As Luck Would Have It
Disclaimer: I wonder how long it's gonna take them to figure it out. Ok, I own Zoe and Torrent, and that's it! That's all! I own nothing else in the entire GS universe!
Avaria: Now that we've got that covered, Vil, can we get on with it?
Vilya: Oh, go back to playing Tetris!
A/N: Ok, I'm hoping that a) this doesn't turn out to be a Mary Sue and b) that this won't follow the storyline too much, but that it does go in basically the same order. I know this could never occur in the actual game, but it's a fanfic. Deal with it.
Summary-like thing: All I know before I actually start writing this is that at the very end of the chapter, they make it to Vault. As I write this summary that's seriously all I know.
Chapter Two: Road's End
Zoe opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping, and a cloudy grey sky overhead. She had no idea how late in the morning was, but the voices of Isaac and Garet packing told her she must have been awake for some time.
Standing and stretching, she took a quick look around, heading over to her pack and opening the drawstring. Inside she found a small pouch full of gold coins, an apple and a bottle of water, and in the very bottom, a pad of paper and some pencils.
Pulling the paper out of the sack, Zoe studied the drawing on the first page. A tall boy stood in an angry pose, glaring sideways at a slightly shorter boy. The shorter boy's back was turned to the tall one, and his arms were thrown up in exasperation. It looked like pretty awesome talent. Did I draw this? Zoe wondered.
"Nice picture," Garet commented from behind her. "The little one looks almost like Isaac."
"Little nothing! You know I'm older than you are, and smarter too! All of Vale knows that!" Isaac said defensively.
"Older, maybe. Smarter, I think not."
"If you're so smart, then why did it take you two years to learn to use your sword?"
"It took you two years too Isaac!"
"Not quite. And I had the technique down first."
"You were born first!" Garet yelled, anger glinting in his deep brown eyes.
"That has nothing to do with it!" Isaac was yelling also.
"It does so! It means you had more time than I did!"
"How, then?"
"It just does!"
"Argh! You're impossible, Garet!" Isaac yelled, turning his back to Garet and throwing his arms in the air. Garet crossed his arms over his chest and gave Isaac a steely glare before going back to his packing.
Flint jumped on to Zoe's shoulder and sighed. "You wouldn't know it from that, but those two have been best friends most of their lives." The Djinni jumped from Zoe's shoulder to her head and bounced a couple times. "I prefer Isaac's head."
"Oh, shut up Flint!" Isaac muttered, blushing and returning to his packing also. Zoe laughed and pulled flint from her head, struggling to disentangle his feet from her long hair. Again she was puzzled at its odd, silvery-purple hue, and its length, but her muddled mind couldn't recall her hair ever being any different.
"Interesting picture," the Djinni commented, before scurrying over to perch on Isaac's shoulder. Shrugging, Zoe shoved the pad of paper back into her pack and dug around in it for something to fix her hair with. Coming up with a hairbrush and an elastic band, Zoe tried to run the brush through her hair.
Almost instantly she discovered that it was a tangled mess. Brushing it would probably take over an hour. It didn't help that it looked like rain was on its way.
Right on cue, Isaac glanced up at the sky. "We should go soon."
"Just give me a minute, please," Zoe said, trying to go faster and only succeeding in making her hair more of a mess. Garet glanced over at her and rolled his eyes. "Girls," he muttered. "Jenna was the same way."
Slowing down, Zoe finally managed to get rid of the worst of the tangles. Maybe she couldn't remember anything about her life before last night, but somehow she knew taking care of her hair had once been much easier.
As quickly as she could, she gathered her hair into one long braid and tied it at the end. Putting her brush back in her pack and closing it, she slung its single strap over her shoulder and stood. "Ok, I'm ready."
"Then let's go," Isaac said, walking quickly. "I don't want to be caught out here in the middle of a big storm."
***************
About two hours later, the three were still walking. Flint was incessantly hopping from one person to the next, spending the longest time on Isaac's head. The boy didn't even seem to notice, however. His eyes seemed fixed on the sky, even when nothing about the grey sky seemed to be changing.
Garet, on the other hand, never looked up from the ground. His gaze was rooted on the tall grass and patches of dirt.
That left Zoe looking around at the landscape. There were occasional patches of trees, some big enough to be called forests, and mountains far in the distance on their left. For a moment the sun broke through the foreboding cloud cover, but soon enough was swallowed again by the flat, dark blanket above them.
I hate rain, Zoe thought, though she was unable to really remember being out in the rain before.
Almost at that instant, the skies opened and rain began to pour down in sheets. At this point there was almost no cover to be seen, and Flint, who had been on Zoe's head at the time, made a flying leap and landed on Isaac's head just as he covered it with his hood. The three began running for the nearest stand of trees, which was some distance away.
By the time they reached the trees, Zoe's clothes were soaked through. "First thing we do when we get to Vault is get you a cloak," Garet said, pulling a blanket from his pack and handing it to her. She took it gladly and wrapped it around herself.
"Well, it looks like we can't go any farther for a while. Might as well stay here as anywhere," Isaac said glumly. He had wanted to get to Vault and stay in a real bed. He hated sleeping on the ground even more than Garet did, though he'd never admit it.
"Wouldn't it be better for us to travel in the rain?" Zoe asked, and both boys looked at her quizzically. "I mean…you said there were monsters around. Wouldn't they be staying somewhere out of the rain too?"
Isaac, about to say yes, thought suddenly back to another day of rain. The day the boulder had fallen from Mount Aleph, the rain had been coming down hard, much like it was now. He and Garet, both only fourteen at the time, had fought numerous monsters while trying to find help saving Jenna's brother Felix. But the boulder had fallen, and killed Isaac's father and Jenna's entire family—or so they'd thought.
"No," Isaac said finally, trying to shake the thoughts of that day three years ago from his mind. "No, they don't hide from rain. They'll be about no matter what the weather's like."
"Then let's just get to Vault even with the rain," Garet said. "Whether we wait or not, we're still going to have to fight whatever's waiting for us up ahead. And, really, being wet is better than sleeping out here one more night." Zoe nodded her agreement.
"Besides," she added, "I'm going to have to split ways with you sometime, and I'll need to know how to use a weapon for myself."
Isaac nodded, though his mind had never really encountered the idea that Zoe might actually go off on her own. Despite her saying she came from Imil, so many other things didn't make sense. She hadn't had any weapons with her, and obviously couldn't use Psynergy. She had just made it sound like she couldn't even use the short sword Isaac had given her. Getting up, he began to walk again, Garet and Zoe close behind.
It had been raining for about an hour when they stopped to rest. Sitting in a different grove of trees, Isaac pried Flint off his head and set the Djinni in his lap. The rain had let up some, but not much. Garet stood and began to pace restlessly. Zoe looked at the ground, cheeks reddening. She knew this little break was primarily for her. In whatever past she'd had, she obviously hadn't walked for long distances.
A rustling in the bushes made them all start, and Garet and Isaac drew their swords and stood ready. Out of the bush jumped two zombie-like creatures, and down from a tree flew two bats. Zoe drew her own short blade and came to stand beside Garet.
One of the zombies launched itself at Zoe, raking her arm with its claws. Zoe let out a scream that shook the trees around them, lashing out with her sword gripped tightly in both hands. The zombie easily dodged her, slashing the same arm again. Garet saw her out of the corner of his eye, but was too busy fending off the bats. He was about to call to Isaac, but stopped when he saw his best friend was busy with the other zombie.
Isaac's long sword was a great weapon, but the zombie could easily dodge many of Isaac's attacks. Finally, Isaac dropped the sword, raised one hand and yelled, "Squire's Quake!" The ground began to shake, and sections of it broke free and threw the zombie about. When the shaking stopped, the zombie was gone.
Garet let out a triumphant cry as he felled one of his bats. The other swooped down and tangled its claws in Garet's messy hair. "Hey! Get off me!" Garet yelled, though he knew better than to start slashing at the bat with his long sword. He'd be more likely to take off his own head.
Isaac turned, and seeing this, pulled his Djinni from where it had climbed into his hood. "Flint unleash!" he called, and the Djinni dove on the other bat in a flash of light, destroying it. Garet yelled as the Venus Djinni's unique fire singed the ends of his hair.
"Isaac! Not so close to my head!" Garet warned, putting his sword away. "Zoe?" He and Isaac turned to her in time to see a small blue shape jump down from one of the trees and throw itself at the zombie, destroying it. The blue streak then shot towards Zoe and landed in her good hand. Her sword was already in its sheath, and she marveled at the little creature that had saved her.
"Zoe?" Isaac asked softly, walking over to her with Garet. He looked at what she held in her hand and gasped. "Zoe! That's a Mercury Djinni! How did you get it?"
"You saw," she said evenly. "It came from that tree. It protected me."
"Hello there," the Djinni said. "I am called Torrent. I am a Mercury Djinni, bound to the power of the element Water."
"Guess you have a Djinni, Zoe. I'm beginning to think you are an adept!" Garet grinned, looking up at the sky. "Looks like the rain's about through. Should we get going?"
"Uh…sure. Let's go," Zoe said, clenching her hands behind her back as the Djinni jumped onto her shoulder. Zoe's falsely bright smile failed to get past Garet however, and something he had seen during the battle came to him. Gently, he took hold of Zoe's left arm and pulled it around where he and Isaac could see. Her arm was covered with scratches from the zombie's clawlike hands.
"You should have said something," Isaac said as he dug around in his pack. "Rats. Not here. Remind me to get more herbs when we reach Vault." Closing his pack and putting it on his back again, he sighed. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered a very useful Psynergy. Once he'd learned about it, he'd studied and practiced as hard as he could, just as he had with all the Psynergies he'd learned. Grinning at them both, he placed one hand on Zoe's arm.
"Squire's Cure," he said, and energy seemed to flow up from the earth itself and through Isaac's hand. Almost instantly the scratches were gone.
"Nice trick," Garet said. "Might you have told me about that before we faces those three skeletons yesterday morning?"
"I completely forgot. And besides, it uses up energy, just like all Psynergies do." Isaac stepped out from the trees then and grinned. "All clear. Literally. Rain's over. Let's go to Vault!"
***************
The sun was on its way to setting when Garet spotted buildings in the distance. "Do you hear something?" Zoe asked, and Torrent nodded.
"Hoofbeats. Horses. Coming this way," Garet said. A growing dust cloud approached them, though it passed by with plenty of room to spare. They heard a voice shout, "South to Kalay!" and what they could now see as a train of wagons passed them. They shrugged at one another and continued walking.
They had nearly reached the gates of Vault when the train passed them again, this time heading in the opposite direction. Isaac's keen ears picked up the words, "The bridge is out! On to Lunpa!" amid the sound of hooves and wheels. Then the train was past again.
Five minutes later, the setting sun illuminated the town of Vault. Surrounded by the orange and red glow, the three companions stepped through the gates and into Vault.
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Well? Another chapter done! Two in one day!
Avaria: She's only doing it this fast because school's still out!
Vil: So? I'll do what I can while I have the time. So, if you want the next chapter, review!
Review, by the way, involves hitting this little button right down here ;)
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