League - Chapter 6

 Authors note: Make sure to check the main fanfiction page for gameplay to story changes so you are able to follow along.

Make sure to also check out the Yokai Tamer game page for more information and to play the game yourself

Also this chapter may have scenes that trigger PTSD. Read at your own risk.

~~~

Darius flopped back onto the couch in his room. There was a dull ache now all over his body which seemingly appeared for not reason. He knew it something to do with Ember. It wasn't simply her avoiding him now. Something happened to her. "What do I do now?" Ever since reading the book and talking to Takoyakii and Yukkii, he had been trying to communicate with his instincts.

Wait… It told him. I can feel her instinct calling to me. It says you need to wait. You're going to receive a way to find her soon.

Darius sighed and, about to reply sarcastically to his contradictory instinct, was interrupted by his phone letting off a series of pings. He scrolled through his phone and came to an unknown number. Ever wondered what would happen if part of your soul had been taken away? He read the message confused. Swiping right, he looked at the next message. What would you do if part of your soul was sent to Takamagahara? Would you be able to survive the separation? Darius' confusion grew at the strange messages. Watch the video and see what part of your soul is doing… What we've done to her… Darius sat bolt upright. Her?! Swiping right again, a video message appeared ready to play. Shaking, he pressed play.

He watched as the video started traveling through the Illusory Ghostdom. "This is going to be good…" He recognised Gabriel's voice.  The video came up to his yellow-clad kitsune who danced in battle with a giant monster. "Our plan starts here…"

Riggles stepped into frame. He darted forward and attacked Ember. Her shikigami burst forth in response. One after another Riggles cut them down. In amongst the battle the monster was killed and forgotten. Riggles' sword struck out at her, forcing her to the ground. Normally, in their world, when a kitsune or tengu fell in battle they were respawned away from the battle… but something was wrong.

A hand moved into frame glowing slightly while Riggles continued to cut into Ember. The camera zoomed in and out on the various cuts into her skin and tears in her clothes until finally she stopped moving in resistance. He crouched down and poked her before picking her up and coming closer to the camera. "So you can see what I can do. Do what you always do. We will be waiting," he gently ran a finger over Ember's cheek. "Who knows. I might have more fun before you get here." 

As the video ended, Darius' eyes flashed angrily. So that's why Ember has been missing. He stood up and made his way out of the room and briskly started to walk towards Yukkii's room. We need to settle this NOW.

He stalked to Yukkii's bedroom, his phone tightly hold in a white knuckled grip in his hand. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. It took a few moments before. Yukkii opened the door. It didn't take much for Yukkii to guess something was very wrong. Wordlessly, Darius passed his phone to him and let him watch the video he had just seen.

"Oh my…" Yukkii indicated to Takoyakii to come closer to have a look. "This will be difficult to rescue her," They all jumped when Darius' phone began t ping. Yukkii handed the phone back to him. "You better check that."

Darius flicked through to the new messages from the unknown number. "I've had my fan," he read aloud to the two. "Want to see what I've done? I promise it will be worth your while." Darius bit his lip and lowered his phone so they could see the screen before pressing play.

The scene looked familiar. It was a guild station deep within the bowels of a guild headquarters. Banners of Rogue were covering walls and emblazoned on umbrellas and other paraphernalia littered around the room. In the centre stood Riggles and Gabriel with Ember crumpled before them.

"Pathetic…" Ember whispered trying to get up. "If you want a fight with Dari then why not attack him directly. Why use me?"

Everyone looked up in surprise when footsteps started to come closer to them. Darius hit pause before letting out a deep breath. His anger was rising but he didn't want his guild to be the targets of his ire.

“Get over here,” he said indicating to Kirei and Siegheart. “Better you two know what is going on.” Once they were close, the group quickly filled the two in before pressing play on the video again.

"You being his beloved spouse makes you the perfect bait," Riggles crouched down reaching out to her again. Once again, Ember summoned her shikigami in response to keep him away from her. "Your shiki are no match for me." She weakly tried to fend him off before he leaned forward and grabbed the front of her dress to pull her close to his face. "Your power is worthless here."

Kirei and Siegheart both knew what that word would do to Ember. They watched as her mind shut down escaping from what was happening before her. Riggles and Gabriel both started laughing at her response. "Little did you know Assassin worked for us!" Gabriel leaned forward to poke Ember's cheek to try and elicit some response from her. "He did his job well. You're completely useless now. Perfect bait for your spouse."

"Hmm…" Riggles dropped her on the floor before placing a hand on one of her bows and gave it a mock tug. "Since you're not adverse to having tengu in your bed, perhaps a few more will be good for you." The video ended abruptly causing Darius to let out an enraged sound. Everyone present jumped, not use to Darius expressing so much emotion let alone anger.

"If he so much as touches her," his voice caused chills though everyone present. "There will be nowhere he can hide from me. I will kill him no matter how long it takes."

"What do you propose we do?" Siegheart asked, concerned that Ember was now in a situation with Riggles doing god knows what to her. "We need a battle plan before we go in there."

"I'll handle Riggles," Darius growled softly. "I doubt he will be able to be manageable by anyone but perhaps Kirei." Yukkii nodded. "There are more of us than there are of them currently. We can try 1v2 their members." That brought a round of nods. "We need to focus on overpowering them with sheer members."

~~~

Riggles pulled a few non-essential bows on Ember’s dress undone and strategically placed some cuts in her thigh high socks before he stood up. He looked over to Gabriel with sly smile. 

“Are you really going to?” Gabriel asked mildly concerned. He had his own spouse, Ginx, and wouldn’t dream of cheating on her.

“No,” Riggles replied walking away to find a rope. “I’m not that disgusting.” He shuddered before returning to tie Ember’s wrists together. “But I will make the impression that I did to make them off-balance.”

“Kings was going to join us for this,” Gabriel replied with a wry smile. “They're going to be mad we started without them. Leanne and Omegatron in particular were looking forward to it."

“Well they failed in their task to weaken League,” Riggles replied smiling back. He tested the rope on her wrists before attaching it to the rigging. “League will have their work cut out for them if Darius goes berserk,” Giving the signal, he guided Ember’s body until she was hanging freely before letting go to be hoisted the rest of the way up. He reached up and waited until her tails no longer touched his hand. “Stop there!” He called out. “Perfect. The stage is set.”

~~~

It wasn’t long before the guild members of League were gathered outside of Rogue headquarters.

“As much as I don’t want to say this,” Yukkii said to Darius and Kirei. “But there will be a number casualties from this battle, it would be best to focus on rescuing Ember and leaving. Try not to prolong the battle longer than needed.”

“I agree,” Kirei replied with affirming nods from Darius. “Our guild knows the risk but they want to help get Ember back.”

“I don’t know if I'll be able to remain in control…” Darius voice was strong but strained. “Not after seeing those videos…”

“Try to keep your head,” Kirei rested his hand on his shoulder. “We don’t know what we are walking into. Try not to go berserk with what you see.”

Darius took a deep breath and clenched his fists. With a nod, everyone walked into the building. Unlike the usual hustle and bustle of League, the Rogue headquarters was as silent as a grave. The group walked through and made their way down to the guild station.

“Oh my god!” Moon cried out as soon as she looked into the guild station. 

Ember swung slightly from the ceiling by her wrists. Trails of blood made red tracks down her body and staining her white tails. Drops occasionally fell to the floor letting them know something somewhere was still actively bleeding. Darius' eyes narrowed. He could see bows that had been undone and the tears up and down her legs.

“You spotted my fun,” Riggles walked across the centre of the guild station. “You have quite the catch there and lucky too to have someone as loyal as her.” He stopped just to the left of where Ember hung.

“Probably the only thing you’ll be lucky at,” Gabriel also came out and stopped to the right of Ember. His hands began to glow lightly once again. “Shall we begin?”