"I can go the distance."
-From Hercules, the Disney movie.
***Fallen Stars***
Gilbert snarled as he paced in that damn cage he was in. He felt like an animal. The Raiders, just a few feet beyond the cage, just laughed and continued with their damn card game. The one thing Gilbert could be happy about was the fact that, as soon as they were in their stupid base, they ignored them. Gilbert had no idea about Arthur, but the rest of them, including Lili, were ignored in favor of the Raiders making sure that their King beat the others Jack or some shit like that.
Gilbert glanced over at where Matthew was and stopped in his tracks when he noticed that the kid was gone. He looked back at the Raiders and saw that there weren't any missing and he hadn't seen or heard that door to the room open. That meant Matthew must have gotten out somehow… Gilbert kept on pacing, just to make sure that he didn't draw any attention to the empty cage that was nearby.
"It took you quite a while to notice it," Francis chuckled, leaning against the wall of his own cage that was closest to Gilbert. He was sitting on the ground, arms crossed over his chest calmly.
"Sorry I'm busy trying to find a way out of here," Gilbert grumbled, stopping close to Francis' cage to talk to him quietly.
"Well, Matthew is out, so I am sure we are fine," Francis shrugged. "Whoever helped him out is also no doubt trying to help us as well."
"Who do you think it was?" Gilbert asked. "Couldn't have been Alfred, he can't be stealthy. Vash would come here, gun blazing considering Lili…"
"Arthur could have managed it," Francis shrugged.
"How the hell would he get out?" Gilbert scoffed. "He was under the biggest security out of all of us, since he's a wizard. Hell, I wouldn't even let him go, if it cost me my life if I were in their position. Just imagine that pay off."
"Maybe it did cost them their lives," Francis shrugged and Gilbert gave him an odd look. "Arthur knows how to make his other personality come out. If he were scared enough, he could pull him out and I'm sure he has no problem killing anyone."
"And Arthur once said that the softer personality would stop the other if they were about to kill someone," Gilbert stated.
"Unless both of them want that person to be killed," Francis offered. "It is only a theory, I do not understand it much myself, as I am sure he does not either."
"Well, while we're waiting to get our asses rescued," Gilbert sighed, leaning forward on his cage, "who do you think the guild is sending to kill us?"
"Considering you are involved?" Francis laughed. "I think there's only one person they'd send."
"We just gotta hope that he's far away, then," Gilbert groaned. "What are the chances?"
"Knowing your luck?" Francis smirked. "He's on his way right now."
"Dammit," Gilbert sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked back to the Raiders. One of them won their little game and got a piece of gold out of it. Gilbert smirked and walked towards them and sat down at the end of the cage that was closest to them. He was maybe a few feet from them. "Oi, cowards, what game you playing?"
They didn't answer him, they just shuffled the deck once again and dealt out the cards. Gilbert stared on in interest before quickly figuring out which game they were playing. He took a look at the cards that the guy behind him was looking at.
"You might wanna play that Ace next, dude," Gilbert said and the man growled, glancing back barely at him before turning back to the game. "Oh, come on, at least take my advice. It's obvious that the other guys don't have an Ace, so just play it."
"Shut the hell up, thief," the Raider growled.
"Stop being a coward, Raider," Gilbert smirked. "Besides," Gilbert leaned back, lacing his hands behind his head, "I'm a former thief. Those kinds of people are so much more badass, if you ask me. Always risking their lives, rather than just hiding in a crowd and playing cards while you wait for other people to die. Why don't you just kill me yourself? You'll get a higher reward."
"Don't worry about him," another Raider spoke up as he laid an Ace down on the pile of cards in the center. "The guy they sent to kill him should be here any minute."
"Well, damn, they work fast," Gilbert muttered, turning his attention to the game they were playing. They threw down random cards and Gilbert hummed out of pure boredom and nothing to do. One of the Raiders tossed down a Queen just as the heavy door suddenly burst open, a massive gust of fire spreading over the room. Gilbert immediately ducked out of the way but saw that the fire moved expertly out of the way of his cage. Another thing Gilbert noticed was that it wasn't as bright as the fire Arthur was using earlier, so that meant it either wasn't Arthur, or Arthur had calmed down enough to change personalities.
Gilbert waited, looking all around the borders of the cage as smoke clouded around him. He just wished that he could get out of there, but there was no magic, disappearing glass here, so the chance of him just getting out was extremely low. He would have to wait for someone to get him out, even if it was a Raider going around like an idiot and breaking the cage. Gilbert coughed slightly as the smoke got caught in his lungs, but his eyes quickly darted to movement on one side of the cage.
"You lot just have to make it hard to rescue you," Arthur's voice grumbled, barely heard through the sounds of the commotion the Raiders were making. The bars on the cage broke, flying towards Gilbert who moved easily out of their way before running towards the new opening.
"Thanks," Gilbert nodded to him through the smoke, fighting back a few coughs. "Where'd you put Birdie?"
"I made sure that he was in a safe place, don't worry," Arthur nodded to him stiffly, looking around them carefully. Gilbert did the same thing as well, he didn't need Raiders to sneak up on him, those damn cowards. They would probably take all of this smoke to their advantage and try to kill them before the thieves' guild could get him.
"You get Francis, I'll make sure Lili's safe," Gilbert stated. It was obvious neither of them were rescued yet and he figured he might as well do something.
"How do you intend to get her out?" Arthur asked. Gilbert paused for a moment, thinking through a plan quickly. Before he got very far in this thinking, however, a Raider came from behind and tried to attack him. Gilbert immediately elbowed him hard in the gut, reaching behind him and gripping onto the Raider's shirt and flipping him over, in front of him. Arthur took a startled step back as the man slammed hard onto the stone, his head hitting hard enough to at least knock him out. Gilbert smirked happily, this was one way to let off some steam now that he was irritated. Something caught his eye, though, as the smoke cleared slightly, on the man's belt. Gilbert smirked, kneeling down to rip it off before standing up and showing it to Arthur.
"I'll just use these," Gilbert smirked, jingling the keys in his hands.
"Thieves," Arthur muttered, walking past him.
"Former," Gilbert hummed as he walked away, towards where Lili was being held. He picked a random key to use first and walked to the cage. He could hear faint crying as the smoke dissipated even more. "Hey, kid, relax," Gilbert sighed as he stopped walking in front of the cage. The smoke cleared enough for him to see Lili sitting at the very back of it, hugging her knees close to her body. "No one's gonna hurt you, don't worry."
"I'm sorry," Lili attempted to smile through her tears at Gilbert and he sighed trying his key with the lock. It didn't work.
"Do me a favor and watch my back," Gilbert said, focusing on the keys. "That way we'll get through this quicker."
"Sure," Lili nodded faintly.
"Relax, in just a couple of minutes, we'll get you out of here and into the arms of Vash," Gilbert smirked, trying another key. It still didn't work. "Damn, this would be easier with magic like Arthur."
"Was he the one that broke in?" Lili asked with wide eyes, tears still running down her face.
"And be thankful it wasn't the prostitute," Gilbert smirked, the third key working as the door swung open, out of the cage. "Now, come on. We've gotta get out of here before the guy they sent to kill me and Francis gets here. I don't want you to die, too." Lili nodded before quickly getting to her feet and running up to him.
"They took my bow, i-if I could just get it, I could be useful," Lili muttered.
"We can try, I'm sure Francis would want to get his hands on a bow, too," Gilbert muttered, looking back, in the direction of the other two. The smoke was mostly cleared and it was rather odd that there were no more Raiders in the room. He could clearly see Francis and Arthur as they looked into the room.
"They might be out there in order to have better ground to capture us again," Francis muttered.
"I have no intention to allow that to happen to me again," Arthur muttered darkly. "What do we do?"
"Arthur and I can distract them," Gilbert stated. "Francis and Lili can go get bows, since I know that's the best thing you guys can do at this point if we want to fight our way out. I can handle myself in a fight, especially with Raiders, and Arthur has his magic. Once you guys get bows, we can make our way out of here. Maybe we'll be able to make it out of here before the thief that's gonna kill us is going to get here."
"Do you know who they are sending?" Arthur asked.
"Someone you're not gonna want to meet," Gilbert shook his head before walking to the door to the outside, which was slightly ajar. "Arthur, are you ready to fight?"
"Yes, I am," Arthur nodded, clenching his fists.
"Francis, I'll tell you to go when it's clear," Gilbert stated before quickly walking to the door. "Keep Lili safe and don't do anything stupid to her."
"It's strange how serious you can be when you have to be in charge of something," Francis chuckled and Gilbert rolled his eyes. True, he wasn't the best person when it came to fighting in the guild, but if it came down to leading a group, he could do pretty damn well. He could be serious if he wanted to be. The only reason he didn't take control of the group he was in was because Alfred would have thrown a fit about it.
The closer Gilbert got to the door, the more he heard…something. It was almost like a fight was happening all on its own out there. Was the rest of the group already there to get them back? No, they weren't competent enough to do that on their own. Gilbert chanced a look around the open door to glance at the scene just a few feet away. What he saw, though, made him drop his guard.
"Birdie?" Gilbert muttered quietly as he looked for a little longer. The Raiders were busy trying to fight off the blind boy, so he could chance taking so long to look. Matthew seemed to be a natural, almost as if he was in another world while he fought. Even with his unseeing eyes, Matthew blocked practically every hit aimed at him and hit right back, to the point of incapacitating every Raider within a few moves. It was…amazing. "Looks like we've got three people fighting to stall."
"Did someone else show up?" Arthur asked, walking up to him.
"Nah, just looks like you didn't lock Birdie up good enough," Gilbert smirked before slamming the door open. "Birdie, we got your back!"
Matthew jumped slightly, but stayed focused none the less.
"Franny, you get running now," Gilbert stated and the other three ran from the room. Francis immediately took off in the opposite direction of the action with Lili while Arthur stayed stunned for a moment, watching as Matthew fought. "Don't just stand there all day," Gilbert smirked.
"Fine," Arthur sighed before walking forward and, with a wave of his hand, caused a gust of wind that knocked several Raiders off their feet. There were quite a few Raiders around, most likely all of the people in the base were there or getting there. Gilbert made a move to join the fight, realizing a moment too late that there was a person behind him.
"Shit," Gilbert muttered as his hand was roughly pulled behind his back and a sharp knife placed over his neck. He had to make sure that he breathed slowly and evenly just to make sure that he wasn't cut. They were moved quickly and quietly into the shadows, just beyond where the fight was taking place. Arthur and Matthew were too engrossed in fighting and staying alive that they didn't notice anything.
"You still aren't very good at knowing your surroundings," the person behind him said. Gilbert recognized the voice immediately.
"Nope," Gilbert muttered. "Figured they'd send you. I just hoped you weren't close."
"I was going to go and get rid of the town they were attacking," the man sighed. "I don't like doing it, but it's for the best." Gilbert had to agree. One of the jobs of the thieves' guilds was to get rid of those temporary towns that lasted too long. It was to ensure that the population stayed stable and try to keep certain people together in hopes of making single, stable civilizations, like there supposedly were before things went to hell. The Raiders only did it for money, for the thieves, that was a bonus on the side.
"Is this for the best, too? "Gilbert asked. The man had no intention of killing him at that moment, but Gilbert knew that he could kill him at any moment. And there was absolutely no way for Gilbert to get out of it. He was going to have to let himself die as he watched his new friends fight for their lives. He was just thankful Matthew didn't have to see it.
"You know, a lot of people from the guild are terrified to meet you," the man said. "The ones that know your secret, at least. The rest would do anything for that kind of reward. Honestly, I'm one of those people that are terrified to see you."
"If it goes the way you think it will, then I'm guessing you'll have to leave," Gilbert smirked slightly.
"Anyone who sees you and fails to kill you will be hunted down by the guild," the man sighed. "Francis knows this well, he is on the list of those that need to be killed. There's a reason I'm going after you first, though. I couldn't kill him."
"Yet you're going to kill me," Gilbert sighed.
"Yeah," the man nodded. Neither men moved so much as an inch. Gilbert took a deep breath, bracing himself. This man would not hesitate to kill him. He was just stalling for time, simply just to talk with Gilbert one last time. "I'm sorry."
"I understand," Gilbert sighed. "If all goes well, I'll see you on the other side."
***Fallen Stars***
Francis decided not to look at Matthew as he fought so as not to distract himself and just ran, ensuring that Lili was close to him at all times, to ensure that Vash wouldn't do anything to him in the case that something happened to her. Francis had been in a few Raider hideouts, so he knew where to find certain things, as they were all laid out in the same way, more or less. He ran for a while, until Lili was out of breath, and they eventually reached a door, which Francis wrenched open to reveal a basic weapons room. No one was in there.
Francis worked quickly, searching through the bins to find hopefully two bows, preferably one that could fit Lili's small size. He knew that their group needed them quickly, since just three people could not take on a whole gang of Raiders. Then there was the fact that he was coming to kill Gilbert and Francis. Not even a whole gang of Raiders could stand a chance against that one thief.
"I have found one bow," Francis sighed, coming up slightly short on his search. It was a small bow, too, so that meant Lili would have to have it. Francis could take that knife he had found earlier and mainly stay on the sidelines. He could still be useful to Arthur, who could really use the boost of magic, especially in his weaker personality like he was now. "We should go," Francis tossed the bow to Lili, shortly followed by the quiver of arrows. There weren't many, nor were they well made, but he expected no less from a group of Raiders.
"Right," Lili nodded, pulling the quiver over her shoulder and holding onto the bow tightly. She looked a lot more sure of herself with a weapon in her hand, though it did not suit her.
"Don't tell Vash I supported you killing people," Francis sighed, patting her head as they quickly left the room. They were running again, back to the fight. Francis just had to hope that their group would be doing fine and Gilbert would still be alive. As he rounded the last corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. In the shadows just beyond the fight that Matthew was obviously winning with Arthur's help, Gilbert was standing still and quiet, a shining knife pressed against his neck. The person behind him stood with a serious face, something that did not suit him, but the world. His dark brown hair and green eyes were cast in shadows and he let out a sigh.
"Antonio!" Francis yelled out, but he was too late. The man had sliced his knife across Gilbert's neck, causing crimson to pour out. Gilbert gagged and twitched slightly before he fell onto the ground. Matthew and Arthur continued to fight while Lili screamed. "Gilbert…" Francis muttered, staring at Gilbert's lifeless body. "Come back, please."
***Fallen Stars***
Oh, I feel so evil. This chapter took a long time for me to write, and I blame Gilbert for that, but I don't know why. Maybe I should just blame myself. It's funny because I wrote most of this while re-watching Death Note(I am in the process of finally finishing it after about two years of actually starting it, don't judge me) and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Antonio has finally been introduced, people have been anticipating it for quite some time. Are you all satisfied now?
Anyway, remember the contest, some people have gotten kind of close, but nothing's really scraped the surface yet!
And please review! (P.S. please don't kill me for killing Gilbert. I have my reasons.)