GAH. It took me forever to write this chapter. All is well once more in Munchkinland, and the plot bunnies are again prospering. I apologize for the wait, I know that it was very taunting.

On with the story!

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Persistence
Chapter Seven

Ceana bit her lip impatiently and commenced with tying together two pieces of grass which she had torn from the ground. Her brow creased and her steel-aqua eyes glared more intensely at the two intertwining blades, as the knot connecting them pulled tighter and tighter. Trying to be gentle, she tugged once more to secure the knot completely, but both blades snapped cleanly in half.

Mumbling something incoherently venomous under her breath, she proceeded to tear up two new pieces of grass with more dedication than before. A few feet away, Sedecire gave her friend an annoyed glance.

“Ceana, you don’t realize how annoying that is.”

But Ceana was still fixedly fidgeting with her two newest blades of grass, unreservedly paying no attention to her party member what-so-ever. Sedecire replied with a whispered threat of “I’ll set the field on fire…”

“You’re not even a fire Mage, ‘Cere.” Derek laughed; Lula unsurprisingly giggled as she continued to give her boyfriend a backrub, but both went abruptly silent after seeing that Sedecire’s glare could unquestionably burn them to ash, along with the field.

“This is boooring.” Moaned Effie, who unlike Ceana had strung together so many blades of grass that the finial result of her work was twice the length of her small body, “Can’t Mush Mom just come right now?”

“Patience is the key, Effie.” Derek replied, a content smile on his face.

“Easy for you to have patience, you have your own physical therapist giving you a full-body rubdown!” Sedecire barked, swinging her heavy staff dangerously close to the bandit’s head.

There was a shuffling of leaves somewhere above them and all -but Ceana- shifted their eyes upwards to the trees to inspect, but no gigantic mass of green could be seen. The four party members who had actually been paying attention let out heavy sighs of deprivation.

“I’m leaving. This is just about as fun as killing snails…” Sedecire growled as she stood up and dusted off the back of her robes with her hand, and Effie followed suit.

“I only have a few more Ludibrium quests, and then maybe we can go check out Zakum, huh?” The enthusiastic young mage suggested.

“It’s not as fun as it sounds, Effie. People get seriously injured fighting Zakum, people higher levels than us.” Lula spoke, as if she had actually done a Zakum party quest before.

“Well, fine!” Said a beaten Effie, shaking her head, “Maybe we should go kill some snails. Sounds like Sedecire would really enjoy it.” And with that, the young mage marched away from the three remaining members of the Mush Mom party.

Derek mumbled something into Lula’s ear about dysfunctional parties and training, and they whispered quietly for a few more seconds before Derek asked aloud if Ceana would like to leave with them. When they received no other response than a grunt, they both smiled and waved their goodbyes, leaving the grounds.

Ceana, now seemingly in an irritated trance as two blades of grass again snapped between her fingers, heard nothing but silence for ten very slow seconds. Nothing until a clinking of metal resonated somewhere from the left, but she passed it off as another party coming to hunt.

She had almost perfectly tied together her grass when all at once her side was stinging with a sharp pain, and she was flying feet in the air.

She landed on two of her fingers with a horribly painful crunch, quickly dismissing the grass she had been knotting as she simultaneously flipped backward while letting loose two steelies from her pouch, and was satisfied when she heard the sound of metal against metal.

Once her eyes had stopped streaming with pain, she focused ahead and saw the metal pig charging her again, infuriated by her attack.

To add even more to her current state of shock, something shot at the pig from afar, causing it to explode many times with a loud boom that shook the ground, knocking her off balance.

“Oww, oww, oww…I can’t believe I forgot about the metal pigs…” Ceana grimaced as she rolled onto her side, trying to determine which part of her body hurt worse: the right side of her hip or her two crushed fingers. Quite frankly she didn’t even feel like checking.

‘Good, no blood,’ She analyzed as she looked to her side, seeing that her Umber Mantis armor had salvaged most of the damage. But her face contorted into a painful expression when she saw her left hand—one finger looked limp, while the other was bent into a very awkward direction, both obviously broken.

“You’re a rather careless assassin, you know,” Came familiar deep words from behind her. Despite protests from the lower side of Ceana’s body, she flung around to see whom the voice belonged to.

‘It’s not him, it’s not him,’ she breathed a deep sigh as she glanced at the unfamiliar boy with spiked flaming red hair, the tips dyed a bright blonde making it seem as if his hair was actually burning.

His dark eyes seemed to be scanning every inch of her, and she didn’t like it. He was dressed in normal clothing and held no weapon, so it couldn’t have been him who killed the iron pig…could it?

“What do you know about assassins? You obviously aren’t one.” She snapped in return. She had a strange urge to hurt this man, and she didn’t know why. She was concentrating more on her snapped fingers.

‘But he must have been the one who killed that iron pig for me…I should be thankful’ she tried to convince herself. But something about this guy and the twisted smile he was sporting made her wish that Sedecire would come back, and fast.

He was standing next to her now, and his mere presence made her want to flip out into multiple spasms. Who was he, and why was he acting so comfortable, and what the hell was with that smile?

Ceana shifted away and pretended to be examining her side again, which she really didn’t need to pretend. She had just noticed that a trickle of blood was seeping from her armor where the pig had struck. Lovely…

“I know enough.” He said like…she couldn’t explain it. Jerkishly. She couldn’t come up with a disgusting enough statement.

She was now suppressing the urge to haste herself and run like hell. This guy had a really odd feeling about him, and she didn’t want to get familiar with it any longer. Her apprehension must have shown on her face, because the man’s smile got wider. Gross.

“Ceana, Ceana!” A new voice arose from a not-so-far distance, coming closer. Not recognizing this one either, she turned her head again to see another boy—this one closer to her age—running forward with a big smile on his face, waving obnoxiously. His lengthy tangled red hair swung behind him, perfectly matching his Beige Linnex armor, bowman equipment swung over his shoulder. At first glance, anyone would mistake him for the perfect magazine model.

Ceana blinked with confusion, she had no idea who this person was either. What was going on?

“Ceana, darling! I have returned, aren’t you happy to see me, love?” Said Mr. Magazine-Pinup-looking-guy as he leaped forward and pulled Ceana into a tight hug. If she wasn’t in a state of total mental disarray, she would have punched him in the face.

Much to her gratitude, the appearance of model-boy had frightened off the man with the smile that could kill.

The Ranger released her from the hug, staring off into the direction in which the man disappeared. Or rather, gazing blankly at the spot where his feet had been. But he then forced his gaze towards Ceana’s hand.

“Good thing I was up in that tree, that dude was creepy.” He said as he took her injured hand in his, examining the two crushed fingers.

“That noise earlier was you?” Ceana realized as her brain finally began to function normally again. She had heard it, but didn’t feel the need to look up like the others had. He must have been the one who killed the iron pig as well, it all seemed to click now.

“Yea. pretty stealthy, huh?” He gave her a broad grin, clearly pleased with himself.

“Sure, but who are you, and why do people seem to be stalking me?” She raised her most important question.

“Hmm. I’m not really sure, truthfully speaking.” The ranger answered. Ceana accepted his excuse only because this guy looked genuinely stumped.

“…You don’t know your name?”

“Oh! I do know that. It’s Kenda.”

“But how did you know my name.” She glowered at him, but he was already assisting her in standing up, and decided to act as if that he did not hear her.

“At least let me escort you to the nearest infirmary, miss?” He beamed excitedly, not even letting her answer as he began to drag her forward with him.

“What…ever…” Ceana said drowsily, though she didn’t recall being tired. Her eyelids abruptly felt heavy, and her legs didn’t feel like moving another inch. Her brain was feeding her thoughts of peaceful slumber, and before she knew it, she had passed out.

Kenda smiled unconcernedly, lifting up her limp and resting body up over his shoulder.

“You do have a thing for fainting, you know, Ceana…”

And with that said he walked off into the direction of the town of Henesys, disappearing out of sight.

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Sedecire looked up at the sunlit sky as she lay silently underneath the shadow of a large tree. It was hard to find better entertainment these days…well, levels.

She was just about to grab a leaf which was floating towards her from an above branch when she heard the sound of crunching grass to her side, and turned her head to see the source.

Her eyes widened slowly, and there was a moment of silence as her and the figure before her stood completely still. The leaf she had been reaching out to catch landed soundlessly on her cheek, but it wasn’t there long.

Sedecire bolted up and teleported as fast as any mage could. She had no time to yell, no time to scream, she just let fear take the reigns. But the man was so fast that he was already standing in front of her, awry smile etched across his face, dark eyes gleaming as bright as his spiked red hair.

“Blaire,” She let out his name in a low growl, “Wonderfully nice to see you. So wearing armor is beneath you now? Why only wear just the boots?” She inquired, pointing to the dark Katina boots half concealed under his pants.

The awry smile grew, “Nothing like that. I just don’t see the point any more, you know?” He walked towards her, “Why share my status with the world? Why do they need to know? I know how strong I am, that should be good enough for everyone. And these boots are quite comfortable.”

“So in other words, it is exactly like that. You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you.”

“Don’t screw with me, Blaire. Just let me leave. I have nothing to discuss with you.”

“I didn’t come to discuss, little sis,” Blaire answered calculatingly, reaching into the pockets of his pants to reveal a long piece of cloth.

Sedecire backed away while appearing to have regained her composure, but when she spoke her voice was filled with unease.

“You’re going to kill me with a rag?“

“No,” Blaire spoke calmly as he was about to explain, but then disappeared in a flash, reappearing behind her. Before she could react the rag had tightened around her mouth, and something had slammed into the back of her head, making her eyes stream and knocking her off balance. She couldn’t see Blaire, but she knew he was gleaming with triumph.

“I just don’t want anyone to hear you scream.”

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OHMIgawd poor Sedecire D: What is going to happen? Why did Kenda appear out of nowhere? What happened between Sedecire and her brother, and why is he such a terrifying terdface? You find out next chapter :O!