Chapter 25 – 3rd POV

May glared up at the man "How did you find me?" she asked angrily. Giovanni smiled to himself "Ever since I saw you in that arena… I knew you weren't that delicate beauty from four years ago, this world has made you tough, so I followed you… I know you can go back to that sweet little thing you use to be… the quiet little girl that never spoke up and did as she was told" he said in a sickeningly tender tone.

"I only did that out of fear, believe me if you try that again you'll loose a few fingers" May warned with a snarl as he turned around a little shocked at her small outburst. He began to laugh, holding one hand on his stomach and another on his face "I don't doubt you… so that little drug in your system is going in anything you get fed" he said simply as her glare was momentarily replaced with a look of disgust and confusion "When did you sneek it into my food for this to happen?" she asked.

Goivanni turned to her with a wicked smirk "You remember that jam? I'm honestly shocked that you didn't recognise James was the one at the stall" he said with a smug tone "That wrinkled bag of skin was James?" May asked with a slight snicker "What did you say!?" a voice screamed from out of May's view.

May smirked, having heard his feminine footsteps not long ago.

Giovanni smiled at James and looked around a corner "Nobodies around, gag her and lets get out of here" he said before May was flipped onto her back and a ball of fabric was shoved into her mouth before another strip of fabric was forced over her mouth "Now I won't have to hear that smart mouth of yours" James mumbled angrily but also smugly before slinging her limp body over his shoulder.

~o~O~o~

"What do you mean May isn't back yet?" Drew demanded as he stood outside the room Joy was resting in "I mean we haven't seen her since you left" Levy said a little angrily as Joy was trying to rest while he was yelling.

"You said you passed by her a few times, right? Maybe she's still looking" Chase suggested as he tried to calm the two of them down "Just give her a little more time and I'm sure she'll show up" Rin suggested calmly as Delia nodded in agreement.

Just as it looked as if Drew had calmed down the door busted open "Your majesty we have trouble" Aaron announced as he walked in, followed by Brendan who had a black eye and was holding his arm, it having been dislocated a few minutes ago, "What happened?" Delia asked shocked as she rushed over to Brendan to give him a hand.

As Brendan was helped over to a seat Aaron looked directly at Rin "Giovanni's in town, two of his goons jumped Brendan in the harbour" he said seriously as everyone stood up immediately "Where's May?" Drew demanded "You mean she's missing?" Aaron asked as he looked at Brendan who was looking down to the ground, despite Delia telling him to look up so she can look at his eye.

"Right before Brendan was jumped he saw someone with them" Aaron said before Drew walked over to Brendan and lifted him by his collar, Brendan make a noise of distress and pain but Drew ignored him "Who was with them?" he asked, eyes filled with rage "I… I don't know, I barely got a glimpse… but they were leaving quickly" Brendan got out through his pain "Who… was… it?" Drew growled as his canines began to sharpen "Drew let him go he's in pain!" Levy yelled as she and Chase dragged him away from the wounded general.

Delia sat him down "Brendan just try to think, I know it'll be hard, it's obvious you hit your head, but please just try" she said sweetly.

Brendan looked back at Drew who was still pissed but got a reassuring nod from the two holding him back.

Rin walked over to him "Alright Brendan I'm going to lead you through this… or at least try" she said, mumbling the last part. Brendan looked at her and sighed "Worth a shot" he mumbled and steadied his breathing before closing his eyes "Alright… so you're doing your patrols of the harbour what happens to break your rout?" Rin asks in a calm voice.

Brendan thougth for a moment before he began to speak "I'm… I was walking… and I heard muffled sreaming… at first, I thought it was just the festivities getting to energetic... but then I realised it was coming from behind me" he said as he tried to remember absolutely everything "Okay so you follow the noise, what do you see when you find it?" Rin asked.

"I see… I see Giovanni, it's the closest I've ever seen him… theres a man with blue hair with him… there's a girl slung over his shoulder… that's when something from around the corner hit me with a large plank of wood" he said as his eyes squinted "What does she look like?" Rin asked "Brunette… wearing a blue dress" he mumbled.

"It's May! Giovanni has May! Didn't we already establish this?" Drew yelled as Levy and Chase were now just trying to keep him from leaving, drew making slight headway until Levy mumbled "If you keep this crap up I will bite you so you can't move" in his ear as Chase mumbled "And you know she'd do it" as Drew grumbled in response, relaxing enough so the two could let go but still stay close in case he decided to bolt.

"What happens after you get attacked? Did they mention where they were going?" Rin asked, still keeping calm "The were laughing… they were walking away when they asked if they should kill me… Giovanni says that… I'll serve as a message… that even if his property is taken to another country that he'll still find it" he said with anger rising as he now knew the scumbag was talking about May.

"Brendan focus, do you remember them even mentioning where they were going?" Aaron asked, joining in. Brendan played the scenes over and over in his mind, trying to remember what he heard, each time he replayed them the more he remembered "Somewhere called… Marlow?" he said unsure as he had no idea where that was.

"Where?" Levy asked as she let go of Drew "Marlow" Aaron said clearly.

Levy's knees gave out underneath her "Why would he bring her there of all places?" she mumbled "What happened in Marlow?" Drew whispered to Chase. Chase looked at Levy "That's where her family were killed" he mumbled as he remembered that horrible night before crouching down and helping Levy up.

Aaron walked over to Drew, knowing it wasn't right to ask Levy "Is Marlow in Quincy or another country?" he asked as Aaron was a noble who rarely left Lar-fisto "It's a small mining town surrounded in farm lands and thick forests… it's also well known for the Desolate burnings" Drew said as he remembered his countries dark history. Aaron looked at him shocked "Those actually happened? I thought it was just a rumour" Aaron said shocked as Drew mumbled "Well now you know they were real and the villagers still do it to this day" as he figured it must have been what happened to Levy's family.

The Desolate Burnings was a horrible even in Quincy's history. When Desolate first began appearing, the religious fanatics in Marlow believed that the Desolate were worshippers of the devil, as they thought it was the only logical solution to why survivors of a deadly plague not only survived but mutated, this belief spread to the whole country and that was when Desolate began to be repressed. A few months after this the priests would kill anyone infected with the disease and imprisoned all the Desolate in the town. As the jails began to overpopulate with innocent Desolate and a few humans accused by their neighbours, they were each lined up in the town square and force to transform into their half animal state where their scales, feathers, fur and wool were removed before they were tied to a ring of poles and burned, ten every day. In just short week all the Desolate they had captured were murdered and the things the townspeople took from them were sold at high prices, nobody but the few hidden Desolate feeling any remorse for what happened.

"Didn't May mention that she lived in an orphanage?" Aaron asked, connecting the dots "Yea, she told me that most of the kids there were the children of those Desolate" Drew mumbled.

Everything went silent until a fumbling sound came from Joy's room.

Rin rushed and opened the door "Joy what happened?" she asked as she ran over to the woman who was supposed to be in bed but was on the floor "Do you think I'm deaf? We have to get to that town" she wheezed out "We will go, you two stay here" Aaron said sternly as Rin shot him a confused look "Why? Joy is the best medic we've got, you'll need her" Rin tried to argue, ultimately trying to delay their leave.

As Rin helped Joy onto the bed Aron continues "That may be but Joy is poisoned and May is in the possession of the most dangerous slave trader known, and you can't just leave" he said as he walked closer "What because I'm a queen? You forget that I have training in self-defence and can fight with both swords and spears better than most men in my personal guard" she said as she stood close to him, everyone outside watching in wonder. "It's not that, I know you're more than capable but…" Aaron started before suddenly putting his hand on her stomach "Rin think of our child" he said seriously but lovingly as everyone outside, excluding Brendan who already knew about their relationship, was staring in disbelief.

Rin looked away blushing "Fine… but I don't want my child fatherless so if you die I won't forgive you" she threatened.

Suddenly Delia walked in with her arms stretched "I'm going to be a grandmother!" she yelled excited as she hugged the two young adults.

~o~O~o~

"Raise the anchor lads! Our ships going for open waters!" Brendan yelled to his crew who were previously lounging around "But we don't have any scheduled voyages-what happened to you?" Wally asked as he began to frantically check Brendan's eye and arm "Some assholes got the jump on me, and this is a mandatory voyage ordered by the queen, her personal guard sir Aaron will be joining us along with our pervious guests" he said calmly as he went to wake up his other crewmen who were just lounging around.

On the pier, next to the boat, Rin was hugging Aaron goodbye as Ash just stared, since hearing that he was going to be an uncle to the future ruler of a country he was in a state of shock and joy… but mostly shock since growing up Aaron wasn't great with the ladies.

Misty turned Ash towards the boat and walked him on board as Aaron followed.

"Where are Chase and Levy?" Drew asked impatiently. Rin looked to him and put a finger to her chin "I think Levy is running a few last checks on Levy… and Chase is with her, since hearing about where you guys are headed its eggshells around her" she said with a sigh.

Almost an hour passed and they were finally ready to leave "Alright men set sail!" Brendan yelled as her crew unravelled the sail "How long will it take us to reach Quincy?" Levy asked Wally "Well it took us a few days to get to Rota from Lorcan… so maybe a day or two more since we're headed for a town called Mysta" Wally said calmly "We're going to Mysta?" Chase asked "Why's that so shocking?" Wally asked "That town doesn't exist anymore" Levy said as she had visited the town in the past "Really?" Wally asked as he looked down at the map he had laid out on the ships deck, weighed down with a few rocks.

"What happened to it?" Wally asked "Back when the great plague swept the world, the whole town of Mysta were infected, once Desolate trading was legal the town was ransacked by slave traders and bandits, all the plants are overgrown and I'm not sure if the docks will still be together due to the lack of care" Chase said calmly "You sure know a lot about this town" Misty commented as she had been eavesdropping on the three of them "My father's a merchant, since Mysta was infected within a few days of the plague appearing, he and my mother were quarantined there when they caught the plague, they left a month before the town was destroyed" Chase said simply "Wait… both your parents were infected and survived?" Misty asked "Yea why?" Chase asked "That means you were born a Desolate" Wally said shocked.

Although the plague was eradicated six years ago, it had still lasted for two decades before then. Desolate below twenty were shockingly hard to come by as the plague killed mainly kids as their bodies couldn't handle the effects. It was even more rarer to find children born as Desolate, who are born with part of their animal traits showing and they can't take the appearance of a regular human until they're at least six to eight years old, any people who were against Desolate would report it immediately, making it hard for any Desolate to make a family.

Chase looked at Wally and Misty innocently as if it wasn't a big deal "How have you survived for so long?" Misty blatantly asked "Well when I was a small child they had a backpack with holed in the back to hide my wings and we were just really careful… until my sister had to leave after word got out about a Desolate family of four were traveling as merchants… Anyway I don't see how it's so shocking, Levy was born a Desolate… so was Leaf" he said referring to his sister.

That when it hit him, his sister "We can go to Lar-fisto, Delia's got a whole house we can all stay in and get weapons from the blacksmith" he said excited as he could see his big sister again "Why would we need weapons?" Wally asked as he was a pacifist and cringed at the mention of weapons "Umm Wally you do know what this mission is right?" Misty asked "We're rescuing May right?" he asked naively "Well yes… but we're also going to arrest Giovanni and his main followers" Misty said as Wally just stared at her "Excuse me for a moment" he said calmly before standing and walking towards Brendan's room.