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Chapter Text

Metal clashing against metal could be heard echoing across the mostly empty arena. The arena where the Major in Kazimierz is held every few years. The most recent Major has just come to a close a couple months prior with Nearl the Radiant Knight taking the win despite the controversy that arose from the reveal of her infection status. The fact that there were swords clashing in the arena despite no event taking place was already confusing.

A few representatives of Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical Company happened to be walking by said arena at the time. A rather odd group considering everything else, but they saw nothing wrong with their setup. One Kuranta girl turned her head towards the arena, clearly intrigued by the sounds that were coming from there. The group ended up stopped altogether as they noticed the girl was no longer walking along with them.

And this is where our story begins.

-

"Blemishine? Is everything alright?" Amiya asked, taking notice of the girl.

"Huh? Oh- yeah! I'm fine. I just...I'm a bit confused here. I can hear people fighting in there but there shouldn't be any events taking place anytime soon." Blemishine said, keeping her eyes on the large opening that led further into the arena.

"Perhaps someone managed to rent it out. It's not unheard of when there aren't any big events happening. Although they must be incredibly rich in order to do so." Gravel spoke up, glancing between the opening and Blemishine.

"Hm..."

It certainly seemed that the young Nearl was drawn to this sound. She remained staring at the opening in silence for a moment longer before she turned herself towards the Doctor with a rather sheepish look on her face.

"Sorry about this, Doctor, but I'm going to go take a look in there and see what the noise is all about. Something is telling me that I need to and I can't really explain it! I promise I won't be too long!" Blemishine finally said before jogging off towards the source of the sounds.

"Wait, Blem-"

"Now now, Doctor. Don't worry yourself. I'll go make sure she doesn't get Rhodes Island into trouble with her antics. I doubt she will, but it's better safe than sorry. Be right back~" Gravel said, giving a small wink as she followed after the Kuranta girl.

-

With a few twists and turns, and staircases, Blemishine managed to get up to the front row of seats that were closest to the center of the arena. The sounds of shouting and metal clashing echoed loudly in the empty arena. She wasn't used to the arena looking this lifeless so it was a bit of a shock. She turned her attention towards the medium-sized group of what appeared to be armored knights near the center of the battlefield. They were paired off into groups of two and were being overseen by an older Lupo man.

"Oh? A private training session maybe? It seems that people are trying to prep others for future knighthood. I'm intrigued with the idea. Although it could be something else entirely." Gravel said, startling Blemishine with her sudden appearence behind her.

"Y-you think so?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the group.

The trainer was barking orders and corrections every so often as he made his rounds to each of the groups. A good few of these people were clearly amateurs with the way they clumsily swung their swords. A couple of them had that youthful stubbornness whenever they were disarmed, which led to them spewing a few curses and grabbing their weapon to start again. Blemishine admired the ambition in the actions of a some of the training knights. But a few of them were clearly only there to either mess around, or to build a reputation. Of course, being a knight was more than swinging a sword. She learned this the hard way. But perhaps that was no longer the goal of knights.

They could be separated into class by the quality of their gear alone. Ranging from the standard issue weapons and armor to the most top quality material that there are in Terra. As a smith, Blemishine took a moment to admire the sight of such gear before she was snapped out of her thoughts.

"Hm. Some of them are good. Others...not so much. I don't doubt that they paid an absurd amount of money to be training here in the first place. I can't tell if it's idiotic or impressive." Gravel drawled, crossing her arms as she stared at the group below.

Blemishine was about to add to that comment when something caught her eye. Further off to the side from the group was someone else. A Perro girl. From what Blemishine could see, she had dirty blonde long hair and was rather young looking. Perhaps a teenager? From this angle, a majority of her body was obscured by a white tattered cloak that was wrapped around her shoulders. Oddly enough, she didn't seem very...present. Her head remained looking forward and she wasn't reacting to anything that was happening around her. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the Kuranta girl finally saw that the girl was swaying on her feet slightly.

Without warning, the Perro girl suddenly collapsed to the ground in a heap. Blemishine winched as she saw the girl's head slam against the ground during the fall. But what was even more concerning was the fact that none of the training knights nor even the instructor did any more than cast a glance in her direction before returning to what they were doing. Were they not concerned at all? Not a single other thought crossed her mind before she grabbed the railing that separated the seats from the arena and vaulted over it.

"Blemishine wait- goodness you don't listen, do you?" Gravel said with an exasperated sigh as she followed after the Kuranta.

Blemishine wasn't even focused on what was happening behind her or anywhere else aside from the collapsed girl. It didn't take her long to reach the girl, whom still had yet to even make a single move since she fell. She heard shouting off to the side of her but she didn't feel the need to focus on that when there were more pressing issues. She knelt by the girl's side and was able to take in the condition that she was in.

The Perro girl was rather lean and didn't have too many muscles despite the fact that she was wearing very standard issue armor. She was clearly a knight of some kind, which only made this fact more odd. She had dark bags under her eyes and her entire face was covered in sweat. A swift glance over her body made two things very apparent. The first was the two prosthetics. Her right forearm was replaced by a very expensive-looking mechanical arm. Very good tech. Aside from that, the area from her left knee and below was replaced by....

Well it could hardly be called a prosthetic. It was mostly a bunch of rusted scrapmetal that was wrapped around what looked like a metal pipe. It was barely hanging onto her leg by a couple straps. The next thing she noticed was the very prominent barcode tattoo that was sticking out from under what looked to be a collar around her neck. A slave brand.

Blemishine shook herself free of her thoughts and reached out to gently shake the girl by the shoulder.

"Hey?! Are you alright!? Hey!" She said, trying to get a reaction out of the unconscious girl.

Surprisingly, the younger girl stirred. She made a weak noise before her eyes fluttered open. Blemishine found herself pausing as she met that fragile gaze. Her eyes were a crystalline gray color, but....it was as if she was looking into the eyes of a corpse. The shine that normally exists in someone's eyes was simply not there. Her eyes were dull. Empty. Dead. It was incredibly unsettling.

"Hey! Would you stop ignoring me?! The hell do you think you're doing?? This is a private training session and you need to have signed up and paid prior if you wanted to join." A gruff voice finally snapped her back to reality once more.

"I apologize for my companion's rudeness, Sir. She was just concerned about one of your knights who has collapsed. It wasn't our intention to interupt your training session." Gravel spoke up as she approached them.

The Lupo man stared at Gravel for a couple seconds, and then his eyes flickered down to her neck. His contemplating expression was soon replaced with disdain. He didn't respond to Gravel and instead turned back towards Blemishine.

"I'm gonna have to ask you both to leave. Again, this is a private training session for the K.F.K.T and I doubt either of you are supposed to be here." He said with finality.

"Are you seriously more concerned about us being here rather than the fact that this girl just collapsed and-" Blemishine didn't get to finish her sentence.

"I-I'm fine....I'm fine." A weak voice came from the Perro girl as she sat herself up.

The fatigue on her face was more than obvious to anyone with eyes. Blemishine winched as she watched the girl roll onto her side, using her mechanical arm and her real leg to stand up awkwardly. Multiple times she looked like she was about to tip over, but she eventually managed to stand herself up. For a second, she looked like she was having trouble straightening her spine but she eventually managed to stand at attention. The look in her eyes still didn't change. But when her eyes drifted over to Blemishine, there was a brief spark of...something. It was hard to really pinpoint what it was because it was gone as soon as it arrived.

"Tsk. Mutt. Escort them out of here now. We've had enough interruptions for one day." The instructor ordered.

The Perro girl nodded her head before turning towards the two.

"Both of you, please follow me. I will bring you to the exit." She said, gesturing for them to follow her.

Blemishine and Gravel watched the girl turn and begin to awkwardly limp towards a certain direction. The two exchanged a confused and concerned glance before Gravel was the first to follow after the Perro girl. Blemishine glanced behind her and saw that the training knights had decided to continue what they were doing, although the instructor clearly wasn't keen on taking his eyes off the intruders just yet.

Reluctantly, she began to follow the two, keeping close to Gravel in the off chance that something happened. Once they were out of earshot of the rest of the knights, Blemishine took it upon herself to finally speak up.

"Hey, are you sure you're alright? You hit the ground pretty hard back there and no one seemed to care. Are you maybe dehydrated? Dizzy?" The young Kuranta girl asked, worry evident in her voice.

"You don't need to worry about me, Lady Maria. This stuff happens to me all the time. I'm just a sickly person and pass out a lot when I'm standing for too long. As for my head, it doesn't even hurt so no need to be concerned about that either." The Perro girl said, glancing back at them with that same dull and lifeless gaze. "Your time is better spent not worrying about an infected slave like me."

Those words stabbed at Blemishine's heart in a way that no sword ever could. So this girl was just another victim of the horrible system that exists within Kazimierz, huh? While slaves were few and far between as of late, they still undeniably existed. And with the added information that this girl was infected...she could only imagine how tough her life was. Especially someone so young.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was that group that we just came from? A knight training agency? The next Major is some time away so it's a bit strange that they would already be preparing for it." Gravel said, crossing her arms.

"That was a K.F.K.T session. It stands for 'Kazimierz Future Knight Training'. It's an agency that gives high quality knighthood training for anyone willing to pay for it. It has many renowned instructors and they are ready to teach anyone. No matter the skill level. It is all run by the CEO of the company, Leon Malinowski. Former competition knight and son of one of the most famous knights in Kazimierz history." The answer given was almost robotic and unsettlingly practiced.

"Hm. I've never heard of them before. Are they a recent startup? They must be rather well-off if they can reserve the entire arena like this on just any day. Can't say I've heard of Leon Malinowski either." The Zalak girl said, glancing over at Blemishine.

"They have been around for around five years. Although their fame didn't really skyrocket until the addition of infected participants in the Major." The girl said, almost bitterly.

What followed was a rather uncomfortable silence. The tension in the air was so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife. The only sounds between them were their footsteps hitting the ground, along with the metal creaking and scraping of the girl's makeshift leg. As they were about to reach the exit, something dawned on Blemishine.

"Wait...how did you know my name? Have we met before?" She spoke up.

The Perro girl stopped walking, bringing the group to a halt. She slowly turned herself around and held a rather weak but knowing smile on her face.

"I saw your preliminaries matches, Lady Maria. It was hard to ignore them. Despite your inexperience, your ideals and determination were as bright as day. Seeing someone who fights till the end for their own justice is something I couldn't help but admire. I fought through the infected participation system. I made it to the first round of the Major but I lost. But knowing I was nearly on the same level as you was....gratifying." The girl said, the spark in her eyes seemed to fizzle back to life for a split second.

"R-really? I'm flattered to hear you say all that but I was nothing special. I promise. I'm not the knight that my sister is and I only made it through a lot of those matches from sheer dumb luck." Blemishine said quickly, faced dusted pink from all the sudden praise.

The Perro girl gave a halfhearted chuckle before slowly turning back around and continuing her way forward.

"Not all of us are looking for a winner with shiny armor, Lady Maria. Sometimes, we just want to see someone who tries. Someone who actually cares. Someone who carries the ideals of a true knight with them." She responded, her voice sounding rather distant.

Soon enough, they reached the exit of the arena. Blemishine could see the Doctor and the rest if the group waiting for them. Remembering that she had been the one to suddenly run off, she gave a sheepish and apologetic smile in their direction. Gravel was already heading to the group but Blemishine turned herself to look at the Perro girl once more.

"Oh um thank you! For bringing us to the exit. It was nice to meet you." The blonde girl said, giving a small wave. "And good luck. I'm sure you'll be an amazing knight one day."

"Good luck to you as well, Lady Maria. I wish you the best with whatever you decide to do in the future. It seems that you've already got an idea in mind, after all." The other said, gesturing vaguely to the group waiting for her. "And...thank you."

With that, the girl turned around and began to head back. Blemishine found herself watching the girl leave in silence. Once she was out of sight, the Kuranta girl snapped out of whatever daze she had been in and realized something important.

"Ah. I never got her name."

-

Creaking and clanking metal could be heard as Juliana finally managed to make it back to the group. She was still riding on a high after meeting one of the most influential figures in her life. She had no idea how she managed to stay calm, or even hold a conversation with Maria Nearl without freaking out. She had only ever seen the girl through a screen. She had assumed she was dead when she regained consciousness earlier with the girl standing next to her. Hopefully she didn't make too much of a fool of herself.

"Oi! Mutt! Took you long enough to get back here. Grab one of the training sword and get over here. You're going to be facing off against this rookie." The instructor said, keeping his powerful gaze locked on her.

Juliana internally sighed as she heard this. She turned her head towards the young knight that the instructor was referring to. She was met with the gaze of a rather uptight and haughty-looking Liberi man who was staring back at her in disdain and near offense. She had seen that look so many times that it no longer held any power over her. Without a word, she approached the makeshift rack with the training swords and grabbed one with her real hand. But it seemed that her opponent wasn't willing to compromise.

"Seriously? I'm going to be fighting her? A slave? Are you trying to mock me or something? I paid good money for these training sessions. Why not have me fight you?" The man said, frowning as he refused to lift his sword.

"Heh. Trust me, I get it. But you won't get the full experience fighting against me. I'm no full-fledged knight. But you are looking at one." The instructor said, gesturing towards Juliana.

The Liberi man glanced between the instructor and Juliana. Then the gears began to visibly turn in his head as he realized what was said to him.

"...what? Her??" He sputtered.

"Not so high and mighty now, are ya? Heh. You're currently looking at Juliana, the Fortune Knight. A low rank Grand Knight, but a Grand Knight nonetheless. She was trained personally by the big boss himself. This right here is the culmination of all the K.F.K.T has to offer you. Now, still unwilling to fight her?" The instructor asked, sounding rather smug.

The Liberi man paused to take in the opponent in front of him. Juliana remained perfectly still as he did so. She glanced behind him and noticed a few of the other trainees were snickering and looked rather amused by the situation. She couldn't tell if they were laughing at her, or at the man across from her who seemed to finally make up his mind.

"Fine. But this better be worth my time. Try not to trip over your own metal feet, slave." He said, an overconfident smirk splitting his face.

"Alright. Both of you take your places. Everyone else, keep back and watch." The instructor said.

Juliana turned and walked a few feet back in order to get herself into proper position. She turned to face her opponent once more and readied her stance. She took the time that her opponent was readying himself and used it to do a quick visual analysis on him. He was more on the leaner side but he was still a head taller than her. His armor was top quality and his Liberi heritage would make him much faster than her. So she needed to either hit hard, or move faster. She mentally readied herself.

"Alright. Begin!"

The Liberi man was the first to move. He was fast, but Juliana quickly realized that he wasn't fast enough. She could see that his intention was to move behind her obviously enough to get her to turn and expose a weak point. But she wasn't a fool. Ten years of training wasn't going to waste. She knew how to handle someone who fought so arrogantly and sloppily. But if he wanted to fight like that, then so would she. Without wasting more time, she jerked her entire body towards the man, startling him enough to stop him in his tracks. Then she used her good leg to sweep both his feet out from beneath him. She already had the sword aimed at his throat by the time his back hit the ground.

There was silence throughout the arena for a long moment before laughter erupted from the trainees. She had truly not expected the fight to be so quick, so she was still running high on adrenaline.

Juliana pulled her sword back and held a hand out towards the downed man. But if he red face wasn't indicating his rage and humiliation enough, he then proceeded to slap her hand away and pull himself to his feet. Juliana didn't take the action to heart. It was a natural reaction. But she did end up stepping back when the Liberi man spat at her feet before stalking off.

"Alright. That's time for today. Everyone gather your things and head out. Remember that our next session will be in two days. I expect you all to reflect on what you learned today and hone your skills because we'll be going over all of it next time. Including learning to watch your weak points. Also return any equipment you borrowed from us." The instructor announced.

A few of the trainees began to mingle while others were already heading out. All training equipment was returned and set off to the side. The instructor began to take his leave and Juliana took that as her wordless cue to follow him. She knew they were going to head back to the K.F.K.T headquarters, and that also meant that she was going to have to return to her own personal hell beside that man. She internally shuddered at the thought.

"Lets go, Lucky. I'm not about to stand here and wait around for you to regain your wits. I have very important appointments to get to today and the boss assigned you to escort me. So at least pretend like you know what you're doing." The Lupo man said, turning and heading out of the arena.

Juliana quickly began to limp after the man. She wasn't as fast as she used to be with the scrap of metal that was currently in place of her leg, and it didn't even bend well enough for her to move in a way that was anything other than awkward. There was a ragged cushion of sorts on the bottom of the makeshift leg so that it didn't make too much noise when it hit the ground each step. She had once requested a cane or something else but quickly learned that asking such a thing would ruin her imagine. Apparently?

As if it wasn't ruined enough already.

While Juliana was lost in her thoughts, they had been steadily making their way through the city. She ignored the many many eyes that were on her. Judging, fearful, awe spired, angry, amused. All sorts of things that she had long since learned to block out of her vision. She didn't even notice that they had deviated from their original path until they suddenly came to a halt in front of a certain building.

"I'll be in here awhile. If you need me, don't. I don't give a crap if someone is dying or not. You are to wait out here and not bother me till I'm out again. Got it?" The man ordered.

"Yes, Sir." Juliana responded.

The man gave a satisfied nod before disappearing into the building. After a minute or two, Juliana looked up at the sign above and sighed loudly. Of course it was a bar. That meant she was going to be waiting here for much longer than 'awhile'. She had escorted this man before and he had a tendency to stay out for hours upon hours, regardless of the fact that she was with him or not.

Around ten minutes later, she found herself scratching underneath the collar that was snugly around her neck. One of the few visible Originum crystals on her body was on her neck. It certainly hurt like hell when it finally breached the surface of her skin but now it was just an itchy reminder that she was now the lowest of the lowest rings of society. An infected slave knight. Now that was certainly a headline waiting to be written. In fact, it probably already has. Among the others surrounding recent events that she was unfortunately a major problem in...

The Perro girl yelped in surprise when she felt a tug at her cloak. She looked to the side and then down as she realized that there was a child standing next to her. A small brown-haired Zalak girl. The clothing she wore was ripped and dirty and her face was smudged with dust and grime. There was a familiar look in her glossy eyes that Juliana recognized immediately. Fear. But it didn't seem like this fear was directed at her this time. The girl still had a grip on her cloak and was glancing behind her every so often.

"Are you a knight, miss?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.

The question caught her off-guard. She could hear the vague urgency in that tone of voice. She turned herself towards the girl and knelt down slightly so that she could talk to her on a more equal level.

"Yes, I am. Is everything alright?" She asked, looking around for a potential parent that would be searching for their lost child.

"There's a bad guy in dark armor talking to my mama. He sounded really mean and was yelling at her. Can you come fight him off? Knights are supposed to fight the bad guys, right?" The little girl said, gently tugging on the cloak once more.

Juliana paused. That didn't sound too good. She glanced around once more, trying to see if there was anyone else that could help. But she was the only noticeably capable person in the immediate area. She had a dagger stowed in a hidden pocket under her armor, so she wasn't completely unarmed in case a fight broke out. She internally sighed at what she assumed was going to turn into a full-blown problem. Surly she wouldn't be missed for the time being if she left, right? She would be there and back, just doing her knightly duties.

"Alright....okay. Can you bring me to your mama? I can't promise I can do much to help, but it's best if we don't have you out here on your own or you might walk up to someone who isn't as nice as I am." Juliana said, giving a small warning to the girl.

The little Zalak girl nodded and turned her body and started moving. She still didn't let go of Juliana's cloak, so she was essentially being dragged along by this little girl. She clearly wasn't as fast as her so it resulted in her nearly toppling over and tripping multiple times. She received a few odd looks from passerby's but it wasn't like she was some creepy middle-aged man dragging a young girl through the streets. She was a 21 year old cripples woman that was being dragged through the street by said young girl instead.

There were many twists and turns as they continued, and Juliana was growing more and more concerned and tense as they made their way down each of the increasingly messy and dark backroads. Where exactly was she being led? Did this girl really come from all the way over here to find help?

"They're here." The girl said, pointing to an entrance to an alleyway nearby.

"Okay....can you wait here for me? If there's a bad guy here like you said, then it's best if you stay here so you don't get caught up in the fight. Does that sound okay?" Juliana requested, looking down at the girl.

"Okay, Miss knight. I'll stay here cause you asked. Please make sure my mama is okay. We only have each other since papa died. We promised to protect each other." The little girl said.

Hearing this, Juliana felt her heart sink at the implication that this girl and her mother were the only thing they had in each others life. It was clear that this girl might've come from the slums of Kazimierz, but she also noticed another detail that had eluded her prior. There was the faint shine of black crystals peeking out from the collar of her shirt.

Ah. So, this girl had Oripathy. Just like her. She felt her heart aching upon realizing this. But her resolve didn't waver, and she didn't want to show the girl that she was pitying her. She knew that she wouldn't want that. No one would. Instead, she did her best to give a confident smile.

"Thanks. I'll be back with your mama soon. If you hear anything from the alleyway, make sure you don't go near it. Just stay put here until I come get you again." Juliana instructed.

She straightened herself up and turned towards the entrance of the alleyway. She gripped the dagger in one hand beneath her cloak as she approached the entrance, preparing herself for any form of a fight. She turned the corner to the alleyway just in time to witness a blade slicing across the throat of an older Zalak woman. Her eyes went wide in shock and horror as the woman was dropped to the ground, clutching her throat in agony and trying to speak through gurgles of blood. Juliana lifted her gaze to see who the attacker was and found herself looking at a man covered in black armor, including his face.

"What.....what have you done..?" She forced out as she gripped her hidden dagger tighter.

"Hm? Oh. It's you." A deep and rumbling voice emerged from the inside of the mask.

The black knight turned fully towards her, really showing just how much he towered over her in both height and body mass. A sword was sheathed at his hip, and a bloody dagger was in his hand. Without realizing it, Juliana bared her teeth at this man. At this point, she didn't even care that he seemed to recognize her. She could only focus on the fact that this man had just ruthlessly killed an innocent woman in cold blood. He took a step towards her, and a warning growl emerged from deep in her throat. To her own surprise, the man began to laugh at her display.

"Now now, little perro. Careful who you're raising your hackles at. They might have a powerful bite to match your bark. What happened here is just a simple case of debt collecting. Nothing that you want to stick your nose into, least you lose another limb in the process." He said, voice laced with unsaid threats and intentions to follow through with them.

Debt collecting? This man would so readily take the life of a woman who had a child. Who did nothing wrong. Just because of a debt. She turned her gaze towards the woman on the ground. She had stopped moving by now and her body was starting to crystalize and disintegrate. A common occurrence for the infected. But if they didn't leave soon, this woman's corpse would become a hazard. But she didn't have the coherency to think about that right now.

Her vision was beginning to blur together and she couldn't stay focused on the scene in front of her. Anger was starting to wash over her and was overwriting all of her senses. She knew what this feeling was. Someone else was trying to come to the surface and she knew better than to fight it. Her vision turned black and she felt herself being pulled to the back of her mind.

-

When her eyes opened again, they no longer held that same gray color in them. This time, they were a blazing orange that burned so brightly and fiercely that one could mistake them for the sun. Restrained fury was the only emotion that was shown in that orange gaze. This was no longer Juliana. That passiveness was gone and replaced with the raw power and anger that Emilia carried with her at all times.

Due to them not sharing memories when they switch, she wasn't exactly sure what was going on. But since they shared emotions, she knew that it must've been bad enough to make Juliana mad. She realized that her hand was wrapped around a hidden dagger under her cloak, and she wasted no time pulling it out and into view of the man in front of her. Her gaze was murderous and the stance she held made it clear that she intended on ending his life.

"So the press was telling the truth. Multiple personalities in one body. It's real curious how your eyes can change color like that, little perro." The knight said, chuckling deeply, his words anything but a compliment.

But Emilia wasn't going to stand around and listen to this man talk. She had already come to her own decision after making sense of the emotions that Juliana felt before they switched. So without warning, she rushed forward with blinding speed. Her combat prowess was much more intense compared to Juliana.

She saw the exact moment that the knight became aware of what she was doing. He gripped his own dagger tighter and managed to raise it to block the strike that Emilia had aimed at the gap in his armor just below his mask. Her eyes blazed with unfathomable anger that made the man falter. And this brief moment of weakness would turn out to be his end. He cursed as she somehow managed to overpower him and before he knew it, a leg connected with the side of his helmet so hard that the metal dented inwards. Emilia managed to balance herself again on the makeshift leg and rushed forward once more.

She used her mechanical arm to seize the man's helmet and tear it off his head in a display of raw strength. He crashed to the ground and Emilia was on top of him in an instant. Both her knees had his arms pinned to either side of him and she held the dagger up to his throat. Surprisingly, there were no emotions behind her gaze as she pressed the blade against his throat. Emilia took a beat to rake her eyes over the man and take in his unworthy appearance so that she could burn this into her memory.

"Gahh....think about what you're doing here, kid. If you kill me- grrk!" He was cut off as the blade was pressed further into his throat, beginning to draw blood.

"I don't give a shit about what you have to say. My instincts say you need to die. My instincts are never wrong." Emilia leaned in closer enough that their noses were almost touching. "Who's the little perro now, bitch?"

Before another word could leave his mouth, the dagger slice messily across his exposed throat, deeply. Blood splashed across her face, immediately cooling upon landing on her. She let the crimson liquid stain her skin as she watched the life leave his eyes. She took no satisfaction in it and only saw it as a necessity. Her instincts were never wrong. She saw nothing wrong with ending the life of another if it meant that justice would be served. She knew her other parts didn't agree with her methods, but she knew that didn't know any better. Morals would hinder the distribution of justice.

Once the man had stopped moving beneath her, Emilia pushed herself to her feet, stumbling slightly before gathering her balance. She stowed the bloody dagger away beneath her armor once more. She used her sleeve to wipe the blood off of her face. She directed her attention towards the dead woman on the ground, who's body was just starting to disintegrate. She frowned at the sight. She needed to get out of here. Staying longer would be detrimental to her health. Besides, she didn't want to be here when the bodies were discovered. She sighed and tore the now bloody white cloak off her body and tossed it to the side.

She didn't care about anything being traced back to her at this point. Emilia stalked out of the alleyway, looking around for any potential witnesses. She paused as her eyes landed on a small Zalak girl that was standing a ways away, looking around like she was waiting for someone. Emilia didn't take more than four steps towards her before the girl turned and noticed her standing there. The little girl darted towards her, making Emilia take a step back.

"You're back, Miss knight! Did you save my mama? I heard a lot of sounds and I assume you won against the bad guy. Am I allowed to see her?" The little girl asked.

Emilia stared down at her in muddled confusion and slight disgust. She didn't like children at all, and certainly wasn't suited to be handling this child. But at the mention of a mother, she leaned back to look down the alleyway. The infected corpse still had the vague features that she could make out as those of a Zalak woman. That must've been the one that this girl was referring to. She finally returned her attention to the little girl, orange eyes displaying no pity or regret.

"No. She's gone." She said firmly.

Chapter Text

The little Zalak girl didn't react to her words the way that Emilia had expected. She had braced herself for the obnoxious sound of a child crying and wailing, but the little girl did none of this. Sadness did flash across her eyes for a moment, but there wasn't even so much as a tremble of the lip afterwards. The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to be a piece of folded paper. She held the scrap out towards Emilia, who looked at it with suspicion.

"My mama wrote this and gave it to me. She said if anything happened to her, to give it to the nearest adult that I thought I could trust." She explained, keeping her hand extended.

Emilia hesitantly reached out and then snatched the paper from the girl's hand. She glanced it over for a moment before she hastily unfolded it and read the words.

-To whoever is reading this: there is a good chance I am dead. But it seems that my daughter believes you to be trustworthy enough to be given this note. Her name is Amelia. Since I am not around anymore, she won't be safe on her own. If you can find it in your heart, I request that you bring her to a place called Rhodes Island. She will be able to get treatment for her infection there, and will be safe from the lifeless streets of Kazimierz. This is my final wish. I do not expect you to comply, but I can only plead from beyond death. She is the only thing left in my life. I do not wish for her to reunite with me and her father until she grows up. Please, kind stranger. Don't let my daughter die alone.-

Emilia lowered the note and stared down at the girl. She knew more than anyone that she was not the person to be handling something like this. She sighed through her clenched teeth as she glanced to the side. She closed her eyes briefly, letting a calmer sensation start to mute her anger. Someone else was coming forward and she allowed herself to sink back further in her mind and abandon control.

-

That orange gaze that had burned so brightly was now gone when her eyes opened again. In it's place, ocean blue eyes had replaced them. It was a gaze so gentle and warm that anyone looking into her eyes would feel the aura of peace and comfort that the woman now radiated. Emilia was gone, and in her place, Aurora was now awake. Anger had no hold on her in any way. It was completely overwritten by serenity and complacency. Confusion overtook her immediately as she realized she didn't know where she was or what was going on.

Aurora had felt Emilia pushing her consciousness towards the front, indicating that her presence was needed in whatever situation they had found themselves in. Due to them not being able to communicate with one another while they were awake, she didn't know exactly what it was that she was needed for. She looked down and noticed the little girl that was staring up at her with expectation in her eyes. She realized that she was holding something and raised the note up in her hand. Her eyes scanned over the words and she quickly realized why Emilia had been so insistent on their switch.

"Are you alright, Miss knight? You've been really quiet. How did your eyes change color?" The little Zalak girl asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"I apologize for worrying you, little one. I was just trying to read over the note your mother wrote." Aurora said, folding the paper back up and stowing it in her pocket. "Your name is Amelia, right? I don't suppose you have any clues on where to find this Rhodes Island?"

The Zalak girl took a long moment to think about the question, then an idea seemed to pop up in her mind. She reached out and grabbed Aurora by the wrist and began to drag her towards a certain direction. Aurora wasn't phased by this, but keeping herself balanced would turn out to be the hardest part of this walk.

"Mama always said that the golden Kuranta from the news was part of Rhodes Island. I've seen her go to a big house where all the rich people live. If we go to her house, she will take us to Rhodes Island, right?" Amelia said, looking back at Aurora with a distant but hopeful look in her eyes.

Aurora nodded slowly as she thought over the information given to her. A golden Kuranta? There were a few of those in Kazimierz. But there was one obviously famous one that she hoped was not who this little girl was referring to.

-

After a little while of walking later, the sun was beginning to set and the two found themselves walking towards a rather extravagant manor that screamed privilege in every sense of the word. Aurora was starting to grow nervous at this point. Two random infected citizens approaching the home of whom was probably one of the most famous people in all of Kazimierz at the moment; didn't exactly leave a good taste in anyone's mouth. She gently tugged at Amelia's hand to stop her.

"Are you certain this is the correct way, dear?" She asked gently, her tail swaying low and cautiously.

"Yeah. Back when papa was here, we would pass by here all the time. Many golden Kurantas would be around this house. The shiniest of them was here very recently on the news. Trust me, Miss knight." The little girl said, giving a weak smile to the other.

Aurora had to physically stop herself from sighing aloud. She had to admire how whimsical and carefree this child was, while also having a rather sharp memory. She knew that she needed to be on guard in a place like this. The little girl began to pull her again, and now they approached the front door of the large mansion. There was a box next to the door that had a speaker and a red button. She reached out and pressed the red button, preparing to speak to someone.

The Perro girl pushed the child behind her, mostly out of instinct. She couldn't be too certain about what was waiting behind this door. They waited for what felt like ten minutes before Aurora's ears perked up at the sound of movement behind the door. She looked down at the doorknob and watched in surprise as it turned. The door was opened swiftly and she was met with what looked to be a light blonde Kuranta woman. She appeared somewhere in her late 20's. She stared at her in confusion.

"Hm? Good evening. Did you have business with the Nearl family?" The woman asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"That's not the correct golden Kuranta....the golden one is younger...taller." Amelia spoke up from behind Aurora.

The Kuranta woman seemed surprised to hear this and craned her neck to look behind Aurora. Her suspicious eyes immediately softened at the sight of the child. Aurora decided that this was a good time to finally speak up and dispel any lingering tension.

"You have my apologies for interrupting your evening, My Lady. You see, I believe....we're looking for Lady Margaret. I'm searching for someone with connections to Rhodes Island and I was pointed towards her direction. Does she happen to be home at the moment?" Aurora asked, giving a respectful bow.

The woman glanced over the two of them in silence, and then she gave a curt nod.

"Wait here." She said before closing the door.

A few moments of silence passed by again before the door opened to reveal the person they had been looking for the entire time. Margaret Nearl, the Radiant Knight, in the flesh. Even without the presence of her armor and equipment, she was imposing and intimidating. She radiated nothing but power and authority. Aurora heard the little girl gasp in awe behind her.

"The golden Kuranta! She's the one from the news! She can take us to Rhodes Island!" Amelia whisper-yelled.

"Ah, good evening to you, Lady Margaret. I hope we didn't disturb you or your family. I apologize for showing up so suddenly but I believe you would understand better if I gave you this." Aurora said, taking the folded note out from her pocket and holding it out to the woman.

Margaret hesitated at the gesture, but a few seconds later the note was in her hands, and she was reading over the words. Aurora saw a few emotions flickering across this woman's face as she read the note, and then her eyes lifted once more to meet Aurora's ocean-blue gaze. Margaret's eyes flickered behind her, toward the little Zalak girl who was looking up at her in fascination.

"I believe I understand. I do know that a few representatives of Rhodes Island are staying at a hotel provided by the K.G.C.C. It is not too far from this location. If you are willing, I can escort you to them after contacting them to let them know of our arrival." Margaret said, her voice firm and yet gentle.

Aurora widened her eyes slightly.

"Ah, you really don't have to go out of your way for us. If you tell us the location, I'm sure we will figure it out. I don't wish to burden you." She said quickly.

"It's not a burden, Miss Fortune Knight. The streets of Kazimierz can be unforgiving at any time, but nighttime especially. And you have a child with you. I don't doubt your ability to protect her, mind you, but it is the duty of all knights to protect." The blonde woman said, her eyes shining with determination. "Besides, with all due respect, and even if I do not agree with it....I do not believe you are allowed to wander the streets without a....handler of sorts."

Aurora froze as she heard this, and her expression slowly morphed into a weak, yet thankful smile. She understood now why Margaret was so insistent. She had gotten so caught up with this child that she had momentarily forgotten her own status in this place. She was a bit amused that Margaret had a look on her face after saying that sentence as if she had just eaten something foul. At least she knew she wasn't trying to demean her.

"I see. Then I will happily accept your offer, Lady Margaret. Although I am a bit surprised that you know who we are." The Perro girl said, taking a few steps back to make room for the other.

Margaret exited the house and closed the door behind her. She began to move forward while she was tapping away at the device in her hand. Presumably contacting the representatives that she said were here. Aurora made sure to hold Amelia's hand as she limped after the other woman.

"I...saw a few of those news articles about you. And I saw you fight in the Infected Participation System. You are a very powerful individual." Margaret said, glancing behind her at the Perro. "I...also saw your fight in the Major-"

Aurora was swift to place a finger over her own lips in a shushing motion, making the Kuranta woman go completely silent. She made a pointed head motion towards the little girl next to her and shook her head. She was glad to see that Margaret understood why she had stopped her.

"I'm flattered that you remember us. I understand that you might be...weary..or confused after seeing that display from us. But I promise you that we- everything is under control now." Aurora said, lowering her voice. "But still, you chose to treat me with kindness and respect, despite everything. It is a little more than what we are deserved, but I thank you anyways."

Margaret shifted her jaw slightly, as if she was trying to figure out what to say in response. She sighed and glanced back at Aurora once more.

"I wish to see a world where the Infected and Uninfected can live equally side by side. You deserve to get the treatment you need, and we shouldn't punish those who didn't want to become infected in the first place. You and I are no different." The Kuranta woman said. "I did not choose to treat you with kindness and respect. I chose to treat you as a person. You deserve that for what you've been made to endure. For what you've accomplished."

Aurora stared at the woman with slightly wide eyes. Then a genuine smile grew across her face. It was nice to meet the very few who treated her like she wasn't a ticking timebomb with a leash on her.

"You say this as if you haven't accomplished much more. You've done more for the Infected than we could ever dream of. Yet...I heard that you aren't even one of us." She said, glancing up.

She noticed Margaret tense slightly when she said this.

"Ah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend-"

"No no....you're right. I'm not infected. I disguised myself as an Infected so that other's wouldn't question my will to fight for them. I wished to make life easier for them, and yet my actions ended up causing them more harm. I created a fake hero for them and crushed their dreams when all was revealed. I earned the ire of both the Infected and Uninfected." Margaret said, speaking every word as if it was the solid facts and there was no room for protests.

"I see....but I have to disagree with the way you think of this, Lady Margaret. You did what you believed to be right. Your heart was in the right place. You only wished to help us." Aurora said, smiling as she turned her head off to the side. "After that match in the Major, we were hospitalized. I was awake as they were broadcasting your match with The Blood Knight. I've never seen someone fight so beautifully. You shined brighter than anything I've ever seen in my life. Even when it was revealed that you weren't Infected. The only thing I could think in that moment....was how honored I was to have you fighting for the Infected. For us."

Margaret suddenly stopped moving and looked back at Aurora with a surprised expression on her face. Her cheeks were faintly dusted pink, most likely from all of the praise. Aurora couldn't stop the teasing smile that appeared on her face.

"Oh my. That's quite the expression, Lady Margaret. Did I say something strange?" She asked, a playful lithe in her voice.

"I...no. I was just taken aback. You look very young but...you are very wise." Margaret said, turning and beginning to lead the way again.

Aurora chuckled.

"You don't need to live a long life to know things, Miss Radiant Knight. Experience accumulates over time, but that amount of time is never the same for all." She said, amusement clear in her voice.

-

It took them around 10 minutes of walking to finally reach the hotel. It was one of the nicer hotels, and it was obvious that it was made for higher class people. When she stepped through the doors, Aurora was met with the sound of classical music playing from speakers above. The lobby was well decorated and looked like it came straight out of a magazine. She spotted something sitting on one of the various tables in the waiting room.

A sign that said "No Infected(without official permission)".

She carefully ushered the little Zalak girl behind her, and she made sure that her own choker was in place so that it covered the crystals on her neck. Margaret made her way to the waiting room and sat herself down on one of the couches. Amelia followed suit and plopped down on a plush chair. However, Aurora remained standing.

"I've informed them of our arrival. They should be down here soon. Are you....alright?" Margaret asked, noticing how the Perro girl was standing around uncomfortably. "Did you want to sit down? There are plenty of spots."

"I appreciate the concern, Lady Margaret. Really, I do. But I don't think someone like me is allowed to. Simply based off of past experiences." Aurora said with a strained smile. "We do wish we could."

In truth, Aurora's entire body was burning with exhaustion and fatigue. Whether it was because they had been up and walking around all day, or it was because of whatever Emilia ended up doing. She didn't know the exact reason, but walking on her horribly made fake leg just during the time she's been up front was...awful. It wasn't just uncomfortable, it was painful. Truly, she wanted nothing more than to sit down and rest her body. But she couldn't. She couldn't do anything to endanger the body they all share.

"...If I may ask, why do you keep referring to yourself as 'we' so often?" The Kuranta woman asked.

Aurora paused. Did she really not know the reason? She was certain that the press had been unapologetically open about the fact that she has Dissociative Identity Disorder. It was constantly used as an advertising point to make her more memorable when they were chasing knighthood for her. She tilted her head to the side, not doing much to hide her baffled expression. Margaret quickly began to backtrack when she saw this response.

"If it's not too invasive. You don't have to answer-"

"It's fine, Lady Margaret. I promise. It's not an invasive question. I was just surprised that you didn't already know. The press was quite loud about it, as is the company we belong to." Aurora said, ears flicking curiously. "I'm assuming you've heard of something called Dissociative Identity Disorder?"

Upon saying this, a look of realization flashed across Margaret's face. This was immediately followed up by a look of pity. No matter who was in control, none of them really liked to see pity in the eyes of others. While it was refreshing to know that others felt what was done to them was wrong, pity was just not an emotion that they took in a respectful way. Nonetheless, Aurora gave a weak smile towards her.

"Ah...I see now. Normally, I would apologize on the behalf of those whom have created this image that I can only assume you do not personally approve of. But...I know my apologies will do nothing to help you. You should at least know that I do not approve of this all. If that does anything at all. I wish I had the power to change it." Margaret said, giving an apologetic dip of her head.

"Your words mean much more to us than you think, Lady Margaret. Hearing such things from a proud and ideal knight such as yourself is all we can really hope for. It isn't your fault that the traditions of this place have attributed to where we are now. Our struggles are no fault of yours." Aurora said, running her hand over her slightly scratched mechanical arm.

"I know...but I cannot help but feel as if I have contributed to this all by remaining silent for so long. It isn't just about the Infected. It's also about...." Margaret glanced over at Amelia, who was tuned into their conversation. "...other things."

"I understand. I do. Not all of us will understand your word. And not all of us will accept them. But I do. So please do not waste your strength worrying for us, Lady Margaret. I assure you that no matter who we are, you are not the object of our disdain." Then she gave a teasing chuckle. "You're one of the good ones, My Lady."

The conversation trickled to a halt after that. A few minutes passed before they heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. Aurora lifted her head and noticed two people approaching. She did notice that the girl at the head of the group was strikingly similar to Margaret. This must've been Maria Nearl, the younger sister that caused a bit of a stir during the preliminaries.

"Sis!" The younger Kuranta girl practically threw herself at Margaret in a tight hug, and Margaret managed to stand up in time to receive her with a small smile on her face.

"It's good to see that you're doing well, Maria." The older woman said before turning towards someone else. "And you as well, Doctor."

Aurora noticed the tall hooded person that was trailing behind, hands in their pockets and face completely obscured by a hood and visor. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out any basic information about this person from looks alone. Race, gender, age, or even some of their features. Nothing at all. The mysteriousness of this person intrigued her immediatly.

"It's good to see you too, Nearl. I apologize about Blemishine. She was insistent on coming down when she heard that you had contacted me so suddenly." The Doctor said, holding up a device in their gloved hand.

Blemishine and Nearl, huh? Interesting. Code names, perhaps?

"Yeah! I was surprised that you had contacted the Doctor and not me, but I- oh! It's you! From the arena." Blemishine said, turning her attention towards Aurora as she let go of her sister. "I never actually got your name before."

Aurora tilted her head to the side in confusion. She knew that their itinerary of that day had consisted of essentially sitting in on one of the K.F.K.T training sessions in the arena, but she didn't know when this girl would've gotten a chance to speak to her enough to be so familiar with her. Undoubtably, someone else was in control when this happened, considering she had no recollection of ever having met Maria Nearl face-to-face prior to right then. She could only give a polite smile towards the other.

"I'm sorry, Lady Maria. Have we met before? I'm afraid I don't recall our encounter." She said, apologetically.

Blemishine looked confused by this response, which Aurora had already anticipated. But before the Kuranta could open her mouth to say something, Aurora's ears perked straight up and her tail stilled completely. A chill ran down her spine, causing her to visibly shiver. Her instincts were flaring up and screaming bloody murder. She turned her head to the side, trying to find the potential source of this sudden unease. Then her eyes landed on someone she had not previously noticed.

Standing behind the hooded doctor was another Kuranta girl. But she had long white hair and a bow strapped to her back. She wasn't exactly focused on the scene in front of her, but once Aurora had began to look a her, their eyes met. A jolt passed through her body as she recognized that uninterested gaze. They all knew that gaze. Her prosthetic arm began to tremble slightly at the blurry memory. It took all but a few seconds for the Kuranta girl to have a flash of recognition in her own eyes, followed by a look of shock.

"It's you..." The white-haired girl said, quietly.

Aurora's vision began to blur and tilt. This feeling was a bit different than a switch. Her body was in an uproar and panic and voices were clouding her mind and making it hard to focus. She could see vague movement around her, and she heard muffled sounds of people trying to speak to her. She silently cursed as her legs gave way and her vision went completely black as she hit the ground.

Chapter Text

When Juliana opened her eyes, she immediately felt nauseous. Her mind had been in a complete panic and she couldn't figure out what anyone was trying to say. She heard a voice mention that an enemy was nearby, and then a mention of a Rhodes Island. She wasn't quite sure what exactly that meant, but she decided that it was best to stow away that name in the back of her mind for later.

She groaned in pain as she tried to sit up, only for her body to protest due to how sore it was. She took a moment to let her vision settle and clear up before she could take in her surroundings. She was in a rather nice-looking room. Maybe a hotel room? The bed she was on was incredibly soft, and it almost made her not want to move. The Perro girl looked down and saw that both her mechanical arm, and her scrap of a leg was still attached. But her armor was gone, sitting on a plush couch off to the side.

What on Terra had even happened to her? She certainly wasn't back at the company building, otherwise she wouldn't have awoken in a nice soft bed like this. Despite her body protesting, Juliana shifted herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She winched as she heard the creaking and scraping of her makeshift leg. As she was doing this, she failed to notice the door to the room beginning to open. But once it did, her head snapped up and she froze.

Juliana locked eyes with a purple-haired Sarkaz girl who was staring back at her with an equal, if not more, expression of shock on her face. She watched as the girl retreated slightly back out the door, yet still remained looking at her like she was expecting her to disappear once she looked away.

"Um...Doctor? She's awake!" The girl shouted down the hallway.

Panic began to spread throughout her as the situation finally crashed down on her. She didn't know where she was or how she got here. She remembered hearing one of the voices saying something about an enemy, so did she get kidnapped by an enemy? Maybe a rival company of the K.F.K.T? Was someone trying to ransom her? Dozens of possibilities rushed through her mind, and she attempted to stand herself up so that she could try to defend herself. Her muscles screamed and she swayed slightly.

"Whoa whoa! You shouldn't be standing up! You're still recovering from that nasty fall you had!" The purple-haired girl said, attempting to approach her.

But this only made Juliana panic even more. Her legs gave way beneath her, and she fell to her knees. Her body was refusing to listen to her and it resulted in a very odd moment of her essentially flailing and trying to stand up again. She didn't know who the girl in front of her was, and she didn't look very threatening. But she had been fooled in the past by those who didn't look threatening before. She grabbed onto the nightstand with one hand and her finger bumped against something familiar. She didn't hesitate to wrap her hand around it and pointed the dagger at the girl.

"Alright. That's enough. Hibiscus, can you go wait in the hallway?" A tired, but commanding voice spoke up.

Juliana looked at the open doorway and froze when she spotted the tall hooded figure standing there. All features of this person was obscured by layers of clothing. Even their face was partially hidden by the shadows of their visor. But based on everything else she's seen so far, this must've been the person in charge. She would be shocked if they weren't. She kept the dagger raised, but her blood ran cold when the person continued to approach her. In a last ditch effort to keep them from getting closer, Juliana redirected the dagger at her own throat instead.

The hooded person completely stopped in their tracks, holding up their hands. Juliana pressed the cold metal closer to her skin when it seemed like the other was going to take another step.

"Hey now...lets just calm down and talk, okay? You seem like you're confused, and that you don't recognize me. So lets just start with that. I'm called the Doctor. I am a member of a pharmaceutical company called Rhodes Island. So was the girl who was looking over you. We aren't here to hurt you. You passed out down in the lobby a few hours ago and we moved you up here to check on your condition." The person said, their voice still not giving away what gender they were.

Juliana narrowed her eyes at this person. She had no way of immediately proving whether or not they were lying. Their voice sounded sincere enough, and their posture indicated that they were trying to deescalate.

"I....I'll put down the dagger. Just please stay over there. I don't trust you yet." She said.

"Okay. You have my word." The person said immediately.

Juliana was taken aback by the instant agreement, but she quickly regained her composure and pulled the dagger from her throat. She set it down on the floor next to her, still in her reach just in case this person had lied to her. They obviously relaxed when she was no longer threatening her own life. But she was still incredibly on edge. She didn't know what Rhodes Island was, or if these people were actually from this place or not. She didn't even know if they were telling the truth about her passing out in the lobby.

Then, a thought crossed her mind.

"Ah! The little girl! The Zalak girl that I left by the alley-"

"The Zalak girl? We had her transferred to our main location. Do you not remember? You arrived with her and one of our operators. Nearl handed us a note that explained the girl's mother wanted her to come with us. You did a good job helping bring her to us." The Doctor said.

Juliana's body relaxed a bit upon hearing this. The little girl was okay then? A lot must've happened after Emilia took control. Especially considering her real leg was throbbing heavily from an injury that she didn't remember receiving recently. She opened her mouth to speak again but her voice died in her throat when she noticed a familiar face standing behind the Doctor in the doorway. Relief spread through her body.

"L-lady Maria...?" She called out, voice hesitant.

"Ah! You're really awake! Hibiscus told me you had woken up and I wanted the chance to talk to you." Maria said, entering the room.

But Juliana clamped her mouth shut. She glanced between Maria and the Doctor, her eyes full of hesitance and suspicion. Now that Maria Nearl was in the picture, she could trust that she at least wasn't surrounded by the enemy like she had initially assumed. However, she wasn't willing to continue the conversation with this Doctor person. She knew Maria wouldn't lie to her and she wanted to hear the truth from her. The Kuranta girl seemed to pick up on her signals and turned towards the Doctor.

"Uh, do you mind leaving us, Doctor? No offense but, you do look rather intimidating to someone who just woke up and probably doesn't know who you are." The younger girl said, chuckling awkwardly.

Surprisingly, the Doctor didn't protest to this. Instead, they cast a final look towards Juliana before turning and exiting the room. Once they were alone, Juliana let out the breath that she didn't know she was holding and slumped against the side of the bed. Her entire body was sore, and despite just waking up, she was still exhausted. She watched wearily as Maria approached and sat down on the couch that was against the wall.

"So...based on your reaction, I can assume you don't remember anything, right?" The Kuranta girl asked.

Juliana gave a shy nod.

"Well, I don't know what happened to you after we met at the arena, but I do know what my sister told me and what I saw. Sis said that you sought her out with a little girl cause you knew she was part of Rhodes Island. The note you had with you from her mother explained that she wanted her daughter brought to us. We met up with you and sis in the lobby a few hours ago and you didn't seem to recognize me. But it seems like you saw Platinum and just passed out after that. We brought you here to make sure you weren't injured." Maria explained, tapping her foot in an anxious manner.

"I...see.....I think. Thank you for telling me all of this, Lady Maria. But I'm still a bit confused. You mentioned Rhodes Island, and so did that Doctor person. They said it was a pharmaceutical company but....I don't know." Juliana said, leaning back against the bed as she attempted to shift her legs.

"Oh! Well I'm glad you asked. I currently work at Rhodes Island right now. So does everyone else you ran into here. It is a pharmaceutical company but it's also a paramilitary company too. It's main goal is to help those with Oripathy and help them live longer. It's also trying to find a cure for it. We do missions where we fight and all that which is where the paramilitary part comes in." Maria happily explained.

As she was explaining this, Juliana was hardly focused on the words she was saying, and was more focused on the shine in Maria's eyes as she spoke about it. She seemed like she was genuinely proud to be sharing this information. Seeing Maria so happy was completely enrapturing for her. Before she knew it, her tail had began to sway back and forth as she halfheartedly listened to the other. After a minute or so, Juliana was snapped back to reality when she realized she was being asked a question.

"I- um- what?" She sputtered out, earning a giggle from Maria.

"I asked what your name was. I never actually asked back at the arena and now seems like a good time." The other girl said, giving a bright smile.

"O-oh! Um- right right. Um....my name is Juliana. I'm also called The Fortune Knight. I apologize for not introducing myself sooner." She said, giving a rather awkward bow of her head.

-

Outside the room, the Doctor was walking away from the door, hands in their pockets as they made their way down the hallway. Once they made it to a certain room, they opened the door and was met with many expectant stares. Hibiscus, Lava, Gravel, Amiya, and Platinum. The Doctor sighed heavily as they closed the door behind them.

"The situation is stabilized. She's talking to Blemishine right now. It seems she's the only one that she semi-trusts here, so I'll leave it to her to get the girl up to speed on what's going on. Now, still not gonna talk about your reaction, Platinum?" The Doctor asked, looking towards the white-haired Kuranta.

"Hmph. It's not relevant to our current mission and I don't see the need if it's not going to be helpful to whatever we're here for." Platinum said, keeping her arms crossed.

The Doctor sighed.

"Fine. Did anyone else find out anything about her?" They asked.

"Well, I've been trying to look her up all over the web and see what it gives me. Turns out her name is Juliana. At least...one of her names is that. A bunch of interviews and articles say that she has Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's been frequently used as an advertising point in her interviews and such. Poor thing." Gravel said, typing away at the large device in her hands.

"I'm surprised you didn't already know about her. You were a knight too, right?" Amiya asked.

"Not all knights know each other, dear. Besides, she's been of no interest to me until now, so I never paid attention. Can you really blame me? But moving on, I can send you these articles if you want to look them over, Doctor. Although, I doubt they will be of much use since she doesn't belong to us." The Zalak girl said casually. "She's a slave that is currently owned by the K.F.K.T. I'm sure they are wondering where she is since we've had her for a few hours now. I certainly hope they don't think we stole her."

"No reasonable person will think that we stole her. After all, we were just checking her condition after she passed out while seeking out us. Once she's able to move around on her own again, we can escort her back to wherever she's from and move on. Although....I am really concerned about her health." Hibiscus said, glancing towards the door.

"I thought you said there was no damage to her head?" Lava pointed out.

"I did, yes. But...it wasn't just the damage to her head that concerned me. Her leg, for example. You all saw that sorry excuse for a prosthetic, yeah? Well I was examining the skin around where they met and it was horrible infected and borderline necrotic. She really hasn't been taking care of it properly since it hasn't fully healed over yet. And besides that, she has many bruises on her body that are suspiciously placed in areas where they are most obscured yet hurt the most." The Sarkaz girl explained, leaning against the wall.

"From the sounds of it, her master hasn't been taking good care of her. Whoever that is. Slaves aren't normally allowed to seek out medical help on their own without the permission of their masters." Platinum said, keeping her eyes off to the side.

"That's....horrible. You don't think she's being mistreated, do you?" Amiya asked quietly.

As the conversation continued, Gravel proceeded forward with her research on the girl. Most of the articles were talking about her DID, and the interviews just consisted of her being very quiet and looking incredibly uncomfortable while sitting beside who she could only assume was a representative of the company she was bound to. It was a different person each time. But as she was scrolling, a certain title caught her eye, making her pause.

"Hm...'The Fortune Knight becomes feral during her first match in the Major'. Now that is an interesting title. I knew she was a knight but I didn't know she held a Grand title. But I think I might've heard about this fight happening during the Major..." Gravel said, clicking on the video as the others gathered around to look at the screen.

~

The video was being recorded by someone in the first row of the arena. They were keeping the camera as steady as possible despite the fact that they were clearly talking to someone very animatedly. Eventually, the announcer decided to speak up and captured their attention, making the background conversation halt and the recorder now was fully focused.

There were three people standing in the center of the arena. Two on one side and Juliana on the other. The announcer mentioned something about it being a two-on-two match, but just like with Blemishine, Juliana's partner didn't show. And yet, the match continued despite the clear disadvantages that she had. Juliana held a spear, but she appeared to be frozen in place the moment the match started. The two knights on the opposing side immediately began to move.

In a display of movements that was surely illegal, a whip was wrapped around Juliana's neck from behind by the second knight and yanked her to the ground by the throat. Before she could stand up, a metal boot slammed down on her front armor plate, clearly denting it. It seemed like both parties were exchanging words that couldn't be made out from the recorders spot. In another undoubtably illegal and morally debatable move, the knight standing over her proceeded to jam his sword between the armor plates around her left leg. A guttural yowl of agony tore its way from her throat as blood spurted from her leg.

It seemed like everyone in the crowd was split on what was happening, wanting the Fortune Knight to lose, or wanting the one-sided torture session to end. The cheering was still there, but it was much less than it was at the beginning. There were a few more unheard words exchanged between the two parties before something unexpected happened. Juliana stopped struggling and her body went completely limp, like she was dead. Then, it was like all the sound in the arena was shut off at once.

In a blur, Juliana was no longer pinned to the ground. Instead, she had somehow managed to flip their standings and had torn the helmet off of the knight who had pinned her. There was a bloody sword in her hand, and it became obvious where it came from as blood pooled from her injured leg. Juliana proceeded to jam the sword into the throat of the knight, twisting it further and further. Cries of horror erupted from the crowd as the Perro girl began shouting and growling unintelligibly as she pulled the sword out and jammed it back in over and over again. The knight's face was nothing but a blood mess.

The second knight attempted to defend their partner, but once they got close enough, Juliana directed her attention toward him now instead. The first one had stopped moving by now. But Juliana crawl off of the dead knight and flung the sword from her hand to the side. She stood essentially on all fours, teeth bared and eyes glowing red. Then whole world seemed to warp for a second before she launched herself at him like a feral animal. She rammed into the knight, pinning him to the ground as well. She seized the whip from the knight's hand and forced it around his throat. She pulled it tighter and tighter, and the knight clawed at his throat, desperately trying to get any source of air. But she didn't relent. Not even when his movements were getting weaker and weaker.

But before the knight had stopped moving, something lodged itself in Juliana's neck. The Perro girl remained completely frozen before she collapsed. But her eyes were still wide open and searching. A bunch of guards began to drag her off, and she was growling and shouting the entire time. Even if she couldn't move. The knight she had been choking, however, was no longer moving. Even when two medics had unwound the whip from his neck. That's when the video abruptly cut off.

~

Everyone in the room stared at the screen with mixed reactions ranging from horror to confusion. Gravel stared at the repeat symbol on the screen in front of her, a deeply contemplative expression on her face. Based on what she saw of this girl so far, this type of bloodshed was incredibly unlike her. Whatever conversation happened between the knights and Juliana must've been enough to make her snap. Of course, the near removal of her leg probably played a big part. Something had clearly pushed her over the edge.

"Goodness...." Amiya murmured.

"Still the least bloody fight I've ever seen. But it's still unexpected. I bet whoever it was that rigged that match wasn't expecting her to actually fight back like a cornered animal." Platinum said, sighing.

"Damn. Kazimierz is ruthless, huh?" Lava said, putting a hand on her hip.

"Um, Doctor?"

Everyone turned towards the door, where Blemishine now stood. The Kuranta girl looked a bit nervous, and her ears continued to flick back and forth anxiously.

"You might want to come see this. I...don't know what happened. Or what to do about it." She said.

-

The Doctor peered into the room, watching the Perro girl that was now shoved away in the corner of the bedroom. She had a distant look in her eyes. The color of her eyes were no longer that gray color that they had seen earlier. They were a very very pale yellow color. She was half-leaning on the nightstand and was playing around with the light switch that was on the base of the lamp. In all honesty, it looked like a child that was vaguely bored and easily distracted.

"I was just talking with her and then she sort of....froze. Her eyes closed for a bit and then she opened them and refuses to talk to me. She looked scared of me too when she noticed I was sitting there after she opened her eyes again. Then….she sort of hid herself away in the corner of the room." Blemishine explained.

The Doctor continued to watch the girl flicking the light on and off like a cat fascinated with a candle. They had some experience dealing with those with personality changes thanks to Nightmare, but this case was slightly different. Dissociative Identity Disorder was similar yet still different from Split-Personality Disorder. The main difference obviously being the number of personalities that the person had in their head. In this case, it seemed like Juliana had an underdeveloped or rather, childlike person within her that occasionally came out.

"Hm. Okay. Go back to the others and have them fill you in on what they found out about her. I'll....try my best to do something about her current state." They said, glancing over at Blemishine.

The Kuranta girl hesitantly nodded and turned to make her way down the hall. The Doctor took a deep breath and, against their better judgement, entered the room. The second they stepped inside, the girl stopped playing with the light and stared at them with wide eyes full of trepidation and confusion. A small part of that gaze held a bit of curiosity in it. As they tried to take a step forward, the Perro girl made a serious of noises that sounded like nonverbal distress. Like a child that didn't know how to speak yet and could only make sounds. Or someone who had panicked so much they couldn’t form words

"Ah! Uh! Uh uh!" She vocalized.

They stopped approaching as they heard this, only making them more confused. The Doctor wasn't exactly an expert in handling children, despite the many underage operators at Rhodes Island. Not to mention that this whole situation was one they never thought that would have come up. There was silence filling the air for a couple agonizingly long minutes. They didn't know what to do to defuse the situation.

"Ma....Man?" A confused, yet curious voice came from the girl.

It was definitely a child-like voice despite coming from a seemingly grown woman. The single word was phrased like a question, which caught the Doctor off-guard. They didn't know what exactly the girl meant by saying this, but they could only make assumptions. Was she asking whether or not they were a man?

"Uh...no." The Doctor responded.

A look similar to relief appeared in her yellow gaze. She carefully moved away from the lamp, using her hands to hold herself up by the edge of the bed, keeping herself steady. She moved forward until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the Doctor. They were rather surprised by how readily the girl had accepted their presence once getting confirmation that they were not male. They decided to put a mental pin in that information in case it was relevant later one.

"...Fe..male...?" Juliana asked, tilting her head to the side.

"...no." The Doctor said, shaking their head.

Now it was time for the Perro girl to look incredibly confused. She squinted her eyes and tilted her head back and forth, like she was trying to figure out what that meant. The Doctor was used to this reaction by now. They raised their hands and grabbed the edge of their hood. They pulled it down to reveal their face. Ghostly pale skin and stark-white and messy short hair. Their gray eyes held a dead feeling to them. Often, they were seen as male by default due to their build and height. But their voice tended to confuse people with how ambiguous it sounded.

"Neither." The Doctor explained, giving a weak smile.

The Perro girl stared at them in awe and intrigue, and then a smile appeared on her face. She appeared excited to have this new information and it was evident in the way her tail happily smacked against the bedsheets. A small childish giggle left her throat, like she heard a joke that they couldn't hear.

"Do you have a name?" The Doctor asked.

The Perro girl paused, staring at them blankly for a moment before shaking her head. After responding, she became distracted by the design on the wallpaper and turned her head away. She subtly kicked her legs back and forth and began to hum softly. The Doctor found themselves at a loss on what to do next. They didn't know how to get information from an essential child that found no interest in them. The best they could do is leave the girl to her own devices for now and come back when someone else was in control.

"I'm going to go now. Please get some rest." The Doctor said, pulling their hood back over their head as they turned to the door again.

"....golden....." The girl murmured absentmindedly.

-

A couple more hours had passed by the time Aurora found herself in control again. When she blinked open her blue eyes, she was laying down on the floor near the bed. Not only was she incredibly confused about why she was on the floor, but she was confused about why she wasn't in pain. She had been exchanging words with Juliana during the small period of time that they didn't know who was in control. She only hoped it wasn't one of the children. Or Emilia. Both were a bad option.

Since they couldn't communicate with the one in control, it led to a lot of confusion whenever they switched. They could, however, communicate with one another when not in control. Thankfully, she had been able to get Juliana up to speed with an exchange of memories, and Juliana had done the same for her. She had a rough idea that she wasn't in any danger, but her main concern was the white-haired Kuranta that she recalled being a part of this group. Would she pose a threat to them? Would she finish the job? She looked just as shocked to see her then, so it was a real mystery. But she would dwell on it when it came up.

As she was thinking, the door to the room creaked open. Aurora lifted her head and was met with the startled face of a young brown-haired Cautus girl.

"Oh! I didn't know you were awake again. I would’ve knocked if I knew. I was just coming to check on you. How are you feeling?" The girl asked.

"I'm fine. Much better than I thought I would be, honestly. But I suspect that might be your doing." Aurora said, carefully gripping the edge of the bed and hoisting herself to her feet. "If I may ask....what time is it? I don't wish to take advantage of your kindness and I believe I might be in a bit of trouble if I don't return to my company building soon."

The Cautus girl seemed momentarily stunned by what she said, before she regained her composure and pulled out a device to presumably check the time.

"Um...It's currently 11:37 AM. You've been here since rather early in the morning so..." The girl responded a bit apologetically.

"I see....I thank you for your help, and hospitality. But, I'm afraid I must return to my company building. It...really isn't much of a choice for me, so I hope you understand." The Perro girl said, giving a sad smile towards her.

"Ah...it's no problem. You don't need to apologize. Please tell us when you're ready to depart so we can at least have one of our operators escort you back. So that we can have a peace of mind seeing you get back there." The girl requested, her voice genuine and full of concern.

Aurora smiled at this girl. She didn't know who she was, but she clearly had a good heart and a love for all. Behind that slightly timid exterior, she was powerful and leaderlike. But…she was also holding herself back a lot. How odd. A maternal instinct arose from deep within her at the sight of this girl, and she decided to file this information away if they were ever to meet again after this.

"Very well."

-

Aurora sighed heavily as she saw the eyes that were on the two of them. Maria, or rather, Blemishine, had been the one to volunteer to escort her to the company building. She did appreciate the Kuranta doing so. She knew that Juliana admired the girl beyond comprehension and would be happy to walk alongside Blemishine, but she was currently resting in the back of her mind.

"Jeez...I've never been stared at so much in my life. At least, not like this. Um, no offense." Blemishine said, turning towards Aurora.

"Trust me, I'm not offended. But I have a feeling that a majority of these stares are directed at me. They might be a bit confused to see a Nearl standing beside someone like me." Aurora said, glancing over her shoulder. “Bad reputation and all that.”

A few of the bystanders nearby were unapologetically staring at the two as they were walking along the sidewalk. Some people had even crossed to the opposite side of the street once they saw them. The reactions weren't exactly new to her, but she could imagine that they were new to Blemishine. As she was walking, she felt something hard and sharp hit the back of her head. She grunted and cradled her head where she had been hit. She looked at the ground and saw that a sharp rock had been thrown at her. Blemishine whipped around to confront the person who threw it.

"Hey! What-"

"Lady Maria! Please. Don't make a scene. I promise it didn't even hurt." Aurora cut the girl off.

The young man who had throw the rock at her was glaring daggers. Behind him, there looked to be an older man and woman who were looking between him and her. Like they were afraid something was going to escalate. Normally, something like this would count as assault, but it was ten times more complicated when the victim was a slave. She didn’t want to have to pull anyone into all of that drama. Aurora reached out with her mechanical hand and gently took Blemishine by the wrist.

"But, he can't just-"

"I know. I know....but it's best if we just keep moving." Aurora said, lowering her voice slightly.

Blemishine still looked hesitant to comply, but finally gave in when Aurora began to pull her away. The back of her head was throbbing a bit, and she knew she would need to check for blood later because of how sharp the rock was. Even after they left the area, Blemishine remained close to her, as if she was getting ready to intercept another rock that was thrown. Aurora did find the action to be rather sweet, but she felt bad about being an unintentional problem on the way back.

Soon enough, they reached the K.F.K.T headquarters. Outside the door, two burly and intimidating guards stood there. They had their eyes locked on Aurora with a look that could kill. Based on that look alone, she could tell that she wasn't going to be getting off with just a slap on the wrist. Not that they ever did. Her tail had tucked itself between her legs and her ears were completely flat against her head.

"What's wrong?" Blemishine asked, noticing her clear distress.

"N-nothing. I'm just....I should probably go now. My um...master might be a bit upset that I went missing for so long, but it's nothing I can't handle." Aurora said, trying her best to keep her voice steady.

The look of concern she received nearly broke her heart. The fact that Blemishine seemed to genuinely care that she was distressed was so far from the norm for her. She could see why Juliana admired her so earnestly. She glanced back to the door and saw one of the guards move to open it for her.

"The boss is waiting for you in his office." The man said, a vague threat in his statement.

Before she could move forward anymore, Aurora felt a gentle touch on her real arm. She looked behind her to see Blemishine had grabbed her by the wrist to stop her from moving forward.

"Will you....be okay?" She asked, voice uncharacteristically timid.

Aurora remained staring for a long moment. Then, she carefully pulled her hand away from the other, giving her a sad smile.

"Goodbye, Lady Maria. It was a pleasure to finally meet you."

Chapter Text

Aurora grunted as she was essentially thrown into the room. It took all of her strength to keep herself standing on her makeshift leg. The door was slammed shut behind her, and unyielding dread spread through her body when she finally lifted her head. She saw him sitting at his desk, leaning on one arm and staring directly at her with those devilish red eyes. His black hair was still slicked back, and his black horns were still polished to perfection. His tail waved back and forth impatiently. The look on the Vouivre's face was unreadable. And that was the scariest part.

The man was Leon Malinowski. The CEO of the Kazimierz Future Knight Training company. And her current master.

"Approach the desk." He said, voice echoing throughout the room.

Aurora was quick to comply and she limped her way towards the desk. When she stood a few feet away from it, she stopped herself. Using as much strength as she could, she straightened herself up to full height. She flinched as she watched him stand up, straightening his white collared shirt as he rounded the desk.

"Which one am I talking to?" He asked.

"Aurora, Master Leon." She said, like muscle memory.

He gave a gruff noise as he approached her, stopping only when he stood about a foot in front of her. She flinched again as he reached out with his hand and cupped her cheek. The touch burned her skin and made her nauseous immediately. She had to push down the bile that was rising in her throat as he moved to grip her chin between his fingers, shifting her head from side to side and examining her. She just allowed this to happen, hoping that he would grow bored of his own actions.

"So. I was told you suddenly disappeared last night. But here you are now, back in my care. Tell me, where did you go?" He asked, emotions masked by faux curiosity.

"I wasn't in control the entire time, so I only know what I was told. A young child approached us and asked us to take her somewhere. We couldn't just leave her, so we brought her to a hotel where someone she knew was. But something must've triggered us and we ended up passing out. A few kind souls gave us a place to recover while we were regaining control of ourselves. Then we came back here." The Perro girl explained, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

That crimson gaze bore into her eyes with such intensity that she felt like she was being burned alive from the inside out. Nothing struck fear in them more than the anger of the man in front of them. And she still couldn't get a read on his expression. Even after ten years of being his slave, she didn't know how to properly read him.

"My my...it seems like you've had quite the night. That large heart of yours can certainly get you into many situations, hm?" The Vouivre said, tail lashing irritably.

Without warning, his hand let go of her face and she was seized by the collar around her neck. Due to their difference in height, and Leon's raw strength, Aurora was lifted off the ground by about a foot to be face-to-face with him. She gasped and wheezed as the collar mercilessly pulled at the skin of her neck, and his fist pressed against her airway. She clawed at his hand desperately as she was forced to look at the unfiltered anger that burning in his eyes.

"I like to believe that I've been rather merciful and lenient with you recently. But perhaps that was a mistake on my part. You seem to be forgetting just who you belong to." He hissed, pulling the collar tighter. "Your leash need a yank. You've gotten too comfortable with disobeying my orders and going off on your own. As if you have the free will too do so."

Saliva dripped down the sides of her mouth and tears fell from her eyes as she desperately tried to get the air that she was denied. She could no longer form words and her brain had defaulted to only ensuring her survival. Her legs flailed back and forth and she tried, but failed, to kick the man in front of her.

"Give me a sign that you understand me, or I will keep holding you here until you see the light." Leon demanded, leaning close to her face.

It took all of her strength and willpower to manage a frantic nod of her head. After that, she was finally released and unceremoniously dropped onto the ground. She inhaled deeply as air filled her lungs once more. She didn't have the mind to even sit herself up at that point. She remained laying on the floor, gasping and wheezing as she tried to calm the panic that was viciously tearing it's way through her body. Tears stained her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot and full of fear.

"There. That wasn't so hard, was it? See how easy it is to follow directions? I can't believe I even have to keep teaching you this lesson." He said, approaching her writhing form.

Aurora could hardly get even a single sound out before a steel-toed boot connected with her stomach, essentially flipping her onto her back from the sheer force behind it. She let out a choked whimper and curled herself up into a fetal position. Her vision was blurry from the tears, yet she could still see him kneeling down in front of her body. That sickening faux concern on his face was almost as insulting as what he said next.

"Ah. Look what you made me do, puppy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. But you know why I did it, right? You have to listen to me. You haven't been doing that lately. You do understand that I can get a bit heated about your safety, right?" He asked, gently rubbing her trembling shoulder.

Instead of words, Aurora gave a spastic nod.

"That's a good puppy. See how easy it is for you to just listen and respond? I hate to say this, but I think I'll need to keep you inside for the next couple of days. You seem to have forgotten your training and I'm sure our instructors will be glad to take you back under their wings for now." Leon said, moving his hand up and gently caressing her face. "You know I don't reward disobedience. I'm afraid you'll have to deal with those injuries a bit longer as punishment. But, if you're on your best behavior, I might take you on a trip to the hospital soon. Think you can do that?"

His words made her sick. Every single one of them brought a chill down her spine, and she had to physically stop herself from heaving. She squinted up at him and shakily nodded her head.

"That's a good girl. You know I don't like getting mad at you. Come on. Let's get you up." He said, gently taking her by the arms and hoisting her back to her feet.

In an odd way, Aurora almost felt like he cared in that moment. Almost. But she knew better. This was just how he lowered her guard before striking again. He wouldn't simply stop being mad at her after she pulled something like that. But left with no other choice, she gripped onto his arm for stability and just allowed him to hold her close to his chest. Another shiver ran up her spine as she felt his tail wrap around her wrist. It wasn't protective in any way. It was possessive. A reminder that she would always be bound to him.

-

Over the course of the next two days, the Fortune Knight went silent. The media was up in arms over the fact that said knight had been seen walking side by side with a Nearl of all people. But after she had disappeared into the K.F.K.T company headquarters, there hasn't been so much as a peep from her or her master. It was common to see her moving back and forth through the streets, always accompanied by, or accompanying someone of course.

But there was nothing to be heard.

-

"Again, I don't even know if she's gonna be here. I just....I need to see her again, okay? It's really hard to explain." Blemishine hastily explained, speeding up her steps.

"I get that. I suppose. You were digging deeply into the K.F.K.T website to figure out when they'll be here next and....I don't think I've ever seen you so worked up like this, little Nearl. Not even during the preliminaries." Gravel pointed out, trying to keep pace with the energetic girl.

Blemishine knew she was being a bit selfish in doing this. Originally, she had just planned to go by herself, but the Doctor insisted that she at least have someone else join her. And now here she was with Gravel. But this wouldn't deter the goal she had in mind. The way Aurora had looked at her when she dropped her off at the company building was still burned into her memory.

"I know....but I can't rest easy until I get some kind of clarification that she's okay. The way she looked at me when we separated...maybe I'm looking into things too much but....it all seemed so final. Like she didn't expect to ever see me again. I've seen people with fear in their eyes before, Gravel. Very rarely, but still. I saw it hiding behind her smile. And the way she said goodbye to me....was so off." The Kuranta said, quickening her pace again.

After that, Gravel chose to not respond. The two girls approached the arena and took the shortest route possible to get to the center of it. Despite being kicked out last time, they found no resistance in getting to the center. When they made it, they saw a familiar group of knights, led by the same Lupo instructor as last time. But Blemishine's eyes immediately deviated towards a familiar face that she had been desperate to see.

The Perro girl was a few feet away from the group, not standing, but instead sitting down like she had collapsed. She was leaning on her hand to keep herself up, and her head was as low as it possibly could've been. She looked tired. Even more than ever. Without thinking, Blemishine took off in a light jog towards the girl. It wasn't long before she caught the attention of the instructor, who looked annoyed to see her again. But of course, she didn't care what he was currently shouting at her.

As she approached the Perro girl, she noticed within seconds that something was wrong with her. On the outside, she seemed like she was just tired. But the dark circles under her eyes made it clear that her exhaustion was beyond the normal amount. And her eyes. She had gotten the vague idea that her eyes changed color whenever someone else in her DID system was in control. However that worked. Her eyes were a very dark brown color, and they still held no light in them. But when she saw Blemishine approach, she saw something familiar. Fear.

The Kuranta girl stopped moving as she noticed a few other details that made her grow cold. There was a few scratches on her face from what seemed like claws. Maybe an attack? And around her neck...even the collar couldn't cover up the obvious bruising that surrounded her throat. And by the way she was breathing, it was obvious that she was having trouble doing so. If there were other injuries, they were covered by the armor. But even if there weren't, seeing this was enough to make her blood boil.

"...what happened to you...?" She asked softly.

The girl scooted herself away from Blemishine, like she was worried about getting too close to her. Her tired eyes darted back and forth in a panic. The Kuranta opened her mouth to speak but she didn't get the chance because someone grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. She found herself nearly face-to-face with the same instructor, who looked to be at his limit. Sharp canine teeth were bared and ears were facing back in a warning manner.

"How many times do I gotta shout until you hear me?!? I've already told you this before. You haven't paid for the sessions so you aren't allowed to be here. Get the hell out and take your damn slave with you. Stop wasting our time!" The man growled.

Blemishine was stunned. Not only by being manhandled, or by being shouted at. One thing the man said had made her confused.

"I don't have a....what?" She sputtered out.

It took her only a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about. That's when she looked to the side and noticed that Gravel was standing about two feet away from her with a look on her face that could kill. She had nearly forgotten that Gravel was a former slave, and the barcode on her neck was a permanent reminder. But she was free now since she had joined Rhodes Island. Blemishine could feel the concealed anger radiating off of Gravel, who had a very menacing smile on her face.

"I-I...wait, that doesn't matter. This girl is clearly injured and exhausted! Why is no one taking care of her?" Blemishine asked, gesturing frantically towards the Perro girl.

"Tsk. It isn't any of your business. She's company property. If you have a problem with it, then take it up with the boss. Otherwise, for the last time, get the hell out of here before I kick you out of here myself!" The Lupo man said. "Mutt! Get them out of here. Now!"

Blemishine turned her head and watched as the Perro girl audibly sighed upon hearing this. She used as much strength as she could muster to force herself up to her feet. She winched at the sight as the girl clutched the side of her ribcage with one hand. Every so often, she would make a noise of pain or distress. Despite how sickly she appeared to be, she still managed to trudge forward towards the exit. Her scrap leg was essentially lagging behind her, leaving a visible line in the dirt of the arena.

"You don't have to-"

"I do." The girl cut Blemishine off, not even looking back at her.

Her voice was full of exhaustion and pain, as well as resignation. Blemishine looked over at Gravel, who was no longer smiling dangerously. Instead, an obvious look of pity was visible on her face up until she noticed the Kuranta girl looking at her. Then she averted her eyes and began to follow after the limping girl. Blemishine relented and followed after them both. She knew the other was struggling to keep herself walking. Every few steps would be met with an obvious stumble and a near fall. But she was ready to help her if the time ever came.

Eventually, they once again made it to the entrance of the arena. The Perro girl had stopped moving and leaned herself up against a wall, wheezing and breathing deeply, like she just ran a marathon. Blemishine approached her carefully, concern evident on her face.

"Hey...what happened-"

"No....can't talk...not here." The girl choked out, gasping in between words. "Watching...just...please go, Lady Maria....please."

The sudden pleading threw Blemishine for a loop. Then, she watched the girl reach out with her real hand. It trembled badly. Instincts took over as the Kuranta took her hand in her own. She froze when she felt something press down on her palm. Then, the Perro girl pulled her hand away, and Blemishine closed her fist around said thing that was placed in her hand. Golden eyes met muted brown for a split-second. Then it was over.

"..bye." The girl said, pushing off the wall and slowly making her way back in the arena.

Blemishine watched the broken knight dragging herself back into the arena. She only found the will to move again once she could no longer hear the sound of her feet dragging. Then she remembered what was in her hand. She frantically opened her palm and discovered that a slightly crumpled piece of paper was there. She didn't waste time opening the balled paper and saw the bold words that were looking back at her.

-Help. Midnight. Round Table-

She blinked in confusion.

-

When midnight finally struck, the group of three former knights were waiting in the alley next to the bar. The Round Table. A great name for a bar. Although, Gravel had to question why this specific location was the one that the Fortune Knight had chosen as her meeting place. She crossed her arms and glanced over at Blemishine, who was still pacing anxiously back and forth while looking at the entrance to the alley constantly. Then she turned her attention to Platinum, who still looked indifferent on the situation.

"You know...I still question your insistence on coming along. She reacted quite badly to your appearance before, and we still have yet to hear why. I am deathly curious." The Zalak girl said, clearly trying to get a reaction from the other.

"That's my own business. It doesn't matter unless it becomes a problem. Let's just do what we came here for so we can get back to Rhodes Island faster. I've still technically got a bounty on my head in this place." Platinum said, sighing as she glanced towards Blemishine.

They certainly made a rather odd group of individuals. A former slave knight. A blacksmith. And a platinum rank member of the Armorless Union. Once upon a time, Platinum had tried to kill Blemishine AND her sister, and Blemishine had been incredibly hostile towards Platinum because of that reason. But they had managed to set aside these things in order to work together. Even if they often chose to avoid each other. In instances they were forced to work together, like this one, they were oddly cordial with one another. But still not friendly.

"Hopefully she doesn't freak out when she sees you. We're already risking a lot by coming here in the first place. We can only hope that it goes that smoothly. We still don't know why she wants our help. I can only assume that she wants our help to get away from her situation." Gravel said, looking up at the sky. "Or maybe she needs medical help. She seemed pretty banged up back there."

"You seem rather nonchalant about all of this. You were a former slave, so I don't see why you wouldn't be more understanding." Platinum pointed out.

"Perhaps. But her situation was vastly different from mine. Compared to what we've seen of her, it seems that I was on the luckier side when I had my masters who didn't want me to be on the brink of death all the time. I do question why her master simply allows her to appear in public like this. Even if it's a slave, signs of maltreatment are bad for anyone's reputation. Especially the refusal to treat her. But what do I know." Gravel said sarcastically, raising her hand and looking over her nails.

Suddenly, Platinum's head shot up.

"Quiet. Someone is here." She said, keeping her voice low.

Everyone became silent and listened for what she was talking about. There was a very soft noise of footsteps. Or rather, a single footstep, followed by a metallic clink on pavement. Gravel raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Another minute passed before someone rounded the corner to the alleyway and froze once she noticed them. Well, the Fortune Knight has certainly seen better days. Her armor was scuffed, and one of her leg plates was cracked in half. She was gasping, like she had run all the way here, and she was clutching her side in pain. There were a couple more scratch marks on her face that had dried blood on them, and a thin line of blood dripped from her scalp to her chin. Relief flooded through her gray eyes as she saw them there.

Gray eyes. It was Juliana then? Gravel recalled an article explaining that her eyes changed color with her personalities. A curious phenomenon. But not impossible considering everyday occurrences on Terra.

"You...you guys actually came...I-" She immediately clamped her mouth shut when her eyes landed on a certain person.

Gravel could see the multitude of emotions running through Juliana's gaze as she stared at Platinum. But the most striking one was obvious: fear. Clearly these two had history with one another, and if she had to guess, that fear was entirely one-sided. In a rather strange moment, Juliana's eyes began to rapidly shift through a bunch of different colors. She clutched her head with one hand, almost like she was trying to soothe a headache.

"No. No...Don't switch. I can...handle it on my own." The Perro girl mumbled to herself before raising her head again. "...so they weren't lying....you're really here."

"I...." For the first time since they had met, Gravel saw that Platinum was at a loss for words.

"I- look I don't know what's going on between you two. But let's focus on what's happening right now, okay? You gave us that note and asked us for help? Why are you so hurt right now? Why do you need our help? What can we do for you?!" Blemishine asked, standing in front of Juliana.

The Perro girl looked completely taken aback by how obviously anxious Blemishine was about this whole situation. Her eyes were wide and surprise, and to Gravel's amusement, she swore that the girl's cheeks were slightly red. She had a feeling that it was due to the fact that Blemishine had forgotten what personal space was. Juliana's eyes darted from the girl in front of her, back to Platinum. She seemed like she was hesitant to speak with the white-haired Kuranta present. Surprisingly, Blemishine was quick to pick up on this and glanced behind her to see Platinum's guilt-riddled expression. She turned back to Juliana.

"We're all allies here. I promise. You said you trusted me, so please trust me when I say we aren't going to hurt you." She said, voice gentle.

That seemed to be all it took for Juliana to finally relent. She glanced behind her one more time. Then, her legs gave way beneath her. Luckily, Blemishine was able to catch her before she hit the ground, but her horrible physical state soon became more obvious than before. The bruises around her neck from earlier had darkened and her arms were trembling. She was still clutching at her side, whimpering. Gravel happened to spot a concerning amount of fur missing from the girl's blonde tail, leaving the reddened skin visible. Based on the patching, the sections of fur were torn out by hand.

"What's wrong?!? Where does it hurt the most?? I know basic first-aid and I can fix you up but you need to tell me what's wrong!" Blemishine said, holding the girl up.

"S-stomach....I can't....I can't....it's numb....but everything hurts....." Juliana managed to say. "Can't....b-breathe....."

Blemishine laid the girl down and Gravel approached them. Platinum had decided to keep her distance but still kept her eyes on the scene. Frantically, Blemishine began to pull the armor plates off the girl. It wasn't too complicated since it was standard issue. Gravel took note of the way Juliana flinched and tensed up when Blemishine lifted her shirt. But what she saw underneath was....quite awful. Bruises littered her abdomen, along with old and new scars. And a few new wounds. She had muscles, but it didn't do much when she was unhealthily skinny like this. But that wasn't the worst part. There was a visible indent around her ribcage, and it looked like some internal bleeding was playing a part too.

They were all stunned to silence in that moment, but it was actually Platinum that spoke up next.

"Some of her ribs are broken. Judging by how deep the indent is, I'd say it's dangerously close to, or is already currently puncturing her lungs." The former assassin said. "She said she couldn't breathe, right? First aid isn't going to keep her alive. She needs a hospital, or an arts healer."

"We can't bring her to a hospital that will actually take her nearby. She's not ours. If we tried to admit her then we could face problems. And there's a good chance they'd just flat out refuse without permission from her master. The best we can do is bring her to Hibiscus. But transporting her in a timely manner, as well as in a discreet way that takes her injuries into account...let's just say it's a bit difficult." Gravel pointed out, kneeling down.

"Then I'll carry her. We need to get her to Hibiscus as quickly as possible. I'm the strongest of us three. Gravel, can you run ahead and warn everyone? And Platinum, I need you to keep an eye out for anyone who might be pursuing us along the way." Blemishine said quick, almost tripping over her words multiple times. "I won't let her die. Not here. Not like this. She trusted us enough to come to us for help. Now we just have to prove she made the right decision."

Gravel stared at the Kuranta girl for a moment before a small smirk appeared on her face.

This girl was certainly a Nearl.

-

"I've done my best for her. But my healing arts aren't strong enough to fix the extent in which her ribs were broken. They're no longer impeding her breathing, but they are most definitely still broken. I want to say our only choice is to transfer her to Rhodes Island, or have a stronger medical operator come here. But....based on what Blemishine told us....it would be safer for her to be away from this place, Doctor." Hibiscus said, keeping her voice low.

"This...ugh. This is much more than I could've predicted. I wholeheartedly agree that it wouldn't be wise for her to stay in Kazimierz and risk a repeat of whatever got her in this condition in the first place. However....we can't just take her. Bound by the laws of Kazimierz, we'd essentially be stealing property of another person. And a very influential person at that." The Doctor said, sighing as they turned. "I....I understand that she is most likely being abused, Blemishine. But we can't just take her with us."

Blemishine, who was watching off to the side, deflated. There had been a back and forth conversation with no real conclusion ever since Juliana was brought back to the hotel. Blemishine insisted on bringing her to Rhodes Island, but the Doctor knew it couldn't possibly be that easy.

"She's scared, Doctor. She won't say exactly who did this to her, but it was obviously her master. We can't just leave her here. Even if we healed her partially, who knows what those people will do to her if given the opportunity. Not to mention, she's infected. Rhodes Island is supposed to make life better for the Infected. Just because she's a slave, doesn't mean we should leave her here. Please, Doctor." The blonde Kuranta pleaded in an uncharacteristically desperate display. "No one deserves to be treated like this. I've seen the look in her eyes and I see an innocence that is surrounded by nothing but fear and pain. That's...that's just no way to live...."

Silence overtook the room as Blemishine said this. Tears had formed in the corners of her eyes, and even she seemed unaware of this until they began to slide down her face. She widened her eyes and quickly wiped them away with a hand. No one really knew what to do, but it was Platinum that finally stepped up once more.

"Have any of you considered, maybe, asking her if she wants to come with us?" The former assassin said, crossing her arms. "Everyone seems pretty divided on this, but how about asking the person we're arguing about in the first place? Maybe that'll be enough to convince whoever about what decision should be made."

"I....alright. I'm going to go and talk to her. Hopefully she's awake. But again, don't get your hopes up. Even if she says she wants to leave, the final decision comes down to me." The Doctor said.

They had a bitter taste in their mouth upon saying this. They didn't really like pushing their authority on others like this. Especially not with their memory problems and lack of knowledge for Rhodes Island's past. But it had to be done.

-

Juliana was....tired. She was shifting uncomfortably due to the patch that was placed over the left side of her ribcage. She didn't know much about medical procedures but she did recall that purple-haired Sarkaz mentioning something about this helping with her broken ribs. She coughed, forcing herself into a sitting up position with a grunt of pain. No matter how she moved, something always hurt. Her makeshift leg had been set off to the side, and tons of gauze and bandages surrounded the area where her leg had been haphazardly amputated previously. As she sat on the edge of the bed, she couldn't help but feel pathetic in her current state.

The past couple days have been a blur for her. Whatever happened, Aurora took the brunt of it. Occasionally Emilia too. On the rare occasions that she was in control, she felt nothing but pain and exhaustion. This was worse than it's ever been before. He's never been this mad before. That's why she decided to take a gamble when instructing Claudia to give that paper to someone who looked trustworthy. She was desperate. She was ready to risk everything for the kindness of a random stranger. But she was ecstatic upon later hearing that it had been given to Maria, or rather, Blemishine.

Juliana nearly jumped as she heard a knock on the door. Although she knew by the sound of the knock that this was the Doctor, she couldn't help but angle herself in a way that would put her at less of a disadvantage if she wanted to somehow attempt to run. Although she wouldn't get far without her leg. The door opened a moment later and she was met with that familiar hooded figure. Still, she didn't relax. Something about this person always put her a bit on edge.

"Hey. Sorry for intruding so suddenly. I just have something important to discuss with you. But first, how are you feeling? Besides the normal pain. Does anything else feel like it needs to be checked?" The Doctor asked, keeping their hands in their coat's pockets.

Juliana shook her head. The Doctor waited a few beats, like they expected the girl to give a verbal response. But she still didn't speak. They sighed and pulled their hands from their pockets.

"Alright then. I'll stop beating around the bush. We're rather torn here, Miss Juliana. Some of our operators want you to be transferred out of Kazimierz to receive treatment at Rhodes Island. But others, including me, understand that due to your status as a slave in Kazimierz, that would put us in a very bad spot. I'm sure you already know this." The Doctor explained, keeping their eyes on her. "But I came to ask you before the final decision is made: do you want to leave Kazimierz? I know there are some things happening here that you cannot, or simply don't wish to speak about. But from my understanding, your better chance of survival will be with us."

Juliana stared at the Doctor with wide eyes full of shock. Every part of her was trying to convince her that this was another one of her master's tricks. He had tested her a couple times before to see if she would escape if given a chance. None of those tests ended well. Was this another test? Had she made a mistake in trusting these people?

"I.....can't leave." She said, her voice trembling slightly.

"I understand that, Miss Juliana. But that isn't what I asked you. I didn't ask if you could leave. I asked if you wanted to." They said before lowering their voice. "I know you might be afraid to answer truthfully. But rest assured that your answer will have no consequences. You will not be punished for it. Tell me the truth, and regardless of your answer, we won't tell anyone who would be looking to harm you."

Juliana gripped the sheets beneath her. Would it really be okay for her to speak the truth? She had been trapped in Kazimierz for 10 years. She was forced into a life she didn't want after being mercilessly torn from her bed one night. She wasn't even from Kazimierz. Everything from before her life here was painfully obscured to the point where so could no longer remember her parents faces. Before she realized it, tears had begun to drip from her eyes. All of the pain had welled up at once and was pushing her senses into overdrive. She couldn't even cry properly without pain shooting through her ribcage.

"I....I want to leave....I've always wanted to leave....please, Doctor." She slid herself off the edge of the bed and fell to her knees, ignoring the screaming pain and resistance from her injury as she bowed her head as close to the ground as she could. "I'll do anything. P-please...he never lets me get treatment. I fear I'll die from either my infection, or from my wounds. I just....I'm so scared....I've always been scared...."

"Hey hey. Don't do that. You'll irritate your injuries and it won't end well for you or us. Come on." The Doctor said, moving to approach the girl.

As she sat up, she flinched when she saw how close the Doctor had gotten to her. Instincts told her to raise her arms and block her face. But after a moment of silence, she realized that they weren't going to hit her. Carefully, she lowered her arms and hoisted herself back onto the bed, muffling a scream of agony. She was trembling from both the pain and the fear of what she just said. She couldn't keep her eyes up in that moment, afraid she will be met with a disgusted look. But a sigh finally broke through the awkward silence.

"....Alright. I see now. Miss Juliana, I've heard what you had to say, and I now understand the risks involved with letting you remain here. So, I would like to formally invite you to Rhodes Island in order to receive treatment from us. I do hope you understand the risks involved with this." They said, gray eyes locking with her own.

Chapter Text

The Doctor exited the room and closed the door behind them. Once they turned, they froze when they saw the group of operators staring back at them expectantly. They had wanted them all to remain in the room they had been meeting in this whole time to avoid the prying eyes of other hotel guests even though the entire floor had been rented out specifically for their visit. They sighed in exasperation as they saw the way each of them tried to look as if they hadn't been eavesdropping on that entire exchange. What was the point of even doing that in the first place? They had been caught so...? Well, might as well try to play innocent.

"Why are you all standing here?" They asked, raising an eyebrow.

There was a multitude of jumbled-up excuses coming from the group that made the Doctor almost laugh at the haphazard attempts to seem innocent. But they were, of course, fooling absolutely no one with their antics. Fortunately, Amiya actually seemed to be the one with the most valid excuse among all of them as her voice broke through the chaos.

"I-I um...came to tell you that our transport will be arriving for us in about an hour. A couple of cars are going to pick us up and drive us to an airship that will bring us back to our landship. So....did she agree to go with us? Did you agree?" The Cautus girl asked, ears perked and facing forward.

They sighed.

"Yes. She did. And yes, I did too. But this will bring a new set of challenges and I'll have to face the wrath of Kal'tsit when we get back. Of course, that's not necessarily your problem. We need to find a way to transport her without anyone figuring out what we're doing. She'll be safe once we get her out of Kazimierz, for the most part. But if they catch us before we leave the area, we'll be subject to their rules and punishments still." The Doctor said, crossing their arms. "Not to mention, she's still quite injured. And carrying around an injured girl will not do well to avert suspicion from us."

"Well, hiding her face is gonna be pretty easy. Just throw a hoodie on her and tuck in her tail and she won't look too different from an everyday citizen here. But if someone decides to take a closer look at her, that might be a problem." Lava said, shoving her hands in her pockets. "We have a driver for these cars, yeah? What if one of them recognizes her while we're headed to the airpad? Or questions why she looks injured. Oh yeah, and her leg and arm. Those are kinda obvious giveaways."

All of these were valid points to bring up. The Fortune Knight wasn't exactly unrecognizable. She had many features that couldn't be fully covered up unless they wanted it to become a hindrance to her. They could cover the arm easily but anyone who knew about her could just look over and see that she had a fake leg. They didn't have the luxury of time to help her find something more suitable either. Getting her to walk on her own was already going to be a hassle.

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door behind them. The Doctor turned around, confusion evident on their face as they looked at the door. Did Juliana just knock on the door from the inside? Did she want their attention or something? They reached out and grabbed the doorknob, turning it and pushing the door open. What they were met with was the Perro girl standing straight up, leaning against the wall to support her lack of two feet. The expression on her face was amused, and the most striking part of her at the moment was those sharp emerald eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt the important conversation that you're hosting in the middle of the hallway, for some reason. But I believe I might have a solution to the problem that you're all running into. Would you mind joining me in my temporary accommodation so that I may demonstrate for you?" The way she spoke was theatrical in a way, and held a confidence and playfulness that Juliana had not shown previously for any of her personalities.

For now, the Doctor had to agree that this hallway shouldn't be privy to anymore of their plan. They ushered everyone inside the room and closed the door. The Perro girl used the wall as a crutch to keep herself balanced as she hopped towards the couch that was pushed against the wall. She sat herself down and stared at the group with a large smile on her face. Despite the fact that she was wearing her torn clothing, and bruises and scratches still littered her body, along with the crystals poking out of her neck, she looked surprisingly at ease.

"Oh. This is a new one. I don't think I've heard about one with green eyes before." Gravel said, sounding quite amused by this turn of events.

"You're all excited to meet someone new. As am I! I've only heard of you all from everyone else but seeing you all with my own eyes is different. The two purple Sarkaz's. The young Cautus. The large Doctor. The sultry Zalak. Our beloved Maria Nearl. And..." She paused when her eyes landed on Platinum, which only seemed to make her smile grow. "Beloved assassin, who took our arm. It's been awhile. Or has it not? Well, no matter. The past is the past and the future is now. You can always talk it out with them later."

All eyes turned towards Platinum, who was looking anywhere else. It was rare to see the normally nonchalant and carefree girl looking so guilty. But clearly the event that happened between these two has left a lasting impression on them both. The Perro girl laughed loudly before she redirected their attention back towards her.

"Now, I overheard you mentioning be stumped on how to transport us in a way that won't give us away. But I would like to offer a solution to your troubles. We do have a very unique ability, you see. Our Arts ability, to be specific." She said, leaning back further on the couch.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. An Arts ability? Many of those at Rhodes Island had unique abilities that were interwoven with their Arts affinity. Of course, this affinity only grows stronger depending on two variables: Arts adaptability, or infection level. They didn't know which one was precisely the case with the girl in front of them. But they did know that using one's Arts extensively while being infected would only make that infection worse. Whatever this ability was, would it be worth the potential risk?

"Don't give me that look, everyone. We hardly use our Arts abilities. We don't wish to make our infection worse since our master refuses to get us treatment. Ironic since he's the one who infected us. But I digress." They said before outstretching their hand. "Just keep your eyes on us for as long as you can. Try to focus on our features. You'll understand soon enough."

A few beats of silence passed as the Doctor remained looking at the girl. All of the sudden, they were overwhelmed by confusion. Their ears were filled with the sound of static and it was causing them actual stress to keep their eyes on the girl. They tore their gaze away from her, which was met with peaceful silence and a clear head. They blinked in confusion before attempting to look back, only to be met with the same results each time any part of this girl came into their field of view.

"Quite nifty, I'd say. The others don't know much about using this power. I'm hardly out much so it's safe to say it is used very rarely. I'm sure you've all guessed by now but my Arts can cause confusion and disorientation to anyone who looks at me. But only when I want it to. I can't exactly control who it works on either. I do believe that this will be our best bet to have people keep their eyes to themselves. Thoughts?" The girl asked, looking rather proud of herself.

The Doctor took a moment to go over the idea in their head. This ability would be useful in forcing people to keep their eyes to themselves, and it'll help obscure her as well due to the confusion it causes that can make someone forget what they were even looking at in the first place. Even if it was risky to have the girl using her Arts ability the entire drive to the airpad. But it was true that they didn't have any better ideas.

"Well...It's really all we have. Unless someone else has a better idea?" The Doctor asked, glancing at the group behind them.

No one spoke.

-

"If we get caught, do you think they'll let us have lawyers?" Lava asked, crossing her arms.

"Can you stop being so pessimistic?? Everything is going to be fine! You just have to believe in us!" Hibiscus said, nudging her twin sister.

The Doctor kept their eyes out for their transportation. They glanced over at the Perro girl once more. She had been given an oversized hoodie they had found and large sweatpants in an attempt to hide the makeshift leg they had loosely attached to her again so that she could walk. Her hood was up, covering her ears, and her tail was tucked in as well. She was leaning against Blemishine for support with her hands in her pockets. If one wasn't really paying attention, they would mistake her for a tired teenager or something of the like. That's what they were going for.

"Remember, everyone. Don't look directly at me once we are inside these vehicles. Otherwise you might get a headache. I will stow my Arts once we make it to this airship of yours." The Perro girl said, giving a lazy smirk.

"They're here. Remember who you've been grouped with." Amiya said as two black vehicles pulled up to the side of the hotel.

After confirming that they were the correct people, the group split themselves in two. Hibiscus, Lava, Platinum, and Gravel in one car. The Doctor, Amiya, Blemishine, and their Perro friend in the other. The driver tried to question the extra person, but they kept trailing off each time they tried to look at her and ended up forgetting why they were asking. The ride to the airpad was rather silent, and every time the driver attempted to look back at the occupants of car through the rearview mirror, he was met with a pounding headache and blurred vision before forcing his eyes away.

The Perro girl was still leaning up against Blemishine, and the Doctor had taken notice to the subtle clenching of her jaw. Like she was in pain. There were few instances were they could actually see the girl without being on the receiving side of her Arts. They didn't want to question the obvious strain at the moment because it could be a range of things. From her injuries to her infection. Pushing ones Arts abilities past their limits might've been it. But it was hard to tell. They had to force their eyes away soon enough when static tried to fill their mind again.

-

It took them about 20 minutes to reach the airpad. They exited their vehicles and Blemishine helped the Perro girl out of the car, making sure to be mindful of her lack of balance. She had been surprisingly silent regarding her injuries, which was worrying in its own right. But the Kuranta girl still helped her up the steps to the airship. Her Arts no longer seemed to be active as she did this, which helped Blemishine bring her into the cabin and sit her down on one of the padded seats. Now that they were out of sight of prying eyes, the blacksmith exhaled in relief.

The Perro girl was obviously exhausted, and she hardly seemed like she was focused on anything else that was going on around her. She swayed slightly in her seat, like she was forcing herself to stay upright. It was worrying. She reached out and gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder once more in order to grab her attention and ask how she could help. However, this proved to be a mistake as her wrist was seized and held in place by a strong grip. She froze as she was met with furious blazing orange eyes.

"W-what?!" She sputtered out, confused by the sudden switch of personality.

Orange eyes...so this was...Emilia? That's what Gravel said, at least. But to her own surprise, the fury in those orange eyes immediately dwindled to something tamer. Minor annoyance. Emilia frowned and let go of her wrist before glancing around. But the Perro girl froze and narrowed her eyes when she spotted something behind the Kuranta. Blemishine glanced over her shoulder and spotted Platinum standing there, bow in hand, reaching for an arrow. But she wasn't moving. What was going on? A chill ran down her spine as she heard a low and threatening growl from Emilia. That couldn't be good.

"You.....fucking coward..." Emilia spat, the fire in her eyes burning with renewed vigor.

The tension in the air was so thick that it was suffocating. It sent all of her senses on high alert. Blemishine might be a blacksmith, but she had enough battle instincts to know that a fight was mere seconds away from breaking out. She didn't know what possibly could've been done to prevent this and the thought of getting between a furious competition knight and a former assassin like this sounded like it would end with her having to be healed instead. She glanced between the two, unsure what she should do. Thankfully, she didn't need to do anything. The Perro girl took one step forward before she grunted in pain.

Then she collapsed, unconscious. Blemishine yelped in surprise as she did her best to catch her before she hit the group. She grunted as she hoisted the girl up and onto the padded seat, careful to not irritate her injuries any further. Once she was steady, Blemishine looked back at Platinum with a scolding look on her face. But the white-haired Kuranta only stowed her bow away and kept her eyes off to the side.

"Are you insane?!" Blemishine hissed.

"What? She is unstable and I wasn't going to let her just attack one of us. Besides, I wasn't reaching for my lethal arrows. I was just going to paralyze her if she ended up snapping." Platinum explained, sounding unapologetic.

"But you know she's scared of you for whatever reason that you still won't tell us about. Why would you show her that you would willingly attack her like that?! I could've handled it!" Blemishine shot back.

"Could you? You have no idea what she's really capable of. No one does. I doubt she does either. I don't care if she hates me even more over this. At least no one got hurt." The former assassin said, crossing her arms.

Before Blemishine could respond, Lava approached them from the side entrance of the airship.

"We're about to....okay what the hell? What's with the tension?" The Sarkaz girl asked, looking between the two

-

Around 2 hours later, Juliana awoke. After a long conversation with the rest of her persona's during their rest, everyone was up to speed on what was happening. It was rather inconvenient to only be able to communicate and share their memories properly when they are asleep. But now wasn't the time to complain about her mental semantics. Gray eyes blinked open and she tried to take in her surroundings. She discovered that she was laying down on some kind of padded seating. The subtle bounce of the airship and the sounds of the engine took over her senses. She groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Huh? Oh, wait don't try to get up. Or at least, try to move slower please. Your ribs are still broken and your body won't react well if you shift your sitting position so suddenly after laying down for so long." Blemishine said, moving to help her.

With the Kuranta's help, Juliana was able to sit up on the seat. She was panting heavily as she clutched her side. She could actually feel the indent in her ribcage. Her body hurt so much that she could hardly think properly. It was as if it only got worse and worse as time went on. She had assumed she would've been used to the pain by now but each second that passed was only made worse. A soft whimper escaped her throat as she pinned her ears against her head. She clenched her teeth, trying to find ways to distract herself from the agony.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay. Here. You can lean on my shoulder. I'll keep you from jostling too much." Blemishine said, holding the girl firmly close to her. "We're about to land at Rhodes Island. You woke up at just the right time. Once we're there, you can finally get the help you need."

Juliana sighed happily as she laid her head down on the fur from Blemishine's cape. This was probably the most comfortable she had been in awhile. Not even a bed could compare to the comfort that she felt leaning against someone she trusted. Not to mention that the Kuranta smelled surprisingly nice. Like strawberries and clean metal. She mentally slapped herself for thinking about something so weird in a moment like this. Just because her nose was better than other's, didn't mean she should be sniffing people like this. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, so she wondered if this was the result of her being delirious from lack of sleep.

Or maybe it was finally the reality of the situation crashing down on her at once. She was no longer in Kazimierz. She was no longer near that horrible man or his disgusting company. Juliana wheezed and almost doubled over. But Blemishine quickly held her close and kept her upright. She didn't know how to feel. Was any of this real? Was this all just a dream? Have her years of misfortune finally come to an end? Would she actually be....free?

"Thank you....thank you....I can't thank you all enough....I didn't think.....I would ever escape." She said softly, wheezing from the exertion.

"You will never need to thank us, Juliana. This is what we do. We save lives and make things better for those who need it. Even if your circumstances are unique, it still holds true." Blemishine said. "Plus, I would be a horrible excuse for a Nearl if I turned a blind eye to someone who needs help."

Juliana chuckled weakly upon hearing this, which shot pain through her ribs once more. The rest of the ride was silent as they landed in the hanger of the Rhodes Island landship. The Perro girl clung onto Blemishine like a lifeline as they exited the airship. She looked around the hanger in awe. There were many airships and helicopters there. Some being fixed, and others sitting proudly. But it wasn't just the hanger itself that caught her interest. Her eyes raked across the various different races of people that were there. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen so many different races in one place like this. There were very few races that actually lived in Kazimierz. 

She gripped Blemishine's cape tighter as they passed by a rather tall and intimidating Sarkaz man with dark hair. He had black crystals creeping up the side of his face. Again, it made her think about how little she had been exposed to other infected individuals in her life. She was one of the few infected individuals in Kazimierz that had even a semblance of privilage. Most of the Infected lived in the slums and sewers. Basically, wherever they could hide. She vaguely remembered her master telling her that people of her race would likely die within ten years of being infected. She still didn't even know if this was true. Again, she knew next to nothing about Oripathy despite having said disease for the past 5 years.

Juliana continued to follow after the Doctor and clung to Blemishine as she was presumably led towards the medical wing. She was still clutching her side, and it was getting more and more difficult to continue walking around on her makeshift leg. She could feel the bandages around the stump on her leg starting to grow soaked from blood. She grit her teeth together as she noticed a few of the people there had begun to notice her presence. She was too exhausted to keep straining herself and adding more people to the mix wouldn't help.

While she wasn't exactly an introvert, she wasn't an extrovert either. Despite her status as a competition knight, she hated being stared at. And the knowledge that she was most certainly not supposed to be here was not helping her anxious state. She tried to keep her head low and let the hoodie do it's job in keeping her face from being too obvious. Eventually, she couldn't keep herself standing any longer and her knees buckled. Blemishine caught her once more, and she felt her entire body go limp.

"Juliana?! Oh no! Doctor!" She heard the Kuranta shout.

Her vision was already blurring and everything she heard was inaudible and muffled. She could vaguely make out the outline of Blemishine above her. She felt bad for making the girl worry about her. Randomly passing out had become a normal part of every day for her. But these people probably weren't used to that. Something willed her to reach out with her real hand, and she barely saw Blemishine grabbing said hand in her own. She couldn't feel the touch because it felt like ice and lava were mixing in her veins.

As her consciousness slipped away, all she could think about was how tired she was.

Chapter Text

3 days had passed since the Fortune Knight had been brought to the Rhodes Island landship. The medics and Arts healers had been working tirelessly to keep her in stable condition and properly heal the sheer amount of damage she had. While she hadn't been in critical condition the entire time, she was still a high-risk patient and needed constant surveillance during this time.

The Doctor sat across from a rather annoyed looking Feline. They had already anticipated that Kal'tsit would be mad at them. Although with the chaos of the past three days, it had been hard for any of them to really meet with one another in order to speak about it. They had given her the basic rundown of who Juliana was to give Kal'tsit a bit of an idea of what she was working with. But that was it. Now the Doctor was waiting for the inevitable verbal lashing that they would have to take from the other.

A very loud sigh broke the silence between them.

"I don't even know where to begin with you. I thought you had reached the peak of your stupidity, but I suppose that's on me for assuming you had any sense." Kal'tsit said, clearly forcing herself to remain calm. "You stole. A semi-famous slave. From Kazimierz. And brought her. To Rhodes Island."

They opened their mouth to speak but Kal'tsit didn't let them.

"No. I don't want to hear excuses. That is exactly what you did and you know it. Just spare me from whatever you have to say about this. I know you're going to try to tell me how you didn't have a choice or how the circumstances led you to needing to bring her here. I've heard it all before and I won't hear it again." Kal'tsit placed a hand against her face, clearly exhausted. "Look. I'll be direct with you. I might be furious with your decision, but if you hadn't brought her to us, she would've been dead within the week or sooner. Those broken ribs caused a lot of internal bleeding. I managed to fix them with my healing Arts, but the bruising is going to stick around. Not to mention the horrible state she is living in."

The Doctor listened to the feline carefully. They knew the girl was in terrible condition, but they still didn't know the extent of it all. And with Blemishine constantly asking about her state for the past 3 days, it was getting more and more difficult to explain that they had no idea about what was going on with her. Sooner or later, they needed to have an answer. They couldn't just keep her condition to themselves when Blemishine was so deeply involved in whatever this was.

"Can you tell me about her current condition?" They asked.

Kal'tsit raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because some people want to know if she's going to be okay and I need to know whether or not I'll be lying to them when I tell them that she will." They said, keeping their gaze locked with the other.

Their stare-down continued for a few beats before Kal'tsit lowered her gaze to the packet that was sitting on her desk. The Doctor followed her gaze down to the packet, waiting for her call. She mumbled something under her breath before taking up the packet. They could tell that she was reluctant to share this information. But regardless, as one of the core members of Rhodes Island, they technically had the authority to know this information.

"I hope I don't need to remind you of all people about patient confidentiality. What I'm about to tell you about her must not leave this room. Only she gets to decide whether or not this information will be shared with anyone outside of her caretakers and medics." The older woman said, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor. "Understand?"

"I can do without the passive aggressive speech, Kal'tsit." The Doctor said, frowning. "Just tell me, please."

The Feline's eye twitched but she still glanced down at the packet.

"Fine...so far, what we were able to gather about her was minimal and based on loose observation simply because she tends to become panicked and violent when anyone tried to touch her. I had to switch her medics to an all-female team because she reacted especially badly with our male ones. While that alone is concerning, I'll set it aside for the sake of this report. I'll just go over the injuries that she arrived with first." Kal'tsit began. "She had three broken ribs in her left side, and she had an incredible amount of internal bleeding because of this. Her body is covered with bruises of all kinds. The worst being on her throat and stomach."

A page was turned.

"There's the problem with her leg too. The skin around the stump is boarding necrosis and we might have to cut away the dead skin and bone by a few inches to keep it from spreading. We did check the arm too. Everything seems to be fine there and the prosthetic is actually rather good quality." She continued. "I'm going to be blunt here when I say that there are signs of prolonged physical abuse on her body. No matter how active she is. Scars and blemishes that don't make sense for even a competition knight. Whatever was happening to her over there....it's good that she's away from it."

Another page was turned.

"The most concerning part, so far, is that we discovered she has multiple surgery scars across her body. And we are still finding them. A quick scan and we were able to figure out that she was missing a few expendable organs. Kidney, appendix, gallbladder, and even her uterus. That last one is my main concern. Especially since the scars are a bit old and she is still so young." Kal'tsit said. "I haven't had time to do a full mental health evaluation, but I have it on my urgent things to do. I have a feeling that it's going to take a while with her DID."

Another page was turned.

"Finally, her Oripathy status. I can't believe I'm saying it, but this is probably the least worrying part of her at the moment. Her blood-Originum levels are rather low and the only thing I need to keep an eye on is the crystals that have breached her skin on her neck. So long as we keep her on a steady treatment plan and have her avoid future contact with Originum based things and environments, then she will be fully stabilized." Kal'tsit said, finally closing the packet and setting it down on the desk.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Is that everything? I know I'm not the medical expert here but it feels like you're holding out on me. Anything else life-threatening that I should be concerned about?" They asked, crossing their arms

"Nothing that you are privy to. There are some things with certain patients that I cannot share too much about for the patient's sake. Even with you, Doctor. Whether that be for privacy or dignity." The Feline said. "But now that I'm done explaining, let me tell you this: We will continue to treat her here at Rhodes Island because we are obligated to help the Infected. But the moment her master wishes her back, we will have no choice to comply. We can't drag Rhodes Island into a bad spot with Kazimierz after we spent all that time negotiating for an alliance. Is that clear?"

The Doctor and Kal'tsit remained staring at one another in silence. Even before the Doctor had lost their memories, they knew their relationship with Kal'tsit was strained and forcibly obligated. The Feline makes no efforts to hide her distaste for them. Even if it had gotten better as time wore on, they knew they had to have done something awful enough to earn the seething hatred of this woman. But they both equally agreed that they wouldn't allow their relationship to impede their work performances. They knew this reaction wasn't the result of hatred, rather it was genuine.

"Crystal." They said, firmly.

-

Once the Doctor had left her office, Kal'tsit found herself grabbing the packet in her hands once more. Over her long life, she had seen much worse cases of abuse and torture. There were people who were left clinging to life with no limbs and only a brain and heart. She had seen experimentation in all types of ways on all types of people. She had seen the absolute worst that Oripathy had to offer. This wasn't the first Kazimierz slave that she had treated in her lifetime even. And the way things are going, she doubted that it would be her last. But still, she would never get used to the sheer disgust she felt.

Juliana the Fortune Knight. A 21 year old Perro girl that rose to fame in Kazimierz around 5 years ago. But who knows how long she had actually been enslaved there. They didn't know of where she came from, or how she even ended up there. Not much is known outside of what the media shared, and what her master wants to be known. There are clear signs on her body that indicated her years of knighthood and potential training. But other signs make her question the type of environment that she was pulled from. For someone her age, it was...troubling.

It was obvious that she has been mentally unwell from a young age, and the trauma she went through as a slave in Kazimierz has only strengthened this instability. Things like DID tend to begin developing in younger children and grow worse over the years if not properly adressed. While she hasn't undergone the full mental evaluation, some things were obvious. The way she reacts so negatively to being touched. The way she reacts to the male staff on occasion. She has also noticed that during the moments the girl was awake, she seemed restless. Afraid. As if she was scared that she wasn't currently doing anything.

Kal'tsit frowned.

They would need to do a bit of a deeper dive into these things in order to make a more defined report on it, but she wasn't liking the way things were taking a turn. It was like the girl was a prisoner in her own body, and she owned nothing of her own. Not even her own mind. 

-

A week has passed since Juliana arrived at Rhodes Island. She currently sat on the edge of the hospital bed she had been provided. The gown she wore was a bit breezy, but she wasn't complaining. She was a bit uncomfortable without her prosthetic arm and with her tightly bandaged stump of a leg. The painkillers were doing their job to help her from feeling the aftermath of that surgery while it healed. She had her tail draped over her lap as she tried to brush her fur down in a way that covered the still-growing bald patches that had been ripped from it.

So far, her experience at Rhodes Island was the calmest and most peaceful experience she had been through in the past 10 years. She was treated so gently compared to Kazimierz. But it also unnerved her in a way that she couldn't quite place. Did she think she didn't deserve to be treated so gently? That couldn't be it. She had yearned to finally be treated with kindness for a long time. So why was she so restless? She just couldn't shake away the feel that she needed to be doing something.

Juliana hadn't always been the one in control over the past week. Multiple of her persona's woke up and took control either due to external stimuli, or internal panic. She had been mortified to hear that Emilia had fronted at one point and decked one of the medics across the face. Her knuckles were still healing from that exchange, and she had apologized more times than she could count.

She audibly sighed as she looked down at her remaining hand. Her palm was covered in scars from handling weapons, and a few punishments that she couldn't fully recall. The thought of holding another weapon in her hand randomly shot adrenaline through her body, making her heartbeat speed up. This reaction startled her as she looked at the heartrate monitor beside her bed that had begun to beep faster.

That was...odd. But she wasn't willing to dwell on it for now. She just wanted to follow directions and recover. She didn't know how long she would last being trapped in this room

-

3 weeks dragged by. Juliana was sitting on the side of her bed once more, adjusting the prosthetic arm that she had been given back. They had needed to make sure it wasn't bugged or anything and they even made a few repairs and upgrades to it. It felt nice to have use of both of her hands again. There was not much to do when she was confined to this room, so anything at all made the silence more bearable. At the moment, her favorite pastime was using the hairbrush they gave her to brush out the fur on her tail. The patches were growing back faster than she thought, which made her happy.

"Coming in!" A cheerful voice exclaimed from the other side of the door.

Juliana yelped as Blemishine suddenly opened the door to the room, holding a rather large, covered box in one hand. Her heart grew warn at the sight of her closest friend.

"Oh, whoops. Sorry sorry. I really need to wait longer before opening that. I was just really excited to come see you." The golden Kuranta said, smiling brightly.

Over the past few weeks of her recovery, Blemishine had been visiting her multiple times a week. She had been the only person that Juliana was allowed to see aside from the medical staff. She had become a beacon of happiness for her, bringing a warmth and brightness that no one could possibly compete with. Every time she saw her, it made her day just that much better. The way Blemishine could go on for hours and hours talking about her day, and explaining what project she had been working on in the Engineering Department was just captivating. Juliana smiled and listened every time.

"You know you're welcome to come see me anytime, L-..Blemishine. I enjoy being around you." Juliana said, smiling.

Blemishine gave a bashful smile at the compliment before laughing awkward. She excitedly entered the room and placed the large box down on the edge of the bed.

"Check it out! Me and a few others in the Engineering Department have been working on this gift since you arrived. We got permission from the medical staff, of course. You asked why they were taking your leg measurements the other day so take a look!" The blonde girl exclaimed, opening the top of the box.

The Perro girl widened her eyes as she stared at the contents of the box. Inside, there sat an expertly made leg prosthetic. While she didn't know exactly what high quality was in terms of materials, literally anything was an upgrade from the scrap metal that held the place of her leg before. It was shaped exactly like she remembered her leg looking like down to the same width. She looked up at Blemishine and saw the twinkle of pride in the girl's golden gaze. Juliana was completely locked in place by those eyes.

"You...you didn't have to make this for me..." She managed to say, heart beating out of her chest.

"I didn't. But I wanted to. And remember that it wasn't just me. But the idea was mine." Blemishine said, smiling ever brighter. "What do you think? I'm gonna try to get the Doctor to talk Kal'tsit into approving a surgery to attach the base to your leg."

Juliana's mind was in absolute chaos at the moment. Her thoughts were jumbled between loving it and thinking that she didn't deserve such a thing. Her breathing stuttered and sped up while her vision began to blur together. She couldn't handle something like this right now. The sudden influx of emotions hit her hard after doing nothing most of the day. She didn't know how to react. There was always someone else within her that knew better. She gave into the feeling and allowed herself to give up control.

-

Blue eyes blinked opened as Aurora took control. She was...confused, to say the least. She had felt the utter chaos that had erupted within them so suddenly and assumed that something bad had been happening. Then she was suddenly in control. Once her vision came into focus, she saw Blemishine standing in front of her with a look of confusion and concern in her eyes.

"Juliana? Oh, wait. It's...Aurora now, right?" The other questioned.

"Oh? You were rather quick to guess that. Am I really that obvious?" The girl teased, her tail swaying back and forth playfully.

"Your eyes change color depending on who you are. I've been trying to remember who is who so I don't confuse anyone. But also...you have a different aura to you compared to Juliana. In a good way, of course! You have this...calming and serene vibe to you." The blacksmith explained, scratching the back of her head nervously.

Aurora found herself chuckling at this display. Soon, her eyes lowered to the box that was sitting on the bed. She saw the prosthetic leg and immediately her curiosity was peaked.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Oh right, you guys don't share memories. This is a gift from the Engineering Department. I came up with the plan for it, and everyone helped me make it. I showed it to Juliana and then suddenly you were here." The girl explained, giving a crooked smile.

After hearing this, Aurora finally understood why Juliana had so suddenly retreated after the chaos of emotions earlier. The girl had always been rather shy about receiving gifts. Even before their enslavement. She can only imagine that receiving such a thoughtful gift from someone who meant so much to her had overwhelmed her so much that she couldn't handle it. She found herself smiling as she reached out and ran her real hand over the smooth material of the prosthetic. Her heart felt warm at the overall thoughtfulness of something like this.

"I'm very impressed by the work you put into this, Maria. It's quite the considerate gift for someone like us. I'm sure Juliana is beyond happy to have received this from you. As am I. Well done." She said, her voice calming and smooth.

"T-thank you! I mean- you're welcome!" Blemishine said.

"I can't help but to be curious about something. Why would you build this for us?" Aurora asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Well...you guys just seemed so sad every time I came here. I can imagine that being cooped up in this room for so long after constantly moving around back at Kazimierz was a difficult change. Someone told me that Perro's have a lot more energy than most races so I had this built so I can go about convincing Kal'tsit to let you walk around once you're well enough." Blemishine explained, her voice sincere.

A smile made its way on Aurora's face as she heard this. This girl truly shattered any image of corruption that she previously saw around the Nearl family. Her heart was as bright and golden as her eyes, and her intentions were simply too pure for someone raised in the land of knights.

"You really are like a guardian angel to us, Maria. I cannot thank you enough for the kindness you have shown us in these past few weeks. We have spent so long doing our best to care for Juliana, but there is only so much we can do when we are limited by our system." Aurora said, leaning back on her hands. "You mean so much to her. While we don't share memories, we can share feelings. Whenever you are around, Juliana is happier than she has been in a long long time. It puts us all at ease."

Blemishine blinked in surprise before her face began to turn red from the unexpected compliments. She laughed to ease the tension in the room that had somehow developed. It wasn't a bad tension, thankfully. 

"I'm...not as great as you all seem to think I am. I'm still a bit embarrassed to hear that she has me on such a high pedestal." The blonde girl stuttered out.

"We've told you this before, I'm sure. Ever since she saw you in the preliminaries, she has admired you for your sense of justice and determination. But after meeting you and befriending you, she sees you as more. Although I doubt she has realized this yet. I commend you for securing a place in her heart, Maria Nearl." Aurora said, a teasing lithe was obvious in her voice.

The Kuranta girl coughed into her glove and averted her eyes to the side.

"Um....if I can ask....what does everyone else think of me? Besides you and Juliana? It sounds a bit conceded, but I can't help but wonder if any of them don't like me too much." The girl asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

Aurora found this to be incredibly amusing. She had a habit of teasing others who she found cute, but she knew that she needed to be more tame when it came to Blemishine because she didn't want to impose on Juliana's relationship with her. Knowing that Juliana had a schoolgirl crush on the blacksmith made it really hard to hold back though.

"Hm...well it's hard to really know since a few of them haven't vocally stated their opinions on you. But I do know how they felt when interacting with you, if that helps. Let me think....I believe Emilia is a bit back and forth about you. She doesn't see you as someone she hates, but she doesn't know what to make of you either. Then again, she doesn't talk much. I'd assume she is just neutral about you." Aurora explained. "And Claudia...she is often scared around many people. But with you...she finds safety in your presence. She does not shy away from you like she does with others."

Blemishine's ears perked up.

"Claudia?" She repeated.

"Brown eyes. Meek demeanor. She also doesn't talk much but I can tell she feels safe around you." Aurora explained.

"Ah...I see. Well I'm glad she sees me as a safe presence. And what about the um...theatrical one? Who helped us with her Arts powers back in Kazimierz?" Blemishine asked, finally moving to sit down on the edge of the bed.

Aurora blinked at the other, eyes showing a minor bit of surprise.

"Oh? I knew he had fronted at some point, but I didn't realize he had been out long enough to make an impression on others." She said, mostly to herself.

Now it was Blemishine's turn to be shock.

"Wait, 'he'? That was a boy?" She asked.

"Yes. I know it's a bit confusing to understand. He very rarely makes an appearance. We've tried to give him a name on multiple occasions, but he keeps refusing them because he, apparently, likes the mystery aspect. Although, we have decided to call him Mateo for now. He's the youngest male in our system, and one of the only two that can actually consciously front on his own. We don't have many in our system." Aurora explained, taking in Blemishine's expressions and reactions to this new information.

"...whoa. So you guys have like...different genders and different ages and stuff? How does that work out?" She asked.

"It works surprisingly well, everything considered. Our system is a majority of females, with only a few males. As for the ages, we call one another younger or older based on how long we have been part of Juliana's system. For instance, I am the oldest of them all because I have been around the longest. Although, we have assigned ourselves ages based on our mental maturity and how old we feel we are." The Perro said, running her hand along the fur on her tail.

Blemishine's ears pointed towards her, betraying her curiosity.

"Really? So how old are you guys in your minds?" She asked.

Aurora couldn't help but chuckle at how eager the other girl sounded when she asked the question. She didn't mind talking about something like this to a close friend such as Blemishine. It would also benefit everyone involved if she knew more about how their system worked. It would be a bit annoying if a friend were to keep interacting with each and every one of them as if they were all the same age, gender, and personality in general. Even if most of them didn't really mind such a thing, there were a couple of them that did mind. Juliana being one of them.

"Let me think....Juliana, and our body, is 21 years old. Emilia is around 25 years old, and Claudia is around 16 years old. I believe Mateo is around 22 years old. As for me, I am around 33 years old. Although I have been known to lie about that." Aurora said with a wink. "Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Aside from the dozens of children that float around in our head that range from 5 to 10 years old."

Blemishine stared at her with wide eyes before speaking.

"Wait, you're 33?" She repeated.

"Come on now, Maria. You know women tend to be sensitive about their ages." Aurora playfully scolded.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it like a bad thing. I was just surprised. It must be pretty hard to keep up with all of that in your head. I assume. But I don't actually know." The girl said.

"Relax, dear. I was just teasing you. But I'm thankful that you've taken the time out of your day to learn about how things work in our head." She said, smiling at the girl.

Their conversation was cut short when something began to beep on Blemishine's hip. The Kuranta grabbed what looked to be a stopwatch from her belt and the beeping noise stopped. She quickly got to her feet and began to box up the prosthetic leg once more.

"Ah, I lost track of time! Sorry about this but I gotta get back to work! But first, I'll try to track down the Doctor and convince them to approve the surgery for your leg. Don't worry, I'm very good at negotiating for this kind of stuff. So look forward to walking around again using the best Rhodes Island has to offer!" Blemishine said, smiling brightly. "I'll see you next time, Aurora. If you can, tell Juliana I said bye too. And everyone else."

With that, the energetic blonde girl exited the room, leaving Aurora sitting by herself in silence. Once more, that familiar sense of loneliness squeezed at her heart. Despite the fact that they had so many people in their head, this feeling was common among all of them. But especially for her. Having been around the longest, she felt an obligation to care for everyone. But this has created a sort of barrier between her and the other occupants of the system. She shook the thoughts from her head and sighed.

She shouldn't be complaining. So long as everyone else was okay, then it was perfectly fine if she wasn't.

-

Later that night, Kal'tsit knocked on the door to Juliana's room so that the girl knew someone was coming in. This was just the third checkup of the day, which continued daily. She had given the girl an abundance of time to get used to it. Since she had personally decided to take on Juliana's case, she needed to do these check-ins herself. The door slid open as she stepped inside. Once inside, she got a gauge of what she would be dealing with.

Tired brown eyes stared at her from the head of the bed. She would be speaking with Claudia today, it seemed. She internally sighed. She didn't fault this particular persona for her behavior since that's just how she was. But she was still the second hardest one to talk to among those who have made themselves known to her. Claudia always reluctantly answered questions, if she decided to answer them at all. It wasn't that she wasn't paying attention since she always shows that she heard the questions. She simply just chose not to answer more often than not.

"How are you feeling today, Claudia?" Kal'tsit began, keeping a respectable distance away from the bed.

The Perro girl was currently curled up, hugging her legs to her chest and shoving her body as far against the wall as she possibly could've. Strangely enough, the blankets and pillows had all been shoved off the edge of the bed, leaving the mattress bare. There had been a few previous incidents where she had torn out the tubes and wires connecting her to the equipment. Thankfully, she stopped doing this. But it had become incredibly apparent that she didn't like when too many things were touching here. Not even those meant to be comforting, like blankets. 

The girl kept her eyes on Kal'tsit, not answering the basic question. The doctor found herself sighing at the expected response. How was she supposed to go about this check-up now?

"I just need to know how you're recovering today, Claudia. Does anything hurt? Anything feel strange? Anything at all will be helpful." She said, staring at the trembling girl.

All she received in response was a shake of a head. She decided to write down this response, despite how minimal it was. She lifted her head again when she heard the sound of the girl shifting on the bed. Claudia lowered her legs down and stared directly at Kal'tsit with an unreadable expression. This was the most movement that the girl had given her in a while, so she decided it was best to focus in.

"Are you.....going to give us back to him?" She asked, voice breaking slightly.

The Feline was slightly taken aback by the sudden question. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this girl was most likely referring to her master. While Kal'tsit wanted nothing more than to keep her out of the hands of someone who allowed her to fall into this state, it was only a matter of time until Rhodes Island would be discovered with her in their custody. Kazimierz has always been a special type of difficult. It was the exact reason she had sent the Doctor to try to negotiate an alliance with the head honcho over there. She understood why the girl was worried about being sent back there.

"As of right now, we have no plans to bring you back to Kazimierz while you are recovering. Even if your master contacts us, we will be unable to transport you back until you have recovered enough to travel. I wouldn't worry yourself with that right now. You need to be focused on resting up and healing yourself." The older woman said, writing down a few more notes on the paper.

"They....they think we can't hear them....when they talk around us....but we hear them...." Claudia wheezed before continuing. "They don't want us here....we're a burden....a liability....stolen property....."

Kal'tsit frowned when she heard this. She would need to speak to some of the medics that looked after this girl. They needed to watch what they were saying in front of the patient. They were welcome to their own opinions on the matter, but this poor girl didn't need to hear what they had to say about her. It was clear that they had been saying things that are out of line as well if Claudia was quoting them directly. Using such words around a patient, no matter who, was incredibly unprofessional. She sighed and lowered the clipboard to her side. She locked lime green eyes with dull brown ones.

"You are safe here, Claudia. We are going to take care of you and treat you with due respect. We won't be bringing you back to Kazimierz anytime soon, as I said. You shouldn't listen to the words of a few mouthy medics. Many of them don't know what they're talking about. You have my word that you are no burden or liability. You are a patient here at Rhodes Island, and we will treat you accordingly." Kal'tsit said, her voice firm and confident.

Claudia stared back at her in silence. It seemed that the words didn't have much of an effect on her. She only gave a weak and solemn nod of her head before returning to her curled up position at the end of the bed. Kal'tsit watched this display, knowing that the situation was unsalvageable from that point forward. She briefly closed her eyes, exhaustion seeping into her bones.

What was there to do?

- 

A month had gone by.

Juliana sat on the edge of her bed, running the hairbrush through the soft and fluffy fur of her tail. Things had been looking up. Her recovery had been going really well, and she was no longer hooked up to any equipment. She smiled as she saw the beautiful mechanical leg that was connected to the former stump of her leg. The surgery to attach the base had gone well and now, much like her arm, she could remove and reattach the prosthetic at will. When attached, it responded to the nerves in her body and functioned like normal limb. For the most part, at least.

Juliana couldn't thank Blemishine enough. She still needed to get used to walking on it since it had been a while since she had the ability to walk normally. She set her hairbrush to the side, taking that moment to smooth out the white long-sleeved shirt she had been given. She had also been given fleece black pants. It was nice to be able to wear something that wasn't a medical gown. It made her feel much more grounded and calmer. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and Juliana screamed.

"Whoops! Sorry, Juliana! I still need to stop doing that. I was just way too focused on telling you the good news." Blemishine said, the door closing behind her.

"It's fine...it's fine. Just give me a moment here." Juliana said, holding a hand over her rapidly beating heart for a minute or two. "Okay....what's the good news?"

"I finally managed to convince the Doctor and Dr. Kal'tsit to let you take a tour of the facility! I know you've been cooped up in this room the whole time and I've been dying to bring you with me and show you around!" The Kuranta girl excitedly said, almost bouncing on her feet.

Juliana sat herself up, eyes slightly wide. Her tail began to slowly wag back and forth.

"Really? But I thought Dr. Kal'tsit said that she wanted me to be as hidden as possible? So that we don't risk anyone here accidently giving away my location to anyone outside. Y'know...since I'm technically not supposed to be here and stuff." The Perro girl pointed out.

"Yeah...she wasn't actually very clear on that part, but she said plans have changed and now we don't have to worry about that factor. I didn't really push since it seemed complicated. But I trust she knows what she's doing." Blemishine said, smiling.

Juliana's tail audibly slapped against the sheets of the bed in excitement. All she could focus on was the fact that she would be finally getting out of this room. The only time she had been outside of the room was when she arrived. She was eager to stretch her legs and look around this place. She hadn't gotten a good look at it when they arrived due to her poor state, but now she could. Her heart was racing at the thought. She didn't even know she had this much energy still in her body.

"We got a couple hours till the tour, cause we got a helper joining us. Oh, and I brought you this. I know you said you had trouble walking still, so I thought this would help." Blemishine said, holding out a metallic cane to the girl.

Juliana accepted the cane, looking over it with a smile on her face. Her tail still had yet to stop wagging, and it was starting to feel sore. When was the last time she had been this happy? Had she ever been so excited for something that would seem so minimal to others? Her system was in an uproar due to the intense happiness she was feeling. She couldn't even allow herself a moment of calmness. 

She just didn't want this feeling to leave.