Shadows danced around Aiko's room, only illuminated by a small candle who's wick burned with fervor. Lone, Aiko slowly flipped through the pages in her book, her gaze fixed. The cover was bare bones, just a leather cover. Every so often, she would let out a small chuckle, or her mouth would open in shock.
This went on for quite a while, eventually her flipping through the pages would slow. As she snapped the book shut, she heard knocks coming from her front door.
"That's weird." She only muttered. Who comes to other people's homes late at night? Aiko moved her blankets off her body, and stood up. Fixing her nightgown, she then walked to her bedroom's door. Only freezing when she heard her front door open. 'Is it Lucian…? Those aren'- That isn't him… That is not Lucian or Fei.' Aiko's eyes widened, and two pairs of heavy footsteps entered her home.
They echoed, and thundered around her empty home. She quietly locked her bedroom door. Her heart began to run, and the worst case scenarios flashed in her head. As silently as she could, she flipped to the last page of her book. And tore it out, with a quill and ink she began to scribble.
Tears began to well, she heard the thuds near her bedroom door. Her hands began to tremble, she could barely hold the quill.
"Are you sure this is the right home?"
"Yeah, I saw her enter this earlier."
The doorknob clacked, but her door did not open. The only sound that was heard were the voices' complaints. Their attempts heightened, her door shook intensely.
"Please.. Please no, please let this be a nightmare!" Aiko quietly exclaimed, tears began to fall. Her note began to soak. She can't leave, her only way out was blocked by the two men who entered her home. A second later, her quill stopped. Hot tears streamed down her face, she brought the now crumpled paper to her face, whispering into it, "Please… Someone save me… Lucian… Fei… Please– Don't come here…" Trembling, she set it down.
Loud cracks reverberated in her room, splinters of wood flew with immense force inwards. A chunk flew and struck her arm. Before she could process what happened, two men walked in. Head to toe, in dark clothes, masks as dark as night on their heads. Only their eyes were visible, to her they are the eyes of demons.
The smaller individual grabbed a cloth from his pocket. Her body stiffened upon landing her sights on them. Due to this, they got close. Close enough to be in arms reach, she could only scream and try to pry away.
"Ouch! Keep still or we'll hurt you!" The smaller man winced in pain, Aiko's nails dug deep into his hand. Blood droplets fell to the ground, but his iron grip didn't waver. In just a few seconds, he had his arm around her neck.
"Let me go!" Aiko screamed, repeating countless times. During which she thrashed her entire body around. Ignoring her screams, the individual brought the cloth up and attempted to cover the nose and mouth with it. "Let me GO- AHH!" Her shrieks turned into a roar of pain. The cloth scraped her eyes. An immediate burning sensation took over them. She tried to cover her face with her hands, but they were pulled down.
"LET ME- MFF-" Her roars were quelled, a sweet scent entered her nostrils and mouth. She kicked around. Slowly, she started losing her breath.
She breathed in harder, trying to catch oxygen. Her suffocation turned into choking, gasping for what's there. Only the sweet smell from the cloth entered. Soon, she began to lose strength in her limbs, causing her to slow her rapid movements. A dizzying feeling overwhelmed her body.
'It hurts… it hurts… please.. It hurts.'
'Please...it….'
'Let….'
'It…'
'...go…'
'...'
Her struggles and body went limp. The individual brought her to the floor with slow movements. Blood streamed from her eyes, and trickled to the floor. He kept the rag over her mouth for a few more seconds. Once he was sure she was unconscious, he removed it.
"We were told to leave her unharmed."
"No shit, I wasn't expecting her to put up that much of a fight… She got my hand pretty damn good."
The larger individual kicked Aiko's unconscious body while mumbling, "Another lesser value stock…"
"Our buyers love lively ones, quote on quote–"
"Yeah, yeah I know. Let's get her out of here."
—---------
Ela plucked coins from a small pile, inspected each one and stacked them individual stacks.
"Twenty silver, four hundred thirty-one copper… Not a bad haul so far for this week." She mumbled, just before she could grab a bit more the doors of the tavern flew open. They swung open suddenly. Lucian burst through, in one hand was the paper Aiko left. It became crumpled due to the force he exerted. "D-"
"Why the hell did you lie to us?!"
"What do you mean? I-"
"DON'T LIE ANYMORE!" He yelled and slammed the paper down. The stacks of coins jumped, a few toppled over. "Aiko isn't sick… That was a lie you told us to not worry!"
"..."
"Do you have nothing to say?! Did you even care about Aiko at all?! Huh?!"
"Lucian… Please-"
"Don't fucken tell me to calm down or lower my voice, you lied to us that Aiko was perfectly fine. You said she was 'sick'" Lucian growled, he did finger quotes when he said the word 'sick'.
"I told you that so you wouldn't worry and it won't distract you." Ela explained, after which she covered her face with one hand and continued. "And don't give me that bull crap about not caring about her. You obviously saw that request I set up in the adventurer's guild."
"That's a load of shit! You're acting like you normally are, it's like her disappearance means nothing to you! You could be putting on an act just by submitting that request… Nine times out of ten that's what people do."
Ela removed her hand to look at him. Her pupils shrunk into the size of needles. A second later, she stood up with her hands trembling.
"You don't know how many times I looked around this entire district. You say that I don't care, I'm acting normal…" She took a deep and shaky breath. "You don't know ANYTHING! Don't come in badgering me about not caring! I'm doing… The best I can to get her back. She means a lot to you two, and she does to me."
"Why the hell are you always here?! Whenever we come here you're always reading a book, or-"
Ela curled her pointer and middle finger, covering her right side of her face, and interrupted Lucian mid sentence. "You can shut up. You never come here mid-day, or later in the day. You only find us after opening." She mumbled a few "niceties" before continuing. "I am doing the best I can to find her. She's important to both me and this business."
Lucian grit his teeth, whilst covering his face with his clenched fists. He loudly cussed a few times, snatched Aiko's letter and prepared to storm out of the tavern.
"Why don't you stay here to calm down? I'll lend you a room."
"Why? So you can let us get taken away and so-"
"Do not go there, Lucian! Look at Fei, do you think she's fine enough to go back to your own home?" Ela stated whilst pointing at Fei. She was sitting on the ground, coddling her knees. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. "For god's sake, stay mad at me but think of her for one moment in your anger."
"Sooo now, you care? That's very fucken nice of you. How much are you going to charge us? Our freedom, or our lives to you?"
"Hmph…" Ela huffed and closed her eyes and sat down on her chair. She knew, if she were to argue more it'd only continue with Lucian throwing jabs. It has happened a few times over the few years. 'Damn brat, for his sake and hers, he needs to work on his communication skills…' She thought.
"Fei, let's go."
"..."
"Fei. Let's go."
"N-No…"
"Why?! She'll just allow-"
"L-Lucian I, I don't want t-to go… I- I don't…" Fei muttered, tears began to well in her tear ducts. "Please… L-Let's just stay… Here." She begged, and begged to stay there. With each, her voice became softer.
Hearing her pleas, his anger quickly diminished. What am I thinking? He facepalmed himself. A few more times, Fei pleaded not to go. He shook his head, casting out every thought. Then, he got to his knees so he and her met at eye level. Staring into her teary eyes, he felt his heart squeeze. Her pupils were slits, he has only ever seen it when she's in immense fear, or grief. He tried his best not to shiver, but the frigid air around her caused frost to slowly crawl onto his face.
"We won't go, let's go to a room, okay?" He softly spoke to her. He couldn't muster up his usual forced smile for her.
"O-O-Okay."
"Come on, take my hand."
After a brief moment, Fei reached out to his outstretched hand. Tightly squeezing hers, he helped pull her up. Avoiding the glare coming from Ela they walked up the stairs and located an empty room.
Inside, Lucian helped her onto the closest bed. Even with his jacket, his body temperature plummeted.
His mouth opened then closed. He could not think of what to say to console, or cheer her up. He could only sit there, and stare at the ground. Scenarios of what happened ran inside his head, the note– his slight confrontation with Ela. Each one ran by, only making a pit stop before reappearing. Unbeknownst to him, he squeezed his hand a little tighter– In return, squeezing Fei's tighter.
They sat there for what seemed to be forever; Lucian felt things get a bit warmer, or it could be his body falling to hypothermia. Fei's sniffling ceased, yet her pupils stayed the same. Her nervousness that assaulted her chest increased.
"Ah- Sorry I didn't notice." Lucian apologized, releasing her hand. Lucian clasped his hands together, while leaning forward.
"Mm… I-It's okay."
"I don't … Sigh– I don't know what to do."
"Do you think Aiko will be alright?"
"I-I… I, I don't-" Fei murmured as she closed her anxiety-filled hands. She wanted to hope, Aiko would be okay. Her ears flattened, the air round her started to turn cold again.
Feeling the air, Lucian let out a low sigh. Then he set his palms on his knees, and straightened his back while looking at her. "I think she'll be okay, it's Aiko afterall." He assured, despite his belief saying otherwise. "Fei look at me, okay?"
"I-I-it's scary…"
"Yeah… It is. But, I'll make sure nothing will happen to you."
"W-Will Aiko be okay?"
"...Yes, I'm sure she'll be okay. She's way stronger than we think."
Fei looked away, trying to believe Lucian's words. Lingering on the floor for a good few minutes, she once again started to calm her nerves.
"T-Thank you…"
"Don't mention it."
Lucian sighed, and flopped backwards onto the bed. He then set his hands behind his head. 'I hope she'll be okay… I'm sure she gave those assholes a fight…' After what felt like an hour, he felt a weight shift on the bed. Looking towards it, Fei curled herself into a ball facing away from him.
Finally he calmed down, his head cleared of every hateful and sorrowful thought.
"I have to apologize to Ela…" He muttered before sitting up. His head turned to look at Fei. She fell asleep, whilst cuddling her tail. 'Cute, heh.' He walked towards the door, took one look back, chuckled and left the room.
The dining area was barren, devoid of life. At Ela's usual counter, she sat there with her arms resting on the counter along with her head. An opened wine bottle was next to her.
"Looks like I was late, and it looks like she closed early…"
A dim light shone through the windows of the tavern. From what he could observe the sun was setting. When he stood just at the window, he couldn't see anyone walking by. That's odd. It must be because of what's going on… This flashed in his mind.
'I'll just head back to the room.'
Once inside, he covered Fei with some blankets and laid down on the furthest bed. Although he tried, he couldn't get comfortable; his entire body felt antsy. Many hours passed, eventually his body fell heavy. His thoughts became mud, he closed his eyes and instantly ran into dreamland.
His run did not last long, Fei stopped it by pushing his body slightly and calling out his name. She quickly apologized seeing the dark rings under his eyes. Lucian couldn't help but smile and assured her she was alright.
"You look like hell, I guess I won't ask you how you slept." Ela called out once they entered the dining area. She then took a sip of her mug before saying more. "You two hungry? Seeing how yesterday's events were, I doubt you ate."
"Ela I-"
Ela raised her hand, and cut him off, "you don't need to apologize, it's fine." She pointed to one of the many empty tables. "Take a seat, why don't you? We can talk when you're eating." 'He really isn't a bad kid..' She thought
"S-Sure, t-thank you."
"You're welcome, I'll be right back."
In just ten minutes, Ela waddled back to the mentioned dining table. Holding three plates, two on one of her arms and the last in the other.
"Since, I know you don't eat much; and you're rather picky, here's your plate Fei." She said when handing Fei a smaller plate. It had an assortment of varying meats. She quietly handed Lucian his, a plate with eggs, some bread and rice. "Ah, don't worry about the payment. I'll put it on your tab."
"Thank you…"
"Go ahead and eat up."
Abnormally, Lucian and Fei ate their helpings slowly. Ela noticed that there were a bunch of things on their minds. With a clang she set her utensils down and sat her chin on her hands. "If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm all ears."
"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday." Lucian apologized after setting his fork down. "I shouldn't have said all of that."
"It's water under the bridge, so you don't need to apologize. Now I know you, that isn't the only thing right?"
Exhaling all the breath in his lungs, along with shoulders rising and falling. He closed his eyes then stared at Ela. "Can you cancel the request at the guild?"
"And why?"
"Me and Fei will take it. We can't accept that request since it's a higher ranking than what we can take."
Ela leaned back into her chair, keeping her arms extended and her hands on the table. She shook her hand and told them, "No can do." 'I can't let them do that, it's far too dangerous.' Her reason was hidden behind her stone cold expression.
"Why? We can do it, and if we can we know two people who will help us!"
"I'm well aware of that. But I consciously cannot send you two to do that."
"What do you even mean?!"
"I have my own reasons, and I'm sure she would agree with me. Sorry both of you, it's staying up and I won't change my mind on it."
"..."
"Now it's my turn to ask you something. What happened to your arm? Injure it? Was it from a fight?"
"...Yes…"
"..."
"That cemented my stance."
"...fuck…" Lucian cursed, he covered his mouth with the palm of his hand beforehand. His arm barely hurt anymore. Normally, it would take a few weeks to a few months to heal. It shocked him due to how speedy it was.
"Ha, yeah, you'll have to bring that up at a better time. Anyways, I'll help you to get better clothing as adventurers." Ela proclaimed. "That light jacket won't hold its ground against monsters…" Her finger tapped the table a few times before continuing. "As much as I hate to say it, it won't help you against other people."
"A-Are you sure…? We can earn the money ourselves…"
"Not for a long time, you can't fool me. That jacket looks cheaply made. We have many adventurers who come through here. AT most that'll protect you from a scratch."
An attempt was thrown to thank her, but Ela raised her hand. it quelled all those attempts, she closed her eyes before raising a finger. "On a few conditions. One, you will come back here to see me more. Two, don't you come back and come yelling at me and making a storm for an assumption, got it? Yes? Okay, good. Lastly, it will take time for me to get the money. Come here in a week alright?" With every term, she raised a correlating finger. Both Fei and Lucian nodded, hearing out every term carefully. Ela kept one eye open, to see their expressions. "Good, now eat."
Once they were finished, Ela grabbed the plates, left to the kitchen and came back. She asked them a couple of questions, once satisfied she smiled softly.
"Just be careful alright? It's even more dangerous out there… Which is pretty seeable."
"We will, thank you so much. And I'm sorry again…"
"Get out of here."
Sun beat down on the houses. Mist bellowed out of their noses and mouths.
With a smile and a turn of his head. He said, "It's a bit cold out isn't it?"
"I-it is…"
"Mhm, what do you want to do? Stay home or do you want to head to the adventurer's guild?"
"I-I don't, don't know… "
After a few moments of internal conflict, they walked to the guild; they needed the money, and if they're away from others it'd be safer during the day. Lucian kept Fei close, and eyed the surroundings.
"Wow, just yesterday she was like a banshee."
"Shh, she can hear you, you know? S-She's staring right at us- I think we should get going!"
"Y-Yea– OH sh– Let's go!"
"Dumbasses…" Kazusa mumbled and lowered her head onto the frontdesk. "How does she find this fun? It's so… Boring." She groaned. "Hey, Elven idiot, what's so fun about being a receptionist?"
A vein popped out of Thran's forehead at his "nickname". Jaw clenched and his new paperwork crumpled, he responded. "It is… Not fun, but it keeps you busy if it is rush hour. Just be patient and wait."
"Are you trying to sound smart? How old are you? The way you articulate words and structure them is weird."
"Lady Kazusa, I'm trying to be cordial. Please do not test my patience." Thran responded, he threw the paper away and leaned down to grab a newer one. "If you do not like the way I talk, leave me alone. There are plenty of other receptionists you can be a nuisance to." His face went as pale as a ghost when the air behind him grew freezing. "I-I-I'm sorry I did not mean to say tha-"
With a huff, Kazusa turned her body. Quickly, her irritants turned to curiosity as the two people she got curious about entered the building.
Thran welcomed them with a friendly old smile, and a slight wave. Meanwhile, Kazusa beckoned them to come over. Fearful, they came. They stood tall, backs straightened.
Lucian felt sweat cake his back when she stared at him.
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. And I'm pretty sure… That you won't get in the way next time… Is that correct?"
"Y-Yes, it won't happen again."
"Good, at least you have some brains…Unlike that Elven idiot next to me."
"I-Is there a reason why you need us up here…? We were going to look at the request board…"
"Maybe, who knows? Are you that scared of me, messy hair? Ah, come on, you don't need to be." Kazusa chuckled, and pointed at Thran with her thumb. "Unless you're this ignorant fool here."
"I have a name…" Thran muttered.
"You'll only be called it once you earn it."
"****"
After a bit more back and forth, they finally were freed from their chatter shackles.
The board grew more in requests. Just as Lucian knelt down to look, he felt a hand on his shoulder. A shadow loomed over the board, Fei's ears poked her hood.
Bronya stared down at him, her normal smile replaced with a serious expression.
Fei looked over at her with wide eyes. Her heart fluttered and skipped a few beats. Whatever they heard from that familiar figure was not something they ever expected.