Keel shivered in spite of the open flame that blazed infront of him. He wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face in between his knees, curling inward to make himself as small as possible. His form wracked with silent sobs and tears fell from his eyes.

When Finn had left him in the woods near where the soldiers were kept, Finn had asked him if this was where they had kept him and the survivors of his home after they were taken. When he had replied no, Finn told Keel to wait as he tried to get information from them by himself.

That was a couple of hours ago.

He's probably leading them right to me. Keel tensed at the thought, ready to run. A shriek rent the night air freezing Keel in place as terror coursed through him. When nothing happened, the terror faded from Keel, but it was then replaced with an overwhelming sense of shame.

I'm pathetic.

It was Keel's father job along with a few others to keep their home safe and defended from monsters, and Keel had always dreamed of joining his dad and protecting their home from any who might hurt it. He'd boast about it to Raphtalia and Rifana, his best friends.

But what happened when it was his time to step up, to protect his friends. Beaten unconscious and thrown in a cage, forced to watch his friends and family be sold like cattle. Keel shut his eyes from the light of the campfire. But when he closed his eyes, Keel could still hear Rifana screams as she was taken, the scent of her fear was overwhelming to Keel's enhanced sense of smell.

Despite his best-efforts Keel started to whimper and cry again. He didn't know how long he wallowed in his misery, but he didn't have enough in him to snap out of it.

"I'd ask how you're feeling but it's pretty obvious at this point." A man's voice cut through Keel's fog of despair and making his heart race.

His head jerked up towards the sound, blinking his eyes rapidly as staring into the flame had momentarily ruined his night vision. When he could finally see again Keel observed the disheveled appearance of Finn.

Golden blonde hair atop a handsome rugged face with ocean blue eyes and a jawline covered by a scruffy beard. Finn looked like some of the rougher adventurers that Dad had to run out of town. But unlike the others he had seen Finn was something different.

It was the eyes Keel decided after a moment of thought, they were kind and warm. They reminded him of Sadeena, the village's older sister.

Is she okay? Did she survive the Wave, or is she dead like everyone else?

Tears and sorrow filled Keel again, and he bit back his sobs. The ground shifted beneath him as he felt Finn sit down next to him. Keel didn't fight the arm that wrapped around him and pulled him into Finn's side.

"So, I found some info about the people of your village." Finn said, not commenting on Keel's crying fit and Keel appreciated it.

"Really!?" Keel asked, his tail wagging behind him. He looked up at Finn the excitement clear in his eyes.

"Well, it mostly just some letters, a few maps, and two names." Finn said, scratching his chin. "Some slave trader in Castle town named Beloukas, and some noble a guy called Idol Rabier." Finn took out a map, placing it on the ground, and checked it over. "Idol is in charge of this territory, and he lives in the town here, a couple of days away from here."

"What do we do?" Keel asked.

"We'll make our way there and I'll find somewhere to stash you while looking into Idol and see where this all leads." Finn said.

Keel nodded his head until something Finn said clicked and he screamed. "You're going to leave me behind again!"

"Well, yeah." Finn said bluntly as he saw no need to sugarcoat things. "This is high level adventurer stuff, you'd only slow me down."

"You said it's days from here right! Then we can raise my level on the way and then I can help!" Keel said, clinging on Finn's arm like a lifeline.

"That's not the kind of level I meant." Finn rebutted.

"Please! I have to do something! It's my village, I can't just sit this out somewhere with my tail between my legs!" Keel was screaming and tugging on Finn's sleeves.

"Okay! Okay!" Finn said as he dropped to his knees holding Keel still. "We'll do as you say, but first we have to join up in a party. That way I can kill a bunch of monsters and you can level up that way."

Too distraught with emotion Keel could only nod his head.

Finn made several strange gestures in the air. "There." He said and a white rectangle with a black border and words appeared in front of Keel.

You have been sent an invite to join Finn's Party.

Do you Accept?

Y/N.

"Yes." Keel said out loud. When he did so the screen disappeared only for another screen appeared in its place in front of him. Displaying his level and his meager stats.

With this I can get stronger, strong enough to find them and keep them all safe, This Keel swore.

"We should get some sleep." Finn said again, tapping the ground for emphasis. He then reached into his gambeson and pulled out a bedroll. "I only have the one so you should use it."

Keel at first was surprised at the fact that Finn pulled out the bedroll from nowhere, but when he registered the words, Keel shook his head in refusal. "It's yours, you should use it, not me."

"It's mine." Finn agreed as he placed it on the ground. "And I say you are going to sleep in it."

Keel opened his mouth to argue, but all that came out was a yawn. His eyes half lidden Keel conceded Finn's point. But before that he stepped went to lay down, he wrapped Finn in the tightest hug he could manage. "Thank you… Big bro."

Finn froze at the contact and was stunned at his new title, and Keel struck suddenly shy dived for his bed roll and tucked inside it. The long trying days he had caught up to him and the moment his head hit the bedroll he found himself slipping into the first peaceful slumber he had in weeks.


"Big brother." Finn muttered a stunned look on his face as he tended to the flame while also staring down at the sleeping Keel. I had never been the Big Brother before, the thought had a smile crept up his face and laughter escaped his mouth.

Finn waited a few seconds to make sure Keel was deeply asleep then held up his prosthetic arm, a cerulean light emanated from it as Owl scanned Keel's slumbering form. It passed Keel over for a minute as the AI took inventory of every bump and bruise on the demi-human.

"So, what's the diagnosis?" Finn asked as the scan ended.

[Malnourished with several fractures and broken bones, along with a slight fever. All consistent with a prolong confinement and beatings.] Owl helpfully supplied within Finn's head. [Nothing truly life threatening, and she'll recover in time.]

Finn nodded in understanding and disgust wondering how someone could do this to a kid when something Owl said struck him as odd.

"She?" He questioned gesturing at Keel. "I thought Keel was a guy?"

[Keel is a girl.] Owl confirmed.

"Huh, weird I never would have guessed that." Finn muttered scratching his chin. Putting that revelation aside Finn pulled out the map of the area a plotted tomorrow's path. Looking over where he was it would take him days to get to the city Idol resided in, shorter if he didn't take the beaten path and wondered through the monster covered lands. Once he was there Finn could have Owl scout the city out and try to find out more clues to the locations of the missing town's people.

The sound of whimpering cut through his musing. Looking towards the sound he saw Keel crying in her sleep. Tears streaming out her eyes as she kicked out of the blanket covering her.

She's having a nightmare.

"Man." Finn scrambled to Keel's side as she cried in her sleep. He tried to nudge her awake but that seemed to only make it worst, as her cries intensify. He scoured his memories trying to find a way to help and came upon a memory. He had suffered a lot of nightmares when he was first taken in by his adoptive parents Margaret and Joshua. And according to Mom the only thing that stopped the fits was when she sang him to sleep.

But what song should I use.

Keel let out a wailful howl and Finn sang the first thing that came to his head. His voice coming out slow, melodious, and soothing as he could make it.

I see the moon and the moon sees me,

down through the leaves of the old Oak tree,

Oh, let that light that shines down on me, Shine back on the ones I love,

Over the mountains, Over the seas,

Back to where my heart is longing to be,

Know the bonds that we share, the memories we hold,

I'll cling to them forevermore,

As he sang the sweet lullaby taught to him by his Mother, Minerva, Keel wails quieted down as she curled into herself. While repeating singing the song Finn picked up Keel, cradling her to his chest rocking back and forth. Slowly Keel relaxed against him and went back into a deep slumber.

Sighing, Finn rested it against the tree he didn't let Keel go partly in fear at the moment he did she would start screaming again. So, he laid back and try to get as much sleep as he could. but not before telling Owl to wake him if anything got close.


That night as Finn slept, he dreamed.

He dreamed of the world falling away from him only to be replaced by an empty void. There was no air here, no up, or no down, there wasn't anything here just an empty black nothing. But he wasn't afraid as he floated in the dark instead felt weirdly enough at peace.

"Weird this doesn't feel like a dream." He said to himself, his voice echoing in the void. "More like a memory."

Finn took a moment to examined himself and was not surprised to see his body made of ethereal blue energy in the vague form of a human.

"Is this a comet dream. Been a while since I had one." Finn wondered aloud. He really didn't like these kinds of dreams is it always made him contemplate his 'other' nature.

The incarnation of a catalyst comet.

As weird as it was to think about sometime, reincarnation was a thing. When anything dies and leave the mortal plane, their soul is recycled for lack of a better word back into the world. The system exists on all worlds. As such each world had a finite supply of souls, and the wheel of life spins in perfect harmony.

Until it doesn't. Because once every thousand or so years a new soul is introduced into the system shaking everything up as it becomes the Catalyst for everything to change. Finn was one such new soul, and ever since he found out the dreams started.

Dreams or memories of lives he had never lived in forms he could never imagine taking, doing things he never would. Some of these were so much that he locked the away in his mental vault, in an effort to preserve his tenuous grasp on his sanity.

Dragging his mind away from such things he watched as slowly the void was filled with countless floating lights. First there was one, then it became ten, then a hundred, and then thousands upon thousands of stars lit up the empty void.

"Amazing." Finn said in wonderment of this awe-inspiring sight.

Then as if cut from strings he watched as the stars began to fall. Falling into the void as blinding streaks of light. Finn watched wondering what was going to happen next when he felt a tug at his waist and then he was falling with them.

As he fell the lights disappeared from his view and he was back in the endless void.

Endlessly falling, rocketing down through the void.

Millenia passed as he fell, worlds were created, worlds were destroyed. Time itself began to lose meaning as he fell, but eventually his descent began to slow as he reached his destination, a world of sparkling blue and as he breached the atmosphere this new world.

But there was something wrong. Finn didn't know what made him turn around, to look away from the world and back into the dark. Out there he saw something, an indistinct blob.

It was spreading out through the dark reaching and grasping for all the light that was fleeing it. It said nothing but Finn felt the hunger and desire within the thing, the want to consume all. The feeling was familiar to him, but Finn couldn't figure out how. The sight of it though lit a fire of both rage and fear in Finn.

It was ruining everything! Tainting the purpose! Destroying the cycle! He had to stop it, Finn realized. He tried to reach for the darkness, reverse his course. But as if sensing his intent, the pull on his waist increased and he was yanked away.

"NO!" Finn yelled at the top of his lungs.

At the same time the sound of an owl's hoot was heard in the distance.

Finn woke up. Gasping and with his eyes opened wide he looked around franticly searching his surroundings. Nothing, no owls, or monsters, just the forest and the stars in the sky. The campfire had died down to embers.

Keel growled at his movement, nuzzling herself deeper into his chest.

[Are you alright.] Owl asked.

"I'm fine." Finn yawned, his voice raspy with sleep.

[Your accelerated heartbeat says otherwise.] Owl pointed out. Finn noted that even if the voice itself hadn't changed he could still hear the underling worry in it. And even if he was appreciative of Owl's help, having a permanent minder and babysitter attached to him was going to wear on him eventually.

But not today.

"Just a nightmare." He said, then paused remembering the sound of the owl' hoot. "Or maybe a premonition?"

Resting his head back against the tree and staring up at the sky, Finn decided not to go back to sleep tonight.


The next day as morning came forth Finn had broken down their meager camp. Stowing away what he could and dealing with what he couldn't. The memory of the dream still weighed heavily on him, but since as there was nothing, he could do about it he put it out of his mind. Instead, he put his focus on something he could deal with.

Keel.

Who was busying herself with the dirt at her feet and refused to look at me. It seems waking up in my arms was too much for the girl. The moment her eyes opened and noted where she was, her face flushed crimson and let out a little yelp as she scrambled out of his lap.

"It's not that bad." Finn remarked as he finished cleaning up.

"Can we go now." Keel said, turning to him with a scowl that was more of a pout than anything else.

"We will but first we have to deal with a few things first." Finn said looking determined at Keel.

"What are you talking about?" Keel asked, backing away as she noticed Finn's look.

"Your clothing is not suited for traveling on foot." Finn pointedly looked at the rags covering Keel's frame.

Keel glanced down at her shirt and gave it a slight tug. It started to tear immediately. She scowled at it, her ripped pants, and her shoes that were starting to come apart at the seams.

"You may have a point." Keel admitted. "But unless you have some clothes in your magic pocket, I don't see what we could do about it."

"I don't have clothes, but I have this!" Finn said, brandishing his prosthetic arm. Using the interface on Owl, Finn flipped through the blueprints stored on her. Finding what he wanted he pointed his hand at the ground as light shot from his palm. "Clothes Beam!"

When the light receded there on the ground were a pile of clothes. A blue T-shirt, blue denim shorts, and black sneakers with white socks. Sitting on top of the pile was a white with two ear nubs and a green backpack. Classic adventuring garb.

"What do you think?" Finn asked, he smiled down at the clothes. It was what he wore almost his entire life, until his house got destroyed and he was forced to wear other things. His smile dropped when he noticed Keel look, it was a mixture of disgust and reluctance.

"You don't like it." Finn said.

"It's not that…" Keel trailed off, fidgeting slightly. "Do I have to wear it?"

"No." Finn sighed in disappointment, the sound had Keel wilting underneath it. "You don't have to do anything if you don't want to do it. But if you don't want to wear this, what do you want to wear?"

Keel closed her eyes pondering then described the clothes she wanted. A long white sleeve tunic, a black tabard atop it with a design embroiled in the back the color red. It was she said the symbol of her home village. Finishing it off was black trousers with a blue slash wrapped around her waist and brown hiking boots.

Keel cheered as the clothing appeared and rushed to put them on. Finn jerked back and averted his gaze as Keel began to strip. He however was not fast enough as he could confirm himself that Keel was a girl.

After taking a few minutes to examine the trees Finn turned back to see Keel dressed in her new outfit. She was twisting and turning to check every inch of it, a wide smile on her face. Finn coughed loudly to get her attention. At the noise she stiffened and turned to him.

"Now that you have clothing next, you'll need a weapon." Finn said. "Now your first weapon will define you, I still remember the time my dad gave me my first sword, so do you have any preference?"

"Um, maybe a sword like you. Then you could teach me how to use it! Dad said he was always going to teach me… but… he…" Keel said, her voice at first unsure then excited only to trail off into sobs.

Finn quickly kneeled down and rubbing the back of her doglike ears the way Jake always liked. Keel calmed at his touch, looking up at him with unshed tears in her eyes.

"I would be honored Keel to teach you how to kick butt with the sword." Finn said, smiling gently at the grieving kid.

"Really?" Keel asked.

"Really." Finn said.

Once again Finn felt Keel's arm wrapped around him in a tight hug and the front of his gambeson felt wet as it absorbed Keel's tears. Finn returned the hug.

"Oh man, this is embarrassing. I keep crying all the time." Keel said, stifling her tears.

They stayed like that until Keel finally calmed down. Keel slowly extracted herself from Finn and looked at the ground shuffling her feet.

"So… about the sword?" Keel asked.

"Owl, do you think you can make one?" Finn asked.

"Owl?" Keel asked.

"My arm's onboard computer AI her name is Owl." Finn explained, pulling up his sleeve showing of the metal prosthetic.

[Hello Keel.] Owl said, her voice projecting from my arm instead of in my head. At Owl's words Keel yelped and took a step backwards, when nothing else happened she walked back and examine the arm. She did so for several minutes before she stepped back and shared her observation with Finn.

"Your arm can talk." Keel pointed out.

"Yes, it can, but also so much more. Hold out your hands." Finn said, activating the fabricator again and calling up the blueprint Owl had crafted. A moment a sword dropped into Keel's hands. It was perfectly balanced and well suited for Keel's frame, and according to Owl it was made of the same alloy that coated her form.

"Woah." Keel unsheathed the blade and gave it a few test swings. So enthusiastic with her new blade on of her swings almost cut Finn. After a few more close calls Finn snatched it away from her.

"Give me that." He said, grabbing the sword by the blade mid-swing and pulling it from Keel's grip.

"What? No! Give it back!" Keel cried, she jumped for the sword, but Finn held it up out of her reach. Then Finn did what his mom did whenever he or his brothers stepped out of line and bopped keel on the nose. Keel let out a startled yelp and backed away, holding her nose.

"My mom always told me 'Little boys who treats weapons like toys, deserves to have then taken away.'" Finn said, wagging his finger while doing his best to impersonate the voice of his mom. "So, let's teach you how to use this properly."

Finn handed the blade back to Keel hilt first. She pouted a bit as she took it but didn't start swinging wildly again. Instead, she looked at me ready for whatever I taught her.

"The most important thing in a fight is footwork." Finn said, hopping on the balls of his feet to get limber.

"Footwork?"

"The key to winning any fight is not to get hit. Controlling the distance between you and whatever your fighting, so you can always hit them, but they can never hit you. That's footwork." Finn explained. Finn had learned young that he was the squishiest thing in Ooo and the only way not to get killed was to never get hit.

Keel nodded understanding the wisdom in what Finn was saying. She looked up at Finn with an eagerness in her eyes. "How do we train my footwork."

"Well first thing is you're going to have to put your sword away, you're not going to need it for this." Finn instructed, grinning at her. When Keel did so Finn continued. "We're going to do what my dad did with me. We're going to play a game."

"What game?" Keel asked excitedly, her tail wagging.

"Tag."


"Tag?" Keel asked confused.

"You're it." Finn said flicking Keel's nose and stepping away.

Keel understood immediately what was happening and pounced at Finn. Normally when one plays Tag you are supposed to run or hide from the one that is it. But Finn just stood there waiting for Keel, and when she reached for him, he twisted to the side and let her pass by.

Keel flew and landed on the dirt touching nothing but air. She reoriented herself twisting on all fours until she found Finn still standing in the same spot and lept for him again.

And again, she missed eating dirt.

"Don't leap." Finn told her. "Make sure to always keep your feet on the ground. When you're in the air you can't maneuver, and it leaves you open."

Keel growled but followed his advice, she dashed forward making sure to keep her feet on the ground. She extended a hand to grab him again and again he stepped away barely moving from that original spot. She tried to twist around to tag him but tripped over her own feet and fell sideways into the ground.

"That was close." Finn called out. "You almost had me."

Continuously letting out a low growl Keel kept trying to tag Finn. she gave up on getting him with her first move but focused on trying to stop her momentum and turn on her outstretched foot to tag him.

It took her over hundred times before she could do it without falling flat on her face, then a hundred more times after that before she managed to touch Finn's sleeve. But there was a part of her that thought he let her touch him on purpose.

"Tag!" Keel panted. "You're… it!"

"Guess I am." Finn raised his hand and lashed out at Keel.

Sensing the danger, she scrambled backwards to avoid him. But as she moved her legs gave out and she almost tripped. Keel recovered her footing just in time to avoid another of Finn's grabs.

He didn't let up though launching one strike after another trying to tag Keel, not giving her the slightest chance to catch her breath.

Keel did her best to avoid him but with every step and twist she did her stamina dropped until there was nothing, she could do to avoid the palm strike the landed on her chest sending her flying away. She kept flying until she slammed into a tree and slid down its trunk.

"Tag, you're it." Finn called out, not even out of breath, the bastard.

Keel tried to stand but her body wasn't responding, she couldn't so much as lift her arm. Instead, she laid there trying to catch her breath. It was then that she realized that the only reason she touched Finn or managed to stay way as long as she did was because he let her.

When she didn't move for five minutes Finn sighed, walked over and placed her on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Keel let out a groan at the treatment but didn't protest it.

"Guess that's it for today, but don't worry we have a few days until we reach Idol's home. Plenty enough time for us to keep playing." Finn said chuckling at his joke, he started the walk toward the town Idol resided in.