Disclaimer is on chapter one.
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"I certainly wasn't expecting to see you again so soon" Eldore confessed as the two wielders of magic traversed the corridors towards their mode of transport that would be whisking them to the distant realm of Faria along with the rest of their ragtag group.
"Don't tell me you were thinking more along the lines of me showing up during the kingdom's darkest hour. I'm good but I'm still human, I'll have you know" Alastor informed Eldore who actually stopped and stared at Alastor in surprise.
Despite only meeting the blue haired Spellcaster only last year, and travelling with him and several others for a mere month at best, Eldore had seen Alastor as a rather stoic and serious person who rarely lightened up even when things were going good for them. Yet, here he was actually making light of the power he possessed as if that time he had spent watching over a certain young Lord who now ruled the free city of Greede was finally affecting him.
While no one, not even those Alastor considered friends, had a clue as to where he had been or what he had been up to since disappearing last year, it was quite clear that something had happened for him to suddenly be more jovial about things he normally took seriously be it his skill in magicks or something completely inconsequential.
"What has happened to you over the last year?" The wizened Swordmage could not help but ask out loud as he resumed his pace.
"You probably won't believe what I tell you" Was all the Spellcaster said in lieu of a reply.
Eldore could not help but chuckle quietly at the answer as if amused by it in some way. Then again, he was one of an extremely rare group known as 'Travellers', people who had crossed the times from that of the past to the present at the cost of half of their life-span, all because of a prophecy made about the one he had once served and failed to protect all those millennia ago. Compared to him, what Alastor had been up to surely could not begin to rival that of all things.
As the elderly Swordmage made to comment on the cryptic reply he was given, a group of Nordians walked passed wearing greased and oil stained overalls indicating that they were the maintenance workers for the metal glider crafts seen outside. One of them in particular caught Alastor's eye causing the Spellcaster to spin round for a better look and see if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
As if sensing his eyes on her, the mechanic in question stopped and turned to face Alastor the look in her eyes silently asking if he had a problem with her doing what most considered to be a man's job.
Blinking in surprise, Alastor put a hand up in a placating gesture indicating he did not mean any harm.
"Sorry. Thought you were someone else" He apologised turning to leave while trying to get his hand around how uncanny the girl's appearance was to a certain someone he knew from recent travels.
"And how do you know I'm not her?" The girl called out to his retreating back.
Alastor actually stopped in his tracks letting a slight chuckle slipping out at the humor of how similar this girl was both in appearance and now personality also by the looks of things.
"You sure you want me to answer that?" He could not help but throw back over his shoulder. "I don't pull my punches, I'll have you know"
"Try me" The girl dared the confidence brimming inside of her if that smirk was anything to go by.
"Your funeral" Alastor shrugged now facing her fully and taking a proper look at the mechanic. "Well…Your hair's more a shade of red than purple, you've got hazel eyes and your skins seen a little less sun than hers most likely due to your overalls…" He rattled off in rapid succession. "But what really sets you apart is…You're shorter and flatter by a centimetre"
Almost as soon as the words had left his lips, Alastor reflexively cast a stopping spell on the wrench the mechanic launched at him making it float in mid-air while the rest of her group were now holding her back from tearing the Spellcaster a new one.
"Let me go! I don't care who he is, I'll kill him!" She snarled as she tried to wrestle free from their grip as they dragged her away before she could cause a scene.
"Lavi, did you not see how easily he stopped your wrench just now? We let you go and we'll likely be scraping what's left of you off the walls" One of the mechanics told her as they struggled to keep her from charging towards Alastor.
"Like I give a crap let me go!" Lavi growled as she was carted off down the corridor away from the two Spellcasters. "You better pray we don't meet again, Magician-Boy!"
"Well, the fuse is definitely the same length" Alastor commented dropping the spell on the wrench once the gaggle of gearheads had disappeared round the corner.
"Was there really any need for that last part?" Eldore inquired once they got moving again.
"Couldn't help it. She was so similar to Yulie I just had to see if the temperament matched also" Alastor explained shrugging. "They could almost be twins"
"That's not all they share. Her childhood friend is also here" Eldore told him knowing that the Spellcaster knew just what he meant.
"Are you kidding me?" Alastor asked not sure whether to groan or whistle at how similar these two girls were. "This is getting creepy more than anything"
"You can find out how far the rabbit hole goes while in transit if you wish. He pilots the Shahgna" Eldore explained.
Alastor just shrugged in response. Perhaps he would do just that depending on how long Leonard and Yulie peppered him with questions over his recent travels.
~#~
Taking a calming breath, Yulie brought her bow up and aimed down the length of the drawn arrow towards her target five hundred paces ahead of her. Channelling mana from her core to the projectile to make it fly swifter as she calculated the distance and made minute changes to her aim, the archer waited until her fingers could just barely keep the bowstring fully taunt before letting go. With nothing stopping it, the arrow flew straight and true through the air parting the apple clean in two along with the boulder a further fifty paces away.
"Too much" Yulie winced thankful that she at least managed to take out just the apple and not the head it had previously been perched on accidentally as well.
"Who cares about that? I doubt your enemies will be around to complain after taking a shot like that to their heads" The beastgirl beside her complimented cheerfully until she got rapped on the head by a staff.
"The object of this test was to practice proper mana consumption, Elma. It wouldn't do Yulie good to use up all her mana in trivial things like this before being properly needed for when it really counts" The female Spellcaster lectured.
"Well, it's not like I'm going to be sniping all the time, Azalea" Yulie pointed out coming to Elma's defence.
"Yeah! So long as she's good at what we've taught her, everything else shouldn't matter, right?"
"Wrong!" Azalea replied bringing her staff down on Elma's already sore head once more. "Sourpuss asked us to teach her and that's exactly what we are going to do. And as a Spellcaster myself, she needs to be able to properly control her mana to the point where she can measure and charge up the precise amount without wasting any!"
Elma grumbled and glared daggers at Azalea as she rubbed her sore head. Sure, she could be cheerful and fun when she wanted but when it came to magic, that woman was more strict than her grandfather while being taught the ways of the blade. And that truly was saying something.
"You're only being strict because Sourpuss actually asked for a favour for once" She muttered quietly so that Azalea could not hear her.
Yulie however did and could not help but chuckle over the way the two acted like sisters before pondering over where the Spellcaster nicknamed Sourpuss was and if he was doing alright. It was thanks to him that she was being trained by three of the Chaos Legion each of which imparting on her knowledge of their own expertise as well as learning more about the 'Sister Trinity' as they were sometimes known by when in battle.
After Alastor, Azalea was the Legion's top Spellcaster specialising in air and water spells that could either hamper and destroy her foes or aid her allies. Apart from her seriousness and dedication to magicks, the woman would always be ready for a fun night out be it drinking with the guys or chatting with Elma and Ceal about anything they could think of whenever off duty.
In stark contrast, Elma rarely took anything seriously even when training. Despite the fact that she was the youngest member of the Legion, a mere fourteen years old when they had their first battle, her childish nature had yet to leave her and she would always be trying to make Yulie see the funny side of her failures whenever she botched something while training with them.
And then, there was Ceal, the beastgirl whom Yulie had idolised the most since first learning of the Legion. While being known for her unerring accuracy with her wrist-mounted bow, she actually was more shy and nervous about things when you got to know her. Despite this, she had never once ran from a battle showing that, while she might be afraid of dying, she was not going to abandon her friends and allies when they needed her most.
Speaking of whom, the beastgirl had finally arrived albeit looking slightly paler than normal after being a target prop something that Yulie was quick to notice.
"Sorry if I scared you, Ceal" Yulie quickly apologised not having expected such a result.
"It's fine" Ceal waved off although she looked far from it. "Now I know how Elma felt when we did that to her years back. She was shaking like a leaf"
"That was only because you looked so unsure of yourself!" Elma quickly snapped causing Ceal to step back. "I actually thought you were going to hit me!"
"But I didn't…didn't I?" Ceal pointed out meekly.
"No! But that still didn't make me feel better when you guys finally untied me from that tree!" Elma replied heatedly.
"Well…Well, if you had not said anything it, Bartholomew and Dianus would not have made you volunteer" Ceal nervously pointed out.
"She made a comment to Ceal about how much her hands were shaking and that it was a surprise she ever actually hit anything" Azalea quietly explained to Yulie as the argument continued. "It wouldn't have even happened had she said it quietly instead of being loud for the whole camp to hear"
Yulie did not know whether to wince or chuckle about that little titbit. It definitely sounded like something Leonard would do as he did have a habit of running his mouth off when he was younger. Then again, so did she way back then also trying to get his attention.
Speaking of her childhood crush…
"Uh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Leonard called out as he approached them cautiously. He had learned the hard way what would happen if he just showed up without warning and it was only thanks to his training with Bartholomew and his Pactmaker abilities that he avoided becoming an electrocuted pincushion.
"Depends. Why are you here and not being beaten to an inch of your life by Bart?" Azalae threw back before Yulie could get a word in.
"Cisna's asking me to go to Faria to find someone called Yggdra. Says her ancestor Medea told her about him and she believes it will help us in the war against Grazel" Leonard explained briefly.
Yulie could see that her childhood friend was still having trouble understanding the matter but was still willing to comply with Her Majesty's request if just because he believed in her not to mention besotted. A part of her felt crushed seeing how he was willing to do something for someone he had rarely spoken to until a year prior yet was oblivious to his best friend he had known for most of his life.
"And you figured I would want to come along with you to keep your neck off the chopping board?" Yulie could not help but tease although she doubted Leonard would notice the bite in her words knowing how oblivious he seemed to be of her affections towards him.
"Guess that's one way of putting it" Leonard answered unsure really as to how to properly reply when she was in that sort of mood for fear of risking getting his head bitten off.
"She'll come. She's wanted to see Faria for a while now after all the things we've told her about it" Azalea butted in to Yulie's surprise.
It was actually a lie as Yulie had been focusing more or less solely on her training in the hopes of being of actual use during their next adventure whenever that rolled around. And yet, here was one of her trainers lying to her best friend for reasons unknown to her.
"Think about it, girl" Elma whispered in Yulie's ear. "If you go to Faria, you might run into Sourpuss. And you have been wanting to see him, right?"
Having opened her mouth to protest that Azalea was lying, Yulie close it just as quickly both because she did not wish to answer Elma's question and feared what might slip out before she could stop herself.
She did not know the how or when behind these budding feelings but, at some point during their first journey, Yulie was finding herself drawn to Alastor. Whether it was due to all the times he had saved her or those few lessons in magic he had given her throughout their journey with the others, Yulie had come to realise that, while her heart was still pinning for Leonard to notice her, slowly but surely the serious and enigmatic Spellcaster was worming his way into her heart and she had come to accept that, possibly, she was falling for him more than her childhood crush.
Sadly, before she could act on those feelings, Alastor had then left them for parts unknown for reasons just as mysterious leaving her in the safe hands of Azalea, Ceal and Elma to train her and bring out the potential he apparently saw in her.
"So, you're coming?" Leonard asked hopefully trusting no one else to watch his back like his best friend would.
"Sure, why not? I could do with some time away from here, I suppose" Yulie replied half-heartedly the part of her still holding a candle to him unable to decline his request for her aid.
Smiling gratefully for Yulie's confirmation that she would be joining him, Leonard headed off back to his quarters telling her he would meet her and Eldore at the Shahgna leaving Yulie to round on the three 'sisters' with hard eyes.
"What makes you think this is going to work exactly?" She asked them unsure which she should glare at first.
"C'mon, Yules, look at it this way; you either somehow get through to Leonard that you like him- though I wouldn't hold my breath" Elma added under her breath. "Or, you run into Sourpuss, punch him one in the kisser then kiss it better"
"But…wouldn't that be his mouth?" Ceal asked in confusion.
"Yeah. Saves her kissing a bruise then going for his mouth" Elma reasoned completely unaware of Yulie's beet red face at the thought of kissing Alastor.
Times like now, she really wished that that sourpuss Magician-Boy that she liked had taken her along with him on his trip.
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Another fic finally updated after oh so long.
Two things before I sign off:
For an idea for who Lavi is watch the first episode of Last Exile- trust me, you'll recognise her quickly
For all those budding & struggling writers out there taking the time to read this sorry excuse of fiction DON'T GIVE UP WRITING YOUR FICS! KEEP GOING 'TIL YOU FINISH!
With that said, kindly review if possible & until next time
Watch this space & peace out!
