Instead of a homicidal alien walking out of the trash pile, a small human head popped out.

The head was covered in unkempt black hair with hung quite low off the person's head. The person didn't look too old at all, probably around 10 or 11 at most but it was hard to tell based on their face which was covered in chunks of dry mud and other kinds of muck.

The thing that stood out the most were the dull blue eyes which started to regain their luster when they saw the dead Xenomorph and the group of people in front of her. It was like before she was hopeless but now she'd found something to hold on to.

Takuya release a sigh of relief when he saw it wasn't a Xenomorph. He was pretty sure Mikasa did the same as she left her combat stance.

Doing the same thing, Takuya lowered his hands and walked slowly over to the child. "Don't worry kid, we're like you," he motioned to everything around him "We're trapped as well." Seeing him come closer, the kid backed up into the trash pile, not listening to Takuya and instead feeling scared of his reassuring words.

Scrunching his brows he slowly followed after the child, squeezing through the small hole into the would-be home. First thing Takuya felt was the heat in here.

Opposed to the outside which felt like a winter day, inside this trash pile it felt like a nice, warm day. Not too hot, not too cold - the perfect temperature. When he saw some futuristic looking heaters, he knew the cause of this heat. Plus it smelled much better in here than it did outside the pile.

Which was odd because the pile was made of boxes, trash, and metal scraps. In short, it should smell horrid.

But it didn't, Takuya wondered how this worked. Futuristic Air fresheners?

Looking around the heaters, Takuya saw multiple bed rolls all combined into one massive bed, around the bed were multiple books and comics along with dolls and action figures. The entire place didn't seem like the kind of place only one person lived, more like where a family lived.

And he wasn't wrong, besides the black haired kid was a shorter-haired one with brown hair and eyes who was glaring at Takuya like he was the devil or something. In an attempt to console the two distrustful kids, Takuya put his hands in the air for the universal sign of surrender before speaking again.

"I come in peace, I don't want to hurt you. If anything I want to help you." Takuya spoke as gently as he could. For once in his life, he cursed his tall and imposing figure as he saw how reserved the kids were in front of him.

Luckily, what he said seemed to pique the interest in the black-haired kid who, now that Takuya looked at her, seemed like she was a girl; softer features than the brown-haired person who seemed like her brother or close friend.

The girl stood up, shrugging off the boy's protests to keep her near him, and walked up to Takuya who still had his arms in the air. She looked at him with a discerning gaze, trying to figure out if he was a nice person.

Anyone else would have instantly said he was a hoodlum with the scar on his face and the others on his neck.

But the girl had a small smile on her face before she put forth her hand which was curled in a fist with only the pinky finger pointing out.

"You promise to help us? Pinky promise?" Takuya was surprised with the kid's naivety and innocence seeing as she was in such a hell hole surrounded by creatures that wanted to either kill her or use her as a holder for an egg that would eventually kill her.

But seeing the intelligence floating around in the girl's eyes, he could tell that she didn't view him as a bad person with ulterior motives. She reasoned that if he was, why wouldn't he just act on the motive? He was a big guy so he could easily overpower 2 kids but he didn't, so she came to the conclusion he was sincere about his words.

Takuya put his hand toward the girl's hand with his pinky stretched out before locking his with hers. "Yeah, I pinky promise. Now can you tell me your names and what happened here?" he continued to speak gently as he looked between the girl and the boy.

Trusting the girl's instinct on whether or not Takuya was a bad guy or not, the brown-haired boy stopped glaring at Takuya and even came over to stand next to the girl.

The girl smiled when she looked at the pinky promise like she'd found a lighthouse in a storm. She started to speak after the happiness from the simple promise faded a little.

"My name is Sala, short for Salamander and this is my brother Tad, short for Tadpole." She proudly spoke their names, obviously because of their uniqueness. Takuya's temple had the slight bulge of a vein as he heard the names.

"...Are you really making rip-off Newts, God?..." He whispered in disbelief while looking up at what presumably was God with judgemental eyes. *

(* In the second Movie for the Alien franchise there was a little girl who was found in a colony by Ripley called Newt, I'm pretty much stealing that idea and putting it in here~)

Sala and Tad were looking at him in confusion but he motioned for Sala to carry on before stopping her again and speaking himself.

"Can you come out with me to my friends and explain it to them as well? It'd be better if we all knew about what happened." Takuya proposed to Sala before waiting for her answer which came quickly in the form of a nod.

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

Takuya and the two kids walked out of the pile that was their home and Takuya did some introductions for everyone before telling his group that Sala was about to tell them what happened to everyone.

Everyone looked intently at Sala as she started to speak.

"My mommy and daddy were scientists and they were researching these creatures, I know because we," she motioned towards herself and her brother "followed them one day and watched them do all sorts of tests on them. So when the creatures escaped, my parents were the first to know and they ushered a group of researchers and their families to the canteen to keep them safe." Sala took a big breath before carrying on.

"Because of all the tests they'd done on the creatures, mommy and daddy seemed to know how to keep the creatures away. They played sounds in other parts of the colony which attracted the creatures away from the canteen while they sprayed down this weird liquid which seemed to make the creatures uncomfortable and go away for good." Sala seemed immensely proud of her parents as she beamed a smile showing her pearly white teeth.

But her happiness seemed stunted by memories of what happened next. She spoke again but this time in a sadder voice.

"After that, everyone stopped carrying about the creatures. They got too relaxed and 1 by 1 they were starting to get picked off by the creatures when they went out to look for supplies. Then people stopped being taken because we got cautious again but not too long after we got careless again but they didn't pick us off, no the creatures followed people back to here and when that was found out everyone panicked."

"So they ran away? To where?" Mikasa poised a question when Sala had stopped.

"They were going to go to the warehouses which store the food and water for the colony. Every time they went looting there, there was no sign of the creatures, so they thought it was a safe place." Sala said the last part with teary eyes and shaking shoulders. Takuya walked over to her and squatted in front of her before putting his hands reassuringly on her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, kid." He squeezed her shoulder a little before carrying on "But where did your parents go? I doubt they ran off with the others and left their kids here."

"Of course they didn't run away and leave us!" Tad who hadn't spoken yet suddenly burst out and threw a punch at Takuya's face. Takuya saw it coming but let it hit, knowing the boy needed a physical release for his pent-up emotions.

*Smack!*

A crisp sound echoed as Tad's small fist came into contact with Takuya's face. Takuya's head didn't move, nor did he even look at Tad, as if the punch never happened. Sala wasn't so indifferent to it, however.

"Tad! Why'd you hit him?! He's the one who's gonna help us, you idiot!" Sala yelled as she tried to hit Tad on the head but she was stopped by Takuya who shook his head signaling for her to not do anything.

Finally, Takuya's emerald green eyes locked onto Tad's brown ones causing Tad to flinch back a little.

Takuya let go of Sala's shoulders and moved his hands toward Tad who flinched even more so than previously and even closed his eyes shut, obviously expecting a smack from the big man in front of him.

What he didn't expect was a pat on the head and to open his eyes to a gentle smile from the man he'd just hit.

"That was a good punch, Tad. I wasn't trying to imply that your parents left you, in fact, from what I've heard your parents seem like brilliant people." Takuya ruffled Tad's hair a little "I just wanna know where they went, that's all, okay?"

Tad flushed in embarrassment, obviously knowing he had acted like a brat and that he was lucky Takuya was so patient with his behavior.

When Takuya's hand left his head, Tad walked backward and behind Sala, trying to find a hole to hide in. Sala smiled thankfully at Takuya before she spoke about what happened to her parents.

"Mommy and Daddy were going to call for help from the company they work for by going to the Communication Building on the far end of the base, they left a day ago and they should be back by now..." Sala stopped speaking, obviously scared of coming to any obvious conclusions.

Takuya and the rest looked at Sala and Tad with pity when they thought about the chances of them surviving while wandering around on the colony with the Xenomorphs crawling all over the place.

Sala saw their pity and seemed a bit peeved as she stepped forward. "They're still alive, don't think Mommy and Daddy are helpless in front of the creatures, they have multiple ways to kill one!"

"I guess you'd know best if they'd survive," Takuya lied a little to reassure Sala before continuing and switching the subject a little "So, Sala, what do you want me to help you with? You seemed like you needed help."

Sala brightened up when she heard what Takuya said.

"I need your help to find my mommy and daddy!" she half-yelled as she looked at Takuya with hopeful and pleading eyes. She didn't have to plead however, he had enough incentive already.

Hidden Quest Discovered, Congratulations!

"A Daughter's Hope" quest has been activated.

Objective: Find both Dr. Melissa Ford and Head Researcher John Ford before the end of the Mission time given.

Quest Reward: 4500 points and a C-rank Reward to the player who promised to find them or 2000 points and a D-rank Reward to the rest of Team Japan

Upon Failure: Sala, Tad, and their parents die and the whole of Team Japan loses 2000 points

Add-on Effects: Player who promised to find them has mission extended to 24 hours instead of 6. Rest of Team Japan's mission time stays unchanged.

This message appeared in front of all of Takuya and the others and all of them paled a bit because they knew that Takuya was going to have to spend an extra 18 hours in this colony, alone.

"I'll help you, Sala. Now did your mommy or daddy have a map of the colony?" Takuya asked, distracting himself from the annoying quest notice in front of him.

Sala nodded vigorously to Takuya's question so Takuya motioned for her and Tad to go and retrieve it for him. When they wondered off, Takuya turned around to the others who were worriedly looking at him.

Seeing the looks, Takuya forced a smile to reassure the others.

"Don't worry about it, you guys, I'll survive, I always do." He playfully shrugged as he went over and sat down on a box, waiting for Sala to come back with the map he'd need to plan out his route toward wherever the Communication Building.

"Oh, and how long was I out for?" Takuya looked curiously at the others. Mikasa looked at him like he was an idiot before answering.

"You were out for about an hour and ten minutes but didn't you think to look at the timer for our Mission Time when you woke up? Are you an idiot?" Mikasa's strict voice and what she said did indeed make Takuya feel like an idiot.

'Goddamn, why didn't I do think of that...'

Takuya mental lamentation was only brought to a stop as Sala walked out of her trash pile and over to them with multiple maps and blueprints rolled up in her arms, followed by Tad who was also holding a few maps.

Takuya put on a confident smile to greet the two and make sure Tad and Sala's hope was kept ignited.