Yuna’s feet thumped heavily as she ran across the carpeted floor of her dorm building. She pounded the button for the elevator and it quickly opened. Entering it, she shifted around as the elevator zoomed down. After what felt like hours, the elevator rang out a pleasant dinged and opened up. Yuna speed walked out of the building, the two glass doors sliding to let her out.
Once she was outside, she blasted off into the direction of Junction. Her target was the Hideout. The wind whipped her hair into furious tangles as she sprinted her way through the crowded streets of Junction. She slipped in between people, ignoring their protests and annoyed glances.
‘Please don’t be too late,’ she prayed as she spotted the metal sign of her destination.
The sight invigorated her, Yuna’s legs pumping faster as she hurtled toward it as if it were a beacon at the end of a long and dark tunnel. She skidded to stop and threw open the door. The people already inside gave the panting, sweating newcomer curious looks.
“Where’s Erica?” Yuna asked, her voice higher than usual as she marched up to the bartender. “Or Akira? I don’t see them.”
“Um, oh. You’re Yuna aren’t you? Congratulations on your recent promotion,” the man said pleasantly.
“Where are they?” Yuna cried. She leaned over the counter. “I have to talk to them.”
“I, I’m sorry but Erica left about an hour ago,” the bartender said, spreading his hands. “And today wasn’t Akira’s shift.”
“Do you know where they are?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“How to reach them at least?” Yuna said, grasping at whatever she could.
“Maybe,” the bartender in a low voice. “I’m not supposed to tell people but there’s a room in the hallway hidden behind a panel. There’s a transporter in there.”
Yuna was already gone before he finished that sentence. She yelled out a thank you as she ran to the hallway. Then she started to push every single part of the wall she could with such vigor that she almost looked like she was punching it. One panel gave in and it slid up to reveal a small room with a single metal plate on the ground and a screen beside it.
She tapped on the screen and a menu appeared. There were a multitude of options but she was only looking for one. The word Fenrir caught her eye and she selected it without any hesitation.
The screen indicated to her to stand on the metal plate. She rushed over to it and stood, shifting her weight from one leg to another. A hum started. Then a white flash followed it. When it cleared, she stood in a familiar room. The transportation room that she had used to go onto the hovercraft that took her back to Junction.
The metal cover of the transportation pod slid open and Yuna stumbled out. She gathered her bearings and ran to the office where Gatekeeper worked. Throwing open the door, she found it barren. No one was sitting at the desk inside. Every holographic screen, even the ones displaying the cameras, were off. She turned around and scanned the room, her eyes desperately searching for anyone. The entire base seemed barren.
‘Maybe they escaped?’ Yuna thought, her head perking up. Then it shook her head and sighed. ‘There’s no way they would have known about the LIA coming. Were they captured?’
She doubted that was true as well. She roamed the empty halls of the building for a minute and found no signs of struggle. There was no way a dark guild would surrender so easily without a fight.
‘Oh god. What if…?’ She covered her mouth as her mind raced to understand that situation.
“No, no. That’s impossible. They wouldn’t use that,” she said out loud, shaking her head. “The LIA couldn’t have used it.”
“Used what?” a voice asked pleasantly behind her. “And welcome to the base, Yuna.”
Yuna spun around and her eyes locked onto the elf who was standing behind her with a curious expression. A cry nearly leapt out of her mouth as she ran to Boss and grabbed her shoulders, looking at her closely, not believing what she was seeing.
“Are you okay?” Boss tilted her head. “You seem awfully emotive today.”
Yuna felt like collapsing. She had found someone. And to make things better, it was Boss herself. Now, she had a chance.
“Boss, we need to leave this place as fast as possible,” Yuna said, her words tumbling over one another. She shook Boss’s shoulders desperately as she spoke. “The LIA are coming and they’re going to arrest everyone here. And maybe be more. We need to leave.”
“The LIA are coming,” Boss repeated. Her expression was calm and peaceful. “Thank you. For telling me.”
“Right now is not the time to talk, we really need to leave,” Yuna begged.
“Look around. There’s no one here, Yuna,” Boss said. “The only one left is me.”
Yuna looked around again, craning her head left and right. Boss was right, there was no one there except for the two of them.
“Wha, where’s everyone?”
“I evacuated them. Yuna, I already know that the LIA is coming. They can’t hide a task force speeding toward us from me or Uriel. Especially if I already could hear the orders.”
“Then why haven’t you left? Why are you still here?”
Boss snapped her fingers and the ground rose, forming a chair underneath her. She sat down and crossed her legs.
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“It’s like that saying. A captain goes down with their ship?” Boss replied. “I was doing that in a way. I also couldn’t let you stay here by yourself. The amount of trouble you will be in is quite an amazing amount.”
“The amount of…?” Yuna eyes widened as she realised the implications of what was just said. “You—you know?”
“About?” Boss said, her expression cool.
“That I’m. That I’m from them?”
“Who? Who, Yuna? Don’t be scared.”
She swallowed and opened her mouth. “The LIA. That I’m from the LIA.”
“Yes. I’ve known for quite a while.” Yuna averted her eyes as Boss stood from her seat and it melted back into the floor. “That you’re a cadet trained by them. That you were sent to gather information on us.”
“Then why?” Yuna said quietly.
“Why I let you in? Why I promoted you?” Boss asked. “Because I believe in you Yuna. That’s why I stayed. That’s why I waited for you. Because I believed that you would come to warn us.”
“But if you didn’t let me in in the first place, then all of this wouldn’t have happened.”
“That’s true, but the guild’s not broken, Yuna. It’s not destroyed. What I wanted, was to help you. To show you the world and let you create whatever ideas you want. To give you what you needed.”
“So this was all for me?” Yuna said, slowly looked up. “I don’t deserve this. I did nothing for you.”
“I guess you can say that I did this for you, yes,” Boss shrugged. “But I would say that it was for both of us. And I would say that you have done something for me. You’ve done many things for me. I’m just paying it back now.”
“When?” she frowned. “I’ve only seen you twice before.”
“You’ve only seen this part of me twice before, Yuna.” She cupped a hand over Yuna’s cheek. “You’ll understand soon enough. They’ve arrived.”
At those words, Yuna noticed a rumbling coming from the ceiling. She looked up, her eyebrows together as she tried to discern the source of the noise. Then an explosion rocked the room and chunks of concrete tumbled down the steps of the entrance of the guild. Boss turned around, unhurried, and watched as a group clad in black riot gear, holding rectangular shields, marched down those steps.
“You! Put your hands up!” a voice commanded.
“Calm down, officer. There are only two people here,” another voice replied. It was the voice of Yuna’s captain. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s quite astute of you,” Boss said. “That is in fact true. Everyone else is long gone, Captain.”
“But not you it seems. Good job Yuna,” the captain directed to her. “You held him here long enough that we could capture him.”
“Him?” Yuna asked.
“Yes, him. I know who you are, ‘Boss’,” the captain said.
“Oh? And who is that?”
“You are Yuki Mayumi, student of the Academy, and the only human in all of Ethros,” the captain declared.
‘Yuki?’ Yuna shifted her gaze to Boss and found that they didn’t seem surprised or confused.
“Well done, captain,” Boss said. As he spoke, a shimmer gathered around him until the Yuki Yuna recognized so well stood there. “I’m impressed.”
“Yu—Yuki? Why, how?” Yuna choked out.
“I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me, Yuna,” Yuki said to her. “That’s why I wanted to repay you. That’s why I did what I did. Good begets good. Do you understand now?”
“Lock him up,” Captain interrupted. “I don’t want you talking to my officer. You’ve already messed with her long enough.”
“Messed with her? I think you should let her decide that for herself,” Yuki replied as an officer cuffed him. “You don’t own her.”
“But I did raise her and so it's my responsibility to protect her,” he growled. “Now be quiet. Take him in, boys. And Yuna, we’ll talk at the base.”
Yuna couldn’t move from where she stood. Her feet were frozen onto the ground. She eyes watched as Yuki, her only friend, was surrounded by the squad of policemen. As Boss, her family, was surrounded by the squad of policemen. One person that represented all of what she had. And he was being taken away.