Marching Orders

One moment Jon was speaking with his sister in their living room, a friendly, barely dressed, young man named Kelli standing next to him, the next he was alone in the dark.

"Hello?" he called out, his sweet, high-pitched voice vanishing into nothingness. To say that it was unnerving would be an understatement. Very quickly, Jon felt panic begin to form in his chest.

THE WORLD IS BROKEN

A voice that made no sound and yet still spoke directly into Jon's being spoke. Then the world was filled with colour. Images flashed throughout the void. So fast did they appear and disappear that Jon could barely register each one. Still, he didn't need to study them to know the truth of the voice. The world did, indeed, appear to be broken.

War. ****. ****. All the horrors of humanity, all laid bare for Jon to see. Interspersed were images of the perpetrators. Men. But not normal men like Jon and Kelli. No, Jon saw not one petticoat, not one stocking, not one crop top. The men in the images didn't even have breasts!

"What happened to them?" he breathed, "Why do they look like that? Why are they so..."

BROKEN

Said the voice.

THEY ARE BROKEN

THE MEN OF THE WORLD HAVE BECOME LOST

THEY NEED HELP

THEY NEED A FRIEND

THEY NEED TO BE SAVED

More images bombarded Jon. Peaceful images. A loving world that cared for itself, grew its community, healed the broken. Men, proper men, dressed sensibly in miniskirts, bikinis, and all manor of respectable clothing were the agents of change. It seemed so real, so possible. A new feeling formed in Jon's breast. One of hope.

Suddenly Jon was back in the living room. Kelli was there, blinking as if he'd just experienced the same thing Jon had. Nicole, too, was there, but her face held the same knowing smile that it had moments earlier.

"Do you understand now?" Nicole asked in a tone that told Jon that she already knew the answer.

"When did this happen?" Kelli's voice asked, cracking with emotion. Out of his peripheral vision, Jon saw movement in Nicole's fingers. Kelli coughed, then continued. "I don't remember the world being that bad," Kelli finished in his beautiful, clear, sing-song voice.

"When it happened does not matter," Nicole stated, "Nor does why or how. What matters is that it is wrong, broken, perverted. But I have found a way to fix it, and you will be my agents of change."

"I don't understand..." Jon began, but stopped speaking once he saw what his sister was doing.

Her hands, which had been twitching since they began to speak, came up from their resting place at her side, and began to dance in front of her, palms up. Soon two small glowing lights formed, one atop each hand. The warm light pulsed, intensifying then dimming, over and over. Then Nicole took a deep breath and blew. The two lights shot out from her hands and hit Jon and Kelli square in their stomachs, quickly were absorbed, leaving no trace.

"You two now have the seed inside of you," Nicole said, "the seed that can fix everything."

"Listen," Kelli said, putting his dainty hands on his hips, "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't know if I'm up for some sort of global campaign. I just want to help people."

"And to be honest," Jon said, "I was hoping to change gears. I have so many friends, but our relationships are so superficial. I was hoping to try out being a girlfriend to a few of them, just for a bit, and see how our friendships grow."

"And that's all you'll be asked to do," Nicole said, her grin intensifying, "Kelli, go find a man to be helpful for. Jon, be the best girlfriend you can be. You two are perfect as you are. You won't have to do anything but what you want. The seed does the rest."

"It's not going to hurt anyone, will it?" Jon asked timidly.

"Of course not!" Nicole laughed, "Jon! It's me! I'm not going to hurt people!" Nicole crossed and took Jon's hands in hers. "The world needs a tune up to get it back to where it could be. You saw how the people are suffering. The seed just hurries that process up."

Jon thought of the images that he saw in the void. Not once did he wonder where those images came from, what the void was. Nicole's words rang through his head. It doesn't matter why, nor how. The world was indeed broken.

"So all I have to do to fix the world is be a girlfriend?"

"Be the best damned girlfriend you can be," Nicole nodded, "like a real man would."

"Then I guess I'll try."