Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters belong to Yu Wo
Note – "Good thing Meatbun wasn't the one who switched with Prince." – my random thought of the day.
Wicked ran back to the weapons shop as fast as he could, the others trailing along behind at their own pace. He didn't care that he was running too swiftly for most of them to keep up. He didn't care about the blood dripping down his face from where a sharp piece of brick had clobbered him, narrowly missing his left eye. He didn't even care that Gui was once again crying at the top of his lungs like a hopeless idiot. The only thing on his mind was finding some sort of clue as to where the bastards had taken Prince this time. With as twisty as the back alleys of Infinite City were, Wicked was certain Prince would have no idea where he was whenever they arrived at their next destination. If they did anything to hurt Prince in any way, shape, or form, Wicked was hellbent on tearing them limb from limb. Then again, he already wanted to do so just because of the kidnapping.
Crashing through the shop's broken back door and jumping over the numerous boxes of goods, Wicked slid through the still-open doorway leading into the main shop. Without a glance at the shopkeeper, Wicked hurried into the basement and ran his eyes over the dark room. Growling in frustration, he stomped back up the stairs and hefted himself out of the trap door. Grabbing the oil lamp off the shop counter top, he jumped through the basement doorway again. Several people walked down the steps behind him as he began to wave the lamp about in search.
When Lolidragon gasped dramatically, Wicked twirled around and held out the lamp to give her enough light, thinking perhaps she'd spotted something important. He watched anxiously as she hurried forward, snatching her pink boot off the dirty floor. She proceeded to brush the filth off and sighed in a very victimized manner, "My poor armor is sure to be a mess."
"I think you need your priorities rearranged," Wicked snapped as he glared at her angrily, wondering why he'd been expecting anything different from the thief, and resumed his search for clues, not sympathetic at all toward Lolidragon's fashion issues. Aside from a large number of empty potion bottles littering the floor, a broken table, and the normal scattering of crates here and there containing more goods to sell in the shop, there wasn't anything down there of interest.
"For once, I agree," Gui muttered as he crouched down and inspected the abandoned bottles. Picking one up off the floor, he held it up to the light of the lamp Wicked was holding, and frowned thoughtfully. "Looks like these were filled with mana potions."
"What the hell else would a magician be drinking‽" Wicked dashed back up the basement steps, two at a time, ignoring the heated retort Gui lobbed at his back. Hastily dropping the oil lamp back beside the shop till, Wicked stepped across the room and threw open the only other door besides the ones leading outside. Stairs going up to another floor were revealed.
He slowly walked upward, more wary as he didn't know if there were traps set or anything of that sort, and soon emerged into a small, homey-looking room where the shopkeeper apparently lived. The only things in the room were normal objects one would find in a home—a bed, chairs, tables, shelves, a small kitchenette. Nothing suspicious. Not on the surface anyway.
Eyes narrowing, Wicked strode to the open window, through which a warm breeze was coming in, and lifted the pale curtain out of the way. He ran his gaze over the road below. The spot he and the others had stood a few buildings away was easily seen, though the whole point of gathering over there had been to keep out of sight as they approached the shop. This must have been where their watchman was sitting, waiting for them to come.
Wicked backed away from the window, and his eyes dropped to the small table set against the wall. Carefully sliding open the table's drawer, he rummaged around for a moment. Pieces of blank paper, pencils, bottles of ink, sketches of scenery, a small parcel of ginger cookies…Nothing important in there.
Shutting the drawer again, he frowned and proceeded to search the rest of the drawers in the room, and under the bed, and in the small cupboards hanging on the walls. The room was squeaky clean, nothing out of place at all. Glaring about himself, his eyes drifted upward toward the ceiling, and he paused, abruptly feeling very tired. There was a small envelope stabbed through with a knife buried in one of the thin, wooden rafters high above his head.
Wondering how it had gotten all the way up there, Wicked dragged one of the room's chairs underneath the envelope and eyed it for a moment. He wouldn't be nearly tall enough, even standing on a chair.
Hurrying back downstairs to get Ugly Wolf, he burst into the shop and froze in disbelief.
For who knew what reason, Lolidragon was sitting on the floor nearby, attempting to squash Prince's body's too-big foot into her retrieved boot, a concentrated stare covering her face. Doll was pushing on the underside of the boot, making very strained noises.
"What in the world are you two doing?" Wicked asked faintly, feeling like he was about to go insane from these people's ridiculous behavior. It was like they didn't care in the slightest that Prince was being held hostage somewhere.
"Oh, Wicked!" Lolidragon exclaimed, smiling up at him in relief as she gave an extra-strong shove with her foot, and Doll fell backward, knocking over a stack of once-neatly-arranged boxes of steel crossbow bolts. "Perfect timing. Come help me put this boot on."
"No!" Wicked yelled furiously, turning away to leave them there on the floor.
"You'd do it right away if I was Prince," Lolidragon muttered in a low, hurt tone.
He ignored her and hurried to the shop entrance where Ugly Wolf was standing, and patted him on the arm. When the beastman turned around, Wicked quickly pointed at the stairs. "I found an envelope in the rafters, too high for me to reach. Help me get it down, please?"
Ugly Wolf looked slightly surprised, and nodded as he followed Wicked upstairs. The room suddenly looked much smaller than before, when Wicked had been alone. "Is the envelope the only out-of-place thing you could find?" Ugly Wolf asked, tilting his head back to look at the impaled paper.
"Yes," Wicked replied, staring in worry as he watched the giant wolf experimentally climb onto the spindly little chair. He stepped forward and put steadying hands on Ugly Wolf's leg just in case, though he doubted he'd be able to stop the gigantic player from falling down if the chair broke or something. Ugly Wolf swung his paw several times at the knife.
With a heavy sigh, Ugly Wolf got off the chair, eyes still glued to the envelope. "I can't reach it," he grumbled, and then glanced down at Wicked, with a slightly brighter expression. Kneeling on the floor, Ugly Wolf waved Wicked over. "Come here. I bet you'll be able to get it standing on my shoulders."
Hesitating for a moment, Wicked carefully took hold of Ugly Wolf's paws and stepped up onto his wide shoulders. Bending forward a bit, his eyes widened as Ugly Wolf slowly stood again, planting his feet firmly apart from one another on the floor. Wicked shakily straightened himself, hands still tightly grasping both of Ugly Wolf's, and looked up again. It was definitely within reach now.
One-handedly ripping the knife out of the rafter, he let loose a whoosh of relieved breath. "I've got it," he called downward, and Ugly Wolf cautiously lowered him to the floor. Enjoying being on solid ground once more, he followed Ugly Wolf downstairs again. Wicked gave a brief glance toward Lolidragon, who seemed to have given up on putting her boot on, and he stepped to the counter where the shopkeeper was still standing, looking about himself in a jumpy manner.
"You found something?" Yu Lian asked as she hurried to stand beside Ugly Wolf, and watched intently as Wicked removed the knife from the envelope.
"Yes, this was stuck to the ceiling upstairs," Ugly Wolf said with a huff. "Probably a ransom note."
Gui popped up from somewhere a moment later to stare over Wicked's shoulder, and Lolidragon and Doll quickly scrambled off the floor to watch as well. "Why couldn't they have just left it in a normal place?" Lolidragon muttered as she leaned against the counter, resting her chin on her hands as she watched Wicked.
Feeling extremely squished when Kenshin, Sunshine, and Wu Qing joined in on the others' silent staring, Wicked frowned at the unneeded tension as he opened the envelope and removed a small piece of paper from within.
Unfolding the note, he quickly read the one line of thin script, and bewilderment filled him. Gui made a very loud "HUH‽" noise right by his ear, but Wicked tried to ignore him. Turning to Wu Qing, Wicked held the paper out. "It's got your name on it," he explained quietly as Wu Qing stared down at it, with wide-eyed surprise.