Author's Notes: Not to plug myself, but if you haven't read Watch Yourself, Little One, a lot of this story will be a complete mystery to you. ^^' Just warning y'all.
Prologue
-- a candle always burns brightest before it goes out --
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A once peaceful forest erupted with a sudden, sporadic blast of lightning. Leena crowed victory as one of the many bulbs fell to her ElectroJolt, down for the count. Glenn offered her a look that suggested she suffered of insanity, but said nothing; Serge half-smiled and prepared to finish the job.
Annoying bulbs. When would they ever learn? Might as well use X Strike, since neither he nor Glenn had any yellow elements to speak of. The wash of elemental energy created a bit of a rush, and when they'd finished, the bulbs were burned to crisps. They collected the spoils with smug grins on their faces, all too aware of how easy that had been. Sure, it was rewarding when you took down enemies that were huge and scary, but there was a certain pleasure to be found in being to defeat a pack of five bulbs without ever breaking a sweat.
Leena gleefully gathered up an Aerosaucer or two and added them to her belt-pouch collection. Glenn, still smiling- rare, for that particular fellow- sheathed his heavy bronze sword. "Shall we go?"
The rest of the forest seemed quite happy to leave them alone, and they merrily walked free of the brambles and bushes, pausing once they could see the open sky again. Foremost in the travelers' minds was the question of where to go now-- and whether to proceed just yet. With the sun hanging low in the sky, it didn't seem very wise to go marching around aimlessly through all of El Nido. Maybe the bulbs hadn't really taken it out of them, but a lot of little battles did just as much to wear one out as one big one.
"So, where to, blue-bangs?" Cocking an irritated eyebrow at his red-haired companion, Serge shrugged. "Oh, come on, there must be someplace you want to go."
"Perhaps we should set up camp," Glenn suggested lightly.
Leena grumbled under her breath about lazy men and kicked at the dirt, waiting to hear Serge's answer. A few languid moments passed while she examined her feet, still waiting, the sun dropping just beneath the horizon, transforming butter-yellow light to a red pastel. Finally, she grew irritated with the silence and looked up, a little cranky, prepared to give their stoic leader the scolding of his lifetime. Glenn seemed to have just decided to press for an answer as well, for it was with equal shock that the two of them watched a too-pale Serge stumble backwards, too off-balance to keep his feet.
"Serge?"
"Are you all right?"
Blinking slowly, he peered at them through his bangs in confusion: 'No...I don't think so...' and fell in a dead faint to the ground.
