Chapter One-  Elixir

A portal seemed to open up from the sky, and he watched as two people fell from it,  and winced as he heard the thump of a body hitting the ground. And ran over. Two people were unconscious on the grass, a girl with dark pink hair, which had been neatly tied into a ponytail, and a boy with gray-ish hair. Shocked, Locke stood there for a moment, unsure of what exactly to do. Blood had started to pool around them both, which made sense; they had literally just fallen from the sky. 

Gaping, unsure of what to do, he lightly shook the girl, and jumped back in surprise when she jerked. And then sprung to life. She looked around for a second,  then looked at the boy, and then looked at Locke. 

“...What just happened? Where am I? Wait- who are you?” she said as she stood up and shook the dirt off of her shirt. 

Locke dramatically cleared his throat, before proudly announcing to the girl, “I’m Locke, the world’s premier treasure hunter, of course! And…who may you be?” 

“Does it matter? Um…he might need medical attention.” she shot back, looking at the boy- who was still lying unconscious on the floor.

“Of course it matters! It’s not every day that I get to meet someone who randomly fell from out of the sky.” He muttered, as he searched through his jacket for something. His face lit up as he exclaimed, “Aha! No need for medical attention, just use this!”  Locke tossed her the elixir, expecting her to catch it. She didn’t. 

“Well, it’s not every day that I wake up in a random forest, and a dude claiming to be a treasure hunter offers to poison me…” she mumbled, looking down at the elixir, confused by the fact that it wasn’t broken…or damaged in any way. “Besides, I don’t really think a Minecraft potion is going to help anything,” she sarcastically added, glancing over at the white haired boy again, a frown crossing her lips. 

“What’s a Minecraft?” 

“How do you not know what Minecraft is…do you live under a rock or something?” she probed. “Oh and by the way..let me ask this again…where exactly are we? I don’t recognize this forest..” she continued. 

“We’re near Kohlingen..”

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen a ‘Kohlingen’ on any map I’ve looked at.”

“Is he…ok?” 

“Of course he’s ok…I think….like I said, he needs medical attention.” she said irritably, clearly frustrated. 

“Have. Him. Drink. The. Damn. Elixir.” he said, picking up the elixir, this time handing it to her. She responded by rolling her eyes. 

“No thanks.” 

“For crying out loud, agh- let’s just call Celes or something…” he screamed in irritation. 

There was silence for a moment, and then Celes appeared in front of them. 

“What now?” she asked, rolling her eyes. 

Right. He already accidentally summoned her like- eight times before this today…oops? 

“She- well…they fell out of the sky, and now she won’t accept my elixir…he’s dying…and what else did I forget…oh yeah, they fell out of the sky!” he stammered. 

“What?” 

“Great. Who’s this now?” the pink haired girl asked, clearly confused. 

Celes spun towards the girl, “Why don’t you tell us who the hell you are first?!” 

“Oh yeah…I’m Cieria….and that’s Lloyd..” 

“...Huh…” is all Celes said as she gazed at both of them, seemingly deep in thought about something, before casting Cure on the boy. 

Realization hit Celes, and then she cursed under her breath, biting her lip, before letting out a very creative line of curses, her forehead crinkled in frustration. 

“Why are you so annoyed?” is all Cieria asked. “Oh, um…sorry about that…I was just thinking..hey, where exactly did you come from?” Celes asked, slightly startled by her question. 

Cieria let out a frustrated sigh. “No, I meant why did you just..curse in frustration?” 

Celes glared at her. “Doesn’t matter does it? Now…let’s get out of here, please.” 

Suddenly Cieria felt a warm sensation, like a thousand feathers were…lightly tickling her skin…and then they were in a completely different place. 

It was raining. 

“Why are we in Zozo?” Locke asked. 

“Because..I thought you would like to see some relatives of yours, Locke,” Celes said, a faint smirk playing on her lips. She watched as Locke’s face slightly reddened, before he spat back, “For the last time, I’m a treasure hunter! I wouldn’t be related to these goons…at least I hope not…” Celes just responded by lightly laughing as they walked into the thief-ridden town. Cieria shuddered as they walked around- she wasn’t sure where Celes was taking them, and she could just feel the glares and stares of the thieves as they walked by them, the thieves hidden in the shadows. She swallowed the uneasy feeling in her stomach. 

Oh to just be home again….

She wasn’t exactly sure how they’d gotten there…or how exactly she planned on getting back…who knew? Maybe she was stuck here. Forever. The thought caused her to shudder as the group abruptly stopped, they were in front of a lowly hotel. 

As they walked inside, Cieria enjoyed the sudden warmth- it wasn’t exactly warm outside in that rain… 

There was an older looking man who sat at the counter, and he narrowed his eyes as he looked at them all. 

“500 gil a night.” He lazily mumbled. 

Celes realized Locke had gone missing. Worried, she started to head towards the door, but stopped when she saw him coming towards the inn, grinning as he held an enormous sack of gil in his hands.  

He set it onto the counter, still smiling as Celes questioned him. 

“Ah, where’d you manage to steal this?” she asked him wearily. For some reason, Celes felt awfully tired. “I borrowed it…I never said I wasn’t going to repay my victim here,” 

Oh well.

“You have enough for 3 weeks…enjoy!” the innkeeper said, happily taking the bag. 

“Hold up…I never said I wanted to stay here for 3 weeks…” Locke mumbled, as he tried to get his newfound bag of gil back. Celes pulled him back. They said nothing as they entered the room…Locke counted 3 beds. 

“Alrighty, someone’s going to have to sleep on the floor, and it’s not going to be me!” Locke announced, flopping onto one of the beds. 

“It’s polite to let the ladies claim the beds first..but..it's fine…” Celes said, slumping against the wall..sleep was sleep.