Gyah! Cold got worse over night! I blame my brother! At least I could write without anyone bothering me to get up and do something.

This chapter...it's the chapter. Finally get to the guard seduction after all the build up (took way longer than I thought it would). Hopefully it lives up to the suspense and what not. Apologies in advance if the character you voted for didn't make first place.

x x x

Chapter 27: Bad Romance!

x x x

Not much to say about the rest of the day. We rented two rooms at the inn and all gathered for a quick meeting in one. But the only thing we decided on was that we needed more information, and to restock on supplies. For the last few hours of the day we split up and tried to ask around town while each tracking down the items on our own shopping lists.

Yuri had been about to give me a list of ingredients we needed when my stomach growled. He'd paused, then given the list to Karol and I got one listing gels and panacea bottles instead. I had rolled my eyes at that, but didn't argue since it was probably just as well. Bread had been on that list, and it would have been too much of a temptation.

I met a few people who told me acquaintances had gone missing, some of which had mentioned finding a job that would make their life easier before vanishing. One young woman I talked to burst out in tears, sobbing that her boyfriend had disappeared. She, however, was convinced he'd been cheating and was avoiding her. From her ramblings I'd gathered that his name was George.

…

Yeah, so when I returned to the inn I reported no definite information other than that people really were disappearing. Or all avoiding each other. We decided to call it a day and try again in the morning.

I couldn't fall asleep right away, so I was lying still in bed to see if that would help when Judith quietly slipped out of the room. Rolling out from under the blankets, I tip toed to the window and watched the krytian walk a short distance away from the inn before stopping. Not long after, Yuri appeared outside as well. Riiight, more talks for gauging the mystery woman's intentions. Won't take long. I went back to bed to try and trick myself into thinking I was asleep again.

x x x

Everyone woke up at different times the next morning, so Yuri had left a message with the inn staff to meet up at the barrier blastia. Being the last one to get the message (I took advantage of the inn's showers again) I was the last one to arrive. I walked around the blastia (no closer than necessary, it was stable but I had a grudge from last time) when I heard a small boyish voice exclaim, "The Scary Lady!"

"Hey there, Pauly!" I grinned at the familiar bouncing topknot that was all I could see of the boy hugging my waist. He let go again and stepped back, his mother placing her hands on his shoulders in a subconscious gesture to keep him from wandering off. Though he didn't seem to have a mind to, Repede was sitting within petting reach. The boy was running his hand through the tolerant dog's fur in delight.

"I'm very sorry," she apologized to me, "I can't seem to get him to use your name whenever he talks about you."

"It's alright, doesn't bother me at all," I assured her. "Least he doesn't call me that because I actually scare him." I looked around at the group that had been watching the scene with varying levels of amusement or heart-warmed smiles. "What's up?"

Estelle filled me in quickly with, "Kellas was just telling us that her husband, Teagle, is one of the people missing." So that was her name, not one that really stood out in my mind.

"Don't you have any hunches?" Yuri asked Kellas.

"Yes..." She looked down a bit, holding Pauly a bit closer as if to protect him from whatever had happened to her husband. "The night before he disappeared, he talked again about working to become a noble."

"Become a noble? What do you mean?" Estelle asked slowly, as if the pieces were already starting to fit themselves together in her mind.

"When this city is finally completed, we will be able to live here as members of the nobility."

"Huh? That doesn't sound quite right."

The princess's words startled the poor mother. "What do you mean?"

In recital mode, Estelle told her, "The rank of nobility is reserved for those whose service has earned the emperor's confidence." Her eyes had drifted closed, as if to help her quote a passage verbatim.

"B-but, Sir Cumore gave his word to us! He said we would be welcomed as nobles!" Pauly fidgeted as if his mother's arms had gotten a little too tight. Her grip relaxed a little and she patted him soothingly on the head.

"Cumore..." Estelle was thoughtful, "From the Imperial Knights?" Repede gave a low growl at the name.

"Yes. He is acting as the current magistrate of the city." Oh dear, this family really had bad luck with corrupt magistrates... And Yuri is on call for specialized pest control!

"I'll bet he is..." the swordsman muttered scathingly. ...I'm gonna want to not be between him and Cumore at any point in the future.

Karol was rubbing his chin and frowning at the stone courtyard. "That is strange, though." He gestured with his hands unconsciously as he began spelling out his thoughts to us. "I mean, the imperial throne is empty and all."

"But then... Then why have we been working this hard? And what about Teagle...?"

Responding to the sad tone of his mother's voice, Pauly twisted in her arms to look up at her. "Is father not coming back...?" That little catch in his voice just tugged violently at the heart strings. Kellas tried to reassure him with hushed words we couldn't catch.

It got to Estelle too, who turned to the rest of us with the familiar look that said she was planning on getting involved. "Hey, Yuri..."

"You're gonna ask me why we don't take this on as a guild, right?" he finished for her. Instead of answering, he turned to Karol with a look that said it was his call. Following his lead, we all stared expectantly at the boy, who seemed startled to realize Yuri wasn't taking charge.

"I promise to take care of her fee when I pay my own," Estelle preempted the little boss.

"Well...okay, that's fine."

"What?" Kellas gasped as she realized we were volunteering to help her family again. "But I..."

Seeing she was going to protest, something along the lines of not wanting to trouble us or couldn't accept charity maybe, Judith cut her off. "So this means our next job is finding a missing person."

"We were already looking into these rumors anyway, no reason we can't find Teagle as well," I added, hoping Kellas would feel less like she'd pushed us into this.

"And if Cumore's up to his usual stunts, we'll just have to slap him around till he stops," Yuri finished.

"Right. The Knights do exist for the protection of the people, after all," the princess concluded. I grinned a bit, remembering a video on youtube that someone had edited so it was Estelle throwing that rock at Cumore, and it was more than just once... I'd had the odd impression that it hadn't seemed so out of character given her impassioned speech about him having no right to use his status to abuse people.

Karol didn't seem to like the glint of mayhem he saw in some of our eyes. "L-let's just make sure we're careful. The Knights could squash a little guild like us if we get on their bad side."

"Not if they don't know it was us," I pointed out. Karol gave me a pleading look so I shrugged and didn't push it.

"As you wish," Yuri conceded.

Estelle knelt down to look Pauly in the eyes. "We'll find your father, I promise."

So the first order of business was to find that platform with the guard so we could establish a need to seduce said guard in order to sneak in. I looked around, and once I took a few steps so I could lean and peer around the barrier blastia I finally found it.

"Hey guys, a guard would only stand guard if there was something worth guarding, right?" They stared at me, and I blinked when I belatedly realized the weird tongue twister my question had been. "Sorry, I meant that there wouldn't be a guard over there," I pointed him out, "unless there was something at the bottom of that lift that the knights didn't want just anyone to find."

Catching on first, Yuri waved a hand for us all to stay back out of sight and wait. "Careful, remember? Careful..." Karol hissed after him.

Going right up to the guard, the swordsman very matter of factly said, "I'd like to pass, if I could."

The guard's metal helmet moved from side to side in negation as he held his spear in a "you shall not pass" position in front of the lift. "Sorry, no can do, buddy," his voice echoed from inside the armor. Sounds a bit like Alphonse Elric! Except much older, and less likeable... "The laborers camp ahead is too dangerous."

"Hmph..." Yuri eyed the guard and the lift, as if wondering if he could push past or knock him out before the alarm was raised. With a slight shrug he turned away peacefully and returned to our little huddle behind the blastia.

Once Yuri was out of punching range of the guard Karol gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..." When the man was back with us the ace told him, "Knowing you, Yuri, I thought for sure you'd try to force your way through..."

"Well, 'proceed with caution,' and all that. Boss's orders, y'know." Yuri grinned.

"But you thought about it, didn't you?" Yuri stiffened a bit when I said that, then gave me a mildly hurt expression. Though a slight smile still tugged at his mouth..

"What? Of course not!"

"He really did," Judith observed. He shrugged at us and dropped the innocent act.

"Just a bit."

"But how should we get by the guard?" Estelle mused aloud.

"I really think forcing our way through would be the simplest and most effective way in." Judith cupped an elbow in one hand while raising the other to tap lightly against her jaw. She had such interesting yet graceful mannerisms... Completely contrasting with her blunt solution to the problem at hand.

"No, I won't allow it!" Karol protested. "All we need to do is draw the guard away from his post."

"I'd have to agree," I voiced my own views on the matter, "We are in the middle of a city run by knights, after all. Forcing our way in without attracting attention would be nearly impossible, and inadvisable if we plan on coming back here ever again."

Karol seemed relieved to have my reasoning on his side. "Th-that's right!"

"But how will we do that?" Estelle asked us both.

"...Maybe by, y'know, seducing him with feminine wiles?" I had to grin at that. Really, Karol, the youngest member of our entire group and probably still new to his first crush on Nan (I'd bet it was his first), was actually the one to suggest seduction? He probably didn't even know exactly how far seduction was usually supposed to go.

"Well then..." Yuri was sizing up the different members of our group. Before he could nominate anyone as most likely candidate, I tried to steer this ship the way I hoped it would go.

"You know, I bet with the right dress and a bit of make up, Yuri could do it." They all stared at me wide eyed, though Judith raised a hand to hide a smile (Repede just yawned). "Well, doesn't it make sense? Whoever we choose can't carry a weapon without looking suspicious, so we should choose the person most capable of defending himself against a fully armed knight." I had to struggle not to laugh at the slight horror in Yuri's face when he realized the reasoning was convincing enough that the others might take it seriously.

He narrowed his eyes at me dangerously, and before anyone could say anything to further damn him he retorted, "What are you talking about? If anyone is suited to fighting unarmed with a Knight then it's you. You've done it before, back on Ehmead hill." Oh crap, the aikido.

"You'd still be a better fighter than me, you're stronger after all," I tried desperately.

"That weird fighting style doesn't leave injuries, so Captain Karol won't have any reason to object." Having successfully turned my logic back against me he smirked. "And back in Dahngrest you were really getting into trying on those dresses. This shouldn't be that different."

I flushed in embarrassment, "That-that was just a job!"

"So is this," he said calmly, "You're not gonna turn down a job for the guild, are you?" The others had been watching this exchange, their heads going back and forth like they were watching a tennis match.

"I-I..." I couldn't think of anything that would save me!

"Hey Estelle, you think you and Judith could find something more appropriate for Letha to wear?" Craaap! He used the secret weapon and got the princess! The realization that she'd get to dress me up again swayed Estelle over to his side. In seconds I was swept along by her and Judith (who must have decided dressing me up would be nearly as much fun as dressing Yuri up). Karol gaped at how fast the girls had dragged me off, and at my voice ringing back at him and Yuri.

"I'll have my revenge for this, Lowell!"

x x x

Reluctant

Letha: I don't want to do it...

Estelle: Don't be silly, it wasn't so bad last time, was it?

Letha: That was different, I didn't have to-to... Ugh, I really don't want to!

Judith: Oh my, a girl shouldn't turn down the chance to dress up.

Letha: Why do you all hate me?

Karol: She's really not going to forgive you for this.

Yuri: She started it. Besides, knowing her she'll eventually get into it and have fun.

x x x

"Woah! Judith, don't pad that!"

"No no no, just-just no."

"Nope. Can't walk in these. End of discussion."

"Eee! No! Stop brushing my hair, please! You can do whatever you want with it, just please let me brush it myself!"

"Quit fussing," Judith scolded as she brandished what looked like mascara. I froze, no longer trying to jerk my head away from Estelle with her brush, and sat obediently still as the krytian applied my make up. I never fight the make up artist (aka: my mom, my best friend, whoever else talks me into trying it on...) since I don't want them to accidentally stab me in the eye. Estelle nearly glowed with happiness as she curled my hair and arranged some of it in a high pony tail. Since I wouldn't let her undo the braid, she looped it up and wound the end around the base of the tail.

We'd spent nearly an hour of haggling with a tailor, Judith pulling out materials we'd had no idea she'd been carrying, and the girls grudgingly accepting that pink was not a good color on me. Finally they'd thrown together an ensemble they deemed acceptable.

At first Estelle had suggested a few cuter styles, but Judith shot those down and soon had the princess on the track of more risqué articles. A tight fitting red halter top that was attached to a black lace choker around my neck, with a teasing v-neckline. Judith ignored my flustered protests when she added some padding to the bust ("The point is to seduce him, isn't it? A little extra won't hurt."). It also left a section of my midriff bare, and I noted that my more active lifestyle of constant travel and fighting had caused me to lose a bit of weight. And added to my collection of scars, which Judith hid with make up.

A mini skirt made by what looked like alternating layers of red and black gauzy fishnet material. I fervently refused to put it on until she also picked out a pair of black shorts. Very short shorts that wouldn't be noticed under a skirt. But it was enough to sooth my ruffled feathers.

When Judith pulled my gloves off (again, I protested) her eyebrows had raised in surprise at the tattoo on my left hand.

"Ooh, this is lovely."

"Gimme some gloves."

"But it would be such a shame to cover it up."

"Shame or no shame, if I screw up it'll become an easy way to identify me." And with my luck it would choose now of all times to glow again.

"Fine," she pouted at my spoilsport attitude. "I'll find something that goes..." In the end she chose a pair of long white gloves that laced up the side of my arms with red ribbons.

After I tossed the stiletto heels Judith presented me with, the krytian gave me a pair of knee high black platform boots with buckles. They added roughly three inches to my height. Suddenly being only two inches shorter than Yuri was pretty weird.

All that was left was the finishing touches, Estelle and Judith chattering happily to each other and occasionally going "oh, why don't we try this?" as they played with my hair and brushed make up across my face. By that point I had given up fighting and glowered at the men where they were watching from across the room.

The tailor looked quite pleased with himself, Karol looked utterly baffled at all the necessities a girl needed for a "date," and Yuri looked like he was getting a stitch in his side from trying not to laugh at my miserable expression. Repede didn't really care about the proceedings, human sensibilities about clothes and seduction probably all seemed ridiculous to him, so he was waiting outside the shop where the tailor wouldn't be having conniptions about the dog near his wares.

The whole nightmare couldn't end fast enough for me.

x x x

Once we returned to the barrier blastia's courtyard, everyone else had a minor shoving contest in order to have a good view without being seen from behind the giant blastia. Karol was short enough that he could just stand in front with out being in anyone's way, and Yuri lost because he didn't have the heart to push Estelle. Judith won because she's Judith. I left my bag (nearly bursting with my normal clothes inside it) with the princess before preparing myself with a deep breath. How the hell do you seduce someone? Well, just great, I have no idea what I'm gonna do, but I suddenly have Lady Gaga stuck in my head again...

With the chorus of "Bad Romance" playing in the back of my mind ("I want your love and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance~!") I left the safety of the blastia's shadows before I could lose my nerve. I swayed my hips a bit as I approached him, the skirt bouncing slightly with the motion. "Excuse me, are you Jeremy?"

His armor rattled as he straightened a bit. "What? No, I'm sorry miss-"

I smoothly cut in. "You see, my friends said they arranged a blind date for me, and to look for the Knight that would be waiting in the blastia's courtyard." I paused and tried batting my eyes a bit. Didn't have any trouble blushing, I was embarrassed enough already. "I've always admired the Knights. You must be so brave and strong to have joined." Flattery can indeed get you places if you know how to use it.

"Uh, well, yes..." Armor rattled again as he shook himself. "I'm sorry miss, you have the wrong man." Drat, almost had him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" My hand flew to my mouth and eyes widened as if shocked. "I'm so sorry, they must have wanted to play a prank on me." Lowered my eyes and sniffed a bit. "I feel so humiliated."

"Er, please, don't feel bad..." His armor squeaked a bit, as if he'd raised an arm but didn't know what to do with it. Still not moving though...

I stopped my sniffling and peered up at him through my eyelashes, "Perhaps...you wouldn't mind going out with me?" Moved in close enough to take his uselessly raised hand in both of mine.

"I-I'm engaged to someone though..." But you're not pulling your hand away.

Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms around his arm loosely and laid my cheek on his shoulder. "But you're not married yet? So it should be okay?" Lifted my head up to whisper around where his ear should be, "Just one night, and who would know...?" Oh God, Mom, Dad, your little girl is SO SORRY!

"One night..." just as he lifted his arms, as if about to try and hold me closer, I slipped away again and bounced just out of reach. I winked, took one of his hands, and started tugging him behind the blastia into the shadows. He followed a good deal more eagerly than he'd been just a moment before.

And once I'd led him past where Yuri was hiding, the knight never noticing the dark clad vigilante lurking in the shadows, the swordsman stepped up and knocked him out with a quick punch aimed just so. First thing I did was let my hair back down with a slightly pained hiss as its weight settled again. That's why I hate putting it on top of my head...

Yuri gave me a look. "Jeremy this time?"

"Well George is already dead. A girl's gotta let go of the past and move on to new things." He snorted.

Karol sighed as the others joined us, "And you hit him anyway..."

"We couldn't really ask her to go all the way. She's a Black Widow, after all, poor guy didn't know what he was getting into." I whacked Yuri with one of the white gloves I'd just removed.

"All the way?" Karol looked at us in confusion.

Estelle had her own question as she returned my bag. "Why do you keep calling her that, Yuri? What is a Black Widow?"

I paused with one arm through my green coat, and both Yuri and I stared at the two naives. Our eyes met, an unspoken message of "we really don't want to explain this" passed between us, so we looked to Judith for help.

"All right, on to the next step," she said cheerily. She removed the guard's helmet and held it up for our appraisal. "It should be easier to go in if you dress like a knight." Helmet was held out in Yuri's general direction.

"Who, me?" He didn't look like he enjoyed the idea much.

Helmet moved in Karol's general direction. "Karol would work just as well."

"Yuri's wearing it." They looked at me. "End of discussion. Yuri's wearing it."

"But-"

"I went through with distracting the guard," I ran over his protests, "You're not getting out of this."

"But-" I glared at him, and he finally sighed in defeat. "I guess I'll have to do it. But really, a knight of all things..." He and Karol quickly stripped the knight of his uniform. Haha, it smells! Take that, Yuri! He and I both excused ourselves back to the inn to change quickly.

I was back out relatively quickly, considering I had to undo all the buckles on those boots (which I actually felt a little fond of) and wash off all the make up. And wrestle my hair into a loose pony tail at the base of my neck so the curls would stay out of my eyes. When I saw Yuri, who'd apparently finished changing just a little faster than me (he'd ignored some of the heavier pieces of armor, the cheater) I didn't hide my vindictive smirk. He very nobly tried to ignore me.

"Hey! Quit goofing off over there!" I glanced at the alley we'd left the stripped knight in, glad he wasn't noticeable when the other knight came running up to "knight" Yuri.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Yuri asked him naturally while the rest of us stiffened and tried not to look like we'd been doing anything questionable.

"You should get back to your post before things get even more out of hand!"

"What do you mean, 'out of hand?'"

"The mage we captured is running wild! Hurry up!" Yay! Return of prickly cactus Rita!

"Roger!" Yuri saluted (A blizzard in Hell!), "Okay, be right back." He ran off with the real knight before we (the others at least, I knew already) realized he was going to play along.

Looking at each other in concern, we rushed to the knights' headquarters without even discussing what we'd do. Even before we reached the entrance we could hear explosions strong enough to rattle the heavy wooden door.

"What could be going on in there?" Estelle wondered, and there was a particularly loud bang that almost knocked the door off its hinges. A bit of smoke seeped through the cracks. We stared in horror, awe, and confusion.

"...Uh, it's gotten quiet now. Think we should go check?" I knew what was in there, but that didn't mean I wasn't concerned. What if we opened the door and got a face full of fireball?

"We should make sure Yuri isn't hurt..."

We all clamored through the door at once, just in time to hear Yuri grunt, "Settle down!"

"A-are you okay?" Estelle rushed into the room, panicked for the swordsman's safety when she took in the scene of smoke and knights strewn everywhere. I waved a hand in front of my face, trying to clear some of the smoke so I could see, or at least breathe, easier. Something that shouldn't have been burned had, and it made a smell worse than burnt rubber.

The air was clearing a bit, and I could see the disguised Yuri trying to restrain the ever hot-headed mage Rita. "Rita?" Estelle exclaimed in surprise.

"Estelle! What are you doing here...?" Rita had stopped trying to blast Yuri's foot off once she'd realized it was him, and now was looking at each of us one by one in disbelief.

"Let's go outside to talk," Judith suggested calmly. There was a rush to get out of the smoky room nearly as fast as the one to get in.

After we all took a moment to breathe deeply and appreciate the clean air, Estelle returned her attention to Rita's unexpected presence. "Have you calmed down?"

"Yeah..."

"So what are you doing in a place like this?"

And so started the important scene during which Rita gave us key information. People being forced to work, Hoplon blastia being smuggled in at night, what looked like preparations for another war. Blame was allocated to the most likely culprit, Cumore (Karol: "Ah, you mean the guy with the creepy voice." So proud of you, my boy!), and the need to deal with blastia properly was stressed by Rita. After that we decided we really, really should be getting on with our job to rescue Teagle.

So we went back to the unguarded lift, Karol nagging us to be very careful!

x x x

It's So Not You

Estelle: You know, in knight's armor, you really do look like a knight, Yuri. You're quite handsome!

Letha: Yes, yes! Quite the striking figure!

Judith: You're getting a complement you know. It wouldn't hurt to smile.

Yuri: I'm not really crazy about this getup. I've got bad memories of Flynn laughing his head off about how silly I looked in this...

Karol: Well...I think I get how Flynn felt... It's like...somebody dressed you up! Ah ha ha ha ha!

Estelle: No, not at all, Yuri! It's good because it's so different from who you are.

Judith: Leave it to Yuri to be different even in a normal suit of armor.

Letha: It wouldn't be so bad, but the colors really look terrible on him.

Yuri: This is why I hate this uniform!

Rita Appears

Estelle: Heh heh heh.

Rita: What's with you? First you're panicked, now you're laughing.

Karol: You're pretty moody yourself, Rita.

Yuri: You're not really one to talk, Karol.

Rita: Just shut up!

Estelle: Heh heh. I'm so glad we found you here. I mean, I gave up going back to the capital, so even if you had visited me, I wouldn't have been there!

Yuri: Oh, how sweet, Rita. You were gonna go visit Estelle.

Rita: I...I wouldn't go to the capital just to visit someone. I mean, I have to report my findings on the aer krene. I just thought I'd say hi or something...

Judith: I don't know. That sounds like an excuse for a visit with Estelle to me.

Rita: Y-you stay out of this!

Letha: Oh, looks like you hit the bulls-eye, Judith! Rita's in denial~!

Yuri: Aw come on. We're all together again. Let's just be happy about that.

x x x

"Hide!" Rita hissed and pulled Estelle behind the barrier blastia. The rest of us ducked behind it as well, and scrambled to see past towards the direction of the lift again. Judith won again, and I let myself end up in the back since I already knew quite well who we were spying on. Come to think of it, I might not want to let Yeager see me...his guild was hired to kidnap me after all.

Because of course the pair of men we saw meeting in front of the lift were the ever disturbing Captain Cumore and totally awesome in his own way Yeager.

"Ah, milord. Are you sure you shouldn't be going to the Sands of Kogorh, now, Sir?" the boss of Leviathan's Claw drawled in his close-enough-to-German accent.

"Humph. I don't have to pay attention to Alexei's orders," Cumore sniffed disdainfully. "Using the money and weapons I have, everything will soon be withing my reach."

"And I hope you'll remember to appreciate the work Leviathan's Claw has done for you." Yeager lowered his head slightly, appearing very humble, though it was purely an act for a paying client.

"Yes, you will be taken care of, Yeager." Ugh, listening to Cumore makes me want to shudder and take another shower to wash the slime off.

"You'll take those weapons I sold you, and attack the Union—BOOM!" This is one reason why Yeager was awesome. Nominally our enemy, that one line from him grabbed our attention and started a discussion of Cumore's plans. And Yeager totally knew we were listening.

"Heh. I'm afraid I have my sights set on loftier things than the Union." Even though I couldn't see the others' expressions, I looked around to see if they reacted. I noted Estelle was shaking a little, and Yuri's grip on his sheathed sword was tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. Rita growled a bit under her breath.

"Ignoring the Don is a big no-no. He is a wonderful guy, ja? Don't go forgetting that."

"My my. It almost sounds as if you respect the man."

"Respect him I do, but Leviathan's Claw always gets the job done." Karol groaned slightly and dropped his head in his hands.

"Oh ho ho... Such dedication. That's just what I like about you. Don't worry though. You are looking at the future Commandant of the Imperial Knights."

"Pfft, in your dreams," I snorted.

"That fool Alexei, telling me to watch the Union while he signs friendship treaties with them."

"Yeah!" said very much like ja. "You tell 'im!" Yeager glanced towards the blastia, where we were hiding. I ducked down a little, just to be safe. The lift started to lower and take them down to the laborer's camp.

"If it were me, I'd crush them in the blink of an eye with your lovely weapons! The Union can't possible hope to stop me." Cumore's voice quickly became fainter, even as we hurried over to catch his last words. But all we could hear after that was Yeager's voice laughing.

"Well that was convenient and informative," I quipped. It's one thing when that happens in a video game, but in real life you have to wonder at the odds.

Rita was concerned about that exchange for another reason. "Hey, that guy with the weird hair looked over at us and laughed."

Yuri nodded slightly. "He definitely spotted us all right."

"So he thinks we're funny, does he...?" she scowled and crossed her arms.

The swordsman grimaced with frustration, "Man, it's always the same thing with these idiots." Pinched the bridge of his nose as if a headache was forming, then returned to business. "So now we know there's a bunch of people being kept down there."

Collective nod and a "Yeah" from Rita.

"All right. Let's go free them from the idiots."

Poor Yuri, this is like that line from The Incredibles. He must feel like the maid who always have to clean up after others, saving the world when he just finished saving it~!

x x x

God, writing that was weeeird.

Letha was first place, Yuri was second (behind by three votes once you count Angelic's), Estelle in third, and Karol was fourth with Judith as a close fifth. Hence the result of Yuri coming dangerously close to putting on the dress until he turned it back on Letha.

Sorry, Angelic! Letha didn't pull of getting Yuri into drag.

Letha: I will keep trying! I will have vengeance!

Sylph: Uhh, okay...*edges away* Good luck with that.

It took a full page to describe Letha's seduction costume. I considered trying to pare it down a bit, but since the game had such...interesting costumes I wanted to do that justice. Letha reacted a bit more strongly than she might have, mostly because 1) she really wanted to get Yuri to do it and 2) my God, they made her wear a mini skirt. In another situation, she might have agreed reluctantly but laughed about it until she went up to the knight and realized "Ho snap, what do I actually do?"