It’s been a full day and a half since Guy’s encounter with Lily, and while the pain in his arm has subsided to a dull throb, his wounds are still at the forefront of his mind.
Or rather, the girl who inflicted them.
For all he knows, Lily might still be out there. Sure, he doesn’t doubt her ability to defend herself (well... the ability of whatever it was she had become the last time he saw her.) But with the way he was forced to escape, not even daring to look back until he was sure she had been caught up in enough drone battles to be far behind, he can’t just... go on without knowing what happened to her.
So that’s how he finds himself retracing his steps back to the scene of the battle. His hand rests idly on the hilt of his sword. If Lily is still the way she was, he’ll have to be careful.
But the most important thing is learning what happened.
The alleyway is pretty easy to spot. There are empty husks of the drones ripped to shreds littering the asphalt. And, more telling, large, dark blood stains covering the concrete, the alley wall. Guy grimaces, wondering how much of it is his own blood.
Thankfully, it’s not hard to track what Lily’s movements were. There’s a clear path of blood and machine parts leading out of the alley and into the street beyond.
And there she is, not too far off. Tiny body stretched out on the pavement. Guy approaches, carefully.
Shit, is she dead? He feels his stomach drop at the thought, but while she’s covered in blood, she seems to be in one piece. And when he crouches down beside her to examine further, he can see the rise and fall of her chest.
She’s alive. Unconscious, likely. And while the risk of her responding as violently as before could definitely be there in hindsight, Guy acts on impulse anyway and tries to rouse her.
“Lily? Come on, let’s see if we can get you up.”
