The Honorable Baron

The night was brisk and not a cloud in sight. She walked in a straight line until she finally stumbled upon the aristocrat's home that was targeted by the Honorable Baron's calling card earlier that day. She could see plenty of Statesmen running around and maintaining the grounds in pairs and threes. She could also see Jon talking with an older geezer with graying white hair and lion decorations all over his tan uniform.

She remained in the dark shadows, straining her eyes to see the whole scale operation. This Baron person must have caught quite a deal of people's interest to require this many people. Further, this person was still an unknown assailant.

Had she known any better, this Baron was asking to be caught. Wanting to find a better vantage point, she moved an inch and stepped on a branch.

"Who's there!?"

Nyla clutched her hands to her mouth as she tried to steel her breathing. The boots she had caught a stray branch and cracked loudly for the guards to hear. It wasn't long before she was uncovered and pulled out from the shrubbery.

"Owwww, let me go! I know Jonathon, I say. Let me go!" Nyla complained and was welcomed by both the older geezer in tan as well as the one who she claimed she knew.

"Nyla." Jonathon sighed heavily as if he half expected her to ignore him. "Let her go, I do know her." He waved off the guards as Nyla stuck her tongue out to them. The older man looked between his Commodore and the young girl.

"Reminds me of my niece." He chuckled and raised his hand to touch his chin.

"She didn't become rash until she joined the Phoenix, you know that sir." Jonathon sighed and looked down to Nyla. "Nyla, this is Fleet Admiral Gerald Rothschild. Sir, this is the girl who accepted the guild requests for help."

The man looked at her with great interest and then back to Jonathon. "I'm surprised you let a child from the guilds accompany you, but that is also like you as well."

Jonathon sighed as if troubled by everything. "You could have just given this task over to the Phoenix. I'm sure their crew could have handled this no problem."

Gerald shook his head. "No, they have other matters to attend to."

Jonathon smirked. "The legend of The Relic?"

Nyla peered between the two men lost in their conversation.

"That's Confidentiality of the State to know."

"FIRE!" Some guards screamed near the estate drew all of their attention to the commotion. "A bomb just went off, the Baron is here!" Another guard shouted and both Gerald and Jonathon jumped into command.

Nyla watched in awe as they controlled the situation. Jonathon took three to four men and they ran into the Estate. She was left by herself as the Fleet Admiral went to front the main defense forward to contain the fires.

Not wanting to be left alone, she went after Jon's group to the source of the problem. Many of the guards didn't care for her presence as they contained the situation.

"A guard triggered some type of trap." Nyla paused, 'trap?'

Some more guards ran by yelling about how they needed to watch out for any more fishing line traps.

"Wait--" Nyla blinked, but she couldn't believe it.

Another explosion went off where Jonathon's group had gone into. Nyla sprinted past the guards, ignoring their calls after her as she went toward the chaos. The four men that accompanied Jon had been found smoldering or shot--and standing at the front was none other than Jon.

"Jon?" She could see his back tense up upon her call, and she watched in dismay as he slowly turned to her. His gun's barrel was still smoking from the last shots he fired.

"I knew that I should have left you in Na Luna--I didn't think I'd feel ashamed being a double agent more than this." With the fires blazing around him, he looked exhausted and downtrodden. Almost as if he had received a scolding from his favorite teacher. "I think I knew why Gerald gave me this mission to find the Baron--because he knew it was me. What I wasn't expecting was him going to the Guild's to request help. I had to kill the quest informant and steal his uniform to stop whoever accepted the quests. Luckily I had been able to hold off those interested for a few weeks but then I saw you." He shook his head at the memory. "You were dressed in such tattered clothes, I'd seen you around the area before sitting on the streets begging for food. You struggled to get paid so you could afford your freedom and I thought: this, this is it."

Nyla was stunned in silence.

"So I waited--I knew the Callboard was empty because I had gone in prior to rip off the present quests you'd be interested in. I gave the barkeep money so that he would keep you in the dark and inform you that I would be at the church crossing."

"Then you came. I thought maybe I could save you from your pain by letting you journey to find me, only never to find me. You'd have been well taken care of--we could have traveled searching for a man that did and did not exist."

The young girl opened her mouth in shock, but could not utter a single statement.

"But I knew you were curious, and it was only a matter of time before you'd figure it out. Gerald's already figured it out, that was why he was keeping his eyes on me." He smiled sadly and raised his gun up so that it leveled to her chest. "Don't blame me too much, okay Nyla?"

Nyla's eyes started to involuntarily tear up as she thought she was going to die. The loud snap of the recoil echoed in the air and she shut her eyes closed. She waited for the pain to come--and it never did. She opened her eyes hesitantly to find Jon lying down on the ground, his arms and legs stretched out.

"Jon.... Jon?!"

Nyla ran over to his body and found his chest slightly rising and falling before stopping entirely. There was a bullet wound in his chest cavity, right where his lungs were. She knew it was a fatal shot.

She heard the footsteps approaching from behind, and she looked over her shoulder to see a raven haired male with crimson red eyes. "Are you alright?"

Nyla blinked, and the clouds that once threatened to rain began to pour down. It was like the same day she first met him.

She cried. She didn't know if he had actually meant to shoot her or not but she didn't know what to feel. There was no relief, no joy. There was no point to this quest she accepted. Any opportunity of happiness she felt before was washed away like the pouring rain upon her head.

Nyla felt a hand come to pat her on the head, she didn't need to look to see his scars all over his hand or the way he stared down at the Baron with a strange look.

"Is the girl alright?" Another girl, an auburn dressed in cute black shorts, white ruffled blouse, and corset came running over with concern. When she finally reached them, she knelt down and lifted Nyla's chin to see her face. "Are you alright?"

Themale had moved away, he probably wasn't good at comforting any more than that.Nyla looked to the auburn with hazel eyes with quivering lips. "He--savedme. How can I be okay?" Andshe cried, she must have cried in that girl's arms for the whole night.