Author’s Note/Disclaimer: I don’t own Wild ARMs 3 or Alter Code F. Wish I did, but I don’t, so there.

Anyway, this was intended to be part of a multi-chapter crossover between 3 and ACF, but I never really had much plot beyond this. It’s an interesting little scene, I think, so I felt like sharing it, even in it’s unfinished capacity. It’s really too bad I didn’t finish it, Rudy would have shown up, too. And possibly Hanpan. Oh well. Have fun. Tee hee. And the song is Sora from, if I’m not mistaken, the Vision of Escaflowne movie, or something like that. I don’t remember what language it was in now, but it wasn’t Japanese. That’s all.

February 25, 2006

Start Scene

Jet inclined his head, as though listening to something. “Wait, do you hear that?”

The others fell silent and listened. There was a voice, barely audible, lilting, being carried on the wind. Someone was singing.

“Who could that be? There’s nothing here, what would someone be doing out here?” asked Virginia. Jet glared at her.

“What are we doing here, then?”

“Jet, you-!”

Clive interrupted Virginia as she began to snap back at the surly youth. “No, he is right. We are not necessarily the only drifters who’ve heard of the possibility of another Guardian being out here. While we understand how important the Guardians are, to another drifter, it could just mean ruins to loot.”

“So, should we follow it, then?” asked Gallows.

Virginia nodded. “But keep on guard. Whoever that is may not be friendly towards strangers.”

As they drew closer, the voice grew louder and it became clear that it belonged to a man. He didn’t have the best voice the group had ever heard, but there was still something haunting, almost disturbing, to his song, even with the lyrics being in another language. Or perhaps, thought Virginia, that was what made it so disturbing. She turned to Clive.

“Do you know this language?”

The green haired sniper stopped and listened for a moment.

“Win dain… a lotica… En val tu ri… Si lo ta… Fin dein… a loluca… En dragu a… sei lain… Vi fa-ru… les shutai am… En riga-lint…”

He nodded slightly. “I think so… I am not sure exactly what is being said, something about dragons waking. I believe it is a tongue once spoken in ancient times. It has been dead for thousands of years, I was unaware of anyone still speaking it, let alone singing it.”

“So whoever this guy is, he’s either really smart, or really old?” asked Gallows.

“No one could be old enough to remember and speak this language, Gallows. All I can think of is that he’s either someone who researches dead languages, or possibly, it’s a song that’s been carried through his family from times of old.”

“Well, how about instead of standing here wondering about it, we go down there, find this guy and ask him?” snarled Jet as he headed off again. The others hastened to catch up.

They hadn’t gone much farther before Virginia stubbed her toe on something. Looking down, she tried to find what she’d caught her foot on and surprised herself. Under a layer of thick growth, old cobblestones were visible. “…Clive?”

“Hmm?” He turned to see what she was looking at and his face changed to an expression of surprise. He knelt down and brushed some of the weeds aside and studied the stones. “These cobblestones are antique. I can’t say just how old they are, but it seems there was once a town here.”

That being established, the team quickly noticed more old ruins, also covered over by plant growth. There was what once must have been an impressive wall, now little more than a pile of crumbling rock, and several spots that appeared to have once been the bases for houses. They moved in further, still following the voice and made a startling discovery.

In a corner of the crumbling wall, there was one house still standing. It was in terrible repair, looking as though it would collapse at any time, plants sprouting from several cracks, but it was the only building left standing in the whole town. The singing was coming from inside. There were several cats swarming around the building, and the group assumed there were probably more inside with whoever was here.

“So…who wants to check it out?” queried Jet.

“I will.” Virginia approached the house carefully, wading through the throng of cats. Reaching the doorway, she peered inside, but could make out little in the gloom. Clearing her throat, she knocked carefully on the doorframe, the door itself long gone. “Excuse me, hello?”

The singing stopped abruptly and silence fell for several seconds. Virginia knocked again.

“We’d just like to talk to you. Please?” There was silence for several more seconds.

“You…just want to talk?” The voice had a rough quality to it, as if the owner didn’t get to use it much.

“Yes. We’re not here to hurt anyone; we’d just like to ask a few questions.”

There was a shuffling sound from inside and a couple seconds later, a man’s head poked through the doorway followed shortly by the rest of his body. He was carrying a tabby kitten in his arms.

He was an odd looking creature, Virginia noted. He looked like a young man aged beyond his years, though she could only hazard a ballpark guess to his actual age. His leafy green hair was unkempt, streaked with grey, and though he seemed to have been living alone in this ruin for a long time, his chin was clean-shaven. He had dark lines under his stunning yellow eyes, as though he never got enough sleep. But the oddest thing about him, besides his clothes, armour of the likes she’d never seen before and a faded, tattered orange scarf, were his teeth. He had, and Virginia had done a double take when she noticed, elongated, pointed canines. Fangs.

“What are you?” she asked before she could stop herself. She slapped her hands over her mouth and hastily apologized. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

He set the kitten down and shrugged. “It’s okay. I wonder the same thing, myself…”

“What’s your name?” asked Gallows. Again, the man shrugged.

“Don’t remember. Sorry.”

“Amnesia’s a bitch, ain’t it?” muttered Jet. Virginia shot him a dirty look and he turned away. Clive approached the man, studying his clothes as he questioned him.

“How long have you been living here?”

“For as long as I can remember,” replied the loner. “It’s just been me and the cats for years.”

Clive tapped the man’s shoulder. “There’s a Z marked here, maybe your name started with this letter?”

“I thought of that, too, but nothing seemed right.”

“Why don’t we just call you Zee for now, until we can find out what your real name is?” suggested Gallows.

“I guess that’ll be alright.”

End Scene