Ch. 13 Thorns of a Red Rose

Black Sky, Dense Forest, outskirts of the Palace

The Murder Camp,

"Eiri-chan?" Teddie whispered when he noticed Eirika was not in her tent. The bear quickly run toward the second in command tent, he somehow has a bad feeling about this. "Rane! Eiri-chan is missing- eh?"

"Please be quiet Teddie, Rane-san was just sleeping." Yukiko snapped at him, though it was just a whisper.

"Oh, I'm sorry Yuki-chan. I thought he was awake…" Ted whispered back, crawling to Yukiko's side instead of walking. He didn't want to disturb anybody.

"He was pushing himself too hard. Jeane-san said his wounds are not healing yet. But he's okay now, he's finally taking a rest."

"Phew, that's good- oh wait! I have an important thing to say-"

"It's about Eirika-san, right? She said she's going for a walk around the camp, Marco-san is with him, so she's safe."

"Oh really? That's a relief. Very well then Yuki-chan, you should rest too!" said Teddie cheerfully and went out the tent. He doesn't have to worry, Marco is with her, he's strong. But, he just senses something bad will happening. He can't take this uncertain situation anymore, he'll go after them.

Outside of The camp, the sky is pitch black without a cloud and the troops of tall trees stood sturdily on the ground. They were the silent witness of the fall of the blue haired man Marco. His body bathed with his own blood and his unique gun got shattered in pieces. A young woman beside him was trembling, unable to bear the pain of what she just seen. She never thought a little scouting around the castle from this forest would end up like this.

"Don't worry cutie, he isn't dead yet. That's kinda surprised me though, I was giving all of my best shots." Said the tall man, who wore messy black suit with a wide grin, Marco's assailant. His bloody steel axe is resting proudly on his shoulder. "So, can you be my girlfriend now? He cannot be your boyfriend anymore, cutie." continued the creepy looking man. His words were even creepier.

"Marco!"

"Eiri-chan!"

"Ahhh, more competitors…"

Westley and Teddie arrived at the scene, thanks to Teddie's nose. They quickly went to Eirka's defense, and started attacking Marco's assailant. They cooperate pretty well, despite the fact they had just met. Westley, wildly sent his fists on him as strong as he could. On the other hand, Teddie assaulted him with his ice spells whenever he dodges the street fighter's attack.

However, both saviors still couldn't take him down. "What a luck! Unlike him, you guys just small fishies! HAHAHA!"

"Damn it! What the hell is this guy?" growled Westley, exhausted.

"He seems immune to all our spells. This is bad!" Cried Teddie, who's exhausted as well.

Hearing that, Westley's lips formed a grin. The red haired youth rose up and stopped charging at the man, instead he made some distance and summoned his persona. The red angel emerged from his body and with his sword, slashing his opponent fiercely. On the other side, The man in black expected such thing would happen and parrying the brute strength of Uriel with his giant axe. "Slow, yet destructive power. You're truly… A SMALL FISH!"

Westley and The man let out a roar as the red haired man cast off Uriel and thrown his fist to the dull face of the axe. The impact sent them flying a few meters. Too bad for Westley, he crashed some trees and it knocked him unconscious.

"Westley! Grrr, Diarahan!" But, no Persona came out to cast thea healing spell. Teddie kneeled down in exhaustion, breathing hardly.

"Hahaha, too bad you're too tired to heal him."

"…!"

"Now, it's your turn blondie. DIE!" The man violently swung his axe at defenseless Teddie. It slashed his chest and blood was bursting out of it. Teddie collapsed on the ground of blood. "Tch, I can finally take her now. C'mon cutie- huh? Where is she?" The man grunted as he found Eirika had disappeared, leaving Marco, Westley, and Teddie behind. Three people suddenly appeared behind the man in black.

"You lost her. Such shame you have Walton." Said the man on the middle, a pair of blue eyes sternly placed at the axe-wielder. This man is fairly tall but shorter than Walton, he stood proudly with his hands crossed. The black robes that almost covered all of his body made it hard to describe. He's Sam, Commander of Cleaner Division.

"Bah! Useless asshole, I had never expected him much in the first place." growled someone on his right, his young face was full of disappointment. He has a pale skin that matched his blond hair. He playfully swung his blades around like an expert fighter. The frustration of seeing Walton let such an important person escape was bothering him much than this annoying black robe he wore. The young man is Rolt, Commander of Execution Division.

"At least he wiped out three of them. This was beyond my prediction though. You did well." Muttered the man, who stood one step further from the other two. Hands placed under his chin, made him looked like a thinker. Unlike his two comrades, he didn't wear any robe. Instead, he wore a simple chocolate colored suit like an executive producer. His black fringe hung freely over his amber eyes, almost covered it. He's Caine, Jack's right-hand man.

"Oh, mock me all you want guys. I'm not gonna let her go. She knows too much." Walton retorted. This creepy man is actually a Commander of Scouting Division. With an annoyed face walked out the scene, searching for Eirika.

"So Mr. Strategist, how do you plan on these guys?" Asked Sam, head slightly turned to face Caine.

"Tch! You're the fucking cleaner old man, clean them up!" Rolt cut in. He seemed more irritated than Walton.

"No, Commander Rolt. Leave them be, they're still alive." replied Caine, calmly hung his hand feely on the air. "You two better stick up with the plan."

"Aye, 'Mister Strategist'."

"Whatever you say…"

In Naoto's tent, practically also Souji's and Silver's, they don't have any more, Souji's finally able to regain his consciousness. He didn't quite remember why he's in a tent right now, not like he cared about it. A petite person sleeping beside him immediately stole his attention.

"Naoto! What happened to you?" he murmured, holding the slender detective's hand. What happened to her? Why he can't remember anything? What is going on here? He's supposed to fight that Jack in the lobby. Did he… lost? Those thoughts suddenly struck his mind. A rustle from behind brought him back to reality.

"Souji-kun, you're awake!"

Souji didn't waste his time to turned back to see who was that, "Yukiko… what happened to her?"

"Naoto-kun is fine. Jeane-san she's just exhausted. No serious injuries." She said.

"I see. Thank god she's alright." The silver haired man sighed in relief, lowering his gaze. Jeane was a doctor. He could trust her judgment. "Yukiko, do you know- no, sorry, never mind."

"You too still exhausted Souji-kun. Please take a rest. We won't be .able doing anything without our leader, yes?"

"Alright. Thanks."

"Good! Excuse me then, I need to take something for Jeane-san."

Smiling was only his reply. He lied down on his 'bed', trying to get better soon. He can't keep this adventure in Tv world any longer. Who knows what happen to the real world? Decided to not thinking too much, he rolled over his body to his right. At that time, he couldn't close his silver eyes, instead it was widened.

It's like seeing... his own self.

Kid: Yikes! I've been gone too long. I really thank you for your patience. I decided to edit some chapters earlier too when I'm progressing the next one. Expect more delay, and I'm sorry for that.

Thanks for reading!