Welcome to Gaia! ::

~chapter one~

The girl let out a loud groan of pain as her consciousness came back to her. Upon resuming her consciousness, her first instinct was panic as she opened her eyes and found she couldn't see.

"Hey, she's awake!" a voice from outside her own mind called. Footsteps nearby. And then the blindfold, she found to be a moistened cloth, was removed from her eyes. They singed for a moment in the dim sunlight, causing her to blink a few times before they'd adjusted to the light. She was able to tell four...no, five figures swimming around her, though her eyesight still refused to cooperate completely, leaving them as slowly defining blurs for the time being. She closed her eyes again to give them a rest.

"Are you okay?" It was the same voice from earlier, now bent over her as she was lain out upon the ground upon her back. Soft, female. Tender fingertips traced a line along her forehead and onto her face, and the sensation brought incredible pain to her for some unknown reason. She seethed with agony, sucking in air through gritted teeth. The hand quickly drew away.

Who...who are these people?

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! Jared, get me that salve I was using earlier!"

Another voice, rough, deep, male. "The blue tin or the green tin?"

"The green!"

A moment of silence, then footsteps. "Here you go, Sarah."

Another moment, and the girl found a cooling sensation being applied gingerly to the pained area. The pain seemed to be subsiding ever so slightly, and she didn't fuss as this apparent Sarah doctored her. She lay in silence and let the healer do her work.

"It's a really nasty gash," Sarah commented. "Were you in that battle that took place yesterday? You're wearing armor..."

I am?

A third voice spoke, a bit higher in pitch than the first male voice, but still male, and much harsher in tone. "Of course she was in the battle, Sarah. You don't just find injured people laying around all the time."

"Oh, hush," Sarah replied. "She could have been attacked by a wild animal." Her attention was redirected back to the fallen girl. "Jared, come here, help me sit her up." A moment, and she felt hands slowly helping her into a sitting position. A light shone in front of her closed eyes, then ceased. "You can open your eyes now, they should be better."

The girl did as she was told. Finally, blurs were no longer blurs, and she could see the five people around her. The closest one, this Sarah girl, looked over her with concern. She seemed to be a younger girl, the youngest of the group situated around her. To her side sat a burly man, was that Jared? And a few paces off stood another man, older than the other two but still not very old at all, maybe in his mid-twenties. He wore a disapproving expression on his face as he eyed the situation. And, finally, there was a dark-haired girl standing some distance off, speaking with a much older man. They seemed to have removed themselves from the situation and were now discussing something intently, though what it was couldn't have been heard from this distance.

The healer girl set a stave to her side and smiled. "Hi. I'm Sarah." She brushed a hint of blue hair out of her own face and pointed around the group. "Jared," she said, confirming her suspicions of the brown-haired man beside her. "Cree," indicating the other blond-haired slender man. "And- hey, Marina! She's awake!" This got the attention of the black-haired girl and the grey-haired older man standing beside her. Sarah giggled as she continued. "That's Marina, our tactician, you could say. And the other man is her father. We all call him Drake. So that's our introduction! What's your name?"

K...kate? Is that it?

"It's Kate..." the girl finally spoke up, though slowly. Her eyes wandered around the group. "Thank you for helping me..."

Sarah giggled. "Don't be silly! We weren't just going to leave you there."

"I would have," Cree coughed, interjecting his two cents into the conversation.

Sarah shot him a vile look before continuing. "We were passing through the area and we found you unconsciousness. Do you remember anything about what happened?"

Kate tried to think. The memories refused to surface. "No...no, I don't."

"Great, an amnesiac," Cree interjected once again. "You always find these people in stories. At least she can remember her name. Makes things easier."

"Shut up, Cree!" Sarah urged. "It's okay, we won't force you to remember," she said, turning back to Kate. "You can travel with us until you get better. Isn't that right, Marina? Marina?" Marina wasn't paying attention; she'd gone back to speaking with her father. "Marina!" Sarah yelled, gaining her attention.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What?" Marina walked towards them.

"This girl, Kate. She can remember her name but not much else. Can she travel with us?"

Marina looked Kate over, trying to size her up. "Where are you from, Kate?"

"I...I don't remember..." Kate honestly answered her.

"Mm..." Marina thought for a second. "Sarah, you're right, we can't just leave her here in this state. But we also can't trust her, and even if we could, our mission isn't exactly a safe one." She looked back towards Drake. "Give me a moment to talk with my father." Without waiting for permission to be granted, she slid back over to him. The others waited patiently for a long moment while the two finished their discussion. Finally, Marina rejoined them. "Fine. But she'll be expected to carry her weight. Kate, can you use a weapon?"

"Maybe..."

"We'll worry about that later. It's not hard to figure out what you're good with, give you a weapon and if you're good with it, you're good with it. This will also take a cut into our rations...we'll have to stop at the next town and pick up more. I don't imagine you have any money with you? Wait, never mind, that's not important now. Look, we're all hungry, and I imagine you must be too. Since we're stopped, I don't think anyone will mind us having dinner before moving on? No? Good." She smiled at Kate. "Good to have you with us, Kate."

This story looks like it will go somewhere ineresting, I'll check back here more often now to see if you've put up the next part. :3