I promise that all of this was just an accident.
I mean, it's not my fault these guys got dragged into my universe!
...Okay, maybe it was, but I didn't do it on purpose!
Alright, alright. I should probably start at the beginning, shouldn't I? Okay, here goes...
ONE DAY EARLIER
I was lounging around in my luxury mansion, waiting for something new to happen—
Hold up, hold up, I know what you're thinking. It may seem odd that I own a mansion as a relatively young adult.
But wait! I can explain!
My parents didn't die or anything. I'm not that cliché. They were comfortable in the New York penthouse.
See, my family was insanely rich through some company my parents made or bought or something. I didn't become a spoiled brat, though. I think. Anyway, they bought this place for me to use as a studio and workplace. Paid it off, too. I just moved in as a convenience.
So, back to the story. I was bored out of my mind.
But I was also pretty upset, though my face certainly wouldn't have shown it.
You see, my best friend Addy (short for Adelina) was moving away in a couple of weeks. Her family had all moved back to (her home city), and they were encouraging her to come back, as well. She finally gave in and began arranging everything, but as (her city) was practically on the other side of the world, I couldn't see her as often.
She thought that I was happy for her, glad that she was doing this for her family.
On the inside, I was crying.
I didn't want Addy to go away. She was the last friend I ever had, and even though a small part of my conscience was pleased with her, most of me wanted to latch onto her leg and make her stay.
But I said nothing. I just kept smiling.
I know it's not healthy to keep my feelings bottled up and everything, but the one person I wanted to tell was the person I could never tell them to.
I would miss our fun times together.
Our girls' nights in (I barely went out, making me so cool), our shared love of gaming, Disney, and books, and the random nicknames we gave each other.
My favorite one she gave me was Judge.
She said she made it because it was always like I could look inside someone and just know their intentions.
But that's just a random nickname.
I groaned, standing up from the chair, only to fall onto the carpet, burying my face in the fluff.
"Iy does she haff to leaf?" I mumbled into fuzz. "Iy, iy, iy?"
~Le Time Skep!~
"Why, why, why?"
"Because it can be fun to interact with the real world sometimes!"
I groaned, smacking my face into a random wall. "But I don't want to!"
Addy tugged me away from the block surface pulling me along the street. "Come on! I'll find the per-fect place for you, mi amor!"
I haven't talked about what she looked like, haven't I? Okay, so picture a crazy, (about your age)-year-old stereotypical Latina with pink-streaked hair, glasses with red rims a hair thick, and a weird kaleidoscope-vintage fashion sense. Also, she's highly lesbian.
Got an idea of her yet?
"Ooh!" She pointed at a thrift shop with all sorts of classic clothes that you could see through the glass. It looked quaint, with a painted-white bricked exterior and a faded sign that was hard to read. "How about we go in there?"
I pulled my jacket closer. "No thanks, Adds." I don't want any last gifts to remind me of you when you're gone.
She groaned, striking a pose with her hip cocked and her eyes rolled. "You're absolutely no fun."
"I know." Why do you have to leave me? Especially when you know that people don't like me and I don't like people (excluding you, of course).
She gave a louder groan and dragged me again, pulling me down this small-suburb road.
I let her, stewing in my thoughts. I'll miss this, her forcing me to interact with the outside world. It's an odd thing to miss, but somehow, Addy made it bearable.
"Oh, this looks like something you'll like!"
My eyes raised to the sky, then to the storefront. "Look, Adds, I don't want any—"
It was a tiny little thing, with that Victorian architecture style I liked and a small little sign that read, in neat calligraphy, 'Annie's Jewel Store.' In the window were pieces of old gold necklaces.
I loved antique jewelry.
I was quiet for a moment, before I whispered, "Maybe I'll go in."
Addy grinned, doing a little dance to herself. "Yes! I knew you'd like it!"
Almost as if in a daze, I walked forward and opened the door. The bell chimed daintily, much like the woman who came toddling toward me.
"Oh, hello there!" she exclaimed, taking my hand and shaking it vigorously. Her smile was bright, and her white hair was pulled back into a bun. She was rotund and wore a lacy white apron against a red dress, but that just made her look like your favorite grandma that always gave you cookies when you came over and let you watch TV for as long as you wanted.
"Hi," I breathed.
Her smile grew wider. "You seem like the type for rings, honey—subtle, but can make a statement in the right way. Come this way, I've got a fine collection of them." She turned her back to me, leading the way to a corner of the store.
My mouth gaped open. How did she—
Without turning around, she tapped her temple. "Old lady intuition, my dear."
My mouth closed as I stood in front of the ring case, and the bell clanged this time as Addy burst into the room.
"Darling, what did I miss?" she yelled, sauntering over to me and hovering over my shoulder, examining the rings.
Annie, however, had different plans.
She tugged Addy away from me and pulled her head toward hers, inspecting her very Latin face with a small frown.
"Feather earrings," Annie said at once, letting my startled friend go. "I've got a lovely pair right this way, if you'll just follow me..."
As my also stunned amiga loco was led away, I turned my gaze back to the rings.
Instantly my eyes were drawn to a large ruby-like stone with a flashy gold band, but I shook my head. That wasn't my style—I wasn't big and loud like Addy.
Nor was I just a plain emerald-look-alike with a simple chrome circle—I at least thought I had more character than that.
Then one in the back caught my eye.
A deep blue sapphire ring with a thick silver band—twisting with a flair towards the gem—glittered in the case's LED lights.
"You like the sapphire, eh?"
I shrieked, somehow landing in a very poor and pitiful excuse for a ninja pose as Annie laughed.
"Oh, my dear, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you!"
She went around the back and carefully took it out, studying it.
"I've had this one for a while," Annie said, staring at it with love. "The lady who sold it to me told me it was a wishing ring, and that there were two wishes left on it."
My eyes widened, darting over to Addy, whose head had whipped up and eyes were more open than mine. Her mouth was dropped. Her gaze shot over to me, giving a subtle nod.
Annie wasn't lying. It really was a wishing ring.
I looked back at her. "Really?"
She nodded, smiling wistfully. "A true treasure, but a jewel like you deserves it."
I blushed, shying away a bit. "Thank you, ma'am," I replied meekly.
Annie chuckled. "You're too shy."
She rang it up—for a price that seemed way too low, by the way, but when I protested she insisted—and I paid, and Addy walked away with a pair of glossy faux-peacock-feather earrings.
~Time Skip Two, Because This Chapter is WAAAY TOO LONG!~
As I laid in bed, I twisted the ring on my finger. Its blue stone almost seemed to glow in the moonlight, its rays finding their way through the folded drapes.
The night was quiet. Boring. Unimportant.
Just like me.
Something about that occurring thought made something rise within me—almost like a feeling of rebellion.
"I wish..." I found myself saying softly.
What would I wish for...?
...Should I wish for anything?
Everything tells me I shouldn't...and yet...something tells me I can.
A new, unexplainable, yet so undeniable feeling grew within me. A feeling of destiny. My life had led me to this ring, and I would make the choice to wish upon it.
It was so freeing, which was something I hadn't felt for such a long time.
"I wish I..."
What?
What should I wish for?
"...I wish I wasn't alone anymore."
I waited.
It felt like hours I laid in the dark, with only the faded moonlight as my sight.
Nothing happened.
I sighed. Naturally. Even a stupid wishing ring won't let me have companionship.
Whatever. I'll just go to sleep.
I turned over in bed, laying on my side and closing my eyes as I fell to dreamland.
The sapphire on the ring began glowing from within.
"She wishes to not be alone."
The words rippled like a beacon across the multiverse.
"She wishes to not be alone."
Across the multiverse, portals opened, and multiple people—or shall I say skeletons—got sucked inside.
:/—\:
"Are you KIDDING ME?!"
Fate dragged her hands down her face. "Can't one author...uh...I mean...girl...just let me do my work? In twenty years I would have given her a husband and two children!"
Destiny looked up from her magazine, scowling at her sister. "Some people can't afford to wait that long. For all you know, she would have committed suicide before then!"
"So what? That's not my problem! Why can't people just let me make the magic happen?"
Destiny rose, tossing aside her reading material. "Because you are so definitive and cruel. Because people like control. Because you've destroyed the lives of many. Like Error's."
Fate whipped around, pointing at Destiny with a red-hot glare. "Don't you DARE mention that...that...abomination!"
Destiny stomped over to her, getting in her sister's face. "I'm sending the Sanses."
Fate's face turned ashen in a moment. "Wh...what?"
"This young lady needs guidance and love in her life. I'm sending the Sanses to help her. All of the usual ones, anyway."
Fate turned red. "You...you can't do that! It'll mess up everything!"
Destiny smirked. "The balance will be just fine. Besides, I'll just freeze time so the multiverse won't even know they're gone."
"You'll pay for this, sister."
"Not if I can help it. She has changed her path, even if the choice was as small as making a wish on a ring. I will watch over her. You can't do anything."
"But every gift needs a consequence," Fate countered, beginning to grin evilly.
Destiny paused. She couldn't deny that her sister was right. Then it wouldn't be fair. And if Destiny was all about something, it would be fairness.
But a smile—a conniving smile—spread across her face.
"A skeleton."
Fate's face dropped. "Excuse me, what?!"
"A skeleton. I'll turn her into a skeleton, just like her companions. 'You'll gain companionship, but you become the form they are.'"
Fate shook her head rapidly. "No no no no no no no—"
"Oh, yes."
"You can't do this to me!"
"But I can."
"You won't get away with this."
"Ta-ta, sister."
And Destiny disappeared to watch over her new charge, The Reader.
:\—/:
"You will gain companionship, dearest, but you will become what form they are."
I shot up like a bullet, feeling my heartbeat.
It wasn't accelerated. No nightmare.
But...I still feel like something happened while I was asleep. Something remarkable, momentous.
...What did happen, then?
Eh. If I don't know, it probably wasn't important.
I slid out of bed and padded out of my room, slipping down the stairs to head to the kitchen.
It seemed like such an insignificant moment.
But it turned into anything but.
*woosh!*
"ARRRGH!"
"ACK!"
*crash*
Something collided with me from above, knocking me to the floor and pinning me underneath it.
I gave a groan, opening my eyes blearily to see something black hovering over me.
I blinked a couple times, before my mouth dropped open.
It was a black-boned skeleton.
It had blue strands running down its cheekbones like tear stains, yellow teeth, and its...um...eyes?...were closed as it held its head with a hand, which had the phalanges red with yellow at the fingertip bone.
"What the heck are you?"
Oh God, did I just say that out loud?!
Did I have a death wish or something?! You NEVER interact with other people unless it's an absolute emergency!
Especially when they're awkwardly on top of you!
I turned red at the realization. Its other hand was to the side of my head and my waist was in between its knees.
Why was this so awkward?
Why was I blushing?
Why was I thinking about this so much?!
Its eyes finally shot open, and as it stared down at me for a split second, I noticed that its scleras were red, its right pupil was white, and it had a yellow iris and blue pupil for the left eye.
It gave an oddly glitch-like scream, iris and pupils shrinking immediately, before making almost a computer crashing sound and seeming to...faint?...on top of me.
"Oof!" I mumbled. It was pretty heavy for being a skeleton.
Don't make that pun...
You might say...
Don't do it!
...it weighed a...
DON'T DO IT!
SKELE-TON!
This is why you have no friends.
I'm fully aware of that!
Done with my internal conversation, I pushed the skeleton off of me, then looked up, where it came from. My face turned into your stereotypical face of shock.
There was a...portal in my living-room ceiling.
And it so did not go with the decor!
But more importantly, there was a portal in my living room ceiling.
Why?!
"Why is this happening to me?"
Surprisingly, it wasn't my voice that completed the line for me. So, using my usually nonexistent instincts, I slid out from under the portal.
*crash take two*
"...Ow."
I stared down at this new skeleton that landed right next to the first. But I didn't get as much time to examine it, because another fell on top of the now pile. Then another. And another.
*crash*
*crash*
*crash...*
This continued until I had a neat stack of noisy, swearing, very differently dressed skeletons, none of which were paying attention to me, but probably would if I did absolutely anything.
Why is this happening to me?
Okay, that time it was actually me.
(Hi, everyone! I'm back in action with a new xReader!
Wow...that took a lot less and more time than I thought it would.
Less to actually think up this chapter.
More to actually make it.
So now I have a game plan.
Either I will release the entirety of this book before starting on my mystery book, or I will release chapters in between uploads.
Whatever works better.
I'll try to do longer chapters with shorter time between uploads, but due to my literally insane schedule for October {and in general}, I can't make promises, which sucks.
Also! If you guys have any suggestions for cover-artists or want to make a cover yourself for our new enterprise, I'm open for input! I currently have nothing for it, so anything you guys can offer would be amazing.
But anyway!
Thanks for reading this terrible start to my new book, and I hope to see you soon!
Ciao, Lunarlings!
Lunar, signing off.)