Chapter 1

"Mysterious attacks in the woods." Setsuna read the headline title of the newspaper then looked at the pink haired girl that stood next to her. "You said this was important, Rose. I don't see how."

"I said that you would be interested in it." Rose pouted.

"No." Setsuna put the newspaper down to grab her coffee. "You said that this had to do with me, and it was imperative that I look at it."

"But it is, Setsy!" Rose's pouty face made the silver haired woman look down at where the pink haired girl was pointing. "Read this!"

"It was the middle of the night when photographers captured photos of a mysterious creature before they were killed. Their bodies were covered in claw and bite marks." Setsuna read. She looked up at Rose. "I still don't see what this has to do with me. It's just a wild animal. They'll catch it soon enough."

"No! I didn't want you to read the paragraph!" Rose exclaimed. She pointed to the picture that was above the paragraph. It showed the area where the bodies were found. Setsuna examined every bit of it. Grass where the bodies had been found were still bent and darker parts of the picture hid where blood was most likely spilled. Rose's finger kept pointing to the trunk of two trees that were in perfect view of the camera. Setsuna's eyes widened when she finally noticed what Rose was pointing at.

"Those tally marks..."

"Yeah." Rose sounded serious. "I think it's...well...I think you know who it is."

"Yes." Setsuna stood. "Excuse me. I need to talk to Azura about this." She walked away leaving the pink haired mage at the table. Rose watched Setsuna go up the stairs. She narrowed her blue eyes and looked at the hooded man that had hidden himself behind her.

"You could have said something to her, brother." Rose said. "She would have believed us a lot sooner."

She felt her brother's hood move against her back as he shook his head. Use your words already. Rose thought bitterly.

Setsuna opened the door and quickly jumped to the left to dodge the sword that was thrown at her. The assailant continued to follow her movements, sending blades at her and lunging at her with the one that was in his hand.

"Okay!" Their guild leader clapped her hands together. "Settle down you two. Kuro pick up your blades before you go off to sulk."

Kuro's violet eyes widened as Azura turned to Setsuna, but he obliged and took his swords with him as he vanished into the darkness.

"I'm never getting used to that." Setsuna said.

"I doubt anyone will." Azura said with a smile. "But you have to admit. He's a very good bodyguard."

I'm actually scared of this woman. Setsuna thought. I'm scared of this woman who goes through a stack of papers in a minute because she's okay with her bodyguard jumping out of the shadows with fifty blade drawn.

"What can I do for you?" Azura asked.

"There's a situation..." Setsuna said slowly. Explaining her motivation for going back to her old guild was like opening an old wound. It was painful and nobody wanted to do it. But if it really was who she thought it was then she would rip open that wound with her own hands.

When she finished, Azura looked slightly pale. The guild master took a deep breath to calm herself then spoke. "Are you sure? You know that we can't protect you once you leave this country."

"I'm aware." Setsuna replied. "The one doing the killings is my responsibility."

"I thought we told you to lose that mentality, Setsy." Azura sighed. "You're not a guard dog anymore."

Setsuna felt a rush of anger. "I know that Azura. This is my own decision. I'm leaving tonight."

"This isn't a job request. I can't protect you if you get arrested."

Setsuna felt a smile begin to form. "Then I'll make sure I don't get caught."

This is a spin-off and a slight prequel to Crimson Empire. Setsuna, Rose, and Abyss are all important characters to the main story and I was worried I wouldn't develop them enough in the main story. So they get this! I'm thinking this will be a shorter story than Crimson Empire. This story also contains spoilers for other things in Crimson Empire's main story, so if you don't want to be spoiled, I'd recommend not continuing.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review on your way out, I love to read them.

~Mirai