"H-Hiding?" Luna repeated, "I'm not hiding anything!" She seemed to grow increasingly nervous about the entire situation. However Luna could tell that Yuri wasn't buying it as she seemingly shrunk down in size.
Yuri stared down at her. "Don't lie to me; you've just joined the guild and you're already lying?" He was not impressed with the young girl at all. "Now we all have our secrets but when it comes to people who are trying to kill us; I don't think you're in any place to have secrets in the guild." As the girl shrunk down further Yuri seemed to get even more impatient. "Listen, Luna. If you're going to be part of Brave Vesperia you're not going to keep such dangerous secrets."
Just then, Judith stepped in and held an arm between Yuri and Luna. "Hey, be easy on her, Yuri. She's just a little girl." Luna straightened up, trying to make herself appear less intimidated. Yuri went to protest but Judith gave him a look that only he understood as Luna slowly walked away from the older man.
As Judith pulled Yuri aside, she lowered her voice. "Did you see Luna when you were yelling at her?" She asked. Judith was sitting up on the railing with Yuri leaning against it beside her. He shook his head and gave Judith his attention. "Hers eyes; she wasn't scared like she appeared on the outside and they seemed quite amused with you."
He looked up at Judith. "You're kidding… I've never had someone think that ticking me off was something to laugh about." Yuri chuckled a little. "She has guts; I'll give that to her. But I won't let her keep the truth from us for long."
"I don't know, Yuri…" Judith continued. "We all have skeletons in our closets; perhaps hers are much too big to ever let out." She pointed out to him quietly. Yuri thought about what Judith had said as she slipped off the railing and walked off towards the front of the boat. The woman walked over to Luna who was looking out over the water below. "So who was that man? He was pretty quick to run away."
Luna looked up at Judith and she knew it would be no use telling her allies absolutely nothing. She searched her brain for details that were safe to give them; "His name's Fedler… He's a lower ranking member of the Dark Contract." She continued. "The members of that guild are better in numbers than they are alone. He was outnumbered so he dashed."
The Krytian woman nodded. "Smart move on his part, I suppose." She glanced down to Luna who had returned her gaze to the world below. "I never would've guessed you have a dangerous past; so dangerous that you can't even tell us your history." Judith stepped away. "But don't worry; I won't press you for details. When you deem the time ready, you'll tell us."
As Judith walked away, Luna found herself joined by Repede. The dog sat down by her legs and put his paws up on the railing to look over the edge. "Hello, Repede." Luna bent down with the dog to eye level and ruffled the fur on his head. "You trust me, don't you?" She asked in a slight saddened tone. "You already know though; you can read me like a book, huh?" The dog barked before rushing off towards Yuri. "I wonder how long I can keep this up…"
Just then Karol came to the center of the ship and cupped his hands over her mouth as Ba'ul slowly descended towards the ground. "We made it back to Dahngrest, everybody!" He called out before letting down the boardwalk once Ba'ul landed. They all followed Karol off the ship and gave Ba'ul their thanks as they left him to fly off.
Once they got inside Dahngrest, the group all split up at the entrance and they agreed to meet back at the HQ once they were ready to review their job requests that had come in while they were gone. Luna walked down the street towards the building that housed the current don; Harry, as she explored the town. She pulled the thick needles from her hair to let fall far past her shoulders as she shook it free from its form. The air was cool so it was a rare time when she could let it down.
The young girl was watching a couple of cats fight over a piece of fish as she continued walking straight into a soft obstacle. Judging by the noise it made, Luna could tell it was a man and her suspicions were confirmed when she looked up. "Oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized.
"Oh no, it's no problem." The man smiled at her; he had black hair pulled back into a ponytail and faded teal eyes with a big purple robe that had a magenta V-neck underneath. "Huh? Aren't you one of those Cryptic Hearts?" He asked.
Luna nodded, "I was; they disbanded a week ago." She replied. "And you are a member of Altosk; Heaven's Arrow, correct?" The only reason why she knew was because they were a famous member of the Union. "I believe you're the one named Raven."
The man smiled. "My, a pretty girl such as yourself knows who I am even to my name? I'm honored." He hooked his right thumb onto his belt. "At any rate, care to enlighten me about that disbanding of Cryptic Hearts? I haven't heard anything about that."
"Luna!" A familiar voice called the girl's name. She turned to see the Krytian; Judith, approach her and Raven before she had a chance to answer the older gentleman. "Hm? Oh, it seems you've met the elder of Brave Vesperia."
Raven smirked, "Oh, Judith darlin'… That hurts." He faked a hurt expression then he saw a look of confusion on Luna's face. "I'm a prisoner of some sort; I owe them my life right now." The older man laughed. "So are you Brave Vesperia's new kitten?"
The girl nodded. "Something like that, I suppose. I joined since Cryptic Hearts is no more…" Luna then addressed Judith again. "So did you need something, Judith?" She asked. Judith nodded and gestured for Luna to follow her. The young girl bowed to Raven. "It was nice meeting you, Raven." And she raced after Judith towards the HQ.
"Karol sent Repede and me to come find you. An interesting job came up and Karol needs your input on how to deal with it." Judith explained. "Even Yuri hasn't been told about the contents yet; he says it's important that Yuri doesn't find out about it until you read it over." Luna examined the way Judith was walking a tried to mimic the same elegance the Krytian had but found it quite difficult.
As the two finally reached the headquarters; which in reality was Karol's home, they were greeted by Repede who had already returned to Yuri's side. "There you are!" Karol exclaimed as Luna approached the table he was sitting at. The young leader handed an opened envelope to his guild member. "I thought you might want to see this."
Luna took the envelope and removed the letter inside. She opened it and began reading the handwritten request that it withheld. It seemed as though her eyes filled with a hurt expression as she read it and she let out a deep sigh. "This isn't good…" Yuri and Judith both tilted their heads. "Should I read the letter out loud?"
The leader shook his head, "First what do you think we should do about it?" Karol asked. "Only you know how dangerous it would be if we took the job. I'll let you decide what to do about it." He sat up on the table next to Yuri.
"Well, without a doubt it will be very dangerous but I don't think we can ignore such a request when it comes to this person in particular." Luna sighed. "I say we accept it; I can't just let this go without at least trying to take on this request."
Karol nodded. "Alright, I guess we'll take it then. You should read it out loud now."
With a deep breath, Luna began reading the message; "Brave Vesperia, I understand that you wish to have no interactions with the Empire however this is a matter that the knights cannot handle themselves. I have already requested the help of the knights but only one had shown up and he instructed me to contact you. My daughter has been kidnapped by a man named Myron who is known as an esteemed member of the Dark Contract. Please, I beg of you to rescue her. I have tried myself but this man's subordinates are much too powerful. You shall be rewarded generously if you accept."
"That knight…" Yuri muttered before raising his voice for the others to hear. "It must be Flynn. He's the only one I can think of who would reference the client to us." Karol and Judith nodded but Luna didn't agree as she had never met Flynn.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean the Commandant; Flynn Scifo?" She asked. "You have connections to a knight as high ranked as that?!" Yuri explained that Flynn was an old friend of his and the saddened expression returned to Luna's eyes again but she shoved it away. "At any rate, this is a job that is important but I think we should allow ourselves today for rest. Of course it's your call, Karol."
He thought for a moment before jumping off the table and taking the request from Luna and tossing it on the desk. "Alright, we'll get some rest today then head out tomorrow. Judith, can you find Raven and see if he can help us with the job?"
She nodded and walked for the door when Yuri called out to her. "Judy, wait." The Krytian turned to face him and made a small noise for him to go on. "Bring the old man to the tavern; we can treat ourselves to a meal that we didn't cook ourselves." Yuri looked back at Karol and Luna. "You two are coming also, right? Come on, we can meet Judy and Raven there later." He whistled for Repede to follow him as they locked the door behind them.
Hey everyone! Thank you for the constructive criticism you've been giving me about fight scenes and character relations! Those are definetly coming up along with a little bit of story exposure. There are many fight scenes to come so hopefully I'll be able to work on those skills in the coming chapters. And I had a perfect name for this chapter but I can't remember it now! That's what I get for not writing it down.
Also; if anyone noticed... Luna is supposed to have glasses but I've actually forgotten to make that known throughout the chapters and decided to edit that feature out of her character design. I hope no one grew attached to her practically non-existent glasses. Oh and if any reads this... Please help me with names for more characters! There will definetly be more Dark Contract characters and others so names would be appreciated since I tend to get hung up on character names a lot.