It was a terribly hard training session today. I was so much fitter than I was before all of this shit happened. Wingul wasn't kidding when he said that he would help with my strength. However, he beat me every single time we sparred. I just... couldn't get that mentality that I used to have. It wasn't even that I was physically tired from the previous exercises. It was just my mentality that needed work. Wingul had proposed that Gaius sparred with me tomorrow. Yeah, did he want me to die?

"Presa?" I poked my head into the bedroom, but she nor Agria were there. I scratched my head and looked into the library, but still, not there either. Where could they be? I actually wanted to go to lunch today. We haven't been doing much around the city so, I thought we could take the time to hang out. I peeked into the throne room to see Wingul still practicing the basics with the sword. Perfect basics are important. I didn't want to interrupt him, so I started to close the door quietly.

"Looking for Presa and Agria?" Wingul asked.

"Oh, uh yeah," I opened the door back up a little bit.

"His Highness sent them on a mission out of the city. They probably won't be back for a week or two," Wingul informed me, sheathing his sword.

"That's fine. I just wanted to ask them something," I grinned and waved my hand dismissively at him. "Go back to what you were doing."

"You want to go for lunch?"

I stared at him for a second. How did he know I wanted to go for lunch? Why did he want to go with me to lunch? This was weird coming from Wingul. For as long as I've known him, he was never really the sociable type. He never really left Gaius' side unless it was in battle.

"Would you like to join me for lunch?" He asked again, more formally this time.

"Uh, yes! I would enjoy that," I gave him a smile and scratched the back of my head nervously.

With a small grin, he gestured me to follow him. Were we going out for lunch? What was wrong with him? Was he sick? Did I not know this side of him? He never really liked going out if he didn't have to. He led me to the restaurant in the hotel and pulled out my chair for me. I gave him a polite nod, sat down and he pushed me in. Sitting down across from me, he put his menu up in front of my face. I think he was blushing. I didn't actually know that he could even blush.

"What can I get you two?" The waitress smiled, giving me a wink as if she thought this was a date.

"I'll have a tofu miso soup," I giggled at her suggestion and gave her my menu.

"And for you sir?" She turned to Wingul with the same wink and smile.

He ignored the wink and gave her the menu. "I'll have the same."

"Okay! I'll put your order in right away!" Her smile grew bigger and she hustled away.

"Our waitress sure is peppy," I stated, trying to start a conversation so that we weren't sitting in silence the whole time.

"She is," Is all I could get out of Wingul.

I rapped my fingers on the table and raised an eyebrow. "You know, I don't bite. You can show more emotion around me than you do the others. You're not on duty."

"I'm always on duty," He informed me. "You never know when the enemy is going to strike. I have to be on guard all the time."

I sighed and pursed my lips, gazing to the side. "That's what you've always said."

He pushed his hair behind his ear and put his forearms on the table with his hands clasped together. "It's especially at this time that we have to be on guard all the time."

A smirk formed on my face and I leaned a bit over the table. "If you're so afraid of people attacking you in public, we can always go back to the palace."

"Scared?" Wingul tilted his head a bit and narrowed his eyes. "Why would I be scared of being attacked?"

I leaned back in my chair and shrugged. "You always have to be on guard because the enemy can be anywhere. That means your afraid, no?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Not exactly."

"Seems like it," I claimed.

Eventually, he got that I was just teasing him and gave a small grin. "Nice try. I know you're trying to tease me."

"Just trying to get a rise out of you," I giggled as the waitress put our food in front of us.

"If you two need anything, I'll be around," She winked and skipped away.

And the silence began. We both ate in silence, not knowing what to talk about. Wingul shifted quite a bit in his seat as he ate. I sighed and looked out the dim window. I kind of missed how things used to be. Before any of this happened. Before meeting Alvin. Before joining the group. It was much easier when it was just me traveling alone going throughout Reize Maxia to visit friends and running errands. To visit Wingul, Presa, Agria, and Jiao. Jiao and I didn't have a great friendship like I had with the rest of them. However, he was a nice man that would let me play around with his hounds and teach me about different monsters.

"Achlys?"

"Hm?" My attention turned back to Wingul.

His hair was back in his face where he usually left it. He had his eyes closed with his usual expressionless face. "Would you mind telling me what Alvin did to you?"

"I'm surprised Presa or Agria didn't tell you," I finished my soup and crossed my arms. "I had just woken up from being adrift for maybe a day or two. I'm not really sure. It may have been more for all I know. Anyway, I woke up in Arklund Quag and he found me immediately. Muzét probably told him where I was. She can sense where all Great Spirits are, even if they have a human body," I scratched at my neck and frowned a bit. "He pressed his gun to my forehead, but I was able to get away."

"We warned-"

"I know I was a fool to trust the man," I cut Wingul off, searching for my gald in my thigh pouch. "I understand that. Agria already poked fun."

Wingul pondered for a bit then put a bag of gald on the table. "I've got this."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

He nodded and got up from his seat. "Let's go back to the palace."

As we walked back to the palace, all the merchants were stocking up for the afternoon rush. People in Fennmont really loved their trinkets. I couldn't help but look around too as I trailed behind Wingul. All these shiny things were so pretty. I've seen many of these trinkets before, but I didn't get the chance to really appreciate them. I still didn't really understand why humans put such beauty into useless things like glass bowls and statues. However, one booth made me stop and wander closer.

It was a beautiful necklace. The chain connected to some silver that looked like vines. Those silver vines held a couple of small onyx gems that created a small flower. I stared at the necklace as if it was the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen. I must have been gawking at it for quite a while because the merchant started to laugh.

"Like what you see?"

"Oh!" I blushed and stood straight up. "Just admiring!"

"That would look really beautiful on you," The merchant winked and leaned on the table.

"I should be going. That definitely is a beautiful necklace though!" I waved at the merchant and hurried towards Wingul who had his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. "Sorry! Got caught up with something."

"I see," He hummed and we made our way back to the palace.

"Shit," I mumbled, trying to get comfortable in bed.

I had started thinking about Alvin again. I don't know why I was missing him. Maybe because I was having trouble sleeping and cuddling him had always put me straight to sleep. I loved listening to his heart beat and feeling his chest slightly move up and down as he breathed. I missed that. What I missed most of all was all our comfortable silences. We would just appreciate each others presence and didn't need to talk about anything. That's what I missed the most. I didn't have that with anyone here.

There was a hard knock at my door, making me shake off my current moping mood. If I had been sleeping or even half asleep, I wouldn't even answer it. Whoever was on the other side better be thankful that I couldn't sleep. I hopped off the bed and opened the door to surprisingly find Wingul with his hands behind his back.

"Oh! Hey Wingul," I cocked my head and smiled.

"I wanted to tell you that I had a nice time at lunch with you," He stated with his always expressionless face. "I wanted to give you this," He took his hands out from behind his back and revealed the necklace that I had admired at the booth.

My smile grew bigger as I gently touched the gems in the middle. "Wingul, you really didn't..."

He waved his free hand at me and gave a small grin. "I wanted to. Didn't you say that I could show emotion around you? I'm showing it now."

I gathered him into a tight hug and placed my chin on his shoulder. I don't think he receives hugs very often since he didn't do anything for a while. Hesitantly, he put one of his arms around my back and held it there lightly. It wasn't like hugging Alvin and having his strong arms around me, practically cradling me, but it was nice. I hugged him tighter and nuzzled my face into his shoulder. Oh Alvin. Why did you have to be such a fucking scumbag?

"Achlys."

"Hm?" I stepped back a little to look at Wingul. "Yes?"

He hesitated, but then his lips came crashing on to mine. I was surprised, but I didn't pull away or fight it. He was really showing emotion now... and I kind of liked it. I mean, it wasn't anything like I felt for Alvin, but it was something to fill the gapping hole in my chest. What would humans call this? A rebound? Yes, I think that was the term. Heh, never actually thought I would be experiencing these things in my life time.

Wingul wrapped both his arms pretty tight around my body; his left arm pushing my upper back and his other arm pushing my lower back just above my ass into him. He took a step forward and I took a step back. Was this really happening? My heart started pounding and it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I could feel myself getting hot as he backed me into the bedroom and closed the door with his foot. He whipped us around and pinned me against the door. I guess this was really happening. I'm not going to deny it, I wanted this. Did I need it? Eh, no.

Wingul took of his coat and shirt, putting the necklace down on a dresser. He wasn't as muscular as Alvin, which was kind of disappointing. I loved having strong arms to grip on to, however, he wasn't displeasing to the eye. I pulled one of the strings on my corset and it immediately fell to the floor. I would have never thought that I would be exposing myself to Wingul the Nova. I pushed myself against him and continued to kiss him as his hands went down to my hips and rubbed his thumbs in little circles.

"Is this enough emotion for you?" Wingul whispered, breaking away from my kiss.

I grinned and shook my head. "Not enough for a Great Spirit like me."

"Well," He grabbed me from the wall and pushed me on to the bed. "I'm off duty now," He straddled me and brought his face close to mine. "You're my mission now."

"Can you really handle this mission?" I asked, bringing my hands down his chest to the top of his pants and tugging on them gently.

Wingul kissed me on the neck and then proceeded to bite down playfully. "I can handle any mission."