A Tale of Fire and Water

Discovered and Wet

         Emily shook her head slightly as she regained her awareness. Upon lifting her head, she realized she was laying in a large room. Inside a very large red room. She jumped up. She couldn't see an end to vast expanse of maroon that extended in every direction, except for the plain wooden chair behind her. “What?...”

         She raised her hand to her head, she thought it would burst.  A roar filled her ears, and she clenched her hands over them, trying to silence it. It only grew louder. It filled her. She closed her eyes tight. She could feel the sound in her chest, reverberating through her entire body. And then, just a suddenly as it began, it was silent.

         She opened her eyes, and before her stood a blond man, dressed completely in white. Light reflected off of him, giving him the appearance of a glow. “Did you do it?”, he asked. His eyes, his great blue eyes, pleaded. “Did you bring the Potential?”

         She gaped.

         His forehead creased. He turned away from her, and she was suddenly aware of the rest of the room. There was a group of people, standing in a circle around her. She saw one hooded man that stayed behind the dazzling blond, following him everywhere, never more than a few steps away, even as he paced back and forth. He wore a bright blue cloak that obscured everything other than his tiny size from view. They all were totally silent, waiting for the blond to speak. “She has regressed far quicker than I could have foreseen.”, the shining man said. His companion stiffened. Emily now examined them more closely, and saw that none of them wore anything similar to the person next to them, seemed quite ragged really, but for a bright white armband, emblazoned with a character she could not quite see. “What do you mean, she's regressed? There's no way anyone could have broken from you so quick-”, a rather large man behind the blond stammered.

“I am well aware of this, Sichar.” Emily looked at the blond. His back was turned to her, but for some reason, he had no arm band like the others. Perhaps he-

“Look away!”

         The leader's lapdog was upon her in three huge leaps, she never even saw him twist behind her. Suddenly her face was pressed into the ground, and, steadily but firmly, a hand gripped the pressure points of her neck. She thought she had seen a flash of blue reflecting from his cloak, when he had charged her, but she couldn't be sure.

“Dustin, there is no need to be so blunt.” Blond, slightly frustrated.

“Z, she took out Match, she's too strong, there is no way you intend to let her-”, the voice was smooth, very calm, despite the frantic attitude it conveyed.

“No, she will be back to us soon. Let her see me.”

         The pressure on the back of her neck slowly released, but the hand maintained a grip, ready to place pressure in a moment's notice. She was forced to look up, and she was face to face with “Z”.

“Hello, Emily. My name is Zaria. We've met before, but perhaps we had best get re-acquainted.” He grabbed her hair, and drew her closer. “Now where in hell is your brother?”


         Leon awoke. When had he blacked out? His head was still throbbing. He tried to rapidly climb to his feet, and look in every direction at once. In both regards, he failed spectacularly, as his body refused to move. He did, however, succeed in rolling off of the bed he was lain upon, and falling to the cold metal floor with a dull thud.

“Now, what's this? Our little survivor's awake!” A voice shouted. Leon wondered if he had been drinking during the time he had lost his memory. No, this headache couldn't be a hangover.

         Leon again tried to lift his head to see who had spoken, and failed once more. “Oh, sorry about the whole lack of motion issue, we had to paralyze you. When we pulled you out of the water, your entire body began to spasm. You're pretty damn lucky we had a Healer aboard, otherwise, we'd never have found you, much less saved you. ” The voice then shouted. “Andy! Your little good deed's awake, get your ass in here and give him back his range of motion!”

         Throughout the course of this little speech, he heard the clink of the speakers shoe ring with each step. The voice sounded feminine, though Leon was so out of sorts that he was having trouble even seeing straight. He heard movement from afar, quick, short footsteps, followed by small gasp. He saw a flash of green dance across his vision, and then he realized that he could move.  He stood up, shakily, his legs still trembling with adrenaline.

         He was in some kind of metal room, the layout made him think a boat. That would make sense with what he had heard earlier about being in the water. His perception began to take in the whole room, and he became aware the speakers.

         A young teenage girl, maybe 15 years old at the most, was kneeling where he had fallen, and was looking up at him with concern. She had a white shirt on, button down, with belled sleeves, and dark green pants. The other speaker's face was hidden by a hood, and they had a dirty brown cloak on, with a strange symbol emblazoned on the front. Leon thought it looked like a heart, before he realized his vision was doubled. He stumbled, but caught himself on the bed he had lain in, and set himself down upon it.

“Are you all right?”, the young girl rose. “You were in pretty bad shape when we found you, I want to make sure the healing progressed correctly.”

         Leon's vision was gradually returning to normal, he no longer was seeing double. He thought she was cautiously approaching him, as though he were a confused animal, threatening to bite it's savior. He shook his head, and raised his hand to show he was alright. “I was... hurt?”, he choked, as his thought had become very tight.

         “Yes, I felt you from so far away, I thought it was a group, but when we arrived, there was only you.”

         Leon threw his hand to his mouth and doubled over coughing so heavily that his sides began to cramp. When he pulled his hand away, it was wet, wetter than a normal cough should have made it. Shit, Leon thought, how much water have I inhaled?

         “I was in water right? When you all found me?”

         The cloaked woman laughed, and Leon jumped, as he had nearly forgotten she was there.

         “Wow, he's a detective. Yeah, you were floating out there in the middle of the goddamn ocean, and lucky us, we stumble upon you. What are the chances of that?” Cloak threw of their hood, revealing a 20-something woman with a sharp, pointed face to match her personality. Brown, spiky hair fell down to her brown cloak, and they blended together so well Leon had to look twice to see where her hair ended and the cloak began. She turned on the girl. “Unless... it wasn't a chance, Andy.”

         The girl glared at her senior. “Do you ever see any evidence that a person in need isn't a trap? Just a question.”

         Leon's mind suddenly snapped back into place. His conscious mind had begun to fully absorb what had happened to him, and he realized who this little argument reminded him of.

         “Where is... Emily...”

         They both stopped mid-sentence, and looked blankly at him.

         “Did anyone see her?”

         The cloaked woman was suddenly very interested in Leon, her eyes lost the sarcastic manner that had governed her so completely only a minute ago, but now took on an unreadable expression, that would not have been out of place at a high-stakes poker table. “Andy, get out of here.”

         Andy looked furious. “Quit trying to tell me what to do, I can sense him, he's not one of the Court's minions, Lourne.”

         “Lourne” turned hastily back to Leon, as though trying to make sure he was still hunched over upon the bed. Upon seeing he was, she relaxed a little, but still, a ready look remained in her eyes, she was coiled, ready to strike, like a spring. “How do you know her?”, Lourne asked. “How do you know the Match?

         Leon frowned. “The Match?..”

         “Quit playing clueless! You just said Emily was with you. Did she hurt you, or did she plant you?”

         “She's my sister. Sister. I... followed her. She wanted to show me something, but she vanished, follow-” Leon collapsed in another fit of coughing. Once he stopped heaving, another layer of his mind awoke. His eyes widened. Rapidly, he grasped at his chest, fingers searching desperately for his sister's token. It was gone. He turned to them, “What did you do with it?!”

         “...With what?”, Andy looked confused. She hadn't moved.

         “What did you do with my sister's necklace?”

         “Get out of here, Andy!”, Lourne yelled. “Now! If he attacks, I'll try to hold him, just warn the others.”

         “Lourne... Just give him the-”

         Lourne rounded on her. “Andy, did you fucking hear what he just said?! Don't tell him where her symbol is! He's Emily's brother! He'll take it straight to her!”

         “I know, Lourne, but we just saved his life, he's not going to kill us. I sense his nature, he's not a-”

         Lourne grabbed her by the arm, and forcibly hurled her out of the room, before turning back to a bewildered Leon, slowly backing up, and slamming the door behind the both of them. Leon just sat there.


         “What do you propose we do? Just leave him in that room to die?”, Andy asked, about a half an hour later.

         Lourne had been pacing back and forth in front of Leon's room for the entire time, trying to decide what to do. “Yes! That's exactly what I fucking propose, Andy!”

         They heard two bangs on the metal door. They reverberated through the entire corridor, and Lourne grew completely silent, her wide eyes locked upon the door. “See, he's going to fucking break out! I knew it! We should have just-”

         Leon's muffled voice oozed through the door. “Actually, I was just going to say that I can hear you through this thing. Can I come out now?” The doorknob jiggled. “Wait. You locked it? What the hell?”

         Andy rolled her eyes toward her over-reactive Guardian. “Yeah, Lourne. He's just waiting to jump through that metal door and start throwing fire at us. You don't even know if he's an adept, or even if he really is a fire wizard! You just ran out!”

         Lourne snapped. “Just shut up and go get West, or Dan, or somebody! Tell them we might have a pretty strong elemental on board.”

         “What the hell's a Match?”

         Lourne jumped and spun back to face the door. “Shut up! You know what the hell it is!”

         “I do?”

         “Shut it!”

         The door grew silent, but Lourne still looked like she was about to punch a hole through it at a moment's notice. After a while, she turned quickly to Andy. “Get going!!” Andy wheeled on her foot and yelled back. “Fine, I'll go. Keep an eye on our “adept”, okay?”

         Suddenly, a series of quick footsteps emanated from the other side of the door, and Lourne wheeled quickly to face it. Andy spun around. The door shook, and a loud crack was heard from the other side.

          Bang!

         “...Fucking ow!”

         Pause.

         “Your chair's broken.”

         Andy cocked an eyebrow at her.

         Lourne just buried her face in her right hand. “Just shut up and go get West, dammit!”

         “I got a splinter...”

         Lourne slumped upon the wall, sliding to the floor, and banged her fist against the door. “Shut up!”

         There was another pause.

         Scuffle.

         Grunt.

         The metal frame of the door rang once again.

         “Ow!”
         Andy meandered her way down the hall. Lourne was over-reacting, of course, but that was her nature. She had to, to be a hired bodyguard. It was her job to keep Andy safe, and she recognized that, but there had to be some boundaries. Andy was sensitive to re'alin, Lourne was too, though being a One Level Specialist did not make her very observant. She was all about specializing in one School, which for Lourne was Wellton, which did make her formidable. Unfortunately, it also made her blind. She couldn't see the delicate waves behind someone's mana, only able to tell when they could use Fire techniques. Andy, at least, had learned the basics of each school, if only so that she could see a person's re'alin entirely, and sense a persons intent, pain, and personality. She could see that Leon was confused, agitated, but not harmful. His mana was pure, she could see that. Free from alignment. It was unlike anything she had seen before, it was in constant flux. While it seemed to have an alignment to Asuara in one minute, it would be connected to Cundun the next. It was incredible.
         The engine room was a long hike away, and she saw no need to hurry, neither her body-guard or her patient were going anywhere. She stopped at her room, grabbing some of her herbs, in case Leon needed further treatment, once she was able to see him, that was. She grabbed some sage, and ginkgo, in case he had, as she thought, been burned out. It was rare, usually only occurring if someone was in the presence of too much mana, enough that it wiped their own Re'alin clean of it's experience. Zaria in particular had become fascinated by the phenomena, taking it upon himself to use it as a tool for dealing with his enemies. Andy huffed. One day that man would get what was coming to him, and she hoped she was there to do it. She should be, since that's what everyone in Arden seemed to expect of her. She gave up on picking through her bag for the right herbs and just grabbed the whole thing, and continued to the engine room. She didn't need them to do most of her work now, since she had begun developing her skills at Manipulation, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She had grown used to using them, and still preferred to when she could.
         It wasn't her fault that Gary had left, but her father treated her as though she had thrown him out of the house, which was exactly why she was on this cold, emotionless hunk of metal in the first place. Go to Hote, see what was up there, he father had told her. Well, the answer was absolutely nothing, except for an old friend, West, and his “new” airship. They had dug it out of the ground, and it was apparently an Artifact, powered by it's own mana. How in the world West and Dan knew how it worked, she had no idea, but it was fast travel, and that didn't bother her, or Lourne, at all.
         She turned the corner leading to the engine room, and the mess that lay before her looked like it had just been through a battle. Walls were stripped down, wires were everywhere, she wondered how Dan knew where anything was. When she finally traversed the hall of cable and welding tools, she shouted. “Dan, you'd better get to the spare room quick! You know that guy we found? Yeah, Lourne's about to jump the gun and kill him...”
         A spectacled face shot out from underneath a large mass of metal on the left side of the room. “What? Really?”
         Andy nodded.
         “Well, I can't hope to miss that, can I? Come on!”

         Leon was rubbing his aching shoulder when the door opened, and a bulky man backed into the room still engaged with a discussion outside. His eyes were covered by a pair of black goggles, his blond hair had what looked to be oil streaked through it, and he was holding a something akin to a PDA in his hand. “I tested from outside, he not even a- Fine, I'll talk to him in here, just for you.”

         The man turned around, and Leon got a good view of his face for the first time. He actually had oil black hair, with something blond streaked through it. Leon, however, had given up on trying to rationalize his way through what had occurred since he entered this fucked up country, and really just wanted to get the hell off of this damn boat.


         “Listen West. You are West, right?”, Leon inquired. The man grinned and shook his head.

         “Nah. I'm Dan. You gave Lourne quite a scare, but, I suppose anything will make her jump a foot in the air nowadays. It's her job, so she does it well. She thought you were Match, since you claimed to be related to Emily and all. Can't say I blame her, better to be safe than sorry.” He looked him up and down. “Don't look particularly menacing though.”

         The door opened again, and Andy and Lourne entered, Lourne still eying him like a trapped animal. Andy, while she remained relatively close to the door, nodded a greeting. She had a brown bag with her now, weighed down by it's contents so that it's straps were completely taut.

         “Where am I?” Leon had been wondering all morning, New Zealand was an island, but he had not been close to the coast, at least, he hadn't thought so.

         “Before I answer that, I need to know who you are?”

         “Leon. Leon Davis. I'm supposed to be in New Zealand right now, or last I checked, but where am I right now, Dan?”

         Dan's forehead creased. “Do you know someone by the name of Emily Davidson? Related, maybe?”

         Leon was getting impatient. “Listen, prick, so far, I think I've been handling myself pretty damn well. I just woke up, on a goddamn boat in the middle of the fucking ocean. Where the hell are we, where are we going, and how the hell do I get back to New Zealand? Answer me that, and I'll tell you how I fucking know her!”

         Dan pulled off his goggles in an exhausted manner. “Lourne, how long has he been awake?”

         Lourne stepped forward off of the wall she had been leaning upon. “About an hour. Why?”

         “You didn't even know his fucking name, and he doesn't know he's on a hover ship. Just leave, I'll handle the talking.” Andy grinned. “You too, Andy. Last thing I need right now is for you to try to tell me how to handle things on this ship.”
         Andy had begun to open her mouth to protest, but when she looked upon Dan's face, she  nodded. She stalked out of the room, and the door clanged shut.

         Dan turned back to face Leon. “Okay, they're gone. Now tell me what the hell happened.”

         Leon face contorted in exasperation. “Where the hell am I?”

         Dan's face grew dark, his cheery manner dissipated into a look of frustration. His head bobbed around a bit excessively as he talked, as though explaining a simple concept to a confused child. “You are on soon-to-be my ship. The Harlot. I was told Match would be waiting for pick up, and would take out both of the damn elementists outside. But instead, I find you. Doesn't matter, I guess even Emily's got better things to be doing, I understand that. Just finish your fucking contract, before I get really pissed. I didn't tell them that you're an elemental, so they should be surprised.”

         Leon's face must have grown even more confused, as Dan continued. “Look, I know this job probably got fucked up when they took your Artifact. I get it. That's why I swiped it for you,”, Sid took out Leon's necklace, and threw it in front of him. “Now please take care of them before I have to land in Arden, and we all get fucked.”

         “What the hell are you talking about?”

         “You're related to Match's apprentice! You're a fire elemental. Must be pretty strong too, to be carrying around the Davidson family symbol like that, must've taken out one of the last of 'em, am I right?”

         Leon slowly picked up Emily's necklace, pocketed it, and stood up, his chair screeched loudly, and it echoed through the metal interior of the room. “I have no idea what you're talking about...”

         “Of course,” Dan leaned back in his chair. “From what I've heard, you must be pretty-”

         Leon's chair was thrown back. There was a whoosh of air, and he heard a clang of metal. The door was beginning to dent, shouts eking their way between the edges of the door. I fucking told you! Leon's head rang. What the hell was that?  Shouldn't have trusted-! Leon grabbed his head, it was throbbing with pain, his eyes once more clenched shut.  “Dammit! Do it now!” Dan shouted, as he shot to his feet.

         “Do what?!”

         The door exploded inward, at least, that's what it sounded like. Dan screamed, a short blast that silenced within a moment of it's release. Of course, Leon still couldn't fucking see. He rolled over onto to his knees, his whole body shaking with each throb of his pulsating head. And then, suddenly, the pain stopped. Leon relaxed his eyes. He couldn't open them. Was he dead? No, it was just like before. His whole body refused to respond. He could still hear though. He thought Lourne came running in, along with someone else, too heavy to be Andy's slight frame.

         “That fucking bastard, I knew it!...” Yup, it was Lourne.

         “Is he related to Match?” A man, but high pitched. Must be tiny.
         
         “...Yes, he's related to the fucking Match! You think I would have used Mana if he wasn't!” Lourne again. “At least Andy isn't here to fuck us over this time. She's busy upstairs with the only other idiot on this ship, you!” What the hell, Leon thought. Mana?

         There was a pause. “How the hell did you do that!” It sounded like Lourne had turned to face him. “...He's in my head!”

         Thud.

         The blow to his head went through him, his teeth chattered, and for the second time over the course of a day, Leon lost consciousness without realizing it.


         Leon opened his eyes. He felt the raindrops upon his face before he actually was able to distinguish them from the dark gray background of the stormy sky. He lay there for a long while, wondering when he would wake up. He focused on his breathing, just like his psychiatrist had taught him. He had no idea where he was, and his anger had begun to boil up again. He was floating on his back. With each breath he sunk lower, and rose in the water. He felt detached, strangely detached in fact. As though he were only some omniscient camera, seeing through this frail body's eyes for a moment, out of curiosity as to how the other half lives. Yet, for the first time, in a long time, he was at peace.

         What the hell just happened?

         He sat up, straining to position himself adequately for treading water. The water, it turned out, wasn't very deep, and Leon's feet hit the soft mud of the riverbank unexpectedly. “See, I told you, cold water can wake anyone up.”

         Leon stood up, and for the first time was able to look down at the spiky haired bitch that was determined to kill him. “What the fuck is wrong with all of you!?” He turned, and included a tall, brawny man with goggles like Dan's, but the blond was streaked through light brown hair instead. He had a cast iron  jaw, but it began to tweak into a grin the instant Leon opened his mouth. Then, he started laughing hard. And obnoxiously. Lourne, standing about two feet from the mechanic yelled, “West, shut up before I hit you too.” The threat didn't work.

         “Don't act like you didn't deserve it.” He gasped between bellows. “The kid had just woken up, and you hit him over the head with a fucking pipe! You could have just used your element shit to knock him out, but no, you went for overkill” Lourne suddenly looked out for blood, and her face grew cold and hard once again.

         Leon looked the brawny man over again. “Well, at least someone here isn't completely nuts. I'm Leon.”

         He nodded his head. “West. Don't worry, I don't normally seem this rational. I'm just not as bitchy as Lourne is right now. I'm the Mechanic.”

         “Nice, and who's the chick who keeps hitting me?” Leon asked, walking out of the riverbed, his jeans now weighed down by the intake of water. Lourne sneered, sharing her glare with West.

         “That lovable young lady is our “great” Guardian, Lourne. She guards Andy, our healer, from the Court's people. She was trained to be in a permanently pissed off state of mind, so don't bother her. Really, I'm going to be your best friend, during your stay with us.”

         “Shut up West, I told you, I'm going to do the talking!”

         Leon was silent. West nodded, and began walking away. Leon began to look around on the ground. Fairly simple riverbank, a little less grass than usual. Leon shook the water out of his hair, and started to pat it down.

         Lourne, who had yet to speak to him since he had woken up, stepped closer to him. “Well, West doesn't understand that I did what I had to, but it seems you didn't deserve it, and so... well, I'm sorry for hitting you with that bit of metal. Surely you can understand.”

         Leon raised his eyebrows, tightened his lips, and shook his head. “No, I really, really don't.”

         Snort.

          “Damn it, West! Shut up and go fix something!”

         “I'm going, I'm going...”

         Leon began to walk away, but Lourne, upon realizing his movement, hurried and started walking beside him. “Listen, it wasn't my fault. You are an elemental, I just didn't know if you were an agent or not.”

         Leon looked at her. “You know, someone needs to explain to me exactly what the hell you're talking about.”

         “You don't remember?”

         “What? I don't remember what?”

         Lourne looked concerned, the expression out of place upon her overly harsh face. “Do you remember anything before I hit you?”

         “Yes! I just said that! How I wound up on your ship, I don't know! How the hell I could be knocked out twice over the course of a day, I don't know! All I want to know is where the fuck I am?!”

         “You're on your way to Arden.”

         Leon exploded. “Oh, great, that's real fucking specific, I don't  know where the hell that is! I've never heard of Arden before in my life! Last I know, I was on my way to New Zealand to visit my fucking sister, and I'm waking up in your fucking ship, so please elaborate, where, in relation to New Zealand, is your fucking Arden?!”

         Lourne grew serious, not the harsh, down-to-business serious that seemed to govern her personality, but the serious look of someone deciding how best to explain to a friend that they have cancer. “Leon...” He cut her off when he looked in front of him, and asked.

         “Where... What's that?”

         He had stopped walking. Before him lay a mass of iron and steel the likes of which, he had never seen in his life. It extended about 40 feet in either direction, with various dents and nicks running along it's length. West was at one end, with what looked like a blowtorch, goggles over his face, the light reflecting of the blond streaks that criss-crossed through his mane of curly, light brown hair. Leon turned and walked toward him, though West did not notice because he was busy with his work. Lourne trotted beside him. “Look, you obviously were in contact with the Match. She burned your mind! That means that you were her enemy, which means you'll be right at home in Arden, it's the home of the Grantwood.”

         Leon looked quizzically upon her shadowed face, she had put up her hood. “The Grantwood?”

         “Here, I'll explain on the ship. West! Finish your shit, we need to get moving again!”

         West stopped, straightened up, and flipped his goggles off of his eyes. “You want to fix this shit heap, go ahead. She ain't going anywhere for about fifteen minutes!” He had to shout to reach them, as they were still relatively far away, the needed volume giving his voice a rough edge that made him sound like a roaring bear.

         Lourne threw her hood off again, more for emphasis than that she wanted to. “Well, we're leaving in ten!”

         “Fucking... Fine! It falls apart, ain't my fault!” He flipped his goggles back down and resumed his blow-torching with gusto.

         Lourne turned back to Leon, who had taken on a sudden calm. “What's up with you, now?”

         Leon shrugged. “I guess I've just decided to accept what I can't explain until we get in the air, in which time I want you to explain everything to me.”

         Someone spoke from behind them. “I told you his mind had been fried, but no, you wouldn't listen to me.”

         “Andy, shut up. For once in your life, you were right, congratulations. Now get back in the ship before Sid accidentally breaks it in half. That way, at least you'll be in it when it falls apart.”

         Andy stepped in front of them, she seemed happy this time around, it was the first time Leon had seen her in such a mood, and he was surprised by the drastic difference it gave to her demeanor. “Well, you'll probably just yell at him for half an hour, I'd better be there when you tell him the news.”

         Leon perked up again. “What news?”