The apartment was despondent. Rose Ausra immediately noticed the living room without furniture and the kitchen ahead that was missing a fridge. To the right was a single hallway that led to two rooms; a bathroom and the sole bedroom. The wooden floor creaked under her shoe-less feet and the air reeked of a certain mustiness. Not a nauseating scent, but simply the fragrance of a newly occupied house.
"How homely," She muttered.
Elsa Mont laughed as she closed the door behind them.
"It's the cheapest place we could find on short notice. . .I'll send you the apartment key," She spoke as she opened her pad and transferred. "The door should automatically unlock now if you reach your hand for it. Pretty cool isn't it?"
As Rose looked at the data that downloaded itself on her pad, a string of code that connected it to the apartment, her friend continued.
"Technology is really something else."
Rose nodded.
The sound of a door closing rang and a figure walked from the hallway.
'Ah, right, she's here. . .' Rose thought.
Lilias Aunbren, horns and all, dressed in a tank-top and a pair of shorts, walked out and stared at Rose's figure. Their eyes crossed then the dragonian rolled them down to look over the homunculus's figure.
"It's good to see you again, even if you seem to be in tatters?"
The girl faintly smiled and Rose still did not like that expression of hers.
"Why are you here?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"Even if I come from a rich family, I myself am quite poor. I can only stay with you two before we find our footing. As well. . ." The dragonian paused and looked directly into the homunculus's golden irises, "I still think we would make a good team within Alos's Dungeon."
Rose merely stared at the girl. She still had yet to see her past someone who attacked her and her friend. To Rose, the girl named Lilias Aunbren was an oddity she would never get used to. Her restrained expressions, though similar to herself, seemed chilling. And her smile. . .she was someone who shouldn't smile.
A cough rang.
"Hmm?" Rose turned her head.
"We need to get you new clothes. . .you stay here, you can't go out like that," Elsa muttered, "I'll go buy you some clothes from the closest store I can find. What size are you by the way?"
"I don't know." Rose shrugged.
"Well drats, guess I'll just eye-measure them then. You two better not start fighting!"
Both Rose and Lilias their eyes.
"See you."
And thus, as quickly as Elsa entered the apartment, she left.
The two remaining girls stared at each other for a moment.
'Oh well,' Rose thought, 'I have things to do.'
She walked into the middle of the empty living room and sat herself down. She tapped the band on her left wrist twice and her pad popped up.
"What are you doing?" Lilias asked.
"Research."
The dragonian chuckled. "You'll find me in the room if you need to."
"I won't need to," Rose replied, eyes already focused on her screen, jumping about.
Lilias left her alone after those words and Rose searched the mana web. Videos. Websites. Articles. Journals. At least, everything that was made accessible on the web. She shifted through data at an alarming rate as she searched for anything, any information on how to remove memories from a homunculus. Particularly, memories that were installing themselves on the go.
Time passed and she came to a single conclusion.
"Nothing. . ." She mumbled, "Not a single thing of use."
The only thing she confirmed was that her creator, Bianca Blake, had been the one to create the dual-core system and that there existed no mention of any homunculus having ever been made with memories implanted from a dead person.
In essence, the bitter truth was that she was a first.
She stared listlessly at the screen for a moment. Thoughts processing themselves at a remarkable rate as she listened to the sound of a core only she could hear. Her hand gripped and she took a breath to calm herself.
'Why is there so little information on actually making a homunculus?' Rose thought. She hadn't found any pieces of data on something like herself so she had widened her range. Yet, save for the bare basics that she figured anyone could know, there wasn't a whole lot of information on a mana web that should, realistically, be free and open. At least, not any that she could find.
It was the first time she reached a dead end on a goal before she could even begin chasing it. Of course, she hadn't had many goals in this short life either.
'I'll have to likely enter Alos Mage Academy after all. . .' That was the only hope she had. If there was any path to a clear future, that was it.
She released a breath and stared at the hallway ahead—glancing at nothing in particular.
The future was an uncertain thing at the moment. At least for the previous goal of entering Alos and meeting her creator, she knew only time stood in her way. Here. Now. Time was not something she had. She was unsure if she would even be herself in a couple of days.
". . .what are you doing?" A voice called out to her.
Rose blinked her eyes.
She turned her head and noticed Elsa standing beside her, looking down at her figure with confusion. There were plastic bags by the girl's feet.
"Oh? When did you get here?" Rose furrowed her brows. It was unlike herself to not notice someone approaching her.
"The hell? That's not the problem here at all." The girl shook her head. "You're clearly really deep as heck in thought."
". . ."
"I never asked but. . ." Elsa spoke, ". . .how did the chat with your creator go and why are your clothes mangled?"
Rose turned her eyes forward.
"Bianca Blake is someone who made me to house the soul of another. As memories that aren't mine keep coming, the person known as 'Rose Ausra' will be deleted. . ." She paused. Finding it a bit difficult to actually verbalize the words herself for the first time. She looked at the screen of her pad and tapped it off.
She stood up.
"We fought," She said, "And I lost. Allowed to live until I'm overridden."
"That motherfucker!" Elsa's rage immediately flew open. "And to think I actually liked her!"
Rose raised a brow.
"Why aren't you angry?" Elsa asked, "You could fucking die from what I can tell!"
Rose smiled.
"I am angry. Yet, right now, it won't get me anywhere. Well, actually, I'd like to take a break from all of this and cry if I could. But that's impossible with a body like mine," She chuckled as she stared up at her friend, "Sometimes. . .it feels like I'm nowhere close to ending a battle that began at my first step of freedom. First a Reaper comes to collect my corpse. Now my own creator marks my death. Hey, Elsa, do you think I don't deserve to live?"
"Oh Rose. . ."
Rose felt arms wrap around her as her friend pulled her closer.
"What kinda question is that? Of course you deserve to. If you don't deserve to exist, no one does."
The soft voice of her friend resounded. Reminding her of that day they had spoken over the pad after a battle with Shana Striker. She surprised herself as the emotions came quicker than she thought they would.
"I couldn't find any help on the web. . ." Rose mumbled, "There was nothing on a case like mine."
Elsa hugged her closer.
"Don't give up. If we work together, I'm sure we can fix you," She said.
Rose shook her head. "I never planned to give up."
"Of course I know that. You're not the type," Elsa chuckled, "But. I also know that if you need a shoulder to lean on, Rose, don't forget me."
Rose brought her face into the chest of her companion.
"Thank you," She released a shaky whisper.
There were a lot of emotions packed into those light two words. From the past. To the present. She had always been there. And now, when an even more uncertain future than whether or not she could make it into Alos reared its head. When she didn't know if there even was a way to keep her current self. Elsa Mont was here once more.
"You fought a war half-part to heal me," Elsa laughed, "We've got each other's backs."
Rose nodded. "Then. . .can we stay like this for a bit longer?"
Elsa smiled as she tried to calm her beating heart. A part of her wondered at the thought that growing to love someone fighting for their life might be an unnecessary extra burden. A part of her wondered if it was even alright for her heart to beat so wildly at this moment.
Still, she grinned as she nodded.
"Of course."
To both of them, this friendship was something they cherished. Even if one was unaware of the other's growing feelings.