The groundwork had been laid, a time had been set, and Kallian was sure things were going to be alright. In the dead of night, they creeped through the halls of one of the Homs buildings, as quiet as could be. It was almost sad, seeing how little security they had for things like this. It was almost as if they wanted the Machina to be freed!

But still, they continued to quietly creep through the halls, on the off chance someone was still wandering around. Better to be safe than sorry! Besides, Tyrea seemed to be in her element here, and the last thing Kallian wanted was to cut that short.

Seeing her almost enjoying herself as she led them down the hall… It filled him with pride.

There was one guard, but they were asleep, snoring softly and not even in front of the room they needed. These Homs were messy, Kallian noted. When they were able to smooth this over, he would need to give them some tips and tricks.

Then again, they could have just been caught off guard. They may be offended if it was a misunderstanding and he tried to give them tips. Oh, he really didn't know how to interact with Homs…

"Come on, keep moving." Alvis's voice was quiet, but enough to pull him out of his thoughts. "The three could be in trouble as we speak."

"Ah, yes, apologies." He nodded and started to move after Tyrea again. That was right, it was time to focus on Egil and the others! They needed to save them!

Soon enough, Tyrea had led them to the room and in they went, opening the door as slowly as possible to avoid any creaking or squeaking it could cause. Thankfully, they slipped in without a real problem or sound.

Sitting against a pole in the middle of the room were their friends, chained up. Kallian let out a sigh of relief seeing they were alright, running to them. "Thank the Bionis you three are alright! Give us some time, and we can get you free."

"Don't worry, Prince Kallian." Alvis approached with a hum, smiling down at Egil. "They'll be able to free themselves, won't you?"


Egil tore through the chains with ease and the others quickly followed suit as Alvis smiled at them. He had had a feeling they could, and just chose not to. Now that they had people willing to get their hands dirty with a fight, though… No reason to pretend to really be bound.

"There we are, too bad you didn't come find us first, could have saved us some trouble." Alvis sighed dramatically, running a hand through his hair. "Though I don't know how quiet you all could be in the halls of this place…"

"Oh shush." Egil pinched his cheek and for the first time, Alvis felt something more than just base amusement. For some reason, the hand on his cheek and the look on Egil's face made his non-existent heart skip a beat.

A glitch in his programming after being around the Machina so long? They weren't what he was used to dealing with, after all. He put his hand to he cheek, thinking it over, but did his best to react as usual.

"I see you're no fun as always, Egil."

"Oh haha." He snorted before allowing a serious look to come to his face. "We can talk about this later. For now we should focus on getting out of here unnoticed. The boy with the Monado is still on the loose…"

"Ah, of course."

Tyrea looked them up and down and sighed. "Fine, but you three! Take off those heels of yours! They could make noise, clacking against the ground."

"That's true enough…" Egil sighed as the three began to pull their heels off. Good, metal heels on metal would be a loud and obvious giveaway to their escape.

"Then let us go." Vanea stepped towards the door first, heels in her hand…

And they were met with the barrel of a gun pressed against her mouth, pushing the Machina back into the room as a Homs woman revealed herself. Her shoulders were tight, her lips pulled into a straight line, and her muscular stomach was on display thanks to her crop top. Clearly someone who could give them a run for their money.

"Don't move." Her voice was steady and quiet as she spoke. "Unless you want your head blown to scraps."

"Oh dear, this is a problem."


Linada watched the woman threatening Vanea carefully, picking up on every little thing she could. The body language of any being could mean a lot, could one read it. And now, Linada hoped she could read that of a Homs well.

She was tense, but nervous, her eyes not able to rest on one of them. Her grip on her rifle was tight, but as Linada looked at it, she had a hunch it wasn't for fighting. At least, not primarily.

"Are you a doctor as well?" She spoke up, voice quiet as to not startle her. Maybe this woman would listen, unlike the man from before. "...Or perhaps the medic taking care of that comatose girl?"

"You…" Her eyes widened and she nearly dropped her gun. "How did you know about that?"

"Your fiance told us of her, and blamed us for the Mechon that attacked." Vanea spoke up then, her voice soft. "He would not listen to us, not when we tried to explain we are not Mechon, and were attacked the same as you all."

"Not Mechon…?" The woman furrowed her brow. "Then just what are you?"

"We are the Machina, inorganic life capable of the level of thought you are capable of." Linada spoke again, watching as Vanea coaxed the gun down and away from her face. Good, a good start. "I am a Machina doctor, and have dealt with injuries caused by glitching Mechon in the past. I may be able to help this girl."

"You… want to help her, then?"

"We know what it's like to be ravaged and hurt, by Mechon and Bionis creatures alike." Vanea spoke again. "If we can help ease any of that suffering, we would be happy to, Miss Homs."

"Please don't refer to me like that, it's weird." She shook her head with a sigh. "Just… call me Sharla." She then looked to Linada again, a fire in her eyes. "I have no reason to trust any of you, but that look on your face… It's the look of someone who wants to save lives, so just this once, I'll let my guard down. Follow me."


Sharla led them to a small room, two beds laid out. One was empty, likely where Sharla slept when she was watching the girl, and in the other lay the comatose girl. She looked like she was wasting away, her skin unnaturally pale and what was likely golden hair dull from time inside.

Her hair was cut short, sloppily, as if it had to be done in a hurry to ensure she would not die (or perhaps a Mechon had been the one to rip it off? Egil wasn't sure which was worse). Bandages covered what could be seen of her body and she breathed deeply, unaware of the group that had just entered.

"This is Fiora, the girl from Colony 9. I don't know much about her, just what her brother was able to tell me." Sharla spoke, arms crossed over her chest. "She was apparently lively, and was trying to protect a boy, Shulk, from Mechon when she got hurt. Only survived because her brother sacrificed an arm to pull her to safety."

"I see…" Egil nodded and moved to sit next to her, a frown on his face as he stared at her, unable to tear his eyes away. "Anything else?"

"The boy, Shulk. I saw him for a moment, he was a mess over it. It looked like he hadn't combed his hair in a while, and he was mumbling things about revenge." Sharla sighed, shaking her head. "He was holding a strange red sword like it was his lifeline."

"The Monado." Alvis looked at Egil. "I suppose we know who we're looking for."

"Yes." He nodded, but his eyes did not leave Fiora's body. He didn't know why, but for a reason he could not explain, he felt drawn to the girl.

It was as if their fates were destined to cross, be it in this manner or another. Lady Meyneth seemed to feel the same as he held out a hand and brushed her bangs out of her face. She looked to be in a pain Egil couldn't describe, a stranger neither he nor Lady Meyneth knew.

And yet, they both felt there was more to this meeting than they thought. That she was more important to things then her lying here would make him think. That feeling continued to simmer as he watched her eyes flutter, but never open.

A small groan escaped her lips, and for a moment he thought he'd done something wrong. But then, Sharla was at his side, eyes wide.

"She'd barely made a noise before you all came! This is progress!"

"Progress." He nodded, looking down at her. Fiora was a sign of progress.