"She won't come for us, you know," Zephyr had been saying, over and over again.

Currently, Rei, Alma, Orion, and himself were bound to each other by the wrists.

Two guards had gotten the drop on him and Alma in the forest, knocking them out with something. Probably a punch. The two of them weren't meant for fighting, after all. The aching at on the back of his head was enough to give him a decent guess.

Orion and Rei looked the worst out of the group of four.

Rei had blood dripping from a cut above his hairline and a nice bruise under his left eyes. A small line of blood found it's way from his cut. When he was brought out of the mansion second after Zephyr had been tied up, he seemed to be limping, so it was probably worse underneath.

Orion, on the other hand, took the award for the worst. Blood was seeping from a cut above his left eye, keeping it closed. It looked like he'd been cut on the right side of his ribs. He barely managed to walk when they brought him forward. And to see a man as stubborn as his assassin stumbling in another persons arms meant he was probably in a great deal of pain. Not that he'd ever admit it.

"Aright," Rei said, leaning back so he was prectically laying on the rest of their backs, "someone has to admit it. That stupid convict was right."

"She probably left us for dead," Orion chimed in.

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

Zephyr had suspected Rei would keep his composure. He was just that stupid. Orion, probably because he was used to being in tense situations. But Alma as well...looked eerily calm.

"I think she'll come for us," Alma said, out of the blue.

"Good luck with that one, kid," Rei snickered from behind Zephyr. "She's basically free now, you know? There's no reason for her to save our sorry butts now. So pray to whatever gods you believe in that they let you into hell because we're gonna be dead. Besides, all she had to do is wait for us to die for it to be deactivated. I wouldn't be surprised if she teamed up with this loser to get it off."

Zephyr supposed he should be more afraid at the sound of that. He was probably going to die within the next hour, but he felt like Alma looked. Calm.

"Do you all ever shut up?" Sei asked from a distance away. "I mean really. You know if this little girl doesn't show you're all dead, right? So...panic a little or something, for starters. And stop talking calmly. It's a little insulting."

"I suppose it's a little late for diplomacy," the prince stated, giving Sei his friendliest smile.

"Oh, we're much bey-"

"Sir!" A guard, one of Sei's, ran over. He gave a curt bow before saying, "It's the convict, Sir. She's made her way to the front gate."

Even though he couldn't see the others, the prince was sure he wore the same astonished look that they did. Maybe not Alma, though.

"Have the guards let her in."

"They're dead."

The smugglers eyes widened a bit. "What?"

"She killed them."

"There were five guards!"

"Yes, sir. She killed them all in a matter of two minutes."

A smile grew on the foreign man's face. He looked down at the four members of the ragtag team.

"Looks like she care about you lot more than you think. Maybe thank her before I kill her, yeah?" Sei turned back to the guard who wore a glistening veil of seat on his forehead. "Open the gate, though maybe stay away from her."

"Sir."

The guard scurried off.

"I knew she'd come," Alma said, sounding smug. "And I was right."

"You know what?" The Rei said in a deadpanned voice. "Just shut up."

Looking to the left, Zephyr could make out Cecily's small shape making its way over to the court yard. When he could make out the features of her face, she looked absolutely done. More so than normal, in fact.

What was most terrifying was the blood that was smeared across her eyes and cheeks.

Sei let out a long, low whistle. "Wow, you re-"

"I haven't killed anyone," she said, her voice as flat as normal. Zephyr could hear the slight twinge of anger. "The three you sent at me weren't worth it, though I gave one of them a big gash. The ones at the gate are simply unconscious. I didn't have permission to kill them."

"And what a bad dog you'd be if you didn't wait for orders."

"Um," Rei said, "I wouldn't piss her off. Her resting bitch face is scary enough and she can already do an assassin in within a few minutes. I haven't seen her mad, but I suggest you don't push it."

"What is it you want from Cecily?" Zeph asked, ignoring Rei. "I mean, your main goal was her, right? She's here now, so what do you want?"

"I want to fight her."

Even Cecily's eyebrows raised a twitch at that one.

"To fight?" Rei asked, his tone mad. "You knocked us out and tied us up to fight her?"

"Now, don't talk to me like that. I'm sure you appreciate this over being dead." His gaze went back to the fugitive. "When I got the data from the palace, just a day or two, somewhere after the time frame of when your rag tag group had left, I got more than just the names of your friends over there. I managed to grab all of your files. And yours, dear girl, is the most intriguing of all. And it's not all the 'killed her mother, blah-blah-blah.' It's the video of you fighting."

"If you don't get to the point, I may just attack."

"Right, of course. I should've guessed you were the impatient type but just hear me out. I have traveled to many countries to see many fighting styles. Many of which I have committed myself to learning. I pride myself on my strength. And then, I saw you. Your fighting style is like something I've never seen before and yet I have. Your body moves in a way that closely follows animals with the prospects of being human. It's...beautiful."

"Wow," Reiko said, "now who's the talkative one."

"Permission to kill?" Cecily asked, keeping her eyes on Sei.

"Yes!" Zeph yelled. "Gods, yes. Just get us out of here. For Alma's sake, make it as bloodless as possible."

This managed to spark a flame in Alma. "Your highness, please remember that I am a certified doctor and have treated many gory wounds. On that note, however, seeing someone undoing the work of a Saint is much against my morals so please, be careful with the splatter."

"Cecily!" Orion yelled, his voice rough. "Be careful. He's trained in more than one style and has faced many enemies."

"Yeah, well, so am I."

---

If there was one thing that held true through out Alma's short life, it was loss. She'd seen many patients die on the beds all through the infirmary not to mentions her parents but, never knowing them, she felt no true loss in that area.

The young Saint didn't know why she'd had so much faith in the criminal. After all she was a criminal who undid the work of her Saint's.

Maybe it was because, a few days ago, when they were in the base, she'd actually joined them in their banter by insulting Reiko. Maybe is was because she'd never actually shown any real signs of hating them. Disagreeing with them, maybe, and definitely a little grumpiness, but she'd never really hated them. Then again, Alma's specialty wasn't exactly people, so who knew.

All she knew was that when everyone else doubted Cecily, she' trusted her.

---

Orion watched, a bit cautious, as Cecily and Sei stared each other down. No, that was wrong, they were examining each other. Sei with a snakes smirk crossing his lips and Cecily with a hunters cold eyes.

He really didn't know what to expect, which he didn't admit often, being the stubborn ass he was.

He knew without a shadow of a doubt that both opponents were smart and strong in more than one way, but he didn't know how far their intellect and strength reached.

Sei was a generally average sized man, though his arms were as thick as watermelons, which may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed appropriate. So, he was definitely strong. His weapon of choice, daggers tied around his waist, meant he was probably swift as well. And Orion knew he was smart. If he'd managed to sneak in the palace himself and steal data from the King, he could surely be deemed as smart.

Cecily was different. She was small and thin though she stood tall like a strong tree, he didn't know any to compare her to, and moved like an animal. She could use more weapons than he knew existed which was really saying something considering that he was trained in weapons. Book wise, he had no idea how smart she was, but in a fight, she knew where to aim.

It was Cecily that took the first step.

---

Cecily stepped first, drawing the blade and swinging it at the same moment.

Her foot made an slide across the dirt ground as she stayed low, keeping in mind that Mr. Wong, like most people, was taller than her. If he was going to hit her, she was going to make him work for it.

He didn't bother drawing a dagger, his foot making a quick swing for her head.

Like lightning, her body changed direction, mid swing. Her muscles, reacting on instinct, pushed her into a high jump, though she was still in a crouched position. Then the swing continued.

Her blade was met with his own dagger, blocking it. Her feet hit the ground, leaving them in a stalemate. Though, while she was giving a portion of her strength into keeping the blade against his, he was smirking at her.

If she wasn't pissed before, she was now.

Her right hand let go of the blade, letting him push it out of the way if it kept him distracted. Her right hand bunched into a ball as her right leg came up, aiming for his side. He easily dodged, but the light kick was never her goal.

The foot landed, sliding in the dirt as it supported the punch of her mechanical hand and all the force that was behind it.

Punching and kicking weren't really her thing, but she knew the extensive damage her hand could do.

If it hit.

But Sei's body had turned around the punch so that he was on the right side of her, out of her inner reach.

His hand grabbed her arm, stabilizing it. His other hand, the one holding the dagger came forward, blade pointing towards her eyes.

This time it was her right foot that came forward, latching itself in a firm grip around his. Pulling herself forward and down, using his stable stance, she was under him and one of his three blade. But she was off balance.

In a quick instinctive movement, she unlatched her hand from the long sword while using the shock from her quickness to wrench her arm from his grip.

With both hands free, she planted them behind her, managing to use a quick flip to put some distance between them.

She saw his gaze keep up with her movement, a little bit of shock still registering, but passing. She could see his muscles relaxing under his clothing. He actually thought she was retreating.

The moment her feet hit the ground, her left hand, her dominant hand, went for one of the daggers that was tied around her waist. And she lunged, the blade she'd discarded was forgotten.

---

Just when Zephyr thought she was taking a break from the split second acrobatic attack, she lunged again, a small dagger in her hand.

If he had been the one fighting, he would've been dead. If anyone but his criminal was fighting, they would have been dead.

But this was Cecily, and she could make a small dagger as useful as a sword or anything else. Anything.

Her swing was quick and entirely ineffective; it was so far from his head that he only had to twitch back to avoid it.

And Sei was winning. His right dagger coming down to impale her head from the top. Cecily was going to die wither a dagger sticking out of the top of her head.

But that wasn't the end. Her right hand shot up, gripping the dagger so hard that he was amazed at the lack of blood. The complete and utter absence of blood. But he was to focused on the other dagger, lashing out at her right arm, to worry.

"Cecily!"

---

Cecily felt the shock waves from the dagger that slid across her arm as well as the force that was being exerted on the dagger that was still trying to put her brain on a stick. But none of it was any match for the metal of her arm. The cloth of her shirt, however, easily teared, allowing the metal to glisten in the sun.

She wasn't done.

With her hand gripping the dagger, she pulled it over her head so her face was nearly touching his chest. With a quick spur of movement, she pushed herself up. Her left arm wrapped around his right, locking it behind her back. She heard the cracking and popping of his bone when she pulled his left arm in such a way that it made her cringe. Her.

With one arms useless, which she easily stole a dagger from, and the other trapped and immobile, she easily plunged the dagger, with her right, mechanical hand, into his temple.

His death was quick.