"What are you talking about?" Yura snarled at Rachel as they both sat in a room.
Rachel was playing with a red droplet of shinsu on her palm. Her face was split with a serene grin and her hair was flowing freely down her back. The ceiling was made entirely out of glass which made the sunlight filter in from an angle. And as the light fell over her figure, it made her appear almost beautiful.
Almost.
"I said we should wake him up."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Probably." Rachel shook her head. "He hasn't led us astray until now, has he? With the Riddle returning, it is probable that Winston has as well. It's in our best interests to wake him."
Yura thought everything over for a bit before shaking her head. "But still. This feels a bit strange. We've only had him for 5 months now. I thought the plan was to keep him asleep for 9 years..."
"Let's not get too deep into it." She smiled. "All we have to do is wake him up. If anything bad happens, it happens. We're going to die if we don't do something soon anyways."
"You genuinely believe that Winston guy can take on the Riddle?" Yura asked incredulously, getting up and making for the door. Rachel followed her, still playing with the red shinsu droplet that seemed to have a life of it's own.
"Honestly speaking, no. But it doesn't hurt to be careful. I'm finally going to be the heroine of this story, and I won't have anyone stop me from reaching the top. Not now, not ever."
Yura quieted down after the exchange. Both of them made their way through a long hallway. They passed various doors and knocked on some of them to call out their team members.
Taking a group of 12 people, they headed to the main lobby and made for the stairs.
"Where is he?" Rachel asked to a lizard man trailing behind him.
"I don't know. He's been gone since morning. If only that dammed dwarf used a pocket." The lizard man hissed in annoyance. Yura snorted at the side and said, "He's always on time. He'll join us. Let's just get to it."
"Sure."
They went down a long flight of stairs and entered a locked room. The inside of the room was cold, almost like a freezer and ice was spreading outside to the starting of the stairs. The door itself was almost 5 meters in length and width and was made out of solid metal.
As they all trailed inside, the door closed behind them and the lights inside the room turned on.
In the very center of the room, buried amid blocks of ice was a podium. And upon the podium, there rested a cloaked figure, bound in a bubble of crimson shinsu.
The figure was large, almost 4 meters tall and had a grinning mask like that of a demon.
Rachel smiled and popped the droplet of shinsu she had been playing with. Then her smile fell as she uttered the figure's name.
"Ghost."
One year ago, after the incident at the last station, whence after Winston faced the Jahad army forces and the Supreme Commander - Adori Jahad and turned the entire station into a no-man's land, Theolis Clear had reappeared beside Rachel and Yura, guiding them to a FUG headquarters on the 37th floor and helping them recuperate. After that happened, he had passed out.
But after a few months, when Ghost reappeared, Theolis' body had split open like a watermelon. Some of it merged with Rachel herself while the rest of it fused with Ghost, putting him into a slumber instead.
It was hardly anything to freak out about. Especially after they got advice from their resident dwarf. The original plan was to keep him asleep and lay low for a bit. Ghost was only to be awakened 9 years later. But things had changed.
"How do we wake him up?" Asked a small boy who looked no older than 13. He had bright blonde hair and a single horn grew from the left side of his forehead.
"How the hell should I know." The lizard man whispered back. Before he could say anything else, all of them broke out in a flurry of whispers.
"Shush now."
The air instantly turned quieter with a chilling sensation. The surrounding temperature seemed to drop even lower, forcing some of them to wrap shinsu around their bodies to keep up. Red droplets materialized around Rachel, swirling around her fingers.
"Ghost is long since dead. It's the reason we keep his body here. The only 'living' thing inside him still is the shinsu. And that's why waking him up needs a power that creates life." She chuckled with a deranged glee. "It needs the shinsu of the Red Tower which can create life."
Without hesitation, the droplets around her hand coalesced into a dagger, and she plunged it right into Ghost's chest!
Pierce!
Spurt!
The red dagger, crimson as blood dissolved right when it pierced his chest, merging into him. The red shinsu film surrounding him began to break like crackling ice.
And then, his hand twitched.
"Grrrrrrrrr...." Ghost's signature growls, his preferred method for speaking rang out into the dim room. Rachel's smile could not have been wider.
The giant on the platform slowly got up and towered over her. For some reason, Rachel truly felt that what stood before her was a walking natural disaster. An anomaly in the truest sense, just like how Winston Smith had once made her feel.
"Insignificant..."
"Huh?" Yura said, looking at her. A thick bead of sweat had appeared on her temples despite the cold permeating the room. Standing before Ghost... it was suffocating.
"Nothing." Rachel shook her head and turned around.
Right when she was about to speak, the doors to the room opened and a man walked in.
The man had pale white skin, white as a sheet of snow and he had a strange unfinished face. He wore a long dark trench coat and a hat atop his head. As he walked into the room, he showcased his pearly white teeth and chuckled in a baby like voice.
"Samuel." Rachel greeted the dwarf who strode towards Ghost with a smug satisfaction.
"Hm... good enough. The previous vessel was crumbling anyways." He patted Ghost's shoulder who growled in response. Then, turning towards Rachel, the white dwarf spoke. "I think we'll be having friends over soon."
Rachel's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?" Yura asked.
Samuel didn't answer immediately. He circled around the group with slow and heavy steps.
Step!
Step!
Step!
Each step seemed like it was hammering on their chests. It made many people shift uncomfortably as they stood.
"I've received some valuable intel. Apparently, your previous teammates have caught wind of your location and are planning to pay us a visit soon."
Step!
Step!
Step!
"As for how they got this news... well, it's obvious isn't it." He stopped.
The young boy felt a hand on his shoulder.
"We've got ourselves a filthy rat. Or is it a mole?"
Krack!
Squelch!
Blood and brain matter instantly splashed onto the faces of people present, and a small body fell to the ground. Samuel held back his hand and pulled out a handkerchief, with which he began to clean it.
"The problem's been dealt with. You're welcome."
No one dared to speak, except Ghost who was constantly growling. The lizard man looked at the body on the ground with an empty gaze.
Rachel met his eyes and asked.
"Is Winston out?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Don't I always?"
Rachel cringed. She didn't like the wording, but she could not do anything about it. As things were, they were all sitting ducks in front of Winston if he truly wanted to take revenge. Samuel Helmons was their final hope. Pushing down her irritatation, Rachel gave a weak smile and asked with a deranged obsession.
"Does that mean I can kill him?" She asked.
"Khun Aguero Agnis?"