Kris and Yun galloped their horses down the empty street and they could definitely tell why people avoided this area. It was utterly dirty and proved to be an unwelcoming sight for anyone. Moreover, they could feel stares on their backs, despite no one being around and the stares they felt were hostile.

          It was night time and only the gas lamps were lit up in the streets, and the house that the both of spotted at the far end of the street. Thus, their only choice were to head straight for that house, since it was their only clue. Hence, when they reached the entrance of the house, they immediately saw two muscular man standing guard in front of the house.

          The two guards in the house didn’t look like the decent gentlemen either, one of them had a horrible scar on his face and the other was wearing a filthy set of clothes, in addition, the both of them were actually getting ready to assault both Kris and Yun.

          “Who the hell are you?” One of them asked Kris and Yun once they reached near enough to the entrance of the house. The two men were blocking the door to the house, thus Kris’ only choice was to answer them.

          “Is there someone named Sergi here?”

          “What business do you have with him?”

          “Just something.”

          “Too bad, Sergi doesn’t—wait a minute, I know you…” The guard replied to Kris only to narrow his eyes at him in recognition.

          “Hey, you are from that group of people who interfered with our heist the other day!” The other guard exclaimed, both of them immediately drawing their swords.

          “Intruders! We’ve got intruders!”

          Yun unsheathed his sword too, while Kris didn’t as they jumped down from their horses, the horses knowing that they had to scramble to safety.

          “Yun, we’ll split up from here, we have to find a way in, one way or another. You can handle the two of them on your own, right?” Kris muttered to Yun, who instantly nodded at Kris.

          “You better be in one piece when I see you again.” Kris grinned at Yun, who raised an eyebrow before charging towards the two men at the entrance of the house.

          Kris split up from Yun, deciding to head to the back of house to look for any other way to sneak it. He whistled loudly, calling for his horse as it appeared out from the darkness, since the surrounding area of the house wasn’t lit up so well. Just as his horse did that, he heard a loud commotion accompanied along with his horse neighing, but the horse wasn’t alone.

          Wary, he quickly ran towards his horse, seeing a woman dressed in a coat sighing in relief as the moonlight and the light from the house shone down on her. The moment he saw her face, his eyes widened significantly, instantly recognizing the woman’s face.

          It was the face he would never forget, for the whole of his life.

          Whether was it because she was one of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen or because she was someone he detested with all his life, he didn’t know.

          Recovering from his stunned state, he quickly unsheathed his sword, sneaking up to her as he pointed his sword at her neck.

          “Don’t move, Shadow Rogue.” He growled out and Emi let out a shaky breath, turning her head slowly to the side as she looked into a pair of familiar black eyes.

          Finally.

          Kris smirked wickedly, observing the terror in Emi’s eyes as he felt a sense of gratification from that sight. “I finally found you.”

          “You…why are you here…?” Emi muttered out in horror, her voice trembling slightly.

          Did he found out about the fake necklace?

          Crap, I knew it wouldn’t be long before he knew about it!

          “Tricking me with a fake necklace, how long did you expect me to not know about it?”

          Emi gulped, her reaction was instant as she quickly tried to spin herself around along with her horse. However, Kris predicted her movement, tilting his sword nearer towards her neck as she gasped silently.

          “I told you not to move, Shadow Rogue.”

          Eyeing his sword cautiously, she gritted her teeth and lifted her hand up into the air, grabbing onto his sword.

          “That’s impossible, mercenary.” She spat out, hissing in pain when she tightened her hold on his sword.

          This woman, what exactly is she…

          Kris frowned at her and she slowly turned herself around with her horse, ensuring that the sword stayed still at the spot, gripping onto it with all of her strength.

          This woman…!

          She’s trying to stop me from using my sword!

          Emi knew he wouldn’t be able to use his strength properly on the sword, since it was at an awkward angle and she let out a painful cry, tears prickling at her eyes when Kris tried to twist her arm with the sword.

          It hurts!

          Thinking quick, Kris let go of his sword, knowing that Emi wasn't going to let go of it anytime soon. He proceeded to grab it further in front of it as he tightened his grip on his sword, ignoring the twinge of pain he felt. Through her teary eyes, Emi stared at him in dread, wondering what he was trying to do.

          In one swift pull, she tumbled down from her horse and her grip on the sword was released as she tried to balance herself. It proved to be futile and she fell forward, landing into Kris’ arms, letting out a gasp.

          “What are you—ugh!” She said, only to fell something hitting lightly on her neck and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, going limp in Kris’ arms.

          “Go to sleep for a few seconds, will you?” Kris muttered out, moving his hand away from her neck and he sheathed his sword into his scabbard.

          She’ll wake up in a minute, I have to be quick.

          Tilting her back, he wrapped his arm around her to balance her and Kris looked at the unconscious woman in his arms. Slowly letting out his breath, he gazed at her with an unreadable expression as his eyes trailed the features of her face, realising that it was his first time seeing her at such a close angle.

          How pretty.

          He noticed a stray hair on her face and he stared at it intently, unconsciously lifting his other free arm up as the other tightened his grip around her waist.

          She’s really…pretty.

          “Kris.” Yun called out to him from behind and Kris flinched, noticing his arm was just above Emi’s face. He blinked rapidly in shock, quickly dropping it back to his side as he shook his head, breaking out from his trance.

          Turning himself around, Kris saw Yun standing behind him, opening his mouth to speak again but closed it when he saw the woman in Kris’ arms.

          “…who is that?”

          “Our mission.” Kris simply answered and Yun raised an eyebrow.

          “So that means we are done here?” Yun questioned and Kris nodded, when they heard loud shouting.

          “Let’s get out of here, now.”

          “What about Sergi?”

          “Doesn’t matter, we got the person we want.” Kris waved it off, hurriedly tying the ropes around Emi’s hands and legs, that he took out from his satchel, he connected them to her horse and then to his horse. At the same time, Yun whistled for his horse, who also came galloping out from the darkness and Yun climbed onto the horse, waiting patiently for Kris’ instructions.

          “Let’s go.” Kris said, placing the motionless Emi in front of him as he urged his horse to set off and the horse immediately obeyed his order.

          The scout on the rooftop of the house cursed as his carefully aimed arrow zoomed past Kris and Yun who rode into the streets, heading to the exit. Using his telescope, he observed that Emi’s horse was tied to the intruder’s horse but he wasn’t able to find Emi anywhere. However, that was enough for the scout to run back into the house, wanting to inform his leader about his newfound discovery.

          The bandits were a step too late as they stormed out of the house, seeing a few of their unconscious comrades on the ground, but the intruders already disappeared into the night, unable to found and Sergi was among them.

          “!” Sergi cursed loudly, glancing at his underlings on the floor, completely motionless.

          Who the hell were those people?

          “Boss, boss!”

          “What?” Sergi growled, not sounding pleased at all.

          “It’s about Winters!”

          “What about her? Where the hell is she anyway? Why wasn’t she here, she would have noticed the intruders.” Sergi said, frustrated at the sudden turn of events.

          “No, she couldn’t have helped out.”

          “Why?”

          “The intruders took her away, boss.”

          Sergi stiffened, spinning around abruptly as his eyes went wide. “What?!”

          He was utterly baffled, the intruders snatched his precious gold miner from right under his nose and what made him even more puzzled was how she got herself kidnapped.

          She wouldn’t be defeated so easily, or was she just too weak for them?

          “Once these useless bastards here wake up, tell them to see me!” Sergi snarled at his underlings as they nodded in fear.

          Whoever they are, I’ll find them!

          How dare they snatch away my best man!

         

         

          *************************************************

         

         

          Emi felt her body shaking lightly as she heard two voices talking to one another, along with the sound of horses galloping. She let out a pained moan, feeling an uncomfortable ache in her head as her eyes fluttered open.

          Where am I?

          She observed her surroundings in a blur, and she could only see greenery all around her.

          A forest?

          Realising that she was riding on a horse and she looked at its mane, noticing it wasn’t Luna’s mane. Suddenly alert, her eyes widened further as she felt her back pressing up against a person’s chest that she definitely wasn’t familiar with and she glanced around, surprised to notice that her horse was riding beside her.

          “Luna!” She cried in relief, trying to move her hands and she felt something restricting her movements, seeing the rope around her hands. The memories instantly came flooding back to her as she glanced up, horror evident in her eyes as she recognized the man she was looking at.

          …oh no…

          Panicking, she tried to free herself, her headache not helping her in the slightest bit.

          “It’s useless, Shadow Rogue.” The man responsible for making her terribly frightened spoke. She struggled, trying to push away his arms which were attached to the rope tied around to the saddle.

          “There’s no escape.” He said and she felt herself panicking even more but her struggle proved to be futile, when it caused the throbbing in her head to worsen and she started to feel nauseous.

          Oh, god.

          This is terrible, I can’t focus with this horrible headache and the more I struggle, the more I feel like vomiting.

          “What do you want from me?” She said, her voice trembling slightly, tense as she lifted herself away from his chest, not comfortable with their proximity.

          “The necklace.”

          “Fine! I’ll give it to you, I have no need for it anymore! Now, let me go!”

          “I can’t do that either.”

          “…why…?” Emi trembled slightly.

          What more does he want from me?

          “There was a request to bring you to someone, alive.” Kris said, smirking at her, his smirk showing no remorse for her.

          Amidst her utter fear for this man, Emi also felt anger bubbling at the pits of her stomach as she glared at the man, her eyes sparkling in rage.

          I was so close!

          I was this close to my own freedom, and this man just cruelly robbed it away from me!

          “In exchange for the necklace, let me go, without my help, you’ll never find it.” She hissed at Kris who continued smirking at her.

          “I can’t do that, I’ll damage the reputation of our group.” Kris countered and Yun observed them with interest.

          He’s lying.

          He couldn’t be bothered about the reputation of the group.

          Yun thought, Kris’ words sparking his curiosity.

          Why is he lying?

          “Besides, even without your help, I can and will find it.” The smirk remained on his face as his eyes regarded her coldly and Yun understood the reason for Kris’ lie.

          That’s right, Kris mentioned that he despise people like her so much, he wouldn’t even feel remorse for them at all, no matter what.

          Emi’s glare faltered as she realised that there was no way out of this, biting on her lip.

          What do I do?

          I can’t afford to be captured now, not when I had already planned to run away from this life.

          Emi’s eyes glanced towards Luna and she bit even harder on her lip, before she let it go.

          “Fine, I’ll go quietly with you then, on one condition, let me ride on my horse.” Emi demanded and Kris furrowed his eyebrows, staring intently at her, the smirk completely gone from his face.

          “Rejected, people like you always resort to trickery. I know you are only looking for an opportunity to escape.” Kris eyed her in contempt, his tone venomous.

          “Who wouldn’t want to escape from such a situation?” Emi snarled, gritting her teeth.

          This man, ever since I met him, he only shows utter contempt for me.

          What did I ever do to him to make him hate me this much? I’ve never even met this man in my whole life, until now!

          “Even if you were a different situation, every single one of you deceive people to get what you want.” Kris retorted, his eyes still holding contempt for her.

          Emi felt offended, even though she knew what she was doing was immoral but she it was because she had no choice.

          How awful.

          He doesn’t even know what I’ve been through, yet he lumps me together with the same group of people, thinking I'm one of them.

          “You…you loathsome man.” She hissed at him and he only regarded her with the same cold eyes.

          “The same goes for you.” He muttered back and he glanced at Yun, gesturing to Yun with his head.

          Yun understood his message, taking out something from his satchel and throwing it to Kris, who caught it easily. It was a big piece of cloth and Kris silently spread it open, lifting it over Emi’s head.

          “What are you—hey!” She said suspiciously, only to be covered by the cloth, blocking her vision completely. She tried to pull it out with her hands tied, only to realise it was already tied tightly and she couldn’t remove it as she let out a huff.

          She couldn’t see anything except total darkness and she slumped her shoulders, lifting her head up and staring up into emptiness. The pounding pain in her head causing her to squeeze her eyes close, adding more to her nauseous state since her body shook along to the horse galloping.

          This was the first time in years where she felt utterly hopeless, since she couldn’t do anything to escape. Even if she were to throw herself off the horse, she noticed that the rope was connected to mercenary’s horse and it would only cause the horse to come to a stop. With her hands tied, she couldn’t even free herself or let alone take her dagger out from her satchel.

          Damn it.

          Another memory came flashing through Emi’s mind, the same hopeless feeling she felt long ago overwhelming her.

          A young scrawny and shivering Emi sheltered herself from the rain from the discarded crates and cardboard boxes she found, but the rain still managed to hit her and her stomach roared loudly, reminding her how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten anything for today, and it was already near to night time.

          “When the rains subsides, I’ll go search for some food.”

          If I’m lucky, I’ll get some today.

          She was hiding herself in the alleyway, since she would be blocking people’s way in the streets and it would also risk her being more exposed to danger.

          Woof.

          The young Emi perked up, glancing around in alert.

          Woof, woof.

          Emi realised it was just a dog as she looked in front of her, the dog soaking in the rain since it didn’t have anywhere to shelter itself. She stared sadly at the dog, who looked at her with pitiful eyes.

          “I’m sorry, doggy. I’m hungry too and I have nothing.” She told the dog, curling her knees up as she rested her head on her knees.

          The dog barked again, deciding to join her in the shelter. Shaking itself, the water spraying all over Emi as she grimaced, blocking herself from his assault.

          “Don’t do that, I’m cold and I have nothing to warm myself up with. At least you have your fur to keep you warm...” She scolded the dog, who drooped its ears down,

          "But thank you, for keeping me company." She whispered to the dog, petting him gently and the dog immediately curled up next to Emi.

          She smiled sadly at it, glancing up at the gloomy sky that continued raining down droplets of freezing water on her temporary shelter, that didn’t provide much shelter either.

          “At least you have your fur, doggy while I have…nothing.” She whispered helplessly to the sky, sticking her shivering hand out to collect the raindrops as she stared at it.

          “Nothing at all.” She reminded herself once again, droplets of water sliding down from her face but she wasn’t sure whether it was her tears or the water droplets from her soaked hair.

          She scooted closer to the dog, shivering violently but she wasn’t sure too, if she was shivering from the cold or from her crying, or maybe even both.

          Emi snapped her eyes open and she could only see an endless abyss of darkness, the worst thing was, it frightened her to the core, seeing an endless tunnel of darkness.  

          However, in the darkness, she saw a replica of her younger self, hugging her knees to herself, staring back at her with beady eyes, all bruised and scrawny, shivering by herself. Emi could only stare helplessly at her younger self, the same hopelessness coming back to her, poking at her heart, like needles. Suddenly, a small smile graced upon the lips of her younger self and she widened her eyes at her younger self.

          “Don’t give up, if you are going to do that, then...why didn’t you give up on me?”

          Her younger self lifted her head up and her smile grew a little wider.

          “So, don’t give up...okay?”

          Emi felt tears prickling at her eyes as the image of her younger self disappeared, leaving her in the darkness again but this time, the darkness didn’t seem so…scary anymore.

           …I won’t do that.

          “We are here.” Kris announced, arriving at the same clearing that lead the same passageway to their hidden base.

          I absolutely won’t give up, no matter what.

          “But we’ll still keep the cloth on, for a while more.”

          You still can escape, Emi Winters.

          You have to escape.

 

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Hope you guys liked this chapter ^^! Please pardon my mistakes, I don't edit my stories *cough* toobusyandtired *cough* ><.