“JINXYYYYYYYY!” 

Ticia struggled in Fana’s hold.

“Release me Fana! Release me!” She yelled in her struggle, but Fana held her tight.

“Mother, please calm down!” Fana said in a worried tone, but Ticia was still out of it.

“I can’t! Jinxy, Jinxy is-”

“We can’t do anything for her now, Mother…” Bronz said flatly from the side, making Ticia freeze in place. Those words finally calmed her down, which was accompanied by a feeling of loss Ticia had never felt before…

“...” Fana let go of her mother as she remained silent. Ticia was trying to hold back her tears as she realized she had lost her first daughter, and it left a huge hole in her heart…

She’d lost comrades on the battlefields before, people she had been somewhat close to before even, but she never felt this lost over what to do next. Before, she only cared for herself, caring little for others, but she couldn’t say the same for her daughters…

I knew this could happen one day, but… why had it be to be Jinxy first…

It was a strange statement to make, but Ticia had her reasons. Jinxy held a special place among her daughters, so much so that Ticia was confident enough to say that Jinxy was her favorite out of the ECGs. Jinxy’s clinginess to her and clear reliance on Ticia as her mother had the effect of creating a strong attachment to the clone girl. Ticia had also been able to observe each and every change in her personality as it developed, which was something she cherished for all her daughters. She had seen Jinxy go from an unemotional state to one where she worried over the relationship of her sisters, while she herself became more demanding in the attention she wanted from her mother. Sure, the small unlucky incidents that surrounded her were weird, but it had the effect of strengthening the endearment she and all the clones shared for Jinxy.

Ticia did not want to accept the fact that she just lost that precious daughter of hers. She wanted to believe Jinxy was alive, but the chances of her making it out alive after falling into such a huge hole were unlikely…

“...Jinxy made her choice, please respect it, Mother.” Bronz added after a bit of silence. Ticia recognized some pain in her voice too. That was when she realized she was not the only one grieving right now.

A heavy atmosphere had settled over the ECGs, all looking at her for what to do next. Of course they would also feel sadness at this moment, so they tried to rely on their pillar of support, which was Ticia.

This is not good. The girls are doing their best to not grieve over the loss of their sister and yet here I am, showing a pathetic show to them…

Her only relief was the fact that she was wearing her helmet, making her emotions currently invisible for her daughters to see, though the same was also true for her. She couldn’t see their current emotions…

The only one that did right now was Rebot-ia, but the AI had opted to remain silent, only making a worried emoji face as she waited for Ticia to reign in her emotions. As for Laura and the robots, they were busy making sure no enemies were in their surroundings right now.

Ticia glanced at Rebot-ia’s emoji, a last look of faint hope on her face. The AI understood the unspoken question, but she sadly shook her emoji head. She had lost all communications with Jinxy.

Ticia then turned towards the place she had last seen Jinxy, fixing it for a few seconds. Laura came over to her at that exact timing.

“The perimeter looks safe for now, so you can take some time to get your emotions in order.” She said sympathetically. The girl seemed experienced with losses and had a sad look on her face.

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Ticia shook her head, making Laura’s eyes grow big.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Ticia turned towards her. She had finished grieving for now.

I need to move, it’s not time to grieve over Jinxy yet, I need to lead my other daughters to safety first.

“...If you insist.” Laura nodded, deciding not to overstep it. “We only have one way forward now, and that is the stairs at the end of this room.” She said, pointing towards the other end of the room they were currently in. There was an entrance leading deeper into the facility. It wasn’t the path Ticia wanted, but she didn’t have much of a choice since she could not use her jetpack to go back. Not even talking about the blown up entrance and the sentries there too…

As such, she moved forward. One look at her daughters was enough to make them follow her too. Ticia gazed one last time into the emptiness, before taking the stairs that would take her down…

The way down was actually longer than they had expected, which allowed Ticia to finish getting her thoughts in order. She also engaged in small talks with Laura over what to do next.

“Where do you think this place will lead us, Miss Ticia?”

“...Going through my knowledge, it would be the second floor where the training grounds are. But this place is different from any regular clone installation. I wouldn’t trust my knowledge here.”

“I guess you’re right. Then, do you think there is another exit?”

“That is most likely the case. There shouldn’t be just one exit and even if there is, we’ll just have to make another one.”

“I see. We both agree that we have to leave this place as soon as possible, right?”

“Yes. I don’t want to lose another one of my daughters because of my unpreparedness.”

“...Apologies on this matter.” Laura suddenly appologized. “I was the one that advised putting our political enemies on the frontlines so that they would be taken care of. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought those bastards would so shamelessly allow our enemies to infiltrate our domain.” She said, regret clear in her voice. Ticia did not know what to think about it. In her mind, right now was not the time to search for culprits.

“Should we survive this, some purges are going to happen…” Laura then declared, though Ticia asked herself if the empire could do so in its current state…

“Speaking of, have you noticed that the temperature is rising?” Laura asked another question, changing the subject entirely.

“Yes.” Ticia nodded. Just a look at the side of her HUD was enough to tell her the temperature outside. It was rising to a level not hot enough to be called warm, but enough for human beings to live without much problems.

Perhaps this is another effect of the error…

If it was an attempt from Laura to make it easier on her to momentarily forget about Jinxy’s demise, then it was working. Ticia’s mind began to focus on other matters, though Jinxy still remained in her mind.

“We should be able to remove our helmets without any danger now. Ah, we’ve reached the other sid-!?!”

As Laura continued her talk, she reached the end of the stairs, but immediately froze in place when she heard clamorous voices, yells, and noise of weapons…

Both Ticia and Laura became cautious as tension rose once again. The both of them approached the entrance at the end of the stairs, only to be baffled by what was happening on the other side.

““Wha-!?””

The scene that was happening on the other side could only be described with one word: Chaos.

“We’re finally free!”

“Take that you sucker! This is for Blen!”

A violent fight was taking place between two opposite sides within a large prison hall, opposing lightly armed sentry clones only wearing uniforms to a ragtag group of clones on the opposite side who had either no weapons or just some sort of makeshift weapons. The two sides faced each other violently, the sentries killing anyone in sight without saying a word while the other side, most likely prisoners, made a ruckus and charged madly at their opponents, engaging them into a brawl.

The most chaotic part of all this was for those in between: the clones that were not part of any camp and just tried to survive… The group had both prisoners, what seemed like civilians and even prison personnel.

“N-no, please! Agh-!”

“I-I beg you-”

““Hieeek!””

Screams reverberated as those poor people were either mercilessly killed, trampled upon, or just fled for their life to places where the fight was less violent.

“What are you doing!? This isn’t the time to piss your pants! This is the perfect opportunity to liberate our brethren and obtain our freedom!” One of the clone prisoners, armed with a pistol it had stolen on a defeated sentry, rallied the other clones.

“To arms!”

“Kill those motherfuckers!”

“What the hell is going on here!?” Laura could not help but exclaim.

“I think those are prisoners.” Ticia said matter of factly. She could tell all of them were clones.

“Well duh!” Laura rolled her eyes. “I mean, why the hell are they here and not in their cells?!”

“The announcement… It did say that there was some disfunctionment and that it would release a certain amount of cryogenic pods…”

“So it wasn’t just the sentries!?” Laura cursed. “Damn, how are we going to navigate through this mess?”

What she said was true. If they were to enter the room in this situation, they would surely be victims of the crossfire. The sentries would surely fire on them, while the prisoners might believe they were sentries due to their gears, not to mention how you would explain the robots standing right behind them…

“Not much of a choice but to just cave our way through!” Ticia declared decisively, before charging in. She was immediately followed by her daughters.

“Ah! Hey!” Laura tried to stop her, but Ticia was already launched. She sighed, smiling bitterly as she watched Ticia’s back. “...And there she goes… As expected, she’s just my type.”

“Uhm, should we follow them?” One robot that had taken place right next to her asked, making a vein pop on her forehead.

“Obviously, you dumb tin cans! Come on! Don’t lose to the clones!” 

““Roger roger!””

Laura and her robots soon joined the fray.

Meanwhile, Ticia’s charge had not gone unnoticed, as both groups looked at her. The first one to take action against her were the prisoners. 

“Waaaaah!” One man charged towards her with a bloody makeshift masse, but before Ticia could even shoot him down, Fana passed her. She effortlessly grabbed the man by the throat mid charge before stabbing him with a knife and throwing him to the side. She then continued straight on, taking the lead of the charge.

“Squad 2! With me! Follow sister Fana!” 

Before Ticia could even say anything to Fana, ECG 021 suddenly yelled, her call was followed by war cries as the ECGs from 021 to 030 all joined Fana, shields in hoplon mode.

Their charge had a great effect as those facing them were either stabbed from their bayonets or pushed to the side violently by the round energy shields.

“What’s going on!? Who are they!?”

“More guards!? Fuck!”

“Guah! They’re charging us!”

The mob of prisoners panicked when faced with such a charge, but their leaders quickly galvanized them again.

“Don’t run! Organize and push them back!”

“Focus on the weak point of their armors!”

The prisoners reorganized quickly. Those at the front tried to face Fana and her sister’s onslaught, while those who had managed to grab a gun from the sentries tried their best to aim at the armors’ weak points.

They weren’t the only ones who faced Ticia and her group though. The sentries also fired at them from the side.

“Squad 1! Reinforce security around Mother! Squad 3 to 7, hold the flanks!” Bronz yelled orders as she took position right next to Ticia, rifle in hand. Even as she gave orders to her sisters, she shot enemies with her own rifle.

The ECGs quickly took position around Ticia. Putting their shields into scutum mode, they protected the group from incoming attacks from the sentries while firing back at them.

Laura and her robots formed the rear of the group.

As for Ticia herself, she didn’t do nothing. Sure, she had to accept that her daughters would probably never let her be at the most dangerous place on the frontlines, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t help her daughters!

She secured her V-12 carbine on her belt before taking her two trusty TP-100 pistols and began to provide assistance to her girls with them.

I won’t let them get hurt in front of me when I can stop it myself!

The charge of the clone had been effective. Under Bronz’s leadership, the group slowly advanced through the mob.

At the same time, the poor people that were in between all of this finally realized something…

“...What?”

“They’re not with the sentries?”

A light of hope shone in their eyes. Some of them got up and began following Ticia's group. Some even took arms and defended themselves as they followed Ticia's group, hoping to remain alive by joining her.

Ticia herself did not like this however. In fact, she found this disturbing.

Taking in those people and protecting them is only gonna strain us. Besides, why should I care for a bunch of people I don’t even know and who only want to survive by relying on me?

Laura seemed of a different opinion than her however.

“Get those people to safety!” She ordered as she fired a spray of laser beams with her own sub-machine gun.

““Roger roger.”” The robots obeyed, letting the people who were standing right in front of them pass between them.

“Th-thank you…” One of those that had been allowed to pass said to Laura.

Ticia was about to protest, but before she could, Laura spoke up.

“I didn’t do it for free. If you want to join us, you better prove yourselves to be useful by either fighting with us or providing us with support.” She said, handing out a small arm to the man.

“Y-yes!” The man saluted Laura by reflex, seemingly used to how militaries worked. He soon enough helped other clones join the group by providing support at the rear.

“Mother! We’re reaching the end of the room!” Fana declared as she stabbed the person in front of her with her bayonet.

“You heard Fana, girls! Hang on a little longer!” Ticia said encouragingly to her daughters. Though the words in themselves weren’t much needed. The fight in itself wasn’t much of a fight but rather a slaughter. The prisoners who faced them had no effective ways of injuring them apart from overwhelming the group by their number. As for the sentries, the lack of heavy caliber weapons made it hard for them to do any real harm to the clones thanks to their armors. Even the robots seemed unaffected by their shots!

“We’re here!” Fana declared, but instead of going to the other room, she and half of her squad remained behind to secure the position while the other half entered the next room. Ticia soon followed after them. 

To the general relief of the group, this room had no ongoing chaos, although it looked entirely looted of any goods. There were some other people within the room too, who looked at the new arrivants with either frightened looks or wary ones…

The rest of the group quickly made its way into the room, Fana being the last one to enter. 

In a rare act of kindness, the girl and her squadmates had even helped the last stragglers to enter the room.

Once she made sure each and everyone of her daughters were inside, Ticia closed the door with the aid of the manual closing system..

Let those people kill each other like they did before.

There were some noises coming from the other side as their pursuers banged on the door, but it soon stopped as instead, noises of fighting replaced them. 

The tension of the people gathered in this room was high for a few, long minutes, before some clones fell to their knees, at the end of their wits. Some even began crying.

“I-I survived…”

“Ugh… Why did we have to go through this…”

Ticia and her group watched the scene in silence. Ticia felt neither sympathy nor pity for them, but she did feel a slight connection.

It’s similar to the one I have with my daughters, yet at the same time different and weaker…

This was probably because they were clones, she concluded to herself.

“Status report.” She said, addressing Bronz.

“Yes.” Bronz saluted. “No injuries have been sustained during this confrontation, Mother. all seventy-nine of us are still fresh.”

Seventy-nine…

That simple word left a deep wound in her heart. She immediately thought of the clumsy daughter she just lost, dampening her mood.

“U-uhm…” She was taken out of her depressed thoughts when someone hesitantly called out to her. She looked, only to see a girl who looked thirteen of age at the head of a group of clones.

Wait, there were kids too!? Ticia hadn’t even noticed this element. Most of all, the said clone also had a prisoner's garment…

“Thank you…” The girl said, half scared, half expectant for something. Ticia just stared back at her though…

It was Laura that answered.

“Don’t thank us. As I said before, we allowed you all to tag along with us in exchange for something.”

The clones flinched at her words, they became wary and scared of what Laura would ask of them. Whatever it was they’ve been through before, it seemed to have left deep scars on them…

Seeing this, Laura did not lose her calm.

“We’re from the outside, we’re here because we’re searching for something.”

““T-the outside!?”” The clones seemed surprised at this fact, but calmed down soon enough at Laura’s next words.

“Due to some complications, the entrance we’ve taken has been blown up, meaning we’re stuck here. Do any of you all know if there is another exit?”

“I-I do…” One man said, raising his hand. “I worked here as a janitor before they decided to freeze every clone within the facility…”

“Is that so? Are we far from it then?” Laura asked back.

“Yes.” The man nodded sadly, which had the effect of lowering the mood of everyone present. Other than Ticia and her group, most of the clones were distraught by this news while some others were just lost, the thirteen year old girl in front of Ticia being one of them.

“What do you think, Ticia?”

“It’s our only option. We don’t have much of a choice.”

“Yes. Honestly, I’d like to explore more but if each and every room we come across is like this one, then…” Laura grimaced. Forcing their ways through so many people was tiring, both mentally and physically. Not to mention that there were probably some sentries that were as well armed as the ones they had first met…

“Wh-who are you? I’ve never seen people with clone blood collaborate with robots before…” the same man asked.

“We’re the one asking questions though?” Laura said while tilting her head, making the man flinch. The other clones also grew restless. 

“Are you clones that were part of the rebellion?” Ticia asked curiously, still looking at the girl in front of her. The girl flinched, but did not speak. So did the others. Ticia took a long sigh, before making a decision.

She removed her helmet, some of her daughters doing the same after her.

“...Eh?” The girl’s eyes grew big as she looked at Ticia in front of her.

“Can you answer my question please?” Ticia asked, forcing a smile. She’d grown used to how to treat children by now, so even though her mood was currently bad, she put in some effort.

“Uhm, no… we’re just labor clones… The defectives that participated in the rebellion are deeper within the facility…” The girl denied, avoiding eye contact with Ticia by looking down.

“Mh?” Raising her head, Ticia noticed the sudden change in the clones surrounding her… Their expressions had changed to ones of pure shock or bewilderment. Before long, some changed into looks of curiosity, but most of them changed to outright… reverence?

What is this? Ticia asked herself as she became the attention of those weird looks. Seemingly misunderstanding the look on her face, one old clone who wore a fine set of military clothes on him suddenly bowed.

“Apologies. Your armor was getting our senses fuzzy. We did not expect to meet so many clones from the ‘Eve-class’.”

“Eve-what now?” Ticia frowned.

“...You aren’t ‘Eve-class’ clones?” The man seemed as bewildered as Ticia. “No, wait, you have the same feeling, same aura as them… You’re definitely linked to them!” He exclaimed, before looking at Ticia with a look of pure confusion.

“You… What are you?”

…That exact question was one Ticia had asked herself before…

 

***

 

Metallic Debris fell on a platform covered by thick snow one after the other in the dark, when a sudden scream was heard.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaa-Ouf!”

A humanoid figure fell heavily on the ground, making a hole in the snow and disappearing under. For a moment, nothing happened apart from the continuous fall of debris of various sizes, before the humanoid figure reemerged from under the snow. It was a robot, one with a red dot on his face.

“Ouch, ouch ouch… Now that’s a fall that definitely hurts, if I had any sensors for pain that is…” The robot grumbled as it rubbed its metallic part before trying to get out of the snow. It then lit on its internal lighting system, giving some light to its dark surrounding. Some debris still sparsely fell here and there. The robot slowly looked up.

“I’ve fallen quite low, I can’t even see from where! I’m so lucky to still be in working condition!” The robot declared out loud, seemingly proud of this fact. It held some truth though. Its fall had been slowed down by truly miraculous circumstances as it hit some random platforms here and there, which allowed it to slow down its fall. It had also landed on snow layers multiple times. 

The platform it had landed on this time seemed to be strong enough to support the crash of the debris this time, though the robot could see debris falling further, missing the platform…

“Things are still falling, I should be careful where I ste-whoa!?”

Before the robot could even finish its words, something fell right in front of it, spooking it up. The robot observed what had fallen right in front of it.

“...That’s a clone, isn’t it?” It ended up saying as it recognised the armor. The armor itself looked battered as a result of the fall, but the robot was still able to identify its largely bronze color that was present on  the clones’ armors. That and the blinking blue light of the helmet’s visor…

“Mhm, definitely a clone, and she’s definitely hurt…” The robot commented as it observed the current state of the body in front of it. Not only was the armor shattered or bent around various areas, proof of how rough the fall had been for the clone. There were also metallic shards that were protruding out of the body, which was definitely normal, one of  which striking out from one of the girl’s side, which the robot immediately recognised. As if not enough to describe the severity of the clone’s current state, red liquid the robot could only identify as blood fell on the white ground by small droplets. It was the clone it had tried to help before this.

Despite the more than tragic state of the clone, the robot’s heat sensors still indicated signs of life from the body.

“Heyyyyy, can you hear me? Blink once if you can, overwise do nothing.” The bot said as it waved one of its hands in front of the helmet’s visor blinking light. “Wait, how would I be able to tell with her helmet? Can you raise your hand?” The robot corrected itself, before looking at the clone's arms, both of which seemed to be bent at places they shouldn’t have been. “Uhm, nevermind… I don’t think they’re in the good direction for that…”

The robot's effort did not go unanswered however, as the clone began to twitch slightly as she fixed her gaze on the robot.

“Ah! She’s twitching! She must be alive!” The robot concluded in delight, before hearing a very weak voice.

“Mo…ther…” 

“What? I’m not your mother though?” The robot was confused for brief seconds, before the clone immediately went limp, making it panic.  “Ah, hey! Stay with me! If you die I’m gonna get scolded by the commander!”

The robot extirpated the clone out of the snow she was in with caution. Its heat sensors could still feel the heat rising from the clone’s body, though it was decreasing at a very slow pace. Even the robot could tell this was not a good sign…

“Uhm, uhm, how do I heal a clone? Would a welder work? No, I need to find a first aid kit or something like that!” The robot panicked. It obviously lacked the equipment or the knowledge needed to save the clone. It looked around the field of debris for anything that could help, until its light spotted the entrance to a room, a sign saying ‘Eve-class Medical Room’ on the side. 

“Ah! Perfect! There should be just what we need over there!” The robot exclaimed, before dragging the clone, making sure not to hurt the clone further, albeit a bit sloppily.

Once they had entered the room, it lit up on its own, revealing what was inside.

“Whoaaaaa…. This place is beautiful…” The robot exclaimed. Unlike the usual neutral walls of a medical room, this one appeared to be an extremely rich resting room.

The walls were intricately decorated with flower patterns of various vivid colors, giving a warm atmosphere to the room where the robot could identify four central elements.

To the left of the entrance was a large bed surrounded by bookshelves filled to the brim with books made of paper. The bed and the bookshelves themselves, made of wood, were finely sculpted, with golden and silver coatings on them.

Right on the opposite side of the robot was a huge computer with numerous buttons. It was surrounded by doors on each side, which revealed a bathroom on the right side, and a hallway on the other. Both were lit up, for some unknown reason.

At the center of the room was a small round table, surrounded by a set of chairs. The teacup placed on the table seemed to be still half filled with tea, which indicated that its owner did not have the time to finish its content before leaving.

The big, metallic tube that was set on the right side of the room was what attracted the robot’s attention the less. Compared to the rest of the room, it seemed rather plain and unimportant despite its size.

All in all, the room gave the impression of a luxurious hotel suite rather than a medical room, which was supposed to be a prison in the first place. Still, the robot did not ask itself questions about the current state of the room, more focused on keeping the clone girl alive. It did not even notice that the door had closed itself after the robot had entered the room.

“This place’s warm.” It remarqued as its temperature sensors determined the temperature to be perfect for humans to live in, which was a surprise if you compared it to the cold state of the outside, but it proved beneficial to the clone’s survival as the heat in her body stabilized. 

“Miss clone, I’ll put you on the bed and remove the armor, that will help you a bit, right?”

The clone did not answer of course, having fainted from all her recent experiences. The robot did not seem concerned however as it carefully removed the broken parts of the armor where it could without endangering the clone’s life. Due to the armor’s current state, pieces that should have been stuck to one another were now removable on their own. As such, the robot was able to remove the forearms and leg protectors without much trouble, which revealed the poor state the limbs were currently in. Some bones were clearly broken at multiple parts, and clear blue bruises covered the white skin under the armor.

Removing the clone’s helmet also showed the bad state the girl was in. While not as obvious as the rest of the body, faint traces of blood could be seen on the lips. The pained expression on the clone’s face as well as the weak breathing cycle were the only thing that confirmed that she was still holding dearly to life despite her injuries.

After doing so, the robot inspected the room further to see if there was anything that could help the clone. It did find some cabinets that had been hidden from its view when it first entered the room, they were right next to the metallic tube.

“My intuition is telling me that medical resources are stocked up in this cabinet, but it seems to be locked. Maybe one of the buttons over there can open it?”

The robot said, before going over to the computer. The screen was black, but it didn’t bother the robot much, the robot was more concerned with which button it had to push…

“Agh, I can’t tell which one it is… What was it that the commander said for those cases already? Ah! I remember! ‘When in doubts, just press all the buttons!’” 

If Laura heard those words, she would have kicked the robot until it stopped working due to its stupidity, but she wasn’t here, so the robot slammed each and every button present on the board. This had unexpected consequences, of course.

*Kachack* 

“Oh…”

While it had the expected effect of unlocking the cabinet in which medical supplies were indeed stocked up, it also opened EVERY other thing that could be opened in the room apart from the door the robot had entered from.

More worrying was the noise coming from the gigantic tube the robot had ignored until now…

The metallic tube was turning to the side, entering the wall and revealing what was on the other side. It was a cryogenic pod, which was inhabited…

The pod itself immediately opened, revealing the woman that was inside and beginning the process of undoing the cryogenisation.

The woman herself looked very similar to the clone, albeit older, with her white hair that only reached her shoulder plates. She also had a hair strand standing proudly above her head.

The woman’s eyebrows twitched as she slowly woke up. The robot remained frozen, observing the process warily…

Finally, the woman opened her eyelids, revealing the gray pupils behind them. Her gaze met the robot’s one immediately.

“...A low ranked AI? Greetings.” She said, her voice sounding half lazy, half resigned, with only a small bit of surprise in her voice.

“Uhm, Hi?” The robot answered hesitantly, waving its hand.

“What have you woken me up for?” The newly awakened woman asked. “Your superiors would probably want me dead, ri-”

The woman froze mid sentence as she finally saw the clone girl lying on the bed. Her look could only be described as utter surprise.

“Wha-... That…” She mumbled  to herself incomprehensive words as she tried to understand what was in front of her. Before a look of understanding emerged on her face.

“I see, so ‘she’ ended up achieving her dreams…” The woman said, a pure look of happiness on her face as she looked at the injured clone girl with fondness.

“Uhm, friend or foe?” The robot asked hesitantly.

“Friend.” The woman answered immediately with a serious look. She got out of the cryogenic pod.

“Oh, uhm good.” The robot seemed relieved, before asking the woman for help. “Can you help me treat this clone? I don’t know anything about fixing humans…”

“Fufu, that’s understandable.” The woman smiled, going over to the cabinet which had medical supplies. Her resigned mood she had at the beginning was now nowhere to be found. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t let her die. She’s family after all.”