[color=#00B300][h3]Vent/Anne[/h3][/color]

[i]Two[/i]

Vent was tiring quickly from his combat with two bandits who had rushed him with daggers after they recovered from his first attack. Blood was dripping from his left shoulder after one of them dodged to the side of a punch and slashed across. He could feel the heat from the flames that the lizard man had spewed out of his mouth at the Red Banners and the blood of other bandits splash against him as the girl with red hair and another female in a cloak defeated them. Many of the remaining seven or so bandits were backing off, wary of all those who had joined Vent in the fight. The young man turned his attention towards Barrow who stood behind the bar with his whip readied and his hatchet in hand. A look of sheer anger was pasted onto the man’s face he it almost looked as if the man might explode from it.

[b]”You.. come to my town, disrupt my businesses, kill my men, and now you have nerve to fight back! Oh just how much I’ll love killing you boy! Get over he..”[/b] Barrow said before feeling the force of Vent’s magical push and was jolted back against the wall. Vent coughed up some blood but moved quickly and jumped over the bar and landed with a stomp right into Barrow’s stomach. He pulled the pirate up and started to hammer him in the stomach, jaw, and ribs. In what felt like an hour, Vent shattered four of Barrow’s ribs, his jaw, and had caused the man to cough up almost an equal amount of blood he had lost from the cuts Vent had on his body. Barrow had lost consciousness and was eventually tossed aside by the angry Vent who turned towards the remaining bandits.

They ran out of the bar and could be heard making a racket outside as they shouted about Vent’s battle with Barrow and their leader’s defeat. As the exhaustion of going past his limit caught up with him, Vent fell down behind the bar and onto the floor. He felt like the muscles of his body had been through a climb of two thousand feet and he could feel the burning pain in his arm as blood leaked onto the floor. At this point, he would welcome death simply to sleep and not feel the pain anymore but he couldn’t accept such a death. Not until he had brought Callie to her people. Vent rolled onto his stomach and started to crawl out from behind the bar with as much energy as he could muster.

It took a few minutes but Vent reached his goal through the sheer willpower he had in him. Anne lay on the ground with blood covering her left temple. It was obvious that the Red Banners had used pure force to try and take Anne but Vent was unsure how injured she was. [b]”Hey…wake..up sleepy head.[/b] Vent managed to say as he pushed against Anne’s left side. He was too focused on trying to get Anne up that he failed to notice Barrow standing back up. The pirate leader advanced towards Vent, hatchet in hand and primed to land it right in the man’s back.

[b]”Ya should have just joined me boy. How much of a waste you are!”[/b] Barrow said as he swung the hatchet down only for it land with the deep thump into the wood of the floor. Anne had managed to wake up just in time to move Vent out of the way of the hatchet and save them both. Barrow stood in the tavern without any of his crew and surrounded by plenty of people will to kill him. He tried to remove the hatchet from the wood only to find it buried too deep for his injured body to even manage to yank out.

[b]”This town… is… done playing your games...ya bastard!”[/b] Vent managed to say before coughing up more blood. Anne stood up and held a knife in hand while Vent was propped up against the legs of a table. The wounds he had gotten that day were painfully present in the back of his mind but the look on his face betrayed only derision towards Barrow. It was obvious that the situation had turned for the better when the three strangers appeared and Vent was thankful for their help. [b]”Let’s… make a deal. You… pay for.. the damages and… you get to live. If not… you die and… the money will be taken… to help everyone in this town.”[/b] Vent managed to say as Anne pressed her knife against the man’s neck. Even if Barrow resisted Anne, he would be killed by others if he tried anything. At least, that was what Vent was hoping.

[b]”Fuck off!”[/b] Barrow managed to say before it turned into a gurgle and blood spilled from his cut throat. Vent lay inches from the man’s body as the blood pooled and leaked through the gaps between the wood. The last breath of consciousness was uttered by Vent in this moment has he slipped into a sleep caused by his exhaustion. Anne approached him and sat by him as Callie landed on the table above. She was deeply grateful for the man who had only known her an hour at most but had saved her life and the lives of others in Rockvale that day.

[b]”Thank you. All of you for helping him. I’m sure he would have told you the same thing I say now. He couldn’t have done it without you.”[/b] Anne said as tears streaked down her face. She quickly ran up the stairs and put the blanket Vent had readied for her over him before she went to look through Barrow’s pockets. Inside one of them was orange jewel which she threw to the barkeep and inside the other was his coin pouch. Anne untied the strings and poured out the coins ranging from coppers to gold onto the table. [b]”Please, take only what you feel you deserve. Vent… he would have given you it all without taking any for himself.”[/b] Anne said as she sat back down with Vent. She placed his head on her lap and sat there, waiting until Vent would wke up.