Emma kept loosening the sword in its sheath as she walked down the unfamiliar streets, this city didn't appear to have good or bad areas it was just rough all over, it had been hard enough sneaking in to it but you had to do what you had to do. The city was surrounded by some pretty high walls and guard posts at each of the four entrances, but it was easy enough to wait for nightfall and then scale the wall with a rope, "I have the sneaking suspicion that those guards are more for keeping people in than out though," the thought ran through her head sadly, wondering why she felt such a pull to this city, "I'll find out soon enough, trouble always seems to find me." Emma spent the night wandering the streets gaining a feel for the city, it appeared to be split into sections but there was no overall pattern to the streets she cursed to herself basically being perpetually lost, the only thing she knew was the city's name: Ergastulum, she had managed to pass the police station earlier, it was the only building which didn't appear to have a dodgy deal going on its shadows. She'd already hit a few dead ends in the twisting alleys and side streets in an effort to avoid people who were out for some... fun that night, after a few of these encounters the roofs seemed a lot safer, "Besides I'll get a better view of the city from up here." Nobody seemed to notice her up there and as the sky began to lighten she climbed back down to the streets, shifting the heavy backpack on her shoulders.
Now there were more people on the main streets, but a number still kept to the side streets a lot of them carried weapons, and military style dog tags hung around a lot of necks, even so a lot of children still ran about carefree and playing although they took care to avoid anyone wearing those dog tags. "Aaah," a small scream echoed into the alley from a bigger street, running out onto the street Emma saw a young girl backing away from a towering giant of a man. "Oi Ugly!" Emma shouted from the entrance to the alley as she stepped from the shadows, "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back for a change?" Both the girl and the man turned to face her, a strangled laugh caught in her throat, "Ugly was an understatement," she muttered under her breath, the man towered over her, at least six foot if not more, and his muscles bulged out from every angle, his bald head shone in the sunlight, his nose had been broken so many times it was just a mess stuck to the middle of his face.
"None of your business kid," he sneered revealing a mouth half filled with gunky teeth, "all the girl has to do is give me what I need and we'll all be on our merry way."
The little girl couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve, "You aren't on the list," she clutched the paper bag to her chest replying defiantly, "if you go to the Doctor's clinic he can give you a prescription. Other people need this medicine too." She glanced nervously at the man as a set of dog tags clinked against each other on his chest.
"That won't cut it brat," the man shouted and began to run towards the small child fist raised menacingly. Emma sprinted towards them, the man moved with remarkable speed despite his size, "I hope I make it," she prayed silently, as adrenaline started running through her veins everything seemed to slow down as the man's fist raced towards the little girl Emma ducked underneath the punch and threw her arm into blocking the punch. As her forearm smashed into the man's wrist, the vibration sent shockwaves up her arm, and the man's momentum sent him tumbling forward into the wall behind the little girl, dust rained down on him as the wall cracked at the impact.
After ten seconds he still was collapsed against the wall unmoving so Emma went over to the little girl and put her hands on the girls shoulders, "Are you okay?" she asked hoping she hadn't scared the girl.
"Yeah thanks," the girl smiled brightly despite the fact she had just been threatened by a guy who could only be described as monstrous, "my name's Nina what's yours?"
Emma smiled back, her bright personality was infectious, "I'm Emma, nice to meet you Nina. You look a lot like my little sister," the last part came out as a whisper, softly, the warmth of the happy memories rising to mind. A groan sounded out behind them as the man lumbered to his feet, "Oops, chat later, go hide at the corner of that building and look after this please," Emma gestured behind her as she pushed Nina softly away from her and handed her the backpack, the little girl ran quickly to a nearby building, but stayed where she could see what was happening.
Spitting blood and possibly another rotten tooth onto the cobbles the man turned to face me, "Who are you?" he growled, "Who do you work for?" Emma didn't reply but stood there impassively right hand moving to the clip holding the scabbard of her sword to her belt. "I'm a B/3 kid you don't want to mess with me, so what rank is a runt like you?" he gestured to the dog tags on his chest proudly glinting in the sunlight.
Emma heard a small gasp from behind her, "Is that supposed to mean something to me," she asked yawning as she stretched, "All I care about is that you are picking on a defenceless kid, and it's your unlucky day, I might have decided to go easy on you but the kid looks like my sister so you're in for a world of pain." Venom dripped from her voice as she stared at the guy resolutely, smirking as she saw blood dripping down his face from where he had smashed into the wall.
The man rushed her, his thick arm once again drawn back to punch her in the face, as the first flew towards her face Emma swayed slightly letting the blow whistle past her face as he continued forward she crouched lower and drove an elbow towards his solar plexus. His charge halted as the air was driven out of his lungs from the elbow digging into his chest, the next thing he saw were stars flashing in front of his eyes as pain blossomed across his right jaw. Enraged he unleashed an assault of quick fire blows on the girl before him, to his eyes she was a puny stick, but he couldn't seem to touch her she always seemed to move just as the punch should have landed. Emma circled around the hulk of a man getting in a couple of hits with her elbows and knees to the delicate areas near his joints and kidneys, but just as she went to dance out of reach her foot caught on a broken cobble stone slowing her escape. It was like a freight train crashed into her, the force of the guys kick sent her flying into a wall, air driven from her lungs, she gasped silently trying to breathe, she finally coughed and managed to gulp some air down. "Told you, puny kids shouldn't mess with their seniors."
Still struggling for breath, Emma retorted, "Ha, I take guys like you on for breakfast, I thought I wouldn't have to try too hard to take care of some trash like you, but I may have to put some type of effort in."
"Why you little punk?!" An iron grip fastened around her arm almost crushing the bone, she grimaced at the pain before she felt herself being thrown up towards the sky, a small squeak of fear escaped her lips as the wind snapped at her clothes, spreading out her limbs to slow her ascent and hopefully the descent too. Another figure was also now in mid-air, the guy had jumped up impossibly high following her into the air, they were now far above the surrounding rooftops, unclipping the sword from her belt she angled herself to meet the man head on. As he reached out to grab her Emma twisted in mid-air placing the sheathed sword against the man's neck, holding the sword at either end Emma pulled it tighter against his neck in a strangle hold, his gigantic hands tried to pry hers away but Emma's hands seemed to be melded to the swords hilt and scabbard. Leaning back Emma used the sword as leverage to pull both of them backward until they were heading to the ground head first, "Keep calm," she thought letting out a deep breath, timing was everything, let go too soon and he could right himself before hitting the ground, too late and her brains would also be splattered on the unforgiving cobbles. When they were barely a foot from the ground she let go of one end of the sword and rolled to the side absorbing the impact on her side. Groaning she sat up sword still tightly clutched in her right hand, "That's going to bruise tomorrow," wincing as she tried to stand she re-evaluated, "might bruise later today." Looking up she saw in satisfaction that the man was now spark out on his back on the ground and fortunately, for him at least, still breathing. "You can come out now Nina," she called rolling to her feet. Nina peeked out cautiously from her hiding place before running over.
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, "How did you do that? I've never seen a normal come close to touching such a high level twilight." Her big eyes shone in awe at the older girl, Emma breathed a sigh of relief, at least she hadn't terrified her.
A puzzled look came over Emma's face, "What's a twilight? Are they some type of special ops soldier or something?"
Nina began to answer when a roar echoed across the area, "Prepare to die you little squirt!" Nina squealed in terror and grasped at the back of Emma's hoodie.
Emma bit back the retort she was about to let rip when she saw her opponent levelling a gun towards her, "this guy just doesn't give up" she thought bitterly, "I didn't see that gun on him before though."
"I'm not leaving here without those drugs," he growled before pulling the trigger, Emma whipped the sword out in front of her, holding it horizontally across her body, her forearm making sure the blade didn't dip. The bullet hit the edge of the scabbard before flying off harmlessly to the side.
"Time to end this," Emma muttered, pushing Nina down to the ground, a little too roughly, she sprinted towards the gun-weilding thug, he raised the gun again but she slid through his tree trunk legs as he fired again the bullet lodging into some poor building, crouching body low to the ground Emma drew her sword for the first time, slicing through both of his Achilles' tendons in one stroke, screaming as he fell to his knees blood spurted from his ankles soaking his shoes and the ground around him. "Now time for you to take that nap," she sneered slamming the hilt of her sword into the man's temple, he finally crumpled to the ground deeply unconscious. The sword hung loosely in her hand as she made her way back to Nina, wiping the blood off the blade on the man's trousers.
"We should be safe now," Emma said reassuringly to Nina, "sorry you had to see that," she smiled apologetically hoping that she didn't look too much of a mess and took her bag back from Nina. Emma saw Nina glance over her shoulder, eyes widening, and spun around to see a man brandishing a sword approaching them threateningly. He was a lot smaller than the previous thug, "He's so short," Emma realised, the man was only around her height, and his body clearly made of hard muscle underneath the suit he wore. Emma shivered slightly, the newcomer had the presence of a demon, radiating menace and the intent to kill as his eyes stared out at her from beneath the strands of jet black hair framing his face, his lips curled into a deadly smile and yet again a set of those dog tags hung from around his neck, he was close enough for her to see on one side they read A/0. "What do you want?" Emma called out, her voice shaking ever so slightly, "If you want whatever the girl is carrying you'll have to go through me first!"
The man's gaze dropped to my shoulder towards Nina, he just stood there unspeaking, but something seemed to shift in his expression. Emma glanced at the smaller girl to see her hands moving rapidly, sign language she quickly realised, "Nina do you know this guy?" she asked tentatively, drained from the previous fight she was really hoping not to have to fight this guy, he would be a tough nut to crack she thought.
Nina nodded to me beaming, "That's Nico, he's my friend," Emma breathed a sigh of relief, strange friend for a kid she thought nervously, seeing that "Nico" was signing a reply to Nina, she nodded to him replying out loud while signing; "I'm fine Emma saved me from that thug."
Nico looked at me before signing the one word she knew, "Thank you."
Emma shrugged, "It's what anyone would do, I can't stand to see someone hurting a kid," sheathing her sword, "You're deaf but you can read lips right?" She saw that this Nico while appearing nonchalant actually kept his eyes on her face, he grunted in reply before continuing to walk over to them.
He looked at Nina closely checking she wasn't hurt at all, "I'm fine Nico, I promise," Nina reassured him, she reached out to hug him but before she could he pinched her nose, "Ow that hurts," she complained, but she was still laughing, Emma let a smile tug at the corner of her lips, this guy had looked scary but with Nina he acted like an older brother or uncle, he's probably a good guy, as she watched them she became aware of the spots of pain flaring up all over her body, most of it was bruising on her left side where she landed after that fall or her ribs from being kicked but her right arm was aching too. Gingerly looking her arm, she saw the fabric of her hoodie was ripped and blood was seeping into the clothes, the bullet must have grazed my arm as it ricocheted off the sword she thought bitterly, quickly hiding the wound as Nina turned back towards her. "Emma why don't you come back with us, are you sure you aren't hurt?"
Emma laughed off the concern, "I'm fine honestly but that would be nice, I'm kind of lost, I only came to the city last night and wandered around a bit aimlessly until now." Nico shot her a curious look but quickly looked away again.
"You mean you don't have anywhere to go?" Nina asked tears threatening to fill her eyes, "you have to come back to the clinic with us, besides I'd feel better having both of you to walk me back," Nina looked down pursing her lips slightly.
"Haha well I can't refuse a request like that," Emma replied, "besides I make a decent bodyguard you know," she winked at the younger girl, who jumped with glee throwing her arms around her, Emma returned the hug gently, making sure not to get blood on Nina's clothes. Nico looked at her arm impassively even so Emma mouthed silently "Not a word," then turned and started walking off, carrying the paper bag that the thug, still unconscious on the ground, had wanted. I wonder if her dad is a doctor, Emma mused, she keeps mentioning a clinic, and it might be where she lives. Nina pulled on Emma's uninjured arm dragging her along to catch up with Nico; she started an animated if one sided conversation with him, describing the fight between Emma and the thug, he occasionally added a remark in sign language, while Nina nodded along. Emma noticed that Nico also kept eyeing her own longsword from time to time, but she just now looked at his more closely, it appeared to be a Japanese katana, the blade held in the scabbard by a red ribbon wrapped around the hilt and top of the sheath, looking at Nico himself more closely she saw he had some Asian features to his face too, along with the dark hair and eyes.
Breathing a little heavily Emma began to slow down only keeping up from Nina's small hand in hers urging her along, blinking the tiredness from her eyes, she heard Nico sigh, she stepped away slightly but he moved towards her and pushed up her right sleeve revealing the bloody graze from the bullet wound. "Oww," she cried tears springing to her eyes, glaring at Nico she shouted "I said not to tell!"
Nico only snorted while Nina rushed to examine her arm, "You said you weren't hurt," she admonished the older girl, suddenly she seemed a lot older, with the air of a professional, "I'll get the Doctor to look at it as soon as we get to the clinic."
"Honestly Nina, it's just a graze," Emma replied earnestly, "I've dealt with a lot worse, and it'll look a lot better once I run some water over it." She shot a glare over Nina's head at Nico for ratting her out; he just stuck out his tongue at her and continued walking.
Nina tugged gently on Emma's hand, "The clinic's just around the corner, don't worry we'll look after you." Emma let herself be led to a nondescript building around the corner only the sign above it reading "Dr Theo's" marked it out from the houses around it. The three of them entered with Nina calling out "Doctor we need your help."
"Nina, you're late," a man's voice sounded from behind one of the curtains, a tall man emerged from behind the curtain his white coat crumpled and creased, glasses glinting in the bright lights of the small rundown clinic. Emma hid behind Nico slightly making herself smaller, in order to use the shorter man to hide her, seeing Nico the doctor sighed, "what happened this time Nicolas?" He sounded bored, Nicolas must be a regular visitor then, Emma thought, Nico grunted shaking his head before shoving Emma forward toward the doctor.
Nina also shook her head, "Nico is fine today," she then pointed toward Emma, "A thug tried to attack me for the Celebrer, a B/3, I was delivering but she stepped in and saved me, but she got hurt." Nina looked up sadly at the Doctor, using her best puppy dog eyes.
"Fine, fine," the doctor replied, "get Nico to help you hang the washing would you before he breaks something." Nina squealed happily as she dragged Nico back outside with her. "Take a seat," The doctor gestured to the bed behind the curtain, Emma shrugged off the bloodied hoodie and gratefully sat down on the thin mattress slightly cradling her arm as she did so, the doctor returned with some gauze, bandages and what looked like a bottle of pure alcohol as disinfectant. His hands were rough but he gently lifted Emma's arm to look at the wound, "It isn't deep just a superficial wound, you're lucky, honestly Nina could have dealt with this herself."
"I told her it wasn't serious," Emma replied, "I can deal with it myself; I don't want to be taking up your time."
The doctor just shrugged, he looked tired, his hair beginning to tinge with grey, "It's not a problem, think of it as a thank you for saving Nina, not many people in this town would have done what you did for her, actually I'm surprised you're alive Nina told me the thug was a B/3."
"She mentioned that a couple of times and Nicolas' dog tags say A/0. Just what exactly does it mean?" Emma asked her curiosity finally boiling over.
The doctor looked up at her in surprise, "You don't know about twilights?" Emma shook her head slowly, wincing as the doctor began to clean the wound with the alcohol, "Twilights are the children of people who abused a drug called Celebrer, these children have much greater physical capabilities than normal people however there's a price they all have some sort of disability like Nicolas' deafness. Additionally they're dependent on Celebrer for life, and usually only live to their thirties." The doctor grew silent absorbed in cleaning the wound, Emma bit her lip and tried to keep still. "Which begs the question if you aren't a twilight yourself, and I can't find any evidence to support that fact, how on earth did you knock out such a high ranking twilight?"
"I've had a lot of training," Emma answered cryptically, her hand subconsciously reaching out for the sword lying next to her on the bed. "How old is Nicolas?"
"Thirty four," the doctor replied.
"That old?" Emma was taken aback and winced as the doctor dabbed at the wound with gauze, "he doesn't look that old!"
The doctor smirked, "Well he's pretty healthy for a twilight his age even if he is too reckless," tying off the bandage skilfully the doctor stood up clearing away the used gauze, "You're all done here, just keep it clean, did you get any other injuries?"
"Just some bruising, nothing major," Emma replied as Nina burst back in the door. The doctor eyed her cynically but shrugged, let the kid handle it herself if she wants, he had other business to take care of.
Nina lurked shyly by the curtain, "Are you alright now?"
Emma showed her the bandage on her arm, "Yup all patched up!" She smiled giving Nina a thumbs up, the little girl ran over to her and hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry the clinic isn't very comfortable but you can stay for a while if you want," Nina offered.
"Nina!" the doctor called out, "We are not a boarding house for strays! The clinic needs the space for emergencies!"
"But Doctor Theo!" Nina cried, "She just came to Ergastulum she doesn't have anywhere to go!"
"No Nina." The doctor ordered firmly adding in "Sorry kid."
Emma laughed at their exchange, "It's okay, I understand, you have to put patients first. Don't worry Nina, I'll figure something out, I always do." Ruffling Nina's hair gently she reassured the little girl.
"Nico you have space don't you?" Nina pleaded with Nico signing along as she spoke.
Nicolas pulled an odd face while the doctor burst out, "Nina you can't ask Nico that! Worick could say no!"
Nina pouted, tears filling her eyes, and then a new deep voice sounded out through the room, "Fine. Worick won't say no to a girl anyway." The voice was slightly slurred, Emma looked in surprise at Nicolas, I wasn't sure if he could speak, she thought, he must not like speaking out loud that often. She signed back "Thank you" clumsily, but Nicolas just shrugged and walked out the door. "Hey wait up!" She cried, chasing Nico out the door picking up her rucksack. Well I guess I'm not completely alone in this city now, Emma thought, Ergastulum what do you want from me?