After walking into a long night Etrius, for some reason, decided to walk some more and become exhausted. Deciding that it had gotten far enough away from town, it took a quick rest and attempted to settle the union dispute inside of it. In a tree, fairly high above the ground and out of reach of predators. Most of them anyway. With a strong impact, the tree shook, and the branch it lay on also shook. Waking up just as it fell, Etrius was rather startled.

 

"Weh!?" Etrius managed to cry out before landing on its back.

 

Rolling down a slight slope, Etrius landed face down, in pain. Groaning, it had its face in dirt and leaves. It was sure that it had been injured, but before Etrius could do anything, it felt the pain in its body fade away. This familiar feeling was healing magic. Still sort of out of it, it wondered who could have done this.

 

"Am I dead?" Etrius wondered out loud.

"Unfortunately no." A voice said.

"And there's a new voice." It said in surprise. "Hello new voice."

"You aren't hearing things jackass!" The voice said angrily.

 

With that, a sharp kick was delivered to its ribs.

 

"Ow! What was that for?" Etrius asked, turning towards the voice.

 

Looking up, it saw the one person it did not want to see. It was the ranger from before. In her hands was a lantern, and considering the green flame inside, it was a magical artifact that she had used to find it. Although given how the flame flickered out of existence, it was a single use item. Illuminated by the sun flowing through the trees, her face had cruel eyes and a smug, shit eating grin.

 

"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" She asked.

 

"Shit." Etrius thought.

"Okay, lets kill her." Etrius said.

"But we can't use our power." It pointed out.

"So what?" Etrius asked. "Are we, some sort of cuck who can't kill a man without our power?"

"Except that's a girl." It replied.

“Young lady.” It corrected.

"Wait! Hang on!" Etrius suddenly butted in. "I have an idea!"

“What’s this idea?” It asked.

“Amnesia!” Etrius said, proud of itself.

"What? No, that's a terrible idea." It said.

"Bro, just trust me!" Etrius said.

"Fine, but when this fails, I'm stabbing her." It said.

 

Finishing it’s instantaneous self conversation, Etrius prepared itself.

 

"Um, who are you?" Etrius asked.

"Wh-!?" She started. "Who am I!? Are you seriously asking that!?"

"Yeah, that's why I said it." Etrius replied.

"You ass!" She said. "How do you not know who I am?!"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" It asked standing up.

“How can you ask that!?”

“Well I don’t want to cause any misunderstandings.”

“It’s me, Lucy!”

“Is that suppose to mean something?”

“I’m the ranger that's been hunting you down!” She exclaimed. “We only fought like a dozen times!”

“I think you got the wrong person.” Etrius muttered, only remembering the one fight.

“No, I didn’t. I know that because you ran from me in town. And why else would you run unless you knew I was looking for you.” She pointed out.

“Well, think about it from my perspective. I was just relaxing-” It started.

“Bullshit!” She said.

“I was just relaxing in town and then some random lady looks at me, glares, and smiles like she just found a new plaything.” It said. “How would anyone react?”

“Whatever, you're just making this up.” She said.

“So, what do you want anyway?” It asked.

“I want you!”

“...”

“...”

“…” Etrius blushed and used its arms to cover its body

“Not that way!” Lucy shouted.

“Poor choice of words.” It said.

“Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.” She said sarcastically.

“So what do you want?” It asked.

“I want you to come with me.” She said.

“Okay…” It said. “Why?”

“To execute you.” She said matter-of-factly.

“And like that, you’ve lost me.” It said. “I am not going with you.”

“Wh- of course you’re coming with me, you don't have a choice.”

“And why should I listen to you?”

 

Without answering, she pulled out a sword and pointed it at its throat. Etrius looked at it, then at her. Her cold eyes were a sign that she wasn't joking.

 

“I don’t think this is working.” Etrius thought.

“Just give it a bit of time. I got this.” It replied, not sure if it got it.

 

“Alright.” Etrius said. “You make a convincing argument, but I still don't want to go.”

“How about I cut you a deal?” She asked.

“Was that a pun?” It replied.

“You come with me quietly, and I don't kill you where you stand.” She said.

“... As tempting as your offer is, I am still going to say no…”

“Why do you think you have a choice?”

“What did I even do?”

“I think you know.”

“No, I actually don't.”

“Don't play dumb!”

“Could you just tell me what I did?”

“You know what you did!”

“But I don't.”

“Then allow me to enlighten you. Remember the manor?”

“No.”

“You don’t?” She asked in surprise, lowering her sword.

“I have no clue what you are talking about.” It lied.

“Seriously?” She asked annoyed. “You know, Lord Lockheart and the monsters?”

“Is that a band?” It asked.

“Ugh.” She fell to her knees defeated. “I hate my life…”

“That's unfortunate.” Etrius said, patting her head.

“Why are you like this?” She asked, not looking up.

“Sorry, for being me.” It said, continuing to pat her head. “So, can you tell me what I did?”

“Fine…” She said slapping away its hand.

 

Gathering her composure, she stood up and told Etrius the story of what happened in the manner. One that it knew all too well, although she seemed to mistake it for a girl. During this time, it desperately tried its power, but it refused to work. Not knowing of Etrius’ machinations, Lucy told the story, leaving out the part where she almost blew up the princess. Unable to point it out without outing itself, Etrius kept its mouth shut. Eventually she got to the end of her tale.

 

“And that's what happened.” Lucy said matter-of-factly.

“Thank you for telling me that, but I have a question.” Etrius said. “Who was the girl you were fighting anyway?”

“That was you!” She said angrily.

“I doubt that.” It said. “You're probably just using me as a scapegoat since you let your buddy get away.”

“We are not buddies!” 

“Whatever, but I have another question.”

“Just ask it.”

“Whose Cornelia?” It asked.

“...” She looked at Etrius in disbelief.

“What?” It asked.

“Are you serious?” She asked.

“Did I say something wrong?” It asked.

“How do you not know who she is!?” She asked.

“Is she famous or something?” It asked.

“She's the princess!”

“Oh, the princess…”

“You kidnapped her!”

“If I did, then why was a single girl sent after me instead of someone more qualified?”

“So I’m single now!?”

“That's not what I meant, but it's also probably true.”

“I'm more than qualified to catch you!”

“Didn't you let the assassin get away?”

“I found you didn't I?”

“But I'm not an assassin.”

“Cut the crap, we both know you are!”

“I think being an assassin is something I would remember.”

“Look, I don't know about you, but I have a job to do. Nothing you can do can stop me.” She said turning away. “There are people I want to protect. People who trust me, people who are relying upon me. I will do anything in my power to protect them, and if that involves hunting down assassins, then that is what I’ll do. Furthermore-”

 

“I’m bored, let's leave.” Etrius thought.

“Yeah, same.” It said.

“So, we aren't stabbing her?” It asked. “It would be real quick.”

“No, no stabbing. That would blow our cover.” It said.

“Yeah, and just leaving mid monologue doesn’t.” It said.

“Fine then, you got a better idea?” It asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes I do.” It said.

 

“You say that you aren't an assassin, but I know better, I know the truth, as do you. You killed many Lords and Ladies that didn't deserve death. So I will say this one time and one time only, assassin. In the name of the rangers, under King Duncan I hereby place you under arres- and she's gone.” She said, turning around not seeing It. “Where is she? Where'd she go?”

 

She paused to look around for a moment but did not find it.

 

She sighed. “You had one job Lucy, and you blew it…”

 

Looking down, she saw some tracks in the dirt. Even if she was an assassin, Lucy was a ranger and the forest was her domain. With that, she gave chase not sparing a glance back. It was unfortunate for her, that she had suffered from a sudden rush of shit to the brain. Angered and stressed by the events of the past few days, she failed to notice that the tracks she saw were her own.

Moments later, Etrius stepped out from behind a tree with a large club shaped branch in its hands. More than a little confused, as to the missing ranger, It quickly discovered what had happened and chuckled internally.

 

“That idiot!” Etrius thought.

“Wow, look at her go.” It muttered.

“Man, there goes the ‘Let's make an accident’ plan.” It said, disappointingly dropping the branch.

“What’s with you and killing?” It asked.

“People can’t bother you if there are no people.” It said.

“I mean I guess.” It shrugged.

“So, what now?” It asked.

“Same thing we did last time this happened. It said.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” It asked.

“Fine, and limit our exposure to radiation.” It sighed.

“Among other things.” It corrected.

“There's only so much we can limit.” It pointed out.

“And so the strike goes on…” It said.

“Bastards.” It muttered.

“Anyway, we are wanted criminals and if she didn’t see our face before, she definitely did now.” It pointed out.

“Yeah, but who would trust her? She managed to lose a kid twice and almost blew up the princess.” It said. “Besides, once we resolve the strike, we can just do that thing.”

“Good point.” It nodded.

 

After a moment, Etrius turned opposite of the direction that Lucy ran off in and jogged off as if it was a morning run. Hopefully it could find a town before Lucy, or any other ranger, found it.

Running through the forest, Lucy muttered to herself in frustration.

 

“That ass.” She muttered. “Couldn't wait five seconds for me to finish. It would have been really quick, but no, she just had to run.”

 

She continued the chase, surprised by her abilities to run through the forest for over an hour. Then again, she is an assassin, they are good at running and hiding. Given how she hadn’t seen or heard her, she convinced herself that she was using magic. After several seconds of silence, she sighed in annoyance, and ran faster. Capturing her would earn forgiveness for almost injuring the princess, but she was making this exceedingly difficult.

Some time later she started seeing signs of the town and feared the worst. If she made it to the town, she could easily evade her or even worse, get help from other assassins and attack her directly. Fighting one assassin was bad enough, any more than that, and she would be forced to retreat. That is one thing she would want to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, she would not have her way. Breaking through the tree line, she was greeted with a sight that horrified her. Several people were walking the streets, all were traveling in caravans. She sighed and cursed her luck. Looking for this assassin was going to be a difficult task. Especially since she had yet to realize that this was the town that she left this morning.