Hey monsters! Oneesama here with chapter 14! I'm so happy... I've gotten quite a few reviews over various platforms for this story... and they're all posotive!!! Y'all dont know how happy that makes me. Anyway.. I wasn't sure how I felt about this chapter but my beta reader liked it! Who as always was the lovely celestialprincess26 from FFN!
Don't forget to vote for ROLU date night, submit your side or mission requests, and OC submissions!!!
Now, onto the story...
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The sky was painted pink and red as the sun began to set over the hills of the village of Ivy. Hikari and Shinji had recently tied the knot and were still very much in their honeymoon stage.They were packing up the remains of a romantic picnic when the rustling of leaves on a windless evening alerted them to someone in their presence.Through the trees appeared a woman dressed in solid red with long wild brunette hair. Her eyes glowed emerald and her skin was ivory white. A wicked laugh escaped her lips as shelevitated towards them."Ah, what wonderful specimens. You two will make perfect additions to my workforce.""What are you talking about you crazy woman?!" Shinji jumped in front of his young bride. He could feel the magic energy radiating off the woman and knew she was a serious threat. When he noticed the guild mark on her stomach, his face paled and he prepared to use his own magic, determined to protect the woman he loved."I may be many things, but I assure you crazy isn't one of them." Raising her arms, she began to chant something in an unknown language. Smoke of violet began surrounding her and her eyes changed to a bright pink color.Whatever this attack was, it was going to be destructive. Not waiting for her attack, Shinji lunged forward with a spell of his own. As ice released from his hands, a dark purple aura surrounded both him and the woman and Shinji cluld be heard screaming."Hikari... Run!"Fear engulfed her entire being. She had never heard Shinji sound that way. In all their years traveling she had never once heard him sound afraid.Reluctantly she ran deep in the woodsonly turning back once. What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her days... her seemingly invincible husband, had been transformed into a helpless child and had been chained like a dog. With tears in her eyes she made her way back to the village elders home to seek help.--
"That was two months ago, and I haven't seen him since." Hikari looked down at her slightly swollen stomach with tears running down her cheeks as she told her tale of sorrow.
The bluenette of twenty five had recently discovered she was carrying her missing husband's child, and the stress of his disappearance was begining to take its toll.
Rogue could see how much the woman was hurting, anyone could. Lucy seemed to be taking it just as hard, her own tears matching the woman's.
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They were sitting in the very same spot where Hikari's story took place so Rogue had sent his shadows to search the area for traces of dark magic.
When the two arrived in the village they had been surprised to find there was only a handful of people left. Most of them were children, the elderly, and the ill. After speaking with the village elders, the two Sabertooth mages had set out on an investigation.
They had been given a list of names and addresses of the families of people who had gone missing. So far, they had spoken to four pregnant wives, ten elderly people, and a dozen children under ten. It was obvious this woman was targeting young healthy men and teenagers, but for what, they weren't sure.
After searching for nearly three hours, the sun had begun to set and Rogue recalled his shadows so they could head back to the inn that they would be renting for the duration of their trip.
On the way back, they were talking about theories on what was going on when they overheard a group of men talking near a campfire.
Lucy quickly grabbed Rogue's hand and pulled him, very ungracefully, into a nearby berry bush. Shushing him teasingly, she hoped he wouldn't get angry. Shooting her a playful glare and a smirk, Rogue pulled Lucy closer to him and sent his shadows towards the men.
His mocking "shhh" was all she heard before suddenly the sound of three men's voices began to boom directly in her ears as if she were wearing earphones. Apparently it was a perk of Rogues shadow magic.
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"I heard there was ether crystals in the caves not doing at far from here." A skinny man began picking at his tooth with a dagger. His hair was disheveled and his clothes torn. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days and had the look of a someone who would kill for something to feast on.
"Yea but Elvish Gang already claimed those mines." A tiny man the size of a toddler spoke. He had spiky graying hair and of the three looked the cleanest. His white cloak held no traces of dirt while his black boots shined in the dying light of the day.
"There's no way! From what I heard those caves are too small for a grown man to fit through." The skinny man threw his dagger to the ground and jumped up in a huff. "There's just no fuckin way!"
"I 'eard 'ere's a group of 'em hunting 'ildren to use to mine the caves." A crazed looking man said in a strange accent. He was dressed in a yellow plaid shirt, brown burlap pants, suspenders and brown boots. He looked very much like a lumberjack with his burly beard and calloused hands.
"Eh... Not a bad idea. Maybe we should join the hunt and get some money off of em." The tiny man pulled out a stick of meat and tossed it to the ground. The skinny man dove for it and began to devour the cooked flesh like a starved animal.
"I 'eard they 'ire men to 'ind workers at the Bats Wing Pub over down the eastern road." The lumberjack was looking through his bag and pulled out a bag of dried meat and calmly handed it to the hungry man on the ground.
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"Did you hear that Lucy?" The men's rough voices faded and Rogue's smooth one took over as his shadows retracted themselves.
She could feel his hand ghosting over her waist and she wanted nothing more than for him to wrap them in his magic and take them far away.
Was it a side affect of him using his
magic on her on a regular basis? Or was it because of the dreams? "Y-yea, let's g-go."
Squeeking in surprise, his hands finally made contact with her side's and Rogue allowed his shadows to surround them both in a cocoon of darkness. In an instant, they were out of the woods and on a dirt path outside of their Inn.
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"So what are you thinking Rogue?"
Rogue's breath caught in his throat when he looked up from his notes. Lucy had just stepped out of the shower and was clad in a pair of black yoga pants and a black and violet galaxy print tank top. Her hair was loose and flowing and he swore he could see the outline of scales
peaking from underneath her top.
He had to mentally scold himself in order to collect his thoughts. He had spent the last hour writing down everything he found using his shadows. Planning an attack along with possible theories on what they might find, Rogue decided infiltration was the best course of action.
"Well need to sneak into the bar and figure out who's hiring people to kidnap children. We will then need to convince them to hire us so we can discover the whereabouts of the missing villagers."
"I don't know how well that would work out, you're very well known all over Fiore as the twin shadow slayer... and I'm a woman." As much as she hated to admit it, being a woman was a setback for missions like this.
"This is true... I hadn't thought about that." Rogue began to think of alternate means of infiltration. If the mage who was leading the kidnappings was a man then maybe...
"Erm... Rogue?"
The way he began eying Lucy up and down like a piece of meat bothered her. She could practically feel his perversion seeping through her skin when he snapped out of it and asked.
"How do you feel about using the art of seduction?"
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