ESCAPING PARADISE

Disclaimer: I do not own the Metroid franchise.

Now, while I get to work on that, you read my story.

CHAPTER 1

As I wandered through the crowd of working slaves following Lilith, weaving in and out, I had about

one million questions flying around inside my head. Who is this girl? Why did the Slavers choose me?

Why now?

I was so busy trying to come up with decent answers for these questions, that I didn't notice a large

blue tail on the ground in front of me. I also didn't notice that I stepped on it. What I did notice,

however, was the reaction of the owner, who yelped in pain. He stood up, at about 6 feet tall, and

stared down at me. In all honesty, I was rather intimidated. He looked like a Komodo dragon, except

bright blue, with a light brown lower jaw and belly, and that it stood on two legs. And I assume that

he is male due to the fact that Lilith and I are the only non-Slaver females on this planet.

"Watch were you walk, human, or I'll rip out your lungs through your stomach!" He hissed at me,

flicking a forked, red tongue as he spoke. He took a step towards me. Naturally (or recently

naturally) I backed away, fearing for my life. Wow, I've sunken low these days…

"Look, I don't want any trouble…" I began, but he cut me off. "Of course not, that's why you stepped

on my tail." He said sarcastically while he glared at me. I gulped as he cracked his knuckles. He

smiled (or, at least, I think that was what it was) at me. "You know, I don't usually hit girls." He said. I

breathed a massive sigh of relief. This sigh quickly caught in my throat as I heard what he said next.

"But that's only because there aren't many around." He then cracked his neck, and proceeded to

advance on me.

Once more, I backed away, but I quickly regretted that decision as fell backwards over a Luminoth

worker. The Luminoth looked like he would say something, then he looked up and saw the Komodo

dragon guy. He almost tripped over as he ran. I was crawling backwards, once again fearing for my

life. I soon felt my back press against the hot metal of the boundary wall. What was he going to do? I

hope it wouldn't hurt. Jeez, listen to me. This place has turned me into a coward. I need to stand up

and fight. So I stood.

"Hm, so the human has spirit. I admire that. I'll also admire it as it shatters!" he cried, and he dove

for me. I sidestepped, and he went hurtling full force into the boundary wall. When he collided, all I

heard was a sickening crunch, and a thud as he hit the ground. I waited, ready to fight, but he didn't

get up. I stood there, stunned. Wow. That was easy.

At that exact moment, Lilith ran up to me and grabbed me by the wrist. "Come on, slowpoke, hurry

up!" she said in a whiney voice. I tried to resist, but in the end, I gave up, and she pretty much

dragged me by the wrist she was holding so tightly. As she walked, and I followed close behind, I

decided to make small talk. "So…you see the fight I was just in?" I asked Lilith. Without looking at

me, she replied in that sing-song voice of hers "Yeah, I did. Erol pretends to be tough with everyone

new, but in reality, he's just a big softy. Kinda like a big blue teddy bear!" God, I may just kill her

before we get to wherever it is she's taking me. She is annoying.

So, Erol was his name, huh? I'll remember that. Lilith continued to drag me. I was getting tired of

that. "Hey, you wouldn't mind letting me walk, would you? My wrist is starting to hurt." I said to her.

"Huh? Oh, sure! I was getting kinda tired anyways. You are so heavy!" she replied, and immediately

let go. Lying flat on the ground, I contemplated killing her. She called me heavy! Lousy little…

Pushing those thoughts aside, I stood up, and followed her as she skipped (yes, actually skipped)

along. When we finally made it to her destination, I saw five other humans. I wasn't as surprised as

she must have thought I'd be. Yes, a group of other humans. So what if I hadn't seen one in two

years?

"Hi guys! This is Samus. Say hi, everyone!" Lilith said to them all. In return, she got a glare, a groan,

two half-hearted "Hello's", and a noise that sounded like a sob. Well, this would be interesting. Lilith

turned to me. "Oh, don't be disappointed. I'm sure they'll cheer up once they get to know you.

Now, let me introduce you." She said cheerfully, as she grabbed my wrist again, and pulled me in the

direction of the man who groaned at me.

For a human, he was a monster. Well over 6 feet tall, he was bald, sunburnt (like pretty much

everyone, myself included), and looked like he was in pain. His eyes were pale blue. I looked at him

uneasily, and after a while, extended my hand. "Uh, hi. I'm Samus Aran. You are…" I said nervously. I

didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with my new "friends."

He stared at me for about four minutes, (rather disturbingly) and replied "I'm Gregory." He didn't

shake my hand. His voice was cracked, and filled with pain. I sort of felt sorry for him. I moved on to

the next person, one who had bothered to say hello. "Hello. I'm Samus Aran." I said, extending my

hand. He wasn't even looking my direction. He looked up to say something, and stopped right in his

tracks. So did I. I knew this man. This was Nic, a criminal I've had to hunt several times. His black hair

went to shoulder length, and ended as a widow's peak above his forehead. His brown skin made

him look at home here. His orange eyes stared at me, filled with hate. He was about 5ft 9, with long,

thin limbs. This just got very bad.

"Ah, Samus, how nice to see you once more!" he said as he grinned, speaking in that unusually high-

pitched voice of his. He grabbed my hand and shook it, and pulled me close to him, looking into my

eyes. He may be acting friendly, but I know what those eyes say. They say "I'm going to kill you."

Lilith cut off my thoughts as she said "Oh, you to have met before? Are you, like, long lost buddies or

something? Cousins? Twins? Lovers?" she said that last part rather annoyingly, batting her eyelids

to make a point. We both glared at her, and Nic let go of me. "Well, I guess you should go meet the

others. We'll continue our little 'reunion' later." He said, smiling, and then harshly shoving me away.

After regaining my balance, I walked over to an old man with a beard like Santa Claus. He was bald

besides that, with many (many) wrinkles. He looked asleep, but as I came closer, he opened them

and shouted "Boo!" I jumped slightly, and then got angry as he laughed. How dare he? As he

chuckled some more, I extended my hand and introduced myself yet again. "Thomas. Old Thomas."

He replied, shaking back. After my initial rage wore off, he seemed kind of nice. For an octogenarian.

Moving on, I met another black haired man with a Russian accent, with green eyes and a stubble,

and huge eyebrows, smoking a cigar. His name was Vlad, and according to him, he hated everything.

I even quizzed him about it. Puppies? Hate. Romance? Hate. Galactic Domination? Hate. After a

while, I got bored, and asked him a few other questions. He was also the guy you asked if you

wanted to get something, like a pair of shoes or something. I moved on after a little more talking,

and walked over to the last man.

The first thing I noticed about him was that his hair was white, he had a pale complexion, and he

wore reading glasses. This brought up several questions. One, why was his hair white? He didn't

look a day over 20. Two, how is he so pale? The twin suns should have burned it by now. Three, why

haven't the Slavers taken those glasses off of him? Come to think of it, why did they let Vlad have a

cigar?

I stood in front of him, and introduced myself to him, extending my hand. "I'm Samus Aran. What's

your name?" I asked. He looked up at me, and I found something disturbing about his eyes. If you

looked closely at them, it looked like…no, it couldn't be. It looked like, if you looked at his pupils, it

was raining. Curious. He apparently found my staring embarrassing, because he blushed bright red,

and said "I-I'm Mikael. Please don't touch me." He backed away a bit. He looked sad. Like he was

about to cry.

I walked back to Lilith. "What's up with the pale guy?" I asked her. "Well," she told me, "he's in a

constant state of depression. He cries himself to sleep every night, he talks about sad things, that

sort of stuff." "Wow. That's actually sad. Well, when I feel sad, I just try to remember the good

times, before we came here, to Paradise." I said. "Oh, but that's the problem." Lilith said in

response. "He was born here. He's never left this planet, or even this Slaver Camp. His whole live

has been nothing but misery. I can see why he's so sad all the time." I looked over at him, where he

chiselled away at the stones beneath him. I was feeling upset myself, now.

"Should I try to…you know…cheer him up?" I asked. "No," Lilith replied, "Everyone's tried. I'm the

only one he listens, or, on that note, speaks to. He's very shy." I looked at her, confused. "Why only

you?" I questioned. "Well, he has a crush on me." Lilith explained. "I think it's cute. Gregory and Nic

only want one thing, but Mikael apparently wants a family. I also trust him with my secrets. After all,

who's he going to tell?" I thought about that. He seems nice, but very quiet.

"Also…he seems to control the weather." Lilith continued. "Wait, what?" I replied. "How does he do

that?" "You know, I don't know, but whenever he cries, it rains. Strange, huh?" Lilith exclaimed.

Before I could question any further, Lilith said "Well, now that you know everyone, I think we should

keep working. Don't want to make those green meanies angry!" And with that, she walked back to

her group. I mean our group.

I stared at them all working quietly. So, these were my new friends? As I walked towards them to begin work, I had one thought.

What a bunch of weirdoes.

AU: Well, that concludes the chapter. Please rate, review, that sort of thing. I hope you like it so far! I should upload next !

Chris The Cat