By chance

Thanks to my reviewers for another set of very kind words. It's always nice for an author to know their work is appreciated and liked.

I don't own s-Cry-ed or any of its characters. I'm just using them for this fan material and am making zero profit so I still have to get a job. Sad but true.

After making the "repairs" to Kimishima's car, the three had made it to the closest town. It resembled every other congregation of people Scheris had ever been too in her life: people eking out an existence in the ruins of what had been a city. The main difference was that there were decent people here. It was a welcomed change from the gang members, thieves and otherwise unsavory people who seemed to thrive in the lost grounds.

Scheris stood leaning again Kimishima's car, bored out of her mind. He had sauntered into a decrepit looking building that apparently had once been a private office of some kind saying something about collecting money for the job. Kazuma had gone along with him. Just in case the bastard tries the short change me, the cedar haired man had said with a devious grin.

That had been around ten minutes ago. Maybe she should be ashamed of herself for getting bored so quickly, but Scheris had the odd feeling that she should be with them. She couldn't exactly understand why however it was still clawing at the back of her mind. Scheris closed her blue eyes and sighed tiredly.

I really need to work on ignoring those feelings.

Well, if nothing else this stop gave her time to think. During the drive here, she had been too entangled in the euphoria of her escape to really consider what was happening. The mere fact that she was out of that dingy little room, free to do what she liked, with people who were halfway civilized had been a complete shock to her system. In fact, she was still uncertain as to why they did what they did.

Decent though they were, neither Kimishima nor Kazuma struck her as the kind to simply rove around the lost ground, helping the oppressed and fighting the unjust. After all, the whole reason Kazuma was there was to attack the thugs who had "taken" her in was because it had been a job. That made him either a mercenary or a vigilante. The latter didn't sound correct so that meant the former was true.

Well, if he is a mercenary, then why did he help me? Was I just in the right place at the right time? Was it some sort of random act of kindness? Heh, yeah that sounds good and plausible. So what's that leave me? Maybe I'm just lucky.

Now that didn't sound very impressive: enduring a straight year of servitude only to be rescued by a mercenary Alter user thanks to a stroke of good luck? Scheris smiled slightly. It wasn't exactly novel worthy material. Well, she supposed she could live with a less than grandiose rescue story.

This train of thought however led her to consider something else; why had they accepted her so easily? Sure, Kimishima had been surprised to see her trailing behind Kazuma when the cedar haired man walked up to his friend, but other than that, it was as if they were old friends. The second they had piled into the Cima, they talked loudly, joked and even made playful jabs at each other as if they had known each other forever. Then Kazuma started using her as a tiebreaker in his spirited conversations with Kimishima; again just like an old friend who he was introducing to another newer acquaintance.

Frankly, it was downright bizarre. After all, weren't mercenaries, of any type, supposed to be suspicious of everyone and everything to the point complete paranoia? Well, at least that's the way she'd always heard them described. However, here were those two, they trusted her, not to shoot them, steal from them or anything, without a second thought. If she had learned anything in here years on the streets, it was not to trust anybody freely. Maybe they were from the city?

No, decent or not, Kazuma just enjoys his Alter too much to be from the city. He'd have been thrown in a prison in no time.

That idea made her freeze, Kazuma, an escaped prisoner from the city? It made a very weird kind of sense. Maybe he had been attacking that gang because they had attacked Kazuma's first! Sure, the money would have easily sweetened the deal too. Scheris stepped away from the car, her mind abuzz with the possibilities.

"All right! Check out all the money we got, we aren't gonna be going hungry for quite a while." Kimishima's voice cheered happily.

"And once again, I do all the work." Kazuma's voice grumbled.

Oh no, if they are escaped prisoners, there's no telling what they'll do to me in the long run! What should I do? They'll be here any second! Scheris panicked. She looked from left to right, trying to find the best escape route.

"Hey Scheris; thanks for watching the car!" Kimishima greeted.

Damn! Ok, don't let on that you've figured out what's going on! You can still get out of this gracefully.

"S-sure, no problem." She replied and cursed herself for the stutter.

Both men seemed to catch her hesitance. Kimishima and Kazuma glanced at one another then turned back to Scheris. Surprisingly, they did not seem suspicious or troubled, but genuinely concerned. Their looks caused some of her fearful paranoia to dissipate.

"Smatter with you? Ya see a mouse or something?" Kazuma asked, that grin of his starting to appear.

Scheris' look of barely contained fear melted to one of irritation. She put her hands on her hips and scowled. "And just what makes you think I'd be scared of a mouse? Don't you remember where you found me?"

Kazuma shrugged, that grin still there. "Alright, not a mouse, rat maybe? Or a snake." The cedar haired man turned to his friend. "It could've been a snake."

Kimishima grinned. "Yeah, a snake sounds about right. They wiggle around don't they?"

"So I've heard. I haven't ever seen one."

"I didn't see a snake!" Scheris raged.

Both men straightened to their normal height.

"Oh, ok then. Well, hop in the car, we can go home and get something to eat." Kimishima said cheerfully and brushed past her toward the driver's side of the car.

"Wait, go home? What'd you mean?" The blue haired girl asked, now confused.

Kimishima settled into the seat. "Well, that's why we took so long. We figured that since you have no other place to go, you could hang with us for a while. After all, the more the merrier!"

"It's my house Kimishima. You just leech off of it every day." Kazuma grumbled and walked toward the car. Kimishima gave a dismissive wave.

Scheris did not know what to say. This was complete curve ball in a game where she had thought she'd be prepared for anything. Before she could think of anything to say Scheris found a spherical red object being presented to her. She glanced at it questioningly then turned her eyes back to Kazuma.

"What? So I don't like apples, ya want it or not?"

The blue haired Alter user could not believe it. Fresh fruit was a rarity in the lost grounds in any form and apples were double so. Apparently, the higher altitude and very nature of the area made it very hard to grow them. Carefully she plucked the fruit from his hands and took a bite. It was crisp and delicious and before she could stop herself, Scheris had thrown her arms round the man's neck and was thanking him for everything.

"Gah! What the hell!" Kazuma yelled in surprise.

Kimishima turned, saw his friend's plight and exploded into laughter. "Kazuma's got a girlfriend! Way to go buddy."

Kazuma wasn't amused. "Shut up! I'll put my fist through that car of yours!" He then turned his gaze to Scheris who hadn't let go. "Alright, alright! Fine, you're welcome, just please let me go! I'm hungry to ya know!"

And done. Hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to review.

GN