I finally did it. I wanted to write a big chapter but it took a lot of my time, so I stopped at that awkward moment. Anyway, you'll see! And thanks for reading if you're doing so! By the way, I hope I didn't do too much grammar/tense mistakes in here. ;_;


Chapter 3 Explanations.

It was a calm afternoon at the Cosmos Space Center; inside, Metis and Aura started working few days ago to develop another robot with a brain far more developed: he'll be even smarter than his two young fellow robots, Clonco and Ponco. If everything went smoothly, the two women's work will last more or less one week, if they spend approximatively seven hours a day. Meanwhile, outside, the weather was beautiful and kind: it was sunny with a slight breeze and a pleasant temperature. Not far from the center, Athena was seeing Juniper: they were playing at the same park she went with Simon last day. The two girls were sitting on two swings. Athena didn't see Junie since almost one month and a half, and she missed her; so, being able to see her again made her very joyful.

"What did you do the last few days, Thena?" Juniper stopped swinging and sat on the grass, looking up at her friend.

"I spend a lot of my time with my mom's student. His name is Simon." Before she knew it, her cheeks were blushing at the moment she pronounced the man's name.

"Who's that? What does it look like? Is he nice? Oh, Thena, are you in love with him? Tell me, come on!" She was asking so many questions that Athena didn't even know to what she was supposed to answer. Some of them resulted in making her blushing even more.

"Junie, stop! Lemme tell you everything, okay?" She took a deep breath, "I know him for, uh, more than one month now. He came to the lab shortly after we last met you and me. We both got along very well, you know. Though he's kinda scary at first sight because he wears all that black stuff and he sometimes come to the lab with his sword. He loves samurai things."

"Aw, that sounds great! I wish I could meet him…" The little girl started thinking to what Simon could possibly look like, fixing the sky and its clouds. "But Thena, are you really in love with him?"

"No!" She frowned, "I didn't say that! Okay, he's gorgeous and everything but I just like him as a friend. I think. And Aura, his sister –you know her anyway, would be really angry if that was the case. She doesn't like me, mainly since I know her brother."

"You sure about that? She always seems so kind and nice, not to mention with your mom! She's always so close to her and they've some sort of bond. I never talked a lot to that woman but I really wish I'd a big sis' as cool as her."

"Well, she's kind but not with me. Last time, I heard her argue with Simon. Both of them thought I was back in my room, but I stayed hidden behind the nearest wall and I listened to everything they said. Since that time, I do my best to avoid her otherwise I'm feeling really uncomfortable." Athena remembered all the bad things Aura said about her and felt some sort of twinge of sorrow. What did she do wrong? Even while she listened to the argument, she couldn't understand. She even heard things so weird after that, she didn't know what to believe. Apparently, Aura was in love with her mom. Athena found that rather strange, but as the little girl she was, she started thinking that she would surely understand when she'd grow up.

Athena stood up and to sat again but correctly on the swing, intending to tell the rest of the story to her friend. She needed to talk to someone about everything she heard about herself, since she couldn't confide in her mother. Furthermore, maybe Junie should be able to know what to do; she was a very intelligent little girl, too.

"Aura couldn't stop provoking Simon by talking about me with a sarcastic and nasty voice. She never stopped repeating that nickname, 'the little princess', which is supposed to define myself. Sometimes, my mom calls me like that but when she uses it, that's so cute and I really feel good. With Aura, that's the contrary. Also, she wanted to make him confess his supposed love for me."

"His w-what?! So he's really in love with you?!" yelled Juniper, shocked by what she heard. She couldn't let her friend continue her sentence.

"Junie, just lower your voice because there are people around here, and stop interrupting me, okay? That's not true! And even if it was, why should you care anyway?"

"…Fine. Just go ahead."

Her friend seemed to be suddenly upset, though Athena couldn't understand why she was reacting as she did.

"Anyway. That's not true like I said, but she really insisted on that fact." Athena continued, "And then, Simon started to become mad. He's usually so calm, I was truly astonished. Then… I…" She didn't felt like being able to continue her story. What she heard next was still disturbing her and she still didn't even know if she understood really well the point of their argument. Of course, she wanted to tell her but she felt uncomfortable with what bothered her for a few nights.

"Yeah, you what?" Juniper frowned.

"…I don't think I should be telling you that," she started to whisper, as if she feared to be heard by Aura or someone else that shouldn't be here, "That's kinda… a secret."

"Hey! I'm your friend, Thena! I'm not going to repeat it, y'know… Please, trust me." Her eyes seemed to beg her and yet Athena knew she could be helpful, so she didn't refuse the offer.

"Alright... Aura is… er… She loves my mom. Frankly, I don't understand because I was always told that men and women can be together, but yet it seems to be possible. I'm not judging Aura; I just wish I could understand a little more."

Athena was still a little girl despite of her intelligence and that side of love was still unknown to her and she didn't always understand when things became complicated. She wasn't fully interested in love and everything, a completely normal thing for her age.

"Oh, I see…" Juniper finally said, after reflecting further on the matter to know what to say to her friend. "That's not a problem. I don't think you misunderstood what she said; a woman can easily love another one. I believe Aura is jealous of you."

"Jealous? But… She's a grown woman, and I'm only a child, that's not fair…"

"Jealousy cannot be controlled, Thena. I didn't meet him yet, but I'm sure Simon really is attached to you, and the same goes for your mom despite the appearances. Aura may wish to be as loved as you are." Athena was suddenly lost in thought. What Juniper was saying had sense, after all. Especially since Simon spent hours to reassure her. Juniper suddenly spoke again, making Athena come back to reality. "I don't believe you should continue to avoid her. She must feel really lonely…" Juniper lowered her eyes, thinking about her situation. The young girl is living alone with her dad since her birth, because her mother died giving birth to her. Athena, pained by her suffering, came near her and put her hand on her friend's shoulder with a slight smile.

"Just try talking to her, okay Thena? She's like us, she has a heart and I'm sure she won't be mean to you anymore."

"I'll try, for you." She promised, and then hugged her. "Thank you for being here for me. You're the best friend in the world!" Athena was making the victory sign with her hand, a cheerful smile appearing on her face again.

"I really didn't do anything, y'know…" Juniper blushed, not used to compliments.

"Nah, you're always doing a lot for me." she confirmed and then suddenly had an idea, "Listen, why don't we head back to the center? You could come with me to see Aura. I think she and mom must be taking a break from their new work."

Agreeing, Juniper got up and smiled, "Okay, come on! Let's do this!"

The two girls started to walk towards the Space Center. While they were talking about school to Athena's request, they suddenly ran into somebody. Juniper knocked herself on the body of a tall man; Athena looked up to recognize Simon, much to her surprise.

"Oh no, I-I'm really sorry sir, I…" Junie, on the other hand, was really embarrassed and started coughing, something which was always happening to her when she was under stress. She didn't know what else to say and had turned beetroot. She felt miserable.

"Simon! What are you doing here?" Athena took the opportunity to slip into the conversation and wanted to hug him to say hello, but as Juniper was still next to him, speechless, she decided that would be inappropriate.

"I was going to look for you at the park, but I see that I found you earlier than I expected," he laughed softly and then added, "And who's your clumsy friend?" Simon knelt to face Junie who was still in shame.

"I'm sorry…"

"You're 'sorry'? What a curious name." Simon seemed to enjoy his jokes because he snorted after saying that. Athena rolled her eyes.

"No!" Juniper huffed, "I-I mean… My name is Juniper Woods. I know Athena for about two years now."

"So that's you, the friend she talks very often about. Well then, that's nice to meet you, Juniper. My name is Simon. I'm Metis's student." The man-in-black patted Juniper on the head, as he was usually doing to Athena. The latter crossed her arms and scowled when she saw the kind gesture, a bit of jealousy in her eyes. 'Why isn't he saying hello to me, too?' She wondered, without removing her eyes from them.

Juniper was pleased to finally meet him, after everything Athena said to her about him. He was exactly as she imagined and wasn't even impressed by him. She wanted to speak with him but didn't know where to start, and the way Athena was looking at her made her worry, though she couldn't help but enjoy a little, seeing that she seemed jealous because of Simon: it confirmed what she always thought.

"Um, well, can we go back to the center now?" Athena says with eagerness in her voice, looking both at Simon and Juniper.

"Can you please wait for my return? I just remembered that I need to go buy something for my sister and Metis's work. I won't be long, that would be really nice of you two if you were waiting wisely." Simon put his gaze directly on Athena, smirking.

"We will, Mr. Simon!" Juniper answered right before Athena had the chance to do so. The girl with the pink headphones really liked her friend, but once Simon was the main subject, she felt like she always hated her. Why was she so jealous? She didn't want to think about it.

Simon left to head back to the commercial area of the town, so the two girls were left alone.

Athena started thinking that Juniper could have some kind of crush on him, and it actually made sense. It'll explain why she was so upset when she believed that Simon confessed his love to Athena! However, she didn't understand how it was possible to love someone we barely met. Juniper never spoke of boys when they were together, she always told that she was too young to think about them and, sometimes, she even said they were all the same: scoffers. Junie really acted rather strange now. Yet Athena had always been so calm, she didn't want to argue with her friend but she couldn't leave her stole the only friend she had.

"Are you mad, Thena?" Juniper suddenly asked, seeing that Athena still had the same look on her face.

"Nope. I'm not." Athena merely answered, trying to sound innocent and calm.

"Oh yes, you are."

"I'm telling you that I'm not." There was a break which lasted for about fifteen seconds, and then, "Why are you bothered asking me this stupid question?"

"That's because you're bad at lying, Thena!" Juniper's remark really annoyed Athena: it was the straw that broke the camel's back. She couldn't stand her haughty attitude.

"Leave Simon alone, okay?" Athena eventually said with a confident voice, like she never had before.

Deep down, Athena wanted Simon to come back as quickly as possible because she didn't want to fight with Juniper; but she knew they would argue either way and there was nothing to do about it.

"I didn't do anything! We just met!" Juniper started to be on the defensive. She couldn't understand why Athena was so stubborn believing she did something wrong. Was it just because Simon seemed to like her?

"Yeah, that's right. You just met, and you're already perfectly fitting together like two pieces in a puzzle."

"But, Thena…"

"If you really care so much about him, just go away with him and never come back again!" Athena clenched her fists, to fight back the tears that well up in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of her.

"That's stupid! If you continue like that, you'll behave like Aura did towards you the other day!"

Athena couldn't stand being compared to Aura; it reminded her all the awful things she said about her. She moved to be right in front of her, "I'm going to—, " but she was stopped in her move by someone who dragged her away.

"What's going on here?" The voice sounded familiar. Way too familiar to them, and it was even able to put a smile on Athena's agitated face.

"She believes I stole you from her," finally spoke Juniper.