Look! I'm still alive! Has it really been four months since I last updated? Holy crackers. Well, now that I've gotten this troublesome chapter out of the way, hopefully my Muse will get his butt off of vacation and give me a hand with the rest. Thank you, everyone, who has waited for me to get through this chunk of writer's block. Seriously, it means a lot. n,.,n

Meeerf: I'm not sure as to which arc will be finished first, the Faerie or the Jumi. I'm tempted to make it the Faerie arc, since my friend Dragonseer declared that the game was over the minute I finished showing her the Jumi one. Can see where her loyalties lie, huh?

As for Pearl and the argument over her hair color, I go off of the pictures I've gotten from the strategy guide and the images from the official page. As far as I can decipher, even if she is a blonde, she is anything but platinum. I still maintain that she's a brunette, so that's what she is in the fic.

The item that is left by Diana at the end of the quest is indeed a ring with a piece of alexandrite for the stone. That's why it changes colors from purple to green. (Or was it green to purple…?) But I guess you already know about the qualities of this unusual stone. n,.,n! Diana's 'key of hate' was only not mentioned because it was in Mephianse's perspective and the game made it seem like Pearl was the only one to hear it.

Tiamat42: Well, at least we're both stuck with writer's block. I don't think I've seen anything from you for about as long as I've been slacking. (That's a hint, in case you hadn't guessed. :P ) I do actually have a fragment sitting on my hard-drive involving the choosing of Knights and Guardians. It just wouldn't fit in the last chapter, so I'm hoping to stick it in later. Cross your fingers.

Xenocanaan: Um, well, it wasn't soon, but at least I've updated. n,.,n!

Reiko x 3: Welcome to the fic! I'm sorry that you caught me on a slow streak; with any luck I'll be updating a bit more regularly. Crossovers are fun, by the way: you might have caught the crossover with Sword of Mana several chapters back. Keep that bit in mind, okay?

———

"Grounded," Rei told her female apprentice angrily as she scrubbed at the trough outside the workshops. "For a month, with no visits to Domina or anywhere else. One week for eavesdropping, one week for running off by yourself, and two weeks for going to the Junkyard without a weapon."

Miserable, Lisa only nodded under the heat of her teacher's ire. Her broom, snapped nearly in half, was clutched tightly to her chest as she stood there with her twin. Bud was only there as a kind of emotional support, since he hadn't done anything to frighten their teacher like she had.

"Salamander and Shade, girl, I know how important that thing is to you!" continued Rei, shaking water off of her clean arms. Her arm-guards had already been tossed onto the rubbish heap as casualties of battle—no amount of scrubbing was going to get Shambler-ooze out of the fabric. "And if you'd waited until I'd come back downstairs, we would have gone with you to rescue it! But instead, you didn't think. You ran off without a thought in your head to a place you knew was dangerous!"

And that was the real source of Rei's temper, Lisa knew. She and the knife-fighter had visited the Junkyard only yesterday after they'd gotten one of Xan's letters about it—and had seen for themselves the enchanted doll that called itself Magnolia, the legendary, sentient doll whose eyes were made from Anise's Eyes of Flame.

They'd gone exploring afterwards, wandering through the heaped piles of broken toys, discarded constructs of a long-gone Age. And they'd found monsters of all kinds that had made the place their home as well.

Scarred arms suddenly enveloped the young Elf girl, holding her tight to her shaking teacher. "By the Tree, Lisa," whispered Rei, "you scared the living daylights out of me. I didn't know if we were going to get there in time before something munched you."

"I'm sorry, Master. I promise I won't do it again."

And to think, the day had started out fairly normal…

———

Well, sort of normal. Lisa had practically torn the house and workshops apart looking for her broom this morning, growing more and more frantic as each place failed to yield so much as a splinter or bit of twig. She was hip-deep in the hall closet for the fifth time when Master Rei came shuffling down the stairs, and the Elf girl heard a sleepy—but very startled—voice ask her brother, "Bud? What is one of those constructs doing on the table? Why does it look like you're fixing it, and why hasn't it destroyed the house?"

There came the sound of scraping over the noise Lisa was making as she ransacked the closet, no doubt her brother trying to hide the broken rocking horse behind his back. After a moment there was a softer scrape, audible only because Lisa had emerged from the closet at last to yank at her ponytail in frustrated panic.

"It promised to behave," said Bud from behind her, sounding abashed. "Lisa found it while you two were exploring the Junkyard yesterday and felt sorry for it. She said it was one of the nicer ones, one of the ones that just wanted purpose again."

"But their purpose was war, and that's over and done with," their teacher countered logically. "What kind of purpose could it have now?"

Lisa turned around in time to see Bud pat the worn, broken-legged rocking-horse affectionately. "I thought I'd give it to Maree after I fixed it up. You know, the Thatcher's little girl. She's about old enough to have a rocking-horse."

"And it agreed to this?"

"It says it does."

There came a thoughtful noise as Rei pulled a chair out from the table and sat down. "I guess it's not a bad idea," was the slow admittance. The knife-fighter was studying the broken 'horse with genuine interest warming her gaze. "You lot would probably make some damn good protectors for kids and their families. No one would expect some kid's toy to up and whack 'em across the head, let alone some stupid robber." A crooked grin. "And Salamander only knows how much I would have loved to have a toy that talked back when I was a kid."

Bud looked hopeful at that. "So you'll let me fix it?"

Lisa didn't see if her teacher responded with a gesture, as the Elf girl darted into the kitchen to check one more time. But she did hear a casual, "Okay, give it a shot. But I'm gonna be keeping an eye on you for a bit, 'horse. Some of your folk down at the Junkyard aren't so people-friendly. Now, can anyone explain why I have a student ransacking my house?"

Lisa burst from the kitchen, feeling tears beginning to well up. "My broom's gone!"

Bud stared at her with woodshavings in his bangs. "Gone?" he repeated incredulously. "It can't be gone, Lisa. You probably just lost it." He said the last with a light-hearted wave of the hand that neither female believed for a split second.

"How could I lose a big broom like that?" Lisa demanded, hands on her hips. "Do you know how hard I've been searching all morning?"

"C'mon, Liiisaaa," moaned Bud, collapsing back into his chair with those melt-your-heart blue eyes just beginning to fill with tears. "That broom is a memento of Dad!"

Rei got up and went to him, patting him on the shoulder in reassurance as she looked to his twin. "And you've searched all of the house?" she wanted to know, trying to confirm where Lisa had looked.

"The whole thing, top to bottom," Lisa replied, adding a trembling of her chin to her brother's glistening eyes. "I was extra quiet so I didn't wake you when I checked your room. I also looked in the meadow, the workshops, the barn and the corral, and the orchard."

Nodding thoughtfully, Rei told them, "Alright. I'll do another sweep around the cottage while you two go check…" she trailed off, eyebrows shooting upwards as Lil' Cactus calmly walked through the front door. Bud and Lisa stared in openmouthed shock at the sight of the spine-ball pattering across the floor to the bottom of the stairs, where it favored them all with a bright little smile before darting up to the second floor.

"The cactus…walks…" Bud managed, all other thoughts driven out of his head for the moment.

"Um, yeah. He does, sometimes." Rei scratched at the back of her neck sheepishly. "Guess I forgot to mention that. Listen, hold off for a second on heading to Domina, okay? I'll go see if Lil' Cactus has seen your broom, Lisa."

"Okay."

Still barefoot, their teacher headed up after the cactus, leaving the two children downstairs. Bud rubbed at his face for a moment before he got out of his chair. "I'll go get a couple more tools from the workshop," he told his sister. "In case that little squirt knows where the broom went. Check around the house one more time, okay?"

Lisa nodded in determination and decided she'd check upstairs in her room one more time. She began to pad up the steps and was just in time to hear the tail end of her teacher's question. "…broom, Lil' Cactus?"

Loud and clear came the piping voice of Rei's houseplant. "Threw away old broom. Junkyard."

The Elf girl froze. The Junkyard? Her broom, the one she'd inherited from her father, was in the Junkyard? She had to get it back before some monster went and chewed on it!

———

Rei came down a minute later in time to feel the ripple of Mana that told her of someone using a teleport spell from very close-by. Bud ran in a second later, panic making his hair frizz every which way. "Lisa ran away!" he shouted, wood-working tools dangling from nerveless fingers. "She heard what the cactus did and took off! We gotta follow her, 'cmon!"

The knife-fighter swore and leaped the last few steps as she hurried to get her shoes. "Oi! 'Horse!" she called over her shoulder to the construct still sitting patiently on the table. "I find this house any more a mess when I get back, you're splinters. Clear?"

:Yes, ma'am!:

———

You know, Lees, maybe this wasn't such a hot idea, the Elf girl thought to herself as she caught her breath. It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes since she'd left the cottage, but it felt like hours to her poor legs. In her hurry, she'd completely forgotten to grab anything resembling a weapon, including the lightweight spear that Master Rei had made for her and her alone for the twins' birthday last week.

Which meant that Lisa was completely out of options when it came to fighting monsters, since her only tool to channel elemental magic was lying somewhere in the heart of this place. She'd run from every ambush the monsters of the Junkyard had sprung on her, thus her winded state. She was just lucky that the same toys that had helped her and Master Rei find their way about last time were still willing to talk to her.

She'd followed their path since the entrance, ears opened for any hint of where Lil' Cactus had gone or any mention of her broom.

:I saw a thorny thing with a broom walk deep inside.:

:I saw a weird creature carrying a broom bigger than itself. It was green and had lots of thorns.:

:That was scary! I saw a cactus wielding a heavy broom and saying strange words. It sounded like leesaleesa.:

:I didn't know that cactuses could move! Ya learn something new every day.:

The last one had been another rocking horse and she'd paused long enough to agree with it emphatically before running on her way, ears plugged to the angry hum of whispers from other forgotten toy soldiers. Now she was good and lost, out of breath, and running low on hope. But she limped on, determined to find her father's broom no matter what.

And as if in answer to that spark of will, there it was! With a joyful cry she hurried towards it, oblivious to the fact that it was lying in the grotto amongst the mounds of trash where she and her teacher had fought Magnolia's helpers just yesterday. Oblivious, that is, until her outstretched hand felt an aura of menace around the worn oak shaft.

"Huh?" Violet eyes wide, she had just enough time for that one startled noise before the aura pulsed, flinging her back to land in a tumbled heap on the barren ground several feet away. Skidding along bare dirt, she let out a frightened scream that hardly seemed louder than a squeak.

———

Two heads jerked up at the scream that echoed loud enough to reach the edges of the Junkyard. "Lisa!" Bud yelled back, torn between helping his teacher, who was so close, and helping his sister, who was only Goddess knew where.

"Bud, go!" Rei commanded, parrying another blow from the gooey mass of decomposing plant matter and old pieces of armor and weapons that was trying to take her head off. "I got this covered!"

Rei had to give her student credit; he didn't hesitate another moment, but flung himself headlong up the winding, narrow path through the piles of broken toy soldiers. Which left her with the Shambler. "Okay, big guy," she muttered to herself. "Let's see how well you take to this." And she plunged her hand deep into its side, searching for the heart she knew had to be there.

———

Lisa had barely gotten herself picked back up when Bud barreled into the open area, nearly tripping over her in his haste. "Lisa!"

"Bud?" the Elf girl quavered. Disoriented, it took her a second to remember why she was on the ground. "Watch out! There's something here! I think it possessed my broom!"

Bud nodded, looking so much like their teacher in that moment that Lisa's heart gave a lurch of surprise. "Right. We gotta get outta here! Master Rei's just behind me, we'll be safe, then."

Lisa couldn't help what happened next: scraped up, exhausted, with every muscle in her legs one solid ache, she started crying. "I'm scared...Almost all the junk here, like, hates people. And I can't run anymore…"

"Liiisaaaa!" Bud scolded her lightly, grinning. "Did ya forget who I am? I'm Bud the Malignant! Son of Master Magician Hein! Now lemme get that broom and we'll head out." With that, he walked over and scooped up the broom—which promptly showed why Lil' Cactus had brought it here by folding itself nearly in half. The ragged break had left only a thin strip of wood holding the two halves of the shaft together. In a moment of overwhelming frustration that they had come so far, only to have their prize ruined, Bud threw the broom back down with a disgusted growl.

Lisa rubbed at her eyes, staring up at her brother. "But Dad was a dropout at the Academy of Magic…He was so bad, he was only accepted in Domina. We're doomed…The monsters are going to eat us before Master Rei gets here…"

"Lisa!" Bud shouted, whirling to face her. "Don't you remember what Dad always told us?"

Hiccupping, Lisa thought for a few seconds. "Um…He who fights and runs away lives to see the light of day?"

"That's it!" Bud seemed to realize what he'd just said and wilted slightly.

"Cowardice is the better part of valor?" Lisa added, thinking back to the kind, gentle man who hadn't had a single violent bone in his body.

"…Exactly!"

"…So…"

Jerking his head in a sharp nod, Bud declared, "I'd rather live as a coward than die as a hero."

Heroes there are many. There is but one father of Bud and Lisa! The voice that came from nowhere had both twins jumping nearly out of their skins as it rumbled across the Junkyard. The menacing aura around the fallen broom coalesced into the form of a small monster that looked like a regular Imp—but it was all over dark gray—that advanced on the twins with its pitchfork brandished high.

"Lisa, run!" Bud yelled over the shaking growl that make the ground beneath his feet dance. Lisa did as she was told and bolted, getting several dozen feet away before she dared to look bad. Bud just gave her a rakish grin as he brought out his trusty frying pan and slung it onto his shoulder. "Ya just stay right there, Lisa," he called to her with all of the confidence born out of months of hard training. "I'll take care of this!"

"Bud!!" Lisa cried, beginning to run back.

An arm covered in reeking goop stopped her, barring her from taking even one more step back. Nose wrinkling against the smell, she followed it up into the stern face of her teacher. Rei was watching Bud take measured swings against the Gray Imp, dancing back to strum a harp shining golden in the sun when it got too close.

"Take it easy, Lisa," Rei told her student calmly. "Bud's got this one under control."

And indeed he did, his twin discovered. A few more whacks and the Imp dissolved into a handful of string-tied bones, leaving Bud the sole possessor of the open space and the broom. Rei moved her arm then, letting Lisa dash into the clearing to hug her brother with a relieved burble of laughter. "Thanks, Bud!!"

"Good job," was all Rei said as she walked over.

"We did it!!" grinned the youth, frying pan once again slung against his shoulder as he beamed up at his teacher. His sibling took the opportunity to grab her broom before something else happened to it. "Didja see, Master?!"

"Sure did. Now let's get out of here so I can wash. I think this goop's starting to solidify." Both put a hand against her back, well practiced by now in the art of group teleporting, and all three disappeared in a swirl of Mana.

———

Clean and mildly calmer now that both her students were safe, Rei plunked herself down in her rocking chair and beckoned imperiously for the broom that Bud was now clutching. He brought it over, casting a reassuring glance over his shoulder at his sibling. "Don't worry! I'll fix it!"

"We'll fix it," Rei corrected firmly, taking up the broom and examining the break. "Your punishment starts now, Lisa. Bud, while she's taking care of the chores that should have been done this morning, I'm going to teach you one of the few spells that the Venstry family made itself. It's one for mending magical objects like instruments or channeling tools like this."

:What about me?: inquired the rocking horse that had been left on the table this morning.

Rei glanced over at it. "You can't be missing parts if you want this spell to work on you, 'horse. You've waited decades for someone to take you home and mend you. I think you can stand to wait a few more hours."

The 'horse subsided with a grumble as Rei got down to teaching the spell, Lisa resigning herself to a long, quiet month of chores and a whole lot of training. She knew perfectly well that the main part of whatever training she was going to be getting would involve never forgetting a weapon again.

But, thinking back to that moment in the Junkyard with her brother grinning at her against the backdrop of their mother's frying pan, Lisa thought she'd be okay with that. She would become strong like her brother and her teacher, so that she would never need rescuing again.

Next time, it would be her that would be the hero.

———

Whew! Sorry if it's a bit stilted. Not a lot to work with in this chapter, and some of it just plain does not make sense. Best guess I had for that weird voice was it coming from the Imp or something, but even that was strange.

Anyhoo, here's hoping it won't take another four ungodly months for me to get the next chapter out. Since my current job is screwing me over I'm trying to find another one (please gods, not in retail!) and I have a sinful amount of time where I'm not helping customers. Which, quite frankly, is boring as all heck. I'm so used to working thirty-plus hours a week that it feels strange to be working twelve or less. Thus, I am motivated to write since I have nothing else to do while I wait for my applications to be processed.

Some silver lining. —sighs—

PS. Oi! You see that green button down there? Yeah, that's the one. Pretty, isn't it? Why don't you click on it? Bet something will happen. Never know, you might see your name in print next chapter.