To A Thief - Chapter 44: To A Thief

A Chapter by Jobyn

Every road has a beginning. Not just an end.

Yhoator Jungle

"Shh!" Lion hushed Stiff as the two of them crept through the jungle canopy above the trees, their eyes fixed below. "There he is."

Lion pointed downward at the ground, unsheathing one of her curved daggers. She kept a fierce expression on her face as she gripped the handle tightly.

"I know!" Stiff whispered in a rasp tone. "I'm not blind." Readying his own dagger, he brought another hand up and held onto a branch overhead, using it so he could lean over the tree and get a better look below.

It was Sekai. He was laying on a makeshift hammock made of thick rope. In his mouth was a long thin pipe and upon closer inspection, one could see that the weed in it had long since burned out. He appeared to be asleep.

"Tch," Stiff muttered in whisper, narrowing his eyes. "Look at this guy! He's sure livin' it up. Got himself a little jungle suite going on here, with hot food and everything!"

"No use whining about it now," Lion retorted. "We've finally found him. Now it's time to take him out. I'll flank him from the right," she said as she Blurred with ease over to the tree some thirty feet in front of us, hardly making a sound. Our movements were swift enough now that the jungle wild life drowned us out in its midst. It must have been noon now, so it was especially noisy.

I looked over at Lion, and she looked back. We read each other's eyes and hands, as we couldn't just call out from our trees. She pointed her thumb towards her chest and then waved her hand forward-sideways, keeping it flat for a split second before holding up one finger.

"I'll... go... first," Stiff thought to himself, reading her signals. It was quite basic, really. He gave a nod and she nodded back. They prepared themselves.

Without another moment's haste, she began with a quick Flee and sprinted rapidly down one of the trees that was suspending Sekai's hammock. She was spiraling around it and keeping her footsteps light. Of course, she wasn't going to go straight for their Master Thief! She'd be done for by the time she got even five feet close to him, snoozing or not. No, she went straight for the hammock.

Right on cue, as Sekai had just begun to open his eyes when the end of his hammock started to fall, Stiff activated his Flee and was quick to make his way similarly down the tree he was in. Lion grabbed the sliced end of the hammock's rope before it fell and Blurred upward towards Stiff's tree having used her own as a footing.

Doing the same and slashing at the remaining end of the hammock, Stiff grasped it in his hand once disconnected and Blurred up towards the opposite tree he had ran down from. There was no way Sekai could escape now! They had him netted like a fish. The two partners continued to Blur across each other, trading ends of the rope each time they did in order to secure the "net" and tie him up for good.

Sekai followed them with his eyes as they got to work on him, not reacting just yet.

"It's over, Sekai!" Stiff called out as he and Lion both let go of the ends of the knotted ropes and Blurred towards him with their weapons drawn, about to strike.

"As if," Sekai sneered as he plummeted down in the "net". Just as fast as the two had used Blur, he had done so as well- except not to dash in some other direction. That would be impossible with no footing. What he did instead, was spin his body around which caused the ends of the knotted ropes to spin with the force and speed of what felt like a propeller the moment they struck the unsuspecting students.

Lion was the first to get hit by it, and damn it hurt! You do not want to go face first into that at the speed the two were going...

She landed hard on the forest floor, shortly after followed by Stiff who landed on top of her with a soft thud. Do'h! And if that wasn't bad enough for her, Sekai landed on top of both of them since he had still been trapped inside the hammock net.

"Oogh!" She choked out as she got the worst of it all. "Get off me! You're both so heavy!"

"A net? Six days to yourselves and this was your master plan?" Sekai chuckled and simply sat there with a defiant look on his face, not bothering to remove the net because at this point he had the upper hand no matter what they did... or so he thought. "Come on guys, I wanted to be surprised... was that too much to ask?"

But he suddenly stopped abruptly and snapped his head up in surprise as what appeared to be another Stiff Blurred towards him with two daggers drawn.

There was a sudden flash as two edges clashed. After that, Sekai and Stiff stood holding one of two daggers at each other's throats and the other ones mingling sharp edges.

"A draw, huh," Sekai thought as he stood there eye to eye with his shining pupil. "I had cut the net just in time. I got too cocky. But how did he...?"

Taking a good look now, he saw that Stiff was half naked. He was only in his trousers. The rest of his clothing was on the Stiff that Sekai thought he had been sitting on, which was actually a wild Opo-Opo that bore his brigandine armor, gloves, and boots. It wore a dark fluff of tinder as hair.

"Heh, I see," Sekai smirked helplessly. "While you two Blurred across one another multiple times from tree to tree to tie the ropes together, you removed an article of clothing and gave it to the monkey to put on. Naturally, at that speed, it was easy for me to miss it. And I'm assuming you switched places with the monkey at the last minute. But how did you manage to pull that one off?"

Stiff grinned and turned the side of his head, revealing a bruise on his cheek. "That's right, I switched places with the monkey, but I had to take the hit from the rope in order to fool you into thinking you had struck our furry friend here. After that, I just hid and waited for the right moment."

"I see. Just what made you think I wasn't going to glance down and see that it was a monkey I was sitting on? You'd have to be quite stupid to settle with an idea like that. Words escape me at the fact that you got me with it."

The Opo-Opo gave a big monkey grin, showing its teeth in a silly manner as if it were taunting Sekai.

"Um," Lion grumbled before flailing. "Can you two like, GET OFF ME already?"

Stiff laughed and helped Lion up as Sekai rolled off with a helpless apology. "Yep. It was a very stupid idea, and I was absolutely considering the risks involved. But you're a big cocky b*****d, like me! So I figured, it just had to work."

Sekai placed one hand on his hip and rubbed the back of his neck with the other, giving a crooked smile. "Eh. Cocky, huh. Well, I'll give you that much. That was definitely interesting," he mumbled, turning to Lion. "And you agreed with this?"

Lion crossed her arms after dusting herself off. "I wasn't even aware he was going solo on this. The original plan was the stupid hammock... which I went with."

"You wouldn't agree to it if I had told you," Stiff shrugged. "Besides, it wasn't solo! I couldn't do it without your idea. You provided the base, and I provided the pillar," he winked, putting his arm around her shoulders playfully.

Lion would just look away saying, "Yeah, whatever, kid. I guess so." One could almost say she looked shy at the moment as Stiff held her in his half naked state. For such a stupid "kid," he sure had a nice body.

He wasn't always like this, of course. But being with the Brigade for just over a year did wonders to his once-scrawny self.

Sekai looked over at the monkey as it climbed over his shoulders and peered over at the Master Thief. "So... I'm supposed to accept that you taught a wild monkey some tricks in just six days, mate?"

Stiff rubbed the back of his own head and grinned wide. "Ah, about that... you see, I have a girlfriend back home who... can speak Opo-Opo. Let's just leave it at that."

"... Okay, then," Sekai nodded, still confused but accepting that Stiff had almost one-upped him. He was just stunned by the progress that his two students- particularly Stiff- were making. What could possibly be driving him at this point?

"I thought he was crazy," Lion laughed, pointing at him. "He was chasing Opo-Opos around like a retard when he thought I wasn't looking." But then she stopped laughing and gave a grumpy look. "Who would have thought that would actually come in handy."

Just then, she stopped entirely and snapped her head in his direction after rewinding what he had said. "Wait! Girlfriend? You have a girlfriend? I don't recall kids dating so damn young!" She grinned, pointing at him.

"Oh, will you shut it with that kid stuff!? I told you before, I'm only one year younger than you! What's the big idea?" He growled.

"Hey, I call em' as I see them," Lion giggled, poking his forehead.

The Opo-Opo joined in on the usual wave of insults between the two, hopping around them in circles while wearing Stiff's clothes and squealing angrily as if to get them to stop. But they didn't.

Sekai sighed and allowed them ride this one out on their own. Both of them were like kids, really. No, actually, they are kids. They're still so young, and yet... they are more independent than the average adult adventurer. And he's not just thinking it because he left them both to fend for themselves this whole week in the jungle with nothing but the clothes and weapons on their backs.

He couldn't help but rest his eyes on Stiff as he quarreled with his partner. His mind sunk into a void of thoughts.

Stiff... I wish I could share the burden with you, mate. It is quite obvious that you have friends all over Vana'diel, but in the end... truly... you are alone.

You have no idea yet what you mean to this world. Or what this world means to a man like you.

To a Thief like you.

What your parents and them have set in motion for you...

I just hope that for Aiden and Serena's will, my timing was right.

Norg

"Ah, home sweet home!" Lion stretched her arms out as the trio walked back into the underground port town. "Hey Sekai, how's about treating us to one of your fancy dinners? You sure put us through hell this last week, you know!"

"Aw yeah, I second that!" Stiff grinned wide, holding his hand up and high-fiving Lion. Although he stopped when their hands made contact, the smack of their palms spurring up a familiar memory.

Yes, that was it. The high-five with Draven during their training at Ghelsba with Moku. Funny how long ago that felt like, but in reality, wasn't much longer than a year.

So much has happened since then...

When I think about it now, I almost can't begin to comprehend how far we've come since then. Not just us, but everybody. People change, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst... but no matter how far we've come, we will always be the same person who started that road.

And where there is a road, there is a beginning. Not just an end.

Draven, Moku... let's go back to Ghelsba when I return home. Let's go back to the beginning.

This time, we travel together.

Did I mention I can dual-wield daggers proficiently now?

"Still here, mate?" Sekai leaned over and asked, having been wondering what the heck Stiff was doing standing there with his hand up like a weirdo. Lion was already making her way towards the tavern, being greeted left and right by her fellow pirates who were more than happy to see her.

"O-Oh! Yeah. Fine," Stiff smiled crookedly. "Was just wondering what we were going to ask you to eat!"

Sekai snickered. "Right, then. You leave that to me."

But before Stiff could follow behind Lion, he brought a hand to his shoulder and stopped him. His face had become more serious. "Listen, Stiff. Tomorrow is going to be an important day for you. It might even change your life. Not just because it'll be the end of your first training phase or maybe even the end of you if you don't play your cards right- but because of something else. I'm going to have a talk with you. But not until then."

"Eh?" Stiff blinked, tilting his head as the sudden change in tone and subject peaked his curiosity. "About what?"

"About your parents and Eri," Sekai said without hesitation. He let go of his student's shoulder and started walking off towards the grand hall that led into Gilgamesh's office. "About your past."

Stiff stood there wide eyed, replaying what Sekai had just said over and over in his head. About Sister Eri? About... mom and dad?

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Will Stiff finally learn about his parents and their identity after seventeen years? And what does Sekai have to say that concerns his past?

Find out next time in Chapter 45: Mom and Dad

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