Thirty-Five

The map blinked and she found herself close to Mare's location. There was a muffled sound in her ears, and soon, Rose had hopped down from her car in a sprint. 'This corner, this corner.' She ran between the shacks and, 'Here!',made it within an alleyway as her emerald eyes widened.

"Fucking elf—you could have just given it to us."

A man was hunched over a body she recognized, the lower half of his figure naked and an expression of ecstasy upon his face.

"When we're done, we'll string that shitty info out of your Core one way or the other."

"Shut up and hurry up, dumbass."

Two other men stood to either side of him, egging him on to hurry it up, and there was a third at the helm, holding down the girl whose lips had been covered with a rag.

"You bastards." Fire blazed and her weapon appeared in hand.

"Hmm?" The light of the short flames caught the attention of one of the men.

She ran forward.

The blade burned orange and she sliced, there was a bit of resistance from the leather armor he wore, but the head of the individual still came clean-off. As the thump hit the ground, the other men perked up while her weapon drilled a hole into the skull of the one still half naked.

"Shoot—shoot—shoot—!"

The rifles of the remaining two turned towards her. She had caught them off guard but two pulse rifles firing in tandem were still on their side.

Blue pulses flew her way but Rose only cursed.

"You're all—"

She double-tapped the emblem on her chest as a shield of mana surrounded her body and clothing like a second skin, they pelted the defense, but did nothing more than shatter into particles.

Her eyes were cold, and she swung her blade.

"A Gear?!"

Flames lit up the alleyway, glowing red under the silver light of the moon.

Mana shields popped up just the same as hers, however, the flames burned up every last percentage of the charge they held.

Mare's eyes widened to the sight of two men falling besides her in screams of anguish. Their blood-curdling cries rang out in the night as their bodies burned. Before she knew it, they were squirming upon the ground.

Her body skidded against the floor as she tried to get away from the all consuming flames.

"You don't have to back away, the flames won't hurt you."

She looked up to see a hand reaching out to her as Rose came out from the other side of the blaze. And true to her words, the fire did not touch her.

"You came fast. . ." Mare said after the rag was taken from her lips.

"I didn't come fast enough," Rose shook her head, "—d—did—?"

Her voice stopped, she looked down at the girl, who was—for the most part—naked.

"Did what? Was I assaulted?" Mare smiled as she wore her clothing back. "Did you not see it? It's not the first time, and I don't care."

The flames had been quenched around them, the men were all dead, and Rose glanced at the girl. She was a homunculus, of course, she did not age, of course, but she looked so young—like a brat saying those words.

'She's used to this,' Rose thought. She couldn't come to terms with such a brittle concept like that. Used to being assaulted? Or giving her body away? She looked at that youthful face under the moonlight.

". . .why didn't you just give it to them?"

"I need it. If I give it away, it will no longer be valuable, and they could sell it too. I need to keep it close to me and find the highest bidder. . ."

"Is that more important than your body?"

"It is."

The girl's tone was affirmative and, now, both of their eyes crossed. The info-broker was the first to falter.

"My mother is sick, I'm sure you could tell that before, when you came to my house, right? Well, what she's got is a case of Mana Poisoning. It can happen for many reasons but hers came from failing a Gene Advancement. Much less failing, the procedure rejected her body."

"Rejected her body?" Rose raised a brow.

"Right right," Mare nodded, "She's a Hollow. A rare human that has the ability to take the shape of Spirits. However, their bodies also reject Gene Advancement. . .My father didn't find out she was one of them until it was too late. She didn't die right then, but. . .unless I can heal her soon, she will. I need a Phoenix's Tear, and those cost at least 50 million lixels."

That was an amount of money Rose couldn't even fathom.

The girl smiled, her pure white teeth showing in a grin even after the weight of what just happened and what she had just said.

"You appeared like a hero, thank you for saving me."

Rose looked at the bodies of the men, recognizing the black, leather gears on the two of them that weren't burned. Her eyes narrowed.

"Aren't these men under Walker?"

". . .umm. . ."

Even as the girl averted her eyes, a yell answered for her.

"Found her—what the fu—come with your weapons ready!"

Rose turned around.

A group of rifles aimed through the length of the alley.

She had a feeling the men had not been after the girl for the information on entering Alos. She had a feeling the girl had not given her the full truth.

"You're going to owe me, so very much."

"Ha ha," Mare laughed, she might have sweated if she could, ". . .as long as we have a deal?"