The door creaked open, revealing the figure of a young woman of the gerbil race, wearing work suspenders and a baggy pair of work pants.

The woman's eyes widened on seeing the body of her father, and her light grey fur stood on end as she slowly glanced over to the other person in the room to see another female gerbil kin. This one had dark grey fur and wore goggles and a cap, and right now her own blade which extended from her gauntlet was covered in fresh blood which dripped onto the floor.

One arm and one leg of this woman seemed to be missing, and replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. As if she were a machine, her own goggles seemed to be zooming in and out of the doorway.

A man sat with his head limp and his neck slit, blood having sprayed across the room.

The eyes of the female who had just committed this act of murder were lifeless and robotic, without even a trace of emotion.

The man who lay dead was the father of the woman who had entered, and the woman who wielded the weapon of his murder was the sister of the woman- Fina.

"What.... happened here...."

The woman was out of breath, unable to process the situation in front of her.

Fina on the other hand, felt a tang in her heart as her eyes fell upon the woman who entered.

"You.... you are my sister."

The memories of her sister flooded back into her mind. That which had been previously forgotten was restored, and Fina felt something which she had not experienced since that day in the arena so long ago.

Fear.

She felt the fear that her sister would not be able to accept her.

The fear that at seeing who- or what she had become, she would no longer be welcomed by her sister as family.

How many people had she killed to get to this point?

Not a single time did she ever have fear of death.

Only a goal and a method.

But right now, she walked up to her sister, terrified.

'What if sister hates me?'

'What if she doesn't remember me?'

'What if she abandons me and throws me out?'

And yet, even with this fear of being thrown away, the emotionless girl could not help but be filled with emotion on the sight of her beloved sister, who she had fought for day in and day out.

Her own sanity had rotted away, only leaving the single desire to protect this sister.

And yet, upon seeing her, the once nameless figure who was known to Fina merely as her objective regained her name within her heart.

"You are Gina."

Gina backed away in fear as Fina approached her, stumbling into the corner of the room.

"W-what do you want with me!?", she shouted.

These words drove into the heart of Fina like a dagger, slicing away at her very being.

'Sister doesn't remember me....'

"Sister.... I have come back after so long. Don't tell me that you have forgotten?"

At these words, Fina continued to approach her sister, who had been backed into a corner.

"S...sister? Are you telling me that you're my sister?", Gina asked while trembling, looking back and forth between the woman approaching her, and the body of her father. "W...why would you.... no.... wait...."

Gina closed her eyes and her trembling stopped.

"I think I understand."

"Sister... do you remember me?", Fina asked with anticipation.

Gina smiled bitterly and looked up with tears in her eyes.

"It must have been horrible. If you really are Fina, then I should be thanking you... you went to that hell and had to fight for your life in my place.... and it was all because father was so obstinate that one of us leave."

Gina lightly smiled at Fina while wiping off her tears with a sniffle, looking her in the eyes.

"If it weren't for you, then I would have been subject to the same thing. For that, I am grateful."

Gina stood forward closing her eyes as she opened her arms and hugged Fina.

"Sister... you've returned....."

"This is an unexpected phenomena.... liquid seems to be leaking from my eyes, and I have detected a strange sensation in my chest. Sister, do you understand what this means? Am I sick with some sort of disease?", Fina asked.

Gina squeezed her sister even tighter, her face wrinkling as she bit her lip, remembering the day their father sent Fina off to fight.

"So you don't even know what emotion is? Is that what they made of you?", she whispered with a crackling voice, barely able to hold onto her emotions.

"Sister....."

"It must have been hard.... you must have hated father all these years... *sniff*.... and so you came back to take revenge on him, right? Is that why you killed him?"

Fina was confused at this statement.

"Revenge? I don't understand the concept of revenge."

"You hated him, right!?! That's why you came back and killed him! You resented him for sending you to that awful place, right!?! It's ok now!!! Everything is ok now, so just leave everything to me!!"

Gina began crying herself as she gripped the back of her sister with frustration.

"I don't understand the concept of hatred or vengeance. I find it to be a meaningless action which only hinders one's goals. Sister, I am not sure why you have come to the conclusion that I killed father for the sake of revenge. I killed him because he was a threat to your safety. That is all."

Gina looked up at her sister with horror, and continued bawling her eyes out.

"What did they do to you, sister!?! You used to be so happy.... so playful.... and now you're just a robot!!!"

"I don't understand what your displeasure is, sister. Is there something that I've done wrong? Is there anything you need me to do for you?"

"You.... need to get out of here.", Gina said while wiping her eyes.

"Understood. My goal is to help you, sister. I will follow your orders."

"Why.... why are you not even going to question me as to why!? What's happened to you!?!"

"I don't understand your displeasure. Forgive me, sister."

Gina sniffled once more before looking at her sister with a serious face.

"When it gets found out that father has been killed, you will be hunted down by the members of the mafia who are loyal to him. Even though you were supposed to be the heir to the faction, you haven't been here in 10 years. They will likely see you as a stranger who came back as a vengeful lunatic and decide to execute you here and now!! That's why I need you to leave for now. If you escape, then I will take over the faction for a little while as the new leader. I... I don't know if I will do a very good job, but I will do what I can. Sister... you need to escape. Come back here when I have taken control over the faction, and I will make you the new leader."

Fina nodded at her sister's instructions.

"Understood. However, I have one concern, sister. What about your own safety? How will this benefit you?"

"I'm not in any danger right now!! Only you are!! Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself!!"

"If those are your orders, then I will follow them."

Gina looked down to the floor, moping.

"It hurts me to do this, sister. Nobody ever leaves the city because the outside world is too harsh to survive. It's dangerous to even try and make it out of the city, and I have no idea what lies beyond. There might be wild monsters or even people from other villages who try to attack you. I don't want you to leave, but you need to for now. Come back in two weeks. I am sure I will be able to figure something out by then."

Fina nodded, and jumped out the window, breaking it before her escape.

Gina merely watched as her sister left, biting her tongue.

She wanted her sister to stay by her side, but she knew that it was impossible right now.

'I'll turn this faction into one where she is welcomed back. I promise, sister. And then, I will help you to get your humanity back.'

----

Two weeks passed.

During these two weeks, Gina was able to successfully take over the gerbil faction as the new boss, successor to her father.

However, Gina was no mafioso.

At this time, she was assisted greatly by the higher ups in the faction, however due to the assassination of the Sponsors by an unknown person, the streets turned to chaos.

The fighting intensified as the mafia leaders now were able to directly take and control the factories.

They no longer had to go through the sponsors in order to decide how the factories were run and how things were distributed. The sponsors had a number of men directly under them, and as such the firepower to back their own positions, however these men defected to their respective factions when their leaders were assassinated- only furthering to strengthen the mafia factions. They now were truly the only groups with power in the entire city.

This resulted in an all out street war over control of the factories.

In just a couple of weeks, despite the fact that the factory distribution was even among the factions before, the gerbils had lost 2 of their 3 factories to the ferrets, and the same went for the rats. They were both down to their last remaining factory.

For the gerbils, this was partially due to the incompetence of their leader- however not completely.

Gina was inexperienced, and so from the moment she took over, it was loss after loss. At the end of the day, she was just a regular worker. Even so, this was a situation that even an experienced mafioso would scratch their head over, so it was no surprise.

"Boss. We've received reports of another 20 men dead in a fight."

"20 more.... ngh...."

Gina wracked her brains in an attempt to figure out how to strategize and fight, but it seemed like every move she made was perfectly countered by the ferrets.

She was not made for battle or strategy.

It was then that the door burst open, and standing in it was a gerbil woman with a prosthetic arm and leg.

She had a smile, and walked over to her sister who was struggling.

"Wha- this is the woman who killed our previous leader!"

"Surround her!"

"Wait."

Gina spoke up, stopping the men from attacking.

"That is my sister. Show your respect to her. She will be taking over from now on as the new boss."

----

When Fina escaped the village, she headed south.

She didn't really think about where she was going. She was merely following the orders that her sister gave her to escape.

'Since we are on the Southwest side of the city, going south will lead me to outside the city the quickest. I will head there for now and return later.'

Fina ended up making her way through the city.

There were a number of mafia members who tried to stop her and question her, but she easily shook them off. After all, they were not able to keep up with a survivor of the arena.

She made her way through the city, headed to it's borders.

As she traveled, the smog covered the entire horizon.

She could not see beyond the smog. It was as if it went on forever.

However, she did not give this any thought.

For the people of this city, the smog was taken as a given.

It was not viewed as a manmade effect.

The smog had been a part of the city for so long that not a single person believed that it was created as a result of the factories polluting the air.

For they believed instead that the smog was the sky itself.

The existence of plants was not common knowledge for the inhabitants of the city either. The only animals that existed in the area were the sorry wild beasts that found their way into the outskirts of the city and were captured by the people- usually used for arena fights or the like.

Because there was no reason to leave the city and return, knowledge of the outside world was virtually nonexistent.

And so when Fina ran from the people who tried to question her, she was attacked.

"This girl is trying to get to the outside! We need to stop her!"

Of course, she finished off any attackers with ease. For her orders by her sister were to escape unharmed, and she would follow them.

She made it to the outskirts where the mines were, and eventually to the empty fields where the soil was too corrupted to sustain plant life.

She ran and ran and ran until eventually, the sky appeared brighter.

'Is it my imagination? My visual perception seems to be increasing as I travel.'

However, this was not her imagination.

She made it through the land, and eventually came to a place where some weeds were able to sustain themselves.

'What are these green things in the ground? Is this some sort of corruption that exists far beyond the city?'

As Fina traveled, the land became greener and greener.

The sky became brighter and brighter.

And eventually, she reached a point where the horizon was a sea of green plains.

The smog no longer covered the sky, and in the sky she witnessed a ball of fire.

As time passed, the sky turned from blue to red as the sun set in the South, and Fina found herself mesmerized by the scenery.

'What... is this place? Is this the outside world?'

Fina bent down, and felt the greenery below her feet.

'This strange texture.... what is this?'

She looked up once more to the sunset and a tear came to her eye.

'This sensation once more.... just like what I felt when I met sister... I.... would like to bring her here.'

Fina found herself sitting in one spot for the longest time, entranced by the changing colors of the sky from a bright red to an orange to a yellow to a dark blue.

'There is... a rock.... a white circular rock in the sky.... and all sorts of sparkling lights. What are those things? Why is the sky changing all sorts of different colors? Is the sky not brown? This place.... it is so strange....'

Fina smiled to herself.

'I must bring sister here someday. The sky. It is different here. It is.... yes, it is beautiful.'

For the first time in her life since leaving for the arena, the girl obtained a goal which was beyond her orders- the ones which she gave herself.

Looking at her wristwatch, she decided that it was time to sleep.

She lay down in the grass, not concerned in the least about sleeping in the open.

After all, she was nothing more than an arena fighter. She was accustomed to living in a cage.

'I remember now. I remember who I was before. This beauty.... this place... it has helped me to remember. I will not forget again. I will go back soon, and I will take responsibility. But not until I have seen more. I will explore this world, and I will return with stories to tell to sister. And then.... one day.... perhaps when the city is safe enough to leave... I will take her here myself.'

----

"A-are you sure about this, boss?"

"Even if she is your sister, she was the one who-"

"You all know well that our father never intended for me to take over. He watched carefully as Fina progressed in the arena, and always intended for her to take over. I was nothing more than a backup in case of emergency, but I am not cut out for this. She was made for this, not me. Now this is my final order as your boss. Leave everything to my sister."

The men agreed. Even if Fina has slaughtered their former leader, they could not disobey a direct order from their current leader.

"Yes, boss."

Fina made her way through the room, walking over to the desk which had maps of the city and strategic pieces laid out across it.

"Sister. Forgive me. I realize why I offended you so when I left. I have come back from the outside world."

Gina looked up to her sister.

She saw the light in her eyes.

Her eyes were no longer dull and lifeless as they had been before.

They now carried a fire in them.

"What happened to you, sister?", Gina asked with a smile.

"I saw what was beyond the smog."

----

Fina took over as the boss of the mafia, and quickly reorganized the men.

Her skill in battle and strategy was one of unprecedented refinement, but even so, they were on a severe backfoot.

With the ferrets having taken over all factories but one, their situation was grim. Furthermore, having regained a large chunk of her humanity, Fina was no longer the same as she used to be.

Before, she would have been able to flawlessly predict enemy movements.

However, perhaps regaining her humanity softened her.

She was able to hold onto the single factory which they had control over, but that was it.

The ferrets were a force growing in power and even for someone like Fina, it was all she could do.

Five months later, the situation had not changed for the gerbils. Gina had returned to work, and Fina was now fully established as the boss of the gerbil faction.

It was from seeing the outside that a major change occurred in Fina, but after 5 months of leading the mafia, she continued to hone in on her own goal.

'I will make this city a safe place, for the sake of my sister and for the sake of the people around her.'

Recently, her sister had found herself spending a large amount of time with a boyfriend.

This deeply disturbed Fina, and filled her with worry, but there was nothing she could do.

'It is for her own happiness, so I will not do anything about it. But if that man brings any harm to her....'

Fina found herself sitting in an office in the factory which the gerbils had control over.

She used her mechanical arm to write and sign off on documents and paperwork as she reviewed reports.

"Boss, a strange person has appeared. It is almost certain that they are an outsider to the city. What should we do about them? They are asking to see who is in charge... we were unsure exactly what they might want or who they are, so we decided to come to you."

Fina looked up with a straight face.

"A strange person? Tell them to meet me in the junkyard. If they cannot beat me in a fight, then I have no reason to talk to them. I'm far too busy trying to figure out how to counter those ferrets."

"Understood, boss!"

----

Claire exited Ramrod's office, prepared to show him just what she could do.

'I'll do it. I'll unite these three factions without using violence! I will get them to sign a peace treaty myself! He may think that I can't convince those ferrets to give a factory over to him, but I am going to put my hope in these people! I am sure that if we talk things out, that we will be able to come to a conclusion!'

Claire made her way back to her carriage, and whipped the horses, inciting them to move forward.

'Agh... but I am worried.... what if they don't want to sign the treaty? What do I do then? Should I try to bargain with all of them? But I don't think any of the sides will want to give in.... mmm.... well, I suppose I need to gather more information. I need to better understand the people of this city if I am to win them over. I understand... he has lost a lot. And I'm sure that many others have lost many things as well...'

Claire looked sad as she thought about the pain which the fighting in this city had caused.

'But that is exactly why I am trying to stop this fighting. People don't need to be dying left and right. I'm sure some way or another I can get the people of this town to agree!'

'Are you sure about that? Theo wouldn't agree with that. He would probably say 'Only through complete domination can the problems of people be truly addressed and solved.' If people don't like you or your methods, they won't peacefully agree. You have to force things upon them, and they may not realize that you're doing what's best for them. If you leave it up for them to decide, they will just continue to fight one another mindlessly.'

'That's why I'll get them to peacefully agree!!!'

'Just like that rat did? He only agreed under the conditions that the others gave things up to him. Do you think that the others will just agree to that?'

'But they have 7 factories to spare!! So they might be willing to give up one or two...'

'You really don't understand the greed of people, do you? Well, I'll be patiently awaiting the moment when you realize that you're going about things the wrong way.'

'You really don't quit, do you!?'

'Oh, you seemed to figure out the way to use conditions. For me, I can apply conditions on anything that is within my sight so long as I have control of more than half of us. But for your case, in order to use my ability, you have to touch the object with your left hand.'

'Yeah, I got that much.'

'But you haven't figured out your own ability. That was just you using my ability.'

'Eh? That wasn't my ability?'

'Nope. Keep searching. You'll figure it out in due time.'

'Hmm....'

Claire looked at her right, angelic hand.

'Just what could it be?'

Claire traveled through the town until she found a group of gerbils dressed in slacks walking around.

"Hey! You guys!! Are you all members of the gerbil faction!?"

"What the hell is that?"

"An angel!?"

"What is that creature doing in this city!?"

"Hey!! What are you doing here?!"

The men immediately went on their guards, questioning Claire- to which she responded with a beautiful smile.

"I am here to find the people at the head of this city. I need to speak with your leader. Could you please take me to them?"