By chance

I recently discovered s-Cry-ed and it has made me a die hard fan. Thus, I decided to contribute to the s-Cry-ed community here. As I watched the series, I became very interested in Scheris and Ryuho's past, in particular the event that brought them together. I couldn't help but wonder how things would have gone if it hadn't been Ryuho who saved her, but Kazuma. I must say I'm surprised that nobody has tried this yet but I guess this makes me a trailblazer. Cool enough. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

I don't own s-Cry-ed or any of its characters. I'm just using them for this fan material and am making zero profit so I still have to get a job. Sad but true. ONE-SHOT FIC

It was dark and cold in her cell. Scheris shifted uncomfortably on the hard concrete ground she was curled up on. The girl could vaguely hear the mocking remarks and laughter of her captors. To add insult to injury, it was the gang who had taken her in that was doing this. They were just a bunch of punks who happened to find her and discover she had an alter power. Somehow, they got it in their heads that this could make them stronger and had taken her in (enslaved was more like it).

It had been tolerable for a while. After all, she now had a roof over her head and an assured meal a day. That was far better than when she had been running around by herself, being lucky if she could get her hands on something as meager as an apple a week. So she had put up with them for a while. She helped them steal, heal injuries with her alter when she could and even lie to HOLD about the location of the gang's hideout.

Yes, it had all been tolerable until today. She thought and gently brushed a stray lock of ocean-blue hair out of her face.

Several of the stronger members had decided to steal from a HOLD supply convoy. As usual, she had been forced to come with them as an "ace in the hole". Despite her protests, they thought that alters could do anything, and when she tried to explain that hers was just barely able to heal people, they had beaten her. So Scheris had opted to keep her mouth shut to avoid any further "retribution".

The plan had been the same as any other thieving job the gang did, overpower the opposition, take what they wanted and beat feet. That oh so well conceived strategy had fallen apart when another alter user had shown up, this one with HOLY. She could still see him, his red eyes, like fire that had somehow frozen and short emerald-green hair. He used some kind of alter that looked vaguely human and attacked on his command.

Zetsuei; yes I think that was its name. Scheris recalled.

So what had the thieves done? Oh, exactly what she had always expected but had still been completely unprepared for: they sent her to fight the HOLY member. The man had glared at her, his eyes so cold, so calculating, so ruthless. She had been terrified by that man, so much so that before she could stop herself, she was running. She ran away from a battle she had no chance of winning. It wasn't her fault, her alter wasn't as powerful as that man's.

Scheris hadn't discovered the fate of her "companions" until she was found by the rest of the gang. They had yelled at her, cursing her name and blaming her for the deaths of their friends. Dead, they had been killed by the HOLY man. She had nearly cried as she tried again, valiantly to explain herself. It had fallen on deaf ears and Scheris received a fierce beating, then she'd been tossed into this cell.

She tried to move another stray strand of hair away from her eyes and winced as her fingers accidentally brushed up against her swollen right cheek. This one had been much worse than any of the others; she suspected she might even have a broken rib or two. God, why was she forced to help these pigs? She may not have had much of an alter, but they didn't even deserve her limited power. If only she was stronger, if only her alter was stronger, she could do...

Scheris' thoughts trailed off. What would she do if she had a stronger alter? If she could escape, what then? She had nothing outside this compound. Would she go back to roaming the Lost Ground without any direction or care from others? The mere thought frightened her. Frightened her badly.

Suddenly the room seemed much colder and she brought her thin violet jacket closer around her small body. Scheris' large blue eyes took a fleeting glance around the cell another time. Nothing but concrete surrounded her, save for a small pane of glass that looked into the room where her cackling captors stood, continuing to insult her. The only door was locked securely and she couldn't break it down. She could barely bring herself to look around.

"Aw look at the little bitch. She looks real sad in there don't ya think?" She heard one of the men chuckle.

"Yeah, but it's her fault for getting our friends killed." Another growled.

Scheris brought her legs as close to her body as she could and buried her face in them. It wasn't her fault! She just wasn't strong enough. She got scared. I'll do better next time! I promise! She yelled in her mind, hoping they could hear and would end this.

A sudden rumble startled her from her fearful musings. She tried to sink deeper into herself. It had to be those animals who called themselves human, coming back for a second beating. She was going to get hurt again; that had to be it. All at once, there was a deafening explosion followed by a hail of dust and concrete chunks. Scheris clapped her hands over her ears to protect them from the noise. Dust and bits of concrete bounced off her shoulders harmlessly.

Scheris blinked her hidden eyes, realizing this was very different from what she expected. If they weren't here, that meant that something worse was heading this way. Her face slowly unburied itself and she hazarded a glance around. What she saw made her gasp in shock. The area where her captors had once stood was cloaked in a dust cloud. The walls dead in front of her were torn and crumbling. It was as if a bomb had just gone off.

That metaphor made Scheris' eyes widen. Maybe it was HOLD, come back for revenge for the attack on the convoy! Maybe they were searching for her right now! The blue haired girl scurried into the nearest corner and scanned the area with fearful blue eyes.

"Ha! This job was barely worth my time!" A male voice proclaimed loudly. "You guys are just a bunch of helpless punks with an attitude! Not even an alter user among ya, nothing pisses me off more than a fake job!"

Scheris tried to locate the source of the boastful words. The dust just ahead of her began to settle, and she was able to discern the shape of a man. His back was too her, and he seemed to be in a battle stance, one fist rising in anger. He was dressed in a simple pair of ash-grey pants, a matching jacket and a barely visible magenta shirt.

As the dust finally settled completely, Scheris let out another gasp. Along his right shoulder were three curved spikes, each a vivid shade of red. His hair reached for the sky wildly, its dark red color making it look like a flame. But the thing that drew her attention most was his right arm. It was covered entirely in what looked like gold armor, and his clenched fist resembled a ruby.

"Yeah that's right, run ya coward bastards!" The man yelled again, his voice mocking and just as fiery as his hair.

The man relaxed his combat stance after a moment and the gold armor, ruby fist and red spikes all shattered like glass then vanished. That proved it, this man was an alter user. When his alter power vanished, his hair darkened to a cedar color and fell limply over his face. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his ash-grey pants and kicked a stone.

"Heh, that was damn boring. Not even a good fight. I'm gonna have ta talk to Kimishima when he gets here. I don't do these kinds of crap jobs." The man grumbled indignantly.

Scheris swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to force her body further into the corner. But her left foot accidentally shoved a sizable rock to once side, causing an agonizingly loud scraping noise. To add to that, Scheris let out a cry of surprise at the sudden noise, her attention had been too focused on the cedar haired man to stop herself.

The man turned casually, his jaw pushed forward in curiosity and one brow up. Scheris froze under his gaze, the man's amber eyes regarded her with a mixed expression; he was both perplexed and intrigued. The man turned fully and stared at the blue haired girl for a moment.

"Hey," the man yelled, "you another one of those punks?"

Scheris didn't move, didn't think. She didn't dare even breathe.

The man quirked his brow once again in silent inquiry, unsure what to make of Scheris. With the grace and silence of a panther, he leapt into the room and started toward her. Scheris scooted further into her corner, it had become her last wall of defense but she doubted it would do anything to deter this man. The man stopped as he noticed this, his own doubts seeming to form, and turned his gaze to the remnants of the cell. Suddenly he smiled; it was carefree and possibly even quirky.

"Oh I get it, you're a prisoner." The man said and turned back to Scheris. "Well, guess that makes me the knight in shining armor, huh?"

Scheris regarded him with wide eyes. Though, she wasn't quite as frightened as before, she remained worried. The man seemed to pick up on this and held up his hands in a comforting way and smiled reassuringly. That single action was possibly the kindest thing anybody had done for her since her mother died.

"Hey, hey, cool it. I ain't gonna hurt you. Why don't you tell me your name, huh?"

"…Scheris." She whispered, uncertainly.

The man smiled again. "Scheris, huh? I like it." He pointed a thumb at himself. "Name's Kazuma. Nice ta meet ya."

Scheris' body became more relaxed. She regarded him with her large blue eyes, wondering if this was all some kind of insane dream. The man, Kazuma, strode forward and offered her a hand covered in a black fingerless glove. Scheris stared at it, completely ignorant of what to do with it. She slowly turned her gaze up to the cedar haired man, and saw the warm, reassuring look in his amber eyes. Slowly and uncertainly, she reached for his hand and found herself practically yanked to her feet.

"You alright?" He asked.

Scheris turned her gaze to the floor and nodded quietly, still shy and uncertain of this man. When she glanced back up Kazuma grinned at her and she found it contagious as an almost imperceptible smile graced her features.

"Um, thank you." She said quietly.

"Hey no prob." Kazuma said and put his hands in his pockets again. "Alright, now that all that's outta the way guess I'll be on my way. I gotta find my friend before he decides to leave me here." Kazuma said casually and turned to walk away.

Scheris stared at his retreating form for a moment, smile vanishing, then, "But, what am I going to do?"

Kazuma stopped and regarded her over his shoulder with a bemused expression. "What do ya mean 'what are you going to do'? You can leave here and do whatever ya feel like. After all, you're free now, right?"

That last sentence struck Scheris like a thunderbolt. "Free"? Was she really? That meant she would have to go back to her old life style! She didn't want to wander the Lost Grounds for the rest of her life! Scheris desperately searched for an answer to her problem, until an unsubtle 'ahem' made her look up at Kazuma. He was watching her out of one eye, standing there as if they were in the city rather than in a destroyed building in the mountains of the Lost Ground. Evidently he was just as curious as she was as to what she would do now.

"Um, could I come with you?" Scheris asked before she could stop herself.

Kazuma blinked in surprise. "Stay with me?" He suddenly chuckled. "Yeah, right, stay with me. You don't even know me, why the heck would you want to do that?"

"I… I don't know." Scheris admitted quietly. "But, I don't know anywhere I can go."

Kazuma regarded her for a moment, his casual humor slipping away and being replaced with empathy. He rolled his amber eyes upward and made a thoughtful sound. Scheris watched him, hoping he might accept, preparing herself for a rejection.

"Well," Kazuma drug that word out for a moment, causing fear to well up in the blue haired girl's stomach, "I guess me and Kimishima could take you into town. Then we can see what ya think then. How's that?"

Scheris stared at him for a moment, amazed. It wasn't quite accepting, but by no means was it a rejection. Maybe she could prove herself to him in the time it took to get to the town he spoke of. The blue haired girl nodded her approval and Kazuma grinned.

"Alright then, let's go find Kimishima."

With that Kazuma turned tail and strode toward the impromptu entrance he had made with his alter power. Scheris watched him for a moment then came back to her senses and jogged to catch up with him. For the first time in a long while, she had found hope again in the hopelessness of the Lost Ground.

And done.

Now I realize that Scheris isn't like she is in the series but this is supposed to be before HOLY, when she was still a simple Native Alter user. In the brief bits of information I got from the series, Scheris finds most of her bravery and strength from her love with Ryuho when he rescues her. I was trying to show her as she may have been before that. I apologize if anybody seemed particularly out of character but I have only recently watched all of the series so I have yet to get a full bearing on the characters.

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to review.

GN