Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello, all! This is an original story of my own. Reviews are highly appreciated! In other words, the more reviews I get, the more inclined I am to keep writing.

This is a story about three countries: Luxia, Itro, and Queris. Conflict between the first two mentioned starts in the very beginning. The story is about the resulting war, the near-civil war in Luxia, and the lives of many people and how they are affected by the war.
Sound complicated? Don't worry, all will be explained so long as you read!

Also, I have to ask you: if you like my story, please don't copy it and steal it. I'm not saying that anyone will, as it's more likely that you'll hate it, but still. I've worked hard on this, and I hope, once finished, to get it published. Okay? Okay!

The Elite © Tokyoanimefan ((J. Dixon))

April 21st
The Star Mansion
Linore, Luxia

“Itro: Friend or Foe?”

Sarah Taylors threw the newspaper down with distaste, her bright blue eyes sparkling in the firelight. Those same eyes, set in a healthy complexion and framed by long, blonde hair, betrayed that she couldn’t care less about what the article said. She was too sick of the topic to even look at it.

Sarah, a twenty three year old woman, sat back in a lounge chair and watched the blazing fire. Watching the fire flicker calmed her down and made her forget that she had even seen the article at all. The room was warm and made her want to fall asleep. While the majority of the light came from the fire, there were dimmed track lights overhead, highlighting certain pieces of very beautiful art that stood on modest pedestals and hung on the walls. Sarah’s chair was one of three that looked to the fireplace. The other two were unoccupied at the moment. A table was placed in front of the chairs for drinks. Behind her, there was a game table and two chairs that, unlike the middle and far right lounge chairs, were occupied.

“Check.”

Lauren Star’s voice echoed across the room from behind Sarah as she placed a chess piece on the board. She smirked and sat back in her chair, facing her opponent with her cocky grin and folded arms.

Her opponent, Jillian Star, studied the board carefully before making a move. Her hand hesitated over many pieces while her sister, Lauren, watched her intently, sure of her own victory.

Jillian picked up a piece and lifted it a few squares; even when she turned to see, Sarah couldn’t tell which one. “Checkmate,” Jill said clearly, knocking over a piece.

Lauren’s back flew off of her chair to examine the board with wide eyes. She was completely lost. For the past hour or so, the two sisters had been playing a serious game of chess. While Lauren played offensively, Jill played more conservatively and to the defense.

“Good game, Lauren,” Jill said, offering a hand to shake like always. “You almost beat me that time.” Sarah smiled, sighing. Jill was always modest about her victories.

Lauren’s smirk returned to her face. “Thanks, Jill, but you don’t have to humor me. Good game, though. You played fantastically, as usual.” The two shook hands firmly, smiling. “So, what’s the record now?”

Jill shook her head. “I lost count. Sarah, do you know our win, loss and draw statistics?” she asked, turning to the blonde.

Sarah glanced at the pair before nodding. “Yes. Jill, you now have thirty-three wins. Lauren, you have twenty-eight. There have been three draws altogether,” she replied, her gaze still glued to the fire.

“Thanks,” Lauren said, sighing. She and her sister sank into the two unoccupied armchairs to watch the fire as well, with Jillian next to Sarah in the middle chair and Lauren next to Jillian in the right chair.

Sarah studied the pair intently as Lauren picked up the newspaper article Sarah had so vehemently rejected and Jill’s eyes followed each movement of flame as if in a trance. For twins, they had few of the same defining characteristics. Lauren was a pale, lanky thirty-six year old woman with relatively small blue eyes, a total height of five feet and nine inches and long black hair. Jill, on the other hand, was a decently colored woman with moderately sized green eyes, a total height of five feet and three inches and short dark brown hair. Where Lauren usually appeared tired, Jill seemed to have energy, and vice versa.

A particularly loud crackle of the fire snapped Sarah back into reality. Only a few seconds later, Lauren angrily threw down the newspaper, just as Sarah had done a few minutes earlier. “It makes me sick,” she spat out. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear. “I can’t believe those fools!”

Jill looked to her sister and asked, “What is it, Lauren? You know those tabloids like to bend the truth to sell their papers.” Her voice was softer than Lauren’s but equally clear.

The raven-haired girl shook her head. “It’s not that at all. It’s just… You know. The majority of Itro’s government is corrupt, the few good portions are few and far between, and too weak to do much of anything, Luxia is equally corrupt and too unstable now to deal with it, and the magazines go wild in an effort to uncover every dirt little thing that everyone’s done to try to shut the whole thing up,” Lauren said, snatching the article once more. She threw the paper on the fire angrily and leaned back, shutting her eyes. “It just makes me sick.”

“Don’t let it get to you, Boss,” a man’s voice said from the door. “It will all be over with soon.” The speaker, Roger Willisez, strode into the room. His eyes were dark ebony, and even in the dim light, it was easy to see how his pinkish skin contrasted with his black hair. The twenty-seven year old man knelt down on the floor next to Sarah and rested his elbows on the table.

“Thanks for the encouragement, Roger,” Lauren said, cracking open an eye. “This whole ordeal doesn’t depend on me as much as it does upon my workers and my hired help. So long as everyone here does their job, supplying the household staples that every home requires and giving me the insight as to what those fools in Itro are doing, it’ll all be over in a matter of months.”

“I still don’t understand,” Sarah said, her arms folded. All eyes turned to her. “I mean, Itro has been an ally of Luxia, our country, for years and years on end. We’d had numerous agreements in laws and the way things are run. Slowly, our countries have been growing together. So now they start acting up and ripping up all of that hard work? I just don’t get it.”

Jill spoke up. “I understand your point, Sarah. Still, I suppose, from a strategic and military point of view, it makes some sense. It’s common knowledge that Luxia’s military forces haven’t been used in combat for years. Still, people are paid to join, and so fortune-seekers and bums sign up, thinking they’ll mooch off of the tax-paying people of the country. The government has no choice but to pay every individual sign-on, whether or not they end up deployed somewhere or not. This has been going on for years and years. As a result, many of the military higher-ups are greedy, vain people who want nothing more than to help themselves get to the top and to increase their fortune,” Jill said, nodding as she drummed her fingers across the coffee table in front of her.

“So, I assume that when some Itro spies showed up at their doorsteps with lots of money up for grabs and a proposal, they couldn’t wait to do it. Despicable,” Sarah said, shaking her head.

“I swear, every day you sound less and less like a military family and more and more normal,” Roger commented to the sisters, laughing to himself. Jill and Lauren exchanged a look, chuckling darkly at an inside joke.

“It just shows a lack of support for the Senate and the rest of the government,” Jill confirmed. She shrugged. “I’m not saying that it was right or wrong, but—”

Roger slammed a hand down on the table. “Right or wrong? Of course it was wrong!” he argued. “What right did the military men have to sell off their own brigades like mercenaries? What you said is true: Itro showed up with a boatload of money and a suggestion. I heard they even paid extra to drill the soldiers further in new techniques and make them do even more work, almost as if they were preparing for war. Now, Itro has the ability to call upon those highly trained military groups for whatever purposes they see fit! They’re kidnapping and ransoming for land and money, Jill!”

“Not to mention taking away thousands of soldiers from border patrol if Itro feels like it,” Lauren replied. “With foreign relations as bad as they are now, we, the people of Luxia, need those troops on patrol in case of another invasion.” She paused. “War is imminent now. There is now stopping it.” It was true: things had started going very bad, very quickly.

Roger and Lauren’s points were clear. Itro had made a point of flaunting their “purchase” by marching the many brigades through the streets with each soldier equipped with heavy-duty weaponry. While the good portion of the government, or, at least, the ones who didn’t obviously abuse their power, objected to what had been done, it had been a legal transaction: a contract had been signed and sealed by both the head of the military and the King of Itro, Lord Loriz. The whole ordeal was strange.

“It doesn’t matter if it was right or wrong,” Jill replied dryly. “That contract is already completely legal. The Prime Minister already checked it over for anything illegal. Nothing the Senate does is going to change things.”

Lauren nodded. “That’s why we’re here, Sarah. Don’t forget our goal: provide the people with energy and food while evening out the economy, not to mention staving off an impending war!”

Sarah shook her head. “I still don’t get it,” she said, sighing. “I mean, let’s put it this way. Itro has had a monopoly over various aspects of life for a very long time. Now they’re basically threatening the government by purchasing numerous military brigades with the ability to place them wherever they feel like. If the brigades aren’t positioned at the border, Itro, our only neighbor besides Queris, might attack, seeing as they’ve recently become militaristic. Meanwhile, to decrease the effects on the monopoly and to assist the government, we’re working as spies and informants to the Senate and using Star, Inc., your country,” she said, nodding to Lauren, “to make supplies that Itro previously held monopoly over to sell in secret at cheaper prices to the people so that Itro’s income gets smaller.”

“Yeah, that’s about right,” Roger replied. “We’re fighting back against a corrupt government that’s threatening to allow a war to happen if they don’t get money from the Senate.”

“I get all that,” Sarah said impatiently. “What I don’t get is why the Senate doesn’t just attack Itro!” There was a silence in the room as everyone mulled over her point.

“See, Sarah, it’s no that easy,” Jillian said, speaking up softly. Her voice was uneasy. “Things don’t work that way. Itro won’t just do as the Senate says without having anything done. They want money, and they want a lot more of it than they have now. The government can’t just declare war, while they have no real reason yet, but also because they are currently acting out of fear of losing many resources. Without resources, nothing happens. The stocks shut down, and when they do, the economy plummets. Therefore, doing something like declaring war is the same as disabling everything. Plus, like you said yourself, Itro now controls over half of the military without question. They can move the troops away from the border, but they can also move against the Senate with force of arms.”

“And kill the Senators?” Sarah asked incredulously, jolting out of her chair. “They’d have to be crazy to kill them! They’ll start a war themselves! That defeats the whole system, so why would they?” In her opinion, attacking the Senate was the same as punching yourself in the face: you just don’t do it.

Lauren grimaced. “Haven’t they already started moving? Public opinion’s split between the government and the much more effective Itro. If, let’s say, Itro does decide to move its forces and attack the Senate, they won’t kill the Senators. Itro doesn’t want to run the country; they only want money. They’ll negotiate democratically, taking cash for sparing the Senators’ lives.”

Lauren’s voice hung in the air, the weight of the words resting on each of the four friends in the room. Sarah was silent, some things finally sinking in for her.

The silence was broken by a loud ringing coming from Lauren’s pocket. For a moment, no one recognized the sound. Lauren finally registered it as being her cell phone and answered it. “Hello?” she asked, her voice cold. Someone spoke rapidly on the other end. The room was silent as all eyes were fixed on Lauren. The raven-haired woman was staring at the fire, seeming to take in all of the information being thrown at her. “Hm. Uh-huh. I understand.” There was a pause. “Yes, I’ll take care if it.” Another pause. “Yeah, you too. Bye.”

There was a beep and Lauren had hung up, sitting back in her chair once more. “Oh boy,” she said aloud, sighing. “Why is it always me?” Her mind was taking in and going through information rapidly. She was silent, but her companions were more than used to it. It was common for her to remain quiet for extended periods of time while she brooded over something or other. It was like defying the laws of nature to try to interrupt her thoughts, and so the man and two women waited patently.

“You know who General Kard is?”

Lauren’s voice wasn’t loud, but, once again, it was clear and commanding. Sarah nodded immediately. “Of course. He’s a fat, ugly dastard with enough money to drown in and his head up his—”

“Language, Sarah,” he reminded teasingly. Sarah didn’t curse often, but when she did, he always interrupted her.

“Shut it, Roger.” He took the hint.

“As you wish, milady.” His tone was mocking, and for it, he received a slap upside the head.

Lauren sighed, her long raven hair swinging lightly around her hair. Her face was the only part of her ever-patient self that betrayed that she was annoyed. “Enough,” she silenced. “As Sarah so…adeptly put it, General Kard has been working with Itro freely in exchange for money. Apparently, he’s been deployed. Whatever your notions on how things work, Sarah, one thing’s sure.” She paused her, her gaze unwavering as she stared at the dying embers of a blue fire. “Itro has declared war on Luxia.”

o_o

You are SUCH a good storyteller, Tokyo!

All the characters hit the mark and it worked really well. I voted for Lauren. I tend to like louder and possibly dimmer characters.xD But, everything worked and you drummed up my curiosity.

If anything, maybe more background details about like, the room or something would have been nice. And perhaps you explained too much, but, barring that, excellent.

More please, Tokyo? domokun

Chapter One: Angel Crew

Early Morning, April 23rd
Doctor Stileza’s Home
Malkelin, Luxia

As far as anyone could remember, General James E. Kard had never been suicidal. Never in the history of the world had that even been considered. He didn’t possess any kind of cognitive illness of any kind, nor did he have an axe to grind with anyone. It was true that he didn’t like anyone, his only son included, but that didn’t mean he held any kind of grudge against the world.

With that point out of the way, there was no logical reason as to why he was moving a small brigade out in the open in enemy territory. People kept asking, “Now, why would he do a fool thing like that? At this rate, there won’t even be a war!”

The answer was simple. Kard was a warmonger to the core with iron resilience and numerous soldiers expendable for cannon fodder.

It was true. Itro declared war on Luxia. They were using the purchased brigades to fight. Most thought that their fellow countrymen wouldn’t fight their families. Yet, as Hector Stileza, a Luxian doctor, stared out the window of his modest home, he knew better than to believe that. Money always changed people. In his mind, it should have been clear to the people of the world by now: General Kard had been a Luxian general. He now fought on the side of Itro.

He sighed as he wiped his glasses clean, pushing a bit of dark hair out of his face. His blue eyes darted around as he thought. So it was war, both civil and otherwise. Everyone had been saying it, and ever since, he’d been getting hell about it. Apparently, xenophobia was suddenly running high in most rural areas of Luxia, and anyone who was willing to treat an Itrovian man was evil and needed to be put to death. In those people’s eyes, he was one of those evil men. Thankfully, the government felt differently, and most of those riots were put down immediately.

Sipping a moderately hot cup of coffee, the doctor mulled over his situation. Ever since April 21st, the day that Itro declared war, he’d been harassed by a small mob of young adults who seemed to think that they knew everything and he, a successful and unbiased man not much older than each of them, didn’t deserve to practice or take care of patients. Money had been short; because of this group of rioting children, some people had been refusing medical care. That in and of itself was a problem.

The greater problem rested with the slip of paper and the woman currently standing in front of him. To most, she was the typical dark-eyed beauty: with her long, black hair and deep brown eyes, coupled with a healthy weight and seemingly delicate features, she looked like she could have stepped off the runway. She was about five feet and five inches. Where she was twenty-eight, Hector was twenty-nine. She wore a red blouse, a black flowing skirt, and a black trench coat. Though he was a single man, he never would have dreamed of approaching her. She may have had a pretty face, but that was offset by an extremely volatile temper. Invisible to him was a unique pin stuck on the inside of her jacket.

“Miss Swann, please stop tapping your foot. I’m thinking as fast as I can,” Hector said finally, bringing his hand down on the table. To distract himself, he looked around his familiar surroundings. He sat in his living room upon a dark chair. In front of him was a small wooden table. The walls were painted off-white, as this area also served as a sort of waiting room for his patients as well. There were quite a few pictures on the walls. Some of the more notable ones were in black and white: there was a shot of Peter Hearting and Remy Grand, two of his acquaintances, a snapshot of the Star sisters, and another one of him and Miss Swann, the woman in front of him. That picture brought him back to reality and the situation at hand.

The woman stopped tapping and resumed glaring intently at Hector. Sarcastically, she commented, “Oh, I’m sorry, am I distracting you? I’ll I’m doing is telling you that we have a war on our hands and you’re needed up in Linore. Yes, there’s a whole lot of thinking required for that.” She paused before adding, “Please call me Trina.”

Hector looked up from the piece of paper before letting it fall to the table. It was a notice from the Miss Jillian Star: he was, just as Trina Swann had just stated, required to go up to Linore “help out”, whatever that meant. “I know,” he said, running a hand through his short, brown hair. His green eyes scrutinized the paper. “I still don’t believe it.”

Trina snorted and snatched the paper. “Oh well. Itro declared war. Why? Who knows. Right now, it doesn’t matter. The fact is, we’re in the beginning of a war that we aren’t prepared for, and—”

“Trina, honestly,” he said, “you can’t tell me that we could have been more ready. We never thought it would happen!”

“But it did! It is!” Hector was silenced by Trina’s point. They frowned, sitting for another few moments in silence. The note leered at them from the table. Trina spoke first. “The next train to Linore is in a couple of hours.”

Hector looked up at her, his expression hard. “They expect me to leave today? Now?” She nodded once. Anger lit up his face. “Impossible! I have patients to take care of. I don’t have anything ready; I haven’t told anyone that I might be leaving. Trina, I’m the only doctor this town has.”

The woman looked sad, but her position couldn’t be changed. She had come there on orders, and she was merely carrying them out. The pin on her lapel felt heavier than when she’d taken it from the sisters’ hands. “They’re going to expect you up there by eight tonight at the latest. I’ll see you there.” Before he could protest, she was gone, leaving him with much more to do than he had bargained for.

Eight ‘o clock PM, the same day
The Gates of the Star Mansion
Linore, Luxia

Hector arrived at the gates of the Star Mansion promptly at eight at night. In one hand was his black suitcase, in the other was his white doctor’s jacket. He hadn’t had time to pack anything other than a few shirts, a couple pairs of pants, another set of underclothing, a tie, and a pair of socks. The only shoes he had were the ones on his feet. He was praying that the sisters he was going to be staying with would lend him a bit of money for some new clothes. He squinted to see the house. In the dim light of the summer sunset, he could barely make it out. However, since it was relatively in the middle of nowhere, it was hard to miss. This was the place.

The Star Mansion was set in the middle of the countryside on the outskirts of Linore. To get there, Hector had to take a train to the city, take a taxi to the suburbs, and call up the sisters to send out a driver to pick him up. They monitored everyone who came to the house, and no one was allowed within a certain radius without being escorted by their drivers. If one knew their history, it was clear to see why they were so paranoid.

The house had been built a long time ago, as was plain from the architecture. It was a massive asymmetrical building with four visible floors. There were many porches branching off on all sides but the eastern side, where it was clear there had been renovation. The house was painted a dull, pale brown. The trim was pure white and seemed to shine in the sunset. There was a stone walkway to the house through a cast iron gate. In the middle of the walkway was a large fountain. The walkway went up to the porch and wrapped around the house. It also divided the area inside the gate, a large garden, into square sections. There were many different kinds of flowers there, and all were in full bloom except for the ones on the far-east side. They weren’t doing so well. Years ago, there had been more on that side of the house, but it was gone now. Even with the sweet smell of all of those flowers, Hector could still smell the ominous smoke that hung over the place. It was no wonder the Star sisters kept security tight.

He walked quickly up to the front door and rang the bell. As he waited for a reply, he shifted his suitcase. After a few moments, a man met him at the door. Hector recognized him as one of the family butlers. He had short, white hair, pale skin, and eerie blue eyes. He was very tall and at least six feet in height in comparison to Hector’s five feet and eight inches. He was looked very young, although with his extensive vocabulary and self-composure it was difficult to tell. He wore a deep navy suit with an indigo tie, a pure white collared shirt, and a pair of white gloves. Upon his lapel was an unusual pin: it was a set of angel wings, joined together in the middle. It was small, but it caught Hector’s eye. The doctor groped for a name, but it wasn’t coming to him. “Ah, hello,” he said to the butler. “I am Doctor Stileza. The Star sisters sent for me.” Though that claim had been cemented by the sheer fact that he’d been escorted in, he removed the note given to him by Trina hours earlier and gave it to the butler. It had been pure white with neat, curly penmanship, typical of Jillian, scrawled across the page. By the time it came to the hands of the butler, it was smudged, stained and bent up until it was nearly illegible.

“Right this way, Doctor,” the butler said formally. Hector finally remembered his name: Innes Friss. He was the sisters’ head butler. Innes led Hector up to the third floor, through a large set of dark wooden doors, and into a well-decorated parlor room. It was furnished with a combination of antique and new style furniture that went well together. The walls were a light green, and a large fireplace dominated the left wall upon entrance. Lauren and Jillian were sitting on opposite chairs, engulfed in a new game of chess. It was only two days earlier that the two girls along with Sarah and Roger had been notified in advance of the beginning of the war. The sisters were in the exact same places, playing on the same chess table in the same area. Hector could imagine Sarah sitting in one of the chairs facing the fireplace and Roger entering the room through the same set of doors as he had just done. The remnants of the newspaper article were now a burnt ash, but they were still lying in the fireplace, untouched.

Innes shut the door behind him and extracted a key from a pocket inside his jacket. He locked the double doors together, put his arms behind his back, and closed his eyes.

“Check mate.”

Lauren’s voice came loud and clear as a smirk graced her face. She stood up as Jillian examined the board. She sighed and stood as well. “Good game,” she said. She and Lauren shook hands amiably. She turned towards Hector. “Doctor, you’re here perfectly on time. Please, sit down.”

Hector moved towards the sisters and pulled up a chair next to the chessboard and sat down, placing his belongings beside his chair. Lauren looked over to Innes, who was still standing impassively beside the door. “Innes.” Her tone was softer than usual. She sounded thirsty and her voice was scratchy. “Please come over here and sit down.”

The man didn’t hesitate to walk quickly over to the table with long strides and a, “Yes, Miss Lauren.” He seated himself gracefully with a stiff, straight posture and clasped hands.

Doctor Stileza looked around at the three people with him. They all had donned that same pin on their outfit in some way or another. Jillian’s was hanging off of a silver charm bracelet around her left wrist. With that angel wing charm was a crystal star. Lauren had the exact same charm bracelet around her right wrist, minus the pin. Lauren’s hair was up in a ponytail, and her pin was stuck on her hair tie.

Jill spoke first. “Doctor Stileza. Thank you for coming so quickly. This is an urgent matter.”

Hector shook his head. “Yes, Trina told me such. Please, Miss. Call me Hector.”

Jill clicked her tongue. “Very well, Hector it is. Actually, it makes it a lot easier if we’re on more friendly terms.”

“Shall I call you Jillian?”

“Yes. You too, Innes.”

Innes’s face paled slightly. From his already pale complexion, Hector wondered vaguely if he would need to give the man some medicine. “But, Miss Jillian! I couldn’t possibly do such a thing. It would be disrespectful of me—”

“Innes.”

Lauren’s voice was even quieter than usual. The butler relaxed slightly. His features softened a bit. “Miss Lauren…”

“For the time being,” she said, the strain on her voice clear as she spoke up, “you are no longer our butler,” here, Innes began to protest, but Lauren finished, “you are our friend and ally. That’s an order.”

Innes took a deep breath. “Yes, Miss—Yes, Lauren. I understand.” His voice was uncertain, and his gaze flickered between the Lauren, Hector and Jillian, awaiting approval or scorn. Lauren smiled slightly and nodded approval, and he stiffened back up again. His confidence was back.

Jillian spoke. “Hector. Two days ago, Itro declared war on Luxia. Yesterday, they started marching out brigades.” She paused for a second to make sure he knew this. “The Luxian military has been deployed, but the people are sure that Itro’s going on a suicide charge. There’s a problem. Lauren, do the honors?”

Innes handed Lauren another envelope. It was already open, and the raven-haired woman took out a piece of paper. “The Star family has always been associated with the military. This information is strictly confidential from here on out.” Innes took something else out of an inside pocket: it was another one of those angel wing pins. He held it out to Hector, his eyes dead serious. Lauren continued, “This is an Angel Crew pin. It’s extremely special. If you take it, you swear that you will support our efforts to stop the war and return peace to our nations. We’re only going to offer this once. What do you say, Hector. Are you with us?”

He stared at the pin, examining it as it rested innocently in Innes’s pale hand. Hector saw that it was compiled of a stone similar to mother-of-pearl set in sterling silver. Lauren had called it an Angel Crew pin, whatever that meant. Hector pursed his lips and ran a hand through his hair once. He hesitated once more before grasping Innes’s hand firmly, taking the pin with him as he released the grip.

“I don’t know what you’re doing, Lauren, but we’ve been friends for a long time. Whatever it is, I’m in.”

“Signed and sealed,” Jill murmured. A ghost of a smile flickered across Innes’s impassive face. Lauren smirked.

“Welcome to the Angel Crew, Hector. You sure you’re ready for the long haul?”

Hector nodded once. “I took the pin. I’m ready.”

“Hector, listen closely. We’re going to explain everything.”

*fixed* Thanks, Das! I fixed it.
Heh. This isn't near the whole crew. You'll see.... *evil grins*

Thanks a lot! Sarah wasn't in this chapter, but she's about to get quite a few more lines.

I'm glad! You've given me inspiration to WRITE the next entry!! (wasn't going to)