A/N: I'm actually quite excited to be doing this chapter. As I've said on my profile, I'll be taking a break after this chapter. Not quitting, or anything. Just a short break so my other friend could catch up on some work. This chapter is a mixture of past and present. The memories of her and Griffin, mixed in with her in Scarlion. Might be a little tricky to figure the memories out, but here's a hint. It's from the last memory to the first they've ever had. Enjoy! :D

Chapter 12: "If you could wind back the clock, would you do things differently?"

"Shirley," he whispered really softly into my ear.

"Hmph?" I whispered back, turning to face him slowly.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, playing with my hair. I can smell the mint on his breath.

"A little." I smiled lazily at him.

"Hey, maybe we could go out for some of that bubble tea crap. I think you'd probably love it." He suggested, sitting up slowly.

"Later," I grinned, snuggling back into his pillow.

"You're such a pig." He joked before kissing me on the cheek. He gets up from bed, raking his hand into his unruly black hair.

"You're the one who's talking." I giggled, sitting up too. "I better leave soon, then. Naomi would be wondering where I've been."

"Nah, I don't think she'll mind that much." He grins, and I feel my heart melt just a little. That's what his grin does to me. I'm so pathetic.

"You might be right." I had shrugged. "Oh, and thanks so much for today. I can't wait for the ball tonight."

"You're welcome." He said, kissing me on the lips again. I stared into his green eyes, wondering whether I should lean into him again.

"I…I need to go." I pulled away from him, staring at his lips longingly anyway. He just smiled and handed me my coat. "See you later at the ball, okay? Remember, outside of the café." I whispered into his ear.

"Bye, Shirley." He waved. "How bout we meet up inside? I heard it would rain tonight."

But it was too late; I had already slammed the door and went on my way.

"Hey, are you okay?" Cheryl nudged me a little, interrupting my daydream. Or to be more precise, a memory that seemed so long ago…

"Uh, yeah." I smile sadly at her. We were on this small airplane, so small that it was pretty crammed for only three of us. Or two, if you didn't count Cheryl, since she wasn't really supposed to be real. In this time, anyway.

Cheryl nods, returning to her magazine. Next to her was Train, looking grim faced in his black coat. It so happened that Train has a friend that could rent us a plane. It's only meant to carry one passenger, but I assured him that I was really light. Oh, and Cheryl is virtually weightless.

"How long more, Andreas?" He shouts to the pilot.

"Just a bit more, Mr Walker." He replies through the thin walls of the cockpit.

"Walker? That's your last name?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Be quiet." He throws me a dirty look and I quiet down instantly.

"You should be a teacher." I giggle a few minutes after. "I mean, that glare thing would totally work…" I trail off, noticing he wasn't finding it amusing. "It was just a suggestion." I say sheepishly.

I felt the plush seats shaking, so I turned to look at Cheryl in case she was having a seizure or something. But she was laughing. Like it was funny.

"Cut it out!" I whisper, kicking her shin, but I just end up kicking the other side of the seat. Stupid transparency.

Cheryl sticks her tongue out and shrugs. We were on our way to Scarlion. We're already made an appointment a while ago once we boarded the plane. You know the rule that you're not supposed to use phones on planes? When you're flying on your own (borrowed) plane, it doesn't matter. We used my phone for a whole fifteen minutes and the plane hasn't crashed yet!

And obviously, we got Train to do the call. He got points for being an apparently very accomplished bounty hunter and because he had no relationship with any other guilds. (A little of a lie, but whatever. Who knew whether he and Naomi would last?) We got through, after a small donation (also supplied by Train. What guys would do you save their cynical girlfriends) to be moved up the waiting list. In a little less than an hour, we would be having our meeting there. And we (probably) won't be killed! Yabe-yabe-doo.

Train is resting his chin on a clenched fist, tapping his foot noisily against the dusty floor. I'm pretty sure he's a little stressed. When he received the call I gave him half an hour ago, he was probably practicing his shooting skills because I could hear gunfire in the background. Really loud gunfire. He marched over to Ellinia pretty quickly and we boarded his friend's plane.

"Sorry I made you…come along." I apologize for about the fifth time.

"It's…okay. I'm doing this for Naomi. Not for you." He says awkwardly, without even glancing at me. Not like I would ever think he would do anything for me. To him I'm probably just Naomi's friend. Maybe even less judging by the way she acts towards me when he's around. Fancy Mr Walker with his stupid black coats and slightly unbuttoned white dress shirts and awesomely hot chest.

Cheryl seems to notice me checking him out and raises her eyebrows suggestively. Wink wink, nudge nudge she seems to say. I just roll my eyes. A couple of girls (we're kind of the same girl, but that's not the point) alone with a hot guy. Oh, and our pilot Andreas who may or may not be an illegal immigrant. But I have the feeling if I do as much as tap Train on the shoulder, I'd end up in a hospital. Courtesy of Naomi Grayson.

I rested my head against his one of his big shoulders, just daydreaming.

"Hey, sleepyhead." He whispered brushing a stray hair away from my eyes.

I just smiled to myself. "Yeah?"

"You want to go out for some macarons? There's this new café in town." He suggested, squeezing my hand.

"Macarons are overrated." I murmured, pushing a bit of his spiky black hair away that was irritating my face.

"We could go for a cupcake, then. I know you're like addicted to those." He laughed.

"Can't we just stay here for a bit longer? I don't mind…" I asked, squeezing his hand back.

"Sure," he grinned, and my heart did another summersault. We had finished our outfit shopping already, after bumping into Naomi and Layla, and were taking a break on a bench outside.

"Shirley…I have something really important I need to ask you." He said urgently.

"What is it?" I asked, raising my head so I was sitting upright again.

"If you could wind back the clock, would you…do things differently?" Griffin asked, staring into the distance.

"It depends. Why?"

"Nah, it's nothing, babe." He kisses me on the cheek and everything goes back to normal. At least, I thought so.

I felt someone kick me in the knee, and I wake up quickly. I didn't know I even fell asleep.

"We're here." Cheryl hisses.

I glance out of the tiny and foggy plane window and all I can see are trees.

"We're landing soon, Mr Walker." Andreas says.

"Okay, thanks Andreas." Train nods. "Look Shirley, until we get Naomi back, keep your mouth shut." He says to me, emphasizing on the work 'shut'.

"Excuse me?"

"Just. Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut." He says slowly, like I'm stupid. "I know the receptionist Sarah. She used to be in my gardening class."

"Gardening class?"

"As I was saying," Train clears his throat loudly. "You just follow behind me, quietly. And bring your stupid ghost friend, too."

"Ghost friend?" I eye Cheryl out of the corner of my ear and she seems oblivious.

"Naomi told me." He rolls his eyes. "Anyway, keep your mouth shut." He reminds me, just as we land.

I step out of the plane and look at Scarlion as a whole. It's been so long since I've last been here. Seems like there have been some renovations…?

As soon as my open-toed sandal steps onto the ground, a loud ringing sound erupts from nowhere. I feel my ears explode or something.

"Freak," I barely hear Cheryl mutter over the sound before vanishing.

"Move!" Train shouts, running ahead of me. God, he runs fast. By the time I even start moving he's already made it to the door.

I look around, watching guards fly out behind the trees and I pause in my tracks. "Wait, we have an appointment!" I shout, closing my eyes in case someone shoots me in the head.

"We're good!" I hear one of them shout. The rest of them retreat to their posts, looking bored. And the ringing suddenly stops, too. God, this place is weird.

I hurry up and run over to the main doors and push them open a little warily. I glance behind me and watch as Andreas lights up a ciggy. Probably a lot for him to take in a single day.

Train is already leaning over the receptionist counter, talking to Sarah, a girl with long black hair and small pigtails. I can't tell what she's saying from here, but she seems to be furrowing her brow and nodding a lot.

The interior of the lobby seems unchanged, still looks like a hotel lobby. Cheryl suddenly appears next to me, seemingly human, before linking arms with me.

"Hey, you're not ghosty anymore." I joke, as we walk over to Train, trying to ignore all the stares.

"As I've said before, I can turn human whenever I need to." She whispered. "Look here," she taps against a blue headset over her ear, replacing her usual Half Moon earrings which Ariel members are accustomed to wearing. I wear mine day and night, cause I'm too lazy to take them out at times.

"What's that?" I whisper.

"Scarlion headpiece. I got you one, too." She smiles, passing me one quickly. "You better take off your earrings, too, at least. They're a dead giveaway."

I nod and do as she says. "Where did you get these?"

"I know a guy." She smiles again, patting me on the head.

Train turns away from Sarah and nods, acknowledging Cheryl with a confused look before steering us away to the cafeteria.

"We have ten minutes." He whispers, his hands in the pockets of his black coat again. Sometimes I wonder if he displays his giant gun in his holster beneath his coat as being show off-y or just because he has the balls to. On second thought, I do not want the answer to that question.

"That's all we need." Cheryl whispers back, loosening her black tie. She was wearing one over her white dress casually, so she looks surprisingly sophisticated now.

"Yeah, sure." I mumble. We walk through several hallways. Unlike Ariel, Scarlion does not smell of turpentine at all. I finger the outline of the blue earpiece I was wearing so I don't do something stupid. It feels weird and foreign and cold against my ear.

I feel something shoot into my arm suddenly, and I topple over. I hit the ground hard, clutching my shoulder with my other arm. Beads of pain shoot up along my left shoulder. On instinct I prize my hand off and I see blood gushing out.

"Freak! Shirley!" Cheryl shrieks.

I feel someone shaking me, shouting a name I can't really remember.

"Everything seems so…blurry." I murmur.

"Hold on, Shirley!" Cheryl gives me another hard shake. "Freak, Train, call for freaking help!"

I don't hear the rest of it, because by the time help does come I black out.

He kissed me, softly, pulling me closer to him. I broke apart from him roughly.

"What the hell are you doing?" I whispered, pushing him at arm's length. "I-I…just met you." My lips felt undeniably tingly afterwards though.

He raked a hand through his black hair. "Look, I-I'm sorry. We shouldn't do this." He said awkwardly. But for some reason we didn't move away. We stared at each other, wondering what it would feel like to try each other's lip action out again.

For some reason I was the brave one. My eyes just snapped shut like I was in a trance and I just leaned into it. His lips were soft, so soft and tasted like fried shrimp and mint. I felt his hand cupping my face while I was, in turn, hooking his neck with my arms.

We break apart for air after a while, just staring into each other. God, his eyes were so…pretty. Like striking emerald gems with deep sea blue edging. "You know, if you were a girl, you would be a really pretty one." I said all of the sudden. Like for a moment my mouth had no filter whatsoever.

He just grinned and we kissed again.

I open my eyes after a while, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the bright fluorescent lights. I glance around. I'm lying on a white hospital bed, a small bouquet of flowers sitting next to a glass of water on my bedside table. My left shoulder is all wrapped up in bandages too.

No one seems to be around, and I'm feeling way too exhausted to even sit up, much less walk around and ask what the hell happened to me. Maybe if I just close my eyes and go back to bed, I'll have enough energy later…

By the time I do open my eyes again, I could tell it was already night. I glance around again, and a girl with short purplish hair and big black eyes was staring down at me curiously.

"Hey," I say. My voice sounded really hoarse.

"You're awake?" She asks, her voice filled with disbelief and a little amusement.

"It would seem that way." I laugh, but it comes out like a squeak instead. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Scarlion infirmary. I'm so sorry for what happened." She apologizes quickly, taking a seat next to my bed.

"What happened, exactly?" I ask. Since I'm feeling a little lonely at the moment, I don't feel like shooing her away. Yet, anyway.

She seems a little nervous. "Someone…shot you in the arm. But it didn't hit anything important or anything. We gave you some local anesthetic before stitching your arm up. I-I'm…really, really sorry."

"Are you like…a nurse or something?" I squeak.

"Nah, not a nurse. Just a busybody." She whispers. "It wasn't a real gun, just a small BB one. But the bullet was real sized one. I don't know how she got it to work. The wound isn't really that deep, since she shot from a really far distance…"

"She? Who's she?"

The girl bites her lip. "This little girl named Flare. She's just twelve. You're not going to press charges against us, right?"

I think for a moment. Flare, Griffin's minion, shot me, in the shoulder. I have the feeling she was aiming for my head, too. And pressing charges? Why would I do that?

"I'm Phoebe, by the way." She says softly, standing up. "I hope you'll get well soon."

"W-Wait," I stutter. "Where are my friends? D-Did they get shot too?" Just thinking of what might of happened to them makes my heart race, my stomach ache. Or maybe I'm just really, really hungry.

"Your friends are fine. They're in the cafeteria. Naomi, too." She smiles at me. She has a really nice smile. She glances at the clipboard attached to the end of my bed and nods. "I'll come back with your friends in the morning, if that's okay with you?"

"Naomi? Uh, yeah. In the morning." I breathe. "Thanks, uh, Phoebe." I say, just as she pulls the white curtains shut around me. I just close my eyes and drift off into sleep again. For some reason I'm so sleepy…

"My name is Griffin, by the way." The guy said, squeezing my hand gently. I felt my cheeks flush red. I'm sitting on a big blue bird, holding hands with this guy I've just met.

"I'm Shirley." I smiled. "Are you in a guild?"

"Scarlion actually. You?"

"Ariel. But I just joined like, a day ago." I told him.

He nods, staring into the distance.

"You know, I heard that Ariel and Scarlion are like sworn rivals or something." He said.

"Why? I've never heard of that before." I asked, confused.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Apparently there's this dark group in my guild that swears to hating everything about Ariel. From their people to their emblem to what you guys stand for. It's ridiculous."

I frowned. "That's…bad, yeah?"

"It's bad, all right." He nodded. "But at the moment they're lacking a good leader, so I doubt they could cause much harm at the moment. I heard there were even a couple of kids in there. But only a few other guild members know of this group."

"And you know, why?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I'm an inside guy, yeah know?" He grinned.

But of course I didn't know that eventually he would join them.

I wake up the next morning, alone. There seems to be even more flowers on my bedside table. I'm not really sure what to do. I sit up, pushing myself up with my right arm. My left shoulder still hurts like crap.

A loud ringing sound erupts, and Phoebe bursts into my room.

"Oh, God." She yelps, flipping some switches off behind me so the ringing stops. "You're sitting up, already?" She laughs.

"Uh, good morning?" I greet her. She looks at my clipboard again, nodding.

"Morning," she smiles at me. "You thirsty?"

"And hungry." I nod. What I'll do for some pizza. "You think you got some food around here?"

"Oh, yeah. You must be starving. What do you feel like? I could go over to the cafeteria and smuggle you something." Phoebe says, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"You have pizza?" I ask. I don't think people in hospital beds are allowed to eat pizza, though.

"Sure. What toppings to do want?"

"Peperoni. Oh, and loads and loads of cheese."

Phoebe just laughs. "Okay, coming up. I'll send your friends up with some water too." She shuffles out of the room quickly. She seems nice, I guess. Or maybe it's just because I'm injured or something and she doesn't want me to sue them.

I just rest my head against the hard pillows and try to rest. This mattress is so hard and lumpy. And I can't sleep on my left side – the side I usually sleep on – thanks to Griffin's minion. One day I'm going to shoot him. In the crotch.

"Excuse me?"

Someone pushes back the white curtains, and it turns out its Cheryl, a wrinkled grey sweatshirt pulled over her bridesmaid's dress.

"Ohmigawd, Shirley!" She squeals. She pushes a bunch of flowers off the table and dumps a close to full jug of water onto my bedside table. She hooks me with one of her arms and squeezes me tight.

"Shoulder, shoulder, shoulder, shoulder!" I say quickly, in pain, prizing her hands off me.

"Oh, I'm SO sorry, Shirs! I can't tell you how sorry I am! Maybe I could have sensed the bullet before it came…Or at least stood on your left side. I wouldn't have gotten hurt, I'm not even that real…I feel so guilty…" She blabbers.

"It's…It's okay." I give her a weak smile. "Do you think I could get some of that water…"

"Hey," Train peers through the curtain, looking awkward as ever.

"Hey, you're not wearing your coat!" I laugh. He just rolls his eyes and comes in. His dress shirt was all rumpled and his hair was all unruly.

"I gave it to Naomi." He half-smiles. "Here, thought you might want this. I bought it from a vending machine downstairs." He tosses me a bottle of milk.

"Uh…thanks." I prize off the bottle cap with my thumb and take a big gulp. After going without water for so long, it tasted like liquid gold. Or something.

"Oh, hey. Who sent you flowers?" Cheryl asks, picking at a slightly wilted looking bunch of pink carnations.

"I thought you guys left it there." I frown.

"Hey, look. There's a tag." Cheryl pulls out a small square of white card from within the mess of flowers. "Get well soon, Shirley. G." She reads aloud from it.

"Who's G?" Train asks.

Cheryl just shrugs and tosses the card back into the pile. I have the feeling I know who G is, anyhow. I didn't even know he'd been in here. Griffin.

"Woah, load of people in here already." Phoebe comes into the room, carrying a big plate with a few slices of hot pizza on it. She lays in on my lap and takes a seat.

"Who are you?" Cheryl glares at her sharply.

"I come here in peace." Phoebe laughs. She notices that no one is laughing with her so she just clears her throat before carrying on in a more serious tone. "Phoebe Ashlee Rivera. Nice to meet you." She puts her hand out and Cheryl shakes it gingerly. Train just stares.

"You must be Train Walker, yes?" Phoebe asks sweetly, extending her hand towards him. Train just scowls and shakes it reluctantly.

"How do you know my name?" He pulls his hand back forcefully, as if her hand was burning him.

Phoebe's expression seems unchanged. "You made an appointment with us yesterday, didn't you? You're a bounty hunter, aged 21, reside in the outskirts of Leafre."

Train raises his eyebrows slightly, about a nano-inch. Cheryl seems very surprised.

"Oh, and I know you've been dating Naomi Grayson for the past three months." Phoebe continues, standing up and getting ready to leave. "I assure you, I personally do not have anything against Ariel. But if I were you Shirley, I would leave before sundown before anyone finds out that I'm hiding you here." She whispers to me before shuffling outside.

"Woah," Cheryl breathes after a minute, breaking the silence.

Info: Sorry it's longer than usual! Hope I didn't bore you to death. See you guys after a while! :)