What followed, not even Tomoe could’ve expected. A burly arm, right in front of her face, around the slut’s neck. The slut, choked, not moving anymore. Barras, from behind, pressing against her neck with all of her strength, pushing back all the way against the floor.

The screams stopped. The room fell into silence. Leaving the lifeless body, Barras stands up and gives Tomoe a hand. She takes it, still without words. Barras looks at her, and only says “Better her than my family.”

Tomoe’s eyes open wide, but any words that were starting to bubble inside her stomach went back down. Would have her acted differently in that situation?

A sound comes from outside. Tomoe clumsily crouches behind the counter, signaling the family to hide behind it too. Peeking over the top, she catches a glimpse of the outside, seeing something that sends her heart racing again: The shadows of the enemy soldiers that were outside, now peeking themselves into the room filled with darkness. Footsteps can be heard from where they came from too, coming closer and closer.

“We are surrounded” whispers Tomoe, getting back down behind the counter.

“Can’t you do something!? It is your fault that we are in this predicament!” whispers Jolyne, almost yelling.

“Jolyne” says Barras, putting his arm across, between them “pointing blame won’t help.”

“But-!”

“Keep. It. Down.” Whispers Barras while looking directly at Jolyne’s eyes.

“I’m sorry about that. She is right.”

“Instead of losing time thinking in the past, better think in the now. Can you handle them?”

Tomoe nods to the sides “They are too many. Even with the water of the rain, I will run out of Aura too quickly. There are too many angles to take into account, and I don’t even know how many of them there are…”

“Any ideas then?” whispers Jolyne.

Tomoe falls into silence, as the footsteps of the soldiers can be heard, having entered the brothel, accompanied by the drops of water from the rain.

“What are you falling into silence for!?” whispers Jolyne once more, desperation showing in her eyes.

Tomoe flinches and looks towards Barras. She opens her mouth, but no words come out.

“A distraction, right?” Barras whispers while closing his eyes.

“Uh? And why in the world she would be hung up on that? Making us lose time” Jolyne whispers, taking one of her hands to her face.

“Jolyne, hear me” Barras whispers, taking both of her hands “No matter what, keep following her ok? Take our son to safety.”

“Uh? What are you talking ab-?” Jolyne whispers, clear worry on her voice, but she’s cut by Barras, who kisses her on her lips, then on her forehead, and adds “Remember, you must protect our son… I love you.”

As Barras says this, he comes out behind the counter, passing behind the soldiers and jumping through the window, into the downpour on the outside. The soldiers catch a glimpse of him, and follow him through the window, throwing flames in his direction, flames that are weakened by the rain.

Tomoe grabs Jolyne from behind, putting a hand to her mouth. Even when no word is audible, the muffled screams shake Tomoe to the very core. Tears start coming off her face, as she sees Jolyne contorting, and Reyson besides her, with his face, clearly showing that he didn’t understand what happened… or what is happening to his mother.

“Put yourself together!” says Tomoe, shaking with her own arms Jolyne “Think of why your husband went and did this!” pointing towards Reyson. Jolyne sees him, red-faced, tears on his face. Crouching beside him, Jolyne hugs him, bitting her own lips, and holding his hand, she says “Don’t let go.”

Reyson just nods.

Moving towards the door, they get out of the brothel, crossing the intersection under the rain that seems to have been going forever. Tomoe engages her Aura, and infuses the water at her feet, bringing it with her. As they keep going down the street though, from one of the buildings, a soldier comes out flying, crossing the street from one side to another. Taking cover, Tomoe enters into another building, followed by Jolyne and Reyson, as many more soldiers appear from down the street, entering the building from where the soldier came out flying. Many lights can be seen from the otherwise dark interior.

Something hasn’t settled inside Tomoe yet. For some reason, she feels she is forgetting something really important. As she signals the mother and her son to come out again, they keep moving, only to face another intersection. A group of soldiers is stationed there, guarding it. Tomoe signals again and the three of them enter another building, forcing herself to not lose focus, to not lose herself, against the merciless rain.

From the inside, Tomoe peeks from the window, only to see the soldiers pointing towards the building they are in, making Tomoe’s heart jump, but then staying there, without moving at all.

Suddenly, some thunders can be heard, and see, from the distance. The powerful sounds conquer everyone’s ears, what didn’t allow Tomoe to put attention into the other, more subtle sounds reaching her ears too. Slow, heavy steps, coming from inside the building itself. The wooden floor, creaking. The smell of rain suddenly being replaced by the steel-like smell of blood. The cold winds suddenly turning heavy warmth. And, still not realizing it, she fills a slight push towards her. Realizing something isn’t right, she turns, only to find Reyson in her arms, blood all over him. Touching him around the neck and the head though, don’t reveal any injury, and then, and only then, she could hear it clearly, the growl of something not human. Elevating her eyes, she covered Reyson’s eyes, keeping him towards her, so he wouldn’t see the image that was in front of her, the image of Reyson’s mother, without her head, and behind her, a giant shadow, at which a thunder threw light, revealing to Tomoe the reality of the situation, what was bothering her since the beginning when they entered the Red District: Twice as big as a horse, white fur and eyes like the starlight night.

“A Grim Wolf” Tomoe murmured.

The Grim Wolf howled, a howl that managed to make the building tremble, and proceeded to finish eating Jolyne’s body. From the outside of the building, flames came pouring, breaking the door and windows. The Grim Wolf recoiled, only seemed bothered with the spectacle, and jumped outside of the building, in the direction that the enemy soldiers were stationed, and breaking the entire wall behind Tomoe in the process.

Still, with her hand on Reyson’s eyes, Tomoe grabs him, and using water taming, she comes outside of the building before it falls forward into the street. Thunders roar the sky, throwing some light into the otherwise dark alleys and shadowy figures that are still alive in the area. Taking now her hand off Reyson eyes, she puts him to her shoulder, infusing her own body with Aura in order to resist the added weight.

Light can be seen from some of the buildings first, second and even third floors. Some flames can be seen coming from shadowy human figures on the street, pointing towards other buildings on the sides. Running past them, straight as an arrow, leaving everyone behind, until she reaches the last intersection, splashes of water she is making reaching her knees.

After this one, there’s only another street left and they can get to the lower plains that should be flooded by now. In this intersection though, there are the shadowy figures of the enemy soldiers, that put another guard post. A thunder roars once more, throwing light into the street, and the soldiers see her coming. Being faced with five streams of flames, unable to get out of the way on time, she gets to the ground instead, gathering all the water tamed around her and Reyson, and using it as some sort of slider, which allows her to reach and pass the guard post at high speeds.

A group of soldiers was still a bit farther after the guard post, and seeing Tomoe moving at high speeds, one of the soldiers yells, pointing towards the ground. The flame snakes come off, hitting the ground around and in front of Tomoe, trying to take her out of balance. Tomoe manages to survive the first barrage, but at the second one, that came exactly when she was beside this group of soldiers, takes her out of balance, sending her rolling about ten meters away, still Reyson within her arms.

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The enemy soldiers walk slowly towards her, their shadowy figure coming clearer with the distance. Tomoe engaged her Aura around her, but mostly in front of her, so Reyson didn’t take any hits.

While she struggles to catch a breath, she sees and confirms that Reyson is out cold. Turning to the soldiers that are now about two meters away, another thunder flashes, accompanied by a howl that made everyone look upward, to the roof of the building that Tomoe had right in front of her: A Grim Wolf was standing there, looking down on everyone present.

Howling again from where it is, two more Grim Wolves appear, like if they were made out of thin air, and following them, six more appeared. Five went to the soldiers that were stationed at the intersection that Tomoe passed back not so long ago, while four dropped on them.

The soldiers started to panic, throwing their flames towards the wolves, but to no avail.

Standing up while the soldiers start fighting the wolves, she picks up Reyson and starts tumbling once more, trying to run the fastest she can while she recovers her body with her Aura. A soldier comes flying into her field of vision, landing further below the street to her right. She knew very well what this meant, as she stopped, put the slumbering Reyson to the side, and turned around, only to see the Grim Wolf already running towards her.

She infused herself with her Aura and brought it forward too.

Wolves, no matter which, all are known for one thing girl: They fascinate on the act of eating, and thus, they eat everything they can, and Grim Wolves eat the most. With the words of Lorian in his mind, she takes the Grim Wolf head-on, as it plunges against Tomoe. Taking the Wolves by the jaws, the moment it comes into contact with, Aura starts being absorbed, fast, into the grim wolf’s mouth. Planting her feet into the ground, she holds the jaw, while the grim wolf starts going savage against her, pushing her more and more. Infusing herself with more Aura, she takes the correct posture, and taking advantage of the grim wolf weight, throws the grim wolf to her right, away from Reyson.

As it lands, Tomoe plunges forward, with water tamed following her, and with said water, she directs a hit towards the head, shot that she misses, with the grim wolf already standing up, but not before delivering a sharp hit to its frontal legs. Wimping, the grim wolf puts space between them, space that Tomoe closes again in an instant, to not give it time to summon more grim wolves, but in that instant, Tomoe is hit with something heavy from her right, and she is sent flying down the street.

Good thing I had the Aura already engaged.

She tries to stand up, taking aside what hit her, only to find it was a body: The body of one of the soldiers that were facing her moments before, without a head, arms nor legs.

Turning towards the direction that this body came from, the sight she catches stiffens her body: The grim wolf that she managed to hit, standing there, and besides it, two more grim wolves joined the fray. The flames that were alive before in the background were now extinguished, smoke visible rising behind.

I… I don’t know what…

Tomoe notices her thinking.

I’m out… I, I don’t have enough…

She takes two steps back. At the sight of the Grim Wolves, Tomoe can’t help it as her mind starts to race. A struggle raises within her. If she runs now, will she be able to actually escape? While she asks herself this, she sees that an extra Grim Wolf appears, this time, walking in direction of the little boy.

No…

No matter what, she must stand her ground. But how could she win? She takes another step back, and slips in the muddy street she is in. Managing to not completely fall to the ground, she raises her sights again, and the memories strike her again. That night that many years ago, an horror like no other. Yet, something is different, more visceral than before.

She looks to her right, she looks to her left.

Where? Where?

And a realization struck her: She was completely alone.

Looking at the Grim Wolves in front of her, she suddenly felt really small. Like a child, with really short legs, really short arms, and really small hands. In her mind, her thoughts jumbled up, coming out as senseless mumbles. Fragile, fragile, that is the word that crossed Tomoe’s mind, as she realizes that, with how she is right now, she can’t escape, and she can’t win either. The only sensible thing for her is to kneel and wait for her death, like the ant she is, at the mighty strength of the Grim Wolves in comparison.

How did things get here? Where did she go wrong? No, she knew exactly where she went wrong, the reason why she is here, alone. She opened her mouth, but no voice came out. There’s no way someone is nearby after all, not when they are about to cross to the Citadel.

In the end, I wasn’t strong enough.

Strength, how much she wishes for strength right now, to oppose the Grim Wolves and save the little boy, right now. To save what little of herself there is too. The shame of having lost the father and the mother shakes her with rage and hate, for being so headstrong that she couldn’t recognize her own weaknesses. How can be she is so weak? How is it that until now she hasn’t realized it? If she had known she was this weak, she would’ve put into getting even more strength. After all, that little girl she was before, she swore will never be, not anymore.

Tomoe takes another step back. Then, she snorts and shaking her head, she says “I doubt I have enough Aura for the three of you, big boys” as she flashes a wry smile, while tears join now the droplets that come from the clouds.

I’ll not go down as a coward… Mom, Amelia, Titania, Bran, Lacus… Everyone…

A water spear is thrown against the Grim Wolf that is stalking the boy. Getting its attention, Tomoe manages to buy the boy sometime. But this attack has also sent the other three running against her.

With tears flowing, more and more, the grim wolves come closer, covering ground at a fast rate. The grim wolves already know what she is capable off, and will take her out right out.

Tomoe can’t stop the tears, passing her arm again and again.

Ah… yes… when it counts... useless again…

A heavy sound reaches her ear, and with another thunder, a group of shadowy figures comes from behind the grim wolves. They mount at the top of them, many, many shadowy figures joining the fray. Then, with water taming, every shadowy figure raised a spear of water into the air, and stabbed the grim wolves, killing two there, and making the other run away, disappearing into the air.

Falling to her knees, Tomoe sees how one of the shadowy figures comes towards her and lends her a hand. Looking at her eyes, she would recognize those crimson eyes everywhere.

“Are you alright Tomoe!?” Lorelei’s voice reaches her ears. Taking her hand, Tomoe stands up, and point towards Reyson, saying “There’s a boy there, was… getting him to safety.”

Making some signals, one of the shadowy figures behind Lorelei reach for the boy, and takes him.

Putting her hands in Tomoe’s cheeks, Lorelei comes closer, gives a warm smile, and says “I’m so glad to see you alright. So glad we came on time.”

Tomoe nods “It is great to see you, Lor-” but she is cut short. Feeling the tears overflowing once again, Lorelei puts a finger to her nose and says “Stop it right there, emotions for later, with need to go, now!”

Tomoe takes a deep breath, and wiping the tears once more, she nods.

The group starts now running down the street, now with the lower plains on sight.