Panting was heard as a small girl ran through the woods. Starving and tired, the small girl fell to ground as she tried to hop over a large fallen over log.
"This sucks!" She cried as she got up and peeked over the log, "I finally manage to catch something to eat and stupid wolfs take it away then chase me down the path!"
The girl sighed and turned around to continue walking. As she kept going, she saw a small shadow walking alone.
Her gold eyes widened and a smile grew as ran over to it. But before she could do pull out her knife, another was pointed at her neck, stopping her in her tracks.
"Hurt the bear and you die"
Her gold eyes focused on the deep voice of the boy who was standing in front of her with a dagger to her throat.
"Wait, bear?" she looked to the creature and finally noticed that it was indeed a bear.
"How did you get a bear?!"
"Found him" another, female, voice was heard. A girl walked out from behind a tree.
The smaller one noticed how the two looked alike. Twins.
"He's at the size to attack anyone who attacks him first" the older girl explained, "so why would you Tun at him?"
The smaller girl raised her hands in defense, "look, it's dark, I couldn't see that it was a bear, and I'm tired and hungry" right as she said that, her stomach let out a loud growl.
She groaned in embarrassment while the twins sweatdropped.
"I was just looking for food" she trailed off as she then fell to the ground.
She had fainted
The boy looked to his sister as he lowered his dagger. She simply shrugged told him to put her on the bear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gold eyes slowly opened to the smell of....cooked fish?
She quickly rose to a sitting position, scared that some bandits had gotten her, only to see the twins and the before from before. Cooking a large amount of fish over a fire.
"Ah, she's awake" she heard the girl say
The boy walked over to her with a fish screwer, "eat up" he simply said
The girl looked at him confused as she slowly reached for the wooden stick.
Once it was in her hand, she looked at the two in confusion, as if silently asking; "why are you helping me?"
"We couldn't just leave you laying on the floor, dying of hunger" the girl said
"You should thank Trinket for carrying you and catching the fish" the boy said as he was already eating his second fish.
The small girl cocked her head to the side, "who's Trinket?"
A tongue suddenly, but softly, licked her cheek and the girl flinched slightly, turning her attention to the bear who was laying behind her, letting her use him as a giant pillow.
With a slight blush, she pet his head, "Aw, thank you"
"They always like the bear" the boy muttered
The other girl chuckled and sat down to eat as well.
"I'm Vex'ahlia, call me Vex" she introduced herself, "the brooding one is my twin brother, Vax'ildan"
"Just call me Vax" he rolled his eyes
The small girl smiled at their kindness, "I'm Miel Lunagaurd"
"So, why are you out here starving to death?" Vax asked, finishing up his last fish
Miel looked down a bit sadly then took a bite of her fish, "uh, you know, running around, trying to find food in the wilderness because bandits ransacked my house, killing my family in the process and burning down the house"
The twins looked at her with gapped looks at her quick explanation.
"And what about you two?" She asked, "uh, three" she corrected, looking at Trinket.
The twins glanced at each other, deciding to follow her tone of explanation.
"We're half elves that were taken from our mother to live with our father"
"Asshole didn't care about us" Vax growled
"So we left to go look for our mother. But she was killed...by a dragon"
"And we've been out here ever since"
"Seems we have things in common" Miel said as she ate her third fish
"Seems so" Vex commented with a smile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An arrow hit the trunk of the tree, but missed the middle.
"You're not good with a bow, huh?" Vex chuckled
Miel sighed as she lowered her bow, "you think I need more practice?"
A swish was heard past them and the two girls turned their attention to the tree, only to see a black dagger in the center.
"A blind bastard has better aim then you" Vax quipped, scaring Miel since appeared behind her
"I thought you were out stealing food"
"I came back"
"I hate to say it" Vex said taking her bow and shooting an arrow. It hit next to Vax's dagger, "but he's right"
Miel's eye twitched, "pretty sure it's because you guys have been out here longer than I have"
"Whatever makes you feel better" Vax chuckled as he grabbed his dagger and walked over to them, "if you can handle yourself with a weapon, how are you gonna continue traveling with us?"
Miel's eyes widened, "you'll leave me if I can't use a weapon!?"
"Sorry Miel, we just can't be protecting you all the time. You have to defend yourself" Vex explain somewhat sadly
Miel growled and yanked the black dagger out of Vax's hand, "I don't believe it! Just because I'm not good now? That is fucking evil!!" She yelled as she threw the small knife at the tree, "how could you guys leave me out here to fend for myself after we've been traveling together for weeks!?"
Vex and Vax glanced at each other and smiled
"What!?"
"You won't need to worry about that" Vex said, "I think we just found out which one of us is gonna train with you"
"Huh?"
Vax came up to her and turned her around to face the tree. There, embedded in the bark, in the spot that was marked, was Vax's dagger. Just a couple inches away from Vex's arrow.
Miel's eyes widened in shock
"Looks like we're partners" Vax said, "who knew you'd be good with daggers"
Miel blushed lightly at how close she could feel his breath to her ear. She raised her hand and with a small flash of light, Vax's dagger was back in her hand.
"Y-yeah, I didn't know either" she chuckled
"How did you do that?" Vax asked
Miel looked at him confused, until she realized he was talking about how his weapon was back in her hand without having to go for it.
"Oh, it's a trick I picked up. I used to use with my own...before I lost it in the woods" she stated, "I've been honing it since then"
Vax glanced at Vex for a second and then smiled at Miel, "teach me?"
"Huh?"
"Teach me to summon my weapon back" he repeated, "it'll be very useful in future"
Miel smirked, "knife lessons for a simple magic trick? Sure" she chuckled, "just don't leave me out here?"
Vex and Vax laughed at her meek question
"Miel, we were lying. That'd be too fucking cruel even for us" Vex laughed
"Oh thank you" Miel sighed in relief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a couple years and many sparing lessons from the twins, Miel was as good a fighter as them. But she still couldn't beat them in a fight.
Fighting matches left her with slight bruises from Vex'ahlia, and pinned to the ground by Vax'ildan. As good as she tried to be, the twins were just better. But when it came to her magic, she was obviously better...hopefully the twins don't decide to learn magic, or they might end up beating her at that too.
"There you are"
Miel jumped when she heard Vax's voice behind her, "would you stop doing that?"
"What are you doing?"
Miel looked at him from her protective stance, staff in hand. A couple years back, Miel found a magic stone that could help with with her magic. So she grabbed a branch and tied it on to the tip, making it into a staff.
Miel chuckled, "I'm practicing some of my defensive magic...I don't think it's going well"
"Right, other than that, how's training to be a witch-"
"Warlock! I'm a warlock!"
"But you're a-"
"Warlock!"
Vax stared with wide eyes and raised his hands, "alright, alright. You're a warlock, geez"
Miel sighed, as she lowered her staff, "my shields are horrible, they'd break too easily" she said "and my healing has seen better days"
As she was saying this, Vax walked up behind her and pin her arms behind her back.
"Ow!! Vax!"
"You let your guard down" he chuckled
"Fine! Let go!"
Vax hummed, "nope"
"What!?"
"Try to get out"
Miel growled as she was struggling to get out of his hold. She wriggled and stretched to the sides and even tried to spin out, the the half elf rogue was not budging.
"Fuck off, Vax!!" She yelled as she picked up her leg and stomped on his foot.
Vax yelled in pain, lessening his grip. Miel spun around and kicked his legs from under him. As his back the ground, Miel pounced on top of him with his own dagger to his neck.
"Not bad" Vax smiled. Miel smirked in victory until Vax pushed her hand away and rolled over to pin her arm to the ground while the other he held between the two. "But not fast enough" he added
Miel blushed as she glared at him and tried to get from under him
"Bit of an intimate position, huh?"
Miel froze and her eyes widened from the line.
"Get off!" She growled and raised her leg, kneeing him right in the dick.
Vax whimpered as she pushed him off. She grabbed her staff and walked to where Vex and a trinket were. Leaving the rogue twin behind on the floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was after that surprise sparing match that things changed a bit between Vax and Miel.
Vax was become more flirtatious with her, sometimes annoying Vex.
Miel couldn't say she didn't like it, she did find him attractive and sometimes flirted back. But the fact that he never went past flirting was what got on her nerves.
She couldn't tell wether he liked her or if he was just being a flirt.
This cycle of flirting and confusing signals continued years after as they traveled together, surviving out in the world.
Vex always stayed in the woods while Vax would go to cities and steal trinkets to sell for money. Miel accompanied him every so often as a distraction, if he needed it. Most of the time he ended up taking her just because.
————-
Miel waited at a courtyard of a small town they've been camping near by for a couple days, people watching, while she waited for Vax to return from his stealing.
Suddenly, someone covered her eyes from behind.
"I'm back"
Miel chuckled as she moved his hands away and Vax sat next to her
"So what did you get?" She asked
"Uh, well it's more of what did I buy"
"You bought something?" She joked
Vax chuckled, "well, I had to steal and sell, so I could buy this" he pulled his arm from behind his back and pull out a holster with six small throwing knives.
"All these years and you've never gotten your own knives" he laughed
Miel blushed when she realized that he was right. Almost 5 years together with the twins and she never had her own weapon, other than her staff.
"So, I figured that I should get you your own set. You can hide them under your vest"
"Thanks Vax" Miel said as she pulled out one of the small knives. They were simple silver osetr knives. Small and straight with no hilt, just a small hole big enough to fit a finger to spin it or connect it to the others with a string. A simple small leaf design spiraling up from the end going up the back of the blade.
"So pretty"
"I..." Vax cleared is throat reaching for his belt to pull out his own dagger, "I actually had those and this one made" he said as he showed her his blade. It was the same style, simple and sliver, with a similar leaf design, only his leaves were a bit longer.
"Nice. Now you have three daggers" Miel said as she touched his dagger to take a closer look at his design. "Now I'm curious to see what you got Vex"
"I didn't" he replied and she looked at him, "this is a um, just for us"
Miel's widened at what he could be implying, "Vax..."
"I mean, is it really that big of a surprise? Other than my sister, you're the only other person I can trust to have my back" he chuckled lightly, his cheeks a slight pink, "so will you..." he gulped down his nervousness, "will you be mine?"
At the question, Miel's face exploded into a dark red color. She smiled slightly from the embarrassment, and nodded her head.
Vax smiled and brought her closer into a tender hug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After that, it didn't take long for the rogue and warlock get used to their new relationship.
Vex didn't seem to mind either, as a Vax had mentioned that she was the one who encourage him to confess. She also mentioned how it was nice for her to finally have her own weapons.
Their travels did not change much, other than the fact that Vax and Miel were together.
That is until they met up with five other people a couple year later; Pike the cleric gnome, Grog the Goliath barbarian, Scanlan the bard gnome, Keyleth the Air Ashari, and Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, or Percy for short, a gunslinger.
Having new company while traveling was a nice change of pace. Pike was such a nice, holly, person and her companion Grog was actually a nice guy to get along with, unlike other Goliaths. Keyleth was a sweetheart and she was great to talk to as well. Percy was a bit distant compared to the others, and was a bit hard to talk to since he was so smart and knowledgeable, but he had his moments. Scanlan was a bit too forward the first time they met, Vax almost punted him when he came on to Miel, but he too had his moments where they would have fun with him. Mostly at bars, drinking ale.
After meeting these people and getting along well with them, they decided to create a mercenary group called: Vox Machina.
It was after this group was made that Miel noticed how full everyone's hands were while traveling, and decided to learn a certain spell to cast on a regular sack. After much practice, she had created The Bag of Holding. An infinite bag that can hold anything, like Scanlan's lute and Grog's axe, and still have room for much more. Percy had decided to use it the most since he makes his own guns.
Vox Machina spends most of its time completing small tasks to earn enough money. Enough money to go drinking at a bar most nights, or in Scanlan and Grog's case; pay for female companions for the night. So most of the time they were all flat broke. But no matter the circumstances, or what other mercenary groups say, they continued doing what they did just to get by and they all had fun together.