People aren't fair. They can just as easily give you power as they can take it away, and when they take something away, you can't get it back. Life isn't fair. You could be meant for greatness, but your fate could be stolen by someone whose just better than you, and it isn't either of your faults because it was cruel fate's decision to make your lives play out that way. Then there's regret. While there are many decisions you come to regret, many you can't undo or change. You may have many regrets, I on the other hand, only harbor one.
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I woke up sweating. Breathing heavily as I tried to grip my senses and recalling what just happened. 'Neo...' I thought. I looked around me, my neck cracking and hurting when I looked too far left. I groaned as I rubbed the pain and looked around again, this time turning my body. I seemed to be in some sort of tent. The cloth walls around me forming a triangle at one end. I was lying on a small cot with a thin green sheet over me. I turned myself and put my feet on the ground, the sheet falling to the floor as I ascended. My shirt was gone, and I was in a pair of grey sweatpants I'd never seen before with stains I'd rather not ask about.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, leaving the tent, releasing myself to the warm night air. I seemed to be in some sort of camp. Tents like mine were scattered about around unlit fire bowls like mine was, as well as the 4 other tents around me. A mosquito landed on my hand for a moment, getting off just before I could slap it. The stupid inspect buzzed off and I raised my caution for other bugs in the air.
"Blood type b/t eh? So am I, what are the odds?" A guy's voice said from inside the tent to the direct left of mine.
A dude in a white t-shirt and black and white stripped prisoner pants lifted the flap of the tent and walked out, a mosquito perched on his left index finger. His hair was long, blonde, and messy, guy looked like a regular street thug.
"Not too often we get newbies around here, word is Raven herself brought you in, pretty interesting."
"Where am I, and who are you?" I demanded.
"You, my compadre, are in the camp of the Branwen tribe of bandits, commonly known simply as the Branwen Tribe. As for who I am, well, I'm pretty somebody else is gonna want to answer that. I'm what you'd call a bit of a low sleeper, so I couldn't help but hear you getting up, and something tells me another of our friends noticed you wake up as we'll. Ain't that right Vasta?" He said, looking behind me.
Some one came out of the tent on the far end, all the way across from mine. A girl with brown hair in a black tank top and shorts emerged.
"I hadn't until your loud footsteps Houzer." She said, her eyes starring him down, as if trying to drill into his soul.
"Oh sorry if you woke up, ain't my fault." The Houzer guy shrugged.
"Whatever douche, just go to sleep already!" She said angrily, heading back to sleep herself.
"Well, you heard the lay, better get back to the sack." Houzer said, stomping on the ground several times with a smug, satisfied grin before heading back to his tent.
I was picking up some familiar vibes from them, kinda like Mercery and Emerald. I tried my best to shrug off the similarities, heading back to my tent, strangely calmer than before and heading back to sleep quite easily. Not a moment later I woke back up, or at least it felt like a moment. I couldn't tell if I had a dream and forgot about it or if I just didn't have one.
I stepped out of the my tent, the midday sun blinding me for a moment. Once I finally got my vision back, I noticed a pale guy with long, straight, pale blue hair in a white suit with grey streaks running through it and white fur on the collar and wrists. He had faded blue jeans on and brown dress shoes completing his outfit. In his hands was a plain black shirt. Two gold earrings in the shape of raindrops with holes in the round part hung from his ears.
"Yo." I said.
He looked me up and down before standing up from his barrel and walking towards me, tossing shirt to me.
"Took you long enough. Put that on and follow me, Arcenciel and the others are waiting." He said angrily.
"Two things, who's Arcenciel and who are you?" I asked.
"Arcenciel is the one who will want to answer those, not me. Now come on." He said.
He began walking away, his steps sounded calm, but his heels dug into the ground with every step. I decided it would be best to follow him, if only to find out who this Arcenciel person was. After a couple minutes of following close behind him, we ended up at the large gates that acts as the exit and entrance of the large wooden fence. Waiting there were three people, two of which were the people from last night. A third guy stood there, talking to them with his back turned to us.
Houzer wore a black top hat with a large feather in the navy blue strap around it, as well as a navy blue collar with a silver buckle, a maroon vest with a vertical line pattern over a black dress shirt and a navy blue tie with a small diamond pattern with black pants and black leather boots. In his hands was a simple grey sledgehammer.
The Vasta chick wore a silk white leotard with bright red leather boots that went up past her knees, and red, rectangular glasses. A red belt with a small pouch on the left side sat around her waist as well.
"Arcenciel, I brought the newbie."
The guy they were talking to turned around. He had messy white hair held back by a light blue hair band, red eyes, a large orange scarf with lines of varying shades of orange and yellow, a dark green suit with heart shaped holes in the sleeves to show a blue, skin tight suit underneath that fell into his purple pants and violet running shoes.
"Ah, Maxie, I was just about to head back to see if you two were alright." The rainbow man said before turning his attention towards me, "And you must be our new recruit! Allow me to introduce you to our little group! Top hat over here is Houzer Baioretta."
"Howdy." Houzer said.
"The girl in white and red Vasta Pearl."
Vasta simply nodded to me.
"The guy who you woke up to is Maxie Greyscale."
"Refer to me as Maxie and I will end you." Maxie said angrily.
"And I, of course, am your fearless leader Quincy Arcenciel, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Rainbow guy said, shaking my hand with both of his, "and your name iiiisssss?"
"Oh, I'm, uhh. Huh, who am I?" I asked.
Of course I remembered who I was, I remembered everything, but they didn't, and I had every intention of taking advantage of that.
"Amnesia eh? I'm not too surprised, the way Raven found you, makes sense." Arcenciel said.
"Who, where, when, and why?" I asked.
"Don't worry yourself about it. Raven is the boss, she found you in the woods a two days ago, and she brought you here because she saw potential in you. She also assigned me to lead you in order to test you and show you the ropes. If everything on our mission goes well, you're in, but if you manage to mess this up, you're out. Understand?" Arcenciel explained.
I nodded and gave an uh-huh. I was a little mind boggled by the fact that, once again, a woman was telling me to work for her or die. No clue who this Raven lady was, but she wouldn't be another Cinder. I wasn't going to repeat the life I just got kicked out of.
"You said mission. So do I get a weapon or?"
"No, you're mission is to observe. If there's conflict, we can handle it." Maxie said.
"Thank you Maxie. Now then, since we are now all here, shall we be off?" Arcenciel asked.
They all nodded and Arcenciel turned around dramatically.
"Alright troop, let's get going." Arcenciel declared leading the way out of the camp and into the woods.
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"You mind telling me why you got rid of y/n? He was kind of an important part of my next job." Roman complained.
"If you must know, he was too much of a wild card. He was becoming too attached, to comfortable."
"And by that you mean?" Roman asked.
"He was beginning to think of himself as stronger than me. I knew it would happen eventually, but I was hoping to use him to achieve our objective before then."
"That objective being?"
"Something you mustn't worry yourself over. All you have to do is obey what I say, and you'll never have to worry about money or power again." I ensured him.
"*sigh* Whatever you say. Could you at least tell me when his replacement is getting here?" Roman asked.
"He should arrive within the next few days. The distance from Mystral to Vale takes a long time to travel, even by train. Rest assured Roman, Akida will work just as well as y/n. Trained assassins like him are hard to come by, and if he doesn't work well, I'll have him disposed of."
"Is that how you threaten all your employees?"
"It works." I said.
"Can't argue with that." Roman said.
"I knew you couldn't." I said.
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I sat on the express train heading to Vale. I stared at the sunset glimmering through the train window. My scroll rang and I looked to see who was calling, it was Baroque.
"Sir." I answered.
"How are things on your side?" He asked.
"I'm on my way to meet Cinder. I don't believe they'll suspect anything before it's too late. I suspect everything is going fine on your end sir."
"Yes, Brawnwen is still clueless. She doesn't even know my true name. After my current mission is over, I'll tell her I believe there's a traitor in our midst, if only to keep her eyes off of me."
"Is there anyone you plan to frame sir?" I asked.
"There's a new recruit who should be an easy target. With any luck, we should be done before Hestigia is called back. Just continue your job and retrieve the relic. Inform me of when you have it and I'll come for you."
"Yes sir." I said.
"And one more thing Akida... Stay safe."
"I will not fail you sir." I confirmed.
The call ended and I returned my scroll to my pocket, continuing to view the sunset. I couldn't fail. Not again.