Author's Note: Welcome! This is the first chapter in what I hope to be an extremely long and drawn out piece. This crosses over our favorite folks from High School Musical with the tale of Baldur's Gate. If you're not familiar with the game, Google it if you like, but you shouldn't need to if I do my job right! Please enjoy the ride.
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical. I don't own Baldur's Gate. Heck, I don't even own my car.
"Good work, everyone. Let's break for...seven minutes," Ms. Darbus announced from the front row of the theatre.
The actors groaned, sighed, and squealed in various states of relief as they crumpled to the floor of the stage, too tired to go anywhere else.
"Evans, I swear, as soon as I get control of my limbs again, I'm going to strangle you for convincing me to do this," Chad muttered.
"Thanks for the warning," Ryan chirped back, massaging his tired calves.
"We'll help," Zeke offered.
"Just as soon as we throttle Troy," Jason grumbled.
"Hey!" Troy objected, pretending to be offended, "It's not like I put a gun to your head or anything!"
"Figures. The first thing on their minds is physical harm. Typical jocks," Taylor needled, grinning at Martha and Gabriella.
"But didn't you say last week after the ensemble number that you wanted to take Sharpay's pink butterfly hair clip and shove it up her---" Martha started.
"Okay! Point made," Taylor said, holding her hands up in surrender, "But it's Chad's fault. He's rubbing off on me."
"Yeah, when's that start going both ways? I wanna be smart," Chad joked.
"I think that ship has sailed," Kelsi teased, sitting down next to Jason, music in hand.
"Kelsi!" Gabriella scolded, slapping her lightly on the shoulder, "Chad is plenty smart. Just...not in the academic world," she admitted, giggling.
"One minute!" Ms. Darbus called.
"If I have to do the salsa one more time, I'm going to open a Mexican restaurant," muttered Zeke.
"Oh, come on, you guys! It's not that bad," Ryan insisted. The group turned as one, affixing him with glares of varying intensity.
"It just seems that way because we're used to it," Sharpay assured him, patting him on the knee, "They just don't have the endurance we have," she said sweetly, sticking her tongue out at the others.
"Yeah, well, just try making twenty foul shots in a row before Coach lets you shower," Troy grumbled.
"What was that, Troy?" Sharpay asked, with a smile so sweet it could cause tooth decay.
"N-nothing," Troy quickly responded.
"Places!" Ms. Darbus called. The group groaned as one, fighting to get to their feet.
"Can we convince you to play the songs really slow this time so we don't have to move so fast?" Zeke asked Kelsi.
"I'll try," Kelsi replied, giggling.
"Ugh. I just wish we could be somewhere else," Martha muttered.
"Anywhere else," Taylor agreed.
"You know what they say," Gabriella warned, shaking her head and smiling, "Be careful what you wish for!"
"Yeah, Ms. Darbus might decide we need to take a field trip to a real museum for 'background experience' or something," Chad said.
"Don't even joke about that," advised Jason, "She might hear you."
"When I said 'places', I wasn't joking! Now, actors!" Ms. Darbus yelled.
The group scattered to their positions, groaning all the way. Kelsi played as slowly as she could without getting caught. Sharpay and Ryan managed to convince Ms. Darbus to take some extra breaks for the ensembles so that the leads could practice the more intense scenes. Together, they made it through the night with enough energy to drive home, splitting up into the usual carpools: Chad, Taylor, Zeke, and Martha in Chad's new car; Ryan, Sharpay, and Kelsi in Sharpay's pink convertible; Troy, Gabriella, and Jason in Troy's worn fixer-upper truck.
"See you tomorrow," Taylor waved as she moved to open the passenger door of Chad's car.
"Bye!" Gabriella waved back as she, Troy, and Jason split to the right.
"Toodles!" Sharpay trilled as her trio separated to the left.
Before Taylor's hand touched the door handle, a comet ripped its way across the sky. Zeke pointed it out, and each of the ten stopped in their tracks, observing it as it zoomed over their heads. As it disappeared from sight, the night seemed to fall down around them, cloaking their eyes in darkness. Some of them reached for their heads, a sudden migraine assaulting their senses. Others doubled over, their stomachs suddenly revolting against themselves. One by one, they crumpled to the ground, dead to the world.
It was the last time they would all be together for a long, long time.
Author's Note: Please review!