Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Vindictus. Vindictus belongs to Nexon. I only own the rights to Shana. Thank you and have a nice day

Again, unless stated otherwise, the story is told from Shana's POV

Italics without quotations: Thoughts

Bold italics: Powerful creature speaking via telepathy

Bold: Generally badass things. Also text found on signs, or a powerful entity speaking directly

-Shana's Room-

I woke up feeling a pain on my breasts, when I looked up I saw Tieve sobbing. "Tieve, can you get off of me please? It kinda hurts."

She looked at me with relief in her eyes. "OH MY GODDESS YOU'RE ALRIGHT! I was so worried I'd lose my childhood friend!" She hugged me even tighter, which was really starting to hurt.

I coughed harshly, and coughed up a little blood. "Tieve, crushing bones!"

She released me immediately, and looked at me harshly. "Do not worry me like that again! Seriously! I thought I was going to have to perform a memorial rite!"

Before she could continue ranting, I stopped her by getting out of bed, walking up to her, and hugging her tightly. I reassured her. "Tieve, I'll be fine, okay? You know I have a knack for spitting in Death's face when he comes calling. When she kept crying I remembered something my mother did for me when I was crying.

I pulled Tieve close to me and began running me hand through her hair. "Shh…it's alright, don't cry. I'm right here. Everything's going to be all right" Eventually, she calmed down, then she jumped. "Oh goddess, I completely forgot! Marrec wanted to see you as soon as you woke up!"

"I'll go see him right away." I said as I reached the door, "And Tieve? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

-At the Crimson Blades HQ-

As I entered, I noticed Marrec bitching at some woman who looked like a military type, I didn't pay any attention to them and decided to let the chips fall where they may, in the meantime, I decided to go talk to the redheaded woman in the brown robe.

As I sat down next to her, she turned to me and asked, "Hell of a week, huh?"

I chuckled lightly, "Like you wouldn't believe, I didn't catch your name last time we met, I'm the hooded woman you pointed to the tower. First day on the job and I end up fighting a sentient giant spider, THEN I get sent off to train, and get a concussion, some fractured ribs, and what I think might have been a punctured lung. I presume you had a medic heal most of my internal injuries?"

The redhead nodded. "You were in pretty rough shape when you got back, how you feel now?"

I checked my breasts for any damage, and thankfully, there was no damage to them "Well, my assets weren't damaged, so that's always good, I try to keep my appearance, and prove that I'm not just another pretty face. But back to your question, I'm still a little bit sore, but I'll manage. I figure I'll be good to go by tomorrow. I don't believe I introduced myself when we met last."

I held my hand out, "Name's Shana, and you are?"

She took my hand and shook it "Ceara. Man, when you came back from the training area, we thought you were done for. What the hell happened that gave you so much trouble?"

I grimaced as my lungs started acting up. "Swords broke, had to trick the boss into thinking I had surrendered, when he went in for the kill, I grabbed his club with my left hand, and I stabbed it in the face with my right sword, or rather what was left of it."

Ceara looked at me with wide eyes "Wait, you GRABBED the business end of the spiked club, with your bare hand?!" I nodded, "What about it?"

Ceara looked at me like I was a different person "What about it? That's crazy!"

I gave her another chuckle. "That was the point, would you really expect your foe to grab your weapon to keep you trapped, and then attack you with a broken weapon?"

Ceara shook her head. "No, I suppose not. Anyways, it looks like Marrec is about done talking to Gwynn."

I looked at her curiously, "Gwynn, who's that?"

Ceara replied without having to look at me, "She's a representative of the Royal Army, they're the closest thing you can get to a government around these parts."

I nodded sagely, "I see. I've never been one for politics, it just ruins friendships, and it gets you absolutely nowhere, there are a few good people in this world, like Keaghan, speaking of which, how is that handsome devil doing nowadays?"

This time it was Ceara's turn to laugh. "You won't believe this, but he's the Supreme Commander of the Royal Army!"

My eyes widened. "Really?! Son of a bitch. Well, I gotta talk to Marrec now, kept him waiting long enough since I was out cold.

"Yo! Marrec!" Marrec turned to see me standing there leaning against the wall and approached me. I continued, "You wanted to see me? I'll bet I looked like a weakling when I came out from what should have been a simple exercise, but I have a legitimate excuse…" I told him the same story I told Ceara.

As I finished explaining Marrec's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Damn, well, anyways, Captain Aodhan wanted me to give you this." He handed me a black hoodie with dark brown sleeves. "This is the Crimson Blades Tunic, welcome to the Crimson Blades."

I hugged him tightly, "Oh thank you Marrec! If you weren't wearing that helmet I'd kiss you right now!" I winced as my ribs flared up and I dropped down to one knee. "AH! Son of a BITCH that hurt!"

Marrec held me up and led me to a chair. "Easy Shana, you were pretty much a dead woman walking when you returned, try not to be in such a hurry to almost die again."

I started whining like a child "But Marrec…" I drew out his name like a little kid complaining to its mother "It's so much fun." He gave me a glare, or at least he attempted to, seeing as how I couldn't see his face at all. I decided to point this out. "You know, Marrec, glares tend to work better when they can see your face"

He smacked me upside the head "I'm serious Shana, get some more rest."

I frowned "Fine, no dangerous missions, but I'm at least going to train, besides, I heard there was another dual-wielder? I wanted to compare my style to his once I got better, I mean, I'm no master of my style yet, but still…"

"What is your sword style anyways?" Marrec asked. I looked at him eagerly, "You got a pair of twin swords?" He nodded and fetched me a pair of swords from the storage and handed them to me. "Will these do?" He asked me. I began weighing the weapons in my hands before smirking "A fine pair of blades, these will do nicely. My normal stance consists of having one sword out in front of me in relaxed form of the basic grip, and the other sword I keep in a relaxed form as well, but held behind me in a reverse grip. My style revolves around a single philosophy: Willows are weak, but they bind other wood.

Marrec looked at me through his helmet, and I giggled, "Curious as to what it means?" He nodded "It means that power alone is rigid. But, if you move with the wind, you'll never break." Marrec realized what I was getting at and replied "I see, so you try to make your style flow from attack to attack, much like a dance." I continued "Exactly! The way I see it, if you make your attacks flow like a river, you will have little to no openings in your attacks! I also learned something interesting, I can use magic, wind magic specifically. Let's head outside first."

Now this caught Marrec's attention, "Really now? Might I see?" I responded with the look of someone who's eager to show off, "Sure! Give me a moment" I tossed my swords some distance away from me, where they stuck into the ground, at this point, I closed my eyes and allowed my arms to fall limp at my sides so I could concentrating.

Concentrate, remember what master taught you,

As I concentrated, I could hear Aodhan "Ah Shana, you're-"

Marrec interrupted him "Quiet Captain, Shana is showing me something, you'll want to see this…"

Let your body be like the wind, always flowing, yet ready to move at a moment's notice

I could feel the wind picking up around me as my hair flowed upwards. Then, I opened my eyes, Marrec was looking at me in wonder. I moved my arm in the direction of the sword, and it came to me at a high speed, but slowed down as it reached my hand. I did the same with the second one.

"Your eyes, they're…glowing, and your pupils are slitted." Aodhan said as the other sword came to rest in my other hand as my hair fell back down.

I looked at him skeptically, "Is that true, Marrec?" He nodded, "Yeah, I've seen mages cast magic before, but I never saw their body react that way." How often do you use it? Your wind magic I mean?"

I looked at Marrec, "I can't use it as much as I'd like in combat, as I fight, my mind clears up, allowing me to use it in short bursts, I do fiddle around with it when I get bored though, so if you feel magic being used while I'm resting, it's more than likely my doing.

Aodhan nodded "If your wounds heal tomorrow, I'll have you go out on a real mission, with working swords, keep those sword Marrec gave you for now."

I nodded towards Aodhan, "Will do, I'll see you when I wake up."

As I headed back to the Inn, I yawned loudly. Huh, I guess that little show of my wind magic was more taxing than I thought…

As soon as I got settled into my bed, I felt the darkness take me off to sleep.

A/N: I always thought that Vella's wind magic could have been expanded upon (i.e. Typhoon Slash, Backlash, etc.) and I decided to do so. See ya in the next Chapter of "Tales of Insurrection"