Future

Chapter 1: Wake

 "Well this is a nice change of scenery."

"It's a prison cell."

"I was being sarcastic!"

Those were the first words I heard as the world appeared to me, blurry with brushstrokes of color blooming into the black that was my previous state of unconsciousness.

"Hey, look! The kid's awake!" A voice boomed, far too loud and far too close to my head.

"Huh?"

"Aw, man, he's messed up. Kiddo, do you remember your name?"

"What?"

"Shit. He took a stun bullet right to the temple. Won't remember anything for a while." The person right in my face began to focus, revealing a dark-skinned girl with long, bubble-gum pink pigtails and a miniskirt. An empty holster hung by her hip.

"Fuck! What are we supposed to do with a useless prophet? It takes 'em years to amass enough visions to be helpful, and now this one's blank! We're in this prison for nothing!" The person who still remained across the room ranted, stomping and kicking out with a booted foot. This was a girl with a powerful build and flame-red hair, with a stern expression on her face.

"I'm sorry... What's happening? Who are you?" I asked. After a pause, another question came to me. "Who am I?"

"You're nothing. Useless. A risk that won't pay off," The red head sunk to the ground, defeated. Her voice had a cold edge, as if drained of anger.

"Pipe! Don't be rude!" The pink girl said.

"It's true-"

"No it's not! Put yourself in his shoes: his entire life has just been stolen from him!"

"Ugh, you're right. As always," The red head, Pipe, stood up and crossed over to me. She held out a hand, which I took, and she lifted me up. Huh. I had been lying on the ground this whole time. "So, punk. You're with us now. You're named Spark, and I'm Pipe. That's Holli."

"Uh, nice to meet you." I nodded at each of the girls. "Where are we, by the way?"

"A prison cell," Pipe grumbled in a way that suggested she blamed me for these lovely accommodations.

"Oh. Um. Okay." I tried to think of more questions to fill the blankness in my head. "What's happening?"

"We were out on a raid, trying to get you out of enemy clutches. They suddenly overwhelmed us, and what do you know, we're in prison!" Holli chirped. She seemed far too cheerful for a prison cell. No wonder Pipe was grumpy.

"Crash course: We're in a war. We're different from everyone else, and everyone else decided to try and crush that different-ness out with force. And so we have to try and crush them, before it's too late. Anyways, we won't be of much help sitting around in a prison cell, so we've got to get out of here. Clear?" Pipe spoke quickly.

"Crystal," I replied dutifully, even though I didn't really understand what was happening.

"So what do we do now?" Holli asked Pipe, the attention off me again. I felt slightly relieved. They were both intense. I looked at my reflection in the steel wall of the cell, the conversation between Holli and Pipe echoing behind me.

"We've gotta bust out of here...." Huh. So I had green hair. That's pretty wild. I couldn't remember if it grew out of my head that way. It was a really bright green, like limes, and so florescent it was practically lighting the room.

"But how?" The rest of my face was thin and slight, and I noticed with pride that I had killer cheekbones. I could probably cut glass with those fuckers.