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[PP-F21] Trust Has To Be Earned w/ Lessa


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"I know... It's like I said. If we are lucky and they didn't notice that one of them is dead yet, we might have a chance." It really didn't matter if they would be lucky or not. Either way it was a risky and dangerous operation that very well could get them killed in the process. 

Aereth also crossed his arms over his chest, before leaning against a nearby wall. "You seem to know the risks that are connected with such a plan. And you still want to go through with it?" It was the best thing they were able come up with until now, but the idea left a bitter taste in Aereth's mouth. He really didn't like the fact that he had to risk one player to free another. Some questions flooded his mind. "Would you really trust me enough to go through with it though? You wouldn't be wearing any armor or weapon. The items have to be at the battle ready spots in your inventory so you could equip them in an instant. Also..." his voice grew darker. "How far are you ready to go, if sh*t is starting to hit the fan? I know how they will fight, and I know how I fight. Until the very end. It could very well be that you end a life today if you decide to come with me..."

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Her response came quickly, easily, and without thought. She did not have to think, to reflect, on this particular point, for her to know that it was right. "Sounds like the kind of girls these men target are weak, and the kind that need saving. I'm neither of those things." Then, recognizing that she was beginning to near the borderline of being overly dramatic, she withdrew slightly. "We've already established that there's no trust between us," she stated plainly, giving no indication as to how she felt about the issue. "But if this is all some complex scheme on your part, and you're actually working with them, you have way too much time on your hands."

Sensing the tension that hung thick in the air, Riker paced from the man to Lessa, and pressed his face against her calf. She reached down to scratch him between the ears, and found herself oddly calmed by the gesture. Had she even realized that she needed calming? "I can fight my way out," she said suddenly. She spoke with the certainty of a person trying to convince herself, as well as him. "And I'll do what I have to." It would be self defense, after all. She would avoid the glaring orange icon, and the limitations that came with it. Not to mention the scorn. But could she live with the guilt? Her gaze dropped from her new companion to her old familiar, and she frowned down at him. She was already so full of the stuff, both her heart and soul black, and rotting with it. What was a little more guilt, eh?

"Besides." The last part was spoken distantly, as if it were an afterthought. "They'll all buy our story about us being strangers, because we are. I don't even know your name."

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“Who’s the try-hard now?” The brunette mumbled as she declared how she was a strong and independent woman who ain’t need nobody. Were the situation not as serious he would have chuckled and teased her about it, but unfortunately there was no time for that. 

Back to business. “You’ll need to trust me there. If everything goes south I’ll free you and you’ll immediately have to prepare to fight.” Aereth was having serious doubts that the girl had what it takes for a fight until the end. “The most important thing will be to know when to fight. In an ideal scenario you won’t even have to fight.” Aereth said as he lowered his gaze and closed his eyes. “The scenarios we just discussed are worst case assumption. If we manage to trick them and get them to do a prisoner exchange, I’ll wait for the perfect moment, free you and then you have to take the girl and make your escape. I’ll try and hold them back as long as possible before following you two. Meeting point will be here again after we lost them. If you have some tunnel or teleport crystals that would be great...” the brunette said, lifting his gaze and locking his gaze in her. Some of the usual hardness was gone replaced by a warm and supporting aura. “We can do this.”

Mobile Post, beware of typos and general bad grammar. 

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She ignored the jibe. It was probably justified, which was precisely why she refused to dignify it with a response.

Why was trust such an issue here? Had he not, only fifteen minutes ago, made his lack of trust very apparent? Now he was asking him to trust her? Lessa could not decide if she found it frustrating, or fascinating. Maybe a dash of both.

"Hmm," she murmured, studying the man down the tip of her nose. Then she shrugged. They were in a hurry, and there would be time for philosophical debates later. "Trust is earned," she stated simply, once more throwing his own words back at him. "I don't have to trust you to work with you on this." She shifted her weight, finding her feet again, and turning toward the opposite end of the entrance hall. It ran all the way through the hall, with smaller hallways branching off at random intervals. Some led to bedrooms, others to a kitchen, practice areas, and lounges. But everything was centered around the single long, wide corridor, which ran from the front door to the back. 

He had even dodged the inquiry as to his name. If he could not even be forthcoming with that information, why would she trust him?

"I don't need your trust to get through this," she concluded, "and you don't need mine. So we'll just keep our mutual goal in mind for now, and say that's enough." It would have to be. With a nod of her blonde head, she motioned to the other doorway. It opened in a cluster of rocks, which nearly blended in to the dark cave walls. From there, it would be only a quick walk to the city's center. "Lead the way."

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Ignoring the question about his name seemed to have done nothing good to the tense atmosphere between the two of them. Even his attempt to calm her down again resulted in nothing. Either way, they had and common goal and they would make it work somehow. 

Aereth nodded and followed her through the guild hall back into the cave towards the city center. "Here, I'll give you the map data from the hideout." he added, while sharing his complete map data, which was fairly complete aside from a few blacked out spots, as well as the coordinates of the hideout with her. "Let's go."

The walk was fairly quiet as the pair made their way through the 22nd floor to the hideout. Only once they drew closer to it Aereth spoke up again. "We're almost here. Please store away your weapon." he said, patiently waiting until she was done. "I know you won't like what I'll be doing next, but I'll need to tie you up to make everything look more authentic." Said, done. The brunette fetched a rope out of his inventory, tying her hands behind her back and fixing her arms close to her body, before hoisting her up on his right shoulder. 

A couple of minutes later he finally arrived at the entrance of the hideout. He was as calm as always, all of his emotions locked away behind a mask of indifference as he approached the already alerted guards. "Oi. I need to speak with the man in charge here." the brunette told the two heavily armored men. "I have an offer you guys might like." after that he threw Lessa directly at the feet of the two guards, pointing his black blade at her. 

The two men were confused beyond hope. Never had they seen a stranger approach them so bluntly, throwing a female player at their feet demanding to speak with their boss. They were nervous and clearly overwhelmed with the situation. Usually they would just drive away anybody unfamiliar but this time it was different. After some tense moments and a few whispered sentences both of them agreed not to simply drive him away. One of them turned around without another word, slowly vanishing into the cave like hideout "You will wait here with me. He is going to report to our boss and we'll see what happens next. And for f*cks sake. Don't try anything fancy." The remaining guard growled at Aereth in an weak attempt to threaten him...

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All was going to plan. He played his part beautifully, she had to admit. Though she did not care for the sensation of being tied up, she understood that it was entirely necessary for their ploy to work. And besides, she felt a little thrill at being tossed over his broad shoulder, though she would never, in a million years, admit as much. How had her day taken such a dramatic turn? If someone had told her an hour ago that she would be not in her own comfy bed, but tossed bag-of-potatoes style over a player killer's shoulder, she would have busted a gut. Yet here she was.

Lessa held up her end of the bargain too, squirming a bit for good measure as her "captor" neared the hideout. And though her cry of pain when she was thrown to the ground was not entirely staged, the small whimpers certainly were. She recognized that showing even a shred of courage would contradict her damsel in distress persona. She could not give them a reason to suspect who, or what, she actually was. A former clearer of floors. A guild leader. A goddamned badass, when she put her mind to it. The obvious confusion that rolled off the bandits in waves demonstrated that, yes, everything was going to plan.

That was, until the boss walked out.

Actually, no. Walked was too plain a word. Slipped? Slinked? Swayed? Slithered? Jesus, the woman seemed to pour out of the doorway, the sunlight shimmering off the black pants and corseted top. Where Lessa had been expecting a pudgy Italian mafia-boss, she saw a character out of a bad BDSM porno. Or a very good one, if you were into tight-lipped smirks and beady little eyes that made your skin crawl.

"Well now," the boss began in a voice that was as sensual as musky perfume, and twice as potent. "What do we have here?" She reached a hand for Lessa, who, remembering her role, began to tremble helplessly. She dropped her face, letting her blonde hair shield her like a curtain. When the other woman's fingers slipped past the locks, and gently traced Lessa's cheek, it was true horror that suddenly gripped her. The boss's long, red nails had been sharpened to lethal tips.

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Again, Aereth's left eyebrow started to move up towards its seemingly new favorite position as he saw the boss coming out of the hideout. This was certainly not what the brunette was expecting. He eyed her from head to toe, seemingly just ogling at the REALLY offensive and provocative outfit she wore, but in reality he was checking for any signs of weapons or armor. "Definitely not the heavy armor type and no obvious weapons..." he mentally concluded. 

Her sensual voice finally brought him back to the reason he was here to begin with. "Well, as your... friends... surely told you already, I'm here for a deal. And I would like to be done here rather quickly so I already know what you guys are doing for a business." Aereth said, blade still pointed at Lessa. "And honestly: I don't care. But you see, I make my money with mercenary work. I was hired to find girl. Short blonde hair, 17 years old, not higher than 5 foot 2, named Lyanna. You see... Her boyfriend is running out of funds and thus hired me with his last coin to find a way of getting his girl out of her... Let's say tight spot." With only the boss and two guards around, they might even be able to fight their way out of the situation. "But I know that nothing is for free, so I offer this girl as a replacement. A prisoner exchange, so to say. She's having a small guild with no allies, and surely more funds than that poor bastard." he then broke eye contact with the female and looked at the tied up blonde at the ground. "And besides that... She doesn't even look half bad if I may say so..."

 

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The sound the boss made was an unnerving cross between a moan and purr as she considered the player killer's words. Then her red lips pulled back from pearl-white teeth, and she beamed. "I like you," she informed him. "I like how you think. And you're not half bad yourself, when it comes to looks. Pity that I'm more interested in the fairer sex." At the mention, her fingers clenched, dragging those perfectly manicured talons along Lessa's tanned skin. The girl winced, sucking in breath at the sudden sting of pain, and blossoming warmth across her cheek. The boss's hand moved to Lessa's chin, which she used to tilt the girl's head back. When their gazes met, the older woman's thin eyebrows rose with excitement.

"Boys," she stated suddenly. Given the way the muscled goonies leapt to attention, the blonde decided they were used to taking orders in such a manner. "Go bring out this Lyanna, and hand her over to our new friend here." Her eyes lifted to Lessa's companion's as she mentioned him, and they stayed there as she spoke again. "And take this one to my room directly, please." Her hand lovingly stroked Lessa's head, though her gaze never wavered. Lessa was fortunate that she was too busy being scooped up by a bandit to see the boss's quick wink. If she had, she might have been physically ill.

As it was, her blue eyes were wide as she tried to catch one final glance at her partner before being hauled away. Her mind was racing, new scenarios playing out, new probabilities being weighed. The boss's personal quarters would likely be more heavily guarded, and therefore, harder to break out of. The first tendrils of panic were beginning to slow her thinking, and gray her vision. 

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Aereth slightly bowed at the compliment of the woman. "While on the one side it might be a shame that somebody as you more interested in the 'fairer' sex, I cannot deny that I'm also a little relieved to hear that. I wouldn't enjoy to see myself down in the dirt like our blonde pearl over there." Aereth replied, a small smirk on his face. "Besides... Who knows, maybe I'll come here more often if the money is right.."

On the outside totally calm, the brunette wasn't very comfortable with how things were proceeding. Though the deal seemed to be going through just as Aereth had expected, they were already trying to take her away, thus lowering the chances of a joint breakout. As soon as the thug had picked her up, Aereth's blade shot forward, only stopping mere inches away from the guys throat. "Nah, nah, nah. Not so fast." Aereth said, his playfulness now completely gone again. "As happy as I am for you to agree to our deal, first I wanna see the goods. And after I confirmed her identity you can have her. There's only one thing in here that I pay for in advance.." Oooh, he didn't like where this was going. He was playing with fire and he knew it. But he wouldn't risk to loose both girls and go home empty handed.

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Lessa's captor halted so suddenly that he nearly lost his hold on her. Though the woman could not see the blade, she was able to see her companion's feet, and how they had moved considerably closer. His words, and the fierceness with which he delivered them, suggested that he had drawn his weapon. Would it all fall apart here, already? Would the situation crumble into chaos, all while she dangled helplessly from some brute's shoulder? It would be just her luck, honestly.

A tense silence fell, and it dragged long enough that Lessa tried to prop herself up against the burly man's muscled back. If she could only twist a little, and see the boss, she might be able to have a better handle on the situation. But just as she was maneuvering herself into a suitable position, the bandit gave her a good shake, sending her long body flopping back against him. And as her cheek pressed to the sweat-damp cotton of his shirt, she grit her teeth. She hated not being able to understand what was happening around her.

The boss voice, soft as silk, put an end to the quiet. "Dravin, you go get the girl, then. Bring her out." Even as she gave an order, her voice came as soft as a lover's whisper. It was honestly quite unsettling, but Lessa had to respect how easily the woman controlled her grunts. They were wrapped around her long, pointy finger.

"Yes, miss," he answered, before ducking back into the headquarters. Still unable to see, Lessa was forced to hang and wait, attempting to slow her racing heart, and ignore the pounding in her head. He returned promptly, passing through Lessa's view only briefly. In that flash, she was able to catch a quick glimpse of a smaller girl in a blue sundress, slung in a similar manner over the man's shoulder. Bastard, was her first thought, the sight sending a fiery lance of hatred through her. The panic was chased away in a heartbeat, leaving only a white-hot anger. The girl Lessa had seen hung as limp as a ragdoll, all of the fight beat out of her. How dare they?

In her rage, the player hardly noticed the other three men who now flanked the man called Dravin.

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Aereth relaxed again as he heard the order spoken by the female player. They were getting her for him. Good. He slowly removed the blade from the grunt's throat and lowered it. 

Just some moments later the other man came back. On the one side, Aereth was relieved to see that they brought the girl, she looked just like in the picture he had seen from her boyfriend, brother or whatever, but on the other side he cursed inwardly at the other three men who followed Darvin out of the hideout. As good as he was with his blade, and even if he would be able to free Lessa immediately, he couldn't best six players in combat. His mind went into overdrive in the couple of moments before the grunt set down the girl in front of him. "Attack or waiting?" was the question that bounced around in his head. 

Ultimately he listened to the calmer voice of reason. His phase katana slowly went back into the sheath on his hip while he took a hold of the girl forcing her to look up at him for a couple of moments. He didn't like what he saw. The girl looked broken, empty even. He didn't even want to attempt to think about what they had done to her. Instead he forced her to his right side before turning to the boss again, a pleased smirk on his face. "Though I am sorry for my earlier behavior, being the orange merc that I am, it is pretty common for me to get scammed out of my deal. I really have to thank you for the cooperation in this. The goods are perfectly fine. You can have blondie." The words came out smoothly, accompanied with a small bow. And just like that a plan formed inside of his head. The smirk turned into a smile as he rose up again. "How about you take a break from the whole 'I just like the fairer sex' thing? I know a place just some minutes away from here. Great food, good drinks. We could 'celebrate' our successful deal..." he spoke.

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"Take a break from it?" the woman purred back. Even through the silk of her tone, Lessa could hear the pleasure and humor. That was a good sign, at least. "I could hardly do that, even for a date as cute as yourself." While Lessa could not see it, she could easily imagine the way the boss' eyes flashed devilishly as she considered the proposal. "But I have never been the kind of woman to turn down a meal, and the chance to be pampered." Were the situation not so dire, Lessa might have rolled her eyes. But instead, she kept them closed. She hoped it might help her forget that her face was presently in a puddle of burly man back sweat.

"Go dispense of your new toy," the boss continued, surely referring to Lyanna. "Tell me where this place is, and we will meet there in half an hour. I'll need to get changed." Her voice took on a sort of melodious lilt as she added, "Perhaps my new toy can help me pick out an outfit." Lessa grimaced. The way in which the other player spoke of women, as if they were play things to be traded, disgusted her. Somehow, it worked to freeze her blood cold, and light a fire of anger inside of her. She nearly growled when the boss spoke again. "Does she have a name?"

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"I'm glad to hear that. You know the Underground Waterfalls? " he asked. "Meet me there and we'll have a nice evening. And..." he said while taking a better hold of the girl right next to him. "We'll see about that once we're done with the 'foreplay'... I mean dinner... So if you would excuse me, I need to collect some well earned money." The brunette shot back in a smooth tone and started walking away, only turning around for the last question. "I don't know. She didn't tell me when I snatched her away. Though I liked to call her 'blondie'. But I'm sure she'll tell you if you ask friendly enough." And with that he became smaller and smaller with every step. 

As soon as the entrance was out of sight, the brunette picked up the girl, threw he over his shoulder and started sprinting towards the guild hall. He needed to be fast. The timeframe he bought was very small. And he needed to get Lessa out of there before the woman would come back. 

Being handled in the way she was, at leas some life seemed to come back to the girl as the winds started to kick up due to Aereth's rather high speed charge. "Don't worry! You're safe now. I was hired to get you out of there, but you have to trust me." he said, and he could swear he saw the girl nod from the corner of his eyes. Just some minutes later he finally reached Lessa's guild hall and put the girl inside of an empty room. "Stay here. I need to get my partner back from those psychos. Lock the door and don't let anybody besides me in, understood?"

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Lessa succeeded in turning her body so that she could watch her companion depart. Blondie, she thought with a mixture of admiration and annoyance. She appreciated how well he had played the part, convincing the mob boss that he was the perfect scoundrel. The annoyance was because his performance had been a little too good. Perhaps this was where the matter of trust had come in. Would he really come back for her? In truth, she was beginning to experience the first flickers of doubt. She kept replaying the flippant way he had referred to her, and the nickname he had thrown out so casually. Probably because they had never actually exchanged names, something that still did not sit right with her.

But before she had too much time to reflect, she was bounced on the massive man's shoulder as he attempted to readjust his hold. At the same time, she heard the boss speak. "Bring Blondie to my room, and draw me a bath. I plan to make the most of my thirty minutes." The curvaceous woman's eyes flashed devilishly, before she slipped in ahead of her minion. "If I had more than thirty minutes, I'd make the most of you first."

Lessa understood the comment was for her, and recognized the implication of it. So instead, she did her best to ignore it while surveying their surroundings. Simple walls with few decorations. Various closed doors, and hallways branching in many directions. A left turn, and then a right, and another right. How big is this place? Her mind was still reeling, trying to remember the path they had taken, when the moved into a massive room.

Here was where the decorations had been kept, like a stockroom in a department store. Paintings, statues, frilly pillows and rugs covered what seemed like every inch. As she was unceremoniously dumped onto a monster bed, she saw an elaborate lace canopy spread out overhead. It was interior decor overload, and somehow fitted the boss perfectly.

"Wait here for me," the other woman purred as her brute returned from the adjoining bathroom, then slipped out the door. He closed it behind with a sharp click. "I'm just going to take a quick bath, and then you can help me pick out somewhere to wear." Her eagerness pulsed like an electric charge in her velvety voice, and she disappeared from view.

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Only after three more times of telling her that she would be alright and safe, the girl locked the door after Aereth left. He immediately fetched the long black hooded cloak from his inventory and threw it over his body, hiding his face and all of his armor. This would be a tricky one. He needed to get to the entrance of the hideout before the boss would leave for their dinner. The rest of the plan... Well... Let's just say it was still a work in progress. 

And so the dark figure dashed through the dark floor, altering his way not to risk running into her. He had activated his Hiding skill in combination with the Blindside mod almost immediately as he left the guildhall. To anybody that might see him he would have just looked like a fast moving black blur, due to him pushing all the strength and speed he had at his disposal into that mad sprint, even activating the Charge skill to speed himself up more and pushing himself to the limit of his avatar. Strangely enough, it was in moments like these where he managed to have his clearest and calmest moments. Somehow the adrenaline rush, the stress and fear managed to flick a switch inside of his head enabling him to analyze the situation and come up with a plan. And today was no different. An idea formed inside of his head.

Once he came into viewing distance to the cave, Aereth immediately hid behind a group of bigger rocks. Looking at his HUD he noticed that he had around 15 minutes left until the meeting. Taking into consideration that the meeting point was around 10 walking minutes away from the hideout and that a woman of that caliber would almost surely come too late to a dinner invitation, the brunette choose to stay and wait for some time before jumping into action.

He could already feel the headache forming in the front part of his virtual brain as he indeed saw the woman slowly walk out of the cave into the direction of the Underground Waterfalls. Maybe he was lucky for once and the angry mob of players would encounter her and maybe even buy him some more time.

Two minutes after the boss was out of sight, Aereth stealthily moved to towards the entrance while activating his <<Disguise>> skill. His features started to blur and once the transformation was done he was looking like an exact copy of the boss. He made sure to adjust his newly gained breasts and dropped his hiding skill to reveal the suggestive figure of the woman.

The guards looked surprised at first, but a simply explanation calmed them down. "I forgot to bring some.... Toys..." Aereth purred as he walked past them, making sure to walk just as the woman he was disguising as did all the time. Once inside Aereth moved through the hallways in search for the 'master bedroom'...  

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The moment the boss was out of site, Lessa began fiddling with her bindings. Her partner in crime had tied them in a way that Lessa should be able to slip them off with a bit of work, and after only a few seconds, she had done so. Good, she thought. Something was finally going right in this whole mess of a plan. If her luck held, maybe she would get out without ever having to speak to that awful lady again.

It was with that positive thought that the blonde rolled from the impossibly soft bed, crouched low, and dashed soundlessly toward the door. She held her breath as she eased the door open, peeked out, and then closed it as quietly as possible. The hallway was empty, which was all she could have hoped for. And if she had memorized the path well enough, she would be alright. She could do this. 

Moving into a jog, Lessa called up her HUD. The twinkle of chimes seemed to boom in the small space, and she immediately winced. There was no doubt in her mind that someone had heard, which meant she would need to move fast. Hell Rose, her massive pink claymore, materialized on her back. The rest of her armor would have to wait, however, as it would be too loud and bulky for such a mission. But the weapon gave her at least one more option, and it made her feel safer as well. The confidence, after so long feeling helpless, was as powerful a weapon as the sword.

One turn, and then another, and her good luck still was not letting up. She knew she had only two more to go, if she had calculated correctly. Freedom. 

And then she found herself facing the boss. Lessa's heart plummeted, and in that moment of shocked disappointment, she thought she might be sick. How had the woman circled around her? But could she be surprised? The boss knew these halls - Lessa did not. Her vision hazed, but only briefly, as years of Aincrad instinct kicked in. Widening her stance, Lessa drew Hell Rose. "I am not above killing you," she stated, pumping all of the hatred she felt into those six words. She hoped it might drown out the fear.

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Two turns... That was all the disguised brunette managed to walk before he almost bumped into the blonde woman that was the reason for him being here again in the first place. Fear and disappointment were clearly evident on the delicate face, even as she unsheathed her weapon and pointed it at the brunette PKKer. Refraining from teasing her in a situation like this, Aereth moved one of his fingers in front of his mount, signalizing to be quiet while deactivating his Disguise skill. After a couple of seconds his original appearance was standing in front of Lessa. 

Unfortunately Lessa wasn't his only problem since he could clearly hear steps that were coming closer to them. "Sh*t. The guards seem to come our way..." he thought while materializing a simple potion in his free hand. "Oh, this is such a bad idea..." The brunette then pulled back his hand and threw the potion deeper into the hallway Lessa had emerged just some moments ago. 

While the item was quickly moving towards the wall at the end of the hallway, Aereth quickly grabbed Lessa by one of the arms she was holding her blade with, hoping she wouldn't stab him, and dragged her inside of the nearest room, that conveniently was just next to them. With a loud scattering noise the potion bottle broke and dissolved into tiny polygons and the guards started rushing towards the source of that sound. 

"We need to get out of here. Now! Quickly!" Aereth told Lessa in a hushed voice, moments after the guards rushed past the room the two of them were hiding in.

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It was confusion that ghosted across her face first. Then surprise. Then relief. He came back.

Later, she might commend him for his quick thinking - the disguise route was pretty genius. She might even drum up the courage to thank him for coming back for her. But at the moment, she knew that the pair had more important things to focus on. As her companion grabbed her arm and dragged her along, she clumsily shifted her heavy weapon from one hand to the other, attempting to keep it out of the way. She generally preferred to handle the Claymore with two hands, which made this particular action a bit difficult. But the idea of slowing to sheath it, again rendering herself unarmed and vulnerable, was even less desirable.

So she bumped along behind him as they burst from their hiding spot, their long strides falling into sync as they pounded toward the door. Lessa knew she would fight her way out, were she forced to do so. She had never raised her blade to another player, barring duels, and the concept iced her blood in her veins. But this was life or death, and if she were asked to take a life, she would do so for her own. When had that happened? She thought, mortified. When had she decided that killing to save her own life was okay? Had the game changed her so much?

But it looked as though she would not have to make such a choice - at least, not today. Lessa and her comrade hit the front door together, and she lagged behind a single step to allow him to exit first. As she followed, exploding into the sunlight, she caught her second wind. The air on her face was cool, and revitalizing. She inhaled deeply, drawing the new power into her lungs as she laid on another layer of speed. "We're going to make it," she gasped.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Of course we are going to make it." Aereth answered after they exited the hideout. "But first... STUN." he shouted as he finally saw the two other entry guards. Immediately his phase katana shot forward, cutting through the light leather armor of the first guard like a hot knife through butter, while applying the stun effect onto him. He was just hoping Lessa understood his sudden command before turning around, seeing that she thankfully did as he ordered. "Let's go. I want to be gone before the boss comes back." And with that the unlikely couple made their escape.

Only when they reached the entrance of Lessa's guild hall, they finally slowed down again in order to catch their breaths. "While everything worked out, I really can't say that everything worked out as planned. You ok?" the brunette said with a small chuckle, breaking the silence. His fingers moved through the menus opening the message box.

Quote

To: Dude who lost girl
Subject:-
Text: I got her. Meeting point: F21 Coordinates are attached. 
PS.: Don't forget the payment.

"Before you ask. She's inside. I told her to lock herself into a room and only open again when she hears its me. Wanna go and get her? I already messaged lover boy to come over and pick her up..."

@Lessa

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Lessa stood there, her chest heaving, her breaths coming in gulps. Her body still hummed with the energy of the past hour's escapades, and as she finally took stock of her current state, she realized her hands were trembling. She lifted both of them, and rubbed at her face. Then, after raking them through her mop of hair, she finally looked at her companion. He had finished drafting a message, and closed his menu as he updated her on the girl's whereabouts. "Yeah," Lessa answered weakly. "Yeah, sure, I'll go get her."

Moving away from him, she deliberately avoided answering his first question. It was because, in truth, she had no idea if she was okay or not. And explaining that to a man whose name remained a mystery seemed like a waste of her time. So instead, she entered her guild hall. "Hey," she called out as she moved deeper into the foyer. "We're back." Again, she found herself at a loss for the man's name. She really should have demanded it before agreeing to work with him. "You're safe now."

Safe was a relative term, of course, in a place like Aincrad. Lessa felt the reality of that deep in her gut, a knotted ball of fear and anguish. How long had it been since she had allowed such emotions to rear their ugly heads? "Why don't you come out, now?" Slowly, timidly, the blonde cracked open the door of the guild's storage room. Her eyes were wide, and Lessa suddenly had visions of spooked horses. It broke her heart.

"Yeah, come on. You're fine. I'm Lessa, and I run the guild. You're safe, here."

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