Note: I'm still working on updating my other fanfic, but I think the reason why my updates are so slow there is because I'm restricting myself to one story at a time. It can be hard to consistently press out that same story if you're writing it and just it!

No excuses for my horrible update times, but yikes, that'll probably change when I alternate myself more!

"Nngh…"

What happened? The last thing I could remember was walking around by my mother's side, just returning from having done some valuable research together. Well, she was the one doing the research- I was really just watching. There was nothing a student in training like me could add to the brilliance of my mother. But...

Why am I on the ground? Did I faint?

My hands scrambled to my face, weakly checking it for any signs of damage. I had clearly fallen- fallen hard enough to be rendered out of commission. As my senses scrambled to return to normal, I finally realised what happened.

The entire facility had been hit by disaster. The air was filled with a horrible taste and smell of smog. Breathing was almost painful- I couldn't even gasp for air without coughing out the disgusting black smoke that instantly shot up into my lungs. One hand moved to my mouth, covering it in a failed attempt to protect myself from the fumes, while my other hand moved towards my side.

Everything was burning around me. I had to get up. The more of my sanity returned, the more I was edged on by a nasty feeling of haste. I had to hurry, lest I be swallowed by the fire as well! I could already feel the heat- I could feel sweat starting to seep down my forehead.

'Haah… Argh!"

The adrenaline had already started to mess with my mind. The both of my hands had moved to the ground in a feeble attempt to push myself back on my feet. However, something was stopping me. Had I not been so drunk off that powerful drug, I would've probably noticed the issue a bit earlier-

Filled with anger, I turned my head around, trying to spot what was keeping my legs down. My face went pale as I noticed it… a burning hot piece of metal had fallen on my legs- it seemed like one of the support beams had broken off and the remains just so happened to have fallen on my legs.

I screamed in pain and panic as I squirmed around underneath the metal death trap. Luckily, it had only fallen on my ankles. I could force myself up to my knees and lean back far enough to grab onto it.

O-ow, hot…

Ignoring the pain of both my crushed ankles, and the blazing heat it was burning my hands with, I managed to lift it up far enough to twist myself out. The instant my legs were free, I dropped it right back onto the ground, before meekly starting to crawl away. I had to hurry, I had to get out. I was still in the lab- even if the building was breaking down, this was like a second home to me. I knew every little nook and cranny this place had to hide. The emergency exit wasn't too far off! I could still make it…

Crawling closer to a doorway, I grabbed onto the passage and slowly started to pull myself up. It looked like the shape of the support bar had stopped it from outright crushing my ankles. But, the moment I let go of the wall and tried to walk forward on my own accord, I fell back down. With a weak grunt of pain, I simply dragged myself forward.

I should've known better than to try something so foolish, but I guess I was momentarily caught in desperation. I had to hurry, hurry, hurry… and my instinct was to stand up and run, even though I couldn't get back onto my feet without any outside help.

Mentally screaming at myself for such relatively minor things made it so much easier to keep a relatively level head. "You idiot, why did you try to walk!?" I yelled into the apparent emptiness of the facility. My hands, which now felt like they were covered completely in blisters, moved forward one after the other, dragging myself forward.

"Randomly fainting at a time like this- and waking up in the middle of a disaster!" I had little time to think of what might've happened to other people as I pushed myself further. "If you woke up even minutes later, the entire building might've crumbled upon you!" I yelled out at the top of my lungs.

By this point, I wasn't doing it just to focus my heart anymore, I hoped that practically screaming would draw someone's attention to me. But, it seemed like the facility was already empty. I couldn't hear anyone else respond… and unless everyone was already dead, I doubt that a calamity would be silent.

Hahaha… That couldn't be, right? If someone that was laying face down on the floor could survive for this long, the trained scientists should have no problem living and getting out! Right, they probably just left me there in the confusion…

No matter what way I looked at it, it felt rather bleak. They left me behind because they were too worried for their own sakes… or they were all dead. "That's not it." I said to myself, even though I knew it was perfectly reasonable. Everyone's probably waiting outside… Gotta hurry, mom might do something stupid if I don't get out fast! Letting out a soft, relieved laugh, I did my best to convince myself that everything would be fine. And as I finally reached to emergency exit, I succeeded. I forced myself onto my knees and stretched myself as far as I could to knock that door open.

I thought that all I had to do to reach safety was roll myself down the two flights of stairs. But, when I entered the stairway and almost threw myself at the emergency stairs, I stopped.

There was nothing there. Merely platform that acted as an balcony for the exit below. The emergency staircase had always been rickety- it definitely seemed more befitting to to a low-class apartment than an expensive laboratory, but it never seemed like it could ever fail. My hands dashed down towards the place where the platform had previously touched the escape route.

I had to be going crazy. There is no way that it would suddenly disappear like this. Finally, I felt metal. The iron bars underneath this shaky balcony, which previously served both to balance the stairs and help balance this platform. It had snapped… or rather, it almost seemed cut by a precise blade. The metal was still cold, and there's no way and explosion would break something this perfectly…

It was too dark here. I couldn't see the bottom floor. I could try to throw myself across the gap and towards the little break in between the flights of stairs, but I couldn't even see if it was there… and I don't think I'd survive tumbling down an entire floor.

"Dad, what would you do?"

Reaching my hand towards my neck, I pulled my necklace out of my shirt, wrapping my hand around that beautifully cut green gem. Whenever I held it like this, I felt like I could talk to him. Even though I'm a seventeen year old student. A student following in the footsteps for a great scientist, whenever I fell into depression, I couldn't help but believe in such a fairy tale.

But it felt so lucid. Every time I called out to him like this, I could hear his voice in my head. That strong voice always managed to comfort me, even if it was nothing more than a lonely delusion.

'Run'

He told me now.

'Don't waste your time thinking- run!'

I nodded softly, turning my body around and using my one free hand to pull myself back to the main hall. This staircase might've collapsed, but there was no way something like that could happen to the main exit! All I had to do was drag herself there… and I'd be fine.

And that's when I heard it.

A sudden, deafening screaming. I could hear it from all around me. There were definitely still people trapped in the building. But why were the so silent until now!? Maybe the bottom floor had been safe and it just started to collapse? Maybe… some people came for her and they got trapped by the flames!?

Let that not be true, please, let that not be true…

"Dad, what do I do…" I had to ask it again again. I couldn't even think of running away now. If there were people in danger, especially because of me, I had to do something!

But, I couldn't hear his voice through all that deafening screaming. "Dad?" I called out again. It really was as if the screaming came closer and closer.

Even though I knew I was delusional. Even though I knew I was fooling myself if I ever even pretended that this could actually let me talk to my dad, I couldn't move on without his words. I was panicking, and this was the one thing that always calmed me down. I felt like I was frozen in place.

The only thing louder than the screaming was a sudden explosion from behind me. The screams were silenced and I tumbled face-forward. As I turned, I saw that the entire stairway had been reduced to rubble. If I sat there for even a minute longer, I would undoubtedly be crushed.

"Vita, Signum! Spread out and look for survivors. Shamal, stay with me and stay on standby in case they find someone that needs medical attention!" a female voice echoed behind me. While she was loud and definitely ordering, she sounded quite weak and childlike.

But, I was a bit too relieved to note those things now. Chances were they'd start at the top floor and work their way down. She doubted she had that much that much time! "I'm here- on the first floor!" she cried out, hoping her would-be rescuers could hear her voice.

And indeed, a blonde woman quickly appeared besides me. Her hand instantly shot to my head as her rings gleamed awkwardly in the light of the burning building. "Everything is fine now." she said. "We're here to rescue you and everyone else."

Thank god… a nightmare felt like it had ended. Finally, tears formed in my eyes, tears of relief. I was simply overjoyed. I was so happy that I would be able to get out fine! Not just me, everyone else too!

"Reinforce, unison in! We need to stop the fire!" the same voice echoed from behind the two of us. The blonde grabbed onto me slightly tighter, holding me like a mother would. The way she was protecting me… it felt so warm. So… so strange. "Don't worry. My master will solve this in an instant. We'll get you and whoever else that's stuck here to safety, alright?"

I smiled softly. But, even though I felt so relieved, my adrenaline ran out, and the pain started to flow in. A sudden ice cold took over the extreme heat. Everything around me went from burning and crashing to being frozen into what seemed like a perfect, icy mirror.

"See? There's nothing to worry about." she spoke up once more, brushing her hand against my cheek. "My Master wouldn't ever let something like this end badly."

My eyes focused on her face, on her lips, trying to do whatever I could to distract myself from the horrible pain, but I already started to fade away. I couldn't make sense out of the words she was saying anymore. It all sounded like mindless blabbering.

The last thing I remembered seeing was a young, white haired girl standing besides the two of us…

Some time passed until I woke up again. I don't know how long it was- but all of my pain had faded away. Either they had some amazing medics on board at wherever this was, or my injuries simply recovered over time. I hoped it was the first, since I'd rather not lose too much time.

My hand trailed up towards my neck as I slowly sat up, looking for the one memento I always carried on me. I needed to hear his voice, just once, to start the day…

But it wasn't there. My necklace wasn't around my neck. I jumped onto my feet with a loud shriek, instantly noticing that while the pain might've been gone, my body still hadn't recovered completely yet. I collapsed to my barely-functioning knees but I didn't care. My hands quickly grabbed onto the floor tiles in front of me to drag myself forward. I had to find it… I had to find it.

I heard footsteps. Someone was running, probably towards the room. I couldn't make out too much from simply the sound of leather clicking onto a plastified floor, but at the very least, it was clear that they didn't weigh too much. Maybe I was captured by the people that invaded the lab!? The people that caused all of the destruction, there had to be someone behind it, after all!

My hand moved towards the back of my hospital gown, opening it up to leave my back exposed, but more importantly, giving me at least something to defend myself with. If it was an enemy that came to check on their awakened prisoner, I had to have something, right!? I had no idea what I was going to do with nothing more than a bit of fabric, but even choking someone with it should be more effective than my bare hands!

Ah, that was the first time I wish I took more after my dad than my mom. I could barely even walk, and here I was trying to think of how to defend myself. But, thankfully, it wouldn't be needed. A short, brown haired girl entered the room, garbed in what seemed to be a strange black uniform.

Ah, now that I think of it, it was the exact same thing the white haired girl had on! The one responsible for saving me, right?

"Ah, you're alright. Good, you were screamin' pretty loud, so I was afraid you might've hurt yourself on something." the girl said, falling to her knees and sighing softly. "It looks like you're mostly alright, though, did you try to stand up? Shamal said your legs hadn't recovered yet. If you wanted something, there's a bell to call the nurses right behind you, you know!" the girl let out a soft giggle, seemingly amused by my behavior.

But, I wasn't amused. The instant my dumbfoundedness ended, it was replaced with a need to know what the hell was going on. I raised the both of my fists, before angrily slamming them down on the floor beneath me. "Where am I!? What happened to the lab!? To everyone there!?" I shouted out, trying to force myself onto my feet but falling down moments later. "What happened to my necklace!?"

"Well, you're in the hospital, obviously!" the brunette responded, not losing either a bit or her cheer. Smiling, she grabbed onto the doorpost beside her and hoist herself back onto her own feet. "Your necklace is right over there. We had to take it off for medical reasons. You were clutching to it in your sleep really tight, so I figured it'd be pretty important to you!"

I quickly turned, noticing the small orb rest on the stand right next to my bed. I crawled over at a lightning pace, immediately grabbing onto it and wrapping it around my neck. "As for what happened, I'm not sure. There's an investigation going on, but apparently the details outstrip my rank, ahahaha~" I stared at her with an angry glare, the light heartedness of her tone only served to make me more agitated.

"S-sorry. It's the truth, though. We haven't been able to find anyone else that was supposed to work there. It was just you." her face lowered, as did her voice as she approached the end of her sentence. It didn't seem like she had the brightest of expectations. Were they kidnapped? Killed and hidden? Or did they…?

"Ah! I'm sure they got away fine, though. It's only been a day, they might've just been freaked out by what happened and rushed out in a hurry. We would've found traces if anything happened to them! We'll find the people responsible, kay~?" I sighed softly as those her words failed on me. It's a large team of researchers and scientists, not a band of uneducated elementary students!

"Who are you?" I was really tired and wanted to switch the conversation away from this depressing subject. It couldn't hurt to clear my mind for a little bit. "Well, my name is Hayate Yagami! I'm a cadet at the TSAB's Special Investigations division!" she cheerily introduced herself with a polite, quick bow. "What's your name, miss?"

"Shiroyuki Hitori."

"Hitori? (一人) What a depressing last name!"

"No no! Hi-tori! (火鳥)"

"Ahaha, so a phoenix?"

"Ah, I guess…"

I hadn't even noticed it, but the conversation had taken a much lighter tone already. This young girl was definitely clever and clearly quite capable of steering a conversation the way she wanted to. I knew about the TSAB's eagerness to recruit young, capable soldiers, but this is the first time I actually saw someone this young in the flesh. "How old are you, anyway? Aren't you a little young to work at the military?"

"Well, aren't you a little young to be a scientist?"

"I-I just support my mother, I'm not much of one myself-" this time, however, I caught her. I shook my head and interrupted my train of thought as I raised my face to stare up at her. "Don't deflect like that!"

"I'm eleven, but I'm a mere cadet! You're a fifteen year-old that's already managed to make quite the name for herself, that's far more impressive!"

'Wait, my age… how did she!?' I only had to think to myself for a moment before the obvious answer hit me in the face. She was a special investigator, she probably knew the answer to all of her questions from the start. She was probably doing nothing more than building some friendly barter

"You're pretty humble, too! Both in attitude…" she raised her left hand to her mouth as she said that, covering her lips as she let out a gentle giggle. "...And in chest size." I let out a weak yelp as I heard that, quickly bouncing my hands to my chest and coming to the awkward realization that my fiddling around had caused my gown to drop a bit. I felt a warmness rise up in my face as I quickly closed the back right back up. That stupid child...

"Aww, covering yourself back up. I couldn't see anything more than the top of your breasts, you know." the young cadet said, letting go of the doorpost and stepping forward, putting her hands up and making squeezing motions. S-she had to be kidding, right!?

However, it seemed like she was only being playful. She lowered her hands and let out another of her playful giggles, before stepping towards me. But, her left leg seemed to cramp up that moment- she fell through it and went on a collision course with the floor. She helplessly flailed those arms of hers for a short moment before guarding her face and breaking her fall. "...Ahaha, oww. You're not the only one that has trouble walking." she said, rubbing her forearms in pain. She had obviously winced and a few tears had shot to her eyes, so it seemed like the fall had actually hurt her and she wasn't merely playing around this time. I couldn't help feeling a bit bad for her. Reaching my hand out, I gave her a gentle pat on the head.

"You really don't seem like the military type at all. What made you join?"

"You don't seem like the sciency type either."

"W-what's that supposed to… Hey!"

"Ahaha, sorry. I really can't answer that one. It's classified information." Hayate said, giving me a soft wink and a gentle smile. Yet, it was written all over her face. She had a tale that wasn't too pleasant.

"Alright." I gave up quite quickly this time. She didn't seem too eager to share any information, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to get anything out of her if she didn't want to talk. "How long will I have to stay here…?" While this was a hospital, it wouldn't be too unrealistic that they would want to keep me here until the investigation is solved.

"Well, your legs should be recovered by tomorrow morning… but, you probably shouldn't wander around too much yet." I gulped as I heard those words. Even though I understood why the necessary precautions had to be taken, it still stung just ever so slightly to realise that I wouldn't be going anywhere unless they gave me permission.

"Oi, don't put on such a grim lil' expression~" Hayate quickly cut my thoughts off. Oh dear, I was never the best at keeping a poker-face as I spoke. It was probably all too obvious that her words had gotten me down. "I'm not gonna lock you in this room, you little worrywart. We just want to make sure you're safe for now." The young cadet had a way with words, the constant cheer she excluded did well to ease my worries.

"Well… I'd like to go out tomorrow morning then. I want to go back to the lab."

"Hmm… It should be off limits, but you're a special case~ You could probably help us with the investigation. Plus, with all of the team there, you'll definitely be safe!" While I hoped I could be allowed to, I never really expected her to give me permission. I figured they'd keep me far away from the laboratory until the investigation was completed. That's excellent! I smiled brightly, knowing that a second look would definitely bring me closer to the answer of what happened.

"Thank you, Hayate." I gave her a happy nod before following up with another pat. I drew my arms back to my body, closing my eyes. I had a lot of sleep in the time I wasn't conscious, but there wasn't a lot of rest. I felt scared and chaotic… but now, I could get some rest. Tomorrow, I was to head back to the lab and figure out what happened.

And before I knew it, I had entered a deep sleep. I hadn't even intended to fall asleep yet. I wanted to talk with the brunette a bit more.