A/N: And here I am with another story-in-the-works. I wrote this one ages ago, like back before I finished An Epic Retelling, though I've added to it later than that. It's another one of those FanFiction clichés that, after writing a few, can totally see why people write them over and over. XD This is another long one, so brace yourselves. I'll respond to Guest reviewers in the second A/N from now on, by the way. Anyway, enjoy!
Title: Child (Tentatively)
Rating: Probably T
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, mild language
"Don't touch it, Matt," Natalie called.
Matt shot a grin back over his shoulder, "It's not like it'll blow up, right? The worst that could happen is that I get a nasty shock." He ignored the huff Natalie gave and bent to scoop up the large crystal.
Lance rolled his eyes as he watched Matt casually grab an obviously magical object. He shook his head and turned to go loot the dragon when a flash of light happened. The gunner whipped back around and squinted through the bright white light engulfing Matt. The flash vanished as quickly as it had appeared and Lance rubbed his eyes to rid them of the water of reflexive tears. His eye readjusted to the dark to see a pile of clothes where Matt had been.
"Great, he managed to port himself to gods know where, and he'll be naked," Lance muttered.
Natalie growled, "I told him not to touch it. Why doesn't he ever listen to me?"
Anna grinned, "Well, it wouldn't be Matt if he exercised common sense, right?"
Lance snorted and walked over to Matt's discarded clothes and weapon, "True, but that doesn't mean we can't be mad. Let's go find the numbskull."
When he bent down to scoop up the clothing, however, it rustled. Lance jumped back and stared as a small blond head poked up out of the shirt. The small head twisted to look up, revealing blue eyes set in a face that seemed too small for them. Instantly, the eyes widened and the head burrowed back into the clothing, and the pile shivered. Lance knelt down and slowly reached forwards to uncovered what he feared was true.
Natalie and Anna had not seen what Lance had as the gunner had been in the way, but they both heard him suck in a sharp breath and mutter, "No, way…"
The two women crowded forwards and stared down at the pile of clothes as Lance tugged at it. Their eyes widened in shock as Lance uncovered Matt turned into a child. Each of them stared at the small blond who stared back at them with fearful eyes. A second later, and Matt hid back in his clothes with a whimper. Lance exchanged a baffled look with Anna. Neither of them had ever seen a spell that could literally turn a grown warrior into a quaking child.
Natalie heard Matt's whimper and her eyes narrowed as the brief image she'd caught of him settled in her mind. Cautiously, the mage reached forwards and felt around for Matt's waist. Finding it, she tugged him up and into her lap along with his now-oversized blue shirt. She felt him trembling, yet he made little noise. With one arm holding him there, Natalie tugged the neckline of the shirt to fall off of Matt's face. The shirt slipped off of his right shoulder, but his wide-eyed and fearful face was bared.
The small blond was far thinner than was normal and healthy for a child that she guessed to be maybe six at the oldest. His eyes held a persisting light of fear that was unnatural in child. His hair was shorter than before and was tangled and filthy. He trembled constantly and every little while he let out a scared whimper. Most concerning of all were the bruises marring his left cheek and right shoulder.
Natalie's own eyes widened again, and she murmured, "Child abuse."
Lance stiffened, "What? How?"
"Look at him," Natalie said quietly. "What child ends up like this if they're being cared for properly? I don't know anything of his childhood, so I can't be sure if this is actually what he was like back then, but what's in front of us now clearly looks like a child abuse case."
Anna knelt down beside the mage and reached out a hand to lightly brush her fingers over Matt's bruised face. To her horror, the blond flinched back with a squeak and squeezed his eyes shut. Anna swallowed and asked in a hard voice, "Do you think this is actually him from way back when?"
Lance growled, "I sure hope not, or there's going to be a bloody murder."
Matt began to cry at the angry tones. Natalie made a soft hushing noise and rubbed a hand over his tiny back. "Hey, hey… It's okay, you're safe. I promise they aren't mad at you, so don't cry," she murmured. She watched Matt slowly stop crying and her heart cracked at the hesitant expression on his face. If this really was an image from his past, it was tragic, and she wanted to make it better.
Slowly, Natalie wrapped her arms around Matt in a hug and rocked him. She felt Matt stiffen some, but he quickly relaxed and let out a soft coo. The mage's heart melted, but she also felt a burning wrath. She looked up at the others who looked as horrified as she felt. Lance still looked ready to exact bloody retribution, while Anna looked to be puzzling out what they should do next and coming to no conclusions.
Natalie glanced down at Matt as he shuffled some to get more comfortable. She blew out a long sigh and said, "Well, we can't stay here. Whether this is permanent or not, he's a kid now, and there are a lot of monsters here; it's too dangerous to stay."
Anna nodded, "Yeah, let's take him back to the travel house for now. We can get some food in him and you can heal those bruises."
Lance nodded as well, "I'll take point. Natalie, you carry Matt. Anna, stick close to them and carry Natz's staff." He gathered up Matt's gear aside from the now-oversized shirt the child was wearing and stuffed them away in his Adventure Pouch.
Matt's head came up at the sound of his name. He cocked his head at Lance, clearly wondering what the man wanted. The gunner cracked a faint grin at the blond and stood up straight. The blond gave him a faint but hesitant smile in return. The small smile faded into a look of fear as he felt Natalie loosen her hold on him. The mage felt him stiffen and shushed him again as she sat him down on the floor and stood up.
A second later, and she reached down to lift him up into her arms. She had no problem lifting and carrying him, as he was so light. She propped him on her hip and turned to Anna, who grabbed her discarded staff from the ground. Matt's small face pressed into Natalie's shoulder and he sniffled. Natalie made a soft humming sound and felt him relax a little. She followed behind Lance as the gunner headed out of the cave.
As they walked, Matt slowly relaxed even more. He didn't know these people, but they were nice. He hoped they would stay nice. Eventually, the child picked his head up to look around. His large blue eyes stared at the green-haired lady walking just behind him and the nice lady who carried him. The lady smiled at him and puffed her cheeks out at the same time she crossed her eyes. Matt let out a small giggle and saw the lady grin at him. He then turned his eyes to the area around them.
Lance glanced back at Matt's laugh and saw Anna grinning. The ranger winked at him and then turned her attention back to their surroundings. The gunner watched Matt looking around with fascination and curiosity, his blue eyes wide as he took in everything. Lance blew out a sigh of relief. If Matt was taking an interest in their surroundings already it meant he trusted them and likely wasn't too emotionally damaged. He had no idea what to do with the blond, however, and really hoped this wasn't a permanent change.
Natalie heard Matt's giggle and grinned at the sweet sound. She felt him twisting around, trying to see everything at once. She wondered how they were going to get him back to normal, and whether this baffling regression would affect him once they figured out how to revert it. She hoped not, but it was hard to say. She'd never heard of a spell that could do this, and figured they would have to do some research. Until then, Matt was their charge.
"What's that?" Matt suddenly squeaked, speaking for the first time since the change. He struggled to get his arms free, and one arm poked out of the neckline while the other fit through an oversized sleeve so that the shirt now sat on him like a toga. He pointed to a twisting tree.
Natalie glanced at the tree and said, "It's a tree."
"Why's it all twisty?"
Anna chuckled and said, "Because it grows that way."
"Why?"
Natalie snorted at the typical child question and said, "That's just what it does."
"Oh, okay," Matt said, already losing interest in the tree as they walked past it. "What's that?" he asked pointing at a Black Bird sitting on a rock in front of them.
Lance chuckled, "That would be a Black Bird. It's mean."
Matt frowned, "It's mean? Why?"
"Dunno. Maybe it's hungry," Lance said, giving the monster a wide berth. He figured fighting was best avoided while Matt was stuck as a child. To his relief, the bird ignored them. They were nearing their residence for the time being and he heard ask Matt what the small house was. "That's where we're going," he replied.
"It's huge! Do you live here?" Matt squeaked in awe.
Lance nodded, "For now, yeah."
Natalie shot Matt a puzzled look and then turned her attention to the house. The traveler's lodge was only a few rooms large, and definitely not what she would call a huge house. She supposed that to a small child it likely looked bigger than it was. Lance opened the door and stepped inside followed by Natalie and Matt, and finally Anna, who shut the door again. Lance flicked on the lights and shrugged his rifle to the floor. Natalie walked past him to the bench by the door.
"Okay, Matt, let's take a look at those bruises," Natalie said as she tried to set him down.
Matt let go easily enough and cocked his head, "How d'you know my name?"
Natalie paused at the question, unsure of how to answer that. Finally she shrugged, "We're friends."
"I don't have any friends," Matt said with a confused look.
Anna felt a twinge of pain at the words. She shook it off and said, "Well you do now. What would you like to eat?"
Matt's eyes widened, "I get food, too?!"
Lance's face twitched as he worked to suppress a scowl at the innocent, but heartbreaking question. He blew out a sigh and nodded, "Whatever you want that we have."
Natalie glanced at Anna, "I doubt he has a large variety of foods he knows. Make him some bacon, or something. That should make him happy. Maybe get some milk out, too." She turned her eyes to Lance, "He's going to need some clothes. Head out to the warp point and pick up a few shirts and pants for him."
Anna grinned at Lance's groan and said, "I'll do that and Lance can make the food. I doubt he would be able to find stuff in the right size, anyway. I'll be back in an hour, probably." The ranger slipped out the door.
Natalie nodded as Lance headed to the small kitchen and began rummaging around. She turned her eyes to Matt who looked completely confused, but happy. Her face split in a small smile—more to keep Matt calm and happy than because she was happy—as she asked, "Now, what hurts?"
Matt frowned at the question, "Why?"
"So I can fix it," Natalie said.
"How d'you do that?" Matt asked.
Natalie grinned and leaned in to say in a conspiring whisper, "With magic." As she had expected, Matt's eyes widened with excitement. She thanked all of the countless hours she'd spent babysitting at the shrine she'd grown up at. Handling children was nothing new to her.
"You can use magic?" Matt squealed.
"Yup, so let's use the magic to get you fixed up, and then you can have some food," Natalie said with a wink.
"Best day ever!" Matt squeaked. He suddenly hesitated and said, "I can't pay you, though."
Natalie shook her head, refusing to linger on the fact that Matt already knew about having to pay for things, and expecting to pay for them himself, at such a young age. "Don't worry about it. We have plenty of money. Now what hurts?"
"My arm, and my face, and my belly, and my leg, and my back, and…" Matt listed before trailing off. He hesitated as he caught the flicker Natalie's face gave, and then shrank back. She looked angry, he thought. Angry people were mean, and it usually ended up with him getting hit. "'S okay, you don't have to use the magic," he nervously mumbled.
"Nope, you're getting healed," Natalie said firmly. Her voice softened, and she said, "I'm not mad at you, just the people who hurt you." She reached for where Anna had left her Crystal Staff. In the next moment, a soft light surrounded Matt, whose eyes widened with wonder. The light faded and Natalie asked, "Better?" She didn't doubt that he was, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
Matt poked his stomach and grinned, "Yes!" His eyes turned up to Natalie with a hopeful look, "Can you make me un-fizzable?"
"Invisible?" Natalie corrected with a grin. She shook her head, "Sorry, I don't know how to do that. Are you ready to go eat?"
Matt pouted, but soon perked up as the delicious smell of bacon filled the air. His head turned to look around for the smell. He looked up at Natalie who was grinning at him. Hesitantly, he raised his arms to be carried, doubtful that the nice lady would lift him. To his wonder, she scooped him up and propped him on her hip again, and rubbed his back as she walked.
Natalie carried Matt into the kitchen where Lance was just scooping the sizzling bacon off of a pan and onto a plate with a stack of toast. The gunner glanced around and nodded a greeting. His eyes took in Matt's healed face, and he grinned. The blond looked ridiculous in a shirt about twelve sizes too big for him, but the now-kid looked happy. Lance set the plate on the small table just as Natalie sat Matt down in a chair.
"Might want to get some cushion to sit him on," Lance commented. Matt's head barely reached over the table top.
Natalie nodded, and vanished down the hall. Matt watched her go with a light of distress in his eyes. He turned his nervous eyes on Lance who sat down across from him. The red haired man reached over and plucked up a piece of toast and handed it to the child. Matt's eyes widened, and he immediately began devouring the buttered bread. The entire time he ate, Matt's eyes remained fixed on Lance. He didn't know the man, and he had been so angry earlier; there was no promise that he wouldn't get mad again.
Lance noticed Matt's nervous stare and tried to ignore it. It was painful to realize that the bull-headed blond had ever been so fearful of other people. Yet clearly, Matt had had a rough childhood, and the only comfort was that he'd pulled through it okay. Finally, though, the gunner decided to try and make conversation, and to try and get some facts.
"So how old are you, Matt?" Lance asked in a level tone. He glanced up when Natalie walked in with some pillows to prop Matt up on.
The blond giggled as he was placed on the soft pillows and could fully see over the table. He turned his large blue eyes on Lance and said, "I think I'm five." He held up four fingers to emphasize his age. When Lance grinned, Matt quickly recounted and popped another finger up.
"That's about how old I figured he is now," Natalie commented as she sat down and piled some bacon on a plate for Matt. She grinned as Matt tentatively tasted a piece and then promptly shoved the entire chunk in his mouth. "Slower or you'll choke," Natalie warned.
Matt didn't seem to hear her as he swallowed his food and reached for another piece of bacon.
"You think you're five?" Lance asked with a raised brow as he piled some more food on Matt's plate.
"That's what Tom told me," Matt said with a shrug. He grabbed a cup full of some white liquid, and began chugging it down. It was a lot better than the scummy water he was used to.
Natalie leaned forwards, "Where does Tom live?"
"A big town," was Matt's unhelpful reply.
Lance grunted, "What does the town look like, or do you know the name?"
"Graystone," Matt chirped. He spread his hands on either side of him and said, "It's bigger than this! There are lots of mines, and people are smelly!"
Lance nodded and glanced at Natalie, "Graystone exists. It's a big coal mining town south of Whitefall."
Natalie thoughtfully frowned as she swiped a piece of toast and ate it. She swallowed the food and suggested, "Should we go there and see if anyone knows Matt? Maybe we can confirm if he actually used to be like this."
Matt pouted, "I don' wanna go there…"
Lance's eyebrows shot up, "Why not? Your house is there, right?"
"Nuh-uh, I don't have a house," Matt said with a shake of his head. He ducked his head down and mumbled, "They're mean. All they let me do is dig rocks and carry heavy stuff all day. And they get so mad if I mess up. Don't make me go back…"
Natalie exchanged a worried look with Lance. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what Matt was talking about. By the look in Lance's eyes, he knew what the poor child was talking about, too. At that moment, Anna walked in the front door and appeared at the kitchen entrance. She had bags hanging from one hand that she dropped on the ground as she walked to snag some food for herself.
"What're the looks for?" the ranger asked as she sat down.
Natalie shook her head with a meaningful glance at Matt. "We'll tell you later." The mage stood up and smiled down at the blond boy, "Ready for a bath?"
Matt cocked his head, "Do you have one of those?"
"Sure do," the mage said with a grin, scooping him up again. She carefully bent to grab one of the bags Anna had brought back before walking down the hall. Her voice could be heard asking Matt how hot he liked his baths to be, and got an excited jabber of words back from the boy.
Anna watched them go before turning to Lance. "Natz is good with kids," she commented.
Lance nodded, "Yeah, good thing too, or we'd be sunk." He grinned and added, "Matt was… is… whatever… He's a cute kid; too bad about his childhood."
"Oh, did you find out something?" Anna asked.
Lance nodded with a grim look, "Yeah. He told us he's from Graystone. From what he said, Natz and I are thinking he was a coal digger. I'm guessing they beat him when he screwed up."
"At that age? He can't be more than five or six," Anna said, aghast.
"He's five alright, or so he thinks," Lance confirmed with a scowl. He shook his head and muttered, "We need to fix this. On top of the fact that I can't stand to see Matt cringing every time someone frowns, we can't feasibly raise a child; especially not one who we're used to interacting with as an adult. After that, I'd like to pay Graystone a visit and do some… landscaping. Child labor, especially in mines, is sick, wrong, and dangerous."
Anna frowned and nodded, "So how do we change him back?"
Lance stood up, "We'll need that crystal he touched, to start with. It was what caused this, and I bet it'll be linked to turning him back. I'll go grab it and bring it back in a containment unit. We can take it to some scholars, or a wizard, or something."
The ranger nodded, "I doubt I need to tell you to be careful handling it. I'll tell Natz where you went. See you later."
The gunner nodded and left the room. Anna listened to him gather his gear and walk out the door. She stood as well and left to head down the hall towards where she could hear splashing. The ranger knocked on the door and heard Natalie call that it was open. She opened the door to see the mage attacking Matt's hair with shampoo. The blond had slumped against the side of the tub with an expression of bliss on his face at the soothing scrubbing.
Anna grinned at the sight and mused that it was a good thing Matt was at the age that being naked around women wasn't an issue. She figured he'd be mortified once he was back to normal, though, and that Natalie would tease him mercilessly. Natalie glanced up with a grin and jerked her head at a glass on the sink.
"Pass me that to rinse the soap out?" she requested.
Anna handed the glass over and listened to Natalie tell Matt to keep his eyes tightly shut. Soon, the soap was gone and Matt was being hoisted out of the tub and wrapped in a towel. He squirmed and giggled as Natalie rubbed him dry and then held out some clothes. Matt eagerly tugged on the pair of black shorts and the blue shirt Anna had bought him. Soon he looked like a regular child with a beaming face.
"There you go, much better," Natalie said as she rolled her sleeves down. She stood up to hang the towels to dry.
Matt smiled up at her and hugged her leg, "Thank you miss."
"You're welcome Matt," Natalie replied with a smile.
Anna grinned at the adorable and sweet actions, "Her name is Natalie, so feel free to call her that."
"And you're Anna," Matt said slowly, brow cutely furrowed in concentration as he tried to remember what they had called each other. "And the grumpy guy is…. Lance?"
Natalie burst out in laughter, "Already nailed Lance's personality."
Annan snickered but nodded to Matt, "That's right, Matt, good job."
Matt beamed at the praise and scampered over to give her leg a hug, too. Anna ruffled his damp hair thinking Lance was right: Matt was an adorable child. She grinned as he yawned, and amended the thought: Matt was an adorable, sleepy child. She bent down to gather him up and carried him out of the bathroom.
"Time for bed, Matt," Anna said.
Matt pouted with his head on her shoulder, "But 'm not tir-ire…" The protesting words were broken by a massive yawn. He blinked a few tears from his eyes as he finished, "Tired."
"Says the yawning boy," Anna teased. She laid him on the bed in the room he and Lance had been sharing bed, and tucked him in. She'd barely stood up to go when Matt sat up.
"Don't go!" he whimpered.
Anna froze with her hand on the door knob and glanced back at him. Her heart clenched when he fixed her with an incredibly effective kicked-puppy look. He looked afraid of being alone, and Anna let her hand drop from the doorknob. She moved back to sit on the bed with Matt and gently pushed him to lie back down.
"I'll stay until you're asleep, and I promise we'll all still be here in the morning," she said gently.
Matt looked uncertain. He'd been in the mines the night before and now he was somewhere far away with people who cared about him. He didn't want to go to sleep and then wake up back in the mines where people yelled at him for being slow. He kept his wide eyes fixed on Anna, barely blinking, afraid she and the warmth and safety he felt would vanish if he let her out of his sight. Suddenly, Anna started humming a soft, slow tune, and Matt felt his eyelids droop, despite his best efforts to keep them open. A few seconds later, and he fell asleep.
Anna smiled at the sleeping blond. She'd hummed a common lullaby from Greenwood, and it had worked like a charm. She tucked the blanket more firmly about Matt and stood up. Silently, she padded out of the room, and left the door open a crack to allow some light in. She headed down to the small sitting area by the front door to see Natalie waiting for her.
"Where'd Lance go?" Natalie asked.
Anna sat down on a wooden chair and said, "He went back to get the crystal Matt touched. The plan right now is to bring it to a scholar and see if it can be used to reverse the effect it had on Matt."
Natalie nodded, "Good plan. Hopefully Lance won't get zapped to five years old, too. I doubt he'd be as sweet as Matt is."
"Probably not," Anna agreed with a grin. Her smile faded as she glanced down the hall to where Matt was sleeping, "So Matt was a miner as a kid, huh?"
Natalie nodded, "It's likely, yes. He probably didn't stay there for long, though, or we would never have met him. I'm guessing that either he ran away, or someone let him go. He mentioned someone named Tom and didn't seem upset with him. Maybe we can find this Tom and get some answers, or wait until Matt is back to normal."
Lance opened the door and walked in with a metal cylinder in his hands. He glanced around for Matt, and nodded when Anna said he was sleeping. "Okay, I got the crystal," Lance said, setting the metal cylinder down on the bench. "It's practically humming with mana, now. I think that it's Matt's mana."
Natalie eyes widened, "Really? If that's the case then maybe transferring it back will fix him?"
"Can you do that?" Anna asked.
The mage nodded, "Yeah, I can. We can try it tomorrow."
"Sweet, Matt will be back to normal in no time," Lance said confidently. He stretched his arms over his head and sighed, "After that, I want to go to Graystone."
Anna nodded with a scowl, "Me, too."
Natalie shrugged, "Sure, if Matt wants to. He may say to let it go, or maybe he already took care of it." She glanced down the hall and added, "Or maybe he'd rather not go back at all. I wouldn't, after growing up like that."
Lance shrugged, "I'll go either way. If nothing else, I'd like to make sure they aren't still using kids as workers." He let out a yawn and mumbled, "I'm going to sleep. Since I'm guessing Matt is sleeping in our room, I'll crash on the floor out here."
Anna smiled, "That's sweet of you. G'night, Lance."
"'Night, Lance," Natalie said as she and Anna walked off.
The next morning, Matt woke up still in the same bed he'd fallen asleep in. He sat up with a yawn and rubbed at his eyes with small hands. He looked around the room in amazement, realizing that he was still out of the mines. He thought to the three people who'd brought him here, and gave a small, confused frown. He was certain he'd never seen any of them before, and yet he also felt like he had known them for a long time. It was puzzling, and on top of that, he had no idea how he had gotten so far from the mines.
With a small shrug, Matt slid out of the bed and padded to the door. He peeked his head out to see the hallway was dark and silent. With exaggerated caution, he tiptoed down the hall to the main room, not wanting to wake the others up if they were sleeping. In the dark front hall, he turned for the kitchen, intending to get himself some water. Halfway there, he stepped on something soft—something soft that let out a high-pitched yelp and thrashed. A thump sounded from down the hall followed by muttered curses.
Matt leapt straight up in the air, and in a panicked rush, he darted for where he knew the door was. An angry grumble sounded followed by heavy running footsteps, sending his panic higher. He ripped the door open and ran outside. Once there, he picked a random direction and started running, deaf to the yells from behind him. Soon, he was out of sight in the predawn darkness.
"Damn it," Anna hissed, snagging her bow from the corner she'd left it in the corner. She tugged her boots on and dashed out the door as well.
Natalie watched her shoot off after Matt before turning irritable eyes on Lance, who was letting out small grunting noises. "Really?" she asked flatly.
"Hey, he stepped on my soft spot," Lance grumbled, a faint whine in his tone, and wincing as he sat up. His eyes turned to the door and he added, "It's not like I wanted him to run out alone."
"Just get up," Natalie sighed. "There are some pretty strong monsters around here; Anna and Matt might get hurt."
Lance rolled to his feet and stiffly tugged his boots on before snagging his gunblade and rifle. Soon, he and Natalie were jogging out of the house after Matt and Anna.
Anna raced after Matt, stunned at the speed the small boy had. On top of being quick, he was also agile and surprisingly strong, despite his skinny frame. Every time she got close to him, he'd switch directions, haul himself up a stony ledge, and keep running. Anna panted as she chased after the terrified child. Matt skidded around a corner and let out a yelp that was drowned out by an angry screech. Anna pushed herself even faster.
The ranger dashed around the corner to see Matt being cornered by a Red Dragon. In a flash, Anna nocked three arrows and sent them off towards the dragon. As she had hoped, the monster whirled on her with a snarl, and lunged forwards. Anna danced back to dodged the snap and stabbed an arrow into the scaly snout. The dragon roared in pain, scaring Matt into running again. Anna let out a cry as he darted off, but she was forced to backflip out of the way of a blast of fire instead of darting after the boy to stop him.
"Matt, stop!" Anna yelled. There was a sheer drop off into a river in that direction.
To her horror, Anna heard Matt give a shriek that faded to silence. With her heart racing, Anna channeled her mana into a Gaia Power attack. The magical vines burst from the ground, strangling and poisoning the dragon. The ranger didn't look at her victory, already scrambling after Matt. She heard Natalie and Lance call her name, but ignored them in favor of seeking out the small blond head she knew would be twisting in the river.
Natalie and Lance burst into sight in time to see Anna throw her bow down, kick her boots off, and dive off of the cliff. Both their jaws dropped as the realized what must have happened. Without stopping, they turned to follow the river. As they ran, they saw a glimpse of Anna knifing through the river, using the current to go faster. They traced her path to see Matt flailing in the water ahead of the ranger. Both were on a swift course for a waterfall.
Anna could hear the roar of the falls as she struggled towards Matt, even over the roar of the rapids around her. She needed to reach him before he went over. Her heart skipped a beat when he suddenly went under just before she could grab him. Anna dove under and squinted through the water, searching for his bright blond hair. She saw a flash of gold and snatched it up—ignoring the sympathy wince her own hair gave at the thought of being dragged by it. To her relief, it was Matt and she immediately pushed off of the river bottom for the surface, dragging Matt with her where she shifted her grasp to under his arms.
Lance saw Matt go under and Anna dive after him. The pair stayed out of sight for a very long time, and just as he was about to really panic, Anna's head suddenly broke the surface of the river. He saw her suck in great gulps of air that he couldn't hear as she pulled Matt's head up as well. The small blond was ominously still, and the gunner's eyes widened.
Natalie's breath rasped in her chest as she raced along the bank. She saw that Matt wasn't moving, but her eyes drifted to the drop off just in front of the pair in the river. Whether or not Matt had drowned wouldn't matter if they went over. She saw Anna begin swimming for the shore, pulling Matt along with her, but knew with a dismal certainty that the ranger would never be able to grip the slick stone along the side of the river.
"Natz… freeze…. the water," Lance panted.
The mage raised her staff and pointed at the river, but mentally wailed when she realized it was flowing far too fast for her to stop. "I… can't… Too… fast…"
Meanwhile, Anna hit the side of the river. She reached a hand out and tried to stop her and Matt's journey off the falls. She frantically scrabbled for purchase, but the stone was smooth from the water, and slick from algae and spray. She glanced towards where the head of the waterfall was rapidly drawing closer. Her eyes set with determination, and she wrapped both arms around Matt.
Then, Anna's stomach dropped as they were sent over the edge into open air. They plummeted through the air, careening towards the basin far below. The ranger was above Matt, but a quick gust spell fixed that. She used the wind magic to twist them around so that she was on the bottom to absorb the impact with the water when they hit. She kept using wind magic in a desperate attempt to slow their fall, ignoring the drain on her already low mana stores from her earlier Gaia Power.
The ranger's back slammed into the water and forced her air from her lungs. She fought against the instinct to inhale water, and began kicking for the surface with Matt still tightly grasped in her arms. Her head broke the water and she sucked in massive gulps of air as she pulled Matt's limp form up. She wearily paddled through the water for the muddy bank and dragged them up onto it.
Every muscle in her body trembled and ached. There was an immense pain flaring from her back, her chest heaved and jerked as she coughed to expel water from her lungs, and her clothing and hair were soaked and dripping. Still, she turned her attention to Matt. She hauled him up against her chest and sharply pressed her fists chest to just below his sternum to force the water from his lungs. As soon as she felt the water dribble out, she held her hand against his chest and cast a healing spell.
Instantly, Matt jerked and began coughing and gasping. Anna felt a heady rush of relief as she soothingly rubbed his back. Matt was alive; they both were. Slowly, the small boy's wracking coughs subsided and he twisted to look back at who had saved him. Anna smiled down at him with her hair and clothes dripping water. In the next moment, the ranger swayed and passed out.
"Anna?" Matt fearfully squeaked. He shook her shoulder, but got no reply. The boy's eyes filled with tears as he whimpered, "Anna…? Say something."
Anna remained still and silent. Matt curled up beside the ranger and cried. He shivered from cold and fear, and pressed closer to Anna. If he was cold, then she was probably cold too, and maybe also afraid. He sniffled and vowed to stay right there until Anna woke up.
Lance and Natalie yelled as they saw their friends get dragged over the waterfall. Both skidded to a stop and stared in horrified disbelief at the river. Then, Lance shook his head and started running again. He decided he would operate on the off chance that one—or, hopefully, both—of them would survive the fall. Anna was resourceful and would have done whatever she could to save them, after all. He slipped to a stop at the edge of the cliff and peered down at the basin far below.
Natalie came up beside him, heart in her throat. Her eyes frantically searched for some sign of her friends. Then, amazingly, she saw a faint splash as Anna surfaced and began swimming for shore. Miraculously, the ranger had survived the fall, and was well enough to move. The mage straightened and exchanged a relieved look with Lance before turning for the path down the cliff.
Both swiftly trekked through the trees in silence. Before long, they hit the bottom of the cliff and heard Matt crying. Their eyes widened and they picked their pace up to a sprint again. They burst out of the trees to see Matt curled up beside Anna in the mud. The ranger's face was pale, and her legs still trailed in the water, but both could see her chest rising and falling. Natalie let out a laugh of relief and darted forwards.
Matt jerked up at the sound and shrank back as Natalie skidded to a stop in the mud. For the moment, the mage ignored him. A glow surrounded Anna, and Natalie's face twitched in a frown. She could sense that a bone in Anna's spine had fractured. It was a miracle that she'd been able to get herself and Matt to shore, and not been paralyzed. The mage carefully focused her mana into the fracture and felt the wound heal.
Anna's face twitched and her eyes flickered open to see Natalie's face. Lance's face appeared in her vision next, shadowed with worry. The ranger turned her head to the side to see Matt watching her with wide, tearful eyes. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile. She felt Natalie's healing magic rush through her, alleviating the pain. It finally faded and Lance held a hand out to haul her up.
"And that, lady and gents, was my heroic stunt for the year," Anna sighed as she staggered to her feet.
Lance clapped her shoulder, "Good work, Anna. I don't know how you survived that fall, but you did."
"I used some Gust spells to slow us down," Anna said dismissively. She turned her eyes to Matt and asked, "Are you okay, Matt?"
The boy sniffled and nodded. He shuffled guiltily and mumbled, "I'm sorry…"
Natalie frowned at him, "Don't ever run off again. You were lucky this time, but you need to be more careful."
Matt's eyes filled with tears again, "I'm sorry…"
Lance shook his head and muttered, "Gods, even when he's barely three feet tall, he's getting into stupid situations."
"I-I'm s-sorry," Matt whimpered. He could sense the blow coming, and knew he deserved it. He flinched back and raised his arms to cover his head when Lance stepped forwards. He tensed in preparation of the hit, and was confused when all he felt was a hand land on his head to ruffle his wet and muddy hair. He peered up between his arms to see Lance standing over him.
"It's okay, just don't do it again, alright?" Lance said softly. The gunner was disgusted by the fact that Matt was clearly expecting to be struck. He turned his eyes to Anna and Natalie and said, "Let's get him back to the hut. Will you be okay barefoot, Anna?"
The ranger started and glanced down at her bare feet. She nodded, "Yeah, I run around barefoot all the time. I'll be fine, but we'll need to go grab my bow."
Natalie nodded and held a hand out for Matt to take, "Come on, Matt; let's go get you back to normal."
Matt tucked his tiny hand into hers and asked, "Normal?"
"Yup. You're a little smaller than we're used to right now," Natalie said with a grin.
"I am?" Matt asked in confusion as he trotted alongside the mage.
Anna gave a tired chuckle, "Don't think about it too much."
"Okay," Matt agreed with a shrug. He twisted his head to look up at Anna and said, "Thank you for saving me, Anna."
The ranger waved a hand dismissively, "It's what I do." She smiled when Matt looked confused and explained, "It just means I'm happy to help."
"Oh, I thought maybe your job was to jump in rivers," Matt squeaked with a grin. "My job is to carry things! But I want to be a big, strong knight! Then, I can slay evil dragons like that one earlier without worrying that they'll eat me!"
Natalie chuckled, "Well, I think you're closer to your goal than you realize."
"You think?" Matt excitedly asked, his eyes shining with hope and delight.
Anna suddenly sighed and asked, "Hey, Lance? Lend me a shoulder. I'm exhausted." She let out another sigh, this time of relief when Lance wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders and tucked his own arm around her waist to support her. "Thanks."
"No problem," Lance said as he felt her muscles tremble. He glanced at her with concern, but knew there wasn't much to be done for her other than get her back to rest.
The hike back to the hut took far longer than the race after Matt. And they were lucky that they didn't encounter any more monsters. Before long, the tired and muddy party was stepping back into the traveler's house. Anna slumped down on the bench and let out a long and tired sigh. She glanced up when Lance tapped her shoulder and waved her to the shower first.
"Nah, Matt and Natz can go first," Anna said. She gestured to the small boy and added, "We don't want him getting sick, after all. Just be fast, okay?"
Natalie nodded, "Okay. Come on, Matt." She and Matt set off down the hall.
Lance wandered into the kitchen and came back with a cup of tea, already heated with magic. He handed it to Anna who accepted it gratefully. The ranger gulped the warm liquid down, and then stood up. She glanced at the door, thinking about her abandoned bow, and then shrugged. The weapon wasn't likely to go anywhere, and could be picked up later. She turned around again when Matt came out of the bathroom, clean, and wearing the oversized blue shirt again with a confused look.
"Natalie says you can go in now," the boy announced.
Lance grinned and started walking for the door, but was cut off by Anna who shot him an amused warning look as she slipped inside the bathroom. The gunner chuckled and then turned to Matt, who was staring at the large rifle on the ground with fascination. Lance stepped forwards and scooped the weapon up just as the blond reached for it.
"Don't mess with my gun. It's dangerous," Lance said lightly.
Matt nodded, "Okay." He settled down on the floor with his back against the wall and started humming to himself, twiddling his thumbs.
Lance watched the blond in silence for several minutes. He wondered if turning him back would be challenging, but had complete confidence that Natalie would manage it. His attention was diverted by the girls stepping out of the shower with clean clothes, hair, and skin. Both waved him in, and before long, the whole party was clean and gathered in the small space by the front door, their clothes hanging on various surfaces to dry.
Natalie clapped her hands, "Okay, let's get started. Matt, I need you to sit over on that stool. Lance, bring out the stupid rock and set it between me and Matt. Anna, snag a blanket to put on Matt."
Both males did as she asked as Anna scampered off to get a sheet from one of the bedrooms. The ranger came back and loosely tucked it around Matt, then stepped back to sit on a chair. The mage took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Matt watched with wide-eyed fascination as light swirled around Natalie. He flinched when a bolt of energy jumped to the rock, and then to him. Instantly, he felt a strange vibration in his very bones. There was a flash of light, and when it cleared, the blond was back to normal.
"Sweet," Lance sighed. He then marched forwards, and whacked Matt upside the head, "Gods, maybe this whole fiasco will teach you not to touch obviously magical objects all willy-nilly."
"How was I supposed to know it would make me five again?" Matt grumbled. He stood up, careful to keep the blanket wrapped around him. He ducked down the hall and came out of the rooms wearing a pair of long black pants.
Natalie heaved a sigh of relief, "Thank the gods you're back."
Matt grinned, "And thanks to you all for looking out for me. I'm a little ashamed that I ran from a monster, though."
"To be fair, the monster was a little out of your league at the time," Anna snorted, and let out a yawn. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sleep the day away. See you all later." The ranger slipped off down the hall and shut the door to the girls' room.
Matt looked after her before turning to Lance and Natalie. He blew out a sigh and said, "So who's gonna ask?"
Lance arched a brow. "You could just tell us."
"Fine," Matt said with a shrug. "I was an orphan and a worker in Graystone from age four to twelve. My job was to carry tools and food to the workers, and, when I was older, help dig up coal and scout new potential shafts. When I was twelve and a half, I ran away to become an adventurer. An older worker named Tom helped me get loose, and gave me some pocket cash to get started."
Natalie frowned, "And I was kind of hoping that maybe you hadn't been stuck in the mines as a child."
"Eh, digging was good for building muscle tone," Matt said with a shrug.
Lance scowled, and sarcastically asked, "And the beatings were good for building pain tolerance?"
Matt shrugged again, "It's callous to say, but yeah, they were. I got too quick and strong for them to continue it after a while, though."
"That does it, I'm detonating the mines at Graystone," Lance hissed.
"And sentence households around the continent to a bitterly cold winter? I don't think so," Matt said in a sharp tone. "Besides, I've already, ah… convinced… them to not force children or others to work in the mines. The new management is quite nice, actually, and definitely in no rush to end up as beaten as the last bunch."
Natalie blew out a sigh, "Well that's good at least. How are you feeling? Are there any lingering effects from your return to being a kid?"
"Well, some of my memories from that point in time are overlapped now, but other than that, I feel fine," Matt said with a grin. "You made an awesome caretaker, by the way. All of you did."
"Except for the scaring you to run out on your own and off a cliff part, yeah," Lance muttered.
Matt chuckled and agreed, "Except for that. But to be fair, I should have looked where I was walking." He shot a glance at Natalie and asked, "How's Anna doing? I'm guessing she took the hit from the waterfall."
Natalie waved a hand, "She's fine now. She had a fractured spinal plate, but I fixed it. We're really lucky that she was the one who dove after you and not one of us. She's the best with wind magic and creative uses for her magic in general."
Lance still looked furious, but he said, "Let's take the rest of the day off. I'm pretty tired, too."
The other two nodded. Natalie headed into the room with Anna while Matt and Lance headed for their room. The two men flopped on the large bed, and let out matching sighs. Lance looked over at Matt, once again feeling a relieved rush at his return to normal. Matt stared up at the ceiling with distant eyes, unaware of the stare from his right. The gunner wondered what he was thinking about, or whether something was wrong.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Matt?" Lance finally asked after a few minutes.
Matt started and looked over. His face split in a grin and he nodded, "Yeah, just trying to sort my memories out. It was only a couple of days, but it's… weird to realize that I have two sets of them. It's like watching two completely different movies layered overtop each other."
Lance frowned, "That is weird."
"Yeah, but kind of nice, too," Matt said with a smile. "My childhood obviously sucked, and I normally just don't think about it."
"Like everything else?" Lance couldn't help but say. He smirked when Matt gave a snort.
"Har, har," Matt grumbled. He shook his head and went on, "Five was an incredibly bad time for me. My mother just dumped me at the mines for no clear reason. Most of the miners were nice to me, but the management wasn't. It's… nice to be able to look back, in a way, and have a warm memory there alongside the bad."
Lance scowled, "You're mother ditched you there on purpose? Why the hell would she do that?"
Matt shrugged, "I didn't find out until a lot later, but I'm a bastard child—the result of a night of too much alcohol. She didn't want me, so she got rid of me." He snorted bitterly and added, "She even got a fair amount of gold out of it, too. A real win-win: she got rid of her mistake and received a bunch of gold, and the mines got a new worker."
Lance felt as though he'd been punched. That piece of information explained something about Matt that had always been a puzzle to Lance. The swordsman was so nice to almost everyone, even people who'd tried to kill him. And once a person joined the team, he went out of his way to keep them safe, make sure they knew they were helpful, wanted. It had been a strange, albeit nice, thing, but the reasoning behind it was awful. Lance was willing to bet every weapon he owned that Matt struggled with abandonment issues.
"Well, whatever your bitch mother thought, I'm glad you're here," Lance said suddenly. He met Matt's surprised look and said firmly, "You're not a mistake. We all love having you here, and you're an integral part of the team."
Matt continued to stare at Lance as soft warmth blossomed in his chest, and a smile formed on his face. He nodded and said quietly, "I know that now, but it's good to hear. Thank you."
Lance grunted and rolled so his back faced Matt, clearly uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. He muttered, "Well, at the very least we don't want to lose out meatshield." He smiled as Matt let out a soft laugh, and felt as the swordsman shifted to be more comfortable.
Soon, both were fast asleep.
A/N: If I ever get around to writing it, he'll be back to a kid by the morning, though he'll have the memories of present-day Matt. Maybe. Or maybe a mixture of the both. I'm not sure, yet. All the same, it was fun writing adorable little kid Matt. And having every one else be so protective of him. :3 Though, of course, Lance can't manage that for very long when Matt's normal. It was also fun being a rotten human being to him. 'Cuz I suck. XD
Little Follower (Guest): Thank you! I've had enough of grouchy customers ruing my hours of work in mere minutes to last me a lifetime. Although, I guess that probably won't change much, no matter the job; they'll just be screwing up something other, and more expensive, than clothing piles. XD Things are going well so far, but its early, yet. I'm coming into a four-year college as a junior, which is a little nerve wracking, but the classes don't seem very tough, yet. I'm hoping it'll stay this way for a while, but we'll see. I have, I think, 175 or so documents floating around on my computer? Maybe more. I should be okay for now. You're right that I need to space them, of course.
As for your review on the last chapter: I try very hard to give all of my characters flaws. It is not, in my humble opinion, a very good character if they're flawless. I have varying degrees of success in that from story to story, but do pretty well over all, I think.
Haha, I've been getting quite a few people saying that they didn't realize fight scenes are hard for me. I suppose I'll take those remarks as compliments that I'm doing well. XD Things like a horse being startled by a gunshot add, I feel, a certain level of realism to a fic that makes for a more immersive world. I'm pretty good at that. My real trouble lies in my tendency to gloss over motions and placements in battles. :P Like this story here is an earlier work. Nowadays, I would probably dedicate an entire paragraph at least to that dragon attack: describing the monster, how it moved, sounds it made, and so on. It's not bad like it is now, but it could be better. And truer words have never been spoken for lots of combatants at once. (-_-)
I kind of feel that I rushed Erick's mourning some, but it was better than I usually do. And I plan for it to crop up again, later, so I guess its fine as it is.
As for Matt's emotions: I'm torn about that response. I wanted a sense of detachment, like he'd been broken in some way. But maybe that was the wrong way to write it? Or maybe I should have more explicitly stated that that was what had happened? I'm not quite sure. Maybe it would have been better in that sense in first person. I might try rewriting that one some day as a first person, see how that works for me.
Escort, and other, future stories are in this collection for a few reasons. One: I want to gauge which ones people are most interested in seeing written out, as well as what people seem to like the most in stories. Two: it gives me a reason to kick myself in the rear and finish editing them to some degree (The typos... So. Many. Typos. And I still don't catch them all. Self-editing sucks.). Three is a more selfish reason: I want people to see what I've written, and it helps me feel less bad about not updating anything because I've been writing these other things, which I do feel guilty about. Several of these will be fleshed out into their full plots, at which point I'll probably pull them from here with a chunk as a preview and a note saying where they went, and make them their own stories. I'll definitely be adding more here as I work on more and more, and complete my other fics. Retribution is so close to done, and I'm eager to finish it. It'll be my first major story that I thought the plot up for and wrote out.
Anonymous: Yes, be afraid. Lance is laying little Lance spores everywhere. Like an insane mushroom. Armed with a rifle and a bad attitude. XD
You'll be pleased to hear that I have a separate story in the works about an alternate future where Lance beat and killed Matt and Natalie when they fought, and took over the world, full Fascist style. The Valkyrie will play a major part in that story, as will Lance's other skills. I tend to avoid them because of the logistics of it all throws me off. Factoring in supplies required to make them, getting the supplies up to where they'd be dropped down from, creation of missiles and medicines, energy costs, structural and environmental damage from blasts, shrapnel, blast radius, radiation, time between call and impact... Yeah, it's a mess, and more of one than I like to think I can deal with for most stories. In some of my off-the-net stories, I've used teleportation as a reason, but that opens up a another messy can of worms. My favorite, more recent tentative reasoning is that he summons them, like Matt does swords (another thing I haven't given as much attention as I should). That explanation only occurred very recently to me, though, so it won't show up in any of my current stories (Barring, maybe, later in A Long Road Home. We'll see about that.). And, of course, I love me a separated and alone scenario, which would, indeed, be ruined by a tank bouncer. X'D But those neglected skills will show up a lot in the alternate future fic, don't worry.