And There Was Their Journey

Everything was different before the incident: where he lived, the people he encountered, and his life. Images of people dressed in robes came to his mind. The faces of the figures were obscured, except for a few, whom he had seen more than a few times to be able to memorize their appearances.

He raised his hand and the figures that were walking about disappeared before him. His hand kept reaching into the darkness until it came in contact with a giant stone door, which lit up to reveal itself to the boy.

Slender fingers traced the many curves carved onto its surface.

"This is where it all began."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Luc."

Receiving no response, he called again.

"Hey Luc, wake up. It’s time to go!"

Emerald eyes opened to pull him away from the darkness of his mind. Luc wanted badly to squint at the intense light of the background, but instead he focused on the shadowed face in front of him. The shade under the tree obscured the other boy, but not enough so that Luc wasn’t able to recognize.

"Futch."

Futch stood up from his crouch before Luc. He looked down with disapproval in his eyes.

"Geez Luc, if you’re going to get sleepy, you shouldn’t have kept watch. I told you last night to continue sleeping in the tent. Sasuke and I can handle it alone."

Pausing for a while, Futch decided to add something to mock the magician.

"Besides, what can you do with that flimsy rod when a monster attacks. It’s always up to us with the sharper weapons."

The brunette finished with a grin on his face, but Luc chose to ignore the comment.

"Where’s Sasuke?" he calmly asked while pushing himself up.

"Down by the river."

Futch watched Luc dust himself and bend down to get his staff. Standing up again, Luc brushed away some stray hair that had dropped down to his face. He looked at Futch’s free hands by his sides and then looked up at Futch’s face.

"Where’s Bright?"

"With Sasuke…what?"

The spear holder noticed the weird look Luc was giving him. After pondering for a while, he too, realized the problem of the situation.

"That wasn’t such a good idea, wasn’t it?"

Luc’s continued staring mad him worry even more.

"C’mon let’s go."

Futch quickly ran down the grassy hills as Luc followed more slowly. Taking his time through the patches of trees, Luc thought back to when he, Futch, and Sasuke started working together.

~~~~~flashback

Lord Riou had just returned from another one of his daily explorations. There were no important tasks for the moment and Leknaat had called for the three of them to meet up in an empty corridor of the castle.

"This is Luc." Leknaat motioned for Luc to step forward.

"Oh, we know who he is," Futch replied.

"Yeah, he’s the one who guards the stone tablet." Sasuke pointed towards the direction of the main hall.

Leknaat gave a small smile. "Good, you know each other already." She paused for a moment. The three boys stood patiently.

"I have an important task for the three of you."

"The war, in which the three of you are engaged in, will end. And at a certain time after the war, you three are destined to have a long journey together. It is vital for you to be able to work together in this journey; therefore, it is best for the three of you to learn to work together now."

Futch was a little surprised. He was learning about something from his future after all. He looked at the other two he was standing next to. Seeing Luc hanging on to every word, he realized that it was the apprentice’s first time hearing it too. Futch turned to look at Sasuke just as the ninja was about to speak.

"But how will we know when to start the journey and how do we know where to find each other?"

"I will send Luc to you two…when the time is ready."

Leknaat studied them for a moment. When she is sure they have no more questions, or at least they have no intentions of asking any questions, she disappeared.

Flashback~~~~~~~

Ever since that meeting, the three tried as much as possible to work together. They practiced together and eventually had their own unite attack. Even though it was hard working together with their differences, they still did it for destiny’s sake. Now destiny had come for them and they were already well settled into their journey.

Luc ran through the last patch of trees. He came to a great open plain with a single river running through. Immeadiately, he spotted the two he was looking for.

Already, the two companions were arguing with each other. Luc walked up to listen better for the problem, although he already knew it would either concern Futch’s giving Bright to Sasuke to watch over or, as usual, about breakfast.

"What were you thinking?!"

Futch protectively held his baby dragon away from the ninja.

"I was only going to put him in the shallow part of the water," Sasuke yelled more than stated.

"Don’t you know that baby dragons can’t swim?"

Luc was now standing in front of the bickering pair.

"I said I was gonna go in with him…and for god’s sake, Bright is no baby anymore. How long have you had him? Years?"

Futch only held Bright more tightly. Then he replied, offended, "Only one year!"

Sasuke sighed. He decided to forget about it.

"Fine."

The three became very quiet for a while. Then Sasuke looked up and noticed Luc staring at them.

"Oh…ah, I got the boat ready so let’s go."

Luc nodded and the three silently boarded.

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