Yeah, I realize I was procrastinating a bit on this story Sylph but I promise I was plotting. Though it was mostly done in my head and then I got distracted by my pokemon games and, eh, well... that's pretty much how it about the sucky title, but I couldn't really think of anything else. Oh well, it's the actual story that counts, right?
Now that I'm done making up excuses, we can start!
Note: There are some lines from Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia's Chapter 11 where Letha was thrown into Ragou's dungeon. Thought I'd let everyone know in advance.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Vesperia. Neither do I own Letha. She belongs to Sylph Writer.
Missing
"I am going to kill Letha when we find her!" Rita growled frustratedly as her eyes roamed the area; most likely trying to find something to set on fire. Not that it would have done any good since the entire time they had been in Capua Nor it was raining.
Next to her, Estelle frowned slightly. The mage sounded annoyed but that was her way of voicing how worried she was about the latest addition to their group, Letha Vitae.
When the two girls had woken up that morning the older girl wasn't there, her bed already made for the morning. They assumed that she went out for an early morning stroll. Rita complained that Letha could have at least left a note to say where she was going. They weren't able to find her by the time they decided to go after the Rhybgaro and even though Estelle and Karol wanted to wait for her, Yuri put his foot down and said that they didn't have any time to waste tracking down missing members who went off on their own.
Rita backed the older man up saying that Letha would most likely be at the inn by the time they returned.
However, it was nightfall and there was no sign of her having returned. They had asked the owner and he replied that he hadn't seen her. But he asked the other staff if they had seen a girl fitting the description they had given him and a maid said that she saw a girl exactly as they described leaving the inn early that morning.
"Where could she be?" Estelle murmured.
She had wanted to try and find Letha with Yuri and Karol but the former said it would be better for her to wait at the inn in case their troublemaker returned while they were searching for her outside. It was over an hour and neither Letha or the two males had returned.
It was another hour when Yuri came back and Karol entered the lobby fifteen minutes later. Yuri didn't have anything to report other than Letha being spotted by a few people who were early risers. Karol had a little more to report.
"A shop keeper said that she came to his store and bought some rope!" The boy exclaimed, running up to them.
"When?" Estelle said, her tone of voice suggesting that she was going to grab Karol by the shoulders and start shaking them. But being raised as a noble, she refrained from doing so.
"It was, um, this morning..." Karol was a bit startled by Estelle's response, but he was able to answer her question.
Yuri groaned and rubbed his head. Their newest member was turning out to be a pain. First it was falling in a hole in Shaikos ruins. Next she collapsed in Ehmead Hills for no apparent reason. Now she goes missing for an entire day where no one in Nor Harbor has seen her except for early in the morning?
The man also had his suspicions but he didn't voice them out loud because he knew Estelle would get right into his face about it. There was also the possibility that Letha was a spy for one of the many people who were after him and Estelle.
He had asked Repede earlier to try and find her scent. Since so many people had used the streets since the time their trouble magnet was last seen, the dog had a bit of trouble trying to find it. He eventually found it near one of the walls that surrounded Ragou's mansion. But while Yuri wondered if Letha had gone and reported to the corrupt council member, a small voice in the back of his mind cynically said that she would have talked to one of the guards in the entrance of the mansion instead of sneaking in like a thief.
Besides, he wasn't even sure she tried to go into the Magistrate's humble abode. Just because Repede trailed her scent there didn't necessarily mean she went into the mansion.
Though he would find the answer to that statement the very next day.
Despite the fact that one of their members was missing, they couldn't ignore the fact that Ragou would most likely try and cover up his misdeeds when the knights tried to search his mansion. So the group soon found themselves in the basement with corpses in various stages of decomposition. Apparently over taxing the citizens of the town and abusing blastia wasn't the only thing he was doing.
Estelle looked like she was going to be sick with Rita not far behind. Karol looked like he was going to bolt any minute but he managed to stay with the others. The only ones who didn't seem too disturbed by it all was Yuri and Repede.
"Hey, Repede, what is it?" The long haired man asked as his dog and partner put his nose to the ground and started sniffing.
"M-maybe he smells something. L-like monsters." Karol gulped, flinching a bit at the sight of a skeleton closest to him. They had encountered several monsters already and it didn't take them too figure out how all those people died.
"Nah." Yuri disagreed. "That's not it. If it was, Repede would be growling."
They followed the dog as he started to move. After a few minutes, his ears pricked and he lifted his head. His ears were erect as they picked up a distinctive sound. And without so much as a bark, he took off.
Yuri followed, knowing that his partner had found something. The others followed after him, not wanting to be left behind in the creepy basement.
As they got closer to what attracted Repede's attention, they could hear growling. It sounded like wolves. Hungry wolves. And if they were hungry, they must have found someone who was still alive.
Picking up speed, they could hardly believe who the wolves' target was. It was Letha.
"Run!" She yelled at a small boy who couldn't be any older than five.
And to their horror, the wolves leaped onto the missing member, effectively obscuring her from sight as they tried to tear her to pieces.
Rita didn't waste any time as she muttered a spell incantation under her breath before releasing a fire ball. The attack was effective as the wolves were blasted off Letha in an instant. Yuri and Estelle rushed in to take care of the monsters while Pauly started shaking the woman who had been protecting him all night long.
When she noticed that Letha was still on the floor, Estelle left the fight to attend to her. The brunette didn't seem to badly shaken up, the only worrisome thing being her nearly crushed arm which Estelle healed immediately.
Once the others finished talking to the small boy who was certifiably the child of the couple they first saw when entering the town, they turned towards Letha.
Rita decided to yell at her first. Yuri and Karol added their own two cents of how they thought what Letha did was reckless as she had just left without telling anyone.
Though this wasn't the first, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last, time their latest addition to the group got in trouble.
Ha ha ha! I am finally done! Whoo! And just in time for Christmas, wouldn't you say? Sorry it's so late Sylph but at least I finally finished after many weeks of being lazy. And as to those who have no idea of what's going on or want to know what happens next will have to go and read Sylph Writer's 'Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia' fanfic.
What are you waiting for?
Go read it if you haven't already!