This is set after The Fall of Five. Trigger-warning, attempted suicide. If that will upset you, please don't read this. Otherwise, Enjoy!

Nine's POV

I roll over and look at the clock, 6:00 A.M. I am glad that I got a few hours of sleep. I also know that I'm not going to get anymore. I throw on some clothes and head towards the kitchen.

We went to one of John's old houses to stay until we come up with a plan. Once I enter the kitchen I freeze. Marina is up and moving around making breakfast, and she is humming. Marina is usually the last one to get out of bed.

Marina turns around and says, "Hey Nine."

I say, "Um…Hey, Marina."

She smiles at me and turns back around to the stove. I haven't seen Marina smile since Eight was around. I walk towards the counter and lean against it, studying her. She resumed humming and seems to be making scrambled eggs and pancakes.

I ask her, "Do you need any help?"

She says, "You can set the table."

I do as I'm told and set plates around the table for everybody. I also give everyone a cup and utensils. I put out the syrup, butter, milk, and orange juice.

Sam and Six walk into the kitchen and Marina says, "Breakfasts will be ready in a bit, you guys can sit down if you'd like."

Six shoots me a questioning look as she moves towards the table. I shrug my shoulders and we both sit down. Sam says, "I'll get the others up."

Marina brings the scrambled eggs to the table and sets them down. She smiles at Six and me and we smile back. She turns around and starts putting the pancakes on a plate.

John and Sarah walk through into the kitchen and sit down. Marina turns around just as Adam, Sam, and Malcolm all walk in. Everybody freezes. Marina has been ice cold to Adam since we met up with him. Adam smiles at Marina and says, "Good morning."

Marina smiles back and says, "Good morning. I hope you guys like your eggs scrambled."

I let out a breath I was holding in. Marina sets the pancakes on the table, and everybody else sits down. I dig in first. We have an actual conversation, not about the war, about anything else, really.

Marina even joins in every once and awhile. For the most part, she just sits back watching the rest of us. I keep glancing over at her, and she looks happy, at peace.

Adam offers to clean off the table, and Sarah does the dishes. We all go back to our rooms to get ready for the day.

Once I showered and changed into comfortable training clothes, I walk down the hall. I knock on Six's door. She opens the door and asks, "What is it?"

I ask her, "Can we talk?"

She opens her door and I walk in. She closes the door and sits on the bed. I cross my arms and say, "I'm worried about Marina."

Six crosses her legs and puts her hands in her lap. She says, "Nine, she was smiling today. I don't think we should meddle with anything. If she is finally moving on, then I say we let her."

I sigh. Something about this doesn't feel right. I say, "I want more than anything in the world for Marina to move on, but I don't think she just woke up today wasn't sad anymore."

Six sighs and says, "I don't know. Maybe she is doing that fake it until you make it thing. Maybe if she pretends to be happy, after a while she won't be pretending anymore."

I look at Six and say, "I think you should talk to her."

Six says, "I don't want to say anything that will ruin her good mood, though." I shoot her a hard look and she says, "Fine I'll try to subtly find out what's going on with her."

I say, "Thank you."

I let myself out of Six's room. In the hallway I see Marina. She smiles and wiggles her eyebrows. I look at her confused, then I realize.

I say, "Marina, it isn't what it looks like, we were just-"

Marina holds her hand up and says, "If you two are happy, then I won't judge." She leans closer to me and whispers, "I don't know how Sam is going to take it, though."

I say, "No, I was just, uh, asking Six if she wanted to train with me later, she said no."

Marina says, "I'll train with you later, Nine. Right now, I'm going to hang out with Adam, Malcolm, and Sam. I want to see if I can learn a thing or two about what it is they actually do."

I smile and she smiles back. She walks past me. I turn around and watch her walk away. Maybe she is faking being happy. I really hope that Six is right and she won't have to fake it anymore.

I need to clear my head. I put on my tennis shoes and head out the door. We are right next to a lake, so I decide to run around it.

There isn't always a path to run on, so I have to run on the uneven ground. That's good, though, I need to be able to still be fast on this kind of terrain. I know I can go faster, but I don't want to draw attention to us. John said the Mog's never found this place, so it should be safe for now.

I think about Marina. She seems to be on my mind a lot today. I feel guilty, if it wasn't for me Eight would be here and Marina would be happy. I miss Eight, too. I wish I could talk to Marina about it, but I don't want to upset her more.

I can see through her facade. When she smiles, her eyes don't light up like they used to. She may be able to fool the others, but I know something's wrong.

I remind myself that Six is going to try to talk to her. Hopefully, she can find out what's wrong so we can find a way to help her. I just want Marina's eyes to light up again.

I slow to a walk as I make it back to the house. I didn't even break a sweat. I walk inside the house. I decide that I should check up on Marina.

I walk into Adam's room. They are using it as their little place to do all the techy stuff. When the door opens, all the heads in the room turn to me.

Only three heads, though. I quickly ask them, "Where is Marina?"

Sam says, "She went to lunch with John and Sarah."

I try not to make it obvious as I let out a shaky breath. I walk out of there and go to the training room. I start punching the punching bag. I clear my head and focus on my punches.

After a while of training, I walk down the hallway towards my room. I see Six walking towards her room. I run up to her and ask her, "Did you talk to Marina?"

She says, "Yeah, we talked a lot."

I shoot her a questioning look and she says, "She asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her and I said yes. We ended up not watching the movie and talking the whole time."

When Six looks like she isn't going to continue I ask her, "What did you guys talk about?"

She says, "We talked about Eight. She said she realized that he would want her to be happy."

With that, Six walks into her room and closes the door. I turn around to walk into my room, and I see Marina at the end of the hallway. She smiles when she sees me. I smile back. She runs up to me and asks, "Do you want to train now?"

No, I don't. I just got back from training, but maybe I can figure out what's going on with her. I don't believe what she said to Six, I think she was just trying to get Six off her back. I say, "Sure."

We walk towards the training room and she asks, "Are we going to use legacies or not?"

I say, "Let's not, in case Setrakus Ra decides to pull that crap where he takes them away again."

She nods and says, "I'm ready when you are."

I charge towards her, but she dives to the side. She lunges at my legs and tackles me to the ground. I move my legs so they are wrapped around her head.

I sit up and grab her face in my hands. I say, "Then I snap your neck, and you're dead."

I release her and she says, "This sucks. I am such a bad fighter."

We are both sitting on the floor. I say, "You might not be the best fighter on the team, but you are really good at other things. You can heal people. I know we wouldn't be as strong if it wasn't for you." She smiles and pulls her knees up to her chest. I continue, "Don't even get me started on that bad-ass ice legacy."

She laughs, and actual laugh. I join in. We are both laughing. It wasn't even that funny, but I just love seeing her so happy.

She says, "Thanks for everything, Nine. I think I'm going to go lay down, I've had a pretty eventful day today. I don't blame you for Eight's death."

My head snaps up and I see a few tears in her eyes. She says, "I want you to remember that."

She quickly stands up and walks away. I think about everything that's happened today. Marina hung out with everybody, she smiled and was happy for a bit there. She told me she forgives me, and she wants me to remember that. Why would sh- oh shit. Oh no.

I realize it the exact moment Ella comes into my head. She says, Nine! You need to find Marina! She told me she is never going to see me again and I'm scared.

I rush up and run to Marina's room. She isn't there. I think for a second the I use my super speed to get onto the roof. I see Marina with her arms outstretched. She lifts her foot up. I shout, "No!"

I run up to her and grab her by the waist, pulling her back. I hear Ella say, Nine, do you have her, is she okay?

Marina looks at me wildly and asks me, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

I tell Ella, I got her.

I say to Marina, "Is that why you were so happy today, because you knew it was your last day?"

Ella says, Thank you, Nine.

She has tears running down her face and screams, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I'M SAD ALL THE TIME, NINE!"

I say harshly, "You were just going to leave? Before we saved Ella? She needs you, Marina. We all need you, I need you."

She looks at me and asks, "What am I supposed to do?"

I say, more calmly, "You put everything you have into defeating the Mogs. You train until you forget who you are, that's how I deal. I imagine the day when I have killed the last Mog. After that, I don't know what I'll do."

Marina asks, "How do you sleep at night?"

I tell her, "I only sleep when I am so tired I pass out, and it's only usually for a few hours."

She nods and I ask, "Are you going to try to kill yourself again?"

She says, "I won't today."

I'll take it. We'll just have to take this one day at a time.