A/N: Thank you for your follows and favorites, everyone!

Congratulations to my beta, xXLiquidSugarXx, for graduating college! How exciting!

~14~

Dahngrest was at its most impressive when bathed in the light of the setting sun. Lights were just beginning to wink into existence along the skyline, and the barrier became more pronounced as the sky slowly darkened into a navy blue. The city glowed orange under the last rays of sunlight. Yuri was sure he'd never seen anything so calming. The roof of the inn wasn't the tallest around, but it was close enough to the edge of the city that Yuri had a view that stretched all along the riverbank.

He could hear laughter from the street below, and he glanced down to see a group of children playing a game in the street, running together in a pattern only they could understand. Repede was resting on the street nearby the group, but he paid them little mind. A few local dogs were lying around him, and Repede appeared content as his tail wagged lazily.

A door opened across the street and a warrior with a battle axe strapped to his back stepped out. Yuri's eyes were drawn to the mess of blond spikes on the man's head, and immediately thought of Flynn. He had left Flynn behind in Capua Nor to deal with assassins and a murdered Governor. Yuri knew that Flynn could take care of himself, but he still regretted not being able to stand by him. He didn't know if fleeing right away had been the best idea. He hadn't wanted to be arrested, but at the same time, Yuri feared that Flynn might connect the dots. He had to admit that Ragou's death occurring at the same time that he had skipped town was incriminating. A burst of guilt filled Yuri's heart when he found himself hoping that Flynn's belief in him would keep his friend from realizing what he'd done.

"Yuri!" Karol was waving up at Yuri from the street, and Yuri belatedly realized he'd been staring at the empty doorway for a long time. "I'm going out!"

Karol ran down the street before Yuri could respond, his new, green bag standing out as he ran off into the crowded main street.

Last night Karol had returned late. He had excitedly told Yuri that Raven had offered him some work, and that if Karol did a good job, Raven would see about getting him into Altosk. Karol had been breathless with the thought. He then went on a long rant about how he planned on personally impressing Don Whitehorse. Yuri had been relieved to see that in the face of this new task, Karol had momentarily forgotten about his drive to help Yuri out.

Though Yuri was glad Karol and Raven were still on good terms, he also saw what Raven was trying to do. By giving Karol something to do, the boy wasn't involved in what both of them were investigating. In the long term, if Karol was in Altosk, it would be laughably easy for Raven to keep an eye on him.

By now even Karol's bag had disappeared from view. Night had descended onto the city. The blastia that powered the inn's sign whirred to life nearly in tandem with the other signs on the block, and the sound of children's laughter had died down. Yuri slowly got up from where he'd been sitting on the roof. He needed to leave now if he wanted to meet Raven.

Yuri knew that Karol wasn't the only one Raven was leading along, yet he found that he didn't mind cooperating. Maybe the reason Raven was so unconcerned about them knowing his secret was because he knew how much sway he had over the both of them.

A bark alerted Yuri to the fact that he was standing outside of the inn, and he focused to find Repede getting up. The group of dogs Repede had adopted made no move to follow him. One whined at the sight of him getting ready to leave.

"Repede, can you find Karol?"

Repede barked again and walked over to Yuri's side.

"I need to you look after him tonight." Repede growled and butted his head against Yuri's leg. "I know you've been on babysitting duty a lot lately, but I can't be in two places at once. Who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into?"

Repede whined and shook himself before walking in the direction Karol had sped off in. Yuri didn't think Raven would send Karol to do anything too dangerous, but if the incident with those three goons was any indication, Karol had a lot of enemies in the city.

The streets blurred together and before long Yuri was standing in front of the Comet. No one was outside of it. The muffled noise pouring out of the building made it obvious the bar was as packed as it had been the night before. Yuri leaned against the wall below the gaudy comet shaped sign and waited. His mind wandered, worrying again about Flynn. A growing anxiety about his oldest friend finding out what he'd done was curling in his gut right as what sounded like a full band started playing inside of the bar. A sharp twang sounded against the wall of the building across the street. In one fluid motion Yuri drew his sword, his mind now completely focused on the present. A muscular man with a horned helmet swore as he stumbled from the alleyway.

"Damn you!" the man bellowed as he righted himself and swung his curved sword into the shadows of the alleyway.

His opponent flipped over him, and Yuri watched Raven's coat flare out behind him as he landed. Raven knocked another arrow and drew his bow, releasing it just as the man turned around. The arrow sunk through the man's eye almost to the fletching.

"Hey, kid," Raven said blandly as he folded his bow and hid it back under his coat.

Yuri got out of his ready stance when it appeared that no one else was going to attack. "What the hell have you been doing?"

Raven shook his head before he grabbed Yuri's arm and pulled him down the street. As they retreated, Yuri heard someone start screaming at the sight of the dead man slowly bleeding out onto the brickwork. They weaved through the city streets to the point where Yuri was hopelessly lost, though Raven appeared to know exactly where to go. The alleyway they stopped in was bare except for a low, wide window that had steel bars crisscrossing over it instead of glass.

"Who did you just kill?" Yuri asked as Raven leaned forward and panted. Yuri was vividly reminded of the night they'd first met.

"Some guy from the Blood Alliance. He figured out who my informer was an' killed her before he showed up at our meeting place an' tried ta do me in next. At least Erica managed ta get me some good intel before she got found out." Raven sighed before he went to kneel down in front of the window. There was an intimidating lock keeping the metal panes in place. "Turns out the Blood Alliance has been working with Ruin's Gate ta funnel the blastia through the city. Still not sure where the hell they're taking it from here, though."

"I found a blastia core trade gone wrong in the basement of the Ruin's Gate HQ," Yuri admitted, "One the people involved was a mercenary from the Blood Alliance."

Raven looked up at Yuri. "You were the one who killed those people?"

"I didn't kill the mercenary; he was already dead when I got there."

Raven lifted up the right side of his coat and started digging around in his pockets. "That was risky, ya know. I suppose I don't have a right ta lecture ya, since I just shot a guy in the middle a the street.

"Is this place the tip off Erica gave you?" Yuri changed the subject as he pulled Clay's lock picks from his back pocket and held the set out to Raven.

Raven stopped digging through his jacket and took the set from Yuri. "Coulda sworn I brought some with me," he muttered. "Yeah, this buildin' has a secret passage that leads ta one a the underground locations where Ruin's Gate is inspectin' stolen blastia. Or at least it's supposed ta be."

Yuri stared at the stained brickwork of the wall, and in no time at all, Raven was handing back the lock picks with a grin that flashed white in the dark. The sliding metal panes were opened with a quiet rattle, and Raven hopped into the room. Yuri climbed in after him.

The room was stacked with crates and was lined with a thick layer of dust. Yuri could see some footprints in the dirt on the floor, but even those looked a few days old.

"Those have all got blastia in 'em. None of 'em are stolen, though. I sent some guys ta these hideouts a week ago an' all these crates checked out. Now, we just gotta find that passage. I hope yer up fer some heavy liftin'," Raven grabbed two lanterns that had been sitting on a crate in the center and lit them with matches that he pulled from his coat.

"Now I know the real reason you brought me along," Yuri drawled.

"If I just wanted some muscle I coulda dragged along one a the Altosk goons. I brought ya so I'd have somethin' pretty ta look at." Raven winked. "I'll look over here."

Raven started shifting through the crates in the left corner of the small room. Yuri turned to the other corner and started lifting crates. He could hear a slight clinking every time one of the boxes was moved. The two of them worked steadily for a while, and Yuri was starting to work up a sweat. He had been about ready to sit down and take a breather when he spotted a section of the stonework that didn't match the rest.

Yuri lifted the last crate away from it. He pushed on the wall but found that it was as sturdy as the rest of the building. "I think I might have found something."

Raven appeared next to him, and Yuri was surprised to see he'd taken off his oversized coat. He looked a lot smaller without it. "That's it."

"How do we get it open?" Yuri asked.

"There's gotta be a switch around here somewhere." Raven comically turned his head back and forth.

"We have to go digging around more?" Yuri thought he might actually be a little sore in the morning.

"I already found it. I just didn't want ta go an' press it without knowin' what it'd open."

"You could have told me earlier."

"Ya did fine without knowin'." Raven walked over to the corner he'd been digging through and pushed on a stone that was sticking out slightly from the wall. The passage's door slowly began to shift right.

Yuri jumped down into the dark passage. When he landed, he heard a high pitched "Eep!"

A man wearing brown and red robes was sitting at a round wooden table. In the table's center sat a dark stone that didn't look like any blastia core Yuri had ever seen. There were lanterns lit all over the confined space, and their light glinted off of blastia cores of all different sizes. Diagrams and formulas filled the wall space not covered by shelves. The man stood up from the table, a look of abject fear on his face. Yuri slowly drew his sword, and the man took a step back, only to collide with a shelf behind him. The blastia cores rattled and shifted, and one even toppled to the ground, shattering on impact.

Raven jumped down into the passage. He was back to wearing his coat, and he had drawn his dagger. "Ya got nowhere ta run."

"Wh-who are you?" The man was shaking, and his eyes shifted between looking at Yuri to Raven rapidly. "I-I thought I had filled my qu-quota already?"

"We're here ta put a stop ta this. Ya tattle on all the other's in Ruin's Gate who're workin' with ya, and I'll made sure ya get off easy compared ta them." Raven was slowly stepping toward the man like he would a wounded animal. Yuri noted that Raven had purposefully left out the Blood Alliance from his explanation.

"N-no! You don't understand! This isn't Ruin's Gate. It hasn't b-been Ruin's Gate for months!"

"I think he might be hysterical, old man," Yuri followed along.

"No!" The man held out his hands in front of him, and ice crystals started to appear in the air around them. Raven abruptly stopped. "B-barbos and his B-blood Alliance! They k-killed our Boss! Replaced him with an im-imposter. B-barbos threatened us! He th-threatened me! Said he would kill M-Maria and my girls if, if I didn't do what he said! P-please! If he finds out you've been here, he'll kill them!" The room's temperature dropped drastically as the man spoke.

Raven gave Yuri a significant look before he sheathed his dagger and held out his hands in a placating gesture. "We can get yer family somewhere safe. Now come on, we don't wanna hurt ya."

Yuri sheathed his sword, and the man let his hands drop, the temperature already beginning to climb back to normal. The man was shaking like a leaf and didn't make any move to resist as Raven grabbed ahold of his arm. Yuri saw Raven swipe the strange stone off of the table with his other hand.

"What's yer name, then?" Raven asked as he slipped the stone away into his jacket.

"M-my name is William, and thank you," the man said, clearly unware that Raven had taken anything, "I thought I would be under h-his control for the rest of m-my life."

Raven nodded. "Yuri, I'm gonna take him ta an Altosk base-"

"Y-you're with Altosk?" The man's fear quickly faded, and pure relief crossed over his features. "Then you need to know that Barbos is going to leave the city tonight! I overheard some of the mercenaries talking about it when they came by today. Please, you need to stop him!"

"Damn," Raven swore. "Change of plans, I'm gonna take him ta see the Don. Ya mind doin' me a favor? Barbos' place is good five blocks west a here. It's a four story mansion, ya can't miss it. Scout the place out an' if ya see him tryin' ta leave, make a distraction."

Yuri put his hand on his hip, but before he could say anything, Raven said, "Ya wanna catch the mastermind behind this or not?"

"Fine, old man. I'll buy you some time."

William had already climbed up the ladder leading out of the passage and Raven was following behind.

"Just be careful about it. Barbos is a nasty bastard, so don't go spacin' out," he said as he climbed.

"You worry too much," Yuri scoffed, even has he felt mortified that Raven had noticed how spacey he'd been tonight.

"We won't be long, Yuri." Raven motioned to William to follow him as he made for the door. "William, ya just need ta tell the Don what ya told me. We should be able ta move on Barbos tonight. Everyone else in Ruin's Gate should be free by tomorra mornin'."

William went off on a long winded speech of gratitude as Raven guided him down the alleyway. Yuri felt less dread than earlier as he watched them go. He was going to help stop the smuggling ring on the Union's end, somewhere Flynn couldn't reach.

He turned to the west and noticed a towering corner estate not far away. The building matched the rest of the city's red brick but was surrounded by a wrought iron fence that reminded Yuri of the Noble Quarter in Zaphias. He slowly approached the house. He could make out two mercenaries standing guard outside of the main gate. He calmly walked down the street past the two of them and felt the intensity of their stares. He wouldn't be getting in quietly that way.

The house was a corner estate, and so Yuri was able to easily cut around to the back. There was a thin alley leading behind the houses on the block. Through the fence, he couldn't see anyone patrolling around the perimeter of the house. It looked like the only outside guards were the ones posted at the gate. The property was big, but it was half the size of most of the mansions Yuri had seen at Zaphias. Yuri could only see one window that was lit up. He assumed that must be where Barbos was. If not, then maybe it was someone who could shed light on where Barbos had fled.

With a quick throw, his sword arced over the fence and landed with a soft thud on the grass. He scaled up the side of it, making sure not to bump against any of the sharp edges. He pulled himself up and perched on the top of the fence. His feet were balanced on the thin metal bar between the wicked spikes that covered the top.

He hopped down onto the grass with a soft plop and grimaced as his feet sunk into the muddy lawn. He had to shake off his sword to remove some of the grime from the sheath. As he snuck across the lawn, Yuri wondered if he had missed Barbos, after all. There wasn't any of the fuss expected when someone was scrambling to leave town. The estate was calm and quiet. When he got to the back door he immediately began trying to pick the lock. Yuri unlocked it in a couple of minutes, and the door opened with a soft creak. He snuck through the house with his eyes and ears open, but no one was around. Sheets covered what little furniture the house contained, and a thick layer of dust rested over everything. Yuri thought it was a little suspicious. He wondered if William had given them bad information. It looked like Barbos had cleared out of town months ago.

The sound of a man humming a happy tune filled the quiet of the house, and Yuri froze when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He made to dive into a darkened room to his right, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He dodged in the opposite direction, and was blown back when a burst of energy caused part of the doorway to explode into splinters.

He turned to face his attacker, his sword drawn and ready. A burly man with greying hair stood in the middle of the stairs. He held a sword that was almost as long as he was in one hand, while the other was nothing more than a golden tipped stub. He was smiling at Yuri with a wide, manic grin.

"Well, if it isn't a rat!" he bellowed as he swung his sword to begin another arte.

Yuri dodged the blast of energy and vaulted off the wall of the staircase. In the quick instant that he was in the air above his opponent, he moved his sword to take a swipe at the man's neck

With a deranged cackle, the man blocked Yuri's sword with his stump, and sparks flew from the clash of metal. As Yuri fell down towards the stairs, the man reached out and grabbed his neck. Yuri struggled as his air supply was cut off.

"I want to know why some skinny kid thinks he can walk into my house," he threw Yuri down the stairs, "and steal from me!"

Yuri threw his sword away as he fell, lest he land on it and impale himself. He landed on his left shoulder. It throbbed, but he had no time to try and eat a gel. He scurried to his feet and had to dodge another swing that would have decapitated him. He needed a weapon. Yuri couldn't see his sword anywhere. A rusty set of fire pokers sat in a brass vase by the fireplace. He grabbed one as he danced out of the way of another arte, and the man burst out laughing.

"You're making me wonder if I should kill you. You didn't come here to get a job offer, did you? It takes a lot of guts to try and kill a guy like me."

Yuri belatedly realized that the hulking man before him was Barbos. He felt fury pulse through him as he dodged another swing aimed at his head. It was clear that Barbos was only toying with him.

Barbos sent a barrage of energy Yuri's way, and he weaved through it to reach where Barbos stood at the bottom of the stairs. He crouched down and charged energy into the poker using his Bodhi blastia. It jabbed into Barbos' gut, and Yuri felt a smirk appear on his lips at the sight of first blood.

"You little shit!" Barbos snarled, and Yuri knew that the man was done playing with him.

Yuri sprung back into a standing position and watched in surprise as Barbos stuck his sword into the ground and reached forward. Yuri took a step back, but all his attention was focused on Barbos' incoming hand. He didn't see the golden tipped stump heading right for his head until it was too late. His world spun, and his neck was grabbed again. He heard a crash and shouting behind him, but he could barely focus on it since he couldn't breathe. In the next moment he was sailing through the air, and he heard the sound of glass breaking.

He rolled over in the muddy grass, groaning. He could feel cuts all over his body from crashing through the window. He was still clutching the rusty poker in a death grip, and he was lucky he hadn't landed on it.

A high pitched laugh that didn't belong to Barbos cut into his throbbing head.

"What's this? Someone who's looking to feed my precious blade tonight?"

Yuri sensed more than saw the incoming knife and did his best to roll away and into a crouch. He was still nicked by it on his right arm, and the wound burned far more than it should have. The blade had been poisoned. Yuri realized then with a strange resignation that he was probably going to die.

A man who could only be described as insane was leering at Yuri. His hair was three different colors, and he was listing to the side as if he was drunk. Yuri barely noticed that Barbos and the two mercenaries that had been guarding the gate had stepped through the broken window and into the yard.

The insane man charged at Yuri, and he did his best to stagger to his feet. He righted the poker and got into a fighting stance. He would not die on his knees.

Not one, but five arrows hit the insane man mid charge. He stumbled and fell with a pained shout. Yelling started up at that moment. Men and women in armor were pouring into the yard by the dozen. The two mercenaries were occupied, and Barbos was doing his best to fend off the reinforcements despite his bleeding gut. Yuri felt like he was watching these events unfold from somewhere far away. All of the sounds around him were muffled.

Yuri felt a hand fall onto his right shoulder. In a moment, he was back at full throttle. He swung at his assailant, only to have his attack blocked by a firm hand. He had forgotten he was holding a rusty fire poker and not his black and red blade. He let the poker get pulled away from him when he met familiar eyes that burned in an unfamiliar way. Yuri didn't think he'd ever seen Raven look so angry.

"Hey, old man." Yuri managed a shaky smile. "I think I might be poisoned," he heard himself say before the world starting spinning.

The next thing he knew, he was lying in someone's arms and looking up as a dragon flew overhead. He heard a raging cry and screams before he knew no more.