The Princess With The Jet Black Hair

They tried looking for any cracks, loose bricks or weak ends. However, they could not find any. They had been looking for those for a pretty long time. Who knows how long? There were no clocks whatsoever, so they could not tell what time it was.

Exhausted, Emily plopped on the hard concreted ground. She had been squatting, tip toeing and standing for past few hours, searching for a way to escape. Sadly, the room was in perfect condition, which in this case, really doesn't do much help in this situation.

Beck sat right next to her and ċȯċked his head a little to take a look at her face, "Are you okay? You should just take a rest for a little while."

"No, I'm fine." She persisted as she pushed herself up. Her wrists ached a little because of the chains that bounded her wrists together. She moved her arms a little so that the chains will move away from the sore parts of her wrists.

She did not want to rest, she did insist to help in her first place, it would be embarrassing if she called quits now.

Beck noticed her discomfort and asked, "Are the chains bothering you?"

"Erm... No." She lied, while looking down at him. He stood up and raised one of his eyebrows in disbelief, wanting her to tell the truth.

Guilty, she gave in and admitted, "...Yeah. But, I'm fine."

She did not want him to care too much about it, her sore wrists does not meant anything, as compared to how he was feeling.

"Close your eyes." Beck instructed, "Just for a quick second."

"What? Why?"

Emily was completely puzzled, but she still did what he told her to. When she had her eyes closed, he lifted her arms so that they are parallel to the ground. This time she was even more confused, "What are you doing?"

"It will be over in a second. Just hold your arms there." He raised one of his legs such that it was a few inches directly above the chains. He swiftly and effectively made a downward motion hitting the chains with the back of his heel. He flinched as the sudden movement shot a sharp pain towards his sore ribs, but he quickly regained his composure. The metal immediately broke into two parts upon the impact. The sound of the chains breaking startled her, so she opened her eyes.

Upon opening them, she realised that her wrists were no longer sore. Looking down to see the chains, she noticed that they split into two. "...What?!"

"There you go, is that better?" Beck questioned nonchalantly as if nothing amazing had happened, "They were bothering your wrists, right?"

Emily was so flabbergasted that no words came out of her mouth, instead she just subconsciously nodded.

After giving her a smile, he turned back and continued what he was doing.

"...Alright, take a quick rest here. I'll--"

His words trailed off as he needed to rested his body against the wall. Emily got herself together and rushed towards him to check on him, "Beck? What's wrong?"

"...It's nothing."

It was not convincing considering the fact that he had his arms slung across his torso.

She noticed the way his act and thought, "Don't tell me... He's in pain? Wait, duh, it's obvious, Emily! Why did you forget that he's wounded?!"

With one hand over his back and the other on his arm, she helped him to the ground, "Beck, just sit down first."

She did not know realised how much he was sweating, until she touched his back. Seeing him up close now, he was paler than usual and he looked like he had a hard time breathing, it was almost as if he got the wind knocked out of him.

Her eyebrows started to form a frown as plopped herself next to him, "...Is there anything you need me to do?"

He took a couple of breaths and shook his head, "It's fine... Just let me rest for a while."

Even though he said that, her worry for him was not diminishing. She did not know what to do, she just sat there and looked at him, as if her gaze could heal him.

Noticing the look she was giving from the corner of his eye, he reached over to grabbed one of her hands. He then gave it a gentle squeeze, in an attempt to reassure her, "...I'll be fine, alright?"

His voice sounded weak, he did not sound 'fine' at all.

She bit the inside of her cheek, and reluctantly gave a squeeze in return, so that she could hide the fact that she was still freaking out despite his words.

Beck tried to straighten his posture, but any slight movement caused him pain. He let out a groan that he purposely made quiet, hoping Emily would not catch it.

But, she did.

She immediately rested her other hand on his torso as her facial expression showed more concern than ever.

She couldn't help but to do something.

However, unlike Mary, she did not know what to do. She did not know how to heal others, "What should I do?! Um... How does Mary does do those healing thingies? There was like a greenish light on her hands, right?"

"Um... Heal!" She exclaimed as she waited for something to happen, but obviously nothing happened. The only thing that changed was how she felt, she felt very embarrassed after saying that. "Alright, That's not it, Emily!"

Just then, she remembered about the lesson she had with Yukiko. "Yukiko showed me how to manifest energy, maybe... Just maybe, that was how Mary do it? Well, let's just give it another try."

She sat down next him and closed her eyes, "Okay, I might mess this up, but there's no time to think about that."

She tried to imagine a greenish light coating her hands. Somehow, the image was clear, maybe because she was extremely desperate. She felt a surge of energy flowing through her body, it was warm and comforting. Her whole body heated up, but it was at a bearable level. She took a couple of deep breaths, hoping that it will work.

[Morpheus' Forest, Outside of one of Phantoms' hideouts]

"So, Anna want us to search for them here?" Lavi asked Ben, Yukiko and Mary, as the four hid behind a couple of bushes.

"Yeah..." Mary replied as she checked the map to confirm the location, "Yeah, this is the place."

"I can see why Anna want us to search here though. It's one of the main hideout for phantoms and it's the nearest to Fiore." Ben explained while he crossed his arms.

"Well, it isn't well hidden." Lavi commented as he stared at the huge concrete tower.

"It doesn't need to be well hidden, if it intimidates others." Ben grinned, "People will still stay out, you know? Hidden or not."

"Well, that is true." Mary agreed before she continued, "What's the plan? Are we going to j--" She stopped just as Yukiko causally stood up and walked to the tall structure.

"Yukiko! Hey! We can't just--" Yukiko disappeared before Mary could finish.

"There she goes." Ben said as he jokingly shook his head, "Guess it's my turn. No worries, I'll get her. You two can check the other sections of the tower."

"Alright, see you guys later." Just as he said that, he disappeared as well.

"So, it's just me and you." Lavi turned to look at Mary.

Suddenly, the both of them felt a strong yet unfamiliar energy.

The air appeared to thickened as it grazed against their skin, sending them goosebumps. In the next second, a surge of energy was emitted out of the building, thickening the air further.

However, that tangling sensation just lasted for a few seconds, but the effect did last longer than that.

Once it was all over, they felt a little unnerving.

Lavi's eyes widened, "Whoa, you felt that?"

"...Yeah. I don't think it's Beck though. But, if it's not his... Then who's is it?" Mary felt a chill down her spine when she realised who the owner of that energy might be, "...Emily's? That's impossible, how could someone new produce an insanely large amount of energy."

Amused, Lavi let out a laugh, "She is WAY too interesting! I wouldn't be surprised if it's hers, she had been giving us surprises since the day she appeared." He then stood up and proceeded to the tower, "Let's find out for ourselves, shall we?"

"What about the plan?" She questioned, refusing to go in without a proper strategy. "We can't just go in like that. What if it's worse than we thought? We should confirm their location first before rushing in like that. We might get caught off guard, you know? We will die lik--"

Lavi needed to cut her off.

He looked at her for a moment, before leaning in to her right ear to whisper, "...Screw the plan."

He backed away and snickered, "We will figure something out later. Let's go, we don't wanna to lose to them."