Chasing The Past

Waking into Sakuramori wearing her new Azure Armor over her blue t-shirt and black skirt with bike shorts and white tennis shoes, Victoria kept her Bandolier and her new Silver Dagger in her backpack in case trouble came up. Today she was in town to help a private collector retrieve something of considerable value that was stolen from her. The job notice did not say what the stolen, so it must have been something important. Maybe it was a family heirloom or maybe it was a very valuable limited run book, maybe even a first edition. Otherwise the collector would not have hired a mage when the town police could find it for free.

Victoria walked to the address listed on the notice and found that it was not very far from Florence Manderley's home. She knocked on the door and was greeted by a young woman with long brown hair wearing an old-fashioned yellow outfit with boots. The woman's fashion sense was questionable, but she was still the client. As long as the client paid good money, Victoria could handle the fashion sense.

"Hi there! I'm Octavia Ashford. I'm the one who posted the job notice!" The young woman said to Victoria. Octavia ushered her in and shut the door behind her. It was time to learn what it was that the mage was looking for.

Octavia Ashford:

[Word Count: 227]
[Total Word Count: 227/7,000]

Victoria was ushered into a small but well-furnished single-floor apartment that was decorated with antiques. In the far left corner was a white porcelain vase with a delicate cloud pattern painted onto it. In the far right corner was a shelf of books that were made on the very first printing presses in Fiore... or so Octavia claimed. Victoria wondered where Octavia got the money to buy all of those items. Maybe she was an heiress or maybe she made shrewd investments that paid off big time.

"Florence Manderley told me that you were a good mage to hire." Octavia started off by name-dropping a friend of Victoria's.

"I'd say so." Victoria replied, deciding to let her reputation speak for itself. She tended to take a lot of combat jobs before anything else, so no one could say that she coasted to her present status. Even before joining Sabertooth, she had completed a lot of high-risk jobs that paid off handsomely. Octavia picked up a folder off of her coffee table and waved it.

"I've seen that you've completed some pretty dangerous jobs over your career. I don't know whether you like to fight or have a death wish." Octavia commented. Victoria refrained from making a comment. Did Octavia want someone to go into harm's way and get her stolen item or did she want someone to sit down and have tea with?

"I tend to go where the danger is." Victoria replied. Fighting crooked cops, organized crime goons, necromancers, and zombies was dangerous work, but she defeated. All of those feats were accomplished before she even fought Zupazu for a book.

"You certainly do. And that's why I wanted to hire you. You're not afraid to go into harm's way. If anything, you deliberately seek it out." Octavia said to her.

"You could say that." Victoria answered. Dangerous jobs tended to pay a lot more and boost Sabertooth's reputation as defenders of the realm. They also boosted Victoria's personal reputation as a mage who could get things done. If she did not have that kind of reputation, she would mostly likely not be standing here right now about to take yet another dangerous job for a client.

"I'll cut to the chase then. Some thieves stole a valuable artifact I paid good Jewels for. I want it back." Octavia finally answered the question of what she wanted Victoria to retrieve.

"What am I looking for?" The mage asked. Octavia's eyes met her own.

"An old sword. One with magical powers. One that belonged to a very powerful mage who lived many centuries ago." The client answered. Victoria was intrigued. Thieves stealing a magic sword that had belonged to a powerful mage always made for an interesting job.

"I'm interested. Tell me more." Victoria said to Octavia. Octavia smiled.

"Florence was right about you. You thrive on danger. If you take this job, you'll get plenty of it." Octavia commented as she pulled a book with a gray hardback cover down from another shelf, a shelf full of modern books. It was a book so large and so thick that hitting someone with it would almost certainly induce blunt force trauma. It was a book on famous mages and their magic weapons.

"Care to find out more?" Octavia inquired.

[Word Count: 549]
[Total Word Count: 776/7,000]

Octavia opened the book and flipped through it carefully to avoid tearing any of the pages. She eventually turned to a page that showed a curved single-edged sword with jewels placed down the length of the silver blade and a navy blue grip. It looked a bit strange to be the weapon of a famous mage, but mages could be an eccentric lot. Some of them preferred flash over substance and used suitably flashy weapons that were as easy to identify as their owners. Victoria could not say too much... she was a walking arsenal of magic weapons that tended to make an impression whenever she used them.

"This weapon is called the Sky Blade. It once belonged to a female mage named Hayate Windstrider. It's a blade of great power that was rumored to be able to channel her wind magic and allow her to project its destructive power over great distances. That's in addition to being a formidable weapon in its own right." Octavia explained its significance to Victoria.

"Do its powers work for anyone or just mages?" Victoria asked the client. If anyone could use its magic, that would explain why the thieves stole it. Octavia shook her head.

"Thankfully, no. It only works for mages with Wind Magic, and even then its full power was only able to be used by Hayate Windstrider herself. She created it that way because she was aware of the disaster its power could bring if used irresponsibly." Octavia explained. Victoria was relieved. At least its full destructive power was unable to be tapped by just anyone... it took a Wind mage directly related to the late mage herself to tap its full power. That fact alone took some of the urgency out of the search, but she still needed to find it in case the thieves could come up with a workaround to the safety measure. That in turn led Victoria to ask another question.

"As far as you know, did Hayate Windstrider ever have a son or daughter? Do you think that one of them could use the weapon to its full potential?" Victoria asked her hostess. Octavia raised an eyebrow.

"You know, that's a good question. Let me take a look" Octavia replied before striding over to her bookcase and bringing down a brown book with a leather cover. Judging from the family trees on its pages, it was a genealogy book. Victoria did not know that the family trees of famous mages were a thing. Octavia looked over page after page until she finally found something of interest to her.

"I believe that she did in fact have children. She had children in her thirties and retired from being an active mage when she was in her sixties. She lived until the age of eighty-six and managed to die of old age instead of in battle. Her children had children and there are quite a few Windstriders alive today. One of them's even a wind mage carrying on in the footsteps of her great-great grandmother." Octavia commented, tracing down the family tree until her finger stopped while pointing to a name near the bottom of the page. Victoria looked at it. The name was "Abigail Windstrider."

"Her name's Abigail Windstrider, but people call her Gail for short. She's a mage who lives in Oak Town in her great-great grandmother's home. She's an adventurous mage who takes a lot after her ancestor. She fights dangerous enemies like bandits and dragons." Octavia added a bit of background information about the living descendant of the mage whose sword she was looking at.

"I hate to interrupt the history lesson, Miss Ashford, but where was the sword last seen before you lost track of it?" Victoria asked Octavia.

"Oh yes. If I recall, it was last seen inside Sakuramori's forest before the town guard lost track of the thieves. But I'd be careful. It's full of supernatural forces, and not all of them take kindly to intruders." Octavia warned her. Victoria was not surprised. If it were a simple matter, Octavia would have just gotten the sword back herself.

"OK. I'll get the Sky Blade back for you." Victoria assured her hostess.

"I'd suggest carrying a silver weapon. if you have to fight them, it can hurt the supernatural entities you'll find in there." Octavia suggested to the mage. Victoria wordlessly set down her backpack on the coffee table, opened it, and produced her Silver Dagger. It was a gift from the Order of Lightbringers for saving Serena Anderson, the wayward young cleric who tried to purify the Haunted Guild by herself.

"Perfect." Octavia gave a thumbs-up when she saw the weapon. The brunette was glad that she had brought it with her. She never knew when she would go up against otherworldly entities, so keeping it handy was never a bad idea.

"Now go talk to the town guard. They'll be able to point you in the right direction. And good luck, Victoria!" Octavia gave some parting advice as Victoria left the Ashford home to go find the Sky Blade.

Sky Blade:

[Word Count: 850]
[Total Word Count: 1,626/7,000]

-Sakuramori Police Station-

Stepping through sliding glass doors, Victoria entered the Sakuramori police station in order to chase down information on the last known whereabouts of the Sky Blade. Octavia said that the thieves had taken it to the Sakuramori woods, but after that the trail had grown cold. The mage walked up to the female officer sitting behind the front desk, who was a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair, an immaculate blue uniform, and black-rimmed glasses.

"Hi there. How can I help you?" The young officer asked. Victoria presented her guild tattoo and the job notice to the officer. The mage then began to explain the purpose behind the visit.

"I'm working on behalf of a local collector named Octavia Ashford, who's hired me to retrieve an old weapon called the Sky Blade. She told me that the police had some information on where exactly the Sky Blade was last seen in Sakuramori's forest. Who do I talk to in order to get it?" Victoria asked the officer.

"I'll handle this one, Natalie." An older man said to her. He was a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a blue uniform. He wore brown-rimmed glasses.

"I was one of the officers who answered the call. We chased the thieves as far as Sakuramori Forest, but that's as far as we went because of the spirits in the forest. They don't like intruders and we're not trained to fight them." The officer explained. Victoria could understand that reasoning. Police officers were meant to handle ordinary threats. Rune Knights were the ones trained and equipped to deal with threats like spirits and rogue mages. She did not hold that reluctance against him because police officers were rarely expected to deal with forest spirits.

"It's no problem. Just point me towards where the thieves went and I'll take care of it." Victoria assured him. He looked at her quizzically and tilted his head as if he were trying to recognize her.

"Say, you're from Black Rose, are you?" He asked. Victoria wanted to say yes, but circumstances were different.

"I used to be a member of Black Rose, but now I'm with Sabertooth. Black Rose disbanded a few months ago." Victoria answered.

"Yeah, which was a real shame. I recall another officer telling us about you. Said that you helped save the town from those weird candle creatures a few months ago." He commented. Victoria remembered that particular job well. She, Seth, and Itazura helped fend off an attack of weird creatures trying to get into Sakuramori during the "Night of Eternal Darkness" incident a few months back. If the three mages had not been there to stop them, Sakuramori stood to lose a lot of people because many of them were outdoors during the night's festivities. If the creatures had caught them out in the open, it would have been a slaughter.

Little did Victoria know that the job would be Black Rose's last hurrah, but it was a good effort to end on because Sakuramori was saved and no one except the Black Rose mages and the town guard knew about the incident. Victoria had no regrets about her time in Black Rose. Now she was part of Sabertooth and working towards the same goals, only now she was part of a different guild.

"I'll take you there, kid. After I show you the way you'll be on your own. I'm getting too old to chase sword thieves in forests full of spirits." He said to Victoria, motioning for her to follow him. The brunette wordlessly followed the officer out of the station. Now she was starting to get somewhere, which meant that she was closer to getting paid for her efforts.

[Word Count: 622]
[Total Word Count: 2,248/7,000]

-The outskirts of Sakuramori-

Making sure to put her Silver Dagger with sheath in her pocket, Victoria followed the officer to the town outskirts and looked for any signs of trouble. She was glad that she had went to all the trouble to rescue Serena Anderson because getting a weapon that could harm spirits was a game-changer. Now she did not have to rely on someone else to save her bacon while she served as a meatshield. The brunette would gladly serve as a distraction if it helped complete the job, but she hated being dead weight who could not contribute and only took up space on a roster. Thankfully she only served that role once so far; that was during her first visit to the Haunted Guild to shut down the necromancer who had claimed it for his own, and that uselessness was limited to only when she had to fight ghosts.

Victoria followed the officer until he pointed a white-gloved hand to an opening in the forest that had numerous footprints on the grass. They were far apart, which meant whoever made them had to be running as fast as they could go.

"This is where we last saw them before they disappeared. Like I said, they were just too fast for us. Once they got to this point, we couldn't catch them unless we were driving a patrol car." The officer informed her.

"This is as far as I go, kid. I'm too old to be fighting spirits. Since you were with Black Rose, I have a feeling you'll do just fine." The officer expressed faith in her abilities. Suddenly another voice chimed in.

"Who said she was going alone?" A female voice asked. Both people turned to face a blonde-haired young woman with green eyes. She wore a sleeveless brown shirt over a sleeveless white t-shirt with a blue jean skirt and brown boots. A spring of her hair stood up just like Victoria's did. Finally and most importantly, her magic signature was as strong as Victoria's own, which meant that the young woman had to be a mage.

"Who might you be?" The officer asked. Victoria was just about to ask the same question.

"I'm Abigail Windstrider. I'm here to reclaim what's rightfully mine!" She boldly introduced herself to the pair. Victoria recognized that name. She was the Wind mage whose ancestral sword the brunette was hired to recover. This was going to be an awkward partnership, if the term "partnership" was merited.

"Well then... I'll be leaving you two to find that Sky Blade. Good luck!" The officer wished them before leaving the mages to their work. As soon as he was gone, Abigail turned to Victoria.

"So you're after the Sky Blade too?" Abigail inquired with a disapproving tone.

"Yeah." Victoria bluntly admitted. The blonde frowned at her.

"What do you want it for? A trophy piece? Something to put over your fireplace and show your friends?" Abigail pressed the brunette for answers with growing irritation.

"I was hired by a collector in Sakuramori to retrieve it." Victoria answered warily. How did the mage know that she was really talking to Abigail Windstrider and not some opportunistic thief who wanted to cash in on Victoria's work to steal the Sky Blade for herself? This was going to be about as fun as a visit to the Corlone mansion basement.

"Oh, so you're taking it as a trophy piece for someone else?" The blonde pressed even harder.

"I'm working for a collector. They hired me to retrieve it because it belonged to them first." Victoria offered a little more information. Abigail hit the roof.

"A collector? That's where my family's heirloom has been all this time? Sitting in someone's display cabinet?!" Abigail fumed. It was Victoria's turn to frown. What was this girl getting at? Was she implying that Octavia Ashford was a thief?

"Look, Abigail. I don't know what's going on. All I'm here to do is find the Sky Blade and take it back to the collector." Victoria tried to smooth things over with the fuming blonde. Her attempt at peacemaking was not working because the girl got even angrier to the point her face turned red.

"You don't care about its history or who it really belongs to! You're just another dime-a-dozen money-grubbing mage who wants a quick payday!" Abigail accused Victoria. Victoria clenched her teeth and tried to let it go. This girl was really pushing her buttons... no, she was tap-dancing on Victoria's buttons. Suddenly Abigail had a very punchable face.

Abigail Windstrider:

[Word Count: 762]
[Total Word Count: 3,010/7,000]

"Look, Abigail. I don't know what you have against me, but if you want the Sky Blade back, it'd be best if we worked together. This forest is full of spirits and-" Victoria suggested to Abigail, who was clearly not interested in working together when she put a hand up for silence. The blonde was determined to reclaim her ancestral weapon all by herself and was not going to let anyone tell her otherwise. Abigail was going to be in for a rude awakening when she ran into the forest and found out that getting the Sky Blade back was not the cakewalk she imagined it would be. This conversation was not going to be a cakewalk either.

"I don't need your help, you money-grubber! You'll have to look for an easy payday somewhere else! The Sky Blade belongs to the Windstriders!" Abigail shouted defiantly before running off into the forest with great speed. The brunette was left fuming. She tried to offer a helping hand, but the proud young mage refused to take it. Whatever. If she wanted to get lost in the forest or end up getting kidnapped by the thieves, that was on her.

Victoria sighed and walked into the forest in search of the weapon she was hired to retrieve. She did not know what to expect since this would be her very first time in the Sakuramori woods. She would just have to be careful and hope that the spirits were not in an aggressive mood today.

-Inside the forest-

Victoria walked inside and felt a difference in temperature almost immediately... the abundant shade provided by the forest canopy made the forest unusually cold for an average day. She followed the footprints left by both the thieves and by the headstrong Abigail and stuck to the path, ignoring the urge to venture off the beaten path. Another striking feature of the forest was how quiet it was; the mage did not hear a single bird call nor any animal noises while following the footprints. She wondered why everything was so quiet in daytime.

Victoria dropped to one knee as she heard a female scream pierce the eerie silence... were banshees among the spirits that roamed the woods of Sakuramori? She was not a scholar of the supernatural, but she had a feeling that banshees did not roam around during the day. Victoria reached into her skirt pocket and drew her Silver Dagger in case combat with supernatural forces was imminent. She slowly rose to her feet and continued to follow the trail while keeping an eye out for trouble.

The mage kept going until she eventually came across a blonde hanging upside down from a tree limb via an old-fashioned rope snare that had caught her ankle. That blonde was too busy keeping her skirt pushed up to bother trying to free herself from the snare. Victoria recognized her as Abigail, the same Abigail who confidently asserted that she did not need any help before charging off into the forest alone. It was amusing how drastically things had changed over the course of several minutes.

"YOU!" Abigail screeched while glaring emerald daggers at Victoria.

"What about me?" Victoria asked while putting away her Silver Dagger. She had nothing to do with the blonde's predicament. Abigail was the one who thought that it was a smart idea to do what she did. Part of Victoria wanted to leave Abigail hanging and let the mighty Windstrider free herself and show how good she was. The other part of Victoria wanted to help Abigail despite all the verbal abuse thrown her way because she had known what it was like to be trapped and alone with no way out.

"You think this is funny, don't you? You think me hanging here by an ankle is a laugh?" Abigail asked accusingly.

"Actually, I was gonna offer to help you out of your situation. But if you don't want my help, I'll just be on my way then. You don't need the help of money-grubbing mages." Victoria said, unable to resist the temptation to throw the blonde's snide remark back into her face. Abigail huffed indignantly like it was beneath her to deal with the brunette.

"What do you want out of this? I suppose you'll want the sword? Or a whole lot of Jewels?" The blonde asked in a cutting tone of voice. Victoria could go for the Jewels, but she did not want to annoy the other mage any more than she already had. She wanted to try and salvage a partnership with the Windstrider... if she really was a Windstrider and not just a thief looking to make a quick score.

"Look, do you want my help or not?" Victoria asked pointedly. She had better things to do than stand in a forest and play Twenty Questions with someone who obviously did not want her company. Abigail now had to fish or cut bait. What she chose to do was entirely up to her.

[Word Count: 838]
[Total Word Count: 3,848/7,000]

Abigail huffed again as if dealing with Victoria were a great inconvenience that was to be endured. Oh well. If she wanted to hang around and push up her skirt all day, that was her call. Meanwhile, the Sabertooth mage was going to go find the Sky Blade and make some money. The brunette turned around and was about to move on to pursue her objective.

"OK, fine! Get me down from here!" Abigail shouted. That was a rude way to "ask" for help, but Victoria had wasted enough time on her. The brunette would gladly comply just to be done with it. She brought out her suppressed sniper and took careful aim at the rope. Victoria made sure that the angle she aimed for would send the shot into the canopy and skyward, where it would eventually dissipate into ethernano after not hitting anything or anyone.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SHOOT THE ROPE, NOT ME!" Abigail screeched, putting her hands in front of her and waving them frantically.

"I see London, I see France..." Victoria sang out. Abigail caught the meaning of the song and shrieked; she shrieked and pushed her skirt up. Victoria could not help but to laugh at the scene. She then shot the rope and the blonde fell with a shriek, landing on her back.

"Ow..." Abigail groaned as Victoria put away her weapon and walked over to the mage. The blonde sat up and removed what was left of the rope from her right ankle, then slowly got to her feet and rubbed her lower back with both hands. The whole situation was equal parts funny and sad. However, Abigail failed to see any humor in what had just happened.

"What were you thinking?!" Abigail shouted indignantly. Victoria sighed. She should have known better than to expect gratitude from someone like the blonde.

"I couldn't climb the tree, so I did the next best thing and shot the rope. At least you're not just hanging around anymore." Victoria defended her action. The blonde was not hearing any of it.

"What kind of mage can't climb a tree?" Abigail snarked. The Sabertooth mage had almost had enough of the blonde's attitude.

"I never learned how to climb a tree because I grew up in Capital Crocus, where you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a building. The rich people loved trees so much that they were protected by law. There were four-digit fines just for climbing on the trees in the park... may the Wizard Saints help you if you thought about cutting one down for fuel or shelter." Victoria shot back. It was like everything else in Capital Crocus... what the rich people wanted, the rich people got. They valued those trees in the park more than human life, so the trees were protected by strict laws that were rigorously enforced.

"Really?" Abigail asked her without any attitude behind it.

"Yeah." Victoria replied calmly.

"I... I grew up in Oak Town, where trees were everywhere. We could climb on them without any problem." Abigail added. Her attitude seemed to be softening, though whether it was out of empathy or pity was up in the air. Victoria chose to roll with it since this was the least hostile the blonde had been towards her since their first meeting.

"I was from the poor part of town. You know, the part of town that everyone else tries to forget exists... except when some of its residents get out and do something that pisses the wrong people off. Hell, even the existence of poor people in Capital Crocus pissed everyone off." Victoria explained to Abigail. They were memories that she would rather forget. Memories of the bad old days were coming back to the Sabertooth mage.

Memories of being called an animal who needed to be put down just because she did not have money. Memories of being chased by angry restaurant owners because she had the nerve to scavenge for food that they had thrown away because it did not sell that day. Memories of being called "trash" and a "waste of life" because she did not come from the right family.

"I'm sorry." Abigail apologized to her.

"Don't be. You weren't responsible for any of it." Victoria told her.

"This whole mess wouldn't have come about if I wasn't so irresponsible." Abigail said to Victoria. The brunette was interested in those words. What did she mean by that statement?

[Word Count: 744]
[Total Word Count: 4,592/7,000]

"I... I didn't want to be a mage at first. I didn't want to be a traveling mage who fought all the time. I wanted to live a peaceful life in Oak Town, so I sold the Sky Blade to a collector in Sakuramori." Abigail admitted to Victoria.

"So that's why you want it back so badly." Victoria stated the obvious. Abigail nodded.

"I was born into the Windstrider family and everyone expected me to be this super-heroic mage just because my ancestors were. I didn't want any part of it because traveling all the time and fighting all the time was so stressful. That kind of lifestyle cost me my maternal grandmother and grandfather in addition to my mother and father. And for what? No one really cared... all they cared about was what I could do for them the next time they called looking for help." Abigail said bitterly. She sounded less like a self-absorbed teenager and more like a disillusioned person who had regrets. She also had a lot of reservations about the lifestyle of a mage.

Victoria remained silent and let Abigail speak. Victoria thought that being a mage was so awesome because no one in their right mind would bully someone who could crush their skull with only a thought or burn them to ash with a glare. However, the blonde in front of her had a less rosy view of the profession. Mage life had only brought Abigail stress and dead family members to show for it.

"I didn't want to be a mage. I just wanted to live a peaceful life in Oak Town, find a job that didn't involve magic, maybe even marry and have some children. But I can't sit back and let bandits have their way with innocent people. I can't sit back anymore. I've done that for too long and now I need to take action." Abigail said to Victoria in all seriousness. The blonde was not trying to play her with a sad story. She had genuine regrets and wanted to make amends for them all.

"I'll be honest with you. I'm working for the collector who the sword belongs to. I tell you what. Let's get it back, then I'll talk to them and see if we can't work something out where you get your Sky Blade back." Victoria offered to Abigail. She was willing to let bygones be bygones and help someone who needed it. The brunette had regrets of her own like stealing from fruit vendors in Capital Crocus back when she was poor. Even though she stole to stay alive and not for the fun of it, she still hated the fact that she had stolen from others.

"Would you do that for me?" Abigail asked with hope on her voice.

"I can't make any guarantees that they'll go for it, but I'll definitely talk to them about it." Victoria answered truthfully. She did not want to give Abigail any false hope, but the brunette would try to make a deal with Octavia Ashford that got Abigail her family weapon back. Maybe the Sabertooth mage was a sucker for hard-luck stories since she herself came from such a crummy background. Maybe she was trying to make up for being so mercenary and only taking jobs that offered good money. She did not know, but Victoria was not a total lost cause because she still had a soul and could still show empathy for others.

"Thanks!" Abigail said before hugging the brunette. Victoria's Azure Armor did not stand in the way of the happy mage hugging her... she just got in closer and wrapped her arms around the armor. The brunette just went with it.

"All right then! Let's go get the Sky Blade back from the thieves!" Abigail said to her, taking the lead again with a definite spring in her step. Victoria followed in her wake. Instead of working against each other, maybe the two could work together to get back the Sky Blade. It was worth a shot.

[Word Count: 676]
[Total Word Count: 5,268/7,000]

-In Sakuramori forest, two hours later-

Abigail and Victoria followed the footprints to their end and found the Sky Blade just lying on the ground like it had been discarded. There were no signs of it being damaged or tampered with in any way. There was also no sign of the thieves who had taken it... no bloodstains, no clothing, no nothing. It was liked they had simply vanished into thin air. Maybe they were afraid of pissing off someone like Octavia Ashford, who had the means and the will to hire mages to take back what was hers.

"There it is! The Sky Blade!" Abigail exclaimed.

"Careful, Abigail. It might be a... trap..." Victoria tried to warn the blonde but trailed off as the mage ran ahead anyway. She knelt down and picked it up, taking the grip into her hand. She raised it above her head and focused magic into the weapon. The bejewled blade gleamed and transformed from a curved blade to a straight double-edged blade that was longer than its original blade. That must have been what Octavia meant when she said that only Windstriders could use the Sky Blade's full power.

"Look at what we have here! We've been tracked by two girls!" A male voice said to others, who snickered. They jumped out of the trees and landed on their feet in unison. They were dressed in hunting clothes complete with green cloaks and hoods.

"We can't let you two live. We can't afford to have the police chasing us all over Earthland." The leader, a man with a black eyepatch and a shortsword, said to them. Abigail was not worried. Neither was Victoria. None of those goons had magic to back up their words.

"We'll just be taking that sword back now that you've made it even more valuable by extending it for us..." The leader said, extending a hand towards Abigail. The goons were standing in a semicircle in front of Abigail, who was not going to hand back the Sky Blade after going to so much trouble to find it. She simply smiled as the men advanced on her.

"Have it your way." She said. She drew back the sword and made a long horizontal slash that left a brief silver afterimage of a blade cut across their torsos.

"WIND REAPER!" she called out.

"What, is that it? You didn't even touch-" The leader started before his words trailed off and he froze in place. He began to bleed profusely as his arms spurted blood and fell off below the elbow. His torso then separated from the rest of the body and fell to the grass. His flunkies soon followed suit... all six thieves were dead with a single slash. Abigail gave a brief chuckle.

"They got what they wanted. I gave them the sword back." She said dryly before drying off the blood on the leader's green cloak. Victoria was speechless. Abigail had just killed six bandits with one quick slash. That was why Hayate Windstrider had placed such protective measures on the Sky Blade. The Sky Blade reverted to the curved blade it had when they first found it.

"Now that we've dealt with them, let's go talk to that collector." Abigail said to Victoria with a beaming smile. Victoria was more than a little intimidated. She was not going to argue with someone who could kill six men with a single slash.

"OK." Victoria agreed to honor her word. Together the pair left the dead bandits behind and slowly made their way out of the forest. They were on the way to Octavia Ashford's place to try and make a deal with her that could benefit all three parties.

-Two hours later, Octavia Ashford's apartment-

"Hi there, Victoria. I see that you got my weapon back for me." She said to Victoria with a smile. in her hand was a cup of green tea.

"Actually, we did. Octavia, I'd like you to meet someone special." Victoria said to her client. Abigail stepped forward but did not speak yet. The Sky Blade was held in her right hand with a tight grip that indicated that she would not relinquish it with the same ease with which she had sold it in the past.

"Oh? Who might she be? Another mage?" Octavia asked with curiosity on her voice.

"I'm glad you asked that question, Miss. I'm Abigail Windstrider, the latest generation of the Windstrider family." Abigail introduced herself to the client. Octavia almost dropped the tea cup and quickly set it down on her coffee table to avoid dropping it for real. She clearly did not expect this turn of events... she had found both her Sky Blade and a Windstrider.

"Well then... I did not expect this. Tell me... how can you prove that you're a Windstrider and not a fake?" Octavia asked while sitting down.

[Word Count: 818]
[Total Word Count: 6086/7,000]

"That's easy. I'll show you how I'm the real deal." Abigail said with confidence. She brought the Sky Blade above her head, then focused magic into it. The blade straightened out again in front of Octavia, who was captivated by the show.

"I'm the only one who can do this. As you already know, only Wind mages can use the Sky Blade as something more than a fancy paperweight. Only Windstriders can use the weapon to its full potential. Part of that potential's turning the blade into a longer double-edge version." Abigail spoke with the kind of authority that could only come from experience. Octavia was appropriately impressed with what she had just witnessed. She appeared to be in a mood to talk.

"OK. You've proven that you're not a swindler. But what do I get out of this?" Octavia asked.

"I bought the sword fair and square, after all. I have the right to my property, even if you are a Windstrider." Octavia reminded Victoria and Abigail. The collector was looking to get something back out of this. It was a fair thing to expect because the world did not run on charity. What could they offer in exchange for the Sky Blade being returned to Abigail? The blonde spoke up with an offer of her own.

"If you let me have the Sky Blade back, I'll do a job for you free of charge. Anything legal, that is." Abigail offered to Octavia. Octavia looked interested but did not bite. She wanted something more for the Sky Blade.

"Make it two legal jobs free of charge and maybe we can reach a deal." Octavia said with a glint in her eyes. Victoria could only imagine what was going through the collector's mind when she said that the wanted two legal jobs performed free of charge. Part of her did not want to find out.

"Two?" Abigail asked.

"Two jobs. That's all. They'll be legal jobs that are above board. I think that's fair for a weapon that cost me 150,000 Jewels." Octavia said. She drove a hard bargain, but that deal sounded fair to Victoria. Then again, Victoria did not have the stake in it that Abigail did. Abigail looked at Octavia.

"Two jobs. Two legal jobs that are above board." Abigail repeated the terms of the deal.

"Two legal jobs." Octavia repeated. Abigail looked down and looked at her weapon as if trying to determine whether the Sky Blade was worth working for a collector. The "two legal jobs" could be anything that the collector wanted. That term itself could be dangerous. Abigail closed her eyes and thought it over.

"All right then. I'll take it. Two legal jobs free of charge in exchange for the Sky Blade." Abigail voiced her acceptance of the offer. Octavia smiled again. Victoria hoped that Abigail had not just struck a devil's bargain for her family weapon. It was out of the brunette's hands because the blonde had made the deal of her own free will. All she could do was watch and hope that Abigail had not gotten in over her head.

"Deal." Octavia said, extending her hand for a handshake. Abigail took it with with her free hand and shook hands on the deal. A deal was made with Victoria as a witness... the Windstrider owed Octavia two free jobs in exchange for the Sky Blade.

The Extended Sky Blade:

[Word Count: 566]
[Total Word Count: 6652/7,000]

Octavia turned from Abigail to Victoria. The client then spoke to her.

"Although this job didn't turn out quite the way you imagined, I still owe you Jewels for helping to recover the Sky Blade. You kept your part of the bargain. Now I'm going to keep mine. It's just good business." She said to Victoria before standing up and walking into the back of her apartment. The Sabertooth mage waited in the living room until Octavia came back with a bag of Jewels in her hand, which she handed to Victoria. Finally the mage had received payment for her work.

"Thanks." Victoria thanked Octavia.

"No problem. You've proven that you're not afraid to go into danger to complete a job. I might need your services again very soon, so try not to get in over your head before then." Octavia said to Victoria. The mage put away the Jewels in the left pocket of her skirt. She was glad to have completed another job, even if the ending was not quite what she had expected. Life was full of surprises, so the ability to adapt to unexpected change was just as important in the mage world as it was in the mundane world.

"I'll need your services soon, Miss Windstrider. I'll be in touch." Octavia reminded Abigail. Abigail and Victoria bade the client goodbye and left the apartment. They wondered what Octavia had in store for them.


-In Sakuramori-

It was almost nightfall and the sun was just beginning to set. Victoria did not want to risk traveling the roads right now because now was when the bandits began to mobilize for a night of banditry. However, she did not know what Abigail's plan was. If she was going to brave the road, Victoria would go with her because bandits were not the only ones who could benefit from strength in numbers.

"So, what are you going to do now, Abigail?" Victoria asked the blonde.

"I'm going to keep my word to her. I gave a promise. I keep my promises." Abigail said while looking at the Sky Blade. It belonged to her once again. That was obviously worth more to her than any amount of Jewels.

"I meant about going home. It's prime time for bandits, so if you're gonna try to go back to Oak Town, you'd better be careful." Victoria cautioned Abigail about travel conditions. The blonde blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh! Well, I'm not quite feeling up to the trip. What about you?" Abigail inquired of the brunette.

"I'm not up to it either, so I'm going to stay at a friend's house. I could ask if she'd put you up too." Victoria offered. She did not want to impose on Florence like this, but it never hurt to ask. The blonde gave a thumbs-up.

"I'd appreciate that." Abigail said to her with gratitude.

"OK. Let's go then." Victoria said to the blonde, taking the lead. Abigail followed behind her. Victoria hoped that Florence would not be upset by her sudden arrival.

[Word Count: 506]
[Total Word Count: 7,158/7,000]