Chaos Bender

Wardrobe Change

The sun was high in the light blue sky. I was thankful for it's warmth, especially since those doves tore my cloths apart. Holes and tears everywhere, thank god they didn't get to my boxers. Even so, there was still little left to the imagination. Everyone was the same way, except Xion looked a little more torn up than Alex. Had she shielded her ?

"Hey ! There are train tracks over there !" Xion yelled from atop a hill.

I nudged Noctis, he stopped moving a while ago.

"Come on Noctis ! We've gotta keep moving !" I nudged him so hard I almost flipped him over. He suddenly jerked his head up to the sky, which startled me a little.

"We've got to change course." He said ominously. As if he was more thinking out loud than actually talking to me.

He got up slowly and dusted off his tattered cloths.

"Alright team, let's roll."

What was wrong with him ? Just a second ago he was going through emotional trauma. Then he was up and ready to go ? Don't get me wrong, I wanted him to move, but I expected him to be at least little depressed.

Alex was still a resting on the ground. I didn't want to disturb her, partly cause it was a little awkward looking at her.

I approached her anyways.

"Come on. We've got to get going."

With a yawn she lazily looked over to me." Oh ! Is it time for school already ? Just give me five more more minutes." Her eyes closed immediatly after she finished. I felt kinda bad, she was so tired out because of me. As much as she'd hate being disturbed, she'd hate being left behind more. I started to pick her up, only to realize the weight of her, her wings, and my wings might've been a bit much. I hear a chuckle from nearby.

"How cute, I swear you two are so adorable. It's ok, I've got her."

I didn't protest much while Xion took Alex, it was kinda a relief to be honest. Noctis led the way as usual, he seemed confident in where he was going, he stopped when a small town appeared in the distance.

"Alright you guys follow these tracks to the station. There you should be able to find some clothes to replace what you have in the lost and found. Once you're all dressed wait for me there. I'll scout ahead and see what I can find."

"But wait what if-" I couldn't even finish before he shifted and flew off. Who leaves stuff at the train station anymore ? Who rides trains anymore ?

After what felt like an hour of walking we made it to the train station. It was an old fashioned building that had one clerk looking off in the distance, bored out of his mind no doubt. Closer inspection of the station revealed it was painfully plain.

"Oh ! You must be those guys that other fellow talked about." I turned over to the Clerk, I guess he was just excited to see someone.

"Umm.. Tall guy ? Black eyes ? Torn up cloths ?"

"Yup, though I wouldn't call him tall per say, I guess he's tall to you shrimpy."

That ticked me off, in fact that was one of the few things that ticked me off. I'm not short.

"Who are you calling shrimp!? I could shock you into next week if I wanted!"

"Wow, the short ones are always violent. Anyways what's with the get up? Are y'all street performers or something?" I gave him a puzzled look, then I realized that the shredded cloths and black wings didn't exactly fit the "normal" category.

"Oh! Yeah, we're ugh, cosplaying. But umm, I guess I over did it on my costume."

The clerk scratched the little brown stubble on his chin, then replied.

"Well I say congrats to you man, those wings look real authentic. As if you made them from real crow feathers! And your friend too. In fact, I've never seen such a pattern on her feathers."

I looked back towards Alex, she was propped up on a bench sleeping next to Xion. One wing drooped down on the bench, the other was behind Xion.

"Umm yeah, she worked very hard on hers. I guess all that lost sleep caught up to her."

I guess it was convincing enough, how many people would believe our wings were real?

"Your friend came a lil while ago, he said you had some luggage in the lost in found. Go on ahead and get it. The lost and found is to your left, then go into the door."

"Huh? But how do you know which one's ours ?"

"I don't know, and I don't care much either. This stuff was here before I was even born. If you claim it, it's yours."

He tossed me the keys and sat back in his chair and picked up a magazine. I was somewhat grateful for his apathy towards the lost and found. If no ones claimed that stuff, it wouldn't hurt to recycle it right?

I unlocked the door the clerk mentioned earlier. It was a small room retiled with lost items. Scarfs, sweaters, even a box of toys high on a shelf. Below them where a couple of suitcases. I wandered why these weren't given to charity, then I realized I might as well consider anything I got charity. The life of a criminal was hard.

I let the girls go first, Xion had to practically drag Alex in with her. I stayed outside. I took out the phone I nearly forgot I had. Dead, even when it was on airplane mode. To my disappointment, my charger was gone. So my only source of entertainment was reduced to paperweight. In my boredom I realized, I was starving. I hoped that Noctis would bring back some food.

After the girls were done, it was my turn to go in the lost and found room. The girls looked better than I thought they would. Their cloths were kinda plain and a bit big for them, but good considering the circumstance. Xion was wearing a black jacket over a red T-shirt and black jeans. Alex wore a button up under an unzipped hoodie with blue jeans. Her wings where missing.

"Hey, how'd you get rid of your wings?" I semi whispered to her. I didn't want the clerk to get suspicious.

"Oh, there wasn't a mirror in there, so I tried to imagine how I looked in these cloths. I guess I imagined myself without wings too." Alex replied lazily. Why didn't I think of it before, it was really that easy?

I went in after they sat back down on the bench. Once I took a look back inside I saw their old cloths in a corner.

One suitcase remained unopened. I guess they didn't want to take more than they needed.

I dug around and found an outfit, along with a strange ring. A sort of symbol with six loops inside a circle, in the center is an symbol unfamiliar to me. All within a sapphire blue gem. Now who could've left this behind? When I picked it up the gem faded to black, and the symbol could no longer be seen. Under the gold ring read an encryption. "For those who keep order".