My thief (Dragon quest 11 Erik x Kayla)

the Manglegrove & Memory

The three of them set off through downtown Heliodor. They came out of the hills near the small church where they ended up after jumping off that cliff only a couple days ago. They looked up towards where they had first entered Downtown Heliodor only to see it was swarming with guards.

"Any sign of them?" One asked.

"No, nothing. Let's search the town again," Another answered. The others nodded and walked back into the cave entrance to downtown. Erik turned back to the group,

"Look at all those lights. They're pretty keen to find us, huh. We'd better steer clear of Heliodor until the heat dies down," he said watching the cave in case any guards came back.

"I'm apparently a criminal now, so I don't see why I would go back," Light said laughing.

"Alright-through the Manglegrove and on to Cobblestone. Let's do this!" Erik said smiling.

Kayla set off running ahead of them.

"Come on slowpokes!" She shouted over her shoulder. "At this pace you might make it to the Manglegrove by next year!"

"Be careful sis," Light called after her. "The monsters get a lot tougher at night,"

"Hey! Who's the older sibling here?" She asked pausing.

"You are," He answered, "Though you don't act like it," he added under his breath.

"What. Did. You. Say?" She asked turning around slowly to face him.

'Oh god. Not sibling rivalry,' Erik thought watching them chase each other in circles ahead of him.

"Hey you two, come on," he said, trying to get their attention. Kayla blushed with embarrassment and kept running. And that was how most of the journey went, Kayla running ahead taking out most of the monsters that crossed their path. Erik and Light talked and sometimes tried to talk to Kayla but she didn't seem that interested in talking. So mostly they walked in silence. Eventually after a couple hours of walking they made it to the Manglegrove but the monsters there got a lot tougher. They tried to avoid what they could but obviously still got into some fights. they kept walking until they saw a campsite and a cabin.

"Come on! Let's rest here for a bit," Erik suggested. Light nodded but Kayla shook her head,

"We should keep going," She said gesturing towards the path.

"We'll continue in the morning but we should take a break," light said walking over to the angel statue to pray. Later that night they made a campfire and sat in silence until Erik said,

"I still can't get over old Derk. He didn't just go straight...married, shop in the best part of town... he went straighter than straight. Just like that... We used to be thick as thieves- literally. We'd travel the world, always on the hunt for loot. Ahh those were the days," He said

"If you were traveling the world, how come I've never run into you?" Kayla asked from the shadows.

"Probably traveling at different times. Anyways, Erdrea's a large world," Erik replied

"That it is. I'm gonna take a look around," She said noticing they were no longer paying attention to her, too busy learning about the fun-sized forge.

She got up and stretched before looking around. She saw a cabin a few feet away and decided to explore it. the door swung open with a creak. there was nothing there which was odd but there was no sign of a struggle. She closed the door and walked around to the back of the cabin. There was nothing but she noticed a path leading to a clearing. She walked down the path and came to a small glowing plant.

"Hey guys! You may want to come check this out," She called and the two boys came running over.

"Hey Light, the mark on your hand is glowing. What's that about?" Erik asked.

"I don't know," He said slowly. "But I feel like I should touch the plant,"

"Do it. Do it. Do it," Kayla and Erik chanted as Light slowly reached out towards the plant. Just as his hand made contact with one of the leaves there was a blinding flash of white light.

"Chop chop chop. Around the clock," A man sung happily. "One two three, look out trees. Oh a woodcutters life is the life for me," A paunchy old man walked happily swing his arms then suddenly stopped.

"What in the world?!" He exclaimed jumping back as he had been about to step off the cliff. The bridge that was there was now broken and smashed.

"I repaired that bridge yesterday, and now some blighters gone and destroyed it again. If I ever find out who did this I swear I'll-" But he stopped short, mid-sentence. A small blue creature floated up from under the cliff. He spoke with a high nasally voice.

"Ta-daaa! You called? Trick devil, at your service! Kya... Kya ha ha ha hoo!" He floated down and landed in front of the woodcutter with a thump. " I went to a lot of trouble to smash up this stupid bridge! I'm not about to let you fix it again! Here! Get a load of my devilishly tricky shape-shifting beam! Kya hahahahahaaa!" He waved his finger in the air then pointed it at the woodcutter. A jet of bright pinkish red light shot at the woodcutter, who screamed. A moment later there was a dog standing exactly where the man had been. The dog barked and the tricky devil laughed.

"Koo hoo! Now that's what I call tricky! One minute you're a silly old woodcutter, the next minute you're a smelly old dog! I'm a devilish genius! Now, what mischief shall I get up to next? So much trouble to cause, so little time! Kya ha ha! Kya haaa ha! Bye doggy. Stay!" He said hopping off down the road. He hopped down the path and came to a treasure chest.

"An empty treasure chest? I think I've just hit upon my most devilish trick yet!"

There was another flash of light and they were back where they had been standing.

"What the heck just happened?!" Erik exclaimed "You...touched that plant, and then... I saw all this crazy stuff," He said as the dog, the same one from the visions, let out a low whine. Erik looked down at it.

"You really expect me to believe that this mutt here is actually the woodcutter? Heh. There's never a dull moment with you two around. I'm gladder every day I broke you out of jail. Well all I know for sure is that we're never going to get out of the forest until we get that bridge fixed," Erik smiled. Kayla sighed,

"I'm not sure if I believe any of this. I mean, I've seen some pretty weird stuff traveling the world but this is just too much,"

"Well if what we just saw is true, Rover here is the only one who can fix it. Why don't we have a word with our mischievous friend?" Erik said.

"Yeah," Light nodded in agreement. Kayla leaned down and patted the dog on the head.

"Don't worry, you'll be human again soon," She whispered then stood up and they went off to find the treasure chest.