AN: ha! You thought I was such a heartless monster that I killed him in the last chapter, didn't you? Well, I'm a better person than that ;)

I groan as I open my eyes (which were still heavy) and take a look at my surroundings. I was in some sort of living room near a burned-out fireplace in a bed.

My head was still spinning and I still felt weak and tired. I tried to move but found out it was a challenging task as I was under a HUGE pile of blankets.

Still, after some time I gathered enough strength to raise my arms in an attempt to lift the mountain of blankets from me. It was then that I noticed my arms were professionally bandaged in order to make the cuts heals faster.

Well, this was indeed better than that time I scrapped my knee and went to Mylene to ask for help. After THAT bandaging experience I never went to ask help from her ever again.

Finally, after much effort, I manage to stand up. But then I moan from pain as I look at my blister-covered feet. Maybe going bare foot in a weather that can reach minus thirty degrees wasn't my best idea.

I limp to the window and gasp – the Sun was shining and the snow on the ground shone back. It was a tremendous sight but my smile slowly disappeared – all this could just mean one simple thing – Lync Volan was dead and he was in heaven right now.

And that, unfortunately means that the girl I managed to turn down was far away from here.

I couldn't help but to sink to my knees – I failed. Now she will never know that I was regretful, that I changed, that I accepted her friendship…

All was lost…

The salty liquid from my eyes dropped on the floor, as I-

-Lync! What are you doing out of bed?

My eyes became large as saucers and I turned around to see her.

Her golden hair flowing in all directions, her beautiful lean hands carrying a bowl of soup of some sort, her concerned gaze, and her shining eyes…

I stop at that – those eyes, they look remarkably like-

No! Don't think about that! Concentrate on your current mission!

-Alice,-I whisper, my voice hoarse from the cold.-I want to apologize.

She just looked at me again, with more worry in her eyes. I guess she must be thinking I was insane or something. I didn't blame her.

She moved silently towards me, took me by the hand and led me to sit down on the bed, putting the dish down on the table. She looked at me again with that mesmerizing gaze. Must be a hint to start the talk.

-Yeah…-I lower my look down. In all my life I never did know how to apologize right, so this was a bit tricky.-I'm sorry for turning your friendship down. I was an arrogant fool, and I am greatly regretful for that…

I gathered enough courage to look at her and continued:

-Please forgive me…

The last sentence came above a whisper – I had never used this phrase, and I had never begged someone for something, but this was not the case. Her look was unreadable and for a moment I was scared that she'll reject my plea. But then she smiled the warmest smile a human being could ever master.

-I forgive you, Lync. –she says as she leaned to give me a hug.

I suddenly felt warm and alive again. I even blushed a little, because this was my first hug received from anyone. The feeling was unbelievable…

We let go of each other and she looked at me again, this time a bit more softly. Yet, I could see that there was still some sorrow in her. That's odd, what could be still making her so-

-Why did you run away?

Oh, yeah… That thing…

I looked down again, thinking…Should I tell her my story? How will she react? After all, this is the darkest part of my life…

But Alice, she understands. She never betrays. She always listens…

I was debating to myself for quite a while now, yet I made a conclusion, that I should get rid of all the pain in my chest for all these years.

I had to…

-It's your eyes.-I whisper and she looks confused, urging me to explain in detail. I didn't have much choice, did I?

-They remind me of my mother…

Silence.

-So, what's so bad about that?-she raises an eyebrow.-That wasn't the reason for you to shout from fear and then run straight into woods…

Yeah, she was right in all ways possible.

-I had some family problems…

I look again and I see the concerned look was back. That encouraged me to move on:

-My mother loved my father more than anything else in the world. They were a perfect couple. And their love knew no boundaries. Soon they had not one, but three children and they were happy. The best family anyone could imagine. That was when they both decided not to have any more children. But then… I was born…

I made a sharp pause here, her eyes were still locked onto mine, urging me to continue.

-My father was furious, he accused my mother of disloyalty, even though she sweared that I was his trueborn son. But that was useless – day after day the love between my parents started to dim. I was rejected not only by my father, but by my siblings too. They also blamed me. Until one day my father had enough and he kicked out my mother from the house, warning her never to return.

Again I stopped here, as I felt a tickling feeling in my eyes once more.

-She was in tears. She still loved the man with all her heart, but now she was hated by him. She looked at me with amber eyes full of grief and left. I never saw her again. She never said she blamed me, but I think that every member of my family thought that it was my fault the family was destroyed like this.

At this point I couldn't stop myself from crying – all this time, the pain that followed me for years was shed in one day. I relived the horror all over again… Was it worth it anyway?

-Oh, Lync!-I lifted my head, only to find out that she was crying too! Was she really that sentimental?

-I never knew.-she whispered as she whipped her tears.

I was a bit lost at this point – were we having a role-play or something? Why were we both crying?

-I never knew…

-Yeah, you're the only person I ever told this…-I couldn't help but to feel guilty for making her cry again – she looked so vulnerable and hurt with those damp eyes.

-I'm so sorry, Lync…

The Lync from the vexos, the "old me" would have been disgusted by such pity.

But not me, I knew this wasn't pity, this was friendship…

And if having a friend like Alice meant for me to sacrifice my old life along with duels, vexos and the hatred against the world, then I couldn't be any happier…

Pabaiga

Yeah, I know the end was a bit weak at this point, but I got tired from this and my imagination started going lazy… Still, it's a bit better than I thought it be ^^