Familia

Found

Hey, everyone, Zap here. Hope you all like this one-shot. I'm thinking of making it into a story, so let me know what you think.

Anyway, enjoy the story. Zap, out!

"Mommy, I'm scared," a young girl, who can be no older than ten with white hair and green eyes, mumbles.

"Shh, everything will be okay, a stór," a young woman - certainly not the biological mother as she appears far too young, looking to be in her mid-twenties - says softly, holding the child close with one arm. Her hair is long and red and her eyes are a fierce purple.

The two are huddled behind a stack of wooden crates, deep within one of the many alleyways that crisscross the city of Orario. It is night, and the near-full moon shines down from overhead.

Voices and footsteps echo down the streets, slowly growing closer. The child whimpers and the woman tightens her hold protectively. In her free hand, the woman holds a staff made of birch wood with elaborate patterns of runes carved into it.

"Which way did they go?" a man shouts from down the street.

"Let's check down here!" a second man suggests, and the footsteps grow nearer.

The sound of someone walking through a puddle is heard at the end of the alleyway. The sound of two more people walking through the puddle is heard.

"So, uh, who's going down first?" one asks.

"You are, idiot," a woman snaps.

There's some harsh whispering before a set of footsteps begins walking down the alleyway, followed by the other two. The "mother" tightens her grip on her staff.

As the lead pursuer nears the crate the pair are hiding behind, his foot knocks against it, and the little girl stifles another whimper. The footsteps pause.

"Alright, come on out," the man orders, "If you come peacefully, we might just not hurt you."

He receives no response, the little girl having clamped a hand over her mouth and hidden within the crook of her "mother's" arm.

"I said..." a hand clamps down on the edge of the crate, there is a ring on its finger with the symbol of the Hecate Familia; a stropholos over a crossed key and dagger, "Come on out!"

The crate is violently thrown down the alleyway, exposing the hiding pair. The "mother" moves quickly, avoiding the man's dagger and carrying the little girl away from the man. After enough distance has been made, she sets the girl down and turns to face their pursuers, putting herself between the girl and the Adventurers.

The man scoffs at the display of defiance, "Give up, Vox. Even if you are a Level 3, there's no way you can beat us without a Falna. You can still walk away from this, just give up the girl."

The man's two companions, all wearing the same leather armor and dark clothing, join him in facing down the child's "mother". The woman brandishes two daggers, while the other man carries a longsword. If her memory is right, the "mother" identifies the three as the human man with the dagger being Marcus, the other human man being Ron, and the elven woman being Flora.

"And let you continue your sick ritual? Go to Hel!" Vox Amethyst snarls, her nine tails unfurling from where they'd been hidden under her coat, "You want her? You'll have to kill me first."

"Have it your way," Marcus says.

The three members of Hecate Familia rush Vox and she charges to meet them, "Ǥɇƀø!"

A white spear tip blazes into existence at the end of Vox's staff, Solace Dawn. She brings it forward, deflecting Flora's daggers. Vox retaliates with a kick, striking the other woman's abdomen and knocking her into a wall.