“Who are you?”

  “A-Alyvia?” She fidgets in her seat.

  The man squints his eyes as he stares back at her. “...Where are you from?”

  “...” Alyvia avoids his gaze

  “Are you from the Fire Kingdom?” Chee interjects aggressively with a question just as straightforward.

  “...” Alyvia remains silent.

  “We’re gonna need some answers from you if you want to get out of our City without any trouble, and the silent treatment is not helping you in that regard. So while I'm still asking nicely, I want some answers.”

  “C-crystal.”

  “What?”

  “Crystal. Like clear. Y-you know?”

  The man pinched between his brows, remembering he was still talking to a kid. “Look, I don't want to hurt you or your buddy, so just please answer my questions. Are you from the Fire Kingdom?”

  “...” After a very long pause, Alyvia took a heavy breath and locked her gaze to solely meet the man's eyes, “Yes.” her voice now with a sharper edge to it.

  The room became even quieter now that she admitted her origins. The couple stared at the girl with their eyes wide open. They alternate their gaze between her and themselves, unable to knot their heads regarding their current situation. It took a while for the couple to gather their thoughts, but after a simple breathing exercise, it was Chee who spoke up first.

  “C-can I have my towel back?” She points at the towel wrapped around Alyvia's neck.

  “Oh, sure. Actually, I don't even know why I used this, I don't even need it. I'm very sorry for the waste of laundry.” She hands over the towel and proceeds to dry herself manually.

  The couple stared at the girl as the steam continued to rise from her body, clouding the room little by little. “Don't mention it. So, what are two Fire Elementals doing here in the Earth Kingdom's capital?” The man fired up another question.

  “Can I pass?”

  “...What?” The couple stared blankly at the girl, clearly dumbfounded.

  “I don't want to answer this question. So can I pass?”

  “Do you think this is some kind of joke?!” Unable to hold it in, Chee aggressively walked towards Alyvia and pulled her collar.

  “Honey!” The man tried to calm his wife down but she wouldn't have it.

  “You don't seem to get the kind of situation you're in. This isn't your Fire Kingdom home, you're in our territory right now. If you think this is all some game, then you're sorely mistaken. Even if you two are just kids, we won't hesitate turning you both over to the Crusaders if you don't cooperate!”

  “Honestly, you're right. It's hard to believe I'm being threatened right now by two people who were just all lovey-dovey a minute ago.” Alyvia wore a devious grin on her face.

  Seeing this expression, Chee snapped and began to rear her arm back. A glove of sand with spikes for knuckles quickly formed on her fist and swung it towards Alyvia.

  “Chee!!!” But before her punch could land, Alyvia's chair suddenly slid across the room causing her to drop on the floor and Chee's punch to miss. The man used the earthen floor to move her out of the way. Only he didn't expect the girl to fall off the chair while sliding it across the room.

  “Owww. Landed right on my ass.” She rubbed her butt after landing on it squarely.

  “Calm the hell down! Hurting her won't do us any good!” The man stood and went to Chee’s side, persuading her to calm down.

  “But she-” Unable to gather her thoughts, she was unable to form any words and just stood there.

  “She's just trying to get on your nerves. She's just a kid, after all, so don't go falling for it so easily.” He hugged her to calm her down, patting her head to console her.

  Snuggling deeper into his chest, she let in a sharp inhale, “I'm sorry.” Chee let out a big exhale and after a few seconds, turned her attention once more towards Alyvia who was still seated on the floor.

  “Awwww. See, lovey-dovey!” Alyvia blinked twice as she pointed out the loving act she witnessed.

  Embarrassed, the man immediately went back to his seat and Chee couldn't help but cringe. “Shut up.” Chee reached out her hand to Alyvia. She grabbed her hand and immediately pulled the girl close to whisper in her ear. “No matter what you say now, I'm handing you over to the Crusaders personally.”

  “Shocker.” Alyvia breathed into Chee's ear, causing her to wince back from pain. Alyvia pulled away from Chee and sat back down on her chair which is now backed into the wall.

  After settling down, the man started coughing profusely in his seat. When he looked up, he could barely see a thing in the room. Suddenly, he noticed that the living room was now fogged out. Alyvia continued to steam-dry herself during the whole altercation.

  Chee also took notice of her surroundings. “Hey, what the hell's up with all this smoke? Can you do something about it?”

  “I'm sorry. The process is taking longer than I expected. I guess I did soak myself ‘to the max’ in there.” She looks over her shoulder to look at the bathroom door that Cole is currently in.

  “...what...the hell are you...planning...ghk-” It was difficult to form a sentence since she couldn't stop coughing.

  Tears started to gather in the man's eyes as the smoke continued to invade his vision. “Honey, go and open some windows in the back. The smoke might alarm some onlookers outside if we ventilate it facing the busy street.” Even when he was struggling to keep his eyes open, the man's gaze remained unwavering towards the girl in front of him.

  Chee approached the man and whispered in his ear, “Are you sure? I can barely keep my eyes open. I don't know what she'll do if even one of us lets her out of her sight.”

  “I can feel your eyes in the back of my head, but you got nothing to worry about, sir, ma'am. Cole's still in the bathroom, and I'm not the type to start trouble without him by my side. Hihih” She turned her head back to the couple and let out a giggle at the end.

  “Sure. Don't worry, she won't do anything, like she said.” The man kept blinking rapidly to keep the smoke out of his eyes, as he comforted his wife.

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  “Okay.” Chee hurriedly left the room and quickly opened all the windows in the back to vent out the smoke in the house.

  “So, where were we?” It took the man everything to keep his eyes open, but he continued to stare at the girl without wavering.

  Alyvia simply smiled back at the man, as the two shared a short moment alone together. But that tiny moment the man and Alyvia shared was enough for her to send a message. “You mentioned you ‘didn't want to hurt me and my buddy’ earlier.”

  “Yeah, and I'd like to keep it that way.” The smoke in the room slowly cleared up and the man took this chance to wipe the tears forming in his eyes.

  “Same here. But...”

  Suddenly, Alyvia let out a burst of steam. A loud whistle deafened the entire room as an even thicker layer of fog covered the surroundings. No one was no longer visible to anyone.

  As he covered his ears from the loud echoing noise, the man struggled to keep his eyes open. The constant coughing wasn't helping as the smoke became too much to handle. He was beginning to lose his breath by the minute. “ha-augh-kha!-” He attempted to catch his breath but every inhale he took made it even harder to catch it.

  Then, in the corner of his eyes, he saw a vicious gleam. Two bright, red dots were glowing right ahead of him, and he didn't have to guess where they were from. Just seeing them in his peripherals was already enough to send shivers down his spine.

  The dots were slowly getting bigger and closer. It didn't take long before they were right in his face. A cloud of smoke softly pushed where a whisper was heard. “...if you lay even one finger on Cole, these houses you built with your bare hands, I'll crumble them all to the ground and make sure not even a single dust escapes. I'll make sure...”

  The man couldn't even look at the eyes that were staring him down. The room grew hotter and hotter, sweat dripped profusely across his body. The ringing in his ears only kept him disoriented as he started to choke on his own air. A flash of red appeared in the palm of her hand, then she raised it in front of the man's face. The man grew pale as his eyes rolled back into his head. He mustered up a scream but not even a single breath was heard under his mouth. She slowly reached out her palm, the flashing red growing brighter, the heat now unbearable.

  Alyvia wanted to make sure her message left a lasting impact.

  ***

  Cole stared at himself in the mirror, his blazing red hair glowed as he continued to steam himself dry.

  We need to do something about this hair.

  After witnessing the couple's reaction towards them, it became more apparent that he and Alyvia will be needing a disguise to keep themselves out of suspicion, and leaving their bright red hair exposed for the world to see is an obvious no-go.

  It would be harder to ignore it.

  He twiddled a strand around his finger and promptly plucked it out. He twitched slightly from the tickling pain and leveled the little strand to eye level. The fact even a single strand can glisten this bright makes the task at hand even more difficult in retrospect, although Cole can't help but feel hypnotized by the beauty of its glow.

  Damn it. I didn't think they'd treat us this bad. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we met... “the man...” He chuckled to himself after realizing once more he still didn't know “the man's” name.

  Suddenly, a loud whistle reverberated outside the bathroom and a blast of hot air started pouring through the gaps of the door.

  “What the hell?!” Cole instantly covered his ears from the deafening sound, “Wait...no..!” He rushed to open the door.

  A sizzle was heard as his palm met with the doorknob, but Cole was clearly unfazed. He only pulled the bathroom door open slightly when it forcefully slammed itself open. Smoke quickly filled the bathroom, and it didn't take long before he couldn't see a single thing. The deafening whistle grew louder as he stepped foot into the living room.

  “Alyvia!!” He shouted her name at the top of his lungs but there was no response. “Damn it, I can’t see a thing.”

  Cole flailed his arms around the corridor before placing a palm on the walls. With no other choice, he proceeded forward into his foggy surroundings, hugging the wall as he followed its outline. He continued shouting Alyvia's name with each step, but the ear-piercing whistle made it impossible even to hear his own voice.

  Cole turned right as the wall turned a corner, and continued to walk in that direction. He noticed that there were appliances in his path. He accidentally opened up a drawer in front of him and felt various kitchenware inside.

  “Agh!” He winced his arm out after accidentally cutting his finger with a knife inside the drawer. He closed the drawer and continued walking forward, now using the tabletop and cabinets as his sense of direction.

  The smoke became thicker the deeper he ventured. He started coughing involuntarily with every inhale he took, making it difficult to gather air to continuously shout Alyvia’s name. He felt his palm drift into contact with a window, he immediately looked for the latch and opened it. He stuck his head out to gather his breath. After a few deep breaths, he pulled his head back into the room and began to look for more windows to open. The smoke slowly ventilated out of the room and his vision became clearer. Then, ahead of him, he saw a figure lying down on the floor.

  “Oh shit. No, no.” He rushed to the person’s side, revealing passed-out Chee. “Ma’am! Stay with me now!” He placed her head on his lap and brought his ear close to her mouth. Her breaths were ragged, but the fact she was still breathing was enough for Cole to let out a sigh in slight relief. “Hold on, ma’am! I’ll get you out of here!”

  He hooked her arm over his neck and stood up. Cole took an initial first and almost stumbled back onto the floor. She was way heavier than he expected as he struggled to even make a single step. But he didn’t give up. He kept his feet firm on the ground and walked through the fog one step at a time. He followed the outline of the wall once more as he looked for the house’s front door. He leaned on the wall from time to time to catch his breath, but he kept moving forward little by little.

  “...w-what...” Chee began to speak in a soft voice.

  “Ma’am?! Don’t talk, let me get you out of here, first!”

  “...w-where’s...” She struggled to say even more than one word. Every word she spoke was followed by a grunt.

  “Y-your husband? I don’t know where he is, I’m sorry. But I’ll come back and find him after I get him out. I promise.”

  “...”

  After a few minutes of tracking in low visibility, Cole finally arrived at the front door in front of him. He put Chee down for a moment and walked towards the door to open it. But in the corner of his eye, he saw something glowing through the fog. He turned to get a better look at the gleam, and his eyes opened wide when he realized what it was. A palm. Flashing red. It was a glow he’d never never forget. He’d already seen this before. He knew what was going to happen next. He knew she was sending a message. Without hesitation, he ran towards the direction of the palm. The piercing noise grew unbearable as he inched closer to the glow, and the smoke grew thicker and thicker. But he continued running until...

  “ALYVIA!!!” He grabbed the arm of the perpetrator right before her palm met the man’s face.

  In an instant, the flashing red dissipated. Alyvia turned to see Cole by her side. But she was quick to notice the blood on his hands. “Cole, you’re bleeding! What happened?!”

  “What the hell are you doing?!” Cole immediately shut her down and slapped her across the face. Alyvia whimpered while the throbbing on her cheeks continued. He looked at the man who was pale as a ghost. He couldn’t help but crumple his expression and look away just as quickly. “C’mon, we’re getting out of here.”

  He pulled her close and they both quickly shuffled to the front door. With the whistle gone, all that was heard echoing inside the house was a deafening silence. They passed by Chee who was leaning on the wall, still struggling to breathe.

  “I'm so sorry.” He apologized to the couple for the damage they've done.

  He opened the door, letting in a bit of light through its doorframe. The smoke in the room started to seep out onto the busy streets, and the two ran out of the house and left the couple alone.

  Chee was wavering in and out of consciousness, but the blinding light was helping her stay awake. Her ears were still ringing from all the commotion she went through, but the deafening clamor of bystanders could be heard outside. She felt a sense of panic settling inside her, but Chee couldn’t care less. The air slowly returned to her lungs as her eyes wandered around the room to find her husband. It didn't take long for her to eye him ahead of her, slumped on his seat, not moving a muscle. Seeing this, she attempted to raise her body off the floor and move towards him. But all she managed to do with her wavering vision and diminishing strength was raise her arm before falling back onto the floor. Now, she really cannot move a single muscle. She couldn't even muster up the strength to lift herself off the floor using the Earth. She vainly continued reaching out for her husband on the other side of the room. She attempted to call out his name but not a single word came out of her mouth. Her vision was getting darker as she slowly slipped out of consciousness. She heard the echoes of curious people entering her home. The world was spinning, the voices overlapping.

  And then, a tranquil darkness.