Hargeon Town, Summer Time,
Year X792, at night,
General Perspective
The town lay quiet, under a sleepy blanket of darkness and twilight. A hooded figure darted between street shadows, their face obscured to any onlookers or night-time revellers that they may pass. After making their way through the darkness, the figure arrived at the intended place; a particularly seed-looking bar on the outskirts of the port town. "Dis place?" the figure questioned, as they looked up at the sign. "I 'pose it's appropriate" the shrugged, before entering the tavern.
If the figure at all thought that the outside streets were dark, then they would most definitely think of this place as an abyss, in all senses of the word. The bar held very few people, just a few faceless patrons who all wore masks of despair, along with the odd gruff-faced mercenary who was quietly waiting out for their next job. The figure didn't pay too much attention to these people, as they made their way to the bartender. "I'm 'ere fer the… job" he stated. The bartender looked the figure up and down, before shrugging.
"Upstairs, to the right" he stated, before moving off to deal with another dozy attendee.
The figure smiled wickedly as they moved up to the stairs, before ascending to the upper floor. As they reached the top, another figure approached them; a man with jet black hair. "You the guy I'm after?" the black-haired man asked with a falt and serious tone. The cloaked figure stopped in their tracks, before looking to the male.
"Whut if I am?" they replied. The black-haired man shrugged.
"You live" he said, before revealing the concealed sword that he held. The figured eyed the blade warily; he hadn't even seen the blade be drawn.
"Yer t' man I'm lookin' fer" the figured stated, before pulling back their hood to reveal their face. The black-haired man smiled.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance… Captain" the black-haired man grinned, before replacing his weapon back in its sheath. "Now, I've got an interested party, a lovely young woman, just in here. She'll explain exactly what we want you to do" the man added, before gesturing for the Captain to follow him.
The man did, however not without caution. After all, the man before was famed around the world twice over as the second most accomplished assassin in the world. Second only t' Zollzero the man thought, before he was ushered into a plain-looking side room. There he came face-to-face with a blonde beauty he never would've expected to see in a place like this.
"Captain Chumgore, meet my dearest, and newest friend… Miss Lynn" the black-haired man stated in a formal tone, before his face became withdrawn and serious. "She is also the dear client for your next little job" he added.
Lynn sneered at the newcomer Captain. "So, you're the assassin then?" she stated, "You look like nothing more than a common thug".
Captain Chumgore smirked viciously; he could already see why his employer had selected this woman. "I'm yer assassin" he confirmed, "An' say that again, an' I'll personally give yer a demonstration o' my pow'r" the Captain added with an angry snort. Lynn smiled at this.
"Why, I believe you will indeed be perfect for this job. Now… as for the job, there's a couple of young men I would like you to deal with. One of these two in particular has annoyed me…" Lynn said, before she then began to explain the details of what she intended.
Even though the two men that were present were both seasoned veterans when it came to everything from torture to murder, the plan this woman had set up did seem to be in a class of its own.
And in its own twisted way, it easily satisfied and even impressed these two assassins. Although in the end, they both knew there would be more than two corpses involved in this whole affair. Once the explanation was finished, and the blood-pact made between the three that sealed them to this job, they each went their own separate ways.
In the next twenty-four hours, they each had much preparation to complete, if they wanted their own personal goals to be completed.
/
Beach-side house, Summer Time,
Year X792, the next morning,
Sting Eucliffe
I woke with a smile on my face. Natsu and I had spent much of yesterday laying around together, either on the sandy beach, or, sometime later in the evening, in the sauna area. Together. It was so perfect, each and every time he noticed my slight glances either on the beach or in the steamy room back in our loaned beach-house, the pink-haired Dragon Slayer would either smirk back at me, or make some amusing comment. He seemed pretty comfortable with all this… I had thought at the time, although I was still somewhat afraid that the pinkette would end up rejecting it, and me, and then not want to spend any time with me again.
Despite my small reservations, I still lived in hope, and so long as I was with Natsu, I felt that I could not stop smiling. "Good Morning, Na…" I yawned out, as I stretched out and looked to my left where the pinkette had fallen asleep last night. It took my sleepy mind a moment to register the scene. "Er… where'd he go?" I mumbled as I took in the image of creased sheets folded back to reveal nothing beside me. In my experience working with the pinkette so far, I would almost always be the first one to wake up, since Natsu would seem to sleep all day given the chance, however for once he must have woken up before me.
Getting up and gathering up my clothes, I debated getting changed, however after a momentary pause, I figured that Natsu probably hadn't left the building, so I wouldn't need to get changed. Yet.
"Hey, Natsu, you in here?" I called out as I prowled the building in search of the wayward pinkette. "Not here?" I voice aloud, as I could see no sign of him in the central sitting-kitchen area. As I moved around my nose twitched slightly. Picking up on the faint scent trail of the Dragon Slayer, I followed it straight to the door of the indoor hot tub area. "In here?" I muttered, before a smile passed over my face. "But I thought he said he wasn't all that bothered about these… let's see if he's still in there…" I whispered to myself, at a volume I suspected would be inaudible to the other Dragon Slayer.
After a few seconds of waiting, I decided to just open the door and burst in; it's not like Natsu wouldn't have done the same thing, right?
"Good Morning, Naaa… what the hell!" I barked, as I boldly stampeded into the room, only to be met by a Dragon Slayer whose face was as pink as his hair.
"Oh… hiya… S-Sting…" Natsu gulped at me, "Wh-hen did y-you wake up?" he added with a faintly unsure smile. I frowned at him.
"I woke up pretty happy and smiley a couple of minutes ago" I commented, "However that was short lived when I find you're not there… and you're… in here. Are you naked?" I added after I suffered a sudden realisation. Sure, I had suspected Natsu to be doing something when I walked in only a moment ago; that much was obvious from his facial expression, however now it only dawned on me what that 'something' could be.
"N-no… nothing's… alright, yes. I am naked" Natsu stammered, before giving up his failed attempt to lie to me. I raised an eyebrow at the pinkette, but did not speak. This seemed to prompt Natsu to explain himself. "Look… I know that I made of fun of you for it, but… well… I guess I couldn't manage to keep control of myself when I woke up this morning. It didn't help that you were so close to me you were practically spooning me, so I decided to try and deal with this as discretely as possible" the Fire Dragon Slayer explained to me, before looking expectantly in my direction, clearly trying to gauge my response. I tried my very hardest to look like I was going to ridicule him, however I could only manage to keep up my pouty face for a couple of seconds, before I fell about laughing.
"So, you came in here where you though I wouldn't be able to find you as quickly" I mused, "Interesting, however… I was spooning you, really?" I found I couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at the notion of my unconscious self, trying to be as close to the other male as possible. Probably trying to act on whatever it was that I was dreaming about… I thought to myself.
Natsu seemed to be smiling to me now, after the initial shock of embarrassment wore off. "Sting, you were really, really close to me. It took a couple of attempts just to get out of bed without knocking you and accidentally waking you up" Natsu mused, before he looked me up and down. After a couple of seconds of quiet, I suddenly became self-conscious from the Fire Dragon's gaze.
"Well… er… I guess I should leave you…" I mumbled, before trying to exit. Before I could get very far, however, Natsu called out to me.
"If you want, I could try taking a cold shower… then how about we go get some breakfast. We're still allowed into the hotel for that right?" he asked me. I stopped my retreat momentarily to answer the pinkette's query.
"Yeah, we should be fine to get breakfast there… I think the manager said that, anyways" I answered, "however… if you wanna finish you can. I'll just be taking a shower whilst you do" I stated. Natsu smirked lewdly at me.
"Nah, I'm done here. Plus, there's no way I'm just letting you go sneak over to the shower to jack off whilst I'm stuck in here. Especially when you're grinnin' so smugly" Natsu stated, before motioning to reach for a nearby towel.
"I'll leave you to get out then. I guess neither of us should do that right now, eh?" I mused. Natsu nodded.
"Yeah… 'specially when you're gonna be taking me out tonight. I don't want to be seen going out with a guy who I know masturbated in the next room over to where we both sleep" the pinkette stated. I shrugged.
"Hey, say what you like, however just remember; I wasn't the one who had to touch themselves this morning" I chimed, before turning and leaving the room. As I left I heard Natsu mutter something.
"Smug bastard…" he said, shortly followed by a much quieter, "But he is fucking hot when he's smug like that",
Well… someone seems more interested in all this than they let on I thought, as I collected up my clothes once more, this time getting changed ready to have breakfast with my biggest, and most perfect, crush.
/
We had breakfast back at the hotel. The manager seemed to be more than accommodating, despite the fact that we were neither paying customers, nor working Mages at that moment in time, and he did his best to try to make us feel welcome. After a decent meal, Natsu and I decided to explore town a little. I wanted to try to get a gauge on what made Natsu tick in more detail, in particular his likes and dislikes towards various places that I would suggest, as well as the different activities we saw.
"How about that place, it looks cool?" Natsu voiced as we walked through a street that held nothing but cheap restaurants and more typical tourist-type stalls. I rolled my eyes.
"That place does seem nice Natsu, but it's kinda… I don't know, cheap?" I suggested as the pinkette pointed out another place that I felt was unsatisfactory. We had currently only been looking around for about half an hour, and in that time the Fire Dragon Slayer had excitedly pointed out just about every low-key, or cheap-looking place possible. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, though… I guess I did say for him to pick out anything he likes. Although, it does make me wonder what he thinks a date is I thought as we continued to stroll through the streets. After a little more walking, Natsu and I realised we were getting bored, and decided to head back to the beach-side place that we currently had on loan.
On the way, I noticed a fantastic little bakery place, and stopped in for a moment, to procure us a couple of snacks. Natsu waited outside, intrigued more by the colourful collections of food on the various stalls in the market area where we currently were walking. After a few minutes, I returned outside with a bag of sweet treats.
"What'd you buy?" Natsu asked me as we continued to walk back. I smiled.
"Here, take one" I replied, opening the bag and gesturing for Natsu to reach inside. Natsu did so, and pulled out one of the sweet contents.
"What are these? Food?" Natsu questioned me, as he looked the little snack I had just bought. I nodded.
"Yeah, they're called Palmier" I stated knowledgeably. "They're like these little pastry things. These ones are sweet. There's a place near Sabertooth that's my favourite café in the whole town, and they make these. When I saw, that place made them I just had to buy a couple" I added with a faint smile. Natsu smirked at me.
"So… can I eat it?" he asked me after a moment. I nodded.
"Yeah, why'd you think I bought them?" I replied with an amused tone. "Originally, I asked for two, but the girl at the counter recognised me and slipped a couple extra, so we can have two each" I chuckled, as Natsu continued looking down to the pastry treat. After a moment he smiled broadly, before scoffing the whole thing at record speed.
"Mmm… so good…" he drooled, "They're so sweet and delicious… I love them!" he added, before smiling brightly at me. His show of happiness made a slight twitchy feeling rise in my heart, one that had been occurring with increasing frequency since I admitted to Natsu that I had feelings for him. It's definitely his smile I love most I thought to myself.
"They're great" I nodded to the pinkette. "Here, you can have the other one if you want" I stated, as I opened the bag and offered it to Natsu once again. Natsu looked to me and shook his head. He's NOT accepting food; didn't he just say he liked them though? I thought with sudden surprise.
"You should have yours first, I'd feel bad if I ate all mine first" he said. I smiled at his words, however they did leave me confused. I've seen him shove food down at record speed before, but I've never seen him wait for somebody else first… is it just because it's me? Or is he wanting to see my reaction to these too? The questions left me more than a little suspicious of Natsu's motives.
Shrugging I took one of the sweet treats for myself, and bit into it. Sure, enough it was as delicious and as sweet as Natsu had said. "Yeah, these really are the best" I beamed. Natsu nodded.
"Yeah" he agreed. I finished my own Palmier, before looking back to Natsu.
"Um… Natsu… do you not want your second one… or…" I trailed off to try to coax the pinkette into answering. Natsu just chuckled.
"Can we save it for when we get to the beach house?" he asked me. I frowned but nodded.
"Sure… but why'd you want to wait until-" I stopped mid-sentence as Natsu slid closer to me, and whispered in my ear.
"Don't react, but there's a guy who's been following us since we left the hotel. It's not just a coincidence, since he stopped just outside the bakery before" Natsu whispered to me, "I don't know what he's up to but…" the pinkette trailed off as he began to pull away. I glanced sideways at him, before nodding slightly.
We walked the rest of the way to the house in silence, neither of us making a move just in case there was more than one person following.
/
Once we were inside the house, I slid down into the comfortable sofa, Natsu standing in front of me. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I wasn't sure if he was following us until we got to the bakery" he said. I shook my head.
"It's fine, although… why would he be following us?" I questioned aloud, more to myself than to Natsu in particular. The pinkette just shrugged.
"I don't know… maybe it has something to do with the Zollzero's or something?" Natsu offered. I shrugged.
"Maybe…" I wasn't so sure. "It could be to do with our job at their restaurant, maybe these guys are friends of those thugs or something?" I questioned. Natsu shrugged and cocked his head.
"If that's the case why didn't they react sooner, we've been on a couple of jobs since then" he stated. I sighed.
"I don't know, however… argh… if there are people around causing trouble do you not think it'll be hard for us to, you know, go on a date later?" I asked. Natsu seemed surprised by my sudden question. He didn't speak for a long minute, before coming to sit next to me.
"If they even try to ruin anything tonight, you can be sure I'll make 'em pay, alright… so don't worry" he stated, before resting a hand comfortingly on my shoulder. I smirked back at him; at that very moment, the confidence in his eyes was glaring, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. But then I wouldn't be able to have my first kiss on our first date I thought to myself as I suppressed those urges.
"Okay, I suppose it would be fitting for us to beat the crap outta bad guys on a date… so long as we did it together" I mused. Natsu chuckled at my suggestion.
"Hey, don't get any ideas, I want this to be a proper date, at a restaurant or something, not at some brawl" he stated with a mock pout. I laughed right back at Natsu.
"You sure about that?" I replied, "Because your choices of venue didn't… inspire me with a lot of confidence that you even know what a date is" I added. This made Natsu's mock pout become a real pout of annoyance.
"I know what a date is!" he defended, "Anyways, all of your choices were waaaay too expensive" he added with a slightly mocking tone. I shrugged.
"Yeah, but you seem to like my choices of food though" I retorted, before holding up the remaining bag of sweet treats to emphasise my point. Natsu's eyes lit up at the display of food.
"Oh right, those… can I have the other one now?" he asked. I smiled and chuckled.
"Only if you promise me one thing" I stated coyly.
The pinkette furrowed his brows. "Promise what?" he asked in a suspicious-yet-confused tone.
"That no matter what ends up happening tonight, you aren't gonna kiss me until the end of our date, okay?" I stated. Natsu nodded excitedly at this proposal.
"Deal" he agreed hastily, "Now, can I please have that pastry thing?" he added, with a voice that sounded oh-so-much like a spoiled child. I couldn't resist giving him what he wanted and handed over the bag.
"Here, you can have my one too…" I stated, before getting up and heading towards the bedroom.
"Really?!" Natsu exclaimed in surprise. I nodded.
"Yeah, whilst you eat those I'm gonna get changed. Then we can head down to the beach again" I called out.
I heard no complaint from Natsu, only the rapid opening of the bag, and the sounds of happy munching from the pinkette. Hmph… he can't complain that he doesn't like my choices… I thought smugly, however… maybe I should take Natsu's ideas into consideration… perhaps take him to a low-key restaurant that's not too bad, but not too expensive?
The thought process that my mind followed in planning this date was perhaps even more taxing than any that I had to follow in my role as Guild Master of Sabertooth. Man… planning stuff like this is harder than I thought I complained internally.
/
Beach, Summer Time,
Year X792
Natsu Dragneel
The time at the beach was somewhat relaxing. At first, Sting and I had been on edge, carefully watching out for the guy that had been following us previously, each of us ready to spring into action should the need arise. Luckily, however, nothing happened, and as the day wore on, no sight of the guy had been made, which allowed me and Sting to relax again. At around noon, the White Dragon Slayer called me over to return to the house for a moment, before explaining that he wanted to head off into town alone, in order to make the necessary preparations for our date. Initially I had been concerned about Sting heading off on his lonesome, however, as he reassured me, he is quite capable of taking care of himself. "I am the White Dragon Slayer" he had argued, before showering and changing into his more usual attire.
"I'll be back in an hour or so, so don't worry. You can hang out here, go to the beach, or the hotel, I don't mind. However, please don't wander off Natsu, I don't wanna have to go running around town looking for you, okay?" he added as he headed out the door. I smiled and nodded.
"Okay" I agreed, "See you soon".
Sting smirked at me. "Oh, and whilst I'm gone… please don't do anything too… messy; like I said this morning, I don't want to go out on a date with a guy that I know was, well… you know, right before we leave. Okay?" he laughed, before leaving too quick for me to respond.
As the White Dragon Slayer walked merrily on his way, I was left pouting. "Hmph… I should do it just to spite him after he acts all cocky like that" I sulked momentarily, before I broke out into a huge grin, "Although perhaps… this might give me some to prepare a few things whilst he's away" I said to myself, before I began to put my own plans into action, heading into the bedroom to prepare one of a number of surprises that I had thought of giving to Sting since he admitted to me the night before about his feelings.
"I just hope he likes 'em…" I voiced aloud, "I mean, I didn't really have much time when he was in the bakery to be too choosey, however… I think he will, I mean… I hope he will…" my worries rose temporarily, a rare thing for me to experience.
Do I really care so much about his opinion? We haven't even been on our date yet and I already feel like I'm getting too attached… I thought. I shook my head in disagreement with this idea. No, I'm just getting anxious over getting to be with him. I know I said that I wasn't sure how I felt, however I think I'm pretty damn sure that I know I like him… at least a little… I decided, before placing the small trinket I had bought back into its box and hiding it in the table drawer next to my side of the bed.
With a nod to myself, I quickly undressed and then headed into the shower, before redressing and then heading towards the back, intent on going out onto the warm sands to enjoy some additional sun-bathing time.
In that short period within the house however, I did feel like something was off. Probably just jumpy after that stalker guy… I shrugged, as I felt as if I was being watched, I'm alone in here, Sting is gone, so there's nothing to be afraid of I thought to myself. As I headed out, however, I immediately noticed that something really was off about the beach-front property; the house was cold, almost unnaturally cold.
"What the-" I barked, standing on the veranda with the stairs going down to the beach. The feeling of having hit a wall of heat as I left the building was what first signalled me to this odd occurrence. As I turned to look back at the house, that was the first time I noticed the additional figure, standing quietly and contently in the hallway, grinning at me like a madman. "Who are you!" I growled instantly, my body tense and ready to strike instantly. The man laughed.
"Hmm… you only notice it now when you try to leave… interesting" he mumbled, before shooting me a wicked smile. "Regardless, you'll know who I am soon enough…probably…" he chuckled, before I felt a sudden weight on the inside of my head, "But first, that sleep drug you just breathed in will knock you out in three, two-"
Everything went black before he could even reach one.
/
Beach House, Summer Time,
Year X792
Sting Eucliffe
I returned from my little errand in the short time of forty minutes. "That didn't take nearly as long as I expected" I smiled to myself as I bounded down the street back towards the beach. "I wonder if Natsu decided to go out… if he did maybe I can hide the stuff I just bought in our room, or at least somewhere he won't find it" I added as my plan for our date came together nicely inside my head.
As I approached the doorway to the building that the manager rented to us for free, everything seemed quiet. Smiling to myself I gave a knock at the door. No reply. Hm… seems Natsu went out. Guess I'll have to go search for him in a minute. But first I'll hide this I thought to myself, before I moved to unlock and open the front door of the house. "That's weird… I'm sure I locked this" I voiced as I realised the front door to the building was already unlocked. Shrugging I moved to open the door. "Maybe Natsu forgot to lock up before he headed out. He's probably gone down to the hotel for something" I stated, before I pushed the door wide.
No soon did I do so, was I hit by the very unnatural feel to the house. "Something's not right here…" I muttered lowly, before I felt my whole body tense up. As I moved into the building I was first struck by the very cold air that seemed to permeate the entire building. Sniffing I could catch small scents of something else laden in the house. "A drug?" I mumbled, "This can't be good… hey Natsu, you in here!" I barked loudly. There was no answer.
"Not here…" I muttered, As I continued through the house, I found that the door to the veranda was left open. "Did Natsu try to escape someone? Or did they break in through the back?" there was far too little evidence for me to accurately gauge what had happened. As I continued my prowling about, I began to notice that my movements were becoming sluggish. With wide-eyed realisation, I bolted for the back door, quickly descending half-way down the steps to the beach, just to ensure I was as far away as possible from the house. "That was close… that gas stuff must be a sleeping drug or something" I voiced, more to try to keep myself awake, than to confirm or question anything.
"Gotta do something too… I can't go back through that house again. The person who left that stuff, and the person who has clearly taken Natsu, might try to come back and get me too. I should probably tell the hotel manager, he'll be able to help" I decided aloud, before looking down towards the beach. "I'll walk to the hotel through the beach, that way I won't breathe any more of that stuff in" I added.
Heading down towards the beach and across the sand was harder than I thought possible; the drug in my system seemed to make my muscles turn to mush, and it was hard just to place one foot in front of the other. Somehow, however, I managed to move forwards, and soon the hotel that Natsu and I had helped only one day prior lay in sight. "Almost… there" I sighed, relieved that nothing had happened.
Unfortunately, things did not stay so positive. Looking around the normally-busy beach, I noticed a significant lack of people, however as I neared the hotel building, two figures came into view; one a much unwelcome sight. "What are you two doing here?" I questioned venomously at the woman who only yesterday had earned all of my scorn over such a, quite honestly, trivial matter.
Lynn smirked back at me. "You tried to get here by the sea, clever boy" she stated, "However… this is as far as you go".
I glared at her, before looking to her companion. He was a rather intimidating figure, tall and muscular, with tattered looking clothing and a scarred face that just screamed trouble. He seemed to be watching carefully, clearly very well-trained in the art of patient attack. An assassin I thought warily to myself, before my gaze returned to Lynn. "What do you want? I assume you're the ones behind Natsu's disappearance" I stated flatly, my tone leaving no room for debate.
The woman, Lynn, laughed. "Of course, we are, you fool. Now… would you be so kind as to come along with us, your friend will be there when you arrive" Lynn stated, gesturing for me to accompany her and this stranger.
I snorted derisively at her. "Like I'd ever go with you, you sea-witch" I barked, "Now gimme Natsu back, and he better be unharmed" I added with a cocky attitude. Despite my show of bravado, I could tell already that it was unlikely this fight would be easy, especially given my weakened position. Lynn just stood smiling at me for a moment, before sighing.
"You don't make this easy, do you?" she complained at me, before crossing her arms. "The pink-haired boy was so much more… obedient, although that may have been the drugs affects" she chuckled to herself. I scowled at her.
"What have you done with Natsu?" I demanded forcefully.
"Nothing… yet… although perhaps in time I will do something… but don't worry, he won't find it unpleasant, in fact… it might even be pleasurable" Lynn smiled. I immediately started growling at her, my possessive Dragon Slayer instincts kicking in.
"Don't you even dare… no one will have Natsu… no one" I snarled menacingly, white light enveloping my fists.
"Oh, does the little lizard think he can defend his boyfriend… you really do sicken me. I'm done playing with you, all I want is to have a little fun with that delectable pink-haired hottie, yet you still insist on this all being about you two. How unfair. No one, not one man who I have had my eye on has ever rejected me, I won't allow you and your little friend to make a mockery of my perfect record" Lynn stated, before narrowing her eyes at me.
I smirked. "So, you hired some tough guy to help you keep being the slut you are, how pathetic. You're nothing more than a sex-obsessed bitch!" I remarked, before readying myself for a fight, "Now quit talking and get fighting" I added, before readying a large amount of magic energy; if I was to have any chance in this fight I knew I'd have to use a pretty powerful spell right off the bat and take out the big guy. Lynn responded to my open threat however, by looking to her partner.
"Dear captain" she chirped in a sickly, sing-song voice, "this fool is trying to make a mockery of me again it seems. And you two, since he still seems to think he has a chance of winning. Deal with him, but keep him alive… 'kay?" she stated, before patting the muscular man's shoulder.
The 'captain' smiled at her request. "I haf to agree wit' yer there, missy… this idiot does seem t' think he can win 'gainst me" the man stated, before raising his arms. "Well then lad, let's see what ya can do" he added. I smirked.
"Fine then, White Drag-"
"Too slow. Dark Poison; Hypnos" the 'captain' called out, before pulling forth a small bag of powder and throwing it in the air. The substance shimmered an eerie purple for a moment, before a cloud of foul-tasting violet gas erupted forth, completely enveloping the space in which I was standing and sending me into a dizzying coughing fit. "Heh, tha' potion'll sap you o- yer magic power… mix it wit' t' one already in yer system an' there's no way you'll be able to resist us now" the man bellowed loudly as his stomach rumbled with laughter. As I fell to my hands and knees, my chest tight and burning with the effects of this man's magic, Lynn came to stand over me and sneer.
"Look like you're not so tough now, eh… Master Sting Eucliffe of Sabertooth… I'm sure your guild'll pay a pretty penny for you, and whilst we wait for your ransom jewel, I think I'll enjoy having you tied up, watching desperately as I claim your dear friend" the Water Mage stated. I snapped my head up to look at her.
"Don't… you… dare!" I panted, trying to conjure up some light with which to strike her. If I can only land one blow… unfortunately, all I was able to do was stand there panting, as my magic was slowly sapped from me.
Once I reached critically low levels, I went light-headed, and then, in my dizzy, magic-deprived state, I was hauled off by the madman assassin, and his bitch of an employer.
Little did I know, however, that like Natsu and me, these two were also part of a greater game that was being played.
And it was being played with many, many sacrificial pawns.
End of Chapter 11
Chapter Hint; Cuts and Bruises (aka. Kiss It Better)