Ch. 3

"You called for us sir?" asked a light male voice which came from one of the two figures. "Indeed. i know the location of a treasure tool, and i need all of you to retrieeve it. Matter of fact, why are there only the two instead of all four?" Asked the Crimson lord. "Sorry sir, but the other two are out attending to other matters. But I'm sure that they'll be able to get to this job ASAP depending on the objective." Said a feminine voice. "Why do you need all four of us? I see no reason to bring all four of us into one area, two can take care of the job, maybe even one. I see no reason why?" Asked the male. "I need all of you to go because this treasure tool is too valuable to lose! Should it get into someone else's ands, then we might as well call ourselves dead. That, and Sabrac sent one of his best Flame Hazes out to retrieve it. I don't know why he hasn't taken it yet, but I have a bad feeling about it. With the four of you out there, the probability of success is guaranteed. Sending you guys solo is suicide anyways, you all know that. Better together than seperate." Replied the Crimson lord. "As you wish my lord." said the two in unison, and both figures flew into the air, no trace left behind.

A sigh came out of Dante's mouth as he waited patiently at the front steps of Mason's house. Waiting, he pulld out four of his many knives which lay concealed under his P-coat and started toying around with them as if his life wasn't at risk. After some time, Mason finally appeared, surprised to find Dante waiting for him, and even more surprised to see him toying with knives! "Hurry up Mason, we don't have all day." urged Dante, putitng his knives away into his pockets which were on the insides of his coat. "You must really like school huh? And just wondering, but are you going to wear the same thing every day to school? Cause I think most kids are going to think that you're lazy and are going to assume you smell a lot. That, and i think the school officials are going to want you to abide by the school rules." Asked Mason as he and Dante started walking in the direction of the school. "Nope, I don't like school, not even the slightest. Truth be told, I loathe it. Never really has gotten me anywhere, except probably... Yeah, not worth mentioning. And yes, I am. If i don't then any Flame Haze who decides to attack me will have the upper hand if i don't have Umbra and Anima on me at all times. If the school wants me to wear a uniform, then i'll tell them that these garments are rather important to me and that i need them at all times. If they don't take that, then i'll tell them it's for religious purposes, they can't make me do something against my religion, now can they? " replied Dante. "I guess so. Anyways, what'd you get out of school huh? I'm rather interested, you seem to be really protective about it." Asked Mason curiously. "That's for another time. Right now, we need to get to school. The reason I'm here walking you there is because your being hunted." Dante said.

"Hunted? What do you mean? Like, someone is after me? What for?" Mason asked, being a bit scared at the new information. "Yup, pretty much the idea. And you must've forgotten, but you're a mystes, remember? Bearer of a treasure tool. Rather powerful one too i might , you shouldn't worry too much about it seeing as I'm your huardian angel so long as you or i live." Said Dante, assuring Mason, which made him a bit more at ease. "So how do you know this anyways? Cause, if it were one of your leader's people, wouldn't he just have you do the job?" asked Mason. "Well, my leader is kind of a, "King of Thieves" or whatever you call it. Basically, he has lots of people with bad intentions that work under him. I happen to be one of the few who aren't all that evil minded, i just work for him for the rewards. Anyways, we have some spies in the Crimson - " quickly, Dante turned 180 degrees stopping his motion and grabbing Mason by his forearm. Glancing around at his surroundings, he slowly turned back and continued to wlak in the direction he started in. "We must get there quickly, we're being watched, and I don't like being watched." said Dante, dragging Mason behind him.

Shortly after their conversation they arrived at the school. "Do you think we lsot them?" Mason asked cautiously. "Not likely, people are always persistent." Said Dante, looking at a student, staring at them for a few seconds and then shifting to another student. "Best if we keep walking, not a good idea to stay in one area for too long." Said Dante. Just as they were about to continue walking, Mason was pullled back by Orihime. "Oh, Orihime, hi. How've you been?" He asked. He looked downwards to see if she was a torch yet, but luckily, she was still human as she had been for her whole life. "I've been fine, thank you. How've you been..." She trailed off as she saw Dante. "Who's that?" she asked looker torwards Dante. "That's Dante Jenkins. New kid, so I'm here to show him the ropes around here." Mason said. "Oh, explains why he isn't with a lot of people. Then again, the way he dresses, you could assume that." She exclaimed.

"Hey Mason, I'm gonna be right back, gonna go walk around a bit. You can stay here and talk to your friend, I don't really care." Dante told Mason. "Mind if i come too?" asked Orihime. "Why?" asked Mason curiously. "So that I can ease your burden on helping this guy. It'll take more than one person to help someone in high school, I'm sure." she replied. "I suppose so, don't see any harm it could do." Dante said. "Mason, go ahead and do you everyday things as I, "learn the ropes." he told Mason, shooing him off. Dante turned and walked down the hall with Orihime close behind.

"I know why you're here, it isn't all that hard to tell that you're on of the four of the Royal Court. The Queen of Blades I presume?" Asked Dante. "You're very observative. And you'll find out sooner or later, I'm sure." Said the person disguised as Orihime. "So then, why don't you finish what you came here to do? I'm pretty sure that with me out of the way of the objective, you could easilly come and go. It's ever so easy, i see no reason why you're waiting. Unless of course, the other three aren't here right now." Dante asked, then stopping to look at the fraud. She stops as well, "You really are on who likes to assume aren't you? But anyways, like I said before, you'll find out eventually when the time comes to it."

"Fuzetsu..." uttered Dante under his breath. Everything became crimson around them, all time stopped, no motion was made except by four figures. "Knew it..." Dante said. Quickly, without a moment to hesitate, Dante threw of his P-coat which flew into the air and latched itself back onto him in the appearance of a silky black robe. As it mounted on his shoulders, Dante dissapeared from where he once stood. "Hmm, not bad. Still, we do have a job to do. Jack!" A cloud of smoke appeared beside her, and out of it came a figure of average height. As the smoke cleared his appearal became more noticable. He wore a white mask with sanguine colored fires bordering the sockets and stitches were sewn across his mouth area. He wore a scarlet robe which flowed down to his ankles, and also used as a hood which he had on. Black leather with some sanguine colored silk was what he wore, and with two white masks, untouched and unscathed, which lie diagonally on his chest. Two knives of about 9 inches hung by his sides, each were etched with foreign markings which were pitch black. "You called for me my queen?" asked the Jack of Blades with his light voice.

"Yes, it seems that the guardian has ran off. I need you to chase him down, incapacitate him, kill him if you must, I don't care, just get the job done." said the Queen. "Gladly." replied Jack. Without a moment's hesitation, he bolted towards the wall facing the basketball courts and jumped through window cannonball style. While you do that, I have my things to do. Instantaneously, the Queen had changed her appearal from Orihime to her usual appearal of long jet black hair which ended a little below her waist line. Her dress the same hue as Jack's robe, and trailed a bit behind her. Her dress split down the center from her collar to her waist, which revealed a smoke ruffled blouse. A fan hung on a strap which she kept on the wrist of her right hand. "Ahh.. much better. Now, time to bring the court together." With that, she walked down the hall towards the gaping hole in the wall, and took a turn and continued walking towards the parking lot.

"Mason! I need you to run, no questions, just do!" exlcaimed Dante. "What? What's happening? Didn't i first meet you in these conditions? I don't like this Dante!" asked Mason, his voice shaky with fear. "I said no questioins you damn idiot! Wastes time! Anyways, I need you to run. I'm trusting you with this sword for two purposes!" He pulled out a sword. It's pitch black hilt glinted even with no light, and the hand-guard resembled a deer's skull and branched out with a bat-like shape. It's charcoal black blade straight with no chips nor cuts, and engraved with runes of a fooreign nature. Handing it to Mason, Mason nearly drops it due to it's intense weight, but picks it up just as it nearly touches the ground. "One reason you're going to have this sword for the time being: You'll need it if you want to survive. The court are coming for you, and I can't handle them alone, and they know that. From what I know, they're going to split and try to kill me while they take you away. Reason two: They know this sword fairly well. Trust me, if you know how to use a sword, which Ares help him or I will abort this mission, then they shouldn't get close to you. Anyways, you'll find out what it does and how to use it eventually, i guarantee it. Of course, for now it might be a bit heavy, but your POE, aka power of existence, is rather low at the moment, but i'm pretty sure that with some time if you use it the sword won't be as heavy. Now, run!" Dante yelled at Mason, shoving him in no certain direction and then vanishing into air. "Right, run. Best advice the guys given me thus far." muttered Mason, as he ran off.

(Around the basketball courts)

Man, I really need to make sure that the summoning doesn't occur, cause if it does, I'm as good as dead. I'm positive I can't take on not even ONE of the four if all of them are in the area. Gotta make this quick! What the hell was that? Dante looked around startled as he heard a booming somewhere around his area. What was that... Continuisly circling around, with some fear in his eyes which rarely got into them. "Looking for me... Reaper of Souls...?" Asked Jack right next to Dante's right ear. Crap! Jack stabbed Dante from behind with both daggers at his collar bones, sending a huge amount of blood out into the sky. A low grunt exited Dante's throat as the blades sunk into his flesh, and another came out as the cold metal came out. "You know, from what I heard, you're not all that hard. I have a feeling I could kill you in no time without breaking a sweat!" cackled Jack. If he didn't have a mask on, one would believe that Jack was grinning at the idea. Damn this guy. He's quick, and not bad at all. But still, I have to make sure he doesn't summon the other two. Where's the damn Queen? "You're really slow, you know?" asked Jack, as he appeared from behind yet again with daggers ready to strike. "Am I?" There was no time in between the time the daggers hung in the air and the time they sunk into Dante's rib cage. "What the...? Where was the... Damn it!" At first being surprised by no collision of the dagger meeting bone, then realising that his target wasn't there! "Been a while since I've been in duel that I needed to use an illusion." whispered Dante behind Jack, then stabbing Jack around the kidney area with both swords in hand. A gasp was stifled out of Jacks mouth as the blades came out, "Not all too slow then I guess. This should be an interesting fight." Damn this guy, he's already a challenge. My assumptions on the court were close to right then. Dante jumped back with enough force to create lots of distance between the two. "Scared are you? Come and fight!" Yelled Jack. "And so I shall!" Replied Dante, as he charged towards Jack head-long.