Treasure Chase • Private, Job [Megálos Aderfós]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

"He is running a bit late, no?" The thick Russian accent of Lark piped up from beside the violinist as they both stood at the docks, looking out into the dark, seemingly endless waters below the snow covered, wooden walkway.
The orange haired she-phoenix's sapphire gaze popped over the edge of the land, staring at her own reflection upon the surface of the ocean curiously.
Watching her breath form into a white cloud due to the cold climate Astrid shrugged her shoulders backwards, head sinking into her pale scarf wrapped snugly around her neck. It was a good thing she had dressed the way she did before coming here. Long, brown, fluffy coat. Black high boots. Orange scarf. From the name 'Snowfall island' she had assumed the temperature would be rather cold. And she was right.
The slayer wiped some of the falling snow from her hair before shoving her hands into her coat pockets, her posture leaning back slightly as she pushed her weight onto one leg.
Lark's body temperature did help a bit with the cold. Even though she was standing just a few inches from her companion she could still feel the slightest tinge of heat radiating from her, warming the left of her body. Lark was okay in the cold. Even know she wore just her normal mercenary clothes. Light and thin. Astrid supposed the phoenix's body heat was all she needed... Lucky girl.
Feeling her nose start to turn cold she shoved her head down even more into her scarf so now only her crimson gaze and the top of her head could be seen. She wriggled her fingers and toes, trying to push away the numbing cold.
She hoped Mega would arrive soon. The sooner he did the sooner they could get moving and start to warm up.
Any longer and she would turn into an ice sculpture.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

A small breath of relief pushed from the girl's mouth as she saw Mega approach, though her expression only turned curious when she saw the boy was soaked from head to toe. And at that, with barely any clothing on.
Crimson eyes widened.
The island was absolutely freezing. No matter why he was wet like that, if he didn't dry off soon he was doomed to catch a cold. Or even worse, hypothermia. What was he, insane? How did he even manage to last this long without the proper attire?
The orange colored scarf dropping back down over her chest the slayer was about to warn him the dangers of being in such a condition before Lark spoke up first instead.
"You, big sprout" the phoenix's stare became hard as she looked up from the ocean to Mega, arms crossing over her chest.
"What kind of idiot expose himself to harsh environment?" though with some broken English the red head huffed before walking up to the taller man. She stopped just before him, allowing her arm to ignite into a bright flame.
"Dry off, then we go. Correct?" She glanced over her shoulder towards Astrid for reassurance.
Blinking, the slayer only nodded in response, a bit frazzled by how well Lark was able to manage the situation for her. Like she had taken the words right out of her mouth.... Though Astrid herself would have defiantly phrased them a but more delicately.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Lark's arm flickered back to normal as she watched the man dry himself in a rather dog-like fashion.
Inching her way back to Astrid's side Lark bent over to the slayer's ear, covering the side of her mouth with the back of her hand like a shield to not allow her words to be heard by others.
"He is like dog. Though act like puppy" the she-phoenix mused, expression teasing, a big grin etching onto her lips as she kept her eyes upon Mega, to be sure he didn't hear anything.
At the comment Astrid used her elbow to knock at the fire bird's side, lips pursing together with a frown.

"Ssh, don't be rude" the ace warned the red head with a rough whisper. She didn't like it when people judged others like that. At least not out loud. It was rude. Mega meant well. It just didn't... Seem like he knew how to act in front of normal people. Made apparent by his current actions.
As the taller man made his way back to the two Astrid place her usual smile upon her face, quickly replacing her irritation with the fire bird's words.
Lark did the same, looking up to Mega with a small smirk, hand upon her hips, completely acting innocently. As if she hadn't said a thing.
"Yes. Lets."
Looking back to Lark for a split second to make sure she wouldn't try causing any trouble, Astrid finally took a step forward, beginning to lead the two slowly to the center of the island.

...

Treasure. She couldn't say she was exactly doing this for the treasure. Honestly, she didn't really care for treasure at all. It might sound weird, coming from a member of the guild who mostly revolved around it. But Astrid couldn't find a reason to care about it. Being wealthy was not one of her life goals... Though it would be kind of nice... The real reason why she took this job, was because Megalos wanted to. Though she didn't quite understand his motivation to go through with it, she found no reason to reject him when he asked her to join him. She was an ace, after all. It was her job to look after the guild and its members.
That being said, it was her job especially to look after members while on a mission.
As the three got further and further into the island, things started to feel more and more... Not right. Like something was off. There was enemies, obviously. At had been stated in the job. So it's not like she wasn't expecting them. But to find them so soon after starting? Astrid hadn't thought it would happen.

shwing.
The sound of metal unsheathing from something cut through the silence of the snow covered forest. The dragon slayer glanced over to the source of the noise, stopping in her tracks.
Lark had stopped to, and was no positioned a little away from the two of them, standing in a battle ready position, knees bent and blue eyes darting around the area, red sword in hand.
"You sensed it too?" Astrid questioned, a silver aura consuming her hand as she looked from the phoenix to the treeline, trying to spot the sensed enemies, arm flexing as she prepared herself for a fight.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Jewel thieves in a place like this? Astrid would have never guessed this kind of environment would harbor things like thieves. Though when she thought about it, they probably didn't care what kind of climate it was. They just wanted the jewels, no matter what.
The three finally revealed themselves as a strange bunch. A red head, cat lady, and big buff guy. The cat lady and red head she could see as thieves. But the muscle head? It came as a surprise.

As Mega charged forward for the red head, Astrid set her sights on the cat lady. If she had to guess, there was a reason as to why she looked so much like a cat. Probably slick and really fast, just like the animal she resembled. If that was true, she would like to see how the lady dealt with someone just as fast. If not faster...
Seeing as how Mega's charge had caught them off guard for a few moments Astrid used this time to rush forward just after the man did. Easily hopping from side to side to confuse the cat girl she used her light covered hand to punch the woman directly in the middle of her chest.
"Nya!" a strong vibration was sent outward, shaking the air within a couple of meters. The cat woman flew backwards, slamming into a snow covered wall. Due to the impact when she landed, the snow from the top of the ledge fell down onto her, causing her to have to dig her way out of it with a clawed hand. She hissed once she reached the surface, pale face holding an angry scowl.
"You'll pay for that, bitch!" She unsheathed her claws and flexed them, staring angrily at the slayer as she stumbled back to her feet, yowling in pain as she held her chest with her hand, wobbling and having to hold onto the wall beside her to even try to look at the girl.

Lark, had gone for the last man, seeing as how Mega and Astrid had the two others covered.
She lashed her sword at him, cutting into his skin. But he didn't seem effected by it at all. He just stood there, taking it all.
"D'aaw, is that all ya got, birdy?" the buff man cooed down in a baby-like voice. Lark's hair burst into flame, visibly annoyed at the man's baby talk. With a 'tch' the she-phoenix plunged her sword into the ground, the snow melting away from the blade almost instantly, sizzling as it melted back into water, only to evaporate by the heat.
She stared at the man, deep blue oculars narrowed.

"Enough of game. Rìluò!" Turning her sword left, the earth in a small, thin line would crumble open, a big wall of flames shooting out of it. The man, who had only stared at the woman the entire time, screamed as he was scorched and burned by the flames.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

It was like a dance, the way the neko girl and Astrid fought. With every swipe of her elongated claws, the slayer merely dodged left and right. It was a pattern. She swiped left, so Astrid went right. She went right, so Astrid dodged left. Her attacks were a pattern. A foolish tacit to use. The enemy was surely always to predict your moves if you just kept doing the same thing over and over again. If the ace had to guess, the cat girl hadn't been fighting for very long. No more than five weeks, if even that. She was a rookie. Not that Astrid herself wasn't also a rookie, but she was at least a rookie with many months of training from a God of Ishval. If there was such a thing as an advanced class of novice, Astrid would be that if not the next rank up already. Though it was hard to judge her own fighting style, so none of that may even be true. But she survived this long somehow. And if it wasn't because she was getting better at fighting, she didn't know what else it could be.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
It was starting to get a little boring.
The cat girl grunted with every swipe of air, shining trails of white light following in their wake. She just kept going, pushing forward with her entire body, allowing her momentum to keep making her move. Because of this Astrid was forced to keep stepping backwards as she dodged the patterned attacks, grunting as she misstepped once, landing her weight onto the side of her foot.
Because of the misstep one of the swipes almost managed to hit, cutting off a small portion of her silver locks.
"T-Too close" she warned herself, noticing how close the claws had gotten to slicing a part of her face off.
She was right. This girl was fast. But she didn't know how to control her speed or power. She could see it in her face. The cat girl was starting to lose herself to her anger, yellow eyes forming into slits, wide and burning. She was letting her attacks this for themselves, not putting any control into them herself, like she was a robot taking orders from someone else. It was almost like a trance.

Deciding to break the pattern and allow this mess of a dance to end before the girl's claws managed to hit the slayer began to gather silver light into her clenched mouth, the light leaking out between her teeth once enough she could no longer fill anymore in.
Filling her chest with a large breath of air through her nose Astrid opened her mouth in a yell, throwing the silver light forward in a steady stream, hitting the neko girl straight in the face.
The dragon roar. The white dragon roar, to be exact. Anyone who knew about dragon slayers would recognize this attack instantly, even without the whole thing of shouting out the attack's name. It was a signature move, and quite famous at that. Powerful. Devastating, even.

The cat girl screamed and fell to her knees, her face falling to her hands, hissing as it sizzled at her flesh. The attack was at such close range, and at that, was near the girl's face. It was sure to be painful with the heat and blinding light mixed together.
Realizing that she might have gone a little too far the violinist was quick to rush over to the thief's side, kneeling down in the snow.
"Are you okay? Here, let me see your face i can-"
As the slayer offered a helping hand the feline smacked it away, the other hand still covering her damaged face.

"You... You have made a grave mistake."
Leaving those dark words the cat girl vanished into what seemed like thin air before appearing beside the buff man.
Lark had managed to beat him up pretty badly, her last sword attack managing to scorch his skin and left him hurting from the burns. He knelt in the snow, one fist down upon the ground, holding him up while the other rested on his lap, head down like a defeated warrior excepting his timely demise, sword cuts and burns covering his exposed upper torso. The she-phoenix stood before him, red sword raised, ready to end the man's life. That was, before the feline woman warped beside him. Before the sword's blade could connect with the man's head the cat lady placed her hand on the man's arm before vanishing back into thin air.
The blade, already in full swing, met the ground instead. The snow surrounding that spot fizzled away, but the man's body was nowhere to be found.
Blinking dark blue optics it took the red head a moment of surprise before she realized what had happened. She scowled and clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, swinging the sword over her shoulder.
"Stupid cats" she muttered darkly.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The three were surrounded in a thick orb of silence after the scene that had just played out before them, frail and stagnant as if even just one sharp look or word could release something none of them wanted. What was that thing? Astrid wasn't sure. But it felt like something was there, in the air around them. An awkwardness? Surprise? It was a combination of many things. It was a feeling, but she wasn't quite sure what to call it, or even how to begin describing it.
For what seemed like years both of the women did not move, eyes wide and mouths ajar as they stared at the taller man in front of them, who seemed to currently be on the verge of tears.
Lark was the first to break that fragile orb that had been pumping itself up with every second of silence. The brash woman, instead of comforting the man, focused on his wounded companion. Tracking through the thick snow the she-phoenix crouched down beside the bandaged-covered prince, beginning to look him over. For a split moment, Astrid caught something within the fire bird's eyes as she looked over her should for a split moment before turning back to try and patch her fellow phoenix up. She was leaving her to comfort the boy... The slayer didn't know if it was because Lark didn't know how, or if she was just leaving her the somewhat harder job. Not that she could blame the girl if the latter was the truth. What had just happened was... Hard to even describe. And Lark wasn't very good with words. So out of everyone here, Astrid knew she would be the best choice in trying to talk to Mega about it.

Eyes lingering upon her guild mate, a small frown upon her lips the musician scooted her way through the snow covered ground to stand just a little behind Mega. She was tempted to lay a hand on him, allowing it to hover just above his exposed back, but decided against it at the last second, retracting it, unsure if the boy wanted to be touched right now.
"... Mega?" The girl questioned softly, placing her hands upon her knees as she bent down to try and match his fallen height. She paused, not really sure how to even begin asking if he was okay or what they had just seen. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't sure at all. Though she guessed she had to try, on the off chance he wanted to explain him.
"Are you okay?"
No, of course he wasn't okay. He didn't look okay at all. Even Astrid knew that. But it was all she could think to ask. She didn't know how else to put it. Asking when he was in this state was such a delicate operation. If he was anything like Lucius, he would either ignore her or pretend that everything was okay. But to even see how he would react, she had to test him in the safest way possible.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Astrid's gaze settled upon the scar as he brought up her hand to touch it, listening carefully to Megalos' story, meanwhile tracing the mark lightly with her fingers. She could not understand a lot of the boy's story at the moment, as it was lengthy and detailed, and the slayer was known for being rather spacey and forgetful, unable to process a lot of information easily. But from the parts she did pick up, she could tell what he was talking about. Himself. It wasn't rocket science to know, it was rather obvious. But Astrid would not point that out, or even touch upon the story itself. Most likely, Mega would not want to talk about this tragic history after he was finished. The violinist would respect that.
So when the mage moved away from her touch, she could not help but hear the comment made just loud enough to hear, silver eyebrows furrowing in concern.
... Weak...
He thought he was weak.
The ace turned her gaze away to look at the snow pile in the corner of her vision.
That brought back a painful memory. The moment she too learned that she was too weak to protect the people she cared about. The moment when she almost lost her brother.
If Elyx had not been there to save the day, both she and her brother would be dead at this time. All because she had been to weak to protect him against both himself and the Black Rose guild master.
While she did not think Mega's situation had been exactly as dangerous as that, she could see where he was coming from.
"You're wrong" Astrid blurted out, regathering the courage to look out towards the taller man, eyes narrowing in confidence.
"You're not weak. You are able to admit that you think you are weak. It takes a ton of strength to even admit that aloud. That alone makes you strong."

".... Unlike me..."
The dragon slayer's smile melted into a sudden frown.
Astrid herself couldn't admit to anyone that she thought she was weak. She had far too much pride to admit it to even herself. There was no way she could tell anyone if she couldn't even tell herself. However, Mega did it. Aloud. To a person he didn't even know that well. He recognized it. He recognized a weakness. Recognizing that weakness and accepting it, is what gave you the power to be stronger. And that fact he managed to do that so early into his adventure... She was proud of him.

Watching him pick up the phoenix she shook her head to rid herself of the frown, forcing a smile back to her lips.
"I'm not too sure about finding bandages... This island is rather deserted thanks to the cold. We can get some for you after we find the treasure. I'll pay for the cost."
If it would make him comfortable the violinist would gladly get him his bandages again. Though he would probably have to wait until they got back to the mainland. She doubted there were any villages around this island, or if there were, she had no idea where they would be. It'd be easier to buy some in town after the mission.

Seeing as Lark had regained the scent of the treasure, the red head beckoned them to keep moving with a small gesture of her hand. Noticing this, Astrid treaded over towards the she-phoenix who was already beginning to walk away, slowing down only when she caught up to match the girl's quickening pace.

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And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Red optics turned from the treasure before them to the corner of her vision, pausing to stare at Mega as he asked her that very important question. Mentor... Where did this come from? The ace hadn't excepted such a thing from the man.
Her... A mentor? It was hard to imagine. She was still barely an apprentice herself right now. Being a mentor seemed a little out of her league when she still had so much left to learn.
But yet as he stared at her with those eyes, those shining, wonder-filled eyes... She could not bring herself to decline. The way he looked at her... It was the same way she looked at Elyx, so much admiration hidden behind those round orbs...
Offering him her signature smile Astrid turned her gaze back to Lark, who had lifted the treasure chest over her shoulder with ease, steadying it with her hands.

Letting out a single, audible breath, the light mage finally revealed her answer.
"We'll see."

It was not a yes, but yet it was not a no. Until she was ready to take on apprentice, she would make a note to herself to watch Mega. See what would become of him till the time came. Only then, would she give him a definite answer.

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