Julius

Three weeks of silence have passed on both sides of this civil war. A building attached to a workshop has the name Benit's blacksmithing. Inside, in a room behind the front counter, a crowd flocks at a table.

"From what our scouts have found, each member of the nine will gather in the keep for a meeting. Remember to keep an eye out everywhere, the snake is said to have a strong scouting ability. And this is the section they have control over, so be cautious." Talon slams his hand onto a wooden table, ending their meeting, and turning towards Skull and Aqua who were behind him.

"You needed me?" Skull awaits for Talon's command.

"You were right about how defeating Whip gave us the perfect chance to move our forces to their territory, but I gotta say, it is a little stressful. The trio move towards the front of the building.

"Sir, we have customers at the front right now." A young man burst through the doors leading from the counter.

"Alright, Skull you can go out the back and join the scouts in the east shopping district." Talon turns to Skull, he nods in agreement.

"Hold on, I want to go with, and scout too!" Skull stops as Aqua begs Talon.

"Actually, I have a better job for you." Talon gives Skull a knowing glance before taking Aqua and walking away.

Skull watches for a moment before taking his leave.

"Somehow, all of our scouts have been getting sick. I want you to figure out why." He leads Aqua to a room full of the sick revolutionaries.

"Okay." She kneels down to one of the many wounded, and Talon leaves when another worker calls for him.

One man groans as he rolls over to his side. On his back two small puncture wounds, similar to a snake bite, just under his shoulder blade.

"What's this?" As Aqua touches the wound an almost black liquid spits out, it has a hint of red from the man's blood and is sticky to the touch. "This clearly isn't any good." Aqua manipulates a stream of water into the wound, absorbing the harmful liquid from the man's body.

Skull dashes across the rooftop of this small city, the streets of Fromist are like a maze to the people who haven't lived there for long, moving by rooftop just made things far easier for him. He easily clears a gap in the buildings that make up an alleyway, when something catches his eye in another alley not too far away.

Skull slides across the roof as he slows his momentum, focusing his gaze he notices a limp arm reaching out of the alley. He swiftly makes his way towards it.

Upon reaching the mouth of the alley, Skull notices four unconscious bodies laying across the ground and another man staring up at the roof behind him. "You there,what did you do!?" Skull draws his sword as soon as he recognises the men on the ground as the scouts he was to join.

Turning around, this hazel haired man, with black eyes, and noir detective like clothes, at first seems unimpressed, but his expression quickly turns to shock. "You're alive!?" He steps back in disbelief.

"I take it you're one of the nine. Well, I'm hunting the nine!" Skull runs at the strange man preparing to strike.

A purple mass bubbles and fizzles into the figure of a snake behind the man. Skull stops to see what his opponent is capable of. The snake crashes down on the man, Skull is caught off guard, as he disappears.

"I don't wish to fight you yet, but I do hope we meet again, fair hunter." The man reappears on the rooftop ahead of Skull.

"What the hell is he doing?" Skull watches as the man runs off. "Damn it, I need to get you lot back to Aqua." Skull puts his sword away before hauling the unconscious men onto his back.

Talon, Aqua, and Skull talk alone in a meeting room. "From the information you both gathered, we can safely assume that this guy is the snake and that he's been poisoning our scouts." Talon leans against a table.

"Not only that, but it turns out he knows me. Though I'm not sure why he was surprised I wasn't dead." Skull turns his head as he drifts into thought.

"That definitely would spell trouble for us. Next time we find him we need to apprehend him somehow." Putting his hand to his chin, Talon scans the room. "Aqua, it looks like you get to join Skull on his scouting expeditions now." He sighs as he turns towards Aqua.

"What!?" Both Aqua and Skull look over as they match their words, but not in expression as Aqua is excited and Skull is furious.

"Since she was able to purge the poison, I believe she's the best chance we have to defeat him." Talon tries to convince Skull.

"I don't care, that's putting her in too much danger." Skull steps up to Talon.

"But you let me fight against Whip's army." Aqua is surprised by Skull's protest.

"That was far safer than you fighting Whip himself." He shuts her down immediately, and she pouts.

"I command you to be okay with it!" Her hands begin to glow as Skull stiffens.

"That's not how that works, it has to be something physical." Skull bonks Aqua on the head

"I command you to silence!" She growls as this time her command works.

" - " Skull looks dejected as even a groan fails to escape from him

"It may be useful if he can talk." Talon leans over to an angry Aqua.

"Ug, fine." Her hands begin to glow again as she undoes her previous command.

Talon approaches Skull late at night. "Have you had any luck in finding the snake?" He inquires Skull of his progress.

"None thus far. But his attacks have completely stopped." Skull gives his report.

"Okay, that's good. Hey Skull you mentioned before that he recognised you?" Talon looks around making sure they're alone.

Skull only nods as a confirmation.

"Well, there's a good reason for that. He recognised your armor." Talon gestures to Skull as he wears the mentioned armor.

"I thought Benit made this armor." Skull is taken back for a moment.

"He did, but I commissioned him to do it. I knew you when you were alive. You were one of them." Talon sits against a wall, and faces away from Skull.

"What!?" Skull's face darkens as he questions who he used to be.

"You were their leader, and until the tiger killed you, they were good." Talon stares into space remembering the ominous dark figure at the edge of the cliff.

"How do you know all this?" Skull calms down as he watches Talon.

"There was a seven year old boy running along the edge of that cliff to meet you. He tripped, and you jumped off the cliff to save him. The tiger s a w this as his opportunity to strike, and killed you." Talon finally looks up to Skull, with eyes full of sorrow. "I was that boy. I'm the reason you died." He looks back down at the ground barely holding back his tears.

After a pause Skull speaks up. "From all of what I learned, the tiger was going to kill me eventually anyways." He puts a hand on Talon's shoulder and kneels to his level. "You made it your mission to avenge me, don't give that up and I'll forgive you."

Talon's tears break through, finally cracking from all the pressure of his stoic front, as he hugs Skull tightly. Skull holds him like a father would his child as he thinks about what he was like in life.