While Quinn was resting in the old building, he suddenly got a strange notification from Erin.

{Erin} Get the first aid kit.

{Erin} She’s—

{Erin} She has to live—

Confused, Quinn didn’t know what Erin was talking about, but he had a bad feeling about it.

{Quinn} What’s going on?

{Erin} Layla’s going to die.

Immediately, Quinn felt his heart drop, and his body froze for a moment. Some part of him wanted it to be a joke, some cruel prank, but Erin was not the kind of person to do that kind of thing.

Alert, Quinn got up and immediately began searching their supplies, looking for the first aid kit box.

"What’s wrong?" Peter asked, sensing the shift in Quinn’s energy.

Quinn didn’t know how to explain it, but if what Erin said was true, then was she attacked? How? What could’ve attacked Erin on a green portal planet for Layla to get hurt under her watch?

"Hey, who is that?" Fex asked, looking outside the window.

The others quickly went outside to see what’s going on, and they saw a figure holding another on their back. Immediately, they all realized who they were.

Erin had been running through the desert, enduring the sun’s effects. When they all saw her face, it was as if she had seen a ghost.

"What—?" Peter gasped.

Before he could even say anything, Erin interrupted him.

"Save her!" Erin blurted out with tears in her eyes.

Initially, Peter didn’t know what Erin meant, until his eyes fell upon Layla’s pallid face. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"We will! Now hand her to me," Fex said.

Erin handed Layla’s body to Fex, and they brought her inside. He sat her down on one of the old wooden bed frames, her breathing slow and heavy, and Erin placed her bow alongside her.

"Where’s the first aid kit?" Erin shouted at Quinn, grabbing his shoulders, "You have it right?!"

"Uh— Yeah, its—"

"Use it already!" Erin yelled.

Quinn was shocked by Erin’s behavior, but she was likely just deeply concerned for her friend. Seeing the burns and sword lodged in Layla’s body, it made him think that Erin and Layla were attacked by a group of students.

’Was that the reason why Erin had killed another student?’ Quinn thought.

He left Erin’s hands and immediately took out the first aid kit box, pressing the top of it. The first aid kit shifted into a little robot’s body, and he commanded it to heal Layla.

It immediately got to work. It crawled over her body, administering a light green liquid onto the sword wound, then stitching it up with a needle-like leg. After a while, it stopped suddenly.

"Warning: Foreign object is obstructing further healing. Please remove to continue," The robot spoke.

"Remove the sword?" Fex asked, turning his eyes towards it.

It was embedded deep inside, and if they removed it, then they could cause more harm to her internal organs, but if they didn’t do anything, then it meant the robot couldn’t do more to heal her.

"What should we do?!" Peter asked.

"Should we remove it?" Quinn wondered.

"It’s what the robot thingy said, didn’t it?" Fex replied.

While the others were discussing what to do, Erin stood by and watched, her mind tangled. She was struggling to think straight. History was repeating itself, someone she cared about had gotten injured as a result of the dalki, and she was once again struggling to fight back, even after improving her strength.

"Did you forget that there is something you could do?" The system voice spoke, "That is, if you wish to save her."

Immediately, Erin’s head perked up.

’Tell me it. I’d do anything to save her.’

’It’s simple really,’ The system began, ’A human would struggle to survive the wound she has now, but if she weren’t human, this would be nothing to her.’

In her mind, Erin had already made the choice. The girl had expressed the desire to be turned before in the past, and this was more than the perfect opportunity to turn her. If it’ll guarantee she was going to live, then she was going to take it.

"Be warned, though, there is a chance that she may turn into a monster that you’ll have to kill, and that chance may be heightened due to her injuries. Do what you will with that information."

That was when Erin paused. She could turn Layla, but at what cost? There was a chance, an unknown chance but a chance none the less, that she might be forced to kill Layla herself. Could she bring herself to do that?

Similarly, there was the possibility that Layla could survive this, that Erin wouldn’t need to risk Layla turning into a monster. They could wait for a better day.

Before Erin made a decision, Layla’s mouth opened. She was mouthing something.

"Huh? What is it?" Peter asked, leaning in closer. He had been sitting by Layla’s side.

"It’s... It’s... The dalki," Layla whispered.

"The... Dalki?" Peter repeated, dread dawning on him.

"Look! Let me take the sword out," Fex said finally, pushing Quinn out of the way, "If we need to, I can use my ability to sew up her wounds."

Quinn wanted to ask Erin what she thought they should do, the two girls were roommates after all, and they did spend a lot of time together, but as he turned his head to do so, he had just barely caught Erin leaving the building.

’Where is she going?’ Quinn thought.

They were all thankful that the sword wasn’t jagged in anyway as Fex stepped to the side of Layla. He carefully removed the blade from her body, careful not to cause anymore injuries. This was a delicate procedure after all.

Once it was fully out, the medical droid got back to work, and continued to administer medical liquids. It inserted a needle that elongated inside of the wound, most likely doing some advanced medical aid that the others didn’t understand. They heard mechanical whirring noises, then, it removed the needle, and went back into its closed state.

"... Did it work?" Peter whispered.

Slowly, Layla woke up a little more, and was trying to sit upright, but winced at the pain inside of her body. Even though her body had received medical aid, it was going to take some time before it would heal.

"Hey, hey, stay down, you need to stay still," Quinn told Layla, grabbing her by the shoulders.

He wasn’t sure if that was the best advice to give her or not, but Layla kept struggling to get up despite Quinn pushing her down.

"Stop— Stop it!" Layla managed to yell, batting his arms away, "It’s not safe here! The dalki— It followed us!"