Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
-Murphy's Law
They didn't talk much except Anise making a quip here and there, but other than that, it was quiet. To her credit, the younger Guardian didn't complain or do her usual antics, so Reyna was grateful for that. Even if she was still a little peeved at her, that had more to do with the fact she had chosen to act out in front of Jade. Though some might argue that Anise had just as much of a right to be here as herself, so given the time it would take them to reach the forest, the older Guardian would be over it.
At some point, Anise brought up a question. "Hey Reyna? How do you think everyone else is doing?"
"They're doing alright. If not, Iris would have found a way to tell me as much." She had that much confidence in her second-in-command.
"I guess so. I mean, Mohs is probably really mad about Ion leaving." Shrugging at her own words, Anise brought something else up. "There's already rumors that the Fon Master has been kidnapped!"
Was there? Had Anise heard it back in Engeve? No one had mentioned anything like that when Reyna talked to a few of them. "Well, if we're lucky, we can finish this up quick and get back to Daath to explain."
"You don't believe in luck! I bet you just want to see Mohs angry."
A smirk played on her lips. "Perhaps..."
A bit after that conversation had ended, the Guardians saw the forest's main entrance, using a landmark one of the townspeople had mentioned. Since they hadn't seen the boy on their way here, there wasn't much doubt that he was in there, but as to how far, neither one of them knew. Considering his weak constitution, Reyna believed he would have had to rest more, unlike her or Anise. The woman would admit it was smart of him to leave early, though. Without the sun to slow him down from heat exhaustion, he was likely further along than she liked to believe.
Once they entered, the trees blocking out most of the sun, both Anise and Reyna kept their eyes open for any signs that might indicate where the missing Fon Master may have gone. While the term 'path' was used loosely in this sense, Reyna knew that this area was likely the boy would have traveled. A part of her wondered when the idea of running off came into the boy's mind and replayed the events to yesterday. Nothing indicated he had planned to do this, so it must have been impulsive.
She and Anise would have to keep a closer eye on him. Especially since he's becoming more reckless as of late.
Crossing over a large root, the duo continued their search. Anise, for the most part, seemed focus, but it was obvious she was becoming more worried by the second. Reyna could sympathize and even if she wanted to chastise the boy when she found him, all that mattered was that he was fine.
Anise spotted something in the distance and the two of them hurried over. Upon a closer inspection, Reyna noted the remains of what appeared to be some type of beast. Most of it was singed and the younger Guardian mentioned that a fonic arte must have taken out the monsters in this area. If that were true, did that mean that the Fon Master had been here? It wasn't likely to be anyone else...
Looking around, Reyna found a few faint footprints, but it was too hard to make out. Getting down on her knees to have a closer look, she gestured for Anise to her side. Discussing that there may be others here, she stood just in time for her to catch growling behind her.
She tapped her leg twice before she spun around, her hand balling into a fist and she brought said fist straight down to make contact with the wolf's snout. The beast let out a howl before moving back just as Reyna rolled to the side. Anise came barreling forward on Tokunaga, hitting the animal with the puppet's arms. Though they may have looked soft, they were anything but that. Using the time given to her, the older Guardian gathered fonons in her right fist and waited until Anise moved back and they switched. Using her strength, she landed the hit on the dazed monster and ended its life.
Easy and simple, without expanding too much energy. It's what she trained the Guardians to do when faced with an enemy and cooperation was always the key in the end.
Anise hopped off her doll and put her hands on her hips. "We should hurry. Ion has to be around here somewhere and if there are monsters around, he may be in more trouble!"
Nodding in agreement, Anise shrunk down Tokunaga while Reyna checked out the footprints from earlier one last time. With only one lead, they took and set off to see where it would take them.
The Guardians did their best to follow the trail, though it would disappear thanks to the foliage and they would lose it because a wolf or two attacked them. They even had to fight an axe beak bird! Though she was becoming frustrated, Reyna kept it in. That didn't stop Anise from putting a little more energy than needed into the fights, which was fine. Anise always had energy to spare and if Reyna was alone, she would likely be doing the same as the girl to vent out her own frustrations.
They had just picked up the trail again when Reyna saw something small and pink in her peripheral. She signaled for the other to stop as she strained to see what the thing was. It didn't look to be like a monster, at least not right of the bat. In a way, it appeared to be like a toy, but it moved. Anise was the one to confirm Reyna's thoughts as she whispered the word 'cheagles' to herself. If anything, that's what the boy was looking for when he came here. He thought he could help these animals and have it all figured out once he found their nesting area.
Signing with her hand, she indicated to Anise that they needed to follow the cheagle. However, just as she got that through, the animal spotted them and scurried away. Anise and Reyna were quick to chase after it but it became evident that they would not catch it after a few minutes.
Anise let out a profanity that caused Reyna to frown at her. Having left the main path by this point, the duo continued their search. They would spot another cheagle, but it always seemed to get away from them as well. At times, she felt like she was going in circles and while Anise was more vocal about her frustration, Reyna was less so. More time passed and it was becoming harder and harder to do so, even for her. It was getting to the point that even she wanted to let out a curse of frustration.
Reyna and Anise just made it back to the pathway when they heard a familiar albeit confused voice. "Anise? Reyna?"
Both turned to see the Fon Master standing before them! And by his side was the two from the other day, the girl that appeared familiar and the redhead boy. At this point, Anise had ran over to the boy and began to check him over while she talked so fast, Reyna barely understood her. Reyna, herself, was considerably slower when she made her way briskly over to him. The boy caught her gaze and quickly lowered his eyes, unable to meet her own.
Then she was in front of him. "Fon Master, do you have any idea how worried everyone was?!"
"...I had to see what was going on with the cheagles." He whispered back.
While Anise's interest stayed solely on checking the Fon Master, even she flinched along the boy when Reyna raised her voice. "And that gives you permission to leave Rose's house without telling anyone? You realize how frantic she became because of you?"
"I'm sorry..." By this point, he looked ashamed.
"We need to head back and-"
"Hey, he just wanted to help." This came from the red-haired male. "Let him do what he wants."
Reyna turned her attention to the redhead and glared at him as he simply glared back at her. Not even a second later, the girl that she had seen the redhead with yesterday stepped forward. "Major, if I may speak freely about the situation? It certainly involves Engeve."
It took her a moment longer, but it finally dawned on her why this brunette had looked so familiar to her. She knew who this was and for a moment, she felt surprised for not realizing this was Van's sister. Was her name...Tear? Someone had been talking about his sister and only had she seen the girl in a passing. Never did she expect to meet her under strange circumstances and for a moment, she wondered if Van knew his sister was out and about in Malkuth territory.
Just as Reyna went to answer, the redhead butted in once more. "Isn't Ion your boss, anyway? Can't he just tell you to stand down or whatever?"
Tear shot him a look while Anise, who had stayed by the Fon Master this whole time, rolled her eyes. "Luke, be quiet."
"Mieeeeeu! Please don't fight!" This high-pitched voice came ahead, just behind Luke. Both Guardians looked to see a blue cheagle wearing a golden ring appear from Luke's other side and starting to float toward them. It wasn't that it was flying that surprised them, but the fact that it had talked!
Anise was the first to react. "Whoa! It actually spoke!"
Reyna continued to stare as the cheagle peered at both her and the younger Guardian. It wiggled in place before floating closer to them. "I'm Mieu! Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you? Uh...I'm Reyna and this is Anise." Okay, that had been a little awkward. Nevertheless, the Fon Master and Mieu both seemed pleased with the outcome. Anise was still gawking and for a moment, Reyna was sure she heard mumble something about how much Gald she could make. Ignoring that and deciding to humor Tear, the older Guardian continued on. "Alright, let's hear what you have to say."
From there, both she and Anise got a quick rundown of the events that transpired while the trio had been together. Ignoring the glare she got from Luke, she listen intently and taking it everything in strides. Anise, of course, was her more vocal counterpart. She made a comment or two, most of which would seem like nonsense, but Reyna knew better. Anise was clever and used this to her advantage while Tear finished up her report.
She sighed just as the Fon Master added, "Reyna, we need to help the cheagles. If the ligers don't move, then Engeve will be in danger as well!"
"I think we should help, Reyna!" Anise added her input as well, taking a stance by the boy.
Crossing her arms, she gave the two a long hard stare. The Fon Master kept her gaze, a look of pure determination staring back at her. She should take him back as they didn't have time for this. However, Reyna didn't want to make any kind of scene with the other two here. Anise wasn't going to be any help since she already said her piece. That kind of left her with only one option.
"As you wish, Fon Master."
The Fon Master beamed at her, one of the happiest smiles she had seen since being around him. "Thank you, Reyna! And you, Anise."
"No problem, Ion! I got your back!" The girl smiled and raised her hand in the air. "Let's do this!"
Now in a group of five, plus a cheagle, they all set off to attend to this liger business. It seemed a bit out there, but she hadn't been there so she couldn't really say much more on it.
Not far into their walk, they group came to a stop by a riverbed. Reyna froze while the others paused to gaze at it. Tear glanced at Mieu and asked, "The liger's den is up ahead, right?"
"Yes! We cross the river and just keep on going!" Mieu replied back enthusiastically.
Reyna remained tensed, worried that they might actually have to cross this river. Even if it was just wading through and it wasn't moving fast, she feared it would still cause her to panic. Lucky enough, she was in the back of the group, so no one noticed her dilemma going on. Her hands were balled into fist, clenching and unclenching as it came to realization that they would likely have to get into the water.
"How are we even supposed to cross this when there is no bridge?" Stupid question, but all the same, Reyna wished there was a bridge.
"We'll just have to wade through the river." replied the Fon Master.
This sent a chill up her spine and she lowered her gaze to the ground. That had to be some other way, any other way, but the Guardian didn't dare say this aloud. She couldn't and wouldn't show any kind of weakness in front of others. While she tried to remain neutral on the situation, Luke went on.
"Are you serious? My shoes, my clothes, they'll all get soaked! No way!"
Anise huffed, shaking her head at Luke's outburst before glancing around. "Is there even another route? It'd probably take forever to find one, even if we tried."
"Time we don't have." Reyna was glad her voice sounded even and that it didn't betray her thoughts.
This seemed to piss off Luke while Tear nodded her head in agreement with the Guardians. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Tear was likely the more reasonable and sensible of the two. With most of the group against him, Luke turned his back on them and it wouldn't surprise Reyna if he was moping. A tiny part of her had hoped he was mad enough to go charging off to find another route that didn't involve crossing this river of death.
No way was she going to wade through it and not freeze in place.
"Hey, Thing. Breathe fire on that tree's roots."
"Mieu?" The cheagle tilted its head in confusion.
Luke grabbed the cheagle from the air and pointed him in the direction of a decaying tree on the other side. Reyna raised her brow and thought that this might actually be a good idea. "Come on, breathe fire already!"
To Mieu's credit, the cheagle followed the order. It let out a little shriek before it spit out fire and ignited the roots of the dead tree. Thankfully, the whole tear didn't just burn and with not much support otherwise, the tree slowly began to fall in their direction.
Reyna ended up pulling the Fon Master closer to her with Anise squeezing next to him. Tear moved as well just as the tree came slamming down onto their side and creating a bridge for them.
Luke, at this point, had a smug expression on his face. "Heh, what do you think of that?"
The Fon Master was the one to answer Luke. "I see. The tree's roots were rotten. That was excellent thinking, Luke!"
"This is nothing." Luke grin turned into a smirk.
Anise mumbled about starting a forest fire before shrugging, not caring much while Reyna rolled her eyes at the younger Guardian.
Tear seemed to agree whole-heartily, though. "Indeed, Mieu is the one who deserves thanks."
"H-hey!"
"I thought it was nothing for you. And stop yelling." Tear was quick to put Luke in his place, which Anise snickered at. Reyna gave her a look, to which the girl simply smiled. "Fon Master, Major Milas, Anise, shall we be on our way?"
Reyna didn't exactly trust this tree bridge, but it was better than their previous option.
Tear took a step up to get on the tree with the boy following her. Both Anise and Reyna helped him up, making sure that his clothes didn't get caught on anything. The Fon Master turned to glance back at Luke, who was glaring at Tear's back, and offered him a smile. "Luke, cheer up. Let' get going."
Luke grumbled to himself.
Anise hopped up next, following the boy. With Tear already making it to the other side and both of the younger members of her group having confidence to walk on their own, Reyna hoisted herself up. The trunk wasn't flat, making her nervous, but she took a few steps forward. Reyna sucked in her breath and tried to focus on the end of the bridge. Though her mind should have been on the Fon Master, she did not particularly care for him at this moment. She just needed to breathe in and out.
Breathe...
"Let's go!" Squeaked Mieu from behind.
"Shut up."
Reyna ignored them as she crossed the tree trunk. Anise and the Fon Master were nearly to the other side, with Tear offering gentle encouragements to the younger one. Reyna found herself staring at the water below and a slight panic arose in her. She needed to keep her breathing steady and not hyperventilate. She would not lose face, not with the annoying redhead here nor Anise. The Guardian couldn't bear the thought of showing weakness in front of others, especially strangers.
"Will you hurry up already?" Luke was behind her at this point and she turned to give him a 'shut up' look before turning back to see that the Fon Master had made it.
It was now or never.
Reyna walked and kept her focus solely on moving forward. She didn't look back down at the water, keeping steady and walking. One foot forward, then another. Her expression had to remain neutral, revealing nothing of her inner turmoil. Nothing would make her look down because Reyna was pretty sure that once she did, she would freeze in place. 'Walk, dammit. Keep walking and don't look down...'
Just ahead, Anise hopped off, checking on the boy while Tear caught her gaze. Really, that was probably what pushed her forward. It may have also had to do with the fact that Luke was behind her, complaining how slow she was being.
Finally, she made it to the other side and hopped off. Luke followed a short moment after, giving her a look. She rolled her eyes at him before walking over to the boy and Anise. Tear didn't look pleased with how Luke was acting. Anise let out a huff, crossing her arms. "Let's go. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to the Colonel."
"Agreed. Wouldn't do us well to keep him waiting." Reyna gave the Fon Master a look that hopefully explained their meaning behind this. With a raise of a brow, he nodded slowing, understanding what his Guardians meant.
With that, the group continued onward, with Luke deciding to take the apparent lead. Mieu floated a little bit ahead of him, giving them an idea of where they were heading. The Fon Master stayed in the middle, with Tear in front of him and Anise behind him. Reyna took up rear-guard. Silence followed them, with no one really making any form of chit-chat. Not that it bothered her any, Reyna preferred silence most of the time. Besides it would let her relax and regain herself from earlier.
Her fear of water had plagued her a bit before she came to Daath with Van. She struggled with it and made her feel weak when she realized that even something as simple as swimming in deep water would elude her. Anything above her waist sent her into a panic, which had been the most difficult to hide, especially from her subordinates. The only other person to know about this was Gerard and, try as he might, he hadn't been able to help her overcome it. At least, not as much as he liked.
Thanks to him, though, she had been able to handle surprise splashes from others and walk in water just below her knees. There were times she worried if someone were to use a water spell against her, but thankfully that hadn't come up. Perhaps, when she returned, she would talk to one of the doctors in the city. This fear was only going to hold her back.
"Hey Ion?" Brought out of her thoughts by Luke's voice, she gave her attention to the people ahead.
"Yes?"
The redhead had turned his head to look at the Fon Master, having a thoughtful expression on his face. "How'd you learn such strong artes like you did earlier? Could I learn to do that too?" There was a pause with a brief moment where the boy's shoulders tensed up. It took a moment, but Reyna realized what Luke had been asking about. Anise turned her head to catch Reyna's expression before quickly looking ahead. Luke, seeing this, continued. "What? I can't learn it or something?"
With her eyes still on the Fon Master's back, she answered back. "No. Well, yes. It's just that he isn't supposed to use Daathic fonic artes."
"Why not?" Tear questioned.
Reyna waved her hand absently. "Another time, another matter. Let's stop so Luke doesn't run into a monster."
"Hey!"
Stopping near a tree, Reyna, along with Tear and Anise, checked their surroundings. This didn't really surprise her, considering the training they had all gone through as Oracle soldiers. They didn't want to get ambushed or surprised by any monsters or ligers for that matter. With that mostly out of the way, the Fon Master spoke. "As Reyna said, what I did earlier was a Daathic fonic arte. You see, it's-"
"Wait, wait. I don't want some really long explanation. Can you just tell me if there is a faster and easier way to get stronger?"
Tear placed the palm of her hand on her head, saying what had been on Reyna's mind in that moment. "You're unbelievable."
"Seriously." Anise added, shaking her head. She gave Luke a look of pity.
"What?" Luke looked mildly irritated by their reaction.
"Please don't fight." The Fon Master said, hurriedly moving on before anyone else said anything. "I'll tell you an easy way to get stronger. What kind of capacity core do you use, Luke?"
"Capacity core? What's that?"
"He doesn't know what a capacity core is?" Reyna asked, looking to Tear.
Tear shook her head. "He's somewhat ignorant about the world."
Anise was the one to mutter, "More like idiotic."
'That was an understatement.' Reyna thought to herself.
"Well excuse me!" countered Luke, a pout appearing on his face. Who pouted these days? Well, besides children, but that just proved her point.
"Then take this, Luke." replied the boy, as he walked over to Luke and handed him a buckle with the core that was inscribed with a fonic verse on it.
Luke stared at it for a moment. "Is this a capacity core?"
The Fon Master nodded in confirmation,"You can think of it like an accessory with a fonic arte applied to it." And from there, he went into explaining capacity cores and their uses. It appeared to displease Luke that he couldn't use the same arte that the boy has used earlier. Reyna kind of tuned them out while she kept her guard up and watched their surroundings for any movement. The conversation was simple enough and it wasn't like she wanted to explain capacity cores to Luke anyway.
"Now I can get stronger too."
"At least your muscles will." Reyna resisted the urge to chuckle while it seemed Luke hadn't heard Tear.
Placing a hand on her hip, her other hand touched the broach that acted as her capacity core, the Styl. After a moment, she got back to business. "Are we going to hang around here all day or can we get going."
Luke, having gotten his answer and a new tool to increase his strength, took the lead once more with the rest of them took the same formation as before. Mieu lead them ahead, showing the path that would take them to this liger 'den'. There was a few words here and there, but it was just mindless chatter. Once or twice, wolf would show itself, but with four attackers, it wasn't much of a fight for any of them.
Reyna did take note of of Luke's skills, but it wasn't too refined. Perhaps with a bit more discipline, his handle with the blade would be better. Tear, on the other hand, was pretty good. This didn't surprise too much, considering that she learned under Legretta, if she remembered correctly. Also, Cantabile had taught her for a while before the woman's...disappearance. Regardless, Tear was a good soldier, which could be said the same about Anise.
After one battle, Luke had even stopped to ask her about her battle style. It wasn't every day that you saw a doll grow in size and do battle with wolves. Even Reyna would have been curious had she not known Anise personally. It was actually an entertaining conversation ending with Anise saying she could take on anyone that dared cross her.
To his credit, the Fon Master kept to the back when the others had to battle. Mieu had wanted to help, but from what she had seen, his fire abilities weren't powerful enough so he stayed out of the way.
With a final slash, Luke had taken care of the liger that had attacked them. If they were seeing ligers, surely that meant that they were nearing their den. Mieu flew around Luke's head before pointing with little paws toward a dense thrush of forest. "This is where the liger queen's lair is."
"A queen?" Luke questioned.
Reyna decided to answer him. "Usually, ligers form a pack around a large female."
"Let's keep going." The Fon Master said, taking a step forward, followed by his Guardians. The boy took the lead with both Reyna and Anise by his side. Luke and Tear took the rear as they entered the dense forest area. Anise grumbled a bit about this until they pushed through to a more open area and there stood the linger queen in the middle of the clearing.
Despite this, the Fon Master pushed onward with Mieu flying nearby. With the group closing in on her, the queen open her eyes and let out a low growl. They all stopped dead in their tracks as Reyna began to tense up. She had to be ready to put herself between any danger and the Fon Master.
"So that's the one." Luke said quietly from behind her.
"Mieu, could you please speak to the liger queen?" requested the Fon Master.
The young cheagle nodded before looking to the beast before them, floating closer to her. The queen did not look happy, and why the hell would it? Regardless, Mieu let out a series of squeaks and noises and Reyna could only hope things would turn out okay but...
The liger queen let out a furious roar, sending Mieu flying back towards them. "She said her eggs are about to hatch so 'go away'!" The cheagle looked sadly back towards the queen, whose teeth were bared, and it let out another growl. "Her Highness is really mad that I accidentally burned down their home."
"Eggs? Ligers lay eggs?!" Anise let out a groan at Luke's outburst while Reyna covered her face with her palm. Tear hadn't been joking when she said he was 'somewhat' ignorant of the world.
Tear ignored Luke's statement and gave her attention to Reyna. "This is bad. Ligers guarding eggs are more prone to violence."
Anise raised both of her hands to her face, looking frustrated. "Mama ligers are likely to fight ten times as fierce as any other liger. Doesn't help they're stronger than a normal liger too."
"Can't we come back later or something?" Luke's eyes were on the eggs that the queen had taken a stance in front of, doubt playing across his face.
Reyna bit her lip, but knew better than to agree with him. "If we do, she'll either kill us, or the babies will have attacked Engeve in search of food by then."
"She's right. Liger young like human flesh, so people hunt down any that are near cities before they can reproduce." Tear quickly informed him.
"Then what should we do?" Luke countered back.
The liger queen seemed to have ran out of patience at this point, taking a step forward.
Reyna's hands balled into a fist, ready to put the Fon Master out of the way if the queen attacked. Anise had already pulled Tokunaga from her back, with Tear gripping her bladed staff. Luke's left hand went toward his sword, ready for anything. It was only a few seconds later, after Reyna turned her head back forward, that Mieu let out a cry. Quickly turning back, she saw Luke take out his sword and swiftly slice through some fallen debris and saving the cheagle.
"Thank you!" the cheagle squeaked at Luke.
"Don't get me wrong, I wasn't protecting you. I was protecting Ion." Reyna had pushed the Fon Master behind her and Anise at this time, narrowing her eyes at the fierce enemy before them. The liger queen growled once more, looking ready to leap at them. "What did it say?"
The cheagle suddenly looked disheartened before sadly saying to the group."She said she's going to kill us and feed our bodies to her children."
Well that was lovely picture, wasn't it?
"Looks like negotiations are over then," replied Luke, as he readied his sword. Tear took a step forward, placing herself near the Fon Master.
Reyna and Anise caught each other's gaze. As the puppeteer readied to enlarge Tokunaga, the Guardians had the same mindset at this moment...
This was going to be one hell of a fight.
AN: Can't say I was quite as happy with this chapter as I wanted to be. In the course of Anise coming along, I had to rewrite a few scenes and add her in. I hope it worked and she's in character. I figured she wouldn't be as nice to Luke, since she doesn't know he's a noble yet. Most of the time, she kind of kept quiet, but meh.
Anyway, thank you for your patience. Please leave a review, if you can. I'll be getting the rest out as soon as I can.
Chapter 6: Ambush! Attack on the Tartarus- After the events in Cheagle Woods, Luke and Tear are taken aboard the Tartarus. It is then revealed who Luke really is and how he's involved with Tear. Taking this as an opportunity, Jade is able to convince Luke to help them with achieving peace between the two countries. However, just as things get settled, a surprise attack awaits them.