Empyrean Rebirth |Jing Yuan & Dan Heng|

☾-Anything to Get Her Back-☽

Five months ago...

Pacing back and forth anxiously in the back garden, L/n Jun ignored the pleas of his wife to go inside and have something to eat before resting. Eventually An left him alone to his thoughts which he was grateful for as he was growing restless as each day passed with no word of his daughter being sighted anywhere.

"Aeons please, please I beg of you to bring me my daughter back," Jun clasped his hands together and looked up to the sky. "Please... bring her back safely..." The older man closed his eyes while still facing the sky. He almost wanted to cry at the thought of anything bad happening to his one and only child.

While Jun was lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the presence of two figures creeping up on the poor man. Though they had no ill intent towards the internally weeping father, they did have a purpose for this visit.

"Well, what do we have here?" A woman with red wine hair tied messily in a ponytail nonchalantly spoke while curiously eyeing the surrounding garden. Her companion blew a pink bubble from her mouth which popped after being formed for a few seconds. Startled by a sudden unfamiliar voice, Jun's eyes shot open as he stumbled around to find his balance before his gaze was set upon the two intruders. His eyes widened when he immediately recognised who the two people invading his garden were.

"Y-y-you're on the IPC's most wanted list! W-w-what a-a-are you doing h-h-here? T-t-this is p-p-private property!" The older man pointed an accusing finger to the maroon haired lady and her silver haired companion. His fear was quite evident on his face and in his speech. Jun was just a simple nobleman! There was no reason to get involved with the IPC's most wanted criminals in the galaxy!

"Calm down old man, we're not going to hurt you," Kafka gave the man a lazy smirk as she took a few steps towards him, prompting the man to step back in sync.

"S-stay back! I d-don't want to h-have any a-a-association with the S-S-Stellaron Hunters! I-I'll pay you! W-whatever amount just... just leave me a-and my family a-alone!"

"We don't want anything from your family old geezer," Silver Wolf sighed and popped another gum stick in her mouth to chew on. "What could we possibly gain from threatening a nobody family like yours?"

"Easy Silver," said Kafka with a chuckle. "Like I said, we're not here to hurt you. In fact, we just wanted to... pay you a visit on behalf of our boss, Elio."

"V-visit? The Stellaron Hunters p-p-paying me a v-visit?!" Jun stuttered out. After the wined haired woman had backed him into a corner, he had nowhere to run and if he even dared call out for his wife or any of the servants, it could spell out unnecessary trouble for him to deal with. "I-I-I haven't d-done anything w-wrong! P-please j-just leave."

"Tch," Silver Wolf rolled her eyes and glared at her taller companion. "This has got to be a joke."

"I'll cut straight to the chase," Kafka mused. In a flash the woman had fished out a flyer from her coat pocket and shoved it right into Jun's face with no remorse. As Jun fumbled to grab the paper and remove it from his face, Kafka leaned back with an idle smile on her face as she watched the old man's reaction to the piece of paper.

"T-this..."

"Your missing daughter, correct? It's been what, a month since her disappearance? And yet here you are, still looking for her."

"S-so what? W-what's it to t-the Stellaron Hunters?"

"Hmm..." Kafka placed a finger over her lip in thought. Her emotionless eyes stared deep into Jun's soul as a way to instill more fear into the poor man. "You're not going to get anywhere at this rate. Might as well plan for your daughter's funeral."

His blood ran ice cold when he heard those words. Eyes widened in shock.

"Who knows?" She took a step forward and leaned in close. "She might be dead by now."

Horrific images of his daughter's cold dead body flashed through Jun's mind. Numerous possible scenarios of what could've happened to his dear child made him break as tears broke through and he let out a cry. Kafka's taunting words had pushed him over the edge and out of desperation, Jun flung himself to the ground on his knees, bowing down until his forehead touched the ground near the wine red haired woman's boots.

"I-I-I... P-please... help me..."

"Hm what's that? I can't hear you."

"H-help me," Jun said a bit louder. "P-please forgive my outburst e-earlier... Help me f-find my daughter..."

Silver Wolf outright laughed at the old man. Quite literally she looked down at Jun and narrowed her eyes, annoyed at an old geezer like him.

"And why should we help a boomer like you?" Kafka simply shook her head at the gamer girls' choice of words. As to be expected from someone like her.

"I... I offer to reward you with a generous a-amount of Strale a-and gold. I-In fact, a-as much as y-you want to t-take! Just p-please... please h-help me find my daughter..."

Kafka glanced over at Silver Wolf with a grin.

"We'll help you out for free, old man. But only this one time. Is that a deal?" Hearing the woman's words, Jun lifted his head and was met by her grinning face. Her pupil-less eyes stared down at him, awaiting a response. The old man clambered to his feet and bowed down multiple times as he kept saying that he accepted, over and over again along with many 'thank you's.'

"Ugh, can we get this meeting over with already?" Silver Wolf complained while looking at the non-existent watch on her wrist.

"Alright alright, stop with the whining. You're acting like a child in front of our new friend," scolded Kafka as she shook her head.

"Before you go," Jun lowered his voice. "I don't want my reputation to be tarnished amongst the other nobles. If word were to get out that I... I made a deal and was working with the Stellaron Hunters... Just... Please do not associate me with you to the public. I'm begging you..."

"Is begging all you're good for?" The snarky tone of the silver haired girl made the man wince at the disrespect the youngster was giving to an elder. Though he dared not speak up against it for fear of the deal being cut off.

"Don't worry about it old man," Kafka reassured him. "Our goal isn't to ruin your pathetic little life. We're simply following the script. C'mon, Silver. It's time to get to work." With a wave of her hand, Silver Wolf let out a loud sigh and trailed behind Kafka whilst pulling up a transparent screen from out of thin air and moving a few things around. Jun watched in awe as the younger girl put the screen away and the pair suddenly disappeared into multi-coloured pixels.

********

"So what's the plan, Kafka? I haven't got all day, I have an online tournament to catch."

"Well, we just have to follow Elio's script. Hunt her down with some guards brandished with the crests of her pitiful suitors," responded Kafka.

"Yeah... got it," Silver Wolf had pulled up her transparent screen again and was quickly typing away. After about a minute she glanced over it and nodded her head in satisfaction. "I've dispatched some fake hit men from her suitor's families. Since they're fake if they get hit they're going to die, just like enemies from a video game. Or I could use those Voidrangers I have stored and send them out instead to find her. Oh, and you're sure Elio's got the right coordinates?"

"The fake hit men will do, no need for the Antimatter Legion to get involved. And you should know by now Elio knows all; he has the script all down. All we have to do is follow it by giving her a scare, that's all. Make her feel as if she isn't safe no matter how hard she tries to run and hide. She'll eventually come crawling back."