"Anyways, what about you?" The girl said, casually. "And your pals, or whatever."
"Hm. That was a rather quick recovery, wasn't it?" Noble said as he sipped his drink.
"Eh. I don't like to dwell on things." She said, seemingly unaware of the overwhelming amount of evidence that would suggest the contrary.
"I suppose that's reasonable. At any rate, my companions... There's only so much I can say... There's the big moron, the perverted moron, and lastly and certainly least the bigger moron with the knives." He said with an obvious look of disdain on his face. "Used to be some other ones, too. The triplet morons, and the bargain bin, silver a dozen generally boorish morons... Most of them mad, too. Especially my primary companions."
"Quoth the man currently drinking highly corrosive acid."
The man sighed after taking a sip. "Well... As much as it pains me to say it, sane men don't become contract killers."
The girl chuckled. "Assassination, huh? That's a rough gig."
"Bah, I don't much like that word. So uncouth. At any rate, yes. Sometimes."
"Huh. Well, I dunno much about that. Anyways, I can't say I expected you to be so brash about your coworkers."
He scoffed. "I've no reason to be polite in regard to those simpletons."
"To be honest, I figured you'd be fonder of 'em, seeing how confident you seemed earlier."
"Hah. Please. Left to their own devices, they're little more than any other mildly competent brute on the market. More likely to fall flat on their faces than accomplish anything to any degree of sucess..."
The girl raised an eyebrow.
"I'm... Well aware of the irony of this situation... At any rate, though they're rather useless by themselves, as a unit, I suppose we've, (admittedly through merit of improvisation and increasingly fantastical amounts of luck), accomplished some rather... Spectacular japes." He said, looking rather nostalgic. "It always somehow tied in together, like the string of fate, terribly and impossibly knotted within itself in thousands of ways... Looking at it from a distance after the fact... It never ceased to amaze me."
"Huh. Cool."
"I... Can't help but wonder why he sent us out like he did, today... Piecemeal like that..." He chuckled to himself, ever so lightly, "Well, I'm sure he's got some larger scheme in mind. He always does. Always does..."
. . .
"I do hope my companions aren't too hard on the townsfolk." Noble said. "They have a history of violence of a rather uncouth variety. Especially the big man himself."
"Not a fan of violence?"
"Well, I just don't like things getting too messy, is all. But I'm hardly afraid of kicking up the old dust every once in a while." He said, briefly raising his teacup. "It's just that I happen to have an acquaintance back in town."
"Oh? Which one is it?"
"Well, I can hardly r-"
"It's totally the green guy, isn't it? The one that talks all weird?"
The man held his mouth agape for a moment. "Ah... Well, I can't-"
"Yeah, it's totally him. I friggin knew he was suspicious. Bastard."
"W-well, uh..." The man sighed. "Yeah. He's not very good at being inconspicuous..."
. . .
The girl yawned, and the man sipped his tea.
. . .
"Hm. I can't help but wonder, what is it that's taking everyone so long? We've been here for quite some time now. Between my companions and your brother, surely someone ought to have finished up by now. Oh, speaking of, where is your brother right now?"
"Hm? Mountains, I think. Anyways, now that you've said that out loud, I'm fairly sure someone's gonna show up in the next couple seconds and probably interrupt you."
"The mountains? And what a-"
A thunderous slam echoed from the entryway, along with a slight cracking as bits of wood from the walls slivered away, as the man known as Knives burst through and shouted, with fading breath,
"The boss wants everyone back at camp, NOW."
Ahhh... Fuck... Gah, friggin hate kids, man... Can't trust a single one of 'em...
Augh...
Where the hell am I? Gah, my head...
A... Pond? What... Wait... I know this place.
Yeah, the dock, it was just over there. Yeah. I... I loved this place... Lifetimes ago... There's... There's someone there... Yeah, some older dude... Fishin, looks like... Good day for it... Who... Who is that?
He kinda looks like...
No.
NO NO NO NO NO NOT AGAIN,
BOSS! NO, NO-
I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN- I CAN'T, I WON'T-
"Dad..."
When I opened my eyes, I was on the ground, in the middle of a forest, staring at treetops and a sunny blue sky. My head was killing me. Most of my back and neck, too.
Where... Right. We're camping out here in some ruins or whatever. Close to that idiot town the boss wants us to do somethin' in, for some reason.
I could hear the faint stound of rapid footsteps against the stone, coming from inside.
Augh... Right. That kid... Looks like I wasn't out for long.
Better get moving.
As I got up, I stuck my hand under my jacket, made sure I still had all my guys. Yep, still there. Not as many as I'd like, but it should be fine.
Somehow, my hand drifted upwards to my face, and landed around my nose.
. . .
Still don't feel quite right.
. . .
Better get moving.
My legs carried me towards the sound of the footsteps, booked it down the stairs, hooked a right when I was halfway down, ran down the hallway, looks like he went left. Good thing the little idiot didn't stop to clean his boots.
"TAKE ANOTHER STEP AND I'LL GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!" I found myself shouting down the hallway. He was pretty far away, but the echo carried my voice nicely.
Whew... That took a lot out of me... Ended up just reusing the same line... Am I afraid of kids now, or am I still stuck in a daze? Hah, probably both, honestly. That'd explain why everything's all wonky.
"NOT HERE!" The kid shouted repeatedly as he ran from room to room at breakneck pace. Man, that kid's fast... Only reason I'm able to almost catch up to him is 'cus he's gotta check every room. "NOT HERE!"
Well, 'least his search is pointless. Boss is prolly sittin' in the main chamber, near where we're campin' out. This guy's already failed that puzzle.
"GIVE IT UP, KID. Y'AIN'T GONNA FIND HIM UNLESS YA GET THROUGH ME, FIRST!" I found myself shouting again, doing my best to sound menacing. Can't say for sure how well I did, if I'm bein' perfectly honest. Still feels like I'm walkin' through water. And, given what he did earlier, there's a good chance the little idiot might actually have a good shot against me. 'Specially while I'm like this...
Still... If I ain't guarding the boss, I ain't nothin'.
"COME ON OVER, RUNT, I'LL CHOP YOU UP REALLLL GOOD!" I said, using everythin' I had to force a grin. Started salivating too, somehow.
"TELL ME WHERE THAT GUY IS, DAMNI-"
The runt's screeching was interrupted by the sound of crashing coming from one of the rooms towards our right.
A cave in?
"BOSS! BOSS, ARE YOU-"
"Boy." Boss's voice echoed through the cave like the words of a God. "Come. I will face you. As for you,
sit and wait."
His voice was stern. Serious. Fear overwhelmed me. I wanted to move my legs, arms, hell, even my mouth. Couldn't. With those words, I was a statue.
The boy, however, not missing a beat, turned on his heels right back around and sprinted towards the sound. Soon as he entered the room, the entryway behind him collapsed into a giant pile of rubble, blocking off any escape.
And I was alone.
I found myself moving again.
I waded over to the room's entryway. What was left of it, anyway. I waded there in my flooded mind, at least tryin' to hear beyond. Not sure if it was 'cus of the rocks, 'cus of my head, or somethin' else, but I couldn't hear a thing. Not a sound. No clashing of metal. No combat banter. No rushing of magic, no crushing of stone... Nothin'.
And I was, indeed, alone.
