The morning sun was bright. Not bright enough to cause his eyes to flutter, but still bright as always. Luck's Best was still not so busy. It's never busy. It isn't known as a bustling town after all. His blood had just now reached the dirt. Though it be dry. There was still some on his lip and forehead, and that had fallen to his hand which led to it touching ground.
Without much warning though his body was lifted up onto the shoulders of Emilia who could barely handle the weight at first. She was stronger than that though and so carried the young man back to the sandcraft in a hurry. It was here that the rest of the worried group met her as she put Jet against the wall in the main room.
"Oh no, Jet!" Virginia ran to his side immediately before anyone could say anything and before Emilia could mention what happened. On the verge of tears she goes right to bandaging and cleaning his wounds before anyone could say anything.
Clive looks to Emilia in the meantime seeing that he felt Jet was being taken care of properly. "Where did you find the lost boy?"
"In the back-alleys of the town. He was beaten to a pulp like this." She says seriously. "I don't know who could do this to him. They would have had gotten the jump on him as well as being rather strong."
Clive nods. "Still…if he were conscious this would be easier."
Virginia jumps up she turned to the rest with a hurt expression as she placed her finger to her mouth. "I…cut myself on this…" She hands the kunai to Emilia.
"Hmm…this is of superior make. At least material wise. It's made of an extremely rare and durable metal called 'Solian Steel'. At least that's what I can guess by the minerals involved in it's construction."
"How cane you tell that?" Gallows laughs.
"I know my metal." She replied in true serious nature. She was an inventor as well. She had built this sandcraft. She was an ARMS-Smith. She knew metals. "I think this only can be made in a place called Django." She concludes. "Still…that town was ravaged long ago and was destroyed. No way it's possible to still be in production, but yet…here it is…proof that someone is there."
"Jet had something in his pocket." Virginia remarks. "It looks like someone ripped his pocket taking it out." She looks to the pocket. "It…was a key."
"Are you sure?" Clive anxiously wondered. "I read that there was also something called a Twilight Key that was sealed away with Hawthorne. Jet may have found that when we were at the Grave."
"And whoever attacked him was after it." Gallows notes with his crossed arms.
"He may have hidden it though." Virginia interjected. "It may still be on the ship. Maybe we should look real quick for it."
They all nod and begin a search of the craft for anything that can be considered a key. With nowhere else to look they came to his room where they found he owned practically nothing and they were just looking for nothing. "You guys always snoop like this?" Jet wonders with a weak voice as he stumbles into the room. Virginia moves to help hold him up. "The key was stolen by a man…his name was Frank McCoy, and a woman…named Sandra."
"Franklin McCoy?" Virginia gasped. "I've heard that name before through my father. He is a great anthropologist, biologist, and historian."
"Right." Clive nodded. "And Sandra was known for her works on botany and other notable accomplishments."
"That…guy…he was interested in that gauntlet you were talking about. He needed the key." Jet reports even with weak voice.
Clive nods. "Hawthorne must have wanted some security and sealed the gauntlet away and made that key to be the only way to open it."
"Hawthorne used that thing to make the Twilight Elements…so what can it do?" Jet questioned before needing to sit on his bed. His breath ragged for the moment. By evening he would be back to tip-top shape, but for the moment he was weak.
Emilia waves the kunai. "The only lead we have is that this knife was forged in Django. There's no mistaking that. If it was made in the lands that Hawthorne lived in there is no doubt that this is where we will find some answers."
"Right, set course for there then."
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It just keeps building and building up. The real action won't start until after the interlude, so that's five more scenes away. But everyone is going to be fighting and some will fight twice so we're in for lots of fights scenes that are far better than the prelude or the one last chapter with Ranchel. The others will last longer. Just look forward to all of that as I go through the next five chapters which include flashbacks, history on an enemy, more Adven and Sakura, more enemies being introduced, and then finally a fluff chapter because I know you all love seeing angst with Virginia and Jet.