Ditching Eternity
A/N: ... ... ... Hello. This is my first Phoenix Wright story. Friskian even. Be nice.
Update: Edited by ThePushThatComesToShove, aka the co-writer as of 26/10/09
Chapter 1: Elves and Goblins
She lifted her notepad, the first couple of pages filled with expert notes on the forest she and her professor were examining. Together, at least, until that day, that fated day when the two ventured deeper than they were supposed to and ran into those who hated humans. They were called elves. Magical, mysterious creatures of which she, Adrian Andrews, and her professor, Celeste Inpax, were studying.
Within the week of Celeste's death, caused by an unknown force to cause her to lose air, Adrian had been a little uneasy. She cried at night instead of finishing up her notes, and she stared into the forest hoping to seek revenge. She would think nothing of it until she remembered the words of the deceased professor, her firm voice echoing in her head;
"The elves are gentle creatures, magical and mystical. This is why I've dedicated my life to them. They are almost immortal, but do have some sort of weakness. In any case of us dying at the hands of them, remember, they have to have had a reason."
This was why Adrian was standing here, in the middle of a forest, lost yet searching. She adjusted her hat and continued to look onwards for the elven region where she was going to attempt to speak with their leader. She hoped nothing bad would come to her, but then again her mind has been debating whether it was worth living without her professor. In her mind, she was set on knowing why they killed her professor. The one she relied on the most, the one she... The one she came to love.
Amongst the many trees in her way were beautiful fruits which she had listed to be crossbreeds of already existing ones. Holding a banana in her hand she finished the ritual of chewing and threw it into her bag for disposal later. "Where are you elves?" she thought aloud, eyes scanning the area for the elusive creatures.
Suddenly a noise came from the corner of her vision. The rustling of the leaves quickened, the pace of her heart beating racing with it. She couldn't help but emit a shriek when something grabbed her leg. Being pulled down with a quick thump, she attempted to resist, holding onto her bag and notepad, her hat flying off her blonde head with the swift movement.
"Human, human!" the creature cooed, running further and further into the forest. Adrian tried hard to resist the rough ground and its many rocks, but through it all, she received several scratches.
Damn, she thought as she continued to be dragged, Am I going to die? Before the question was to answer itself, she was brought to a clearing through the trees and before Adrian's eyes stood many little creatures which she understood to be goblins. She muttered the name aloud, but the word was too quiet and insignificant to be acknowledged by her captors.
"Human!" the presumable leader of the few cried out. He walked right up to her and took a good bite of her leg, grimacing from the foul taste. "Ack! Human taste like dirt! We must wash human!"
Adrian couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her leg was throbbing, and about five of these creatures had picked her up and were about to throw her into the river that just happened to be nearby. Her eyes widened. "Let go of me!" she yelled, struggling from the hands of these goblins. Unfortunately her luck was low and she felt herself launched from their hands, her body tossed into the air above the river. Her eyes continued to widen as she saw the pointed rocks in the river. Dammit, I'm going to die!
"Gah!" came the cry of a goblin. Arrows had been launched towards their feet and they huffed and pouted at their attackers. Flailing their arms in rage, one tried to take a step forward but was struck by an arrow, discouraging any further movement.
"Retreat!" cried the leader.
Adrian was surprised as she opened her eyes to see that she didn't feel the pain of jagged rocks and unbelievably cold water. Instead, she found herself wrapped in warmth, and only feeling a little dizzy. Finding that it felt as if she were flying she looked up, only to see blue hair and eyes looking forward. One feature also stood out to her: pointed ears.
"Elf?" It was the last thing she muttered before passing out.
"I have returned," cried the one with blue hair. In her arms contained a girl of blonde hair and glasses, her limp form twitching with every breath she inhaled and exhaled.
"Franziska," called out one of the other elves, "That is a human! How can you bring such a creature here?"
"I apologize, cousin of mine. But this human was about to be eaten by goblins. I simply couldn't watch," Franziska told her cousin, one with a darker shade of blue hair up to his chest. His skin was a shade paler than hers and his eyes were a navy blue, shining with anger under the light of the sun.
"Damn those goblins," he began, turning away, "This is our territory!"
"I know," Franziska replied, "I swear, do they want to die?"
"They're just a bunch of idiots," came another voice, a much tinier voice. The little elf looked up at his cousin. "Franziska, you should let that girl rest."
"How considerate of you, Alex," Franziska murmured, eliciting a proud smile from the younger elf. "What should we do with her afterwards?"
"What's this? You're going to allow my brother to decide the fate of this human?" the older elf asked, "Why not I? I say we kill her."
"Dan!" Alex cried, appalled, "I always wanted to meet a human and play with one... Franziska, could you please let this human stay with us before my brother kills her?"
"Hmm?" Franziska moved Adrian in her arms a bit, attempting to make her weary arms more comfortable. "You mean after you're done playing her, you're going to let her die?"
"Well, how about you decide then?" Dan asked, his voice a haughty hiss, "I just said to kill her because she crossed into our territory."
"Whatever, we'll probably end up killing her, anyway," Franziska muttered absently. She then turned her back to them and ran towards her hut to wash and re-clothe the human and to let her rest before Alex could play with her."
Adrian stirred in a semi-comfortable bed made from various things of the forest. She turned to see a small stand and picked her glasses from it. Sitting up, she yawned and placed them on in order to take in the sights around her.
"A hut?" she muttered to herself. Getting off of the bed, she noticed her clothes had changed. Realizing this caused her to automatically blush in embarassment, the knowledge of someone undressing her becoming painfully obvious. Looking around for any signs of life, she was surprised by a floating collection of sparkling particles.
"Hey there!" It greeted in a rather upbeat voice, "What's your name?"
Adrian stared at the... thing for a moment before taking the time to respond. "I'm Adrian, Adrian Andrews. And yours?"
A face never appeared on the bubble sparkling particles, but it responded in an equally happy tone at first, "I'm Tak! Nice to meet you, Ms. Andrews."
The floating mass of particles was surprisingly nice and polite. Adrian couldn't but smile at it. "You can call me Adrian, Tak."
"Yay!" It exclaimed, flying around the room, "Franziska's been waiting for you to wake up. You are a human, are you not?"
"Why, yes I am," Adrian responded somewhat bluntly, "And what species are you?"
"Well, I'm a fairy!" it announced as it continued to fly around.
"Interesting," Adrian replied with a slight giggle. The creature's upbeat attitude was conatgious. "And who is this Franziska?"
"She's an elf, Adrian. The leader of this region, in fact. You're lucky she let you live."
"Lucky? So the elves always kill humans?"
"No, no, no," Tak replied rather quickly, and if it had eyes, she could have sworn his were darting around secretively, "Elves are very peaceful, but they've become a little annoyed of the goblins. So recently they've been killing intruders. You're lucky being found by Franziska, she may look and act all serious and tough, but she's a real softy!"
"Really?" Adrian responded. She was now rather interested in knowing who this Franziska was. Her wish was granted as a woman, looking a little bit younger than her, walked in with about shoulder length blue hair and a simple mole on her face. Her skin was pale, but it was a frequent feature on those who were elves.
"Tak, why didn't you report to me and tell me that she was awake?" she asked, getting straight to the point. She did not even look at Adrian. Adrian would have been irritated by this if it were not for the fact that the exotic looking creature was so distracting.
The fairy huffed, moving to buzz around Franziska's head. "This human's name is Adrian, Franziska!" Tak said, ignoring the leader's question, "She's a very nice human!"
"Is she now?" Franziska asked. Walking towards the blonde researcher, she looked her up and down, her steely slate eyes cold and calculating. "She's quite young."
"Hey!" Adrian retorted, tempted to put her hands on her hips, "I'm only 21, and you look about my age."
"Hmph, such arrogance," Franziska spat, put bluntly once more, "I am 180 years old..." She paused, meaning to address her with her name. "Is it Adrian?" Adrian simply nodded in response and remembered her notes. Elves were immortal and lived for many, many years.
"W-What are you going to do with me?" Adrian asked, slightly scared. Fear was making its way through her body and she was forced to settle her shaking glasses with a weak hand.
"You have been allowed to stay alive thanks to my young cousin. Alex is merely 10 years old and has always wanted to play with a human. Do you think you can manage that?"
Adrian nodded in response, relief calming her trembling hand. "Thank you for sparing my life."
"Whatever," Franziska responded idly, turning away. "He's waiting outside for you. If you need me, I'll be out hunting." Adrian looked at the arrows in Fraziska's quiver and the bow that was held underneath. She was glad that she was spared, and it turned out that Franziska was the one who had scared away the goblins. Tak looked at Adrian before leaving to follow Franziska.
Letting out a soft sigh, Adrian took it upon herself to exit the hut and meet with this 'Alex'. Upon exiting the hut she met with a boy half her size with a wide smiling face, perky ears, red shining eyes, and blue hair a lighter shade than Franziska.
"Hello there, human!" He greeted, his smile continuing to widen.
This only startled Adrian slightly.
"You must be Alex," she began as the boy nodded in reply, "My name is Adrian, and I thank you for saving my life."
The boy blushed modestly. "Aww, it was nothing. Now lets go play something, Adrian!" Before Adrian even had the chance to respond the boy grabbed her hand and dragged her to unknown places.
"The girl seems nice, Franziska," Tak commented as she looked back, witnessing the small exchange between the human and the young elf. Alex jumped up and down and grabbed the woman's wrist, leading her away. The fairy had to suppress a laugh.
"Sure," was all she said, refusing to put too much thought on the matter. There were more important things at hand. "If she deserves it, then maybe we won't kill her."
"As forward as always," Tak replied, following Franziska into other parts of the forest. If their leader did not want to dwell on it, Tak decided it would be best to leave the matter alone. For the time being.
