This little girl was truly something else. She moved with uneasy motions, and her eyes drooped, but she still moved with a mission.
She led me through several narrow passageways that no normal person would dare to approach. Gears spun and groaned loudly as stray steam jetted out of corroded pipes. I had been following her for more than half an hour.
I could not help but think this might be a trap.
We stopped at the edge of a large chasm with a blanket of steam that blocked out the bottom. The only way across was a metal drawbridge that was currently raised to let a steam blimp drift by.
While we waited, I observed the girl. She looked around anxiously, almost as if looking for another route over the steam pit. I reached out my hand and placed it on her arm. It was trembling a little.
But I can't let small things like that fool me.
"Rushing in won't help your mother," I said with a fake smile.
She had ventured far. If she truly had a mother who was in danger, why travel this far for help?
Today had been a long day, and this matter was not making it easier, but I could not help but shake this weird feeling. Despite the alarm bells in my head screaming at me, I felt as if something was pulling me forward.
I love that you always help those in need, ▇ ▇ ▇ ▇ ▇. You claim that it's something that you want to do, but deep down, I know the truth. You don't wanna see yourself in others.
"Sir?" The girl tugged at my arm.
Rinara's voice had played in my mind. As it did, the drawbridge came all the way down.
"Sorry," I said. "Let's go."
She ran forward with newfound energy.
I unsheathed my blade and followed the girl towards a wall of pure white. She tightened the straps on her goggles and shielded her face as she slowly stepped into the wall of steam.
The pipe that was leaking steam had a gouge in the metal that gave a somewhat clean sheen. The ground around had overlapping footprints dug into the rusted metal flakes that filled the area. Torn clothing and small strands of hair were littered around.
I lowered the goggles that were on top of my head onto my eyes and stepped into the steam veil with only one hand shielding me.
Even the most innocent of people can commit sins.
An echo of Rinara's voice was playing in my mind as I stepped through. Particles of water stung my skin as the sound of a weeping child filled my ears.
I lowered my weapon. Why I doubted this girl…I wish I knew.
"Mommy…I brought help," she said weakly. "So…please wake up!"
She shook the body of a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties.
But her eyes never moved. Just a pained expression, one of regret rather than fear.
The echoing wail of the girl grew louder as she pleaded for her mother to wake up.
She tugged at the woman's legs.
Legs that were bare, trailing blood from between them.
The girl then reached for the woman's hands.
The hands that clenched a knife embedded in her chest.
I pulled the girl off her mother's corpse. She kicked and screamed, but she eventually gave up when I pulled her into my chest. This was not a scene that a child was meant to see.
Who did it?
I couldn't care less about the title of Golden Steam. I will kill them.
What's stopping you?
A voice, one that was a mix of Rinara's and my own, played in my mind.
You are a hero, even if you are just a stand-in. Justice must be delivered to the unjust. You would not want anyone else to become just like Rinne, do you?
The voice ended, becoming just my own.
Rinne.
Was she weeping like this when she was a little girl? Did she break down knowing that her mother was never returning?
Would this girl be like Rinne? Experiencing hell just to find the person who killed her mother?
That was when I noticed something in the corner of my eye: a set of footprints—no, two sets. They led deeper into the alley.
While the little girl cried in my arms, I dug through my pockets for a small card and some change. This girl is fighting. Part of her knows her mother is gone, but she also wants to believe she'd still be alive. I can use that.
"Hey, how long are you going to cry?" I said bluntly.
"Huh?" Understandably, she stepped back with a confused look in her swollen eyes.
I handed her the items. "Go and find a payphone if you want to see your mother open her eyes. A buddy from the church has the medicine to help you. If you can do that, then I promise I will deliver justice to the bad guys who did this to her. Understand?"
I could see something sparkle in her eyes. A sparkle that felt like several daggers in my heart. I hated how easily I could lie to a small child like her. But sometimes there was no other option. I can't have her see me become something that would scar her even more than she already was.
She took the items with both hands and nodded. "O-okay!" She ran off. Once she was out of sight, I picked up my weapon, which I had placed aside, to comfort the girl.
I looked at my equipment. Armor, polished and tight. Gearsaw, oiled and sharpened. Gun, left at the hideout. Rinne moved it somewhere out of reach. That was fine. A gun would be too merciful.
"Sorry, Muller," I spoke out loud while walking down the alley. "Tonight is gonna be a long night for you, as well as me."