The whole mess started out as a normal day at Lamia Scale. I had just come home from a job a couple of days ago with the others, and was relaxing at the guild hall with my sound pods in. But that all changed when Jura sat down in front of me, a grave look on his face. Taking my sound pods out, I looked up at him.

"What's up Jura?" I asked.

"There's a job request come in, asking specifically for you." As he informed me of this, he slid a slip of paper with the details of the request across the table to me. Quickly taking in the details, my eyes widened in shock. This was just like what happened about a year and a half ago. No, I can let those memories resurface. Not now, not after I had spent so much time keeping the nightmares at bay, "you don't have to take it if you don't want. We can send another Mage to investigate with the excuse that you were unavailable-"

But I cut him off by taking a deep breath and interrupting him, "no, it's fine. I'll take it. No one deserves to go through that. I'll find out whose doing this."

Jura gave off a soft sigh at my reply.

"Alright, if you insist. But please," he looked around for a second, before his eyes landed on something, or rather someone, "take Lyon with you."

"Jura, I know you mean well, but this is something I'd rather do on my own. Lyon has no idea what happened." I reminded him.

"I understand that Ciella," he interrupted me, looking into my eyes stubbornly, "If I could come along, I would. But unfortunately I have business to take care of. I want you to have someone there with you that you trust. Just in case there's a chance that you'll relapse."

Taking in what Jura was saying, I decided that he was right. The situation, this particular horrific situation could cause those memories to resurface if I wasn't careful. Sighing, I agreed to Juras terms, and he told me the details of this job request. Apparently a different client had put in a job request to Blue Pegasus, hearing that they had an Archive Magic user. So Hibiki had been investigating for the past week. We would meet him in Clover Town, just south of the village where the incident happened, where he would share with us what he had found.

We would then travel to the village, Maybelle it was called, and talk to the client. Then we would figure out what the heck was going on, and who the perpetrator was.

But I couldn't help but wonder; if Blue Pegasus was already investigating, then why did this particular client ask specifically for me. It was worth musing over why, but I would have to figure out later.

After explaining everything to me, I snatched up the job request form, and made my way over to Lyon who was sitting quietly by himself. I would've also considered taking the others, but with a request of this nature, it was better to have less people so we could remain inconspicuous. When making it to Lyons side, I lightly slapped him over the back of the head, gaining his attention.

"Come on doofus, we're going on a job." I informed him, holding up the request but not giving him the chance to read. The quicker we go, the better. I'd explain all the details on the way, that is if my stomach could decide for one day it wouldn't hate me, "so go get stuff packed for at least a week. We'll be gone for quite a while."

"And I don't suppose I get any say in this?" He remarked.

"Nope, Juras orders," I continued on, "no hurry up. The quicker we get going the better. I'll tell you the details on the way. Meet me outside the guild hall in half an hour."

Quickly turning away, I ran out the guild hall, heading for me and Sherry's apartment. Once there, I didn't even pay attention to her before immediately entering my room and packing everything I needed. It took me only about fifteen minutes before I had my suitcase packed and ready to go. Exiting my room, I turned to Sherry who was casually relaxing on the couch in the main room.

"I'll be going on a job. Don't know how long I'll be away. Possibly a week. So don't burn down the apartment whilst I'm away." I said in a rush, dragging my suitcase behind me.

"Wait, you aren't going alone are you?" She spoke up.

"No, I'll have Lyon with me. So he'll be gone to." By this time I had reached the door and was about to leave, before Sherry decided to open her mouth again.

"Oh, just you two huh?" She said suggestively. Since the Oracion Seis incident, her love for Lyon has depleted, as she had now developed a crush on Ren from Blue Pegasus.

"Oh shut up. Bye." I called back curtly. I wasn't in the mood for Sherry's antics right now. The nature of this job request was really putting me on edge, as I kept trying to prevent the memories from letting themselves resurface. It would really hinder my concentration on this job if they did.

Leaving the apartment, I sped back to the guild, where I spotted Lyon waiting outside with a large bag of his belongings. Meeting up with him, we made our way to the edge of town, paying a wagon driver to give us a lift to Hargeon, from which we would get a train to Clover Town.

We were sitting in silence on the back of the wagon, my stomach flipping, until Lyon finally spoke up.

"So mind telling me what this job request entails?"

I sighed before trying to gather my wits and pulling the request slip out of my pocket and handing it to him, all whilst explaining.

"The residents of a small village called Maybelle are getting extremely worried over a few...disturbing disappearances. There have been five cases so far over the last two weeks, of teenage girls aged between thirteen and seventeen. We've been asked to investigate by the client, who is the sister of one of the missing girls. The latest one who's went missing in fact."

"So what about these disappearances that makes them so disturbing?" Lyon asked.

"Well, that's the thing," I continued on "They've just disappeared. No trace left behind. They've all gone missing during the night, after they fell asleep. Their rooms have been left in a perfectly neat state. There's no clues to who the kidnapper is. No possessions missing which means it isn't a case of runaways. They just seemed to have gone entirely."

"I see," Lyon looked down at the request slip again, "any idea as to why they asked for you specifically?"

I shook my head at him, giving him my silent answer, before speaking up once more, "we'll be taking the train to Clover Town from Hargeon. There we'll be meeting with Hibiki from Blue Pegasus. He's been investigating for the last week as another client out in a request to them. Jura contacted him, and he gave me the details of the hotel we'll staying I tonight. That's where we'll meet him and he'll share with us what he's found. Tomorrow morning we'll all travel to Maybelle to meet with the client, and continue the investigation."

"so we'll have to put up with that playboy again? Great."

"If it means getting the job done, then yes, we'll put up with him. But I think we may need his help on this."

For some reason, being distracted by talking to him had stopped me from being too sick. This was new.

We fell into an uneasy silence again on the rest of the way to Hargeon. After arriving in the port town, we paid the driver before walking briskly to the train station. It was a quick rush to catch our train in time, the whole time, I was cringing at the amount of people the station was packed with. A lot of people seemed to be travelling to Clover Town. I could tell because of this, the memories and feelings of what happened were trying to let themselves be known. Lyon obviously noticed something because as soo as we were boarded, he immediately questioned it.

"Are you alright? You seem to have been on edge today."

We were sat across from each other in the train car, the train had not even started to move yet, "I'm fine."

I couldn't tell him. If I did then I'd remember. I'd remember everything. I wanted to keep that time locked away forever.

"You sure?"

"Yes." Was my second curt answer.

The train juddered to life and began moving, and my stomach decided it didn't want to be inside my body anymore. This is why I hated travelling by vehicle.

"I'm going to try and sleep for a while to settle my stomach," I told him quietly, laying down on the train seat, "wake me up before we reach Clover."

And so I fell into a light troubled sleep.

Third Person P.O.V

He couldn't quite understand what was up with her. But there was something strangely odd going on that he couldn't place his finger on. Lyon hadn't known her for too long, but he could still tell that she was obviously lying to him about being fine. Ever since she had informed him about the job that morning she had been acting strangely.

Thinking on what she'd been like, he doubted he'd ever seen her this way. She almost looked...vulnerable. And like there was something she was holding back. It was confusing.

For the rest of the journey, he had only stared out the window, not having time to take all the scenery in as they passed through each station. They went by one by one. Magnolia. He was surprised she didn't take the chance to see her brother. Yet he wasn't as he'd noticed how distracted she had been. Then all the other stations. Onibus. Kunugi. Oshibana.

Just before they arrived in Clover Town, he decided to wake her up.

Ciella's P.O.V

I was woken up by Lyon shaking me, telling me that we were about to arrive in Clover. I practically wanted to hug the ground once off the train, but restrained myself as the situation was currently serious. Taking out the piece of paper that Jura had written the name of the hotel on, me and Lyon navigated our way through the street of Clover Town, searching for where we'd meet Hibiki.

Finally, we found it. And upon entering, we'd found Hibiki sitting tensely on a sofa in the lobby, elbows on knees, hands clutched tight and placed under his chin, as he looked ahead, a thoughtful look on his face. For once, he wasn't dressed in his usual fancy suit, but had rather ditched the blazer, revealing his light blue open collared shirt, and black trousers. His hair looked messier than usual, and even his eyes seemed drained of their light.

He perked up slightly at seeing us arrive, and stood to greet us.

"Hey guys." He walked up to us, a hand scratching at the back of his head.

"Hey Hibiki," I greeted him, my eyes softening at the sight of him, he really want himself, "you okay? You're not looking too well."

He sighed before answering, "yeah, I'm fine. This job just been stressing me. I've been working on it for just over a week and I've failed to prevent three disappearances. I feel like I've failed this."

"I'm sure we'll figure out what's been going on together. But I think we should discuss this somewhere more private." I lowered my voice near the end, and glanced around at all the civilians that were milling about the lobby.

"Sure, follow me I'll take you to our rooms." We followed him up a few flights of stairs as he lead us to where we would be staying for the night, "I took the liberty of booking you a separate room for sleeping in Ciella. But for now, let's go into the other to discuss this job."

"Thanks Hibiki." I spoke up, as we stopped outside a plain wooden door, and he slotted the key in before opening it, allowing us inside and closing the door behind us. I took a bit of time to study the room. It was surprisingly nothing too fancy, just a couple of plain beds and closets, along with a door no doubt leading off into a bathroom and a small kitchen like area. Hibiki quickly sat down on one of the beds and me and Lyon took a seat across from him on the other.

"So what have you managed to find?" I got straight down to business.

"Nothing much," Hibiki sighed again, in deadest this time, "I've visited all the places the girls went missing. But like it had said in the request we received after the first two cases, nothing was out of place. Whoever has done this is good at hiding their tracks. But what's so perplexing about this, is that while nothing was out of place, there was one new thing left behind at each crime scene." He snapped his fingers and Archive popped up, he typed for a bit before bringing up a picture, "this was left behind every time. Albeit in an obscure place, but left behind all the same, as if they wanted it to be found."

I looked at the picture, it was a plain piece of paper with a symbol etched in black ink, and almost let out a gasp of horror. Could this be a coincidence or just some sick joke. That symbol was one a recognised very much. It was his symbol. But how could it be, he was in jail and all of his operations had been shut down. Or was this some kind of copy cat. But I froze up at the image all the same.

The three eyed snake that used to haunt my dreams.

I didn't even realise someone was calling my name until Lyon shook me out of my reverie. I gave my head a quick shake, dispelling the memories fighting against the barrier.

"What do you guys make of it?" Hibiki asked us.

Wen my voice spoke up, there was a slight shake to it, "well, it's obviously some kind of message. But for whom we don't know." I stood up and suddenly started pacing, an action that startled both the other guys, "we can assume that this isn't any sort of ransom note. So it's trying to catch someone's attention. Someone who..." My voice cut off, this couldn't be, it couldn't be after all this time, "recognises the symbol..." I finally whispered out.

Was it any coincidence that I was brought here? Or was it assumed that it would get my attention eventually. But all I knew is that I had to find those girls and get them to safety.

"I think that's everything. I haven't managed to get far with this, so I've not got much." Hibiki continued to explain dejectedly.

Lyon, seeing that I wasn't going to answer spoke up instead, "it's alright, we can continue this in the morning once we get to the town."

"Alright," Hibiki stood up, dispelling archive, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a second key, "your rooms just across the hall. We should try and leave quite early tomorrow to get a good head start on this."

I just nodded, staying silent and grabbing the key, before leaving the room and entering the one across the hall. Once the door was closed, I sighed before sliding down and leaning against the door.

Third Person P.O.V

Hibiki still stood staring at the door he'd just watched Ciella walk out. He could tell that there was something up with her. So he turned to Lyon, looking for answers.

"Ciella's behaviour seems off slightly. Do you have any idea what's up with her?"

Lyon sighed, running a hand down his face in aggravation, "I have no clue. She's been acting strange all day and I have to admit it's worrying me."

"Maybe she's just stressed about this job. It must be a strain on her considering that she fits the criteria of the abductees. We have to watch out. If she enters Maybelle, she could end up being a target." Hibiki spoke up with worry, even after all the times he's hit on her, he still considered the girl a friend.

For a second Lyon considered this. He sometimes forgets that Ciella's only sixteen, as she can either act more matured than her age, even with her childish nature. She's the right age for the kidnapper to target her, "Yes, but we both know that she can look after herself. And she'll have us there as well. She did mention Jura had asked me to come along. I think he possibly did because of that fact."

"Yeah, you're right."

But Lyon couldn't help but recall Ciella's reaction to seeing the symbol left behind at each crime scene. She had frozen up. Maybe there was more to this that connected to Ciella than what there seemed. And that made him even more worried for his friend.

Ciella's P.O.V

The cool feel of stone was on my back, but it sent shivers down my spine. The feeling was extremely uncomfortable. I had tried to move, but invisible restraints seemed to put pressure on my wrists and my ankles. Everything was pitch black and around me I could feel a terrifyingly familiar presence.

A deranged laugh then sounded out. His laugh. It was spine chilling, and I cringed at the sound. Fear flooding through my veins. Suddenly my body felt as though it was tearing itself apart. But I couldn't scream out in pain. I just lay there, frozen.

Everything went silent then. And for some reason, the silence scared me even more. Out of the silence, a small sliver began, and got louder, a symphony of hissing accompanying it. Braving myself to look, I turned my head. The darkness was broken to reveal two sickly yellow eyes, and one blood red one. They pounced at me and I closed my eyes waiting for the hit to come.

I sat up bolt right with a sudden gasp. Why were the nightmares coming back now? Was it because I saw that symbol? Did it form a crack in the wall I had kept my memories inside? I couldn't begin remembering now, not when it could hinder me. Not when other lives were in danger and there was a dependency on me and the others to save them.

Laying back again, I ran my hand down my face. It wasn't going to be easy getting back to sleep after that. I was afraid to.

We had set off early that morning after checking out and handing out keys back into the reception. It was quite a long walk, almost half an hour. The whole time I stayed silent. And the whole time I could feel Lyons lingering glances at me.

But I ignored them. As far as he should be concerned, I'm fine. I don't intend to become a burden. Hibiki had tried to make small talk with us, asking about how Lamia Scale was and how our friends were. But he soon stopped after only receiving silence from me and brief, curt answers from Lyon.

Finally, we made it to the town. The sight of which made me gulp. No matter how dead it seemed though, it was time to get this job done.

Preview

Kidnapping Arc: Chapter 14 - Revelations

As Hibiki continued to investigate around town, Ciella and Lyon meet with their client. The girl who hired them happens to be the sister of one of the kidnapped girls, and comes off as extremely worried. But Ciella think she's hiding something. The group then try and figure out the best strategy for completing the job, all the while, memories keep resurfacing for Ciella.