Legacy of Hope

By: Chibi-chan

Chapter 1b: “Not a Plain Child, But…”

*

Ron swore as he reloaded his ARM. “Mother-fucking monsters, where are they all coming from?!” he cursed. He added mentally, And how the hell do I keep getting myself into these kinda things?!

*

A few days ago, in Milama…

Ron Derringer couldn’t help staring at the red-haired waitress in the bar. There was something very familiar about this woman and he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. He was so wrapped up in trying to figure out this mystery that he didn’t even notice she had walked over to him until she waved a hand in front of his face and snapped her fingers a few times. “Hello? Young man? Pictures last longer, you know,” she told him.

“Huh? What? Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that you look so damn familiar for some reason and it’s bugging the hell outta me,” Ron explained.

The waitress studied him for a moment and decided he was being sincere. “You don’t say. You know, you’re the second person to tell me that without it being a pick-up line. Almost makes me want to go out searching for my lost past,” she said.

Ron blinked. “Second? Who was the first?”

“Oh, some guy. Jack Van something. Seemed depressed when said I was engaged to someone else. I think he got married to that princess he traveled with some time ago. You look kinda like a younger version of him,” the waitress told him. “Except for your eyes. His weren’t green,” she added after a pause.

Ron started to stand up. “’Jack Van something’? You don’t mean Jack Van Burace, one of the heroes that saved the world, do you?!”

“I think that was his name…” the waitress said, trying to think back far enough to remember.

Ron plunked some money down on the table without looking. “Thank you, you’ve been a lot of help!” he said, feeling more hopeful than he had in years. He left in a hurry to get everything in order before he set off to Adlehyde…

“Weird kid,’ the waitress said. She then counted the money he had left behind. “Generous, tho’. Looks like ’Licia here’s gonna get that nice sword she’s had her eyes on,” she muttered with a grin.

*

Jack Van Burace. Rumor has it he’s a survivor of the Arctica attack, Ron thought, hastily going through his supplies and inspecting his ARMs. I was going to see him eventually, but if he finds her familiar too, then maybe he’ll know about mom and dad! I know it’s a long shot, seeing as there’s no certain connection there, but I have a good feeling about this!

After inspecting his revolver ARM, he set it aside with a dissatisfied look and grumbled, “This simply won’t do, not at all… I guess I have no choice but to take it to the local ARMsmeister… Dammit, why did I notice this in the town with the one ARMsmeister who gives me the creeps?”

*

After stepping out of the inn, Ron noticed there was a big ruckus being raised at the town entrance.

“Now calm down, lady, we’ll take care of your child!” one of the villagers said to a hysterical mother who was carrying an injured child.

“But what about the monster that did this and killed my husband?! It’s still out in the Mountain Pass, ready to kill again?! It could come here next, if all the rumors about towns being attacked are true!” the mother shrieked.

“Mommy, it hurts…!” the child wailed.

It took only that child’s pained wail to make up Ron’s mind. He walked down to and through the crowd to the mother and her child. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care this monster for you,” he told the mother. He took a piece of candy out of his coat pocket and gave it to the child in her arms. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I can’t bring your daddy back to life, but I can make sure it won’t take anyone else’s daddy away, OK? Be good for your mother…”

Stunned, the crowd parted to clear the way for Ron to leave. “Quite mad, isn’t he?” one villager whispered.

“He sounded too sure of himself to be mad…” another one whispered back.

*

Hurting children, killing their parents… This is what the Boss would do about it, I’m sure of it! Ron thought on his way to the pass. He thought back to his days at the orphanage, after his grandmother had died but before he was adopted by the Derringer family, the orphanage where one of the heroes who saved the world took him when little Ron had no where else to go. He remembered the first time he had seen the Boss. She was a girl in her middle teens with long, wavy blonde hair and wearing an orangey-pink dress… she didn’t seem like a commanding figure until she opened her mouth. From then on, she was the Boss, and she was Ron’s new hero. She’d kick its ass and then grab whatever treasures were in the vicinity! The Boss is so cool…

By then, he had reached the Mountain Pass and was ready to take on whatever was waiting the for him…

*

It was not a pretty sight Ron saw when he entered the cavernous entrance to the pass. The two guards who normally stood watch were dead and appeared to have been chewed on for a while afterward; the copious amount of blood on the cavern floor and the badly mangled bodies of the guards a dead giveaway to that fact. A hulking reptilian humanoid form, twice as wide as any man you’d ever see, sat in the back of the cave, back to the entrance, making sickening slurping and crunching noises. Ron felt a wave of nausea come over him when he caught a glimpse of a man’s head, glassy-eyed in death, dropping to the floor and rolling away from the monster.

Ron forced himself to think about a plan of attack. Can’t use the revolver; it’s been shooting crooked since I left Court Seim… Guess it’s up to “Nelly-Belle” then… he thought. He quietly pulled his coat out of his way and reached behind to grasp the Shotgun ARM he had holstered there. “This ends here, monster…” he growled softly.

He raised the ARM, aimed at the back of the monster’s head, and fired…

The resulting roar of pain could be heard as far away as Milama. The monster stood up on its hind legs, making it loom at least four feet above Ron’s head, if not more, and Ron himself was just under six feet tall. “That’s one big sonuvabitch right there…” the gunslinger muttered, taking a step back without meaning to in surprise.

The monster turned around, spotted Ron, and lumbered towards him, only to get shot in the eyes. This, however, did not slow the monster down in the least. It swung blindly at Ron, barely missing and getting another shot in the head in reprisal. Still moving and gnashing its teeth menacingly, swiped at Ron with both hands, this time catching the top front of the young man’s coat, interrupting his attempt to reload the shotgun, tearing the coat and the shirt underneath, and also giving him some nasty scratches in that area.

Ron pulled away, finished reloading the ARM and fired again. “Why… won’t… you… fucking… DIE already?!” he screamed, shooting it again twice and stopping to reload again. Note to self: Up Nelly-Belle’s bullet capacity at the next possible chance I get, he thought bitterly. The creature was definitely slowing down, at least. It weakly swatted at Ron’s general direction, then sat down. “OK, if this one doesn’t Guard’-damned kill ya, I will be very pissed off right here!” he growled, firing a final shot at the monster. With a feeble roar, it fell over backwards and died.

The monster dead, everything in the room finally caught up with Ron and he quickly had to bend over to vomit.

*

When Ron unsteadily made his way back out of the cavern, he was greeted by half the town, all of which were armed with shovels, rakes, brooms, pitchforks, and anything else that could be used as a weapon. “Where is it?! Where is the monster?!” one of the villagers in the front of the mob yelled.

“Dead. Thanks for the vote of confidence, I really mean it,” Ron said dryly. “Don’t go in there if you have a weak stomach, trust me. What that thing did… I hope to Solus Emsu I never see anything like it again,” he warned.

The townsfolk fell silent. “You… killed it all by yourself?” the spokeswoman for the people asked incredulously.

Ron slowly nodded. “It wasn’t easy, but yeah…”

“There wasn’t some guy with you? The crowd saw a guy about your height and build leaving town saying he would stop the monster…”

Ron had to think for a moment. “Some guy…?” He then looked down and noticed his… rather, her cleavage was showing where the monster ripped her coat and shirt. “You all thought I was a man?”

The innkeeper stepped forward meekly. “Well, you did sign the register ‘Ron Derringer’…”

Ron sighed. “’Ron’ is short for ‘Veronica’. I hate that name, so I just go by ‘Ron’.” She held a hand over her face. “Maybe Missis Derringer was right and I should try to be a little more feminine, if I keep being mistaken for a guy…” she complained.

The spokeswoman coughed. “Well, either way, let’s hear it for this brave young woman who has just saved our main trade route and the lives of many of those who are to come through it!”

Ron blushed a bit. “Please, you really don’t have to do that…”

*

No one listened to her. Celebrations went on into the night. It seemed like half of the own insisted on buying her a drink. One of the local shopkeepers insisted on replacing her coat for free, and by that time Ron was so plastered she didn’t even attempt to refuse. The local ARMsmeister gave her a discount on fixing and upgrading her ARMs, but being bad with money sober (the Boss would be disappointed in her), it didn’t really matter if there was one or not; she still overpaid for the services. And, of all things, she could have sworn the red-haired waitress said something about having a brave daughter, then wondering aloud why on Filgaia did that thought had suddenly come to her. Then again, Ron also could have sworn Daffy Duck was slam-dancing with a Smurf in the corner; that’s the kind of condition she was in at that time.

At about three in the morning, she finally got away from everyone and found her way back to her room at the inn, where she just crashed on the floor. She had weird dreams about trying to capture giant lizards under little tiny boxes all night…

*

With an aching head and uneasy stomach, Ron departed from the inn once she woke up some time in the afternoon. Waiting for her was the mother and child from the previous day. The child, while bandaged up, was looking in better spirits and the mother was much calmer now. “Young lady, I just want to say that it was a great deed you did yesterday. Other travelers will be safe from that… thing, and at least I can put what was retrieved of my husband to rest…” the mother said slowly, looking like she was fighting the urge to cry.

Her child said nothing, but held up a little flower with an even smaller stem left on it. “Here,” it said.

Ron took the flower and said, “Thank you. Now you take good care of your mother, dear; you’re all she has now, and she needs you now more than ever.”

The child nodded, and Ron patted it on the head. “Well, I’m off. Wish me luck…” she said. I think I’ll probably need it, she thought.

*

End Chapter 1b

Go read 1c and 1d if you haven’t already.

(“Not a Plain Child, But a Young Lady!”

– Title of “Calamity” Jane Maxwell’s theme music)

Chibi’s notes:

I have to say one thing: Jane. Someone’s hero. Scary…