Ten years ago, in Academie.

"Leanna Terra." The head professor calls for attendance.

"Present." A girl's voice answers from the classroom.

"You may leave class early to visit your mother in the infirmary." The professor said, and the whole class started whispering and chattering.

Leanna packed up her belongings and left the class. As she is leaving the classroom, she can hear people are still talking and whispering behind her back.

"Hey Leanna." A girl called out: "I hope your mom feels better soon."

Leanna nods, she doesn't feel like talking at the moment, so she quickly goes out of the classroom.

Leanna rushes through the halls to get to the infirmary. She can hear her footsteps echoing in the empty hall. The hallway is so quiet, the sound of her shoes hitting the tile floors makes a clicking sound that bounces off the walls. Suddenly, around the corner, a girl carrying many books stepped in front of Leanna and bumped into her. The books fell down, and scattered all over the floor.

"Ah! Sorry!" Leanna immediately bent down and picked up the books.

"Lea?" A girl's voice said, it came from the girl that dropped her books. The girl was none other than Minka herself.

"Minka, I... I am sorry. I am in a rush to see my mother." Leanna stood up and handed Minka the books: "I was distracted."

"No, it's fine." Minka shakes her head and smiles: "It's been a while now isn't it...? I haven't visited you guys in a while now."

"Yeah... I guess." Leanna nods and looks at Minka: "Sorry, but I am really in a hurry. I need to go now. We can talk later, if you have time."

"Sure! We can meet at the cafeteria after class, okay?" Minka smiled.

Leanna nodded and ran to the infirmary. The infirmary is rather close, this is why Leanna just ran towards it. As she reaches the door of the infirmary, she notices there is a "do not disturb" sign hung on it. Leanna tried to open the door but it was locked, so she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" A nurse's voice comes from inside, she seems to be annoyed by the intrusion.

"It's Leanna, I... I want to see my mother." Leanna said: "You guys called... right?"

The door suddenly swung open and the nurse peeked her head out: "Ah, miss Terra. Yes, we called for you to visit your mother. Now... come in." The nurse stepped aside and let Leanna in.

"How is she?" Leanna asked nervously: "Is she..."

"She is doing well." The nurse nodded: "Her health is much better, the infection is cured." Suddenly, the nurse pulls out a napkin laced with some type of sedative, and covers Leanna's face with it. Leanna suddenly lost consciousness, and the nurse quickly catches her and places her onto the floor.

"Hahaha." The nurse suddenly started to laugh hysterically and pulled out her communicator: "We got her. Lock down the place."

A voice came from the communicator: "Excellent job, we are coming."

Soon later, everyone in the school could hear enforcers converging near the school to the infirmary, then everyone starts to hear gunshots and screaming, followed by gunshots and people yelling orders at each other.

"Where's the target?!" The Enforcers are looking around frantically, trying to find Leanna.

"She was taken away." An officer said while shaking his head: "They took her out from the back, but I am not sure who did it or where she was taken to."

"Dammit, this is going to cause a lot of problems. Major Nova will be furious." One of the officers cursed.

"I got it, it was them, the rebel faction. I got a lead from our spies, the rebellion took over the facility called 'Sector 9'. There is no way for us to know whether they took Miss Terra to sector 9, but it is most likely." An enforcer walked towards the officers.

"Sector 9 is below ground, how in the world are we supposed to get there?!" An officer says angrily.

"The rebels built an emergency tunnel there. We will send the enforcers there." The officer nods.

"Very well." The other officer nodded: "Let's get a team together."

"Damn... Leanna was going there... I wonder if she's ok..." A student mumbles to himself while looking at the scene from afar. Minka looked at this and clenched her fist, then she quickly ran to the outside of the school.

Leanna wakes up from her bed, her head feels a bit dizzy. She slowly sits up on the bed, her hands feel tied, and there is some sort of handcuff on her wrists. When she tried to move her legs, they were tied too. She is unable to move.

"Good morning." A man walks into the room: "Did you have a nice rest?"

"Who are you?" Leanna asked angrily: "Where am i?!"

"Oh, don't you worry. We won't hurt you." The man smiles: "We will keep you safe, for your mother."

"What? My mother?" Leanna frowns: "What is this all about?"

"We are here to keep you safe, you will be our trump card against the government. That way, the government can't kill you because it would anger your mother. So you will be our shield, against the imperium. Sounds good?" The man smiles again.

Leanna suddenly realizes this situation, they kidnapped her to keep her mother under control. And then she suddenly felt very angry at them: "You bastards!" Leanna tries to free herself, she tries to rip open the handcuff.

"I am sorry, but there is no way you can do it. Don't bother, just calm down. When this is all over, we will build a new world for everyone. A new world with no oppression and suffering, you will have your mother back, and everyone will be happy." The man said while shaking his head.

"Screw you! I won't help you! I won't let you use me against my mother!" Leanna suddenly screamed angrily.

The man slaps Leanna in the face hard, leaving a red mark on her face. She cried out in pain, then the man grabbed Leanna's face and looked at her angrily: "Insolent child. I know you think we are monsters, but we are doing this for a better future! And I won't let you stop that from happening."

"I will never help you! Never!" Leanna glares at him: "Go to hell!"

"Tch." The man lets go of Leanna's face, he looks at her angrily, and then he walks over to the door: "You will change your mind soon enough... after this is over... you will thank us for building a better world..."

Then Leanna hears the door closing, she tries to rip open the handcuffs again, but there's no avail. She has no way of escaping. Suddenly, Leanna felt really afraid and lonely. She has never been kidnapped before, and she has no idea what these people will do to her. She couldn't help but have tears welling up in her eyes.

"Help... help..." Leanna sobs, the tears start rolling down her face, she cries for her mother. She knows no one will come for her, not now at least. But she still calls out for help. She is scared, she doesn't know what to do.

The room was empty and quiet, only the sound of the running air conditioner and Leanna's crying. Suddenly, she heard some noise coming from the air vent, someone was coming through it.

Leanna stops crying for a bit, and then she looks at the vent. After a few minutes, the vent cover suddenly opens, and Minka pops out of it, she is covered in dust and grime. Minka looked around and quickly came out of the vent. She saw Leanna tied on the bed and her face turned white, and quickly rushed to Leanna and started to untie the restraints.

"Minka...? But how?" Leanna was confused but at the same time relieved.

"It doesn't matter." Minka smiled at her and helped her out of the bed, Minka grabs her chain between Leanna's handcuffs and rips them apart with her hand. She did the same with the rest of the restraints and untied Leanna's ankles.

"We need to go. The others are waiting for us at the surface." Minka took Leanna by the hand and walked to the door.

"Minka, I am afraid..." Leanna grabs onto Minka's hand: "They said they are going to use me... and... they... they may hurt you..."

"Shhh..." Minka gently placed a finger on Leanna's mouth: "Everything's fine... trust me..." Then she started walking towards the door, and slowly pushed it open. The corridor outside of the door was completely empty and dark. With a loud clunk, the man who came earlier hit Minka's head with a metal pipe, and she fell on the ground.

"You little bitch, how did you get here?" The man looked down at Minka angrily: "Who are you?"

Minka tried to stand up but the man pushed her back on the floor with his foot: "Lea... run. You need to get out of here..."

The man suddenly kicked Minka's side, and she groaned in pain: "Stay quiet you little whore. Leanna, don't make a move if you don't want to hurt your friend." The man then kicked Minka again, this time on the head. She cries out in pain, her head bleeding profusely from the wound.

Leanna is so scared that her knees felt weak, she cannot move an inch. Her entire body is paralyzed, she was terrified by this situation. She is so scared that her tears start falling out. The man sees this, and his face turns from anger to a wicked smile. He walks towards Leanna, he reaches his hand and wipes away Leanna's tears, he licks his thumb with a smirk on his face.

When he turned away, Minka suddenly stood up and hit the man's back of the head with her fist, she then kicked the man's head into the wall. The man's head made a thumping sound against the wall, and his body dropped down onto the ground. He is now unconscious.

"Minka?" Leanna looks at Minka who is having a terrifying look on her face, she is panting heavily. Minka looks like she's having some kind of panic attack, but she doesn't look like she is panicking, more like she was mad, or rather furious. She wipes away some blood from the corner of her lips and stares at the man with a murderous glare.

"Leanna. We have to go. We have to run now." Minka then grabs Leanna by the wrist and pulls her away, Leanna then looks back at the man. He's bleeding from the wound on his head. She could feel Minka's hands shaking a bit, but her grip on Leanna's hand was tight and unyielding. They ran as fast as they could, they had no idea how far they were from the surface, they couldn't tell which way was up.

"Where is he?!" Someone suddenly shouts. They are surrounded. Suddenly, a few loud thudding sounds come from behind them. Leanna sees the people behind them all fell down onto the floor with blood gushing out of their bodies, there was a gunshot wound in each of them, someone just killed them. Light came down into the basement from the ceiling, each one showed a bullet hole penetrated all the way down.

Minka stands in front of Leanna and waits for whatever is about to come. They heard a single person's footsteps walking towards them, they heard the sound of a rifle being put away. Soon after, a familiar face came into their sight, it was Nova Terra, the Major.

"Mother?..." Leanna mumbled.

"I got a tip from Minka, she said she's coming for you." Nova then turns to Minka: "Nicely done."

Minka nods, she's still holding onto Leanna. Leanna noticed she was holding her hand too tight, Leanna looked up, Minka had tears welling up in her eyes: "Aunt Nova..." She hugs Nova tight. Nova was startled at first but she hugs Minka back, she looks down at Minka who is trembling a little bit, then she notices her head wound, she wipes off some blood from the wound on the back of Minka's head.

"Thank you... for saving Leanna." Nova says in a very gentle voice: "You are a very brave girl, and very strong. Come with us, we are going to get out of here."

While Minka is being cared for, Nova didn't even bother to look at Leanna even once. She was a little hurt, but she understands why Nova is upset. She has put her mother through a lot, she didn't think of the consequences at all, she didn’t even question the fact that her mother got hurt in the most random time possible. And that has led them all here, Minka hurt because of her. Leanna suddenly feels a sense of guilt and regret.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

While walking towards the outside, Nova turned a bit and put one of her hands on Leanna's shoulder: "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

Leanna looked at her mother and shook her head: "I... am fine, mother."

"I am glad." Nova looks at Leanna: "But we will have a discussion at home, okay?"

Leanna gulps and nods in silence. They continue their way up. Nova's bodyguards are scanning the perimeter with their weapon at ready. They didn't meet anyone else, only corpses. After exiting the tunnel, they finally saw some enforcers waiting for them outside. The enforcers were armed with flamethrowers and shock mauls. They escorted them all back to their base.

"We lost too many today." One of the officers said with a sorrowful voice: "And it was because of her." She said while glaring at Leanna.

"Now, now, not in front of her. Don't worry, this won't happen again. I will make sure of it." Nova then pulls out a cigar from her coat and lights it. She took a long puff and sighed, she looked at Minka who was looking down and said: "Minka, i already told your dad, he will pick you up."

"But... but... mom will get really mad if she knows i went to rescue Lea... please aunt Nova, i will keep it a secret!" Minka starts begging her to not tell her parents, but Nova shakes her head.

"No. It's not the place of children to decide such things, your mother has a right to know what happened to her own child. She has the right to decide what to do." Nova looks at Minka, and then looks at Leanna. She doesn't want Minka to get in trouble, and Leanna felt more guilty for putting Minka in danger. She is not a kid anymore, she shouldn't act like a child, she shouldn't run away from her problems and let someone else solve it.

Leanna turns to Minka and shakes her head: "Please... don't... just, just go home, your parents must be very worried about you."

Minka let out a relieved grin on her face: "I am glad that I did what I did, and I will never regret it." Minka then held onto Leanna's hand again, her hand felt really warm and comfortable to hold on to, Leanna suddenly felt at ease and looked at Minka's eyes, then Minka's face turned bright red and she immediately let go of Leanna's hands.

Leanna feels embarrassed herself and turns away, Nova just shakes her head and takes another puff from her cigar. Soon, Trazyn picked Minka up and they returned home. On the way back, Leanna and Nova did not say a word to each other. Nova is obviously disappointed and Leanna was sad that her mother wasn't very happy with what she did.

When they got home, Leanna went directly to her room and locked the door. Miller was eating an ice cream while this happened: "What happened to Lea?" He asks with a frown, but Nova shook her head and went to Leanna's room. She knocked on the door.

"Go away..." Leanna says, she sounded like she had been crying.

"Open up." Nova says: "We need to have a talk."

Leanna didn't answer, Nova then just went into Leanna's room through a lockpick. Leanna looks at Nova with tears in her eyes. Nova's expression softened a bit, she pulled Leanna into a tight embrace.

"Why did you go to those people? What made you think it's a good idea?" Nova said while caressing Leanna's hair: "When have you seen me even catch a cold?"

"I don't know." Leanna starts to sob: "I am sorry mom... I didn't think of it..."

"No, you didn’t. That is the problem." Nova said and looked into Leanna's eyes: "Do you know what would have happened if Minka and I didn't show up there? You would be killed, or worse."

"But..."

"I know, you were trying to save your mom, but think about it for a bit. Who else would have benefited from your sacrifice? And it was not worth it. Not in the slightest bit." Nova lets go of Leanna and looks her in the eyes.

"But... but I was worried about you!" Leanna looked at her mother, her face was all covered with tears.

"Don't. You can't think that way. Your life is important, too important, don't trade it away so easily. Always put yourself first above anything else." Nova shakes her head: "Even if I were to be executed tomorrow, don't save me, don't waste your own life. Because... your life is important, to me, to your father, your brother and of course... Minka." Nova caresses Leanna's hair.

Leanna cried and hugged her mom again, and Nova caressed Leanna's back gently, trying to calm her down. Leanna buried her head onto Nova's chest, and her body shook uncontrollably, she was crying, and crying a lot. Nova's uniform got wet by her daughter's tears, but she doesn't care about it at all.

After that, Leanna fell asleep, and Nova just let her sleep. She put a blanket over Leanna and let her rest. After exiting the room, she saw Trazyn, Minka's father was sitting there waiting for her: "What do you want?" Nova said coldly.

Trazyn did not reply to Nova's cold remark: "It's done."

"Done?"

"I wiped Minka's memory about this incident, I don't want to worry my lovely wife too much. She will never know it, and she won't feel like she put my little daughter in danger again." Trazyn sighed, and looked at Nova: "If she asks you, don't tell her, we will think of another solution."

"So what will you do?" Nova frowned: "Don't tell me you will brainwash Leanna too."

"No, it's up to you to decide what to do with Lea, but Minka is another story." Trazyn said with a stern tone: "She needs to be safe. We all need her to be safe."

Nova sighed, she understands this decision is the best option to ensure the safety of their daughter: "Very well. Do as you see fit. I won't tell anyone, either. Not even Monika. But don't forget, eventually Leanna will have to be the one who takes care of her one day, when you are gone, and everyone else is helpless to save Minka. What will you do then? Can she handle this kind of responsibility?"

"She is your daughter, you should know about that. You know that she is more than capable of this." Trazyn said while looking Nova in the eyes: "Anyways... I don't want to use the memory wipe too much, Minka will get suspicious honestly."

"No shit." Nova shrugged: "What will you tell your wife then?"

"Nothing. I will just tell her that we went hiking and fell from a rock." Trazyn sighs: "It's the only logical explanation for a wound on her head like that."

Nova just shakes her head and sighs too, then she turns away and walks to her room, Trazyn looks at Leanna's door and teleports away.

On the other side of the door, Leanna was listening to the entire conversation, and tears welled up in her eyes again. She clenched fist and tried to keep her emotions from spilling out:" Minka... I am so sorry... i... i... "

Suddenly, she feels someone is shaking her, Leanna slowly opens her eyes. Viola is patting her cheeks to wake her up, they already arrived at the tomb world of the necron overlord Szeras.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Viola smiles and asks: "We arrived. Get ready."

"Minka..." Leanna sits up and sighs. She looks around, it is a Necron Tomb World. They have already made a base inside of this tomb world and the first thing she felt was... cold. This is not a very cold place, but she still feels a bit of the chilly winds from the air. Leanna looks around, she sees Viola and Sannet with a serious look on their faces, then she stands up and follows them out.

"Navigating a necron tomb world is a pain. But I do know where we should go. This way, follow me." Sannet starts walking in a direction, Viola and Leanna just follow. Leanna is holding onto a small object, she keeps rubbing it between her fingers, and Viola notices the object. It is the same thing she had when she woke up earlier.

"What is it in your hand?" Viola asks with a smile.

Leanna opened her palm: "It's a Terra family crest."

"Why would you carry around an insignia with you?" Viola raised a brow.

"It was... it was something from Minka. She gave me this when she became the head of student console, she told me that she doesn't need this anymore. Somehow when I am touching this... I can feel Minka." Leanna smiles and caresses the insignia.

Viola sighs, but then smiles too: "Don't worry Leanna, we will save your girlfriend."

"Viola! She is not my..."

"Sure." Viola cuts her off and gives her a wink.

Leanna is speechless, but she doesn't want to argue, she just lets it go.

"How much longer? Can you tell us about your encounter with Szeras?" Viola then looks at Sannet.

Sannet shakes her head: "He's a very... It's hard to explain him. He's a scientist, a great one."

"But I thought the necron is soulless, mindless machines?" Viola asked in confusion.

"Soulless doesn't mean lack of intellect. I am also soulless and I can still think." Sannet shakes her head: "If you thought the Necrons were a horde of soulless robots, you are dead wrong. The only thing we are is intelligent."

"Oh, ok." Viola looks around the place:" But you are kinda soulless, given how cold you are. Haha. Sorry." Viola says sarcastically.

Sannet ignores her, and Leanna sighs. After walking for a long time, they finally arrive at some kind of building:" Wait, why aren't we being spotted by the defense system?" Leanna asks while looking at Sannet.

"Because I registered us as friendlies a while ago when we first entered. It's not a difficult task if you have the access." Sannet says and walked inside, the two girls follow. They followed Sannet to some sort of large room, Sannet stopped at a door and waited for Viola and Leanna to enter. The door then closes, and the whole place turns red.

"What's going on?" Viola asks in confusion.

"Damn it, he knows we are here." Sannet shakes her head, but it seems that Sannet already anticipated this: "Get ready, we have no choice now. It's fight or flight."

"Greetings, my test subjects." Szeras's twisted mechanical figure projects into the middle of the room, the girls drew out their weapon: "Oh? Why the hostile gesture? I mean you no harm... well, except for one of you." Szeras said and stares at Sannet.

"Szeras!" Sannet clenches her fist: "You know what will happen if you dare to harm us!"

Szeras lets out an electronic laugh, which sounds like a glitching voice: "Ah... so you brought your friends here... interesting." Szeras says, while his projection is scanning them.

"Let us leave. And undo Minka's mark. Don't make us use force, you won't like it." Viola says with a threatening voice.

"Oh, please, as if you have anything to threaten me with. Such is the arrogance of a lesser creature, such is the arrogance of a mortal. Your entire existence is fleeting, a moment to a necron like myself. However, if you truly think you are capable of defeating me in my own lab, then I am willing to put up with you." Szeras let out an electronic laugh.

"Wait! I am here to bargain, not to fight!" Sannet says angrily, she has a determined look on her face: "You remove the mark on Minka and let us go... I will tell you how he did it."

"Ahhh... I have already anticipated this, of course. Your desperation to save this... person... is quite entertaining to see. Such... care... for someone you hardly like." Szeras let out an amused sigh: "But what do you mean how 'he' did it."

Sannet looks at Szeras, she seems hesitant to tell him about this: "How he transformed me into an organic body."

Szeras seems to be really interested in this, as his monocular eye flashes and he starts to laugh: "You were a necron? No wonder... Well then, let's discuss, I am very curious about this matter. Who are you really?"

"I am Sannet of the tomorrow, henchmen of Trazyn the infinite." Sannet says, but her tone was filled with hesitation.

"Trazyn... that unfitting of a lord did it first? Now that's an interesting piece of information..." Szeras nods and looks at Sannet: "The matrix core of that methodology will suffice. And the mark will be undone."

Leanna frowns and asks Sannet: "Are you sure this is going to work?"

Sannet shakes her head: "No... but I don't see any other option. At least we are talking instead of fighting."

"How interesting... a necron degrading themselves into a friendship with lesser beings. Such... a... mockery." Szeras laughed and then said: "However... I am quite interested in you." Szeras suddenly focuses his gaze onto Viola.

"Huh? Me?" Viola's eyes widens and she is pointing to herself.

"You don't have.... anything. You are just flesh and bone human...Tell me, how did you survive for so long? Sannet can easily kill you in an instant if given a chance... yet she has chosen to save you... what is the secret you hold?" Szeras says while analyzing Viola with his eye.

"I have a brain." Viola says confidently.

"Hm, a brain indeed." Szeras nodded: "However, I don't believe that it has anything to do with this matter... you have something else... I can sense it, it's deep inside of you. However... it doesn't appear to be something I can comprehend...Maybe i should open you up and take a look, that is if Sannet agrees..." Szeras then stares at Sannet.

"Enough... you already have the matrix core, and we will be leaving." Sannet says in a serious tone. She then looks at Viola: "It's time for you to fulfill your bargain, Viola."

"It was never real." Viola says with a smug face: "I made the rage virus up."

Sannet's face suddenly turned into a very terrifying one, and she immediately summoned a dagger: "Viola... I have had enough of your games.. this is not the time!"

"It's true, I made the whole thing up, it doesn't exist." Viola laughed: "You are such a predictable person."

Sannet was trembling with rage, but Szeras laughed, and started laughing more and more: "What a wonderful show... well now, leave before i decide to keep you forever."

Leanna feels extremely nervous about the entire thing, but she quickly grabs Sannet by the hand and pulls her away: "Come on! Let's leave."

Viola turned around and quickly left too. After they got away, Sannet grabbed Viola's hair and pulled her to face herself. Viola was obviously annoyed by Sannet's gesture, but Sannet had an angry expression on her face: "Tell me... was it the truth?"

Viola has an amused smile on her face: "Well well well... How does it feel to be cornered? Just admit it... I won this round, and I don't care about our friendship... this is not over." Viola says and pats Sannet's shoulder: "Sannet, don't ever underestimate a human... especially me. You won't survive a single minute in my game... because... I always have the winning hand."

"Damn you." Sannet lets go of Viola, she turns to Leanna, she was about to say something but instead she just turned away and left. Viola looked at her with a victorious smirk on her face.

Leanna is speechless, and looks at Viola with an expression of disapproval, but Viola just laughs. They walk away in silence, Viola has a very big smile on her face, while Sannet has a very dark expression on hers. Sannet and Leanna walked behind Viola, Sannet didn't say a word.

"Sannet... are you alright? You know you can tell me if something is bothering you, right? I am here to listen..." Leanna says while walking next to Sannet.

"She is just salty that I outsmarted her, you shouldn't worry." Viola laughs: "We did save your girlfriend, that's what matters right now, Leanna."

Leanna feels embarrassed hearing Viola calling Minka her girlfriend, she can feel her face turn hot again. Sannet seems to ignore the two and continues walking forward in silence, she doesn't look very happy right now.

"So what does that Szeras want to do? Is he planning to do something with the knowledge he just obtained from Sannet? Is Minka safe?" Leanna asks with a bit of nervousness in her voice.

"No idea. But one crisis at a time. The ravager is a bigger problem at the moment." Viola sighs.

"She is not your problem or anyone's problem." Sannet suddenly cuts in with an irritated voice, she turns to Viola with an angry expression on her face: "You have no idea what she wants. She is a good person. Don't make her your enemy."

"Yeah... destroying the world doesn't sound good to me at all." She sounds in a sarcastic tone while shaking her head: "Anyways, Leanna, let's leave." Viola grabs onto Leanna and turns around to leave. Sannet lets out a deep breath.

"Viola!" Sannet shouts.

Viola turns around, with an expression of amusement: "What? Are you still mad?"

"I am warning you Viola." Sannet says in a very stern voice, and she slowly walks up to them, she stares into Viola's eyes with an angry glare: "Next time we meet... I will kill you."

Leanna was taken back, Viola on the other hand, didn't even blink and had a confident smile on her face: "Very well then." Viola smiled, then turned to Leanna: "Let's go."