Secter glanced across the street to see a pet store, before looking back at Tatsumaki with his mouth dropping open in glee. Tatsumaki pretended not to see his expression, but after a couple of moments of Secter staring at her like an idiot with his mouth open, she couldn't help but snort and smile.

"Don't even think about it," said Tatsumaki. "It's not happening."

"Tatsu you're killing me here," said Secter. "Come onnnnn."

"No," said Tatsumaki. "At least not right now. I'll keep thinking about it."

"Oh, so you've been thinking about it?"

"Just keep walking you dork."

He obliged her, keeping silent about the possibility of a pet as they made their way to Fubuki's house. Tatsumaki knocked on the front door, and within moments Fubuki answered, smiling from ear to ear. Tatsumaki returned the smile, more than glad to see her sister doing well, while Secter beamed to see everyone be so happy. It felt like only yesterday that he had dealt the deathblow to Silan and everyone was barely recovering from shock and injuries.

Secter followed Tatsumaki and Fubuki into the kitchen, where he spotted Sycamore munching on a burger while sitting on the couch. Sycamore turned over to see his friends and waved, smiling with puffed cheeks.

"Hey Sycamore!" said Secter.

"Hi Sycamore," said Tatsumaki.

"Mmph," said Sycamore as he swallowed the bite of his food. "Hey you guys. Hope you're doing alright."

"Doing great," said Secter. "How you been?"

"I've been ok," said Sycamore. "Just…hanging out here."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I figured," said Secter. He let out a sad little sigh.

"It's been alright," said Sycamore. "I really like staying with Fubuki."

"Of course you do," said Fubuki, giving him a little wink.

Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose.

"Alright alright," said Tatsumaki. "Sis, you got plans for lunch?"

"Yes!" said Fubuki, straightening up in excitement. "Got everything I needed from the story. Don't you two worry, I'll be cooking it!"

"That's what makes me worry," said Tatsumaki.

Fubuki frowned in disappointment.

"Wow," said Secter.

"Trust me," said Tatsumaki. "And no offense sis, but you never were the best cook."

"She's alright…" said Sycamore.

"Alright?!" asked Fubuki, jabbing her fists into her hips and pouting at Sycamore. "I'll have you know the dishes I make are fantastic."

"Well I guess I'll keep my expectations high then," said Secter.

"You should've taken more tips from me when we were growing up," said Tatsumaki. "You never paid much attention when I was making food."

"Did you do most of the caretaking Tatsu?" asked Secter, intrigued. He had always wondered about her early years with her sister.

"Well…" said Tatsumaki, rubbing at the undersides of her arms. "Once I got out of the lab, we kind of jumped around from place to place, foster parents to adoption center to orphanage or whatever." Tatsumaki sighed. "I'm sure what I did back then didn't help, using my powers to protect Fubuki from whatever I thought would be a threat. Which you know, was basically everyone."

"I…can relate to that," said Secter. "Honestly I just feel bad for you both."

"Well it's long past now," said Tatsumaki. "But to answer what you said earlier, a lot of the time yeah. My sis was only five when I got out, she couldn't take care of herself and I barely could with myself. But I did everything I could, cooking and cleaning clothes or whatever else. That's how I learned to be a pretty good cook actually, had a lot of practice. Lot of different recipes and all that…"

"Yeah I remember you being a good cook," said Fubuki. "And definitely still are now."

"This is the first I'm hearing about this," said Sycamore. "About all this childhood stuff."

"It's so odd to reflect back on…" said Fubuki. "Even just a few months ago still feels like a dream…"

"We've been hit by a lot in a very short period of time," said Secter. "Good and bad. But we'll pull through, like we always do."

"We will," said Sycamore.

Tatsumaki looked up at Secter, who smiled back down at her.

"You mentioned being able to relate…" said Tatsumaki. "You haven't talked all that much about how things were when you were a kid, but I guess you would've had to have taken care of your siblings just as much as I had to with Fubuki. Maybe even more."

"Not really a contest," said Secter. "But yeah, pretty much. Why, do you want to know more or something?"

"I always want to know more about you," said Tatsumaki, smiling with playful curiosity. "But you know, if it's something you don't want to talk about-"

"It's fine," said Secter. "Honestly I had been meaning to talk more about me, thought it would be a good thing for me, but of course then we got…separated."

"Yeah," said Tatsumaki. "Let's not have that happen again."

"Don't plan on it."

"Oh we're sharing stories?" asked Sycamore. "Can I uh, can I join?"

"Well yeah," said Secter. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I uh," said Sycamore. "Nothing, it's nothing."

Tatsumaki and Secter exchanged worried glances while Fubuki headed into the kitchen to begin cooking the meal. The rest of the group all sat around the kitchen island, Tatsumaki sitting next to Secter while Sycamore pulled up a chair to sit between the oven and the island closer to Fubuki.

"But yeah," said Secter. "I totally understand having to take care of a younger sibling, especially without any kind of parental supervision. Did I tell you…ugh, did I tell you what I had to make for them most of time?"

"Soup?" asked Tatsumaki. "Sometimes cold? Had to do that a lot."

"Yeah actually," said Secter. "Well, other things too, but there was a lot of soup. Like I said, my parents acted as if we didn't even exist, so most of the time I was in charge of food."

"How…how old were you?" asked Sycamore. "Your parents shouldn't be leaving you to do the parenting as a kid, that's ridiculous."

"I was young," said Secter. "Younger than ten when it started. Made a lot of mistakes too, trust me, I didn't know the first thing about taking care of baby siblings when I was that young, or how the hell I was gonna provide for them. They got hungry? I scrounged up whatever I could. Having issues at school? Begged the parents to go and talk. Most of the time it didn't work. Brother or sister get a cut from falling down, or started to get sick? Good thing I had at least some access to the internet from time to time, because otherwise I might've been shit out of luck in regards to what to do. Was lucky that they were fairly healthy most of the time aside from stomach issues due to such a shit diet, though there was one time when my bro got pneumonia when he and I were real young, and I didn't know what the hell to do, he barely made it through…"

Tatsumaki's eyes widened. It all came flooding back.

"Oh my God," said Tatsumaki. "I had something like that too! When I was around eleven I think, Fubuki got really sick and nothing I had was working for her. Our caretakers at the time also weren't great, way too many kids to watch and they didn't do a good enough job with any of them. Ugh, I got so scared one night, my poor little sis was shaking and crying and had been vomiting all night long, so I just brought her up in my bed and held her and sung her to sleep. Was hoping, praying all night that she'd be ok, that she'd wake up the next morning."

Fubuki stopped stirring her ingredients within a steaming pan to look over at Tatsumaki, utterly shocked.

"I don't…I don't even remember this," said Fubuki. "Sis…"

"Like I said, you were young," said Tatsumaki. "And really sick, running a fever. I think that was one of the scariest nights I ever had as a kid too…like nothing I could do could really help my sis, my powers wouldn't help, I couldn't make the adults help since for one they hardly had any medicine and for two, I was worried that more incidents with my powers might draw the attention of cops or even worse, those bastards from the lab if they were still out there. Ugh, just felt so helpless, I hate feeling like that even now… I just wanted you to be safe, I was crying and holding you, and thankfully you started to get better by the next morning."

Fubuki's lip was quivering, sadness welling up behind her eyes. She strode past Sycamore over to where Tatsumaki sat, and while her sister gave her a confused look, Fubuki wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in tight. She needed to let Tatsumaki know that she appreciated her.

"You're a great sister," said Fubuki. "I know that sometimes things were rough between us but I just want you to know you're the greatest sister I could ever have, I know you were always there for me, always cared about me so much…"

Tatsumaki went from confused to gushing tears within moments. Her jaws hurt from her teeth clenching together, and she hugged her sister back with all her strength. It felt good to have Fubuki in her arms again.

"Love you sis," said Fubuki.

"Love you too," said Tatsumaki.

"Aww," said Sycamore, his chest burning warm. Seeing the two sisters together, so emotional and loving towards one another brought out a joy within him he only felt on rare occasion. It was something he wished he had felt more often.

"I know right?" said Secter. "Ahhh, you two. It's just so adorable to see you guys being all loving like that."

Tatsumaki couldn't help but blush a little while Fubuki laughed.

"Well it's true," said Fubuki. "You really are the best sister."

"Oh stop it," said Tatsumaki. "I…I had my faults."

"But you did your best to overcome them, and you went above and beyond," said Fubuki. "I'd be long gone if it weren't for you."

"Mmm," said Tatsumaki. She wasn't used to getting thanks for things she had done in the past. "Th…thank you Fubuki. You're an amazing sister too, helped me so much to become so much better as a person, and I would've been so lost without you."

Fubuki finally pulled away from Tatsumaki, wiping some tears from her eyes. Tatsumaki sniffled, brushing at her nose. Both of them were overcome with the same emotion – adoration.

"I'm just so glad you're ok," said Fubuki. "That we're all ok. I'm so glad you're still here to talk about this stuff with me…"

"I am too," said Tatsumaki. "You have no idea how relieved I am that we all made it through…"

Hissing and sputtering from the stove. Fubuki jolted in place while Tatsumaki and everyone else turned to the source of the noise and sudden smell. Burning vegetables let their aroma rise through the air.

"Shit!" said Fubuki. She darted back behind Sycamore to attend to the food, stirring away at the ingredients within. "Oh…goddamnit…"

"Fubuki…" said Sycamore.

"I…I ruined it…" said Fubuki. "Dammit…I just wanted to make a meal for everyone."

Sycamore chuckled.

"It's ok Fubuki," said Sycamore. "We can buy some more, or maybe get some from Tatsumaki's place, it's ok."

Fubuki sniffed, her back turned to hide her teary face from the others.

"Sorry guys, wasn't paying attention," said Fubuki. She slid her forearm against her cheek to prevent her tears from dripping into the pan below. "Maybe there's still enough vegetables left to let me just try again?"

"I can check," said Sycamore. He got up and dashed over to the fridge, a wave of relief overcoming him when he opened it and found there to be just enough vegetables left for another try. He yanked them out and set them on the counter next to Fubuki before closing the fridge. Sighing, he sidled up next to her.

"There's plenty left," said Sycamore. "It's alright Fubuki, we can just start again, no one's blaming you for this. If anything, I should've been the one paying attention, the food was right behind my head after all."

Fubuki managed a sad little smile. She scraped away at the blackened bits of broccoli and other foods, tossing them over to the side of the pan.

Sycamore laid a hand on Fubuki's back and rubbed it up and down, gently massaging her back muscles. He smiled a little when he felt Fubuki's shoulders relax at his touch.

"Here, I can even help you cut them up a bit," said Sycamore. He squinted down at the assorted vegetables. As if his gaze were a dozen blades through the air, each one of the vegetables found themselves cut into various pieces, a clean, neat slice separating them into bite sized chunks. "It's alright Fubuki, it's ok."

"I know," she said. "Sorry, just got a little emotional there for a second."

Tatsumaki and Secter were watching, captivated to see what Sycamore might do next. Perhaps it was a test for Tatsumaki, to see if Sycamore was really caring enough to be good to her sister and alleviate her pain, to take care of her like a good significant other should. Secter just found it cute and quickly went back to looking at Tatsumaki, raising an eyebrow as she cocked her head to the side after Sycamore sliced up the vegetables.

"Have a little faith Tatsu," he whispered.

"I do, I do," said Tatsumaki, just as quiet as he was and thankful for the roaring steam. "Just checking things out."

Secter chuckled.

"Always there for your sis," said Secter, his voice still low.

"Ah she can decide what's best for her on her own," said Tatsumaki. "But you know, I just like to make sure, just want her to be happy."

"I'm sure they both will be," said Secter.

"Me too."

Sycamore leaned over and kissed Fubuki on the cheek. Fubuki shivered a little at his touch, her shoulders rising up and down like a wave. Enthralled by his kiss, she looked back over at him and smiled, with Sycamore smiling back after he had pulled back.

"I'll leave you to it," said Sycamore.

"Alright alright," said Fubuki. "You guys keep talking, I want to hear more of this."

Sycamore sat back down in his seat, ecstatic that he was able to actually comfort Fubuki. Seeing her happy made his heartrate rise, and when she hummed a little while making the food, he swooned from side to side in his chair enough to make his seat shake.

"I'm sure you were great at taking care of Fubuki," said Secter. He followed Sycamore's example and leaned over to kiss Tatsumaki on the cheek, smushing her face against his. Tatsumaki was warm to the touch, turning a shade redder as Secter pressed his lips harder against her. As he pulled back, Tatsumaki turned and stole a quick peck on his lips before turning back forward. Secter gave her a devious little smile.

"I had my ups and downs," said Tatsumaki. "I remember when Fubuki started going to school, I was really protective against bullies."

"Oh God…" said Fubuki. "I remember this one."

"It'd uh," said Tatsumaki. "It'd be hard to forget."

"Oh no," said Sycamore. "What happened?"

"Well," said Tatsumaki. "There was one time where this group of kids was really hounding my sis, calling her a witch and all kinds of stupid names, so I uh…I ended up lifting one of them through the clouds and also lifted the school."

Secter had to take a moment to recompose himself. Sycamore narrowed his eyes, totally incredulous.

"You did what now?" asked Secter.

"I put him back down!" said Tatsumaki. "It was just to scare him…and everyone else I guess. I was still getting used to just how strong I was, but I definitely went overboard with that incident. We uh…we got some questions by the authorities after that, and it definitely didn't help with us trying to find people who'd take care of us, so I ended up regretting it. Even felt kind of bad at the time for scaring all those people though I definitely didn't say that. Just kept going on about how I had to make sure people understood not to mess with us, just kept making others afraid…"

"Yes," said Fubuki. "And you did a good job at that unfortunately, I wasn't bullied much after that, but not many wanted to be friends either…"

"Yeah," said Tatsumaki. "For…for what it's worth, I'm really sorry about that now."

"Well I've forgiven you by now," said Fubuki, chuckling. "It's ok sis."

"You're an entirely different person now," said Secter. "And you did everything you could to be better. We'll always be proud of you for that."

Tatsumaki leaned her body over against Secter, resting his head on his shoulder. She always found solace in him, his warmth becoming part of her own.

"Honestly I was pretty rough on bullies myself," said Secter. "I wasn't like a real big kid or anything, and my siblings would get picked on sometimes for being…small. Since they usually weren't eating well and were some of the few kids in the neighborhood that tiny. And when I heard that it enraged me, I got into my fair share of fights when I was young. Broke a kid's nose once and nearly got expelled, got my own ass beat several times. Was part of the reason I didn't do well in school honestly."

"I can't imagine you getting into fights as a kid for some reason," said Tatsumaki. "But that's just fucking cruel, for other kids to make fun of your siblings like that."

"It was mainly a few select assholes," said Secter. "They of course got their own little groups of kids, lot of cowards and people who just didn't know any better, who probably just joined in the mocking without really knowing why or questioning it. Ugh, it just made me angrier, especially when I lost a fight to one of those groups. Bastards almost broke some of my ribs, I was lucky my parents decided to actually take me to a hospital."

"Ugh," said Tatsumaki, hugging Secter's side. "My poor Secter."

"Yeah it was rough," said Secter.

"I have to say I really hate your parents," said Tatsumaki. "Like, really really hate them."

"I know right?" asked Fubuki. "They sound worse than a lot of the people who supposedly took care of us."

Secter sighed and let Tatsumaki pull him in closer, her body angled against his.

"I still haven't forgiven them," said Secter. "Might not ever, honestly. And my bro and sis…I just miss them. I miss them a lot."

Tatsumaki felt like crying again, tearing up over the haunting sadness in Secter's voice. He was staring down at the counter now, his gaze distant and aloof. Tatsumaki brushed her head against his shoulder to remind him that she was still there, someone who was always there to comfort him. Secter had a tiny smile spread across his face and he turned to kiss Tatsumaki on the forehead, pushing past her curled hair to plant a little kiss right above her eyebrows.

"Mmm," said Tatsumaki.

Sycamore had listened to Secter's story with a darkened heart, nearly as crestfallen as his friend.

So much pain within everyone, he thought. Seems like almost every time we talk about stuff at length, it always goes into depressing territory…just makes me feel bad for all of them.

"But…" said Secter. "I guess that's enough sad stuff from me for now, I also remember some pretty good things about my childhood too." It was as if Sycamore's thoughts were being directly spoken to.

"Go on," said Tatsumaki.

"Lot of days were tough," said Secter. "But honestly, after a while? When my bro and sis were getting old enough to do more stuff on their own? We stuck together as our own little group, went out and explored different spots on the colony-"

"Colony?" asked Sycamore.

"Yeah I was born here on this planet," said Secter. "Then my parents moved me to a colony on some tiny world. They never fully explained why, for a while I thought it was because they were worried I'd be attacked by monsters but now I think it was because they were worried about being attacked by monsters. Either way…it didn't really matter in the end. Monsters found them nonetheless."

"Oh…" said Sycamore. "Soulless…"

"Yeah," said Secter. "But uh, aside from all that, I do remember some good stuff, like my siblings and I going out to eat and staying out as late as we wanted, sometimes we'd just grab some fast food and go out and watch the stars go by…"

"Oh God that's giving me memories," said Fubuki, turning back from stirring the meal. "Sis, you remember when we used to have little picnics out during the evenings?"

"They weren't really picnics," said Tatsumaki. "We'd just get some get some take out and go sit in the park for a little while. But…yeah, those were nice."

"Ohhh we should do it again!" said Fubuki. "Just like old times!"

Tatsumaki smiled, still leaning her head against Secter's shoulder.

"It could be fun," said Tatsumaki.

"And I should introduce you to some friends I met while volunteering," said Fubuki. "They're really fun and nice, you might like them!"

This prompted less enthusiasm from Tatsumaki.

"Ehhhh…" she said. "Maybe later."

"I'll think of something…" said Fubuki, concentrating back on her dish while Tatsumaki grumped next to Secter.

Secter noticed Sycamore looking a bit crestfallen, his attention drawn to some tiny spot on the island while everyone else conversed. It pained him to see his friend like this, an expression which only reminded him of Sycamore's despair back in the Nothing yet not quite on the same level of agony.

"Sycamore, you've been kinda quiet," said Secter. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Yeah I was wondering that myself," said Tatsumaki. "I honestly don't know that much about you personally."

"I was just thinking about some stuff," said Sycamore. "It's uh, it's nice to see you all reminiscing and talking, even if some of it is painful, but I was just thinking about how different you guys are than me."

"Tell us about you Sycamore," said Fubuki. "I was actually thinking of some questions to ask you since I don't know too much about your background. I've always wanted to know."

"Well you know," said Sycamore, shuffling around in his seat. "I didn't have a family like you guys, Soulless don't have families or children unless it's with another species, but there are no Soulless children. So I guess it…kinda distances me I guess, I'm not super familiar with the bonds you guys had. Back in the prewar days you had friends and that was about it, some people went for other Soulless or other beings for something more than friendship though I never really did that. Least not until now."

"I really don't know anything about Soulless society," said Fubuki. "I was just more interested in you."

"Well I guess it doesn't matter too much now, since it's all gone to shit," said Sycamore.

"It was still stuff that affected you though," said Secter. "I always had trouble kinda penetrating that Soulless societal barrier I guess, people were nice but a lot of Soulless always seemed distant to me. I chalked it up to the war and people being nervous for their lives."

"Well yeah there was that," said Sycamore. "But as you know, Soulless are kinda taught that they are little more than tools, individuals meant to help out the universe without thinking about their own needs. Resentment and distanceness were sure to build up against superiors."

Tatsumaki gave Secter a knowing look, all too familiar with Secter's old ideals. Secter sighed upon meeting her eyes.

"But uh, as for me," said Sycamore. "Most of the stuff I did wasn't really anything to tell home about. Very dull for the most part, very lonely, like a lot of other Soulless. You did what you were told, occasionally you'd get all excited when we were going to a new planet because it meant you got to meet new people, see new things aside from those grey Soulless ships and walls, but you knew deep down eventually you'd have to leave. Lot of officers had trouble tearing troops away once we were 'done' with a planet, they really wanted to make sure they could keep an eye on every individual Soulless. They were afraid of their own people."

"Because of the powers…" said Tatsumaki.

"Yeah," said Sycamore. "Imagine a whole race of beings that strong that you have to keep under control. I get why they were nervous but the whole time I wasn't in hypersleep or something, I just felt kinda lonely and miserable and crushed. Like I had friends and all, but we all felt so restrained, couldn't do this, couldn't do that, traveling to different worlds was highly regulated, couldn't really do much aside from patrol, clean ships, hang out with people in the same old places…got mind numbing after years and years. I tried to find ways to occupy myself, but most of the time I'd just end up staring out windows or going into hypersleep. It wasn't until the dawn of war when things really changed up to be honest. Well, aside from some other incidents anyways."

"Other incidents?" asked Fubuki.

"Uh, suicides," said Sycamore. "They were an issue. Not everyone could get absorbed or something since most trainees don't make it, so uh, yeah."

"Oh my God," said Fubuki, covering her mouth with one hand while looking back at Sycamore. "That's horrible."

"Yeah I lost some friends that way," said Sycamore. "And honestly…I think it just made me more wary of getting close to people for a while. Least until the war, when I was kinda forced to be close to people. For as terrible as that whole thing was, I made some of the best friends of my life during it. And there was a kind of…freedom to it, like everything was going to shit but at least we weren't trapped in floating ships in the middle of nowhere anymore. Then it ended, and we were trapped with a bunch of hateful pricks in the middle of legitimately nowhere."

"Sounds awful," said Tatsumaki.

"Yeah it's…hard to go into the day by day stuff, it's probably very different than what you guys went through and even more difficult for you to understand," said Sycamore. "I've been around a very, very, long time, long before your planet even existed, so most of what I've experienced is just stuff over the course of millennia that's kind of difficult to explain. Honestly the war, even though it's more painful to talk about, is a lot easier for me to explain I guess."

"Whole thing was terrible," said Secter. "I didn't have the background you had, so I just got kinda thrown into it, sort of warped my perception of the Soulless at first."

"I can assure you almost no one wanted it," said Sycamore. "We all thought it was inevitable, but no one wanted it. Of course, we really didn't do much to stop it either. I ended up being military police for a while, God only knows why I got picked for that since at the time I was scared out of my wits and really wasn't in the mood for yelling at people who didn't want to fight just like I did. But I had to, and I ended up doing some stuff I'm really not proud of."

Fubuki had finished pouring the food out from the pan onto several dishes. She set the pan back down, turned the stove off, and flipped around to rest herself against the bar, her attention focused on Sycamore.

"Had to…get violent with recruits who wouldn't do what they were supposed to," said Sycamore. "Plenty of fights that way, actually got stabbed once in one of them. Stun rounded several people, helped arrest a few, though to be honest I never really wanted to. I felt like I was slipping away before the war even began…" He paused for a moment, putting a hand on his chin. "I wonder if that's where the source of me being 'better' started to come from, because honestly I just felt worse and worse about myself as the war went on and afterwards. Did a lot of stuff I regretted later, sometimes I felt I had to."

"Yeah," said Secter, scuffing one of his feet on the floor. "Me too."

"Well you did become someone much better," said Fubuki. "Someone who deserves happiness, and love…" She hugged him around his shoulders again. "And good friends."

Sycamore leaned back into Fubuki, grateful for her touch.

"By now I like to think so," said Sycamore. "Though I'll be honest, I still had issues even when I got here…"

"Trust me, we all did," said Secter. "It's having to strength to work through them that made us all into the people we are, and we all deserve happiness for that."

"That's right," said Tatsumaki. "I'm glad you're talking about this stuff Sycamore, I wouldn't mind knowing more about you. Especially since, you know, you're dating my sis."

Sycamore's cheeks flushed yellow.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind," said Sycamore. "I think the same goes from me for all of you. But for now, is it time to eat? Kind of hungry."

"Yep!" said Fubuki. "The food was just cooling off."

Fubuki went to retrieve the food before setting a dish down in front of each person. She pulled up a chair before digging into her own meal, a steaming dish of green and red vegetables, strips of juicy beef, and rice.

"It's good," said Tatsumaki. "Needs a little spice, but it's good. Nice job sis."

"Thank you!" said Fubuki. "I didn't think I'd be able to beat your famous stir-fry, but I figured I'd at least give it a shot."

Tatsumaki smiled.

"I'll show you how to make it again sometime," said Tatsumaki.

"Food's great Fubuki," said Secter. "Thanks so much for treating us."

"You're welcome!" said Fubuki, beaming over how Secter and Sycamore had already devoured half of their dishes.

The group ate their meals and chattered away, the topic eventually shifting to poor Lily as Tatsumaki finished up her food.

"Yeah, I've finalized a place and a date," said Fubuki. "I'll send you guys notices very soon. I just…oh, I'm going to cry so much, I know it." She sniffled, already feeling like crying.

Sycamore leaned over and held Fubuki just as Tatsumaki was doing before, while Tatsumaki laid a hand on Fubuki's shoulder.

"It's ok Fubuki," said Sycamore. "It's alright to cry."

"I'll be ok for now," said Fubuki. "But we got a beautiful place for her, and I hear Mumen is getting the same. Samurai probably will be too."

"We'll all be there for you," said Tatsumaki.

"Us and your group too," said Secter. "It'll hurt, but it's going to be ok."

"I know," said Fubuki. "I know she'd be proud of us."

The conversation went on, eventually getting to what everyone was planning for the future. Fubuki talked about volunteer work and possibly getting back into modeling, which prompted a raised eyebrow from her sister and a nervous glance from Sycamore. Secter talked about getting his own job to contribute to the house while Tatsumaki reluctantly agreed even while lamenting about seeing him less. Secter chuckled and kissed Tatsumaki on the cheek again, telling her that he'd be around for her for plenty of time.

"I guess I kind of have to stay put for now," said Sycamore. "Sucks, but that seems to be for the best."

"Not for much longer," said Tatsumaki. "We'll make sure of it."

"Honestly if you wanted to do some volunteering now, it might not be a bad idea," said Secter. "Show the world you're not afraid, if that makes you comfortable. You hiding away lets you get away from the assholes out there, but actively helping others might help alleviate fears and such. It's just unfair that you'd have to subject yourself to all that crap simply by going out."

"I subject myself to it even by staying in here," muttered Sycamore. "So I'll think about it."

The sun dipped below the horizon but the conversations went on, laughter and smiles and more hugging and kissing between the couples. For the time being, the group could be ok in their own little place, bonding and growing warm by Fubuki's fire. Tatsumaki wished every night could be like this, feeling right at home, surrounded by her lover and her friends. And as she suspected, everyone else felt the same.

. . .

Koros tore the controlstick backwards, bringing the ship to a sudden halt. Ahead, the fog of the Nothing enclosed around a narrow path, too skinny for his ship to fit through. Down below there was a slight divot-like path through the dark soil, as if someone had recently dragged themselves through the dirt not too long ago.

You can't lose me, you bastard, thought Koros as he scratched at a scraggly and full dark beard that covered the lower half of his face. You can make it as difficult as you like, but you ain't losing me.

Koros brought the ship down at the mouth of the path, the vessel humming as its engines died down. Landing neatly on the dirt below, Koros shut the ship off and bolted up from his pilot seat. Eyes narrowed at the path ahead, Koros reached over to the side of the cockpit and retrieved his staff, slinging it over his back. Heading to the back of the ship near the door, he ripped an elimination rifle off of the wall and flung it over his spine as well, both weapons glued to his back and ready for action. Then Koros flipped a switch and the sidedoor to the ship slid open, allowing Koros to step outside.

Quiet. The Nothing always was. No screams or sounds of gunfire in the distance, no background roar of a nearby wind, just silence. It had always unnerved Koros, he preferred knowing whether something was close as opposed to constantly feeling like anything could be out there. Because of this, he was always ready to fight something, even if he didn't really need to.

Koros followed the path, one hand kept at his side near the bottom of his staff. Ahead, he could finally hear something, a few voices cackling and talking. Stalking forward, he spotted a clearing that was devoid of life save for a few Soulless sitting near the center of the circular area, the three of them beset by bottles of bile and various elimination melee weapons and guns. One of them seemed to have a kind of tumor on his leg; upon closer inspection Koros could make out the outlines of several yellow streaks in layers on the lump of flesh. Scalps.

He found some fuckin scalpers? thought Koros. Well, if I'm lucky then they'll have finished the job for me.

The lumped scalper spotted Koros, lowering his drink and ceasing his laughing.

"Oi," he said. "Who the hell are you?"

"No one," said Koros. "Just passing through, looking for somebody."

The scalper chuckled, glancing back and forth between his two Soulless pals. The one on the left, a gaunt Soulless with a scar along his forehead chuckled along, while the one on the right, a larger Soulless with spines all over his arms, was finding it difficult to stay sitting upright without falling over.

"Ain't we all," said the lumped scalper. "But I haven't seen you around here, guessing you're not one of us."

"Not exactly," said Koros. "But I am hunting someone."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," said Koros, sliding his hand just a bit closer to his staff. "Dumbass in old royal guard getup, probably had a big ass burn on his side, real pathetic dude. Name's Greidhof, if I remember right. Think he came through here, any of you seen someone like that?"

The scalpers all laughed in unison, a cacophony of crowing that burned through Koros's ears. He hated it.

"Information like that's gonna cost you, Volunteer," said the scalper. "Extra for a human, no less."

"What, you don't like my getup?" asked Koros, stroking his beard. "Grew this today actually, I'm pretty damned proud."

"You're not a Volunteer?" asked the scarred scalper. He shook his head, annoyed. "Well whatever, we're not talking unless you got something to give us. That's how this business works, if you haven't realized by now then you're more lost than we thought."

"You fuckers always have to make this difficult, don't you?" asked Koros, furrowing his brows. Inside his head, the fires of rage were rising, always present but growing more stoked by the second. "Lemme guess, you saw this bastard for all of two seconds before he ran off after being laughed off the stage for not having anything to pay you with."

"Oh no," slurred the third Soulless, tumbling back against his lumpy friend. "He got Verdus after all."

The lumped Soulless snarled at his companion and pushed him aside, pissed at the lost opportunity.

"Verdus?" asked Koros. "Who the hell is that?"

"Ohhh he's the best hitman on the market far as I know," said the scarred Soulless. "No one wanted to compete with that guy, no one's stupid enough to try."

The lumped Soulless shook his head, still annoyed that he was no longer able to extort valuables from an increasingly enraged Koros.

"Whoever he's going after is as good as dead," said the lumped Soulless. "Lemme guess, friends of yours?"

Koros pulled his fingers into fists. The world had become a ball of white hot fire for him, his rage so overbearing, his anger so painful, that he felt he was going to just rush at the morons in front of him and rip them to bits. The thought sounded good.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," said Koros. "That fucker had nothing. Nothing to give any of you guys. And yet he manages to snag the best of the bunch?"

"To be fair I was surprised too," said the lumped Soulless. "But Verdus works in mysterious ways, he just picks what he's interested in."

This is fucking unreal, thought Koros. Well, add another motherfucker to my kill list. There's not a chance in hell I'm letting Secter and Sycamore or any of their friends go through more shit, they've had enough.

The lumped Soulless took one look at Koros's face and chuckled.

"They are your pals, aren't they?" he laughed. "They're fuckin doomed buddy. You might as well kiss them goodbye."

"You'd do best not to anger me any more right now," said Koros.

"We may be drunk," said the scarred Soulless. "But we got records, fuckface. You ain't shit to seasoned vets like us."

"Is that right?" snarled Koros. "That's really what you're gonna go with, trying to fight me?"

"If the shoe fits," said the lumped Soulless, grinning something vile at Koros. It only made Koros curl his fists tighter.

"I'll give you one fucking chance," said Koros. "You've pissed me off enough. Tell me which fuckin direction Greidhof went in, and give me as much dirt as you've got on this Verdus guy, or I rip you into a thousand tiny pieces, each and every one of you."

Koros had a grip on the end of his staff by now, but had noticed the lumped Soulless resting his hand on a hilt nearly hidden by his hip, while the scarred Soulless had his fingers around the handle of a pistol. The third one was too busy staring off into space to partake in the shouting match, but there were more than enough weapons within his reach for Koros to be comfortable with him.

"You shouldn't have gotten that info at the start," snarled the lumped Soulless. "Fuckin human wannabe. You so much as make a move, and we'll blow your brains out."

Koros grinned back. For a second, he thought he saw the lumped Soulless flinch. That was all the information he needed.

"Go for it," said Koros.

Koros dashed first, tearing his staff out from behind his back just as the lumped and scarred Soulless stumbled to their feet. He swung the staff so hard that the moment it connected with the lumped Soulless's side, Koros could hear organs squish apart and bones outright shatter all into the Soulless's insides. Shrieking with pain, the lumped Soulless staggered away, his knife drawn. The scarred Soulless had pulled his gun out, leveling it at Koros. He wasn't quick enough to dodge a second attack from Koros, this time the staff connecting with his neck and slicing the side of it clean open. Yellow blood shot out onto Koros's chest, yet the scarred Soulless stood strong and fired a shot right through Koros's abdomen. Grunting, Koros rushed forward and knocked the scarred Soulless down, the half-drunk bastard falling over and dropping his gun. Koros laughed at the fool, before proceeding to smash his staff down onto the Soulless's face. The first blow caved the front of his face inwards, turning his expression from that of terror to that of a melon mashed with a sledgehammer. Blood and bits of flesh and sinew exploded to the sides, tears streaming from what was left of the mashed Soulless's eyes. Koros paid this no mind and swung down again, even as he felt the bite of a blade be rammed into his spine. Twitching, Koros lifted his staff and tried to shove the other attacker off to the side, but the lumped Soulless simply moved along as Koros did.

Screeching in incoherent rage, the lumped Soulless stabbed again and again into Koros's back, turning his skin into a pattern of red pockmarks and crisscross slices. Koros again grunted with pain, but to him almost everything had gone numb now, the stabs like the stings of a hornet as opposed to the crazed jabs of a murderous and drunken Soulless.

With a mighty heave, Koros managed to knock the Soulless away, the bastard losing his grip on his knife and tumbling to the ground. Koros rushed over to him and stomped him in the chest, turning the Soulless's already squishy insides into paste.

"Don't," gurgled the Soulless, blood overflowing through his mouth. "Wait."

"Fuck," said Koros. "You."

Koros brought the end of his staff down like a guillotine, jabbing it right through the Soulless's chest. Screaming, the Soulless mustered all the strength he could and grabbed the pole, but he was slipping, falling away…

Koros twisted the pole to the left, then a quick jerk to the right. With that, the lumped Soulless let go off the staff and his eyes started to grow dim.

"Serves ya right you bastard," said Koros. He pulled the staff out of the corpse and grabbed at the knife at his back to yank it out, his fingers finding the handle. "Should've told me when you had the chan-"

"Don't," said a voice from off to his side. "Move."

Shit, thought Koros. Really drunk one.

Koros peered over to his side to see the third Soulless laying flat on his stomach, pointing a pistol at Koros's head. The Soulless's hand was shaky, and a little bit of an orange, foul smelling liquid oozed from his mouth.

"You're as good as dead now," said the Soulless. "Killin my pals off like that, just who the hell do you think you are?"

"Just a very angry man with some very good people I'd like to protect," said Koros. "And as of right now, you're preventing me from doing that."

"I'm angry too," said the Soulless. "But it looks like neither of us are gonna be that good at protect-"

Koros rushed towards the Soulless, sprinting right at the gun. The Soulless's brain muddled from alcohol, he twitched and fired a shot, the beam ripping right through Koros's leg instead of his head. Koros faltered right as he made it to the laying Soulless, his anger burning so hot that it obscured all other senses. In a way he was as drunk as his prey, just off of a different poison.

Koros jabbed his staff right through the Soulless's skull, one and done. The target fell like a punching bag without a chain.

Ripping his staff back out, Koros sighed. He collapsed down into a sitting position, surrounded by corpses, guns, and alcohol. Same as usual.

"Never gets fucking old," he muttered. "Ugh."

He glanced down at the oozing hole in his leg, the pain from the stab and gun wounds finally setting in. Eyes watering enough to make the bottom of his eyelids shine, Koros snagged a bottle of bile and twisted it open. Groaning, he took a swig, the bitter taste setting his mouth aflame.

"Just another thing that's shit for my health," said Koros. Now instead of anger, there was nothing but exhaustion and pain, the same feelings he was used to. Yet there was something a bit different from this normal tiredness, something more sickening than usual. He wanted to fight back against it, not accept it as he had always done. Koros could think of one real good way to do that, but it would have to wait for another day. He missed them.

"Have to find two bastards now guys," said Koros. "Maybe I'll be back, maybe I won't."

Taking another swig of the bottle, he ripped it to his side and sighed, deep and heavy.

"Fuckin hell," he grumbled. "Can't wait for this to be over."

He stumbled upright, setting back for his ship and limping all the way. Before he left he stole a few more bottles, wondering just how the hell he was going to find Greidhof now. Luckily for him, he spotted more of a trail away from the area, but it went cold at the edge of the clearing, as if the moron had finally realized what he was doing and had starting kicking dirt up to cover his tracks. Koros cursed his luck as he headed back towards his ship.

Just follow what you got Koros, he thought. The sooner I take these bastards out, the sooner I can finally get the hell out of this shit…and the sooner I can go home.

He stopped right at the door of his ship, his wounds screaming for the few bandages he had inside.

The sooner I can go home.