Authors Note/Disclaimer: I don't own WA 3, it belongs to Media Vision/Sony. I do, however, own the OCs Beren Winslett, Nathaniel Carradine, Julian Baker and Sirrush-Lau. Please ask before you borrow them, kay?
I think this is one of the longest prologues I've written. Forgive me if I get anything with the flute wrong, I haven't played one since high school. And I really have nothing else to say on this, so on we go.
PrologueThe bottle was twenty feet away, but it still shattered as easily as if it had been directly in front of the barrel of the rifle. Clive brushed his greying hair from his eyes and smiled.
"That was an excellent shot, Kaitlyn. Your aim has really improved since we began."
Kaitlyn shouldered her rifle ARM, grinning. "Does that mean you'll let me come with you and your friends now?"
Clive shook his head, still smiling. "Nice try, but no. You still need more practice."
"Aw, daddy..."
Chuckling, Clive shook his head again, and turned to where his son was practicing with his staff. Most thought the boy preferred the staff to ARMs due to his aversion to violence and his unwillingness to kill, even if it was a monster. While that was partially true, the simple fact of the matter was Beren had never found an ARM he could synchronize with.
It was a few moments before Beren noticed his father's eyes on him, and he paused to wave.
"How are you doing, Beren?" Clive asked.
Beren shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I suppose. When did Maya say she'd be by again?"
It took Clive a moment to sort out what his son had said before replying. "Not until next month. I could still help, if you'd like. I cannot believe it would be much different using a staff than fighting with my unloaded ARM."
Beren sighed. "That's okay, dad, but I'm actually going to head back home now. See you when you get back?"
Clive nodded and returned to helping Kaitlyn as his son slung his staff over his shoulder and headed back into town. It wasn't a long walk; he reached his home in a few short moments and let himself in.
As he walked past the kitchen, the sound of his footsteps attracted his mother's attention, and Catherine poked her head out the doorway to investigate. "Are your father and sister still out training?" she asked. Beren nodded. "Is there anything you'd like, Beren?"
Her son shook his head in response, and Catherine paused for a moment, as though she'd like to say something, but decided not to and she headed back into the kitchen. Beren continued on to his room, closing the door behind him and propping his staff against a wall before flopping down onto his bed.
His room was neat but rather Spartan, containing little in the way of decoration. There was a bed, a dresser with a mirror and a bookshelf filled with novels and storybooks, but little else. There were two sheets of paper stuck in the dresser mirror, one a diagram of the alphabet in sign language, the other sheet music Beren had written himself. It was these two pieces of paper Beren focused on, before closing his eyes for a moment. He stood as he opened them again.
Jumping lightly off the bed, the young teen walked over to the dresser and knelt down to open the small wooden chest beside it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a smaller, dusty instrument case. Holding the cuff of his shirtsleeve, he used his forearm to brush the dust from the case and snapped it open to reveal the three silvery shining segments of a flute that looked like it had rarely been played. Taking the pieces, Beren fit them together as one who used to do it all the time, but hadn't in a long while.
Raising the complete instrument to his lips, Beren blew across the mouthpiece, pressing the keys in a pattern he'd learned many years ago, but this produced no music. Beren couldn't tell one way or the other. He'd gone deaf six years ago at the age of nine.
No one really knew why. He'd had trouble with his ears from the beginning, with constant earaches and infections. Then one day he woke up and couldn't hear. The doctors could only tell him that he'd be deaf for the rest of his life.
Beren continued to play in silence for a few moments longer before dropping his arms slowly to his sides, his flute slipping from his fingers to clatter to the floor. Then he buried his face in his knees, sobbing quietly.
All Beren had ever wanted to do since he was old enough to remember was play music.
X X X
Clive and Kaitlyn wrapped up target practice not long after Beren had headed in. Kaitlyn was now leading the way as the two headed back into town, and Clive took a moment to marvel again at how beautiful his daughter had grown up to be, and how tall. She was almost a good three inches taller than her father. Beren was shorter than Clive by several inches, but at fifteen, he still had a few years left to grow.
Clive was snapped out of his musing suddenly by a throbbing pain in his hand. It had been bothering him ever since his wife had broken it while giving birth to their son, but Clive had told no one of this. He didn't want Catherine to feel bad about it.
Kaitlyn, already a ways ahead, turned when she noticed her father was no longer following her. "Are you coming, daddy?"
"You can go ahead without me, Kaitlyn," Clive called back, "I'll catch up." Kaitlyn nodded and ran off towards home.
Clive was just reaching the gateway to town when he noticed a figure in the distance, drawing closer. He watched for a few moments and the figure revealed itself to be Roykman, the traveling merchant. As Clive waved, he noticed that Roykman wasn't alone.
"Who is your friend?" he asked as the merchant reached his side.
Roykman shrugged. "I don't know. He was found around Laxisland, but no one there knew him, nor did they want him to stay. They asked if I would take him around and see if I could find his family or someone who at least knew him, and I agreed," and now Roykman whispered, "he's not all there, if you know what I mean."
Clive took his first good look at Roykman's traveling companion and his jaw dropped. The man hair was a greying blonde and unkempt, and he's grown a long silvery blonde beard, but through all that, Clive still recognized him, and the ragged poncho he was wearing.
"Julian?"
Roykman blinked. "You know him?"
"He was my best friend in school. I always thought he'd just drifted out of touch over the years. I never thought something like this had happened... I wonder what it was?"
Julian wasn't paying attention to the conversation, instead looking around him as though he'd never seen a tree before. There was a strange glint in his eye, a spark of madness that hadn't been there the many years ago he and Clive had shared a dorm room together.
"I don't know, but if you want to take him, feel free." Roykman grinned, looking somewhat sheepish. "He's been scaring off my business."
"Do not worry, I shall take him off your hands. Is there anything else I need to know before I take my leave?"
The merchant shook his head. "No. I'll be here for the next couple of days if you need anything else."
"Thank you." Clive nodded and, taking Julian by the arm, led him off to his home.
X X X
"Nathaniel Carradine! Oh, where has that boy gotten himself, now?"
Virginia wore an exasperated look as she placed her hands on her hips. Shane stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"I wouldn't worry about him, Ginny," he said, using her pet name, "he knows how to take care of himself."
"Yes, but if he's out with his uncle again... I'm sorry, Shane, he's my friend and your brother, but Gallows is an awful influence on our son!"
Shane sighed. "I know. I have talked to him about it, but you know him. He'll never change."
"Shane, he took our thirteen year old boy out with his girlfriend and got him drunk! He's completely irresponsible! I hate to say it, but we might have to forbid Nat from seeing him."
"I don't think we need to go that far, but I agree they shouldn't be allowed to go out alone anymore."
Virginia hmphed. "We still have to find him. He hasn't packed for the trip to Humphrey's Peak yet, and we're leaving tomorrow."
The two worried parents were spared searching as Nathaniel and Gallows came walking back into the colony, laughing. Virginia was at her son's side in an instant, throwing her arms around his shoulders.
"Nat! Don't you scare me like that again! You let me know when you're going out!"
Nathaniel hung his head. "Yes, mother."
His mother nodded then turned on Gallows. "And you! You should know better by now, Gallows! You stop trying to corrupt my little boy!"
The big Baskar put his arms up to protect his face as Virginia started to take swings at him. "Hey, hey, calm down, Virginia! We just went out to train with arcana!"
"You tell me next time before you just take off, okay?" Virginia's voice was calmer as her anger ebbed. It irritated her that she couldn't stay mad at Gallows for long, even when he'd done something terrible.
"Yeah, yeah, of course I will, Gin." With that, Gallows beat a hasty retreat.
Shane had already led his son aside and was discussing the situation with him when Virginia joined them. Nathaniel was still hanging his head.
"Yes, father," he replied to a question Virginia hadn't heard. Shane smiled.
"Well, now that we have everything in order, shall we prepare for the trip tomorrow?" he asked.
Nathaniel brightened considerably. "I haven't seen Beren and Kaitlyn in far too long."
As the small family headed back home to finish packing, Virginia drew her husband aside and whispered in his ear. "What did you tell him?"
"I told him that it would be best if he only saw his uncle when we were there to supervise," replied Shane, also in a whisper.
Virginia nodded. "Since that's been dealt with for now, let's try to enjoy our trip. We've got a long way to travel."
X X X
Jet tossed another small log on the fire and swore quietly. His wood supply was running out, and the closest town where he could restock was Humphrey's Peak. He wasn't too keen on seeing any of his old teammates since he'd left almost five years ago.
With his thoughts turning to his old team, Jet found himself thinking again of Virginia and hating himself for it. He'd given her up, discovering too late that he really had loved her. She'd waited long enough for him, and before he could tell her his true feelings, she'd already fallen in love with and married another man.
Jet's mood darkened and he jabbed rougher than necessary at his dwindling fire. For what he was sure was the hundredth time, he felt glad that none of his old teammates could see him now. They'd probably be pestering him about what was wrong, and he really didn't feel like answering that question right now.
He hadn't seen his old team since he'd left so many years ago, but he grumpily resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to go to Humphrey's Peak in the morning. Besides, he figured, Clive was the least bothersome one of the old group. As long as he didn't have to deal with Virginia or Gallows, he figured he'd be fine.
Taking one last look around the area to check for monsters, he tucked down into his bedroll to sleep until morning, before heading into town.