Lucky - Arcane VixOC - 1215 FanFiction

Scene 1

"Dear friend across the river~"

I was born lucky. That's what my grandmother told me, when she'd sit me in her lap and tell me about an ancient tale of magic. I was good at remembering things, and proved to be a fast learner. I was lucky, and for a long time I took it every chance I could get. I never wanted her to stop calling me lucky, because if I could be lucky, then it would be enough. Even if I never got to see the sun the way the people on the topside did, even if I had to live my whole life knowing I'd never get the chance to see if I was smart enough to make the same money every other kid got the chance to... I could be lucky down here.

"My hands are cold and bare."

My father worked as an Ironsmith, and my mother helped him sell the products he put out for the people living in the dark. It got our names put on a good list, and I thought maybe we were all lucky. We must have done something good in our past lives, to at least have this much. I was a fool just like everyone else my age, though, and my grandmother died slowly of a disease that she couldn't get medication for because we were from the undercity. We were lesser, and no matter how hard we worked, no matter how many burn scars my father had, no matter how many tears my mother shed... it would never be enough. Even if I could get my hands on that magic my grandmother told me about, my luck wouldn't be enough to save us.

"Dear friend across the river~"

I was an errand girl, running around the city with weapons on my belt to show who I was, and people left me alone. Maybe that was just luck too, though, and not that people didn't want to get on my fathers bad side. I was sent to Benzo's workshop almost everyday for spare parts, different things my father could melt down, leather to wrap the hilts in. That's where I met Ekko, and he introduced me to the others.

"I'll take what you can spare."

The nickname 'Lucky' stuck. Mylo thinks he created it, but he's an idiot, so I didn't bother to correct him. My luck had always been there, and I still think hard about the days I used to relish in someone calling me lucky. How wonderful, for a kid to be lucky. But the more they called me that, the more I hated it. I hated that name more than anything, because my luck was worthless.

So what, if people didn't bother me as much because of my father? Didn't that make me spoiled? So what, if I was a fast learner? You can't be a protégé without money. So what, if things sometimes went my way? Vi would never love me back.

"I ask of you a penny~"

The people who called me 'Lucky' aren't around anymore. Even the one who'd call me "Lu-lu" as a short, cute form of my real name, Alula, was taken from me. I started to fear the people I loved would start to hate me, for managing to avoid a fair share of this pain.

So I decided to make sure that I would use the luck for them, instead of just for myself.

"My fortune it will be."

"Alula."

Now, people call me proudly by my true name. That foreign name, that meant 'First'.

"You ready?"

"Been ready."

"How many more days are you going to come here and stare at her face like that? You gotta let her go. It's been eight years."

I turned to glance at the boy. He looked a lot more like a man, now, but I still got flashbacks the odd time he laughed. He used to be so clumsy, tripping over his clunky shoes, looking up at me with forced square smiles every time I caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He'd always spill two seconds later, though, and then spout out some compliment or blackmail to try and get out of a scolding.