"Soup and roast will be served in the mess hall in thirty minutes."

Loud, blaring.

"Non-essential employees must report five minutes prior."

Constant, annoying.

"Thank you and have a functional day."

Cold, distant.

Static fills the air for a couple moments, and then silence. Anna breathes a sigh of relief and slams her head against the table. Her face is covered in grease and her hair is pulled back into pigtails. She is content for a moment, the rancid scent of gasoline – which manages to somehow smell tantalizingly sweet – filling her nostrils, her fingers gripping the cool metal of a wrench.

"What are you doing?"

Anna shoots up, grimacing. The moment is over.

"I was just – "

"Not doing your work." A large man with a walrus-shaped mustache glares down at Anna. She grins sheepishly at him. Kai is her supervisor, and it's just the two of them working the mechanic's room. He's gruff and loud, but Anna has come to think of him as a sort of father figure. While the frown rarely leaves his face, he's never actually punished her for her often lazy demeanor. And she's heard horror stories about some of the other supervisors in Underground 6.

"Sorry, Kai, I'm on it." Anna lifts the wrench and stares down at the work in front of her. Her eyebrows crease together and she rubs her temple with the end of the rusty tool. "Uh…" She glances back at Kai with another grin. "So… what exactly was I supposed to be doing again?"

Kai's facial expression doesn't change. Instead, he plops down across from her and takes the mangled object Anna has spent the last fifteen minutes staring at into his large, competent hands. "This RWD is broken."

Anna blinks. That much was clear to her. The Required Wrist Device – a large sheet of metal that covers the length of one's arm, from the wrist to the elbow – is normally thin and curved with a touchscreen capable surface. The RWD in front of them, on the other hand, is twisted into some unrecognizable shape, with blackened ends and a musty smell emitting from it.

"Uh, yeah…" Anna says slowly. "I mean, I know it's an RWD. And I know it's broken. I just, well, I don't know what to do about it. It looks like it got burned or something and I don't really think you can fix something like this… I mean, I've never seen anything this bad before. Can't we just issue the user a new one?"

"Only one RWD per user," Kai says, reciting the rules. They are mandatorily issued to everyone on their tenth birthday and must be worn at all times. Anna is wearing hers now, and she can see the glint of light that reflects off of Kai's. Anna has no idea what happens to people who lose or break their RWD. She's never heard of something like that happening before. They're necessary to daily life in Underground 6. The RWD provides the database with everyone's whereabouts, as well as monitors their vitals, provides communication between individuals, as well as a host of other functions.

Anna shrugs, defeated. "Well, if they can't get a new one – "

"Then we have to fix this one." He places the device back in front of her. Anna frowns. He says it so simply, as if it's an easy thing to do. Anna groans and drops her head again. She's no good at this stuff. She's never been good at putting things together. In fact, she's never really been good at anything. That's probably why the Test stuck her here, in the least desirable occupation, where all the rejects without any skills go.

Anna's eyebrows knit together. No, that's not true. Kai's a true genius when it comes to mechanics. He can see just how the cogs go together to create something truly beautiful. He's probably already figured out just how to take this mangled lump of metal and turn it back into a working RWD in no time. Anna is just his hopeless recruit, who comes to work every morning because she has to, who leaves each night having added nothing of value to Underground 6's growing need of working machinery.

"I don't belong here," Anna mutters. And then she jumps up and claps her hand to her mouth, realizing too late that she said that out loud. She has to belong here. She does belong here. Whatever the Test decides is always right. And, worst of all, it's permanent and uncontestable. Not reveling in the occupation that has been chosen for you… that's like blasphemy.

"The Test thinks you do," Kai growls. "So that means you're going to work." He passes her a tool she's never handled before. "And if you don't finish before mealtime, you'll just have to skip going to the mess hall today and work some more."

"What?" Anna says, just as her stomach screams in protest. She accidentally presses down on a button on the tool, and fire bursts out of it. Anna jumps and drops the burning tool. It lights the table on fire and Anna squeals, falling backwards off of her stool and landing on her butt on the cold, hard ground. Kai jumps back. He frantically turns around, searching for something to stop the fire.

"Oh, oh gosh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I don't even know what happened! There's a button on the tool and I pressed it and everything just got really hot and I dropped it and – " The flames rise, licking the ceiling. "I've got it!" Anna rips her shirt off and covers the fire. She begins beating at the flames wildly with her arms. As the fire begins to settle down, she jumps up and sits on the remaining ashes. Steam billows up around her. The heat is searing, but adrenaline and determination dull her senses.

When Kai finally finds the fire extinguisher, all he can see is a film of smoke. In the next moment, Anna is covered in white foam and the smoke dispenses. Anna slides off the table and shakes herself off, coughing. She blinks a couple times and picks up her shirt, which is merely a rag the size of her hand now. The table has a large scorch mark on it, but otherwise remains unharmed.

"Uh, I'll replace your table," Anna says, "and everything that was on it."

Kai just shakes his head. "You've got fifteen minutes to get to the mess hall," he says, dejected. "Why don't you go back to your unit and clean yourself up. I think you're done for the day."

"O-Oh." Anna watches Kai for a while. His face gives nothing away. He doesn't look at Anna or the table. Instead, he stares at the fire extinguisher in his hand, an indecipherable look on his face. "Okay…"

Anna slips into a new shirt. Her attire is shades of grey, the issued color of all repair services. Her unit is in cell 12, a less populated area of Underground 6. Her room is a twelve by twelve square space, holding a bed, dresser, and desk. The adjoining room is a bathroom, with just enough room to hold a toilet, shower, and sink. The water only runs at designated minutes and each unit is supplied with an hour's worth of electricity a day.

Unfortunately, the water in her unit is not running now, so Anna has to leave with ash covering her hair and face. With a burnt smell still lingering on her skin, Anna can't help but flash back to the fire she caused and the look on Kai's face as he sent her away. The frown is still on her face, her eyes downcast, as she exits her unit.

Normally, Anna doesn't run into anyone in the narrow halls of cell 12. But today, as she steps out of her door, she knocks into something hard. For the second time that day, Anna falls flat on her behind with an unceremonious groan.

"Hey!" She looks up, a flash of anger crosses her face. Right now is not the time to mess with Anna, she's already in a bad enough mood.

But her eyes immediately soften as she registers just what – or, actually, who – she ran into. A tall, slim figure stands over her, with a messy blonde braid draped over a slender shoulder, and icy blue eyes looking down at her with such warmth. Anna opens her mouth, fishing for something to say, but immediately closes it again.

"I'm sorry," the woman says, reaching out a small hand. Anna takes it, and blushes at the softness of her skin, as well as the strength of her grip. The coolness of her fingers is refreshing from the unbearable heat Anna had just experienced. She allows the beautiful stranger to pull her up, still incapable of speech. She stumbles forward slightly and finds herself only inches from the pale features of the woman in front of her. Those eyes. Those lips. Those freckles. She spots them, lightly scattered across her cheeks – almost like constellations on a clear night sky – nothing like Anna's own messy freckles. She feels her cheeks engulfing in a red glow. Her eyes dart away from the stranger's face, unable to function under the intense gaze.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry," Anna finally manages to choke out. And once she starts, she can't seem to stop. "I wasn't looking where I was going, cause I was sorta in a bad mood, and no one ever comes down here usually. Not that you're a no one, cause you're not. You're definitely a someone. Not even just a someone. You're more like… like an angel. Wait, what?"

The stranger giggles, covering her mouth with curled fingers. Anna beams as she realizes that she's the reason that beautiful chime is escaping this woman's lips. Oh gosh, her lips. Anna forces herself not to stare at them as the woman drops her hand, but she can't ignore the gorgeous smile that now sits there.

"Well, I guess we're both sorry," she says. "And I guess we both weren't expecting anyone else to be gracing their presence in these usually empty corridors."

"Oh, yeah, well, I live here," Anna says, motioning to her door – with the faded number 12.3 on it. "But I don't think I've seen you around here before. And I'd definitely remember you. I mean, if I saw you here. I'm good with faces, is what I'm saying. Not because you're incredibly gorgeous. Which you are, but that's not why I'd remember you. Objectively, you're gorgeous. So, it's something that you probably already know…"

The static of the PDA system fills the air, and Anna has never been happier for an announcement. She presses her lips together, effectively shutting up.

"The mess hall doors will be closing in five minutes. All non-essential employees must report within five minutes. Thank you and have a functional day."

The woman's eyes slide up and down Anna's body. It sends a shiver up Anna's spine. "You're a mechanic." It's not a question. At first, Anna thinks it's her grey wardrobe that gives it away, but she freezes as she remembers she's covered in ash and grease. "You better get down to the mess hall."

"R-Right," Anna says. Her eyes wander down to the woman's clothes, lingering – despite her inward protests – on her chest. It's a beautiful light blue dress that seems to sparkle under the dull, flickering lights of the corridor. Blue. Anna is struggling to remember what occupation that color corresponds to.

But before she can figure out if this woman is essential or not, the stranger tilts her head towards Anna and says, "Perhaps we'll run into each other again."

"Y-Yeah." Anna watches as the blonde woman walks away, the opposite direction from where Anna herself is heading. Her hips sway in a confident strut that leaves Anna biting her lip as she trails her figure with wide eyes. Most of her skin is bare and flawless and… bare. Her arms are completely free of any article of clothing. She's not wearing an RWD. Anna's eyes widen as she realizes what that means.