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"Where are you going, kid?" Zack Yuu as he cleans up the bar counter.
"Uhm...to my friend?" Yuu answered with a bit of hesitation.
The boy on the counter laughs. "You don't have friends"
Yuu gritted her teeth in range.
"Shut up, Golden boy!" Yuu throws something in the boy's drink before walking away.
"Hey—" Before Melrick stood up and went after Yuu, his drink exploded. His face was covered in pink powder paint and wet from the drink.
Zack groaned, another of his glass shattered again.
"I swear I'm gonna make Warden pay for everything she destroyed..."
"Tell me about..." Melrick wiped off the pink powder paint out of his face.
He looked at the pink powder paint in his hand and realized.
The paint she used is extremely similar to Lucian's.
He immediately pulled out coins from his pocket and slammed it to the counter and picked up his bat beside him.
"Thanks for the drink, Sir..." He stands up leaving the counter covered in paint and shattered glass.
"I shouldn't let kids hang out here..."Zack complained as he started wiping off the counter.
...
Melrick quickly catches up with Yuu.
"Where you going?" He asked, and he pulled Yuu's wrist, making her stop from walking.
"Do you have a crush on me?" Yuu asked as she looked up at him.
Melrick blushes and hides his face.
"W-what? Why would I— I'll never like a psycho like you!" He denied.
"Well then..." Yuu turned back to her tracks.
"H-hey! Wait!" Melrick pull Yuu again.
Yuu pulled her wrist away and continued walking.
"You're gonna see that magician, don't you?" Melrick's question made Yuu stop.
Melrick steps closer. "I knew you knew each other..." He whispers.
"And the Warden will be angry at you if he finds out..." He smirks as Yuu flinch in his comment.
Yuu turned her head to look at him.
"Do you have a crush on Lucian?"
"Huh?" His face contorted into confusion.
"Do you have sick in a head?" He tapped Yuu's head with his bat making Yuu slightly tilt her head.
"Why don't you check it yourself?" She smirked at him.
"Y-you..." Melrick's eye twitch in her comment, his gripped in his bat tightens.
"I swear I'm gonna kill you soon if it wasn't for the Warden, you punk" he whispers angrily at her before he turns his back and walks away.
Yuu only rolls her eyes and continues on her way.
...
"We lost the gemstones..." One of the Bandits said.
"If it wasn't for this magic boy here" another one complained.
"You didn't get the stones?" Lucian asked.
"No! We were busy saving your ass from that golden boy..." The bandit answered.
"So it means the stones are still with the Warden?" Lucian stands up from his bed.
He holds his head, it's still in pain because he got hit earlier by Melrick's bat.
"I don't think the stones are still with the Warden, he said that the stones were gone..." The other bandit replied and others agreed.
"This is gonna be a problem for us..." The bandit said.
"What's up with the stones, Levi?" Lucian asked as he fixed his hair and looked for his hat.
"The five stones are not just any ordinary gemstones..." Levi sits beside Lucian.
"The stones came from the Southern Kingdom, each stones represents the five elements, fire, water, air, earth, and light"
"And why would we want to have it?" Lucian asked.
"We need to have it, so we can save the Barrel Zone from poverty, dumbass" a girl stepped forward taking off her mask.
"Don't you want to have fresh water, magic boy?" The other bandit commented.
And others agree.
"If the five stones can save the Barrel Zone, why would the Warden be about to turn it to the capitol?" Lucian asked as his room was slowly becoming crowded.
"And why are you guys here!?" He complained.
"That's what I'm confused about..." Levi replied.
"You're confused why the magic boy's room is crowded?" The girl asked.
"No, I'm confused about why Warden will give the stones to the Capitol?" Levi said.
"Hey! What about my room?" Lucian said angrily.
"We're in your room because this is our new hideout" Levi stands up and pat Lucian's head, messing his hair.
"And besides, your place is the only one who has a real tree..." They stepped outside.
Lucian's house is deep in the pipes, the only tree in the Barrel Zone.
It was hard to find it if you're not familiar with the pipes.
The light is illuminating the tree where he had his house on.
"Did you see the one who took the gemstone, Sarah?" Levi turned his head to the girl bandit.
"No, thanks to the smoke, I can't see anything with my sniper" she rolled her eyes and glared at Lucian.
"It's not my fault! I'm just following orders..." He crossed his arm and pouted.
"Enough!" Levi snapped.
"Our top priority is getting the stones, maybe they dropped it somewhere..."
...
"Hmmm~" Yuu hums her mother's favorite melody while taking a stroll on the Barrel Zone.
Everywhere she goes, there's people on the side slowly dying in hunger, some fighting for a piece of mouldy bread.
Some are killing each other, there's also kids, who're playing tag, some kids are beating each other and some are asking for a bit of coins or food .
The Barrel Zone is a hell, but she didn't care about it.
She reaches one of the entrances through the pipes.
She was going to Lucian's place.
Her humming echoes through the pipes.
She seems relaxed even though she's alone in the dark pipes.
The only light source she had was a lamp.
It took her a while to get to Lucian's place.
His place is very different from the outside.
It looks peaceful, there's a big tree in the center.
Flowers are in the corner, the grass is green.
The wall is full of beautiful graffiti.
She put down the lamp as she walked closer to the paints scattered in the corner.
"Why are you here?" Lucian asked as he jumped down from his tree house.
"Nothing~ thanks for saving me earlier...." Yuu replied as she cleaned up the paints.
She started humming again, she picked up the paint brush and dipped in the paint bucket.
"Gonna paint something again?" Lucian looked up at the empty wall.
Yuu is really great at painting things.
But the Warden doesn't like it, for him painting on the wall is dirty and insignificant.
He always remind Yuu that rather than painting, she should focused in her combat.
"I can't protect you forever, Yuu...You need to learn to protect yourself..." His words pierced Yuu's head.
...
"Did your erm...what do you call it? Gang? Get the stones?" She starts to stroke the paint brush in the wall.
"Nope, we lost it..." Lucian leans on the table as he watches Yuu paint.
"Cynthia said someone took it..." She dipped her paint brush in the paint bucket.
"Yeah, that's our problem now, we need to find the stones as soon as possible..." Lucian rubs his shoulder.
"Is it really important?" Yuu looked at Lucian.
"Yeah, they said that the five stones can save the Barrel Zone" Lucian replied, he started stretching his body.
Yuu touches the bandages in Lucian's head, he hissed in pain.
"Does Melrick hit you?" Yuu asked.
"Yeah..." Lucian looked down to Yuu.
She hugs him.
"It must be so much pain" she patted his back trying to soothe him.
"Yeah..." the memories of them when they were kids flash in Lucian's head.
They met each other in the pipes.
Lucian found Yuu lost in the pipes, crying and helpless.
"Are you lost?" Lucian asked little Yuu.
She only nods as she wipes her tears.
Lucian offers his hand to her as he guides her out of the pipes.
Little Yuu gave him a hug as thanks.
From that moment on, Yuu always went through the pipes almost every day just to see Lucian.
Lucian see Yuu as his little sister that he never had.
She may be problematic sometimes, but he can deal with it.
After all, being alone in his tree house is quite lonesome.
Yuu always goes there to do what she likes to do the most, painting.
Lucian always watches her paintings and is mesmerized by her art.
He wouldn't mind going to the capitol and stole some paint for her.
...
They sit in the tree house while looking at the image Yuu just painted.
It was her mother again, stroking her hair while she lay on her lap.
Lucian hands her an ice pop.
"What's this?" Yuu asked, the moment she took it, she got shivers, it was cold.
"They called it an 'ice popsicle'..." Lucian takes a seat beside her.
"It's cold...How do you eat it?" She observed the packaging first before she attempted to eat it.
Lucian laughs at her.
"That's not how you eat it" he takes the popsicle and takes off the plastic wrapper.
"Here, hold the wood part" he takes her hand and makes her hold the popsicle.
"Hmmm? What strange food..." She was mesmerized by the 'ice pop'.
She sticks her tongue in the ice pop and takes a lick.
"It's sweet at the same time cold, just like Zack's drinks!" She said happily.
Lucian watches her eating her ice pops without knowing he is already melting in his hand.
Seeing Yuu happy for something small always reminds him when he used to be a small kid.
"I wish everyone in the Barrel Zone could have ice pop too..." Lucian at her comment. He wishes it too, if he can have the five gemstones, he'll save the people in the Barrel Zone.