Leave You Ungrateful Bastard

After calming the two boys down, Criselda walked Frides back to the cottage, leaving no room for negotiation.

Back at the cottage, Criselda stood in the kitchen washing bloodied rags. "He had you right where he wanted you. He was pulling you in for another close encounter. I tried to tell you to gauge..."

Criselda chastised Nero in between treating his wounds. Nero was sitting on the floor next to Frides, because he knew instinctively Criselda would lose her mind if he bled on her furniture.

Frides looked between the two. They're relationship was different than what he thought it was originally. Mostly because all he ever heard was Criselda yelling at Nero from outside. It always sounded to him like she hated him. Looking at Criselda yelling at Nero he could tell that she cared for him deeply.

"I know, I know but I was dominating the close encounter... I thought..." Nero over explained his actions.

"Yeah, but he nicked you with every pause. He was playing the long game an amateur could tell." Nero rolled his eyes and shook his head at Frides. Criselda continued, "You really would've been in trouble if the wounds weren't so shallow."

"What do you say?" Nero shifted the focus.

Frides refused to say a word.

"Its over now we're not going to kill you or anything, or she would not have hit you as lightly as she did. You know what? Why did you hit him like that?" Nero asked an important question.

"He knows." Criselda tilted her head, indicating towards Frides.

"Your pace was more than intermediate. You have slightly above average reflexes." Frides closed his eyes and turned his head away from Nero.

"Slightly above my ass?!" He grumbled.

Frides' eyes shot open as he whipped his head around to Nero.

Nero looked away. "Go ahead then."

"Your his mother and his master right?" Frides asked the room. "You go too easy on him, he could be better. Though I did end up getting drawn into his pace, a little bit."

Criselda looked at Nero.

"There's no point in trying to win points just go ahead." He prompted.

"It's not just the reflexes, you've had proper training. I'll give you that. Delivering your intended attack and immediately following it with another attack, your flow didn't allow me to dig deep enough. I found myself pulling back because if I didn't I wouldn't be ready to handle your next attack. Your hand to hand wasn't bad either." Frides admitted.

"Pft. Not bad." Nero responded.

"Okay, it was a little above average. One wrong receive and I would have lost an arm. But I gave back enough damage, so the last exchange was a 60/40, in my favor." He defended his error.

"Eh, they were still pretty deep. I had to close the wound with glow." He commended Frides for the first time.

Nero reached to light his pipe.

"Don't you dare put that gross smell in my house!" Criselda scolded Nero.

"Uhhhh." He grunted as he got up from beside Frides. He made his way towards the door next to the kitchen.

"Wait. Mhmm" Criselda tilted her head towards the sink.

"Come on we have a guest. The first guest in a while." Nero whined.

"And he deserves a clean house. Should have done it earlier." She reminded him.

"Uhhhh." Nero reluctantly walked over to the sink to clean his old dishes.

"So how'd you find us?" Criselda focused the attention back on Frides and the important question plaguing her at the moment, " So, how'd you find us?"

At the Capital of Oanid, New Oania.

In a dark room, an elderly man sat in an armchair at an ancient desk. Probably just as old if not older than him. Sitting in the same chair his grandfather sat in before him. He was steadily going through the many piles of paperwork that being the current Commissioner of the Peace Corps entails. At the moment he was thoroughly discontent and anxious.

A knock on the door, an answer he had been waiting for on the other side. Known as one of the three fates, for very few escaped their grasp without being judged, except a few great heroes. The acting Squadron Commander of the special division recently dispatched, entered the office in a battered Grey Peace Corps uniform. An insignia of a green panther sewn to his chest indicating he was from what was left over of the Oania Forces. The Commissioner looked up from his paperwork and saw failure.

"Mr. President, they've escaped." Failure confirmed.

He placed the papers down on the desk.

"All of the Oania Forces that were guarding the location are dead. There are no survivors." The man repeated

"So you're telling me they went through the trouble of killing everyone but stopped to take the time to just ruffle up your uniform?"

"I don't know why they spared me, but I do know there is nothing I can tell you that you'll believe."

"I know why they spared you, so you can come here and lie to me, that's why." The old man picked up his documents and looked them over. The man was still standing there. He slammed the papers down. "You could tell me the truth, I'd believe that but you're not going to do that, are you?" He interlocked his fingers and leaned forward across the desk. "No. You came here to say you're not afraid of death. As you wish." He said as a matter of fact. The elderly man dismissively waved his hand and the mans head separates from his knack sending blood shooting up onto the ceiling. The Commissioner picked up his documents and continued his work.

From behind the door, two men in well maintained darker grey uniforms with white tiger emblems on them, reacted to the thud. The man closest to the handle opened the door to the sight of a decapitated body.

He fully entered the room and stopped.

"We will find them."

The elderly man got up from his desk. "Have someone come and clean this room. This work will have to wait."

"I will take care of that as well." The guard stepped to the side and let the Commissioner pass him.

The Commissioner stopped in the hallway. "Yes, we will bring them alive." The guard reassured that he understood the importance. The Commissioner nodded his approval and retired for the night.

Back at the cabin

The room was silent, and the chill of the night made it feel even quieter. Nero was drinking a glass of water looking out of the kitchen window back at the cabin. He glanced over his shoulder at Criselda sitting across from Frides.

There was a noise outside and they all jumped.

"Is there someone with you!" She accused Frides.

"No." He responded plainly.

"Well, you heard what I heard." She snapped back.

"Only one person knows where I am and you know who that is. He wouldn't come himself." He glared at her resigning himself to the position he was in. No matter how much he wished someone was there to back him up, he knew he was all alone and death was the most likely end to this scenario for him.

"I'll go check. It's probably just some wild animal or something trying to get into your garden again." Nero opened the door, "Here I come you better run while you can because unlike the lady of the house, I don't take prisoners." He yelled while stepping outside, disappearing into the darkness.

"So?" Criselda questioned Frides.

"Hah okay." Nero walked back in after a moment and a smoke.

"Hey, look what I found outside. It did get into your garden, must have just been hungry." He held up the Domaku cub with glee.

"What? No." She went to the window and cried out in disbelief. Her garden was completely destroyed.

"It must've followed me home. I saved it from some poachers in the woods before he attacked me." Nero boasted.

"Is that a domaku?" Criselda stepped away from the creature.

"Yeah." He enthused, ignoring the fear in Criseldas' voice.

"The one that eats everything in sight and has a bottomless stomach." She confirmed.

"Yeah, I know right. There sense of smell is amazing." He remarked to Frides while stroking the Domaku. "I think it likes me, can we keep it?"

"That's it, no more." Criselda stormed out of the kitchen and into Neros' room. "You've got assassins roaming the woods, monsters destroying my garden, as if that's not enough, you won't clean up after yourself."

She walked back into the room with a leather bag full of clothes. "Where are you going?" Nero asked, "And why are you taking my bag?"

"Here!" She shoved the suitcase into Neros' arms. "Just, go then."

"Are you kicking me out?"

"No, both of you, and that beast. This is too much. I just wanted a nice quiet life and this sounds dangerous."

"You can't be serious." Nero looked down at Frides, "What is going on?"

"Look you were going to have to leave eventually. I put something in there for you if you do decide to take the job. Do what you want, always."

"What do you mean have to? It's the middle of the night." Nero pleaded uncharacteristically. He had explicitly stated earlier that he was making a decision to leave. Now, he was being told to leave but wanted to wait. Desires are like chemicals, revealing different things about themselves due to the circumstances.

"Yup the sooner the better for me. You seemed in a hurry this morning." The brisk and detached nature of her approach struck a bit harsh for Nero's current mood. Criselda was always serious but never selfish.

"Go and feel free to take a few fruits and vegetables with you. Well, whatever's left and be careful where you make camp. Good luck." Criselda reached down and behind Frides' back and released his grey handcuffs. He got up and stood next to Nero and accepted the removal of the cuffs and his new bond.

"What's happening?" Nero looked over at Frides.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading!