Faith and Prosperity (Flashback 0.1)

[A.B.A.]

"Announcing Lady Claudia Monroe DeVita of House DeVita." The doorman bellowed as an aged woman moved out past the entrance and into the main hall. Aged and not at all aged all well she was a woman who'd long since traded her shapely curves for wrinkles and edges. She had a horse face, with a long narrow nose and lines that ran deep across her forehead. Her dress clung to her bony shoulders and covered all but a hint of ankle and her long and delicately slender neck. It was of course the finest dress a lady of her standing could buy, a fine blend of Tuonian silks dyed a sea foam green that complimented her pale complexion, all in all offering her the closest thing to refined beauty she could possibly obtain without magic.

As she descended down the short staircase into the parlour her steps were rickety and stilted. It would have been quite unusual for Lady DeVita to show such ineptitude in the high heels she so often wore to high society fares like this, yet while the body was indeed hers, the mind of A.B.A. was busy swearing furiously to herself as she tried to regain some semblance of balance.

Why do women bother with these things? I feel like I'm balancing on dagger points. Batting away a prim looking duke of some such place who offered assistance she moved as quickly across the mingling masses as she could till at last she spotted her companions. She locked eyes with Kain for a moment, then gave him a nonchalant flutter of her fan in his direction. It had been their sign to know she'd acquired the lady's vestige without drawing suspicion towards either of them. While A.B.A. didn't understand what good the old crone could possibly serve for Kain's mission, she'd obeyed as she always had. She'd been told to be ready for when he'd need her, and thus moved towards a small gaggle of ladies all busy crowing about the gaudy fashions they could see being worn by the younger generation, rolling her eyes as she prepared to endure their awful tripe.

[King Roxa Hiaten]

At Kain's command, Roxa moved forwards, clanking in his ungainly armour, to approach Everto. He gave a short and curt bow to his 'Lord' before taking his place beside his fellow Saint. The plan was steadily running through the young man's mind as he scanned around the large and rather expansive room. The likelihood of Roxa's eyes being able to spot that which Kain's could not was slim at best, but all the same, he was one of the few who could get away with regarding everyone with suspicion... He would have to make use of such an advantage.

Roxa looked across at Everto, and even though his helmet covered his head, he grinned.

"Shall we take our positions, Sir?"

Now that he was safely away from Alessia, he reached up to his head, and pulled the steel helmet off and held it under his arm, his blonde spikes bouncing free in every direction as he quickly ran a hand through them. He realized just how much he enjoyed the liberty of free air.

[Kain Angelo]

As ABA stepped to the crowd of women one of the elven servants stepped up to her and bowed to her, "Lady DeVita, my master is so pleased you could come. He is waiting for you in the VIP balcony."

The servant never made eye-contact with her, too many times had he made the mistake of looking a lord in their eyes and received lashing, both verbally and physical.

Don't be worried, ABA... A voice echoed in her head, Just find the man known as 'Yowai', if anything goes wrong we'll pull you out.

At this point she probably noticed Roxa and Everto heading towards the door, they would be her backup for if things got bad.

[Everto Ferox]

Everto nodded to Roxa as the two of them took their positions in the room, the man gave a subtle nod to ABA to let her know they were ready to extract her if things got bad. He had all these daggers in his cloak for that reason, that, and his sword was too big to smuggle in.

"Look alive Roxa," he said, "We cannot afford hesitation if she needs us."

[Kain Angelo]

The servant motioned for her to follow him past the guards and into the hall. "My master is finishing up a meeting right now, it shouldn't take much longer." He pushed open the door and stepped aside for ABA to enter.

Inside was an older man in red robes so vibrant that it must have been imported from Ignis. The older man was speaking to another man who was partly covered by the shadows in the room.

"Yes, sir. The preparations are almost complete..." He bowed his head low before he heard the door open. He glanced over to see ABA step in, "Lady DeVita, what a pleasure to see you. Just one moment and I'll be with you-"

"Not at all..." The other man said before sitting up from his chair, "You should never make a lady wait." The man who stepped out of the shadows was easily recognized: his smooth dark hair, white eyes was captured in the many portraits that hung in the halls.

It was Duo Angelo.

"Lady DeVita, was it?" Duo asked as he approached ABA, stopping short of the exit to give a small bow, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

[A.B.A.]

That voice... A.B.A.'s head snapped to a sound that brought fear and the memory of defeat to her senses. Transfixed on Duo as he politely introduced himself her elderly form shuttered as an icy chill crept up along her nerves. It was too unexpected, too dangerous, and it took all of her resolve to stay in character with the wounds of her nation's fall still so fresh.

'M-my, the Emperor himself." Lady DeVita's voice cracked, clearing her throat and dipping slightly in a formal curtsy. "It, is an honour." Moving to give herself some breathing room from the object of her revilement she scanned the room with an expressionless face. "My apologies to interrupt your business gentlemen, perhaps I might relax here while you finish your meeting before I proceed with my own." Her scan gave her what she needed, no guards in the room as well as the exits in case things went south.

It was then the idea came to her. To have Duo so close, so oblivious to what was taking place could not have been more perfect. Even if Duo was aware of Kain, she had kept herself from him enough to obfuscate her involvement with him. This could end everything. No, no Kain ordered me to find Yowai and talk to him. I must perform my task first. Duo comes after. Wrestling with her thoughts her face remained cool, regaining her facade after the initial shock of Duo's appearance.

[Kain Angelo]

Duo didn't speak at first, his blank white eyes seemed to stare straight back into her mind. Finally he broke contact and motioned over to one of the chairs, "Please my Lady, it'll take just a moment."

The two stepped away to finish what they were speaking, Duo grabbed the man's arm and looked right at him. They spoke for a moment before Duo stepped towards the door:

"Lady DeVita, say hello to your brother for me!" He called before another bow and than vanished out of the door.

The older man did a double take before stepping over to ABA, "My Lady, I had not known you had a brother."

[A.B.A.]

A.B.A.'s hands were trembling, both snaked around the small folding fan in an attempt to still them as best she could. The man was right, Lady DeVita didn't have a brother. A.B.A. did. All her resolve crumbled before her eyes, leaving her unable to act till Duo had left her view completely.

"He, uh...think nothing of it. Surely a man of his standing can't be expected to remember every house family tree. A simple mistake is all. Excuse me I think I need a seat." Wiping her brow with a handkerchief her thin gaunt body moved towards a exquisite love seat that was decorated to appear as if held by crashing waves on each side.

"Take no mind, my age catches up to me some days more than others." She rested against the fine supple cushions as she gave the man a thoughtful glance. Is this the 'Yowai' I'm suppose to speak with? What good could a man who allies himself with Duo do for us, unless... Thinking quickly A.B.A. continued. "So, for Emperor Duo to come here personally to speak with you must mean you are indeed important. What, pray tell, are you helping him with?"

[Kain Angelo]

"It was nothing really... he just wanted to make sure the ports I own were able to handle a large influx of mana crystals. He just arranged the order with another man - a lord from Guasto. Yowai I believe his name was."

The older man laughed a little bit, "That Lord must be important considering he's up in the Emperor's balcony." He motioned up to the massive balcony above them that was overlooking the entire area.

As the man basically spilled everything she needed to know Duo was already on his way out of the building. As he stepped outside the VIP hall and into the main entrance it'd seem like a perfect time for Roxa and Everto to dispatch the Emperor.

Except that a group of Imperial guards swarmed around the Emperor. Even with the large amount of soldiers between the two, Duo had seen them, giving a small smirk as he and the guards moved away.

"Look sharp, boys!" He called, "I believe you will be needed soon."

[Bartholomew]

Bart stood next to Kain, watching the crowds when he saw Duo leaving in the center of his soldiers. "For a strong man, he sure likes his guards..." Bart said quietly to Kain, "What should we do now?" He said as he fiddle with his necklace around his neck.

[A.B.A.]

Got it. A.B.A. smirked a devilish smirk as she gazed up to see the balcony where her target was waiting for her. Refusing to waste a moment with the new information in hand she slipped up from her seat and moved swiftly up to the man. "Thank you for being so forthright. You deserve a reward." Coming close and wrapping her hands around the now blushing Lord she gave him two small pecks; one with her lips and the other with a small hair pin she'd extracted from her tall hairdo. Knowing the poison would hit the man with a delirium before knocking him out in only a few seconds she pushed him back and in a flash of light changed her form.

Standing now in the room was a tall and thin man, wearing the split remains of Lady DeVita's dress on him. Set with bewildered eyes he gave the fabric a look of frustration before tearing it off him with a few murmured cusses. Won't be needing the disguise no more, thank the Gods for that much. A.B.A. was right about that much. If Duo knew who she was that meant he'd know the rest of the Saints had to be nearby, making timeliness that much more important to their plan.

No longer inhibited by the flashy folds of her dress A.B.A.'s moved to the outside balcony, decked out with a suite of tools, hooks and pouches slung all around her leather armour and leggings. Thanks to the form of Desmond "Spring" Treiger, a spy of Duo's that she'd been lucky enough to catch, the walls were no more of a daunting path to Yowai than a set of stairs.

Snapping on a pair of hooked attachments to her gloves A.B.A. leapt off the railing surrounding the balcony and with one hand caught onto a set of lattice-work that looped around the entranceway. Skulking up the woodwork she gave no pause before leaping up and digging both of the claws into the chiselled walls. Crawling up two feet she kicked off the wall, springing to another balcony one story up and interrupting what she assumed to be a romantic moment between a finely dressed(or rather, half-dressed) middle age man and one of the servant girls.

"Won't tell if you don't." Quick wit, another gift of Desmond's she'd been happy to receive. Leaving them to shriek and cover themselves she resumed her climbing. She had a lot left to go after all.

[Kain Angelo]

Why didn't Duo attack...? Kain asked himself as he watched his brother leave. It didn't make much sense, he could have finished a fair amount of the Saints right there...

But than it reminded Kain of something. When they were young children they were anything but normal, even then their minds worked like massive supercomputers and they used those minds to play elaborate games with each other.

Often using other children their age as pawns in their games they'd take sides and try to edge each other to make a tactical mistake (the 'war' often ended when it was too dark to play). Duo thought of this as another one of their games which meant he wasn't taking the Saints serious at all...

Which also meant he was about to send his own 'pawns' to make their move. This meant he'd have to speed his plan along.

'Roxa, Everto make your move! Take out the guards and move to rejoin with ABA. Nobody hurt Yowai though, I need to speak with him myself!'

"Barts take Nia and wait for Everto and Roxa to attack. Once they do I want you two to enter the VIP room on the other side, clear out any soldiers you see. The Emperor's Balcony is at the end of the two halls and I want them cleared!"

He made a quick glance at Alessia and Grey, motioning for the two to get move on. They knew what their jobs were.

"Sonorc, you're with me." Kain said finally, sitting up from his chair.

Meanwhile while ABA scaled her way up to the balcony there was a group of about eight soldiers in the room, going over some papers that were scattered on fairly large desk. Something was different about the soldiers though, they weren't from Unda...

...They were from Guasto. Their armor gave the impression they belonged to the 'free Guasto' movement which was supposed to be against the Undian invaders.

[Bartholomew]

Bart nodded and then glanced over at Nia. "Nia, I'll take lead." Bart said as he pulled on the bottom of his necklace, and revealed a knife. While not his sword, he still wielded it with amazing skills. He placed the dagger into his pocket and walked down the halls. He waited by the door, hidden from sight.

[King Roxa Hiaten]

'Got it.'

Roxa placed his helmet back on his head and started to move forwards, his hands both reached to the opposite waist as he stepped forwards and brought his arms forwards, each grasped a small knife which was flung forwards with savage intensity. Aided by bursts of air, the daggers lodged into the necks of two guards who fell to the ground clutching at their throats, trying to get the blades out of their flesh. Roxa again reached to his waist and unsheathed his silver blade, which at once was plunged directly into the stomach of a nearby guard.

[Everto Ferox]

Behind Roxa there was the sound of more bodies falling, Everto had taken out the reinforcements who were going after the boy after he killed the third guard. He spun the now bloodied dagger and slipped it back within the hidden confines of his coat, he tipped his hat to Roxa.

"Not bad, but a little rough. Good tactic with the knifes to the throat, impressive, but I would not have used the sword on that last one. He made a bit too much noise when he hit the ground. When you said you were used to battle I clearly see you are, but take some advice from a former Chalybsmen who used to take war to the frontlines." he loosened his servant clothes and showed more sleeker black clothes lined with knifes. He dropped the hat on the ground and his black spikey hair was visible for a moment before he slipped a hood over his head.

"Sometimes the best kill..." he slipped on a metallic mask. "Is the kill that is done by a ghost, not a warrior."