Twenty

The desert was silent, sand rolled with the passing winds as four people stared at a body limp before an open door.

". . .what just happened?" Elsa asked and walked forward. "Are ya okay?"

It was a silly question. The unconscious girl was definitely not okay and, soon, she had scooped her into her arms and smacked her face.

"Hey! Wake up!"

"I don't think she's waking up anytime soon," Nicholas said.

"Shut it you shit! Do you want another punch?" The girl glared back with a temper as short as her hair.

Then she turned back to the girl in her arms.

"Fuck! Her heart isn't beating!"

"What?"

"Her heart isn't beating at all! Even an unconscious person should have a heart beat—the heck did she do to herself prying that thing open? It's like, it's like—."

"It's like she's dead? Hmm?" Reed looked over her, decided it made no sense, and asked, "Are you sure? Check her pulse."

She did as she was told.

"Her pulse is normal. . .that's odd. . .wait," She muttered and placed her ears to Rose's heart. At that moment, an excited smile crossed her face. "Oh my god!"

"What are you excited for. . .didn't you just say she died?"

The girl brought out a hand and removed the glove that covered it.

"What are you doing?"

"Didn't I tell you to shut it—just hold out a sec," The female replied as mana danced on her fingers. The other individuals watched as she guided them to touch the chest of the girl.

There was a faint sign of something that resisted the mana strings but, it was as if it was too weak at this moment and soon, they attached themselves to an orb.

"Just like I thought. . ."

"What? What is it?" Nicholas quickly egged on and even the dragonian girl had joined to look over the girl.

"She's a homunculus!"

She definitely felt a core embedded in a heart that didn't beat. There was no doubt about it, this girl before her was a homunculus. And with an intact core, something she would usually only dream of studying!

"You're shitting me," Nicholas's voice fell in disbelief, looked at the unconscious girl, and blurted something that made Elsa take a double take, "How much could she sell for with that body of hers?"

"What?" She raised her head. "What are you on about?"

"With an intact core, she could go for upwards of millions of lixels. . ." Reed said, eyeing Rose's figure.

The dragonian girl nodded alongside Fieth.

The short-haired girl immediately jumped up and moved away from the group with a speed beyond her usual. She reached into her satchel and an iron ball was quickly in her grasp.

"You fuckers," Elsa said as she held the mana bomb, "Come closer and I'll blow us all up!"

There was silence for a moment as dull, puzzled eyes stared at her with tilted heads. Nicholas alongside Fieth broke out into laughter.

". . .what is it?" The girl looked between the group and her eyes soon fell on the leader.

"Relax, you're misunderstanding us again. It's just curiosity." The man waved her off. "She helped us, and we don't betray comrades. Though one has to wonder how she has a Gear, that's not important."

She didn't trust him but he soon threw something at her feet that glowed blue.

"A mana orb?"

"Recharge her with it, you know how to do that right? And we'll go take the products out and intercept the security."

Elsa took the thing in their hand as she watched the man give orders to his group, beginning to systematically enter and heave the armaments from within the transporter and into the back-wagon of the truck they came in.

"Odd . . ." She picked it up and placed it on the chest of the homunculus.

As the light began to fade into the girl's chest, she muttered.

"This group ain't half bad?"

As she looked at the homunculus—the luscious black hair, the short stature, the thinness of her body, and her soft, pale face—Elsa thought, 'A work of art, yikes!' She wanted to be a mage, she had taught herself a small portion of the mechanical branch of magecraft, it had burned through her savings and most of her funds, but, something like an homunculus was beyond her.

She, in a sense, couldn't help but admire it.

— — —

Emerald eyes blinked open as Rose awoke to a black ceiling. She heard murmurs at her side as she squirmed.

'100% charge? Everything is operating normally. . .' Her core hummed as data danced within her mind. 'How?'

She stood up and looked around. She was within the van. A hole was on the roof, and around her sat individuals at each corner—Elsa to her right, Nicholas to her left and Lilias at her front. She assumed Reed to be driving the truck-like van.

"Oh you're finally up! Thank goodness," The girl with the short hair said, immediately, exclaiming at her.

"Hmm? How—did you guys—" Her thoughts spun and she was already in the midst of imagining the worst scenario.

"We didn't do anything to you," Nicholas laughed and pointed, "She threatened to blow us up if we touched you."

"Shut it . . .I just respect em, is all, a person that steals a homunculus is shaming magecraft."

"Aren't you simply, easily, misled?" The dragonian girl's crimson eyes narrowed at the muttering girl.

"I'm not—"

"You punched Nick." Fieth shook his head, placing it within his hands as he leaned back with a grin. "If that isn't easily misled, I don't know what is."

"But, but. . ."

Nicholas waved his hands. "It's alright, like Reed said, I agitated her, right?"

"Right!" The girl nodded quickly.

Rose blinked her eyes and turned to Elsa.

"So you saved me?"

"Ah—eh—kinda, a bit, it was mostly Reed's mana orb that did the work, I just made sure it was done." Elsa scratched her head.

"Why. . .why didn't you just steal me?" Rose asked, uncertain as her eyes glanced between the group.

They pondered her question momentarily and the brunette male was the first to speak.

"Just because we live in the slums, doesn't mean we have to be savages—I agree with Reed, you helped us, you're our teammate."

". . ." Rose felt like she didn't quite understand.

"The slums, huh." A chuckle came from her side as Elsa crossed her arms and fell deeper into her chair.

"You're born in the slums and you die in the slums. You have a soul don't ya? You have your own thoughts and dreams right? But I'm a person too y'know? F*ck! I want to barge into Alos and become a mage!" She laughed after the outburst of her wishes, pumping a fist into the air before a sigh allowed it down. "At least, that's what I want."

"Oh bugger off," Fieth tsked, "We all want to enter Alos."

"What? Really?"

Elsa looked between everyone in the van, each of them nodded, and when she ended with Rose, so too did the homunculus and a voice joined in from behind her.

"Of course, that's my end goal as well."

It was that of Reed, the blonde knight who held the wheels of the vehicle. "For now, this is all preparation."

Elsa laughed and sank into her chair.

"Thank you. . .for saving me."

She turned her head.

"Ha, no problem, listen." Elsa looked at Rose, her mouth opened and she took a breath.

"I know—I can understand how hard it must be for you to. . .to hide yourself in this world. Being an homunculus without an owner and all, that's suicidal but. . ."

She spoke more formally than usual. The girl roughed her hair a bit, then her dark eyes turned back at the homunculus.

"Ugh, you know, if you ever want a friend, I'm here?"

A part of Rose sprung thoughts of Idris, the lady's brother, her father and her entire family, and then there was Lux and what Maria had gone through—those memories she now held.

'The past shouldn't chain the future. . .' However, Rose did not plan to meet sincerity with grief, she smiled. 'There's no reason to hate an entire race for the actions of others. . .'

"I would be happy to have you as a friend," She said.