V started to wander back toward his bed, if you can call a small amount of padding on a road a bed. He had gained a rough approximation of the barrier and area it covered. Between the pain and exhaustion, he figured it would be wise to try and get some sleep. Even though he only saw O, he was certain there were other champions just chomping at the bit to kill them all. However, all he could do now was rest, he at-least needed enough strength to get out of here if the worst-case scenario happened. He looked at the bandages around his mid-section. He  also needed to find a way to heal the never-ending bleed, and the hole is his arm, otherwise running away will be the only thing he could accomplish. As he passed several people laid out on the floor, a golden, wispy specter unceremoniously materialized nearby. Acting as if V was not even there, the golden... spirit... thing... moved past him, picked up a pot of water and cloth, and started wiping down the body of one of the other patients. V watched, hoping to gain more information on the ghosts. Unfortunately, after finishing its task, it simply dissolved into the air. V had wished he could have learned a bit more than nothing, but was too exhausted to be overly disappointed.

Returning to his bed he began to gingerly lay himself down. Bending caused him enough pain that his vision fluttered. Once he had sat down, another golden specter materialized nearby. It took a few pieces of bread and some water from a nearby supply crate, and started handing them out to the conscious people, including V. He took the bread and started eating. He did not care if this made him sick, or if he should not be eating solid food or whatever, he was hungry. After a short time, he managed to lay himself down and relax. Well, as much as he could, given the circumstances. His last thoughts before going to sleep were hopeful, perhaps L would heal properly now? At-least one of them in working condition was better than zero.

"Hey. Heeeeyyyy." A strange whispering noise was the first thing that V heard when returning to consciousness. "Hey. Veeee. It’s time for medicine...or something. Heeeyyyy." V blinked awake; Luna's face was so close her bangs were touching his forehead. Luckily, he had the presence of mind not to jerk in surprise, otherwise his head would have certainly collided with hers. "Heeeyyy. Oh! You're awake!" Luna's voice almost immediately returned to normal volume. V looked around, gaining his bearings. It looked to be late afternoon, perhaps the next day? He looked at Luna who had pulled her face back to a normal distance. "What did you want? Where is Eika, she is supposed to watch you." Luna pointed over off into the distance. "Eika is sleeping. She often takes afternoon naps. I thought you knew that?" V nodded "Oh. Right." A meaningless silence passed as Luna continued to look at V, while V waited. "Uh... so... why did you wake me up?" Luna jumped up. "Oh! Right!" She thrust out her right hand, gripped tightly, she held a large glass vial with a greenish thick sludge inside. "Uh...thanks? What is it?" V took the vial from her hand, hoping Luna had some explanation for what was going on.

Luna pointed off in the distance again, this time toward the heart of the city. "Well, I was wandering around seeing if anyone was dying. You know, so Alice could fix them or something. And then I heard a voice like "psst psst" so I went looking for the voice. It led me up to the barrier, and Eika had told me a lot not to leave the barrier. The voice kept going "psst psst" though so I left the barrier. But only for a while, don't tell Eika ok?" This story was already too much for V, someone really needed to keep an eye on the girl at all times. He grimaced as he listened on. "Anyway, so I’m looking for this "psst psst" voice guy. Suddenly "BLAM!" right in front of me this normal looking guy jumps down from a rooftop. He makes a silly hand movement and then says he is here to help." Luna nodded to herself as she spoke, although V had no idea why. "So of course, I like help. You guys have helped me a lot, right? I eat stuff more than a few times a week, I smell better. So, I think help is good. I say "Well. If you want to help people you should!" He nodded at me and handed me that vial. He says "tell V to just pour that inside of his shoulder. It will help, but it will hurt like the devil itself." I asked him to repeat it fifteen or sixteen times because it sounded like important instructions and I wanted to remember it. After, he looked sort of like he wanted to leave so I thanked him for the help and he walked away." Luna stood there doing a strange fist pump motion, although V could not really decipher what emotion or feeling she was trying to indicate. "So... what are you waiting for? Stick it in your arm!" Luna said excitedly.

"Luna, you can’t just stick suspicious liquids into your body. Especially when random strangers are the one who gave you said liquids." Although, judging by the consistency, it was barely a liquid. It appeared to be thicker than mud. Luna tilted her head. "But this is supposed to be helpful liqu-eeds. Right?" V closed his eyes and took a deep breath, which caused him more pain. "That is what the man said yes." Luna waited expectantly. "Oh, if you need help to get your bandages off, I am sure I can do it! I watched Eika loads of times!" V shook his head again. "No stop stop stop. Did this man tell you his name, or anything else at all?" Luna tilted her head as her ears twitched back and forth. "Maybe?" V exasperatedly continued. "Lots of people want us to die remember? What if this is poison instead of something helpful?" V could only describe Luna's face as "scandalized." "But he said it was helpful! It’s actually poison? Did someone trick him by giving him the wrong stuff?!" As Luna unhelpfully continued speaking, V tried again to refocus her. "Luna, what did this person look like. And did he give you a name?"

Shaking her head Luna responded "No, no name. But he looked normal." V grimaced again, and over the next ten minutes asked Luna a series of specific questions. "Did he have hair?" "Was his hair black?" "Was he as tall as I am?" after an extensive series of questions, V's best guess was that she was describing T, or someone he had never seen before. If it was in fact T, that did not clear up the issue at all. The Champion of Evil by very definition was foolish to trust. On the other hand, T had multiple chances to easily kill him, not the least of which was when he fled the Champion of Life's manor. It was also T's style to interfere suddenly. Although, why would he not give Luna his name? Maybe he did and Luna just forgot? The amount of missing or unreliable information overwhelming. The only thing V knew for sure was that a strange man gave Luna some green mud and told her to tell him to pour it into his shoulder hole. Everything else was speculation or error on Luna's part. Perhaps someone here could examine it? There were a lot of people strewn about, maybe someone had the correct class or skills.

As V mused to himself, a voice called out "Oh! There you are! Eika was wondering where you had gone!" Eika came briskly walking over. "You’re supposed to stay nearby when I am sleeping!" Eika spoke sternly, but her voice was concerned rather than angry. Luna nodded "Ya I know, but then I heard a "psst psst" and..." Luna recounted her story to Eika, who chided her for her actions. "That could have been someone trying to kidnap you or something!" Eika looked over at the substance in the vial. "You're... uh... not going to pour that inside of you, are you?" Eika asked V, with a tone of voice that made him wonder if Eika thought he had lost his mind. "No of course not. At-least not without getting it examined." Luna looked upset, "If you don't fix your shoulder, how are we ever going to get those bastards?" Both Eika and V turned their faces toward Luna in extreme surprise and confusion. "W..what?" Eika stammered, unable to come to grips with Luna's words. "You know, the bastards? We got to get them, right?" As Eika stood dumbfounded, V blinked a few times. "What are you talking about?" Luna waved her hands exasperatedly. "Well, when the city guard were here, they kept talking about how the bastards were stealing everything. Later I overheard one of them saying that the bastard stole his wife. Then the captain was saying how the bastards destroyed the city. The bastards must be working with the bad man! We have to stop them before they make the city an awful place again!" 

Eika had sat Luna down and was attempting to help her understand the meaning of what she had overheard the city guard talking about. V decided to get up and search for Alice. She might be able to examine the green substance, or perhaps knew someone who could. Besides, V had no interest in wasting his highly limited energy on Luna's ignorance right now. Luck smiled upon him, as he found Alice quickly enough. She was currently examining the Crafting Champion, or rather, the Champion of the Hearth. "It is good to see you up and about at-least." Alice said as V came into view. "Your friend is already doing better. Her skin is starting to heal, and her breathing has returned to mostly normal. If she keeps restoring herself at this pace, she might even be capable of speech in a few hours." V nodded, that was good news, he would check on L after speaking with Alice. "So... the girl, Luna..." The Champion of Good sighed deeply and cut V off. "Yes, the Champion of Innocence. What was her god thinking when they sent her here? I have always despised the deities; I will add this to their list of crimes." V considered her words. "I cannot imagine the God or Goddess of Good did not know you hate them. Yet they still chose you for this game?" Alice nodded and stood up, finished adjusting her patient’s bandages. "Yes, she knew of course. When I died, she gave me a choice, come back and participate in this game, or spend the rest of my foreseeable existence alongside of her in some supposed utopia for good souls or some nonsense. I would rather vanish then be forced to reside with even a single God. So of course, I took this deal."

V nodded again, that was as good as a reason as any he supposed. It also could assure the Goddess of Good that her champion would do their best to stay alive. "I am curious, what is your plan? I mean for the long term. You could kill the five champions under your care easily. Five kills would certainly greatly boost your chances of winning this game. Or at the least you could force us all to surrender." Alice was quiet for a time before continuing. "True enough. However, I will only take those actions if my hand is forced. I will kill anyone who tries to take advantage of the wounded here for example. It is my hope that I can acquire enough strength that no more killing needs take place. If I was level one hundred, would you dare challenge me? Would anyone? Perhaps save the more eccentric of our bunch, I believe I could convince most of the champions to surrender to me without having to fight them or force them. I will not hunt them down, but if they challenge me I will defend myself with lethal force." V considered her position, she desired to end the game by simply convincing most champions that if they fought her they would die, so it’s best to just give up and move on. An... interesting strata he supposed. "I am aware of the difficulty and perhaps by some definitions, naivety of my plan, but I will not give the god's the grand spectacle that they desire. I suppose if I found someone who would try to keep this "game" to minimum, I would be willing to surrender to them. My desire is not to win per say. It is to stop this game with the least struggle, the least fighting, the least collateral damage." Her voice took on a hard gait to it as she looked around the destroyed surroundings.

The conversation lulled as she simply stood staring at the city. "Well... uh... good luck. I actually had a question for you of a medical nature if you could spare another moment." Alice refocused herself, looking at V and nodding "Of course, that is my primary purpose right now after all." V displayed the vial as he explained how Luna was lured outside of the barrier. Alice shook her head often during the story. After examining the vial for a few moments, she shook her head once more. "Sorry, I have no idea what this is. Most of my magic and abilities are offensively or defensively focused. I am certain the Champion of the Hearth could identify it with extreme ease, but he would have to be conscious." V looked down at the heavily wounded man "I don’t suppose..." Alice shook her head "No, it’s going to be quite a while. I will keep an eye out as I do my rounds. Some of the people here are from the noble quarter and the nobility often have strange hobbies to stave off their boredom. Perhaps one dabbles in this sort of thing. I must continue my work; it was nice chatting with you." Alice nodded her head and walked off to another nearby patient.

A short while later V was standing above L. She did look significantly better, much of her skin had returned to its previous flawless state. If you did not know it, you never would have guessed that she was ravaged by frostbite. L was conscious and moved her head, but still could not speak. V sat next to her. Even the consummate warrior would be bored in this situation, right? "I hope you are not in too much pain. Sorry I can do nothing for you. I understand how aggravating your condition must be. Even I am frustrated by how poorly my body is responding to my commands. I can only imagine how much worse it is for you. Not only is your condition considerably worse than mine, but you are also someone who expects a much greater mastery out of your own body then I do." V did feel bad for L, it must be hell for her laying there trapped in her own body. Luckily if Alice was correct, she would not be in this state for much longer. V decided to tell L about Luna's... adventure. Maybe if she was exasperated about Luna, it would distract her from her own condition for a few moments. After recounting the events, V began to stand up. Intending to let L rest, even though she followed him it was not as if he himself did not cause her considerable aggravation. However, when he attempted to rise, he felt a soft resistance on the back of his shirt. L had weakly grabbed the tail end of his shirt.

L's physical pain was overwhelming, yet she could not find mercy in sleep. She had been laying here, awake, for hours upon hours upon hours. Unable to speak, unable to move, suffering in a silent world of pain as her body struggled to reknit its broken form. When V had shown up within her line of sight, it was almost like an angel had descended. Anything other than her world of pain was like a glorious blessing. He sat and told her of Luna, who had apparently gone unsupervised. L could only imagine how many people must be laid out nearby. There were clearly not enough able people around to care for them all. She also noted that V's midriff was still bleeding through his bandages slightly. V had begun to get up, albeit slowly due to his pain and wounds. Normally she found V's presence taxing, his attitude and mentality draining on her patience. Now however, she just did not want to be alone. She found comfort in the presence of the individual who now served as her master. He did not deserve the title, not really. She first served the cause of Honor, although she wondered what that even meant anymore. Secondly, she served her father, he deserved it by virtue of being the head of her family. Next, the Emperor, he deserved it by virtue of his royal blood.  Now V, by what virtues did he deserve her service? Certainly, no noble blood flowed through his veins, nor was he given a position of authority passed from father to son. L reached out with all of her might, grabbing onto the scrap of clothing that was V's shirt. Even if he had no real claim to her servitude, it was her own actions that led her here. He might be self-serving, but he was not uncaring. The fact that he continued to put up with Luna was evidence enough of that. Perhaps she served him at first because of her own weakness. If she was stronger, she would not have had to surrender to him to defeat O. Then she served because her honor demanded it. Now however, why did she serve? Was it simply circumstance? She recounted the events of when she used the letters to expand her name. Internally she shook her head, no. Somehow, she had decided to serve V by choice. Perhaps that was important, she had never chosen to serve anything by choice before. Even her dedication to Honor only existed because she was born into a family that hammered that value into her since birth. Her head started to hurt as thoughts charged through her head. Right now, all she wanted was rest...

V was surprised when he felt her hand on his shirt, although perhaps it made enough sense. He sat down, deciding to keep her company. However, he could not handle just sitting next to her in silence, so he talked. He told her how in his world, medicine had advanced much further than this world’s. He told her of antibiotics and x-ray machines. When he looked over at her face again, she appeared to be asleep. Quietly he stood up, slipping her hand off of his shirt. Then he paused, didn't she have sleep immunity?