I do not own magi or the characters. I do own my oc.

Chapter 25

-One and a Half Years Later-

"Just ask her already."

"No way! You do it."

"We need her help if we want to get this done."

These people are getting on my nerves.

"If you don't ask you won't know if I'll help you," I speak up with a slight glare to the men standing behind me.

"We heard that you're a bounty hunter," says the one non-descript man. "Well we are too and we have someone we want to go after…"

"But you can't do it on your own," I conclude from the sheepish looks they each share. "Why me? And who do you plan on going after?"

"We heard that you have two metal vessels," says the one, earning a pointed glare. "We want to go after Princess Serendine."

"From Partevia," I say, with a bit of curiosity. "Why now?"

"Do you not pay attention to what people say," questions the one shorter man. "She's supposedly in Reim with some monster. There was an uprising and we want to go after her. Her country started a war with Reim and now we want to get even. If she really does have a monster, we need your metal vessels to handle it."

"Fine," I reply curtly standing up. I watch as the two seem to shrink back. I smile, knowing that I love how much they're scared right now. "We'll go, but I'm in charge."

They both nod and follow me as I exit the bar dropping some change on the counter to pay for my drink. I can feel them studying me, not quite sure who I really am.

"By the way, boys," I speak up with some venom. "Since I'll be doing all the hard work, I get sixty percent of the bounty."

I smile as they start to argue.

It doesn't matter if you argue with me on this. When I'm done, they won't get anything.

-A Little While Later-

"Are you sure that they are coming this way," asks the shorter man as we stand waiting in the forest.

"Yeah," I say growing more and more annoyed. "A dragon is pretty hard to miss. Unlike you two clowns I know what I'm doing."

"Still," starts the one, before I hold my hand up, silencing him.

"They're coming this way," I say sliding a bit more behind the tree. "Move into positions."

"Lord Drakon," says the one woman who I think I recognize from the palace. "We might want to stop and rest, you must be exhausted."

"I'm fine, Lady Sahel," says the Dragon. "We need to keep going. We will be there by morning."

Wait! Is that really Drakon? What the hell happened to him?

I freeze as I hear the two other bounty hunter make their appearance. I can hear them starting the conversation. I want to do what I signed up for, but at Drakon's expense isn't okay with me. Well looks like I'm betraying them earlier.

I pull out my dagger as they continue to talk to the small group. "Spirit, Djinn of preservation and resistance I command thee to make use of my magoi and grant me your power. Now dwell in my body, Buer."

I pause and hear everyone freeze as I feel my Djinn equip take hold.

Now it's time for the exciting part.

-Drakon's POV-

I move in front of the three women as flames suddenly erupt from behind the tree. I can hear a woman laugh as the two men freeze.

"This wasn't part of the plan," says the one quietly trying and failing to look in control and calm.

"Well," says a voice that I find very familiar. "It was part of mine."

I look up and see a woman floating above us. It takes me a moment, but I now recognize her…the assassin Leila.

She lands on the ground scorching it beneath her feet as she lands between the two groups facing the men. Studying her, she definitely seems to have grown in the last year or so, but I'm not entirely sure based on the current form she is in.

She usually a wavy gray hair is a straight dark red reaching down past her waist with a set of matching lion ears on her head. She's only wearing a set of golden armor and a basic white eastern style short dress. She's holding a bright red dagger in her left hand and is wearing large amounts of golden and red jewelry with no shoes.

I watch as she turns a bit towards me. She gives me a small smile, showing sharper teeth and bright gray eyes.

"It's been a while Drakon," she says with little hesitation. "Sorry, we had to meet again like this, but I'll kill these two for you."

I go to say something, but stop as she holds her blade up. "Faiaburēdo," she says as the two men start to run away. She swings the dagger, sending sharp waves of flames towards the two. I shut my eyes at the brightness, but hear a scream and smell burning flesh before opening my eyes again. When I do open my eyes, the men are nothing, but a pile of ashes on the ground. I hesitate as Leila stands there, before the dust scatters as a breeze sends the ashes into the sky.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have needed to do that," she says as a sudden glow activates, before she's standing before me seeming much more familiar. She turns towards me, and I can now see that this is definitely Leila. She dressed far more plainly, in a sleeveless dark green tunic with a hood and black leggings with basic knee high black boots. My assessment that she has grown stands, as she has…developed since I last saw her. Her light gray wavy hair is pulled up into a high tail while her right arm is still bandaged. The only difference is that she has a prominent scar that must start on her left shoulder and goes part way up her neck, and is wearing a silver choker.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to find you with Serendine," she says with a smile.

"You," growls Serendine walking out from behind me. I watch as Serendine approaches, pulling out her sword. She holds the tip towards Leila, who isn't at all phased by this. "You betrayed Partevia and you dare show your face in front of me."

"Well…yeah," says Leila pushing the blade away without any concern. "They were going after the bounty and rumor on your head, so I figured I might as well tag along. But then I found out that Drakon was here, and I kind of like him so…"

"You were here to kill the princess," I ask feeling hesitant of trusting her now.

"Not particularly," she says with a shrug. "I was probably going to take her back to Partevia in exchange for information about my brother."

"So you're still spitting that lie," growls Serendine, earning an uninterested glance from Leila. "How could a monster like you have any family to care about?"

"The same way you do," remarks Leila with a smile. I can see the princess wants to say more but stop as Leila glares at her. "What are you all doing here?"

"Do you know what has happened in Partevia," asks Sahel. Leila shrugs probably only having some of the information. I'm fairly certain that she is uneducated. "We were forced to escape in order to prevent the Princess for being executed. It took us a very long time to get out, and we have been having trouble in the towns here because of Lord Drakon's appearance."

"I know how rough that can be," says Leila with a look at me. She seems understanding. "I'm sure you have it much worse those. It's easier to hide a tattoo than your entire body. I can take you all to the safest town. The one nearby has too many bounty hunters for you to be safe."

"Why would we listen to you," questions Serendine attempting and failing to intimidate the girl. "You've betrayed Partevia."

"My god," says Leila. "Don't you ever shut up about that? Listen I'm doing this for Drakon. The guy has honor and I owe him for something."

"What," growls the Princess as I hope Leila doesn't say anymore.

"None. Of. Your. Business." I watch as Leila looks at all of us before she starts to walk away. "Let's go. It's two days away so we should get moving."

I hesitate as she starts to walk away. Deciding we have no better options I start to follow her.

-Leila's POV, A Day Later-

"It's getting late and you all should rest," I speak up looking at the three women and Drakon coming up towards the cave I'm standing outside of.

"But I thought that we were two days away from the town," questions Drakon clearly hesitant of trusting me fully.

"We are if you include rest," I say crossing my arms. "You all are exhausted. Plus I've set up this cave as a base if I ever have to leave in a rush. I have some supplies that should help all of you."

"We need to keep going," says Serendine clearly still in this phase of hating on me.

"Don't care," I reply not in the mood to deal with her. "You all can go in and rest. I'll stay out here and keep guard."

"Why would we trust you," questions the Serendine as I let out a groan.

"I don't care what happens to you," I reply. "But I did stop those people from killing you and dragging your ass to the Reim military, so I don't think I gave you a reason not to trust me right now. Just go inside, eat some food and get some sleep."

I watch as the two attendants lead the Princess into the cave as Drakon pauses for a moment before following them in. After the go in, I walk over to a tree and sit on the ground leaning up against it.

At least now I have some peace and quiet. If Drakon wasn't here, I probably wouldn't have helped, but he seems like a decent person. The attendants seem rather calm and nice too. If only Serendine took some lessons from them, because she's definitely not a person I would want to deal with.

I relax leaning against the tree waiting for any sign of trouble. After a while I can hear thunder in the distance, but I'm sure it won't be that bad of a storm. At least…I hope that it isn't. I don't really enjoy rain storm like I used to when I was younger.

There haven't really been that many threats around here, but I still don't think that they are so safe here. Napolia will be much safer for the four of them. At least there is some work there and they can get some work and maybe a way out of here.

I pause as I feel a rain drop hit my face, as I look up. Letting out a groan I stand up moving closer to the tree. It's not quite a downpour yet, but could easily turn into one.

I pause as a shadow casts itself over me, blocking much of the rain. I look up at Drakon, who is trying to make sure I stay dry.

"You should come inside," says Drakon watching me closely. "The storm looks like it will get worse."

"It's easier to keep watch out here," I say with a shrug. "Plus I'm sure Serendine doesn't want me in there. I can't imagine this has been easy for you."

"No," he says honestly. "But I am surprised to find an ally here in Reim. Especially, one who's wanted by their government." I just shrug. "Thank you."

"No need for that," I say with a small laugh looking up at the dragon. "I owe you for what happened back in Tison Village. You didn't have to take my offer. Honestly, will all of the soldiers you had there, I probably would have lost eventually if you attacked me. You could have arrested my and forced Sinbad into the dungeon, so I owe you."

I watch as Drakon mutters something seeming a bit embarrassed.

We stand there for a little while, not really saying much.

"Shouldn't you go back inside," I say. "I don't know if the cold or the rain bothers you, but I don't mind."

"Its fine," he says looking towards the clouds. "You'll probably end up in worse shape than me. If I recall, Sinbad said that you were almost always cold."

"I could kick his ass for telling you that," I say with a sigh. "Have you seen him since Baal?"

"I did," he says debating what to say. "He captured a second dungeon a few weeks after Baal. I was there and became his household vessel. That is actually how I obtained this form."

"Do you want me to kick is ass for you," I say as Drakon just lets out a short laugh. "I only captured my second dungeon a few days ago."

"I didn't realize that you wanted to capture a dungeon," remarks Drakon watching me closely. "Why didn't you try to claim Baal?"

"No offense, but I just could feel that it belonged to Sinbad. He was so determined and wanted it so badly, I couldn't have stood in his way even if I wanted too."

"I understand," remarks Drakon still looking at the clouds. "I didn't realize that until we were in the Valefor Dungeon. What affinity do your Djinn's have?"

"The one is Fire, which you saw. The new one is a sound Djinn. Son of a bitch actually made me sing to claim him."

"Are you that bad," says Drakon with bit of humor in his voice.

"I'm not that bad," I say with a glare. "It's not something I would just do for people though. You should go inside and get some rest."

I watch as Drakon nods, before going inside and saying a quiet thank you. It sucks that he has to deal with such a bad lot in life right now, but he'll make it through.