"Lieutenant! Are you alright?"

The colonel shouted as ran towards the form of his fallen subordinate narrowly dodging falling rubble from above. He coughed slightly as the dust settled around him; his hands waved the particles away from his view. Where is she? The colonel scanned the debris around him, his heart pounding crazily inside him. The room was in a mess, piles of red bricks lay around him, the walls were beaten in and the ceiling was gone. They were chasing a wanted criminal through the halls of this abandoned castle, if he was more alert, he could have noticed the boxes of dynamite that his perpetrator had set for them, a snap of regret. This mess was his doing.

"Where are you?" there was no response from anyone. The wall next to the colonel crumbled, the colonel waved away more of the annoying particles. Within the silence, he heard grunt coming from the where the door once stood. In the dust, a shadow stood.

"Is that you, Hawkeye?" puzzled at the fact, why his lieutenant would not say anything. A few steps more, his eyes widened. The criminal they were chasing came out from the grey cloud; his right arm was bleeding badly however he did not seem to mind. The colonel clenched his fist. She should be alright, this bastard however… The second he thought about this and at the same moment, he regretted his words. Behind the criminal, he saw blonde hair and that unmistakable figure lying motionless at his feet. The criminal took no notice the sudden change of the colonel's facial expression, he keeled down. The colonel ponders his actions, should he attack him? But what if the criminal retaliates, this desolated place might collapse on all of them.

"You…" the criminal began slowly, dragging the colonel's split attention back to him. "Shall never see her again…" The colonel gasped as the man retrieved a dagger from his coat pocket and plunge it deep into his skull, he gave the colonel a large grin. The transmutation circle that he used began to glow green, as the engravings on his palms began to bleed. The colonel jumped in his skin, he had to get the lieutenant out of here before the walls fall. He was about to take a step when to his ultimate horror, the ground beneath his subordinate was also glowing green. What is he doing? The colonel hesitated for the first time at the wrong time.

"Witness my alchemy, a human sacrifice for a never ending dream…" whispered the frozen criminal who kneels the ground. The colonel rushed forward only to be blown back by the residual power of the transmutation, he stumbled to the floor. "Lieutenant!" he called for her, as a pillar fell in front of his feet. He used his arms to shield him from the stray stones and gravel.

That man fell to the ground, a dagger in the skull. The last of his life drained away into the depths.

Moments later, the colonel was at his lieutenant side, he pulled her into his arms. The engravings on the ground beneath her could not be interpreted, but for now he did not care about anything more than the woman he cradled. She had not opened her eyes ever since the mess he created, nor said a word. The colonel could feel a steady pulse and breathings, however she does not reply to his words. The ceilings above them, many floors away, the warm sun shone into the room. Is she sleeping?

"Lieutenant!" The colonel hugs her warm body, praying that maybe she was still existing somewhere.