Eep! Sorry it took so frickin' long to get the frickin' third chapter out!! At the very least I don't have to rewrite anything, because my frickin' hard drive crashed, deleting EVERYTHING…including what I had of the RD2 prologue… ;_; Oh well. Somebody just poke me with a stick next time I start slacking off…no, not you Tempest… - -()

DISCLAIMER: Yet again, and as always, I don't own Golden Sun or any of the characters except for Kierra…and Lise. I couldn't remember anybody from Vault except Ivan that had names, so I made her up. *shrugs* She's just an extra. And Saturos is now my unofficial Muse. Happy day. ^_^

~:~:~

"I hope you don't mind if we stop in Vault," Ivan said, glancing over at me. "It's been ages since I last saw my folks."

"Sure, I don't mind," I replied. Anything to make this trip a bit longer…

"Great," he said, grinning. "The kids are going to love you."

Kids? Uh oh…

[A/N: I am in NO WAY insinuating that Ivan had kids, I'm referring to all the OTHER snotty brats in Vault…]

*

"Hey, Ivan! Where've you been?"

"Oh, hey, Lise." I smiled at the sight of the tall, blond girl. She was about five years younger than I was, but she was still taller than me, or anyone else in Vault, for that matter. "I've been hanging around Vale, mostly."

"Why?" Then, she added suspiciously, "Are you chasing after that Mercury Adept, Mia?"

"What? No! No, of course not…" [A/N: What? I LIKE non-canon couples! …And stop glaring at me like that. Saturos, before I stuff a Hail Prism down yer throat.]

"You sure?"

"Yes!" I sighed. "Kierra and I were just passing through…"

"Kierra?" She blinked. "Oh! You mean that girl who's playing with Tommy and Carla?"

"Uh-huh," I said, looking back at the trio, who were playing tag.

*

"GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Heehee! Silly girl!"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!!"

*

Lise grinned. "Awwww, look how cute they are together!"

I cringed at the thought of how Kierra would react if she ever heard anyone call her 'cute'. "Yeah, you sure got that right…"

*

"HEY! NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

"Okay!"

CRASH!

"ARRRGH!" Did I mention I hate kids?!

…

"We're going…straight…to Vale," an exhausted Kierra asked me about an hour later, "right?"

"Yep."

"Ugh…"

Something didn't seem right, though. Every other time I came to Vale, I noticed a mountain range on my right. But now it was on my left…or had I never noticed it before? Hmmm…

"Are you sure…we're going…the right way?"

"Yeah, trust me."

*

I trusted him about as far as I could sling a piano.

[A/N: First person to guess which book/movie I got that from gets a cookie!]

"Absolutely sure?"

"Yes. Now, quit worrying."

I would've quit worrying ages ago if I weren't worried about five-year-old kids snapping my only weapon in half…

Suddenly, we came to a halt outside of what seemed like a fortress, only the gates were open. Even so, it didn't seem like a friendly place. Ivan paled. "Uh…oh…"

"'Uh oh'? Whaddaya mean, 'uh oh'?!"

He swallowed nervously as he turned to look at me. "This…this is Lunpa…"

"Yeah, so?"

"…We went way too far east…"

I felt like I could strangle him. "WHAT?!"

He cringed. "Please don't hurt me."

I growled and turned to storm off, when I saw someone blocking my way. I growled again, a bit louder this time. "Go. Away."

"Hey, why the rush, babe?"

That hit me. I looked up to glare at the guy, who was grinning at me as though he'd won the Tolbi lottery. "You really don't want to make me mad."

"Oh really? How come?"

Ivan stretched out an arm in front of me protectively. "Back off."

"Why don't you just stay out of this?" He smirked, then turned to me. "Now let's get back to business."

I started moving my hand over to my javelin. Luckily, the demon children hadn't broken it. "Trust me, you do not want to make me mad."

"Yeah? Why not, vixen?"

Then I totally snapped.

*

Before I could say or do anything, she whipped out her javelin and smashed the poor guy over the head with it. Then, before he could cry out, she smashed him in the side of the head again, then on the other side before kicking him in the chest, leaving him completely winded. "Kierra! Calm down!"

"ERUPTION!"

He never had a chance.

*

The next thing I knew, the jerk was a twisted, charred, black form on the ground and I was shaking uncontrollably. "That idiot!"

"Kierra! We need to get out of here!"

"Why?!" I snapped.

"Just look over there!" He pointed back at Lunpa, where my little explosion was beginning to draw a crowd.

"What happened?!"

"Who are they?"

"In Sol's name…is he DEAD?!"

"Somebody get the Sacred Elder!"

I blinked. "Uh…"

"Get the idea?" Ivan asked. It was a rhetorical question.

"Right. Let's get out of here."

…

Another hour later, I was still shaking like a leaf on a tree. I hissed lowly at the thought of that jerk. Then I saw another village that didn't have a gate or high walls around it, or anything. I assumed that this was Vale. I saw a boy about twelve years old with auburn hair hanging around outside the entrance. Auburn…just like mine! Well, without the white streak, of course. But it was obvious he didn't have any hint of white—or blue—on his hair. His eyes were also a dark brown. They widened at the sight of us, and he straightened up. "Ivan?"

"Hey, Matt! Didja miss me?"

But he wasn't looking at Ivan. He was looking at me. "Who's that?"

"This is Kierra," he said, backing up a little to introduce me. "Kierra, this is Matt. I do believe that you two have something in common…or a lot of things in common."

Matt blinked and cocked his head. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well…I am assuming, of course, that, ah…you two may well be siblings."

His last sentence took a few seconds to dig in. Then… "WHAT?!"

"Well, come on, it IS a possibility…isn't it?"

"Uh…" Then I realized that I had ended up at Tolbi as an orphan. In other words, I had no idea who my parents were. And Matt did look just like me. Well, except for the eyes, of course. And the white streak, can't forget that. But otherwise…there was no difference, except in age and gender. It suddenly became an all too real possibility.

"No. Way."

"Yes, way, Matt," said Ivan, breaking the silence. "She's an orphan." Matt stood staring off into space for a few seconds, then suddenly bolted off in the other direction. "I advise you follow him, Kierra…"

I didn't need a second thought. I dashed off right after him, until we came to a house. He ran right in, then dragged a woman out who I presumed to be his—my—mother. "All right, all right, Matt, what is it?" Then she stopped at the sight of me. Her jaw literally dropped. "Who…who are you?"

I swallowed nervously. "Kierra…of Tolbi…"

I thought that the 'of Tolbi' bit might've warded her off, but she didn't change her expression. Then she let out a strangled gasp and hugged me, tight, sobbing into my shoulder. Then another person came out; a man with flaming red hair, who I presumed to be my father. "Jenna? Jenna, what is it? Who's that?"

Matt spoke for her. "Dad…meet your daughter, Kierra."

His eyes widened. "No…"

He nodded. "Yeah. Kierra, this is Garet."

What I noticed the most, however, was the fact that Garet looked nothing like me. Oh well. It was probably just a coincidence. But there were still a couple of mysteries.

Where did that white streak in my hair come from? And why didn't I look anything like my father?

~:~:~

321: That's not all, folks! ^_^

Kitsune: That seemed like a pretty canon couple…

321: I know. ^_^

Saturos: *glares at Kitsune, then turns to 321* Can I have my dignity back yet?

321: No.

Saturos: ;_;