A/N: Yo, homies!! I'm BAAAAAAACK!!!! (does a little dance)
Banjo: O.o ??
Kazooie: She is so weird.
Sorry I got put off. AAHHH!!!! FINALS!!!
Banjo: Moving right along…
Chappie Time!
My mission was crystal clear.
Find the creature to save my dying partner.
Easier said than done, but it was our only hope.
The only way Kazooie had a chance of surviving.
It was up to me and Kyra now.
The Amethyst Shamans: Chapter 7: Strength of a Friend's Hope
A solemn, sad silence filled the family's home. As Kyra bandaged his injured paw, Banjo sat quiet in deep thought, not even wanting to look at his heavily injured partner. Kazooie laid in the bed with many bandages and a pale face as the others examined her over. Tooty hugged her brother's waist in comfort, as she knew he needed a lot of it.
Out of the corner of his eye, Banjo could see Bottles step back and shake his head ruefully. The bear fearfully asked, "…How is she?"
"Not so good," Bottles answered. "She's sustained heavy injuries. I'm not sure she's going to make it…"
Silence once more.
"…Grunty send in monster, didn't she?" Wumba asked softly.
"Wumba right! She must pay!" Mumbo said angrily.
Banjo then spoke up heavily. "We'll worry about that ugly hag later. Right now, we have to find a way to help Kazooie."
"Weren't you listening!?" Jamjars snapped. "It's too late to save her now!"
"No it's not!" Banjo shot up angrily from his chair. "There has to be a way to save her! There has to! It's my fault this happened in the first place, and I'm going to fix what I screwed up!"
At this statement, Kyra, currently not being noticed, flinched and swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. No, this wasn't his fault. If anyone, it was hers! Before she could muster up the courage to speak up, Banjo turned to sternly look at his bony shaman friend.
"Mumbo, can't you use your magic to heal her?" he asked desperately. "I remember using that Heal spell…"
Mumbo seemed to shrink apprehensively at that question. "M-Mumbo can, but… need Glowbo creature first…"
Banjo sank down to his chair in despair, holding his head in withdrawn yet complete frustration and sorrow.
Kyra looked at him in pity. Somehow seeing him in pain and suffering caused her pain as well, as her own tears threatened to leak out. She then looked over at the unconscious breegul. As a result of what Banjo mistook as his own mistake, Kazooie was borderline dead. Guilt plagued Kyra deeply, her knowing that she wouldn't be able to live knowing her mistakes led to the death of a being she barely knew. She had to help somehow, and with her mind made up, she stood and placed a comforting hand on Banjo's shoulder. He looked up at her with watery, confused eyes.
"I can help," she said softly. "I can detect magic creatures like these 'Glowbos' you speak of, making our search that much easier."
Hope shined in bear's eyes again as he smiled up at her brightly.
"But Glowbos are extremely rare!" Jamjars exclaimed. "It'd be a miracle if you ever found one!"
"But we have to try!" Banjo stood once again, more confident. "Kyra and I will start searching right away! You all watch over Kazooie while we're gone." He turned to Kyra. "Let's go."
Kyra nodded and approached the door first. Before Banjo could follow, Tooty held him back with a tight hug.
"Good luck, Banjo."
Banjo knelt down and embraced her back, then approached the side of the bed, placing his bandaged paw gently on the side of Kazooie's beak, looking at her with soft, yet determined eyes.
"Stay strong, Kazooie, for me. I'll find that Glowbo no matter what it takes. I promise."
----------
Banjo and Kyra traveled through Isle o' Hags together, Kyra intently searching with her magic feeling and Banjo keeping himself busy with his own thoughts. Their stroll was quiet for a long time.
After a while, Banjo looked over at Kyra. "Find anything yet?"
"No, I'm sorry…"
"Keep trying," he said patiently, looking back ahead of him.
Still searching, Kyra looked silently at her companion in deep thought. He carried on with a determined fell, and though there was a small frown on his face, hope shined clearly in those aquatic eyes. Though he was on a journey alone, without his partner and instead with a person he didn't know he shouldn't be trusting, one thing drove him on- the hope that everything would turn out alright in the end.
There was still the mysteries of magic surrounding Banjo, but Kyra decided that she'd figure them out later. Right now, the silence was a little unsettling, so she asked of him softly, "How did you and Kazooie first meet?"
Banjo's stroll stopped abruptly as a pained look crossed over his face. This reaction worried Kyra, as she though she had made another mistake.
"I'm sorry, I must've asked you a personal question…Y-you don't have to answer that…"
But she stopped when she locked eyes with him, and he spoke softly, "It's alright. It's a long story, but I'm willing to tell it if you're willing to listen."
Kyra nodded. Banjo began the tale, a hint of nostalgia reflected in those eyes of aquamarine as the memories came slowly back to him.
"It was shortly after my parents died… They were attacked by a rabid wolf while Tooty and I were away… and with Tooty being only an infant… I was left with raising her alone…" He paused briefly, letting out a heavy breath, then continued. "I went out and saw that same exact wolf harassing a red crested breegul. She was fast, but it got to her and assaulted her, and… I don't know what came over me then, but… I leaped on it, and… well, I had never killed anything before…" He stopped, his brows knotted in concern.
Kyra understood, leaving it at that. "So you took her in?"
"Yeah, she wasn't hurt that badly, but enough that she wouldn't survive on her own… And I told her the same thing I told you, that she could stay in out home as long as she wanted… And, well, she never left."
"…But why?"
Banjo shrugged. "Dunno. Shortly after was out first adventure together, saving Tooty from Gruntilda. I guess we kinda… got really close to each other during that time to the point where we became inseparable… And from that point on, I vowed to always protect to the best of my ability the ones dearest to me… Because I didn't want to lose anyone else ever again… The pain would just be unbearable…"
He sighed deeply, signifying the end of his story. Kyra was left with feelings of pity and sudden admiration for him, for Banjo was probably the most honest, sincere, and greatest friend a being could ever have.
"…Kazooie is very lucky," she finally spoke. "To have a friend like you who she can trust her life upon." The guilt began to pile up again when she said this.
A smile broke over his face like a wave. "Yeah, it's great to have a sort of feeling that there's someone you can always look to when you've got no one else…" he said with a tinge of sadness.
"What about you?"
"Hey, I can trust Kazooie," he chuckled. "She's got her attitude issues, but other than that, she's a great friend." He then flashed Kyra a friendly smile. "And now I have you."
Kyra gulped softly and forced out a smile in response. When he turned back ahead, Kyra let out a soft but nervous breath as the guilt laying on her shoulders became unbearable, and then…
"…I feel something…"
Banjo turned back to her once again in confusion. "Huh? You man a magic feeling?"
"Yes!" She pointed ahead. "That way!"
By now, they had reached the Wasteland area of Isle o' Hags, and she was pointing at a blue crack in the cliff wall. Banjo knew exactly where that led.
"Right, then. Come on," Banjo led the way through the crack, and it led to a colorful platform with a single giant bubble resting on the dimple ground.
Kyra looked at it curiously. "A bubble…?"
"We need to jump into it to be carried up into the sky to a place called Cloud Cuckooland. I know it doesn't make any sense, but neither does anything else up there."
The two chuckled briefly, then they held paws and leaped into the bubble. As they were held suspended inside the translucent sphere, Kyra peered outside and witnessed in wonder as they floated upwards into the clouds.
A/N: So? So?? SO???
Banjo: So what?
Never mind.
Kazooie: If I die, I'm gonna kick your…
Banjo: ASPARAGUS!
Kazooie: O.o
Banjo: No swearing allowed!
Kazooie: Meh… -.-;
Review, peoples!
