He dashed right after Aren. “OI! Aren!” Aren’s speed didn’t slow at all. “She’s been missing for atleast two days from what I’ve heard. How come none of you ever noticed!?” He bolted out of the door with Lynx following closely behind. All the children uneasily looked over to them.

“Works over! Everyone, go back home for tonight!”

One of the kids ran up to Lynx and quickly asked where he was going in such a hurry. He simply nodded. “I’m going to look for Aries.” Without stopping, he headed off towards the more illuminated parts of the city; down the stone cobbled path of the eastern district.

The streets were crowded in the north, with all the markets and people still prancing about. Whenever someone saw him or made eye contact, they held a disgusted and immediately defensive look about their faces. They made a clearing around him as he walked, many of them opting to avoid touching a plague child. They all still held their beliefs that they could contract the disease from him.

Lynx clenched his fists and continued forward. Him and Aren had split ways. This way they could cover ground much easier. He never stopped for rest the entire time. Always panting, always moving, checking between each alley way. This was particularly dangerous, because even among the common folk there were muggers and thugs. If he were to run into one within these alley-ways, they would without a doubt kill him just for the fun of it.

Finally, he had to stop and give his body time to breath. Sweat dripped down his entire body and stained his clothing. It had been a good 2 hours of him searching. The guards from Baerim didn’t seem to mind his presence there. Unlike the people of Sei’O, the guards had never had to witness the plague themselves. Thus, they were a lot more tolerant to Plague Children. However, they are entirely indifferent to whether they die or not.

He took one of the bottles form his side and quickly chugged it down. The sun had already descended and darkness was beginning to form everywhere. The streets became less crowded, which was a good thing. Aren was to search the South and Western districts, while Lynx would search the Central and Northern District. So far, the northern district which held the highest population of upper class and nobles was empty. He could find no signs of Aries being here.

A couple walked past him, just arriving out of the high-end restaurant. They laughed and talked, throwing away most of their food before realizing Lynx headed their direction. “Disgusting. What’s one of those doing here?” They quickly stepped back. “Oh honey, don’t look at him too long, I don’t want you to get sick too.” She pulled him away and they reluctantly left the place.

All Lynx could do was look down, he had seen this scene play out too many times. He didn’t need a visual of it. “I fucken hate you…I hate all of you! ALL OF YOU! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!” under his stress, he shouted so loud that the whole block could hear him. But as he dug through the garbage to eat their left overs, he could only cry at how unfair this world was. It was people like them that were the reason for Aries disappearance. He ravenously ate the crab and rice and packed the other half with him. “This one will be for when I find you, Aries.”

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

“Oi, Lawrence. It’s been 2 days, nun’ of the plague children have red hair.” She said. They stood on the rooftops. “Much more, we ain’t even found th’bastard Regalt.”

“Calm down, it’ll be alright. But…What’s going on over there.”

A group of Plague children were all crowded around a lady who was clearly not one of them. “Y-you think they’re planning on doing something…r-reckless to her?” Mikhail asked.

“Who knows, but let’s find out. I still don’t see red hair amongst the crowd there.” They all jumped down from the rooftops and headed towards the crowd of plague children. With the trio so suspiciously clad, everyone was immediately worried. They all stepped back behind the lady Amai, aside from one other kid. The white-haired kid stood right beside her. He held an intense glare, as if he would immediately kill them all should they do anything reckless.

“Ah…I see. I’ve misunderstood the situation. Please don’t be alarmed, everyone.” He put his hands up to show that he was not thinking of unsheathing his sword. “You all seem to be distressed about something. We’re traveling adventurers from a nearby country. We’re just en-route to Foss and decided to stop here for the time being.” The trio let Lawrence do the talking. He had a completely kind demeanor when he was speaking to others. This made him the most diplomatic out of the three. Well, Shiek talks much too vicious. And Mikhail was much too timid.

The lady walked over to meet the 3 of them. The white-haired plague child followed with her. “I’m Amai. This is Ora.” Lawrence offered the lady his hand. None of the trio even acknowledged Ora being there.

“I’m sorry, this might be a question out of the blue…but have you guys seen a plague child with red hair recently?” Amai asked.

Lawrence almost jumped back. Were they looking for the child too?! “Um…No. Can you describe him?”

“Her. She’s a young girl about this tall. She’s 8” Amai motioned the height with her hands.

So, it’s not the same one.

According to the briefings he received, the kid they’re looking for is male.

Lawrence’s eyes widened upon recalling. “Oh…she’s. I saw her. She’s.” Lawrence gulped not wanting to explain to them what he had seen. It didn’t really dawn on him, but now that he saw how concerned and how much of a well-knit community the plague children were, he realized that the girl must have died of other causes. His initial speculation of them dying from each other had been wrong.

“Tch. Ya bloody girls’ dead. We seen th’body of a young plague kid lyin around the central district. Red hair, red dress? And some cute stickers placed all over her arms?”

Amai held her fingers to her mouth and began to cry. She had dropped down to the floor in sudden shock. “She’s….dead?”

“Yep. It looked like someone’ done her in pretty bad. If ye seen the body’ y’d figure it was some anim-“ Lawrence interrupted Shiek’s insensitivity with a quick backhand to her face. “Hey. Don’t you know how to talk to normal people.”

“Tch.” She spat. “Hit me again and ye’ll know how to talk to spirits.”

Mikhail quickly tried to calm the two down “G-guys…we shoudn’t f-fight.”

Ora hugged his teacher. Clenching his teeth at the absurd nature of the trio. At a time like this, they lacked even the sympathy to see the suffering going on before them. He could understand their indifference towards him, but Amai was normal just like the rest of them. Her long jet-black hair seemed to get heavier with her mood.

She looked up at the trio. “Please…T-take me to her. Take me to the body.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up to Lawrence with those big tearful green irises. Lawrence, being as gentle as he was, had not a single bone in his body that would object to doing so. Even with the mission at hand. It also didn’t help that Amai looked beautiful. It made his heart falter for a second.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Very well. We’ll take you to her.” He knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. At this moment it looked like a noble knight helping a damsel in distress. If that image was not completely ruined by the glaring, white-haired Ora.

“Hold’on Lawrence. What ya goin on about takin her there, what about the damn’ mission.”

“We’re taking her. That’s final.”

“I-I..agree with Shiek. T-the mission comes first.”

Regardless of what they were saying, Lawrence was already walking with the lady. The young plague child followed shortly behind them.

“Tch. Always doin his own shit. Let’s go Mikhail.” They followed behind with them.

The walk was an awkward silence throughout. Shiek tried several times to converse with the plague child, Ora but was unsuccessful. Ora was being too bland with them to hold a conversation. And Mikhail’s voice annoyed him greatly to the point where he simply glared at Mikhail whenever Mikhail tried to speak.

The only one he would talk to was Amai, and Lawrence given Lawrence’s kind demeanor. Other than that, he was utterly cold to the rest of them.

After a good 30 minutes they finally arrived at central city, and there they saw the body up close for the first time. The moon shown the light on her just faintly, but one could see her jarred corpse. Her eye was close to falling out and a good portion of her skull had caved in from what looked to be a powerful kick. She was out here for two days…lying like this.

Ora gasped and crouched besides Amai. This was nothing short of the cruelest thing he had seen…but he couldn’t stand to see Aries like this. She was always so cheerful. The way she was perched up, sitting against the wall meant that she was alive for a time after all this and simply waited to die alone while everyone ignored her. Though he tried not to, his vision blurred from the tears that began to form in his eyes. Yet again. Yet again…I lose another comrade.

The trio behind them simply turned away from the scene. They had done what they felt obligated to do. From here on, they need only focus on the mission. “Let’s go.” They walked away from the darkened alleyway only to stop immediately, shocked from what they saw appear before them.

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“Central city it is.” He walked onwards to the central part of the city. “I wonder what she’s doing right now?” Lynx began to run again and look up and down each alleyway. The city was for the most part empty aside from a couple homeless here and there. Unlike most of the other cities, central city was where a majority of all the other classes and people conglomerate. It is not uncommon to find homeless people there begging for cash, or the rich interacting with the poorer classes.

“There…” Lynx noticed both Amai and Ora huddled around something. He immediately ran over to them, his heart pounding. “Ora! Amai!!”. His run slowly came to a halt however as he saw what was going on. “H-hey…” he could see a small hand sticking out from them and Amai huddled over the body sobbing. “She’s…she’s alright isn’t she..” his voice was wavering. With him staggering over to the duo he could only start to tear up. The heaviness in his heart intensified when he realized they weren’t answering him. “ANSWER ME ORA!!”

“Don’t…you don’t want to see the body.” Ora said, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Tch..too fucken loud there’ bud.” That’s when he noticed the trio standing a bit further back from Ora. He could immediately feel the tension they exuded. The smaller girl ricocheted off the side of the buildings before pouncing down ontop of him, blade drawn. And just like that, he was sent soaring through the air. “Bludgeon.” The lady’s voice said calmly. It had missed its mark and collided with the ground, but the impact was enough to send the young Lynx flying several feet up. He tumbled back and skidded across the ground.

“Ugh..-wha..whats going..o..n” His eyesight went double and he couldn’t grasp what he was looking at.

“Heh, Come on, Shiek. No toying around with this one. You always have a bad habit of doing that.”

In truth, Shiek wasn’t toying around. She was hesitating. She hadn’t expected the child to be so young. Unlike the white-haired Ora, this one was much softer in appearance and looked almost peaceful. She had also come to realize the similarities between herself and the rest of these plague children. It was just like the slums anywhere else.

She looked at her hand. “Tch to think I could miss.” The hand shook, having redirected itself off its mark. She stood upright, picking up the blade from the large crater it made. Lynx got up immediately, and though sloppily, began to flee.

Lawrence leapt from in-between the three of them after the child. As swiftly as his legs could propel him, the next course of action he did was fluid. Flying straight forward like a canon ball, his body turned like a spinning tornado and his blade pierced through flesh. An arm was sent flying through the air, showering him with fresh blood.

“Huh…even I miss. I’m sorry. I’m wanting to make this swift and painless. So please…stop resisting.” Even he too, was hesitating.

Lynx fell onto the ground, crying and spitting out blood. The impact earlier had shattered his ribs and now his arm was gone. The adrenaline pumped through him and he rose up. “Why…” He turned to face them, holding the shoulder of his torn arms. “WHY IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS!?”

“WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO ANY OF YOU?!” he fell to the ground sobbing. “Please…just tell me why”

“Anniki!!” Ora shouted out, exiting the alleyway to meet up with the rest of them. Amai followed behind as well panting. The actions earlier happened much to fast to even process what was going on. They could see Lynx kneeling with his arm bloodied and torn off. Blood trailed down the side of his face.

“What have I done to you guys…really. If anything, I’m sorry.” He got down on his knees and put his head to the floor, apologizing sincerely from his heart. He couldn’t feel the pain yet. He got up to look at their faces. How could people be this cruel to them? He hadn’t even time to mourn the loss of his comrade.

This act shook the trio to the core. They could find no explanation for their actions. Nor could they tell him the purpose of their mission.

“Annoying kid’ ye shoulda just died without sayin nuthin’” Shiek withdrew her blade sever and launched it at Lynx, aiming straight for the head this time without any hesitation. But it failed.

Just as she had launched it outwards, Ora had stepped in, pulling her hand and throwing a punch straight to her face. With the knife’s trajectory displaced, it flew several feet away from Lynx's face, yet still managed to cut his cheek. Lynx could only feel the hot burning sensation slowly kick in. “Oh…I see.” He got up and continued to flee.

 Ora had pinned himself against the girl, holding onto her legs to prevent her from moving. In response  she took one hand and slammed it down upon his neck, knocking him unconscious. “Pest.” Holding up her hand, a strange force brought the blade back to her.

“You guys…are weak.” Mikhail said, holding his hand out in a fist. His left arm was extended outwards, and his right hand stabalized it. In that instant, like a cannon being blasted, the fist disappeared. The next series of events happened rather chaotically. Mikhail’s relic, Hopper was a unique and powerful one.

Normally resting on the user’s hand like a glove, it held the ability to hop from one area to another through spatial transmigration. Essentially, anything within 100 meters, he could reach and grab. However, it does hold a separate ability with it as well. The hand can only teleport in a direct trajectory from the arm. Thus, there is always a linear path back to the wrist.

If one were to find themselves in the middle of this linear trajectory, the invisible force that truly propels the arm through space will cut those within the trajectory apart. As soon as he blasted the arm towards Lynx, he had regretted not observing his surroundings. Blood splattered everywhere, and a body dropped to the ground. It wasn’t the target. “FUCK!” Mikhail shouted. He returned the hopper back to his original hand.

 Lying in the middle of the ground was the black-haired lady, Amai. Her body split cleanly in 2. She had tried to hop in front of the way of the relic and only ended up killing herself. She died instantly. “Mikhail...we’re not spose’d to be killin bystanders here. What in the world do ya think you’re doin.” Shiek explained. “Augh..I-‘m sorry. I got carried away. I didn’t even see her there.”

Lawrence who was standing in the path of the fleeing plague child could not muster up the conviction to stop him. They had utterly failed. Lynx ran right past him unperturbed.

He was unaware of Amai’s demise. He didn’t look back. He refused to look back. He didn’t even know where he was fleeing to. His head was spinning. The loss of blood was going to eventually be his downfall. As he ran, he could see someone in front of him. He couldn’t make out the blurry figure but he decided it couldn’t have been those three.

“…is this what she witnessed before dying?” He sobbed. “I truly hate this place. Amai…you once told me of a place that others would treat us like normal…where I wouldn’t feel like I’ve done something wrong all the time. Ever since then I’d always ask you about it…and you would never tell me where it was.”

“Help…P-please.” He shouted to the man before him. He looked like a guard and was rather confused about the whole situation.

“I think I finally understand where that place is…the place we could forever be understood…”

The shadowy figure then bolted towards him, a single golden ring gleaming in the darkness. His hands clutched around Lynx’s neck and with an effortless grip, crushed his throat and snapped his cervical spine. Lynx’s world faded.

“Aries is already there…heh…I guess…I will see you soon, Aries.”

On that day…Lynx Beta died.

“You guys were much too sloppy. Do you know how hard it was to see a kid suffering like that?” Regalt spoke. “Never let your emotions get in the way of your mission. I’ve been watching you guys fairly closely.” By watching, he really meant sleeping in places nearby.

“Mikhail…you killed a bystander. Unacceptable. Now we can’t even stick around to investigate.”

“Inefficient, unprofessional, and you…” he turned to Lawrence. “unbecoming.”

The trio nodded and picked up their items and weapons. “Come on. We’re leaving this place for now.”

The mission concluded in a success for the country of Yorba. But ended in failure for Mikhail, Shiek and Lawrence. Unbeknownst to them, they had just caused the greatest calamity to occur.