"Yeah, I guess we never mentioned that. Lumina helped me escape from a really fucked up family situation. I was kind of abandoned by them when I…" Mina stopped, looking confused.
"Are you alright?" Risále asked, looking worriedly.
"I—That's weird, I was just about to say that my family gave me away but...That's just not right, if they gave me away, I couldn't have been the…" Mina said under her breath, "No, that makes no sense? That literally would not have been possible because of the royal family. What the actual fuck?"
Risále looked genuinely worried at this point and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Should I get Lumina? Are you malfunctioning? Please don't malfunction," She said, shaking her.
"No, no, I'm alright just...blanking. You know what, the basic idea is that my family and I are on terrible terms right now. Things were going terribly and there were some attempts on my life by relatives and Lumi saved me. She found me and taught me how to survive and while I owe a lot of who I am to my fucked up family, I also owe a lot to Lumina and Kaedan. Oh, when you meet Kaedan, don't you dare tell him I said that or I'll kill you," Mina glared at her, a light pink flush on her face at the last sentence.
"Haha, you're joking, right?" The look on Mina's face said otherwise, "Okay, yeah, got it. Won't say a word. But wow, while I don't have any relatives I can remember right now, I can't imagine what it must be like to have your family trying to kill you," Risále said softly.
Mina smiled, "They're not my family. Not anymore. I have my family right here, and honestly, that's all I need."
"That's...actually really sweet. You all must be really close, especially you and Lumina," Risále said, smiling softly.
"Yeah, I'm glad Lumi saved me. She trained me to be able to protect and survive. I owe my life to her. Of course, I love the other people, too," Mina said, taking another turn.
"Wow, you were talking so much about Lumina I almost forgot there were other people," Risále teased, her voice in a dead tone.
Mina rolled her eyes and gave her a look, "Watch it, kid. Anyway, yeah, Xander and Kaedan stay here but they're actually out in the sectors more often. Xander is Lumi's cousin, and Kaedan has been my best friend since I was really young. Xander was born in Sector 2 and has lived in all the Sectors. Kaedan is from Sector 1, though when you meet the bastard, you'd never think that an impulsive idiot like him could be the crown prince of that place," She paused for a moment, "Actually, the place is actually falling apart, which is kind of like him so it makes complete sense. He never fails to surprise and disappoint me," Mina sighed, "They're the ones who actually found this place, we're just here more often. Trust me, you think my life is crazy? These two put soap operas to shame."
"I hope I'll hear more about it," Risále said in response, "Wait, hold on, Kaedan's a prince?"
"Ex-prince. He renounced the throne when Sector 1 fell and his father—Well, it's complicated but I wouldn't be surprised if his father wasn't too keen on him keeping the crown prince title either. Don't try and treat him like royalty or anything, he's really just a normal guy," She explained.
Risále nodded, "Ah, I see. Got it, won't make a big deal out of it."
"Xander and Kaedan are both older than Lumina and I," Mina continued, "We've got a couple more people staying here. Owen and Fenix are the next two. They're pretty young—Well, to Lumi and me, they seem young but I'm pretty sure Fenix is the same age as you and Leon—Anyway, we try to keep a closer eye on them. We tried for Leon as well but…" She sighed, "I'll get to him eventually. Either way, Owen and Fenix...They've been through some shit though. Too much for teenagers."
"Did you two just basically open a home for the mistreated and misguided?" Risále asked.
"...Fuck. You're right, oh my God," Mina said, realization dawning on her, "Well, I guess that's something to tell Lumi about. I should tell you about Leon, though," Risále didn't know why but the name seemed to strike a chord in her mind, as if she could faintly remember it, "He used to be part of some fucked up science program in one of the Sectors, Sector 3 if I'm remembering correctly. He doesn't talk about his past much but…Being in that program as a child…I can only imagine what he went through. He acts like he wants to forget but…" Mina bit her lip, "He goes back to Sector 3 so often that I wonder if he wants to remember…"
"I see…" Risále murmured, "I wonder if maybe seeing a place I was familiar with might help me remember what I've got going on. Because right now, I'm totally lost. Like, where is this? Where are we?"
Mina stared at her, "You...Really have no idea where you are?" She asked softly, "Does the name 'Grimmstol' sound familiar at all to you?"
"No? What is that? And what the hell are these Sectors then?" Risále asked.
"Huh…This kind of reminds me of when I woke up and I thought that the Strongholds didn't exist. Like I thought the old borders still existed, with places like the olden countries even though they clearly don't exist anymore and I've known that all my life...Yeah, I don't know what's going on with you," Mina responded, shrugging.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to know at this point," Risále asked, looking around to see if her surroundings had changed.
"No wonder you were such a mess. I'll give you a basic rundown. Grimmstol is the name of the Stronghold, it has similar boundaries to the North American Continent. There are 3 Sectors, Sector 1 is kind of falling apart, they had a monarchy but it was taken down in one shot. Sector 2 has a monarchy as well although not many people consider it one since it doesn't always stay in the family line. Sector 3 is big on experimentation. They're the ones who really created cyborgs and stuff. Although, I guess a name that I should probably tell you about is the White Lotus," Mina said, and her face grew dark.
"The White Lotus?" Risále said.
"They're a highly intricate organization that rose to power, and they have multiple branches. There is an assassination branch. We don't really talk about that one, bad memories. Xander used to be one and it's just…It's not fun, trust me," Mina shivered, "There's also the scientific branch. That's the one that Leon was a part of, also Owen and Fenix have some really bad history with that one as well. Don't let their name fool you, the scientific branch is just as dangerous as the assassination branch," Mina explained, opening the door to her room and showing Risále the closet.
"Anything I should note about them?"
"Stay away as much as you can, at least until we think you're ready," Mina said darkly, before switching entirely, "Anyways, I'll leave you to find something to wear. Lumi probably needs help cooking. Leon said he was coming back soon since he's been away for a while, Owen and Fenix should be back as well, they said they'd be back by dinner. Unless of course they went and got themselves killed. If so, Lumi will probably murder them again," Mina explained.
"Even more people that I'm going to have to remember the names of, how fun," Risále muttered. Mina looked at her with a deadpan expression on her face. "I'm kidding, I'd love to meet them. Maybe one of them will know more about me than I know about myself," She replied.
"Risále, I don't even know if you're being sarcastic anymore. Just look for something you like and put it on. I'm going to go help make dinner with Lumi," Mina sighed.
Risále grinned. "I'm assuming I'm invited to dinner, too?" She asked.
"Keep up that attitude and you might not be, brat," Mina called back.
"You know, I see exactly what you mean when you say that you're like a mom," Risále muttered, grabbing some clothes that she liked and pulling up her shirt.
Out of the corner of her eye, though, she caught sight of something that looked like black ink on her skin. Moving towards the full-length mirror in the closet, she stared at the mark.
Tattooed on her rib was the number 001.