Chapter 9: To Those Left Behind

"Let's see... twenty... forty... sixty... eighty..."

What happened?

"This should... probably be enough? Lemme check how far it is again..."

Where was she?

"Okay, if we restock here... and here..."

That voice.

"Zazie?" Annabeth tried to call out, only to end up coughing and sputtering. Her mouth and throat felt dry as sand as she took in a deep breath, but her lungs felt scratchy, like they had been shredded through and put back together.

Wait. The assassin.

"Oh, you're awake!"

Annabeth opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed. Across the room was Zazie sitting at a table, a map laid out in front of her.

"What... what happened?" Annabeth asked, her voice raspy. "I went after the assassin, and..."

The noxious smoke. That feeling of suffocating despite being surrounded by fresh air. Stabbing her blade through the assassin's back. And that strange dream...

"You might wanna rest up. The gas she used on you did a number on your lungs," Zazie said, grabbing a glass of water from somewhere and bringing it over to Annabeth. "You're probably thirsty, right? Here, drink this."

"Thank you," Annabeth said, taking the glass and slowly sipping down the water. "But what happened? How did I... how did I end up here?"

"I followed you after you went after the assassin, and the next thing I know, I find you passed out on the floor of some abandoned house with your face all blue," Zazie explained as she sat down on the bed, next to Annabeth. "You really scared me, you know? I thought you died or something."

"Apparently not," Annabeth muttered. "But what about the assassin? Was she..."

"Dead? Yeah, of course. That's what a sword through the back does," Zazie said. "I found an antiserum on her body and used it to reverse the effects of the gas she used on you. You'll have to take it easy, but your lungs should be fine by the end of the day."

"Thank you."

So Zazie had saved her.

"Don't mention it. I can't have you dying on me, after all," Zazie said with a smile. "Anyways, I cleaned up the body, found a room at the nearest inn, carried you up here, and that's about the gist of it."

"I see."

"Anyways, I, uh... I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked. "For what?"

"For, uh... getting you hurt. I... I told you before that one of the Black Hand's elite used poisons?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah. She's the one who came after... came after me. When I learned the soda was poisoned, I should've made that connection and told you what else she could do when you went after her."

"That's not your fault," Annabeth said. "Nobody's perfect. And it's the assassin that hurt me, not you."

"Yeah, well..." Zazie sighed. "You got hurt defending me. That kinda makes it my responsibility, even if it isn't my fault."

Annabeth didn't reply.

"Well, on the bright side, that's one more assassin down," Zazie said, a smile back on her face. She got up and made her way back to the table, looking over the map splayed over it. "We should be safe for a bit. Long enough for you to recover, and maybe even relax a bit before we've got to move on."

"That's reassuring," Annabeth said, looking up at Zazie. "By the way, Zazie? I have a question."

"Yeah?" Zazie asked, still looking at the map.

"When I was... fighting the assassin, she talked about a few things. About the contract she took," Annabeth said, remembering back to when the assassin had her back turned. "She said... she said that the target had no family, history, or even citizenship with any kingdom."

Zazie stopped. She looked back at Annabeth.

"Didn't you say you were part of a noble family before? Shouldn't the Black Hand know about your family or your history?" Annabeth continued. "And if they don't, why are they coming after you, if not to clean up from when they killed your family years ago?"

"I..." Zazie started to say. She paused, looking to the side for a moment before turning back to Annabeth. "I may not have been completely honest about what I told you before. About my family, I mean."

"What do you mean?"

"I was..." Zazie took a deep breath. "I was born into a noble family. The... Alabaster family. But I wasn't exactly a legitimate child. I was born from my father's secret mistress, rather than his wife."

"A bastard child."

"Exactly. My father still raised me, but he didn't want his reputation sullied by such a thing, so... he used his influence to remove my name from any official records," Zazie explained. "To the world, it was like they never had me."

"That's... that's awful."

"Now that I think about it, it is," Zazie said with a sigh. "To be honest, a part of me was glad to get away from my father once I... once the Black Hand came."

"That explains why they have no record of you," Annabeth muttered. "But then why are they after you? If they don't know about your connections, then I can't think of why else they would."

"I'm not completely sure either," Zazie said, rubbing her chin in thought. "Though just because the Black Hand doesn't know who I am doesn't mean whoever hired them doesn't know who I am. Maybe whoever put the contract on my head knows about my connections?"

"That would make sense. After all, you did say that these contracts are anonymous," Annabeth said with a nod. "That means that if we want to keep you safe, we should try to find out who hired the Black Hand and figure out why they're after you."

"Or we could drive the Black Hand away from their contracts."

"How so?"

"If you keep killing the assassins they send, they'll eventually realize that these contracts aren't gonna do anything except thin their ranks, right? They'll stop coming after me, and considering how good they are, I doubt any other assassins on Remnant they can hire will be able to touch me, with you guarding me."

"I suppose that's an alternative."

Not figuring out who was after Zazie and why would bother Annabeth, but Zazie's logic made sense.

"To be honest, I... I should probably be more thankful."

"For what?"

"You," Zazie said. "You came out of nowhere when I needed you and swore to protect me without even knowing who I am. I've been kinda taking you for granted, but you've helped me out a lot, you know?"

"I swore to protect you in the past, and I'll continue to do so, even if you don't remember," Annabeth said with a smile. "And even if you were someone else, I couldn't just leave someone in your situation to fend for yourself. An innocent girl hounded by assassins... that's not something I can abide by."

"Right..." Zazie said. The two were silent for a moment. "Well, anyways, you want me to grab you some food? You never got dinner last night, and you slept through breakfast and lunch."

"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked as she suddenly felt a rumbling in her stomach. "How long have I been out?"

"It's about... two hours past noon?"

"I see. And yes, I'd like something to eat."

"I figured. Sit tight, I'll grab you something from downstairs," Zazie said, making her way over to the door. She looked back at Annabeth for a moment before exiting the room and closing the door behind herself.

Annabeth looked down at the disk of... food? It looked like a circle of bread, topped with thick red sauce, cheese, and various meats. She wasn't sure what it was, but it looked good.

"You said this is... pizza?" Annabeth asked, pulling a slice out from the circle and taking a bite from the end. "It's quite good."

"Man, I can't believe you haven't had pizza before. Then again, you said you haven't had soda before either, so I guess that makes sense," Zazie said, taking a slice of her own. "I gotta take you to a buffet someday. You'd love it."

"A buffet?"

"It's a type of restaurant. Basically, you pay a flat fee to get in and you get to each as much as you want," Zazie explained, pausing to chew a mouthful of food. "The food's cheap and filling, so they make a profit, but considering you've never even heard of pizza before, I doubt you'll mind getting a taste of a bunch of stuff."

"That sounds... nice," Annabeth said before taking another bite from her pizza. It tasted good. The sauce went well with the cheese and the meat, and the bread underneath was a nice base. "There's a lot about this world I don't know. Not just food, but... well, I'm not really sure, because I haven't seen it yet. But I know I've still got a lot to see."

"There's a lot of interesting places around Remnant. I'm sure you'll like what you see," Zazie said. "Atlas would probably blow your mind."

"Atlas?"

"Capital of the kingdom of, well, Atlas," Zazie explained through another bite of pizza. "It's a big city flying in the air."

"Flying? Like a bird?"

Zazie nodded. "Yeah, except a lot bigger. And probably higher, too."

"How?"

"Gravity Dust. A lot of it, apparently."

"That's..." Annabeth paused for a moment as she tried to picture a city floating in the middle of the sky. "That's unbelievable."

"Yeah, it is, until you see it with your own eyes," Zazie said. "There's a lotta other really neat places. The Huntsmen Academies for one, though I don't think we'd be allowed in, considering we're not students. Oh, and you'd probably like Vale's entertainment district. It's packed full of malls, clubs, entertainment centers, combat facilities, restaurants, whatever you can name, they've got it."

"I... don't think I'd be able to name any of those."

"I guess you wouldn't, huh? Well, point is, you could spend years there and still find something new to try out, some new place to go to. Great place to visit if you've got money and time."

"Maybe we can go there someday, then."

"... I guess we could."

The two were quiet for a minute as they ate. Zazie finished her slice and cleared her throat.

"Why do you do it?"

"Huh?" Annabeth asked, looking up at Zazie. "What do you mean?"

"I don't get it. You nearly died yesterday for my sake," Zazie said. "Why are you so dedicated to helping me?"

"I said before, didn't I? I swore - "

"I know what you said. But that doesn't explain why," Zazie interrupted. "What did your... what did I do to make you want to give your life to protect me? You talked highly before about what... what I apparently did as the Princess of... Arcadia, was it? But I don't know the specifics. Hell, I don't even know about the place where you're from. What the world you came from was like."

"I see. So that's what you'd like to know," Annabeth said. She took a moment to finish her pizza, then took a deep breath. "I suppose it would be best to start from the beginning, when I first met you. Not back in Mistral those few days ago, but before that. When both of us were young."

"So long ago?"

Annabeth nodded.

"I was a simple blacksmith's daughter from a small, no-name village. Hence my last name, Helmsmith. Raiders descended upon the village, and I came across you while escaping," Annabeth explained. "We fought to safety, but we were the only survivors. My father died that day, as did the rest of the village."

"I'm... sorry to hear that."

"It's been a long time. To be honest, I... I can barely remember what he looked or sounded like," Annabeth replied. "Once we were safe, you told me who you were, and that the raiders were after you. That it was your fault that the village was destroyed."

"Why were they after... me?"

"Because you foresaw the end of the world."

"Huh?"

"I don't know the specifics about it, whether it was an affinity with certain magics or simply a prophecy passed down from some divine origin, but you were plagued with visions of the end of the world. A burning light that would cleanse the world of humanity," Annabeth explained, remembering what the old Zazie had told her. "You dedicated your life to figuring out how to prevent that from happening. There were those who came after your life because of that, but I swore to help and protect you as you did so."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why would you do that?" Zazie asked. "If the reason your village was destroyed was because of... because of me, then why would you swear to protect me?"

"I..."

Annabeth paused.

"Without you, I would not have made it out. We helped each other survive that night. I owed you as much as you owed me," Annabeth explained, remembering back to that night. "And after you told me about your mission, it made no sense to go elsewhere. My village was gone, but if I went with you, I could help save the rest of the world from burning. And I thought that out of anyone, you would be able to do it. You were smart, kind, selfless, and most of all, dedicated to your cause."

"I... see." Zazie sighed. "So that's how... the old me met you."

"Yes. After I swore myself to you, you brought me back to the capital and had me trained as a knight and your personal guard."

"Whoever trained you must've been pretty good."

"He was."

The two were silent for a moment.

"Over the years, you did quite a lot. You studied the arcane arts and grew stronger alongside me. We traveled the world so that you could meet with foreign kingdoms, gain influence, and work against those who would want to bring about the end you foresaw," Annabeth continued. "We made some close friends along the way, more who swore to serve you as I did."

"Really?" Zazie asked, her eyes suddenly widening. "Who were they?"

"The first was a boy named Norman. He was an orphan adopted into a rich family due to his impressive academic performance, but he was even smarter than he let on," Annabeth said. "Apparently, we caught his interest, and he was able to figure out what exactly we were doing and why through nothing more than news reports and hearsay. He approached you and offered his services, and you accepted."

"Wow. That seems pretty smart."

"Indeed. He ended up being an excellent tactician, especially once we deserted Arcadia with a few thousand of its troops."

"What?"

"I'll explain later," Annabeth said. She paused for a moment to think. "Then, there was Rosaline. As I recall, she was a runaway daughter of a noble from the Fusang Empire. We found her in an underground fighting arena along the coast, fighting for coin."

"Underground arenas, huh? I guess some things are a constant."

"Perhaps. I don't know why you approached her and offered her a place beside you, but she was eager to accept for no other reason than because it seemed like it would be interesting," Annabeth explained. "She was quite hot-headed and rude, but with her spear and mastery over fire magic, she was likely the strongest warrior on our side."

"Really?" Zazie asked. "Stronger than you? Cause you seem pretty strong."

"We sparred often. Mostly on her request," Annabeth said. She remembered back to the blazing flames and overwhelming strikes she had faced during those fights. "She would win most of the time, usually without even going all-out."

"Huh. I'd like to see that."

"Indeed. Rosaline was difficult to manage outside of a fight, but was unparalleled during one," Annabeth said. "And then there was Cilia, a girl from the Bestial tribe."

"The what?"

"One of the many desert tribes. They possessed magic that allowed them to transform into various animals; Cilia in particular could transform into a snake at will," Annabeth explained. "Her parents were killed by the tribe's chief, so she asked us to help her get revenge."

"Transforming into animals? Huh. That's pretty strange," Zazie muttered. "So, did you?"

"Help her? Yes. You helped overthrow that chief and establish a new one who was friends with Cilia's parents, so Cilia joined our cause to repay you," Annabeth said. "Cilia was excellent with espionage, scouting, and... assassination."

"Assassination?" Zazie asked. "Did I have people assassinated?"

"You tried to avoid it if you could, but... yes, a few."

"I see," Zazie muttered, nodding her head. "I guess that's not too hard to pull off if you can turn into a snake. It'd make a lot of things easier."

"Eventually, we found out who was working against us, and who would cause the end of everything. She was a mage named Salem who was supposedly immortal, unable to be slain by sword nor magic. She claimed that she had stolen power from the gods to become so, and that if humanity united and rose up against the gods, everyone would be able to take their power."

"Wait, gods?" Zazie asked, tilting her head. "As in, deities? Divine beings and stuff? Those exist?"

"They do. The Gods of Light and Darkness, to be specific. Despite our efforts, Salem's influence spread to all the kingdoms as everyone was lured by her promises of power and eternal life," Annabeth explained. "Eventually, she gathered the whole of humankind behind her and marched on the God of Light. Standing against her was only us and a few thousand troops that you had convinced to abandon their posts and join us."

"A few thousand against the world... unbelievable," Zazie muttered. "What happened after that?"

"The event that you foresaw was Salem's armies arriving at the shrine of the God of Light. I was knocked out during the battle, and when I woke up, it was already happening. I saw the blazing light from the shrine, and..."

Annabeth paused.

"The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor of your tent."

"That's... one hell of a story," Zazie muttered. She sighed and looked away. "I guess... wow. That's... too selfless..."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just... processing things," Zazie said, turning back to Annabeth. "So, right out of the apocalypse, huh? How'd you even end up where I found you, anyways?"

"I would tell you if I could. Unfortunately, I have no idea. Just before that light hit me, I blacked out, and... I suppose you know the rest."

"Guess that's still a mystery then, huh?"

"Indeed."

The two sat quietly for a moment.

"Well, we should probably get back to eating," Zazie said, grabbing another slice of pizza. "Don't want this to get cold."

"That would probably be best," Annabeth replied, grabbing a second slice. "Though I don't think this would taste bad even if it wasn't warm."

"Well, you know what they say. Cold pizza's still pizza."

"Is that a saying here?"

"Kinda?"

"I see. I'll keep it in mind."

The two girls resumed eating.

Annabeth watched as Zazie handed a small stack of Lien cards to the truck driver. The driver nodded, and Zaze made her way around behind the truck, where Annabeth was waiting.

"We have everything taken care of here, correct?" Annabeth asked. "We've bought supplies, and you've delivered the package you were supposed to deliver?"

"Yup. We've got nothing left here," Zazie said as she climbed into the back of the truck, with Annabeth following behind. "All that's left is to make our way east."

"Towards Valus."

"Yeah. Towards... Valus," Zazie said, sitting down on a nearby crate. Annabeth sat on another box, opposite from her.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to keep ahead of any assassins that come after us," Annabeth said as the truck started to move. "And if we happen upon one, I'll keep you safe."

"I... guess you will," Zazie said. She was looking out of the back of the truck, to the town as it sped past. "Hey, Annabeth? Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"The reason you're so dedicated to me... it's because of all that stuff that Za - that I did all those years ago?" Zazie asked, turning to Annabeth. "That's why you're so willing to protect me?"

"Indeed. You put yourself and your every effort into helping others and trying to save the world. I could think of no other person I would rather swear my life to protect," Annabeth said with a nod. "That's why I do what I do. That's why I would risk my life for you."

"I... I guess," Zazie muttered. "I... don't feel like that type of person. I'm just a normal girl. A regular old Courier with no family. I'm not this... selfless paragon that you might remember me as."

"That may be. But even so, I think you're worth protecting."

"Why?"

"You helped me when you found me. You've guided me through this strange world when I had nothing, without expecting any repayment. Back in Peakstone, you put yourself at risk to help everyone evacuate," Annabeth explained. "Just based on that, I can tell you're a good person. You may not be dedicating yourself to saving the world, but you're still kind and selfless, just like the Zazie I know. I can't let someone like that stand against the Black Hand by herself."

"I... see..."

Zazie turned away.

"And if there is a chance that we can restore your memories at Valus, I wouldn't wish to pass that up. With your memories and powers restored, maybe we can put an end to the attempts on your life. Somehow, we can figure out who's hiring the Black Hand and why, track them down, and stop them. And then..."

Annabeth paused.

"Then, I'm not sure. But I'll follow you wherever you go after that. You have my word."

Zazie nodded, still looking away out the back of the truck. She stayed silent as the truck passed the edge of Saguaro and into the desert.

A/N: And that's chapter 9! The two girls have a little chat before heading off to their next destination. What awaits them there? Stay tuned!

Thanks to HappyHulk for the review! I've probably said it before, but I'm surprised there are so few fics that explore the god era, though I guess part of it is that the era isn't really well defined.

Thanks as well to those who've followed, favorited, and read up to this point. If you've got anything to say, please leave a review, and have a nice day!