A/N: I'm really not sure what's going to happen in this chapter, This story is very pachily planned out D:
As usual, I don't own grand chase D': Or characters involved in it ):
Chapter 2: A New Light
"L-Lass!!! Slow down! Please!!" Arme yelled raggedly, her breathing laboured as she attempted to close the distance between the two. They had been running for at least half an hour, she decided. And the worst part was that not only was she failing at catching up to the boy, she knew Lass wasn't going at his full speed.
"Lass!!!" She called again feebly, no longer looking where she was going. Somewhere along the line her foot had caught on a rock, sending her tumbling to the ground in a heap as she refused to get up again. To avoid getting dirt in her eyes she closed them and began listening. Her legs were aching, and her entire body felt as though she had been stretching for far too long. The ground was all too quickly becoming less cold and rough, and beginning to feel more and more like something comparable to a bed. Though she kept telling herself not to, she knew she was falling asleep. The last thing she heard before going unconscious were soft, barely noticeable footsteps coming closer.
Lass sighed as he stared at the unconscious girl at his feet. Fully aware he couldn't leave her in the middle of a field in her condition, he kneeled down next to her, not quite sure how to pick her up. Finally he managed to juggle her light figure onto his back, standing up rather unbalancedly. Once he was rather sure she wasn't about to fall off, Lass began a slightly slower pace as he continued on to the village.
A mage... As he ran, the silver haired boy shook his head. They had been in a pretty dangerous spot before, and he hadn't been sure how much longer he would be able to hold off the enemies, not even entirely sure that he should. For all he knew, she could be a spy for Kaze 'Aze... He glanced at Arme's head resting on his shoulder and knew it couldn't be the case. No matter the situation, it would be more than foolhardy to send a spy into enemy territory without a weapon, even a concealed weapon. She had seemed confused and upset as he checked her for weapons, not apprehensive that he might find something.
The anmon soldiers hadn't avoided attacking her either, as they would have if she was a part of Kaze 'Aze's group. Furthermore, she most certainly wasn't posessed. He highly doubted the first thing Kaze 'Aze would have done upon finding a hideout of one of the Grand Chase would be to steal their food.
The girl just seemed truely and utterly lost. Not much survival instinct in her, though he had to admit he was impressed by the meteor shower she had created, no matter how accidental it was. To summon something that powerful on the first try seemed almost unreal... Almost like... Immediately, Lass stopped running. N-no... Not that... He looked at her again, her oddly coloured hair blowing softly despite the rising winds.
Hey! I didn't ask to show up here, I was just trying to get out of there! ... I was there, and I just wanted a way out, and I... I just don't know!!! It... It fit. Really well. But... If that was the case... Cursing, Lass started to run again. If that really was happening again, the best thing to do would be to consult them. Though it would also mean he'd be seeing Arme a fair amount. It's... really happening again. His speed increased as he headed towards his destination, praying he would be proven wrong.
"Nnhh...?" Arme mumbled as she woke up. She quite suddenly remembered falling onto the ground and falling asleep, Lass disappearing into the distance. If she had fell asleep on the ground, then why was it so comfortable?! And more importantly, why was it swaying? She opened her eyes to much different scenery than she had fallen asleep to, a small town being visible on the horizon. Trying to stretch her arms and legs out, Arme also came to the sudden realization that not only was she moving closer to the town at an impressive rate, she was also no longer on the ground. Turning her head slightly allowed her the view of short silver hair that was both short and the same colour as Lass'...
"Lass!" She exclaimed, and the boy turned his head to look at her in acknowledgement before turning back to the town without saying anything.
"You brought me with you?" She questioned quietly. The town was now only around a meter away, and Lass stopped quite suddenly outside the entrance. As he knelt down so she could get off his back, he turned to look at her.
"You honestly thought I'd leave you in that field? You'd have died." Arme opened her mouth to retaliate to the rather blatant statement, then closed it again. It was probably true, she decided. In a land filled with dangerous monsters and no way to defend herself, she didn't know how long she would survive, even if it was only a dream. Mage... Well, Lass had said she was one, and from what she knew and had experienced they were people who casted spells. 'METEOR!' Powerful ones at that. She could vividly remember the feeling flowing through her, calming like a river of energy slowly flowing out of her. It had felt so... empowering. She had always been weak in the world outside this dream, forced to lie down and stay put, never playing with the other children. It was even under very precarious situations that she was allowed to go to school...
"Hello?"
"Huh?" Arme's head shot up and she noticed Lass staring at her. She had quite obviously been distracted for more than a couple seconds. Brushing off her pants, she stood up and looked at the large stone arch announcing the entrance. Lass sighed at her obvious lack of concentration and then walked in front of her, taking the lead once again.
"So... Where are we going again?" She asked after a moment. Lass didn't stop walking or even turn to look at her, so she figured she was being ignored and began to look around. The buildings were all made of stone and wood, looking a rather large contrast to the brick houses she was used to. Once she got an even better look around, Arme began realizing just how medieval the town looked. A more apt description would probably be 'village'... She thought. The next thing she noticed was that weapons were by no way against the law. Everyone she spotted had some obvious weapon with them, most carrying rather obvious swords, others with bows, staffs, axes, and plenty of weapons she didn't have a name for. A few minutes passed and the streets were thinning out with people, the area becoming darker. Nightfall already? She wondered. It was then that the rain began to fall down on the pair. Within moments Lass had grabbed her arm, and the two soaked people were running through the streets in an attempt to get somewhere drier.
They finally stopped a few seconds later, Arme not noticing and running into Lass' back. Once she had backed up Arme realized they were not in front of a house, as she had somewhat been expecting, but a store. The front sign was written in a foreign language, and there were various items hung in the front window, none really hinting at what the store sold. The door was flung open and they both hustled in, Arme peering around the dimly lit shop. The shop was only lit by a few subtle candles, the shelves hardly distinguished against the dark walls. Several necklaces hung from pegs on the wall, and rows upon rolls of scrolls were stored in the shelf next to it. She could make out an outline of an extremely large sword on the wall, and several outfits folded into the box-like metal container that was pressed against the wall. Strangely, she could almost swear she could hear some rather odd noises coming from the little side room that didn't have a sign hanging on it, leaving her to wonder what exactly was there.
"W-What are we here for?" She stuttered, her teeth chattering loudly. The thin outfit she had been given in the hospital was in no way suited for the outside world, let alone rain. It took her a moment to realize Lass was no longer next to her; she could spot his silver hair over by the odd metal box. He turned to look at her, and motioned for her to come over once he realized she wasn't going to be moving on her own.
"Choose something you like." He murmured quietly, motioning to the piles of clothes inside the bin, "Your outfit isn't exactly battle appropriate." Arme huffed, noting that though she had already realized that it felt odd for someone else to be scolding her on her clothes. Shifting some of the top outfits she came across a purple outfit with a white skirt and large white frills on the neck, a pair of gloves with a gold stripe near the rim folded ontop of the gem-like stone on the front of the shirt. She lifted the outfit out of the bin slightly to inspect it even more when she felt Lass hovering over her.
"Nice outfit." He commented, causing Arme to almost put down the clothes, though she kept her grip on them. "Unfortunately for you, they're the Battle Mage's equipment. They can only be worn by mages who have been certified by the leader of the violet mage guild to be the most powerful in all of Bermesiah. Good luck with that." Her eyes widened and she hastily attempted to drop it into the bin again, but Lass snatched it from her before she could.
"I have to return this to the front, it shouldn't have been there in the first place. Come find me when you're done choosing." He turned and headed down one of the nearest isles, leaving her with the bin of clothes. As she pushed outfits aside she came across several that were nice, in varying colours. When she was about to pull out a red outfit her hand grazed across a gem and she stopped. There was a sleeveless dress-like outfit with a fist-sized amethyst gem on the front, the colour scheme of a lighter purple than the other outfit she had picked up, looking almost like a bathing suit until the waist of the outfit, where it changed into pants and a half-skirt going around the back half of it. There were large cuffed gloves folded neatly on top, gold streaks on the edges and a pattern throughout the cuff. she picked it up cautiously, wondering if she should perhaps take a look for something like a 'Warning-You'reanoobsodon'ttouchthis' tag on it, but none was attached so she hoped it was alright.
Making sure it was all together she attempted to spot Lass, but the isles were too high for her to see him. She resorted to wandering down the isles, looking at the various merchandise on the shelves. There were some scrolls with odd symbols on them and random dolls sitting in a line. One stuck out to her, a female with two pink pigtails holding two circle shaped weapons. The tag was also in another language, frustrating her to no end. She picked up the doll and continued on in her search to find the silver-haired boy.
Another isle she reached had rows and rows of glass containers with fancy looking bottles filled with oddly coloured liquids. There were boxes of strange foods, and a row of discs with a recognizable symbol on them, a large letter B. When she reached the next isle she realized she was at the left wall of the shop where the large weapons were, precariously hanging from the wall. She was about to turn around and check the other half of the shop when she noticed Lass at the end of the isle, observing the necklaces she had noted earlier. Arme walked up to him quietly, and he turned to acknowledge her presence, then back to the necklace. Not feeling particularly like being ignored, Arme decided to take action.
"Hey! What does this say!?" She questioned, shoving the pink haired doll in his face. He turned to look at her questioningly, and then his expression changed abruptly when he noticed what she had been asking about it. He looked almost like he was about to burst into laughter, and he put his face in his hand for a second to stifle the chuckles that were arising.
"Oh god... Amy's gonna love this one." He sighed as he grabbed the doll from her. She was going to demand again what he meant, but he then flipped open the small tag and began to read aloud.
"Have your very own Super Star Amy, the amazing dancer of the Xenia continent! Each purchase goes towards helping starving dancers in need!" He shook his head and chuckled again as he closed the tag, not putting the doll down like she had expected. After a moment she hesitantly pushed the clothes she had selected, catching his attention easily. Nodding, he took the clothes from her.
"Did you pick up some shoes as well?" He asked, and she shook her head.
"Third isle, go grab some and come back. I'll be here." Arme quickly followed his instructions and ran down into the first isle she saw. The large signs over the isles were of no assistance, the foriegn characters serving to confuse and frustrate her. After four tries she ended up in an isle with shoes in a row on one of the shelves, sorted by their colour scheme. She found a pair of shoes matching her outfit, though looking oddly like they wouldn't be good for running in. She shrugged and picked them up anyways, figuring anything would be better than the bare feet she had to work with at the moment. She hurried back, and true to his word, Lass was still there. He took the shoes from her and silence fell between the two.
"Hmm... What element do you prefer?" He questioned suddenly. Arme blinked, staring at him blankly.
"What?"
"Element! You know, Wind, Ice, Fire, Thunder, Shadow, Heart, Rose..." He stared at her expectantly as he listed them, though her face was still blank as ever.
"Uh... Ice?" She stated, though it was more of a question. Lass nodded and reached onto one of the higher pegs, pulling off a small, purple tinged necklace that was almost shaped like a lightning bolt, though there was an orb in the center. Once retrieved it was added to the ever growing pile Lass was holding.
"H-Hey! I already have a necklace, and it's important to me! I don't need another!" She exclaimed, her hand rising up to her neck. Her eyes widened as her hand met only bare skin, even the chain's ever-present pressure on her neck absent. She looked at Lass helplessly, only to notice him holding out her necklace.
"You! How did you--!?" She attempted to form a statement as the necklace was dropped in her hand.
"One thing you should learn here is that you never wear something that's precious. Someone could have taken that from you just as easily as I did." He informed her, walking past her and down the isle. As she went to fasten it around her neck again, she remembered his words and placed the object in her pocket, running to catch up with him. He hadn't gone far, and was now looking at a shelf with staffs on it. He handed her a thin black staff with gold rims and she stared at it for a moment, wondering what exactly she should do with it. When Lass realized she had no idea what she was doing he took the mercy of explaining.
"Try to channel your mana energy through the staff, you need to find one that's compatible with your magic." He explained vaguely, leaving Arme to stare at him.
"Well... Remember when you cast those spells earlier?" Arme nodded.
"Well, did you feel an energy going through you?" Another, more vigorous nod.
"That's mana, your magic energy. Channeled properly, you can make powerful spells. A wand for a mage is like a way to exert that energy, without one it's extremely for a mage to exert any mana at all. I'm surprised you were able to summon those meteors without the aid of a weapon, but we can't count on that again." Arme nodded again in understanding, cheeks feeling slightly more warm when she realized she had been complemented. She closed her eyes again, trying to summon the energy she had felt before. She began to feel something circulating, but it felt trapped within her. Opening her eyes again, she shook her head and handed the staff back to Lass. Getting the idea, she began to run her finger tips along the bases of the staffs on the shelf, looking for something that seemed to exert the energy building up in her.
She got a slight shock and her hand automatically wrapped around the handle of one of the staffs, one with an identical rim to the cuffs on her gloves. The dull orange orb held in place by two lightning-like pieces of metal on either side of the staff began to glow gently, and she could almost feel the energy crackling within. Certain, she picked it up and handed it to Lass. Immediately as the contact was removed, the energy swirling within her began to evaporate, and the glow of the orb went out completely. With this object added to the pile, they began walking towards the front of the shop, where a long dark counter was, the shopkeeper leaning over it drearily. He wore a dark cloak, long black hair cascading over both shoulders.
"Ah, Lass-sama. A pleasure. How rare it is to see you, of all people." The man rasped in an odd accent, flipping through the objects left on the counter. She noted one of the man's bright red eyes observing her, and stepped slightly behind Lass and out of his view. She watched as Lass gave the man an odd currency of small golden coins, instead waiting until the exchange was over to question about the shop keeper. When she went to ask, she was given the outfit before she could speak.
"There's a change room in the back, go change before we leave." He murmured to her. Arme cautiously turned away and went towards the back of the store. She chose the door that seemed the least creepy of the ones that were there and was pleased to find a rather normal looking change room, albeit there was a lack of lighting. She changed quickly, the outfit feeling overall much more comfortable than her hospital outfit. When she walked out Lass was waiting at the door for her, a bag in his hand holding the purchases of the day. They exited the building and entered the soaked streets again, the rain coming down in a lighter drizzle. This time they walked at a more leisurely pace, giving Arme time to look around at their surroundings. The street wasn't very interesting overall, though more people had come out when the rain had stopped coming down so hard.
"Oof!!" She gasped as she ran into someone again, rubbing her eyes and looking up.
"Sorry, I- Huh?" She hadn't bumped into Lass, as she had been expecting. Infront of her was a rather large man with a bow resting on his back and short brown hair. She quickly looked around and realized Lass was nowhere to be seen. Did I loose him when I was looking around...? Arme wondered, looking everywhere in an attempt to locate the silver haired boy.
"Hey!" She looked over towards the sound that had caught her attention, and realized it was the man she had bumped into, sporting an odd grin.
" I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. I need to find someone with silv--" The man lurched forward suddenly and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, girlie. You look lost! Why don't you come on over to my place?" He breathed, leaning closer to her.
"N-No, thank you... I just need to find--" She attempted to move away from the man.
"Nonsense!" He stated loudly, a large hand enclosing around her thin wrist as he began to drag her down the street despite her struggling.
"N-No!!! Let me go!" She cried, pulling on her wrist as powerfully as she could, though she knew without trying it that the man easily overpowered her.
"Stop!!!" She yelled again, getting several odd looks from the people around her. At this the man actually did turn around. He put his other hand over her mouth, still holding onto her wrist.
"Now listen here. You're gonna need to shut up right about no--"
"Let her go." A voice said from behind Arme, and she turned her head to look as the man's grip became lack. Lass was standing there, and she could feel his arm around her waist lightly, pulling her closer to himself and away from the large man who out sized him by quite a bit. To Arme's surprise the larger man actually looked nervous- almost scared.
"Do I have to say it again? Let her go." Lass hissed, and she could feel the grip on her wrist fade away completely. She held it to her chest as she backed away, leaning on Lass.
"Oh. Oh!! L-Lass-sama! I had no idea... No idea at all that she was with you! I'm so sorry, it'll never happen again!" The man stuttered, hands held out in front of himself protectively.
"So you think it's ok to do something like that to a girl who isn't involved with the Grand Chase?" Lass whispered, and the man simply looked like he was at a loss for words due to his blunder, "Get out of here. You disgust me." And that was all it took for the man to turn tail and run frantically away from the two. She could hear Lass sigh, and felt a slight pressure on her shoulder. Lass' silvery strands of hair were falling down her shoulder and pressed against the side of her neck for only a second as he rested his head lightly on her shoulder.
"You complete retard... Don't you have any survival instinct at all?" He murmured half heartedly as he backed away from her. His hand wrapped lightly around her arm, dragging her along with him silently as they continued down the street. Arme kept her eyes strictly trained on Lass, not daring to look away for even a second. She seemed to have rather bad luck that day, it seemed best not to do anything else dangerous.
Tpp.. Tpp.. She began to try to focus on Lass' footsteps sounding ever so lightly from the stone path, but was unable to locate them. Her own footsteps sounded loud and unbalanced when she was given the chance to compare with his, and she resolved to work on it as soon as she got the chance. They became slightly faster as a large house came into view, dwarfing the ones next to it by comparison. He came to a stop right in front of the large iron gate that led into the home, a large padlock resting on the front. She grew slightly alarmed when Lass didn't begin looking in his pockets for a key, instead turning to her.
"You... You have the key, right?" She asked nervously. There was no way she'd be able to squeeze through the bars, they were extremely close together. Her heart lurched when Lass shook his head.
"This is a trick gate, there is no key." He stated, causing Arme to breathe out a sigh of relief.
"So, we're going in some secret enterance?" Lass shook his head again. She was about to question what exactly they were supposed to do to get through when Lass grabbed her suddenly, lifting her off the ground completely.
"H-Hey!!! Put me down!" Arme cried, her cheeks turning a furious shade of red as she attempted to get Lass to put her down.
"Bad idea." Was the whispered answer, and all at once she realized they had lifted into the air. She squeezed her eyes shut until she felt herself hit solid ground, and Lass had put her down. The fence was now behind them, the silver haired boy shrugging when she asked him what exactly had happened.
"It's the only way in, unless you can teleport through the gate." He explained, pushing her behind him as they got closer to the large door that lay in the center of the front of the building.
"Hmm.. One of the people you're about to meet can be kind of... Hyper at times." Lass said vaguely. He didn't give her a chance to ask a question before he unlocked the door and flung it open. There was silence before a loud voice came echoing through the house.
"Lass, you're back! Hey, Ronan! Lass is back!" The feminine voice yelled, and a flash of red could be seen over Lass' shoulder.
"So, you got all the shattered scimitar fragments, right?" The girl asked as footsteps began sounding from further in the house.
"Yeah, I just need to go see the guild leader." Lass said, still not leaving the front doorway.
"That's good, because we all know those things are a pain to coll--OH MY GOD LASS BROUGHT HOME A GIRL!!!!! RONAN!!!!! LASS BROUGHT A GIRL HOME!!!!" The red haired girl shouted, pushing Lass aside to get a better view of Arme. The previously heard footsteps became faster, and in a moment a blue haired man with a pony tail was standing next to the red-head, gawking at Arme.
"Well, I must admit I never thought I'd live to see this day, Lass." The blue haired man stated, his eyes still wide and glued on Arme. She could hear Lass sigh, and she then felt herself being pulled into the house and out of the light drizzle.
"Grow up, would you? And Ronan, if you don't stop gawking you won't live to see anything past this day." Lass stated. Overall, neither of the two stopped staring at Arme like she had two heads, but they did take measures to make it appear more discrete.
"So..." The red haired girl began awquardly, looking to Lass for answers. The silver haired boy's eyes flickered to Arme and back to the red haired girl before he began speaking.
"When are Amy and Jin going to be coming back?" He questioned.
"Soon, but Lass!--"
"Elesis, why don't you show Arme here around the house? Ronan and I will wait in the dining room for you two to finish up."
"Laaassssssss!!!!!!!" Elesis grumbled, looking at him frustratedly.
"Now, Elesis." He stated again, turning around before she could start an argument. Ronan sent her an apologetic look before trailing after Lass, a door slamming shut between them and the two girls. There was a moment of silence before Elesis motioned for Arme to follow her.
"Hurry!" The girl whispered as they wandered through random generic rooms. Arme began wondering if it was possibly the tour she was supposed to be getting when they stopped abruptly infront of a wall.
"I'll be damned if they think they're leaving me out of something important!" She whispered venomously as she pressed her ear against the wall. After a moment Arme followed her example, allowing her head to rest gently against the wall.
"It matches, Ronan..." Lass was saying edgily. There was a small pause before Ronan answered.
"You're right about that, but we can't be certain! For all you know it might not even happen, so stop worrying--"
"And for all you know it could happen again! Do you think our group can really handle another Li--" That was all she go to hear before Elesis pushed her slightly enough that she couldn't hear the conversation. The girl that had looked so lively only moments ago was now pale as a ghost, refusing to look at Arme.
"Elesis--?"
"I've heard enough. Let's go." She murmured, pulling Arme away from the wall and down a corridor, leaving the purple haired girl to wonder what had just transpired, and if things could go wrong even in the new light of this strange world.
A/N: Sorry this wasn't up sooner, I was cram leveling Jin to attempt to get his fourth class crest D: I didn't get it, but I got from first class to third class so it's all good! In order to make you curious for the next chapter and stuff I'm supposed to ask questions such as 'What could possibly have spooked Elesis so badly?!" or "What deep, dark secrets are the Grand Chase hiding?!' Instead, I feel like asking what your favourite pie is! Tell me in your comment and YOUR favourite pie may be the star of the next chapter _ Choose wisely.
As usual, and questions or concerns can be left in a comment, I'll try to respond as quickly as possible!
-Utsuro
