Romelle had no luck finding anything. The first room she walked into had only dirty armor.

"Gross." She mumbled in disgust as she looked through the room. Just her luck to find their laundry room first.

She explored the rest of the rooms on her side, searching for any clues and prisoners until she encountered a locked door. She knew there could be something important on the other side so if she knocked down the door with her one-person party, she would immediately be stopped.

So instead, Romelle searched around for a ventilation system that she could sneak into. She swore she spotted a vent in the first room.

Trying to ignore the putrid smell, she searched the room until she spotted a gray vent behind one of the baskets. Cursing as she pulled off the galra armor, she forced herself to fit inside the decently large but dirty vent and crawl through. She followed the directions towards the locked door until she came to the end of the path, meeting with another closed vent.

She had always been taught to be careful and patient as an assassin so she looked for any threats outside before doing anything. It was hard to see through the rusty metal, but she saw movement from the corner of the room.

There was a 50% chance it was either a galra or a prisoner, but Romelle decided to take the risk knowing she could easily take on an enemy.

Unlocking the vent cover with silence, she jumped down from the opening swiftly and quietly on her feet. She pulled out her daggers as she got in her fighting stance until she realized the person she had seen moving was not even standing up.

A man in his early forties was strapped to a chair with rope. His hands were confined together with rope, and his mouth was covered by a thick tied cloth.

"...You're not galra?" She blinked, and his attention turned to her, both brown eyes widening.

He started making muffled sounds against the cloth, and Romelle sighed before untying him.

"Thank you." The man's voice was raspy from dehydration, and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in days.

"Who are you? Why are you here alone?" She questioned without trying to cover her nose, putting a dagger back in but keeping one out just in case.

"I- I'm—" the man stuttered as if he had forgotten his own identity. 

Just what did the Galras put him through?

"Nevermind about that. Do you know where they keep prisoners?" She asked, eyes set on him with determination. She wasn't going to fail her mission now.

"I- I think I remember." He responded with wide eyes.

Romelle sighed in relief, knowing she at least had a lead now. Everything else relied on the memory of this man.

Katie nearly tripped over her own feet as she ran through the long empty hallways. Shiro was close behind with his hand weapon, ready to attack her. Katie didn't want to harm him so she ran away instead.

She knew this couldn't last forever though.

When she reached the end of the hallway, she decided to finally confront him. She took in a deep breath before pulling out her sword as his shadow came closer to where she stood.

"Please come back." She silently pleaded as she positioned to defend herself. She just wanted to tire him out so she could slip through but in the worst case scenario, she would have to disable him of his weapon, and she didn't want to hurt him.

He stalked towards her, his expression blank of emotion but revealing some annoyance.

Before Katie could even think or say another word, Shiro was already running at her with full speed with his hand aimed for her neck.

She stopped it barely with the edge of her sword, claiming the ground she stood on so she wouldn't be moved easily.

He continued attacking her, aiming for the spots that were left vulnerable, but Katie would always match his speed in defending herself. This went on for a while until she realized he wasn't going to get tired at all; if anything, she was being worn out right now and would end up dying by her friend.

"You..leave me no choice..!" She grit her teeth as she moved from her position, backing him up instead with all her strength. He seemed to be struggling at the least to keep his stance still so maybe she was tiring him out a bit.

Blocking his weapon with her sword, she moved quickly to jump a few inches in the air and kick his face. It took him off guard and he stumbled back a few feet which gave enough time for Katie to use her final technique.

She ran up to him before he could strike her again, and with the handle of her sword, she hit him hard on the head. She took in a sharp breath as she watched his unconscious body fall upon the floor. If this were the real Shiro in his right mind, he would never have let her knock him out like this.

Where was the real Shiro? Who was this man?

She leaned over and apologized before dragging his body into an empty room and using a long cloth there to tightly tie his hands and feet together. Dusting her hands, she sighed, glancing back at the unconscious man she thought she knew.

She'd be back for him, but right now she needed to find the prisoners.

Remembering that there was still a metal door that needed to be opened, she suddenly had an idea regarding Shiro.

"...Sorry." 

She apologized again before dragging his unconscious tied up body along with her until she reached the door once again.

As she was trying to figure out how she would angle his sharpened metal hand to damage the lock system, she heard light footsteps behind her.

By the time the approaching people were in front of her, Katie had her sword out.

"Romelle!" She exclaimed seeing the familiar grinning blonde. There was someone else coming from behind her though.

"Hey, looks like you found the place before me." Romelle said, but Katie was too busy looking behind her to see the man she brought.

"Dad?"

——————————————————————————

A/N

Another cliffhanger because I love you guys 🥰

Do you think the man is really her father, or is she mistaken?

School has been killing my butt lately, and I've even started getting migraines from stress so do excuse any mistakes I make.

Anyways, thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a good day! :)

-Silver 💜