When she heard the door jangle, Delilah looked up again and smiled when this time she saw who it was she had been waiting for finally exit the restaurant, an apron draped over his arm and backpack hanging off of one shoulder.

"Abel!" she called out, waving.

He startled, and looked around in confusion before spotting her. He lifted a hand, smiling a little warily before he went to the crossing and waited for the light to turn green. She bounced on her feet excitedly, but when Abel was finally there she held back from hugging him the way she wanted to, not just because of the wary look on his face but the fact it had been too long. Far too long.

For a moment, the two of them stood there staring at each other. The superficial resemblance that he had to Oura still knocked her back in the few times they had actually been in the vicinity of each other, but now, standing here and really, properly looking at him in a way she hadn't for a long time made her see that superficial was all the resemblance was. Abel's hair was more milky than silver, after all, his eyes wider with thicker eyelashes that made him seem younger. The features too were different, rounder and younger and more expressive. She wondered if he still scowled in photographs when made to pose for them, the way he was doing in the photograph she'd found that had made her decide to try this in the first place. She'd always found it adorable.

She wondered what he thought of when he saw her face as it was now.

"So, um…." Abel said eventually. "Did you want to come to my place?"

"Y-your place? I thought maybe we'd go out somewhere to eat?"

"No, it's okay. I have to walk my dogs, anyway. Of course, if you'd rather…"

"No, no that's okay."

"Well, it's not far."

Without any further explanations, he began to walk and Delilah followed him, a little nonplussed. Still, she was pleased. She hadn't expected much from Abel agreeing to meet with her before they all attended the wedding. Surely the fact that he was inviting her home was promising, even if it was only for the sake of his pets.

"How many dogs do you have then?"

"Two. Atalanta and Pickle the Third."

"I…you what? Pickle? Why?"

"Seraph insisted," Abel explained without any sense of irony. "Nobody else's let her name their pets."

"Well, yeah, I mean why would anyone want to name anything Pickle? Besides, doesn't she have pets of her own?"

"The place she's at doesn't let her keep anything more complicated than goldfish. I got lucky really, being able to find somewhere that would let me have dogs…"

Delilah let the silence settle for a moment. It was lucky really, that most of the six of them were living normal lives. Even after Kawaakari had ended, the series of spells that had attempted to erase all memory of them from the world had not been fully broken. Their families suddenly had unexplained items in their house, unexplained bedrooms, but no memories of the people who had owned those things. No memories of them. Maria and Judas's immediate families had been willing to take them back in despite this, and an extended member of Cain's had turned up to look after him until he'd come of age. But Eve, Delilah and Abel-they'd all been rejected, one way or another, and even though their ages meant they'd only had one year in the system as Wards and one year was nothing compared to the lifetime that Asuka's lot had gone through, it had been one year too many. Especially for her, as she knew that in her life before the 'spoilt princess' label she'd taken offence at had been somewhat accurate. It was why she'd decided to keep the 'Ward' eponymic rather than change it to something else-certainly, unlike Abel or Eve, she didn't have the option of switching back.

But regardless of the names they held, from the brief brushes she'd had with them all at the Hotaruhama memorial reunion four years ago and from what she had heard through the others she talked to since then, she knew that they'd all been working at building lives since then. Well, most of them, anyway. Nobody really knew what it was that Eve was up to, another loss that tore at her just a little bit more. Even so, they were lucky that they were living lives in the world at all.

Don't think of that now-you'll be rehashing it soon enough anyway. She blinked, trying not to cry as she tried to remember what they were talking about.

"Wait. Why Pickle the Third, specifically?"

"Seraph has two goldfish."

"Ahhhhh."

Delilah nodded seriously, and then unexpectedly a bout of giggles overtook her. Abel gawped at her, and then smiled before pointing out his apartment block. His apartment was on the third floor, and when they reached there and he opened the door, she could hear the sounds of the two dogs. Almost as soon as Abel stepped in, a small, angry looking black dog launched itself at his legs, with a larger, calmer looking white dog padding behind. Abel laughed and after flinging the apron over a coat rack, he dropped to his knees to cradle the smaller dog and then pat the larger one, smiling and carrying on a chatty monologue with the two dogs, pausing and then responding to their barks and snuffles as if he was actually having a conversation with them. It was an oddly captivating sight, seeing him like this, and despite the awkwardness of standing in the doorway she was almost disappointed when he glanced up and remembered she was there. Just like that, the easy smile and laughter dropped away, replaced by something more held-back and polite.

"Delilah, this is Atalanta," he nodded at the larger dog. "And this little scamp is Pickle the Third. Pickle, Atalanta, this is Delilah. Say hello, now."

She smiled and knelt down.

"May I?" she asked, tentatively holding a hand out.

When Abel nodded, she first patted Pickle the Third, who barked and practically glared at her suspiciously. Atalanta, on the other hand, happily accepted her pats and even momentarily rested their (His? Her? Delilah realised that she had no idea whatsoever) head on her lap.

"Oh, you're a good doggy, aren't you?" she cooed. "So good."

"If you want, you can take her leash."

"Wha-oh."

Delilah stared at the red leash for a moment before accepting it and clipping it onto the collar. She'd almost forgotten about the reason they were here in the first place. Once the dogs were sorted, they left the house again, heading towards a park that apparently had a section for dogs and their owners.

"I usually take them for a circuit around, and then let them play for a while." Abel explained.

"I see."

The park was mostly quiet when they arrived. A few people walked in groups, and children stretched out the last few moments of their playtime in the playground. There were one or two dog walkers who were apparently leaving the park who nodded at Abel and gave Delilah curious looks as they walked past them. By the time they got to the section for dogs specifically, the sun was setting properly, turning everything a glorious red and gold. Delilah handed Atalanta's leash back to Abel, and watched as he let both the dogs off before heading over to a wooden bench to sit.

For the entire walk so far, neither of them had said anything, and this silence continued for a while longer, both of them watching the dogs run around each other. Eventually though, Abel cleared his throat:

"So, um, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Ah, here it is now.

"I…well…it's not that I had something specific to say to you, specifically but it's just…it's just that I miss you. Miss us."

There was a pause, and she looked at Abel to see that he was frowning quizzically.

"I mean, I know it's…even now every time I look at you all even in pictures I keep seeing what we did to each other and I know that's why mostly we've been keeping our distance. Constantly remembering isn't a way to live a life, that's what Evie says when she chooses to respond to me but…this doesn't feel like a life, really. I mean, I'm doing okay for myself and all but it's just…"

She took a breath, wondering why she couldn't just say what it was she wanted to say. She riffled in her purse and found the photograph and held it out to him, and as he studied it she carried on:

"I know I never really belonged to you all, not properly. But I don't belong to my family now, I don't belong to Evie anymore. I talk to Memora and the others a lot, and my flatmates are nice, and my colleagues at the shop are okay, I guess? And of course there's us all together, this 'core group', we're bonded forever and it's a good thing really, isn't it? Otherwise we wouldn't be here to see Quiet and Hiraga get married, would we? But I don't belong anywhere, to anyone, not really. And imperfect as that belonging was, as the Elite Chess Club it was…it was the closest thing, the soonest closest thing and…"

She had to take another breath, harder this time. She wasn't a teenager in a scary situation anymore, she could not cry. She would not cry. But oh, how she wanted to.

"There were good times too," she managed. "Weren't there? Surely it's okay to hold onto those?"

Abel nodded slowly, but did not say anything. Instead, he lifted his eyes from the photograph and held her gaze contemplatively. She wondered if he was confused. Certainly, she'd not made a specific and direct point, but she herself wasn't sure that she knew what she wanted specifically. Just that sense of belonging, of being part of a tight, intimate unit. To be beloved, to feel safe in that belovedness. Whatever form that belonging took, she needed that more than anything. In some way, feeling like this now made her understand a little better what had happened in the Ancient Times, why that had led to everything that had happened five years ago. Not that she'd ever forgive Akari or Headmaster Cher or whoever he was. But still, she understood more than she'd ever expected.

Haven't found your feet yet? Oh that's okay, you're still young was what some of her older colleagues at the shop said. And maybe that was true but she'd seen young lives cut short over and over and over. She couldn't forget it and even if she were to forget it, all she had to do was look in the mirror to remember.

"I…Abel, say something, please." She begged after a few moments.

Abel swallowed, and then half-whispered:

"…why me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't save you. Back then, at the beginning. You told me that."

"I…" Delilah was taken aback. "That is….I didn't mean it."

But she had, hadn't she? Even if only for that moment when she'd wailed it across the casino. She had meant it then but now? Now, she didn't know. It was true, but at the same time it wasn't.

"Yes, you did." Abel said, echoing her thoughts.

"I…"

Delilah stopped, blinked rapidly and then tried again.

"Even so…I can't talk to Evie, I won't talk to Cain. Maria and Judas are…well, they've made it clear haven't they, where they stand. That leaves you."

She sincerely hoped that Abel wouldn't ask her why she wouldn't talk to Cain. She wasn't quite ready to tell anyone that she'd tried to seek him out a couple of years ago, how they'd used each other and then broken apart again. Then again, she suspected that Abel might have known a thing or two about tangling hearts with Cain. Whether that was the case or not, she was pleased when he did not ask. Instead, he glanced away from her for a moment, checking on the dogs, before studying her face again. It felt like a long time before he spoke again:

"You did belong."

This, Delilah wasn't expecting.

"You did," he insisted, though quietly so. "I get why it would look like you didn't, but you did. I know that if you hadn't been there our group would not have been what it was. So, you belonged."

"Oh, Abel…"

Delilah couldn't hold back a sob, and she pressed her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from crying even more. Abel watched her thoughtfully, and then smiled unexpectedly, the curve of his lips sweet and earnest. Reaching out, he tentatively patted her other hand, before handing the picture back and getting up. He cupped his hands around his mouth and whistled twice, and Atalanta and Pickle the Third came bounding back up. He clipped their leashes back onto their collars and handed Atalanta's to her, and then they began to walk back.

…

Back in Abel's apartment, there was some attempt at small talk, mostly around the wedding a lot of them were coming in to attend. Delilah hadn't pegged Hiraga and Quiet to be the marrying-relatively-early types but it turned out to be because the process of opening Room 777 as a real bar was really starting to get underway, and they wanted to have a proper celebration before Hiraga would be too busy for it. It turned out that Abel knew this because he was hoping to switch jobs and work there once Room 777 was established. Well, that and the fact he had become quite close to that group in the years since Kawaakari.

It also turned out that Abel was quite good at cooking, and indeed enjoyed it. Delilah had been allowed to help chop vegetables, but only the vegetables and then she'd been made to sit at the small battered kitchen table while Abel continued cooking and the two of them talked. Occasionally, one or both dogs would come and interrupt, looking for attention, which Delilah was more than happy to give. Indeed, when dinner was ready and the two of them settled down to eat, she took some joy out of sneaking them scraps under the table. Afterwards, they went to sit in Abel's tiny, book-filled living room space with bowls of ice-cream and each of them with a dog in their lap.

The conversation lapsed a little at this point as they sat on the beanbags that were apparently Abel's sofa-substitute, but this time the silence was something approaching comfortable. The gap between them was still far too large but it had closed a little bit. Just a little. And there was something in Abel's face that made Delilah hope that perhaps this was the right route for her to try searching for belonging. Nonetheless, when Abel finally did speak again, she certainly hadn't been expecting him to say:

"Let's have children together."

Delilah almost choked on her ice-cream, and after she was sure that she had finished coughing she gawped at Abel.

"That's a bit forward!" she protested.

"It is?"

Delilah couldn't refrain from groaning at the genuine confusion she saw on him, but managed to hold back from face-palming. She put her ice-cream down on the beanbag, only to pick it up quickly when she saw Atalanta eyeing it a little too greedily.

"Think about what you just said, really think about it."

Abel just stared at her and she sighed.

"Well, it's a strange way to come onto someone."

"Ohhhhhh." Realisation dawned on Abel's face. "I wasn't. Not exactly."

Now it was Delilah's turn to stare confusedly at him. He sighed, and much to Pickle the Third's displeasure, set the small dog down on the floor to fold his hands in his lap.

"They don't necessarily need to be created children, they could be adopted. Either way, family. "

Created children. The poetic term for blood children struck Delilah as an odd way to phrase it, until she realised that nearly all of Abel's books were old ones, and the few titles she could decipher were myths, legends and other very old stories. It was another detail about him she found herself treasuring, but she put it aside for the moment. Depending on how things turned out, there might not even be any point in her cherishing this.

That, and she was just confused. Children…she knew Asuka had a kid, Akira, almost a year old now. And she knew that Ruby would be adopting soon enough, and that there were a fair few of the others also interested in starting families one way or another. She'd count herself as one of them, considering that family was a form of belonging too, but to have this particular way of belonging so immediately singled out was just unexpected.

"Abel…I'm not sure I get what you're saying."

Abel gave a one-shouldered shrug, and finally embarrassment seemed to hit him as he lowered his head for a moment before then lifting it up to look her in the eye.

"The things you told me…you are lonely, right? I'm lonely too. Despite… "

He paused and frowned, making a vague gesture which Delilah assumed was meant to indicate all the various people he encountered in his life. Atalanta looked up and then decided to move away from Delilah's lap and over to Abel, curling up next to him. Delilah took another spoonful of ice-cream and then placed the bowl on the floor next to her while she waited for Abel to finish speaking. Which he did do eventually:

"And maybe it would take work, but belonging always takes work so… one way or another, we can find a way to belong to each other. If we tried."

"That…." Delilah didn't know what to say. "Really?"

"If you'd like." Abel started to go pink. "Of course, it doesn't have to involve...any…um…you know."

Delilah started to giggle, and attempted to tease him, but without her realising the laughter turned to tears and she couldn't hold them back. Body racked with sobs, she covered her face with her hands and simply gave into it. She was vaguely aware of both the dogs coming over, their wet noses poking her knee in concern, but it was only when she felt Abel's hand on her arm that she moved her hands away and blinked at him tearily.

Abel's expression was gentle, if a little inscrutable, but carefully he moved his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and then lightly touch the scars there, gently cupping her cheek. She held her breath, but then he smiled at her.

"Sorry," she apologised. "I didn't mean to be such a cry-baby. I thought I'd grown out of this."

"It isn't a weakness, really." Abel said. "Don't apologise."

He moved his hand away, and went to pick up his bowl again. He began to eat what remained of his ice-cream, and Delilah followed suit until the bowls were empty and they both had to get up to take them to the kitchen.

"I…we should talk properly about what you asked me because I do like the idea, but yeah…" Delilah said as Abel began the washing. "First, we should talk properly, while I'm here."

"Yes, that makes sense. You could stay here? Though you must already have a hotel room."

"I do, but I can cancel…"

Delilah thought about this for a moment, running through the practical issues in her mind and then nodding.

"Yeah, I can do that, and then come back. If that's…if that's really okay?"

"It is."

…

Later, much later, when the night was turning to morning and making everything glow, Delilah turned to Abel:

"You know, it really is okay about back then, that first death."

"I-it is?"

"Yeah, it is. It's not fair to hold that against you, not really. Besides…"

"Besides?"

"We're saving each other now, aren't we?"

There was a pause and then, a smile as bright as the dawn itself:

"Yes, we are."