Notes: written by two authors.
Chapter 1
It's quiet just out of town, the early hours slowly passing here with no one to see it… Then there is.
Two women appear, with no trace of how they got there or where the other is from.
Both are startled as they look about themselves, questioning were they are and how they got there. Then the women spot each other, as they stand hardly a meter apart, but as one opens their mouth (to ask one of many questions) a light illuminates them.
Two heads swivel to the source only for their eyes to widen in horror as two round headlights come zooming towards them.
With a yelp they dive off the road. There is a clatter as the car passes were they once stood, a few objects being thrown off to the side where they had landed in a heap.
The car careens off down the road, not a care for the girls and their near death.
Clambering off the hard pavement and each other, they both turn to look the other over. All the while avoiding direct eye contact, they gather themselves as light slowly grows brighter as the dim light of the sun starts to rise.
One stands, brushing her t-shirt off before holding her arms awkwardly across her chest. The other hugs her knees not rising from the damp ground where they had fallen.
"Who are you?" the former woman asks, her hands trying to shield her arms from the cool night air as her blue eyes give the other girl a quick once over.
This girl doesn't look like much, sitting on the damp grass by the pavement. The faint early morning light reveals her brown hair, brown eyes, and her glasses smudged with dirt from their tumble. Not intimidating, not strong, not like a champion.
Glancing up at the fairer haired woman she does answer, hesitantly, gripping her legs tighter as she finds her words. The close call with the car seems to have shaken her, "Anita… Who are you?" she peeks over the glasses.
"Hannah…" is the cautious reply. Neither of the two seem very trusting, having appeared in a strange place and almost dying in the last 10 minutes.
What a grand way to start their mission to "Save Arcadia" as Arthur had put it….
Silence blossoms between them, both avoiding each other's gaze. Arthur's supposed champions do not appear to be the brave sort he'd hoped for. They are worried and scared.. and don't know what to do or say.
Hannah's eyes trail over the area, over the now barren road, the tidy sparse trees next to them, and in the distance… buildings. Her mind is whirling as she comes to terms with what has happened. 'Where am I?' she thinks to herself as she looks into the unknown depths of the slow sunrise's shadows.
Anita is thinking much the same, but her head stays down, away from the stranger standing with her. She feels alone and scared, doesn't know where she is, or what's happening. She almost got... very hurt, and she doesn't know what to do. Listening to the breeze brushing past her, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees, something catches her eye.
Sitting on the soft earth, almost touching her foot is a gem… a large yellow, fist sized, gem. A very familiar one too.
Tentatively leaning forward her fingers brush the softly glowing rock, her movement catching her impromptu companion's eye as well. They both watch as she lifts the object, heavier than the innocent soft glow would suggest. It is a horngazel. Neither move for a moment before Anita finally looks up, bringing the stone to her chest like a safety line, "Where are we?" she asks, voice soft and sounding slightly desperate.
Hannah steps closer to the seated woman, wanting a closer look at the bizarre item. They hear a clink at her feet as she kicks something. Something metallic. They both look down, seeing a horseshoe. A slightly dented, slightly muddy horseshoe. "A…gaggletack…." Hannah states as she picks it up, frustrated she labeled a common item as something she'd seen in a cartoon. The night goes silent again as the objects' implications go through the girls' minds.
"Is this a dream?" she continues, looking over at Anita, who is wishing that it were true.
Looking at her own "impossible" item Anita can only softly shake her head in reply, stuttering out a shocked, "It… it feels too real…. What.. what do you think?" she asks unsure of herself.
"Y-you didn't happen to see a... a glowing man... Did you?" Hannah asks, coming to sit beside Anita. They both need the comfort, even from a stranger, and damp pants are not going to stop them from being together as they contemplate their fates.
Glancing over Anita looks surprised, "You mean the man in the crown? And the cape.. and armor… He.. said something about being chosen, didn't he?"
Nodding Hannah leans on her hand against her knee, thinking a moment as Anita fiddles with her gemstone.
"Chosen to save Arcadia…." Hannah muses.
Offhandedly Anita comments, "Like Trollhunters…" as she continues to look over the gem, only to pause as they both think over her words. She continues cautiously, "…That can't be right.. Right? That's… a cartoon?"
