Chapter Text
Cold was the first sensation. Cold and pain. Pain she was used to. Pain was an old friend. Cold, however… cold was new. So was wet.. Her suit insulated her, and its life support system regulated her temperature, keeping her comfortable and dry.
“Holy crap!” a voice yelled. “Look!”
Samus opened her eyes. Wherever she was, there was a bright yellow sun. She rolled over on the sandy beach and tried to push herself up.
It was then that she noticed her arm was missing.
“Are you okay?” If her arm was missing, her leg probably was too. The voice was closer now. Samus looked up to see a blond haired youth staring down at her.
“Miss?”
“Sam,” she croaked.
“Yes?” the boy replied.
Samus coughed.
“Samus,” she clarified. “My name is Samus.”
“Oh. Wow. Sorry,” the boy said. “My name is Sam. How crazy is that?”
Samus struggled to sit upright, cursing who or whatever took her prostheses.
“Crap,” Sam said. “Vin, go get Doc Harvey.”
“Um…” a smaller boy with darker, but similarly unruly hair hesitated. “I’m not supposed to be walking around town by myself.”
Sam rolled his eyes.
“Then go get mom, and tell her to get Doc Harvey.”
“Ok!” the boy said before running off.
“It’s okay,” Samus assured him. “I don’t appear to be harmed. But where am I? And where is my suit?”
“Uh…. you’re in Pelican Town,” Sam said. “And you look like you’re wearing a swimsuit, so….”
Samus looked down at herself. She was wearing her underclothes. She wasn’t the type to feel shame, but she did feel very exposed.
Sam held a hand out to her.
“We should get you out of the water,” he said. “Can you stand?”
Samus reached out with her good arm and grabbed the offered hand. With Sam’s help, she struggled to her feet. Well, foot anyway.
Standing there, without knowing where she was, without her armor, without weapons, standing in her underclothes, without even the dignity of her prostheses, Samus felt extremely vulnerable.
Sam pulled her arm around his neck and helped her hobble out of the surf and onto the beach proper.
“Where is this ‘Pelican Town’?” She asked.
“In Stardew Valley,” Sam told her.
“No?” he asked in response to her confused expression. “Don’t know of the Valley? That’s OK. Pelican Town’s pretty small. But we’re not far from Zuzu City.”
Samus’ next questions were stalled by the return of 'Vin' with a couple of adults.
“Oh, my!” the newly arrived woman said. “Vincent, I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“Here,” the other newcomer, a kindly looking man, said as he approached. “Sit. Please. I’m a doctor. If you would please allow me to give you a quick once over.”
Samus sat as the doctor set down a bag, crouched down next to her and began to examine her.
“You are very fit,” he observed. “I don’t see any obvious injuries. Do you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” Samus told him. “I feel fine. Just confused. Where am I?”
“You’re in Pelican Town,” he told her. “It’s a small town outside Zuzu City. Your… um… your missing limbs…”
“Old injuries,” Samus told him. “You needn’t spare my feelings regarding them.”
“Yes. Well.”
The doctor cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“The… uh… mechanisms at the ends of your limbs. They’re very advanced looking. Are you, perhaps, Republic military?”
Samus looked at the couplers where her prosthesis would attach to her arm, acutely feeling its loss.
“No,” she said. “I’m not regular military. I’m a bounty hunter. Occasionally a mercenary. Though I prefer to think of myself as a freelancer. An independent contractor, if you will.”
“I… see....” The doctor looked almost queasy, though he didn’t pause in his examination. His hands were gentle as he looked her over. “And who were you contracting to, if you don’t mind my asking? The Goro Empire, or the Republic?”
“Neither of those names mean anything to me,” Samus told him. She felt the tension ease as she spoke. “Last job I took was chasing a bounty on a group of pirates raiding shipping routes. They’d taken possession of something extremely dangerous, and I was supposed to retrieve or destroy the… item.”
“Well,” he said, standing. “That’s a bit of a relief. Not that I’d turn you over if you were an Empire agent, but it would definitely cause a stir.”
Samus found herself both missing and resenting the physical contact. It had been so long since she’d been around people. There were so many hours spent alone on her ship. Days. Sometimes months.
“Let’s get you to my office,” the doctor said. “You can stay there for a time until you figure out what to do next.”
“Thank you, Doctor…?”
“Harvey,” the doctor said. “Most people just call me Doc Harvey. Jodie, would you mind finding Lewis, and sending him to my office? We might as well get all the drama done at one time.”
“Are you sure?” the woman asked.
“No,” Doc Harvey replied. “But I don’t exactly know what else to do. Sam, would you help me with the young lady?”
“Samus,” Samus told him. “Samus Aran.”
Sam and Doctor Harvey helped Samus back to her foot and steadied her as she hobbled into town and into the doctor’s office. Samus sat on an examination table and waited patiently as Doctor Harvey gave her a more thorough evaluation. She’d been through enough examinations by Federation doctors to barely give it a second thought. Though Doc Harvey was much gentler than she was used to being treated.
An elderly gentleman with a full gray mustache entered the office.
“Afternoon, Doc,” the gentleman drawled.
“Good afternoon, Lewis,” the Doctor replied. “Samus, this is Mayor Lewis. Lewis, this is our unexpected arrival, Samus.”
“Well, little lady, you’ve caused quite a stir,” Lewis said.
“I’d say it wasn’t my intent,” Samus told him, “but I still don’t know how I got here. Or even where ‘here’ really is.”
“Hmmm…. Well, we can certainly put you up for a couple nights,” Lewis said. “Of course, you’ll have to stay here. We don’t really have an inn or anything.”
“I’ve slept in worse conditions,” Samus assured him. “And I’m not really fit for travel at the moment anyway.”
Samus waived her residual arm at him.
“Oh… oh!” Lewis cleared his throat in embarrassment.
“Please,” Samus said. “It’s an old injury. One I’ve accepted long ago. My bigger concern is the fact that my prostheses are missing. It makes getting around a bit more difficult.”
“Um… I see. But… uh… you’re fit otherwise?”
Samus rolled her eyes. There was always at least one person that saw that she was female, or that she was missing a limb or two, and took that to mean she was frail. Little did they know.
Samus set her hand against the examination table between her legs, and carefully lifted herself off the table. Slowly, she tipped herself up into a handstand and began doing pushups.
“I’m a warrior,” she told him as she continued. “I’m in better shape than most could ever hope to be.”
“Ahem…. I… I see.”
“Very impressive,” the doctor said. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we have as advanced as the prostheses you’re missing, but we could take a trip to Zuzu City and visit the hospital there. Zuzu is quite a large urban area.”
“Do they have a starport?” Samus asked as she lowered herself back to the table.
“A… what?” Lewis asked.
Samus looked at the confused expressions.
“A starport,” she said. “For…. Wait. What system am I in? Where the hell am I?”
The men shared a look.
“Ma’am, I have no idea what you’re asking about,” Lewis said. “You’re in Pelican Town, in the Ferngill Republic. Beyond that, I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Doctor Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We’ve had a lot of excitement for one day,” he said. “Why don’t we get some rest, and start again tomorrow. I can ask Robin to make a rough prosthesis for you. She’s quite handy, and her daughter, Maru, is an adept engineer-in-training. I’ll ask Emily about clothes. That should be enough to get you to Zuzu. We can see what happens from there.”
“Fair enough, Doc,” Lewis said. “I’ll take my leave. Sorry if I upset you, Miss.”
Samus could only shake her head.
Where was she?
~~~
It was less of a sound, and more of the sense of a presence in the room that woke Samus. Immediately she rolled off her makeshift bed, and onto her knees on the floor. Instinctively, her residual arm reached for the sidearm on her hip before she caught herself. Not only was her sidearm missing, but so was the arm she was reaching for it with.
Samus cursed under her breath. She didn’t even have her Zero suit, much less her armor. And no weapons to speak of. But if someone thought she was defenseless, they were sadly mistaken.
Samus slowed her breathing and heartbeat, keeping her noise down, and focusing on the sounds of the room. She tensed, like a coil spring wound tight. As soon as she caught movement from the corner of her eye, she leapt.
“None of that, now,” a voice said calmly, as Samus bounced off an invisible barrier. She rolled back into a half sit-crouch, and held her good arm defensively in front of her.
A light flickered on, illuminating the room. It wasn’t a light fixture, she realized. It was a ball of light suspended in the air. It hovered next to a man in odd clothing. A man with purple hair, sporting a full beard and mustache.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” the man said. “My name is Rasmodeus, and I am a wizard.”
“A… wizard,” Samus repeated.
Rasmodeus sighed.
“Yes. A wizard. Be skeptical if you like, but I’m here to convey a message of sorts. And it will be much easier if you listen instead of questioning everything. We’ll have plenty of time for questions later.”
Samus straightened slightly, but kept her guard up.
“Speak,” she said.
“You are meant to be here,” the wizard said. “I don’t know if this place needs you, or if you need this place, but either way, this is where you are supposed to be. And you won’t be alone. Not for long.”
“Explain.”
“Others are coming. Others like you.”
“Like me?”
“Yes. In need of rest. Of refuge. There’s a farm just outside of town. The owner passed away, and left no next of kin. You can live there. It’s called ‘Haven’. A bit on the nose, but what can you do?”
“And you know this because…?”
“Because I’m a wizard!” Rasmodeus snapped. He began pacing up and down the room. “And because I’m responsible for protecting this area! And… and… I don’t know! I don’t know where the information came from, and it’s bloody frustrating!”
“Ahem.” Rasmodeus cleared his throat. Samus raised an eyebrow at him as she stood straight and relaxed her arms at her sides.
“I beg your pardon,” Rasmodeus said contritely. “I’m not used to being in the dark.”
“Indeed.”
The wizard stiffened.
“That’s what I have for you. I will put the word in the Mayor’s ear to grant you the farm. If you wish further dialog, you may find me in the tower to the west. Farewell.”
There was a flash of light. Samus blinked and raised her arm to shield her eyes. When the light was gone, so was the wizard.
More. More of ‘her’. What did that mean, Samus wondered? And why Haven? And what would happen next?