Silva couldn't sleep and instead painted all night. The day before was a lot of fun but she still felt scammed by Emely, who kept her jacket after going back to the ship. Silva went to clean her paintbrush not feeling inspired to paint, and lost herself in her thoughts with the sound of water coming out of the tape in the background.

"Four days left..."

Silva was called by her leader, along with Neige and Sepide. The group waited in her office just like usual but were surprised to see the woman enter the room instead of talking to them through the screen. Neige in particular was surprised, worried she came here for an important reason.

"Polyetta? Is everything?"

"Yeah, Emely just broke most of the electrical stuff... I didn't know time travel would ask for so much energy. So, Emely needs something, again. This time it's a special kind of water that can only be found in a specific world. It's in a lake called the dragon's nest but I don't have any more information on it."

"The dragon's nest?" Neige repeated his leader's words, a bit worried "Don't tell me we'll find a dragon..."

"No, it's just an old legend of their world. It should be alright but I have to warn you, there's another Neige there."

"So we need to find this water and be careful about my other self? Should be fine."

Once they took into account all the details, the group left for this new world, getting closer to finishing their time travel device.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three friends were greeted by the sight of a town on fire. The houses were made of wood and didn't look very solid. A bunch of soldiers were burning the place and capturing the inhabitants. The group was about to stop the invaders but was quickly stopped by a voice behind them.

"Neige! I knew you were behind it all!"

The voice was familiar to the group, as it belonged to one of their leader's other selves. Even though most of her body was hidden under black clothing, Neige could easily tell from her eyes that she was indeed related to Ada and the leader.

"You monster, don't you remember your pride as a ninja?"

Without a warning, the woman took a shuriken and threw it at Neige. In an instant, the man managed to deflect it using his dagger, surprising the woman.

"I'm not who you think, let's just talk."

The woman still wasn't convinced but decided to run away suddenly. Neige quickly followed her, Sepide was about to do the same but stayed behind when she noticed Silva's slow pace.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah... The fire is so loud, I can barely understand what's happening but I'll follow you."

"I don't think you'll follow anyone."

The two friends turned toward the origin of the voice. A bunch of men in red armor approached them with a katana in their hands.

"Follow us, and no harm shall be done."

"In your dreams."

Silva took her firearm but was rendered unconscious by someone behind her, hitting her head to make sure she would go down. Sepide turned toward the person, surprised that neither Silva nor her noticed them and quickly followed the same fate as her friend because of a hit on the neck. The soldiers grouped around the man and quickly put away their weapons.

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"Sir Un, what should we do with them? They don't look like they're with this ninja."

"Just bring them to the castle, I'll ask the emperor about their fate."

The soldiers nodded and took the girls and left the village in ruins. The man who took care of Silv and Sepide looked at the burning houses, feeling the heat and heavy atmosphere of the place for a moment before leaving.

Silva woke up in a soft bed, she would keep sleeping if she wasn't in enemy territory. Sepide was already awake, sitting on the bed and talking with the man who attacked them. Silva searched for her weapons but was quickly interrupted by the man.

"If it's your belongings that you're searching for, we already took them. We'll give them back once we're assured you aren't threats."

Silva quickly recognized the voice, it was the one of Neige. It was probably his other self, the one their leader warned them about. Before Silva could say anything, Sepide turned toward her and explained the situation.

"This person is Neige Un, but he doesn't like being called Neige."

"It's a relic from the past, a past that no longer represents me."

"Y-Yeah... He's the one that brought us here, we're at their emperor's castle."

Silva stood up from the bed, still wary of Neige's other self.

"And why did you bring us here? Did you plan on making us your slaves and doing horrible things?"

"Of course not, my honor would never allow me. I actually saw you talk with Rada and wanted to know more."

"Rada?" Silva tried her best but couldn't remember anyone by that name.

"So you don't know her either... I should introduce myself properly, I'm the general of the emperor's army. I am a proud samurai who strives to fight for the happiness of the innocent. Rada is... A mercenary that only causes trouble, but she's also my dearest friend. I spent the last three moons trying to stop her."

"Stop your friend? Is she that dangerous?"

"Indeed, she's trying to break the perfect life we created. The emperor's city is a haven, far from every problem. Here, children are born without the knowledge of war, without the feeling of hunger. Rada and I tried our best to make this place come true, a place where peace is everywhere. But now, she's fighting against it."

"But why?" Asked Sepide "You never talked about it together?"

"It's a bit complicated, I was promoted to an important role and the emperor declared her a traitor. My duty must come before any feeling I have." The man stopped for a moment, surprising himself with his words "It's strange, I feel comfortable sharing this with you. I never talked about it before."

"Glad to know I'm a good therapist for my kidnapper." Sarcastically said Silva "Can we leave now, we have things to do?"

"I need the emperor's words on it first, but there is no reason we'll force you to stay. But what brought you this village? It belonged to a bunch of outlaws."

"We need water from the dragon's nest."

The man was surprised by Sepide's words and looked at the two girls with curiosity.

"There was a third person with you, right? Is he searching for the same thing?" Sepide answered by nodding her head, making the man think further "I could help you get it, it's on top of a perilous mountain and is guarded by a sage. However, I'd need to take care of the Rada situation first."

"So if we get Rada for you, you'll guide us?"

"I could but... I doubt you'd get her, she's as elusive as a squirrel."

"If you get our watches back, I promise we'll find her."

"Your... Watches?" The samurai looked at Silva, a bit confused.

"I guess it doesn't exist there... Our metallic bracelet, the thing we put on our wrist."

"Right, I understand. I'll see if I can get your belongings."

The man left for a few minutes. Silva and Sepide stayed silent, hoping they would be able to contact Neige soon. Once he finally arrived, the samurai handed everything he took from the two girls.

"Here, will this help you?"

"Thanks, you're a good puppy."

"I'm... Not a puppy..."

Silva ignored the man and put on her watch to call her friend as soon as possible. Sepide stood next to her, waiting for Neige to answer.

*Silva, do you hear me?*

"What is this witchcraft?" Asked the samurai "Is it a yokai?"

"I'll take care of him." Said Sepide "Take care of the call."

Silva nodded while Sepide took the man away. She focused back on the call, explaining what happened briefly to Neige.

*I'm glad you're safe, I'm alright too. I managed to talk with Rada.*

"That's great, we need to capture her and your other self will lead us to the water we need. Can you bring her to us?"

*Can't we do the opposite? You bring the guy to us, Rada said she'd guide us to the dragon's nest.*

Silva was a bit surprised by Neige's words and quickly explained her reasoning.

"Rada is a criminal, everyone lives peacefully here, away from any worries."

*So she was right...* Neige muttered to himself *We should regroup, we'll choose what to do once everyone is at the same place.*

"It's alright for me, let's go to the town we were at."

*Agreed, see you soon.*

Neige hung up, leading Silva to wonder what happened on his end. He seemed pretty hesitant about handing Rada over, was she not the criminal the samurai described?