Paying The Debt

-Sakuramori, Octavia Ashford's apartment-

Victoria arrived at Octavia Ashford's apartment at noon to find out about the next job the collector wanted her to do. Wearing her Azure Armor over her blue t-shirt and black skirt with bike shorts on underneath and white tennis shoes, Victoria carried her Bandolier inside her backpack to have it handy in case trouble reared its head during the job, which was a simple one. Octavia was going out of town on a business trip and had hired Victoria and Abigail to watch over her apartment. It was a simple way to earn money and finish the second job that Abigail owed Octavia in exchange for the Sky Blade.

Victoria was greeted by Abigail, who was already inside. She seemed to be happy about having such an easy way to pay off the debt. Guarding the property of a rich client was definitely a lot easier than having to walk through werewolf-infested woods in the middle of the Cursed Lands.

"Hey Victoria! Glad you could make it!" Abigail greeted her like an old friend. The brunette found that jovial greeting to be surprising because of the heated conversation the pair had had in Lycan Woods a few nights ago. She was fairly certain that the blonde would not want anything to do with her after challenging her worldview so harshly and implying that Miss Windstrider was a martyr who wanted to die in front of an audience so that she could become famous.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't want to miss this job because I like taking easy jobs in between dangerous ones." Victoria admitted to Abigail. The blonde's smile did not change as the brunette entered the apartment. She wondered why the blonde was so happy to see her.

"I'm just glad that soon I won't owe Miss Ashford a debt anymore. I don't want to owe anyone anything." Abigail commented as she shut the door behind the Sabertooth mage. Victoria could understand that line of reasoning. While she liked the stable work that working for one or two clients offered, Victoria did not want to become anyone's lapdog. She owed her allegiance to Sabertooth first and foremost. She also liked to have freedom of choice when choosing what work she took.

"I can relate to that." Victoria replied. Abigail raised her arms above her head and then spread them out palms-up.

"For us to get what we want, all we've gotta do is keep this safe. It should be an easy job for the two of us to handle." Abigail opined.

"Yeah. I like easy jobs." Victoria freely admitted. Abigail the Mighty could look down on her if she wanted, but even someone who liked danger and Jewels in equal measure appreciated a chance to do something less hazardous every now and then. A lot of mages did that in order to take a break before returning to the danger zone.

[Word Count: 500]
[Total Word Count: 500/3,500]

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Walking through the Lycan Woods was pretty stressful. I haven't taken a job that dangerous in a few years. It was a rough first day back on the job, but it was worth it because we delivered the letter and completed one of the two jobs that I owed Miss Octavia." Abigail made an admission of her own. Her expressive green eyes then closed for a moment.

"I'm sorry about what I said in Lycan Woods. About you being a mage who was just in it for thrills and money. About you being little better than a magic-using prostitute." Abigail apologized to the brunette. Victoria was surprised by the apology because she had said quite a few hurtful things herself. She did not expect one after making a mean-spirited assertion that the blonde did not want to own up to her part in selling the Sky Blade for quick money. She also asserted that Abigail was using Victoria as a punching bag to assuage her own guilt over selling the family heirloom. Victoria's biggest and most hurtful assertion was that Abigail thought that being a martyr would bring her dead family back to life.

"It's OK, Abigail. I said a lot of hurtful things myself. I owe you an apology as well." Victoria said to the blonde mage, accepting the apology and beginning the process of crafting one of her own. This was going to be a challenge because Victoria had not had to make many apologies in her life. She also wanted to give Abigail an apology that was real, not an empty platitude spoken to make both parties feel better.

"I'll admit that what you said was hurtful, but you made good points. I was the one who sold the Sky Blade. No one held a gun to my head and forced me to sell the family heirloom... I chose to do it." Abigail started making a statement.

"Selling it was a mistake. It ate at me the moment I received the money. It ate at me every waking moment of every day after the sale. I didn't want to think about that fact, so I got angry when you brought it up because it reminded me of one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my life." Abigail said to Victoria. Victoria knew all about making mistakes, so she could commiserate with Miss Windstrider. The brunette had made plenty of her own mistakes, many of them on the streets of Capital Crocus. The mistakes included stealing food from street vendors just trying to make a living and stealing food from dumpsters behind restaurants. Victoria had never felt guilt about it because she was trying to live to see the next day.

Still, Victoria hated having to stoop to thievery just to stay alive. She stole from people trying to get their own slice of the pie before they got old and died. Part of the reason she did not like going to Capital Crocus was because just walking in the city reminded her of her own mistakes, mistakes that she would rather forget. There was no unringing the bell. She would have to live with those mistakes for the rest of her life.

Victoria did not regret survival, but she hated what she had to do to stay alive. She wished that she had never stolen food, but it was what she had to do at the time. There was no other alternative but starving to death. When faced with a choice of eating but having a guilty conscience or starving and dying as some sort of moral gesture, she would choose to live. A guilty conscience was a small price to pay for survival.

Having exhausted herself by engaging in the mental gymnastics necessary to both justify stealing food and rationalizing the guilt away in the span of one minute, the brunette stayed quiet as Abigail continued to speak. That type of hypocrisy was yet another reason that Victoria was not Wizard Saint material. She had no problem with being excluded from their ranks. Titles did not pay the bills.

[Word Count: 700]
[Total Word Count: 1,100/3,500]

"I owe you apologies too, Abigail. I'm sorry for accusing you of trying to be a martyr for the fame. I'm also sorry for accusing you of trying to be a martyr to bring your dead family back." Victoria apologized to Abigail. Those were some low blows, especially the comment she made about Abigail trying to bring her family back. Victoria was angry at being accused of being a mage just for the money, but after calming down and having time to actually think about it, Abigail was right. Victoria was in it mostly for the money.

"It's OK, Victoria. Both of us got heated and said things that we really didn't mean. Instead of beating ourselves up over it, it's better if we move on and not dwell on the arguments." Abigail suggested to her. The brunette was all for letting bygones be bygones. She had enough enemies without adding one more to the list. She also liked Abigail because the latter honestly tried to be a hero instead of just playing one like the former did. Victoria had all but destroyed the Corlone family with her actions in Rose Garden, but that had as much to do with self-preservation and revenge on the Corlones as it did rescuing innocent people from being sold as slaves.

"You were right, though. You were right about a lot of things. I like the thrill of dangerous jobs and I like how much they pay when I complete them." Victoria admitted to Abigail. The brunette needed to quit lying to herself and come clean about what it was that motivated her. Abigail did not appear entirely surprised but was accepting of Victoria's statement.

"It's OK. We can work on that. I know that money's not all you care about because you've done good things for the right reason before. You didn't care about money when you rescued those homeless people in Rose Garden and took down the Corlone family in the sewers of Rose Garden." The blonde mage said to her with hope on her voice. Victoria was surprised that Abigail still wanted anything to do with her after the argument and her open admission that she liked danger and money, but the Sabertooth mage was not going to shut that down. If Miss Windstrider had hope for Victoria, maybe there was a chance that the latter could change her ways so that she did not feel so guilty around Ryo, Imai, Gaia, and the other Sabertooth mages.

They were the real heroes. Victoria was just a pretender. There was still time to change and maybe one day become a real hero who fought for something besides money. That would have to wait, though. Right now she needed to get through this job and help Abigail clear the debt that she owed Octavia Ashford.

"Yeah, we'll definitely have to work on that. It's not easy to change overnight." Victoria diplomatically said to her partner, trying not to get the girl's hopes up. The brunette could not quite shake the mentality of "more money is always better" and had worked for more money ever since becoming a mage. Being poor sucked and she was determined to never be poor again for as long as she lived.

"We'll get there. You can be better than you are now. You just need to get into the right mindset." Abigail assured Victoria. Victoria somewhat resented the second part of the statement, but there was truth to it. She could be better than behaving like just another mage plying their trade for cash. Money was good, but fighting for the right cause was too. Maybe the brunette should start taking jobs that consisted of fighting bandits and slavers after finishing this job.

There was still a thrill to fighting such people and fighting for the innocent was undeniably just, but she felt like she was back at square one with the "fighting for money and thrills" issue she had been experiencing. She should be taking those kinds of jobs because standing up for the innocent was the right thing to do, not because she wanted to sooth a guilty conscience or get thrills in a more acceptable way. Abigail's pet project would entail a lot of work.

[Word Count: 730]
[Total Word Count: 1,830/3,500]

-Two hours later-

Victoria and Abigail were sitting on a couch passing time and waiting for Octavia Ashford to get back. It was a slow and quiet job, which was just the way Victoria liked it. Contrary to how she sounded, she did not always need to be in the middle of a fight in order for a job to be considered a good one. Sometimes she liked easier jobs and would accept smaller paychecks in exchange for a safe gig. This was one of those occasions.

"Hey Vic, I had a question." Abigail said to Victoria, employing a shortened version of the latter's name. The brunette let it slide because she was glad to have some peace and not have to go through yet another argument with the blonde. She looked towards the green-eyed blonde.

"About what, Abby?" Victoria asked.

"Did you ever have a good relationship with your parents?" Abigail asked. Victoria gave her a blank stare.

"...Did I ask about something off-limits?" Abigail asked. Victoria shook her head.

"No, Abigail. I just don't remember anything about my parents, really. I was six years old when I wound up on the streets of Capital Crocus." Victoria answered calmly. She did not remember a single thing about them, not even their hair colors or a particular scent that made them stand out. The brunette had no clue who her parents were and would probably never find out.

"Oh. Sorry for bringing that up." Abigail apologized. Victoria waved it off with her right hand.

"No, it's OK. I've had plenty of time to come to terms with it and I'm not upset anymore. I'm not sure if I was abandoned on purpose or if my parents were killed or kidnapped and I was accidentally left behind." Victoria explained to her job partner.

"If they were killed or kidnapped, you probably would have went with them in order to avoid leaving witnesses behind." Abigail surmised.

"Yeah, I would think so too. But maybe someone didn't think I'd be worth the effort to get rid of. Maybe they figured the streets of Capital Crocus would do it for them and I'd be found dead in a back alley." Victoria voiced her own theory. Abigail hmmmd in response.

"That could work too. The streets of big cities ARE pretty rough." Abigail said to Victoria. Victoria could not help but to laugh at that remark. She knew from firsthand experience that "rough" was a generous way to describe how the streets of big cities could be. It was not a lifestyle for the faint of heart because there were very few safety nets for those who lived on the streets.

"Yeah." Victoria commented tersely. She knew just how tough homeless life could be without someone to protect her. Even with someone to protect her life was still not a picnic, but it was a lot more manageable when someone reliable was watching her back while she scavenged for food or simply walked the streets looking for honest work. Thankfully Victoria finally caught a break after losing Burr and all of her other friends to slavers. Lawrence Sheridan did not just rescue her from a life of slavery... he also took her in and raised her as an adopted daughter.

"Do you have anyone who could count as family?" Abigail asked Victoria with genuine curiosity on her voice. The brunette felt like that Abigail was trustworthy enough to discuss the topic of Lawrence Sheridan with. It had been something that the Sabertooth mage kept close to her vest, but Miss Windstrider was a safe person to talk to about him. Lawrence had likely made a lot of enemies over his life, so she did not have to know the full story. She could learn just enough to keep the conversation interesting.

"Yeah. A guy named Lawrence Sheridan. He's my adopted father. He saved me from a life of slavery after slavers raided my neighborhood and kidnapped all of my friends. He also took me in when o one else would." Victoria answered the question. Abigail's face showed a lot of interest in what the brunette was going to say. Victoria noticed that and decided to continue with the story to keep Abigail engaged.

"It all started one night in Capital Crocus, when I was ten years old." Victoria started off the story.

[Word Count: 740]
[Total Word Count: 2,570/3,500]

"All of my friends got caught by slavers, but somehow I got away from them and ran into an alley. Unfortunately, that alley happened to be a dead end. I was trapped with my back literally against the wall when he showed up." Victoria got to the best part after telling Abigail of everything that had come before. Abigail's interest remained high because she was leaning towards the former while seated. The Sabertooth mage was glad that her story was finding a receptive audience.

"What happened from there?" Abigail inquired.

"The slavers started walking towards me with an open pair of shackles in hand and were taking their time approaching me because they liked their quarry to know what was going to happen to them once they were caught. There were four of them who cornered me, but then some big muscular guy jumped in front of me and they all went down with knife wounds to the throat. The wounds were so deep that the slavers were dead before they hit the ground." Victoria replied. The arrival of Lawrence Sheridan was a pivotal moment because not only did it mark her escape from slavery, it also marked the second time in her life that someone had rescued her from a bad situation. Burr was the first to come to the rescue when Victoria was added to Burr's group of homeless children after the latter found her during a routine scavenging trip.

"What happened after that?" Abigail asked.

"We left the city in a hurry because the police would be worried more about dead slavers than they would be about the homeless children who had been kidnapped. We got out of Capital Crocus and moved to a hole in the wall somewhere near... Oak Town, I think." Victoria did her best to give an answer. Abigail's green eyes met hers.

"I think I know where you're talking about. Is it that little village called Pine Village?" Abigail asked. Victoria stopped the story to think for a moment and try to remember if it was Pine Village that Lawrence had carried her to when they left the capital behind. She was pretty sure that it was but could not give a definite answer at the moment.

"Anyway, what did you guys do once you got established?" Miss Windstrider asked.

"Lawrence taught me how to read, how to write, and took care of me the best he could. When I was sixteen he helped get me work at a bar where I learned bartending." Victoria answered, enduring a withering glare from the blonde. Victoria was not intimidated by the gesture. She continued her tale without skipping a beat.

"Sure, bartending's not the most moral trade, but when your normal source of food was the nearest trash can or dumpster, being taught bartending to that you can get the Jewels to buy food's a big step up." Victoria said to Abigail. The brunette was not going to budge on that point no matter how hard Abigail glared or sermonized about the evils of alcohol. Learning to serve alcohol was the Sabertooth mage's gateway out of poverty and into having the Jewels to buy food instead of stealing it or scavenging from trash cans.

"I don't approve of selling alcohol to others for a living, but I see your point. When it's either that or starve, I'd probably sling drinks too." Abigail calmly conceded the point. Victoria was glad that the blonde mage could see that point without too much judgment. Slinging drinks was not the best trade, but it was better than no trade at all. It opened a lot of doors for Victoria and allowed her to meet a lot of interesting people that she would have otherwise never have had the chance to meet. It continued to serve Victoria well as she slung drinks at the Ace of Spades tavern for both fun and profit.

"When I turned 18 I went to Rose Garden and got a passport, then I joined the Legal Guild named Black Rose. That's when my life really turned around." Victoria said to her job partner.

"How so?" Abigail asked.

"I met other mages who had been through what I did. Even though none of us were from big-name magic families, we were accepted into the guild all the same without any complaints. I met a lot of people there that are the closest I've have to a family." Victoria answered with a bit of nostalgia. She remembered cleaning up multicolored fur from the floor of Silver Moon Inn with the help of Esialeth Rose and fighting off evil clones of mages with the help of Mayuri Katsuya, Seth Augusta, and Fang. She remembered serving a drink to Francesca Corlone and having it thrown in her face before having to duck a thrown barstool. She even served a drink to Astrid Foss herself. Those were memories that could not simply go away.

"So you do value things other than money." Abigail said to Victoria.

[Word Count: 850]
[Total Word Count: 3,420/3,500]

-Twelve hours later-

Victoria walked around the apartment while Abigail sat on the couch watching a TV Lacrima of some sort about ordinary people singing and trying to become idols. She made sure that none of the artifacts and other goods the two mages were entrusted to protect had gone missing. A slow walkthrough and careful examination showed the brunette that everything was in its rightful place; there were no signs of clandestine entry or other tampering with the windows of the apartment.

She had just completed her walkthrough when the door began to open. Abigail bolted up from her seat and turned the TV off as a weary Octavia entered the home. Octavia spotted both hired helpers standing up and looking at her in anticipation.

"Hello Victoria and Abigail. I see that everything's OK." She said to them.

"Yes. Everything's fine. Not a single item's out of place." Victoria assured the client. Abigail simply smiled at Octavia. The client did a quick walkthrough to make sure that the mages were not lying to her and returned with a smile on her face.

"Everything's exactly where I left it. Now that I'm back, you two have completed the job as I specified. Well done." She said to the pair. She produced a bag of Jewels and tossed them underhand to Victoria, who caught them with both hands. She looked at Abigail and spoke to her.

"With Miss Sheridan as a witness, I state that the debt between us is now settled. You no longer owe me any more unpaid work." Octavia said solemnly to the blonde mage, who could barely contain her excitement.

"Of course, if you'd like to be hired for more work, I'd be glad to give you work in exchange for Jewels." Miss Ashford quickly added. Abigail gave a thumbs-up towards the client.

"If you need any more work done, I'd be glad to take it." Abigail said to Octavia before she started heading for the door. Victoria followed suit. They would leave Miss Ashford's home because their client was clearly tired from travel and she did not want a pair of teenagers hanging around while she tried to sleep.

"I'll keep in contact with you both. Have a good evening." Octavia bade them before shutting the door behind the departing mages. The cold night air greeted them both with a slap to the face. It was too dark to travel by night, so they would just see if Florence Manderley would host them for a night again. The pair wordlessly began traveling towards that sanctuary.

[Word Count: 440]
[Total Word Count: 3,860/3,500]