Desert Encounter (DragonSong)

[Jiaolong]

Fighting really was like dancing, Ruby observed. The monster wailed in obvious pain, throwing its head back as yellow blood dropped from its wounds. However, it's tendril like fur wriggled, slowly covering the wounds.

It was healing...but not fast enough. He quickly grabbed a torch off the wall, using its flame to ignite the end of a jagged strip of wood that had once been part of a table. Ruby charged at the beast's back, jumping and grabbing onto the beast's back. He stabbed the thing in the neck with the burning piece of wood, but to his dismay, it didn't die. Instead, it screeched again, bucking and sending him flying into some tables and chairs.

He felt something sticky run down his face and touched it. "Oh...red..." he muttered. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the flames spreading across the creature's back from the embedded piece of wood.

[DragonSong]

Maka nearly shouted for the stupid mage to back down, but it was too late. She dodged Ruby's flying body- don't have time to check on him, just react.

Her blades swept in again, an X beneath the creature's neck. With a snarl she jerked the blades apart, cutting into its throat from either side.

Its head went flying, and she spun to check on the mage. "Ruby!"

Oh wonderful. He was unconscious.

[Jiaolong]

Ruby blinked slowly, his eyes settling on the severed head of the monster lying in a pool of blood on the floor.

"Yuck."

He slowly stood, wobbling a little. His white hair was now streaked with red. "Well, it looks like you took care of that thing...are you okay?" He asked, voice small.

[DragonSong]

She was panting lightly. Something...something about that creature was tugging at her death sense. Not in the way that she was familiar with, almost like- like dozens of ghosts were calling out to her, tugging at the edges of her consciousness.

"I'm...fine." Maka frowned and reached up to brush his hair back from his brow. "You're hurt."

[Jiaolong]

He grimaced as he felt a sharp pain on his forehead. A quick touch confirmed there was a large gash there.

"...I probably should've thought that last attack through a bit more," he said, smiling slightly. "But, it'll be fine; I heal fast anyway. See?" He lifted his arm that had been scratched by the Sandcrawler and undid the bandages: the wound had healed, leaving behind a faint pink scar.

[DragonSong]

"Mm." She nodded, satisfied that he at least didn't need immediate attention. "Head wounds bleed a lot, we should get that wrapped up, but we should probably get out of here first."

She glanced back over her shoulder at the slowly devolving chaos, the previously panicking patrons slowly converging around the body of the creature.

Which was still...twitching.

Maka's eyes widened and she grabbed Ruby's arm, hoisting him to his feet. "Get back!" she shouted at the people gathering curiously. She tried to shove Ruby ahead of her out of the back of the tavern, hissing, "Run, run now!"

[Jiaolong]

Ruby stumbled, half falling, half running out the tavern door. Outside, the air was still. The sky seemed to turn a shade of blue at the horizon—it was almost dawn. Behind him, he heard the screams and shouts of frightened and surprised people as they realized the monster was still moving.

"I thought you killed that thing," Ruby shouted, ripping off a piece of his shirt to hold to the gash. He felt lightheaded, but now was not the time to collapse. A distorted wail rose up from the tavern as the head of the creature reattached itself to the body. "That thing is...really...goddam persistent..." He panted, kicking up clouds of sand as he ran.

[DragonSong]

Make nodded. She didn't have the breath to respond. Which was downright embarrassing. Gods, had using her powers really taken that much out of her?

Whatever, she didn't have time to bitch about it, even mentally. She threw herself forward, feet pounding across the sand.

[Jiaolong]

The creature wasted no time in bursting out of the tavern after them. The thing looked almost good as new, to Ruby's disappointment. Though it was slower now, it would have no problem catching up to the two floundering in the sand.

Ruby noticed the beast squinting it's beady eyes as the sun came over the horizon—was it one of those creatures that couldn't go out in sunlight? It wasn't surprising—there were many such monsters. But the sun wouldn't rise fast enough to find out. Ruby took a deep breath and snapped his fingers. He sure hoped this would work.

Almost immediately, the sun seemed to appear over the sky. There was no warmth from it as it was an illusion, but the bright light from it was real. The monster stopped its pursuit abruptly, looking up at the sky before screeching. It turned tail and scampered away over a sand dune, burrowing itself in the sand.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Ruby breathed, dropping to his knees. He illusion vanished, revealing the real sun still making its way above the horizon.

[DragonSong]

Maka skidded to a halt, kneeling beside Ruby. "Not bad," she panted. One hand on his shoulder, she shook him gently and added, "Come on, we don't know how long it'll stay gone. Or if it can track us under the sand or something. We should keep moving."

[Jiaolong]

He sighed, rising to his feet. "Okay."

Suddenly, an all-too-familiar wail rose from the tavern. Ruby's blood turned to ice—there couldn't be another one! But the screech was suddenly cut short. "What was that?" He whispered, frozen.

No more screams were heard. Suddenly, a figure appeared on top of a nearby sand dune. As it came closer, Ruby saw it was a tall man with long black hair and blood red eyes. He carried a nasty looking sword on his belt. Ruby wondered why he was approaching them until the man spoke:

"I watched you two fight. A necromancer and a Fae couldn't even kill that thing?"

[DragonSong]

The necromancer in question narrowed her eyes, sliding back a step. "Stay behind me," she hissed at Ruby, baring her blades so they glinted in the slowly strengthening sunlight.

She didn't say anything to the stranger, just stared him down with a grim, tight line drawn between her brows.

[Jiaolong]

How had the guy known he was part Fae? And wait, Maka was a necromancer? Ruby stepped a little behind Maka, raising an eyebrow at the newcomer.

"If killing that thing was so easy, why didn't I see you helping us?"

The stranger rolled his eyes. "Uh, because I was taking down the other one." He must've seen Ruby's confused look and said, "those things always hunt in pairs. The other one was still outside the tavern. Now, it's scattered all over the ground," he added with a grin. "Anyway...you two better get back to the tavern. Last I saw it, someone was stealing some expensive looking potions that I believe belong to you," he said, nodding at Ruby.

"What?! Maka, let's go!" He broke off into a mad dash towards the tavern.

[DragonSong]

"Wha- hold on!" Maka started after him, giving the stranger a wide berth, her blades still raised in a protective guard stance. "Who the hell are you?" she barked, backing slowly after Ruby.

[Jiaolong]

The stranger folded his arms across his chest. "Anything you want me to be, for the right price, of course."

"Yulsin!"

The man started at his name, turning to see another figure appear over the sand dune. It was a woman this time, but she seemed like a carbon copy of the man. "Did my brother say something stuck up again?" she asked, adjusting the deadly looking spear on her back to rest more comfortably. Blood was splattered across her boots, but it certainly wasn't her's.

[DragonSong]

Maka remained silent, even more on edge now that she knew there were two of them. She crossed her blades deliberately in front of her body, staring them down, daring either one of them to make a move.

[Jiaolong]

The woman rolled her blood red eyes. "Now, we aren't here to fight. I don't know what this guy said," she paused to elbow him in the ribs, "but we just finished up with the other one and came out to see if the other had eaten you two yet," she added with a grin. "Ah, I'm Yurel, and this is my brother Yulsin."

Some angry shouts came from the ruined tavern. The woman turned back to it, placing a hand on her hip. "It would seem your...companion is having some trouble getting his belongings back. Let's go back. To be honest, you look exhausted."

[DragonSong]

"You first," Maka replied curtly, blades still bared. No way was she putting her back to these strangers.

[Jiaolong]

Yurel laughed at that. "Oh, don't be so uptight." She spin around and headed back towards the tavern, Yulsin in tow.

Back at the tavern, Ruby had finally gotten all his belongings back. "I can't even leave for one second..." he muttered, but stopped abruptly when he realized Maka wasn't behind him. He hadn't felt that the newcomer was particularly threatening, but he felt guilty for leaving her there. He emerged from the tavern to see three figures on a nearby sand dune.

[DragonSong]

The necromancer followed the strangers with a frown and bared swords, stalking silently over the sand. She caught sight of her companion easily and jerked her head at him. "Ruby, over here. Carefully."