Astes (3)

[X/Ash]

"54, hurry up," X's voice carried hints of impatience as she tapped her foot on the vine.

54 paused, gasping for air. There was a burning sensation in her lungs and legs that begged her to stop. Hurry up, idiot. If you don't, she'll leave you like the others. She trudged forwards through the mud, commanding her limbs to move. Just another few more st-

Mud. A stray vine had cut her hopes short. She heard a muffled chuckle above her as she ate a fistful of dirt.

"Clumsy idiot."

She tried to push herself up, ignoring the new cuts on her body, only to fall right back down. Screw this. This time the laughter above her head rang clearly above her head. Here we go again. They always laugh and then leave.

"If you need help, just say so."

She shuddered, forcing her eyes to meet X's. "You-You won't leave me behind?"

X knelt down. She flicked her head. "Of course not. Why would I do that?"

Because I'm too weak. 54 rolled away from X, avoiding eye contact. "Do you promise?"

X laughed. "I promise."

—

"Liar." X sat up on the floor, clenching the blankets as a tear streamed down her face. She hastily wept it away, returning to her expressionless face just before Red popped out. Only the slight hints at the edge of her eyes betrayed her emotionless facade.

"You had a nightmare. Didn't you?" Red asked. "I could feel turbulent emotions like when you were in the void."

"She is having one right now," X whispered, turning to Seventeen who was muttering something in her sleep as beads of sweat lined her forehead.

"Don't ignore me. I don't know exactly what happened to you, but you don't have to deal with it yourself-"

"Wake up," X nudged Seventeen.

It was still dark outside with only slivers of light peeking out from the ground to make the girl next to her visible. Seventeen rolled over, hugging her tightly: "Don't leave me behind again. Take me with you."

X froze. She suppressed her natural instinct to throw Seventeen out the window. Instead, she undid the girl's tight grip one finger at a time and rolled away to the other side of the room, "Wake up, Seventeen."

It was better to begin training early. They only had a month before the first quest and with seven-year-old bodies and minds, even she had trouble adjusting.

"X? What time is it?" Seventeen sat up, her eyes still misty from the night. She stretched her arms towards the ceiling, yawning.

"Looks like it's almost dawn?" X pointed towards the broken window.

Seventeen pouted. "If the sun hasn't even woken up, why am I awake? That makes no sense."

"…Sorry."

She laughed. "You look so serious. Don't worry about it." She smiled brightly. "I guess I will forgive you this time. I'll be right outside. Why don't you go first?"

If it weren't for the beads of sweat that lined Seventeen's forehead and her pale complexion, X would have thought that Seventeen's nightmare was just an illusion. She nodded.

---

[Seventeen/Sephil]

"Alright then, time to get up." She stood up, dusting herself off, not that it mattered anyways. Her body was covered in grime. She really needed a bath.

"Good morning."

"Schwab!"

The floating blowfish watched as she folded the blankets into little squares.

"You had a nightmare."

"Is it that obvious?"

"I can feel your emotions as I am connected to your soul."

"Invasive much?"

"Not at all. After all, I only feel strong emotions." He paused. "Okay fine. Maybe a little bit. Anyways, that girl knows too. She woke up earlier than you."

"So it wasn't just a dream." She laughed. "Who would have known that the X is so considerate of other people's feelings."

"Unlike someone."

She glared at the blowfish. "What did you say?"

"No-nothing."

She patted Schwab. "X. She doesn't show many emotions, but she is quite fun to tease." Seventeen smirked. "Anyways, let's go."

---

"Again," X commanded.

Seventeen pushed herself off the grass. She wiped off the thin layer of sweat that had formed on her pale face before leaping at X again. Just as the twenty times before this one, X dodged just before her punch connected, leaving her to fall face-first into the grass again.

She stood up again, wiggling her arms. "It's hard to get used to such a small body." It felt like each time her body moved a step behind her mind. So even if she knew to move when she saw X dodge, her limbs didn't react in time. That led to her not so ingenious idea of throwing herself at X rather than controlling her punches to gain speed; instead, X still dodged calmly, and she ended up eating a fistful of grass.

"You seem to be doing fine though." She stared at X's collected appearance as she panted heavily.

"That's because you're using more energy than I am."

"But I'm still not hitting you. You seem very comfortable with this new body already."

"Oh, it is hard to adjust. But I guess it's easier for me, especially with the memories that the void brought back-" X paused. "Why don't we finish up later? It seems like breakfast is here."

Crystal and Stephen walked outside holding a board of wood with a loaf of bread with a dab of jam on top.

"What are you two doing?" Stephen asked.

"You're even dirtier than you were yesterday," Crystal added.

"Crystal!" Stephen admonished. "Tessa said that you can't say that to others." He paused for a moment before thoughtfully adding, "at least not in front of them."

"Not behind their backs either," Tessa appeared in the doorway.

Seventeen laughed. "We are very dirty right now. Do you have a place where we can take a bath?"

"The river." Crystal interjected before Tessa could respond. "It's really close. We can go now!"

"No." X pulled Seventeen back. "We have to do some things first. We can go later."

Crystal glared at X. She took Stephen's hand and stomped back into the house. "Fine."

Tessa sighed. "Don't worry about her. She's just mad because she was excited to show off." She looked over at Seventeen who seemed to have gone through something even worse than running a mile. "So, what do you two need to do?"

Seventeen shrugged, turning to X.

"I thought about what we said last night, and I agree with Seventeen. We need to make money somehow, and the arena is the easiest way for us. Seventeen could work as a doctor with her skills, but no one would trust a seven-year old to help them; especially not a malnourished seven-year old who looks like she's dying herself." X looked at Tessa. "Fighting is the best way to earn a lot of money quickly. We only have a month to prepare."

"To prepare for what?"

"Prepare for the first event."

"First event?" Tessa felt another impending headache. "Never mind, that doesn't matter. Either way, you can't use the quickly earned money if you're dead."

"Of course, you can't. We don't plan on dying or getting hurt."

"You two don't plan."

"And it's worked so far, hasn't it?"

"What has worked?"

Seventeen smiled. "So, shall we go to an arena? We can just go there to watch first." Noticing Tessa's hesitation, Seventeen added, "it might scare us off."

Tessa sighed. "I know you're trying to trick me, but fine. I have a feeling that even if I don't take you two, you both will end up sneaking into an arena anyways."