Young Writers Society

????:

He skid to a halt. The person in the clearing was some boy, not the one human he cared about. His feet felt like they were made of lead as he stared dismally at the boy. The boy was younger than her. He looked like a vampire from one of those fairy tales she had told him about when their only company was each other. His medium length hair was a brownish black color, and his skin deathly pale.

He took a step back. In the process, he stumbled into a tree. Wait a second. Why am I so scared?! It wasn't like the vampire could suck his blood! He didn't have any, and he wasn't exactly able to be killed and brought back to life the way a human would!

But still, the boy terrified him.

Aeron Gagnon

Pulling out his magic pen. The only thing he can do is try to communicate. He doesn't want to fight. He writes the words in the air that says "Hello there?" He trembles nervously.

????:

He stared at the strange object as words form in tbe air. Was it a weapon? He doubted it. Vampires were supposed to bite your neck, not stab you to death with strange metal objects.

The words suddenly finished forming.

"Hello there," he read. And then his gaze turned to the vampire.

The boy was trembling and staring up at him with wide green eyes that reminded him too much of Zogin. Memories of their first meeting surfaced as he stared back at the vampire before him. "No fair," he told him. "You're the vampire. Not me. I'm supposed to be the one cowering in fear!"

Aeron Gagnon:

Aeron tilts his head to the right side, looking confused. He thinks Aeron is a vampire. He puts his head back up, begins to write in the air that says, "I'm not a vampire." By proving it, using his fingers to pull the inside of his cheeks, showing that he has no fangs. He let's go, and writes again saying, "I am a witch, I don't want to hurt nor scare anyone."

New Jackie




A girl walks out of the woods, wearing a large motorcycle helmet with a Jack of hearts decal, she stepped into a clearing, her wet black jumpsuit shone in the dim moonlight, she was quite tall, and had a belt containing all sorts of weapons, from grenades to guns, to small bombs! She heard voices, she quickly followed them, and climbed a tree with her sticky gloves, she sneezed.

Damn it!

Nendros:

He was distracted from their search by the sound of something rushing in the bushes. He was convinced it was just an animal, but the sneeze that came from the tree he was standing next to made him think otherwise. "Hey you guys," he said. His statement had the desired effect. The group turned around and faced him. "how long do you think it will take for us to find Zogin's partner?"

"Probably awhile..." Schadel trailed off, most likely confused on why Nendros was asking that question. But then he, along with everyone else, noticed how Nendros was gesturing at the tree with his tail.

"There's someone up there," he mouthed, hoping at least some of them could read lips.

Apparently Zogin could. "Knowing the idiot, he's probably got lost. I'd estimate about a day, tops." She withdrew her gun. "Should I have my gun ready in case we encounter some unfriendly animal?"

Nendros knew what she was implying. She wanted to know if she should use her gun on the person or not. He shook his head, and then climbed up the tree. It wasn't hard - his claws were great for gripping onto the bark.

A girl wearing a strange helmet and tight black outfit was perched on one of the larger branches. She hadn't noticed him yet, as she was too busy watching the people standing underneath the tree (Shiruba, Enide, and the sailor). Carefully, he climbed around to the other side of the tree. If she glanced in the direction of his voice to find the speaker, she wouldn't see him. He didn't want to scare her.

"Hello," he said, clinging to the bark. This has to be one of the strangest things I've ever done... "My name is Nendros. I'm part of the group you were staring at." Now all he could do was hope that a mysterious, deep voice didn't scare her.

????:

"You don't want to hurt anyone?" he questioned slowly. The boy nodded and gestured at the message he just wrote. That realization was an enormous relief. Though the boy could be trying to trick him, the lack of fangs proved he wasn't a vampire. But aren't witches usually bad? Didn't they cut you up and throw you into a cauldron? Didn't they turn you into a frog? He didn't want to be a frog. Though he was jealous of creatures in general, he definitely didn't want to become an amphibian that desperate girls would kiss in the hopes he was a prince who had been cursed. They would expect to marry him. And when they kissed him, and if that turned him back to normal, they would scream and run away at the sight of him.

(Zogin had kissed a frog when she was younger. She didn't do it to marry the prince, of course. She had done it in the hopes the prince would reward her with lots of gold. It had failed.)

But he doesn't want to harm anyone. Maybe the witch wasn't that bad. And if he got turned into a frog, he could always try finding Zogin. Then she might kiss him to turn him back to normal...If he was human, he knew his face would be bright red at the thought of their lips touching, theirs arms wrapped around each other in a tight, loving embrace-

Snap out of it, idiot. She will never love you. You aren't human like her. In her eyes, you're just her friend.

"I'm Soul," he finally said, smiling underneath his helmet at the witch. "My full name is Soul Error Arwitch. I'm looking for my partner, Zogin. What's your name?...And do you want to look for her with me?"

New Jackie

I heard a voice, I froze,

"I-If you're going to hurt me, I suggest now, I'm going down, it's quite uncomfortable up here."

I wait a few seconds. then climb down, I look around,

"You guys don't look like enemies. Huh."

Sailor of the Sands

As expected, they had been walking for quite some time. Given the range of his pipes, and the fact that they didn't get a response, he was fairly sure that Zogin's partner had wandered a far ways off. On the bright side, from her description, they'd be fairly easy to spot. He wasn't used to anyone wearing a big suit of armor. Where he'd come from, it was a terrible idea, more so because the wearer would find the conditions intolerable all too quickly, not to mention it made his travels even more clunky and slow. Thus, that would make seeing a suit of armor all the more easy. So he wasn't particularly concerned about finding them.

What he was concerned about was what that person had gotten himself into. These woods had proved, time and time again, to be full of those willing to listen to reason. And yet there were a multitude of said people, and the sailor was afraid that they would eventually meet someone who wasn't so friendly. He didn't suspect that the man in the suit of armor would be of significant threat; he had weapons of his own, and it was hard to move in a suit of armor unless you were fairly strong. Besides, Zogin hadn't mentioned or even implied that they may resort to fighting if surprised, which was relieving. Regardless, he patted the daggers on the pockets he'd carved into his shirt a long time ago. Sheathed, of course; he'd rather not cut himself. Though they did give him a sense of security, which he liked.

The monotonous rustling of pushed-aside tree limbs was the only noise that echoed over the space. All conversation had been ditched in the effort of trying to find their missing person. Except, more and more, the sailor found it hard to focus. With every side glance to his right, there was Shiruba, and he was looking awfully impatient. It was easy to tell, since he was horrible at hiding even the smallest of his emotions. He'd obviously never been in an environment were that was a necessity. The sailor frowned. They'd already had to go through one argument just to convince him to stay. He seriously didn't want another one because Shiruba was hoping to complete this task soon as possible and fly off to where he'd come from. If they ever would again. The sailor shuddered, but shoved aside that thought. It was best that he focus himself on his goals, and looking for an escape route likely wouldn't be an option for a while.

But he couldn't help but ask. After a minute, he casually tapped on Shiruba's shoulder. True to the man's personality, he at once resorted to glaring at the sailor and tried to pull out his katana. Enide's placing a hand on his shoulder made him sigh and desist, but not before shouting in a whisper at the sailor, "I have something much better to do than listen to your prattle. What is it?"

"Just reminding you," replied the sailor warily, with a half-glaring, half-concerned expression. "That the only way you're getting out of here alive is you stay calm and deal with each problem that comes your way without freaking out and stabbing people. You have me, and you have her; you have protection, and the person you want. I thought that was all you wanted here?"

"I've gone on long enough without having to worry about relaxing or staying patient," spat Shiruba. The trio moved towards an out-of-the-way tree to carry on their argument as the people behind them began to pass. They kept their conversation quiet, so as to not disturb anyone else. "I'm suspicious. I don't know anyone here, and I don't trust them either. I can't trust them. I've built my life not trusting people; it was my only option. I just want this over with as soon as possible, so I can go home with Enide and pretend this all never happened, and that it was an elaborate dream I hallucinated because of some crisis or another."

"Hah," scoffed the sailor, "And I thought the two of you were the bickering married couple." In spite of Shiruba's now clenched fists and infuriated expression, he carried on. "Not trusting people is fine, and a good dose of that can be healthy. But that's when you know everyone else would stab you in the back if they wanted to. Face it: every single person here could've done that more than once. You have the rare ability to scream your head off, wave your pretty sword in the air, and make clear that you haven't a clue what's happening, but you're angry about it, while ignoring every possible danger sign around you, all so you can prove a point. Is it just me, or is it that the greatest danger to yourself is yourself?"

Shiruba would've gone to strange the sailor if the three of them didn't jumpat the sound of a female voice above their heads.

Jumping backwards, they cleared the way for a girl with a strange helmet and black jumpsuit to crawl from the tree they'd been under moments ago. A rather tall person, with a strange belt containing items that none of them could identify. In other words, completely and absolutely mysterious.

"You guys don't look like enemies. Huh." she spoke, after scanning the landscape and everyone in it.

The sailor smashed Shiruba's foot before he could respond in his typical fashion. "So's long as you don't find us enemies, we aren't," he called cheerfully, waving in what he hoped was a relaxed, peaceful fashion. Shiruba grasped his foot and devoted all his energy to keep from howling. A flicker of a smile passed Enide's face upon seeing this; she seemed to be rather pleased that he wouldn't start yet another introduction with the makings of a fight. And also that she didn't have to stop him herself. But she did pat him on the back consolingly and stood beside him so he could lean on her shoulder for support. Which was touching.

"So, who have we met this time?" finished the sailor, still smiling. Never was a dull moment around here.

Flaerwin

If this was normal, maybe I should have at least tried to stay put. But- I couldn't really help myself now could I? At least these people didn't seem to be immediate threats... But I still wasn't sure about them... Still, better to have powerful allies than powerful enemies. I'd known one magic user, and that didn't end well on my end. Now I was surrounded by at least three. If that wasn't reason to not make enemies here I didn't know what was.

A lady in a black suit came down out of a tree, I thought she might be an ally of theirs so I said nothing. I glanced back at her, she was carrying numerous and varying weapons- Probably enough to take out a building if my judgement was correct. But then again, my judgement wasn't always the best thing to trust.

I followed the magic-girl-child through the woods. I glanced around almost every step, hoping beyond hope that I wasn't being tracked. I glanced just a little bit out of the corner of my eye, and in the distance I saw a sniper.

"Look Out!" I shrieked as a bullet grazed my cheek.

...Too much to hope for I guess.

Healing was a weird feeling, as skin crept back over my cheek, faster than humans healed by a long shot. I considered running, but there was one factor that easily put that thought out of the question- The sniper had my book. I charged towards him...

Nendros:

When the gunshot filled the air, he finally pried himself away from the tree. There was a loud noise when he failed to safely get down from said tree. When later asked by Schadel what the noise was, he would - while pulling leaves and small berries out of his hair - deny Schadel's deduction that he had fallen into one of the bushes.

Flaerwin was running towards the attacker. Nendros was sure one of the bullets had grazed her cheek, but she didn't appear to be in any pain. She didn't even falter as she continued her advance. The others, upon realizing they were being attacked, all prepared their weapons. Zogin drew her gun from her holster. Schadel grabbed the scythe from behind his back, and held it out before him, and Nendros raised his clawed hands (he wasn't sure exactly how useful they would be against a guy with a gun, but they made him feel less useless).

The ones with short-distance weapons, like Schadel and Nendros, raced towards the sniper. Long-distance weapons owners waited for the first group to attack. However, Flaerwin was still the closest.

She might have reached the sniper first, too, if the knight in black armor didn't appear and hit one of the sniper's pressure points.

The sniper fell to the ground, unconscious, and the knight stepped over his body. A incredibly pale boy watched the group with a pair of nervous green eyes.

He glanced back at the rest of the group to see their reactions. While most appeared shocked by the sudden appearance, a grin had spread across Zogin's face. The gun was returned to her holster. Zogin raced ahead of Flaerwin with a surprising burst of speed, and tackled the knight with an even more surprising burst of strength.

"Idiot!" she cried out as she threw her arms around him. He almost fell over, and she had trouble hugging him because of their difference in size, but the message wasn't lost.

There was no doubting that the knight was Zogin's partner.

New Jackie


I was about to draw my grenade, when it appeared nothing was wrong, I was about to slide out of the scene, and get out of there.

Flaerwin

I quickly removed my book from the sniper, I was sure that others would be here shortly though. I held the book close to my chest, feeling it's familiar worn surface, worn from years with me. Read and re-read until the pages had started to fall loose. The book, like everything that stayed with me very long, was spattered in blood. I avoided looking at the others.

"Th-there'll be m-more where he c-came from." Was all I could think of to say.

Sakura looked confused. "Are you some kind of fugitive?" She questioned.

I didn't quite know how to respond to that, so I stayed silent and began walking. I didn't care really where I was going, just away from that hellhole.

Nendros:

He wasn't an idiot.

They all were in the woods for something. There had to be something out there wanting them to all meet, and he was positive that thing wasn't God. There the grim reapers, the magic girl, a woman who used guns and magic, her knight companion, the witch, the sailor, the fox king and queen, the incredibly fast girl, the boy still peeking out from behind a tree, the girl with the weird helmet and outfit, a suit of armor that had a mind of its own, and the Dragon-Human ambassador.

They should have never met. The chances of such an odd group meeting on their own were astronomical. And with that in mind, he grabbed the new girl's collar with one hand, and wrapped his tail around the waist of Flaerwin to prevent the two from leaving.

The two struggled in his grip. But one of the bonuses about his new form was that he was stronger than other humans - especially when it came to his tail. "Alright, we all need to talk. Introduce ourselves."

"We're all here for a reason, aren't we?" Schadel questioned.

"That's my guess," Nendros confirmed. "For some reason, we were all brought to these woods. And that's why we need to sit down and tell the truth about who we all are. No lying. No covering things up. We need to find a connection between all of us."

Flaerwin

I should have seen this coming. Really I should have. I knew that constraints would factor into this at one point or another. I breathed in and out slowly to prevent myself from freaking out.

"Let. Me. Go." I said slowly. I didn't really care why I was being held here, the reasoning behind captivity doesn't matter, it is the act itself which speaks volumes. This may not be how other people felt, but that's how I felt. I struggled, pushing against the tail, if I could bend iron and break through walls I sure as hell could get out of this.

Sakura

Flaerwin seemed to be freaking out a bit, what's the big deal it's just a tail! I began introduction.

"My name is Sakura, I have no last name seeing as I have no parents. Literally, I was born from accumulation of magic. I'm a sorceress, and there's only really one thing of consequence I've kept from you." Without a word, I let my disguise fall away, the personal magic falling away from me like a cloud of ash.