Ghostbusters [Bahir/Ayero-Job]

Bahir was sitting alone in a tavern outside of Remano. The fanalis wanted to take a break from the constant training and preparation for the skirmishes with Kou soldiers and figured this quiet town would be the ideal place to get it. Unfortunately, he couldn't have been more wrong. Although there wasn't a threat from a foreign enemy of across the sea, there was a foreign threat present... one of another realm it seemed. The land of the dead. Although, Bahir didn't know of these terrors yet. He stayed and enjoyed his warm cup of tea. He received a few weird looks when he ordered it, but he didn't pay them any mind. Instead, he sat there with his hood drawn to cover most of his face. The cloth of his cloak raised enough to cover the lower half of his face, as well. Tonight, he wasn't Bahir. He was a fictional being that was created, the creator just-so-happened to be himself.

The young fanalis's ears perked as he heard a light set of footsteps heading towards him. Just great... He mentally scorned as he turned his head to look over his shoulder, his crimson eyes seeming to bore into the person's soul. Bahir quickly looked the person over and acknowledged that his presence wasn't hostile. Once he was assured of this, Bahir turned his head back around and took another sip of his tea. "Can I help you?" his hushed voice seemed to travel into the man's ears and was immediately followed by a quick movement for the man to sit across from Bahir.

Bahir looked up at the man and raised an intrigued eyebrow. Before he could speak again, the man spoke up and reached out to the Fanalis. "Sir. You fit the description. Are you the man known as Shadow?" Bahir stayed silent. His eyes continuing to bear down upon the man. After a moment of silence, Bahir nodded his head slowly and the man let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! Your eyes are needed by my village. There has been happenings lately that have us all worried for our lives! There have been multiple people who have gone into the cave and haven't come back out. Please go and check it out..." The man's face reflected his pleading. Desperation was written all over it. Bahir tried his best to retain his cold exterior and looked back to his cup of tea and drank a bit more of it. Shadow... Shadow is a man of business. A few tears isn't enough to sway him.. He reminded himself. Without even looking back at the man, Bahir spoke up: "I can traverse this cave of yours... for a price."

Bahir didn't have to say much before the man dug into his pocket and pulled out a stack of Huang. Bahir's eyebrow arched and he tilted his head, seeing the stack. "Impressive. Very well. I'll check out your cave tomorrow... now leave." The man nodded and walked out of the tavern, meeting some family and somewhat celebrating. What in the world am I getting myself in to... Bahir pondered as he stuffed the Huang into his bag.

---

The next day, Bahir arrived in the town and started to begin his scouting. He spoke with a great variety of people, from simple civilians going about their day on the streets to store vendors who had to close shop earlier nowadays. All of the clues Bahir found, were nowhere near as helpful as he was hoping. Looks like I'll just actually have to go cave diving.. he thought as he headed back to his room in the tavern. He reawoke when night fell. It was time for him to begin the real part of his job.

As he left the tavern, he noticed a woman with red hair stopping a kid. His eyes narrowed as he focused in on the woman's frame and instantly figured out why the image looked so familiar. It was Ayero, the first person he met while in Reim. She also happened to be a soldier of the resistance as well. Maybe this won't be nearly as much of a drag now that she's hear. He stayed in the shadows with his hood pulled up, listening in on the conversation she was having with the younger boy. So... that's what I'm here for.

The fanalis emerged from his hiding spot as the kid ran off and pulled down his hood. He approached the female fanalis from the side and spoke up, sounding a bit excited. "Ayero! Hey is that you?! What are you doing here?" He was a bit surprised with how well his words came out while he was speaking with her. Perhaps he was starting to become comfortable with the woman and was able to speak, MOSTLY, fluidly while around her. The majority of her skin wasn't visible to Bahir at the moment so this was the best he would sound for a while..

Her reaction was a bit more... accepting than he expected. He could tell from their first encounter that the woman was a very cautious being. He was honestly expecting to be mere centimeters from the tip of her blade when she turned around to face him. However, she drew no weapon and instead gave only a suspicious glance at first. Thank goodness...Uh.. He blinked as the woman's face became more familial and she put her hand on her hip. The young fanalis could feel some word tripping coming in the future, but decided to fight it to the best of his abilities. Knowing his recent amount of luck, she would have full clothing or armor beneath her cloak and he wouldn't be too exposed to cause him to blabber like an idiot.

He nodded quietly and quickly to her question. They were called to this place for the exact same reason. Whether it was a good reason or not was yet to be seen, but rest assured they could work together. "Yes.. I'm here for that cave, as well. Some old man came and hi--" Bahir felt himself start to slip and instantly cut himself off. Dammit... she's gonna notice that. Gotta play it off... I got it! Bahir stared towards the cave as if he heard a strange sound coming from it. Of course, he didn't hear anything. However, he needed to make some sort of distraction for the female warrior in front of him. Even though Ayero was the closest person to Bahir in Reim, he couldn't let her know of his secret life... not yet, anyway. He actually wanted friends and he could only imagine that letting her know that he was an assassin and spy would put a damper on whatever friendship they held.

It was before long that... Bahir started to fool himself into thinking sound was coming from the cave. At least, that's what he had hoped was happening. He accepted the job not believing an ounce of the cave being anything too out of the ordinary. As far as he was concerned, the people in the town were just suspicious and danger prone. However, the slightly muffled screaming that his ears picked up on caused him to second guess himself. "Do... do we want to go and check that noise out? Your ears are as good as mine, so you had to hear it right?"

A feeling of relief washed over the young fanalis as Ayero caught the sound in her ear, as well. The distraction was enough for them to change the subject and move to what they were both here for: the mystery within the cave. He was a bit surprised at her delayed reaction to the sounds though. Perhaps her senses weren't as heightened as Bahir's due to her being only a half-bred Fanalis? The thought puzzled him and almost made his lose track of what was going on. Before he knew it, Ayero was moving towards the cave, snapping Bahir from his thoughts. The young spy caught up with his partner and kept his eyes peeled throughout the cave, looking and listening for any signs of life.

It wasn't long before the silence wore on both of the fanalis' nerves. Ayero spoke up, being the one to break the silence between the two. Bahir's cheeks started to redden a bit at the mention of the gift he bought her his first day in Reim. He had almost forgotten that he purchased that for her. It was a bit more expensive than he thought it would be, and he almost couldn't believe that he could buy that and survive the next few days like he did. "I-it was a problem. I MEAN! It WASN'T a problem!" the young man was doing so good until then. He groaned and smacked himself on the forehead. If she didn't see it, she would sure be able to hear it! He shook off his embarrassment and sighed, getting back on topic. "W-well... meeting the King was interesting... I couldn't understand some of his policies or things he wanted. I was just a little overwhelmed with meeting such an important figure, I suppose.." Bahir tried to play his thoughts of the King off. He didn't agree with the substitution of people doing jobs with beasts. He figured it would make the people of Remano soft and even cause some of the families to sink into a poverty without the income. Either way, he was sure that the plans had more long term balances to keep that from happening. He just knew that what he heard that day wasn't satisfying.

"Oh finding Remano wasn't that difficult. I went there a few times as a child." Another slip. The fanalis told the woman that it was his first day there before, and now this? The war had gotten to him. At least... that's what he could only hope. He was banking on the fact that she wouldn't pay much attention to it, like she did before, until he heard the shuffling of feet and the sound of swords dragging across the ground. The sound drew all of the spy's attention and he halted in his steps. What... what on earth?! The figures came into view slowly. Its eyes held no sign of life, but it was an animated body moving towards them. Their presence didn't sit well with Bahir one bit...

"Don't be alarmed... I'm still here..." Bahir's words were hushed, meaning them only for Ayero to hear as he stepped backwards and out of the light of her torch. He began to blend into the darkness of his cave using his Shadow Blend and his Feather Foot for good measure to keep from drawing their attention. Thanks to Ayero's torch, the assassin could still make sure that he is not in danger of being hit by Ayero and vice versa, but still able to see a few of the enemies as well. He grinned at such an opportune situation and eyed his first pair of targets. He figured that the "men" weren't going to reason with the two fanalis, so he reached for the handle of his dagger. Instead of drawing the blade, he pulled, from the handle, two throwing spikes and threw them at two of the zombies, aiming between their eyes. The two spikes flew over Ayero's shoulders at 10m/s, hitting true to their targets. He could only hope that Ayero wouldn't be too taken aback by the falling assailants. He was going to be her support in this confrontation..

Bahir watched as the two zombies were struck true by his spikes. He stood back in the shadows and watched in silent awe as Ayero downed the remaining three soldiers that approached them. The assassin was taken aback by how easy it seemed for her. Is there truly THAT big of a gap between Ayero and I? he thought to himself, reflecting on her strength. The fanalis male shook the thoughts from his head as he approached her slowly. As she turned to face him, he stepped into the light of her torch and gave a coy smile. "Th-thanks! I've been working on my aim a little lately. After these last few skirmishes with the Kou soldiers I figured I'd make myself more useful on the battlefield, y'know? But you! You swept through them like they were nothing!"

After he spoke, he heard the muffled cry that had seemed to draw Ayero's attention as well. He nodded to her advising to check out the sound and he started to move in the direction that it came from. He was pretty confident that they wouldn't be taken too far by surprise. However, the possibility of danger caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. He wasn't used to this feeling and... in all reality... he relished it. There haven't been many times when the thought of being taken by surprise was something Bahir would have to endure. It was usually the other way around. The darkness of this cave, however, caused him to feel what his "targets" must have felt. It was a truly humbling experience.

As he made a little further into the cave, he noticed a small green light. The fanalis didn't trust it and instinctively put his hand on his sanjiegun, proceeding cautiously. As he expected, the light started getting larger and he stopped in his tracks. Even though his movement ceased, the light was getting larger. The spy didn't know what else to do, other than started to unfold his weapon and use his stick spin. There was no better time for him to do so, either. As soon as his stick started to spin, he felt a bit of momentary resistance and the green light disappeared. It was an Arrow of Death. It wasn't long before there was another green light approaching him, but it was swatted away again by the triple stick. "...I don't think I'll be able to get close..." His words were more towards Ayero than anything.

Almost immediately after Bahir threw his spikes at the zombie, he felt his body give out from the strain he put it under to move as quickly as he did. The adrenaline that filled the fanalis assassin started to fade and the strength and energy in him went with it. He found himself on the ground almost immediately. He was lucky enough that he plopped down in a place where his back was against a large rock. He panted heavily as he listened to the sounds of combat between Ayero and the final zombie. I hope everything turns out okay... I feel useless now.. He thought to himself as his legs started to go numb. He closed his eyes slowly, trying to give himself a chance to rest.

Not too much longer, the cave was silent again. But then.. foot steps. Bahir's ears twitched at the sound of someone moving. They were rather slow so he didn't know whether it was Ayero or the zombie... At this point, Bahir could barely lift his arms, let alone get up to defend himself. His heart started to beat harder Fuck fuck... No. No, I'm sure Ayero came out on top. She beat that Decimus guy... it would take much more to knock her down. He assured himself. It wasn't long before his worry was eased. The warmth of the torch could be felt and the sound of Ayero's voice relaxed the fanalis.

When he was complimented, Bahir chuckled a little. "Heh.. my 'skills' are way too rusty. My father would be ashamed that I was worn out so quickly..." The thought of keeping things about himself concealed was far out of his mind now. The young spy was barely able to keep his eyes open, let alone think to keep his secrets. When she asked if he was alright, Bahir lifted his face towards the warmth of the torch and tried to open his eyes to look at her. While his eyes were open, the fanalis could barely see. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot and his vision was fuzzy. "I'm... I'm fine. Are you okay? I didn't hit you did I? Those darts were coated in poison... I hope you didn't get hit... I'd never be able to forgive myself." Bahir's words were almost slurred together. It was almost like he was drugged! The fact that he couldn't keep his eyes open, blinking for prolonged periods, didn't help either.