Chapter 12 - Alleviating

Alice was a soldier. As apprentices, they'd had to constantly train both their bodies and their minds. They'd spent countless hours listening to long lectures during their lessons back at the Agency. She'd felt the same way back then. She was bored out of her mind. Alice glanced over at the little girl. She was still sleeping. They were atop the giant building, still waiting for the other two to arrive. They'd been there before. The only way to get to the roof of that ten-story building was a weird-looking spiral staircase, which meant that Aberrations wouldn't be able to climb up there even if they wanted. Also, the view was amazing.

They'd gotten to the safe place a lot faster than she'd anticipated, in just a little under five hours. They had indeed seen a few Aberrations, but no Garglings or Superiors. The sunset was still a ways off, but the fact that Een and Kar hadn't caught up to them yet made her extremely anxious. Another good hour had already passed since they'd arrived there.

"Alright, we're not doing this ever again. Captain or not, I don't care. I'll just disobey his orders, like that one time he told me to go to sleep early, and I didn't want to. Well I did end up sleeping in the next day, but that's not what matters."

"You make it sound like he's your mother," Shono said without thinking.

Alice hugged her knees, looking to the side. She didn't like to think about her real parents. She didn't even know if they were still alive. But she highly doubted it. They'd left her and Een to die, not even shedding a single tear. The worst part was that she couldn't really blame them. They had run our of food and water, and having to escape the Aberrations while carrying two useless children around was... No, what they'd done was still wrong. Alice didn't exactly hate them for it, but she couldn't bring herself to forgive them either. But she and her brother had been lucky enough to find a new family. One they knew they could count on. Both Shono and Kar had come to their rescue so many times over such a short period of time. They all trusted each other, cared about each other. So how could she stay still when those guys were still somewhere in the city, probably fighting for their lives? Besides, they still didn't know anything about those screeching Garglings.

"How do you think they'll react when they see her?" Alice tilted her head in the girl's direction.

"Knowing Captain, he'll probably be glad we found her. As for Een, he will surely complain about having to carry her."

"So you're not even trying to hide the fact that you'll force that onto him?" She let out a small giggle. "We've made so many memories during those past three months. Remember when you first introduced us to Kar? You two'd been working together for a while, so it took him quite some time to get used to a bigger team. Out battle style was also quite different from yours..."

"He was one of the AAD's best apprentices. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. It was raining when I found him. Just like this one, he wouldn't wake up, no matter what I did. So I brought him to Marno, thought he might have some sort of idea... Hard to imagine it's been almost two years since then. Who would've thought that he'd turn into such a fine fighter?" Shono stretched out his arms in front of him.

"Stop. I know what you're thinking, but don't get your hopes up. We don't know if this girl'll turn out the same way. And she's way too young... Didn't you mention that Kar was fourteen when you found him? I don't think she's older than ten."

Suddenly, the metal door behind them opened with a creak. Karabell and Een smiled triumphantly, walking slowly towards their teammates. They'd run into two normal Aberrations along the way, so telling them that they were exhausted would've been a huge understatement. Alice pulled both of them into a tight hug, unable to contain her relief. She could finally breathe easy.

Karabell sat down on the edge of the roof, swinging his feet back and forth. Een had collapsed near Shono, completely worn out. The Captain asked Shono to take a look at the other's wound, just to make sure it wasn't anything serious. His bleeding had more or less stopped, but he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

"So, how'd it go?" Alice asked, beaming. She sat down beside Kar and stared at the sky.

"It was... interesting. To say the least. It was one hell of a fight. We managed to get out of it alive, just like I promised, but I'd prefer not to go through anything like that again. You'll understand soon. Let's wait for Een to wake up. I'd like to hear everyone's take on this. I'm just glad we were able to find our way through the city. It's a miracle we didn't get lost, honestly. Speaking of which... Who's that?" Karabell asked, obviously referring to their new companion.

"We don't know her name yet. Shono and I found her asleep in one of the buildings. An Aberration seemed to have spotted her, but Shono made quick work of it by himself..."

"I wonder if she's like me..." Karabell whispered. Alice had surely heard him. But she wouldn't have been able to catch the true meaning of his words even if she'd wanted to.

"Well, we can't really find anything out about her until she wakes up. Are you sure you're not hurt, Kar? You seem a little pale. Was the Superior hard to kill? Oh, sorry, you just said you'd talk about it later..." Alice's voice had taken on a quiet tone and her gaze was distant.

"Woah, who's that?!" they heard Een shout all of a sudden. Against their will, Alice and Karabell burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became considerably lighter.

They gathered around the fire Shono had just started. The sun hadn't set yet, but they needed to cook the rabbit Kar and Een had brought with them somehow. His survival skills were as impressive as ever. Apparently, he'd taken a bunch on flammable things along, figuring they'd have to start a fire sooner or later. Their throats were completely dry, but their only choice was to bear it until the next day. They were all too tired to go to the lake, despite it not being that far away from their location. Een drew closer to the flames, shivering. Alice gave him and Kar a quick run-through of the whole story.

"So, Captain... Our trip was relatively uneventful. But I think we're both dying to know how things went on your end," Shono said. It was rare for him to be curious about something, but that day had been anything else but normal.