Ragnarok Online still isn't mine, though my soul still belongs to it. Some of the story in this is taken from my own guild experience, though it in no other way reflects any true events.

Enjoy! 3

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Six Years Later

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Tired, aching, and sick, Shinta limped up the stairs to Reprion. From outside he could hear loud voices - shouting, cursing - echoing off the walls of the castle. He heaved a sigh as he pushed open the doors, then locked them carefully as they closed behind him.

"Well if you don't like it, why don't you go somewhere else, huh?"

"Excuse me? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"I was under the impression I was -"

"What in the hell is going on in here?" Shinta asked softly as he reached the great hall. A group of his guild mates - Maria, a high priest, Ren, a lord knight, Lena, a creator, and Dias, a whitesmith, were standing in the center of the room, not too close to each other, and each red in the face as though they had just run a great distance. Off to the side stood Aria, another creator, looking frustrated. She shot Shinta a helpless look, then turned and marched off into the castle, pulling her cart after her.

"This idiot-" Dias started, an uncharacteristically hard gleam in his usually gentle eyes as he motioned to Ren.

"What do you mean, this idiot?" Ren retorted, firing up at once.

"All right," Shinta cut across them both before either had a chance to start arguing again. "Lena, what happened?"

Lena looked around at the group warily, then gave a sigh as though she had feared she would be the one that had to do this. "Well, Sana ordered us to help Honoo, since they were short. She thought it'd look good, since they're considering us as potential allies," she paused, appearing to consider her words before she continued. When she spoke, her voice was slightly rushed, as though she hoped it would lessen the impact of the words. "She sent us and Aria, and well... Ren took the castle from them," she sighed gloomily, then continued. "And everyone started fighting. Maria wouldn't help Honoo because they weren't allied to us, and Ren wouldn't either, because he wanted the castle for us. There was a big fight... and Sana said she was tired of playing lap dog. I think she's gone for good."

Rubbing his temples at the news, Shinta drew in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "I see. What castles do we have?"

Silence greeted Shinta's question. He looked around the four of them, then let his eyes rest on Lena, who looked as though she would rather be anywhere than in front of Shinta, faced with the question. "Just Reprion. Infinity took Noisy while we were distracted with Honoo, and ... Night Fire took Creamhilt while we were... distracted with Honoo."

"So you stood there and argued amongst yourselves... while Night Fire was attacking?" Shinta asked, hoping he had heard wrong. When no one contradicted him, he immediately felt his temper rising. "Well Ren," he said evenly, not meeting the lord knight's eyes, "And Maria. I think it's safe to say that you are no longer welcome in Fenrir. Kindly remove yourselves from Reprion by this time tomorrow."

"Wait just a minute!" Ren began indignantly, stepping forward. Shinta's eyes narrowed.

"You have possibly destroyed a potential alliance, lost us a castle, and caused one of my co-leaders to desert," Shinta said through clenched teeth, making an attempt not to sound outwardly hostile. "You will have to forgive me, it is my final say."

The two shuffled out, Ren looking mutinous. Maria's eyes were downcast, as though she were near tears, but Shinta could not bring himself to feel bad for her. In his absence, he had expected his friends to treat Sana with respect; they certainly had not done that, and now he was left to sort out the mess that never should have been created in the first place.

"Sir," Dias said tentatively, taking a step forward. The wheels on his cart squeaked, causing Shinta and Lena to grimace. The sound was much too high-pitched for either of their liking, and it seemed to only become more unbearable each time they heard it.

"For the love of god, Dias," Shinta said, unable to suppress a smile, "I will buy you some grease for that damned cart it that's what's holding you back from fixing that abominable sound."

"Ha, ha," Dias said, but he didn't manage a smile. "We lost quite a few people today. Sendoh and Aiden left, and we haven't seen Azriel anywhere," he said with a frown. Shinta cursed under his breath. "We're not positive who else, but Aria and I estimated about fifteen members."

"Wonderful," Shinta nodded, then sighed. "Thank you, Dias, Lena. Go get some rest, you deserve it."

"There's... one last thing, sir," Lena said quietly. She motioned towards the court yard, where there were still wisps of smoke unfurling in the air, the unmistakable remnants of Meteor Storm. Damn, how he hated wizards. "Namie is here to see you, the leader of Honoo. She said she wanted to speak with you about, erm, current guild conditions and the like."

With a sharp nod, Shinta started toward the courtyard. In the past few months, Fenrir had taken on a dramatic change. Many of Shinta's older friends had retired to a quiet life, preferring families to battling, while others had moved to new guilds in search of new scenery. He couldn't blame them; Fenrir had been around for longer than Shinta could remember, starting as a group of friends banding together in order to survive, and evolving into the most respected guild in Rune-Midgard. Now, however... now. Shinta's lips twisted in a frown as he contemplated the state of his guild. Losing power, losing zeny, losing castles, losing friendly faces.

Half-hearted, Shinta wondered whether guild-leading was worth it anymore. Might he retreat to the quiet life, and start a family? As arrogant as it sounded in his own mind, he knew he would have no trouble finding a wife; they tended to go for the rich, powerful sort.

A derisive laugh escaped Shinta's lips at that thought. What would he want with a wife that was interested in zeny and power? And yet, he hadn't yet managed to find a woman that had interested him for her wit, or her charm, or even her appearance.

Oh well, Shinta thought idly, seating himself on a bench opposite Namie, who had watched him approach silently.

"I'm not happy." she started bluntly, looking at Shinta with a faint sneer on her face. Shinta raised a brow.

"I certainly hope you don't think I am happy with the way the siege went today," he said with a trace of irritation. Namie shrugged.

"Fenrir is losing power," she continued. Shinta stared at her, wondering how many scuffles her tongue had gotten her into. "And Honoo is in need of the power that Fenrir still has."

"If you wish to merge," Shinta said, glad that Namie had at least gotten to the point quickly, "I will discuss it with my friends, but I doubt they will be willing. I myself am not in favor of a merge at this time."

"Understandable," Namie nodded at Shinta's statement, leaning forward. She studied Shinta intently. Shinta couldn't help that notice that, even though Namie was in a castle under friendly pretenses, her katar was unsheathed and glinting in the sunlight. "However, a merge would benefit us both. We could reinstate the power of Fenrir," she said with a slight nod at Shinta, "and Honoo could establish itself with the technique it would learn from Fenrir."

"In other words," Shinta said slowly, looking at Namie with the friendliest expression he could muster. "You want to give us the appearance of the might we once had, while having the opportunity to see how we work from the inside, and implement our tactics into your own guild for your own success," he said, noting that the assassin cross across from him was developing a steadily more annoyed expression the more he spoke. "No, I don't think that will work. I don't with a carbon copy of Fenrir in the streets of Rune-Midgard, and I would prefer that our tactics stay, ah... ours."

"Then I suppose we have nothing more to say to each other." Namie said, her lip curling. She got to her feet in a lithe movement; Shinta noticed the presence of deadly poison bottles tucked into her belt, but said nothing.

"No," Shinta agreed with a faint inclination of his head. "Nothing."

"I think," Namie said softly, looking over Shinta in a way that made him feel uncomfortable as he looked into her black eyes, "That you'll regret this day. Perhaps sooner than later."

"We'll see," Shinta offered with a bland smile, getting to his feet as well. "But if you'll excuse me, I have guild matters to attend to."

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Hurrah for picking names out of nowhere! Please review if you find the time, I'd appreciate feedback/critiques very much! nn