Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail
A/N: Okay, third chapter of this update. A little more action this time along with a bit of the rest of Team Natsu.
Check out my other stories if you have a chance.
Showdown
"This is not going to end well for us", Lucy thought as she and the rest of Team Natsu, excluding Wendy but including Juvia, walked down the dirt road. The group was supposed to be heading for a job down south near Hargeon Town but instead, they decided to go directly to Mulay Village on foot to check up on Wendy without informing Master Makarov. Erza estimated that they would be there sometime around midnight if they kept a good walking pace.
"How much trouble do you think we will get in for doing this?", she asks.
"We are deliberately disobeying Master Makarov's order to not go to Mulay Village as well as abandoning a job request that we took", Gray answers.
"So it isn't looking good, is it?", Lucy asks.
Gray shrugs as he kept looking straight ahead, ignoring Juvia's flirtatious comments directed at him, "Well technically, Macao is still the guild master, so any official punishment would have to go through him; though Master Makarov can heavily influence his decision."
"I believe at best we are looking at possibly a week to two weeks suspension on job request, possibly along with some grueling community service as well, though abandoning a job request will probably cost the guild some of its reputation" Erza chimes in.
"Ain't much to lose when we are already at the bottom", Gray mumbles.
"But this is a small price to pay to ensure the safety of our fellow guild mage", Erza finishes.
Meanwhile, Happy was too busy comforting, or at least trying to, a still frantic Carla who was now rambling off possible worst-case scenarios.
"What if he hurts her? What if he taints her mind? What if he turns her into a devil? I swear if he laid a hand on her I'll kill him!"
Natsu, surprisingly, was completely quiet as he walked ahead of the group, his hands on the back of his head as though he was in deep thought.
"You know, now that I think about it, Macao's kid is the first hellsoul I have ever seen without chains around his arms and legs", Gray comments, drawing everyone's attention to him except Carla's.
"What do you mean by that, Gray?", Lucy asks.
"Back when I was a kid, a few months before Deliora's attack, I remembered a large group of soldiers passing near our village. Some of the other kids and I went to a nearby hill that overlooks the route they were taking to watch them and see what was going on", the Ice-Make mage began, "There were three large cages in the middle of the convoy and each one holding a hellsoul or "Land Melters" as they were locally known; the youngest one must have been around my age at the time. Even from the distance, we were at we could see the red in their eyes. Their hands and feet were bound in chains along with their restrainment gloves on, their mouths were gagged, and the guards they had with them had their guns pointing straight at them."
The group remains quiet as Gray told his story which seen to even have caught Carla's attention as the Exceed snap out of her rant.
"They were taking them up north to the wastelands on the other side of the mountains. From what my father told me they kept them up there in a camp of some sort", Gray kept on.
Erza nods at this, "That is the usual policy for most countries regarding hellsouls, isolation from the major populace. In fact, the hellsoul's policy for Fiore is seen by many as an exception to the rule."
"In Bosco, all hellsouls are sent off to a small island off the southern coast; from what I have been told they have constantly naval patrols circling it", Juvia adds, "Juvia is also on a list of Bosican water mages who can be called up to military service in case something like what happens in Minstrel ever occurs. Juvia has to check to see whether or not she is still on that list."
"Oh that's right, other than stopping the hellsoul themselves, the only thing that can put out hellfire is holy water or a mage with extremely powerful water magic", Gray says to which Juvia nods.
"Juvia has been on that list even before she joined Phantom Lord and every month she got a letter from the military reminding her of her duty", the Water Mage added.
"My family's servants used to tell me when I was little that if I misbehaved a hellsoul would come and drag me down into the Nine Hells", Lucy began, "My mother chastised them for saying something like that but my father, though he didn't agree with the tale, said that I should never trust a hellsoul no matter what."
"I myself came across in the country of Seven while I was on a job there. She was being escorted by an entire company of Rune Knights with her hands and feet bound in a magical barrier. She spared me a glance as the group walk past me and I will never forget the look in her eyes as she regarding me with disgust and contempt", Erza tells the group.
"Huh, it would seem that most have had our different degree of interactions with a hellsoul before Romeo arrived", Lucy said before she suddenly snaps her finger and turns her attention to the Fire Dragon-Slayer in front of her, "Hey Natsu, have you ever met a hellsoul before?"
Natsu apparently didn't seem to hear her as he kept walking in silence, lost in his thoughts.
"Hey, Flame Princess, Lucy asks you a question!", Gray shouts.
This catches Natsu's attention who instantly turns around ready to brawl with the Ice-Make mage.
"What was that, Frost Boy?!"
"I said that Lucy asks you a question, idiot!"
This prompts Natsu to calm down and turn his attention to the Celestial Spirit mage, "What is it, Lucy?"
"Have you ever encounter a hellsoul before Romeo?", Lucy asks again.
"Yeah, of course, I have. One was a friend of Igneel", Natsu answers, raising a more than a few eyebrows from the group.
"A...friend?", Erza asks.
"Yeah, he would come by every now and then to chat with Igneel about some stuff I didn't understand. Though every time I ask him if I could eat some of his hellfire he just laughed at me and told me no", Natsu smiles before a thought occurs to him, "Though he wasn't wearing any of those restrain thingies that Romeo has on."
Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Juvia exchange glances with each other.
"Natsu, didn't you say you used to live out in the middle of the forest with Igneel?", Lucy asks.
"Yeah, we did. There weren't any towns or anything around where we lived.", Natsu states, "Why?"
"Because I highly doubt a hellsoul would be walking around without restrainment gloves", Erza answers, wondering if there was a possibly a hellsoul out there that was unaccountable for or, even worse, possibly on the run.
"Well, he wasn't wearing any. Pretty fun guy, though. Wonder what happen to him.", Natsu concluded as he turns around and started walking again, leaving his baffled friends behind.
"You know, I just realize that Master Makarov might be right and that us coming to check up on Wendy might rub her the wrong way", Gray finally speaks, "Maybe we ought to turn back and go do the job."
"While yes, Wendy might not fully appreciate our notion I am positive that it is for the best. We are her family and we are just trying to make sure she is okay", Erza replies.
"Do you think Wendy will be okay around Romeo? You know, if he tries something?", Lucy asks.
"Wendy is still a dragon-slayer after all even if she is not as...aggressive on the attack as Natsu, Gajeel, or Laxus. Juvia is sure that she could hold her own against him if something happens", the Rain Woman states.
Erza places a hand on her chin, "Wendy definitely has the physical advantage in every category over Romeo even if she does not show it most of the time. But I get the sense that he is smarter than he looks. So I figure that if he was to try something it would happen at night where he has a distinct advantage."
"Don't you think we might be jumping to conclusions about Romeo? I mean, yeah, he's a hellsoul and yeah, he got the city guards chasing after him on just his second day in town, but has he really done anything other than that would warrant our suspicions that he is going to try something funny with Wendy?", Gray asks.
"I will admit that if he was just a hellsoul, I probably would not judge him as much but since he is from the southside of Crocus, that gives me more of a reason to be wary of him", Erza confesses, "I once pursued a dark mage through that part of the capital and it is an experience I wish to never have to do again."
Mulay Village
Back at Eria's and Ferris' house Romeo himself fumbling down the hallway trying to make sense of what just happen. His mind was such a jumbled mess that he damn near walk right into the cousins who were coming out of a room.
"Woah!", Eria shouts, barely by missed by the older hellsoul, "You guys okay? I heard a scream!" she said before narrowing her eyes at Romeo, "You weren't trying to do anything you weren't supposed to now, were ya?
Romeo throws the woman an incredulous look, "Are you serious?"
Eria shrugs, "I have to ask. City boys your age only have one thing on their minds."
"Wooooooowwww, and here I thought my opinion about you country bumpkins was bad", Romeo says before looking down on Ferris and suddenly remembered something, "By the way, can I talk to you alone for a moment?", he asks only to receive a suspicious glance from her.
"For what reason?", she asks.
"Hey, we can talk about this with Ferris around or without him, I don't really care", Romeo tells her.
Eria regards the boy for a moment before turning to younger hellsoul, "How about you go and get everything set up for dinner?"
The little boy nods his head vigorously and takes off toward the stairs, disappearing down them in a flash and leaving his cousin and his fellow hellsoul alone. The two regarding each other for a moment before Eria walks back into the room she just came out of and Romeo follows her in there. Inside there was a lit candle on a nearby set of drawers but going off of the scent of lemons that it was giving off, it was probably not being used to help illuminate the room. Eria closes the door and then turns to face Romeo.
"Now what do you want to talk to me about?", she says.
"Well, I'm known to being extremely blunt and to the point", Romeo began.
"Not when it comes to girls from what I have seen", Eria is what she wanted to say but decided against it.
"So I won't sugarcoat for you", Romeo continues before taking a breath, "Ferris is probably going to get the mark soon."
Eria feels her breath get caught in her throat, her mind unable to believe what she just heard.
"That voice he told you that he has been hearing isn't some imaginary friend but the Prince of the Nine Hells himself, Asmodeus, speaking to him", Romeo kept on, "Soon the nightmares will begin. For me, it was nothing more than just seeing fire everywhere at first but they gradually got worse over time. More detail, more horrific."
"M-Maybe it won't happen to him", Eria stammers, "M-Maybe he'll be different."
Romeo took note that where there was once confidence and bravado in Eria has now quickly started to regraded to fear and desperation.
"Whose knows?", he shrugs, "Maybe nothing will happen to him. I mean, he is the only other hellsoul I have ever met, so maybe nothing will happen to him at all, because I know I ain't no expert. I'm still finding out new stuff about me every day."
Silence blanketed the room for a moment.
"But I'm not holding my breath on that. Soon the mark will appear and both his senses and physical abilities will drastically increase", as he points a finger at the candle, more specifically the tiny flame at the top of it, "And this is where the oh so famous fire abilities that hellsouls are known for will come into play."
The candle fire slowly began to turn into a long narrow stream that made its way toward Romeo's index finger, wrapping itself around it until it was cover in flames in its entirety.
"And if you thought Ferris was getting treated like crap now without walking around with restrainment gloves and such then you ain't seen nothing yet", Romeo says.
Back at the bandits' cavern, Everlue was making his way into a smaller side cave which he transformed into his own personal office. Once he inside, he uses his earth magic to create a wall in the entrance of the cave, giving him some privacy. There were two smaller tunnels near the ceiling of the cave, each the size of his fist, that led outside so he wasn't in any danger of being suffocated which meant he could stay in there all day if he wanted too. He had plenty of food that his minions stole from the farmers as well as some wine they got off a few traveling merchants.
But none of that matter to him as he shifts the dirt down from a nearby wall, revealing a hole which held a rather large treasure chest which he pulled out. He opens it and looks at the contents which was a surprising amount of jewels, so much that the chest was nearly filled to the brim.
"Just a little more", Everlue told himself, "Just a little more and soon I will be freed of this cursed land."
The former politician turns around and stares at a map that was laid out on a wooden table behind him containing none other than the entirety of Ishgar. Surrounded by a bright red circle was the island nation of Caelum, a country well-known around the world for its eccentric style of leadership.
Ever since he was wrongly accused of corruption by King Toma and thrown into the national prison located near the base of Mt. Hakobe, Everlue has been plotting, waiting for the right opportunity present itself so he could exact his revenge. He spent over six years in that hellhole, sleeping on a straw mat, eating disgusting meal after disgusting meal, having no beautiful maids to attend to his every need. The only thing that kept his going in that pit was the thought of vengeance on all who put him in there.
But it would take time and resources to pull it off. He had the first one and now he was close to gaining the second.
While most people would see the Eastern Fiore Calamity of x787-X790 as a mere disaster, Everlue saw it as an opportunity. Due to the epidemic ravaging the land, eventually, the staff at the prison were infected by it and this causes their numbers to drop dramatically. Surprisingly, due to the fact that the prisoners were kept isolated and only fed through small openings in their cell doors, they didn't contract the disease.
It was one the biggest example of irony Everlue has ever heard of.
Anyway, due to the fact that now they couldn't keep an eye on every single prisoner, they had to herd them all into larger cells in order to properly maintain security over them. This meant that the former ruler of Shiratsume Town was no longer confined to a completely metal cell, which prevented him from using his Earth Magic through the use of magical runes specifically design to cancel it such magic out, and instead merely had Anti-Magic Cuffs put on him.
While in these community cells, where all the prisoners were wearing Anti-Magic Cuffs as a precaution, Everlue met the Eisenwald mages; Rayule, Snarl, Josh, and Micheal. The four of them were among the many groups of mages of the fallen dark guild which were sent to separate prisons all over Fiore in order to keep them from planning an escape and thus serving out their sentences.
Everlue sometimes wonder if whoever came up with that idea ever stop to realize that while they were technically separated they were still among their own guild in their groups and could still coordinate prison escapes because of that.
Nevertheless, it was an overlooked detail that Everlue quickly jumped on, and soon the five of them were able to formulate an escape plan. Now while Everlue did have to lie to the group about how once they were free they would have to lay low for a bit and gather their resources and then he would aid them in breaking out the rest of their compatriots from all over Fiore.
The fact that they actually believe that he would do such a thing prove overall that it was more of their fault for trusting him and less his fault for manipulating them.
Anyway, the escape went off without a hitch and the group made their way to Shiraotsume Town where they snuck into Everlue old mansion and locate his secret jewel reserve, and made their way to Hargeon Town. They bypass the local quarantine and went straight to the Harbor District where the region's lowlife congregate at in order to gather additional manpower. Coincidentally, Everlue was able to locate the Vanish Brothers there and after convincing them with a couple of thousand jewels they too join his little scheme.
All he needed now was a perfect location. He experimented with at least half a dozen smaller hamlets and villages that were isolated in the countryside and while there was an early success they prove to be too small for his operation. While his plan which was simple, a single mistake could ruin it all and land him back in prison.
Everlue considers himself something of a history buff and history has shown that in times of famine the price of food can skyrocket through the roof which it did for a time. Now while he missed the worst of the famine while being in prison the prices of food in a number of eastern settlements were still high due to the economy not fully stabilizing yet and that's where the farmers came in. It was quite simple, really. The farmers would load their wagons with their crops to take to the market and Everlue would send out the Eisenwald mages to rob them. The wagons were then taken to one of the closest cities, with Everlue going every time along at least one of the Vanish Brothers, both of them in disgust, and the products were sold at full market price and he got away with a one hundred percent profit.
No work, all benefits, and no one was the wiser due to Everlue knowing exactly how the security policy of Fiore worked. Villages and Hamlets were forced to rely upon the larger towns and cities closest to them for law enforcement when it came to bandits or monsters, even magic guilds if that wasn't enough. The military was only to be used exclusively against monsters and the likes that threaten the entire country, nothing less, so they would not get involved.
Even more so since King Toma's policy regarding hellsouls has raised tensions with Fiore's neighbors and the military has been on high alarm for quite some time now and couldn't be bothered.
Sure enough, Mulay Village fitted the bill in all aspects. It was the fastest recovering farming community in the region, if not the entire province, from the famine and it was quite far from any major towns or city. But Everlue didn't take any chances though. Upon learning that one of his former "colleagues" from his past had quite an influential position in the nearby town of Magnolia he made arrangements with them to "look the other way" once word of his "activities" reach them. He also put a second plan in place to act as a little extra insurance.
His plan was now in full swing and soon enough they were raking in the cash.
But it seems that even the best-laid plans are subject to hiccups and slip-ups as somehow mages from the local guilds still seem to have shown up despite his best efforts.
"Damn it all", Everlue growls, "Everything was going perfectly too."
He returns his attention back to the map and eyes the country of Caelum. That nation was without a doubt the most unorthodox one out of all the countries in Ishgar if not all of Earthland. For it was a land where only the royal family could truly be counted on to have a direct linage within the land.
For on the island of Caelum, one could buy themselves a nobility title if they had the right amount of coin.
Almost a century ago, the tyrant King Yato committed a bloody massacre of all of the noble families after his ever-increasing paranoid reached a breaking point. In almost a single night, all of the aristocratic class excluding the immediate royal family was wiped out all the way down to the smallest child. Once the tyrant was deposed of by his youngest son after a costly and bloody civil war a large power vacuum remained and it was one that had to be filled quickly along with the treasury which was completely depleted.
That was when the newly crowned King Nagana came up with a radical solution that would solve both of his problems.
He would sell titles of nobility along with the land that came with them to any who had the money to buy them as long as they swear loyalty to him.
And he didn't have to wait long for rich and powerful merchants and others that possess extreme wealth to come flocking to his shores.
And if everything went to plan, Everlue would be arriving soon enough into a Caelumian harbor with a chest full of gold and a title just waiting for him. Once that was attained then he could work himself toward his ultimate goal.
But all of his work would be for naught if he didn't act quickly. For if there were guild mages here then that meant that someone knew that they were here and if they didn't report back within a certain time frame, more would come to check up on them. This meant that he had to move his entire operation somewhere else before they did.
But first, he had to teach those kids a lesson if only to send a message to those two upstarts mages from Fairy Tail who set him on this path in the first place. It was their fault that Mulay Village was going to suffer greatly tonight for if they would have only walked away from Kaby Melon's offer all those years ago none of this would have been necessary and the farmers could have continued living out their pathetic lives.
Once that was out of the way and he had secured passage to Caelum, he would get rid of all of the other loose ends, secured his title, and then he could finally focus on the last part of his ambitious scheme.
"Um, boss?", Everlue hears from outside his cave, snapping him out of his thoughts, "It's me, Jeb."
"What do you want?", the corrupt politician snaps.
"I-I just wanted to let you know that the money was given to the contact at the train station so it should be on its way to Magnolia", Jeb explain on the other side of the dirt wall, "You were so busy with all the other things going on that you forgot to ask."
"Hmph, I see", Everlue said, berating himself for forgetting something so important. It was funny now that he thought of it; if he would have known today would be the day they were leaving the area he wouldn't have to bother sending the money, but oh well.
"Tell the men to hurry up with preparation! Once we are finished with our business in the village, we will come back here and immediately move out!", he barks.
"You got it boss!", Jeb said and Everlue could hear him taking off down the cave tunnels.
After a moment of silence, Everlue crosses his arms and looks up at the ceiling.
"Truly is a shame that I have to get rid of him too when all this is said and done. He was the only one smart enough for me to trust with such a task but that's the way of the beast."
Eria silently watches the full moon as its light wash over her in her room. It has been a long time since there has been anyone else in this household other than herself and Ferris and yet she wasn't in the mood to entertain them until they went to sleep, which was local customs for Fiore.
She took a deep breath and massage her forehead, trying her best to process everything that was going on.
"You knew that sooner or later that Ferris' life was going to get turn upside down again so why am you so stress out?", she told herself right before she hears the door open up and turns to see Ferris standing there in the doorway in his pajamas, a teddy bear in his right arm. As he sleepily rubs one eye, the other one shone brightly in the nearly dark room, its redness contrasting with the moonlight.
"Can't sleep", the boy whines.
"Why not?", Eria says as she got up to go comfort him.
"Bad dream", Ferris says, "I keep seeing fire."
Eria finds herself stopping in her tracks, her eyes staring sadly at Ferris. She only does this for a second before she scoops up the boy in her arms and hugs him tightly.
"Eria", Ferris asks upon noticing that his shoulder was starting to get wet, "Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?"
"Well, this wouldn't be the first time I slept in my regular clothes overnight", Romeo told himself as he sat down in a chair that was in the room he was given. He chose not to lay on the bed, the smell of whoever last slept in it was still strong no matter how much the sheets and blankets were washed and even the hellsoul from the southside had a problem sleeping in a bed that once belong to a dead person.
Though he really wishes he could completely drown out the sounds of Eria's crying or Ferris constantly asking her what's wrong.
"Can't get everything we want now, can we?", Romeo told himself as he turns over to look outside the window.
And witness a large cloud of smoke rising from the direction of the village along with an ominous glow.
"Well, that can't be good", Romeo says just as Wendy comes bursting through the door.
"I think the village is under attack! I can hear screaming!"
"Oh joy, and I have a good feeling what you're about to ask of me."
Mulay Village
When Mayor Tupode arrives at the main part of the village, pitchfork in hand, it was a scene of pure chaos. He was awoken by the screams and rush over as fast as he could only to find that a good number of the buildings were on fire and people were running around everywhere screaming their heads off while bandits went around setting more buildings on fire and destroying what they could. Out in the middle of the village square, he spots a short stout man being flanked on both sides by two men who did not look like they were from the local area. He then spots another group of men who match the description of the ones stealing everyone's crops, using their magic to wreak havoc on the town. It was only the greatest of fortunes that all the villagers were smart enough to flee into the forest and that the bandits did not give chase, almost as if they were here just to destroy the village.
Luckily for Jack Richard Tupode, he has been in chaotic situations like this before though it has been quite a while since those days; but all that was put on hold as a warcry draws his attention to one of the bandits heading straight toward him, brandishing a sword.
Almost on reflex, Jack brings up his pitchfork and catches the blade in the space between the tines, though it almost cut through it in the process. With a strong twist of his wrists, he flicks the sword out of the man's hand and away from them. While the bandit was temporarily distracted by the loss of his weapon, Jack thrusts the pitchfork into the man's neck, the ends of the tines coming out the back.
The mayor quickly withdraws his pitchfork and watches the bandit drop to his knees with his hands around his throat, trying in vain to stem the enormous tide of blood pouring out his neck before he fell backward on the ground.
Jack looks around and sees two more men heading toward him, swords unsheathe, and inching for blood.
Acting quickly, Jack reels the pitchfork back and launches it at the one on the right. It sails through the air and impales its intended target through his chest, the force of impact so great that it takes the man off of his feet.
Jack then races toward the remaining man, picking up the sword he disarmed from the first bandit off the ground in the process. Caught off guard by the speed the nearly sixty-year-old man demonstrates, the bandit almost did not react in time to bring his sword up to block the slash Jack made at his neck, the power behind it nearly sending the man the backward. Immediately the two men began to clash in a batter of steel with the mayor almost immediately gaining the upper hand against him. Jack parries a thrust aim at his chest and counters it with was downward slash aimed at the bandit's skull, but the man sidesteps out of the way, then spinning outward while delivering a slash at the farmer's chest.
CLANK!
Jack blocks the sword and in the midst of this delivers a hard kick to the bandit's kneecap, causing him to fall to the ground on his knees and leaving him open to the mayor's hard thrust into his chest. As the bloody blade is pulled out and the bandit crumbles into the dust, Jack surveys the scene happening around him.
It would seem him dispatching three bandits in quick succession has drawn the attention of the men standing in the village square who were now staring at him intently.
"Hmm", Jun says as he observed Jack, "This old man seems to be a veteran of some sort, perhaps former army."
Daisuke cracks his knuckles, "Want me to take care of him, brother?"
"No, for despite his exceptional combat ability for someone his age, he is beneath the likes of you and me", Jun says before looking at Rayule and the other mages, "Pest should deal with pest."
"What?", Snarl says, "You want us to beat up an old farmer?"
"Would you rather have the brothers beat up you?", Everlue tells them as he gestures to both Jun and Daisuke.
The dark mages warily exchange glances with one another and back at Jack who was readying his blade.
"Bandits are one thing but mages…. I might be out of my league", Jack told himself as the mages began to move to surround him.
"Sorry, old-timer, but just so you know, it's nothing personal", Rayule told him as he prepares his magic.
"You have been stealing crops from my people", Jack points out.
"Okay, I guess it might be a little personal then", Snarl chuckles as large clouds of sand began to form around him, "But we will make it quick at least."
The sand began to expand from his body until it encompasses the entire area around Jack and the mages, who shield their eyes to prevent the sands from affecting them.
"Sand Bomb!", Snarl casts as he punches the ground in front of him and the sand shots upward to encased Jack, who swung furiously at it but to no avail.
But before the sands could fully cover Jack up a voice rings out.
"Sky Dragon's Sigh!", and a powerful burst of air collides into Snarl, seeing him flying through the air and landing in a nearby cart of hay thus dispelling the sand surrounding Jack.
Everyone, including Jack, turn their attention to the direction the spell came from and see two young teenagers come running into the town square.
"Whoa, looks like this place has gone to shit! Even more so than what it was before!", Romeo says as he examines the fires around them before looking at the main group of Everlue and the others, "And I'm guessing that these guys are to blame for that!"
"I know who these men are. That's Everlue and the two men guarding him are the Vanish Brothers mercenaries.", Wendy says as raises her hands, "Natsu, Lucy, and Happy defeated them on their first official job together."
"Mind your tongue, girl!", Jun snaps, "If you are truly a friend with that heathen, then know that he merely caught us off-guard!"
Daisuke cracks his knuckles again, "Yeah, that punk got lucky, that's all!"
Romeo notices that most if not all of the bandits have ceased their destruction of Mulay Village and have instead begun to regroup at the town square, surrounding him and Wendy, who has also noticed this.
"Hmph!", Everlue states, "I was hoping that all of my revenge would be carried out on those directly responsible for my unfair downfall, but seem that for now, I must enact it out on those associate with them instead!"
Romeo raises a hand, "Um, I like to point out that I have no relationship with any of those guys. I'm just here due to circumstances."
"Get them!", Everlue shouts.
"And he didn't listen, what a shock", Romeo says as he rolls his eyes and tumbles out of the way of a blade before it cleaves him in two. As he comes back up, he faces Wendy.
"I can handle these guys!", he says, receiving a nod from Wendy.
"And I'll handle the mages!", she replies.
Romeo then turns to the two dozen or so bandits that were now keenly watching him.
"Hey, asses for brains!", he shouts, "Catch me if you can unless, assholes!"
Romeo then takes off toward the largest building in the area, the town hall, which was closed up for the night with all the windows shut, and the lights were out. He pulls the door open despite it being locked and disappears into the darkness.
"What are you idiots waiting for?!", Everlue screeches, "Go after him! Those two mages have disrupted my plans and I want them to be punished!"
"You heard the boss, boys!", one of the bandits said to the others as he raises his sword, "Get that kid!" and with a loud warcry, all the bandits went rushing into the building with swords in hand while only a couple of them were carrying torches just as the moon disappears behind the clouds.
To the end of her days, Wendy would forever swear that amidst the chaos occurring all around her that she clearly heard a sinister, almost inhuman chuckle come forth out of the building as she watches the last man disappear into the darkness.
One that sounded eerily like Romeo's.
Preview of the Next Chapter
Here you are alone in the dark
Sooner or later I will cease your heart
Then you will hit the ground with a thud
I'll watch you die in a pool of your blood.
A/N: What happens when you follow someone who can see in the dark into a dark building? Let's find out, shall we?