DISCLAIMER: Dragon Warrior VII and its characters do not belong to me. This story, however, does. Since you can name the hero, I've decided to keep the instruction booklet's name for the hero, Enix (Pfft). Enjoy!

Save Me

The sun shone bright on the land, but alas, not even the sun could brighten the situation that had occurred. Loomin, once a peaceful village in its own right, now was a desolate wasteland. The destruction that brought onto the village had no doubt taken apart the village piece by piece. The debris of what used to be buildings stood tall, in a sense, as the sunlight hit the former village while forming no shadows against the bloodstained ground.

In the middle of the empty village remains stood four adventures. One of them was a tall man clad from head to toe in chain mail armor with a green sleeveless tunic adorning it. His brown gauntlets and boots had faded in color due to so much use. Scratches and dents engulfed the man's armor, but what was most noticeable was his age. The knight was an old man that time had been unkind to as shown by the many wrinkles on his face. Age had proven itself to be of no matter to the old knight as he was one of the legendary knights that helped God fight off the Demon Lord in a past war of epic proportions.

In front of him were three small figures. Although they were battle hardened, one was but a young boy with the spirit of a white wolf in him while the other two were only teenagers that were enticed by the thrill of adventure. The boy was quite short in stature, and his attire was simple. A beige hat was worn over his wild long black hair while his face was covered with dirt due to the daily life and death struggles of staying alive with his friends. He wore a beige toga that was tied around his waist with a piece of rope while a large blue cloak covered most of his body. His boots had long ago begun to fall apart from the heat of battle

One of the teenagers was a young tomboyish woman with red hair that rivaled the smell and look of strawberries. Covering her flawless curly locks was an orange bonnet tightly wound so as not to let anything damage even the slightest strand of hair. While she detested wearing makeup, her face looked absolutely stunning without it as her cheeks carried a natural pinkish hue. She wore a tight orange shirt with a blood-red dress over it. Over that dress was a green sleeveless wide-cut dress with orange linings and red diamond-like patterns running down the middle. Her black slippers were surprisingly shining bright as the sunlight reflected off of them. Leading the group was the second teenager, her childhood friend. He was a young boy with a wild black mane. An elfish cap lay on his head that was kept untied for reasons only his own. He wore a long white shirt that reached down to his knees. Over it he wore a long, green, short-sleeved traveler's robe held together by a tightly wound belt.

"What have we done…?" asked the boy as he looked at his surroundings. His voice trembled with fear with each word he spoke. The girl took a step forward and placed her hand on the boy's shoulders.

"Enix, It's not your fault… We did what he had to…" replied the young woman.

"NO!" exclaimed Enix as a tear ran down his face. "Maribel, this is our fault! We caused this!"

"But, Enix…" pleaded the cloaked child behind him. "It was to save the village… We had no choice."

"Sir Gabo is right, Master Enix," said the old knight as he stepped up next to the green-clad teenager. "We didn't know this would happen."

"Melvin, we could have prevented this. We should have prevented this!" shouted Enix, his voice rising in anger stemming from denial. "This never would've happened…if only we didn't have to kill…"

-o-O-o-O-o-O-o----FLASHBACK----o-O-o-O-o-O-o

The four adventures were resting at the inn in the village, contemplating what they had just agreed to. Sieble, the owner of a large mansion at the end of the village, had taken it upon himself to adopt a baby worm-monster as a pet and named it Chibi. The villagers had pleaded with Sieble to get rid of it before it grew large enough to wreck havoc upon Loomin. Upon refusal, the villagers pleaded with Enix and his friends to get rid of the worm monster. The villagers had planned to kill Chibi while Enix, having thought of no other way to get rid of the threat, agreed with the village to kill Chibi before she became a menace.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea…" said Gabo, unnerved with the task at hand.

"I know what you mean," answered Maribel as she sat next to the wolf child on a bed, "but I can't think of any other way to help the village. I mean, DarkDraco and that HellVine were enough."

"While I may not agree with this course of action," said Melvin as he crossed his arms, "I will do whatever in my power to help as I have so far. What say you, Master Enix?"

The young leader lay on a bed while staring at the ceiling. "…"

"Come on, Enix! What do you think about all of this?" asked Maribel as she stared at her childhood friend.

"…"

"Pfft. Typical. Fine, be that way, but don't come crying to me when you get hurt out there," pouted the tomboyish teen as she looked out the window.

Immediately, the legendary knight Melvin stood up from his bed and looked at the resting youth. "Master Enix, nightfall is upon us. Now is the time to fulfill our duty to the village."

Enix said nothing as stood up, grabbed his weapon, and motioned for the group to follow him out of the inn.

Gabo thought about what he was about to help do and swallowed. "I don't feel good about doing this…but I guess we have no choice. Let's go!"

Enix and his friends left the inn and made their way to the far side of the village where Sieble's home stood. As he opened the door, he signaled for his group to tiptoe inside and search for the monster in the low darkness. As if on cue, the orange and purple worm monster known as Chibi spotted his assassins with his nocturnal vision and, thinking they were here to attack his master, screeched and attacked the group.

Quickly settling into a battle formation, they began their assault on Chibi. Enix attacked with his SquallHit warrior technique, using his lightning fast reflexes to attack the beast with his sword before it could react. Melvin took his defensive Guardian stance to withstand the worm's attack while Gabo howled loudly, summoning a wolf to attack Chibi with its claws. Maribel stood in the rear of the group's formation while chanting magic words for one of her basic spells. "Sap!" she shouted as a blue light engulfed the worm, softening its rock-hard exoskeleton and weakening its defenses.

Chibi was quick to react as he dodged Gabo's wolf attack and somersaulted at Maribel, cutting her legs with its spiny exoskeleton. "Augh!" exclaimed Maribel as she looked at the blood trickling down to her ankles from the wounds the worm had given her. Hurt from Enix's attack, Chibi opened his mouth and spewed silky threads that enveloped the quick youth and slowed down his movement. Enix struggled to rid himself of his silky prison and used his sword to free himself from the worm's attack. Chibi screeched and took a defensive stance as he looked at his own wounds.

Enix took a deep breath, channeling his energy via his PsycheUp warrior technique to increase the velocity of his next attack and struck back, severely wounding the beast. Melvin swung his weapon towards the monstrous worm and managed to penetrate Chibi's exoskeleton. Maribel, seeing a new weak point in Chibi, closed her eyes and started chanting to unleash a powerful magic attack. "YAH!" shouted Gabo as he dashed forward and sliced at Chibi's new soft spot with his Ice Claw weapon, not only forcing the worm to bleed, but causing the wound to freeze up into a thin chilled barrier. Maribel opened her eyes and shouted "Blazemore!" as a large ball of fire formed over its caster. With a flick of her wrist, Maribel sent the fireball towards the thin ice coating on Chibi's wound, shattering the ice and damaging the wound with shards of ice while severely burning Chibi's muscles from the inside.

Screeching in pain, Chibi ceased his attack and fell backwards writhing in pain. The group sighed in relief at the completion of their task when suddenly, the lights flickered on as Sieble, Chibi's owner, walked downstairs and looked at the horrific scene in front of him.

There on the floor lay his pet, slowly crawling towards his owner while screeching weakly. "CHIBI!" shouted Sieble in disbelief as he ran towards his dying pet. "No…Chibi…" The defeated worm looked up at his owner and with a final soft screech, the worm shriveled up and faded into a dark brown color, signifying his death as he lay still, fated to never move again for eternity.

Enix stared in shock as the full weight of his actions finally took its toll on him. He and his friends had just killed someone's beloved pet. 'What have we done!' he thought to himself as Sieble glared at the group. "Why! Why did you have to kill Chibi!"

"I…we…" Enix stuttered, but no words could justify his actions as Maribel glanced at her friend. 'Enix…' she thought as the realization of their actions finally hit her.

At that moment, four of the villagers barged into Sieble's home and stood there, taking in the sights as they looked back and forth from Enix to Chibi to Sieble and back to Enix. "Thank you so much for ridding us of the threat, adventurers!" said an elderly villager in gratitude. "How can we ever repay you?

"…" Enix couldn't say anything. He felt he didn't have the right to speak after the dirty deed he and his group had committed.

"But…we just…" started Gabo, but the words couldn't come out of his own mouth either. He realized what he had just done and stared at Chibi's brown body.

"Sieble," started a young male villager, "we couldn't risk the destruction of the village at the hands of your 'pet'. You must understand."

"I…I…" Sieble tried to say something in his defense, but all he could do was stare at the lifeless body of the pet he promised to love and take care of.

A scream suddenly came from outside of the building. Enix and his friends rushed outside, not bearing to see the results of their actions any longer. To their horror, several green worm beasts were terrorizing Loomin, almost as if something had provoked them into attacking.

"Hey, Enix…do…do you think Chibi did this?" asked Maribel, the fear evident in her voice. Enix didn't know what to make of it and simply nodded out of confusion and shock.

"I'm not surprised," said Melvin as he gripped the hilt of his sword. "The poor worm must have died despising humans because of our attack and summoned these worms to take revenge on this village."

"T-t-that's not true…" argued Gabo as he stared at the villages running in fear from the worms. "…Is it?"

"I don't know, but we have to do something to help these villagers. To arms!" shouted Melvin as he held his sword, ready to do battle once again. Enix grabbed his own weapon and led the group towards the worm invasion.

"Get this HellWorm off of me!" screamed one of the hysterical villagers as he ran for dear life. Enix and Melvin each attacked the worm beast with their swords as Maribel chanted magic words. "Heal!" she shouted as a green light enveloped her leg wounds and slowly closed them up. Gabo sighed as he watched the green worm lay dead on the ground, not even making so much as a death screech.

"I wonder how Master Sieble fares? Master Enix, we should go check on him," suggested Melvin. Enix nodded and motioned for the group to follow him back to Sieble's home.

Upon entering, the group saw several HellWorms surrounding Sieble. The worm beasts stared hungrily at Sieble as their fangs glistened with saliva dripping from their jaws.

"Sieble!" shouted Gabo at the entrance. "We've got to get out of here!"

Sieble looked at the group, and with a mental prayer, he ran around the hungry HellWorms and joined Enix's group. As they exited the mansion, they were shocked to see an army of HellWorms waiting for them, each screeching and maintaining attack positions. The monsters hissed with the knowledge that they would feast upon the living tonight.

"Enix!" shouted Sieble. "We've got to hide in the village well! There should be enough room in there for us to hide! Hurry! Follow me!"

Enix and his friends nodded and followed Sieble around his home and into an opening in the village wall where a well was open. One by one, all five of them climbed into the well and closed the opening up with a large wooden plank. The well, surprisingly, was actually an underground room used as a shelter in rare cases. Unfortunately, an enemy prior to the worms, HellVine, had used the well as a way to attack Loomin from underground. At the moment, there was no threat underground.

"We…we'll have to hide here until morning… There's no stopping them…" said Sieble, his voice trembling with fear.

Enix opened his mouth, trying to find the words to apologize, but nothing could escape his lips. The situation was far too horrible for him to speak.

"This…this is all my fault…" said Sieble as he covered his face with his hands. "If only…if only I hadn't kept Chibi…then none of this would have happened… This…all of it…it's all my fault…"

Enix realized the full extent of what his actions had brought forth as he looked down at the damp ground in shame. Silent, the group spent a sleepless night in the well, listening to the bloodcurdling screams and bone-crunching sounds emitting from the village they failed to protect.

The next morning, the group climbed out of the well and entered the village again, horrified to discover that there was no longer a village standing. The buildings had been torn apart and deserted. Not a single soul was left in Loomin with the exception of Sieble and Enix's group.

-o-O-o-O-o-O-o----END OF FLASHBACK----o-O-o-O-o-O-o-

"Don't you see…?" asked Enix as he fell to his knees. "None of this should've happened… We didn't have to kill Chibi… We could've told Sieble about the plot and maybe he could've let Chibi go…"

"Enix…" said Maribel as she knelt down and looked at her childhood friend. She couldn't stand to see her happy-go-lucky friend like this. Even if the group thought she was a tomboy, even she had feelings. Seeing Enix in that state of mind was devastating her. Her heart was slowly breaking with each pained sob that her friend was releasing.

The green-clad youth looked down at the ground, punching the soft clods of dirt. "To think…I was the one who agreed to do this… The villagers offered me opportunities to back out, but I…I still agreed to do it… Mari…we killed someone's pet! By killing an innocent, this village was destroyed…"

"Enix…please…"

"…I…"

"…Don't…"

"…Mari…"

"…Don't say it, Enix…!"

"…I destroyed this village… I killed these people…"

That was all the young woman could stand. She grabbed Enix by his shirt collar, pulled a hand back, and slapped the group leader square in the cheek. The impact she made was strong enough to knock Enix's green hat off of his head as it landed on the cold ground. Her own eyes were brimming with tears. It wasn't because of what he said…but because of what she did. She just physically hurt her childhood friend. She had never once laid a hand on him in all of the years she had known him. She may have threatened him playfully from time to time, but she had never dared to hurt him. She had loved him too much to ever strike him…to ever hurt him… She would never admit it to anyone, but Maribel, the tomboy from the village of Fishbel, daughter of Amitt, was in love…in love with her best friend.

"Enix…I…I'm sorry…"

"No, I deserve that…and much more…" Enix looked up and gazed into his friend eyes while thinking, 'I never noticed how beautiful her blue eyes were…' "Please…hit me again…I'm begging you…"

"Stop…!"

"Please…that slap was nothing compared to the suffering I caused to this village… I deserve nothing more than to feel the pain that I brought by killing an innocent being…"

"Enix…please stop…!"

"I don't even deserve to live—"

Enix never got to finish his sentence as his friend's lips suddenly brushed against his. The youth was surprised to find out how much Maribel's lips tasted of sweet strawberries. He closed his eyes as he felt something wet land on his cheek. As Maribel pulled back, Enix brought a hand up to his cheek and brushed the wet drop with his fingers. It wasn't until he looked up that he realized what it was he brushed away. His best friend was crying in front of him…for him…and one of her tears had landed on his cheek.

Maribal clenched her fists as she clutched her skirt. She looked deep into Enix's eyes and let him have a piece of her mind. "Enix, you stupid jerk! Don't you EVER say something like that again! Do you know how much it hurts to hear you say that! What would Kiefer think if he saw you like this! What do you think he'd say if he were here to listen to you talk this way! Damn it, Enix, this ISN'T your fault, so stop talking like it is and never talk that way again!"

"…"

"Well!" shouted Maribel. "Aren't you even going to apologize!"

"…You kissed me…"

"I…what?"

"You kissed me…"

Maribel tried her best not to blush as she huffed, put her hands to her hips, and continued to berate her friend, despite her extreme efforts to cheer him up from his emotional guilt trip. "O-of course! You wouldn't shut up about how you did so-and-so to the village, you idiot! I love you too much for you to kill yourself over this! You DO TOO deserve to live, and you better not say otherwise or I'll make you wish you were still asleep!"

"You…you love me…?"

"…" 'Oh great, now you've done it Maribel,' she thought to herself as she hung her head low. 'Way to keep things to yourself.'

'Is it really so bad that he knows?' she argued with herself.

'I…yes! I wasn't ready to tell him yet!'

'And when were you going to tell him? After you were tolerating Orka's flirting again?'

'…I don't even like Orka…'

'Or what about after you insult Enix day in and day out?'

'…I…'

'Do you remember what you said to him about getting stronger to get your attention?'

'…What?'

That's when it her. She remembered telling Enix in one of the many villages they've visited that if he wanted her to like him, he needed to build up his body and strength.

'Haven't you noticed how hard he had been working to get stronger?'

'But…I was just teasing…'

'Teasing or not…he probably took you very seriously…'

'No…that's just from all of the monsters we've been fighting…'

'Or maybe…he's been fighting so you could look at him the way you know you always do…'

"…Maribel…?"

The young woman was brought out of her mental argument to find Enix staring at her with a confused expression on his face. However, she couldn't help feel her heart wrench when he saw how stained his face was with tears.

"Ahem…Sir Gabo, let us leave these two alone, shall we?" suggested Melvin with a smirk as Gabo grinned at him. "Yeah! Let's spar in the meantime! I want to know how the legendary hero ranks!" said Gabo as Melvin led him to the other side of the desolate village.

"…Did you …did you just say that you…you loved me…?" asked Enix, paying no attention to the remarks of his comrades. The only one in his world now was his best friend in front of him.

"I…yes…" Maribel said as she looked down at the ground.

"Mari…"

"…Huh…?"

Maribel was surprised to feel a hand gently brushing her cheeks as Enix brought his lips onto hers. She wondered if she was just imagining what was going on, and if it was, she wondered how often she would let it run away like this. When she reached up, she shuddered in surprise as she realized it really was happening. The boy she's been wanting for so long was finally kissing her. She slid her hand behind Enix's head and ran her fingers through his unkept black hair, wondering how it always looked so messy, and yet, made him look so handsome at the same time. Maribel softly moaned into her best friend's mouth as Enix broke the kiss, slowly pulling back. It surprised the young woman to find Enix grinning at her while he kept a hand behind his head.

"Enix…" Maribel said, unable to believe what just transpired. "…Did we just—"

"…We did…" answered Enix, slightly sweating as his heart beat ever so quickly.

"I…well…this is a strange turn of events…"

"It is, and a most fitting turn it is."

"Huh? How so?"

Enix gazed into Maribel's eyes as she looked at him with a confused look on her face. He smiled warmly and said, "It's you who saved me…"

At this, Maribel couldn't help but blush. She wondered why she was doing these things when she was well known in her village for being a tomboy and here she was… acting like a lovesick schoolgirl. "I…I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, and I'm grateful, too. After all, how could I say 'I love you too' if I wasn't here?"

"That's ri—wait, what?" Maribel looked at Enix as her heart skipped a beat. 'Did he say what I think he said?'

"I…I love you too, Mari…"

"Enix!" Maribel happily threw her arms around her love and smiled. "I'm glad you feel better, you jerk. We still have things to do, you know…" She playfully pinched the back of Enix's neck.

"Yeow!" exclaimed Enix as he grinned. "I know…I know… What say we get right to it?"

"And after all of this we can…see how everything turns out back home?"

"Mari, I'd like nothing better. Amitt would sure be surprised."

"Hah! That's nothing! Your parents would make a huge fuss over us! They are a little overprotective, don't you think?"

"Can't help it. Look what they have for a son."

"Well, you are a little shrimpy and naive to boot."

"Hey!"

"Ha, just kidding!" Maribel winked at Enix as she smiled at him. It was around that time that she noticed that Melvin and Gabo weren't with them anymore. "Huh? I wonder where the others are…"

"We're back here!" shouted Gabo from the other side of the village. He howled happily as he ran back to Enix and tackled him the way a dog would tackle its owner. "Are you ok now? You looked pretty shaken up."

"I'm sorry for worrying everyone…especially you, Maribel…" apologized Enix as he looked as his comrades. "In any case, we still have more shards to collect."

"Welcome back, Master Enix," said Melvin as he roughly patted the youth's back with a gloved hand. "Shall we go?"

"Yes," answered Enix as he put an arm around Maribel, causing her to blush and put an arm around him. "Let's go…"

As the two teens walked out of Loomin's remains towards the Fane portal, Gabo tugged at Melvin's tunic. "Yes, Sir Gabo?" asked Melvin as he looked down at his child comrade.

"Why are they so close like that now?" asked the wolf child as he looked up at the old knight.

"That, young sir, is what I'd like to call the 'Ultimate Magic'," replied Melvin with a grin.

"'Ultimate Magic'? Is that like…trickery?"

"Oh no, far from it. That's 'magic' that develops between people that care deeply for each other."

"…I don't get it."

"I'm sure you will when you're older."

"Well…if it makes me as happy as they are right now, I can't wait!"

The travelers left Loomin and entered the Fane portal with new memories. While some may be happy and some may be upsetting, ultimately, a connection was made that not even time could change. While love their didn't quite bloom under normal circumstances, it goes to show that one doesn't need to read a fairy tale to know what true love really is.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, this was my first Dragon Warrior fanfiction piece. Hopefully, it wasn't too horrible. Please R&R!