Jugger x Candira

((No, I meant Sapphire had originally made good time--the wording just sucks on my part. Still having fun, though we seem to have reached a point where decisions need to be made about how this is going to end...))

"I suppose...I don't know how she was traveling. We should have beaten her if she was going by horse--all that would be left to do is to warn the king of her arrival, or dissuade her from her course of action. Why is she doing this again? Tell me more about this woman so I can be of assistance in guiding you."

(We can always start another one after this if you want. :] )

Nathan rubbed the back of his head. He felt uneasy about telling her exactly why Sapphire was hunting down the King...or the reason she was forced to do it in the first place anyway. "Its like this...the King of Yokai hired me to assassinate the King and Queen of Florensia...but I only managed to kill the King...I was imprisoned and brain washed to have thought I was a loyal guard of the Queen of Florensia, and that I would have to go and hunt the King of Yokai....After a while...She told me the truth and I kind of...told her to get away from me...and now she's going to finish the mission herself..."

Corin seemed shocked. "What!? She's a Florensian guard? We have to hurry! If she's caught there's no hope of her or the king being alive.

"Oh wonderful..." He murmured as he grabbed her hand. "You have to look less like a White Mage. Take off the robe and get ready to dash to the kingdom. If Sapphire's already here...we may already be too late miss!"

She took her robe off to reveal that she was another curvy redhead, though her features were a lot simpler and more understated than Sapphire's. She was also far more covered up. "Let's look for her. She's probably got a plan. So her name is Sapphire..." She paused. "You know, I bet she's doing this for you."

He shook his head. "I don't care what she does for me anymore...And I doubt she would be doing it for me...She's lied to me this whole time...There is so much she's probably lied to me about..." He said as he gripping his hands into a fist to the point it even hurt him slightly. "Lets just get this over with so I can start my new life..."

Corin slapped him. "You don't get it do you? Part of being a white mage is caring. Caring to the point where it hurts! And if you can't admit to yourself that you care at least a little, you'll never make it." She frowned and looked sorry for hitting him.

"She probably didn't want to lie. She didn't have to tell you the truth, you know. This woman, whoever she is, obviously cares about you if she told you the truth. She's already betrayed her queen by going against her orders. Imagine what will happen if she gets caught trying to do your part of this mission. She's not a trained killer, she's a guard! Her specialty is defense."

Feeling the slap to his face, he watched her as she scolded him about him not caring. "I never said I didn't care..." He murmured before seeing how sorry she seemed to be after all that she just did. "Don't worry about it...You're just trying to help is all." He said shrugging as he looked at her. "You're right...she's a guardian, not an assassin...Lets just get going and hurry up before she gets herself killed."

Corin chanted a little something and handed him a stone. "We'll split up. If you find her or need my help, use this stone. Just say my name next to it and it will glow. You'll just have to tell me where you are." With that, she tore off into the night, searching for a woman called Sapphire.

Looking at the stone, he seemed to be in wonder for a bit before going off in his own direction...straight toward the castle. Seeing as how the guards knew who he was...they let him in without a problem. Walking around the castle, he was wondering where exactly Sapphire would be...But he didn't call out to her. He knew she was somewhere in the castle...But where? The only possible...or rather, reasonable, place she would be would be near the king...so he began to walk toward the king's chambers.

Sapphire woke during the night and since she was the king's favorite, she had permission to wander the castle. She was doing just that at the moment. The harem was connected to the castle, after all. She was looking a the different ways she could escape the palace if her plan was discovered. She was dressed in a long robe that hugged her body, but beneath it, she wore a thin, short nightgown, proof that she was one of the king's concubines. Once the queen found out about the way this was handled, she was sure there would be trouble. But the job will have been finished. And she would hopefully still live.

Eventually Nathan caught sight of Sapphire in the darkness. "I know that figure of a woman anywhere..." He said to himself as he followed after Sapphire. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he turned her around as he glared at her for a bit...still angry that she withheld information like she did from him for so long...but then his face turned soft as he pulled her into a hug. Tears streamed down his face. "I'm sorry...I'm just so sorry..." He said as he tried to stop the tears from flowing, and he did. He was just really depressed now, aside from the two lines of tear remnants on his face. "I came here to stop you...I also came here to apologize...but I can't let you kill this king...War will break out...It isn't worth losing so many people...!"

Sapphire was shocked to see that Nathan had arrived at the palace, much less gotten in with such little trouble. She'd tensed at feeling his hand on her shoulder, but the instant she turned around, the tension moved to her stomach, and the look on his face...the one that told her she was the worst person in the world greeted her. It was painful to see, even in the dark. Before she could say a word, his face took on something that looked like pity before he pulled her close to him. Flabbergasted, she stayed in his arms and let him...was he crying?

Was it possible that he was here for her? She looked up at him as he told her his reason and told her he was so sorry. Though he was quiet, she wasn't sure he was quiet enough, so she put a spell on them so that only she could hear him and only he could hear her. This way, they could shout and still be safe from discovery.

"You...you shouldn't be here. I deserve whatever I get for lying to you like that. The queen has ordered the death of this man, and if I don't take care of it, the burden falls to you. And I don't want to lose you again." She put her arms around him again and held him tightly. "I don't see a way out of this. There's no way I can go back to Florensia if I don't complete my mission, and if I turn on the queen I'll be killed. If I get caught by the king I'll be killed, and he's expecting me in his chambers tomorrow. I know exactly what will happen if I kill him. One of us will die. And I will not let you be the one."

She closed her eyes and tried to stop the tears, but failed. Sapphire looked up at him and shook her head. "How did you get here so fast anyway?"

"How I got here is not important...Look, if the king needs to be killed...let me kill him. At least then he can't trace you to being a witch and cause a war to kill everyone in both kingdoms. I'm hired by Yokai originally...I will just kill him and everything will be fine..." He said as he looked to her, letting her go. "I'll kill him and you can help me escape...Its as simple as that..." Though he may not become a white mage...he wouldn't sit back and just let Sapphire die. "Please...just let me do this so I can ensure your safety. If you help me escape without being seen, we can easily get away freely."

Sapphire wiped some tears from her eyes and kissed him softly. "I can't let you do that for me. It's just as bad as making you believe your memories were real. I'm trapping you into a path you didn't choose." She ran a hand through his hair and smiled softly. "Don't worry about me. I've got a plan. I can only do so much to help you, but I'd much rather you did something for yourself than for me." She smiled and took a deep breath. "Remember when I told you how I felt about you? I was really telling the truth. I really did fall for you..."

Sapphire looked up at him once more and tilted her head. "I have to do it, Nathan. Besides, if it's anyone's fault that the king of Florensia is dead, it's mine. I didn't even see you coming. This punishment was mine to bear from the beginning."

"No. It isn't your fault. I was greedy...I was hired for money...lots of it to kill the king...I only killed him because I was paid. Its my turn to take revenge on the King of Yokai...He knows I'm not a witch...so if I kill him, it won't start a war. Darnit Sapphire...stop trying to do things because its your 'punishment'...think about what your actions will do to your people. It will force them to war with Yokai and many innocents are just going to get slaughtered...but if someone from Yokai killed the Yokai king, we won't have this war between our nations."

"But..." she knew he was right. Of course he was, she'd thought of it before...but the idea of losing him was awful. "I can't stay in Yokai. And if I return to the queen without having completed my mission...I'm sure leniency will be out of the question. But...If you do it I can't guarantee your safety. Unless....I suppose we could put on an act. The guards here think I'm just a concubine for the king, and the king is only interested in one thing when it comes to me. Maybe if you killed the king and pretended you were here to kidnap me, we could both get away...but are you sure you really want to do this?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, there is one place we can be safe...The temple of the White Mages. If we live there under new names...we might be able to stay free from the shackles of both Yokai and Florensia...but by the way...You wouldn't get punished. Your mission was to see that I would kill the king...not that you would do it. Even if I do kill the king...you'll be safe to return home whenever you want to my little jewel."

"That's just it...I can't leave without you. I won't." She put her arms around him and held him close. "If you can't come with me, I won't try to escape. Not alone anyway."

"Don't worry. You remember how fast I ran when I was trying to escape you the first day...right? I'll easily make it out of here with my life. I promise." He smiled to her. "Just go on...I'm going to assassinate the king. Meet me in the temple of the white mages...try and find a young redhead white mage...I don't know her name, but she helped me get here. I promise I'll make it back to you."

"Wait..." She didn't want this to be the last time she saw him. Not like this. She kissed him deeply and held him tightly, casting several spells on him for protection--increased speed and strength, and one to weaken physical attacks from foes. "I love you, Nathan Stone. And if you don't make it back to me I'll never forgive you...or myself." A few tears slid down her cheek and she released them both from the spell that kept them quiet. "Be careful," she whispered.

Nathan nodded. "Go. Go to the temple. If you don't see the White Mage I spoke of earlier there, she's stayed behind to help me then. Go." He turned and began to walk toward where the king's chambers would be...despite the fact there would be many maidens there in his bed with him, he would still have to kill him...whether its stealthily or not. He prefered to do it stealthily...maybe he could do the same trick to him that he did to the king of Florensia...choking him with thin strings while still out of sight. Climbing up to the floor above the King's chamber, he silently carved a small hole in the ground just above the king's bed and slowly began to drift down some string until it wrapped around his neck. Quickly and hard, he pulled the strings and began to kill the king...then he'd jump off the castle's balcony and into some underbrush and make his getaway.

Sapphire bit her lip and watched him before she took off, practically running out of there. She was stealthy as possible and made sure no one saw her levitate out of the harem. Once she was safe, she used her magic to put her in the dress of the white mage--covered and hooded. And then she was off to search for the white mage that had helped Nathan. She had to do something to help him. And finally, she came upon the temple where she would be safe.

Corin saw a young woman enter the temple just after she did. She turned to face the woman who was flowing to the brim with dark magic. "You...are you...Is your name Sapphire?"

Sapphire was surprised that it was so easy to find her. "So you must be the mage that was helping Nathan...I don't know what you said to him, but thank you...Unfortunately, I think it's safe to say he won't be following the way of the white mage any time soon..."

Corin nodded. "I sort of figured once I heard more of the story. You should be more careful. Both of you."

"I could say the same to you, Princess Corin. It was awfully dangerous for you to do something like this..."

Nathan's plan didn't go one hundred percent right. He managed to choke the king to death...but his escape plan was blocked. Guards came running the first moment the women in his bed started screaming of him being choked to death. As he rushed through the castle, he was avoiding guards, left and right. Rushing through them all as he blocked sabers and deflected arrows with his own sword before sliding past the castle doors to the courtyard. He began to run for the gate...trying to escape. He was almost there! Then...fate came crashing down onto him. An arrow rung out through the air and pierced through his chest. He looked down, seeing the tip of it had gone through his body. Before he knew it, two more arrows went into him. One on his right thigh, and the other just below the first arrow. He fell to the ground, watching as his blood started flowing out. "Sapphire..." He whispered out...Though her spells had helped him escape narrowly before, it seemed it only worked long enough for him to see the night sky one last time before he fell over. He could feel his body slowly growing colder as the guards dragged his body away, leaving streaks of blood through the trail he was taken. He was on the verge of death...but refused to go...He wanted to try and hold on for as long as he could...He sits in the dungeons, eyes heavy as he forced himself awake as the arrows were still in his body. Though he was alive, somewhat, word went around that they 'killed' the assassin to the king of Yokai.

Word spread like wild-fire that the king was dead--and so was his assassin. Sapphire nearly fainted. "Oh no...please, no..." She fell to her knees, pale and shaken to the very core. She should never have left him. She should never have let him do this. "Nathan..." She closed her eyes and willed the tears to stay in place, but they came anyway. "Damn it!" Her fist crashed into the floor, but the only damage it did was to hurt her even more.

Corin watched in absolute horror and pity as the woman she'd known to be a strong guard for her mother was put through this sort of pain. She frowned and pulled a stone from her pocket--the pair to the one she'd given to Nathan. She spoke his name and the magic in the two stones activated. "Nathan? Can you hear me? It's Corin. Please answer me if you're still alive," she whispered. Sapphire was too wrapped in her despair to do much more than sit there and try to cling to hope.

"Please, I need you to answer me."