I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
Payback
It was raining. Of course it was raining. Because Fenris wasn't feeling shitty enough already. For the first time in his life, someone had actually played him for a fool. And now, it was raining.
"It wasn't your fault," Sofia said from beside him. "None of us saw it coming."
"I should have," Fenris said. "I've been at this long enough that I shouldn't have fallen for such a simple trick."
Sofia slipped a hand into his, giving him a light squeeze. "You're not perfect, and no one expects you to be."
Fenris pulled his hand away and sped up a bit, leaving her behind. After a few more hours of the rain only getting harder, they finally stopped as they reached a small valley where Andrea and Riley were standing at the bottom, five men standing across from them, a sixth man covered in bruises and blood kneeling in front of the gang. Riley had changed her outfit. Andrea wore the same blouse and skirt as the day before, now drenched from the rain, but Riley had done away with the dress. She now wore a top consisting of a pair of triangles of white cloth over her breasts, both triangles small enough for the curves of her breasts to be exposed on all sides, then black stringa wrapping around her back with two horizontal, then several verticle between the two, and more crossing between the verticle ones, as well as between the white triangles, in two "X"es in each space. To hold the top up, there were two thin verticle straps reaching up around her neck, then a thicker strap reaching up from the top of one triangle, around her neck, and down the other way across her chest to the top of the other triangle, forming an "X" between her collar bones. She wore a thin black cloth choker around her neck, had a thin, white, cloth forearm sleeve on her left arm, a black metal armband on her upper left bicep, a black strap wrapped around her right mid-bicep into two circles and the straps crossing in between into an "X" in the front and back. On her lower body, she wore a pair of black panties with the sides being the same black "X" pattern string, and a white cloth handing from her panties in front of, and behind, each leg, the clothes hanging barely an inch lower than the panties. Her sandals were black with "X" pattern straps, and her hair was tied into a pair of loose ponytails which hung in front od her shoulders.
"Please!" Andrea pleaded. "You said it would be enough!"
"And it was," one of the men, probably the leader, said, Fenris's sword in his hand. "But now you owe us interest."
"We can't!" Andrea said. "The guy we got the money from this time, he was different! He'll know it was us! He probably already told the guards! We can't go back!"
"Then maybe you should have picked a better target," the leader said. "Another thousand gold. And you have two weeks."
"Please!" Andrea pleaded.
The man smirked, humming thoughtfully. "Alright. Sure. I'll make you a deal. I'll drop the interest. For your sexy daughter. I'll give your husband back to you, but in exchange, I get your daughter for one month."
"Don't you dare!" Andrea's husband shouted.
"I can't!" Andrea pleaded. "Please! You can use me! I'll do anything! Just please leave my family alone!"
"Just leave me!" Andrea's husband shouted.
"Please!" Andrea pleaded.
"Mom," Riley said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'll be alright. It's only a month."
"No!" Andrea screamed, trying to hold Riley back only for her to pull away, Andrea breaking down into sobs.
"Smart girl," the leader smirked. "After you."
She walked past him, toward a cave nearby. However, before the leader left, he turned to one who was holding Eileen's bow and nodded once. Then, he walked into the cave. Andrea began to sob heart-brokenly, falling to her knees. However, just as Fenris snd the others began to sprint forward, one of the men drove a massive, jagged dagger blade through her husband's head at the same time as the one with the bow planted an arrow in Andrea's chest.
She tried to scream, but couldn't make a sound. She began to fall backward, juat in time for Fenris to catch her, inspecting the wound. It was bad. It had knicked her heart. He looked up at her face, seeing her watching him, tears flooding down her face, even through the rain.
"I'm...so...sorry," Andrea sobbed.
"Don't talk," Fenris said. "We're going to save you." He looked to the side where Sofia was losing ground against the man that had stabbed Andrea's husband, Naomi was losing ground to a man with a staff with a scimitar blade on the end and a man with a gilded arming sword with the crossguard sharpened, and Eileen seemed to be holding her own in an archery battle against the one with her bow. "I'll be back. I'm going to take care of them and save Riley. Wait for me, alright? I'm not letting you die."
Andrea nodded, and Fenris lay her down gently before drawing his sword, striding toward Naomi first. The one with the sword branched off, charging at him and slashing downward at him, only for Fenris to split him in half diagonally as he passed, barely feeling any resistance. The one with the bladed staff turned toward Fenris and Naomi sliced the tip off of his weapon before stabbing him through the face. At the same time, Eileen avoided an arrow by a milimeter and sent her own into her opponent's face.
"We'll help Sofia, you save Riley," Naomi said.
Fenris nodded and sprinted away from them, reaching the cave in seconds and sprinting through it for several moments before slowing to a stop as he saw the leader standing in front of a desk, studying something. He didndidn't have Fenris's sword with him, howeverb so Fenris grinned. Perfect oportunity.
A whistle reached his ears and he dropped into a crouch, spinning and deflecting his white sword into the air, leaping backward as Riley recovered, lunging and stabbing at him. He deflected it and spun around her and she turned, readying herself, now between Fenris and the leader.
"I assume this is the one you stole from?" the leader guessed.
"Yeah," Riley nodded. "This is him. I'll deal with him."
"Not just yet, love," the leader said, turning toward them, smirking. "Let's at least be a little civil. I assume the others are all dead."
"They're about to be," Fenris nodded. "Riley, what are you doing protecting him? I came here to save you from him."
"That's sweet," Riley said. "But I don't need to be saved from anyone. He's not my kidnapper, he's my boyfriend."
"Excuse me?" Fenris growled.
"He and I are in love," Riley said. "We needed money, but we knew my mother wouln't support it, so we came up with a plan. He'd kidnap my father, demand a randsom, and then when my mother gave us the money we needed, he'd demand me as interest. Then I would just never go home. We'd be rich enough to never worry about money, and I could do anything I wanted. And now, you're the only thing standing in the way of that."
"I'm not the only thing," Fenris said. "You're right about your parents not telling you what to do anymore, Riley. Your father's dead."
"He...what?" Riley asked. "You killed him?"
"No," Fenris said. "Your boyfriend did. He gave the order to kill both of your parents as soon as you were gone. Your father was stabbed through the head. Your mother was shot in the chest. She'w not dead yet, but she doesn't have long. If we're going to try and save her, we need to move fast."
"No, you're lying!" Riley said. "Cain wouldn't do that! That wasn't the plan!"
"It wasn't your plan," Fenris corrected her. "But Cain isn't on the same page as you. Ask him. He has no reason to lie."
Riley turned, staring at Cain, who chuckled. "Cain?"
"I was really hoping to get some use out of you before doing this," Cain sighed, then turned, his long, needle-like sword stabbing through Riley's navel and out her back. "Yeah, I killed them. But you won't be separated long."
"What a waste of good pussy," Fenris said as Cain pulled his sword out and let her fall to the ground.
"I know what you mean," Cain said. "I hate killing virgins."
"Oh she wasn't a virgin anymore," Fenris said. "She felt great though. Solid nine out of ten."
"You fucked her?" Cain asked. "That's good! I don't feel so bad for killing her yet now."
"That's another thing," Fenris said, raising his sword. "I'm not going to let her or Andrea die."
Cain smirked and darted forward, their blades clashing repeatedly with a series of musical rings. Cain was fast. His sword was lighter, so he was able to slash and stab with it faster than Fenris could. As he pressed Fenris, he managed to score multiple minor wounds, Fenris backing away to keep Cain from being able to stab him properly. However, he was over-confident. Fenris smirked as he saw his opening. Just as he ducked around behind a pillar, he stopped part way and rolled back as Cain moved to intercept his original direction. He stepped out behind Cain and drove his sword's blade through Cain's heart, then dragged it down a couple inches before ripping it back out.
He sheathed it instantly, sprinting over to Riley. He quickly slung the sword she had stolen across his back and lifted her, sprinting for the exit. As he stepped outside, he realized the rain had finally let up, and they had found their savior. Naofumi was kneeling over Andrea, giving her a healing potion. Off to the side, Raphtalia was bandaging a gash in Naomi's side, and Sofia was doing the same for Eileen's shoulder. There was also a young blonde girl in a white dress with a pair of angel wings standing beside Raphtalia. Fenris ignored the others and ran to Naofumi, gently setting Riley beside him. Once he was done with Andrea, who remained asleep, he pulled out a second potion and poured it into Riley's mouth. Both of them shone for a moment, healing, and Fenris sighed as he felt their pulses.
"You have my thanks," Fenris said. "What are you doing here?"
"I was hired to take out the thief that has a hideout here," Naofumi said.
"He's dead," Fenris said. "You can collect the reward for it. I was only here for my money."
Naofumi nodded. "And these two? They a part of your harem?"
"That remains to be seen," Fenris said, just as Sofia knelt beside him. "Check the cave for our money. And the rest of the thief's money. We're about to be rolling in cash."
Sofia nodded and walked into the cave with Eileen. After a moment, Naomi sat beside Fenris and leaned on his side, groaning pitifully as Raphtalia knelt beside Naofumi.
"Can we fuck later?" Naomi asked.
"No slut, I don't do blood," Fenris said.
Raphtalia shook her head just as Riley's eyes fluttered open. She looked around, then up at Fenris and smiled.
"You saved me," Riley smiled.
"Actualky no," Fenris said. "He did."
Riley glanced at Naofumi and grinned. "Then would you like me to fuck him as thanks instead?"
"I'll pass," Naofumi said.
"You do realize I just killed your boyfriend, right?" Fenris asked.
"Then I'll have to be sure to make it extra good for you," Riley smiled. "But I believe Sofia called dibs, so you'll have to wait."
"Jesus, the sluts you find are as bad as you are," Naofumi said.
"Don't insult me like that," Eileen said, dropping several bags of gold beside Fenris. "The rest of them are whores."
Riley sat up, checking on Andrea first before spotting her father. She began to sob instantly, running over to him. Fenris opened the bags of money, counting them and handed a bag of a hundred gold to Naofumi.
"Consider it thanks for helping out," Fenris said.
"Aren't you going to go comfort her?" Raphtalia asked.
"Nope," Fenris said. "She played me for a fool and stole all my shit. Actions have consiquences. They stole our money instead of asking for our help, now they're paying the price."
"I'm sorry," Andrea said, pushing herself up. "Thank you for saving my daughter. If you take her with you, please protect her."
"As much as I can," Fenris said. "We'll be using your inn still. We can pay."
Andrea nodded and left to comfort Riley. Fenris stood, looking around before sighing. They still had to walk back.
"For another gold a piece, we'll give you a ride," Naofumi offered.
Fenris laughed. "And here I thought I was they one who excelled at conning people into getting what I want. Fuck it. Beats walking."
Naofumi nodded and walked over to a cart off to the side just as the blonde exploded into a cloud of smoke, being replaced by a filolial that was fat and had no visible neck. Fenris raised an eyebrow before shrugging and turning to the others. He sighed, walking over and lifting Andrea's husband.
"We'll bury him when we get back," Fenris said. "We should go."
Both nodded and followed him to the cart. Then, the filolial turned and started back toward the city.
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