Thunder rumbled outside the Beaver as D-7 drove back to the taiga. Henwales is not that far now, as Gris saw the lone mountain in the distance, surrounded by the sea of trees they’re currently in. Fein looked through any records that could connect Woodcarver to Pierre and their client, but their built-in databanks came empty. Gen was preoccupied with Stera, who was gladly eating a fast-cooked stew inside the med-bay, which he made. Sora was walking around the area in a fixed path, worried about his still-twitching leg muscles. Mido dozed off in a chair, while Enna readied herself for another round of interrogation.

Meanwhile, Wiz slowly stood up and looked at Woodcarver, taking pity on the state she’s in. All four limbs strapped tight to the metal chair. Bruised, and one hand was still painted with coagulated blood from her injuries. The smell of blood threatened to suffocate both of them. She's dazed, eyes empty, and the look of monotonous anguish penetrated the room. As Wiz carried her things and opened the door, she hoped that Woodcarver's ears might catch her voice.

“I know you’re not that bad of a person. Just please, don’t let Enna hurt you any longer.”

The door slammed shut, and so did Woodcarver’s mind from that memory trip she had. To her, every trace of the wood-carving girl, Myrrh, was dead long ago, sealed from when she took the lady’s hand that night.

But when she was reminded of the word ‘life,’ she remembered it all. Life before her eventual 'death,’ before she was made into one of the lady’s most trusted accomplices. But all that time, she never saw her as a ‘client’ or a boss. Despite her grisly appearance, her penchant for death, and her cold and dark upbringing…

Woodcarver saw Aurelia as a ‘mother.’ She is that innocent still, after all those years.

It might not be a reality, but it's the only semblance she had of a normal life.

And for Woodcarver, no one betrays their own family.

‘You said it yourself. I’m not that bad of a person.’

The door swung open once again. This time, a familiar silhouette loomed in front of her.

“Hey. We’ll go through another round, and this time, please cooperate.” Enna readied the pliers, the snapping of its jaws pierced Woodcarver’s eardrums. If she did not steel herself, she’d be crying already. She closed her eyes, not minding Enna’s barking at her.

‘Is there something I can use inside this storage room?’

Her perception was only limited to the metal room she’s being held in. There were boxes around, but as she focused her ability, no traces of wood were inside any of them. The vehicle she’s in was constantly moving, so using the trees around them is impossible.

However…

“Oi, missy. I don’t like this at all, but should we do a repeat? On the other arm?” Enna approached her, but she was unfazed. Her bloodied hand was enough.

“Are you Enna?”

“Yeah, what about it, Woodcarver?” Enna crept closer, one arm carrying the pliers on her shoulder.

“You lot are relentless. Taking my nails… and healing them. Only to do the same to the other.”

“Listen, if you would just cooperate and help us, we would have a nice chat with the captain. But you’ve shut your mouth for too long. Your mistake, missy.”

Enna intimidated her, but Woodcarver snickered beneath her breath. The former found this both annoying and unnerving.

“You left the door open, Enna.”

Before she could turn back, Enna was pierced by a pen-thick pointed wood on her wrist. The pressure was pinpoint; it dug deep, it’s bark splintering inside her arm, fragmenting into fine, small pieces as she yelled from the shock and the utterly paralyzing pain.

“Your mistake.” Woodcarver squinted her eyes, mocking Enna.

From the outside, Wiz was horrified to see that the wooden cabinet Gen installed as a display for their cutlery was warped into sharp tendrils that pierced Enna.

“Guys! Enna’s just—”

“Get out of the way, Wiz!” Gen yelled as everyone was confused at the sudden commotion. He rushed inside the storage room and saw Enna, one arm bloodied, and neck held by a serrated, splintered tendril, threatening to make short work of her if he dares to move against Woodcarver.

“Shit… you bitch… Let her go, right now!”

“Gen!”

“You’re twisted.” Woodcarver scoffed and pointed her right arm to the metal wall behind her. Before she could, however, she felt a tingle in the air, as if her hair was being raised by electricity.

She knew, and tackled Enna to the floor, rubbing her face against the cold metal.

“Gah!” Enna grunted. This forced Fein to withdraw using his ability, as Enna was in contact with the conductive metal, she will be scorched even before his ability will hit Woodcarver.

“Little girl!” Woodcarver called to Wizbette. “You were right. My life is no better than in the past. But I have no choice. That is all gone; there's no need to catch a fleeting dream.”

Wizbette tried to make sense of her, but Woodcarver was loyal to her lady. She’s the one that gave her this new life. How ‘bad’ it might be, Woodcarver was, and always will be, loyal to Aurelia’s side.

“Grantor, coalesce thine shield, and surround my target!” Gen shouted.

Stalwart’s Resolve: Area Shell.

Because of his immediate range, the shell Gen created behind Woodcarver and Enna was slow to charge. He held it with both hands. No ability within the vicinity was good in close quarters: Mido’s was explosive, Fein's was inaccurate at the moment, Wiz and Sora's were utilities, Stera had none, and Gris needed to drive the Beaver despite the commotion.

The mountain-city loomed near. The downpour began, and thunder rolled.

“I guess you won’t let go of me quietly.” As the people piled up in the doorway, Woodcarver silently whispered an incantation.

“With my blood, break this seal!" She jabbed her bloodied left hand to the ankh seal on her right wrist. It glowed, vibrated, and a ball of dark energy coalesced on Woodcarver's right arm, pointing it again to the wall.

“Oi… What are you…” Gen was furious but saw the opportunity to grab Enna away from her. Before he could as much as touch her, however, Woodcarver's arm was enveloped by sinister, cosmic energy.

Seal: Discharge.

At first, it was a beam. Then a cascade of excited explosions. It destroyed the metal wall that once held Woodcarver captive like it was butter. The seal now scorching, she immediately threw Enna to the door, with Gen catching her.

“No… She’s getting away!” Mido ran to the hole Woodcarver made and saw no single trace of her. The Beaver was still moving fast, and the trees were blurred in his vision. Wherever she was off to, Woodcarver was quick, her ability doubling its efficiency beneath the forests.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Heal Enna, quick!” Fein turned to Wiz, but Gen was faster to react.

“Oi, Gen! I can walk—wah!” Gen scooped up Enna from the floor to the med-bay. Barging inside the room that was occupied by Stera, it’s not an understatement that she was truly shocked by the explosions and Enna’s arm bleeding.

“Gen? I heard explosions…”

“Our captive got away. Shit!” Gen slammed the end table as she set Enna on the bed, making Stera jump.

“Damn it, Enna. Why didn’t you close the door?!”

“I forgot it was not a self-close hinge…” Enna jested as Gen pulled up her sleeves and focused on the splinters that pierced her arm. Like little grenade fragments, they lodged themselves inside her flesh tightly. He rummaged the med-kit for tweezers and lit a flashlight on Enna’s torn skin.

“I’m sorry, but these need to go. Wiz’s ability will just heal through these splinters, and I trust you don’t want that.”

“Shit, Gen. I think I’m gonna—”

“This might hurt.”

One by one, Gen carefully plucked out all splinters from Enna’s wound. She had no choice but to wince and yelp from the stinging pain that it brought. They were very small too; a painful puncture akin to Woodcarver’s pain from her nails being plucked out. Gen had to kneel to the bed to get the hard parts. The tweezers had to wiggle through the hard to reach splinters, making Enna all the more agonized as she flayed her legs around to distract from the tweezers missing some of the fragments.

“Gen… ahh! Listen to me! Ngh!” Enna squirmed from the pain, grabbing the cloth bed and biting it.

“Shut up for a sec, Enna!”

“The… anesthesia! The med—gah! Has one!”

Gen looked at the med-kit and saw a bottle and a syringe.

“Oh. Shit. It’s too late for that, now. Just don’t move so much!”

“It hurts, Gen!”

Stera just looked at Gen’s back, trying to understand what had just happened in such a small amount of time.

“Stera! Can you help me?!” Gen yelled he meticulously pulled each fragment out of Enna’s wound and set them aside on the table.

“H-How?”

Gen tossed the flashlight from his free hand to Stera’s direction, to which she caught without a fumble. Traces of blood were printed on its aluminum body, coming from Gen’s hand when he tried to support Enna’s arm.

“Okay…!” She immediately turned it on and pointed it to Enna’s bloodied arm. Blood was still gushing from the open wound, it’s red colors became more pronounced as the light was shone on it.

Enna became less erratic as Gen pulled out the last of the wood splinters. Luckily, the point of injury was localized, so no important veins were hit. Still, it was excruciating and debilitating for both of them. Gen panted as he set aside the tweezers, his arm shuddered from the precision he needed to pluck two-dozens of splinters of varied sizes.

In good timing, the door swung open as Wiz rushed to Enna’s help. Without stopping to ask, she immediately used her ability as she touched Enna’s wound.

“Grantor… heed upon my gracious call. Let the strings of fate manifest, and weave, to heal the injured.”

The strings flowed through space as it touched and healed Enna’s wound, enveloping the point with an emerald glow, accelerating the healing process and forming a new layer of soft skin above the hole.

“So… that’s your power… Amazing…” Stera watched and turned off the light, basking the room in a warm, greenish glow, only countered by the dim light of the ceiling bulb.

“Enna… Nuh…” Wiz plopped her head on the blood-ridden cloth bed, but Gen caught her in time.

“Is she okay?” Stera grasped the flashlight as she leaned to see the now-unconscious Wizbette.

“Wiz… She had to use her life force again.” Gen nodded as he cradled Wiz on his hand and lap.

“Gen?” Enna weakly turned her head to the two and looked at her hand. She then cleaned it using the bed cloth, reached out to Wiz’s hazel hair, and stroked it.

“I'm sorry about this. I've let Woodcarver tear a hole at the Beaver, ruined your cabinet, and let Wiz heal me at the cost of her health…”

Enna laid her head on the pillow, inhaling sharply.

“Yeah. You’re a pain in the ass now, letting that red-haired ‘Woodcarver’ trash the place… Get ready for a reprimand from Fein, then.” Gen scoffed as he carried Wizbette to another room. Stera tailed on his back as he opened the door sternly.

“I’ll ask someone to clean that bed. Until then, please rest, Enna.” Gen let Stera go first before exiting with Wiz himself, leaving Enna alone on the med-bay, half of her body somewhat soaked in her blood and sweat, contemplating on how she should go along with this mistake she made.

“Ahh~ I’m sure we’ll figure out something by ourselves. It’s not like we have not encountered any setbacks like this…” She grabbed the soaked cloth and rolled it into a pile, setting the sheet aside below the bed. Sadly, the foam under it was soaked too, making Enna feel annoyed.

“There’s a lot to do. I feel sorry for Gris, trashing the Beaver like this. And R&D too. Repairing a hole may be simple… but they always are grumpy when it comes to this…” Sighing, she still felt the stinging residue pain from the splinters, making her hand jolt.

The storm continuously rumbled outside as the Beaver scuttled along the road. Gris thought something was wrong about the engine, so he drove as quickly as he was permitted to. The outer gate of Henwales greeted them as the heavy downpour cascaded on the Beaver’s windshield.

----------------------------------------

“*sigh* That girl even had the guts to strain her engine with her ability… The Beaver will be repaired again… I pity her.” Gris sighed as he and the others watched the Beaver being towed from the parking space by hooks into a compartment, where it will be sent to the Research and Development department of Henwales for repairs.

Standing on a shed, D-7 monotonously looked at the Beaver as it was lifted.

“I’ll report to Secretary Ayane. She’s been notified of our arrival. You guys rest. That’s an order.” Fein went and walked by himself into the rain, soaking his hair and clothing. Everyone looked at him, each wanting to say something, but he was clearly mad.

Meanwhile, Mido sat beside Wiz on the bench, worried sick. Gen saw this and nudged the blanked-out Mido.

“Oi. We’ll go to command soon. Don’t just doze off there and wake the princess up.”

“Right. But I guess she won’t be waking up anytime soon, though.” He looked at Wiz, innocently snoring her fatigue away. Gen instinctively shrugged, scoffed, and handed to him an umbrella.

“Make sure she won’t get sick. We’ll be going then. Stera?” Gen called, but Stera gazed at the falling rain, captivated by the albeit sad pitter-patter as each droplet kissed the ground. He grabbed her hand, startling Stera away from her melancholic trance.

“H-Huh?”

“Let’s go.”

She politely complied.

The others followed their lead, and walked back to command, amidst the rain. Gris and Enna walked somberly as if the gravity beneath them pulled their bodies tenfold. Sora turned to look at the shed, housing only Wiz and Mido, and had a begrudging look on his face before opening his umbrella and joined the others.

Time passed…

Mido stared at the empty parking space, the bleak atmosphere, courtesy of the storm, and the continuous tears of the sky. The occasional lightning just passed by his eyes, the thunder tickling his ears.

Somehow, he felt a sense of calm beneath the raging weather.

‘The snow was gentle, but the rain… is an irony.’

…

“Ngh… Where are we?” She weakly whispered, touching her temple.

“Back at Henwales, Wiz," Mido answered him.

“Oh. I guess things turned for the worse…” Wiz sat up and looked in Mido's direction.

“Yeah. It’s raining. What could add more to our problems now?” Frustrated, he placed his hands on his knees, and looked below him, at the damp pavement.

“I guess this happens every so often, huh. The misfortune, setback, and frustration. Damn it.” He was not surprised at this point. These few days, Mido faced only good opportunities for him. Being saved, accepted, and given a sense of hope. But what happened to them made him hearken back to the sound of fire and screams that rattled his mind.

Hopelessness. That state made him feel it again.

“Mido… We’ll have to let out walk around the district go for a while, okay?” Wiz weakly said, as Mido was still deep in his thoughts, he did not react. But he did feel her sincerity.

Wiz sat on the bench on a sidesaddle, her legs were up on the bench as the metal creaked a bit from the sudden change in weight.

“Yeah. This happens all the time. The team must not be in a good mood, so they left us here.”

“I waited for you to wake up. That’s why…”

Wiz slowly leaned to Mido. "Mhmm… I know them. They will all walk away with constipated faces, but on the next day, when everyone eats together, the captain will come up with a plan."

“Uhm… Wiz? Let’s—” Mido was about to move, but Wiz clutched him tightly by his hand to stay.

“Please. Let’s stay here for a while…”

“Wiz…” The warm grip of both of her hands on his enticed Mido to stay.

He was hesitant, but he eventually let the weight of her head rest on his arm.

Beneath the rain, the grey skies, and the thunder, they sat together and watched as the skies cried.

Mido thought of a familiar scene. Something that, even though he was in the snow, and even though he could not remember much, he felt the warm feel of it. Unbeknownst to him, Wizbette thought of it too.

‘You know…’ Both looked at each other and slowly opened their mouths.

“I want to do this in the snow…”

Both were startled, as they said the same sentence in unison. Realizing their jinx, Mido and Wizbette chuckled, and let the rain take over their train of thought…

If snow falls on Henwales, let’s do this again, okay?

----------------------------------------

Fein trudged all by himself to Ayane’s office, carrying documents, and a handful of notes the team wrote and collected. Opening the doors, a flash of light from the windows far behind him came as Ayane turned to him.

“Captain Van Rosa. Welcome back from your… unfortunate… venture. It’s sad to hear your captive single-handedly crippled your team.” She said with heavy sincerity, leaning on her desk. Fein formally bowed, but his stern face made the gesture imposing.

“Secretary Ayane, I know this is humiliating, but please. Help me.”

Ayane raised an eyebrow, tracing her pen before standing up to Fein’s level.

“Hmm? What’s so humiliating about asking for help, captain?” She said, her red eyes droned on Fein's slicked-back hair.

Nonchalantly, Fein looked at her with his azure eyes, not breaking his imposing stand. His words, however, carried weight.

“I don’t know how to find them.”