Luring Out The Cult

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 307

-The outskirts of Capital Crocus, 10:49 A.M.-

Having flown to Capital Crocus on the back of Winged Lion and landed on the outskirts, Leona climbed off of its back and dispelled the summon, then straightened her white jacket. The Wizard Saint was wearing an open white jacket over a blue tank top with pleated white skirt and white tennis shoes. Today she was meeting Order Cleric Athena to go on the shopping trip they had agreed on almost a week ago, but shopping was not all they were going to be doing.

Rumors of multiple young women being abducted off of the streets in the past few weeks had reached the Order's ears and they had tasked Athena and Leona with investigating to see if the rumors had any substance. The Order suspected that a force more sinister than the local hoodlums was behind the abductions, so Leona had been hired to work with the orange-haired cleric. The Wizard Saint had been specifically ordered to leave her weapons and armor at home and to dress casually so that she would look like an appealing target to the abductors.

The blonde started to look for Athena at the meeting place they had agreed upon and soon spotted the orange-haired cleric, who was walking briskly towards her with a wide smile on her face. Athena was wearing an open denim jacket over an orange tank top and denim skirt with white tennis shoes. The cleric was smiling and not because it was a pleasant day outside... she was obviously enchanted with Leona's casual outfit.

"Hey Leona! I really like your outfit today! It looks good on you, especially the tank top!" Athena greeted the blonde and confirmed the latter's suspicion that her outfit was attractive to the orange-haired mage.

"Thanks. The Order instructed me to dress casually, so I did as I was told." Leona replied. Athena's eyes wandered over the blonde for a minute with a smile plastered on her face. It did not seem like she had heard Leona because her eyes lingered on the Wizard Saint's chest for a bit too long before she snapped back to the present.

"Huh?" Athena asked.

"I dressed like the Order wanted me to." Leona gave a short version of her answer while keeping the annoyance out of her voice. Athena looked over the Silver Wolf mage again.

"I'd say." Athena remarked with undisguised approval. Leona was getting annoyed by being ogled, but she kept her mouth shut because she needed the cleric's help on this job. Once the orange-haired mage had gazed to her satisfaction she made eye contact with the blonde again, but the smile never left her face.

"Anyway, there's rumors that young women have been disappearing off of the streets at night. The Order thinks that the cult's responsible for those disappearances, but we don't know if they're hiring the local criminal element to do it or if they're doing the abductions themselves. That's where we come in." Athena finally got on with the briefing. Leona set her annoyance aside and listened to what she was being told.

"In order to lure them out we're supposed to act like normal young women out for a day of shopping. When the mall closes we leave the mall and go for a cup of coffee at Capital Coffee, then we head for here like we're going home. There's no big hurry, though. We just walk at a leisurely pace and talk about things like makeup, movies, clothing... you know, the usual things young women our age talk about." Athena gave her job partner pointers on how to pass for a normal young woman so that they could draw out whoever was abducting young women.

"Got it." Leona replied even though she did not fully understand what she had been told. She understood the letter of the instructions, but she did not know how to convincingly act normal. She had been to the mall on numerous occasions, but no one besides employees in the stores she purchased her clothing from had spoken to Leona for any appreciable length of time and the talk was always about business. As a result any attempt at casual conversation between the two mages was going to be more than a little awkward and Athena might have to struggle to keep it afloat.

"All right then! Let's go shopping!" Athena commanded, then grabbed Leona's right arm and began pulling her towards the city in the distance. Leona made eye contact with the cleric and the latter stopped pulling on the blonde's arm... instead she settled for staying close to the blonde's right side while occasionally glancing at her outfit, paying particular attention to the blonde's chest. Leona was not sure how to react to such attention, so she kept walking while facing forward and doing her best to keep from blushing.

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-Capital Crocus Mall, 12:47 P.M.-

The walk through the streets of the bustling city had been fairly lengthy due to the crowds of pedestrians clogging the sidewalks but was otherwise uneventful. Now the two mages were inside the entrance hall and were walking towards the food court at a leisurely pace. Athena was still stealing glances at her job partner, but thankfully her attention was not on Leona's chest. She was simply looking at the blonde and giving her the occasional smile.

"So Leona, where do you want to go shopping first?" Athena asked Leona to establish their cover story to anyone who might be watching and listening. The latter faced the cleric and gave a name.

"How about we start at Earthland Eagle?" Leona replied. Athena nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, please!" Athena approved of the idea. The pair walked out of the entrance hall and into the food court, then turned right and walked a short distance to the store in question. They noticed that it was fairly crowded, but there was still room for two more customers, so they went inside to begin shopping.

-Earthland Eagle, 12:51 P.M.-

Athena went in first followed by Leona and the pair looked around to see if there was anything that interested them. The orange-haired cleric glanced right and almost immediately darted off to the right side of the store, which had racks of shirts of different types. Leona spotted tank tops, sleeveless and short-sleeved crop tops, t-shirts, and even a few long-sleeved t-shirts on clearance. She carefully made her way across the crowded shop and rejoined Athena, who had found an orange top with spaghetti straps and was holding the garment up to get a good look at it.

"I love this shirt! I've GOTTA have it!" Athena exclaimed just as Leona stopped at her right side. The orange-haired mage looked at the blonde and thrust the shirt towards Leona for her to see.

"Look at this, Leona! It's the right shade of orange for me and it looks so comfortable! I'm gonna try it on right now!" Athena said, walking towards the dressing rooms on the left side of the store. Leona had to wind her way through the crowd again to get to the dressing rooms and once she was there stood a short distance away from them so that other patrons could get to them without her being in the way. Roughly three minutes after Athena shut the door to her room to try on the orange top she emerged while wearing the garment without her jacket.

"So, how does it look?" The orange-haired mage asked while slowly turning so that Leona could get a look at her wearing the top from all sides. The Wizard Saint paid close attention and when Athena was finished turning the latter stopped and looked at Leona in anticipation of the latter's judgment.

"I like how it looks. You look comfortable in it and it seems to be just your size." Leona offered her sincere approval and explained why she had given it. Athena smiled.

"Thanks, Leona! I really like it and it's a perfect fit, so I'm buying it! I'll be right back!" She said before retreating to the dressing room in order to change back into the orange tank top she had worn into the store. As Leona waited for her job partner to return her mind began to wander to Masha and how she wished she was on a shopping trip with the redhead. The blonde closed her eyes for a moment and felt a wave of intense regret wash over her.

Leona had had Masha's love and she had thrown it away because she was too afraid to commit to the latter until it was too late.

"Hey Leona, are you OK?" Athena asked the blonde with more than a little concern. Leona opened her eyes again and made eye contact with her job partner.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got to thinking about something from long ago." Leona replied without elaboration. The other mage accepted that answer and smiled.

"Is there anything you're interested in buying?" Athena asked the Wizard Saint. Leona shook her head.

"Not really, but I'll let you look for other things if you want. I'm in no hurry." Leona stated. The pair then walked back over to the racks of shirts, which had drawn the attention of the shoppers and were now being picked over. Athena handed Leona the garment she was going to buy and hurried to look for more shirts while there were still some to search for.

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-Capital Crocus Mall, the first floor, 1:22 P.M.-

It had taken awhile for the pair to leave Earthland Eagle due to Athena finding a lot of orange shirts that had appealed to her, but she had managed to grab them before the other shoppers could claim them all. After checking out and paying for her purchases Athena had left the shop with Leona at her side and a bulging shopping bag in her right hand. Leona had seen nothing that was appealing enough to buy... she had bought a lot of what she had wanted in the past and because of that she had felt no compulsion to buy anything today. At least her job partner was happy with her purchases and it showed because the orange-haired mage had a smile on her face that seemed like it would never fade.

"I'm so glad that we got there when we did. If we had been just a minute or two later everything would have been gone by now!" Athena spoke about her good luck. Leona too was glad that their timing had been just right. It had been busy when they had arrived, but now the interior of Earthland Eagle was crammed with shoppers and the racks of clothing were quickly starting to be emptied. Leona wondered if there was a sale she did not know about, but she did not care enough to go back inside the store and ask.

"Where do you want to go from here, Athena?" Leona asked her. Since she had been permitted to choose the first shop they visited she was going to return the favor and let Athena pick the next one.

"I don't have anywhere in mind just yet, Leona. If you don't mind I'd rather walk and talk for a bit." The orange-haired mage informed the Wizard Saint. Leona had no problem with that.

"That's fine with me." Leona readily agreed with that idea. Athena motioned towards the far end of the first floor with her shopping bag and began to walk at a pace slow enough for Leona to easily catch. The blonde followed behind her and the pair took a stroll around the first floor.

The mall was packed with other shoppers and most of them were young people who looked to be around Leona's and Athena's age. They were streaming in and out of clothing stores, going into restaurants and the food court, and generally spending a day at the mall in the company of their friends. Leona briefly thought about Medeia's advice on that topic and promptly dismissed it... she was not going to make connections with anyone because that would give the Warlord someone to abduct just to get to her. Most of Medeia's advice was of dubious value and likely had an ulterior motive, so the blonde took it all with a shaker's worth of salt.

"You're not saying a whole lot, Leona." Athena observed. That was probably a gentle reminder for her to act like they were friends so that any disguised cultists or their hired agents would be deceived into thinking the pair were just ordinary young women, but the blonde was not much of a conversationalist even in the best of times. She did not believe in talking for the sake of it, but to make the Order's plan work she would have to change her ways, even if it was only temporary.

"I don't even know what to talk about, Athena." Leona stated calmly despite feeling a surge of anger over what sounded like a complaint. The blonde was not a big fan of talking for the sake of it and she was used to traveling in silence so that she could listen out for danger, habits which carried over to her everyday life. She did not get why some people seemed to be uncomfortable with silence, but that was something she would have to think about later. Right now Leona needed to pretend to have a grasp of basic social skills.

"What do you want to talk about?" Leona asked in an effort to play along despite not having much interest in idle conversation. Athena thought about it for a few moments and during that time she stole another brief glance at Leona's chest. The blonde was getting annoyed by that, but she kept her mouth shut and prepared herself for whatever might be asked.

"Do you have many friends, Leona?" Athena asked the Wizard Saint.

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Leona did her best not to frown at the question she had just been asked. Athena did not seem to pick up on that and simply waited for an answer while looking the blonde in the eyes.

Of course the first question Athena asked just had to be a personal one.

"Not really." Leona tersely replied while keeping her cool.

"Why not?" Athena asked. Leona's patience was being tested again, but she did not snap at the orange-haired mage. Instead she answered the question.

"I just don't have time to make them." Leona answered truthfully. She did not say anything about her goal to deny Medeia any more people close to her for the Warlord to kidnap. Medeia thought she was being a friendly counselor by offering the "advice" to find at least one new friend, but Leona could see a possible hidden motive behind the suggestion and was going to do her best to deny her enemy the pleasure of kidnapping said new friend by simply not making one.

"Yeah, I can understand." Athena said glumly. If she was trying to hint that she wanted to be the Wizard Saint's friend Leona was not picking up on it. Besides, the blonde had bigger things to worry about than winning popularity contests. For example, Medeia was still a threat to the world who needed to be dealt with and Leona wanted to complete her latest personal project instead of letting it die like she had let so many others die in the past.

The pair walked in silence for a few moments before the orange-haired mage spoke again.

"It must be kinda lonely to be by yourself all the time." Athena commented.

"I don't mind being by myself." Leona replied calmly and truthfully. She had been effectively alone for a good part of her life... when she lived in Desierto she had only two real friends and was not on the best terms with her mother. When she had been exiled from her home village her brother seemed to turn against her and probably harbored resentment against her to this day. Her father had been frequently absent on trips that took him far from home, so Leona did not have much of a relationship with him either. As a result of having to fend for herself she did not see any real need to go out of her way to make friends.

"I can tell." Athena replied in a glum tone of voice for the second time in a row. It sounded like the cleric was dropping more hints that she wanted to be Leona's friend. Again the Wizard Saint was not picking up on that because she was really not understanding if that was the intent behind her words or not. If the other mage wanted to be her friend she should just say it to her face instead of dancing around the matter.

An awkward silence prevailed as the pair passed by the shop on the far end of the first floor named The Fashionable Lady and began the walk back towards the food court.

"I don't get how you can live like that. I really don't." The cleric restarted the conversation. Leona was getting tired of this particular topic and had to struggle to keep from showing her growing frustration. She did not care if Athena understood her or not. All the blonde wanted was to complete the job to the client's liking and go back to the guild hall to get ready for the next one.

"I'm used to being by myself, so it isn't really that hard for me." Leona reiterated her earlier point in a casual tone. She hoped that that would end the discussion, but to her chagrin it did not.

"I know what being alone is like, Leona. It isn't a good way to live." Athena remarked. At this point the blonde's patience was nearly gone, but she hung on just enough to keep from verbally tearing into her job partner. She was not sure if she could keep herself under control for much longer, so Athena had better come up with something worthwhile to say on a topic that had been discussed to death.

"I was an orphan who was the product of an affair my father had with a woman who wasn't his wife. Of course the loser denied that I was his and ran for the hills, so my mother was left to raise me by herself. She couldn't afford to care for me, so I ended up in an orphanage in this very city. The orphanage staff treated me nicely and so did the other kids, but I never really connected with them because I felt so different from everyone, even kids who were born out of wedlock like I was. Me having magic didn't help because I was the only kid who had it." Athena confessed. When she heard that Leona's irritation vanished and she listened closely with a facial expression that indicated she was paying attention. While the Wizard Saint did not have very good social skills she knew when to be quiet and listen to someone else.

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"I stayed at the orphanage because no one wanted to adopt me. I aged out at eighteen and was turned out onto the streets of the city, where I wandered aimlessly for over half a year living on a wing and a prayer until one night I heard about the Order of Lightbringers from a few people talking outside a bar. When I heard about a bunch of mages who were all about fighting evil I decided to join them because no matter what sort of life-threatening danger I'd face as a member anything would beat starving on the streets. So I went to Holy Castle to see if they wanted me and as it turned out I showed up during a time they were desperately looking for new recruits, so they took me in. Three years later I completed the training to become a Cleric and met some of the other clerics including Amanda, Amberlin, and Serena." Athena told what was likely a short version of the story of how she had become an Order Cleric. Leona's irritation at the orange-haired mage's repeated attempts to talk about friends had been forgotten and she was paying attention to what was being said, if only out of basic courtesy.

"Until I joined the Order I was pretty much alone. I went looking for a way out of my situation, but no one wanted to deal with me except for sleazy men who thought I was a prostitute and sadists who got their kicks from harassing the homeless. I couldn't really trust anyone because there were a lot of desperate people on the streets and they were usually in as bad a situation I was, if not actually worse off than me. I didn't have any friends and I swore if I made it off the streets I would never live a lonely life again." Athena added a little more to her story. Leona was not swayed nearly enough to vow that they would be friends forever, but now she understood a bit more about the cleric. She understood enough to have some degree of sympathy for the orange-haired young woman. However, that did not mean that the blonde was going to tell her story to Athena, especially not in public.

"I read the interview you gave in that issue of Sorcerer's Magazine with you on the cover and learned that you grew up in Desierto." Athena informed Leona. The blonde frowned. She recalled Medeia's stupid little trick with the magazine during their time together and clenched her teeth until she spotted Athena with a look of concern for her safety on her face. The blonde's facial expression softened a bit.

"Yeah, I grew up there." Leona confirmed dryly with a hint of irritation lingering on her voice.

"That must have been rough. The streets of Capital Crocus sound like a safe haven compared to the desert." Athena commented after the blonde had confirmed that she indeed hailed from the desert country.

"Yeah. Especially when compared to Central Desierto. That's where in Desierto I came from." Leona agreed with the assessment and added the exact part of the country she had been born in. This was not a competition to see whose childhood was more miserable, but Central Desierto was definitely a lot rougher than the streets of Capital Crocus. Athena stared at Leona.

"I grew up in a village in Central Desierto. Bandits and slavers liked to raid my village and kill or abduct as many people as they could. I had to learn how to fight when I was eight years old and made my first bandit kill when I was twelve." Leona told a short version of her own story to the cleric, leaving out the parts about her mother having the mindset that a woman's place was in the home and her mother doing everything she could to get out of training the future Wizard Saint in how to fight with a sword and use magic.

"I'm sorry that your childhood was so rough. It had to be awful to have it taken from you by bandits and slavers." Athena said to the blonde. Leona shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh, it could have been worse. Besides, I don't need anyone's sympathy. There are people who have it a lot worse than I do." Leona casually remarked. Medeia had tried to curry favor with Leona by showing sympathy for the latter's harsh desert upbringing, but despite her silence the blonde did not really accept the Warlord's sympathy. As far as she was concerned that was just another lie told by a Dark mage who told so many of them that Leona got the impression that Medeia might suffer intense physical pain or some other negative consequence if she ever told the truth about anything besides her willingness to carry out any threats she made.

"You're so dismissive of what happened to you, Leona. I don't think that's healthy for you." Athena opined on how easily Leona dismissed her rough childhood and the trauma that it had inflicted on her. Leona had to think about how to respond to that assertion. She felt that her life was none of the other mage's business, but she needed to at least try to pretend to be friendly with Athena for the sake of the job.

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Deciding to just be honest since she did not have the presence of mind to try and disguise how she was really feeling, Leona faced Athena.

"It's not healthy." Leona spoke candidly. She was probably asking for trouble by making that admission, but she did not want to push away Athena like she had likely done to so many other people.

"I've lived with the effects of a rough childhood for so long that I don't see any point in getting upset about it. It's just part of who I am. At least I wasn't physically abused by my parents." Leona explained why she was so calm about her past despite how unpleasant it was. The blonde did not see any need to regale everyone she met with her life story and was not particularly interested in telling it, even to people who were curious. The only people outside her family who knew any significant details about the Wizard Saint's past were Masha and Medeia; not even her closest friend Samira was privy to everything the other mages knew. Leona also kept her story to herself because telling it might make her seem like she was fishing for sympathy from her listeners.

"I know you had to be tough to survive in the desert, but it's like you've blocked off everything that you think doesn't pertain to you being a Wizard Saint." Athena said. That statement reminded Leona of what Medeia had said about there being more to the blonde than just her title, but Leona had dismissed it as the Warlord trying to play nice after making various threats and playing mind games just to show her superiority. Leona's identity revolved around being a Wizard Saint and anyone who knew her for any length of time could testify to that fact. Her identity revolved around that title so much that she had been afraid to commit to Masha because the blonde's enemies might go after the redhead if they ever learned that the two were romantically connected.

"I probably have pushed aside everything that doesn't help me do my job." Leona confessed. Athena's facial expression changed to one of determination.

"Do you even have a hobby, Leona? You know, something that doesn't involve work?" Athena pointedly inquired. The blonde thought about it for a few moments before throwing in the towel and confessing to not having one.

"I... I don't." Leona admitted in defeat. When she was not out in the field she was at the guild hall doing paperwork. When she was not at the guild hall she was at Lion's Island laying the foundation for her latest personal project. Almost everything of significance she did revolved around some kind of work, everything except trips to the mall to buy clothing or go to festivals with Samira.

"The only thing I do besides work of some kind is go to the mall to buy clothing." Leona made another admission that was a partial truth. While she did go to the mall, she also went to her private island to be lazy and wear clothing she would not ordinarily wear such as a modest two-piece black bikini or a crop top and short shorts. The orange-haired mage looked interested in that admission.

"Is that all?" Athena asked in a less pointed tone than the one she had used to ask her first question.

"That's all." Leona replied truthfully. She did not consume very much media, if any... no social media, no video games, no movies, no music, nothing. She was not trying to be a rebel who was protesting against modern media or consumerism. Leona simply did not have time to keep up with such things.

Besides, the tragic outcome of the Ishgar Symposium kind of put a damper on Leona's interest in reading the news or partaking in other media because she did not want to be reminded of her greatest failure.

"You need more hobbies." Athena tersely stated in a tone that sounded a lot like she was giving a command.

"Like what?" Leona asked with complete sincerity. The other mage's facial expression lightened.

"You know... going to a movie theater to see the latest movies, music concerts, video games, reading books or magazines, going to clubs. Things like that that ordinary people do in their free time." Athena offered some ideas in a friendly tone of voice. That brought to mind another one of Medeia's pearls of wisdom, one that Leona had been less inclined to dismiss as having questionable value. Maybe the blonde could benefit from having more hobbies... or at least one or two that she might be inclined to stick with.

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"All right." Leona said in response to the ideas she had been given. She was not sure if she had enough time to seriously pursue any of them considering her busy schedule these days, but at least she had ideas other than "go to Lion's Island" or "go shopping for clothes" to choose from. For now Leona would be content to finish this shopping trip with Athena and complete the job they were currently on.

"Maybe we can do something else together some day, like go to a club or go see a movie." The orange-haired mage offered to go on another outing with the blonde that did not sound like it was linked to a job like their current outing was. Although Leona was trying to avoid making new friends Medeia could kidnap, it seemed like she was going to make one anyway. The Wizard Saint did not want to alienate Athena since the two mages made a good team, so the former would bow to the inevitable and hope for the best.

"Sure, I'd like that." Leona took the other mage up on her offer. Athena smiled at her.

"Great! We'll have to plan for that some time later, but for now we have a shopping trip to complete, so let's focus on that. Once we're finished here we'll go to Capital Coffee and get a cup of coffee to go before we head home." Athena told Leona how the rest of their day would go. Since the two had discussed it prior to going into the mall the dialogue sounded natural to anyone listening in and Leona replied without any hesitation.

"Works for me. I've never been there, but coffee's my favorite drink, so I'm sure to find something I like there." Leona told the other mage her favorite beverage with total sincerity.

"I'm sure you'll like it too, Leona. There's plenty of options to choose from." Athena assured the blonde that she would like what Capital Coffee had to offer. Leona would be the judge of that, but she was willing to give the place a shot.

"Let's go to the second floor, Leona. There's a few stores I'd like to visit there!" Athena suggested that they go upstairs next. The blonde was up for that.

"Sure." Leona replied. Athena wordlessly took the lead and guided the pair to the stairwell, deftly leading them through gaps in the lines snaking to the food court. They reached the stairs and began to climb them just ahead of a surge of shoppers who were also looking to go to the higher floors.

-The second floor, 1:28 P.M.-

The two mages had reached the second floor after a slight delay that was the result of shoppers descending from the third floor trying to get onto the second floor met those coming up from the first. The mess eventually sorted itself out, but there was a bit of a wait before it did. Now the pair were walking among the crowd and looking at the stores while trying to judge which ones they could enter without any trouble and which ones were too full for them to comfortably shop in.

"Well, we can rule The Modern Woman out." Athena remarked as they passed by the store in question. Leona looked to the left and saw that not only was the clothing store full but there was a small line of people waiting to get in. The blonde knew that they were not going to get in there today, so she kept walking beside Athena as they made a loop of the second floor.

They walked a little bit further and passed by The Athlete's Edge, the place where Leona had purchased the black bike shorts that she almost always wore under her skirts and the place where she had purchased the tennis shoes she was currently wearing. Not only was the athletic apparel store full, but its inventory looked like it was flying off of the shelves. Leona saw only a few boxes of shoes on the shelves and not too many athletic shirts or shorts on the racks... going in there to shop would likely be an exercise in futility because a lot of the merchandise had already been picked over.

"There's no point in trying to get in there. I was gonna look for a new pair of tennis shoes, but we can't because of how many people are already inside." Athena commented on the store's occupancy.

"Yeah. I kinda wanted to look for another pair of shoes too." Leona commiserated with her job partner. Stealing one last glance as they walked past, Leona then faced forward as the pair walked towards some of the other shops on the second floor. Maybe they would have better luck getting into one of them.

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-The second floor, 1:36 P.M.-

Leona and Athena were still on their lap around the second floor and so far all of the stores they had seen were far too crowded for them to get into. Both of them had wanted to get into The Athlete's Edge to look for another pair of tennis shoes to add to their wardrobes, but the athletic apparel store had been crammed full of shoppers and all of its merchandise was selling as quickly as employees could put it on the shelves or racks. So far the only place on the second floor that did not have lines of people waiting to get in was an intimate apparel shop that was creatively named Intimate Secrets. The two mages were currently standing outside of it and something had drawn Athena's interest because she kept glancing at the wares within and looked like she wanted to go inside and do some shopping.

"Hey Leona, I wanna go in there for a few minutes." Athena announced.

"OK. I'll wait out here." Leona said as calmly as she could and told the other mage where she could be found. Athena giggled and seized the blonde's right forearm with her left hand.

"No you're not! You're coming with me!" She said with a grin and began to pull Leona into the intimate apparel store. The blonde really did not want to go in, but after a few seconds she relented to avoid causing a scene that would draw attention and likely give people the wrong impression of the relationship between the Wizard Saint and the cleric. She hoped that she would not regret her decision.

-Inside Intimate Secrets, 1:38 P.M.-

Athena and Leona were now standing inside the medium-sized shop, which was brightly lit and clean with neatly arranged metal racks of merchandise on the left and right walls and a semicircular wooden checkout counter close to the back wall. Also inside the store were a few young women around Leona's age and to her relief they were too busy perusing the merchandise to pay attention to the Wizard Saint. Leona casually glanced around and saw nothing that interested her, but she was here for Athena.

"I've been meaning to come in here and shop for awhile, but I haven't had a chance to do it until today." Athena finally told Leona what compelled her to enter the store. Only a moment later the former spoke again.

"I know that this is really personal, but I want to know something... do you have anyone you love?" Athena asked Leona. Leona was surprised by the question and her face turned beet red.

"I-I do." The Wizard Saint answered nervously, hoping that the orange-haired mage would not ask about the gender of her significant other. The cleric giggled.

"You're so adorable when you blush, Leona. It almost makes me forget that you're a Wizard Saint." Athena remarked on the blonde's red face. Leona was reminded of Medeia's assertion that there was more to the blonde than just a fancy title and remained silent.

"D-do you have a-anyone you're in a relationship with?" Leona asked the cleric out of genuine curiosity despite how personal the question was. The other mage smiled.

"I'll be honest with you, Leona... I have a girlfriend. Shortly after joining the Order I tried dating guys and the only ones I seemed to attract was the losers who wanted either a one-night stand or to be friends with benefits. I wanted a long-term relationship that eventually led to marriage, but I couldn't find a good guy who wanted to commit to me and me alone. Then one night when I was in a bar in Capital Crocus this young blonde woman walks up to me and starts chatting me up and... well, the rest is history." Athena told Leona about how she had bad luck with men before finally finding love in the arms of another young woman. Again the blonde remained silent because she began to think about how she never dated men because of what Joshua Hamlin did to her and her fear that any man she attracted would want her for her body and nothing else. She also thought about Masha and how the redhead had accepted her for who she was despite her numerous flaws.

"You don't have to tell me who you're in love with because it's really none of my business. I'm just glad that you found a significant other." Athena said with genuine warmth. Leona was grateful for the out she had been given because she really did not want the other mage to know that she had a girlfriend.

"I'll get to shopping now. I won't take too long!" Athena said before darting off to the left to look at the racks of bras on the left wall. Leona remained where she was and hoped that none of the store employees would walk up and ask if she needed assistance with anything. The Wizard Saint took a quiet breath and began the awkward wait for her job partner to finish shopping and check out.

[Post Word Count: 854]
[Total Word Count: 6,516/11,000]

-Outside Intimate Secrets, 2:26 P.M.-

Contrary to Athena's claim that her shopping would not take long it had taken a good length of time. Athena had emerged from the store with a pink plastic shopping bag containing an unspecified number of undergarments while Leona emerged from the store with a few thoughts on her mind. Chief among them was how she wished that she could see Masha again and ask the redhead for her forgiveness for taking so long to commit to her. She was also wondering how Masha was doing. It had been awhile since the pair had last seen each other and Leona was starting to get worried because she had not heard a single word from the redhead nor had received a letter from her.

"I'm glad that we visited today because the sale was amazing. I got all of this for what three of the tops I bought from Earthland Eagle cost me. And none of what Intimate Secrets sells is low-quality stuff either." Athena expressed happiness at her good fortune while hefting the pink bag containing her purchases for emphasis. She turned her head and made eye contact with Leona.

"We still have plenty of time to burn before we have to go home, Leona. Do you want to go to the third floor and look around?" Athena inquired. Leona could tell from the phrasing that she was playing her part in case the cult or any hired agents were listening to them, so she answered without delay.

"Yes, please." Leona answered.

"Great! We'll go the the stairwell and climb the stairs to the last floor!" Athena said. The orange-haired mage took the lead and Leona followed just behind her because the crowds were starting to get dense again and there was no room to walk side-by-side. The pair reached the stairwell and began to ascend to the third floor.

-The third floor, 2:27 P.M.-

Athena and Leona reached the third floor and emerged from the stairwell to find that the stores on the floor were not quite as busy as the ones on the first two floors. There were still quite a few shoppers in each one, but there were no lines of people waiting to get in, so all the pair had to do was pick a store to visit and walk inside. However, nothing they saw appealed to them just yet.

"I don't need any more clothes today, so I can pass on clothing stores." Athena announced.

"I don't need anything either, so that's fine with me." Leona seconded the idea as they passed by a clothing store Leona did not bother to check the name of. They continued to walk until they came across a store named Animated Merchandise. When she looked at the sign the orange-haired mage's fact lit up.

"Oh hey, Animated Merchandise! I wanna go in there!" Athena exclaimed and briskly walked into the store without waiting for Leona. The blonde, caught by surprise when her job partner suddenly left without her, hurried into the store.

-Inside Animated Merchandise, 2:31 P.M.-

Leona entered the store and began to look for her job partner, but she was having difficulty thanks to the presence of other shoppers and the layout of the store, which had display racks of merchandise on each side of a center aisle plus more displays along the left and right walls, including tempered glass cases full of figurines. On one center rack Leona saw plushies of different anime characters from numerous franchises such as Fortunate Meteor, Starting Line, Journey Of The Crystal Champion, Cram School Soda Break, and others... she only knew the names of the franchises because each plushie had a tag featuring the logo of the franchise each character came from.

Secured in a display case positioned along the left wall was a dizzying array of anime character figurines in various poses. Leona recognized none of the characters, but all of them looked to be high-quality figurines because the paint used to paint them was vivid and their outfits, facial expressions, and hair were rendered in very good detail. Looking away from the cabinet after having browsed to her satisfaction, she turned right and resumed searching for Athena, who had disappeared somewhere in the sea of merchandise and shoppers.

Finding the orange-haired young woman was going to be a challenge because the racks of merchandise were all slightly taller than Leona and loaded with merchandise, so her vision was obscured by them and their contents. That would not deter her, though. She had plenty of time in which to find her job partner, so she would take her time and search the shop thoroughly.

[Post Word Count: 780]
[Total Word Count: 7,296/11,000]

-Animated Merchandise, 3:03 P.M.-

Leona had spent the past thirty or so minutes looking for Athena but had somehow been unable to find her. The Wizard Saint had looked up and down the store and had checked every corner, but she was unable to find an orange-haired person in a store of people who had brown and black hair... she and Athena were the only people with hair colors that differed from those two. Maybe Leona needed to go get her eyes checked or something.

Leona decided to take a break from the search and stood next to the rack of plushies that had first caught her interest. Maybe she would get lucky and her job partner would find her. As she stood in place she noticed the other shoppers react with surprise once they spotted the blonde and realized who they were dealing with. However, once they got over their surprise they behaved in a friendly or reverent manner. Leona returned the greetings of several young men who were obviously interested in her but too polite or too afraid to ask her out and also briefly spoke to several young women who showed interest in her.

Leona had expected to be treated with contempt or mockery after losing to Medeia all those months ago, but it seemed like everyone she met had either not gotten news of her defeat or believed that there was no shame in losing a hard-fought battle to a Warlord. Leona had done everything she could to try and defeat Medeia, but when faced with the Warlord of Lust's combination of power, intelligence, and mastery of mind games the Wizard Saint of Courage had finally met an enemy who was too tough for her to defeat.

The Wizard Saint felt a wave of regret for abandoning some of the people of Hargeon Town to Medeia's tentacle in an effort to defeat the Warlord before the casualties got too high. She recalled the nasty CRUNCH of the tentacle doing its work and her regret got more intense. Leona desperately wished that she could take it all back and not sacrifice those people, but it was too late now.

There might not be any forgiveness for what she had done.

Just like at the Ishgar Symposium she had let down the people she was supposed to protect. Leona was only hanging on to her Wizard Saint title because of the belief that one day she might be able to do something that finally redeemed her and showed the world that she could save the day when it counted. Maybe one day she could finally save people instead of get them killed.

"Hey Leona! I've been looking all over the store for you!" Athena greeted Leona. Eager to seize the chance to avoid having to think about her failures, Leona returned the greeting to her job partner and noticed that the latter did not have a new shopping bag to add to those from Earthland Eagle and Intimate Secrets. Perhaps she had chosen not to buy anything because of her budget... or maybe she could not find anything she really wanted.

"I couldn't find anything I really wanted to buy, so I'm just gonna save my money for something else!" Athena explained why she was not holding any new purchases.

"I don't know anything about anime, so I'm not buying anything either." Leona stated.

"You don't know anything about anime?" Athena asked in surprise. Leona shook her head.

"No. I don't have time to keep up with anything. I'm always on the go." The blonde asserted that she was too busy to keep up with modern entertainment trends.

"OK, that's fair. Since you're a Wizard Saint I can easily see how you're always busy. I kind of keep up with it, but only when I have the spare time. Just like you I usually spend every waking moment on the go." Athena conceded. She stopped speaking for a few moments before addressing the blonde again.

"I'm finished here. Are you ready to move on and see if there are any more stores worth visiting?" The orange-haired mage asked. Leona nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready to move on." Leona replied. Athena led the pair out of Animated Merchandise and back onto the second floor.

-The second floor, 3:08 P.M.-

The crowds of shoppers milling about the second floor were still dense, but they had thinned out just enough for the two mages to get ahead of a big crowd coming in from the right. Athena and Leona started walking and looked at the stores as they went. They saw very little of interest except for a high-end clothing store named La Belle Epoque, but its wares cost more than either young woman cared to spend. Neither of them had any real reason to invest in a dress that cost 350,000 Jewels when their work was physical and took them to places like cemeteries, haunted castles, or haunted manors. They did not bother stopping in and kept walking in the hopes of finding something more interesting than yet another clothing store.

[Post Word Count: 850]
[Total Word Count: 8,146/11,000]

-Capital Crocus Mall, the first floor, 3:44 P.M.-

Athena and Leona had walked all over the second floor and had found nothing of interest. They had wanted to try their luck on the third floor, but the stairs leading to that floor were so packed that getting there was impossible unless they wanted to wait a good ten or so minutes, so they decided to go back to the first floor and perhaps even leave the mall to go do something else. Once they reached the first floor they turned right and walked past the lines extending from the entrance hall to the food court and walked into the entrance hall, where they stopped off to the right side to hold a brief discussion of what to do next.

"Is there anything else you'd like to do in the mall, Leona?" Athena asked the Wizard Saint. Leona shook her head.

"No, Athena. I'm ready to move on whenever you are." Leona replied. She had done enough shopping for the day and was ready to do something else.

"All right then. We'll go find something else to do like go to the movie theater or just walk around the city and see what we can find." Athena told Leona what she had in mind. Since she had no better ideas she was willing to take a chance on that. Together the two mages left the mall to go walk about the city.

-The outskirts of Capital Crocus, 4:33 P.M.-

After leaving the mall Athena had suggested that they go to the city outskirts to give her a chance to send her shopping bags home via teleportation magic and to discuss the game plan before they went back into the city. Leona agreed with that idea and they made the long walk through the crowded city streets back to where they had first met. Once they were out of Capital Crocus Athena closed her eyes and began the same chanting Leona had heard in the cult base in Silent Cemetery. After a few moments she raised her left hand and traced a tall circle in the air, creating a horizontal golden circle that was as tall as the cleric. Leona looked at it and in the middle she saw the exterior of Holy Castle.

"Wait right here for me, Leona. I'm going to go drop off my shopping bags. I'll be back in a few minutes!" Athena said.

"OK." Leona said. The orange-haired cleric stepped through the portal and the moment she had entered it the portal disappeared. Leona would stand right here and wait for her job partner to return... she hoped that Athena would not take too long to do her errand.

-The outskirts of Capital Crocus, 5:35 P.M.-

Leona had been waiting for Athena for a little over an hour and was starting to get more than a little bored. She was not sure if something more pressing had come up for the cleric and she was handling it or if the orange-haired mage had just gotten distracted doing something else and had forgotten about the Wizard Saint. She did not know, but the blonde hoped that her job partner would return soon so that they could get back to work.

A golden circle appeared about two meters to the right of Leona and she faced it. Out walked Athena, who then walked away from the portal like she was making room for someone else. That someone else was Order Cleric Amanda, who walked through the portal and looked towards Athena. The orange-haired cleric closed the portal she had made with a snap of her fingers.

"Sorry about that, Leona. Order Cleric Amanda asked me for a report on how things had went up to this point. Once I finished my report she told me that she wanted to talk to you in person." Athena explained the presence of the blonde cleric. The green-clad young woman stepped forward and spoke to Leona.

"I did not think of this earlier until Cleric Athena made her report, but I suspect that your fame is working against us." Amanda opined without mincing words. Leona did not have an answer to that assertion and let the blonde cleric continue to talk.

"Your fame is hindering our work because no human traffickers would dare make a move against you no matter how casually you dressed. A lot of people know how powerful you are and they know that attacking you would be folly." Amanda elaborated on her point. Leona found that to be a reasonable assertion and would say as much to the cleric.

"That's a valid point, Amanda." Leona conceded. She crossed her arms across her chest and thought about the problem for a minute or two before thinking of something that might solve the problem of everyone knowing her appearance. If Leona used her Genetic Expression System she could use her alternate appearance to deceive the human traffickers into thinking she was an ordinary person they could go after without much trouble.

"Hey, I had an idea!" Leona informed Amanda and Athena of her sudden burst of inspiration that might yet save the job. Both clerics looked at her with their undivided attention.

"Would you mind meeting me outside of Holy Castle in a few hours so that I can tell you what I had in mind? There's something that I need to go get from the guild hall first." Leona asked a favor of the pair.

"Certainly." Amanda granted the Wizard Saint's request without hesitation.

"Thanks. I'll be there as soon as I can!" Leona said before turning and summoning Winged Lion, then climbing onto its back and telepathically commanding it to set out for Silver Wolf Guild Hall. Within a matter of moments she was on her way home to grab the Genetic Expression System and take it to the outskirts of Holy Castle, where she would tell the clerics her idea.

[Post Word Count: 992]
[Total Word Count: 9,138/11,000]

-Outside Holy Castle, 8:49 P.M.-

Wearing the same outfit she had worn earlier and in possession of the Genetic Expression Device after going to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and going to her room to get it, Leona flew back to Holy Castle on the back of Winged Lion. She landed outside the structure and climbed off of Winged Lion's back, then dispelled the summon. As if awaiting her arrival the doors of the castle opened and out walked Athena and Amanda. They greeted Leona and Leona returned the favor... once the pleasantries were over the trio began to discuss the plan.

"OK, I have this device that can allow me to change appearance. My plan is to change into a look people won't recognize and use myself as bait for the human traffickers the Order thinks are in Capital Crocus." Leona told the two clerics. She then opened the device and used it, changing into her form with blue eyes and long blonde hair done up in a ponytail. Amanda looked at the newly transformed Leona with a critical eye while Amanda looked to be enamored by the Wizard Saint's disguised form. The blonde cleric silently examined Leona for almost three minutes before finally speaking.

"That should work, Leona. The only suggestion I have is to change your clothes from what you are wearing now. The people we are looking for might have seen you wear those colors today, so it would be prudent to wear a new outfit when you try to lure our quarry out tomorrow." Amanda gave her opinion of the Wizard Saint's look. Leona thought that was a valid point.

"Don't worry, Amanda. I've got other outfits I can wear." Leona assured the blonde cleric. The Wizard Saint had paid numerous visits to Capital Crocus Mall over the past year or so and had quite a few different outfits to wear, so choice was no problem for her.

"There is something else that I should tell you, Leona." Amanda said to the other blonde. Leona made eye contact and waited.

"I discussed our plan with the Father and he suggested a change. He suggested that the bait let themselves get captured so that we could track the human traffickers to their base." Amanda calmly informed Leona of the change to the plan. The Wizard Saint's distaste for the change showed on her face because she knew where the conversation was going. However, she could not let her reluctance to be abducted by human traffickers cost other young women their freedom and possibly their lives, so Leona was going to go with the new plan.

"I'll do it. I'll be the bait." Leona stated. Athena smiled while Amanda continued to keep a neutral facial expression.

"I know that what we are asking of you will be dangerous, but do not fear, Leona. We already have a means to track you to wherever you are taken." Amanda assured the other blonde that the Order had already thought of a means to track her when she was abducted.

"How?" Leona asked. Amanda raised her right hand and closed her eyes, then began to chant as golden magic gathered in a ball the size of a baseball in the palm of her hands. When it was finished she walked behind Leona and pushed on the latter's back, making her feel a warm sensation like she had just received an intense sunburn to that area.

"I have put a tracking spell on you, Leona. Now we can track you across Fiore with little difficulty." Amanda informed her.

"OK." Leona replied calmly. She hoped that Amanda could undo the spell once it had been cast, but she was certain that the cleric would remove the tracking spell once the job was complete.

"Should you learn that the human traffickers are not dealing with the cult, you have permission to break out of confinement and deal with them as you see fit." Amanda gave Leona instructions on what to do should the latter learn that her abductors were not working for the cult the Order was after.

"What do I do if they are being hired to abduct potential sacrifices?" Leona asked about what she should do if the other possibility was true.

"If you are in no immediate danger of being killed, let yourself be taken by the cult to their base. Remain there until we arrive. However, if a cultist tries to lead you to a sacrificial altar or tries to kill you in any way, free yourself and do everything you can to stay alive until we get there. Your survival is more important than us setting up a surprise attack." Amanda informed her. Leona was impressed by the flexibility of the plan and the detail put into it. It sounded like one worth following, so she would go with it.

"All right. I'll do as you say." Leona agreed to the terms of the new plan.

"I suggest that you get to Capital Crocus in either the late morning or early afternoon so that you have plenty of time to be seen by our quarry. You might be able to get away with arriving at mid-afternoon, but the earlier you arrive the better." The blonde cleric offered a suggestion to improve Leona's chances of drawing the attention of the shady people the Order was after.

"OK, I'll do that. I'll do my best to get there by early afternoon." Leona agreed to follow the suggestion.

[Post Word Count: 916]
[Total Word Count: 10,054/11,000]

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, the Guildmaster's Office, 3:06 A.M.-

Dressed in the same outfit she had worn all day minus the jacket and having undone her disguise for the time being, Leona had been at her desk in the office doing paperwork since around 12:30 A.M. because it needed doing and also because she needed time to think about what she was going to do later today. She did not have a problem acting as bait for human traffickers rumored to be stalking the streets of Capital Crocus. Her real concern was what might be done to her once she was abducted. Chief among her concerns was that one of her captors might threaten her clothing like Medeia had done... unlike the Warlord they had no reason to care about Leona's well-being, so they could do whatever they wanted to her. While she could do something about it by breaking out and dealing with her captors as she saw fit, that might jeopardize what the Order was trying to do, which was to track the cult to their latest base.

Leona took a quiet breath as she continued to handle the paperwork in front of her.

She recalled the aftermath of slaver raids on her home village and how she was among the fortunate ones to not be abducted. She also recalled seeing people who had suffered the loss of family members and empty tents that were left unoccupied after entire families were captured and taken away to who knew where. Leona had always been fortunate because she had avoided being captured by slavers when so many of her fellow villagers had not been so lucky and thinking about that prompted her to recall Medeia's assertion that fate had played a role in her journey so far.

If that really was true, maybe fate would look after the blonde a little while longer.

Having finished her administrative work, Leona got up from the desk, pushed the chair in, and left her office to go back to her room. She needed to pick out a casual outfit for later and try to sleep so that she could get to Capital Crocus and have enough time to be seen by the human traffickers. The blonde was not sure if she could sleep knowing what she was about to get into, but she had to try.

-Leona's Room, 3:10 A.M.-

Leona entered her room and shut the door behind her, then walked over to her large wardrobe and opened the doors. She located and pulled out a pink tank top, a pair of blue jean short shorts, and a denim jacket, then shut the doors and walked back over to her desk chair, then draped the two garments on the back of it. That combination was something she had never worn in public and the colors were ones that were not associated with her. Leona often wore blue, green, or black shirts in public, so she doubted that anyone would associate pink with her, especially in her disguised form.

Leona had chosen a modest casual outfit because she did not want to look like she was deliberately seeking attention. If the people she was after thought that she might be onto them they might not make a move on her, so she had chosen an outfit that stood the best chance of making her look like a normal young woman. With her figure she doubted that she needed to dress in a less conservative fashion to attract attention.

After thinking the matter over a little longer Leona decided that she was satisfied with her choice, so she walked over to her bed and sat down on it before reclining on her right side and facing her room door. It did not take long for her to go to sleep, which was surprising to her considering the endeavor she was about to embark upon. Maybe she was so used to danger that anything short of dealing with Medeia or fighting in the ongoing war was boring to her. Or maybe she was getting overconfident again and might be in for another rude awakening like the one she had received after her loss to the Warlord. Either way Leona would find out how difficult her work was when she got to Capital Crocus later today.

[Post Word Count: 720]
[Total Word Count: 10,774/11,000]

-Capital Crocus, 1:37 P.M.-

Dressed in the casual outfit she had picked for her disguised form, Leona walked into Capital Crocus after a lengthy walk from Silver Wolf Guild Hall. She had gotten out of bed at 8:00 A.M. and gotten dressed, then used the Genetic Expression System to change into her disguised form. She had walked to her destination so that if the human traffickers had any scouts roaming about the city or its outskirts they would not see her land on the back of Winged Lion or land while behind the controls of the Albatross. As a result anyone who saw the blue-eyed blonde saw her walk into the city like an ordinary person.

Leona had also left the Genetic Expression System safely hidden in her room back at the guild hall so that anyone who captured her would not get their hands on the device. While men could not use the device to change form, they could easily confiscate it or destroy it, possibly leaving the Wizard Saint trapped in her disguise with no way to change back to how she really looked. Speaking of her new look, she had expected her new form to either falter from time to time or drop completely when she got an appreciable distance away from the Genetic Expression System, but to her surprise she was still a blue-eyed blonde with long hair done up in a ponytail.

Leona's look was already starting to draw attention and she had not even walked very far into the city. One young man was so busy looking at her that he walked into a light pole with an audible CLANG and fell onto his back to the amusement of some of the other pedestrians. Another one forgot to watch his step while stepping from the sidewalk and into a crosswalk and stumbled for a few steps, but unlike the first person he recovered in time to avoid faceplanting. Leona felt a little bad for them because she had not intended to cause any accidents, but she supposed that some people were irresistibly drawn to her beauty.

The blonde faced forward again and kept walking towards Capital Crocus Mall, where she was fairly certain she would be seen by anyone looking to abduct young women. Leona had a bag containing 10,000 Jewels in her right pocket so that if even if she did not find something to buy she could still pass as an ordinary young woman who was out on the town for a day of shopping. Leona did not care about possibly losing the money to theft if she were captured... it was a loss she was willing to accept if it meant finding her quarry. With that in mind she kept moving towards her destination... so far no one had taken an unusual interest in her, but once she got to the mall that might change.

[Post Word Count: 484]
[Total Word Count: 11,258/11,000]

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: TBA

-Capital Crocus Mall, 2:17 P.M.-

Leona walked through the entrance hall and into the lines for the food court, which were as long as they always were. She knew that there was no point waiting in line for food, so she made a turn to the right and walked towards the entrance to Earthland Eagle. The store was not nearly as crowded as it had been yesterday, so she decided to go in because she had plenty of time to burn and it was someone people like her tended to congregate. With those things in mind Leona entered the store.

-Inside Earthland Eagle, 2:19 P.M.-

Leona entered the store and glanced around to look at both sides where merchandise was stocked. The employees had done an excellent job restocking the racks because it looked like they had not even been touched, which was a sharp contrast to yesterday, when there was a sale going on and merchandise was going fast. There were also far fewer shoppers in the store than there were yesterday... Leona spotted only eight young women as opposed to over twenty or so less than twenty-four hours ago. Seeing a few tops on the right racks that might be her size, the blonde walked over to them and began to browse.

Almost right away she spotted a tube top or two in colors she did not already have, so the blonde carefully took the black plastic hangar off of the metal rack and examined the first one, which was a silver tube top. Finding it to be of interest and possibly worthy of purchasing, Leona examined the size tag on the garment and learned that it was a size too small for her. She hung it back up and picked up the second one that had caught her attention, which was one colored desert tan like her "chocolate chip" camouflage shorts that she wore from time to time. Leona grabbed it and looked at the size tag to learn that this one was two sizes too small.

The mildly disappointed blonde put it back where it went and continued to look at the tube tops on the off chance she could find one her size that was silver. Leona's search was in vain because she did not see any that were her size, not even the type that covered only her chest. She did not see any more tops worth looking at, so she turned away to look at the shorts on the left side when she found a tall, black-haired young woman with violet eyes looking at her with a smile.

The other young woman was dressed in a modest red long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans with black tennis shoes. Her shining black hair extended to the back of her knees and her violet eyes gleamed at the blonde. She was several inches taller than Leona was and slung on her right shoulder was a black purse.

"I couldn't help but to notice you browsing at the tube tops. You caught my eye, so I decided to walk over to you and chat with you a minute." She said, explaining what had drawn her attention to the blonde. Her eyes moved up and down as she looked at Leona. When she was finished her smile turned into a grin.

"You're so beautiful. That long, blonde hair and those deep blue eyes, the way your hair frames your face... you're absolutely gorgeous. And your body... it's simply perfect." She praised Leona's hair and eye color before commenting favorably on the blonde's physique, making her blush. The other young woman gave a mischievous chuckle, then leaned down and used her hands to gently lift Leona's face upward so that she could make eye contact.

"If I didn't already have someone I was dating I'd ask you out, but I won't do that. I'm sure that you'll find that someone special one day. You're so beautiful that you're certain to find someone who wants to be with you." She said before leaning in and gently kissing Leona on the left cheek, then releasing the blonde's face and taking a step back. At that point Leona's face burned so hot that if someone touched it their hand would feel like it had touched a hot piece of metal. The other woman smiled in response.

"See you around, Sweetie." She gently bade Leona farewell before turning and walking out of the store, leaving the blonde to stand in awkward silence as she tried to recover from the unexpected encounter with the other young woman. After a minute or two her face stopped burning, but she was still a bit dazed from what had happened. She recalled her younger self's taunt that she had a weak spot for tall, dark-haired young women with large chests and the mystery woman certainly matched that description.

So had Medeia.

Needing time to think and to calm down, the disguised Wizard Saint calmly walked out of Earthland Eagle to go walk around the rest of the first floor and hopefully be able to think clearly by the time she visited another store.

[Post Word Count: 856]
[Total Word Count: 856/7,000]

-Inside The Fashionable Lady, 2:26 P.M.-

After a walk around the first floor Leona decided to enter The Fashionable Lady, a store that seemed to sell makeup, perfume, and other items of that nature. Having grown up in a desert village where such items were a luxury, the Wizard Saint had never used them. Even after being exiled from her home village and traveling to Fiore with the intent of making that country her new home Leona had not shown much interest in items most young women used to enhance their beauty. She was not trying to be a rebel... she simply did not see much need for an since she spent a good deal of her time on jobs that frequently involved strenuous physical activities such as fighting, so any efforts to look beautiful would be wasted.

Leona was now in the lipstick section looking at tubes it in various colors like red, pink, and other colors she did not know were available. She was far from the only young woman looking at them... there were five others close by and they too were perusing the wares. One of them even had her boyfriend nearby and was asking for his input on what she should choose. That sight prompted Leona to think about someone who was close to her, someone she had not seen in quite some time. As the blonde turned away from them to look at a bright red tube of lipstick on the shelf in front of her her mind began to wander to Masha and a couple of questions pertaining to the redhead.

Would Masha like it if Leona wore lipstick?

And if she did, what color would she like Leona to wear?

All of Leona's regrets about her relationship with Masha came back as she continued to look at the wide variety of lipstick colors in front of her. She had so many regrets that she could not list them all. Chief among them was not committing to Masha sooner... she felt that she had strung the redhead along for too long and had damaged the relationship before it even got started. As Leona had told Masha long ago the blonde still carried the baggage that came with growing up in a conservative desert village and that had played a part in the former hesitating to commit for so long.

Leona was not sure if she would get a chance to make things right with Masha someday, but part of her had the feeling that that was not going to happen any time soon. She might just have to accept what happened and move on, but she could not help but to hold out a little hope that it just might happen. Her reason for hanging on was exactly what she told Medeia it was... Masha knew all of Leona's flaws and liked the latter anyway, so the blonde was not going to give up on the redhead.

Having browsed the lipstick to her heart's content and wanting to put the past out of her mind for awhile, Leona decided to move on to the second floor of the mall. She did not have much interest in perfume, so stopping to browse at the glass display cases of it that occupied the first third of the store near the entrance was not necessary. She would go to another store and see if there was anything worth looking at: if she saw something she really liked she might actually buy it so that her cover story of being an ordinary young woman out to do some shopping was strengthened.

-The second floor, 2:38 P.M.-

After leaving The Fashionable Lady Leona managed to reach the second floor without getting caught in a traffic jam and now she was doing a lap around the floor looking for a store that she wanted to visit. So far she had seen The Modern Woman and The Athlete's Edge, but she did not feel strongly enough about either to immediately make a beeline for them. During the course of her walk she also saw Resin Monuments, the figurine shop from the other day. That store might be worth visiting, if only to kill a bit of time.

As Leona was looking for a store to visit she glanced at her fellow shoppers and noticed that roughly half of them were people her age, if not slightly older than her. She looked for any familiar faces in the crowd like Ada Jensen or the violet-eyed young woman she had encountered in Earthland Eagle, but so far she was not seeing anyone she knew. If she did not see anyone she knew that would be fine with her because she was not here for socializing... the Wizard Saint was here as part of a job and she needed to focus on what she was doing.

After completing her lap around the second floor and passing by the stairs Leona decided to visit The Athlete's Edge because today there was room for her to go inside the store. She would make her way there as soon as she could, but she was not in any real hurry yet. She was here to kill time until closer to nightfall, a time when she suspected that the human traffickers were most likely on the hunt. When the time came she would leave the mall and go to Capital Coffee to get a to-go cup of her favorite beverage, then casually walk through the city streets to see if anyone took a little too much interest in her and tried to abduct her.

[Post Word Count: 938]
[Total Word Count: 1,794/7,000]

-Inside The Athlete's Edge, 2:44 P.M.-

Leona had entered the athletic apparel store just ahead of a small crowd of shoppers who were all young women. They had fanned out into the store to browse at items such as gym shorts, socks, and yoga pants while the disguised Wizard Saint was busy looking at a selection of women's tennis shoes located on the left wall. They were not all the store had to offer... there were plenty more on an aisle dedicated exclusively to women's tennis shoes, but the display she was looking at was a collection of current shoes that were particularly popular. One pair that had caught the blonde's attention was a gray pair with white around the tongue and white shoelaces combined in a sleek, sporty look. Another option was a black pair with silver around the tongue of the shoe and silver holes for the shoelaces... that pair was not quite as sleek as the gray ones, but it looked a little more suited for everyday wear.

Leona glanced back and forth at the two pairs of shoes until she decided to decide to find and try on the gray pair: a glance at the name showed that they were called "Greyhounds". Armed with that information, she then headed over to the aisle devoted to women's shoes to try and find a pair for herself. She walked down it while glancing left and right at the boxes upon boxes of footwear that sat on each shelf until she found what she wanted almost at the very end of the aisle. Leona found a gray shoebox with a side view of a sleek-looking dog in mid-sprint on it. The image was in white and as she glanced at the box she saw a little sticker on the bottom left corner with other information such as shoe size, color, and brand name.

After reading the sticker carefully she learned that she was holding a pair of Greyhounds thanks to the brand name being spelled out for her on the top of the box in white letters.

Leona located a tiny bench to sit on at the end of the aisle and sat down on it, then took off her boots and set them in the space under the bench. She looked at the size of the tennis shoes on the label stitched onto the interior of the tongue, then compared them to the size information of her boots. Both of them matched, so Leona carefully put the Greyhounds on. To her surprise they actually fit, so she stood up and walked back and forth in front of the bench to get an idea of how they would feel when she actually walked in them. To her chagrin she did not like how they felt, particularly around the heel.

The blonde frowned a little as she returned to the bench, sat down, and took off the Greyhounds, then gently put them back inside the box and closed it. She put her boots back on, then walked over to the shelf and put the tennis shoes back where she had found them. Leona was a bit disappointed that the Greyhounds did not feel as good as they looked, but she would live. She would try to find another pair of tennis shoes in a minute or two, but the group of young women who had entered the store just behind her were currently gathering around the display that Leona wanted to look at, so the search would have to wait.

In the meantime, Leona took advantage of the group changing location to look at the bike shorts. She needed another pair or two in case the pair she currently had hanging in her closet got damaged beyond repair during the course of a particularly dangerous job or simply got left out whenever she did laundry. As she had learned many times in the past having a backup was seldom a bad idea.

-Outside The Athlete's Edge, 3:32 P.M.-

Leona walked back onto the second floor empty-handed because the bike shorts that were currently in stock did not fit her and she was unable to locate a pair of tennis shoes that had caught her eye like the Greyhounds had. She would come back another day and try to search for shoes and bike shorts, but for now she would move on and shop somewhere else. Maybe she could find a decent skirt or t-shirt in the next store she visited.

The blonde merged with a crowd moving to the left side of the floor and stayed near the back because she was not in much of a hurry. As she walked she looked for anyone who might have taken a little too much interest in her for reasons beyond finding her attractive, but so far no one was paying her any attention. Everyone on the second floor was focused on shopping or waiting to get into a store so that they could shop. Speaking of waiting, it looked like Resin Monuments and Intimate Secrets were packed full of people and even had short lines trailing out of them, but The Modern Woman did not have a line, so Leona would pay a visit to that establishment.

[Post Word Count: 876]
[Total Word Count: 2,670/7,000]

-Inside The Modern Woman, 3:38 P.M.-

Leona walked into The Modern Woman, which was occupied by four female employees and eight shoppers who were all young women. All of the shoppers were gathered on the right side of the shop, which had numerous racks of shirts. The disguised Wizard Saint went to the left side of the store, which had racks of skirts, shorts, and pants. There she gravitated towards the skirts, where the black ones caught her eye.

Leona began to browse them in the hopes of finding one her size, but as she looked through them and examined the size labels she was not holding out much hope because every last one of the skirts was smaller than what she needed. She came to the very last one on the left side of the rack, carefully pulled it off, and examined the label to see if she had finally found the size she needed.

She did not.

Feeling a twinge of disappointment, Leona put the garment back onto the rack from whence it came and began to look at the other colors of skirts. She could choose from red, white, pink, blue, green, and even yellow. Deciding to focus on finding another decent white skirt like the one she had stashed on Lion's Island, she began to look through those in case she might actually find one. If she was hoping for her luck to change she would hope in vain because each and every white skirt was too small for her. The disappointed blonde put the very last one back and stepped away from the rack of skirts because there was no point in looking any further.

She glanced over towards the shirts on the right side of the store and briefly entertained the idea of looking at them to try and find a new color of tank top or t-shirt to add to her wardrobe, but decided against it. She suspected that her luck in finding a new color of shirt would not be any better than her luck in finding a new skirt had been. Leona lingered a minute or two longer to both kill time and to reconsider her choice, but in the end she opted to leave The Modern Woman and go find another store to visit. With her mind made up she walked out of the store to take another lap around the second floor.

-The second floor, 3:46 P.M.-

Leona walked out of The Modern Woman and merged with the tail end of a crowd of shoppers that was headed to the right side of the floor. She brought up the rear and took her time following the crowd while looking for any stores that looked promising and had enough space for her to enter without feeling crowded. The Wizard Saint made a leisurely lap of the second floor and found that both Resin Monuments and Intimate Secrets were still crowded and still had small lines of people waiting to get in, so she did not even bother trying to get into those stores. Instead she would head to the third floor and see if she could visit any stores there.

-The third floor, 4:26 P.M.-

Leona had gotten to the third floor after being caught in a pedestrian traffic jam in the stairwell, but "caught" might not be the right word to use. Being in the very back of the group heading for the third floor had afforded her the luxury of simply going back to the second floor and doing another four laps to kill time until the jam cleared up. However, she might have been better off just leaving the mall after the jam had cleared because from the looks of it every single store on the floor was packed. A little disappointed but unwilling to give up just yet, Leona began a lap around the third floor to see if there was at least one store she could get into.

At the end of the lap she had learned that every last store was so full of people that waiting for a chance to enter one would be a serious waste of time. There was nothing that appealed to her on this floor, so maybe she would be better served by going to the movie theater Athena had hinted at during their trip to the mall. Besides, the Order had not prohibited her from going to the theater, so she would do that before going to Capital Coffee to get a cup of coffee.

-Outside Capital Crocus Mall, 4:40 P.M.-

Leona was standing outside the mall and looked around the busy streets to see if she could find someone who could give her directions to the movie theater. As she looked she spotted Capital Coffee not too far from her current location, which was a definite plus. She got the idea to go in there and ask for directions. She also might make get a cup of coffee to go and take it with her while she walked to the movie theater... that small purchase would give a modest boost to her cover story and she really liked coffee, so she was going to go for it.

As soon as there was enough room to maneuver through the crowds the disguised Wizard Saint walked to Capital Coffee and entered the establishment. Maybe she would have better luck finding what she wanted in the coffee shop than she had in the mall.

[Post Word Count: 914]
[Total Word Count: 3,584/7,000]

-Capital Crocus Movie Theater, 6:00 P.M.-

The wait inside Capital Coffee had been so long that Leona abandoned the idea of getting a cup of coffee on her first visit, but she would pay the coffee shop another visit after she saw a movie. She was now standing inside the movie theater, which looked to be an upscale venue. The flooring resembled a giant red carpet of that kind that was reserved for celebrities, the walls were an immaculate white and had large movie posters in equally large golden frames hanging on the walls, and ahead of her was a large concession area with a waist-high white counter with marble countertop. To get to the area one had to make their way through a velvet rope maze, but the blonde was not in need of snacks before the movie.

Leona had chosen to buy a ticket to a movie called Growing Doubt, which looked to be some artsy movie that was done more for art than for popular appeal. She did not really care what movie she saw because afterwards she would have to use herself as bait for human traffickers and if she was abducted there was no telling how they would treat her. The treatment might range from Leona being mildly inconvenienced to so rough that she might end up wishing she was a "guest" of Medeia's again.

She walked on the right side of the lobby and towards a long hallway featuring doors to individual theaters on the left and the right. Leona looked down at her ticket and saw that Growing Doubt was being shown in Theater 12. She walked into the main hallway and kept walking until she reached the theater, then opened the door with her right hand and entered it.

-Inside Theater 12, 6:04 P.M.-

Leona's natural night vision took effect as she walked into a dark theater that was almost empty except for five other people. It seemed like she had arrived in the middle of previews of other movies because she saw a trailer for an old-style detective movie named Six-Gun Sleuth Reloaded. Apparently it was a sequel to Six-Gun Sleuth and the protagonist was a private detective out for revenge after a mob boss ordered a hit on him that did not kill the intended target: his longtime girlfriend was the one who ended up dying from being riddled with submachine gun bullets in a drive-by shooting. After that Leona did not pay the trailer much attention because she was too busy trying to find a decent seat.

The blonde found one in the very back row on the top row of seating. She walked up the stairs on the left side of the theater and walked over to the center of the top row, then sat down in the seat. It was a comfortable leather chair with a cupholder in each arm and an adjustable footrest. Leona settled into it and waited for the previews to end, which took another ten minutes. Once they were all over the movie opened to a scene of an ordinary-looking middle-aged man of average build with short black hair wearing a blue sweater vest over a white long-sleeved dress shirt and brown dress pants with brown dress shoes.

He was standing in a greenhouse and looking at a potted plant of some sort. After a minute or two of looking at it he bought it and went home with it in his arms. After that the movie title flashed on the screen and lingered for a few moments as the man sat in the living room in a tiny apartment looking at his plant, which was sitting on a windowsill basking in sunlight. It had not even started in earnest and Leona was already regretting her choice of movie, but she was not going to walk out of it now, not while she had time to kill.

Leona continued to watch and saw the man stare at his potted plant until nightfall. He then gave a big sigh, rose from his seat and picked it up, then left his apartment and entered a wide and dimly lit hallway where a few people were standing around talking about their day at work or their family life. He went to the end and took an elevator to the bottom floor. Once there he walked through the lobby and out onto the city streets at night. The scene progressed as he started walking past the few other people on the streets while keeping his eyes firmly on the plant and a violin began to play.

The man walked all the way through the streets and out of the city, setting off down a dirt road cutting through a heavily wooded area with no street lights. The violin continued to play as he looked at the plant with a worried look on his face. Leona had no idea what the meaning of that was or where this movie was going, but she was starting to get bored and was struggling to stay focused on watching the "action" on the screen.

Maybe she should have bought a ticket to a different movie.

[Post Word Count: 864]
[Total Word Count: 4,448/7,000]

-Outside Capital Crocus Movie Theater, 8:06 P.M.-

Growing Doubt had been two hours long and it had been a boring two hours. The other people in the theater had watched the movie intently ever since the man had begun walking down the dirt road, but Leona had been bored ever since that scene started. That scene had lasted for an actual real-life hour before a little variation happened when the protagonist passed through a small rural town and passed by a convenience store on the corner of a four-way stop that had several pickup trucks in the parking lot. The man passed the store and took a left to begin walking down a paved road as the sun started to rise. After almost another hour the protagonist got off of the paved road to take a dirt road that took him through a densely wooded area.

After walking on that road for twenty minutes he ended up carrying the potted plant to a field of sunflowers and stopping in the middle of it before looking at the plant once again. After gazing at his prized plant thoughtfully the man looked directly at the camera with a worried look on his face and the screen went black, then the credits rolled. Leona could hardly believe that that was the end of the movie... it was anticlimactic, to say the least.

Leona did not understand anything about Growing Doubt. If she had to take a guess she guessed that the protagonist was a middle-aged man who had doubts about his life and went on a walk to try and sort them out. She also guessed that he had not been able to find a solution to his problems despite the lengthy walk he had went on. However, she was not certain she had really gotten the message of the movie, which might have been that running away from one's problems was not a solution for them... for all she knew she had completely missed the point.

At any rate Leona had managed to kill two hours and it was now nighttime, which was a silver lining to. She took a moment to recall the direction Capital Coffee was in before setting out for it. Maybe she could get some coffee there this time... she had taken a brief look at the offerings while there to ask for directions to the movie theater and some of them showed promise.

-On the streets of Capital Crocus, 9:17 P.M.-

Leona was still a good distance from Capital Coffee and she was currently passing by a section of office buildings. The wind was starting to pick up and gathered strength until a strong breeze blew and while her arms were fine thanks to wearing a denim jacket her legs were a bit cold due to her wearing short shorts as part of her disguise. The disguised Wizard Saint stopped for a few moments and rubbed her legs with her hands before moving on again.

The moment she started moving again a tall, burly man with short black hair dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans with brown work boots stepped out from an alley and placed himself in front of her. Leona stopped and turned to the right to begin maneuvering around the man when she was grabbed from behind and a white cloth was pressed against her mouth and nose. She briefly struggled against the loss of consciousness, but whatever was on the cloth was weakening her so much that she could not get away. After a minute she felt herself going limp and the last thing she saw before going unconscious was the man in front of her moving in to help carry her off.

-An unknown location-

Leona groaned as she regained consciousness and her natural night vision took effect. She found herself waking up in a small, dark, windowless room with a thin, filthy mattress sitting in the center of the floor and a single bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The room had not been cleaned in some time and dirt and grime stained the floor, sat in the corners, and coated the walls. Quickly moving on from the awful quality of her accommodations, she looked around and saw a thick metal door with a slot that had a metal hatch over it.

Leona tried to sit up but found that her hands were bound behind her back... she could feel rope binding them tightly, but not to an intolerable degree. While she could use her special adrenaline rush to try and break free her orders from Amanda were to endure her captivity and see if she could find out who was going to buy her. The disguised Wizard Saint slowly maneuvered herself into a sitting position and slowly inched her way backwards until she was sitting on the mattress. The moment her backside touched it the metal hatch slid open and a pair of narrow green eyes gazed at her.

"Boss, she's awake!" The person informed someone. Moments later the cell door opened, an electric light came on, and in strode the burly man from earlier. He looked down on the blonde with icy blue eyes.

"So, what do you think of your room?" The man asked in a sarcastic manner.

"I've stayed in worse places." Leona replied calmly. Instead of a kick to the face or other physical reprimand all she got was a deep, booming laugh that lasted for a few seconds before he faced her again.

"I'm glad to hear that." He replied dryly with an undertone of impatience.

"So here's the deal. If you keep your mouth shut and behave I won't have to get ugly with you. If you keep running your mouth like that... well, I just might have to do something about that little problem." He offered before producing a knife from his boot with his right hand and motioning forward with his left hand. Two men rushed into the room, seized Leona under the arms, and hauled her to her feet. The leader grabbed Leona's face and moved the blade close to her lips.

"What's it gonna be?" The man bluntly asked Leona.

[Post Word Count: 1,032]
[Total Word Count: 5,480/7,000]

Leona read between the lines and in between the tone of his voice, his choice of words, and his wielding of a knife got the impression that the burly man was going to cut out her tongue if she continued to make wisecracks, so there was only one smart choice to make.

"You win. I'll behave." Leona replied, submitting to his demands. The leader of the men moved the knife away from her lips.

"That's a wise choice. I wouldn't want to have to cut out your tongue." He confirmed what she had suspected he would do if she did not agree to what he wanted. He put the knife back in his boot and and turned his back on the blonde.

"Bind her ankles and put a gag in her mouth. I don't want that bimbo moving around too much or mouthing off again." He ordered his underlings to bind their captive further before leaving the room. Leona was lowered to the floor and put face-down on the mattress as two more men entered the room. She felt her ankles being lifted and felt them being tied together with rope. When that was done her head was lifted and a white cloth placed in her mouth before the end was tied around the back of her head. After all of that the four men walked out of the room, shut the door, and turned out the light.

As soon as she was able to Leona rolled over onto her side and faced the door. The situation had gone from bad to worse, but at least she kept her tongue. She was not sure how long she was going to be here, but she already hated the leader of the human traffickers. The Wizard Saint could not exact retribution right now because she had a bigger mission to consider, but one day this group of "people" would get what was coming to them. If luck was on her side she would get to be the one to take them all out.

-In the cell, some time later-

Leona had been lying on the mattress for an unknown length of time and her legs were starting to feel a bit cramped from keeping them drawn up so that they could stay on the mattress, so she slowly stretched her legs outward and rolled over onto her other side to face the wall. She wondered how long it would take for a buyer to arrive so that she knew to either free herself and take out her captors or stay where she was and let herself be taken to the cult base. The bound Wizard Saint breathed through her nose and stared at the wall.

Leona wondered if any other young women were being held in wherever she was. She could not hear anything outside the cell, so eavesdropping on her captors was not an option. Whether it was by accident or by design she was ignorant of anything that went on in the outside world. For all she knew the Order had tracked her and were raiding the place now... or her captors could be haggling with a buyer as to how much she was worth.

The blonde took another breath through her nose.

She thought back to her childhood and wondered what had happened to all of the people the slavers captured during raids on her home village. She had never seen any of them again, so she knew that once taken they were gone for good. Her thoughts focused on how they were treated in captivity. Leona did not know for certain, but she doubted that they were treated with any kindness or concern for their well-being.

Deciding to make the best of her uncertain situation, Leona tried to go to sleep while she could. Maybe when she woke up she would find out if she had someone interested in buying her. If someone was she might be able to learn their identity so that she knew what to do next.

-In the cell, some time later-

After going to sleep for a length of time she was unable to determine Leona woke up and stretched her legs again, then rolled over onto her other side so that she could face the cell door. This was a lot more boring than watching Growing Doubt and that was saying a lot. As dull as the movie was at least she was free to move about the movie theater, but in this situation she could not move very far at all. Her hands were tied behind her back and her ankles were bound, so her movement was limited to rolling from side to side and slowly inching around.

Leona decided that she wanted to sit up, so she moved her legs and placed her heels on the ground, then used them to slowly move her body to the right inch by inch until she was facing the door, then forced herself into an upright sitting position. Leona then sat in place and watched the door until the metal hatch slid open and a pair of blue eyes peer in, a sign that the leader of the human traffickers might enter the cell shortly. Maybe he was going to give her the "good" news that someone wanted to buy her.

[Post Word Count: 888]
[Total Word Count: 6,368/7,000]

"Hey Blondie, you're in luck. You've got a buyer. Some weird guys in robes are looking for young women and they're gonna take you off my hands for 50,000 Jewels." The leader told Leona after entering the cell. The blonde remained calm despite what was going to happen to her because it sounded like she was going to be sold to the cult after all. All she had to do was be patient for a little bit longer and she would get what she wanted, which was a chance to get inside the cult's headquarters and eliminate as many of them as she could.

Four men wearing brown robes entered the room and gazed at the blue-eyed blonde. The quartet examined Leona closely, then the leader, a man who was skinnier than the rest, turned to the burly man.

"She will do nicely." The leader of the quartet stated his satisfaction with the merchandise. He reached into his robe and produced a large bag of money, then handed it to the leader of the human traffickers. The burly man opened the bag and sifted through the contents before closing it back and making eye contact with a grin on his face.

"Nice doing business with you. She's yours whenever you're ready to take her. It's really not my business, but I take it you have a means of taking your new purchase to wherever it is you're going." He gave the robed man permission to take Leona out of this place at the latter's leisure and made an inquiry about how the blonde was going to be carried. The other man nodded.

"Do not worry about that. We already have transport arranged." He replied. He stood in front of Leona and two of the men lifted Leona to her feet and pinned her arms behind her back while the third put a white cloth over her mouth. The blonde struggled the best she could for a few moments until she weakened and eventually passed out.

-An unknown location-

Leona woke up in a cell that was somewhat bigger than the one she had been taken from. It was slightly more decorated than the last one with a single glowing blood red torch on the right wall sconce, a small mattress in the center of the room, a wooden bucket in the top left corner, and a metal ring on the center wall. Leona saw the men standing over her but did not have long because she was quickly put face-down on the mattress and the rope binding her ankles was cut before her feet were pinned to the floor by strong hands. The gag was removed from her mouth.

"Do not fight us unless you wish to be sacrificed to Lord Zupazu right away. I have the means and the will to make good on that threat without hesitation, so you would do well to behave yourself." Leona received a stern warning to be on her best behavior.

"I won't fight you." Leona promised. She felt the rope binding her hands be cut away, but she did not dare move them. She was lifted to her feet and had a metal collar placed around her neck and a pair of manacles placed on her hands, which had been moved in front of her. The collar was attached to the chain on the back wall and the men stepped away from her.

"Here you will remain until the time for your sacrifice has come." Leona was told that this space would be her new home for the remainder of her life... however long that was. For the time being she would stay in captivity to give the Order time to send a team to rescue her, but if she was going to be led away for sacrifice she had permission to free herself and do whatever it took to stay alive until help got to her. That thought comforted Leona as she watched her new captors leave the room and shut the cell door, then lock it behind them. Once they were gone she assessed her situation.

Leona noticed that the bag of money she had taken to Capital Crocus was missing from her shorts pocket. She would have to get it back when she broke out and started fighting the cult, but before she even thought about doing that she would need to regain her strength. Leona was still weak and disoriented from whatever was on that cloth and could not do much of anything other than lie on the mattress and look at the room door. At least the chain attached to the metal collar around her neck was long enough to permit her to walk from side to side in the room and lie on the mattress.

Comforted by the thought that she would soon have a chance to get revenge on her captors for chaining her to a wall like an animal, Leona took a quiet breath and tried to get comfortable despite the looming threat of being sacrificed to an entity named "Lord Zupazu."

[Post Word Count: 848]
[Total Word Count: 7,216/7,000]

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 324