Aurea: Re-redrafted the story once again (I can never make up my mind!)

Some chapters (and names) have been changed completely or combined with others and the writing has been cleaned up a little, though the overall premises of the story will remain the same. Each chapter is being rewritten one at a time, and should be hopefully done by the end of the week, if not before.

Kiyone Hiroyuki is now Vida Valentine! (Oh the alliteration! ~~) She is of course still a witch.

**And last but certainly not least** A special thank you to those who have continued to read even though I hadn't updated in so long! Your persistence is what gave me the will to return, rewrite and finish! :)

Heroes of Aster

Chapter 1- Encounter

As expected, even for a water witch, sailing amidst a storm was not a good idea.

But it was too late for Vida to turn around.

Taking in a few deep breaths, she closed her eyes to shut out her surroundings. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky, circling her like prey and once gentle ocean waves now started pulling Vida's sailboat aggressively, as if willing her to be swallowed into a watery grave. Vida did not think that there could ever be a storm that she couldn't overcome, but nature had a way of humbling even the bravest people. She clung onto the edge of her boat with shivering hands, ducking her head from the sting of the salt water that was increasingly mounting onto the deck.

The water was getting rougher with each passing second; Vida feared that her small boat was going to capsize. She tried to tame the water by focus her magic on the approaching waves. A stray wave crashed against the boat weakly and receded back into the ocean, leaving the boat mostly unscathed. Vida let out a sigh of relief. The waves had finally started to calm a little. Unfurling the sail she decided the best course of action was to head east, into the eye of the storm. However, before she could reach the centre of the storm, sparks of lightening flared in the sky.

Vida fell to her knees shaking.

The sky flashed again. Unable to move or react, Vida barely registered the incoming wave or voice shouting behind her as her boat capsized into the ocean.

Vida sank lower into the cold, dark depths of the water. She could feel her lungs being crushed by the pressure, her throat burning for air. As her vision blurred, a hand appeared before her. Whether it a hallucination or not, she wasn't too sure, but she reached for it anyway.

It pulled her out of the water roughly. Vida flailed about helplessly in the air as a young man hauled her to the ship at a frightening speed. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for a hard landing but instead she found herself in a pair of strong arms. Vida opened her eyes to see a green haired man staring down at her.

"You alright?" he asked, but didn't wait for a response before letting her go and pushing her out of the way. He ran towards one of the loose ropes attached to the sails, "go to the kitchen while we deal with this storm."

He quickly pointed at a door above the stairs before working on the task at hand.

Vida made her way across the deck as fast as she could, slipping a few times on the wet grass, before making it to the stairs. She had reached the kitchen, shut the door and sank to the ground. The rush of fear had finally left, leaving only numbness and fatigue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~xx~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The young man with the straw hat stared at his silent guest who sat half hidden by the blankets leaving only her dark brown eyes and a few strands of wavy her black hair visible. The reindeer had found her asleep on their kitchen table, rushed her to the infirmary and wrapped her in a suffocating amount of blankets.

"So who are you?" the young man asked with innocent curiosity. Vida shuffled back slightly as he drew closer, hovering very close to her face clearly unaware of her growing discomfort.

"My name is Vida. Vida Valentine" she said quietly. "Thank you for saving me…"

"Oh it's alright!" he replied happily. "Anyway, I'm Luffy."

Luffy pointed at himself before introducing the rest of his friends who in turn either smiled or nodded at her.

"Vida-chan is it? It's a pleasure to meet you" Sanji appeared in front of her suddenly, kneeling down, delicately holding her hand in with one hand while shamelessly pushing Luffy away with the other. "Now there's no need to be scared of us, we would never harm a beautiful flower like you."

"Sanji-san I think you're scaring her." Brooke stood over Sanji, his skeletal fingers resting lightly over his blazer. "But then again I'm the scariest one here! Yohoho skull joke!" he laughed manically before adding 'may I see your panties', which earned him, as well as Sanji, a smack each from an infuriated Nami, whose patience had run thin. Once Chopper had discharged his patient Nami chased them out of the room. With the exception of Robin and Nami the rest of the crew cleared out of the room to have dinner. The two ladies brought a few articles of their clothing for Vida to choose from before she could joined them for dinner, as her cloak and dress lay drying on the chairs.

"I should be charging you for these." Nami joked, but she noticed that her guest seemed too withdrawn to laugh. She exchanged a discomfited look with Robin. "So… Vida, would you mind telling us why you're sailing alone?"

Vida fidgeted slightly but answered, "I was- I'm going back home… but I didn't think I'd get caught in a storm like this. I owe you guys my life."

"Sail home in a boat like that? That's crazy!" Nami exclaimed. "This is the grand line! There's no way a rowing boat like that one could sail between islands!"

"I know. Now I can see that it wasn't such a good idea." Vida replied, somewhat embarrassed about being reprimanded by strangers.

"But, wait a minute. There are no islands within at least a week of this place. Where are you even going?"

"I'm from a country called Aster."

"Aster?" said Nami.

"I've heard of it." Robin intervened in the conversation. "It's quite a distance from here however, certainly not somewhere you can travel to with such light equipment." In Robin's hand was Vida's dress. It was a plain medium length black dress with no distinct markings other than an emblem on the breast, a gold star hanging on a crescent moon.

"Hey, isn't that a uniform? You go to school?" Nami asked, taking the dress from Robin for closer inspection. "How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen." Vida replied, but didn't comment on her uniform. Robin studied the dress a minute longer.

"The insignia looks familiar…" said Robin "Are you by any chance a student at that Academy?"

Vida's eyes widened in surprise, Robin was much more knowledgeable on her country than she appeared. "Y-yes, I am. How did you know?"

"I've heard stories…" replied Robin. " A legend, they say that the priestess Erika Valentine left behind a very valuable treasure before her passing." Vida froze momentarily, but Robin continued. "The Grimoire of Ages, I believe. Though, of course, they are only rumours… "

Although Robin had voiced her uncertainty Vida could feel that she was confident in her words. She knew much, much more than a foreigner should. Robin watched her expectantly, as if she was waiting for confirmation of her story.

Vida took in a deep breath to calm herself, she mentally berated herself for her naivety in blindly revealing her name to people she'd just met.

However before they could press on the subject Chopper appeared at the doorway, calling them up for dinner. Vida smiled at him thankfully and quickly followed him and Nami out of the room. Nonetheless before Vida left she noticed Robin's eyes were still set on her and despite her smile she was aware that their conversation wasn't over.

To be Continued...