The Tail of the Twin Dragons

36

As the morning of the new day breached the horizon, anxiety levels had never been higher. Wendy and Romeo had never reported in so no one knew what had happened or if they were alright

"Has anyone heard from Wendy or Romeo!?" Charle demanded frantically over telekinesis. She sat in her cat form, standing on a building as she looked over the city, scanning for any sign of the blue-haired girl.

"No!" Sherria answered back. The pink-haired God Slayer stood amongst a crowd making her way towards the arena, eager to get a seat close to the front so that she could jump in when Sting and Rogue were executed in the gamed.

"What do we do!?" the frantic voice of Lector demanded. He was panicking as he stood with the rest of the Sabertooth members atop a building, facing the tall castle of the dragon king.

"Continue with the plan, Wendy and Romeo were important but we can do this... whatever happened to them, we just have to hope that it doesn't change too much about the plan," Minerva instructed carefully through the mental link, looking down at Frosch who was trying not to cry in concern at her feet.

"Sting-kun and Rogue are in danger! We've gotta get em' outta there!" Lector cried.

"We will, buddy, don't worry," Orga assured the frantic cat.

"If I recall the plan correctly, Wendy and Romeo were only to make a simple distraction, correct?" Rufus asked, pulling his hat down to hide his eyes.

"Yeah?" Dobengal questioned, looking to the man.

"If something has happened to them... then I can suffice as a distraction," Rufus offered darkly.

"What do you mean?" Minerva asked warily.

"I mean... I can draw the king's guards away... I'll just need a bit of time, and perhaps someone to help," Rufus explained. 

"If you need someone fast, I'm your man," Dobengal nodded.

"Alright," Minerva relented, "Then go... and be careful."

"We shall be, Milady," Dobengal agreed.

"If I recall, Master Sting said something about 'kicking our asses' if we even dared to die," Rufus chuckled.

"Yeah, that sound like him," Orga nodded.

With that, Rufus and Dobengal took off over the rooftops, heading for the castle, mischief and mayhem ahead of them.

Minerva bit her lip and sighed, so far, this had gone terribly wrong. The rest of the day didn't bode well for her.

Sting leaned back in his cell and banged the back of his head against a wall a few times.

"Don't do that, you'll kill your brain cells," Rogue scolded from the cell across the way where the shadow dragon slayer sat.

"Good to know," Sting sighed, continuing to do it. Rogue shook his head in exasperation.

They were locked in high-security cells, cells built for those who would participate in the "games" of the arena. The air was dry and dusty and the two dragon slayers were hungry and thirsty. The morning light shimmering through the small window at the end of the hallway between their cells didn't bode well either. It was the day of their execution and their doubts were growing.

"Rogue," Sting murmured after a few minutes.

"Yes?" Rogue asked.

"What's the likelihood we survive this?" Sting asked.

"I'm not sure," Rogue answered truthfully. "But... we have more comrades then we've ever had so... we're not completely hopeless."

"Acnologia didn't even flinch when he learned they were coming," Sting moaned.