Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘How the fuck did I get here?’ I think to myself, looking around at the strange yet familiar scene in front of me, I felt a squeeze on my right hand.

“Are you ok?” Mallory asks, wide eyed with worry.

“Yeah.” I answer breathlessly. “Are you?” equal amount of worry evident in my voice.

“I’m fine. What the fuck happened?”

“I. wish. I. knew.” I emphasize as I spin around, taking Mallory with me. We both refuse to let go of each other. “I hate to say it, but ‘we aren’t in Kansas anymore’ Mal.”

Mallory half chuckles, “You could definitely say that.”

Early January 2025. Somewhere in the Midwest, USA.

I stand in the driveway, staring up at the home that holds so many memories of my grandparents, of the people who are no longer here to make new memories. I can’t bring myself to go in. It’s my home too and has been for the last six and half years, but today it feels wrong.

“Is there anything I can do to convince you it’s ok to go inside?” Mallory asks, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“I’ll get there eventually.” I respond quietly, holding back tears.

“Can I at least get you your jacket, love? A blanket maybe?” Mallory asks lovingly. “It’s freezing out here.”

I turn slightly towards Mallory and nod. “Yeah. I’d like that. Thank you.”

Mallory and I had just returned home from finalizing my grandmother’s funeral. Grandma Nora couldn’t wait any longer to join her husband, Henrik, in the afterlife. It was only a year ago that Nora and myself were walking up this driveway from planning his funeral. As I stand in the driveway, both of my grandparents' deaths weigh heavy on me.

It was still the middle of winter here, which isn’t ideal when it comes to getting your loved ones into their final resting place. Snow covered frozen ground makes things especially difficult, or extra expensive. I, knowing all too well from helping grandma plan grandpa’s funeral and burial, made the tough decision to wait until spring for Nora’s burial, the funeral is just a few days from now.

‘I’m sorry grandma. You’ll have to wait a little while longer to sleep next to him again.’ I grip the blanket that had appeared over my shoulders at some point. I knew Mallory wasn’t too far away, keeping a close eye on me like she always does.

“Love.” Mallory called from somewhere. “Ci.” her voice swirled around my head. “Cielle.” Mallory called again, gaining my attention finally.

“Yes, Mal?” I find Mallory’s eyes then.

“I have to insist I bring you inside now. The sun is setting and you need to eat dinner. Will you come with me?” Mallory holds out her hand to me. I look at it contemplatively for a moment and then take it in my own, allowing Mallory to slowly guide me up the steps of the front porch and through the door.

Mallory helps me sit on a barstool that’s already pulled out at the kitchen island, a steaming plate of food already waiting for me. “Please eat.” Mallory says gently.

I eye the utensils sitting next to the plate, unable to bring myself to reach for one right now. My eyes drifted over the contents of the counter. On the plate was a simple casserole, no doubt brought over by a neighbor or one of grandma’s friends. Off to the left lay random piles of mail, and Mallory’s wallet and keys, placed there when they arrived as part of her routine. Ahead of me and just above the utensils was a glass filled with water, reminding me how thirsty I had become. Slowly I reached for the glass and took a drink, soon enough I’d downed the whole thing. After I placed it back down Mallory was quick to grab it for a refill.

“I’m so happy you drank something, love. Can we please try eating now?” Mallory coaxed as she walked to the kitchen sink.

My eyes had followed Mallory across the kitchen but fell back down to my plate after her question. I picked up the fork and pushed the food around the plate, feeling like I almost didn’t have the strength to do that.

Mallory put the glass back down in front of me, watching closely as she leaned against the opposite side of the island. I push my food around for a while longer before setting the fork down. “Would it help if I fed it to you?” Mallory’s voice filled with concern.

My eyebrows come together, the need to defend my ability to care for herself bubbling to the surface, but before the words exit my mouth, “I know you are capable of doing it yourself, love. But if me helping you makes it easier, then let me. It’s better for me to feed you and for you to lose a little bit of pride than it is for you to pass out from low blood sugar or something.” Mallory explains. “Please?” she nearly begs.

All I can manage is a small nod in agreement. Satisfied, Mallory picks up the fork from where I had left it and gathered some of the casserole on it, she brings it up to my mouth. “Now this is normally where I’d make the airplane noises, but it’s not the time or place for that so you’ll have to open your mouth on your own accord instead of by laughing.” she says lightly. I obey, opening my mouth to receive the bite. Mallory leans over and places a soft kiss on my temple. “Thank you.” and she continues feeding me at a decently slow pace, trying not to overwhelm me, until the plate is empty. “Thank you.” she repeats.

Mallory picks up the plate and brings it to the sink while I grab the water and drink again, slowly this time. “I’m so proud of you.” Mallory beams slightly when she turns around. “You’ve got through today. You made it one more step forward.” Mallory comes back to my side at the island and wraps me lightly in a hug, placing her chin on the top of my head. “Would you like me to take you to bed now?” I nod, moving Mallory’s head with my own.

Mallory moves slightly away from me, holding her hand out once more. “Up then. Let’s go upstairs and get you ready for bed.” I grab her hand and the two of us make our way up to our bedroom.

The viewing and funeral went as all viewings and funerals do: long with lots of crying, hugs and condolences from people you are close to and strangers alike, and the heartbreaking stories and songs to tie the ribbon on the box holding your grief. Since there was no burial to follow the funeral, I had decided on holding a dinner in grandma Nora’s honor at her favorite restaurant afterwards.

The evening went by in a blur or more hugs and condolences. I grazed on her dinner, finding it hard to enjoy on a day such as today. When the event wrapped up and the last of the guests left I knew I had to talk to an employee to make sure they were tipped well. Mallory had been my rock all day and had been able to almost predict what I needed before I knew I needed it. As I stood up from my table Mallory had come up behind me and whispered in my ear, “I’ll take care of it. Sit, please.” Leaving me standing there for a moment as I watched her walk off.

“Still getting your little girlfriend to wait on you hand and foot, I see.” A gruff voice came from behind me.

I sighed internally and turned to face the voice. My father. There he was in full dress uniform, no doubt having been eating up all the “Thank you for your services” all night. “Can we not do this on the day of grandma’s funeral?” I respond, weaker than I’d have liked given who it was.

“I wasn’t doing anything, Cielle. If you think I was doing something then it was all in your head.” He responded in his usual condescending tone.

Just as I was about to retort Mallory stepped beside me. “David.” She nodded as politely as she could muster towards him. “I thought I saw you stalking about in the back of the funeral home. I thought you’d left after.”

“I wasn’t stalking around anything.” He grumbled. “Someone had to take up the duty of greeting people at the back of the room and as her son it was clearly my duty or it wouldn’t have been done.” he stated as if his words were fact and there was no way around it.

“Funny that. I could have sworn Cielle was at the doors greeting every person as they came in.” Mallory looks around as if she’s utterly disinterested in this conversation.

“Well she wasn’t there any time I looked. Can’t have people thinking this family is rude.” He tries to save face.

“No. Can’t have that at all. Just like we can’t have people thinking Nora’s only son wasn’t around for the last year as her health got worse. We can’t have them think that the only people by her side as she passed were the granddaughter she raised and her granddaughter's girlfriend.” Mallory says in the most monotone voice she can muster, trying not to raise her voice like she wants to.

“I was around!” He all but shouts.

“David, the last time you were in this town was for your fathers funeral. You didn’t even come to his burial. Are you going to come to your mothers?” Mallory keeps her cool, still putting him in his place.

I could only watch the verbal volley happen before me, unable to stop it or maybe just unwilling to.

“Listen here you little bitch…” He begins. “I’m very important in my part of the military. I can’t just get on a plane and visit any time prissy pants over her gets the sniffles.” he points at me, I flinch.

“Yeah, because you’ve ever been there for any of her sniffles.” Mallory says coldly, staring at him, almost daring him to try to say otherwise.

“You have no idea what you are fucking talking about and I’d appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut like it should be.”

“I know plenty. Grandma Nora and Grandpa Henrik loved to talk about their deadbeat-dad of a son who abandoned his daughter with them. I heard all the stories.”

David began advancing on Mallory, attempting to use his size to intimidate her. “That’s enough!” I finally find my voice. “You are making a scene.” but David didn’t care.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do little girl. I’m your father and that means I’m in charge around here.”

And just like that the fog cleared a little in my head. I began laughing, almost sounding like a crazy person, I was sure of it. Mallory turned and stared at me wide eyed and David straightened slightly. “You're in charge? Oh that’s good. In charge of what? Being the biggest dick on the planet? World’s worst son and father?” I step closer to him. “Or maybe you’re in charge of being a big coward who only feels good when he can pick on other people. I mean, you did manage to make a hell of a living off of doing that. Didn’t you, dad?” I spit at him like hot venom.

My father just stared at me. “Get out. Get the FUCK out. I’m sure we are already two seconds from being kicked out by staff, but you need to get the hell out of my face.” I demanded.

David’s eyes narrowed, nearly unable to will himself to comply with the order his daughter gave him. “I am leaving, but only because I was going to anyway. Have your grandmother’s lawyer forward me the information about the will.” He turns to leave, stopping a few feet away and slightly turns back. “By the way, consider this your 30 day notice to leave the house. I don’t want to have to formally evict you two.”

Mallory laughed this time, causing David to pause where he stood. He fully turns around this time, taking two steps back towards us. “And what the hell is so funny?”

“What’s funny is that you think you are getting the house.” Mallory smirks.

“Of course I’m getting the house. I’m getting everything. I’m next of kin, that’s how this works.”

“That’s how it works if it was written in the will that you got that stuff.” Mallory continues smirking at him.

“The house is mine.” I whisper.

“I don’t think I heard you. What. Did. You. Say.” David nearly spits.

“I said, the house is mine.” I say firmly. “The house, the savings account, the stocks and bonds. They are mine.”

David chuckles a dark, low rumble. “That’s good.” he steps forward again. “Why would you think such a silly thing like that?”

“Because Nora wrote you out of her will, you asshole. A long time ago.” Mallory almost says with glee. “So long ago I wasn’t even in the picture yet. And then she made sure it was iron clad after Henrik died. She didn’t want you screwing over your daughter, again.”

“We’ll see about that.” David snarls, turns, and takes off.

I hold my composure long enough to make sure my father is gone and then I turn into Mallory and break. “I know, love. I know. But you did so good. All day today you did so well.” Mallory murmurs as she strokes my hair, hugging me in place against her body. “Let’s get out to the car and go home.”

Mallory leads me through the event room and out the private side door nearby that the staff had unlocked for us. Getting to our car, she eases me into the passenger seat and closes the door after making sure I am buckled. Once the door is closed Mallory takes a beat to reset and makes her way to the driver's seat.

Mallory buckles herself in and looks over at me, she reaches over and grabs me hand lightly. “Let’s go home.”

Two weeks of bed rotting and doom scrolling later and I’m finally moving around the rest of the house, a little less like the zombie who was only making it out of bed to go to the bathroom. I come down the stairs and walk into the kitchen where I am met with my doting girlfriend making lunch for the two of us.

“Oh!” Mallory looked up in surprise. “I was going to bring lunch up to you in a minute. Did you want to eat down here today?”

I nod. “Yeah. Wanna cuddle with me on the couch while we eat?”

“Of course. Go on and get comfortable and I’ll meet you in there.” Mallory shoos me out of the kitchen.

I go and take my usual spot on the couch, at the right arm rest right next to the end table that houses the TV remote. I grab it, turn it on to a random channel, and lower the volume to be able to hear it but not too loudly. Just like grandma used to. I sigh and pull the throw blanket off the back of the couch and wrap my legs in it, just as Mallory walks in carrying a tray with our lunch.

Mallory pauses a moment, taking in the scene and its familiarity. “She’d be happy to see you carrying on tradition.” she chuckled, settling the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch. “I don’t think she’d approve of the show though, but you’ve got to adapt traditions and make them your own sometimes.”

“I just turned it to something random. It’s mostly for background noise.” I say solemnly.

“I know. I was just trying to make you laugh.” Mallory offers softly, handing over a plate with an egg salad sandwich, cut in two large triangles, and some barbeque flavored potato chips. She then places a glass of water on a coaster on the end table next to me. “I figured some comfort flavors were needed.” she explains, settling down next to me..

I pick up half of the sandwich and take a bite. My ability to eat has been coming back slowly over the last few weeks, Mallory has had to spend less and less time convincing me to eat. “Thank you. I appreciate it.” I say after swallowing. “It’s very good.” I compliment her as I take a second bite.

“I’m glad you are enjoying it.” Mallory says as she digs into her own meal.

We ate in relative silence, the TV murmuring slightly in the background. When we both finished Mallory gathered everything and placed it back on the tray. Leaning back on the couch she pulled me to her side. “I’m very happy to see you down here.” and she gives a quick peck to the top of my head.

“It’s nice down here.” I sigh. “I didn’t realize how much I needed a change of scenery until I made it down the stairs.”

“Yeah. You’ve been in the bedroom for a while.” Mallory agrees. “Anything new today in the world of doom scrolling?”

“Actually, yeah. I saw this really cool fan edit of a game on that short form video platform I told you about.” I tell her, a hint of excitement coming into my voice.

Mallory nods, “Yeah? What’s the game about?” she asks, trying to keep me engaged and in the moment.

“I have no idea.” I half laugh. “It was a thirst edit.”

“A thirst edit?” Mallory asks.

“Oh come on, we aren’t that old. You know what that means.”

“Yes, I understood what you meant. I’m just more confused on how you make an edit from a video game like that.” Mallory clarifies.

“Oh! Let me show you.” I say, pulling my phone out, almost giddy.

I unlock my phone and open the video app, type in the name of the game into the search bar and we are immediately met with a list of silent moving pictures of animated men. I click on one. The video buffers for a second and the next thing Mallory sees is a rotation of five men, barely dressed in some strange leather outfit, and they appear to have been chained up.

“Uh…” Mallory is unsure what to even say.

“Oh my god this was probably a terrible one to show you. Apparently this is for a new event coming out. From what I understand it’s like an alternate universe and not the main story of the game.” I back out of the video and attempt to find a more normal edit. “It’s the newest thing so that’s why the edits for it are first.” Finally, I scroll back just far enough to find one that is more of an edit towards the storyline than anything. “The first one I showed you goes more towards the thirst edit variety. This is just a normal edit.”

The video depicted the same five men in a very different light. A purple haired man came on screen wearing a dark outfit with a mask, then an ash blonde man with a sword was fighting some beast, a dark haired doctor sitting at his desk, a silver haired man with red eyes jumping off a building!?!, and a man holding an apple in some kind of military uniform. At the end there was a montage of what appeared to be all of them fighting these beast things with what Mallory could only assume might have been the main character of the game.

“Isn’t it cool!” I exclaimed when the video fully came to an end.

“Yeah, very cool. I like the fighting mechanics. What kind of game is it?” Mallory asks, more because she is happy to see me excited about something than she is actually interested in knowing more.

“Oh.” I stop and think for a moment. “I haven’t actually really looked into it. I’ve just been enjoying the edits.”

“Well, let’s look it up together then.” Mallory offers.

I exit the video app and open my web browser, type in the name of the game and all of the information for it pops up on screen. I freeze.

“Uh…I…I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I mean, I knew there was suggestive stuff but…” I stammer.

Mallory looks over her shoulder and reads: Love and Deepspace. Romance simulation. Otome, Action RPG, and Gacha. “Ah. Well, it sounds fun.” Mallory tries to stamp down my worry. “Don’t be sorry because you think a game looks fun. If you want to play it, play it.”

“Really?” I ask, unsure.

“Yeah. Really. Love, it’s pixel men. What’s the worst that can happen?”

I start playing the game and Mallory sees me go through a mood change, for the better. The game appears to have given me at least a distraction from my grief for a little while.

“I’m taking the main story slowly. I don’t want to speed through it and be sad it’s over.” I explained to Mallory one day while we were sitting next to each other on the couch. “But I did begin Sylus’ story and play it on auto face down just so I could unlock his character.”

“That makes sense.” Mallory looked over and it seemed Cielle was playing some card game with one of them. She started turning her head back to what she was doing but she sees Cielle's hand shoot up to her chest and her face contort a little. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just a quick pain. All good now.” I reply and go back to my game.

Mallory’s eyes narrow. “How long has that been happening?”

“Huh?” I turn towards Mallory, “Oh, not long. Like a week or two I think?”

“Why haven’t you said anything?”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal.” I say, almost surprised that Mallory thinks it would be.

Mallory just gives a look that says ‘You have to be joking, right?’

“I’m serious! I didn’t think it was a big deal. It doesn’t happen often, just occasionally.”

“You should get it checked out.”

“Yeah, yeah. I will.” I go to turn back to my phone.

Mallory reaches out and grabs my chin, forcing me to look back at her. “You are going to get it checked out.”

“Jeez, why ya gotta be so bossy.” I playfully stick my tongue out at her. “Fine, I’ll go. But when they say I’m fine I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ ok?”

Mallory and I leave the doctor’s office a few weeks later, I storm ahead of Mallory towards the car. “I can’t tell if you are more upset because I was right and you can’t say ‘I told you so’ or because there is something wrong.”

I say nothing as I slip into the passenger seat. “Ever the passenger princess.” Mallory mutters to herself as she heads to the driver's side.

We ride home in silence, save for the drumming of Mallory’s fingers on the steering wheel.

Mallory is genuinely unable to tell the reason Cielle is actually upset and so she chooses to say nothing.

Once we get home I run inside and throw myself down on the couch.

“Alright. Spit it out, princess. What’s wrong?”

I huff, “A little bit of everything. A bit of ‘you were right’, a dash of ‘are you fucking serious?’ and just the right amount of ‘there can’t be something wrong with me, what will happen to you if something happens?’” My voice breaks a bit on the last sentence.

“Oh, Ci. The doctor said it wasn’t concerning right now. Nothing is going to happen to you.” Mallory tries to sooth me.

“There is something wrong with my heart, Mal! It may not be serious now but it could end up being serious some time.” I argue.

“Love, let’s just get through the lifestyle changes and ease up on some stress and we will see how that helps at the follow up appointment.”

“Gotta freaking limit my coffee.” I mumble, pushing myself into a sitting position. “UGH! And speaking of stress I got a voicemail from grandma’s lawyer that said David is really gonna try to contest the will.”

“He’s got nothing.”

“I know. That’s what the lawyer said. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t stress me out.”

“Did the lawyer say you had to be present for anything?”

“No. He actually said he didn’t expect it to go that far.”

“Well there ya go. A little less stress.”

I throw myself backwards again. “Yeah. Sure. That’s totally a thing with my dad.”

Mallory squeezes my thigh, hoping to convey reassurance. “It’ll all work out and be fine. Have some faith in Nora. You know she triple checked that thing like yearly. And then when Henrik died and David showed up expecting something, she doubled her efforts to make sure he would only get what he was worth.”

“Yeah. You’re right. I won’t stress until the lawyer calls and tells me to be stressed.” (That never happened, and she got a letter saying her inheritance was hers, free and clear.)

As time went on, Mallory would watch Cielle play Love and Deepspace at all times of the day. Cielle loved the ‘Quality Time’ feature. Mallory would catch her using it to talk to the ‘boys’ about what she would have been doing during that time of day if Nora was still alive. Eventually that just turned into her telling them about her day, about Mallory, about whatever she could think of.

At night laying in bed and unwinding for the day, Cielle would play the main story chapters while leaned up against Mallory, insisting she stay in the know about what’s happening. “I won’t have to yap your ear off about it later if you are there when it happens.” Cielle had reasoned. Mallory listened, nearly as invested as Cielle was at this point.

The snow began melting outside and the time for Nora’s burial grew near. The funeral home had called and they gave dates they expected conditions to be ideal, I had to pick one. I wasn’t inviting anyone to the burial, everyone’s big good-bye was the funeral. I did, out of courtesy, inform my father but I knew he wouldn’t show, especially after he tried and failed to contest the will. I didn’t care if I ever saw him again.

The night before the burial, hoping to relax a little bit with my most favorite pixel men ever, I continued the storyline. “Hey! Caleb’s visiting grandma with MC! How sweet.” I nudge Mallory and show her the screen.

“I’m surprised that man can even tolerate that woman.” Mallory said.

“I think he does it for MC, because she doesn’t remember the experiments so she doesn’t have the negative feelings he does about her.” I theorize, continuing through the story.

From the phone Mallory hears, “We’ve been outside for too long. Gran’s gonna be worried.” Caleb says to MC. “You’re doing it again. Go inside by yourself. I’m not your sidekick.” The MC retorts back. “Fine. But hide the blood on your sleeve before heading inside.” Caleb says back. Mallory looks over to see what's going on. “Since you're a grown up now, I won’t cover for you this time.” Caleb continues. Mallory and I watch as Caleb opens and walks through the front door to the house. Ten seconds later the house explodes with MC still outside.

“What the fuck!” Mallory exclaims, looking over at me, my eyes are wide in shock.

“But…but he’s a love interest. How could he be a love interest if he’s dead?!” I begin weeping. “Oh my god. MC’s grandma!” waves of grief wash over me. Of all the times for this event to happen, the night before my own grandma’s burial was less than ideal.

Mallory held me as I cried and finished the chapter. “We don’t learn anything right away!? I have to wait!?” I am beside myself by this point. What started out as me distracting myself from the grief resurfacing turned into the grief returning but this time three-fold.

As she held Cielle, running her hands thru her hair, Mallory couldn’t help but also feel a sense of grief over Caleb’s ‘death’, though not Josephine’s, fuck that bitch. Soon she heard Cielle’s soft sobs turn into faint rhythmic breaths. As she lay there, she couldn’t help but feel bad for Ci. She had gone into the next chapter so excited and unknowing. Mallory could tell these characters had taken root in Cielle’s heart, they helped stitch back together a piece of her that had been ripping apart. It hurt Mallory to see her so upset over all of them and their backstories, but then by the next day she would be all smiles telling Mallory about the fun/awesome/cute/sexy thing she did with one of them that day and it was like the sad stuff never happened. Mallory was getting emotional whiplash from it for Cielle. Eventually, Mallory found herself dozing off.

The next day, the burial went exactly to plan. Cielle and Mallory had brought a bouquet of yellow roses to place on the casket after they lowered it in. The funeral home staff gave the girls a few minutes to grieve, “Have a good rest grandma. I’m so happy you are next to your love again.” Cielle said, throwing the final rose in. Eventually, Mallory led her away so the staff could finish their jobs.

Chapter Text

Somewhere in time and space, local year 2057

I paced back forth in my apartment for what felt like hours. All of the events of the last few years crashing into me all at once. “I can’t ever catch a break.”

I have never felt more confused and alone – and sad – while having the most amount of information ever and never being left alone. Sure all the information I have now is about why I’m here, what I am, but it still fucking sucks. And, yeah, I have a band of five idiots who look at me like I’m the only reason they rise in the morning. “Ugh.”

I’ve never been able to let myself fully be with any of them. I mean, I’ve been with them plenty but I can’t commit to any of them, and none of them will call me on it. Granted, they mostly don’t really know about each other so I’m sure they all feel like they have all the time in the world. And, yeah I feel fucking guilty about it. I feel like I’ve led them all on for the last five years. I want to be with them, all of them. I just...I would rather have them like this than not at all.

I hate myself for it. I’ve cried myself to sleep many nights when the guilt comes crashing down, especially if I’m in one of their arms.

I have bigger fish to fry outside of my love life. Somehow Dawnbreaker has made his way outside of Zayne’s dreams and now he’s trying to run so he doesn’t hurt me – again.

I won’t let him. He doesn’t get to run this time. He can take his damn extended leave but he can’t go anywhere.

I continue my pacing, wearing a path in my rug no doubt. ‘I need a fucking break.’ I think to myself, suddenly pausing.

“Is it that simple?”

“Sweetie…you’re chewing on your fingers again.” Sylus tapped his fingers on his desk. “Now I know something is bothering you because you’ve been acting like you are just going through the motions for the last month.” He walks over to where I’ve frozen in place, finger still in my mouth, he uses one finger to lift my gaze to him. “Won’t you tell me what’s bothering you?” my heart nearly shatters at how sad the question sounds.

“Help me run.” I waste no time. There is no point, once he’s called me on something he figures it out soon enough anyway. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out himself.

“What?” He straightens slightly, careful not to act too surprised.

“I know you heard me, Sy.” I just can’t care enough right now for games. Turning away from him, I cross my arms and take a deep breath. “I… I just really need to go. I don’t know where, I don’t know for how long. I just need to leave.”

“Sure, sweetie. I can book us a trip, how does…”

“No. Me. Just me.”

Sylus slowly lets out a breath, trying to keep his tone even. “Alright. Just you.”

I swing back around, facing him but not looking at him. “Quietly. No one else knows. You don’t tell anyone.”

“Who would I tell?” He places his hand under his chin.

“I’m not stupid, Sylus. Don’t tell them.”

Sylus legitimately looks taken aback for a moment before his face goes completely neutral again. “I see.”

“I mean it. If they somehow manage to figure it out and come to you, use your big scary boss tactics and convince them you know nothing.”

“Are you going to be gone long enough that they might come find me?” He mostly avoids your words, no doubt already looking for a potential loophole.

I sigh and turn away again. “Maybe.”

His hand twitches, he wants to reach out and touch you. Reassure you that whatever it is you are going through will turn out fine, that he’ll be here for you. But you are telling him that's not what you want, indirectly. “Alright.”

“And you have to stay away too.”

“Sweetie…”

“No calls, no visits. I need…I just need to be away from everything.”

He’s hurt. You’re pushing him away, asking for his help but telling him to stay away at the same time.

“Promise me.”

“Kitten…”

“Sylus.”

He sighs, he’s only going to promise under one condition if he can’t be there with her. “One condition and I will promise.”

I sigh, I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. “What is it?”

“You take some of my men. They’ll be set up on a guard rotation, only making sure you are safe, you won't even see them. Minimal check-ins with me, nothing personal just logistical. And you take one of my cards, spare no expense.”

“Sylus, I can’t take your men away from you, and I don’t want your money.”

“Terra, I wasn’t asking you. I’m telling you, if you want my help and you don’t want me with you, these are my conditions.”

“And you promise you won’t tell the others.”

“I promise I won’t tell the others if they can put two and two together and find me.”

I sigh. This is my only way out. “Fine.”

“Great.”

“But I leave tomorrow.”

“What!?”

“Tomorrow. Sometime later in the evening. I’ll text you when I’m ready and you can send someone for me. I’m sure you plan on sending me on your private jet so I don’t need a definitive departure time.”

He’s speechless. He was truly hoping he might have more time to talk you out of this. “I don’t know if I can gather the men for the job in that amount of…”

“Don’t. Sylus, just…please don’t. I know you can. And you will. For me.” I sigh, my fingernails digging into my palms trying to get through this. “Or I’ll do it without you, and you won’t have any way to find me.”

He inhales sharply. “Terra…” he steps forward, not being able to stop himself from reaching out to you this time. He places a hand on either arm, “please let me in.”

My heart aches, it twists and squeezes in guilt. But I have to do this. For me. For once. I just need to go. I can’t meet his eyes, I know they will be my undoing. “Eventually.” I whisper, pulling free and walking towards his office door. “Tomorrow evening.” I say one final time and walk through the door.

💎

“Boss.” The twins are standing in his office now, waiting for him to tell them why he called them in.

“Gather enough men to keep a decent perimeter on…” Sylus pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“What’s going on, boss?” Luke asks.

“I saw Terra walk out of here earlier looking like she was going to cry. Is everything alright?” Kieran follows up.

“She’s running. I don’t know what she’s running from but she asked for my help. She wants to go alone. For an unknown amount of time.”

The twins whistle as his words.

“I gave her the condition that she take some of the men as full time guards. I need enough men to go with her; three shifts, eight hours, rotated but never completely the same. No easily noticeable patterns. They need to be around but not seen.”

“Got it, boss. I’ll go gather the men and come up with a security plan.” Luke says, slipping back out the door.

“I also need a place booked for her, under an alias, or hell buy a house for her. She wants to run, so let's give her someplace to relax. Not too beachy, but enough for it to be enjoyable for a long time. She doesn’t want to be found so make it out of the country. Make the accommodations for the men too. Unknown amount of time.”

“Unknown? Boss, how is that going to work?”

“I figure I will give her so long to do her sulking or licking her wounds or whatever it is she needs to do, and then I’ll find a way to make her come back. If she doesn’t come back herself first.”

“Are you going to get the others involved?” Kieran knows about them because he helps monitor them.

“She made me promise not to tell them.” Sylus taps his temple. “But only if they come to me first.”

“Oooh. Terra didn’t pay attention to her word choice again.”

“I’ll wait long enough that she doesn’t hate me, but I will tell them if she gives me reason to.”

💎

It’s been six months. Six god damn months since he let you get on that plane. The longer you’ve been gone the more he doesn’t get what he was thinking. He’s going mad without so much as a text from you. Pacing his office right now his private line rings.

“What?” He answers the phone, a little harsher than he meant to. His subordinates were getting used to his increasingly foul mood.

“Boss, I…I have some bad news.”

He stiffens. “Spit it out.”

“She’s gone.”

“What do you mean she’s gone!?!” He spits into the phone, seeing red.

“It appears she knew where we were watching her from, sir. She stared down one of our men in the shadows this morning, waved and smirked, and then went inside the bungalow and never came back out.”

“She never came back out?”

“Yes, it appears she found a blind spot in our security and slipped through it. We checked the house when she hadn’t come out for a while, we noticed she wasn’t there and no one had seen her leave. We swept the house for how she got out and we found a note waiting for us on the kitchen counter.”

“Well. Don’t keep me waiting. What did the kitten have to say?” He was trying so hard to keep it together right now.

“The note read: I’m thankful you helped me get out of Linkon and gave me the space I needed from you and the others. However, while I know it’s for my safety, I can also no longer stand being watched like a museum piece that its owner thinks someone is going to steal. I know this means you are probably going to get the others involved, I don’t care if you do. Maybe if you guys successfully find me everything will be ok but until then, take care Sylus.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Anything else?”

“Uh, yeah actually. There was something on the back.”

“Well, what does it say?” “I will come back on my own when I think it’s time, if you don’t find me first.”

“Clever kitten.” he taps his temple. “Keep me updated on any signs of her. I’ll have Luke and Kieran contact you soon about the next steps.”

“Yes boss.”

The phone call ends and he places it down. He managed to keep his cool while on the phone with his subordinate, but he just can’t anymore. He throws his rocks glass that had been sitting on his desk across the room, it smashes against his door shattering into thousands of tiny pieces and amber liquid going everywhere. “FUCK!” he yells in frustration.

He wanted to give her what she wanted and he wanted to keep her safe. He hadn’t attempted any form of communication with her, as much as it killed him, and she still ran farther.

Luke and Kieran’s heads pop in the door, having heard the commotion. “What is it boss?” Luke asks.

“What’s the task?” Kieran follows up.

He’s bent forward now, hands on his desk trying to maintain a semblance of composure. “Find her.”

“Find her?” they ask in unison.

“Yes. Find her. Did I stutter? She slipped her bodyguards and left a note. Get with the team and help in whatever way you can.”

“Yes boss.” the twins say in unison, again, looking at each other with worry.

“And prepare a neutral meeting space. It appears I need to finally get Miss Hunter’s entourage together.”

“Got it boss.” Luke says as Kieran slips back through the door. “I’m sorry boss.” He adds.

“What for?” he asks, surprise on his face, no longer able to hide his emotions.

“That she’s running from you.” Luke says quietly as he slips through the door after his brother.

After he’d gotten the information for the meeting place from Kieran, he sent a text message to Terra’s four other suitors. Trying not to sound like a kidnapper asking for ransom the message read: I helped Terra leave. I have information that needs to be shared with all of you. Please meet me at Velvet & Vine on Friday at 9pm and we can discuss everything there.

He was met with four read receipts but his eyes in the sky informed him all four men were scrambling to make the meeting work.

6 months ago:

✨

After Terra had gone on some secret mission she refused to talk to him about, she seemed like she was pulling into herself more rapidly than ever. He tried everything he could think of to make her come back around, ultimately just trying to be there for her as much as possible.

Picking her up at her door and going to work together. Walking home together and making sure she made it into her apartment. Inviting her out to dinner as much as possible. But she shrunk father away from him.

She eventually stopped responding when he talked on their walks to and from work. Almost getting hurt multiple times on missions that finally Captain Jenna put her on desk duty for a while. He made sure to have Tara and Nero keep an eye on her while he was out.

Then one day it seemed like she was finally coming back around. She was waiting for him outside her door to go to work, looked at him, spoke with him, and seemed overall cheerful. When they walked home that day she asked him to dinner and he immediately accepted the offer.

They went out for hot pot. It almost seemed like old times. He went home and went to bed more relaxed than he had been in weeks.

That was until the next morning when he went to pick her up for work and she didn’t answer the door. Thinking maybe she just overslept, he tried calling her phone and immediately got her voicemail.

Panicking, he used the code she had given him to get into her apartment. Upon entering it was met with an eerie stillness. When he found no sight of her in the main living areas, calling for her, he ran down the hall checking her bathroom first and then her bedroom. Both empty. Her bed was cold enough that it was like it hadn’t even been slept in that night.

Fighting back his fear, he has to make his way to work and report to Captain Jenna. Upon reaching the headquarters as he was about to request a meeting with the captain he was called into her office. “Terra is taking extended leave.” Captain Jenna says smoothly, as if she was giving him the weather reports.

His eyes widened, why wouldn’t she have told him this at dinner last night? “How long?” he tries to ask calmly, keeping it professional.

“Undetermined.” the captain says, giving nothing away.

“What do you mean, ‘undetermined’? Surely she gave a return date.” His expression likely gives more away than he’d have liked.

“No return date.” he sits there in shock at her words. “Listen, Xavier, I didn’t even have to tell you this much. I know you two are close and I didn’t want this blindsiding you more than it was already going to. We don’t need to be down two excellent hunters. I don’t have all the information about where she went or why, but I can tell you that she’s going to be ok.”

He just stares at his captain for a while, letting her words wash over him. “Ok.” but he wasn’t.

The second he had the opportunity, which ended up being a lot longer than he wanted, he was calling Jeramiah to get him started on tracking her. He wouldn’t follow if that's what she wanted but he at least wanted to make sure she was actually safe.

After work he made it to Philos in record time. Jeremiah, in his search, found a lot of things – that weren’t directly related to where she’d run off to, but he did discover where she had been spending her extra time she hadn’t been spending with Xavier.

“I don’t know if you want to know this information, Xavier. It’s not relevant to where she went.” Jeremiah tried reasoning with him when he had asked for ALL the information Jeremiah had.

“You don’t know that. Every piece of information we can get could bring us closer to her. I can’t lose her again.” He said while looking down his nose at his friend.

“If you insist.” Jeremiah opens the files on his wall of screens.

Surveillance photos of her out to dinner with her doctor, walking down the beach with her other employer, going to the station that brings her to Skyhaven, exiting Linkon and heading towards the N109 Zone.

Multiple instances over the years. Scenes that look like dates, others that look like work. A picture from some random person’s social media with her in the background clearly leaving Dr. Zayne’s house early one morning looking rather disheveled.

Another from tourists visiting the art gallery where the famous artist Rafayel’s work sits on exhibit, Terra in the background pulling the artist by his shirt closer to her with a look he recognized well.

Nothing implied much between her and the colonel while in Skyhaven, but he had a feeling.

Not getting much from the footage of the N109 Zone, he could only make assumptions about what she did while there too.

He felt like he sunk to the button of the ocean with a cinder block tied to his legs. They’d never been exclusive, but she also had never brought up any of these other men to him. If he wasn’t so worried about her right now he might have been mad.

“I’d be willing to bet one of them know something.” He said, matter-of-factly.

“That’s it?” Jeremiah looked at his friend.

“That’s all I can afford right now.”

“In that case, with my expertise I would be willing to bet whoever her…contact is in the N109 Zone is the one who has information.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Least public. Easier to be sneaky. Where else would you go if you wanted to disappear?”

“You think she’s in the N109 Zone?”

“Nooooo. She’s probably not even in the country anymore.”

“What!?!”

“You said you last saw her about 9pm last night, right?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s now 7pm the next day. Almost 24 hours. She could literally be anywhere right now. But what I am saying is, however she got to wherever she is, someone from the N109 Zone definitely helped her get there.”

He turned his head and stared at the wall of information, considering what Jeremiah said for a few beats. “You’re right. How do we figure out who?”

“I’ll dig deeper. It might take a while though, so don’t bite my head off when I don’t get you the information right away.”

He flashed his friend a wicked grin. “I’d never bite your head off.”

Jeremiah rolls his eyes. “Sure, sure.” and he gets back to work.

He plops himself on the couch behind Jeremiah’s work area and lets his eyes close. He pushes down feelings of anger and hurt, fear and jealousy, and focuses on hope. Before he realizes it, he’s asleep.

Jeremiah looks over at his unconscious friend, “We’ll find her, buddy. You aren’t the only one who swore an oath to protect her.”

🧜‍♂️

He’d been in his own world painting for an upcoming exhibit, doing what he does best and ignoring the world during this process. When he completed his works he tried to get in touch with everyone he’d been ignoring for the last few weeks.

After two months of not hearing from his Miss Bodyguard he tried calling her a few times to only connect with her voicemail – every time. He even went as far as having Thomas and his wife try calling her, thinking maybe if he was blocked she’d at least answer for one of them, but they both got the same response.

“AGAIN.” His voice rang through the room as he instructed Thomas – he’d just hung up from his last attempt.

“Sir, I don’t think the outcome will have changed in the last ten seconds.” Thomas tries to reason with the panicked man.

“I don’t care. I said AGAIN.”

Thomas sighs and dials her number one more time, getting the exact same outcome as he did last time.

He throws himself down onto the couch. “And she wasn’t at home or work?”

“No, her colleagues say she’s on an extended leave with no return date and her doorman hasn’t seen her for a while.”

“How could she do this to me? With no warning!” he flares dramatically.

“Maybe she just needed a vacation. She doesn’t owe anyone answers.” “Yeah well she’s my bodyguard! I should be informed if I’m going to be left on my own. What if a hitman came after me!”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “It appears she didn’t tell anyone. You got as much notice as anyone else, besides her boss.”

“I’m her boss too!”

“We both know you are more than just her boss. It’s not the same.”

He lets out an exaggerated ‘hmph’ and turns his head to look out the grand windows. He may be putting on a sulking show to his manager, but really he’s dying on the inside. His beloved bride has gone missing without a trace or a word to him about where she might have headed.

He’s mentally scrambling trying to think of ways to figure out where she is, what contacts to use without putting her on anyone’s radar she shouldn’t be on. He feels helpless. He can still feel her through their bond, he knows she’s fine, but since “meeting” she has never gone this long without contacting him.

Eventually he settles in knowing that he’ll be able to know if something is wrong through the bond, but ultimately he hides himself in the studio and refuses to make new art until her return.

⛄️

He’d been trying to keep his distance after the Dawnbreaker incident. Trying to prove to himself that he could stick to his promise of staying away. He hadn’t seen her since that day.

He had shot her a few text messages over the last few weeks, not getting a response but he chalked it up to conflicting schedules.

She cancelled last two appointments with Dr. Greyson and her next one was coming up so he pulled up the Hunter Database to review her profile.

“Inactive?” he stared at the words like they were a personal attack. Needing more answers, he picks up his office phone and dials Captain Jenna.

“Doctor Zayne. What do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Captain Jenna answered on the second ring.

“Good afternoon, captain. I was going through the database and reviewing profiles of those I have upcoming appointments with and saw the status of Terra’s profile says ‘inactive’. I was just calling for some follow ups to that. Typically when a hunter goes ‘inactive’ they’ve been given leave for injury. Has something happened to Terra I wasn’t informed about as her physician?” He keeps it very professional.

“Ah, yes. I see I forgot to inform you, doctor. Terra has taken an extended leave from the Association. Her status is set to ‘inactive’ to reflect as such.”

“A personal extended leave?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Might I ask for how long? When did she take this leave?”

“It’s an undetermined time frame. She put in notice and left about two months ago.”

“Undetermined. I see. Is she still in town? Do you know if she still plans on coming to her appointment?”

“Yes doctor, undetermined. To the best of my knowledge she is not in town, whether or not she plans on coming back for her appointments is unknown to me.”

“I see. Well thank you, captain. This conversation has been insightful. Have a good day.”

“Good-bye Doctor Zayne.”

After placing the receiver back down in its cradle, he removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Two months ago. That would explain why she’d cancelled her last appointments. She didn’t say anything about going on leave.”

He tries to think back over the last two months. “Has it really been that long since she responded to my messages?” Picking up his phone he scrolls through and sure enough her last response was the day before her leave started.

His concern grows. “It’s been a long time since we’ve gone this long without chatting, how didn’t I notice?” He taps his fingers on his desk.

He determines he will give her phone one call, if she answers it will be under the guise of an appointment reminder. He picks up his phone and presses the call button. He immediately gets her voicemail. “Well that’s new.”

Unsure of what else to do he looks over to the small stand calendar he keeps on his desk. Caleb should be back from his Deepspace Tunnel mission by now, if not soon. He will give his old friend a call and see if he’s heard from her. Surely he would have given how close they are.

Picking up his phone again, he scrolls through his contacts to find Caleb’s number and presses the call button. Caleb picks up on the second ring. “Hey, what’s up man? I don’t typically hear from you at this time. Is everything good?” Caleb answers with that arrogant breezy tone that he always has.

“I’ll get there in a minute. How long have you been back from your mission?” Zayne keeps his tone even.

“Uh, literally like 30 minutes. Just walked out of the debriefing when you called. Why?”

“Have you heard from her?”

“From who? Terra?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you asking if I’ve heard from her? I’ve been gone for two and a half months. You’d have heard from her before I would have.”

“Fuck.”

“Ok, Zaynie boy. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“She’s gone.”

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

“I mean I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’ve gotten a reply from her, I checked her Hunters profile to review for her upcoming appointment and saw it said ‘inactive’, and then I called Captain Jenna and she said she was on an undetermined amount of extended leave. She’s been gone for two months.” he rapidly fires out the information he has.

“Wha-huh-no.” Caleb stutters on the other end of the line.

“She’s been on an extended leave for two months and you haven’t heard from her!?!” Caleb yells, Zayne pulls the phone away from his ear.

Somewhere in the background he hears, "Everything alright, Colonel?”

“It’s just fine. I’m leaving the office early today. Forward me any communications I may miss.”

“Yes, Colonel.” He hears the clicking of Caleb’s shoes as he walks quickly through his office building.

“I’m going home to check and see if maybe she’s been holed up in my house. I’ll call you back.” And then the line dies.

“Fuck.” He whispers to himself. A knock on his office door brings him back to reality as Yvonne enters his office.

“Your next appointment is waiting for you Dr. Zayne.”

“Thank you Yvonne. Give me one minute and I’ll be out for them.”

“Everything alright?”

“I have no idea.”

“Uh oh. You let me know if you need anything. Dr. Greyson is on call today, I can call him in to cover the rest of your appointments if you need to go.”

“I don’t know where I would even go right now if I left, Yvonne. But thank you for your offer, I will keep it in mind.”

“Sure thing Dr. Zayne.” Yvonne lingers at the door a moment as she notices Zayne deep in thought.

“Yvonne?”

“Yes Dr. Zayne?”

“Can you see if Dr. Greyson can come in by the next appointment for me?”

“Absolutely Dr. Zayne.”

He gets through the appointment that was waiting for him with professional ease. Looking down at his phone he sees that he has no notifications, “Would Caleb have called if she was at his house?” He tries to reassure himself. A knock on the door has his eyes snapping up.

“Come in.”

Yvonne walks in, “Dr. Greyson is here. I’ve handed over the charts for your remaining appointments.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not at this time, but I will keep it in mind. Thank you.”

“Anytime.” She says as she leaves his office.

Sparing no time, he shoots up from his desk, shrugged his lab coat off and hung it up, grabbed his personal belongings, left his office and quickly made his way to the staff parking garage.

He pulls out his phone again, hoping to see a phone call he may have missed but there is nothing. Just as he gets to his car and is about to put his phone back in his pocket, it rings. Caleb the caller ID reads.

“Please give me good news.” The usually composed doctor answers, trying not to sound as desperate as he feels.

“She’s not fucking here. Zayne, I checked every room in my house just in case. There’s no sign she’s been here at all.” Caleb sounds shaken.

“Shit.” There goes his last thread of hope. He opens the door of his car and slides in.

“I’ll…..I’ll pull some strings through the Fleet and see if I can follow her last known moves.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? Putting her on the Fleet's radar?”

“We’ve gotta find her, Zayne. Do we have a choice?”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Not when it comes to her safety.” Caleb quips.

“Even if that potentially means further endangering her?” he retorts.

“When’s the last time I told you that you were infuriating?”

“It’s been a while.”

Caleb huffs at him. “We need a plan. If we aren’t using the Fleet’s resources, then we need to figure something else out.”

“I’ve got Dr. Greyson covering for me the rest of the day and I was just leaving when you called. Do you want to meet somewhere?”

“It’ll be quicker if I come to Linkon. Personal aircraft and all. Do you want to pick me up at the airport or should I just meet you somewhere?” He can hear Caleb’s keys jingle and a heavy door close.

“I can pick you up. Do we just want to go to my house so we don’t have to be weary of what we say in public?”

“Probably for the best. See you in thirty.” And the line dies.

“Does that man ever say ‘bye’.” He muses as he pulls the vehicle out of its parking spot and begins heading towards the Linkon Airport.

Twenty minutes later he finds himself in the parking lot of the personal aircraft section of the airport. Caleb had given Zayne and Terra the code to his hangar gate section long ago, but this is the first time he has ever had to use it.

He stares at his phone again, trying to will it to ring or ding with a notification from Terra, anything that will put his mind at ease but nothing comes. Soon enough he hears the sound of jet engines growing louder and louder. His eyes flick to the clock on his console. Thirty-five minutes since the call with Caleb ended, “I’m sure he’ll be frustrated over his own lateness.”

🍎

He and his men just disembarked from the aircraft that had been their home for the last two and a half months in the Deepspace Tunnel and had done their debriefing when he was walking down the hall towards his office. He had just pulled out his phone to call Terra when his phone rang in his hand: Zayne.

“Hey, what’s up man? I don’t typically hear from you at this time. Is everything good?” He answered the call.

“I’ll get there in a minute. How long have you been back from your mission?”

“Uh, literally like 30 minutes. Just walked out of the debriefing when you called. Why?”

“Have you heard from her?”

And from there his world tipped sideways. As soon as he hung up the phone with Zayne he was walking as fast as he – professionally – could to his car. He put pedal to the metal and didn’t care what violations might come with it, he was sure he could manage to make whatever infractions disappear.

Speeding into his driveway he didn’t even bother to park correctly, he sprinted inside. Calling Terra’s name, not a single room was left unchecked. Doors were slammed open in hopes of catching a glimpse of her. He even checked under beds in case she was trying to scare him, but there was no sign of her.

Somberly he walked back into his living room and sunk down on his couch. He allowed himself a few minutes to collect himself, knowing he wouldn’t be able to reel in all his feelings, before he knew he had to call Zayne back and give him a report.

After it was decided he would fly to Linkon to meet with Zayne he sped like a bat out of hell to where his aircraft is housed, making sure a flight log was submitted before he got there.

Traffic caused some delay and then they hadn’t had his flight log processed by the time he arrived, delaying him even farther. He cursed to himself as he settled in the cockpit and went through the muscle memory motions of getting the plane in the air. He’d be in Linkon soon enough, but it felt impossibly far away.

Chapter Text

End of May 2025. Somewhere in the Midwest, USA.

Over the last few months I caught up with the storyline. I still made Mallory sit with me at night so I wouldn’t have to yap at her about it later. I still talked about everything, I couldn’t help it. We’d lament about Caleb and MC’s past, the experimentations done to them by the EVER group. We found ourselves saying “When I catch you, Astra.” in regards to what was done with Zayne’s story line. I would cry over Rafayel waiting for MC and their bond she doesn’t know about, and because Xavier wasn’t able to save his queen leaving him stuck but finding the current MC. Many nights were spent with a tissue box and saying things like, “That sweet man is just waiting for her to remember him.” while I stroked Sylus’ cheek in Destiny’s Cafe.

I had learned the truth about Caleb about a month ago now, and officially met Sylus long before that, and have just recently finished the latest chapters they released. Like much of the rest of the story, I had a love-hate relationship with the latest chapters. Mallory says I’ve been back and forth moody over them.

“But your birthday is coming up. Aren’t you in a little bit better of a mood?” Mallory asked me.

“I mean, I can be excited for my birthday and pissed off at my fake pixel boyfriends. Neither of those things are mutually exclusive.” I reason.

Mallory sighed. “Fine. Just don’t let your pixel boyfriends sour your mood to celebrate your birthday with your real girlfriend.”

A few days later on my 33rd birthday, Mallory made a whole day of it. She took me out to lunch at my favorite spot, we hit a matinee, and then Mallory gave me the choice between going out to a bar with friends (who were on standby for her) and going home and having a quiet evening in. “No pressure, either way. The girls are waiting, half ready, for my signal to tell them yes or no.”

I looked at Mallory and slowly smirked, “I haven’t been a menace in a while.” A twinkle in my eyes told Mallory it would be an interesting night. “Tell the girls we are going out! Can we go home first? I want to change.”

“Well that was the plan. I didn’t think you’d want to go to the bar in that.” Mallory gestured to my outfit. While it was very nice, it definitely wasn’t going out to the bar material. “And we should definitely eat dinner before going out.”

I look down at my outfit and my smirk grew wider. “No. But I know just the thing to wear. And ooooh, let’s just do take out on the way there.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mallory shot the girls a text that told them to continue their preparations and gave them a heads up that Cielle may end up in rare form tonight.

Back at the house, Mallory and I went upstairs to change. Mallory changed into a simple halter top and jeans. Checking the mirror, she ran her hands through her warm blonde and caramel pixie cut and gave it a shake to make it sit how she liked it.

“It’s not fair how simple it is for you to look smoking hot.” I peek out from the bathroom door to tell Mallory.

Mallory shrugs. “Years of practice and a little self assuredness goes a long way.” She teases.

I roll my eyes and close the bathroom door again. “Give me like, twenty minutes and I might be half as smoking as you.” I yell through the door.

I hear Mallory sit down in the upholstered chair by the window to wait. “You already are! But no matter how you come out of that bathroom looking, I know you will be the most beautiful person I see tonight.” she yells back. I snort in response.

Twenty five minutes later, while Mallory is scrolling through her phone, the door finally opens revealing a very done up Cielle. Mallory looks up from her phone at the sound and nearly drops her phone at the sight.

Cielle was wearing a midnight blue a-line knee length dress, thicker straps holding the fabric in place. It hugged her beautiful curves in all the right ways, giving Mallory quite the show of her cleavage. As Mallory stared, Cielle started to pull on her dress and attempt to flatten out the midsection at her stomach. “Stop it. You look amazing.” Mallory called her out on letting her insecurities try to get to her. Mallory continues raking her eyes over Cielle, she had on very simple but sparkly heels. She stood from the chair and made her way across the room to be closer to Cielle.

“Still shorter than me.” Mallory smirks, “I don’t think your ankles could handle a heel tall enough to get up here.” she jokes.

“They are only like two inches. I wasn’t going for trying to reach your height. I’m not delusional. I just wanted a little extra vertical lift.” I playfully smack at Mallory’s hands that are reaching for me. “No touchy.”

Mallory’s eyes finally land on Cielle’s face. She had her make up done more than she’d seen her do in a long time, the eyeshadow she picked perfectly making her blue eyes pop. Cielle had her mostly medium brown hair loosely curled, half up half down, the deep scarlet of her peekaboo being highlighted. Mallory can’t help but beam at her. “See, I told you that you’d be the most beautiful person I saw tonight.”

“We haven’t even left the house yet!”

“And we might not if I keep looking at you.” Mallory says under her breath. “Doesn’t matter, you’ll still be the most beautiful person.” She takes a step away from Cielle, trying to put distance between her and temptation. “Are we ready to go then?”

I walk over to the floor length mirror and give myself a once over and quick spin. “Yeah, I think so.”

Mallory texted our friends that we were on our way as we head out the door. Meanwhile I ran to the den to grab something. Mallory had the passenger door open and was waiting for me when I came out of the house. “Whatcha got there?” Mallory asked, spotting the circle object in my hand.

I giggled. “I figured I may as well add to the ‘feeling old’ vibes. It’s a burned CD of music from high school. Give us something to pre-game the vibes to.” I slid into my seat and snagged the keys from Mallory, impatient to get the CD playing.

“Oh lord.” Mallory said to herself walking across the front of the car, as “Buy U a Drank” by T-Pain and Yung Joc started playing loudly over the car's speaker system.

“I’ma take you home with me!” I sing as Mallory gets in the vehicle.

We spent the whole ride to the fast food restaurant and then the bar singing and dancing in our seats, putting on a show for anyone who happened to look in as we passed by. Mallory’s phone pinged from the cup holder, she picked it up and handed it to me to check for her. As soon as I unlocked the device I started dying of laughter.

Mallory glances over at me. “What’s so funny?” she yells over the music.

“Mia says there is a flyer on the door that says tonight is 2000’s night!” I yell back.

“Caught vibes so hard that they spread.” Mallory laughed.

“Tonight is going to be dangerous.” I place the phone in Mallory’s hand after she pulls into a parking spot and stops the car.

As the couple got out of the car they were spotted by their friends waiting for them nearby. A flock of blonde coming at them with varying pitches of squeal.

“Oh my god you look to die for!” Zoey practically shouted at me.

“I might switch teams just from looking at you.” Emma adds.

“Let’s maybe not thirst after her in front of her girlfriend, guys.” Violet reasons.

“Noooo fun.” Mia whines. “Mal doesn’t care. She knows her girlfriend is hot shit. She’s used to it.”

Mallory bumps me with her shoulder, a big smirk across her face. “I told you.”

I wave my hand dismissively. “Yeah. Yeah. My closest people who would say anything to see me smile all think I look good. Got it.” I grab Mallory’s hand and begin dragging her across the parking lot towards the entrance. “What are we waiting for? I’m already a year older, let’s go!”

The bouncer at the door was checking ID’s, he only had to see the 19 at the beginning of their birth years before he waved them in.

“Ouch.” The girls all mumbled under their breath.

Mia had been the first in the door and made a beeline for the bartender, bouncing her way back to the group with a drink in each hand. She placed one in my hand. “Happy 3rd 30th birthday!” she cheered with a cackle.

Just as I took a drink of the fruity concoction the song switched. “Whatever you like” by T.I. came over the bars speakers.

The girls were dancing and pointing at each other as they made their way to the dance floor, where they really unleashed themselves. Shaking and grinding on each other, making that stank face that was so popular with the time of music. Our group caught the attention of multiple people through the bar, I noticed. No doubt they were just jealous of our group's ability to let go and have fun.

Soon enough my drink was gone and I made my way off the dance floor to get a new one. As I waited my turn I felt a presence stop next to me, assuming it was Mallory or one of the girls I paid no mind to it.

“You look really pretty, sweet thing.” A random man’s voice came to my ear.

I turned slightly, stepping closer to the bar. “Uh. Thank you.” I tried to be polite.

“Like, really pretty.” He said, stepping closer.

Just as I was going to say something the bartender signaled that it was my turn to order. “I need a Malibu Sunset and a Blue Hawaiian for my girlfriend please.” I tried emphasizing the word girlfriend loudly, hoping the dude would get the hint.

“Girlfriend? Such a waste of a pretty young thing.” The creep continued. I couldn’t help but mentally hurry the bartender along.

“Yeah, girlfriend. Douchebag. She’s clearly uncomfortable, so how about you buzz off.” Mia suddenly appeared in her defense.

“No need to be a bitch blondey. I was just trying to compliment the lady.” The creep turns and stalks off.

“Thanks!” I yell over my shoulder.

Mia leans forward to talk directly in my ear. “Dude, it’s probably not going to be the only time we have to beat someone off of you with a stick tonight, don’t worry about it. I came over here to let you know we snagged a table. If you want to wait for me to order a couple drinks we can go over together.”

My drinks had just been placed in front of me and I handed my card over to the bartender. “I’ll start a tab please!” The bartender nods and does his thing with my card. I stand just off to the side of Mia while she orders for Emma, Zoey and herself.

After Mia gets her drinks and starts a tab we walk across the bar to where the rest of the party is waiting, distributing the drinks to their owners when we arrive.

“She was getting hit on at the bar.” Mia tells the table.

“I wasn’t getting hit on. He was just giving me a compliment.” The whole table rolls their eyes at me.

“Yeah, ok.” Mia chuckles.

The girls collectively decide one of them will stick around the table at all times so they can leave their drinks and purses without worry.

“Move Shake Drop Remix” by DJ Laz comes on. The five not assigned to table duty spring up and bolt to the dance floor, leaving Violet behind this time. The dance floor became a flurry of shimmying and knee popping as people who had no business moving that way anymore were dropping it like they were still in high school, myself included. I was dropping it low right against Mallory, Mallory’s hand never leaving some part of my body.

A few more songs and another drink later it was my turn to sit at the table, though the rest of the girls insisted the birthday girl didn’t need to take a turn. “I need a breather! I’m getting too old to go constantly.” I told them.

Being left alone with mostly my thoughts, and the loud music and alcohol running through my veins, I realize I hadn’t opened Love and Deepspace today to do my dailies and I needed to get them done before I lost all my senses.

After making it through the loading screen the familiar background of Destiny’s Cafe was visible but only for a moment before the screen flashed white. “What the…”

Sylus was suddenly on screen, closer than usual for Destiny’s Cafe. “Of course I know what day today is, kitten.” he purred.

‘Interesting.’ I think to myself. ‘Oooooh. Right, I used my real birthday for the MC. I didn’t know there was a birthday event for us!’ I watch as Sylus goes about telling me that I am allowed to be greedy because it’s my birthday, collected a gift from him, and even listened to him sing happy birthday. My heart swelled, it was so sweet. How could something from some pixels and code bring me such happiness?

“As for the rest of your day…Won’t you spend it with me, kitten? That way all your wishes can come true.” As Sylus’ cutscene ended and I ended up back at Destiny’s Cafe’s main screen. I caught myself smiling sadly while just staring at the screen.

A few moments of reflection and my dailies later I clicked through and visited all of the men, each one wishing me a happy birthday immediately. I had my hand on my heart as Mallory came and sat at the table. “Everything ok? Are you in pain?” Mallory had immediately clocked the hand placement.

“Oh. Yeah, everything is fine.” I drop my hand, noticing the new ‘Birthday’ bubble above the agenda. I clicked on it and saw I had a week to visit everyone else. ‘I’ll finish that later.’

“Then what’s up? Why the long face?” Mallory asked in concern.

I sigh and laugh at myself. “Is it weird that I wish they were here?” I nod to my phone, now sitting open on the table with Caleb standing there waiting.

“No, it’s not weird. I mean a little to an outsider, maybe. But it’s clear they mean a lot to you and that you clearly feel like they are at least your friends. Most people want to be surrounded by important things in their life during events like birthdays.” Mallory explained. “I’m sure the alcohol is exacerbating the feeling too.” She smiles at me.

“Speaking of alcohol. Shifts up, birthday girl. Go get another drink and dance!” Zoey told me, suddenly appearing at the table.

“What’s Your Fantasy” by Ludacris begins, sealing my fate with the dance floor. Someone grabbed my wrist from my right as someone else pushed against my back. I look to the source of the touches, Emma and Mallory. Mallory began grinding on me from behind, singing the words in her ear, meanwhile Emma was grinding on my right thigh effectively making me a ‘Cielle sandwich’.

Mallory’s right hand snaked around my waist, planting it flat against my stomach. I cringed inwardly, my insecurities over the fat that also rests there trying to surface. Her other hand found my chin as my thoughts began to spiral, turning my head towards her, she planted kisses against my jaw. The movements quickly became more heated as I turned my head more, chasing after Mallory’s lips with my own. Soon enough we were in a heated makeout session, the music fading in the background. Emma was still grinding against my thigh.

“God damn.” Someone yelled from… who cares where. Mallory smiled against my lips.

“Awww, they’ve entered ‘get a room’ territory already?” Mia says to Emma from my left. I feel my left wrist being grabbed and glass being placed in my hand. “For when you two detach eventually.” Soon enough Mia joined the Cielle sandwich.

Mallory pulled back from the kiss first, trailing more kisses back up my jaw towards my ear. “We’ve gotta give that pretty neck a break. Enjoy your drink. I’ll be right back.” Mallory retreated towards the bar.

Her two friends made no moves to change their locations while dancing, Violet was just a little ways away grinding with some random dude she deemed worthy of her time for a few dances.

Next thing I knew I had finished two more glasses that had been handed to me by any one of my friends or Mallory. Another heated makeout session happened not that long ago, this time face to face. I lost track of the songs that had been playing.

I was excited and had been having so much fun, it’s felt like forever since I’d had this much fun. ‘Except when I’m with them.’ My thoughts betray me.

‘Well that’s just not fair.’ I argue back to myself. ‘I have plenty of fun, just Mallory and me. I meant being out with others. Don’t add them to this.’

‘Oh stop it. You are only arguing with yourself because you feel guilty about wanting them here too.’ This has to be the metaphorical devil on my shoulder talking.

‘I don’t feel guilty because I want them here. Mallory even said it made sense with how close I feel to them.’ I tried to reason.

‘Riiiiiight, how close you feel with them. Not at all because you are in love with each of them.’ The devil mocked.

‘I’m not in love with them. I just really like them. They feel like my long distance best friends. But they are fake so so are any feelings.’

‘Sure. Sure. Except the brain doesn’t know the difference between fake and real. It only knows that love feels like love.’

‘Shut up. I’m not doing this.’

‘Tell me then, what would you do if they were here right now?’

For the first time in the last few minutes that I had been arguing with myself, my brain went silent, but only because moving images flashed in my head instead. The first one was of me pulling Rafayel to the dance floor, it started innocently but turned dirty relatively quickly, a make out session much like how I imagined it looked like earlier with Mallory. The next was of Caleb grinding behind me, leaned forward whispering things in my ear as he kept a close eye on the crowd, ever the alert guard dog. The third was me and Zayne sitting at the table, my legs resting across his lap as he messaged my calves, quietly smiling at each other and talking. The fourth, Xavier dragging me to a dark corner and pinning me against the wall with a kiss that’s making me blush in real time. Finally, the last one was Slyus mostly just watching me as I danced, that infuriatingly attractive smirk on his face, until he stalks over to me like he’s about to catch his prey, picking me up and my legs wrap around his waist instinctively, our lips smash together as he walks us out of the venue.

‘Case and point.’ The devil smiles.

‘I hate this information.’ I can feel myself begin to spiral mentally when I’m brought back to the real world.

“Uh oh, she’s getting that ‘I’m arguing with myself about something stupid’ look, Mallory. How many has she had?” Mia starts going mother hen.

“I handed her one!” Violet says.

“I think I gave her one.” Emma adds.

“I’m good for one also, I think.” Zoey pipes in.

“Well that’s already not good. I think I handed her two, and I know she got herself one.” Mia continues adding up Cielle’s drinks.

Mallory grabs my waist to steady me. “I haven’t given her anything but water so I think our count stops at six that we can account for.”

“We’ve been here about four or five hours now. I don’t think that’s too bad.” Mia taps her fingers against her jaw.

“She hasn’t been out drinking like this since before Henrik passed though. So it’s been over a year. She’s definitely teetering the ‘not good’ territory.”

“Guys, I’mmm literalllly right here.” I manage, finally breaking completely free from my internal argument.

“Yes, love. We know. But would you have been able to tell us how many drinks you’ve had tonight?” Mallory coos.

“Nope.” I say, popping the p sound.

“Exactly.” Mallory digs her phone out of her pocket. “It’s about 1am now. It’s probably a good time to call it a night.”

“Awww, noooo funnnnn.” I whine at my lover. Mallory boops my nose.

“That’s my job, I’ve got to be the fun police. You five would burn the city down without me here.” Mallory jokes. “Are you guys staying or going?” she turns and asks the group.

I just notice we are at the table. “Oh shit, when did we sit down?” I ask no one in particular.

“Oh yeah, it's time for her to go home.” Mia states. “I’ll probably head home, my boyfriend dropped me off and is going to pick me up so I’m good on a ride too.”

“I’m heading with Mia.” Zoey says.

“We were going to take a cab home.” Violet pointed to Emma, they happened to be roommates since college, making transportation and the buddy system easy.

“Alright, now that I feel better knowing everyone is getting home safely, I think it’s time for me to take the birthday girl home. I already closed out her tab.” Mallory stands, reaching for my hand to take me with her. “Text me when you get home, please.”

“Yes mom!” The four other women respond sarcastically in unison.

Mallory helps me up out of my seat and begins guiding me across the bar to the door. Once out in the parking lot I begin giggling. “It’s so quiet out here, but the quiet is loud.” Mallory chuckles in response. Mallory gets me in the car, safely buckles me in and gets in the driver's seat just to find I am still giggling to myself.

“What’s so funny, love?” Mallory asks while putting her seat belt on and starting the car.

“Nooooothing.” I sing-song. “And everything. I honestly have no idea.”

Mallory shakes her head, grin wide. “I’m glad to see you had a good time tonight. You deserved it.”

“I did have a good time. Thank yooooou.”

My giggles die down a little ways into our drive home. From the corner of her eye Mallory can see I had pulled out my phone and was staring down at it. Mallory turns her head slightly to see a soft frown on my face. “What’s wrong, Ci?”

I sigh and turn my head from the phone to Mallory. “Ha-have you ever thought about polyam-amory?” I manage to hic-cup out.

“What?”

“Polyamory.” I manage to speak more steadily. “Have you ever thought about…nevermind it’s silly.”

“It’s clearly not silly if you want to talk about it.” Mallory reassures me.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Have you ever thought about what it might be like to love multiple people at the same time?”

Mallory’s shoulders straighten slightly, taken off guard by the question, she lets a few moments pass before answering. “Not really, love.”

“Oh.”

“I only had a few shorter relationships before you, none of them I would have considered myself in love with.”

“Right.”

Mallory turns her head slightly towards me again, removes her right hand from the steering wheel and gives my thigh a squeeze. “Is this something we can finish talking about when you’re sober?” she asks gently.

“Yeah, I guess. I shouldn’t have brought it up. Forget I said anything, the alcohol is making me say weird things.” I stumble through my words.

“Ci, alcohol has never made you say something that you didn’t mean, only things you were too afraid to talk about sober.” Mallory squeezes my thigh again. “The alcohol only made you bolder. Now that it managed to get the topic out there, I won’t let you run from it. Only pause.”

I turn my head and rest it on the window, watching the street lights go by. “I’m sorry.” I say solemnly.

“No sorry’s allowed right now. Now, mood change time.” Mallory tries to keep my spirits up by gossiping about all the things she, while sober, saw drunk people doing at the bar tonight. She was rewarded with a handful of giggles from me, who seemed to have caught the giggle side effect of being drunk again with my mind taken off the serious subject.

With the mood officially lightened, by the time we reached our house I had transformed from the slightly giggly drunk to the “I love you, so much.” on repeat drunk. Not that Mallory minded. As she was helping me out of the car and into the house I tried my best to put the moves on her. I was sure I was very good at it, but Mallory didn’t let it go passed a small passionate make out.

“You,” she starts while poking me on the nose. “are verrrrry drunk.”

“Immm not.” I cross my arms over each other. “I’m practically–hic–practically sober. That was unfortunate timing.”

Mallory laughs. “Let’s get you changed and in bed. I promise to make it up to you in the morning if you aren’t dead.” She places her hand on the small of my back and begins pushing me through the house and up the stairs to our room.

Mallory helps me change, takes my make up off and pulls my hair up, before tucking me into bed.

It doesn’t take long for Cielle to fall into a deep sleep. While she was helping Cielle get ready for bed, as promised their friends messaged Mallory to let her know they were all home safe. Looking at Cielle on the bed her mind couldn’t help but wander to the conversation that was started in the car.

While walking down the stairs she thinks to herself, ‘How do I feel about Ci bringing up that topic? Am I mad? Should I wait to see her reasoning?’ She walks to the kitchen and gets herself a glass of water. Sitting down at the kitchen island her thoughts continue, ‘What if she’s serious…is this the end if I say I don’t want to be in a poly relationship? Could I be in a polyamorus relationship? How would that even work? I mean we do have space in the house…some extra income never hurts…but would I be ok with Cielle being with someone else emotionally and physically?’ She takes a drink of her water and watches the condensation slide down the glass as the questions swim around her head.

As she goes to take another drink images of Cielle smiling while talking about the Love and Deepspace men flood her mind, followed shortly by images of their friends grinding on her earlier. She’s never minded the effort Cielle pours into the men from her game, but those are pixels. She’s never felt jealousy towards their friends' inappropriate behaviour, but they’ve been friends forever and it's not like that with them, right?

‘She’s always had a lot of love to give.’ She reasons with herself. ‘I can see why she would bring it up. And I know she’d have more than enough freaking stamina to pull it off. Woman is nearly insatiable at times. Why don’t I feel more upset about this? Quick, picture the love of your life fucking someone else.’ She tries to trick her brain into…she isn’t sure what. Instead what she got from the picture was heat rising from between her thighs. ‘That’s residual from making out with Ci earlier, nothing more.’

Mallory is absentmindedly tapping her hands against the counter, trying to make herself believe that she didn’t just find the thought of Cielle with someone else hot. Eventually, she pinches the bridge of her nose hoping that would erase the image from her mind. ‘Hey, you asked for the image to be put there.’ Unfortunate side effects of getting what you asked for. ‘Ok, I find it hot. Doesn’t that just make me a cuck though? How about watching her get ready for a date with someone else?’ No images float into her mind, but she doesn’t feel anger. ‘Am I really about to think that as long as she is happy I don’t care?’

Mallory chugs the rest of her water and brings the glass over to the sink. She goes over to the cabinet that houses their tumblers and reusable water bottles and grabs one, fills it with ice and then water. Walking back up the stairs she continues to try to make sense of her feelings on the subject at hand. ‘What about me dating someone else? Could I do it? Do I care to?’ Images of herself going on dates with others pop in her mind, mostly the feeling of indifference follows. ‘I’m sure I could if I found someone I wanted to be with. Do I want to? Jeez, I haven’t dated in so long, I’m definitely too old for that bullshit…’

Walking into their bedroom, Mallory lightly treads over to Cielle’s side of the bed and sets the ice water down on her bedside table. She crosses the room to their ensuite and grabs a bottle of pain reliever from the medicine cabinet. As she tip toes back across the room to Cielle’s side, she glances at their bed and images of Cielle getting fucked from behind as she is eating Mallory out stop her in her tracks and she drops the bottle of medicine. “Fuck.” Mallory runs her hand over her face as if she is trying to erase the image.

She quickly bends to pick the bottle back up, her eyes flit over to the sleeping Cielle and she is met with another image, this time of her eating Cielle out while she is being throat fucked. Mallory can practically hear the moans that would be made, a shiver runs up her spine at the thought. Determined to finish her mission, she puts the meds next to the water on the side table and scurries back to the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

Mallory puts her hands on the edge of the counter top and leans forward, whispering to herself. “What the fuck.” Standing back up she turns the cold water on and lightly splashes some on her face. “So maybe I don’t have to necessarily also date to potentially get enjoyment out of this.” she tells her mirror self. She slaps her cheeks a few times for effect, but then she sees images of herself sitting on the counter being eaten out by a faceless woman while making out with a man to her right, well that’s new, wait that’s not just any man, “Why does his face look like Caleb? What the fuck?” ‘Ci’s fucking game is bleeding into my subconscious, clearly.’ She rolls her eyes at herself. ‘I haven’t been with a man since I was in high school, I’m not sure if I’d even still like a man.’

Drying her hands on the hand towel nearby she finishes her business and quickly gets ready for bed. Glancing at her phone while setting it down on her side table she groans when she sees it's now 3am. Mallory climbs into bed, careful not to shake the mattress too much or disturb Cielle in any way. She stares at her lover for a little while, sees how peacefully she is sleeping, and smiles. Tomorrow's conversation is definitely going to be interesting. She goes to scoot closer to cuddle when more images flash in her imagination, ultimately Mallory decides it’s probably for the better that she rolls over for now so she actually gets some sleep.

Chapter Text

Zayne watches as the aircraft lands and taxis towards Caleb’s hangar. Once the aircraft is in the hangar, the engines cut. Caleb hops out, does some quick checks that everything is secure, closes the bay door and jogs over to Zayne’s car. “And here I thought I’d end up having to walk to the main parking lot.” Caleb says as he slides into the passenger seat.

“As amusing as I would have found that, Colonel, time is of the essence here. I didn’t really feel like getting a lecture about it when you showed up.”

“Yeah, yeah. I would have been here sooner but there was traffic and then they were slow processing my flight log.”

“Well all things considered, you still made it in great time.” Zayne pulls out of the airport, the gate closing behind them.

“Yeah.” Caleb sighs, having almost forgotten why he was here in the first place. “How are you feeling?” Caleb asks Zayne.

Surprise flashes across the man's face, “How am I feeling? Why would you ask me something like that?”

“No need to pretend to be all put together with me, doctor. I’ve seen you at some of your worst. Your voice gives it away almost every time. You’ve swore more times in the last day then I think I’ve heard you swear as a whole. You sounded absolutely terrified when you called me in the first place.”

“All of that may be so, but how about you? How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m also fucking terrified. I’ll admit that. I’m also furious at her. Is that stupid?”

“No. She took off and didn’t inform either of us. I’m mad at her too.”

“No way, the doting doctor is mad at the princess?”

“Oh I’m PISSED.” Zayne swore, both out of emotion and to get his point across.

“Oooooh, princess is in T.R.O.U.B.L.E. when we find her.”

“Yes, well. Let’s locate her first and then we can figure out punishments later.”

Caleb laughs at the seriousness in Zayne’s tone. Zayne turns his head to look at his friend with an eyebrow raised. “What’s so funny?”

“You almost sound like it wouldn’t be the first time.” Caleb continues chuckling.

“Who says it would be?”

Caleb stops laughing and stares at Zayne. “Oh, shit. I didn’t know you two played like that.”

“I don’t pretend to know how you two play so why would you make assumptions about how we do?”

Caleb chokes on his spit and rubs the back of his neck. “Right, right.”

Caleb and Zayne knew they were both sleeping with Terra. It had been a point of contention for a while between the two but ultimately they decided that there was no point in fighting. Everyone involved were consenting adults and none of them had talked about being exclusive, it was just surprising for each of them to learn that her other partner was their other childhood friend.

Finally they get to Zayne’s house. Zayne enters the gate code for his driveway and pulls into his garage. The two men get out and make their way inside. Zayne goes immediately to the kitchen to get something to drink for the two of them and pulls out some chocolates. He brings them to the dining room table where Caleb has already taken a seat.

“Already pulling out the stress relief, doctor?”

“The circumstances warrant it.” Zayne says as he sits down opposite Caleb.

“Whatever you need to think to justify the ungodly amount of sweets you consume.”

“Who says they are all for me?” Zayne replies.

Caleb chuckles. “Let’s get to it then, shall we?” And the men begin compiling all the information they have.

After a while Caleb asks, “Have you tried contacting her hunting partner? They always seemed pretty close.”

“I haven’t. You were the only person I called besides her captain.” Zayne admitted. “Not that I would know how to contact him.” he continued.

“I’m pretty sure he’s also her upstairs neighbor. Like, directly above her. We could start there.”

“We could.”

“You have another thought?”

“She’s also been moonlighting as a bodyguard for a famous artist for a long while now. I can’t imagine they aren’t close after all this time.”

The men look up at each other. “So are we thinking just friends or are we thinking more than?” Caleb crosses his arms and leans back.

”Does it matter right now? If she’s been gone this long, either they might know where she is or they are just as put out as we are.”

“Dibs on paying a visit to the hunter then.” Caleb uncrosses his arms and leans forward with a wicked grin.

“Why?”

“Because living that close together just makes things that much more convenient all around.”

Zayne sighs. “Caleb, this is about finding her and making sure she’s safe. Not an attempt to scare and bully her other suitors like you did in high school.”

Caleb waves his hand in Zayne’s direction. “Yeah, yeah. Potato, tomato.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“It’s not supposed to. Anyway, divide and conquer then, yeah? I’ll go hang out at her apartment building and wait for the hunter to come home and you go find the artist? Sound like a plan?”

“It sounds like that is what you’ve decided, so I guess so.” Zayne stands up and goes to get his keys. “Let’s go then. I’ll drop you off at her building and head to the artists exhibit. With the odd hours Terra always gets home from missions, it’s possible you may be waiting a while.”

“Sounds good.” And the two got back into Zayne’s car and took off in silence.

Zayne drops Caleb off at Terra’s building, just like planned and he heads over to Flux Arts to see if he can gain more intel on Rafayel and Terra’s relationship. He walks into the gallery only to be met with nearly bare walls and a man pacing back and forth on the phone.

“Rafayel, I swear on everything that I hold holy, I will go down to Mo Art Studio and drag you by the ear down to your canvas myself.” a pause. “I understand that your muse is gone and you have nothing left to live for,” Zayne sees the man roll his eyes, “But our livelihood is at stake here. I beg of you to please create something.” The man stops and straightens. “Hello? Rafayel?” He pulls the phone from his ear and looks at it. “God damn it, he hung up on me.”

Zayne takes this opportunity to clear his throat and announce his presence. The man looks up at him. “Oh my. I’m so sorry you had to witness all that. I have an artist that is being difficult. You know how the creative types can be. I’m Thomas, the curator of this gallery.” he extends his hand to Zayne, who reaches out in kind.

“Zayne. I’m actually here for a very specific reason.”

“Well if it's for a commission I’m afraid I’m unsure when we will be resuming those.”

“No, no. Nothing of the sort. It’s my understanding that a friend of mine has been moonlighting as an artist's bodyguard for a while now. Possibly the very one you were just on the phone with. See, she seems to have taken off about two months ago now and I can’t find anyone that has heard from her. I’m worried and have just been trying to find her other friends that either may know something or are also worried about her.”

“Ah, yes. Terra, right?” Thomas smiles and then frowns.

“She is, was, Rafayel’s bodyguard. We also haven’t heard from her in two months. Not for a lack of trying. From both Rafayel and myself. We haven’t been able to reach her.”

Zayne sighs. “Is there any way I can get in touch with Rafayel personally? Me and another friend of hers are trying to put together a timeline of when we last saw and heard from her and every little bit helps.”

“If you want to leave your information with me, I’d be happy to pass it along. I’m not at liberty to give out my clients information though. I’m sure Rafayel will be more than happy to help give you information. We both sure could use her back.” Thomas says, rubbing the back of his neck.

He pulls a card and pen out for Zayne to write on. Zayne jots his name, phone number, and Terra’s name down on the card and hands it back to Thomas.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Exiting the gallery he pulls his phone out and texts Caleb.

Zayne: *Anything yet?*

He gets an immediate response.

Caleb: Nuthin. Want to come over here and we can divide and conquer?

Zayne: Divide and conquer what?

Caleb: I think we should search her apartment for clues.

Zayne: You want to break into her house?

Caleb: now, now doctor. I know for a fact we both have keys so there would be no breaking into anything

Zayne sighs, knowing he’s right.

Zayne: I’m on my way. Don’t do anything until I’m there.

Caleb: yes doctor o7

Zayne makes it back to Terra’s apartment building and sees Caleb standing off to the side watching the main door. He walks up to him from behind, knowing he won’t startle the man who misses nothing.

“Make any progress with the artist?” Caleb asks when Zayne was still a few steps away.

“Not yet. I talked to his manager. Walked in while he was having a phone conversation with him. Sounds like Rafayel, the artist's name by the way, hasn’t made anything new since she left. His manager also seems rather upset with Terra’s disappearance. Whether that’s because of the artist refusing to do his job without her or in a more friendly matter, who knows and it doesn’t matter. I passed my information along hoping that Rafayel will reach out.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Caleb shrugs. “Shall we?” He gestures towards the door and begins walking. They both act as if they have every right to be there, and technically they do. The doormen know them both, so no matter who is on duty they shouldn't be stopped once they enter the building.

They both get into the elevator. “So how are we doing this? One of us goes into her apartment, the other stands and stalks the next floor?” Caleb asks.

“I think we can both check out her apartment. I’d wager we will be able to hear when her hunter partner gets home.”

“You think we will be able to hear the door close?”

“As long as one of us stays closer to that part of the apartment, without a doubt.”

“It’s a plan then. What are we looking for?”

“I’d say anything that might indicate where she went.”

“Got it. Check trash cans for notes, notepads for any pressed writing from the previous page. Spy shit. Cool.”

“Yes, ‘spy shit.’” Zayne chuckles lightly as the elevator reaches the 5th floor. They walk to her door, Caleb producing a key quickly and shoves it into the lock and turns. Once they enter they both can feel the emptiness of the space. It almost feels lonely.

“Which one of us has the better hearing?” Caleb asks as the door clicks shut quietly.

“Probably either of us. But if you wanted your shot at the hunter, then I’d say you’ll be more likely to hear it.”

“Sounds good.”

Zayne walks to the other side of the apartment where Terra’s bathroom and bedroom are. Starting in the bathroom he slowly opens cabinets and checks drawers, not that he thinks she’d keep the info they are looking for there but in case it tells him anything else. He checks the trash can and all he finds is an empty product bottle, some tissues, and hair.

“Well she didn’t take out the trash before she left.” He thinks and then pauses. He reopens everything that he already looked through, realization coursing through him. To not bring attention to their presence in her apartment, Zayne walks quietly back out to find Caleb.

Caleb stops what he’s looking through and looks up at Zayne. “Find something?”

“No.”

“Then what’s up?”

“All of her toiletries are in her bathroom.” Zayne says matter-of-factly.

“Ok. And?”

“And, even her travel stuff is still in her cabinet.”

“Right.” Zayne just stares at him for a moment, he knows the Colonel is smarter than this. “Wait. All of it?” There it is.

“Yes.”

“Like she took nothing with her?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“So that either means she left in a hurry or was taken then?”

“Those are my thoughts.” Just then they hear a thud from above.

“Well, I guess it’s my time to shine. You gonna keep looking?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. I’ll be back.” And Caleb slips out of the apartment, making sure the door doesn’t make a noise as it closes.

Zayne goes back to searching the apartment. He goes into her room and begins opening drawers and carefully digging through them, nothing. Same for her desk, her closet, her bedside tables, and even under her bed.

“Sweetheart, where did you go?” Zayne whispers to himself. He walks back out to the living room and begins his search there, and finds a whole lot of nothing there as well.

As he walks to the kitchen to resume where Caleb left off he hears a loud bang from above. Hesitantly Zayne leaves Terra’s apartment and bounds his way up the stairs towards the noise. When he gets to the correct door he hesitates and then knocks softly. After a second the door opens, it’s Caleb who answers.

“Everything ok?” Zayne asks, peering around his friend.

“Oh yeah. Just having a friendly chat with the hunter.” Caleb lets Zayne in and immediately he sees the source of the noise.

“Now was that really necessary?” Zayne raises an eyebrow at Caleb.

“He tried to fight me. With a sword!” Caleb says.

Zayne looks at the man being held to his apartment floor by Caleb’s gravity evol. “He tried to fight you over a chat?”

“It may not have gone as well as I’d have liked.” Caleb says rubbing the back of his neck.

“Obviously.” Zayne walks over to the hunter. “Now, Mister Hunter. We are here because we are concerned about Terra. We know you and her are close and we just want to see if you’ve heard from her or know where she may have gone.”

“Xavier.” Caleb says.

“What?” Zayne turns to Caleb.

“I did manage to learn his name is Xavier.”

“Alright. Xavier. We are just here for a friendly chat about a mutual friend. Can we please have that?” Zayne says in his professional but authoritative tone.

Xavier manages a nod.

“Caleb. Let him up.”

“Fiiiiine. If I have to, dad.” Caleb teases but releases his evols grip on Xavier with a flick of his wrist.

“First of all, fuck you.” Xavier says, looking directly at Caleb. “Second of all, how can I trust either of you aren’t out to harm her?”

“Childhood friends.” Caleb and Zayne say at the same time.

“You could check her social media and see we’ve known her for, well I’ve known her over twenty years and Zayne here has known her for like thirteen-ish.”

Xavier’s eyes widened. “Yes. I have heard of you two then, if you are who you say you are, I suppose.”

“Great. Now that we have that worked out. Let’s compare information.” Zayne gestures to Xavier’s dining table.

Cautiously the three men sit down. “What do you know?” Caleb and Xavier speak at the same time.

“Caleb knows the least, outside of what I’ve told him. He’s been on mission in the Deepspace Tunnel for the last two and a half months. The last time he spoke with Terra was just before he left. Now, if we are all going to be cagey about this then lets do one piece of information from each side at a time. Now it’s your turn.” Zayne takes charge over the conversation.

“I saw her the night before she disappeared. Or the night of, maybe. We have no clue when she actually left.” Xavier shared.

“We?” Caleb caught Xavier’s slip of his words.

Xavier curses softly under his breath. “Yes. I have a friend who is good at…well everything. As soon as I discovered she took off and I could get a hold of him I had him on the case.”

“Well that’s convenient.” Caleb snorts.

“That’s enough.” Zayne warns. “I haven’t seen her in more than two months. I only realized it had been too long since I had heard from her today when I was going over her chart for her upcoming appointment.” Zayne says, hanging his head down in shame.

“Wow, some caring friend you are.” Xavier mocks. “Like I said, I’ve had my friend on the case pretty much since she disappeared. If I had anything on where she went I would be there dragging her ass back by now.”

“Oof.” Caleb snorts.

“Now is the time to say that I did know about the two of you, however I don’t take kindly to sudden unwanted visits by strangers.”

“Oh?” Zayne asks.

“My friend found a handful of leads that decidedly went nowhere in finding where she went. To you two and to the artist Rafayel. The only decent lead that would make sense on how she disappeared is connected to the N109 Zone. However, that's as far as we can get.”

“The N109 Zone!?” Caleb clamours.

“We knew about the artist. I visited Flux Arts today and spoke with his manager. Passed on my information hoping to hear from Rafayel.”

Xavier snorts. “Yeah, he knows nothing. He had apparently been on a painting bender for a few weeks before she disappeared. He’d been ignoring everyone’s messages, including Terra’s.”

“Ah, so he feels guilty.” Zayne realized.

“Yeah probably. It seems he may be the one who hasn’t heard from her for the longest amount of time. So I don’t think he has any helpful information.”

“So it seems the N109 Zone is definitely our best lead.” Zayne acknowledges.

“I don’t have any pull to get information from there, Fleet’s resources or not.” Caleb states solemnly.

“Yeah. That’s the problem we are running into too.” Xavier nods. “I will say though, as far as whatever happened when she left, someone definitely helped her do it.”

“Why do you say that?” Caleb asks.

“Because there is no sign of her ever leaving her apartment after I dropped her off at her door. All the surveillance footage has either been tampered with or someone was able to teleport her out.” Xavier states.

“Well isn’t that something.” Caleb mutters, putting his head in his hands, “Seems she knew we’d go looking. She tried to make sure it wasn’t an easy chase.” Caleb sighs. “I can’t tell if I should be proud or angrier than I already am.” he adds.

Zayne is staring at a spot on the wall behind that man across from him. “Uh oh. I know that look. Zaynie is gonna lose his shit.” Caleb teases.

“I would say that I’m not, but I very much am ‘gonna lose my shit’. It’s not productive to the situation at all, but this girl has managed to rattle me something fierce.”

“Feelings are mutual.” Xavier said.

“I agree. I wonder if she knows the storm she’s unleashed by doing this.” Caleb muses.

“I really don’t want to say this, but it feels like it needs to be said. What if she doesn’t plan on coming back?” Xavier throws it out there. “She left everything behind, told no one, and made sure it wasn’t traceable where she went. It’s been two months. Surely no one needs that long to…I don’t even know what to call this. Throw a tantrum? Except I don’t know what she’d be throwing a tantrum about.”

“Ah. Well.” Zayne clears his throat.

“You know more?” Caleb asks.

“I didn’t think it was relevant at the time, but it might be. About a month before she took off some things happened. She had been looking into the research center.” His eyes pan across both men, neither seemed surprised. “She came to me and told me she’d discovered some things about herself. Said she was created and not born. Then she had me help her look into the Fountain of Atei project with Xander Sciences.”

“YOU DID WHAT?!?” Caleb yells.

“I’m not even half way through. Remember my nightmares?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you recall the news broadcasts about someone named ‘Dawnbreaker’?”

“Yeah.” Caleb and Xavier said in unison.

Zayne waves a hand over himself. “My nightmares manifested into reality. I became Dawnbreaker. I didn’t even recognize her. I was the one responsible for…eliminating those Alterum.”

“Holy shit.” Caleb breathed.

“Yeah. Still not done. While helping her look into the Fountain of Atei project we learned some disturbing things. They are turning people with protocore syndrome into Wanderers with human consciousness. Benedict, a head at Xander Sciences, can transform as he pleases. And regenerate. It was a rough battle.”

“What the fuck.” Xavier said, stunned.

“Still not done. They let us go at the end of the fight, but Dawnbreaker took over and realized Terra has protocore syndrome. His whole purpose is to eliminate those who are at risk of turning into Alterum. Dawnbreaker attacked her but I was able to take back over and get her to the hospital.”

Caleb stood up so fast his chair went flying behind him. Zayne put his hand up signaling him to wait. “I waited with her until she was stable and I went and turned in my resignation to the Director. He refused to accept it and instead gave me an extended leave. Terra woke up and asked Yvonne where I was and she told her that I tried to resign. Terra left the hospital A.M.A and came looking for me. She eventually found me and I basically told her it wasn’t safe to be near me until I can make sure I’m under control. We had rarely messaged after the incident and I saw her a few days before she went on leave. She had seemed down, but I figured it had to do with her being unsure how to be around me after everything that happened.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill you.” Caleb seethes.

“Now I don’t think that’s necessary.” Xavier barely hides his low chuckle.

“He hurt her! She was in the hospital because of him! And he didn’t even fucking tell me!” Caleb is trying so hard to hold back.

“It wasn’t for me to tell. I didn’t know if she wanted you to know about everything that led up to it. It wasn’t my place.” Zayne reasoned.

“Wasn’t your place?!? If she took off because of what you two went through…”

“I’m sure it had to do with it, but I don’t think it was the only reason.” Xavier chimes in.

Zayne and Caleb both turn to look at Xavier. “Why do you say that?” Caleb asks with barely hidden venom in his voice.

“Well, she’s been through a lot over the last few years. I can only imagine it’s been wearing her thin. Maybe she needed to step back from everything and everyone to gain perspective of her life.” Xavier theorizes with a sigh.

“Wow, suddenly he knows things.” Caleb snorts.

“Well it makes sense, knowing more now than I did before you two showed up.”

“It does, actually.” Zayne agrees, nodding.

Caleb whips his head to his friend. “Really? You believe that theory? We’ve known her forever and she’s never run like this.”

“Hasn’t she?”

“What do you mean?”

“She used to run away to the tree house in my parents backyard in high school. She would run back to Josephine when things got hard in college or the academy. She never ran far, but she ran. If she hasn’t had the chance to run in a few years and things have built up, it makes sense she ran and she ran far.”

Caleb looked stunned, as if he hadn’t realized the things Zayne stated were true until this moment.

“So…do we just wait then?” Xavier asks cautiously.

“NO!” Caleb yells.

“Yes.” Zayne states.

“Yes!?”

“Yes.”

“Unacceptable.”

“It’s going to have to be, Caleb. She chose this. She kept us in the dark. She wants time. I think it might be reasonable to give it to her. I’m not saying we should stop looking for her.” Zayne looks at Xavier and Xavier nods. “I’m saying we find her, make sure she’s safe, and then wait for her to come to us. Unless she reaches out and says otherwise.”

Caleb looks like Zayne just kicked his puppy. “And if I don’t want to do that?”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“The hell I don’t.”

“Unless you use Fleet resources and potentially put her on the radar of the people she doesn’t need to be on the radar for, you have no way to do otherwise.”

Caleb huffs at Zayne’s statement.

“I’ll have my friend continue looking for any traces of her. If you two want to leave your numbers I will make sure to contact you if he finds anything. I will also inform Rafayel of everything we talked about today.” Xavier states standing up, indicating he’s done with the conversation.

Zayne and Caleb give Xavier their numbers and add his number to their phones. “We will, likewise, inform you if either of us hear from her.” Zayne nods.

He and Caleb head to the door. Caleb walks out and towards the elevator. Zayne turns. “It was a pleasure to meet you, though under terrible circumstances.”

“Likewise, doctor.” And they shake hands. The door closes behind Zayne as he turns to his friend.

“So, shall we resume our search of her apartment or assume the hunter already did a thorough search two months ago?”

“I don’t doubt he did a thorough search, but I’d like to finish our search just for peace of mind.” Caleb says.

They take the elevator down one floor. When they reach her door they hear movement from the inside and they both freeze. Caleb instinctively puts a hand on his sidearm and motions to Zayne to get on the other side of the door frame. Carefully they unlock the door and burst in with a loud BANG of the door, only to be met with a startled purple haired man with flames in his hands.

“Who are you!?” The three ask in unison.

“I asked first.” Again in unison.

A burst of light later and Xavier is also standing in the doorway, sword drawn. “Oh. Guys, this is Rafayel.” he says as his sword vanishes. “Seems I don’t have to make that phone call after all.”

“What the hell is going on!?” Rafayel shouts.

“Boy, have we got a story for you.” Caleb swishes past everyone and goes and plops down on Terra’s couch. “I’m not really in the mood to live through the whole conversation again though. Caleb, by the way. Childhood slash best friend. You know Xavier, clearly. And that’s Zayne, Chief of Cardiology at Asko Hospital, Terra’s doctor and childhood friend.”

“Wow, she had a whole band of misfits didn’t she.” Rafayel mutters.

“Hey now. We can be nice and you can learn new information or we can be sassy and learn nothing.” Caleb shrugs.

“Yeah. Fine. What information do we have?”

“None.” Zayne says.

“None? How is that helpful?” Rafayel’s voice goes up an octave.

“It’s not.” Xavier replies.

“Then why the hell do I have to be nice?” Rafayel looks between the three of them.

“We’ve all come to the conclusion that she doesn’t want to be found for now, but we won’t stop trying to find her. We’ll make sure she’s safe when we do and then leave her be until she is ready. Unless she gets a hold of any of us first and says otherwise.” Zayne summarizes.

“Well that’s a load of horse shit.”

Caleb snorts. “Uh oh. I might like this one.”

Rafayel huffs. “Feelings aren’t mutual, Colonel.”

“Ah, so I am known.”

“Hard not to. Don’t worry, she didn’t tell me. I have my way of knowing things. Just like I know that none of us are kidding ourselves standing here thinking we are the only ones she’s been seeing.” Rafayel points out.

The three other men pause but don’t deny. “Yeah, we figured.” Caleb admits.

“Caleb and I knew about each other, but the two of you are news to me, though unsurprising.” Zayne offers.

“Great. So truce? At least temporarily. Let’s make this all about her whereabouts and safety first? We can have the dick measuring contest later.” Rafayel reasons.

“Not much of a competition there.” Caleb mutters to himself.

“While you are here,” Xavier starts. “You don’t happen to have any idea who her contact might be in the N109 Zone, do you? All indicators say she has one and whoever it is also seems to be how she disappeared without a trace.”

Rafayel stiffens and stands straighter. “Well that’s not good.” He states.

“Yeah, we are all well aware of that.” Caleb says.

“No. I mean, if her contact is who I think it is, we may not find her unless she wants to be found.”

“Why?” Zayne’s eyes narrow at the man.

“Because I think her contact is the leader of Onychinus.”

The three other men gasp. “Shut the fuck up.” Caleb exclaims.

“You can’t be serious.” Zayne stammers.

“Of course she fucking would.” Xavier rubs his eyes.

“You don’t seem that surprised at that.” Rafayel says, turning to Xavier.

“Yeah, well. When that one,” he points at Caleb. “Exploded and supposedly died, she was very sure Onychinus had been the one behind it.”

“Oh yeah. I remember that.” Rafayel puts his hand to his chin. “I didn’t put together that she may have ended up with him as her contact though.”

“Wait! That was years ago.” Caleb stands suddenly. “You mean she’s been in contact with the head of Onychinus for years and none of us knew?”

“Well, it’s not like most of us knew about each other until recently. She seems to be good at keeping everyone separate.” Xavier states.

“Yeah, but the head of Onychinus?” Caleb asks in disbelief.

“Caleb. I can’t say I’m surprised by anything I learned about Terra anymore. The woman is a firecracker in her own right and spy in her own world. If someone told me something really outlandish about her right now, I think I would believe them.” Zayne rubs his temples.

“Same.” Rafayel and Xavier said together.

Zayne glances at his watch. “Did you need to get back to Skyhaven tonight?”

Caleb looks at his own watch. “Shit. Yes and no. I could go really early in the morning but it might be smarter to go tonight.”

“I’ll drop you back off at your hangar then.” Zayne turns to the other two. “I trust you’ll share our information with the artist?” Zayne asks Xavier.

“Done and done.”

“And I assume we can trust you two to lock up here? We don’t need the place to get robbed or look like it's been robbed while she is gone.”

“Yep, got it.” Rafayel says.

“Alright. If anyone hears or learns anything,” Zayne starts.

“Contact the rest.” The three other men say in unison.

Zayne looks over to Caleb. “I thought you were supposed to be the one in the military. If you are the Colonel, am I a drill sergeant?” Zayne attempts a joke.

Caleb chuckles. “Something like that. Alright,” Caleb nods to the other two. “Unfortunate circumstances. Hopefully we will meet under better ones another time.”

And with that Zayne and Caleb leave Terra’s apartment. They ride the elevator down in silence and walk to Zayne’s car. The men get in on their respective sides. Once inside, Caleb asks, “Do you trust them?”

“Not as much as I would like to.” Zayne turns the car on and shifts it into gear. “But we don’t have much choice right now.” Caleb nods. Zayne gets Caleb back to his hangar and waves him off before heading home. Unsure of how he feels about today’s events, he absentmindedly changes for bed. Staring up at the ceiling he tries to will all the worry out of his mind.

Four Months Later:

No word from Terra ever came, no traces were ever found. One day the 4 men get a message from an unknown number.

*I helped Terra leave. I have information that needs to be shared with all of you. Please meet me at Velvet &Vine on Friday at 9pm and we can discuss everything there.*

None of them responded to the message, but the four messaged in their own group chat.

Xavier: did anyone else just receive a message saying someone has information on Terra? Zayne: I did too.

Caleb: same

Rafayel: yep. we trust it?

Xavier: I’m having Jeramiah see if he can trace the number, but we might not have a choice. Zayne: Do you think this may be her contact from within the N109 Zone?

Caleb: well if it comes back from there or as “untraceable” i think the safe answer is that it has to be.

Xavier: my thoughts exactly.

Rafayel: I really don’t like this. y now? y suddenly? y so cryptic?

Caleb: I agree. After this long I can’t help but feel this isn’t going to be news we want to hear. Zayne: We will do what we have to do, for Terra. I suspect the three of you are already planning on getting together to check out the meeting location?

Xavier: I was just about to suggest that, yes.

Rafayel: funnily enough, I was already in the area. About to head that way to check it out now. Who’s in?

Xavier: finishing a mission as quickly as possible and i will meet you there.

Caleb: be there in about 40 minutes.

Zayne: I’m stuck at the hospital, but I’m sure it goes without saying. Please be safe. For Terra.

And the other three respond: for Terra.

The three of them met at the location. It’s a well known upscale restaurant near the center of the city on the ground floor of a 5 star hotel. It’s known for taking months to get a reservation at this restaurant and somehow this mysterious contact was able to get one for 2 days from now?

Caleb walks up to the hostess, “Excuse me, but I was wondering if you could tell me some information regarding an upcoming reservation.”

The hostess looks up from her tablet and immediately smiles as she takes in Caleb’s looks and charm. “I’m so sorry, but we can’t give out information regarding other patrons' reservations.”

“Oh there has been a misunderstanding. I’m involved in the reservation. My buddy planned this thing but he’s been being a big prankster and using strange names for reservations at other places. I just want to make sure he isn’t pulling that at such a fine establishment.”

“I’m sorry sir, I still can’t give you any information.”

“That’s all right. You are just doing your job. Thank you.”

“Have a good day, sir.”

And Caleb walks back outside to the others. “Do you have any other ideas? Clearly just asking for the information isn’t going to cut it.” Caleb says to the other two.

“I can see if Jeramiah can hack into their wi-fi and gain access to their reservations system.” Xavier responds.

“You get nerd boy on that, Caleb we should check around for alternate exits and such. Gotta have our bases covered.” Rafayel quips.

“Just what I was thinking.” Caleb responds and turns to Xavier. “Maybe see if he can get a copy of the building blueprint from the city too. It never hurts to have too much information.”

“Got it.”

Caleb and Rafayel go in opposite directions around the building, both look so naturally casual as they scout the place.

Xavier heads to a less populated area to call Jeramiah. After two rings, he answers. “Xavier? What’s up? Any new information?”

“Have you been able to trace that number I sent you earlier?” Xavier ignores his friend and asks his own question.

“The computer is still running it. But based on the amount of time it’s running I’d be willing to bet the number won’t trace or won’t trace accurately.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if it does come back with a trace, it won’t be the same if we run it again. It’s probably an ever changing ping and we may never know the actual location of origin.”

“Unforunate but not unsurprising.”

“Yeah. Is that why you called?”

“No, actually. I was wondering, do you think you can hack a wi-fi and gain access to a reservation system for me?”

“It’s very likely. If it’s a public business they don’t typically have the best firewalls. What’s the name?”

“Velvet & Vine. And while you are doing that can you run a search for the building's blueprints?”

“Damn, are you planning a heist or is this all recon?”

“Recon. The restaurant is where the mystery number wants to meet us. We were hoping we could get a name from the reservation information, but it wasn’t as easy as just asking. And the blueprints are back up plan information.” Xavier can hear all the clicking and whirring in the background

“Right, right.” and then a ding came from the other end of the line. “Uh, well that’s interesting.”

“What is?”

“Remember how I said most public businesses have shit firewalls?”

“Yeah?”

“Well this one has one of the best I’ve come across in a long time. I could probably crack it, but probably not before your meeting time.”

“Shit.” another ding. “Ah…and the building blueprints are firewalled too.”

“How is that possible?”

“It seems the owner is very well connected.”

“Well thats fucking great. So we have nothing?”

“I can keep running things and see if I get something before your meeting, but I can’t promise anything. And if I do get something, I can’t guarantee that it will come with enough time to study the information and come up with a plan.”

“Damn it.”

“What would you like me to do?”

“Keep running all of it. We’ve gotta take our chances. We can’t go in completely blind.”

“All right…” Jeremiah holds back.

“What is it? You sound like you want to add something.”

“Not necessarily add something, but I’m just thinking that there aren’t very many people in the world who would be able to hide this well and be connected to someone who has been able to hide very well after running away.”

“Ok?”

“I’m talking like BIG guns Xavier. The best of the best, the scariest of the scariest. Put that with the N109 Zone…”

“Surely not.”

“At this point it seems really reasonable, all things considered.”

“You really think she…I mean, we considered it, but…” Xavier trailed off.

“It’s really looking that way, friend.”

“Well, fuck.”

Jeremiah half chuckles. “Seems Terra really knows how to keep everyone on their toes.”

“Yeah. I gotta go. I’ll inform everyone of your….hypothesis. Later.” he hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. FUCK.” Xavier paces just as Rafayel and Caleb find him.

“Ruh roh. That doesn’t sound good.” Caleb says.

“Nothing is ever good when all he can say are expletives.” Rafayel agrees.

“We need to meet with the doctor. Like now. Anyone drive here?” Xavier rolls his shoulders trying to relieve the tension building in him.

“I did, it’s just down the road.” Rafayel answers, pointing in the direction he means.

“Great. We’ve gotta go.” Xavier checks his watch. “He’s probably still at the hospital. Caleb, shoot him as text to make sure, but let's head to the car in the meantime. We will go wherever he is.” Xavier walks in the direction Rafayel pointed.

“This can’t be good.” Caleb says as he types quickly to Zayne, walking alongside Rafayel towards the car.

“Nothing has felt good all day. It doesn’t feel surprising anymore.”

They meet Xavier at the car and get in, just as Zayne responds to Caleb. “He just got home. Do you want to head there? I can give directions.”

“Yeah, tell him we are on our way.” Caleb mock salutes as he types to Zayne that they are headed his way.

Caleb gives Rafayel instructions from the backseat and he watches as Xavier’s leg bounces wildly, he decides it’s best to say nothing until they are all together. Once at Zayne’s house, Caleb doesn’t even bother knocking and just walks in the front door like he lives there.

Zayne calls from the kitchen, “Of course you don’t use your manners. Have a seat, I figured dinner wouldn’t hurt to have with this conversation.”

“I’ll go see if he needs help.” Caleb says as the other two take a seat.

Zayne glances over his shoulder to acknowledge Caleb’s presence. “It’s not good, is it?”

“Has any of it been good since we realized she was gone?”

“Fair enough.”

“But I don’t know what it is that Xavier learned. He wanted us all to be together first. What can I do to help speed dinner along?”

“Not much, it’s almost done. Just a simple chicken and broccoli alfredo. Maybe grab plates and silverware?”

“Done and done.” Caleb grabs what he needs and goes and sets the table. “Is there anything I can get you guys to drink?” Caleb asks. “I don’t know what he has.”

“Probably just water.”

“Same.”

“Coming right up.” When Caleb walks back into the kitchen Zayne had just finished draining the pasta.

“Just have to mix and bring it out. Grab the trivet for me?” Zayne points his head in the direction of where a trivet sits on the counter.

The two bring their items to the dining room, Caleb setting the trivet down in the center of the table and Zayne placing the hot dish on top. Caleb goes back to the kitchen for the waters for the guys, Zayne follows to get his own drink.

“What do you want?” Zayne asks Caleb.

“Just water. I may have to switch to something stronger depending on how this conversation goes.”

“I don’t have much in the way of liquor so I don’t know how much help my bar will be, but if it's warranted it’s yours.” Zayne and Caleb bring the four glasses of water to the dining room and hand them out, sitting down in the open places at the table.

“Help yourselves.” Zayne nods.

Xavier is the first to begin adding food to his plate, followed by Rafayel, Caleb insists Zayne goes next and that he will go last. They eat their meal in a heavy almost silence. A few compliments to the chef being the only disturbance until everyone has finished, Caleb and Zayne clear the table and have returned.

“Rafayel was right.” Xavier states.

“What?” Rafayel looks baffled for a second, “I mean, of course I was, when aren’t I? What was I right about?”

“Terra’s contact in the N109 zone is the leader of Onychinus.” Xavier states plainly.

“You’re certain?” Zayne asks.

“Not with concrete proof, but with enough lack of evidence that it could anyone else.”

“Lay it out for me.” Caleb leans forward.

“Her mission all those years ago, her ability to continue shady missions in the N109 Zone and come out unharmed for the most part, the ability to disappear into the night without a trace. We already knew those things pointed us in that direction. Jeremiah couldn’t hack the restaurant's wi-fi to gain access to the reservation system, saying it had one of the best firewalls he ever encountered. He couldn’t get to the blueprints for the building for the same reason. And he’s been running a trace on the phone number that messaged all of us today. He’s got nothing. He thinks it might not trace but if it does it likely won’t be accurate anyway. There are only so many people who can be this secure and sneaky and one of those people just so happens to be the notorious most wanted leader of Onychinus.”

The three other men lean back in their chairs. “I mean, we already had this slated as a possibility.” Caleb rubs his hands over his face.

“Yeah, but it’s a lot heavier with more than just a hunch pointing at the possibility.” Rafayel flicks his flames in his hand and extinguishes them a few times, fidgeting.

“It’s still not 100% certain, but the odds do seem very likely at this point. It’s hard to deny.” Zayne pinches the bridge of his nose.

“So we are going into this meeting, with Linkon's most wanted criminal, blind?” Caleb asks.

“Unless you and Rafayel learned something worthwhile on your ‘walk’ then yeah, unfortunately.” Xavier says solemnly.

“I saw a back door in the alley, but I’m sure that’s a kitchen access door. Until we are inside the building it’s hard to say where it may be in relation to everything else.” Rafayel offers.

“I’d be willing to bet we won’t be meeting in the main dining room either.” Zayne suggests.

“It would make sense.” Caleb nods. “So, do you think we will need any sort of back up plan?” he continues.

“No.” Zayne says plainly. “But I think we need to prepare ourselves for what he’s gonna say.”

“Yeah, clearly the guy doesn’t suddenly have a guilty conscience for helping Terra disappear.” Rafayel agrees.

“And he’s clearly known about all of us from the start.” Xavier adds.

“I don’t like others knowing more about me than I know about them.” Caleb rolls his shoulders.

“I can get you all copies of the Hunters Association’s profile on him, but I don’t think it will be helpful.” Xavier offers.

“What do we think he has to say?” Rafayel asks.

“I don’t want to think about it.” Caleb groans.

“I have an idea on what it might be, but we definitely aren’t going to like it.” Zayne.

“Yeah, same.” Xavier agrees.

“I don’t even want to give breath to the words I’m thinking in case it curses us.” Rafayl spits.

“Seems we are all on the same page about what it could roughly be about.” Everyone nods at Zayne. “How about pre-meeting plans? Shall we all show up together as a group or one at a time and space our appearances out?” he continues.

“I say we show up in groups. Two of us at a time, come in two vehicles. Park one out front and one in the back. Gives us multiple escape routes should we need them.” Caleb strategizes.

Zayne nods. “Agreed. Rafayel and myself are the ones with cars in Linkon so we will be the drivers. Rafayel, the airport is on your way to the restaurant from White Sand bay so you should pick up Caleb. Xavier, you are on the way from both my place and the hospital. We should be in place at least 20 minutes early.”

“Roger.”

Zayne taps his fingers on the table. “It’s ok to be nervous, Zayne. I can’t speak for everyone, but I sure as hell am.” Caleb notices his friend’s tick.

“Super fucking nervous.” Rafayel stretches.

“More than nervous.” Xavier agrees.

“I know. It’s more than nerves for the meeting. I’m so many different things at once it’s hard to find a place to keep it. Angry, sad, scared, worried… and I fucking miss her bratty ass.”

“Princess sure is hard not to miss. I completely understand.” Caleb agrees, looking down at his watch.

“Well, I think we’ve probably been in the good doctor's hair long enough. We should get going, boys. Care to drop me off at the airport?” Caleb asks Rafayel.

Rafayel crosses his arms, “What am I? A taxi service?”

“Well if you are offering, I wouldn’t mind a ride too.”

Rafayel’s jaw drops a bit. “Well I suppose since you asked so nicely.” he says dripping with sarcasm.

The three visitors get up and head to the door, Zayne trailing behind. “I’ll see you all on Friday.” Zayne says, closing the door behind them and rests his forehead on it. “Friday is going to fucking suck, I can feel it.” He mumbles to himself as he peels himself away from the door.

Chapter Text

I am woken up to the lovely feeling of Mallory wrapped around me and kisses trailing across my back. “Well good morning to you too.” I giggle softly.

“There’s water and meds on your side table for any hangover you might have.” Mallory responds by trailing more kisses along my shoulders.

“Well I can’t get to them with you wrapped around me.” I playfully scold as I try to move away.

Mallory groans in protest but releases me temporarily. “You get back over here the second you are done.”

I slide myself to the edge of the king bed and reach for the bottle of meds, open it and shake out two pills, grab the water and take the meds. After a few more sips of the water I place the cup back on the table. “That was very thoughtful of you.” I purr, rolling over and scooting back towards Mallory.

The second I am back in reach Mallory’s hands are dragging me closer, warm kisses being placed wherever she can reach to put them. I wait for an opening, grab her jaw and guide her face up to my lips. The kisses start out soft and slow, light touches across skin send small shivers up my spine. Soon enough the kisses become more heated, needy, the touches become rougher, possessive.

In no time I find myself looking up at Mallory, one hand in her hair and the other on her waist, lips never left each other. Mallory’s knee slowly spreads my legs open before it finally finds its rest at that sweet spot. I let out a moan that only adds fuel to Mallory’s fire. The kisses become hungrier, Mallory lightly nips at my lower lip, another soft moan leaves me. Mallory licks her tongue across the spot she nibbled as she presses her knee up against my clit.

“Fuck.” I manage around Mallory fervent kisses.

“If you insist.” Mallory smiles against my lips.

Mallory begins trailing her kisses down my jaw, nipping and licking after so many kisses, my pants and moans in response are the music she uses to choreograph her dance against my body. Slowly she makes her way down to my neck, slightly harder nibbling eliciting even louder moans, followed by soft suckles and licks.

“Oh, Mal.” I pant.

Using one hand to support herself, Mallory uses the other to rub up and down my side as she continues to assault my neck and jaw. Her free hand eventually brushes against my now hard nipple, I buck against Mallory’s knee in response. “Oooh. Are they sensitive this morning?” Mallory asks quietly, right in my ear as she brushes against it again.

“Fu…yes.”

Using her free hand, she reaches up and pushes the strap of my nightgown down my shoulder, letting the fabric move just enough that she can free my breast. I suck in a sharp intake of air at the sudden coldness. Shifting, Mallory lowers her head and continues the trail of kisses and nibbles towards her target, every so often she rocks her knee forward.

“Sh-shit.”

Mallory finally reaches her destination, giving my breast a gentle squeeze before cupping the plump flesh and lightly flicks her tongue across my nipple. More moans escape me as Mallory continues to lightly lick, faster and faster. My fingers curl and press into Mallory’s back signaling I need more.

Mallory lifts her head to see the look of me unraveling, she feels the heat crawling up her back. Focusing back on my breast, she takes my nipple in her mouth, sucking gently, running her tongue over it inside her mouth.

“Oh. Gods. Yes.” I pant.

Keeping my nipple in her mouth, Mallory shifts again. She supports herself on the elbow of the arm that's cupping my breast, her own core now resting against my thigh. Her now free hand finds its way over to my other breast, gently brushes against my hard nipple as it slides down my body. Mallory gently squeezes my thigh, fingers rubbing circles on the sensitive inner side as she continues suckling my nipple.

I moan and shiver at the gentle touches, my hips buck up into Mallory’s knee desperately seeking friction.

My movement sends a wave of pleasure to Mallory’s core as my thigh presses into Mallory’s clit, she moans against my breast.

Mallory gently walks her fingers up my thigh, she slides her palm over just enough for her thumb to be able to press down on my bare clit.

“Ah!” I gasp and buck again, the two of us creating a volley of moans and rocking as Mallory’s thumb begins moving in small circles.

I place a hand on one of Mallory’s cheeks, catching her attention Mallory releases my nipple with a wet plop. Noticing the look in my eyes she lets me guide her back up to my lips. Mallory’s lips hover just above mine as she picks up speed with her hand.

I open mouth pant into Mallory’s lips. Mallory leaves ghost kisses on the corner of my mouth as she runs her fingers through my wet folds. “So wet for me.” Mallory purrs, giving a lick across my lips. “You’ve gotta tell me what you want, Ci.” Mallory breathes into my ear, her hand making its way back up to my clit, giving it a few circles.

“Oh gods.” I cry. “Fu-fuck. Fuck me.”

Mallory’s lips crash into mine, hard and demanding, her fingers sliding back down to my entrance. Quickly she slips one finger in the entrance and curls, her thumb finding my clit again. At the same time I buck my hips up into Mallory’s movements. Mallory grinds her clit down on my thigh. We moan into each other's mouths. Mallory’s fingers increase in speed, our kissing breaking apart just long enough to gain much needed oxygen, she slips a second finger in and pumps.

“Mal! Ooooh, fu-fuck.”

Mallory breaks from the kisses, continuing her ministrations as she slides down my body leaving kisses and nibbles. She removes herself from my thigh, pushing her body down between my thighs, Mallory gives the inside of my thigh sweet kisses. She makes her way up to where her thumb had been moments before, giving my clit a quick flick before she puts her tongue just above my entrance and drags it upwards. Suckling at my clit lightly, Mallory increases the speed of her hand once more.

One of my hands has made its way to Mallory’s hair, holding her head against me, the other hand fisting the sheets. I can feel the orgasm building rapidly, my walls fluttering around Mallory’s fingers, my hips bucking against her mouth.

“I–I’m close. I’m getting so close.”

Mallory moans against my pussy, licking and sucking ravenously while her fingers work me from the inside. “That’s my good girl.” she praises between licks. “Oh, look at you squeezing my fingers so well.” she coos against my thigh as she takes a breather before diving back in.

Mallory’s filthy words send me closer to the edge, my hips buck wildly against Mallory’s mouth and hand. A few seconds later Mallory’s free hand slides up my body and begins pinching and twisting my nipple.

“Shit shit shit shit.” I begin losing my grip on reality, my eyes rolling back, orgasm just out of reach.

Just then Mallory’s fingers drag just right against my g-spot, the timing lining up with a pinch of my nipple and an especially deep suck on my clit.

“I-I-I’m co…..” I begin screaming.

Mallory changes nothing as she feels my orgasm rip through me, she continues fucking and sucking me through my orgasm until I am twitching in the aftermath. Mallory slowly pulls her mouth back, slowing her fingers down to almost nothing. “What a mess you made. How pretty.” Mallory’s eyes flash with delight as she pulls her fingers out of me, bringing them up to her mouth slowly and moaning once they’ve reached her mouth.

Mallory slides back up my body and finds my lips, joining us in a slow loving kiss. “Happy Birthday, love.” she pulls back giving me one last kiss.

Mallory goes to move away from me before she’s suddenly flipped over and I am on top of her. “No you don’t.” I say dangerously.

Mallory laughs, hooking her legs with mine, flips me back over, and devours me in another kiss. Mallory pulls back, “Nope. This morning was about you.” She stretches up and taps her phone screen. “I’ve gotta go make you some lunch now.”

“Lunch!?” I bolted up.

“Yes, lunch. You were quite dead to the world for a while. You would have slept even longer if I hadn’t run out of patience to have you.” Mallory smirked as she threw herself out of bed.

She heads to the bathroom and I hear the water running briefly. She exits the bathroom a few minutes later and walks over to the dresser, she pulls out a pair of pajama pants and a tank top and throws them on. “I’ll be downstairs.” and she left the room with a wink.

I threw myself back down on the plush bed, and giggled. ‘What a way to wake up.’

After a few minutes I got up, grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom. Placing my clothes on the counter, I catch myself in the mirror. “Oh. Oof. That brat didn’t say I looked like hell.”

‘Probably cuz she contributed to how you look.’ you countered internally.

After I turn the shower on and let the water get to temperature, I take off my nightgown and slip into the warm embrace waiting for me with a sigh.

As the warm water washes over me, bits and pieces of the previous night flash through my mind. “Oh. Oh no.” I stiffen at the memory of the car ride home. “No…”

‘Oh yes.’

‘Are you fucking kidding me!? Oh my god. How is she not furious at me right now.’

‘If she’s mad at you, she took it out on you in a very nice way.’ The devil on your shoulder smirks.

‘This is your fault!’

‘My fault!?’ the devil mocks offense. ‘How dare you.’

‘Yes, your fault. You did the thing with the stuff about the guys.’

‘Descriptive.’ the devil chuckles. ‘Yes, yes. My fault you were moping about your pixel boyfriends not being real.’ she waves dismissively. ‘I simply asked you what you would do if they were real and there with you. Everything else was all you.’

I groan and let the water run over my face. Realizing I’ve definitely wasted too much time arguing with myself, I quickly wash and condition my hair and wash my body. Once done, I wrap my body in a plush towel, grabbing a second towel for my hair. I walk back over to the counter and begin working the towel through my hair.

“Foods ready!” Mallory yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed, leaving my hair only half dry. Down the stairs I get to the kitchen and am greeted with the lovely smell of eggs, bacon, and toast. Mallory is already seated in her spot at the island, my plate next to her and cup of coffee waiting for me.

Mallory looks up at me as I claim my spot. “Feeling refreshed? How’s the hangover?”

I groan. “Showering really helped.” I take a few bites of my food and a sip of coffee before continuing. “It also refreshed my memory a bit. Mal, I’m…”

Mallory places her finger over my mouth to shush me. “Let’s finish our meal.” is all she says.

We eat in the same peace we always do, a few jokes about last night, I compliment her always good cooking, anything but the bomb I know is waiting to detonate. Once we finish eating our usual rhythm of clean up doesn’t falter.

With the dishes done and drying, Mallory grabs my hand and leads me to our serious conversation spot–the love seat in the den. I sit on one end and face her and she does the same.

“Mal, I’m…” I try to go first.

“Ci, I’ve thought…” She says at the same time.

“No, I’ve really got to…” I begin again.

“You don’t have to…” She overlaps me again.

We stare at each other for a moment before she finally says with a sigh, “You first.”

I can’t help the shame and regret that pours out of me. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking when I asked you that. You are enough for me and I shouldn’t make you think otherwise.” I hang my head. “I had too much to drink and I got caught up with a stupid train of thought.” the words fall rapidly from my mouth.

Mallory reaches over and plants her hands on my upper arms in an effort to ground me. “Cielle, take a breath for me, love. I’m not upset with you, you have no reason to be sorry. I wouldn’t have woken you up like I did if I was mad at you.”

“That was really nice, thank you.” I smile at her shyly.

She winks at me. “My point though is that I’m not upset. You were really brave, albeit fueled by alcohol, to even bring it up in the first place. You know you can always come to me with anything, no matter what.”

“I know.” I hang my head again.

“Well, good. Now, I have two main questions.” She looks at me waiting to see my cooperation.

“Ok. Ask away.”

“What brought this thought on?”

“Oh.” I sigh. “It’s really stupid.”

She just gives me a pointed look in response, and then tilts her head to tell me to continue.

“Ok, well, you know how I’ve been playing Love and Deepspace?”

“How could I not? You’ve all but made me co-pilot on the whole adventure. Go on.”

“I was watching short form videos of others who play, a lot of them claim to like one of the love interests more than the rest. Almost everyone seems to have a favorite. That idea kind of baffled me because I don’t.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “So I got on some fandom forums and found the same there, but there was also a large group of players who have like two or three favorites. That still felt strange to me because how could I ever rank any of them?”

“Because you love them all equally?”

I shake my head at how absurd it sounds, but then nod in response. “Yeah. And I know that it’s like really silly. There’s no real way to measure that, but I love them all in their own ways and for different reasons, but none more than the others.”

“That makes sense.”

“It does? Because it really doesn’t to me, still. Even so, I kept going back to the forums trying to find answers. I finally found a group of players that also can’t choose. Some say they may never make it to the end of the main story because ultimately the MC has to end up with just one of the love interests and they just can’t see that ending. I realized I felt the same and it made me really sad. Players call this the ‘reverse harem’ or the ‘poly’ ending. This made me look more into what ‘poly’ was and it made me think.”

“Think about what?” she asked thoughtfully.

“How much I love you, but how unending the well that love comes from feels. That I don’t think I could possibly pour the amount of love I have to give into just one person, and that I feel crazy for thinking or feeling that way.” I pick up the couch pillow and hug it against myself. “Maybe that’s why I’m so attached to those damn pixels. The brain doesn’t know the difference between fake and real love, it’s all the same chemical, and I guess they give me a source to pour some of that love into.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“It fucking scares me. Truthfully.”

“Why’s that?”

I look up, eyes no doubt looking every bit of crazy as I feel. “Mallory, there are five of them, and a sixth one on the way at some point. Do I love all of them because there isn’t much effort being put into each of them so it’s easier to spread the love around more? Or can I truly love that many more people? What is the limit? That’s almost terrifying to think about.”

“Why would it be terrifying?”

“To give that many people the power to break your heart? Giving it to one person is scary enough. But multiple? If my love is equal between everyone then my heartbreak will be just as equal. It will all still hurt like a bitch if something happens, no matter how many people are involved, but it feels like the odds of heartbreak increases the more people you add to that list.” My hands are trembling slightly, the feelings are too raw. I hadn’t even really thought about this too much with myself, I hadn’t been willing to entertain it too much.

“I do understand how scary that would be, how you described it.” she empathizes.

“You are too understanding sometimes.” I bring the pillow to my face, trying to hide the tears that are threatening to form.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. But I need to confess.” she pulls the pillow from my face and sets it back down in my lap. “I kind of already processed your question last night after I got you to bed. So while you think I might just be ‘being understanding’ it’s probably just because I have a head start on thinking about how this would go.” she admits.

“You stayed up?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Mal.”

She laughs, “Why are you sorry now?” “For causing you to lose sleep?” I say sheepishly.

“Love, when will you realize I don’t do anything I don’t want to?”

“Probably never.”

“Yes, I suppose we can thank shit-bag for that, can’t we.” She sighs. “Anyways. Would you like to hear my next question?”

I shrug, “Shoot.”

“Are you serious about it?”

“What?” I stare at her, unblinking.

“Are you serious about wanting to look more into polyamory potentially?” she rephrases the question, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

“I…uh…maybe?” I manage to stammer out, my eyes are looking down toying with the fringe on the pillow.

“Ci….’Maybe’ isn’t an answer for this kind of question. You clearly thought about it enough to keep getting on forums. Not bringing it up with me clearly bothered your subconscious enough it took advantage of your inebriated state.” she leans forward and grabs my jaw, forcing me to look at her. “So. Are you serious about it?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Mallory just stares at me, one eyebrow arched higher than the other.

“Right, yeah… wouldn’t be having this conversation if you didn’t want to be. Got it.”

“Do you though?”

“Yes.”

“Then answer the question.”

I look at my hands again, I can’t help but feel guilty for feeling this way still, but I bite back that guilt because Mallory is giving me the chance to tell her I want this and she will clearly be able to tell if I lie. “Yes. I am serious.” I manage to whisper out.

Mallory grabs my hands from my lap with one hand and places the other on my cheek. “Then we will figure it out, together.”

I can’t stop my eyes from going wide in surprise–shock. “What?!”

“We’ll look into it together and go from there. I’m sure there’s so many logistics that need worked out.” She squeezes my hands she’s holding. “Now, because I’ve thought about it, I also have to tell you that I’m not sure if I’ll participate in getting other partners. I’ve told you before that you’ve been the only person I’ve met that I wanted to be more with.”

“You’ve slept with other people before.” I state it as more of a question than anything.

She laughs lightly. “Yes, I’ve slept with other people. I didn’t say I’d never been attracted to anyone else. That would be a bold faced lie. But if we are in a polyamorous relationship, then if I have multiple partners they deserve more than just sex. They need the ‘amorous’ part of the poly too or it wouldn’t be fair to them.”

She’s always gotta have so much damn thought put into everything, but I concede. “I suppose that’s a fair point.”

She nods. “Indeed. Now, I’m not saying never. I can picture it happening sometime, but maybe not right away.”

“Well I don’t want to be the only one taking from this, that’s not fair to you either.” I try to protest.

“I. Don’t. Do. Anything. I. Don’t. Want. To.” she emphasizes with a tap of her finger on my hand for each word.

I sigh and shake my head, “Just because you say that,”

“And mean it.”

“Just because you say that, doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty over it.” I finished.

“Love, I would split my soul in half for you if it meant making you happy and fulfilling all your needs.” She pulls me closer to her, holding me in her arms tightly. No doubt trying to dispel my shame and guilt.

“Would you be upset if I wanted men involved?” I pull the bandaid off.

“Why would I be? It’s not a secret you are bisexual. It doesn’t take a genius to think you might want to also have a relationship with men.” she squeezes me just a little tighter.

“It wouldn’t make you uncomfortable?” I ask cautiously.

“Why would it?”

“You’ve only had sapphic relationships.”

“And…?”

“And I wasn’t sure whether me being with a man again would bother you.”

“It wouldn’t bother me. I assumed there’d be a man or men involved in this.”

“You did?”

“Ci, this was brought on by you playing a game with five super model hot men. It makes sense.”

“I guess I didn’t think about it that way.” I realized how stupid that is after I said it. Like, duh. Hot pixel men got me here, why wouldn’t she think that.

“Besides.” She clears her throat. “Just because I’ve only had sapphic relationships doesn’t mean I’m against hetero relationships. I’m not that kind of lesbian. I don’t even know if I’d call myself a lesbian. Just because I haven’t had a proper relationship with a man doesn’t mean I haven’t found them attractive. I’ve slept with guys, it’s been a while, but I have. Women have presented me more opportunities than men so it makes sense the majority of my experience is with women.”

“Huh. I guess I never gave thought to that either.”

“If anything I would label myself demissexual before anything else. I have to have a connection first. Then maybe bi or pan with a preference for women, though who I am with has never really been about their sex for me, just whether or not we ‘click’ so to speak.”

“How, in all of our years together, has this not come up.”

“There wasn’t a reason.” she shrugs. “We went from friends to ‘Yup, I’m not letting go of this person.’ Discussing it while in a relationship just kind of feels like a ‘let me tell you about all the ways I could look for someone new if we broke up.’ and that just feels wrong to do.”

“I feel like it’s something we might have talked about as friends though.”

“It might not have felt important.” she shrugs again. “We were building a connection not just compiling facts. Think about how long it took for douchewaffle to make his way into conversation. It wasn’t important until it was, then we talked about it.”

“Yeah, but six years without it coming up?”

“Maybe it had been but it wasn’t important enough information at the time. Do you remember every conversation we’ve had over the last six years?”

“Well, no.”

“Right. So it wasn’t important, until it was.”

“You are infuriatingly good at smoothing your way through everything, you know that?” I ask with a groan.

“Of course I do.” she looks at me like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “How do you think we stay out of fights?” she throws that stupid smug grin at me. I throw the pillow at her face.

After our conversation, and the brief pillow fight that ensued after, our day fell back into our usual routine. We ended the evening by sitting on our front porch with a glass of wine watching the neighborhood go about its business.

Just before we wrapped it up for the night we heard it, the sound of that damn moped coming up the road, carrying the larger gentleman–who has no business being on a moped– from a few blocks down. Just as he passed by the house, I caught a glimpse of his vanity plate, ‘Jerry’. I giggle to myself at the absurdity and as I stand to head in the house the unmistakable crunching sound of plastic meeting pavement filled the air. Looking over my shoulder I see that ‘Jerry’ seems to have fallen over at the stop sign. Before I can think about worrying for the man a loud “I’m alright.” is yelled to no one in particular. Mallory laughs as she takes my hand and leads me inside.

As the next few weeks go by we spend a decent chunk of our free time looking things up, discussing things, and in general talking things through. Mallory spends a lot of that time also reassuring me that everything is fine. It’s going to take some time for me to actually believe her, but she doesn’t seem interested in letting me back down from at least trying this.

Chapter Text

Day of the Meeting:

Zayne makes sure he gets off work with plenty of time to go home and change. Looking in the mirror as he straightens his tie he can’t help but to think he would much rather be doing this and heading to the restaurant to have a date with her. Checking the clock he grabs his keys and heads out to pick up Xavier.

Xavier doesn’t own many fancier clothes. The ones he owns have all been worn in her presence for various work events. Looking in the mirror he feels almost like he’s being haunted by a ghost. A woman who is both present and far away. As he’s staring at the outfit in the mirror his phone dings.

Zayne: I’m downstairs whenever you are ready.

Xavier: i appreciate you not coming to my door to pick me up like its a date. be down in a sec.

Giving himself one final glance he leaves his apartment for Zayne’s car.

In Whitesand Bay, the artist has piles of clothing scattered all over his floor. What does one even wear to what feels like a funeral for the living? Nothing felt good enough, grand enough, significant enough to be worn for this meeting. And everything reminds him of her. Rafayel throws himself backwards on the couch in his room, staring up through the glass dome roof.

‘If she were here she’d tell me I was being too dramatic and just to pick something nice.’ Rafayel sighs and rolls off the couch.

Glancing through the pile he sees two pieces he didn’t try together yet. Holding them up to himself in the mirror he decides he has no more time to waste on the decision and this will have to be as perfect as he can get. Running through the house slipping his shoes on he grabs his keys and bolts out the door.

‘Leave it to the artist to be fashionably late while still being early.’ and he speeds off to the airport to get Caleb.

Caleb talked with Zayne last night and they decided it might be beneficial to have the ability to throw the weight of his position around if necessary. Donning his Colonel uniform he looks in the mirror and cringes. He hates having to put the persona on, but it might be needed tonight and they aren’t willing to take any chances. He slips his leather gloves on and grabs his hat.

Just a plane ride away from Linkon, and the possibility of his world crashing down around him. Caleb takes a deep breath as he heads out.

‘Terra, I swear this whole thing better have been worth it.’ Caleb says to himself.

Rafayel is waiting for him near his personal hangar. Caleb slips in the front seat of the car without saying much.

“Colonel.” Rafayel nods in acknowledgement, a smirk trying to break free.

The ride to the restaurant is quiet. Rafayel and Caleb park in the restaurant's front lot, his silver Mercedes-Benz being much more out of place in the back than Zayne’s black Audi. Caleb shot Zayne a text to tell him they were there.

The plan is to send Xavier and Zayne in first, and Rafayel and Caleb will go in shortly after. Caleb looks at the time on the console. 8:45pm. In five minutes Zayne and Xavier should be walking up to the main doors of the restaurant. Rafayel had parked perfectly so they could watch the entrance.

“Do you think he’s in there already?” Rafayel ponders.

“Probably.” Caleb responds.

Rafayel drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “Does time feel like it's going stupid slow but ridiculously fast at the same time to you?”

“That’s called anxiety.” Caleb says, not taking his eyes off the front of the building.

“Anxiety is really fucking stupid.”

Caleb snorts. “Yeah, it is.” he says as he sees Zayne and Xavier round the corner of the building, heading for the main entrance. “Package one is heading into position." Caleb informs Rafayel, who is still drumming his fingers, he hums in response, fingers picking up the pace. As he watches the two men disappear into the building he turns and looks at Rafayel. “You’ve gotta try to reel it in or you are going to be a wreck when we get inside.” Caleb says gently.

“Listen, not all of us can be Mister calm, cool and collected.”

Caleb looks at the clock once more, “I promise you, I am anything but. I am fighting every instinct in my body not to just rush in there and demand answers, or to have a nervous fucking break down. I’m only holding it together on the outside because I don’t have a choice. Now,” he grabs his hat, “It’s our turn. We’ve got this.”

The pair get out of the car, Caleb putting his hat on and straightening his shoulders. “Show time.”

“I feel like that should be my line.” Rafayel says as they begin walking.

Through the door, Caleb removes his hat and walks up the hostess stand. “We are here meeting some friends. Reservations at 9. I’m sorry but I’m not sure who’s name it’s under.” Caleb takes charge.

“Right this way.” The hostess gestures to the two to follow.

They follow a path in the restaurant that takes them past many other patrons and a bar, towards a hallway that has the bathrooms, what appears to be the kitchen–he files that away for later, just in case–and at the end a room with frosted glass french doors.

“Right through here.” The hostess smiles as she opens the door. “The rest of your party has arrived.” She announces to the room.

Caleb takes note of where everyone is sitting. Nodding slightly in the other two’s direction, he takes a seat opposite Zayne and Rafayel takes the seat next to him.

“Is there anything I can get you, Mr. Sylus.” The hostess asks the man at the head of the table.

“Two bottles of that red I keep stocked. Thank you.” he says as he dismisses her.

Waiting for the doors to click shut, no one moves. After a few beats , four sets of eyes turn to look at the man with the white hair who looks almost like he’s bored of just being here.

“All right, I guess I’ll start seeing as no one else wants to go first. The name is Sylus, I have no doubt you four know my connection by now so lets skip that particular set of pleasantries, yes? I already know who all of you are so introductions aren’t really necessary.” He leans forward, arms resting on the table and looks at each of the four other men individually.

Just as he stops on Caleb a knock comes from the french doors. “Enter.” Sylus commands.

A different staff member from the hostess comes in with a tray holding 5 wine glasses and two bottles of the same wine. She puts both bottles down in front of Sylus to inspect while she distributes the glasses.

“Perfect, thank you. Go ahead and open them.”

“Of course, Mr. Sylus.” and the waitress opens them both. “Would you like me to pour to start off?”

Sylus glances at each of the men again, “I think we can handle it. Thank you.”

“Would you like to order now or are we waiting tonight?”

“I’m fine either way. My guests will have to answer that.” He looks at them expecting answers.

Zayne answers first, “I would like a few minutes still, thank you.” and three “Same.” echoes around the table.

Sylus nods at the waitress and she leaves the room. “So, do you men want to do business first or would you like to keep what miniscule sense of normalcy you have left for a little while longer?”

“I, personally, would really like to just get why the fuck we are here over with.” Rafayel quips.

“Any one else?” Sylus asks, gesturing with his hand, suggesting it’s an open floor.

“Not really in an eating kind of mood.” Caleb offers.

Sylus nods. “I would also like to just get to the point.” Xavier adds.

Sylus’ eyes lock on Zayne. Zayne stares the man back down, “There is no point in wasting any time when, clearly, whatever you have to say is important. And to be quite frank, I’m rather done with wasting more time than necessary.”

Sylus hums in agreement. “Yes, I feel the same. Feel free to pour yourself some wine, on me, as you may need it. I sure as hell do.” He says as he reaches forward, grabbing one of the bottles and pours himself a generous glass.

Hesitantly three of the four other men also pour themselves varying amounts of the wine. Bringing the glass up to his lips he smirks at the green eyed man. “Think you can handle the news without the buffer, doctor?”

“I don’t drink. I’m sure whatever you have to say I can handle just fine.”

“If you insist.” He takes a sip and sets his glass down. “Well then, let's get right into it. As I stated in the message I sent each of you, I helped Terra leave. In hindsight that was a terrible choice on my part, but you can’t change the past.” He watches as the three men with wine fiddle with their glasses in various ways.

“How’d you do it?” The ash blonde asks.

“Do logistics matter?”

“Yes.” The four said in unison.

Sylus chuckles. “All right then. I guess I’ll add in the background information too, for dramatic effect. Not long after I helped her find the Gaia Research Center in the N109 Zone, where she found out some pretty interesting things about herself, she took off on me for a bit. Would respond to my text messages but the most I could get out of her was something about the Fountain of Atei project. Which I’m aware the doctor knows more about that subject than me.”

“They’ve been briefed.” Zayne acknowledges.

“Good. I have a general idea based on the rumblings of the underworld and what Terra had said. Anyway, not long after all that whenever she visited me I could feel her pulling into herself. I couldn’t get her to open up, it almost felt like any attempts made it worse.” Sylus takes a sip of his wine. “The last time we saw each other in person she had this energy radiating off of her. I’ve felt it once before on her but I was able to quell it then, but this was…more intense than the last time. I became very worried. I could tell she was going to run, and I just couldn’t let her do it without having any resources or protection. So I offered to help her. She had access to my bank accounts in exchange for some of my men being near enough to her for her own protection. We planned where she was going, and when. She sent me a text message the morning beforehand. Told me to meet her in her apartment around midnight.”

“She had a plan, that’s why her mood shifted that day.” Xavier concluded.

Sylus nods in understanding. “I hung out in Linkon most of the day just in case she wanted to move her timeline up, I had other business to attend to anyway. She messaged me around the time she would have been done with work, saying she owed someone dinner and she needed to do that so she’d have less regrets.”

Xavier tilts his head back against the chair.

“My business finished early so I just let myself into her apartment and waited.”

Xavier’s head snapped back towards the man. “You were already there when I dropped her off after dinner?”

“I was, it was very sweet of you to make sure she made it into her apartment.”

Rafayel and Caleb both take a big sip of their wine. Zayne just listened to the exchange, thinking.

“And then what?” Caleb asks.

“After the hunter left I asked her if she still needed to pack. She said it was ‘unnecessary’. She went to her bedroom to change, came out and said she was ready.”

“How’d you get around all the surveillance?” Xavier asked, clutching his wine glass like he was trying to strangle it.

“A combination of my evol and my minions behind the scenes. So we didn’t alert you of her leaving through her front door, we jumped.”

“Jumped?!” Rafayel exclaims.

Sylus chuckles, “Yes, jumped. I have an ability that’s like minor teleporting. We started on the 5th floor balcony and landed safely on the ground in the blink of an eye.”

“Well that’s great.” Caleb mumbles into his wine as he takes another drink.

“Once on the ground I asked if she wanted to go straight to the airport or back to the N109 Zone to rest first.” All four men’s hands clenched into a fist at the suggestion. “No need to get your panties in a bunch, she chose the airport.” Sylus watched all the men visibly relax a hair and he smirked. “There’s a bedroom on the plane.” They all tensed up again, any of them about to open their mouths to make a remark, but Sylus cut them off. “I wasn’t on the plane. That was part of our deal. She was running away from me just as much as she was everyone and everything else.”

“Well that’s a relief.” Rafayel swirls his glass.

“I wish it was.” Sylus said, almost solemnly. All four men straightened at the statement.

“On to the part we aren’t gonna like, yeah?” Caleb notes.

Sylus scowls, “Unfortunately. As I said, I gave her access to whatever resources of mine she wanted as long as she had my men in rotation to keep watch. She spent six months overseas living it up, albeit a bit modestly for the amount of money she had access to. Except she was planning her escape from that too.”

Xavier dropped his glass on the table, Sylus’ evol caught it before it spilled but not before it twanged from the fall.

“This is the part I might need a drink for.” Zayne states, catching on.

“Yes, doctor, I’m afraid so. May as well pour yourself some, just in case.”

Zayne sighs and does just that.

“For the last six months, our girl has been abusing the cash back feature on my card. Any time she made a purchase where it was an option she would take some cash out, the feature disguised as regular shopping I was none the wiser until I had to go looking for it. During this time she also noted down all of the security shift changes. They were done in a way that shift never changed the same time day to day but it apparently still formed a pattern somewhere that she was able to discover.”

Zayne’s hand shot out towards the glass in front of him, fingers toying with the stem, still listening.

“During one of her shopping trips she was able to find a store that sold a bunch of things, among those things were phones. Using some of the cash she had taken out to buy one so there wasn’t a way to trace the purchase, she bought a new phone. We speculate when she’d go out to eat at the local restaurants, she would bring both phones with her and use the complimentary wi-fi to look up other travel plans. One day, she apparently decided it was time to make her move. She left everything behind and slipped out during a blind spot she found while observing the shift changes. Between the time my men watched her walk into her cabin to when they all realized something was wrong, it had been about 3 hours.”

Zayne picked up his glass and downed it. The other men took drinks of varying lengths.

Sylus too took a sip of his wine, trying to settle the anger that was threatening to rise again. “She left a note.”

All four eyes snapped back to Sylus, a few minutes passed in silence.. “Well don’t leave us hanging. What the hell did she have to say for herself?” Rafayel fumed.

Sylus reaches into his pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper. “While this isn’t the original, I wrote it down for this exact moment.” Sylus clears his throat, unfolds the paper and begins to read. “‘I’m thankful you helped me get out of Linkon and gave me the space I needed from you and the others. However, while I know it’s for my safety, I also can no longer stand being watched like a museum piece that its owner thinks someone is going to steal. I know this means you are probably going to get the others involved, I don’t care if you do. Maybe if you guys successfully find me everything will be ok, but until then take care Sylus.’ And on the back she wrote, ‘I will come back on my own when I think it’s time, if you don’t find me first.’ Which if you ask me sounds like a challenge.” Sylus says, setting the paper down and taking another sip of wine.

The four other men look between each other, Caleb’s eyes landing on Zayne. “Uh oh.”

“Hmm?” Sylus lifts his brow in Caleb’s direction.

Caleb points at Zayne. “That look. That look is about a thousand ways of not good. He reserves that look for when shit is about to go down, and the voice that follows makes everyone in a three block radius feel like they are in trouble.”

“Oh?” Sylus looks over at Zayne to see the look of a usually well put together man indeed about to lose it. “Are you going to be alright, doctor?” Sylus muses.

Xavier chimes in, “We may need to calm him down quickly, it’s getting cold over here and there is frost creeping along his chair.”

“Well how the hell do we do that?” Rafayel asks.

“You know, would you believe me if I said the only way I successfully know how to is Terra?” Caleb laments.

“Well that’s not good.” Rafayel replies.

“There’s gotta be another way.” Xavier says.

“I might be of some help. The frost is a manifestation of his mind losing control of his emotions. However, I can only help restrain his body and not his mind. Any objections to me trying?”

A resounding “Nope.” echoes between them as the room continues to grow colder.

“I do apologize, doctor, but it’s for the safety of everyone.” And with that statement and a flick of his wrist, red and black misty tendrils float from Sylus to Zayne. As they reach Zayne they curl up his body and around his arms and legs, squeezing them to his body as they take control of his ability to move.

Sylus stands and walks over to the man, pulling him out of his chair with his power. They stand facing each other and Sylus looks into the now wild green eyes before him. Sylus clamps his hands on Zayne’s shoulders and locks onto his face. “You won’t do her any good if you freeze all of us to death or hurt yourself in the process. Not that she has any room to be mad, but I also think she might be more than a little mad if you break any of her toys. Now, deep breaths with me and come back to the present.”

The trio still at the table watch the two of them breath in tandem, the ice slowly receding and the temperature increasing again.

“Now how in the hell…” Caleb mutters.

“How’d you do that?”

“It appears the doctor and our Miss Hunter are very similar in how they react when spiraling. Usually it’s a little more intimate when I help her through her spirals, but I didn’t figure the good doctor wanted that kind of attention.”

“That's enough with the implications. We all know she’s fucking the other’s, we don’t need it pointed out.” Xavier butt in.

“But it’s so much more fun this way.” Sylus drawls. “Fine. Besides, I only meant a hug anyway.” he flicks his wrist. “I suppose I don’t want to make total enemies out of those I’m trying to make allies with.” He turns back to Zayne, who is breathing mostly normal now and almost all of the ice coming off his body has disappeared. “Feeling better then, doctor? Am I good to release the compression?”

Zayne nods, Sylus loosens his evol and it slowly slinks back away from Zayne. Zayne shakes his shoulders, like he’s shaking off all the tension leaving his body. “I’m good now. Thank you.” And he steps back towards his chair.

Sylus stays standing but paces by his chair, “Now the fun part. I assume you all would like to participate in hunting down our kitten, seeing how none of you have stopped looking for the last many months.” He looks up and sees four nods. “In theory, without my interference she should be easier to find.”

“Why in theory?” Xavier asks.

“Well, because she’s been gone almost a week and me and my men haven’t been able to trace her.”

“IT’S BEEN A WEEK!?” Caleb exclaims.

“Yes. I’d apologize for not informing you sooner but it felt necessary to do my due diligence first before putting more hands into the pot.”

“And you’ve come up with nothing in a week?” Zayne asks, voice shaking trying to hold back the many emotions swirling inside of him.

“Not nothing…per say.”

“Stop playing with us like we are your prey and give it to us straight.” Rafayel says, flames flicking in his hand.

“That’s the thing. I can’t. Terra is either constantly moving, or she somehow figured out how to make it seem like she is. Now Terra is a very bright woman, but to the best of my knowledge she does not have the technical skills needed to make it seem like she’s, well, everywhere. Am I wrong? Does anyone have information that proves otherwise?” Sylus asks the room.

“I mean, she has always been good enough with computers, but more in a video game type of way and not a hacking and shit kind of way.” Caleb says.

“We aren’t typically talking about technology when we are together, so I have no input.” Rafayel says, continuing to flick his flames.

“Same here.” Zayne agrees.

Xavier is quiet and contemplative. “She’s never shown an interest in it, but she’s been around while my friend does his ‘hacking and shit’. I don’t think she could have picked it up with just watching, and she would need access to the right equipment.”

“I would say, ‘don’t underestimate a determined kitten’ but she would need access to things I don’t think her little pre-paid cell phone has.” Sylus strokes his chin. “So if we rule out that she’s become some technical mastermind under all of our noses, then that leaves the fact she really isn’t staying in one spot for long.” He scowls. “Which means she isn’t getting much rest so she can stay ahead of us.”

Similar scowls paint the faces of the rest of the men.

“Do we have where she’s been mapped out? Maybe there is some sort of pattern we can use to predict where she will go and we can cut her off from her next stop?” Caleb asks.

“We do have it mapped out. My men have been monitoring it and adding to it as needed. We’ve not been able to notice a pattern, but extra eyes might do the trick.” Sylus pulls out a holopad, punches in some information, and projects a map above the table.

“I assume all the markers are where she has been?” Zayne asks, pointing to the projection.

“Yes.”

“She’s been to that many places? In a week?” Caleb asks in disbelief.

“Like I said, it means she isn’t resting well to try to stay as far ahead of us as possible.”

“She’s going to wear herself out.” Xavier says, worry laced in his words.

“Her heart hasn’t been checked on in seven months.” Zayne abruptly stands. “She’s going to end up killing herself.”

Caleb chokes. “Shit, I didn’t even consider that.”

Zayne looks at all of the men and lands on Sylus. “We need to find her before she collapses.”

Sylus thinks, two fingers pressed against a temple. “I’m at a loss on how we could go about this any faster than what we’ve already been doing.”

Just then the holopad beeps, signalling a marker was added. All eyes turn towards the projection.

“Did she just…” Rafayel trails off.

Xavier pulls out his phone and dials quickly. “What’s up?” a voice asks from the other end of the line.

“Start running facial recognition on all surveillance we have access to, continuously. Don’t stop until I say so.”

“In Linkon? Why? We know she isn’t here.”

“Because she might be headed here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean.” Xavier sighs, looking back up at the projection. “I mean that she may have been spotted a few cities away.”

“She’s not overseas?”

“Not anymore. Do it.” and Xavier hangs up.

While Xavier was on the phone, Sylus had his out and was sending similar messages to his men, having them focusing on the more local areas now versus overseas, and especially in the N109 Zone in case she decided to go there knowing the hunters friend would have a blind spot.

Caleb taps his fingers on the table, eyeing the map suspiciously. “Do we think she’s headed home or is she trying to divert our attention?”

“Why would she come home only a week after going through all of the trouble of slipping her guard and running?” Zayne straightens his ties, needing something to do with his hands.

Rafayel crosses his arms. “Does it matter why she’d be coming home as long as she’s coming home?”

“Yes.” Zayne and Caleb speak at the same time.

Sylus finally sits back down, leans forward and rests his chin on his fist. “Something happened.” He claims, making it sound like fact.

“What!? No. I’d know if she was injured or something.” Rafayel sputters. Four sets of eyes turn to him in confusion. “Uh…” he rubs the back of his neck. “It’s a really long story, but you’ll just have to trust me.”

Xavier snorts. “Yeah, ok.”

“Maybe she’s not injured, per se, but something is almost definitely wrong if she ends up back in the city.” Removing his glasses from his face, Zayne continues, “And I fear she may be having complications with her heart if that’s the case.”

“You can’t know that.” Caleb retorts. “It’d be impossible for you to say for certain without her being here.”

Zayne places his glasses back on his nose. “Caleb, I’ve been her physician for how long? I’m the leading expert in her condition. And we do monthly check ups for a reason. She’s missed seven appointments and she’s been moving nearly non-stop for a week. A lot can happen in that time with all that stress.”

“Well, I can’t say I like that news.” Sylus spins his wine glass.

“I don’t think any of us do.” Xavier agrees.

“What if we go there and try to find her?” Rafayel points to the map, meaning her latest sighting.

“What would be the point of that? By the time we get there she could be long gone. I think it’s best we stay put in case she does come back to Linkon or the N109 Zone.” Sylus points out.

“I agree. We don’t want to just barely miss her and have her here without us.” Zayne nods.

“She’s there without us!” Caleb exclaims. “At least if she’s here without us she would be in familiar territory.”

“What if she is in need of medical attention? Do you want someone else caring for her or do you want me doing it?” Zayne stares Caleb down, trying to make him see reason.

“I’d rather she didn’t need medical attention.” Rafayel interjects.

“It’s probably best if we focus on ‘worst case scenario’s’ just in case.” Sylus states. “But I agree, I’d rather her not need medical attention.

Xavier shifts in his chair. “So what do we do now? Are we all just going to sit here and wait for another ping? Do we go home and hope that information gets shared with the rest of us?” He says, implying that Sylus won’t keep them informed.

Sylus chuckles. “Yes, I called you all here to dangle a carrot in front of your noses and then refuse to share more information with you after the fact.” He picks up the holopad and types in some information. The four other men’s phones all pinged at the same time. “There. I’ve shared the datalog with you all. You now have just as much access to it as I do. Happy?”

Varying forms of agreement come from the four.

“Great. Now that that is settled, have any of you had dinner? The chef makes a mean Duck à l’orange and I haven’t had dinner yet. You are all welcome to join, on me.” Sylus offers.

The four ultimately decide to stay and eat, none of them having had anything to eat yet themselves. They eat in a heavy silence, the projections still displayed above them, eyes glancing to check for any changes every so often.

When they finished eating and there hadn't been any changes, Rafayel spoke up. “How long has she typically been staying in one place?”

Sylus set his napkin down, “It’s varied. Some places she's left almost immediately, a few were for ten hours. She stays just under the amount of time it would take to get there, for the most part. Why?”

Xavier, understanding where this is going speaks up. “How long do we give her being there before we should go look for her? Just in case.”

“Well, that's still about a four hour trip from here, assuming we could take off immediately. The time between her last location and her latest was 2 hours longer than a plane ride between the locations. So she didn't stay long.” Sylus rubs his chin in thought. “I'd love to think kitten is taking a rest, but she's too stubborn for that. It's hard to say. If she's heading back to Linkon, five hours since she was spotted would probably be the time frame. But she could go somewhere farther away and we wouldn't know until after we get there.”

“Alright. Most concerning time frame we'd be looking at would be if she hasn't moved in a day. Then we go find her.” Caleb states.

“A day would be extremely concerning, and potentially too late if there is something wrong.” Zayne pinches the bridge of his nose, he turns to Sylus. “As much as I don't want to miss out on being there if she's found, what if I stay behind in case she shows up in Linkon and one or two of you go there if she hasn't been spotted in six hours since the last spotting?”

“I agree that at least you staying in Linkon is a good idea in case she does end up here. I'm concerned that if she does need you and she's found there then it will be more time wasted…” At this point Sylus is just speaking his whole train of thought. “Equally I should stay in the N109 Zone in case she shows up there…”

Caleb clears his throat, “You've got quite the thought process going on there. Wanna maybe get to the end and then inform us?”

“Well, Colonel, since you've volunteered so graciously,” Sylus begins, laced in sarcasm. “I think it's a lovely idea for the only other person in this room with a personal aircraft to be one of the ones that goes to look for her. And if she does need more immediate medical attention then you can certainly get her here faster with all your Fleet pull and all.”

Zayne nearly chokes. “That’s actually a decent idea.”

“I. Uh.” Caleb is caught off guard momentarily. “I mean of course I'll go. I was going to volunteer to go anyway. Using my personal aircraft would save some hassle.”

“Great.” Sylus claps. “Now. Who else?”

“If I go and I find her in a bad way, I can teleport to wherever the plane is to get her there faster.” Xavier offers.

“Caleb would have to stay with the plane then or you would have to wait for him to get back.” Zayne points out.

Caleb pouts, “Which would negate the time saved by you teleporting. If two people were out scouting and Xavier found her, we'd still have to wait or we'd have to leave a man behind. I don't leave men behind on missions.”

“Unfortunately, I agree.” Sylus nods. “No one left behind in places they don't need to be. Which leaves just one person scouting a city while the ‘getaway driver' is a sitting duck. It'd almost be time wasted.” He places two fingers on each temple and rubs.

Rafayel begins flicking a flame between two fingers. “Why am I getting the feeling that this is a ‘damned if we do, damned if we don't’ situation.”

Zayne’s glasses are now on the table, a hand covering his eyes. “That’s because it is.”

Slyus checks the time on his phone. “We've been here for about three and a half hours now. Her last spotting was about two hours ago, which means we potentially have three more before we see any activity from her. I suggest you all get some rest so we aren’t completely useless to her if she shows up, and we will go from there.”

Rafayel places his phone on the table with a clunk. “So are we regrouping via a group chat or are we meeting in person again?”

Sylus chuckles lightly. “That depends. Would you like to go home to your own beds, or would you rather just stay? Besides my own, I always have a block of rooms reserved for emergencies.”

Caleb scoffs and mumbles “Fucking figures.” He clears his throat. “I'm sure the mattresses here are better than the one in Zayne’s guest room. I'll stay.”

“Hey, it's not that bad.”

“It really is.”

Xavier chuckles but says. “If it's Caleb and myself going then I think being as close as possible for quick response time makes the most sense. And I can sleep anywhere. So I'll stay.”

“Hey!” Rafayel crosses his arms and pouts. “I don't have a role in this. What am I supposed to be doing?”

Sylus stares at the petulant man for a moment. “How tired are you?”

“What?”

“How. Tired. Are. You?” Sylus says slowly with a smirk.

“I'm not really.” Rafayel responds. “Why…?”

“Can you be trusted to watch for updates?” Sylus asks in earnest.

“Of course I can!”

“Then you can do that.”

“So I just stare at the screen and watch for changes?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Well then what?” He moves his arms around dramatically.

“You inform us? Let us know what the update is. And if it is urgent then you make phone calls to make sure we are awake.”

“So I'm a secretary?” Rafayel pouts more.

“A very important secretary.” Xavier kicks him under the table.

“Hey!”

“Children.” Sylus drawls. “Enough fighting. Now, because the restaurant will be closing soon, you can't stay in this room. Would you like a room near Xavier and Caleb for convenience? Or are you going home?”

“I guess I may as well stay.”

“Great. Doctor?” Sylus turns towards Zayne.

“My home is closer to the hospital. It seems the smartest option to be as close to there no matter what.” Zayne wrings his hands together.

Caleb notices his movements. “You're really anxious, aren't you?”

“I just have this sinking feeling that I'm right, and I really don’t want to be.” Zayne continues the motion with his hands.

“That's completely understandable. None of us want you to be right. Realistically though, the odds are high.” Sylus’ fingers tap against the table as he speaks. “You should probably get going then so you can get rest. You may end up with the most important job out of all of us if you are right.”

“What about you?” Caleb asks Sylus.

“I'll stay in town for a little while longer and then head back to the N109 Zone. I'd like to get there before our time frame is up.”

“Should we meet up if there is no change or a change that isn't her being back in Linkon by a certain time?” Rafayel asks.

“I think just texts are fine. If everyone is in their respective places things will go smoother. And you should go to sleep when they wake up, they can take over watching then.” Sylus responds.

“Are me and Caleb waiting for a signal to go or are we just going after a few more hours?” Xavier asks.

Sylus turns to him, “Lets give it the night. Maybe kitten will finally do what’s best for her and rest. If there is no movement by 5am, just go.” Everyone nods.

Zayne goes home, reluctant to do so but he knows it's the right choice. The closer he is to the hospital the better. He talks himself out of just sleeping in his office knowing a better night's sleep is the smarter move. With Terra’s health and safety on his mind, sleep does not find him quickly.

Sylus takes the ones who are staying to the reception desk of the hotel and gets them keys to their rooms before going up to his penthouse and making calls. He makes sure the twins patch in the info for the N109 Zone to the map interface so the men know if she is found there. After pouring himself a drink he sits in his armchair that faces out the window. Rolling a coin across his knuckles his only thoughts are of Terra.

The first thing Xavier did when he got to his room was splash cold water across his face. He realized he hasn’t felt this helpless in a long time, and it definitely wasn’t something he’d ever wished to feel again. After staring in the mirror for a few minutes and drying his face off, he knew he needed to get some sleep. He needed all of the energy he could get if he was going to be single handedly scouring a city for Terra and then potentially teleporting her around to safety. Closing his eyes he whispers to himself, “Wherever you are, starlight, know you can always count on me.”

Once the door closed behind Caleb he walked over to the bed as quietly and as composed as he could manage and perched on the edge. Placing his hat down on the bed beside him and removing his gloves broke the last remaining piece of composure he had, tears started flowing down his cheeks. He didn’t move to wipe them away immediately, instead he let the feelings wash over him for a few minutes. Once satisfied he’d released enough pent up emotion he went through the motions of removing his uniform, and crawled into the bed in just his boxers. He needed to make sure he could be laser focused tomorrow.

Rafayel stood in the room looking around. It wasn’t a terrible room, considering, but it wasn’t something he’d book for himself. Shaking the thought out of his mind he pulled up the map information and threw a projection of it on a wall that sat across from a set of arm chairs and a table. He’d been dramatic and called himself a glorified secretary during the meeting but he knew how important this role really was. If something important popped up and the other two didn’t wake up from the notification then it was his job to get the ball rolling. He sat down in an armchair, eyes never leaving the blinking dot of her last known location on the map, and waited.

Chapter Text

“It doesn’t appear that your condition is getting worse.” The doctor says as she clicks through things on her laptop. “You said you are still having pains?” She turns to face me once again.

“Yes. It’s not consistent at all either, both spacing and pain level. Sometimes it happens multiple times a day and it’s all barely noticeable. Sometimes it’s once a week and feels like I’ve been hit in the chest with a fast ball. None of it ever lasts long, but it’s still not pleasant. I’ve cut out most of the recommended things, I’ve done most of the recommended changes.”

She nods at me and turns and types something into her notes. “We’ll keep an eye on it and go from there. The last scans we ran don’t show anything different from the first ones, and your bloodwork shows nothing to report either.” She closes her laptop. “We’ll schedule a follow up for a few months from now and reassess. If anything changes from what you’ve just told me, don’t feel shy about calling the office and if it’s really bad, please seek immediate medical attention.”

I nod to her in understanding.

She grabs her laptop off the counter and moves to stand, she reaches out to shake my hand. “Take care. I’ll see you at the next appointment.”

Out in my car I rest my head against the headrest. I made this appointment because it was the follow up to my initial diagnosis. I kept it because where I hadn’t been concerned before there is this nagging feeling like I should start being concerned. The doctor reporting that there didn’t appear to be any reason to be concerned abated that feeling just slightly.

But not enough for me not to sit here and wonder if I’m just working myself up for no reason. From what I’ve read my symptoms were only really on the mild side of things, so I should be thankful. I would much rather have no symptoms but we can’t always get what we want.

Looking over at the clock on the console I sigh and start the car. I wanted to be home before Mallory so she doesn’t immediately assume the worst, but I may have failed that task by sitting here lost in thought.

I pulled into the driveway and sure enough Mallory beat me home. I am immediately greeted at the front door with a puppy eyed Mallory, concern at my timing evident on her face.

“Is everything ok? You were gone a while.”

I wave her off after giving her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, walking into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator before closing it again.

“Everything is fine. No change in scans or bloodwork since the initial set.” I try to keep my tone even. Mallory knows about the feeling I’ve had, but I don’t want her thinking about that right now.

She leans against the side of the island, watching me. “Well that’s good then. What now?”

I turn around and lean on the counter nearby. “Monitor. If things ramp up before the follow up appointment I’m supposed to call the office or if it gets really bad then I need to seek immediate medical attention.

She nods and walks forward, stops directly in front of me and her hands land on the counter on either side of me, caging me in.

“You don’t have to hide that you feel something about it. You are allowed to have emotions regarding it.”

My shoulders slump slightly. Of course she could see right through me. “I don’t want you to worry more.”

She leans forward, body pressing lightly against mine, catches my chin with her hooked finger and tilts my head up to look at her. “I’ll never not worry, love. It’s kind of part of the job description.”

I lean into her touch and close my eyes. “I know. But it’s so silly that there’s no need for you to be more worked up about it than you already are. It’s my anxieties messing with me.”

“And you don’t have to face them alone.”

“I know.” I sigh.

“You don’t.” She says pointedly. “But I’ll never stop reminding you.” She leans forward and kisses me gently before pulling back slightly. “I’ll never stop reminding you how loved you are.” she resumes the kiss before pulling back again. “How cared for you are.” and again. “And how you will never be alone as long as I’m around.” She rests her forehead against mine.

She always has a way to melt away all the bad thoughts, or any thoughts really. It can be a problem sometimes. And she knows she does it, the sly fox. I lean into her farther and wrap my arms around her waist and she reacts in kind.

I just let myself be held for a little while. I let the unease that’s been plaguing my mind wash away with the light affection she’s giving me.

A few days later I find myself sitting at the computer set up in the den. An odd combination of tabs open on my web browser, a good visualization of how scrambled my brain is.

The tab I’m currently navigating is a forum revolving around where to start a polyamory journey while in an existing relationship. It’s a tab that has been open since a few days after our talk. I’ve read through a lot of things on my own so far, and just as much with Mallory in the evenings. But today I’ve read the same paragraph three times and have no idea what it said.

Sighing, I click over to a different tab, another that has been open for a while though not as long. Medical jargon mixed with layman's terms going over everything yet nothing regarding my condition. Since my appointment I’ve spent a concerning amount of time, while Mallory isn’t around, checking and double checking my symptoms to the list of more concerning ones.

My anxieties had only ebbed slightly after my appointment but they’ve slowly dug their claws in even deeper. In theory there is nothing I should be concerned about, internally my mind is pounding on the walls saying something doesn’t add up.

I shake my head and once again click on another tab, a Love and Deepspace post on a forum that outlines all the steps you need to take for the endings of Abyssal Chaos. I had been putting it off, not really having looked into it before, but I need my mind occupied and diamond farming never hurts.

Pulling out my phone and opening the game I navigate to the battle screen and stare at the words of each section before deciding to just close the game.

Something has to pull me out of this funk.

I remove myself from the computer chair, turning towards the door I catch sight of the full built-in bookshelves. Such a random combination of genres. A nostalgic mix of books that belonged to my grandparents, me from every stage of life so far, and Mallory. I’ve read most of what lives on these shelves, save for the war books that belonged to my grandpa. They will always have a home regardless of whether I read them, right next to my grandma’s aged romance novels.

The bookshelf seems to have triggered an idea, walking to curl up on the nearby loveseat I pull my phone out again. Unashamedly I navigate to the fan fiction site I’d recently remembered existed thanks to the lads girlies on forums and short form video platforms.

Setting my filters, I pressed search. After reading through tags and short descriptions I settled in with a particularly long running fic with enough words and chapters to keep my mind occupied for a while, hopefully.

It doesn’t take long for the fic to successfully suck me in. The author having a great mix of humor mixed in with their trauma. The angst is angsting just right. I have changed positions on the couch multiple times, subconsciously chasing the feelings the author has laid out.

Next thing I know and I’ve reached a particularly salacious scene. I’m so drawn into the story at this point I haven’t noticed how I have been apparently, not so silently, commentating on what’s going on. Or how Mallory has been standing in the doorway watching and listening.

“Six oh fuck’s have left your mouth since I’ve been standing here. I don’t think I’ve heard you say that so many times outside of the bedroom.”

I yelp and jump up, tripping on my own leg that had been tucked under me. “For christ sake! Make some damn noise before you give the person with a heart condition a heart attack.” I say as I dramatically place my hand over my heart and seat myself back on the love seat.

Mallory chuckles as she stalks forward, reaching the love seat and once again caging me into my position. “I wanted to see if you’d have…” her eyes rake over my body, “any other reactions before you noticed me.” She quickly kisses me before pulling all the way back. “However, dinner is calling our names and it’s not going to cook itself.”

“Dinner? What time is it?” I ask, bouncing slightly forward as I frantically search for my phone… that is sitting in my hand still.

“Yes, dinner. I came home a little late today, though I can say I was rewarded a little for it. If I’d been home on time I don’t think you’d have been at whatever point of the story you were reading yet.” She smirks, and tilts her head towards the door. “Up, up. Let’s go.”

I sigh and get up to follow her out the door.

“You’ll be telling me all about what you were reading, later.” She says without looking back.

From then on, I spend far more time than I’m willing to admit reading fan fics. Some of them just for the plot, and what great plot some of the authors can come up with. Others I read more for the plot, and Mallory hasn’t complained about it one bit.

On a Friday, about three weeks after the conversation, I got up early to make Mallory breakfast before she left for work. I love sleeping in so I already know she’s going to be suspicious of me.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of a sleep-Ci waking up early to cook me breakfast?” She asks as she rounds the corner from coming down the stairs, her eyebrow hitched at the annoying ‘I know what you are doing but I want to make you say it’ degree.

I huff and wipe her still damp hair off her forehead a bit. “I wanted to bring up talking about it more tonight, and over the weekend.” I say shyly stepping away to start plating the food.

“Love, we’ve been talking about it nearly everyday. Do I need to reassure you more that I’m all in on this with you?” she takes a step towards me, almost threateningly.

“No, no. No reassuring needed. You’ve done plenty of that. I figured we might talk more about the things we’ve learned.” I hand over a plate and take my own, we walk together and sit at the island.

Placing her plate down, she sits. “Oh?” She takes a bite of her eggs.

“Yeah, ground rules and stuff. Maybe we could download an app and scroll through potentials together?” I look up at her through my lashes.

Mallory chuckles. “You want to look at potential lovers for you together?”

“Yes?”

“Love, I don’t think my opinion is really necessary for that.”

“No, but I feel like you should be involved.”

“Do you want me involved or are you scared and don’t want to do it alone?” She asks smoothly while taking a drink of the juice I had already waiting in place when she came down.

“I…uh…wha…” she caught me off guard, I should have known she’d see through me. I wasn’t hiding it, but I wasn’t advertising it either.

“Uh huh. If you want me involved, like actually, then I will be. Don’t feel like you need to wait for me though. But I encourage you to be the brave woman I know you are and at least scroll some profiles. You don’t have to do anything but look.” She continues eating while waiting for my reply.

I sigh and say, “I’m kind of nervous about it. I’ve never been on a dating app. I had ex-asshole and then I wasn’t focused on dating while trying to heal from that shit-show. And by time I was ready to try, you were already there waiting for me.”

“Hey, if I didn’t get first in line I might not have had a shot.”

“You would too have.”

“Ci, there were so many people waiting in the sidelines ready for you to say you were gonna date again. You are still so unaware of how people throw themselves at you that it’s comical.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Of course you don’t.” she sighed and shook her head. “Just know that you, my dear, are a hot commodity without even trying. Regardless of your insecurities and the awful things your brain tells you.”

I scoff, she has no idea what she’s talking about. She’s traditionally pretty, nay gorgeous. The fact she wanted me will never not astound me, but that was a fluke I will always thank the universe for. Sure people were friendly to me, but not what she’s implying. Most people aren’t attracted to people who carry weight like I do, my size 20 self tends to be much more than people care to handle. Not that I’ve really had much experience with it myself, outside my ex and Mallory so my statistic is 50/50, but it’s made clear all the time when you watch any programs or movies or interact with the internet at all.

She flicks my forehead. “Whatever is going on in your head, stop it. And if you are saying negative things about yourself, it’s not true.”

“I think you are mistaking my award winning personality that people tend to like to be around for more than it is.”

“Keep telling yourself that, pretty girl.” She finishes her breakfast before she pulls out and looks at her phone and gets out of her seat. “I’ve gotta go.” she kisses me on the lips, holding me there for a bit. “Think about downloading the app and just scrolling. No need to be nervous. You are a smoke show. I love you.”

“I love you too, have a good day at work.” I walked her to the door and once it was closed behind her, I slid down it. “Smoke show my ass.”

I cleaned up the kitchen so I wouldn’t have to do it later and seriously debate on just going back to bed. I don’t know that I could fall back asleep right now, my nerves were lit on fire at the thought of starting the process today. A terrible cocktail of excitement and insecurities fought for my attention at the back of my brain.

With a sigh, and all thoughts of going back to bed dissolved, I find myself sitting on the couch in the living room. I had set my phone down on the coffee table a while ago and I’ve just been staring at it. I can’t help the internal ware that wages in me. And it’s stupid, so stupid that I can’t help but be mad at myself about it.

Quickly I snatch my phone back up and open my app store, looking up one of the apps Mallory and I had found for this unique situation we found ourselves in. As soon as I press ‘install’ I toss my phone across the couch like it burned me.

‘Ugh, why am I acting like this?’ I get up and pace the living room.

‘Because, like usual, you’ve convinced yourself you aren’t good enough.’

‘Oh goodie. You again.’

‘I’m just hanging out while you spiral, don’t mind me.’

‘Oh, that’s so helpful.’

As I’m pacing and going back and forth with my internal evil side, my robe catches on the arm of the chair I just passed and yanks me back. “Agh!” I right myself. “Oh good, it’s going to be one of those days.” I shake my fist at the chair as if it did it on purpose. I take my robe off and toss it in the seat of the same chair.

‘Oh this is going to be good.’

‘Shush you.’

I picked up my phone and sat back down on the couch, seeing the app had finished downloading. “Nothing left to do now but open the damn thing and start a profile, I guess.”

‘It’ll be fine.’

Once I open the app and get through all the quick tutorial information I begin the process of setting up a profile. My name, name(s) of existing partner(s), age(s), preferences, who in the relationship is looking for what. You know, all the good stuff. I can’t help but groan at how ridiculous I feel doing this.

“Maybe I need a little minute to de-stress.” I switch out of the dating app and open Love and Deepspace, gotta do my dailies sometime right?

I go through the usual motions of visiting each of them for a minute, collecting my stamina, reading texts and moments posts, the battles, and my goodies from the shop. After I collect all my rewards from the daily agenda I check to see what’s left for the weekly.

“God damn it.” I had put off the ‘easier’ tasks like playing the claw machine and kitty cards. I never ignore them because they also give me chocolates and I’m addicted to buying them clothes and accessories, and the affinity boosts from new items is a must.

‘I don’t blame you. Those bastards can be ruthless sometimes while playing kitty cards. And those claw machines? They deserve death.’

‘Couldn’t have said it better myself.’

‘Sylus tries to let you win though. Or rather he lets you cheat. Makes you think you have a shot at winning before he rips it away from you.’

‘They are all horribly ruthless.’

I’m getting frustrated just thinking about it. “One quick game on the claw machine and I’ll do the rest later. Then I’ll get back to the dating app.”

‘Suuuuure.’

‘I swear to the gods…’

“I wonder what they’d think of this whole thing. They’d probably think I’m being ridiculous too.” I sigh and load up a game of the claw machine with Rafayel.

I watch as Rafayel and the MC do their little opening lines and… “HEY!” Rafayel doesn’t even give me the option of going first. “Oh, I’m already annoyed. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” At the back of mind mind I think I feel a small pain, but I write it off as it being in my head.

‘Can I get some popcorn?’

Rafayel takes his first turn, I do my poking thing and he decides to use his evol to gain an extra turn. “Well that’s something at least.” I immediately click the ‘turns’ button to try to have a go next round. He refuses. “You damn fish.” He lines up the claw to his target, which by the way he didn’t ask me that either, presses the release button and…misses. “Oh my god.” I groan, how am I supposed to collect new plushies this way?

His next turn starts out the same way, I take out my frustration on poking the Diva Fish and he lines up the claw, he still didn’t ask me what plushie I wanted by the way. I take the opportunity to click the ‘turn’ button again while he’s taking his sweet time lining it up. He refuses, again. I groan. “Come on you claw hog, at least get the plushie.” He presses the claw release button and the claw grabs his mark, but the plushie falls through the claw as it moves towards the chute. “Aw come on!” I practically shout, and then hiss at the small pain that is definitely there.

‘If he could hear you right now, he’d definitely be scowling at you and pouting.’

‘Yeah, well, if could hear me he’d know I’d like to play the damn game.’

As the next turn starts I immediately smash the ‘turn’ button. He immediately refuses. “He’s never refused me this many times in a row before. This is ridiculous.” I poke him aggressively, “If I ever get my hands on you…I’m going to show you how to win at this damn machine.” Rafayel waits until the timer is at 5 to release the claw, this time it’s over nothing. “WHAT THE HELL. You are usually bad at this but never this bad.”

I immediately click the ‘turn’ button again. “Please, Rafi, give me a turn.” The code immediately laughs at me as he refuses once again. This turn and the next are both roughly the same, me aggressively poking him and whispering threats he’ll never hear. A near win and another outright miss.

At the end of what should have been the last turn I try one more time, clicking the ‘turn’ button. ‘Your turn next’ shows up on the screen. “FUCKING FINALLY.”

‘You are probably a little more worked up about this than you should be.’

‘Shut up.’

I line the claw perfectly above a tipped over cone crab and wait for the perfect moment to release the claw. As the claw drops I realize I’m holding my breath. “Come on… I think I’ll actually fucking lose it if I miss too.” The claw grabs the cone crab, the cone crab teeters in the claw a bit, it looks like the crab is trying to pull out of the claw. Just as the claw starts over the chute the cone crab falls out of the claw and lands back with the rest of its brethren. “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?” I sped through the text after and collect my chocolates, steam pouring from my ears I’m sure, followed by a “Ah! Fuck.” And my hand flies to my chest only for it to dissipate a second later.

“This was a freaking mistake. ‘De-stress’ I said.” I mock myself. At the main screen of Destiny’s Cafe I see Rafayel standing there waiting for me. I click the interaction button and can’t help myself, I zoom in really close. “Listen here you little shit, you are lucky I love you or I would think you did that on purpose.” Just as I’m about to close the app my phone screen flickers for a second, an odd static ripple with red outline. “Well that was strange.” and I close the app.

The devil leans forward, ‘That was more than strange. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.’

‘It’s not worth stressing over. Got enough of that already. Who needs nerves when you can have frustration over a fake mini game.’

“Alright, what’s next for this damn account set up…” I open the app and go through the rest of the prompts it makes me go through. I answer questions about myself and my partner(s), I create a short and simple bio, and then…photos. Damn.

“Just what everyone loves, finding good pictures of myself on my own device.” I scroll through my gallery and find a few ok pictures, including one I don’t remember being taken on my birthday, I add a few of Mallory too. Mallory no doubt has better pictures on her phone so I can always add more later.

‘Now the fun part!’

The app tells me I’m done with my profile and can now begin scrolling others profiles. The general setup is a picture at the forefront, and small bits of the rest of the profile under it. I scroll for a bit and I see men and women I find attractive but there isn’t anything that stands out about the rest of their profiles, or at least not enough to potentially match with them.

‘Mallory did say you didn’t have to match today, she said just scroll.’

I mentally wave away the damned devil. As I continue to scroll I’m unaware of my comparisons to the lads men I’m making.

“Oh, he has similar cheek bones to Xavier.”

“Wow, his eyes are almost like Zayne’s. I don’t think they can really compare though.”

“Oh, wow, he has a plane in the background of his picture. I wonder if he’s a pilot like Caleb? Oh it doesn’t mention that anywhere, what a shame.”

“Hey, this girl has purple hair. Hmm, I don’t think the color suits her quite as well as it does some people. Rafayel just seems made for purple hair.”

“‘Occupation: You’ll probably find it suspicious.’” I snort. “What the fuck does that even mean? Suspicious. HA!. I know a, albeit fake, man who runs a whole territory, city even, and sketchy as fuck but as least Sylus is honest about it.”

After the last one I finally caught on to what I was doing. “Well, that can’t be healthy.” I mutter to myself.

‘No but it was entertaining as hell. Totally agree with some of your assessment, by the way.’

I roll my eyes and set my phone down next to me on the couch and then rub my hands over my face. As my eyes focus ahead of me I notice the time on the wall clock. ‘Ah, holy shit. Mallory is gonna be mad I missed lunch. I should get a snack and a drink or something, it’s almost 4pm. Then if she asks if I ate I can at least say yes.’

‘Time flies when you are having fun.’

‘I don’t know that I would have called any of that fun.’

‘Oh, I meant me. I was having fun.’

‘At least someone was.’

I head to the pantry and am just about to pick out a snack when suddenly my body reminds me I hadn’t moved in a long time. “Oh shit, I gotta pee.” So I scurried down the hall to the bathroom on the other side of the stairs near the laundry room.

Once I’m done with my business I wash my hands and go to dry them, “Shit. I was supposed to have done a load of towels today.” Sighing I walk into the laundry room where the hamper of towels I collected last night waits for me. I quickly start the load of laundry just as my stomach rumbles, reminding me of what I was doing before I got sidetracked.

I rush back down the hall, into the kitchen, and over to the pantry and pick out a protein bar that partially tastes like chalk, but it’s better than nothing. I walk over the fridge and pick out a sparkling water that tastes like shit but I want the carbonation and my diet change from my new fucking heart condition has me limiting my pop intake.

I tuck the sparking water under my arm and I begin opening the protein bar, shoving it in my mouth as I reposition the can and walk over to the kitchen island. I set the can down and crack it open, pulling the protein bar from my mouth after taking a bite. While chewing I go to take a drink of my bubbly nightmare when I’m met with none other than my loving girlfriend. I slow blink, clearly I’m seeing things.

‘Ahahahahhaha.’

Nope, there she is, Mallory is staring at me with that ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look. I cough while trying not to choke on the nasty protein bar and quickly steal a drink from the water.

“Aha, hi-ya honey!” I try to act as normal as possible.

“I’m going to just take a wild guess here. But something tells me you managed to miss my text saying I was coming home early. Also, that you managed to potentially stress yourself out enough that you didn’t eat lunch." She looks down at the protein bar now sitting on the counter. “And that you thought you could ‘technicality’ your way out of admitting that.”

‘Damn, she’s good.’

‘Shut it.’

I scowl at her, I hate how good she is at figuring me out. “No.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, yes I missed your text. I don’t even remember where I left my phone. But maybe I just got snackish.” I cross my arms like a petulant child, not appreciating being called out.

“You got snackish…for a protein bar?”

I slide my eyes down to the protein bar in question and try not to make a face. Mallory knows I don’t go for protein bars unless I have making up to do with my intake for the day. “Yes.”

“Uh huh. You wanna stick with that story?” Mallory asks as she slowly slides towards my side of the kitchen island.

‘Uh oh.’

“Maybe I do.”

Mallory slides a little closer.

“Hey. Wait. Uh.”

“Wait what, love? Got something to say?”

I know this game, I get caught and lectured and I don’t wanna play. I know she’s not mad at me, but she sure is disappointed. I don’t blame her, given my history, but it really wasn’t on purpose so… Wait, did she move closer?

‘It’s on the couch.’

‘What?’

‘Your phone. It’s on the couch. Also, use the opening at the other end of the island.’

“Yes I do.” I respond to her finally. “How was work? Did you have a good day?” I ask as I begin sliding myself towards my opening.

“I had just about as normal of a day as I usually do. Nothing much to report there. Got done a little early and the boss said there was no point in staying.” she caught my movements, I had tried sneaking a little farther away while she was talking.

“Oh, well that was very nice of him. I sure do love having more time with my loving and caring girlfriend.” Fuck not sounding suspicious, I’ll go for flattery. I take another big move towards my exit, just a little farther and I can make a run for it.

“And I love coming home to my girlfriend after a day of taking care of herself.” Mallory’s eyelashes flutter, she knows that I know that she knows.

‘Is this where the cat and mouse scene comes in?’

‘Fuck.’ I take one more little step back.

“Where ya going hunny? Don’t I get a welcome home kiss?”

“Of course! Let me just…” and I turn and run for my life toward the living room.

‘There it is.’

Mallory laughs from somewhere behind me. “You are so jumpy!”

As I reach the open area of the living room I trip on the corner of the rug I’ve been meaning to flatten down for weeks. “Damn it. Fucking figures.” I stumble forward catching myself just before falling all the way over. I quickly glance behind me to see where Mallory is. Close, too close.

“You ok, love? Need me to look at it?” She asks with genuine concern.

“No, I’m fine.” I respond without looking where I’m going, still on a mission to get to my phone, only for my foot to meet the solid leg of the coffee table. “Son of bitch! Why?” I curse as I reach the couch, pulling my foot upward onto the plush surface to cradle it.

“Maybe the universe is disappointed in you for forgetting to eat lunch too.” Mallory chuckles.

“Yeah, yeah. The universe can fuck off. I didn’t mean to. I was doing what you told me to do.” I wave my hand towards my phone with the hand not cradling my foot.

“Oh?” Her eyes flick toward where I gestured.

“Yeah, I started a profile on that app and I guess I doom scrolled and lost track of time. And then I got distracted on my way to get a snack originally. I would have gotten away with it if I hadn’t had to pee and then realized I forgot to start that load of towels.”

Mallory belly laughs, like almost falling over laughing.

“Don’t laugh at me!” I pout.

“Love, it really seems like the universe set you up to get caught. And then tried ruining your day after. Did anything else happen today that may be cause for concern? Should I look into putting you in a bubble?” She sits down in the arm chair nearby, moving my robe to the arm rest.

Still rubbing my toes, my brows furrowed. “Actually, yeah now that you mention it. I was frustrated with myself over the whole being nervous thing. My robe got caught and yanked my backwards while the app was downloading. Then I started making the profile but stopped part way through because of nerves. In an attempt to calm me down I opened Love and Deepspace.”

“That explains the robe being here.” She puts her hand on the robe in question “And because the boys always help calm your nerves.” she nods in understanding.

“Exactly! And they usually do. I did my dailies, chatted a second and then checked my other tasks. I hadn’t done any of the dates this week yet.”

She leans forward, elbows on her knees. “Oh no.”

“Yeah, in hindsight it probably wasn't the smartest idea. I decided to play one round of the claw,”

Mallory cut me off with a groan, knowing full well how much disdain I have for that particular mini game.

“Machine. But yeah, indeed. Decided to do it with Raf.” I finish my interrupted sentence.

“Not the Diva Fish.” She mocks dramatically. I know she’s getting a big kick out of this.

“Yeah. I remembered he had made a comment about not letting him go first enough during his birthday event and I felt bad.” Genuinely, I always go first when I play the claw machine, but I was going to let him this time if he hadn’t forced my hand.

“You got guilted by pixels and code?” She snickers.

“Shut up. Anyway, I felt bad so I chose him. He didn’t even ask if I wanted to go first, he just went. Kept missing or almost getting the plushies, and continuously denied my turn to play. Until the last turn when he finally lets me play, just for the stupid thing to literally fall out of the claw at the last second.” I ramble rapidly, trying not to let the recap refuel the fire it caused.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. I had some choice words to say. When we got back to Destiny’s Cafe I may have gotten up close and personal with his ass and told him how lucky he was I loved him or I would have thought he did it on purpose. Which yes I know can’t happen but it sure felt deliberate.”

“You would. It almost sounds deliberate. I would have threatened the fish too.” She gestures like she was fileting and chopping something.

“Yeah. Then my screen got glitchy for a second and I closed the app figuring ‘what better time to make a dating profile’ then when I’m really frustrated.” I rolled my eyes at myself. The whole thing had been so silly, from my nervousness to my brilliant idea to ‘take a break’.

“The screen got glitchy? Like how?” Ever the techy, Mallory asks out of curiosity.

“Uh.” I think a moment for the right words to describe what happened. “You know how sometimes when you’d play VHS tapes they’d do that like static wave thing across the screen?” I can picture what I mean, and I feel it in my bones how old that technology is now.

“Uh, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve watched a VHS tape, but yeah I think I get the idea.”

“Well like that but it had a red outline.”

“A red outline?” Mallory’s eyebrows came together in thought.

“Yeah. It almost felt like the outline was flickering too, kind of gold colored. I might have found it cool if I hadn’t found it strange and closed the app pretty much as it happened.” Which is true. I probably would have sat there and stared at it for a bit if I hadn’t already been in the process of closing the app/

“Well I can’t say I’ve ever encountered that before.” “Yeah, it was strange but I was closing the app anyway so I didn’t think too much about it.”

“I assume you went back to the dating app then?’’

I sighed. “Ugh. Yeah.”

“Well that doesn’t sound promising.”

“It’s not anything bad. I had to find photos of myself and had to be objective, which is a lot harder than you think. Added a few of you too. I figured I can go back and add more from your phone, you always have the better pictures. Anyway, I finished the profile and started scrolling like you told me too, but…”

“But…?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I found some of them attractive. None of their bios really seemed like they’d click with me, ya know? Nothing stood out and went ‘yeah, you should give me a shot.’ And then there’s the other thing.” I trailed off and began picking at the side of my thumb nail.

‘The thing where you can’t get the fictional men out of your head and you compared anyone you found even a little attractive to them?’ I internally grimaced at the words.

Mallory’s brow rose. “Other thing?” she asked slowly.

I groan, feeling absolutely ridiculous because who wouldn’t. Rubbing my hands over my face, “I’m sure it's just because I had just played the game, but I couldn’t stop comparing everyone to them.” I admitted rapidly.

“Them?”

“Yeah, the stupid hot pixels that seem to be dismantling everything I thought I knew.” I throw my hands in the air and let them fall with a slap to my thighs.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You kept comparing real people to the lads men?”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. It was sooo stupid. I didn’t even notice I was doing it for a while. Probably a lot longer than it should have taken me to realize. When I finally did that’s when I put the phone down and called it quits for the time being. And then that’s when I noticed. I was so frustrated with myself over it, and then frustrated that I missed lunch, frustrated I had to pee and it kept me from eating sooner because I’d lost track of time, and really frustrated when I realized I forgot to start that load of laundry. And then I almost forgot about eating, again. Which just…”

“Frustrated you?” Mallory guessed, chuckling.

“Yeah.” I sighed and shook my head.

“That’s a lot of frustration.”

“Tell me about it. It’s been a day and I haven’t done a damn thing worthwhile.” I pick up my phone, check my notifications, and realize, “Ah shit. I missed the mid-day stamina drop too. Yay retro feature.” I mumble to myself. “Oh look, there’s that text from you I missed.”

“So you didn’t find anyone, the whole time you were scrolling, that you were even remotely interested in seeing if it could go somewhere?” She asked me as if all the information I’d thrown at her finally caught up.

I had been distracted, glancing over the surprising number of notifications on my phone, but looked up at her words. “Huh? Oh, yeah, no. It was more entertainment via comedy club than it was via strip club if you know what I mean. Again, I found some of them attractive but just ‘eh’ on the thought of more than that. Which just reminded me that I was frustrated about comparing them all to pixels. What is wrong with me?” I groaned and threw my head against the back of the couch.

“Nothing is wrong with you.” Mallory said softly. “You’ve grown attached to them. You are more than the standard amount of emotionally invested in them.”

I pick up a throw pillow and shove it against my face. “Ugh. You make me sound like a nut job.” I say around the pillow.

Mallory pulled the pillow out of my hands and set it back on the couch next to me. She stands up and leans in to give me a kiss on the temple. “Let me change and we can look through more profiles together before we start dinner, ok?”

Leaning into her kiss, I breathlessly responded, “Yeah.”

Mallory presses a kiss to my lips. “Good. I’ll be right back. Maybe go actually eat the protein bar before your blood sugar drops or something.” Her head tilted down at me, her look saying ‘you better listen.’

As Mallory walks away from me I sigh for what seems to be the thousandth time today. I stand up, making sure to take my phone with me this time, and head to the kitchen. Picking up my abandoned protein bar, I take a bite and begin chewing. I scroll back to Mallory’s text and send a cheeky reply: Maybe call next time :P.

Moving on to the rest of my notifications, I click on the Love and Deepspace one to collect my stamina drop. I make sure to use all of my accumulated stamina since I last played on Heartbreaker to get those damn wish bottles. While I’m here I may as well continue some of my date tasks. Back at Destiny’s Cafe I am greeted by an ever smug looking Sylus. “Yeah, yeah big guy. I haven’t given you much attention today. I promise I will soon. You and me, kitty cards later ok? I’ve gotta play a few more things with the other guys but I’m going to save your game for last. At least you try to have mercy on me.”

Mallory chuckles from behind me and I nearly jump out of my skin. “No he doesn’t. He gives you the illusion of mercy and you walk right into his trap every time.”

“That may be so, but he looks really good while he sets me up.”

Mallory rolls her eyes at me. “Sure, sure. Save a kitty card turn with Caleb for me. He’s about the only one I kind of tolerate playing with. I suspect he plays a mean game of ‘acting dumb’ when he lets you cheat. I still like it though. I’d love to play poker or something against him.”

“Of course you do. You two have similar mannerisms”

“How dare you!” She mocks offense. “I’m nothing like that exploding yandere.”

“Uh huh, you two definitely don’t have the same playful attitude or anything.” I smile and cross my arms.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She waves dismissively. “Let’s go through some profiles before it gets too late and you somehow manage to make me forget about dinner.”

We spent the next hour scrolling through profiles. Mallory would point one out but I always had a reason against it. My reasoning quickly became weak and she called me on it after I scrolled away from an aspiring artist.

“Or is it actually because no one could be as good of a painter as Rafayel?”

‘She’s got you there.’

“I. Uh. What?”

“You are subconsciously comparing them again aren’t you?”

“No.” I pout and cross my arms.

‘Hey! Truth. It’s because you are doing it on purpose this time, isn’t it?’ the devil grins at my shoulder.

Mallory suddenly doubles over in laughter. “Oh my god, you kind of even look like the drama queen himself!”

“Hey! That’s not nice!”

“It’s not supposed to be nice! You are self sabotaging this whole thing for yourself.”

“I am not.”

“You are too.”

‘You are too.’

‘Damn it.’

Mallory glances over at the wall clock. “Ah shit. Well, dinner is gonna be a little late. Do you want to do take out instead, as it’s going to be late anyway?”

“A woman after my own heart! You do love me.” I place my hand over my heart and flutter my eyelashes at her.

“You spoiled princess. You act like we don’t have take out at least once a week already.”

“I am not a princess.” I scowl.

‘Suuuuuuuure.’

“Funny how you didn’t refute the spoiled part. Let me go to the bathroom and get my phone and then we’ll order.”

Mallory went upstairs, no doubt having left her phone on the charger by the bed when she changed earlier. I can hear her walking around.

I open Love and Deepspace, remembering I promised Sylus I’d come back and spend time with him. Freaking pixels. My eyes glance over to the coffee table and sees my now empty sparkling water can and the protein bar wrapper. Sighing, I stand up and grab the garbage knowing if I don’t take care of it now I will likely forget, as that seems to be the pattern for the day.

‘Don’t jinx yourself now.’

Of course, on my way to the kitchen I managed to stub my toe on the couch, I almost ran into the wall, and somehow I tripped over air. ‘Just my damn luck.’

‘I warned you.’

I toss the trash into the garbage bin and the can into the recycling in the pantry. Watching where I’m going this time I head to and lean against the counter of the island. I work my way through a round of the claw machine with Xavier, at least he let me go first. Unfortunately that's where my luck ended. Much like the rounds with Rafayel, now I’m the one missing the plushies or almost getting them just for them to fall out at the last second. An occasional pang of pain gets me, but nothing I’m not used to.

‘Oh my god! Why is this so frustrating today? I don’t think I’ve ever had a game where I haven’t gotten at least one over multiple games. What the hell is going on?’

‘Fate.’

‘Oh shut up.’

The devil on my shoulder shrugs, but at least I still get my chocolate rewards. As the screen changes back to Destiny’s Cafe, the screen glitches again but then Xavier is just standing there staring, it feels like it’s directly at me, almost concentrating on something, or like something broke. I shiver. “Huh, don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before.”

I call up the stairs. “Hey Mallory! My phone did that glitch again! I’m going to play that game of kitty cards with Sylus now! Hurry up!”

“Be down in a minute!” she calls back.

I open up the game of kitty cards with Sylus and before the code does its whole opening act, “Hey handsome.” I can’t help but greet him. “I told you I’d be back for you.” and the round begins.

It starts off relatively normal, a few good cards here and there but nothing special. Then Sylus puts a 6 in the matching colored cup. “God damn it.” I draw a card and of course it’s a 1. “Of course.”

‘Seems to be your luck after all.’ the devil drawls in amusement.

Sylus wins the first round by…well, by enough to make me mad. “I’ll get you next time pretty boy.” I glare at the screen.

The next round begins but it’s like the stars aligned at that moment to give Sylus everything he could possibly need to sweep the floor with me. “What the fuck! You’re not even going to offer to let me cheat this time? Rigged game. This is bullshit.” My nerves are getting all sorts of worked up, I grip the counter slightly to counteract the tightness in my sternum.

‘Hey, be careful. Don’t get too stressed, remember your heart.’

‘My heart can go shove it right now.’

Of course Sylus wins the second round by a longshot. I accept my defeat and wait for what I call the ‘mercy screen’ to pop up, giving me a way out without having to endure a third round, but it doesn’t come. Instead, the third round starts without prompting.

“What? Hey! I want out!” I scowl at the game as Sylus starts the round. I press the back button in the top left corner over and over. It does nothing. “What in the actually hell!” I mumble close to fury.

‘No really. Calm down.’

‘No one asked you.’

“Mallory! I think the glitches have corrupted my game code. Nothing seems to be acting normally!” I yell up the stairs again as the game with Sylus goes on, not seeming to have much choice but to play. I almost beat him this time, I was so close, and he places a 6 in the last remaining cup, overtaking me by 2 points.

“Are these cards just materializing in your fucking hands to spite me?!?” I seethe at the screen, another wave of pain gets me.

‘Cielle…’

The game registers the loss, awards me my chocolates, but immediately starts another game. “Mallory! Please come here now! I’m getting concerned!”

The screen starts glitching again, slowly at first, almost like a photocopier trying to get a detailed shot. I can hear Mallory walking down the hallway towards the stairs now. Gripping my phone tightly I bring it close to my face to try to get a good look at what’s going on. “Mallory!” I look up in the direction of the stairs.

“Yeah! I’m coming.” I can hear her getting closer.

I look back down at my screen to see the glitch is moving faster across the screen. “Mallory!” I almost cry. I can’t seem to put my phone down, my fingers refuse to let go. The sound of my voice almost breaking must have put a fire under Mallory’s ass because I can hear her almost fly down the stairs now.

Just as I hear her hit the last step, I yelp and whisper “What the fuck.” as a flash of light comes from my screen, red and black mist follows behind it almost billowing out of the phone.

Mallory comes sprinting into the kitchen, and sees what has me worked up. She freezes momentarily and then does the first thing she can think of. She locks her arms around me tightly and tugs, trying to get me to put the phone down and back away. “I don’t know what that is,” she angles her head towards the mist, “but it can’t be good.”

The mist starts moving towards us now, like it finally honed in on its target. “It almost looks just like how they show Sylus' evol in the game.” I manage just above a whisper, total shock evident in my voice.

I still can’t let go of the phone, no matter how much I try. I’m attempting to shake it from my hand when the mist starts to coil around us like a snake. Mallory’s grip tightens on me.

“What the fuck does that even mean, Ci? How does it have a hold on us?” Mallory asks frantically, thrashing a bit while maintaining a tight grip on me.

I turn my body slightly to be able to grab Mallory with my free hand. I was just about to say something as our surroundings begin to warp.

‘Holy shit.’

“Is it fucking sucking us into the phone?” Mallory’s voice is laced with nothing but panic now, barely audible.

My throat is dry but I manage to squeak out, “I think so.” I turn to face Mallory as much as I can. “I love you, Mal.”

Mallory whips her head from the phone in my hand to my face, her eyes wide. “I love you too, Ci.”

And in the next second, I could no longer see any of the details of our shared home.

Chapter Text

Something was off. I knew it had been off for a few months, but I ignored it hoping it would just go away. I was so stupid, and I know they would be telling me the same thing right now. But they’d be doing it as they waited on me hand and foot.

What did I think I was going to gain from running? Clarity? All I got was more confusion and uncertainty. I was supposed to be relaxing but even Sylus’ money couldn’t buy me what I needed this time.

And then running from the security Sylus had provided me while he kept his promise of being distant? They’ll never let me hear the end of it. Maybe if I’d stayed one of the shadows would have eventually noticed something was wrong because I’m clearly too stubborn to ask for help.

“I’ve got to keep moving.” I tell myself as I slink through the airport terminals trying to catch my next flight. I’m running so many risks the more times I use these fake documents but if I could just get to…”Who am I kidding.” I head back to the counter to see about changing my destination.

I can feel things getting worse. It’s my fault. I should have called this whole thing off when I realized something was wrong. Instead I ran farther, I made it harder for them. I know Sylus would have kept his promise of keeping them in the dark, I also know my running–again–forced his hand to tell them. Have I just been trying to see if they find me worth the trouble? Gods, what an awful thought. Or is it really?

Just one more flight after this one, I can do it. I just need to make it to this next city and then get on the flight to Linkon. I’m so tired, I don’t know what will happen if I close my eyes though. I can’t allow myself to do it until I’m home. I could have messaged Sylus and he would have come and got me–any of them would have–from wherever I was, but I thought it was best not to put their numbers in my burner phone. Less temptations that way, I had told myself. I was going to be going home eventually so it didn't matter, Sylus would have given me my old phone back with the rest of my belongings I left behind. I never thought I would have needed them.

Just the flight to Linkon left, and unfortunately for me there’s no flights out until 3am. It’s fine, I can make it. It’s just a five hour wait and a four hour flight. Everything will be fine.

It’s midnight, I can’t resist my eyelids anymore. I have to take a quick nap here, I don’t have a choice or I won't be able to make myself move when my flight is called. It’ll be fine.

It’s 4am. I missed my flight. It hurts. I can’t open my eyes. I can hear everything around me, I’m sure I just look like someone who has fallen asleep while waiting for their flight. But it hurts. I want to cry. I want one of them to be here holding me. Xavier. Zayne. Rafayel. Sylus. Caleb. Their names are on repeat in my head. What have I done?

Caleb woke to a pounding on his door. He picked up his phone to check the time and saw he had multiple missed calls from Rafayel. “Shit.” He scrambles to throw pants on as he runs to the door.

He opens it to find a wide eyed, almost crying Rafayel. “She’s hurt. She’s hurt and I couldn’t get a hold of you. Something is wrong!” He yells frantically.

“Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. How do you know she’s hurt?” Caleb invites the man in so he can finish getting dressed.

“I told you guys I have my reasons! Please just believe me.” Rafayel is begging.

Caleb looks up while buttoning his shirt and notices a spot glowing underneath Rafayel’s shirt. “Whoa. What is that?”

Rafayel looks down to where Caleb means. “That.” He puts his hand over it. “Is how I know she’s hurt.”

Caleb doesn’t bother with his jacket or gloves, “Did you wake Xavier yet? Inform the others?”

“I’ve been frantically trying to get you to wake up. I haven’t yet.”

“I’ll wake him up, you contact the other two.” Caleb turns towards the door to leave and pauses. He turns back. “Do you want to come?” He asks simply.

“So much.”

“Then let’s go.”

Caleb is knocking on Xavier’s door as Rafayel makes calls to Sylus and Zayne. It doesn’t take nearly as long to get Xavier to the door as it did Caleb, or so Rafayel says later.

“Sylus is meeting us at the airport. Zayne thinks he should head to the hospital.” Rafayel says from the hallway as they wait for Xavier to get dressed.

“Tell his ass that we very well may need him with us. If she’s hurt he’s more help to her than we are.” Caleb seethes.

“Well he heard everything you said and he seems like he agrees now. Well, uh. Brat. He hung up on me. I’m sure what he meant to say is that he’d meet us there.”

“I’m ready. Let’s go.” Xavier barrels past the two towards the elevators.

The three make their way down to the lobby, variations of tapping limbs coming from each of them as their impatience for the speed of the elevator grows, nothing could be fast enough right now.

When they exit the elevators and head towards the door they are stopped by two men in crow masks.

“Boss sent us.” One of them says.

Then the other. “He has a car waiting outside.”

The three look at each other and agree silently this must be Sylus. They follow the men out to the waiting car. “He has you calling him ‘Boss’ huh?” Caleb smirks.

“Nah, we just call him that.”

“We think it might actually piss him off but he indulges us.”

Xavier snorts. “Sounds like a dangerous game.”

“That’s what makes it fun.” the two say simply, in unison.

Caleb looks back behind him to Rafayel–who is keeping up but quietly staying in the back. “Everything good?”

“Oh, you know. I can just feel the pain my beloved is in, everything is peachy.” He throws his arms around, gesturing wildly.

The two other men hiss at the word ‘beloved’. The men in crow masks just look at each other and keep walking.

Once everyone is in the car the one in the passenger seat looks back at them and says “Hold on. We’ve been given explicit instructions to go fast.” And fast they indeed went, getting to the airport in record time.

Caleb gives them the directions to reach his private hangar terminal and when they reach the section he gives them his code and more directions to get to his hangar, the one in the passenger seat sends the information off to Sylus.

Once at Caleb’s hangar the three men basically fly out of the vehicle before it’s completely still. Caleb hurriedly opens the bay doors and begins all the pre-flight checks. Xavier is on the phone with Zayne, seeing if he really is coming and what his arrival time will be. Rafayel can’t stop pacing.

Soon enough a motorcycle and Zayne’s black Audi pull in. Zayne immediately begins pulling things out of his car, not enough space in his arms to hold it all–stuff keeps falling to the ground. Without words Sylus walks over to help him, gathering the rest of the items the man brought.

Caleb steps out of the aircraft just in time to see the sight of the two walking up, arms full. “Where’s the kitchen sink?”

“Your ability to make jokes at the worst times is usually mildly endearing.” Zayne begins. “Right now, however, it’s really pissing me off.”

Caleb puts his hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry. Habit. Everything is all good here, just need everyone that’s going. I handled the flight log stuff on the ride over.” and he walks back into the plane.

Terra’s four other suitors and the two crows board. Sylus closes the door behind everyone after he sets down the items where Zayne wants them, he pokes his head in the cockpit to let Caleb know they are all on board and takes his seat. “So doc, what is all of this?” He gestures to the pile beside Zayne.

Zayne turns his head from where he had been taking inventory of said items and looks at Sylus. “Anything I could think of that we might need. Nothing will compare to equipment in a hospital but depending on her condition might buy us time to get there.”

Everyone nods in understanding. Silence takes over as Caleb taxis for take off. Once in the air, and seatbelts can be safely removed, Sylus positions himself in the cockpit doorway and begins the conversation. “So the plan. I think it’s obvious that Caleb should stay with the plane, engines running for quick take off.” Everyone nods in agreement.

“I think I should stay too. There are too many items I may need when she’s found and the time it takes to get her from wherever she’s found back to the plane is small compared to the flight back.” Zayne gestures to the items beside him. “And if I’m informed of her condition when she’s found I can begin prepping what may be needed and call the hospital to get my team ready.”

“Fair enough.” Sylus doesn’t argue the man's points. “Now. As far as the search goes. We should start in the airport itself. Seems the safest. Does everyone know what a ‘police line’ is?”

Xavier and the twins nod but Rafayel looks confused. “I can’t say I’ve heard that term. Or if I have, it wasn't that important.”

“To put it simply, essentially we will form a line a certain distance away from each other and scan the area for her. Airports have large open spaces and having one person check one can leave spots missed. This way we aren’t splitting up too far from each other and we won’t have to leave anyone behind for being too far away. Does it make sense?”

Rafayel nods. “Got it. Simple enough.”

Caleb yells over his shoulder, unsure if anyone but Sylus will hear him. “How’s….how’s she feeling?” he stumbles, unsure how to word it.

“What’d he say?” Xavier asks.

“He asked how she was feeling.” Sylus relays.

“Not worse.” Rafayel’s eyes were filled with sorrow, Sylus made sure Caleb got his answer.

The cabin remained silent for a long while, but they could all feel the tension of a question unasked. Not being able to stand it any longer Xavier bites the bullet.

“What if we can’t find her?”

“We will.” Sylus leaves no room for argument.

“We have to.” Rafayel adds quietly.

The rest of the flight continues with minimal conversation, mostly just done to try to make the time go by faster. Sylus had taken the co-pilot seat to try to keep Caleb company. Everyone was mostly just commiserating with each other, knowing how the other men felt.

Finally their destination was near. Sylus left the cockpit and gave the instruction. “We should start near the terminal for Linkon. If she is headed home and is waiting, she would be nearby. And it’s the closest to where we are deboarding from, according to the airport map. We will go from there.” He turns to the crows, “Did you bring them?” They nodded at him and produced something from their pockets. Taking the devices he handed them out to each man, even those remaining on the plane. “Communication devices. It will be faster.” He takes his seat and buckles with a sigh.

All of the men fidget nervously as Caleb waits his turn to land. Not a single man had a still limb, even the twins. The reason they were here was too important, the implications behind why were too heavy, the anxiety could be felt in the air.

Once on the ground–as soon as they were able to deplane–five sets of boots hit the ground with a mask of composed determination. They made their way to their starting point and wordlessly fanned out, slowly they all progressed forwards.

The airport was crowded, nearly too hard to distinguish one person from another, but they knew they’d know her anywhere. Eyes searched the faces of those that were standing, walking, sitting. From one end of the terminal to the other.

Sylus gestures and comes over the coms, suggesting that they turn and go back the way they came, fearful they missed something from the angle. Many faces were still where they had left them, some had moved, but none were her.

“Is that her? Left of the room near the windows. Appears to be asleep.” a crow calls from the left of the room.

All eyes shift towards where indicated and immediately three men were bounding over, two others following not far behind.

“Sweetie.” Sylus calls out. “Sweetie, wake up. We’re here to take you home.”

“She’s still in pain.” Rafayel says, his mark glowing.

“How can she be in pain, she looks like she’s peacefully sleeping.” A crow asks in confusion.

“She’s not sleeping peacefully, I can see it in her face. It’s the same face she makes when she tries to hide how much she actually hurts after a Wanderer attack.” Xavier snaps.

“Cutie.” Rafayel tries. “Cutie, come on. This airport smells. It’s time for sleeping beauty to get up.”

“Starlight. You’re scaring me. Please wake up.”

Sylus knees down beside her and grabs her wrist to check her pulse. “Elevated but there.” As he stands he picks her up bridal style and her head immediately lulls to his shoulder. “Let’s get her to the doctor. Give the call outs to the plane over the coms.” Sylus begins walking as fast as possible without raising suspicion.

In their ears they all hear Xavier inform the men on the plane that she’s been found and her known status. There is no pausing for anything, their only mission is getting her to the doctor.

Sylus carefully gets her through the door of the plane and quickly rushes over to a spot the doctor set up.

Caleb, who was pacing a little ways away, pauses at the sight of Terra in Sylus’ arms, at how there was no resistance to his movements.

The others finally made it onto the plane, none of them had quite been able to keep up with Sylus’ stride. With a nod, the door was closed and Caleb made his way back to the cockpit. He was torn, wanting to stay near her but knowing they needed to leave as soon as possible.

Zayne immediately got to work, checking all her vitals first. He held her still as the plane took off, none of them having moved to follow through with proper safety guidelines. “Her breathing is a little rapid.” He moves in with his stethoscope. “Heartrate is far higher than I’m comfortable with.” He pulls out a cuff, puts it on her right upper arm, and positions his stethoscope. “Blood pressure is a little elevated.” He moves his tools aside. “Sweetheart. It’s time to wake up now. Can you come to my voice?”

“We tried that when we found her. There was zero visible response.” Xavier tells Zayne, mouth tight.

Zayne looks over at Rafayel. “Is she still in pain?”

“Yes.” He replies simply. “But it may have lessened. It’s hard to say.”

“Has she passed out? Is that why we can’t wake her?” Sylus asks from a seat a ways away. He knows if he’s too close he won’t be able to resist trying to hold her.

“That’s a possibility. I could try smelling salts.” Zayne turns his head downwards. “She could also be in a coma.” He looks the man in the eyes as he delivers the news.

“Well don’t just sit there!” Rafayel basically screeches. “Try the damn salts!”

Xavier walks over to Rafayel and guides him into a seat, fearing the man may leap on Zayne just for saying she might be in a coma. He doesn’t blame him, it doesn’t make him feel great either. Xavier takes the seat next to him, fearing losing the ability to stay upright himself.

The crows remain quiet, having slunk out of the way a long time ago. They had nothing useful to contribute at the moment but their hearts still remained heavy at the sight of their friend in such a state.

Sylus has been rolling a coin across his knuckles, just staring off into the distance. He heard the doctor's words, but like the others he really didn’t like them. “Let’s try the salts. If we can get her to wake up we get more information about the pain she’s in, yeah?”

“Yes and no.” Zayne begins, fiddling with something in his pile of supplies. “If she’s in too much pain she won’t be able to tell us anything.” Hissing is heard all around him. “I brought stuff to run an IV for fluids and some basic pain medication. I’d hate to mask the pain before knowing the cause, but leaving her in pain can exacerbate the issue.”

A single word leaves Rafayel’s mouth. “Vote.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s vote. I need to see her awake, it’s killing me not being able to see her. I vote we try the salts. If she doesn’t wake up from them then I’ll accept it and do whatever I can to help while we get her to the hospital.”

Xavier looks from Rafayel to Zayne. “I don’t want to hear her be in pain, but if we can get more information, I think we should try. Salts.”

“Now this is hardly how things should be decided medically.”

“Salts.” Two voices chime in from behind him.

Sylus stands. “I need to give the Colonel all the information so he can make an informed decision.” Sylus disappears into the cockpit for a while.

“This is not how any of this should be done.” Zayne protests more.

Sylus exits the cockpit and slides back into his seat. “He says he trusts whatever judgement you have, doc, but if it were up to him he’d try the salts first.”

Zayne cocks his eyebrow. “And you? Do you have any sudden medical expertise?”

“All I have is my need to make sure my kitten is safe and well. Do whatever you think is necessary until we get to the hospital.”

Zayne’s fist clenches at his side, he’s never felt so unsure of what to do. Attempting to rouse her is the best first step, but he’s unsure if they are equipped to handle her depending on the state she comes-to in. He looks around at all the eyes watching him. Finally, with shaking hands, he fishes around his stock of items and finds the smelling salts. He shakes the package, opens it far enough away from himself and brings it closer to Terra’s face.

She stirs. Enough to satisfy him that she’s not in a coma, but she doesn’t open her eyes.

“Sweetheart. Can you hear me?” He reaches out and grabs her hand. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

The whole plane feels like it’s holding its breath as they wait. One beat. Another. On the next Zayne feels a light squeeze.

Trying to hold back his excitement he continues to try to coax responses from her. “Good girl. I’m going to tell you some information, squeeze my hand after every piece to let me know you understand, ok?”

Multiple sets of eyes never leave the connection between the doctor and Terra, and they see another small squeeze.

“Good. Good. We are on Caleb’s aircraft currently. Do you understand?” A squeeze.

“Fantastic. Everyone is here. We all came for you. Do you understand?” A tighter squeeze.

“You are doing amazing, sweetheart.” He looks up to a bunch of pleading eyes. “I think everyone would like to say something to you. Is that ok?” A tight long squeeze.

“I’m going to let them hold your hand when they talk to you, is that ok?” A squeeze.

Rafayel basically throws himself into Zayne’s spot as he backs away from beside Terra. “Hi, cutie. I’ve missed you.” He received a light squeeze.

“I’m so mad at you but I’m so glad you are here now.” Two squeezes in a row.

He brings her hand up to his lips, he doesn’t care who is watching. “I can’t wait to see your pretty green eyes again.” A tighter squeeze that lasts a little longer than the others and then it releases.

“I don’t want to let go but I’m going to or I think I’ll get filleted.” A light squeeze as he slips his hands from hers and moves back to his seat.

Cautiously Xavier takes the space, holding her hand with both of his, he also brings it up for a kiss and holds it against his cheek for a moment.

“Hi, starlight.” A squeeze.

“I miss your voice. Please come all the way back to us.” A tight squeeze that holds for a moment.

“I also don’t want to let go, but I don’t want to use all the strength you have right now so I’m going to let someone else talk to you now.” A squeeze. Xavier moves back to his seat beside Rafayel, eyes never leaving her.

Sylus stands, looks at Terra moment and then states. “I’m going to take over for Caleb so he can have a turn.” and he disappears into the cockpit again.

Zayne momentarily takes place beside her again. “Are you doing ok? One squeeze for yes, two for no.” A single squeeze.

“Not too much pain? Please be honest. One squeeze for manageable, three for nearing unbearable, two for somewhere in the middle.” Two squeezes.

“I have pain medication but I’m reluctant to give it to you until we know more. Hang on for just a bit longer, ok?” A squeeze.

Caleb comes barreling down to where Terra is and basically slides into place beside her. “Terra.” he whispers as he grabs her hand. “I’ve been so worried. Do you have any idea how stupid of an idea this was?”

“Now that’s hardly fair right now.” Rafayel scolds him.

“She needs to hear it.” Caleb snaps back. “She needs to know how mad I am, not just my soft words.” A squeeze. Such a movement has never made Caleb feel so overjoyed before.

“Don’t get me wrong, baby, I’m so glad you are here but I’m so upset at the state you’re in. You know that right.” A tight squeeze.

“Gods, I wish you were more here right now.” he sighs. “Sylus is taking his turn last because he feels guilty. He’s blaming himself. I can feel it radiate off of him.” He brings her hand up to his face and nuzzles it. “I’m going to return to the cockpit now so he can have his turn. And I’m going to get us to Asko as fast as I can.” A squeeze.

Before Caleb leaves Zayne stops him. “I’ve talked to the hospital. We should be good to land on at the transport pad. They are expecting us.” Caleb nods and walks away.

A few moments later Sylus slowly walks out of the cockpit, eyes trained on Terra.

“It’s going to be ok. I doubt she blames you.” Xavier tries to offer him reassurance.

“Of course she doesn’t blame me. All that matters is that I blame myself. I should have tried harder to convince her to stay. I should have dragged her ass back home months ago. But I helped her, I promised her I’d keep my mouth shut, and I let her stay long enough to run farther away. It is my fault.” Sylus’ usual calm demeanor quickly fades as all of his feelings of guilt start coming down on him over the whole thing.

“Stupid, stupid plan! The whole thing. I went along with it. Because I foolishly would do anything for her. But it wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t good enough. None of us were good enough to help her through it. Not that she bothered to try us.”

“Sylus calm down.” Zayne says through gritted teeth, his fingers held to Terra’s pulsepoint on her wrist. “Her heartrate is spiking.”

“Just another thing to add to the list of being my fault.” Sylus is hardcore spiraling now.

Zayne looks over to Xavier and motions what he wants from him with his hands, Xavier nods. In the next moments Sylus is grabbed by the back of his neck, dragged over beside Terra, and forced to his knees. Xavier was met with no resistance from Sylus. Zayne takes Sylus’ hand and forces him to take Terra’s.

Zayne squeezes the man’s shoulder as he stands up. “Talk to her.” is all he says as he backs away.

Sylus stares down at the hand in his, unable to bring any words forward that he feels are worthy of saying to her. He feels a squeeze anyway. A choked sob is ripped from his throat. “I’m so sorry, kitten. I’m so sorry.” Is all he can manage.

The others let him sit there for as long as he needs, he is clearly in a great need of just being near her. They don’t blame him, they too just want to be close but they can tell this means a little more to him then it would to them right now.

He doesn’t say anything, but every once in a while after a sob has left him he feels a light squeeze letting him know that, in the only way she can be right now, she is here with him.

Not wanting to interrupt Sylus’ moment, Zayne reaches for her other hand. “I need to check on you a bit sweetheart, ok?” A very light squeeze.

“Do you remember the pain scale I gave you earlier?” A light squeeze.

“Very good. How is your pain right now?” Two squeezes.

“Still the same.” He announces to everyone. “Not getting worse, that’s at least something. Are you tired? Once for yes, twice for no. Just like last time.” A quick single squeeze.

“Alright, sweetheart. Feel free to rest. I’ll keep checking on you. There’s about two hours left of our flight. Caleb is making great time, we may even get there sooner.” A light squeeze. He pats the top of her hand with his other as he lets go.

The plane remains as silent as a plane can be, the occasional shuffle noise made by light movement, and eventually Terra’s light rhythmic breathing as she drifts off to sleep. Her hand relaxes enough that it slips from Sylus’ hand. He stares at the now empty spot as if it had betrayed him.

A few moments later the giant man lifts himself off the floor and moves to a seat near a window and just stares out.

Occasionally Zayne gets up and checks Terra’s vitals, needing confirmation that she’s still as fine as she can be right now and not getting worse. Her face has relaxed some since falling asleep and that made his shoulders loosen just a touch.

Rafayel had been staring at her for a while, a gesture the others thought they understood until he finally spoke. “Something is different.”

“What do you mean?” Xavier looks at her himself. “She looks exactly as she always has, just a lot more tired.”

“I don’t mean looks. I mean.” He sighs. “I mean I can feel it. Like I can feel she’s in pain. Something is…off.”

Sylus’ eyes finally move, looking at her himself for the first time since leaving her side. He lets himself feel that pull within his soul, the one he tries not to dwell on too much or else it will eat him alive. What he finds there is her soul meeting his, like it always has, but…less.

Abruptly Sylus stands and walks over to her and grabs her hand once more. As soon as he makes contact he understands what the artist means. He hadn’t felt it before because he was too deep into his own emotional spiral, too glad that she was there with him. But he feels it now, like part of his half of their shared soul is…gone. She still has a part of it, just not the half she is supposed to.

His eyes shoot up and lock with Rafayel’s, an understanding flowing between the two.

“You feel it.” Rafayel whispers.

Xavier and Zayne look between the two with looks of utter confusion plastered on their faces before eventually turning to each other.

“What.” Xavier exhales. “What in the actual fuck is going on?”

“I agree with him.” Zayne says flatly. “What the hell is happening?”

Sylus makes no move to leave the spot beside Terra again, but he nods and begins to explain, though he doubts anyone but the artist might believe the story. “Once upon a time there was a big bad dragon.” He says in that typical Sylus tone.

“Not the time for fairytales.” Zayne cuts him off before he can continue.

“It’s not a fairytale, though I can see how you’d be confused.”

“On with it.” Xavier says sternly.

“Let me tell it my way or stay in the dark.” He waits for them to nod in understanding. “Great. Once upon a time there was a big bad dragon, and a sorceress who stumbled into his lair.”

Sylus tells the men the love story that has transcended time, about the splitting and joining of two souls forever binding them, and of the curse that was placed upon the dragon at his death by his love. Then he told them of those souls' multiple meetings, their multiple grand escapes, and finally how the other soul hasn’t recognized its partner in this timeline.

“I can feel my soul. I can feel the other half of me call out to me. I always have been able to. I can feel her. Right now,” he looks down at her. “I can feel more her than me. It’s almost like…half of my half she is supposed to have is gone. I know it wasn’t this way before she left.”

The men looked stunned, except Rafayel who shares a similar story.

“Caleb will never believe this.” Zayne says simply.

“Do you?” Sylus asks him.

“Unfortunately, I think I do.”

“Then it will be easier to convince him.”

Xavier turns to Rafayel and points to his mark that’s still glowing. “Is that…” he shakes his head like he can’t believe what’s about to leave his mouth. “Is that similar? Is that how you can feel her?”

Rafayel shakes his head slightly. “Yes and no. This is a bond that we formed a long time ago. A sacred bond that can’t be broken. Roughly the same tale though, tragic love story and all.” He flares for dramatic effect then sighs. “She also doesn’t remember any of it with me.” he looks over at her mournfully.

“What the fuck.” Xavier whispers.

Rafayel continues. “Indeed. Like Sylus, I can always feel the bond on her end. It’s like my body tugs on it just to make sure it’s intact subconsciously. I didn’t feel it initially, but it also feels like our bond is… split. I also know it wasn’t this way before she left.”

“So do you think something happened while she was gone?” Zayne asks the pair.

“To the best of my knowledge, based on reports, nothing outwardly happened to her while she was under…supervision.”

“Based on her recorded movement, I hardly think there was time for anything to have happened to her while she was running.” Xavier rubs his chin, he quickly pulls up the map data to double check his thought process. “I can only imagine that soul ripping and bond tearing would take a while, and would be quite traumatic.” he fiddles around with the data a little more. “As it doesn’t really appear that she really ever left airports or train stations as she bounced around, and there have been no reports of…” he looks up and blinks. “Strange things.” he shakes his head before continuing. “I don’t think whatever happened was while she was running either.”

“How curious.” Zayne says, glasses pushed up while he pinches the bridge of his nose. “With her asleep we can’t really ask her anything.” He looks over to her, his face softens slightly. “We will just have to resign ourselves to waiting for answers for now.”

Suddenly all the men hear a voice in their ears. “You dummies realize that none of you took your coms off right? Someone has been activating it this whole time.” He sighs. “I heard everything. I don’t like any of it, but I heard it.”

“Well, I guess we have a little less convincing to do later.” Sylus jokes half heartedly.

“Yeah.” Caleb softly chuckles. “Anyway, don’t tell her later but we should be landing in 30.”

“Caleb, that's an hour and a half ahead of schedule.” Zayne chides.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Can you blame me?” Caleb asks softly, and not a single person could.

The group prepares for landing, Sylus suggests the twins head to the airport immediately to get the car and bring Caleb back to the hospital after he brings his aircraft back to its hangar. Caleb had protested but Zayne reminded him this was a plane and not a car, he couldn’t just leave it parked wherever. Without thinking, Zayne also handed the keys of his car over to who he learned was Luke, reasoning that it was better to have two cars at the hospital for whatever reason. Caleb had whined about Zayne not trusting him with his precious Audi.

“Caleb, you’ve been flying a plane for the better part of the last 8 hours and also barely got any sleep. Let one of them,”

“Kieran.” the other crow offered his name.

“Let Kieran drive you. Relinquishing control just once won't kill you.”

“One, you don’t know that.” Caleb joked back, his tone then turning more serious. “Two, you’re one to talk, you control freak.”

“Ladies, ladies.” Rafayel had joked, earning him a pointed look from Zayne.

Zayne had messaged Dr. Greyson and their team that they were close when Caleb had revealed himself on the coms. He let them know of Terra’s condition as he last knew it, and that she was currently sleeping.

I was in and out of different states of rest, either sleeping or my body just giving up. I couldn't really tell. I occasionally felt pain, heard the odd command and name of a test I didn’t recognize, and could feel the presence of one of them always near me.

The pain never stopped though, if I was hearing or feeling things I felt the pain. I wish I could tell them where the pain was. I know they need the information of when the pain started, I have that information. Come on body, let me give it to them.

My fits of near consciousness last longer and longer. I wasn’t one hundred percent certain, but I’d almost bet money on it. I could hear more than just the occasional grouping of words now, more like full sentences, though they meant almost nothing to me. I no longer felt pain, or rather as much of it. It was just less present, still there but more dull and easier to live with for now.

I can hear them all more clearly now, there is more than one of them with me right now. I couldn’t tell that before. If they were there together then I had only been able to focus on one voice at a time. But I can hear them all now. They sound confused. I still don’t understand most of the words they are saying.

I can’t help but to repeat the words “months ago” and “somethings off” over and over in my head. I’m unsure if I was trying to say them out loud but I knew I needed to keep that information in the front of my mind.

More words begin repeating in my head now, “my fault” is the most prevalent. I can’t stop thinking about if I hadn’t just run away and had been happy with the situation Sylus provided for me I might not be in this situation.

I can feel my hand twitch, it’s reaching out for the warmth that’s normally close by. Someone, anyone. Their names have been added to my rotating list of words on repeat in my head.

“Sweetie?” I hear him. Sylus. “Sweetie are you ok?” All I can’t think of now is his name as I feel my hand reaching out still. “I’m right here. It’s ok.”

A door opens from somewhere not too far away, I can hear footsteps of someone approaching. “She said my name.” Sylus whispers and the footsteps halt.

“What?” Zayne? “She said your name?”

“Her hand started moving and then she said my name. A few times. It was like she was reaching for someone.”

I was. I was reaching for you. Any of you, all of you. Gods, come on. Do something, body.

“See.” Sylus says.

Huh? See what? Oh this is miserable. My fault. I did this. Stupid, stupid idea. I just want to see them again.

“Sweetheart.” Zayne says cautiously. “Do it again. Whatever you just did, do it again.”

I don’t know what I did. All I want to do right now is yell in frustration. Tell them that I’m here. I can hear them. Why can’t I do that? I wish I could throw myself backwards or something right now.

“Kitten, calm down.” Sylus rubs his thumbs across the back of my hand to sooth me.

I don’t understand what you mean, Sylus. I’m not doing anything. I’m mentally whining to myself.

The door opens and closes again, this time multiple sets of footsteps reverberate through the space.

Gods, I just wish they were all here. I want all of them. Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, and Caleb. I want them all here. I want to cry. Please just work, body.

“Hey, hey. Shush. I’m here. We’re here.” Caleb says from somewhere nearby.

“Starlight, it’s ok.”

“Yeah, cutie. I’m here. It’ll be alright.”

They are all here? Why are they acting like they can hear me?

“Sweetheart, are you not aware that you’ve been talking this whole time?”

I’m not talking, I’m thinking. What kind of fucking mind game is this?

“The pain meds might be too strong. It appears she’s too out of it to know that she’s not as out of it as she thinks.”

What the fuck does that even mean, Zayne?

Chuckles surround her, it’s heart warming and utterly confusing.

“It means you don’t seem to understand that you aren’t just thinking things. You are saying them.” Caleb tells me.

Well shit.

Another round of chuckles fill her ears.

“I’m backing off the dosage of pain meds now, sweetheart. You should start feeling more normal soon.”

Thank fuck. I feel like I can’t do shit but scream into the void right now.

“Oh, trust me cutie. You aren’t screaming into the void. But there is something to say about volume control.”

I wish I could scowl at you right now.

He chuckles in response. “You are.”

Well that’s just great.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s normal. You have no sense of volume control because you can’t hear yourself. That’s why you don’t think you are talking. Give it a few more minutes and that will change.”

I hate waiting.

“We know.” they all say in unison.

How rude. Maybe I’ll just stop thinking. Hey, damn it the pain is coming back.

“How bad?”

How bad? Oh, right. My thoughts are words. Umm. Not bad, it had just been gone before so it’s more uncomfortable than really painful.

“That was a lot of words to basically tell me nothing.”

Don't care about pain. I want out of this hellhole.

“You don't care about pain, but I don't want to see you in it.”

Yes, yes. My knight in shining lab coat.

“Well she definitely sounds like her usual self.” Xavier chuckles.

Oh. I don't know how much anyone heard of my thoughts are actually words. I've been thinking repeatedly to remember to tell you.

“Out with it, kitten.”

I started feeling off months ago. I could tell something was wrong. I left anyway. This is only my fault.

She didn't know it but all eyes landed on Sylus in that moment. They all remember how much he'd beaten himself up for all of this, how much they all knew he still was.

“Wait a minute. You felt something was off months ago?”

Of course Zayne would clock it first.

“It's kind of my job to clock that stuff. Tell me more about how you felt off.”

I don’t wanna do this…when are the meds gonna wear off?

“You still aren’t feeling more normal yet?” barely masked concern comes from Zayne.

No. I’m actually kind of tired now. It’s been so good to hear your voices.

“Ah, ah. No. You stay with us. Zayne is backing the medicine off more now.” I can hear the panic rising in Caleb’s voice.

“Just hold on a few more minutes, kitten. Ok?” Sylus soothes. I manage a whine in response, I think.

Keep talking.

“What do you want us to talk about, starlight?”

Anything. Give me something to focus on.

“Alright, cutie. We’ll keep talking. Thomas is mad at me because I haven’t painted the entire time you’ve been gone.”

“Everyone at work misses you.”

“The base has been too quiet without you around. The twins haven’t been getting into as much mischief.”

“The last thing I ever thought I’d hear when I got back from the Deepspace tunnel mission was that you were missing. I would have torn Skyhaven apart to look for you.”

“I haven’t been able to go to that bakery since you’ve been gone. It’s not the same, going without you or not grabbing something for you while I’m there.”

The men go around a few times just rambling about things, occasionally checking to make sure Terra is still awake. Slowly they notice her eyelashes flutter, one eye cracks open more than the other, her hand that isn’t holding Sylus’ moves up to her heart.

“Fucking ow.”

They’ve all stopped talking now, eyes fixed on her.

“Why’d you stop talking?”

“Sweetie. Your eyes are trying to open. Can you try to open them farther?”

“This is me trying right now. My whole body feels heavy.”

“Give it a few more minutes. The medicine is working its way through your system, but your body appears to be trying to cooperate now at least so that’s good.”

“This is so stupid. And it’s entirely my own doing.”

A few more minutes go by, while they chat idly.

I can feel my eyes open, blurry shapes begin to appear. I bring my right hand up to my eyes to rub them. “Oh fuck, this sucks. Can we dim the lights?” I squeeze my eyes back shut.

I can hear footsteps and a click from across the room. “They are off, sweetheart, try now.”

I take a couple of deep breaths before opening my eyes again. Thankfully I am met with a very dim room with only the natural light shining through the edges of the curtains. I blink a few times as my vision tries to focus, things slowly become more solid and less fuzzy. I’m looking everywhere but at the five men standing in the room waiting for me to say something. I can’t bring myself to look at them yet.

“That any better, pips?” Caleb asks as he squeezes my ankle.

I look at the spot where his hand touches and nod, still unable to bring myself to meet any of their eyes.

We sit in silence for a few more minutes until I throw my head back against the pillows and look at the ceiling with a sigh. “It’s not just my heart that hurts. It’s like the space adjacent to it does also. I don’t really know how to explain it better than that.”

“Can you point to where you mean, Sweetie?” Sylus rubs his thumb over the back of my hand.

I run my hand along my sternum while my eyes move to take note of who is standing where, still not daring to meet their eyes, until I get to the spot I mentioned and tap twice with my finger. “About right here.”

I glance at Sylus’ hand in mine, noting how his movements have stilled before slowly bringing my eyes up to finally look at his face, expecting him to be looking at me. Instead I find that Sylus’ jaw is clenched tight and he appears to be looking at the other side of my hospital bed. Recalling where everyone had been standing I knew he was looking at Zayne.

I slowly turn my head in the direction Sylus is looking, now carefully checking each one of their faces as I move. Everyone’s eyes seemed to be pointing at the doctor, expressions locked as neutral as possible. When my eyes finally reach Zayne I realize he’s the only one looking at me. But not just at me, at the spot my hand still lays from where I showed them what I was talking about.

The silence that enveloped the room was unnerving, I’d almost prefer to have still be stuck in the pain med induced coma.

Zayne breaks the silence first, clearing his throat and very obviously trying his best to have his professional voice be the one that comes out next. “Yes. Well, according to all the scans we have available, there appears to be nothing wrong in that area per se.”

I feel Sylus’ hand twitch slightly and from the corner of my eye I see Rafayel shift his weight between his feet.

“Per se? That feels a whole lot like you know something but can’t say it with the medical terms you love wrapping yourself up in.” I say a little harsher than I meant.

Zayne flinches slightly, almost unnoticeable if it wasn’t for the fact I know him so well. “Terra, I…” he trails off, eyes falling back down to the clipboard in his hands.

More silence. Why so much fucking silence.

“Can we just be adults and fucking spit it out?”

“That’s a lot of venom coming from the one who ran away and came back ill and injured, Starlight.”

It was my turn to flinch. I deserved that. They were here, making sure I was alright and I’m getting snippy with them like this isn’t all my fault.

I sigh. “Yeah, I know. I just… don’t fucking baby me. You all have a tendency to try to give me information as softly as possible. It’s awful and I hate it. I’m a grown woman who has made it this far in my life, I don’t always need a soft hand to give me the blow.”

Caleb visibly bristles at my words, clearly knowing he is probably the worst offender out of all of them. Or wait… how would he.

“Wait a damn second.” I all but shout. “Why the hell are you all here and acting almost civil to each other.”

I scan the room more boldly now, clearly they are the ones that can’t make eye contact now.

“No seriously. What the fuck.”

With our hands still connected I can feel Sylus roll his shoulders out before I see the action. “Sweetie. When you disappeared, I had to tell them.”

My head whips around to him, glaring at him. I knew he would but it doesn’t mean I hate it any less.

“The rest of us have been talking for the better part of the last four months.” Caleb adds, rather sheepishly.

“Soooooo, are you all friends now or something?” I ask, almost accusingly. That’s a lot of time. There’s no denying that they all know now, probably. I grimace at my own thoughts.

“Something like that.” Rafayel finally speaks in his low drawn out timbre he uses when he’s trying to hold back any trace of emotions.

“Beautiful.” I say sarcastically, throwing my head back. “Back to the information you are hiding please.”

“It’s probably going to be a lot harder to explain…” Zayne starts.

Sylus cuts him off. “The spot you pointed to is where the soul lives in the body, Sweetie.”

It was like I could hear the record scratch. The soul? That’s absurd.

Without taking my head off the pillow I roll my head towards Sylus, knowing the he’d understand the look in my eyes meant he needed to fucking get on with the rest of it and not draw it out.

“Terra, are you sure you are feeling up for this conversation right now?” Zayne’s concern was very apparent in how he spoke, and I could tell that just behind that was nervousness.

“No time like the present, Doctor Zayne.”

Sylus squeezes my hand just once, no doubt to gain my attention back to him. I finally lift my head up and look at him head on.

“Alright. You ready for a long story then?” Sylus half smirks at me. I can see how uncomfortable this is for him.

I groan, my patience is growing thin. The blanket of protection they all carry for me is now layered on top of me and it’s making my skin crawl.

“I’m going to have to apologize in advance for how snippy and snarky I get if we don’t get this show on the road boys.” My mind is itching to still be on the run, the clearheadedness it gave me, most of the time.

Sylus sighs and closes his eyes. “I had really been hoping you’d eventually remember on your own. And technically you have been, slowly. And I’d wait for forever, even if there never comes a time you fully remember, but I have to break my own rules for this.” he rambles. He really isn’t sure where to even start. Telling the others was so much different than this.

I squeeze his hand, hoping to convey reassurance, my heart feeling a little bit like it’s being squeezed with how much I can tell this is affecting him.

His eyes open, they are looking directly at me. His ruby eyes appear to glisten, absolutely captivating me in the unfair way they always can. “This isn’t our first lifetime together. It won’t be our last either. A long time ago, when we first met, we were enemies held captive by a mutual enemy. As time went on, we fell in love. You taught me love.” His grip on my hand tightened as he spoke. “We shared half of our souls with each other so we would be with each other for eternity. I have always been able to feel your existence. I can feel the part of my soul in you.” His voice seems to begin to shake now.

I’m blinking rapidly. I know I am. I can see it. I must be shaking my head back and forth too based on how everything looks right now. I let out an almost laugh. “What?”

“This is the first lifetime you haven’t remembered. It’s been…rough. But I adapt well to most things. All I’ve ever wanted was to see you blossom.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Ok. So. Christ. Alright, you are all looking way too serious right now for me to not believe you.” I say as I look at each of them again. “So the spot I pointed to is where the soul is housed in the human body?” I’m looking at Sylus again.

Sylus nods. “Yes.”

“So my soul hurts?” My brows are furrowed in confusion. Who the hell would have ever heard of such a thing. “What the fuck.” I basically whisper as my head drops to look at the hand I still held on my chest.

“I don’t know necessarily that it hurts, but it definitely feels different than it had.”

My head snaps back up at his words. “Fucking what? Why would it feel different?”

“Sweetie.” Sylus leans forwards more, resting his forehead against our intertwined hands he's now raised. “On the way here, on the plane, after making sure you were stable, we noticed something was off.”

“We?” I caught the wording, I’m more confused now. “You said we share a soul. Who’s we if it’s you and me?”

Rafayel coughs from the foot of the bed. “I noticed it initially, cutie.”

My head snaps to him now, eyes narrowing. “How?” I asked slowly.

“It’s a long story. Very similar, but not the same. We share an ancient bond. After everything settled on the plane, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. I was so relieved to finally see you again after so long.” Rafayel lets out a long sigh. “But after a while, as the tension was slowly wearing off, I could tell something felt different. I pinpointed it to the bond. I said something and Sylus realized not long after.”

My head shakes in disbelief. This is nuts, right? Some fucking cosmic joke of the century. “Alright. Anyone else have a strange confession to make? Now seems to be the time to do it. Lay it on me. I’m either not going to believe any of you or have no choice but to believe.”

Silence comes over the room again, stupid fucking silence.

“Starlight.” Xavier steps closer to the bed. “I don’t have anything to add like Sylus or Rafayel has, but maybe we should have a talk sometime.”

Five sets of eyes are immediately on Xavier making him shrink back a bit.

“The fuck?” Caleb says.

“What do you mean?” Sylus asks suspiciously.

Rafayel is just staring at him while Zayne pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Well, clearly you all didn’t become that close while I was gone. It seems none of you expected that one.” I chuckle. The ridiculousness of all this is starting to feel unreal.

And just like that five sets of eyes are on me now, a mixture of confusion and concern plastered on their faces.

“Sweetie, there really isn’t anything funny here. I wasn’t finished.”

My chuckling stops, his words were definitely sobering. “Right. Right.” I sigh. “You guys noticed something was off. Go on.”

“I came up to you on the plane and for the first time outside of just letting myself feel our connection since finding you, I forced myself inward to actually explore it.” He looks me in the eyes. “I’ll sound like a creep here, but I always check on our bond thoroughly when I can, it’s much easier to do when we are together. Before you left, when I got you out of your apartment, I used that opportunity to do so before you left. Everything was exactly how it had always been, but on the plane after Rafayel said something was off…when I checked on it…” He stands up abruptly, releasing my hand and walks over to lean on the window, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Sylus?” I can feel my heart breaking, he’s never this outwardly emotional around others.

“Give me a moment Sweetie.” His voice breaks. “This is all new to me too.”

Zayne walks over to the larger man and rests a hand on his shoulder, a moment of support between what used to be two strangers.

After a moment Sylus comes back, sitting on the edge of the bed this time, his back to everyone but Zayne who had made his way back to the other side of my bed. He picks my hand up again, setting it in his lap before he continues. “Part of my soul is missing from you. I still only have half myself. You only have about half of the half you are supposed to have.”

I scramble to sit more upright, nearly bringing my knees under myself. I sway under my own movements, forgetting my predicament, and multiple hands reach out to steady me. I slot myself closer to Slyus, my hands supporting myself against his chest. “How does a part of a soul go missing?”

He just stares at me for a few moments, his hands coming up to rest over mine on his chest. “I don’t know, Sweetie.”

I lock my eyes with his, everything else around us disappears. The sorrow he was holding there was beyond anything I have seen from him. I slowly bring my arms up and wrap them around his neck, pulling him in for an intimate embrace despite our audience.

I feel his arms slowly snake around my waist, his head falls to my shoulder. “Sweetie, did anything happen while you were gone?” He asks tentatively.

“No. It was all very plain and boring compared to anything.”

We slowly release each other from the other's embrace, he gently guides me back to a proper position in the bed.

Zayne is the one to break the moment, shuffling the papers on the clipboard to remind us they were there. “Sweetheart, can you tell us what happened when you started feeling like something was off?”

“I was quite literally just sitting on a lounger on the beach. I think I was reading or scrolling on my phone but otherwise doing nothing.”

“And what did it feel like?”

“Umm,” I think back to the moment. “I mean, it’s been a while but it was just… I don’t know, suddenly slightly uncomfortable. It wasn’t like super painful or anything, it was really just like a feeling of ‘well something doesn’t feel right’. I think I went back to the house and took a nap after to see if it helped.”

“You said the feeling started months ago. Can you be more specific on the timeline?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t mark it on the calendar or anything, maybe a month or two into my…leave.”

Sharp intakes of air came from everywhere around me. They clearly didn’t like that answer.

Zayne clears his throat again, he’s trying to maintain professionalism again. “And when did your heart start hurting?”

Oh no, well if they hated that previous answer they really aren’t going to like this one. “About the same time.”

“TERRA.” Caleb roared.

I flinched. I know that I know better. I know that I probably should have contacted Zayne or Sylus then. I just wasn’t ready to be done with my…getaway and I knew they both would have dragged me back.

“Are you out of your gods damned mind?” Zayne seethed from beside me.

Well shit, he swore at me. I gulp, my chin tucked to my chest, and shake my head no before raising my shoulders up in a shrug.

“No. You look at me and you use your words.”

I really don’t want to do this here, with all of them. Defiantly, I leave my head tucked.

“Terra. Eyes up, Starlight.” Xavier scolds. My lips form into a tight line.

“Cutie. You are going to have to face us all eventually.” The way those words roll off Rafayel’s tongue spells trouble.

“Pipsqueak. I think it’s probably best to do as you're told right now.” Caleb’s Colonel voice begins to slip out.

“Kitten.” Single word, full of authority.

Well shit, of course they are going to use now to bring out all their dominant sides. I suppose I did say I was sick of being babied. This isn’t quite what I meant though.

I shake my head no, keeping my eyes on my hands folded in my lap, from my right I can hear tapping. Zayne is tapping his fingers against the clipboard no doubt, the only thing likely helping him hold his restraint.

“Now isn’t the time to be a brat, princess. This is serious and if you don’t start taking it as such…” Zayne’s voice begins to falter, causing my eyes to snap to him in an instant. He lets out a long breath, “I can’t lose you.” It was nearly a whisper.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t feel like it was a big deal and I wasn’t ready to come back yet.”

“Language.”

“No. Hypocrite.” Clearly my defiant streak wasn’t up yet, earning me a snicker from Caleb who leans forward.

“You’ve hit the nail on the head with that one. I haven’t heard Zaynie swear so much as I have since you disappeared.” The boyish grin I love is shining on his face.

Suddenly there is a SMACK. Zayne had whacked Caleb with the clipboard.

“Wha-! Hey!” Caleb straightens and glares at Zayne.

I can’t help but burst out laughing, my body moving more into a sitting position. It reminds me too much of growing up with the pair. After a moment, I steel myself and look up only to be met with the sternest look I think I have ever gotten from Zayne since I’ve known him, causing me to straighten my back a bit. “Sorry.”

Zayne’s hand comes up to my face, he hooks a knuckle under my chin to force my gaze to his. “We did scans on your heart. Your condition has worsened.” He speaks as calmly as possible, but I can feel the stress radiating off of him.

“It’s not the first time. How bad?”

“Terra, please take this seriously.” Caleb pleads.

“I am. Deadly so.”

Everyone in my peripherals flinch. Fuck.

“It’s not good, Sweetheart."

He doesn’t release my chin. I know he’s using it to ground himself just as much as he’s hoping it’s grounding me.

I can feel the world tilt just slightly. I always knew what could happen. I must have moved or wobbled, I suddenly feel steady hands hold me from behind.

“Sweetie, please sit back.”

I do as I’m told, for once since waking, feeling Zayne’s hand fall away. Unfortunately it had been very grounding as I suddenly find myself shaking.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey.” I feel Sylus’ hands rub up and down my arms. “Sweetie, look at me.”

Slowly my eyes drag over to Sylus. I can’t even tell if I’m blinking now.

“It’s not irreversible. We’ve got time.” He nods at me.

“If you had kept running, however.” Zayne’s hard tone is back.

“Starlight. Take a deep breath.”

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until Xavier said something. I inhaled so deep I began coughing, Sylus rubs my back through it. It helps but it makes things so much worse at the same time. Suddenly a violent sob is ripped from my chest.

Sylus shifts from sitting on the bed next to me to laying on the bed with me in his arms as he shushes me while rubbing his hands over my back and arms. “It’s going to be ok. Shush. We will get through it.”

“What about the missing part of your soul?” I hiccup out between sobs.

“Already working on it.”

“Tell me about it.” I tighten myself into a ball in his lap. “I need something to focus on.”

Xavier and Rafayel have taken over the spot on the side of the bed Sylus had been seated, Caleb impossibly closer to Zayne on the other. All of them trying to be as close to me as possible.

“Alright, Sweetie. I guess I can fill everyone in at the same time.” He looks at each man individually, checking to make sure they want to be a part of this, earning him nods from all of them. “My and the twins are developing a program. We are using… parts of me for the program to be able to hone in on. The idea is for the program to search for a part of me, like a frequency, to find it. It will be calibrated to know you and I aren’t what it’s looking for.”

“And that will work?” Caleb asks with genuine interest.

“In theory.”

“Jeremiah may be of some use to help with that.” Xavier says, rubbing his chin. “We already have similar technology that hones in on Evol patterns. I can’t imagine it would be too far of a stretch to adapt the concept to a soul, I suppose.”

“I’ll shoot a message to the twins to reach out to him. They already have his number so it shouldn’t be too long for them to get started then.” Sylus says while pulling out his phone to shoot a text to Luke.

“I’ll let Jeremiah know to expect them.”

“What happens when we find it?” I ask, quietly.

“I really don’t know.”

I turn to Zayne, still clinging to Sylus. “What’s next?”

“Well. I would really like to keep you a few more days for monitoring. I want to make sure your condition isn’t still deteriorating. If everything appears fine from there I will discharge you, with restrictions.”

My lip curls at his words. I didn’t expect anything less, honestly. I just hate it nonetheless. “And what are those restrictions?”

“For starters, you will still be on an indefinite leave from the Hunters Association. I’ll inform Captain Jenna of your location status change but also of your health status change.”

“And then?”

“Bed rest for a while. Minimal to light movement for a week or two. You’ll be having bi-weekly check ups for 2 weeks. From there I will adjust based on what we know.”

“Bed rest!?! Ah come on.”

Zayne tuts me. “I could keep you in the hospital for as long instead.” he looks at me pointedly.

“No, no. That’s fine. Bed rest it is.”

“Good girl.”

I sneer at him and he chuckles. “Those restrictions aren’t so bad.” I sigh against Sylus’ chest.

Sylus chuckles, causing me to bounce slightly. “Oh Kitten. He’s not done.”

I turn and stare at Sylus, my eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? What else?” I turn back to Zayne.

“You’ll be staying with one of us at all times, even after your bed rest is over, until you are completely cleared.”

“I… what!?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t bring this on yourself, cutie.”

“You hush. Why even after my bed rest is over? I can understand during it.”

“Because you will still be at a relatively critical point in your recovery. Eventually we will have to reintroduce light workouts and walks, but we all know you and you have a tendency to not listen. So we are alternating taking time off to have eyes on you at all times.”

Caleb snorts at the obvious sour look that must be plastered on my face.

“Now wait a second. You can trust me. I won’t do more than you say I should.”

Five distinct laughs echo around me causing me to cross my arms over each other, my lip sticks out in a pout.

“That’s a good one, Sweetie.”

“I hate you all.”

“We all happen to know, for a fact, that you really don’t.” Xavier leans forward, his blue eyes slightly darker than normal.

The noise that leaves me is one I would normally associate with a small animal, or a dog's squeaker toy.

“Yeah. That is a whole other conversation.” Zayne’s voice is suddenly closer to my ear and I tense.

Sylus chuckles again, “What’s the matter, Sweetie. Suddenly not so bold?”

“Can we… umm, maybe not do this here?”

“Can’t avoid the conversation forever, cutie.” Rafayel practically purrs.

“Yeah, at least here we have the pleasure of watching your heart monitor spike.” Caleb teases.

I bury my face in Sylus’ chest and groan.

“What was that about being a grown woman again?” Zayne faux mocks.

I pull my hand out from under me and do the only thing I can think to do. I flip them all off. A round of hissing and chuckles happen.

“Now that’s not very nice.” Xavier taunts.

“You all are awful. I am in a hospital bed. Don’t torment the patient.”

“Yeah, I suppose I’ll just have to do it when it’s my turn to babysit.” Caleb pokes my leg as he speaks.

I basically growl at his words. I hated when he’d say that when we were younger, and I hate it now, but I suppose I’m not in much of a position to argue right now.

“Oh yes, that will be fun, won’t it.” Sylus speaks directly next to my ear.

“Oh wow guys. Look at that spike!” Rafayel points to the heart monitor display.

I groan again, earning myself more chuckles. “I don’t think I like all you guys knowing each other. You seem to feed off each other, and it was already bad when it was just Zayne and Caleb.”

From the corner of my eye I see Caleb and Zayne…fist bumping!? I look directly at them and roll my eyes making sure they know I saw.

“Alright. Back to being serious.” Zayne stands a little straighter. “You need to rest. You are due for some tests to be re-ran in a few hours and they will take some time to get through. Do you want some dinner first or before the tests?”

Just as the question leaves his lips my stomach growls. Fucking traitor. “I guess now.”

“I’ll have Yvonne bring you something.” He turns and looks at the monitors again before turning back to the rest of the men. “You are all welcome to stay for a while. I can permit only one of you to go back with her during the testing for support, if she wishes, the rest of you can stay here and wait. From there, I might be able to swing letting someone stay overnight. No guarantees.”

The men all nod in response, I attempt to but I am quickly being betrayed by my eyelids having been snuggled up to Sylus for long enough.

“Might want to put a stat order on that food, doc. We appear to be losing our patient already.” Caleb snickers.

“I’ll get right on that. I’ll see you later, sweetheart. Rest well.” Zayne places a kiss on the top of my head before leaving the room.

“This is so weird.” I attempt to say to myself while losing my efforts to fight the sleep that's trying to take me.

Sylus also presses a kiss to my head, “Get some rest. We’ll wake you when your food is here.”

“Alright, so we know it works, for a fact. Why doesn’t it appear to be working?” I ask Sylus who is just glaring at the device they dedicated to run the program to find the missing part of his soul.

“Sweetie, if I knew the reason, don't you think I would have fixed it by now.” Sylus drawls.

My eyebrows furrow in frustration. “I’m not doubting your abilities, Sylus. I’m confused.”

Sylus sighs and walks over to me sitting on the couch in his study, it’s his turn for babysitting duty, and places a kiss at the top of my head. “I know. I’m just frustrated because I am also confused.”

“We’ve tested it out with Jeremiah. It detects you and it detects me. There is logically no reason it’s not picking up the remaining piece.”

“Unless.” Caleb walks in suddenly. “Unless it’s not on earth.”

“What the hell are you on about?” I toss a throw pillow at him, which he catches easily.

All of them have been in and out of the other's lives and homes since your return. It’s not uncommon these days to have one or more of them around when you are at another’s house.

“I leave for a mission in two days. I could take that,” Caleb points at the device on Sylus’ desk. “with me and see if I get anything.”

“That’s ridic-”

“That’s an idea.” Sylus interrupts me. “I’d rather give you a duplicate than give up the device itself, just in case. But it might be worth trying.” he rubs his hand on his chin deep in thought.

“You’re serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Think about it,” Caleb plops down next to me. “If the device isn’t picking up anything here, going to Deepspace might give it a signal boost. Maybe the missing piece isn’t on this planet.”

“My head hurts.”

Sylus chuckles. “Worst case scenario we use this opportunity to expand the signal strength. I’m sure Jeremiah has some ideas there.” He looks at Caleb who nods in acknowledgement.

“Sounds good. Give me one of those other fancy devices you have and I’ll keep it hooked up so it’s basically running a constant diagnostic and full log reports. It will give Jeremiah more information to help potentially tweak the program.” Caleb says as he bumps my shoulder.

He knows my eyes glass over when they talk like this. It’s not that I don’t find it interesting, I do a little bit. But these two absolutely nerd the hell out over it and the conversation can go on for hours in circles. I still haven’t decided how I feel about how easily they seem to be able to slip into conversation about things. It’s almost unnerving. Granted, I think that’s probably the lingering guilt.

“Yes, I planned on sending it anyway. Like minds.” Sylus interrupts my thoughts. “Are you staying for dinner then? I can have the twins work on a duplicate rig now if you are staying.”

“Oy, is that a casual invite? I don’t say no to free food.”

I groan. Seems Caleb is staying a while. Sometimes it feels like the babysitters are getting babysat. As easily it seems they all get along, they all also seem to not quite trust each other enough. Or so it seems. Maybe they trust each other more than I know. I don’t ask.

“Of course you don’t.” Sylus takes a drink from his rocks glass in front of him, gesturing towards the decanter set nearby to Caleb.

Caleb gets up from the couch and walks over to help himself, my eyes narrow at the scene unfolding in front of me. As Caleb walks back to the couch I reach my foot out to try to kick his shins, which he can clearly read on my face as he easily side steps my attempts. I scowl at him which earns me a chuckle from both men.

“Something the matter, Sweetie?”

My eyes flick up to the silver haired menace behind the desk, I force my face into the best puppy dogs eyes I have ever mustered. “It’s not nice to not include me.”

“Sorry pips, doctor’s orders. No alcohol.” Caleb chuckles next to me, clearly finding the whole situation amusing.

“You two are awful. Forcing me to sit here and listen to you two nerds and I can’t even participate in drinking to help drown it out.” Mephisto caws from his perch in the corner. I’ll assume he’s commiserating with me. “See! Mephie agrees with me!”

Sylus sets his glass down and walks over in front of the couch where I’m sitting and kneels down. “Would you like to go somewhere else? I can bring you to another room and have Luke or Kieran sit with you instead.”

I feel like a gods damned child. Probably because I’m about to throw a fit like one. It’s been a week of this fucking bed rest bullshit and I’m stir crazy as hell. I cross my arms over each other and am no doubt puffing my bottom lip out. “No.”

“Stop pouting, princess. We’ll stop talking about the technical shit.” Caleb squeezes my thigh. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I’m fine with talking about the device. I’m just not super keen on listening to the technology mumbo jumbo. Especially seeing how I had to listen to Jeremiah basically narrate himself helping with the code.” I throw my head back and roll my eyes recalling Xavier having brought me to Philo so he could help Jeremiah during his babysitting time.

“Oh, no way! Damn it, why didn’t Xavier tell me. I wanted to be there.” Caleb laments while taking a sip of his drink.

“Fucking nerds.” I say under my breath.

“What was that, princess?” He goads me.

I smile sweetly at him, “Not a damn thing.”

“I figured.” He chuckles into his glass.

As Sylus is walking back behind his desk a thought crosses my mind. “Sylus, if you make one duplicate, what’s stopping you from making multiple?” “There isn’t anything. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I just suddenly thought maybe each of you should have one. You know, one person can’t monitor one device all the time and it’s much easier for multiple people to monitor if there are more of them.”

“Not a bad idea, princess.” Caleb snatches my legs up and lays them across his. “Five sets of eyes are better than one.”

Sylus’ eyes follow Caleb’s movements but his expression doesn’t change and if he wants to say something he doesn’t. Curious. Am I bold enough to push this?

Sylus clearly his throat. “Yes, princess, not a bad idea.” Maybe not today.

“I don’t understand. Why is the program occasionally getting reads but not consistently?” I ask from the couch in the backroom at Philo.

Six sets of eyes turn to look at me briefly before turning back to Jeremiah’s work station, basically ignoring me. “Fucking rude.”

“Language.” Zayne scolds from somewhere in the crowd of bodies.

“No. It’s not your babysitting time. You don’t make the rules.” His eyes catch mine in that moment and I have never been happier that it actually isn’t his turn, but I stick my tongue out at him anyway. My action has his eyebrow twitching up.

“Terra, I think the better question is where is the signal coming from. The program not being able to hold a reading on it isn’t as concerning as the fact it can’t pinpoint it.” Jeremiah says from behind the wall of men, typing away on his war station as I’ve so fondly decided to start calling it.

“We can tweak it with the data I collected on my last mission, yeah?” Caleb asks

“That’s the plan, I’ve got the program integrating the data now. The good news is that we seem to be getting a reading a few times a week. I wish it were more. It’d be easier to lock onto, obviously, but the concern is still location. It’s good that it found the signal at all though.”

“Blah, blah, blah.” I mock the conversation, using my hands like sock puppets.

“Starlight, if you are really that bored I can set you up with some flowers to make arrangements.” Xavier offers.

“Oh please don’t. Last time I tried to do that I almost bled out.”

“Your own fault! You should have taken the thorns off the roses first!” Jeremiah chides.

“I didn’t fucking know they were there until they were imbedded into my hand!”

“Language.”

“Can you stop, please?”

“Why would I do something silly like that?”

“Because I asked nicely?”

Zayne appears to think about it for a moment. “No.”

“Asshole.” I mumble.

“Sweetie, let’s not goad the doctor who has the final say in whether or not you are still on bed rest.”

I open my mouth to smart back but come to the unfortunate realization he’s right. Zayne would be petty enough to keep me on bed rest over this. Instead I resign to narrowing my eyes and flopping farther down on the couch.

I hear footsteps approach and then my legs are lifted and set back down in a lap. “Cutie. I know you over all this, but let’s not forget these are the consequences of your own actions.” Rafayel says as he rubs my calves.

“Don’t I know it.” I huff. Suddenly I bring my hand up to my chest and rub the area around my heart about two seconds before a concert of chimes go off. “What was that?”

“Signal contact.” Jeremiah says plainly.

I look up at Rafayel who is staring at me. “You thinking the same thing?” I say just loud enough for him to hear.

“That you got an ache mere seconds before signal contact was made? Yeah.” He replies to me. “Guys….I think I just discovered something.”

“Hey, I discovered it too!” I shout.

All eyes are on us now.

“What’d you discover? How many ceiling tiles Jeremiah needs to replace?” Caleb teases.

“No, asshat. There might be a connection between when I get my aches and when we get signal contact.”

Zayne is in front of me in seconds. “You got another ache? Are you ok?” His hands begin attempting to assess me.

I swat him away. “I’m fine. It was really brief. But it was literally seconds before the devices went off.”

Jeremiah rubs his hand on his chin. “Interesting. Sylus, did you feel anything?”

Sylus appears to contemplate for a second. “No. I don’t think so. I wasn’t really paying attention. I don’t really pay mind to most aches and pains, so if it did happen I couldn’t tell you.”

“It might make sense even if only she felt it. It’s her piece of your soul that’s missing after all.” Jeremiah muses before turning back to his keyboard. “Huh. Even more interesting.”

Everyone focuses back on Jeremiah waiting for him to elaborate but he doesn’t.

“Bud, it’s not just you here. If you are going to say shit like that outloud, follow through.”

“Sorry, one second.”

“Hey! Why doesn’t he get a language warning!” I protest.

“He’s not you.” Zayne smirks at me.

“That’s not nice.”

“No one said I was nice.”

Jeremiah clears his throat. “So it appears the deepspace data uploaded just enough that when the signal came through it did try honing in on the signal.”

“What do you mean, it tried.” Caleb asks.

“How do I put it?” Jeremiah pauses a moment. “The program chased after the signal and got closer to it than it has yet.”

“But not close enough.” Sylus surmises.

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Jeremiah nods, more clicks coming from his keyboard. “Good news though. Once the rest of the deepspace data is uploaded there’s a chance I can rerun the signal and see if it can chase it even farther.”

“Well that would be good.” Sylus says, rubbing his hands together.

Rafayel looks over at me staring at the ceiling again. “Guys, I think her eyes have glassed over. Doc, she good for me to take her on a short walk to get a way for a few?”

“She should be fine. If she starts having any pain though you should-”

“Yeah, yeah. Bring her back immediately even if it’s kicking and screaming.”

“Well, hopefully without the kicking and screaming, but yes.” Zayne gives me a pointed look.

“I haven’t done anything!”

“No, but you might.”

I huff at him in response. Next thing I know I’m being yanked up off the couch and my arm is being linked with Rafayel who basically drags me out of the shop.

Once we are outside Rafayel stops for a moment and takes a deep breath. “Oh thank god. Fresh air. All those smells were killing me. How weren’t you sneezing your head off, cutie?”

I giggle at Rafayel’s dramatics. “I wasn’t really that close to any of the flowers. And I was concentrating really hard on trying not to focus on the overwhelming floral smell.”

Rafayel hums back in response as he begins walking me down the sidewalk. We stroll in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Rafayel speaks again.

“How are you feeling, my love?”

“Fine, all things considered. Really fucking bored though. There’s only so much social media scrolling and reading I can do while in the presence of all of you before I start going mad.”

“Gonna fall off your rocker, are you?” He laughs at me. “Why around us specifically?”

“Because none of you sit still. It makes me twitch. I have to sit still but you all are still go go going. Whether it's mind or body.”

Rafayel hums again. An odd feeling comes over me, almost like dread.

“Now that I have you alone… it’s time to pay the piper.”

There’s that other shoe. I knew it would show up eventually. Well, here we go. “What do you mean?” I try to sound as innocent as possible.

Rafayel stops in his tracks, where our arms are linked it basically forces me to turn and look at him from the movement. “Don’t.” is all he says.

“Alright. How do you want to do this? You want to ask questions and I’ll answer?” I guess there is no time like the present.

“Yeah, that works.” He appears to think for a moment. “I guess the biggest question I have is why didn’t you say anything?”

“What would I have said? ‘Hey, person who dotes on me and looks at me like I’ve hung the stars. There are 4 other men who do the same thing and I’m sleeping with them as well. Oh by the way I can’t choose between any of you and continuing on like this is literally eating away at me but I can’t stand to not be with any of you.’ Something like that?”

“Yeah, for starters.”

I laugh. Like fully bent over myself type of laugh. “You say that now, after you’ve all found out about each other over a traumatic event. Back then you would have lost your mind if I even attempted to bring up the subject.”

“I would not have!”

“Yes you would have.”

“How can you say such a thing to me, cutie. You wound me.”

“I can say such a thing because I lived it.”

He sputters for a second. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I tried telling you. A long time ago. You about lost your mind. I didn’t want to lose you, so I stopped trying. It was really selfish of me. I tried telling the others too. They all went about the same way. I stopped trying to bring it up. I convinced myself that because none of you had labeled us, or asked to be exclusive then what I was doing couldn’t really be that bad.”

“You tried telling me?” He whispers.

“Yeah. I think I tried telling you a few times actually. Tried bringing it up multiple different ways. My anxiety was through the roof while trying to navigate talking to you all about it and trying to keep things going. Eventually I decided the extra stress wasn’t worth it if there were no labels. Fucking killed me every night though. But I couldn’t stand the thought of losing any of you, so when it really hurt I cried quietly into pillows while no one was looking.”

“Fuck.”

“I’m sorry for any pain I caused you over this. I really didn’t want to hurt any of you. But you guys were the one thing I let myself be selfish over.”

“I honestly think I’m more upset about how you’ve been hurting this whole time than I am about not knowing about the others. How didn’t I see you were upset?”

“I’d like to think I hid it pretty well considering how long it took.”

“How long?”

I snort. “Too long. Although to be fair, Caleb and Zayne figured it out about each other a few years ago. But they are friends so I’m not surprised they did. Sylus however has known for a long time about all of you. I don’t know if you’ve caught on, but it’s next to impossible to keep things from him. Doesn’t help that we tend to sleep in nearly opposite schedules and he caught me crying myself to sleep while staying with him one night. Poor guy thought he did something to hurt me.”

“He’s known a long time? He has that tragic love story shit and he’s known a long time? How the hell has he done that?”

“Yeah, I would say almost the whole time. I was able to keep it from him for a while, but I think that’s because it took a while for the guilt to really kick in. Once the guilt started taking me, that’s when he noticed. I wish I could answer your last question. I didn’t know about the tragic love story until recently. It honestly makes me feel even more guilty. Same with you.”

“I’m not gonna lie, cutie. It really hurts knowing this whole time I’ve been sharing you. But seeing you when we are all together paints me the picture of why you did it very vividly. I’m sorry you’ve had to live with the guilt this whole time. We can’t always help who we love.”

I smack his arm playfully. “Now who the hell said anything about love.”

He smirks at me and gives me a knowing look. “You didn’t have to say anything about it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m the fool who fell in love with fuve idiots who would literally chase me to the ends of the earth.”

Rafayel snorts this time. “Is that part of why you ran?”

I sigh and lean forward to rest my head on his chest. “I’d be lying if I said no. It’s not the whole reason but it was definitely part of it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“Why you ran.”

“Oh. I mean. It’s really silly. Everything was just kind of adding up from over the years. All the things going wrong and-” I wave my hand in the air. “Zayne was leaving me. I’m sure knowing Zayne he’s filed you in on at least a little of the reasoning. I convinced him that we’d do more of a break than him outright leaving town, that we’d be in contact less. And it hurt. Soooo fucking bad. And then I spiraled. If he could decide to leave me, any of you could.”

“I’d never leave you.” He squeezes me tighter against his chest.

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what past you would have said if I told you I loved four other men and I wasn’t going to choose between the five of you.”

“No. I don’t know what I would have said. But I wouldn’t have left you. We would have worked it out. Cutie, we are bonded. Once I got you in my trap again, I had no plans of letting you go.”

I let out a half hearted chuckle. “Right. You just as easily could have decided to kidnap me and lock me up forever.”

“I’d never do that and don’t you dare suggest it ever again.” He says with a bitter anger rolling off of him.

“Sorry.”

“So you spiraled thinking about us leaving, which turned into you leaving us?”

“I honestly didn’t think about it that way. I figured if I was going to hurt, I would be the cause of it. Was hoping I’d maybe gain some clarity while being gone too. That never came.”

“Did you think about it hurting us at all?”

I freeze. Surely I had, right? Did I not think about it? Nooo, I assumed they wouldn’t be that affected. That not much of their lives would change. I didn’t even think that it would hurt them. “No.” I reply sheepishly. “I think that I assumed it wouldn’t bother you guys that much.”

“You are ridiculous. You just said the five of us doted on you and acted like you hung the stars and you didn’t think I’d–we’d be upset when the sky went black?”

“I’m an idiot.” I say as realization struck me.

“A damn cute one, but yeah you are.”

“Will you forgive me? For not telling you about the others? For running away?”

Rafayel practically peels me off of him, taking my cheeks in his hands he looks me dead in the eyes. “My love, my light, my bride. I’d forgive you even if you cut my heart out.”

I gasp. “Please don’t say things like that.” I force myself back into his chest.

“I mean it. I would.” He says as he strokes my hair.

We sit in comfortable silence, Rafayel just held me in his arms, for a while. And then his phone rings.

“It’s Xavier.” he tells me before answering. “What’s up, lightbright?”

“I told you to stop calling me that.” I can hear him seethe from here. “The program finished rerunning the last signal. You guys should come back.”

“Roger.” and he hangs up the phone and puts it back in his pocket. “Sounds like they may have gotten somewhere while we were out.”

“Sounds like it.”

The walk back was short, we hadn’t made it very far when we’d stop to have our conversation in the first place. We playfully bumped into each other a few times before finally coming back to the building that was Philo. Upon entering we were met with a chorus of overlapping voices.

“That shouldn’t even be possible. We haven’t seen anything like this in all of our tunnel explorations.” Caleb all but shouts.

“The calculations don’t lie, Colonel. So whether you and your little fleet found it or not, it exists.” Jeremiah’s voice sounds like he’s aching to take a bite out of Caleb.

“It does make sense that there is more than we know out there. It is the whole point of the explorations in the first place.” Xavier points out.

“It’s not a matter of what we knew or didn’t. This, based on all of our data collected so far, is fact.” Sylus says in that all too calm manner.

“Jeremiah ran the program three times, per your request, Caleb. You’ve seen the results thrice. It is what it is.” Zayne tries reasoning with his friend.

“Whoa, you didn’t say chaos was erupting, Lightbright. Little warning next time.” Rafayel slides into the conversation, all eyes turn to us. To me.

“What’d I do?” I ask, holding my hands up in mock surrender.

“Nothing.” Five voices ring out at once as they all turn back into each other.

Rafayel whistles and leans down to whisper in my ear. “They’ve all been wound very tight, sounds like the wire is threatening to snap.” Earning him a smack on the shoulder from me. “Ooof.”

“Alright, what’s going on? Why does Caleb look like everything he knew is a lie?” I ask, trying to gain control of the situation.

“Because it is.” Caleb drops to the couch dramatically, grabbing me by the waist and taking me with him.

“Hey!” I flail as I fall with him.

Zayne sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’s not a lie. It was only partial information.”

“Alright, I need someone to speak in an uncryptic, nerd-light way here.”

“Sweetie. We’ve discovered where the signal for the missing piece of my soul is coming from.”

“Right. Gathered that. I didn’t say I needed you to speak to me like a grade school student. Go on.”

“From everything we have gathered, data wise, from everything we know and the program-” Jeremiah begins trying to explain.

“We found an alternate timeline, Pipsqueak.” Caleb cuts him off and gets right to the point.

“A what!?”

“Thank you! That’s exactly how I responded.” Caleb leans his forehead against the back of my shoulder.

“A place completely separate, similar but not, running nearly identically parallel to our timeline.” Jeremiah beams, turning back to the monitors in awe.

“How do we know it’s a timeline and now just a separate universe?”

“Because it’s holding my soul, Sweetie.”

“I’m sure you're saying this like it should be obvious for me. But spell it out for me, for the plot.” I say, waving my hand around for dramatics.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Rafayel. I should cut back his babysitting schedule.” Zayne deadpans.

“Wha-! Hey! I did nothing I will have you know. It's her mouth that spoke the words.” He points over to me for effect.

“You’re the only one who uses ‘for the plot’ as a reason for someone to do something.” Caleb cocks his eyebrow at the purple haired menace who’s mouth is hanging open.

“I’m being bullied and I didn’t even do anything!” Rafayel shrieks.

I’m shaking in Caleb’s lap from laughter. All too aware that I caused this chaos but that no one is calling me out for it but the one who is getting blamed.

“Anyway.” Zayne interjects. “For the plot, it’s because the soul piece wouldn’t be able to exist in any other parameters other than those that match where it came from. Or comes really close to matching.”

“Mmm, more nerd speak.” I lean my head forward in thought. “So it has to be running parallel in a similar manner or things would be all sorts of fucked up?”

“Exactly, Sweetie.”

“Well, how the hell did it get there?”

“Now that is a good question. But, we will answer that one later. We are going to work on bringing it back.”

“Couldn’t the two things be the answer for each other?”

“Based on the information you gave us in the hospital about what happened when you noticed something felt off–which was nothing–we have no way to reverse engineer it to figure out if we can just undo whatever was done.” Zayne says with the scientific certainty he has over things he invests interest in.

“That’s,” I frown. “Unfortunate. I wish there was some event that happened that could explain it. That whole week was almost nothing but peaceful up until I started having the dull ache and the feeling of something being off.” I roll my shoulders out, realizing I’m still perched on Caleb’s lap, and slide myself off to his side on the couch instead.

Caleb pouts in my direction but responds. “I don’t.” I turn to him open mouthed ready to argue but he places his hand over my mouth. “According to Sylus, if there had been some event that happened, it would have been traumatic without your consent.” He shakes his head from the thought. “None of us want that in exchange for information.” He finishes quieter.

Xavier, who has been silently leaning up against the wall closest to Jeremiah’s set up, speaks up. “What if, and I know this won’t make any more sense than anything else we’ve discovered, it was there the whole time? The soul piece. What if something happened in the other timeline that made the timelines… I don’t know… bump against each other or something and it triggered something that made it noticeable that it wasn’t here. And then each time we get a signal in the program, it’s probably also a bump of the timelines.”

Silence comes over the whole room, sounds of shifting cloth and shoes are the only noise for a heavy minute.

Sylus is the first to speak up. “Are you suggesting a piece of my soul has been missing for an unknown amount of time and I just haven’t noticed this whole time?”

“That would mean I have been oblivious to my bond not being fully there, too. That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? If it’s been gone long enough then the feeling of either the soul or the bond would begin feeling like there’s nothing wrong. Maybe there was a lifetime you knew and then forgot? But if the timelines bumped and made everything aware then that would cause the threads to snap into place and for you to feel them change.”

“I hate how accurate this sounds.” Rafayel spins on his heel and plops down next to me on the couch.

“Ok, so despite you not really caring about ‘the how’ we have a working hypothesis on what happened.” I push the two thighs that had begun manspreading towards me out of my bubble and stand. “Now where the fuck do we even begin on the how to get it back.”

Silence doesn’t last long when Zayne speaks up, a flit of excitement in his voice like he just won an award for a new scientific discovery. “With Xavier’s hypothesis, it’s really obvious what we do to get it back.” He looks at all of us like this is the most obvious thing in the world. “We watch the bumps, figure out what is causing them, and force them to our advantage.”

“Holy shit.” Caleb sighs from behind me.

Xavier rubs his chin and steps forward to Jeremiah’s console and begins typing. “In theory, if we can get the timelines to bump for long enough then technically they overlap which potentially makes it possible to grab someone from the other timeline.” He pauses his speech but keeps typing. Finally after a few pointed clicks he resumes. “Depending on what exactly is the contact for the bumps, depends on how hard the pull might be.” Xavier turns toward everyone, met with a bunch of rapid blinking in response. “What?”

“What the hell did you just do?” Jeremiah asks while staring at the monitors.

“Oh! I set it up to capture any audio and visual that’s available at the time of the bumps instead of it just catching a signal.”

“How the fuck did you do that?!” Jeremiah gapes.

“I, uh—” Xavier scratches the back of his head. “You know. My fingers kind of led the way there. I didn’t think about it too much. I guess I’ll leave it to you to figure out what I did.”

“Fucking fantastic.” Jeremiah moves Xavier out of the way and brings up the program coding and begins to work, effectively shutting everyone else out.

“So, now we just have to wait for the next bump.” Xavier says while shrugging his shoulders, everyone else’s eyes still boring holes into him.

“Then we wait.”

“So are we having weekly family meetings at Philo now, or should I start feeling special?” Jeremiah says as the last of us trickle into the shop.

“Awww, are you going to miss everyone showing up when we have this figured out?” I call sweetly to him.

“Quite the opposite. I think I’ll throw myself a party. I’ll be the only attendee. It will be soooo peaceful.” Jeremiah responds, making a point to look up dramatically as if in deep thought with an elated look on his face.

“Annnnnyway.” Sylus clears his throat to call attention to himself. “We are here because the program has picked up enough information to finally formulate a plan. Yeah?”

Jeremiah straightens one of his suspender belts and focuses. “Right. Yeah. So with all the data collected since our last meeting I think I have a pretty clear picture that has formed about what is on the other side of the signal.” He turns to his computer set up and begins pulling stuff up onto the monitors.

From the couch Caleb says, “That’s what I like to hear. We can get this show on the road then.”

“Hopefully the show actually has a lot more flare than this because this waiting shit has been for the birds. I need more pizzazz.” Rafayel drops dramatically on the opposite side of the couch.

“Enough you two.” Zayne chides them.

“So what are we looking at then?” Sylus says, shaking his head.

“Well, from what I can tell our target,” Jeremiah points at a picture on one of the screens, “appears to be looking at a device when the signal triggers. However, it’s not constant or consistent so the device isn’t the cause of the trigger, per say.”

“So do we have a way to pinpoint what is the trigger then?” Xavier asks while staring at the picture on the screen. “Interesting.” he says quietly to himself.

“I used your code, that I finally found, and tweaked it so it would screen capture what was happening on the device. And, trust me Xav, it gets even more interesting.” Jeremiah types into the console and more images pop up.

“What the fuck is that?!?” Caleb stands abruptly.

“It’s a game.” Jeremiah deadpans.

Caleb walks over to the monitors. “Well no shit Einstein, but why the fuck does that,” he points to one of the screen grabs of the game. “Look like me?!?”

My waning attention was grabbed at that moment. “What do you mean it looks like you?” I walked up to the monitors myself. “Wait a fucking second. Why does that look like me too!?!”

“Do we have video and audio from this moment too?” Sylus rubs his chin in thought.

“Aren’t you going to give her a language warning for that doc?” Rafayel teases.

“No. I think she has every right for that one.”

Jeremiah ignores the side conversation and responds to Sylus. “We do. After reviewing it a few times, as well as a few others that are similar situations, it has given me a general idea on what the trigger may be. I compiled it so that the video of the target and the screen grab plays simultaneously. Would you like to watch?”

Six voices echoed the space in a resounding, “Yes.”

A few clicks of a keyboard later and we are met with the very frustrated sound of a girl’s voice while she navigates a claw machine game with an avatar version of Caleb at the helm. At the end of that video Jeremiah clicks to another one. This time we are met with the same frustration and a digital kitty cards game that she appears to be playing with Sylus.

“You’re lucky I love you, pretty boy.” The voice of the girl says through gritted teeth.

“Oh?” Sylus says in amusement.

“Oh god, it’s going to go to his head now.” I groan.

“Well of course, sweetie.”

“So from going through all of the information thoroughly I can take a guess that the moment she starts emotionally clashing with the game is when the signal gets sent and lasts as long as the emotion lasts. But just that emotion. After the first connection with Xavier’s code I was able to essentially keep a backdoor open into the device set to record at random intervals outside of the signals.”

“So only when the game starts giving her a hard time and she gets mad at ‘us’ essentially?” Xavier asks.

“No. Not just from her getting upset over the avatar's actions. It appears to be linked solely to these mini-games and in the case of the claw machine, it happens even when she is in charge and not the avatar.”

“Are we gonna skip over how this is really, really weird?” Rafayel’s voice goes up an octave.

“You wanted pizzazz.” Zayne reminds him.

“This isn’t pizzazz, this is terrorism.”

“No, this is the best explanation for the parallels between timelines.” Jeremiah chirps in.

“How do you mean?” I ask him.

“Well, we as humans are all just a conglomerate of stories and faces. If we don’t exist in flesh in one timeline then we exist in code that tells the story.”

“Oh gods, the game tells a story?” Caleb groans. “What kind of shit does it tell?”

Jeremiah’s hands pause their movements, and he takes a deep breath. “Unfortunately for all of us, pretty close to our actual stories.”

“What!?” Xavier all but yells. “I’m sorry. Do you mean…?” He gives Jeremiah a look and receives a nod in return. “That… that’s not great.”

“No, it’s not. Past and present. Maybe future, but I have no way of really knowing that and I stopped looking once I confirmed a few things.”

“Tell us more about what you’ve discovered about this game.” Sylus stalks forward a few steps to look closer at the images that are still up on the monitors.

“Well, it appears to be like a dating simulator, but it’s mostly stories. Again, the stories are pretty accurate to what I know of our real lives, in the correct order for the most part. However most of the events don’t happen in the timeline as we know it, time doesn’t really appear to move forward in the game, but yet it does.” “Make it make sense please.” I sing-song at him.

“From you becoming a hunter to now, as the most recent event in the game was the event with Zayne at Xander Sciences, has been years for us. In the game there is no real progression forward. It’s all happening, it appears the calendar moves forward in days but not years. There is no mention of the most current in-game year that I could find, just the initial beginning. There are also some side stories that I watched that I can’t say are real or not, as I’m not involved in them. They may be accurate, they may be made up.”

“Well it’s a video game so most time sense goes out the window anyway depending on the genre.” Caleb explains.

“Yeah. I mean none of that is really that important. As I was saying, with the backdoor to the device recording in random intervals I was able to determine that it is only during bouts of frustration during the mini games. Also with the backdoor I was able to do a little bit of digging into the device itself. I learned that it is calendar year 2025 for her. A few other things but that seemed most important.”

“So it’s a different timeline and shifted slightly to the past?” Zayne ponders the question out loud. “I suppose in the grand scheme of things our times aren’t too far away, clearly it holds enough parallels for the connection.”

“Yes, exactly.” Jeremiah nods.

“Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.” Caleb croaks from the spot he returned to on the couch.

“Nerd.” I say as I stick my tongue out at him.

“Anyway.” Sylus interrupts our childish behavior. “Do we have any thoughts on the next steps?”

“Yes! Actually. I believe with a combination of your evols we can essentially pull her through.”

“A combination of evols?” Rafayel muses. “Surely fire isn’t going to be helpful here unless we plan on barbecuing the poor girl.”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t mean all of your evols. I think Sylus’, Caleb’s, and Xavier’s will do it.”

“Explain your reasoning.” Xavier pushes off the wall.

“Energy and light are pretty much what runs the world. Gravity I can only make assumptions with so if I’m wrong then I’m wrong.”

“What are your assumptions? I can confirm or deny whatever you need.”

“Can you rip holes into space?”

“Yes.”

“Have you tried connecting them or making a doorway?”

“....Yes.”

“Ever test the distance?”

“Yeah?” Caleb’s eyebrows come together in suspicion. “Ooooh. OH!” He jumps up. “When the timelines bump you want me to open a portal?”

“Exactly.”

“And with my evol being able to manipulate electronics also, I’ll be…what? Glitching out the device or something” Xavier asks.

“You and Sylus will manipulate the device, yes. But Sylus will be doing the pulling.”

“Oh? So we are going to use Caleb’s evol to open a portal between our timeline and hers. Me and Xavier are going to glitch out the device, which will undoubtedly cause her frustration to keep the signal longer. And I’m going to drag her through the portal. Sounds simple enough.” Sylus says in a tone that is almost mocking.

“Judging by your inflection I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised if I say ‘hardly’. It may take a few times to get it right. I can run something to see if she has a routine she follows when it comes to the game so we can all be prepared and are around.”

Caleb scoffs. “Routine or not, we all can’t just schedule our lives around it.”

“We don’t have much of a choice if we want to do this, Colonel.” Sylus sneers.

“What if there is no routine to follow?” Rafayel wonders. “What do we do then? Periodically meet and hope for the best?”

“Unfortunately, yeah pretty much.”

“Hey! What role do I get to play in this?” I ask.

“Sit there and look pretty, kitten.”

I cross my arms and scowl in his direction. “Well if there are three of us that aren’t needed, then we all can hang out without you.”

“Oooooor, and I’m just throwing it out there cutie, we all come and watch the show.” Rafayel’s eyes sparkle on the last word.

“I’d very much like to be here from a scientific point of view, so unfortunately you are out numbered.” Zayne adjusts his tie.

“Well… I guess that’s not terrible so long as I’m relieved from having to be babysat.” I give him doe eyes and look at him expectantly.

“That’s all going to depend on when this all goes down. Unfortunately, regardless of the need medically, it’s probably for the best if you come too if everyone else will be here.” Zayne shoots down my last chance at getting out of this.

“I guess.” I say dejectedly.

“Alright, from what I’ve gathered from her history, it seems like she prefers to do as many of these mini game tasks at the same time as possible. She hasn’t done them yet this week. It’s Friday and everything resets early Monday morning. So we pretty much have the weekend to sit here and wait for her to play the game.” Jeremiah paces the room.

“I’ll be over here. Sitting pretty.” I call from the couch. No one takes the bait.

“Alright, so just to go over the plan again. We get the signal ping. It gives us a set of coordinates and a visual on what is happening through the backdoor in the device. I use that information to concentrate on creating a portal between here and there.” Caleb lists off the steps in his part of the process.

Jeremiah nods. “Correct.”

“And because the connection point is an electronic device, once that portal is connected me and Sylus concentrate on manipulating the device?” Xavier checks.

“Yep.”

“And once we’ve successfully manipulated the device, Xavier keeps that up and I switch focus to finding and pulling the target through.”

“I’ve discovered that her name is Cielle, by the way.” Jeremiah throws that new piece of information out there.

“That’s not important right now.” Sylus dismisses.

“Hey! I have a question.” I raise my hand to get their attention.

Six men turn and look at me, eyebrows arched up.

“What’s the plan once she gets here?”

Comedically, all six of those men’s backs get suddenly ridiculously straight.

My jaw drops. “Are you kidding me, guys? No plan for once she’s here?”

The six of them silently look between each other, almost hoping that someone had come up with an idea.

“Oh my gods. Well. Shall we do that now then? I’ll tell you my opinion though. Based on how we are all in a video game in her world, I’d be willing to bet she has no idea she has the piece of missing soul.”

“Well there goes my usual tactic of kidnapping and questioning.” Sylus muses.

I just glare at him. It’s possible he was seriously giving his usual tactics genuine thought, but I hope that’s not the case.

“I can’t imagine we’d get much out of her after ripping her from her world anyway. We should definitely monitor for shock when she gets here.” Zayne’s doctor side takes over.

“We don’t know if any memories or anything will carry over either. While she knows all of us through a video game right now, she may not recognize us when she gets here.” Jeremiah theorizes.

“We don’t know anything that may happen. This is, quite literally, a first. She may come through my portal as flesh mist.” Caleb morbidly comments.

I gag. The visual was enough to thoroughly turn my stomach. “Why the fuck would you say that.” I wail between gags.

“Sorry, pips.”

“Please don’t puke on my floor.” Jeremiah says while turning to grab a trash can from under his desk to hand to me.

“I’ll do my best. Keep him from saying anymore shit like that and we should be fine.”

Caleb laughs. “I have no plans to. That was my bad.”

Just then my hand shoots to my chest and the terminal starts beeping. “Show time.” Jeremiah rubs his hands together and makes sure all systems are a go.

Caleb steps up to the screens and memorizes the coordinates, concentrating on the visual the program gave him, he steps farther into the more open area of the room and begins by opening one end of his portal there. He steps closer to the rip he created and closes his eyes, mouthing the numbers from the screen. The opening in the room ripples around the edges a little and he opens his eyes.

“Connected on the other side. We still good with that ping?” Caleb asks Jeremiah.

“Currently still connected. Xavier, Sylus. You’re up.” Jeremiah sends out the next command.

Xavier and Sylus step towards Caleb’s concentrating form. Streams of golden light and red and black make their way through the portal, both men rock back a bit on contact.

“Holy shit that feels weird.” Xavier whispers.

“I can feel the device. Can you?” Sylus asks Xavier.

“Yeah. Begin poking around.” Xavier exhales.

Rafayel had sat down beside me at some point. My leg is bent under me up on the couch and I’m leaning into the arm rest, watching. Rafayel shuffles impossibly closer and rests his chin on my shoulder. Zayne had walked around to the back side of the couch and rested his hand on my other shoulder.

“This is both riveting and incredibly boring.” Rafayal whines into my ear. “We can’t see what those two are doing with their evols but I can feel the tingling in the air from the use.”

“It is interesting overall.” Zayne says lightly, squeezing my shoulder. “The fact this is happening is a scientific marvel.”

“Don’t get too excited, doc.” Xavier says, gritting his teeth.

“Nothing has happened on our end yet.” Sylus adds.

“We’ve got screen disturbance from the back door.” Jeremiah calls from his place at the console. “Oh no! Connection is going to be lost, the game appears to be almost over.”

Not but another minute after Jeremiah announced that information Xavier and Sylus hiss simultaneously and their evols retreat back through the portal opening.

Zayne steps forward. “What was that?”

“It was almost like once the mini game ended, the game code fought back.” Xavier rubs his wrists.

“Fought back? How does code fight back?” I ask, my eyebrows knitted tightly together.

“It was probably less the codes doing and more like,” Jeremiah sighs after pausing to find the right wording. “More like the universe? Would be my guess. Your powers don’t belong in that timeline so in order to keep it that way it ‘corrected’ itself.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good.” Rafayel whispers, chin still resting on my shoulder.

“I mean. I don’t know for sure. I’m just guessing.”

“Doesn’t that mean, with your guess, that our world would attack her when she gets here?”

Jeremiah ponders for a moment, hand on his chin. “I don’t think so. She has a piece of something that belongs in this world, so therefore she belongs more to this universe than they belong to that one.”

“What are the back door visuals giving you now? Should I keep the portal open?” Caleb asks, still standing near a rip in space and time.

Jeremiah turns back to his console. “She appears to be on a completely different app at the moment so you are probably clear to close it as long as you think you’ll be able to open it again later. She tends to do all the mini games on the same day.”

A strange static ripples through the room as the spot that was once a black void returns to normal.

“Oh I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that feeling. It almost makes my stomach want to flip.” I say leaning my head forward onto the arm rest.

Rafayel rubs firm but gentle circles along my lower back, silently showing me support. “It wasn’t a great feeling, for sure.”

“That’s why I try not to use it often. Doesn’t feel great from my end either. Make room, I’ve gotta sit.” Caleb stalks over and plops down on the far end of the couch, throwing his head back to rest on the back of the couch.

Zayne exits the room and reappears with a bottle of water and brings it over to Caleb and places it on his forehead.

“Aww, Zaynie. You do care.” Caleb grabs the water and sits up to take a drink.

Zayne shakes his head and mumbles something low enough I can’t hear it and walks back over to me. “Are you ok?”

“Peachy.” I keep my head leaning on the arm rest, not wanting to move and upset anything in my body. Rafayel continues to rub my back.

“So what exactly is she doing right now? Is it something else from her routine?” Xavier asks out of curiosity.

Jeremiah turns back to look at his screen, scans it for a moment, then he clears his throat and minimizes it. “It’s not part of her typical routine. And do we really want to invade her privacy more than we already are?”

“Oooh. Is it juicy?” Rafayel turns his attention towards Jeremiah now and wiggles his eyebrows at the man.

“Not my business.” Jeremiah just shakes his head.

Caleb reaches into his pocket and pulls out a colorful rectangle box. “Anyone want to play cards while we wait?”

Several hours, quite a few rounds of cards, and two take out meals later the console pings the signal again and the boys spring into their places. Once Caleb checks the coordinates he moves back into place and goes through the same motions he had earlier, with greater ease. As soon as he acknowledges the connection has been made the other two move back into position, their evols coiling out from them like it’s been waiting this whole time.

“I’ve got contact with the device.” Sylus calls out.

“Same. Jeremiah, do you have access to the code through that back door?” Xavier asks over his shoulder.

“Umm.” The keyboard clicks in the silence. “Yes. Why?”

“Can you sabotage the mini game? Which one is she playing?”

“She is playing the claw machine right now. She’s controlling it, not the avatar.”

“Perfect. Make it so she doesn’t get any plushies.”

“On it.”

I look between the open hole at the back of the room and the speed at which Jeremiah’s fingers move across his keyboard and can’t help but feel like I’m in some sort of Sci-Fi movie. I lean back against Zayne, who has taken the spot next to me on the couch this time, with Rafayel perched on the back part of the arm rest.

“Done.” The clicking ceases and Xavier’s evol flickers brighter.

“What the hell.” I whisper. “I’ve only seen that happen when we resonate, Xav.”

“Same.” Is all he answers back.

“Mini game is over but I just heard her say something about playing kitty cards so hold strong.” Jeremiah instructs.

“You can hear her?!” I stare Jeremiah down. “And you were talking about invading her privacy.”

Zayne taps my shoulder as if to say I should let it go. Rafayel looks at me from over his shoulder and winks at me.

“My connection feels stronger this time.” Sylus says to no one in particular.

“She’s playing with your avatar. I don’t know if that makes a difference.”

“It might.” Sylus’ evol suddenly glows brighter, the misty tendrils that are on this side of the portal flick faster. “Well, whatever is happening appears to be feeding my evol and is making the connection stronger. It’s like she’s walking into a trap she helped set.”

“Who was she playing with during the last game?” Rafayel asks.

“Xavier.”

“That could explain why only Xavier’s evol reacted last game and why only Sylus’ reacted this game.” Zayne muses.

“I can feel the code.” Sylus grins menacingly. “Let’s have some fun.”

On our end there was only silence from us, watching the others concentrate on their tasks. I look over to Jeremiah’s screens and can see that the Sylus avatar is not taking it easy on Cielle one bit. I can also see her eyebrows knit together tightly and her mouth moving, head turned just slightly like she’s talking to someone just past the screen of the device.

Jeremiah quickly removes his ear piece and holds it out away from him for a moment. “Christ. She’s yelling for someone.”

“Did we consider whether or not she’d be alone?” I ask with genuine concern.

Jeremiah rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t consider it, to be honest. I assumed she’d be alone. Although thinking back on some of the data we collected there was evidence she might have been with someone.”

“Does she have a partner? Gods above, we didn’t think about ripping her away from people who love her!” I shout at the room.

“I’m through!” Sylus suddenly yells.

My eyes flash over to Sylus and back to the computer screens. On the view showing Cielle I can see Sylus’ evol slithering closer to her, her eyes wide with shock and terror, she’s clearly yelling for someone now.

Seconds later a second woman's face is in view, arms wrapped tightly around Cielle, eyes fixated on her.

“Oh gods.” I gasp.

“I have them both, this is our only chance and the other isn’t likely to let go of her anytime soon.” Sylus grits his teeth, clearly displeased with how things are turning out.

“Fuck!” Caleb yells. “I didn’t calculate for two people to come through!”

“What is the significance?” Zayne asks immediately.

“Where they end up. I can fix it on their end but because the connection is made I can’t change our point.”

“What do you mean? The rip is right here.”

“It’s mostly visual. It’s all based on numbers. This spot is a rough spot for it to happen. If it had just been her when she came through she could have visually shown up 3 feet away, that’s why I chose a spot with space around it.” Caleb rattles off rapidly.

“Son of a bitch. What are the calculations for where they may end up now that there are two?” Sylus asks while still focusing on his evol keeping hold of the two women, slowly dragging them closer to the open portal on their end.

“Somewhere in the city, not too far but not immediately here. I can try to focus on closing their end as soon as you pull them through and try to adjust our end as best as I can.”

“That's all we can do then. I can feel the edge of the portal on their end. Be prepared. Xavier as soon as they are through, move out of the way just in case.”

All I can do is stare at the screens. I didn’t think about how awful this may be from her end. I don’t think any of them did. Well, Zayne thought about her wellbeing for when she made it here at least. What have we done?

“NOW!” Sylus shouts.

So many things happen at once. Xavier quickly sprints to the side, a flash of light temporarily blinds me as his evol reacts to whatever happened in the rip. Sylus lets out a small growl in concentration, determined not to let go of our, well our captives I suppose, while they are quite literally dangling in time and space right now. Caleb lets out a low string of curses as he fights with his evol to shift at a moment's notice.

Suddenly Sylus is stumbling backwards, Caleb is bent over breathing heavily, and a ripple passes over the room as the rip closes.

All eyes snap toward where the rip had been, frantically searching around for the new bodies.

“Where are they!?” Zayne frantically gets up and starts opening other doors in the building.

Caleb, panting, manages to get out, “I couldn’t adjust for here, but they are nearby. I focused on an open area for them.”

“We should be able to track them with the program now that they are here!” Sylus yells.

Jeremiah immediately swivels around to the console and brings up the program once more, immediately met with constant pinging. “They are close! A small area just next to Azure square.”

Five men immediately spring into action and bolt towards the door. I am left on the couch just staring off into nothing, lost in my own thoughts about how we just turned this poor woman…women’s lives upside down, without second thought.

After a few moments my head slowly turns to look at Jeremiah, who also seemed to have been lost in thought. “What the hell did we just do?”

Chapter Text

Darkness. Swirling and expansive darkness. Weightless, except for the heavy touch of the body attached to mine. Unbearably silent. It felt like it lasted forever but must have only been a few minutes, had to have been, before we suddenly met solid ground.

Bright. Loud. Weight returned, bodies separated on impact. I stood up frantically, feeling unsteady on my own feet for a moment, and immediately moved to help Mallory. My phone, still in my hand, suddenly feels like I’m holding lead. I quickly shove it in my pocket. After a moment of silence and just standing there grounding each other, I dared a look at our surroundings.

‘How the fuck did I get here?’ I think to myself, looking around at the strange yet familiar scene in front of me, I felt a squeeze on my right hand.

“Are you ok?” Mallory asks, wide eyed with worry.

“Yeah.” I answer breathlessly. “Are you?” equal amounts of worry evident in my voice.

“I’m fine. What the fuck happened?”

“I. Wish. I. Knew.” I emphasize as I spin around, taking Mallory with me. We both refuse to let go of each other. “I hate to say it, but ‘we aren’t in Kansas anymore’ Mal.”

Mallory half chuckles. “You could definitely say that.”

I do another spin, taking in our surroundings. We appear to be in smallish grassy island tucked off to one side of an otherwise busy city square. To one side there are massive futuristic looking structures. The open cement area between buildings is beautifully decorated with spaced out foliage, plenty of benches, and a grand fountain a ways away in the center. From where we are standing there appear to be several side passages between the buildings, no doubt leading to many other businesses. The other side of us has more open grassy areas that bleed off into a less dense business area. Less futuristic and more modern looking buildings line the walkway.

“Where the hell are we?” Mallory asks no one in particular.

My attention has gone from the cityscape to the throng of people in the square. Business suits to casual clothing can be seen and I am suddenly acutely aware of the fact I hadn’t changed out of my pajama pants and baggy t-shirt this morning.

Wide eyed, I turn to look at Mallory. “I am ridiculously underdressed to be in a crowd right now.”

Mallory laughs at me. “Oh, honey… that’s the silliest thing to be worried about right now.”

“I’m well aware of that, but it’s the one thing I apparently could have had control over. If only I hadn’t been so…” I can feel myself beginning to panic over the thought of being seen. Noticed.

“Nah-uh. Breath. You’ll be fine. I’m here. Let’s go sit and figure out what the fuck to do now.” Mallory’s hand squeezes mine for a moment and then leads me over to a set of benches tucked farther into the greenery and under a tree. “Here we go, this spot is kind of concealed. No one is looking at you.”

I look up to see that there is a row of hedges, just tall enough that, while sitting, they block my sight of most of the square, only more of the grassy areas are really visible. I run my hands down my thighs a few times, attempting to ground myself, before I set my elbows on my knees and lean my head in my hands. Of all the days to have whatever the fuck just happened happen, of course it has to be the one day I spent all day in my pajama’s. I can’t even recall if I fixed my bed hair from this morning. If I hadn’t then Mallory is definitely not going to tell me unless it’s necessary.

‘You know….’ That awful voice from the corner of my brain begins. ‘It does look awfully familiar here. Don’t you think?’

‘Shut up, literally no one asked you right now.’

‘No need to ask. I simply provide input where needed.’ I can almost see the cheshire smile bloom. ‘But seriously. Look around again.’

Reluctantly, I lift my head up again, stand, and look around once more. Looking for anything that might give me a sign for why my brain is so insistent that this place is familiar. My eyes drift up towards the bustling plaza center again and I look more closely at the signs along the buildings and walkway. General shop names. Restaurants I’ve never heard of. Cafe’s. A big sign over the walkway attached to the buildings on either side reading “Azure Square”...

“Azure Square!?” I repeat out loud.

Mallory, who had been standing off to my side and had been looking around herself, suddenly turned back to me. “What?”

“That sign says Azure Square.” I blink a few times. Double, triple checking that I am reading that right.

“Something tells me that I should recognize that name, but I currently don’t. Ci, I need you to give me a bit of context to go on, my love.”

“Love and Deepspace. That’s a place in Love and Deepspace.”

“Well then clearly it was taken from a real place.”

Just then out of the corner of my eye I spot five men running towards the square. Five tall, handsome, colorful, frantic looking…oh fuck.

Instantaneously I tug Mallory’s arm, forcing her down, dragging her with me towards the corner of the hedges, keeping as low as possible.

“Ci!” Mallory squeaks out. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Shhhh!” I hiss out, dragging her even farther into the corner with me. Once I’m satisfied we are both tucked far enough out of view my hands return to my head. “What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck.”

“Hey, hey. It’s ok. We’ll figure this out. It’s going to be ok. I need you to not spiral right now though. Deep breaths, pretty girl.”

“I’d love to take deep breaths right now, Mal, but I just saw them.”

“Them?” She looks at me, very clearly more than a little confused.

“Yes. Them.”

“My love. Pretty girl. Ci. They are from a video game. You couldn’t have seen them. I promise, we are both just disoriented right now. Let’s take a beat and calm down.”

“Mallory, there is no calming down right now. So humor me and take a look over those hedges towards the center of the square.”

Mallory stares at me for a moment, unsure whether she should be more concerned about me I’m sure. But she does as I ask. Slowly she raises herself to a standing position and looks over in the direction I said. “I don’t see anything, hun. Are you sure you didn’t just see someone who looked like-” Mallory pauses and goes as still as a statue. “Oh fuck. Why does that guy look exactly like Caleb? And that hair…is that Rafayel? Oh my god, Ci, is that Zay-AH!” I yanked her back down to me.

“Please tell me they weren’t looking this way?” I whisper to her.

“They were looking in this general direction, but I doubt any of them looked this way. Besides, what would it matter? It’s not like they know us.”

“Because I yanked you down here. A random girl falling behind a hedge kind of brings attention to anyone looking in that direction.” I shake my head. “Doesn’t matter. You are right. They don’t know us. I’d still rather not meet them looking like this.” I take a deep breath. “My fight or flight is kicking in, Mal. We both know which one my body is going to choose if push comes to shove.”

“Please don’t run. I will not be able to find you in this place.”

“I’m fighting it really hard. Only saving grace is not knowing how to get around here. What the hell are we supposed to do from–”

“Did anyone look over here?” I hear an unfortunately familiar voice call from way too close.

Both Mallory and I go stone still. I slowly turn my head toward her but she was looking toward the opening of the area. I follow the direction she is looking and see the toes of a set of polished boots just poking into the area.

Mallory’s head whips back to me. I can see the gears turning in her head. She understands my trepidation of not wanting them to see me in my current state, regardless of how she thinks I look. Her eyebrow quirks up and a half smirk pulls her lips up. I know that look. She has an idea that she really likes.

Suddenly she’s super close to me, our breaths are mingling and she searches my eyes for understanding. Unfortunately my brain is currently mush and I don’t think I could add two and two right now. Her head dips slightly to the side of my head, lips close to my ear now.

“No one likes to disturb the random couple hiding in the corner making out.” She whispers almost inaudibly.

My head turns to line back up with hers, my eyes flick back up to behind her and I see someone who, no doubt, at least looks like Caleb with most of their back currently facing us. They are clearly searching the other end of the grassy area we occupy first. My eyes must have gone wide in the next second as the man began to turn towards us.

Mallory’s mouth crashes into mine. Nothing like our usual kisses that are laced with feeling, it's all determination and protection, it still causes me to melt into her and relax slightly. I hear a light shuffle of feet as the figure moves in our general direction.

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” The man mumbles as he turns back.

I can feel Mallory relax a little bit, not breaking the kiss yet. That moment lasts all but a blink when suddenly loud dinging comes from the man. We both go stiff but don’t move, keeping the illusion of the kiss.

“What? It says it’s coming from right here.” The man clearly stopped where he was when he got the notification. “Wait…” I can hear the man's coat move as he moves to turn back around towards us.

My hand, that had been resting on Mallory’s thigh, has a death grip on her currently. I have to be leaving bruises at this point but Mallory is taking it like a champ. She has a hand on my upper arm and she gives it a squeeze as she moves to continue to make the kiss look as natural as possible now that the man has to be looking in our direction again.

We can hear what sounds like tapping on a screen and then footsteps moving towards us. The man clears his throat once. Twice. I flinch slightly.

“Excuse me.” The man calls.

Mallory squeezes my arm slightly again and continues her performance.

The man clears his throat again as I hear more footsteps approach. My grips gets impossibly tighter and Mallory lets out a small hiss against my lips.

“Oh?” A deep and smooth voice sounds out suddenly.

I flinch again. ‘What is this luck?’

‘Oh, just the best kind. Go ahead, spare a glance.’

‘Nooooo thank you. If we ignore them long enough they’ll go away or we can scare them off by calling them creeps or something.’

‘If only.’

“Oh for…” more footsteps approach, another recognizable voice. “Are you all just going to stand there?” The man chides quietly. “Excuse me.” he lays on a professional and unassuming tone. “Cielle?”

I begin trembling slightly against Mallory. ‘Did he just say my name? Like he was looking for me?’

‘Sure sounded like it, didn’t it. How curious.’ I can almost hear the glee in the other’s voice.

Mallory’s back went completely straight and she pulled away from me slightly to look at my face. The look in her face is evident she came to the same conclusion. They are looking for me.

“Cielle?” He tries again.

I lean forward towards Mallory as she begins to slowly turn towards the waiting group, my forehead lands on her shoulder.

“I don’t know who you guys think you are, but you aren’t needed here.” Mallory puts on the voice I’ve only ever heard her use on drunk guys in bars in the past.

My breath hitches. I’m doing my damnedest to hold it together, but how can I when there are five Love and Deepspace love interest look-a-likes standing there looking at me, acting like they’ve been looking for me.

“Ooh. Feisty. I like that one.” That ridiculously smooth voice chuckles.

“Not the time.” The voice who had used my name says.

“Not feisty, insolent. A bit of an over reaction too if I do say so myself.” The first voice's tone shifted from its original softness.

“Not helping.” The serious man scolds. “We are looking for a girl named Cielle. Everything has led us right here. Can you please humor us and confirm or deny that she,” Professional toned voice pausing for a moment, it’s obvious he has gestured towards me in some way. “Is Cielle.”

“Who wants to know?” Mallory’s voice is still dripping with that protective venom.

“Five men, from a video game, who have some questions for her.” The first voice is clearly still perturbed.

I nearly choke at the words “video game”. “Oh my gods.” I manage to croak out.

“I think that’s our confirmation, doc.” A bouncy voice chimes in for the first time.

I squeeze my eyes shut impossibly tighter. ‘This can’t be happening.’

‘Oh. But it is. This is the best. Going from fantasizing about them to being soooo close. How can you not feel excited? You love them, don’t you?’

‘I’m not about to argue about the unlikelihood that this all should be happening and the fact that my relationship with them is one hundred percent parasocial.’

‘Well there will be no relationship either way if you don’t interact with them at all.’

‘Maybe that’s for the best.’

“Cielle?” Someone steps closer. “It’s ok. I know things probably don’t make sense to you right now, but we are here to help.” That voice is so soft and encouraging. It almost makes me want to move. Almost.

I do move, but only to press myself further into Mallory. The leash on my body’s desire to run away is barely holding on.

Mallory wobbles a bit but manages to keep hold of me and her undoubted death stare she is giving the men. “How can we be so sure?”

The men are silent for a moment, clearly unsure of how to reassure us they mean no harm.

A deep inhale and another step forward from someone. “I can tell you that you were playing Kitty Cards with an avatar that looks like me just before showing up here.” That smooth voice rumbles out like a melody.

‘Gods above his voice is irresistible.’

‘Well I’m resisting.’

‘You are no fun.’

“What else do you have? That just means you are a stalker, that doesn’t mean you mean us no harm.” Gods, I love this woman, not backing down in the face of five men with unknown intentions while also supporting my pathetic ass.

More silence.

“We are in a well populated and open area. We would be incredibly dense if we were to try anything to harm you, especially here. If you are who we think you are, then I know that you are well aware of the fact that I am a doctor and I take my oath to do no harm very seriously.”

Mallory stiffens slightly, clearly realizing he subtly confirmed he is who we think he is. She shifts slightly, more in front of me than she was before as if she was trying to be my shield. My forehead falls away from her in her movements and my hands immediately find my face in an attempt to hide myself.

I can hear her breathing change as she tries to think of what to do from here. “What do you want?” She tries.

“To talk.” That first voice sounds like his patience is wearing thin.

“Then talk.” Mallory pushes.

“Not here. What we need to discuss shouldn’t have the chance to be overheard.” That stupid smooth voice reasons.

“Rule number one is never let anyone take you to a second location.”

“Huh?” The bouncy voice rings in confusion.

“The number one rule they teach you about being abducted is to never let anyone take you to a second location.” Mallory says as a matter of fact.

“Why the hell is that something being taught?” The bounce has clearly deflated from that man's voice a bit as he asks in disbelief.

“For survival reasons. Your chance of survival or rescue dramatically decreases if you are moved to a second location.”

“That’s, unfortunately, very true.” The smooth voice mutters out, almost as if he hadn’t meant to.

“See.”

“That’s not the case here, typically.” The professional voice informs her.

“Typically isn’t good enough. He has just confirmed I’m right.”

A hiss and boots approaching can be heard over the blood rushing in my ears. Next I hear another hiss and boots being drug away. I steal a glance through my fingers. The sight before me is something I never thought I’d ever see. It’s what appears to be Caleb being manhandled by what appears to be Sylus’ evol. It would almost be comical if this were a dream. But it's not.

“Down boy.” The voice that no doubt belongs to Sylus reprimands the man.

I can see the man who must be Zayne roll his eyes in their direction. I continue peeking through my fingers and my sight moves to see Rafayel, who is just standing there looking positively bored with his arms crossed over his chest and a small frown on his face. It’s exactly how I’d picture him to look in this moment. Slightly farther to the left than the rest of the group, I see Xavier is crouched nearby. I catch sight of his shoes first as my eyes pan slowly up his body only to realize he’s looking directly at me.

I squeak and shift my fingers back in place.

A light chuckle is heard from nearby.

‘Ooooh, he saw.’

I groan internally at myself.

Zayne clears his throat this time. “Please excuse them. Cielle? We don’t have to go anywhere, but starting with acknowledging us might be a good start.”

Damnit. It sounds like he’s trying to talk to a particularly stubborn child.

‘Is that not what you are being right now?’

‘Die.’

‘And miss the fun? Never.’

I hear slight shifting and the sound of someone potentially sitting on the ground nearby. Xavier most likely.

I can feel the heavy sigh Mallory lets out at this moment, her body shifts slightly. “I want to trust you. I want her to trust you. You have to understand how fucking strange this is for us.” She reaches behind her towards me, grabbing for whatever she can touch and squeezes whatever she finds. “Her body is choosing flight and she’s actively attempting to reel that in.” She admits.

I gasp. I’m shocked, like actually shocked she just said that.

“I do love a good chase.” Sylus purrs.

“Down boy.” Caleb mocks.

I can’t help it, a small laugh escapes me. A combination of the absurdity of the whole day’s events and the back and forth of the men is threatening to send me over the edge. I am going to look like a full on psychopath soon, I can feel it bubbling inside me.

I lift my head just a touch and see Xavier move slightly, going from sitting straight up to leaning on his hand angled towards me.

‘I think he’s treating you like a scared animal.’

‘These are all such great first impressions of me. Just let me die here.’

‘I don’t think Mallory would like that.’

‘Ugh.’

I hear Mallory sigh, fingers tapping against her shoe, clearly weighing her choices in this moment. The tapping stops and soon my world shifts suddenly as I feel Mallory’s hands pull me forward. I have no time for protests as she already has me nestled between her thighs with my back against her chest.

“I know this isn’t ideal, but you should say ‘hi’, Ci.” She whispers in my ear.

I don’t know how to get out of this endless loop of just not being able to look at them. All of the emotions swirling in my head right now are cycling their attacks on me. Disbelief molds into astonishment. Astonishment makes way for embarrassment. Embarrassment sits on the sidelines closely as confusion washes over me. Confusion twists into self doubt and hatred. And right back into disbelief.

All I can do is shake my head and keep it down, my eyes at least open and focusing on the grass below me. I want nothing more than to run away from this moment. I don’t think I’d care about getting lost right now even but I’m suddenly aware that all I have on for footwear are house slippers and I am definitely not getting far in those. Beside the fact that any one of these men would probably catch me before I even made it out of this grassy area.

‘Now that’s a thought.’

I groan outwardly this time apparently as Mallory begins rubbing the sides of my arms.

“Please?” Mallory requests in one of her more stern tones.

I lift my head up, hands going back over my face so I don’t have to look at them, and slowly pan my head from one side to the other in the vague directions each of them are in. “Hi. Don’t mind the bum in front of you.” I drop my head back against Mallory’s chest. “There. I said hi.”

“Cielle. Please.” She basically growls in my ear.

There’s a chuckle from the left, Xavier is clearly finding me amusing at least. I sigh and pull out of Mallory’s arms to stand myself up, eyes still more or less focused on the ground. If I’m going to do this I’m not going to be sitting in the grass. From my peripherals I see Xavier stand up, I can hear Mallory pull herself up as well.

I stand there for a moment, working myself up to it and making decisions. Xavier seems to be the safest to meet officially first. He’s clearly trying to just be a grounding presence for me and has overall been gentle so far.

Shifting my feet and turning slightly towards Xavier, I lift my head up slowly, unintentionally panning over his body and taking him in. He’s wearing something similar to what I’ve seen him wear in the game. Tennis shoes, black denim jeans, and a baggy cozy looking light grey sweater. As my eyes make their way to his face, my breath hitches. He is just as striking in person as he is on screen. It’s really not fair. And then my eyes land on his bright blue eyes and I feel like I’ve been struck by lightning.

I can’t help but gasp. He’s watching me closely, those eyes are burning into my skin. The corner of his lips are pulled up in a slight smirk. He’s clearly waiting for me to make the first move. The sight I must make right now. Standing here like I’m cemented in place, looking like I was pulled out of bed, trying not to panic at the impossibility of what is happening, and no doubt looking like a fish out of water.

Mallory’s hand wraps around mine as she walks me forward a few steps closer to him, squeezing three times in silent encouragement.

For as hard as it was for me to meet his eyes in the first place I can’t seem to tear mine away from them now, though they shift occasionally to his ash blonde hair moving in the wind over his eyes.

I finally am able to blink away my daze and for the first time I address one of them directly. “Hello.” It comes over more breathlessly than I’d have liked.

A smooth chuckle comes from the other four. I’d be willing to bet it’s Sylus clearly enjoying my misery.

Xavier’s right hand moves forward into the gap between us. “I’m Xavier, but I get the feeling you know that already. It’s nice to meet you.” He waits a moment with his hand still extended.

“Ci, shake his hand.” Mallory says into my ear.

With a shiver, I move to meet him for a handshake. The second our hands touch my heart begins racing, taking my breath with it. I feel his fingers twitch in mine for a moment, his eyebrows momentarily coming together in confusion before they right themselves. I can’t seem to break the handshake. It’s like I’m stuck. There’s a tingling feeling along all of my nerves, almost that pins-and-needles feeling of a limb falling asleep but much more subtle and everywhere. I think I begin to take deeper breaths because now he looks concerned.

Xavier shifts a step closer to me, hands still met for that handshake. “Hey. It’s ok. I’m going to pull our hands apart now.” He says softly to me as he uses his other hand to help remove mine.

Once our hands are apart the tingling feeling goes away and my heart rate slows down. I can feel my eyes go ridiculously wide. I’m now staring down at my hand.

“What was that?” Mallory asks quietly, her hand on my back and now sounding very concerned.

There’s a tremble in my knees, my toes twitch in my slippers, and all thoughts – though there already weren’t many – go out the window. Before I can even begin to comprehend my movements I’ve turned towards where I recall there being a large opening between the men and the square and I bolt.

I can hear Zayne say something about shock and vaguely make out Mallory yelling my name. The cemented area becomes closer as I move until suddenly my feet leave the ground just enough I can’t reach with my toes, the feeling around me similar to the darkness of our entry to this place. Before I can attempt to move to see what is going on, Caleb is in front of me with that very Colonel look he has in the game.

He moves toward me slightly and then all I can see is the grass and the curve of his ass. My hands move to grab his shirt for support as I try kicking my legs and start protesting. He moves back in the direction I had started running and begins walking us somewhere.

I can hear Mallory yelling and Zayne’s sounds of disappointment but soon they are all trailing not far behind us. Xavier has joined in the mix of protests to Caleb.

Soon, from the minimal amount of them that I can see, Mallory runs past us ahead of Caleb. I assume she stands in front of him because he stops harshly as if he is avoiding running into something.

“Put her down you fucking brute!” She aims her venom directly at Caleb.

“She’s making things too hard.”

“She’s acting like a fucking human you part android asshat.” I can feel her fists hit his abs.

I can feel the arm I’m not draped over move and Mallory yelps. He must have grabbed her wrist because I can hear grumbling out a string of curses.

“That’s enough of that.” Caleb says as he keeps walking.

“Let go of me you fucking prick.” He must be dragging her with him, I can feel his arm getting jerked around.

“Caleb!” Zayne shouts from behind him. “That’s enough from you. What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“Taking charge of the situation. Someone had to.” His words vibrate through me. The realization of our proximity makes me blush despite the situation.

“Terra isn’t going to like it if you walk in there with them like this.” Zayne reasons with the man.

“She’ll get over it.”

“Terra?” I repeat out loud.

“Yes. Terra.” Caleb grumbles back. “You should know who she is from your little game.”

“But I created her. She was the main character that I designed.” I manage to say over the rushing noise coming back to my ears.

Caleb pauses again for a moment, everyone else stops right in front of me, only their shoes really visible from my position. “Oh she’s very real, just like the rest of us.” Caleb seethes out and resumes walking.

Mallory is still letting out strings of curses and struggling against Caleb as she is drug along beside him, Zayne is still attempting to talk him into letting us both go and Xavier has disappeared from the rest of the group trailing behind us.

“Caleb, listen to the doctor. We agreed not to do the whole kidnap thing when we found them.” Sylus attempts in Zayne’s place.

“That was before they acted like this.”

“The only one acting irrationally right now is you, Colonel. Or did you forget that you are just as responsible as the rest of us for them being here with their lives and everything they knew uprooted.” Sylus matches his tone with a hint of condescension.

Zayne sighs and I can picture him pinching the bridge of his nose with his glasses raised slightly. “We are almost to Philo. Let’s just get there and figure this out.”

“Philo?” I can’t seem to help but repeat all the things I recognize out loud apparently. Though luckily this time either no one heard me or they chose not to say anything about it.

Sure enough not but a few minutes later a door opens behind me with a chime and the noises shift as we enter a building.

Voices can be heard from somewhere farther in, sounding heated. As we get closer I can make out more of what they are saying.

“What do you mean he’s dragging them back!?” A female voice shrieks out.

“There was no way of stopping him without harming them.” Xavier’s voice sounds dark.

“Bullshit. There had to have been another way. You should have done something!” She yells at him.

“Hey, we weren’t there. We don’t know.” Another, more calm, male voice resounds in the room that is now just ahead of us.

Next thing I know we must be in that room as I’m thrown down onto a couch and Mallory is shoved next to me.

“Caleb, what the hell!” The female voice turns on him.

“They were being difficult.” He states to justify his actions to her.

“That’s the piss-poorest excuse I have ever heard. Did you just need a reason to flex those muscles, Colonel? You ripped them from a different timeline! Did you expect them to be immediately trusting?!? You fucking moron.” The girl is pacing back and forth in front of him, pausing directly in front of him occasionally.

I look over to the other men who are just standing there watching her lose it on him. The one whose voice I only kind of recognize turned toward a massive computer set up and appears to be busying himself to stay out of it.

While she is still going off on him I take a moment to look around the room. The door we came through is blocked by a wall of hot muscle and the only other doors in the room are unknown variables. I look at Mallory and reach out for her hand, she was rubbing her wrists from where Caleb had held them tightly but she stopped to take my hand.

Mallory leans closer to me and whispers, “That fucker is ridiculously strong. But as much as I liked him in the game, I don’t think I like the real him.”

“Valid.” Is all I can say back before the unknown female is standing directly in front of us.

“I am sooooo sorry about him. Please don’t let his behavior affect how you see the rest of us.” She looks genuinely sorry and given how upset she’s been with him I am inclined to believe her. “My name is Terra. It’s nice to meet you.”

I begin sputtering as I look at the girl more closely. Sure enough this girl looks nearly identical to the MC I created in the game.

“I know this is all very strange for you.” She continues. “I’d love to make it easier on you. If you want me to send him away, then I will. Don’t let him intimidate you.”

I just stare at her. How does one wrap their head around any of this? I feel like I’m one more thing happening away from just shattering.

Then Mallory pipes in. “I can’t speak for her, though I would if she let me, but I’d be more comfortable with him gone.” She tries to hold in the contempt in her tone, unsuccessfully. “I’m Mallory, by the way.” She holds her hand out for Terra.

Caleb shoots her a disdainful look.

Terra takes it and they shake for a moment. The handshake pauses for a few beats while the two women just look at each other. Finally Terra nods. “Nice to meet you, Mallory.” The words come out slightly breathless.

“I….I think I’d like him to leave for now too.” I manage to say to Terra.

“Caleb, take a walk.” Terra calls over her shoulder.

“Wha-!? You can’t be serious, Terra.” He spits out in disbelief.

She turns around to him. “Very much so. Walk.” And she points in the direction of the door he pulled us through.

His eyes narrow on us momentarily before she swats at him and shoves him. “Go!”

“Fine.” and he turns and walks out the door, the other four splitting to let him through.

The room seems like it suddenly takes a deep breath and everyone visibly relaxes a bit.

“What the hell got into him?” Jeremiah had apparently left his desk at some point and was now walking over to the couch, two water bottles in hand. He stops in front of us and hands them over.

“He was fine up until he interacted with them, it seemed.” Xavier informed him.

“Intriguing.” Jeremiah makes his way back to his desk. “Anyone else have a mood change since interacting with them?” He asks the room.

“Not important right now.” Terra cuts in before anyone can answer. She turns back to me and seems to just realize my state of dress. “Oh, shit. You probably feel some type of way outside of the rest of the weirdness.”

“You have no idea.” I say on an exhale.

“Sy. Can you-”

“Already done, sweetie.”

I flinch at the use of the pet name, recalling all the times I giggled and pretended it was me he was saying that too. But the main character of the game exists and it's not me. A pang of jealousy and embarrassment hit me right in the chest, my fingers involuntarily flex against Mallory’s.

Mallory’s head tilts to the side as she looks at me quizzically. Her eyes flickering up to Sylus and then over to Terra for a moment, and she squeezes my hand back in understanding.

The front door chimes a few minutes later and two men in crow masks walk through the door Caleb left from.

“Here you are, boss.” One the men say, handing over a bag.

“Wow, is this them?” The other asks.

They both almost glide to be right in front of me, basically pushing Terra out of the way.

“It’s so strange to see you in person.” One of them says.

“We spent so much time watching you, at the boss's request.” The other carries on.

“Luke! Kieran! That's enough. Say goodbye.”

“Goodbye!” They say in unison as they back up and exit back out the door.

My eyebrows were raised in surprise during the entire interaction and for a while after they retreated out of the room.

Chuckling, Sylus walks forward with the bag and holds it out to me. “Something for you to change into, if you'd like.”

My eyebrows still haven't moved. I'm absolutely unsure what to make of this. “I… uh.” I stammer as I reach to grab the bag. “I don't know if it will fit. But thank you.”

“You might be surprised.” He says, waving over his shoulder and walking back to his previous position.

“If either of you need the bathroom, or if you'd like to change Cielle, then it's that second door on the left.” Jeremiah points to the small hallway at the back wall.

Mallory releases my hand and turns toward me. “I can go with you, if you’d like.”

“Actually.” Sylus starts. “It would probably be for the best if only one of you went in at a time. The other can stand outside the door, however.”

Mallory and I turn to look at Sylus at the same time, our faces must have mirrored each other.

Sylus chuckles lightly. “Cute.” A coin appears out of thin air and he begins to roll it across his knuckles. “Can’t have you two finding a possible escape route on us, can we. We’ve already determined she’s a flight risk.” He answers the question our faces asked.

Mallory sighs. “That’s fine. Understandable even.” She puts her water bottle down on the floor, takes mine and does the same, and then grabs my hand and pulls me in the direction of the hallway. “Come on. I’ll go first and then you can change.”

I was still looking in the direction of the men when she pulled me up and started moving. Scanning over their faces quickly I catch Xavier looking right at me, he gives a small nod and looks away.

I follow Mallory the short distance down the hall and she opens the door to find a relatively residential looking bathroom, even fit with a nice shower.

Releasing my hand she spins around, coming face to face with me still standing in the middle of the hallway, and dips her head closer to my ear. “I’ll be right back.” She kisses my cheek and then trails over to my mouth for a quick but meaningful kiss.

She pulls back, turns back around and walks into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

I am left motionless, my hand not holding the bag still hovering where her arm had been when I leaned in slightly to brace myself against her. My cheeks turn pink over the emotions she still manages to stir up in me. And the fact that they’ve all just witnessed that. Oh gods.

‘It’s not the first time.’

‘The hell are you talking about.’

‘Before Caleb kidnapped you. You were pretending to make out right in front of them, no? Was it just me there?’

‘All they could see was Mallory’s back. That’s not the same. This is side profile view. They saw saw.’

‘Oh no. How awful.’ The other quips in the most bored tone I have ever heard my own brain muster.

That stupid chuckle comes from the adjoining room again. It pulls me out of my stupor temporarily, causing me to finally drop my hand to my side. I take two steps forward and lean my head against the door Mallory entered.

“That wasn’t very nice, Mal.” I whisper yell through the door.

From inside I catch that ridiculously cute light laugh that I love. “Sorry, not sorry.”

“You better hurry. I need to escape my growing mortification.” I continue my attempts at whispering.

“Give me a second. Jeez.”

Moments later I can hear the water running in the sink. I make sure I stand upright and back away from the door slightly so I don’t do something, like fall into the bathroom, to make a further ass of myself.

‘But that’d be so funny. And totally on theme for today.’

The door swings open and I’m met with Mallory’s smirking face. “All yours, love.” She motions towards the bathroom with her hands as she steps out.

I glare at her as I move past her and into the bathroom. As she goes to say something else I shut the door in her face.

“Rude.” She doesn’t even bother trying to be quiet.

I sigh and turn around to take in the bathroom now that I’m in here and away from so many eyes. It is much more grand than what I’d expect of a bathroom at the back of a shop. Then again, I wouldn’t have expected that computer set-up back here either, but I know that this is no ordinary shop so I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised.

It’s very modern and homey, excellent splashes of color paired with neutrals. The shower is actually bigger than it looked from the hall, but nothing too fancy about it. There’s a quaint shelving system next to it that appears to house linens and other products. Turning more, I expected to see a pedestal sink or something with a small counter. Instead I see a longer counter, two sinks on opposite ends and a larger open counter area between them. A large mirror spans the whole counter length.

I walk to the counter and set the bag down in the large open area. Leaning against the counter with my palms face down I forced myself to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. In the silence I am forced to notice how close my spiral actually is to the surface still. Gradually I look up at myself in the mirror, more than a little scared to see what awaits me, what they have all been looking at this entire time.

As I suspected, my hair was more than a little wild. It had been pulled back into a bun for bed last night and I hadn’t fixed it when I woke up. Hair was pulled loose from the bun in all directions, it definitely looks like I just rolled out of bed, but otherwise not as bad as it could have been. My baggy t-shirt I had slipped on when I went down stairs this morning was hanging more to the left, exposing a decent amount of my bare shoulder. Wait…my bare shoulder?

I pull the shirt collar away from my body and look down into it, a thick groan leaving my body as I realize. I doubt Sylus thought of that for me, and even if he did there was no way he would have gotten my bra size right.

Abandoning my own scrutiny in the mirror I pull the bag closer and begin to pull out its contents. A pair of medium-blue jeans with some manufactured distressing, some plain white socks, a pair of white tennis shoes with crimson accents, a white camisole with padding sewn into the top, and a brilliant ruby colored short sleeve top. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from Sylus.

‘Oooh. He’s marking us already?’

‘That’s not what’s happening. Stop it.’

‘But it’s his color.’

‘It means nothing.’

‘Jeez, I can’t even pretend anymore. Can’t a girl's inner thoughts catch a break?’

‘Lot harder to pretend when they are standing in the other room, and are very much real.’

‘Oh. It’s become too real for you then? You could touch them like you’ve always wanted to now.’ That stupid voice teases.

‘They’d have to let me for that to happen. So let’s just reel it in and get this show on the road.’

Pulling my phone from my pocket and setting it down on the counter, I compose myself and begin taking my pajamas off one piece at a time, replacing each thing with the items purchased for me. Surprisingly each article of clothing fits relatively well. I’m very thankful for the fact that I was wearing underwear under these pants because commando in jeans sounds like a different type of torture.

The lack of bra is unfortunate but the camisole with the bra-like padding definitely at least helps the pointy bits disappear. It was not made to hold all of me the way it would someone smaller, but it is what it is. I’m just happy to look more like a functioning person and less like a lunatic.

Completely changed now, I slip my old clothes into the bag and put my phone in my new pocket. Bending over to slip on my new shoes, also surprisingly correct size, hair pieces fall into my face and I cringe. Right. Should probably fix my hair.

Without looking in the mirror I yank the hair tie out of the bun. My hair poofed out like it had a personal grudge against me. Without a brush I ran my hands through it to try to smooth it out, I could feel where knots threatened to form at the back of my head. Carefully I combed through it all with my fingers, though the beast didn’t want to be fully tamed without the proper tools. Giving up I just gathered it all up into a regular pony tail.

Looking in the mirror one last time I decided it was as good as it was going to get for now. Finally I use the bathroom and wash my hands, splashing a bit of cold water on my face before grabbing the bag and exiting to whatever waits for me on the other side.

Caleb sits against the window sill at the front of the building. Terra had told him to go for a walk but he couldn’t bring himself to go farther.

‘Why the fuck did I react like that?’ He asks himself as he runs his hands over his face and cradles his head in hands, trying to come up with an answer to his question.

They hadn’t done anything wrong. They acted like he’d expected them to for the most part. There was something about, what’d she say her name was? Mallory? There was something about how Mallory reacted to him, between her tone and her behavior, it must have just rubbed him the wrong way. Just something in the back of his brain feels like it has its hackles raised and he must have reacted in kind.

He sits there, head in hands, for a while longer. He heard them approach long before they got near. The playful bantering with one another is something he’d gotten used to in such a small amount of time. He pulls his head out of hands and looks up at them.

“Whoa. What’s got you in time out?” Luke asks.

“You look like someone kicked you in the balls and made you say thank you.” Kieran adds.

“Gee, thanks.” He scoffs. “I’m not in timeout, technically. Terra told me to take a walk.” He sits straighter, hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I might have had a bad attitude with our new guests.”

Luke whistles. “Boss lady told you to take a hike, huh? That’s the kick in the balls for sure.”

He drops his hand from his neck and shakes his head. “It’s…complicated.” He suddenly notices Kieran holding a bag. “Whatcha got there?”

“Boss man sent us on a mission to get new girl some clothes. Said she’d probably appreciate it.” Luke answers.

“We are just here to deliver.” Kieran continues.

“How’d you get her clothes without having her with you?” He asks, genuinely curious.

“We had access to the backdoor in her device too.” Kieran shrugs.

“She had an online shopping history. We had to do some digging and some math to figure out the size conversion between her world and ours, but we think we came pretty close.” Luke says proudly.

“Alright, well. I won’t keep you. I can tell she definitely isn’t comfortable as she is, so hopefully that will help ease her a bit.” Caleb waves them along.

Once the twins make their way through the door he realizes that he’d said that he basically paid more attention to Cielle than he thought he had. Sure he’d been looking at them the whole time they were there, but he didn’t think he’d caught anything other than the feeling of annoyance after Mallory opened her mouth.

‘I don’t know how I feel about that.’ He thinks as he tilts his head to lean against the window.

Soon enough the twins were walking back out the door. They glanced over at him and gave him a wave and continued walking down the street.

After a while the door opened again and Zayne walked out silently and over to sit next to him on the window sill. He sat there, quietly, for a minute before he finally looked over at Caleb.

“Want to talk about it?” Is all he asked.

“I don’t even know what I would talk about.” Caleb admits. “I have no idea why I acted that way.” His shoulders slump slightly.

“None?”

“None. I’ve been out here repeating everything over and over and the only thing I can pinpoint is when Mallory turned around and snapped at me something in the back of my brain got really angry and defensive. Maybe a bit of mistrust? I genuinely don’t know. I reacted so fast I didn’t think about it and then it just clung to me.”

Zayne sighs. “You haven’t acted that way in a long time. Are you worried it has anything to do with the-”

Caleb cuts him off. “No. There would be no way.” Caleb sighs this time. “The worst part is I took it out on Cielle. I don’t feel whatever it is that happened towards Mallory towards her. Maybe I did what I did to Cielle to get a rise out of Mallory? Because she managed to get under my skin? I don’t like what that says about me, and unfortunately it worked. She reacted and it gave me a reason to react back.” He puts his head in his hands again. “This is so fucked. All around.”

Zayne chuckles slightly. “I don’t really understand where you are coming from about Mallory. But I have this weird thing at the back of my brain too. About Cielle. So do the others.” He admits.

“Yeah?” Caleb looks up at his friend. “What’s your weird thing feel like?”

“It’s hard to put into words.” Zayne rubs his chin. “Almost like recognition, maybe. Something about her feels familiar and I can’t place it.”

“I didn’t even really see her face until she started running, but the second I had her on my shoulder she felt familiar too. That’s so weird.”

“I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for it. We have been basically stalking the poor girl for a few weeks now. It probably has to do with that.”

“You are probably right.”

Zayne looks down at his watch. “I should go back inside. I’ll let Terra know that you are nearby. I hope you understand when I say we are going to let them decide when and if you come back. For now.”

“I completely understand. I agree. I don’t plan on going far, so just keep me in the loop.”

Zayne nods and heads back inside. Caleb sets his head back against the glass once more and closes his eyes while he just listens to the noises around him.

Sylus watches as the two girls retreat down the hallway. He can’t stop looking at her. He feels a little bad that he witnessed the interaction between her and what he can assume is her girlfriend, but her reaction afterwards had a chuckle slip through his lips before he realized it was happening.

Watching her stand there was an odd combination of need and duty, both centering on her not disappearing on them. It wasn’t until Mallory and Cielle swapped places that his gaze towards the hallway was broken. He noticed the others all seemed to have similarly been watching down the hall like he was.

Catching the three other’s eyes he nodded towards the farthest corner of the room, suggesting they follow him over, and thankfully they do.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say she definitely has that missing piece.” Sylus offers before leaning himself against the wall.

“Well I’d sure hope so.” Xavier scoffs. “But what’s your reasoning for pointing it out?”

“I’m pointing it out because I didn’t think about the effect her presence would have on me.” Sylus responds through gritted teeth.

Rafayel shakes his head, purple hair bouncing at the motion. “I didn’t think about the effect of the bond either. I don’t know how I feel about this.”

“What are you feeling?” Zayne asks, an almost clinical tone being taken.

“Magnatism. An innate trust. Familiarity. It’s unsettling to feel towards someone who has a stranger's face. With Terra I had known her face, or most of it. Some things change through time, but there was enough that the whole picture clicked together just fine. Cielle feels like I should know her face but I don’t. I mean, it’s familiar because of what we’ve been up to obviously, but none of these feelings kicked into place until I saw her.” Rafayel paces the small space, hands moving dramatically as he speaks.

Sylus nods. “Roughly the same for me. My instincts immediately decided she was part of my hoard, I had no conscious choice in the matter. My hands sent that message to Luke and Kieran to get her clothes before I even had a chance to second guess myself.”

Xavier hooks his finger on his chin and looks at a spot on the wall near Sylus for a beat. “It makes sense for you guys to feel that way, with your bonds having been split and somehow ending up with her.” His hand drops and so do his shoulders. “But I have no explanation for why it seems like I should also know her. Like we used to be close and I forgot her or something. There was something about seeing her in the square like that… the way I reacted was like I’ve done it before. Like I knew what to do to try to get her out of her shell.”

“Curious. I too feel some familiarity with her I can’t place.” Zayne ponders for a moment. “I wonder if something similar is what caused Caleb’s reaction. Some deep feeling he can’t name. But I wonder why it ended up being so volatile towards Mallory.”

“Clearly there’s things we don’t know about our pasts, given that there was a soul and bond split we don’t remember that obviously happened. Which makes sense for some of you, but is really concerning for me.” Sylus pushes himself off the wall.

“Concerning for me too.” Rafayel adds quickly. “I could have sworn I remembered everything.”

“I’m going to go have a chat with Caleb. See if we are all on the same page.” Zayne turns and walks through the door before waiting for a response.

“So if our plan was to reunite the missing piece with Terra, and we feel the way we do currently, what do we do now?” Xavier asks in ernest.

Sylus looks over to the hallway one more time before answering. “I have no idea.” He stalks off back to where they had been standing before.

Rafayel looks over at Xavier, whose gaze had followed Sylus. “This complicates things.”

Xavier turns slowly towards Rafayel. His normally bright blue eyes are suddenly much darker. “I can’t explain it, and I’m not ready to think too much into it, but if either of you plan on hurting her, I will end you.”

Rafayel holds his hands up in mock surrender, eyes wide at Xavier’s words and the look on his face. “It hadn’t even crossed my mind, I promise.”

Xavier relaxes a little at his words. “We should have thought this over more thoroughly.” He sighs, stealing a look down the hallway himself. “We were all focused on finding her, and then getting her here. None of us thought about her. It’s like she wasn’t actually a person to us until she was here, and once she was she suddenly became really important and now I feel so lost at what to do. It’s like-”

“Like the mission changed mid battle and we were informed too late? Like the rug was pulled from under us? Like something we were sure was green is suddenly purple and now everything feels like a lie?” Rafayel rattles off.

Xavier chuckles softly. “Yeah, something like that.”

Just then the bathroom door opens and both of their eyes snap toward the hallway. The two rejoin Sylus where they had been standing previously, Zayne walks back into the room seconds later.

Zayne places himself between Sylus and Xavier, speaking low enough for just the other three to hear him. “Caleb feels the same towards Cielle. He has a feeling about Mallory too, though he can’t place it. He says something about her reaction might have just rubbed him the wrong way and he acted in kind.”

“Hell of a reaction.” Rafayel snorts.

Mallory greets me when I open the door, eyes looking just as surprised as I felt at the clothes fitting.

“How convenient.” She says lightly and takes the bag with my other clothes.

“Well, if this Sylus is anything like the game Sylus I shouldn’t have been that surprised. He always finds a way.” I reply quietly.

Mallory reaches for my hand and we walk back down the hallway together.

“Oh you look so much more at ease!” Terra howls out as we approach. “How do you feel?” She looks at me expectantly.

I can’t help but glance towards the men standing still as statues behind her, still only four of them but they are all looking at me, almost also expectantly.

“I…uh. Yeah. I feel more human for sure.” I laugh awkwardly.

“Good! We will have to take you two out shopping sometime. Unfortunately it might not be for a few days, but I’m sure between all of us we can find you a few things to wear in the meantime.” Terra is gesturing around with her hands, her tone is much more bubbly than I’m used to. “And we can always wash what you have too of course.” She adds, almost as an after thought.

“Right. Uh, thanks.” I look between them all again. The sculpted Greek Gods standing in the background can’t possibly have anything I could wear. Terra looked more like Mallory so I definitely won't fit in her clothes, but Mallory might. “I don’t know that anything any of you have will fit me.” I say trying not to let my insecurities over my weight slide in. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Terra almost waves off my words. “Nonsense. We’ll figure something out.”

Then without warning she grabs the hand that isn’t in Mallory’s and drags us forward. I let out a small yelp of surprise and can see all of the men stiffen and relax in the same moment.

“Now.” She starts. “It’s my understanding you haven’t really met everyone yet.”

“We met.” Xavier chimes.

The memory of our meeting flashes through my mind and I can feel heat licking my cheeks. I dare a glance towards Xavier, and almost like he only just remembered too his cheeks are turning a light shade of pink themselves.

Terra looks between the two of us, eyebrows knit in confusion that only lasts a moment before she decides to carry on. “Right. Well. You can meet Caleb when he’s in a better mood. Once again, I swear he’s not normally like that.” Her voice turns somber for a moment. “Anway.” She turns towards the desk and the man sitting there unaware. “This is Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah jumps slightly at his name, clearly not expecting it. He turns slowly to look at me, fixing a smile on his face before he speaks. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you both.”

Ah, right. Jeremiah. I knew that, this is Philo after all. Unsure of what to do I nod slightly at him. “Hello, Jeremiah.” is all I can think of to say back.

“Hello.” Is all Mallory says, her tone is still guarded but not as venomous as it had been.

Terra pulls me more towards the wall of muscle, my heels dig in slightly with nervousness. If she notices, she pays no mind. She starts with the closest to the desk. “This is Rafayel.”

Rafayel, ever the one for theatrics, gestures his arms and bows. “Lovely to meet you, Cielle.” He stands up straight and nods to the spot beside me. “And you, Mallory.”

The pink in my cheeks that had started to retreat comes crawling back. “Nice to meet you, Rafayel.”

Rafayel gasps lightly, cheeks turning pink and he turns suddenly and mumbles quietly about excusing himself and needing a minute as he walks out towards the main shop.

“Uh. Odd. Anyway.” Terra stares after him and then shakes her head. “You’ve met Xavier.” We nod to each other. “This is Zayne.”

Zayne nods his head slightly and holds out his hand. “The circumstances could have gone much better, but I’m still glad to meet you both.”

Mallory shakes his hand first and says something in return along the lines of how the circumstances were unfortunate. I didn’t hear it because my eyes had locked on the skin of his arm that had been exposed when he held his arm out. I knew the scars were there but they were so much more heartbreaking in person.

I must have still been staring when they released each other because I felt a nudge from Mallory. I extended my hand to meet his. He began to say something, knowing him it was to dismiss the scars, but the moment our hands made full contact that buzz in my nerves returned.

Still looking at where our hands met I realize my hand is getting cold as I see ice creeping up along Zayne’s arm. My head snaps up to look at him, once again unable to let go. He has a look mixed with concern and confusion as he grabs his own wrist with his other hand.

“Zayne what the-” Terra begins to move forward.

Xavier looks over at her words and moves quickly to help pull our hands apart. Once again as soon as our hands are separated the buzz disappears. Zayne pants slightly and when I look at his hand again the ice is almost completely faded.

“I apologize.” He says smoothly. “I don’t know what just happened, but I am very sorry if I harmed you at all.”

“I…I’m fine. It’s ok.” I clear my throat slightly trying not to think about how once is strange but twice is concerning. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Terra takes a moment to check to make sure we both are, in fact, ok before moving on to the last man standing there.

Sylus is posed there with that natural swagger he seems to carry with him everywhere and a knowing smirk.

“This is Sylus.” Terra chirps, rocking forward on her toes slightly.

Sylus starts bending forward, smirk still painted on hip lips, until we are more face to face. “Nice to finally meet you, darling.”

As I begin to respond my eyes finally trail up from his lips to meet his eyes, a gasp at the beauty that are those crimson orbs cuts off all words that were about to leave my mouth. They’ve always captivated me on screen but to see them in person is truly breathtaking. A moment of appreciation later and his right eye begins to glow, the following heartbeat later and my head feels like it's about to explode.

I squeeze my eyes closed and my hands shoot up to the sides of my head, pictures of things I’ve never seen flash across my mind and words I can’t understand feel like they are being shouted directly into my ear. Then just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

I bent over myself, hands resting on my knees as I panted. Distorted yelling from multiple voices and someone groaning hit my ears as sound finally makes its way back to me again. I stay bent over trying to gain back my bearings for a few moments, the sounds begin to even out. I’m suddenly aware of someone rubbing my back.

Slowly, I roll myself back upright and take in the scene that unfolded outside my awareness. Sylus is on the ground, he appears to have been tackled by Caleb. Rafayel is holding Xavier back from what looks like him wanting to jump on Sylus. Mallory and Terra are talking to the four, or rather yelling over them, trying to figure out what happened.

‘Ooooh. It’s the good doctor that’s rubbing our back then.’

My back goes impossibly straighter at the thought, I slowly turn in the direction he must be in and give him a shy smile. “Thank you.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” I say dismissively. He doesn’t look like he believes me but he doesn’t press any farther, he does continue to rub small circles on my back though.

‘How sweet.’ The voice coos.

‘He’s a doctor, he’s just trying to ground me after whatever the hell that was.’

‘He cares. You can’t change my mind.’ I can almost see the other crossing her arms.

‘You’re delusional.’

The shouting finally dies down a bit and I can actually understand some of what is being said. Rafayel managed to pull Xavier away from the group and got him to stand on the other side of me.

“See, she’s ok. It doesn’t sound like whatever happened was on purpose.” Rafayel soothes Xavier. “Tell him, angel.”

“I’ll be fine. I promise.” I reach out and lightly touch his arm. We both stare at the spot my hand is touching him. I’m shocked at myself for the boldness, but it was like second nature, I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. I pull my hand back quickly like I’d been burned. “Sorry.” I say softly.

He almost looked sad at the loss of contact but the emotion leaves his face just as quickly as it arrived. He nods at me. “If you’re sure.” And then he gives me a smile that threatens to set my cheeks on fire again.

‘See, they do get to you as much in person as they did through the screen.’

‘Unfortunately so.’

“And I was the one causing problems?!? Tell me why I had to come running in here to restrain your ass?” Caleb, who is still pinning Sylus to the ground, asks through gritted teeth.

Sylus just groans in response, clearly still recovering a bit from the sudden blow to his body and ego.

“Caleb, I think that’s enough. Whatever happened is over and he’s on the ground. Let him go.” Terra’s hand is resting on Caleb’s bicep.

“Why should I? He was hurting her!” Caleb asks incredulously.

“Not on purpose.” Sylus croaks out.

“Likely story!” Caleb shouts in his face.

“Caleb!” Terra yells.

“Nuh uh. Don’t make me the bad guy here! I came running in because I heard screaming and I see this fucker starring at her and she’s gripping the sides of her head like she’s dying!” He yells back at her.

I turn to Zayne. “Who was screaming?”

“You were, dear.”

“I was?” I whisper.

“Yeah, angel. It was terrifying. Straight horror film stuff. Scared the life out of me. I had just walked back in the room.” Rafayel tells me.

“I can’t say I ever want to hear that noise again. It was…” Xavier trails off.

“It was forceful. Let’s get you some water to help ease any irritation it may have caused.” Zayne says as he leads me over to the couch and sits us both down. He picks up one of the water bottles we’d left on the floor and hands it to me.

Mallory sits down on my other side seconds later, catching me mid drink she turns my head and puts her hand on either cheek as she looks me over. I swallow quickly before she causes me to spit out the water I’m holding, which was great timing because the second I did she crashed forwards and pulled me into the most crushing hug I have ever received.

A choking sob happens near my ear and Mallory’s shoulders bounce slightly. “That was the scariest thing I have ever heard in my life.” She says as she squeezes me impossibly tighter.

“I’m sorry.” Is all I can manage to get out with what little breath I have left in my lungs.

She eases off me and wipes the sides of her cheeks. “Gods, this day has been so fucked.”

I give her a strained laugh, because she’s right, it has been. “And it’s not even over.”

She groans at the fact I just pointed out. From over where we left them Sylus is finally getting up off the floor, Caleb has perched against the wall next to the door glaring at Sylus. Jeremiah had approached the group at some point and he appears to be talking quietly with them about something.

Zayne squeezes my shoulder. “You should take a few more sips.” He encourages.

I bring the water bottle up to my mouth for a drink and out of habit pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It had been roughly 6:30pm when I was last standing in my kitchen and now sitting in a formerly nonexistent (to me) flowershop my phone read 8:37pm. It had only been around two hours since this chaos began but if you’d asked me before I looked at my phone I would have said that it would have had to have been at least five.

I nudge Zayne’s arm to gain his attention, he had been looking over at the group conversing quietly. He looks down and me and I tilt my screen to him. “Is this accurate?”

Zayne lifts his wrist and pulls his sleeve back slightly. “Seems to be.” He says without a second thought, eyes flicking back over to the conversation. I set my phone down in my lap.

Xavier must have been looking this way and spotted our interaction. “Hey, is that your phone?” He steps forward, ignoring whatever was being talked about.

“Uh, yeah. Why?” I ask suspiciously.

“Does it work?”

“All I checked was the time. Hang on.” I pick my phone back up and unlock it. I glance over all the status symbols at the top. “No service but it’s still trying to pick up wi-fi. I can’t imagine it will find a usable one with the technology difference.”

“I imagine not.” Jeremiah says, their previous conversation halted. “What are you thinking, Xav?”

“Nothing interesting.” He shrugs. “It just made me think we could clone it over to a new phone so she could keep anything that’s on it.”

“Ah. Yes, that is something I could do.” Jeremiah nods at me. “Do you have yours as well, Mallory?”

She pats her pocket where she usually keeps it. “Seems I do.”

“Excellent. Well, if you’d like we can definitely do that for you. You wouldn’t lose any of your information, though any contact not from here likely won’t connect, but you’ll have a way to get a hold of us and each other.”

“That is a good idea. I’ll have Luke and Kieran bring over two devices that are connected to the Onychinus network. They will be nice and secure for you.” Sylus says as he brushes off nonexistent dirt from his sleeves before pulling out his own phone and sending off a message.

“If they get them here soon I can have them finished transferring over before you have to leave.” Jeremiah tells him.

“Have to leave? You kicking us out, Jeremiah?” Xavier asks, eyebrow hitched up.

“Xavier, the sun is setting. The shop technically closes soon. You all have been here for hours. Not that I don’t enjoy your company.” He says looking over at Terra. “Listen, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Xavier feigns offense at his friend's words. “You hate me? I knew it.” Jeremiah just rolls his eyes.

“Uh.” Mallory speaks up. “Speaking of not going home. Where do we go from here?” She gestures between the two of us.

“There are many places you can go. We will figure it out.” Zayne pats my leg.

“I have a safe house not that far from here.” Sylus shrugs his shoulders as if it’s the most obvious thing. “A few of them actually if you’d prefer to take your pick. A few hotels, though I don’t recommend.” He adds lazily. “Not that they aren’t good hotels. The safe houses just have more amenities and items that you both are currently lacking.”

“Uh…” Is all I manage to stammer out before Rafayel chimes in.

“I have guest amenities at my place. You’re more than welcome to go there.”

“I, too, have guest amenities if you’d prefer to come with me.” Zayne says, straightening his tie.

Caleb pushes off the wall slightly. “I doubt you’ll want to come with me, but if you want to go to Skyhaven I also have a decent guest set up.”

Terra joins in. “Me and Xavier live in single bed apartments. If you’d like I can sleep on the couch and you two can take my room.”

My eyes are wide taking in all the options. The general sense of overwhelm is creeping up on me when the front door chimes.

“Special delivery!” One of the men in the crow masks calls as he comes through the door. “Two phones, Onychinus’ finest.”

“The most secure devices you’ll ever own!” The other calls out, coming in after him.

Sylus rubs his eyes with one hand and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Are you two done?”

“Yes boss.” They say in unison.

“Great, wait outside.” He says with a wave after the one holding the devices hands them over to Jeremiah.

“Perfect timing. I’ll work on transferring these over while you two decide where to go.” Jeremiah says, walking over with his hands out. I stare at them for a moment. “Your phones please.”

“Right.” I pick up my phone and hand it over. Mallory pulls hers out of her pocket and does the same.

“Don’t worry. The program I have will do all of it and I’ll minimize the screen for it. I won’t see anything.” He reassures us as he walks away.

“I could also take you to the N109 Zone, though I doubt that sounds like an appealing first night option. But I figured I’d offer it while you already had every other possible option under the sun laid out.” Sylus says while fidgeting with a coin.

“Probably not. But we will talk it over.” Mallory says and then looks over to Zayne. “If you’ll give us a bit of privacy to chat.”

“Yes. Of course.” Zayne gets up and walks over to Terra and Rafayel, who had been chatting.

Mallory turns to me after watching him leave. “How do you feel? What would you like to do?”

“I genuinely don’t know. I don’t want to put Terra out of her own bed though, that’s for sure.”

“Agreed. A hotel room sounds the most neutral option but like Sylus said it’s less equipped than what we are geared for. Which is with nothing. We have nothing.”

“Right.”

“And I’m sure any of their places have a washing machine, like Terra said.” She says pointing to the bag next to her on the floor.

“And clothes for at least you.”

“Yeah.” She nods. “Where do you think you’ll feel most comfortable? I don’t think anyone will take offense at your choice.”

“Do you have a preference? I’m currently teetering between feeling already too comfortable with all of them, which is probably not good, and nervous out of my fucking mind. You always have a more level head about this stuff.”

Mallory thinks for a moment, before looking over her shoulder. “Sylus?”

“Hmm?” He makes eye contact with her.

“Tell us about your safe house.”

“Which one? The closest one takes up the top two floors of Azure Square's largest skyscraper. It has enough bedrooms to house everyone in this room, including the twins without sharing one. Each bedroom has its own ensuite, walk-in closet, sitting area, and balcony. I don’t do cheap mattresses, so each room also has a custom king size mattress. There’s two living rooms, a large kitchen with a breakfast nook, formal dining room, a bar, a game room, a sort-of music room,” He takes a deep breath. “An armory, a personal gym, a theater, a laundry room you could run a laundromat in, a few other balconies with gorgeous views of the city, a library, and an office. It also has exclusive roof top access with a helicopter landing pad, a garden, and outdoor kitchen area. Would you like me to describe the others? They are all more or less the same, just in different areas.”

We just stare at him for a minute in disbelief. “What the fuck.” Mallory breaths out.

“I should have known.” I say louder than I intended.

Sylus laughs. “Yes, well. Your game had some information right, at least. We can go through what was right and wrong some other time.”

“It got stuff wrong?” I ask, suddenly forgetting the topic at hand.

“A decent amount of things, actually.” Zayne says adjusting his cuffs. “Though a ridiculous amount of things are correct too.”

“Oh.” Is all I manage, suddenly wondering how much I actually know about them.

“Does that change things?” Mallory asks quietly.

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Do you have a decision? Cuz I think I’m partial to living it up off the rich guy’s style.” She laughs.

I nod. “It probably is the most equipped for us, knowing Sylus. If I know Sylus, that is.”

“You do. More than you think.” He says from the other side of the room.

“Shit.” I whisper. I either spoke louder than I intended or he’s trying really hard to listen in.

Mallory laughs at me, but ignores Sylus. “So do we want to do that then?”

I think for a minute and nod. “I think it makes the most sense.” I say at a relatively normal volume. “I too want to see what it’s like to live like I’m rich.” I giggle quietly to her.

“Then it’s settled.” Sylus walks forward, pulling his phone out from his pocket and typing quickly. “Luke and Kieran will be waiting nearby with the car to take us once your phones are finished.”

“Shouldn’t be too much longer.” Jeremiah pipes up barely turning his head in our direction.

“Us?” Caleb, Xavier, and Rafayel all squawk out in disbelief.

“Yes. Us. You don’t think I’d be so horrible as to not be a good host to them, now do you?”

Silence, but the glares were loud.

“I said there were enough bedrooms for everyone.” Sylus states. “Would you like me to formally invite you all, also?” He asks while looking at his finger nails. “Come or don’t. It makes no difference to me. Though they get the last say.” he points our way.

I squeak. Like actually squeak. I think whatever noise I meant to make got caught in the irritation from my scream, it must have because there is no way I meant to squeak. I take a drink of water and cough a bit to clear my throat and try again.

“I don’t see any problems.” My voice is a little hoarse.

Mallory gives me that ‘you’re sure’ look and I nod at her before she says. “Fine.”

Terra squeals. “Oh my gods, we can have a sleep over!” She looks over at Sylus and it almost looks like they have a silent conversation when he nods at her. “Oooh, I’m so excited. We can watch a movie and do face masks if you want.”

“Terra, let’s maybe not overwhelm them more on night one.” Zayne says, gently placing a hand on her forearm.

“Right. Sorry.” She rubs the back of her neck. “I meant that it’s an option. No pressure.”

“It’s fine. We can play it by ear. No guarantees.” I tell her.

“Fantastic!”

A few silent minutes pass before it’s Caleb that speaks up. “So, uh. Are we all just going to ignore what happened?”

Sylus scowls, clearly having hoped to forget it happened. Xavier tenses at the memory, hands flexing into fists instinctually.

Zayne clears his throat. “We should discuss it tomorrow, with everything else. As long as everyone is fine.” he looks between me and Sylus, I nod at him. “Then we will add it to the list of odd events that have happened today that need to be explained.”

A sound trills from the computer and Jeremiah stands while unplugging something. “Phone’s are done.” He walks over to us and hands us each both our new and old devices, with the boxes for the new ones. “The passcode or pattern locks you were using before should have also transferred over, however it will probably make you add biometrics when you unlock it for the first time. Most things are biometric these days. Charging cords are in the boxes.” He informs us while walking back to his desk.

“Sounds good.” Mallory responds.

“I recommend having a second to set up the biometrics. You might want to wait until you get settled to mess with it.”

Unsure what to do now, I sit there in silence, Mallory clearly following suit.

A few minutes later Jeremiah clears his throat. “I mean this in the most loving way possible, and not necessarily directed at you two.” He looks over at us before turning back to the rest of the group. “Get out.”

Zayne comes over and helps me up off the couch gesturing us forward implying he will follow us. Mallory grabs our stuff and leads the way towards the rest of the group hovering by the door. As we get closer everyone begins to file out of the backroom door and into the main shop, then out the front door.

Sylus pulls his phone out of his pocket and then begins walking in a direction. “This way.”

We all follow, it appears that the whole gang has decided to camp at this safe house. I can only imagine what our ‘little’ group looks like from the outside. A giant man who looks like a large predatory cat leading a flock of people who look like they’ve lost their way, followed up by the most serious and stoic man possibly on the planet.

‘The daddies are herding the children.’

‘For fucks sake, never say that again.’

‘What? Daddies or the whole thing?’

‘I don’t even know, just don’t.’

‘Party pooper.’

I shake my head to clear the thoughts as we walk, nearly bumping into Caleb, the group had stopped and I noticed just in time.

“Your chariots await.” Sylus gestures toward the two sleek black towncars.

“You knew we’d all come.” Xavier says incredulously.

Sylus shrugs. “Had a hunch.”

Mallory and I step towards the second car, the whole group shifts towards it with us.

“Well now we can’t all fit in the same car.” Sylus chuckles at the absurdity. “And seeing how I’m being generous enough to host and provide transportation, I get dibs.” She cackles as he slides into the passenger seat of the second car.

Mallory and I look at each other confused and climb in, Mallory shoving me in the middle as she sits on the outside and shuts the door.

Looking out the window I can see Xavier, Rafayel, and Caleb turn into each other and begin a game of rock, paper, scissors. Both Zayne and Terra shake their heads at them and then give each other a look and nod. Zayne walks to the passenger seat of car one and Terra walks over to the other backseat door of the car we are in and slides in beside me.

A few more rounds of rock, paper, scissors and it seems Sylus gets tired of waiting for them to realize it’s all for nothing. “The decision was made a long time ago. Get in the car, idiots.”

I try really hard to stifle a laugh, I really do, but I can’t help it as the three look over to Sylus in bewilderment and then Terra snakes in front of me and looks out Sylus’ window and waves earning a bunch of sputtering from the three men. I burst out laughing.

The three make their way to the backseat of car one and there is a small argument that ensues, likely over who gets middle. Xavier jogs over to the opposite side of the car and gets in, Caleb shoves Rafayel into the open door and then Caleb climbs in after. I guess I know who lost. The whole interaction fuels my fire and I laugh harder.

Thankfully I’m not alone and don’t sound like a crazy person as Mallory and Terra are both laughing along with me. Sylus just shakes his head and the man in the crow mask just looks at us in the rear view mirror.

The laughter dies down as the cars pull away and the city starts to pass by.

“I thought you said the safe house was nearby in the square?” Mallory asks after a minute.

“It is. It’s on the other side of the square we were on.”

“Other side?”

“Yes, that was only about a quarter of the square you could visibly see where we were. While not far, it wouldn’t have been a walking distance that I’d make you two suffer through currently.”

“Thank you.” I say quietly. Through the review mirror I can see his eyes soften slightly.

“Yeah, walking through would have been… too people-y for right now.” Mallory agrees.

“Exactly.” Sylus nods. “The cars will pull into a private parking garage with an elevator that brings us right up with no stops.”

“Excellent.” I laugh.

I can see Sylus’ lips twitch up slightly.

Terra is tapping her fingers against her knee as she stares out the window, in her own world for a moment. Which is fine with me, her presence has been grounding, but borderline overwhelming.

“Almost there.” Sylus calls out casually.

Sure enough a few minutes later and we are plunged into that odd not quite dark darkness that falls only in parking garages and the car comes to a stop. Sylus and the crow get out simultaneously and the doors on either side of us open instantly. Terra gets out on her side, Mallory on her side and both doors stay open waiting for me to decide.

I slide out the side Mallory exited, thanking Sylus as I stepped aside and reached out for Mallory. Sylus closes the door and walks forward towards the elevator waiting ahead of us, the rest of the group exit the other car as we walk past and join us on our walk.

“Forgive me. I don’t know that the cab can hold this many people at once. I’ve never tried.” Sylus muses.

“This feels like the car scenario all over again.” Xavier’s eyes narrow.

Sylus just shrugs as we reach the elevator, he reaches out and presses the call button which appears to have some sort of biometric lock. A few seconds later and the doors open. Sylus chuckles as we are met with one of the largest elevator cabs I have ever seen.

“Oh right. I made sure this one was big enough to get all of my things upstairs.” He says coolly as he steps in and to the side, hands gesturing for everyone to follow.

We shuffle in. Mallory, Terra, and I in the back corner and along the wall behind Sylus. Zayne steps in and stands nearest to me at the wall, the other three form the next row in front of us, and the two crows get in last standing near the front of the cab with Sylus. When we are all in, Sylus reaches forward and once again uses what appears to be some sort of biometric control panel.

The doors close and we begin to ascend. Quickly I realize that this is one of those elevators that go super fast past floors it won’t stop at. I reach out with both hands to whoever is closest to me on either side, gaining a death grip the moment I touch fabric.

Zayne shifts slightly closer and leans down to me. “Are you ok?”

“Mmmhmm. Just not used to these fast elevators.” I whimper.

Mallory lets out a ‘tsk’ noise and says. “They make her nervous.” She tells him.

“Luckily they are usually over fast.” I say, almost robotically as I use all of my focus to not think about how fast we are going while the floor numbers scroll the display rapidly.

“You aren’t blinking.” Zayne observes.

“Correct.”

He shifts slightly closer again to which I am very grateful, my arm was getting tired being at the angle it was and his presence is pleasantly grounding.

Thankfully it starts to slow and eventually comes to a stop, the doors opening moments later.. Sylus steps out, and the others follow, into one of the grandest foyers I have ever seen in person, which isn’t saying much but it’s still really impressive.

Immediately stepping out of the cab there is a beautiful black staircase with a carpeted runner in that classic Sylus red. To the right of the staircase is a beautiful grand piano, glowing from the floor to ceiling windows that lead out to a balcony, a record player and storage cabinet and a brilliant red leather love seat.

Mallory and Zayne tug me forward, my hands still gripped tightly on their clothing, as I gape at this ‘safe house’. “Wow.” I say on an exhale.

Sylus chuckles. “Thank you, darling.”

I shake myself out of my awe, releasing my grip, just in time for him to give us a ‘quick’ tour of the downstairs and my awe returns for each area he shows us.

Down the hall to the left from the foyer is most of the random, unnecessary to normal people, rooms he listed off. Starting on the left side of the hall is a laundry room so large it has two sets of washers and dryers and an island in the middle. Sylus explains his designer told him people use the area to fold clothes or gift wrap.

The next door is his office, and it looks almost exactly like I thought it would. All dark or black toned wood furnishings, his desk centered at the back of the room with a secondary desk space that has bookshelves on top on the wall behind it. Another beautifully crafted couch to one side of the room and more storage and a small bar area on the other.

The last door on the left side of the hallway is a gym. He tells us that it doesn’t have everything he is used to at his main gym but explains how ‘it will do’ when he has to be at this location. He follows it up by telling us that the shower jets in the adjoined bathroom make it worth it.

At the end of the hall is a half bath that he claims is mostly there to take up space.

Going back down the other side of the hallway is the theater. A few rows of plush couches move down the room towards the screen that nearly takes up the whole wall. Mallory comments on how it would make for one hell of a movie night.

We move on to the game room, it’s very minimalist in decoration but houses a pool table, dartboard, another set of plush couches, and the largest entertainment center I have ever seen. He boasted it having all the latest and greatest in gaming even though he doesn’t spend much time here.

To my shock and awe, apparently when he said there was a bar he did not mean just an area in the kitchen that houses some liquor and barware. No. He meant there was a bar. Fully stocked shelves, actual bar service counter, and a few tables. He also makes sure to point out his wine storage room. This room also has access to a balcony, and that really seems to round out the feeling of it.

Back in the foyer we pass by two archways that lead into the formal dining area. Down the hall only slightly farther and on the right is the entrance to the main living space. Gorgeous, large yet cozy. I’d have expected nothing less.

At the end of the hallway Sylus explains there are double owner’s suites, one on either side and identical. The one on the left is Sylus’ apparently and he suggests Mallory and I take the other. ‘There’s two of you after all darling. Makes sense for a larger bedroom.’ is how he presented it. We tell him that we will finish the tour and go from there.

When he shows us the kitchen he lets us know that the fridge and pantry are fully stocked, looks us over for a moment and then stands straighter than he had been before. “I never thought to ask in all the chaos. Did you eat dinner before,” Sylus gestures with his hands. “All this?”

“Oh shit! We’ll at least we didn’t get a chance to order and accidentally screw someone over on their tip.” Mallory suddenly remembers. “Fuck, and you didn’t really eat today since breakfast.” She turns and scowls at me.

Zayne grumbles something about taking care of oneself and proper nutrition before Terra interrupts him.

“You let us keep you from eating for three hours and you didn’t say anything?!?” Terra cries out, turning to Caleb.

“I’m on it. Any allergies?” Caleb asks us.

We both shake our heads in answer. Caleb nods and begins inventorying the ingredients, starting in the refrigerator that is so large I think I could fit in.

Terra steps forward, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’ll help!” She begins moving over to the pantry in the corner. “You guys go pick rooms and settle in a bit. I’ll send someone for you when it’s done if you aren’t back by then.”

I nod at her and turn towards the doorway. Sylus gestures to us all to follow him back into the foyer toward the stairs. I can’t help but to admire the view through the large windows as we ascend. Turning back I admire, well everything. The whole aesthetic of the place so far has been my inner goth’s wet dream for decorating a home.

Mallory elbows me as we walk up the stairs. Almost like she read my mind. “This almost looks straight off your PinBoard’s gallery. A lot flashier though obviously, we don’t have this kind of budget, but I see the vision for the house you were talking about now.”

As we get to the top of the stairs we are met with that second living room Sylus was telling us about. Large windows and a set of french doors take up the entire wall behind a set of luxurious couches.

Sylus points off in that general direction. “One of my favorite balcony views is out there.”

There’s a hallway to the left and to the right of the grand opening that is the living room. “That way” he points left. “Is where half of the bedrooms are. Those two doors,” He points just to the left of the living room. “Are the library and another half bath. The bedroom directly next to the library is the one Terra typically occupies. Behind us,” he spins around. “Is the residential elevator that goes just between these two floors and the roof access stairs.” He spins back towards the living room and to the right of the stairs now. “That way is the other half of the bedrooms. They are all pretty much identical.”

“Are there ‘you are here’ maps occasionally? I fear I may get lost or turned around in this place.” I make an attempt at a joke.

“It’s only eighteen and a half thousand square feet, darling. If you get lost here then I will make sure to put a tracker on you when you come to Onychinus’ base.”

“That’s one hell of a number you just spat out there.” Mallory chortles.

“It’s rookie numbers for boss man.” One of the crows calls as he skips past us and down the left hallway, entering the last door on the right side.

“And every place looks similar enough that you’ll get confused what floor plan you need to be recalling the layout for. Totally get the ‘getting lost’ comment.” The other crow walks backwards down the hallway his counterpart went down until he finished speaking and he turns around to enter the last door on the left side of the hallway.

“Well. There’s one room left down that way.” Sylus shrugs. “Entire right hallway is open.” He turns and looks for Mallory and I specifically. “And that other room downstairs is still yours if you want it.”

I nod at him. “Seems it may be a little crowded up here.”

Sylus chuckles as he strides back down the stairs. “So it seems. I’ll go check on your food. Make yourselves at home.”

The other three men give each other a quick glance and they all head down the right hall, claiming whichever room they reach first. Zayne appears to have taken the first door on the left, Rafayel the last, Xavier the last door on the right across from him, leaving Caleb the first door on the right across from Zayne or down the other wing across from Terra.

Mallory and I turn to head back down the stairs after watching the silent room claiming. “That was so strange. They moved like they all just instinctively knew which room the other was going to take.” She muses as she laces her arm in mine.

Down the stairs and back in the direction of the main suites we pass by the kitchen and can hear Terra and Caleb’s playful banter as they fuss over the food.

Entering the double doors on the right and into the room Sylus offered, Mallory pauses. “Holy shit.” She takes several steps forward towards the bed and runs her hand across the soft bedding. “This room is fucking gorgeous.”

She wasn’t wrong. It was multiple times nicer than the hotel suite we’d spent an arm and a leg on for our anniversary last year. That said, I don’t even want to know how much it cost to furnish this room alone.

I close the doors behind me as Mallory begins to wander through doors.

“This closet is huge! There’s already some clothes in here.” I can hear things shifting and hangers sliding. “There’s stuff in here that I think would fit you! I mean, to wear to bed at least. It’s all men’s clothes.”

“Better than nothing.” I reply.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“You never miss an opportunity, do you?”

“Not a chance.” She comes out of the closet holding the items she claims should fit me, slinging them over the back of the nearby couch as she enters the next door. “Christ!”

I enter just behind her to see the ensuite. Beautifully decorated in the perfect combination of dark and light, this room carries a green theme. Like thee perfect dark green for a bathroom.

“Was this in the game? Is this what your PinBoard gallery is based on? This can’t be a coincidence.”

I shake my head. “They didn’t actually show much. Just enough to get good general ideas of his aesthetic and piece together a few rooms.”

“Oh my gods, this shower is one of those wet rooms.” She gaps while walking forward. “Oh, a soak in that tub will probably feel devine.”

I gasp once I see what she’s on about, a tub large enough it may as well be a small pool. “Oh we definitely have to do that at some point.”

While we have time, I toss myself onto the loveseat the clothes Mallory found me are on and pull out my new phone. Sure enough it prompts me to set up biometric locks. Seeing what I’m doing from over my shoulder Mallory joins me on the opposite love seat and sets hers up as well.

As we finished up the set up process, which took a lot less time than I expected but more time than I would have liked, there's a knock on the door. Mallory walks over and opens it to find Terra standing there holding a pile of folded clothes.

“Food is almost ready.” A big smile brings her cheeks up to her eyes. “If I dare brag, you will be very satisfied. Caleb is the best cook. Oh!” She lifts up the clothes in her hands. “I pulled these out of my stash from my room. There’s some pajamas and something to wear tomorrow. I did throw in some underwear for you, they were brand new from the pack but if you don’t choose to wear them I don’t blame you.” She hands over the clothes to Mallory

“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Mallory turns and walks away to put the clothes down on the bed.

Terra takes a step into the room and looks around. “I’ve never been in this room. Not that there’s been a need to be. I chose the room nearest the library for a reason. Once you’ve seen one bedroom, you’ve seen them all. Oh!” She takes a few more steps forward into the room and points at the back of the couch nearest us. “Did you already find something to wear?”

“No, actually those might fit Cielle. At least to wear to bed. It’s all men’s clothes, so there probably won’t be anything for tomorrow.”

“Well that's ok. You’ve only been in that outfit for a little bit. No one here is going to say anything if you wear it tomorrow.” She smiles at me. A whistling tune comes from down the hall and Terra claps. “Food’s ready! I can’t wait to see what you think.”

The three of us make the short walk down the hall back and back into the kitchen, Caleb turns from the peninsula’d counter and smiles while gesturing towards two waiting plates. He pushes them toward the other side of the counter where there are stools waiting for occupancy. Terra sits at the eat-in nook and pulls out her phone and begins browsing.

“I made plenty, so don’t let how I portioned it stop you from having your fill!” Caleb exclaims as he continues to smile towards me, he looks over and his smile falls slightly but he nods at Mallory.

He turns to the island where the steaming, unplated food is and grabs a plate from nearby and helps himself to his own creation. “I’ve already eaten dinner, but it seems like so long ago now.” He leans a hip against the island and holds his plate up to begin eating. “But no one can resist Caleb’s braised chicken wings, not even the chef.”

“It looks delicious, thank you.” I say in earnest, taking my first bite. “The fried zucchini and rice were a good call.”

“Had to round the meal out somehow. I couldn’t give you just chicken. Zayne would have had a cow.” He teases.

Zayne appears next to Caleb, silently. “Zayne would not have a cow.” Caleb jumps. “I would have simply suggested finding something to go with it.”

“Good grief, man! Wear a bell or something. How the hell did you do that?”

Zayne shrugs his shoulders as he moves to also grab a plate and fill it up. “You were distracted. Must be losing your touch in your years, Colonel.”

“Hey! You shut your face, old man.”

Zayne chuckles as he takes his plate to the eat-in area stationed behind me and Mallory. “I’m not that much older than you. Just remember that.” he slides into the bench seating and begins eating.

I laugh at this interaction, it’s very them and there’s something about it that warms my heart. “If you think he’s old,” I point with my thumb over my shoulder. “You are going to think we are ancient.”

Xavier had silently entered at some point and had made himself a plate, he also brings it over to the nook, more interested in the food than he was the conversation.

“You’d be surprised, darling.” Sylus strolls into the kitchen next, he eyes the food but leans against the wall between the kitchen and nook. “You haven’t asked any of us how old we are.”

My hand pauses halfway to my mouth with a forkful of zucchini.

“Shut up. The game got your ages wrong?” Mallory leans around me to look more closely at Sylus, whose eyebrows just raise slightly. “How wrong? Do you know how old the game said you were?”

“Significantly wrong.” Rafayel strides in, flanked by the crow masked men who waste no time getting their own fill before disappearing through an archway that leads to the dining room.

Choking on the bite I had resumed taking, I take a moment to right myself before continuing the conversation. “Well you are all obviously adults right now, so at least it’s not younger than in the game. How significant is significant? Because if you are about to tell me something silly like you are in your sixties then I’m going to have to ask for everyone's skin care routine, right now.”

Xavier chuckles from the corner of the nook. I suddenly recall how, in the game, it had been his 214th year on earth when we met him in the year 2048 where he presents himself as 23 years old.

No one says anything for a bit, light noises of silverware hitting porcelain, when it dawns on me. “I can pull out my phone and look.” I start. “But does anyone want to volunteer to tell me what year it is?”

Mallory looks at me quizzically as she takes her next bite, eyebrows shooting up in understanding after a moment.

“It’s 2057, dollface.” Caleb says coolly as he slides his plate into the sink behind him.

It’s Mallory’s turn to choke on her food. “Sorry. That’s just a significant time difference from where we are from. I don’t know anything about what year it is in the game.” She waves off the looks as she continues to eat.

I tap my fingers on the counter as I do the math in my head. “In game Caleb just had a birthday where he went from 25 to 25, because game time is weird.”

“Wibbly wobbly.” Caleb interjects.

“Exactly. So he would actually technically have just turned 26. 2048 to 2057 is 9 years…” I pause while looking at my plate. “Do you mean to tell me you are 35 right now!?”

He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Guilty.” he chuckles slightly.

I turn towards Rafayel who is still just standing near the doorway. “That makes you 34?”

“Correct, sea star.”

Looking at Sylus. “38?”

He nods and adds that smirk to the mix.

I spin around in my chair, and point at Zayne. “37?” He nods. I slide my hand slightly towards Terra, “33?” she looks up from her phone and smiles. Finally my hand lands on Xaiver. I give him a look with one eyebrow raised and use air quotes as I say, “33ish.”

He chuckles again and nods in appreciation of my air quotes. “Something like that.”

“Holy shit, I’m not the oldest for once.” Mallory claps quickly before getting up and taking her plate to the sink.

I groan. “That somehow leaves me in the baby category of the age range. I don’t think that’s any better than thinking we were older than all of you.”

“Ah come on, angel. You got to learn our ages. How old are you?”

“I turned 33 a few weeks ago.” I offer.

“I’m 35, and used to being the oldest of the group. Not going to lie, I don’t know if I can play the part of the middle child well.” She turns the water on and starts rinsing the dishes that have accumulated.

“Huh, did you say something?” I tease her. A semi-dry sponge comes flying at me. “Hey! That’s not nice!” I realize we are being stared at, a mix of confusion and amusement evident on their faces. “Where we are from it’s a running joke that middle children are forgotten about or paid less attention to by their families.” I explain.

Walking my own plate over to the sink, I bring the sponge back with me and slot myself next to Mallory to help with dishes like we’ve always done.

“That’s sort of cruel.” Zayne says after thinking it over for a moment.

“It’s a stereotype and can be joked about for a reason.” Mallory shrugs and continues washing.

Everyone had gathered closer into the kitchen as they’d brought their own plates and silverware to the sink, and were watching us work.

Sylus’s eyebrow was hitched up slightly, amused and something else I couldn’t place when I glanced up at him.

“You know.” He pushes off the wall farther. “You are guests and I do have a dishwasher. There is no need to be so…domestic.”

“Habit.” I say as I continue my job. “We have a dishwasher at home too, but we’ve done this for as long as I can remember at this point.”

Mallory hands over a plate for me to rinse and adds, “It’s grounding and kind of a silent way to check in with each other. Keeps us in sync without much effort. And a chore gets done.”

“Well if that isn’t disgustingly healthy.” Rafayel murmurs playfully.

Zayne walks to my other side and grabs the stack of now clean and dry plates and moves to put them away, Terra grabs the silverware and does the same. Caleb moves to find something to store the leftovers in.

Mallory dries her hands and watches everyone work like it was already a naturally established rhythm. “Is that what we looked like from the outside?” She asks no one in particular.

I turn and watch what she is referring to. It’s almost comical as much as it is endearing.

“Yes.” Rafayel and Sylus say in tandem.

“Totally get the gawking now.” Is all she says, with a smile.

I hum in response. I could get used to watching such quiet displays of domesticism. “That’s probably practiced from growing up together.” I recall the three’s long existing relationships with each other.

Caleb stills as he walks behind us to put the leftovers in the refrigerator. “You probably aren’t wrong. I hadn’t even thought about it.” He walked back around to the other side of the island where the now empty pans were waiting as Mallory leans forward to grab them. He uses a potholder to smack her hand away. “I’ll do it.” Is all he says, flatly and giving no hint at any emotion.

Mallory shrugs and doesn’t argue, but her eyes narrow at the man a bit before she retreats out from the sink area.

I look between the two, mildly shocked but also unsurprisingly not. She’s normally a ‘the cook doesn’t clean’ rule follower when not at home, but given how things started between them I know she won’t mind breaking that rule for someone she doesn’t think deserves it. I step aside as Caleb approaches with the stack of pans.

Terra’s eyes flick between everyone, those hunter eyes always analyzing everything I’m sure. She turns and looks at the digital display on the stove top and frowns at it.

“I suppose it’s probably too late for anyone to want to watch a movie, huh?” She sounds disappointed, and before anyone can respond, “You know, I’ve heard it’s not good to go to bed right after eating. We should at least settle in and watch an episode or two of a show.”

Zayne pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head, the faintest of smirks painting his lips. Gods it’s just as attractive in person as it was on screen, more so even. Mallory elbows me and I realize I was probably very noticeably staring.

“If you are just trying to say that you want to stay up and don’t want to be alone, I’ll watch something with you sweetie. No need to make up excuses.” Sylus goads her.

She pouts in response. “I wasn’t making up excuses. I was giving a reason. Big difference.”

“Sure, pips.” Caleb ruffles her hair as he walks by.

I lean into Mallory and whisper, “And they called us domestic.”

Sylus laughs that velvety and hearty laugh that makes me want to melt. I must have subconsciously reacted in some way because Mallory snorts. I’m going to combust and I have a feeling Mallory will enjoy watching it happen.

I give Mallory that ‘please don’t’ look, getting the feeling that she may push to continue… whatever this was. But she doesn’t even entertain my plea, of course.

“Let us go change and talk about it. Give us like fifteen minutes and we can meet up by the stairs and go from there?” Her eyes are sparkling with mischief, nothing but mirth in her tone.

Before anyone answers her hand is around my wrist and leading me down the hall towards the room designated as ours. I take a quick look behind us and see that Sylus is following. I’m confused for a moment. He seems to sense that as he tilts his head in the direction of the door opposite the hall to ours. Right. His room is down here too.

Soon enough I’m being drug through the single open door and shoved farther in the room before the door shuts behind me.

Mallory walks in front of me and just looks in my eyes for a moment, a straight cheshire cat smile plastered on her face.

Before she can say anything I raise my hand to her chest. “ Don’t. Please.” I plead with her.

She just laughs for a second. “I’m sorry. The only good thing about this whole absolutely improbable scenario is watching you try to exist around them.” She turns around and grabs the clothes she’d gathered for me earlier from the spot we left them and comes back to hand them to me. “It’s even better that I’m in the know about how you feel about them. They might not know they are doing anything to you, but I do.” she says the last few words directly in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

I recover and gasp playfully, smacking her on the shoulder slightly as she walks past me to where she’d set down the clothes Terra had brought her. “Don’t tell me you are getting off on them unknowingly working me up?”

“I don’t know that I’d say that I’m getting off on it.” She draws out the words ‘getting off’ for exaggeration. “But I am thoroughly enjoying it.”

Without ceremony she begins changing, the damn menace attempts to maintain eye contact with a smirk.

“You’re mean. You know how much I struggled with how I felt about them when they were just pixels. Put yourself in my shoes and think how all over the place my brain is.” I turn toward the bathroom, refusing to engage in her game any farther. “It’s confusing enough trying to wrap my head around the fact we got pulled into another timeline for fucks sake, let’s not add in how warbled my thoughts get being surrounded by the stupidly hot men I accidentally fell in love with. One thing at a time.” I say with finality as I close the bathroom door.

I can hear her say something else but she is too far away for me to hear. Using that information, I make sure to speak louder as I talk to her through the door.

“So are we going?” I ask as I begin to undress.

“I don’t see why not.” She must have finished changing and is standing nearer to the door now. “A little sense of whatever normal even means any more before we have to face tomorrow and figure out what the fuck is even going on.”

“Fair enough. Gives us a way to keep our routine too, seeing how it is our movie night.” I say as I jump into ridiculously soft sweatpants, noting that they are definitely too long and I will have to have Mallory help me roll the legs, but surprisingly they fit decently well otherwise.

“That too.”

Pulling the t-shirt, that is also stupid soft, over my head I settle it over the camisole. I’m not quite willing to sacrifice the extra fabric barrier.

I grab the clothes I had been wearing and exit, tossing them over the couch like the ones I’m wearing now had been. Mallory was sitting there already when I walked around, sat, and pulled my legs up to settle in her lap.

“Help please. My little legs are drowning in these.”

She chuckles at me but moves to help roll them. “So are you sure you want to go do this?”

I shrug. “I love to say yes without hesitation, and I get we are here and came willingly, for the most part, but they are strangers at the end of the day. Even if they weren’t pixels I’m in love with suddenly in the flesh in front of me, this would still be sooooo very awkward.”

“Do you actually feel like they are strangers?” She moves on to my other leg.

I go to speak but fumble to put together the words. Sighing, I try again. “It’s complicated. No, they don’t actually feel like strangers but that’s due to a parasocial relationship I formed with pixel them. But in reality they are, in fact, strangers. Plain and simple. I don’t know the real them. I’m not used to the real them.”

“And yet we are here, inexplicably trusting them.” She pats my legs as she finishes the last roll. “Well, maybe not Caleb. There’s something about him that’s just getting under my skin and I can’t name it. But he’s here, and the others seem to trust him.”

“Well, for one, we didn’t really have a choice but to trust them. What was our other option? And, for two, you guys really got off on the wrong foot in the square.” I pause, thinking back. “From what I recall. I think I panicked so hard I might have blacked out.”

“Oh it was more than the wrong foot.” She gently pushes my legs off her lap and stands, holding her hand out for me. “Shall we? I think our time frame is about over.”

Together we walk towards the door of the room. My nerves are lit on fire, a faint buzzing of anxiety at the back of my skull.

‘One movie. Normal people shit. We’ve got this.’ I tell myself.

‘Yeah. Normal. We’ll go with that one.’

Sylus had been behind them walking down the hall, he was on his way to his own bedroom to change out of the clothes he was wearing and into something softer, if not for bed then to at least be more comfortable to watch something with Terra. She seemed to be so determined to stay awake and he saw no reason not to keep her company if that’s what she wished.

In no time, clothes changed, he was back out in the hallway and closing the door softly behind him. He looked to their door for a moment before he turned to head down the hall.

Until he heard her voice, a little louder than it had been a moment ago, he could actually make out the words she said. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but how could he not when he heard her talking about struggling with feelings over pixels.

His brows knit together. ‘Feelings about pixels?’

“It’s confusing enough trying to wrap my head around the fact we got pulled into another timeline for fucks sake.’ He doesn’t blame her, though they are doing surprisingly well at the moment, but that could change with a moment's notice. ‘Let’s not add in how warbled my thoughts get being surrounded by the stupidly hot men I accidentally fell in love with.’

‘Stupidly hot?’ He smirks and shifts weight between feet, feeling smug. Wait. ‘Fell in love with?’

He hears a door click shut from inside the room.

“Maybe it’s finally time for her to realize she is the smoke show I keep telling her she is.” Mallory’s voice says, quieter but closer to the door no doubt.

Sylus’ eyes widen in surprise. The girlfriend wants her to be hit on? He’s a natural at it without even trying most times. He’d seen her face the few times he’d realized he done it. Now that he knows he’s allowed to do it on purpose… man that woman’s face is going to be the most brilliant shade of red. Assuming he doesn’t forget how to act in her presence, that is.

He smirks and strides down the hall with a new determination and a bit of an ego boost.

I stand near the stairs in the open foyer, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

“Calm down, kitten. They aren’t going anywhere.” Sylus says as he exits the hallway from the direction of his bedroom. “They can’t even if they wanted to.”

“Don’t make it sound like they are prisoners. I’m trying really hard not to feel guilty about it.” I can’t stop my movements but they slow down a bit.

“They aren’t prisoners. If they ask, they can leave. I meant that they have nowhere else to go.” He runs his hands through his hair. “And they can’t leave the penthouse without my biometric scan.” he adds quickly.

“Sylus!” I lean forward to smack his arm but he dodges me easily.

“What? You know how my safe houses work. They aren’t added to the system so it’s not going to let them do anything.”

I sigh, he’s right. Sylus had added me a long time ago so I forgot, clearly. “And would you?”

His head tilts to the side. “Would I what?”

“Add them to the system.”

He straightens his head back out and thinks a moment, hand on chin. “I’m trying to decide what to say here. ‘It’s complicated’ is the best I’ve got for an answer.”

“How is it complicated? Yes or no.”

“I don’t let just anyone be added to my system, sweetie.” His voice gets deep and grumbly. I’m clearly fraying a nerve, he almost sounds like he’s getting frustrated by the line of conversation.

“I… oh. Well, I know that.” I look down and scuff my foot on the floor. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…” I pause for a second and then look up at him, my eyebrows furrowed now. “I actually don’t know what I meant. I think I was just thinking that you can’t keep them dependent on you, or me, to leave if they are staying here.”

He puffs his chest and almost laughs, though it sounds more like a man unsure if he wants to say what he’s going to next. “What if it was?” he asks quietly, turning his head to look back down the hallway.

My eyebrows come together even tighter, I’m not following whatever is going on with this man today. “Huh?”

“What if it was like that?”

I blink at him, trying to make sense of what he is saying. I quickly go over what we have been talking about in my head. Which was just about them being locked in and whether he’d… oh.

“Sylus.” I look at him, like really look at him. “If you want to add them to the system, with that meaning, don’t keep me from stopping you. I’m hardly at liberty to judge you.” I try making a joke to lighten the mood a touch.

“We had our conversation over this years ago, you know my stance on your situation. I told you where I stood in it from my end.” He sighs and looks up at her. “But I never thought about what it would mean if that stance happened to change. I don’t know how I feel about that possibility, but I would also want to afford you the opportunity to give me your opinion on it.”

He’s keeping things vague, likely because of the possibility of someone listening, especially out here in the open and right near the stairs.

I take a step closer to him. “My opinion, Sy, is that you should be happy. If that’s what you want, or would like to pursue, then do it.”

He just looks at me for a moment, undoubtedly studying my facial expressions and body language for any signs that they don’t match my words. Finally satisfied he nods as the sound of a door being shut echoes from down the hall.

A few moments later Cielle and Mallory are walking into the open space hand in hand. Sylus’ back goes ridiculously straight as he stares at the pair for a moment. My eyes flick between him and the new arrivals, eyes narrowing slightly before I realize Cielle is wearing his clothes. A smirk undoubtedly forms on my lips as I look back to Sylus, who has resumed his attempts to look as normal as possible.

“Just us?” Mallory asks, looking between me and Sylus and then up to the stairs.

I shrug. “They all made excuses of having to be up tomorrow. I think they forgot that it’s Friday and they all took the weekend off. Doesn’t matter, we can conspire to force them to join us tomorrow if you’d like.” I giggle at the thought of my own mischief.

Apparently the thought of scheme’s has Mallory intrigued and she lets go of Cielle’s hand and comes over to loop her arm with mine.

“Conspire you say?” She sounds very excited about this thought. “So what are we doing? Where we going?”

My eyes must light up because Sylus chuckles. I glance at him quickly, trying to keep my face straight and then back to Mallory. “We should talk. You and me. The theater!” I turn to Sylus and Cielle, the latter looking a little lost. “You two meet us there, we are going to…decide what movie to watch.”

Sylus’ eyebrow quirks up and then his eyes narrow. “Terra…”

“Go, go. Shoo.” I push him forward and smile at Cielle. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite. Unless you want him to.”

“Terra!” Sylus almost roars, ears turning the slightest shade of pink that you’d have to know him personally enough to notice.

It’s Mallory’s turn to look between the two and then to Terra. A smile forms as she turns back to look at Cielle. “Go on. I’ll be right there.” she reassures her.

The pair hesitates until finally Sylus leads Cielle down the hall towards the theater. Cielle looks over her shoulder a few times just to see us wave at her, Sylus looking behind him to check if she is still following, before finally entering the targeted room.

After the door closes behind them I turn to Mallory and nod my head in the direction of the balcony just off the foyer. “Let’s chat.”

Betrayal. Cruel and calculated betrayal. That’s all I could think while walking down that hallway. We had just talked about this, and she goes and insists I’m alone with probably the most intimidating of them all. Any of the others would have been better.

‘If you can survive being alone with Sylus for a few minutes then the rest will be a cake walk. Get over it.’

‘Not the point.’

‘Of course it’s not. You’d rather let the weight of your anxieties and insecurities cripple you than to try.’

‘That’s not fair.’

I take one last glance over my shoulder to the two women who look far too happy about what is happening before I walk through the waiting open door, dark walls and dim lighting, and a massive walking sex god awaits me.

The devil on my shoulder snorts internally. ‘Sex god. I’m sure that’s helping.’

I ignore it as I look around and take in the room more thoroughly than I had when we’d been given the tour earlier. Gorgeous gold sconces line the walls, casting just the right amount of mood lighting, picture framed wall molding making them appear like displayed art. Occasional, equally dark but just as devastatingly gorgeous, art pieces take the place where the sconces sit in the framing.

On the wall shared with the door is a line of counters and cabinets. A black ‘mini’ fridge, though roughly the size of a regular residential refrigerator, at the end. A popcorn machine sits on the counter in the center. Above this set up in the center of the wall looks to be a projector, wires coming down to a console and control panel near the door.

The seating is made up of multiple beautiful black tufted loveseats. Just large enough to lounge on alone or cuddle up with one or two people.

‘Hey-o.’

‘No.’

The floor was platformed between the rows of loveseats, going down towards the large screen taking up the far wall. The overall feel of the room was grand and simple, yet somehow strikingly ornate.

I hadn’t really realized I’d been drifting while looking around until Sylus cleared his throat and brought me back to reality a bit.

“Sorry about her. I don’t really know what she’s up to, but I’m sure it will be fine.”

I look at him, confusion plastered on my face at his tone.

He rubbed the back of his neck and continued. “You looked worried while we were walking here.”

I wave off his words. “If Mallory is involved, it most definitely won’t be fine. We probably should be worried.”

His expression changes from slight concern to blatant smugness. “Whatever they are planning, I’ll protect you.”

Taken aback, literally as I absentmindedly take a step back, I begin to fall backwards off the platform I hadn’t realized ended.

Sylus moves quickly and smoothly, stopping my fall with his arm wrapped around my back, our chests pressed together. Or rather, my chest pressed more near his abs and my head on his chest. He is really tall. Instinctually, I grabbed hold of his shirt. He walks us backwards and away from the edge of the platform. We stay like that for a moment before I come to my senses and scramble away.

‘Aww come on.’

“S-Sorry. I should have been paying closer attention to where I was.”

“It’s alright, darling. Are you ok?”

“Yeah. You stopped me from harming and making an ass out of myself.”

He nods, his face quickly changing from concern to that nonchalance he wears like armor.

A few moments pass in silence, neither of us have moved. I feel ridiculously out of place, unsure of whether I should choose a spot and sit or wait for the other two to show their scheming faces.

As I start to move to do the former of the two choices, Sylus clears his throats, my attention turns back to him again.

“Do you want me to go find them and hurry them along?” He asks, the strangeness of them leaving us must be getting to him too.

“If you want to.” Is all I can think to respond.

He nods and takes a step backward before turning towards the door, “I’ll be right back.”

When the door closes behind him, I let myself breathe again. Looking around once more, and feeling less awkward now that I’m alone, I take a seat in one of the loveseats in the center of the room and oh my gods it felt like sitting on a cloud.

With nothing better to do for a moment I pulled out my new phone and unlock it. Some of the icons look familiar, different but the general idea is obvious enough. I open what I’ve deduced is the web browser to do what I’ve done in quiet moments for the last few weeks, open the fan fic site, and pause a moment.

‘Does the fan fiction site even exist here? Surely not.’

‘Do you really think there would be fan fics of them in their world?’

‘Well of course not.’

‘But that’s what you were going to look for, wasn’t it?’

‘Maybe, but more out of habit I think.’

‘Bitch you had the fan fic right there and you backed away from him so fast.’

‘Stranger. He’s a stranger. Doesn’t matter how ridiculously good looking he is. Doesn’t matter how much I think I know him. He. Is. A. Stranger.’ I argue with myself.

‘And he’ll stay one if you don’t make an effort to try and get to know him.’

I’m completely still for a moment as I think about my, unfortunately, own words. I didn’t really try, did I? I could have ended the awkward silence just as much as he could have. He had tried. He may have even attempted to flirt. And I almost threw myself down a set of stairs in response. How pathetic.

‘Not pathetic. Traumatized. There’s a difference, but that’s a conversation for another day.’

I huff at myself, a near laugh at my own actions. I look down and remember the phone in my hands. Without the fan fiction site, I don’t really know what to do. To stave off boredom, and my own thoughts, I swipe the screen up to see what apps may have transferred over from my old phone.

A few non-important ones had transferred in the first few pages of apps, the ones that obviously weren’t compatible are still there but are greyed out with a red X over them. Scrolling to the more recently downloaded ones I see two very interesting icons, in color and waiting. My hand stills as I had gone to click on one instinctually.

“Shut up.” I say out loud. Both icons seem to stare at me like a challenge. “How the fuck did these, of all things, transfer?’

The icon of the dating app I had downloaded now seemed to mock me.

‘You wanted poly but could only think of them. It’s like it’s reminding you.’ the other me laughs.

‘Well that would go hand in hand with the other one then. Thanks universe.’

‘Yeah, that one is just rubbing it in.’

I blink, and then blink again. I can’t believe my eyes. The Love and Deepspace icon sitting there, in color, waiting, Rafayel’s pretty face calling to me like the siren he is. I want to open it. Habitually I had opened it every time I’d seen the icon in the past, even just to spend a few minutes with them. It shouldn’t exist here. They exist here. I don’t want to open it and somehow break the spell of whatever this shit is. As uncomfortable and out of place as I’ve felt since opening my eyes in that square, I have the growing desire to stay.

Quickly, I lock the phone to stop any absentminded attempt at clicking the app that may happen. I have to ask one of them how to hide apps, or put them in folders, or something on this phone to lessen my chances of opening it. I shove the phone back in my pocket and twist myself to rest my chin on the back of the couch and resign myself to staring at the door, waiting for someone to walk through it.

Once the door closes behind him, Sylus leans against the hall wall for a moment to collect himself. That hadn’t gone even remotely well. Not that he tried that hard. The second the door shut behind them initially it was like his brain shut off. All of his knowledge of how to act around anyone was left on the other side of that door, and just as he’d thought he was gaining it back with a nice light conversation, he’d attempted to flirt with her. Then she almost fell. Without thinking he reached for her, the action may have been a little more intimate than intended, clearly with how she had reacted after. He couldn’t help but be disappointed when her body retreated from his.

Sighing, he pushes himself off the wall and stalks down the hall, opening the doors of rooms he thinks Terra may have pulled Mallory into. He makes his way back to the foyer and sees two silhouettes out on the balcony. Just as he reaches the door to open it the sound of their laughing reaches his ears. Maybe they were just having a moment and Terra wasn’t using the information he’d volunteered earlier against him.

Walking out onto the balcony he can’t help but notice they got quiet immediately. He schools his tone into a smooth nonchalance. “Done scheming yet? Our girl is waiting and nearly threw herself down the stairs in boredom.” He twists the truth a bit to get a reaction out of them, smirking.

“What!?” Mallory shrieks and moves to run towards the door.

“Relax.” He drawls. “I’m just kidding. Though she did almost fall down the stairs. Poor timing of a step backwards without looking. What can you do?” He shrugs while looking at his nails.

“Wait, actually? Is she ok?” Terra takes a step forward this time.

“She’s fine. I caught her before anything happened.” He brings his hand back down to his side and shifts his weight. “Though I think she’s scared of me. Practically fell backwards again to get out of my hold.” He sighs, conveying a little more emotion in the noise than he wanted.

The two women clearly are trying to hold back a laugh, failing miserably. His eyebrow quirks up and looks at Terra.

Mallory responds to his silent question. “She’s not afraid of you. She’s just unsure how to react around you, any of you.”

“Yeah, you can’t blame her. She just learned you’re real.” Terra giggles.

“Yes, well. I don’t blame her. I would have a hard time believing I’m real too. I mean look at me.” He gives a smirk and does a half spin.

“Cocky bastard.” Terra mutters.

“What was that, sweetie?”

“Nothing.” She answers quickly. “Hey, why aren’t you with her? Did you leave her alone?”

“I came here to look for you two trouble makers. Did you decide on a movie?”

Without hesitation Terra answers, a wicked smile plastered on her face. “We did, actually! We just finalized the decision when you showed up.”

His eyes narrow at her. “I shouldn’t trust you.”

“But you do.”

“Debatable.”

Mallory laughs and grabs Terra by the wrist and walks toward the door. “Just like how she always described your relationship.” She shakes her head as if to dispel a thought. “Come on. Let’s go watch a movie.”

As soon as the door shuts behind her Terra begins squealing. “Sorry. Sorry.” She fans her hands over her body and calms herself.

“So what’s the scheme?” Mallory asks.

A wicked smile comes over Terra’s face, Mallory can’t help but be drawn to it, it has a strange familiarity behind it. “Which one?” She asks.

“There’s more than one?”

“Of course there is!” Terra says like it was obvious. “There’s the one for how to convince the rest of the party poopers to join us tomorrow night for a movie. That one can wait until tomorrow though.”

“And the other?” Mallory puts her hand on her hip and watches as the other woman rubs her hands together.

“The other one requires a little more tact and a bit of clarification first.”

Mallory’s eyebrows come together in confusion. “How do you mean?”

Terra exhales deeply. “I mean… you two are obviously together, yeah?”

Mallory nods in response. “Five years and going, why?”

“Exclusively?”

Mallory hesitates. She’s really unsure how to answer. For almost all that time the answer would have been yes, but less than a month ago that had gone into limbo. Just this morning is when the answer really technically changed to ‘no’. But is that information she should share?

“I’m guessing you don’t know how to answer that.” Terra concludes.

“It’s not a yes and it’s not a no. I’m not sure what to share and what not to, so I think that’s the safest answer I can come up with.” Mallory decides to keep it as vague as she can.

“Oh.” Terra chimes and thinks for a moment. “Alright. So, hypothetically, if I were to ask your stance on… oh say one of the guys hitting on Cielle?” She looks at Terra expectantly.

Mallory plays along. “Hypothetically, I might egg them on.”

Terra gets the hint. “So, hypothetically of course, if it was more than flirting?”

Mallory inhales, that was a good question. She knew the answer, had known the answer since before Cielle even was able to technically finish asking it in a way. And it had been one thing when it was the thought of real people from their world. Now they are surrounded by men she already knows Cielle likes, ones that Mallory has seen first hand make her happy. How could she deny the love of her life that kind of opportunity.

On her exhale, Mallory answers. “If it was one of them, any of them, or all of them I can’t say I have much issue with it.”

Terra’s face reads like she is momentarily struggling to decipher the code Mallory gave her. Eventually it must click because she gasps and suddenly goes. “Oh shit. No way.”

It was Mallory’s turn to look confused. “No way?”

“Sorry. It’s a long story, maybe not as long as yours. We can discuss that more tomorrow.” She waves her hand off towards the horizon as if shoving that part of the conversation away. “So them, huh?”

Mallory nods. “She was very attached to the game.”

“Well. All of this information has definitely made this easier.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” Terra nods, a smirk crosses her face. “Sylus asked me how I’d feel if he pursued something. I’m not sure if he meant with you, her, or both of you. But by the way he stopped breathing when Cielle stepped out wearing his clothes and his reaction to my comment about him biting, I’m guessing at least her.”

Mallory almost starts bouncing with giddiness. “Oh thank fuck. She did look great in his clothes, so I don’t blame him. But maybe he’ll use some of that charm she would go on about on her and she’ll loosen up a bit.”

Terra chuckles. “Yes, he does have quite the charm. Unfortunately, he may end up acting like an inexperienced school boy with her. It’s been years since our relationship started. He may be rusty. Or just flustered. Or both.”

Mallory gasps slightly and covers her mouth with her hands. “I didn’t even think about your relationship with any of them. Oh my gods, if I crossed a line ple-”

Terra waves her off. “I wouldn’t have asked if it was an issue. Like I said, long story.” She looks back through the giant windows into the building. “We should actually decide on a movie so we at least have a decent cover story.”

“I’m going to be no help here. I imagine we don’t have the same movies as you do.”

Terra thinks for a moment. “How does she do with scary movies?”

“It’s a love-hate relationship. She tolerates most as long as they aren’t poorly written, she appreciates a good horror film when done right. But she’s jumpy and clingy as hell during them. Practically have to peel her off my lap to breathe sometimes.” Mallory laughs at the memory of just that happening a few weeks ago.

Terra’s wicked grin returns. “Perfect. What better way to get them closer than a little need for comfort. I know the perfect movie. The perfect spot to potentially force Sylus’ savior complex to react.”

“Well that sounds ominous.”

“Eh, maybe. It’s not, like, traumatizingly scary, but I think based on how you said she acts during them if we stage a perfectly timed exit she may reach out to him for comfort.”

“I think that’d be fine then.” Mallory says, putting her hand on her chin in thought. “We’ll need a signal.”

“I’ll get up and say I’m getting a drink and a minute or so later you’ll need to use the bathroom. It should leave enough time for things to ramp up while we are gone and then bam the part she may seek him out for. The whole thing lasting just enough time to happen but not enough to raise suspicion.”

Mallory laughs a bit. “Oh, if it works out, I will totally tell her it was a set up later.”

“Fine by me. Sylus will probably suspect later too.” Terra stands straighter, something catching her eye inside. “Speaking of. Time to perform. Laugh with me.”

Mallory follows her lead, using the excitement she now found herself having for Cielle to fuel the laughter. As she looks at Terra while waiting for Sylus to make his entrance, she can’t help but think how they might become good friends.

Upstairs the four others had found each other after they believed the others had left to go watch their movie. Xavier had been the one to drag each man out onto the balcony from the upstairs living room.

Rafayel rubs his wrists as Xavier shuts the door behind him, having been the last to be brought out there. “And what exactly do I owe this displeasure?”

“We need to chat.”

Caleb rolls his eyes. “Noooo. I thought you brought us out here for a smoke break and some ice cream.”

Zayne pinches the bridge of his nose. “Can you be serious for once?”

“What’s this serious you speak of?”

“Mature.”

Xavier steps forward between the two squabbling friends. “None of this is helpful.”

Rafayel throws himself down onto a piece of patio furniture. “No, but it sure is entertaining.” After turning himself so his legs are draped over the arm rest of the chair. “Alright, lightbright. What do we need to talk about?”

Xavier scowls at the man for a moment before his face returns to neutral. “I forgot to mention something while we spoke at Philo, and after everyone else formally met her I realized that maybe it hadn’t just happened between me and her.”

“Spit it out, would you?” Rafayel says looking at his nails and being his usual dramatic self.

“When we shook hands at the square something happened. It was like our hands locked, she looked absolutely startled. I could feel my evol trying to react to the hand shake, like it was being drawn out.”

Zayne turns slowly and looks at him. “I thought my evol might have just had poor timing to lose control. Do you think that’s what happened when we shook hands?”

Xavier nods. “The second I helped your hands release each other your evol receded.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?” Caleb steps forward waving his hands in front of him. “Are you saying… was she resonating?”

“That’s hard to say for sure, but it was at least very similar and she definitely wasn’t doing it on purpose.”

Zayne’s hand is resting on his chin. “Resonating entails having a great amount of trust and a bond formed between the two parties.” He spits out facts as if none of them already know that.

Rafayel sits back up. “The game.”

Xavier nods. Caleb looks confused.

“What about it?” Caleb asks, skeptical.

“The game is basically a giant bonding experience for players. From what Jeremiah and I gathered it’s designed for the players to, in essence, fall for whatever love interest they choose.”

Caleb’s eyebrow hikes up. “Who’d she choose?”

“Is that information relevant?” Zayne asks.

“The system that measured that seemed pretty even across all of them, us. It’s hard to say without asking her, and I’m not exactly going to do that.” Xavier responds, ignoring Zayne.

“But resonance requires both parties to have a bond and trust.” Zayne adds.

Xavier turns towards him. “That is true. But so is the fact all of us seem to feel like we should know her or that she feels familiar. And with Rafayel and Sylus, they actually have a real bond connecting them. As far as trust, none of us have a reason not to trust her.”

“So, what? Our souls know something we don’t?” Caleb's face is pure disbelief.

Rafayel exhales. “Considering she does, in fact, have the bond and I don’t remember it,” he shrugs. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Hey, what was with your disappearing act?” Xavier asks the artist.

Rafayel waves him off. “Thing’s to do with names and the bond. It took me by surprise is all.”

Zayne’s eyebrow quirks up but he says nothing.

Caleb turns away from the group, looking out to the cityscape for a moment before turning back. “Could what happened with all of you also explain what happened with Sylus?”

Xavier rests his hand behind his neck before dropping it and nodding once more. “Quite probable.”

“So there was a reaction when you two,” he points to Xavier and Zayne. “shook her hand. And there was a reaction from you,” he points to Rafayel. “And Sylus without contact?”

The three men nod in response.

“Well, shit. Should I be afraid to interact with her? I don’t want my gravity to misbehave and suck her into a black hole or something.” Caleb chuckles softly.

The three men stiffen at his words.

“That… hmm. Without knowing what will happen, maybe just avoid shaking her hand. To the best of our knowledge you don’t have some secret ancient bond with her so any other reaction might be off the table.” Xavier answers honestly.

Caleb blinks a few times. “Oh, shit you are serious. Do you think that’s actually a possibility?”

Xavier shrugs. “Everything is unknown right now. I’m merely working off what we do know.”

Zayne turns to Xavier. “Should we be worried about them being with Sylus?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I think whatever happened happened because it caught him off guard. He won’t let it happen again.”

“What makes you say that?” Caleb asks.

Rafayel steps forward. “Because his bond is probably screaming at him about it. When we talked in Philo, while you were outside, he said his instincts decided for him that he had to protect and provide for her. Not in so many words, but essentially what he meant.”

“This have to do with that dragon thing?” Caleb followed up.

Rafayel nods. “His exact words had been ‘My instincts immediately decided she was part of my hoard’ and for dragons that means he’ll do anything to keep the person or object safe and taken care of, pretty much.”

Zayne and Caleb shake their heads, still new to the whole mythical beings actually existing thing.

“So.” Zayne exhales. “How much of this do we tell her, them, tomorrow?”

Xavier paces a bit, mulling over the doctor's question. “Most of it, I think. She has to be told about Sylus and Rafayel’s bond, it doesn’t make sense to keep the rest from her. We should probably have a discussion with Terra and Sylus beforehand first. Fill them in on what we’ve just talked about at least.”

Rafayel and Zayne nod in agreement. Caleb seems to be lost in thought.

“Earth to the colonel, come in colonel.” Rafayel teases.

Caleb shakes his head a few times, and blinks rapidly. “What about… what about the situation with Mallory?” he asks, almost shakily.

“What about it?” Xavier cocks his head to one side.

“How I reacted. I had this instinctual feeling of being snappy with her. It’s been better since being here, but… I don’t know. There is something about her, it is like my instincts are screaming that something is wrong about her. I’m going to have to say now that I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it in check.” His eyes go wide with worry. “Please keep me in check if it happens again.”

Zayne nods. “We will.”

Caleb gives him a tight lipped smile, before sighing and turning towards the door. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Not off the top of my head.” Xavier says.

Caleb moves to leave but Rafayel speaks up.

“What…” he sighs, collecting himself. “What do we do about feelings?”

“Feelings? There are many feelings, so you will have to be more specific.” Zayne responds.

“The bond, it sparks… romantic feelings. I imagine it’s the same for Sylus, given his relationship with Terra.”

“She has a girlfriend.” Xavier deadpans.

“You can’t always assume how someone's relationship works.” Rafayel pouts and then sighs again. “I know she’s in a relationship with Mallory, or at least it’s very easy to assume that. I meant… I don’t know what I meant.” He turns dramatically. “I guess all I’m saying is if things get fuzzy around that, and whatever witchcraft this is connecting her to all of us gives you three romantic feelings, we should preemptively call a truce.”

“Well that was cryptic.” Caleb muses.

“Are you saying you call dibs or are you saying that we should start how we’ve ended up with Terra?” Xavier asks.

“And that is?” Caleb looks confused now.

“Open.”

Zayne looks like he finally understands. “While I can’t say that I’m thrilled about all of you and Terra also being together, after speaking with her I understand to an extent. I believe the quote she used was ‘the heart can’t help what it wants’ or something like that.” He sighs. “If it comes to it, which unfortunately Rafayel might be correct, we should probably all sit down and have a discussion then.”

Rafayel opens his mouth to protest and Zayne holds his hand up to stop him.

“I’m not saying everyone has to be perfect around her, or them even if it comes to that. I’m saying I, personally, will do my best not to hold any shameless flirting against any of you.” He rubs his wrists and smirks. “So long as all of you afford me the same.”

“And if it goes past shameless flirting?” Rafayel asks.

Zayne flexes his wrist. “Hopefully we will have all talked before then. But, we will figure it out otherwise.”

Eyes narrowed slightly, Rafayel regards each man. “So we are all in agreement then? No petty squabbles over anyone?”

Zayne nods. “I think so.”

Caleb sighs. “I suppose.”

“It’d be pretty silly to fight over someone now.” Xavier states. “So, yeah.”

Rafayel nods. It’s silent between the four for a moment before Caleb turns back towards the door once more.

“That’s enough emotional dissection for one night. If there is actually nothing else,” Caleb begins walking towards the door. “I’m going to go get that rich bastard's money’s worth outta that bed.”

Chapter Text

I wait, for what feels like, forever. I know it’s not. The time on my phone says so. It’s only been about fifteen minutes, but my gods without something to do and in a strange place it sure does feel like a lot longer.

In my bored state I played musical couches, sitting in each one and testing each spot out like ‘Goldilocks’ to see where would be the best viewing spot. I eventually settled on the couch on the right of the center row, the inner aisle seat. Not too close, not too far away and just center enough.

A few minutes after I settled on my spot, and as I was about to get antsy again, the door opens. Mallory entered, quickly followed by Terra, and finally Sylus.

Mallory comes skipping over to me, a shit eating grin plastered on her ridiculously pretty face, she plops down next to me. “Hi, hunnnnny. Ya miss me?” And she places a kiss on my cheek.

I eye her suspiciously, eyes narrowing. “You’re up to something.” I say flatly.

She gasps and places one hand on her chest. “Why would you think a silly thing like that?”

“I think people who didn’t even know you would be suspicious of you right now.” I look her up and down.

“Can confirm.” Sylus calls from, what sounds like, the row behind me.

“See.”

“Nonsense.” She waves me off. “Just had a good time deciding on a movie to watch.”

“Mmmhmm.” I hum and use the moment to take a glance over my shoulder.

Terra is at the projector console pressing buttons, queuing up the movie I assume, she’s also poorly hiding a smirk. Sylus was, in fact, in the row behind me. The same spot too. Not that that’s weird. As center as possible is the best way to go all around.

“So what are we watching?” I ask Terra.

“Mallory said you had an appreciation for good horror and I happen to know the best movie.” Her smirk was fully on display now.

“Did she?” I hitch my eyebrow up and look at Mallory, who turns her head to avoid my eyes. “So are we doing horror as a way to prove that our situation could be worse or because it's a good genre for a movie night?”

Terra, who had been on her way to claim a seat, paused mid step. “I… oh my gods… I didn't even think about that. I'm so-”

Mallory cuts her off. “Don't. She's messing with you.”

“So you are a traitor.” I accuse.

Mallory starts sputtering. Sylus chuckles, low and smooth. “She got both of you. That’s good.”

“Thank you.” I say cheerfully.

Mallory moves to tackle me, but with quick thinking and a small screech I manage to move before she gets me.

Terra and Sylus are gawking, and stifling laughs. Lucky for me, if it hadn’t been for them being right there Mallory probably would have chased me.

“Alright. Get back over here so the movie can start.” Mallory pats the seat I had left.

I snicker, crossing my arms while standing in the center aisle. “Who said I wanted to sit next to you?”

Mallory pouts and huffs dramatically. “Fine. I didn’t want to sit with you either. But don’t forget, this is a horror film. You are going to get lonely over there all by yourself.”

“We’ll see.” I sit down on the couch opposite to the one I had been sitting on.

“You’re serious?” Mallory asks incredulously.

I just shrug and wait for the movie to start.

Terra sits down on the couch behind me, all four of us now taking up our own, and says. “Hey, now we can be super comfy. Sylus, you need to fill one of those cabinets back there with pillows and blankets.”

Sylus gets up from his spot and walks behind him, opening a lower cabinet closer to the door and pulls out 3 blankets and three pillows and tosses one of each at the three of us. “You said that last time. I complied.” He shrugs and sits back down when Terra gives him a confused look.

As I settle with the blanket tucked around me and the pillow at my side the lights dim nearly all the way and the production logo shows up on screen. The name of the company is similar to one from our world with an eerily close color scheme.

The opening scene begins and it’s a pan up from the ground of a grassy area to five children playing on a gloomy day. The voices of the children begin coming through the speakers and the camera continues panning over this property. Their voices are light and playful, talking about taking their friends to visit the farm house.

From above, the camera watches the children run across what we can now see is just a very large and open yard, over towards an old farm house near the front of the property. Just as the children reach the rickety front door one of the children’s mothers calls from the front door of the other building on the property, calling the children away from the old house.

As the camera shows the children running back towards the newer building, it swings back down and faces the old farm house. Suddenly the curtains on the window by the door move as if blown by the wind and an oil lamp flicks on in the house behind it.

The voice of the mother plays while the camera stares at this blurry, lit lamp. “What did we tell you about going near that place?’

“Whatever you do, don’t go in there.” The children chant together.

“And does anyone remember why?”

“So we don’t get hurt.”

“That’s correct. Now go get ready for dinner.”

Still looking at just this blurry lit lamp through a dirty window suddenly a shadow figure moves across the light. The music intensifies for a moment before the shadow moves back into frame and comes closer to the window. A loud bang happens, the curtains stop moving, and the light goes out.

The scene changes and for the next thirty or so minutes we get more of a day-in-the-life of the children as they grow up and still have to be told not to mess with the old house, some strange things happen here and there but are explained away. We learn that two of them are siblings and the other three are their parents' friends kids. The kids are now college age and have drifted apart.

One of the main characters, a resident of the property, is on a phone call with his parents, standing in his dorm, his dad tells him about how he has to come home for Halloween this year.

“Why would I do that?” He asks.

“Your father wants to have a party. He needs all of his props, I mean children, to set the mood.”

“What the hell kind of mood needs set?”

“The spooky kind.”

“What’s that got to do with us?”

“Just come home, it will be fun. It’s going to be the last Halloween party I throw before retiring the whole thing.”

“Fine.”

“Great. See you next weekend.”

More day-in-the-life things happen, the siblings interact a few times before sharing a ride home from their university. On the drive home they talk a little about the farm house.

“Why haven’t they just tore it down? The damn thing is barely standing.” His sister asks.

“They always say ‘this year is the year’ and then back out at the last minute saying stuff about family history and preservation.” He shrugs. “Can’t preserve something if it’s just left to rot.”

“Probably saved it from us most of all. Telling us that the whole thing would collapse around us if we went in so we’d leave it alone. I totally would have turned it into a playhouse if I wasn’t chicken shit enough to go in.”

“Yeah, we would have trashed it.”

I am fascinated. Old farm houses give me the creeps. My grandparents took me to an old family property in Norway when I was a pre-teen. They hadn’t knocked it down for similar reasons. I’d seen pictures of what it had looked like in its prime, which was gorgeous, but in the state I last saw it, it felt like it wanted to haunt me for getting too close.

The scene changes again, the siblings made it home and are helping their father set things up. While decorating and getting things in place the mother mentions that the now grown kids they used to hang out with will be there that night, and how wonderful it would be if they could reconnect. The usual motherly guilt trip.

The day moves on and the party starts. Their father gathers the party goers to the center of the grand two story room, the raised hearth of the giant round fireplace becoming his stage. To the right of the room is the wing the family had claimed the most use off. To the left is a bar under an interior balcony that overlooks the room.

“Many of you know Halloween is my favorite holiday.” He says, holding up a beverage. “But what many of you don’t know is why our family lives on this property.”

The camera conveys that this has gained the attention of the siblings, who had just found their former friends in the crowd.

“Once upon a time this land belonged to my great great grandparents. The farm house out front was their home. They lived there peacefully with their children until one day one of their older children went mad and murdered their youngest. Their oldest was sent to an insane asylum and they moved out a year later after strange things kept happening around the house, and not being able to stand living there anymore. They kept the land until the day they died where it was passed down to my great grandfather who saw potential in the land. Not wanting to disrespect his parents, he left the old house and built the building we are now in, with the intention of it becoming a ski resort.”

“Did you know any of this?” One of the friends asked the siblings.

“First we are hearing about it.” The sister stares ahead, watching their father.

“And it became a profitable little ski resort for a while, its popularity came and went through the years. Eventually my great grandfather passed and left the property to my grandmother. My grandmother had 6 children and saw a use for the multiple room set up of the building, and with the profits dipping lower every year, she decided to make it a family home. A place where her children and their children could come stay and have space. Through all of these generations one thing remained the same. ‘Leave the old farm house alone.’ No one’s parents gave anyone an explanation until their death bed. When my dear mother passed away 20 years ago and the property was passed down to us, we learned that the farm house had been sealed by multiple clergymen to keep the spirit they say possessed my great great grand relative and caused him to murder his sibling.”

I’m gripping the arm rest of my seat at this point. Two of the biggest things that get me in horror are dolls and vengeful spirits. Paranormal in general gives me goosebumps as I’ve had a few unexplainable things happen to me in the past. The ski resort part of this tale is kind of strange, I knew someone as a teenager whose family lived in an old ski resort.

“Now as all of you know, I love all things spooky. So tonight, on the night where the veil between worlds is supposed to be the thinnest, I’m going to open that door.”

A collective gasp is heard through the room.

“Well that doesn’t sound ominous.” One of the other friends mutters.

“What the hell?” Comes from the brother.

“Tonight.” The father continues. “Tonight I invite the spirits nearby to come celebrate Halloween with us. Come party, come play with us tonight.”

I gasp and grip my blanket tightly. The memory of similar words said under a similar situation send shivers up my spine.

“So join us in the Halloween experience. For the first time in over 100 years, the farm house will be open and toured to see what life looked like at the time. At any point you can join us in the maze where there may or may not be some danger awaiting.” A chainsaw goes off loudly and then cuts off. “And finally there will also be tours of the closed off side of the ski resort, where there were reports of people feeling like they were being watched in rooms.”

“Your dad is fucking nuts.” The last friend says to the sister. “I mean, he was always weird growing up, but this seems batshit.”

“Yeah, I will not be participating in any of this.” The sister says, the brother and the three friends nod in agreement.

I’m startled suddenly when from behind me Terra says she’s going to go get a drink. She gets up to leave out the door when Sylus calls out to her.

“Sweetie, there is a refrigerator right there.”

“I’m getting something from the bar.” She says quickly and turns around and exits the room.

Back on screen the group of five have weaved their way through the crowd and come to a set of stairs that lead them up to the interior balcony overlooking the grand room. At the far side of the balcony is an old velvet couch and a love seat that’s set up perpendicular to it. Comments were made about nostalgia over being in their old high-school hang out spot at the house.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Mallory says quickly as she scrambles out of the room. I watch her leave over my shoulder and notice Sylus look at me, a concerned look on his face until he notices me looking at him.

“They are acting weird again.” He remarks. I nod in agreement and turn to face back to the movie.

I’m genuinely sitting on the edge of my seat, blanket around my ankles and pillow tossed off to the side.

“I had a friend whose house was similar to this.” I offer up to Sylus. “Went to a creepy Halloween party his dad threw once too. Something happened that I’d love to never think about again.” I ramble when I’m nervous. I don’t know what there is to be nervous about, but the similarities to my real life experience is already slightly unnerving.

The camera moves between scenes. The father making it a ceremony to open the front door, camera work conveying that something happened that the people can’t see. Some good old fashion fake terror in the maze as one of their dad’s friends chases people with a chainsaw that has no blade. And finally of the mother on the lower level of the grandroom talking about the tours of the other side of the building.

Back to the group of friends they begin talking about how strange it is that the closed off part is just on the other side of the wall they are sitting by and how there is only one entrance. As they heard the heavy door for that section move from below they continued to chat among themselves. After a moment the sister notices their female friend has gone pale and is sitting there staring at the coffee table in front of them.

I stand suddenly, closely watching everything unfold on screen. I don’t hear Sylus ask me if I’m alright, or him standing up.

On screen the sister is asking the friend if she’s alright. After she asks a few times with no answer the rest of the group realizes something is wrong and turns their attention to her. The sister reaches out and touches the friend's leg to shake it but the second she makes contact with her the screen distorts with a gasp of the character and suddenly the camera is in first person mode, moving slowly behind a group of people as they ascend the staircase in the formerly blocked off area.

My feet kick at the blanket, making it fall the rest of the way in front of me, nearly wedging itself behind the couch in front of me. At some point I must have begun saying something I don’t recall.

The camera continues to move strangely behind the group until they get to the last room in the tour, a large unfinished open area. The camera can hear the mother talking, giving details about the area and she says that most people had felt the most watched in this area.

The camera view changes back to the group of friends as one of the others removes the sister's hand from the friend's leg. The sister is gasping and holding her chest, not hearing the other’s asking her what happened. Suddenly a scream can be heard from the other side of the wall. The sister's head snaps up and she looks over to the previously pale friend. The friend is blinking rapidly as if she is unsure what had just happened. The rest of the group is confused and now concerned over the screaming, when more screams happen. The sister grabs the friend's hand and begins shouting at the rest that they need to leave now.

‘No. No. No. No. No.’ Is all I can think. I scramble backwards until the back of my knees hit the couch, then without looking I angle myself towards the center aisle and keep moving, unable to keep my eyes off the screen. “This can’t be happening.”

I watch as, on screen, the group of friends run out of the house just as screaming begins happening from the farm house and the maze as well.

I continue backing up until I hit a solid wall. A solid wall that grabs me. I scream. There is a whooshing in my ears as I’m spun around, crimson eyes searching mine. I begin sobbing and solid arms come around me in an instant.

More dialogue is happening on screen but I can’t hear anything other than my own panting and a loud thumping against my ear. A strong hand pushes against my exposed ear and I can feel myself being moved. Everything is quiet with the hand over my ear, my eyes are closed tight.

I feel some movement from the wall that is holding me, potentially doing something with the hand not holding my ear. Behind my eyes gets a little brighter and I’m moving again. A short distance later and I’m being pulled down, my back against the wall and my legs pulled up onto the surface. I feel the hand be removed from my ear just for the other to replace it, the weight of an arm resting on my chest, and then my hair is being stroked.

I don’t know how long I've sat like this when my eyes open and I’m met with a much brighter room than I last remember. Mallory is sitting on the floor in front of me, Terra leaning over the couch behind her, both looking at me. My hair is still being stroked. I see Mallory’s lips move as she notices my eyes are open and the stroking pauses for a moment.

I blink a few times to try to reorient myself. Terra’s lips move this time. I can’t hear anything. A moment later the sound comes back as a hand moves in front of my face and the weight is lifted from my chest. I reach out and grab the arm and put it back over my chest, the weight feels nice, my grip doesn’t release as I hold it there. My hair is still being stroked lightly.

I can hear the faint buzzing of the refrigerator and the light movement of air from the vents nearby. I blink a few more times and look directly at Mallory.

“Can you hear me?” Mallory asks, voice filled with concern.

I nod to her.

“Are you ok?”

I just stare. Am I? No, not really. I just watched, on a big screen, the events of a real paranormal experience that happened to me, and the things that subsequently haunted my nightmares that hadn’t actually happened. I blink and shake my head.

“Terra, grab a water out of the fridge.” A voice rumbles from behind me.

Terra leaves my field of view and is back in an instant holding a bottle of water out to me. I don’t move for it but Mallory does, she reaches forward and takes it from Terra, opening it and, now sitting up on her knees, brings it up to my mouth.

I don’t fight her and take the offered drink, not being able to move much from my self imposed restraint. After I’ve finished about half of the bottle, with the help of Mallory, my senses begin to feel more normal. My grip loosens on the weight across my chest, but it doesn’t move. No one has said anything in a while, just eyes flickering back and forth between each other. Terra had taken a seat on the floor next to Mallory when she had come back with the water.

I let out a deep, shaky breath, and my nervous system causes me to shiver a little as it pulls itself together.

“Do I need to wake Zayne?” Terra asks, looking behind me.

No noise happens immediately but I’m moved slightly. “I don’t think so. She appears to be coming back from it.” Sylus says quietly.

Sylus.

This is the part where I would normally move, despite not being ready to, and try to get away. Where I would spout apologies that I’m unsure what they are for. Where I’d likely run out the door and down to the room me and Mallory are staying in, probably to lock myself in the bathroom.

Would. But I’m still too shaken to move, the weight of his arm is grounding, and the heat from behind me is soothing. I probably would move and feel guilty in a minute, but for now I’ll stay.

As if sensing what I was thinking Sylus moves slightly, voice suddenly closer. “Stay as long as you need, darling.” He says softly.

I don’t speak but I nod my head in acknowledgment. Mallory’s eyes widen slightly as she watches the interaction, she turns to Terra and smiles ever so slightly. Clearly some silent communication was being passed between them.

We stay like this for a while, in silence, Sylus still stroking my hair. I can feel my head get heavy and I let it fall back against Sylus’ chest, my eyes closing with the motion.

“Cielle?” Mallory probes.

“Yes.” I respond.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” She asks softly.

“Not really.” I exhale.

“Can you help us understand anyway, precious?” Sylus rubs my shoulder a bit.

I hesitate, leaving my eyes closed and head leaned back for a moment. Opening my eyes again I am met with crimson looking down on me. I let myself be captivated by his eyes for a moment, before sitting up a bit.

“It’s going to sound really silly.”

“No such thing.” Sylus reassures.

I huff out a laugh. “Keep that in mind.” I bring my hand over my eyes for a moment before running it down my face. “The movie hit too close to home. I actually was in a very similar scenario in real life. A lot less horror film, but the horror film stuff happened in my dreams following the incident.”

“Oh, no.” Mallory gasps. “The Incident?” She asks.

“Yeah.” I say quietly.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Ci. I didn’t know.”

“No one could have predicted the movie would be my lived experience on big screen.” I wave Mallory’s apology off. “No one’s fault.”

“I’m still allowed to feel bad.”

“Me too.” Terra interjects. “I know I couldn’t have known, but I’m sorry about what happened anyway.”

“It’s fine.” I say with confidence.

A beat of silence passes once again, the stroking of my hair stops fully, and then. “That’s twice in one day I’ve heard you scream, and neither of them were my name.”

Terra groans. “Terrible timing, Sy.”

“Perfect execution though.” Mallory laughs quietly.

“Insufferable. The lot of you.” I whisper, my eyes closing and my head leaning back again. The burning red of my cheeks from Sylus’ comment is very visible but I can’t really care right now.

I’m bounced slightly as Sylus laughs, he resumes stroking my hair. “If you stay like this too long you’ll fall asleep.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I know.”

“Do you want to go to bed?” Mallory asks.

I think over her question. I’m quite comfortable where I am at the moment, but Sylus is right and I’m going to fall asleep.

‘Would that be so bad?’

I groan inwardly. ‘Oh good, you again.’

‘Yeah, my function was temporarily offline while your systems shut down.’

‘Is there a permanent shut down feature?’

‘Death.’

‘Goodie.’

My internal monologuing made me miss the signs that I was actually falling asleep. Mallory’s voice sounded far away as she said something about taking me to bed. Next thing I knew I could feel myself being carried. Voices spoke softly around me until I heard a door open.

“Move the covers.” A soothing voice came from above me.

Seconds later I was being lowered on to what I can only describe as the comfiest thing I have ever laid on.

“Sleep well, beautiful.” Sylus says, moving a stray hair from my face before retreating. Some soft words were spoken in the distance and then the door clicked shut.

Soon I heard rustling of the covers and a slight dip as Mallory moved closer to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. “Rest, my love.” And then sleep took me the rest of the way under.

Sylus watches Terra leave the room before he does, sees her walk quickly down the hall as Mallory bids him a good night. Sylus follows as she turns into the kitchen.

He barrels into the room, very obviously on a mission. “Terra.” He says sternly. “Please don’t tell me that was part of your scheme.” He practically growls.

She flinches just slightly, but recovers quickly. “Ok, I won’t.”

“Terra!” He boomed. He was directly in front of her in no time, one hand on a shoulder while the other forces her to look at him. “What was this stunt supposed to accomplish?” He asks through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry.” She sighs out. “It went poorly, obviously.” She flicks her hand out to her side. “Me and Mallory thought that if you two were alone during a particularly scary scene that one of you would seek out the other and it would bring you closer.”

“What kind of high-school level logic is that!?”

“Hey! It was a good plan. Technically it did drive her into your arms.” She points out, shoving a finger in his chest, and then sighs. “I had no way of knowing that the contents of the movie would rattle her that much.”

“Yes it did drive her into my arms, while she was actively trying to run away, muttering the word ‘no’ over and over again, screaming when she ran into me and then sobbing not long after.” His voice drips with anger. “It was such a naturally romantic moment.” The sarcasm could cut flesh.

“I’m. Sorry.” Terra says again.

“If you are truly sorry then you will knock it off with the schemes.”

Terra stutters. “I. Wha-”

“Nuh uh uh, sweetie. I’m not naive. I know you see that it almost worked and already had the thought to plan better for the next one.”

“I did not.” She crosses her arms over each other.

“I don’t like when people lie to me, you know this. I’m already trying so hard to not be completely angry with you, so do you want to try that again?”

She uncrosses her arms and sighs dramatically. “Fine, I was already planning the next one.” She admits, pacing away from Sylus. “Mallory said it was probably going to take a while for Cielle to open up with you, any of you. You’ve already admitted you might like to pursue something, which I assume has more to do with the soul sharing thing than anything, but it doesn’t matter why really, and Mallory said she didn’t have any issue if anything happens between Cielle and any of you, though not in so many words she was intentionally vague.” Terra rambles on without breath.

“Stop.”

Terra stops in place, having made her fifth lap of the kitchen while she talked.

“You wanna repeat that?”

“Which part?”

“The part where you somehow got information from Mallory regarding how she’d feel about anyone trying things with her girlfriend.”

Terra brings her hand up to her mouth and starts chewing on the side of a finger. “No. I don’t think I want to.”

Sylus gives her a stern look. “Terra.”

She groans and throws her head back. “Does it really matter? Point is you are free and clear to ‘woo’ her if you want. She even said she’d encourage it.”

“Well that explains the comment earlier.” Sylus says, eyebrows quickly raising and lowering. “What exactly did you say to her?”

“I might have told her that you had just asked me my opinion on if you did want to pursue her. She seemed relieved.”

“Relieved?”

Terra shrugs. “I didn’t push the issue.”

“You mean you didn’t push that part of the issue.”

“Guilty. However, I did tell her we could talk more tomorrow about things after she panicked thinking she’d said something that stepped on the toes of our,” Terra gestures between them. “relationship. She seemed pretty interested in that.”

Sylus groans. “It’s been less than half a day! Like a quarter of a day. Sixish hours, Terra! You couldn’t let the poor girl breathe first? She doesn’t even know why she’s here yet!”

Terra opens her mouth to say something but Sylus holds out a hand to stop her.

“I get you were excited. I get that you feel guilty about her coming here. But you’ve over compensated and potentially made things worse. Stand down. Reel it in. Stop pushing things.”

Terra pouts for a moment and then goes to say something again, only to be stopped again.

“No. All done for tonight. Go to bed. It’s after midnight and it’s been a long day.” He sighs. “Just go to bed.” He says quietly.

Terra turns and leaves the kitchen. He can hear her attempts at stomping all the way to her room where she almost succeeds in slamming her door like an insolent child.

He walks to the hallway and turns one of the many control panels, presses through a few buttons, and sets it so all the lights in the non-bedroom rooms are dimmed significantly or turned off completely. He walks down the hall to his room somberly, the weight of the entire day finally hitting him.

Once inside his room, he sheds his t-shirt and heads to the bathroom to do his usual routine. Back in the room, he pulls back the covers and climbs in. He turns to the control panel at his bedside and turns his lights to how he prefers them. Not long after his head hits the pillow does he fall asleep.

I’m sitting on an old couch having a conversation with friends, my high school boyfriend across from me gives me a few glances and smiles as he carries on his own conversation. My best friend and one of her friends sitting on the couch with me are talking with a mutual friend who is sitting on a bean bag on the other side of the coffee table in front of us. The noises of the group of people we are all avoiding coming from below.

“Hey, what’s wrong with her?” The friend on the bean bag asks.

I look over to the girl directly to my right and try to get her attention, her skin has gone pale. My best friend to her right had been sucked into the conversation with my boyfriend, no one else has noticed so far. After a few attempts to get her attention with just words doesn’t work, I reach out to shake her, my hand grabbing her forearm.

As soon as my skin touches hers it’s like I’ve been pulled from reality as I know it. My field of view is narrow and appears to be moving all over the place. I’m initially sitting in a dark room until a group of people walk by and then I’m moving, slithering even, to trail behind them. My vision bobs at different heights, floating above the heads of the group one second and then is low and hip level the next.

I watch as the group moves along, looking in each room they pass as my boyfriend's friend's mom gives the group details surrounding the ski resort and reasons why this area isn’t used any more. The group gets to a large open room, two windows up high with the barest amount of light coming through. She goes on to tell the group the plans of the room and why they had been abandoned and never finished. She’s mid sentence on another fact when suddenly I’m back in the present.

Gasping, I look around. The friend who had been on the bean bag is now kneeled in front of me, my wrist in his hand.

“Cielle, what the heck just happened?!? You looked just like her!” He says, gesturing to the friend on my right.

I look over and see her blinking again finally, the color coming back to her skin. The rest of the group had begun paying attention to us at my friend's outburst. Seeing my wrist in his hand and the concern on his face my boyfriend comes over.

“What happened?”

I’m panting slightly now and have taken my wrist back from my friend, I reach out and grab my boyfriend's hands. “I’ve only been here two other times, right?” The house is one his best friend lives in and we’ve only come here together a few times, and never myself.

“Yeah?”

I look over to his friend who is still sitting on the other couch watching this interaction. “I’ve never been on the other side of the building, right?”

“Right.”

Still looking at his friend. “You have been though, right?”

“Yeah. I live here.”

“Then tell me if this is how it looks back there.” And I begin to describe the layout and little details that I couldn’t possibly know. I throw in the facts I had heard his mother say, that we both know I have never heard before also.

“What the… Yeah, that’s all correct. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

I stand up and yell at him. “What’s going on is that your dad is a fucking idiot for inviting spirits to come play tonight. She-” I point to my friend. “-was pale and looked like she was going to be sick, she wouldn’t respond, and the second I touched her I saw! I saw all of that. I could feel the malice and ill intentions as I, it, something followed behind that group of people. Stalking them. I could feel it trying to decide who it wanted to terrorize!”

Just then my friend stands up and looks at me. “That’s what I was feeling too. I didn’t see anything but I could feel all of it. I couldn’t shake it off.”

The friend who had removed my hand from her eyes went wide. “We need to leave and find my dad.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” I grab the hand of my boyfriend and the friend next to me and move to the stairs. She must have grabbed my best friend's arm and drug her along with us. Trailing behind us were my boyfriend’s best friend, his girlfriend, and his sisters, and a few other friends.

Once outside in the large open area my skin begins to crawl and I can’t help but look behind me at the old farm house at the front of the property. I turn to face it, suddenly refusing to look away from it, I press my body into my boyfriend.

“I want to leave.” I say.

“Well, hang on. Let me go find my dad, we can tell him everything.”

“What is your dad going to do!?”

Before he answers he just runs off. His dad had been the one in charge of the haunted maze, he was also a pastor. A minute later his older brother walks up to our group.

“What are you nerds doing just standing here?” He asks in that older brother ‘I’m better than you’ tone.

“Waiting for your dad, apparently.” My boyfriend answers.

His eyebrows come together. “What? Why?”

“Something weird happened and your brother thinks it’s best to inform him.”

“What do you mean weird?”

Just then my friend and his dad walk up to the group. “Alright. Tell me what’s going on. What has you lot so rattled?”

So me and my friend retell the whole story. We watch as his face turns from bright and cheerful to set and neutral. He looks between all of us as we tell the story, clearly waiting to see if we are pulling his leg. Once we finish telling the story, an eerily silence falls over everyone for a minute.

“Well, shit.” The older brother says, looking directly at me with eyes wide.

“I think it’s best that we pray right now.” The father says, almost hurriedly.

I’m not religious, not when I’ve seen all the things I have seen in this world, but in this moment I will take whatever comfort is offered to me. The group of us all hold hands in a circle and bow our heads as my friend's father leads us in prayer.

I don’t feel any better after. As a matter of fact I feel worse. My eyes snap back to that fucking farm house.

“I want to leave.” I say again.

“Let’s just calm down for a bit. Nothing else has happened, there has been nothing strange going on.” My boyfriend tries to calm me down.

“You don’t fucking get it. That was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t ever want to step foot in that house again. I don’t want to be on this property any more. And that!” I point at the farm house, everyone turns and looks, the pastor father who had been walking away included.

Everyone stills for a moment, then the pastor walks back towards us. He says something into the older brother's ear, his eyes go wide and he nods.

“Hey lets walk a bit this way, yeah? Get everyone settled away from everything better.” The older brother coaxes us away.

My eyes are narrowed at him and he’s looking at me like he knows I know he knows. Something had moved at the farm house when we all looked. Something is still there. I can see it. The fact my friend just reached out and grabbed my hand tells me she can at least feel it. My best friend looks between us and then back over to the farm house and pauses.

“What the fuck.”

The pastor walked closer to the building as his eldest son was leading us away. I can hear him speaking lowly, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. And then it dawns on me.

“He’s chanting something.”

“Hey, hey. Look over here.” The older brother says to me. “Please.” He begs when I refuse.

I can’t tear my eyes away from his dad getting closer to the building, the energy around it shifting. I can feel the anger surrounding it, can feel it fighting him.

“Holy shit.” I whisper.

He comes over and pushes my boyfriend out of the way and covers my eyes with his hand, saying directly in my ear. “It knows you can see it now, it will use you.”

I yank his hand away just in time to see the front door of the farm house swing open violently and windows begin to blow out.

The noise attracts more of the guests from inside, likely also having witnessed it from the front windows.

“What is going on here!?” The property owner yells as he comes out of the house.

“You fucked up, Chuck! That’s what’s going on.” The older brother yells, attempting to fight me to put his hand over my eyes again.

Suddenly there is screaming from inside the main house, pure unfiltered terror that has the people closest turning. Screams erupt from the party goers that had made it outside as a few people begin running out of the house, covered in blood.

I look back to the farm house and can see the energy warping around the pastor, his chanting getting louder. I can see, feel, whatever is inside resisting him.

A strange shift happens and the pastor now has his hands on his knees and he’s panting. Things have either gone really good or really bad.

The older brother looks at all of us pointedly. “Stay. Here.” And he begins walking over to his father.

He gets about three long strides away from the group before his father stands up and suddenly a shadowy figure comes flying out of the farm house and attacks the pastor. The pastor goes flying onto his back where the spectre then begins tearing into him.

I begin screaming. I’m cemented in place and can’t move, can’t look away. The property owner is cursing and trying to usher everyone away. Where does he think it’s safe at this point? Who knows?

Suddenly there are hands on me, shaking me. Saying my name over and over. “Cielle. Cielle!” My best friend, my boyfriend, the older brother.

Still screaming, I feel myself being lifted. “Cielle!”

My eyes fly open and I’m in a room. A bedroom I don’t recognize immediately.

Somewhere nearby, Mallory is calling my name. “Ci?”

“Hey, precious, it’s ok. We are right here. It was just a dream.” I’m being rocked.

‘Just a dream.’ I repeat to myself.

“I’ve got you, we’ve got you. You are ok, you’re safe.” I suddenly realize that besides being held there is a set of hands rubbing my arms.

‘I’m safe.’

“Shhh, shh. It’s alright.”

A shiver runs up my spine and I sigh, blinking a few times my eyes finally begin to focus. Mallory is sitting in front of me, hair a mess and tear streaks running down her face. I reach out to her face.

“Hey.” I say.

She laughs. “Hi. Are you back now?”

“I think so.”

“We’ve got to stop having these encounters where you are screaming, darling.” Sylus’ voice comes from behind me.

I realize that, for the second time tonight, I’m in his arms. Where before I had just been next to him, it seems this time I’ve been pulled fully into his lap. As if sensing my realization, he speaks up.

“You were fighting really hard, beautiful. We couldn’t get near you for a minute. I had no choice.”

I nod at his explanation.

Violently, the bedroom door flies open, lights flick on, and four men come tumbling into the room.

“Is everything alright?” Zayne asks first.

“What happened? We could hear screaming.” Caleb is looking around the room for signs of the cause.

Xavier had already begun opening doors the second he walked in. Rafayel just stands there taking in the scene.

“She had a nightmare.” Mallory tells them.

“A nightmare? That’s one hell of a nightmare. Could have woke the dead with that scream, angel.”

“Do you have nightmares often?” Zayne asks, a very clinical tone coming into play.

I shake my head. “No. I used to. Nearly that exact one. A long time ago. I haven’t had it in the better part of fifteen years at this point though.”

“I wonder what could have triggered it then.” Xavier stands at the end of the bed, finger hooked on his chin.

Mallory sighs. “If it’s the nightmare I think it is, I know what triggered it.”

“The incident from the movie?” Sylus asks, Mallory nods in response. “Terra isn’t allowed to pick movies any more.” He sighs.

“Care to fill us in?” Caleb asks from where he threw himself down on the opposite side of the bed. Mallory glares at him, he glares back.

“Terra and Mallory here had the brilliant idea tonight that we needed to watch a horror film.” Mallory’s jaw drops a bit. “They then planned their exit near the climax of the movie so that we’d be alone, hoping it would bring us closer or some nonsense. Turns out the scene of the climax had lived experiences for her in it. Ones that caused her to start trying to run away, when she bumped into me she screamed, sobbed, and basically blacked out. So I’m sure the re-traumatization from that caused the nightmare.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed and he looked over at Mallory with burning fury. “Why the hell would you do that to her!? What kind of girlfriend does that?”

“Hey! I didn’t know the contents of the movie! Terra said she knew a good one. I trusted her judgement. If I had known I wouldn’t have agreed! It wasn’t on purpose!” She yells back, just as furious at being accused of purposely trying to scar me.

“Oh, but it was purposeful enough that you plotted with Terra to leave them alone. What the hell!”

“I don’t have to justify anything to you! You are just some creep sitting here wearing a savior complex like it will get you anywhere!”

My eyes go back and forth, watching the verbal volley, unable to say anything.

“A savior complex!? How about some human fucking decency!”

“Human decency!? You mean how you manhandled her and kidnapped her and then shackled me when I tried defending her?!”

“That’s enough!” Zayne’s voice boomed into the room and it went completely silent. His back was completely straight and he was looking between the two with every ounce of authority he had in him.

‘That was…’

‘Don’t finish the thought.’

‘Bitch, that was attractive as hell. I’ll say it all I want. Remember that Tomorrow’s Catch 22 card? His ‘silence’ line? Girl….’

‘Shut up.’

Caleb and Mallory both look like school children being scolded by their teacher as Zayne continues. “Clearly both of you made poor choices today. But that’s no reason to get into a screaming match. Especially not right now.” His eyes slide to me and soften, as does his voice. “Are you alright, dear?”

I nod. “I will be. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Is there anything I can get you?”

I think for a moment and shake my head. “No, I’m good.” He nods and steps back.

Xavier clears his throat. “Terra had a hand in this?” he asks, quizzically.

“I’ve already scolded her.” Sylus informs him. “She couldn’t have known either.”

“I think I’ll add this situation to tomorrow’s meeting agenda.” Zayne says, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

Caleb groans. “You would have an agenda. Is it typed and double spaced too?”

“It’s single spaced. There are too many things to address, and I didn’t want you to have to do any heavy lifting like turning a page.” Zayne deadpans.

Sylus chuckles behind me.

Wait.

“So, angel. If you are feeling better, do you plan on staying like that all night?” Rafayel asks with mirth.

My back stiffens and I am suddenly hyperaware that I am still, fully, in Sylus’ lap.

“Whoa. Look at how big her eyes got. You don’t need to open them farther to see me, dollface. I can get closer.” Caleb teases.

“Mmm, and that shade of pink crawling up her neck would look excellent on one of my canvases.” Rafayel purrs.

Xavier steps closer, and makes it a point to look me over. “It’s darker near the base of her neck and the pink is now up on her cheeks. That’s called an ombre, right?” The hunter looks over to the artist.

“Hey! Lightbright knows things outside of swinging his sword!” Rafayel goads.

Without second thought Xavier responds. “I have a few different swords I know how to swing.” And winks at me.

My jaw must be resting on my chest at this point. Mallory looks absolutely taken aback. “What in the hell just happened.” She breaths.

“I believe that they call that a ‘dick measuring contest’.” Zayne says matter-of-factly. “Unfortunately for them, there’s nothing small enough in this room to measure them up against.” He picks up a statue art piece, about the size of my forearm, off the bedside table and looks it over. “Me, however…”

“Good gods, man!” Caleb splutters, falling backwards on the bed.

“That’s low.” Rafayel pouts.

“And he calls us immature.” Xavier stares.

“That was well done, doctor. Color me impressed.” Sylus praises.

My jaw stays dropped, not looking anywhere in particular. Mallory starts dying of laughter. Full on tears and coughing, bent over laughing. At one point she’s bent so far onto the bed she’s facedown on the mattress, and she howls her laugh. Rolling herself back up she makes exaggerated breaths to try to calm down before losing it again. Soon she’s scrambling backwards off the bed, still laughing and moving quickly.

“I’m going to pee myself. Give me a minute.” She says between laughs as she runs to the bathroom, five sets of eyes following her.

The moment the door closes everyone is looking at me again. Or I think they are, it feels like they are. I wouldn’t know. I’m still staring at a spot on the wall over by the closet door, jaw hung wide open, attempting to mentally recover from whatever onslaught that just was.

“Boys, I think we broke her.” Caleb says after a few seconds.

“Not broken, just recalibrating.” Xavier chuckles.

“Is this a defense mechanism against flirting, sea star? If so, I think I might need to make it my mission to see how broken I can make you.”

I eep. The noise involuntarily leaving me.

“You know, beautiful. As much as I love having you in my lap, I think I would kill to see your face right now.” Sylus rumbles in my ear.

Zayne clears his throat. “Alright, boys. That’s enough. She looks like she’s going to shatter.”

Mallory walked back into the room as Zayne had started talking, pausing and smirking at the end of the bed as he finished. “Don’t worry fella’s. I’ll make sure she shatters tonight.”

I roll off Sylus' lap, crawl back up to the head of the bed, and find a pillow to bury my face in.

Six very distinct and ridiculously attractive laughs come from everywhere, like it's in surround sound.

‘You’re quiet through all of this?’

‘Girl, I’m enjoying the show. No comment. Shhh.’

I groan outwardly, earning me another round of laughter, just as the first one had died down.

Mallory comes over to me on the bed and presses her body against mine, pulling the pillow off my face. “Alright, alright. We are done.”

“While we are in the bedroom, and this is normally the part where I say ‘We’re done when I say we’re done’, I’ll stop if everyone else does.” Zayne doesn’t flinch as he says it.

Caleb stands up and starts walking towards the door. “Yeah. Yup, I’ll stop. I’ll stop so well that I’m going back to bad. Christ.” He says as he exits the room, giving a wave.

“I’m going to go back to bed too. I’ll catch up with him to make sure he doesn’t combust.” Rafayel saunters out.

Xavier’s lip twitches. “I could go all night.”

Zayne’s hand comes up to his forehead, rubbing his brow. Sylus just has the biggest shit eating grin on his face as he looks between the four of us remaining.

“If she wants to go all night, then I’ll remind her that this is outside my usual sleep hours and I’m right across the hall.”

Mallory chimes in. “Why would she need to go across the hall? I’m right here.”

I smack Mallory on the arm.

“We could always tag team. Either we wear her out, or we double the length of the night.”

“Out!” I throw the pillow in my hand at him.

He gets up off the bed, hands up in mock surrender. “Goodnight, precious.” And he turns around and walks across the hall.

Zayne looks at the wall clock above the couches. “Well. This has been… intriguing. Are you sure you’re alright?”

I look him in the eyes. “After all that, would anyone be?”

He chuckles and expands. “I meant about the nightmare.”

I pause. “You know. I think you all have successfully removed it from my head space.”

“Glad to be of assistance.” He nods. “I will bid you both a goodnight now.” He turns and exits through the bedroom door, leaving it open behind him in silent demand for Xavier to follow.

“I’m glad we were able to help you forget about it, sunshine. Get some sleep.” Xavier leaves, closing the door behind him.

And then it was just the two of us again. Mallory scrambles up onto her knees in front of me and just looks at me.

“Yes?” I ask.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Why are you saying it now?”

“Because I am really sorry for my part in your nightmare resurfacing.”

“Oh, Mal. I know. It’s ok. It was just a fluke.”

“A fluke that, while I feel really bad for, I can’t feel bad enough because we got whatever the hell that was out of it.” She laughs.

I reach out to smack her and she dodges. “You enjoyed it way too much.”

She moves to launch herself at me. “And you didn’t enjoy it enough.” She pounces before I can move, and she rolls both of us to the spot on the bed where the covers are pulled back, smoothly getting us both under and pulls the blankets up around me.

She reaches over to the control panel on the side of the bed and turns out the lights, scooting back closer she tucks my head under her chin and wraps her arms around me. “Hopefully now you’ll have some sweet dreams.” She kisses the top of my head. “Now let’s go to bed.”

I wake to a knock on the door, Mallory doesn’t even flinch. A few knocks later and I groan while rolling out of bed, and walk over to answer it.

As soon as the door swings open I’m met with a very awake Terra and a still sleepy Xavier. “Good morning sleepy head! Just wanted to let you know breakfast is almost ready. Or, well, brunch.”

I grumble a bit before finally addressing her. “Morning. Brunch. Got it.” I rub my eyes and point at Xavier. “Why’s he here? How is he standing?”

Terra looks behind her as if she forgot Xavier had even been there. “He tends to just follow me around when he’s still half asleep. I don’t even notice it anymore.”

“I can’t tell if that’s endearing or sad.” I cock my head.

Xavier rubs his eyes and mumbles. “Endearing.” He leans forwards and rests his forehead on Terra’s shoulder.

“He’ll wake up more once he gets some food in his system.” Terra shrugs.

“Foooood.”

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll sit you down in a seat and food will magically appear in front of you.” Terra turns toward Xavier and begins walking down the hallway, checking back to make sure Xavier is following.

Instead, in Terra’s absence, Xavier had taken a few steps forward and laid his head down on my shoulder. “So comfy.” He murmurs.

I chuckle and pat his arm, push him upright and out the door to Terra who had turned around to fetch him.

“Come on, food is this way. Cielle will be out shortly.” Terra coaxes, pushing him down the hall and waves back at me.

I laugh at the spectacle and close the door. Turning back to the bed I find that Mallory is already stirring, rolled towards me and eyes fluttering open.

She stretches and groans. “Did I hear something about food?”

“Has anyone told you lately you make that stereotypical ‘dad stretching’ noise? Yes, you heard about food. Brunch is apparently almost ready.”

“Rude. And brunch you say?” She sits up and leans forward to read the clock on the opposite wall. “Huh, sure as shit, it’s 11am.”

“I guess there’s something to be said about a long day and a nice dark room.”

“With the comfiest fucking bed I’ve ever slept on.” Mallory says, throwing herself backward. “Sylus just might have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming when he’s sick of hosting us.”

I laugh, because same. “Maybe if you ask nicely he’ll buy you one for wherever we end up.”

She props herself up on an elbow and smirks. “Pretty girl, I think you’d have to be the one to do the asking to get us that.”

I snort and roll my eyes. “Yeah. Ok.” I head to the bathroom, grabbing the barely worn clothes from yesterday. “I’m going to try to make myself look half decent and change.”

“Oh thank the gods, you look like a disaster." She yells to my retreating form. I flip her off as I close the door.

She wasn’t wrong. I looked rough. That kind of rough that can only be accomplished after some very bad choices, or really long days. Unfortunately, yesterday was a mix of both.

I do my best to look more human. I found a bunch of new toiletry items in a storage cabinet across from the door and pulled some out for me and Mallory. The hair brushes had been an especially nice find, considering I don’t think I’d make it another day only using my fingers to comb through it.

I wince slightly when putting the red top back on over the camisole, but I still didn’t have much choice if I wanted to keep things from being displayed. I’ll have to ask them about going shopping sooner than later.

Finishing what I can salvage of my usual morning routine, I leave the bathroom to see Mallory already dressed in the outfit Terra had left her yesterday.

“Give me a second to use the bathroom and we can go get food.”

“Ok. I found new toothbrushes and hair brushes. Yours are sitting on the counter.” I tell her as she heads towards the bathroom.

Mallory turns and smiles, quickly runs her hands through her hair, nods, and continues walking while smiling. I’ll hand it to her, besides it looking far too good on her, that pixie cut sure has its perks.

Soon enough she’s bouncing back out the bathroom and practically skips to the door.

“Holy shit, you are perky this morning.” I grumble at her. I am not a morning person, even if the morning technically is nearly over. I’m a “don’t expect me to be a particularly pleasant person until I’ve been up for a while” person.

“There’s food out there, Ci. Of course I’m perky.” She turns around just as she gets to the door. “And if they are all gathered around again, there’s another chance to get another show.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

Still at the foot of the bed, I move to tackle her, but she opens the door and takes off sprinting to the kitchen while giggling.

I grumble, following not too far behind but I certainly wasn’t going to run at “just woke up” o’clock.

As I turn into the archway for the kitchen, Rafayel looks up from where he’s perched at the peninsula. “Morning, screaming beauty. Did you get some rest after we left or did the green eyed menace keep you up?”

“That’s a little personal, don’t you think Rafayel?” Zayne asks from behind his phone at the nook.

Rafayel turns to look at the man, arms crossing, purple locks bouncing at the movement, a pout barely gracing his lips before he replies. “I wasn’t going to twist her arm for an answer, doctor.”

“Who’s twisting arms?” Xavier asks, walking into the room.

Zayne sighs. “No one.”

Mallory clears her throat. “I was told something about brunch?”

Sylus walks in and over to the corner counter top and picks up a plate. There are multiple chafing dishes lined up, and he begins plating himself food.

“You are all welcome to help yourselves.” Sylus says without looking behind him.

No one has to tell Xavier twice. He immediately grabs a plate and is hot on Sylus’ heels filling his own. Zayne and Rafayel follow not far behind. All four head into the formal dining room.

Soon enough as Mallory and I are plating our food Caleb, Terra, and the twins join the group and wait their turns.

We walk into the formal dining room, not wanting to be the odd men out, and are now faced with the choice of where to sit. A massive table sits in the center of the room, 6 ornate chairs on either side and one at each head.

Sylus is at the head opposite the kitchen entry, the chair on either side of him open. On the right side of the table is Rafayel, and then Zayne in dead center, followed by two more open chairs. On the left there is another open seat, Xavier across from Zayne, and two chairs open.

Noticing my pause upon entering, Mallory does the lovely thing of choosing for us. The spot she chose was the chair closest to us on the right side of the table, with her back to the windows. I move to take the next chair, between Mallory and Zayne, and I make it right to the end of the table when Sylus interrupts me.

“Take the head chair, darling.”

My eyes snap up to look at him at the other end of the ridiculously long table, at the other head seat, and narrow. “Why?” I draw out, the question full of suspicion.

He shrugs and brings a piece of sausage up to his mouth. “Why not?” Everyone already seated turns and looks at me.

The twins walk in and take the open chairs on either side of Sylus, setting their plates down and joining everyone else in looking at me.

Caleb and Terra walk in and see everyone staring at me and pause, as I’ve made no movement to sit.

“The kitchen isn’t that far away. Did we miss something good? Why is she just standing there?” Caleb asks, looking between each end of the table.

Terra just slowly moves to sit on Xavier’s right, side eyeing Sylus.

Wordlessly, Sylus gestures at me to sit. Eyes still narrowed, I finally do. Caleb silently takes the seat to my left, next to Terra and across from Mallory, glances over at me for a moment as if to assess the situation, and gives a barely noticeable glare to Mallory before digging in.

We all ate in relative silence. The twins chatted with Sylus, I can only assume about Onychinus' business as they were too far away for me to hear. Terra and Xavier were having a conversation regarding something to do with the Hunters Association. Mallory and I exchanged glances a few times and watched the rest of the table while we ate.

“Well, that was delicious. Thank you to whomever cooked.” I said as I finished up that last of my meal.

Sylus chuckles. “I’ll let my chef know, darling.”

My mouth formed into an ‘o’ as I stared down the table at him. Despite being in this lavish room, at this ridiculously long table, and in this massive house I seemed to have forgotten that Sylus employs people to do tasks.

“I told you that there is no need to be so domestic.” He pushes himself up from the table and grabs his plate. “That said. You are welcome to leave your dishes here, or in the kitchen. No doing dishes.” He looks directly at Mallory and I. “The maids will handle it.”

Mallory scowls at the thought of leaving her plate on the table. She gets up and grabs her and my plates and brings them to the kitchen, leaving them stacked nicely next to the sink.

“Now.” Sylus says walking back into the dining room and turns to Zayne. “Doctor, what time did you have our meeting scheduled for?”

Zayne laces his fingers in front of him on the table. “I didn’t schedule a time. Whenever everyone wants to sit down. The sooner the better in case this takes longer than anticipated though.”

“Fair enough.” Sylus nods and looks around. “Do we just want to have it here or would the living room be a better option?”

I clear my throat slightly. “Sorry to interrupt, but umm, speaking of sooner rather than later.” I shift uncomfortably in my seat as multiple sets of eyes rest on me. “As much I’d rather not spend anyone else’s money, and even if we had our wallets I doubt our money would work here, but we-” I gesture between me and Mallory. “-need to go shopping for some clothes. Mallory might be able to get away with borrowing most things from Terra, but I can not.”

Sylus smirks. “I don’t know, darling. My clothes looked pretty good on you last night.”

I maintain a serious face. I can’t let this be dismissed, I need new underthings at the very least. “There are some things I can’t borrow from you, Sylus. Even if some of your clothes fit.”

Seven male gazes look at me in bewilderment, because of course Luke and Kieran are still there while I had to bring this up.

Terra looks between me and the men. “Oh for fucks sake. You guys really don’t…? Jeez, I get that I’ve been the only woman most of you interact with on a regular basis, but seriously? Sylus I would have expected better from at least you.”

The bewildered looks slide to Terra now, Mallory sounds like she’s trying not to choke on the laugh that’s trying to escape, and I’m trying not to look absolutely mortified.

Terra rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “Bra’s and panties you morons. I know you’ve all noticed she can’t borrow a bra from me.”

My hands go straight over my face and I try to slink down in my chair. I can not believe she just said that. Peaking through my hands was a mistake as all seven eyes were back on me. Mallory is fully choking trying not to laugh now. I attempt to kick her under the table with my right leg, to cause her some mutual suffering of course.

Instead, my right leg having been crossed behind my left, I managed to hit my left leg sending it directly into Caleb’s shin. Bless him, though, the only evidence that it happened had been a light “oof” that escaped his lips. No one noticed that it had happened. No one except Mallory, who had been paying extra special attention to me during all this. And for the second time in less than 24 hours this beautiful, loving, bitch died from laughter at my expense.

I move to get up. “I’ll be locking myself in the bathroom now.” I mumble as I stand, exiting the chair from my left. Just as I’m about to walk off, I’m stopped.

Caleb had reached out, hand around my wrist to catch me, face perfectly neutral. “Don’t worry, doll, Terra and I will take you both. Terra more than me, I’ll just go for muscle.” He maneuvers me back into my seat.

“I’m perfectly capable of keeping us safe.” Terra pouts.

Caleb turns and pinches her side. “Safety in numbers, pips.” He turns back to me, smiling brightly. “We’ll go whenever the professor says the meeting is over.”

Rafayel scoffs. “You just want to go so you can perve on the lingerie.” Caleb flips him off.

“Did you just call me ‘the professor’?” Zayne asks, as if his brain hasn’t quite caught all the way up yet, ears still sporting a light dusting of pink.

Caleb shakes his head. “Wasn’t me.”

Sylus just chuckles, elbow propped on the table with his head resting on his fist. “Well, now that we have that taken care of. The meeting location?”

“I think the upstairs living room might be the most accommodating.” Zayne answers.

We waited for Terra and Caleb to finish their meal and we all moved to the inviting atmosphere that was the upstairs living room. Luke and Kieran had bid us farewell before we went upstairs, citing business they had to take care of outside the penthouse.

The area was one of the more cozy spots in the house. It was light and airy between the openness to the stairwell and the windows that led to the balcony, but dark like the rest of the house. All very Sylus. There was an oversized sectional at the back left corner, black of course. Next to it coming towards the hall was a love seat that was its perfect match. Three equally matching armchairs were spread through the room. On the wall opposite most of the seating was a grand built-in entertainment center. Cabinets lined the bottom, brilliant matte black, with shelving going nearly to the ceiling, framing in a giant tv. The shelves held so many trinkets, and every single one screamed Sylus.

I tucked myself into the corner of the sectional, Mallory takes the spot next to me on the shorter side and pulls my legs over her thighs. From my spot I can nearly see everyone as they take seats around us. The two armchairs not close to the main set up are dragged over, and the third brought closer as well. Terra sat to Mallory’s left on the sectional, Xavier sat near me but kept a bit of a distance, Rafayel curled himself on the floor next to the coffee table, and Zayne, Caleb, and Sylus all took the armchairs.

Mallory looks at all of the men and leans into me, only kind of trying to whisper. “Do you feel like we are about to be scolded? The vibes are way too serious.”

Terra leans close to Mallory to join in. “I agree. This reminds me of when Caleb would sit me down in our childhood living room and tell me how disappointed he was about something or another. Or when Zayne would try to get me to study.”

The two men roll their eyes. “The vibes are serious because this is.” Zayne ignores Terra completely.

“Ah, right. Silly me. I somehow forget we haven’t even been here for 24 hours.” Mallory tilts her head in a half nod and turns back to me. “I totally get the whole feeling comfortable around them thing now.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and grit out. “Shut up.”

Mallory rolls her eyes at me this time and turns her head back to the group. “Anyway, serious business. Annnnd go.” she claps.

Zayne pulls out a tablet of some kind, definitely more tech beyond what I’m used to. “Well, I think the first order of business should be why you are here.” He clears his throat and pulls on his collar a bit. “And for that, I wish I even remotely knew where to begin.”

Caleb gasps and looks behind him at his friend. “The doctor is unsure? Someone call the news.”

“Caleb, not the time.” Terra scolds. “I suppose maybe I should start?” She’s met with a handful of nods. “So I did a stupid thing, that I thought was smart at the time, and it resulted in some information being discovered.”

Terra tells us about her breaking point and her need to run. I completely understood that feeling, obviously. She asks about the game details of her heart condition and tells us that about a month or two into her vacation (the group all scoffed at her wording) she felt off and ignored it. She goes on about how after so long of being free but still watched, she couldn’t take it anymore and ultimately ran away from her vacation. How she almost didn’t make it home as her condition worsened, but the men found her just in time and rushed her back to Linkon.

Rafayel clears his throat and chimes in. “This is probably where I should take over.”

He first asks us if we know what he’s talking about if he says ‘the bond’. Of course I do and Mallory only knows some. He then goes on to explain how on the plane on the way to Linkon he could feel something different with it. Went into detail about how it feels usually and what exactly felt different about it.

“And so I said something was different about her out loud. Only Sylus really understood what I was getting at.”

My eyebrows are knit together in confusion on the relevance of all of this information but I am following along all the same. I was very aware of Rafayel’s bond and Sylus’ soul tie to the game MC.

“And this is where I come in.” Sylus is rolling a coin over his knuckles. “Once he said that I felt around for my bond. That piece of my soul. When I found it I was surprised to find less than what should have been there.”

“Less?” I ask without thinking.

Sylus nods. “A smaller part of my soul was intertwined with Terra’s when it should have been half.”

I physically recoil. “A part of your soul is missing?!”

A collective sigh comes across the room. “Yes and no, precious.”

I shake my head in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Mallory is just looking around, following along but also sort of lost, her eyebrows have been pulled tight the whole time.

“It was missing.”

“I don’t follow. You found it then? Everything is better?” I lean over Mallory to look at Terra. “Are you ok then? You have your piece back?”

She frowned. “Let’s just finish the story.” She pats my ankle that is still resting over Mallory’s thigh.

Confusion has yet to leave my face as I turn back to the rest of them.

“Most of your questions are subjective. I can answer that we did indeed find the missing piece.”

“Alright.” I draw out. “How did you find it?”

Xavier turns even more towards me, one knee up on the couch. “Jeremiah, myself, the twins, and Sylus all worked together to create a program that scanned for the missing piece. We calibrated it so that it wouldn’t just continuously register Terra and Sylus. We didn’t get a reading at first, for a while, until-”

“Until I took it on a mission in the Deepspace Tunnel.” Caleb chimes in. “I brought it with me in the hopes of getting a signal or at least to help the program better calibrate.”

“Why would you need to bring it to the Deepspace Tunnel?” I ask.

“Because it wasn’t picking a signal up on our planet.” Sylus answers.

“Oh.”

“The Deepspace Tunnel connects us to all sorts of other planets and solar systems.” Caleb continues explaining. “By bringing the program there and letting it adjust, we essentially let it adapt to parameters outside our world.”

“Once Caleb brought back the data, Jeremiah integrated it farther into the system to help adjust things. We were able to get the slightest of ping while the program adjusted.” Xavier adds.

“Oh, well that’s good.”

Xavier nods. “By time the new data fully integrated we were able to pinpoint where the signal was coming from.”

“Oh cool. So like another planet then?”

Mallory is still just looking between everyone, studying them and their words.

Xavier flinches slightly. “No.”

“Dear, we found a whole different timeline.” Zayne finished for him.

“A different timeline?”

If I was paying closer attention to my right I would have noticed Mallory’s eyes go wide.

Zayne nods. “A fixed point that was both similar and different.”

“Well, how the hell does a piece of someone's soul end up in a different timeline?”

“And half a bond.” Rafayel adds.

Sylus leans his head on his fist. “That we don’t have the answer for yet.”

I nod. “Alright. So then what.” I notice Mallory staring at me now, her eyes are wide and her jaw is dropped just slightly. “You alright, Mal?” She doesn’t respond so I slowly turn my head and attention back to everyone else.

“Then, precious, we worked to retrieve the missing piece.”

I nod. “Naturally. So what happened?”

“Oh, angel. Have you been that traumatized already?” Rafayel coos.

I shake my head. “What?”

Xavier scouts closer and carefully places one of his hands over mine. I look at where we meet and then up at him, eyebrows tucked tight.

“Sunshine.” He starts softly. “You are what came through when we found the piece.”

I sputter. “What!? That’s absurd.” I look between each of the men. “You’re pulling my leg, right?” I look at Terra this time. She meets my eyes and no hint of jest can be found. “You’re not joking?”

She shakes her head at me in response. My head falls back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

Xavier hasn’t released my hand. “There’s more.”

My head flies back up. “More!?”

Zayne shifts forward in his seat. “Cielle, if you need a minute then take one. We don’t want to overwhelm you.”

I can feel my heart rate pick up, that stupid fucking ache is trying to make itself known. With my free hand I absentmindedly rub at my chest.

Caleb’s head had been turned slightly away from me but he must have seen me from his peripheral’s. “What was that?”

Taking a deep breath and trying to seem more calm than I am, I reply. “What was what?”

“You rubbed your chest. Why did you do that?”

Zayne sits even farther forward in his chair now, eyes fixed solely on me.

“I..I didn’t even realize I did. It’s nothing.”

Mallory hisses slightly.

“I think Mallory has something different to say about it.” Zayne’s eyebrow hitches up slightly. “Are you in pain?”

“No, no. I’m fine.”

Mallory’s eyes narrow at me. I ignore her.

Caleb sits forward in his chair now also. “It didn’t look like you were fine. It looked like what Terra does when her heart is bothering her.”

“No, really. It’s nothing.”

“Don’t.” Was all that came out of Mallory’s mouth, almost a growl.

“Whoa. She’s got a bite behind that bark.” Caleb goads.

Mallory turns her ire towards Caleb. “You’d be biting right now too.”

Caleb turns his attention back to me. “Doll, really, are you ok?”

Mallory doesn’t look at me again, but she tenses while she waits for my answer.

“Perfectly fine.”

Mallory pushes my legs off her lap and stands. She weaves her way through the men and stands in the more open area before turning back around and gives me the most disappointed look I think I have seen from her in a while. I brace for what’s next, I tuck my legs into the couch and gently pull my hand back from Xavier.

“She has a heart condition. She rubs her chest when she gets pain from it.” She seethes. “She’s not supposed to be keeping that from me. And there’s no reason to lie to you all about it.” She looks at the men who had all twisted to watch her, then back to me. “Damn it, Ci. You aren’t supposed to hide it.”

I flinch. I didn’t mean to. It just never felt important enough. I don’t speak.

“What kind of heart condition?” Zayne asks.

“An arrhythmia. She gets varying levels of pain from it. There never really seemed to be a consistency to it. Always different times of day, varying intensities, different things happening. She’s done a lot of the diet changes and whatnot to help it. She had a follow up appointment not too long ago. No new information other than ‘if it gets intense, seek immediate medical attention.’” She throws her hands up and sighs.

Zayne nods his head at the information and then his brows pull together. “You expected to keep information regarding your heart away from a Cardiac Specialist?”

“I…” My head hits the back of the couch again. “There’s no need to burden any of you. It’s not a big deal.”

“Uh oh.” Terra says from my left, I look up to look at her.

“The health of your heart is very important, and it would never be a burden. It’s my literal profession.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, his glasses raising slightly. “We have to get you in for an appointment. We don’t know what kind of changes might have occurred between your world and ours. And…” he trails off.

Xavier shifts again. “And… back to the ‘there’s more.’ Do you remember when we shook hands in the park?”

I nod. “Yeah?”

“How we were both locked into it almost? You looked confused while it was happening. Can you tell me what you were feeling?”

“Uh. Well, it was like my nerves all decided to tingle and my heart rate increased.”

“Did it stop when the handshake stopped?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Tell me what happened when you shook Zayne’s hand.”

“Same thing almost. I’d describe it as more of a buzz in my nerves that time.”

Xavier nods and looks at Terra who nods at him, then over to Zayne.

Zayne shifts in his seat a bit. “We think you were resonating when you shook our hands. Terra just confirmed that what you described is pretty much what it feels like.”

My head tilts to the side. “I’m wha- noooooo. I don’t have an evol. I can’t resonate.”

“We can test for that at your appointment too. To be sure.” Zayne informs me.

I blink, rapidly. Mallory made her way back over as I felt her body dip onto the couch, she grabs my hand. “You made it sound like her heart condition and this potential resonance are connected.”

“Ah, yes. Well, if what we suspect is true then her heart condition and resonance could be related.” He types something on his tablet object. “When did your heart issues begin?”

“Oh, shoot.” I turn to look at Mallory. “Uh, what was it, like around the middle to end of January, yeah?” I look back at Zayne. “Like, fiveish months?”

He types the information down and then pauses. His stylus taps on the device for a moment before it too pauses. “Interesting.” Is all he says.

“Nuh uh. Share with the class if it’s relevant.” Caleb waggles his finger at Zayne.

“I don’t know if it’s relevant yet, but I suppose I can share what I see.” He sets his tablet in his lap and looks at Terra. “How long ago would it have been from now that you felt off?”

“Maybe five months?”

Zayne says nothing and just leaves that information hanging in the air.

“Good doctor, are you suggesting the timeline of Terra feeling off and Cielle’s heart condition align?” Sylus asks curiously.

Zayne nods. “Cielle, what happened in your life around the time of your heart condition making itself known?”

I grimace. “My… My grandma died at the beginning of January. She was the last living relative I was close enough with to even deserve the title of family.”

“After the funeral, she barely left bed for two weeks.” Mallory adds.

I sigh. “All I’ve known for the better part of the last 6 years was taking care of my grandparents. I quit my job to be their full time caretaker. Grandpa passed nearly a year exactly before grandma, and it was odd enough having my duties halved. Then suddenly I had none.”

“They raised her. All she’s known is them. Her mother is some French trustfund bitch who liked the idea of having a baby more than she did actually having one. Her ‘super important so I can’t be around’ military father brought her to the U.S. when they didn’t work out and had his parents raise her. All she’s known is them.” Mallory continues.

“Like Mal said, I barely left our bedroom for weeks.” I look over to Mallory and wince at the memory. “If even at all. We had an ensuite and she’d bring up food for me. I don’t really remember if I ever did leave during that time period.”

Mallory nods. “You did, you never made it far, but you did.” She pats my hand reassuringly.

The group listens solemnly, collective understanding of grief painting their faces.

“So mid January-ish is when you started leaving the room more?” Zayne asks cautiously.

“Yeah. The first week in bed I barely moved, but that was too quiet. The second week I started doom scrolling short-form content platforms for entertainment, any kind of noise and entertainment that made everything else in my brain stop.”

“She came down for lunch one day and from there it got better.” Mallory squeezes my hand. We both know why, but she won’t say it for me this time.

“Did anything in particular change?” Zayne follows up.

“I started playing a game.”

Sylus clears his throat. “A game or the game.”

“The game.” I respond.

“Ah.” Is all Zayne says for a moment. “When did the symptoms start from there?”

“Not that long after, actually.”

Zayne nods, all clinician now. “That you can recall, did you ever get pains while playing the game?”

I shrug. “Probably. I wasn’t paying super close attention for a while.”

Mallory clears her throat and takes over. “What she means to say is she ignored it until I caught her doing the chest rub thing and insisted she get it checked out. And now that you mention it, almost every time I saw her do it she at least had her phone in her hand.”

Zayne nods and picks up his tablet again, types a few things into his notes. “Mallory, do you happen to recall her mood during those times?”

She thinks for a moment. “Maybe frustrated.” She shrugs. “I know for a fact there were a few times she was doing mini games and was at least yelling at the screen.”

Sylus’ eyebrow quirks up in interest. “Darling, you yelled at the screen?”

“Your avatars suck at getting plushies. I wanted my diamonds.” I say sheepishly.

He chuckles. “That would make sense then.”

“What?” I ask.

“Yesterday. How we got you here. We only caught the signal from the program occasionally. It was never consistent, meaning there was a trigger on your end. Yesterday when we… transferred your existence-” Zayne stammers.

Terra coughs and it sounds suspiciously like she said, “kidnapped.”

“We were able to manipulate the energy signals to keep the connection longer, so we could get you here. Jeremiah changed the code of the game to make it so the game wouldn’t let anyone get a plushie.” Sylus continues.

“Well that’s rude.”

He chuckles. “Then you’ll really love this one, darling. Once we had the connection, you switched to kitty cards, with me. Apparently because it was my avatar I had a stronger connection to it. I was able to manipulate the game.”

I gasp. “You ass!”

Zayne clears his throat and takes back over. “What we mean to say is that it appears when you were frustrated while playing the game you triggered your potential resonance. The potential resonance is what sent the signal.”

“I’d be willing to bet that the only reason the resonance “worked” in the first place is because of the strange connection between the game and our timeline.” Xavier says, rubbing his chin.

Zayne nods. “The connection between you, the game, and us caused your bodies to realize something was wrong. You connected with the game, which connected to us. The game bridged the impossible. That makes the most logical sense.”

“Wibbly wobbly.” Caleb says.

“I swear to the gods Caleb, if you say that again…” Terra threatens.

Mallory snorts. “Well. That’s a lot to take in.”

“Unfortunately.” Zayne nods. “You ok?” He asks me.

I blink a few times while taking it all in. “Uh. I mean… I have nothing to base this off of, so as ok as I can be?”

“It is unique, for sure.”

“What are the fucking odds.” Mallory says suddenly. “She happened to be watching videos, that happened to show edits of the game, that she happened to enjoy, so she happened to decide to play the game, that happened to connect her to a real timeline, that she happened to somehow also have a soul and bond connection to.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “That’s a lot of chance.”

“Hmm, that is a lot to just be coincidence, but we don’t really have anything else to go off of.” Xavier says.

“Unless it’s connected to how the bonds got split between timelines in the first place.” Rafayel flicks his flames between his fingers.

“Oh shit. That’s so cool.” I couldn’t help myself, half dissociating.

“Hmm? Oh! My bad. Anyway.” He carries on after putting out his flame. “We don’t know how things got split, or why. Neither of us have memory of it.”

“Well that is certainly odd.” Mallory states. “You’d think that’d be something one remembers.”

“Wait, don’t both bonds have to happen willingly? Like, that can’t be forced, right?”

Sylus crosses on leg over the other shifts slightly. “Correct.”

“So, wait. So… hold on. I have a piece of your soul?”

Sylus nods.

“Does that mean you have a piece of mine?” I ask, eyebrows so drawn together I’m definitely getting 11 lines from this conversation alone.

The coin appears on his knuckles again as he rolls it around. “I have a piece of a soul I haven’t identified yet, precious. I haven’t tasted your soul to know whether or not it’s yours.”

That sends a shiver up my spin. The idea of my soul being tasted sounds wrong.

‘This is the part where I say it’s kind of errotic, yeah?’

‘Oh for fucks sake.’

‘Doesn’t the idea of him tasting you in any way just…’ I can practically see the inner me’s eyes widen in delight.

‘Do you ever just stop?’

‘Nuh uh. I’m made of all the feral shit you won’t say.’

‘Fantastic.’

“I won’t touch it without your consent.” Sylus reassures me.

I smile at him. “I had no doubts about that, Sylus.”

He smiles and nods at me.

“Well don’t forget about meeee, sea star.” Rafayel whines. “There is no forcing a bond on this end either. I also would never do anything without your consent.”

“Uh, thank you.” I’m not really sure what he could possibly be referring to in terms of that bond, but it’s sweet that he said it I guess.

“Do you have any questions so far?” Zayne asks, looking at his tablet still.

“Fuck, how much time do you have.”

“Language.”

“I… huh?”

Terra laughs. “I don’t think he even knows he did it. He’s got this thing about me swearing around him. He gives me ‘language warnings’.” She shrugs.

I laugh. “Yeah, best of luck with that one for me. Swear words are sentence enhancers over here.”

Zayne clicks his tongue but still doesn’t look up.

“Right, questions.” I think of what I want to ask first. “So, you are all older than in the game. How much about the game do you know?”

“That’s a pretty broad question, sunshine.”

“Uhh…” I think for a moment. “Alright, how about I point each of you and state something and you can confirm or deny.”

Six different agreements come in at once.

“Alright, jobs first.” I point at Xavier. “Hunter with UNICORNS.” He nods

“Famous artist.” I turn to Rafayel.

“Only thee most.” Rafayel purrs.

“We’ve already established you are at least a Cardiac Specialist. Head Cardiac Surgeon at Asko?”

“For the most part. A bit more complicated than that title these days. We can discuss that some other time.”

I nod and shift my finger to Caleb. “I’ve heard them call you Colonel, so this one has to be correct. Colonel of the Farspace Fleet?”

“The one and only Colonel Xia, reporting for duty.” He gives a playful bow.

I laugh and move on. “Most wanted man in all of Linkon, Infamous leader of the N109, fearsome boss of the faction Onychinus?”

“So descriptive and yet there is still so much more to me.” He chuckles. “But yes, that’s the gist.”

I shake my head at him and turn to look at Terra. “Also a Hunter with UNICORNS.”

“Damn straight.” She replies.

“Language.” Zayne calls.

She sticks her tongue out at him.

My fingers rest on my chin while I think of the next round. “This one is a little odd, but you’ve given me the ground work for it already. Are you two-” I point between Sylus and Rafayel. “The only ones that remember past lives?”

“With the exception of you, clearly, I remember everything, darling.”

“Same, angel.”

I look at Xavier, he tilts his head as if unsure how to answer. “There are no past lives to have had. All one so far, I remember it all.”

Cryptic, but that fits.

I nod at Caleb, conveying I want him to answer next. “If there are any, I am mostly unaware of them.”

“Mostly?”

“We’ll get to that later, darling.”

I nod and move on to Zayne. “I’m aware of at least two. Both of them I have been dealing with for some time.”

“Dawnbreaker?”

He flinches and nods.

“Fractal Library?”

He nods again. That lines up with what happened most recently in the main story. Which means…

“Is there a Bai Ze!?” I ask, bouncing in my seat excitedly. “Is Shiqi real?”

He clears his throat and says, “Shiqi the dog is my distant relative’s.”

“Ah, got it.” I turn to Terra. “No memories of any?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head. “This whole soul and bond thing is only something I learned in the last few weeks. I was told, but have no memories.”

“That blows, you would have the best collection. But there's a lot between all of it so it’s probably better you don’t or your brain might explode.”

“That’s not how memory storage works.” Zayne pushes his glasses back up his nose.

“No one was talking about the science end of things.” I quip. “Umm. Oh. My next one might want to be done individually instead of outloud.”

“Whatever you’d like, doll.”

I lean towards Xavier and motion him to meet me. “Prince of Philos, Backtrackers, Lumiere?” I whisper.

He leans back, smirks, and bows.

I get up and lean down to Rafayel. “Lemurian, God of the Sea?”

“Your’s truly.”

I walk over to Caleb, sigh, and lean forward. “Explosion, chip, mechanical arm?” I pull back to watch his expression

His eyes go wide for a moment before he rubs his right wrist. “Yeah.” He says quietly. “But-” he begins as I move to walk away. “The last two have been handled.”

I nod and make a note to ask him more about that later.

I look at Zayne and think before leaning in. “The dog is actually a Bai Ze, right?”

He chuckles, “Right.”

I smile at him and move on to Sylus, who leans forward to meet me. “If the soul bond is a thing then I’m assuming it’s origins are too.”

He hums in response. “Me and all my fiendish ways.”

“How about Tartarus or the Intersellar Arena?” I whisper.

He freezes for a moment, barely noticeable. “Dangerous information, darling.”

I smile at him and head back to the couch, looking over Terra as I walk to my spot. “Alright. So I have a general idea of what might be correct, but clearly the timeline is all wrong.” I look at Terra. “If there are Hunters then there are Wanderers, yeah?”

“Correct.” Xavier replies.

“If there are Wanderers then the Chronorift Catastrophe happened? I think in the game it happened in 2034.”

Xavier answers again. “The Chronorift Catastrophe happened, yes but it happened in 2039.”

“Oh! So you two were…” I start pointing between Terra and Caleb before I stop speaking. I don’t know if anyone here knows about the experiments or whether they even happened. “Nevermind, I’m getting ahead of myself.”

Terra speaks up. “If you are alluding to what I think you are, then yes.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry.”

“Such is life.” Caleb says, almost as if it doesn’t bother him.

My fists clench. “Don’t… Don’t say that. Please.”

“It’s alright, doll. Really.”

“I wouldn’t fight with her about this. She was very angry through any part of the story that had to do with it.” Mallory tells him.

Caleb holds his hands up in mock surrender but says nothing else.

“Wait, so if you were older when it happened were you still childhood friends with Zayne?”

“Older childhood.” Caleb answers, airquoting the word childhood.

“They moved in next door to my parents the summer before my third year of college.”

I’m confused momentarily before I remember Zayne is a literal genius and skipped several grades and went to college early. “Right. So less childhood and more proximity.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Caleb says sharply.

“That’s probably a whole other conversation we can have some other time.” Zayne offers.

I nod. “Ok. So the Chronorift Catastrophe was 2039, and you are all basically 10 years older than in the game.”

“Wibbly Wobbly.”

A throw pillow flies across the room.

I exhale a heavy breath. “There was… a lot of things that happened in the game in the main storyline. Did you guys… see any of that at all?”

“We didn’t see anything. We left that up to Jeremiah and the twins to sift through. What are you thinking?” Sylus asks.

“Trying to figure out the timeline.” I turn to Terra again. “Did you become a Hunter in 2048 at least?”

“Yes.” She answers.

“Ok, so everything after is spread out over 9 years.” I whistle. “That’s a lot to detangle.”

“We don’t have to go over it all right now. We’ve got time.” Sylus soothes.

“Right. I have one that’s kind of important. The last big main event that happened in the story was… Did the Alterum happen already?”

Zayne flinches. “Yes.”

“G.A.I.A.?” I look at Terra and Sylus, who both just nod.

“How recently?”

Terra flinches. “About a month or two before I went on my vacation. It was a contributing factor.”

Zayne flinches again, but this time so does Sylus.

“This seems like it’s getting into ‘not a good time to talk about this’ territory. But that helps with the timeline a bit. Like you said, we can discuss more later.” I sigh.

I think I’ve got all my most burning questions out of the way. A general idea of what’s true between the two worlds. Their relationships with each other. Wait… no that’s no right, I only asked about Terra, Caleb and Zayne.

“Well, actually. Wait.” I clear my throat. “In the game, besides Caleb and Zayne knowing each other from childhood, and Xavier, Rafayel, and Sylus knowing of each other for other nefarious reasons, none of you know each other. I’m looking at you all in the same room, so clearly that is different.”

There is silence as five sets of eyes settle on Terra. She shrinks back a bit at all of their gazes.

Clearing her throat, she begins to speak. “Yeah. So. About that.” She clears her throat again. “We can make that girl talk later.”

“Aw, come on kitten. You don’t want to tell the story with all of us present?”

She shifts in her seat a bit. “I’ll tell the abridged version. They all met each other when I left without a trace. Various levels of looking for me caused them all to bump into each other essentially.”

I nod. “Got it. So they really haven’t known each other for long then?”

“Nope.” Terra replies, popping the ‘p’ sound.

“Could have fooled me.” Mallory says. “They all seem to feed off of each other like they’ve been doing it for years.”

“Right!?” Terra exclaims. “It’s fucking creepy.”

“Language.”

Terra rolls her eyes. Rafayel chuckles.

“That’s… no that’s actually concerning. I was going to say endearing but the chemistry they have with each other so quickly is unnerving actually.” I speak quietly, trying to keep the conversation between the three of us.

“We’re right here, angel. If you are gonna talk about us, do it with your whole chest.”

My eyes slide over to him and I looked him up and down, or as up and down as I can someone sitting on the floor. “Nah.”

“Rude.”

Xavier chuckles.

“It’s not our fault you three are so easy to tease.” Caleb shrugs.

Three glares are sent his way causing him to burst out laughing.

“Oh, that’s almost scary.” He says while he continues to laugh.

By the time he finishes laughing I’ve thought of another question. “So, the game… It has a romance aspect to it and it doesn’t have one true ending. The main character has a, well essentially a timeline with each man.” I gesture my hand to pan over all five of them. “Is this-” I circle the air with my finger. “-all platonic or?” I look between the men and Terra.

Terra is shrinking again and the men all say nothing as they stare at her.

“Let’s file that under girl talk too.”

“Ooooooh.” Mallory sounds like something clicked for her. “Oh.”

My eyebrows shoot up. Mallory is privy to something, obviously. I guess I will have to find out later during ‘girl talk’.

Zayne clears his throat. “Does anyone have anything else? I think that covered what I had written down.”

Sylus raises his hand. “Yes, doctor. I have a question.” He mocks.

Zayne rolls his eyes but gestures for the man to go on.

Sylus looks over to me. “Do you have any questions regarding the bond? You seemed to have taken that information in and then other things steamrolled over it.”

“The bond?” I think. “Oh, right. No. I don’t think so. If it’s the same as the game I understand it.”

‘You forgot they said you share a bond with them!?!?’

‘Not on purpose, hush.’

Sylus just looks at me and then to Rafayel, a question seems to float between them. “Right, well. If you do end up with any questions, feel free to ask.”

Zayne’s eyebrows come together as he turns to look at Sylus. Another silent conversation seems to happen before my eyes. Sylus waves off his look.

“I have one that I don’t think Cielle is thinking of.” Caleb pipes up. “What the hell did I walk, or rather come sprinting, in on yesterday. What was with the screaming while she was in front of you at Philo?”

Sylus’ tongue clicks. “Ah, yes. That.” He taps the right side of his head. “Did the story tell you about my eye, darling?”

I nod. “Yes, as long as it’s the same thing.”

“That makes this easier then. I have an Aether Core in my eye. It has special powers outside my evol, those powers don’t always feel the best to the person they are used on. I usually have to activate them, however yesterday it seemed to react on its own. I wasn’t able to regain control soon enough darling and I am so sorry for causing you any harm.”

“It’s alright. It was actually mostly just strange. There were flashes of images I didn’t recognize and heard words I couldn’t place. I didn’t catch much. And then it was over. I didn’t even know I had been screaming until someone said something.”

“Interesting.” Is all Sylus says at first. “Well I’m glad to hear I didn’t hurt you, that you can recall.”

“That doesn’t make me feel much better, but I’m glad to know it actually wasn’t on purpose and that you don’t remember feeling any pain.” Caleb nods.

“Anyone else?” Zayne asks the group. Everyone shakes their heads. “Good. I have one last thing, more for Terra than anything.”

Terra sits straighter and gives Zayne a questioning look.

“You-” he nods at Terra. “-need to think a bit more about your schemes and how they affect people.”

She hangs her head. “I know. I didn’t know the movie was going to cause an issue.”

“Not just one.” Sylus adds.

Her head snaps back up. “What do you mean?”

“She had a nightmare last night.” Xavier answers.

“Woke our whole wing up from her screaming. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it too, cutie.”

“I caused you to scream twice?” Terra asks, looking over at me.

I shrug. “If it helps, I have no memory of actually screaming. I was in my dream though.”

She throws her head back. “Ugh. I’m so sorry, Cielle.”

“I’m sure she’s forgiven you already. She had a whole team of white knights come to her rescue.” Rafayel teases.

I huff. “And then they fucking tortured me.”

Zayne grumbles but says nothing.

“You loved it, sea star.” Rafayel laughs.

“I certainly got a kick out of it.” Mallory adds.

“Can we not do this again?” I plead.

“See, easy to tease.” Caleb shrugs smugly.

I groan.

“Alright, anyone else?”

Seven heads shake in response.

“Great.” Zayne looks down at his watch. “Terra, if you were going to bring them shopping you should probably get going soon.”

Terra shoots up. “Oh right!” She moves to scoot past Sylus to exit the area.

“Kitten.” He holds his hand out to stop her and a black card is suddenly between two fingers as he passes it over to her. “Let them buy whatever they need.

She pouts but nods. “Alright.”

“You understand why I’m saying that right?” He asks her.

She shrugs her shoulders. “Nope.”

He gives her an ‘oh really’ look. “Your shopping habit needs a break after spending the last two weeks doing nothing but online shopping while pouting.”

“I did not!”

“My bank statement says otherwise, sweetie.”

She crosses her arms. “Fine.”

Sylus turns to look at Caleb. “She needs nothing. She’s bought one of everything you could think of over the last few weeks. You’d be smart not to give in to her too.”

Caleb smiles and mock salutes Sylus. “Got it. Operation ‘The Princess is Too Spoiled’ is underway.”

“Fucking nerd.” Terra says on an exhale.

“Language.” Zayne says.

“Oh for… come on.” She yanks Caleb’s up out of his chair and looks back at me and Mallory. “Let’s go.”

Terra and Caleb decided to take us to Universum, the largest business district within Linkon.

“So it’s a mall?” Mallory asked as Caleb described it.

“Business district.” He doubled down.

“Caleb, stop.” Terra turns in her seat to look at us. “Yes, it’s a mall. A giant one. It’s a great time.”

Caleb grumbles something I can’t hear but I can see his jaw flex.

“Anyway.” Terra says, ignoring him. “It has a bunch of clothing shops right near each other so we don’t have to go too far to shop around for things that fit your styles.”

“So, wait. I’m confused.” I shake my head. “The game was really bad about general locations of things. It was all very vague. Is this mall separate from Azure Square? I kind of figured that was the big shopping district and Universum was its own place.”

“Universum is its own place, but also part of Azure Square.”

“Where we found you was some businesses but more offices than shopping. Universum is actually just on the other side of those buildings. There’s a fountain at the center of the square and then Universum is right there.”

“Oh! So we are close to it from the penthouse too.”

“Yeah.” Terra agrees. “We could have walked if you wanted to but I figured with all the shopping that needs done it wouldn’t really be fair to Caleb to carry all that back.”

I laugh at the view of Caleb’s eyes rolling in the rearview mirror.

“I think he would have been just fine with that power of his.” Mallory says.

“It’s called an evol.” Caleb says curtly.

“Whatever.”

“Alright. This place might not be so bad to learn to navigate after all.” I say thoughtfully.

Caleb laughs. “Oh, doll. We’ve barely touched most of the city. Though there isn’t tons that need to be seen outside of this bit.”

Terra smacks his arm. “There’s plenty to see outside of the city center. But no, it’s really not hard once you learn it. And you have your phones so there is always GPS. Asko Hospital, for reference, isn’t that far from here either. The general idea is really the city center is the most dense area and it fans out from there.”

Mallory grips the back of Terra’s seat and leans forward a bit. “Ah that’s pretty similar to where we are from then.”

It’s not long before Caleb is pulling into a parking garage and we are heading towards the mall proper.

Mallory and I walk, holding hands, behind Terra and Caleb into the large open area of the mall. Mallory whistles at the space, a mix of modern and futuristic and very much the largest mall either of us have ever been in.

Terra turns around, walking backwards, and smiles. “So, give me a general idea on aesthetics and I can steer us in the right direction.”

“Don’t really have one personally. If I see something I like then I buy it.” Mallory offers.

“Same.” I nod.

Mallory glares at me and then rolls her eyes. “She does have one, she just doesn’t indulge in it.”

“Aw, why not, doll?” Caleb looks over his shoulder momentarily.

“Money, society, etcetera. There has been no need to indulge in it when my last six years have been mostly inside the house. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I left to do grocery shopping and shit, but I always had a grandparent with me and we lived in a relatively smaller city in a more rural area.”

Terra, still walking backwards next to Caleb, grins and holds out a black piece of plastic. “Well at least one of those things isn’t an issue at the moment. So what is it?”

I wave her off. “It’s no big deal.”

Mallory rolls her eyes at me. “Dark items, goth like but not quite goth fashion.”

“Ooh fun! Indulge a little.” Terra says, looking at me.

I hold my free hand out in front of me. “I don’t plan on spending large amounts of Sylus’ money. A few outfits and other necessities and that’s it.”

Terra pouts. “He won’t mind.”

“You just want to shop by association because he put you on a shopping ban.” Caleb chuckles.

Terra’s pout deepens. “Do not.”

Caleb stops in front of a large department store. “Alright ladies, go wild. I’ll be wandering. Text or call if you need me.”

I pull my phone out of my pocket. “Uh… I don’t know if I have anyone’s numbers, actually.”

“Are you asking me for my phone number, doll?” Caleb teases, one hand on his hip and smirk plastered on his stupid adorable face, violet eyes gleaming.

“I… No, I just don’t want to be stuck in a situation where we are separated and can’t get a hold of anyone.” I say defiantly.

Caleb laughs. “I was just messing with you.” He grabs my phone out of my hand, after noting I had already unlocked it, and proceeds to type his number into my phone. “There.” He then motions to Mallory to give him hers and does the same.

Terra had taken my phone from Caleb’s hand while he waited for Mallory and entered her contact information also before handing it back over to me, taking Mallory’s from Caleb directly after.

I nod at them in thanks and walk forward into the store, Mallory and Terra following not far behind.

“So.” I clear my throat when Terra is close by. “Something tells me finding more plus size items is going to be harder here.”

“Nonsense.” She flicks a wave. “It’s pretty inclusive here.”

“And for this?” I waved a hand over my chest.

She clicked her tongue. “Yeah, that I’ll probably have to bring you to a special store for.”

“Sounds about right.” I laughed.

We walk through the store until we got to the women’s section, and true to her word there were pretty inclusive sizes. Mallory found a few pairs of jeans pretty quickly that she wanted to try on so Terra took her over to the dressing area while I continued to browse.

I figured while I was in this store I would at least check out to see what they had for bra’s, just in case. Sizing was a fun thing to figure out. A lot of it was simple enough conversion but I didn’t really understand the cup sizing.

As I was holding out a style, trying to make mental notes for what I might like for when we go to the lingerie store, hoping that they measure and inform me of my size, I heard footsteps approaching. Holding the garment out and turning, I expected to see Mallory or Terra.

“Mal, what do you think of-” I’m looking at a broad chest, tilting my head up and I'm met with violet eyes.

“Hey, doll, Terra sent me-” His eyes flick down to what I’m holding out.

We both pause mid sentence and stare at each other. My eyes never leave his face, his eyes never leave what’s in my hands. Shaking myself out of it, I quickly put the item behind my back.

“Caleb! What are you doing here?”

He blinks a few times, his cheeks turn slightly pink. “I… uh… Terra sent me to make sure you don’t get lost. They are still trying stuff on.” He rubs the back of his neck, eyes squinting slightly.

“Oh, uh. Ok. They could have texted me.”

“Terra said they both forget to put your number in their phones before they split.”

Oh shit, that’s right. I don’t think me and Mallory thought to make sure these numbers were in each other’s phones and I didn’t send a message to Terra for her to have it either.

“Well shit. That was definitely silly of us.”

Caleb snorts and I look at him quizzically. “Sorry. You don’t often hear someone say shit and silly in the same breath.” He huffs again.

“Ah, yes. Well I am an enigma. What can I say?” I say awkwardly.

His stance shifts slightly, more confident, and he looks me up and down. “You are certainly something.” A brief pause. “Say, you don’t seem to have anything picked out yet. Not finding anything?” He points to my noticeable lack of anything with me, besides the bra I’m still hiding behind my back.

I spin, quickly hanging the garment in my hand up before turning back. “I’ve seen a few things. Nothing that I have to have or anything.” I answer him. “I don’t exactly like shopping that much. I tend to end up not leaving with much or with things I settled on so I had something.”

“Well, come on. Let’s go look at stuff and I’ll hold things up and you have to give me a good reason you don’t like it. If you can't, you have to at least try it on.” Caleb turns and starts walking back to the section that is mostly shirts and blouses.

I don’t move from my spot. My anxiety around shopping while being a person with a larger body spikes tenfold at the thought of looking for clothing with Caleb.

“Uh…” I stammer. “No thank you. That’s quite alright. I’ll message Terra so she has my number. You can resume whatever it was you were doing before she sent you over. Really it’s ok.”

His eyebrows came together as he turned around to see I was still right where he left me. “It’s no problem, really.” He reassures me. “I wasn’t doing anything but walking around.”

“No, really. I don’t need any help, Caleb. Thank you though.”

His eyebrows came closer together. “Do you… do you not want me around?” He sounded almost dejected, shoulders slumping slightly.

Panicking, I try to find the right words to say. “No-no. It’s not that I don’t want you around.” I say quickly, his shoulders flex slightly at my words. “I just really hate shopping and I would prefer not to do it with an audience.” I try to explain.

“You were doing it with Terra and Mallory. What’s the difference?” He tilts his head to the side, sounding genuinely curious.

I scratch my forehead, unsure how to really explain myself without embarrassing myself farther. “Mallory is my girlfriend. It’s just not the same.”

“Doll, I really don’t understand the big deal. And even still, Terra was there. Just because Mallory was also there it was fine?”

I sigh. “Yes and no. Terra is also a woman, so it is a little different there too.”

He waves me off. “You just sound silly. If you really don’t want to spend time with me, just say so. No need to make up weak excuses.” That dejected undertone came back.

I rubbed my eyes with both hands and ran them down my face. I’m quickly realizing he isn’t going to get the hint without taking it personally. I’m left with a few options, and I like none of them. I can let him think I don’t want to spend time with him, which is far from the truth except at this moment. I could just let him do the shopping with me and have to deal with the burning embarrassment of this perfect specimen of a man seeing my clothing sizes and try to come up with good excuses for why I’m rejecting items. Or I just fess up and deal with embarrassment now.

“Caleb.” I start. “I’m embarrassed.”

He shakes his head. “What for?”

Oh this sweet puppy of a man.

‘Well throw him a bone then and be honest with him.’

‘I’m working on it. Gods.’

“I’m not exactly the smallest person on the planet. As a matter of fact I’m probably statistically in some of the larger peop-”

He holds his hands up. “Stop. What are you going on about?”

I just look at him. “Well, I mean. Look at you.” I gesture over him. “Compared to me.” I gesture at myself. “There’s a big difference there.”

His brows come together again. “Don’t do that.”

I look at him confused. “Do what.”

“Put yourself down and try to disguise it as a joke or pun.” He said in a serious manner. His eyes had darkened a bit.

I’m taken aback. He sounded very upset by my comment. I don’t think I even realized I had done what he accused me of. My jaw had dropped slightly and I was at a loss for how to respond.

“I have no issues helping you shop. If I did I wouldn’t have offered. And I don’t care what size clothing you wear, Cielle, if that’s what this might be about. Do you think I’m going to think less of you or something if I know?”

I have the strangest urge to physically reach out and smooth out the lines forming on his forehead, but I don’t act on it. And unfortunately he’s right. That’s exactly what I was thinking, because I think less of myself. Because he taught me to think less of myself.

‘He was a fucking prick and you have to stop letting his words effect you. It’s been a long time.’

‘Well, he drilled it into my head for a long time too. That doesn’t just go away.’

‘Mallory would be so sad if she was overhearing this conversation, or the one you just had with Caleb. She’s been trying so hard to help you escape the grip of his words.’

‘I know. I’m disappointed in myself too. But she couldn’t exactly give me exposure therapy to a Greek God not using the same words he did. All the work she did couldn’t have prepared me for this.’

‘I think you are just finding a different way to run.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

My internal battle is interrupted by Caleb, still standing in front of me. One hand on his hip, staring at me in almost disbelief. “You do, don’t you? You think I’ll think less of you?”

My jaw slams shut and clenches slightly, trying to bite back the shame I feel crawling up my spine. “Not you, specifically.” I say quietly.

“Then who?”

“Any one, really. Myself included.”

“That's bullshit. Why?” He asks before putting his hand out to stop my answer. “Never mind. Just.” He sighs. “I don’t. I won’t.” His eyes are almost pleading with me to believe him. “Let me help you find something you might like. If you really don’t like anything here, then we will go somewhere else.”

I look down at my feet. “I want to believe that, Caleb. I really do.” I sigh, eyes trained on part of the pattern in the shop's flooring. “You have to understand that it just doesn’t always work like that. I can’t just explicitly believe you.”

He steps forward as his shoes become visible to my still down turned eyes. “Cielle.” His voice softened in a way that nearly melted me. “I’ll do whatever you need in order to know you can trust I won’t add to the voice in your head telling you otherwise.” He places a hand on my shoulder and the other lifts my chin to force me to look at him, I gasp slightly at the sincerity in his eyes. “I mean it.”

I can’t look at him too long, that stupid anxiety over being perceived forcing me to avert my eyes, despite how much I would love to get lost in them like I used to in the game.

“Caleb…” I plead. “I understand where you are coming from. But you have to remember that I’ve only known you for less than twenty-four hours.”

His hands drop from my body and he takes a step back. “Right.” He sighs. “Right. I don’t know how I forgot that.” He rubs the back of his head. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push it. I just don’t want you to think I’d do anything to purposely hurt you.”

I look back at him again, and nod. “I appreciate it. It’s ok. Just-” I take a deep breath. “Just give me some time.”

He nods. “That’s understandable.”

The four of them waited until they heard the ding of the elevator and the subtly whirring of the cab descending.

“What the hell was that?” Xavier asks Sylus.

“What was what?” Sylus asks, amused.

“Don’t fucking do that. You two made some sort of decision without us regarding information on the bond. Clue us in.”

“Please.” Zayne adds.

A coin appears and Sylus begins to roll it across his knuckles. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Rafayel laughs. “There’s no point toying with them. I’ll explain if you don’t want to.”

Sylus’ lip comes up in a snarl motion. “It’s not that I don’t want to, fish. I just haven’t figured out if it was the right decision yet.”

Rafayel rolls his eyes. “Coward.” He turns and looks between the other two. “Cielle said she understood the bond but we don’t think she caught on to what it actually means for her. She understands its existence, she understands the role it played for her game character. It’s possible she made the connection of that role now being Terra’s. What I don’t think she got is that it’s her role too.”

Sylus sighs. “That’s the reasoning.” He looks out the large window behind the couch where the girls had been sitting. “It also doesn’t put any pressure on her. She doesn't understand what kind of standing with us the bond gives her. Not telling her lets things evolve more naturally, if she chooses to move forward at all, instead of it feeling like it might be expected of her.”

Zayne removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. “So we give her no reason why we, you two especially, might be relentless with the shameless flirting?”

Sylus chuckles. “Aw, come on doc. Don’t you think it’s better that it feels more natural, us coming on to her, instead of her feeling like we are being forced to? Would you feel very good about it if you thought it was being done because someone felt like they had no other choice?”

“Probably not.” He admits. “It would probably be very cutting thinking someone only said something because they weren’t in control of it and that they didn’t really mean it.”

“Exactly.”

Xavier shakes his head. “I get it.” His shoulders slump slightly. “And she hasn’t been here very long. That would have to look very toxic to her.”

Sylus laughs. “As if all of us haven't already been suggestive so far.” He leans back in his chair and adjusts. “I don’t think I know how to be less than straightforward anymore. I’ve been too open with Terra for too long now. I don’t know if I know how to walk it back.”

Rafayel stands from his spot on the floor and walks over to the spot the girls had been, throwing himself down and sprawling out. “We’ll just have to win her over with our irresistible charms like we did Terra in the beginning.”

Zayne chuckles deeply. “With Terra I had our early years, where she got awkward teenager me. From there we didn’t meet again until I was shadowing my mentor and her doctor, and then she was my patient. She had mostly professional Zayne. She was relentless in trying to get me to open up. There wasn’t much charm involved until she’d already started pressing me.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know that I’ll know how to lead the process.”

Xavier huffs. “It was a lot of proximity before it was ever charm. Her Hunter partner. Her neighbor. We ran into each other more often than not. From there we ended up spending more of our free time together. I won’t say I didn’t try to charm her, I definitely did, but I might not have ever gotten the courage to without all that extra time spent at least near each other.”

Sylus stands. “Well you two had to have done something to have gotten Terra’s attention. Something tells me it was just being yourself and that worked out well once. I can’t imagine it failing if you try it again.” He pulls at his sleeves slightly and brushes at nonexistent dust at his collar. “Forgive me that I’m not exactly keen on having this discussion about all your attentions being on her. I had a long time to ruminate on my feelings for Terra before you three and the other one were ever part of the picture. This is new for me, whatever it is I feel through the bond or what may be naturally occurring.” He turns to walk away.

“It’s no cake walk for me either.” Rafayel quips. “My instincts are yelling to drag her away from all of you and claim her. Like a part of me decided how things went with Terra shouldn’t be repeated, despite it having been the right path, and that I need to act on my instincts solely.” He shakes his head. “She doesn’t deserve the animal that wants to do that. She deserves the humanity behind it.”

Sylus nods. “I get that all too well.”

“The only thing I’m fighting is not wanting her to leave with Caleb. Or just Caleb. It’s not quite jealousy, but also like a general need to protect her.” Xavier offers the group.

“I’m not that immature that I feel the need to stake claim or hover.” Zayne says.

Sylus’ eyebrow shoots up in surprise.

“However,” Zayne continues. “There is something pulling at the back of my brain that is very uncomfortable.”

The other three nod in understanding. They might not all be feeling exactly the same, but they get the general idea of how this all feels for the others. This strange and unexpected side effect of their original mission suddenly taking up space loudly in all of their brains, calling to them like second nature.

Mallory was standing in the dressing room, checking out the fit of the jeans she was trying on in the mirror when she heard footsteps approach and a body settle against the wall nearby.

“How’s it going? Need me to go grab any different sizes?” Terra’s voice called out.

“No, I think I picked well. Just trying to decide if I like this fit.”

Silence crept in again, but not for long. “How are you doing?”

Mallory hadn’t quite heard what was asked. “Hmm?”

“How are you doing? I don’t think I’ve heard anyone ask how you are about this whole thing.”

She was right, no one had. Not even Cielle after they first got here, not that she can fault her. It’s kind of been one thing after another since. How was she doing?

“Fine, I think.” She responds honestly. “I mean, I really don’t know. It doesn’t feel real still. Almost like existing in a dream and I’m just waiting to wake up.”

“That makes sense.”

“You all seem rather at ease about all of this.” Mallory pointed out, taking off the pair of jeans she just had on and setting them to the side and putting on another.

“Oh hardly.” She laughs. “We are just a lot more accustomed to strange shit happening than you’d think. This is probably barely up there in the ‘what the fuck’ scale of everything.”

“Oh? What do you mean hardly? You all seem so… composed.”

“You weren’t a part of the meeting before we woke you up for brunch.”

“There was a meeting beforehand?”

Terra clears her throat. “Uh, yeah. I don’t want you feeling like we are keeping anything from you or anything. It was mostly just a group check in. We figured not doing it at the big meeting would be less overwhelming for you both.”

“Ah.” Mallory turns slightly in the mirror, checking out all angles for the jeans she’s got on now. “I mean. I guess that makes sense. Cielle…” she sighs. “Cielle doesn’t know how to feel about all this and I think I’m focusing more on her than I am myself for the time being.”

“You worry about her.” Terra stated.

“Yeah.” Mallory says on an exhale. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s not some completely broken and fragile thing I have to stay on top of to make sure she doesn’t shatter, but she has her moments. There are broken pieces and I can tell that this whole thing is definitely surfacing some of those pieces.”

“Yeah.” Terra sighs. “I am sorry for my part in that. I didn’t even think to check the contents of the movie with you.”

Mallory chuckles. “It’s not even that. That incident might even be minor compared to what could possibly unravel.” She tosses the pair she just had on into a ‘no’ pile and moves on to the next.

“Minor!? She screamed, panicked, and then had a nightmare about it! If that’s minor, are you she’s ok to be alone?” Terra asks, sounding worried.

Mallory peaks out the door at Terra. “That… was more complicated. That was unexpected. It had variables that couldn’t have been predicted. What I’m worried about is what she might conjure in her head.” She ducks back in the room. “I’m not the only one she’s ever been in a relationship with. Let’s just say the last asshole left some scars, mentally and physically, but the mental ones have been the biggest obstacles to overcome.”

Terra sounds like she let out a hiss. “Is it appropriate for me to ask about it?”

“It’s not like it’s well hidden. You’ll likely notice it sooner or later.” Mallory sighs, scooping up the different piles of pants, and steps out of the room.

The two walk together, leaving the items Mallory doesn’t want with the dressing room attendant. They head over to another rack of clothing and browse.

“She’s a lot more insecure than she’ll let on, but you’ll notice it in the way she’ll make deprecating jokes or digs at herself. She’s been really good about it, but-” Mallory sighs. “But there’s only so much I could do for that. I’ve done the best I can to make sure she knows how much I love her for her and how I don’t care about the size of her body. But that asshole made sure she knew every day how much he hated her for it, would absolutely verbally take her down and then turn around and be the most loving idiot on the planet.”

“Shit.”

“It messed with her really bad. I’m afraid that being around these men, suddenly basically living with them, and their general proximity, is going to bring out a lot of those insecurities again.”

“They don’t care about stuff like that though. I mean, if she went to any of them and genuinely wanted help or something about it they’d be the gentlest most caring people you’d ever meet. Even if they haven’t known her long. They aren’t cruel.”

“Well, unfortunately a lot of her experiences with men have been cruel. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a good lot out there that still think she’s a smoke show, like I do. But she never believes them or doesn’t see it for what it is.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, when we went out for her birthday, she had a handful of men and women hit on her. ‘They were just being nice.’ That kind of thing.”

“Oh my gods.” Terra stops browsing and turns to look at Mallory. “That means she thinks all of the flirting they’ve done with her so far is a joke?”

Mallory nods. “Yeah, most likely. We haven’t really had a chance to talk about it, but yeah. She’s not going to believe any of it is serious.”

Terra gasps. “But why?”

“Let me see if I can channel her here.” Mallory clears her throat. “I mean, look at me. Why would they be?”

Terra recoils. “She says that?”

Mallory nods, a sad look coming across her face. “It took a while for her to realize I wasn’t messing with her about being attracted to her, even when we’d been in a relationship for a while.”

“No.” Terra says in disbelief. “So she spent some time thinking, what? The other shoe was going to drop and you didn’t mean any of it?”

Mallory nods again. “Yeah, because that’s how her relationship with that fucking prick went.”

“Boy he did a number on her.”

“They were together for like 10 years. They were high school sweethearts. It was all she knew. She didn’t have parents to be a good role model for love, and her grandparents were sweet on each other but not openly.”

“Fuck. That’s a long time. And to have to undo all of that…” Terra trails off.

“It’s been rough. But, we’d kind of been making progress. Progress that didn’t involve me pushing even.” Mallory sighs. “She… because of the game she became very attached to the characters. Like, attached enough that I’d call it love. She decided to ask me about my feelings on polyamory on her birthday. Granted she was drunk, so I really don’t think she meant to.” Mallory shakes her head and keeps browsing, tucking a shirt here and there under her arm.

“How’d that go?” Terra asks.

“Hmm? How’d what go?”

“The polyamory thing. Did we pull you from other partners?” Terra begins picking at the skin around her nail.

“Oh, no. Hadn’t even started really. She’d just started a profile on a dating site yesterday morning.” She laughs. “I got home and she told me she kept comparing people on the site to them. Said she hadn’t even noticed she was doing it at first, and I believe that. We browsed together later and she started doing it on purpose. I think it was her subconsciously trying to back out of it. Real people can’t compete with fake ones, so therefore she doesn’t have to face the real people.”

“So you’d agreed to it?”

Mallory chuckles. “Yeah. I’d do anything to keep her happy. To have other people love her and make her feel valuable.” She bumps shoulders with Terra. “And between you and me, the thought was kind of hot.”

Terra laughs.

“Oh my gods, that was probably too much information. I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

Terra laughs again. “It’s alright. You should hear some of the things my friend Tara tells me.”

“Well that’s not confusing at all.”

“Hmm? Oh, our names? Yeah, it’s really about the vowel enunciation.”

“Yeah.”

“But really, I’m here to chat if you need to. Especially if you find out you aren’t as ok as you think about all this and can’t talk to her about it.”

“I appreciate that.”

They browsed in silence for a bit longer. “Oh shit.”

Mallory looked up at Terra. “What?”

“I sent Caleb to find Cielle and accompany her because we were going to be a while and I didn’t get her number before we split.”

“Ok?” Mallory tilts her head questioningly.

“Caleb is going to insist on finding things for her. He’s a big tease, but he’d never tease about that. Is she even going to let him help her?”

Mallory shakes her head. “No, definitely not. Do you think he’ll be persistent about it and not take no for an answer right away? Cuz she will tell him no for self preservation reasons.”

“He’s very ‘acts of service’ oriented. So he probably won’t take no for an answer right away.” Terra taps her fingers against the side of her thigh. “Should we go find them? I don’t want her to regress because of this.”

Mallory nods in agreement. “We probably should.”

The pair walk towards where they had initially left Cielle, checking every section they pass, finding no sign of her. They do, however, find Caleb standing against an open wall staring off into the distance.

“Caleb!” Terra calls out.

Caleb pushes off the wall and gives a small salute.

“Where’s Cielle?” Terra asks him.

“What do you mean? She went to find you two.”

“You left her alone again?”

“She didn’t really want me around. I pushed her a bit but backed off. She said she was going to go find you two. She didn’t find you?” Caleb’s eyebrows knit together.

The pair shake their heads. “And we didn’t see her on the way over here. We walked probably half the store already.” Mallory says, trying to tame the panic rising.

“Well she said she shot you a message before we separated so you had her number. Call her?”

Terra pulls out her phone to find she does have a few missed messages. She narrates them as she looks them over. One from Sylus asking how it’s going and reminding her of her shopping ban. One from Rafayel being his usual dramatic self.

“I don’t see anything from a number I don’t have saved.” Terra looks up at the other two, eyes wide.

“Shit.” Caleb runs his hands through his hair. “She said she’d do it. I didn’t think she would forget.”

Mallory is tense. “Well I guess we have to go find her now. No thanks to you. Let’s make sure we all have each other’s numbers and split.” Mallory pulls out her phone and shoots a message to the numbers Caleb and Terra typed in earlier.

“Hey what do you mean, no thanks to me?” Caleb stiffens.

“You fucking left her alone.” Mallory holds back barely concealed anger.

“She wanted to be left alone. Would you prefer I agitate her farther? I can be an asshole, but I’m not that big of an asshole”

“Could have fooled me.”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t think she was going to get lost and left her anyway. She said she’d message Terra and that she was going to find you guys. I believed her!”

“Well she didn’t message her and she didn’t find us! Why didn’t you put those stalker skills of yours to the test and follow her?!”

“Whoa. Mallory. It’s not his fault. We’ll find her.” Terra cuts in.

“Whatever. You both have my number now. I’m going to go that way-” She points back to the way the pair came from. “-and see if she maybe found her way there and we just missed her.” She gives them a dismissive wave and walks off.

They watch Mallory walk off, and could practically see the frustration rolling off of her. Her shoulders were held tight and her walk was all purpose. Terra turns to Caleb and shoves his shoulder.

“Why didn’t you use those stalker skills?” Terra asks.

“Et tu?” He gasps and places a hand over his heart but then immediately drops the dramatics. “What do you want me to say? Typically I would have, but I didn’t want to make things worse. This is a department store. There aren't exactly lots of places to be able to do surveillance from and not be noticed.”

Terra rolls her eyes. “You’re resourceful. You would have figured it out.”

Caleb shrugs and sighs. “Probably. I just really didn’t want to give her a reason to hate me.”

Terra laughs. “I don’t know if that’s likely.” she says under her breath.

“Yeah? And what’s that supposed to mean?” Caleb’s eyebrow ticks up.

Terra shakes her head. “For me to know and maybe you to find out.” She clears her throat. “I’m going to head the opposite direction Mallory went. You bring up the middle?”

Caleb nods. “Sounds good, pips.”

He watches her as she walks off, and once she’s far enough away he groans and runs his hands down his face. “Fucking hell.” He says as he walks off in the direction Terra told him to go.

After looking down multiple aisles and in the corners of the multiple sections in his area, he finds no trace of Cielle. He pulls out his phone to check for a message from the girls and finds nothing there either.

“Come on, doll. Where are you?” Caleb says to himself, rounding the corner into the next section just outside his area.

“What the hell is someone like you even doing looking at these clothes.” One male voice says.

Caleb stops in his tracks and listens. ‘Jeez someone is rude.’

“Yeah, take your fat ass to the fat people store. You can only dream of wearing clothes like these.” Another male voice says.

‘What the fuck is wrong with these people?’

“Awww, she can’t speak, guys. Tongue must be broken from all that eating.” A female voice says.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Caleb walks towards the voices, coming to a rack of clothing with three bodies facing him and one facing away. The absolute venom on the three facing him immediately sours his mood even more than just their words had.

“Hey! You fuckers got a problem?” He says, approaching the group, the colonel voice fully activated.

The two ‘men’ straighten almost immediately upon hearing him. The woman’s eyes sparkle upon landing on him.

“Oh my gods. You must agree. Tell this ogre that this store is not made for her.” The female’s voice takes on a flirtatious tone.

Caleb flinches. “That’s a shit way to talk about someone, but I suppose it’s to be expected when your soul looks like that.” He fires back.

“Excuse me!?” The woman shrieks.

“Oh? Did you not hear me? I said you have a hideous soul if you are going around picking on random people minding their own business, just to feel better about yourself.” He says looking her up and down, a judgemental sneer on his face.

The recipient of their ire shuffled their feet a bit, catching his attention for the first time since approaching the group. As soon as his focus shifted his heart stuttered.

“Cielle?” He whispers.

She flinches, but doesn’t react otherwise. His temper immediately kicks up a notch, turning back to the three slowly he activates his evol. He lets it encase the three bullies, squeezing them ever so slightly.

“Do you feel that?” He asks them. “That’s the gravity of your words.” He flicks his wrist and squeezes a little tighter, forcing the two men down to their knees. “Does it make you feel big? Did it feed your ego enough?” Caleb walks closer to the men on the ground, ignoring the woman for now. His tone goes impossibly deep, danger dripping from every word. “Did you cum in your pants at her suffering like the fucking scum you are?”

He takes a few steps back, eyes never leaving them. “Aww, did you swallow your tongues? Shame. How will you ever pick on anyone now?” He turns to the woman now, whose eyes are wide and following his every move. “Do you feel prettier now?” His voice takes on a higher pitch, a mocking tone that hits right where he wants it to. “Did he pick you yet? You're just begging for attention with that attitude aren’t you, sweetheart? How will anyone ever look at you if you don’t point out you are the prettiest-” he laughs. “-thing in the vicinity.” He looks her up and down, lip curled up in disgust. “Any guy that thinks it’s attractive when you tear down other women will absolutely do the same to you.”

He uses his evol to squeeze them just slightly tighter. “Now, what’s going to happen next, assuming you’d like me to release you any time soon, is you are going to apologize to the fine lady who had just been here doing some shopping like any other person.”

Caleb walks back and forth in front of them, all military practice, shoulders squared with his hands behind his back, while he waits for one of them to speak. “Wow, so stubborn.” he flicks his hand slightly, adding a bit more pressure to the group.

“Alright, alright!” One of the men gasps out. “I’m sorry.”

Caleb stills, watching and listening. “Mmmm, that didn’t sound very sincere. What are you sorry for? Do we really have to go back to grade school manners?” He manipulates the atmosphere around just the one that spoke.”

“I-I’m s-sorry for p-pickin-ing on you. There was no e-excuse for it.” The man chokes out.

Caleb’s fingers move, loosening the grip he had on the man.

“Me t-too. I-I’m sorry. W-we shouldn’t h-have called you f-fat.” The other man says.

Caleb loosens his grip on him as well. The woman just glares at him.

“Got nothing to say? Really?” He cocks his head to the side slightly.

The woman laughs. “I don’t know what someone like you is doing defending someone like her. You are too hot to be slumming it, sticking up for fatties, when you could be spending your time with someone like me.” she purrs, doubling down on her insults.

Caleb fake gags. “Oh, oh my gods. Gross.” He makes a show of it. “Why would I slum it with someone like you when I could spend my time with someone who actually has a personality.”

She scoffs. “I have plenty of personality!”

“Is it behind all of that poorly done makeup?” Suddenly, Mallory chimes in from his left.

Caleb turns to see her standing next to Cielle. One arm on the small of her back, the other has her phone as she types out a message.

“Oh good, another person who is clearly slumming outside their attractiveness level.” The girl goads.

Mallory places her phone back in her pocket, steps forward and places herself less than a foot away from the woman and leans down so she’s face to face. “You better fucking watch who you are talking about, you little bitch.” she practically growls. “That woman is the love of my life and I will take out any trash that tries me.”

Caleb’s eyebrows shoot up quickly in surprise before he fixes his face back to a more serious one. He’s not surprised by her words, though. No. He’s surprised at the amount of venom she was able to throw behind them.

The woman grunts a bit, struggling against gravity itself. “Well that explains your involvement then.” She looks Mallory up and down. “Ah, I get it. You must be the brother. You don’t have to be this protective of her.”

Caleb scoffs. “What is it about me that screams brother?” He spots Terra approaching out of the corner of his eye, knowing his fun is about to be over. “You just don’t get it do you? There are people out there who are decent human beings, you clearly just don’t know how to be one.”

Terra jogs up to them, not seeing the three trapped in Caleb’s evol from her spot immediately. “Hey, w-what’s going on here? Caleb?” She finally notices them.

Caleb’s posture changes from rigid military man to more relaxed the second she nears. “Oh, you know. Just some assholes making other people miserable.”

Mallory rolls her eyes. “From what I gathered when I arrived, these people approached Cielle and started calling her fat.”

Terra recoils. “Gross.” She turns to the group. “People like you are so vile.” Sighing, she turns to Caleb. “You have to let them go.”

Caleb stares Terra down. “Waiting on one more apology and then they can go free.”

“You can’t hold them.” She stares back.

“Like hell I can’t.” He turns back to the group, a wicked smile coming across his face. “We can call this Fleet business now if you’d like.”

The two men stiffen and the woman straightens up a bit.

Catching his hint, Terra gestures, indicating to him to continue what he was doing. “Well, then by all means. Colonel Xia.”

“Fuck.” The two men say in unison. The woman opens her mouth, likely to make another disgusting remark, but is cut off. “Taylor, shut up.” They hiss at her and she closes her mouth.

Caleb chuckles. “So there are some brains in there.” He parades in front of them again. “I wasn’t kidding. Just one more apology and you can go.”

Silence.

“Taylor…”

“For fucks sake Taylor.”

“Yeah, Taylor.” Caleb mocks.

Through gritted teeth, the woman finally relents. “Fine. I’m sorry.”

Caleb clears his throat.

She huffs. “I’m sorry for calling you fat and saying you shouldn’t be shopping here.”

Caleb’s wrist flicks, completely releasing the group. They all stumble against each other at the sudden change of gravity. He walks back up to all of them as they right themselves.

“Hopefully we’ve all learned a lesson.” Caleb looks each of them over, letting his dominating military training take over.

“Y-yes, sir.” The two men stammer out. The woman just nods.

“Great.” He turns just slightly. “Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

The two men scramble away, dragging the woman along with them before she can start anything else.

As soon as they are out of sight, Caleb’s stance softens and he turns to Cielle fully for the first time since coming up on the scene.

“Are you alright?”

She nods at him, eyes pinned to the floor.

His eyebrows come together. “Hey.” He says softly, walking up to her while watching her closely.

She stiffens a bit as he approaches but nothing else. Mallory is glowering at him now. Terra’s gaze flicking between the two.

“Cielle.” He calls out. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” He tells her gently. “Those people are the scummiest of scum and it should have never happened.”

She finally looks at him, eyes soft. “I told you I’m used to it.”

Her words hit him like a knife. She had, in fact, told him that she was used to people’s cruel words to her, but he couldn’t believe it because he would never.

Gritting his teeth he tells her. “But you shouldn’t be.”

“It’s not the time for this.” Mallory cuts in.

Caleb shifts his weight. “Oh? Why not?” He catches more attitude than he meant to.

She sneers back at him. “Because she’s not going to want to have a heart to heart with you in the middle of a department story about it. Because if she already talked to you about it a bit, then there shouldn’t be anything else to talk about. Because we still have lots of shopping to do.”

He narrows his eyes at her. “Fine.” He turns to walk away. “I’ll be just outside the front of the store. If you need me, you know how to get a hold of me.” He stalks off.

‘What is it about Mallory that makes me so…. Grrrr.’

I watch the pair continue their shopping, offering help here and there. Mallory found a decent amount of things in the first store, Cielle found a few herself. When we checked out Caleb was right where he said he’d be, not moving from the spot until I started leading the group towards the next store. I dropped them off in front of a lingerie store, shooing them inside while Caleb took up post nearby.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked him.

“Don’t know what you mean, pips.” He responded, not looking at me.

“Oh don’t give me that shit. What’s going on with the attitude towards Mallory?”

Caleb sighs and pushes off the wall, waking up to me and places a hand on either shoulder. “I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “I really don’t know. There’s something familiar about her, like with Cielle, but also something at the back of my head that’s yelling about her and it’s angry.”

“Familiar?” I question.

He drops his hands from my shoulders and groans. “Were you not paying attention during the meeting before breakfast?”

“I tried.” I respond. “To be fair, you wanted to have an important conversation before breakfast, so that’s really on you.”

He sighs again. “Alright, quick run down because I’ll just assume you retained nothing. All of us have a sense of familiarity with Cielle, but like was said in the big meeting, no one knows why. I have the same feeling with Mallory but it also feels wrong. Which seems to be contributing to my attitude towards her.”

Something clicks in my head. “Oooh. So you all have some sort of connection to her and not just Sylus and Rafayel.”

He nods. “Seems that way. Also, were you not paying attention at the big meeting?”

“I was distracted.”

“By what?”

I blush. “Doesn’t matter.”

His brows come together. “Pips.”

I sigh. “Fiiiiiine.” I groan. “I also feel a weird familiarity with both of them.”

“What!? Well this would have been useful information at this morning's meeting. What a shame your brain wasn’t present.”

“Hey!”

He ruffles my hair. “Go on then. How do you mean you feel familiar with them?”

“Cielle feels like a missing piece. I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like how it feels to grow up with someone. A nostalgia? Familial? Gods, I don’t know that I’m doing this justice. Anyway, that's the best I’ve got.”

He nods. “And Mallory?”

“Mallory is so much different. It’s both an ancient kind of familiar feeling and like I’m missing something from now. Like there was a recent connection, but that doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t. How strange. You should make sure you tell the others later.”

I snort. “Me, remember? How funny.”

“Right, how could I be so silly.” He rolls his eyes at me.

Something triggers in my brain from his words regarding his connection with Cielle. “Wait. So. Hang on.” I stumble out.

He quirks his eyebrow at me. “Spit it out.”

“Sorry, the thoughts were still stringing together.” I explain. “So, I know that with Sylus’ bond it can trigger romantic feelings, and we’ve already talked about it a bit. I assume Rafayel is probably the same. You don’t have a bond with her, but she feels familiar.” My eyes narrow at him. “How you feeling over there, lover boy?”

He chokes. “Excuse me? What do you mean?”

I giggle and step closer to him. “I mean, you got any feelings stirring up with our lovely new guest?”

He looks like a fish out of water the way his mouth keeps opening and closing.

I giggle again. “Caleb, I don’t care if there are.” I say softly. “It would be quite hypocritical of me if I said it did.”

He stares at me like I’ve got two heads. “Baby, you have to understand something here. I’ve only ever had feelings for you.”

“But…” I lead him.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something stirring.”

I squeal. “That’s so exciting!”

His eyes widened. “What the fuck are you on?”

I smack his arm. “I’m not on anything. I’m just excited.”

“This whole thing is so fucking confusing.” He rubs his hands down his face.

I’m practically bouncing. “ I can’t wait to update Mallory.”

His head snaps to me instantly. “Why the fuck would you need to do that?”

I grin at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Very much so, that’s why I asked.”

My grin grows exceptionally larger. “Let’s just say Mallory has given the greenlight.”

He shakes his head. “What the hell does that mean?”

I see Mallory walking to the store door and quickly turn back to him. “It means take your chance if you want to, no repercussions.”

Mallory walks through the door as Caleb’s jaw drops. She eyes the two of us and then looks him up and down.

“What happened to him? You break him?”

“Something like that.” I grin. “What’s up?”

“Oh! We are done shopping. We just need the card.”

“Oh! Right! I’ll be right in.” I reassure her.

Mallory turns back around and eyes us both one more time before returning to the store.

“She greenlit me?” He asks her in disbelief.

“She greenlit all of you.” My grin is just permanent now.

“All of us? As in who ever wins her over first?”

I shake my head. “Nope.” The ‘p’ popping at the end. “She greenlit all of you in general.”

“What!?”

I just shrug. “We haven’t got to talk about it more yet. Girl talk and all.” I look over to the door. “I should go rescue them with Sylus’ money.” I leave him rooted to that spot, confusion still plastered to his face, and walk in the store to help the girls.

I see them in line and notice the items they have in their hands. “That looks like a good haul.” I say with a whistle for emphasis. “Hopefully you got some good sets.” I tease while waggling my eyebrows.

Cielle’s cheeks flame instantly earning an immediate chuckle from me and one from Mallory as soon as she notices.

“I convinced her to get a few things outside the practical sets.”

Cielle groans. “Mallory.” she hisses out.

I laugh. “It’s all good here, don’t feel embarrassed. They have some sexy shit here.”

“They do.” Mallory waggles her eyebrows at Cielle.

“Gods you two are awful.” Cielle groans again.

I look over at Mallory. “Did we not have girl friends where you are from?”

“We did. It’s just been a long time since she’s had girl time like this.” Mallory answers.

“Right. Spent lots of time caring for others and not herself. I remember.”

Mallory laughs. “Yes, exactly.”

The line moves and they place their items on the counter, I suddenly notice the bra’s Cielle set down causing me to whistle again.

“Good googlie mooglie girly. My whole head fits in that.” I tease.

“And then some.” Mallory grins.

“Oh for…” Cielle buries her face in her hands. “Can we not?”

“No.” Mallory and I say at the same time.

Once the items are all fully rung up and only a few more comments on the garments from me and Mallory, I pay using Sylus’ card.

Once outside the store Caleb falls in line again as I walk us all to the next, and hopefully last store.

“Alright. So I hope you like this one.” I say, stopping in front of our destination. “This one is super inclusive. Like, anything you even remotely like they should have in any size. And.” I giggle a bit. “I hope it fits your aesthetic."

Cielle’s eyes narrow a bit but then she looks closer in the store. “Is this like goth catered?”

I shrug. “For the most part. Best I know is that there is a lot of black. There’s regular clothing in there too. I’ve heard they have some of the softest pj’s you can find without spending stupid money on them like Sylus and Raf do.”

Her eyes widened and then immediately dimmed. “I… I’m afraid of the person I’ll become if I go in there with no budget.”

I grin at her. “There isn’t one. Get what you want. Sylus doesn’t care.”

“No, but I do. I don’t like owing anyone.”

“He never said anything about paying it back.”

She just stares at me.

I tilt my head towards the store. “Mallory, take her in and don’t let her come out until she has everything she wants.” I grab their bags from the other stores from them.

Mallory mock salutes me and drags Cielle in the store.

I giggle. “Hopefully she actually gets whatever she wants.”

“Well, you gave Mallory an order. I don’t think she’ll disobey.” Caleb chuckles.

“Hopefully not.”

“What’s the next stop after this?” He asks.

“They might need like toiletries and things. So we’ll stop there. I can’t really think of anything else.”

Caleb nods, looks around and finds a bench across from the store door and sits. “We might be here a while.” He says pulling out his phone and begins scrolling.

Knowing he’s right, I sit down next to him and pull out my own phone and begin to scroll.

Almost two hours later and I get a text message from Mallory saying they are ready for me to come pay. Telling Caleb I’ll be right back, and leaving him in charge of their other bags, I head in to the store. Upon spotting them I realize they actually ended up with a cart full of items.

“Oh thank the gods.” I say approaching them. “You found stuff then?” I ask Cielle.

Mallory chuckles. “She found sooo much she liked.”

“I think I enjoyed shopping for the first time in a long time.” Cielle admits.

“Well good!” I exclaim. “Sylus will be happy for his money to be spent then.”

Cielle coughs. “I, uh, I think for my own sanity I should probably not be here for the total.”

I shrug. “If that’s what you want. Your part is done. Caleb is sitting on a bench across the way.” I point through the windows towards where he is.

She nods and begins to leave. “I’ll be out there then.”

“No getting lost.” I call after her, she waves in response. Turning back to Mallory, “So she really had a good time then?”

“Like a kid in a candy store.” Mallory responds.

I grin. “Good! Hey, do you guys need any toiletries or anything? Sylus tends to keep all the rooms stocked but I don’t know if there’s anything in particular you’d rather have or need.”

Mallory shakes her head. “No, according to Cielle the bathroom was pretty well stocked with whatever we could think of.”

I check my phone for the time. “Perfect, we should be back in time for dinner. Then we can convince everyone to come watch a movie with us.”

“Actually.” Mallory begins. “We should probably have that ‘girl talk’ chat.”

“Ah, yes. You are right. Well! For that, I happen to know that Sylus recently had my facial mask collection restocked. We can make a real girls night out of it.”

“Sounds refreshing.”

We reach the register and I watch the total climb with each piece of clothing.

Mallory chokes. “She was probably right to leave for this part.”

“This is nothing.” I say waving it off. “This is a speck of dust compared to that total Sylus called me out for over the last two weeks.”

Mallory lifts her eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Don’t get me wrong. That total is a speck of dust compared to what is even available on just this card.”

“Good gods.” Mallory gasps. “She wasn’t kidding when she said he was fucking loaded, huh.” Mallory says quieter.

I lean in to her. “Whatever number you are imagining, it’s still probably more.”

“Fuck. Well, never let me feel bad spending his money again.”

“He encouraged it so you shouldn’t have felt bad in the first place.”

The cashier finally reaches the end and tells me the total, if this were my card being used I would have hyperventilated, but it’s Sylus’ and this is barely what he even makes in a day. After handing me the receipt, I fold it and put it in my pocket.

“Probably best if there’s no chance for her to see that number.” I explain to Mallory.

“Definitely.”

We meet back up with Caleb and Cielle, who seemed to have just been sitting in companionable silence. Caleb takes most of the bags from us, Cielle and Mallory gather up their other bags.

“If we think we are all done, then let's go home.” I say pulling out my phone to let Sylus know we will be on our way back.

Cielle nods. “Sounds good.”

We make our way back to the parking garage, place the bags in the trunk, and get in the car to make our way back to Sylus’ penthouse. The ride back was quiet and short, but I couldn’t stop the smile on my face from how the afternoon went, for the most part.

Chapter Text

As soon as the elevator doors open I am pushing forward, practically kissing the ground of the foyer. “Fucking hell there needs to be another way in and out of this place.”

The other three chuckle from behind me, carrying most of our bags, including the ones I might have dropped while focusing on not trembling.

“Well, darling, there are. But something tells me you won’t like those much either.” Sylus speaks up as he comes around the corner from the hallway. He steps forward and grabs the bags from Terra’s hands, his eyebrow shooting up. “All for them, right?”

Terra huffs. “Yes. This is all their’s.”

He nods. “Good. Although it’s a little more sparse than I had hoped, it is certainly better than nothing.”

Mallory chokes. “Sparse?”

Terra bumps into her shoulder. “I told you.”

I clear my throat. “I think we got plenty. Thank you.”

He shoots me a look and walks towards the hallway that holds our room. “You think. I know you didn’t.” He waves with his hand as best as he can with arms full of bags. “And no need to thank me.”

The four of us follow him down the hall, Terra relieved Mallory of a few of her bags and I took some from the super quiet Caleb.

Sylus entered the room and set the bags down on the bench at the foot of our bed. “I took the liberty to move some things in the closet here, to give you space to put your items. Though it seems I cleared more space than necessary.” He gestures to the pile of bags the rest of us had also sat down, but turns and looks at me with that wolfish grin. “But don’t worry, I didn’t take all of my stuff out, so feel free to wear whatever is in there still.”

My cheeks are instantly on fire at his words.

‘He’s been thinking about you in his clothes.’ the inner me’s eyebrows wiggle.

‘Shut it.’

Mallory, noticing my short circuiting state, takes over. “Thank you, we appreciate it.”

Sylus turns to her and gives a half bow. “Of course. It would be silly of me to tell you to buy whatever you want and then have no place for you to put it.”

“Once we figure things out and get settled, we will figure out a way to repay you.” She tells him.

Sylus stands up straight again, looking like he’s been slapped. “Don’t even think about it. I didn’t request repayment and I don’t expect it.”

“I told you.” Terra mumbles next to Mallory.

Mallory shoots her a look and then turns back to Sylus. “I don’t like being indebted to people.”

“No debt.” He waves off her words. “Gifts. Ones that don’t need to be reciprocated.” He narrows his eyes at her, a strong aura billowing off of him.

Mallory crosses her arms. “It's hard to not feel like they need to be reciprocated when the expense was so high.”

Sylus opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by Caleb. “Oh for fuck’s sake, just accept that he doesn’t want you to pay him back and move on.”

Mallory turns around to glare at him, poised to snap back at him, when Terra cuts in and begins pushing Caleb backwards out of the room. “Nope. Nuh uh. Not again. Go. Come on.”

“H-hey!” He yells as he stumbles out to the hallway.

Terra begins to pull the door shut behind them but stops and looks at us. “I’ll catch you in a bit. We’ll plan girl time.” and she shuts the door.

Sylus’ eyebrow stays up as he watches the door close. “Well. He’s in a good mood.”

“He keeps getting like that occasionally.” I offer.

“He’s a right fucking ass.” Mallory mutters.

Sylus looks between the two of us and then looks at the door again. “Right. Well. I’ll leave you two to unpack. You have full use of the laundry room, of course. There are free hangers in the closet and I made sure all the drawers were clear for you also.” he points over to the wall near the closet where the built-in shelving and drawer system was.

I nod at him, thanking him once more.

“Stop thanking me, precious. I don’t always do things with expectations.” He says as he slips out the door.

Mallory and I look between us and the door for a moment before walking up to the pile of bags.

“Remove tags and separate?” She asks.

I nod. “Luckily he’s got the double washer dryer sets so this shouldn’t take too long. Thank the gods because I can’t wait to get into something comfier.”

Mallory laughs lightly.

“Oh! And to change my underwear and wear an actual bra around them. I have felt half naked since we got here.”

She laughs harder. “Well, to be fair, they are either being super gentleman-like about it or they’ve been too caught up to notice.”

“Which I’m thankful for either way. That baggy t-shirt I was wearing yesterday did nothing to hide my nipples. I’m just lucky it wasn’t cold here.”

Mallory doubles over laughing and has to sit herself down amongst the bags. “Shoot, I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention then.” She says, wiping away tears.

“I’m thankful for that too. You absolutely would have pointed it out.”

“Oh I sure would have.” She takes a few steadying breaths before standing back up and continuing to unpack.

“Not that this camisole is doing a much better job. It’s at least keeping them up a bit and keeping things from being obvious.”

Mallory gives me a look and smirks. “Something like that.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Nooo. What?” I probe.

“It’s still very obvious you aren’t wearing a bra.” She relents.

“Very obvious?” I ask, already moving towards the bathroom to check the mirror.

She shrugs when I look back. “To me at least. You forget I’ve lived with you for a long time now. And they aren’t exactly easy to hide, my love.”

“Shut up.”

Entering the bathroom and turning to the mirror, I look myself over. She comes in the room and stands behind me, watching me look myself over in the mirror with a smirk.

“Maybe I’m just too used to it, but I see nothing wrong.” My eyes flick to Mallory in the mirror, the smirk still plastered on her face.

She steps forward, pressed up against my back now as her arms wrap around my waist, hands resting right under where my breasts are sitting.

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong.” She purrs in my ear, hands roaming up a bit farther. “I said that it was still obvious.”

My breath hitches a bit under her touch. “Mal.” I say in warning.

“Hmm.” She hums against my temple, her thumbs brushing my nipples now.

“Mal.” I try again.

Her index fingers close around my nipples with her thumbs, she rolls them expertly eliciting a moan from me.

“Yes, my love?” She presses a kiss to the back of my head.

“You’re taking advantage.” I manage to say in the one second my brain takes back over.

“Mmm.” She smiles. “You pointed it out. Is it really taking advantage?” She asks as she gives them another roll between her fingers.

I moan again. It had been a while since we had time like this. By a while I mean since the night before we ended up here, but you don’t understand, that’s like forever for us.

“Y-yes.” I stutter out as she continues to tease.

She laughs against my neck as she begins leaving a trail of kisses. “I would never.” She lies through her teeth as she nips me.

She continues her slow torture, one hand slides down towards the waist band of my jeans before pausing and continuing to slide down toward my core.

“No, never.” I say on a heavy exhale.

Her hand that was still on my chest has snaked its way under both my shirts, the more direct contact causing me to shiver, her mouth still kissing up and down my neck.

“And I certainly wouldn’t take advantage of some alone time, now would I?” She asks as she gives my nipple a gentle tug

“F-fu… n-no. N-not at all.”

My eyes are closed at this point and all I can focus on is where her hands are making contact with me. She’s very preoccupied with her plan of my slow undoing. Neither of us are paying attention to anything outside of each other.

“Hey, I brought you a couple of laundry baskets.” Sylus’ smooth voice comes from far too close.

It takes both of us far too long to register his words, too caught up in each other to have a proper reaction time. Mallory’s right hand is still cupping my core, her left still teasing my nipple.

“I set them down on the b-” Sylus appears in the bathroom doorway. “-ed.” Momentarily stunned, he just stands there. “Oh, shit. Sorry.” His hand flies up over his eyes and he turns quickly.

He over estimated his turn and when he went to walk back out of the bathroom he, instead, bounced off the door with a thud. The door bounced off the wall harshly, the momentum from it coming back and whacking him a second time.

“Shit.” He hisses out.

Mallory’s hands retreat from my body as she cracks up laughing, falling to the floor clutching her sides.

My face is immediately buried in my hands, elbows leaning on the counter in front of me. “Oh my gods.”

Mallory, still losing her shit on the floor, says through attempts at breathing. “You can’t make this shit up.”

Sylus is still standing there unsure of how to move, clearly momentarily disoriented, hand still over his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

His apology seems to fuel Mallory’s fire, I can hear her flop around on the floor. I attempt to reach my foot in her direction to kick at her, which also fuels her laughter more.

I don’t move. I can’t move. Even if I did, Sylus is still in the doorway, also not moving, with his hand still over his eyes. So I stay as I am until Mallory can gain control of herself.

Taking a few deep breaths, Mallory finally stands back up and begins rubbing my lower back. “It’s fine now, Sylus. You can uncover your eyes.” She says to him.

His hand drops but he still stands facing the open door for a few more beats. “I should have knocked. I didn’t think.” He sighs.

My face is still buried in my hands, more of my body is folded over the counter as I attempt to melt away.

“It’s alright. This was all on me.” Mallory says. “I took advantage of the situation spontaneously and didn’t think about anything else. Not exactly used to sharing a living space with others again.”

I can hear Sylus turning. “I’m still sorry.”

“No need to be.” Her hand stills on my back. “Next time you can watch for longer.” Her voice dips low, but her tone stays serious.

“Mallory.” I hiss out.

Mallory laughs which causes Sylus to chuckle. “Well.” His voice dips to match. “Now that I know that, maybe I’ll barge in more often.”

“Oh my gods.”

“Yeah, you’ll probably be saying that next time.” Mallory teases directly into my ear.

“Damn.” Sylus hisses. “It’s starting to become harder and harder to tell whether you are still joking or not.”

I groan, knowing exactly what Mallory’s next move is going to be.

“When have I ever been joking?” She deadpans.

Sylus chokes on air momentarily before recovering. “Hard to say.”

“Mallory.” I say her name like a warning that I know she won’t take.

She sighs. “I would continue my fun, but I don’t want to break her.” she resumes rubbing my back, her words and actions causing me to sigh, thinking that maybe she will heed my warning. “I’ll leave that to you boys.”

‘Damn it, Mallory.’

‘Ahahahahahhahahaha.’

“Oh.” Is all Sylus says.

“Ah! There you are.” A bubbly voice sounds from the bedroom. “The rest of us voted on take-out for dinner. Any preferences?” Terra steps into the doorway and looks between all of us. “Uh, why do I feel like I missed something?”

Sylus chuckles. “Oh, because you did. Don't worry about it, sweetie. We’ll meet you in the living room.”

Terra’s eyebrow shoots up in question, looking at Mallory. “You look like the cat that got the cream. I must have missed something good.”

I groan at her words, causing Sylus and Mallory to laugh.

“What’s wrong with her?” Terra asks.

“I think she’s attempting to find her dignity.” Mallory answers.

“In the counter?”

I pop up, causing Mallory to take a step back, and bolt forward to Terra, grabbing her by the arm and leaving the bathroom.

“Let’s go vote on food.” I say quickly, not looking back.

From behind me two very distinct chuckles sound out.

“Hot pot.” Xavier suggests.

From Caleb. “Burgers.”

“Seafood.” Naturally, from Rafayel.

“Some place with a nice salad.” Zayne says.

“Salad!?!” The three others exclaim.

“Whoa, I see we are showing up at the right time.” Terra enters the room with me in tow.

“If we are doing take-out then I’m voting against salad. Take-out salad is a crime.” I say as I step in between Xavier and Caleb.

Caleb looks down to me. “Thank you, doll.”

“You couldn’t be more right, sunshine.”

“Ain’t that the truth, angel.”

“I feel like I’ve been ganged up on.” Zayne says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You are trying to commit war crimes by ordering salad via take-out. Of course you are.” I giggle.

“Sounds like it’s deserved.” Sylus says as he slides into the room.

“What’s deserved?” Mallory asks.

“Zayne being ganged up on for suggesting salad options for take-out.” I respond.

Mallory recoils. “Who in the world would choose salad for take-out?”

Zayne shakes his head. “Someone who is health conscious and attempting to make good choices.”

Rafayel laughs. “The whole point of take-out is that it enables bad choices, doc. Live a little.”

“The take-out part of this is him living a little.” Caleb laughs. “He’s surrendering control to someone else.”

Terra giggles, Zayne gives her a look and she shrugs. “What. You had this coming by suggesting it and I haven’t said anything, don’t give me that look.”

He rolls his eyes at her. “You are all insufferable. Fine. I’ll find something that isn't a salad.”

“Best peer pressure example I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of.” I beam.

“So what options, that isn’t salad, have we come up with?” Mallory asks.

“We walked in right as Zayne started speaking blasphemy so I don’t know what was said first.” I tell her.

Zayne shoots me a look this time, a shiver runs up my spine.

‘Oooooooh. The doc didn’t like that.’

‘Stop.’

Xavier answers her question for me. “I suggested hot pot, Caleb suggested burgers and Rafayel said seafood.”

“Why is none of that surprising?” I say under my breath.

“What was that, doll?”

“Hmm? Nothing.”

Terra throws herself down on a couch close to the fireplace. “May as well get comfortable. Something tells me this may take a bit.” She says to me and Mallory while patting the spot next to her.

“I can find something wherever, so it doesn’t matter to me.” Mallory offers while sitting down next to Terra.

“I’d prefer anything but seafood, no offense Raf.” I say.

“None taken, sea star.”

Sylus sits down in the arm chair opposite the fireplace. “Doesn’t really matter to me. I can adapt.”

“Terra?” Caleb calls.

“Hmm?” She looks up. “Oh. I’m good with whatever. Burgers do sound pretty good though.”

Luke and Kieran practically skip into the living room.

“We heard something about take-out?” the one I think I’ve identified as Luke says.

“I agree with boss lady. Burgers sound good.” Kieran nods.

Luke looks at his brother and nods. “Yeah, burgers are always good.”

“Four for burgers, and three who mostly don’t care. Sounds like burgers win.” Caleb cheers with an arm pump.

“W-what? Why do burgers win, those three votes could go to either of the other two options for a tie.” Rafayel whines.

“Seafood wouldn’t tie because Cielle said anything but seafood. And no one wants hot pot over burgers. Burgers win by default.” Caleb shrugs.

“I don’t quite think that’s how that works, but I applaud the logic.” I tell him.

“Don’t encourage him.” Zayne shakes his head.

“Hey! Zayne’s vote didn’t count towards anything.” Rafayel tries again.

Zayne sighs. “Unfortunately it’s going to go to burgers.”

Caleb grins. “See, now I don’t even need the swing votes. It’s decided.”

Xavier shrugs. “Fine with me.”

Sylus pulls up an app on his phone and finds a restaurant for us to order from, each of us calling out our orders after he goes through the menu.

“Done. The app says we’ve got about a half hour before it arrives.” He tells us.

My eyebrows come together in thought. “How are we getting it?”

“Luke and Kieran will meet the driver downstairs and bring it up.”

“Ah.”

“I’ll send out a text in a group chat when it’s here if everyone would like to go do their own thing.” Sylus offers.

“We’ve got to finish going through our shopping and do laundry.” Mallory says, looking at me.

“Mmm, yes we do.” I say while getting up off the couch. “We eating together or spreading out when it gets here?”

“Whatever you’d like, dear.” Zayne says. “I’ll be eating at the dining table though, in case anyone would like to join me.” He says as he gives a quick wave and exits the room.

“It’s probably for the best I sit at the table too.” Xavier says. “I think I ordered the messiest burger possible. See you at dinner.” He nods and exits also.

I hold my hand out for Mallory, indicating we should probably head out too. We tell them we will see them when food arrives and make our way back to our room.

Mallory reaches out for me as soon as the door closes and I give her a playful smack. “No funny business. We actually need to do this and get laundry started so I can finally change.”

She groans and drags herself forward towards the remaining pile of bags. “Fiiiiine.” She pouts at me. “You’re no fun.”

I stick my tongue out at her and separate the two laundry baskets Sylus brought earlier. I tell Mallory that one is for darks and one is for lights as I start tossing items we had already taken the tags off of into their respective baskets.

“And what about our underwear?” She says it as a tease.

I roll my eyes. “Can be its own load, we’ll just put them all in one of the bigger bags to bring down to the laundry room. I think they definitely should be one of the first loads.”

“Smart. You should make sure you’ve got a full outfit in whichever load you plan to run at the same time so you don’t have to wait past the first round of laundry to change.”

I tap a finger against my temple. “Smart thinking, Mal. Do appreciate.”

She gives me a two finger salute and continues her project.

Soon enough everything is separated and we drag it all down to the laundry room. Thankfully, despite the technology differences between the timelines, the general workings of a washing machine seems like it's pretty universal. We leave the basket of lights on the island in the center of the room and after we’ve got the loads started our phones ping simultaneously.

Unknown Number: Food’s here

Mallory laughs. “You’d think we’d have learned our lesson and made sure we had everyone's number.”

“Well, that's gotta be Sylus then.” I say just as our phones ping again.

Terra: 👍 Will be right there, thanks Sy

“Well, that unknown number must be Sylus then.” Mallory snorts.

Caleb: 😀 be right down.

“Of course the numbers we do have are the ones responding.” I roll my eyes as we exit the room and head down the hall to the dining room.

When we enter the room Sylus is pulling everything out of bags and looking over what each item is before placing it in a spot on the table.

He looks up to see us enter. “Perfect. First to arrive. I set your food in the spots you were in this morning.” He nods in the direction he means.

Luke and Kieran come running into the room like a couple of wild teenagers, which can’t be right because if everyone else is older than in the game that would mean they are in their late twenties.

“Luke, Kieran?” I call out.

Their heads snap up and look at me. “Yes, small fry?” They say in unison.

“Well I hated everything to do with that.” I say without thinking, earning a laugh from them. “Anyway. How old are you two? Are you also older than what the game had you as?”

They look at each other, a silent conversation exchanging between them, and then back at me. “I was gonna pull your leg but I’m standing too close to boss man.” Luke responds.

“Yes, we are older than the game says. We’ll be 28 soon.” Kieran answers my question.

“Never let go of your youthfulness, huh?” I ask playfully.

“You have no idea, darling. I’ve been on my toes with these two for far too long.”

“And yet we are still around.” Luke sits down in his spot and begins devouring his food.

“For some reason.” Sylus says, slightly quieter.

Sitting down in our spots, I use the moment to save Sylus’ number from the group chat. I laugh to myself as I save his contact under the same nickname I used in the game. ‘Dear Dragon’. With that thought I change Caleb’s name to ‘Pouty Pilot’ and giggle to myself.

Mallory catches my glee and raises her eyebrow to me.

“I’ll tell you later.” I lean over to her and whisper.

The others trickle into the room, find their food, and sit down to eat.

Mallory clears her throat and sweeps her eyes across everyone at the table. “So, uh. Not to be weird or anything, but we don’t have most of your phone numbers.”

Zayne sets his burger down. “That’s what I forgot to add to the meeting agenda.”

Rafafeyl laughs from next to him. “It didn’t even gross my mind, so don’t go blaming yourself.”

“I didn’t think about it either.” Xavier nods.

“We didn’t think about it until we were at the mall.” Caleb adds.

Sylus chuckles. “I have their numbers, so it didn’t even occur to me.”

“Yeah, how do you have our numbers?” I ask.

Sylus chuckles again, leaning forward on the table. “Who do you think assigned you the numbers? Besides, you’re on my plan on my network. “

I nod. “Right.” I say slowly. “Well, anyway. I don't have Xavier, Rafayel, or Zayne’s numbers. Or the twins, if that’s smart to have them. And oh shit, we didn’t exchange numbers.” I look over at Mallory.

“Simple enough fix. Everyone just type your name in the group chat I created.” Sylus shrugs and then looks at Luke and Kieran. He pulls out his phone and types something quickly. “There, Luke and Kieran will send you messages also and then you’ll have everyone’s numbers.”

Everyone except Terra, Caleb, and Sylus pull out their phones and sends a message in the group chat.

Unknown Number: Zayne
Unknown Number: Xavier
Unknown Number: Rafayel
Unknown Number: Mallory

I add my own after and begin saving contacts. Zayne gets set to ‘Darling Doctor’, as per how I had him saved in the game phone. Xavier is ‘Sleepy Star’. Rafayel is, of course, ‘Diva Fish’. I snicker to myself a bit before two more pings come through. Mallory is saved as ‘Mal <3’ just like she has always been.

Unknown Number: Created our own group chat, small fry.
Unknown Number: Now you can get a hold of either of us whenever you need us.
Mal <3: That’s great and all, but you didn’t say who is who so we can save the numbers.

I laugh and my phone pings again.

Unknown Number: Sorry, Luke.
Unknown Number: Double sorry, Kieran.
Mal <3: Thank you.

I don’t have clever names for them just yet, so I just save them as their names and reserve the right to change them when I come up with nicknames for them.

Sylus claps and it grabs everyone’s attention. “Great. Now that we are all properly armed with phone numbers, please don’t think you need permission to eat.” He gestures to our food.

Everyone digs in but about halfway through Mallory’s alarm went off that she had set for the wash.

“I’m gonna go switch the loads around.” She declares as she stands.

I wipe my hands with a napkin. “I’ll help.” I move to stand.

She places a hand on my shoulder, gently pushes me back down, and smiles. “I’ve got it, love. Eat.”

I nod and watch her walk off. My gaze lingering on the door she left through for a bit longer than necessary.

Zayne clears his throat. “I believe she said to eat.”

I shoot him a glare. “I’m getting there.”

He chuckles. “Well, from what I recall her saying, you aren’t always the best at following that direction. So I’m just echoing it.”

‘Ahhhhhhhhh.’ The inner me screams.

I internally roll my eyes, being careful to not actually do it. Don’t need the doctor thinking I’m rolling my eyes at him.

‘Ooooh, but please! I want to see his reaction.’

‘You’re going to get me in trouble, aren’t you?’

‘Well considering you still haven’t started eating and he’s staring at you with one his eyebrows hiked up, I’d say you are doing a good enough job of that yourself.’

‘Fu-’

“Cielle? Eat.” He says a little more sternly.

My eyes narrow and I’m biting back the urge to say ‘make me’ because I know that won’t help anything, but I pick up a fry from in front of me and begin chewing.

His expression loosens slightly but he continues to watch me as I pick up another fry and eventually take another bite of my burger.

Mallory comes sauntering back in the room. “About another 30ish minutes and you’ll have something comfy to change into, pretty girl. I will say, the technology here seems to have managed to speed everything up, so that’s nice.” She pauses as she comes back up to her chair and looks between me and Zayne, a grin tugging on her lips. “Oooh. I missed something.”

I open my mouth to tell her that she didn’t miss anything but Zayne beats me to it, because of course he does.

“She wasn’t eating. So I encouraged her.” He says with a shrug.

Rafayel chokes on a laugh. “Encouraged. You went ‘stern doctor’ on her.”

Zayne shrugs again. “It was effective.”

I choke on the bite of fry I had just taken, and take a sip of my drink.

Mallory snorts beside me. “Good to know. Sounds like I may need to use your services to get her to listen sometimes.” She throws that bomb out as she slides back into her seat.

And for the second time tonight, I hide my face in my hands.

Sylus laughs from the opposite end of the table. “Well that’s familiar.”

I grit my teeth. “Shut up.” I growl out.

Mallory laughs this time. “It is, isn’t it.”

Terra must have looked between the three of us then. “Is this about what I walked in on earlier?”

“Walked in on?” Rafayel’s voice went up a few octaves, all curiosity.

Sylus chuckles and I see him grin from between my fingers, but he says nothing.

“What kind of ‘walked in on’ are we talking about here?” Caleb teases.

“I’m sure not whatever you are thinking about.” Zayne basically scolds.

“Well…” Sylus finally says something.

I groan. Of course he has to encourage it. It’s so very Sylus of him.

I made the mistake of looking through my fingers again as multiple heads turn to look at me.

Mallory laughs. “Terra didn’t walk in on anything.” She waves off the stares, and just as everyone relaxed and began turning away. “Sylus did.”

“What!?” Xavier, Rafayel, Caleb, and Terra’s voices all overlap each other.

“Oh for fu-” I begin to say.

“Language.” Zayne throws at me before I can finish.

My jaw drops from behind my hands. What in the actual hell is going on right now?

‘I think you are being exposed.’

‘Helpful. Thank you.’

The table erupts in laughter. I’m not even sure if they are laughing at me, the situation we are currently in, or the one Sylus alluded to. All I know is I would very much like to fall through the floor right now.

Terra interrupts the laughter first. “So, wait. Let me get this straight. I walked in on the aftermath of Sylus walking in on something? Well that explains why Cielle looked like she was trying to become one with the countertop.”

“Countertop? Where was this?” Xavier asks.

“Their bathroom.” She answers.

“Why did Sylus walk in on them in their bathroom?” Zayne asks.

“Yeah, it’s a bathroom. That’s like common sense ‘don’t walk in on’ space.” Rafayel states.

“I technically walked in their room. The bathroom door was open.” Sylus offers. “I brought them laundry baskets and went to tell them.”

“Can we not relive this?” I croak out.

“Don’t worry, beautiful. I wasn’t going to go into detail.” Sylus assures me. “Those are for me only.”

I groan again and chaos unfolds around me. A combination of scolding and questions being thrown across the table. Finally accepting that it is what it is, I drop one hand from my face and use it to keep feeding myself.

“Oh good. I don’t have to suggest it again.” Zayne’s voice cuts through the chaos.

From beside me I hear Mallory. “Hmm?”

I lift my head a bit to look in their direction. He gestures to me. “She’s eating.”

The rest of the chatter had died down just enough to hear the exchange and a few small laughs rippled across the table.

“Careful, doc. Her cheeks are going to catch fire.” Caleb teases as he leans in to me, pretending to take a closer look.

With quick reflexes, and to be honest without thinking, my other hand drops from my face and swiftly backhands him in the bicep.

“Ow! Hey!”

Terra giggles. “Oh shut up. That didn’t hurt.”

Caleb dramatically rubs his arm. “You don’t know that.”

Mallory laughs. “It was deserved.”

“How am I not surprised you’re laughing at my pain.” He rolls his eyes.

“Because you deserve that, too.” She deadpans.

Caleb was just about to fire back as Terra’s hand flies over his mouth. She gets close to him and basically growls, “Just eat.” before removing her hand.

“Me-ow.” Rafayel purrs from the other side of the table.

“Oh good, enjoy someone else’s misery.” I mumble.

“What was that, darling? I saw your lips move but I couldn’t quite hear what you said.” Sylus leans forward resting his chin on his fist, elbow on the table, smirking.

“Nothing.” I answer quickly, loud enough to be heard by everyone.

“Mmmhmm. Sure.” He continues smirking as he goes back to eating.

Thankfully Terra takes over. “So, how about after dinner we go up to my room and do face masks and have some girl time?” She’s practically bouncing in her seat.

“Sounds fine to me.” Mallory nods.

“As long as the laundry is done and I can change into something comfortable, that works for me.” I agree.

She claps and actually bounces now. “Perfect! I’d say we could watch tv or something in the upstairs living room, but something tells me at least one of the guys will take it over.”

“Me and Sylus already planned on camping up there to catch the game.” Caleb proves her point.

“Figures.” She rolls her eyes.

“Rafayel and I were going to go a few rounds on that new game system in the game room.” Xavier offers.

“There’s two of the televisions down.” Terra sighs.

“We don’t need a tv.” I tell her, wiping my mouth after my last bite of burger. “Besides, if we really wanted to have a good time we could take over the bar.” I shrug.

“Oh?” Sylus’ curiosity is piqued. “And what do you plan on doing in there, darling?”

I take a quick bite of what’s left of my fries and feign having to think it over. “Well. I spotted that sound system and the speakers during the tour. And if you are anything like how the game version of you is, I’d be willing to bet that the entire room is sound proof.” I wave my hands around for effect while talking. “Besides, it’s a well stocked bar. What better place to have some girl time than where we can play loud music and drink?”

Sylus just stares at me, chin resting on his intertwined hands this time, that stupidly perfect smirk plastered on his face that makes me want to pinch his cheeks or something.

‘Or something alright.’

‘Oh my gods… but yeah you’re right.’

‘Duh.’

“With face masks on, sea star?” Rafayel’s question forces me back.

I shrug. “Why not? It’s not like we are going to a public bar. Perks.”

Terra’s eyes are sparkling. “I like the way you think.”

“Sounds like a good time.” Mallory agrees.

“It sounds like someone may have to end up babysitting to ensure no fatalities.” Zayne mocks.

“Boo.” Terra says, giving him a thumbs down like a child.

Zayne rolls his eyes. “I don’t mean sit there and hold your hand. I mean check in every so often and make sure there is no over doing it.”

Xavier chuckles. “Stand down Doctor Zayne, not everything has to be clinical.”

Zayne pushes his glasses up. “Well actually, Terra is still in an important part of her recovery period. So technically she really shouldn’t have more than a drink or two anyway right now.”

“Party pooper.” Terra sticks her tongue out at him now.

“Mature.” Is all he says back.

Mallory finishes her meal and pushes the remnants away from her a bit. “I can make sure she doesn’t have too much.”

“Boooo.” Terra disapproves of her words.

“Behave and the restrictions go away faster.” Zayne stares her down.

Terra’s eyes narrow at him and then sighs. “I know. It’s for my own good and my own fault. But just a little fun can’t hurt, right?”

Zayne nods once. “Right. But just a little.”

“Roger.” She mock salutes him.

After I finished eating, Mallory and I take care of our trash and head to the laundry room. We gather the two finished loads of laundry into the baskets and switch over the last one. I’m practically skipping down the hall with my basket towards our room. A few of the others were still sitting around the dining table as I passed the archways.

“Someone is in a good mood.” Rafayel calls from the dining room.

“Clean clothes, Rafi!” Is all I say as I continue down the hall.

Once in our room I place my basket down on the bench and begin riffling through to find something to wear. Mallory walks in soon after and sets hers down next to mine, and in an instant I’m digging through that one for clean underthings.

“Oh thank fuck.” I sigh, quickly shedding the garments I had been wearing.

Mallory whistles but makes no moves, just appreciates as she too looks for something to change into.

“Ugh. A shower definitely is needed. I should do that before I get into clean clothes.” I whine.

“Go on then. Maybe I’ll join so we don’t waste too much time. Terra is probably vibrating out of her skin waiting for us.”

I laugh at the visual, it’s not inaccurate by any means. I nod and turn towards the bathroom, purposely exaggerating my hip movements knowing she’s watching.

After a refreshing, and uneventful, shower we dry off and dress.

“I don’t think I have ever been so excited to wear a bra.”

“Please. That thing is barely a bra. That is just barely better than that cami.” She rolls her eyes.

“Well, to be fair, I don’t need much more than that for girl time. This is comfy time, damn it.”

She laughs at me as she jumps into the pajama pants she chose, sliding on an oversized t-shirt after.

“That’s just not fair.” I say as I shake my head, pulling up my own pajama pants.

“What?” She tilts her head in question.

“Yours just disappear in that shirt. No bra, and no obvious nipple protrusion. It’s criminal.” I pout.

“You are only upset by this because you are being forced to be in the proximity of men. You’ve never had a problem before. And it would be criminal if yours just disappeared.” She comes closer as I tug a t-shirt on myself. “They are too tasty to hide all the time.” She whispers in my ear.

I shudder and roll my eyes at her as she moves to look at me, the next second she has me locked in a kiss. I melt into it as her arms come around to support me.

Breaking from the kiss, she leans her forehead on mine. “Come on. We’ve got a girl talk date.” She dumps one basket carefully into the other one and lets whatever doesn’t fit spill onto the bench. Empty laundry basket in one hand, she grabs my hand with her other and drags me down the hall.

She slips into the laundry room and leaves the empty basket for later, the plan is to grab the remaining clean laundry on our way back to our room later. Once she’s back in the hallway we both go through the doors opposite and enter the bar.

Terra is already there waiting for us, an assortment of face masks spread out on a bar table at the right side of the room. As soon as she sees us she pops out of her chair, phone abandoned on the table next to the pile of beauty products.

“Yay! You made it!” She exclaims and comes over and hugs us.

“We said we would.” Mallory tells her, hugging her back.

“It would be silly if we tried to stand you up.” I laugh as I hug her back. “You know where we sleep. It’s not like we would hide from you.”

She throws her head back and laughs. “Fair enough.” She drags us both over to the products and pushes us towards chairs around the table. “Ok, so.” She claps. “Should we select some music first, get something to drink, or the face masks first?”

Mallory and I look at each other, thinking. “Music, drink, face masks.” I say.

“I second.” Mallory agrees.

Terra walks over to the sound system interface and brings up a music catalog. “Got any preferences on genre?”

“Oh of course. However, I imagine there are differences in music between here and our time. Put on whatever has ‘dancing after drinking with girlfriends’ vibes.” Mallory tells her.

“Mmm, right. Of course.” She scrolls through the catalog for a bit and then something catches her eye. “Oh! This should be perfect.” A dance-pop song comes over the speakers all around the room and she adjusts the volume to a little louder than it is currently.

It is, in fact, perfect. The song isn’t familiar in any way other than the freeing feelings it induces.

“Alright. What’s your poison?” She asks, now looking at the wide selection of liquor and spirits.

“Oh shit, is alcohol even the same here? I can’t imagine there is much that can be different, right?” I ask as I walk over to take a closer look at the selection.

“Brands are probably different, but I imagine the alcohol itself isn’t much different.” She taps her chin.

“Well, I have no idea what I’m looking at.” I say backing out from behind the bar and plopping down on a barstool at the counter. “I don’t even know if I say a drink name if it’d be the same.”

“Only one way to find out.” She shrugs.

I nod. “Mallory.” I call over my shoulder, she had been looking over the face mask options still.

“Yes, my love?” She says as she comes over to the bar.

I turn towards her. “What’s the name of that drink I tried not that long ago that I liked?”

“The Paloma?”

“That the tequila one?”

“Yes.”

Turning back to Terra. “Does that sound familiar?”

She shrugs. “Honestly, you’re asking the wrong person. It might exist. I was kind of hoping you would just happen to say one I know.”

“I have an idea.” Mallory says as she takes out her phone and quickly types out something. Soon after my and Terra’s phones go off.

Mal <3: Hey Sylus. Got a question for you.
Dear Dragon: Shoot
Mal <3: If I list off a few cocktails, can you tell us whether or not they exist here?
Dear Dragon: Undoubtedly

Mallory looks up and smiles while me and Terra watch the messages come across our screens.

Pouty Pilot: if he cant im sure one of us could
Darling Doctor: I would only be help if I’d heard of it.
Mal <3: A Paloma?
Dear Dragon: Yes, that exists here.
Diva Fish: Oooh, someone has taste!
Terra: Care to share a recipe?
Dear Dragon: Would you like me to just come play bartender?
Terra: NO! Girls only.
Sleep Star: You have a phone. You could search this up…
Terra: …you’d think that would have occurred to me…

I crack up laughing. Not a single one of us thought to do that.

Darling Doctor: And you haven’t started drinking yet?
Pouty Pilot: sounds like they need to be saved b4 they even got to the drinking part
Diva Fish: its been like 15 minutes, you girls going to survive without us?
Sleepy Star: we r just right next door, we can come rescue you from urselves
Pouty Pilot: hey, dont use proximity advantage
Dear Dragon: You could always make it classy and just pop a few bottles of wine.

I gasp. “Oooh, wine. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“It’s amazing we are functioning right now. Considering there is room right there that is nothing but wine.” Mallory laughs.

Terra groans. “First I forgot the internet exists and now I forgot wine exists.”

Pouty Pilot: no one has responded. something tells me they hadnt considered that
Terra: hush you
Sleep Star: 😂
Diva Fish: 🤣
Pouty Pilot: really?!
Dear Dragon: Kitten… do I need to come supervise?
Darling Doctor: I’m taking the three of you in for brain scans Monday.
Terra: oh, we are going through a tunnel. losing service. cant hear you
Diva Fish: cutie we are textin
Pouty Pilot: she knows
Dear Dragon: enjoy your night girls.

The three of us set our phones down on the counter and begin giggling.

Wiping away a tear of joy, Terra walks over to the walk-in wine storage. “Red or White?”

“White.” Mallory and I say at the same time.

Terra goes in and browses for a moment before coming back out and blinking at us a few times. “I have no idea what’s good or not.”

And like this man knew exactly what was going to happen next, our phones all went off.

Dear Dragon: Red suggestion: shelf 8 column 10. White suggestion: shelf 11 column 4.

“Hoooooooow could he have possibly known that?” I ask, looking at Terra.

“Hell if I know. But that was fucking creepy.” Terra replies.

Mal <3: hey, so dont do that.
Terra: that was creepy
Me: thank you, though
Dear Dragon: anytime

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Terra goes back into the wine storage room and scans the shelves. Once she finds the one Sylus suggested, she grabs two off the shelf and brings them out to us.

“It is fucking labeled in there. Gods damn nerds.” She says exasperatedly as she brings the bottles behind the counter. “Now to find a wine opener.”

Dear Dragon: Shelf under the service area.

“How the fuck!?” I say, having been the first one to take my phone out.

Mallory’s eyes sweep around the room. “Let’s just chalk it up to the natural progression of things.”

Terra pulls the wine opener from right where he said it’d be. “For our sake, I hope so.”

“Before he has a chance to message us about wine glasses too, they are hanging up behind you.” I gesture to the rack hanging on the wall among the liquor shelves.

Terra turns around and she’s them very clearly. “I’d go upstairs and smack him if he had the gall to think I couldn’t find those.” She pulls three glasses from the rack, sets them down on the counter, and then pauses. “Did everyone want wine?”

“Yes please!” I say gleefully.

“I’m good with wine, though I’m typically a bourbon drinker.”

“Noted.” Terra nods as she pours us all a generous glass, effectively draining the first bottle.

We all bring our glasses back over to the table where Terra has the face masks waiting for us. Sipping and browsing we all pick out something to apply. We continue to sip and chat as we apply the masks and wait with them.

“First of all, fuck that is good wine.” I say once my mask has been applied. “Second of all,” I turn and focus on Terra. “Tell me about the whole ‘is all this platonic’ thing.”

Terra sighs and takes another sip of her wine. “Alright. Sooooo. Ugh. Basically I’m a selfish idiot but it has somehow sort of worked out.”

“Oh? Do tell.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her as best as I can.

Mallory leans forward and smirks. “Yes, do tell.”

“They all started as friends. They all got close. I fell for all of them and then fell into bed with all of them.” She shakes her head. “It was so stupid and selfish, but I couldn’t pick, wouldn’t pick. But none of them had ever had a discussion with me about exclusivity so I convinced myself that keeping them all wasn’t bad.” She sighs and takes another sip of her wine. “Except I couldn’t even fool myself. I felt terrible, cried myself to sleep far too many times from guilt, the whole nine. But I just… I don’t know. My overwhelm was a contributing factor to my leaving.”

“Running away.” Mallory quips as she takes a sip from her glass.

“Hmm?”

“You ran away. No need to sugar coat it here. No judgement.” She explains.

“Right. Well. My running away is what caused most of them to learn about each other. Which I knew it would to some extent, but I think I kind of wished they’d all get mad and leave. I don’t even know.”

“Caused most of them to learn about each other, you say?” I raise my eyebrows to her.

She sighs again. “Sylus knew about all of them pretty much immediately. I told him when Caleb entered the rotation. He was too perceptive not to figure it out himself. And by that I mean the bastard is crafty. I hope the game conveyed how crafty he is. Don’t hide things from him. He will find out.”

I nod. “The game did, indeed, portray him that way.”

Terra gets up to grab the other bottle from behind the counter and continues talking while she does. “Right, so he knew about all of them. Which is why I went to him to help me run away. Anyway, Caleb and Zayne learned about each other… I don’t even remember when now. But they’ve been getting close again since everything.” She waves one hand around as she refills her glass with the other. “It was bound to happen. But from there, while they weren’t thrilled, neither of them attempted the ‘exclusive’ talk with me so I just went on as it was. And they never asked if there were others. I lied by omission.” She hangs her head.

I grab the bottle and refill my glass before offering to Mallory, who shakes her head. “They still never asked for exclusivity and they didn’t ask about others. That's on them.” I shrug. “Would they even give their relationships with you a title?” I ask.

The wine glass stops at her lips as she thinks. “You know, thinking about it, I don’t think they ever really did. Just the ones we all started with. Body guard, partner, etcetera.” She continues her drink.

“Then you were only casually dating, assuming you went on dates, otherwise it was just situationships.” Mallory agrees with the line of logic I was aiming for.

“Their fault for fumbling more than it is your fault for not telling them.” I swirl my glass a bit. “They are grown adults who know how to communicate. They either chose not to or did something stupid like assume. And if they chose not to then they set themselves up for it.”

Terra looks contemplative for a moment. “Where were you like a year ago? Man, Tara didn’t even give me this perspective. She always just wanted the juicy details. ‘I’m living vicariously though you, let me live.’ Is what she’d say.”

Mallory nods. “And that’s fun and all, but not helpful.”

“Right.”

“Soooo.” I start nervously. “You are with all of them but none of them?”

She pauses. “Uh. You know. We haven’t really discussed it much since I’ve been back.” She rubs the back of her neck. “I mean, I apologized to all of them and explained my reasons but we haven’t discussed the ‘what now’ now that I think about it.”

Mallory whistles. “Should probably get on that.”

Terra’s lip curls. “That sounds so not fun.” She takes another drink.

“It probably won’t be.” I mirror her action.

“Well… before we get too into how that will go…” She fiddles with the left over product on the table in front of her. “Tell me about your relationship.”

Suddenly the painting hanging on the wall across from me is the most fascinating thing in the world.

Mallory chuckles. “I’ve told her some basic stuff. This is a conversation that solidifies the line of what you are comfortable with sharing.”

“Oh.”

“Mallory said you really liked the game characters?”

I huff. “Something like that.”

“I believe the words I said were ‘she was very attached to the game’ to be clear.” Mallory clears her throat.

“Well add the context.” Terra flicks at Mallory’s hand on the table.

My eyebrows raise and lower quickly. “The context?”

Terra nods. “I had asked the hypothetical question of her feelings on the boys hitting on you. She made it clear she didn’t care, especially because it was them.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

My jaw drops. “You’re kidding me, yeah?”

Mallory grabs my hand and rubs it with her thumb. “No.”

I turn to her fully. “WHY!?”

“Sylus asked my opinion on potentially pursuing things with you.”

“WHY!?”

They both shake their heads at her. “What do you mean why?” Terra asks.

“Why would Sylus ask that…” I say, more in disbelief than in question.

“You clearly missed the way he short circuited when you came out wearing his clothes.” She laughs. “I didn’t ask his reasoning. He just made it clear he wanted my opinion.”

“Even though for all he knew I’m in a long term committed relationship?”

“To be fair, love. It’s not like I was getting angry at them for their flirtatious comments or shutting it down.” Mallory shrugs.

“For all they know you could just be that secure in the relationship.” I counter.

She nods. “Definitely true, but doesn’t completely mean the other option is out of the picture.”

I shake my head a few times. “But WHY!?”

Mallory sighs. “This is what I was telling you about.” She says to Terra.

Terra smacks my knee. “Bitch, if you ask why one more time I’m dragging you upstairs and making you ask him yourself.”

My lips seal shut.

“That’s what I thought.” She takes another drink which empties her glass, she eyes the bottle but then pushes the glass aside. “Now. Does it matter why? He’s thinking about it enough that he talked to me about it.”

I inhale and go to say ‘why’ again before shutting my mouth and thinking for a moment. Suddenly the most obvious thing comes to the front of my thoughts. “I haven’t even been here for two full days.”

She shrugs. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

“Doesn’t make it less insane.” I say, finishing my glass and reaching for the bottle to get more.

Terra eyes the nearing emptiness of the bottle and goes and grabs another, opening it and bringing it to the table.

“I need to know what about any of this has been sane?” She giggles as she sets the bottle down.

“She’s got a point, Ci. We were apparently pulled from our timeline into one that has the characters from a video game you were obsessed with. If we are going full head injury, then why not enjoy being hit on and potentially pursued by one of the characters you were in love with?” She reaches forward and empties the last of the second bottle into her glass and adds a bit more from the third.

Terra nods and then pauses. “Wait! In love with?!?”

I immediately begin stuttering. “It’s not like that. They were just-”

“Stop it.” Mallory scolds. “She doesn’t care, she’s just surprised.”

“Oh! Yeah, no. Totally surprised. Love?!”

I shake my head. “It’s really stupid.”

“Nonsense! Your brain can’t fake love. You love Sylus?”

Unfortunately she caught me mid drink and I choke a bit, Mallory pats my back while I recover and unfortunately also answers for me.

“All of them.”

“Is that why you said you didn’t care if it was one, any, or all of them when we talked!?”

Mallory nods and takes a drink, eyes flicking back and forth between me and Terra.

Terra leans forward on the table. “Shut up! Oh this is gonna be great.”

I shake my head. “I am so confused.”

Terra laughs. “I’m open to you being with them in any way you want, with whoever also wants to be with you.”

My jaw is hanging slack now. “Wha-why?”

“I love them too much to restrict who they love?” She shrugs. “And I’d be really hypocritical otherwise.”

“I understand that.” Mallory clinks her glass against Terra’s empty one.

I shake my head again. “Crazy, crazy people.”

Mallory sighs and pats my hand. “Pretty girl. You asked me for a polyamorous relationship. The whole thing started because you fell in love with them. If the opportunity is there, are you really not going to take it?” She tilts her head at me.

I blink at her, look at Terra, blink a few more times and then center my head and shake it again. “It would be really silly of me to think I’m worth any of their time. There is no opportunity. They don’t know me, there is nothing there.”

Terra sighs and pulls out her phone hands moving fast before she sets her phone down on the table.

I blink at her a few times. “What’d you just do? Why do I get a bad feeling about it?”

She just smiles and taps her fingers against the table.

Mallory eyes her suspiciously. “What did you do?”

Terra looks at her. “You’ll see.”

Not even a minute later the door to the room opens and in walks Rafayel.

“I’ve been summoned? What do you need, cutie? Angel?”

Terra stands up and walks over to the man, lacing her arm with his and walks him closer, then looks at Mallory. “Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know, but I’m intrigued to see where this is going.”

Terra turns back to Rafayel. “Raf. If I were to stand here and ask you to flirt with Cielle, would you do it?”

“You don’t even have to ask, cutie. That’s a free service.” He winks at me.

The liquid in my glass is now the most fascinating thing, I take a quick drink and continue staring at it.

“Would you say you enjoy flirting with her?” Terra asks him.

“Who wouldn’t say that? She’s very easy to fluster and turns a delicious shade of pink that is very hard to not want to keep making it show up.”

Terra nods. “Mmhmm. And would you say you are enjoying it purely out of entertainment or are you getting something else from it?”

His ears turn red, which I only know because I glanced over when he got quiet. “Well. Depends on what you mean.”

She nods again. “Go on.”

“I’m enjoying helping her get comfortable, knocking down walls, making her come out of her shell.” He shrugs. “And if it gains me points then it is totally worth it.”

“Points?” She asks him.

“Towards whether she likes me or not.” He says like it was obvious.

“And say she wasn’t right there right now, and I asked if you’d kiss her if given the opportunity?”

“Oh, I thought that was a given.”

I throw back the rest of my drink. Mallory laughs. Terra pats Rafayel’s arm and thanks him.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been used?” He tilts his head and looks between the three of us.

She pats his arm again. “No reason. Go finish your game with Xavier. I’m sure he’s cheated by now.”

Rafayel turns and begins his exit. “He better not have!”

As soon as the door shuts behind him Terra moves back to her seat and Mallory begins fucking cackling.

“You were saying?” Terra asks me.

I stare at her a moment, processing. “It’s Rafi, I don’t think he counts. He’d kiss someone for dramatic flair if he felt it relevant.”

“Ugh. Do I need to bring in another?”

“No, that’s alright.” I tell her.

“So you are going to stop it with the thoughts of it not being a possibility?”

“I don’t know if I can say that…”

She glares at me and then suddenly she looks like she’s just recalled something and begins laughing. “Hey, so, uh… it’s time to wash the masks off our faces.”

My face goes slack as I turn to her. “He said all that while I was sitting here with mud on my face?!”

“To be fair, love, we were all sitting here with mud on our faces.”

“You weren’t made to be the center of attention, Mal.” I snap at her.

“No, fair point.”

We all file to the half bath that is just outside the bar and wash the mud off our faces before returning to the bar. Sitting back in our seats, Terra begins to pick up the leftover products and places them in the basket that had been sitting on the floor next to her.

“So did I get my point across at least?” She asks.

“You made some kind of point, yes.” I say as I pour from the third bottle of wine.

“Here’s what I have to say that I hope sticks. I don’t know how the game portrayed any of them, but none of them flirt with just anyone and they certainly don’t flirt if they don’t mean it.” She looks me in the eyes. “So know that if they are flirting with you, they are serious. And usually mean what they say while doing so.”

I choke on my drink again, thinking back at some of the things they’ve all said. “You are trying to drown me in wine.”

“Luckily there is a hot doctor in the house.” She shrugs. “Who I already guarantee is staying up late specifically in case he is needed, while trying not to be twitchy.”

“Oh, we could totally call him over for CPR.” Mallory smirks.

Terra nods. “Exactly.” Smirking right back.

The thought of the charming doctor rushing to help me and his lips on mine in any fashion set my cheeks on fire.

‘I bet he is an amazing kisser.’

‘Go away.’

‘No. You just know that man can worship with his mouth.’

‘Not helping.’

‘Not trying to.’

“She short circuited again.” Mallory laughs.

“Well now I really want to get him down here.” Terra tilts her head while watching me. “All that color on your cheeks at the thought of CPR? Man, I could really break you if I start detailing that thing he does with his tongue while in the middle of a really passionate kiss. It’s glorious, I instantly-”

I place my hand over her mouth, my ears are now also burning. “That’s enough, thank you.”

She nods and I remove my hand. “Ooh.” She claps and looks at Mallory. “She’ll probably fall over if I tell her about his piercing.”

“His what!?!” Mallory and I exclaim in unison.

“Or maybe both of you will fall over.” She giggles.

“Well whatever it is definitely isn’t mentioned in the game.” I say.

‘Well….actually.’

‘What are you on about?’

‘The Tomorrow Catch 22 card… they all had the activators that you had to locate… Zayne’s card had his…’

I audibly gasp and my own revelation.

“What?” They both ask me.

“It was alluded to in the game.” My eyes are wide at the memory of the card, I shake my head. “Those memories aren’t canon though, they aren’t part of the actual story. They are supposed to be considered alternate universes.”

“Well, love, what do you think we are living right now?” Mallory asks me.

I gasp again. “No shit!? Wait. Wait. Wait. So is it a-” my eyes flick down and then back up. “-piercing?”

Terra nods and smiles.

“Shut up!”

“Right! It was shocking when I found out too.”

“Who else has secret stuff like that?” I ask, super fascinated by this new discovery.

“Do you want me to tell you or do you want to find out on your own?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

My eyes narrow as I think about it. “I want to say I want to find out myself but there is no guarantee I will.”

She just shrugs. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.” She makes an attempt to hide her smirk behind her hand.

There is silence between us for a bit, with only the music playing in the background. My mind is wandering to all the things I don’t know about them and I’m trying really hard to keep it PG.

‘But whyyyyyy.’

‘I don’t need any false confidence from drinking. No stupid actions happening here tonight.’

‘Boring!’

“So tell me about polyamory.” Terra’s voice finally cuts in.

“Hmm?” I blink a few times, coming back to reality. “Oh. Like what?”

“I could probably search it up myself, but the way Mallory made it sound all the info is pretty fresh in your minds.”

“Eh. Sort of. The easiest way to describe it is ethical non-monogamy. Basically all the partners agree to having other partners with promises to maintain relationships.” I shake my head. “You know. I’m actually terrible at explaining things. The internet will one hundred percent give you better information.”

“Ok…” She hooks her finger on her chin for a moment. “Well then tell me what your plan was.”

“Pft.” I take a drink of my wine for courage. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact we were even going to try it in the first place. “My plan was to flail.” I laugh. “I had only really ever felt any kind of way for one person at a time until that stupid game took over my psyche.” I sigh. “I can’t even explain it. I fell in love with all of them. All for different reasons. And I was scared. How was it possible to love so many people at once? You know?” I take another drink.

Terra nods. “I get that.”

“Right.” I sigh. “Anyway. It, uh, it messed with me for a while. I was all over the internet trying to figure out what was wrong with me when I discovered the information about polyamory. And then it clung to my brain. I couldn’t play the game without thinking about it.” I shake my head again. “We went out for my birthday and I guess I drank just enough to crumble my resolve about speaking about it. The words left my mouth before I even had a chance to realize I was saying them. I never had any actual intent of talking about it or suggesting it until that night.”

She nods again. “Your subconscious couldn’t handle keeping it wrapped up anymore. It wanted you to act on it.”

‘Thank you! Someone gets it at least.’

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So then what?” She looks between the two of us.

“She was drunk so I told her we would talk about it the next day.” Mallory shrugs. “After I got her to bed I ended up spending some time thinking it over. Realized I wasn’t opposed, to put it simply. It’s more on her end than mine though. I’m not opposed to other partners, but I’m just more…”

“Demisexual.” I finish for her.

“I’ve heard of that.” Terra leans forward.

“Right. So it’s not out of the question. It’s just more unknown.” Mallory takes a drink.

I finish my glass and go to pour more, offering them the same with the small amount left before just adding it to my glass also. “So we did research together. Learned more about it, the different dynamics. How to make sure things didn’t fray relationships during, like making sure to continue to communicate and have conversations about things.” I take a long drink. We are getting to the part that I need more encouragement to admit.

Mallory swirls her glass around. “We found a few polyamory dating apps. Figured that might be the most ethical way to go about it.”

“And I downloaded one and set up a profile and what not for us that morning we ended up here.” I sigh while taking another drink. “I was browsing profiles and couldn’t stop comparing every one to them. Didn’t realize I was doing it for a long time. Got really mad at myself once I realized I was.” I took another drink, my hands just really needed something to do. “We scrolled through together later and I started doing it on purpose.”

“And I called her out for it.” Mallory taps the table.

“Yeah. Well.” I shake my head.

“They were that stuck in your head, huh?” Terra asks.

“Yeah. And it was so stupid because they weren’t real. Then. At the time. They didn’t exist outside of my phone.”

Terra’s eyebrows wiggle. “But they are real now.”

I place my face in my hands. “Yeah, that’s the problem.”

“How is that a problem? You had feelings for them, you’re clearly attracted to them, and now they are real.” She sounds so confused.

“Becuase…” I sigh and take another long drink. “Because while we were scrolling through profiles and I couldn’t find anyone else my brain would even remotely consider, I had resigned myself to calling it off. Clearly it was a them specific thing.” I shake my head again.

“Right. Still not finding the issue.”

“I had accepted they weren’t real, Terra. I also wasn’t delusional enough to ever expect they wouldn’t just be pixels on my screen.”

“I get that. But what’s stopping you now?”

“Everything I feel for them is based on a parasocial relationship I had. They were behind a screen and had no idea who I was. Even if they had been real at the time, it’s one-sided. And it feels weird to try to make it not one sided because it feels unbalanced.”

Terra scoffs. “I just had Rafayel in here telling you he likes flirting with you and would kiss you. You think that’s one sided or unbalanced?”

“They don’t know me. Whatever he or they or whoever has going on in their head is… off. I don’t know. I know things about them, I’ve experienced the personalities the game gave them for the last almost half a year. That is a get-to-know period, and more. They’ve known me for like a day and a half. That’s crazy.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to embrace the crazy.” She laughs.

Mallory sighs. “Does this have anything to do with him?” She asks me.

I stiffen and take another quick drink. “Nope.”

“Well even I can tell that was a bold face lie.” Terra shakes her head. “Mallory mentioned an ex did a number to you. I’m sorry.”

“Not just an ex. The only ex I have. Long term relationship. Mentally, emotionally, occasionally physically abusive. Really skewed my view on things for a while.” I stare off at the wall for a moment. “His scars linger.”

“It seems especially so towards men.”

I nod.

“Well. I’m not saying to trust them like that immediately, take whatever time you need for that. But just know that they are good guys. You’ll never be able to trust them like that if you don’t open up with them a bit, though.”

I sigh into my glass. “I know. It’s just… hard.”

“It’s not hard, you are just uncomfortable. You haven’t been outside your comfort zone in a while. You’ve got to stretch those legs and step outside every once in a while.”

“I know.” I nod.

“So.” Terra taps her fingers on the table again. “We’ve clearly established you-” she points at me. “-don’t play for just one team.”

I shrug. “The simple answer is I’m bisexual. Yes.”

Terra’s finger swings from me to Mallory. “And you?”

“Not opposed to hetero relationships, but I have a preference for sapphic ones.”

“Interesting.”

“Why’s that?” Mallory asks her.

“I can’t say I’d ever thought about it personally. I know there are gay people, and I know there are bi people and the whole spectrum. I just never gave it much thought myself.”

“Considering switching teams?” Mallory jokes.

“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying I never saw the other team as an option.”

“Mal, she’d be crazy to switch teams with the harem line up she has.” I shake my head at her.

“You could have the same harem line up too.” Terra deadpans.

I shake my head. “I wouldn’t know how to fit in to whatever you already have going on.”

She shrugs. “We don’t have to figure that out immediately.” She sighs. “As it stands I need to have a conversation with all of them anyway. If you decide they are something you want, it could always be done together.”

“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?” I ask.

“Nope.”

“You already know I’m not.” Mallory adds.

“Ridiculous.”

“You love it.” She grins at me.

“Unfortunately I do.”

“What do you mean unfortunately!?”

Terra laughs at us. “You know, you remind me a bit of Caleb.”

Mallory stiffens and turns towards her. “I do not.”

I burst out laughing. “I told her that too!”

“You do though! You have similar humor. Very teasing and playful.”

Mallory crosses her arms. “Don’t ever compare me to that brute again.”

Terra laughs. “He’s only like that with you. I don’t understand why. Maybe you are too similar and he doesn’t like looking in a mirror.”

Mallory scoffs. “That’s just mean.”

“I’m serious! Unless he’s in uniform or otherwise has to be, he’s usually not like that.”

“If you say so, but I’ll stick with what he’s shown me.”

Terra sighs. “He doesn’t know why he’s acting that way towards you. So you know.”

Mallory’s eyes shift to me and back to Terra. “I’m tolerating him, for now, because of her-” she gestures to me with her thumb. “-because he’s one of them and for some reason she likes him too. But if he ever gives me a reason to no longer tolerate him…”

“Got it.” Terra mock salutes.

“He won’t.” I tell her, obviously I can’t know that for sure, but I say it anyway.

“We’ll see.” Mallory finishes her drink and pushes the glass towards the center of the table. “So.” She clears her throat. “This is all crazy, can we just take a second to appreciate that?”

I shake my head. “No. If I think about it too long we’ll need to break out another bottle and I already feel that is probably a terrible idea.”

Terra smirks. “Then let’s open another bottle.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not the one with the restriction then.” I laugh.

“Careful. Don’t say that too loudly or Zayne will find a reason to give you one.” Terra shakes her head laughing as she leaves the wine storage room with another bottle. “Sylus is going to have to stock back up on this one.”

“It’s really good!” I say. “How many more bottles does he have in there?”

“It’s Sylus. He doesn’t do anything in small numbers. I’d reckon a whole case.” She walks over with the now uncorked bottle.

“Twelve bottles!? Welp, we are a third of the way through it I guess.” I laugh as she pours more in my glass.

“Indeed.” Terra laughs. “So. How do you really feel about all this?”

“Oh, fuck. Getting right back into it. Ok.” I take a drink, because why else is it there. “I feel like someone needs to pour a pitcher of cold water on me to wake me up. I feel like I’m crazy. I’ve gone absolutely insane and am having some kind of psychotic break with hallucinations of people that only lived in my phone and in my head.” I take another drink. “I’m wound tightly, on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m a little sad that we aren’t home, but there wasn’t tons there for me anymore anyway. I miss my house, my grandparents' house, because it's the only home I’ve ever known, but it had also started to feel suffocating.” I sigh and look down at the table. “I feel oddly fine here. Comfortable almost. Terrified, both because I am and I shouldn’t be. It’s… a lot.”

“And then you add in that you are part of a soul tie and an eternal bond.” She adds playfully.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how. They belong to you, I shouldn’t have them.” I shake my head while rambling.

She places a hand on my arm. “Stop it. We don’t know that. They are with you, so clearly they are rightfully yours. We just don’t know anything about it yet.”

“That’s not how this is supposed to work.” I shake my head some more.

“In your game.”

“Huh?”

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to work in your game. This isn’t your game. Different rules.”

“She’s got you there, Ci.”

“There’s still no reason for me to have these bonds.” I double down.

“There is a reason. We just don’t know it yet.” Terra shrugs.

I take another, longer drink. “And you are just ok with this? Suddenly sharing a bond with them?”

She laughs. “Cielle. I didn’t even know about it until a few weeks ago. Whatever the bond means, it means more to them than it does me at the moment.”

“Did they explain it to you?” I ask her.

She tilts her head. “Sort of? They told me the origins of them.”

“So you know they are rooted in epic love stories?” I narrow my eyes at her.

She waves her hand like she's brushing it off. “Ancient history. We’ve forged our own paths.”

I shake my head. “They remembered you all this time. They sought you out and waited for you to find them.” I sigh. “They’ve loved you since before you ever thought of them that way. You get that right?”

Her eyes widen and then her shoulders slump. “Yeah, I get that. But they didn’t push it. It was always my option.”

“Right. But do you get what I mean about you being ok with me having a part of that when I shouldn’t? That’s your epic love story. It doesn’t belong to me. I shouldn’t have anything to do with it.”

She looks up at me slowly. “What if it is your epic love story too?”

I choke on my drink. “Fucking hell, my lungs are going to be half wine at this point.” I place my glass down. “We are from different timelines. That just doesn’t make sense.”

“Neither does the pieces being in a separate timeline, but here we are.”

“I think…” Mallory begins. “I think we just don’t have all the information. Sylus and Rafayel say they thought they had all their memories, but yet they don’t know how Cielle got connected to them. The whole thing just seems like a strange cosmic mess and I don’t think we’ll be able to even remotely guess the answers any time soon.”

Terra snorts. “Tara would love this. She’d be pulling cards the second you called it a cosmic mess.”

I chuckle. “You’re joking, right? If she’s anything like in the game, she would have been pulling cards the second we fell into this world and she wouldn’t have stopped since.”

“Fair. You aren’t wrong.”

I blink a few times. “Hey, how are we going to explain our existence here?”

Terra opens her mouth to speak, her eyebrows coming together before closing it again. “I have no idea.”

“Fantastic.”

She shrugs. “We could say you are some long lost relative of mine or something.”

“That sounds like a whole lot of backstory making up to do.”

“Well, if I know Sylus, it’s very possible he already has the twins working on some sort of identity and back story for you both.”

Mallory chuckles. “Comforting.”

“I’m letting you know now that that probably includes bank accounts with money already in them.”

I nearly spit out my wine this time. “Welp. Shit. Why would he do that?”

She laughs. “Because he’s Sylus.”

“See, Caleb needs to take a page out of Sylus’ book. He’s making it really hard for me to dislike him.” Mallory shakes her head.

Terra laughs again. “Sylus’ is sweet in his own ways, for sure.”

“Yeah but why would he do that though?” I ask incredulously.

“Do you want the list? Fine. He’s responsible for you being here. He’s part of the reason they came looking for you in the first place. He has more than enough money to spare. He is a decent man to those who need it. He wants to. He likes you.” She says as she taps her fingers as if counting. “Enough reasons?”

I sigh. “Fine. Point made.”

She nods. “Exactly.” She turns back to Mallory. “And how are you doing? I know I asked earlier, but still.”

“Still surprisingly fine. I miss home and this is still incredibly strange, but I have less chips in the pot.”

“What do you mean?”

“My only job is to worry about her.”

“And yourself.” Me and Terra say simultaneously.

“Well, yeah. But I mean that I’m not the one that has multiple men who I have feelings for circling me. I didn’t leave much behind. No family, an ok job, a few friends we rarely talk to anymore. It’s refreshing almost. So I just need to make sure Cielle doesn’t self combust and everything is fine.”

“I will not self combust.”

“You say that, but you haven’t seen how red you get when they are flirting with you.”

Terra laughs. “She’s not wrong. You do look like you might catch fire.”

“I’m not safe anywhere.”

“Nope.” Mallory laughs.

“Sooo.” Terra’s eyebrows raise. “Can I tell them?”

“Huh? Tell who what?” I look over at Terra.

“I say do it.” Mallory replies cooly.

“Do what?” I look at her.

“You think? It might turn things up a notch.” Terra ignores me.

“Turn what up?!”

Mallory nods. “That’s just more entertaining then.”

“What is going on!?”

Mallory turns and looks at me, grinning. “Do you want to know or do you want to experience?”

I shake her arm. “I want to not be lost.”

Terra laughs. “Finish your drink and I’ll tell you.”

I look at the remaining liquid in my glass and down it. “Great, now tell me.” I say as I set the glass back down.

“I’m going to inform them that your relationship with Mallory is open.”

“WHAT!?” I stand up quickly, chair squeaking against the floor, the alcohol affecting my balance before I catch myself on the table.

“Calm down.” Mallory says, grabbing my wrist and guiding me to sit back down. “It’ll be fine.”

“But why would you tell them?” I eye the remainder of the last bottle.

“So they can make an informed decision if they wish to do anything with the information.”

“You’re crazy.”

Terra laughs. “And I can’t tell if you’ve had too much or not enough wine for this conversation.”

Mallory looks at me closely. “She’s hitting her limit, she doesn’t drink much.”

Terra nods and grabs the bottle of wine and brings it to the bar to recork it and put it in the cooler.

“No fun.”

“If I let you keep drinking it will either be really no fun or way too much fun.”

“Right, no stupid choices.” I nod.

“What’s that mean?” Terra asks, sliding back into her seat.

“She’ll either end up falling all over the place or she’ll go do something bold.” Mallory answers.

“Oooh. So what you are saying is next time we should play truth or dare while drinking. Got it.” Terra giggles.

Mallory nods. “You know, as juvenile as that sounds, that’s probably not a bad idea to do with them.”

“Ooooooh.” Terra claps. “That would be fun.”

Our phones all go off.

Darling Doctor: You girls alive? It’s getting really late and no one has heard a peep from you in a while.
Diva Fish: its been a few hours since i was summoned in there like a sacrifice, and these soundproof walls make it so i cant even eavesdrop
Pouty Pilot: youll live
Diva Fish: you werent summoned as a sacrifice!
Pouty Pilot: ill volunteer for the next time then ;)
Darling Doctor: While this has been great entertainment…
Darling Doctor: Do I need to come check on you three?

We look up at each other. A grin plastered on Terra’s face.

“Do we answer or do we make them sweat?” She asks.

“Them? It’s only Zayne that asked.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “They are all waiting for the answer, Cielle.”

“Are you trying to bait them?” Mallory asks.

Terra shrugs. “Maybe.” She laughs. “We could all set our phones down, pretend they were all left open on the table and that caused the read receipts, and turn up the music and dance.” Her grin deepens. “See who comes to check on us.”

“Boy, you really do love your schemes.” I say.

She laughs again. “You have no idea. This one is harmless though. Clearly they are all still awake.”

Mallory looks around. “Fine. Help me move this back table against the wall and push this table out of the way so we have more space to dance.”

Terra squeals as she gets up to help her move the other table. I move the chairs at our table out of the way and push it into the corner before fixing the chairs to make it look like it's been that way the whole time. Terra goes over to the sound system and changes the song and turns the volume up.

Thankfully it was an actually very danceable song, despite having never heard it before. Also thankfully, I’ve had enough wine that it almost doesn’t matter. We all catch the rhythm soon enough, and it’s not long before I even forget we were doing this for any other reason than to just dance. Just after the third song begins, the double doors to the bar fly open and five men attempt to look very casual upon entering.

We collectively ignore them for a moment as we dance. I’m, at least, having too much fun now to care about their presence. Sylus walks over to the system and turns the music down a bit.

“Well it looks like I missed my invite to the party.” Rafayel pouts, having moved closer to us than he had been a moment ago.

“Who said you were invited?” Terra asks.

“You wound me, cutie.”

“Well, doc, they are all still standing. Do you feel better?” Caleb asks Zayne as he steps farther into the room, taking a seat on a stool at the bar.

“Don’t say that like you didn’t follow me down here like a lost puppy dog.”

“I-what!?”

“I mean, you kind of did.” Xavier sits down next to him.

“You’re here also.” Caleb points out.

Xavier shrugs. “I was curious to see what they were up to.”

Rafayel laughs. “Suuuuuure. Like you didn’t pout at all when I was summoned and you weren’t.”

“I did not pout.” Xavier crosses his arms and glares at the purple haired man.

Sylus chuckles. “Just like you aren’t now. Right?”

Caleb laughs. “Like you have room to talk. You seemed rather put out when they didn’t invite you down here to play bartender.”

“I was not.” Sylus stares at him.

Zayne shakes his head. “Are you all doing ok then?”

The three of us look between each other and laugh. Clutching sides and holding each other up at the shoulders kind of laugh.

The five of them just look at us for a moment while we lose our shit.

“I think they are just fine, doc.” Caleb’s eyebrow hitches up while watching us.

“I feel like I’m missing something again.” Rafayel leans against the bar top.

“We probably are.” Sylus agrees, sitting down in an empty seat at our abandoned table. “Three whole bottles huh?”

“And a partial back in the cooler.” Terra informs him.

Zayne shot her a look and she put her hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, I only had two glasses.”

His eyes flicked over to me and Mallory, an eyebrow raising in question.

Mallory chuckles but answers him. “I also had two.”

“Shut up.” I choke out, my jaw drops at the realization of how much I drank.

Zayne focuses on me. “Are you going to be ok?”

I groan. “Ask me in the morning.” Suddenly it all hit me at once and I grab Mallory’s arm for support. “You let me drink almost two bottles of wine worth by myself?” I hiss at her lowly.

She laughs at me for a moment and answers loud enough for everyone to hear. “You were having fun and loosening up.” She shrugs her shoulders.

I groan again, shakily making my way to the bar stool next to Xavier, and place my head down on the counter.

Xavier chuckles and turns towards me, patting my back lightly. “You’ll be ok, sunshine.”

I turn my head slightly and glare at him.

“Well, I hate to be the party pooper here, but I think it’s time this party ends. It’s almost 2am.”

Terra makes a show of stomping and crossing her arms. “But daaaaaad.” She whines playfully.

Zayne makes a choking noise and then clears his throat. “Don’t do that again.”

Caleb laughs. “I can’t tell if he liked it or not.”

Rafayel shifts off the counter and starts walking towards the door. “I don’t want to know. I’m going to bed now. Good night you heathens.”

Caleb hops off his bar stool. “Indeed, there’s been plenty of fun for one night. Terra, let’s go.”

“Aww, why do I have to go?” She asks him.

“Because if someone doesn’t force you out of here then you are very likely to start more shit. Grab your phone.”

“But I’ve got to clean up.”

“Do it tomorrow.” Sylus tells her. “Come on, out.”

Terra grabs her phone off the table and trails behind Caleb to leave. “See you tomorrow!” She waves, Caleb gives a wave over his shoulder too.

“You should get some rest or you are not going to feel very well in the morning.” Zayne says, to me most likely.

I give him a thumbs up over my shoulder, earning me another chuckle from Xavier and Sylus.

“I’ll make sure she gets to bed, doc.” Mallory tells him.

“Not you too.” Zayne shakes his head but then nods. “Alright, you have my number if you need me.” Zayne turns and exits the room without another word.

“Oh. Mallory.” Sylus turns to her. “I figured you might need to be reminded about your remaining laundry in the laundry room. In case there is anything in there either of you will want in the morning.”

“Ah! Right. Thank you. I will go grab that now. See you in a minute, love.” She exits the room. That little brat, leaving me alone with two of them now.

I sit up a bit and turn slowly on my stool. Sylus looks between me and Xavier for a moment and then smirks.

“I’m going to go also. If you need anything, precious, just remember I’m across the hall.” He glides out of the room with a wink.

I shake my head and then stop and steady myself.

“Whoa there, sunshine. You good?”

“Yeah. I just hadn’t realized I drank so much. I’ll be fine. It’s not bad. Just one of those ‘it was pointed out so now it’s really obvious’ type of things.”

He nods. “Would you like me to help you to your room?”

“Oh you don’t have to do that, Xavier. I’ll be fine.” I hop down from my bar stool and immediately begin to lose balance.

Xavier steadies me and laughs. “I think I insist.” He says as he slides off his own bar stool, one hand resting on my lower back now as he guides me forward.

I stop just before the door and look up at him. I can’t stop myself from smiling at him and his stupidly attractive face.

‘He’s so pretty.’

‘He is.’

‘You should probably stop staring though.’

‘In a second.’

He smiles back, eyes softening. “You alright, sunshine?”

“Hmm? Yeah.”

“You’re staring.”

“Yep.”

He chuckles. “I wasn’t exactly looking away either.” He says, his voice a little lower than normal.

‘Oh.’

‘Look what you did.’

‘Me?! This one was all you. And you’re still staring.’

My cheeks catch fire. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Neither of us have looked away yet.

He tilts his head to the side slightly and his eyes flick down and back up. “We should, uh, probably..”

“Yeah.”

‘It’s unfair how pretty he is.’

“So pretty.”

“What’s that?” He asks, head tilting slightly farther.

“What’s what?”

“You said ‘so pretty’.”

“What?” My cheeks flame even more. “No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.” He chuckles.

“Oh my gods.” I cover my face in my hands, finally breaking the spell of staring at each other.

He chuckles again, his voice suddenly closer, breath tickling my ear. “It’s ok. I think you’re really pretty too.”

The doors open right in front of us, Mallory the culprit to do so. I risk a glance through my hands.

“I was just coming to get you. I brought the laundry to our room.” Her eyes flick between me and Xavier. “Everything ok here?” She asks with amusement.

Xavier was still bent slightly, right at my ear, when he chuckles again and straightens. “I was just helping her. She was a bit unsteady.”

“Looks like you may have been contributing to that unsteadiness.” She chuckles back.

I run my hands down my face and groan again, earning me a laugh from both of them.

She gestures out the door with a raised brow. “By all means, if you’d still like to walk her to our room, be my guest.” And she turns around and heads down the hall.

Xavier chuckles quietly. “Come then, let me take you to bed.”

‘What did he say!?’

I choke on my own spit. “Xavier.”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever heard the term ‘phrasing’?”

“Sounds familiar.”

I laugh. “It’s a reference to a show where the main character only hears innuendos when others talk, when they don’t mean the innuendo.”

He nods in understanding.

“So, uh. Phrasing.”

He laughs, hand on my back pressing more firmly. “Who says I didn’t purposely make it a double entendre?"

I shake my head and let myself be guided forward down the hall towards my room. Mallory is leaning against the wall by our door, waiting. A devilish grin plastered on her face, growing as we get closer.

She pushes off the wall as we approach. “Well thank you for walking her home. Very gentlemanly of you. Now this is the part where you kiss her goodnight if you wish.” She teases.

My eyes widen at her words, silently asking her “what the hell are you saying?”.

Something in her eyes sparkle as I’m suddenly turned into Xavier, and a gentle kiss is placed on my forehead. “Goodnight, sunshine.”

I stay frozen in place as he chuckles and leaves back down the hallway towards the stairs. Mallory steps forward and grabs my hand, tugging me inside the room.

“Come in the room before you melt into the floor.”

As soon as the door closes I smack her arm.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“What was that for? That-” I smack her arm again. “Was for whatever the fuck that was in the hall.”

She laughs at me and pulls me close, placing a kiss on my cheek. “He was returning you home. Most suitors give goodnight kisses when they return their lover home.”

“Oh my gods!” I throw myself backwards onto the bed.

Mallory follows me, straddling my legs and peppering more kisses on my cheeks. “Don’t deny that you loved it. I saw how he was looking at you. I just gave him an opening.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Mmmm, no. I’m pretty sure I’m the best.”

I roll my eyes at her and push her off. “Whatever.” I start walking to the bathroom. “I’m going to get ready for bed now.”

“You sure you can walk yourself there? Do I need to call Sylus in to help you?” She teases.

“I’m going to end you in your sleep.” I say sweetly as I close the bathroom door behind me.

After going through my routine and using the bathroom, I splash my face with cold water. Slowly running a fresh hand towel down my face to dry it, I sigh and stare at myself in the mirror.

‘Will I even survive anything with any of them?’

‘Pft, probably not. But it sure will be fun until then.’

‘Can I even let myself want this?’

‘Fuck yes, girl. What do you mean? Yes. Want this. Enjoy it. Embrace it.’

I sigh one more time. ‘Fine.’

‘Wait, really!? It’s about fucking time.’

I exit the bathroom and crawl into bed. I get comfortable while I wait for Mallory to finish in the bathroom, letting the day's activities and the remaining buzz from the wine lull me to sleep.

Xavier takes the stairs two at a time as he makes his way to his room from dropping Cielle off with Mallory. A faint smile stuck on lips from the thought of the simple forehead kiss he’d given her, with Mallory’s explicit permission.

At the top of the stairs — sitting in the living room almost like they’d been waiting for his return — are Zayne, Rafayel, and Caleb.

“What took you so long?” Rafayel asks.

“And why do you have a dumb grin on your face?” Caleb grows suspicious.

Xavier shrugs and attempts to continue down the hallway but is cut off when Caleb steps in his way.

Xavier stops in front of him. “What the hell?”

“What happened?” Caleb pushes.

Xavier sighs. “There was a moment and a forehead kiss. That’s all.”

“A forehead kiss!?” Rafayel wails dramatically. “All I got was to be emotionally sacrificed and you got a forehead kiss?!?”

“You weren’t sacrificed for anything. Stop it.” Zayne says coolly.

“It felt like it!” The purple haired man crosses his arms.

“How’d you manage that?” Caleb asks, his jack tightening slightly.

Xavier shrugs again. “You all left, we were alone. She was unsteady so I helped her. She stared at me and called me pretty. I told her she was pretty back. Mallory saw us and practically told me to finish walking her to their room. When we got there she invited me to give her a goodnight kiss. I was a gentleman and only kissed her on the forehead.” He summarizes for them.

“Mallory told you to kiss her?” Zayne asks in disbelief.

Xavier nods. “Basically.”

Rafayel sighs and throws himself into the armchair closest to him. “I’m never leaving first again.”

The three other men shake their heads at him.

Xavier shifts his weight. “If there is no more interrogating to be done, I’d like to go to bed.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go to bed, pretty boy.” Caleb mocks as he steps aside and watches Xavier walk down the hall to his room. “Well. Sounds like it’s game on.”

“I should have kissed her when Terra asked me if I wanted to.” Rafayel sighs dramatically.

“What!?” Zayne and Caleb both turn to him.

“When they called me in, Terra asked me if I wanted to kiss her. I told them that I thought that was a given. Cielle looked mortified. Mallory looked utterly entertained. And Terra looked smug. I’m telling you I was used for something.”

“Well now I think I agree with you.” Caleb says.

“Thank you!”

“If Terra looked smug, then she was definitely using you to prove a point.” Zayne agrees.

“But what point?” Caleb asks no one in particular.

Rafayel sits up properly and leans with his elbows on his knees. “Probably that we are sincere.”

“How did you get there?” Zayne asks.

“Terra also asked me if I’d flirt with Cielle if she asked. To which I told her that that service was free, of course. Then she asked if I enjoyed flirting with her.” He gestures wildly with his hands for dramatic effect. “So I told who wouldn’t enjoy flirting with her.”

“What else?” Caleb asks.

“She asked if I got anything out of it besides entertainment.”

Zayne scoffs. “Entertainment?”

Rafayel nods. “Right. So I told her that I’m enjoying helping her get comfortable and come out of her shell. And that if I gain points from it then it’s all the better.”

“And?” Caleb encourages him to continue.

“And she had me explain that I meant points towards her liking me.”

“She was definitely trying to prove sincerity.” Zayne nods.

Caleb blinks at his friend. “As in, Cielle thought we’ve only been joking with her this whole time?”

“Sounds like it.”

Caleb shakes his head. “Well I guess I’ve just got to do better at getting my point across.”

Rafayel laughs. “Seems we all do. Though I think Xavier has the leg up on this one.”

“Opportunistic bastard.” Caleb chuckles and looks down the hall. “I don’t blame him. If Mallory basically told me to kiss her, I would have too.”

The two others agree and they sit there in silence for a few moments.

“We should go to bed. Something tells me we may be helping her nurse a hangover in the morning.” Zayne states.

The other two nod their agreement and they all make moves to go to their respective rooms, bidding each other a goodnight.

“It’s almost noon, are you sure we shouldn’t wake her?” Zayne asks Mallory from his spot at the nook in the kitchen.

She looks up from her phone, still leaning on the counter of the peninsula. “Positive. She’s better off sleeping, I promise.”

“Ok.” Zayne resumes checking his phone.

Behind her, Caleb and Terra walk in the room, one of them not so subtly looking around the room.

“She’s still not up?” Caleb asks.

“Nope.” Mallory doesn’t even look at him when she responds.

Caleb scoffs. “Well maybe if you hadn’t let her drink so much she’d be awake. Are you sure she’s even alright?”

Mallory spins around and glares at him. “What do you mean let? She’s a grown woman who can make her own choices. She was having a good time, and I did make the decision to put up the wine when I thought she’d had enough. And of course she’s ok. Have you never drank before? She’s just sleeping.” She fires at him.

“Xavier came upstairs just after 2. If she went to sleep right away that’s almost ten hours of sleep. Who sleeps that long!?” He takes a step closer to her.

A hand grabs his shoulder and drags him back slightly. “Someone who’s had a long couple of days and finally felt comfortable enough to relax and enjoy themselves last night.” Sylus responds to the violet eyed menaces' question, though it wasn’t posed to him, and brushes past him to get to the coffee.

“Exactly! Thank you Sylus.” Mallory exclaims.

“Anytime.” He chuckles as he pours his coffee.

“But ten hours!?”

Xavier clicks his tongue as he walks into the room. “Is he still clucking about her not being up yet?”

“Clucking?!?”

Rafayel chuckles. “You haven’t stopped yapping since 10, my guy. You’ve become a wee bit obsessed. And that’s saying something coming from me.”

Terra snorts behind them all, she’d leaned herself against the wall and had just watched the chaos. “You are all ridiculous. Leave the poor girl alone.”

“Or don’t.” Mallory laughs. “But let her sleep at least.” She turns back around and continues scrolling her phone. “Torture her with your flirting and innuendos when she’s awake.”

“No shit.” Caleb exhales.

“So he wasn’t lying.” Rafayel shakes his head.

Mallory turns back slightly. “Huh?”

“They are talking about Xavier telling them that you basically gave him permission to have a moment with Cielle, and the kiss.” Zayne says nonchalantly from the nook.

“Kiss?!” Sylus and Terra practically yell at the same time.

Terra is practically jumping up and down. “Tell me more, tell me more!” She tugs on a very confused Xavier’s arm.

Mallory laughs. “Oh yeah. That.”

“It was just a forehead kiss.” Xavier’s ears turn the slightest shade of pink.

Terra nearly squeals and turns to Mallory. “You gave him permission?!”

Mallory shrugs. “I just suggested it.”

“What is your dynamic, Mallory?” Rafayel tilts his head.

Terra does squeal now. “Can I, can I, can I?”

Mallory nods and shrugs one more time.

“They are open. Like, polyamorously open.” She begins pacing the open space of the kitchen. “So like, from me, here and now, this is explicit permission if you’d like to, you know, do anything with that information.” She makes sure she looks at each man individually.

Mallory raises her hand. “My explicit permission too. So long as you mean something by it and aren’t just trying to sleep with her and that’s it.” She puts her hand down. “And don’t even fucking think about hurting her.” She looks back down at her phone like they had just been discussing the weather and not telling all of them they had permission to date her girlfriend.

Zayne’s phone lands on the table a little harder than he probably meant it to, and shakes his head while processing. “What? Wait.”

“Uh oh. Doc’s brain is just as broken as ours.” Caleb whispers to Rafayel.

“So you, Terra, give us permission to date outside of just you-”

“Not anyone, but yes.” She cuts him off and clarifies.

“-and you, Mallory, give us permission to date your girlfriend?”

Mallory nods. “Mmmhmm.”

“I fear this may require another meeting.” Zayne just stares off into space for a moment.

“And what are her feelings on this?” Sylus asks from his spot leaning on the counter on the other side of the kitchen.

Terra starts jumping up and down again, but before words come out of her mouth Mallory already has given her silent permission. “Oh my gods. It was her idea in the first place.”

Sylus nearly spits out his coffee.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Mallory holds her hands up. “That’s putting it a little too simply. It wasn’t her idea specifically for this moment. It was her idea in general from before we came here.”

“Well now I’m a little jealous.” Rafayel whines.

“Did we… we didn’t pull you from other partner’s, right?” Zayne asks cautiously.

Mallory shakes her head. “No. We hadn’t made it that far. This is all relatively new. It was something she wanted to try because-” She stops herself. “-reasons, and so we spent time researching and all that. That morning had been her first step towards the reality of it.”

“Because reasons?” Sylus’ eyebrow shoots up.

Ignoring him, Terra claps. “And you all basically went ‘not on our watch’ and brought her here.”

Ignoring Terra now, Caleb parrots Sylus. “Yeah. Because reasons? What reasons?”

Mallory sighs. “Reason’s that aren’t mine to give. Or yours.” She narrows her eyes at Terra who puts her hands up in mock surrender. “She’ll tell you if and when she’s ready.”

Sylus chuckles. “And she’s still asleep, unaware of this conversation.”

Mallory shrugs. “She needs the rest, especially if she is going to end up putting up with you lot. Speaking of.” She sighs again. “For my own peace of mind, can I get, like, a show of hands or something from any one who is going to do anything with this information.”

All five men’s hands went up.

Mallory’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “Oh, wow. Alright. And how do you all feel about each other and this?” She motions with her hands.

Rafayel answers her. “We’ve already sort of talked about it. Or at least most of us. No hard feelings from any of us.”

“I need to clarify that this isn’t a one and done thing. No competition for a single slot. Whoever and however many of you she wants to do this with is welcome.”

The five nod.

“Right, no competitions.” Xavier says.

“Except the friendly ones.” Caleb elbows at Rafayel.

Zayne grumbles something inaudible and then louder says, “I still think this requires a full meeting. And Cielle should definitely be involved.”

“I don’t disagree.” Mallory leans on the counter once again. “However, I feel like that should be a little later. Make sure everyone still wants this. We’ll call it casual for now and if or when things get more serious and potentially require official labels then we have a meeting.”

Terra steps forward from the wall where she had settled again. “I agree. Not just to do with Cielle, but with us too. We’ve all already basically been casual, but with this new aspect running simultaneously, we’ll need a labels talk too. It would likely be smart to do it at the same time.”

Mallory nods. “And who knows, maybe things will have evolved even farther by then. Maybe you’ll even be dating amongst yourself.” She snorts at her own joke, but the room is quiet. She looks up and around at the men. “I mean, I was joking. No need to be so serious.”

Terra laughs. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that either. Hell, with the way things are going, who knows, maybe you’ll even end up involved with one of them.”

Mallory laughs with her. “Now that is funny. And I don’t think Cielle would be opposed to them being together either.” She giggles a bit. “She was always reading fan fiction and would occasionally giggle to herself saying ‘and the boyfriends were boyfriends’ so I know she’d probably even find it hot.”

“Oh my gods. I need to start reading fan fiction.”

The men had been basically forgotten about at this point, but they were there and they were all silently looking between each other.

I wake up alone in bed. Rubbing my eyes to clear my vision I glance over at the wall clock.

“12:45!?!” I spring up and go to where we left the pile of clean clothes.

I pick out an actual bra — underwire, padding, and all — a pair of underwear, a pair of the softest black joggers I have ever had the pleasure of touching, and a dark blue off-the-shoulder shirt with some design on it that is foreign to me, and quickly change into them. I go through my morning routine in the bathroom and grab my phone off the night stand on the side of the bed I had slept on.

Exiting the room I follow the sound of quiet chatter and sizzling down the hall to the kitchen.

The second I enter seven sets of eyes turn to me, causing me to freeze in place. “Uh, morning?”

“Angel!” Rafayel comes up to me and pulls me into a hug. “I hope you slept well, you were out for a long time. They were all starting to get worried.” He pulls himself off and backs away.

Caleb looks over from the stove. “Good afternoon, doll. So nice of you to join us.”

Mallory slides over to me, placing an arm around my back and kisses my temple. “How you feeling?”

“Uh, mostly ok. Only sort of like I was hit by a truck.”

Xavier snorts from near Caleb and my eyes snap to him, immediately reminded of our moment and the kiss last night, my cheeks light on fire again. He notices I’m looking at him and he winks. “Morning, sunshine.”

“Darling, no one has said anything even remotely blush worthy and you are already getting flustered? Who knew this whole time it only required our presence.”

“That’s enough teasing. Let the poor woman wake up without the witty comments.” Zayne scolds before looking directly at me. “I’m glad to see you’re well. Lunch should be ready soon.” he pats the spot next to him at the nook.

Mallory pushes me forward and I go sit next to Zayne.

“We can discuss it more once you’ve eaten, but I was serious about you needing an appointment to look at your heart. I hope you don’t mind but I made you an appointment for tomorrow during my shift.”

Mallory brings over a mug of coffee, just the way I like it, and sets it down in front of me. Terra, who had been sitting on a stool at the peninsula, turns towards the nook.

“I have an appointment tomorrow also, knowing Zayne he definitely scheduled them close together.”

“You’d be correct.”

“Perfect, so besides Mallory, I’ll be with you too.” She reassures me.

“I’m free all day, so I can drive you.” Rafayel offers as he sits down on the stool next to Terra.

Mallory sits next to me at the nook, sandwiching me in between her and Zayne. “Yeah, so, not to be rude. But don’t you all live elsewhere and have jobs to get to?”

I choke a bit on my coffee, Zayne reaches behind me and pats my back. I give him a quiet thank you.

“The long and short of it is, yes.” Sylus says from his perch leaning on the end of the peninsula.

“That was helpful information.” Mallory rolls her eyes.

“We haven’t really talked it over.” Terra explains.

“I don’t understand.” I shake my head.

“Well, darling. Do you want them all to go home?”

“Don’t they kind of have to?”

Sylus shrugs. “They can stay if they want. I’m not kicking them out. If you want them to stay, then something tells me they’ll stay. If you’d rather be all alone here, that’ll happen too.”

I freeze at the thought of it just being me and Mallory in this giant place, my eyebrows coming together after a moment's thoughts at his words. “You’d leave us alone here?”

He shrugs again. “I don’t see why not. You need a place to call home.”

I shake my head. “Nooo. This is way too much for us. 18 thousand square feet for two people is absurd.”

“18 and a half thousand, darling.”

“Oh, so much better.”

He chuckles. “It was just an offer.”

“I appreciate it, but that’s insane.” I shake my head again. “I don’t care if anyone wants to stay. I just figured you’d all want to go home. And definitely don’t skip out on your jobs. That would be especially insane.”

“Yes, well, I think for everyone but Caleb and myself, work is relatively close to here anyway. Same for their homes.” He seems thoughtful for a moment. “How about this? I’ll program everyone into the system and then they can all come and go as they please. If they want a night at home and then a night here, they can do that without having to coordinate.”

Terra almost chokes. “Really?”

Sylus chuckles again. “Really, kitten. We all seem to not want to leave them. And you can’t blame us, we’ve all upended your lives.” He says looking towards us again before continuing. “We’ll call this the group house, but I’ll call it mostly your space.”

I shake my head. “No, don't do that. This is still your house, we are just guests.”

“And I won’t miss this one out of… well let’s just say far too many. It’s yours because I say it's yours.” He says with a tone of finality.

Mallory leans over to me and whispers in my ear. “Did we just get given a penthouse?”

I just turn to her and nod. “I think so.”

Zayne, Terra, Rafayel, and Sylus all laugh.

“Well I’m glad you all find this amusing. I find it insane.”

“Welcome to the funny farm.” Caleb says as he slides a plate of food in front of me and one in front of Mallory. “Everyone else gets to grab their own. Xavier plated them. They are sitting on the island.” He looks around as he heads back, presumably to grab his own plate.

I thank him and begin to dig in. “So what are everyone's plans for tomorrow?”

Sylus slides a plate onto the table for Zayne, as he basically locked himself in.

From beside me Zayne answers. “Well, work. It’s a shorter day. Only a few appointments and a couple of meetings. As long as there are no emergencies, I won’t be gone nearly as long as I could be.”

Terra launches off her stool and springs forward to knock on the table. “Don’t jinx yourself. Jeez.” She says before going back to her spot.

Zayne shakes his head at her and continues. “I have a few errands to run after. But I’m not opposed to not going home.”

Xavier had settled on the other side of the nook with his food. “Also work.” He says between bites. “Don’t know how long I’ll be though. That’s up to any Wanderers that decide to ruin the day.” He shrugs before taking his next bite.

From her spot at the peninsula, Terra barely turns. “I’ve got my appointment in the morning and I’m still not cleared to go back to work. If you don’t mind I’ll probably have Rafayel stop at my apartment after to grab some things and then we can come back here.”

“If you want to come back, that’s fine by me. Any of you, really” I tell them.

She nods. “Sounds like a plan then.”

“Thomas will probably try to convince me that I do have work, but I’m the boss so I say I don’t. I’ll be around to take you both to your appointments and back. Or wherever. We could go get ice cream or something too after. Anyway, I’m free all day as long as you want me.” Rafayel says as he pushes his food around on his plate before he resumes eating.

Caleb had stayed standing while he ate, leaning against the opposite side of the peninsula. “I have to check in with the Fleet. Do super important colonel things and all that. Depending on what kind of chaos happened over the weekend will depend on whether I’m back tomorrow or not, though I would like to return if I can.”

Sylus had sat down in a chair at the nook table, opposite the bench Xavier was sitting on. He took a sip of his coffee before answering. “I have to return to Onychinus for the day, I might stay there for the night. However, I can run most things from my office here.”

“What about your usual schedule?” I asked him between bites.

“I’ve adapted quite a bit over the years, darling. It has mostly shifted to a more normal schedule. I do still occasionally revert back to the old one, but only when it’s called for.”

I sip my coffee. “Interesting. And good to know.”

Mallory pushes her mug out of the way and takes the last few bites of her food. “And the rest of the week?”

Caleb laughs as he places his plate in the sink. “Rinse, repeat.”

“That makes sense.”

“Obviously there will be some variations.” Zayne says quietly from my side. “But I think we are all off together again this weekend.”

“Oh! Everyone?”

They all nod, a confused look comes across my face.

“We had made sure to have weekends off to be able to meet while we worked on… bringing you here.” Caleb answers.

“It sounds very kidnapperish when you say it.” Rafayel says as he gets up from his spot to bring his plate to the sink as well.

“That’s because that’s what it was.” Terra shakes her head.

Zayne stacks all of his dishes together, effectively trapped between me and Mallory and then Xavior on the other side. “That was never our intention.”

“Was still the outcome.” She says dryly as Caleb collects her dishes.

Mallory gathers my and Zayne’s dishes with hers, me and Zayne thank her, and brings them to the kitchen where she begins working on washing them.

Sylus stands with his dishes and goes over and swats her away. “I said no dishes. I don’t pay people for nothing.”

She puts her hands up in surrender and comes back to sit next to me. “Sorry. Not used to it.”

Xavier had gotten a second helping at some point and was silently eating it, zoned out.

“You ok, Xavier?” I ask him.

“Hmm?” He looks up at me and his ears start turning pink again. He clears his throat. “Oh, yes. Sorry. Was just lost in thought.”

Rafayel comes over and plops down next to him. “Ooooh? What kind of thoughts? Clearly not super innocent ones based on the shade of your ears, lightbright.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Oooh, touchy and he didn’t deny the improper thoughts.” Rafayel teases.

I giggle at the exchange. It’s ridiculously endearing. They both look up at me and smile.

“Well, shit. If it keeps her laughing, I’m sorry lightbright, but I will continue to tease and call you that.”

“As long as she laughs, then I’m fine with it.” Xavier nods as he resumes eating.

“How’d this turn back to me?” I ask incredulously.

Terra laughs. “Get used to it. They are like sharks.”

“Oh goodie.”

Zayne clears his throat. “I’ll forward you the appointment information now. I’ve scheduled it for right after Terra’s. Hers is just a check-up to see her healing status from her vacation, so it won't take long. Your appointment shouldn’t take too long, but that’s going to depend on what we find.”

I nod along and not too long after my phone dings with the information he sent.

“Speaking of.” Sylus sits back down at the table, two manilla envelopes appearing out of thin air, he slides them over to me and Mallory. “These are for you.”

We open the envelopes and pull out a handful of documents and a few smaller cards. While flipping through the pages he explains.

“I had Luke and Kieran work on these. Official documentation making it like you’ve always lived here. Here as in our world, that is. There are a few sets of different background stories that you can look over and choose from, say the word and it’s implemented. No big rush on that just yet though, there should be no reason for anyone to try to look into your pasts just yet.” He points to which pages are what as he explains.

“With the official documentation comes ID’s. While they are also drivers licenses, please don’t attempt to drive until one of us can ensure you are on the same page as our traffic laws and tech advances in most cars.” Zayne takes over for a moment, ever the safety enthusiast.

“I’m sure if I loaned you one of my vintage cars, you’d have no problem there. And I’m not a stickler for laws, especially traffic ones, but it is probably best if you are at least familiar with them here.” Sylus continues.

Flipping through a few more documents that aren’t interesting but are a part of those little details of life you don’t think about frequently, Sylus suddenly looks confused before turning the envelopes upside down. A black card comes sliding out of each of them.

“Ah, and these-” he hands them to us. “-are your bank cards.”

“Sylus, we can’t-” He gives me a stern look and my mouth shuts immediately.

Without missing a beat, Sylus says. “Good girl.”

A shiver runs down my spine and my breath hitches just slightly. Zayne chuckles.

“Teach me that.” Mallory quips.

“Gladly.” He tells her. “Anyway. Your bank cards. I figured you’d refuse if I just gave you direct access to any of my accounts, so instead you each have an account in your own name. However, there is a recurring scheduled transfer allowance set up from my accounts.”

I open my mouth to protest and am met with the same stern look and all that comes out is a squeak instead.

Mallory looks at me and then back to Sylus. “Fucking magic.”

Zayne chuckles behind me, a little deeper than how he had before.

“Before the end of the day, I will have all of you added to the system to have access to the penthouse. The only place it won’t grant Immediate access to is the armory. That is a separate system.”

Mallory nods. “Smart, for the best.”

“Can’t have anyone taking my good shit.” Sylus laughs.

“That’s anything you own, Sylus.” Terra says, arms crossed over her chest.

“Exactly, kitten.” He nods. “And, once we do go over traffic laws and what not there will be at least two cars available for your use in the garage at all times.”

I inhaled to say something again and instead of a look from Sylus I suddenly find my thigh being squeezed from my left by a large hand. I look down at the hand and then up to its owner. His face gives away not even a hint of his current action, nor does his hand move. I look back down to it once more before facing back forward.

‘Holy fuck his hand is huge and gorgeous.’

‘That it is.’

‘And it shut you up. I bet that was his goal. Oooooh.’

Mallory looks over at me and then back at Sylus. Double checking that he hadn’t made the face this time, her eyebrows come together. “What kind of magic trick happened this time?”

Zayne chuckles, causing her to look his way where she catches a glimpse of his hand resting on my thigh.

“Ah. Well. No complaints.” She says as calmly as she can while trying to hold back a smile.

The comment caused Xavier, Rafayel and Caleb to look up from what they had been doing while this conversation was happening. Terra had been watching the whole thing and too was attempting to hold back a grin.

“Wait, what happened?” Rafayel asks from his phone.

“We definitely missed something.” Caleb says as he looks at the four of us who had been engaged in conversation.

Xavier’s eyes just dart between us before he realized Zayne’s arm position isn’t natural. His eyes narrow then widen as he glances at me before he schools his face again, a slight uptick at the corner of his mouth.

“Auh! Star boy figured it out.” Caleb clocks it.

“Don’t worry about it.” Is all Xavier says.

Meanwhile, my lips are still locked shut. I’m unsure if I’ve even breathed this entire time. My eyes are glued to the documents in front of me, attempting to focus on anything other than his hand on my thigh.

Sylus chuckles at the whole ordeal but continues on once again. “I was going to let you choose which vehicles, but something tells me you’ll try to argue your way out of it so I’ll choose for you. Or, better yet. Mallory, you seem less combative. Would you like to pick out which vehicles are available for you to use?”

She shrugs. “Why not.”

Sylus continues to go over what is in the paperwork, once again not super important things but enough that he needs to point them out.

Zayne’s breath is on my ear sometime during. “Breathe, dear.” Is all he says before he pulls away, hand still present.

I try not to make a fool of myself by gasping or anything but I definitely had to manually breathe before my brain caught back up to what its job is supposed to be.

Once he seems satisfied with my breath control, his thumb starts brushing back and forth idly, causing a new wave of panic to course through me.

‘Girl, he just got you to breathe again. Just do as the good doctor says.’

‘I’m trying.’ I basically hiss to myself.

Zayne chuckles lowly again, the deep rumble sending a jolt right down my spine and -

‘Straight to your core. Cuz, duh.’

‘Sooooo helpful.’

‘To point out that this is turning you on? It is helpful and I won’t hear otherwise.’

‘I know it’s turning me on, but I’m trying really hard to not let it.’

‘Well that’s pointless. You’ve thought about this man doing basically this soooo many times that there is no way that you’ll successfully survive this without getting turned on.’

‘He’s not being sexual!’

‘Does that matter?!? It’s suggestive enough. For gods sake he’s rubbing his thumb on your thigh! The next step from here for suggestiveness is his hand moving more to the inner thigh and sliding up slightly. You are like a singular step away from his hand on your-’

‘Nope. No. Shhh. Shut up.’

Another squeeze brings me out of my thought spiral.

“Caleb asked what you wanted to do today, dear.” Zayne informs me.

“Oh! Sorry. Uh, hadn’t really thought about it.” I answer honestly.

“You seem super distracted over there, angel. You alright?” Rafayel asks me.

I force myself not to steal a look at his hand again and respond. “Oh. Yep. Just still waking up and then processing the info from the file is all.”

Xavier chuckles and I look at him, a wicked smile paints his face for a flicker of a moment before he winks at me.

‘It’s always the quiet ones.’

‘Hush!’

Terra swoops in and saves the day. “How about a game day?! We can play video games or pool. Cards. That kind of thing.”

I nod my agreement and swallow hard as the brushing movements increase. “Sounds great.”

Chapter Text

I had to excuse myself after breakfast, well lunch. Telling everyone I’d meet them down at the game room, I made my way to my bedroom. The second the door shut behind me I launched myself onto the bed and grabbed a pillow to scream into.

“What the fuck was that?!”

‘You mean Sylus getting you to stop arguing with one look and he followed it up with a very delicious “good girl” and then Zayne managed to shut you up before you even spoke with a simple touch? You mean that?’

‘Yes! That!’

‘That was a dream come true.’

‘I think I need to change my underwear.’

I give the pillow another controlled scream before pulling it away from my face. Blinking a few times I realize I am looking directly at a smirking Mallory.

“Hi, love.”

I groan. “Oh don’t you ‘hi, love’ me!” I shake my finger at her. “You are well aware of everything that just happened and you seem far too happy by it.”

She laughs. “They both got you to stop arguing without words, it was fucking magic.”

I sit up on my knees. “That was actual psychological torture and you know it!”

Mallory slowly sits herself down on the edge of the bed, one leg bent up. “I thought you were going to combust. It was glorious.”

I shake my head at her. “You suddenly some sort of sadist or something? You aren’t supposed to enjoy my misery.”

She leans forward and practically purrs. “Love, that wasn’t misery. That was wordless near un-doing.”

I throw myself back down on the bed, taking the pillow with me and giving a final yell into it.

“My first purchase with my new bank card is going to be buying myself some toys and then my next move is going to be sending you to the free bedroom upstairs.” I tell her.

She laughs again, the sound ridiculously seductive sounding given my already partial worked up state. “Well, I approved of one of those things.”

I roll my eyes even though she can’t see them. “In-sufferable.” I turn my head to look at her.

She shrugs. “Yeah, but you love me too much.” She bends over to place a kiss on my forehead. “And you loved Sylus and Zayne’s actions too.” She retreats quickly as I swing the pillow towards her.

“I wonder how we’d even receive packages here? I bet there is a specific room in the garage or something for package drop off.” I ramble to the ceiling.

“Oh, come on!”

I ignore her. “I wonder if they have discreet packaging here or if whatever I order the brand will be advertised.”

“Ci…”

I roll to my side, facing away from her. “Oh! I wonder if there are any different tech toys here. That could be fun.”

Mallory is suddenly perched over me, her thighs straddle my hip and her face right next to my ear. “If they aren’t for me to use with you, don’t even think about it.”

‘Oooh. That sounded like a threat. Good old dominate Mal coming out to play.’

I click my tongue in response. “It’s too bad I was thinking they could be for use with them seeing how you seem to enjoy them flustering me so much.” I sneak a side glance at her.

She straightens up, a wicked grin slowly appearing. “That I will approve.” She tilts her head. “I might even tell you that that sounds hot.”

I turn to look at her fully, blinking a few times. “What. The. Fuck.”

The grin hasn’t faltered and she looks awfully sure of herself. “Pretty girl.” She purrs. “Who do you think gave them the idea to be so bold?”

My eyes widen in surprise. “What!?” I twist and sit up, nearly bucking her off.

She’s fully straddling my legs, surprise flashing across her face and then is quickly replaced with amusement. “Should have woke up sooner. I had plenty of time to plot this morning.” She shrugs.

“What the hell did you do?” I say, almost breathless.

She wraps her arms around my neck and leans in towards my ear. “Made it very clear what my stance on their advances is.”

His voice in my ear causes me to shiver. “Which is?”

She chuckles, still right at my ear, the sound causing another tremor down my back. “Full. Explicit. Permission.”

“What the hell made you so bold?” I ask her.

She looks at me, her eyes softening and her smile small but radiant. “You.” She places a kiss on the tip of my nose. “You had this fantasy. You had this need. This desire. You made me face the reality that I find even the thought of you and someone else stupidly hot.” She places a kiss on my left cheek and then my right. “You, who poured yourself so heavily into research so you could make sure you wouldn’t hurt anyone.” She kisses my forehead next. “You, the one who fell in love with five impossible men and then suddenly they became possible and you’ve shied away.” She kisses my jaw, left then right again. “You, the one who won’t take what you want.” She kisses under my right ear. “You, the one who keeps fucking melting when they touch you.” She nips at my pulse point.

My breath is hitching with every sentence, every kiss. She was opening me up and showing me to myself, and wrapping herself around me in support at the same time.

She pulls back from her assault and looks at me again, one hand cupping each cheek. “You deserve this. So long as you want them, you should let yourself have this.”

“None of that was fair.” The words come out breathlessly, proving to her I was far more affected than I would have liked her to know.

“If I cared about fighting fair, I wouldn’t have been taking notes over how Sylus and Zayne handled you without a second thought.” The stupid smirk is back.

A little more steady now, I just look at her. Shaking my head lightly, I smile up at her. “You are ridiculous.”

“And yet you still have me in your bed.” She chuckles.

I shake my head more now. “Our bed. That kind of means I don’t have much choice.”

She playfully pushes at my shoulder and looks at the wall behind me for a moment. “Should probably go meet them, like we said we would. Wouldn’t want them deciding we stood them up and have them storm our room, now would we.”

I run a hand over my face. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time one of them caught us in a compromising position.”

She laughs and throws herself backwards towards the headboard. “I kind of want to make that a bingo card now.”

“What!? Don’t you dare.”

She rolls over and slides off the bed. “Aw, come on. A check list? See how many of them walk in on something, or how many times they do until they learn.” She paces at the end of the bed. “Oh! Or.” She rubs her hands together. “On the bingo card, besides having them walking in on us squares, we could have squares with whether or not they try to join.”

“MALLORY!” I screech.

She continues, unphased by my outburst, nodding to herself. “Yes. And squares that hold different positions. Is that too vague?” She hooks a finger on her chin. “Should it be different positions with one of them specifically?” She pauses. “I need paper.”

“Aboslutely not.” I tell her.

She shrugs. “Fine, maybe I’ll make one – or multiple – and just not tell you. I’ll have my fun all by myself.” She starts making her way towards the door. “Oh! I could get Terra involved! A much less scandalous one, I assume you won't want her to have the intimate details. But she could totally have a board with who does what first and actions they take in front of everyone.” She taps her finger on her forehead. “Yes, she’d love that. I’m going to go suggest it to her now.”

“Mallory.” I say in warning.

She turns and smiles, reaches for the door with one hand and gives me a two finger salute before saying. “See ya in the game room, love.” And she bolts.

“You rat!” I yell after her.

Sighing, I make my way off the bed and stare at the now open door for a moment.

‘Should still probably go change your panties. She did a number to you too.’

I groan and grab a fresh pair and make my way to the bathroom.

“She’s gonna regret that later.”

Mallory enters the game room ten minutes after the rest of them, a wicked grin painted on her face.

From one of the couches in front of the massive entertainment center, “Is our girl still in one piece?” Sylus asks as nonchalantly as asking about the weather.

From near the rack of pool sticks, Zayne raises an eyebrow at her, silently asking her the same question.

Mallory laughs at the questioning look Rafayel and Caleb give each other while Xaiver and Terra hold back smiles. “She’s either pleading with whatever deity will listen to end her right now, or she’s composing herself and changing her panties.” She drops the info with a shrug.

Caleb chokes on the drink of water he had just had the poor timing of taking, trying desperately not to spit all over the place, clearly taken by surprise by Mallory’s words.

Sylus chuckles and shakes his head. “Well, hopefully it’s the latter.”

“What the hell did we miss while you were going over paperwork?” Rafayel asks, looking between all of us.

Zayne had gone unnaturally still after Mallory had made her comment, but she caught the hint of a smirk tugging at his otherwise neutral face.

“S-tier flirtation with zero effort. It really is a shame you missed it.” She tells him as she walks past him to take a spot near the tv, choosing to sit on the floor in front of the couch Terra and Xavier are sitting on.

Terra laughs at that. “I don’t know if I’d call it S-tier. It was definitely smooth, I’ll give them that much.”

“Them!?” Rafayel and Caleb say in unison, cutting Terra off.

She ignores the pair. “But I know they can do better.”

Mallory’s eyebrow ticks up, she looks at Terra and not at the two subjects of their discussion. “Oh really? I can’t wait to witness it.”

Caleb steps forward and places both hands on the back of the couch Terra is sitting on. “No, wait. Back it up, buttercup. What do you mean by them? There was more than one instance?”

Mallory snorts. “Multiple, even.”

“What!”

“Well, then I only have partial knowledge.” Xavier looks between Mallory and Terra.

“All of you, stop. It’s not like you missed much.” Sylus tries to quell the chaos.

Rafayel turns and points at him. “He’s definitely guilty.”

Caleb nods his agreement and scans the room, landing on Zayne. “And he-” he points the man out. “-is way too quiet back there.”

Zayne turns to face into the room now, and looks at Caleb, face completely schooled now. “I’m prepping my cue. You are being paranoid.”

Leaning in towards Terra and practically whispering, Mallory says, “Well that was ridiculously smooth.”

Caleb, having heard something but not what was said, turns quickly back towards them and points at their semi-huddled state. “Auh! Secrets!”

Terra laughs. “Zayne is right. You are paranoid.”

“Who’s paranoid?” Cielle asks as she walks in the room.

“Caleb.” Is all Terra says.

She nods. “Yeah, that tracks.”

“I-wha-!” Caleb stammers. “Why am I constantly ganged up on?”

“You’re just that easy to tease.” The three women say in unison.

The five men look taken aback. “Well that was fucking terrifying.” Caleb says.

“Dangerous.” Rafayel leans his hip on the back of a couch. “They spent one evening together and they are on the same wavelength.”

“We might be doomed.” Xavier finishes his thought.

Sylus chuckles. “We’ve been doomed from the start.”

Terra clicks her tongue. “And none of you would have it any other way.” She says confidently.

Silence comes over the room for a few moments, and then Caleb ruins it.

“Well, I mean, if I really had a choice, I might.”

A throw pillow goes flying.

“Kitten, as much as I enjoy watching you go after him for the silly shit he says, maybe stop using my throw pillows as projectiles.”

“Yeah.” Caleb sticks out his tongue at her.

A grin forms on Sylus’ lips. “I have much heavier items you can throw instead. Don’t worry about breaking anything.”

“Hey!”

“I volunteer to be the next person to throw something at him.” Mallory raises her hand eagerly.

Caleb crosses his arms and mutters under his breath. “Of course you would.”

I stand in the entrance of the room still, taking everything in as playful chaos continues unfurling around the room.

Zayne is racking the pool table while Rafayel is grabbing a cue and chalking the tip. There are two arm chairs in the corners of the room by the door, easy places for the pool players to rest between rounds or to seat observers of the game.

Caleb sits on the opposite end of the couch as Sylus, a spot open between them. Terra and Xavier are sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the room. Terra is curled into the far armrest while Xavier sits with one knee bent up and leaning against the other, another open spot between them. Mallory is sitting on the floor leaning against the spot Terra’s legs would be.

“Joining the party, darling?” Sylus asks, grin forming as he looks between the two open spots on the couches and me.

“I’m coming, don’t rush me.” I say as I make my way farther into the room.

“Angel, if that’s what you look like when you are cuming then someone clearly isn’t trying hard enough.” Rafayel quips.

My steps pause as I’m walking by him, my head turning slowly in his direction. He gives me a wink and continues on like he said nothing.

Terra claps. “That was good!”

“Don’t encourage him.” I mumble as I move towards the couches.

Standing in between the two, I realize – even more so now – that I have a choice to make. I glance over at Mallory who just has a shit eating grin on her face.

‘Well she definitely sat on the floor purposely to force this situation.’

‘Of course she did.’

‘Little shit.’

I shake my head and take the seat between Sylus and Caleb, knowing that when Mallory eventually gets tired of sitting on the floor she will be much more comfortable sitting next to Terra than she will next to Caleb.

Sylus shifts towards me, leaning down slightly. “Remember, just like Terra said the other night, I don’t bite unless you ask me too.” He ‘attempts’ at whispering and then sits back up like nothing happened.

My eyes shift over to Terra and Mallory, who are engaged in quiet conversation but still looking this way.

Caleb mirrors Sylus’ actions. “Don’t worry, doll. I won’t let him…” he pauses. “Have all the fun.” Before he also straightens back out.

Rafayel sighs from behind me. “She’s been sitting there for 30 seconds. Don’t torture her already.”

I huff a laugh. “Thank you, Rafi.”

I feel him lean down on the back of the couch directly behind me, his voice now right at my ear. “Don’t worry, angel. I’ll always get you from behind.”

“The phrase is ‘have your back’.” Xavier says, watching everything closely.

“I know what I said.” Rafayel shrugs while standing back up to reengage with the pool game.

I blink a few times before narrowing my eyes at Terra and Mallory. “Fucking hell.”

“Language.”

Terra and Mallory lose their shit, quickly try to stifle their laughs, and immediately lose it again.

“This feels like a planned attack.” I state, crossing my arms.

“If it was planned, sunshine, I’d have had my way with you already.” Xavier deadpans.

“What the fuck did you all put in your lunches?”

“Language.”

“You’ll never win that fight, doc.” Mallory calls over her shoulder.

“We’ll see.”

‘Holy fucking shit. I’m going to implode.’

‘You and me both.’

Caleb slaps his lap once, startling me slightly. “Alright, that’s enough. What do we want to play?”

“I’m kind of enjoying the game we are currently playing.” Sylus leans on the arm rest and looks at me with a smirk and then rights himself and continues. “But I’m not picky. My library has anything you could possibly think of.”

Xavier leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. “The game Rafayel and I were playing last night was pretty good.”

“He cheats! Don’t listen to him.” Rafayel calls over his shoulder as he takes a shot.

“I do not! I didn’t even touch the controller while you were gone.” He counters.

“Suuuuure.”

Xavier rolls his eyes. “Anyway.”

“What do you want to play?” Terra asks me, head tilted.

I look between everyone. “I don’t know jack shit about games here. I figured I’d watch for a bit and maybe join in later.”

“Language.”

“I told you.”

“If that’s what you’d like to do, darling, that’s fine with me.” He distributes controllers using his evol. “But make sure you root for who you think will win. Give them some encouragement.” He winks at me.

Terra, Sylus, Caleb and Xavier all settle on a game to play. Terra confidently informed them that she was going to kick all of their asses, to which she got an immediate language warning from Zayne.

“What’s the point of the language warning if it’s not enforced?” I had asked casually, absentmindedly if you would.

“Oh boy.” Terra says, not looking away from the screen.

Zayne straightens up, leaving his shot behind for a moment and walks over behind me, much like Rafayel had earlier. “You can always see for yourself whether or not it’s enforced.”

His voice in my ear sends a shiver down my spine for the ‘I don’t even know what time’-th today.

‘Gods that sounds glorious.’

‘Thirsty bitch.’

‘Damn fucking straight.’

He chuckles lowly at my reaction, still in my ear before he resumes his shot like he’d never walked away in the first place.

‘Jump him! Jump him now!’

‘Absolutely not.’

“In case you were wondering.” Zayne begins as he lines up his next shot. “You’re at six.” And he sinks his target.

My jaw falls open.

‘He’s been fucking counting!?’

‘Holy shit that's hot.’

‘No, shut up.’

‘I will absolutely not shut up. I wonder what he does with that number.’

‘Well I’m not asking.’

‘You don’t have to ask. He told you that you could experience it if you wanted to.’

‘That’s not what he said.’

‘No, that’s basically exactly what he said.’

“Zayne, how much breaking her is too much breaking her?” Caleb calls over his shoulder from beside me.

From the corner of my eye I can see Zayne pause and look me over before answering. “She can take more.”

Mallory mutters something from across the room and Terra giggles.

‘I’m actually going to die.’

‘Oooooor, and hear me out, we could just offer ourselves over to them.’

‘How is that an option!?’

‘I think it’s always an option based on how it’s been since we walked into this room.’

‘I’m not doing that.’

‘Well then move over, I’ll do it.’

‘Absolutely not.’

Once again, he’s far too close. “Breathe, dear.” Zayne chuckles as he walks past.

‘I need a gods damn drink.’

‘It’s, like, barely 3pm.’

‘It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.’

With that thought and without warning, I push myself up off the couch and quickly get out of Caleb’s way, and head towards the door.

“Where ya going, pretty girl?” Mallory calls, sing-songy, after me.

Rats. I turn slowly and put a smile on my face. “I’ll be right back.”

She eyes me suspiciously but nods. “Alright.”

I resume my trip to the door, weaving past Zayne as he’s about to make a shot. Just as I grab the door handle, her voice pipes up again.

“Just know, I will send one of them to find you if you are gone too long.”

I give a wave over my shoulder and slip through the door, pulling it shut behind me.

“She’s up to something.” Mallory stated only seconds after watching the door shut behind Cielle, turning back to the tv.

Terra snorts, buttons being pressed rapidly. “She probably just needed a breather. They were kind of relentless from the moment she walked in.”

Rafayel gasps from somewhere behind them. “We weren’t relentless. We just didn’t hold back.”

“You broke her.” Mallory replied, shaking her head.

“I did no such thing. The good doctor was doing the most.”

Zayne scoffs. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

Terra cackles. “Yeah. Suuuure.”

“Yours may have been the stealthiest attacks, doc, but they dealt the most damage.” Sylus can’t hide the amusement in his voice. “It was a pleasure sitting next to her while it happened.”

Caleb laughs. “Not gonna lie, I think it would even get to me if you focused that super power my way.”

Zayne raises an eyebrow at his friend. “Super power, huh?” He shakes his head. “I did nothing special.”

Mallory tuts. “I’d beg to differ, doc. That quiet but dominant thing you do really seems to get to her.”

“Oh?” He’s intrigued now.

“Oh yeah. Your stunt after lunch almost made her brain melt. She was losing it when I found her in the bedroom.”

“It was you!” Caleb turns and glares at the man.

Zayne ignored Caleb. “Losing it, how?”

Mallory laughs. “Screaming into a pillow. Could practically feel the gears turning in her head.”

Rafayel takes a shot. “So what exactly was this stunt?”

Zayne lines up his shot, quiet for a moment before exhaling. “All I did was put my hand on her thigh.”

Mallory snorts. “He timed it so when she was about to argue again it made her brain short circuit instead. I don’t know what he did from there, but it kept her quiet.”

“Forehead kisses, thigh touches, and I couldn’t even get her to sit next to me for longer than a few minutes.” Caleb shakes his head.

“Gotta be bolder then I guess.” Terra snickers.

Caleb’s shoulders go a bit slack at her words, controller sitting more in his lap. “I don’t want to scare her.” He says quietly.

Mallory looks at the man, his eyes look almost sad. She and him may have gotten off on the wrong foot, and seem to be staying that way, but she could still feel bad for him. Almost. “If it helps, she wasn’t scared of you during some of your worst moments in the game.” Mallory says softly. “She was scared for you.”

Her words make Caleb pause, his task in the game forgotten, he turns to look at the woman. “Scared for me?”

She nods. “I don’t know what from the game is true or happened or what anyone else knows. So I won’t really get into details, but there were many times she’d cried for you during those times.”

The sadness in her voice causes Caleb’s head to tilt, his focus still pulled away from the game.

“Ha! Got you. Game over, Colonel!” Xavier cheers.

Caleb’s head turns back to the entertainment center and sure enough there is a “Game Over” title on his portion of the split screen. He lets the controller fall to the side on the couch and he sits back a moment, thinking.

I make my way silently down the hall towards the bar, checking over my shoulder once before heading inside.

‘You were serious?’

‘Yep.’

I pull out my phone and check the group chat for the ‘coordinates’ of that wine we’d had last night and then head to the storage room to find that partial bottle.

Once it has been located and I uncork it, I sit down on the end stool and take a big swig straight from the bottle.

‘Barbaric.’

‘No point dirtying a glass. There isn’t much in here.’

‘It’s half a bottle.’

‘It’s like two glasses.’

‘You gonna drink it all?’

‘Well, my mouth has been on the bottle now, so yeah.’

‘Mallory said she’d send one of them if we are gone too long.’

‘Let her.’

I sigh and take another long drink. “I’m calling what happened in there attempted murder.” I say to no one.

‘It was amazing.’

‘They all belong in horny jail.’

Her own thought caused her to snort, shaking her head as she took another drink.

‘You could join them in jail.’

“Hmm?” I tap my fingers on the counter top.

‘Throw them all for a loop and come out swinging just as hard to them.’

I huff. ‘I’d have to be toeing the line of being drunk all the time for that to happen. I’m not even remotely bold enough otherwise.’

I take another drink and then carefully set my head down onto the counter. “I couldn’t even survive 10 minutes in that room.”

“I’d say you survived just fine.”

I jumped at the sudden intrusion of another voice.

Lifting my head and turning slowly, I attempt to shift the bottle so it wasn’t visible behind me. “Caleb? Why aren’t you playing your game?” My voice is a little shakier than I’d like to be.

He shrugs and walks farther into the room. “Xavier killed me. My game ended.”

“Oh.”

He sits in a chair at the table we had occupied last night during girls night, glancing at me occasionally. “Should I ask why you are in here?”

Hoping the bottle isn’t visible, I give him a half truth. “Just needed some quiet.”

He nods, not looking entirely convinced. “May as well finish it then.”

“Huh?”

He nods his head in the direction of the bottle that had actually ended up super visible to him from where he’s seated.

“Oh.”

“No judgement.”

I turn towards the bottle and grab it, a small laugh escaping as my fingers wrap around it. “Probably should.”

His head tilts at my words. “Why?”

I shake my head and give a wave with my free hand. “Nevermind.”

“Aw, come on doll.”

The nickname brings a small smirk to my face, my body betraying me. “I ran away from all of the innocent flirting and had to come get a drink to steel myself.” I shake my head at my own absurdness. “So stupid.”

He laughs. “There was nothing innocent about that flirting, doll.” He crosses his ankle over his thigh, angling back just slightly farther into the chair, eyes focused on me.

“Yeah. Ok.” I take a drink of the wine.

“I’m serious.”

And boy did he sound serious, so much so the bottle paused on the way down from tilting it back.

“Whatever you say, Caleb.”

His eyebrow ticks up, a smirk twitching into place, it seems like he wants to say something but holds back and just watches me as I take another swig. His eyes following the movement of the bottle.

“Is it making you feel better?”

I look at the bottle in my hand and then him. “Better? No. More in control? Also no. But that had been the goal.”

He chuckles. “Back firing?”

“Plan was interrupted.” I state matter-of-factly.

“Oh?” He shifts his weight in the chair, manspreading even more, legs still crossed.

“Yeah.” I place the bottle back down on the counter, noting there was only a few drinks left in it. “The plan was to be alone.” I faux glare at him.

He puts his hands up in mock surrender. “Didn’t feel like sitting there and watching them play still.” He says innocently enough.

“So she didn’t send you after me?” I tilt my head.

He shakes his head. “Nope. But with me gone, she might not send someone else after you.”

“Oh.”

His grin deepens. “You ok?”

I huff. “Oh yeah, peachy.”

“Sure sounds like it.”

I grab the bottle again, a little more aggressively than intended, and knock back another drink. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Caleb.”

He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, forearms resting on his knees. “Say that you want it to stop if that’s what you want.”

I freeze. I don’t want that. Not really. Right? I’m just overwhelmed.

‘In the best way.’

I roll my internal eyes at myself.

“Awfully quiet over there.”

I shift my eyes to him, still unable to say anything.

He stands up and stalks over to me, grabbing the bottle out of my hand and sets it down on the counter behind me. He places his hand on the edge of the counter, bracing himself and caging me in on one side. He turns his head slowly to look at me. “Sounds like you don’t really want it to stop then.”

My breathing is shallow as my brain tries catching up. I haven’t been this close to Caleb since he picked me up like a sack of potatoes that first day.

His eyes search my face, and he must find something there because he’s grinning again. Turning his head back to face the bar he leans forward slightly, lips brushing my ear. “Seems like you might actually want more. Huh, doll?”

My breath catches and heat rolls in my abdomen, a shiver down my spine. These stupidly hot unfair men are going to be the death of me.

‘Or just your ruin.’

‘Shut up.’

He chuckles and pulls back slightly, but still close enough that I can feel his body heat radiating off of him. I still have no words to give him, and at this point I think if I even tried it would just sound like gibberish.

“Gods, you don’t even realize it, huh?”

I look at him questioningly, not trusting my voice.

His eyes flick across my face again. “How much none of us want to stop. How much we all want to keep making you blush and melt at our words.” He leans forward again. “How much we also want more.”

Another shiver runs through me causing my arm to brush against his slightly, a light startled noise escapes from both of us.

From next to my ear still, he sighs. “Cielle.” His voice sounds wrecked. “Tell me to move before I ruin things.”

If I could bring myself to speak, I might have. Might. Probably not though. Between his proximity and the small amount of wine in my system, I don’t think I could tell him to move. Because I don’t want him to. Gods, I don’t want him to.

“Caleb.” My voice is breathy, only audible because of how close he is, I’m sure.

He shifts again so he’s looking at me once more, eyes ever searching. Before I can even blink he’s leaning in closer, eyes on my lips, his other hand tentatively hovering near my neck.

I don’t even realize I’m doing it as I lean forward and meet him half way.

We both pause just before our lips touch. Caleb lets out a shaky breath before pushing the rest of the way forward. The second our lips touch it’s like a spark shoots up my spine, arching me farther into the kiss.

Caleb’s hand braces the back of my head now, pulling me farther into the kiss. He shifts his feet closer to me, slotting himself between my thighs. The hand that had been resting on the counter comes up and cups my jaw, angling my head up more and giving him more access.

The room disappears as our lips dance in time with each other. He pulls back just enough to take a deep breath and searches my face once more. My eyes are closed and I’m panting, that spark still lingering just beneath my skin. Satisfied, he dives back in. His rhythm picking up, he tentatively gives my bottom lip a soft bite.

A gasp leaves me before I can think twice. Caleb’s tongue takes full advantage of the moment and takes the kiss up a notch. His hand at the back of my head tightens slightly, his other is now wrapped around my back.

I moan into his mouth as his hand starts roaming.

“Fuck.” He breathes into my mouth.

Our tongues are dancing now like they’ve always known each other. My hands have made their way to his hips, causing him to groan at the contact.

He pulls away and leans his forehead against mine. “This is…” He shudders. “Gods I don’t want to stop.”

“So don’t.” I barely manage.

He groans again and his lips meet mine once more seconds later. He grinds his hips forward, our bodies impossibly closer. His hand trails down my back and to my hip, slides around to my thigh and rests there for a moment. He gives it a tentative squeeze before he deepens the kiss once more, then he slides it down and begins rubbing my inner thigh.

I shiver at the motion and I can feel him smile against my lips.

He continues his motion, varying depth and intensity, giving an occasional squeeze. Each new movement causes my body to respond despite myself. A shiver here, a gasp there, and each one is feeding him.

I’m lost in him, his lips, his hands. I can’t focus on just one thing, each thing demanding attention and then immediately pulling me away to feel another. His lips have all of my attention at the moment until his hand decides to brush against my core causing a wrecked moan to leave my lips.

“Caleb.” I gasp as he does it again.

“Fuck. Say my name like that again.” He presses his cheek against mine before placing a kiss there.

His knuckles brush against my core again as he trails down my neck, the hand at the back of my head helps to give him better access.

A salacious moan leaves my throat as his hand and mouth work in tandem to slowly undo me, his name leaving my lips once again.

“Gods, I don’t know who is wrecking who.” He chuckles before continuing his assault on my neck.

My hands are now roaming around his body; across the plain of his back, brushing against his abs. After a particularly shattering moment, one wraps around the bicep of the arm he’s teasing me with and my fingers flex against his hip with the other.

“They are going to come looking for us soon.” He says as he kisses across my throat to switch sides of my neck.

He kisses back up my jaw and slowly, torturously, makes his way back to my lips. His movements are slower now, more worship and less desperation, though that doesn’t last long as he gives my lower lip another playful nip.

I sigh against his lips and I return every gesture. “Oh well.”

I can feel a smile on his lips once more as his grip tightens on me. He groans once more as his tongue finds mine again.

And just as quickly as the spell took hold it’s ripped away.

“Holy shit. I guess this definitely counts as bolder.” Mallory’s voice comes from somewhere off to the side.

Expecting Caleb to pull away like a kid being caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he surprises me when he only pulls back enough to rest his forehead on mine.

“I didn’t mean to be this bold.” He answers her, breathlessly.

She clears her throat, I can’t tell the reasoning at this moment, my brain feels far too foggy. “Yes, well.” The words are clipped.

Guilt washes over me suddenly, my shoulders fall and I try to move away from Caleb’s grip.

“Shh, it’s alright.” He reassures me, rubbing my arm.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work and I push against him harder, suddenly desperate to get away.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey! Doll.” Caleb looks at me questioningly.

I can’t meet his gaze, shame rolls over me now. I was just caught by my girlfriend making out with someone who is definitely not her.

One more shove against him and he shifts slightly, giving me enough space to slip off the stool and under his arm.

“Hey, where are yo-”

He doesn’t finish before I’m practically sprinting out the door, both him and Mallory calling after me. I don’t stop until I’m inside my bedroom, breaths coming in frantically, my eyes dart around looking for somewhere to go. They finally land on the doors to the balcony. Suddenly desperate for fresh air, I push my way through one of them, making sure it closes behind me, and slide down the wall right next to it.

“Fuck!” I put my head in my hands before throwing it back against the building.

She watched him after she delivered her message to him. It had been softer than she intended, but it clearly struck a cord in him. He had just stared in the direction of the tv for a while, but she could tell he wasn’t actually watching anything happening on the screen.

Not much longer after that he had excused himself, brief acknowledgement of his words came from each other person in the room, and he slipped out the door.

“You think he’s ok?” Mallory looks up at Terra, who had just gained her own game over screen.

“Hmm? Caleb?” She looks in the direction he’d left and sighs. “Yeah. He’ll be fine. He’s just always stuck between feeling like he’s still the monster they tried making him be and allowing himself to fully feel things.”

“I didn’t mean to break him.” Mallory tips her head back against the couch. “I just wanted him to know she wouldn’t be afraid of him.”

Terra pats her head. “If it helps, I think you succeeded.”

A small smile that Terra can’t see comes across her lips. “Well, good.”

Rafayel sits on the armrest of the couch Caleb had vacated. “You going soft over there?” He asks, head tilted.

Mallory laughs. “Ha! Hardly.” But she knew that the sad look on his face had broken something open in her.

Before landing in this new world and getting off on the wrong foot with this Caleb, she had been fond of the game Caleb. Cielle had teased her when she’d get just as sappy over all the shit the game devs kept putting him through. Part of Mallory was so accepting of Cielle’s feelings towards all of the men in the game because some part of her understood, to a point, in regards to Caleb.

She was by no means in love with him, but she’d held a certain affection for him just the same. Until she was met with his abrasiveness in that park. His attitude rubbed against a part of her in a way that made her want to just keep matching his energy until he submitted to her. Or until he fixed his attitude. She wasn’t sure which. Her response to him had taken her by surprise just as much as his attitude had.

Mallory sat there, her focus alternating between whatever was going on between Xavier and Sylus in the game and the door, waiting for either Cielle or Caleb to walk back through.

Sometime later, having found herself spending more time looking towards the door, she decided she’d go find… one of them. Both for the same reason. To make sure they were ok.

She excused herself much in the same way Caleb had, making her way out to the hallway. Realizing she had no idea where to even begin, she just started opening doors. No sign of either of them in the theater or gym, and assuming neither of them would be in Sylus’ office or the laundry room, she tried the bar.

Opening the door and taking a few steps in, she finally looked up only to be frozen in place at the sight in front of her.

Her girlfriend of five years and one of the men she had fallen in love with, pressed against each other, in one of the most passionate kisses she has ever witnessed. So many feelings passed over her at that moment, but the two that stuck out the most to her were the flick of desire and the pang of jealousy.

Realizing she had been standing here like a creep for far too long, she decided to make her presence known.

“Holy shit. I guess this definitely counts as bolder.” She attempts to say playfully.

Caleb doesn’t seem to be in that big of a rush to end his escapade, she assumes because she made him aware that this was ok.

He places his forehead against Cielle’s. “I didn’t mean to be this bold.” He sounds like he’s run a marathon, voice just as wrecked as how he looked, what she could see of him anyway.

Cielle’s eyes are still closed, breathing heavily, clearly still coming back to the moment.

Another pang of jealousy hits her, and she quickly realizes that she’s jealous of her. Taken aback by her revelation, she clears her throat to try to force it away. “Yes, well.” It came out much more hurt sounding than she intended, causing her to flinch.

In the next moment Cielle’s posture changes, her breathing pattern with it, and she begins pulling away from Caleb.

“Shh, it’s alright.” He soothes her, rubbing her arm.

I want to say something too, but another pang of jealousy hits me in the chest.

She shoves at him again, actually attempting to get away now versus just having a response to her presence.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey! Doll.” Caleb lifts his head off of hers and looks down at her.

Her eyes are open now but she doesn’t look at him. She shoves at him again and he shuffles back a step, no doubt trying to give her a bit of space, but unfortunately she takes the opportunity to completely slip away.

“Hey, where are yo-” Caleb can’t even finish before she has run past both of us and out the door.

Only then do I finally find my voice again. “Cielle!”

“Cielle, come back!” Caleb follows her to the door.

He stands there as he watches her run, his shoulders going slack and his head hanging. “What did I do wrong?” He asks no one.

The sadness in his voice once again pushes at the cracks in her chest, and then guilt follows soon after. “Shit.”

He turns to her, looking at her like he’d forgotten she was even there. He walks over to the bar where they had been and picks up a wine bottle that had been sitting on the counter. Taking a long look at the contents he then knocks back the remaining liquid.

“I-I didn’t mean…. I must have….” He leans his head in his hand, his elbows resting on the bar top.

Mallory shakes her head, despite the fact he can’t see her at that moment. “No, I think that was my fault.”

He turns and looks at her again. “Why would it have been your fault?”

She shakes her head again, disappointment in herself coiling around her ribs. “My tone. I- she must have picked something up in my tone.”

“You barely said anything.”

She sighed, hands rubbing over her face before saying, “It’s not what I said, it’s how I said it.”

His eyebrows knit together in confusion but she continues before he can voice anything.

“I tried not to sound… I tried to sound neutral. I failed. She picked up something and her brain ran with it.” She tilts her head back, looking at the ceiling. “Fuck.”

Caleb lets out a broken laugh. “This might be the most civilized conversation we’ve had yet, and it stems from you catching me making out with your girlfriend and her running away.” He shakes his head at the absurdity.

“Yeah…”

He straightens up and takes a deep breath. “Well. One of us should go after her, but I’m pretty sure she went in your bedroom, so as much as I'd like it to be me I think it needs to be you.”

She nods. “Yeah.”

He walks past her towards the door.

“Caleb?”

He pauses and turns slightly. “Yes?”

Mallory sighs and hangs her head. “I’m sorry for ruining your moment.”

He shakes his head at her. “You didn’t ruin anything, just a miscommunication.” He starts walking again but pauses once more. “Mallory?”

She looks up at him. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for giving me permission to have the moment in the first place.”

She nods at him and gives a faint smile. “Of course.”

He nods back at her and exits the room, turning down the hall back towards the game room it seems.

Sighing and looking back at where they had been passionately wrapped in each other, she steels herself and marches forward to find Cielle.

Cautiously opening the door, Mallory sweeps around the room for any sign of Cielle. Not seeing her on the bed or the couches she checks the closet and the bathroom before nearly panicking. Caleb had said she went down here, right?

She walks to the other side of the bed when something moves in the corner of her eye. A foot is in view of the full glass doors of the balcony.

Mallory opens the door opposite of where the foot is and walks out onto the balcony to find Cielle sitting on the ground, head leaned back against the building and tears rolling down her face. She makes no movement as Mallory approaches.

“Cielle?” She tries to get her attention, nothing.

“Ci?” She tries again. Cielle rolls her head to face the opposite direction Mallory is standing.

Mallory sighs. “Love, please look at me.” She pleads.

When Cielle makes no further movement, Mallory crouches down right at her feet and rubs Cielle’s calves.

“Pretty girl, why’d you run away?”

A choked noise comes out of Cielle at her question. “I’m so sorry.” She sobs out.

“Oh, pretty girl. There is nothing to be sorry for.” Mallory continues rubbing her calves. “Absolutely nothing.”

She sobs again. “I was making out with him, and you walked in. And you sounded so…”

“No. No, Ci. Whatever you think you heard you didn’t.” Mallory shakes her head.

She shakes her head back. “No, you were angry. I heard it.”

Mallory sighs. “No, love. I wasn’t angry. I was…” she sighs again. “I was jealous, but not in the way you think.”

She finally looks at Mallory, tears still running down her face, head tilting. “I don’t understand.” She shakes her head.

Mallory huffs a laugh. “I don’t either.” She squeezes Cielle’s knee. “I was jealous of you.”

Cielle stares at her for a moment and then bursts out laughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny.” She says as another laugh bubbles out of her. “I’m sorry.” She hiccups.

Mallory laughs with her for a moment before she sits herself down at Cielle’s side. “It was such a sudden feeling and I didn’t have time to think too hard about it.” She sighs. “I tried making sure I sounded… well not jealous, but it obviously didn’t work out well. I’m sorry.”

Cielle shakes her head. “No, I-”

“Don’t.” Mallory cuts her off. “It was my fault. I could have left, instead I stood there for too long and knew I needed to shit or get off the pot.” She laughs. “You looked like you were having a good time.”

Cielle buries her face in her hands. “Oh my gods.”

“Yeah, sounded like you weren’t too far off from saying that for him too.”

Cielle makes a choked sound. “Fucking hell, Mal.”

Mallory chuckles. “You gonna survive facing him again?”

She groans and lets her head fall against the building again. “I didn’t even think about that.”

“Not to mention the fact that the others are going to know something happened.” Mallory giggles at the thought.

Cielle’s head whips up and looks at her with wide eyes. “Why do you say that?”

Mallory can’t help but smile at her. “Because Caleb is going to walk back in there like someone pissed in his cereal and we are going back to hang out with them and you have no control over your facial expressions most of the time.”

Cielle gasps. “I do too!”

“Pretty girl, when your mouth isn’t doing the talking your face is.”

“Shut up!”

Mallory shakes her head, a massive grin on her face now. “It’s been too useful to tell you before, but now feels like a good time to warn you.”

“For fucks sake.”

Mallory shrugs. “Sorry, not sorry.”

After she helped me up, Mallory insisted I step in the bathroom and try to fix myself. And boy she wasn’t wrong. The tear streaks on my face and the mess of my hair from where Caleb had held tight, those things were easily fixable. The absolutely kissed swell of my lips and the faint but there marks on my neck were a whole other story.

Walking out of the bathroom I’m met with Mallory giving me a low whistle.

“Better, but you can still totally tell.”

I groan. “Ugh, let’s just… get this over with then.”

We walk silently back down the hall to the game room. Mallory walks in the room first garners a round of welcome backs and nods.

When I walk in it’s like the whole room turns to watch me. I pause just inside the doorway, I can see them all looking me over. Checking to see if everything is fine. Silent questions in their eyes but no one speaks. I take a few tentative steps farther into the room, careful to avoid Zayne and Rafayel’s game. Their eyes follow me as I make my way back over to the couches, the seating arrangement identical to when I first walked in earlier.

Mallory had curled back up on the floor at Terra’s feet, leaving the space between her and Xavier open for me as an option but she nods at me while looking towards the spot between Sylus and Caleb, encouraging.

I give a barely noticeable nod back and take the spot I had previously vacated.

“Welcome back, darling.” Sylus says smoothly, adjusting just slightly as I sit.

I give him a small smile and a nod, unsure what to even say.

They must have picked up a new game since Caleb returned it seemed, as he was back in the game.

I stole a quick glance towards him, his gaze held on the screen, his focus on the game. He didn’t make a move to directly acknowledge me. That hurt more than I would have thought.

The room was eerily quiet besides the clinks of pool balls and the noises of the game coming from the speakers. Even Terra and Xavier weren’t saying anything.

Not being able to stand the stretching near silence, I sigh. “So. Who’s winning?”

Sylus chuckles. “Right now no one, darling. We all seem to be equally locked in and avoiding each other.”

No one else responded. My shoulders slump slightly. “Oh.” I had hoped to spark some kind of conversation.

Not being able to focus on the game, and unsuccessfully getting anyone to talk, all I was left with were my thoughts. And they didn’t even want to have a conversation right now.

I must have absentmindedly been tapping my fingers on my thigh while I zoned out because suddenly a large hand from my right covered the offending hand to stop me. No words. Just a touch that lingered for a beat and then returned to his controller.

My gaze pans in his direction. I catch Mallory staring at me, Terra stealing a glance here and there, and even Xavier risking a look. Finally, tilting my head up slightly, my eyes land on him. Caleb. At first it would seem like he was only looking at the tv, but I saw the swift flick of his eyes in my direction. His face gave nothing away, it just looked like he was concentrating on his game.

And I couldn’t say that wasn’t the case, I don’t know him well enough to know his tells.

‘Yet.’

Unfortunately for me, once my eyes locked on his stupidly pretty face, I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t look away and the very recent memories of that face being so close to mine resurfaced. Heat immediately made its way to my face, there was no stopping it. And yet I still couldn’t look away.