In the sewers of the Vingard colony.
The smell is acrid, the space dark except for slivers of sunlight seeping through the cracks.
All that's here is dirty gray tiles.
The gray walls are riddled with cracks, and near one of them, Anas stands before the entrance to a small room behind the gap, sitting down and leaning against the wall.
His jaw clenches slightly from the pain in his body and wounds.
Soon, Naivy, Leona, and Edward enter. Edward notices Anas pressing his jaw and says: "Why didn't you feel pain outside, but now you do? Are you trying to gain our sympathy?"
Leona elbows Edward, signaling him to be quiet.
Anas hears Edward's question but ignores it.
Naivy approaches Anas and sits in front of him, her voice soft: "Does it hurt? But… really, why do you feel pain now?"
Anas meets her pink eyes for a moment and replies: "Why do you ask? And why do you think I would answer you when I didn't answer Edward first?"
Naivy looks at him, her eyes flicking between the floor and Anas, and whispers: "I just wanted to know. If you don't want to tell me, I won't bother you."
She falls silent after speaking.
But Anas responds: "Because I'm human."
Naivy opens her mouth but can't say anything. He continues: "Did you think I was some kind of hero? Saving people without fear or pain? (He sighs.) I'm not. I'm scared, tired, and I hurt. I just didn't feel it before because fear overshadowed it."
He pauses for a moment, then his gaze turns dead, making Naivy swallow hard. He continues: "Have you lost your trust in me now? Or perhaps your perception of me has changed?"
Naivy stares at him. A heavy silence falls before she shakes her head: "No, I haven't lost my trust in you. I've realized that you're human like me, suffering, yet you accept the burden of my suffering alongside yours." (She gives a faint smile.) "How could I lose trust in the only person who accepted me when everyone else rejected me?"
Anas stares at her, eyes wide, cheeks lightly flushed. He turns his face aside, and Naivy lets out a soft, genuine laugh like a little bell: "Heh."
Leona, watching from a distance, frowns slightly, thinking: "What are they talking about, I wonder?"
As she thinks, a painful feeling hits her chest: Why do I feel so out of place here?… I miss you, Mom. Why did you leave me when I needed you most?
A tear slips down her cheek, but she hastily wipes it away with her hand.
Edward sits, sighing in irritation, muttering to himself: "He didn't answer me, yet he answers her. What a show-off."
Anas, turning his face aside, suddenly loses the flush and looks at Naivy: "By the way, you mentioned that your family abandoned you. Can you tell me more?"
Naivy lowers her head slightly, her voice soft: "I don't want to talk about them. I want the present—the life I'm living here, now."
Anas tilts his head: "Hmm… but you shouldn't forget the past. It will defeat you if you face it again and ruin the life you want. You must accept it—it made you who you are today."
Naivy raises her head to meet his gaze. He continues: "If you try to forget the past and then encounter something from it—your family or something similar—you'll freeze. Forgetting is only a temporary escape."
Naivy opens and closes her mouth several times without speaking, finally whispering barely audibly: "I can't… words are easy, but action is hard. I was hated just for being born into a world I didn't choose. Beaten for no reason. Left without food for trivial causes. Even my mother who gave birth to me hated me. It hurts." (She touches her chest.) "It hurts here. But with you… even though you scared me so much at first, I feel somewhat safe. You're the only one who accepted me. But I cannot forget the past."
"Alright, I won't claim to feel what you feel. I won't pressure you. But… why were you so afraid of me? Most people find me strange, but no one has ever been scared of me before," Anas says.
Naivy shivers for a moment, then says: "You don't know? There was… a very strange feeling when you woke up. It… felt like death."
Anas places his index finger on his upper lip, thumb on his chin, thinking: What? Is this because of you, Priscilla?
The moment he utters her name, he feels something flow through his body and hears her voice: No, not from me. It's just the feeling of death, because you were at the edge of it and returned the moment you activated embodiment. Don't worry about it. You need to rest now.
The same gentle warmth that comes from Priscilla's calm spreads through his body.
Anas exhales: "So that's why those monsters came at us. Annoying… Now, let's sleep. We'll continue tomorrow."
Naivy leans against the wall beside Anas, holding the edge of his shirt before closing her eyes: "Goodnight, Anas."
Anas' eyes widen slightly, whispering: "Alright… and you too."
Leona gazes at Anas and Naivy for a moment, then lowers her eyes, curls up, and falls asleep.
The sunlight fades.
Darkness descends on the surface, but it is even deeper inside the shelter, where Bianca begins to regain consciousness.
She feels a heaviness in her head, eyes aching.
When she opens them, she senses something warm wrapping around her.
As her vision clears, she sees Lily gently holding her, tears streaming: "Bianca, you finally woke up, sister?"
Bianca clings to the embrace, crying as well.
Jason watches the sisters, smiling faintly, while Anas' father lets out a sigh of relief.
But amidst all this…
Anas' mother sits in a corner, eyes lifeless, thinking: Anas, where are you? Why haven't you returned yet?
Suddenly, a loud voice echoes: "Listen! Everyone will be moved to the Brekrais colony! It's unsafe here! Quickly, let's move while it's still safe!"
As everyone looks up, they see a man with black hair and blue eyes, wearing a white shirt, a deep blue cloak like night, and black pants.
These are the garments of the Hunters' Guild.
Everyone stands, the crowd moving toward a tunnel with a large gate resembling the colony wall.
The gate opens with the grinding sound of gears, and the crowd pushes inside.
Jason carries Lily's and Bianca's mother, walking inside under the black-haired man's guidance. Anas' mother pauses, eyes trembling as she gazes at the destruction behind her. The crowd flows past her as if she doesn't exist.
Lost in thought, she then hears a voice calling: "Krista, let's go."
It is Anas' father. She turns and walks beside him. He says: "Don't worry. He'll be fine. And even if he isn't, he won't let us live in misery because of him. So we must live—for him and for ourselves."
Anas' mother exhales wearily, nodding silently, and continues.
The moon rises amidst the darkness as if…
a witness to…
the ruin,
the debris,
and the corpses filling a space that has grown silent and still.
Once teeming with life and hope, it is now filled with despair, pain… and death.