Painted Wings (A Fallacy x Encre book)

Chapter 4

     Back in the Village

Azure's PoV:

     It's been a week since Encre disappeared. Some people says he's dead, some people says he just left. I believed neither. I just think that he left to paint another painting for a person in another place, far away.  Anyway, I was walking to sir Rufous to see if he finished my sword. I walked in to see him with dirt and coals all over his face.
"Hello Sir Rufus," I say as I walk over to him.
"H-hey A-Azure." He seemed a little 'nervous'. Well he is always nervous when I'm around him. "Do you have my sword?" I asked him nicely.
"Ah, yes here it is all brand new." He hands it to me and I put it in my scabbard. "Ya know, you have to stop breaking that sword of yours" he says to me while cleaning up some stuff around the shop.
"Well then I don't have an excuse to come see you then, do I?" I watch as Rufous face turns red. I giggle a bit. He looks cute when he blushes. I talk to Rufous for a bit then I leave to do my guard duties. I walk down to the tinker shop in town. All the way down near the entrance to the forbidden forest. I wanted to find someone who at least saw Encre leave, and the only two people who could have saw he was Stitch or Tim. When I got close enough I saw a girl with werewolf ears and a tail. "Hello Stitch," I say to her she looks at me shocked but sighs in relief when she fines out its only me. "Bonjour, Azure," she says.
"Where is Time I need to talk to both of you. And he's the only one who can translate what your saying to me," she nods and points inside. I walk inside the shop to see Tim working on a machine. "Hello Tim," he looks up to me and gets up. "Hey Azure do you need anything?" He asks.
"Actually I do, from you and Stitch." He looks at me scared for a bit but goes out and brings in Stitch and we sit down to talk. "You think I'm going to take her away aren't you" Tim nods. Mostly since Stitch is a werewolf people are always afraid that she'll hurt them. Though she could never hurt a bug. He just doesn't want her to be taken away. "I'm here to ask you two if you've seen Encre leavening the village that's all. And if he said anything to you guys." Tim shakes his head and said he's seen nothing but Stitch on the other hand has saw him, and something else. 
"J'ai vu Encre quitter le village. Je n'ai pas pris la peine de lui parler parce qu'il avait ses trucs d'art, et je sais qu'il n'aime pas être dérangé quand il peint. Mais dans la forêt, je jure que j'ai vu deux personnes dans les arbres qui l'observaient."
"She says: I saw Encre leaving the village. I did not bother to talk to him because he had his art stuff, and I know he does not like being disturbed when he paints. But in the forest, I swear I saw two people in the trees watching him." Tim says.
"Two people? did you see what they looked like?" I asked. I wanted to know what they looked like incase I ever encountered them and to ask them if they've seen Encre.
"on avait l'air d'un squelette, je ne pouvais pas distinguer beaucoup de détails à cause des arbres. Mais l'autre était une fille à la peau foncée."
"She said: One looked like a skeleton, I could not distinguish many details because of the trees. But the other one was a dark-skinned girl."  Tim translated again.
"Is that all?" I asked just to make sure. She nodded. I talked to them a bit more then left. I was going to ask some of the townsfolk if they ever seen an dark-skinned girl. I ended up at doctor Lofy to ask her if she's  seen anyone like that. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. "W-who is it?" I hear a voice from behind the door.
"It's me, Azure. I've come to ask you about something," I say.
"O-oh, come in then," and she opens the door. I sit down at the table and I wait till she sits down then I began to speak. "I'm asking around town if anyone seen a dark-skinned girl around town." I say to her. "I think she might know where we can find him," She looks down. Probably thinking about what to say. "R-right before Encre disappeared he came to me and told me that a girl, that had dark skin, asked him to paint a picture for her in the dark forest." She says.
"She must have lured him into the forest!" I say excitedly happy that I found more clues. "But that still doesn't explain the skeleton with the girl in the trees" I say confused.
"O-oh the girl didn't ask him herself, she had a skeleton butler with her that asked him." Dr. Lofy says. Then it clicked. The girl and her butler lured Encre into the forest by having him paint a picture for them. But yet more questions are asked. Why did want Encre to go into the forest? And why did they chose Encre? There are many other painters around this area. Not just him.
     I talked with Dr. Lofy a bit more to see if she knew anything else the I left to tell Eterna. I wandered throught the town looking for her when I spotted her. "Eterna! Eterna!" I ran to her yelling.
"Ugh, what do you want" she scoffs at me. I didn't mind it.
"I found some major clues about Encre's disaperance," I tell her. She doesn't looked intrested but lets me speak anyway. "I first when to Tim and Stitch. Stitch told me that she saw two people in the trees watching Encre right before he left into the forest," I say.
"Wait if she saw him why didn't she stop him?"
"He had his art supplies and you know him when he's going to paint," I remind her.
"Oh yeah, continute," she says more intrigued.
"One was a skeleton, though she couldnt make out many details becuase of the trees. But the other one was a dark-skinned girl. I asked around town if anyone seen a dark-skinned girl. That's when I got to Dr. Lofy" I told Eterna the rest of the info I had. She agreed with me that the two people probably had a role in his disappearance. Eterna told me she would speak to the king to send out a search party just encase he's alive.
     I went on with my day doing my guard duities until my shift was over. One question lingered in my head the whole day.

Was Encre even still Alive?

(1187 words. Yay.)