Jayde felt the temperature of the air drop as shadows fell across the Kingdom of Vacuo. The sun had set and now the only light remaining were those from countless bonfires and torches. The moonless night didn't help either.
She slowly breathed in. Her body ached. Her bones felt as weak as dry clay. She was exhausted and honestly felt like stepping over the edge of the building to get away from the men holding her captive.
Kasune was stressed and angry beyond comparison. By the looks of it, she had slept less than Jayde was allowed to. Without her friend's mask on, the Huntress in green could see each twitch of her face. She couldn't help but notice just how tense she was.
The deal was going to be the heads of team MACE in trade for her life but one didn't need to be as aware as Jayde to know that was obviously not what was going to happen.
These people were liars, cheats and backstabbers. Literally. This wasn't going to end pretty no matter what.
"What else do you want?" Kasune finally demanded while narrowing her eyes.
"Honestly," Bendhimmel flashed a smile and held out his hand.
"His semblance is honesty." Jayde bluntly interrupted. "If you're aware of it, it doesn't work."
He flashed her a glare and bared his teeth.
"I thought we told you not to speak, dammit!" Pula snarled and grabbed the back of her collar. He then shoved her weight forward and let her lean over the edge of the building.
"Hey!" Melony hissed while drawing her sai.
"It's fine." Jayde blinked. "His grip is too firm. If he had plans to actually drop me it would be looser."
With a groan, Torqas reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Gods, I really hate this woman."
"Then you shouldn't have kidnapped me." She eyed him.
"Quiet!" Pula snapped while jerking her slightly. "I will drop you!"
"No you won't." She glanced back at him.
"Jayde!" Kasune shouted with a crack in her voice. They locked eyes and then both of them sighed. "What do you want?" She exhaled. "No games. What do you want?"
"Well," Ambra stretched his shoulders, "since the scum of Remnant isn't dead," he eyed team MACE, "He has decided that their lives could be put to far better use than just being used as an example. People know what happens when they cross us already."
"So we're sacrifices then? Like 'throw them in the fire' kind of sacrifice?" Kris tilted her head.
"We accept the new terms." Melony narrowed her eyes. "Take them and give us our ally back."
"But," Bendhimmel spoke up, "it seems our numbers are dwindling thanks to them. What better way for you to atone for your sins of helping them than by aiding us."
"You want us to join you?" Kasune raised an eyebrow.
"Not exactly but yes." Ambra nodded. "Obviously you won't be granted godhood since well, you know." He chuckled while eyeing Jayde up and down. "You are just women after all."
"Oh I'm gonna kill them." Elise mumbled under her breath while squaring her shoulders.
"Easy there..." Cheyenne gently gestured for her to calm down.
The Huntress in blue took another deep breath. "As much as we would love to help you reach your goals, I'm going to have to politely decline. We're Huntresses for hire, not mindless followers. So unless you're paying us..." She flexed her jaw.
"Tch. Who are you calling mindless?" Torqas flashed his teeth and crouched down near the edge of the building.
As the two groups went back and forth, Jayde felt eyes locked on her. With a furrowed brow, she glanced down at Kagami. The second they locked eyes, the Huntress noticed the jadette's eyes changing colors. She raised an eyebrow.
Taking a very deep breath, Kagami bit her lip and winced as she copied Jayde's semblance. Everything washed over her all at once. The sounds of the Kingdom. The arguing with such loud voices. Everyone's scent. Elise needed to shower. There was Grimm scratching under the surface of the sand a twenty minute walk away.
She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She needed to focus on what was in front of her and block out the rest.
Softly exhaling, Kagami shifted her weight. She turned her gaze away from everyone and almost silently tapped against her thigh.
Jayde tilted her head before taking note of the taps. She glanced back at the four men behind her before blankly looking down at Kasune. She then silently tapped back. "That's right. Magic eyes. So Kasune told you what my semblance is. Does that mean you're friends?"
"We're definitely not friends. Melony still wants to kill us."
"Sounds about right."
"Kasune accepted the fact that these guys wouldn't just hand you back to her if she killed us. We'd have better chances with our numbers like this."
"Well good. These idiots are full of it. From what I heard, they have plans of sacrificing all of us to the Brothers eventually."
"I fully believe that. All they ever think about is themselves."
"So what's the plan then? Please tell me you came in here with a plan."
"We have part of a plan."
Bendhimmel held up his hand in front of Torqas and softly exhaled. "Listen, we just need some help repopulating our Order. The lot of you seem perfect for the positions."
"Now I'm going to kill them." Melony flashed her shark teeth.
"Excuse you?" Kasune raised an eyebrow.
"You heard him." Pula snickered while reaching up to brush his thumb across his nose. "Our boys would grow into the strongest of men."
Closing her eyes, she took a very slow and incredibly deep breath. She couldn't believe the words she was about to say. "You know, being the courtesans of the Order wouldn't be so bad. As long as we can keep working."
"I'm sure we can arrange something." Bendhimmel smiled back. "Ambra. The girls."
"Right." The redhead nodded while jumping off the building and landing on the ground with a thud. He stood up straight and grabbed his fishing pole. "Let's not make this difficult. Turn around." He pulled some of the wire out to use as bindings.
"NOW!" Kasune shouted.
In an instant, Melony teleported into a sliding kick underneath Ambra's feet.
Bendhimmel was expecting the backstab and smiled. All their blood would spill under his feet. What he wasn't expecting was the smoke that formed on the roof followed by Elise stepping out of it.
The brunet eyed him while placing a hand on Pula and Torqas' shoulders. Then all three of them disappeared.
Holding out her bracer, Kagami shot a blade towards Jayde. The Huntress calmly stepped and the blade cut through her bindings. With her hands now free, she rubbed her wrists and stretched her neck. "So," she stepped towards Bendhimmel, "what were we talking about?"
Kagami fell to one knee as she dropped her mimic. "Guah..." She closed both her eyes and bared her teeth. Copying a semblance for too long always hurts, but that one just straight up hurt to copy.
She glanced up and panted softly as she watched Kasune lunge towards Torqas and Kris and Cheyenne both simultaneously attacked Pula.
That's when the random aura appeared.
Up on the roof, Jayde had easily disarmed Bendhimmel. She flipped his cinquedea around and smiled. "Not so tough now, are you?" She narrowed her eyes and kicked him square in the chest. He was sent onto his back gasping for air. He didn't even get the chance to catch his breath before Jayde's knees slammed into his rib cage. He cried out in pain as she raised his blade above her head.
She then felt him again.
The ghost of a man.
He was standing behind her. She felt his breath as it trailed across her skin. She flinched. She didn't understand how he kept sneaking up on her.
Jayde shifted around to look behind her and her eyes widened.
She watched as the blade moved in the darkness. It was too close. She was going to get hit. And without enough aura to protect her...
Jayde let out a scream as the man shrouded in darkness brought a ring sword straight across her chest. He didn't even flinch as her blood was flung onto him.
Her vision blurred as she watched him back away and put his weapon on his back under his cloak. He then stepped into the shadows and disappeared.
A shadow stepper. That's how he could sneak up on her. She weakly scoffed before looking down at her chest. Her hands trembled as she raised them. She could see her own heart beating within her chest. "Kasune..." She barely managed out before falling over. Her body going over the edge and hitting the sands below.
"Jayde...!" Kasune's eyes shot wide as she kicked Torqas' chainsaw sword away. "JAYDE!!"
"Tch, that's what that whore gets." Bendhimmel coughed as he got himself to his feet. "Shoku will slaughter all of you from the shadows!"
With a groan, Jayde stared up at the stars. Her breathing slowed slightly before she suddenly took a deep breath with ease. She blinked and slowly flexed her fingers. She could feel her blood casually pumping through her body.
She deadpanned. "Oh shit."
"No duh." Pula laughed as he reloaded his gauntlets. "You finally see how screwed y'all are-hng!" He grunted.
"Hey, what's-" Ambra went to speak but grunted himself. He couldn't move. It felt like his veins had turned to stone. "Agh..." He closed one eye.
"What the..." Bendhimmel gritted his teeth.
"Hey now..." Elise closed one eye.
"What gives...?" Kris flashed her teeth.
"I don't know..." Cheyenne tried to calm herself from being unable to move.
"Hah! That's what all of you get!" Melony laughed before hissing as her body went rigid.
"What is this...?" Kagami glanced over at Kasune.
The Huntress in blue stood still for a second before a terrified look washed across her face as her body stiffened.
Calmly walking up, a woman in a dusty crimson cloak glanced around. She reached up and slid her hood down. Her blood red eyes narrowed at every single person. "Who's going to tell me what the hell is going on?" She wore a red mask that hid her face.
With his eyebrow twitching, Pula growled. "Who the fu-" He was cut off as his entire body jerked. Small spikes poked out from underneath his skin all across his body. The whites of his eyes turned bloody before he fell back like a rag doll.
Ambra stared down at him with wide eyes before panicked breathing filled his lungs. "You just... you just killed him! You just killed my brother!" He bared his teeth before grunting. His back heavily arched and he let out a groan. All four of his limbs rotated and he let out a shout that was abruptly cut off as he head twisted around and snapped.
As he collapsed, the woman lowered her hand and slowly looked around. "Someone tell me what is going on." She demanded.
The entirety of team MACE went silent. All their faces paled as rawr terror filled their eyes.
The woman eyed them before softly giggling. "Oh, you girls are funny."
Their faces paled more.
"Kill them all." Melony hissed. Her body was trembling as she tried to move.
"Pl-Please don't..." Kagami very timidly muttered. She had never heard her voice so quiet. She even felt her eyes swelling with tears from fear. Her bones were shaking to their cores. She was utterly powerless against whatever was happening. She was scared.
The woman eyed the group of girls and two men before eyeing Kasune.
The Huntress in blue sighed and closed her eyes. "The two men. Kill them."
The woman turned towards Jayde and stepped towards her with a sigh. "What happened?" She eyed her injury.
Jayde gulped with a nervous smile and flinched. The wound in her chest still stung. "Those four men kidnapped and tortured me. The girls were helping the others rescue me. Kill the two men, Krimson."
"What!?" Bendhimmel bared his teeth with wide eyes.
"Don't even try you bitch!" Torqas snarled.
Slowly breathing in, Krimson narrowed her eyes. Strands of her short blood red hair fell across her face. She waved her hand.
Torqas bared his teeth and groaned as he felt his blood pumping harder and harder. His hands and feet were throbbing. The feeling trailed up his arms and legs and into his chest. He let out a shout this time as his heart pounded like a drum inside his head. And then, he flinched. His chest visibly pulsed and he went silent before falling back.
Terror fell across Bendhimmel's face. He couldn't even comprehend what was happening. He had no chance at stopping it. He was going to die. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. "Gods..." He muttered under his breath before grunting. "Agh!" He looked down at his chest before closing his eyes with a muffled scream. Blood got caught in his throat. He suddenly couldn't find it in himself to breathe. He was choking. Drowning in his own blood that penetrated and filled his lungs. Eventually, his desperate gasps grew quiet and he fell to his knees before falling forward and off the roof of the building onto the ground.
Looking down at Jayde, Krimson crossed her arms. She then tilted her head and smiled behind her mask. "That looks like it hurts." She pointed at her still beating heart.
"Yeah. It does." She grimaced. "Thank you."
"What else are leaders for?" The Huntress in red softly laughed.
As she laughed, the hold she held on everyone else's blood was released. All of team MACE fell to their knees trembling.
Kasune gasped before quickly running over towards her childhood friend. "Jayde!" She slid beside her.
"Hey." She smiled up at her. Her ears were still partially ringing. "So I don't think it's that bad..."
She deadpanned. "I can literally see your heart."
"Yeaaah..." She slowly breathed in and winced. "But hey, I'm not dead..."
"You're welcome." Krimson teased and placed her hands on her hips.
"You could have killed the girls too." Melony grumbled as she walked over. "They have a sixty million lien bounty on their heads."
Blinking, the red Huntress leaned back and glanced at the girls.
With visibly shaking limbs, Kagami flinched. Using her sword, she barely managed to push herself up to her feet as she stood defensively.
Krimson smirked back at her. "Oh no, they're too cute to kill." She looked back at Jayde. "Plus, I'm losing a lot of blood by keeping her blood inside her body and killing those goons used a lot. I can't do more right now. We need to get her somewhere before I can't control her blood anymore."
"We need to get to Pithaya..." Jayde closed one eye while staring up at the stars. Pithaya could heal her with ease. Her eyes then shot wide as she felt the shadow stepper again. She went to sit up only to cry out in pain and fall back.
Everything happened so fast.
Kagami's eyes widened as she watched a man step out of nothing and place a hand around Krimson's mouth and pull her back. Seeing her hand disappear into the endless shadows of the night, her eyes widened more. She held her breath and took a single step to lock eyes with the Huntress in red. "Elise! Chey!" She called out.
Still with a terrified look, Elise sharply inhaled before grabbing Cheyenne's hand and spiraling into smoke that swirled around Krimson's leg just as she was pulled into the shadows and disappeared.