Chapter Ten: Old Friends

Stare sipped at his drink while Matthew kept on talking about the evils of drinking. The knight was practically dead. All of them were unaware of the approaching entity.

The archer tried to calm herself as she approached the threesome. She took a deep breath then stepped up to Stare.

"Hi." She said.

Matthew and Stare turned to face the speaker. They scanned her body, noticing her shaky stance and bloodshot eyes.

"Umm, hi." They said in unison, still staring at her reddened eyes.

"So…You guys don't seem to be having a terribly wonderful time." The archer said, her sounds slightly slurred.

"Yeah. We're having a wonderfully terrible time." Matthew answered.

"You know…my friend and I could liven things up for you…" the archer said seductively.

"You're quite blatantly stupid, girl. I'm wearing acolyte's robes and you start using these suggestive terms." Matthew said.

"You're mean!" the archer said. She turned and left.

"I wonder what that was about…" Stare said, taking a sip out of his mug.

"Probably a whore." Matthew said.

"Let's go. Wake him up." Stare said, pointing to the knight.

Matthew nudged their friend in the shoulder. Getting no response Matthew began to kick and punch the knight in various areas.

"What happened!" Asah asked as her friend sat back down.

"They called me stupid…" the archer said with a frown.

"The acolyte? Or was it the swordsman?"

"The acolyte…"

"We don't care what he thinks! Go for the swordsman." Asah said looking exasperated. "Go back and talk to the swordie!"

"Fine…if you're sure…"

"Yeah. Good Jessica."

The archer sighed and walked over to Stare's table where Matthew was still trying to get the knight to wake up. Obviously, they weren't very successful.

"Hi there." She said, using her sweetest and most unslurred voice possible.

"What?" Matthew said, obviously irritated by the archer's persistence.

"I wasn't talking to you." She snapped.

"Yes?" Stare said.

"Hey. You don't seem to be having so much fun so my friend and I thought…you know, maybe you guys would like to come with us and, like, I dunno…sleep over?" Jessica said.

"I guess that's ok… I mean not like it's an immoral thing, right Matthew?"

"Not directly…if you want you can go. I have to train some more, not to mention lug this tin can home." Matthew said, kicking the knight.

"Hehe, have fun." Stare said as he let the archer lead him out of the bar.

Matthew sighed. "I hope Stare maintains his innocence…"

The knight suddenly sprang up. He looked around then flopped back down on the table. He muttered something incoherent then began to snore.

Somewhere else in Prontera…

"There he is…shoot him now."

"Always so eager…There's more to life than death and inducing it, you know…"

"Just kill him, damn it! You were a famous assassin, why not!"

"We came for reconnaissance, not assassination."

"They intend to kill him."

"Intentions don't always come out right…"

"Whatever…"

"Look, Rai! Isn't he that swordsman boy from the plains?"

"So it would seem…why don't you call him over?"

"Okay…Hey, Stare!"

Stare stopped suddenly. He turned to the archer. "Did you hear that?"

Jessica nodded. "Yeah, quite sure I did."

"Stare! Up here!" the voice came again.

Stare looked up and saw two familiar faces, just barely.

"Who are those?" Jessica asked, squinting into the darkness at two faces.

"Some old friends." He raised his voice towards them. "Why don't you guys come down?"

"We're on a mission, Robert." Rai said.

"Aw, c'mon. Having a little fun isn't bad." Spak said.

"We're on duty. Robert!"

"You know, he might have noticed some suspicious on goings. He could help us."

"We don't need help. Now shoot the man!"

Spak sighed he looked down to Stare. "Catch you later!"

"Now can we get back to the mission?" Rai asked.

"Sure. I'm still not killing anyone though. We'll keep watching him. He seems to be meeting with someone…a wizard of some sort…" Spak said, returning to watching their target.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Prontera's poorer areas…

There they are, Supaida." The thief said to his formally clad cohort.

"Indeed. Wait, that's only one of them…that's not the same girl…" Supaida replied.

"You're right…regardless, we must extort our retribution from this hapless warrior." The thief's mouth twisted into a wicked smile. "We ambush them. Do what you want with the girl…I shall taste blood tonight!"

"Whatever…you know maybe you should consider taking to more honorable ways like-" just then Supaida noticed his companion jumping off the building. "LC! Wait for me!" Supaida shouted, jumping off the building as well."

It was too late. LC had already jumped in, striking out as quickly and accurately as he could. Unfortunately for him, speed and accuracy didn't seem to work together and all the blows he landed couldn't deal much damage due to Stare's adequate armor. Stare was taken off guard but soon began to riposte and counter whenever possible. Soon the exchange of blows became more heated but Stare was starting to come out on top.

Jessica was still in shock and her drunken state didn't help her reaction time. Supaida on the other hand was observing the exchange of blows and the combatants' movements carefully, readying himself to jump in at any instance.

"It's been a long time, Supaida." A voice said from the darkness of the rooftops.

Author's Notes:

Yes, well that's all for now…another filler chapter or something I guess. Thanks to LC techno for the continuing support… :D