"I Wanna Push You Around, Well I Will"
...No matter the time period, no matter the world ya live in, I'll find ya! I'm sure... I am sure I will...
And with those words, her voice had faded away, leaving Serge drifting in the void alone. And just as suddenly, a new voice arrived.
"Serge... Serge...! Hey, Serge!"
Serge stood up from his facedown position in the sand, spitting to clear his mouth out. He blinked, and spun towards the source of the voice. Leena.
"Are you alright? What's the matter?"
He shook his head and tried to explain.
"Terra Tower...? FATE...? What are you talking about? We've only been here a few minutes. You just got some Komodo Dragon scales for me, remember?"
He simply sat there, dumbfounded. Was it all a dream, then? But it had seemed so real, so immersive. He'd never been the overly imaginative and creative type, and it would have taken a creative genius to come up with something as intricately detailed as the tale he could remember only fragments of now. Well, either a creative genius or someone who'd taken a whole lot of hallucinogens recently.
"C'mon, let's head back to Arni," Leena said, shaking Serge. "We're going to be late for dinner, you know."
Serge stood up slowly to adjust his Sea Swallow, when he noticed something odd. The curves on the blades were subtly different, and it seemed to pulse with a distinct power. While the Sea Swallow was simply cold to the touch - it was, after all, made of bone - this new Swallow was... different somehow, and yet Serge couldn't put his finger on it.
He shrugged. He wasn't going to be able to make heads or tails of it. He followed Leena back towards Lizard Rock. Towards home.
They sat together on the pier eating some sushi, Leena kicking her feet in the water idly while she chewed. Serge was looking out over the sea, towards other islands and other places in El Nido he'd never been. He'd heard of them, though. Guldove, Water Dragon Isle, Marbule. Hell, he'd only been to Termina twice in his seventeen years! And yet, he wasn't bored with his life at all.
Or, at least, hadn't been.
Every now and then he'd recall a fragment of the dream that seemed so vivid while he was in it. Sometimes it was mundane (a large man named Orcha, that resembled Belcha, the cook in the village diner), sometimes exhilarating (becoming the wind... wait, how?), and sometimes just strange (a turnip... following him into battle?!).
He dismissed most of these as perhaps bizarre consequences of something he had eaten, perhaps. But now, as he sat there chewing his marlin, he thought of another thing: the cannons overlooking the water in Termina, run by the Porre army. He remembered staring into the jet-black polished metal and seeing a distorted version of his own face. Razzly (Wait! Who's that?) had amused herself endlessly...
Were things really like that in Termina? He hadn't been there for three years, at that year's Viper Festival. He and Marge had never had time in the intervening years to go, although, this year, perhaps...
"Hey, Serge?"
Leena's voice broke through his musings. He looked up, and turned towards her.
"I was thinking. For the weekend, at least, would you want to go to the Viper Festival with me?" She was looking at him intently, and her eyes were wide, almost pleading. So what else could Serge do but nod?
"Yes!" Leena screamed, pumping her left fist in the air once. "Thanks, Serge!" She jumped up, hugged him quickly, and ran off happily, leaving most of her fish untouched on the plate. Serge chuckled softly to himself and looked back out over the still waters.
At about ten o'clock, by Marge's reckoning, Serge walked in, and headed straight for the bed. The weekend to come he knew was going to be a rough one.
Knowing he'd never get up anywhere close to what Leena thought was early enough, he grabbed his bag, and haphazardly threw in some Elements and some snacks. Then he collapsed on the bed, fast asleep before his head hit the pillow.
* * *
Serge was awakened far too early with a jab in the ribs. He grumbled, and, in his still mostly unconscious state, rolled over so as to move his ribs towards the wall to protect them from harm.
There was another jab, this time in the back. And then before he could react, the cold metal of a frying pan was pressed against his face. It took about 2.3 seconds for him to sit bolt upright and scream in pain from the sudden chill.
Ten minutes later he and Leena were out the door and heading north towards Termina.
The packing Serge had done last night certainly helped as to getting out the door quickly. The sun shone faintly, sitting just above the horizon in the morning sky.
For her part, Leena was beyond energetic.
"Yes! The Viper Festival! I haven't gone for so many years, oh my God, it's gonna be soooo great!"
As they walked, Serge nodded blandly to whatever she said; she had awoken him rudely at 7 AM. And given that Serge was a late riser, he wasn't too happy at the moment. Or conscious, for that matter.
Things went much like this until they made it to Fossil Valley.
The single path through Fossil Valley - which was really a pass between mountains - had been designed that way by FATE, although to the best of science's knowledge, it had been the slow movement of a glacier during the Ice Age around 12000 BC. It was along this one path at ground level that Serge and Leena were traversing.
Serge had taken out his Swallow upon entering the Valley, having heard that it was populated with monsters of various types. Leena had no need to take out her weapon, since she had been clenching the frying pan tightly in her fist ever since she woke Serge up with it.
"It's just excitement," she had explained sheepishly when Serge had pointed out that the knuckles of her right hand were beginning to turn white from clenching the pan handle.
They walked on, trying to avoid the various monsters populating the area, since neither of them was particularly interested in fighting. Thus they ran past the overprotective Dingo mothers and Dodos as quickly as they could, and before long they were out the other end of the Valley, that much closer to Termina.
The sun was setting by the time they arrived.
"Oh my goodness! Yes!! We're here!"
The flower seller by the entrance to the city chuckled. "Yes, indeed you are, children. Welcome to Termina."
Leena ran up the stairs leading to the second level of the city, and made a right turn towards the vendors. "Come on, Serge," she called back, "the night is still young! There's so much to do, let's go!"
Serge groaned. The long hike from Arni to Termina hadn't slowed her one bit, apparently, or if it had, her excitement at being here for the Viper Festival must have just forced her to go on. He wasn't too sure if he could, though. Despite that, he walked up the steps to follow.
Already she was talking to a vendor who was apparently selling some sort of deep-fried... something.
"...that's right, little lady -" (Leena giggled at this) "- these Viper Churros go for only 100G each! Wouldn't you love to try one?"
"Hmm, well..." she demurred. Serge could see that she was going to buy one while attempting to pretend that she wouldn't. Leena acted like this often, except that she wasn't too great of an actress, so Serge would always tell what she was going to do.
The vendor could tell also, and was almost rabid with the excitement of a near-sale.
"Come on, they're delicious! Here, have a little bite."
He tore off a little piece of the Churro he himself was eating and handed it to her. Serge slapped his forehead and shook his head.
Leena had always been fairly unladylike, to the disappointment of many who lived in Arni. While growing up, she had been quite the tomboy, and in fact had terrorized many of the boys in the village with the threat of her frying pan. This impropriety extended, for some reason, to her appetite - she easily ate more than Serge normally, which caused quite a strain on her grandmother's budget.
Serge knew all of this, and having walked with Leena all day, also knew that she hadn't eaten anything since about 6 that morning - about 14 hours ago. And so he knew what was going to happen next.
The Churro piece disappeared in less than half a second. After Leena swallowed, the first thing out of her mouth was "I'll take three" as she fumbled for her money.
Naturally, while the Churro vendor had expected to make a sale, he hadn't expected this sudden windfall. In the face of sudden riches, he became exceedingly polite.
"Yes, yes! Immediately, ma'am!" He rushed to take three Churros from the heated cart he used to store them in, and Leena all but snatched them out of his grip with her right hand while dropping off 300G with her left hand. Then she turned around, and, while chewing the first Churro, waved and managed to mumble, "Hi, Serge!"
Serge had been frozen in place since he noticed what the vendor was selling, but managed a weak wave of his fingers. Leena ran back over and offered him one of the Viper Churros.
"Here, Serge, I know you're hungry too. You didn't eat anything on the trip either. Even though you don't eat much, you should get some amount of food, you know..." she trailed off to stuff another piece of Churro in her mouth.
Serge took the one she offered. He was hungry, after all. He raised the Churro to his mouth and took a bite. Before he finished chewing his first bite, she grabbed his arm and ran further down the path, towards a large bulletin board that had been set up recently.
"C'mon! Let's go see what's going to be going on this weekend!"
Serge tried his best not to choke as he chewed and ran at the same time.
And all of a sudden they were there, and Leena hit the brakes.
The bulletin board was a large, garishly-decorated monstrosity underneath a tent. On it were various posters advertising events. Leena and Serge scanned them for a while.
"Hmm... Zappa's Smithy, 25% off for the duration of the Viper Festival... Portraits done..."
Of course, during their scanning, they had managed to completely miss the largest poster on the board, which was displayed prominently, just at a level over both of their heads. Serge tapped Leena and pointed to it.
"...Fortunes be good, fortunes be bad... what, Serge?" She looked up to where his finger was pointing. And immediately she jumped up again in excitement.
It was a poster of Nikki and Miki standing together, with the text "Magical Dreamers" overlaying their legs. Below that was a list of dates when they would be performing.
"...Saturday, 8 PM... that's tomorrow! We can go see the Magical Dreamers! Oh yeah!" She began doing a little shimmy before realizing how ridiculous she looked.
"Oh, come on, Serge, we've just got to go see that! Please tell me you'll go with me?"
He stood there in contemplation for a little bit, and then nodded. How much of his decision was genuine and how much was fear of being attacked by Leena will never be known.
"Yes!!" she screamed, and this time the volume hit a level where passersby stared with contempt in their eyes.
Serge took her by the hand and began to walk back to where the town's inn was, near the entrance to the city. The flower seller had apparently gone home, and with good reason: the city was dark. The sun had set.
Serge walked up to the woman behind the counter, and held up two fingers. She shook her head.
"The Viper Festival's got us almost full up. In fact, we're booked, except that there's one reservation who hasn't come in to confirm, so we can give you that room."
Serge nodded gratefully, and he and Leena took the key and went in there.
"Cute couple, there," the woman remarked to herself, and took out the broom behind the counter to sweep up.
At about 12:30, a blonde-haired girl staggered into Termina, and towards the inn.
"I'm sorry, because you didn't manage to get here in time, your reservation was canceled."
"What?! Oh, ya gotta be kiddin' me..."
"Again, I'm sorry..."
The girl didn't even stay to hear the end of the sentence, slamming the door behind her.
"I finally make it to Arni, and then what? He's not there! And now the relaxin' I set up for meself is goin' all to hell."
She grumbled, but was prepared for this eventuality. Out of her sack came a small blanket, which she laid inside one of the sheds by the docks. Then she wrapped herself up in it and went to sleep.
...And off we go.
This is my first fanfic, although I'm going to actively try and stay out of the "oh my god this is my first fanfic and i can't figure out where to put periods because i'm so excited about writing about insert-subject" writing style. (Sorry if I'm offending anyone...)
The title of this chapter comes from Matchbox 20's "Push", and the chorus of that song goes "I wanna push you around / Well I will / Well I will / I wanna push you down / Well I will / Well I will / I wanna take you for granted"... and guess what Leena's doing to Serge here so far? :)
Quite obviously, I own none of the things I mention in capital letters in this fanfic...
Oh yeah... Please review. I don't think I'm all that great of a writer so (constructive) criticism would be appreciated... Thanks!