Where ever

Grace coughed up blood as she lay in the wreckage. Her white hair was lying in her face as she stared in the distance. Suddenly something was looming over her. It had creatures crawling all over the front of it and gates with strange symbols. Grace felt her chest tighten and pain shoot through her as she clutched at the wound she had from the crash. The gate suddenly opened with long black arms writhing and reaching for her. She screamed as they grabbed her and pain engulfed the body she was in. Her eyes now were shut tight from the agony and her body was pulled through the mud and fire and through the gate and with that Grace was swallowed with darkness screaming for help. But as the gate closed something else shown brightly and all sorts of knowledge poured into her head. She stared at the light and suddenly breath and life flowed through her once again and she awoke.
Grace felt that her body was no longer the same and her hair was now purple. The feel of the air and the light of the sun once again was noticeable to her and she stared. There was more around her. More people who had not yet stirred or who might not ever stir. They all seemed the same and yet different. Approaching the nearest one she recognized her as the girl who was sitting next to her in their car.
"What the hell happened?" she whispered and bent over in exasperation.

Edmund's vision blurred as he lay under the twisted metal of the burning wreckage. His brown hair was darkened by a trail of blood leading from his scalp to his chin. The adrenaline coursing through his system numbed the extreme pain he would have otherwise felt. He tried to focus his vision, only to see a massive gate standing before him. It was covered from top to bottom with strange symbols that Edmund couldn't make any sense of. The larger than life gate began to open, revealing thousands of tiny black arms that writhed and flailed about and eyes...eyes that stared into your very soul. Edmund felt a sickness in the pit of his stomach that was unlike anything he had ever felt. The writhing mass of arms lunged at him, wrapping themselves around his limbs and pulling him into the gate as a muffled scream escaped his lips. Inside the gate, infinite knowledge flashed before Edmund's eyes. The sudden flash of information was too much for his mind, or any other mind, to handle. He broke out in a fit of insane laughter and just when his sanity was stretched to its limits, it was done. All went black before he awoke. Edmund opened his eyes to see things were very different. There was no sigh of the train wreck that had been so real just moments ago. The ground was littered with motionless bodies. He lay on the ground, looking up at the sky, feeling the same but somehow not quite himself.

"Hey!" Grace called as she saw a man start to move. "Hey, are you okay?!" she shouted rushing over to him. He was also familiar but not really noticeable except that he was like her, unscathed. "Are you hurt?" she asked as she kneeled by him. He had pale hair and blue eyes with glasses that were askew. He now wore a long blue trenchcoat and white underclothes though she had no idea what he wore before that.

Black hair hung in her face as she lay dazed in the wreckage of the train crash, she had been on her way to her aunt and uncles house, when all of a sudden the train she was on collided head on with another. She tried standing up but her limbs wouldn't obey her, she turned her head and noticed there was a huge gash on her left shoulder from where some shrapnel had embedded itself, but alas she felt nothing.

she noticed something in front of her though, a huge gate with odd symbols 'what's going on? what is that thing? her mind was racing a million miles an hour as a bunch of black hands reached out and grabbed her, pulling her through the gates door 'no, no I have to get away, I don't know what these things are but Aunty will be scared if I don't show up' she tried moving again but nothing worked.

As soon as the gate shut she blacked out.

when she came to though, she was wearing a white button down shirt with a black tie, a grey over vest, and a black pleated skirt but the thing she noticed most was the long pink hair she had now.

she tried moving her limbs but they were still too heavy "Damn, I must be having a really weird dream."

Grace heard murmurring from behind her and she swung around rushing over to a girl. She had pink hair and was wearing what resembled a schoolgirl uniform.
"Hello? You okay?" she called again and walked over nudging her with her foot.

Shouting filled Edmund's ears, from what he could hear, the voice was feminine. A girl with purple hair knelt beside him and asked if he was hurt, but before he could answer, she was gone. Cautiously, he attempted to stand, unsure if he was able. Much to his surprise he was very much able. "My legs were crushed...This can't be possible." He said in a low yet inquisitive voice. He decided that it would be best not to think about how it was possible and focus on finding the girl. Edmund looked around the clutter of bodies, quickly finding the girl from before, as she was the only other person standing. As he approached her he noticed that she wasn't alone. There was another girl, this one with pink hair. He felt it would be best to keep a few feet between himself and the other two before speaking. "Are you two alright?" he asked both of them.

Sitting up Marissa gave the purple haired girl a small nod "I'm fine, just a little heavy from the train crash is all" she explained as she observed her surroundings "where exactly are we?"

Grace gave a sigh of tension release as she looked around for the first time. They appeared to be in a huge forest with a town just down the small past, sitting in a valley. It wasn't to far and she clapped her hands together in a sort of thinking gesture.
"Well i suppose we should go to the city and cover the others up. We don't want them to get robbed or anything." She put her hands on a nearby tree and a light grew from it. It stretched out and made a sort of roof over them as it connected with the surrounding trees. they continued to move until the people were in a sort of grass tent which hid them from view and would easily protect them from the weather.
"Damn . . . How the hell did i do that?" she asked surprised and stared at her hands poking a bush nearby quickly but nothing happened.
"I'm not dreaming am i? What the hell just happened! And where the hell is the train!? What the hell is going on here!!!" she shouted in annoyance and frustration.

Marissa thought for a moment then clapped her hands together as well "I got it! we all went through some sort of gate thing right?" she set her hands on the ground as a spike shot up "HOLY SHIT!" she moved away quickly "What if when we went through that gate after the crash, it brought us here, you know like it was giving us a second chance?"

"You saw the gate too?" Grace asked surprised and glanced at the others. "Yeah i guess that makes sense. And i suppose when we clap we can do things." she smiled and clapped again touching a dead branch which shifted into a spear. "Awesome." she grinned and starred at herself more closly.
"Holy Hell of a Son of a Bitch!" she yelled and gaped at the others. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!!!"

After Grace had settled down she sighed and smiled at the others.
"I am Grace Traven. Who are you?" she asked playfully.

"Yes, there was a gate. Although, I don't think that it was doing anything so kind as giving us a second chance." Edmund said in a flat voice. After seeing what the others could do he thought he'd try it for himself. He clapped his hands together, thinking with all his might, before pressing them to a nearby tree. A blue light flashed from where his hands pressed against the tree. The tree slowly but surely changed its shape, twisting and bending, until its form was that of a cannon. The once brown tree was now a cold, lifeless, metal cannon. "Very interesting." He said to no one in particular.

Edmund turned his attention back to the girls. "Its nice to make you're acquaintance, Grace. My name is Edmund. Edmund Clearwater."

"Oh hey." she answered staring at the canon with surprise. then suddenly sighed.
"We should probably try and figure out where we are. Let's go to that town over there and see what's going on. Then we'll figure out what to do next." she suggested tugging at her strange clothes and stumbling towards the village not bothering to wait for the others. When they reached the town it appeared to be empty besides the fact that there were a few people about. Anytime Grace tried to talk to them they shook their head and ran off.
"What's going on? What's wrong with this town?" she pondered and a small girl ran into her blushing.
"Sowy." she said with a lisp then smiled slightly. "Wanna pway?" she asked holding out a ball she had been chasing.
" Okay." she smiled back and the started to kick the ball around. After a while an older woman came out screaming.
"Alana! Come over here now!" she shouted rushing over and taking her hand giving Grace a cold look. "You know what strangers do . . ." she whispered and Grace frowned.
"Excuse me but what do strangers do?" she asked and the woman paused wondering weather it would harm her to tell.
"About a month ago an alchemist came into town saying he wanted to test something. The next day sickness spread throughout the village and killed most of everyone. Only one survived who got ill. He lives in a hut on the far edge of town." she explained hoping to send them away and Graced thanked her politely before the girl broke away hugging her and smiling.
"Thanks for pwaying." she smiled and ran off with her mother. Grace frowned and decided to pay this 'survivor' a visit.

Marissa looked at her as if she were insane "What, It looks good on you Grace" she ran a hand through her hair now and flipped shit "OH HELL NO, THAT DAMN GATE GAVE ME PINK HAIR!!! PINK!!!" she sulked in a corner "I look like a friggin cheerleader".

She stood up following after the others "Wait up" she called as she caught up with grace.

"Thanks." Grace said before giggling at Marissa who was freaking out over her pink hair.

After they started heading to the guys house Grace broke the silence again.
"Actually you don't look at all like a cheerleader. You look pretty badass. But I bet you could dye it if you wanted though." she said thoughtfully and continued trotting to the house the woman had described knocking on the door as a man opened it shyly.
"Yes . . ."
"Hey. I'm Grace and this is Marissa and Edmund. We've come to ask you about the illness that spread through town a while ago-" as she was finishing the man slammed the door in her face and she glared. "Bad idea." she growled with impatience then knocked again. When he didn't answer she clapped her hands together and pressed them to the door. It looked like the door had exploded because it went into the walls leaving a huge gap for Grace to climb through.
"I'm not going to hurt you but right now i'm pissed as hell. We haven't done anything and we're being treated like crap. So tell me what happened with the illness a while ago?" he froze staring at her with horror before looking down and gesturing to the kitchen.
"I'm Travis. I'll tell you what happened but it's not a pretty story." once they all had sat down he explained. "In the town three strangers came. They stayed the night and were very friendly. But the next day one of them told a villager that they were doing some experiments in town and a few of them all made a posse to run them out. When they got to the room they found the three strangers with strange symbols all over their room and one of them clapped, like you did now, and suddenly smoke came out and everyone got sick. My brother was in the posse an when i took him home i also got sick. Half of the town got sick and died but i went to their room and drew one of the circles on their wall and did a transmutation like them. I was saved somehow and by that time all the other sick people had died." he said quietly and Grace frowned. "No one would believe that they all thought that i had some sort of immunity and just ignored me after that." Grace thought for a moment then sighed.
"I hate to ask but what are alchemists? A woman in the street called them that. She had a daughter Alana." The man frowned.
" Emily? Ah alchemists are people who can change things around them by drawing symbols and circles. But you being alchemist should have already known that." he said frowning and stared at them. "I've never seen an alchemist transmute without a circle before. Where did you say you were from?"
"We didn't. Thank you for your time. We have to go."
"Hold on. There's one more thing." Grace paused and he grabbed her arm pulling her close and whispered.
"That was 8 years ago today."

When the 3 had left it was dark and Grace was pondering what that could mean when they passed a house and someone screamed.
"EMILY!!! EMILY!!! HELP SOMEONE HELP!!!" a man cried as he burst out into the street and a mob started forming. A doctor passed them all and entered the house where a man was standing holding the girl Alana. After a while he came back out and whispered to the man. He stared with horror then searched the crowd and shouted to no one in particular.
"THE ILLNESS IS BACK! IT'S COME TO FINISH US OFF ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!" he screamed and everyone began to murmur with fear. And in the middle of the crowd stood the three strangers Grace Edmund and Marissa.

Marissa grimaced "These people are insane, there's nothing here" she looked around at the mob that had formed "Please tell me they aren't going to attack us" she backed away.

"I don't think they've noticed us yet. We should just go. If we don't they will." she whispered back and turned casually walking out of the mob.

Amelia let out a soft, quiet groan. The last thoughts running thru her mind were of the train crashing, immense pain, and then a large black gate. Her mind froze however, once she recalled the black gate. She'd seen what she could have sworn were arms reaching for her, before she succumbed to the welcoming darkness. Slowly her eyes opened, her vision just a bit blurry as she gazed up at what appeared to be gass, but it was shaped a little oddly, Amelia realized. Slowly she pushed herself to sit up, her muscles protesting against the movement. "Ouch...Shit I'm so sore.." She mumbled to herself, as she forced herself to stand up. Looking around, Amelia sighed just a bit, not recognizing anything. As she turned to her left, she spotted what appeared to be a village, but couldn't be sure. 'Well...That's probably my best bet..' She thought to herself, with a shrug as she slowly began moving in that direction.

With each step Ameila took, she stifled a soft groan, it hurt to move so much. Finally after a good 10 minute walk, Amelia walked into the town, just as a group of towns people began shouting something about a sickness returning. Ameila froze, a frown working it's way across her lips. She wanted to ask where exactly she was, and what type of sickness had returned, but didn't think it would be such a good idea. At least not right at this moment.

Just as she was about to turn and walk away, she spotted a group of people she assumed were around her age. 'Maybe they can help..' Turning back towards them, she quickly jogged over. "Hey, sorry to bother but.." She paused though, recognizing the two girls. "Wait, werent you both on the train with me?" She questioned before notcing the taller boy as well. "And you too...Or am I mistaking you for someone else?" She asked, confusion plainly written across her features.

Grace glanced back and shushed her grabbing her arm and pulling her behind a house.
" Look yes we were all on the train but that is a murderous crowd who hates strangers and if they realize that we are here we might be killed. I'll explain everything but stay quiet for now and let's get back in the woods." she whispered and glanced back trotting off and back into the shadows.

Amelia frowned a bit, but shook her head listening to the girls explaination. She then ran after her, following back into the shadows. "Why would they want to kill us?" She whispered to her once they were under the cover of the trees and shadows.

Grace stared at the girl for a second before sighing.
"Strangers came into town 8 years ago and spread a sickness. It killed over half the town and now no strangers are welcome." She sighed and thought for a second. "They used this thing called alchemy to do it. Have you discovered about it yet?" she asked before clapping her hands quietly and touched the ground where a small dirt horse rose up from the ground and added.
"You should be able to do things as well."

Marissa placed her hand on a near by tree to catch her breath "Those people...are fucking INSANE!" she cursed as she collapsed to the ground panting.

"Why the hell did we have to be dropped here of all places?"

Amelia blinked, her eyes wide as she watched what the girl could do. Upon hearing that she should be able to do something similar she just blinked again. "Uhm...I haven't tried..But here it goes.." She mumbled softly. Stepping back from the others, she closed her. Amelia raised her hands, before clapping them together. Once she did, she pressed her hand to the ground, a small flame circle surrounding her hand. "Holy shit!" She squeaked out, falling backwards. She then looked up to the pink haired girl before back to the purple haired. "What the hell is going on?! I was just on my way home, then that stupid train crashed and now were in a place where they study Alchemy and people want to kill strangers?! This is insane!" She squeaked out, though her voice was not raiised much.

Grace rubbed her temple trying to resist slapping the girl to get her out of it. Marissa was breathing heavily out of running out of town and Grace's lungs begged her to do the same but she forced them to remain calm.
"Look calm down it's not like they don't have a reason to hate strangers and all but maybe . . . "She looked at Edmund for support but he gave none. "Maybe we should help them. I mean if we did that then they wouldn't be sick anymore, WE could probably get something to eat and other people will be able to enter the town without being run out. You don't have to help me if you don't want to but i will be doing it so you just come on if you want to help. Besides it would test out abilities." she finished and turned back starting to walk along the path when her stomach grumbled and she groaned. So much for eating tonight.

Once Amelia recovered from the shock of what was going on, she listened to the girl quietly before nodding a bit. "That actually sounds like a good idea." She said, before soon reverting to her quiet self. She waited to see if the other two were going to follow, before slowly walking along the dirt path that led back to the town. Her gaze wandered around for a bit, while she let out a soft sigh, soon losing herself in her thoughts. Well...I wonder how this is all gonna work out.. She thought, while biting her lower lip a bit.