"Mila?" I asked, my eyes wide with shock.

She stared at me with terrified eyes, filled with regret.

"Mila," I tried again. My hand went to my back to feel where the arrow was protruding. It wasn't deep, but it hurt.

Chris stepped protectively I front of me, holding his daggers towards the small trembling girl.

I gritted my teeth against the pain and commanded, "Don't!"

Even though I meant for it to be strong and unshaken, it came out weak and hurt. I could feel even my eyes betraying me.

"Help me get the arrow out of my back," I told him, ignoring my former weakness and insuring my voice was flat. He gave me an unsure look do I said, in a deeper voice, "Now."

This time, he obeyed. Though never sheathing his daggers, he knelt behind me to pry the metal out of my back.

"Mila," I said gently, "why?"

She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Don't you get it?" Said a knew, eerily familiar voice.

The Kaiser stepped out from the side door, my only escape, and stood besides Mila. His disgusting hand rested on her small shoulder, but she didn't so much as flinch.

"Get your hand off her!" I growled.

He didn't. Instead, he smiled at me.

"You don't get it, do you?" His voice was sad, though I could still feel the power emanating from it. "How sad. I thought you were smarter than that. Oh well, I'll explain it then. After the prisoners escaped, I knew you were coming for me. Call it...intuition. So, I personally saw to it that at least one of yout friends was saved. I just happened to see your little girl running throught the city with a group of hooligans. So, I talked to her. I told her the truth of what would happen if she didn't help me."

"Mila," I said, "what did he say?"

She didn't reply, but instead clung to the metal bow.

"Mila."

"He-he said that if no one stopped you, he'd have to kill you himself. He told me about how it was that you were trying to break into the city. He said that-that if you succeeded, the city would crumble." The last words weren't spoken by the girl in front of my. It was Mila, the Mila I was used to. "And you would fall with it."

I felt the arrow suddenly jerk out of my skin, and I jumped. I gritted my teeth against the horrid pain.

"Mila," I said, "Mila listen to me. Do you think it's better for Lament to have no future? Because that's where he's taking it. If we can take power, then Lament stands a chance. It may be small, but it's there."

"Enough," the crude man said. "Mila, shoot the other and we can take them to the prison where they'll stay."

"Mila," I continued, "listen to me. You have to trust me, okay? Please."

The old mans voice was stern now. "Shoot. Him."

"Please, trust me."

The small girl drew an arrow from her quiver.

I could feel Chris tensing behind me. I could see, from the corner of my eye, him reaching for the two discarded daggers.

"Don't," I said, my voice flat.

"Lena, now's really not the time for-"

"Don't."

The arrow was pulled back against the string, still trained on Chris.

"Lena," Chris said, his voce growing tighter.

I kept my eyes trained on Mila and her stayed on me. For only a second, I saw the glimmer that I needed.

The arrows was released and it came flying in our direction. Chris's hand tensed on my back. But it never hit. Instead, it zoomed past us, flying a hole foot over our heads.

There was a whack, from both the arrow hitting the wall and the bow hitting the Kaiser.

"Now," I yelled to Chris, who had taken hold of his daggers.

He was already on it, charging the man who was running away. But after he made it through the door, it was too late. There were two guards waiting outside. They were easy for Chris to take out, but by the time they were on the floor, the man was already gone.

"Lena," Mila crouched running over to my crouched figure.

She dropped her bow and wrapped her arms around my neck, taking me down.

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry. I was stupid."

"It's fine. I'm more disappointed that you didn't stab him with the end of the bow."

I let her cry for a few seconds before pushing her up. We did have a few more things to do, after all.

My had reached up to touch the little device in my ear.

"This is Lena checking in."

'Theo.'

'Mercy.'

'Bryce.'

'Clover.'

'Levi. Still no sign of Mila, though.'

"Don't worry, I've got Mila right here. We're all good."

"Lena took an arrow to the shoulder," Chris said in his ear piece," so I don't know if good's the word, but alive."

'You got shot?' Theo asked, sounding alarmed.

"I'm fine, just a straggler. We took him down. Besides, it was my left shoulder so there's nothing much to worry about."

I glared at the man standing besides me, and all he did was shrug.

"We found the Kaiser, but he got away," I continued. "If any of you see him, report the location and then follow after him as best you can. Don't do anything stupid."

'I feel like we should be telling you that,' Theo's voice said.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything back.

I looked to Chris and Mila who were both standing over me.

"Ready to go hunting?" I asked, standing up.

They both smiled at me.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Mila asked, concern evident in their voice.

"I've been through worse," I said, shooting a glance at Chris who just happened to be looking away at the moment. "Anyways we need to get going. Chris, which direction was that asshole heading in."

"Same way we came in, but that was the last I saw of him before he disappeared."

I nodded. "Well then, we don't exactly have all day. Lets get going."

The two other followed me as we darted through the door and then the eerily empty stadium. We went through the entrance and were immediately met with fighting. Luckily, some of them were our rebels. If it weren't for them, I don't think we would've made it through there as fast as we did.

'Lena,' Levi's voice said through the com in my ear. 'I caught a glimpse of the Kaiser heading in the direction of the training rooms. He had at least ten guards following him.'

I used my aching left arm to touch the ear bud. "Think you can keep up with him?"

'Yeah, defiantly.'

"Good. Follow him and tell me if he changes direction."

'Got it.'

I let my arm fall.

"The training room isn't far from here," I told Chris as we headed in the right direction. "It shouldn't take us long to get here and most of the fighting should start to die down. Be careful, though. I don't knw what he has waiting for us. Especially if he knew we were coming."

I thought about it again. If there was going to be something big waiting, it could be really dangerous. I gave a glance back to Mila, who was looking ahead with determination in her eyes.

"Mila, I want you to go help the others. Since you got rid of your com, I'll see who's closest to help-"

"No."

"...what?"

She looked at me now. "I said no. I'm not leaving you to go and get yourself killed. If it's dangerous, it'll be better if there are more people to help, right?"

Chris was trying to cover an irritating smirk. I scowled at him but looked back to Mila.

"Don't be stupid. I'll be fine. I have Chr-"

"I said, no!"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in irritation.

"Ugh, fine. But stay behind us."

She smiled a victorious smile, that only deepened my scowl.

Chris was giving me an I-told-you-so kind of look that made me want to stab him more than usual.

Finally, we reached the door of the training room, which was closed.

"Lena!" A familiar voice yelled. Levi. He came over to my side. "He and a group of at least ten went in there a minute ago. I think they're his guards."

I nodded.

Chris looked at me, his hands casually resting on the hilts of his daggers, even though I could basically feel how anxious he was. "What now?"

"What do you think?" I retorted, ready to get this over with. "We go in there and kick some ass."

"I figured that much, but no plan?"

"We can't really make a plan when we have nothing to plan for."

"How about calling for backup," Levi suggested in a sarcastic tone. "That might help a little."

I touched my hand to the earbud. "We have him and a group of at least ten in the training room. Make your way over as soon as you can to help out."

'You're going to wait for us, aren't you?' Theo's voice asked.

"We're going in."

'Lena,' he roared, 'don't you dare do anything stupid!'

"I'm not, just challenging the Kaiser of an entire city and ten or so guards to a fight. You know, the usual. More of less."

'Lena, I swear to god, I'll kill you if I get there and you're dead, got it.'

"Whatever you say, boss man."

'Lena, I'm serious.'

"Yep, I got that."

'I'll be there as soon as I can to help.'

"...I know."

"Can you guys not do this kinda thing while we're all listening," Levi said though the com. I got the underlying message of what he was saying. I felt a twinge of guilt and nodded, even though I knew they couldn't see it.

'You better wait for us,' Mercy's voice said.

"Yeah, yeah. I got that. You're all worried cause I sometimes make rash decisions."

'Not just sometimes,' Bryce said.

"Okay," I yelled, "I get it. Hurry up and get your asses over here so we can do this already."

I let go of the com and sighed.

"We're not waiting for them, are we, Little Fighter?" Chris asked. For the first time since I'd met him, his voice was serious.

"No," I replied, "we're not."