Spsh!Felix gasped and coughed out, feeling the weight of his body rest on his arms as he was strung up like a worm on a hook. The shackles clung to his wrists, tugging at the reddened skin as he closed his eyes and held his breath. A second bucket of water sprayed over his head, leaving his hair a stringy brown mess drooped over his forehead and ears. A metal gloved hand pulled his head down as he could feel their presence leaning in behind him.

  "What's this?" The armored soldier asked, exposing the back of his neck. "Numbers and letters, this bloke 'ere s'been branded!"

  "I reckon this one s'had quite the history serving others." The second soldier chuckled, dropping the bucket aside. "There. He's all washed up now."

  Felix sighed, feeling the strength leave his body as he licked his lips and hoped for this dispy to end quickly. He could hear a melody of curses and shouting in a foreign tongue coming from the cage to his right. One of the men rolled his eyes from under his leather cap, swinging at the cage bars with the butt of his give. "Keep it down, we speak common tongue here!"

  Reta hissed back, gring angrily in retaliation as she felt the restraints on her wrists and ankles keep her from shing out on him. He watched on in amusement and cocked his head, stepping aside to give her a clear view of her friend.

  "You keep it down now, y'here? Keep quiet like yer friend, he knows when to talk."

  "Best pray that you're right for your sake," Daemon interjected, stepping into the dimly lit room. "Else he's about as useful to me as you are, if you don't wake up on time and get your shit straight."

  Both men straightened up and met him with a salute, a sort of gesture in which they pressed a fist against their heart and bowed their heads in silence.

  "Captain." The same man replied with a nervous twitch in his lower eyelid. "My deepest apologies, i-it won't happen again!"

  "It better not, and don't even think about earning that rank. Not until you can pull your own weight, Toff." Daemon stood over Felix, watching over him with a curious look in his eye. "Leave us, the lot of ya. Councilmen's orders. The show starts in fifteen minutes, be back in ten. Bring Lloyd and Loresa with ya."

  "Oh, yes sir!" The two men saluted once more, quickly scurrying out of the pce.

  Felix cleared his throat and raised his head, realizing how quiet the room became. He could see Daemon's metal boots retreat against the back wall to pull up a four-legged stool. Felix looked around, getting a better look of their surroundings. His eyes glowed a soft amber color as he was able to see clearly through the shadowy corners. This wasn't a dungeon like before judging by the bits of hay scattered around the dirt floor as well as the light stemming through the cracks of the rge double gates to their right. This pce was rge and wide, like a warehouse housing numerous little fences which reminded him of the farm back home. He expected to see horses chewing on hay, snorting or stomping their hooves down in boredom, or perhaps a number of cattle with bags of grain around.

  But this was no barn judging by the number of cuffs and shackles hung on the wall, some of them coated with red stains. He began to suspect that the tools hung at the entrance of each stable wasn't meant for branding cattle or repcing horseshoes.

  Daemon sat down in opposition of both Reta and Felix, pcing his sheathed sword against the wall and removing his metal gloves. His palms were cmmy and glistening with sweat, he fidgeted with his belt until he retrieved a light leather pouch to pour powder into his hand, wiping them clean on his thighs.

  Daemon sighed and leaned back in his stool. "The council have elected to have you both hung by your entrails for you cooperation with the dark beasts, and your corpses left to fertilize our harvest. But ultimately that decision is left to me."

  Felix kept silent, his eyes staring at his feet while Reta kept her eyes on the elf with a judgmental look.

  Daemon licked his lips as he continued. "Councilman Dubois has granted you an opportunity to regain some worth if you two choose to cooperate with us and rey any information we find to be useful. There is a priest, I believe you two are familiar with him, this man known as Perdilius. He cims to be here under peaceful terms and wishes to cooperate with our council. I myself have my suspicions, what kind of man exclusively hunts to capture these things alive rather than dead? But I must remind myself that whatever faith this man has, whichever gods he prays to, surely must be a most forgiving being for his cause."

  He leaned in and rubbed his thumb across the tattoo imprinted at the back of his prisoner's neck. "This mark tells me that you were once the property of another, a runaway sve perhaps?"

  "Kill us or release us." Reta growled, catching his attention. "But do not waste our time with this nonsense."

  Daemon stood up with a fascinated look. "Tell me, if I were to turn this bucket over you would it wash away your blue color, or is that your natural hair? But there's more to you then just your hair, isn't there? The shape of your eyes, the lean physique, and the peachy skin tone, no doubt you belong to one of those foreign tribes, yes? I've heard stories of them roaming around in the east, you're a long way from home. Some hidden tribe of water elementals, humph. Where did that wolf bite you?"

  "Come closer and I'll show you." Reta answered back, receiving a scoff from the elvish soldier in return.

  "This opportunity extends to you as well, I'd be mindful of that tone of yours." Daemon shook his head, settling down on the stool with a sigh. "We would like to know the whereabouts of these monsters you've been cooperating with. These Nekomata have disappeared in our town and we have reason to suspect that they are receiving aid from someone else. Monsters like them don't stumble across explosives to blow a crater into our chapel for a rescue attempt. I'll cut it short, tell us where they are and how to find them, and in return we will spare your lives."

  Felix raised his head with a low grunt as their eyes met.

  "Remarkable," The captain whispered in awe, "To see the transformation taking pce before my very eyes."

  Felix blinked in confusion and turned away, much to the elf's surprise.

  "Do you not know what fate has befallen towards you?" He asked, leaning in close. "She marked you, correct? When one of those monsters mark their prey, it's like an imprint. Their dark magic tches onto you, slowly molding your features to resemble into one of them. You start to lose yourself and in time, you become one of them. That's how they get you, you see. They seduce you or entrap you, leave their mark on you, and it's like a curse that takes over your body over time."

  "A c-curse?" Felix mumbled, licking his chapped lips in turn. "You're saying this is some sort of curse?"

  "From the stories I've heard and from what I've seen, that term would fit it well." He expined, standing up over him. "But not all is lost for you, for there is a cure. Sy the one who marked you and the curse will be lifted, and your body set free. It may not be an immediate process, but your life will return to normal."

  "Normal." Felix scoffed, shaking his head. "Normal feels like such a strange thing to me now. What could ever be defined as normal for me?"

  Reta tugged at the shackles briefly. "Even if your cims were true, how exactly would you help me? Killing the one who cursed me wouldn't cure me, I should know."

  Daemon shrugged. "To be quite honest, you could prove useful in different ways. Some of the councilmen were split between keeping you or disposing you. You would do us a great service in understanding how this curse of yours work."

  "You expect me to just roll over and be your trusted dog so that my life be spared in exchange for my allies?" Reta asked with a mocking tone. "You strike a hard bargain, I am left in awe at just how persuasive and charismatic you have been. Are there more terms to this agreement that's ever so generously in my favor?"

  "Mock all you want, I would expect no better from a foreigner." Daemon spat back with a look of disgust, turning his eyes toward Felix. "And you, all is not lost for you. This is your second chance to start anew, create a better life for yourself. You can-"

  "Save your words." Felix interrupted, "I made my decision before you even arrived. I know my actions and I have no regrets."

  "None at all, that's your final words?"

  "Indeed. You try to convince me to turn my back on them, calling them monsters and beasts. I felt the same way too once before, I lived under the torturous hand of one most of my life." He leaned back, lifting his weight up by his arms to expose the numerous cerations scarred across his chest and back. "But she's far from one of them, you can believe me or mock me for all I care. Do as you wish and follow your command, I'll at least die knowing I was happy for once in my life. And I'll keep those memories with me until the bitter end."

  Daemon blinked silently, staring with a stern look on his face. Even Reta heled her breath wondering what comes next. They didn't wait long, as Daemon stood up and walked around Felix as he heard the sound of keys jingling before a lock was opened.

  "What?" Reta questioned him, watching as he turned around and removed Felix's cuffs from the hook that kept his arms raised. Feeling the blood flow back to his arms, he was just starting to wince in pain as the feeling resurfaced only to be disrupted by a sharp pull toward his back. He was dragged and tossed into the cage with his friend catching him, looking up to the loud sound of the cage door locking them both in.

  Daemon fit the key back into his belt and crossed his arms with disappointment over his face, shaking his head. "It's hard to reason with a man who's mind has been made."

  Felix turned around and was met with Reta leaning in, resting her chin on his shoulder to closely resemble a hug despite their restraints. Both of them were alerted to the entrance of four soldiers emerging as Daemon ordered them to begin the preparations.

  Reta offered him a smile through it all. "Bakayarou. You should have taken his offer."

  "And tell them where to find them? I couldn't even if I wanted to."

  "I know, aho. But they don't, you could have fooled them and bought us all some time. Now here we are, being led to our undoing."

  Felix chuckled, the pair keeping their eyes locked together. It helped them ignore the surrounding noise of impending doom. "I guess I really am an idiot."

  "Yes, but you're my idiot." She teased, looking to their right. Her expression dropped to one of sadness and regret as the two rge doors started to open. "How did we get to this?"

  "If I recall, you tried to cim me when I was already taken."

  "Yes, and against my better judgement I stayed."

  "I thought I chose to let you stay? No wait... it was KuliKuli who argued to let you stay."

  "Pfft, that stupid brat. I wish she were here now so I could curse her and her stupid face."

  The two held each other in a moment of silence, feeling their cage lifted up over the shoulders of the four soldiers.

  "Look at that, we have our own carriage after all." Reta snickered, leaning in close to whisper into his ear. "Do you remember your training?"

  He gave her a questioning look, her gre briefly reminding him of her teachings of Genki. "I do, but it's hard to concentrate on that now. I can't make it work-"

  "Just close your eyes and block out the noise."

  "Easy for you to say." He joked back with a nervous chuckle. "We're being led to our execution. All I'm hearing is noise."

  "Please, Felix." She pulled back as they were led outside into a courtyard to the sound of a rge audience waiting for them. "You need to focus on this if you want to escape."

  Felix paused, startled by seeing her hesitate and show a glimpse of fear. "I'll try my best-"

  "Don't try, just... do."

  "Hey, I'll do it." He tried to smile, calming her down as the two pressed their foreheads together. "I'll do it then, okay?"

  "Thank you." She whispered with relief.

  "Hey, did what he say was true? About you being a water elemental? How come you never told me?"

  Reta hesitated and turned away, groaning and looking annoyed. "You never asked."

  "Don't be like that, you taught us about Genki but you neglected to mention using water magic."

  "It's ridiculous, I don't want to say."

  "You can trust me."

  "Felix-"

  "Hey, I promise not to tell a soul."

  She sighed and gnced around, finding themselves pced down at the center as the guards retreated back. "It's so stupid, promise me you won't ugh."

  "Why would I-"

  "Promise me, baka!"

  "Okay! Okay! I promise, now tell me what is it?" He wondered, looking into his friend as his curiosity doubled over her reluctance to share.

  Reta sighed and looked at him with a blush across her face. "I blow bubbles."

  "You what?"

  "I blow bubbles. I blow bubbles and I can control them. I can expand them or make them pop."

  Felix held her look with a bnk stare, his lips quivering as he stretched his neck forward and kept his jaw shut tight. It took a moment for Reta to realize what was happening.

  "Felix," She growled.

  "I-I'm not ughing." He snorted.

  "I swear to fuck, I will have your head hung up as my trophy if we get out of here." She hissed, looking away to hide her embarrassment.

  Felix sucked in his lips and breathed in, his heart beating from the stress of the situation they were in. With one st moment, he leaned in and kissed her lips with a gentle peck.

  "Thank you." He whispered to her with a nod and a smile. sitting up with his back leaning against the cell bars.

  But she didn't smile back. Reta bowed her head in silence with him, the pair keeping still as a loud voice bellowed for the people to calm down.

  The execution was about to begin.