A/N: Gues who's back baby! Sorry this took so long guys, school has just been really busy for me so far, but I have now found the time to regain my chapter writing abilities! Remember, I still have that poll up on my profile page, and it really does help me know what you guys want. Well, just enjoy the chap!


To say that Run was happy to be back in the mountains once again, was an understatement. No cities, no whiffs of smoke and drugs in the air, just clean, simple oxygen filling his lungs.

Unfortunately, others were less than pleased.

"Eehhhh, it's so quiet up here!" Lubbock exclaimed, holding his hands behind his head. "Do people have a 24 hour meditation session going on or something?" Bulat whacked the green-haired youth on the back of the head.

"Lubba, show some respect! We're here to help these people, not be rude to them."

A few days prior to them being set on the road, Najenda had called them to a mission debriefing.

"This mission cannot afford to have any mistakes, understood? If we can't show these people the might of the revolutionary army, we will lose a great adversary in this war, and we need ALL the help we can get."

Run mentally shivered, the woman could be frightening at times. He took note that he was probably going to try extra hard the next few days when he got back to get on her good side...

"I still don't see why this village is so important though," Mine said, "don't get me wrong, I'm willing and able to help, but doesn't this seem almost like a waste of time?"

Sheele looked down at her pink haired friend. "But regardless shouldn't we still help...?" The purple haired individual looked confused herself, but then again, she almost always looked confused. Mine still looked annoyed however.

"See Sheele? You're confused too, and we're all kind of wondering... Right? I know you are for a fact Lubba, Bulat's too stubborn to admit it, and I'm sure Run is also-"

"Not necessarily Mine," Run interjected, still not looking back as he walked in front of them. He was the most used to this kind of terrain, and he kind of needed to distance himself from all of their bickering, so he kept ahead. Mine gave the back of his head a look.

"What does that mean?"

Run shrugged. "I will admit, Najenda not telling us why the village is important is...strange, but that could be for a number of reasons. 1) This might be a test, and 2) We actually never did ask. We're just so used to not having to ask questions that it all escaped us."

Run would've...but he had a nagging hunch there was a reason Najenda left that out. It wasn't like her to leave an important detail out of a mission.

"Exactly, she never really leaves out important details. That's not how Boss works."

Once again, Run shrugged. "There's always a reason for everything, whether we like that reason or not."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever you say Mr. Philosophy."

Silence. Oh how a wonderful thing that was.

Except it wasn't an awkward or welcomed silence.

It was a tense.

Run felt it. He knew everyone else felt it, but no one wanted to acknowledge it. Run dropped his shoulders, and let out a small sigh, deciding to be the bigger person. Still not facing them, he said: "Anything you want to talk to me about Mine?"

The person in question crossed her arms. "I can't place my finger on it, but something's...off, about you. And I'm going to figure it out." Bulat sent the pinkette a sharp and questioning look.

"Mine, that's rude, he's our comrade-"

"No, no Bulat, it's fine," Run interjected. He knew someone was going to come to that conclusion eventually, he just didn't think the first to admit it would be Mine, no offense to her. Still, he wanted to handle the situation himself. He finally turned around and looked the girl in the eye. "You want me to answer some of your questions? I understand if you're suspicious of me, since out everyone so far we've interacted the least, so I'm sure you're curious-"

"See, you're doing that thing again."

Run raised an eyebrow. "Doing, what exactly?"

"That," Mine emphasized. "That thing where you act so damn nice to everyone. You get on the good sides of everyone way too easily."

Run, playing coy, innocently cocked his head to the side. "I don't understand what you mean Mine."

Mine just started to tap her foot impatiently. "Well, you seem to understand everything else just fine."

A few more seconds of silence and then-

"Well going off THAT topic of conversation: When the hell are we going to get there? I'm starving," Lubbok exclaimed.

Run saw his chance to escape, and took it. "According to Najenda-," he stopped himself, "I mean Boss, it should only be about... Let's see, an hour walk from here?" Bulat took the hint as well.

"We should probably take our different paths now then. See you guys soon, Lubba, Mine!" And with that, the bigger, stronger man literally scooped up Run and Sheele, and ran like hell away from a still suspicious Mine, leaving a flustered Lubbock.

(((((((())))))))

"Thank you Bulat, but I assure you that wasn't necessary." The ground trio were now more than a ways away from the support duo by now, and were nearly at the village. Bulat gave him a look.

"And I assure you, Run, that it was completely. I'll let you in on a little secret. Mine, I adore the girl completely as a friend, but she's stubborn as hell."

Run returned Bulat's look with his own. "So I've noticed."

"I'm serious," Bulat said,"she doesn't give in easily, even if you have concrete evidence against her on something: she won't back down. That's one of her weaknesses, as well as strengths. You can't get around her question by playing coy."

Run blinked. "Wha-"

"Run, you may be able to fool a lot of people with that convicncing act of yours, but not me. I know that something bad happened to you, and even though I may not know exactly what that was, I know denial when I see it."

Run, taken aback by what was an onslaught of words, made a face. "Denial? Okay, Bulat, I'm now genuinely confused. What do you mean by that?" And Run was. He'd heard a lot of things after the incident. But denial? That was certainly a new one, and didn't make sense as well. What would he be in denial about? What happened, happened, and there was no changing that. Bulat let out a sigh.

"You were a teacher right? Wouldn't you say just telling someone the answer wouldn't let them learn anything?" Run opened his mouth to give an answer, but hesitated and closed it. "That's what I thought," Bulat said,"Run, look, I know I may be sounding more than a little harsh right now, but really, I'm just looking out for you." He held out his hand. "No hard feelings?" Run looked from Bulat's face to his hand, giving them both questioning looks. The blond sighed however, and grudgingly shook it, causing the older man to grin. "See? What'd I tell you, no one can resist the ol' Bulat charm."

Run immediately tensed up. "The moment was fine until you had to make that comment." Bulat let go of Run's hand, still grinning.

"So you admit we had a moment?"

Run gave him a look.

"Alright, alright," Bulat said, raising his hands above his head. "Sheesh, if looks could kill you'd have taken out the entire Empire right there! Sheele, I need some back up over here! The angel has become a devil!"

The purplette looked over from where she walked. "Huh? What do you mean?" Run just sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind him Sheele, Bulat's just not being reasonable at the moment-"

"What does this have to do with reason? I would have thought you'd have figured by now that nothing about Night Raid is reasonable!"

Run responded by connecting his palm to his forehead. "I find it strange how for one minute you're the most tolerable person and in the next you're the most intolerable."

"Well, I could become the most lovable one-"

"Moving on... We should be practically there now correct?"

Sheele perked up. "Yeah! Uh, what was the town called again?" Run tilted his head, trying to recall.

"Rentusi is what I believe it's called. Are you sure none of you have ever heard of it before?"

Both Bulat and Sheele shook their heads. "Nope, you haven't either huh?" Run shook his head in turn.

"Can't say I have. My village came from the other mountain pass, the one to the east. This one's to the west." Bulat crossed his arms.

"Well, that certainly doesn't help any of us."

"No, no it doesn't."

"Um, Bulat? Run? I think we're here," Sheele said, pointing her finger up at a clearing. She was right, before them stood what looked to be a settlement of sorts, reminding Run of log cabins. They seemed to be very spiritual however, as Run could offhandedly remember that statutes littered around the area resembled those of the religion popular in the southeast. He wasn't familiar with it himself, but he could faintly recall that there was even an established Church for it, complete with it's own prophet. It looked like a peaceful settlement, but something felt off.

Very off.

Run could sense that Sheele and Bulat felt it too, as they both visibly tensed as he did, all of their guards high.

It was extremely silent, to the degree where you could hear a pin drop. There wasn't a sign human life. Bulat's grip on incursio's sword form tightened. He made a signal to Run and Sheele with his hands, telling them to flank around back. Silently. They both obliged, heading in opposite directions.

As Run's feet padded softly against the ground, he couldn't help to wonder again why on earth Najenda wouldn't tell them everything. As he glanced around his surroundings, he tried to think of what reason would she have to not tell them-

Shit.

Run's eyes widened in relization. Of course! That explained all of it! How hadn't he figured it out before-

"Hey Angel! Sheele! You can come out now, I found people! They seem to be harmless, but keep your guard up still!" Bulat's deafening voice rang through Run's ears, disrupting his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, he sighed, and ran to the location of where the sound came from, hoping he was wrong.

When he turned the corner around a building, he found that Sheele had beaten him and was standing next to Bulat. Who was standing of what Run would structurally recognize to be a town hall. He slowed, and asked, "Is it only a small group inside, or is it the-"

"Entire village? That would be a yes. Follow me."

They all entered the structure, closing the door behind them.

(((((((())))))))

Inside, it was surprisingly spacious. Run guessed it kind of had to be based on the fact that the entire village had somehow had crammed itself into it. "They look like sardines..." Sheele said, absentmindedly.

"Oi! We are NOT sardines missy! Not in the slightest!" A middle age man dispersed himself from the whispering crowd. As he approached them, Run turned on his best 'I swear we're not going to kill you' smile. Though, if the man did know they were from Night Raid, it probably wouldn't help him much.

"Good evening sir," Run started,"You're the mayor of this fine establishment I assume?" The short little man huffed out in pride.

"Yes siree! And based on yer looks, you young'uns have to be from Night Raid yeah? You match the WANTED posters, Sheele, Bulat, and Angel correct?" Run held back a sigh, slightly startling himself at how he was getting used to the name.

"Actually, it's Run sir." The man just gave him a strange look.

"Eh, Angel sounds better than Run, so I'll call you that sonny. Name's Ecan, nice to meet you folk." Run's jaw tightened as he heard Bulat snickering in the background, but chose to pick his battles. Trying to keep up his friendly facade, Run didn't try to correct the man again.

"Err... Yes sir, you as well. We were sent here by-"

"General Najenda? Yip! I know all about why you're here, who do ya think sent the request in the first place?" This caught Bulat's attention.

"Really? Then sir, would you be so kind to inform us of why-" He was intterupted however, by Run discretely stomping on his toe, which caught the older man off guard with how much force was put into it. "Ow!"

"What my comrade here means is that would you be so kind to inform us of why you and your people have chosen to hunker down in here of all places?" He shot Bulat a look, glancing to the other people behind Ecan. They were all joyfully talking to themselves, as if they didn't understand the danger (that's what Run assumed it was) of their situation. What ever was going on, it seemed the rest of the population besides Ecan didn't even realize they were assassins. Thankfully Bulat took the hint. "Right..."

Ecan raised his bushy eyebrows. "Well, I'm sure you're able to figure that out-"

BANG!

The sound of an ever so familiar shot rang throughout the halls, hushening the crowd. All the ground members of Night Raid turned they're heads in alarm, knowing what the noise meant. Mine had shot, meaning one thing.

"Sheele, make sure the windows are secure, and get the civilians to a safer place, now," Bulat said quickly. "Run, cover me." Run nodded and activated Mastema, hearing a few gasps from the back as the feathers sprouted. Bulat activated Incursio's armor form, and no sooner had it wrapped around him, he dashed to the door, ripping it open.

What they saw, didn't exactly surprise the assassins. It was definitely a body, one that Mine had shot cleanly through the head, and Run had to say that she was clearly a better marksman than him. The thing off about the body however wasn't the shot or the position of the body: It was the clothing. What the body was wearing was armor. But not just any armor:

Imperial Armor.

Night Raid's suspicions were suddenly confirmed to be true.

"So we meet again Night Raid."

They were being ambushed.