Traversing the alley, they found a house that looked empty. William grabbed Lucie's hand, pulling her inside while locking the door.

William leaned on the wall beside the door, glaring at his sister. His hand was clenched hard. "It's happening again."

Although her feet were trembling, Lucie tried to calm her heavy breathing, remembering the tenacity of Empire's assault yesterday. "Yes, but this time..." she took one long breath before looking straight at William and continued, "we are going to help."

Surprised, William looked back at Lucie's eyes, noticing a glint of fire inside, something he usually noticed when she already made up her mind. He let out a single sigh. "Lucie, this is not a game."

"You prefer to die instead, brother?"

William flinched hearing her remark. "Lucie!"

"We have to! It's them or us!" Raising her voice, she looked back at him. "He would be ashamed if you-"

"LUCIE!"

She stepped back as William shouted, but she never looked away from. In fact, the fire on her eyes went brighter.

"William, think about it. We have to fight back to escape. It's bound to stain our hands regardless what we do."

It pained William to admit his sister was right, but he gritted his teeth as he looked away from her. For a moment, he realized what he did yesterday, the image was rushing through his head, vivid as day. He actually pulled the trigger of his rifle on those soldiers surrounding his family. He did kill someone, three of them, even.

"Father would understand, Will."

William offered no response. He just stood still, conflicted on what to do next.

"Look. It's not just you who ever killed someone. If you utterly despise it, then let me. Hand me that thing." Lucie gestured at the rifle slung on his back.

Ignoring her sister's request, he looked at her, his mouth went agape. "...When? Why?"

It was a lie. William understood just by remembering what remained on her room yesterday, but his minds refused to believe.

She lowered her face to the floor, flinching as she forced herself to once again remember. "One of them... He went to my room, his rifle aimed at me. Do you think I should talk that through?" She bit her lower lip as she recalled.

Managed to dodge the shot, she jumped on her aggressor, turning the table against him as she grappled his rifle away, accidentally snapping it into two in the process. For a second, the world went blur around her as she grabbed half of the rifle with bayonet attached on it and stabbed the soldier. He was already dead when she heard a feminine shriek on the kitchen. It was her mother.

Unwilling to remember further, she once again gestured at William's rifle. "Will, it's you or me."

William hesitated for a bit before eventually removing the rifle from his back. Before he handed Lucie the rifle, William grabbed her shoulder for a moment.

"Promise me something. Never kill more than necessary."

Lucie accepted the rifle from William, albeit reluctant as well. "I... understand. Although, Will..."

He glanced at her from his side. "Hm?"

"That line was so cliche."

He could imagine himself chuckling if the situation wasn't so dire.

Lucie tried to analyze the weapon on her hand, trying to find any sign of defect, but soon gave up. This was not her specialty, but something was quite obvious to both of them. The part where the magazine usually went in, the hole under the weapon, was wide open. Her eyes dropped a bit.

"We... forgot to ask for some ammo." She gritted her teeth as she murmured.

A sign of relief washed over William's face. "W-Well then, just forget about-"

She pushed her hand on his brother's mouth. "We will obtain it ourselves. Find some hostiles, neutralize them, loot their ammunition. Pretty straightforward, right?" she said, trying to muster some of her confidence. William opened his mouth for a second before reluctantly closing it as he realized that's the only way for them to survive.

"Okay, but how do we do this?"

Lucie's mouth formed a smug as she glanced at something beside him. "Guess."

She glanced to the kitchen on this empty house.

A small playing ball broke through window pane from a certain house, flying right to a lone Empire soldier. He was able to dodge it before shooting back at the direction it went flying. A scream can be heard from inside.

"Agh! Sister... Run!"

"N-No! Brother, don't... Don't die, please!"

The soldier ran to the house, grinning as he apparently scored a prey. That girl's voice sounded pretty soft, perhaps her body could be the same as well for a quick relieve. He opened the door slowly to mask his entrance. He could see the living room as well as the broken window from where he stood, but nothing was there. Not a body nor a pool of blood were there. Before he got a chance to realize his mistake, he felt a sharp object being impaled behind his neck.

The soldier fell to the ground, his consciousness leaving his body. Lucie simply stared at William as she pulled the knife out.

"Surprise is the best element you can always count on. Don't you agree, Will?"

William just squinted his eyes seeing the lifeless corpse. He mumbled some kind of prayer as he rummaged through the dead body, all while holding back his stiff stomach. When he was finished, he showed Lucie a grenade and a pouch. Inside the pouch were some clips, magazines, and cartridges thrown together randomly, probably enough for some time. William sighed as he grabbed the weapon from the cold, limp hand, another ZM Kar to bolster their offense.

"I'm sorry," he muttered softly to the dead soldier.

He could feel Lucie's gaze from his back. "I don't mean to offend, but it's best not to get sentimental. It's already nauseating as it is," she said, her hand now placed on William's shoulder. "There will be more to come, so... don't feel guilty."

Trying his hardest to not look at the dead soldier once again, he mustered his feet back up.

"Will, do you know how to refill this thing?" asked Lucie. She looked confused as she held a cartridge on her free hand.

"H-Hold on! Do it like this... wait, how did they do it again?" William said as he showed Lucie the correct way to reload the rifle. "Also, it's called 'reload', not 'refill'. Were you sleeping when they taught you this in class?"

"Well, sorry for not listening!" Lucie pouted as she mimicked her brother. "Never expected myself to really wield a gun, anyway, so why the bother? Those mandatory military training were boring and nerdy. How do you remember something like that so long ago, anyway!?"

"Had to admit, they looked interesting to dissect part by part. Hate the killing part, though..."

"Ugh, Will. Stop making it harder for me too. Please."

The room went silent for a while before Lucie slowly opened the door.

"Well, let's go."

William silently followed behind her, his rifle's ready to shoot.

Trying to hide their presence, Lucie and William ventured throughout the alleyway without any pointer at hand, leaving them clueless as to where they are currently. Even so, they keep moving, always wary of their surrounding before they came across a certain two-story house.

In front of it, a group of soldiers tried to break through the door, apparently barred from the other side. They were busy looking at the door, unaware of William and Lucie spying them over from the distance. Over the second floor window, although unclear thanks to the smoke and dust, they saw a silhouette of a head or maybe two inside.

"William, close your eyes. Forgive me as well," said Lucie as she grabbed the grenade they looted earlier.

Leaving no time to waste, Lucie pulled the fuse under her grenade stick.

"STOP THAT!" she shouted as she tossed the grenade.

Unable to respond due to the surprise, the soldiers turned toward the duo but died soon after, thanks to the explosion. All of them were obliterated by that single grenade.

Reluctant at first, William eventually signaled the people above watching through the window to open the door, and they entered soon after it was unlocked. An old man slammed the door and locked the door once they were inside.

Inside the house, there were a number of elders around their fifties looking at the duo. None of them looked eager to fight, rather they were frightened over the sight of two gun wielders within the room. One of the elder managed to break the silence. "Youngsters, are you with the town watch?"

Lucie shook her head, opening her mouth before William did. "No sir, we're not. We're just a brother and sister trying to escape from all this madness."

"Then, please just stay here until the danger pass through, dear. We're sure-"

"Why didn't you all evacuate?" For the first time, William managed to open his mouth, cutting the elders abruptly. "I think those town watch members would be more than happy to help you all move out than pulling you out from this massacre," William continued quickly as he glared to all of them. "I'm sure you all are well informed things are going to get rough today, right?"

From their face, William assumed they looked hesitant to answer the question, but another elder eventually gave in and spoke. "We... we actually planned to move out as well, but one of our friend did not come in time. We decided to wait for his arrival, and sadly here we are right now, hiding in the middle of a gunfight."

Lucie gave them an annoyed look before turning her head to William. "Will? What do we do?"

William was already deep in thought before she even asked, thinking the best way to approach the situation. It's obvious they can't stay here. The soldiers outside would eventually notice bodies of their friend obliterated in front of the house, causing unwanted attention. That said, he had to consider the one elder they said went missing before this all happened. Although the chances were slim, it's possible this person was still alive. William's mind were screaming at him, telling him to cut the losses and just go away from these people as they proposed an extra layer of danger when they're mostly sneaking around, but his heart immediately screamed back, unable to bear such thought. He had to do something, but all of the choices at hand were going to bite them in a way or two, both mentally and physically.

After making up his mind, he placed his hands on Lucie's shoulder and pulled her in front of him, looking straight at her eyes. He went to her ear, whispering something. "Lucie, be a good girl and follow along."

Lucie raised her eyebrows, confused with such statement.

After he released his hand, William clapped his hand, gathering the attention of the elders. He cleared his throat before starting.

"Okay, dear grandparents! Early on, our plan was to run from here, away from this fighting that won't die down anytime soon, but I believe this meeting was fated by Valkyrur herself. Obviously, as a functioning member of the society, we can't leave you all alone here, as that went against our morals." He inhaled a bit then continued, bracing himself from her sister's reaction.

"Hearing your woes, I am moved. Such solidarity must be commended, even in tough times like this. Due to that, I, William Astergon, am willing to rescue your friend. He must be trapped somewhere, unable to come on time thanks to this Empire-made calamity. I wanted to search for your friend with my sister, but I'm afraid that is beyond my capability, as we can't just leave you all behind completely defenseless. Which is why," he patted Lucie's shoulder before continuing, "my sister here is going to lead you out from this area, and I will assist your separated friend. Please restrain any rejection if there's any, as this is our utmost priority! We're going with this plan, effective immediately!"

Lucie eyes went wide. "N-No! I... I will...," she bit her lip, trying to form a sentence, "I will be the one who search instead!"

Lucie quickly stood in front of the door, barring William from going out. She leaned toward William, her eyes on the verge of crying, but William shrugged her off. "No can do, miss! My order for you was to lead them out from this hell, not to indulge yourself deeper in it! I know fighting is one of your forte, but my order remains absolute!"

"N-No... NO! I disapprove! I... I won't allow it!"

She hugged William tight, afraid to let him go. Her memories of yesterday flashed once again. It was her mother, and that alone was already hard enough for her to bear. Now her only brother, her last family, wanted to gamble his life. She couldn't allow it, never.

She broke down and sobbed like a little child. William caressed her back slowly, trying to calm her sister down. Lucie buried herself deeper on his embrace. "William... You are the only one left for me! I don't wanna lose you just because of this!" She looked at him face to face, eyes already wet.

William cupped her cheek softly, giving her a reassuring look. "I may not be as strong as you... But that doesn't mean I can't fight. Please, put your trust on me this one time." He returned the hug, embracing her tightly. He touched her forehead before releasing the hug, calming her quite a bit.

"But... Where will we meet after this?" Her face still had a somber look on it. Her eyes tried to look at William with courage, but deep inside, William could feel a looming fear growing on her.

"There's no saying for now, but I'll make sure we meet each other again in the evacuation camp, if there's any."

Lucie wept away her flowing tears, trying to muster her smile. "Promise?" She offered her little finger to him.

Enveloping her little finger with his, William nodded. "Promise."