A/N: Hey, sorry this one took so long. Truth be told, I've been neglecting all my stories over the summer. I guess summer is more of a drawing time for me. But, here it is now! I hope you enjoy, and this is the last character to be officially introduced! They made a short appearance in the very first chapter, but now they are back! I hope you like them! After all, they are mine. ;)
READ ENDING AUTHORS NOTE FOR IMPORTANT ANOUNCMENTS!
Silent feet landed on the apartment floor as a cloaked person ducked into the room through the window. The figure froze upon seeing the people lying beneath the covers of the beds and crouched in the shadows, searching for any sign that their silent intrusion had somehow managed to wake them.
After a few minutes of listening to their steady, quiet breathing, the hooded figure was satisfied that they had not done anything to wake the sleeping occupants and began to look around the room, seeming to be searching for something specific.
Daring to step further into the room, they inched closer to the bags that lie near the beds, reaching to look inside.
"Now!" One of the girls lying in bed launched from their place of rest and tackled the cloaked person to the ground. The figure in the hood reacted quickly and fought against the one restraining them, but the lights were flicked on and the brunette girl dressed in pink pajama bottoms and a white tank top pinning the intruder had found a something to bind their hands with.
Once bound, the figures captor, Athena, let them go, to which they quickly scooted away and pressed themselves against the far wall, chest heaving with their furious breathes.
"Monnie, go get the boys, alright?" Athena asked the peach furred exceed. Monnie nodded and conjured his wings before flying quickly out of the room. Meanwhile, Genji, dressed in a black tank top, a hazard sign on it and green sweat pants with her hair tied up, Katelin, clad in a baggy t-shirt and spanks, and Athena all sat in front of the hooded intruder.
"Should we take down their hood?" Genji asked.
"Let's wait for the boys before we do anything." Katelin responded. Athena stared the figure down suspiciously, her curiosity peeking now that they actually had them sitting still in one place. She was anxious to find out just who was staring back from beneath
The person under the hood didn't move as the shadows veiled their face from view. The tapping of running feet was heard from the hall and suddenly the door was thrown open, revealing Alex, dressed only in a pair of black boxers and an eager smile plastered on his face.
"So we got 'em?!" He asked excitedly. The intruder's hood shifted slightly as they turned their head towards the open the door. Alex came rushing into the room with a grumbling Remy, dressed in black, banana patterned PJ's, walking in behind him. Marius walked in not a moment after, dressed in a white shirt and his boxers. He immediately pinned the cloaked figure with a suspicious look.
"You know, maybe you should speak a little louder, I'm not sure the whole building heard you." Remy said.
"What'd you say, fleebag?" Alex snapped.
"You wanna run that by me again, phony prince?" Remy seethed.
"Knock it off you two." Katelin commanded calmly, immediately stepping between them before either could act. "Remy has a point, we should keep it down. Where's Sam?" She asked.
"Here." The man in question responded, stepping in to the room clad only in a pair of green army pants. The Intruder immediately caught sight of the silver key tied around his neck by a leather rope.
They didn't hesitate to lunge, the sudden movement causing their hood to slip off. Sam dodged a silver blur and the intruder knocked their chin on the ground, turning over onto their back and revealing their face.
A young woman with waist length silver hair aimed a fierce, golden eyed glare directly at the tall, blonde man. Her ankle length skirt and skin tight band around her bust were torn at the hems, and her tan cloak was just as tattered as she crouched low to the ground. She moved to lunge at him again.
"H-hey! Hold on!" Sam exclaimed as he dodged her again. She faced him a third time but was quickly pinned to the ground by Athena. She struggled to push the Dragon Slayer off in her furry.
"No!" Came a sudden cry and Athena felt something small and soft crash into her back. "Leave her alone!" The brown haired girl turned to see a crimson exceed beating against her back angrily with tightly closed eyes.
"Lyla?!" The girl below Athena suddenly exclaimed. Alex walked over to the scene and plucked the cat off his friend by the back of her shirt. "Don't touch her!" With a new found strength, the stranger with silver hair pushed off the brown haired girl and shoved her shoulder into the silver eyed boy's stomach, effectively knocking the air from his lungs.
"Athena!" Monnie cried with tears brimming in his eyes.
"Alex!" Kirito exclaimed at the same time. The golden eyed girl broke the bonds holding her wrists together and jumped towards the slayer still holding onto the red furred cat.
Remy acted off impulse. Activating his magic, his hands grew fur and his nails sharpened into claws as he jumped forward.
"Rem, wait!" The back haired boy stopped at Katelin's voice, his claw inches away from a pair of golden eyes. She glowered at him, unfazed by his proximity as she clutched the exceed, Lyla, to her chest, shielding her with her body. Lyla also gazed at him with wide, trembling blue eyes and Remy realized what he'd almost done.
Their terrified gazes should have made him feel something, yet somehow he just felt empty.
Why was this time different from back then?
Suddenly the intruder nimbly leapt around him and over the silver eyed Dragon Slayer before leaping out the closed window, shattering the glass. As she fell to the street below, her cloak caught on the sharp edges left on the window and was torn from her body. Marius rushed to the window and looked out in time to see the last flash of silver strands as they disappeared behind the buildings along the road that lead to the forest.
"Athee!" Monnie exclaimed, crashing into her chest. "Are you okay?" He asked hysterically. Athena rubbed his head affectionately.
"Yeah, I'm alright. How about you Alex?" She called, turning to the Black Dragon Slayer as he sat up.
"Damn, she's stronger than she looks." He mumbled under his breath as Kirito landed next to him.
"You know I heard that, right?" Athena deadpanned, making Alex jump.
"I'll live." He said with faint dusting of pink on his cheeks and quickly decided to change the subject as he jumped to his feet. "We should go after her!" He cried, getting ready to jump out the window. However, Marius grabbed his shoulder.
"Not so fast, you need to slow down." He said calmly.
"And why's that?" Alex demanded.
"Because you need to rest. Bedside's, you don't even know her scent. There's no point in trying to track her in the dark." Katelin said.
"That's not what you said when we got here." Alex deadpanned.
"That's because we didn't know what or who we were looking for. I thought we had a better chance of finding them if we did the same as the villagers." Katelin explained. Alex deflated before his eyes caught sight of the tattered cloth still hooked to the window. Without a word, he grabbed the cloak and held it up to his nose, breathing deeply to catch the scent. Then his eyes widened.
"What's the matter Alex?" Kirito suddenly asked, catching his foster father's expression. He lowered the cloak and stared at it in his grasp.
"She…" He looked up to the others who were now staring at him. "She smells like a Dragon."
…
"What?!" Alex exclaimed furiously. "What do you mean I can't go after her?! Wouldn't it be better for both of us to search?! Or better yet, if it has to be one, send me!"
"Look, this is the best option. We need you here in case she decides to show up in town for some reason." Katelin reasoned, keeping completely calm despite the silver eyed boy's outburst.
"But he does have a point, why can't he go? I'd rather stay in town than trudge through that forest." Athena asked, pointing at herself with a blank expression.
"Because you're more level headed than Alex is. It's true that with Kirito's speed, Alex would be able to find them faster. But after last night, he's far too excited. Someone would need to be there to hold him back, but someone has to stick back here to search as well. It's much easier for you and Monnie to search the forest with Sam, since he's the one we entrusted with her key. Not to mention Monnie should be able to hear her thoughts, so she couldn't sneak up on you as easily as she did us three." Katelin explained. Not to mention that key seems astonishingly important to her, judging by her reaction last night. The auburn haired girl thought, remembering the stranger's actions. She was so violent about it, but she seemed almost deathly patient before Sam walked in. And then the way she shielded that exceed. She could've easily attacked Alex and he would have been completely defenseless, but her only concern was the cat. Her eyes narrowed as she thought. Just who is that girl?
Little did she know, that would be the first of many times anyone would ask that question about others.
Athena sighed heavily.
"Alright then, fair enough. Hand over that cloak." Athena ordered. Alex glared at her.
"I'm the king of the Dragon Slayers, I don't have to follow orders from you." He declared, refusing to give up the clothing in his hand. With a hard punch to the back of his head, Athena took the cloak from him and left him in a twitching heap on the ground. She lifted the tan cloth to her sensitive nose, inhaling deeply and committing the scent to memory.
After a few moments, she looked back up at the man in armor, waiting patiently with the silver key still hanging over his breast plate. She then looked to the peach furred exceed that she felt land softly on her shoulder and smiled.
"Let's go." She said confidently and began walking in the direction of the forest.
"Meet back here by sundown if you don't find anything!" Katelin called as she watched the pair walk away before she heard Marius talk from right beside her.
"You're practically using Sam as bait." He stated calmly. Katelin shrugged.
"Even if I am, there's no guarantee she's currently in the forest anyhow."
"And that's why Alex is here. You know that if she tries to make another break for it, Alex could probably keep up with her." The Notus mage concluded once more.
"Again, no guarantee, especially if she really is a Slayer like Athena and Alex. Although, that does bring up another troubling thought." Katelin said, beginning to think again as Genji tried patting Alex on the head like a child to cheer him up. "In the forest, I saw her use two different types of magic." She said, referring to when there was a bright flash just before the girls kick landed and to when she'd used water to stop Genji's attack. "Even if she is a Slayer, it's currently impossible to tell what element she specializes in. It could be something absurd like a color, much like Alex but it's more than likely something natural, in which case she'd be closer to Athena." Katelin hummed in deep thought.
"How about we get a name before we try and figure out her magic. That sounds a ton easier." Remy said, coming up to stand next to her. Katelin took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yeah, alright, I was just thinking." She sighed out.
"You do way too much of that." Remy retorted.
"And you don't seem to do enough." Genji replied for the freckled girl with a smirk on her face. Before Remy could throw an insult of his own her way, Katelin spoke up again.
"Alright! How about we split up to cover more ground. Marius, Genji, you go with Alex and look around the west side of town. Make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Remy and I will scout out the east. If you don't find anything—"
"By sundown, we'll meet back here, we got it." Genji interrupted, waving her hand with a kind smile. Katelin smiled back and nodded. "See ya later then!" Genji waved and walked away.
"Come on, Alex." Marius sighed. "You too Kirito."
"But why can't we go to the forest With Athena, Monnie and Sam?" Alex moaned with a depressed expression on his face.
"Because it's what the group decided, now stop whining." Genji replied.
Begrudgingly, Alex went along with them.
They searched their side of town high and low, checking each area several times. They spent hours doing this (the boys flirting with a few women along the way), before Alex finally decided it was enough.
"This is pointless, what are we doing hanging around here?!" He exclaimed with a low growl. Marius sighed heavily as Genji shook her head.
"Oh come on, it's only noon, at least have a little more patience." Genji suggested. Alex huffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He'd never admit it, but the reason he was so agitated was because of what had happened the other day. It was obvious Athena and the others had had somewhat of a hard time when the stranger had caught them off guard. He hated to see his friends hurt, and now that he knew who'd done it, all he wanted to pay the back for what they did.
But how could he do that when he was stuck in town!?
The Dark mage ran his hands through his unruly hair in frustration. He looked around the crowded street once more in search of that girl. His nose was hopeless with so many other scents, such as perfumes, different food ingredients and just pungent people around. Not that he couldn't do it, but it was just more difficult than it would have been in the forest.
"Well I've got nothing. Oi, Marius, what about—" It was that moment that he noticed the other male of the group was missing. "Where'd he go?" Alex questioned. Genji looked up, realizing as well that he was missing.
"He must've wandered off again." She replied. Alex scoffed.
"Kirito, let's look from above." Alex suggested.
"You got it!" He exclaimed and gripped the back of Alex's shirt before lifting him into the air.
"Alex, we're supposed to be sticking together!" Genji cried.
"Forget it! Marius already walked away, plus we can cover more ground this way!" Alex called back.
"That's not the point! If you approach our target on your own, you'll…" She trailed off when he flew away. "Idiot, we'll never catch her this way." Genji grumbled. But seeing as she wouldn't convince him anytime soon, she began to search the street again.
Meanwhile, Alex's keen eyes scanned street after street for either the mysterious girl or his missing team mate, to see if he'd had any luck. The crowds weren't as heavy as they were from bellow, which made sorting through them much easier, even without his nose to guide him. Plus, being up in the air gave him the chance to clear his senses.
"You see anything?" Alex asked his exceed. The winged cat shook his head in response.
"Nothing." He replied. Alex cursed under his breath, glaring down at the ground, still searching for any sign of his goal. "Wait…" Alex looked up at his partner. The exceed nodded back to the ground. "Isn't that Athena over there?" He said. Alex turned his attention back to the earth, searching for the familiar brunette. When he'd found her, he furrowed his brow. What was she doing back in town?
"Let's go." Alex said. Wordlessly, Kirito complied, flying nearer to the street as Alex called out to the girl. She appeared to have been buying something from a stall. When she didn't turn to him before he'd landed, he called to her again. "Hey, Athena, what are you doing here? I thought you were scouring the forest with Sam." Alex asked, staring at her back. Her head only slightly turned towards him as she replied.
"Yeah, I was, but I, uh… had to come back and get something." She said.
"Any luck finding the girl from last night?" He asked, stepping to the side so he could look at her face but she turned away from him.
"No, I… haven't found her yet." She stammered. Alex raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior and looked around, realizing there was something missing.
"Where's Monnie?" Kirito suddenly asked.
"Uh… waiting for me back in the forest." She said uncertainly. Alex's frown deepened as she still refused to turn towards him.
"Why won't you look at me, is something the wrong?" Alex asked, taking a step closer. Athena stayed silent for a moment, only breaking it to inhale deeply. Then she turned to him, her eyes closed in a reassuring smile as she held a small bag in her hands, likely whatever she'd gotten from the vendor.
"Everything is fine, see?" She giggled lightly. Alex blinked at her in confusion, something striking him as odd once more. She'd never smiled at him like that before. Not in this kind of situation, anyway. Before he could question it, she'd turned back around with a wave of her hand. "Now, I should be getting back. The others will be waiting for me!"
That was when it finally hit him.
Her scent… The musty smell of moist earth and pine was gone, replaced by something else. Though it wasn't Athena's scent, it was still familiar.
Something he'd smelled recently, in fact.
"Kirito…" Alex whispered.
"Yeah?" He asked, also keeping his voice low.
"I need you to grab her. Lift her high as you can." Kirito gave him a puzzled look. He opened his mouth to ask why when Athena suddenly broke out into a run. Alex wasted no time and gave chase. "Kirito, hurry! Fast as you can!" Quickly, the exceed summoned his wings and flew his fastest toward the retreating female. In a matter of seconds, he'd caught up with her and lifted her into the air.
"W-what?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. Golden eyes. So that was why she wouldn't turn to him.
"Who are you?! What have you done with Athena?!" Alex demanded, seething. The imposter scoffed. She reached her hands up both palms facing the exceed carrying her.
"Regulus Impact!" She commanded. In a golden flash, Kirito was knocked backwards into a building with a cry of pain.
"Kirito!" Alex cried as Athena's imposter landed not far from him. "Black Dragon—"
"Andromeda, Bind!" The golden eyed woman held a clenched fist in his direction. Suddenly, golden chains sprouted from the earth. Alex dodged a few, but they seemed to follow him. They managed to wrap around his body and hold him to the ground with bone crushing force. The imposter stared for a moment and began to walk away.
"Black Dragons Tail!" The woman turned back in time to see the chains shatter from the force of a magic infused kick as Alex used his hands to push the rest of his body off the ground. He pushed himself and literally jumped to his feet again, not hesitating to lunge. "Black Dragons Crushing Fang!" He exclaimed, punching his target in the stomach. The dark energy around his fist burst forcefully and knocked her back further as she cough and spluttered from the impact of his attack. Alex glowered darkly at her, enraged that she had hurt his partner. As the dust settled, he saw that she was no longer taking the shape of his friend. The silver haired girl from before showed her true face as she gripped her now bruising stomach in obvious pain, one eye closed tightly in pain.
Alex lunged again, but his opponent was faster, summoning her own spell.
"Wool wall!" She cried. From thin air, a pink wall of soft, fluffy wool caught Alex.
"W-what?" He exclaimed as he began to feel his energy draining from him, drawing him into some form of relaxation. He knew that he was angry, and he knew he had to fight, but for the life of him, he couldn't summon the will to do it.
It wasn't until Marius came rushing to the scene that he was finally freed, but by then the girl had escaped. Marius summoned a gust of wind to blow the wool away and Alex dropped to the ground. Just as the Notus mage was going to check on his guild mate, Alex punched the ground with an audible curse. His limbs beginning to regain feeling as adrenaline rushed back into his veins, the dragon slayer leapt from his place on the ground and kneeled next to Kirito's side. The Exceed was unconscious as Alex cradled him in his arm.
"What happened?" Marius asked. Alex didn't respond as he stood up, careful not to jostle the cat in his arms, and marched over to the cowering stand owner that the stranger had been talking to.
He kneeled down to be eye level with the shocked store owner before he spoke.
"What did she buy?" He asked with a low voice and an unreadable expression. The store owner stared nervously as he stuttered out a reply.
"J-Just some fire lacrima! That was all she bought though." He answered.
"Fire lacrima?" Marius murmured. "I suppose she may need it to light a campfire, but why come into town to get one and risk being seen?"
"What happened here?!" Genji exclaimed, finally catching up with the two boys. Alex stood and walked over to her.
"Take him." He demanded, putting Kirito in the magma mages arms before walking away.
"Where are you going?" Marius demanded.
"I'm going to hunt down the one that hurt my friend and put an end to this!" He shouted and took off into the forest before anyone could even react.
…
Monnie could hear them like whispers. That's what it was like to hear someone's thoughts. The further away they were, the less coherent they became. The closer they were, the louder they became. When he was perched on Athena's shoulder it was like she was whispering in his ear. The comfort he found in knowing she was there was not unlike having a mother. Sometimes her thoughts would move so fast, he couldn't understand what she was thinking.
But then there was Sam. Someone's thoughts he could follow easily. Slow, steady, well composed in a calm situation like this one. But if they were in battle, he couldn't follow many people's thoughts.
So he couldn't understand why this third person was so easy to read. Athena and Sam were thinking so fast that it was like trying to jump on a freight train at full speed. They dodged branches and rocks being thrown at them and lunged in the direction they came from, only to find no one there.
Please! Please don't go that way! That was the fastest thought that ran through their attackers head. The rest was just guessing and finding ways of throwing different things at them. Monnie could tell that the thought's belonged to a girl, and he could figure out where, but he couldn't really communicate those thoughts in his confusion.
Athena dodged another branch thrown from the trees above and lunged in that direction, landing on a branch and once again seeing no one there. She cursed under her breath and leapt back t the ground, only to jump away from a stone being hurtled in her direction.
"Darn it! I'm getting tired of this!" Athena shouted in frustration and raised her fists into the air. "Terra Rupture!" She crashed both fists into the ground, cracking the ground through the forest in all directions.
Sam used his shield to block any debris and searched frantically with his eyes for the culprit. There was something darting through the shadows, but they moved too quickly for him to get a good look at whatever it was. There were too many trees, he realized.
Guess I'll just have to take care of them then. Monnie heard him think.
"Metal Morph, Chain Scythe!" Sam shouted, his shield melting and reforming into two small scythes, connected by a long chain. Rather than grabbing the handles on both scythes, he gripped the chain and swung the scythes, cutting them into trees and the ground with Athena protecting both herself and her partner. Monnie could hear the frightened thoughts of their attacker. It was small and more like a child's, unlike the intruder from last night.
When the attack was done, silence followed. Monnie waited a minute as Sam returned his chain scythe to its previous form and for Athena to calm down before he flew slowly away from them, not listening to the Slayers pleas to come back. He focused on the frightened sobs he heard.
He focused on the sounds, and rounded a tree.
A red exceed sat on the other side, curled into a tight ball as she breathed heavily and faced the other way.
I can't do it! She exclaimed. I can't keep them away at this rate!
"Keep us away from what?" Monnie asked, startling the exceed. She looked up with big blue eyes. She jumped up and summoned her wings to fly away. "Wait!" Monnie tried.
I'm sorry, Akemi, I can't do anything else here! She thought. Monnie cocked his head.
"Monnie, come over here!" Athena called, gaining his attention. He flew back to where he last saw his partner and realized that she'd moved. "Monnie!" She called again and he followed the sound of her voice.
He found her and Sam both standing in the middle of a clearing.
"Athena?" Monnie asked. The Dragon Slayer turned around towards him.
"Do you smell that?" She asked. The exceed cocked his head. "There's this strong scent in the air. It's strong enough that I know I couldn't be the only one smelling it." Athena clarified.
"I smell it too." Sam said, turning to also face the talking feline. Monnie looked between them before deciding to take a whiff of the air.
That's when he realized he could smell something. It was strong, even for his nose, strong enough it made him want to sneeze. A sickly sweet floral smell. Monnie blinked up at Athena.
"What is that?" He asked. Athena pointed.
"It's coming from over there." She said and began walking in that direction.
It wasn't long before the group found where the scent was coming from. They pushed aside some bushes and came across another clearing. Here they found a very large batch of beautiful flowers with only five petals. Athena gasped at their beauty as the swayed gently in the breeze, they were so white they glowed.
"What are these?" She questioned. Sam stared in awe as well.
"I think these are moon flowers." He answered. Athena stared at him in shock then and he blinked at her. "What?"
"I just never took you for a flower kind of guy." She said. He shrugged.
"They were my mother's favorite. My father would always get them for her, whether it was an occasion or he just felt like it." Athena nodded in understanding and turned back to the clearing.
"I can see why. They're beautiful." She said and moved to take a step closer. Suddenly, she was knocked several feet away from the clearing and onto her back with a heavy weight sitting on her. She dazedly looked up to see the silver haired girl from last night sitting on top of her. Before Athena could react, someone else came barreling in and knocked the girl off of her. Athena looked up and saw Alex facing down the stranger.
The girl rolled to her feet and Athena heard her mutter something incoherent under her breath before a bright light formed in her hands.
"That water trick again?" She asked out loud, only to be surprised when a massive battle axe appeared in her hands. "Requip?" She exclaimed in confusion as Alex reeled back from the flat side of the blade being swung in his direction. Once Alex was a good distances away Athena stood up and sucked in a very large breath.
"Earth Dragons Roar!" She shouted and a spiral of earth and stones shot like a bullet towards the girl. She leapt to avoid the attack and sucked in a breath of her own.
"Celestial Dragons Roar!" She exclaimed. A column of golden light shot towards Athena, and faster than she could dodge, Sam ran between her and the magic attack and held up his shield against it. His feet dug into the ground from the impact and he found himself struggling to stay in place before the roar died down.
Once he was certain it was safe, he lowered his shield and threw his hammer at the girl.
The metal weight collided into her stomach, sending a greater wave of shock through her body from her previously injured spot.
She fell heavily to the ground in the middle of the field of flowers, her axe falling beside her with a heavy thump. Alex lunged for her, and though she was in pain she choked out a loud "Regulus Gatling Impact!" Explosions of golden light caught Alex in midair and threw him backwards until he was thrown into a tree. He cringed and sat up, fury in his eyes.
"Why you..." He started. He saw her struggling to stand and furrowed his brow deeply. The girl was unable to even pull a steady leg beneath herself as she kept falling to the ground. He blinked. Was the combination of both his and Sam's attack really that strong?
"Akemi!" A small voice cried and the silver haired girl looked up as a red blur shot from the trees.
Without warning, the girl sent a roar in that direction, a warning shot that forced the exceed to stop. After that she gripped at her neck and started gasping for air. The axe glowed and disappeared as she keeled over onto her side.
That's when Alex recognized the flowers in the clearing and the anger in his gut melted away, leaving him standing wide eyed.
READ ENDING AUTHORS NOTE FOR IMPORTANT ANOUNCMENTS!
A/N: Alright, I was planning on this chapter being longer, but it's already a freaking 5,000 words! I'll just have to leave you here and make up for it.
Important Announcements!
First, Repunzel3, Katelin's creator, designed and is still designing magic circles for everyone's Characters! Woo Hoo! Big hand to her! The link to the pic is on my profile, guys.
Second, I MADE A FORUM FOR BEAST TALON! It's just a cool little place you guys can ask me questions and where I can ask you some as well. Again, posting the link on my profile.
Third, Character list! Just for clarification, I posted all the characters and their magic and status on my profile… again…
Lastly, IT'S altajir95'S BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday dude! I hope you like the chapter! I promise Akashi will show up the next chapter! This one was just dragging on too long. XP
FAVORITE AND REVIEW PEOPLE! Again, so sorry I never updated until today! Summer is my writers block and my time to Draw rather than write! See ya soon!
"Akemi Hoshi" and "Lyla" belong to ME! Yay!
