Treasure | Ateez

| 04 |

"Si vis pacem, para bellum"

- If you want peace, prepare for war

☾ ☾ ☾

The roads were empty, the rare sight of horse driven carts now nowhere in sight as the patter of footsteps behind her alerted her of the fact that she was being chased.

"Oh dear god why today?"

She groaned, clutching at her skirts and running down yet another alleyways, careening towards the left at the glimpse of a face in the building before continuing the chase.

She turned around, eyes wandering around the area as she stooped to catch her breath.

They wouldn't catch her.

The voices said the wouldn't catch her.

She turned once again, narrowly missing the call of - what she supposed was - a member of the crew.

Her back hit the wall.

She cursed, finally noticing the corner she had found herself in.
A brick wall blocking her path while the previously empty area was now occupied by yet another individual. 

"I should probably say sorry it had come to this, but the thing is that would be a lie"

The man spoke, twirling his daggers over his fingers in a hypnotising motion, catching her attention before they made their way back into his palms. 
His outline hidden away behind the cloak that covered his face and the shadows that blocked his face, covering him in a shroud of mystery and a faint scent of sea water. 

"It is nice to know your true intentions, I do hate liars"
She shrugged, keeping her voice even as she stared him in his eyes. Stiffening her gaze and and lifting up her dagger, mimicking his tone and grinning. 
"Especially when they seem to want to kill me" 

That seemed to make him pause. 
His eyes lingering on the silver of her weapon and the engravings on the hilt, looking at her with greater interest as he noticed her stance. 

Accurate. 

She had been trained.

"You are awfully talkative for someone faced with death" 
He tilted his head, a sharp jawline catching against the lights, catlike-eyes sharpening as he spoke. 

"Would you prefer some crying?" she replied "would you like me to scream?" 

"I guess not" 

"Exactly, it is much too irritating" 

Aeris scrutinised his position, following the twist of his leg and the rise of his arm.
Tracking the movement of his eyes and the turn of his body to gauge his move before he leapt, aiming straight at her throat in a flash of black a silver against the sighing wind. 

She rolled to the side, twisting the hilt of her knife upwards as it snagge the material of his coat, ripping a jagged line before separating into the opposite directions once again.
Both breathing heavily as they circled the small area, waiting for the others attack.  

The stranger moved first once again, this time clashing his sword towards her right arm, which she blocked with her knife, feeling the clash of arm against her own, eyes locking through the blur of movement before she swiped at his knees to which he jumped away, retaliating with a strike to her abdomen which hit its mark.

The line of red cut through the fabric of her clothes, staining the light blue a dark red - like a stain of wine along a dining tables fabric - marring it, as she stared.
Clumsily blocking the onslaught of strikes as the voices rose once again, seeking escape. Seeking blood.