Time to Pay Up (Zidane)

"It's time you fixed this." He demanded. It wasn't about getting his old job back... Even if he wanted it, this city was too damn crooked to want someone like him back on the job. Amarant who actually did his job as a guard, he who caught and brought to justice more thieves and thugs in a day than his colleagues did in their entire career. No, he didn't want his job back... Chances are it would end up the way it did last time. What he wanted... was to lose the "outlaw" label. He had been the "bandit king" long enough. He was a warrior, NOT a criminal. He did NOT deserve to be looked at with fear from passing peasants, or the prying, warning eyes of local guardsmen.

When Amarant said "it was time", he meant it... His body was tense, ready to leap into action just in case Zidane decided to bolt. He honestly didn't think he would, however. The kid's got a moral compass but... their past wasn't something the red-headed man was just going to sweep under the rug.

And then... Zidane asked HIM what his plan was! That made the salamander tilt his head. Plan? He didn't have a specific "plan". That had always been Zidane's role as self-appointed leader! Amarant had always lived in the moment, his only strategy being "do it yourself." It seemed that he had been proven right in an old argument he and Zidane once had years ago:

Going it alone is far better than team-work.

He had to admit, he was disappointed. He was curious as to what he would do... what he would offer but this lack of enthusiasm... It annoyed the Merc. Whatever... Whatever held Zidane back was not going to deter the former guard.

"Tch. What, that's it?" Amarant scoffed. "Never-mind. I'll do it myself." He pushed himself off the wall and began to walk the long way down to the ground level, taking a set of stairs that led up to the roof. What a waste of time... Now he had to think.. how was he going to evade the stationed guards outside the auction-house...?

It was true. Amarant could have walked through and over Zidane like he were nothing like a rag-doll if he wanted too. Their size and strength difference were great enough that the red-headed man could have picked him up and thrown him across several roofs... But he did not... Nor was there any temptation to do so. Whatever Zidane thought of their relationship... Whatever HE himself thought of it... the bandit felt little if no open hostility towards the thief. They've been through enough together for Amarant to recognize Zidane as a good man if a flawed, and damn annoying one. They have debated, they have fought together... And it was because of this he stopped when the monkey asked for his attention. It was why he would listen to his proposal. He may have been annoyed with his former leader but that didn't circumvent their history.

Amarant did tug his arm free of the thief's grasp however, crossing his arms over his chest once more as he leaned against the railing of the stairs. Zidane started his explanation that simply walking in wouldn't be easy... but also with an explanation as to WHY he thieved from there in the first place! Amarant's expression was iron but the gears in his head silently spurred to life inside as Zidane admitted that it was to help a friend. Was that so? The bandit-king didn't condone the act of theft... It was subversive, it only harmed those being stolen from and there wasn't a hint of honor to it and he thought the same of all who carried it out! That was... until he truly met this kid... this... simpleton thief. Amarant was adamant to kill him back at Madain Sarri... Every strike, every move to put that thief in the dirt for stealing his lively-hood. He thought back on those days, how simple everything was, more than now, how easily he could put his labels on people.

Zidane had made it difficult... More now with this revelation. Amarant held the tiniest gem of.... something from that fateful day so many years ago near this very spot. Now that too was falling apart, crumbling to dust in his hands as the thief admitted the... honorable purpose of the score... He had no reason to think him a liar. Despite his sticky fingers and roguish tenancies, the monkey was nothing if not sincere when it came to the things that mattered. Amarant had come to expect these things from him... If he was telling the truth then... The redheaded man opened his mouth to speak but then slowly closed it, smothering the question on his tongue: What happened to that person? Since he hadn't let him get away and forced him to frame him... What had happened to that person? Was Amarant responsible for it? He was... unsure... He wouldn't know what to say to that if he was asked... Silently, he stored his question in his back pocket for later... Maybe when they were actually underway. Maybe... when tensions dropped slightly between them.

Stepping past that... somber retelling of events, Zidane stated they had to go "Below", that the guards waiting for them inside were nothing like them. The tiniest flicker of a smile twitched at the corners of Amarant's lips. Maybe there were creatures down there too. Beasts tended to occupy the sewers as much as the wilderness.

"Let's go then." Amarant responded, his voice substantially less cold... actually perhaps a tad warmer now that the thief had offered his aid. This was what he was looking for but... there were still a few pieces missing. This mysterious friend Zidane tried to help with his theft... Why they needed help and where were they now? He could sense these things had a pull on the monkey boy... and he would find out why.

The rusty grate was no match for Zidane's strength as he pried it free from it's neck, the Mercenary standing guard as the thief fiddled with it. Many civilians watched as they passed, minorly interested but many more simply averted their eyes. Amarant had to wonder WHY he had even bothered to defend a place so rotten to the core that even the citizenry would let blatant acts of criminal behavior such as this go unchallenged. It looked like nobody cared that a pair of unqualified renegades were going into their sewers. It was as if this were just an every day occurance to them! Even he, who's face is plastered across the walls of Treno was going completely uncontested here, out in the open! Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised. Whatever corruption had seeped down from the top had already pooled at the bottom by now. Two years under a new queen and nothing had changed.

With Zidane's dive into the hole, Amarant turned his attention back to it, the small moneky-thief asking for him to cover it up when he came down! The Red-headed man peered down into the hole, his face scrunching in distaste. For someone of Zidane's size, squeezing down there would be nothing... For someone like Amarant who was much taller and broader than the monkey... That meant he had to be careful.

"Tsk." He clicked in distaste before grabbing the grate and raising his arms above his head. he deftly hopped down into the hope created by the thief, the grate clicking back into place as Amarant let it go, falling down hopefully beside Zidane if he'd moved out of the way! 

The girt and grime up top had nothing on what festered down below, the scent alone already making the mercenary grimace.... more than he did on a daily basis. Ugh... He'd never gone anywhere like this before... He never had too. He was a guard, a soldier, a WARRIOR, not a footpad or sewage cleaner! He couldn't back out now, though. He wouldn't. They had a job to do. Watching the rear, Amarant would follow behind Zidane quietly, his eyes flicking in every direction, suspicious of this place... It looked like the perfect place for an ambush... Tight quarters, nowhere to run.

Internally, his stomach turned with every step, his ego attacked by the scent of this realm! What was worse was that Zidane over there didn't seem the least bit concerned beyond the initial whiff he took! Look at him, just parading through this sludge like it was the most natural thing in the world... It almost made him feel ashamed of his own shame, seeing this kid take it in stride.

A great example of this was when the pair of them inevitably came to a massive chamber constructed almost like the interior of a temple... but instead of an alter in the center, it was the biggest pool of fowl water the mercenary had ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on. The things that could float just beneath the surface of it's green/brown ripples would give Amarant... unpleasant dreams for nights to come.

Zidane whipped out a map and after some short muttering (much to the merc's annoyance), the thief pointed across the way, pointing to a ladder that lead to another chamber that would apparently get them back on track... The only problem was... the only way across the water other than through it... was a pair of very narrow ledges that bordered the outside of the pool.

"...Dammit..." He cursed under his breath... Ah, but before the two of them could make a move, a shiver rolled over the merc's spine, his hair standing on end. He had sensed something... Something sinister... Putting aside the near EVIL stench that populated this place, Amarant had detected movement, subtle but... clumsy, it's large movements being the only thing to give it away... Suddenly, the man whirled around, coming face to face with the glowing yellow eyes of an expressionless Shadow, the tiny creature bobbing and twitching like nothing else he's ever seen as it lunged awkwardly towards them!

"We have company." Amarant growled his hand slipping by his belt, his fingers slipping into his Cat's Claws instantly as he dropped into his arm-swinging fighting stance! If the thief turned to see what he meant, Zidane would not see just one Shadow... But dozens, their yellow eyes glowing ominously in the tunnels from which they came, the heartless bobbing and limping just as the one attacking Amarant was.

The Bandit dispatched the first one with a quick swipe of his claws, his steel blades cutting apart the shadow with ease as it faded into a deep black mist and disappeared. More were on the way.... Only meters behind the first... How had they not sensed their approach until now? What WERE they? How did they get here? Amarant's eyes grew steely as he stood his ground between Zidane and the monsters, his lips curled into a snarl.

"...Zidane." He demanded, holding an arm up to block him if he tried to stand beside him. "Forget the plan. Warn King. He has monsters in his city." Amarant planned to stand alone against these creatures... catch up with the thief later. If something went wrong... and they both died this day then the city would be plagued by these beasts, the people killed... If one of them stayed, however.... Held them off... Then the other might have a chance to get the guard to do their DAMN JOB for once. This wasn't an act of compassion for the monkey... This wasn't tainted by the soft squishy feelings of "friendship" or that Zidane deserved to have the safer job... But the thief had a map... and he knew these sewers better than the bandit did. if anyone were to escape... it would be him.

Amarant would make his stand here... Destroy this wave before retreating and finding his way out. That was, if Zidane listened to him at all.

Amarant's very visible anger cooled slightly, however once Zidane pleaded for his trust again, rationalizing that there was a bigger creature they needed to fight, that they shouldn't risk falling into the cistern. Damn it... DAMN IT, that bastard was right... Zidane was right... If they lost even a bit of ground, the pool of nigh-poisonous filth will do them in just as sure as the shadows would. Amarant's face contorted in utter revulsion to the nature of his choices...

And then Zidane did something Amarant would've never suspected... that low-life used magic! With a mere gesture of his hand, Zidane let loose a gust of wind that sent the dark-little bugs sprawling within the tunnel, their claws cutting desperately at the stone in an attempt to gain footing... an attempt that was in vain. As in-awe as Amarant was, however, the bandit was not completely immobilized by his shock. with a quick flick of his own wrist, a small iron-ball bomb appeared in his hand, a quick swipe across his bracers creating a spark that lit the fuse! Combining his efforts with the thief, Amarant Threw (LV2) the bomb into the gust-of-wind, carrying it DEEP within the previous chamber along with the shadows... Where it exploded with a bone-shaking *KA-BOOM!*

If there was more out there... Bigger ones... it would be best to find a better position. Amarant lingered there, waiting for any stragglers that might scuttle through the cloud that now bogged up the hall. Zidane leaped across the toxic cistern and Amarant moved to do the same... only for the pool to EXPLODE, showering disgusting fluid every which way and throwing the mercenary back a ways into the tunnel! Amarant managed to flip backwards in the air with impressive grace, landing on his leather-covered feet as he skidded back towards the cloud upon the wet tile... What immured from the water could only be described as a terrible black beast, a cross of some kind of reptile and hyena, notably strange symbol upon it's chest. And then... It was gone... submerging itself back in the liquid...

Zidane called for him, yelling for him to run-for-it... and like a trusting little "friend", he oblidged... Amarant suddenly burst into a sprint, jumping as high as he could over the oily-black sludge only for the beast to jump at him again! The Red-headed man cursed, whirling himself around in the air just in time to -barely- slip past the creature's breach, his claws outstretched to rake upon it's scales as it SLAMMED into the foundation of the sewer! Amarant managed to land on the other side... but now there was a new problem... The impact of the beast against the wall had awakened several bat-like creatures with hook appendages from their previously unperceived slumber, the creatures blocking the ladder that Zidane now scrambled up to escape!

A smirk etched across Amarant's face as he turned to face down the beast, slipping back into his fighting stance. It seemed he would have to make a stand after all, huh? Damn it... All that persuasion for nothing.

Noises could be heard from beneath the swarms of bats: Crashes, smashing of stone, the slicing of... something until... Claws RIPPED through the veil of bats that separated Zidane from the lower chambers, claws attached to a mercenary too tough to kill.

"Damn beasts..." Amarant cursed as he hauled himself up the ladder. He was not unscathed, however... Various cuts and scratches cut into his arms and down his green trousers, a large cash cut into his chest and through his green tunic. Blood dripped from these wounds but the Merc didn't seem the least bit bothered.

"Lets go." He demanded.