Sorry this took so long. I've been dealing with being sick, school, and work. And in that time I decided to rebrand myself. I've decided to put a hold on my Zestiria fic since out of the three stories I've been working on, I have not devoted a lot of love and time to. So I'm going to focus on this one and the Tales of Danganronpa fic and I'll resume Zestiria once Danganronpa is done. Hopefully I will come back to that one with a better story. Anyway

Read, review, enjoy!

Chapter 10: Circus Anarchy

They all traveled a few hours in the forest by the time the clouds started getting dark. A storm was coming. When it first started getting dark, Shea volunteered to scout ahead and look for some shelter.

Raiden and the others stumbled to an old building that looked like it had been left abandon for some time. They didn't venture too far into the building so Shea could still easy find them.

"This may have been one of the Empire and Guild's attempts to make a rest stop," Elena commented.

"Why in the world would they build something like this in the middle of the woods?" Matthias asked.

"This was back when relations still good," Elena began to explain, but was using her, "I can't believe you idiots don't know this" tone. It really made her sound like Aunt Rita. "To make it easier for people to travel between Dahngrest and Heliord, they set up these so people could rest in comfort rather than camping out. It would be better to protect people too. But they barely got it finished before monster's attack and the project was abandoned."

"Nowadays monsters avoid large human settlements," Rune commented. "This must have been too small to discourage any monsters."

"But why wouldn't they have just done more to keep monster away?" Matthias asked.

Elena just shrugged. "Who knows, maybe that's when the Empire started pointing fingers at the guilds."

"It's a shame that this didn't work out," Rune commented. "This would have been the best route to Dahngrest. The sea route can take over a week, and that's if the weather is good."

Raiden examined the structure. While there some holes in the roof, it was still a sturdy structure with stone walls. It was better than camping out in the storm. "Unless Shea finds something else, I think we'll be staying here for the night," Raiden decided.

"Are you crazy?" Matthias said. "This place was overrun by monsters."

"If you have a better idea then say it," Elena said as she started making her way to the building.

While it had been Raiden's idea, he didn't want anyone walking in thinking it was safe. He wanted to cautiously check to make sure there weren't any dangerous monsters. "Let's at least check it out," he said as he quickly caught up with his sister. Raiden gently grabbed her shoulder. "Can you at least wait for us to go in a group and not by yourself."

Elena rolled her eyes at him. "Well you all were taking your sweet time. Besides, what's the worst that can happen to me?"

Raiden looked at his little sister. He never would have thought that her ability to heal herself would cause her be reckless.

The four of them searched the main room There were only a few small monsters that scattered as soon as they got near. Raiden walked up to the second floor to check and he could hear that it started to rain.

It was light at first. Raiden looked out a broken window and saw that it became dark much quicker. It was probably going to get worse. And Shea was still out there.

Raiden quickly went down the stairs and went to the door. But he saw that Shea was just walking in the shelter. She was wringing her ends of her clothes from the rain. "I was a little worried when it started raining that I wouldn't be able find you all again," she said causally.

"Did you find any other shelter up ahead?" Matthias asked.

Shea shook her head. "This will probably be the safest place tonight. The storm is going to only get worse," she reported.

Matthias looked a bit discouraged and Rune did as well.

"Come, let's get a fire started," Elena interrupted. "I'm cold and hungry."

"Fine," Raiden said with a sigh. "I saw some wood in the corner we could use."

/~/~/

Skit: Spoiler

Elenareading: …

Matthias: Oh Miss Elena, what are you reading?

Elenalooking annoyed: Can't you see I don't want to talk? Also didn't I tell you to cut that "miss" crap.

Matthias: I see that you're reading the "Dragon Knight Tales". That's book three in the series, right? I'm impressed, you just bought it yesterday and you're almost halfway done it with.

Elenastarted: You've read the whole series?

Matthias: I own all ten books. You might think it's silly, but I really admire the character Emilio. I want to be a knight just like him.

Elenaa little sheepishly: …Emilio is fine, but he's a bit annoying to me. I really like his Master. She's badass.

Matthias: I felt the same way when I read book three. But you might change your mind by the end when his Master betrays him in the end by trying to steal his soul because she's really one of the Soul Eaters. He has so much growth afterwards.

Elenalooking horrified. Her face turns dark and she stomps away.

Matthiasstartled: Elena?

Raidenand Runeappear.

Runelooking scared: W-what did you say to Elena? I've never seen her look so scary.

Raiden: I think he spoiled the story ending for her.

Matthias: Oh my bad, I never even thought about that.

Raiden: I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you. My sister takes her reading as a sacred thing…and you've ruined it for her.

Matthiasgetting flustered: W-what should I do to make it up to her?

Raiden: I've never witnessed anyone spoiling a book to Elena.

Runelooking sad: I doubt he'd make it through the night.

Raidenand Rune slowly walks away.

Matthiaslooking more scared: W-wait, what should I do?

/~/~/

They made a small fire and were able to make a decent soup. They weren't able to have much conversation because of how loud the storm was. The building seemed to sway and creak under the storm.

"You would think we would have been warned about this storm," Matthias commented during a quiet moment.

"I could have told you that, but some idiot just had to run away from the knights," Elena said without looking up from her book.

Matthias was getting flustered, but Raiden said, "Well you didn't say anything." He claimed that as a victory since his sister made no follow up comment.

Shea looked between the Lowell sibling. She clearly wasn't used to the way they bickered. Raiden wondered if she thought they were really fighting. Shea went to change the subject. "Elena, you must really like books, I don't think you've really put that book down. Is it good?"

Raiden wasn't surprised that his sister didn't respond. But he was sure that Elena heard Shea just fine and just chose not to respond. "My sister is an introverted bookworm," Raiden began to explain. "I'm sure she'd fine boring books entertaining."

"At least more interesting than you," Elena commented.

"I knew you were listening," Raiden called out with a smile on his face. When Elena didn't say anything, he took it as another win.

Just then there was a loud crashing sound. All of them flinched. It was lighting that wasn't far from them.

"This is going to hold, right?" Rune asked nervously looking up at their roof.

"Too late to be wondering that," Elena commented.

"We'll at least be safer here than out there," Raiden reassured his friend.

But then there was another crashing sound, and it didn't sound like it was from the storm. Both Rune and Matthias jumped at the noise. Raiden felt a little worried because it sounded like it was inside the building.

"Y-you don't think this place is falling in, do you?" Matthias commented, trying to hide his worry.

"It was probably just an animal or monster escaping the storm," Elena rolled her eyes.

"We should still check just to be sure," Shea suggested as she stood up.

"Even if there isn't anything, it's still too dangerous for you Lady O-I mean Shea," Matthias said and was quick to correct himself.

"Does that mean you're volunteering?" Shea asked.

"Well…" Matthias started to say. He seemed to be struggling to come with his knightly response.

"I'll come with you," Raiden offered as he quickly got up. If it was monster that caused that that noise, he didn't want anyone to face it alone.

"Very well," Matthias said matter a factly. He got up and strolled over to the stairs like he hadn't been scared to go a moment ago. Raiden didn't say anything and just headed upstairs with him.

With the storm raging outside, they couldn't hear how the stairs creak. There was still a little bit of light coming from below. Raiden could feel the rain coming through the holes in the roof.

It was still hard to hear, so it was hard to tell if there was a monster up here. Raiden took a few steps forward to see if that startled anything. "You don't think there's really a monster up here, do you?" Raiden was able to hear Matthias ask. He sounded so scared, he almost sounded like Rune.

"It's better to check then to spend the night worrying," Raiden told him. "Besides, wouldn't this be the best time to show Shea how brave you are. Maybe you'd be able to impress her."

"I'm not doing this to impress anyone," Matthias said sounding annoyed. "As an aspiring knight, it is my duty to protect a noble lady like Shea. The same goes for Elena and, to some extent, you since you are Lady Estellies' children."

Raiden couldn't help but roll his eyes. Of course Matthias couldn't see him doing that. "Well I wouldn't worry about Shea, she's pretty good in a fight," Raiden said. He chose to ignore that last thing he said.

"By the way, how do you know Shea?" Matthias asked. "It's still hard to believe that she's out and posing as a commoner. But to think she's done this before…"

"Rune and I ran into her near Arie Hallow," Raiden told him. "She was gathering some herbs for medicine."

"It just doesn't make any sense," Raiden heard Matthias mutter. "She's the daughter of a powerful family of the Empire. Why would be out that far out of the city?"

And in old ruins,Raiden thought briefly. "Again, you can always ask her," Raiden told him.

Matthias started repeating that he couldn't do that, but Raiden's attention was caught hearing something scurrying. At that, Raiden rested a hand on one of his father's swords and that made Matthias stop talking. It's probably just a small monster.Raiden told himself as his foot hit something. He figured it was a piece of wood or something and was going to pick it up. He was going to throw it to get the creature to come out of hiding.

Suddenly felt something hit him in the chest and knocking him back. He heard Matthais calling out his name as his back hit the floor, but it gave out and he felt himself falling more.

He was back on the first floor and lost his breath. He could hear Rune calling him. Raiden quickly sat up, despite the pain in his chest. Raiden had landed just inches from the fire and his friends. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Matthias had hurried down the stairs but stopped. He then saw what had hit him.

A man jumped from the hole Raiden had created. He wasn't much taller than Raiden, but he wore a big top hat and white cloak with a high collar that were soaked from the rain. The man looked up at them and Raiden could see that he had short green hair with white bangs, red eyes, and a tear drop tattoo under his right eye. The man took his top hat off and bowed. When he did that, they could see that he had pointed ears. He's a kritya. Raiden realized. But he didn't see the man's antenna. Only those "things" that Raiden always thought looked like feathers underneath the antennas.

"Salutation pups," the man said. He straightened up, but he had a disturbing smile. He placed the hat on his head and started twirling a cane he was holding. "My, you pups sure picked a bad time to camp out."

"What's it to you?" Raiden said as he finally got back up to his feet. He then heard Sable growling at the man. The dog may not have been as smart as Repede, but she did still have good instincts.

The kritya was now holding the cane in both of his gloved hands. "I'm just concerned because there could be not telling what could happen to a bunch of pups like you. I mean, you could all just suddenly disappear and never be found. Wouldn't your mommies and daddies be so sad?"

"Just who are you and what do you want?" Shea demanded.

"Who am I?" The kritya asked, but really seemed to be asking himself that. "I guess I'll just go by Henry. I've always liked the name."

Raiden wondered if this man really didn't know his name. "But what do you want?" Raiden repeated.

"Well of course I'm here to kill all of you," the man said in such a causal way and with a smile that it took Raiden a few seconds to register his words.

"W-what?" Rune stuttered and fell backwards.

Shea pulled out her daggers. "Your outnumbered," she said. "Do you really think you could take all of us?"

"I certainly would like the try," Henry said with a smile as he held his cane out. "It's no fun at all if there isn't a challenge." He didn't wait and started moving toward them.

Shea didn't hesitate like the rest of them and quickly moved in front of Raiden. She caught the kritya's cane with her two daggers. Henry had a smile on his face.

Before he had a chance to do anything, Elena ran up to the kritya and went for a punch in his blind spot. But the kritya quickly flicked his wrist so that his wet cap so suddenly across Elena's face that it threw her off balance and she almost fell on Shea.

Shea jumped back and Elena recovered quick enough. She was still in range of the kritya and Raiden drew one of his to swipe at him. He didn't really think, but he wasn't planning to actually hit Henry. He just wanted him away from Elena.

There was a flicker of interest in the kritya's eyes looking at the swords. Henry redirected the sword's arc with his back of his hand and short his arm so it snaked around Raiden's sword arm. The kritya gave a giggle as he seemed to admire the sword and it made Raiden freeze up.

"Huh, what's this? What's this?" Henry asked with amusement. "I know this blade. I know everything that cuts me."

There was a shiver that went down Raiden. But he knew what he meant by that. "You knew my dad?" Raiden just blurted out.

"Of course, of course," the kritya said with a giggle at the end. "He left a nasty scar on me a several years ago. I always wanted to repay him."

The kritya wasn't looking at Raiden, but the sword. So Raiden released the blade, and while the kritya's eyes were on it, he used his free arm to punch him in the face. Raiden used speed over power and it was only enough to faze him so he could get out of his grasp.

When he was out of arm's length, Raiden drew his other blade. But he froze again when he heard the kritya giggle. "So the pups do have some teeth," the kritya teased with a big crazy smile. "I guess I'll just have to pay that man back by taking it out on his pups since he's dead in the ground."

He's crazy, Raiden thought. Just what was wrong with this guy. Raiden could believe that his dad had a run in with someone like this. His parents had told him stories before. But what was with this guy?

"Raiden," he heard Shea shout.

The kritya was coming toward Raiden again. Henry was wide open. Raiden could have easily attacked. Yet he choked. The thought of actually injuring him made Raiden stop. He just stood still as Henry grabbed Raiden by the throat.

He was even able to lift Raiden of the ground. And as Raiden was slowly suffocating, he could hear the kritya laughing. "How I would love to see that man's face? Would he look like you right now?"

It was growing even darker when Raiden could hear a familiar voice shout, "Leave them alone."

The next thing Raiden knew was that he fell to the ground. As he was caught his breath, he noticed there was a severed arm in front of him. Raiden jumped and quickly looked up. And he saw Paul standing almost in front of him.

Paul as soaking wet and had his broad sword out with some blood already on it. Henry still had his arm extended like he was still choking Raiden. He seemed to just realize that he no longer had a hand. Yet he just looked slightly annoyed as he moved his arm to look at his nub that was leaking blood. "Oh, not again," he said sounding irritated.

"That's not the noise you should be making," Raiden could hear Matthias shout.

Raiden quickly got up and grabbed the sword he dropped. "Paul," he said. He had so many questions, but he never felt happier to see Paul before.

"Stay back kids," Paul warned.

"Hmm, do we know each other?" Henry causally asks why he tied a tourniquet on. "Although I suppose I'll need to know you know since your another person that's made me lose a limb."

"I've just heard the rumors," Paul said darkly. "A kritya dressed in white and with a tattoo of a tear on his face. You're a part of Circus Anarchy."

Henry smiled bigger and then stuck out his tongue. There was a tattoo of clowns face with an A on the forehead on it. Just who gets their tongues tattooed?

"If you want my name, just know me as Paul from Brave Vesperia," Paul said as swung his sword at the kritya.

Henry dodged it and didn't even attempt to block it with his cane. No doubt Paul would be able to slice through. "Another person from Brave Vesperia, huh," he giggled. "Will score with Brave Vesperia and Circus Anarchy even out, or will I get another kill under my belt?"

Suddenly Elena had dashed toward the kritya. Raiden caught a glimpse of her eyes; there was hatred in those eyes. "Don't," Paul warned.

But it was too late. When Elena went for a punch, Henry used his cane so Elena's extended arm wrapped around it. And with just one arm and a kick, Henry was able to twist the cane so Elene's arm was now bent in a way it shouldn't. And it had made an awful sound that the storm couldn't hide.

She didn't cry out in pain, but there were tears in her eyes. Sable immediately charged at the man that hurt her master and dug her fangs into his leg. But the kritya just gave a swift kick to the dog's side. Sable yelped and was down.

Henry still had Elena's broken wrapped around his cane. "My, my," Henry muttered. "It's like looking at a mirror. We almost look the same."

Elena flinched hearing that.

"Release her," Matthias suddenly shouted. He had his staff out and was about to strike at the kritya. His attack did free Elena, but not the way Matthias had intended. Henry released her from his cane and used it to vault Matthias above him and into the wall.

Raiden quickly ran over to get his sister while Paul swung his broad sword at Henry. It barely grazed him and started laughing again.

Henry started giggling again. "This has been quite fun, but my time has come for me to bid adieu and tell my boss what I've found," the kritya said as he put his cane under his armpit and took off his hat as he gave a bow. "Let's do this some other time pups." He put his hat back on and then swung his cloak around himself so that he was fully covered. The cloak then fell to the ground, and the kritya known as Henry was nowhere to be seen.

Raiden carefully gripped his sister in case he was still there. "You kids stay in here," Paul ordered as he quickly ran back out into the storm to make sure that he wasn't still here. Although Raiden wouldn't believe that Henry would go back out in this storm.

"Elena," Raiden started to say as he looked down at her. He flinched when he looked back at her arm bent backwards.

"I'll be fine, but Sable" Elena muttered as she looked over at her dog. Sable was hurt, but she was fine. She started to move toward her, maybe even to heal her before herself.

Shea hurried over. "We need to set this," she said sternly.

"That's right," Raiden agreed. "Even if you use healing artes, we'll have to re-break it if it's not right."

Elena looked uneasy. But she moved so that Shea could help. Raiden was glad Shea looked like she knew what she was doing. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to cause his sister pain trying to put her arm back in place.

Shea carefully took Elena's arm and Raiden glanced over at Matthias who was slowly started moving. So he was fine. But Rune,Raiden suddenly realized that he hadn't even heard him. He looked all around, and found his friend in the same spot before Henry even showed up. The young mage was trembling as he looked at the spot Henry had been.

Rune flinched when Raiden gripped his shoulder to get his attention. "Raiden," Rune cried out. "That guy, he…And I…what just happened?" He was still terrified and if Raiden was honest, he was too. They both had heard their parents' stories of fighting crazy people. But they didn't feel real. They were just exaggerated characters their parents' add to make the story more interesting. But now they seem more like hard facts.

"Hey, we're okay," Raiden reassured. His friend needed to see him being calm even if he didn't really feel it. It was still so hard to believe. They had just fought someone from Circus Anarchy. And if Paul hadn't showed up-

Suddenly Elena gave a small cry and Raiden looked over to see that Shea had straightened her arm was now tying a stick to her arm to keep it still. Raiden wondered Shea and Matthias would buy that her healing arts would heal her arm like new by the morning. It took time for magic to mend bones without blastia. But that rule didn't apply to Elena.

Paul then returned, maybe he worried hearing Elena's cries. But he relaxed slightly seeing that they were all alight. "He seems to be gone," Paul reported.

"Thanks Paul, I don't know what we would have done without you," Raiden told him. Very quickly Paul crossed the room to Raiden roughly grabbed the top of his head.

"And just what in all of Terca Lumireis did you think you were doing?" Paul demanded.

Raiden hadn't even considered that his mother and Aunt Rita would have sent Paul to get them. "Do you have any idea how worried they were about you?" Paul snapped.

He wasn't sure how he should respond. Rune was silent as well. Seeing their response, Paul let an exhausted sigh. "Let's just focus on getting to Dahngrest when this storm passes."

No doubt Paul was going to take them to Uncle Karol and Raiden was worried that meant their journey was at an end. They had been planning on talking to Karol anyway. But with Paul there, he would make them go home. Raiden had thought with Uncle Karol that they could avoid that. After all, Flynn let them go on. If he did, then it shouldn't be that hard to convince Karol to let them go on their own.

Raiden went back to Elena. Shea had put her arm in a sling and Elena was already healing her dog. "How are you feeling?" Raiden asked his sister.

She didn't look up from Sable. Raiden took that as a good sign.

"So who are you?" Matthias asked hesitantly. "I know you said you were from Brave Vesperia, but…" Matthias was still shaken after what happened. He wasn't about to trust some new person.

"Paul's family," Raiden told him. That would at least be enough to ease Matthias.

Shea stood up and gave a small bow. "Thank you sir," she said.

Paul looked a bit embarrassed. But he then looked at Raiden and gave him an irritated look. "I can't believe you dragged more kids into this," he muttered. He ran his hand through his wet hair. "Look I'm too tired from chasing you all. Let's save this for in the morning."

Raiden gave a sigh. "Fine," Raiden submitted. That would at least give him more time to think of something to do to convince Paul to let them continue. At least they would still be heading to Dahngrest. Raiden would get a chance to talk with Karol.

"Elena, you okay kid?" Paul asked her as her healing artes finished and Sable got up to give a happy bark.

Elena just looked at Paul out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah…" she muttered out. But slowly she started to say "T-thanks…"

There was a faint relieved smile on Paul's face. "I'm just glad all of you are okay," he said.