"I'll have a grande caffe mocha, no sugar, no whipped cream, extra dry, with half skim, half full milk and raspberry syrup, mix with the milk, then the coffee. What do you mean 'could you please repeat that' you simpleton!"-Katherine, Exceed

The guild was silent. "Good King Wenceslas" played from the clock and the members had to resist the urge to bellow out the lyrics in a deep Irish voice. Xander watched the guild like a hawk from his sword halfway up the hall, long grey hair falling down his back. Abraham was stabbing at a plate blindly (Sorry Abraham, couldn't resist) with his fork, having trouble picking up his food. Crystal was making drinks, calling people "babe" and winking alot, her usual teasing attitude. Sandra followed people around, giving fashion advice and pointing out style mistakes in their outfits. Enzin had fully recovered thanks to careful care and Dante's Heart suit. How he and was back to sneaking around the guild in full view of everyone. If any S-class were present they were down the ladder in the middle of the floor, in the S-class basement. Everything seemed rather normal, other than the fact that Flint had gone somewhere.

As the last notes played and silence was lifted, his footsteps and classic dog-tag rattle could be heard as he entered the guild. Flint looked the same as he always did. Flaming red hair? Check. Leather racing jacket? Check. Playful smirk? Check. Lap dog? ...Check?

Cradled in his arms, Flint held a fluffy white Maltese dog. It was tiny, about six months old, small enough to stand on a man's outspread hand. Its fur was bright white and fluffy, like cotton balls. It had tiny ears above its head and its miniature mouth was open, small pink tongue panting.

"Aw, brother!" Crystal's face lit up and she cupped her face with her hands. "So cute! My birthday was last month, but I guess I can still accept this!"

Flint went to say something, but his arms suddenly felt lighter. He looked down to see them empty. His Maltese was happily panting while she was being floated through the air by Crystal's Telekinesis Magic, softly landing in her arms. Crystal immediately brought it to her face and snuggled it affectionately.

"Actually," Flint took great delight in snatching back his sister's prize. "Missy here isn't for you. "It's for-"

"Me!" Sandra, who was now carrying it, assured. Flint looked between his empty hands and Sandra, amazed at how she had taken it from him without him noticing. "A stylish dog for a stylish woman, that's what I always say." She noted, petting it carefully with a single finger.

"You have never said that to date..." Mason and his own animal sidekick, Katie, sweat-dropped together.

"It's mine!-senshi" Enzin made a mad grab at it, surprising Sandra. He gained possession of the dog and held his prize above his head proudly. "A true ninja has a faithful familiar!-senshi"

"GIVE IT BACK!" The other three who had been caught under Missy's cute-charm all leapt at Enzin from different angles. Moments before they all pounced on him, there was a puff of smoke.

Flint, Sandra, Crystal, and a barstool were all in one big heap. Enzin, who had replaced himself with the barstool, ran away with the Maltese, giggling to himself. Missy still happily panted with her tongue out, completely oblivious to the fight over her and her constant switching between people.

Enzin, who was too busy looking back and gloating, slammed into a wooden pillar. The Maltese wagged her tail as she flew through the air, straight into Abraham's arms.

He was so surprised he nearly dropped her in his peas.

"I presume this is the animal you are fighting over?" Abraham asked, carefully running his hands over it to find where its head and tail were. "A dog." He discovered.

"Yes..." Sandra rolled her eyes, her stock response to any statement. "And I presume that you'll claim it for yourself now?"

"Actually, no." Abraham patted around the floor with his foot before slowly lowering the dog to the ground. He heard it run off, but had no idea where to. "That would throw me into the middle of your little argument here, and Noh's teaching discourages instigating conflict, only protecting those who cannot protect themselves and interfering to help keep the peace."

Sandra hadn't been listening. She had scooped up Missy while everyone was distracted and was busy carefully combing her short, white hair. She had somehow found a tiny brush, perfect for Missy but useless on her own blonde hair.

"It seems that the little pup has some sort of charm over the guild." Katie noted. She lay on her stomach on top of Mason's head, grabbing tufts of his hair so she wouldn't slide off. She had finished her daily Starbucks and now relaxed in her pink kimono.

"I just wonder why Flint brought it in the first place." Mason frowned. "It is probably some kind of pet for the guild, but a tiny dog like that?"

"Shameful." Katherine scoffed. "This guild already has two exceeds, I don't see why we need some dim-witted dog mascot."

Mason grinned at her words. "Sounds like someone is jealous!"

"NO!" She immediately screamed at him, her face flushing red in anger. "I'm not jealous! It's just... It's a dog!"

"Whatever." Mason said with a satisfied smile. Kat noticed this, giving his hair several sharp tugs in response.

"You GUYS!" Cameron bellowed from the doorway, managing to scream loudly but still sound calm and collected.

"Cameron?" Crystal frowned at the pretty-boy.

"Karu and Ralec were late back from their mission, so I went out myself to look for them." He explained slowly.

"So that's where you went..." Flint mumbled, remembering when Cameron had told him he would be gone for a little while.

"I couldn't find them. The last sighting of them was on a train back to Magnolia today, so they obviously came back from their mission just fine. I thought 'Wherever they are, they couldn't be far'."

"Are you implying that they are in danger?" Dante shot to his feet at the very thought.

"It isn't necessary to imply," He turned to Dante. "Because I met their prison train halfway across town. They were arrested and were en route to the courthouse. Karu and Ralec will be tried in less than an hour, at best."

Tension covered everyone like it had been raining tension for days prior. Gasps, clenched fists and growls swept through the guild.

"Can we get into the courthouse?" Sandra asked.

"If they are putting them on trial moments after their arrest, then they just want those two over and done with." Flint answered. "Usually the trials are open to the public, but if they are cutting corners I doubt they'd hold the door for us."

"It's not like we can do anything anyway." Xander offered with a scowl. "Interfere with what they call justice and you'll be locked up before you can say 'corrupt'."

Flint sent a glare across the guild at him at his words before speaking. "Xander, we are going to check something out."

"Who is to protect the guild?" Xander frowned, hopping down from his perch and calling his sword to his hand. It freed itself and flew to his hand like a magnetic pull. He sheathed it at his belt silently.

"Missy, of course." Flint pointed to the tiny, smiling Maltese. "Don't worry; the building will be fine with her and the members protecting it."

"She... can fight...?" Xander asked suspiciously.

"You bet your ass she can" Flint said proudly. "Now c'mon, let's go visit an old friend of mine."

Missy yipped loudly and backflipped in mid-air, as if saying, I'll look after the guild while you're gone! to the two sprinting adults.

$$$$$Rich Line Break$$$$$

Karu felt naked.

He hardly found it fair that the Magic Council could strip him of his body art, sucking them off of his body like a vacuum with some blue lacrima. Not only did he pay good money for them, they were art. Although they may not have been drawn by his hand, they were his thoughts, his feelings and memories poured into ink. Now all of the tattoos found on his exterior were gone. Trust him; they made sure to check found sense in the actions. Though, when he pictured the situation from their point of view, the action made a little sense. Even if he did pay for it, does a man not pay for a sword? And should he be allowed to bring that into his own trial? They were weapons, no matter how much he loved them. The only one they had left was his crimson guild mark, which was shaped like a phoenix's head and outspread wings, on his breast bone.

Not only was he stripped of tattoos, but everything but a ragged pair of black shorts. They also took his bandana, which was the worst of all. The open air felt strange on his lips and jaw. It had always been so easy to be silent when he had that on, the soft feeling of the cloth felt like a barrier between his ability to express his thoughts and the outside world, a psychological cork to keep him quiet, which he had no problem with. Heck, he was willingly silent. But strangely, now, bare in a jail cell with the cool stone on his back and the cold air chilling much of his skin, he felt strangely open and vulnerable. For the first time in a long time, and he knew not if this was affected by his new vulnerability, he felt like talking.

Lucky him, the only person he ever talked to more than once was being led down the hall now. Ralec grumbled and lightly shoved and pushed against his captors, but the Rune Knights stood firm. One of them placed his hands on Karu's jail cell, making a square portion dissolve out of the middle. They attempted to shove Ralec in, but he growled in resistance.

"I aint a toddler, I can get in fine on my own." He snarled, ducking his head and walking into the cell. The wall shimmered into existence behind him. Karu listened to the footsteps of the Rune Knights slowly get quieter. When they were so quiet Karu wasn't sure if he could hear the faint noises or they were just his imagination, he spoke.

"How did it go?" Karu asked. What a great way to open a conversation about one of the most important events of my life. Karu scolded himself inwardly.

Ralec replied by rubbing his hands together rapidly. Karu guessed he was trying to create sweat in his palms. Ralec's sweat, like everything else about him, was toxic.

Ralec leapt forward and grabbed a single bar with both hands, gripping tightly to it immediately. Karu did not hear the usual sizzle that accompanied Ralec gripping something that tight, and apparently Ralec didn't either, because he gripped it tighter. So tight, in fact, his pale skin hit an all-time pale around his knuckles.

After ten more seconds of gripping the bar, Ralec pulled away, gasping. He hunched forward, his entire arms tired from gripping so hard. He could barely feel his shoulders and his hands were still tightly gripped, unable to go slack after such an exercise.

"Not that good?" Karu raised an eyebrow, still wanting an answer to his original question. Once Ralec heard this, he bowed his head slowly.

"They know it all..." Ralec said quietly. "They brought in a Memory Mage; she went straight in before I could defend myself. Found everything they needed to know..."

Karu closed his eyes and sighed, any faint remnant, a shadow of a shadow of hope, any faith he had left in him getting out of this was banished.

"We are screwed, bud." Ralec said quietly. Karu's head instantly shot up, Ralec never talked like that. He had never called Karu "bro", "bud" or anything remotely close to that. That either meant Ralec had gone insane (or rather sane, for he was alot closer to insane than sane at this point), or he had lost his hope the same way Karu had. That didn't do much to lift either of their spirits.

"Let's not lose hope yet." Karu forced himself to say, getting onto his feet. Ralec scowled at his childish optimism, but Karu ignored it. He refused to look at reality after the good look he had gotten recently. "Everything happened a little fast, so let's slow down and go over our options."

"I think we've lost all of our options," Ralec crossed his arms firmly. "We are in a prison cell and about to face life in prison, at best." Again, Karu forced himself to ignore what his partner said.

"Escape doesn't look like an option," Karu began. He walked to a wall and ran a hand over the stone slowly. "Your magic poison didn't have any effect on the bars, so I doubt it will have any effect on the walls."

"Obviously." Ralec huffed. He was beginning to try Karu's patience.

"The bars are open, and air obviously goes through." Karu noted. "If we were careful, we must just be able to take out a couple Rune Knights with poison gas, but we are still stuck in this cell, so dead end there also."

"Although taking out some of those guards does sound nice..." A grin spread on Ralec's face. It seemed he only heard what he wanted to hear from Karu. "Do you think we could get a Trial by Combat? "

"I wish." Karu grinned, sharing in a small joke between them. The two both chuckled several times before the light humor died.

"We have one hope..." Karu reminded quietly. Ralec looked at him through his eyebrows, as if saying Really? Are you kidding me?

"Phoenix Crest." Karu finished.

"No!" Ralec became furious in an instant, cutting the air with his hands. "Phoenix Crest can't defy the Magic Council, don't give yourself false hope!"

"You can bet your ass they'll do all they can!" Karu countered.

"And it won't be enough." Ralec finished, making Karu fall silent. "We are a lost cause; they have most likely already given up on us."

"I guess there is no point is getting our hopes up for disappointment..." Karu muttered. He backed up until his back hit the stone. He then slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. "Even they can't face the Magic Council."

"Seems like it's our last hour, Karu." Ralec speculated, staring at the roof as if looking for the sun. "Anything to say for yourself?"

"Wish I had a good meal in me." Karu answered. "This prison food tastes like dirt."