emmy and Margie to do the dishes while she wandered around the house to try and find the little disfigures that she could try to fix or find the cheapest person to fix it for them. Because of all the money shortage, the house was slowly crumbling, even though it was in great condition. Amy, 23 year old was old enough to go off and leave her siblings to themselves, but she vowed to take care of them until they were older. She was the eldest sister and she would never dare leave them alone, or send them off to any relatives they had.

If she knew of any. They'd probably be sent to an orphanage if their parents were unable to care for them, and she would never let that happen. The only relative that she knew of was Grandmamma Opal, who had passed away a few years ago. She gave Amy, Toph, Kai and Margie gifts, but not to the other siblings as they weren't born yet, but little presents mysteriously appeared by their doorstep when they had turned 10 years old. Saphia had reckoned it was Santa Claus and stubbornly stuck to it, but Amy smiled when she held their gifts in her hands, smelling the ancient perfume that their grandmother used to wear so often.

Amy clambered up the staircase to the attic. The creaky old room was full of dust and old stuff that no one really bothered to use anymore, but Amy sensed a magical feel in the room, and nobody could tell that better than her. Even during the dark, windy nights where the cold howling wind swept into the room through the splinters in the wall, Amy would sit, wrapped up in a thick blanket or covered with a long coat and go through all the little odds and ends that their parents, grand parents or whoever before had left in their little attic.

Just as she sat on the old wooden floor to lift the blanket to the box where she had gone through last, a breeze slapped the window open and lifted up a piece of cloth, revealing an old, rotting wooden box with eight names printed on it.

...That was the best I could go. End-of-story comments always ruin everything, eh? Also I won't be adding mid-story comments, because, much as I want to point the hilarious easter eggs out I'll have to wait until I get to the EoS comments. Anyway, if you can't really picture the siblings, try to think them as the Pokemon Adventures characters. Toph would be Green (guy), Kai would be Silver, Jett is Gold, Emmy as Crystal, Sapphire as, mmm... A sort of mix between Platinum and Sapphire, lol. Platinum because she wants stuff bought and done expensively and quickly for her, and Sapphire because she's loud and wild. Camile, when she grows up, will be the quiet and serious side of Platinum. So is Margie. (Oh my putting so much seriousness on Platinum's side, eh? XD) And Amy... Umm, I can't really say who she could be, but maybe a mix of Yellow and Blue, 'cuz she's fun and happy and everything. Alright, off to watch the Olympics. 'Night everyone!