Full Summary:
A young girl who longed only for the chance to live up to her family's legacy, and be accepted by her peers. When the Familiar Summoning Ritual succeeds, Louise finally has that chance - but maybe not the way she'd hoped.
A too young veteran that was robbed of her childhood, she grew up alone. Fighting impossible battles and even worse odds, Tabitha has lost all hope that things could ever improve.
A young man who lost everything in the aftermath of a terrible battle. Left with nothing to live for, he agrees to stand by Louise, in the hopes that maybe he'll find something new.
And find them, he does. With a chance to share his pain with two equally pained souls, he'll find the chance to grieve his losses, and move forward through the darkness, guided by his Two Lights.
Notes:
For the first time in six years, I'm back with a new story. If you've read my past work before, you'll notice that the opening of this story copy/pastes the beginning of the foz x terraria one shot that I posted way back in 2016, and the reason for that is that it's a perfectly serviceable opening that I don't really feel like changing.
This is being cross posted on Archive of our Own. I have another fic over there that I started last year, and have somewhat kept up with.
My Ao3 username is Draskir, if you feel like searching it up.
Now, for the story:
A powerful explosion rocked through the earth, nearly knocking everyone off of their feet.
At Tristain's Magic Academy, near the end of the second year, the students are required to summon a familiar. This familiar summoning ritual is a sacred rite that determines a mage's lifelong companion, and will indicate which of the four elements the mage will be attuned to.
What element could a young mage be attuned to, then, when every spell she attempts ends in failure? Even now, attempting the familiar summon only resulted in yet another explosion. Such as it was for the young, pink haired Louise de la Vallière, who had never successfully cast a single spell in all her life, earning the title of 'The Zero' amongst her peers. And this latest apparent failure did nothing to buck the trend, as those very peers set about to their usual whispers and murmurs.
"Another explosion," tutted the blonde haired pretty boy, Guiche du Gramont, as he patted his newly acquired mole familiar absent mindedly. "Some things never change, I suppose."
"I think this one was bigger than usual, though," murmured a similarly blonde girl at his side, Montmorency de Montmorency. Louise could only slump over in despair, hearing that. Truly, the only way she could stand out against her previous record, was to produce ever larger explosions in place of proper spell casting. She tried to push it out of her mind, however, as dwelling on the matter would serve no purpose.
"My, isn't that just like you?" snarked Louise's ever annoying rival, Kirche von Zerbst, a red headed foreign exchange student from the land of Germania. At her side, the ever silent Tabitha de Orleans, from Gallia, stared into the billowing cloud of dust with a curious expression. "I do hope you don't plan to take an explosion for a familiar!"
"Oh, shut it, Zerbst," Louise snapped tiredly, rubbing her temple in an attempt to prevent the migraine that usually came with their interactions. "I don't have the energy to deal with you today, so just be quiet and let me try again."
Before Kirche could respond, the cloud of dust before them was blown away. Something immediately struck Louise as being off, however, as the wind was blowing towards her from the front, despite her classmates and the supervising Professor Colbert being grouped up behind her.
And then she saw him, crouched low at the center of the field. He was garbed in simple clothing, black pants and coat, with a red shirt. Despite his common appearance, Louise was more focused on two other details; the first being his expression. His short brown hair hung low over his eyes, casting a shadow that did nothing to hide whatever pain he was feeling. Looking into those eyes reminded Louise vaguely of being near her mother.
The second, more pressing detail, was the pair of pistols he carried in his hands. They were an odd orange color, and far bulkier than any flintlock pistol Louise had ever seen before.
Even more pressing was the fact that both of them were pointed directly at her. That fact, Louise guessed, was the only thing that kept her classmates from bursting into laughter over her apparently summoning a commoner.
A tense stillness settled over the field. As Louise's mind raced, trying to figure out how to handle the situation, the armed commoner shifted one of his pistols in a different direction off to Louise's side. Snapping her gaze over to see what caused the change, Louise was somewhat alarmed to see that the blue haired Tabitha had pushed up somewhat, that same curious expression still present on her face. It was, by far, the most expression Louise had ever seen on the quiet girl's normally blank face.
Rather puzzlingly, Tabitha didn't seem the least bit threatened. Louise had heard about the deadliness of the firearms that had begun appearing in the last few decades, rendering even the mundane commoners able to defeat the magic wielding nobility. Either Tabitha didn't know what those pistols were capable of, or she had reason to believe the commoner wouldn't use them.
Throwing a quick glance backwards, Louise was almost amused to see Kirche's mildly horrified expression, but the pink haired girl quickly stamped down on the feeling. This wasn't the time for it.
Forcing her mind back on track, Louise focused her attention forward once more. Despite being common in appearance, Louise could easily tell he was foreign.
"Can you understand me?" Louise asked, earning a single nod of affirmation. Pleased with the progress, Louise dared to take a single step forward. "Would you kindly lower your weapons? I'd like to talk."
"Who are you?" asked the commoner, his pistols still raised as he raised himself to stand. At full height, he was easily a full head taller than Louise. She couldn't truly fault his caution, being suddenly pulled to a new location for an unknown reason. The familiar summoning ritual was only meant to summon beasts, after all.
"My name is Louise, and I'm a student at the magic academy here," Louise introduced herself, gesturing to the brick wall and castle that stood a moderate distance from the field that had been chosen for the summons. The commoner's eyes flicked over to take in the sight, before settling on Louise once more. "Today, my class took part in the tradition of summoning their familiars, lifelong companions that are brought forth by the same spell that brought you here."
Silently, Louise applauded herself for remaining calm in such a tense situation. Against the taunts and mockery of her classmates, Louise was too quick to anger, and she was almost surprised that she was able to keep calm in this situation.
"Why would you bring me here?" The commoner's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared Louise down. Absent-mindedly, Louise took note of the fact that his fingers had lifted off of the triggers of his pistols.
"It was not by choice. The ritual brings forth creatures at random, based on the caster's elemental affinity, but it's supposed to only work on beasts. I have no idea why it would call upon you, a human, to be my familiar. It's unheard of."
Louise and her summon stared each other down for another long moment, before his pistols dropped to his sides. As he turned to gaze at the academy, Louise took note of the expression on his face. Something about it made her insides twist up, and she couldn't help but ponder how such a clearly dangerous person could give off such an aura of sadness.
"Well then, Miss Vallière," Professor Colbert cleared his throat to draw Louise's attention. "I'd like to congratulate you for successfully performing the ritual! Despite the… dramatic introduction, you've managed to summon your familiar!"
In spite of the balding man's enthusiasm, Louise couldn't help but snort somewhat.
"Did I, though?" Louise asked sardonically, her gaze flitting between her jovial professor, the very stunned class behind him, and her clearly depressed summon off to the side.
"You did summon him," Colbert pointed out somewhat nervously.
"Yes, but he's human," Louise rebuked, crossing her arms in front of her. "Forcing him to be my familiar now would be akin to slavery, whether I summoned him or not. I can't abide that."
Of course, the Professor didn't have a proper reply to that, and neither did any of her classmates. Louise said nothing as they milled about for the next few minutes. Professor Colbert offered a few words about taking the next few days to bond with their new familiars, and then the group wandered off back towards the academy. Some walked, others took to the air with levitation spells.
Many of them offered confused gazes at Louise and her summon as they went, though none bothered to say anything, not even the usually snide Kirche. Tabitha, on the other hand, continued to stare at the commoner with that curious expression on her face, right up to when she finally turned to leave.
And then Louise was alone with her summon. He'd barely moved since dropping his aggression, instead gazing solemnly at the pair of moons rising on the horizon.
"You never told me your name," Louise commented gently. He was silent for a long moment, turning to regard her as solemnly as he'd regarded the moons before.
"...Darrian."
"And what do you plan to do now, Darrian?" Louise asked, trying to bury the underlying feeling of shame that had begun to creep over her. She was the daughter of a duke, and the expectations placed on her were high. To have summoned a human commoner of all things, one that she couldn't rightly bind…
It told Louise nothing of her affinity, and left her in a position in which she may not even have a familiar at all. If he decided to leave, Louise couldn't even begin to imagine the negative light it would paint over her family.
"If your ritual called me here," Darrian began, his voice low and emotionless, "it stands to reason that I may be needed."
He fell silent then, holding up one hand to inspect his palm, and Louise noted absently that his pistols had disappeared.
"I have no home, nor friends or family to return to," Darrian continued, closing his hand to a fist and letting it fall as he turned to face her. "I don't know what to do, or what I should do. But if your ritual called on me for some kind of reason… I'd like to try and find out why."
Louise couldn't help but smile gently at that. It didn't banish the feeling of shame entirely, but she was relieved to hear he was willing to stay for the time being, at least.
I only hope it's enough.
An hour later, Louise and Darrian were sat at the table in Louise's bedroom. She'd been rather embarrassed over the pile of hay in the corner, admitting sheepishly that it was meant to be Darrian's sleeping arrangement. Thankfully, he hadn't been too upset by it, understanding her reasoning of not expecting a human familiar.
So there they were, sat at the table, sipping tea. Rather, Louise was sipping tea; Darrian had taken a single sip of his, then set it down and ignored it. He hadn't even really taken a look around the room, opting instead to stare blankly down at the table in silence.
"If you don't mind me asking," Louise started, setting down her tea as Darrian continued to stare blankly. "What… happened?"
Darrian's gaze focused on Louise, and she could feel his confusion.
"You seem to be weighed down by something," Louise clarified, earning a small look of realization from Darrian. "I won't claim to understand what you're feeling, but it's somewhat obvious that you're… hurting, somehow."
Darrian said nothing at first, focusing his gaze back down towards his tea as he contemplated how to answer.
"There was… an event. A battle," Darrian began, tracing a finger over the edges of his tea cup. "A challenge was issued, and many lives were at stake."
"What kind of challenge?" Louise asked.
"The challenge to gain enough strength to defeat a being of immense power," Darrian answered in a low voice. "The battle unfolded over the course of a month or so. I faced the challenge, with the help of my closest friends, and eventually won the battle. But at the end of it all… I was the only survivor."
Oh. Well…
Louise's insides twisted into knots, hearing that. She couldn't blame him for being down, if he'd lost a number of people he cared for.
"How… recently did this happen?" Louise was almost afraid to ask, but she had to assume it was somewhat recent, for him to be like this.
"Your summons pulled me directly from the aftermath of the final battle," Darrian replied hollowly, tracing his finger around the edge of his cup another time. Louise could only grimace.
I could tell it was recent, but today?
"Let's… let's just leave it at that, then," Louise said as she stood from her seat. She didn't want to make him relive any of those memories yet, especially if any of his friends had died that same day. She could press for the finer details another time. Louise lingered at his side for a brief moment, gently laying a hand on his shoulder as she passed by to prepare for her evening study.
"I guess I should ask," Darrian said as Louise sat herself at her desk. "What exactly does this whole familiar thing entail? Like… what's gonna be expected of me?"
"That depends on you, to be honest," Louise answered as she began rifling through her papers. "As I mentioned before, a familiar is meant to be a beast or creature of some kind. If you're willing to take the role, then we're just going to have to make the rules up as we go along."
"Well, I'm not sure I'm cut out for any kind of servant work," Darrian commented, finally sipping on more of his tea, which had likely gone cold by now. "I can definitely move stuff around for you, though. Maybe run errands. Little stuff here and there to help out."
"It's a start," Louise said lightly, cracking open one of her text books. "I'm going to study for a bit, if you don't mind."
"I'll leave you to it, then." Darrian stood from his table and made for the door. "I'm gonna head out and take a look around, try and get a feel for the area."
"Alright. Try not to get lost, it's a little confusing at first."
"Aye."
Louise watched his back until the door shut behind him, leaving her alone in her dorm. Despite the relief that Darrian had chosen to stay, and even offered to help, Louise couldn't help the tightness in the back of her throat. She could just imagine if Mother or Eleanore were here.
Daughter of a Duke, and nothing to show for it.
Burying her face in her hands, Louise let go for just a moment, and allowed the tears to fall.
Meandering down the halls of the academy, Darrian couldn't help but grimace every time he passed an arch that let him see the moons in the slowly darkening sky. They were pretty, sure, but even the vaguest resemblance to anything lunar made his heart hurt and his blood boil.
How can I repay you, brother mine…?
Darrian shook his head roughly as he rounded a corner. Dwelling on past mistakes wouldn't serve any purpose. He knew he should try and be grateful that he'd even survived, but moving on after the others had fallen in battle…
It terrified him.
He shook his head roughly again, forcing those thoughts out of his head.
Stop thinking about it!
Thankfully, a noise ahead of him drew his attention, and he latched onto it with all his might. Down the hall was what appeared to be a maid with short blackish brown hair cleaning a window, groaning cutely as she stretched to reach a section that was just too tall for her. When she failed to reach from stretching, she resorted to hopping, swiping her cloth from side to side each time, though still failing to reach the highest sections of the window.
"Of all the times for the stool to be broken," she moaned, stepping back away from the window to glare at the visible stains beyond her reach.
"Scuse me," Darrian called out, earning a small shriek of surprise from the maid as he stepped up to her. He put on a sheepish face, holding up his hands placatingly as the girl turned and stared at him with a 'deer in the headlights' look.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, um, can I help you sir?" the girl stammered, blushing beet red and bowing. It wouldn't have been much of a problem, Darrian had surprised her, but she was also shaking somewhat.
"Relax," Darrian breathed slowly, putting in as much effort as he could to sound calming. He was pleased to see the shaking and blush subside rather quickly, and the girl straightened up from her bow to look at him with a nervous, yet still curious expression.
"You're not… one of the nobles?" the girl asked, casting nervous looks up and down the hall.
"'Nobles'?" Darrian quoted with a confused expression, earning a similarly confused expression from the girl. "So, this is an aristocracy? Louise didn't mention anything about that…"
"W-what? How could you not know about that?" The girl stared at Darrian with a dumbfounded expression.
"I was summoned here by one of the students," Darrian answered. "This is my first time being in any of your lands, so I don't know anything about the social structure."
"Oh, so you're the one…" the girl trailed off as realization dawned on her face. "There have been rumors going around the academy… I'm so sorry, I should have realized sooner."
"Ah, it's fine." Darrian waved a hand flippantly, smiling gently. After a moment of looking like a sad puppy, the girl brightened up and smiled back. "I'm Darrian, by the way."
"My name is Siesta. It's nice to meet you," she said, bowing politely with a bright smile. "So then, did you need help with something?"
"I did not, actually, I was hoping to lend you a hand. Looked like you were having some trouble, just now."
"Oh! No, it's fine, I can leave it for later-" Siesta started, but stopped when Darrian gave her a look. Giving up on her protests, she handed him her cloth. Darrian reached up and easily swiped away the last bits of dirt at the height of the window, and handed the cloth back with a small, mischievous smile.
Siesta's response was an indignant glare, but Darrian could see her lips quirk upward as she swiped the cloth from him. She couldn't hold it for long before the smile broke out and she started giggling, prompting Darrian's smile to devolve into something a little more gentle.
The moment was quickly shattered when a new, snide voice called out.
"Well, good to see the commoner understands his place," snarked a boy with curly blonde hair, a shirt that was cut very low, and a brandished rose for some reason. Beside him was a girl with long brown hair, relatively plain looking, and wore a brown cloak compared to her companion's green. Siesta let out a small 'eep!' and clammed up.
Noticing her discomfort, Darrian impulsively took a step to put Siesta behind him as he faced the pair of newcomers, both of them clearly students. He recognized the boy as being part of Louise's class, as he'd been present at the field at the time of his arrival.
"Can I help you with something?" Darrian asked with a forcibly polite tone, throwing in a hint of sarcasm and hoping they would take the bait and leave him alone. The girl seemed to recognize the mood, but her companion missed it entirely.
"Oh, no, we're just passing by," the boy drawled, brandishing his rose theatrically. "I can tell you're not from around here, commoner, and so I simply wanted to commend you for understanding your place here so quickly."
"I see," Darrian commented, his eyes narrowing somewhat as he took another step to hide Siesta behind him completely, not wanting to drag her into a possible confrontation. He swapped his gaze between the two students, and the girl seemed to realize that something was off about him.
"L-lord Guiche, might we hurry along?" the girl pressed, tugging at her companion's sleeve. "My souffle is likely getting cold, I would hate for you to try it at anything less than perfection…"
"Not to worry, Miss Katie, I shouldn't be but a moment," Guiche hushed, posing dramatically for his companion, and Katie turned back to Darrian with a look of apology. "Tell me, commoner, are you a soldier?"
"I'm not," Darrian answered, shifting his stance somewhat, hunching his back a bit and setting his feet a certain distance apart.
"And yet you seem to move as one," Guiche noted, dropping his theatrics for a moment as he looked Darrian over.
"I was involved in a battle recently," Darrian said stiffly. "I'm not a soldier, or even a trained fighter. But I was forced to learn very quickly, under penalty of death if I failed."
"I see," Guiche hummed, bringing his rose to his chin as he took a few steps in no particular direction, looking thoughtful. Katie seemed confused by the interaction, and Darrian could feel Siesta's continued discomfort as she shook slightly behind him. "This battle you speak of… who were the contenders in it?"
"I was on a team with five others," Darrian answered, shifting his stance once again. "The opposing side was a single entity that puppeted powerful monsters against us in increasingly difficult encounters."
Guiche didn't respond immediately, turning to stare Darrian down with a critical eye. Darrian stared back with narrowed eyes.
"And how did this battle end?"
For a moment, Darrian's grip loosened, and the pain he'd been holding in these past few hours shined through.
"I was able to defeat my enemy, but my team… my friends weren't lucky enough to survive."
Katie's face fell, and Siesta placed a hand on Darrian's shoulder gently. Guiche and Darrian continued to stare each other down for a few moments longer, before the student turned and continued down the hall.
"Come along, Miss Katie," Guiche beckoned, returning to his theatrics suddenly. Katie offered Darrian another look of sad apology before hurrying off after her companion.
Darrian and Siesta watched them go, eventually disappearing around a corner. Siesta laid a hand on Darrian's arm, looking up at him with sadness. Darrian smiled gently down at her, then turned and gazed out the window at the two moons hanging in the sky.
How can I repay you, brother mine…?
Louise laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Darrian was settled into the corner, eyes closed, though Louise couldn't tell if he was really sleeping or not.
Rolling on to her side, Louise watched Darrian in the darkness as she tried to fall asleep. She wasn't quite sure what to make of his encounter with Guiche, or the maid he'd apparently made friends with, but Darrian didn't seem to be too fazed.
More than that, Louise was afraid of how her family would react to his presence. She'd started writing a letter to Mother shortly after Darrian had stepped out, but she'd refrained from finishing it.
She couldn't figure out how to word it without sounding like the failure she felt she was.
With a grimace, Louise rolled back over to stare at the ceiling some more, trying to push her self deprecating thoughts away.
As she wondered how she could turn things around, her eyes grew heavy, and Louise finally drifted off to sleep.
"We've only got one shot at this, so if we're gonna do it, we need to do it as perfectly as possible," Darrian said, looking around at his friends.
There were five of them gathered around him, four males and a female. Two of the males had dark skin, darker than any Louise had ever seen. Of those two, one of them was very short, and the other was taller even than Darrian. Of the two light skinned males, both were similar in height to Darrian, one of whom had short blonde hair and wore glasses, and the other had medium length brown hair and wore a green bandanna. The girl was short, but still taller than Louise.
It was a little odd, moving around a group like this without being seen. Taking a look around, they were in a clearing, with trees all around them. The ground was bright with the most vibrantly green grass Louise had ever seen, and amongst the verdant green trees were a few that had bright yellow leaves. In the distance was a large hill, covered in that same vibrant green, but there was something… purple, near the top that made Louise's skin crawl.
"You're callin' the shots, bro," said the green bandana guy, drawing Louise's attention back to the group as he thumped Darrian on the back.
"Me? Why?" Darrian questioned, raising an eyebrow as he shook the guy's arm away.
"You know Terraria better than the rest of us combined," was the response. Darrian looked bewildered for a moment, before settling into a look of resolve.
"Alright then," Darrian sighed, shutting his eyes and thinking for a moment. "We split into two teams of three. Kenzie, Duke, you stick with Blake. He knows this world almost as well as I do, so trust in him."
Wordlessly, the girl and short dark skinned male positioned themselves near the bandana wearing guy. The other two, making the logical assumption about their team placement, took their own spots near Darrian.
"I want you guys to head out, survey the area, see where the biomes are located," Darrian instructed. "Terence, Ian and I will stay here and set up housing. We should be finished by the time you get a lay of the land, so we can figure out how to proceed from there."
"Aye aye, cap'n," Blake acknowledged with a grin, holding up a fist towards Darrian, who bumped his own fist fist with an equally wide grin.
"Let's rock, people!"
Louise watched perplexed, as Blake led his team away into the forest, then turned to watch as Darrian's team set about chopping down trees. There was another person in the clearing, an unnamed seventh person that was ambling about, but something felt… off about that one. He didn't seem to be human, despite having the appearance of one.
"What the hell is going on?"