I got lots of reviews! Thanks to everyone! Alright, the basic plot will probably be introduced in this chappie, as well as two OC's... So yeah, I'm hoping that you'll like it! Aha... and um... don't blame me for any bad info/ideas on architecture... I'm no expert... T-T And I suppose that there will be "AU" aspects in here, but they're only related to mamkutes and dragons 'cause I have pretty much no clue about what would be canon for those things... Hmm... I don't know what else to say... on with the fic!

And extra special thanks to Vyctori for helping me work out a bunch of plot points!

So um... now on with the fic! And please remember to point it out to me when I start screwing up people's personalities... that way I can change it next chapter... A sorta long chapter this time so enjoy! Oh yes and... Matthew is around 19/20 in this ficcy, 'K? All other ages will come as the people are introduced...

Chapter 3: Of Thieves and Dragons

Matthew sighed as he silently lifted yet another piece of rubble, only to find a small beetle scuttling away. Nothing of interest there. The young thief had originally thought that it would be an easy... mission. As a spy of Ostia, he regarded it as his duty to inspect any extraordinary occurrences in other countries. Of course, as a part time thief, it was also his duty to relieve decease owners of their... unwanted valuables.

During his stay in the inn, he had overhead that the manor had actually been rather hastily constructed. Thin stone tiles made up the ceiling, supported only by wooden beams and thick wooden walls. That design made the building incredibly susceptible to fire - if any part of the wooden section of the manor collapsed in flames, then the entire ceiling would topple after it. However, that would also create spaces between the fallen pieces of stone, perfect places to look for any "surviving" treasures...

Unfortunately, Matthew hadn't had the luck to find any of those "survivors," even though he had been digging through the piles and piles of scorched wood and cracked stone since morning. He hadn't even stopped to enjoy a peaceful lunch! The sun was setting now, and it was gradually getting harder and harder for him to concentrate on his goal, partially due to the fact that he was still in "relaxation-mode" and partially due to his stomach's complaints.

Sighing again, Matthew decided that it was not worth his efforts to continue his search, and set to gathering wood to make himself a comfortable fire. And with the abundance of that particular material in the area, it wasn't a hard thing to do. The Ostian spy busied himself in keeping his fire just about the right size, not small enough to produce no warmth, and not large enough to attract attention. Luckily for him, he was adept at doing that, or so he liked to think. Once he was satisfied with his work, he retrieved a salted piece of jerky and a few pieces of bread from his pack and placed them near the fire. It wasn't necessary, but a warm meal was always better than a cold one.

Convinced that there was no one around him, Matthew lay back on a boulder lying near his fire, admiring the stars that were just starting to appear in the dimming sky. She had loved doing that, and they had spent many a free night in a quiet field in Ostia, marveling at the twinkling jewels before their eyes. A few unwilling tears made their way down his face, but before they could reach the ground, he wiped them dry. It would not do for him to cry; she would not have liked it; she would have teased him for it. After all, what kind of man would he be if he didn't keep his promise to her? But still... but still he could not help but think about her, her face, her smile.

Leila... Are you really... gone?

He glanced at the stars again, thinking, imagining, remembering... all against his will. If he hadn't been so stupid, if he hadn't waited, she would be sitting next to him now, gazing at those stars with him, with her hand in his, with her head on his shoulder...

A sudden rustle in the bushes behind him aroused Matthew from his thoughts. He mentally chastised himself for losing himself in his reveries, but nevertheless quietly retrieved his knife from its sheath on his belt. The rustling suddenly stopped, giving the Ostian spy some time to plan his next move. As far as he could tell, whoever or whatever was making the noises definitely wasn't a drunken bandit. With that possibility ruled out, all that was left to do was to test whether the mysterious visitor was only a curious animal or a hungry thief.

Scooping a small stone from the ground, Matthew casually tossed it into the bushes. It landed with a soft thud, but there was no explosion of movement that would have been expected of an animal. Forcing himself to concentrate on the scene unfolding before him, to forget his previous grief, to see the humor of the situation, the young spy grinned.

How ironic. A thief trying to steal from a thief.

Whoever it was, he or she was most likely after his meal and not his money. After all, who would expect such a seemingly unkempt person to carry around a large amount of gold? Still grinning, Matthew quickly decided that his day had been far too uneventful and made up his mind that he would have a little... fun... with his visitor.

Feigning ignorance, he pretended to yawn and lay back on the boulder yet again, this time closing his eyes. Hopefully, the thief would believe him to be asleep and creep out of the bushes to snatch Matthew's meal. And then, he would suddenly "wake up" and proceed in frightening the food-napper... Oh, how he loved that idea...

Still pretending to be asleep, Matthew kept a strong grip on his knife and listened intently for any sounds of movement. His expectations were soon proved true when the soft sound of tiptoeing feet reached his ears. He kept his eyes closed for a while longer, waiting for the perfect opportunity...

Now!

Matthew leapt to his feet, brandishing his knife as he had often done during his travels with the army. He soon spotted his visitor, who seemed to be frozen to the ground with his or her back turned to Matthew. The figure was completely covered from head to toe in a thick black cloak but it seemed to be a... child? The Ostian spy shrugged to himself. It didn't matter; he would deal with that later. It was more important that he get his meal back first.

"Hey. I'll make you a deal. If you give me back my food, I'll let you go with your life."

The thief didn't respond, but Matthew could see that he or she was shuddering with fear, most likely.

Feeling a bit sorry for the child, Matthew softened his tone a little. "And I won't tell anyone about it. Maybe I'll even give you a bit of bread."

Still no response.

He tried again. "Look, if you're not going to I'll-"

Matthew nearly dropped his knife with shock. The child... figure... thing... had turned around, revealing a hideous face, complete with fangs and an ugly pug nose. It then proceeded to run off toward the ruins of the manor, carrying Matthew's dinner with it.

Quickly recovering from the surprise, the Ostian spy snatched up his bag and followed the thief... monster into the maze of burnt wood and shattered rock. Muttering several curses to himself, he lamented the unexpected turn of events but continued his chase anyway. Luckily for him, and unluckily for the thief, the moonlight was particularly bright that night, illuminating everything that it touched. Following the cloaked figure through corridors, around corners, and over piles of rubble, Matthew kept his eye trained on the retreating shadow of the thief, never letting it out of his sight.

However, just as he chased the figure around yet another corner, he was dismayed to find that the thief had squeezed through a small hole and escaped to the other side of a long wall of stone. Falling to his hands and knees, Matthew peeked through the opening and caught a glance of the fleeing figure. Its cloak's hood was down, giving the Ostian spy a quick glimpse of messy blond hair before the thief disappeared from sight. He tried to follow, but quickly discovered that the hole was far too small for him.

Mumbling yet another string of curses, Matthew stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes. He was just about to return to his campsite when he noticed a piece of bread tossed carelessly to the side. A bit further off was a... thing. Intrigued, the young spy sauntered over and picked it up. It was a mask! A mask with fangs and... an ugly... pug... nose...

Matthew clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He had been fooled. He... the one who was supposed to be an expert at things like this... had been fooled. Looking back at the mask in his hands, he grudgingly admitted that it was a very well crafted piece of art. Something that looked realistic enough to fool even an experienced spy and thief. He dusted the mask off and carefully placed it on his face. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it would do. Stuffing his find into his bag, he proceeded to find a way around the wall, intent on getting his dinner back and wrecking a bit of revenge on whoever had tricked him.

He walked around the perimeter of the wall for a short distance, disappointed to see that where this wall ended, another started. He had no clue for how long that pattern would continue, and time was running short. If he didn't find the thief soon, his dinner would most likely be long gone.

Well... if I can't get around it... I can get over it.

Taking a cursory survey of the wall, Matthew looked for a section of the obstacle where climbing would be easiest. He quickly found what he was looking for - a particular slab of rock that leaned inward more than the others around it. Backing up as far as he could go, the Ostian spy gave himself a running start and leapt as high as he could manage. Luckily, the stone's surface was rough and uneven, providing him with many handholds and footholds. Matthew grinned triumphantly when he found that his attempt was successful and started scaling the wall. In a few moments time, he was over the barrier and well on his way in his search for his missing meal.

Sneaking around in the shadows, Matthew kept his ears and eyes open for any noise or sign of movement. He was quickly rewarded for his work when he noticed two cloaked figures sitting by a few burnt and tattered chairs. The smaller one, a young boy, had messy blond hair, the color of which was still visible despite the layer of dust coating the boy's head. Matthew decided that that was most likely the thief who had stolen his food from him. The other figure was that of a girl, about his age, with what seemed to be brown hair; he couldn't quite make out the exact color due to all of the dirt and grime. They were each eating a piece of bread, and what looked to be... jerky...

He was too late... there was no way he'd be getting his meal back now... For a few seconds, Matthew stared angrily at the sight of his food being devoured before he came to a decision that his plans of "revenge" were still in play. Still hiding in the shadows, but keeping an eye on the figures, the Ostian spy was just about to remove the mask from his bag when the boy started talking.

"I don't want to steal anymore, 'Ri... I think the nice man was really mad at me..."

Matthew blinked. A... nice... man? He hadn't been called that much... He was far more used to being called "blasted thief." But nevertheless, he slipped the mask back in his bag and decided that it would be more interesting to learn more about his... targets...

The girl sighed. "Corey... you know we have to eat somehow. And you know that people won't be happy if you steal from them."

"But can't we make friends, 'Ri? I'm sure we can make lots of friends and they'd be nice to us! That'd be nice, wouldn't it, 'Ri?" Corey exclaimed.

The girl sighed again. "You're still little; you wouldn't understand... People just... aren't like that. They wouldn't want to be friends with us because we're not... special. We're not worth anything to them, especially in the state we're in now. If Father and Mother were still alive, then they might have profited by being friends with us. But now?"

"Oh... 'Ri?"

"Hmm?"

"Why can't we have a fire? The nice man had a fire."

The girl smiled sheepishly. "I don't know how to make one, Corey."

"Ohh... 'Ri?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to hear about my adventure?"

Smiling, the girl nodded. "Sure."

Corey beamed with delight. "OK! I was hiding in the bushes, right? And this nice man came and sat down on a boulder and..."

Matthew raised an eyebrow at the boy's account of the encounter. Especially the part where Corey said, with great vigor, that he had dodged hundreds of throwing knives while getting the bread. The girl seemed to share Matthew's feelings, as she only smiled knowingly during those improbable parts.

"And then I ran away!" Corey finished happily.

"That sounded like a wonderful adventure, Corey."

"No, wait, 'Ri! I'm not done yet! Know what happened next?"

The girl shook her head as Corey continued with his tale.

"The man... he got really mad at me..." Fear seemed to wash over the boy's face as he relived the chase in his mind. "He... he chased me... with a knife... But I wasn't scared at all!"

Watching the expressions of both speakers, Matthew silently noted that while Corey seemed to be trying to suppress his fear to the best of his ability, the girl was growing more and more agitated with every word of the boy's story. Eventually, she grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him toward her.

"Don't do that again, Corey. Don't ever do that again! You're my little brother... you're the only person I have left, Corey. You're the only person who has ever really truly cared about me. Don't do that again... Next time... I'll do all the stealing, all right? Promise?" she asked, gripping his hand tightly.

The boy only nodded, and the girl released her grasp on his hand. Silence reigned for a few moments before Corey spoke up again.

"Auri? Do you hate me? For what I did?"

"No... no... of course not," the girl, Auri, replied. "Why would I?"

Corey looked down at the ground. "I was just scared that you'd leave me while you go look for the Wish Dragon yourself..."

Hearing that unfamiliar term, Matthew decided to pay a bit more attention to the siblings' conversation. He was now fairly sure that they were the pair from the manor, even if the sister didn't exactly seem to match that description.

Wish... Dragon? A... dragon? I know about Fire Dragons and Ice Dragons but Wish Dragons?

"I'd never leave you, Corey. I wouldn't be able to last long without you, so I'll never leave you, I promise... But you have to promise never to leave me too, OK?" Auri stated.

Corey grinned. "'K! But 'Ri? Do you know what the Wish Dragon's like?"

"No... The books have pictures of Light Dragons, Demon Dragons, Dark Dragons, Fire Dragons, and Ice Dragons, but that's it. The Wish Dragon isn't really a true dragon anyway; people just called it that because it looks somewhat like a dragon..." Auri said thoughtfully.

"I bet it's really pretty then..."

Auri smiled. "Why would you say that?"

"Because the dragons in the books are pretty! I've never seen a real one though... I want to see one, don't you, 'Ri?"

Matthew shook his head sympathetically at that.

If only you knew...

Another moment of silence, interrupted by Corey again.

"Do we... really have to wish them back, 'Ri? Mother was always... so sick and Father was always so mean! I'd rather just stay with you forever and ever!"

Auri seemed a bit troubled by that, but she launched into an explanation anyway. "How many times do I have to tell you? We're nothing without them; we won't even be able to survive without them! You know as well as I do that the villagers here won't respect us if we don't find someway to make them respect us. I'm not pretty enough for them, and you're too scrawny. Even if we went somewhere else, I'm sure the same thing will happen. And if no one respects us, then how will we find any jobs? Even if we were to try to become performers, neither of us can sing, or dance, or play an instrument. And we're not good enough to learn! And... and... even if I were to... give myself to... to strangers... I... I'm not... like a girl enough for anyone to want. So we have to... have to find the Wish Dragon and wish them back! Else I... else we... oh... what am I saying? I... I don't even if we can find any information on it, let alone find it. I... I don't know what we should do, Corey... I really don't know..."

Matthew could barely make out the glimmering shine of tears dripping down the girl's cheeks. And with every sparkle that shone in the moonlight, everything became clearer for him.

Corey grinned happily. "It's OK, 'Ri! Let's go find the dragon! I bet we can do it if we try really hard! And we'll have lots of adventures together and maybe we can even wish Mother back healthy!"

Looking up, his sister wiped away her tears. "Corey... Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you. Mother would be... happy..."

The boy's expression quickly switched to a sorrowful one. "Auri... is it... really my fault that Mother got sick?" he asked, hoarsely.

"No... no, of course not," she replied quickly.

"Then... then why did Father always say that it was my fault?"

Auri looked away sadly. "He was mad, Corey. He... loved Mother very much."

"But he didn't love me! It's not fair, 'Ri! You got to know Father when he was nice and Mother when she was healthy! But... but..." At that, the boy burst into silent fits of tears.

"Don't cry... Father loved you, I'm sure he loved you. He just... didn't show it..."

Matthew watched silently as Auri tried to comfort her still sobbing brother, watched quietly as the boy's crying diminished with every passing minute.

"I'm tired, 'Ri..." Corey whimpered quietly and wriggled up against his sister.

Ruffling his hair, Auri whispered, "Then sleep. I'll be here in the morning, don't worry."

"G'night 'Ri..."

"Goodnight."

The siblings curled up next to each other, and once again, silence reigned supreme under the watchful gaze of the stars and the moon.

Once he was sure that they were fast asleep, Matthew got up from his sitting position and stretched out his legs as quietly as he could manage. He understood everything now. He understood why the girl acted the way she did, why the boy acted the way he did. He understood what they were trying to do, what they wanted to do. And he understood... he understood what that meant to him...

Leila...

And for the first time in a long long time, he felt hope and joy at the very thought of her. She might... no... she would return. He would make sure that she would return.

Matthew drew his knife and placed the mask over his face.

Leila... You'll see, Leila...

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A/N: T-T I hope I got Matthew's character right... He seems to me like the type of guy who's carefree and playful but really loyal to those he loves and sorta "emotional" at times... He's not a cold-blooded killer like Jaffar, even though he won't hesitate in hurting people for revenge; he's got "feelings"... Hope that's right... Anyone want to guess how stuff will turn out? How are the OC's? Like them? Hate them? Just know that their personalities and attitudes will change as the fic progresses... Want to guess their ages? Just remember that Corey is kinda... babyish/immature. Well... Please R/R!