Author's Note: Hello again people and welcome to yet another fanfiction idea that my brain forced me to write. All of this came on when I got Futch and Bright during my second time playing the game. (played and beaten, hah!) Upon seeing them I was then reminded, somewhat distantly I might add, of two of my own characters in an old Original story I had created but never fully wrote down.
And so I got to thinking . . . (it was three in the morning, and was coming down from a caffeine induced rush) . . . What would happen if Darlon and Sapphire somehow landed in the realm of Suikoden III? I am sorry to say that this is the result.
Now if you are still reading this and are STILL interested, then by all means enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: Suikoden III does not belong to little ol' me. the only things I own here are Darlon, Sapphire and the world from which they came. So without further ado, I present . . .
Come What May
CHAPTER ONE: The Storm
We flew on, the wind whipping and howling, trying to tear into our very flesh. The rain came down in stinging sheets, soaking even the most well prepared traveler within minutes. With the two combined Sapphire had to swoop low just in case some rogue wind decided that I would be better grounded.
At one point a sudden gust blew from the south. Caught off guard, I nearly lost my grip as Sapphire banked to accommodate the draft.
What a sad pair we made right then.
Sapphire was normally so graceful and majestic in his dragon form, vast leather wings spread to catch the wind, the sun glittering off gem-like scales. With his long neck stretched before him and his serpentine tail trailing behind, he was the very picture of beauty. But now he was reduced to a fumbling, half-drowned hatchling who's scales were darkened and made slick by the raging storm.
And then there was me. A slip of a girl who, at that exact moment, was wet and miserable and trying her damnest to cling to the rain-slicked flight harness. But as it was, I couldn't see for all the water in my eyes, and the harness was becoming so slippery it was like trying to hold a bar of soap.
The spectacle must have looked even more ridiculous by the way we traveled. Sapphire was simply too large to ride like a horse, and with nothing to grab onto, I would have flown right off the moment we tried. When I became too big for Sapphire to carry me in his talons safely, my eldest brother came up with a solution. The best leather worker throughout the Clan, he soon devised a specialized harness. Fastened together by a series of buckles, the straps wound around Sapphire's shoulders to behind his front legs, and circled the base of his neck. Complete with a solid wooden peg on either side of his neck, and a rope loop at the top, I didn't ride so much as I surfed. After thirteen years of practice, I was a master.
Unfortunately, even masters have bad days.
All we wanted to do was go home.
The Clan was going to prepare for winter soon and had sent word to the two of us, for it was the only time of year that we stayed for any great length of time. Sapphire once joked that because of this I would never be fully rid of my pack. A few days later we said goodbye to our friends in Torvollan City and took to the skies.
Right into a storm.
"Are we setting down soon?" I shouted as loud as I could, and then waited for the mental reply.
"As soon as I can find a safe place to land, we will," he informed me wearily. "Hold on!"
No sooner than he spoke the wind suddenly shifted and Sapphire was forced into a barrel roll.
I gasped, eyes widening as the rope loop slipped once and for all beyond my grasp. All I could see was the dark silhouette of the dragon who had been my partner for many years. Never before had I fallen from his back, nor have I ever been afraid of heights. Now I was terrified.
"SAPPHIRE!"
He twisted in midair, turning back on himself and then folded his wings to dive after me. A bolt of lightning flashed just as a massive talon snatched me right out of the sky.
I clung to him, trembling madly, until we had safely touched down to the earth, and even then I collapsed in a heap. The moment Sapphire released me the massive dragon disappeared, replaced by a tall man with slitted eyes and five silver scales running in a perfect line down his forehead. The riding harness that had been fastened to his shoulders was now a discarded tangle of leather straps lying in the mud.
The now-human (and quite exhausted) Sapphire dropped down next to me, forcing me to look at him. "Darlon? Spirits, are you alright? I thought-"
"I'm fine." I gave a smile, but I knew it looked strained. "You caught me, didn't you?"
He nodded, but still looked concerned.
Thunder rumbled overhead, the rain becoming incredibly sharp and stinging.
"We should find shelter," I reminded him.
Sapphire's head jerked up and back, an oddly serpentine movement to be seen in a human body. It was somewhat unnerving when his dragon-mannerisms were mimicked in this form.
Eerie, if you weren't used to them.
He nodded once, then began helping me to my feet. "You're right. We should . . ." He trailed off and froze in mid-stance. His slitted eyes suddenly contracted to tiny black slivers.
Gripping Sapphire's forearms, I turned just enough to look behind me.
The blood in my veins froze.
A twister, wrought of the surrounding storm and crackling with deadly magic, whirled towards us. The towering monster howled in fury even as it shredded the forest around us, faster than any storm I had ever seen.
With a flash of lightning and the booming thunder, it was upon us both.
Then I knew no more.
Author's Note: Yes, the next chapter IS coming soon. I'm just about finished with it actually. Please REVIEW!