Just a Memory

Lowell gazed at the castle at the heart of the capitol. This was it, the Valmese capitol. Every battle in Valm lead up to this.

Lowell sighed. He knew what Vincent would plan. He would be an idiot if he thought Vincent wouldn't send his team into the capitol. They would be facing off against Walhart, the man who had orchestrated the death of his family.

Tomorrow would indeed be a bloody day.

Vincent sighed. The Evanescent team sat in the tent with him. Anna, Morgan, Matts, Heather, Jessie, Remy, Lowell, Henry, and Kid. Their first mission since Gaius.

"Alright people! Listen up, this is a simple infiltration mission. Get inside the castle, kill the conqueror, easy," Vincent said with false confidence.

"Except for the killing the conqueror part," Matts muttered.

Vincent nodded, "I'll admit, it'll be hard. But we're a group of ten people that were meant to do this. I can feel it."

"That's reassuring," Lowell chuckled. He seemed a bit more…no, he seemed less stoic now.

Vincent laughed, partly because Lowell had a point and because he needed to show his team reassurance, "Well, I won't lie. Some of us may die. But while I'm breathing, I won't…I can't let that happen. You ten have stood with me for a few good months now. And I'll be damned if I let any of you die."

He looked each member in the eye until he knew he got his point across. Then he clapped his hands, "Alright, we got work to do!"

Five thousand thirty four…five thousand thirty five…

Anna sat in her shop, counting her money from the day. Not a big earning day, but they were on the eve of battle.

I should be thankful to get the coin I did get.

When she finally had all her money counted up (Five thousand sixty six) she put it away in her chest. She locked the four locks, each made of gold (A joke that Vincent always found funny) and pushed it into its hiding place.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, that chest was getting heavy! She'd have to find another Anna who had room for some gold. She and her sisters made habits of this.

"Knock knock," Vincent said outside of the tent.

"Come in!" she called cheerfully.

Vincent walked in and gave Anna a hug. She returned it, of course. "How're you doing today, my darling merchant?" Vincent said.

"Just getting ready for the big day tomorrow!" she tried to sound cheerful. Truthfully, she didn't know what would happen tomorrow.

Vincent cocked his head, "You sure you're alright?"

She started to nod, then, "It's just…I'm not sure what'll happen tomorrow. I'm just a little scared for the both of us, and our children."

Vincent nodded understandingly, "It would be strange if you weren't. I definitely am. But I want you to know something, I will never let anything happen to you while I'm alive."

"Don't take any risks, okay?" Anna pulled Vincent closer to herself.

Vincent kissed her, "C'mon, you know me. I wouldn't do anything that would put you or your happiness in danger."

"Have you got anything going on tonight?" Anna said slyly. A turnabout in emotion, but nothing unusual to her.

"No…" Vincent said, clearly wondering where this was leading.

"Wanna…stay up late with me?" she said, drawing him closer.

Vincent's face was something interest for the next five seconds. First, he didn't change his expression. Then, it went to puzzlement. Then to a 'Wait…' look. Fourthly to a 'No way…' And finally, he blushed with a slight grin.

Ah, men.

Inigo was on a mission. Morgan had told him what they were going to do tomorrow. As since he wasn't part of the elite team (Though his father was) he was worried. Going toe to toe with Walhart was no easy task. It would be like dancing the waltz, but with your hands tied together.

So if there was any chance of Morgan not coming back, he wanted to do this now.

But first, he needed a word with her father, Vincent.

…Which might not go well.

After an hour of searching, he found Vincent and his wife in their tent.

Typical.

"Um…sir?" Inigo still didn't know how to address the tactician.

Vincent and his wife both came out of the tent, holding hands. They looked slightly annoyed at him.

Why would that be.

Then he took in his surroundings.

Don't go there Inigo!

"What do you want Inigo?" Vincent said wearily, his annoyance now hidden from sight.

"I…er…" he fumbled with his words. Speaking with Vincent himself was scarier than he imagined.

"Spit it out, kid," Vincent said impatiently.

"I…just wanted permission to ask Morgan to marry me?" Inigo said quickly.

There was silence.

Then…

"Okay," Vincent said.

Inigo thought he heard wrong. Apparently so did his wife, "Dear, this is when you're supposed to threaten him if he's unfaithful. I suppose amnesia has something to do with that?"

"Oh! Right, Inigo if you cheat on my daughter…I'll burn you alive. How does that sound?" Vincent clapped his hands cheerfully.

"Quite…efficient, sir," Inigo thought he'd be sick.

"It would dispose of the body immediately…" Vincent trailed off.

Then Anna added her bit, "I approve as well, but if you harm her in anyway…" Anna made the throat slitting motion with her hands.

Inigo started sweating, this family…needed help.

Remy stared at Inigo for a while. "You're going to marry my sister?" his green eyebrows raised substantially.

"She said yes, too," Inigo grinned.

"If you harm her…" Remy began but was cut off.

"Can I not get a threat from you? Vincent will burn me alive, Anna will cut my throat and Jessie will break my arms and legs and throw me into the ocean. I don't need any more fear in my life…" Inigo pleaded.

Remy started to laugh, "Alright, my family has trust issues it seems."

Inigo chuckled, until Remy began speaking again, "But I won't let that slide. If you harm a hair on her head, I will hunt you down…"

"Go!" Vincent said in a carrying whisper. The group of ten ran toward the moat of the fortress.

The battle for Valm had begun. Vincent and the others were well on their way to infiltrate the castle.

"Into the moat, swim for that narrow opening," Vincent commanded.

The team jumped into the water. All of their equipment had spells of protection on them so would not rust nor would the tomes become…liquidy.

"Through here," Vincent swam through the narrow opening. The rest followed with no question.

After ten tiring minutes of swimming, they made it into a small underground pool in the castle. Courtesy of Matts' thieving, they were able to arrange this plan, the pool was for washing clothes, weapons, and anything that need to be washed. And it happened to connect to the moat of the castle. A bonus.

"Alright, we need to get to the throne room quickly," Vincent said.

The ten moved quietly through the lower halls of the castle. But ten people could only move so quietly.

"Intruders! Sound the alarm!" a voice came out of nowhere.

No one was prepared, not even Lowell. Well, one of them was.

Kid whipped around to the source of the voice and launched a blast of wind at him. The soldier fell and died.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. They heard no more sound.

"Well Ricken…nice job," Vincent said with surprise.

It took a moment for what Vincent just said to settle in. Ricken was the first to point it out, "You…called me Ricken."

"Why yes, I believe I did," Vincent mildly, as if there was nothing strange about it.

He walked on as if nothing happened. Everyone looked at everyone, then at Vincent. And then back to everyone. And they moved on as if nothing strange had happened.

And like all good stories, they came to a fork in the road. One stairwell led up, the other down.

"Where are we going, Matts?" Vincent said, already knowing the answer.

"Up is to the throne room, down to the dungeons. We want to go-" Matts was cut off.

"Down," Vincent muttered without thinking. He was just as surprised that he said that as the others, but then it hit him. His dreamy future talking shit, Three said to go to the dungeons…

Do I trust myself?

"We're going down," Vincent declared. "Any enemy of Walhart's is an enemy of ours. And we've been making good time."

The other nine looked at each other uncertainly. Then they followed their leader.

It was a stereotypical dungeon. Chains, square iron bar cells, dripping water. It was actually a bit amusing.

"Alright, let's look around. Split up, Lowell, with me," Vincent said quietly.

After twenty minutes, no one had found anything. No prisoners at all.

"The conqueror must conquer all his prisoners with death, not prison," Lowell said.

Vincent looked at Lowell, "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

Lowell nodded. Vincent didn't laugh.

After about ten seconds he began laughing though.

"Oi, you foul bastards! Go busy your selves kissing your master's feet, or I'll kill you like I did the other one!" a voice came from deeper in the prison.

Vincent and Lowell looked at each other and nodded. Knives out.

Vincent went first, followed by Lowell. The walked, following where they thought the voice was coming from. It led them past the rows of cells to a single cell against the wall.

"Oi! I told you to go away!" the voice shouted. It was a woman's.

Vincent lit a ball of magic in his hand. The fire provided sufficient light. And he looked at the woman.

She was chained by her hands and feet in a standing position. Her clothes were torn in so many paces it rendered her almost indecent. Her hair coated in dirt with hints of dark orange coming through. She had a murderous expression.

Vincent swore she looked familiar. He turned to Lowell, to ask, but saw Lowell's mouth hanging open.

"…Lowell? You alright?" Vincent asked worriedly.

Lowell walked right up to the cell, "You! I could never forget that face…"

She squinted her eyes, "Who do you think you are? Wait…no, you couldn't be. They told me he was dead!"

"You're hair…orange? It was pink before," Lowell said, disbelief still ringing in his voice.

"If that's really you, you know I used to dye it that. When they captured me, I don't have that luxury in this hellhole," the woman snorted with amusement.

"I thought you were dead…" Lowell said, recovering his stoic facial features.

"I am. Just a corpse walking. Or hanging I suppose," she chuckled. "You sure you're Lowell? He'd have laughed at that."

"I'm a bit overwhelmed to be laughing… It isn't every day you get your sister back from the dead," Lowell smiled.

Syrenne laughed, "Ha… So are you going to free me or what?"

A friend of a friend's life will be saved…

Vincent understood what Three meant now.