It was late afternoon, Reese was feeding the dinosaurs on board of the Black Pearl. Paris was nudging her happily, getting a pat on the head. She wasn't the only one trying to get Reese's attention. The scientist was surrounded by the dinosaur partners of her friends.

"How do you make them all love you like that?" Zander, who just walked into the room, asked her, "I mean, I know you're lovely, but not all can have such a great taste."

She looked at him, a smile forming on her face. "Zander."

He approached her.

"I did grow up in a veterinarian family; I know how to treat animals right. And..." A bit of grim flashed in her expression. "They're just like me."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Alive in the world where they know no one; their best friends are dead. Some of them even went through that twice."

"I've never thought about that..." Zander admitted, glancing at the floor, "I'm sure it isn't just that. They can feel that you're an amazing person; you're kind and gentle, just wonderful."

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say you're jealous."

"What...?"

Reese took his hand and dragged him to the dinosaurs. "You can make them like you as well."

"No way... Not even Spiny can stand me most of the time..." Zander whimpered quietly.

She only smiled at him and led him to Annie the Daspletosaurus. He flinched. "Reese, no. This...This is a bad idea. This thing's going to eat me in one bite."

"You don't have to be scared."

"How am I not supposed to be scared?!" he snapped scaredly.

"Just trust me."

Her smile assured him a little.

"As long as Paris and I are here, you have nothing to worry about."

"How come?" he wondered.

"Paris is the only one who can calm Annie down and I can protect you," she told him, making him reach his hand to the Daspletosaurus, "Annie loves to dance and Paris' singing helps her. Their partners work similarly; Zoe is one of a few who can keep Sue on a leash." She was holding his hand and they touched Annie's forehead together. "It's incredible that they have the same relationships independently on their partners."

He smiled at her. "Some souls are tied together by fate."

Confused by his words, she looked at him.

"Just look at the two Saurolophus."

"Huh?" Her eyes traveled to the couple and her expression softened. "I see what you mean..."

The Daspletosaurus growled happily, intentionally scaring Zander. He jumped back. "Good girl...don't hurt me..."

"Annie." The researcher gave the dino a reproaching glare. That was quickly swiped away by a sad smile—it made it clear to Zander that she's missing the present, her family. The longer she stays, the less she remembers. Two months were enough to make even a strong mind as hers damaged.

—

Walking through a mall in the downtown, Ed was carrying bags full of dresses, following his sister. Unlike Zander, he didn't manage to escape from Ursula's monthly shopping fever. After more than an hour, his legs and arms hurt so much he thought they're about to fall off any second.

As he barely dragged himself around the mall, Ursula did her best to charm anyone who passed by, the problem was that most people looked at her differently than she'd expect. How dare they?! Nobody ignores Ursula the great!

How come not a single person cared about a hot and beautiful woman around them?!

"This is getting old..." Ed sighed in annoyance; he was forced to stroll longer and longer. Saying that one word made it even worse for him; Ursula snapped at him—she already had enough troubles.

Ed hung his head and accidentally bumped into someone, dropping the bags. He got immediately scolded by his sister, so he picked the bags as fast as he could. He glanced around to see who he ran into a while ago. He couldn't pinpoint that random figure in the crowd.

He suddenly shivered as he felt itching on his left arm as if an insect was crawling on him. He slapped the place, but nothing was there. He frowned and got up.

—

After a while, Zander came back to see Reese again, having a little gift for her hidden behind her back. She smiled at him as she was surrounded by dinosaurs. Before he could walk over to her, she noticed what time it is.

"I must go, sorry." She walked past him and left the room.

All the hope he had was suddenly gone. He lowered his head with a defeated sigh. He stumbled over to the middle of the room and sat down, looking at a red rose he wanted to give Reese.

—

Her work was much more important now. She walked into the lab where she discussed any progress in the time machine repairs with the Ancients, Rod, and Laura. They needed a source that could power the machine. Its broken engines worked on a different basis than on the Backland.

"No way," Reese immediately replied to Trias' suggestion of trying to recreate the power of the stone plates the Backland ran on. Despite it giving her hope of going back home, she couldn't bring herself to even think about that way. "I refuse to engage in anything involving playing with huge power we know nothing about." She shook her head. "Not again; not at that cost ever again."

"That only sets us back to the start," Trias argued back.

"Then do it, but without me."

Meanwhile, Cretacia was on a computer, running some simulations of their previous ideas; it turned out that they don't possess enough power to get the Black Pearl working. The biggest issue was the technology that no one of them quite understood. It was times like this when they wished for the Space Pirates or Seth to be around.

The simulations ended either in the engines dying and being blown up by an unbalanced power source. "And there we go again..." Cretacia chuckled as another error showed up on the screen.

"We must think of a way..." Laura murmured to herself, then she hit her palm with her fist, "we could possibly use the dinosaurs. Their souls contain the same power as the stone plates; if we could borrow that elemental spirit power from them."

"No offense, but we might try something more scientific," Rod told her, "this sounds more like a voodoo."

"Wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened to us." Laura shrugged.

Reese shook her head. "No." They all looked at her questioningly. "No playing with an unknown power. No soul trading. No supernatural stuff. It's already caused us enough trouble; going home isn't as important as keeping everyone alive."

"However, the longer you stay here, the more damaged the timeline could become," Trias objected, "we cannot lose our time."

"Rather that than causing a disaster again," the blonde admitted.

—

Zander was sitting on the floor, his tear-filled eyes stared at the red rose he was holding. "Have we even made any progress? Did all of that mean nothing to her?" he asked himself quietly, "I thought we were becoming something more, but...does she feel that way...?" He buried his face in his hands. "Or am I just an idiot for thinking that way...? I am... We're friends; that's all...She said it herself..."

He couldn't force her. He wasn't physically able to force her into anything; just thought of that made him sick.

He felt the rose being snatched from his hand and he shot his head up to spot the Saurolophus with the orange crest eating his rose. "Hey!" He jumped to his feet and grabbed rose, pulling it from her mouth. "That's not yours. Back off!" he yelled at her.

The female seemed angered by him. Sooner than she could roar back, her mate stepped between. He wasn't usually the brave one, but when it came to his mate, he'd do anything to protect her.

Zander backed away a little. "Sorry... I just...wish I had what you two have..." The female titled her head. "...I gotta thank you both; you played a huge role in the first day with my angel." He looked at the stem of the rose he saved from the Saurolophus. He was replaying that day in his head; that beautiful smile that woke him up and brought him back to life.

Ed walked into the room and broke his fantasies. "Hi."

"Oh, hey!"

"I can't believe you got off so easily when I was dragged around shops by Ursula again..." Ed murmured as he walked over to his brother.

In spite of his broken heart, Zander couldn't help but smile; he did enjoy the while he had with Reese after all; she smiled at him, reassured him and held his hand. "Sorry about that; I wanted to...try something." He squeezed the stem tightly.

"I see things aren't looking so bright for you too."

"Yeah..." He hung his head and then glanced at Ed again, noticing how flustered he was, clashing his index fingers.

"Hey...Um...There's something I have to tell you..."

"What is it?"

"It's...about Ellie..." Ed closed his eyes shut, waiting for his brother to yell at him or something; that didn't happen. He took peek with one eye, seeing that he's safe since Zander didn't show any signs of anger. That's alright so far; time for another step—now he won't avoid punishment for sure. "She...She kissed me on the cheek."

"What...?"

"I'm so so sor-"

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Zander interrupted his brother's panic.

"Huh?"

"I mean as long as you aren't the reason why she left me."

"O-of course not! I'd never do that to you. She didn't even leave you for another guy," Ed's last sentence really caught his attention.

"Do you know the reason then?" he asked eagerly.

Ed was taken back by the question. He couldn't tell him the truth now, could he? He nodded slowly. "I do, but..."

"Then why did she do that? Ed, please, tell me!"

"I can't. I made a promise," Ed refused, "besides, she wants to tell you herself."

"Why would she tell you?" Zander wondered confusedly. Why wouldn't she tell him when he's involved?

"I found out by an accident; Ellie just doesn't feel ready to tell you."

"I see..."

"And how's Reese?"

"Sad..." Zander replied defeatedly, "it's taking longer for the ship to get repaired again and...the longer it'll take the sadder she'll be. I know how she feels; I felt the same when we were in the past. She needs to get home."

"There's nothing we can do to help them though..."

"Or maybe we can?" Zander suggested, smiling brightly, "Ed, you're great with computers; our point of view is different than the others' and we could possibly figure out something they don't see!"

"You sure?"

"We could try. No, we ought to try! Ed, please! For me!" He held his hands together in prayer. "For Reese..."

"...okay."

—

After her shopping streak, Ursula went to visit her oldest brother, Daniel—she isn't the type that would visit family on a daily basis, but she loved Sally's cupcakes and he knew that.

The green-haired let herself fall onto the couch with a deep sigh, staring at the ceiling. "Dan, what happened to me?" she asked.

"What exactly do you mean?" Daniel put glasses of orange juice down on the table and sat on the opposite side.

"Ever since we came back, my charm doesn't seem to work. People look at me differently."

"Differently?"

"Yeah..." she groaned annoyedly while her head was thrown back. She sat straight when Sally placed a plate full of colorful cupcakes right in front of her. Ursula immediately snatched one and took a bite.

"Things do change, Ursula," Sally told her, "maybe you perceive things differently."

The Alpha Gang member frowned, not understanding what her sister-in-law meant. She took another bite, processing her words. She perceives people's looks differently...but why?

Daniel stopped her train of thought. "What happened to you while you were in the past?"

"Huh? Well, a kid started calling me an old lady; a crazy guy chased me, asking me to marry him; I was less annoyed at one point."

"A guy who wanted you to marry him?" Daniel wondered, raising his eyebrow, grinning mockingly, "you've never mentioned that."

Ursula shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah. Whatever... You think that might be it?"

"Who knows. It could be or you might not want a relationship based purely on a physical attraction any more. You could simply want a relationship because you're jealous of Zander's previous one. You've acted like that back when Sally and I started dating."

She wanted to yell at him, however, she knew there might be some truth to it—Daniel was a psychologist and a therapist after all; he knew exactly what he was talking about.

She rolled her eyes—she couldn't let him know she considers it as a possibility.

—

The Black Pearl's lab was empty before Zander and Ed sneaked in.

They did their best to think of something and they put all of their ideas in a simulation; unsuccessfully...

—

In the graveyard, Reese walked up to the graves of her parents. "Hi, mom, hi, dad. I know it's taking a while, but I promise I'm going to come back home soon. I miss you all and I hate the thought of you worrying about me. I'm doing fine...Unexpectedly fine."

A smile formed on her face.

"Other than our unsuccessful research, things have been going great for me. And...and I..."

She held her hand near her heart. "I think I found someone who has the key and I feel like..." She took a sharp breath. "I feel like I can let him unlock what's been sealed away for so long, but...I shouldn't...I should head home as soon as possible."

She was quiet for a while.

"I know what you'd tell me...but how can I listen to it when I'm unable to decipher what it wants?! I'm so confused right now..."

She lowered her head, looking at the grass she was standing on.

After what felt like whole minutes of utter silence, she heard footsteps behind her. She didn't turn around, instead, she spoke up: "Isn't it rude to sneak up on people like that?"

The person did not react to her comment. "I should've figured you'd be here." It was Trias. He walked up to her. "Talking to the ones that cannot respond is reliving."

"Let me guess, you come here to talk to Rex."

"Indeed. I mostly apologize to him for what happened." He was looking right ahead. "I shouldn't have brought Cretacia with me when we first traveled through time. She insisted and I couldn't bring myself to say no; it messed the whole timeline up and put her and Rex in danger."

"It seems that all brilliant minds screw up sometimes."

"It appears so, although Cretacia seems to be an exception," Trias chuckled softly, "Reese, I understand that there are certain ways you'd like to avoid and I'm sorry for forcing anything on you."

"It's alright. I've awoken your fears as well, haven't I? I don't wish to mess with the timeline, but...there are just some things that plead me to stay."

"Nobody should play with great power like that. The only problem is that I've realized it too late."

"I know what you mean...I've hurt so many people. I...I've failed as a daughter and a sister."

"It's normal to feel that way. I was convinced I was just a poor excuse for a husband and a father. ...If it wasn't for Cretacia, I'd possibly still pity myself."

Reese smiled slightly. "She can so easily make people love themselves. ...Thank you, Trias; I'm glad to have someone who can understand me."

"Anytime. We'll stick to the original plan," Trias said, "collecting information about the time warps and thanks to that determining which one could lead us in the present."

The blonde nodded.

They stood there in silence for a while, but then Trias' phone rang. As he looked at his phone his eyes widened. "It's an emergency from Johnathan; something's wrong on the ship!"

—

"Why is it, when something happens, it's always at least one of you three?" Laura asked the two Alpha Trio members. The brothers lowered their heads in guilt.

Their good intentions had turned into another obstacle due to one wrong click; all the research had been deleted without any trace of related folders.

"It's not that big deal," Cretacia tried to reassure the men, but Laura made all the effect of those words disappear, still reproaching their actions. She and Rod have always been a little harsh to the trio even as children; their sudden age jump didn't change that at all.

Rod was typing something into the computer in an attempt to recover any data.

The door opened and Jonathan led Trias and Reese in.

"What happened?" Dr. Ancient immediately questioned.

Cretacia slid to him. "You won't believe this! Zander and Ed deleted all the data on our research," she said with a carefree smile on her face.

"They what?!"

The brothers backed away slightly.

"There's no way to restore any data," Rod announced angrily.

"How could you two do that? All of our work is gone just like that," Laura growled.

"Hold on, maybe we should give them a benefit of the doubt," Cretacia suggested, jumping from one side to the other around Trias, "what proof do we have?"

"If I may present my evidence," Jonathan spoke up, "part of my conciseness is connected to the ship's main computer; the second I was alerted, I got here-"

"And he caught us here," Ed finished, "w-we're not saying we didn't do it... I accidentally messed this up...But it was all Zander's idea!" He hid behind his brother and shoved him towards the others.

Zander stumbled forward nervous. "I...I...!"

"What were you thinking?" Reese asked him, approaching him a little.

He made a step back scaredly, sweating. "I...I only wanted..." He was staring down into her eyes. Her amethysts pleaded him for answers; he couldn't look away from those jewels. He gulped and confessed his plan. "I thought we could help you by trying simple things that someone as smart as you could overlook, so you can go back home as soon as possible because that's important now."

Reese was examining him with a surprise glance; his body wasn't sweating anymore, neither shaking, which he also usually does when he's nervous. He was confident in his words. She knew that confidence—when someone is convinced their decision is the best thing they can do despite the cost.

"But why...?" escaped Reese's lips so quietly Zander almost didn't hear her, but he did. She was confused. Why would he do that? He's only going to hurt himself. The sooner she can go back, the sooner she leaves him—he wouldn't be able to handle that; she was sure.

"Your happiness is what matters the most to me," the sentence he's repeated several times since their mission sounded in her head.

She understood and smiled at him. "It's alright, Zander. It's not a big deal."

"Really...?" Zander breathed, leaning down to her. She nodded, however, Trias wasn't that pleased by that excuse.

"Reese, all our work-"

The blonde turned to him. "Even the most brilliant minds slip up sometimes. Reminding them of their mistake won't help us fix it." He was aware she's referring to their previous conversation, trying to make him relate to Zander's and Ed's situation; it worked at least for now.

"Alright then."

The Alpha Gang members looked the most relieved in their lives.

"That can't be..." Rod suddenly exclaimed, frowning.

"Did something happen?" Laura wondered.

"I think... Zander and Ed probably did not erase the research. It wasn't done through the computer itself either. No, it's all a fault of a program that does not exist in the PC's memory; there's been an unauthorized input... We've been hacked!"

"How could anyone get through your security?" Trias asked him, "that shouldn't be possible."

"I don't understand..."

Jonathan stepped forward and with one glance scanned the computer. He said only two words, "Flash disk."

Of course! The system must be more vulnerable to attacks from inside the computer than the ones from outside. But who would put the flash disk in?

As soon as those words sounded through the room, a small lavender-pink bug-like creature could be spotted running away from the computer. The rest of its appearance was hard to notice due to its speed.

"What was that?"

"The culprit," the android replied and the others immediately rushed after the creature into the corridor.

Zander and Ed both jumped at it at the same type clashing together. The creature climbed on a wall and Cretacia tried to trap it between her hands. It was faster than her, crawling on her. That feeling sent shivers down her spine. She still attempted to grab the culprit and get it off her; Trias helped her. The creature escaped into one of the rooms and was once again followed.

The bug climbed on a table and was about to continue fleeing when suddenly a glass cup was swiftly placed over it. "Gotcha!" Laura held the cup, preventing the bug from escaping again. She sighed in relief.

Since it was finally caught, they could see it properly. The lavender-pink creature looked more like a spider than a bug; it had eight thin legs and a flash drive coming out of its jelly body, a bright pink light shined from what seemed like a black eye surrounded by several gray hexagon-shaped plates. It was making repeating beeping sounds.

Laura frowned sadly at the poor creature. "I'm sorry, little guy..."

"Don't pity that thing, Laura," Rod told her, "it sabotaged our research."

The pink spider continued beeping.

"Jonathan, what is it saying?" Trias asked the android.

"It's saying 'Mission failed; discovered' over and over."

"Mission? Who could have sent it?" Reese wondered.

"It looks like one of those Gel Jarks, so I'm positive it's the Spectral Space Pirates," Cretacia realized.

"That isn't possible," Laura corrected her, "their whole species is gone; the Dark Pterosaur took care of that."

"Then there's only one person with access to any Gel Jarks," Trias concluded, glaring to himself, "since none were left on this ship." He turned to the scientist of the past. "We can't really move the Gel Jark right now, so would you watch over it while we figure out how to restore the lost data?"

Reese nodded. "Sure."

"And as for you two." Trias didn't even have to look at Zander and Ed for them to know he's addressing them. "Just don't get involved in the research again."

The two Alpha Gang members stood there silently as everyone but Reese left the room.

There was a deep silence in the room until Ed sighed. "I'm getting hungry in stressful situations like this... Is it okay if I go grab a snack?"

"Of course," Reese answered, "I'm the one who should watch over the Gel Jark anyway, not you."

"Okay! I'll be right back." Ed rushed out of the room.

Reese could only smile softly at that.

Zander collapsed on one of the chairs with a groan, catching Reese's attention. "I've never seen Dr. Ancient so mad before."

"He has his reasons to be. He's afraid of the timeline getting corrupted, which theoretically speaking could happen if I stay here for too long. He wants to avoid it because he feels guilty for happened the last time. The whole time travel project almost caused the end of time and space as we know it. I can understand that... If it weren't for you two, the Gel Jark would flee with all our data and it could have got to the wrong hands."

"...we still screwed up... I really thought it could work, but..."

"It's alright, Zander."

He stood up. "I only wanted to help so you can go home. I see how much you miss your family and I can't bear to watch you sad. Your happiness is what matters to me the most and I'm willing to sacrifice anything for that!"

"Don't," Reese interrupted him.

"Why?"

"Something like that is on the edge of a toxic relationship. I know you're used to something else, but any kind of relationship, romantic or platonic, depends on both sides. One can't simply just give while the other takes; they both need to give and take. A relationship requires you to be both selfish and selfless. It's the balance between those two that make a good relationship. Your happiness and feelings are just as important as mine and right now, by helping me you're hurting yourself."

"Reese... How come you always know what to say?" he asked her.

She expected that question; this was one of the fewer things she didn't know from her own experience but rather from her close ones. "I simply have the right information."

He smiled at her and was about to say something when the door opened again and Ed walked in with a bag of potato chips and a cup of salt. He tends to over-salt his food when he's nervous. He laid both on the table.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked them as he ate a few chips.

"I suppose we'll then use the little Gel Jark's memory to get all the data back," Reese theorized, "although, we should let others decide that."

"I just hope this is the only one," Zander admitted, "I don't want to run into those slime things ever again." Right after saying those hateful words, the cup with salt fell to the floor and fell apart.

In the alert, they all looked there confusedly.

"What happened?"

The cup had been standing right beside Gel Jark's prison. While they couldn't piece together the reason for the fall, the spider bumped into the glass with all its strength and knocked over the cup, falling off the table.

The others screamed in panic as they failed at their only job. The Alpha Gang's bad luck strikes again.

They couldn't do anything as the Gel Jark immediately jumped into the salt when it hit the ground, melting.

They stared in disbelief.

"It failed its mission, so it killed itself..." Reese murmured, stunned by witnessing such an act.

They had to tell others.

"How did that happen?" Trias asked them, glaring at the Alpha Gang instead of the blonde when they told him. He was taken back by the response.

"It was my fault," Reese said, "I wasn't paying attention to the Gel Jark as you told me to. This is purely on me." She stepped forward, her hand near her heart. "Zander and Ed have nothing to do with it; they weren't even in the room when it happened."

The two looked at her with their eyes and jaws wide open.

Hearing the confession, Trias' expression turned firm. "Alright. We do have the original materials, not to mention that part of the research is still stored in Jonathan's memory." He smiled slightly. "We might not have the whole research recovered from the Gel Jark, but this isn't over."

Reese nodded as the rest turned back to the research.

"Why did you do that?" Zander asked her quietly.

"First of all, I figured he wouldn't be that harsh on me."

"How come?"

"We have a lot in common, but I can't tell his real reason. And second of all, you and Ed are my friends. You're my...friend." That one word was suddenly harder to tell the second time. "You're already in enough trouble."

"Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it." She smiled at him as she walked away.

—

Her smile was all he could see for the rest of the day. Just thinking about her made him sleep peacefully. He had a wonderful dream about his angel when a knock on the door woke him up.

Zander got up and walked over to open, not caring if anyone saw his without his sunglasses. He was met with long golden locks and glassy amethyst eyes.

"Reese..."

Her cheeks were clearly wet; she was crying... Before he could do or say anything else, she hugged him tightly, resting her head on his chest. It took him a moment to realize what was going on, then he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back.

What could have happened that she came to him in tears?

He felt how cold her body is—she was wearing only a light pajama. He brought her in and closed the door, helping her to sit on the bed. He put a blanket over her when she pulled away.

"What happened, Reese?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head. "A nightmare..."

He frowned understandably; even he has woken up in tears several times, although, he's never thought she'd also be so vulnerable in her sleep.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"...it was nothing special, just the same thing over and over again."

"So, this isn't the first time..."

"No. I spent the first few nights here awake because of dumb nightmares. Some things are just hard to forget..."

"Yeah... I know that feeling. Is there anything I can do for you?" he wondered. She looked at him but said nothing. Just looking at that flawless face made him want to never look away.

He reached his hand to her cheek, stopping when it twitched nervously. His hand fell on the bed as he sat beside her.

"I'm not sure," Reese admitted, "going to you was an instinct I guess; I trust you more than anyone in this era." She placed her hand on her heart, panting. "It's still racing like crazy..." She closed her eyes. "I should be the one asking what I can do for you."

"How so?"

She opened her eyes, looking into his. "I can see you're bothered by something most of the time."

"How can you know that?"

"Just like you know I'm sad because I miss home. Tell me what is it."

Zander sighed, lowering his head. "I can't lie to you... You said that my feelings are just as important as yours... What frustrates me is that...I can't express my feelings towards you."

"What do you mean?"

"I respect your wishes, but I have trouble stopping myself from calling you 'my angel' or singing the I wrote for you or doing anything to show my affection."

"Zander..." She ran her fingers under his chin, making him look at her. She smiled at him. "I miss all of those and I can't force you not to do those things anymore. I wanted to avoid them before, but...now that we're closer..."

"Angel..." Zander breathed in disbelief, making Reese blush at the nickname. He beamed at her.

"See?" She took his hand. "You're just as important as I am in this relationship."

"And what exactly is this relationship?" he wondered.

She flushed more and avoided answering. "Could you, please, sing me your song?"

He blinked a few times. "You really wanna hear it?"

She nodded slowly. "It cheers me up."

"Anything for you, my angel..." He took a deep breath, remembering all the words.

"Oh, my Angel. I love my dinosaur.

But when I look into your eyes, I think I love you more."

He grinned at her goofily and she chuckled softly.

"Be my Jurassic Valentine.

Falling deep into your eyes, I love the way you archaeologise.

Angel stay with me forever moooooooore."

"And love me like you love your dinosaur," she whispered as he sang. He stared at her dumbfoundedly; he'd never expect her to join in. Her ahoges were shaped like a heart just like his.

During the song, they slowly leaned closer and now they were looking into each other's eyes. They didn't realize they were still moving towards the other until their lips finally met.

Their reflexes kicked in immediately, shutting their eyes, wrapping arms around each other, closing the space between them. Whenever it felt like one of them is slipping away, the other pulled them close.

Mere seconds seemed like hours of beautiful tension sparking between them. There was nothing that could separate them apart from lacking oxygen. They panted weakly, their eyes locked.

"My angel..."

"You're a pretty good kisser," Reese admitted, smirking innocently.

Zander blushed, glancing away, rubbing the back of his head. "Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"No...I just can't believe this happened..."

"Neither can I, but I should have figured it'd end up like this. That's why I tried to avoid you at first, so it isn't hard for me to leave."

"And what changed your mind?"

"I got to know you and found out how amazing you are." She pecked his cheek. "Zander, is it okay if I sleep with you tonight?"

He turned totally red at her question, his ahoges straightened in panic. "I-if you...what?!"

"I mean sleep next to you," she quickly corrected herself, her cheeks pink, "I feel more comfortable by your side."

"Um...Y-yeah! Sure... Sorry for misunderstanding..."

"It's okay," she chuckled.

—

Oof, that was hard. So, just like Reese, Trias deals with the grief of his actions in the anime, Ursula has a relationship crisis, we have a little spy on the scene, but most importantly Reese and Zander! Sure keep up with the next chapter where we'll explore more!

Keeping to the theme of music-related chapter names, this chapter is named after Victoria Duffield's song that I've even used for one of my videos.

I can guarantee that the next chapter is going to be great and you should prepare for a lot!