My first fanfiction, now rewritten, better than ever! I hope you appreciate this, because it sure took some time…

Disclaimer: Did you know a disclaimer is completely unnecessary? You know, FF dot net has already got that covered, so why bother?

Embla

First log entry

Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Earth

In hindsight, I really should have seen this coming. Well, perhaps not, but at least something similar. I'd lived my whole life surrounded by stories. I knew how they went.

And yet, this one caught me off-guard.

I'll tell you from the beginning. It all started one day, like so many other while I was on the bus on my way home after yet one more unsuccessful day at the employment agency. My brother had tried to tell me that it was fine, that I could take my time and get a proper education. That he got enough for the both of us, but I hated being useless.

And, well, professional poker wasn't really my thing, anyway. Sure, a game of cards every now and then was all good fun, but to make your hobby into work is rarely a good thing.

Well, at least the Gods had been leaving us alone lately. Perhaps they were grumpy after my latest floor sweeping last week at the Hub. Always the pack of sore losers, they were. It was a good thing they owed me one too many to try anything, or things might have gone real weird a lot earlier.

Not that my life had been anywhere near normal in the first place.

I had always been surrounded by stories. When you grow up being able to see things, this has a tendency to happen. But I had always considered myself a mere observer of stories. Nothing more, nothing less.

It all started a day like any other.

Just like all stories begin.

The bus had just passed the halfway mark when it stopped. My mind was rather absent, as paying attention to things when on a bus is usually naught but dull. Only, this time, it didn't stop, well, stopping. It simply remained stationary.

The driver's voice thundered in the speakers. Apparently, there had been an accident up ahead. Something about a milk truck having crashed into a tree. With a sigh, I walked out, wrapping my muffler closer around my face as I trekked away. It was snowing heavily. The sky was dark, despite the clock only saying 4:PM. Typical January. I hated winter.

The small country road leading to my house was paved through a rather thick forest. Funny, how you can love a place one day, yet loathe it the next. Perhaps it was the winter. Yes, definitely the winter. All of the cold and dark was getting to me. Stupid lack of sun. Stupid snow. Stupid everything.

Yep, the dark days were definitely getting to me.

Or maybe it was the lack of color. With all of the leaves gone, the lack of light, and all of the snow covering the land like a thick blanket, everything looked like it was taken from an old picture. You know, before there were color photos. All I could see was white, white, grey, white, grey, grey, black, red, white- wait, red?

Yes, red. Small, yet intense specks of red.

Blood.

I walked up closer to inspect. Yes, definitely blood. And animal tracks from a small, quadruped animal. Fox? No, not likely. The paw marks were wider than those of a fox. Cat, then?

Cat!

Shit.

Filled with a crawling sense of dread, I started to run along the tracks. I would have silently prayed, had I believed in the gods, that my fears were wrong.

Should have known the petty bastards wouldn't ever listen to my nonexistent prayers. Petty, selfish, egoistic fucktards.

Yeah. Cussing them out always felt good. Not that it helped.

It didn't take long before I spotted a small animal curled up right behind a Hazel tree. Indeed, it was Yuffie, better known as Cat. She was a peculiar little black-furred Ragdoll hybrid that we had taken care of for quite a few years.
The blood wasn't too abundant, and the wound had almost stopped bleeding.

She was still breathing.

What worried me though, was her body temperature. She was cold as ice! Carefully, I cradled her in my arms and once again, I ran, albeit faster this time. It was a good thing that I wasn't that far from our house, especially since my stamina stat wasn't exactly the highest. Still, the distance was enough to leave a tangy taste of iron in my mouth as I reached the door and fumbled for my keys.

Once inside I didn't even bother to take off my shoes. Instead, I went straight to the couch and gently set her down and wrapped my body-heated jacket around her cold little body. I then went to the bathroom and took out a clean piece of cloth and a bottle of disinfectant, as well as a bowl of hot water.

Washing her wound wasn't exactly the most tiring or time consuming task ever done, but for every second that passed by, I could feel my energy draining away like someone pulled the plug out. The adrenalin kick that had kept me running all the way home was now gone, so there was really no surprise that my whole body was crying out in pain.

Not a minute had passed after I finished washing Cat's wound before my head hit the couch as blackness overtook me.

I still hadn't taken off my shoes.

That's the Intro. It's a lot shorter than 1.0, but it is for a reason. It's a prologue. Things will go about a bit differently in 2.0, but hopefully, it's only for the better. Prepare to have your minds further blown.

Yes, I know this update will cause quite a bit of inconsistency between some chapters for a while, but bear with me, kay? It'll be worth it. Hopefully.

This time, I'll have the SBS page functioning from the start, too. So hammer away. Link be on my profile page.