Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of The New Universal.
I don't own the Companion Quartet.
Enjoy!
After flying for three days, Connie knew that she was at her limit.
Sure, she'd stopped a few times to rest and eat, but she hadn't tried to stay in the same form for this long before. Well, a form that wasn't her original one, that is. But still. So, Connie decided to stop somewhere and change back to normal-even if just for a little while. It was getting too hard to stay in her dragon form.
Connie landed in a small corn field and shifted into her human form, taking a deep breath as she sat down, groaning.
"I'm never doing that again," Connie whispered. "But...now what?" She looked around her. "I'm not even sure where I am...but it's definitely far from home. I guess that's all that matters, right?" She shook her head, then stood up, shaking. "I guess that I should find somewhere to stay for the night, then I'll keep going in the morning."
"Hey, who are you?"
Jumping, Connie spun around to see a girl her age, getting off a bike.
"What?" Connie asked as the girl carefully walked over.
"Why are you standing in the cornfield?" the girl asked. "And you don't look like you're dressed for this weather-it would be snowing right now."
"I, um…" Connie started, searching for some kind of excuse. What could she say to this girl?
"Nevermind," the girl said. "But why are you alone? Are you visiting a relative here or something?"
"What?" Connie asked, blinking.
"I guess not," the girl said. "Did they abandon you out here?"
"Um…" Connie said, looking around her and reaching out to try to find some kind of mythical creature nearby, only to realize that there was none anywhere around them.
"If you don't have anywhere to stay, how about you come with me for a little bit?" the girl suggested, grabbing Connie's hand. "I won't hurt you or anything, but if you stay out here, you're going to freeze."
Connie blinked in surprise as the girl guided Connie back over to her bike, and then kicked up the bike stand, then brought the bike along as the two continued to walk along.
Well, I needed somewhere to stay, Connie thought. Maybe it's for the best if I let this girl help me.
"So, what's your name?" the girl asked, looking at Connie.
"My name is…" Connie started, then began to scan her mind. I don't want to tell her my real name, just in case someone starts to look for me. So how about...um...I don't know what to tell this girl!
"Your name is…" the girl prompted.
"I-I don't have a name," Connie lied lamely.
"Uhuh," the girl said, raising an eyebrow. "Alone this far away from any town, in the farmer's cornfield, no winter gear, no name. Got it. Ooh, I get it!"
"Huh?" Connie asked.
"You lost all your memories, didn't you?" the girl asked, sounding strangely excited.
"Well…" Connie said slowly, then decided to just go along with it. "Yeah. I-I don't remember anything."
"Woah!" the girl said. "Which means that your real family must be looking for you!"
"I-I guess so," Connie said. "But why would they leave me, then?"
The girl thought for a few seconds, then snapped her fingers. "Maybe they didn't like you, and you're actually from an alternate world, and they sent you here with a mission, but in doing so, you ended up really far off course, and you found yourself here without any memories!"
What? Connie thought, blinking at the girl.
The girl laughed. "That's probably not it, but it sounds like a good book idea, huh?"
"Book idea?" Connie asked.
The girl nodded excitedly. "I'm going to be an author as soon as I can get the courage to send one of my stories to a publishing company, or an editor. But I want to be an author, so here's to hoping! But since you don't have a name...how about I call you...hmm...ooh, I know!" She smiled at Connie. "I'm going to call you Luna until you know your real name!"
"Luna?" Connie asked, then decided that she liked the sound of that. "Y-Yeah. I guess that works."
"Awesome!" the girl said happily. "Well, in that case, nice to meet you, Luna! I'm Abby."
"Abby," Connie said.
"Yeah," Abby said happily. "So, let's get going!" The two of them kept walking.
At Abby's house…
Abby set her bike in the yard, then guided Connie into her house.
"Mom, I found someone that doesn't remember anything," Abby said as she took off her shoes, herding Connie into the door and closing it. Connie, hesitating, took off her shoes as well.
A woman walked into the room-which Connie realized was a kitchen-then blinked in surprise as Connie.
"Who're you?" the woman asked.
"This is Luna, but she said that she doesn't remember anything," Abby said. "I found her standing in the cornfield."
"In November?" the woman asked, clearly surprised. She blinked at Connie. "Well, I guess that we can ask the neighbors if they know you, but first, you look cold." She turned to Abby. "Can you grab her a sweatshirt?"
"Of course," Abby said, then walked to the stairs and went downstairs as the woman herded Connie over to the table, making Connie sit in one of the chairs.
"Your clothes look dirty," the woman said. "Oh, I'm Jenny, by the way."
"L-Luna, I guess," Connie said just as Abby walked back upstairs, and she handed a sweatshirt to Connie. Connie put the sweatshirt on.
"So, I guess that we'll have to bring you up the road and ask if anyone knows you," Jenny said, then looked at Abby. "Can you do that?"
"Sure," Abby said, then turned to Connie. "Let's get going?"
But I just sat down, Connie thought, but stood up anyway and put her shoes back on. Abby did the same, then the two went back outside.
Thirty minutes later…
Connie and Abby walked back into Abby's house, where Jenny, as well as two boys, a girl, and a man, were in the kitchen. They all turned and looked at Abby and Connie.
"Nobody knows who she is," Abby said. "We even went and asked the farmer, but he had no clue."
"Well, I guess you can stay here for a little while," Jenny said slowly. "At least, until we figure out where you're actually from."
"Thanks," Connie said.
"But, first things first, you're going to take a shower, and get into some different clothes," Jenny said, looking Connie up and down. "Abby, I think that some of your clothes should fit her. Can you go get something that she can wear at least for a little while?"
"Sure," Abby said, then went downstairs, coming back up a minute later with a bundle of clothes, which she handed to Connie. "Here you go."
"Thanks," Connie said, then walked into the bathroom, which was right by the stairs. Jenny walked in as well, then showed Connie how the shower worked, and which shampoo and conditioner to use, before handing her a towel. With that, Connie watched as Jenny walked out, closing the door behind her. Then, Connie took a shower before changing into the clothes, then brushed through her hair, then looked into the mirror.
Her brown and green eyes stared back.
Connie took a deep breath. Alright. I can do this. I'll just stay with them for a little while, then I'll find somewhere to hide...maybe with them? But if they hear about me as Connie Lionheart...I'll have to leave. So from now on, I'm Luna. I don't have a past, only an uncertain future. With that mindset, Connie walked out of the bathroom.
Meanwhile…
Evelyn was crying. "W-Where can she be?! It's been a few days already!"
Mack patted her on the back. "She'll show up soon. I promise."
Evelyn only cried out in response.
Col and Rat exchanged a look, both of them feeling bad about Connie's disappearance. They knew that part of it was because of them avoiding her at school. Jane and Aneena kept asking about Connie, and the only lie they could come up with was that Connie was sick-and, from the looks of it, it was going to have to become something like going back to living with her parents out of the blue.
"The Trustees have already been informed, and they're looking for Connie as we speak," Dr. Brock assured the distraught Evelyn. "She'll be back before too long, I promise. From what I can tell, the Trustees are asking everyone in the Society to keep an eye out for any silver creature that isn't familiar."
"How are they so calm about this?!" Evelyn cried. "Connie's the only universal, and they're just asking everyone to keep an eye out?!"
"Evidently, they already knew about everything," Dr. Brock said. "They already knew that Connie could shape-shift, but they refuse to say anything else about it."
"Of course they won't say anything," Evelyn said angrily. "She's my niece! I want to know what's going on!"
"She'll be found-there's nowhere in the whole world that she could go where we wouldn't be able to find her," Mack said. "I promise."
"What are we supposed to tell her parents in the meantime?" Evelyn demanded.
"That she was accepted into a boarding school program through the society, I guess," Dr. Brock shrugged. "They don't know much about the Society as a whole, so for all they know, it's the truth. We'll just have to tell them that she's too busy to come see them." He sighed. "At least that'll buy us some time while we look for where she really is."
Col looked out the window.
Connie...where are you?
And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?
I should be updating before too long, but I'm also going to keep working on my other fanfiction-I just like to get a few chapters up when I write a new fanfiction, so there's a little more plot to go on. But now that I have three, I'm alternating between this and my other fanfiction, which is called My Sister is. If you enjoy Fairy Tail and Seven Deadly Sins, read my fanfiction Dark vs Light: A Fairy Tail Fanfiction, then read My Sister is. But that's off-topic.
Until next time!
Lunetheart out.