01. Sexual 'Hare'asment
Ashlyn ran a hand through her wavy, long hair, an anxious habit that she had picked up from her mom unfortunately, and stared at the clock that hung above the white board in her English class. The second hand was going unbearably slow and the sound of fingers and pens clicking against the desktop impatiently was deafening to her ears.
'3, 2, 1...'
The bell rang loudly to cover the cheers of the juniors throughout the school. Just one more year of high school and they would be off to college. Ashlyn, not as excited as her fellow classmates, only shivered in disgust at the thought of going to college in only a year, not enjoying the thought of long nights and early mornings of studying. She just wanted to go to cooking school, but her mom refused promptly, not wanting any thought of her child going to a non-ivy league university.
'Whatever,' she shook the memory off with a scowl and only turned her music up louder to keep it from coming back. A memory came back non-the-less, yet it was one from when she was up late one night watching the news before resuming to channel flipping. The news-lady was reporting on a woman who lived in Anaheim who was walking with her MP3 player on. A predator had sneaked up on her and captured her, sexually assaulting her by the riverbed under a bridge. The police had stated that if the woman had not had her headphones in and was listening to the sounds around her, she may have prevented the whole event from happening, but since it was as loud as it could go, the criminal was able to sneak up on her without any problems.
After watching that, she always wondered if someone would ever sneak up behind her while she was listening to her music, but as most people, she thought that that something of the sort would never happen to her and caused her to continue to stride around the streets happily with her music ruining her ear drums.
It seemed as if today was her lucky day, though, for as she was reaching the corner of her neighborhood, she felt a muscular arm slip around her waist, pulling her close to the side of a cloaked man.
“Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?” she shouted as she pulled the wires out of her ears and stared up furiously at the intruding stranger. A dark hood shadowed the man's face, causing her thin eyebrows to narrow in frustration.
“Stop moving,” he rumbled lowly as he led her towards a park a little bit a ways from her home.
“No! Let go of me you creep!” she rebelled as she tried to wiggle her way out of his grasp, but when she felt his hand clamp over her wrist and cut off her circulation to her hand, she ceased the wiggle.
“The more you cooperate, the faster you'll be rid of me,” the man stated lowly, not even sparing a glance in her way.
Ashlyn groaned in annoyance and slumped her shoulders in defeat, hoping that wherever or whatever this man was going to do to her wouldn't hurt her or send her to an asylum. 'I guess this was the adventure I was striving for, but without the attractive-looking people,' she sighed as she watched her feet drag across the pavement.
“Can you at least tell me where you're taking me?” she asked hopefully, wanting to prepare herself for the worst.
“No,” the man stated bluntly, beginning to walk faster and keeping his eyes glued to the front.
An other groan emitted from Ashlyn's throat as she threw her head back and stared at the cloudy sky, an unusual weather condition for the summer. “Can you tell me your name?”
“No.”
“Ugh!” she complained as she pouted, her annoyance growing to an all time high. She felt grass brush up against the skin on the top of her feet when they began walking through the park, leaving the sidewalks completely useless. Tall maple trees towered over them and casted shadows on their forms as they walked beneath them and towards the man-made lake in the center of the park.
“Do have like, a secret base underneath the lake or something?” she asked sarcastically, not expecting an answer in return.
“Something like that,” he answered simply in a rough voice, causing Ashlyn's forehead to wrinkle in wonder.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he answered, slightly amused at her laid back nature.
“Huh,” she mused as she stared at the dirty lake with geese wandering and looking for food around it. “You know, you're going to have to fight off some diablo birds to actually get to it,” she stated casually, finally relaxing in the man's grip for she knew that she could take him; his “private place” was always open for a kicking.
She smirked evilly at the thought but broke out of the reverie when she felt her moccasins soak with water. “Aw man! You know these aren't supposed to get wet, and hey, what do you think you're doing? You're going to get in trouble by the park rangers,” she exclaimed, not even bothering to ask why he was taking her into the disgusting, polluted water.
The water began to raise up to her waist, causing her to shiver from the cold, and the grasp around her wrist began to let up. “What...” she began to question as she looked up at the man in wonder.
“Be safe. I'll meet you on the other side,” he stated as he pushed her roughly into the water.
Ashlyn's eyes widened from surprise and her hands shot out to catch herself on the cement beneath the water, but her lime green eyes widened even more when she found that there was nothing there when she reached it. The water embraced her being and brought her deeper into the darkness, the darkness where the cement was supposed to be. Her breath ran out and her mouth opened for oxygen even if there was none. Sapphire water began to fill her lungs and her vision began to spot with ebony jewls. Her ears popped from the pressure and her heart began to slow. All around her was a mysterious blue world that stretched on for miles, and as she felt herself doze off in silence, she came to accept that soon, she would be a part of it.
~*~
“I found her on the shore,” a faint and high-pitched voice stated, breaking the unconsciousness that Ashlyn had fallen into. She tried to open her eyes, but it felt as though they were stapled shut, causing her to give up on the effort with an inwards sigh. The voice began talking with an other voice, making her want to continue to listen yet it sounded as if there were mini church bells in her ears, ringing in celebration of a wedding.
She winced in pain when she felt her muscles twitch, saving her body from rigor mortis, and this had caused a gasp to escape from the voice in return.
“Atticus! She moved! Look!” the voice exclaimed in a relieved tone, as if Ashlyn was a fellow family member who had fallen into a coma and was showing signs of waking up for the first time in years.
It suddenly felt like the staples were removed and the wedding had ceased letting Ashlyn to open her eyes to a bright new world.
The sun was blocked by two dark silhouettes, making it easier on her eyes and her increasing migraine. “W-w...” she tried to ask, but winced when she felt her throat sting in pain from the vibrations her voice had made.
“I'm Leah Strife,” the smaller silhouette stated with a small and high-pitched voice, leading Ashlyn to believe that it was a little girl that the voice belonged to.
“I'm Atticus Strife,” the larger silhouette introduced in a deep and accented voice, making it obvious that this was the way-older brother of the little girl. “Don't worry about needing to tell us your name,” he continued before she opened her mouth to introduce herself. “We'll have you heal that throat before you do anything with it.”
Ashlyn only nodded her head to show that she had understood his request. She lifted herself up with her elbows to stare at her surroundings and gasped with surprise when she saw herself lying on the beach of an incredibly large lake.
'How the hell did I get here?' she mused as she marveled in the vibrant colors of the landscape and the birds that flew over head. Her eyes immediately caught on to the three moons that were paled in the blue sky and the strange sun that had a smaller miniature one beside it. 'So strange,' she realized, getting the feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was in a different world and that much of went on in the shows that she watched was going on right now.
It all became too much all of a sudden, and before Ashlyn could even blink, she fell back to the floor in a faint.
~*~
Ashlyn opened her eyes, once again finding herself in a strange new place. A roof was over her head this time and a soft down comforter covered her skinny form. She lazily moved her head to the side to view that part of the room and nearly jumped up in surprise when she saw a chocolate haired man sitting in the chair beside her bed.
“Um, hi?” she questioned in a raspy and barely-heard voice.
His head, which was turned towards the window, snapped back to view his “patient” and slightly smiled with relief when he saw that she was awake.
“Hello,” he politely replied. “How are you feeling?”
She returned her gaze back to the ceiling and stated, “Just peachy.” Her migraine was pounding in her head and she could feel her dry lips rubbing together, catching themselves on tough pieces of dead skin.
“Here's some water,” Atticus offered as he handed her a cool class of water, exactly what Ashlyn was thinking of.
She took it without question and gulped down the glass in a second flat, returning it to his out held hand with a relieved look on her face.
“Thanks,” she replied in a bit clearer voice. “So where am I?” she questioned in curiosity, knowing that it wouldn't be anywhere on planet Earth.
The man looked at her weirdly before replying, “You're in a town called Mai in the land, Luna.”
“Oh yeah huh? And what about the planet name? You guys have one of those right?” she inquired, scrunching her eyebrows together as she thought about the names and how pretty they sounded.
“Our planet is called Aria,” he informed bluntly while placing the empty glass on the nightstand before letting the condensation on the outside release the glass from his grip. “Shouldn't you know? What land do you come from?”
Ashlyn sighed and turned her head back to view the confused man. “It's not anywhere from Aria. In fact, it's on a completely different planet called Earth,” she explained, causing even more confusion to mask the man's attractive features. “Try not to think about it much.”
He nodded slowly, obviously still in thought about the whole ordeal. “Do you know how you got here?” he interviewed, trying to make things connect in his mind.
“Well, this guy took me while I was walking and pushed me into this lake, which is rude. But anyways, I soon found myself drowning when I should have been able to stand up, and showed up here I guess,” she told him with a yawn, beginning to wonder who that man was.
“Be safe. I'll meet you on the other side.”
“You must have been sent here for something, but until then you will stay here,” he stated, shaking the confusion from his visage and standing up from the wooden chair. “I will go get you some new clothes that so you will be able to blend in. I'll be right back.”
I watched him walked out of the room with quick steps and then returned my gaze to the oh-so-interesting ceiling. A hum broke from my lips, although not sounding good in the least, and in seconds flat, I felt a pair of eyes watching the side of my cheek. I turned my head once again to gaze at the door and found a tiny girl poking her head in past the door, her strawberry blond hair hanging long and straight from her head.
“Hi,” I greeted, causing her to blush in embarrassment and to reveal herself from the door. She wore a brown little dress that reached her knees and a small daisy chain encircled her head, adding to the innocent look of the child.
“Hi miss...”
“It's Ashlyn.”
“Hi Miss. Ashlyn,” she replied shyly as she rubbed her arm with her hand behind her back.
“You can call me Ash you know. I'm not too good with the formal names,” she pointed out, hoping that the girl would let up on the politeness.
“Alright Ash,” Leah smiled as she happily skipped out of the room.
“Leah, there are some men at the gate, can you go greet them for me,” Ashlyn heard from the hall as she kept her eyes on the door, knowing that if she moved her head again she would have to move it back to it's original position. “Here is a comb and some clothes that I found, I hope they fit.”
Atticus threw a few articles of clothing at her and she instantly recognized a few pieces. There were a few bandages to wrap around her chest, this world's “bra” she supposed, and a simple white tunic with black leggings and a black vest, a few things that were worn around her school religiously. The black boots also screamed out high-school-fashion and caused her to roll her eyes in remembrance of all of the “cool kids”.
“You know, this is pretty much what everyone wore at my school back on Earth,” Ashlyn stated as she pulled herself out from underneath the blankets and went behind a changing screen, luggage in tow. When out of Atticus' view, she pulled her dirty shirt over her head and peeled off her damp leggings, sighing in relief when she could feel her legs breathing again.
“Atti, the men want something to do with Ash,” Leah stated as she walked back into the room with a worried tone. Ashlyn listened to the two talk about what they could possibly want with her as she pulled off her undergarments and threw them in the growing pile of her dirty clothes.
“I'll go talk to them,” Atticus promptly stated after his small inquiry with his little sister. His feet clonked out of the room and the tiny silhouette in the screen was the only thing left in Ashlyn's eyes.
“Hey Leah,” Ashlyn called after slipping into her new leggings and boots. “Do you think you can help me bandage my chest?”
“Ok!” Leah readily agreed as she scurried towards Ashlyn behind the screen and clutched the bandage in her hand. “Do you think you can bend down a little bit? I can't reach,” she asked in a small voice, causing a smile to appear on Ash's lips.
“Sure.”
After pulling on her tunic and running the comb through her hair, she walked out of the room with Leah leading the way towards the entry room. The home was quaint and decorated with numerous dead daisy chains, arts of Leah's past, and fur rugs of some unknown animal created a soft texture for Ashlyn to walk upon.
“This is nice,” she commented with raised eyebrows, failing to notice the queer sounds coming from outside.
Leah, more accustomed to the natural sounds of her home, immediately knew something was wrong, though, for the sound of painful grunts and swords clanging together was not an organic musical of her home. “Brother?!” she exclaimed as she ran ahead to the fight scene out on the lawn of the house.
“What... Atticus? What the heck are you doing?” Ashlyn followed as she rushed towards the two men duking it out in a testosterone filled fight.
Blood was seen seeping out from a cut on Atticus' damp forehead, and his sword was moving at an invisible speed, causing Ashlyn's eyes to widen in wonder. Her eyes slowly moved to his opponent afterwards and she nearly had to stifle a giggle. It was apparent that Atticus was the victor in this fight for the man was gasping for air and was covered in cuts, including a gash that he was grasping onto, blood creeping out from in between his fingers.
“Poor guy. He's losing his manhood to a mere villager,” she commented as plopped down on the grass to watch, not bothering to even think of stopping the fight.
“But Ash! Atti is getting hurt! Aren't you going to stop them?” Leah asked as she kept her wide eyes on the fate, hoping with all of her might that her big brother wouldn't get fatally wounded.
Ashlyn only shrugged her shoulders and stated, “Nah, this is too much fun, and besides, it looks like that guy is going to do it for me.” Just as she explained this to Leah, a man, one strangely familiar, rode up on a black horse, the aura of superiority radiating off of him and into the perimeter.
“What is going on here?” he boomed, his voice deep and strong, nothing like how Ashlyn remembered it. The wounded man immediately pulled back at the sound of what looked like his “boss” and slightly trembled as he stood straight facing him.
“S-sir, this man was going against orders. I had no choice but to try and follow out instructions with force,” he excused himself as he bowed to him, still clutching the wound on his side. The hooded man demounted his horse and stood in front of the man, his facial features hidden by the hood.
“Alls well Creed. Have the little girl treat your wounds and you may depart back to the Kingdom,” he ordered, motioning towards Leah as a reference.
The man known as Creed nodded and walked over to Leah who trembled in nervousness at the sight of blood.
“Just hold your breath,” Ashlyn advised as she stood and patted the little girl on the head in assurance. She meekly nodded and smiled up at her before leading the man away into the house for treatment.
“Who are you?” Atticus demanded as he sheathed his sword and walked up to the hooded figure, preparing himself for yet an other battle.
As if noticing him for the first time, the man turned abruptly towards Atticus and, what only Ashlyn could guess, gave him a curious stare.
“My name's Jett,” he replied with a polite bow. “I have come here to inform you that I will be taking this woman here to the Kingdom in a week's time. Please prepare for a long and treacherous journey for we will be traveling for at least nine full moons,” Jett informed before leaving just as fast as he had come.
“Well that was quick,” Ashlyn stated as she walked over to stand beside Atticus and stared after the black steed racing away.
Atticus only scowled and swiveled on his heel to walk back towards the house, a dark mood encircling him.
“Wonder what's got his panties in a bunch,” Ashlyn shrugged before turning around and following after him.
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