In the corridor, Captain Snake's presence was like a toxin polluting the air, forcing the blood to race while the lungs starved for oxygen.
"Darling, I want to give you something!" Snake produced a serum filled with a shimmering liquid. Zilla caught his drift; Snake intended to inject something into Nugia's neck.
Snake drew closer, a strange, frigid scent wafting from his body. His pale fingers gently stroked the red mark on Nugia's cheek—too gently, feeling more like the graze of a dagger's blade. Zilla could only hold her breath.
"Poor cheek," Snake whispered, while his other hand raised the serum vial, gleaming under the flickering corridor lights. "This liquid will make you forget the pain, or perhaps... make you become the pain itself."
Nugia felt the cold tip of the needle touch the skin of his neck. He did not resist, yet the depths of the sea in his eyes began to freeze over. Just as the needle began to pierce, a fair, smooth hand intercepted Snake's wrist.
TAP!
Snake turned his head. "Stop it, Garaga!" The voice was soft yet saturated with authority. "What do you intend to do to the boy?"
Zilla clutched her chest, seeing her friend remain utterly motionless, seemingly oblivious to the perilous aura emanating from Snake.
"Lady Scarlett, the former head of the Technology and Magic Research Bureau! I wonder why the Princess of Fire is here—could she have something to do with you?" Snake stared at her sharply, swiftly sliding the vial into his sleeve.
"What do you mean? I don't understand what you're talking about!" Her voice trembled violently, betraying her face which struggled to remain stoic. Like a crack in fine porcelain, fragility began to creep out from behind her mask of composure.
"Shh.. Shh.. Shh.. My Lady... we've known each other long enough; no one can hide anything from me!" Snake smirked craftily, his concern ringing hollow. "Wasn't she searching for something here? Or perhaps, searching for you?"
Scarlett gripped her silver cloak, her hands shaking slightly, yet she held the mask on her face as tightly as the fabric of her robe as she stepped forward to embrace Nugia.
***
Meanwhile, outside the hospital, the Vermilion unit marched, led by General Valky with Vice Captain Ariella at the front.
"What is wrong with you, Ariella? You were almost killed back there. Do not do that again; you ignored my direct orders."
"Why is my sister afraid of a beast with the rank of Captain!?"
"In this sector, call me General. You must realize that Sector 7 is a place where rank cannot be measured by titles alone. Why did you come here?"
Ariella stopped in her tracks. Suddenly, a voice echoed in her mind: Are you the little Lady Scarlett, or perhaps...? But I saw you there! Oh well, good luck! Nugia's words rang in her ears.
She stood silent for a moment, then bolted back into the hospital at full speed. Ariella stopped in front of the door, taking a breath before cautiously pushing it open.
Tap.
The door slid open. Slowly, the dark silhouette of a woman embracing a young boy became clear. The figure she had been searching for, the one she had hoped for all this time, was right there.
The world seemed to stop; a heavy, labored breath caught in her throat. Her frozen fingers slowly slipped from the door handle—falling like a drop of water from the tip of a leaf—as tears that had been pooling in the corners of her eyes finally spilled over.
"No..." she whimpered, her voice barely a whisper lower than the sound of the wind.
It felt as though the weight of the entire world was crushing her shoulders. Her trembling legs could no longer move forward just to confirm that what she saw was a bitter reality.
"Ariella..." Valky's voice followed from behind, like a melody adding to the mournful atmosphere.
She turned and walked slowly past General Valky. Her gaze was empty, dark like a black hole that had swallowed all her hope. The mask she had guarded with such arrogance was now completely shattered, exposing every inch of the fragility beneath. The tears she had kept locked away now poured out, soaking cold against her cheeks.
"Ariella!" Valky tried to chase her. But the girl quickened her pace, fleeing from the bitter reality in that corridor and from the gaze of anyone who might see her true face—the face of a child who had just lost her world.
"Stop!" Valky caught up, grabbing Ariella's shoulder with a firm grip.
"Let go, General! I want to go back to the base immediately!" She yanked her shoulder away forcibly, leaving Valky's smooth hand frozen in the air.
"She never calls me General..." Valky hissed softly. She stared at her palm, which still felt warm from gripping Ariella's shoulder, before slowly clenching it into a fist until her knuckles turned white. "Lady, you are an angel with the heart of a demon."
Meanwhile, the heartbreaking silence of the night could never pierce the wall of Nugia's innocence, even as he witnessed Ariella's naked vulnerability.
***
"Lady Scarlett, I am certain the Princess of Fire is connected to you. Twelve years ago, you vanished from both the military and medical worlds. Then you returned as a high official carrying a secret?" Snake chuckled.
"Enough, Snake. Let this boy see his friend. Open that isolation room," Scarlett said, releasing her embrace with a face too tight for a hand that was trembling subtly.
Nugia stood stunned, staring at the figure behind the door that left behind tears smelling of sorrow and abandonment.
"Abandonment is a hope that has died. You must be brave, Lady; otherwise, your sacrifice will be in vain," Nugia said, catching the faint tremor in Lady Scarlett's hand.
Scarlett froze. Nugia's words weren't just the sentence of a small soldier; they were a verdict passed upon her soul. She did not look back, but her grip on her silver cloak tightened until the circuits within the cloak hummed softly.
"You talk too much for a slave, Little One," Snake interrupted, his voice slick like scales sliding over marble. He paced around Scarlett and Nugia, his neon-yellow eyes glinting with delight at the Lady's internal collapse. "But he's right, Scarlett. Sacrifice only becomes a legend if someone survives to tell the tale. If you keep hanging your feelings on that 'Princess of Fire,' you'll only be building a mass grave in Sector 7."
"What are you talking about? I don't know any Princess of Fire!"
"Shh... Shh... Shh... Very well, I won't mention it. If you want this door, then you will owe me, My Lady."
"You are truly cunning, Snake. Fine, you may claim that debt one day."
"Aren't you going to ask what I want?"
Lady Scarlett fell silent. She looked at Snake, who never averted his gaze from Nugia. Behind those research glasses, a slit, slit-like retina proclaimed his intentions and thoughts louder than the corridor lights—more pungent than the scent of antiseptics and medicine filling the room.