Valgius laughed. "Think that, and you'll die out there. Those Imps might be one thing, but what if you run into Akumu's forces?" Valgius asked. He then trailed as a sudden thought hit him "Or... something worse..." he muttered, stopping before moving to the window quickly. He could see the sun starting to peek over the buildings. Soon, the city would be bustling again.

Sophie walked into her bedroom and stared at herself in her mirror. Valgius was right. What if something did happen to her? She shook her head, nothing bad could happen. She turned away from the mirror and walked over to her bed letting her fall onto it, face first. Her face hit the pillow and she stayed there.

Valgius entered the bedroom to see Sophie fall. He shook his head. "I'm going out to pick up some supplies." Valgius said, before going and putting his pack back on. He decided to leave the sword. He returned to the bedroom. "If I'm not back within a couple of hours, something's happened to me." Valgius told her, leaving and locking the door behind him.

Sophie still lay there, wishing he hadn't left. She felt tears come to her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She got off the bed and walked to the door unlocking it, walking out, and then locking it again. She stopped Valgius through the window and followed him.

Valgius made his way down, leaving the building and heading toward one of the shops. Along the way, another thief grabbed his bag. Valgius cried out and pursued the man, who turned around holding a handgun (not that Valgius knew what it was), and shot him. Valgius felt pain rip through his stomach, as the bullet entered near his kidney. Collapsing to his knees, Valgius willed Fire to burst forth as he held his hand forward. The flames streaked from his fingertips, arcing over the heads of the now-screaming civilians. The flames burst into an explosion in front of the thief, who stumbled backwards, tripping over Valgius. Valgius checked the man, and saw he was unconscious. He then grabbed his Grownds, and tried to force himself to stand up. No one seemed to keen to help him, as they'd just watched him conjure fire from his hands. A few muttered something about him being a sorcerer, but Valgius paid them no mind. Instead, he stumbled toward the center of the town, which was deserted. There, he sat down on a large fountain, seeing it had dried up. Valgius panted, shaking his head. "I... need a... knife..." he muttered, though no one was around to hear him, so far as he knew.

Sophie stopped abruptly in her path. She saw and heard everything. Her eyes widened as she stood there in shock. Had that guy really just shot Valgius? She felt tears come to her eyes before realizing Valgius was stumbling away. She ran after him finding him at the fountain. She ran towards him and pulled him into a hug, covering herself with his blood. Her tears dripped into his cloak and she held him as tight as she could.

Valgius looked up to see Sophie, and her crying. He cleared his throat, holding out his hand. "Knife..." he weakly muttered. He'd gone a bit pale due to blood loss. "Now." he then said, trying to sound urgent without sounding like he was in pain.

Sophie let go of him and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the blade she always carried around with her and handed it to him, tears still pouring down her face.

Valgius nodded, before igniting his hand again. He put the knife blade into the flames, and held it there for about five seconds, he then dug into the wound, making it bleed more. After a minute of digging around, he pulled the bullet out. He then gritted his teeth, before cauterizing the wound. When it was done, Valgius was panting. He turned to her. "See? No worries... right?" he asked weakly, regaining a bit of his color. He looked down to see a large hole burned in his shirt. "Good thing... I have extras... eh?" he then asked, managing a small chuckle.

Sophie watched him, tears dripping down her cheeks. When he had finished she hugged him tightly, refusing to let go.
"Valgius..." She cried, tears soaking her and him both. She hugged him tighter and accidentally lost her balance. She fell forwards, sending both her and Valgius into the fountain.

Valgius felt himself falling backward. He felt his head hit something... that wasn't quite the same material as the fine crystal that made up the fountain. Valgius first pushed Sophie into an upright position, rubbing the spot where his head had hit... "Oww... I knew water was strong... but I didn't think it'd hurt that bad..." Valgius muttered, picking up a hexagonal stone. He grinned upon seeing the Water symbol, a droplet of water, on the stone. He focused his power, and felt the stone absorb itself into his hand. Valgius grinned. "Excellent." he muttered.

Sophie watched him.
"What? What did you do? Where did it go?!" She asked, shocked at what he had just done. She took his hand and saw nothing in it. She looked up at him, confused, waiting for an answer.

Valgius grinned, making a spurt of water come from his palm to spray Sophie in the face. "That's where it went. I've found a Focus stone... odd to find them here, mind you, but I'm not complaining. I now have control over Water Focus again." Valgius said, spraying Sophie a second time.

Sophie screamed and stumbled backwards as the water hit her face. She fell over one of the crystals in the fountain and landed against it. Her head hit it hard, and she felt blood pour from it. The blood spread over the crystal and it slowly began to glow a orange-red color.

Valgius rushed over to Sophie, examining the wound. It wasn't too bad... Valgius then saw the crystal glowing. "Umm... Sophie... What's going on with that fountain?" he asked, watching the orange-red glow spread. He shook his head. "Damn... wish I'd brought my sword..." he muttered.

Sophie turned around to see the crystal in the fountain glowing.
"Eh?!" She cried. It wasn't supposed to do that! No, not at all! She touched the crystal with her fingers and felt a sudden burst of warm energy.
"What's going on?!" She yelled as the place around her turned a orange-red color. She couldn't see Valgius anywhere. She then noticed a red symbol glowing on her wrist.
"What the hell is this?! Get it off!" She cried as the world around her turned back to normal and the crystal fountain restored its state from before.

Valgius squinted as a bright light flashed in the square. After Valgius' vision returned, he saw Sophie standing. He looked her over. No wound... not even his blood on her. He shook his head. Something weird was going on... Before he could contemplate anything further, he felt a presence behind him. Valgius turned around, and saw six guards standing in formation, all aiming guns at the two. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" Valgius asked, only to have a pair of handcuffs slapped in his wrist. Valgius sighed. "Are we under arrest?" he asked. One of the men shook his head. "No... we just need to question you." Valgius shook his own head. "Then..." he said, fire flaring up, surrounding the cuffs. To the amazement of the guards, the handcuffs were melted when the flames died down. Valgius slipped out of the melted mess, dropping the hardened piece of twisted metal on the ground "... don't restrain us." he said.

Sophie looked up at the guards, sighing. She still felt that burning on her wrist and knew the weird symbol was there. But she covered it up with her sleeve, not wanting the guards to see it and do anything to her. She looked over at Valgius, not really knowing what to do, after what had just happened.

Valgius looked back at Sophie. "I dunno about you, but I don't wanna have to go through that experience with those odd weapons again... so I'm going with them. Who knows, maybe we'll find out something interesting." Valgius said. He then moved in close, and whispered loud enough only for her to hear. "But, if you want, I can distract 'em and you can run."

Sophie shook her head. Wherever he went, she would go too. Simple as. She stepped forwards, towards the guards.
"Where do you want us to go then?" She asked, trying not to sound scared.