The Ninja decided that in order to promote more activity in this section she'll review every story on the front page (and incoming stories for now on). The Ninja willalso be posting in this story a few times a week as opposed to once a week. Whenever a chapter is done, most likely. That'll mean shorter chapters,but oh well.

Enjoy.

Session 02: Kill Him ...
I love you ...

Miles below the surface of Krawk Island a heated battle was coming to a close. The green furred Acara could hear the labored breathing of her quarry, closing in on it with a tinge of remorse in her heart. Her heels against the damp floor of the cove caused the Tigermouse and his Moonfade thieves to scatter. Masila paid little heed to them; having no desire to kill them anymore than him ...

But she had to do it.

Damn it! Kanrik pulled himself up with the assistance of a stone pillar, clutching his bleeding stomach with a trembling hand. That double crossing wench! He should have known that she'd pull something like this. To say that he felt a little foolish for trusting her would be the understatement of the year.

To add insult to injury the acara was planning to talk his ear off before putting him to death. " Don't tell me you're going to die cowering in a corner likea scared gelert, Kanrik. " He searched from the safety of his hiding spot, and noticed she was alone in the center of the cavern. Her goons must have taken shelter in the shadows. " I thought I brought you up better than that. "

Her voice took on a dreamy tone. " You were going to be my husband some day, and we were going to rule this world together. Then, you had to throw it allaway at the last moment. "She finished witha pout. " Ask yourself; was it worth it? "

" Lord Kanrik. " The voice was so close the gelert jumped. Crawling out from a small hole came a small blue mynci. " Dez is gonna be a failed op-par-rate-tion. " Valin wasn't one for words, among other things.

The guild leader knew this already. " Tellthe others to fall back and await my orders. " He whispered, taking in a shaken breath. " I'll hold them off as long as I can. I refuse to let our organization fall to her. "

Wait a second! Did that mean ... " Youz gonna stay and fight them ? " His squeaked. " Youz can't do that. Youz be killed up pretty bad! "

" If I am ... " Kanrik bared his teeth in lu of a more audible show of his pain. " Then carry out the plans as ordered. " His yellow eyes found Valin with great difficulty, his vision already starting to blur from the loss of blood. " Tell her ... everything. " He waited for the smaller pet to nod his understanding before drawing his twin blades.

" Now go before she spots you ... "

Angela told Hannah and Armin about the plights of the Meridell Kingdom since they 'found' the Darigan Orb. Hannah came to the conclusion that whatever happened from there was their own fault for being greedy, but Armin didn't think so. Armin actually felt sorry for Meridell because of their ruler.

" Lord Darigan was a good man at heart who became amonster on the outside. " He mused as they returned home. " But King Skarl is a normal pet on the outside with the heart of a monster ... Does that make him any better? "

" I don't know. " Hannah said cooly as she dug for her key. " But I do know that the King's a jerk for the way he treated Angie at least -- There it is! " The usul pulled a skeleton key from her brown bag and went to the lock, but stopped an inch from the keyhole.

Armin looked at his friend. " Is something wrong? "

The usul's eyes narrowed. " The door's unlocked. " She said before nudging the door, which yielded with little resistance. " The lock was picked. " Lock picking seemed to be a common skill around Krawk Island (with all the treasure chests and dungeon doors to open and all), and a skill one pick's up at a very young age.

Immediately the girl expected foul play, soshe reached under the hem of her skirt to pull out a dagger with a blade almost twelve inches. Armin gave her a weird look of course, in which she smiled. " A girl's got to be prepared. "When you live on an island filled with criminals and weirdos, she thought aside. " Cover me. "

" You're going in first? " Armin cried as he pulled out his slingshot.

" Pfft. " Hannah opened the door completely and stepped into her home. " Like I'm going to let some little kid die because he wants to be a gentleman all the sudden. " The baby bori blushed, and she stifled a giggle.

There was a definitely noise coming from the kitchen, so they'd investigate there first. Moving in closer on the intruders, Hannah noticed that they had a strangely familiar scent. " Hold on. " She whispered to Armin, pushing him back against the wall as she pressed against it. " Stay here. " Hannah ordered him softly as she peeked around the corner.

Once.

Twice.

The would-be robber had his back turned towards the entrance, so she could sneak up on him if she remained low and used the cabinets and island in the middle of the kitchen as cover. Once behind him she noticed he was ... making a sandwich?

No matter. He was invading her house, and she'd do her best to defend it. Suddenly he'd find a small hand over his mouth, and the blade tohis through. That was just fine because he didn't scream, he whimpered in surprise.

It couldn't be ...

From here she could get a good look at him, slowly turning his head back so she could look him in the face.

" Jackie? " Armin looked on from a distance, and noticed the shock on his friend's face as she pushed him away unharmed. " What the hell are you doing here? " She screamed at the red kyrii.

The Kyrii took itas a sign that his life was not in danger, and took a bite out ofhis sandwich. " My name is Jacques, moi petite. " He said with playful irritation in his voice. " And before you pulled a knife on me I believe I was making lunch. " His voice held dignified properness to it despite his occupation as a pirate.

" Don't play dumb with me. "Hannah leaned against the counter,tapping her blade against her hip. " You two hopped ship nearly ten years ago, so why are ya'll back all the sudden? " Her tone was dead serious. " Came to cash in on someone else's life? "

Jacques looked at Hannah pitifully. " Please don't be like this, Hannah. "

" How else am I supposed to be? " She snapped, her eyes burning. " You two aren't any different from the rest of those good for nothing dogs. " Blinking slowly, her eyes brimmed with tears. " I thought you were my friends,but I guess I was screwed over ... again. "

Armin couldn't be a spectator in this anymore. He quickly moved to comfort his friend, wrapping his tiny arms around her waist when he wanted to hold her by the shoulders. " Hannah ... " The bori felt helpless on what to say. " Are you going to be okay? "

Hannah sniffled sharply, wiping the tears from her eyes before they fell. " This is Jacques. " She felt it better to change the subject than think about the past. " He used to be a friend of mine before he decided to run off and go against all he was taught. " Armin noticed the hurt in the Kyrii's eyes, but didn't say anything. " Jackie, this is my friend -- "

" Armin the Small. " Jacques nearly stuttered on his words. "I've heard about him. He's the little guy who saved you up on Terror Mountain, in the war. " He nodded as he took another bite of his sandwich. " I'm relieved to see that he isn't your son. "

Armin noticed the hold Hannah had on him turned intoavice grip. " Trying to say something, Jackie? " She growled bitterly.

The Kyrii raised his hands, and sandwich, defensively. " Nothing at all! I just heard ... rumors. "

" Rumors? What rumors? " Hannah was perplexed. Before all of this she was just another serving girl, so why would people spread rumors about her?

Jacques blushed a little. " Well you see ... The only reason we came back was because-- "

And so we have a cliffhanger! This chapter took forever to upload because is having uploading problems. GAH. --

The Ninja thought it appropriate to make a note of a few things; a lot of nicknames/pet nameswill be used throughout this story. There's some significance around some of them, which is why they deserve an Author Note once in a while.

Just so people won't get confused, here's a list of common ones that'll be used so far:

- Angie - Angelais her real name, but Hannah shortens it.

- Jackie - Hannah's mispronunciation of Jacques.