That night, Talon is alone in her room she reaches over to her Jacket and takes the scroll the smith gave her, reading the words on the paper out loud and suddenly a blue glowing portal appears in the middle of her small room and a dangerous, gigantic demon steps out of the portal and looks at her curious, extending his hands towards her only for Talon to yell at it to leave her alone. The demon then jumps out of the window and uses the roofs to stay out of sight while Talon collapses from exhaustion.
When she wakes up the next morning the first thing she sees is a hole in the ceiling from where the demon penetrated it due to its height.
Getting up she sees that her wounds have healed, now only being faint scars on her abdomen and she smiles at this. While Talon is waking up Wythers is having a meal downstairs and notices Janzo scrubbing something away on the stairs, when he walks over to the awkward man he sees that it's black blood and follows the trail of droplets to Talon's room. Talon hears him coming and leaves through the window, making her way to the smith. Once at her room Wythers sees the damage done to the roof and the windows and asks himself what being did this, being big enough to penetrate the close to three-meter-high ceiling.
When Talon arrives at the smithy he greets her by saying "They're looking for you."
"I know, what is this?" Talon questions, holding up the paper.
"Now is not a good time." The smith tells her.
"Why?" She asks.
"Cause I'm here I'm guessing." Xu says, walking over to her from his seat in a corner.
"How's your wound?" He asks concerned.
"Healed." She says.
"Wow, that was fast." Xu says impressed.
"What is he doing here? Is he with you?" Talon asks the smith accusingly.
"No, he told me he's with you." The smith replies confused.
"Why would he be with me?" Talon asks suspiciously.
"What? I thought we were friends, even after saving your life from certain death you do not trust me?" He asks hurt.
"What do you mean save me?" She asks cautious of the tall man who is the first one other than Magmoor to be able to overpower her.
"With Magmoor, he was about to deliver the killing blow remember? I killed him instead." Xu says, looking at her surprised.
Talon looks at the smith with a questioning expression.
"He is telling the truth, I was there." The smith nods as confirmation.
"Thank you. I must've passed out before that." She thanks Xu.
"Don't worry about it, but I thought that meant we're friends and in this together." He says.
"I don't know yet." Talon only says, feeling guilty for not trusting her savior.
"I see. Well I guess I should go then. Smith, can I count on you for that order?" He asks, having brought over a pair of gauntlets he got from Garret for the smith to customize to his wishes, adding sharp tips to the fingers and making the joints in more, smaller pieces, giving him more freedom with it.
"Yes. You can come check in two days. I should've made some progress by then." He tells him, hammering away at a new blade he's making for Talon.
"See you around braidy." He tells Talon, putting his hand on her shoulder as he walks past her out of the shop.
"Hmpf." She only grunts, not amused by the nickname.
"Now, what is this?" Talon asks the smith after Xu left.
"Did you read the words?" He asks and sees a worried look on her face.
"Did you read them out loud?" He asks shocked.
"What if I did?" She asks.
"What happened?" He asks in return.
"This thing appeared out of the blue." She says, still freaked out about it.
"A Lokiri." The smith says, stopping his work.
"A what?" She questions.
"A Lokiri, it's better known as demon." The smith explains.
"A demon? Don't you think that would've been worth mentioning?" She asks annoyed.
"I told you not to say the words out loud." He defends himself.
"You could've warned me and how is this even possible?" Talon asks.
"Blackbloods are like a bridge between both our worlds. Did you banish him back where to his world?" The smith explains.
"How am I supposed to do that?" She asks.
"You mean he's out there in running free? You need to learn to control him otherwise he'll kill whenever he pleases.
"This is your fault, so you have to banish him." She tells him pissed.
"I would if I could believe me, but you are the only one able to do it." He tells her.
"I don't believe you." She says.
"I only want to help you, you have to understand who you are." He says.
"Why? What's in it for you?" She questions distrustful.
"Many years ago I saw something I can only describe as a revelation, it changed everything for me." He tells her.
"What revelation?" She asks.
"I will explain when the time is right, just know that ever since I have pledged my life to the prophecy, studies all kinds of texts and talked to teachers and then waited." He says.
"Waited for what?" She asks.
"You." He says honestly.
"There is a man in town, called the wolf. I will kill him and then I'm gone." She tells him after chuckling, not believing the smith and his half-truths.
Talon then makes her way back to the inn where the marshal is already waiting for her. Once she arrives, she fights of a handful of men before surrendering quietly.
Shortly after she's been arrested by the marshal Garret and a handful of his men arrive back in the outpost and Xu is there to greet his new commander when another guard informs Garret that Talon has been imprisoned by the marshal.
"Where is she?" Garret asks entering the prison with Xu in tow.
"Where she belongs. She is a killer." The marshal says.
"Is this your way of taking revenge? For me returning?" Garret asks, facing his father while Xu walks over to check on Talon, simply pushing the marshal's right-hand man, a mute called Danno aside.
"This has nothing to do with you, other for the fact that you were the one who brought her here. Why is she important to you? Is there something going on with the bitch?" Wythers asks, looking back to the cells where suddenly a bar is missing with Xu's hand sticking through the cell-door In its place.
"Sorry." He apologizes in a dark tone, glaring at the marshal with the four people in the room looking at him stupefied by his strength.
"No, I just don't want another person to die because of a mistake you made." Garret tells his father.
"I'm not mistaken this time. The evidence speaks for itself. She killed Toru Magmoor." The marshal says.
"Actually, she didn't. I was there." Xu tells the marshal, his axe leaning against his shoulder.
"Don't!" Talon tells him sharply.
"I killed him. He attacked Talon and was about to kill her when I intervened." Xu informs the three people who didn't know this.
"Oh really? How did he die then? What wounds does she have?" The marshal asks challengingly.
"He died impaled on his own blade along with a stab wound to his stomach. Talon had a stab wound to her stomach and a cut going horizontally across it. I was the one to impale him on his own blade. So if you want to fault someone for taking his life to save another's you're looking at the wrong person." Xu tells them.
"Why come forward only now?" The marshal asks still doubting him.
"I wasn't aware his death was going to be investigated, Order member aren't exactly known to have the best reputation and I assumed people would want his death to kept secret and just throw him outside for wolves to feed on him." Xu explains.
"What about her black blood then? She is evil and you are probably only under her spell telling us whatever you can think of to save her hide." The commander tells him.
"Are you telling the truth?" Garret asks Xu, walking over to the tall man.
"Yes, he swung at her and she only defended herself until I stepped in." Xu tells him in all honesty.
"I will see what I can do to save her and your life." Garret says and steps outside.
"We can't wait. You will be executed now, and your fate will be decided later. Danno chain him up." The marshal orders, pointing at Talon and Xu respectively.
"You're making a mistake." Xu tells him, getting his hands cuffed together by the mute man who struggles to take the heavy axe away from him.
"You said I have until dawn." Talon says.
"Tell the gods when you meet them." The marshal tells her while Danno enters her cell and puts her in the guillotine, chaining up her hands in the contraption with her hand being on the chopping block.
Garret heads to the commander quarters to fetch Gwynn's father to get him to stop the execution but Gwynn races to the prison after hearing what Wythers is doing.
"What you're doing is wrong, he got what he deserved and I only acted in self-defense." Talon shouts at Wythers.
The marshal then announces her punishment with Xu standing at the side impatiently, hoping that Garret will come back in time and he won't have to interfere.
"Stop, she is innocent. I give you my word." Gwynn says entering the prison in a rush with Garret at her side.
"Can you prove it? She confessed to killing him with his help." The marshal says, pointing at Xu.
"It was self-defense. Toru attacked her and he only came to her help. With my noble position I vouch for them, their fate lies with me according to law." Gwynn says, pointing at Xu and Talon.
"As if law, it's too late for new evidence. The death-sentence has already been declared and can't be taken back. Do it!" The marshal says and Tenno is frozen in place, knowing it would be wrong to kill her.
"Out of my way." The marshal says angered and takes the string, releasing the guillotine which then comes crashing down at Talon's neck only for Xu to throw himself in the middle of the contraption, stopping the heavy blade with his chains, getting cut into his right shoulder by the sharp blade.
"The lady is vouching for them. You have no right to do this." Garret tells his father, shoving him aside and pulling the string back up, securing the guillotine back at the top. When the blade gets pulled upwards Talon feels something dripping on the top of her head and looks up, seeing the white cloth Xu always worse turning red at his shoulder with a cut in it.
Garret and Xu help her out of her chains, and she shoots both men a grateful look.
The marshal, Garret and Gwynn relocate to the commanders office where the marshal asks the commander to approve of her execution, claiming his daughter is lying.
The commander initially agrees, since it'd save their neck from the Order for a while but Gwynn insists that they free Talon and Xu, getting her father to cave and tell the marshal to let the matter drop.
Back with Talon and Xu, after being released from the prison
"You need a doctor, come on I'll take you." She says, looking at his wound with guilt.
"Just take my axe would you?" Xu asks her, taking heavy breaths.
"OK." She agrees and fetches his axe, struggling against its weight a bit.
"Woah that thing is heavy." She says, dragging it behind her.
"Let's go to the smith." Xu says and they head to the smithy.
"Why won't you see a doctor?" She asks.
"You will find out once we're there." Xu tells her, panting a bit.
"I'm not sure you'll make it. That was a dumb idea anyways, throwing yourself into a guillotine." She says.
"And you'd rather have had your head removed?" He asks with a slight grin on his lips.
"No…" She replies.
A couple minutes later they reach the smithy.
"We're here." Xu says and pushes open the door, entering with Talon still dragging the axe behind her.
"What? Who…" The smith shoots up from his resting position on his bed.
"We need your help." Talon says, closing the door again and helping Xu to sit down against a wall.
"What happened?" The smith asks until he sees the cut in Xu's shoulder.
"What did this?" He asks, fetching a bucket and bandages.
"No, start the fire, you need to cauterize it." Xu tells the smith.
"cauter what?" Talon asks confused.
"Lie him on my bed and remove his shirt." The smith orders while he fetches wood and starts a fire.
"Come on, here sit down." Talon tells Xu, helping him over to the bed and sitting him down on it.
"Now, stay still. I need to remove your clothes." She says and starts to take off the clothes covering his upper body.
"See, that wasn't so bad…" Talon says before she freezes up in a mix of fear and confusion at seeing Xu's back and part of his sides being covered by small pieces of grey skin, looking as though he had on a partial armor.
"What the fuck?" She asks, stepping away fearful and grabs her dagger.
"What is going on here?" The smith asks, entering his home again with a few pieces of wood, dropping them once he sees Xu's partial grey skin and joins talon in readying himself for battle.
"Do what you must, but I am still human." Xu tells them tiredly, being used to people looking at him like a freak and trying to kill him.
"What are you?" The smith asks.
"Human, like I said." Xu replies.
"Then how do you explain all that grey skin?" Talon asks, looking at him with distrust.
"My village was decimated by greyskins when I was 7. I was the only survivor if you could call it that, half of my back was removed by Greyskins, I think they took it as a souvenir. Apparently, I wasn't big enough to eat so they left me to die. Sometime after they left someone found me and had the idea to replace my skin with that of the greyskins, there were two corpses lying around so he gathered skin from them and sowed in on me. I don't know why or how I survived but somehow my body adapted, and I've lived with this horrid reminder and a hate for the Order ever since." Xu explains.
"Who would do this?" The smith asks, putting down his sword, believing the story since he senses no ill intent from Xu.
"I don't know, he was ghostly pale and had a glowing spot on his forehead. That and his Order clothing is all I can remember. Now make up your mind if you trust me or want to kill me because if we wait much longer that decision is made for you." Xu tells them, holding his wound with blood dripping down his side.
"Talon?" The smith asks the girl, who's still on edge.
"Help him, I'll kill him later if I find out he's lying to us." Talon tells the smith, who gets back to starting a fire.
After the smith treats Xu's wound and he's lying unconscious on the smith's bed.
"Do you believe his story?" Talon asks the older man.
"For some reason I do. I mean he only helped you up till now, even saved your life twice." The smith tells her.
"What about his description of the man who did this to him?" Talon asks, running her hand cautiously over Xu's back.
"It sounds like a description I've heard of the 3. The leaders of the Order." The smith tells her.
"You know from what I can gather he is a half-blood like you now." The smith tells her.
"What do you mean?" She asks.
"Well you're half demon technically and he's partially greyskin. The tow of you are kind of in the same position, though I'd rather choose your condition than his." The smith tells her.
The next morning Talon leaves to inform Garret that Xu will need a couple days to heal up and finds him struggling against one of his men who turned into a plagueling so she rescues him by stabbing the plagueling through the back of its head, right through the mouth.
AN: Follow and review :)