Chapter 14: Hey Johnny, won't you look my way?

Johnny was still in the market district, when he saw Filarion and his ducklings wander back. It was funny to think about the kids as ducklings, but they followed the elf as if he were their mother duck, and would have waddled after him, if they were younger.

A smile tugged at his lips, even when he did his best to frown. By the stiffness in Filarion's shoulders, Johnny knew he had been spotted, but the elf didn't turn to stare at him. Didn't send him any pleading looks. Rather, he went from stand to stand, from carpet to carpet. Looking at different wares.

"Johnny, you like the elf?" Antony, the tank of the Sapphire shooters had the nerve to waggle his eyebrows at Johnny suggestively.

"My ex," Johnny all but growled.

"You let something so fine go? Are you mad?" Sill butted in. Johnny didn't appreciate the hungry look in the B ranked berserker's eyes.

"He is scum," Johnny said, and he watched as Filarion paused, a trinket risen in the air, and then his shoulders slumped. Darn elven hearing.

"Isn't that lord Elathana? Why are you calling him that?" Donzella asked.  The healer of the party was a soft-spoken blonde, with big green eyes. Johnny was reminded of small fluffy animals every time he saw her.

"He runs a weapon smuggling business, and illegal potion dealing," Johnny told her, and her hand went to her lips.

"But that is a bandit making gig," Constantine, the party's archer, looked just as horrified.

"It is. He even gets people killed, when they can't pay them," Johnny spat on the ground, and watched as Filarion gripped the china horse in his hands hard enough to break it. White pieces flew, and the stand's owner began to yell.

Filarion didn't care. He marched to Johnny; fists balled.

"How dare you speak about me behind my back," the elf snarled, and Johnny smirked up at him. It would have been better if he could have smirked down at him, but Filarion was taller than he. Cursed elf genes.

"Did I lie?" Johnny asked the rhetorical question, waiting for Filarion to dig his own grave. There were witnesses around here. Such that at least a couple were going to report what was being said to the sheriff.

"I am turning a new leaf, and..." Filarion began, too angry to realize he had just given himself away.

"People like you should be in prison," Donzella murmured, disgust on her face. Finally, that snapped Filarion, and he watched as people began to back away from him.

"That is not for you to decide," Filarion snarled, and turned to leave. Johnny didn't let him. His hands reached out, and soon, he had both of Filarion's hands locked behind his back.

"We have witnesses. You and your party are guilty of illegal trade, and murder," Johnny said, loud enough so that everyone in the market could hear him. The three teens came running then, weapons out. Filarion just shook his head at them.

"Morrel, unhand me," Filarion growled. It was a dark sound. One that Johnny had never heard before.

"And if I don't?" Johnny whispered in Filarion's ear. The desire to kiss the earlobe strong and something that made him uneasy. Filarion acted before Johnny could muster the self-disgust at himself. His legs kicked at Johnny's chest, dislodging the tank from the elf.

Johnny glared, as he rubbed his chest. His new party was spaced out, so they were blocking all the exits.

"Lord Elathana didn't do any of the things you accuse him off," Nathaniel yelled, his fingers gripping his staff so hard, he feared that he would break it. "He gives a second chance to those that the adventurer's guild won't take."

"You were denied for a reason. When he gets bored, and takes you to a real quest, you will die. Because you are just farmers," Victor, the Sapphire Shooter's second berserker, told the boy. His tone was gentle. Nathaniel still glared at him.

"And Morrel is better? He was with Fil for how long? Are you telling me he just found out? This won't fly in court," Zaine snapped, and Johnny's eyes widened.

Were the kids going to drag him down with Filarion into the dirt? Chances were, they were heading to prison as well. Filarion just held up his hand.

"I will go and confess everything to the sheriff, but the Leaf party has nothing to do with what I did. Neither does John Morrel," Filarion's voice was defeated. Johnny wanted to scream. Even now, Filarion was trying to protect him. Knowing Filarion, he was going to take all the blame, and make sure his vile siblings stood out of prison.

Johnny reached out for him, and caught him under the arm. Filarion didn't resist, as Johnny marched him to the police station. The ducklings were following behind, their arguments falling on deaf ears. So were the Sapphire Shooters, even though Filarion was unlikely to do anything to resist.

Johnny marched Filarion to the sheriff's office, and knocked on the door. Rocco Higgs opened the door. Upon seeing Filarion, his eyebrows knitted.

"Lord Elathana, it has been a long time coming," the sheriff stepped to the side, so Johnny could get Filarion inside. The others remained on the other side of the door.

Rocco placed a sheet of paper and a pen before Filarion, and smirked down at him.

"Should I get you a notebook for the confession instead?" Rocco asked, and Filarion allowed himself a smirk of his own.

"Something with at least a thousand pages would do," the elf joked, and Rocco slammed his fists on the desk.

"I have been waiting to get you Elathana rats for as long as I have been in office. Yet, there were never enough evidence. Now, I take it you gave yourself away before witnesses?" Rocco looked ready to trash someone. Filarion decided to spare himself the further complications, and grinned.

"You caught me, yes. But that is all that you are getting," Filarion then took the pen, and began to write.