DISCLAIMER: I don't own this stuff. But if you, as a peer, want to use someone I created, you gotta ask first, mmkay?

The character I roughly base this story on is a Lv. 45 assassin, named "TheDan" in Scania. Feel free to contact me, I'm usually not doing anything terribly important online and I'd love to see some peers or fans in-game! Sorry for the long wait, by the way, but you know how life throws you a curveball every now and then. F5.

Featuring, in this episode only, a written E-Mail by our own real player of Conlan. I didn't write it. F7.

Also, the same person who wrote that is promising to write a mirror to this story from the character Conlan's point of view. I'm looking forward to it and I'll be sure to give you guys a link if you can't find it yourself, once he publishes it. Why? Because I love you all so much.

And now something new: I'm gonna do something cool and reply to every one of my reviewers personally! Maybe this will move some of you other readers to leave me some love. :D

-TrojanPony: Thanks for the support, even if I do detest flattery of that sort. F7. And Florida's hot and humid and everyone here is so shallow. It's not any fun at all when you have to LIVE here, especially in an area without a beach. But if you're vacationing, it's one of the best spots to be.

-StargazerBlue: It's hard, I'll admit, to make a work emotional to any reader. I put a lot of effort into that, and the concluding sentence, too, so thanks for showing me that it paid off. F2. Also, you get brownie points for being THE ONLY PERSON TO ACTUALLY TALK TO ME OUTSIDE OF REVIEWS. Stargazer is now my #1Fan, so there. All of you need to outdo her. MAKE ME FEEL LOVED. It'll compel me to write more often.

-IkusaHime/Deviruchi: Hey, I'm a slow writer. I used to complain to other people, too, but you'd need to try writing 20k words plus to understand. F3. As for your prediction, we'll see…!

-Saiyuke Tasuke: THANK YOU for being with me since the beginning. I need more fans like you. XD About Duel, if you never received that message I sent (-doesn't trust Fanfiction PM system-), yes and no. KarmaDuel and Scott-Kun are all close online friends and we all share characters, names, and critiques for each other's works. Hamina is another friend of ours, though as far as I know she hasn't done any writing on here.

-SketchingAcrylic: That was what started this whole plot, actually, was explaining the setting. I'm the kind of guy who can't sit around and do something in a video game without wondering how plausible it is. It was actually during an episode of Naruto when I started to wonder, if Mana (Points) was used as The-World-of-Naruto's Chakra is used, would that explain everything unexplainable? And it did, for the most part, I just used my imagination to fill the gaps.

-Crostini: I thought about doing that, but I felt it would interrupt the flow that I wanted. Anyway, I like my readers to think. If Conman ever gets to writing, you MAY just see the full extent of personality-matching. F8(wink).

-Axzem: Ah, it's the talented reviewers like you that put a warmth in my heart. Keep up the good work on 'Allies of Krita', as well.

-Eien Kaosu: Yes, you have permission and blah, if you never received that message I sent you. And half the fun of writing gory material is seeing the reactions of others. Another F8.

But enough chitchat. Now, where did I leave off….

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I thought silently, and knew what decision I needed to make.

"You overestimate yourself in saying you can do that," I said, "And you underestimate yourself in thinking that I don't want that. That I don't want a relationship."

"A-Aren't you saying… Aren't you going; to say that you don't, though?"

"No," I said. "I think you need a hug."

Crying, and smiling, Allie was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She leaned in and flung her arms around me, and I tilted her jaw towards mine to thank her. To thank her for everything.

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She fell asleep next to me, and I held her for a long time, thinking.

"You'll be okay," I whispered, brushing a lock of dark red hair from her face. She said so herself, she hadn't slept properly for days. Now that I was here for her, she could finally allow herself to rest.

Works for me.

I knew what she was going to do when she woke up. She would want to know if I was serious in deciding… However she wanted to put it.

"Are you sure we're meant for each other?"

"Was it really a good idea to kiss me?"

"So, like, are we together now?"

"WHAT IS LOVE?!"

I snapped my eyes open and sighed. Really, my mindset in bliss was beginning to scare me.

Without jostling Allie, I folded up the sleeping bag I'd been using and set it up as a pillow for her, throwing the inner lining over her as a blanket. She looked comfortable and I was content.

I pulled on my clothes and realized that somebody had cleaned them at least once. I cringed at the starchy feel of the pants and remembered why I never used to steam-iron my clothes.

My Meba was on top of the garment pile, in just as good condition as it ever had been. I swung it as practice, aiming for the trunk of a tree.

Empty.

I rose an eyebrow and expertly pulled out the Ilbi container, which had been used up entirely, and replaced it with a container of Kumbis. I swung again and the star sunk perfectly into the bark.

"Sweet," I said, still trying out my voice. It felt strange to speak again. "Perfect, wonderful, excellent, absolute, unmitigated, proficient and utterly fabulous!"

I stretched my body, which felt stiff and old as well, and found myself grunting at something as simple as loosening my leg muscles.

"Hmph," I said out loud. "Hum. Humph. Hmmmmmm. Wooooo. Woo-hoo. Yoo-hoo. Boo-poo. No-neee-no. Nani nani desu wa." I coughed, looked over to Allie and continued.

"You see!" I said loudly to nobody at all, trying out the new sounds. "Zip zop zoobity bop! You don't know what the Jazz is all about. It's like… Jello pudding!" I laughed at myself, wondering how random thought worked exactly. I started hopping on my left leg, cackling and flailing maniacally. Oh, how it felt great to live again.

"Actually it's more like kodak film! No! Actually, Jazz is like the new coke. It'll be around forever." I laughed again. "With the hippin and the hoppin and the bippin and the bop– Allie!" For she was awake and staring at me amusedly.

"…Shut up, you," she mumbled with a smile, and laid her head back onto the makeshift pillow. "I'm tired."

"Right," I whispered, blushing hard. "Er, sorry. 'Night."

She was breathing deeply before I could finish the sentence. I sat and stretched a little more… Quietly, mind you! After no more than five minutes I got bored.

I mean, come on. I just spent like half a week in bed and I wanted to MOVE, you know? Not to mention the testosterone in my… Somewhat newfound emotions were acting as an adrenaline force.

So, what to do?

I mean, I would have gone to the shack but I didn't want to leave Allie here, and I didn't want to waste stars or anything. I practiced using Dark Sight for a little while, and a Haste or two as well. I climbed a tree with and without haste. Eventually I used the thrown Kumbi to carve my initials into a tree.

I smirked at it for a second, and then thoughtfully inscribed Allie's next to mine.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-

"I think I love you, Dan of Kerning," she said with a grin.

I set the large mug of hot chocolate on the table, and then a bag of marshmallows. I was feeling very nostalgic for some reason, yet I could not place my finger on where the memories were from. It was some strange sort of déjà vu.

"Because I made you a drink?" I asked with a fake pout, retreating into the kitchen to grab my own mug.

"Pretty much," she replied with a laugh, tossing the tiny marshmallows into the too-hot-to-drink liquid from the back of the couch. I noticed that of the six she tossed, five made them in. I felt an urge to outdo her and we spent the next quarter hour laughing and throwing the little sweets into our hot chocolate, and then at each other. It may have turned into a real Marshmallow War if we had not run out of ammunition.

As soon as the fits of giggles ended, I realized that I felt very awkward all of the sudden. She wasn't talking much, either, and we both daintily sipped at our own drinks. I put my feet up on the table, displaying my Pink Whitebottoms to the world.

"Anyway," she said finally. "You… You kissed me back there. Why?"

I thought carefully before answering, even taking a slow sip of my cocoa just to bug her. She lightly hit my shoe (sans smile) and I started talking.

"Part of it," I explained, still smirking, "Was definitely impulsive. I mean, it was something I'd felt like doing since I woke up and you were alive. I guess that's what near-death and pain does to someone's emotions and logic. I realized, when I was out, because I was still dreaming, mind you, that I couldn't let myself die."

I sipped again, wording my next sentence slowly.

"It wasn't that I didn't want to share your feelings, Allie," I said. "But I would have definitely denied you in El Nath if Renon hadn't interfered. But then all that crap happened. Anyway, you know why I would never want to have any relations with you, right?"

"I think so," she replied, turning away and mumbling shyly, like she used to all the time. "It's because it'd be dangerous to fall in love, and it'd skewer your judgment. You don't want your emotions to cloud your mind."

"Pretty much," I nodded. "It'd be very dangerous and if I ended up becoming too attached to you and if you got hurt, I'd not be able to stand myself. I thought it would only be weakness to tell you, for personal gain and stuff. But when I was out, and I was dreaming, I dreamt that I would never wake up. And I saw all these strange things, most of it circling around you. You were constantly in tears. It was depressing."

I paused, but she didn't reply, so I continued.

"I realized that no matter what happened, I would always be worried about you. And here you were, after everything in El Nath, and I knew you'd feel like crap if I just went and died-"

"Damn right," she interrupted, sounding somehow very heavy.

I smirked for a second, but what I was saying was heartfelt and it did not amuse me for long.

"Died without saying anything I wanted to say, anyway. I wanted to tell you that I did care about you, obviously. I cared so much that I worried about it. I cared so much that I decided if I got out of death somehow and if you were still as I knew you, then I would tell you. I decided I owed you that, at the very least, and from what you said happened after Renon's attack lead me to decide that you deserved far more than just that." I looked up for the first time and found that she was tearing up.

Again.

…Wait, that wasn't what I wanted at all!

She must have noticed my discontent because she sniffed, and I noticed she was smiling, and she almost fell onto me, hugging my midsection.

"Er… I…" I couldn't think of anything else to say or do, except rub her back a little bit. She spoke instead, and I noticed she was sobbing a little.

"I couldn't stand it," she cried. "I couldn't stand it if you died. I decided-" Sniff. "I decided it would be okay if you woke up but you didn't want to be my companion any more, or be my-" Sniff again. "My friend any more, or even want to see me any more. I was afraid you'd be mad at me for saying what I did. I really didn't want to put you into that position, since you're always so calm and logical and you even said you would never date a training partner or anything, and I knew it was a hint, and I was so selfish…"

All was silent for a few seconds and then we both apologized at exactly the same time.

"Hold on," she sniffed, before I could say anything else. "What are you sorry for? That wasn't fair."

I smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. "I'm sorry for being so blind," I said meekly. "I've always lived with my own rules, and one of those major ones is to never show any weakness. I somehow nudged my way into thinking that relationships were weakness-"

I paused, careful to be sure I wouldn't say too much. I knew exactly how I 'nudged myself 'into that mindset, but it was nothing I cared to talk about right now.

"What is it?" Allie asked quietly.

I waved her off with a small smile. "Reminiscing on my past stupidity."

Her eyes questioned for more information, but I kissed her forehead and she relaxed. I felt guilty for using an underhanded method of reverting her attention, but when she kissed my neck I became aware that there were more positive motives involved.

I held her close and let me tell you, we enjoyed our first twenty-four hours together.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I groaned. My back was aching and my arm was asleep. What time was it…?

It was dark, but I could see that the short hand on Allie's wristwatch was pointing somewhere between Two- and Four-o'-clock. Ah, that's right, she'd wanted to go to sleep. And then she decided it would be a good idea to use my arm as a pillow. I couldn't help but smile at her. So sweet, so innocent in sleep. If you've ever watched a loved one sleeping, especially if they're just falling asleep, you know of the joy it brings to one's heart.

Careful to set her head down on a firm pillow, I stood from the couch. I could have stood and gazed upon her beauty all night… But I did not linger, as my feelings of voyeurism sent guilty thoughts to my brain. Anyway, that'd be pretty mushy for me. I adjusted her blanket and stepped out of the bedroom, grabbing my shirt on the way.

She could sleep for as long as she wanted, I didn't mind in the least. However, I had a feeling that I'd have quite the case of insomnia for a while. What was it, a hundred hours of fatigue– and drug-induced sleep can do that to a man.

For a while I just walked around quietly, gathering the bearings of this house. I checked in on Allie fairly often. I couldn't help it. She was just so cute.

I considered going outside again when my pants started to vibrate in her room.

I quickly and quietly dug out my personal ID Card, checked to make sure Allie was still sleeping, and then sat in the loveseat in front of the fireplace to check my mail.

It was from Renon:

"hey mate

me n hamina are doin fine, we just got off the boat to viccy from orbis. hidevals hiding in deep sleepywood, so it'll b a few days be4 we can meet up agin. im not sure wut time it is 4 you, hamina sed like 4am? its morning here so feel free to beep me if u need 2 talk or nething

-renon esper"

I frowned at the half-assed typing, but replied all the same.

"Hoy.

Yeah, it's 4:30AM here, but you didn't wake me up, so don't worry or anything. I think we'll be fine, I mean, I know I feel great. And Allie's perfect, she's sleeping in the other room. I'll probably make a trip or two to Nath for food, but besides that we'll just hang out here until we receive further notice. Send me a message if anything happens, okay?

-Dan of Kerning"

I didn't like to sign things with my last name unless they were official. No need to, you know?

I checked out my inbox to make sure I didn't miss anything.

"You have (8) New Messages."

I sighed. That wasn't terrible.

One was inappropriate junk, another was a humourous forward from The Just Owner comparing Thieves and Archers, and there was some spam. One message was from a girl whom I'd never heard of, asking if I needed my Level Forty Equipment yet. I was about to open that one when I noticed that Conlan had sent me something.

"Dan,

Long time no see, it's Conlan. I hope you've been looking after yourself, and that you are recovering well after what I heard Esper did to you.

Before you start asking how I know that, I ran into Hamina and Esper not too long ago while I was staying in Orbis, they filled me in on what happened to you. Actually, they told me a lot about what has happened to you and Allie the past couple of weeks. Why didn't you tell me about Hideval at all? You, of all people would know I would want to help any way I could.

Ah well, what's past is past, right? No point worrying about it...

Anyways, I'm not writing this message to chaste you about not telling me about such things, there's something I want to discuss with you.

I heard that Hideval's problems stem from that of owing a debt to Maffiya. And if it's all heads and tails with you, I'd like to meet up in Orbis and exchange information. I have reason to believe they are behind something that has recently happened to Lyo. I would go more in depth, but I'd just as soon do that in person, you never know who's reading these things.

Well, it's best I go, the doctors are coming back with the report on Lyo's current health.

Take care, and get here as soon as you can,

-Conlan L. Kempner"

That doesn't bode well at all…

"Conmaaaan–!

Good to see some sign of your survival. Er…

Not to be blunt or anything, but what's happened? Is Lyo okay? Are YOU okay? And how was the Maffiya involved? Don't leave me worried about you two. D:

I probably would have told you about Hideval, but with the conflict with that retarded Spearman and getting Allie her armour my mind was off-track. I would have probably told you if you hadn't run off so soon. :(

… Wait, you need me up there? Um… It's like not even five in the morning right now and Allie's asleep. We're still in El Nath, btw, so yeeaaah. I guess we could be up by late-ish (maybe 12 hours from now?), since you need us. I'll just tell Renon to meet us there.

Ooh, but the Maffiya might be on the lookout for us… So we'll be incognito: Don't repeat it, cuz these lines are unsafe, but I'll be wearing those special shoes of mine, and I'll be wearing that thing you gave me when we first met. You remember the one, I hope, the one I've been carrying since!

So yeah, just tell me whereabouts in Orbis you are whenever you get this. We'll be on the way to the tower as soon as Allie wakes up.

Seeya then.

-The Dan

PS: You were wrong, Conman. While she is a tad promiscuous, I doubt she'll want to birth both of our children.

PSS: Take that hint at face value. D: "

I couldn't help but put down the post-scripts. If anyone needed some cheering up, it was Conlan. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what it was that happened. If Lyo was under the care of doctors, it didn't look good. She was a cleric, after all…

I wrote up a quick new message telling Renon that we'd be in Orbis, sent the messages, and closed my Inbox to check my personal statistics. Apparently I'd leveled up to 40, and my level of Fame had been jumped up by three. I'd have to thank those guys later.

For now, though, I was worried. The Level Forty equipment, while excellent as well as sexy, was expensive and fairly hard to find. I already had a rare Dark Pilfer, the hat for the outfit, but it was in my pack, which was near Allie. And then I remembered that if we were gonna just save Hideval we really didn't need to pay all that money to the Maffiya. It seemed that our bank accounts were about to leap, so I sent a refund to the Just Owner explaining why we didn't need his charity any more (with a quick thanks, of course).

So I was bored again. I sent messages to old friends throughout the land, but I didn't get any replies. Most of them were either in Orbis or Ludibrium, meaning it would be a dead hour for them. It was two hours ahead of me in Victoria, and an hour behind in Ludi.

Besides that, there wasn't much at all to do. I silently tidied up the house and packed up our belongings, careful to be quiet. There was a female assassin occupying one of the rooms, and she seemed the type to rip my head off if I either woke her up or got too close to her door. Needless to say, I made sure not to stray towards that area.

Silently as possible, I placed item after item of ours onto the couch. Eventually I made an extremely stealthy little mission into Allie's room, where I grabbed my pack and all of her dirty laundry. Honestly, the girl was a mess.

I tossed it all in the washing machine, being careful to follow the directions on the detergent bottle. Laundry wasn't so hard, I supposed. I set the timer and stepped outside for a little.

The sun was only just rising. It cast an orange glow over everything; The snow and frozen droplets on the trees glistened with a sparkle not unlike a Holiday Greeting card. Quite a picturesque moment indeed, and I allowed myself to stare around for a good while. Eventually I started playing with the snow in my hands, making hard-packed snow shuriken or regular snowballs. I began throwing them at trees, and then trying to judge and manipulate the ricochet to hit the trees I'd mentally mark. It was a little game I used to play in the fields south of Kerning with sticks or rocks.

That was when they decided I would make a good assassin…

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"Damn it," I hissed. The thin, round rock veered off to the side, bouncing off the back of a large Orange Mushroom. It turned around, a stupid-yet-furious look on its odd face. Mind you, I was only nine, so that look scared the shit outta me.

I ran away for a second, but on the way off realized I had nowhere to go to. By the time I reached that rope he would be on top of me, and there was no way I could make the jump to that platform over there… It seemed I would have to stand and fight.

There was a distinct sound of a sharp object embedding itself into the monster. I turned in time to see the Dark Lord glaring at me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked me quietly.

"I was…. I'm sorry, I was just-" I stuttered. This guy had always creeped me out.

"How long have you been doing this?"

"Coming here?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Coming here with the intent of killing the creatures here," he said, tonelessly as usual.

"Uh…" I mumbled. "I dunno. A few months?"

He didn't reply for a few seconds. "Have you been sneaking out?"

"…Yes… I have. I'm sorry."

"Do you realize that people die out here?" he wasn't even yelling at me, which only seemed to hurt me more. "People five years older than you. You remember what happened to the one who called himself Lotus, right?"

I winced, and it was all the answer he needed. He seemed to smile under his mask.

"Do you want your body to look like that? Crushed bones, twisted legs… And his neck was at such an odd angle."

"You're enjoying this too much," I said rebelliously, though my stomach churned at the memories. The smile on his face seemed to widen.

"I do enjoy this," he replied coldly. "Coming out here only to see the village children running around this place like an idiot. I know you know you're not allowed outside of town. You're lucky I followed you, or you might be dead right now."

It was my turn to glare now. "I'm not as weak as you think," I almost shouted. "Just because Monster Control hasn't recognized me yet doesn't mean I'm not ready for-"

"Au contraire," he scoffed with a humourless laugh. "That's their job, you see, to tell me when they think another person is ready for enrollment."

"I'm ready."

He seemed surprised for a second, which only surprised me. "Are you?" he asked, apparently at a loss for things to say.

"I think so."

With that, I felt a hard hit at my shoulder. Another one of the Mushrooms had come to get us.

The Dark Lord simply disappeared from sight. I swore at him harshly, turning to face the thing alone.

It was taller than me and probably twice my body width. I didn't have a weapon, and this thing used its entire body as one. If only I were a Warrior, I could'a just tackled it and hit it really hard with my fists until it stopped moving…

I tried to remember my lessons as I quickly backed up. Self defense… Use what you have at your disposal. I studied my peripheral vision and saw nothing, so I put up my fists. Still no sign of the Dark Lord.

The Mushroom was coming straight at me… Just a second… The second it got into attacking range I let loose a backfist with my left hand, stepping to the right of it. I brought down my right fist hard onto its cap, and jumped out of the way. My momentum was opposite the Mushroom's, so as long as I didn't let it hit me again I could beat it. I could beat it alone.

I stood waiting, and then it came for me again. I was ready, doing the same maneuver and hitting his cap hard enough to leave a bruise on my hand. That technique wouldn't really work again.

The third time it tried to hit me I dived fast to the left, executing a right-roundhouse kick to its face. This seemed to phase it, but it only came at me faster. I waited, jumped, attacked. Four times now that I've hit it. Five. Six. Will it ever get tired?!

After both of my legs hurt from kicking this rock-hard creature, I started using my time in-between its attacks to scan the floor for weapons to use. And then it appeared: the Wolbi throwing star that had sliced through the first Orange Mushroom.

I waited for the Mushroom to come at me again, waiting, calculating, timing… And then at the last second I leapt and rolled out of the way, just next to the embedded shuriken. I yanked it from the ground and threw it hard at the monster. I missed.

"Throw it vertically, not like a frisbee," a voice said behind me. I yelped and turned to see the Dark Lord standing there, holding another Wolbi for me. "Quickly."

I nodded and took it, and threw it from next to my ear. My aiming marked true, and the star was the end of that monster's life. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding in. I turned, smiling gratefully to the Dark Lord.

He seemed slightly amused, which would be similar to a normal man shouting and cheering like a drunk.

"Here," he said, holding out a little plastic container, half-full, of Wolbis. "These things'll do more damage than rocks, and they'll be more of a learning experience if you decide to go for long-range battle. From your techniques in punching kicking, I think that would be a good idea for you."

Mind you, that was really about as close to a blessing as it is possible for this guy to give.

"So you think I should become an Assassin someday?" I asked, surprised as anyone would have been.

"I've no doubt. Take the stars and buy yourself a Garnier Claw for them sometime."

"But… But," I sputtered, taking them with a blush. "I thought… Isn't that illegal? To give a minor real weaponry, I mean?"

"It is," he replied. "But I think you're ready."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I still had that set of Wolbis… With a strangely emotional feeling, I pulled them from an inner pocket and fed them into my old Meba. These were perfect for training: Cheap and easily refilled, but they were both thinner and easier to use than regular Subis. While a Wolbi left a gash on most trees, a Mokbi would get stuck in the bark and a Subi would simply bounce off.

Using snowballs, I marked three random areas in the forest. Opening my eyes, I saw exactly where the packed snow had hit the trees. They weren't at similar leverages, but it wasn't impossible. I surveyed the areas, letting my eyes scan all of the trees and branches, falling into that subconscious intuition that I trusted. After a second of thinking and positioning, I let loose.

The Wolbi flew in a slight curve upwards and to the right. It hit my first target perfectly, and bounced off into a standing rock. That lead it to its second target, but it flew a little bit too hard to the left after that and ended up losing all of its spin on a bundle of pine branches. I shrugged it off. Two out of three wasn't bad at all.

I kept doing this until the sun was above the horizon, and more importantly I ran out of Wolbis. With that I went inside and transferred all of the laundry into the Dryer and turned it on. After a few minutes of pondering, I began to make breakfast.

I found waffle mix in boxes in one of the cupboards, assuming that Renon or Hamina had bought them in one of their trips to El Nath. I followed the directions by the letter, hoping that it would assist my lack of culinary ability.

It didn't. Ten minutes into making the meal I was still stirring, and the damn water still refused to mix.

An alarm rang somewhere in the house, and not three minutes later our third inhabitant came into the kitchen.

"T'cha cookin'?" she asked me.

"Belgian Waffles. I've got plenty."

"Eh, don' worry about it. I'm gonna set off. The Mine's a good journey off."

"Best of luck to yah."

She left. I kept stirring.

Allie woke up in the other room. Her breathing changed subtly and the bed and then the floor creaked successively. I continued stirring as she wandered around the room, assumedly putting on some dayclothes.

Stir. Stir. Stir. Clockwise, clockwise, turn the bowl… My arm was already kinda tired from throwing stuff all day, too.

"You need to use a whisk," Allie said coolly, with a hint of sleepiness. To be honest, I didn't hear her come up to me nor did I think she would have done so so fast.

I stared at her. "I knew that," I joked, putting the wooden spoon aside carefully. I grabbed the appropriate tool and set to work while she hugged me from behind.

"How long have youah-ahhh, ah, been awake, Danny?" she said through a yawn.

I said, "Not too long, but long enough to talk to Conlan via P-ID-Mail."

She said, "Oh, really? How is he?"

I said, "He's fine, but Lyo's… Hurt."

She backed off of me. "Is she okay?"

"To be honest," I said, looking right at her. "It doesn't seem so. She's a Cleric, and he said that she was under a doctor's care. He used it plural, actually, so I can assume she's in an emergency room of some sort."

"Oh…" she murmured quietly. "What else…?"

"Just that we're gonna go up to Orbis to see them."

She seemed surprised by that. "Today?"

"Yeah, today." The whisk was working, so I poured the mix into the old Belgian-Waffle Maker I'd pulled out from the depths of a closet. "I already Mailed Renon, so he'll know where to find us. Conlan said they met and talked, anyway."

She nodded. "So we'll leave right after breakfast? If I can keep up with you, and you're not lazy with your Haste, we could meet him by the afternoon."

"I told him to expect us at like five, so we don't need to rush."

"What about the Maffiya? They have members everywhere. We can't just walk out there, and since we've been with Hamina and Renon for so long they're bound to have us on file or something…"

I clapped my hands once together. "We're gonna play a little game of dress-up."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-

"What is it with you and pink?" Allie asked, glancing at my tie.

"It reflects my personality so well," I sang, and she giggled.

I was wearing my hair slicked back with some gel we'd found in the bathroom, and a pair of blue-tinted rectangular glasses that were popular back when my and Conlan had first met. I was wearing a fancy black tuxedo (open) with a white button-up shirt and a pink tie that was absolutely perfect for me. I had black dress pants, black socks and of course, my Pink Whitebottoms. Allie, on the other hand, had found a set of Diao Chan clothes in what used to be Hamina's room, and I must say she looked quite stunning in that outfit. It wasn't very modest, though, and it didn't take long for her to convince me to lend her my jacket.

I prepared our bags and we set off. It was only noon. We'd be there soon, and then we could see Conlan and Lyo. And if there was anything I could do to help her, I would do so.