Chapter 18: Dagger Dagger Everywhere

"Sorey?!" Rose exclaimed. The assassin stiffened and backed up a bit.

"It's obvious." Said Dezel.

"Obvious how exactly?" Edna asked.

"Well for one he is completely lying about killing you, Rose, as faint as they are since they have a body to get through the vibrations of his heart were acting differently than if he were honest, probably a big reason why he's not talking as much." Said Dezel

"Okay where and when the hell did you learn that?" Rose asked.

"While I was still with Lailah. She's no wind seraph but she did give me some useful tips. Anyway, he really had several opportunities to kill you within the few weeks since he can't really go anywhere with Griflet bridge down. Plus he deepened his voice in a way that sounds unnatural." Explained Dezel.

"Sounds pretty natural to me." Said Rose.

"Thank you." Said Sorey.

"You do realize you just gave yourself away." Said Rose.

"Dammit." Sorey muttered.

"Hey Mikleo can you get Sorey to talk?" Rose called. Sorey stiffened and if they could see under his mask, he would be blushing. There was a very long awkward pause.

"Well? Are you gonna do it Meebo?" Edna asked.

"… Not now …" He said. Dezel gave Sorey and knowing smirk.

"Okay, how do you know?" Said Sorey.

"I can feel your body language and heartbeat through the air." Dezel stated. "So I can tell that you have a crush on our water seraph. But in all seriousness what are you doing here?"

"Also are the Scattered Bones and the Light Sparks the same organization?" Rose asked. Sorey took off his mask rather annoyed.

"To answer that second question, yes, the Light Sparks and the Scattered Bones are the same organization. We just have some people more specialized in the merchant stuff while some are more specialized in murder stuff but most members, including myself, are in both fields." He explained. "As for why I'm here … Muse wants to test you."

"Does she think I'm a hapless idiot or something?" Rose asked.

"No!" Sorey exclaimed. "Well you kind of are but …"

"She knows that I still haven't purified a human yet doesn't she?" Rose asked.

"I doubt it, she doesn't have anyone keeping tabs on you." Sorey shrugged. "She never told me why she wants to test you."

"Is this just an excuse to have someone get the ever loving shit beaten out of them because it's funny?" Rose asked.

"No." Said Sorey. "Though it would make sense …"

"Great ..." Said Rose drawing her blades. "Let's get this over with."

"Don't hold back. Because I won't." Said Sorey.

"Seraphim allowed?" Rose asked.

"Only one seraph." Said Sorey. Dezel stepped up and cracked his knuckles. Edna and Mikleo left Rose's body and stood to the side.

"Ready to go?" Rose asked.

"Hell yeah I am." Said Dezel whipping out his pendulums. Rose charged forward and tried to stab Sorey but he blocked her then pushed her off in time to see one of Dezel's pendulum's coming at him so he ducked. He then backed away from the two, took out a different knife, and threw it at Dezel, who dodged it. Rose returned the gesture by throwing one of her own knives at him. Sorey jumped back causing it to land on the ground. Rose ran forward to grab the knife but Sorey picked it up just as she got to it. She tries to cut him in the leg but he jumps out of the way.

"How about you give that back?" Dezel taunted. "Vengeant Fangs!" Sorey felt air pressure biting down on him, knocking the wind out of him. However he still held onto Rose's knife. It took him a while to recover which gave Rose enough time to knee him in the gut and yank her knife out of his hand. Sorey quickly looked around then ducked before a pendulum could hit him in the face. Rose tried to slash and stab him several times but he blocked every one of them. He tried to back away while keeping an eye on Dezel but Rose would quickly gain ground on him and block his view of the wind seraph coming to the realization that it was a stupid idea to have a seraph fight with her. He then went for Rose's head she gasped then crouched down and Sorey then jumped over her and sprinted for Dezel. Rose ran after him but Sorey quickly turned, drawing another dagger and throwing at her. Rose quickly stopped, dropping one of her daggers and caught the knife by the handle before it could stab her anywhere. She laughed partially out of shock and partially out of relief.

"Ha … ha … holy shit." She then took a few deep breaths. "I'm keeping this!"

"Fine!" Sorey called back taking a stab at Dezel, who dodged the attack. Meanwhile Edna and Mikleo, primarily Edna, were making snide comments on the fight.

"Hey Meebo, do you think it would motivate him or distract him if you took off your shirt?" Edna asked.

"Distract him." Said Mikleo. Meanwhile Sorey was having a hard time trying to hit Dezel while simultaneously fending off Rose and realized that letting her keep that dagger was a mistake as she would occasionally switch between the three knives and even if one of them was knocked out of her grasp she would still have two to spare and Dezel would quickly get the third dagger and toss it back to her. He froze just as Dezel swung a pendulum at him and Rose was about to stab him. He stepped to the side and let Dezel's pendulum hit Rose.

"Ow! Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Rose shouted. "I though you have control over that!"

"I do!" Dezel snapped back. "He just reacted when it was too late to change the trajectory!"

"Oh bull shit you control the wind!" Said Rose.

"Focus you two." Mikleo reminded.

"Fine!" They snapped back and turned to Sorey.

"You've gotten better at keeping things far away from seraphic arte users right?" Dezel asked.

"I guess you can say that." Said Rose.

"Good. Please keep him as far away from me as possible while I spam seraphic artes." Said Dezel.

"I've been already doing that but whatever." Said Rose.

"Keep doing it then!" Said Dezel. Rose lets Sorey pass her, she then grabs the hood on Sorey's uniform pulling him back and slamming him on the ground. She sticks a knife in front of him but he rolls out of the way before she could stab him while accidentally inhaling a pebble. He stood up and started sputtering and coughing.

"Shouldn't've done that." He muttered to himself. He looks up and quickly dodges another stab from Rose. He blocked some of the slashes of one of her knives with his own. She then went back to virtually juggling her three knives with a shit eating grin on her face closing in on him fast making him unable to get close to Dezel and he was quickly becoming more tied. Like a cornered animal he lashed at Rose out of desperation but she kept him far from Dezel by blocking his attack. He then rammed his dagger down into the ground sending a spark of energy right into Rose's body knocking her prone and temporarily paralyzing her. He picked up his dagger and ran towards Dezel who was casting a seraphic arte at the time. Dezel gave Sorey a shit eating grin.

"Too late." He taunted. "Hell gate!" Two powerful gusts of wind blew through Sorey he crumpled to the ground. He tried to get up but he passed out. They waited for a few moments but he didn't move.

"Maybe one of you guys should heal him …" Said Rose. Edna walked up to him and poked him in the face with her umbrella. They heard a groan.

"Yeah, he's still alive." Said Edna. "Dezel you knocked him out you heal him." She ordered.

"Couldn't your water seraph do it?" Dezel asked. "Aren't they supposed to be far better at healing than wind seraphs?"

"I could but I'm staying out of this because I think healing artes from a wind seraph could help with his breathing problem." Mikleo said bluntly.

"Wait he has breathing problems?" Said Dezel.

"Uh yeah. It's probably one of the reasons why if Sorey wanted to kill me he couldn't do it because he had something that fucked with his breathing and had him bedridden for a few days." Said Rose. "Didn't you hear something off with your inhuman ears?"

"… Now that you mention it …" Said Dezel. "Fine. I'll do it." Dezel muttered an incantation and performed his healing arte on Sorey. Half way through a female scattered bones member walked in and took Sorey away from Dezel. He tried to reach out but she grabbed his hand and placed it down. She began to walk off carrying Sorey on her back.

"Muse?" Said Rose, she stopped confirming her guess. "Why did you set this up?"

"To observe your strengths, weaknesses, and overall synergy you have with your seraphim companions." She replied. "Needless to say, you do have a ways to go. And you all talk too much."

"So why did you send in Sorey, you know, a pretty sickly kid instead of yourself?" She asked.

"I have more years with seraphim, shepherds and combat. At the point you are at right now Shepherd Rose, I could've easily destroyed you." She said. Rose shivered a bit while Edna huffed thinking that Muse is too cocky.

"What are you gonna do with him?" Dezel asked.

"Have him rest and recover." She replied. "And probably sneak in a way for him to take his medicine." She started to walk again. Mikleo stepped forward.

"Muse!" He called. She stopped and turned to the water seraph.

"Y-yes?" She said.

"Did you start the Scattered Bones?" He asked.

"… Yes." She answered,

"Why?" Mikleo asked. She turned away.

"… Originally … I wanted revenge on the people who took everything I loved at that point away from me." She said.

"… Did you get it?"

"After five years … yes."

"Then why are the Scattered Bones still around and you still running it?" Mikleo asked. She sadly laughed.

"I don't know anymore. I really don't know." She said. She walked off. Rose turned to Mikleo.

"What was that?" She asked.

"… Something was nagging at me. I felt like I had to ask." Said Mikleo. Dezel walked next to Rose.

"He's lying." He whispered to her. "I couldn't tell while he was in your body but now that he's outside his voice, his heartbeat, a lot of things indicate that there is something else to his questions. Keep an eye on him."

"He's not a sketchy bastard if that's what you're thinking." Rose whispered back. "Even though he does seem off since Bahamut attacked him."

"Can we please get off this mountain?" Edna asked. "I don't know about you but I don't want to stay with an angry dragon still roaming the mountain."

"All right, fine let's go." Said Rose. "We have that bridge to help repair anyway." The seraphim returned to her body and she walked back down the mountain keeping an eye out for Bahamut. When she returned to the bridge repair campsite she spotted the Sparks from a little bits away and she was approached by Sergei.

"What were you doing there?" He asked.

"We needed to investigate something at Rayfalke." Rose replied.

"You do realize there's a dragon there." Said Sergei.

"That's what we were investigating." Said Rose. "We found a Dezel."

"Dezel? Oh right … he's your friend." Said Sergei.

"You forgot I existed didn't you?" Dezel asked.

"Well … I haven't heard or seen you in weeks so … yeah …" Sergei admitted. "Anyway we haven't made any progress on the bridge so we're stopping for the night."

"Excellent." Said Rose.

"What?" Said Sergei.

"I was planning on doing something with the bridge but I don't think I can do it in front of a crowd of people without someone going back to your soldiers and eventually your higher ups." Said Rose.

"What did you do?" Dezel asked.

"Oh nothing bad just break a bunch of drug addicts out of jail." Said Rose. She heard a long drawn out mix of a groan and a sigh in her head. "That's why we should wait until everyone's gone before we can do anything."

Well real life's getting hectic so I figure I gotta put this up now.

Also. I kind of wanted to use the meaning of Dezel's true name in a more literal sense instead of an ironic sense like in the original game. Don't get me wrong it's still kind of ironic that he's still blind for a name that means "Dezel with unclouded eyes." The intention of Dezel becoming a lie detector is something he can "see" through deceit. And I am wondering how well it worked out.