Burnt Land of Memories

How long had she been there? She didn't even know, but it could've been in the vicinity of several hours. It didn't feel like it, though. No, to her it felt like she just got off the subway. Everything felt new and shiny; like she was discovering the Lobby of the Kerning Square for the very first time. Had the chandelier always sparkled under the fluorescent lights like that? Was the music always so terrible? Everything was coming back into focus…and nothing felt familiar. Chaunti sighed; her hypnotherapy of sorts was starting to wear off. She didn't even realize had been walking until she stopped in front of a display and her calves felt like they were burning.

Behind the thin sheet of glass, three mannequins sat: a man in a Fedora hat and matching suit, a woman in a (really cute) blue dress, and a kid in a bunny suit. They were seated around a table with the kid in between the adults; the woman's beady, lifeless eyes were staring at the man, and he back at her. The kid placed in the middle was facing Chaunti, its head tilted slightly to the right. He (or was it a she?) had a teacup in his hand; the rest of the set was dispersed around the table. A matching pot was in the middle, next to a plate of scones and cookies.

Chaunti wasn't even sure what they were trying to sell; the tea set, the clothes, maybe even the plastic pastries; but she knew she would've bought the entire display if someone told her it could come to life and play out this perfect little fantasy. She sighed; feeling defeated, and took a seat on a bench across from the store. Ever since she was a little girl, she had imagined the man she was going to marry; how he was so strong and handsome, smart yet tough, and most importantly, completely and utterly devoted to her. That was her aim, her goal; how she was going mould her life. She had excelled at everything she was taught, having mastered the Magician's basic attacks within a week. There was no reason she couldn't…force her life to play that way. That is, until she met what she could describe now as the most difficult man she had ever met.

They were only children at the time. They had tea parties, waved sticks around in the back yard pretending to fight monsters, played house and called each other 'mom' and 'dad' before they even knew what it meant to be parents. It was all in good fun, though, nothing serious. But even then, she had gone to her mother after one of their play dates and declared with the utmost confidence, "I'm going to marry him someday."

Her wish came true a few years later, when her future father-in-law arrived on her door step with his family in tow. Once everyone was seated comfortably in the living room, he pushed his son forward and told him to speak. The boy stammered so badly that Chaunti could hardly understand a word he was saying, and in the end, he pulled a small, velvet box out of his pocket. His father whispered something, and next thing everyone knew, the boy was down on one knee, opening the box to reveal a pink Diamond ring, carved into the shape of a rose. Chaunti didn't even have time to blink before her mother stood up, tears in her eyes, and declared that they accepted. But there was no 'they'; just 'her' and 'them'.

After that, the childhood fantasy began to melt away, revealing the awful truth that was lying beneath it the whole time. Her life seemed to spiral out of control right before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her fiancée started disappearing; gone for hours on end. Sometimes he wouldn't even come home until sunrise. One time he came home with a black eye and a number five carved into the inside of his left arm, and after that, Chaunti started putting the pieces together and figured out where he was headed every night. The beatings got worse and worse, to the point that his parents confronted her about whether or not she knew what he getting himself into. In her interest, she lied and said she didn't know. She even squeezed out some tears when she was shown the bruises and cut marks. And then one day, they just stopped. He started coming back earlier and earlier, walking normally; no bruises, no blood. He got better. Their families were relieved; Chaunti was not.

She wasn't stupid; she knew he was headed into a bad part of Kerning City, provoking the thugs there and looking for a fight that he knew he was going to lose. It was his way of relieving the pressure; he relished in the pain and the danger of it all. He was lucky he was still breathing, yet he continued to push it. But Chaunti didn't stop him; even if she tried, he wouldn't have listened. But she was hoping that he would return to her on his own. In a way she was glad he was getting the life kicked out of him. Maybe one really bad blow would knock some sense into his thick skull, make him see that the thrill of rebellion wasn't worth risking his life; that everyone was better off just playing their roles.

But when he got better, it only meant one thing: he had found friends. All those times of him being beat up; he must have attracted the eye of some thug leader. He was one of them now. He had found a way to feed his addiction and be able to mask it perfectly. Chaunti should've been happy; he was willing to play the part of the perfect husband and father, just so long as he got his fix of danger and sense of belonging. It was what she wanted: a perfect illusion to satisfy their families, not to mention she had finally gotten her childhood fantasy of the perfect husband. But she wasn't happy. Uhg, she was acting like a child…and she knew it.

One day, she just woke up and thought, "Fantasies aren't good enough anymore." She sees the error of her ways; sees that a fake perfection is not the equivalent to a hard, but realistic happiness. And all of a sudden, the world was completely upside down…or at least, she tried to convince herself that it was "all of a sudden," and that she didn't spend all her life looking at a world that's totally backwards-upside-down and tell herself that it wasn't. But she didn't focus on that for long; no, that wasn't her problem. Her problem was figuring out how to get out of a suffocating soon-to-be-marriage.

It seemed simple at first; tell her mother that she didn't wanna marry him. She had made arrangements to meet her at their old place in Ellinia. That day, when she arrived, her mother had been sitting on their couch in the exact same position as she was the last time she was there; the day her fiancée proposed and she agreed without even asking her daughter. There were tears in her eyes. She had heard the good news: he was back to normal, no longer lashing out or getting into fights and hurting himself. She pulled Chaunti into a hug; it felt comforting and…motherly. That was probably the most motherly thing that woman had ever done in her life. She whispered words of congratulations in between choking back sobs, and muttering, "Oh, my makeup…" Her father would've been so happy, the woman had said at the end. And Chaunti had another realization: she couldn't do it. She couldn't tell her mother. She couldn't tell the woman that she wasn't the little girl who dreamed of a handsome prince and a perfect family; that she made a mistake. Her pride wouldn't allow it; it wouldn't allow her to admit she was wrong.

Of course, her other option would've been to go to her fiancée and get his parents to call it off, but his relationship with them was still on icy rocks after his phase of rebellion. Not to mention, they still held a grudge against Chaunti, believing her to be the perfect trophy wife, and bitter that she couldn't protect and control their son. There was no way in Zakum's Altar that they were going to agree to anything the young couple asked. Beside, Chaunti already knew how her soon-to-be-mother-in-law would react: there'd be a lot of tears, for sure, and probably screaming about Chaunti ruined her son's life by making him throw away all those years and investing in a relationship that wasn't going to happen because the sponging housewife had a sudden change of heart. If her pride wouldn't allow her to admit to her mother that she wasn't happy, it certainly wasn't going to stand for that kind of insult…and not even Chaunti could be sure how she'd react.

"Chaunti?" The voice interrupted her thoughts. At her right, she saw a window. A man's face appeared a few seconds later. It was cold, emotionless; that was good. It was going to make things a bit easier today.

A handful of dust sailed up her airways when Chaunti drew a breath. With temperatures high enough that one could crack an egg on the ground and watch it simmer it was already hard enough to breathe as it is. The dirt that traveled in the air merely aggravated her already dry and itchy nostrils. She really hated this place.

They were in an open area of Perion; lots of people below them, training. The man took a quick glance at Chaunti, and seeing her stoic face and calmly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, he gestured for her to follow him down the winding trail. At the sight of their approach, players stopped their activities, clearing a path for them, and couldn't help but whisper and trade glances as the blond passed by, rubbing on her already raw nerves. Oh, what she would give to be able to hand those players a piece of her mind… But the family already had one troublemaker; if they were both immature and clearly incompetent, it would probably drive both their parents over the edge. So she did what she knew she had to do; bear it and move on. Her fists were clenched along with her arms wound tightly against her torso. She drew another breath; there was only more dust. All eyes followed her until she and her entourage that was forcibly placed with her arrived before a portal, and disappeared into it.

When Chaunti opened her eyes, hundred, maybe thousands, of doors, row after row after row, stacked floating one above the other, all stood before her. She was trembling slightly; she let out an irritated sigh. Why was so nervous? She knew this was coming. And besides, if anyone should be embarrassed, it wasn't her. He was the one in suspension limbo; he was the one who had his face broadcasted all over the world; and most importantly, he was the one who was going to have to explain the bad news to his parents.

"This way," he said. When Chaunti finally took a moment to look at him, she noticed his shiny, black name tag read "Damani" in white, bold letters, with the title, "Head Excursion Supervisor" in small print below it.

She followed Damani through another portal, and another one, and another one… She was at least a hundred feet above the ground by the time her supervisor exited the portal and made his way across. He stopped at a random door; no numbers or anything to distinguish it from all the other doors that were in this dump. He pulled out a set of keys. Well, "set" might be a bit of a stretch; the metal chain itself was in the shape of a ring and it was small enough that Chaunti could wear it as a bracelet, yet the collection strung around it was almost the size of her head. It took all of thirty seconds for Damani to pull out the one he wanted (tiny, rusty, and silver, just every other one), and stuck in the hole, turning it twice clockwise and once counter. The hinge squeaked as the door swung open.

"What took you so long?"

Off in the distance, Chaunti could see him. He had his back toward her, standing atop a rock and staring out into oblivion. In a way that Chaunti was sure defied laws, a second sun was located above his head, identical to the one just behind her in that it was scorching hot and blinding with its light. Carefully, she took a step forward, slightly startled when a piece of dry dirt crumbled to dust beneath her feet.

"Blame your parents," she replied. "They didn't post bail until last night."

Slowly, the figure turned around to face her. What Chaunti saw, she was half-expecting. Dark circled rimmed the bags beneath his eyes. His skin was tanned and glistened with sweat; the clothes that adorned his body were no longer smooth and shiny, but covered in dirt and slightly ripped, the leather dried and splitting open, giving him a worn-out appearance. All in all, he looked more like a homeless drifter, just returned from his wanderings in the Nihal Desert, than the trouble-making Rogue of a respectable family.

"Warren," Damani called. "You're free to go."

Warren showed no real reaction as he hopped down off the ledge, calming strutting across the empty grounds and past Chaunti and the guards. She offered a small twitch of the lips; a quick glance followed by a look-away, and followed her fiancée out the door as it slammed shut behind her.

"As you probably know," Damani continued, "if you break the terms, you will be brought back here to serve out the rest of your suspension."

Warren nodded as he walked. Chaunti could tell he was only half-listening and was eager to get out of there.

"I can take it from here, thanks," Chaunti offered, putting a smile for good measure. Aside from Warren, she had yet to find one man who could resist her charms and that day was no exception. As Damani and his men passed Warren, she could almost swear she heard a faint laugh blow by in the dry wind.

"You really shouldn't be laughing," she said, once she was sure their company was out of earshot, "especially when you know what's in store for you the minute you're back on the map. And all I can say is, good luck; you're gonna need it." She gave him a shrug and a bored glance as she made her way back down the portals. When she reached the bottom, she was slightly surprised Warren wasn't right behind her, and looked back up to find him in the exact same spot he was in a few minutes ago. She waved at him, yelled at him to come down so they can leave, but he didn't budge. Already on the edge, Chaunti contemplated blasting an Energy Bolt at him to get his ass moving, but sighed in defeat when she remembered that all Skills are locked in this limbo, and all weapons confiscated. They kept small-time gang lackeys like Warren in the same dimension as sadistic Dark Knights with blades twice the height of Chaunti.

"Whatever," she muttered. She didn't want to spend any more time there; her hands couldn't stop twitching and she could already feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat. Her breath quickened its pace just a little as she turned around one last time, to see Warren still standing in the same spot, unmoving. Shaking her head, Chaunti made her way out the door, the heat of the Burnt Lands actually feeling cool against her skins which mere moments ago had been sizzling under a heat lamp in another dimension. She took a deep breath of relief.

Warren had caught up to her eventually, grabbing her arm just before she got into the Taxi. The driver gave him the stink eye, which to be fair, probably seemed justified. A young, pretty girl wandering from the outskirts of Perion and a scuffed-up Rogue who stops her just before she was getting into a Taxi to go home. No words were exchanged as he got in after Chaunti, and the car sped off.

He paid the fare, even took her by the hand as she got from her side of the car; a perfect gentleman. He didn't take off the mask until they had reached their home, atop one of the tallest trees in the town. The first thing he did when she closed the door was drop her arm like it was heavy groceries that he had been roped into carrying. Then he disappeared into the bedroom (which they shared after edging by her mother) and come out looking noticeably cleaner, with new clothes. They weren't battle armor; he only had one set, which were ruined, so he settled on regular clothes: red shirt with silver shorts, and a pair of high-top sneakers. It looked ill-fitted, which made sense, as Chaunti was sure the last time she saw him wearing any one piece of that outfit, Warren had come home with a broken arm.

Chaunti was seated on the white leather couch, a glass with thick, black liquid swirling around in it, in her hand. It was Ginseng Root; the sting that accompanied each gulp as it went down helped take the edge off. Warren barely gave her a glance as he passed, headed straight for his Steel Igor claw, which had been left on the table while he changed.

"Where are you going?" Chaunti asked, casually. She took another sip of her potion as she waited for an answer that she knew might not come out.

"Just out," he said, as he equipped his claw, clenching and unclenching his fists as he got his hand back into the feel of having a glove made of rigid steel encasing it. He waited for a moment; waited for Chaunti to ask who. But she didn't; she just smiled, seemingly satisfied.

Well, she seemed satisfied because she was. She knew exactly where he was headed and why he was going there. But she didn't bother to press him for details. It's not like he would've told her anyways, given the…history that was lying there.

It was what her mother called a "dark stain" when she found out; she had assured Warren's parents that she would be properly punished for her serious lapse in judgment. She had cried in front of both their families, apologized until the words "I'm sorry" sounded foreign and odd to her lips. They had turned to Warren, seeing as to them, he was the one bearing the brunt of having a lying fiancée. One look at him told Chaunti that he didn't give crap what she did, but the boy lied through his perfect dentures, telling them that he was…heartbroken to learn the truth, and unsure whether or not he could trust Chaunti again. The door had begun to open; she could hear the hinges squeaking, see the tiny ray of light shining through the crack, so close…until her mother came back, walking so suddenly into their lives once more, and literally begged Warren not to leave her. He was everything that Chaunti every wanted, she had said, and she had never seen her little girl so happy. It took all her strength to restrain herself.

Even Warren was choking back a laugh when she said that. Later, when they were alone, he made a comment about how appalled he was that her mother could be so blind, and how he never knew Chaunti could be so cruel. How could she let that woman think she's actually helping her daughter when any fool could see Chaunti was suffocating? She didn't have an answer for that. Well, she did, but it wasn't one that she could just admit so freely.

Warren heaved a heavy sigh, tapping his foot impatiently as he sat waiting on a bench in the platform. He couldn't ignore the glances and whispers that he caught once in a while when someone passed by, but his face showed no visible reaction. News had spread faster than he had thought and he was looking for an excuse to get away. It made him a little sad, he supposed, that his relationship with what was supposed to his best friend had ended up amounting to nothing more than an alibi for when the trouble-making son didn't want a confrontation with mom and dad, but his current situation had left him very little viable options. He was sure that Chaunti didn't rat him out; if she did, she'd also have some explaining that she'd have to do. But that didn't mean his parents couldn't track him down like they always did.

12:01 PM; noon hour and the damn boat still hadn't arrived. A crowd had gathered by the dock, some of them lugging heavy carry-ons, others nothing more than a welcome back sign and tears of anticipation which was sure to turn into joy. Chaunti once told him that she didn't get it; if people were overjoyed, why would they cry? Why didn't they laugh; or do a dance? Crying meant sadness, but if one cried when they were happy, does that mean they laughed when they were sad? Doesn't being so sad that you start laughing mean you've gone over the edge and there was no help for you?

After that, Warren pondered that question himself. He's never cried tears of joy in his life, but…he's never cried tears of sadness either. The only times he could recall the waterworks flowing was when he was in the alleyway in Kerning, dead of the night with psycho Hermits and Night Lords looming over him, and waking up the next day in Naora Hospital. His parents rather had him in cockroach-infested beds and attended to by the same doctors and nurses who let Jane Doe die and haunt the place under their watch than in the sparkling accommodations in Ellinia, where he'd get round-the-clock dosages of what his father called "the Voodoo treatment," namely ancient herbs and all-natural remedies; potions, pills, and soups. His old man found the place "too green" for his liking, which was probably why he rarely visited Warren and his fiancée.

In the span of what felt like seconds, four minutes had passed, and before he knew it, the crowds by the waters had tripled in size, the sound of a horn blowing its top drowning out all conversation for a good thirty seconds. The grounds shook a little as the boat landed from skies to waters, its propellers which emerged from compartments on the sides driving it along until it docked, all of which Warren could clearly see as he elbowed his way into through the mass of people.

The small stream on which the platform was built flowed into the much larger Ludus Lake, which contains every piece of the land in the Maple Road. Even Orbis, which was technically a community in the sky, floating after a magical spell was cast that sent the white cobblestoned land up to join the clouds. Apparently, the fairies that inhabited the place at the time weren't too fond of the snow that was slowly covering the grounds, and instead chose to nearly exhausted their magic by living in the sky, permanently, and allowed settlers to create El Nath, a small town covered in eternal frost and snow.

Of course, Warren had never seen any of those places, having never left Victoria Island. All he could see from where he stood and where he had always been standing was vast and never-ending water. But, oh, how he wanted to see them; how he wanted to get out off the island and really start exploring. It was probably never going to happen; after his phase of rebellion, and after Chaunti proved she was no disciplinarian when it came to her husband, his parents would never let him that far out of his sight. But a guy could dream, couldn't he?

Well, there was one guy he knew that would never have to dream. Anything and everything he had ever wanted in his life was handed to him. He one said he never found the purpose of having a dream because everything he wanted was too attainable; weren't dreams supposed to be something that you set and worked towards knowing it'll probably never come true? That was impossible for him. Warren wasn't sure if he should envy his best friend, or pity him. On the one hand, yeah, he got the easy answer to life's problems, never broke a sweat unless he meant to. But on the other, well…even Warren could see behind the carefree attitude that the boy was a little lost in the life's-directions department. The world around you could get pretty meaningless when there's no challenge, he supposed.

Looking up, Warren could see at the top of the stairs a figure descending down. Even in the masses, he stuck out. When the awful backlighting stop obscuring his views, Warren could see he was smiling as he removed his blue sunglasses. It almost made the Rogue feel a little guilty for letting his best friend think that a grown-up play date was the only reason for the meet up, and nothing beyond that. What did he think?

"Warren!" He sounded happy; guess the trip went well. Warren tried to return the gesture, but it hurt his face when he tried to pull the corners of his mouth into at least looking like a smile, and not like he was sick from eating a bad Cheesecake. "Haven't seen you in months; how have you been?"He had his arms outstretched and pulled Warren into a brotherly hug. Would it be too creepy if he said that, that was the most comfortable he had felt when embracing someone in years? Warren heaved a sigh.

"Nothing much has changed," he admitted, truthfully. "Everything's as…terrible as it used to be. You remember, Kody." And he wasn't lying.

The smile faded slowly. In Kody's eyes, genuine concern arose for his best friend for whom he would've protected like a real brother. The feelings were mutual, of course, for Kody was the only one in the world to know what was truly happening with him and Chaunti behind closed doors. And honestly, it was a little awkward, given the history. Warren wasn't sure if he liked talking about, or if he thought that it brought back too many memories that were best left forgotten, but he listened anyways, sometimes for hours on end.

"Let's walk and talk," he said, pushing Warren along, out of the platform. They exited with the mass of people all flooding through. Kody didn't say much else. He simply guided the other along, up into Kerning City and through the streets, until they stopped at the Thieves' Hideout, a small bar where the basement doubled as the home of the Dark Lord, Job Instructor to the Thieves.

Warren didn't like the seedy atmosphere. The only time he had really been there was when he went to make his advancement. The bar was unusually hot, while the basement felt like it was below freezing, so cold that half the time he had been preoccupied with the fact that he could see his own breath as he spoke. But Kody was a regular patron, stopping by for drinks whenever he was on the island. He knew Warren wasn't a fan, but there really was no other place they could talk. Kody didn't have a home on Victoria Island, and Warren…well, they couldn't go to Warren's house.

That day, around high noon, the place was pretty empty. Most of the regulars didn't arrive until well into the night, sitting themselves down to unwind after a hard day. Kody ordered him Cider and a green Honster for himself. Once settled, the two simply stared at each other for a moment, both unsure of what to say next.

"I'll start," Kody sighed, eventually. "How's Chaunti doing?"

Warren's expression tightened just a little, the underlying meaning that wasn't meant to be implied but was pretty clearly there anyways, cutting through the space between them. How was Chaunti? Well, he couldn't exactly answer that because…because he didn't know. Everything with her was a formality, going through the motions. There were no real feelings, hard or otherwise. "Doesn't matter," he said, and it didn't.

"Of course it does," Kody pressed. "In case you forgot, she's the one you're marrying."

"How can I forget that?" Warren replied, sarcastically. "I've tried real hard but it doesn't work that way. Besides, she's not my problem; she wants what I want, that much I can confirm. It's my parents."

"Your parents?" Kody asked in a deadpanned voice. "Aren't you a little old to still be rebelling under their thumb?" He chuckled, obviously finding it humorous that the only thing standing between a perfectly capable person and their freedom was parental objection based on a need to control every aspect and maintain an image.

"Well, until I can get out from under their iron thumb, making a commotion is the only way I get heard," he spat back. "You know my family."

Kody nodded, his face set in an all-knowing and completely disapproving frown. "Have you talked to them yet?"

"What; about me and Chaunti? I told you, they're not gonna listen to anything either of us say."

"No," Kody continued, shaking his head, "about…about you and Hudson." Warren's face fell and he shifted uncomfortably, as if to tell him that he didn't know he knew anything. It prompted Kody to add with a little smugness, "News travels faster than you think."

"Yeah, yeah," Warren muttered. "And no, I haven't said anything. I haven't had the time. I just got out this morning. And…what am I supposed to say? How do I approach this so that they don't freak out and make sure I never get my freedom even after I'm married?" He was desperate and he knew it.

Kody shrugged, not because he didn't care, but because he honestly didn't know what to say. "They say honesty is the best policy for anything."

Warren paused for a moment. "And what do you say?"

Kody chuckled, leaning back and stretched his stiff limbs. "I say honesty is only as good as the way you can spin it. With parents, tell them the truth that they want to hear."

Warren groaned, smacking his head onto the table top. This was driving him insane; the waiting, the wondering, the wheels he was trying to turn to come up with a way, like Kody said, to tailor the truth to his parents tastes. "Have I mentioned how jealous I am of you? I mean, your parents were dead when you were still a kid, raised by you older sister, who, as loving as she is, is no parental figure, and getting free power to spend the real fortune that was left behind."

"Freedom isn't always a good thing," Kody sighed, with a warning tone. "Sometimes you don't learn the consequences before you dive into action because there was no one to teach you." He took a sip his Honster, leaving a slimy-looking green moustache just above his lip.

Warren knew what he was implying with that statement. And he knew just how bad the consequence could be; not necessarily severe, mind you, but still pretty bad in its own way. Grabbing the Cider, Warren contemplated drinking it, but in the end, he let it disappear into his inventory, saving it for later, maybe when he really needed it.

It had been hours since Warren left. Chaunti had done little except sit on the couch and give herself a mind-numbing tour of her own home. The time passed in a blur. Every so often she'd glance at the door, as if hoping it would open and reveal company; maybe her friends, Kirsty and Kirsty, or maybe even Warren, though she knew the latter was impossible. He was gone and probably wouldn't be back for a long while. She knew exactly where he was going, what he was probably doing, and most importantly, who he was with. Yet, not once had she ever mentioned his name for fearing of digging up past skeletons that took a long, painful process to bury and move on. She wondered how Warren had been able to stay friends with him and confide in him after knowing just how badly he had betrayed him. Or maybe Chaunti was just so insignificant in his life that he had barely batted an eye at the revelation.

To her left a red, mahogany counter top stood, freshly dusted and glimmering in the sunlight that spilled into the home through peaks in the leaves of the tall trees that populated a good portion of Ellinia. On top of it sat an assortment of photos, all protected behind a thick wall of glass and surrounded by an expensive and beautifully decorated frame. The space was shared by Chaunti and Warren, decorated by their parents, so most of the pictures captured moments from their childhood, when their family was their universe and they smiled without a care in the world.

In one, Chaunti is sitting on the shores of Florina Beach, a plastic bucket and shovel in her hand; off in the distance were her brothers, Noxious and Narcisco, the former kicking a beach ball around while the other was in a flotation ring out in the water. Her mother had an entire album dedicated to the vacation, but Chaunti had no real memories of it. Her oldest brother, Narci, did. He had said she spent most of it either in the hotel with their mom or digging on the beach under the cool shade of a beach umbrella, with the sounds of a camera snapping away around her head. Of all the photos, she wondered why her mother chose that one; she wasn't smiling and didn't seem particularly interesting. She wasn't even looking at the stupid camera.

Beside the candid beach shot was a photo of Warren, still a little kid with a face so chubby that when he smiled his eyes turned into tiny little crescents. He sat atop of a lofty bed, a stuffed Lupin doll lying limp beside him. His parents were nowhere in sight, and he had no other family besides them. Next to that picture was another one of Warren, where he was noticeably older and less innocent. He was still smiling, but it was more all-knowing than a truly, genuinely happy face. Sitting to his left was another person, quite different from Warren, with tanned skin, blue eyes and a wild mess of darker, sandy blond hair, in contrast to her fiancée's pale face, tall dark eyes, and silky smooth mat of jet black hair. Turning it over and undoing the clasp, Chaunti slid the photo from out of its silver, metallic framing. On the back of the picture, a small note was scrawled onto the bottom right-hand corner.

"Me and Kody," it read.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys being turned at the door. Quickly, Chaunti placed the photo back into the frame and returned it to its previous position. When the door finally opened, all eyes found a glassy-gazed blond Magician standing nervous yet appearing aloof in front of a row of photos. It took her a moment to process the fact that, yes, Warren had indeed returned after leaving, probably to catch up with Kody somewhere. And sure enough, she could just see the brunette's signature curls just behind Warren's head.

"Oh, you're still here." Those were the first words out of her fiancée's mouth; cold, clipped, and clearly disappointed. His face betrayed all his emotions as he dropped his gaze and cleared his throat. "I thought you'd left by now."

"By now?" she replied sarcastically. "I didn't know I'd overstayed my welcome in my own home." Crossing her arms out in front of her, Chaunti stood her ground. "You leave something here?"

Warren shrugged, tossing his keys onto the counter and stepping inside, right past her into the bedroom area. Behind him, standing there right outside the door was Kody, leaning awkwardly against the frame. He was avoiding looking at her, instead letting his head lolly around, left-right-up-down, until Chaunti was sure he had run of things he could pretend to be interested in for all of twenty seconds. When they gaze finally did meet, it made Chaunti squirm slightly, and she had, in all honestly, a difficult time trying not lashing out at him. If he wanted to say something, then just say it!

"Hello," Chaunti greeted slowly, trying to breaking the ice.

"Hi," he returned with a quick flash of a smile. It disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared, deliberately tipping her off as to the fakeness of his sincerity.

Behind her, she heard footsteps as Warren remerged. There were no significant alterations to his appearance; no change of clothes or anything in his possession, and Chaunti wondered what he had been doing back there. There were several minutes of awkward silence as the party of three stood around in the living room, Chaunti by the counter, Warren stopping just around the corner of the hallway, and Kody in the same position by the doorway. None of them appeared sure what to do next, but it was Chaunti again who took the initiative. Whoever said women were subservient to men had clearly met the men in the blonde's life. If she was expected to be subservient to them, her life would be an endless cycle where nothing was ever completed; boring, useless, and wasted.

"I'm…I'm gonna go," she sighed, heading for the door. Before she was even within a foot of distance to him, Kody had stepped well out of her way, and in that time, had pulled out a chair by the dining table and seated himself down. Chaunti paused for a moment, lingering around him without any particular reason. He was avoiding her again, his head turned firmly away from Chaunti and fixated to the scenery just outside their window. Well, if she didn't know before, she knew now that he hadn't forgotten, and he definitely was entirely comfortable. Chaunti felt almost guilty.

The whole time, she had focused on the repercussions with Warren and his family; what outcome she wanted, what she didn't want, and what surprised might spring out and scare the daylights out of her soul if she didn't tread carefully. It seems she had forgotten the other half of the equation that she unintentionally discarded and made to feel as unimportant. Chaunti supposed she should apologize. But somehow, an apology just didn't feel right, even when it was deserved. In the end, she sighed and moved on, grabbing the handle and closing the door shut behind her.

Hm, too bad she couldn't just close a door on her life; block out all the bad memories so she could either just move on fully or at least be able to cry without feeling like she was murdering her pride. They say you can't erase the past; you can only mould the future. But what if your hands were so tired and sore from trying to erase the past that you can't even begin to take hold of the future; you don't even know what you want it to look like? That's how Chaunti was feeling.

In truth, she didn't think that any of them really got past what had happened. When it first started, it didn't feel so bad; in the moment, what she did hadn't felt so wrong, even though she knew it was. The ends justified the means, or so she tried to tell herself. She was so preoccupied with the outcome that she wanted so damn badly that she wasn't even thinking of anyone else. Does that make her selfish? Well, she already knew the answer to that. She also paid the price for it when it was a total bust; her mother, as she should've expected, swopped in within the hour to "save" her daughter in front of her in-laws.

No one even asked Chaunti or Warren how they felt about it when it came to light that Chaunti had been seeing someone else behind Warren's back. Her mother apologized over and over again, citing how sorry Chaunti was, and Warren's parents, too, apologized in a sense when they berated their son for not spending enough time with his future bride that she had left to find comfort elsewhere. The two families hadn't even entertained the possibility that they wanted to break up; that Chaunti did what she did because she wanted to make Warren leave her.

Well, in her in-laws' defense, it seemed like a lousy reason, didn't it? She had too much pride to tell her mom that she had a change of heart and that she wasn't the perfect little angel who wanted the fairytale family, yet she was willing to let herself be accused of being a tramp by seeing her fiancée's best friend. Not even Chaunti could explain herself anymore. She just…she didn't want to let people see that she was just as childish and messed up as everyone else; that there was an ugly side to the perfect little blond who turned heads no matter where she went.

And now, because her stupid pride, she was stuck in a meaningless, dead-end relationship. Not the mention the fact, that Kody obviously still hated her and held a grudge that wasn't likely to go away anytime soon. She could still recall the day she confessed everything. Confessing the truth was supposed to make her feel better, knowing that now she had a clean slate from which to being anew. But it didn't feel like it; not even close.

That day, Chaunti had been in Masteria, killing time while shopping in New Leaf City. She had sent Kody a message to meet her by the tower. He came, and they had ridden the cable car all the way to the top before she had even begun trying to answer his questions, mainly, what's going on and why did she call him there saying there was something urgent; that they "needed to talk." Chaunti had a difficult time getting the words out. The fiery, orange sunset, the cool breeze that blew in from the open window of the cable car; as beautiful as they were it kind of killing the mood. Hm, maybe she should've asked him to meet her at the Prendergast Mansion; her confession felt more in place with the cursed puppet dolls and phantom Nightmares that roamed about in that freak show of a house in the middle of the forest of dead trees.

She didn't even remember exactly what she had said; it could've been sweet talk to cushion the impending blow or she could've gone off on a tangent and ranted about nothing. All she knew for sure was that she had simply blurted out that she wasn't who he thought she was; that she wasn't being honest with him. It was true she was engaged, but her fiancé was Warren; and surely, he knew who Warren was. She couldn't lie to him anymore, and nor could she lie to Warren and her family. She had to come clean; the secret had gone on for too long. Naturally, he exploded; well, a silent explosion, which was the worst because you never knew what could've come next. If he was violent and angry, that Chaunti could handle.

For a while he didn't even talk. He just stood up and started pacing, walking around the car in a circle. It was a good thing it was a roundabout trip up and down the tower; it gave her sometime to explain before he went off. She had apologized for lying to him, told him that she knew how upset he was. Chaunti thought it was going to feel like the plot twist to some lame movie: Kody was going to say he loved her, and ask if she loved him. He knew she didn't love Warren, so why was she marrying him? He wanted to make her happy, make her feel special and loved and whatever other clichéd crap men spewed that they think make women melt but really just roll their eyes at their pathetic attempts to persuade them. But he didn't.

He didn't say anything; well, not out loud. He mumbled a lot to himself. He was shaking, almost uncontrollably. He started stomping his feet so hard the car started to shake and Chaunti was scared that the cables might snap. And that's when she realized that Kody wasn't angry because he loved her; he was angry because she could've jeopardized his friendship with Warren. And that was the one thing that meant the world to him. Warren wasn't angry; she had explained everything to him (in private, of course), and instructed him to play along. It didn't work, obviously, as their parents' intervention prevented things from following through.

By now, Chaunti had made it all the way to Large Forest Trail on Farm Street, just outside of Nautilus Port, home to the Pirates. It was pretty well populated, people scattered about hunting pigs. It was also extremely noisy, impossible to get a moment's peace and be able to think. It wasn't what she needed at the moment. Chaunti was read to turn back…when a conversation caught her attention.

Just a little ahead of her, two Archers were sitting under a cool shade. They were discussing something…something that sounded important. The one with blue hair seemed suspicious while the other, spiky, orange-brown haired one seemed to be telling her that she worried too much.

"It just doesn't make sense," one had said. "I'm not saying I'm not grateful for what he did; I am. And I'm not saying he had a more sinister motive or anything. I'm just saying; in the moment, what he did wasn't for our benefit."

The brown haired Archer shrugged, wiping sweat off her brow. "Can't people just do something because it's nice?"

The Siren-cut girl shook her head. "Again," she sighed, "I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for his niceness. I'm saying that, in the moment, all people care about is themselves. We're selfish like that. He knew that turning against that big, beef-brain leader was the right thing to do, and in the moment, all he cared about was looking like a hero and absolving himself of as much guilt as possible."

The other Archer stopped a minute and sighed. From her inventory, she produced a single Crystal Ilbi, white and glimmering like a diamond under the sunlight. She didn't do anything with it; just held it there.

Ah, Chaunti's mind clicked. Now she remembered where she knew their faces from. They were the ones who busted Hudson a few days prior. They got medals for it and everything. And it seemed clear that they had been talking about Warren, for there was no one else in that group who would've bothered to help them. Most of them would've done the opposite, in fact, and turn them in if they found them. By the sounds of it, if it wasn't for Warren, they probably wouldn't be alive.

Finally, she sighed. "I don't know," she said, exasperate. "I just feel like I need to make it up to him. I feel like…he deserves that much."

He deserved that much? Well, if she knew what Chaunti knew, she'd probably agree that retribution for his heroism is just the beginning. Warren deserved more than what he's gotten in his life. He's endured enough to make most people want to pull their own hair out; controlling parents, a marriage forced upon him, and having only one, single person in the whole world to whom he can trust, and to whom he feels he can be truly honest about himself and the way he sees the world.

A smile slowly formed on Chaunti's lips, as the wheels began turning furiously inside her head. Given her history, more often than not it's probably not a good thing. Having her last plan fail so miserably, one would think she's given up on that and was now working a different angle. But when something like this presents itself before her, she just can't pass up an easy mark.

"Hi, I'm Chaunti."

Kody wasn't even sure why Warren had gone back. He claimed he needed a change of clothes, as the ones he was wearing were uncomfortable, and had turned town his offer to let Kody buy him news ones across the island in Kerning. Warren told him straight-up that if he didn't want to Chaunti, then he didn't have to come with him, but he went anyways just to prove that he was over what happened between the three of them. And he was…wasn't he?

They were far from Warren's lofty home in the lush forest of Ellinia, having traveled as far as the Six Path Crossway, before stopping. Kody wanted to be close to the boats. He was only on the island for the day and had to catch the last one back to Orbis. He couldn't really train there, not unless he was suicidal, but the atmosphere was better. He didn't like the childish and pompous feel of Victoria Island, and preferred the lighter, more sophisticated "Land in the Sky" that was Orbis. He felt bad for having to leave Warren again.

He had, on more than one occasion, asked Warren to go with him, but the Rogue wouldn't budge, saying his parents wouldn't let him leave. At the time, Kody had lashed out in a fit of misplaced anger, yelling that he couldn't live by his parents' rules forever; why couldn't he just suck it up and move on; leave this dump of a family behind him and start over? Kody never got an answer, probably because Warren himself didn't even know. He had lived under his family's iron fist for so long; unable to fight back that he had forgotten the reason why.

Across from him, the dark-haired Rogue sat, staring out glassy-eyed, his mind clearing not where his body was. "Are you okay?" Kody asked. "You seem distracted."

"I'm just tired," he replied. He was pushing people away again. Kody knew better than to fight him when he was in that stage, so he let the subject, however tempting to explore, drop off awkwardly.

Chatter could be heard not far off in the distance. Another group of travelers were passing through. Kody sighed, looking away in the other direction.

"Oh, Warren…"

Part of him was hoping that his ears were screwed up again, causing him to mishear that voice as – Whipping his head back around, his beady, blue eyes, met the icy ones belonging to only one person that he knew of. Yep, it was Chaunti. He groaned, inwardly. She wasn't alone this time. No, it wasn't her plastic doll-like friends, Crispy or Kirpy, or something to that effect. It was two Archers…one blue hair with matching eyes, the other; golden-eyed with orange locks set in a disarray of spikes it looked as though she had been caught in a tornado and didn't know it.

"And, Kody, you're here too." She sounded disappointed, but she couldn't openly express her distaste of him; not in front of their guests. "Uh, Rollah, Siren; you remember Warren, right?" She gestured at the dumbfounded boy sitting in front of them. "And this is Kody, his friend."

He offered a small wave, quick, polite, and meaningless.

"Warren," Rollah (or at least, he thought that was her name), whispered.

Who were they? They looked familiar, certainly. As he jogged his memory, he recalled seeing their faces everywhere he went. It wasn't a long list, just Kerning and Ellinia and the magical portal in between. But where exactly he saw them, he had trouble remembering. Rollah smiled nervously at Warren, and the latter finally snapped back into the reality, attempting to return the gesture but only managed a slight twitch of the lips, and looking away from her quickly to stare at the ground. Her brow furrowed, either confused or anger (maybe both) to have so subtly blown off by the Rogue. She glanced behind her at her companion, Siren, who shrugged, not really interested. Having caught her face at the just the right angle, Kody suddenly remembered where he saw the two of them before.

It was on the big television sets placed in every town. There were bulletins about some scary idiot named Hudson, who got busted. Warren was a part of their ring, a fact he shared with Kody from a while back, and had said that it was only a matter of time before he got caught. The two Archers had been credited for the bust, having saved two kidnapped Noobs, No. 41 and 42, and tipped off the GMs.

He was sure that Rollah and Siren weren't expecting to run into Warren again, and the only person he can credit that to, is Chaunti. She was calm, and if they weren't in the presence of guests, he'd almost say smug. What was she up to? Whatever it was, he was interested.

Several minutes of silence passed, painfully for Warren and the Bowmen (or would it be Bow-women?), entertainingly for Chaunti, and with piqued interest for Kody.

"Rollah said she wanted to make it up to you, for saving them," Chaunti began, with a tentative smile.

Warren shrugged, still not looking at them. "Whatever," he said. "They don't need to make anything up. It's fine, now leave; all of you." He was…uncharacteristically short-tempered, which didn't go unnoticed by anyone in their little group.

Rollah scoffed. "Are you angry?" she asked in an obviously condescending tone.

Although Warren didn't respond, Kody hazarded a guess that, yeah, Warren wasn't feeling too great. He didn't seem like he held a grudge for getting busted, but maybe that was just an automatic function of his pride. He didn't like people feeling like they owed him; like his was some poor, charity boy. His life may have sucked, but that was his hill to climb alone. Was it stupid? Yeah; but if don't have anything else to lose in the world; your ego is the only thing you have to cling to and be afraid of losing it or having to give it up.

Chaunti seemed delighted, though. This was definitely some half-baked idea of hers. Didn't she know better not to serve people anything that was half-baked? That's just asking for food poisoning!

Behind her, the quiet Siren sighed. Perhaps she saw where this was headed, and tugged at Rollah's arm, trying to pull her along and break the silent war going on between Warren and the spiky-head girl. She struggled at first, but eventually gave in and turned around, following Siren out into Henesys. Kody could still hear her muttering along until she disappeared into the portal.

Warren let a breath of relief, seemingly glad that she was finally gone. It only made Chaunti's smile broaden. The dark haired Rogue didn't even get a chance to see, as he promptly stood up and walked away, up into Kerning City. Well, she should except not to see him home tonight. All that was left was him and the blonde, who was clearly satisfied with her work.

"What are you doing?" Kody hissed, yanking her arm a little.

Chaunti jerked it free and dusted herself off before replying. "Setting me and Warren free," she replied with a hint of sarcasm. "What did it look like?"

"It looked like you didn't know, not to kick a dead horse," he spat back. "You think you're helping but you're not."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" she said, casually. Then she sighed, realizing the jig was up. "Who am I hurting, really? I just wanted to see if maybe they could work things out, and who knows if – "

"If they would get together and you'd all be home free? This is another one of your bad ideas you decided to put in motion. Why? Because the last one worked out so well?"

Chaunti's faced tighten a little at the mention of their…relationship. "That was a mistake," she said firmly. "But I've learned."

"Really?" Kody asked, sarcastically. "It seems to me that if you did, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now!"

Chaunti smirked. "Whatever," she spat, back. "You can't stop me. I'll do what I want, and no one can give a damn what happens."

Kody nodded in defeat. "You're right," he said. She was a little taken aback with his easy reluctance. "I can't stop you. I can't dictate your life, in the same way you can't dictate mine. But what about everyone else's? Do you think Warren and Rollah asked to get dragged into your mess? Do you think they want to clean up after you? Please," he pleaded. "You and Warren both don't want to do this. Now he has his hands tied, but you don't. So why don't you say something? It'll set you both free and you know it."