Ignis was getting annoyed, Lestallum's famous Partellum market has just about everything, but coffee, they were running out of ebony coffee, and the Niffs were holding up the supplies, Ignis isn't usually one for violence, he does it for necessity, andto
fight the empire, but right now he might just kill for some more coffee beans. Distracted at a stall of spices, Ignis didn't notice the girl near him until he turned around and ran smack into her, disoriented for a moment, he picked his shoppingup
and held out a hand for the girl.
"My apologies, for that, I wasn't looking where I was going"
"No, no, it's okay" she said taking the proffered hand "I wasn't looking either-" she started "I-Igggy?" She asked
Ignis searched through his memories, he didn't recognise her, but she looked erily famillier
"Do I know you?" He asked
"Ig, it's me,Kirena, I was a crownsguard trainee, but I helped out at the kitchens a lot, we met once when you were trying to teach prince Noctis how to cook" Ignis peered at her, long golden brown curls spilled over her shoulders, blue with brownflecked
eyes searched his face, he could tell she was suppressing excitement, a sudden flash of memory hit him, a young excitable girl, baking in the citidel's expansive kitchens.
"Kirena! You survived the invasion!" She nodded, the excitement she was suppressing leaking into her body language.
"Ah, if your here then, is prince Noctis with you?" This time it was Ignis's turn to nod
"Techincally in the hotel we're currentlyusing, but yes, he is" an odd mixture of relief and joy joined the excitement in her face
"Ha! I knew it! He's too strong to be taken down by Niffs, Charon ows me ten gil now, oh, when she finds out!" Glancing at Ignis she stopped babbling
"So Ignis, what are you doing out here in Lestallum anyway?" She asked, Ignis hesitated trying to decidedon what to tell her, but then decided that it couldn't hurt, she was crownsguard afterall, even if she was a trainee
"We're here looking for a job to do to get some gil"
"Eh, really?"
"Yes, what about you?" Kirena's face saddend
"Charon and I are here for basically the same reasons"
"Charon?"
"What's left of my crownsguard unit, the other two were killed in our escape"
"Ah, I'm er, sorry you had to go through that" she shook her head.
"No, it's alright, but sometimes I wonder, should we have stayed around and helped fight them off and not leave when we did" Ignis sighed, he'd only known Kirena for a few months, but he did know that she had a fierce protective streak, anda bit
of a guilt complex when she feels she could've done more, he shook his head
"No, leaving when you did was a good choice, if you'd stayed behind you would've been killed, by leaving and staying alive, you can still fight the empore with everything you have"
"I guess" Kirena looked at him, a gleam coming into her eyes,
Oh dear, what plan has she cooked up now?
"You said you were here for a job right?"
"Yeees, why?"
"Then I have just the thing, we found a job to take down a deamon that's been trying to get in at night but we decided it was a bit too much for us, if we team up we could quite possibly take that thing down and split the bounty" Ignis considered
"That could work, how strong is this Charon?" She tilted her head
"She's strong, mainly uses a scyth but can use daggers"
"I assume your fighting style is the same since the time we spared?" She grinned and nodded
"Alright, I'll have to confer with the others but it's possible, wherewould Charon be right now?"
"She should be at the apartment we rented, I can go and get her if you'd like"
"Okay, I need to finish shopping and get started on dinner, would you like to come over and we can talk more than?"
"Sure, what hotel are you staying at?"
"The Leville, do you know where that is?"
"Yep, see you in about two hours"
"Then it's agreed".
Two Hours Later
Ignis opened the door, Kirena was in the other side
"Hey, ho" she said cheerily
"Kirena" Ignis said in greeting, behindher was a blonde,stern faced women, who he supposed is Charon, moving aside so they can come in he said
"And I suppose this is Charon"
"Yep!" She replied grinning "Nice place you got here"
"Thanks!' Said Promtoright behind her
"Kappa!" She yelledspinning, a sword materilising in her hand
"Nice reflexes" Promto said
"Thanks" she said dryly vanishing the sword
"Name's Promto" he said sticking out a hand
"Kirena" she said shaking Promto's hand, Gladio a big muscley guy came over
"I'm Gladiolus, you can call me Gladio for short"
"Noctis" Noctis said coming over "Nice to meetya"
"Likewise" Kirena said dragging Charon over to her side "This is Charon, 80% no fun, 10% fun and 10% my self-restraint"
"Hello" she said "Forgive my cousin, she can get a bitexcited, she is afterall only 15"
"Aww,that's alright" Promto said "Hey Iggy, how long until food"
"Not long" Ignis said returning to the small kitchen
"Aww, how long's "not long"?"
"Is that supposed to make sense?" Gladio asked with a smile
"Maybe, if you had brains!" Promto retorted
"Ha! I have more brains than you and Noct put together"
"Touchè" Promto said
"So, how come you managed to get Ignis to invite you here?" Noctis asked Kirena
"I gave him a bit of a proposel, for a job that we needed help with" Kirena said
"Oh? What's this job about?" Kirena grinned and puta finger to her lips
"I'll tell you after, we eat".
An Hour Later
"So, what is this job?" Noctis asked as they sat around the hotel room, each with a cup of coffee, Ignis had managed to find more beans
"It's this deamon, believed to be a version of a red giant, but much stronger than the regular kind, they've been calling it the Red Alpha, the same one pops up every night at the western wall to Lestallum trying to get in, it never succeeds of course,but
it's still been making itself a nuisance, amonth it destroyed the road, a group of 13 strong hunters went in when the bounty went up, only two survived, physically they were alright, but something happened in the fight and one ofthem had
some kind of brain damage" Kirena said, staring intoher cup, a heavy silence followed her words.
"Brain damage?" Ignis repeated
"Yes, when the two hunters came in one of them kept mumbling, something about destruction and Etro" Charon replied
"So you need, our help to stop it?" Noct said
"Yes, the total bounty is 200,000 gil, so if we succeed, you'll get half"
"200,000!?" Promto said in disbelief, Kirena and Charon nodded grimly
"That's a lot of gil" Gladio stated
"The mayor herself put the bounty forward, the giant is threatning her people afterall"
"That makes sense" Ignis said.
"So are we agreed, are you going to help us?" Charon asked, the four men shared a look, then turned back to Charon
"Girls, you have a deal" Noctis said holding out a hand, Kirena shook it cheerfully.
"Well than, we'll meet you at the west gate an hour before nightfall"
"Agreed" they all said in unision.
To be continued.