Lilias Aunbren liked the quietness of the night. The somberness the embracement of darkness afforded her. When she was younger, it had surely been her favorite time of day. The training for the day would be over. She would be tired, certainly, but the end of the day would make it all worthwhile.

She leaned back against the wall of the room, her tail wrapped around her waist, seated on her bed. Across, Elsa slept like a rock, hugging her new weapon. She couldn’t help but smile. She couldn’t help but touch the crimson blades on her lap, glancing at the ceiling, closing her eyes as her mind wandered.

Night time was good, she remembered. It was when her older brother would congratulate her on her day’s training. Even when no one else did, it was always him. And it was when her father would dote upon her, rare, gently caressing her head as an ode to sweet dreams.

At one point, she had been a princess. They had been a family. And yet, everything had collapsed so smoothly. Decisions, good and bad, but mostly terrible, had led her to this point. Stuck in this city. Climbing a dungeon she hardly cared about. All for the sake of repairing two broken swords of their Spirit, as if fixing the Armament would heal the pain and mend her family back together.

It was the only hope she could cling onto.

Lilias remembered the pain of seeing her brother, crumbled and beaten upon a stage for all to see. She remembered the fear as she faced her own father, swords drawn at both ends, emotions running wild. She remembered the face of betrayal etched upon her father’s face when she had shown him her mastery over True Magic. The lies their family had built between themselves falling for all to see.

Her father’s gentle hands interlaced with the ringing clash of their blades. Her brother’s gentle voice, the old days of ‘Good job today’, interlaced with his cries of pain. Her hands gripped her weapons.

The door to her room swung open and Lilia’s eyes snapped to attention.

Rose frowned, “Why do you look like you’re going to stab me?”

The dragonian sighed. “Perhaps I might. . .what are you doing here?”

Rose unabashedly trekked over to Elsa’s bed, crouching before her side, gazing at her sleeping form.

“I was studying, but I came to unwind a little,” She said. then she frowned, eyebrows scrunched together as she realized the girl was hugging her new rifle while sleeping. “. . .wow, she loves it that much?”

Lilias eyed the homunculus through the corners of her eyes. “Jealous?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you rather she was hugging you to sleep instead?”

“No.” Rose shook her head. “I would be stuck there, awake all night and unable to do anything else.”

“That’s quite the uninteresting answer.”

“Maybe.” She eyed the dragonian. “And why aren’t you asleep?”

There wasn’t an answer.

Rose furrowed her brows. “. . .are you alright?”

Lilias smiled. It was the type of smile Rose recognized as fake. The type of smile she disliked seeing on the girl’s face. The type of smile she had provided, numerous times over, since the day they had first clashed blades.

“I’m quite alright,” Lilias said.

“You liar,” Rose replied.

Still, the dragonian did not bulge one bit. There was no cracking open her lid if she did not allow it. Like a wall, the girl kept everyone out. Rose could only return her gaze to Elsa, whose face was the epitome of happiness as she slept like a log, causing her to crack a soft smile.

“Sometimes, I wish I could fall asleep as well,” Rose murmured. Her eyes were soft as she shifted a lock of the girl’s hair from her face. For the sake of that listless face, her freedom, and everything else she now cherished, she would continue fighting. “It looks peaceful, as if all your worries disappear. In my case, my mind is always awake. Always thinking. There is little reprieve from that. And, yet, sleep seems so blissful.”

“. . .a blissful sleep? That does sound nice.”

Lilias stared as the homunculus gazed at her lover. The girl’s eyes were soft; her expression gentle and smiling. ‘Why are you so happy?’ She thought. She couldn’t understand it. Why was the girl so happy even though everything seemed stacked against her? Was it simply because she had fallen in love? Was that it?

As she watched a Rose who was slowly growing out of her understanding, Lilias felt as if she were drowning in sand. There was nothing weightless about sinking into the earth. She wasn’t suffocating, she was choking on grains of glass—sharp against her tongue, keeping her words left inside. It had been some time before she had realized there was no point attempting to tell anyone anything that was happening inside of her.

She sucked in a shallow breath and thought only of Alos’s Dungeon as she closed her eyes.

‘Tomorrow,’ She thought, ‘Tomorrow we climb again.’

If nothing else, the enticement of battle would surely keep her mind at bay. If nothing else, that would distract her. Climb. Climb. She wanted to climb the dungeon, slay the dragon blocking her path, and return home. The good days were behind her but, as she slowly drifted to sleep, the soundless tears streaming down her face, she hoped to fix what had been broken.

All she needed was a dead dragon.

All she needed was a dead dragon.

All she needed was a dead dragon.