~Mari~

"Thanks so much for the parts!" exclaimed a justifiably excited Mari . She threw some gold coins (more than enough) to the shop owner and promptly started off for home. The aged mechanic smiled behind his greasy counter top.

"Take care, miss!" he called after her. It always did his heart well when a customer came that still took an interest in traditional quality engineering. Seemed like all the youngsters who retained the vigor to slay evil nowadays limited themselves to fighting with swords, magic, or bows. Although, there had been an apparent increase in the number of benevolent demons around recently. Supposedly they had some kind of special energy which they could manifest into physical attacks. Nevertheless, almost no one practiced the delicate art of machinery anymore. Except this girl. The girl with the red and blue eyes... She clearly had an extensive knowledge of what she was buying, as she asked for parts that were so rare they couldn't be bought from a regular marketplace! He special ordered them a month ago for her, and had been promised payment for them on the very day they arrived. True to her word, the girl had paid in full. She was serious about her machines. There wasn't much else to be said about the peculiar eyed engineer, but she sure was an intuitive character.

Mari was eager to get back to Serdin Castle. These new parts would hopefully supply her with all the resources she needed to finish several projects she was working on. An upgrade for KORMET, a fifth soul taker, definitely a more efficient mana divider... Her list went on and on. She sighed contentedly and grinned. After all, she'd been waiting for over a month for this new shipment to come in! For a brief moment, her train of thought switched tracks. Oh my, it's getting quite cloudy, she observed. Looks like snow... A memory of Kounat flashed through her head, but she shuddered and quickly shook the ghostly image away. For now she'd probably be better off sticking to her project schematics. Clutching the box of parts to her chest, she pushed her glasses up and increased her pace. She had much work to do, and didn't want to be caught outside if the weather did take a turn for the worse.

Fortunately everything back at the castle was as she left it. Arme and Lass were playing with bombs, Ryan was traipsing around the hallways as the Nephlim knocking over expensive pottery, Sieghart was sleeping in the foyer, and everyone else was off doing their own thing. (That new girl Rin was off on her first mission at "trial forest.") It was a missionless lazy day. Even Knight Master seemed to have her perils sorted out.

There was only one person who wasn't enjoying his day off. Zero. He had been gone for three days now on some ultra secretive personal sojourn. To make matters worse, he had insisted on going alone. Mari just hoped he was alright. No matter what he was up to. Usually he was fine, though. Especially with Grandark watching out for him. Despite the sword's crass personality and brazen lack of common sense, he offered Zero a decently rounded sense of protection. There was something about that green wanderer that Mari liked. He was always so down to earth and focused. Sort of like her. He was never ill tempered though. Never sullen or depressed. If he was, he did a fantastic job of hiding it. He loved to joke and fool around just like everyone else did, once he felt comfortable. The best part about him, at least to Mari, was that he understood most everyone. And by most everyone, that meant her. More so perhaps than any other member of Grand Chase. Even Sieghart. Sieg had saved her life, and she was forever thankful for that, but she just didn't feel the same way about him as she did Zero. He took interest in her machinery. Sometimes he even watched her work on her projects. He knew that life had a logical side too. A side that made sense and fit together, a mechanical side. These were the qualities Mari had come to appreciate in Zero. Perhaps because they were such common themes between them. To her, he was a blueprint example of a great friend.

She made her way upstairs and to her room. Now, for that little robot of hers...

"KORMET?" called Mari. She couldn't see her assistant anywhere. He wasn't on the worktable. He wasn't on his charger. "KORMET come here, I have something for you..." Mari coaxed. Nothing. "It's something good, it's a surprise!" Apparently that did the trick, as a mountain of schematic papers on the floor started to shift. Out blossomed a compact blue robot, rising up from his papery cocoon to greet his master. "Hello Mari." said KORMET. Mari beamed. "Hello KORMET. Come over to the table, I have some new parts for you." Like a child promised candy, the cute robot quickly hovered over to the table and secured himself in place, eager (as a robot could be) to finally get an upgrade. The wizardry engineer got right to work, tinkering and tampering. Adding a gear here and a jolt of ancient magic there. She worked for vast expanses of time without so much as glancing up, immune to such trivial matters as hunger or the need to use the bathroom. Outside the snow had begun falling lightly, speckling the ground with sparse blankets of white. When Mari finally did stop and take a break, she realized with mild surprise that six hours had come and passed since she began working. A quick glance out the window proved the snow hadn't stopped either. It was sticking pretty well now; there were several inches on the ground.

With the lapse of time now coming into focus, Mari decided that at the very least she should try and get a few hours sleep before starting up work again in the morning. She climbed into bed without changing clothes and pulled the covers up, looking at sleep as more of a chore to waste time. Despite her thoughts firing off in constant motion, she easily drifted off. Alas, morning didn't come peaceably as expected.

A shrill piercing scream violently ripped sleep away from her. What? What's going on? What time is it? she wondered. She willed herself to get up as fast as her body would carry her, but she was much slower than she wanted to be. Lumbering out into the hall, she was joined by the others who were just as confused as she.

"What time is it?" whined Amy, rubbing her eyes.

"It's dawn," said Sieghart flatly. "Sun's just comin' up."

Mari peered at the window at the end of the hall. It was dawn, and it was early. Excruciatingly early. The crepuscular sunlight outside refracted off the puffy snow, hurting her eyes.

"Who the hell is screaming?" demanded an agitated Elesis, poking her head out the door.

As if in response, a roiling crimson portal deposited Ley in front of the group. She looked quite frightened, her eyes wide and frantic with worry.

"You guys! Please, come quick! It's Zero! At the front of the castle! He's passed out and bleeding!"

It took just a second or two for everyone to wake up and realize what she was talking about, but soon the group all came to their senses. Oh my god, is he okay? What do you think, genius! This could be bad... Where was he exactly? I don't know... C'mon, quit wasting time!

When the team arrived, it was a grim scene indeed. Lying in the snow was a fatally wounded Zero, unconscious and freezing. His blood stained his hair and clothes, freezing them dark red. Next to his body was equally horrific sight. The wanderer's own sword Grandark, on the ground, completely snapped in half at the top of the hilt. The two pieces of the monster weapon lay next to each other, no trace of Gran's diamond green eye in the shattered dome. The early morning light lay darkly upon the sword, deluding its emerald green colors to a muted grayish hue.

The group was stunned. Petrified. The situation was critical to say the least. Grave at best. No one was sure what to do.

Ronan stepped out of the group. "We can't just leave him here! I'll carry Zero, someone grab Grandark and take it inside!" The spell knight hurried over to the unmoving wanderer and gingerly lifted his ragged body. Ronan could tell just by carrying his comrade how bad his wounds were. Several of his ribs were fractured; he would be lucky if his lung wasn't punctured. And his head, he must have had some kind of concussion. So many significant cuts too...Everywhere. He figured that the chance of unknown internal wounds was around 100%. Zero's skin was bruised and scraped, he was viciously scalded, and now frozen; it was just awful. Ronan tiptoed on eggshells into the main foyer of the castle and deposited his unconscious teammate onto a nearby couch. He called to Amy, Ryan, and Arme to come over.

"Until we can figure out how to get him the proper medical attention, it would at least be worth a shot if you guys used your magic to try and boost his healing." he explained.

Mari appeared as well. She was trying at length to hold back tears. "Let me go get my grimoire, there might be something in it about healing..." she muttered, hurrying off to her room. The girls and the druid nodded and started up their revitalizing abilities. Behind them, Jin and Dio huffed and puffed as they struggled to carry the two halves of Grandark inside. They set the pieces on the floor and stood up, unsure of how to offer further help.

"Does anyone know any doctors?" asked Elesis, attempting to get a grip on the situation.

"What about that goblin from the work sight in Alcubra," inquired Lass. "Barakhufu?"

Elesis scowled. "He's a really shady character...I doubt he would be willing to help us. I suppose we could ask him as a last resort, maybe. But let's hope we aren't forced to come to that."

"Lady Gaia?" suggested Ryan from across the foyer.

Again, Elesis didn't find this opinion useful. "Ryan I don't mean to insult your crush, but I just don't think her powers are strong enough to really help Zero. She's still recovering from Rukkha's pollution."

The druid didn't laugh. No one had any other ideas. The day had hardly begun and already it was already dire. Lire and Rufus sat on the couch opposite Zero, neither could help their feelings of guilt at how useless they were to their friend in need. Wasn't everyone supposed to be able to handle predicaments like this? At least to some degree? The turmoil in the room was palpable.

A minute later Mari returned downstairs, noticeable without her grimoire. "I- I'm really sorry everyone. None of my books had anything about healing in them." she said quietly. She was taking this the hardest, as she had always been the closest to Zero. Everyone knew this. They gave the sorrowful girl her space to deal with all the throbbing emotions. The Chasers remained for a while, silent, but eventually figured that there was nothing they could do until help arrived. Most of the team dispersed back to their rooms. The three working on sustaining Zero had given up for the time being. It was up to fate now. Before heading off upstairs, Elesis cautiously approached Mari. The engineer was sitting next to Zero, just fiddling with some screws and staring blankly.

"Hey Mari. I know this is really hard for you. We're all trying as hard as we can to think of ways to save him. I've notified Knight Master of what's going on. She's getting a hold of the best doctors in Bermesiah. And hey, don't worry about training or missions or anything. She said we could all take today off too." She chuckled a bit. "You know somethings up when we get two days off in a row. But really, if there's anything I can do to help you get through this, let me know."

Mari nodded. She didn't very much feel like discussing matters at the moment. Nor did she feel like indulging in attempted humor. To her mild annoyance, Elesis' black haired ancestor showed up too. Clearly Sieghart was also quite grief stricken by Zero's condition. After all, the pair would regularly spar together for training. Sieghart's superheated rage pitted against Zero's inhuman strength with Grandark, what a riveting challenge! Only the green wanderer and Dio (whom he cared slightly less for.) even posed as good training partners to him. But that might all have changed now...

Sieghart spoke softly. "Mari, I'm not asking you to do anything. But I just want you to know, Grandark isn't doing to well either. We don't even know if his soul is still, well..." He didn't have to say it, thankfully. "You're the only one who knows anything about repairs, Mari. It would help Zero enormously if maybe you just took a look at Gran, maybe see if there was anything you could do. None of the rest of us have any knowledge about major enchantments or ancient magic like you do. Like I said, I'm not asking you to, but that's how you could help Zero the most right now." He put his hand on hers. "And I'm sorry."

Mari took a deep breath. "I suppose you're right about Grandark. I'll take a look at him."

She loathed the idea of being useless. She convinced herself that she absolutely had to help in some manor, no matter how seemingly insignificant.

"Jin. Dio. Would you be so kind?" she asked.

The two nodded. They hefted the Gran pieces up and began the strenuous process of transporting them upstairs. Mari followed close behind, seeds of worry leaking their poison into her thoughts. Hope. She just had to keep up hope.

The doctor was on his way, and surgery would commence immediately.