Sinbad and company were still following the footprints. It took them longer than they would have expected it to. The sun had already began to go down and the sky began to become a little pink. Sinbad was on the verge of collapse, he hadn't the habit to run and walk that much. He was silently crushing his companions. Hinahoho, who had lived in the North of Imuchack, and the three ex-assassin Ja'far, Vittel and Mahad were more used to walk and run on long distances than he ever was. He hadn't grow up hunting some polar animal all day long and surely not purchasing targets that were heavily guarded.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction? I'm pretty sure Kikiriku couldn't have gone this far." Said a really tired Sinbad as he finally fell on the muddy ground and so covering his face and clothes with mud. His companions looked at him with tired eyes. They had been looking for their little Imuchack all day and day before non-stop. But they, mostly Hinahoho of course, didn't wanted to give up now that they were so close to find him. But they had to look at the reality, they were all tired and even the ex-assassins. even thought they said that they had rest, they didn't went to sleep, they went looking for Kikiriku all the night long.

"You're right, but that doesn't mean we have to stop now." said Ja'far." I promise Rurumu that I will bring her son back. It's particularly my fault. if I hadn't pass out, then he wouldn't have go on his own and we wouldn't be I this mess." the four men looked at the white-haired teenager with a new found respect. It was so true and so sad at the same time, Vittel had tears streaming and Mahad was on the verge of tears.

" Chi- mister Ja'far." Said VIttel as tears were still streaming down his face." We're all guilty. If we had notice your disappearance sooner, we would have found you before he ran away." Ja'far didn't know how he had to react at is old teammates crying in front of him, back at their time they were in the organization he never saw them cry like that and finding excuses. Hinahoho let out a deep sigh he didn't knew he was holding.

"Their right, if I had been doing my role as his father it could also been avoided." The tick tension that had taken place since they began the search for Kikiriku was slowly fading as the three men and two teenager were telling what was making their heart heavy. And even though the night was slowly going down these companions were now more determinate than anything else. Not even their fatigue liked to be matter anymore. And then they ended in an open area that was encircled by trees. the view before them was familiar, in the middle of the area was a large and deep round like pit. They went closer to the pit and looked what was inside of it, large bag of gold, jewel, weapons and fancy treasure chest, all of this was now a dead give away of was standing there. And the most surprising is that they didn't saw it. Because Dungeons are high and big monuments that are really hard to miss.

" It's only a coincidence right?" Said Sinbad as he saw what the dungeon had left. There was no way that a toddler could go in a dongeun.

" Let's hope it."

~somewhere else~

" Kaa-sama, tou-sama." It was her voice, Asia knew it, but it seemed much younger than now. And this suffix 'sama', she never used it with her parents. But somehow it felt natural, like she had always used it, but that was impossible. She just knew it. She felt like she was moving, but couldn't control her own body, her body was going through the entrance of the house. Her body was different too, she couldn't see her face, but she could see her arms. She saw that she had white round shaped gem that was giving different colors ( opal ) on both hands, she had white tribal painting and orange feather on the length of her arms. Weird. And the house itself felt like home, well she couldn't remember how her house was back in her hometown and she didn't bother to think about it. Once she was outside what she saw was unreal. She may not remember a lot of her hometown, but even she knows that what she was seeing didn't exist.

"Or it didn't exist anymore" She thought. Just after thinking it she began to wonder why she would think this, while her head was turning in all direction, there was no way she was seeing was real. This was clearly something coming straight from a fairy tail or something like that. The trees had a strange color and shape, they weren't brown and green, they were YELLOW AND PURPLE and their fruit were blue with white points on it. they also had a spiral form. And the rest of the landscape looked like a desert land were it was difficult to cultivate. But the people were weird too, even if they all looked familiar, there were two sort of them. That was easily noticeable. One part had tribes painting on their body, lines that were all straight lines that would go in different directions, it was a white painting. And It suited them because of their tanned skin. They wore not many clothes, walked with bare foot ( they all did ) and had stones garnish their hair and some gems were implant in their body parts. But Asia know somehow they were born with them and that they grow at the same time as them.

The other group didn't wore much either, but the difference were easily noticeable, they were much different than the previous group. They were a bit shorter, had long and short feather as hair( some even had two or more different colours ), and they even had feather under their eyes and other part of their body ( arms, leg, back ), their eyes had a black sclera, long pointy ears and two mini horns on their forehead.

She could feel herself turning around and saw a cliff. Two persons were their, a woman and man, the man was from the group with feathers and the woman had tribal painting on her and purple gem with irregular shapes on her back, so from the other group. They were both familiar to Asia, but she didn't know who they were. They both looked at the horizon.

"Kaa-sama. Tou-sama." It felt weird to hear herself speak in a body that wasn't hers. The two adults head moved a bit upwards, surprise.

" Opal?" She hears them call her. It was the name of this girl. She saw them turning around, she only saw the tips of their noses.

"Aaaah." She abrutally sat up in sweat. Only to feel a lot of pain from her injuries. She felt like her heart was going to bump out of her chest at any moment. And her head was turning. In other words, she felt bad. She noticed that she took a lot of breaths.

'What was that?' she thought. It can't be a dream, it felt too real and her sensation were not fake either, but it can't be a memory. At least not hers. But these two persons, in her dream they were the one who were the most familiar to her.

"Are you alright brat?" Asks Gaia, sensing the panick in her queen. She wouldn't say it, but it wasn't normal that she could communicate with her. She could know what Asia was thinking and was quiet shocked when she saw the dream. It wasn't supposed to be possible. But less Asia knew, the better. At least for Gaia. Or so she thought.

"No. I think I am having weirdest dream someone could have. " She responds, Gaia was relieve. Asia thought it was only a dream. Asia noticed that Blue hadn't woken up yet and that there was more light than when she came back. She tried to get up. But when she tried, she felt down. Her injuries opened again and blood was leaking out. Another thing that she noticed other than her body in pain, is that she was taking a lot of breaths and that she was rather dizzy. She would go back to the city. If that purple haired boy with golden eye had posters of Blue, then she could give him back to his family and she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. But it made her a bit sad, only a bit, even if it wasn't for long that he had been staying with her and that he took her in every deadly and dangerous situation in this short amount of time. It felt good when he was there.

She took an effort to stand up, she had to learn against the wall. She was still taking big breathes. By the time, Blue had woken up and went next to her leg.

"Sis?" She wanted to tell at him that she wasn't his sister, but she didn't had the strength to do so and it was annoying her. She was weak and it pisses her off. She hate being weak, she hate when people look down on her, and a lot of other things.

She kneels down slowly and took Blue in her arms.

"Come, I will bring you back home." And she left the cave limping and on her way to the city with the determination to bring Blue back to his family. She was really having a hard time doing so, her injuries were tiring her out, felt like passing out at any moment and had difficulties to keep her balance stable. Only the pain was keeping her awake. She didn't knew how long it has been since she left the cave when she arrived at the entrance of the gate. But how was she going to go in without looking like how she was. and the answer didn't came from her.

"Use my power." Said Gaia in her head. At this point she wasn't even surprise by the voice of the dijnn in her head. She looked back at her necklace, the eight pointed star visible in the red stone, were Gaia was.

"How?" She asked mentally. She had no clue on how to use this new power.

"Speak the words that I will dictate and give the earth the form you want." Gaia answers her softly, like someone would explain it to a child. Asia didn't thought that Gaia could take such tone. When she had met her, She looked tough, cocky and the kind to always wanting to pick a fight. She looked like a hard and strong woman. So, she was a bit surprise to hear her speak like this. maybe she was a softy after all. But she fast changed her opinion after hearing what she said next. "But you can do it only once, you're to weak for a second try brat." But ignored Gaia comment and did she had told her to do.

"Spirit of hate and rage in exchange of my magoi , give me the power to meld the earth at my will. Come fort, Gaia." Asia recite Gaia incantation in a whisper while she was visualizing the earth shake. And so the ground shake under their feet, making the guards lose balance and their stand fall, and causing a bit chaos. It didn't last long before it the shaking stopped, but she felt her strength leave her and set a knee down and began to take big breaths. She didn't thought it would be that exhausting. She stood up as fast as she could and took the opportunity to pass the gates when the guards where still panicking a bit about what just happened, the people too. Even though she had passed the gates without being noticed, once she was inside Napolia she was easily spotted by it inhabitants. Was it because of Blue with his blue hair? Because she was limping? Was it because of the blood? Or all of them together?

"Rather the last option." Gaia answers her question. Asia though so too, only Blue wouldn't attract that much attention. But she didn't had the strength to answer anymore. She tried to find a poster with Blue drawing on it and hopefully find some to guide her there. And honestly, she hoped that nobody would recognize her from yesterday. But it seems that it was at that moment that her luck had run out.

"THERE! THE THIEF!" A masculine voice shouted, a city guard maybe, her vision was getting more and more trouble and so was her balance. She knew that she couldn't escape, she was too weak for that even if it pained her to admit it. She didn't know how many time had passed before she was surrender by every corner, not too long she guesses. None of them really dared to approach her, well at least one had the courage to do it. He was taking slow step toward her. when he was about five or six foot away from her, she couldn't really see anymore, she felt her legs give up and ended on her knees. It had wake blue up from his nap and was looking at her. the soldier was now a foot away from her and had laid his spear down and was kneeling down. With her tired eyes she looked at him, she couldn't really see his face, only see the Reim golden armor as she extend her trembling arm to him with Blue. Who was confuse and didn't looked to understand what was happening. The soldier had only taken Blue in his arms that the world went black for Asia. the only thing she heard before her conscience entirely faded away was Blue calling out for her.

~back to Sinbad & co~

the little group was slowly making it way back to Napolia, they hadn't found anything that would have lead them to the mystery girl. They were exhausted, both mentally and physically, and bags under their eyes. except for Sinbad, his body had given in after the middle of the night. But was still tired, they had wake him up when the sun had began to rise. But he had still more energy than his companions.

"We're close." Said a tired Vittel who had his broken arm in an atele made from a part of his clothes. Mahad was patting his back in encouragement. Hinahoho he wanted to continue the search, but it was obvious that they all needed rest and that they hadn't found anything to lead them to his son. And for a moment, they felt the ground shake. They lost their balance for a bit, but regained it fast.

"What was that?" Asked now a more than awake Sinbad. Like what, a mini earthquake to wake you up. But no one could really answer. And so they continued their way back to the company where Rurumu was waiting for her lost son to come back. And it pained them to tell her that they hadn't found him, again. it took them less than one hour before to reach the company. And the sphere wasn't like they had expected it to be. When they enter the main hall, they saw Rurumu up and most of the staff around her smiling. The five couldn't seem to move from their spot.

" Ho-honey?" Hinahoho's voice seemed loud enough for her to hear, because she turned around. She was smiling and tears were small tears were going down her cheeks. And they quickly discover the reason of her tears. In her arms was Kikiriku, who looked to be asleep. At this moment three things happened.

One. Mahad and Vittel fell like pieces of wood with their face first.

Two. Sinbad and Ja'far had shadows covering their eyes.

And three. Hinahoho was crying in joy to see his son safe and sound. The four men had all the same though.

"Did we do all that for nothing." Hinahoho then went running too his wife and son and took them in his embrace, still with tears running down their faces. Some staff members went to them and tried to get them out of their depressive state. It was only when the little Imuchakk family went to them that they snapped out of it. Mahad and Vittel were standing up and the shadows under the two teens disappear. Then Rurumu noticed Vittel broken arm.

" Vittel, your arm!" She exclaim. And as soon as these words escape her lips, some employees came rushing to them to directly after go find some medical supplies for Vittel arm. Vittel looked at his arm before to look at Rurumu again.

"Oh, yeah. There was this girl yesterday, she broke my arm when we were chasing her." He explains her. But it looked to confuse her on how he broke it. In the end it was Ja'far that asked the question the five men wanted to ask.

"How did Kikiriku came back?" At the mention Rurumu face lighten up and held her son closer to her.

" A soldier came bring him, telling that he found him near the market." Answers a more than happy Rurumu.

A soldier? At first they thought it was the mysterious girl that had brought him back. After having found evidences that she was the one keeping Kikiriku, they really thought it would be her and not a random soldier. And Sinbad wanted to meet her again, and officially this time, he wanted to know her name. He was wondering what her name could be, was it related to her ruby-like eyes?

"Not a girl?" He said out loud. Rurumu shoke her head.

"I'm going to bed" Said an tired Vittel as he began to walk away from the group. Ja'far and Mahad were about to follow him, but Vittel was then grabbed by one of the staff that had helped with his broken arm and began to lecture him not being careful with his arm and that they weren't done yet. The two other ex-assassin let their companion being dragged away before to walk to their quarters. And so Sinbad was the only one of the little group to have stayed with the Imuchakk family.

"For how long has he been here?" Asked Hinahoho to his wife, curious. Sinbad wanted to take this opportunity to discover more on what could have happened to the girl that was supposed too take care of him.

"About a hour or so, maybe less." She answers. Sinbad was about to ask her about the soldier that had brought him here, when Kikiriku woke up. They were now looking at him, he didn't looked surprise to see his parents or like he has been away for a long time. He wasn't full of joy to be back with his family, like all what had happened never took place, he wasn't reacting like they would have hoped he would. Rather, he was looking everywhere. Like he was looking for someone. And soon tears began to show in his eyes.

"Sis." Both parents were surprised, it was his first word they heard him say.

"Kikiriku..." But his parents calling him didn't calmed him down.

"Sis, sis!" His cries were heard in all the company and woke up the ex-assassins that went to bed. and it didn't last long before Ja'far bad habit of crushing came back

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!" How they managed to calm the tolder down was still a mystery. But when it was done, Ja'far got one chop from Rurumu for swearing and headed back to bed along with Vittel and Mahad. Now that Kikiriku was sleeping again, the three had to think about finding a solution of this 'sis' problem. Sinbad had guessed that it was the mysterious girl had to be 'sis'. A look in the eyes of Hinahoho and the two men knew that they had the same though and knew what to do.

"Rurumu we're going in to the gendarmerie looking for this 'sis'." Said Hinahoho as he and Sinbad exited the company. When they walked toward the gendarmerie, Hinahoho couldn't shake this uneasy feeling about this person his son took a liking. He hadn't see her in action like the others did, but he had felt something when he had see her. And when Vittel came back with his broken arm, it had worried him.

"Are you sure it is her?" He asked his comrade. Sinbad turned his gaze to the Imuchakk, he clearly saw his unease and worry.

"Yes, I am." He answers. But he saw that it didn't eased Hinahoho. "I-I don't know how to explain it. There is something inside me that want to see her again and I want to know her name, Hinahoho. " Hinahoho was about wanted to say something, but closed his mouth right after opening it. And with that they continued in silence their walk. Till they arrived to where they must. And it didn't took long before someone took them in.

"We're looking for a girl that was seen in the market this morning." The soldier nodded " She found the child we had lost and we would want to know where she." The soldier nodded again.

"Could you wait a bit. I think one of my comrades could know something." And he left. It took some time for the soldier to come back, but when he did. He wasn't alone. He was with another soldier.

"I guess you are the child's father." He says as he looked at Hinahoho.

"Yes. I wanted to know if there was a girl with him?" Asked Hinahoho.

The soldier didn't took much time before to answer.

" Well there was. She was the theft from yesterday. We sent her to the coliseum where we sent all the other criminals." The color drained from their faces.

"...ah" The only word that left Sinbad lips. A little voice in his head began to to panick, but it was ridicule right. That girl had survived a dungeon, certainly she would survive the coliseum. Right? But in is head girls are delicate and breakable beings. Maybe it's why he is panicking. Meanwhile Sinbad was left on place without reacting any further, Hinahoho thanked the soldiers for the information and grabbed his companion by the arm before to start walking away. It didn't took long before Sinbad regained his sense.

"O-Oy Hinahoho, let go." He said in a high pitched voice with a light blush on his cheeks. He felt like he was treated like a kid by the older men. He was a fifteen-year-old boy. He didn't needed this sort of embarrassment. And Hinahoho undo his grip on him.

"What a drag. This girl sure is something else for having such bad luck." Hinahoho said after a short and awkward silence on their way to the coliseum.

"Guess your right." He replied with a small smile. Now that they though about it a bit more and in a not so horrified way, that girl had really some bad luck. being a theft, ending in a dungeon because of their little immuchack and now the coliseum. That's definitely bad luck. And so, once again they had to walk across the other end of the city to reach the coliseum. When they reached it, they noticed that the sun was beginning to go down. Sinbad didn't wasted any time to go in and to the edge of the arena. Hinahoho joined him five minutes later.

"From what I've heard, they are sending the criminals at the end to use them as meat for the beast." He said. That made Sinbad lose all his colors and went all white. It was the coliseum, it was a hell where it was to eat or to be eaten made public to please people in Reim. Sinbad knew it, but it was a cruel punishment for those who broke the law.( Not that everyone who breaks the law get in the coliseum, but still a lot of them do. ) And yet, he didn't wanted to see such gruesome thing again after he had cleared Baal's dungeon. Hinahoho who hadn't moved since then, began to shake Sinbad a bit to get him out of the state he was in.

"Sin!" Sinbad regained a bit of his colors after some shaking. He didn't even noticed that he had gripped his sword, ready to use his djinn. Sinbad decided that he didn't liked this place. Sure he has been here once, but it was for his show. And fortunately for him, the announcer announced that it was going to be the end of the show for today and they were sending the "meat" in.

~to Asia~

"May everyone in these lands burn and rot in hell."

She instantly opened her eyes and took a big breath when a bucket of water was emptied on her. She didn't recognize where she was. But then she remember passing out in the middle of the city. She hadn't noticed the other men in the room till one of them yelled at her and fiercely took her broken arm, janking her from the wooden bench.

"What are you sitting there for bitch! The beasts are waiting for their meal!" He yelled while painfully dragging her out of her cell and the other man closing the door. Asia fast took notice of her lack of strength and her head was killing her. She felt the pain in her body, mostly her legs and her broken arm. But she also felt cold, she didn't knew why and her back and was hurting her more than the rest of her body. It took her until they reached the big door for her to realize that she was the "meal" they were talking about. She would have realize it before if it wasn't for her head spinning so much. The doors opened and the sunlight directly came in her eyes blinding her for a bit. She had to shut her eyes before to open them again. Asia refuse to let a sound out, she wouldn't sow these men how weak she was and how a good "meal" she would be for whatever was going to try to kill her. The men holding her didn't wasted any time before to throw her into the arena like she was something contagious. Asia bite her underlip hard to suffocate the pained moan that wanted to escape her lips. Her whole body was screaming in pain. Her head, legs, arms, back. She didn't heard the sound of chains being rolled, nor did she heard the cries of that purple haired boy asking them to stop. Her head was hurting to much to process what was happening. She just saw what was in front of her, the bars being lifted slowly. Knowing what was mostly going to happen, she tried her best to stand up. The pain in her leg was protesting what she doing. But right now she didn't care, she was not going to die. Not after all the crazy shit she has just being through. At that though, she wanted to laugh at how ironic it was. She, who had just conquer a dungeon, was going to die in a place like this by a beast she could have easily defeated if it wasn't for her "silly" injuries. When she was standing up, at least on one leg and with her necklace in her hand. She was relief that it was still here. Gaia was with her and it gave her a bit of comfort to know that she wasn't alone. Even though her vision was still fussy, she could still see a big thing coming out. And it was looking at her while drooling.

"Great another thing that want to kill and eat me." She thought as a small smile formed on her lips. How ironic, she who had escaped death for 10 years and had killed so many things, was going to be eaten alive be that thing.

"In your state you wouldn't stand 10 second." Said the djinn. Asia didn't reply, she was too tired and she wasn't going to state the obvious. But she wasn't going to wait for that thing to come and get her. She saw it jump toward her and she tried to get in stance to at least defend herself. But she wasn't going to kid herself by thinking she could hit it, that was pure naivety. She didn't hear the world around her, she just saw lightning coming in between her and that thing and something purple coming in front of her. And then , nothing.

...

Sinbad and Hinahoho who were waiting for Kikiriku's savoir to come out hadn't moved from their spot. Looking intensely at the wooden door being open. He felt his throat going dry and swallows his own saliva to mak the dryness go away. Hinahoho who was next to him looked uneasy. Maybe it was because of people starring at him, couldn't blame them, first time seeing an Imuchack can by like seeing an foreign animal. And after what seemed like a long time, he saw two men throw a young girl about his year in the arena. From where he was, Sinbad couldn't see her clearly. But he knew that she was the girl he had bumped into. Her dress was a bloody mess, literally. torn and with some blood. Even the blanket wrapped around her to cover her back was with blood. The two men looked in each other eyes and came at the same conclusion. Injuries from the dungeon, well they knew that it was obvious only from them. They had experimented it after all. Even when she was laying on the ground, she didn't looked very alive. She was barely moving. He hadn't noticed the grip on his sword and the edge were getting stronger when he heard the bars being lifted.

"EAT! EAT! EAT!..." The whole coliseum was shouting and cheering for whatever was going to come out. And It was making Sinbad sick. He guess Hinahoho too, the older Imuchack man must never have experimented this kind of things back in Imuchack. But his eyes never left the girl's nearly unmoving body. He noticed her trying to stand up. He also noticed her limb arm and leg. But also that she had trouble breathing. The girl couldn't win this fight, conqueror or not. She was too weak. He then saw what was release. A very big and white saber tooth. He felt the blood left his face again, this would end very bad.

Next, he didn't think. He just took his sword before to jump into the arena when he saw the saber tooth jump toward the girl.

"Bararaq!" And lightning came out of nowhere nearly hitting the saber tooth who had managed to somehow avoid it. And he went to place himself in between her and the saber tooth. the saber tooth was hesitating a bit to approach him. Sinbad took a glance behind him, only to see her body falling forward. and within the moment he catches her before she could hit the ground. She wasn't particularly heavy, but she wasn't light either. He really hoped that she wasn't death. They still had to thank her and he wanted to know her name. He then looked back to the tiger in front of him and saw him move a bit forward. He summoned a light lightning bolt that hit the saber tooth and made him run back from where he came from. To say at least, the audience wasn't really happy about it, they were booing. but right now he didn't care about it, right now all he wanted was to save this girl who had managed to hypnotise him with her beautiful red eyes.

"Don't you dare to die now. I still don't know your name"