Arranged Marriage

"Wait, for real?" Dominic yelled, smiling frantically at Ulrich. "We just…get a gem?"

"Seems like it." Ulrich nodded calmly. "But…why wouldn't they just get the gem themselves?"

"Maybe they just want to find the gem before we can. They get one gem, and we get another. Then we'd both have two gems for the final battle." Dominic replied. "I remember somebody on Fighter x Fighter doing that."

"You like that book?" Ayana asked.

"Eh, my friend liked it. It was kinda slow for my tastes."

"Same here. Plus, the clown guy wasn't even that hot." She sighed.

"Anyway…back to the gem." Lainey said. "You think your brother would know about it?"

"Oh yeah, Shin." Ayana replied, her voice going down a few notches. "Our employer told us it had powers, so he might know."

"Well, we just ask, right? He seemed like a pretty chill guy." Ulrich said.

"Uh…I kinda flipped him off. Ayana screamed at him a bit too." Dominic let out.

"Shit. So, do we have to prepare for a fight?" Ulrich asked, irritated.

Ayana silently nodded. Ulrich closed his eyes and sighed.

"In our defence, he's kind of a massive asshole." Dominic said calmly.

The four of them walked up, Ulrich and Lainey taking up some small talk about whatever. The band, Fatal Fantasy, that kind of thing. While that happened, Ayana's breathing got more and more heavy.

"You okay?" Dominic asked politely.

"Yeah? Yeah." Ayana replied. The two walked in silence for another few seconds, when Ayana tripped. Dominic managed to catch her and put her back on her feet, and then backed away when she made a noise like she was about to vomit.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Dominic asked, noticing her face getting pale. "If you want, I can carry you."

"If I trip again, then sure. But I swear, I'm fine."

A few steps later, and she tripped again. Dominic had her latch onto his back, and he continued the walk to her house.

The three walked up the hill, where an elderly couple were sitting and watching the stars. They waved to Ayana, who waved back. They approached the brown door of the house, and Dominic let Ayana off his back.

"Hey Ulrich, I'm gonna open the door. Mind shooting a fireball to check for traps?"

"Good call." Ulrich replied, igniting his hand. Dominic shooed away the girls, and then flung the door open diving out of the way while Ulrich shot a small flame forward.

Nothing happened.

Dominic got his axe out. Ayana took out her knife. Lainey broke off a small chunk of a new granola bar, putting it in her pocket before Oni could find it. Ayana and Dominic crept into Shin's room, checking for any trace of the gem.

"It's gone." She gasped.

"God damn it." Dominic muttered to himself. "So where would he be?"

Ayana's eyes widened. "The back. In the graveyard."

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Lainey went to check out the back of the house, where some random teenage looking man was waiting.

"Hm? Who are you?" He demanded, his narrow brown eyes squinting at them. His brown spiked hair, black hoodie a size too big with a rabbit skull on it, and slouching posture meant Lainey instantly wanted to kick him in the balls.

"Grave robbers." Ulrich replied nonchalantly. "Heard about the graveyard here being magic or something, and we want in on that."

The teenager chuckled slightly. "Trust me, you don't want to see what's going on in the graves right now."

"Some dude with a white gemstone?" Ulrich asked cautiously.

The teenager scratched his head for a second. "Beats me. I think he has one of those now. Why you askin?"

"Heard it looks nice." Lainey said calmly.

"Well, you two aren't who I'm looking for, so feel free to get killed." He closed his eyes, waving them away, remaining in front of the back door, with the two smelling cigarette smoke as they walked to the graveyard.

The teenager continued smoking in front of the door, when Ayana and Dominic burst out.

"Ah, Ayana!" He said enthusiastically. "It's been a week or two, hasn't it?"

"Seems it has been." She whispered, slowly moving behind Dominic.

"And who would this be, exactly?" He asked, pursing his lips. "You wouldn't happen to be cheating on me, would you?"

"What?" Dominic asked, more confused than anything, before realization hit him. "Wait, are you…her husband?"

"Fiancé, technically. And you must be that English boy Shin told me about. My name is Akira Minamoto, glad to have you here."

"Yeah, sure." Dominic replied, his voice flat. "So, you're gonna try to take Ayana and have your evil wedding, that you guys idea?"

"Well, the phrasing is off, but the wedding part is correct." Akira affirmed. "And I can't exactly have you destroying a bloodline, you understand?"

"Oh, piss off with that!" Dominic yelled. "Just wear some gloves or something! And besides, what does all this have to do with taking the gemstone, anyway?"

"Ah, so you do need the gem?" Akira asked. "Well, the girl for the gem. Fair trade?"

"Oh hell no, you wanker." Dominic yelled out, taking out his axe. "I'm not on board for this bollocks at all!"

"Yeah!" Ayana popped out from behind him, only to immediately shrink back behind Dominic when Akira glared at her.

"So, a conflict of interests." Akira said, deadpan, flicking his cigarette towards Dominic’s hair. "It…seems that we have to fight now, right?"

Dominic didn't even feel the need to respond to this piece of shit, he just started running before he even knew it, and Akira casually raised his hands in front of him.

"Dominic, don't hit him!" Ayana screamed, but Dominic was already in the process of slashing his hands before her message reached his ears. Dominic jumped back, just in case, barely missing the crimson crystals that spurted out of where he slashed.

"Ah, shit!" Dominic yelled.

"Aw, what's wrong?" Akira asked mockingly, clenching his hands and dislodging the crystals. "That your only technique?"

He gleefully approached Dominic, hands behind his back.

"Surely you can do more than that. Fight off the injustice, hero. You have the power of friendship or whatnot, correct?" He asked, glancing at his shirt. "Surely, there's some hidden level of power you can achieve, right?"

Dominic concentrated for a second while this man was in front of him, trying to awaken some kind of power. He couldn't, so he just hit him in the face with his axe, hoping his sorry excuse of a brain would get some kind of damage. He turned his head slightly, with the crimson spikes jamming into his shoulder. Dominic jumped away, but when he was safe, he felt a chill across his left shoulder. He looked over at where the breeze was, and there was a hole in his shirt.

A hole, in his blue Demon Ball X shirt.

Her shirt.

Dominic felt like vomiting. The one thing he promised to himself, and he failed. He started breathing heavily, and Ayana went over to him. His blue eyes glazed over. She gently touched his shoulder, but Dominic just started breathing harder.

"Ooh, is he unleashing his true power?" Akira laughed. He once again approached Dominic, but Ayana stepped in front of him, her knife in hand.

"Stay away." She demanded.

Akira's mocking smile left his face. He pursed his lips, readying a fist. But before he could even throw it out, Ayana issued a swift kick to the groin. Akira held a panicked and distressed look for a second, before grabbing Ayana's wrist and slamming her to the ground.

"Okay, now…I'm…annoy-"

Akira didn't even get to finish his sentence. He heard a ruptured scream, and then felt an airborne Dominic delivering a kick directly into his face. Akira threw a punch, and Dominic blocked it, responding with another kick to his balls, followed by a punch to his face, knocking him down onto the ground. Akira just saw Dominic, eyes searing through him with rage. But all Akira saw was this random child, who wasn't even a mage, glaring at him. He got back up, cackling the entire time.

"Well, if you intend on taking this fight seriously, I welcome that. In all fairness, removing people like you from the gene pool would be just…such an honour."

"Oh you bloody…" Dominic breathed in, looking towards Ayana.

"Hey Ayana, can you fight?"

"Yeah." Ayana spluttered.

"Then get off your ass and help me beat this bitch!"