The Boy from Rivia and the Girl from Oxenfurt

I

The door swung open, revealing a tall man in black. His armor covered in black blood. His face dirty with mud, sweat and a little of his own blood. His white hair no longer white in most parts. My eyes scanned the rest of him for more injuries.

"What was it this time?" I stood at the table with my hands on my hip.
"Kikimora." He grunted, tossing his swords onto the chest by the door.
"Well, get out of those clothes and in the bath. I'll get the blood out of your armor." I sighed, tossing a loose brown hair over my shoulder. "And Geralt?" I met his golden eyes.
"Yes, Viv?" He asked, pulling his shirt over his head.
"Next time you leave while we're sleeping, can you leave a note? I was worried." I chuckled. He came a bit closer to me, grabbing my waist. I laughed harder, trying to get out of his grasp.
"No, Geralt! You're dirty!" I screamed as he nuzzled his face into my neck then kissing my lips.
"Hmm, I guess you're in need of a bath too." He stated plainly with a small smile.

Not the Geralt you know? That's because this is before. This is when he was still a young witcher. We knew each other from childhood, before his mutation. Let me give you the backstory.

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One day, many years ago, my father and I went to the market together. I was 5 or 6 but I remember this day vividly. We had brought all of the crop to sell to the villagers. My father stood at his stand talking to customers as I played behind him with the rocks and sticks on the ground. I watched a red haired woman play with a little boy at the well behind the market. She was his mother. After she'd gotten her water, she sent her son to play with the other kids while she shopped. He came to me instead. When he stood in front of me, we stared at each other. I then gave him a rock. We played for awhile before his mother whisked him away and my father took me home to our own village. We did this every week. Eventually we exchanged names and began bringing actual toys we could both play with. Then, it all stopped. He and his mother were gone. When I turned 10, my family moved to Ban Ard, a city of 5,000-10,000 people in the northeast. Raiders had driven us from our home. This is when my father, a former knight, began training me in sword fighting. My mother had never learned and she was killed in the fight with the raiders.

After years of living in Ban Ard, a monster showed up. A ghoul. We sent a rider to Kaer Moren which was about a day or so ride to the north. After a two days, the rider returned with two males. One a young man, about my age with white hair and golden eyes. The other was a man in his 40s or 50s. His hair was also white, but longer than the other man's. My father and I stood outside our house, about to work the fields. The rider stopped in front of us, hoping off the horse. It was the middle of summer, so it was a little strange to find witchers at Kaer Moren.
"Thank you for the horse, Gabriel." The rider handed the reigns back to my father.
"Thank you for going. These old bones never would've made it." My father laughed, leading the horse to the stables. I stared at the witcher boy on his horse. Something about him was familiar. The alderman of our town came out and spoke to the older man. I slowly made my way over to the young man on the horse.

"If you would like to leave your horses to rest, my father has empty stables and will let you leave them there for the day." I spoke up to the him. His golden gaze snapped down to me.
"I will speak to Vesemir." He stated plainly. I nodded, backing away from the horse.
"Geralt." The older man, Vesemir, shouted. They finished conversing with the alderman before making their way to my father at his stables. I had returned to polishing mine and my fathers swords. I glanced up watching the young man. He was so familiar, but I couldn't figure it out. Both witchers rode over to me at my fathers stable.

"Thank you for letting us use your stables. We will come back for our horses when the sun begins to set. Then we will track your monster." Vesemir stated, hoping off the horse. Geralt followed. I stuck my sword into the ground so it stood on its own in the dirt. The young man was staring at me. I gave a small smile to both of them. Vesemir began walking to the towns ale house, Geralt began to follow, glancing back at me again.

Night began to set as I finished brushing off one of the horses. Geralt was the first to arrive. He approached me, taking the horses reigns out of my hands.
"You're from Oxenfurt?" He mumbled, fixing the saddle on his horse. I set the brushes on the table, looking back at him in shock.
"Yes... How did you know?" I looked at him in confusion.
"We used to play in the market together. It took me a little to figure it out. But the girl in the tavern isn't very quiet." Geralt finished his saddle and began on Vesemir's.
"You're the boy. The one who disappeared with his mother."
"Yes, my mother gave me to a witcher." His gaze stared at the buckle on the saddle.
"Oh, I'm..." I paused, unsure of what to say. "Sorry. I didn't know." He only grunted, finally swinging onto his horse as Vesemir had finally appeared.
"I found the ghouls tracks towards the edge of the woods." Vesemir stated, getting onto his horse. Both took off in the direction Vesemir had said.

The next morning, two bloodied witchers returned, towing their horses behind them. Vesemir left his in the stable and turned to the ale house. Geralt tied up his horse, patting it down before turning to go to the ale house.
"Geralt-" I begun, turning the corner into the horse stall. His golden gaze quickly found me.
"What's your horses name?" I asked, approaching the brown horse.
"Beetle." He grunted. I let out a small giggle, quickly covering my mouth with my hand. His head cocked to the side as if questioning my giggle.
"You named your horse after a bug?" I finally gasped out.
"Yes. I named him soon after I arrived at Kaer Moren." I nodded, wiping the ghouls blood from Vesemir's horse's hair.
"What... Did they do to you?" My eyes met his as he rubbed down Beetle. His eye flecked pain, anger, sadness. "You don't have to answer." I moved my eyes back to my task.
"They tortured us. Then they mutated us. Those that survived, went on to training." He mumbled. I slightly gasped when he mentioned torture.
"I'm sorry. I would've-" I began, only to be interrupted by his words.
"Would've what? Stopped my mother? Took me away from her?" He growled, his eyebrows furrowed. "You were a girl just like I was a boy. You couldn't do anything. What's done is done. I'm a mutant now. I kill monsters. I am a monster." His golden gaze found Beetle again. I nodded in agreement, turning to leave.

"I'll see you around Geralt." I waved to him, taking my leave. Id missed that boy from the market. This man was not him. Whatever the witchers did to children stole that boy from me. Yet, my heart longed for that boy. That man in front of me.

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Authors note:
Hey y'all. This is my first fanfiction. I promise it'll get better just keep coming back! The next couple of chapters will get juicy. Any pointers or constructive criticism is appreciated!
Disclaimer:
The only characters I claim as my own are Vivian (main character speaking) and her father. I also claim some parts of the plot as my own work. The rest is straight from The Witcher show.