Here I am again! )
First of all, I'm sorry for the hiatus. I wasn't feeling inspired to continue the story for a long time and I was really busy with many things (including playing RO… SORRY!). And I didn't have time to write a story.
Anyway, I humbly present to you Chapter 7!
P.S. I noticed a lot of formatting errors in my past chapters. The asterisks I used to divide several scenes won't appear, and so I substituted dotted lines instead…
Disclaimer: I don't own Ragnarok Online!
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Chapter Seven-Of Thieves and Spiral Towers Part 3
Unknown place…
"Master, Plan A has failed. She still lives." The rogue (in Chapter 5-6) with the messy brown hair said, kneeling before someone with long white hair.
"OMFG WTF I thought that you got the key ingredient!" that someone with white hair cursed.
"Sorry milord. That btch gave me a fake manual with the wrong ingredient."
"Don't curse that btch! Curse your stupidity you dimwit! That damn alchemist for outsmarting you…" he started pacing the room, cursing under his breath.
The rogue, bewildered, looked at him as he paced the room. "But I thought I'm supposed to curse my--"
The other guy stared at him furiously and replied, "Stop it you blabbering idiot! And you forgot the word sire, lord or whatever! Because of your incompetence this time I'm sending someone else to execute Plan B." He then told the name of the person he was going to send.
"Oh no! Not my sister please! Aww man! Can't you give me another chance, Whatever!"
"Arrgh, incompetent fool! My name is not Whatever!"
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Hikari walked out of the room, fuming.
God, this is too much to take, she thought as she walked down the church corridor. First, I get these really terrible nightmares, get assaulted by a perverted crusade, suffered a near death experience, then find out that a priest who has sworn never to sin has LIED to me? Father Augustine, of all people, actually told a LIE?
She absently reminisced all of those experiences as she walked, and her feet eventually led her to the garden grotto of the Prontera Church.
She remembered as a child that she used to come running to this grotto when she had problems, especially when the other acolytes started teasing her because no one ever comes for her during vacation time or whatever. And when the sisters came looking for her, they would always find her there…
Back at the present; it was raining pretty hard that time. Hikari, lost in her memories, went out anyway, getting drenched from head to toe (with the dress and all…).
She approached the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the center of the garden and did what she has always done when she had a problem: She prayed.
She didn't notice the figure watching her every move…
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Akiru wandered around the church aimlessly. God, where the heck did that bimbo go? He thought. And why the heck am I running after her? Sure, she may be pretty and all, but her personality sucks!
As he pondered on all these he came across the garden grotto of the church.
He then saw a person wearing a white dress (or what seemed like it) kneeling on some sort of grotto, praying. It was joined by another figure, then…
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Hikari suddenly stood up, alert. She sensed the presence of a person who was watching her. She whirled around and came face to face with a certain female knight with pink hair and green eyes…
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"Oh, it's you, Midori. I thought that there was an intruder sneaking about. What brings you here?"
"Sorry for… well… watching you for quite a while," replied Midori, "I just thought that it would be best not to disturb you…" She looked away, embarrassed.
Hikari then realized that while Midori was dry even when she was standing in the rain (the water just ran off her armor), she was soaking wet in the hospital gown with it sticking to her skin. Her face flushed red, then she said, "Sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable… But it's ok to look. I mean, you're a girl after all--"
Midori then drew the spear that was strapped to her back then said, "Hikari, do you sense something else… here in this courtyard?"
"Yeah, but I thought that it was--"
Hikari then felt dizzy (she just well… recovered from the near death incident after all) and felt her legs give way. She then collapsed on the grass and landed on her knees.
"Midori…" she said weakly, "I'm feeling a little woozy here… I think I--"
Midori was about to reply when something grazed her cheek. An arrow with a narrow and sharp pointed head was now embedded on the wall of the courtyard.
Blood started to flow from the cut made by the arrow. For some reason it started to sting so much. Midori was accustomed to having cuts even worse than this but this cut was more painful than the others. It might be because of the rain, but then, she has also experienced bleeding on heavier rains than this, so…
Midori tried to hide the pain that she was feeling as she said, "Hikari… use Ruwach… there's a thief hiding nearby… or maybe an Assassin… or a --"
Hikari shook her head and said, "No… I have to heal you first… You're bleeding so much. And besides…"
Midori interrupted her. "No, I'm totally fine. It's just a cut." But her face totally betrayed what she was saying, and she cringed in pain.
"Meh, you're lying. HEAL!"
Midori's wound started closing up, but then it opened again.
"Aaargh… I need more energy… HEAL!"
The cut was about to close fully, but it opened once more.
"Oh. No. I'm out of energy…" Hikari's vision started to blur. "Careful… Midori… Someone has broken through the barrier…"
"What barrier?" Midori asked, puzzled. "C'mon, Hikari, you can't faint now! Hang on!"
"The… Ruwach… Barrier…" and she lost consciousness.
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Akiru was watching all of this drama from his happy little spot in the deserted corridor. When he saw the arrow graze Midori he was about to rush in, but he hesitated because Midori might think that he was becoming a worrywart again, and thinking she wasn't strong enough just because she was a girl.
In truth, Midori has endured more than him, both physically and emotionally, he thought.
But when he saw Hikari (the white figure) healing Midori twice but accomplishing nothing, and Midori looking pained, he now decided it was time to step in.
Unfortunately he was greeted by a force field that did not allow him to enter the grotto.
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Midori racked her brains, thinking what to do next. Hikari has collapsed, so I'm pretty much alone here. She thought. Except for another person who I can't see. And Hikari mentioned a ruwach barrier… what was it again? She then remembered in her swordie classes that a ruwach barrier was something that uncloaked people when they enter a certain area and prevented them from using such skills in the vicinity of the barrier. Advanced versions even uncloak Stalkers using Chase Walk.
As she was dwelling on this, another arrow whizzed by. But this time, she was prepared, deflecting the arrow using her spear.
"Show yourself!" Midori demanded, getting on her guard.
"Hmph. Silly girl." A female stalker with light brown hair and dark brown eyes materialized a few feet from Midori.
As soon as she showed herself, Midori threw her spear at her. She did not like being called a silly girl.
The stalker, expecting that move, dodged the spear easily. "Just as I expected, Midoriiii. Naïve as usual."
"Do I know you?" snapped Midori. She was getting really annoyed for some reason, but right now her priority was to get herself and Hikari out of here.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. Haha. Just call me Rydia. Might as well know the person who would kill you. And gave you that really ugly black scar on your cheek." She laughed, lightly tossing her brown hair.
Midori got really annoyed as she plucked out her spear embedded on the wall. "You asked for it! Spear Boomerang!"
Of course, Rydia dodged it easily again. "Hahaha you're so funny, you know? Just keep on missing like that, and you'll win a gold medal! Ahaha! Now it's my turn! Backstab!"
In a flash she was able to go behind Midori and deftly shot her at the back using her bow and arrow.
Midori fell on the grass. It was not a fatal shot, but it hurt (of course) like hell, even more than the cut on her cheek.
"Like it, Midori? This is your second encounter with my special poison arrows. In half an hour the poison will go through your system and kill you. I could've just shot you in the heart but I like to see my opponents suffer before they die! Ahahahaha!"
She blabbered a little more, as Midori lay bleeding on the ground, who then drifted into unconsciousness.
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Akiru was watching everything that happened. He felt helpless as he saw Midori on the ground. Even if the poison didn't go in her system, she's really bleeding so much that she might die instead of blood loss.
He started pounding on the force field blocking his way. But it was no use.
Damn, I'm so useless over here! He thought resignedly.
And he continued pounding on the force field anyway.
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While Rydia laughed…
A cloaked man with black hair came out of nowhere and approached Rydia.
"The boss was right, you forgot what you came here for." He said coolly to Rydia.
Rydia then stopped laughing and said, "Yeah, and so?"
"You're. Supposed. To take. The girl." He said pointedly.
"Oh you mean Midori? Hahaha why would the boss want her? She's really useless. And besides I almost killed her, you see? And there's no way to reverse the process, as you of all people would know." Rydia said.
"You know the knight, huh? Oh well that doesn't matter. I was talking about the other one." He pointed to Hikari, who was still unconscious.
"Oh. Her? I dunno, but oh well. Let's bring her to the boss and let's scram!"
The man in the cloak lifted Hikari gingerly. "Ok then, I guess let's go…"
And both of them teleported away, taking Hikari with them.
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Akiru did not see the man and Rydia go away, but as soon as they left, he was able to break through (since the force field disappeared). He rushed to Midori at once, and tried to revive her, but it was no use. Fortunately there was still a pulse, but it was really weak.
When he finished checking on Midori's vitals, he then surveyed the scene. There was an arrow embedded on the wall, Midori's blood on the ground, and a crack on the wall, with her spear lying on the ground.
He also saw a piece of paper with a sketch of a spiral tower. He picked that up and stuffed it somewhere in his clothing.
And he also noticed that the white figure he saw with Midori was missing. It dawned on him. Don't tell me… they took that bimbo away? And they hurt Midori because of her? He swore loudly and colorfully.
They're gonna pay… But first I have to take Midori to the infirmary.
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Aoi stared at the necklace in bewilderment. She swears that it was a locket, not a necklace, but the place where she got the bezoar was gone.
Father Augustine shook his head. "No… that can't be…" he muttered.
"What, father?" inquired Aoi, curious.
He ignored her and said out loud, "I'm going to look for Hikari."
And he left the room.
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After a while…
Akiru came barging in the room with Midori in his arms. Aoi saw that there was a really ugly black welt on her cheek and that she was bleeding badly.
Before Aoi can react, Sister Lynna came into the scene and her eyes widened when she saw Midori.
Without asking any questions she immediately started working on Midori, shooing away all the people inside the infirmary (Akiru, Aoi, Ryo – maybe you forgot about him already…)
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After an hour…
Sister Lynna and Aoi finally came out of the infirmary. Akiru was feeling really down that time, worrying a lot about Midori (of course!).
"Akiru, Midori was poisoned by something unknown. I tried all my antidotes, including Aoi's, but nothing worked. And right now, I had no choice but to…" she started.
Akiru got even gloomier, dreading what he was about to hear. But he still said, "So she's…?"
"…currently in frozen state."
"W-haaa-t?" asked Akiru, clueless.
"I had no choice. It's the first time I tried it on someone… I stopped the time in her body… Basically she's still alive but in a forced coma. I stopped her body functions, and so that means that I stopped the poison from flowing in her body and her from losing a lot of blood. But…" she trailed off, unable to continue.
Aoi took it from there. "The body can only be freezed for a short period of time. I guess about a week at the most. After a week Midori's body will function once more and… everything that's supposed to have happened an hour ago… well… will happen."
Akiru did not need an explanation to what Aoi and Sister Lynna said. "So basically that means we have to find out what kind of poison poisoned Midori and find the antidote (since none of the available ones, even Aoi's, who was one of the best alchemists in Midgard) in less than a week."
Aoi replied, "Exactly. One of the first things we can do is look for Hikari and see if she can make that necklace work again or something… Make a bezoar appear again?"
Akiru looked down and said, "The poisoners took Hikari away. They were probably after her and they hurt Midori in the process…"
"If that's the case… then we have to look for Hikari." Said Aoi in a matter of a fact voice.
"What? We have to look for that bimbo?" Akiru exclaimed.
Aoi then put her hands on her hips and asked, "Do you want to save Midori?"
"Well… Of course! She's my best friend!" said Akiru.
"Then we really have to look for Hikari. Think about it. The people who poisoned Midori will most likely be with Hikari, so in a way we're killing two birds with one stone." Said Aoi firmly.
"Okay, okay… But what makes you think they're just gonna hand the antidote to us or give back Hikari?" retorted Akiru.
"Then we'll just have to force them." Replied Aoi, clutching one of her acid bottles strapped on her utility belt.
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End of chapter 7!
Whoa, a serious chapter. Once more I kinda rushed the story, so it probably doesn't make sense. /swt
BTW I invented the freezing the body time thinger. That's all I can think off… I have to keep Midori alive, you know? Hehehehe.
Well… there are some parts here that I left hanging… Like who is that guy in the cloak? How does Rydia know Midori? Who are the people in the beginning?
So far that's all that I can think of… You'll find out the answers in the later chapters.
Or when I get inspired again.
And did I forget to mention that reviews inspire me? Sorry, I'm really nagging on the reviewing thing, but I really need feedback on the story… Thanks…
-Kaylee (Ishtar)
P.S. I think there's gonna be a Part 4…
