Chapter 13

It has been three days since the four boys were gone, Velle actually starting to help Iris with weapon training. It took him a day to get her a weapon that she wanted to try. She wanted to try out spears, and he got her one. He found it in one of the fortresses that they took over before.

Iris was swinging it left and right, and thrusting her weapon forward, practising her attacks.

Iris tried to spin the spear around, but her grip on the sprear slipped, falling to the ground. She picked it back up, and looked at Velle. "Did I do good?" She asked.

Velle shrugged. "Sure." He said.

Iris sighed. "Not helpful." She then looked at the spear, looking at the design of it, finding it interesting, yet confusing on why it made it so complex. "Maybe I should try daggers. They're smaller and easy to use."

Velle crossed his arms. "Hmm..."

Iris turned to look at Velle, tilting her head. "Something on your mind?"

"I think I might know somebody who could teach you how to fight with a spear." Velle said, smiling.

"Jade?" She asked.

Velle shook his head. "No, it's somebody who left the Empire. She uses a spear that can help her fly all around the air. But you know, she'll teach you how to swing it around or use it effectively." Velle answered.

"You really think we can trust her?" Iris asked, really unsure about his idea.

Velle nodded. "If we couldn't trust her, I doubt Jade would have come to me on her own. She told me herself that they were leaving the Empire to be daemon hunters. I have her cell, so I can have her come here right now."

Iris looked at the spear again, gripping the handle.

"You want to learn how to fight, don't you?" Velle asked, reminding her of what she wanted.

Iris looked at Velle, with a determined look in her eyes. "Call her."

Velle nodded and then took the phone out, pressing the screen several times, until he put it to his ear, knowing how this thing worked. "Yeah, it's Velle. Listen, I've got a request, if she'll accept it."

There was a pause for a second. "Yeah, for Arenea. You see, we have somebody that wants to fight with a spear, and I was hoping that she could teach her the ropes at the very least."

Iris was feeling nervous that the answer was going to be no. "Okay. If that's what it takes so be it." Another pause. "Sounds good. Take your time. Okay, thank you." Velle said, then hanging up. He turned his head to Iris, and smiled. "We got you a tutor." Velle said, smiling.

Iris pumped her fist. "Yes!" She cheered, with a smile on her face. "Thank you Velle! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me. Thank Arenea when she starts training you." Velle said, placing a hand on his hip.

"Well, it's thanks to you that I'm even getting somebody to train with in the first place." Iris said. "So, when you said, if that's what it takes so be it, what did you mean by that?"

"I just had to take over for Arenea while she trained you. So, I won't be around while you train with her." Velle answered.

"Oh..." Iris said, having this tone of disappointment.

"It doesn't really matter if I'm there, does it?" Velle asked.

Iris shook her head. "No, I just thought it would be nice to have you around."

"Oh. Well..." Velle felt flattered, hearing she wanted him around, but he had to take over for Arenea. "Sorry, but we came to a deal."

"Okay, I understand." Iris said. "Well, maybe you can see me when I'm better with it. Then we can fight together!" Iris realized, in a tone of excitement.

Velle actually liked the idea, of having his own partner. He smiled, and ruffled her hair, to tease her. "Maybe someday."

Iris pushed his hand away, blushing. "Don't do that."

Time passed, it coming to noon, watching as the red Magitek engine came down, knowing it was Arenea and Jade in there. The platform came down, the two familiar females, to Velle, walking down to the ground.

Iris looked at the two, seeing that they were mature, and way taller than her. She blushed a bit, feeling a little intimidated.

Arenea looked at Iris, having a cocky smile on her face. "So, I'm training a kid?" She asked.

Iris was about to talk back but was interrupted by Velle. "Call her what you want, looks can be deceiving." Velle said, with a smile.

"Than I expect a surprise." Arenea said, then walking to Iris. "Arenea. I'm your teacher. You'll refer to me as Miss Arenea."

"Umm, okay-" Iris said.

"I was being sarcastic." Arenea pointed out.

"Oh... well, I'm Iris. A please to meet you." Iris said.

Arenea turned to look at Velle and Jade. "She'll take a while, but I can handle her. You two go ahead with our deal." Arenea said, placing a hand on her hip.

Velle and Jade nodded, then turning to go on the ship. "Good luck, Iris." Velle called out.

"Hey, Velle. Where's the prince?" Arenea asked, not seeing them anywhere.

Velle stopped again. "He's on his way to Altissa, to finally see Lunafreya." Velle answered, how he understood it.

"I see. So he's going to be a king. Congrats." She said. "Alright, you guys can go now." She said, turning around to Iris. "You and I, have a long training ahead of us."

Iris nodded, gripping her spear. "I'm ready."

Jade grabbed Velle by the arm and pulled him in the magitek engine, the platform closing up. The inside had light, showing there were seats, but not many. Jade turned to him. "Alright, so we mostly work at night, because that's when daemons come out. But we've got a job for the day. A monster called a Bandersnatch is causing trouble near Hammerhead, so we're heading there."

"Bandersnatch, huh? Sounds dangerous." Velle said.

"If it wasn't dangerous, we wouldn't be bothering with it." Jade pointed out.

"Good point." Velle said, crossing his arms. "So, about Arenea training Iris-"

"Don't worry, she's in good hands." Jade said, with a smile. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you like this Iris chick."

Velle sighed and sat down. "Great, somebody else who's gonna bother me with that."

"You get teased a lot?" Jade asked, sitting next to him.

"Well, not really. It's more of..." Velle scratched his head. "Uhh... I guess it's one that was encouraging, while the other was against it."

"He wasn't really against it. Gladiolus was just informing you on who she liked." Jade clarified.

Velle looked at Jade, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, how do you know that?" Velle asked.

Jade looked away, remaining silent. Velle kept looking at her, waiting for an answer. Jade looked at him for a second, and looked away again. "Hiding something?"

Jade shook her head. "N-no." She said, hiding her face.

"The stutter says otherwise." Velle said.

Jade sighed. "Just like old times..." She whispered to herself. "I may... or may not have been spying on you before the guys left." She admitted.

Velle laughed, crossing his arms. "Yeah, same old Jade."

"So... you do remember?" Jade asked.

"Sort of. It's coming back to me." Velle answered, remembering a bit of their relationship in the past.

Jade smiled, and then looked to her hands. "Good." She then closed her eyes. "It would be nice to talk like old times..." She whispered to herself.

They both then felt the ship stop. "We're here." Jade said, getting up, and grabbing her sniper rifle, Velle following along. The ship got close to the ground, and let out the platform. Jade jumped down, and landed on the ground, Velle watching as her light pink hair came down as she landed.

Velle jumped down as well, landing right next to her. "Be careful down there!" The pilot called out, as he flew away.

"Is he not our ride?" Velle asked, wondering how they were getting back.

"He flies back to base to avoid him getting attacked by our target." Jade explained.

Velle nodded, Jade then crouching, to get closer to their target, Velle doing the same.

And there it was, their target, The Bandersnatch. It had a dark red body, with a massive mouth, the lower jaw being way bigger, and having two massive fangs. It's body had small arms, and big legs, with a tail.

"Whoa... this thing looks awesome." Velle said, in a quiet tone.

"It does look cool, but it's dangerous." Jade said, then aimed her sniper. "You take it up close, I'll shoot from here." Jade said, telling the plan.

Velle placed a hand on his greatsaw. "You got it."

The Bandersnatch lifted it's head, looking around. Jade placed her finger on the trigger. "Get ready..." She whispered. She then pulled it, getting a direct head shot, Velle then jumped down, and ran at the Bandersnatch.

The Bandersnatch roared and turned to Velle, grinding it's feet against the ground. Velle revved his greatsaw, and ran it against the ground. The Bandersnatch ran at him, as it brought it's head up and brought it down to crush him, but Velle swung his saw up, knocking it's head up.

Jade fired another bullet, getting another head shot, pulling the bolt back and forth. Velle swung his saw to the side, damaging the head, knocking The Bandersnatch back. The Bandersnatch roared at him, and ran again.

Velle was about rev his saw again, but it stopped, as he then looked at it, trying to rev it again. "Crap." He said in an annoyed tone, then getting rammed by the Bandersnatch, Velle tumbling back, letting go of his greatsaw.

The Bandersnatch ran at him, with it's mouth wide open. Jade fired a shot in it's mouth, but it kept running to him. "Velle!" She called out, thinking the name shot would do little.

The Bandersnatch went to scoop him into it's mouth, but Velle jumped up and grew massive dark arms, and bragged it by the fangs, and lifted it up and slammed it to the ground.

Jade looked at him, with a concerned look. "So they really did to it." She whispered to herself.

Velle then slammed it on the ground again, then turned his left darkened arm into a hammer, and crushed his head into the ground and one last hit. The Bandersnatch stayed on the ground, barely moving. It was breathing, steam coming out of it's mouth. Velle looked at it, and sunk a darkened blade through it's head, from his right arm.

Jade stood up and ran to him. "Velle!" She called out, seeing the darkness coming out of his arms.

Velle turned to look at Jade, his eyes emitting smoke. He then looked at his hands. "Do you know what this is?" He asked.

Jade looked down for a few seconds, and then nodded. "You're half-daemon. The very first." She answered. She then dropped the sniper rifle, and then hugged him tightly. "It's my fault. I gave you up to them. I'm sorry." She said, her tone showing fear and sadness.

Velle looked at her, then remembering how it all went down. The rain, the bright lights, the numbing feeling of all those wires across his body... everything. Velle could feel this growing feeling on his arms and watched as his arms began to grow more darkness, as he pushed her away. "Jade... I can't stop it!" He said, in a worried tone.

Jade watched as it happened, starting to get worried. "Velle, just calm down. Don't think about what happened! It'll just make it worse." Jade explained, bringing her hands closer.

Velle closed his eyes, and breathed slowly, trying to think of other things, but his mind was so stuck on that memory. Velle was placing his hands on his head, but it left a burn on where he put them, leaving a darkened burn on his cheeks, groaning in pain.

"Velle! Think of good things!" Jade shouted, as a last resort.

Velle tried, remembering anything that made him happy. He then thought about the good times with the others. Noctis, Ignis, Gladiolus, Prompto, Jared, Iris, everybody. The darkness began to fade away, then Velle fell down, on his hands and dirt.

Jade sighed in relief, and then kneeled in front of him. "Are you okay?" She asked, in a worried tone.

Velle looked down for a second, and then looked at Jade, his eyes being normal, and still had the burns on his cheeks. "I need to lie down... I feel sick..." Velle said.

Jade picked him up, and carried him with an arm around her. "Lucky we're near Hammerhead." She said, taking him to Hammerhead. "It's worse than I thought..."