MARTH'S POV

Pitter patter went the rain. I didn't peg this country to be the rainy type-I thought it was a more… snowier land, but eh. Figures she would be here. The fox of many faces; you've plagued my mind for so many years after our original meeting. How much I've wanted to see you again, and know why you are like you are.

"Is it a thing of yours to space out? We're in the most dangerous city, and you're staring into space. It's not good for business," Ike, my Crimean mercenary friend, brought my attention to why we were here, "I know you want to find her, but you gotta focus. Me and the others-we're doing this for you, but can leave at any time. Just remember that,"

"Right. My apologies. Now then, its time we caught ourselves a Kitsune, right?"

*Flashback*

"Say that again, Roy,"

"There's this female reaper in this country-Arcadia-and she's, like, the best. The people on the streets call her 'Kitsune'. Some others say that 'Kitsune' is the direct descendant of the Goddess of Death. But since she's head reaper, and that's confirmed, she can find the dirt on anyone. Pay her price, and you can learn what anyone was doing in the past few weeks or so. Pay up more, and you can get what they're doing right now,"

"So, we find this 'Kitsune' and then we can find Ghanti, is that it?"

"Yep,"

"Well, I guess I'm going to Arcadia-"

"Not alone, you're not. I've been waiting for a chance to see reapers up close. You're not taking that away from me,"

"If Roy's right, then Claudia's going to be there. I want to see her one last time,"

"Guess I might as well follow. Been wanting to go for some time, but I didn't have an excuse then. No time like the present, yeah?"

*End flashback and timeskip to several hours later*

"Holy fucking shit what the hell is going on?!"

"Roy, no one knows. But please, shut up, or Miss Maniac with a chainsaw will see us,"

"Right," The four of us got swept up in a reaping-gone-wrong, and there was a person with a chainsaw just in the middle of it all, slicing and dicing anything that got close. The way they moved was perfect-too perfect. Like someone was telling them what to do, or how to move. To the side, a similarly dressed person was also fighting it out, and doing better, but still had the too perfect fighting style-but not as fast paced as the main. The two constantly exchanged remarks in a language I barely recognized as Arcadian. Eventually, a third person dropped down.

"With how much you two spend your time sitting around, I thought you were totally going to be out of shape,"

"Oh, honey, you should know by now. Once a reaper, always a reaper," The one to the side replied. The newcomer-she was clearly female and the side male-then pulled out a pair of dual blades. Startlingly similar to Pit's. Very similar, just a colour swap. Silver and black instead of gold and blue. And all the while, the person in the middle was calm, slicing away.

"You're treating this like a game. When the time comes," The stranger then threw their weapon towards the other two and pushed away their coat to reveal two swords at their hips. With lightning-fast timing and movements, they did a backflip, unsheathed the blades, landed behind them, and slit their necks with such precision they must've been unhuman, "You'll be unprepared. Not good for business. So shut up and do your jobs. Remember what happened the last time you goofed off, Morgan,"

When they said that, the male looked over at them. And that's when I saw it-a golden, fox-like mask. But it wasn't the one Kitsune wore. This one was…more simple. Kitsune's was elaborate-gold and jewels inlaid, "Oh come on, sister. You don't really mean th-…Well well well. Lookie what we have here. An audience. Just what we need right now,"

"Shit," The female ran off, while the other two stood in their places. Except that Gold face-or Morgan, as that was his name apparently-was staring right at us. Or at least that's what I thought. The mask's 'eyes' were saying 'Who are you, hehe'. When Morgan mentioned us, his 'sister' looked up, and that's when we knew. we knew we had found Kitsune. Black mask with ribbons of gold, sapphire, ruby, all sorts of precious materials present. The eyes were black-probably some sort or mesh. If I focused hard enough, I could see hints of blue and green.

"Son of a bitch," Leaping up from her current position, Kitsune lept up, and with a flick of her wrist or maybe it was a snap of her fingers, produced a scythe, a 6-foot metal pole with a curved blade at the top ending in a deadly point. The pole was decorated with engraved vines and roses. The top, where the blade sat, had a rose with a red tint choked by thorns. The blade itself read 'A rose's beauty is only measured by its number of thorns'.

"They have back-up…What do we do now?" Morgan was pitching a fit.

"Et in oscula daemonicum messorem," She dropped down and did a sweep kick, "Sequitur quod infernus," Coming back up, Kitsune did a fancy maneuver with her weapon, futher proving my theory that she simply wasn't human, "Quod est ultimum votum angelum perspiciunt lapsum," Kitsune then disappeared from sight completely before reappearing in the air, scythe flashing deadly glint, "De pugna vincere virus scriptor," Before dealing the final blow, something shot out, piercing a man's chest. As I crouched there, I could tell that it was some sort of tail. A white tip in a world of dark grey fur. Blood stained the white as metal flashed. Blood went everywhere, even covering the mask and flashes of tan skin. I thought that odd, seeing someone that wasn't pale. Shaking heavily, Kitsune stood up and reached for her face covering. But before she could, Morgan grabbed her arm.

"Don't," He said, "We can't trust them. And who's to say they won't sell us out. It's a fool's chance, and I'm not taking it," He was clearly stronger than his sister, multiple tails flicking. Kitsune flinched, more so from something in her ear, before pushing away her sibling.

"It's my choice. Besides, this mask gets stuffy and it needs cleaning," She reached up and pulled off her mask, revealing glittering blue and green eyes. Emeralds in two shades and sapphires. She was beautiful, like a goddess. Except Pit said that bit out loud, and drew their attention. Swiftly, 9 tails rose up from both of them, bristling out of fear and something else, "Si viderunt me, et ego mirror, quomodo se reflecti vobis amicis meis epularer…," And then they disappeared from sight, seemingly warped away on the wind. Where they once stood lay a pair of golden blades. Upon closer inspection, they weren't the same size and read 'hour' and 'minute' on their respective sizes. And numerous gears, probably working, were exposed.

"That…was AWESOME! Did you see how they moved? It's how I always imagined reapers to move," Roy was bursting with excitement. It was understandable, seeing as he obsessed over reapers and their whole culture.

"Yeah yeah yeah, you liked the show. But what are we gonna do about this? We scared off Kitsune-the only one who could help us. And how are these swords gonna help anyways. The only one who could conceivably use them is Pit, but they're unbalanced," Ike provided his input, but that didn't stop me from thinking, "Oi, you ok, Marth?"

"I'm fine. Just thinking…," And then it hit me, "She wants us to find her. The swords are hers, and from the looks of them, their used often, which means?"

Pit responded, "She'll be missing them, so that means Kitsune will be after us,"

"That's right,"

"But now the question is what was she saying? It wasn't anything I know, that's for sure,"

"Latin. She was speaking Latin. Knowing that, she's probably a high-ranking person in general,"

"Ok. So lemme get this straight. Kitsune is a person of probably high-ranking birth with a lot of money-how she was able to get the swords and mask. Because of the monetary value of the swords, she'll be looking for them, and in turn, us. Am I right?"

"Yes. Now the trick is understanding what she said. And I got some of it done. I only got a few words. She said," It took me a moment to remember, "How would you react. That's all I could understand,"

"'How would you react'? Seems like Miss Fox cares about us. But how would she know?"

"You tell me. Now let's find a hotel, before bad things happen,"

MOONSET'S POV

"I don't understand, Moonset. Why did you show them? Honestly?" Morgan and I hoped from rooftop to rooftop as we went home.

"I thought they wouldn't recognize me. It's been years, Morgan. Years. Why would a freaking lord remember a thief girl? It doesn't add up," I stopped to catch my breath.

"This obsession will put us in more trouble than what its worth. Mark my words, sestra,"

"I know. But its something I can't describe," I nodded to Soren, who joined us, "Besides, I know I'm not the only one who's interested. So shut up. They'll find us anyways, considering I left them a gift. Methinks they'll wait for me to get my swords," Morgan scowled before leaving me and the wind mage.

"This can't end well. You know that, Moonset. It's going to hurt you more in the long run,"

"You may be right, Soren, but it's my choice to make. And no one can make me change my mind,"

"Very well. I'll be seeing you later than, o mighty Kitsune," He nodded and walked off, leaving me alone on that rooftop. Looking down, I saw them. Marth, Ike, Pit, and Roy. We once knew each other, years ago. But then I left, to come home. To Arcadia. Ever since, I've been watching them with their cinematic records. It brought a feeling back that I had forgotten.

"Nec possum tecum viviere, nec sine te…" And then I walked away. After all, I'll be seeing them later. To get my swords back.