"What do you mean? My name's Grim."

Hazel looked like she wanted to speak but held herself back, "I'm sorry, I can't say more. I tried to, and I felt my chest start to tighten up. I think the system will kill me if I say any more."

Well, she’d add that to the pile of garbage that didn't add up in her life. Who the hell names a baby girl, GRIM? Did they want her to get bullied her entire childhood? It worked, so good job to them.

“Why would the system kill you?”

Hazel shrugged as she smiled, aware she wasn’t being helpful, “Can’t answer that.”

"So what can you answer? Anything else you know about me?" Grim asked.

Hazel scratched her chin. "Well, I've been with you all your life, so all of that, I suppose. And system-related stuff you don't have access to, but I don't think I can talk about that without giving me heart palpitations. Shadows aren't supposed to get those."

"How did I lose my arm?"

Hazel winced, "I can’t say."

"Why would the system even care?" Grim said as she turned away, talking to herself now. It wasn’t a physical thing, it didn’t or shouldn’t care about anything related to her. “What happened on my 8th birthday?”

Her shadow got excited at something she could finally answer. Her energy was palpable as she explained, “Oh! You ran away from home! You thought you were ready to become a Witch, but you got lost a block away from your house and got so scared you hid in a storm drain. They didn’t find you for almost two days.”

Not her proudest moment.

“Okay, that’s true, but why can you tell me about that and not what happened to me? There shouldn’t be a difference unless… there was something else involved? A boon?”

The normally animated girl went stiff, "Do you have any other questions? I think it's been close to fifteen minutes."

That was answer enough, she supposed. Grim thought about continuing to press her, but they had bigger things to worry about at the moment, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could get out of her. There was one thing she did want to ask.

"Why the clothes?"

"You don't like it?" Hazel pouted.

"No, well, yes, I do. Just how and why?"

"I think it’s cute."

"But from where?" She asked, mouth agape. Before Hazel could reply, they heard the door knob start to turn, and she slammed her shoulder into it just as it opened.

"Hey! Everything okay?" Volk shouted from the other end. Before he could try to open the door again, Grim locked it. Once that was done, she flipped over a filing cabinet beside the door to block it. Papers scattered as it fell.

"Okay, we need to get out of here. What else can you do?" Grim asked.

Hazel picked up the bolt cutters, "Well, I'm almost a duplicate of you, so whatever you can. I can also use any boons you may have that aren't [FRIENDLY SHADOW]. Instead, I have [SHADOW VESTIGE]."

Grim sighed, a physical duplicate of her. That might have been useful if she wasn't on the lower end of the human spectrum regarding strength and well arms, "Okay, that is not going to help us here, so what does your boon do?"

"Hmm, 'You can create a temporary vestige of a boon after being in contact with them for one minute.' Sorry, I don’t think that’s going to help either." Hazel said, her shoulders slumped.

Grim's eyes lit up, "Touch him."

Hazel looked up and saw Mr. Cede's body lying on the ground; she sat down next to it and took a second to decide where to place her hand before deciding on his forearm. There was minimal blood on it. From the doorway, Grim saw it start to shudder as Volk started yelling and trying to bash the door down. She got on the other end of the cabinet and held it there.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Is everything okay? I'm coming in!" He yelled.

Wood splinters flew from his next hit; the door wasn’t special, and he was definitely stronger than a baseline human. She heard Maribelle’s voice beside him, which was not good. That meant the whole crew was probably outside, and while they may have been able to take one in an ambush, four or five was out of the question. There was a window in the room, but it had anti-theft bars, and they were not getting through that.

Diplomacy it was then.

"I bashed your boss’s head in, you old fuck. Try me," Grim shouted.

Hazel glared at her, but Grim shrugged.

"If you touch him, you’re dead," Maribelle screamed

The door's lock bent inwards as they hit it with renewed intensity; she could hear Volk trying to boot it down. She turned to Hazel, "How much longer?"

"It's done! He's got three I can grab, the other slots are empty. [CEDE] [DRUNKEN PROWESS] and [SOMETHING IN YOUR EYE]. They don't tell me what they do, I'm gonna grab the last one," Hazel said.

Grim’s mind whirled as she thought through the options. [DRUNKEN PROWESS] probably wouldn't be useful, especially since there wasn't any alcohol in the room. Leaving the last one with the best potential. This lineup of boons seemed pretty terrible; they must have either just started, or it seemed more likely that he'd given the better combat boons to his bodyguards. However, the first was the real prize, and she'd just thought of a way to get more out of this.

"Take [CEDE]! Then transfer [SOMETHING IN YOUR EYE] to me. We can get both for the price of one."

Hazel closed her eyes for a few more seconds and jolted up as something Grim couldn't see happened. She ran to Grim and laid her hands on her, and a system notification popped up a second later.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED E RANK [SOMETHING IN YOUR EYE] A speck of dust blinds your opponent for a moment.

The door broke inward just as she finished reading the notification. She fell backwards onto Hazel's lap, and then watched as Volk grabbed the pieces of the broken door and ripped them off the hinges; he then kicked the cabinet away and walked in.

"Hit him together!" Grim shouted, and the two of them activated the skill. Volk stopped, and his hands went up to his face, giving her a chance to stand up; Hazel followed right behind her as they scrambled back to where Mr. Cede was lying. Grim ripped her boot shiv out of his hand and kneeled beside him; the knife pointed downwards at his throat. She didn't even try to lift him as a human shield; he was way too heavy. Hazel was beside her, standing with the bolt cutters raised above her, ready to rain it down on anyone who came close.

"No one try anything, or I'll tear his throat out," Grim threatened.

Maribelle walked inside as Volk recovered from their skill. He gave an order, and the rest of the gang waited in the doorway. She held her hands above her and said, “Let’s stay calm here; nobody needs to get any more hurt."

"Why wait? Looks like he’s already dead," Volk asked.

Maribelle pushed him, "He's a damn C rank; it’s gonna take a bit more than that to kill him. Besides, that girly over there is bleeding through her bandage. She probably didn’t feel too good, leaving most of her skin behind on that chair. Times on our side more than hers."

Grim cursed internally; she was right. The blood loss had sent a chill into her, and it was getting worse. She needed to find a way out of this quickly, but that wouldn’t be easy. They had to get through them or somehow bust the metal bars on the window, fight off however many people with a doppelganger of herself and a passable distraction boon. Then, somehow, get all the way home without being arrested. She had a small knife and an injury that required urgent care. If she got caught or if she surrendered, they'd probably just kill her at this point, although she wasn't sure. If Mr. Cede survived, they’d take Hazel from her, and they’d only just met. It… would be too soon.

The physical way was out then. Even one of them could take both her and Hazel, even if they spammed [SOMETHING IN YOUR EYE]. So, back to diplomacy, it was.

She looked at Hazel, who hadn’t said a word so far; she was still standing in front of her, menacing the bolt cutters to keep her safe. She sent Grim a side eye filled with worry, and Grim winked back at her.

That didn't help Hazel at all. She wondered why.

"Hazel, here is my A-ranked skill. She can temporarily copy boons," Grim announced to the room.

"Was wonderin' that, the two of you and all. What’s the point?"

"Hazel?" Grim tilted her head to Mr. Cede on the ground. A flash of acknowledgement hit her eyes, and she dropped to the floor and laid a hand on him. A second later, she stood up and touched Grim.

"It's done," She said.

YOU HAVE LOST E RANK [SOMETHING IN YOUR EYE]

YOU HAVE RECEIVED B RANK [CEDE] NAMES HAVE POWER, TRANSFER THOSE YOU KNOW.

Grim smiled and brought the knife down on the man’s throat.