A New Mission [Closed]

Brakas was a pain in the ass.  Luxanna was able to pick up the lunatics trail just outside of the entrance to Ford Mine, so it wasn't hard to figure out which way he went. The problem was his destructive capabilities, endless resources, and the fact that if he knew he was out classed he always ran like a little bitch. And now, Brakas L. Murphy was running. Luxanna followed his trail with this new Zakatian acquaintance of hers. They were heading south and the moment that they came to the Zakatian border, almost as if she drawn her own personal line in the sand, Luxanna stopped in her tracks. She actually took a few seconds to continue on, weighing the options of continuing on or let those arrogant Zakatians take care of him. Either way, she stepped forward and after following him to the small town of Ridgecrest in the middle of the Silverwood, he was finally apprehended.

After fighting a few guards over it, Luxanna pulled a huge fuck you and used her powers to make herself and Brakas go invisible. She felt it rude to explain nothing to Tsubine, so she decided to tell the woman where she was going. She didn't whisper it. She didn't have to. Luxanna said it loudly just to anger the men of Zakat even more. She dragged the bound and unconscious man out of the village and back into the forest. He was her catch and they could deal with it. Once she got him over the Arcadian border, if they wanted to turn this into a political game, Luxanna had no problem with that. Luckily, they didn't follow and once she got the bastard over the Arcadian border, she turned him in at the next town: Ardale. After a few days of travel, the deed was done, the reward was collected, and Luxanna was finally going home. She just wasn't expecting Masamune's panic when she got there...

The trip back to Caydale was a quiet one. The entire time back, Luxanna wasn't able to shake the lonely feeling she had. She had gotten used to having a certain blonde woman talking at her. It was odd, since Luxanna wasn't exactly the most friendly to her either. Finally, she came to the edge of the city and the Noir Guild Hall was in sight. She began to relax as she approached until a loud and worried filled yell hit her ears. She raised her head and placed her attention on a familiar man. He was acting strangely. As he got closer, Luxanna braced herself. He used her as a break and she slid only a couple inches as his hands met her shoulders. She figured he'd be able to mostly stop on his own; he had more control than that. "What, what, what?!" Luxanna replied eyes wide with worry over Masamune's behavior, "Calm down, catch your damn breath, and tell me what you're freaking out about."

Finally he stopped the huffing between words and Luxanna realized what was going on. No letter? Nadia was often gone for a long time, but no letter or any contact at all meant something might have gone wrong. Nadia wasn't the type to forget about Luxanna and Masamune, even if something was distracting her. "Come on." Luxanna hurried into the Hall and her office. She pulled out an Arcane Tracker and turned it on. She picked a certain file and a dot came onto the screen. "What the fuck?" Luxanna's eyes widened. The dot wasn't even in Arcadia, which Nadia would never leave... willingly. "She's...  in the Southern Face of the Nargundin Crags... Why the hell is she there?!" Luxanna herself began to panic. Her eyes were wide, body tense, breathing heavy, and she was pissed off. She looked to Masamune. "You have two minutes. Grab your shit and let's go." she packed away the tracker.

Luxanna was outside within moments, counting down the seconds in her head for Masamune to get there. She left another in charge for a while and told them to spread the word about Nadia. If anyone was in Zakat, they were to drop what they were doing and head to coordinates that Luxanna gave. Unfortunately, there were no Noir members in that direction, but she'd still rather have the word out. "Mm... There's someone in Zakat I'm going to ask for help." Luxanna said and went quiet, knowing that she'd probably get some reply about her actually having contacts in Zakat, "I just met her recently... I'm hoping she'll know the area... And get us through that damned City of Iserlohn... We're going to need to pass through that fucking place to get to Nadia." Luxanna began picking up her pace. She kept thinking about Nadia and just went faster and faster until she was in a sprint. "Let's move!"

The two grabbed hints from every place they went, starting in Ridgecrest. They traveled through two towns before arriving here. Luxanna always asked about a woman named Tsubine. She was tall, blonde hair, and oddly violet colored eyes in comparison to the Zakatian blue. Her leads brought them here. Luxanna didn't noticed the woman carrying lumber. She was busy asking someone who scoffed at her and asked what she was doing with an Arcadian Devil. It took all Luxanna had not to assault the bastard. In fact, the only reason she turned away was because Masamune mentioned a tall woman they could ask. Luxanna's mind immediately moved from the asshole in front of her to look toward Tsubine. She sighed. "Finally. That's her." Luxanna rushed up to Tsubine and practically slid to a stop in front of the woman, "Hey. Remember me? Of course you do! Now, I need your help."

"A friend of mine is in Zakat. Why? I don't know. She's not supposed to be. She is way off the boundaries of where she knows she's allowed to go. I have two possibilities in my mind. One, she was taken by slavers and brought here by some asshole who wants to avoid the Arcadian Justice System. Two, she's very very very lost, scared, and probably freaking out. I don't know how to get through this country on my own anymore and I need a sort of... guide, if you will. I don't trust any other dirt-bag in this place, so you're literally my only hope. Can you help us?" Luxanna was talking very very fast for her usual speech. Luckily, she was quite the articulate woman so nothing was hard to make out. It was obvious that she was freaking out and extremely worried over whatever might be happening to her friend. To describe her behavior in one word, Luxanna was absolutely desperate at the moment.

With every passing hour, Luxanna's anxiety was doubling. She kept looking at the device that told her where Nadia was. She wasn't moving. She was in the middle of the crags and wasn't moving? She kept this from Masamune, not wanting to worry him more than he needed to be before they'd found the girl. After not taking a single break throughout their day of travel, Luxanna finally agreed it was time to stop. She had exhausted herself and likely the other two. If they were moving too slow, she'd force them to move faster. If they asked for a break, she'd glare and tell them to stop being a weakling. It wasn't until they finally stopped that Luxanna realized how hard she had run her own body. Camp was set up and Luxanna stayed silent. She kept wondering whether they had passed Fennmont at all. This was going to be a long and dangerous trip, but it was one they had to take.

Luxanna's attention was caught when the two started talking. Luxanna raised an eyebrow the first time Tsubine giggled and then at the damn blush. Uh'huh. Okay, she knew where that was going. Luxanna tuned herself out of the conversation until Tsubine mentioned the urge to kill. "What the hell did Masamune say?" she asked, but soon the beast made itself known, "... Oh." Interesting. She could feel this creatures intent to kill, huh? Luxanna didn't even flinch. "Don't move." A moment later, a bright light snapped in front of the creatures eyes. It was blinded momentarily, so Luxanna used this to spread an invisibility cloak over the three of them. When it could finally see again, everything was gone. "They're particularly patient animals... so this could be a problem." Luxanna whispered, watching the beast closely. It couldn't see them or pinpoint them, but that didn't mean it'll leave.

Luxanna didn't even move. For one, she was invisible. For two, Masamune was here. Luxanna wasn't a major fighter, so when Masamune was here, she didn't waste her energy on an enemy. Instead, she sat back and watched the two take care of these beasts. It didn't take long for the animal couple to be taken down, though Luxanna's mind immediately fell toward the possible cubs they had somewhere in the forest. Oh well. Once things were done, Luxanna let the cloak fall away, her body reappearing in a light wave of glitter. The compliments went out and Luxanna nodded to the one she received. "Stay close." Luxanna told Masamune. She never ordered him around, but always made rather intense suggestions. He went off and Tsubine came over and complimented Masamune. "Pfft." she held back a laugh, the noise coming through her nose, "Yeah... I guess, one of the rarities these days."

"You can ask, but I won't promise an answer." Luxanna immediately replied. When Tsubine asked the question, Luxanna held back another laugh, though it was a little harder. She quickly composed herself and cleared her throat. "Hell no." she replied with an almost offensive tone, "He's a good kid that I work with, a good friend. Nothing more... And how are you going to shave three days off our trip?"

The plan was straight forward and well thought out. Luxanna was right to ask Tsubine for help. She nodded as everything was explained and even kept examining the map to memorize the path they'd be taking. She especially took note of the military supply route that Tsubine had made. "Alright. Thank you." Luxanna said as she finished with the map. She sat back and relaxed, feeling a little more at ease now that she had an idea on where they'd be going. "Hm?" Luxanna looked to Tsubine as the question was asked, "I founded it. Well... Technically Masamune, Nadia, and myself all founded it, so I've been there since the beginning." Luxanna leaned forward and crossed her legs. "As for Nadia... She's a child. She's a naive young girl who likes exploring. She's sweet, cheerful, and brings a smile to anyone's face. She's..." There was hesitation, "almost like a daughter to me... if not a younger sister."

And then the next question confused her. "Arcadia... hasn't changed... I mean, there was the shift from the King and Queen to the AA about a century ago, but I doubt that's what you're meaning..." Luxanna raised an eyebrow, reminding herself that this woman was a Zakatian. There were things she would not reveal for the sake of the country she now loved. "If you want a better answer to that question, you're going to have to tell me what you mean." she continued on, "Especially with what you mean about Colburn being different from the rest of Arcadia... I don't understand that."

Luxanna didn't feel like founding the Noir was impressive. It wasn't even intentional, but she wasn't going to rain on Tsubine's parade. The conversation about Arcadia was interesting. There was a time that Luxanna was also confused about Arcadian's and their ways. When Tsubine stopped mid-sentence about some Cornelia woman, Luxanna took note of it: touchy subject. "Arcadia... is a wonderful country... The people are friendly, hard working, creative, and powerful. They accepted me even though I was Zakatian." Luxanna leaned back and laid her head against a fallen log, looking up through the trees at the darkened sky, "All they needed to know was that I had no problem with using Arcana, that I wasn't some metal-loving heathen who disrespected their usage of Aurora's most powerful and natural resource..." Luxanna closed her eyes and turned over, her back now toward Tsubine. There was a moment of silence, but when she finally spoke up again, she only said three words. "I hate Zakatians." It was obvious by the hiss in her tone that she did not want to talk about it. "G'night."

The trip had gotten really interesting. No, the trip had actually gotten really boring. Luxanna was used to the silence and straight forward mannerisms, but that wasn't how everyone else usually acted. Even Masamune faded into the background like he wasn't even there. Luxanna was left with her thoughts all the way until they got to the big city, Iserlohn. The only interesting thing that had taken place was Masamune getting annoyed by a bird and Tsubine running out in her underwear. Normally, Luxanna might have taken a second look, but the first thing that came to her mind was "How stupid". There is a reason Luxanna didn't change in the middle of the night. She'd rather not get caught out half-naked or in her pajamas. It just wasn't the best plan of action when you were traveling, especially with a man. Luckily, it seemed Masamune didn't notice that Tsubine had done that, so Luxanna moved on.

Inside of Iserlohn, Luxanna wanted to get out of the city as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, with Masamune's needless gawking, it seemed they'd be stuck here a bit longer. At least Tsubine had the mind to remind him that they had to keep moving. You'd think the one running out of the guild hall in a panic would be a bit more worried about their missing friend than to window shop. Anyways, walking through seemed to catch the attention of some people. Luxanna just kept the dullest of expressions and only half-listened to the conversation. If she dared listen to anything these male Zakatians were saying, she felt her mind would start to rot. The fact that it was just continuing on was becoming more annoying, so Luxanna finally spoke up in the middle of someone talking. "Okay, so are we done? We can be done now, right? We have places to be, so if you don't mind, shut the fuck up and back the hell off. Stop disturbing people." With that said, Luxanna flipped her hair and continued on the direction they had been walking before the group had been so rudely disturbed by these neanderthals.