“… No.”

“Is there any reason not to? I am more than capable of bringing you back, at a speed much faster than walking.”

“For one, that would be kind of awkward, and secondly, I’d rather not attract attention-”

“No need to worry about that, I will make sure to stay on the rooftops to minimize the chance of being seen.”

Claire, for one, was rubbing her forehead in slight exasperation, as her attempts to convince Fiora to not transport her in the same manner Deci did to Oscar was giving less than stellar results.

Her expression remained seemingly cold and distant, yet the gesture gave Claire a touch of warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Claire turned away, shook her head, and said, “Maybe one day, but you can keep that form for now, and uh-… Thanks.”

Fiora nodded and followed behind, while Claire decided to take the lead into narrow roads to avoid attention.

A few meters in, Fiora snapped her fingers, creating a few floating spheres of flame illuminating the roads all around them in a yellowish-orange light. Others who hid in the alleys turned to stare at them, but luckily, it wasn’t long before they retracted their gaze and went back to whatever they were doing.

Now that Claire could see the path ahead, she could see the puddles she had carelessly stepped on while she was pursued, along with the mud and grime that stained her footwear and her lower legs. She shook her head, deciding to not give it much thought, and walked around the puddles whenever she could.

A quick glance behind revealed the sight of Fiora, jumping and dodging the puddles as if she was completing an obstacle course. The sight of it was ridiculous, and Claire couldn’t help the slight nostalgic smile creeping on her lips.

The smile faded soon after, as she shook her head and focused on the road ahead.

What was I thinking?

She sped up, and if Fiora noticed, she gave no indication of it.

--

One hour passed before Claire finally saw the familiar road leading to her living place. She looked around, ensuring there was no one else before she handed the chain back to Fiora.

Fiora eyed her quizzically, but she accepted the chain regardless. The sight was as if a switch has been activated, her armor fading from her gauntlets until even the flaming orbs she conjured also disappeared without a trace. Claire couldn’t help but notice the warm aura Fiora radiated had also dissipated.

It was like the chain had extinguished her, leaving only cooled ash behind.

She then nodded, and Claire continued walking for another few minutes, until they arrived in front of a gray building. The paint was peeling in places, yellowed in others, and the building creaked with the passing of strong winds.

From the outside, some of the railings were already rusted, threatening to break apart even with the slightest rainstorm.

“Well, here we are,” Claire rubbed the back of her head and looked away, “Let’s go in.”

They walked past a few noisy rooms, up the stairs, and into the second room on the right.

The room was narrow and barely decorated, with nary a thing that wasn’t essentials in sight. Even the bed seemed small, just enough for one person or two if they were willing to squeeze a bit. A small night light in the shape of a hourglass could be seen laying on the bedside table, emitting yellow light alongside the dripping of greenish liquid in place of sand.

Claire approached the bed and practically threw her body onto it, sighing in relief as she did, “There goes my sleep… Dammit, and I have some work to do tomorrow, too…”

“Perhaps it would be better for you to take a break? You had just escaped from them, after all,” Fiora suggested.

“It’s the end of the month, and after rent, I’ll have at most 50 Roud to survive for another month if I don’t go. Doing that is borderline impossible,” Claire shrugged.

After all, here in Halia Federation, struggle will always be a constant.

Fiora stared at Claire, her silvery-gray eyes practically trying to burn holes onto the latter, and said, “Survive? This place seems to be peaceful, how is it that you need to struggle?”

“Ah, well…” Claire looked away and bit the inside of her cheek, “Eh, let’s file that for later. Okay, wait, Fiora, you sleep here, I’ll get the mattress.”

Claire stood up and left for the other room before Fiora was able to answer. Then, she set up a small, simple mattress and a pillow that was sunken in places.

The mattress was done, and Claire decided to let herself fall-

Only for Fiora to catch her.

“Hey, what gives-“

“That would most likely hurt, considering the thickness of this object,” Fiora said and lifted her up, plopping her on the bed instead. “Let me rest there instead.”

“Fiora, I can’t do that, you’re practically my guest at this point,” Claire said.

“I think it would be better for your health. I am able to regenerate damages to my body, while you cannot. Rest well, and there will be no arguments from your part.”

Fiora immediately laid down on the floor, and each word of protest from Claire was soundly ignored as she turned her back on Claire and… most likely pretended to sleep. Claire glanced at the clock on the wall, and decided 2 in the morning was far too late to pursue the matter. It would be better for both of them to rest for the day.

--

The next morning, Claire was woken up by a small sound of tip-tapping from her balcony door. A quick glance revealed the sun had just started to peek out from the horizon, staining the beautiful, darkened sky with a reddish tint. As she glanced downwards in search for the source of the voice, she saw a huge cat with green eyes was knocking on the door with one of its front paws.

Its eyes radiated an aura that Claire couldn’t quite place, and its long fur seemed to be maintained meticulously, showing off a beautiful combination of dark brown, white, and light brown. It has a long mane around its neck, and a tail as long as its body covered in dense, seemingly soft fur. Whenever it flicked its ears, Claire couldn’t help but notice the ear tufts.

In a way, it looked like a luxurious, beloved pet of a wealthy man.

Probably it would be an exaggeration to call it truly huge, but the cat’s size really made stray cats look tiny in comparison.

It wore a red-white collar with a jingling bell ornament, and at the back of its neck, securely tied by the collar, there was a piece of paper.

Curious, Claire shifted from the bed, careful to not disturb Fiora, and let the creature in. In response, the creature gave a high-pitched meow that sounded more like a squeak. It was a contrast, considering its regal appearance.

For a second, the cat stared at her, before turning back as if gesturing for Claire to take the paper.

She took the crumpled paper, careful not to scare the cat, and saw it was a piece of a poster about an upcoming Clash of Incarnation battle.

“What is that?”

Claire downright almost threw the paper from shock.

“Hey, don’t scare me like that, I thought you were asleep.”

Fiora gave her a blank stare, “Claire, you are not great at sneaking.”

“I can see that now, thank you very much,” Claire grumbled with no serious anger in her voice.

All the while, the damnable cat that caused all this was busy grooming itself without a care.

“You have not answered my question, though.”

“Well, it was basically an entertainment match where people who own an Incarnation duke it out for massive prize money. It’s basically why some people tried to go on… places like your tower or other similar places or pool their entire savings for an Incarnation in the black market, and then proceed to risk their and their Incarnation’s life to get a chance to change everything. I don’t really follow it, sadly,” Claire shrugged, “It always looked like an unnecessarily cruel entertainment.”

“From the sound of it, that may well be the case, but most likely they were banking on the Incarnation’s regenerative abilities to do so in relative safety. However…”

Fiora placed down her chain, and made a light scratch on her forearm using her ruby-clawed gauntlet. A thin line of blood followed, only for the blood to fade and the skin to start knitting together back.

“Claire, can you look on your forearm?”

“Sure,” Claire looked down, and saw a long, thin reddish mark similar to the scratch Fiora made earlier. “Huh? This is-“

“In order to have the ability to revert myself into this form,” Fiora said and took the chain back, wrapped it around her wrist, and changed back, “The power needs to be stored somewhere, and before our contract, the container was the tower itself. Now, it was you. The contract placed a piece of my soul into you, and that is where the power goes every time I revert, but as a consequence, we are linked in this way.”

“Then, how about the other way?”

“A piece of my soul was stored in you, but not the other way around. So, there was no any need to worry. This link is mostly from me to you.”

They were interrupted as the cat batted the paper on Claire’s hand one more time, before it sped through the balcony door.

“Hey, wait-“

When Claire tried to look down, the cat has disappeared without a trace. At that moment, the crinkle of poster paper felt more pressing than anything else.

“Back to the concern at hand, though…” Fiora walked out of the balcony door as well, “I have a strong feeling this was where I am meant to assist you at this point, Claire.”