Title: Gathering of the Seven
Author: Songmyth
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: I own none of the guys. Just the world, and other creatures you
don't recognize.
Warning: This is a violent fic and there is death, but none of the guys, so
don't worry. :)
Type: General AU
Rating: R
Status: In progress...
The AU Type: It is a fantasy AU, but I can't explain it too much unless you
want a *long* email. If you want to know more about the world, let me know.
Open/Closed: This AU is CLOSED. I may change that later, but I prefer closed
right now.
Summary: When two mercenaries and a child of fairy find a town being torn
apart by demons, they get more then they bargained for when they try to
help...
"I don't like this."
"Don't worry. We won't be here that long. This shortcut will be half a days walk shorter then going by the main road." Buck reassured his friend.
Chris glared at his best friend. "I still don't like it. There have been too many stories about this place."
Buck rolled his eyes but kept silent about it. He knew when Chris got in this mood there was no changing his mind. He wasn't going to let a few stories scare him away from a great shortcut.
The pair continued on in silence, unaware of the creature following behind.
JD was excited. He'd seen very few humans in his life, and almost never on one of his patrols. His mother had kept him sheltered from the humans most of his life, but after she died, the others took care of him until he was old enough to train as a scout. It was the least they could do in remembrance of his departed mother.
She had been an important part of the village. She took care of many of their people when the needed it. Sadly, no one could help her when she became sick. JD had been happy that she died so peacefully, but missed her terribly.
Turning his attention to the two humans going along an old path through the forest, he followed them a ways. They weren't doing anything terrible to the place, just going along the path. The blond one seemed to sense something out in the forest by the way he looked around and by the comment made to the man he traveled with. JD didn't think either knew he was there.
He stopped suddenly realizing he could no longer see the two men. Where were they? He looked around where he could, trying to find them. They couldn't have traveled along that fast. He'd only lost track of them for a moment. It seemed that was all it took because the next thing he knew, they had him surrounded.
Chris looked over the young man that had been sneaking up on them. The boy had not been paying attention as they went into the bushes and cornered him. The kid had black hair and surprisingly expressive brown eyes. He wasn't very tall but he looked to have enough grace to be a formidable opponent.
The young man looked from Buck to Chris then down at their drawn swords. His face turned into a questioning expression as though searching his mind to figure out what was going on. After a moment, he spoke.
"Who are you?"
Chris looked over at Buck in surprised at the soft-spoken question. Then answered him with a question of his own.
"We should be asking you that question. You were the one following us. So, who are you?"
JD glared at the man that had asked him who he was. This was his third scouting mission so close to the humans and he knew that after this encounter he would never go on another one again.
Never lowering their swords, the blond man asked him again. "Who are you? What is your name?" His voice was stern, almost threatening.
JD swallowed hard when he felt the sword at his back. His abilities, as wonderful as they were, would not be able to help him in time to save his life from a sword through his back. He also didn't want these men to know he wasn't human.
"I am called JD." He said. He hoped that the two men didn't hear the quiver he heard in his voice.
Both men noticed that the young man was frightened and was trying to hide it. Not that they could blame him, they were holding swords on him.
"All right. Now why were you following us?" Buck asked from behind the young man.
JD didn't move to look at Buck, but Chris saw the young man start when he spoke.
"It's my job."
Chris looked at over at Buck when he mouthed 'scout' behind JD. Although Chris wasn't sure why whatever village near by would have such a young scout out in a dangerous forest, he didn't question that the young man was exactly what he said, or rather implied, that he was.
"Well, you might as well travel back to your village with us." Buck began as he put away his sword.
Seeing the panic in his eyes, Chris reassured him. "Don't worry. We'll explain what happened. You won't get in trouble with your village elders."
After what the blond one said, JD began to panic even more, but tried not to show it. They thought he came from a nearby village. Technically, he did, just not the one they thought. The worst thing about it was that he couldn't tell them differently because that would give away the fact that his village existed.
Resigned to his fate, he began to follow the men as the beckoned him to follow. At least now he was sure they wouldn't hurt him, but then, he didn't know a lot about humans to be sure. He steeled himself against a negative response when he asked his question.
"What are you called?" He had directed his question to the dark haired man, seeing him as being friendlier then the other.
"Oh! I'm sorry kid; I didn't realize we never introduced ourselves. My name's Buck and the man ahead of us is Chris." Buck gave the young man a smile of apology as he said this.
JD nodded and they continued their trek in silence.
They reached the outskirts of the village two hours later, JD never saying a word since his earlier question as to what their names where despite Buck's best efforts.
JD was to worried about what his village would think when he didn't come back that night. Would they think he had abandoned them? He sighed hoping that he could get away from these men soon.
There had been no opportunity to get away. They kept a very close eye on him and always kept him walking in the middle when they traveled.
Buck noticed that the kid was getting more depressed as they got closer to the village and when they reached the outskirts, he heard the kid sigh.
Buck motioned for Chris to stop and he turned to JD.
"Hey kid, what�s wrong? We told you not to worry about getting in trouble. They could hardly fault you for being caught by seasoned mercenaries.�
Buck's question startled JD out of his thoughts and he looked to see where they were. He was surprised that they were so close to the village and he knew he had to get away as soon as possible.
"Kid�?" Buck started again as he realized JD wasn't paying attention before and looked a little pale. "You alright? You want us to get a healer?"
JD turned to Buck and saw his concern. "I'm fine. I just� uh� " JD frantically tried to think of something to say that would get him away from the two men, but couldn't think of anything that wouldn't reveal his nature.
"Buck."
Buck turned to his friend and noticed that he was looking at something in the distance. Turning his attention to that and off JD, he noticed what couldn't be seen in the dense forest.
Smoke could be seen rising from where the two men thought the village to be.
"That isn't kitchen smoke, Chris." Buck said, never taking his eyes off the site.
"I know."
JD, seeing a great opportunity to get away, stopped before he got a couple of feet.
He could feel them. The people in the village and the two men near him. He gasped at the strong emotions from all of them and wondered why it took so long for him to feel it.
The Village: Fear - Pain - Sorrow - Hatred�
The two men: Apprehension - Fear �
JD quickly got a hold of his empathic abilities before they overwhelmed him, then he turned back to the two men. He had to help this village. He knew they were in trouble and to let them suffer and possibly die ran against his nature.
"Come on. Let's go see if we can lend a hand." Chris said to the two behind him, possibly forgetting how young JD looked and the fact that he had probably never seen fighting before, and started off with his sword drawn.
"Let's get going, Kid. Stay close to me so you don't get hurt." Buck said remembering what Chris had not, but not willing to leave the kid there.
JD, to intent on keeping the emotions he felt at bay, despite his shield, didn't notice that Buck had called him kid.
When it finally reached his brain that he was responding to that instead of his name, he stopped and glared at Buck.
"I'm not a kid." He ground out and stalked toward the village. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was being called kid. He got too much of that when he was much younger by all of the older kids as a way of teasing.
Buck looked surprised. "What do you mean you're not a kid? Compared to me you are." He said to the suddenly angry boy. Anger was not what he was expecting.
JD wasn't sure why he was so mad himself. There really was no reason for it. Maybe a little testy but not as mad as he was. He supposed it was the excess feelings from the village and tried to strengthen the shield around his mind. It had been known to happen with such strong emotions around but he had never experienced it before.
"If you only knew�" He managed to say through clenched teeth, and, as an afterthought, wondered if he should have said that at all.
"What the heck do you mean by that?" Buck's voice got loud enough for Chris to hear and turn around.
"What's the problem?" Chris asked, only to be ignored by both men. He could see the kid was angry, but he needed them to get to the village. There could be hurt people there.
"Nothing, I didn't mean anything by it." JD said trying to cover up his mistake, still concentrating on keeping the emotions at bay. It wasn�t working well. The surrounding emotions were getting stronger the closer they got to the village.
Buck wasn't buying it. "Look, Kid, if you got a problem why not just tell me what it is?" He was getting very frustrated at the kids attitude. They didn�t have time for it.
The emotions from the village seem to seep through his shields and become stronger over running is own self-preservation and causing him to speak without thinking of the consequences.
"Don't call me kid� you� you� child! I'm at least twice as old as you are if not more! I�d appreciate it if you�d just leave me alone so I can go home!" JD yelled at the man. It was only after he yelled at the man that he got enough rational though to think about what he had just said. He not sure how it had got as bad as it was, but there was no taking the words back now.
Buck scoffed. "And how do you figure that." He had enough of this.
"Look, human, just quit arguing with me. There are people that need our help." JD snapped and started to stalk toward the village. He didn't get very far before Chris stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"What did you mean when you called him human?" He asked, glaring at the kid. He had known and fought too many non-human things to let the kid get away with separating himself from the species without explanation.
That stopped JD cold as he realized what he had just done but he had no time to think about it.
To Chris�s eyes, he got suddenly pale and stiffened beneath his hands.
"I� uh�"
A loud chorus of screams and cries of pain save JD from an explanation. He almost collapsed as the wave of intense pain and fear reached them as they heard it screamed out loud. The grip Chris had on him prevented him from falling and he managed to regain his balance.
"Let's go" Chris said, but before they started out again he turned toward JD with an intense glare. "We'll continue this conversation later." He was worried about JD having almost collapse on him, but he looked a little better then a second ago and they really needed to get to the village.
The sight of the village stopped all three of them in shock when the reached it. There was blood and bodies lying everywhere and they could hear the cries of more people in the town center and the laughter of those that caused this terrible sight.
As they came closer to the crowd, a very pale JD began to tremble and hold his head. The two men didn't notice anything until JD unexpectedly fell to his knees clutching his head in pain.
Buck stopped and almost ran back to the kid, followed closely but Chris.
"What's wrong, kid?" Buck asked, already forgetting JD's dislike of being called that. The boy was almost transparent and had a look of intense pain on his face.
"The village� so much pain�� JD gasped out as the feelings and emotions from the village began to overwhelm his shields. They seemed to offer no protection this close to the source of such suffering and he had no way of strengthening them because he had never been trained for anything like this.
The two men were confused until Chris remembered what JD had said to Buck earlier about not being human. He hated to question the kid when he was in so much pain, but he saw no way around it without hurting the kid even more.
"JD," Chris began with a soft yet urgent tone of voice, "I need you to tell me what you are so we can help you." Chris said trying to catch the kid's attention. He knew JD had empathic abilities, that much were obvious, but he needed to know exactly what JD was to gauge his reaction to what they were about to face. He needed to know if he would get worse or change drastically.
JD was in terrible pain and he almost didn't hear Chris's question through the screaming in his head. The voices were so many and very loud in him mind. He was in too much pain to consider the consequences of answering the question Chris had asked again..
"Elemental." Was all he could manage to say and even then Chris had to lean down to hear him.
Chris looked up at Buck in surprise and looked back at the young man. They knew how rare Elemental fairy children were and wondered why they would let him leave the village he was trained in. They must not have had enough scouts to let anyone stay at home. JD was still clutching his head and curled into a ball trying to escape the intense emotions that he was sensing and Chris looked at him with pity.
Chris stood up then to talk to his long time friend. "Buck, we can't leave him here and we can't take him with us. What do you think?" He glanced down and the kid as he whimpered on the ground with beads of sweat on his brow.
Buck looked at the figure huddled on the ground. He knew fairy children were well trained and if the kid was reacting like this to the village ---. Making up his mind he looked his friend in the eyes. "We can't leave him here, he might get hurt if something is patrolling to see if there are any survivors to this. � He said, gesturing to the carnage around them. �So, I vote we take him with us. We'll have to stash him in a safe place when we get closer to the action or he�ll just be in the way, but he should be ok till we come for him again. We just have to find the right place."
Nodding in agreement, Chris watched Buck pick up the cringing young man and cradle him in his arms. "Let's get going." He said looking away from the pair and headed into the village and possibly death.
Buck and Chris crouched besides a building near the square a while later and looked at the square where the people of the village were gathered.. They were repulsed at all they had seen making their way there. Bodies and blood were everywhere. Not to mention body parts. It had made them both sick thinking of the kinds of creatures that could have been responsible for this destruction.
Buck looked back the way they came thinking about the boy they left behind. He was in so much pain it was hard to think of him as anything other then a 'human' boy when he was curled up like he was. It was also hard to just leave him in the house they had found. He couldn�t explain why they had picked that house except that it had �felt� safe. So, they had left JD there and went to see if they could help anyone outside the �safe� house.
Cries of pain turned his attention back to the square. The people were gathered in a large group that was being guarded by the meanest looking creatures that he had ever seen. They were green and looked like spiky lizards. Their weapons were held over the group, keeping them from moving or running away. The bodies he could see laying in pieces by them explained where all the blood came from. The fear on the faces of the men, woman, and children being held captive made him angry. They were just innocent people and they didn�t deserve this.
There was blood everywhere. On the group in the square, the guards and their leader. The leader was drenched in the stuff and he was enjoying the situation a little too much. He was laughing at the people cringing in fear at his feet. Chris glared at him from where they were hiding. Buck, behind him, was not able to see the leader of the group, or rather, whom he thought was the leader.
The leader, to Chris's point of view, stood about seven feet tall. He was covered in hair and had spikes along his spine and on his major joints. It was hard to tell the color of his skin because of the blood, but he thought he was a greenish red.
When he caught site of the demons face, he turned away from the thing, unable to look at what was on his head. It seemed to be a crown of human hearts and that was an image that Chris did not need to see. He was very glad they left the kid where they did. Empathic or not, he knew that JD wouldn�t be able to handle what he couldn�t.
"My God." Buck said as he caught a look at what Chris had just turned away from. He didn't look long at the disgusting sight. Like Chris, after seeing what was left of the village, he was happy that they had left JD in that house and hoped that those creatures didn�t find him.
To be continued...
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