Reim Empire

[Bloodedge]

When the man apparently called Dio looked into the tunnel, he saw nothing but emptiness. This path was obviously aged, leaving him to deduce that it had been around since this room was in use. Perhaps this was connected to the princess' alleged kidnapping all those years ago. Nevertheless, with nothing more to worry about, he rose and moved toward the room's exit again. "Deal with this. I'll bring these two to the king," he said.

Meanwhile, Fudo and Yasmin would be returning to the villa in which this group was meant to stay. The magic circle which guided them was attached to luggage which had been brought into a small building's bedroom. Having a look around, Fudo gathered that they had returned to the right location. "Missing a touch of home, but still good. I wonder if the others are back yet."

[Apollymi]

Nasira didn't at all like the idea of meeting this supposed King. But there were worse things to deal with in life and they were likely to be alive for a while if a forced meeting with a king was a thing that was going to happen. As such she resigned herself to this fate while trying to think of a way to escape.

It seemed that Yasmin and Fudo had arrived back. Now standing in one of the small bedrooms Yasmin was carrying a large bundle of clothing and jewelry taken from Sindria and sitting it on a bed not that she knew this room to be hers but simply to put it down after carrying it for so long. "Yeah, I can definitely see you saying something like that considering..." she mentioned of his homely comment. Moving right along she stuck her head out of the bedroom door and called out to anyone who could be present. "Baki! Nasira! Shadi! Malik!" she shouted wondering if any of them would pop their heads in, but on the part of the females of this group at least there was nothing.

Meanwhile, a young man with red hair dressed in all black clothing was approaching the residence. He would soon be found within the very same bedroom that both the present individuals were standing in, though in a corner. It would be very easy to miss him, what with Fudo and Yasmin both in the room. But he'd make it a point to clear his throat after a few seconds and hope he wouldn't scare both of these people today. He also had reasonably high expectations for them taking the news he was about to present them. "Ahem..."

[Bloodedge]

It would seem the friends of these two were nowhere in sight or earshot as Yasmin called out to them, to no avail. However, there was one particular lad in range, and he made his presence known with a simple clearing of his throat. This put Fudo on high alert, as it were, prompting him to drop all but his Metal Vessel, which he pointed in the red-haired lad's direction. Never before had he seen this individual. "Are you Yambala?" he asked, thinking that the first action to come to mind could be a simple misunderstanding of this boy's identity. However, he had to be absolutely certain either way.

[Apollymi]

Yasmin looked startled at this young boy's presence and immediately backed away from him also on very high alert. She was also just stunned that someone was in the same room with them, but she hadn't noticed the boy's presence since they arrived until he cleared his throat. "Apologies. I didn't mean to scare you both, in fact I was trying very hard not to." he said only to go on with what he had to say lest he be put in a very awkward situation very soon after this. "I am not with the Yambala, I am a traveller here as well. Your friends, the white haired boy Bakura and the dark haired girl Nasira... they were captured a little while ago. And I will take you to them and help you retrieve them. Though you should know this will probably spark a war in this area if you storm in and get them out." he mentioned. All very cut and dry the entire time his pulse didn't shift and he didn't even seem wary of the weapon pointed his way.

"Baki and Nasira were captured?" Yasmin questioned. This was all very suspicious and could likely be a trap of some sort, not that she had any idea why anyone would want to try and trap them.

[Bloodedge]

In spite of the initial shock, Fudo felt no ill-will from the lad before him. More importantly, he introduced himself as a traveler, and confirmed that he had no attachment to the Yambala Gladiators in a most straightforward and honest fashion. "Right... sorry," Fudo said while sheathing his sword. He then went on to listen to what this boy had to say, which was a rather disturbing bit of information. Though the boy never said who captured their friends, he did speak of a possible war as a result of their rescue. This left only two options for their captors. Process of elimination narrowed this to a singular choice. "No..." he said upon realizing this. "They couldn't have gone there when they left."

[Apollymi]

Yasmin heard what this boy had to say and didn't even need the process of elimination to know where they'd been captured. In fact, she was more than willing to bet that they'd gone to the palace. This boy watched the movements of both of these people's faces and was apparently neutral about the information that he'd just given. "If by there you mean the palace. Then the answer is yes... that is exactly where they are right now." he said looking to the girl this young boy studied her face and in a second he knew that she was not surprised by this information. "You're not surprised by this..." he commented at her face which just caused Yasmin to shrug. She wasn't told anything in advance but she had a feeling that if they could get captured anywhere it would be there.

"The method they used to sneak in, was a small tunnel through the eastern wall into a playroom. It is without a doubt being sealed as we speak... not that it would matter, I doubt the pair of you would properly fit in there." he said looking at them. "So... how would you like to do this?" he asked of them needing to know what the preferences were for his apparent partners in this particular situation. And making the assumption that they would go along without too much fuss.

[Bloodedge]

Yasmin was not surprised to learn where their friends had been incarcerated. Of course, Bakura was the one leading this journey, and Fudo understood that she knew him better than anyone else would. It seemed she accepted this as something he would simply do. That being the case, Fudo could think of only one way to respond to the boy's final query. "What kind of question is that? We're going right through the front door, and we're taking our friends back," he said. Ever the rational individual, Fudo abandoned his 'think it through' persona for few reasons. The endangerment of his singular companion since early childhood was, without a shadow of a doubt, one such reason, and the dark haze over his eyes went to show that he was fully resolute in this plan.

[Apollymi]

This boy looked at the resolution on the face of Fudo. He was sort of surprised by it, as he expected this one to be a bit more rational than his friend had shown herself to be. As he turned to Yasmin who'd been the most reasonable person he'd met so far she also seemed very resolute about storming in the front door with him. "I'm with you." she'd said to Fudo as she was also not really pleased about her friend from childhood being captured. After a few seconds of staring at this group of people this completely composed boy sighed. "All of you are like this. Bakura pushes Nasira into the hiding space... Nasira jumps out of said hiding place to try and save him... they both get captured... and both of you... want to storm the palace regardless of the potential outcomes to get them back. Is this what friendship is?" he asked, seeming to be genuinely curious about it on the whole. Of course, he had his own reasons for helping out this little group, none of which he really intended to share at this moment.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course," Fudo replied immediately. Without further ado, he turned and began to walk out of the building, looking back only to continue sharing words with the red-haired lad. "I wouldn't expect an assassin to understand. I also don't know why you're here, why you were with them, or why you chose to tell us these things. But, if you're helping us do this... you're an ally for now. Allow me to extend my thanks while I retain the decency to do so." There was no more to be said by the prince of Sindria. He appreciated the information shared by this individual, but after working out what kind of person this one was, he found a certain level of distrust attached to his being. But, that was cast aside for the moment. Onward he went to the royal palace of the Reim Empire.

[Apollymi]

The apathetic teen returned his gaze to Fudo as the boy spoke fingering him as an assassin and beyond this extending his thanks for the information provided to him. If the teen was capable of feeling normal emotions he might have been shocked, but nothing even remotely resembling normal emotion came across the boy's face instead he blinked only once. "There is no need to thank me. And I mean no harm to your nor any of your friends. If there had been fewer guards... I wouldn't have come here to tell you this." the boy said, as if to state if there had only been the one guard within the room, their friends would have returned here this day instead of himself. With this in mind he took off with them.

Yasmin was also off, running through the streets with the pair of young men, apparently not attracting much attention while taking a fairly easy course through the streets. "I know you said you meant us no harm... but why were you with them? Baki wouldn't have welcomed you along for something like this." mentioned Yasmin as she ran through these streets as if she knew them. This was a bit odd to the red haired lad, who'd intended to lead under the assumption that none of them would know where to go. When Yasmin ended up in front of him however and leading them through less crowded streets and alley ways he remembered the conversation he'd been privy to earlier. 'It seems she has some memory of this place. If one had to question that she was the Princess none would know it given how well she navigates the streets.' the boy thought. As a word of caution he spoke to the pair of them in the same toneless way he'd been speaking the entire time. "I can't answer your question. I don't know how you plan to get in, but you will lose sight of me. " he said, he knew that people in the street weren't seeing him now as these two had a presence much greater than his own... he was practically invisible as the crowds moved to let this pair of dungeon capturers through. And soon enough they'd be back before the eastern wall, staring up at it, and having been lead here by Yasmin as the red haired boy had taken to running alongside Fudo as he seemed to be the most wary of his presence and thus the one the boy didn't want to accidentally lose sight of him.

[Bloodedge]

Fudo was no longer concerned with why this boy was with Bakura and Nasira. In fact, his only concern was their whereabouts and well being at this point. As they drew closer to the palace, Fudo set his eyes upon it, and the red-haired boy gave a warning that he would be lost to their sight after entering the palace. "That's funny," he said in response while continuing past the eastern wall, truly taking a path to the front gates. "I lost sight of you a long time ago." True enough, Fudo had developed a one-track mind over the course of their journey to the palace. In approaching the gates, he was held up by the front guards, who were now disallowing the entry of anyone bar the previously discussed 'representative' after receiving word of an intrusion. "Spirit of Politeness and Austerity, come forth. Amon!" In drawing his sword, Fudo called forth Amon's flames, as well as his Djinn Weapon Equip. The fires produced by this act were enough to clear a path between the guards, and give him room to cut his way through the entrance with Amon's sword. This, of course, alerted other guards from within the palace of another intrusion, prompting many to swarm the front gate.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that straight through the front door had been literal, as Fudo headed around front and cleared the entrance with the awaking of Amon and his own Weapon Equip. Yasmin followed suit, though she hadn't gotten an answer to her question, she could accept that assassin's weren't meant to be seen, and take the young man at his word that no harm would come to them from him. After Fudo cleared the first wave with fire Yasmin's own weapon equip was produced in the form of a long pole arm with a spiked feathered tip. As she approached a swift swing of her weapon produced a myriad of minor tornados which moved through flames and spread them about the front court yard much to the dismay of the guards in the area. All of this chaos was caused as Yasmin continued on her way forward intending simply to enter the palace without much thought of what she would do within.

While this happened... the red haired young man moved through the guards, unnoticed due to the grand entrance created at the front by the two dungeon capturers. The few he came across who were in reach but not interested in him, were killed swiftly with the rope darts attached to his hands. As he slipped into the castle he seemed content to follow the path Yasmin was creating. 'I intended to use these two as a distraction. But it seems they are capable enough on their own... I'll just figure out where the other two are.' he thought as he moved about. Inside the palace a dark haired woman with red eyes and draped in a large cloak stirred in the room she was in. She looked towards the door at things normally unseen by people. "Oh?"

[Bloodedge]

The encroaching guards were no concern of Fudo's. At this point, they were nothing more than a nuisance. He continued producing flames in large quantities to fend them off, with said flames spreading in all directions from his person. "You have two people captive here!" he called out to the inhabitants of the palace. "Bring them to us now!"

Meanwhile, in one of the palace's dungeon quarters, Bakura was chained to a wall. An interrogation took place where his inquirer sought information about some place called Artemyra, refusing to believe that these two had not come from such a location. "Dick... I keep tellin' ya, I don't know what that place is!" Bakura said while blood dripped from his mouth. This prompted the interrogator to move on to the next torture item: A wooden bat with barbed wire wrapped around it. The man performed a few test swings with this item, before ultimately approaching Bakura to repeat his question one final time.

[Apollymi]

Yasmin stopped at the front waiting in fact. Since Fudo had called out she wanted to see if his demands would be met. Instead of guards or someone else coming out to negotiate the trade of their friends. She was still simply brushing aside any unnecessary people on her way in.

Meanwhile the woman dressed in black headed towards the outside speaking to a man as she did. "Sorio, it seems you haven't done your job properly... I hate to get involved with such things, but I can't let someone like this slip away~" the woman mentioned her voice chiming as she began to move towards the entrance of the palace. She'd walk down the hall towards the commotion and as she did a little redhead boy slipped past her. He was completely outside of her line of vision as he headed towards what he assumed to be a dungeon which is where he figured the pair of youngsters was being kept and he arrived inside of the torture chamber in time to see Bakura and Nasira both chained to a wall and the boy looking particularly beat up. Nasira had blank eyes as she moved against the wall. The small boy walked behind the torturer his footsteps light as he waited for what would be the proper moment to kill this individual. And he'd be unnoticed by most present, though if one looked around the man swinging the baseball bat, they'd see this unassuming young man, with a blank fierceness in his eyes as he decided the proper moment to kill the man and free the pair.

[Bloodedge]

"Haven't I? This is exactly what we need, my dear Magi," said the man atop the throne. He chose to simply stay behind as this woman went to meet this new set of intruders. Fudo was receiving no responses to his demand, yet the guards were all backing away from the pair of Dungeon Capturers.

Meanwhile, the interrogator reached Bakura, bat in hand. "Last chance, kid. No... I don't expect you to tell me shit. But you," he said, looking toward Nasira. "I heard you jumped in to save this brat. Tell me who sent you, and I won't bash your face in like this." With that said, he thought to use the white-haired lad as a threat. Looking the boy's way again, he pulled back the bat. 'I've got that weird feeling again...' Bakura thought. Remembering what happened the last time he had this feeling, a grin crossed his face. Before the man could swing his bat, Bakura spat blood in his face, making the man take pause. "Do it."