Hello Marheavenninja here, feeling that I should warn you that this fic starts after the battle of Vestry, instead at the very beginning. You could read the first four volumes or watch until around episode 15 (I admit, don't like the anime enough to bother to look what the chapter this starts at corresponds to) and you'll be fine.
Chapter 1: Game start
In the midst of celebrating of a recent defeat of the chess pieces in Vestry and the people having their farmland restored the moon started to project an image of a man with long blonde hair and a pointed hat in black robes. The villagers started panicking.
"Greetings residents of Mär heaven." Said the image, "We, the Chess Pieces wish to invite all who want to rebel against us to the Headhunt Games."
"I knew it!" Shouted the dog, Ed, "Their second stage for this time!"
"What do ya mean this time?" The blonde other worlder, Ginta, asked.
"Last time they did a tournament style series of fights called the War Games, it looks like, this time, they may be hell bent on eliminating their enemies."
"We'll be meeting you at Ragenrave castle at the center of Mär Heaven." The man continued then projecting an image of the map of the world with the meeting place marked in red. "Since we have taken over this area we'd figure it would make a convenient meeting place." The image of the man returned "We haven't forgotten our grudge from six years ago. If you fail to show up then we'll burn Mär Heaven to the ground. We look forward to seeing you there, especially the ärm Babbo and the boy using him. The time is noon the day after tomorrow. We'll be waiting." The man's image disappeared as he laughed.
"Now's not the time for fooling around." Said the blue haired princess, Snow putting her hand on Ginta's shoulder, "Let's go to Ragenrave!"
"Yeah but the whole world is depending on us." Said the black haired farm boy, Jack, shivering. "That's a lot of pressure on a country bumpkin like myself."
"True, but the Cross Guard has lost morale and weakened since Dana died. So we can't really expect very many of them to show up. We kind of have no choice." Said Ed.
"Well who needs 'em." The blonde man wearing a blindfold, Nanashi, shrugged. "As long as you got me you've got nothing to worry about."
"I suppose we don't really have a choice." Said, the pink haired witch, Dorothy, 'Besides, maybe the chess can give me information about her.'
"Ginta, go." Encouraged one of the villagers, "We can take care of ourselves but right now, Mär heaven needs a hero, and you're that hero." Ginta froze and looked at him. "Besides, you gave us hope, they need that right now." He was paralyzed realizing that he's already under so much pressure and the games haven't even started.
"All right." He said with his fists clenched.
"Well said Ginta, now onward!" Said the hammer and ball weapon with a mustache Babbo.
A couple days later, some time before noon, civilians were hanging around, playing cards, getting drunk in broad daylight, and even keeping their eyes on the gate. Few have come but they didn't seemed to be allied with the cross guard, for all of them lacked their emblem.
"Man it's almost noon." One of the men groaned shuffling a deck of cards. "Don't tell me this is it." He dealt the cards between him and his partner.
"We're all gonna die aren't we? I mean for crying out loud it doesn't look like any of these contenders are ärm wielders." Said his partner, panic wavering in his voice.
"Hey look!" Shouted another man in the distance. They, as well as the other contenders turned to see an army of men and some women coming into the castle walls all wearing the emblem of a cross somewhere on their clothing.
"It's the cross guard!" Someone cried.
"Is that-" One of the men began when they saw an elderly man with spiky grey hair and blue robes entering the gate.
"It is!" Continued another, "It's Gaira! The third in command of the last war games!" Gaira looked around.
"Alviss, Alan isn't here." He addressed the young man with purple spiky hair wearing a long sleeved top accompanied by a fairy. "Did he say anything when you met with him?"
"I don't think-" He began, thinking back to the time he ran into him guarding some training gates*.
"Well well, this has certainly been a while." They turned to see a red headed woman, her hair tied up in a bun and wearing a suit of armor with the cross guard's emblem on it. She was accompanied by a man with messy chin length black hair wearing brightly colored robes.
"Ah Elizabeth!" Said Gaira, "I thought you wouldn't come.
"Why not? Not like I have anything to loose." She said with a smirk.
"And who's this man?" Gaira asked.
"Oh, I'm Robert." The man introduced himself with a bow, "I'm Elizabeth's traveling companion. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." Gaira replied.
'How long is this guy gonna stick around?' Alviss thought looking over to Robert.
"Who is this woman?" Belle the tiny fairy whispered to him.
"That's Elizabeth, one of our members from the last war." Alviss whispered back. "Last time she was mostly there for support and didn't participate in the War Games." Elizabeth looked over to him.
"Ah Alviss, You've certainly grown up." She said looking up and down him. "You know now I'd probably date you if you were ten to twenty years older."
"What?" Belle shouted, Elizabeth then burst out laughing.
"Always joking as usu-" Alviss began.
"Whoa! Did we make it in time?" Shouted a different voice, interrupting Alviss. He turned to see the other worlder he invited to Mär Heaven and the talking ärm Babbo, along with their companions.
"Hopefully we made it in time." Said Princess Snow.
"Relax, this place was within Andata's range, since I snuck around here before." Said Nanashi.
"You've been everywhere, haven't you?" Ed commented.
"So where're the Chess?" Dorothy question
"Ah! You!" Jack shrieked when he spotted Alviss.
"Yo Alviss! Long time no see!" Ginta greeted with a peace sign.
"Ah … Yeah." Said Alviss. 'Ginta? This magical power … it's almost like he's a different person.' He then looked over to Ed, "Gaira, Alan's here." This left his seniors clueless. When noon struck a woman with long black hair in a white dress walked out of the castle.
"Welcome everyone. You have my deepest gratitude." She said.
"Princess!" The locals cheered.
'Princess? Like Snow?' Ginta thought, 'Why is she here."
"I will explain the rules of the Headhunt Games." She said. "Rule One, you are not allowed to use the ärm Andata. Rule two, you have to go to specific checkpoints, marked on maps that will be provided to you. When you reach a check point you must show the chess pawns there this seal." She holds up a metal amulet with a star on it. "Rule three, When you reach a town you may rest but only for a day. Rule four, forming teams is optional, but each team needs a leader, if that leader falls in battle, or surrenders then the whole team looses and is eliminated. Rule five, if you run into the Chess pieces you must battle them. Rule six, you're allowed to switch out team members in case one of them is injured. Rule seven, with the exception of those six rules, anything goes. Break any of those six rules and you'll be met with severe punishment."
"So this time it's a race." Alviss muttered. 'Whoever gets to the finish line first will win the war I presume.'
"This is less regulated than the War games from six years ago!" Ed commented.
"Yeah it seems like they want a quicker way to get rid of the opposition." Dorothy added. "Though I guess it could be expected since it looks like there are several independent parties this time around, so it would be a bother to keep track of them all."
"You all have the rest of the day to prepare for the Games starting tomorrow. Please use any of the shops in the city." Continued the princess. "Before you go, there are maps within the castle, please receive them in an orderly fashion."
A few hours later Team Mär were in Ragenrave's market.
"Let's see … what are we gonna need?" Snow asked.
"Food, of course!" Said Nanashi, "It's a necessity after all."
"I agree. We cannot keep up our strength without it." Said Babbo. "What do you think Ginta?" Ginta ignored him and ran around excited rushing to every stall to get a look at the merchandise.
"Oh lord, not again*." Moaned Jack.
"Ginta!" Snow shouted, "Now's not the time to goof off, we need to prepare to for this race!"
"Oh let him have a little bit of fun." Said Dorothy. "You'll never know if he's gonna die tomorrow, just like Dana."
"Besides we don't need to worry about food." Said Jack showing off his bracelet, "I can just grow our food."
"Okay, but what will we do about water?" Babbo asked.
"Well we could use Snow's nature ärm." Jack suggested. "Also we can use some of the streams in the area."
"Still we should still get some variety, I'd probably get sick of eating just vegetables." Said Nanashi.
"Okay, we don't have to worry about food for water from the sounds of it, but what else do we need?" Ed wondered.
"How about this?" Asked Snow holding out a bottle of rum.
"Yeah! I like your thinking!" Laughed Nanashi.
"No. Put that back Princess." Ed answered.
"Hey guys, what about medical supplies? Y'know, bandages and stuff?" Ginta asked with his hands behind his back.
"We don't really need to worry, besides, we have holy ärm to heal our injuries." Nanashi shrugged off. "Let's separate and look around for a bit."
"All right but meet back here." Ordered Ed before everyone walked off in their separate directions, Ginta and Babbo stayed behind along with Dorothy.
"Wha'cha got hiding there?" She asked.
"I'm curious as well." Said Babbo. Ginta showed them something wrapped up in a white cloth.
"It's filled with bandages and stuff. I thought we would need it just in case." He explained.
"Aw, that's considerate for you." She said, "You mind if I hang on to that?" Ginta held the bundle close to him. "Relax, dimension ärm zipper!" Then a giant zipper appeared out of nowhere, "This'll keep them safe."
"Okay, I'm trusting you on this." Said Ginta giving her the bundle. She then put it into the zipper.
Night time at the cross guard's camp on the outskirts of the city, most of the men had their guards down for the night by sleeping or chatting to one another. Alviss couldn't help but feel uneasy as he stared into the campfire, he kept having this unsteady feeling that someone is watching him. He kept looking over his shoulder, then his mind kept wandering back to Ginta and his safety.
"Is something bothering you Alviss?" Belle asked.
"I just can't shake this feeling that we're being watched." He said.
"Why not get some rest, I'll take a look." She offered.
"No, I think I'll stay up a little longer." He refused. He looked into the camp fire contemplating.
"Are you thinking about that boy?" Belle asked.
"Yeah, I wonder if Ginta will be really okay. I mean the war is going to be more harsh this time around …" He muttered to himself.
"Worried about the boy with Babbo Kiddo?" Alviss turned to see Elizabeth behind him, "You mind?"
"No mam." He replied scooting over giving her a place to sit down. "Please don't call me 'Kiddo' I'm sixteen."
"Well you're still under twenty, in other words, a kid." She laughed Alviss growled, annoyed. "Listen, if you're really worried about that kid why not go join his group so you could watch over him." She suggested.
"Me worried about that kid, no way." Alviss denied.
"Really now? How come I just heard you say that were worried about this Ginta kid to your fairy friend?" She sneered.
"But I can't just leave the cross guard." He excused.
"What's stopping you? Gaira? Other members? I'm sure they'll understand Kiddo." She said, "Hell we're even fighting on the same side so there's really no harm done."
"But …" Alviss began.
"No excuses, just get your ass in gear and join him. I'll take care of Gaira and the others." She interrupted with a wink. "Just as soon as we take care of our little thief." The two jolted their heads to the figure of a child who's gender is ambiguous due to the scarf covering their face. The child took something off a sleeping soldier then quickly stuffed it in their pocket and started running.
"Thirteen totem pole!" Alviss shouted then a totem pole sprang out of the ground cutting off their escape. Alviss ran forward to grab the child but their ring glowed summoning a flash of light blinding Alviss, once his vision cleared the child was gone. He then turned to Elizabeth. "Why didn't you do anything?"
"One, I'm tired, and two, I kinda wanted to see how far you've come these past six years." She said. Alviss glared at her. "Now go before you manage to loose them." Alviss huffed as he ran off. Belle followed behind.
"Oh and Belle is it?" Elizabeth said. The fairy stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"What?" She asked.
"Take care of Kiddo will ya?" She replied.
"You got it! I won't let anything happen to him!" She promised before flying off.
Holy crap it's been a long time since I wrote a Mär Fanfiction. Yeah this is basically a fix fic for Mär because I've been trying to get back into it, but I couldn't. I did love it when I was younger and I think it's a good gateway series. However there are things that just bothered me in the manga that weren't fixed in the anime and relationships that I wished were explored more *cough*Ashandhismentionedchildwhysomeseeinglydecen tpeopleareinthechessandtherelationshipbetweenDanaa ndAlviss*cough*. Though I will keep some scenes that were in the manga but will just be modified to fit the fic. Hope you enjoyed it and please don't hate me. If you don't want to kill me can you please read "Tales of the World: New Age Mythology" and "Nothing Out of the Ordinary for Us" ?
*See Volume 3 or episode 9ish
*See Volume 2 or episode 4
