[color=7ea7d8][center][h3][u]Jeanne Christina Roussin[/u][/h3][/center][/color]
In utter silence, Ris and the others stood crammed together against the alley wall. After the neck breaking speed of the search for Hilde and Rich and the hurried catching up with Fae, it felt unnatural to wait like this, unmoving, awaiting Fae’s signal. Her nerves were starting to pop up again after being pushed down by adrenaline.

Judging from the direction Fae had led the in, as well as the sound of nervously whinnying horses, carrying over the noises of short-lived battles, it seemed that they were heading towards the town’s stables. Thankfully all of them knew more or less how to ride a horse. That is, as far as she was aware of. Moreover, that would mean that Fae's safe place was elsewhere and they would be leaving Middleseed behind. The sooner they were all out of this town, the better, Ris thought to herself. It seemed like the Thalburn were intent on creating a massacre here. As much as she hated running away and saving her own skin, it would be pointless to go up against a number of well-trained soldiers with her little band. They were capable enough, but catching criminals and fighting an army were two completely different undertakings. 

Time seemed to slow as Fae looked her in the eye, his expression bordering on sadness... And a sort of... Determined calmness. This man had seen horrors like this before, had experience being hunted like this, had experience fleeing a town, leaving behind all of his posessions.... He was so much more than she had thought him to be. 

Before she had properly collected her thoughts, he stalked out of the alley, leaving one bewildered girl and six impatient individuals behind. All of them were bright enough to stay out of sight and as silent as possible, while watching Ris and Fae for further instructions. The latter seemed to be doing fine, making it halfway across-

When suddenly Fae went down with the loud [i]-BANG-[/i] of a carrycannon. [I]He knew... That look... He knew what he was walking into...[/i] Ris thought, frozen for a moment. Levi was the first to react, getting up and rushing forward to get to Fae’s side. Ris stopped him in his tracks before he was able to run onto the adjacent street.  

[color=fff79a]“He’s hurt, madam Roussin. We should help him, he might bleed to-”[/color] Levi started, looking at her with wide panicky eyes, only widening further when Ris put her hand over his mouth and shushed him. Warily she looked up at the roof where a Thalburn soldier was still partly visible. She waited a few agitating second until she was sure he hadn’t noticed them. 

She removed her hand from Levi’s face once she was sure he would remain quiet. “[color=7ea7d8]Listen and think with me for a moment Levi, if he’s dead we won’t be able to help him much at the moment.”[/color] She began in a soft, calm tone. [color=7ea7d8]“If he’s not, we still won’t do him any good by running out on the street and getting shot right next to him. Right? Let’s wait for those soldiers to lower their guard. If Fae still hasn’t shown any signs of life by then, I’ll sneak up to his body and I want you to watch my back, alright?”[/color] Levi merely nodded at that, seemingly overcoming his nervousness and looking her in the eyes with a serious and focused expression. It felt a little odd, but Ris felt a sense of pride as well to see him look so determined. It helped when you knew exactly what to do and what was expected of you in situations like this.

Just as she was about to sneak out of the alleyway and check on what she dreaded to be Fae’s lifeless body, he started moving ever so slowly. She allowed herself to sigh in relief once he made it into the adjacent dark alley. With some quick motions she signalled for the others to cross the street one by one. [i]“Oh dear, I can’t wait for this to be over…” [/i]