My first Ragnarok Online fanfic. I made some changes from the original first chapter. I added some stuff to make it more interesting. So hope you enjoy the revised chapter one. I don't own Ragnarok Online or anything relating to it. XD, enjoy and hope you don't mind the strange pairing mage/acolyte.

Chapter One: Encounter

Her feet pounding on the ground of the forest, she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she continued running. She couldn't stop running, running from those people, her fears. The rain poured unmercifully on the ragged cloak she was wearing, with water pouring down her back as her hair was plastered to her head. She nearly cried out when she tripped over a tree root, but was muffled from the storm above her thundered. She was panting and winced as she moved to get up. She could feel the bruises and cuts reopening, the rain washing away the blood that had covered them. She tried to hear something, but the rain just came down even harsher as the storm was getting worse.

'I got to hurry…'

she thought as she grabbed her weapon and used it to help push her up from the soaked earth. She quickly looked behind her and she could feel the fear creeping back into her as she saw several shadowy figures moving around in the forest behind her. Getting to her feet quickly she ran into another part of the forest and took what little shelter she could find under a tree. Curling up into a ball as she wrapped her arms around herself she prayed that she wouldn't be caught. Freezing when she felt several presences near her she held her breath.

"Dammit!! The little wrench managed to get away!!"

"Finding her in this storm isn't going to help much…its washing away her tracks before I can follow them."

"Looks like we have to stop the search for now…"

"Shit…and who exactly is going to tell the boss that we did?"

"……….."

"Fine…we'll continue looking but if the storm gets any worse we are LEAVING."

"I would prefer taking my chances with the storm then the boss…."

"Shut up and get moving moron."

Once the voices had faded away, she looked past the trees and released the breath.

'Thank god…they're gone at least for now'

She leaned against the tree for support. Pulling herself up and headed in the other direction she heard those voices going. All of a sudden, she felt she chest tighten considerably making her fall to her knees coughing. Her whole body was shaking as she took several deep breaths, trying to breathe normally.

'What's wrong with me?' she asked herself, as her body felt like several pounds of iron. Her vision was already getting hazy and she could feel her face feeling warm.

'I'm…sick? I've been running for so long I forgot to take care of myself…' were her thoughts as she weakly tried to continue.

She wanted to get out of this forest so that those…those people wouldn't find her. She didn't want to go back to that place, ever. Unconsciously she gripped something hanging from around her neck, determined to get out of here sickness or not. Her body had other plans though. Slowly she felt herself getting more exhausted and tired. Her vision was starting to fade in and out from black to the path in front of her. It was getting harder to see and stay standing up. All of a sudden she saw someone moving in front of her and she quickly took a step back.

'N-no!! I thought they had gone the other way, I don't want to go back go away...please…GO AWAY!!!' she mentally shouted but had said the last part out loud making the person in front of her suddenly stop. She felt her back hit against the tree and she slid down onto the cold wet ground, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Please…just go away…" she whispered as tears were spilling from her eyes under the hood of the cloak as she let out a raspy breath. She was starting to loose consciousness faster and flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not going to hurt you, just take it easy…" she heard a voice above her say. She didn't care at the moment. All she wanted to do was leave her pain and just rest.

'Just don't hurt me…'

………………………….

He stared down at the unconscious figure in front of him. 'I wonder what happened to make them react like this…' he thought as he lifted the figure up into his arms and was surprised at how light and lithe the person was.

'It must be a girl. That voice kind of gave it away too. Better get her out of this weather…' he added and without another thought he took a butterfly wing out of his pack and crushed it and disappeared from the forest.

He reappeared in front of the inn in Payon town and hurried inside, where he was met with the warmth of the roaring fire and other travelers just taking a nice break from the storm that had appeared. Just as he was heading towards the stairs, he felt his hood of his own cloak being pulled down revealing dark auburn locks and light brown eyes as he was suddenly pulled away and almost dropped the girl.

"Whoa!! Hey what's the…oh hey Kaze." He sighed as he shifted the girl in his arms. His friend raised an eyebrow as he pointed a finger to the person he was carrying.

"Yo mage-boy carrying your girlfriend?" he asked snickering.

He glared at his friend. Despite him being an assassin, he was pretty laid back and opened. Not to mention very annoying with his comments of trying to get him hooked up with a girlfriend. God knows how long he's been trying to set him up with someone since he was a thief. He was still wondering if he should or shouldn't know how Kaze knew all these girls.

"Stop with the mage-boy junk Kaze." He grumbled, "you know my name so use it before you accidentally catch on fire."

Kaze held his hands up in defense while laughing.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry Zion." He replied running a hand through is chocolate locks. "but you still haven't explained why you're carrying around that person in your arms."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes Zion replied, "I found her on my way back from trying to tame a Smokie."

"Hahaha no luck still huh." Kaze laughed while the other boy scowled. "I was getting so close until this storm showed up and scared them back into the forest."

"Eh, really? Any idea what someone would be doing in the storm?" he asked. Zion shook his head.

"I don't know either, but she seemed pretty scared of something."

"She? So it IS a girl…" the assassin smirked, but blinked when the boy in front of him suddenly disappeared and headed to where the others were sitting at. When one of the priestess at the table saw Zion, she stopped her conversation with the female assassin and stood up to walk over to wave to him, but saw that he couldn't wave back because of something he was carrying.

"Hey Zion everything alright?" she asked, looking at the brown-haired mage worried. It wasn't often that the mage showed concern to others even though she had known him long enough to tell what he was thinking at times. Light chocolate eyes looked back into her light green ones as he held the cloaked figure out to her.

"Drusilla, could you come with me and take a look at her?" he replied looking down at the figure.

He probably should've taken the hood off of her head but he had wanted to get out of the storm as soon as possible. Kaze was quiet as he looked between the girl and his mage friend wondering how exactly he had run into her.

Drusilla nodded and walked back to the other occupants at the table were wondering what was going on. "I'll be right back guys. Try not to let Rue drink too much alcohol." She said laughing, as the others soon joined in but the said person. The whole table erupted with laughter minus the said person who grumbled and sulked.

"Hahaha guys that only happened ONCE!!" a white haired assassin said as he took a swing of his glass, glowering at the others still laughing. The female assassin next to him laughed gently as she was patting his shoulder gently, trying to comfort him.

"Aw you know they're only teasing you Rue." She giggled.

"Yea, yeah…"

"Even though you should've expected Jak and Zeph to pull something like that after the training you gave them."

"Pift. Its not my fault the morons couldn't tale a few laps around morroc."

"It was the MIDDLE of the afternoon mister-high-and-mighty!!" retorted the dark haired thief.

"Yeah and since when do sages do physical labor like that!! I work my mind not my body!!" groaned the red haired sage next to the thief. "Ugh…I can still my muscles aching"

"You need to raise your endurance genius." Muttered Rue grabbing his mug again as Jak and Zeph grumbled and looked at each other.

"Do you think we maybe should've used sticky mucus instead of squid ink dear brother?" Zeph the red head sage said looking at the thief.

"Maybe then we could've used grand peco peco feathers to stick to him instead of having to 'borrow' Seth's marine sphere, those would give some color to that pale complexion of his brother." Jak added.

Rue's left eye started twitching as he was glaring at the two plotting brothers that were ignoring his presence, but was saved from the trouble of hurting the two brothers when the resident alchemist stood up and pointed a finger at the two.

"I KNEW IT!!" the light haired brown boy with golden tips said glared at the two. "I KNEW you two sneak in my room and take my Maria!!"

"Maria?" the two asked raising an eyebrow.

"MY PRECIOUS MARINE SPHERE YOU STOLE!! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN DO TO YOU WHAT YOU DID TO MY FIRST EXPERIMENT!!" Seth shouted chasing after the two throughout the inn, much to the amusement of the other occupants.

Zion and Drusilla quickly made their way up to where the rooms are, followed by a curious assassin trailing after them. Zion opened the door to the room he shared with Kaze and laid the girl on Zion's.

"Well first let's remove the cloak and she how she is…" Drusilla said and unclasped the cloak and removed it. Kaze whistled.

"Wow…for an acolyte she ain't half bad looking."

"Kaze grow up would you? Besides she looks younger than you" Drusilla sighed, as she brushed a few stray bangs away from the girls' face. Kaze stuck out his tongue childishly at the priestess.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, 'sides she doesn't look THAT younger, she looks to be about Zizi"

"Don't call me ZIZI!! IT'S ZION!! I AM NOT A LITTLE KID!!"

"Hahaha Zizi!! Of course you're a little kid! You're the youngest one here!!"

"So what!? At least I'm not an air-headed, womanizing assassin!!"

"Hey I am NOT an air head!!"

"Right…and that time with the firewall scroll was…?

"Are you calling me an idiot?"

"You said it not me….moron...and you didn't deny being a womanizer"

"I am not a womanizer! I simply like to compliment beautiful women"

"You FLIRT with anybody that has a good looking slim body, long hair and a pretty face."

"I do not!!"

"What about that one time with that MALE priest?"

"That was ONE mistake!! And he had a very convincing feminine face!!"

"Did it help that he was into other guys?"

"Argh!! Shut UP about that before I silence you myself!!"

"Try it poring for brains!!"

"C'mere you brat!!"

The priestess twitched annoyed at the mage and assassin arguing, did what she did best. Get them to be quiet by introducing them to her weapon. A nice THICK bible she carried around. Since she had let her friend borrow her stunner.

KA-THWAP!!!

"OWIE!!"

"Did you have to hit me THAT hard!?!"

"If it got the two you to quiet you then yes!! You're lucky I didn't have my stunner…"

"Couldn't you have just used lex divina and silenced us both?" grumbled Zion rubbing his head.

"Then you two wouldn't LEARN anything. Now shut up before I get out the stone table." The priestess retorted.

The mage and assassin now supporting new lumps on their heads gave each other one last look before they turned their attention back to the girl who was gently placed onto the bed.

Dark purple locks were wet and sticking to her face as there was a visible flush there. She was taking deep breaths and moaned every few seconds. Putting a hand onto the girl's forehead she quickly pulled it back.

"Her forehead is BURNING!! Kaze go downstairs and get me a tub or bucket of water along with a wash cloth." Drusilla said hurriedly. The assassin nodded and disappeared out the door.

"What do you want me to do?" Zion asked as he watched the priestess at work. He watched as Drusilla carried the lavender haired girl off to the bathroom, along with the girl's traveling bag.

"Get a first aid out, I'm going to change her out of her wet clothes and let them dry then you can help me check for any injuries." The priestess replied slamming the door behind her.

Zion blinked as he stared at the wooden door. Walking back to his bed he kneeled down and pulled out his first aid kit that he kept in his bag and laid it on the dresser. He looked to the side and saw the girl's own satchel and sighed. He picked it up and headed to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Drusilla poked her head out and looked confused at why Zion was holding out the girl's bag.

"If you're going to change her out of the acolyte clothes, don't you think she should have a pair of pajamas or spare clothes to put on?" he asked.

Drusilla blushed embarrassed as she laughed nervous, taking the satchel.

"Whoops, thanks Zion I'll be done in a minute." She said and shut the door behind her.

Once the door was closed the priestess laughed lightly as she held the satchel and walked back to the unconscious girl.

"I can't believe I forgot to get a change of clothes for her." Drusilla said to herself as she placed the bag next to her and laid the girl in the tub.

She then started to peel off the wet cloak and put it on one of the hooks that were on the wall. She then removed the other things the girl had on, the socks, cuffs, gloves, shoes and the outer part of the acolyte uniform. Slowly she unbuttoned the top of the dress and removed it. Once she saw what was underneath it though she took a sharp gasp.

"Oh my lord…"

The mage shrugged as he sat on his own bed and was about to lie down, until a small brown leather pouch was spotted on the floor. He picked it up and was surprised by the weight of the object that was inside.

'I wonder what's inside…I know it's not mine nor is it Kaze's or Drusilla's…' he thought as he tossed the bag up and caught it with his hand. "Should I look…?" Zion asked himself staring at the pouch.

He silently debated for about two minutes before shaking his head. "It wouldn't be right…it intrude on her belongings." He said quietly and put the pouch secure in the drawer.

As he closed the drawer up, the bathroom door quickly opened up and Drusilla came back in with a pale face as she held the girl in her arms. He could see the acolyte clothes hung in the bathroom while the girl was wearing a long sleeved forest green nightgown. Getting up immediately he helped the priestess put the acolyte onto the bed. He was worried; not only for the girl, but about Drusilla. There was very little that could make her face go as white as it did. And that wasn't a lot of things.

"Drusilla…what did you see…?" Zion asked, suddenly wondering if the acolyte girl was actually someone dangerous.

"You'll see Zion…" she whispered as she looked over the girl. Drusilla had taken her hair out of the low pigtails so her hair was flowing around her.

Looking at the priestess wordlessly he brought out the first aid kit as Drusilla took a deep breath and rolled up the sleeves of the nightgown up to her elbows. Zion's eyes widened, as he stared at what exactly he was staring at. Scars upon scars were embedded into her light skin, there looked to be deeper and newer ones near the girl's wrist.

"Why would she…I mean…what HAPPENED to her!?" exclaimed Zion trying hard not to yell, but he couldn't help but refuse to calm down. Wasn't it a sin against god to commit suicide? And here was an acolyte had the markings that she had tried several times!

Drusilla just shook her head as she bandaged up the scarred skin after she had finished applying some medicine and a small heal spell. "She was still unconscious when I was washing her up, though she did flinch a bit whenever I applied pressure to her wrists…"

"I see…" was all Zion said, since by this time Kaze had come back carrying a small tub of warm water and a washcloth.

"Here's the water and washcloth you asked for. Anything else?" the assassin asked.

"No…you two go downstairs. I'll stay with here and watch over her." She replied dipping the washcloth into the water and laying it on her forehead.

"You sure? I mean this is Zi-…er...Zion and my room…" Kaze replied quickly saying his friend's name when he saw him muttering the spell for a particularly nasty lightning bolt.

"I'll watch her. You and Kaze can go back to the others." Zion replied folding his arms and dismissing the spell. Kaze let out a relieved breath as he held a hand to his heart trying to calm it down.

"You sure?" Drusilla asked looking at the young mage. She really didn't want to force him to watch her.

"Yeah, I was going to just read anyway. I don't exactly want to be down there when Zeph and Jak spike Rue's drink…again." He muttered. "and that includes you too Kaze."

Drusilla threw a withering glare at the assassin who was quickly retreating out of the room when he heard what his mage friend had added at the end of his sentence.

"Whoops sorry but I think I hear the others calling, see ya!!" and with that he ran off.

"That stupid little…conniving…son of a, just wait until I get him…" growled Drusilla as she stomped downstairs. "him and the two other stooges are going to get a nice holy light blast right in the kisser…"

Zion winced at the threat as the door closed behind the fuming priestess. 'Never get on Drusi's bad side or make her agitated…' he thought to himself, using the nickname he had given the priestess. He sighed and did a short silent prayer for the three stooges. He grabbed a chair along with his book and got comfortable as he watched over the acolyte as the candlelight glowed in the room.

……………………

I'm so tired of being here,

Suppressed by all my childish fears

Zion shifted in his chair and his eyes quickly opened as he looked around the now darken room. 'Damn…I rest my eyes for five minutes and I fall asleep…' he thought to himself. He looked over to the other side of the room where Kaze was. He could hear Kaze snoring and figured the assassin got into bed few hours ago. He got out of the chair as he groaned about sleeping in that uncomfortable chair for so long.

'Dang muscles cramped up practically…wait a minute…who's singing?'

Wide awake now he looked towards the bed and let out a quiet gasp. The girl was missing. He was going to be in big trouble with Drusilla if he didn't find her. Especially if she went through with what she did to the three stooges. Stretching out his limbs a bit more, he stood there quietly and listened to who ever were singing.

And if you have to leave

'cause your presence still lingers here

and it won't leave me alone

He started moving slowly through the room, and heard that it was actually coming from the balcony that was in the room. He made his way to the balcony and gently pushed the doors opened. There, as the clouds of the storm were passing over, the moon suddenly appeared making a sort of tranquil glow coming down. This time he could hear the lyrics much stronger now.

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

He stepped closer to the source and he shouldn't be surprised that it was the acolyte he had found that was singing. Though…as he listened more closely he thought he could hear a sense of longing and sadness from it. He shook his head of those thoughts. He didn't even know the girl, and here he was already getting ideas from a stupid song?

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears

I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have

All of me

"You know that's a very depressing song, take requests?" Zion asked interrupting the girl, catching her off guard as she swerved around and glared at him as she held out her swordmace.

"…….who are you….?" She asked not taking any chances as she was in a defensive position

Zion took a few minutes to examine her. Her sleeves to her nightgown were rolled up showing the bandages that were wrapped there. The auburn haired mage also noticed that she was slightly shaking and she was taking quick gasps of breath. He took a small step forward and introduced himself.

"My name is Zion. I'm the one who saved you from the storm before you went unconscious." He replied. "what were you doing in the middle of the payon forest? Didn't you see the storm coming?"

The girl frowned.

"In….the forest? Saved me…?" she whispered in a confused tone. Was she saved? What had happened to her.? All she could remember was something…something important. Her eyes suddenly widen as a look of fear was replaced on her face. Dropping her weapon she immediately held her head. Zion noted that her face had gone to almost a deathly pale as her eyes widen and she started to sweat.

"N-no!! I don't want to…let me go…don't t take me back!!" she practically cried out as tears were seeping through her eyes as she fell to her knees.

The mage getting worried for the girl who had suddenly changed moods strode over and wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her form shaking uncontrollably in his arms.

"H-hey!! Calm down, tell me what happened so I can help you!" he said trying to get the girl to say complete sentences instead of fragments. But nothing seemed to work. She was near hysterics and didn't look like she was going to calm down anytime soon. At this rate she was probably going to wake the entire inn. He needed to do SOMETHING to calm the girl down. He liked to stay warm tonight and not get kicked out of the Inn.

He looked at the girl and just as it looked like she was about to let out a loud cry, he then without thinking covered the girl's lips with his own. Effective immediately, the girl's body shaking stopped as so did her cries. He could still feel the girl's cheeks stained with tears as her eyes slowly closed and fell back into the darkness. Zion pulled away…in shock of what he had done as now he had an exhausted acolyte that had cried herself to sleep that refused to let go of his robes.

"What…the HELL did I do?"

To Be Continued…….