Developed, not Changed
Disclaimer: Bioware owns, not me.
Author's note: Not beta-read, sorry about that. Also, if you're going WTF while reading this, then you need to check out the Edwin Romance Mod. All hail Laufey!
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Viconia was the first one up to wake up. Instinctively the dark elf sprung to her feet smoothly, and spun around in a low battle stance to take in her surroundings. She saw nothing threatening, but instead she found that she had been stripped of her cloak and gloves that served to hide her race, and that she did not have her weapons nor equipment any longer. She took a calming breath and brushed her long snow-white hair back from her ebon-black face and allowed herself to relax a little as she continued to study her surroundings.
Her companions were still unconscious like she had been, although they were beginning to stir and their eyelids were fluttering as a sign of slipping into consciousness. The three of them were scattered around Viconia on the cold stone floor - Minsc's bulky form still in heavy armour was lying close to her, and the hamster Boo scampered on his chest making puzzled squeaking noises; Edwin was lying face down further away with his exquisite long red robes and wide cloak spreading around him; and the smaller, rounder and even more colourful form of Jan was behind her, the gnome's strange goggles left on the floor close to him. All of their weapons and stripped equipment were scattered around them on the landing in the middle of four grand staircases that lead up from it in different directions. The whole scene was strange and the drow had a very bad feeling about it - especially when she realized she did not see Yoshimo or Jaina, let alone Imoen anywhere. The odd thing was that she recognized Jaina's gold-coated scimitar and other equipment, but Yoshimo's bow was nowhere to be seen.
Viconia had a hard time remembering what exactly had happened, so she walked around to wake her companions. She prodded Jan who groaned and slowly rolled to sit up to look around groggily, then she walked over to Edwin and gave him a kick on the side with the tip of her boot - resulting in the Thayvian shifting on his stomach and grumbling something on his native tongue angrily - and then walked over to Minsc and knelt down beside him. Boo had already managed to wake the big warrior who gathered the hamster into his huge hands carefully and looked at Viconia struggling to sit up.
"What happened? Even Boo does not know where we are," he said genuinely confused.
"Where is Jaina?" they heard another accented voice ask and glanced back to look at Edwin get up on his feet. He brushed down his robes to hide the black travelling trousers and ankle-length boots underneath it, and his brow was furrowed as his dark eyes scanned the area. "And what about that weasel Yoshimo?"
Jan got up as well and patted across the stone floor to gather his goggles, the peculiar crossbow and one by one his other equipment. "I have a feeling we would rather find out when we are fully equipped and armed than with our pants or," he motioned towards Edwin, "skirts down."
"You have mage's robes as well, are you a fool to mock yourself?" Edwin snorted at the gnome and picked up his staff.
"Mine aren't needlessly long nor decorated with gold."
"Silence!" Viconia hissed at the bickering wizards and looked up at the distant sounds. They all heard the door slamming somewhere on top of one staircase and several footsteps approaching, so the four companions quickly gathered their weapons and got ready to defend themselves.
The first thing they saw was the form of a red-haired young woman suddenly emerging from the top of the stairs and then another, with longer dark brown hair. The four down on the landing jumped back in surprise but raised their weapons as soon as they realized the women had been thrown down the stairs by the handful of vampires appearing on the top of the staircase - and through them stepped Bodhi in her curve-hugging bodice and tight boots to watch how the women rolled and bounced down the stairs.
"Imoen!" bellowed Minsc when he recognized the limp form of the girl they had been trying to find and save for the past two months.
"Jaina!" shouted Edwin and both of the men rushed forwards to gather the women. Imoen had ended up lying at the end of the stairs after the painful roll and uncontrollable stumble down them, and Jaina bumped into her as she fell down the staircase right after her. Minsc grabbed the bare arms of Imoen who was only dressed in a dirty tunic, while Edwin turned Jaina around and took her arms to drag her back at the same time with Minsc. Jaina groaned and stirred, and stubbornly pulled herself from Edwin.
"What's the matter, Bodhi!?" the dark-haired woman yelled up at the vampire on top of the stairs as soon as she was standing on her two feet again. Jaina staggered back closer to the steps ignoring the fact that there was blood dripping from her brow to her cheek, her olive-hued skin marred with bruises, her long hair messy and her tight black leather outfit ripped and torn after the rough ride down the stairs. She was a fierce sight, all fury and as stubborn and defiant as ever - so Edwin did wisely to step back seeing that she held herself up on her over-knee boots.
"Are you afraid that we're gonna kick your arse again? Did I scare you the last time?" Jaina continued
"Hardly," the vampire, her pale skin smudged with dried blood, answered lifting her chin. "But you are proving to be an entertaining toy."
"A toy?! Minsc and Boo will show you that we are no toys of evil!" Minsc roared taking hot-headed steps towards the stairs lifting the heavy two-handed sword in his grip. Jaina, however, quickly lifted her arm to stop the berserker from charging, and looked up to face Bodhi.
"You wish to play? You strip us of our very essence," she shrieked, her voice breaking so that her companions behind her glanced at each other since their self-appointed leader had nearly always remained collected, sultry and playful, unlike the shaken and furious woman before them now. Still Jaina held herself upright proudly like she had stopped caring of the hurt and was ready for anything as she continued, "And yet you want to play and torture further? How pitiable that you cannot finish me properly when you have the chance!"
"Don't worry," Bodhi purred, "I will. But until then, run my gauntlet, come find me, and face me like you desire!"
The vampire turned with her companions, and just when all of their forms transformed into black bats, Jaina raced up a few steps shouting after them in rage, "I'll get you, I'll find you and your wretched brother and I'll rip your damned hearts out!"
And then, with the vampires gone and the six left alone in the middle of the maze, Jaina collapsed on the steps looking like all strength had vanished from her limbs.
"Jaina," Edwin hurried to her, while Minsc and Viconia helped Imoen to sit up on the floor.
"Here, abbil, do not try to stand yet," Viconia said softly as she knelt down beside the red head who's eyes slowly focused on her.
"Viconia...?" she mumbled and her expression brightened. "Vicky!"
The Drow had wanted to examine her injuries but she was quickly interrupted by the girl flinging herself to her neck. Imoen wrapped her arms around Viconia's shoulders and pulled her in for an embrace as tight as she could manage. "By the Gods, I haven't seen you since... since the celebrations in Baldur's Gate! Look at you!" she pulled back and brushed her fingers through Viconia's thick white hair. "You're beautiful! Your hair has grown!"
"And you look dreadful. Thin, weary, dirty and injured. Come now," Viconia hushed her, abashed by all the feelings seeing her old friend and defender again aroused. "Let me heal you."
"Oh, Minsc and Boo are so happy too see little Imoen again, and still in one piece!" Minsc's happy babbling with Boo on his palm made Imoen pull back from Viconia and look over her shoulder. The drow sighed of relief and while Imoen received a big bear-hug from the Rasheman, she cast a healing spell on her.
"Minsc, you haven't changed at all! And Boo, oh Boo, how I've missed you, you itty bitty cutie hammie," Imoen sighed smiling and after stroking the hamster's fur with the tips of her fingers, she looked up at her old friends. "You have no idea how good it feels to see you! And Jaina..."
They all turned to look just in time to see Edwin stand up from the stairs where he had been sitting right beside the dark leather-clad woman. He had genuine worry expressed on his face when he slowly helped Jaina stand up, and put an arm around her shoulders as he helped her down the stairs. Imoen realized Jaina, her dearest friend she had known for all her life, had changed. Her dark brown hair had grown, her demeanour had developed from a feisty little girl to a fearsome woman, and the black outfit that emphasized her feminine curves made her look sultry, dangerous and lush. Imoen thought Jaina had not really changed – all that she saw before her she recognized as the same girl she had always known, just developed into something grander. Something else bothered the red-head more, however – something did not fit the picture.
"Eddie? What are you doing in here?" Imoen asked looking up at the Red Wizard completely confused to see him here.
Jaina nodded at Edwin and took a long shivery breath to indicate that she could stand on her own again, so the wizard let go of her, though a little reluctantly.
"To save your sorry little tush, that's what," Edwin said in his typical snappy tone. "If only you knew how much trouble getting here was."
"No, I mean... I mean yes, thank you, but... the last I saw Viconia was in the Baldur's Gate celebrations, right? She said goodbye. She told us where she was going. But you, you just vanished without a warning, right before the party too."
"Yeah, I've given him hell for that," Jaina said and carefully knelt down beside Imoen. "Jerk."
"I had my reasons, but I am here now, so you'd better be thankful that I bothered to even lift a finger for someone has troublesome as you, monkeygirl," Edwin answered.
"He hasn't changed at all," Imoen said mostly to Jaina, who hesitated for a while. "Oh I don't know about that. He's been through a couple of changes..."
"Hey!" the wizard called out at her sounding hurt that she would hint at his mishaps, but Jaina just chuckled and gathered Imoen into her arms.
"Hey sis," she said into her ear.
"Hey," Imoen said back quietly. The others let the girls hold each other in peace for a long while. Minsc and Edwin proceeded to check that the area was safe and to keep guard, while Viconia and Jan were checking through all of their equipment and taking out everything that they had brought along for Imoen.
Both of the girls had to wipe tears from their cheeks when they finally pulled back from each other.
"Look at you. No soul but all hot anyway," Imoen remarked now that she got a chance to take a good look at Jaina. "Your eye-liner's all smudged."
"Well hey, all this crying, you know," Jaina sniffed and wiped her eyes getting black spots of the eye-liner on her fingers. "Are you alright, sweetie? I mean, okay... how can anyone be alright without... a soul... how the hell is that even possible? How can we be still alive without souls?"
"You can't, not really," Imoen said quietly. "We will wither and die if we don't get our souls back soon."
"Well Bodhi's just around the corner. We'll make you whole before you know it."
"And then we'll get... Irenicus..."
"Yes. We'll get him. We'll make him pay for all the pain and loss and torture. All of it. We'll make sure he will never hurt anyone again," Jaina said looking at her sister in the eyes to make her words sink in.
"Somehow, when you say that, I believe it," Imoen said and gave a sad smile. "You came for me, Jay. You saved me. I had... almost lost hope that you would..."
"Sshhh, of course I did. Not a day went by when I wouldn't have thought about you and agonized over how I couldn't run to you right away."
"Oh Jay, I missed you so much," Imoen sniffed and the girls hugged again.
"I was so broken without you, Immy, like half of me was gone," Jaina mumbled, and continued when they pulled apart again. "Somehow I always knew that you're my sister."
"And hey, practically we've always been sisters," Imoen pointed out and they smiled at each other.
"Come on, now. We've got asses to kick. Looks like Jan has your equipment there, and some food too," Jaina said and they helped each other up.
"Ahh, there she is, our quarry for so long! I've heard much about you, Imoen," the gnome in colorful robes said and smiled so that his big nose twitched, "I'm Jan Jansen, an inventor!"
"An inventor?" Imoen asked and felt she already liked the strange little man. "What have you invented?"
Jaina squeezed Imoen's hand and left her to get to know the one person she was not familiar with while tucking into the rations saved for her. Leaving her to the caring hands of the gnome, Jaina turned to look for Edwin, but she noticed quickly he already had his dark eyes on her. With one more glance at her dear sister, Jaina walked off to Edwin who took a few steps towards her to meet her half-way.
"Don't tell me you're alright again," he said keeping his voice down, and continued the private discussion that had started on the stairs a little earlier. "What do you mean, took your soul?"
"That's exactly what I mean," Jaina answered standing close to him, but not quite touching. From then on they talked in such low voices that the others could not hear them any longer, keeping their discussion private.
Imoen found comfort in the jolly stories of Jan's inventions and his great-aunties and tap-dancing halflings and horses with fake unicorn horns attached to their foreheads, so that it almost distracted her from the hollow feeling inside of her. She felt like no more than a shell, a fading visage of the lively girl that had once been. Being suddenly surrounded by so many old friends, people she had spent so much time together, with whom she had had fun and faced dangers and cried and laughed felt like she had gained back something that she had lost. Missing pieces returned to keep together the deteriorating memory of the carefree Imoen from Candlekeep for just a while longer. Imoen had never in her life been more than a day or two apart from Jaina, so being rejoined with her after two months of agonizing separation made her feel like they still had hope.
Imoen munched on some dried venison meat and taking small sips of water and listened to the gnome present her equipment to her. The girl's attention was drawn to Jaina, however. She watched the dark young woman stand beside Edwin, discussing something serious with him. Imoen did not understand how she had managed to find Edwin again, let alone why the wizard had left them in Baldur's Gate. Imoen had felt like the bickering and mockery had become more like an enjoyable habit for Edwin and Jaina and all the others as well back then, and that the wizard had actually come to like their company. Jaina had taken a particular liking to him, despite her denying it, but having grown up with her Imoen knew that the haughty, intelligent and sarcastic wizard with a penchant for luxury and material things was just Jaina's type. They looked good together too – they both had the similar, a bit darker skin tone, dark hair and dark eyes. While Jaina had dressed her curvy body in black for a long time now, Edwin had always worn the red robes of the Thayvian wizards. They both wore quite a lot of jewelry – it seemed the man had even more than her – and their senses of humor and intelligence had always complimented each other. Imoen remembered giggling with tears in her eyes while listening to the two of them bicker while travelling or over the camp fire.
The red-head almost chuckled out loud thinking how incredibly funny it would be if the two would hook up.
Right then she saw Jaina say something very quietly and hang her head. Imoen's whole body tensed when she saw Edwin take a step closer and wrap an arm around her comfortingly and pull her into his embrace, dip his head so that his trimmed beard tickled Jaina's temple, and whispered something softly into her ear. Imoen immediately regretted just taking a bigger sip of water, and seeing how Jaina did not push Edwin away and slap him, Imoen almost choked and the water ended up bursting out of her mouth.
"The hell?!" she breathed and pointed towards the couple further away.
"Is it truly that surprising?" Viconia said as she dropped down to sit beside Imoen. "The sexual tension between those two already back in Baldur's Gate was so strong it could have been a source of magical power."
"Well yeah but... what, really? So they're really...?"
"Unfortunately so. They are very loud," Viconia affirmed.
"Loud?"
"You do not want a room next to theirs if you want to sleep, believe me. And they can go on for hours. You rivvil need sleep to operate, but I do wonder when those two ever get proper sleep," Viconia pondered unabashed.
"Elminster's beard, I did not need those mental images," Imoen muttered. Then she put down the water bottle and stood up looking determined. "Alright, I need to make sure of a few things."
The red-head strode through the landing to Edwin and Jaina, who, as soon as they noticed her approaching, detached from each other.
"Okay, Eddie!" Imoen said and put her hands on her hips. "Because I'm Jay's sister, I have the right to do this lecture and interview!"
"Lecture?" Jaina repeated.
"Interview?" Edwin asked.
"That's right! I just heard that you two.. are... involved! And you know, I won't let just any man in a skirt get away with, with... having their way with my sis!"
Jaina took a step back crossing her arms on her chest feeling that this 'discussion' she really needed to hear. It was promising to be quite entertaining.
"I see," Edwin said coolly and lifted one eyebrow looking down at Imoen.
"First and foremost - why did you leave us in Baldur's Gate? You know, Jaina was going mad looking for you, you really ruined the party for her and the rest of us! She almost missed all of the celebrations because she was so worried something had happened to you!"
Edwin glanced at Jaina but both of them were untouched by this. "Yes, I have gathered that much."
"And? Aren't you apologising?"
"I have already."
Imoen blinked. She had not expected Edwin to co-operate, so she decided to push on harder. "Well, why did you leave?"
Edwin rolled his eyes, sighed heavily and looked at Jaina as if begging her to call this off.
"No, she's my sister and my bee eff eff. She's got the right to know," Jaina said.
"Damn right!" Imoen agreed.
"Fine," Edwin yielded and proceeded to list out the reasons on a dull tone. "I left because my reason to traveling with you had nothing to do with Dynaheir, but I was there to see if the one known powerful Bhaalspawn in the area," he motioned towards Jaina, "could have been recruited to work for Thay. I came to learn the obvious - that Jaina is a pig-headed little brat who would not bow to anyone--"
"I'm not so sure if that was a compliment," Jaina muttered.
"--and in that case my orders were to eliminate her."
Imoen listened with her mouth open. "But... you didn't."
"No. I left."
"Why?"
"Do I have to spell everything out to you, monkeygirl?!"
Jaina took a step closer to Edwin with an exaggerated sway of her hips and a grin spreading on her bruised face. "Because Eddie's a biiig sooooftiiiie!"
Edwin closed his eyes looking like he was counting to ten in frustration to avoid spontaneously casting a fireball.
"Wow, you fell in love with her already back then!" Imoen giggled. "That's so romantic! You defied your official orders and... what, you fled? You betrayed the Red Wizards just to save Jaina?"
"Are you happy now?" Edwin asked on an icy tone.
"Yeah, pretty happy! Aaaawww, our spooky moody angry Eddie is really a big softie!"
"I cannot believe I have been through so much because of you two annoying little misfits..." Edwin grumbled and brusquely grabbed his staff and walked away from the sisters, who giggled behind their hands.