So as I wrap up writing the first chapter I've decided to put up all the links to the prologue in case people a) need to catch up, b) have just got here, and c) to make people's lives easier in case they ever want to go back and read them. So, here you are:



Part I The Curse of the Moon
Part II Two Sides to Life
Part III Face of Reflection
Part IV Force of Habit
Part V The Price of Two
Part VI The Will of Alternates
Part VII The Choice of Memories
Part VIII Envy of the Dead
Part IX The Shadow of a Phantom
Part X Ghosts From the Past

Christmas Special: The Detention Before Christmas

OMG! I turn 20 today! AHHHHHH!

So we have finally made it to the last part! YAY! OH, happy day! Just wanna thank everyone for reading, even those people who just read and never comment, that's cool too. Mmm, any news? Goodness, I just realize I turn 20 in SEVEN days! OMFG!? Where the hell did time go!? I know that's not old but still...two decades, yeesh.

Found a nice one bedroom place to live in for next school year, RIGHT next to my school so that'll be awesome, no more having to drive 20 minutes and burning up all my money on gas. So I'll be moving this summer, that'll be exciting. Other than that, just doing homework and stuff. Not much else to it.

So story-wise, we're back with Mattie and Dezzi for this last part before moving onto chapter one. Btw; I've decided to split chapter 1 up into two sections so that people don't get completely overwhelmed with the 15 pages it consists of. Hehe. ^_^u And remember, as always read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part IX
Next: Coming soon

Christmas Special: The Detention Before Christmas

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Part X- Ghosts From the Past


<Envy the past? Dezzi, you’re talking crazy again.> Mattie said and effectively broke the tension between the two of them.

“Oh shut up!” Dezzi yelled and pointed significantly at Mattie, “I was trying to sound deep and philosophical! Do not ruin it!”

<Trying is right!> Mattie teased and started laughing, <’Cause you really didn’t succeed.>

“Damn you, I have my limits!” Dezzi yelled but started grinning as well. A grin that was quickly shut down as her stomach gave a huge grumble, “Uh?” Dezzi blushed.

<Dude,> Mattie said indignantly, <feed my body at least why don’t you.>

“It is my body too.” Dezz argued but was quieted by her stomach again, “That and we ran out of food.”

<Then go buy some!> Mattie yelled, <Let’s get some Take Out!>

“Yes, that does sound rather good right now.” Dezzi agreed and rubbed her stomach as it tried to voice its own opinion, “Ok, let us go see what we can find.” She said and grabbed her coat before running out the door and starting down the stairs.

<I vote for some Italian food.> Mattie put out.

“Well I do not, I got sick eating some of it once.”

<Then Mexican food.>

“Ok, I like that.” Dezzi said and her stomach agreed loudly, “Oh wait, it’s after seven. They close after seven now.”

<Seven! What hour do you call that? Everybody eats at seven.>

“I do not run the store thus I would not know.” Dezzi sighed as she walked out of her apartment building complex. The street was tinged with mist and it was growing colder by the minute, <I say the next dinning place we see is where we eat at.> she suggested.

<Even if it’s Italian?> Dezzi asked slyly.

<Yes. I am freezing.> Mattie said and rubbed her hands on her arms to try and warm them up. She looked around for a close place to eat when Mattie pointed one out.

<Oh look! It’s that Chinese stand!>

<I say somewhere else.> Dezzi protested and was about to turn the corner when her stomach turned down all protests by giving what had to be the loudest growl Dezzi had ever heard, <Or we can eat here.> she sighed and reluctantly slunk over to the stand.

<Come on Dezz, what’re you so worried about? I thought you loved Chinese food?>

<I do.> Mattie replied and ducked under the flaps that hung outside the stand, just doing that and suddenly it seemed warmer to her.

“Hello! Welcome!” a middle aged Asian man said and greeted Dezzi with a small cup as she sat down at the bar, “What will it be for you?”

“Uh,” Dezzi said as she stared at the cup.

<Tea!>

“Can I just get some water?” she asked and the man nodded quickly before ducking out of sight and coming back up with a teapot full of steaming water. He poured it and Dezzi gratefully drank from it.

“One moment.” He said and scurried to the back of the little restaurant.

<I wanted tea.> Mattie whined.

<What do you want to eat then?> Dezzi asked then frowned, <Wait, why do you care? You can’t taste what I’m eating anyway.>

<So?> Mattie replied stubbornly and looked over the menu that was on the wall in front of them, <It’s my body.>

<Whatever.> Dezzi sighed and watched as the man brought out a delicious looking bowl of rice and gave it to a man that Dezzi just realized was sitting a couple of seats away from her. He had a hood over his face so she couldn’t tell who he was, but she did not care too much anyways.

“Here you go sir!” the Asian man said and handed the bowl to the other man who removed his hood.

<It’s that jogger!> Mattie yelled and Dezzi choked on her drink she was taking a sip of. After bursting into a fit of coughs and earning a look from both men she waved her hand apologetically and pointed at her throat.

“Went down the wrong tube.” She wheezed and the Asian man came up to her nodding sympathetically. The other man turned to his food and started eating.

“Do you know what you want?’ the bartender asked.

“Em,” Dezzi said and started scanning the wall, even though she knew what she wanted, her mind needed something to do while it recovered.

<Dezz! I just realized that dude’s a boxer! Man, he’s famous! I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him, well, probably because he always wears that hood!> Mattie went off excitedly, making it even harder for Dezzi to concentrate, <His name’s Cane! He’s the International Middleweight Boxing Champion! My little brothers were obsessed with him, remember? You gotta get his autograph.>

“I’ll get a bowl of steamed rice and three egg rolls.” Dezzi told the man and he bobbed his head and went into the back again. Leaving Dezzi alone with the boxer and Mattie.

<Get his autograph!> Mattie squealed then paused as she looked more closely at him, <Wow! He’s actually pretty cute, I never noticed.>

<Cool it Juliet.> Dezzi reprimanded but shot a looked at the man. His hair was buzz cut but it was definitely black and he had cloudy gray eyes. Dezzi’s face started to heat up and she quickly turned away. Mattie, however, noticed.

<Oh! You think he’s cute too! I can totally tell.> she gloated.

<He is not cute.> Dezzi quickly thought and started drinking more water. She glanced over at the man again only to find he had glanced over at her the same second. They both froze and Dezzi was almost positive that her face was a very deep shade of red. The gray eyes, while different in color, looked exactly the same as she remembered them. Memories bubbled to the surface of Dezzi’s mind.

“Here is your bowl of rice and three egg rolls!” the Asian man said happily as he walked out from the back. Dezzi quickly broke contact with the boxer and focused on the bartender.

“Thanks.” she said quickly, “Can I get these to go?” she asked and the man blinked suddenly, but recovered nicely.

“Why of course! I bag it up right now!” he said and Dezzi pulled out her wallet quickly, “That comes to thirteen dollars and fifty cents.” He stated and Dezzi gave him fifteen.

“Keep the change.” She said quickly and practically ran out of the stand, almost colliding into a man that was entering, knocking his glasses off, “Sorry.” She quickly apologized and caught his glasses mid-fall and handed them back before rushing away.

<Hey what was that!?> Mattie yelled when they got back to Dezzi’s apartment.

“Sorry.” Dezzi gasped as she caught her breath.

<Uh—> Mattie stopped suddenly as she saw tears roll down Dezzi’s cheeks, <Well, its ok, but what happened?> she asked softly.

“Nothing.” Dezzi sighed and closed her eyes, squeezing more tears out of them, “Just ghosts from the past.”

So its been what? Eight, nine weeks since I last updated. Yeah......one word: school. *dies*

This is the second to last chapter for part 1 of the story. Yay! After this there are 11 chapters to part 2, but the part 2 chapters are much longer than these so I'm not quite sure how I'll break that up...if at all.

If you've completely forgotten what's happened up to this point I suggest you make use of my awesome links below and read through the last couple of parts to catch up. Remember, as always, read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part VIII
Next:Part X

Christmas Special: The Detention Before Christmas

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Chapter IX- The Shadow of a Phantom


“As you know,” the man started, “You have all passed the Pre-Entrance Exam to become a Alternate Universe Police Force Cadet. What is about to come next is the Final Entrance Exam, pass this and you are guaranteed acceptance. You will become a full Cadet and be partnered with a Senior Detective. We deal with people trying to illegally cross, keep records on everybody in life and death, and the crime in our Establishment! We are the best and that is only what we accept. Any final questions?”

“Just two last things sir?” the black haired boy said and the man forced himself to repress a sigh.

“Yes?”

“The first is about something called Evoking the right of Choice. I didn’t think we really had a choice in anything.”

“Ah.” The man said and paused for a second. An emotion that should have hit him didn’t, but the absence of it seemed to be even worse, “When an R.T counterpart goes into an a coma or become brain dead, but it otherwise healthy, the council will go into debate and if the R.T’s case is strong enough, their A.U Half will be asked if they would like to do a Soul Transfer.”

“That was my second question.” The boy interjected and the man glared at him. Was it just he or were children getting even more arrogant these day?

“As I was saying,” the man continued testily but the boy seemed like he could care less about what the man thought of him, “A soul transfer is in which the A.U’s soul is placed in their R.T’s body. In doing this, the A.U gets the R.T’s memories and can live out the rest of both their lives in that body, saving the R.T’s family and loved ones much pain. This is a very rare thing to have happen.” The man stressed on the word rare as much as he could, “It hasn’t been done in a very long time and has ended with disastrous results usually. This also requires the full permission of the entire council for it to be preformed.”

“Who performs it?” the boy asked curiously.

“The Chief of the Establishment where the A.U citizen lives.”

“Have you ever preformed one?” The man was about to answer when the face of another black haired child came to mind, “No.” he said quietly and looked down to see the boy shooting him a questioning look, “What is your name?” A surprised look came over the boy’s face and all the other students suddenly looked at him with interest.

“It’s Marks sir.”

“Marks?” the man repeated, “Good luck on your last test.” He said softly and looked at the class, “What comes next will test you all in every way imaginable.”

“What are we going to do?” a girl asked sharply.

“A Detective must always assume that they will travel through the Transport and that the suspect will be heavily armed. It is for this reason that you will be given an Enhancement Toxin.”

“Is that what makes you people stronger?” another girl asked eagerly.

“Yes.” The man answered and went over the statistics one more time in his head before saying them aloud, “If your body accepts the Toxin it will increase your strength by ten, your speed by five, you endurance by eight, balance by four, your reaction time by three, and cuts your healing time down to about an eighth of what it was. An example; you are shot in the shoulder. Normally this would take at least couple of months to fully recover from. An A.U Detective is up and about the next day as if nothing happened. The only thing that would slow down the process is if you were hit in the head.”

“Wouldn’t you die?” a different boy asked.

“When I said hit I meant grazed.” The man corrected himself quickly.

“Oh!” a girl said suddenly, “So that’s why you can go through the Transport so much. I had heard that a normal person can only go through it a couple times and then if they keep going their bodies will start to decompose.”

“Yes, we do not have that restriction because our bodies heal almost instantly after traveling through it.” The man agreed, “However, a normal person could go through it many times, just over a much longer period of time. They would have to wait a couple of years before it would be safe for them to travel through the Transport again.”

“Wait,” the black haired boy said quickly, “What did you mean, ‘if your body accepts the Toxin?’ What if our body doesn’t?”

“And therein lies the catch.” The man answered and took a deep breath, “You remember signing a contract saying that if you die during the test it is alright by you?” The class had gone very silent and the man smiled, a smile that contained no humor in it, “You were all probably wondering why the passing rate to becoming a Detective was only thirty percent. Though I dislike using the word “passing”, a better word would be the survival rate of entrants.”

“So...so if our bodies reject the Toxin, we die?” a child asked.

“There is a reason it is called ‘Toxin’.” The man stated simply.

“Could we back out now? If we really wanted to?” another child asked.

“No!” the black haired boy snapped, “Why do you think nobody knows what was just told to us? It’s because one you sign up, you’re committed for the rest of your life,” he turned his head to the man with a grim smile on his face, “No matter how short it might become.”

“And out Alternates?” a girl asked quietly.

“That question has already been answered.” The man replied coldly and pointed to the door on his left, “You may all exit through the left door now.” His eyes grew even harder than they had been before, a what little emotion he had shown was completely gone. One by one all of the children got up and went through the door, most would never walk back out. Twenty children, six might come back out. He could never tell.

“Hey.” The black haired boy said suddenly. The man looked up and saw Marks was the last child left.

“What?” he asked flatly.

“When I pass,” the boy started and the man wanted to snort at his ignorance, but he didn’t snort and it was too hard to try to feel any emotion right now, “do you think I could be assigned under you?”

“No.” the man said just as flatly as he had the last time he’d spoken.

“But—” the boy started to protest, looking slightly hurt.

“I cannot take Cadets. If you were to become a Detective then I could.” He explained.

“Then, when I become a Detective I’ll work under you!” the boy exclaimed like it was a given fact now, “What’s the record to becoming a full-fledged Detective? I thought you held it, at least that is what my Dad told me.”

“...It is twelve.” The man said quietly, “And the record is not mine, it is another’s.”

“Then I’ll become a Detective at eleven and become your Apprentice!” the boy said happily and started to run out the door, “Death doesn’t scare me sir! I’ll pass, just watch!” he yelled and turned back to the door. His frame suddenly became another child’s frame. A ghost, who had said the same exact words. The ghost vanished suddenly as the boy disappeared behind the closing door and the man was left alone in the empty room.

Holy Jesus!!! Oh my god, I'm soooo sorry. It's been literally FOREVER since I update here. Geez, you all probably thought I had died and gone to [insert religious belief here]. Well, just so you know, I'm alive. Barely, but alive. It's just been school, 16 units is a lot, 'specially compared to the 4 I was taking last term and switching from night to early-crack-of-dawn classes has been rough.

The good news? I'm taking a creative writing class! Yay! So you might see me occasionally post some short chapters/poetry that we do in class and I really like. I've actually got a "fake" chapter done for a story we pretend we're writing, so that we learn better how to start stories. I'll post that next week, yeah?

Now, to the important stuff! Last chapter we were back in the mysterious classroom where basically we've no idea what's going on. Now, back over to Dezzi and Mattie! Short but fun chapter where we learn a bit more about how Mattie and Dezz came to be together.

If you've completely forgotten what's happened up to this point I suggest you make use of my awesome links below and read through the last couple of parts to catch up. Remember, as always, read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

A/N: The song Dezz is singing in the beginning is Crying by Sugarcult on their album Palm Trees And Power Lines. Check it out if you're interested. This is one of the bands that I listen to constantly while writing this story.

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part VII
Next: Part IX

Christmas Special: The Detention Before Christmas

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Part VIII- Envy of the Dead


“You keep crying, crying, crying ‘till you cannot see at all. You can’t break away what you cannot change. You can’t break away!”

<Dude, that’s not how the song goes.> Mattie said and blew out an exasperated. Dezzi took off her earphones and shot her the dirtiest look she could muster.

“At least I can sing.” She retorted and placed the earphones around her neck, then continued with her homework for the day.

<Hey...hey! I can too sing!> Mattie said angrily, <Maybe not as well as you but—but it’s not like you’re an Opera singer like Lily!>

“Of course not.” Dezzi said unconcernedly, “I do not wish to be that good, so I am not. Singing the songs I like are just fine for me.”

<Yeah, well...you suck.> Mattie replied and crossed her arms in a sulking manner. Dezzi shot her a raised eyebrow.

“This only proves that you are still twelve.” She sighed, “Here I thought you would have matured at least a little over the years.”

<We aren’t all super geniuses!> Mattie yelled back, <And I’m not immature!>

“No.” Dezzi agreed sarcastically. Mattie seemed on the verge of making a rude comment but thought better of it and instead glared out of the window in Dezzi’s room. Dezzi still wasn’t sure if Mattie was even there at all, or if her mind just made her like that. It was too much to try and think about and she had given up on ever figuring out long ago. The voice was real, that much she knew, and that was all she could be sure of these days.

Dezzi’s eyes scanned the room she was in, it was hers in almost every sense, but it didn’t feel like it. The pictures were all of Mattie with her family, or friends, or in front of some beautiful scenery. The dishes were from Mattie’s house, the T.V, the desk, chair, and bed...everything. None of it was Dezzi’s. Except maybe the movie and music collection.

<Hey Dezz?> Mattie asked gloomily.

“Yes?” Dezzi answered and went back to her homework.

<Do you ever regret your choice?>

“My choice?” Dezzi asked slowly, but she already knew the answer, and Mattie knew that she knew, “It is a paradoxical answer, you would not understand.” She said lamely in a horrible attempt to throw the other girl off. This time it was Mattie who shot her a raised eyebrow, but it was raised in a non-believing way.

<You think I’ll still fall for that? I may look twelve but I’m not.>

“Listen—” Dezzi started but was cut off.

<You’ve told me a lot about where you’re from! Why wouldn’t I understand?> Mattie asked quickly, <I’ve got a right to know! You can’t just keep telling me I won’t understand, because then I really never will! But I want to! I really want to understand, because if you’re really not happy here Dezz...you—you shouldn’t be forced to stay.>

“Hah ha!” Dezzi suddenly laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh and there was no humor in it, “Forced? Did I hear you right Mattie? ‘Forced to stay.’”

<Well, I mean...you know.>

“Listen child, I chose to come here.” Dezzi stated sharply and her eyes grew hard and cold, all emotion draining away, “And I knew that once I came here, I could never go back. That is the way it will always be. Simple. Logical. Easy.”

<See!> Mattie shouted quickly and pointed at Dezzi, <It’s those eyes Dezzi! What happened to you? No—no normal person looks like that!>

“No.” Dezzi agreed coldly, “No normal human from here should look like this, but I’m not from here am I? The rules do not apply to me.”

<But it hurts Dezz, it hurts to see you like that.>

“Then you are still working properly.” Dezzi stated then suddenly sighed sadly, she knew Mattie would never be fully able to understand, or at least not for a great deal longer, “Do you not see Mattie?” she asked quietly, “You are supposed to hurt, you can feel. I was not ever supposed to. I was never meant to.”

<But why Dezz? Who said you’re different?> Mattie asked softly.

“I did.” Dezzi knew she was earning a long stare from her counterpart. It was to be expected. No child could ever possibly hope to understand.

<Well, I’m glad you came here.> Mattie replied stubbornly.

“Because I saved your life.” Dezzi said and nodded, it made logical sense.

<No, because we got to meet.> Mattie replied, <And now we’re inseparable. You say you weren’t meant to feel so maybe you never noticed, but the instant we met, this feeling of loneliness I’d always had went away. Humans from here are always looking for something, like in space. We want to know that we’re not alone because we feel so even on our own planet. I think its because we never get to meet our Half. I think that’s why everybody is always lonely. Probably even more so where you come from.>

“Maybe.” Dezzi whispered and set her pencil down. It would answer a lot of things, except one, “But why do I still feel alone? Why do I envy the past?”

Hello! Wow, sorry it's been so long since my last update. Been busy with family, friends, and preparing for school. So this'll be short but sweet. Hope everybody's holidays were great, mine were pretty freaking awesome. But on to more important stuff! New chapter! We're back in the RT world with the mysterious classroom and teacher and more is explained in that world. So read up, have fun, and comment if you'd like.

For artwork this week is four drawings of the Dezzi we all know and love in different outfits that she wears around town and in school. Check it out:



Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part VI
Next:Part VIII

Christmas Special: The Detention Before Christmas

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Part VII- The Choice of Memories


“Any questions?” the man asked his class. So much was still left unsaid. It would be a long day today, but then, technically, their days were always long, “None?” he asked again. This time a boy raised his hand. A boy who had been asking quite a few, probably asking the most out of the entire class. There always seemed to be one in each batch.

“Sir?” he asked, not sounding hesitant or unsure of himself, just speaking slowly as if he was still trying to form the question in his head, “Why do we not have the same name as our Alters?”

This question was always asked.

“You do.” The man sighed, “You are just assigned a “nickname” at birth so that in your files we do not get confused with you and your Alternate. We usually take your Alter’s last name and use either it or a variation of it. If say, later on in life your Alter goes more by his or her last name you can then change yours accordingly to their middle name or another “nickname” altogether.”

“Oh.” One girl made and the man sent her a sharp glance. The girl gulped and quickly put her head down. Another one took this opportunity to ask another question.

“Does R.T Earth have a Collective Speaker like we do?”

“No, our Government is vastly different than theirs.” The man answered thoughtfully and wondered how to best continue, “We live in Establishments, as you all know, one for each continent. We primarily have these set up just for organization’s sake. R.T Earth has something called Countries, which are similar. Each Country is run by a President—”

“Is that like a Manager?” one boy asked too quickly. He realized his mistake and turned a bright shade of red. The man glared at him for a moment before his slight anger abated.

“Do not ever interrupt me again.” He warned, “To answer your question though; yes. The President is much like a Manager. Except there is only one President per Country, here there are two Managers per Establishment. That, and there are vastly many more Countries in R.T Earth. To fully answer the first question; no. They have nothing like a Collective Speaker on R.T Earth.”

“What about a Chief?” another boy asked, “They have a President? Which is similar to our Managers, so do they have a Chief like you? Who hold the same status of power as a Manager does but instead of politics, in law?”

“A fair question.” The man admitted, “They have a General there to help the President in making war decisions but he does not hold any other equal with the President. Any further questions? We are almost out of time.”

“Sir?” a girl asked, “Have you ever seen R.T Earth?”

“Yes.” The man answered steadily, “We have computers wired into their satellites, but I know what you really meant and the answer is yes to that as well. If you become a full-fledged Cadet then you will have the ability to use the Dimension Transport. I have gone through it many times.”

“What was it like?”

“You will find out for yourself.” He answered sharply to the child who had asked the question. They were getting off topic again.

“I’ve got two questions sir.” The laid-back boy stated comfortably and ran his fingers through his spiky black hair, “Its about some of the laws.”

“Ask.” The man said flatly.

“First is the Law of Suspect Arrest. What is it? None of my teachers would say in school.”

“Simple,” the man replied easily, “You cannot kill anybody here that you are attempting to apprehend. You always bring back a suspect or the accused alive. If you were to kill them then their Alter, who probably has done nothing wrong, will die too.”

“So then what do we do to prisoners?” a girl asked.

“We put them in a stasis. This doesn’t affect their Alter in anyway, which is why it is an acceptable punishment.”

“Alright, that is one down.” The boy said, “What about the Law of Equivalent Death?”

“We have already explained that.” The man sighed but the boy shook his index finger sternly; which was completely inappropriate. The man’s eyes narrowed.

“No, I was not finished yet.” The black haired boy stated, “The next part of my question was that I’d heard of a way to beat the Law of Equivalent Death. Is this true?”

“Yes.” The man answered. That was all he wanted to say but the children had gotten very excited by his answer and would want to know more. They always did, and he always hated it.

“Well, how do you do it?” the boy asked eagerly.

“It is not that simple. Only four people have done so in the history of our entire existence.” The man replied sullenly, “You must survive a Freak Accident, in where both Halves are instantly killed at the same time by something unexpected. It is uncommon but there is usually an Accident every couple years that will kill someone.”

“Wait, is it not impossible to survive a Freak Accident?” the boy asked quickly, all bravo gone from his face.

“Not impossible, just highly improbable. If you, or your Alter, by some miracle, are able to survive then you will no longer be bound by the Law of Equivalent Death. As I said, it is extremely rare for this to happen and more than not the one that survives is not exactly happy the rest of their life.”

“How would you know?” the boy asked.

“Statistics.” The man answered quickly and a girl’s hand shot into the air.

“I remember my mother talking about something like that happening awhile ago. Right before I was born. An R.T Half survived a Freak Accident!”

“It is not important!” the man yelled out sharply and the entire class went silent, “We have fallen off subject again, let us move on to your final test. I am about to tell you what awaits beyond the door to my left.”

Happy New Years everybody!!!

It's Christmas Eve!!! Oh the joy! Oh the love! Oh all the free stuff that you get! Joy to the toy industry and all the money they make during the Xmas season.

But enough about the world, let's focus and me and you. That's right. Christmas Eve. As promised I've got one special Control Theory chapter featuring Dezzi in the Christmas spirit...ok, just stuck in a world full of other people in the Christmas spirit. She still has a little trouble understanding the logic of it all.

Since I'll be doing a normal post later this week (if I can, things are looking iffy) I'm keeping this update short and sweet like all good things are and giving you the chapter right away!

Happy holidays to everyone out there!

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The Detention Before Christmas



The sky was a foggy haze outside the finger-smudged window. The heater spluttered to life and sluggishly sent waves of warm air through the small room. The smell of pine sharpened the senses and cleared the mind while the soft and cheery music made one want to doze off.

A perfect Christmas scene.

“Miss Destler this is Detention not nap time!” Mr. Richards called out sternly from his desk.

So it was not a perfect Christmas scene. Far from it, actually.

<I can’t believe we got Detention the last day of school before winter break!> Mattie huffed, <This totally sucks!>

<The disturbing thing is, we are not the only ones here.> Dezzi observed. As per usual Dezzi had gotten Detention. Again. She had the highest GPA out of the entire school with one of the worst detention rates. The price of brilliance.

<You mean the price of stupid-ness.> Mattie grumbled.

<Is that even a word?> Dezzi asked thoughtfully, while carefully ignoring her counterpart, <I do believe you just made that—>

<—I mean, must you correct the teachers every single they get the slightest bit of information wrong?> the younger girl demanded as the music switched to another holiday song full of cheer and love. Dezzi had to appreciate the irony.

<Force of habit, sorry.> was the explanation.

<And then you gotta correct them in your perfect-grammar-old-English voice! That’s what gets them!>

<Force of habit, sor—hey! I do not speak “old English”,> Dezzi exclaimed, <I do not you contractions in my speech, a very different thing.>

<Same difference.> Mattie sighed and Dezzi was about to comment on how such saying were paradoxical when Vera nudged her in the ribs.

“Could this be any more boring?” the dark-haired teen griped.

“It is your own fault that you are here.” Dezzi pointed out and she glanced around the room at the nine other students besides herself and Vera.

“Yeah,” the other girl sighed, “but it was totally worth it.” She smirked and went back to lounging over her desk, and Vera lounged, she lounged. Like royalty. Though Dezzi knew what the teen was talking about.

The senior’s Christmas prank.

This year had been something special, even the ever-proper Dezzi had to admit. Vera had somehow managed to gather nine of the best senior year troublemakers the school had to offer and cohered them together to set in motion a multilayered plan of Christmas chaos.

The first step had been to put fake snow in all the air vents so that the inside of the school was covered in a fine sheet of white. Next in the plot of madness was dumping dry ice in all the toilets across the campus with all the bathroom lights removed and little goldfish places in all the purposely-clogged drinking fountains. And last, but certainly not least, Vera had masterfully put an ad in the papers that the high school was having a Christmas yard sale with everything seventy percent off, so that the front entrance and yard were decorated with all the teacher’s supplies, books, desks, whiteboards, and even the principal’s car.

Needless to say Dezzi had thought she had entered a war zone when she walked onto campus that morning as mass chaos surrounded her. Vera had been haggling over a price for the principal’s old Sedan  by the time school security had caught up with her. Dezzi and Lily had merely sighed as this tale had been told to them over morning math class as they sat on the floor of the empty room where only Mr. Campton’s personal desk had survived what was being called “the fire sale.”

The rest of the day had been spent putting desks and books back in their classrooms, rescuing the poor goldfish, and sweeping up the fake snow. Which led Dezzi back to this detention session. Vera and the other nine convicts had been sentenced to seven weeks of Community Service as punishment, and Detention for today since nothing else could be thought up of in such short notice. Apparently only Mr. Bell, Dezzi’s debate teacher, had found the prank remotely funny. Dezzi assumed it was just because he was slightly crazy and hated teaching class.

“And the look on Mr. Richards’ face...” Vera whispered and Dezzi recalled the look of absolute horror that had crossed her History  teacher’s face as he first walked onto campus. Priceless.

Still, it did nothing to improve her situation here and now.

“Aren’t you gonna make us do anything?” one student piped up suddenly.

“No,” Mr. Richards muttered darkly, “wasting your time pointlessly is good enough for me.” The man yawned and propped his feet up on his newly returned desk. His had been in the process of getting loaded into a truck before the police were able to rescue it.

“Might also have something to do with you not having a social life.” The student snapped back and Dezzi saw a slight flush creep onto her History teacher’s face.

“Right Aaron,” she chuckled loud enough so that the entire class could hear, “because spending all your time at home playing video games on your Xbox is the definition of a social life.”

“Snap!” Vera giggled and the rest of the student joined as well. The teen in question turning a very interesting shade of red. He turned around and glared as Dezzi.

“What about you Destler? Where’s your great social life? Oh wait, I forgot, you always have Detention.”

“You do not seem to be doing too much better at the moment.” Dezzi replied smartly, using her “proper-grammar-old-English” voice for all it was worth.

<Nice one, dude!> Mattie sang, <That’s how you use that proper speech of yours!>

Before any more insults could be thrown a deafening boom of a bell sounded throughout the school and halted any more comment.

“Alright, that’s the bell,” Mr. Richards called out, “please don’t get into anymore trouble and have a good holiday break.”

“Freedom!” Vera cheered as she swung her backpack excitedly over her shoulder, “See you over break then Mattie?”

“Quite possibly.” Dezzi smiled and waved goodbye as her friend and all other students crowded the doorway to get out first. Dezzi took her time, as she really did have nothing to go home to.

<You make it sound so depressing.> Mattie whined, <Now you can sleep in ‘till noon, eat like crazy, and watch TV all day!>

<So: wake up at my normal time, eat my healthy and nutritious food, and run daily. Got it.> was the dry and sardonic reply.

“Did you know anything about it?”

“What?” Dezzi asked quickly as she realized that Mr. Richards was still seated at his desk and waiting for an answer, “Well, I knew Vera was Vera, but nothing more.” She supplied and her teacher rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I figured as much.”

“And even if I had known, what could I have done? As I did state; Vera is Vera. Nothing short of death would stop her once she sets a devious goal.”

“That too.” The man smiled and waved her away, “Now go home and enjoy your holiday Mattie.”

“Yes sir.” Dezzi replied and suddenly winced, “I mean, Mr. Richards.” She corrected and quickly walked over to the door to beat a hasty retreat before stopping suddenly and turning around once more to her History teacher.

“Merry Christmas, sir.”

“Merry Christmas, Mattie Destler.”

Alright, update time peeps. Now that I have a bit more time with my classes winding down I'm going to try and update once a week...I dunno if I'll just choose a day or randomly update once a week. Any suggestions on that? Well, anyway, I finally finished my math class! With what? No idea. The good thing is that this was the last math class that I will EVER have to take in my ENTIRE life. Do you know how big this is??? I've been waiting my whole life for this day because I have HATED math with every fiber of my being since I first had to add 1 + 1 in kindergarten!

Ok, enough of my college life rant. Christmas is coming!!! Woot! I've been working on my Xmas cards, which will feature Dezzi in a cute Santa hat looking very purplexed to what Christmas is and what the logic of celebrating it. Poor Dezzi. Mattie will have to explain later the awesomness of getting presents. So I've had some online buddies ask for cards and friends from around town as well so I've got my hands full with that.

I've also decided that I will post up a special Xmas chapter from the story on Christmas eve night. ^_^ The little side chapter won't be nessicary to the entire story so one doesn't have to read it, but it'll be cute and show some nice characters interactions and how Dezzi gets along in our world. So just a reminder that Xmas week I'll post up a normal chapter AND the little side chapter.

As for THIS week's chapter. We're back to the normal Earth with Dezzi and Mattie and ohhhh, what trouble they get into. A pretty good sized chapter, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. We're on part six now of the ten introductionary parts to the story. After part ten will start the actual chapters, but we'll get to that much later on. For now, read and enjoy what's below.

Some artwork this week showing Dezzi and Mattie. These are the final versions of the characters:

Mattie & Dezzi

As always read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part V
Next: Part VII

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The Will of Alternates


The sound of her ring tone was something Dezzi could endure all day. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Mattie.

<Dude, turn your stupid phone off!> the girl shouted and attempted to take a swipe at Dezzi’s cell phone.

“That will do you no good.” Dezzi said calmly, “You are just a figment of my imagination.” They were walking down a winding street with small shops lined up on either side, all looking old fashion and worn down. It was Monday morning and school was to start in thirty minutes. Rather early to leave for school, Dezzi admitted, but one could never be too careful.

<Ok, first off I’m not a figment of your strange and demented imagination! Now turn your damn phone off! Or at least answer it!> Mattie screamed and kept vainly trying to grab the phone that was in Dezzi’s backpack. Not that it worked in any way but Dezzi knew it was making Mattie feel better.

“I see no reason to answer it. Seeing as it is probably just Marco trying to “hook up” with me.” Dezzi chuckled then glared as the thought struck her, “The nerve of that boy, I would never date him. He is far too immature.”

<You say all boys are immature.> Mattie whined and covered her ears as the phone kept going off, <Come on Dezz, please turn it off!>

“Oh fine, just be quite.” Dezzi hissed and reached over to her pack, quickly finding her phone and shutting it off, “I get many strange stares from people when you talk to me.”

<That’s ‘cause you answer back out loud.> Mattie retorted and removed her hands from around her ears, <If you just answered back in thought nobody would hear you.>

“Hey! You do not know how hard it is to switch back and forth!” Dezzi practically yelled out, “I can hear you in my mind and my body automatically wants to answer with my mouth, it is very confusing.”

<Yeah, we should just practice more of you talking in your head then.> Mattie argued stubbornly.

“Maybe later.” Dezzi sighed, “It’s too early in the morning for this.” She yawned and stretched out her arms. It was another dreary and muggy day in the city, this was rather how it normally was but Dezzi still found it strange. She passed up the local Chinese food stand and quickened up her pace when she saw a man standing next to it, apparently torn between getting food or not.

<Hey look, it’s that jogging guy that runs past our apartment everyday.> Mattie exclaimed as Dezzi hurried past, not even glancing back, <Why don’t you even say hi to him?>

<There’s just no point.> Dezzi warned.

<Hey, now you’re talking in your mind!>

<Oh, shut up.> Dezzi continued her quick walking pace until she could see her school down the street, only then did she slow. She hated seeing people she already knew, but who recognize her. It only reminded her of things that didn’t need reminding.

<But you hang out with Lily and Vera everyday?> Mattie questioned as they passed through the school’s front gate.

<Yeah I know, I’m stupid.> Dezzi admitted bitterly.

<I didn’t mean it like that!> Mattie cried out and started fumbling over her words, <What...um, what I meant to say was—>

“Drop it, I do not care.” Dezzi whispered as she passed her school’s Commons grounds. Suddenly a round and brown object came speeding at her. Dezzi, as it was still the early morning, was only just able to dodge without falling flat on her face.

<Good reflexes.> Mattie applauded.

<They used to be better.> Dezzi thought as she looked around for the insolent youth that had dared throw a football at her.

“You’re supposed to catch it Mattie!” Vera yelled out from across the Commons.

“You!” Dezzi managed to gasp out as she pointed her finger at Vera, then the ball, then back to Vera, “Catch it! How on Earth was I supposed to manage that! This—this ball almost killed me!”

“Oh my god, just chill Mattie.” Vera laughed as she walked up to Dezzi.

“Mattie!” Lily’s voice rang out, “Are you alright?” the girl asked worriedly as she ran up to the other two, “I was walking into school when I saw what Vera almost did to you!”

“Yes, I’m quite fine.” Dezzi assured Lily and Vera yawned unconcernedly. Her yawn, however, quickly turned into something more evil as she spotted something over Dezzi’s shoulder.

“Oh, oh, oh! Throw me the ball Mattie!” she quickly and started to jog over to school entrance, where Dezzi’s back was facing.

“Why?” Dezzi asked suspiciously as she picked up said ball from the damp grass underneath her.

“Look!” Vera said gleefully and pointed as Dezzi and Lily looked over to where she was directing. Over by the gates appeared to be the figure of a man, slowly walking in. A man that looked very familiar to Dezzi.

<Hey, isn’t that—> Mattie started.

“Mr. Richards?” Dezzi finished incredulously.

“Yeah! I‘m brilliant, I know.” Vera said hurriedly, “I’ll just run over there and you throw the ball to me, but kinda aim the ball to where that sexy hunk of man is, then when I try to catch the ball I’ll “accidentally” bump into him!”

“Eh?” Dezzi said.

“Um?” Lily agreed.

<She’s crazy.> Mattie supplied.

“Ok, let’s go!” Vera yelled and ran off too quickly for Dezzi to say anything.

“I do not think this is a good idea!” Dezzi called out in a pathetic attempt to convince Vera. It didn’t work.

“What are you gonna do?” Lily asked worriedly.

“What can I do?” Dezzi sighed as Vera raised her arms, showing that she was ready for the ball to be thrown.

<Ok, aim for Mr. Richards!> Mattie encouraged as Dezzi prepared to throw the ball, an odd feeling creeping into her fingers. She hadn’t aimed like this for a long time. Was she still as good as she remembered?

“Go long!” Dezzi shouted and snapped the ball out, throwing it with as much force as she could muster. However, instead of the ball going more towards Mr. Richards, it instead went straight to Vera, who was unprepared.

“OW!”

“Did I not tell you this wasn’t going to work?” Dezzi asked angrily ten minutes later. Vera was gingerly holding her middle and index of her left hand. They were all in the nurse’s office.

“It hurts.” Vera sniffed dramatically but then gave a wicked grin, “But your plan worked even better than mine!”

“I—what?” Dezzi asked quickly.

“Did you see the way he ran over to me and asked if I was all right?” Vera yelled triumphantly, “Then how he heroically ran off and called the nurse! Oh Mattie you’re a genius!”

“I...” Dezzi tried again but Lily rounded on her.

“You did what?” she asked dangerously.

“No! I did not! That was not my intention!” Dezzi said quickly and as innocently as she possibly could.

“I can’t believe you two!” Lily yelled angrily and turned on her heel, “Men!” she growled and stomped away.

“Wait! Lily!” Dezzi yelled and ran after her, “I really had nothing to do with it! Honestly!”

<Dezz.> Mattie yawned, <Get to class.>

Ugh, finals are coming up. Bleh. On the plus side that means that classes are almost over with and Christmas is nearly here! YAY! Besides that its been a pretty quite couple of weeks. Hanging with friends, doing homework and math tests, finishing my Xmas shopping and wrapping them all nice and pretty. I've also been watching a lot of Doctor Who, I was bored to night so I ordered a Doctor Who disc from Netflix because I saw one episode on the Sci-Fi channel and now I'm hooked! Those Brttish and their tv shows. XP

Well, enough of my life. Time for a chapter update. It's a rather short chapter but still full of AU Earth lovin'. As always read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part IV
Next:Part VI

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

The Price of Two

“Are you memorizing everything I am saying?” the man yelled out sternly. There was a shuffling of feet as the children tried to sit up straighter but failed, they automatically sat as straight as possible, “We went over the fact that we seemed to age slower.” He continued briskly, “Did you not ever wonder why the R.T stood for Real Time on the other Earth? The truth; every year that passes in R.T Earth, five pass here. Our bodies do not change however, because our Alternate’s has not either. For example most of you are five R.T years old correct?” There were nods.

“Sir?” a boy asked, “Are not our Halves also five R.T years old?”

“Yes,” the man said patiently but with a slight strain in his voice, “but you are an A.U citizen, you multiple your age by five to get your “mentality age”. You are all considered twenty five years of age in A.U years, the beginning of adulthood.”

“So that means...” the boy trailed off as he caught on with the train of thought, “Our Half would be more like five A.U years old in intelligence!”

“Yes,” the man nodded, “It is because of this “Time Glitch” that let’s our minds develop so quickly. Were you to have grown up in the R.T world you would be no smarter than them.”

“So,” a girl questioned, “To get our “mentality age” we take our R.T age and multiple it by five? Then to get out Half’s we just convert their R.T age to A.U.”

“Precisely.”

“Is that why there is that R.T Intercourse Law? That states no A.U citizen who’s Half is not eighteen can have sex?” a boy asked suddenly, looking mildly miffed. This was one of the biggest problem with the A.U’s “Time Glitch”.

“Again, yes.” The man sighed, “If, say, you were to date the opposite sex my age that would not be odd in our would, but try to imagine what it would look like in the R.T’s.” There was a general shudder among the students, “Now imagine them performing—”

“Enough!” one of the girls shouted, “We are quite capable of imagining these things ourselves.”

“So then why do they allow dating between younger and older citizens at all?”

“First;” the man stated, “were they to ban dating completely the problem would only increase. Also, just because two people know each other here, in the R.T world they have probably never met. The only two things that will cause indefinite meeting are sex and marriage. Can anybody guess why?”

“Marriage, because we all have the same family members. Right?” a girl asked.

“Yes, the one thing you will always have in common with your Half, your family.” The man agreed and looked around the class for the other answer.

“Sex, for the same reason?” a boy ventured.

“Partly, to tell the truth, we are not absolutely sure why besides the obvious reasons, but not all people have sex to have children, do they? So we do not wish to disturb the R.T Earth’s life style. Remember, this rule is absolute.”

“Its obviously not working.” Another boy scoffed, “I hear about “pedophiles” getting caught all the time.”

“That is one of our jobs here we detain and arrest those who break that law and they receive one of our harshest punishments.” The man explained, “This does not mean there is no such thing as a happy relationship with an older and younger A.U citizen. However,” his voice became razor sharp again, “we have gotten off topic.” He started pacing again, “We have paid many prices for being copies, and our biggest loss you probably cannot even guess.”

“Well,” one girl started slowly, “I heard a rumor that R.T Earth has something called music.”

“Yes,” the man said, his voice cold but his eyes seemed sad, “we lost our creativity.” At this every student blinked, they didn’t even know what that was, “When the dimensions were split, they molded themselves into a sort of yin and yang.” The man worded carefully, “A.U being the Yang, white: everything is conservative here. Music does not exist, everything is recycled, and there is no spontaneity, no art. Just business. We have to be perfect, concrete. Only R.T Earth is allowed to be destructive, messy and,” he paused again, “Beautiful.”

After Thanksgiving post! Woot! Well, Thanksgiving went surprisingly well this year. I was a little cautious at first because I was told that I would be spending it at my local church....to which I have many issues with. But it was my mother's wish so what was I to do? However, my fears were for naught at we got there, ate, talked, ate, and then for good measure ate some more. Afterwards my brother and I sneaked on over to the dessert tabled and loaded as much pumpkin pie, brownies, and cookies we could on a to-go box that they were passing out. Then, because it was Thanksgiving and I'm such a good person (and I just so happened to be texting my good friend Max at the time) I got a whole other box and filled it with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweat potatoes, and stuffing just to take over to my friend's house. That and my church had WAY too much food left over and was practically begging people to take as much as they wanted. Then I went over to my Dad's place and spent about and hour catching up with him, then over to my BFF's Carin's, who was slightly tipsy/hyper (an odd combo) and rocked out to Guitar Hero, then on to Max's house to deliver the food and chill for another couple hours late into the night. All and all? I'd say a total Thanksgiving success!

Moving on: Christmas is coming up! Working on my Xmas cards of the year (as last year I had to skip and the year before they got out extremely late). THIS YEAR I WILL SUCEED! I also just want my math class to be over. Eight-week classes are a biiiitch. Seriously.

And because I can I’m updating another chapter. Ain’t I so cool? (Yeah riiiight.) So this chapter, you get another dose of Dezzi and her high school life. Know that some scenes from this are based off of actual events that occurred in my life, and then twisted to my evil bidding and highly exaggerated.

Enjoy! <3

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part III
Next: Part V

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Force of Habit

“Oh my god, I wanna make out with him right now. Look at his eyes...his smile...” Vera sighed contently next to Dezzi, who sighed again for the umpteenth time.

“Oh, why must we have History together?” she moaned quietly.

“History class with the hottest teacher on campus!” Vera reprimanded and continued to look dreamily over at Dezzi’s History teacher. He had been the teacher for all her history classes thus far and every single girl in the school found him “sexy”. Disgusting. Dezzi had only respect for the man, and so should everybody else.

<Speak for yourself,> Mattie piped up, <he’s gorgeous! I can’t believe we get to stare at him for fifty minutes a day without him suspecting a thing!>

<You’re as bad as Vera!> Dezzi scolded, frowning.

“Miss Destler!” a sharp voice called out and Dezzi brought herself to full attention at once.

“Sir!” she called out just as sharply and everybody around her laughed. Her teacher blinked at her in surprise, then sighed.

<Ha! You do that every time he says your name.> Mattie crackled and Dezzi swore to kill her counterpart one day. Pity that could never happen.

“Sorry sir.” Dezzi apologized and her teacher blinked again, the students sniggering under their breaths.

“Just call me Mr. Richards, Mattie.” He said, “You don’t have to be that formal, and please pay attention in class.”

“Yes sir.” Dezzi replied automatically and everybody burst out laughing. Well, not everybody. The girls were glaring at her because she was making fun of the teacher they had a crush on. The boys were the ones laughing, because they knew that all the girls had a crush on Mr. Richards and not them.

“Please stay behind after the bell.” Her teacher stated rather angrily and Dezzi felt her face go red.

<You like him.> Mattie sang.

“Geez Mattie.” Vera said with a knowing smirk, “I didn’t know you’d do anything to be alone with Mr. Richards. Good work! I gotta start taking lessons from you. Didn’t know you were so smooth...or that you even liked men.”

“Oh dear lord, Vera. It’s not like that!” Dezzi hissed out frantically, “I do not like him like that! No! Never!”

“Whatever girl.” Vera whispered back and gave a seductive wink, “I know what you want.” Dezzi tried to protest but Vera beat her to it, “Come on Mattie, and don’t deny your true feelings! I mean look at that prime piece of man!”

“You are making him sound like a slab of meat again.” Dezzi whimpered and Vera swung her arm around Dezzi’s shoulders and pointed at Mr. Richards as he turned his back to write something up on the chalkboard.

“That’s thirty one years, six feet two inches, and one hundred and sixty five pounds of pure, delicious, sex right there!”

“Oh god.” Dezzi moaned and felt like she was going to throw up.

<Oh god is right!> Mattie sighed contently, <But for the opposite reason you’re saying it.>

“How did you even get those stats?” Dezzi sighed weakly.

“School files. Had a T.A sneak in and look them up for me.” Vera said nonchalantly.

“You are twisted.” Dezzi stated.

“I know, thanks.” Vera grinned just as the school bell rang out across the class. Everybody instantly jumped up and started leaving that class.

“Wait! I didn’t say you could leave!” Mr. Richards shouted but people continued walking out. Dezzi suddenly wondered if she could sneak out in the crowd, “Wait. Come on people, oh never mind.” She heard the man sigh and made a beeline for the door, “Not so fast Miss Destler! To my desk, now!” he called out sharply and before Dezzi could even process what options she had, her legs had turned her body around and brought her in front of Mr. Richards desk.

“Hello si—Mr. Richards.” Dezzi corrected herself.

“Hello again Mattie.” The man said and sat behind his desk, pushing up his glasses with his index finger, “We seem to be at an impasse here.”

“Do we?” Dezzi asked rhetorically.

“You were talking with Miss Miles for almost this entire period.” Her teacher pointed out.

“Yes, and for that I apologize.” Dezzi replied, “However, you failed to reprimand me when you saw what I was doing.”

“Well that’s certain—wait, what?” the man asked quickly, clearly he had not been expecting an apology, “I—I, uh, reprimand you?” he asked, changing the subject.

<Hey, he changed the subject.> Mattie noted, <Weasel.>

<Be quiet.> Dezzi warned, “Yes reprimand,” she stated out loud, “you didn’t “call me out” when you had irrefutable proof that I was talking with Vera. Instead, you waited until after class when I could easily say it was just all in your head.”

<Let’s see his comeback to that!> Mattie said evilly.

“Ah...” Mr. Richards seemed as a loss for words, “Well, I—I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends.” He replied weakly.

“Your concern is duly noted, but for future reference I suggest you embarrass students when you catch them. It makes them less likely to repeat the mistake.” Dezzi explained flatly.

<Uh oh, you’re doing it again.> Mattie warned, sounding a little panicked. Dezzi was receiving an unbelieving face from her History teacher.

“Uh, because dude, it’s like totally not cool and like sucks ‘cause then you ain’t hip with uh...ah. Peace out and chill, I hear my homies calling me!” Dezzi said hurriedly and practically fled the classroom, almost knocking Vera over as she exited.

<Hah, smooth.> Mattie sighed.

“How’d it go?” Vera asked as Dezzi heaved a huge breath of relief.

“I shall never get this “teen lingo” everybody else appears to have mastered.” She sighed and Vera suddenly laughed.

“You had the language barrier pop up again?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re so weird Mattie!” Vera continued laughed and slapped Dezzi on the back, “Let’s go grab some food girl!” she said and they started walking across the campus to Vera’s car.

<You are weird Dezzi.> Mattie commented.

<More than anybody else will ever know.> Dezzi agreed sadly.

Update, I suppose. Well, job hunting failed miserably. I have no idea why I am incapable of get a part time or even seasonal job. Buuuut....oh well. I'll keep trying for now and basically just won't ever stop. So beyond that, nothing new except a new chapter that I'll be posting below. Woot! In this chapter you'll be introduced to another main player of the story and Alternate Earth...whoooo. *makes spooky sounds* Yeeeah, anyways. As always read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Oh, P.S.- If you're wondering what the two main characters look like, wonder no more: Dezzi & Mattie. Dezzi is the girl standing with the annoyed look on her face and the other kid is Mattie, her Alternate. More will be explained in the story, so read on!

Artwork by the awesome Soap-Committee.

First:Prologue
Previous:Part II
Next: Part IV

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

Face of Reflection

The endless blue sky stretched on for an eternity, as vast and bottomless as the oceans that borrowed its color. The sun was glaring down onto the skyscrapers that dared to try and reach the heavens. The buildings below, while appearing clean and perfect, were coated in dust and dirt, the windows smeared, the concrete cracked. The streets riddled with black tar lines and rows of cars. Some new a gleaming, others enclosed in grime, while the rest were rusted or broken. Old puddles of water stood on the sidewalks as people hopped around them, not even looking down. The sound of sirens blared across the scene, along with shouts of all sorts and music pounding out of windows. The people walking by were dressed in all manner of clothes; rags, suits, sports, casual. Blending together in a swirl of all the colors.

Suddenly, the scene shifted in a blurred flurry. Spun around. Repeated itself for just a second. The buildings became, straighter, taller, cleaner. The streets smooth and flawless, the cars perfectly aerodynamic and bland, the air completely silent. The people also shifted, their clothes became simple and conservative. Their walks exactly the same. All colorless, a white and gray.

As the Alternate Earth had always been.

There was one building that was taller than the rest. Its windows reflective, reminding those that looked upon it of their place in the world. It was the emblem of society, to work inside that building was to work for the future, to protect those that mattered most in the world, even if it wasn’t their world.

The Alternate Universe Police Forces. Inside the building there was a class in session. Seated were the faces of many five and six year olds. Their faces strangely blank but intent. They were children with the presence of adults. All were wearing gray shirts and slacks, the boys had either short hair or buzzed while the girl’s were short or pulled in a chignon. They were the elite of their classes. They were the next generation of A.U Detectives.

A man walked in. One looking like he belonged in a building such as this. A young man in his late twenties to early thirties, but still a man. His eyes, however, held the look that few people rarely saw in anyone but a veteran war General. The man’s platinum blond hair was trimmed short in customary Police style, his uniform crisp and sharp.

“You all know why you are here.” He started, his voice soft but icy. The air in the room seemed to drop a couple of degrees in temperature. The tension near unbearable, “You want protect that which is most precious to us. You know, without ego, that you are the best. You are the only ones for this job, and death, is not an obstacle you fear.” His voice was barely above a whisper but none had trouble hearing him. It was strange, the words were filled with such a burning passion but his voice and gaze remained stony, “What is it you are here for!” he barked out suddenly. One boy’s hand shot out quicker than the rest.

“To protect our Alternate world.” He replied smartly.

“No.” the man answered simply and a few of the children blinked, “You are here to try and control your life, you are here for yourself.” The room’s tension was racked up another notch, “You are here to learn the secret of the Dimensions.”

“So,” the man suddenly started pacing down the rows of desks, “you know the basics, everybody is taught that much. But in order to protect something, you need to know everything about it. Here, you will learn everything. No more secrets; you will be the ones keeping them. No more lies; you will be the ones making them. No more life to live; you will give everything up here. Now,” he paused for a second, “someone give me the history of our world.” This time a girl answered, not even raising her hand.

“We are considered, by our own laws, the copy dimension.” She started emotionlessly and the man gave a swift nod. The sign to continue, “R.T Earth’s past is the same as ours, up until around 10,000 B.C. when an experiment was tested on Earth by the Sevarrians; an alien race from the Tiran System. They believed there to be no significant life forms on Earth and proceeded to test their equivalent of a time machine on us. The test failed and instead split the Earth’s dimension in two, a double of each person on a different plane of reality.”

“Correct.” Ha stated, cutting her off, “You,” he said to another student, “continue.”

“The Sevarrians came to apologize once they had realized what they had done,” another girl said, just as blankly, “but found they were talking to us, the Copies, and that they themselves were trapped in the Altered Dimension. After building a Dimensional Transport they quickly set off and we were left to ourselves.”

“Along with the only know Dimensional Transport.” The man added sternly and looked to the boy who had answered his first question, “What happened after that?”

“We noticed that we were aging slower but children’s intelligence was progressing faster.” The boy answer easily, almost sounding bored, “Within a mere millennium we had already landed on the moon. By 5,000 B.C. we had discovered everything about R.T Earth and their own past, and had explored their entire Solar System. The end.” He said with a slight smirk and there was a ripple of muted laughter. The man smiled, which only consisted of his lips thinning.

“The end?” he asked and the tension froze, “Yes, you would like to believe that is the end but it is not.” He moved back up to the front of the class and glared, “After finding everything we could about Real Time Earth we then swore to protect our Originals, for we learned a terrible secret in out studies.” The silence following this was louder than any other noise ever heard before.

“Whenever an Alternate Half dies, so does their other.”

“What?” one of the girls asked quietly, one that had seemed so bold and cocky a minute age.

“Well, it makes sense.” Another boy said harshly, “I mean, we are their Half, you cannot have one without the other!”

“Wait!” a slightly younger looking boy called out to the other, “You mean like a natural death, yes?”

“Of course! That is the only way we would die at the same time.” A girl said sternly.

“Such naivety.” The man said and the buzz in the room died instantly, “I am going to start stating facts and you would do well to remember them all.”

New post! Yay! Well, there's not really much to say...still looking for a job...still going to school and hating math. Same old, same old. Buuut, since I've got the time I thought I'd go ahead and post my next chapter of the story. How's that for an update? Technically this next part of the story is still the prologue, there are ten parts to it all together before you actually get to the first chapter. As always read for your enjoyment and comments are not needed but warmly welcomed.

Again, I have gotten some artwork done for this story by the awesome Soap-Committee. Give her some love and check out her work!

Previous:Prologue
Next:Part III

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Two Sides to Life

“Enough moping.” Dezzi sighed, rather dramatically. Suddenly the world, which she had been viewing without sound in her mind, shattered. Noise poured into her senses and mass chaos ensued. A swirl of colors greeted her as Dezzi moved into the main hall of her high school.

“Mattie!” a high pitched female voice called out. It was more of a squeal actually.

“Ah...Vera.” Dezzi exclaimed sarcastically as the girl in question bounded up to her as though she had springs attached to her feet, “My ever hyper and exceedingly loud friend.”

“You’re so funny!” Vera cried out and slapped Dezzi on the back, probably harder than a normal person would, but then, Vera was hardly normal.

“Oh my gosh, Vee!” another girl said, “Don’t slap Mattie so hard, we’re only human!”

“Hello Lily.” Dezzi greeted to her calmer friend as Vera gave her another good slap on the back, knocking Dezzi’s breath away.

“I can’t help it Lily! Mattie always uses such big fancy words when we talk, don’t ya Mattie? I mean, it’s like we have a walking dictionary with us!” Vera explained loudly as she laughed and continued thumping Dezzi on the back.

“That doesn’t mean you kill her!” Lily cried and stopped Vera from clapping Dezzi’s back again. An action for which Dezzi was very grateful. It felt like her spine was about to split in two.

“Hey, we gotta be all that we can be this year!” Vera yelled out triumphantly to Lily, “We’re seniors this year! We gotta be the biggest, hottest, most rockin’ things on this campus! Then we hit Prom!” Vera paused suddenly and an evil gleam came upon her eyes, “And catch us some man-meat.” She whispered dangerously.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Dezzi said, feeling nauseous.

“I can’t believe all you think about is men!” Lily yelled out, her fists clenched and held up to her chest.

“Hey, its easy for a famous Opera singer to get all the action she could possibly want,” Vera snapped, “we other women must fight for sex toys!”

“I really shall be sick now.” Dezzi stated and swayed a bit.

“Like I said; a dictionary.” Vera sighed and threw her curly brown hair over her shoulders, “Case closed.” There was a sudden clang and boom as the school’s bell went off all over the school grounds. There was a pause in the air, as all the students listened for a second, then the wave of voices came back, louder than before as it was joined by thousands of feet starting to move.

“Whatever.” Lily moaned and put her hand up to her forehead, then glanced over at Dezzi, who merely shrugged.

“Hey, it was nice talkin’ to you folks, but we now got class.” Vera stated and looked impatiently at the other two young women.

“Right,” Dezzi said and propped a hand up in the air, “Until lunch.”

“What you said.” The other two replied instantaneously and all three grinned at each other. This joke had been going on since freshman year. Vera turned and started walking one direction, throwing her hair over her shoulders; while Lily turned and went another, drawing her fingers threw her own brown hair. Dezzi stared at their retreating backs with a sad smile on her lips.

Vera River and Lily Miles. The three of them had met in freshman year English and Dezzi had known instantly they would be friends. She had been right, and now they were inseparable. Vera was considered the school space case by fellow women and sexiest girl alive by the men. Lily was a semi-famous Opera singer that sang at the local, but renowned, Opera House. Dezzi...she was just Dezzi. Her story was not a happy one.

<Yeah, you can say that again. So, when are you gonna tell them?>

<Tell them what?> Dezzi sighed inwardly, even though she already knew the answer. The voice would always say the same thing.

<That your name’s really Dezzi? That you’re not actually the person you say you are?>

<Never. You know that.> she thought as her eyes became strangely blank, devoid of all emotion, <Its just too long of a story, Mattie.>

Well, we finally have a black President. Only took about 300 hundred years to overcome that hurdle.  But still, it is a step forward to a better direction. Now if only Prop 8 hadn't passed, but I guess I really was trying to go for miracles if I thought people would be THAT accepting. In time, when my generation becomes the predominant one more change might happen, in time. A bit frustrating to wait, wait for people to see that all types of discrimination is wrong and that in a world like this if you can find any type of love be it from the opposite sex or the same it should be cherished not feared, but people have a hard time letting old way die so in a sense I understand. Just wish things would move faster but they never do.

That was a bit more serious than I meant it to be. Ah...hehehe.

Wanted to give a shout out to my friend Max as his brother died November 5th. I met Travis quite a few times and he was always nice. Death can be a bittersweet thing. Which makes it no easier to deal with and there are never enough words to put feelings into place.

Well, I'll be off then. Got more math 300 homework to do, perhaps next post I'll put up a chapter from my book, yeah?

Whoo! Finally got around to updating. But since I don't have much to say why don't I post the prologue to my work in progress story (right now called The Control Theory but subject to change). First thing I ever wrote for the story (even before I had a plot) as it was just an idea running through my head, didn't plan for it to go as far as it has but the story's taken a life of its own.

P.S.- Still working on grammar/spelling cuz' Spellcheck is awesome but misses a lot.

Next Chapter: Part II

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The Curse of the Moon

The pale sunlight shone down through the thin clouds onto a streaked, slightly clouded, window of an old brick apartment building. With her forehead pressed against the glass, the figure of a young woman stared out blankly to the street below.

Another drizzly day was approaching and a fine mist had permeated the air. Another day of hearing the sounds of people laughing, talking, crying, screaming, whispering, hissing, sighing, blaming, contradicting, teaching, preaching, praying, and singing. Of hearing an ice cream car go round, seeing a fire truck roar by, bicycles ringing past, cars blaring through. All mixed up into a symphony of such a grand scale that none could ever compare. Beautiful. Art; perfection in imperfection.

The woman sighed, her breath fogging a portion of the pane. She found everyday beautiful; every inch of it bring her the most agonizingly exquisite pleasure she’d ever felt. A forbidden pleasure. A pleasure that she shouldn’t be able to taste, but does. A pleasure that she had no right to own; but did. So beautiful as it was painful. Painful, because it wasn’t hers. It could never be hers, and she didn’t belong here. She would never belong here. It would never be home. It couldn’t ever be home.

A man suddenly came jogging down the dim street she was watching. He wore a hood over his face and he would seemingly punch out at random. A jab here. A hook there. The man passed underneath her window and a small smile played on the woman’s lips. He was always right on time, every single day. Even Christmas. He had no family to share it with, no friends or colleagues. A loner. A boxer. Who didn’t know her at all.

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The sky was slowly lightening by the time she stepped out onto the sidewalk. The symphony yet to start, its musicians warming up. Mist still clung to the air as she walked through the city. Pulling her scarf around her neck to fight the chill. Bringing out her gloves to keep her hands warm. The smell of salt, garbage, food, and wet dirt. So natural and unnatural at the same time. So comforting and disgusting. Another sigh escaped her. Her breath becoming part of the haze that surrounded her.

She passed a movie rental and music store. Posters of up and coming shows and concerts plastered on the wall, some with graffiti sprayed across. One poster was a comedy based off of a Shakespearian piece. She liked Shakespeare; the man had used four basic plots and had somehow come up with numerous more plays than imaginable that could still be translated into today’s culture. Something a rare few did.

Another poster was for a horror movie, a remake actually. She enjoyed these too, but not out of the same respect. Horror movies were quite hilarious in her opinion, all the characters had to do was use common sense and there would be no horror, no story. Most were absolutely pointless and were useful only to laugh at.

A third poster, the last one visible, had the picture of a man on it. A man with the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. Eyes that held so much within them. Eyes that told a story. Hair as black as a raven’s, slicked back with a slight curl at the end. A face that was hard and stern but held compassion and understanding. The woman quickly hitched her backpack further up her shoulders and quickly walked away. A rock star, whose fame was known throughout the world. One, who would never recognize her at all.

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She stood outside a building. For a moment her eyes held a different image in them. A tall and conservative structure turned into an ancient and elegant castle, the colorless steel becoming worn stone, the concrete floor turning to grass, and trees sprouting out of the ground. She was looking at a school now, so full of life and energy as students roamed around in a casual manner. The school she attended.

Numerous people walked by her as she crossed the threshold and entered the grounds. So many faces she saw in the sea. Future musicians who had yet to pick their instruments. Faces swarmed around her, looked at her, ignored her, smiled at her, waved at her, and glared at her. Some she knew. Some recognized her. However, no matter how many people saw her, they never acknowledged her. No matter how many people knew her, they never saw her. They only saw Mattie Destler stroll down the hallways. They only acknowledged Mattie. They didn’t even know who she was. They never would. This wasn’t her home. It would never be.

Ugh, I'm so sorry I haven't been posting at ALL lately. I've been pretty busy/not-interested-in-posting-stuff-on-the-internet. So yeah, my bad. So, what's been going on with muah? Well, besides being withdrawn from my college and moving back home to try and find a job and get some sort of community college class...not much.

I have been writing tho' on my story and am finally about halfway through...two hundred pages so far isn't bad. Still need a lot of work but I'll probably be posting the first chapter soon, just to get a reaction.

Soap_Committee has been gracious enough to do some character artwork for me so head over to her page by clicking on the link below and check out her amazing work.

soap-committee.livejournal.com/

-Lisa

Well, summer vacation is officially over. *sniff* It was fun (except for my Biology class) but all good things must come to an end. As such I'm moving back to San Francisco! Yay! My cloudy rainy city that I love! Back to lots of homework that I don't do until last minutes. Living off a meager $100 a month. Staying up late and getting up early. Ahhh, college. This term I'll be taking color photography. YES! One of my passions besides writing. Wish me luck, I'm off.

And I'm horribly depressed now because my favorite character was killed off in Eureka. Damn writers....*runs off crying hysterically*

Whew, finally moved back over here from Xanga. About damn time I say! Hopefully as most of you know my journals are where I vent and ramble about any of my current projects I'm working on (such as my stories as such). So I again apologize in advance for whatever nonsense you hear and remind you that you DON'T have to comment back, I'm not one of those people who post just for comments (however, if you wish to add to my insanity feel free to do so!). I really do this because it feels nice to vent into the empty space known as the Internet, much like shouting at my walls, only this is documented...oooh, just saw that massive oversight. Documented forever....recorded insanity! That's what I'll call this! Excellent! See? I'm already getting ideas!