A/N: A bit of background on the story.

Takes place 15 years after the events of "cleaved"

The world is a nuclear wasteland.

It will follow mostly three characters, Mariposa, Meteora, and an OC, Jenkins.

Set in A/U where an "E.D.F. or Earth defense force" existed.

Other things will be revealed as the story goes along.

2nd A/N: I just rewrote the first chapter, I felt like it could have used more. I hope I made it better than before, and not worse.

The Tale of Three

Chapter 1

15 years later

There it was. She saw it. She had been tracking it for who knows how many hours. Following it up mountains, through countless,deserted ruins, and now, she finally had it in her sights.

It was a lizard. It was no larger than 3 feet, but nowadays, things like that were more precious than anything else in the entire world. Well, what was left of it at least.

But, she had no time to dwell on that. She grabbed her knife. If she missed the throw, it was all over. The countless hours would have been for nothing. They didn't have much food left, besides a few expired protein bars. So there were no second chances. That's how things worked now.

She aimed. And… threw it. It flew through the air, and time almost seemed to stop, as if the fate of the world depended on this single moment.

Luckily, it hit its mark. Meteora breathed a sigh of relief. All the throwing lessons Jenkins had given her had finally paid off in the best way. But for a single second, she considered taking it for herself, leaving the others behind.

What? How could she be think of doing that? She wasn't about to abandon them after 15 years. They needed each other, and to be alone out here would likely mean a slow, painful death. She banished the thought from her mind and went to grab the lizard. It was still alive, but just barely. She grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the lizard. She then grabbed the lizard by the tail and started walking back to the camp. It suffered the whole way there, still twitching. She didn't put it out of its suffering though, killing it too early might spoil it. She didn't feel that much regret though. She had done hung alike this countless times.

When she got back to the camp, only Mariposa was there. Strange, but not the first time Jenkins went off to do his own thing.

Mariposa saw her and smiled, then spoke. "Hey, you're finally back! And you got that lizard!"

Meteora replies back. "Yeah, but it was probably the last one in the area. I think we're gonna have to move camp again. Soon. And Jenkins will probably want to keep moving anyways."

Mariposa got a discouraging look on her face. " Ugh. We just got to this place like a day ago. I wish we could stay here at least a little longer."

"Yeah I know. Where is he anyway? Is he out looking for this thing? I thought I told him I would take care of it." She held up the lizard, which had finally expired.

"No. He was just looking for something useful. Saw some abandoned buildings, so he decided to check them out."

Meteora rolled her eyes. "I doubt he's gonna find anything. Much less anything useful. The last time we found something in those ruins was that time we found a rusty steak knife." She held up the knife. "And that was weeks ago. How ruined cities have we been through since then? How many towns? At this rate our only hope will be finding someone else, but the odds are usually against us when it comes to other people. How we managed to survive this long still confounds me. Remember that time we had no water for 9 days? How did we even make it through that? Or that time Jenkins was so weak he couldn't walk, yet we still somehow managed to carry him 50 miles to that so called safe zone, which was then destroyed by a bunch of Septarians five days after we left! We have the power of luck on our side! That's the only explanation I can come up with!"

Mariposa interrupted her. "Okay sis, I get it, we shouldn't be alive. But that doesn't mean we've gotten out of every situation so easily. All of us nearly died when we were attacked by that group of scavenger. I still have scars from that little disaster. Or when we got caught in that rockslide. We shouldn't act like we have the power of luck on our side and expect to get out of every problem that comes our way."

They heard a voice behind them. "She's right Meteora. Out here, we can only depend on each other." They both turned. It was Jenkins, of course. Same coat. Same weird hand tattoo. Same expression that looked like he was constantly annoyed. He had a bag in one hand and tossed it on the ground.

He spoke. "Well, I got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Meteora looked at the bag. Maybe he had found something. "Give us the good news first."

"Alright. Good news is that I found a pillow." The pair looked at him, expecting more. "Sorry guys that's it."

Mariposa frowned. "Please tell me you have more good news."

Jenkins laughed, which was a rare occurrence. "Sorry. But you know we have to take what we can get, even if it isn't that much. However, the bad news is that as you know, everything that way is blocked off by a mountain range, and the only way up the mountain is a sheer cliff." He pointed in the direction that he came from. "So we're gonna have to find a way around it. And if my knowledge of this area is still correct, the only way that is still accessible is through the territory of the BL's."

Meteora was confused. "The BL's? Who are they?"

Jenkins got a slightly disappointed look. These two forgot things so easily. "Its short for the Black priests. A bunch of magic wannabes that are convinced that some dark magic survived the apocalypse. Led by some crazy lady, don't know who she is. They shouldn't be too dangerous. All they will really do is attempt to convert us to their little cult. If we move at night and stay hidden, then we should be fine."

Meteora struggled to remember the last time they came upon an organized group of survivors. It didn't go well for anybody, as they lost most of their food, and Jenkins was heavily injured. And there were only 5 of them that time. If these "Black priests" turned hostile, they might not make it out alive.

Jenkins looked at the lizard that Meteora caught. "Hm. Nice job. Finally got the little bastard, didn't you. Well I'm starving and I'm sure you guys are too. Mariposa, if you start a fire, you can get the first pickings."

A few minutes later a fire had been started, and the sky was beginning to darken.

Jenkins was confused. "What? It's night already?" He looked at his watch and growled. "Great. Watch has stopped. I don't have any idea how to fix it." He opened his bag and threw the watch in it. He paused, then rummaged around in the bag, grabbed the pillow he had found earlier, then threw it at Meteora, who caught it. "Alright Meteora, since you killed that lizard, you get first dibs on that pillow. Tomorrow Mariposa will get it, and then you again. Don't say anything about me getting it, I've moved beyond having somewhere comfortable to sleep. But then again, we're all basically used to that, aren't we?"

Meteora made a "tch" sound and grabbed the lizard, put it the knife and started slowly roasting it. A long silence occurred in which they all just stared at it.

Jenkins looked at them. For the hundredth time in a thousand days, he reflected in what brought him to this point. His service. The offer of a "top secret agency" dealing with "Magical threats." His rise up the ranks. His leadership. Then meeting her. That annoying butterfly. Which resulted in a story that could fill up fifty books. Then the merge. Then Seth. Then the end and somehow taking possession of the two sitting next to him. Then 15 years of surviving a world that was mostly desert and death. Then he just got deeper into his thoughts, and became oblivious of all surroundings.

Mariposa attempted to talk to him. "Hey Jenkins. Jenkins?" She snapped her fingers in front of his face, to no response.

Meteora laughed. "Don't bother Mari, he's reflecting on his past again. That should only take a few years." She laughed. "I don't blame him though. He probably has a lot to think about. As do we." She looked towards the sky. She got a sad look on her face. Mariposa knew that look. She braced herself for the question Meteora was about to ask. "Hey, do you think we will ever find our parents again?"

Mariposa looked at the ground. "Jenkins promised to us that he would find them one day and that we would be there. He's never not delivered on a promise before, so yes, I think we will find them."

Meteora spoke, but fast and frantically. "I know but what if's it too late? What if they're dead? What will we do if Jenkins dies? Only he really knows where we're going! And what if we get attacked and we-"

Mariposa grabbed Meteora by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Meteora occasionally had fits like this. They were not fun to witness and Mariposa liked to stop them as soon as she could. "Listen. Don't think about that. Don't think about what might happen. Think about what is happening. That is what's important. Nothing else."

Meteora leaned forward and hugged her. "Okay. Can you promise me that you'll always stick with me, no matter what?"

Mariposa hugged her back. She had already promised her that several times before, but another time couldn't hurt. "I promise."

They let go of each other. "Anyways.." Meteora said. "I think that lizard should be done." She took it out of the fire and tore off a piece.

"Hey." Mariposa day. "Jenkins said I get first pickings."

Meteora smiled. "Well I caught the thing."

"Yeah but I started the fire!"

They continued squabbling like this for a while until Jenkins snapped back to reality. He had finally decided to tell them the truth. But were they ready? How would they react? What would they want to do next? Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.

He really wasn't looking forward to this.

End chapter 1.

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter and please PM or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.