o.0.o.0.o

Chapter Seven

Viridi never much thought of herself as a religious person.

Heck, any 'religion' that there was was lost during the Great War. When it came to any sort of God, the world-wide belief, essentially, was that legendaries were 'gods' and they deserve utmost respect. Viridi herself never really considered the legends to be either 'good' or 'evil', they just had assigned roles that they had to fulfill.

That being said, it didn't mean that people didn't fear Giritina or Darkrai, some of the scarier of the legends.

Anyways, she sat in the corner of her tiny cell, if that's what she should call it. It was literally a hole, the hole covered with an iron slab that she couldn't reach. Every time someone moved overhead, dirt crumbled down.

She was literally buried alive.

She curled into a ball, praying to every god she could think of, hoping she'd just get exiled and she could run to the nearest town and take refuge. Heck, she was practically living on her own in the forest for the most part. Maybe if she just complied...

Oh, Arceus, who was she kidding?

Even she, a young woman who kept a decently optimistic attitude for the most part, knew that her situation was anything but good. There was no way around it, really. She was done for. This little town was typist enough as it is, consisting of only fire types. But with the sudden murders of three of their own and a single grass type in the village? There wouldn't have been a better target. It would be like hitting two sorrows with a single stone, get rid of the murderer and the outsider. And if they were wrong? Well, at least the annoying grass type wasn't around to bother them anymore.

Her bare toes curled around the soft earth under her. She suddenly remembered, a dry laugh echoing in the back of her head, how that always comforted her even as a small Eevee sorrow, even when she swore she would evolve into a flareon, whenever she was sad or distressed, the earth under her feet was always there to comfort her.

"I'm going to die today." she muttered. "I'm going to die today."

There wasn't any other way around it. She was going to executed for crimes she hadn't committed, eliminated because she evolved into a leafeon before she could get her hands on a fire stone. There was only one way these people executed 'criminals', and it was their favorite, old fashioned way.

Burning at the stake.

Again, her toes curled into the earth. That would certainly be a painful death for a leafeon, let alone any grass type.

She let out a sharp cry and something poked at her foot. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to make it's presence known.

"Ow..." she whined slightly, wallowing in a moment of self pity before she began to push the dirt around in an attempt to find what poked her. After mere seconds of moving the dirt aside, she found the offending piece of metal.

A thin strip of some sort of metal, possibly a piece of supplies when digging out the prison. Pretty useless in a room where the only escape was high above her head and covered by a slab of metal.

She paused as her ears twitched upon hearing something.

Someone was coming.

o.0.o.0.o

"You're poking me."

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"You're doing it again!"

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"Stop poking me!"

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"Kaze-!"

"So help me if you say one word I'll strangle you." Kaze hissed at the smaller girl, giving up on trying to distract himself by reciting pi in his head. Saffron huffed, squirming slightly. "Stop moving!"

"Not until you stop poking me!"

"For Arceus's sake, I'm not poking you!" Kaze snapped. Saffron fell silent again, though continued to wriggle about, as if becoming hyperactive due to the sheer idea of being stuck in the closet any longer.

Kaze didn't exactly blame her, as his wings were so stiff that they were nearly numb. He was literally having trouble feeling them, and whenever his wings got cramped or stiff, he got irritable. Add this on to being stuck in small quarters with a stupid girl, he knew he was going to go insane.

"You're poking me again!"

"I am-" Kaze cut himself short as he felt something poking him in the back. "Very mature, Saffron."

"What?"

"Do you think it's funny to get back at me by poking me?"

"I'm not poking you!"

"There's the pot calling the kettle black." Kaze murmured, shifting as something poked him in the back again.

"Don't move! It's hard enough to breathe what with your huge hugeness freaking suffocating me!" Saffron snapped.

"Well, it's not my fault Viridi decided to shove us in a three by four closet!" Kaze hissed back. A heavy pause at the mention of the leafeon sorrow.

"You're seriously telling me you can't break the door down?"

"In this cramped space? No. I'll end up hurting myself or you."

"And the door won't open?"

"Something got knocked in front of it."

Saffron let out a small curse.

Something poked him in the back again.

Suddenly, a male voice echoed throughout the room.

"Serena?"

A pause.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted her."

His voice switched to a falsetto.

"Let me try navigating the paths. I've been practicing and studying them! It's probably so easy to get to the border!"

A scoff.

"I'll bet she did this on purpose. Damned girl."

A sigh.

"Well, not to self, Jaxximus. Don't take a mission with your stalker."

Both jolted at the sound of the voice so close, neither really caring that a strange and seemingly random male was walking around Viridi's home. Someone could get them out of this closet!

"Hey!" Saffron yelled, banging on the door with her fist. "Hey! Mister! We've been stuck in this closet and- Oh my Mew, stop poking me Kaze!"

"I'm not poking you!" Kaze roared, finally snapping from the close confinement. "I swear to whatever pokémon god you worship, if you don't get me out of this closet in the next three seconds, I'm going to shove this girls hat down your throat!"

Suddenly, both were sucked into a void of darkness. Saffron whooped at being able to move again, and looked about ready to make a beeline, uncaring that they were sitting in the middle of a void of darkness, when they were suddenly sucked back out of it, into the room outside the closet. All of the shelves previously there had knocked over, a couple, indeed, landing in front of the door to the closet.

A low giggling echoed throughout the room, catching Kaze and Saffron's attention.

"Found me, Jax~!" a mismagius maybe a year older than Saffron giggled, hanging onto the arm of a drifblim sorrow. The drifblim, Jax, scowled, shaking his arm free of her.

"How long were you pestering them for, Serena?" he asked, turning to the mismagius.

"Mmm, maybe an hour or so." she grinned. "It was funny to see them blame each other."

"What are you doing here?" demanded Kaze. "This is someone's home."

"Someone got robbed then." Serena responded. "This entire place got ransacked."

"Wonderful." Saffron muttered. "They go and arrest our friend with no evidence and then they go and steal her stuff."

"Your friend." Kaze elaborated, turning back to Jax and Serena. "I got dragged into this on complete accident."

"What happened?" Serena asked, though seemed more curious than concerned. Saffron seemed oblivious, as she began spouting off information.

"Hold on, Saffron." Kaze said, holding up a hand. "How do we know you're not an enemy?"

"They certainly look the part..." Saffron trailed off after a moment of deliberation.

"We could say the same to you, staraptor." Jax suddenly said, having since falling silent and allowing his companion to do the talking.

"We're from Three Spirit." Saffron said, waving towards Kaze and showing her guildmark to prove her point. Kaze lifted his left hand, revealing his own guildmark on the side of his hand.

"Specters of the Forgotten." Serena grinned, brushing her skirt aside to show her own guildmark on her thigh, Jax simply cocking his head to make his mark on his neck more visible. "I'm Serena, and this is Jax." she narrowed her eyes at Saffron, clinging to Jax's arm again. "He's off limits, country bumpkin."

Jax rolled his eyes and shook his arm free of her grasp again.

"We're not in a relationship outside of guildmates." he clarified.

"Yet." Serena giggled darkly.

"So why are you here?" Saffron asked, a little unsettled by Serena's comments. Kaze chose, like Jax, to fade into the background, though was prepared to take charge. Serena simply shrugged, so Jax answered.

"Because she wanted to try guiding the paths and we ended up here." Jax said, glaring at her.

"I didn't know where I was going!" Serena defended, though her smile said otherwise.

"Liar." all three of them said at once. Serena continued to grin.

"Maybe you could help us!" Saffron suggested. "The woman who lives here, Viridi Rosewood, was wrongfully arrested!"

"Do you have proof of this?" Jax asked, cocking his head. "Does she have an alibi for whatever crime she committed?"

"That's simple," Saffron grinned, bringing her thumb to her chest. "I'm her alibi."

o.0.o.0.o

"You feeling okay, Faye?" Kai asked, cocking his head as the pink-haired girl shakily clutched his shoulder, trying to keep her balance.

"I'm just not used to flying." Faye responded, smiling gently. "Arceus, I can feel my hand shaking."

Kai's look softened.

"Heh, it's probably scary the first time, huh?"

"Yeah." Faye nodded, moving her hand from his shoulder and standing up straight. "Where are we?"

"Akkes Town in western territory." Kai said, glancing around at the dirt roads and little wooden shacks. "Pretty simplistic and old-fashioned town, which is why it's surprising they requested help."

"They don't usually?"

"It's more like a do it yourself and if you don't get it, keep trying until you get it done sort of town." Kai explained. "They don't like outside help. Very isolate community."

"Sounds cute." Faye commented.

"Yeah," Kai smiled. "Now lets see... I'm pretty sure Saffron was in the area..." Kai mused, then slowly trailed off, suddenly becoming alert. Faye cocked her head.

"Kai? What's going on?" she asked.

"The townsfolk... They're surrounding us." Kai muttered, glancing at sorrows, mostly fire-types, clad in oranges and reds and yellows, all of them glaring venomously at them.

"Should I be worried?" she asked.

"Nah, maybe this is some sort of meeting or something." Kai said, walking up to the townsfolk. "Hey. We're Kai and that's Faye." he gestured towards her. "We're from the Three Spirit Guild. You asked us for help in capturing a murderer?"

"Your help is no longer needed." one of them said. "We've captured the killer."

"Really?" Faye asked.

"Yes." the same sorrow said, fists suddenly bursting into flames. "Now get out of here."

"Whoa, whoa, you sent a request to us, remember?" Kai said moving in front of the ready to attack sorrow. "What's with the sudden change of heart?"

"It took you to long to get here! We deal with our problems on our own, thank you very much!" someone else shouted.

"Maybe we should leave." Faye murmured, floundering slightly as she tried to grip her shoulder. "They are't exactly welcoming us."

"But something's off." Kai said, turning around to look at her. "I think they're hiding something..."

"Kai..."

Suddenly, something tapped on his shoulder. Kai turned around, glancing at the sorrow who tapped him on the shoulder, only to feel something smash into the side of his head, skull rattling about before he collapsed to the ground, Faye letting out a startled scream.

o.0.o.0.o

El stared out the window of the room that Giselle had leant out to her.

There was no doubt about what she saw two days ago. It was plaguing her thoughts, pushing to the front of her mind. At first she tried to push the thoughts away, get it out of her mind. It would go for a while as she would begin singing random songs to herself, only to pop back when she remembered a particular song he liked.

Diaki Genjuu was alive.

All in all, she wasn't sure if she should have been relieved that he had somehow managed to survive or horrified to find out he was in a dark guild. The surprises seemed to keep popping up that day. He acted like Diaki. He looked like Diaki. He wielded his weapon like Diaki and he held his stance like Diaki. Hell, he even responded to the name Diaki.

But it couldn't have been Diaki. Diaki wouldn't have stabbed her, or any girl, for the matter, like that. For guys, it was fair game for him. But with girls, ever since his sister...

"E-Elysia?"

"It's El." El snapped back, not even caring who was at the door.

"I-I'm sorry." El sighed as Giselle came up next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Physically, I'm fine." El said, shooting the shy girl a smile. "Your healing did the trick. What's bothering me is the person who did this to me."

"Was he an old friend?"

"He was." El admitted. "We... have a past."

Giselle twiddled her thumbs.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No." El immediately snapped, crossing her arms. Just seeing him again was enough to rile up some old memories that she didn't want to remember. Talking about it was the last thing she wanted to do.

Giselle flinched, like a little girl who got scolded by her mother, and El suddenly felt guilty.

"U-Um," she pushed some of her hair over her shoulders.

"It was just strange," El clarified. "He was standing there, and he was acting like him, but... it wasn't him." El sighed, glancing at her. "He was different, that's all. The way he acted... it bothered me."

Giselle was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sure if you have faith in him," she said quietly. "Then maybe he's not all bad."

"Giselle," El turned, staring at Giselle and waving a hand over his wound. "He did this to me. He was leading the group of sorrows that poisoned you and your village." Giselle was quiet for a moment.

"Y-You might find this a bit silly," Giselle said, pressing her forefingers together. "But I think that, well, we were all kids once, right? Kind and innocent and tolerant and pure of any and all darkness." she glanced out the window. "I think that, no matter what, if you had that once, you can find it again." she moved her gaze back to El. "You just have to keep searching for it. You have to keep reaching out. And if they slap your hand away," her eyes went distant, as if she was no longer referring to El and her situation anymore. "Then you reach out again. And keep reaching out until they accept your help."

El snickered, tugging Giselle's tiara over her eyes. She let out a small yelp, struggling to push it back to its proper place.

"You're not talking about me and my person anymore, are you? Who are you referencing, Miss Espeon?"

"N-No one!" Giselle squeaked, pushing the tiara back. "Just some honest advice from one team member to another!"

"Wait, team member?" El asked. "What happened while I was out?"

"Well, most of the boys went into town with Launa-"

"Launa?"

"The milotic." Giselle clarified. "They fed the berries to most of the villagers and they're getting better. Zap, a Pachirisu information broker that Moon is friends with, went to search after the dark guild members. He plans to get in touch with us if he finds anything out."

She added that last part on quickly, giving El a little relief. She'd like to keep track on Diaki if she could.

"Graves sent a warning out to guild members in the western territory's Akkes Town. There's a girl there who was accused of murder and is actually innocent, so he wanted to get the word across before they injured her in a fight or something. After that, the Emblem Brothers went back to the guild. Launa is still in town with the rest of our team members helping the villagers and Koli is helping Moon bury the elder."

"And all this happened in a day?"

Giselle nodded. El let out a low whistle.

"I'm not surprised, but I'm a little pissed the Emblem Brothers ditched us early."

Giselle shrugged.

"It's not like we could really stop them. They did their job and we have nothing else to do here."

"They could've at least helped with the Elders burial." El scoffed. "Whatever. Fina will tear them a new one once we get back to the guild." a pause. "Speaking of the guild, what's this I'm hearing about you being our teammate now?"

"We." Giselle elaborated. "Including Koli."

"Hot damn." El muttered, sitting down. "With your healing and her, um..."

"Viciousness?" Giselle offered. El snapped her fingers and winked.

"Yeah. Viciousness. Anyways, I'm thinking with your added help, maybe Fina will consider letting us take more dangerous missions."

"B-But not to dangerous!" Giselle warned.

"But the more dangerous means the more money we can bag!" El grinned. "But wow, guild life so soon? I know Asher's infatuated with Koli, but I didn't think the feeling was mutual!"

"It's not." Giselle giggled. "She's only doing this because I asked her too."

o.0.o.0.o

Kai felt his head pound as he slowly regained consciousness.

"How are you feeling, Kai?" a unknown voice asked. Kai slowly turned his head and saw another girl sitting there, blond hair contrasting greatly with the darkness around her.

"Outside of the pounding headache, peachy." Kai grinned, not sitting up yet. "So who are you and how do you know my name?"

"I'm Viridi, and your friend told me." she pointed to the other end of the dirt cave. Kai didn't bother to move his head, figuring she was talking about Faye. Honestly, he had expected her to run off after he got walloped in the head. Turns out she stayed.

"Shit." he cursed, putting a hand to the huge goose egg on his head, sitting up. Viridi was the name of the murderer in this town, right? There was no way he could fight her off in the cramped space without hitting Faye. "You-"

"Were accused of murder? Yeah, I know." Viridi averted her gaze. "I didn't do it. You don't have to believe me, but I didn't kill anyone."

Kai wasn't about to trust a maybe murderer, so he didn't respond to that. He felt his head throb again, letting out a groan.

"What did they hit me with?"

"A mallet."

He jolted at the voice, and sat up, blinking at the room spinning, though thankful it was rather dark. He was pretty sure the light wouldn't soothe his pounding headache. He blinked, barely seeing Faye's outline against the far wall, huddled in a little ball.

"Faye?"

She smiled weakly at him, as if forcing the smile on her face to try to lighten the mood.

"Hey," he cocked his head, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I couldn't fight them off." she muttered, placing her head back into her knees. Taking it as a sign that she didn't want to be bothered, Kai turned to Viridi, though kept himself ready for a fight if she tried anything.

"Do you live here, in Akkes? If so, is hitting the people you hire upside the head with mallets and throwing them in a dirty, dark, confined space with a maybe murderer how you usually greet them?"

"With open arms." Viridi joked, though the joke did little to lift her mood. "And I'm not a murderer. I told you, I didn't kill anyone." she paused. "I'm sorry... this town has always been a bit typist, particularly towards types weaker than fire types."

"Are they always this hostile towards outsiders?"

Kai could barely make out her shrugging in the darkness. Kai stood, feeling around the walls, trying to find a door he could maybe blow off the hinges and get them free. Feeling nothing but dirt and the occasional piece of rock, he turned to Viridi.

"What is this?"

"Their prison." Viridi said. She stood as well, pointing above her. "There's an iron slab covering the hole.

"Are we-"

"Don't say it." Faye squeaked from the corner. "Do. Not. Say. It." As if to reassure herself, she curled into a tighter ball, pressing her ears to her head. Kai shot her a worried glance.

"Your girlfriend going to be okay?" Viridi asked.

"She's not my girlfriend," Kai clarified. "And I'm not sure. Maybe she's-" he let out a startled cry as he suddenly felt extra weight on his back. "Hey, what're you-?!"

"I'm gonna see if I can get us out of here." Viridi said casually, climbing up onto his back and standing on his shoulders. Kai grunted, grabbing her ankles to keep her from falling, listening as she began to punch the iron manhole covering the hole. No matter how much she pushed and shoved at it, it barely seemed to move. Kai had a sickening feeling that they may have covered it with dirt, but he wasn't going to say anything so not the upset Faye further.

"The walls are closing in...!" Faye muttered loudly. Kai cast her a worried glance.

"Can you hurry?" he asked Viridi

"It's not moving." Viridi muttered, annoyed. Suddenly, some dirt crumbled a bit, and the iron plate shifted upwards. "Waaaaaaait...!" She let out a cry of victory as the plate moved, light flooding down. "Yes!"

Suddenly, though, two pairs of rough hands grabbed Viridi by her arms and yanked her out of the hole. Kai let out a startled cry at the sudden loss of her weight on his shoulders, and it was suddenly very apparent why it moved so easily. Someone had moved it to grab their prisoner.

"Hey, wait-!" Kai exclaimed as the iron plate fell over the hole again, blocking out his source of light, brief as it was. Faye let out a whimper as Kai strained his ears, trying to listen for movement. There was some shuffling, Viridi protesting whatever was to come, then silence.

The dead silence was a comforting noise, however, compared what came next.

Something was hitting the iron plate, something that sounded like dirt and gravel. It skittered across the surface in a rhythmic pattern. Faye let out a piercing wail, and Kai knew she recognized what was going on too.

They were getting buried alive.

o.0.o.0.o

A rather young, roughly fifteen or so, gourgiest sorrow sat on the rooftop of one of the buildings, casually moving her fingers about, watching with great amusement as her puppets below prepared a stake and wood for the leafeons execution.

She was wearing a gray vest with a sleeveless collared white shirt and a black tie. Her shorts were an even darker shade of gray with a yellow face that looked strangely like a jack-o-lanterns. Gray tights covered the rest of her legs while sleek dark gray ankle boots covered her feet. Her long pink hair seemed to float around her, two parts looking strangely like hands, while a brown streak seemed to stick up like a stem on her head. Most of her hair covered the left side of her face, giving her amber orange eyes a strange air of mystery.

Monica knew that she would become famous for this. She knew they'd have to let her join a guild after this great feat. She giggled at the mere thought of it. Single-handedly solving three murders and capturing the culprit? Sure, she committed the murders and she might have essentially turned the villagers of the town into mindless puppets, but it would have essentially come to this, right? Typist as they were, they would have eventually accused the leafeon of the murders and they would have probably exiled her. Hell, they already sent a request for guildmembers to arrest her. She just gave them a little bit of a... push.

And so what if a sylveon and a flygon got in the way? She could see her puppets burying them alive in that little makeshift prison. And if anyone else tried to fight, she'd have the villagers bludgeon them with a hammer or something. And the staraptor that flew overhead? She killed him like she had killed the others, quickly and simply, a single strong giga drain.

She was home free! She'd be a part of a guild in no time! No time flat!

She giggled darkly as she watched the villagers drag the leafeon to the post, kicking and screaming.

"Time to burn~." she hummed, casually bringing up her hands, orange hairs barely visible on her fingers, controlling her little villager puppets. "Don't worry, though. You won't be missed."

o.0.o.0.o

Kaze glared at his guild badge after listening the the message that one of his guildmembers, Graves, had just sent through.

"Real good timing, arrogant jerk." Saffron muttered as they bolted through the town.

"I'm picking up the signal of another Three Spirit member." Serena said, glancing at her own guild badge.

"That must be Kai." Jax said. "He took the mission here. Is he moving?"

Serena didn't answer, as she was to busy cursing her supposed 'love rival', Faye.

"He's not." Kaze answered. "He's staying in the same area." A worried look passed over Jax's face.

"He had a blind girl with him when they left." Jax explained in a worried tone, glancing at his own badge to get a location. "Is she still with him...?"

"Who cares?" Serena blurted, eyes flashing menacingly. Jax shot her a venomous glare worthy of a serviper sorrow. She grit her teeth, shading her eyes and taking a step back. A small moment of silence, and then she snapped her head up with her grin once again plastered on her face.

As if on cue, their guildbadges began flashing furiously, indicating that a nearby light guild member was in serious peril.

"Okay, change of plans." Kaze said, stopping and immediately taking charge. "We need to send someone to get Kai and maybe this Faye character."

"I'll go." Jax immediately volunteered. Serena shot him a glance, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Then I'm going as well." she ground out with a forced smile.

"Remember the objective is to save them." Saffron reminded, eyeing Serena warily. The breloom didn't get a response, though, as Serena was already following after Jax, the drifblem afloat by his umbrella. "What are we going to do?" Saffron asked, a little calmer now that Serena was gone.

A shrill shriek echoed through the air. Both whipped around, and barely saw a pillar of smoke filtering overhead.

"Holy crap, they actually are burning her at the stake!" Saffron shrieked hysterically. "She didn't do anything! It wasn't her because she was always with m-" her hysteric blabbering was cut off as her head snapped to the side, a stinging sensation on her cheek. She blinked in shock for a moment, slowly turning her gaze back to Kaze. He was glaring furiously at her.

"Do you honestly think," he spat at her. "That crying and screaming is going to fix anything? You're a member of a guild. Your friend is dying and you have people to represent. Are you going to represent Three Spirit by blubbering and panicking like a child?"

Saffron felt her lip quiver for a moment as she bowed her head.

"Apparently so. Guild life isn't some walk in the part, girl. It's people like you who make us weak." Kaze callously turned away. "Grow up. I'm going to go save your friend." he glanced over his shoulder, red eye flashing dangerously. "Come find me when you do."

And like that, he flew off.

Saffron felt her tears dribble down her cheeks, then she let out a roar of anger.

"I know I'm not as strong as you and I know this is my first big crisis outside of southeastern territory, but you don't have to be such a JERK about it!" she screamed after him. He didn't even seem to flinch. He just kept on flying. Her hand gently went across her cheek, the skin still warm from Kaze's slap. She had heard that he was one of the stricter members of the guild, but what with him never actually coming to the guild and talking to people, she just assumed it was a rumor as stupid as Slade sending his opponents to the Distortion World during the S-Class tournament.

Turns out she was wrong on Kaze's account.

"Dammit." Saffron sniffled, scowling in to the ground as she tried to compose herself. She wanted to argue that her reaction was perfectly logical, though she knew deep, deep down that he as right. She couldn't be panicking right now. The guild mark on her leg proved that she had to be a guiding light, a beacon of hope. No matter what the age, even her own young age of fifteen, she had to be able to shape up or get shipped out. She joined the guild to help people, and here was her friend being executed by villagers for crimes she didn't commit, and the best thing she could do was sit here and panic?

"No way." Saffron shook her head, building up her resolve again. "I've never backed down from a challenge before and this is no different from the missions back home. Someone's doing something wrong and it's up to us to help."

Bouncing back quickly, she bolted down the street after Kaze.

She wasn't giving up just yet!

o.0.o.0.o

So I was thinking of maybe making this chapter longer, but then I realized that the next chapter, which was going to be combined with this, was gonna be crazy long and I just didn't feel like typing that all out.

So somehow Serena convinced Jax to let her navigate the paths and the ended up with Kaze and Saffron. And for some reason, I have an odd, odd feeling that Serena will end up being a yandere-like character.

Kai tries to hide his worries to keep Faye from going into full-out panic-attack mode. And Faye is EXTREMELY claustrophobic. I figured that if I couldn't see and i could only use my sense of hearing and sense of touch to get around, I'd freak out too. All she could hear was two near perfect strangers around her and all she could feel was narrow dirt walls. Pile that on with hearing the dirt falling on top of your only means of escape and it's a miracle that Faye hasn't passed out yet.

I don't know if Saffron was out of character or not, but I felt as if it would be a good idea to get different perspectives from two very different characters: young and immature Saffron and Kaze, five years her senior, mature and strong.

I kind of changed Kaze's personality a bit from the original. Originally, he was "I'm-so-serious-I-don't-give-a-fuck-attitude" but now I decided I wanted him to be more prideful. He thinks along the lines of 'to build something up, you've got to knock them down'. I kind of imagined him being, personality wise, a mix of Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail and Sesshomaru from Inuysaha. Yeah, I don't know either, but roll with me! He's proud of his guild, dammit!

Yeah, enough authors ranting. Oh! And Monica is a minor villain character I created in the last story. I don't know if I want to use her again. What do you think? Should Monica make a reappearance?

Amy47101 signing off! ^.^