This is a work of fanfiction. All characters (except Emerald) belong to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Cover Art belongs to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Please don't sue me.

"We have a winner!"

Ava grinned as the carny handed her an absolutely adorable cheeseburger cat. For some reason, it looked to be a higher-quality toy than many of the prizes available from the other games, but she figured it was because this particular carny was someone she knew was following her dad's campaign.

"Hmph. Beginner's Luck," Asch scoffed, looking at her cockily. "Watch this!" He blinked in surprise as the ball he threw drifted just past the left side of the bottle. "I'm. Not. Through. Yet," he growled through gritted teeth, glaring as he threw the other four balls.

All four shots missed, bringing out a small chuckle from Emerald. "Man, that's rough. No wonder you never actually throw those fireballs you summon. You'd probably set the whole apartment building on fire."

"This game is cursed with a bad omen!" he shouted at her, turning away in frustrated embarrassment.

"Stand aside and watch this." Leif swaggered up to the pitching line, handing the carny his ticket.

Oddly enough, the former assassin also missed every one of his shots... just slightly to the right of the bottle.

"Are we sure Rhys is the only one who needs glasses?" The veteran grinned again.

"This is stupid! Why use a tiny ball for this?!"

"Now Leif," Rhys cut in. "It's all about strategy. You need to - "

Before he could finish his sentence, Leif turned and grabbed Noi by the shoulders and chucked the smallest Daemos bodily into the bottle...

... and through the back of the game.

As Leif laughed in victory and the carny began moaning about his stand, Emerald rushed forward and whispered in Ava's ear. "Go check on Noi: I'll try to smoth things over with the attendant."

Leif struck a victory pose. "How's that for strategy?!"

"... it was rather effective," Rhys admitted quietly.

Pierce nodded. "Good thinking, Leif."

"I'm so angry I didn't think of that sooner..." Asch growled out.

"Guys, shut it!" Emerald hissed angrily as she approached the carny, but he didn't seem interested in talking to her just yet.

"Why did you do that?!" he demanded of Leif.

"Because your game was broken." He grinned wickedly. "You know, you should really consider using humans instead of tiny balls to throw at the bottles."

"I'm so sorry about that," Emerald interrupted, drawing the man's attention away from the former assassin.

He ignored her, instead looking over her shoulder to glare at Ava who had just come out from behind the hole in the stand with Noi. "Ava, you should really consider the people you hang around with!"

"Hey!" The veteran waved her hand in front of his face. "I'm the one talking to you right now. Leave her out of this. Did it ever occur to you that these are my friends and Ava's only really here because of me?" She took a breath, trying to rein in her temper. "These guys are friends of mine from overseas, and they have some... odd habits I'm trying to help them break."

"Don't smart-mouth me, Missy. You know this could look bad on Ava's father."

"Why should it? Just because she happens to be nearby? I don't understand why everyone in this stupid city makes such a big deal out of how Ava acts when she's not the one running for any kind of political position." Emerald felt herself getting angry. "It's not right that she has to completely rearrange how she lives her life in order to make it 'convenient' for others to live theirs!"

Ava reached up and put a hand on the veteran's shoulder. "Em, it's okay. I've got this." The shorter woman gently nudged her out of the way, steering her towards the Daemos as she stayed behind to try calming down the carny.

Rhys and Pierce walked up to meet her as she came around to the front of the stand. "Are you all right?" the former asked softly, searching her face.

Emerald closed her eyes, clenching her fists as she took another deep breath. "Yeah... yeah, I'm okay." She opened them, only to see Pierce leaning down in front of her, studying her closely.

He looked down at her hands. "You are shaking," the Daemos general commented, carefully reaching over to take her right hand in his. She tensed up briefly before leaning forward and wrapping her free arm around him in a tight hug. Pierce returned the gesture, holding her close as he gently rubbed her back.

"I guess we all do stupid things for love." Emerald heard the carny laugh softly from behind her. She turned to see the man shaking his head, a small grin on his face as he looked between her and the tallest Daemos. "Eh, fine. I'll let it slide this time... but only 'cause it's you, Ava." He waggled a finger at the shorter woman in warning. "Next time, I won't be forgiving at all."

"Thank you!" Ava looked over at the mess. "We can help clean up... "

"No, the damage isn't that bad. Besides, it gives me a reason to take a break." He sighed, then waved her off. "Now get on outta here."

"Thank you!" She swiftly ran off a ways, motioning for the others to follow her. The Daemos were quick to obey, although a few of them kept glancing over towards a nearby group of children carrying corn dogs.

Emerald followed slowly after, shifting her grip to Pierce's side. He seemed content to allow her to use him as a support, both physically and emotionally, for the time being. He brought his arm around her back, resting his hand on her shoulder.

'Don't get too comfortable here,' she warned herself. 'You already know he's not interested in you. Don't bother getting your hopes up.' Still, she had to admit, it was hard to think that way when he so willingly endured her clingy behavior.

As they moved away from the previous attraction, Ava heard her phone give a soft *ding* signaling another text message. She pulled it out to see a new message from Lorelai: Hey Ava, we're about to park. We'll see you inside!

"Huh," she murmured as she put her phone away. "Lorelai will be here soon."

Rhys looked at her quizzically. "What does that mean?"

The shorter woman turned to face him. "It means... we have time for one more game!" She nodded towards the other end of the Midway. "Come this way: I know a great one you guys would be really good at."

"Ava, wait... " Pierce called out. He could feel Emerald leaning a little less on him, but she was still shaking slightly. Even as he looked down at her, the veteran straightened up and gently freed herself from his grasp.

"It's okay, Pierce," she reassured him. She visibly braced herself before stepping forward. "I know we said we were just going to relax and enjoy the festival, but there's something I - "

"Ava! Look what we found!" Noi called out happily as he, Asch, and Leif ran up. Each of the Daemos was holding a corn dog.

"Uh... where did you get those?" Even as she asked the question, the veteran had a bad feeling she already knew the answer.

"Those children over there," Asch drawled, pointing to where they'd just come from.

"Mommy, some guys took my corn dog!" a strangely deep-voiced child whined.

The woman in orange gasped in shock. "Who?! Show me who did it!"

Rhys sighed tiredly, copying what Emerald sometimes did and rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "Should we assume responsibility?"

The woman in question sighed as well. "Ava, take the guys over to that game you were talking about. I'll take care of this so you don't get in trouble."

"A-are you sure? I mean - "

"Just go! The last thing we need is you getting involved in something like this." She nudged the shorter woman towards the other game stands. "I'll catch up later."

Pierce paused as the others ran past, looking at Emerald. He seemed to have come to a decision. "If it is all right with you, I would like to remain." At her confused look, he elaborated. "You were not feeling well only a short time ago. I do not think it would be wise to leave you to deal with this by yourself."

Emerald seemed about to object, but then shook her head and gave him a warm smile. "Okay then. Looks like you're stuck with me until we get this sorted out." She tossed her chin over towards the group. "What say we go smooth things over?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Hey, kids?" Emerald approached the group from the side. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear someone took your food?"

The woman looked over, sizing her and Pierce up as they came to a stop. "Well, yes. Three ruffians stole the corn dogs my baby and his friends bought right out of their hands!"

"I'm so sorry to hear that!" The veteran crouched down so she was at the boy's height. "Do you know what they looked like?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yeah! One was wearing a black leather jacket, one was wearing a blue shirt with a backwards hat, and the third one had a green shirt and white hair!"

Emerald put on an expression of shock. "Oh no! You know what... I think I know who those guys are."

"You do?"

She nodded and let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah. It sounds like some friends of mine who are visiting here from overseas." She gave him a sheepish grin. "Their manners aren't always the best. I'm not even sure how they got away from the group, to be honest - "

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" The boy's mother glared at her, hands on her hips. "If it's your friends who are responsible, then you should take some responsibility and make this right." A downright vicious grin appeared on her face. "Or do I need to get the police involved in this?"

Emerald frowned as she stood back up, pulling out her wallet. "That's the whole reason I came over here, ma'am." She pulled out two twenties, giving it to the boy. "This should be enough for all of you to get new corn dogs, as well as some drinks and a few tickets. Does that sound fair to you?"

The woman puffed up indignantly next to her. "Are you trying to bribe my child into not reporting this?!"

The veteran didn't back down. "I was trying to make amends with the kid. I don't know what else you want from me, lady."

She pointed to the small stuffed dragon Emerald had won earlier. "Give him that toy you have. That might be enough to make him forget the trauma he suffered at the hands of your hoodlum friends."

Pierce watched the interaction between the two women. He wasn't entirely sure about some of the terms being thrown around, but he saw Emerald visibly stiffen when the other human said 'hoodlum'. The whole scene was putting him on edge.

Emerald glared at the other woman. "Well, now that would be bordering on extortion. I think the money is more than enough compensation." She turned back to Pierce. "C'mon: let's go see if we can catch up to the others."

Before she could step away, the other woman's hand snaked out and grabbed her tightly around her forearm. "Look at my baby: he's obviously been traumatized by what your friends did to him. Just give him the stuffed animal! Besides, you're too old for toys. Grow up already."

The veteran roughly pulled her arm back, glaring at her. "You are bordering on assault if you keep touching me like that," she growled, stalking away from them and joining the former Daemos general. "Let's get out of here."

As they walked away, Emerald rubbing her arm where the woman had grabbed her, Pierce leaned in close. "What happened?"

She scoffed. "Just some entitled Karen who was trying to take advantage of the situation." At the confused look on his face, she gave him a wry grin and laughed. "That was the boy's mother. She was trying to threaten me - "

As soon as Pierce heard the word "threaten", his gaze went back towards where the woman was still standing. "She wanted to hurt you?" he asked darkly.

"What? No!" Emerald put her hand on his arm, trying to draw his attention away. The last thing she needed now was for a Daemos to start a rampage through the festival grounds. "It was all talk. She was just trying to get me to give her kid extra stuff. It doesn't matter. Please, just forget about it."

He looked over at her, taking in her appearance before his eyes traveled down to her arm. Four long marks were on the skin where the woman had grabbed her, the indents of the woman's nails still visible. "But... she did hurt you."

She followed his gaze. "Oh, this?" The veteran let out a chuckle as she held it up. "Trust me, I've had a lot worse than this. Just leave it and let's go see if we can find everyone else." To show everything was okay, she took his hand and held it as she pulled him along. "C'mon. Ava and the others can't have gotten too far."

Pierce felt conflicted.

Emerald had said this place was all about having "fun." That the Fall Festival was completely safe and nothing here would hurt them. And yet, that human woman had hurt her. The lines on her arm were getting darker where she'd been grabbed, suggesting it was already starting to bruise...

...but she didn't seem to care. Emerald looked back at him, giving him a soft smile that made him feel calmer somehow. He felt her give his hand a reassuring squeeze as they rounded the corner and halted near one of the benches.

"Why have we stopped?"

She glanced over at him as she took her phone out of her pocket. "I'm gonna text Ava to see if we can find her and the others. I know my reception is sh - ockingly bad, but at least I can let her know I took care of the 'corn dog' incident." She let out a breathy scoff, sitting down heavily on the bench. "Besides, Rhys is with her: he'll help keep things under control."

Pierce nodded as he sat down next to her, but felt an odd spike of jealousy to hear her speak so highly of Lady Grandma's pupil. Shaking it off, he took the opportunity to study her as she focused on the device in her hand. The Daemos noticed a small scar near her right eye, going from the edge of her eyebrow almost to the corner of the eye. It looked very old, as if she'd gotten it as a child and simply grew into it. For the first time, he realized her eyes were actually two colors: brown around the pupils, but fading to an emerald green.

"You just going to stare at me?"

Pierce started as her voice broke him out of his contemplation. "Sorry." He cleared his throat. "We are both often occupied by our duties. It is rare we get the chance to be still like this."

Emerald turned to him and gave another smile. "Yeah, I guess we are." She pushed Send on the message, then put the phone away and settled back against the bench. She leaned her head on his shoulder, watching the people walking by.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She closed her eyes. "It's just been a long day, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by some stuff."

Pierce paused, then reached over and gently smoothed her hair. She had left it down today, and some of the turquoise strands underneath were cascading down onto his arm. He held a few softly between his fingers to study them. "Why is your hair two different colors?"

"Hmm?" The veteran cracked open one eye, watching as he played with her hair. "Oh. It's just hair dye: it's a temporary color I've been trying out for a few weeks." She closed her eye again. "Trying to decide if I want to commit to it or not."

"You can change the color of your hair? But... you do not have magic."

"It's not magic. It's just - "

"Excuse me, have you seen some corn dog thieves?"

Pierce saw Emerald's eyes shoot open as they both heard the gruff voice nearby. She sat up, staring at a man in a blue shirt with a bushy mustache speaking to another woman. "No, she wouldn't've... " the woman murmured, eyes going wider as she watched.

The man continued. "Supposedly, some grown men took corn dogs from an angry little child and they were last seen traveling in a pretty sizable group. I also have reason to believe there was a woman with them who stole a carnival prize from the boy as well."

"That fucking bitch!" She hopped to her feet, pulling Pierce up by his hand and letting out a disbelieving laugh. "C'mon, we need to get out of here now!" The woman began going back the way they'd come, twisting through the attractions and moving away from the more populated parts of the festival.

"What is wrong?"

"That lady from earlier reported us to the police anyway, even though we gave her son more than enough money for the corn dogs. All because of a stupid stuffed animal... "

"Are we in danger?"

Emerald shook her head, glancing behind them a little manically. "Not if we keep moving and find somewhere to hide." She let out another laugh, feeling giddy. "Hopefully Ava gets my text and figures something out... "

The two of them took off, not realizing Ava and the other Daemos were just on the other side of the giant jack-o-lantern they were running away from.

"Huh?" Ava glanced down as her phone beeped at her, revealing a new text message: Hey, took care of the corn dog kid. His mom was a bit of a Karen, but I gave him some money to cover the cost. Pierce and I are heading towards the Midway, but we might be a while. Give me a call if things get too crazy.

"Oh, well that's some good news, at least." She put it away, smiling as Leif successfully rang the bell on the Test-of-Strength game.

The look on the carny's face was absolutely priceless. He had just gone behind the game to "fix" it after Noi had easily rung the bell, probably expecting everyone else to fail. "H-How?!"

"Let me try," Asch purred confidently, stepping forward with his hand out to take the hammer.

Ava suddenly heard a nearby voice asking "Excuse me, have you seen some corn dog thieves?"

She spun around, eyes growing wide as she saw a cop talking to a nearby woman. In horror, she realized it was the exact same cop she and the Daemos had run into that first night when she'd tried to dump them at City Hall.

The cop continued. "Supposedly, some grown men took corn dogs from an angry little child and they were last seen traveling in a pretty sizable group. I also have reason to believe there was a woman with them who stole a carnival prize from the boy as well."

"Oh no..." Ava turned to the Daemos. "Guys, we need to leave now!"

"Huh?" Noi cocked his head at her.

Rhys looked equally confused. "Why?"

"Just trust me. We can come back to the games in a bit, but first we need to split up before we're caught." She turned to the former assassin. "Leif, you come with me this way. Noi, Asch, Rhys: you all go that way." Ava pointed towards the back of the festival grounds.

"What are we doing?" Asch didn't seem particularly ready to move out.

"Look, if that cop catches us and sees me, I'm sure the press will have a field day with my dad. I have to stay out of trouble in order to help my dad." She gave a quick glance around the Midway, hoping to see Em and Pierce coming back to join them. In frustration, she turned back to the others. "Now listen to me and do it!"

"Why me, though?" Rhys still seemed confused.

"Because I trust you to make sure Noi and Asch don't get into trouble. Especially since Em and Pierce aren't here yet."

He grinned in satisfaction. "A very smart choice, that is."

"Shh! Just split! We'll find a way to meet back later!" She nodded to Leif, the two of them taking off towards the front gates of the festival.

Rhys watched her go, then turned around and led Asch and Noi deeper into the carnival grounds.

"Where are we going?" Leif asked her as they kept moving.

Ava turned to answer him, not paying attention to where she was going. "Somewhere where we can lay low and - Ow!" She hissed in pain as she collided with something bodily. She fell down, wincing and rubbing the back of her head.

"Ouchie!" came an answering cry from behind her. "Oh, hey Ava!"

The shorter woman was back on her feet in an instant. "Uh, hey... Lorelai... "

Lorelai jumped up as well. "You actually came!"

"I mean, I, uh... " Ava trailed off, searching for words 'Oh shoot! This isn't how I wanted to run into them. Especially since I have no idea where Em and the others are - '

"Well, if it isn't Ava herself," came a slightly mocking voice from behind her. She turned as Steve sauntered up, a smug grin on his face. "Miss me?"

"You." Ava muttered a few curses under her breath before turning to Lorelai. "Why are you hanging out with such a jock like him, Lorelai?"

"Wellllllll, he's actually my boyfriend," the other woman confessed, grinning happily.

"What?! You have a boyfriend?!"

Lorelai giggled happily. "Yep! I thought I told you that."

"I mean, you talk a lot but I don't actually listen so... maybe you did?"

"Are you all right, Ava?" Leif stepped forward, looking her over. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Whoa." Steve's eyes went wide. "She actually does have friends." That somewhat mean grin appeared again at the corner of his mouth. "Well, a friend."

"Ooo! And he is a total hottie!" Kristen looked over at her friend, doe-eyed. "You were right, Lorelai!"

"See? Told ya!"

"So, you guys just got here?" Ava resisted the urge to pull out her phone and start frantically calling Em for back-up.

Lorelai nodded. "Yep!"

"We're trying to decide what to do first." Steve looked over at his girlfriend. "Lorelai wants to do the roller coaster, but I'm starving."

"If you eat before you do the roller coaster, then you're going to throw up!"

Leif cocked an eyebrow, looking with confusion between everyone. "Roller coaster?"

"Lorelai, I think it's best we go get food. We're all hungry." Steve glanced at the others for confirmation.

"I'm good," Orin piped up nonchalantly.

Kristen nodded in agreement. "Yeah. No worries here."

"What?! Seriously?!"

"It looks like I win," Lorelai sang happily.

"Fine," Steve agreed begrudgingly. "Let's go to the roller coaster."

"Yay! Hey Ava, do you and Leif want to join us? Or were you waiting for the others?" The brunette woman took the time to actually take a good look. "Is Em around here? Are the rest of the guys coming with her?"

"Oh, ah... " Ava paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. "Asch, Noi, and Rhys got distracted, but they're around here somewhere. Em and Pierce took off earlier and I... actually don't know where they ended up at. Em's phone has pretty crappy reception here, so it might be a while until we can find them."

Steve looked like he wanted to say something, but luckily Leif was faster. "I'd like to go on this roller coaster."

"Yay!" Lorelai cheered, running off ahead of the group. "Let's go do it!"

Ava followed along worriedly, scanning the crowd as they passed and hoping to see any trace of Em. As they passed through the festival and got into line at the bottom of the roller coaster, she was equal parts upset and relieved there was no sign of her or the other Daemos.

'I hope she and the others are doing okay,' she thought, glancing at her phone while they waited for their turn to ride. There weren't any new messages, so she took it as a good sign that nothing had gone wrong. 'Besides, Em would call me if something serious was happening.'

Still, to be safe, she popped off a quick message to the veteran: About to get on roller coaster with Leif. Overheard cop talking, so Rhys split with others. Grab if you see 'em. She hit Send, hoping it would get through to the veteran's phone.

"Oh God, I hope the others are going to be all right," Ava muttered under her breath as she put her own phone back in her pocket.

"They'll be fine," Leif spoke up, waving off her concern.

"But you guys freaked out before."

"Because we didn't know where you'd run off to and we didn't have a reliable way to contact you. Em tried, but her phone was being weird."

Ava opened her mouth to speak, but cut herself off as Steve turned around to talk to them. "So, how did you and Em end up with so many guy friends all of a sudden?" He smirked. "I don't remember you mentioning any of them when you were in high school."

"They're actually some of Em's friends from overseas that she met in her Air Force days." She was suddenly glad the veteran had gone through the trouble of establishing an easy alibi for any strange behavior the Daemos might display. "They're here visiting for a while, and she thought we all might enjoy coming to the Fall Festival."

"Yeah, these guys seem like the sort of weirdos she'd attract." He gave a cocky smirk. "But where is she? I haven't seen her since I heard she came back into town and got stuck with you."

"One of the guys wanted to play some more games, and the others got bored and went off on their own." Something about his questions was putting Ava on edge, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

There was an absolutely malicious gleam in Steve's eye. "Oh, so Em's already ditched you and picked one of them to hook up with?" His smirk morphed into an equally unpleasant grin. "Then again, I guess that's the only way she could get a man to stick around, huh?"

"Steve!" Lorelai smacked him in the shoulder. "Stop hassling them!"

"What? I'm just curious as to who could get along with Ava without getting paid for it."

"Same can be said about you," Ava shot back under her breath.

Leif's eyes suddenly went wide. "I remember you now!" He leaned in close to the shorter woman. "Just give me the word and he's dead," he whispered, eyes narrowing as he acquired his target.

"Leif, stop," she whispered back.

Before anyone could say anything else, the line was suddenly moving forward. "Hey, it's our turn!" Lorelai called down to them as she ascended the stairs. Steve gave her one last look, but followed his girlfriend without another word.

Ava gasped in shock. "I forgot to prep you! I guess I'm so used to Em doing it, I didn't think about it." She turned to look Leif in the eye. "Look, we're about to go on a machine that's going to possibly scare you. Just let it happen and have fun, all right? Nothing bad can happen."

The former assassin nodded. "Will do." He made his way past her and went straight to the empty front car of the roller coaster. Once settled, he looked at her as she paused outside of the ride. "Something wrong?"

"N-nope! Nothing!" Ava let out a nervous laugh, looking away. 'If I look scared, he'll be scared.' She swallowed hard. 'Roller coasters are the bane of my existence! Why am I doing this?' Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and sat down next to Leif.

"Okay... I think... we can stop... " Emerald halted, letting go of Pierce as she hunched over and rested her hands on her knees. She knew she was coming stupidly close to another panic attack if she didn't calm down, but it seemed everything today was conspiring to push her closer to that edge. Instead, she took a few deep breaths and stared at the ground in front of her. For some reason, she felt a bit giddy after their close escape from the cop, a few random giggles bubbling out.

A steady hand on her shoulder gently tried to straighten her up. "You should not lean over like that." Pierce knelt down to meet her gaze. "You will breathe easier if you stand."

She let out a wheezy chuckle. "You remembered." The veteran allowed him to help her up, resisting the urge to immediately hug herself. She could feel her muscles shaking as the Daemos softly wrapped his arms around her.

"Rest your head on me," he whispered softly. She could feel him scanning the area as she complied, closing her eyes as her forehead made contact with his collarbone. "Just breathe. I will keep watch."

Emerald sighed, reaching up to clutch the back of his shirt in both hands as she took one deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She let it out slowly, repeating the action a few times until she felt like she was back in control. Her death grip on his shirt slowly loosened.

Pierce must have sensed she was calmer, because he gently placed one of his hands on the back of her head. "Are you feeling better now?"

She nodded into his shoulder, turning slightly to look up at him. "Thanks." She let out a tired, annoyed huff. "I'm sorry about all this: I was supposed to help Ava show you guys something fun, but all we've done is run away from things and panic over misunderstandings with other people." Another random giggle bubbled out. "Although, it was a little fun running from that cop just now... even if he didn't know we were even there."

The Daemos stroked her hair as he looked down at her. "I do not blame you for what has happened today." He gave her a soft smile. "This place does seem like it would be fun, if it were just the two of us."

Emerald laughed again. "It'd feel like a real date, yeah." She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "You know, if it was a date, then I could give you a proper kiss."

Pierce stiffened up, blushing darkly. "You... want to caress me?"

"I mean, if you're comfortable with it." She leaned in a bit closer, her gaze flicking between his eyes and his lips -

- when her phone suddenly went off. "Of course," Emerald muttered under her breath, backing off as she pulled it out to see a text message from Ava: About to get on roller coaster with Leif. Overheard cop talking, so Rhys split with others. Grab if you see 'em.

"What is it?" Pierce looked down at the phone over her shoulder. She suddenly remembered how close he was, so she leaned back into him a little.

"Looks like we found Ava." She held the phone up so he could see the message a little easier. "She and Leif are over at the roller coaster, but had to send Rhys off with the others because of that cop earlier." The veteran let out a small laugh. "We must've been nearby, but just barely missed them."

"What should we do?"

Emerald paused for a moment, then sighed. "The responsible thing to do would be to go find the others." She groaned as she put the phone away, then held her hand out to Pierce. "Shall we?"

He nodded, taking her hand gently in his. She gave it a light squeeze before leading him back the way they'd come, not noticing the blush still tinging his cheeks.

"Wow, that was fun!"

Pierce looked over as Leif came away from the "roller coaster", carrying an unconscious Ava in his arms. His first instinct was to immediately run over, but Emerald's hand on his arm stopped him.

"She's okay," the taller woman reassured him. "She always does that whenever she rides a roller coaster." She approached the white-haired Daemos. "Looks like Ava had so much fun she passed out."

"Heh, I don't blame her," the former assassin answered, grinning as he came to a stop next to them.

"She's not the only one!" a voice called out from behind. They turned to see Lorelai dragging Steve along, the jock barely moving his feet as his head lolled to the side. "Steve got too excited, too." She turned to Emerald. "But hey, it's great to see you! I'm glad you and Pierce could join us!"

"Maybe now we can get food?" Kristen asked, although her gaze did rest on Pierce for a few seconds. She bit her lip, taking in his appearance.

Orin nodded. "Let's. It'll give Steve and Ava a chance to catch their breath."

"Should we follow them?" Leif looked between Emerald and the group of humans as the others wandered off.

"Of course, silly!" Lorelai giggled, motioning for them to follow. "We're hanging out!"

Pierce began to follow behind Leif and the others, but felt a light pull on his hand along with Emerald saying "Wait." He suddenly remembered she had never let go of it since they'd decided to come back. He turned to face her, trying not to stare too much.

"I'm going to trust you to keep Leif under control while I go look for the others."

He immediately shook his head. "I - "

"Look, I know you're worried." She let out a tired sigh. "I'm not thrilled with it either, but Ava needs someone here to make sure Leif doesn't blow his cover. Until she wakes up, we can't leave them alone." She squeezed his hand gently. "Please. I really need your help with this."

Pierce stepped forward and studied her carefully. She wasn't shaking anymore, but her skin was slightly pale. He cupped her face with one hand, watching as she leaned into his touch and blinked heavily. "If you're sure, then I will stay here."

Emerald smiled at him. "Thank you." She leaned forward and softly caressed him near the corner of his mouth, sending an electric shock through his body. He felt his face heating up as she pulled away, letting go of his hand and walking off towards the large white structure with a giant spider on the side.

The former general watched her go until she rounded the corner, his hand going up to touch where her lips had been. He stood like that for several moments, before he heard Lorelai calling his name. Pierce shook his head, turning to join her and the others even as his thoughts swirled at dizzying speeds.