Saviors
Chapter 3 – They Grow Up So Fast
Setzer smiled cheerfully at his
parents as he helped himself to a second drumstick. After taking a bite, savoring its taste and swallowing, he looked
at the woman across from him and said, “This is really great, Mom. You should eat some more.” She realized, again, that she had been
staring at him instead of eating. As
though there was nothing on her mind, she smiled back at him and returned to
her dinner. The black-haired man in the
red tunic seated next to her, however, never took his eyes off of Setzer for a
moment. Geeze… He’s hardly even blinked! Is it really that hard to see I mean no
harm? I’m a little kid for crying out
loud! “Dad, why don’t you eat
something?” Setzer asked plainly, trying to relieve a little tension, “Mom
really did a really good job tonight.”
The man narrowed his eyes at Setzer and said coldly, as he pushed his
glasses up, “Because I’m not hungry, son,” with an emphasis on the last
word that Setzer was certain he didn’t like.
Setzer had earlier been very
distressed upon realizing that he had been reduced to a child, but, before
long, he accepted that fact. In fact,
he was enjoying himself. I wonder
how many new games kids have thought up since I was that young… Err…
This young… Heh… I can’t imagine why this alarmed me so
much. As the ‘family’ seemed to be
having their meal in silence, he thought about the scene that had taken place
between the three of them when his ‘mother’ first brought him to the two-story
house.
---
“Richard, I’m back with Tommy,” the
woman called to her husband, after walking home in silence and opening the oak
door. Setzer, still coming to grips
with his situation, followed her inside, a few feet’s difference between
them. He heard a man’s voice from
within say, as he came closer, “You found him that quickly? If you’ve got such great news, why do you
sound so unhapp--” He paused at the sight of Setzer. Setzer felt very uncomfortable, as time seemed to stand still for
a moment.
“Gertrude…” he began, quivering and
looking several shades paler than he had a moment ago, “Why is Thomas…?” After a moment, Gertrude replied, “I think
the Fairies did it to him. But I thought
they only came out at night…”
There was silence for a bit longer,
before Richard broke it, sounding unsure of how he should be acting. “Why don’t we all… sit down and talk about
it in the living room.” He walked
through the open doorway he had come through, then Gertrude and Setzer followed
wordlessly. Setzer took a moment to look
around the room, noticing a number of bookshelves along one wall, a desk with a
number of oddities and expensive objects upon it nearby, a fireplace, an
exquisitely woven blue rug, and five chairs in the corner. Kind of a nice, tidy room… Richard moved one chair to one side of the
desk, then moved two others to the opposite side. He motioned for Setzer to sit in the lone chair, while he and
Gertrude took the other two.
Setzer took his seat, then wondered
what was coming next. Richard took a
breath, then pushed his glasses up as he asked, “Thomas… Tell me…
What exactly happened before your hair and clothes… changed?”
“Umm…” Setzer started, once more
disturbed at his new voice. Alright. Just… try to make a convincing bluff. “Well…
I was walking through the forest earlier. Things were pretty normal, until I saw this… umm… very little
mouse-sized woman in a blue dress with wings that resembled a dragonfly
nearby.” He realized he had made a
mistake when they raised their eyebrows.
Gah… OK, just try to avoid
details from now on… And you’re a…
child now. Talk like it! “Then I went to play with it. It was really pretty and shiny. Then I saw all this bright light and all I
could see was black… When I woke up, my hair was silver. …
And my clothes were… like this.”
They two of them looked at him for a
moment, then whispered to each other.
“Mommy and Daddy need to talk outside, Tommy. We’ll be right back, though.
Just wait until we’re done talking.”
They stood without waiting for a reply, then walked out of the room,
closing the door behind them. Clearly,
both presumed he would be a good little boy and do as he was told. Setzer grinned at their naivety as he crept
over to the door, glad that his body was lighter than his older one: he knew
from Gertrude and Richard’s walk to the door that the floorboards were prone to
squeaking and creaking when they bore too much weight. After he pressed his ear to the door, he
learned that Gertrude didn’t seem to be as good about speaking in hushed tones
as her husband, so Setzer heard her words far more clearly than Richard’s. Gertrude whispered, “Doesn’t it seem
plausible? The Fairies never explain
the weird things they do in the stories and accounts. And I’ve never heard of that kind of Fairy, but they can take on
almost any shape.”
Setzer heard Richard say that they
usually did “much … things.” He cursed
himself for missing the adjective. He
then cursed himself again when, in cursing himself for the adjective, he missed
what Richard had just called “irrelevant”, and had to guess, correctly as it
turned out, that he meant the fairies’ lack of a set form.
“But he’s just a little boy. If they could change his body and clothes,
wouldn’t they have made him some kind of a monster?”
Setzer caught the words “fake”,
“plot,” and “preparation” from Richard’s speech.
“I’m not so sure… I know how you feel about Fairies, but even
that seems a little far-fetched, if you ask me.”
Setzer didn’t really hear Richard’s
statement, but guessed from his tone of voice that he had said, “Well, nobody
asked you.”
Gertrude sighed and seemed almost
exasperated, but continued, “The point is: what are you going to do about
it? Hurt him? Kill him? Suppose he’s
just our innocent boy! Could you live
with yourself if you did it and weren’t sure?”
He was silent for a moment, then
Setzer heard the words “eye on him” and easily guessed that Richard was going
to be watching him like a hawk. From
Gertrude’s murmur of agreement, he gathered that the conversation was over, so
he bolted for his chair and sat down, just as the doorknob was turning. Why do I feel like Locke all of a
sudden? Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to
pretend to be a normal kid for a while…
I was planning to, anyway, so that’s not a problem. I’ll be fine as long as I act my age. I’ll probably have fun in the process. Yep.
Things are looking up. After
they came back into the room and Gertrude told Setzer that “everything is going
to be fine,” they all went to have dinner, though Richard had a sour look on
his face at all times and wouldn’t stop looking at Setzer. Oye…
This is going to get old really fast…
---
Setzer looked at himself in the
mirror of “his room.” Hmm… ‘Weird’ is probably the best word for it. He had only expected to see himself like that in some of the portraits
that his parents had made of his family.
Thus, to see a childlike version of himself miming all of his actions in
a mirror was a peculiar feeling. He had
accepted what was happening before gazing into the mirror, but he couldn’t have
prepared himself for seeing undeniable proof before his eyes. He chuckled at the absurdity of his
situation.
He thought that the boy in the
mirror looked like an 8-year old, but wasn’t certain. He also didn’t think that it really mattered. He was a child and that was all that he
cared about. After dinner, Gertrude had
told him to go to his room and wait for her to tell him a bedtime story. He knew that he couldn’t hear them from the
top of the stairs, and he was certain that Richard was keeping an eye on the
bottom steps, so creeping downstairs to eavesdrop wasn’t an option. Therefore, he had decided to get used to his
room until Gertrude entered.
I guess it’s lucky I’m
short. This room would probably be way
too small if I were my normal size. A
lot of books here, too. I guess getting
bored won’t be easy. I don’t think I’ve
even heard of most of these. He
heard footsteps ascending the stairs, so he removed his shoes and socks, then
hopped onto the bed. He smiled as he
felt how much softer it was than the beds at most inns. Ooh…
Feels great… Gertrude
entered a moment later, smiling at him.
“Alright, Tommy,” she asked
cordially, “What story would you like to hear tonight?” Setzer considered this for a moment, trying
his best to look like an innocent child trying to decide on one story amongst
many favorites. Ahh… Bluffs at Poker… Is there anything you can’t help me with? Anyway, let’s see… What to say… Ahh! There we go! “Mom, could I hear a story about the Fairies?” he said, not even
bothering to notice his strange new voice.
Her expression notably changed to
one of surprise. OK… Maybe I’ve screwed up… Let’s just try to fix it up. “I mean, a story about the Fairy I saw. I just… want to know more about it. Did it do stuff like this to other
kids?” Good job. Maybe she won’t suspect you eavesdropped
earlier. She seemed to lighten up a
bit. “Oh. Well, I don’t think there’s a story about that kind of
Fairy. There’s never been a mouse-sized
Fairy before. The smallest one after
that one is Li’l Blue.”
“Hmm… Could I hear the story about that one?” he asked. At this question, she chuckled. “Why, you heard this just last night,
Tommy!”
“Umm… Well…” Setzer trailed off for a moment as he thought. Crap!
Just… say it’s your favorite story!
“Well, it’s just that Li’l Blue’s one of my favorite stories. I’d like it every night I ever heard
it. So, could I hear that one, Mom?”
his voice sounding somewhat eager, though not ecstatic, as he asked the
question. She seemed to accept this and
started smiling again. “Alright,
dearest. I suppose it’s a different
change from telling the same story about Catton for a week, like you made me do
once.” She cleared her throat, then
began.
“Once upon a time, many, many years
ago, back when my grandfather was a little boy, there was a family of
woodcutters, who lived in this very town.
On most days, the family’s father and two sons would go into the forest,
cut down some trees, then bring the wood back home at the end of the day – just
like Mr. Finch, who’s related to them.
They weren’t rich, but they were happy, and they were very popular with
everyone else in town. Anyway, their
lives were going along peacefully.
Then, one day, a bad man came to this town. He said some things that nobody understood, then said some very
strange magic words, and started setting the town on fire. He was a bad rune-wielder, you see.”
Setzer had been getting very bored,
very quickly with this story, but his ears perked up when he heard about the
man who seemed to know magic. And
she says ‘rune-wielder’… I guess that’s
what they call a magic-user, here. And
I guess that also means I’m definitely in some other world. If somebody’s actually able to use magic and
they’re talking about it like it’s noth-- Wait… What am I thinking? This
is a children’s story! It doesn’t have
to make sense! He then stopped
thinking and decided to just enjoy the story.
“Well, the family of woodcutters
decided they had to try and stop him, so when he left and was walking through
the forest, they came at him with their axes.
He laughed and said they couldn’t hope to win. Then, suddenly, a strange, glowing, blue creature, with big red
eyes, floated between the woodcutters and the evil man. He looked like a weak little puppy dog, with
really stubby, weak legs, a weird mane like a cross between a horse’s and a
lion’s, but scaly like a lizard’s, and a long forked tail.” Hmm…
Li’l Blue… Why does that
description seem so familiar… Have I
seen something like it before?
“Then, Li’l Blue glowed really brightly, and all the woodcutters and the evil man could see was blue. When they could see again, Li’l Blue was gone, but the woodcutters were all had a blue glow around them. The evil man didn’t know what to do, so he tried hitting them with his evil magic. The woodcutters thought they were all going to do, but a miracle happened. A big, round, green, wall-looking thing surrounded them all, and the next thing they knew, the evil man was being covered with flames! He screamed and, because the woodcutters were good people, they splashed water on him from a lake nearby and saved his life. He was so grateful, he helped rebuild the town, then said that he’d make sure nobody he could help would ever hurt this town again. Everybody knew that Li’l Blue did it, so that’s why, in this town, everyone thinks of him as one of the few good Fairies. And that’s the…”
She trailed off as she noticed that Setzer wasn’t
listening. He hadn’t heard a word she
had said after she described how the ‘evil man’ was set on fire by his own
magic. What Li’l Blue did… Could it be…? “Carbuncle…” he whispered, then was snapped back to reality when
he noticed Gertrude’s very wide eyes and mouth hanging open. “What,” she said, sounding a little shaky,
“did you say?”
Something like that freaks her out a lot,
too? Great… Luck, don’t fail me now! “Umm… I meant to say… What is Carbuncle? I just
remembered that I overheard you and Dad talking about something called
Carbuncle a while ago, and I forgot to ask you then, because I could tell you’
be mad at me for overhearing and…” Again, she seemed relieved with his
reply. “Well, it’s just that Carbuncle
is the grown-up name for that Fairy, and Li’l Blue is the kid’s name for
it. We know that you’re clever enough
now to be able to use Carbuncle, but nobody else in town is, so that’s why we
say Li’l Blue. Naturally, when we were
back in the city, everyone used Carbuncle, except around children, but…” She
trailed off, with a nostalgic look in her eyes and Setzer knew that it would be
foolish to ask any questions about it.
“Right. I
miss the city, too, sometimes. Anyway,
you’re not mad at me?”
She smiled brightly. “Of course not, darling.”
She turned to the small clock near his bed and gasped. “Oh, look at the time! You go to sleep, okay, honey?”
Setzer smiled back.
“Alright, Mom.” He got under the
sheets, waited for her to say good night, leave the room and close the door,
then began thinking about what he had learned.
So… They seem to have Espers
in this world… I wonder if they have
anything to do with why I’m here and a little kid… A sudden realization that something was
jamming into his side broke his train of thought as he opened up his suit to
look at the object, then found himself very happy.
My slot machine!
Earlier, he had completely forgotten to check the special pocket in
which he kept it. He smiled at it,
then, childishly, which seemed appropriate to him at the moment, he started to
play with it. He wasn’t willing it to
have the bizarre, but useful effects that had served as its main form of use,
over most of the previous year. For the
first time in quite a while, he was merely enjoying the fun that one could have
with a slot machine as the fun that one could have with a slot machine. He found the experience very refreshing,
and, before he knew it, an hour had passed.
He put his slot machine away in a more comfortable place, then fell
asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.
---
The next day was mostly uneventful: most of the early day consisted of people coming by to briefly gawk at and/or comfort him. They seemed very nice and Setzer instantly took a liking to all in town, save a crusty old man by the name of Mr. Cruggles. Setzer was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the town’s children, left to their own devices when the adults left to work on a festival of some kind, which was to take place later today on a hill, near where the children were playing.
They mostly seemed very jealous of his “new” hair,
or very friendly about his situation. Heh… That’s a nice change from what I was
expecting… All the little kids going
out of their ways to tease me about my hair color doesn’t seem too likely. I hope the they aren’t doing that because my
“parents” have had ‘little talks’ with their parents, though… If so, though… Oh, well. Like before,
there’s nothing I can do about it.
The children soon put his fears to rest as they
began playing Tag, Hide-and-Go-Seek, and other games that Setzer found himself
loving. They frolicked away a few hours
in this fashion, then, it seemed, it was time for the festival. All of the kids were called over to have a
big dinner at a wooden table, near the larger table for the adults. The food was even better than Setzer had
enjoyed the night before. And
there’s so much of it! I feel like I
might actually be stuffed after this!
Setzer could really put away a lot of food when he wanted to and it
would never show, a capability he had never understood, but had always enjoyed.
After the meal, the kids were still tired from
running around earlier, so Setzer proposed a solution: a card game. He pulled out his deck of cards, and asked
them, “So, do any of you know how to play Black Jack?” One black-haired girl raised her hand shyly
and Setzer smiled at the girl he had come to know during the day. “Could you help me explain it to everyone
else, Cassandra?” She nodded and the
children split into two groups. Before
long, everyone knew the rules of the game fairly well.
A number of adults, looking bemused, had turned to watch the kids’ game. They all got into a circle and Setzer acted as the dealer. They played a number of short games, eliminating only those who busted or who received the lowest score. After 8 of the original 10 had been eliminated, Setzer stared down Cassandra. Hmm… She’s a much better gambler than that hack I took out in Poker yesterday… I wonder if today I’ll actually face another person who can beat me at my own game… Heh… Wouldn’t that be nice… Another Daryl…
She took a look under her face-down card and a glance at the 10 of Diamonds that sat face-up on the table. “I’ll stay,” she said, smiling. Setzer nodded, looking down at his face-up Ace of Hearts and the Jack of Spades that he knew lay face-down next to it. He smiled back at her, and said, “So will I. So, what are your cards, Cassandra?” so interested in the game that he failed to notice a bizarre queasy feeling, as well as a few changes that nobody had yet noticed.
She flipped over her card, revealing the Jack of Hearts. “Twenty. What have you got, Tommy?” Smugly, and completely overlooking the fact that most of the eyes in the village were staring at him, he turned over his card and announced, “Black Jack,” noticing only after he had said the words that his voice sounded as it had for most of the past few years. Surprised, and having alerted all in the town that he was now a man again, he looked himself over, felt his much longer hair, then buckled over slightly as he suffered from a bit of the nausea.
Silence filled the hilltop as everybody stared at him. As beads of sweat slid down his face after he recovered, he grinned innocently and said to the much smaller children around him, “So… Umm… Who’s up for another game?”
---
Author’s Notes:
This is, thus far, the only chapter of this fanfic in which I wrote a paragraph one weekend, then finished the rest of it one weekend later. I doubt that lessened anyone’s enjoyment (or lack thereof) too much, but… I just thought I’d mention it, do to a lack of anything else to say. Anyhoo, we’ll be back with Sabin in Chapter 4, so, with luck, I’ll have his character down better than I did with Draft #1 of Chapter 2. Keep your fingers crossed!
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