Fan Fiction ❯ tic tac Repo ❯ The Rougish Quarter ( Chapter 2 )

"Dull, dull, dull..."

Clorette de Winter sat with her head on top of her delicate hands, breathing a sigh of fatigue and boredom. It had been a long day at the "Halls of Antiques" and she silently thanked the gods it was almost over. She was sorely tempted to ask the shop owner, also named Halls, if she could just close up early so she could go rest. The lack of any business might convince him, but then again he might push to stay open as long as possible to wait for a customer to come at the last minute. As she was wrestling with these scenarios, the chimes announced the arrival of a customer, or customers she noticed as she rose her head.

Clorette brushed the strands of her auburn hair from her sapphire eyes and blinked twice to make sure she wasn't seeing double. The pair of young elves standing at the doorway looked like they were cut from a mirror. They both had sea blue hair, violet eyes, and angular elven features. Besides the difference in hair length and clothing, the other distinct difference between them was their facial expressions: the boy seemed cold and distant while the girl looked too happy and full of energy.

"Hello?" said the girl in a bubbly tone that got on Clorette's nerves quickly. She then realized that she was being rude and she hadn't even welcomed them in.

Putting on her best public face, she smiled pearly white teeth as she said "I'm sorry for being rude. Let me welcome you to the Halls of Antiques, you'll never find anything more unique anywhere in San Delea nor the world. My name is Clorette, how may I help you?"

The boy had said nothing and simply began browsing.

The girl skipped over to Clorette and stood before her desk rocking on her heels. "Hello, Clorette! My name is Cecilia, but people call me CC! That's my brother, Siren! Nice to meet you!"

Clorette took the proffered hand and shook it as she looked at the young elf. "Pleased to meet you too, Cecilia. It's quite rare to see elves in a big city like this and I'm sure I've never seen you two before."

"Actually, we've just arrived from Meliar Village after a three day journey!" Cecilia explained excitedly. "It would've been longer if we'd gone by my brother's pace, he is SUCH a lead foot. If I hadn't literally pushed him, we would have never gotten here!"

What is with this girl? She is way too hyper. Clorette thought to herself. "Well I'm surprised you're so full of energy after such a long journey. The first thing people do when they get here is find an inn and sleep for at least a couple days."

"Having lots of energy is one of my good points! Or so people say." Cecilia replied. "Actually, we hoped to find a certain place before finding an inn. Besides, the inn rates are so high!"

Clorette found Cecilia more and more interesting, but she still kept a wary eye on Siren. "A certain place? Well I don't know what you intend to find in a run down part of town like this."

"Well, it's a secret. Or so my brother says." Cecilia answered with a finger over her small mouth.

Clorette looked between the young elf girl and Siren, who was calmly browsing the antique display shelves. Is she serious? I wonder why all the secrecy...

"Well, you look like a nice enough old lady so I guess I can tell you." Cecilia leaned in closely, not noticing the frown on Clorette's face. "We're looking a thieve's guild. Cool, huh?"

Clorette drew back with a start. "W-well...you certainly have my attention, little girl. There are certainly a lot of those around here."

Cecilia was in Clorette's face once again. "I knew it!! So this is where our parent's old gang is! We're so close, I can feel it!"

"Your parent's...old gang...?"

"Cecilia!" Siren now stood at the doorway with an annoyed look on his face. "Let's get going. There's nothing for us here."

"Eep! Ah...coming, bro!" Cecilia said as she turned back to Clorette. "Thanks for talking to me! Maybe we'll see each other again soon!"

"Ah...certainly..." Clorette watched Cecilia joined her brother, the cold yet confident look in his eyes chilling her.

"It's a nice place you have here." Siren said. "Though it isn't very secure. I'd be careful if I were you."

"Uh, right." Clorette nodded as the twins left the store. Cecilia's words ran through her head as she looked at each of the display shelves. She was relieved to find that everything was where it was supposed to be. Nothing was missing at all. You're getting paranoid, girl. That hyper elf was probably pulling your leg. Better be careful or you'll be as jumpy as she was.

She jumped as she heard the back door open, but relaxed as the engineer came in. She gave herself the mental beatdown of her life as she went to greet him. "Bazuka! You startled me. Finished already?"

The young gnome named Bazuka, only a year younger than Clorette, adjusted the cap on his wild coal black hair. His goggled eyes regarded Clorette strangely as he replied "Startled? That's a word I never thought would come out your mouth. Did a customer finally rattle your cage?"

Clorette shook her head. "No, just a hyper-active elf girl. I swear, it's decaf time for her."

Bazuka shrugged. "Well it's time to check the locks on the displays so excuse me." With a nod from Clorette, the engineer walked over and bent down by the closest shelf. He then jumped back to his feet in shock. "What the hell is THIS!?"

"What's wrong?" asked Clorette.

"The locks are gone!" Bazuka exclaimed as he frantically looked around at all the shelves. "ALL of them!"

"WHAT!?" Clorette looked at the displays. Indeed, a hole in the glass doors was all that was left of the locks on the shelves. "But I thought you fixed them!"

"I did!" shouted a frenzied Bazuka. "I made sure they were tightly fixed this afternoon! There's no way!"

Clorette paced the room thoughtfully. "But why just the locks? The antiques are all here; why did they take just the locks and not anything else?"

"A lock collector, perhaps?" replied Halls from the backroom entrance. His shoulder-length blue hair framed a calm, cat-like face. "But that's not likely since the ancient locks are still here. Maybe the person is sending us a message?"

"But who would send a message like THIS!? I worked all day on those things!" Bazuka said hysterically.

Who indeed… Clorette stopped immediately as the realization came to her. "It was that boy!"

"Boy?" Halls repeated in interest.

"What boy!?" put in Bazuka.

Clorette faced the two men and told them about the twin elves that had come in shortly before and how they were looking for a thieves guild. The two men's faces were marked with surprise and shock.

"Hmm…Twin elves from out of town that knew of a guild." Halls said thoughtfully. "I guess this means they've come after all."

The clerk and engineer looked at their boss in shock. "What do you mean by that? Do you know them?" asked Clorette.

Halls continued looking down in thought. "Well I know of them. They must be Cinnabur's kids, he said he'd be sending them down to us. Bazuka, you'd better get after them before they get into trouble. We'll worry about the locks later."

"Right, sir!" Bazuka nodded and immediately left the scene.

"I don't understand! Who is Cinnabur? Who are those kids?"

Halls looked at her seriously, the way he usually did when he was about to give a explanation. "I guess it is about time to explain it to you. Cinnabur Doublemint was one of the greatest thieves that worked under my father, when the 'tic tac Repo' Guild was at the top of the world in business. There wasn't anything he couldn't steal without efficiency and style, especially with his skills as an elf. He was also close to my father, a trusted friend that was always reliable for anything.

"But on a certain job he had stolen more than he had bargained for. Besides the sacred artifact he had been sent to recover, he also stole the heart of a sorceress that had caught him. After that, he had the worst time concentrating and shortly thereafter he retired. We'd hardly heard from him, except that he was happy with his life and he had twins. I don't even know how he felt when the news about my father's death came about."

"So…you called him back in order to catch up with him?" Clorette said with sympathy.

"Not exactly. I wanted him to help restore the guild to its former glory with his skills, but he decided to stay retired. Not that I blame him." Halls gave a thoughtful pause before he continued. "I wonder if his kids are as skilled as he was."

Clorette looked at the lockless display shelves. "Well judging by this mess, I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry."

* * *

"It's getting late…" Cecilia muttered to herself as she noticed the darkening sky. "I wonder if Siren is having better luck than I am. We split up in order to cover more ground and I know he was against it, but what else could we do? What'll we do if we can't find them? We can't stay at an inn! We can't sleep out here! We've no place to go! No money! It's too far to go back home! Oh gods, I'm cracking up!"

"Hey, little girl."

Cecilia jumped nearly a mile high in surprise. She turned to find a young man with shaggy brown hair looking at her, giving her a bright smile. She was glad to find such a nice-looking person in this now deserted area, but at the same time she was a bit nervous since she didn't know him.

"I've been watching you for a while now. You look lost. Maybe I can help?"

"Well actually…I am quite lost." Cecilia replied nervously. "You see, I've never been in this town before."

"Well that's no good, let me show you around." The young man extended a hand. "My name Lou, by the way. You have a name?"

Cecilia gave him her trademark introduction and shook his hand, nearly tearing it off. As Lou led her through the sector he told her all about the customs and routines of the town, and how hard it was to find any good women there. Cecilia giggled and told him the reason why she was in town and he said that he knew all about the Repo Guild. The things he told her were a lot more amusing than what Clorette had told her and he said he could lead her right to them. She listened so intently that she wasn't paying much attention to where they were going, she was only focused on his words that gave her a much needed cheering up.

They turned a corner and found themselves in a dark, walled in alley. A confused Cecilia turned to Lou, who was now looking at her expectantly. "Umm…it's a dead end. Did we make a wrong turn?"

Lou chuckled in response as two more young men stepped from behind some boxes. "On the contrary, silly girl, we're right where we need to be. Right boys?"

"Right, boss." replied his heavyset cohort as he rubbed his hands greedily.

The other skinny boy ran a hand through his short cut hair. "You were right, Lou. This one is cute. I guess it is true what they say about elves."

Cecilia backed up against the wall, her violet eyes quivering in fear. "I…I take it you're not the Repo Guild…right?"

"Yeah, yeah! Right you are, baby!" the heavyset boy nodded excitedly as he turned to Lou. "So, who gets first dibs?"

Lou tossed back his shaggy hair as he advanced on the frightened elf. "Now now, you know we can't do that. Virgin girls sell for so much more. This elven bumpkin will raise the stakes even higher!"

His partners chuckled in agreement as he grew ever closer to Cecilia, whose heart was now jumping like mad. Despite her fear, she wasn't about to go down lightly. "Back off! I'm warning you, touch me and something very bad will happen to you…"

Lou looked back at his partners and gave a uproarious laugh. "Ooh gods, I'm so scared. Now shut up and take what's coming to you and maybe you'll live to enjoy it, honey." He ran a finger along her smooth cheek and down her neck. Her sensitive skin tingled at the touch, her heart lit aflame as his hand slid a strap of her dress from her shoulder.

"Skin as smooth as silk. Definitely a rare find..." Lou stared at her greedily. He noticed her body shaking and turned to his partners. "Hey, she's shaking! I knew she'd get excited off this!" As he turned back to continue, he found two glowing violet eyes staring back at him and he immediately stepped back, feeling quite unnerved.

His partners came up behind him, both feeling very afraid. "What's up, boss? Why are her eyes glowing?" Skinny asked in a quivering voice.

"Is…is she possessed?" Heavy squeaked.

It was now Cecilia's turn to advance on the trio, a blazing red aura and trickles of lightning surrounding her. "Possessed? No. But I warned you assholes that something bad would happen if you touched me..."

"Oh...crap..." Lou began slinking his way out of the alley.

An unearthly glow surrounded Cecilia as she began speaking in elven, the lightning gathering in her outstretched palms. The entire alley seemed to glow with life as the angry little elf stared at her offenders with murder in her eyes.

"Die, you pests! PLASMA WRAPPER!!"

The frightened young men could only manage a small squeal before the entire alley exploded.

Siren was returning to the place where he'd agreed to meet Cecilia when he heard the explosion. Immediately knowing what that meant he raced at top speed towards the source, unsheathing his dagger just in case he'd run into some trouble. He hadn't noticed that he passed the Halls of Antiques, but Bazuka noticed him as he blurred past. Taking off after the elf, he started calling after him but he got no reply. The engineer then resolved to simply follow the boy to wherever he was going, which was no easy task.

Siren arrived at the now smoking alley and was relieved to find Cecilia seated on the ground, readjusting the strap on her dress. Two comatose young humans were surrounding her in smoking heaps and Siren immediately guessed who the victims of her explosive temper were. A third quivered at the end of the alley, but Siren paid him no mind as he went to his sister. As he approached her, he found that she was crying.

"Are you all right, Cecilia?"

Cecilia instantly recognized her brother's voice and instantly leapt up, wrapping her arms around him and weeping aloud. "Oh Siren! It was so scary! I thought he was going to help me, but he almost raped me! We're never going to find this guild! Let's go home! Please, let's just go hooooome!"

Siren wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her hair soothingly. "It's all right. I said we'd find them and we will, so don't worry. Just stick by me and I'll protect you…hmm?" He turned to find a strange young man standing at the alley entrance. He was very strange looking with his capped black hair and the goggles he wore over his eyes. Siren raised his dagger defensively.

"Whoa! What the hell happened here! I know I didn't cause this, but it's still an impressive explosion!" Bazuka remarked breathlessly as he stepped towards the twins. He stopped when he saw the dagger.

"Who are you?" Siren asked in an icy tone, his violet eyes glowing slightly. Cecilia raised her head from her brother's chest and looked at the man curiously.

Bazuka backed off slightly with hands raised. "Whoa, steady there! I didn't do anything! You're quite the difficult boy to follow, you know?"

Siren's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "And just why were you following me?"

"Well…ah…how can I put this?" Bazuka thought hard through his nerves for an explanation. "You're looking for the Repo Guild, right? I think I can point you in the right direction."

Siren's face remained stone cold. "And how do we know we can trust you? This might be another trap."

Damn, what a stubborn kid! I WOULD leave my crest back at the shop. Bazuka scratched his head in thought. "Well, it's not like I have a damn membership card on me! I'm just asking you to trust me!"

"Humans are not exactly high on my list of people to trust." Siren replied coldly.

"And what about me?" Halls said from out of nowhere. He stepped into the light of the alleyway and looked directly at Siren. "Am I on that list, Siren Doublemint?"

Siren released his hold on his sister and faced Halls directly. "And just who are you? How do you know my name?"

"My name is Halls Van Wrigley. I recognize that dagger in your hands, it's the Crescent Wind isn't it?" At Siren's look of shock, he continued. "Your father used that sword in my father's service. The fact that you hold it means that you're his son, Siren. The young lady must be your sister, Cecilia."

"You know our father!?" Cecilia exclaimed in surprise as she stood by Siren. "If you know all that then you're…"

"The heir to the Repo Thieves Guild, left to me after my father passed away." Halls gave a gentle smile as he added "Pleased to finally meet you two."

A long silence hung in the alley as the twins looked at Halls and Bazuka in shock and disbelief. It was Cecilia that broke the silence with a jump for joy. "Yeah! We did it! We did it! We did it! We found them, Siren! Isn't that so cool!? Brother?"

Siren finally recovered his senses and looked at his happy sibling, replying with only a nod. He was as relieved as she was, if not more so.

Halls beckoned for the twins to follow him. "Come on, let's go back to my place. We can discuss things more over there and I'm sure you two are quite tired."

Cecilia readily skipped after Halls, happy as a robin in the morning, while Siren trailed behind her staring at his father's short sword.

I can't believe we finally made it. Maybe now I can get some answers.

Lou quivered on the spot as he watched everyone go. He didn't noticed his toasted friends twitch and try to stand on their feet, but he did notice the taller young lady standing before him, shaking her head in disgust and popping her knuckles.

"At it again, Lou?" Clorette said crossly. "How many times do we have to tell you? Selling off other people is no way to live..."

"Mind your own business, Clorette!" Lou snapped. He then grinned slyly as he added "Unless, of course, you wouldn't mind being put on the block as well?"

Clorette smiled sweetly at the little thug, right before sending him sky high with a well-placed palm strike to the chest.

"CC's not the only one with a handy temper, moron." Clorette replied as she went back to the store as well.

Author's Note: That's it for now. I wasn't planning on continuing the story beyond this, but maybe I will someday when I think up something. Anyways, let me know what you think!