Chapter 11: Pretending or pretending to pretend?
Disclaimer: I don't own Ragnarok Online or any of the associates, 'nuff said.
"Talk"
'Thought'
Melisa is still sitting on the chair where Twin left her, trains of thoughts running through her brain about the enigma that is her relationship with a certain knight,
'Why do I feel this sad just because he broke the fake ring? Just what does he mean to me? And… what am I… to him?"
Her thoughts are interrupted by a fierce knock on the door followed by someone calling her name. She hesitantly stands up from the chair and approaches the door, pondering if she should answer the door or not. She takes a deep breath as she steels her heart and brush off the signs of her tears with the back of her hand before grabbing the door handle and opens it slowly, revealing a certain fruit vendor behind it with a worried expression on her face.
"Melisa, your husband is in trouble. You have to help him."
Melisa raised her eyebrow curiously at the mention of her "husband" and "trouble". She put her hands on the woman's shoulder to calm her down as she asked,
"Calm down. Tell me what happened? Why are you so worried? What trouble are you talking about?"
The fruit vendor took a few deep breath in attempt to calm herself before she start explaining the event that happened on the street just minutes ago while Melisa listened with half-interest. Afterall, she has live in the city for a year and already learned that her "husband" was known as 1 of the best knight known throughout the city, she doubt that a few thugs can give him serious trouble. However, an audible gasp escaped her lips as the older woman mentioned a certain name.
'Andrew Marks and his gang? Oh no, Twin will not be able to take them on alone, no matter how good he is. That guy is known for dirty play in fights and his gang are experienced in group fight. If Twin is fighting them alone, there is no way he can get out of it alive.'
Melisa grabs the fruit vendor and asks frantically,
"Where are they heading? Tell me, quick. Otherwise, Twin will die!!"
The woman shook his head negatively before answering,
"I don't know, Twin leads them toward the south part of the city. Other than that, I don't know."
Melisa's brain running in full speed as possible fighting spots as she draws a conclusion,
'Twin probably led them toward the place where there are not many people around to minimize the casualty. The only place at the south part of prontera is…. The abandoned swordman guild at the south west part of Prontera, they must be there.'
The assassin thank the fruit vendor briefly as she bolt into the house to grab her weapons before hurriedly exiting the house, closing the door behind her with a loud crash in the process before taking off running as fast as she could toward the fighting spot.
(Scene Break)
Twin is having a hard time vending off 5 opponents at a time as his stamina slowly but surely diminishing. So far, he manages to stay alive against the group of 5 but the fact that his opponent keep him in the middle of their formation is not lost on him.
'Damn it, their team works are pretty much perfect. They prevent me to concentrate on 1 direction, while they can attack me from all direction. When I turn to 1 direction, the other will attack me from behind.'
His thought is interrupted by another volley of arrows from his opponent, followed by a fire bolt attack from the wizard. He jumps away from the arrows before rolling under the blades of fire. However, the next attack took him nearly by surprise as the dagger managed to graze his stomach, and he finds himself feeling the burning sensation on his wound but he don't have the time to inspect the wound as he's forced to defend once again against the blacksmith. He slip under the bulky man's defence and manage to throw a punch on the man's face which throw the brown-haired man back for a few feet but Twin don't have the time to relax as the monk appeared in front on him with a glowing fist. He jump back just in time as the fist hit the pavement followed with an explosion that nearly throw him off his balance. Twin quickly regained his balance before looking at the spot where the monk slammed his fist and sees a huge crater on the spot. Suddenly he feels himself getting dizzy as he staggered to catch his footing back. He looks toward the smirking rogue but the item that catches his attention is the purple stuff dripping from the dagger.
'Damn, poison. Probably side-winder's judging from the effect.'
Twin is familiar with the poison's symptoms and knows that if he starts having fever then it will already be too late for him for treatment. At best, he will be paralysed if not death.
'I have to finish this quickly, but how? The moment I attack 1 of them, the other will take the opening. If only I can keep the other side occupied, I can defeat them but….'
Twin's thoughts are cut short as he heard the hunter talk with a smug look on his face,
"Regretting your inferiority, yet? You should have stayed away from Miss Artemis. She belongs to someone strong, like me. Not a street bum like you."
Twin grimaced as he feels his strength leaving due to the poison and exhaustion as he fall to his knees, using his sword as a crutch to keep himself from dropping flat on the ground but grinned as he replies,
"You? Strong? Is this coming from a coward who is having a hard time taking out a knight even with 5 to 1 odd? As if…. Need I remind you that the only person in this fight that managed to wound me is the rogue and not you?"
The hunter's smug smile turn into a scowl at the blatant insult as he readied his hunter bow and oridecon-tipped arrow, pointed straight toward the knight's head for sure kill.
"Talk all you want, Knight. I know you cannot even lift your sword anymore, much less to swing it. If you're worried about Miss Melisa, don't worry, our guild will take good "care" of her."
The hunter's remark is responded with cheer and laughter from the group members. The meaning of the word "care" are not lost on them and Twin knows it well too; he knows that there are some criminal guilds that kidnaps and possibly torture and force girls to practice prostitution or slavery. Apparently, these people are among them. He grit his teeth in frustration as the hunter speaks again before releasing the arrow straight toward the target.
"Bye bye, knight. In your next life, remember, whatever Andrew Marks want, he gets."
Twin watch as if in slow motion as the arrow cut through the air straight toward the spot between his eyes for sure kill before a blur intercepted it mid-way, saving him in the process. He felt someone standing next to him and push a familiar bottle into his hand. He look toward the said item and see a bottle of green potion in it before looking up toward a pair of familiar blue eyes. The owner of the eyes speaks with concern in her voice,
"Drink it, quick. Before its too late."
Meanwhile, the group of 5 look at the new arrival in disbelief before a menacing grin rose on each of their lips. It is clear that they are practically undressing their target with their eyes. The said target nearly cringes in disgust at the stares as she readied her katar. She glares toward the hunter in front of her as she speaks,
"You think I will agree to marry you if you kill him? I wouldn't even marry you even if you're the last person in the world. You disgust me."
Andrew Marks keep his grin as he replied,
"Ah, but it doesn't matter, my dear. After your husband is dead, you…" He points toward the girl before continuing, "…will be mine."
This time, Melisa outwardly cringes in disgust,
"I'd rather die than marrying you."
While they are talking, Twin has drank the potion that was given to him and immediately he feels the poison effect going away but he know that the effect is just temporary relief.
'The poison was extremely potent, but the effect has lessened. However, if I don't get medical assistance as soon as possible, the effect will come back even faster and I'll be as good as dead.'
Melisa turns toward her "husband" and ask in concern,
"Are you okay?"
Twin look at her before answering sarcastically,
"Do I look okay to you?"
The assassin girl grin sheepishly before answering,
"Right… sorry, stupid question. You still have to fight though; I can't take them on by myself."
Twin rose on his feet with his breaths are still ragged and he's sweating as if he has just ran a marathon but his eyes are focused, he's ready to fight. He tilts his head toward Melisa.
"I owe you one. Just don't die before I can repay it."
Melisa smiled as she answered,
"You too."
Both of them standing back to back as they are surrounded by the enemies, all of them have readied their weapons. Twin and Melisa nod at each other before charging forward toward different direction.
Twin quickly engages the blacksmith who readied his battle-axe with a grin. However, at the last second, Twin changes his direction instead and rushes toward the unsuspecting wizard. The startled wizard quickly cast a frost diver in, hoping to froze the attacking knight but Twin activate his Two-handed Quicken skill, allowing him to side step the spikes of ice which hit the hidden stalker behind him, freezing him. Twin continued his charge swing his claymore in a wide arc, the attack hit the wizard on the chest but don't give as much injury as the knight intended, courtesy of the wizard's Energy Coat. The wizard stumbles back with his hand covering his wounded chest and tried to create a range between him and Twin.
Meanwhile, The blacksmith jump toward the knight with his axe up ahead as it start to shine a golden colour, empowered by his Mamonite, ready to cleave the target in two. But Twin, realizing the incoming attack, quickly back-rolls under the strike and sweep the blacksmith feet, throwing the bulky man off balance right onto Twin's elbow strike on the jaw. Twin let go of his sword for a few second to grab the blacksmith by the back of his shirt and turn his body to lift the man over his shoulder before kicking him straight on the stomach, throwing the brown-haired man crashing toward his frozen fellow group member. Both of them go unconscious after the impact.
While Twin is taking care of the other side, Melisa is fighting against both the hunter and the monk. The hunter continues raining her with arrows as the champion tried to keep her busy with melee attacks. She knows that with the hunter there, her hiding and cloaking skill will do no good as his falcon will be able to detect her, while her poisons will be nullified by the champion. With most of her offensive sealed, she's forced to rely on her speed and critical attack, targeting the enemies' weak point, for that, she need to exploit any opening available. Suddenly, an idea strikes her as she realize that the monk seem to have slightly slower attack with his left hand. While it is not a fatal handicap for battling monsters, it provides her with a definite opening, an opening that might determine her victory in the battle. She continues evading the monk's attack and the hunter's arrows while countering every time she sees a slight opening in the monk's defence.
Her chance comes as the monk activates his triple attack skill. She let the first right punch missed her by a hair breath as she twirls her body and strikes when the second punch, the 1 with the left hand comes. She swings her katar in a small and swift arc, toward the outstretched hand and successfully cut the tendon of the arm. The monk howls in pain as he stopped his attack and grabbed his injured hand with his right hand. Taking the chance that the monk is unable to attack, Melisa elbowed him on the face, followed by a tornado kick and a heel drop to his head, knocking the monk back as he drop on the pavement and not waking up anymore. She quickly jumps back as a barrage of arrow strikes the spot where she was just a minute ago. The arrows barrage keep on following her as she tried to evade them by back sliding until she feels a heavy impact on her back. She turns her head and sees Twin standing right behind her with electricity cracking around his body because of the Jupitel Thunder that has just hits him.
Twin and Melisa quickly realize that they are surrounded from 2 directions by the hunter on 1 side and the wizard at the other. Suddenly they feel a heavy static electricity above them and as one, they look up. Their eyes widened as they see a storm cloud cracking with thunder right above them, there is no doubt the spell that will hit them, the strongest Wind element spell, Lord of Vermilion. Meanwhile, the hunter have his arrow fixed on them, the message is clear, he will shoot if any of them moves. Twin speaks to the girl behind him,
"Any plan out of this?"
Melisa answered back,
"Probably, the same as in your head."
Twin asked again in mock surprise,
"Really? How do you know what's in my head?"
Melisa smiled as she answered,
"Ah, but that is a secret. You know, a girl have their secret."
Twin rolls his eyes as he smirked,
"So… on three?"
Melisa nods her head as they focus their attention back to the enemy in front of them. Twin asked again,
"Ready… Three!!"
Both of them charge at the person in front of them, shocking both enemies. The hunter quickly released his arrow straight toward the charging assassin while the startled wizard tried to finish his spell as fast as possible. Suddenly Melisa jump to the side as the arrow nearly hit her and let it passed her, straight toward Twin's back while she leap with her katar brandished to give the killing strike toward the shocked hunter. She slashed her first katar toward the bow, cutting it clean in two before spinning and slashed her other hand toward the hunter's neck. She stopped the blade mere millimetres from the target but it manages to draw a slight of blood from her target.
"You lose."
Meanwhile, Twin heard the tell tale sound of an arrow approaching from behind. He don't need to look back to know that the arrow is heading straight toward him but it is completely covered from the wizard's range of vision by his own body. As if knowing the distance of the arrow, Twin duck under the projectile just in time as it fly passed him before nailing the wizard right on the head, killing him and cancelling the spell in the process.
Twin picked himself up before staggering toward the last member of his enemy's group. He's starting to feel the green potion that the drank losing its effect as the poison start running its course once again but still, he force himself to keep going until he stops in front of the hunter.
"By the law of King Tristan III, Hunter Andrew Marks, you are under arrest for being the member of criminal guild and murder in the capital city."
Right after he said it, Twin feels his body losing the power to stay conscious as he drops back and everything went black. Melisa quickly pulls her weapon from the hunter's neck and goes toward the knight's side, a grave mistake that she was not supposed to do.
As soon as the hunter realize that he's free to act, he pull a small stiletto dagger from his belt and charge in to kill the 2 people that have shamed him with a war cry.
"Die!!"
Melisa turned toward the attacker too late and don't have the time to react toward the charge as she close her eyes. She felt something wet splashed on her face but there is no pain. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and her eyes widened as she sees a sword sticking out from the hunter's stomach followed with a voice behind him.
"Adam Marks, for threatening the High ranking of the Prontera Knight guild. You are sentenced with death from the sword."
As the hunter drop on the floor dead, revealing the killer in the process, an elderly knight that Melisa quickly recognized at the famed Commander of the Prontera Knight Guild followed with a squad of the Prontera Knights behind him. The elderly knight asked the assassin,
"Are you 2 injured?"
Melisa quickly reminded of Twin's condition answered frantically,
"I'm fine but He has been poisoned with side winder poison. He needs to get to the hospital ASAP!!"
The older knight quickly realize the danger and start shouting orders to bring the injured knight on a stretcher and rush him to the hospital followed with Melisa who insists to come along.
(Scene Break: 3 days later, Prontera Hospital)
Twin opened his eyes with a groan as he heard a familiar feminine voice calling his name. He put his palm on his forehead as his eyes comes into focus before answering,
"Shut up, will you…? You're too loud."
Despite being insulted, the owner of the voice payed no heed to it as she sigh in relief.
"You're okay… Thank God... You were out for 3 days straight; the doctor said that if we were late by another hour you might not survive since the poison has nearly reached your heart."
Twin fall back on the bed before answering,
"That explains why I feel damn tired."
Melisa smiled as she speaks again,
"Well, you're okay now. I think I'll leave you now, you still need your rest."
She stands up to leave before Twin grabs her hand. She turns around and throws him a confused look. Twin answered her unasked question
"About the… "Marriage" thing. I think it's too late to try to correct the misunderstanding now. Seeing that nearly ½ the population of Prontera was there when the hunter challenged me. I bet that by now, everyone in this city think that we're married now, more so since you somehow showed up during the fight."
Melisa looks at him and asked,
"What should we do then?"
Twin let go of her hand and look at the ceiling,
"We have to keep pretending to be married, there is no other way. For that, you need to replace the ring that I broke. You may order a new one; I'll pay for it after I get out of this place."
Melisa turns around to exit the room before stopping at the door,
"Just pretending?"
Twin looks at her back and answered,
"Yes, just pretending."
Melisa nods her head before exiting the hospital. As soon as she's sure that she's outside Twin's hearing range she squeal in delight and hold the urge to jump like a little girl. It doesn't stop her from humming happy tone as she skips toward their house.
"As long as I can stay with him, I don't care even if it's just pretend. It is good enough for me…for now at least."
Meanwhile, Twin look out from his window and see the happy girl walking home, the happy smile on her face does not go unnoticed by him. He lies back to his bed once again and thought.
'I'm getting soft….'
AN: Phew, I manage to finish this chapter in my spare time. I decide to type and post this chapter extra fast because of the good responses I got from the previous chapter and I thought that it would be unfair to keep you guys in cliff hanger after supporting me so well. on the other note, this chapter was supposed to go with the previous 1, but I was thinking that its better to get another chapter exclusive for the fighting scene, I decide to split them into 2 chapters.
Review responses:
Red - Eyed - Raven 93 : Glad you like it, thanks
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babee-angel : Sorry to disappoint you, their relationship will goes better as the story goes, I promise