[Ch.3] The Intruders

[newb23]

West kept his head down as he trudged forward, the letter in his hand nearly being torn out by the wind. It wasn’t long before he reached his destination, a small cliff overlooking an even smaller village. He looked around trying to spot the familiar face that had requested him. The man was easy enough to recognize when West’s eyes laid upon him. He sat on one of the rocks, almost like a makeshift throne, overlooking the village. His body glowed a bright blue and West was still memorized by the swirling vortexes that danced within his clear cover of a body.

Slowly the man turned to face West and smiled, or at least West assumed he smiled as he could never tell. No one could as the man lacked a face but the vortexes seemed to become joyful and several even looked as if they made a happy face within his body. Standing the man made his way slowly to West and opened up his arms. “Finally you made it friend. Took to long. Oh yes you did. Much to long. West comes traveling from the west. Hahahaha. Humor,” the man spoke, his voice somewhat ethereal in nature.

“I-I actually came from the e-east.” West said and flinched slightly when the man spun on his heels to face him. “Oooo still doing the ‘afraid to speak aloud’ thing. Please West we both know that is not you oh mister grim reaper.” At these last words the man bowed almost as a sign of respect but West knew that he was truly just taunting him. “What do you want Mikal?” West spoke, his voice now more forceful and serious.

“There it is. That spine tingling, gut wrenching voice of a man who’s come to steal the souls of those who inhabit this puny little planet. Oh yes my friend that’s the voice of a devil.” “You must have some other reason than taunting to have asked me to come.” Scratching his head Mikal ‘smiled’ again. “Why else but to reminisce. Do you remember back in the day my friend. Oh those were the days. Only a handful of mages just a handful. We were a rare breed, yes oh yes. And of course what did we do when we saw this world and all of it’s surrounding beauty?” At this Mikal turned and threw his arms wide open, indicating towards the village and forestry around them. “Well we squabbled. We squabbled like a group of children. Those of us who wanted to protect humanity on it’s journey,” Mikal turned again and this time pointed to West and then himself. “Or those who wanted to crush it all.” Picking up a small rock in his hand Mikal squeezed it until dust poured out. “They had the power friend, oh yes. But so did we. They knew this oh yes. And so we fought. Fought over a toy that wasn’t even ours to begin with. Yes my friend we made mistakes.”

West tilted his head to the side wondering where Mikal was going with this. “Anyways my friend you know what happened next yes? The normals began to learn. They learned how to manipulate the magic that filled them. Was it our fault? Did they learn by watching this group of children argue over a stupid toy? My friend whatever the reason we our the ones who made it the way it is today, oh yes. But back then it was much simpler. So much simpler. Oh yes. We didn’t have rules or regulations. We decided what it took to protect. But now the mage council,” Mikal scoffed at the words he just spoke. “They somehow think they can tell us what to do and how to do it. And the most glorious thing of all is when someone is out of line they wait. Wait for someone else to come and clean it up and then take all the glory. Those sniveling snot nosed children my friend do not realize how fortunate they are. Fortunate enough that we my friend are different than we use to be.”

“Mikal there must be more of a reason for this visit.” Mikal stared at West, ‘smiling’ once again. “Oh but of course my friend. This world has become sickening to look at. We could do away with it if we truly chose to but as you once brought up long ago we are the good ones. So instead we will sit back and watch it fade. Yes oh yes. We will protect humanity but we will do nothing when they eventually derail themselves. And now haha now we move about this world dealing with the chaos in the only way we can. Me oh my friend me I’m bitter. Oh yes. Bitter and most of the time drunk. Don’t ask how my friend. You though. Your façade is even more brilliant and somehow cruel than mine. You pretend to be this person who is terrified of his own voice and yet back in the day when people heard you speak they knew oh yes they knew. I have no problem killing in order to protect but you? You seem to hate the idea now oh mister grim reaper. Which is just hilarious as your magic is meant to kill. I mean how many souls do you have in your little army now? A thousand? More? Oh yes I bet much more. My friend if any one of us is the evil one it is you. You and the way you manipulate others to think you less than you are.”

At these words West become more agitated. Smoke began to rise from his body and form around him. Mikal smiled once again. “Oooo a fight. This will be fun friend.” At those words the energy that sat inside Mikal began to swirl. “Red Dwarf.” Quickly the energy encased Mikal’s body and he charged towards West. “Battalion,” West muttered. Suddenly several blades of smoke swung at Mikal. Mikal was able to dodge most of them but one managed to sink into his side. Laughing Mikal kept on with his charge, the hole caused by the attack already closed. Quickly Mikal brought his fist to the side of West’s mask knocking the man off his feet and sending him flying. Getting back to his feet West turned towards Mikal. The smoke around West now seemed to take on a sinister shape. “Cavalry,” West shouted as a group of souls appeared behind him. “Oooo looks like we have a party going on here friend. Oh yes. Shall we play twister? Or perhaps some other sort of party game?”

Without a word West pointed his finger towards Mikal causing the army of souls to charge forward. Mikal simply stood there ‘smiling’. “Sorry friend but I have a date with a bar and a glass of whiskey.” Swiping his hand in front of him a large blue energy wave crashed into the army causing them to disappear in a puff of smoke, though the smoke was close enough to still harm Mikal with it’s corrosive aspects. Shrugging off the damage Mikal turned and made his way towards the village. “I’ll see you again old friend. Oh yes. Mister grim reaper.”

[Hitotsumami]

After the incident with the Cheshire Cat and the strange girl who had retrieved her, life seemed to go back to normal in the Guild. Days passed, and soon days became weeks. The Guild had kept clean and orderly and the guild members had plenty of time to start to learn about their fellow companions. If anything, things seemed to be going smoothly. Except for one problem.

They were receiving no missions at all. Elrond had been advertising their guild to the entire time, but seldom was it that anyone took interest. It seemed most of the towns missions were given to Atrum. Elrond couldn't blame them. Atrum was there first and more people trusted those mages over Renascence. But Elrond knew that if they could gain the respect of the townspeople, they would have enough missions to last a life time. And they really needed them; bills were stacking up.

And it was on the week anniversary of the guilds opening that the opportunity of proving themselves to the townsfolk arrived.

Elrond was in his newly furnished office. To finish it off, he had found a painting in a closet of what looked like the old Guild in a group. He placed it upon the wall and smiled. It was then that he heard the door open and someone left. He left his office and saw that West was leaving to the cliffside. West had been quiet the last week, but Elrond wasn't sure why. He thought of West as a good companion.

He was about to go and see what West was up to when a young boy suddenly arrived at the doorway. The boy had shaggy brown hair, no front teeth, overalls, and sandals, and in his hands were 3 different papers.

"Sir!" shouted out the boy. "Missions have arrived!"

Elrond's face immediately lit up and he took the papers, patting the boy on the head and flipping him a couple of coins. He had noticed the boy a few times during the week, and one day he decided he would follow the boy and see why he was being spied on. He saw that the boy had, on numerous occasions, gone through the garbage to grab Elrond's advertising that the townsfolk had thrown away and posted them across the town. "Nice job! Thanks a ton, little guy."

The boy gave a toothless grin and ran off.

Elrond looked at the papers and realized it wasn't just a single mission, but three different ones!

"Renascence Guild!" shouted Elrond so loudly anyone in the Guild, no matter their location, would hear him. "We've got some missions to complete! Let's do this!"

Elrond laid the papers on the grand table in the center of the room for the members to come and see.

The first told about snowman that had risen out of the snow and was attacking a village nearby.

The second told about a giant monster that was constantly terrorizing a second nearby town.

Finally, the third was an S-Class mission and was about a missing boy and a huge tree sprouting out of the center of a third town.

Well, they weren't for this town, but maybe this could help the local townsfolk realize just how useful Renascence was! The Guild would have to split up into teams to take on all the missions, so he left them to decide their own mission and their own teams.

[CJ]

During those weeks, the other members would have gotten to know Xing Qi a little better. They would learn her disability came from an unfortunate fall as a child and that she never considered becoming a mage until she found the Celestial Spirit Keys. Eventually, she settled with her nickname, "Qi," and stopped correcting others about it. She grew to like it. This was a new her, not the old Xing Qi that was nearly forced to take up a career in Finance.

Still, she was terrified of the sudden influx of missions.

Qi had enough money to last in her dorm doing nothing for months. She knew she had to take on a mission at one point but wasn't sure she was entirely capable of doing so.

"How come the S-Rank Mission is the one that sounds the safest?" she said with a long sigh. It seemed a heavy weight had been pressed on her as she leaned on her cane.

She upgraded her dragon-esque cane to equip her keys in its mouth. If the other members looked carefully, they would see that the two Celestial Keys were now three. This new edition seemed to only come in that day. Qi herself didn't seem all too excited about it.

"I think I'd probably be best with the snowman. Snowmen aren't too hard to fight against, right, Mister... Guild Master... Elrond?"

Qi was understandably nervous. Her greatest feat yet was taking down the strange Cheshire Cat. She didn't have much of a reputation going for her.

[Shark a' Pult]

During those weeks, the other members would not have gotten to know Alden a little better, which was just the way he liked it. He figured that after the stupid talking cat said something about him being dangerous or some drivel, the others in the guild would get suspicious or even turn him away. They didn't do that though, so while he was surprised at their lack of caution, he didn't mind it at all.

So, for the most part, he had spent the time making his clock tower to be a more hospitable place. He had gotten a cot up there and some lights, as well as some shelves and chests to store his few possessions. Also of note that after the cat event, he now never went anywhere without most if not all of his possessions, being that most of them were weapons anyway. Now though there was news of new missions abound, to which he stopped carrying more equipment up to the clock tower and set it down by the bar. Wood boards, nails, that sort of thing.

"I think I'd probably be best with the snowman. Snowmen aren't too hard to fight against, right, Mister... Guild Master... Elrond?"

"I don't know, have you ever fought a snowman before? I can't say that I have."

He didn't approach right up to the others, just the distance it took him to be able to read the job offers, which regardless was not all that far away. He was partial to the tree job himself, but Qi brought up a good point. To his assumptions, snowmen would indeed be easy to fight.

"How far away are these jobs? I don't know the area, but I can tell at least that they aren't in this town."

[newb23]

West had seated himself upon the same rock that Mikal had earlier sat upon. The place that was his and his old friends battlefield was filled with a blue eerie smoke. No animals even came near the grounds that they had once visited frequently and those that did immediately had their lives taken from them due to the haze. He had removed his mask and his hair now hung down towards his shoulders. Several small wounds covered West’s body though they appeared to be healing quite quickly. The only one that bothered him was the one that ran across his chest. Puffs of smoke rose from his mouth as he looked out over the landscape that Mikal had talked about. “Pretty.” It was the only word that West could think of at the moment to describe the view. His mind was more interested in what Mikal was doing here.

“Would you like me to heal that?” A voice asked behind West. In the haze it seemed that no one was there. Turning slightly West smiled as simple sweet smile at person using the voice. “It’s okay Rachel. I do not wish to use your soul to heal something that will heal on it’s own. By the time I leave it’ll be gone.” At these words the owner of the voice appeared from the haze. It appeared ghastly and transparent but it was obviously that of a young girl no more than five. Her hair seemed to sway back and forth as it fell past her shoulders and almost down to her ankles. He features weren't very easy to see but they seemed soft and concerned. “It’s what we are here for is it not? To help you when you need it.” “You help me by reminding me of what I must never do again Rachel. You help me battle against the people that would harm others the way I use to and that is enough. Besides I have taken enough souls that my body seems to repair itself on the residual energy so there is no need for me to absorb any of you in order to heal.” Rachel moved closer to West, placing her hand on his shoulder. “What happens when that is not enough? What will you do then?” West glanced at the young girl for a moment. “Then perhaps I will die. Though I do believe I am cursed to the point that can not happen. I have been close but every time it happens my body….my body does what is necessary to save me….Rachel I am sorry for what I did to you. I am sorry that in my grief I did not allow your soul to move on. And I am sorry that Mikal pushed me to do it. If I had just not listened you would not be here. You would not be a tool of mine.”

Seating herself next to West Rachel placed her head on his shoulder. “I am not angry at what you had to do. You and Mikal were good fathers to me. You took me in and raised me as your own. I understand what grief can do. The thought of losing someone you hold dear.”

[Kyubey]

During the weeks that passed, the guild members of Renascence would not have heard or seen much from John at all. He seemed to be more of a ghost than a fellow member of the guild, passing through seemingly at his leisure and continuing to stay at his own apartment rather than taking residence in the guild building itself. His daily routine seemed to consist of him stopping by Renascence, checking to see if any new jobs were offered, helping himself to a drink or several, and spending the rest of the day tending to his own affairs, which none of the other guild members knew anything about. If someone did try to talk to him or ask him anything, he would have brushed them off completely. As a result, he likewise did not know much about his guildmates either, and took seemingly no interest in them.

He had enough savings left over to last him a while, and what money he lacked he always seemed to produce anyhow, and there seemed to be an understanding that the less people asked about that the better. Still, in the recent days, the others in the guild might have noticed John growing a little restless during the time he was there, becoming increasingly irritable with every day he stopped by to see that there was still a lack of jobs. He reached the point where he had to consider that the funds he had would not last him forever, and he needed work somehow, honest or otherwise. Besides, while he could get by humbly on what he had, he was not the kind of guy that would ever be satisfied doing so. John always wanted a little extra. So when Elrond presented his papers to the guild, which fortunately occurred during one of John's drinking breaks, his interest was immediately perked. He looked over at the papers, his eyes glancing over the potential jobs and his mind carefully processing the costs and benefits of each one.

"How come the S-Rank Mission is the one that sounds the safest?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because it is," he explained, "The missing brat is probably the son of a noble or otherwise rich bastard. You hear these sorts of stories all the time. Some kid goes missing, people go looking for him out of a sense of obligation, find bits of him scattered across the forests somewhere, and then forget all about it until the next one happens. Or, they don't find him at all and forget about it way sooner. Only it's a bit different when the kid in question has a name on him. Then, that kid is special. It can't be any guy looking for the kid, it has to be some fancy S-Class mage. Cases like these, best thing to do is scrounge around 'till you find some usable evidence, make up some bullshit about how the poor child must have died peacefully and really, there was nothing that could have been done anyways, provide a bored, mourning noblewoman some quick comfort, then have your pockets nice and filled for a good long time." He leaned forward, and inspected the paper closely. "That's how it'd normally be, but the bit about the tree makes it a little more interesting than that."

John put a hand up to his chin and thought for a moment. What he was after was money, and the S-Class attached to the mission seemed most appealing. He was looking to profit more than anything else, and the Case of the Missing Boy and the Tree had the most promise. "Seems like a good job," he said, smirking.

[Hitotsumami]

Elrond was glad to see some of the mages taking initiative. John in particular picked up the S-Class mission about the giant tree and missing boy.

"So you want to go on that mission, huh? But it is an S-Class mission... That is kind of a problem, isn't it? Ah, you know what? I know how to fix it! John, from this point on, you are now an S-Class mage! The very first of Renascence!"

That was probably not the right way of going about creating S-Class Mages, but Elrond didn't seem to care. "As for the location, it's not that far. It's the town south of this one. Here, let me get a map and show you."

Elrond found a map close by and opened it up. He walked over to John and showed him. As he was just about to explain, he put a hand on John's shoulder, and instantly he vanished. "Oh... Well I'm sure he'll be fine!"

He then turned to Qi and Alden. "Now you two. I think you guys would actually make a great time for some reason. Out of the two missions left, I say you guys take this one." He handed them the paper that talked about the giant monster attacking a different town. "That one sounds good to you? Good!"

Without even asking their opinion, he went to give them a huge hug and give praise. But when he touched them, they two vanished. Elrond took a step back, raising an eyebrow. "Well that certainly isn't good. I need to learn to stop doing that..."

He then looked at the very last mission. Attacking snowman...

"Jupiter?" called out Elrond, comically running through the entire Guild. "Dofun? I need you guys help!"

---

As for Qi, Alden, and John, they would all find themselves standing in front of a giant tree in the center of a small village... What adventure were they about to go on...?

[CJ]

John was creeping Qi out. How could anyone look at the disappearance of a human being like that? She was glad to not be going with him. She could only imagine what kind of horrible things he had done before for monetary gain.

At the very least, she was glad to be paired with Alden, even though she wasn't exactly sure of who he was. Still, he seemed capable enough and cautious, for that matter. She frowned fiercely when Elrond suggested they go after the giant monster.

"The giant monster? But Elrond, I-"

---

The town was empty. The amount of houses suggested only a few hundred people lived there. It was entirely covered in shade. The sun had fallen behind the trees that completely surrounded the town.

Qi was shaking. What happened? Had they teleported? Had Elrond done this on purpose? She glanced at Alden, John and then looked up and cringed.

There was the aforementioned tree, standing more than 300 feet. It was the width of one of the houses, growing smack dab in the center of two of the residental buildings, ripping them apart. It was as though it had sprouted forcefully and quickly. Bits and pieces of structure were scattered on the ground before them.

"Better dead, better red, better dead."

A voice scratched through the air.

"Can't itch, will bleed. But better, better red."

The three members of Fable might have heard of the legend of Janus Monocai. He was nothing less than a freak, living for more than a hundred years without aging for no discernible reason. Everywhere he went he left a trail of blood and destruction. The best thing to do was avoid him altogether. He seemed to have a sort of eczema on his face, starting from his left jaw and rising up to his right eyebrow. The eczema grew worse around the goggles covering his eyes.

Janus hung upside down from the tree, pressing against his face with gloved hands. Despite wearing boots, he had no trouble hanging from the thick branch forty feet above the group. His long brown trench coat hung awkwardly. His head twitched when he finally noticed the three.

"F*ckers! More stupid f*ckers! How did you get here without me noticing? F*ck! Don't you know this town's mine until I can get this little f*ck! Toothpick shit, tough douche f*cker, f*cking cripple loli."

The rogue mage swung up and crouched on the branch.

"This cocksucker is my problem! I'm going to recruit him whether he likes it or not! I don't care how! Where to? I can't tell you! Classified, classified, classified!"

"Recruit? Why? Where?" Qi asked hesitantly.

"Atrum, of course! The kid's got an insane amount of magic. They asked me to fetch him."

Janus face-faulted when he realized he answered the question.

"Hey! Stop asking me f*cking questions, whore! You deserve death! Dead Man's Paws."

He raised his hands and, with the motion, a skeleton emerged from the ground. It shook the dirt and roots off of it and opened its jaw to emit a roar. It was the living and moving skeleton of a saber tooth tiger.

"Regrettable Wish."

The tiger jumped at Qi, threatening to bite and tear at her small form. She screamed and brought her staff up. The keys glowed but did not react.

[Shark a' Pult]

"That's nice, didn't even have a change to get my gun. Thank you guild master, thank you very much."

Alden had actually not heard of Janus before, though this was not unexpected. Since he wasn't from Fiore himself, many of the customs and traditions were outside of his knowledge, and it took some getting used to. Some things he had picked up since his coming to this land, others he had not, and this was clearly one of them. When the group made the teleport, he looked around, making out the environment initially. He gave the tree an odd look, but beyond that, it just fell under the main concern of this rogue mage perched on a branch.

"Does this prick have anything to do with the job?"

He hadn't gotten to really read over the mission description all that well, so he just deferred to Qi on the matter. When he saw the skeleton emerging from the ground though, that changed his stance on the matter. Since he had been in the middle of moving things back at the guild before Elrond teleported him, he didn't have any of his usual preferred weapons with him, just his usual attire. That might be enough though, and taking off his helmet he moved to intersect the tiger skeleton. It was his intent simply to smash against it with a double-handed downward swing holding his helmet. He didn't know how strong the construct may be as it was magically animated, however he hoped that the simple difference in strength between metal and bone would win out in his favor.

If not, well, then he would be mauled by a tiger skeleton. At least that was the hope, rather than letting Qi just get ripped in half in the first attack.

[Kyubey]

John was pleasantly surprised to find that it was so easy to be promoted to S-Class. Certainly he deserved such a rank, at least he imagined he did, so he was glad to have skipped the tiring steps normally required to get there. Now, good jobs would be coming to him a lot easier, and, more importantly, he wouldn't have to compete for them with his supposed guildmates.

Also surprisingly convenient was being teleported suddenly to what he guessed was exactly the place he needed to be. Upon looking around, he did seem to be at the location specified in the mission details, what with the giant tree in the middle of town. Being in one place and then without warning being in another would take some getting used to, if it was possible to get used to such a thing at all, but he didn't mind. Unlike some other members of Renascence, John needed no tools or special preparations before a job. His magic was simple, and available whenever he needed it.

His content mood did not last long, though. Before John could even set about accomplishing his task, two unwanted others, Qi and Alden, appeared moments later. Why those two, of all people, were there, John couldn't imagine, but he didn't like it. He wanted to work alone. He had to work alone. Other people would have slowed him down, failed to keep up with him, or kept him back with rules and standards they expected him to follow. Put simply, it was a pain to even think about, and John wanted none of it. Even more importantly, if the job was shared, the earnings would be as well. If John had known that those two earnest young mages would also be going on this venture, he probably would have picked another job.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." He muttered, before turning to address his teammates properly. "Okay, listen. Don't get in my way,  try not to get yourselves hurt, and we all leave this town happy. You kids got that?"

It was only when he got that out of the way that John paid attention to Janus. He had, in fact, heard the stories of the rouge mage, but at the moment he didn't make a connection to the Janus of legend and the irritating little bugger in the tree. John sort of half-listened to the words Janus was spewing out, being oddly used to hearing that sort of language being spoken on a regular basis. The evil mage's words seemed like standard fare to John, who heard that sort of thing before, several times in fact. The only word that really caught his intrest was "Atrum." Again with that guild... he thought, becoming more than a little annoyed with Atrum's name and methods. If anything, hearing that made John more eager to beat up the cocky little mage, just to give his associates a nice lesson.

"Alright, pal, your sideshow's nice and all, but I've got work to do. Honestly, I don't give a damn about you or your causes, but it's getting in my way, so why don't you get your stupid ass down here so we can talk some more about who deserves death, huh?"

When the skeleton rose from the ground, John wasted no time in going into a fighting pose, but loosened just a little when he found that the conjured tiger went for Qi rather than him. It appeared as though the others present had some use after all, as the fight would be much more difficult if he was the only target of Janus's attacks. Still, that Qi reacted by screaming in terror was a huge embarrassment, and made John question why she was even in a guild in the first place if such a spell terrified her so much. Having seen that Alden was handling the tiger for the moment, John turned his attention away from his guildmates and back at Janus, who, as it seemed, was wide open.

"Bad move, pal."

John held his hand out, palm extended upwards, and a sphere of magical dark matter began to form just above it. It took a moment for the black circle to reach full power, but when it did it seemed to both draw light in while emanating power, making a faint humming noise, and was a far deeper black than any night. Once the circle was of a good size, John hurled it straight at Janus with a great amount of power, hoping to knock the mage right off his branch.

It seemed he was wrong about this job after all. Hell, at the rate things were going, John might actually find the missing kid before the mission was done.

[CJ]

The sabertooth tiger seized in its attack and turned its skull toward Alden. Even without eyes, it likely felt like it was glaring at him. It took one step forward with a low growl. It prepared to lunge at Alden but fell apart when John's dark matter attack hit Janus in the chin.

The rogue mage went spinning off of the branch and smacked hard on one of the roots. He gasped and screamed, feeling and grabbing at a bright red rash that formed on his chin. John would probably note his skin discoloration wasn't a usual response to being hit with such magic.

"Ack! Ack! What the f*ck is this stuff?" he squeaked, thrashing about.

"I think," Qi said carefully as she slowly stood. "I think this is Janus Monocai. I've only seen him once or twice outside of my window before, running around my town, creeping people out. He wears so much clothes because he's allergic to essentially everything. I'm allergic to cinnamon. If I eat it, swells up my throat to the point I can't breathe. If we can get dirt or grass or really anything on his face or skin, something similar will probably happen."

She smiled graciously at Alden for saving her life. Her fingers gripped onto her cane fiercely. She seemed to be determined not to falter again.

"Shut the f*ck up, you bitch! That's f*cking cheating! That's..."

Janus noticed something. Closer to the ground, he seemed to understand something about the three people standing before him. His limbs snapped as he rose up from the ground and cocked his head. The belt on his trench coat hung on his lower back like two long tails.

"That's..." he muttered again.

He looked at his gloves and felt at his chin, which was still bright red. His animal-like eyes seem a bit more dull and remained a cold black color.

"I..."

For a moment, he looked as though he was about to cry. He tensed up and nodded his head forward a few times.

"I'm so sorry. Get out of here. Please, I don't want to kill you too. Please, go. Before I get mad again."

Janus clambered down the large root and went about a new business collecting rumble and debris. He picked up a piece and held it behind his back, as though expecting someone or something to grab onto it for him. Nothing did, however, and he continued on picking up various objects for some unknown project.

"Um... is this the same guy we were talking to before?" Qi asked suspiciously, though not with some apparent sympathy. She looked back and forward between John and Alden, wondering if they should ask about the boy or continue pestering Janus. The sabertooth skeleton remained scattered motionlessly beneath them.

[Shark a' Pult]

"Okay, listen. Don't get in my way, try not to get yourselves hurt, and we all leave this town happy. You kids got that?"

"Call me a kid again and you'll wish you hadn't."

Alden didn't have to focus on John to respond to him, and he wasn't about to anyway. He had a vicious skeleton to deal with and a summoner to protect. Only, it didn't really matter because the skeleton fell apart soon enough. Placing his helmet back on his head in a single swinging motion, he watched in annoyance at the change that the rogue mage went through before their eyes.

"Um... is this the same guy we were talking to before?"

"You think he's allergic to swords? I can hit him from here, no problem."

In response Alden drew his broadsword from it's sheath, the only actual weapon he had on him when Elrond went and teleported them. He hefted his arm back as though he was going to throw it like a boomerang, but waited for the opinion of Qi. She seemed to be pretty grounded, so he'd defer to her on the matter before he lopped the strange rogue's head off with a spinning, flying sword.

John was also there, but he didn't give a toss what the dragon slayer thought.

[Kyubey]

"Call me a kid again and you'll wish you hadn't."

"Ah man, I'm real scared now. Nice try, Squirt."

If Alden wasn't a grown man, John might have found his attempt at sounding intimidating to be somewhat cute. Instead, the man's annoyance and subsequent anger struck the older thug as being just like every other young punk who tried to sound tough, thinking the way to earn respect would be to get themselves worked up over any given slight. While John had yet to really form an opinion of the young man until that point, he certainly had one now.

He raised a single eyebrow when Janus made the shift from cocky psychopath to frightened little wimp. From the mage's earlier behavior, John never would have guessed the man to be a coward. And the part about the allergies was all too convenient, and led one to ask why someone so vulnerable to the world would be out climbing trees in the first place. Either way, now that Janus was helpless, and seemed to stop fighting entirely, John's job became much easier. Very soon, much sooner than he anticipated, he would be able to move onto the next part of the mission.

"Don't tell me you think you can fool me, pal," John sneered at the quivering Janus. "And stop acting like you can do a damn thing to us after getting your ass kicked like that. Pisses me off. I'm sorry to say, we're not goin' anywhere, not until we know where the missing kid is. So really, you could make this all much easier on yourself, if you just tell us what you know. We want everything, pal. And the more time you take, the less I'll care about what Squirt here does to you." At this, he shot a glance at Alden, who he thought to be severely getting ahead of himself as far as the investigation went, but still could serve a purpose. "You understand?"

[CJ]

(OOC: I'm posting this from my phone so I'll add colors at a later date. Please PM me if there are any concerns or errors.)

"I think... he's probably allergic to swords. I know people can be allergic to metal. He likely is too."

Qi glanced at Alden nervously. She finally noticed his guns were missing. She figured not having his weapons must have been horribly inconvenient. She still did not know much about him but she trusted his sword suggestion was the benefit of the missing boy... hopefully

Then there was John. Was this how all matters of the guild were to be settled? This situation was distressing enough but she couldn't help but wonder how easy it probably would be for John to kill her, Alden or another guild member for the sake of a misson. She shuddered at the thought.

"Listen," Janus said cautiously, looking back and forth. "I can't tell you what I know about any of this. If I do, I'll kill you and I'll probably enjoy it too. What I can say is that the boy's closer than you think. Really close. Obviously close."

"The boy's you?" Qi asked, not really thinking.

"What the flying f*ck are you spouting? Of course it's not me you dumb f*ck! You said you've seen me before!"

"Oh... right," she nearly whimpered.

Janus's face fell again and he resumed his solemn composure. He looked over the three again with evident, heavy regret and then went back to work, picking up debris and tossing it into a pile.

"If you want to kill me," he sighed with his back turned, "don't worry about doing it quickly for my sake. You should probably do it for yours. But, if slow is your thing, that's fine. These years have made me used to pain. All pain. Except that weird magic just now... oo-kee... that was pretty new. But still, most pain."

Janus scratched the back of his ear. Dry irritated skin fell onto his shoulder.

"I'm better dead."

His head fell slowly forward in a hunch. His left ring finger snapped into a jagged, horrible twist.

[Shark a' Pult]

"Ah man, I'm real scared now. Nice try, Squirt."

"Squirt... that's funny."

There were plenty of people in the guild who were easygoing enough to just shrug it off, and or otherwise let John carry on, but Alden wasn't one of those people. He'd walked Earth Land from Bellum to Bosco, from Minstrel to Seven, and he'd hunted mages all the way. John reminded him of a hundred and one others before, the sort that believed age and experience were mutually dependent. Well Alden was living proof of the contrary, and he wasn't a squirt, much less a kid. In response he took of the lanyard he had on, and started shaking the small attached bottle like a cola can.

"You understand?"

After that John would be hit by a jet of water with the force akin to a fire hydrant, enough to knock most men down. Of course it was possible that he simply get out of the way or block with some magic, but it wasn't like there was any notification or warning preceding the torrent of water. Plus, it didn't even come from where he was facing, as Alden walked up from behind. He was holding the small bottle in his hand with some difficulty, trying to control it as the powerful stream of water blasted forth, but he had had some practice with this before. He kept it up until he was relatively close to Janus, and didn't just focus on one area of the dragon slayer, waving his hand back and forth in an attempt to drench the entirety of the mage and push him away. It was not long after that the torrent began to subside and became more like a faucet, at which point he twisted a cork in to seal the bottle once more.

"If the kid is close, then we shouldn't have any trouble finding him. You, schizo, stay out of our way and we won't have to do any killing."

Clearly he was speaking to Janus, before he looked back to Qi. She seemed to be the brains of the operation, or at least, she seemed more familiar with the details relevant to the mission than Alden did.

"Alright then summoner girl, where do we start?"