Chapter 3: Duffer and Master

This chapter is full of just 'Whoa' moments. Just think of what you wouldn't expect and go with it because that's just what's it's going to be for all the parts of the chapters. Please Read, Review and Enjoy.

We finally were in Dahngrest. The air was different from the last time I was here and more importantly, we were here on a mission. I decided to cut my hair to myself from looking too much like Amelia the Duchess and Grandmaster's daughter and more like Diamond.

As it turned out after we reached Jarviis, we still had quite a ways to ride to Dahngrest. We had to pay the shipmates another 500 Gald each to get a ride, which was another ½ day on the ship.

Now, we needed to find the Guilds HQ, and make ourselves known. We didn't have much time, but for me assimilation comes first. We can't just wedge ourselves in this place and expect to be fine. We needed to act like a guild.

"So, we're a guild?" Flynn said. "So what's our specialty?"

"What's our name?" Estelle chimed in as we walked the streets of Dahngrest. We were in our new clothes and people were already starting to take some notice. Probably because of the fact that we all looked like we made a lot of money for whatever we do. Which was...

"We're jacks of all trades." I say. "We go around and receive requests from slimy people of the Empire to kill people that they don't like, retrieve items, etc.. Simple as that. That way no one would mess with us, because we've seen a lot of stuff."

"And draw attention to ourselves in order to find the real perpetrators behind this." Flynn said. "Excellent."

"So that explains the outfits being in black and red, except Flynn's." Estelle said.

"How about Brave Vesperia?" Yuri said. "We go around on quests all over the whole, like a ship."

"Yeah..." Estelle replied. She put her fist in her hands. "But we each have to have a specialty of our own."

"True. You're more on the healing. Yuri's the muscle, and Flynn is the negotiator."

"Negotiator?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah, you can talk to all types of people, rally, calm, whatever. You just do a lot of the stuff that keeps clients happy." I reply. "It's perfect for you."

"And you?" Yuri asked.

"I'm the person that makes it all happen. I raise hell to get a point across, find clients...etc." I say. It seemed like a sure fire plan. "We just needed to make a name for ourselves here to gain more attention and then we could start making moves."

Yuri laughed. "I have an idea." I picked up on his humor when we saw a large restaurant nearby. It was massive and we both knew it meant that we'd be seeing a lot of the most popular guild.

Estelle had a different idea. She saw the inn next to the restaurant which was almost twice as big as the restaurant. She was thinking comfort. We were thinking about how to make this trip just a bit more fun.

"You guys go and check in and start talking to other guilds. We'll be getting dinner." I say. Flynn knew we were going in to raise hell. But he didn't say anything or hold me back this time. He just put his arm around Estelle and walked to the inn.

The place smelled like meat and booze. Whether it was something as simple as wine to drinks with names too long to say like Three Wise Men, it was like everyone was drinking in here. Which meatn that they'd be a bit less willing to keep secrets.

"Hey, you!" said a man who was way too sloppy already. It was only 8 at night and his night was already over. He was in suspenders and a white shirt and super skinny with black hair with blue streaks in it. He held up a shot glass. "Another shot!" he yelled at the bartender.

"Everyone's boozin' it up here." Yuri said to me. A waitress walked by carrying drinks.

"It's 4 days until Sokela. Imagine the day of." I reply. "People will be beyond plastered by then."

"It might be fun to watch." Yuri said. I nudge him with my elbow. "What? It might be."

"We're here to get dinner." I say, rolling my eyes. "In plus we might hear about something about the massacre."

Yuri looked around.

"Want a drink?" he said pointing to the bar with his thumb.

I look at him. He shrugged. "They have hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps here." He pointed to a girl, who was Krityan drinking a cup of it. She had blue hair and a couple large hair type things sticking out...like large bunny ears. She was beautiful, but what took me a moment to adjust to was her outfit. I wanted to pinch Yuri, because I know damn well that the drink wasn't the only thing he's looking at. She was already getting into the Sokela festivities by having a holiday type of outfit...but I was wondering what holiday she was celebrating. She was almost full frontal with the amount of cleavage she was showing. But she looked a bit familiar. So familiar.

"Judith?" I say. The girl pulls down her drink and looks at me. She recognizes me immediately, but in true Judith fashion, it barely registered.

"Diamond?" Judith asked. "Wow, you've changed a lot."

"How many people do you know in this town?" Yuri whispered leaning into my ear.

"More than I should." I reply. And it's true. I knew way too many people in this town. everyone here had a story and honestly, sometimes I wished I wasn't part of it or a part of their lives.

The arena in the daytime was bright and shining. I brought Betty and my arrows to the arena. I ignored the announcer because I had to get out of my bed this morning and continue. I had to finish the tournament, regardless of the events from the night before. The sight of a dying Zagi was enough to make me collapse, but I still stood. I wanted to make my emperor's sword for peace again. It was time for a new king or queen to come around.

My opponent was a 16 year old girl. She was Krityan and had a spear. She seemed formidable enough, but I couldn't underestimate her. After all, she beat all the boys. And more than likely she'd beat me as well. I was in no shape to fight.

I prepare and arrow as the announcer went on to say that it was the final match. I sighed.

"Let's keep this a good fight." she said. She looked like she was 12. So small and underdeveloped, I'd feel bad if I tried to even hurt her. "I'm Judith."

"Diamond." I reply. "I'll keep it from getting too dirty."

"But that's no fun." she said. Man, these people in the coliseum were all types of strange. But this girl, I could identify with. We were both avid lovers of fighting...as long at it didn't end up with killing someone...as far as I know.

The only thing that didn't make sense was how she managed a spear in this competition.

I didn't have any time to ask. She was fast. And one stroke knocked me back and I had a chest wound. A flesh wound. I used my bow to defend myself. This girl was relentless. She kept trying to hit me and soon I stepped back and shot an arrow to no avail. I had to start thinking artes. I couldn't imagine doing black seals right now because I couldn't get the incantation down without being hit. The best thing was distraction.

The only thing I could easily make with black seals were doppelgangers. From there, I think I could start my assault-

I yelp as I get an arm wound. The crowd gasped. I took in a breath and opened a black seal under me. Another me came about it. We swapped places and I started running as I made two more. We were exactly alike, something that had to take a lot of aer to accomplish. I opened a black seal as she fought the one she thought was me. The black seal was a dead giveaway of my location because I didn't know any artes that involved seals for doppelgangers yet. My wrist started to feel like needles were inserting themselves into it.

But I had to keep pushing. I couldn't fake her out, but I could stop time long enough to make an attack with each of my doppelgangers.

I enlarged the seal around us and stopped time. I opened three other black seals under the other mes, one with Burst Artes, Two with Basic Artes. My wrist started to feel numb and I finally knew after I had to take this thing off.

But part of me, no matter how bad I felt had to pull one more trick out of my sleeve. I release time and the doppelgangers go and start to attack the Krityan girl. She barely staggered and cut them all down.

It was perfect, because by the time she turned around I was done with my incantation. "Final Fantasy!" I yell. My wrist starts to bleed and it spurts blood a little. The stage changes in front of everyone's eyes to nighttime in Myorzo. 4 different weapons laid around her and there were 3 different mes. One with an axe, a pair of knuckle braces and a sword. We all took turns inflicting imaginary wounds that her felt real, from cutting her chest, to knocking her down with a couple punches to cutting her spear in half.

Then I prepare a black arrow, smoldering with white aura. It shot into her causing no physical injury, but taking her memories out of her.

The arena returned to normal and the effect of wiping her mind temporarily knocked her out. She had no physical injuries, which is what I hoped for. I'd done enough with my sword. I didn't want to go for the jugular on a girl that didn't deserve it.

"Amazing! The Black Diamond has defeated the Krityan beauty Judith!" yelled the announcer. My wrist kept bleeding and I slowly rose it in the air, with Betty. I didn't say anything. I just wanted to leave. "The 79th annual Guild War has reached a conclusion! The champion is Diamond Atomain!"

I was breathing heavily and soon I collapsed from blood loss.

There was something to be said about Ames. She knew a lot of people. And all over the place. It seemed like she knew everyone here. Then again she did spend the next 2 months in Dahngrest. But how come she was so buddy buddy with everyone.

She was talking it up with Judy (Judith is too long to call her) and sipping spiked cocoa. I sip some eggnog and look at them.

The food's already here at the table and they're still catching up. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about hearing girl talk, but it wasn't regular 'And then he said this and then she this and like she shouldn't of said because of blah blah blah...'

It was about fighting. And the guilds. And the only part that's normal is the fact they talk about what their lives have been like since.

"Judith, you're apart of Leviathan's Claw now?" Amelia asked shocked.

"Get to find blastia." Judith replied. It taking everything for me not to stare at her chest. It just out there. for everyone to see, and she has no problem with it. "They only send me on missions where I have to destroy them. Which aren't very often."

"So money's tight?" Amelia replied.

"A bit." Judith said. "But Yeager my boss, pays a lot for each one I find, but I have to stretch it to pay for the bills. Do a few things on the side."

"Like what?" Amelia asked. I'd like to make an educated guess.

"I normally waitress around here. I'm actually off today, but they told me that they'd need me around. Sokela is so busy that we have to over staff just get all the orders for cakes and booze and food out on time." Judith answered. "But enough about what I'm doing. What have you been up to?"

"I've started my own guild. Brave Vesperia." I say. "We've been travelling all over the work doing jobs from retrieving special items to on some unfortunate occasions, assassination jobs."

"Really?" Judith replied. She looks directly at me. "So I take it that he's your dark enforcer then?"

"When need be." I reply to her. She looks at me closer. "You were that kid who was in the Blood Alliance weren't you?"

"Yep." I say. "I quit though. It was too rough for me."

"I can tell. You're a bit too delicate to be killing people." she said. Amelia smiled a bit and I gave a light chuckle. "So you guys are back in town for...?"

"A request came in for us to find one of the people behind the recent Nobles Massacre in Zaphias." Amelia said. Man she was good at this persona stuff. Judith started to leave the table when her name was called.

"Oh, yes. That was very unfortunate. No one survived." she said. "But, I do know that it came from The Blood Alliance. One of his men were boasting about finding a ring on a woman who was a noble...her name escapes me. There's been a man's name thrown around but-"

"Judith! We need you at the bar! Lucius needs help." said a woman with dark ginger hair. Judith nodded.

"I'll see if I can talk after my shift." she said.

Flynn and Estelle were looking around at all the new faces of the inn. All of them were thugs. And all Flynn needed to do was to remain cordial. At. All. Times. The last thing he wanted was to cause any rift between them and the guilds, even though as a Knight he wasn't even allowed to be there. He held Estelle's hand as they made their way to the check in table.

"May I help you?" the innkeeper asked. She looked in her mid-70's and she gave him a soft smile.

"Yes two rooms please." Flynn said. The innkeeper looked down at the map of the inn. "Well, we don't have two rooms, but we do have a large penthouse suit available."

Estelle pulled out her small bag and opened it. Flynn almost lost it about the amount of money she had in it. The bills were stuffed to the brim of the purse, all either 1000 Gald or 2000 Gald bills. There had to be at least 220,000 Gald in her bag.

"It's 700 Gald a night per person." she said. Estelle started to take out bills. "This should cover all of us. We have two more coming."

The innkeeper eyed her a bit closely. "You know you look a lot like the princess." she said. Estelle nodded and giggled.

"It's the hair." she said. "It was all the way down my back until I got it cut in Aspio a little while ago. I've been getting called Estellise every since."

Flynn tried to hide his initial shock at how good she could lie. It just rolled off her tongue with ease. "I'm Avery Strauss."

The innkeeper found 'Avery's' cheerful demeanor mildly disarming. She wrote down her names.

"You must come into a lot of money. What guild are in?" the innkeeper asked. Flynn felt more and more nervous, waiting for the inevitable moment that she would slip and blow their cover.

"Brave Vesperia." Estelle said. "People pay a lot of money in little towns for a healing."

The innkeeper looked at Flynn next. "And you do?"

Flynn wanted to keep his mouth shut. He couldn't lie...but he had to try.

"I was in the Knights and recently joined the group...I'm still unsure of my duties yet." Flynn said. The innkeeper let out a small chuckle.

"Ah, you're a good boy." she said. "What's you name son?"

"I'm Morgan Strauss." he said. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

The innkeeper plucked the keys off the wall and handed them to Flynn. "Ah, so a married guild couple. How sweet." she said to him. Flynn took the key, but the innkeeper kept a grip on them for a moment. "The cautionary gels are in the shop over there." She smiled and Flynn blushed. The statement, however, flew over Estelle's head.

Yuri was finally back in Dahngrest. It was an arduous journey back. Yuri sent Amelia the letter of what had happened and he knew that response would be coming after a couple weeks of travel.

After 3 weeks of grunt work for the Blood Alliance, there was no letter when he came home. And Yuri started to believe that Amelia would never talk to him again. And he couldn't blame her for not wanting to. He was a killer after all.

Unfortunately a knock came to his door. "It's Raine. I have a letter for you from an 'Diamond-" She opened the door, wide eyed. "You know Diamond?!" she yelled.

"Well, you know I don't need sleep after all." Yuri replied. He sighed. "Yes, I know Diamond."

"So she's your crush?" Raine said.

"Friend." he said staring at the ceiling.

"Well, she doesn't think that way about you." she said. To Yuri's horror she had opened the letter, but part of him expected it. It was Raine after all. She may have been 23, but still didn't unsteand the delicate basics of personal space or items at all. She cleared her throat and hightened her voice. "Yuri, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I'm so sorry that you went through everything. I know that you were doing the right thing...but babe- she crossed it out how cute-Hey!"

She raised the letter above her head as Yuri tried to reach for it. He chased her and finally she laid on his bed and fended him off with her foot. "I really think we should talk. You know about everything...because I can't blame you for doing that. I'm actually in Dahngrest. If you want we could meet at the Trinity Pub tonight at 7. Maybe talk over dinner? -Diamond-"

Yuri wanted to yell at Raine for taking his things. "Dinner?" he said calmly.

"Sounds like a date, Riri." Raine said winking at Yuri. Yuri rolled his eyes. "And it's 6:00. And you're not walking out something like that."

"But these are my clothes I work in." Yuri said pulling at his shirt. "Got them at the shop."

"Then we'll wash them and throw your hair up in a ponytail or something." Raine said. "Now go shower up and wash your hair. You can't be all gross around your girlfriend."

"She's not my-" Yuri exploded. He sighed. "I'll get dressed."

There was something incredible about seeing a girl after a long time. The time in between was just time to think, but actually seeing her...makes all that go out the window.

Yuri noticed Amelia's short hair and its curls and she looked at him. Something looked even more beautiful about her. She took a sip of her lemonade as Yuri made his way to his table.

Amelia chuckled. "Someone's confident about his body." she said referring to his shirt.

"I always wear my shirt open a bit." Yuri said.

"Not like this you don't. Total man cleavage here." Amelia said pointing at his chest. They were both happy to see each other, but there was a sense of nervousness around the then there was silence.

"So, how was Nordopolica?" Yuri asked trying to spark a conversation trying to read her face for emotions. Amelia looked away for a second and looked at Yuri with a face full of pain.

"It was horrible..." she said. Yuri knitted his eyebrows.

"How come?" Yuri began. "You won the biggest tournament event of the year. The first female champion."

"Yeah, but it came at a price." Amelia said hoarsely. "Yuri, I ended up having to kill someone."

Yuri's eyes grew. Amelia sighed through her nose and took a sip from her lemonade. "So," she continued, "I can't judge you for what you did..."

"What happened?" Yuri asked. "In the arena?"

"No," Amelia replied. She looked teary eyed. "It was outside. I made friends with this guy and he told me that if he was crazy in the arena that I had to kill him. And I did. Outside the arena. He went insane and tried to kill me." By the end of it she regained her composure. "He wasn't hurting anyone unlike Cumore. He was trying to make ends meet for his family and he went insane...he even killed his sister."

"Don't feel bad about it." Yuri replied. "If he said for you kill him, he had a damn good reason for you to. Think about it. With that amount of crazy you probably saved many lives in the future. Including yours."

Amelia sat there and sucked in a breath. She knew that Zagi was the kind of man that relentless. And in his psychotic state, he'd probably kill anyone at any moment for any reason. He finally became a tool...no longer just a man working. Amelia thought about it. It was painful to think about justifying murder...but for the most part she had to come to peace with the fact that he was gone...and hopefully he was with his sister and mother. Without the stress of losing himself.

"Like you did to Cumore?" Amelia said. "You saved lives in that town by putting down Cumore."

"And probably a lot more now." Yuri said. He lowered his voice. "I figured out who has the blastia."

Amelia raised her eyebrows.

"Barbos." Yuri said. "He has it in his sword, well some chainsaw looking sword thing."

"So are you going after him?" Amelia said. A waitress came up to them asking for their order.

"Beef Cutlets and Rice please." Amelia said.

"Mabo Curry, please." Yuri answered. Amelia giggled as the waitress left. "What?"

"You practically live off of Mabo curry." she said to him. "You must really like the stuff."

"Says the person who lives off of beef cutlets and rice."

"It beats the strange food that the chefs make at my house. I've eaten Octopus one night before because it was considered a delicacy. I guess I have a more rugged palate." Amelia answered. "But then again, my dad's a part of the guilds so it's just in me."

Yuri looked at her and smiled. "And that's just sexy." he said. Amelia blushed and Yuri chuckled. "Sorry, it just kinda came out."

"Yeah..." Amelia said. There was silence again. Yuri scratched the back of his head.

"So." he began. He awkwardly reached out and touched her hand on the table. To Amelia his fingers felt like fire on her hands, but she didn't want to move it. She looked at him and he leaned across the table and kissed her lips gently. He pulled away a little bit and smacked his lips. He leaned back into his chair. He looked at Amelia whose face was pink.

"So...we're..." she said. Yuri looked nervous. What the hell did I just do?! he thought. Back in Shizontania, it was easier to deal with than now...I guess since then they were just talking like friends, but now it felt a bit different. Neither of them knew how this boyfriend and girlfriend thing worked.

"Dating...?"

"Sure." Yuri said. "It's okay with you right?"

"I think I wouldn't let you suck my face in Shizontania if it wasn't okay." Amelia said. "It's just it takes me by surprise now when you do things like that."

"Kiss you, lemon lips?" Yuri said. Amelia giggled.

"Yep, teeth knocker." Amelia said taking a sip of her lemonade. Yuri grinned.

"Teeth knocker? Really?"

"Unless you like ?" Amelia said back to him. "You were trying to feel me up when we kissed the first time."

"Trying to figure out what you liked." Yuri replied. "I don't know girls that well."

"Me, or your pants?" Amelia said, giggling. "You know I could feel everything right?"

Yuri looked away. "That was on accident." he said. "Not used to kissing girls or touching them or anything."

"Understandable." Amelia replied. The food came and there was yet again another time of silence. "Yuri?" The raven-haired boy looked back at her. "Take Barbos down."

I sip the last bits of my spiked hot cocoa and look around. We were done eating and ordered food for the others. We were waiting for Judith to get off and the place was starting to get rowdy and loud. And everyone was pretty plastered by now. Not one had noticed us but-

"Hey!" chirped a voice I wasn't familiar with, but Yuri was. It came from behind me. I turned and saw a girl with black hair and in a pair of pants and a white tunic shirt on . Her hair was braided. "So, you've returned!"

"Yeah, been busy." Yuri said with a smile. "How's things been going, Raine?"

"Great. Dax and I are married now. He's at home with Selia." she said. Yuri looked a bit shocked.

"You have a kid?"

"A little 1 month old, yep." she said. This girl looked our age, and she was mom? I wanted to cringe at the idea that the baby might have been unplanned. "Finally started a family and I'm damn near 27."

27?!

"Wow, someone's not getting any sleep." Yuri said. Raine laughed a bit.

"This must be Diamond." Raine said. She had a smile that was bit sarcastic looking. I know she doesn't mean in that way, but genetics weren't in her favor with this one. She looked at me. "So she's your girl friend?"

Yuri blushed. We were both about to hear it...and I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear it, but I had to hear it anyway. He swallowed. "We're engaged." he said. Raine looked at him wide eyed and then patted me on the back. Hard. He then started to take a sip from his eggnog.

"Wow, she must be a tomcat in the sack." Raine said. I almost cough up my drink and Yuri paused for a moment and keep drinking his. He must be use to Raine's gentle sensitivity. "I mean after all, you are a bit unruly, especially challenging Barbos like that. It's take a tiger to tame you."

I want to put my face in a bucket of cold water to get rid of the embarrassment. But then there was a whole new kind of fire.

"Well, it's Dax that hasn't been getting much sleep. I've been getting all times of jobs lately after my little party crash in the capital. Ever since I killed Duchess and Grandmaster Allgood, I've been getting jobs like crazy, paying crazy money." Raine said. "That old fart was so annoying in the Knights speaking of a code that never was used. The only thing that sucked was that we never found the daughter. Now she has a 60,000,000 Gald bounty on her head to first person to bring her back alive, and a 100 million for her dead."

Yuri stares at me. I kill the rest of my drink and hold the handle of the glass. I sighed.

I was less than 3 feet away from the person that slaughtered my parents. And she proud of it...

I sat there...just mortified. I wanted to bash her in the head with my glass, but then, I'd lose my cover. And the ability to take justice... and even my life.

She was a murderer...she took everything that I held dear almost. Her and her friends rocked my world, ripped it apart and tore it down for their own benefit.

"Who posted the bounty?" Yuri said.

"Some guy named Adin, posted it. He's a part of Altosk."

I close my eyes. When I open them, I see a waitress. "Can I get another one of those peppermint schnapps cocoas please?" I ask but more than likely squeak. I turn to Raine.

"So you have a kid huh?" I ask. "How is she?"