Lena was sweating. Hordes of enemies surrounded her, rapier in hand. Her legs trembled, her head struggling to face the soldiers. A new drop of sweat fell from her forehead. She was reaching her limit.

  “Lena. Rest. Celine will take care.” The child arrived, accompanied by Elizabeth from behind. Celine casted her knives and walked past Lena, all projectiles deflecting due to her Corruption shield. Her shield was odd. It was more of an invisible barrier that protected her from all fronts, not even needing to actively cast it. Lena stepped back.

  “I’ve always wondered how she does that.” Lena asked the Doctor, panting.

  “Her Stigma does it for her. The Stigma of Styx”. Elizabeth replied while contemplating the spectacle of lights.

  Shortly after, the rest of the group arrived. Lena widened her eyes when she saw the group coming from afar. The duo dropped the attention from Celine’s battle.

  “Lenaaaaaaaaaa!” Alice ran to hug her dear friend “Lenaaa, I’ve missed you so much” She dramatically shouted while she scrubbed and soaked in her essence, especially her delicate face.

  “Is she always like this?” Kana asked Paul as they walked, having been left behind.

  “Yes… she did the same with me…” Paul admitted, slightly blushing.

  “Alice… It’s been two months… how are you?” Elizabeth had to interrupt the warm welcome back.

  “Ah, Eli. I’m perfectly fine, as you can see. “She bragged, raising her thumb. Kana noticed how she would use the same diminutive as Paul used with the Doctor—Eli. She wondered what kind of special relationship did these two have.

  “I have checked Alice’s vital. She’s in good health state”. Airis cheerfully followed the claim. Paul and Kana finally tightened the distance and greeted the group.

  “We’re finally all together.” Elizabeth sighed in relief, checking everyone’s state. After some trivial catching up, Lena raised her voice.

  “Now that we are all here… How did you guys find Alice?” She wondered

  “It was easy” Paul replied. “I only had to look upwards and see her Stigma cracking the sky.”

  “How does that exactly work…” Kana asked, her tone implying Paul was nothing other than crazy.

  “I don’t know.” He answered without hesitation. “I’ve always had the gift to see Corruption in the sky. Useful when radars are saturated like here.” An odd pride filled his words, annoying his pairs.

  “That’s just my dear Paul” Alice strangely interrupted the conversation out of nowhere. “By the way, where is Celine?”

  “There.” Elizabeth pointed her finger to the already ended battle, Celine walking expressionless. Behind her, a pile of bodies and defeated enemies stacking.

  “Celine is already done.” She said noticing the sudden attention from the group.

  Finally, the group was finally reunited. Everyone looked happy, chatting almost like a family. Alice played with Celine’s cheeks, the girl not reacting at all but oddly seeming to enjoy it, while Lena and Paul vividly discussed details about the enemy with Elizabeth. Even Airis seemed concentrated and occupied, leaving poor Kana alone. She knew she had been the last to arrive at the group—and probably the first to leave once treated—but she couldn’t let off the feeling of being out of place. She looked at them homesick, remembering her family, with a feeling she couldn’t understand. She looked off by a moment, when an arm caressed her shoulder.

  “Hey, why are you there alone.” It was Alice. Without Kana realizing, she had approached her, now almost hugging her from behind. She had leaned, keeping their heads close. Kana could feel the warmth from the woman, the beating of her heart, the closeness of her breath, her previous feeling vanishing quickly. “You know, Paul has told me so much about you.” Alice softly laughed.

  “Really?” Kana questioned back, taken by surprise.

  “I have to thank you for keeping him company lately” She whispered to her ear “He’s like a scared puppy when left alone”.

  “Don’t exaggerate! He would have been fine” Kana laughed at her comment, remembering her time with Paul together.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “When have you become so close? You have known each other for twenty minutes.” Paul noticed the two physically close girls.

  “What? Are you jealous I’m taking your dear Kana?” Alice mumbled the joke laughing in between without a reason.

  “What? No!” Paul answered loud and clearly, yet a faint blush in his face appeared.

  “Alice,” Elizabeth called “We need a base, where have you been hiding so far?” Elizabeth ended the casual conversation with a duty tone.

  “Come on, Eli…” Alicia sighed disappointed, knowing the fun was over. After Elizabeth’s no friends face, she had to answer. “Alright, I’ll take you to my secret hideout”.

  Alice guided the group through the other half of the city. They stopped stumbling upon enemies; maybe because Celine had already ended all of them or maybe they had surrendered and called it a day. The walk itself was surprisingly nice. The cold air of the night froze their legs, especially of a whiny Paul, but the peace and quiet of the city at that time, flashy neon panel already off, made it so relaxing it was the perfect way of releasing the tension of the battle. Alice spent half of the travel reminiscing of old funny anecdotes of the group, while the other half was rather dedicated to catching up with adventures the rest of the team had had during her absence. Lena told her how she had progressed with her rapier’s skills—as if she wasn’t already strong enough, like a daughter asking for her parents’ acknowledgement, while Paul bragged about his clean, perfect history of missions completed those two months.

  “Celine has also completed all her missions without failing.” Surprisingly, even Celine approached Alice to share her achievements, although her face was still as expressionless as ever.

  “My dear Celine, good job” Alice smiled at her and patted her hair.

  Kana quickly noticed the impact Alice had on the group. As Lena once said, she was almost like an older sister figure—and only because of her age, because she could perfectly fit the role of a mother. Everyone seemed to look up on her on one way or another. Joy invaded her face—"I finally meet her”.

  Sometime later, they arrived at a dark alley in the outskirts of the city. Alice signalled a door embedded in a wall.

  “It is here.” She grabbed her clock and closely looked at it, then saved it again and retrieved her keys from the same pocket. She opened the door, revealing a grand staircase down, the end hiding in darkness. After turning on a switch, she stepped forward first and led the group to the insides.

  “Ta-chan!” Alicia exclaimed, gesturing the group to enter. “This is my secret base. Pretty, isn’t it?”.

  Paul looked around the place. There were sheets of paper everywhere, drawn with multiple unrecognizable symbols, an unmade bed, food cartons, plastics and cans spilled through the floor and a sofa placed in the middle of nowhere, and a poster full of arrows and pictures like if it was a crime film. It was a completely mess.

  “It is not that bad, I guess” He was the only one deigned to respond, while the others just walked in and ignored the responsible for the disaster.

  Kana straight sat on the sofa. She started to feel pain in her back again. Not that intense as when she was shot but remarkable, nevertheless. Elizabeth noticed the girl’s constant squeezing there. After confirming the facts with Airis, she approached her.

  “Kana. Lie down and take off your top clothes”. She suddenly ordered.

  “Huh?” Everyone was surprised. Only Airis knew that Kana had been shot.

  “Kana, are you ok?” Alice asked her curiously, followed by the rest of the group.

  “Airis has told me she was shot in the back.” Elizabeth explained without too much care, drawing worried faces in the team.

  “…” Kana stayed in silence. “But I’m fine, it’s just a little pain. My Stigma protected me, I think.” She didn’t want the team to worry about her nor drag them down. After all, she wasn’t even part of it, but just a mere patient waiting to recover, even if she had made friendship bonds with the people there.

  “Just let me check you.” The doctor insisted.

  “Alright…” Kana walked to the bed and lied down. She started to slowly take off her sweatshirt, following with the shirt, her face completely red in blushing. The coldness of the room trailed all her bare body parts, following the spine down to the low back, intensifying the pain.

  “Paul, don’t look!” Lena warned the only man in the room.

  “I was not going to look anyway!” He turned back. Although he accepted, his stomach churned, worrying about his friend.

  The doctor helped Kana to take out completely the shirt, revealing her bare back and the pattern of her Stigma, resembling a tree, embedded on the dorsal. It was not glowing, but it still could be visible, like a red tattoo. Elizabeth placed her finger and slid along the tree’s figure trunk.

  “Aahhh!” Kana let out a soft scream of pain, making Elizabeth stop. The doctor still looked deep, speechless.

  “Eli, does it hurt because she just awakened it?” Alicia questioned, stepping closer to observe the curious sight.

  “No. She had it like this two weeks ago.”

  “Really? Behold everyone, I’ve activated my bullet barrier Stigma!” Kana joyfully chanted, without really understanding the situation she had instantaneously fantasized about having awakened some kind of incredible power.

  “I don’t think that’s what has happened.” The doctor took her hand off Kana’s back. “Alice, look closer here. Look at the skin.”

  Alice stepped even closer, putting her face centimeters from Kana.

  “Ummmm… you are right, this skin here looks strange… like, burnt?”

  “Look here, at the separation between burnt and normal skin” Elizabeth pointed out the thin border between colors.

  “Hummmmmmmm…hummmm” Alice took a deeper look, closing one of her eyes as if she was a detective. Then, she saw it. “Is this… regenerating?” She gulped watching how, at that thin line, the healthy skin slowly gained territory over the burnt part, Alice’s usual smile quicky fading.

  The examination pair both stood up and let Kana put on her clothes again.

  “So, what is it?” Kana asked excited but trembling.

  “I’m afraid you took the Corruption bullet right in your back. The Stigma didn’t protect you and that’s why you are in pain”. The doctor explained, overlooking somewhere else. “It wasn’t protection, it was damage control.”

  “What? Then? How did I survive?” Kana was confused. Elizabeth looked at her again and sighed.

  “Your Stigma is just… regenerating the wound. At the cost of your vitality.”