The orphanage was much larger than the one where Megumi had spent time in long ago. She wandered through the place and took in her surroundings. The place was drab and had no decoration of any kind. It was not only physically cold in the place, but the lack of anything to look at sucked the warmth out of the building as well. After a few minutes of exploring she found her destination. Inside a large sitting room, one of the first rooms she had seen that actually contained furnishings, she caught her first sight of some children. There were three kids of various ages cleaning the room. The two younger children were scrubbing the floors with wet rags and the older one was dusting with a feather duster.

Despite the fact that they had definitely heard her walking in the room, none of them looked up to greet her or anything. They reminded her of the undead she used to complete tasks; quiet and obedient. Two of the children couldn't have been older than six years old and Megumi noted that the little girl was missing half her arm at the elbow. The little boy was also damaged goods as he was missing a few fingers on his left hand.

This place is a shit hole. What happened to these kids? This is fucked up! Megu can't wait to kill the ones responsible for this.

She walked up to the oldest one, a girl who looked to be somewhere around her fake age. "Hi. My name's Megumi. The bitch that runs the place told me to come here and help clean."

Her statement caused the face of the girl in front of her to go white. She stammered, "Y-Y-You... shouldn't talk like that!" she whispered urgently. "If they heard you say that..."

"Don't worry. I won't be here for long, and neither will you. We're all getting out of here," She whispered.

The two younger children had finally stopped what they were doing and came around to stare at her. The older girl gave them a stern look and the two children wilted visibly and got back to scrubbing. The thin wisp of a girl grabbed Megumi's wrist and dragged her to the far corner of the large room.

"Listen. I don't know where you came from, but there is only one way to survive here, and that's to do what Theresa says. There is no getting out of here unless its in a coffin or you age out; which never happens. Kids who talk back, or even think of talking back or who try to escape are taken to the forbidden place by the man in black and never come back. I've been here for three awful years now and trust me when I tell you that there is no way out of here. Just keep your head down, and you'll survive. It's the only thing we can do. Also, please don't say things like that around the little ones, either. If you want to die, then do so alone, don't drag them down with you.They mean well, but they are not good at keeping their mouths shut. Understood?"

Man in black... That doesn't fit the description of the man at the gate. That must be the person who experiments on the children. He's living on site in the forbidden wing, then? Makes sense in a sick way that they would only use up the willful types or maybe ones who get injured while mining. Megu needs to learn more, but for now it's probably best to blend in.

"All right. So what do you want me to do? When we finish here can you show me around? I can't believe how big this place is. What's your name?"

"I'm Lydia. That's Jack and that's Nell." She pointed before reaching into the water bucket on the floor and pulling out another wash cloth. "Here. Theresa wants us to scrub down all the floors of this room. We're about half done. I can show you around after."

There was little that Megumi hated more than hard labor, but she could put up with a lot if it suited her purposes. She took the wash cloth that Lydia was holding out towards her and rung it out over the bucket. The task seemed like a pointless one to her considering that the whole building seemed to be falling apart, but it was probably just busy work anyway. The floor in here wasn't even particularly dusty. Theresa probably just didn't want to deal with having to actually do anything other than stuffing her fat face. 

Megumi got down on her hands and knees and got to work. The water was cold and her hands soon became red and numb as she worked. The group worked in silence and Megumi noted that after Lydia had finished dusting, she got on the floor and started scrubbing as well. Hadn't these evil fuckers ever heard of mops? The wind had begun to howl outside and when it hit the building, cold seemed to seep through all the various cracks and she felt the cold air seep into her bones. She shivvered and tried to stay focused, but she couldn't even remember the last time she had been this cold. 

At least on their way up to this wretched place she had been dressed properly and hadn't had to continuously dip her fingers into frigid water. The time seemed to drag by here and the work she was doing brought back bad memories of her own time in an orphanage, but at least that one had been in a warmer climate. She irritably wet her rag again in the cold, soapy bucket that was in the middle of the room and continued working.

"Couldn't we just say that we're done? The floor isn't even dirty," she whispered to Lydia.

The girl shook her head. "She'd just have us do something else, and trust me, this is one of the better jobs around here."

She had already broken a few fingernails while scrubbing and her hands were completely numb and stinging painfully. She imagined standing that fat bitch out in the snow naked and tied up for an entire day before she killed her and a small smile appeared on her face. The thought kept her going and after what felt like ages, the floor and room was as clean as it was going to get. She spiked the rag into the bucket with as much force as she could muster and stretched her aching back.

"So, Lydia, when do the other kids get back? They're all at the mines, right?"

"They never come back until well after dark. Dinner is usually cold by then, but we make it before hand so they can eat and then go straight to bed. That's actually the next thing we're supposed to do now that we're done and it's near dinner time. I'm the oldest girl in the orphanage, and I get along well with all the little ones," she mussed up Nell's hair before continuing, "...so they let me stay here and take care of those who can't work in the mines while they recover."

"What is it like in the mines?"

Lydia looked down at the floor and fumbled around with her fingers. It was Jack who answered, "It's horrible. I hate it. It's dark and freezing and hard to breathe. Jared, my mining partner, he... he started coughing up blood yesterday and the man in black took him away..."

Tears came to the little boy's eyes and Megumi felt pity for him. "I'm so sorry about your friend. I wish I could have helped him."

"My brother is in the mines. He's the only family I have and the little time I spent there before Lydia found other uses for me was horrible. Jack said it perfectly."

"I see. It sounds awful, I'm definitely not looking forward to going down there... in any case can you show me around now?"

"Nell and Jack can go get dinner started while I take a few minutes to give you a quick tour. Let's go." Lydia took her by the wrist again and led her off while the two younger kids trudged off towards the front of the building again. Megumi couldn't stop herself from shivering from the cold and rubbed her hands together before bringing them up to her face to blow hot air into them.

"There isn't actually much to see here, really. Most of the rooms on the first floor are empty and don't even have furniture. Theresa's room is on the second floor and Ignis' room is on the bottom floor near the front door. You would have met him on your way in. He is the one who would chase you down if you were to try to escape. He's cruel and beats us when Theresa tells him to. In the entire building, there is only one place where we aren't allowed to go which is the basement in the forbidden wing. Our rooms are on the third and fourth floors. The fourth floor is just an attic, though and it's really cold up there."

They wandered around and the girl chattered away constantly. It was clear that she never got to talk to anyone her own age. Megumi did her best to stay engaged with the conversation, but she her mind was mostly occupied with mapping the place out and trying to ignore the cold. There were several spots on the first floor where she would have been able to slip out of if not for the heavy iron bars that covered them. The place really was like a prison. She would need to find another way to get out to leave the others a note or risk going out the front door in the middle of the night.

"Are we allowed to go outside the house?"

Lydia paused. "To the town?"

"No. Just like outside the house to the grounds."

"Ah. They let us outside if there are chores needing to be done out there such as getting water from the well. Other than that, everyone is always working all the time so there isn't any time to go play or anything if that's what you were thinking."

"I see. That makes sense I guess..."

Drat. That means the only way out is going to be against the rules and Megu will get into trouble if caught. Maybe they'll put me on water gathering duty?

The tall girl took that as a sign to continue the tour and continued walking at a brisk pace while going back to chattering on and on. Lydia also took the time to point out the area that was forbidden for her to go to. Megumi could see stairs leading down into the basement through the open double doors leading into the other wing. That was where her enemy was at. Did he have experiments going on right now? How many chimera did he have down there and what kinds? She had to sneak down there, but when could she do it?

On the second floor, Lydia pointed out the bedrooms of both Theresa and Ignis before they headed up to the third floor. Apparently the second floor of the building was just as empty as most of the first. When the tour got to the third floor, Megumi finally got to get an idea of just how many child slaves this place had.

Rows upon rows of uncomfortable looking mattresses lined the floors in each of the rooms. Each of the beds only had a single thin, rough looking blanket on them and no pillows. She didn't see any personal items around really and it was looking like she probably wouldn't ever get her bear back without having to take it by force. 

Megu WILL get her bag back and that bitch better not have damaged the bear, either. That concealing enchantment didn't come cheap!

If the woman discovered her hidden item bag, there would be bigger problems anyway. Since she hadn't been whisked away by the man in black, it had to mean that her secret was still safe, right?

"The older boys sleep on the fourth floor," Lydia said as they climbed up the narrow stairs leading to the attic. There were only 8 beds in this area and as before there wasn't much to see. It was even colder on the fourth floor than it was in the rest of the house as Lydia had told her earlier, and Megumi's body shivvered uncontrollably as another heavy gust of wind hit the house.

"Isn't there enough room for everyone on the second floor? Why would anyone choose to sleep up here? This is awful!"

"Not always... Theresa doesn't let anyone sleep below the third floor and as I'm sure you've noticed... it's a lot colder up here. Boys older than 10 sleep up here so that the younger boys and girls can sleep in the warmer rooms downstairs. The orphanage is usually full, so there aren't a lot of beds to spare. When younger kids or older girls come and we're too full, they usually just double up. Maybe the older boys prefer personal space over being warm, I don't really know."

"I see..."

Now that the tour was over, they needed to get back to the kitchens to help Nell and Jack with dinner. When they arrived, Megumi saw that Theresa and Nell were standing next to a pan frying something that sizzled and actually smelled good. Jack was in another part of the kitchen standing on a tall stool stirring large pots of stew or soup of some sort.

"It's about time you two got here. Put on some aprons and get to work. I'm going to be in my room. The other children will be back soon, make sure that the food is ready for them so they can go to bed after they eat. You can bring me my meal as soon as its done, understood?"

"Yes, Miss Theresa," the three orphans said at the same time.

Megumi came to a realization just then. The delicious smelling food that the woman had been working on was just for herself! She went over to look into the large pots that Jack had been stirring and her heart sank. Each of the four large pots contained colorless, bland looking gruel. Megumi's stomach began to churn at the memory of months and months of eating the stuff at her last orphanage. She almost vomited into the pot, but managed to step back and keep it down.

"It isn't so bad really. You get used to it."

Megu will NOT get used to it! Fuck this place.

Despite the thought, her stomach was grumbling. She should have eaten before coming into this place. All the manual labor and being in the cold seemed to have sucked all the energy out of her. She had some good food in her bag, if only she could get to it. She stared dejectedly at the pots before her. Megumi had vowed to never again eat this stuff, and she was not about to break that promise she had made to herself now, nor ever. She would starve first.

"Jack, can you come help me knead the dough? We have to get the bread into the oven or it wont be done before the others get back. Nell, keep an eye on Miss Theresa's food, okay? Megumi can you stir the gruel? We can't let it burn or it will taste even more awful. It has to be constantly stirred."

Megumi perked up at the thought of fresh baked bread, at least. She wouldn't starve after all. "Sure."

She picked up the large wooden spoon and forced herself to ignore the nasty stuff as she began to stir. The gruel was quite thick and since she wasn't exactly the musclebound type, it gave her arms a real workout to stir it. While they cooked, Megumi was able to learn some things about the three kids.

Nell was an only child and had never known her parents. She had been at the orphanage since she was a toddler and lost her arm in the mines six months ago. Jack had been the son of a trader who had been killed by bandits on their way up the mountain a few years back when he was five and had been taken here. Lydia had come here with her brother, Jason, who was one of the older boys that slept on the fourth floor. Their parents died in a fire several years back and since they had no family to speak of, her town shipped them off to this accursed place like cattle.

Once Nell was finished with making Theresa's food, she scampered off in the direction of the entryway. The plate was piled high with the kinds of spiced meats that Poro-tan typically enjoyed. Megumi cursed the damned woman once again as she strained to continue stirring the thick gruel. She wasn't a huge fan of savory foods, but she would have dug right into those spiced sausages at this point. She sighed and continued stirring. On the bright side, at least the bread that was now baking in the large ovens smelled delicious and the kitchen was at least warm. Once the food was all finished her arms felt like wet pasta.

She and Lydia carried the heavy pots of gruel into the adjacent dining hall which had rows upon rows of dining tables lined up with uncomfortable benches on either side. They deposited the pots onto one of the tables and went back to the kitchen to grab stack after stack of bowls. Once they had enough of the bowls they began ladling one large scoup of the nasty sludge into each bowl while Jack and Nell scooped them up and put them into place along the tabletops. Once they had finished with distributing the gruel, they went to the kitchen and pulled the warm loaves of bread out of the ovens. 

Lydia and Megumi carefully sliced the bread as evenly as they could and before long they had several large stacks of sliced bread in front of them. Nell and Jack once again were tasked with the job of distributing the food and had come back and forth with large serving trays that they piled the sliced bread onto. In just a few minutes the bread was all gone. 

"We can go ahead and eat now. The others will be back soon. Trust me, it's a lot better when its warm." Lydia patted Megumi on the shoulder and went out to the dining hall ahead of her.

"How far away is the mine from here?"

"Umm... it's about a five minute walk to the entrance. It isn't very far away. It takes a long time to get to the bottom of the mines where the work is being done though. It's pretty scary."

Megumi nodded thoughtfully. Maybe the best chance to escape would be when they took her to the mines. Surely they would send her there tomorrow. She would sneak down in the middle of the night and check out the forbidden wing and then she would have enough information that when she escaped they could return in force.

Jack and Nell were already at a table and were woofing down some food like starving animals when the two of them sat down next to them. Megumi stared down at the colorless goop before her and had the strong urge to throw the bowl at one of the walls; not that it would do any good, she would be punished and then also forced to clean it. She pushed the bowl to the side and chose to eat the thick slice of bread.

"You're going to starve if you don't learn to stop being so picky, Megumi."

"I don't care. I can't eat that."

"Suit yourself I guess."

Lydia grabbed the bowl and split it evenly between her and the other two orphans. The little kids grinned excitedly at getting to eat a little more food than normal and she gave them a warm smile. It occured to her that she was acting like a stuck up princess or something, but she just couldn't eat this stuff ever again. It was the principle of the thing. Megumi wondered how long she would last before breaking in a place like this again if she didn't have her magic to get her out of here. She shuddered at the thought.

She wondered what would come of these kids once they were liberated as well. Would any nice families really take in these kids? In her experience, such people didn't exist. They would probably end up in another place like this one, but she would ensure that at the very least their next home would take care of them properly. That was really all that one could hope for. It was heartbreaking, but that was just the way of the world and she could only do so much for these kids.

"Do you know if either of the people here can use magic? Why hasn't anyone been able to escape?" she whispered to Lydia who sat to her left.

"They don't, the man in black might... but he rarely comes out of the basement. A few kids have managed to get out of the compound before, but the villagers beat them and brought them back half dead. After which, the man in black took them away and they were never seen again. So what's the point of trying?"

This was just more proof that the village and all its inhabitants deserved Megumi's brand of justice before all this was said and done. She gripped her spoon hard enough that her knuckles turned white. The silence was interrupted with the sound of a door slamming open and the voice of a screaming boy.

Megumi and the others jumped to their feet and ran to the entry hall. Three boys were screaming and missing limbs. A group of almost a hundred kids were shoving their way inside and around the wounded kids. Many of them ignored the wounded and headed towards the dining hall. Megumi wondered how common of an occurance this was. One of the boys was in particularly bad shape; it was very unlikely that he would live. The boys who had likely carried or dragged the wounded crowded around their friends and were screaming for Theresa to come down and help.

The portly woman came stomping down the stairs a moment later and surveyed the scene with a look of irritation on her face. "Everyone needs to clear out immediately or they will not get any food for 3 days! I'll take care of this mess. Why in the hells would you bring them inside. Blood is getting everywhere!"

"We can help them! They can still work, you'll see, Miss Theresa. Please! They just need to heal up and we can get them some prosthetics!"

The large woman waddled over to the boy who spoke up and slammed her fist into his stomach. He doubled over in pain and flopped to the floor. The other children scattered like rats from a sinking ship and soon Megumi, Lydia, and the boy on the floor were the only ones who dared to stay.

"Did I stutter? Get the fuck out of my sight! These three are worthless now, they are going away."

Ignus came in through the front door and loomed over the scene. "Go get, Tyrius, tell him we have 3 more for him. Be quick about it, they're getting blood all over my floor!"

The man nodded and headed down to the end of the hallway and towards the forbidden area.

Lydia stubbornly fell to her knees on the floor and hugged one of the boys, who was missing both legs at the knees. She sobbed and held onto him for dear life. Megumi just stared in shock at what she was seeing. 

Memories long repressed forced themselves to the surface of her mind. She flashed back to a very similar scene where she was being dragged away kicking and screaming while the matron of her orphanage beat Miki to death. She had been removed from the room and never saw her sister again. Tears came to her eyes unbidden and she felt red hot rage flood into her.

Fuck the plan. Megu can't watch this shit anymore. Never again will something like this stand when Megu can do something about it!

She sent a mental call for Poro-tan and glared at the woman who had planted her foot into Lydia's side, sending her sprawling to the ground. Lydia clawed her way back over to her brother sobbing and begging.

"You can't save your fucking brother, Lydia! He's useless now. Get in the kitchen and clean up the mess or you'll be joining him where he's going. You too, new girl."

Lydia didn't respond and just held onto the boy for dear life sobbing and begging. Theresa let out an angry growl and began kicking Lydia over and over trying to get her to let go of her brother, but she just wouldn't let go.

Seeing that her tactic wasn't working the enraged woman turned towards Megumi. "Are you fucking deaf, girl? I said to the kitchens with you!"

Megumi's rage could no longer be denyed. She wouldn't be able to wait for the others to arrive, she would act right now.

"Where is my bear?" she said calmly.

The woman looked at her with a look of utter contempt. "You will never get that fucking bear back. In fact, I'm going to toss it into the fireplace as soon as I'm done here for your insolence. Get in the kitchen. Now!"

Megumi didn't utter another word, she simply held out her right arm with her palm facing the woman. She concentrated for the briefest of moments and a ball of green flames bloomed to life and shot towards the woman's chest. The Eldritch Blast connected and threw the woman back against the staircase. Screams of agony had rarely ever sounded so good to Megumi as they did right now. The woman wailed as the flesh melted away.

Madness had taken her and she began to laugh wildly as she blasted the woman over and over again until there was little left other than a pile of gore. Lydia stared at her with shock and horror as she dragged her brother away from Megumi.

Megumi didn't care that she was terrifying the girl. She was going to murder every fucking person in this town tonight and it would be glorious. She turned to Lydia after she was satisfied with her job on Theresa.

"Where does she keep the things she takes from kids?"

"U-U-U-Up... in h-her room."

Megumi nodded and reached down into what was left of the woman she had just murdered and grabbed the ring of keys that she found on the belt. She needed to hurry. Megumi ran up the stairs as quickly as she could and reached the door in seconds. She tried the keys one by one and after the third attempt, she heard the blissful sound of the lock clicking and she shoved her way inside. She knew that she only had moments before the man in black and Ignis returned. She needed her weapon. 

Theresa's room was lavishly decorated and it made Megumi sick with rage. Fine furniture and nice tapestries hung around the room and the woman even had her own personal fireplace that was lit. It was literally the only room in the building other than the kitchen that wasn't freezing. She saw a box in the corner with a pile of stuff on it.

There!

Her bear was on top of the pile and she rushed over to grab it and extracted her bag and staff before speeding downstairs once more.

There were now six other kids down there staring at the charred remains of Theresa. They had moved the wounded children to the edge of the room and Lydia was still holding her brother and sobbing uncontrollably.

"What the fuck are you all doing? Get those three off the ground and go find somewhere to hide. I'll take care of things from here."

Lydia and the others stared at her for a moment before they snapped back into reality and burst into action. Soon she was left all alone with the woman's remains and she gripped her staff tightly in her hand. It was time to begin bringing death to this town. She would sweep through it like a plague.

Two figures appeared around the corner from the back end of the entryway. She recognized Ignis and next to him stood a tall, skinny man wearing black clothing. They stopped dead as soon as they saw the smoldering remains on the floor and her standing there holding a staff. 

"A mage!" Ignis yelled and jumped in front of the man in black.

"Kill her." The man in black said with a deep and sinister voice.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a vial of something black and handed it over to the bony man who downed it without question.

This is going to be bad.

Megumi watched as the bony old man went through a terrifying transformation. His bones cracked and expanded and he quickly turned into some sort of enormous beast. His clothes ripped from his body in several places as his body expanded. He was no longer human after a couple moments.

Was he ever human to begin with, or was that a disguise of some sort? Megu can't be sure.

There wasn't anything for her to do now, except to fight. She gripped her staff and pointed it towards the enemy, firing a barrage of Eldritch Blasts at it and the man in black. The creature didn't try to dodge the attack and her magic slammed into it with a loud boom. To her surprise, the magic didn't seem to cause hardly any damage at all. The thing that had been Ignis let out a deafening roar and prepared to charge her.

There wasn't much she could do if the thing resisted her magic so strongly, so she did the only thing she could think of and cast Summon Blood Golem. All of the blood that had been on the floor from the wounded boys as well as that of Theresa flowed up into the air and coalesced into the form of a monster of her own making. It crystalized and before her stood a creature that glowed red like blood and was covered with wicked spikes. 

She stared around the golem towards her enemies with rage in her eyes before sending a singular command to her creature: Kill.