"Perhaps it is necessary to consider, I do not wish for death itself to turn on us."
-Heard by master Calice after number 3004.
Carrie woke up tied to a bed. When she realized this, she attempted to scream, she felt a distinct pain in her gut when she did so. The scream sounded from the muzzle that was still in her mouth. Her jaw hurt.
She glanced around in the dark room. There was a large window to her right, but it was covered by curtains. That left a purple light shining in the corners of the room as the only light source. It was enough to see by, but not enough to do anything in particular.
"She's right up here," a voice sounded through the walls.
Carrie's eyes widened.
"I found her, so I get to open her up," another voice said.
The door opened, and three men walked in. Carrie tried to scream, squeezing her eyes shut to ignore the pain in her gut for doing so.
"Then I get the heart." one of the men replied.
"No way, you can have the lungs, but I get the heart."
"I just want the brain," another man said.
One man shut the door, locking it. "Hey man, are you sure the boss won't find out?"
"Not a chance," Phil replied.
He reached a hand out, and Carrie squeezed her eye again. Praying to Chreign. The room window suddenly shattered, and a large figure landed amongst the glass. The figure set down a smaller one. Green? Carrie thought.
Grace ran with all she had. Though Mark could have easily outpaced her, he ran alongside her.
"How many more?" Mark asked.
"Five!" Grace shouted.
"Separate?" Mark asked.
Grace nodded. They split into two alleyways. They searched each neighborhood, slum, and even a few working areas. They searched anything and everything they could. Barns, warehouses, and regular shops. Anything that indicated a secret room, or had any signs of a struggle.
Grace's breath was ragged. They'd been searching for hours, the sun was almost set, and their adrenaline could only take them so far. In fact, once they found and saved her. They would likely collapse from exhaustion.
It was worth it however. Not because of the potential money bringing Carrie back would earn them. But because of who they were looking for. Despite being older than them, Grace felt a strong parental urge to protect the girl.
Eventually, she made her round, and found Mark waiting for her in the main street.
"Any luck?" Grace said, putting hands on knees.
"No, you?" Mark replied with a heavy breath.
Grace shook her head, "and we still have three more to check. Flame it, why is this city so big?"
"It's actually smaller than most," Mark replied. "We're lucky in a sense. I just hope we didn't miss anything."
Grace nodded. They couldn't open every door in the city in one night.
"Should we get to it?" Mark asked.
"Do you even have to ask?" Grace replied.
"Suppose not," Mark replied.
They turned to bolt again, but stopped dead when a voice sounded.
"You're wasting your time," the voice said.
Mark and Grace turned to find Green sitting on the ledge of a rooftop.
"Green!?" Grace said angrily and out of breath. "What are you doing here?"
Green tossed something to the ground, a bag of coins. "From today's bounty! You're welcome!" Green shouted.
"You went on a bounty hunt!?" Grace shouted, her voice cracking and her face going red. "Shouldn't you have been helping us!?" Green didn't reply.
Mark grabbed Grace's arm, "Come on, we can't waste any time."
Grace nodded, and the two started their run again. Though with Green's distraction, their adrenaline had calmed down. Grace stumbled over her feet, and Mark caught her before she fell on her face.
She was completely exhausted.
"I know where she is," Green said.
Grace turned her head to find Green walking up to them.
"I can take you there," Green added.
Mark nodded, then picked up Grace. Him and Green began running through different streets.
"One condition!" Green shouted, "You have to be the one to save her!"
"Fine by me!" Mark replied, gasping for air with every breath.
They ran through seven different allies. And Grace found that she recognized the area. She had run through here and reported nothing, her chest tightened when she thought of the possibility of them running elsewhere.
All the while they had missed her.
"That building up there!" Green shouted, pointing to a three story house that was right next to a massive warehouse. "They have several alarms inside that building! And there are a little over five dozen men in the forge ready to act on it! You go in the house, and I'll hold off the others!"
Mark nodded, and ran up to the house. He set down Grace and they were about to enter, but Green grabbed Mark's arm.
"I hear muffled screams through a window on the second floor." Green said. "It would be easier to go through there."
Mark nodded. Going through the window meant an easy entry. Plus defending a room compared to fighting in a wide open area would be much easier. Mark picked up Grace once again, and Grace saw Green standing next to the warehouse door.
Mark closed his eyes, and Grace saw a glowing white light from his boots an instant later. He stopped the ground propelling them upwards. She recognized it as a pure pulx shock wave. Though instead of it exploding out in every direction, it was focused into a single point.
Mark crashed through the window, and landed with the falling glass. He set her down and they were confronted with three men, and Carrie strapped the bed. Carrie's eyes went soft with relief.
But Mark's burned with fury. He charged at the man with his hand out, punching his chest hard enough to send him into the wall. The other two took a step back, and stumbled through unlocking the door and running out of the room.
The moment Grace got Carrie free, she wrapped her arms around Grace.
"Thank you!" Carrie shouted, sobbing.
Grace hugged her back, "It's alright now, we're here."
A sudden sound vibrated throughout the warehouse. Causing Mark and Grace to glance over.
"Guess those two sounded the alarm." Mark said.
"Yeah," Grace replied.
"Should we help him?" Mark asked.
"Why do you ask?" Grace replied.
Mark shrugged, "I'm not exactly happy with him right now."
"No one is," Grace replied. "But that doesn't mean we should just leave him."
Mark nodded, "let's give it a couple minutes though. He can probably last that long."
Grace nodded, and the two took their time getting down the stairs. They took this time to rest. It had been an exhausting night. Grace looked over Carrie as they did so, making sure she wasn't hurt.
The two followed Mark as he led them out and into the street, and gave them a few more moments to rest before opening the door.
Mark stopped dead. Grace tried looking around him, but Mark's size covered the door. She wiggled through, leaving Carrie behind before pausing in shock. Rather than a warehouse, the massive place was a hot running forge.
Running wasn't quite the right word however, the silence in the massive forge stretched out as not a single man, aside from Green, was left standing.
Green stood among a large group of men, all either bloodied to the point they passed out, or had been slammed against a wall, floor, or machinery that had been laid about.
Several parts of the wall were charred with burn marks. A large piece of machinery had blown up, likely the nose they had heard.
Green turned his head, and Grace shrunk behind Mark. Mark wasn't much better however, his legs shook slightly, and his eyes showed something deeper than fear.
Green's glasses had fallen off, and now laid on the floor, cracked and in two pieces. Two eyes focused their gaze on both Grace and Mark. One a dark ruby eye that shown with a strong hue. The other, an ordinary brown, was somehow more unsettling in its blandness.
Blood seeped from the top of Green's head, covering a good amount of his face. He had several cuts and bruises, adding to the chilling calmness of Green's forward steps in their direction.
He worked the blood in his mouth, then spat it to the side with a sharp motion.
"I'll need a new pair of glasses," Green said, his voice a low, rough scrape, as he walked past them and out the building.
Both Mark and Grace didn't move for a few moments. Grace followed, but paused when Mark stood there frozen. Carrie was waiting outside, while Green was already heading down the street.
While Grace was wondering how she would scold Green, Carrie was looking at him sympathetically. How can she look at him like that? Grace asked herself.
"C'mon," Mark said, coming out of his shock and guiding the two girls to follow Green's direction.
They started walking, and Carrie looked up at Grace.
"Thank you for finding me," Carrie said.
"You're welcome," Grace replied. "But we didn't find you, we looked for hours. Green was the one who showed us the way."
"I see," Carrie said. "So I should probably be thanking him."
"Don't bother," Grace said. "He didn't help us until we were almost out of options. He even went on a stupid bounty hunt before coming back to help. Plus, he was supposed to watch and keep you safe. This whole ordeal is his fault."
Carrie opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it again. Grace nudged her, inviting her to speak her mind.
Carrie shuffled, then spoke, "I was the one who told him I would ask someone else. I asked where he came from, and he wasn't telling me. So I tried to get on his nerves like he was getting on mine."
Carrie shuffled a bit before continuing. "He was only respecting my wish. And after he sat somewhere else another man sat next to me. I thought that if I left with someone else, Green would stop me. He would get rid of the guy and take me back.
I really thought he would fight. And I kept expecting that until I was forced into that forge. It's my fault for making a dumb decision, and thinking he would go along with it."
"He should have gone along with it," Grace replied. "You are his responsibility. If he ignores you to the point that you get kidnapped, then that's on him." Grace put an arm around Carrie's shoulder. "I'll give him a good talking to."
Carrie nodded. And they made their way to an inn that gave them distance between the forge.