Lisanna walked the halls of the old stone fortress that now served as the home for the Phoenix Talon guild. Now she could properly observe the dark halls of the once proud citadel long abandoned by the Fiore Army. The stone was worn and cracked and an awful cold breeze blew though chilling her bones. Whoever was in charge of upkeep in this place wasn't doing a very good job. The halls were dark and the torches remained unlit on the walls. If it wasn't for the odd crack spilling in moonlight from the outside she'd have a problem navigating the narrow halls.
Descending the spiral stone staircase Lisanna's senses were assaulted by thick smoke and the heavy smell of tobacco. She took a moment to adjust to the heavy smoke that choked her. She was used to the smell of tobacco smoke. Wakaba always had fat cigar burning in the guildhall, Grey used to smoke cigarettes until he quit, and Heckler always kept his long pipe filled with tobacco for him to enjoy. She was accustomed to the scent of burning tobacco leaves and had even come to enjoy the strong smell. But this was different, it was so thick her eyes watered. She took a moment to adjust to the thick haze wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes and letting the coughing subside.
Confident in her ability to brave the smoke she continued her decent entering into the fortress's dimly lit main hall. The largest gathering of bounty hunters Lisanna had ever seen sat among the many tables chatting amongst one another enjoying their drinks and smokes as well as each other's company. She walked past them all feeling their eyes on her. As she expected almost everyone in the guildhall was a male enjoying a large glass of ale. A few women were sitting at the various tables blending in perfectly with the crowd of rugged hunters. She approached the bar noticing the fact that every table had a gun on it next to everyone's drink.
She took a seat at the bar and greeted the bartender. She noticed the large burly man who'd shoved a double barrel shotgun into her face when she'd knocked at the guilds doors.
"Need something?" he asked polishing a glass with an already dirty rag.
"Food," she said, "I need to eat and if possible take a bath."
The bartender raised an eyebrow, "I thought I made you your dinner?" he asked.
"Heckler woke up," she explained, "he needed to eat more than me."
The bartender nodded and moved to fix her another hearty meal leaving her alone at the bar.
"Well hello there," a southern voice said from behind. Lisanna turned around to see a blond haired man in a tan cowboy hat approaching her. A long cigar was clutched in his teeth and a long barreled revolver was at his hip. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before," he speculated taking a seat next to her.
"I'm a new face," she said hoping to brush the man away and simply get her meal.
"A new face huh?" he said adjusting his ridiculously large hat, "Need a tour of the place?" he asked taking a long draw of his cigar?
Before a Lisanna could answer the man a flash of silver blurred her vision in the blink of an eye and next thing she noticed was the burning tip of the man's cigar and front brim hat falling to the bar severed.
"Smith," a velvety female voice said from the side, "You wouldn't be bothering our guest would you?"
A lavender haired girl in black cloak and wide brimmed hat with a purple plum feather stood close to him holding a mithril rapier in her hand.
"Uh no," Smith stammered as the burning half of his severed cigar and rolled off the bar and onto the floor. The purple haired girl skewered the cigar with the tip of her sword and brought it to her lip puffing on the smoke. "Really?" she said taking the cigar in her mouth. Her voice sounded almost flirty as she spoke but from Smith's she was almost ready to run that thin blade straight through his heart. "Because the way I heard it you were talking to this young lady like she was one of your saloon whores."
"No Violet," he stammered standing up so hard the barstool fell over, "please excuse me ma'am,"
Smith said fleeing from the two girls.
"Um thank you," Lisanna said as the girl sheathed her sword and kicked up the fallen barstool and took a seat next to her removing her large hat on the bar in front of her.
"Don't mention it," she said blowing a smoke ring from her stolen halved cigar, "Smith's an insufferable letch I had to stab him in the thigh my first day in the guild."
Lisanna's eyes widened, "That's unfortunate," she said.
"Not for him," Violet explained, "I was aiming for his balls."
Lisanna would have laughed if she was sure the girl was simply joking, but from her amused tome and the way Smith had fled in terror she was pretty sure petite girl not much older than herself was serious about stabbing that man.
"I heard you came in with Heckler," the woman said calling for a Bloody Mary from the bartender.
"Dragged him in is more like it," she explained as the barkeeper set a plate of food in front of her. Lisanna scooped a liberal helping of mash potatoes.
"How is he?" Violet asked her tone now serious. It was hard to believe moments ago she was innocently threatening to stab that Letcher Smith.
"Honestly?" Lisanna said pausing to swallow a mouthful of bacon. "He's pretty banged up," she explained, "He got shot several times and shattered both of his prosthetics among other wounds. It's a miracle he's alive if I hadn't gotten him back in time he would've bleed to death."
"The Doc said you pulled a gun on him," The bartender said handing Violet her Bloody Mary.
"Yeah," Lisanna admitted, "He refused to help him so I couldn't think of anything else."
"Good idea," Violet said sipping her thick red drink, "I wouldn't done the same thing."
Lisanna returned to her food cutting away large pieces of her steak and shoving them in her mouth her table manners all but forgotten. Now that she was eating she realized just how famished she truly was. She felt like she could even eat one of Heckler's enormous meals.
"So…" Violet began tentatively, "Who are you?"
Lisanna almost choked when she realized she hadn't properly introduced herself, "Sorry," she apologized, "my hunger overcame my manners I'm Lisanna Strauss of the Fairy Tail guild."
"Pleasure," Violet said seriously tucking back a lock of her exotic purple hair, "I'm Violet but I suppose you already learned that."
Lisanna nodded skewering another piece of her steak and shoving it into her mouth and chewing. Violet drank her Bloody Mary and puffed on her stolen Cigar. The more Lisanna looked at her the more the lavender haired girl looked familiar to her but nothing substantial enough to put her finger on.
"So uh," Violet began sounding tentative again, "What's your relationship with Heckler?" she asked suddenly.
Lisanna blushed and waited to finish chewing before answering, "Well uh," she said, "I guess I'm his girlfriend," she admitted.
"HA!" The bartender shouted in triumph, "I knew it good old Heckler got himself a lady friend pay up Violet."
Violet fished into her pocket and pulled out a wad of bills angrily throwing them at the bartender who grinned in satisfaction. "You don't need to be such an ass Bret," she said to the bartender.
"Sorry Violet I just can't help it," Bret said counting the bills, "the look on your face was priceless."
"Well if it's priceless then give me back my money," she growled through clenched teeth.
"Nope," Bret said pocketing the wad of cash, "Life's too short to spend poor."
"Greedy bastard," Violet said finishing her drink.
"You two were betting on me?" Lisanna asked not liking the idea of people gambling on her relationship with Heckler."
"Bret here said you were Heckler's girl," Violet explained taking the celery stick and biting the end dripping with Bloody Mary. "I didn't believe him so we made a wager. Sorry to gamble with your personal life it's just what we do around here. Hell Bret here wouldn't be able to afford his trophy wife if he wasn't such as skilled gambler who doesn't hunt."
"Stop calling her a trophy wife," Bret said, "Fleur's a wonderful wife who just happens to love all that expensive jewelry I happen to scrounge off you losers."
Violet turned to Lisanna, "Be honest," she said, "did you tell our esteemed bartender you were Heckler's woman? Everyone here thinks Bret the Bartender cheats."
"Sorry no," Lisanna said, "never told him a thing."
"I'm just that good," Bret said taking Lisanna's empty plate. "I believe you asked for a bath misses Schofield?"
Lisanna turned purple being called misses with Heckler's last name, she decided to brush her embarrassment off and be glad she was making some friends in the guild of cutthroat bounty hunters.
"I need some clothes too if it isn't too much trouble," she said tugging on the tattered rags that had once been her clothes.
"I can help with that," Violet volunteered grabbing her hat, "I have some clothes you can borrow and I'll clear out the bathhouse for us."
"Bathhouse?" Lisanna asked.
"This fortress was built on top of a large hot spring," Bret the bartender explained, "various pipe vent the steam all throughout the castle or at least they did now this place is in such disrepair hardly anything works anymore, but the spring still serves as a bath for everyone."
"Everyone?" Lisanna not liking the idea of sharing a bath with the other hunters who still eyed her lecherously.
"Don't worry," Bret said, "Violet is clearing it out as she said she prefers to bath alone as well."
Lisanna nodded and allowed her gaze to drift around the room until her caught sight of a maroon robed man sitting alone in the dark corner smoking a hookah with his musket sitting on the table in front of him. Everyone seemed to ignore him and give him a wide berth.
Lisanna stood from her seat and approached him, "Hassine?" she asked standing a comfortable distance away. The hookah smoke was thick and sweet around him.
"What do you need?" he asked looking at her through his multi lensed spectacles.
"I just wanted to thank you for-," she said only to be cut off by the man.
"Don't," he said, "I was paid by the guild master to bring Heckler back alive," he explained reaching into his robes, "and to kill the traitor." From his robes he pulled out a substantial stack of bills and handed it to her.
"What is this for?" she asked looking awkwardly at the money in his hand.
"You brought Heckler here and saw he received medical attention," he explained placing the bills in her hand, "this is your cut of the money."
Lisanna didn't understand. Did he really think she wanted money for saving Heckler's life? "It's alright," she said trying to hand the money back, "I'd have done it anyways," she said, "You earned this not me."
Hassine didn't take the money. He glared at her until she took the stack of bills back. There must be at least a hundred thousand jewel in what he handed her. "I pay my debts," he said sliding the metal tip of the hookah's hose through the red fabric that concealed his face and took a long draw the hookah bubbled as he inhaled the unusually sweet smoke and exhaled it through the red fabric.
"Did uh… Natsu come back with you by any chance?" she asked already suspecting the answer.
"He chased after the Heartfilia girl," Hassine answered.
Lisanna pocketed the money feeling almost dirty for accepting it and turned away from the lone hunter leaving him to smoke and occupy the corner alone. From the stairs the other people in the guildhall were giving her she'd made an impression just by talking to the guy.
A door burst wide open and Lisanna looked to see the new commotion. Much to her embarrassment an army of half-naked men and women ran into the hall dripping wet and covered only in towels. Violet followed after them with her sword drawn chasing them away. "And say out!" she roared holding her rapier high in the air.
Lisanna repressed a giggle as she was reminded of Erza. Violet looked at her and smiled innocently, "Bath's empty," she reported.
Lisanna gave a sigh of pleasure as she lowered her naked body into the hot water feeling as if all the stress in her body had turned to steam and floated away. The scalding water stung at her cuts and wounds but she ignored them as she enjoyed the sensation of all the dried blood and grime being lifted from her skin and washed away by the natural spring. She'd wash her body and wounds more thoroughly later. Right now she was on cloud nine and she needed to savor the moment.
"Not bad huh?"
Lisanna opened and eye to see Violet lowering herself into the spring as well. Lisanna didn't mind sharing the bath with just another girl.
"Yeah," She answered with another sigh, "this is perfect."
"You're certainly making an impression here," Violet said leaning against the rock wall. "First you show up with Heckler dying, then you pull a gun on our drunk of a doctor and now Hassine of all people is paying your money."
"I didn't want that money," Lisanna said thinking of what'd she'd do with the thick wad of cash he'd given her, "but he wouldn't take it back.
"Hassine doesn't give money away easily," Violet explained dipping her head in the water to wash her lavender hair, "if he gave you money he thought he owed you."
"He said it was for saving Heckler," Lisanna explained, "like I'd have just let him bleed to death if there wasn't money involved."
Violet raised a thin purple eyebrow, "hardly anyone in this place would lift a finger for anything unless they get some whiff of jewel. In this world money makes the world go round."
Lisanna closed her mouth and lowered herself into the water only keeping her nose above the water.
"But then again this guild has its exceptions," Violet explained, "Heckler's our guilds residential do gooder, Bret joined as a glory hound until his wife made him quit hunting out of feat."
"What about you?" Lisanna asked raising her face from the water.
"Me?" Violet asked, "Well I guess you could say I'm looking for someone."
"Who?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"My sister," Violet answered, "I hired Heckler to find her a few years ago," she explained, "I traveled with him for a while as he searched and found myself in the bitter business. The big guy's still holding onto the measly pouch of coins I gave him to find her refusing to spend the pathetic amount I'd scrounged up to hire a hunter. He's such a boy scout."
"He is Heckler," Lisanna giggled as if that explained everything, in a way she supposed it did.
Violet's gaze hardened, "well as you've noticed not everyone here shares his sense of honor," she explained, "watch yourself while you're here, everyone's a bit on edge especially since word got out about Onibus."
"You heard about that?" Lisanna asked feeling the scabbed cuts on her feet from when she had stepped on glass in Onibus.
"Everyone has," Violet said, "word's gotten out about that Heckler was protecting Lucy Heartfilia and she had a fifty million jewel bounty on her head. Some might try getting in on that action."
"Lucy's gone," Lisanna explained, "they'd get nothing from it."
"You and Heckler knew Lucy," Violet explained, "They know that and try using it to find her again to ransom her back to her captors, if anyone can find Lucy it's you two."
"That doesn't necessarily explain why everyone is on edge," Lisanna said.
"A day ago some guild members found a body half buried in the snow," she said, "We don't know who it was but all the skin had been stripped from the corpse so we fear someone had found the location of our hall," she explained, "it's possible we have another greedy traitor."
"Hassine seems willing to do anything for money," Lisanna pointed out.
Violet shook her head wet locks of hair flailing about, "Hassine isn't that greedy he honors the guilds rules even more than Heckler, he isn't above killing bounties but he hunts down rule breakers like a demon. People call him the red genie but this guilds like his lamp he serves out guild master without question."
Lisanna sighed grabbed the nearest washcloth and began scrubbing the blood and grime from her body.
Cain watched people meander throughout the guildhall. The information he had squeezed out of that one hunter had managed to get him all the way into the hidden keep of the Phoenix Talon guild. Perhaps his maker could sell that information later at a high price. The skin he'd stolen from the hunter was also serving him well as he tried to blend into the environment. The particular hunter, Jacob his name was. He was apparently not well known around the guildhall and was used to keeping to himself at the tables only speaking to a few people. Hardly anyone suspected the former member had been replaced with a machine. His target Heckler had arrived earlier today wounded from a previous battle in the snowy mountains. Cain had considered finishing the job when he heard the news of the shattered steal limbs. His mission to retrieve the metal arm had seemed failed until he heard rumors sounding saying a new arm and leg were being constructed for the crippled hunter.
Cain waited at the tables, if the hunter lived long enough to receive his new arm and leg he'd take them then and kill the hunter afterwards. After all killing the hunter was part of his assigned mission. Until them he'd simply blend into the rabble of the guildhall.
Lisanna emptied the pockets of her old clothes, taking out the wad of cash Hassine had given her along with the fragmented remains of Heckler's old pocket watch. The clothes where going to be thrown away and she wanted to make sure nothing she could use was lost. Something metallic clanged on the stone floor. Lisanna looked down to see a silver key. It was one of Lucy's. Why did Lucy give her one of her keys?