"If not, I wouldn't ask that question, would I?" Mercy tried to smile, but it wasn't too convincing. She bent down to pick up the mp3 player that landed on the floor, and checked if its still working, breaking the eye contact just for a short moment. She then put it next to the rest of her stuff on the bedsite stand, leaned forward and clasped her hands, awaiting the response.

Elyss looked down. "I was a medic when it all went down. When the first Fraysan armies swept over nations. We weren't aware of the infectious oil until it was tool late. When we were overrun and captured, they found out I was infected. I was singled out and brought back into some Citadel where I was forced to become their servant. It took days for the process to finish and each day was excruciating. When they were done, I was officially ..." she nearly said Fraysan, stammered a bit then continued. "..part Fraysan."

"I served their armies as a support, giving them strength using my voice," she said, touching her throat. "When the war ended, and my master killed, I fled. I tried to live a normal life again but my appearance, of course, held me from doing so. Instead, I travelled, helped those I can with my voice. I've been travelling ever since."

Elyss silenced herself and hugged her legs tighter. "I did horrendous things under their control. I want to repent for them..."

Mercy kept listening, her frown deepening slightly with each word spoken. When Elyss was done, she herself remained quiet for a while, before getting up suddenly, and approaching her with two quick steps. "Well, its obvious..." The girl extended her right arm in front of herself, making a very similar pattern with her fingers, when it was about to transform into her minigun. Only the thumb was still down. Standing like that, with such face expression, Mercy might've even look kind of intimidating. "...It doesn't matter who you were..."

"...Or how you look and whatcha made of..." Just as suddenly as she got up, just as quick, she crouched down in front of Elyss, her usual smile showing up on her face again. "...Its about what you're doing right now, and what you have here." She tapped Elyss' leg with two fingers of her mechanized arm, trying to point at her heart. "As long as you're fair in there, you're a great person in my eyes, okay?..." There was an awkward silence for a moment. "Because uh...its still there, right...?"

Elyss raised her head and nodded. A few tears ran down her mask which she then flicked away. She slowly relaxed with Mercy knowing her history.

She then nodded when Mercy asked if her heart was still present. "Yes, it is still there. They deemed it useful, the Fraysans. So they allowed me to keep it." She touched her left breast, her beating heart still there. She was smiling behind the mask but no one else could see it.

After a bit, Elyss talked again. "Thank you, Mercy. It means a lot to me, to not be the reason for people's fears.

If you don't mind though, may I ask about your arm?"

Mercy just grinned in answer, and sat back on her bed, taking a swig from a bottle of water, that she pulled out of her backpack soon after.

"My arm? What's wrong with it..?" She extended her regular arm in front of herself, began to turn it around, watching her hand and nails, before taking a glimpse at Elyss and smiling again. "Im just kidding." She put the arm down. "It happened when I was younger. Had no idea that it can't be reversed back then...Nor I even thought about it... Shortly after I just discovered what I can do, the Raiders attacked the settlement. Whole clan of 'em, with explosives, fire, guns... Today I still have no idea how they got in in such numbers undetected. I was in of one of the wooden houses, when they blew up the wall. It was on my right...You can probably see where Im going with this right about now, eh? Anyway, My arm got hit pretty bad, and to make things even better I got crushed by the supporting beam, while raiders made their way inside..." She stopped and shrugged, chuckling. "I really don't know why I didn't come up with a better solution than this...But hey, I managed at the end, and to be totally honest? I got so used to it that im not even complaining anymore..."

Elyss nodded. "You did what you needed to do to get out," she said. "I'd say that you did good considering your age then."

Suddenly, she shifted her voice. It became softer than the previous and audibly different.

The porcelain woman relaxed, her arms supporting her as she leaned back. "It's amazing, your power, you can create whatever you wish, limited only by your imagination," she commented. "If you felt like it, you could lead the human race back into the age before the Fraysans."

"Hmm..." Mercy put her hands behind her head and leaned against the wall. "Well Im not so sure about that...Really a lot would have to be done, and besides...I don't even know how it all looked like before. Only what I heard and read... Doesn't mean I won't try though...First we need to create conditions where we can start to live, instead of just struggling to survive...Like Mano said, 'baby steps'." Mercy sighed and exhaled deeply. "Was Earth really that pretty before that all happened?"

"Well, it is up to you on what you define as pretty..." she said, remembering what the drunkard had said to her regarding Edward's comment. "I mean, there are breathtaking sights such as lush forests and crystal clear rivers but there were still infighting between countries, pollution was so bad in places that it threatened to plunge it into a state of calamity, and so on. There were beautiful places for sure but..."

"It wasn't all that pretty," Elyss shook her head. "I'd like to paint you a picture of green pastures and clear blue skies everywhere but in all honesty? Not much has changed. Sure the landscape is now torn by the wars and most lands are infertile but I can say... that we were already doing that to our planet albeit slowly. Politicians were corrupt and leading people astray, lots of people, soldiers and..."

The porcelain woman sighed, thinking about what she said. Elyss ended looked up to the ceiling. She laughed a bit. "Sorry, you're hearing a probably older woman ramble about what was..."

"Simply," Elyss said finally. "It depends on what angle you see the Earth in. Some say it was great, while people like me, whose seen what people do behind the scenes... well, we see it all different."

Yogi was finished with his work, but he didn't feel tired at all.
He looked around for something else to clean.

"I see...So it hasn't gotten that much worse then..." The girl looked up pensively, as she crossed her legs on the bed again. "I wonder whether any of these 'better' places preserved, somewhere... Like, the Earth is a huge place, you never know, right?"

Elyss knew better to say the worst that could happen. She was a realist but in times like these, the line between pessimism and realism are blurred to the point of non-existence but instead, she clung to hope.

"Yes," Elyss nodded. "Perhaps someplace on Earth, there lies a haven untouched by Fraysan claws. I know for a fact that there were places Clergy has never gone to, maybe, just maybe..." She shrugged. "Maybe those are safe."

Leo walked to his room, which he was sharing with Nikolai. He went in and closed the door behind him. He took his sword off his back and flopped down on one of the beds. "I feel lucky being able to share a room with you. I was praying to every god in exsitence that I wouldn't get stuck with the old drunk." He sat up on the bed and crossed his legs, and just watched his roommate.

Nikolai didn't take anything off except for his machete, which he rested on the foot of his bed. He exhaled softly, running a hand through his dark hair, "I wouldn't wanna be with the drunkard either," He replied hollowly.

"Son of a bitch had the nerve to call me stupid," Leo grumbled. "I am not stupid! My father was a brilliant scientist and I inherited his brains! I am far from stupid!" Leo noticed Nikolai didn't take off his coat. "Alright, as cool as it looks, I guarantee you that is not comfortable to sleep in. Show some muscle, get comfortable, bless me with the sight of Nikki J's biceps."

He almost smirked: almost, "I wear it to bed every night--at this point, it feels more comfortable being in it then out of it," he winced at the phrase 'Nikki J', however it wasn't noticeable in the dark hues of the room. The only source of light was the moon pouring its brightness in through the window, "That guy would think anybody is stupid; I wouldn't take it to heart."