Disclaimer: I do not own the Sorcerer Hunters. If they're OOC, it suited the story, so bear with me. I know what I'm doing. I think. Oh, and none of the characters contained herein belong to me unless otherwise specified (i.e., Peach Sorbet and a couple of other characters that will debut shortly). Please do not use them without asking.

Wrong Turns

Part One: Marron

Marron opened his golden eyes and stared up at the familiar wooden beams supporting the ceiling. He was in his room in his childhood home on Mt. Saint Hordic. He did not remember coming here, but he supposed that the others had brought him here in a futile attempt to try to help him recover.

The memory of the past few days had not deserted him, and he did not feel at all rested after several hours of nightmare-plagued sleep. He half-wished that the beams would simply snap under the weight of the upper story and crush him where he lay, but he knew that his teammates would not let him go that easily, not even after what had happened.

The young mage wondered bitterly why they hadn't just left him in the flaming wreckage of Peach Sorbet's castle. It would have been far easier that way, and Gateau would never have been hurt so badly. Marron would never understand what had driven the big man to nearly kill himself, running from room to room through the flames to save a man who did not want to be saved. In the end, Marron had been so weakened by his grief and loss that he had been unable to fight Gateau as he carried the mage to safety.

Thoughts like those threatened to crack through the icy numbness that had taken over Marron's soul, so he pushed them aside. But he couldn't ignore the void that had settled into his heart. If anything, that just made it worse.

Someone had opened the window to let in the gentle summer breeze. From where he lay Marron could see the lacy curtains billowing softly in the wind, and the scents of the herbs loving planted by Apricot many years ago drifted in with each ripple of fabric. There were bees droning mindlessly among the brightly colored flowers outside his window, and Tira had mentioned earlier when she had brought him something to eat that it was a lovely day; not a cloud in the perfect blue sky.

It meant nothing to him. How could it? Life had moved on, time was still passing; yet Marron's world had been shattered.

It was amazing, he reflected, how he had never considered anything like this to ever be possible. The five Sorcerer Hunters had been an invincible team: Tira with her whip, Chocolate with her wire, Gateau with his awesome strength, Carrot with his Zoanthropy, and Marron with his magic. They had fought many battles together, overcome impossible odds and terrible enemies, even Zaha Torte himself. Certainly there had been moments where Marron had been afraid for another teammate's life, but they had always managed to pull through.

Until a few days ago, that is.

Whimpering softly, Marron turned onto his side and curled into a knot of misery, not caring that his three remaining teammates stood anxiously outside the door with Dota, his father, and most of the other Haz Knights. He muffled his sobs in his pillow, hoping and praying that they would just go away. He just wanted to be left alone.

"Niisan . . ."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been a routine assignment. The sorceress Peach Sorbet had been sacrificing young virgin women in order to raise some sort of demon that Big Mama had sealed away in the days that Zaha Torte had been a Haz Knight. Predictably, Carrot had been the most eager to complete this assignment to gain the "gratitude" of the young women he would save. Tira and Chocolate made the usual threats of bodily harm, but that only made Carrot run faster.

The only thing even remotely out of the ordinary was that Big Mama openly sent Mille Feuille with them, instead of having the Haz Knight meet them later on as she usually did. No one thought much of it, beyond the usual complaints and shrieks of protest from Carrot when Mille hugged him, and even Marron didn't notice Big Mama's worried frown as the six hunters left the Stellar Church.

No problems surfaced during their journey to Peach's castle. The weather was fine, the roads were largely free of traffic, and everyone was in good spirits. Their confidence in their ability to work as an efficient team to eradicate the threat posed by Peach Sorbet could not have been higher. Mille Feuille and the Misu sisters reached an understanding and a temporary truce regarding Carrot, and the three of them fought much less over him. The trip was much quieter after that, for which both Marron and Gateau were thankful.

It wasn't until they confronted Peach herself that things began to fall apart. It was obvious from the start that she would not be an easy opponent; she had far too much cunning to allow herself to be taken unawares without a plan for escape. Unsurprisingly, she summoned her minor demons to fight them and disappeared in a puff of pale orange smoke. This was a normal, anticipated part of the routine: they would defeat the demons, and then go find the sorceress.

Chocolate and Tira whirled through the air like demented ballerinas, cutting demons down left and right. Gateau, of course, used his massive fists, and Mille Feuille fought with his feathers. Carrot got in a few hits with his sword, even though he was mostly ducking behind Chocolate and Tira for protection. Marron had his hands full with sealing the defeated demons' souls as fast as he could, so he didn't notice when Peach returned to the room.

The same instant that Peach reappeared, Carrot was hit by a stray blast of magic from one of the flailing demons caught in Chocolate's wire. Carrot screamed as his body absorbed the magic and swelled into the huge bull-horned black monster.

"Aranju and Zoanthropy," Peach said calmly, one eyebrow raised as she watched Carrot's transformation. "I wonder, though, how much he can take?" She lifted a large milky gray crystal shaft and pointed it at the Carrot-beast. It glowed, and a brilliant light exploded from the tip, striking the Carrot-beast's chest as he strode toward the sorceress.

"Niisan!" Marron cried out in horror. That crystal was a rare form of forbidden magic that enhanced the user's power because it was made of solidified pure magic. There was no telling what the sorceress could do with it, as the effects were extremely random with each spell cast, and only a master of crystal magic, such as Peach Sorbet, could even hope to try to control it.

"Oh my god!" Gateau exclaimed.

Carrot screamed in a feral rage, writhing in pain as his body stretched out to a fifty-foot long serpentine shape, fur dropping away to reveal green scaly skin. A large green crest rose from his now reptilian head, and a forked tongue tasted the air beneath unblinking reptilian eyes. The young mage had never seen anything like this before, and it froze him in his tracks.

Tira looked up at Marron's shout and gasped, nearly allowing the demon she had pinned to escape. "Carrot!"

A moment later she was echoed by Chocolate's terrified, "Darling!"

"This is absolutely fascinating," Peach was saying as she adjusted the beam of malevolent magic from her crystal. "Now, what would this do?"

"Marron, you have to stop her!" Mille Feuille yelled, grabbing Marron's arm to shake him out of his shocked stupor. "Carrot's body can't take much more of this. She's trying to burn him out by making him absorb way more magic than he can handle."

Even as Mille Feuille spoke, Carrot was shifting again. His serpent form shrank in on itself and sprouted four legs ending in cloven hooves. White fur sprang from the green scales, which suddenly fell in a rain of metallic clinks to the stone floor. The reptilian face lengthened and became a horse's head, a full white mane burst from the elongating neck, and a single pure white spiral horn grew from his forehead. His eyes grew larger, redder, and madder, roiling like the fires of hell in their sockets as he took yet another implacable step toward Peach.

"Hmm," Peach murmured with a sidelong glance at Marron. "As interesting as it would be to see what you turn into next, I think I must cut our little experiment short. So let's see how you handle this." And she threw the crystal at the Carrot-unicorn's head.

Tira and Chocolate both screamed something incoherent, forgetting that there were still a few demons waiting for the perfect time to attack them. They suddenly found themselves distracted by several black, squirming bodies with sharp teeth and claws even as they both reached for Carrot.

"Kuso!" Gateau hissed and leaped to help them. Mille Feuille was right behind him, leaving Marron to save his brother.

Nothing short of magical fire could damage the crystal that Peach had thrown at Carrot, Marron knew, and an entire stack of ofuda was in his hand before he had chosen what spell he would cast.

"Phoenix Inferno!" Marron cried out, but something heavy slammed into him from behind and the fire bird veered out of control, crashing into the wall. It exploded into flames, spreading quickly to engulf everything in its path. The ofuda spilled out of his hand over the slippery tile floor.

The crystal continued its inexorable arc toward the Carrot-unicorn's head.

"NO!!!" Marron screamed, shaking the heavy weight off of him as he struggled to grab an ofuda and to stand at the same time. His vision narrowed to his brother in unicorn form and the crystal slowly spinning as it drew closer and closer to hitting Carrot. He reached out to his brother even though he knew it was hopeless, and watched the gray crystal shatter on the Carrot-unicorn's forehead, just beneath the spiral horn.

For one agonizing moment, the Carrot-unicorn stood perfectly still, as if startled by the amount of pure magic its body was absorbing. Marron and the others stood transfixed by the sight, and even Peach was gawking at it.

Then the Carrot-unicorn screamed in pain, rearing up and thrashing back and forth. Massive bubbles roiled underneath its skin, bursting to reveal legs, arms, heads, and other nearly unidentifiable body parts of many different animals and monsters. The fire spreading behind the horrifying apparition made it appear darker, shadowy, and infinitely more sinister.

One thought kept running through Marron's mind as he watched the grisly scene: I failed my brother.

Then he could hear his teammates screaming, and then the flames rose up in a fiery tidal wave and crashed down again, consuming everything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Marron gasped and sat bolt upright, staring wildly at nothing. Night had fallen, and the room was dark and cool, but sweat poured off his rail-thin body. He pushed a shaky hand through his tangled black hair, taking a deep breath. He had again been dreaming of that awful moment when he had failed to protect Carrot, as he had sworn that he always would. He had the sick, sure feeling that he would be dreaming of his failure for the rest of his life, and buried his head in his hands.

The horrible images of the dream did not fade; if anything, now they were more vivid than ever. Even when he had watched his brother die, they had not been so clear and sharp.

The window was still open, but he couldn't bring himself to appreciate the cool night breeze. Carrot would never feel it again. Carrot would never feel anything again.

A moan escaped his throat and he curled tightly into himself, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Hot, stinging tears burned his eyes and overflowed yet again even though he thought that he had cried himself dry by now.

After a few minutes, he heard a soft, hesitant tap on the door and stopped crying long enough to peer suspiciously at it. Why wouldn't they just leave him with his grief? Was it too much to ask for? He was not ready to be around other people yet. The wounds were far too deep and far too recent. He needed time to regain control over himself.

The tap came again, still very quiet, as if the person were trying not to attract the attention of anyone else in the house.

Go away, he thought viciously at the intruder. Leave me alone!

Against his will, the door opened, and a young woman he had never seen before cautiously peeked in. Her eyes were dark and very large, her thin face oval-shaped, and her skin was very pale in the moonlight. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun except where some of the strands had worked their way free and straggled around her face as if she had slept with her hair up, and she had draped a blanket over her thin shoulders.

"Who are you?" Marron demanded angrily. "What are you doing here?"

The young woman jumped, clutching at the door as if for reassurance or protection. "Forgive me," she whispered, eyes downcast.

"For what?" he snapped, not caring how rude he was being. She had invaded his privacy; he had every right to be furious.

She looked up, and he could see the shimmer of unshed tears in her eyes. She swallowed visibly and stepped forward, uninvited, into his room, closing the door behind her. Her eyes returned to the floor and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her.

"It was all my fault," she whispered, her voice choked with tears. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and the words came tumbling out so fast he couldn't make much sense of them. "I knew that the Paths were unstable, I knew that I should have waited for Reven-sensei to come get me so that something like this wouldn't happen, but I got so tired of always having to depend on him, to always be burdening him with my weaknesses that I – "

"What are you talking about?" Marron interrupted sharply. "What does this have to do with me?" Unspoken: what does this have to do with my brother?

She took another sobbing breath and collapsed to her knees. "I was on a Path between worlds," she said, just barely managing to keep control of herself. "It ... shifted, and I was thrown into this world from it." She looked up at him, not even seeming to notice the look of incredulity on his face. "Your friends said that I landed on you when I came here and … that's why your brother is dead. You would have been able to save him if I had not …"

Marron closed his eyes. He had wondered what it was that had hit him. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked in a surprisingly calm tone. His tongue felt thick, as if it were three sizes too big for his mouth.

She wiped the tears away from her eyes with her fingers, looking up at him desperately. "Because I can fix it," she told him softly. "I can make it so that this never happened."

To be continued …

Author's Notes: This is just an experiment. Please forgive me for tormenting poor Marron. I had this odd dream a couple of months ago, and the idea simply would not leave me alone. Vanilla is not in this one; you don't need to read Fox Hunt to understand what I'm doing here. It's going to be a little complicated, but I decided to challenge myself before I decide to write a sequel to Fox Hunt. For everyone who requested that sequel, I don't mean to be a tease, but I don't have any concrete idea of where to go with it quite yet (the sequel, not this story ^_^). Hopefully this will shake something loose. ^_^

As always, if you enjoy this, please let me know in a review or an email. I won't promise that it'll make me write faster (my muse is moodier than I am), but it will at least make me feel better knowing that there are a few people out there who like it. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. Blatantly rude and unhelpful comments will be ignored. As a very wise person once wrote, "the only ones who laugh are those who stomp on flowers."

Thanks for reading!

~ Lady Cianyin ~