His anger surged forth like a wave of magma. It must have shown on Adam’s face, because Saria flinched for the barest of seconds as she walked towards the cell door. He grabbed the tray the moment she put it through and hauled it over to the bed, the plate and bowl rattling like ice in a glass.

He forced himself to concentrate on tearing through the bread and stew. Don’t make eye contact with her. Avoid her gaze on her back. Just chew slowly and calm the hell down. It was tempting to yell at her to fuck off forever, but no way Saria came here without a reason.

He was tired of being left in the dark.

The meal tasted bland through his tumultuous thoughts. He licked the stew bowl clean—wasting food was a crime—then shoved the tray aside. He allowed himself a single deep breath before facing Saria and speaking.

“Why the hell are you here?” He demanded.

The blonde girl sat on the chair, her hands on her knees. Gone was the prideful, relentless energy Adam had seen on the training fields. The stress on her cheeks and the trembling on her lips was plain for him to see.

“I…” She opened her mouth and gulped. “I came here to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Adam said, “What for, exactly?”

“For insulting your late sister. That was incredibly wrong of me.” She bowed her head, “I’m sorry, Adam. I truly am.”

“Are you doing this because Lucy or Brigid told you to?”

“No!” Saria cried, snapping her head back up. “I’m being sincere here! I’m not supposed to come down here, but I asked Lucy to switch shifts with me anyway! I’m not lying, Adam!”

Adam gave her the once-over. He wasn’t a lawyer by any stretch, but his time on the streets had made encounter him encounter all sorts of liars. False friends, backstabbers, authority figures that tried to get him to rat on other boys…the end result was knowledge on how to tell fibs from facts. Saria met his gaze, as if daring him to searching her soul.

As satisfying as it would be to see her reaction to a denial, Adam grudgingly admitted that Saria was genuine. If he told her to debase herself in front of him to prove her sincerity, Saria would consider it and he knew it.

Not that he would. Mary had raised him better than that. He might be a street rat, but he wasn’t a degenerate.

“I accept your apology.” Adam ground out.

Saria breathed a sign of relief. It didn’t mean he was cool with her. Not by a long shot.

“Lucy said you both lost friends in this world before.” Adam said, “If you’ve felt what losing family is like, then why did you insult my sister?”

“Desperation, mostly. I wanted you to get up to my level quickly.” Saria said. “I was frustrated at your lack of progress with your training, but instead of helping you work through the kinks I just lashed out at you. I didn’t think the differences in our background through.”

“I get you guys are preparing me from some goal.” Adam said, “So, what is it? Or is that outside of your orders?”

“No, it’s not a secret.” Saria said. “I don’t believe we explained it enough. There’s something amidst of your old home city that we need. It’s related to our homeworld—Astraea—and if we can find it…”

Her gaze grew sharper. The mere thought of what was come next had rekindled some energy inside of her. “…we might be able to escape.”

“Escape? As in get out of this world?” Adam asked.

“Yeah. It’s a part of a big transportation system. It’s how my cohort found our way here in the first place.” Saria said. “Shortly after landing, though, this red cloud destroyed the system and forced us into that red pool trial all Exiles go through.”

“So it’s some kind of spaceship?”

“More like a teleportation array…” Saria said. She cupped her hands in a arch, “It’s like a gate above a stone disk. A bit hard to explain if you’re not used to magic.”

“Shit, you could’ve explained this to me. I would’ve helped.” Adam said. “I don’t want to be stuck here for the rest of my life.”

“You don’t? Well, that’s great!”

“Why would I? This place is full of monsters.” A simple reason, but it was one everyone could empathize with.

“So, does that mean you’ll stay with West Junction and co-operate with us?”

Adam shrugged. “Not like I have much of a choice. Like I said, I wish you told me important stuff like this sooner.”

“That’s because—"

“You guys didn’t know me? Yeah, I get it.” Adam said, “If I ran a gang, I wouldn’t trust the new guy with my plans, not unless he got hazed first. But it’s been months, y’know?”

“I get you. Brigid and the others will be pleased.” Saria squeezed her eyes shut. This next part was going to be difficult.

“That’s not the reason why I wanted you to hurry up, though.”

“Say what?”

“It’s because of my sister—Madeline.” Saria said.

“Wait, you have a sister?” Adam exclaimed. “I thought Lucy was sorta that or—never mind, you never brought this up because I was new, I’m guessing.”

“Madeline was an Astraean War Maiden like Lucy and I.” Saria said. Her head drooped. “And she went missing three months ago.”

“Saria! You got hurt again! Stop running into hordes like that!”

“Oww…my leg…I had to protect you, Maddy! Ouch, don’t bonk me on the head.”

“Hmph! I’m a War Maiden too! I can handle a vagrant or two!”

With that, the fresh-faced child with hair as green as fresh grass placed her hands around Saria’s wounds. The red poured from her fingertips, then shifted into a pale teal aura and surrounded the exposed flesh. The skin around it began to contract, sealing up the wounds. Saria winced through the stinging and the faint aches Madeline’s Talent provided.

“There, done.”

“Thanks, Maddy.” Saria stood up, lifting up her right leg. The limb felt stiff, but good enough to dash and dodge. Which was what Saria and the rest of the scavenging team would be doing in their work for the rest of the day.

Madeline placed her hands on her hips and glared. An attempt to establish authority, thwarted by the fact that Madeline was only fourteen years old.

“Be more careful next time, I’m serious!” The young girl scolded.

“I will, I will. It’s not like I’m running headfirst into hordes like Lucy.” Saria defended, gesturing to the other girl. Lucy, having sliced her way through the vagrants on the street, was now collecting red with a few other scavengers.

“I saw you whack vagrants with the butt of your rifle!”

“Yeah, because they got close to me.”

“Because you advanced closer to them…oh never mind…” Madeline shook her head, “Just leave the vagrants to me next time!”

“Can’t do that, I gotta protect the healer.”

Had they still been in Astraean’s corps, Brigid would have told them to hurry up and move on. She would not have stopped them for this routine of theirs. Saria thought it was cute how the normally timid Madeline would puff up and grow furious whenever her patients injured themselves recklessly. It was routine. It was yet another thing keeping them stable away from the Goddess’s influence.

In those transient moments, they thought and wanted it to last forever.

But reality is not so kind.

The Collapsed City was not just home to noble souls like the Astraeans. It also contained solitary individuals and all manner of rogues. Such example were the bandits they later faced down the road, dressed in war paints and scraps.

“War Maidens!” The leader of that particular group of brigands shouted. “Finally found ya! This is for killing off our buddies the other week!”

Saria glanced around the area. The bandits had the high ground, atop several balconies and signposts. They also outnumbered their party two to one. It was a tough situation. But as Brigid had often repeated in past training drills, the War Maidens were tougher.

“Give Raz our regards!” Lucy shouted. She and Saria tossed grenades at them, then ran with the rest of the group.

The street sounded with gunfire, shouts and screams of pain. Saria covered her allies, firing at Bandits. Several of her bullets pierced their skulls or heart, killing them instantly. She did not care. She had grown accustomed to murder for the sake of her comrades all the way back in Astraea.

Their route took them through an abandoned apartment block. They clawed their way through vagrant and bandit alike. When they reached the end of the tunnel, though…

“Kaboom! Goodbye, maidens!”

The bridge below them detonated. The group charged across the road, almost making it. At the last moment, a blast send debris flying their way. The ground swayed beneath Saria’s feet. She tripped and fell backwards.

Then, she felt something push her up. She looked back to see Madeline with her hands outstretched, an expression of surprise on the young girl’s face. Then, she fell into the chasm and out of sight. Saria screamed her name as a rock hit her head and knocked her out.

She woke up crying for Madeline in the hospital. When she found out, Saria tried to escape. Lucy and the others were forced to dogpile her to prevent further injury.

“No offence, Saria, but doesn’t that sound like your sister is dead?”

“She’s not dead!” Saria shouted. Then she realised what she’d done and composed herself. “We never found her body. Madeline’s a tough girl. She’s got a healing Talent, too.”

She spoke with the conviction of a man who tried to tell himself a lie so many times until it became truth.

“That’s why I wanted to accelerate your strength development, Adam. I hoped you could get a Talent that would let us find people. If not, you would get strong enough for us to make more explorations into the Collapsed City.”

“You still believe she’s alive.” Adam stated.

Saria nodded. “Of course I do.” She took a shuddering breath. “And if I’m proven wrong, I would want to at least give Maddy a proper burial.”

Adam fingered the pendant around his neck. He saw himself as a young boy again, pleading with authorities that only had their own self-interest in mind.

“I wish had hope like you, Saria.” Adam said. “The police never helped me. Never found out who killed Mary.”

“Lucy told me what happened to her. It was tragic. I’m sorry, too.”

“She didn’t deserve what happened.” Adam said. He looked Saria in the eye, “Hey, Saria. I want something in exchange for finding your sister.”

“What is it?”

“Help me find Mary’s grave.” Adam said. “Also…”

“You have to apologize, little bro! It’s no good to hold grudges.”

The ghost of Mary echoed once more.

“I wasn’t the greatest guy. Hell, had this been on the streets I would’ve gotten trashed for my lips.” He swallowed. It was difficult, it hurt his manly pride, but he had to say it.

“I’m sorry, too.”