And another of these have been completed! Oh yay. This is actually one of the ones that has been sitting unfinished on my compy the longest XD There's one that's been sitting on there even longer, being the first one of these that I started writing, but for now my inspiration had kinda left me for that one :/
Anywho, enjoy!
Oh wait, before I forget again, eventually in this it will be stated that there are nine people in the chase. Now I KNOW there are really eleven (as of NAGC getting Dio last week) but since I don't have him or Mari, they won't be counted or showing up till I do managed to get them on my acc. I'm strange, I know ;) I'll get Dio most likely sooner then Mari as I'm much closer to getting him. (Unless I get a sudden outburst of cash). I think I still need at least 4-5 lvs at the least, 10 at most before I try the last two dungeons on Xenia. (Forest of Life, 60someodd natals, eesh)
Of Work Camps
It wasn't like him to be missing like he was. A few hours sure, but not a day. She had looked everywhere she could think of in the castle, had asked everyone if they had seen him. All of his usual hiding places completely vacant. She had even branched out to the village nearby, but there was still no trace of the white haired thief. As time went by and he didn't show up, she became increasingly worried.
Lass was missing, and Arme was going to get to the bottom of why.
/
It wasn't the best place to be, not in the slightest. The conditions were harsh, forced to work out in the hot sun all day with little or not at all breaks, accompanied by a next to nothing supply of water. The work was hard and brutal, forced to work on the building of some lord or others new abode. They slept in crudely foraged huts, laying on the floor with practically non-existent blankets, the hard wood serving as the bed and devoid of any sort of pillow. They worked from dusk till dawn, except when they worked even later because the taskmaster felt like they hadn't worked hard enough during the day. This happened several times a week, and was more of a regular occurrence and something to be expected. The compound they worked within was surrounded all the way around by four, fifty feet high walls.
The taskmaster himself was a broad shouldered, unfeeling, heartless jerk who wasn't afraid to use the whip attached to his belt. He surveyed the workers with cold, almost pitch black eyes that seemed eternally locked into a glare. His face in general seemed unable to present any other expression other then malice, and he did not take kindly to anyone acting out. This being demonstrated almost frequently thanks to a young white haired boy that had joined the workers a scant few weeks ago.
"Really boy, how many times do I have to tell you that there is simply no escaping from here?" The taskmaster said with a slight sneer as he paced back a forth in front of the boy. "And this is not the only offense you have. Sources tell me that you have also been stealing food from my own private stores and slacking off in your work." He stopped his pacing and faced the boy, putting his face mere inches away from his captive. "What do you have to say for yourself before I give out your punishment? Admit your wrong doings and I might just go easy on you."
The boy himself was being restrained by two big and burly strongmen, both holding an arm in an iron grip. The boy was only wearing a ragged pair of pants, and was glaring at the taskmaster, unwilling to show any sign of giving in. As such, in response to the question asked, he just spit in the man's face.
As a result of this, the boy earned himself a punch in gut from one of the strongmen. "Why you little brat!" The Taskmaster yelled, pulling back and hurriedly wiping his face dry. "How dare you!"
"Heh, so how do you like your answer?" The boy asked, breathing a bit heavily from the blow he had received. Despite this, a slight smirk rested on his face. "It's what you deserve, after all." That earned him another blow, causing him to double over as much as one could when being held up by the arms.
"Tie him up for three days with no food or water and make sure that the others know not to give him any. Tell them that any contact with this little ingrate will result in severe punishment." Taskmaster said, his back to the boy now. At the order the boy was dragged off by the strongmen, but not without some struggling.
The post where the boy was to be tied sat in the direct middle of the place, where all could easily witness his punishment. While one of the strongman held the boy in place, the other tied the boy's arms above his head, one end of the rope binding his hands together, with the other end attached to a metal loop that was protruding from the post.
One of the strongmen grabbed one of the boy's cat ears, pulling him closer, causing the boy to wince a bit. "Just be glad that you're the master's favorite or you'd be meeting a fate far worse then this." The man said quietly, almost in a menacing sort of way.
"Ya well your master can just suck on this!" The boy replied, jumping up slightly and kicking the man in chest and sending him flying a short distance. The response to this was a square punch to the boy's jaw by the other strongman.
"You should learn to respect your superiors." He growled out.
"Ya, well maybe I will if I ever meet one." The boy said, spitting out some blood.
"Why you cocky little brat!" Another punch, this time to the ribs, and the boy had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. He wouldn't be surprised if the impact point was severely bruised, if not having the bone broken there. The man was about to take another swing at the boy, but the taskmaster called. So with that he was left alone with only his thoughts to keep him company.
The three days went painfully slow, and at one point it seemed to be like it would never end. Despite what some might have thought (or even hoped) would happen, the boy never showed any signs of breaking, never begged for food or to be let go, despite the fact that he could easily see the other workers eating away. He just stood there, a defiant glare never leaving his face, silent as the wind, despite the fact that when night came, every time he seemed to be about to fall asleep, it was made sure that something would always wake him up.
When it came time for him to be set free, sometime just before night began, two of the workers were ordered to do the task. Once the rope was no longer holding the boy up, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees, proving just how weak he truly was at this point. He was then ordered to be taken to the worker's sleeping area and deposited there. He laid on the floor in the building, eyes closed, breathing heavily and finally letting the facade drop to be replaced by a very tired expression. He would've fallen asleep, relishing the shade, but a nudge to his arm caused him to stir.
"Kid, ya still alive in there?" Said an older, male voice with a heavy accent from somewhere nearby.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and looked to left where the voice had come from. "What do you want?" He asked in a tired manor. The man standing there looked to be at least a few decades older then the boy, with very short, ragged brown hair.
The man sat next to the boy before answering. "Came ta check on ya, kid. That an'," he reached into his jacket and into a hidden pocket to pull out a small canteen and a crudely wrapped up napkin, "ta give ya this. Been savin' scraps of food fer when ya got released. Figured ya'd need it somethin' fierce." He set the items down before helping the boy to sit.
"You didn't have to, Raoul. You should be concentrating on getting yourself enough to eat." The boy protested in that same tired voice.
"Naw, I make out jus' fine, don' ya worry abou' me." Raoul said, placing the canteen in the boy's hand. "Now drink. Gotta preserve th' younger generation, ya?" The boy sighed but relented, drinking the water held in the canteen a bit greedily, some of the liquid spilling down from the corner of his mouth. "There ya go, tha's a good boy. Now fer th' food." He undid the napkin to reveal a hand full of small biscuits inside. He held one out to the boy, who took it after placing the canteen on the floor. "Ya know kid, I don' see why ya have ta be so rebellious all th' time. It's not s'bad here."
"I didn't choose to come here, that's why." The boy grumbled a bit, taking a bite of the biscuit.
"Nobody ever has, but not like there's anywhere fer us ta go. Ya best ta stop those 'scape attempts fer good."
"Except I do have some place to go. I have someplace to live where the work is much better then this!" The boy exclaimed, slightly exasperated. "Besides," he began again, now speaking almost too quiet to hear, "I'm not going to be be able to make up for things stuck here."
"Ya know kid, ya did never mention where ya came from, or what ya were doin' before ya came. Ya say ya were still workin' but ya work here or ya work there, work is work ya?" Raoul stated.
The boy shook his head. "Hardly." He muttered. "This doesn't even begin to compare to the line of work I'm used to. This is for some stupid selfish lord while what I and the others do is for the good of the world, making sure it's not taken over by evil."
"Others? Ya mean there is more of ya?"
The boy nodded. "There's nine of us in total."
"It's too bad ya're stuck in here, but I ain't seen nobody escape with life still intact."
"Well then, I plan to be the first. They're no match for me."
"Which is why ya got yaself caught in th' firs' place, init?"
"Hey, that was just foul play and that guy came out of no where!"
Raoul laughed a bit and ruffled the boy's hair. "O'course kid." He glanced outside. "Gettin' late, better hit the hay an' prepare fer a new day." He said before moving to his own designated spot in the room and laying down. "G'night kid." The boy sighed, finishing up the last of the biscuits before following suit in laying down himself. Sleep came easily to his exhausted body, something he was grateful for. He didn't need another night staying up thinking.
The next morning came far too quickly in his opinion. "Time ta get up kid, work time." Raoul said as he shook the boy awake.
"Ugh, I'll never complain about early morning missions again..." The boy muttered as he sat up, one hand holding the side of his head. If he could've, he would've just laid there all day, trying to recover from the harsh past three days, but no, that wouldn't have gone over very well with the taskmaster. He had seen it happen before; when someone refused to come out and work, insisting that they get a little more rest. When that happened, the taskmaster would send in the strongmen to go and drag the reluctant person out and force them to work. It wasn't much of a pretty sight and the boy had no desire to go through it himself.
"Ya know I think we're gonna be gettin' a new worker taday. I could'a sworn I heard th' truck pullin' in." Raoul said as they were leaving the building.
"So another poor soul is forced to join us. I pity them." The boy said darkly.
"Now c'mon kid, no need ta be s'gloomy."
"Speak for your-Arme!" The boy exclaimed, watching as a familiar purple haired girl was being led from the back of the truck. He hurried over to her, placing a hand over her mouth before she could say something that would get her in trouble like she had been seemingly about to do. "Thank you for delivering her, I'll be taking her for now." He said to the strongman that had led Arme from the truck. "And don't worry, I'll be sure she's taught the ropes." The man watched the boy for a moment, before leaving to put the truck away. After the man was clearly out of earshot, the boy turned his attention back to the mage, removing his hand from her mouth. He was about to say something, but was abruptly cut off.
"Lass how dare you disappear like that!" Arme said, smacking the boy in the head, clearly angry. But just like that, her mood switched and she hugged him tightly. "I was worried about you." She said softly.
"Eheh, sorry about that. Although you know it's not like I chose to be here in the first place." Lass said, sighing a bit, then wincing as the action had caused a twinge of pain to go through his injured side.
Arme noticed and pulled back a bit, examining the thief. His tail was matted and dirty, and it looked closer to black in color because of all the dirt then it's usual white color. His other cat feature hadn't escaped injury either. The thief's right ear looked like something had clipped it, as a portion of the ear was missing on the side. She frowned as she looked him over more, noticing another wound. She gingerly touched the large, dark colored patch of skin on Lass' left side. "What happened to you?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Er, well let's just say that defiance isn't very well accepted here." Lass replied.
"What are you talking about? And what kind of place is this, anyway? Those jerks even stole my war staff!"
"Kid, best we be gettin' ta work leas' ya wanna get th' whip." Raoul's voice broke in.
"The whip? Lass what does he mean?" Arme asked.
Lass took the mage's hand and began to lead her to were the main work took place. "I'll explain on the way." He said.
/
"What?" Arme exclaimed after Lass had explained to her what exactly the 'work' was. "Why do I have to build some stupid lord's mansion? I'm a Chaser and I shouldn't have to be forced to do these things! I've got better things to do!" She said this as she stomped her foot on the ground.
Lass sighed. "That's just the way this place works, Arme."
"That's just not fair! I didn't even ask to come here!"
"Neither did I. But I've learned that everyone is here because of either trumped up charges or being homeless."
"You stole something again, didn't you?"
"I didn't steal anything!...this time." Lass protested. "They dragged me here on account of destruction of public property."
Arme frowned. "That doesn't sound like you."
"It's a trumped up charge." Lass said, shaking his head. "I was on my way back to the castle from my mission, but in one of the villages this guy just comes out of completely nowhere and shoves me rather roughly into a nearby stall. Of course it broke a bit from impact, and some other guy calling himself 'sheriff' who had been there the entire time, comes and tells me that he's going to have to 'take me in' for blatant destruction of public property. Which is total bull, if you ask me."
"I'm just surprised you went with him." Arme said.
"Well I certainly didn't go willingly. I was about to just ignore the guy and leave, but one of his goons came out of no where and knocked me out from behind. The next I woke up I was here." Lass stated.
"Well fine, but we can't just stay here, we have to find a way out!" The mage exclaimed.
Lass just shook his head. "What do you think I've been trying to do for the past few weeks?"
"Hey, you two over there! Less chatting and more working!" The taskmaster yelled. His whip flew towards Arme, causing the mage to flinch. But before it make contact, Lass stepped in the way and held out an arm, causing the offending weapon to become wrapped around his arm.
Lass grabbed the whip and yanked on it, causing the taskmaster to lose his balance and fall over, letting go of the whip in the process. "You harm her and I swear you'll rue the day that you were born." The thief said menacingly, detaching the whip from his arm.
The taskmaster growled as he stood up motioning for his strongmen guards to approach. "Really boy, do you just never learn?" He said harshly. "Guards, get him!" The strongmen complied, starting to rush towards Lass, fully intent on taking him hostage.
The thief had other plans, however. He took of running away from his would be attackers, fully intent on going to one of the few effective hiding spots that he knew of in this place until the chase was given up and the offense forgotten. Unfortunately, he still wasn't recovered from the harsh past few days and didn't make it very far before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Because of this, the strongmen reached him easily and each took one of Lass' arms and roughly pulled him up.
"Let him go!" Arme yelled, coming up and futilely trying to pry one of the hands holding Lass off.
"Heh heh, funny girl." One of the strongmen laughed, easily pushing the mage away and to the ground.
Arme was about to get up and do something that would most likely get her into trouble, but Raoul came and stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Do 'im no good if yer in trouble yerself."He said quietly to the mage. She pouted, but didn't move to do anything else.
The strongmen then dragged Lass off to where the taskmaster was waiting some feet away. "You still asking for more, boy?" He asked once close enough for the thief to hear. He didn't wait for an answer. "Well let's see, what am I in the mood for today?" He had a mock thoughtful look on his face. "Ah yes, I know just the thing." A smirk was now quite plainly on his face.
Lass was now once again tied to the post, only this time he was facing it, back to the taskmaster. But that was the intention, as, after all, the thief's back was exactly what the taskmaster wanted to get to. He was holding his whip in his hand, one that had small spikes all over it, and was currently using it to lash out at the unprotected boy's back. One lash for every crime it had been deemed by the taskmaster that Lass had done. And over the past few weeks that had amounted to quite a few.
Everyone in the compound had been invited to watch, especially the other workers, so that they may watch a rule breaker "get what he deserves." As the number of lashes got up there, Lass hadn't made a single sound but it was not hard to tell that it was becoming increasingly hard to stay silent, for he had his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched. As such, Raoul had to keep a firm grasp on Arme's shoulder to keep her from running up and doing something foolhardy. After all, she was pretty much defenseless without her staff.
After what seemed like an eternity to both Arme and Lass, the taskmaster finally stopped, slightly disappointed that the boy hadn't made a sound. As such he ordered that Lass not be untied until the work day was over, and once again not to give him any food or drink. After giving that order, he demanded that everyone get back to work before stalking off, leaving Lass there, bleeding and breathing heavily.
When it was announced that the workers were allowed to quite some few hours after night fall, Arme was the first to rush up to where the thief was tied. "Lass!" She exclaimed as she came up, Raoul not too far behind her. When close enough, the mage became worried as the thief' s had was bowed and his eyes were closed. "Lass?" She asked, gently putting a hand on the thief's cheek.
His eyes opened and he slowly looked over at the mage, a small smile making it's way onto his face. "Ah, Arme," he said weakly, almost to soft to hear, "is it over?"
Arme nodded. "Yes, the day is over, we can let you down now." She turned to Raoul, who was tall enough to reach up and undo Lass' binds. Once his his support was gone, he began to collapse, completely unable to support his own weight. Before he could hit the ground, though, Raoul was there to catch him and carry him back to where the workers slept. Once there, he gently set Lass down, trying to be mindful of the thief's newest wounds.
"I swear I'm gonna kill that guy when next I get my hands on him..." Lass muttered in an exhausted tone, laying on his good side.
"Of course you will." Arme said, reaching into one of her pockets and pulling out a few rags and a small bottle of clear liquid.
"Wha' do ya got there, miss?" Raoul asked curiously, eying the items the mage had produced.
"Just some things to take care of Lass' back. I always carry them with me, just in case." She poured some of the liquid onto one of the rags before asking, "can you help him sit up so I can treat him?"
Raoul nodded and pulled Lass up into a sitting position, with only a mild muttered protest from the thief, as he was mostly unconscious. But that wouldn't last long, for as soon as Arme touched the cloth to his back he gave a small cry as the fresh wave of pain sent him jerking into full consciousness.
"Arme that hurts..." He complained.
"Well sorry but I'm not about to leave your back untended to." Arme said, wiping the cloth over Lass' back, causing said thief to flinch.
"Here kid, meybe this'll help get yer mind offa it." Raoul said, taken out the now refilled canteen and another batch of food wrapped in the same cloth from before. Lass took the canteen and downed it's contents quickly.
"We need a plan." He muttered, taking one of the biscuits.
"You're in no condition to fight." Arme said.
"Don't remind me." Lass said bitterly as roughly took a bite of the food in his hand.
Arme sighed. "If only I had my War Staff, then I could send a signal to the others. Because I don't think I could fend them off all by myself."
"I don't even know where they put our weapons though." Lass said.
"I do." Raoul said suddenly and the pair looked at him. "I saw where they pu' yer weapons when ya firs' came here kid. I 'spec tha' they woulda pu' th' miss' staff there too."
"Alright then." Lass said, beginning to try and stand up. "You just show me where it is, and I'll go and take them back." Once again he didn't get very far, as before he was even standing up fully he fell right back down.
"You're not going anywhere, buster." Arme said.
"But how else are we going to get our weapons?" Lass asked.
"Don' ya worry abou' tha' kid." Raoul said, smiling confidently. "Ol' Raoul here ain' no stranger ta sneakin' 'round."
And with that it was settled. While Arme finished tending to Lass' back, Raoul would sneak off and retrieve the weapons. By the time he came back, the mage was finished and the thief was sound asleep on the floor.
"'ere ya go, miss." Raoul said as he handed Arme her staff. He held up Lass' Nodachi. "An' I figured this probly 'longs ta th' kid."
Arme nodded at the statement. "Why do you call me 'miss'? My name is Arme."
"Tha's wha' ya are, ya?" Raoul answered. "'sides," he said, sitting down, "th' kid seems ta think highly of ya. Anyone friend of 'is is a friend 'o mine an' deserves respectin'. I call ya accordinly."
Arme giggle slightly. "Is that why you call Lass 'kid'?"
"Exacly. Is wha' 'e is. Yer a miss an' 'e's a kid."
"Not sir?"
"Naw, 'e's not old 'nough fer tha'. Technicly, yer a kid too miss, bu' it'd be confunin' if I called ya both kid!" Raoul said, laughing.
/
Arme woke early the next morning so she could sneak out and set of the signal to alert the other Chasers as to her position. Once outside the shack, she held up her staff high into the air and muttered a single chant, which caused the tip of the staff to glow briefly for a moment before the glowing spear of golden light rose high into the air. As it rose in the sky, it became steadily bigger, reaching the size of a large boulder before stopping well about the compound. It shone like a beacon, one for all to see and hard to miss. Arme smiled happily to herself before returning to the shack and sitting down next to the still sleeping Lass.
"Soon," She whispered to his sleeping form, gently rubbing one of his ears, "soon I'll get you out of here."
By the time the workers were supposed to be called to get to work, a loud commotion was heard outside, interrupting the taskmaster's normal rude wake up call. The disturbance being that the front gates had been broken open. No wait, broken isn't quite a strong enough word. What I should say is, that the front gates had been blasted open, with what little remained being small splinters that now littered the ground. Through the now very open entrance came seven people. Ok more like seven people charged through, all carrying varying weapons of some sort. Most of them went and took out the strongmen to prevent any interference, while the rest went to go 'talk' with the taskmaster.
At the sound of the commotion, all of the workers were startled awake, all except for two. Arme, who was already awake, and Lass, who was too exhausted to be waking up to anything short of the world ending. Everyone in the shack went outside or to the windows to see what could be going on. Arme herself stood up from her sitting place next to Lass and went to the entrance of the shack. And, lo and behold, she saw the rest of the Chase about the grounds, most of them just finishing in knocking out the strongmen. From the group of chasers, the blue haired knight of the group approached Arme.
"We came as fast as we could when we saw your signal." Ronan said as he approached the mage. "Are you alright?" He asked.
Arme nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry. I did find Lass though," she looked back inside the shack, "he's sleeping in there."
"That's good. Although I'd imagine something happened to him if he is still asleep."
"He should be fine though, he's just pretty exhausted." She turned to go inside. "I'm gonna need your help carrying him though."
"This does not look like an adequate sleeping area, if you ask me." Ronan stated once inside the shack. "And something tells me that this isn't just one of those odd places that Lass likes to naps in, is it?"
Arme nodded. "This place is horrible. They force people to work wither they like it or not, there's hardly any food, practically no breaks, you work till late night and just look where we're forced to sleep!" she exclaimed.
Ronan shook his head as he went over to the still sleeping Lass to pick him up. At the sight of the thief, he turned back to Arme. "What exactly happened to him?" He asked.
"Most of them are from escape attempts, apparently." Arme answered. She then frowned. "But his back is because he was trying to protect me from the stupid taskmaster."
The knight frowned as he picked the thief up, who only gave a slight mumbled protest at the movement but didn't actually wake up.
/
It didn't actually seem to take very long to get everything straightened out set right with the place, especially with Sieghart around, who didn't seem to have any tolerance for the kind of place the taskmaster seemed to be running. You could practically see the rage coming off of the immortal, something which seemed to scare the taskmaster into submission without having to say anything. "Just don't hurt me!" Was what they got out of him before they guy threw himself to the ground, covering his head with his arms.
Considering that half of the workers were those that were homeless, it was decided that the compound would be transformed into a place of honest work, with a much more decent and humane work schedule. The shack was also to be transformed into a much more suitable living area.
Once back at the castle, Lass' back was finally more properly treated and bandaged, along with his tail being washed and cared for (due to a very insistent Arme that it not wait), before being laid down in his room, on his own bed.
It wasn't until the next day and then some until the the thief finally woke up, mostly due to hunger. He stirred slightly before opening his eyes slowly, in almost disbelief when he saw that he was in his room at the castle. He would've curled back under his covers if it weren't for his stomach reminding him almost painfully that it needed to be fed. He sighed, and sat up slowly, stretching. He didn't even get off his bed as he was suddenly hugged by a familiar purple haired mage.
"Lass! You're awake!" She said happily. "I was starting to wonder if you'd sleep forever!"
"Oh c'mon, I couldn't have been asleep that long. I'm actually surprised to find that we're back at the castle. I would've thought I'd have woken up for that." Lass said.
"You were asleep by my count one and a half days. And yes, you did sleep though when the others came to get us." Arme replied, nodding.
"Ok ok so I was tired, give me a break. Although I'd be trying to get more sleep if it weren't for being so hungry." The thief stated.
Arme giggled slightly and stood up, holding out a hand. "Alright let's go get you some good food then."
Lass to the offered hand and they both went off to the kitchens to get the deprived boy something to eat.
And there you have it. This is actually the longest chappie for anything I think I written in a while...oh well. Long is good, right?
Oh and a funny fact: you know how I said I had 15 unfinished one shots sitting on my compy a few chaps ago? Well I did a recount after finishing this one and you would think that the number would've gone down, wouldn't you? Well it didn't. I actually went up, and it's now 17! XD Although one of them may or may not turn into more of a full blown story like OHTC, but I haven't decided that yet. At this point I guess that one could go either way. But if it did turn into a full separate story, I'd wait till OHTC is done. There's no way I could handle doing four stories at once. I can barely handle three as it is. If you are wondering what the 3rd fic I'm doing right now it's not in the GC fandom, it's over in Knight Rider :3
Well see you people next time,
-Xire
