This chapter includes: Running, foreshadowing, Flynn being a serious captain for those who do crime aaaand some very quick reunions.
I do not own Tales of Vesperia.
0o0o0
Steps away from Heaven (I'd rather be with You)
Second Chapter
The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall – While the bigger and stronger opponent might be alot more difficult to beat, when you do they suffer a much bigger loss.
0o0o
Just before the clock stroke one, Alexei noticed that there was a message on the window sill, under a heavy stone to prevent the paper from flying away.
Still waiting, waiting is boring, when can kill?
The message was written on a greasy piece of paper with something red – blood most likely. Alexei read it with a disgusted look and closed the window, returning on his seat. Pulling a clean paper sheet and a pen, he started writing.
Your target is still recovering from the last assault, which you failed to execute like we planned. Consider this your punishment.
Satisfied with his answer, Alexei took an empty envelope and put both messages in it. He didn't put a seal on it, that would be just a waste for a lowlife like him.
Just when the commandant was about to stand up and place the letter back to the sill, somebody knocked the door. A tiny moment of panic rushed trough Alexei's body as he quickly hid the envelope under the nearest book. "You may enter!" he said, both face and voice under perfect control. However, he did feel quite surprised when Scifo's second-in-command, Sodia, entered his office.
"Sir!" she saluted, "Due to the circumstances, I am here as the representative of Captain Scifo's Brigade!" the auburn-haired woman stated, holding out a sleek pile of papers. "These are the reports from our annual expedition in Quoi Woods."
Alexei took them, cursing himself for tensing. "Nothing amiss?" he asked, pretending to look interested while skimming over the papers.
"No sir," Sodia said sternly, "However, like past few years, those who have entered the woods, most of them being citizens of Halure, have claimed to hear disturbing voices coming in the depths of the forest."
"I see..." Alexei muttered, pretending to read the report. "Any theories?"
"The most common theory is of a strong monster – a king of the forest so to speak." Sodia answered immediately.
"Yes, that seems to be most likely." Alexei noticed that the female knight looked like she wanted to ask something. "Anything else on your mind?"
"Sir," the auburn-haired knight started. "if it is truly a monster, shouldn't we eliminate it as soon as possible?"
Alexei, who had expected for a question like that, shook his head. "What ever it is, it hasn't shown any interest in widening its territory nor threatening human settlements. Why should we sacrifice our time and possible lives for something like that?" he explained, closing the report.
"That... makes sense."
There was a moment of silence between the knight and her superior. "You're dismissed," Alexei finally told the female knight who turned around, ready to leave the room.
"Are you by any chance going to visit Captain Scifo?" Alexei asked suddenly when Sodia opened the door. She halted, looking over her shoulder and nodded.
"Well, I shall accompany you then, if this okay?" Alexei said, standing up. He really didn't want to do it, because he was slightly afraid of his personal emotions getting better of him when facing the blonde captain – a mistake that could easily ruin his delicate plan. However, everyone expected him to pay a visit – after all, Scifo was one of their most promising knights and even a captain. Not doing so would raise questions though, something Alexei couldn't allow.
"O-Of course, sir!" Sodia answered, eyes wide. "A-After you, Sir!"
0o0o0
"Holy hell, this place is a frigging maze!" Rita exclaimed as the members of Brave Vesperia strolled on the hallway. No matter she looked, everything was white – from the shining floor to the carved walls – and exact copies of each other.
"It's mainly because we came from the back of the castle," Raven explained, having a slightly nostalgic look in his greenish eyes. "These parts are for knights and occasionally maids, thus looking pretty plain and with a zero security."
"Wait, these are knights quarter?" Karol gasped, "Then why the heck is it so empty?"
"It's one o'clock," Yuri stated. "From eleven to two o'clock, it's training time for rookie knights, which is supervised by their superiors. All the guards are patrolling in the more important parts of the castle, so it's always pretty dead around here during this time."
"I trust this is from your own experience?" the blue-haired kritya smiled.
"But of course not! I was a model example who didn't skip any lessons nor sneak the good wine from the kitchen! And I definitely didn't steal other knight's clothes while they were taking a shower!"
"Oh, you didn't!" Judy chuckled. The group kept running for a while in a complete silence, leaded by Raven and Yuri.
Suddenly, Raven halted, raising a hand to signal others to stop too."We're here!" Raven whispered, looking over a corner. "That's Alexei's office," he said.
Karol looked at the same direction, frowning. "The door with three guards watching over it?" he whispered, gulping when the archer nodded.
"Well, this comes handy then..." Yuri muttered, digging his pocket. "Here ya go old geezer, don't mess up!" he said cheerfully, while giving the other male The Sorcerer's Ring.
"Such pressure on this poor old man..." Raven whimpered, putting the ring on his index finger. Taking a deep breath, he lunged behind the corner. The guards, noticing the movement, turned to look at the dark-haired man, weapons drawn and pointing at Raven. However in a blink of an eye, Raven unleashed the energy within the ring, firing paralyzing energy towards each guard. Each ball of energy hit their targets perfectly.
"The old man still got it!" the archer exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air while the rest of the guild members approached him.
"Now we have five minutes before the paralyze wears off," Yuri kicked lightly one of the guards, causing him to fall over. "Judith, if you do the honor?"
"Anything for you," the bluenette in question chuckled, taking a hair pin from her hair bun as she walked in front of the door. After a small moment of investigation, she put the pin into the lock and with couple turns, the door let out a soft click voice. "Ladies first," she looked at Yuri, opening the door with a devious smirk.
"You're not talking about me, are you?" the swordsman asked, eyebrows raised but still entered the office. "Woman, that was one time and happened after a drinking contest with Natz," he paused, tapping his chin. "And how was I suppose to know that he was serious about the fur coat?"
"Well that sailor totally fell for it!" Rita pointed out, smirking slightly at the memory.
"And so did that waitress!"
"Oy, don't forget that one dude by Colosseum!" Raven snickered, until Yuri gave him a kick in the shins. "Outch! Can't ya take a joke, can ya?"
Ignoring the older man, Yuri crossed his arms. "You guys finished?" he asked, rolling his coal-colored eyes.
"Give us some time," Judith answered sweetly. "But really Yuri, can you blame us? After all, your body is quite slender, even to the point of being feminine and that hair just doesn't help it – despise being absolutely gorgeous."
"Yeah why don't you cut it?" Karol asked. "It would be more practical too, you always complain how it goes over you eyes during battles and such."
"No can do Cap."
"But why not?"
"Because my childhood sweetheart once announced that they wanted to marry someone with a long and pretty hair." Yuri rolled his eyes, already looking around the office.
"Wait, what?" Karol asked, while the rest of the the guild had their eyebrows raised.
"Oh my, do tell more Yuri," Judy ordered, a gleeful twinkle in her violet eyes. "I would love to hear what is your type."
"Well Judy, my type is blue-haired krityas with breasts big enough to have their own orbits," raven-haired man winked.
"Yuri!" Judy exclaimed. "I had no idea you felt that way! But sorry hun, I prefer... shaggier men."
"Like old man here?" Yuri asked, pointing at the man in question – who was now very interest in the conversation.
"Maybe," Judy only smiled mischievously.
"Aside Judy's terrible taste for men," Rita butted in. "We have about four minutes before the knights come knocking! So instead of gossiping like a pair of old noblehags, you could start searching!"
"Temper temper!" Judy laughed, but started examining the books on the bookshelf. "My, these books sure look interesting... 'The history of Imperial Knights', 'All Kings and Queens of Imperial', 'One-hundred and one different strategies used in military'..." she listed.
"Well, this is his office," Karol pointed out, opening a chest behind the work desk. "Oh wow, a World Charm!" the boy exclaimed, taking the golden object from the chest.
"Oo, gimmie that!" Raven ordered, rushing by the guild leader and snatching the Charm from Karol, totally ignoring the boy's protests.
"Are you encouraging stealing?" Yuri asked. "Not very knightly thing to do, right old man?"
Putting the charm around his neck, the older man shrugged. "Meh, the bastard still owes me so this isn't stealing, just taking a rightful payment plus the interest."
Rita raised her head. "Wait... Why the hell Alexei owes you?" she asked suspiciously while examining the glass cabinet.
"Saved his ass from a public humiliation." the dark-haired man said, reorganizing the books on the commandant's desk. After lifting the lowest book, a small white envelope was revealed. "Well well," Raven smirked, tossing the book and picking up the mysterious letter. "What is this?" he asked aloud, gaining everybody's attention.
"Holy hell," Yuri looked over Raven's shoulder. "You found something?" he asked as the other man opened the envelope.
"Your target is still recovering from the last assault, which you failed to execute like we planned. Consider this your punishment." Raven read aloud, a frowning heavily. "This is definitely Alexei's handwriting..." He glanced down at the white envelope. "Wait, there's something more..."
"Well..." Judith interrupted. At some point she had moved by the door and now had her hand on the doorknob. "We'll find out that later, because I hear movement coming from the hallway," she said casually. Her statement was met with a heavy, shocked silence and each one of them could hear the voice of creaking armors behind the door.
"Ruuuun!" Karol shouted and each member of Brave Vesperia did as their leader had said.
0o0o0
"How does it feel?" Witcher asked nervously. "No pains, cramps or such?"
"No..." Flynn replied absentmindedly, still focused on his new right hand. It looked fine, better than he had imagined. It was made of gray steel with no additional adornments or carvings, which were quite usual with the artificial limbs. The cords and other contests were masterfully hidden under the steel, like a gift wrapping to hide the content. Only the elbow looked slightly awkward – with it's weird and out-of-place ball shape – but the practicality was more important than appearance in Flynn's option. And the blastia core was carved onto the wrist part, right under the joints. Flynn poked it with his other hand, feeling the smooth blastia humming under his finger.
"You should try using it, Captain," the medic stated, putting away her gadgets. "Getting use to it from the very beginning will fasten the process."
Witcher nodded eagerly. "Could you try moving your fingers, Captain?" he asked.
The blonde man just nodded, trying to do as the mage had asked. For couple seconds, there was no movement happening, making Flynn both embarrassed and frustrated. But then, after ordering himself in his mind, the fingers started moving, forming a fist just as Flynn had wanted.
"Amazing!" the green-haired mage gasped. "The nerves are already responding to the arm!"
"Well, that is expected from our Captain," medic said.
Flynn kept staring at the hand. He couldn't understand the compliments – he had just moved couple fingers, nothing to be praised over. A newborn baby was capable of doing such a thing, for Heaven's sake.
"Now, could you-" the medic started, leaning closer to have a better look at the hand, but halted when the door was opened, revealing two familiar knights.
"Sodia!?" Witcher exclaimed when the woman stepped inside, but when the second person entered, the mage shot up from his seat like a bullet and saluted. "Commandant Alexei!"
The sights of his superior made Flynn's blood run cold. "Commandant!" he saluted too, using his left hand and trying his best to keep his face free of expressions. He had dreaded of the Commandant paying him a visit. He hadn't wanted his superior seeing him in a state like this – in this weak and fragile form.
"Captain Scifo," the older man acknowledged him with a nod. "How are you feeling? Fine, I hope – despise your unfortunate situation."
Flynn nodded. "I am feeling fine, thank you for your concern." he said, bowing his head slightly. "I am honored to have the Commandant himself visiting me, sir."
Alexei let out a short laugh. "You're one of our most promising knights Captain Scifo – if something worse were to happen to you, the Imperial would suffer a great loss."
The blonde knight felt his cheeks reddening by his superior's compliment. "Thank you for your words, sir."
The silver-haired man gave him a nod, before turning to look at the medic. "How long it'll take to Captain Scifo to regain his full strenght?"
It took a moment until the woman answered. "It's not about the Captain's strength, Commandant. Right now, we just have to wait until he gains the full control of that hand," she explained. "And right now, we're off to a very good start."
"Well, that's very good news," Alexei stated with a tiny smile on his lips. When he was about to continue, the door burst open and three knights entered the room, full armor and weapons in their hands. "Commandant!" they saluted. "Thank heavens we finally found you!"
The man in question raised his fair eyebrows. "What's wrong?" the Commandant asked, wasting no time. Flynn also stood up, despise the medic's quiet protest.
"There has been a break in!" one of the knights replied, panting slightly under the helmet.
"What?!" Sodia gasped, hand already grasping her sword. "I need to see if there's something I can do, excuse me Commandant, Captain!" she saluted before pointing at one of the knights. "You, come with me!" she ordered. The knight didn't object and they both left the room.
"Report, immediately," Alexei said, voice ice cold and expression matching his tone.
"The tentative reports claim it to be a group of six persons – three males, two females and a dog! All of them are armed and..." the soldier paused, taking a deep breath. "There are rumors of one of them being Captain Schwann!"
"What about their motives?" Flynn wondered aloud which made the soldier turn to look at him. "What are their trying to accomplish? The royal treasures, military information?" the blonde man suggested.
"Witnesses' have told that they broke in the Commandant's office!"
"What?!" Alexei growled, his expression becoming more fierce than Flynn had ever seen which shocked him slightly. The man himself must have noticed this too, as he then continued with an emotionless voice. "Where are the intruders now?"
"S-Still on run, Sir!" the soldier squeaked, nervous due to his superior's outburst. "They are still inside the castle walls – last time seen in the third floor in the east wing!"
"Then let's shall catch them," Alexei stated. Wasting any more time, he marched out, the knights following him like lost puppies.
"How on earth they got in?" Witcher wondered aloud as soon as the door closed.
"You heard what the knights said, Captain Schwann was with them. That man probably knows every corner of this place," the medic stated with a frown on her face, "Now, we need to concentrate on- Captain Scifo?!" She exclaimed. The said man froze, almost by the door with a short dagger in his left hand.
"Where do you think you're going?!" the medic scowled, her plump hands on her hips.
"There are intruders in the castle, ma'am," Flynn said seriously. "I must see if there's something I can do – it's my duty as a Captain!"
"But your hand-"
"... is not a problem," Flynn interrupted, opening the door. "You said it yourself, a proper training is the key to gain the control over this arm – this is a great chance for such a thing!" with that, the young captain rushed out.
The medic and Witcher were left in the room, both listening how the voice of Flynn's footsteps became quieter and quieter.
"The nerve of some people!" the medic scoffed.
"Oh no, I need to follow Captain!" Witcher realized. "Wait, which way he went?!"
0o0o0
Karol had never been the one with speed and stamina. He had always been aware of it, though it didn't bother him.
Until now.
"God-fucking-dammit twerp, run faster!" Rita shouted, looking over her shoulder.
"I'm... trying!" he shouted back, panting heavily between the words. He had a horrible stitch and his short legs were like on fire.
"Well, try harder!" was the answer and honestly, Karol agreed with the mage. He had always thought that strength was more important than speed – thus his slow but powerful fighting style.
The guild leader could hear footsteps behind them. He tried to make his foot work faster, but without results. Suddenly, a sharp pain from Karol's feet paralyzed him, making the short fall flat on his face. Somewhere far ahead him, Karol heard Raven shout something, but it barely registered in his brain, thanks to the pain all over his body.
For a tiny moment, the young guild leader wondered if the prison wasn't such a bad place – at least there wasn't any running involved.
'No!' the boy thought, pushing himself up on his feet. He wouldn't allow such a disgraceful thing to happen to him, or his guild! With this new found strength, Karol speeded towards and for some time, it felt like everything was going to be okay...
...Until he arrived to intersection.
With wide eyes, Karol stared at the three corridors, unable to predict where his friends had gone to.
"There is one of them!" Karol heard someone shouting. He looked at the direction of the voice, which came from the left hallway. "Get 'im!"
0o0o0
The corridors had changed, Rita realized, looking at the walls. They weren't like exact copies of each other, these actually had paintings and flags adorning them. 'We're out of the servant quarter!' She thought, turning to look over her shoulder. "Just little more twer-" she halted, realizing that there was nobody behind her. "Guys!" she shouted, gaining her friends' attentions.
"What is it Rita, we're in a kinda of hurry here-"
"Twerp is gone!" Rita interrupted Yuri, slight hint of panic in her voice.
"What?!" Raven yelled, looking around like Karol would pop out of nowhere.
"Repede, go and find him!" Yuri ordered his dog friend. The canine obeyed, lunging deeper into the castle. "And do it quickly, Cap doesn't have his axe to defend himself!" he shouted after the dog.
"I'm gonna kill that little snot-face!" Rita raged, stomping her leg on the floor like an overgrown toddler.
"Well, now we have to trust on Repede," Judith stated, though she was frowning slightly. "Let us find a way out and wait for the boys to come."
0o0o0
Leaving no other choices, Karol turned right, running like a mad animal. Now his main priority was to lose the knights and fast. He took many different turns in intersections, probably circling the area for a moment. However, after long and agonizing moments, his effort paid off and the brown-haired boy couldn't hear footsteps other than his.
Finally allowing himself to catch his breath, Karol leaned against the wall. He was drenched in sweat and his mouth tasted like blood, thanks to his earlier stumble.
That's it, from now on, he was going to take morning jogs.
Wiping sweat of his forehead, Karol failed to noticed that somebody was watching him.
When his breath was becoming steadier, Karol decided to continue his escape. He straightened himself, taking a deep breath before starting to jog again. There was another intersection – probably same one that he had passed earlier. 'This time I'm going straight towards!' the brown-haired boy decided, ignoring the corridors that lead to right and left.
It turned out to be a mistake.
Karol didn't have time to react when somebody lunged from his left, tackling them both on the cold floor. Karol's blood turned cold and panic almost overtook his mind. The rush of adrenalin numbed the pain as Karol flailed helplessly on the floor, trying to release himself.
"Stop that!" a unfamiliar male voice ordered above the brown-haired boy. The authoritative tone and exhaustion made Karol obey and he halted, against his will. This didn't go unnoticed by the tackler, who quickly shifted his position. A sword was placed just inches above the boy's neck and his hands were pushed onto the floor with the tackler's knees.
While Karol was eyeing the threatening blade looming over his neck, the same male voice spoke. "I have no interest in attacking an unarmed person – a young one no less – but if you do not cooperate with me..." the threat was left hanging in the air.
Nodding, Karol decided to look up at his tackler. His eyes widened as he studied the person above him.
It was a young and very handsome blonde man with icy blue eyes. He wasn't wearing that clunky knight's armor, which was probably the reason why Karol hadn't been able to hear him. Instead, the man wore a simple tunic with short sleeves, which left an artificial right arm visible.
The limb made Karol's eyes widen. Being an somewhat of an expert with machinery, he could tell that the arm was made with the finest material to make it work smoothly, not to mention the shining hermes blastia on the wrist was clearly polished and very expensive looking. And Karol knew that the Imperial Knights didn't give such things to mere foot soldiers.
In other words, Karol was screwed.
0o0o0
"I have no interest in attacking an unarmed person – a young one no less – but if you do not cooperate with me..."
It was a lie. Flynn had zero interest in harming a young boy, no matter what they did. However, the boy didn't know that and the dagger was threatening enough to convince him.
The boy nodded and Flynn had to move the dagger lower so the boy wouldn't harm himself. Ever since his battle with the assassin, Flynn had started to carry a small dagger everywhere he went so that no matter the situation, he was always armed.
The blonde captain wondered what to do. Should he call out reinforcements or question the kid right here? After a moment of wondering, Flynn decided to do the latter.
"Why are you here?" he asked, using his best commanding voice. The boy didn't answer, just stared right into Flynn's eyes. "Answer me right now!" Flynn repeated, this time louder. The brown-haired kid just shook his head and gave the knight a glare, despise his obvious fear.
The corner of Flynn mouth twitched upwards. The child reminded him of Yuri, both by the stubbornness and foolish courage. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you," the blonde stated toneless. He couldn't let his feelings get better of him. When the kid didn't respond, Flynn sighed. "Well, if you're going to be that way-"
"Grr..." a vicious growl came behind them, interrupting Flynn.
The knight's voice died down and even the boy's brown eyes widened. Remembering the guard's report of the intruders, Flynn realized that this must be the dog they had mentioned. Flynn turned to look over his shoulder, only to caught a glimpse of blue and white fur, which made his blood run cold.
"Repede!" the boy cried, relief easily heard from his voice. The canine in question ran closer, a dagger in his mouth and with no recognition in his healthy eye. It hurt, Flynn thought, but moved his own weapon from the boy's neck to in front of him just before his and the dog's knives clashed. Now with the dagger off his neck, the boy crawled father away from Flynn but the man didn't even notice this.
"Repede..." Flynn whispered, questions and thoughts racing in his mind. The dog – who had growled viciously – halted and raised his head. Finally, Repede let out a whimper as he recognized his other master. Flynn was still paralyzed, comprehending the situation. Because if Repede was here, then...
"Repede, run!" the boy, whose existence Flynn had forgotten, shouted and pulled something out of his large back.
The blonde knight stood up, ready to chase when a huge smoke cloud blocked his vision. He coughed, trying his best to search for the boy and dog, but with no luck.
They were both gone.
0o0o0
Meanwhile, by the entrance of the royal castle, the rest of the guild were anxiously waiting for their missing friends. They had found a good hiding place by the bushes which were located right next to the castle walls.
"C'mon..." Rita muttered, peeking between the branches. "I'm gonna kill that idiot..."
"Keep it down Rita," Yuri said next to her. "Thanks to the Sorcerer's ring we managed to paralyze every knight that came across our way, but those two aren't as lucky. So the moment Karol and Repede'll appear, we run to the lower quarters. There's a secret passage to the field and the people there won't rat us out."
"You sound sure about that," Judy stated, falling silent quickly as a knight appeared in their vision.
After some agonizing moments, the knight disappeared around the corner. "I know those people and would trust my life with them," Yuri replied. "So can you do that freaky connection thingy with Ba'ul and tell him to get there?"
"Aye captain."
"Speakin' of captains..." Raven said quietly, "it that...?" he pointed at the entrance, where their guild leader and canine friend had appeared...
… Followed by an army of knights.
"Up we go!" Yuri said, not bothering to muffle his voice. "Over here!" he shouted while standing up. Karol looked up, noticing his friend and the look of utter relief passed his face. The shout didn't go unnoticed by the knights, who now were getting closer to the guild members.
However, even before being able to draw their weapons, Raven used the Sorcerer's ring to paralyze them. "Could ya warn a guy before doin' somethin' like that, Yuri!" he shouted, shooting another energy ball towards a knight that had almost grabbed Karol.
"What the hell happened to your face, Captain Karol?" Yuri asked when the younger boy finally caught up with them.
"Floor... ninja knight... knights everywhere!" the boy replied with a slightly hysteric voice, gasping between the words. "Never again... never again!"
The raven-haired man chuckled, ruffling his guild leader's brown hair. "Well this sounds like an interesting story and I would love to hear it as soon as we're safe but now we better run like our asses were on fire!"
0o0o0
"Hank, Hank!" a green-haired boy shouted, running towards the old man.
Signing, the man in question lowered his newspaper. He was enjoying the warm day on the inn's terrace, drinking tea and tasting the innkeeper's newest recipe. "What is it Ted?" he asked, reaching for his tea cup. Although he would have preferred to be left alone, the tone of the boy's voice had alarmed him.
"Neil broke my toy!" the boy cried, showing his toy boat which mast had broke into two pieces. "Can you fix it?" he asked, lower lips quivering threateningly. Hank took the toy, inspecting the damage of the boat. "Well..." he started. "I could probably glue it together," he said, frowning. "although... it probably won't stick well enough to endure your brats games."
Ted only sniffed, wiping his face with the helm of his striped shirt. Hank grumbled under his breath, giving the kid a pat on his head.
"Well maybe you could ask Yuri to fix it next time he comes to visit?" he tried to comfort the kid, failing miserably. The mention of Yuri only made the boy sob louder.
"But he hasn't been here for ages!" he wailed. "Neither has Flynn... maybe they have forgotten about us?"
"Stop thinking about such stupid things right now," Hank answered immediately with a stern look. Good grief he was going to smack those two when they bothered to show their faces here. "Flynn is probably very busy with his promotion and Yuri... well it takes days to get here from Dahngrest."
Just after Hank said those words, loud voices came from the street that lead to the market place. Almost everybody around the fountain turned to look at that direction, curious looks easily seen on their faces.
And then Yuri Lowell appeared, running like Satan himself was chasing him, along with other people whom Hank couldn't recognize.
"Yuri!" Ted exclaimed, happily waving at the man in question. Yuri noticed this and jogged towards them, face covered with sweat. "Hide us, quickly!" he said as soon as the group approached the old man and boy. With raised eyebrows, Hank pointed at the barrels which were placed in a huge pile next to The Red Comet. "Go behind those," he said, still in a slight shock of the man's sudden appearance.
The group wasted no time, literally diving behind the said hiding spot. As soon as Repede's tail was hid, a group of knights came running to the lower quarter, looking quite tired thanks to their armor.
'Ah, so that's why,' Hank thought, his questions answered. "Is something wrong, gentlemen?" he called out the knights, who turned to look at him as soon as he spoke.
"Have you seen strange people passing here, old man?" one of them asked quite rudely.
Hank was about to answer but somebody else was quicker. "They went around that green house over there," Ted answered sweetly, pointing at the building in question. "Why are you chasing them?" he asked with a more childish tone than he usually did.
"None of your business," the rude knight replied. "Let's go men!" he ordered the rest of the armor dressed men.
Hank and Ted watched as the knights disappeared around the corner. "You can come out now," the old man said.
"Thanks Hank," Yuri said when he stood up, along with the other strange people. One of them, a young boy, was holding his nose and had tears in his eyes. "Dita I dink you boke my dose," he muttered.
Another brown-haired youth gave the boy a glare. "Oh believe me, after you screw up, I had planned to cause you much more pain than a broken nose."
"Yuri, could you explain what the fu-"
"Sorry Hank but we're in a hurry," Yuri interrupted his senior. "Say, is the hole in the east block still unfixed?"
"The one you and Flynn used as kids?" Hank asked, trying to recall if he had recently heard anything about it. "No, I think it's still the same way, but damn it Yuri, could you-"
"Great," the raven-haired man said before Hank could finish, leaving the older man fuming. "We can escape through that, now let's drag our asses over there and BAM – freedom is ours!"
Yuri was about to start running when Hank grabbed him by his arm. "Have you heard anything from Flynn, Yuri?" Hank asked sternly. There were rumors of an assassination attempt happening in the castle and that somebody had been severely injured during a battle – And the fact that Flynn hasn't visited the lower quarter had made Hank worried, more than he was ready to admit.
"Nope, can't say I have," the younger man replied, eyes not quite meeting with Hank's.
"Why the hell is that Yuri?" Hank asked, sighing frustratedly. He knew that there was some kind of ridiculous teenage level drama going between Yuri and Flynn but hell, they were suppose to be more mature than this! "Isn't he your lov-"
"Well, it was nice seeing you two," Yuri said loudly and Hank could swore that he noticed a flash of panic going through the coal orbs. "But we need to get as far as we can from here before the knights realize they have been tricked." Yuri glance at Ted, giving him a bright grin. "Which, by the way, was absolutely brilliant. And I promise to visit as soon as I can."
Ted let out a cry of joy, pumping his fist into the air. "Bye Yuri and Yuri's friends!" he said while the group started running, leaded by the raven-head himself.
Hank sighed, returning to his newspaper. Kids these days...
Meanwhile, little farther away, Judy was looking at Yuri with a thoughtful look as they passed couple kids playing.
"Who's Flynn?" she finally asked as they ran over a bridge. Her friend's odd behavior when the name was mentioned didn't go unnoticed by her and saying that she was curious was understatement.
It took surprisingly long for Yuri to answer. "My old babysitter," was the only reply she got.
0o0o0
"Report. Now."
Alexei could see by the knight's posture that the news weren't good. This didn't make him feel any better.
"The intruders have left the city, sir," the knight muttered quietly. The commandant took a deep breath to calm himself. A rush of panic ran trough his body as he repeated the words in his mind.
Those damned rats had his letter.
When the white-haired man had entered the office, the first thing he noticed was that the hideout of the envelopment was revealed to the rest of the world, but without the crucial items itself.
"Find them," Alexei ordered with a icy tone. "Turn every stone you'll come across, if it's needed. Find them and bring here." the situation was grave. Because if his speculations were right... It could mean the destruction of everything he had build.
There was knock on the door. "You may open it," Alexei said to the knight who obeyed.
"Sorry for the intrusion," a male voice apologized and the commandant wanted to groan. Trust his luck to have the person he least wanted to see be here.
"No need to apologize," Alexei gave the person a tight smile that felt horrible on his face. "What can I do for you, Captain Scifo?"
0o0o0
You guys have no idea how surprised I am to have this chapter done this quickly. Seriously, I was certain it would take at least two or more months until I was even half way through.
Aaaanyways, I feel like rambling so that shall I do. Let's see... oh, the hint of Raven/Judith is nothing serious as I am not a fan of this pairing. I prefer Judith free as a bird with occasionally one night stands and I ship Raven with Yeager. Yeah, you heard right; Raven and Yeager. C'mon, it's perfect! Their relationship would be like:
Raven:This old man is gonna get some shut eye.
Yeager: But you're not a old man, Liebe. You're a man in his best age and like a good wine, will keep getting better and better. * creepy shark smile *
Raven: Ya won't still getting' any- woah hey Yeags, put me down! I need mah beauty sleep- mmph * having the best kiss of his life *
Well, that description fits for any slash/yaoi pairing there is... Also, I think I was suppose to say something else but have completely forgotten about that so goodnight.
Please leave a review if you want me to write the next chapter faster.