Protection

By Karu Leonnese

Chapter One: Transporters

Notes: Okay, second time around. Or third? This story was posted as 'Kago' before, but I decided randomly one day to revise it. Which meant first rewriting the first part, since my skills have improved. So here's the better, soon-to-beh finished version. Comments are appreciated, even if you didn't read the first version (which I'm deleting in case FF.N wants to get all uppity about a possible double post. I'm not taking any more chances…). Of course, nothing's that easy. After an entire sitting revising the first chappeh, the compeh ate half of it. Therefore, this is actually the revised-revised version. Version 3.0 Fun, ne?

Warnings: Violence, language and possible shounen-ai. I own nothing, probably not even the original idea. I'm just taking a spin. :grins: Caleb, Macchia and John are original charas, and they don't play too much of a role in the story. No Mary-Sues or anything. :winks:

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The clash of metal against metal echoed throughout the small arena. The two opponents separated for a moment, giving some space between them. The battle had lasted for some time already, and both combatants were now gasping for breath and rushed with adrenaline. Lavitz, the knight in green, held his spear ready, instincts calculating his opponent's next move. Caleb, the brunette in simple training gear, kept his sword at an angle, yelping slightly as he attempted to block the spear's attack. He barely met it in time, with a loud 'clank' from their weapons.

"Had enough yet, Lavitz?" Caleb grinned at the other, even though both knew who was really losing this fight.

His opponent returned the smirk. "I could go for a bit longer…but I really should be getting back." With that, Lavitz swung his spear and caught Caleb off guard, tripping the shorter boy. The brunette tumbled to the ground, his sword clattering next to him. Lavitz's spear met his gaze, pointed right below his chin and not faltering.

"Checkmate." The blond grinned and helped Caleb off the ground. The brunette groaned good-naturedly, beaten once more. Around them, the small crowd of townspeople that had assembled to watch them applauded. The combatants took a little bow. With the fight over, the crowd began to disperse, leaving the two to pack up their things.

"You're getting better," Lavitz commented absently, picking up the discarded sword and returning it to its owner.

"Or maybe you're getting worse!" Caleb laughed, wiggling out of his training armor.

"It just might be both," a voice came jokingly from behind them. The brunette turned to see a figure in a dark green cloak. The hood covered his hair and eyes, but his mouth was smiling.

Lavitz didn't even turn around. He didn't have to. "Finally taking a break from your books?" he asked good-naturedly.

The cloaked figure looked mock offended. "I came to see if this pupil of yours could finally beat the master. It appears that today wasn't the day, however."

Caleb felt a bit awkward at the pair's obvious familiarity. "I guess I'm gonna go," he waved and turned to leave. "But I'll beat you next time!"

"You wish!" Lavitz called after the retreating figure. He grinned and turned to the cloaked man beside him. "So…you must be pretty bored to come see a fight, your Majesty."

"Have I told you lately not to call me that?" the other let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Most definitely…Albert."

Pulling the hood down and revealing his face, Albert grinned, tugging on the hem of his light green tunic. "I swear you do that for no other reason than to torture me."

Lavitz shrugged, attempting to hide a smile. "Call it a force of habit. But seriously, does anyone from the castle know you're here?"

Albert waved a hand dismissively. "You're worrying too much. It's only town."

"I guess you're right. I'm packing up here and heading for home real quick. Wanna come with?"

Albert considered this, putting his hands on his hips. "I don't think so. I'm probably just going to walk around for a while and head home myself."

Lavitz nodded. "I guess I'll see you there then."

"Alright," he replaced his hood and turned down the road through town.

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Albert neared the entrance to Bale, walking along the stone path. He was taking his time, wandering slowly and stopping to talk to passersby. Outside the town, nearer to the forest, he saw a young woman around eighteen with bright red hair on the path coming towards the gates. She looked injured, walking with a limp. He ran outside the gates and along the path to her.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

The woman looked at him, eyes widening at first, but narrowing slightly after her initial shock. "Oh! It's nothin' really. I was attacked on th' way here."

Albert offered his hand to her. "Bale is right here, and you can heal yourself once we get there."

The woman's gentle smile flashed a devious smirk. "Too bad ya won't be gettin' there!"

"W-what?"

The slight moment of hesitation of the brunette was all that was needed. The girl whistled and six or seven men appeared from the forest, surrounding them. Albert looked around, surprised by this turn of events and cursing himself for leaving the safety of the city gates.

"Don't give us any trouble yer Majesty," the girl said softly, "An' I promise ya won't be harmed in our company."

Albert decided to play dumb. "Majesty? What are you talking about? I'm just a random traveler!"

One of the men behind him yanked the cloak's hood down. "Nice try."

So much for the nonviolent approach.

"I don't know who you are, or what you want, but if you don't leave me alone at once, I'm afraid I'll have to fight."

The girl crossed her arms. "Eight against one unarmed? I believe th' odds're against ya."

Albert winced. She was right. He didn't have his spear, or any weapon for that matter. Moreover, he was greatly outnumbered. Suddenly he regretted his choice not to go with Lavitz.

His decision was made for him. One of the men charged at him, intending to tackle him easily to the ground. Albert spun around and dodged, sending the man lunging to the ground instead. Turning back to his original position, he found the largest of the gang waiting for him. The man's fist collided hard into the brunette's jaw, knocking his head to the side.

Albert saw stars for a brief second, and then put a hand to the wound. It wasn't broken at least. It hurt like hell, but that he could worry about later. He wiped a small trickle of blood from his mouth and glared defiantly at the group.

"Ya morons! Yer not supposed ta hurt 'im!" the girl shrieked, stomping her foot angrily.

"You didn't tell us he was gonna be fightin' back!" the grounded fighter snapped back at her.

Seeing an opening, Albert turned to make a mad dash back to Bale. However, while watching the arguing pair, he wasn't watching the others. He ran right into the bigger man again. The king fell to the ground with the impact. As he scrambled to his feet, a strong hand grabbed onto his cloak at the neck, lifting him clear off the ground.

Before he could do anything, Albert felt something blunt slam into the back of his head. Then everything went dark.

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"What am I gonna do…?" Lavitz sighed for what seemed like the millionth time today. It was getting late, and there was still no sign of the king. Lavitz had gotten back to Indels Castle, only to find that no one had seen Albert since he had left this morning.

He had already looked around Bale for his friend, and finding nothing, he had resolved to search for him in the forest outside of town. It wasn't like Albert to leave town without telling Lavitz at least. If he wanted to brood, he shut himself in the library. If he wanted conversation, he went into town. This was something else, and it worried the knight to think that something might have happened to him.

The blond stood at the gates to the city, looking one last time through the streets, hoping that maybe he had missed the green cloak somewhere. No such luck.

"Anything yet?" Caleb's voice popped in, causing Lavitz to turn at him defensively.

Seeing who it was, he relaxed slightly, shaking his head. "Nothing."

"So, you're gonna go out there and look?" the brunette nodded to the forest that started a few feet from the gates.

"I suppose so," Lavitz sighed again and looked back at Caleb. "I'll be back soon. Just tell everyone not to worry, okay?"

With that, he ran into the forest determinedly, leaving poor Caleb dumbstruck at the gate, waving his arms frantically. "ME tell them? You two better come back here alive or I'll kill you!"

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When Albert awoke, it was getting dark. He mused he had been unconscious for a few hours at least. He hoped Lavitz would come looking for him soon. Even if he escaped, he still had to make it back to the city, and he wasn't in the best condition. His vision was still a bit fuzzy; whatever hit him must've hit hard. He wondered briefly if he had a concussion. The base of his head throbbed, right at the neck, not to mention his jaw. He reached up to inspect the wound on his neck, only to find his hands bound tightly in front of him.

"So yer up, huh?" the voice of the girl who had tricked him spoke up.

Albert didn't say anything, only blinking a few times to try to clear his vision again. He was at a campsite, leaning up against a large tree. Across from him, the young woman sat, tending a small fire. They appeared to be the only ones present, though he couldn't be sure the rest of the gang wasn't lurking around somewhere.

"Jeez…I'll kill John fer whackin' ya so hard! Moron put ya out fer half a day!" she got up and walked over to him, crouching down to stare eye level with him. "I'll tell ya, they ain't th' sharpest tools in th' shed."

Albert still did not reply.

"Wow, yer a talkative one, ain'tcha?" she rolled her eyes.

"I have no desire to make small talk with the person responsible for my kidnapping." He replied flatly.

The woman laughed a bit, almost sadly. "'S not like ya got anythin' better to do…" she was rewarded with a glare from the other. "Ah, whatever. Look, it's not really my fault yer here, though I doubt ya'd believe me."

"I can't say I do."

She sighed. "I suppose ya'd like ta know why yer here?"

He blinked once. "You'd tell me?"

She shrugged. "Why not? 'M just th' transporter. Fer starters, I'll introduce m'self. I'm Macchia."

He nodded politely. "I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you."

Macchia laughed, flicking a strand of red hair away absently. "No, I don't think it would be fer ya. I'd have like ta meet ya on better circumstances, but hey, that's life. So anyways, th' reason yer here is 'cuz Emperor Doel from Sandora wanted us ta bring ya to 'im. He promised my group a pretty impressive amount ta do it too. So it's nothin' personal, but I got a family ta take care of, ya know?"

"I see," Albert said curtly. Macchia got back up and returned to the fore, her back to him.

"Like I said, I wish we'd met under a more peaceful circumstance…"

"Perhaps someday we will," he said behind her, causing her to swirl around. While she had been tending the fire, Albert had managed to stand, and was now posed above her rather short stature. She squeaked once in alarm before he kicked a large piece of firewood at her legs, tripping her hard. "My apologies," he said quickly, before darting off into the forest.

"Craaaaap!" Macchia all but whined. She jumped to her feet and ran after the king.

Albert could hear running behind him a bit of a distance. If he could maintain his speed, he had a good chance of making it through the forest and into town before the woman could catch him. She might even give up, though he doubted that.

Suddenly a fallen tree branch hit his leg, and he took a running fall down a small hill. So much for maintaining speed. It took a moment longer than normal for him to get to his feet, considering his hands were still tied. He was just about to begin a new sprint when something grabbed tightly onto his ankle, causing him to fall to the forest floor once again. The hand that gripped his foot stood up quickly and roughly grabbed Albert by the cloak, yanking him to his feet once more.

"Ya just can't stay put, can ya?" a male voice growled, before Albert felt himself slammed into a nearby tree. His vision blurred again for a moment and the wind knocked out of him as he gasped for breath. The tree's bark scraped harshly against is face, leaving scratches on his cheek that he was sure were bleeding. But he couldn't worry about that right now. He was getting dizzy, and he might lose consciousness again if he didn't do something.

But there was nothing he could do. The man grabbed the back of Albert's cloak again and proceeded to drag him through the forest. The Serdian king stumbled behind him, tied hands reaching to his forehead in an attempt to see and think straight. He vaguely heard another pair of softer footsteps rustle through the dead leaves and a 'thunk' sound of something hard hitting flesh.

"Aww shit John! Ya banged 'im all up again!"

"Well, how'm I supposed ta keep 'im from runnin' off if I can't hit 'im a little!" John yelled, rubbing the lump forming on his head where Macchia had hit him. Albert didn't feel any sympathy toward his small injury.

"You thinka somethin'!" she hissed, taking Albert's cloak from him and leading the disoriented king back to the campsite. "Although I know thinkin' ain't yer strong point…"

"That's harsh…" John mumbled behind them.

She scoffed. "So's th' bruises yer givin' 'im, ya moron."

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End of the revised and expanded first chappeh. The next one'll beh along shortly, if I can remember what I was gonna do with this. If anyone has some suggestions, I'd love to hear them. :stops herself from typing like Macchia: Her accent's fun to do…Heh. So, yeah. Reviews are appreciated, and I hope everyone'll forgive meh for the sudden magic act from the fandom. :offers love…and cookies: