[center][h3][color=DDA0DD]Sasuke Stormwind[/color] + [color=#ff8b8b]Axley Crawford[/color][/h3]
([color=DDA0DD]Cosmic Fury[/color] and [color=#ff8b8b]YoMoves[/color])[/center]

[hr]

So far, Sasuke’s chance encounter with the group seemed to be going as smoothly as he expected it to. An alert stance from everyone present, a brief moment of tension, and then a voice of reason in the form of a monk… with hair!? 

The moment of relief as fleeting, though: The same monk who had stepped forward with a friendly voice got into a fighting stance out of nowhere. [color=lightblue]"I know bites like that.  During the war, we'd find corpses with their blood drained.  The only wound was two teeth marks. You met the enemy. You met them and you're still alive? Why?"[/color]

Sasuke saw the man enter a defensive posture, but kept his cool and retained the same alert stance as before, just in case. It was a long day for all of them already, so he could understand the tension flying around. It didn’t mean he had to be [i]nice[/i] about it, though. [color=DDA0DD][b]”I met an Abyssal on my way out of this Gods-forsaken ruin. I had my back to the river, so I decided to fight. Long story short, I lost but somehow got away with it. In exchange, I got this annoying ass mark on my neck as a souvenir.”[/b][/color]

Sasuke wanted to make one final thing clear, though: [color=DDA0DD][b]”Oh, and one last thing: If I really were an enemy, I would have just attacked you already. But I haven’t, so what’s the point of all this posturing?”[/b][/color] Sasuke could understand the monk’s ignorance of military strategy, especially in this situation. Any spy worth his salt would have done their best to keep word of this attack from getting out. It was plain that whoever destroyed this city wanted it done fast, so that they could keep the momentum going. Sasuke had no idea what they had to gain by destroying a city rather than conquering it, but he could figure out that mess later.

While Sasuke waited for the monk’s reply, he took a much closer look around the encampment to assess the others in that group. The sun was coming up fast now, and he could now see the finer details. Only one person in the group had a sword. Even then, that sword looked too ornately decorated to randomly take into battle. The decorations and crests on the scabbard were clearly faded, but they still looked somehow familiar.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and laser-focused his attention in that direction… and tasted bile. [i]Either I’m crazy or this is six different kinds of bullshit.[/i] Even if she was who his gut told him she was, she was supposed to be dead. He had to make certain beyond any shadow of a doubt, though. [color=DDA0DD][b]”What’s your name?”[/b][/color]

While Axley had to admit Snow’s point was valid, the Sasuke Axley had known was more than a match for the average undead warrior. Though if Snow was as concerned as he was...Axley had to ponder. Exactly what had her old...acquaintance? -- she’d need to find a proper word to describe a man one was forced to hang out with for political gain sometime -- run into on his path to safety? Regardless, she severely doubted a man with pride like Sasuke would fall in line with the enemy. No, something else had happened, though-an Abyssal. He’d fought an Abyssal. Axley would have been more surprised if it had been anyone but him. But somehow, it almost seemed par for the course, especially now that the end of times seemed to have been wrought upon them.

Axley would have pointed out the major hole in Sasuke’s own posturing if she wasn’t certain it would sail right over his head. A smart enemy would appear friendly at first before going for the most opportune -- and most effective -- backstab right when the group was least expecting it, especially since it would be effectively four against one were he to turn foul of them. But manipulation and convoluted strategy tended to be a bit beyond him. Sasuke was a simple man. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it did make him somewhat predictable at times. Even two years removed, she could have mouthed his response to her own rebuttals.

And now he was staring at her. Oh, why did he have to do that? His eyes weren’t even ones of recognition, which would at least make the awkwardness fade a bit, but he didn’t even seem to recognize her. They were the confused eyes of a man lost in nearly waking thoughts. Maybe she looked familiar, but to have forgotten so much in a relatively short time...they’d had dinners together, gone shopping...Axley hadn’t gotten attached to him, per se, but did she not stick out in his memory at all? She almost took offense to it. The question put a serious exclamation point on the entire situation, and her cheeks burned with both embarrassment and mild indignation.

[color=#ff8b8b][b]“If you’re about to tell me you completely forgot nearly a year and a half of forced-upon meetings and what was once at least a workable friendship, then maybe you took a few too many clubs to the brain in your arms dealing, Sasuke Stormwind.”[/b][/color] Axley postured maybe a bit more than she wanted to, but for some reason she really, REALLY wanted to drive the point home that he shouldn’t have forgotten her so easily. [color=#ff8b8b][b]“Did the Abyssal suck out your memories as well? It’s not like Axley’s even a common name, you know…”[/b][/color]

[color=DDA0DD][b]“I… had to make sure. I thought you were dead.”[/b][/color] Sasuke still tasted bile, and it was clear even from that distance that all color had drained from his face.

[i]Fuck the monk with hair.[/i] He had far more important things to worry about, like getting the sane part of his mind to convince everything else in his brain that he wasn’t staring straight at a literal ghost.. [color=DDA0DD][b]“And how the hell [i]could[/i] I forget? I could count the number of friends I have on one finger, and you were on that list! After fighting at least two different kinds of dead shit, I see you coming back from the dead. What else were you going to expect!?”[/b][/color]


What else was she to expect…? [color=#ff8b8b][b]“You could have done some digging around. Only two bodies were recovered from that fire.”[/b][/color] Of course, most of the world had simply assumed her body had been burned beyond recognition, but still. She knew deep down their lack of connection was still at least partially her fault. She could have come to him and let him know she was still alive. [color=#ff8b8b][b]“To be fair, seeing someone you thought was dead ought to be, at best, the fourth most incredulous thing that’s happened to you in the last twenty-four hours.”[/b][/color] She could riddle them off. Watching the Imperial Ruins live up to their name, fight an Abyssal, and lastly, still manage to get a word in edgewise against her. For once, Axley relented. She really didn’t want to fight her old friend either way.

[color=#ff8b8b][b]“I didn’t die. I just...didn’t want to be remembered for my father.”[/b][/color] Axley’s indignation quickly turned to crestfallen humiliation. She despised bringing up her family, but had felt the need to now twice in the last day. It was always a dark sting when her past reared its ugly head once again. [color=#ff8b8b][b]“I couldn’t bring myself to see you, because I didn’t know exactly how much you would have learned. Everything got leaked. To admit to being a Crawford would be as well as offering myself to prison or worse.”[/b][/color] How much did he know, anyways? Axley’s eyes searched Sasuke’s, wondering whether she’d find confusion, acceptance, or worse.

Sasuke paused for half a second. He needed to find some good words, but he decided to be blunt about it anyway. [color=DDA0DD][b]“I learned everything. About your father, about what he did throughout his career, and even the strings he pulled to get us to meet. Hell, I found out about what led to the fire, and it’s because of that I thought everyone died. But what your father did was his responsibility alone.”[/b][/color]

Sasuke didn’t wait for a response (especially from that monk with hair), and continued anyway. He knew at this point that their friendship started because of a series of shady events, but he wasn’t the sort of guy to care. [color=DDA0DD][b]“Regardless of your past, I’d like to think that we’re still friends, even after all this time. If those goons don’t like that fact, they can sit on my sword and rotate for all I care.”[/b][/color]


This was not entirely what she was expecting. There should have been some kind of doubt or dissuasion from returning to chums just like that. Hell, she had manipulated him at her father’s will just so they could get along. She turned away, biting her lip with confliction. Should she just be selfish and accept this gift? Friends were hard to come by when the world’s gone to shit, after all. She had two, and maybe Fergus, but she’d known Sasuke longer than all of them. She deliberated in silence, wondering just how he could get past her misdeeds, even if they were orchestrated by another.

In the end, she simply turned back to him and shook her head.[color=#ff8b8b][b] “We’ll see if we even get along anymore. For now, a sellsword, let alone a good sellsword, would be really important in getting us to Lord’s Crossing. It’d probably be best for all of us if we stuck together either way.”[/b][/color] Axley put on a semblance of toughness; it would fool the common eye, but Sasuke likely knew her enough to know she was putting on a convincing show. She didn’t know what to think about this. Sometimes the gods gave gifts, and other times they simply left mysteries. This could be either, but currently rested in the latter. She needed more time to remember if they even truly could be friends again…

Regardless of her past, Sasuke thought that the gods and the world they forsook already delivered any needed justice several times over. That said, he was more than happy to let bygones be bygones, and bury the whole thing along with the rest of that city. He knew that their friendship would have had to start over anyway, and he thought it best to start on the right foot. It was better to guard a few extra people and make sure he’d be able to survive all the way to Lord’s Crossing, after all.

Speaking of extra people, he turned and faced the monk with hair again, having never changed his own stance. [color=DDA0DD][b]”So, what’s it gonna be? Are we exchanging names or blows? I could go either way at this point.”[/b][/color]