AN: Blaaaargh. Sorry for taking so long with this. A whole bunch of other ideas kind of attacked me. This chapter is really terrible, but I promise once the adventure begins it will get better!
"Gakupo!" Meg turned violently once she picked up the voice, letting go of me, quickly tumbling down the stairs and crashing into its source – which was, as far as I could tell, someone with very long purple hair. Jeez, did everyone here dye their hair some stupid color? What was next, pink? Meg and the person who she'd run into had somehow gotten themselves into a tangled heap. As time went on, it was a lot harder to believe that Meg really was a Major. I'd hate to be around in wartime, really, if she was protecting my ass. Meg and… Gakupo, was it? had finally gotten themselves untangled, thank god, and Meg was angry about something.
"And just where were you last night, hmm?" She asked loud enough for me to hear from the top of the stairs "I bet you had fun last night, yeah? What are those marks on your neck?" Meg was leaning up, trying to get up in the guy's face. He simply shook his head, shrugged, and said something I couldn't pick up – so, being the nosy little shit that I am, I jumped down the steps and walked up next to Meg. "You're a priest, Gakupo, and you go out to fraternize with whores! What if the General knew, or the people in the village?"
"Meg, please stop jumping the gun," Gakupo groaned, rolling his eyes "I was in the next town over to give a sermon, okay? The bites on my neck are mosquito bites."
"Suuuuuure they are," Meg rolled her eyes back at Gakupo, before folding her arms and turning away.
Gakupo mumbled something under his breath, before sighing and turning to me. His gaze lingered on me for a few seconds, before a crazy grin started spreading across his face. "Are you really the Valiant?" He whispered. What was the bloody point in asking that? I don't know if I'm a 'Valiant' or not, whatever that was. Meg had thought that I was this 'Valiant' thing because I couldn't take the glasses off, which was a stupid reason in my opinion. For lack of a better answer, I simply shrugged at Gakupo, which made him look rather disappointed.
"Take off the glasses." Gakupo ordered after a few minutes of silence.
"Idiot!" Meg spat, turning back to face Gakupo "I said she was the Valiant, didn't I? That means she can't take off the glasses! God, you're so incompetent!" Meg was scowling and pouting like a stubborn child. No way, no way could she be a Major at this point. Majors didn't act like this, did they? Gakupo obviously shared similar sentiments, glaring at her for a few moments before slapping her upside the head.
"You're being a brat, Meg. If this girl really is the Valiant like you claim, you'd act how you should around someone of such a high rank."
"Pfft, whatever, y'old fogey. The Valiant's a kid this time around. Like she cares about rules and formality. Hell, she's got amnesia!"
"Amnesia?" Gakupo looked at me, curious. There's no way either of them could think I had amnesia, could they…?
"I haven't got amnesia," I half-mumbled, twirling a strand of my fringe and shuffling from foot to foot "I'm just not from here."
"So where are you from, then?" Meg asked "You mentioned being on a beach, so you're either from here or Geologica, but how you'd get from Geologica to here is beyond me…" She zoned out and her eyes became unfocused as she seemed to think, though as far as I knew, she could have zoned out and was thinking about puppies. Or shooting something.
"But that's not a real country!" I spat desperately "Geologica, Entropica… they're not real, those countries don't exist where I'm from!"
"So what countries exist where you come from, then?" Gakupo asked, leaning in and forcing me to look up at him
"Uhh," I stuttered, trying my damndest not to draw a blank "America, Australia, England, Japan…" The two just stared at me as I trailed off. After about a minute's silence, Meg slowly began to raise one eyebrow and mouthed something I couldn't make out.
"Well then, those are um, interesting names…" Meg trailed off, still staring at me "Anyway, Gakupo! We should set off if we want to make it to the port in time!"
"We…?" Gakupo asked, leaning back a little and folding his arms
"Well, yeah, why else would I be here? The General wants to see you!"
"You mean you want me to see the General, right? What are you wasting the army's budget on this time?"
"No, no, she really wants to see you! I promise!"
Gakupo rolled his eyes "Fine, then," he sighed, turning to me "So have you ever been on an airship?"
"An… airship? Like a plane?"
"No, like an airship. As in, a ship in the air. Jeez, you haven't got airships where you come from?"
"Obviously not…" I grumbled, slouching over but keeping my stare concentrated on Gakupo.
"Hey you two! Enough dawdling! Come on, come on, at this rate we'll miss the ship!" Meg nagged, waving her hands in front of our faces. Before we could react, she'd already turned around and sped off down a path to my left. Gakupo and I stared for a few seconds, dumbfounded, before breaking off full tilt in a desperate attempt to catch up to the incompetent Major. I swore I could hear Gakupo mumble curses under his breath, but with him being a priest, it probably wasn't a good idea to bring it up. After about three minutes I gave up and collapsed on the side of the path in a way that would have looked comedic if you were anyone but me. Groaning, I did my best to support myself on my forearms to see what had happened to Gakupo. Turns out he'd caught up with Meg, and from what I could tell, was giving her the chewing out of a lifetime. After a few minutes of his nagging and Meg sinking to the ground in defeat, Gakupo motioned (and by motioned I mean flailed around like a dork), for me to get up and follow him. There was no choice in the matter, really. I had to go.
And so, I struggled to my feet, and began half-running towards the priest and the Major. At the time I figured it couldn't be that bad – going to an army base even seemed kind of cool!
Unfortunately, foresight isn't 20/20. Not even with these stupid glasses.
