****Hi! Welcome back to another instalment of this fine series, I've been without Wi-Fi all weekend so now I'm really happy to get this written and posted. Picture above are the runes from last chapter. Remember to VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE, and FOLLOW ME! Enjoy!****
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Rogue's POV
In the few days following my approach to Rin with the offer of Sabertooth's protection, I still would have felt better is she had come with me. Ahri was clearly not joking around and with someone who can summon demons that powerful, Rin would be completely out of her league.
"I shouldn't have left her," I mumbled to myself, walking out of my room, Frosch toddled next to me and jogged to keep up.
"Rogue?" he asked, looking up at me. I paused, "Mm?"
"Do you like Rin?"
My eyes widened and my voice caught in my throat, "Why do you say that?"
Frosch looked taken back by my defensive tone and looked down. "You call her name out at night, I was just wondering, I'm sorry."
I relaxed and scooped him up, petting his soft head. "I'm sorry Frosch, I shouldn't have been so mean to you, I'll get you a fish later, OK?"
His eyes brightened again as he nodded his pink frog head.
I left him sitting on my shoulder as I stepped into the main hall and was hit by the stench of alcohol, yelling, and scrapping of wood on stone, it was like a slap in the face. I walked down the stairs to the bar where Sting sat, like usual, harassing one of our newest members Yukino. He was leering over her and his arm cut off her route of escape. She cringed at him leaning over her head.
I sighed and stepped in, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the bar. "I apologize," I said to Yukino who shook her head and dashed away. I dropped Sting's wrist and sighed.
"Stop doin' that! I was gettin' to know her!" Sting grumbled, clearly drunk once again.
"What you need to do is stop causing trouble and stop drinking, you've been downing the stuff twice as much as usual."
"Cuz' tonight's the annual drink off! First one to not collapse gets a million jewels, I'm training myself, I ain't gonna lose to no one!" Sting grinned, he slurred, fist raised.
I looked around, several of our best mages were also drunk or still asleep. I forgot about the drink off, I never participated because I simply don't like drinking and the hangover that follows it. Sting's been trying to get me to drink, but I usually stop at three before things get bad.
I shook my head and walked over to the request board, I was looking for one near Magnolia so I could drop by and see Rin, it's been killing me the past few days with only her face etched into my memory. I scanned the board and snatched the closest one, slipped the sheet into my pocket, and signing my name on the page under the request book.
I turned down the stairs and headed towards the door, when a huge explosion blew the doors and the front half of the guild open. Rocks flew everywhere as I was slammed into the wall, chairs and tables flew into the wall, splintering and many groggy faces looked around, now some-what alert. Sting stumbled to his feet and squinted as a shadow walked through the dust.
I pulled myself from the pile of rocks and scanned the room, and thankfully found Frosch was in the air and out of sight. I locked eyes with him and motioned for him to get away. With tears pooling in his eyes he flew eyes and I was able to be at least thankful he was OK.
Then I turned my attention back to the figure who was going to have it for destroying our guild. I took a defensive stance as people were either pulling their drunk selves to their feet or crawling for cover.
Out from the smoke stepped a figure wearing a black and white kimono, a short one with long sleeves, their head covered by a hood and all that was visible was their eyes, piercing icy blue eyes and when she pulled down her hood and mask, the first thing I saw were feminine lips forming a smirk.
I gasped as a huge, hulking figure stepped behind her. Ten times her sie and hunched over of four legs as one of the biggest poison demons I'd ever seen. I gasped as it opened it's mouth and sprayed a red stream over the guild, the wood and stone it touched disintegrated and the people who it touched were frozen in place.
I dodges, throwing up a shadow shield to protect myself and I saw Sting lazily shoot white lasers at it. The demon turned it's head to Sting who was holding two balls of white light in each hand. The woman scoffed and snapped.
The new sensation of rumbling set it and the vibrations were so strong I felt the rattling was shaking my bones. The ground around Sting exploded as an earth demon tunneled underneath him and knocked him twenty feet in the air, it's flaming green eyes watching him hungrily.
"STING!" I shouted, drawing attention of the woman to me. She studied me and a smile worked it's way onto her lips. She snapped again and the earth demon jumped, grabbing Sting and throwing him back to the ground where he slammed into the rocks, sending a huge puff of dust up. I gasped and called out to him, but the posioin demon got to him first and with one spray, he was paralyzed.
I grit my teeth and looked around. I was the last one standing, even our best mages like Minerva and Rufus were frozen and unmoving in a drunken state. I merged into Shadow Drive and clenched my fist.
"Who are you?" I called out, my voice echoing in the ruins of the guild hall. She figure chuckled to my surprise and pulled her long white hair free. She took a few more steps, the demon keeping tight on her heels, but with one hand raise, it lowered itself on it's haunches and waited.
She looked familiar, I just couldn't place where I'd seen her before. She spoke and I snapped out of it.
"I bet you think you know who I am, Shadow Dragon Slayer," she asked, crossing her arms and locking eyes with me.
"I asked who you were!" I replied, the air around me growing darker, now would have been a great time for Minerva's nullification magic.
"That's why she tolerates you, you're just like her, but her heart is coated in so much more ice, you can't compare the darkness in her even as the Shadow Dragon Slayer, Rogue." it sounded like an insult that way she said it, but who was she talking about, this "she" that I knew.
Wait.
Heart of ice? Darkness?
Maybe I do know who she's talking about.
Rin.
She noticed the recognition on my face and clapped. "You aren't as dumb as I thought you would be," she said. I made no reply and took a step forward, the darkness getting thicker. She still hadn't answered my question.
"I asked who you were, and what do you know about Rin?" I asked, I was almost yelling, but this girl was making me feel like this was going in circles.
She feigned an injured look and scoffed. "I guess she wouldn't have told you about me, but you should be able to figure out who I am, take a good look, I remind you of someone don't I? Think Rogue, who am I?"
Her eyes locked onto mine and I couldn't pull my gaze. I began to search her eyes for anything that would tell me who she was. her entire face looked so familiar, it was on the tip of my tongue. Then I saw it, the little spark that stood out in the blue abyss of her eyes.
Rin had that too. the never fading spark in her pitch black eyes. I never who she was now.
"Ahri."
She clapped, her hands dragging as they hit. "Well done, you figure it out, yes, I'm Ahri, no doubt Rin's told you all about me, about how I want her dead."
Her voice turned deadly at the last part. Her eyes narrowed and her smirk was gone, now replaced with frown.
"Yes, she has; and I won't let you lay a finger on her."
"How cute, you think you can save her. She won't take your help, she's already rejected your offer for help, am I wrong?" she asked, but I knew she already knew the answer.
"You've been watching us," I said, it wasn't a question, more like a statement.
She nodded. "And thanks to you, I now have a way to kill her, and it all lies in those red eyes of yours Rogue. "
"What do you mean?" I asked, almost dropping my guard. Her smile returned as she took another step, now she was close enough to touch, yet I didn't strike, there was still more to be said.
She leaned over and whispered, her voice like a snake whispering in my ear.
"It's because you made her heart crack, she would have never been close to my power level if you hadn't shattered her protective heart, I know her better than anyone and she wouldn't care if a whole village got destroyed in the process of killing a demon. But she saved you. That's when I knew the key to killing Rin was you. You, Rogue, are the bait that will lead Rin to her death."
I shook my head and jumped away. "No, Rin won't fall for that!" I shouted, trying to convince myself as much as her. But she laughed.
"Oh, maybe you are stupid, can't you see, she's already dead. From the minute she saved you during that fight with the lighting demon, her fate was set in stone, and you are going to the be the one to lead her to the sword that will cut her head off and run red with her blood. Congratulations."
I panted with rage as I threw a ball of darkness at her and with one flick of a wrist, a wall of earth shot up and stopped the blast. I recognized the magic. "Earth Dragon Slayer?' I asked.
"Yep." The voice was behind me. I turned to see Ahri standing behind me and had just enough time to register her throwing a vile of read poison in my face before the paralysis set it.
I crashed to the floor and struggled against the invisible binds as the guild filled with demons who hauled the Sabertooth members out of the debris, including one puling out our leader from under a table.
The last thing I saw as the light of the sky was eaten away by the darkness of the poison, was Ahri, standing over me and smiling.
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****Well....... How was that for dramatic, now we are headed to the peak of the story where Ahri and Rin will go head to head. Sorry to all Sabertooth fans that I just made the guild seem like a bunch of drunks but I needed o work in a capture. I look forward to the next chapter and I hope to welcome new readers. Ja!****