From a single look at Rayna's face, Dame knew there was trouble. From the firm steps she took to the large vein that would show on the side of her forehead. Since her hair was brushed back and placed in a ponytail, it was really visible on her.
The fact that she was here in the library of all places and walking toward them meant she had been looking for them. Dame was trying to do the calculations in his head as to what the possible reasons could be.
'Did she figure out I lied from Fixteen? I thought you were meant to be the smart one of our little group. Couldn't you have thought of something to buy more time?'
What Dame didn't realize was that Rayna had caught on to more than he originally thought because she wasn't just annoyed that he had lied to her about one of their brothers, but it was that she had figured out they had stolen from the vault.
She looked over her shoulder, seeing that no one was close, she stood there looking Dame right in the eyes.n-.In
"You two, what are you planning, why did you take crystals from the vault?" Rayna asked. "There better be a good answer for this, and especially you. I already informed you that I would speak to my father about the other item, and you took it anyway."
"You've completely ruined my trust in you. For going against a higher clan member and using my trust like that, I want you taken out of the Clan!"
In Rayna's eyes, she had every right to be angry. She felt like she had been taken advantage of by a lower-ranked Clan member. Just when she was doing them a favor. It didn't matter how talented they were.
If they were to act like this, then they had no loyalty to the Clan, and who knew what they would do in the future.
"Wait!" Dame said, getting in the way of the two of them. "Don't take it out on him; I can explain, just let me speak to him first. Look, we won't run away, we can't, you would catch us, right?"
Right now, Dame was hoping to appeal to Rayna's good side. She seemed to still be acting with somewhat of a level head, and she imagined it was just because it was him. If she wanted to, she could have reported this straight to one of the elders or their father, but instead, she had gone looking for them.
Dame and Raze pulled back a bit, heading closer to the area of scrolls, while Rayna was tapping her feet away, blowing hot air. She didn't even know why she was letting the two of them speak, just giving them time to come up with an excuse.
'Dame, I swear if you weren't my brother who had saved my life with your request, I would have turned you upside down and chopped you limb from limb already. What crazy things are you planning to do!' Rayna thought.
"It looks like we've been caught," Raze whispered. "But you thought this was going to happen, so you had a plan, right?"
"No," Dame replied instantly. "I thought that we wouldn't get caught; remember I was just going to take you to the library and then head back out of the clan, never planning to go back. I thought they would find out a week or so later."
"Honestly, right now, I don't know if it's our saving grace that Rayna found out, or if it's the worst case."
"What do you mean?" Raze asked.
From the interactions he had, Rayna wasn't a bad person, or at least wasn't bad towards Dame, and the two of them had a stable enough relationship for her to even allow them this chance to talk to each other.
"Because if it was someone else, I could just silence them to keep the secret," Dame explained.
These words that were used, silence, Raze didn't know if this was a technique that Pagna warriors knew or not, but if it wasn't, he was pretty sure Dame meant kill. It came as a surprise that Dame would be willing to kill one of his own Clan members, but it might have just shown how important it was that others didn't learn of what was to happen.
"Because it's Rayna, though, she's a high-ranking middle-stage warrior. We would need the help of the whole Crimson Crane again to take her down, so the two of us doing such a thing is out of the question."
Hearing this, now Raze was understanding that they were in a trickier situation than he first realized. They couldn't run away, and any attempt made would be difficult. They were in the deepest layers of the Abyss; trying to rise to the top would be one of the hardest challenges ever.
'I guess there is one thing I can do,' Raze thought. 'If Dame can hold off Rayna long enough, I can use the crystals to open up another portal or create the portal to head back to the cave at the academy. If I did that, I would just have to get the others at another time.'
With that looking to be their only solution, Raze was about to suggest it until Dame had spoken up.
"I have an idea, something that I'm pretty sure will work!" Dame had an unnerving smile on his face.
"How sure are you of this plan of yours?" Raze asked.
"I'm 90 percent sure... no, I take that back, 80 percent?" Dame then looked at Rayna, who seemed to be getting impatient with the vein on the side of her head growing larger. "Maybe 70 percent."
"Just what plan of yours keeps getting lower by the moment!" Raze whispered in an angered hushed voice.
What he wanted to know was if it was better than his plan. How strong of a warrior was she when compared to Dame? To draw a complicated circle, it would at least take him two minutes at a rush, maybe even longer. What were the chances of Dame holding her back for that long?
And if they did it his way, would the Neverfall Clan become their enemy?
As if he could read his thoughts, Dame answered. "If this works, at least we won't become an enemy of the Demonic Faction, remember what I said, it's the one thing we should never do."
With this, Raze decided that he would put his trust in Dame, but not without having some sort of backup plan. Because in the past, whenever he would put his trust in people, it would never work out.
Breaking from each other, the two of them started to walk over and approached Rayna.
"Finally, did you two discuss long enough to come up with some half-lame excuse?" Rayna asked. "Because I really don't think there is any good reason for the two of you to have stolen from the vault."
"But there is, my dear sister," Dame started off in a soft voice, and almost like a movie, looked from the ground and then up, staring directly into her eyes. "It's because I plan to leave the Neverfall Clan... this is what I believe I deserve as my parting gift, and in doing so, I want to help this person by my side."
"This person is deserving of being helped, and I think you would agree because he is the Dark Magus!"
