Sync's POV.

*late night*

She sleeps soundly. This put a faint smile on my face. 'Wake me up later, okay?' is what she said to me.

Huh. She sure squirms a lot. Cute. Adorable. I wanted to get these unwanted thoughts out of my mind; I don't even know what I'm saying anymore…

Hah hah.

"..Ion." Arietta mumbled. This made me flinch. Ion. Why..? Whenever she says Ion's name, this only makes me angrier. I... I've never been this angry at him. All these curses come out of my head all of a sudden…

'I hope you burn in hell.'

'Die. Die. Die!'

'Damn you, I hope you rot in there.'

I hated everything. I hate the Score. I hate Ion. I hate myself. But why can't I bring myself to hate HER?

"..Sync."

"Huh?!" I flinched again. "...She's asleep." Why'd she call me? Tch… It's not like I care. R-right..?

Gah!! I have to snap out of this. Well… It's pretty late… I'll just go to sleep instead.

I closed my eyes. I thought of what happened earlier…

I… kissed her. Well, basically it's 'cause she was out of breath. But…

I was too tired to argue with myself. I fell asleep…

Arietta's POV.

"..ngh." I woke up. It was still before dawn "Humph, I told you to wake me up, and now YOU'RE asleep. Well, it's still not dawn anyway…" I mumbled. Well, he is kind of cute when he sleeps. He looks so peaceful.

He sleeps like a baby. This made me giggle. I leaned closer to him. I couldn't help but put my hand on his cheek. I stroked his cheek with my thumb gently. I really had no idea what I was doing now, but I liked it.

I really, really wanted to hug him. He was really cute when he sleeps, aside from being clueless. He was really cute and adorable. I didn't know why I was even thinking of him that way. And the weirdest part was… I didn't even bother thinking about Ion.

When I was reassigned that time, I was really frustrated and sad. But when I saw Anise and Ion. They seemed really close. Like they were meant for each other. I used to get really mad just thinking about it. But.. I wonder why I'm not mad now… I… don't know.

I went moved away from Sync, I was getting sleepy again. I went back to sleep.

Before going back to sleep, I swore I saw a smirk… Maybe it's just my imagination. I was too tired.

Sync's POV.

'She seriously didn't think I was asleep, did she?' Heh.

I put a hand on my cheek. The way she touched my face, it felt good. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I glanced at a sleeping Arietta. I grinned.

I waited for dawn. My clothes were already dry, so I put them on. I noticed Arietta's… thing. 'What the hell is this? If you ask me, Tokunaga's better than this… thing.' Oh yeah. I had to wake her up.

"Hey, Arietta… Wake up. C'mon, it's almost dawn. Aaarieeetta…." She's so hard to wake up. I raised my voice already, nothing. So yeah, I poked her head.

"Oow!! That hurt!" she whined. I chuckled. "..Oh, you woke me up. Thanks." She said.

I chuckled again. "Whaaaat?" she whined. "You don't know how hard I went through waking you up, I had to poke your head so hard."

"I was tired from yesterday, okay?" she sighed. "Hurry up. I'll wait outside." I said turning back.

"Okay." She replied. While waiting, Legretta and the others arrived. "..Took you long enough." I said impatiently.

"I'm glad you're okay." Legretta said. "Where's Arietta?" Largo asked. "I'm here!" She answered, coming out. Okay, that… thing's really freaking me out now.

Behind Largo was Asch and Dist. "Huh. So you were punished? And when I thought you and Arietta ran away." Asch smirked.

"..Sounds something only you and Natalia would do." I retorted. The others chuckled; Legretta put her hand on her mouth, refusing to give in to the laughter.

"And Sync, where's your mask?" Dist asked. "How was it here overnight in the Marsh?" Largo cut in.

"…Nothing special." I smirked. "Hey." Dist was left in the dark again. "Where's your mask?" Legretta asked. "Hey! I asked first!" Dist butted in, but naturally we left him out.

"Huh? My mask..? It got lost when me and Arietta were pulled by this monster in the lake." I replied. "Sync…" Legretta mumbled. "I told her." I looked away from their gaze. "Huh? You told her? More importantly, are you okay with that Arietta?" Asch asked with a worried expression.

"Um… Yeah." She said looking away. "And? He's practically Ion you know." Asch reminded her. That's right. I'm practically him. But… "No he's not. He's Sync. They may share the same face, but he's Sync." She replied with a hint of anger. My eyes widened. I'm myself? "You're right, he's himself." Legretta smiled.

"Besides, I like him better when he's Sync." She said. "Ohooo." Asch held his chin and smirked. "W-what?" she asked nervously. "You, like him?" Asch grinned. "H-huh? I didn't mean like LIKE. I mean I just… umm.." she couldn't find an excuse. I looked away.

"Well, technically, Ion's kind of… feminine in ways, so yeah. Sync's better being Sync." She said. I tried as hard not to laugh. "And you love him don't you?" I tried not laughing. Legretta and the others tried not to, too.

"Yeah, you got a point, when you try and compare Sync and Ion, well… How do I put this, Ion looks like a girl. Even if Sync and Ion have the same face, you can totally tell Sync's a guy, but when I first met the Fon Master, I thought he's a she. Oh yeah, and his voice… It's so high-pitched." Asch tried not to burst out laughing.

"Yeah, but Sync's voice isn't like that." Largo added. "Personally, out of all the Ions I've seen, Sync's the best. And the Ions I've seen look weak, no offense. But just look at Sync." Legretta said, in her opinion.

"Well… Ion may look like a girl but—" Arietta was cut off. "Oh my, you think so too? Even if he IS a boy, but looks like a girl, you fell for him? So what are you? A lesbian?" Dist asked.

"How vulgar!" Arietta shouted. "Yeah, even I thought it was vulgar." Legretta said. "Humph! That's because you always leave me in the dark." Dist shot back.

"Back to the topic, --" Asch was cut off by Dist. "By the way, the female soldiers in the HQ think Sync's… "Hot"." Dist said a matter-of-factly.

"WHAT?!" We all said in unison. "I just heard them, okay?" Dist retorted. "Yes. I have seen the other female stalking him." Largo held his chin. "Gaah!! Stop it already, it's sickening." I shouted.

"I can't stand it anymore!" I honestly couldn't take it. "By the way, you told us before, the both of you fell into the lake?" Asch asked. "..Y-yeah, why?" I asked nervously. "How did it happen?" he asked.

"Um, well I was pulled by the monster, and Sync grabbed me, but the monster was too strong, so the both of us fell." Arietta explained. "Hmm.. If you say it like that, you must've been the first one who fell, followed by Sync. And.. How long were you there?" he asked.

"..I dunno." I answered. "What I'm really asking is, did you have to do CPR or something?" Asch smirked.

Arietta and I glanced at each other. The both of us blushed. "Oh.. Oho!! So you did it?! You kissed her?!" Legretta squealed. "Oh my." Asch covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. "N-no way!! There is no way I did CPR!" I blushed madly. "..A-and shouldn't we go back already?! We've been here in the marsh, talking about unnecessary things! We can be attacked anytime." Arietta added.

"Hoookaaayyy. If you say so." Largo scoffed. "Maybe this punishment was really worth it after all." Legretta said happily. 'Yeah… Maybe.' I thought. We boarded up the ship, I noticed some female soldiers staring. Ugh… Disgusting. I needed time alone, so I went to the deck. "Hey." Someone called me. I turned my back and saw Arietta. "You promised to tell me." She looked serious.

"What was it again?" I asked. "The reason you were born, I want to know. But it's not as if I don't like you existing, okay? I just… wanna know." she looked away. I walked closer to her and put a finger on her forehead. Heh. She thought I was going to poke her again. But actually.. I was going to trace the name of Ion. I started writing his name with my thumb.

I… O… N… "W-what about Ion?" she asked. "The Score dictated he was going to die, so I was born. No... WE were born." I explained. "We?" she asked. "The Ion that read the seventh Score. He was a replica too." I looked away. "W-what? What do you mean?!" she was shaking.

"The original died two years ago. The replica Ion who recently died was replicated again." I explained; I tried my best not to sound mad, I hated mentioning his name.

"..What?! Ion died two years ago..?" she bit her lower lip and tears were forming. But she continued, "..The replica of Ion was replicated, again?"

"Yeah. Anise named him Florian." I said. "Innocent One…?" She mumbled. "So now that I've answered your question, can you leave me alone now?" I sounded bored. "Huh? Wait, one last question. Was I the only one who didn't know?" she asked with pleading eyes. "Y-yeah. But it was because the Commandant knew you'd kill yourself if you found out about the truth." I tried not to look at her.

"..I'm not like that. I would've gotten over him." She sternly said. "What? You would've gotten over him? Arietta, I know you. You wouldn't have gotten over him." I scoffed. "No, really. I would have, though it wasn't going to be easy." She looked at her feet. She sounded lifeless.

"Gloomietta." I poked her head. "Huh? H-hey! That's not nice!" she pouted. I chuckled. "Huh. Now I know which buttons to push." I smirked. "Whaat?!" she whined. "That's why Anise calls you gloomy. You know, you look better when you're smiling." I unconsciously blurted.

"You think so?" She was smiling now, blushing a light pink. I hid my blush with my bangs.. "Uh.. yeah. I mean no one looks good gloomy." I said nervously. She giggled. She looked so.. beautiful. Gah! Sync, snap out of it!

"Nice conversation." Asch scoffed. "Why are YOU here?" I said, bored. "Oh, you want me to leave the both of you alone? Okay." He smirked. "Dammit you're so annoying!" I yelled.

"Hah hah. I'm kidding! Legretta wanted me to call you, we have a new assignment." Asch wasn't kidding now.

"Fine." I walked past him. Arietta sighed. Then the both of them followed me.

I wonder what we have to do again…

(A/N: Yeah, their conversation in the Marsh was pretty long, and what surprises me, not a single monster attacked them. LOL. Onto the next chapter.)