Is this heaven?

The silence spilt through Eve like an upsurge of adrenaline. Along with a blanket of darkness tossed over her. It felt warm like the tickle of sand as it runs through your fingers. Isn't death supposed to be dreaded and grotesque like in the horror movies? Already, she was imagining whether Sindri would be present at her funeral or whether he'd rather take a boring college class.

Eve overheard her name resound from the sky. It wasn't clear and sounded like sin. She saw the contour of a grown woman. Her body was marred by burn scars and she wore a white kimono with sparkly glass beads wound through her hair. She outstretched her arms, saying Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve.

"Who are you?" Eve called out. "How do you know me?"

"Words can't explain my love for you," the woman said. The ghost woman strode toward Eve but she only threw herself backward. "Come close, little danger. It's just me…"

Eve made movement to thwart the woman from getting to her. "Stay away from me! I don't know who you are!"

The woman moved too fast for Eve to stop her. She dragged Eve into her arms and held her as if she were moments away from throwing a tantrum. Tears went to Eve's eyes and she looked down, making sure her hair clouded her face before she was going to cry. She knew the voice but couldn't stand to admit where it came from. Ophelia's mind games definitely impacted on her head.

"M-Mom…it's you."

"Yes, little danger. You're right. You can finally see the truth." Kana Miroashi said. She was a gorgeous woman. Sindri was the perfect male copy of her while all Eve obtained were her blue eyes and eating habits. Despite Sindri looking exactly like their mother, he was nothing like her and really all that was left of Kana were the memories.

"I miss you, Mom. I miss you so much…" Eve informed in tears. "Please come back! I'll be a better daughter, I promise! I…I'll clean my room every day and I'll do the dishes and I'll never get another tattoo! I didn't even want this one! I got it on a dare–"

Amara nodded and passed Eve a smile. "I've already made a deal with God."

"Can't you just give him an IOU?" Eve asked. "He can have Sindri. No one likes him."

She giggled. "I love you, little danger. Stay good."

"Wait–"

There was no chance to say anything more to her mother. Eve was falling again but this time into the light.

Sundance glanced into the stadium-sized East Tokyo High field from behind the bleachers. One of the last guys in a soccer uniform ran into the locker room and the door closed behind him. He made sure the coast was clear before running full-speed toward the team's bench and duffel bags. Eve constantly told him not to steal but she was still unconscious behind the bleachers. She'd never know.

He sieved through the bags, one by one. There were mainly extra clothes, crushed water bottles and food wrappers, and bars of deodorant. Sundance ended up finding someone's deli-made sandwich piled with salami, prosciutto, lettuce, tomato and onions. His mouth watered and he lunged for the first bite.

Comically but not so much to him, he yelped when biting his thumb. He turned to the food-stealer in disgust, scraping his teeth together in anger.

A rabbit with fuzzy white fur and light blue eyes sat on the stands, holding the sandwich Sundance came across in its paws. It definitely wasn't a normal-sized animal but with only stolen food on his mind, Sundance didn't care to notice.

"Hey, asshole rabbit, I saw it first!"

The rabbit shook its head. "Poyu, poyu, poyu…"

"Give it back!"

"Poyu, poyu…"

"That's mine!" Sundance shouted and charged toward the rabbit with his arms raised to strike. The rabbit bounced out of Sundance's reach, still holding the sub sandwich. Starving and angry, Sundance tackled the rabbit onto the grass but it had no trouble overthrowing him, although releasing the sandwich, it stomped across Sundance's stomach but couldn't block a punch from him. Brilliantly, the rabbit caught Sundance's fist between his teeth and bit down hard.

"Ah! Evvvveeee, help me! Someone, anyone…help me! Someone help me! I'm being attacked!" Sundance wailed, sprinting full circles around the field. The glaring rabbit still didn't budge. "Evvvvveeeeee, someone–"

The rabbit's soft ears twitched and it let go of Sundance. At seeing Eve awake and hobbling closer with his book, he raced over to her and threw himself into her arms, gripping her shirt with both hands. Teeth marks bled an oozing red from his knuckles. "Eve, you're here!"

"It's not easy to tune out your voice, Sundance."

Sundance held onto her tighter and pointed out the rabbit. "Eve! That thing attacked me! I was minding my own business and I found a sandwich in someone's bag. It looked so good and I was so hungry–"

"Sundance! What have I told you about stealing?"

"Not to, I know. But the opportunity was right there so I took it! Until that monster mauled me! It could've had rabies! It could be a…mamodo."

The animal crossed his arms. Eve had to think about it. Even if he didn't have a book-keeper, his book was nowhere in sight unless he had a good hiding place for it. Sundance's own book swayed haphazardly in her hands. Wouldn't that mamodo have attacked her by now if she was holding an enemy's book so close by?

Sundance took a protective stand by Eve. But she was more thrown into not attacking. "How could this mamodo still be around if he doesn't have a partner?"

"Well, that's not exactly it."

Eve forgot what balance she had and fell onto the grass, her head not far from the point of Sundance's running shoe. A blonde teenager with euphoric green eyes stood behind them. He had a fine smile and was clad in a soccer uniform–a black shirt and shorts and cleats that were all identical in color.

Sundance pouted. "Smooth, Eve…"

The rabbit hopped over to the blonde and tilted his head. In the soccer player's hand was an aqua blue spell-book that looked as obvious as a threat. But it wasn't open and neither of them jumped to attack her.

She didn't mean to react so drastically. After what happened with Caleb and Ophelia, she couldn't help it. She was still on the mend of recovery and wouldn't be off for a while.

"I've never really had that kind of effect on someone," the blonde said with a laugh, offering his hand to her to help her off the ground. "I'm Seiku Kasumoda and this is Itosagi." Itosagi's whiskers bobbed slightly but he still didn't look much at Sundance.

Eve got off the ground herself and gestured to Sundance. "I'm Eve, he's Sundance."

Seiku gave his hand to Sundance instead. "Pleased to meet you, Sundance."

Sundance beamed and propelled forward, taking Seiku's one hand in both of his. "You too!"

Of course, Sundance would instantly trust in someone without even knowing them.

"Kasumoda, back on the field!"

Someone Eve assumed to be the soccer coach stamped a foot. Located on the field were a dozen of soccer players with eyes that sparkled from the sunlight and amusement. Before Seiku left, he turned to Eve with a smile.

"Don't be scared of us, okay? We won't hurt 'cha."

Once he was gone and Itosagi regained the sandwich he fought Sundance for, Eve sighed.

Sundance grinned. "You're blushing,"

"What? No, no, I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are!"

"You are so sleeping on the floor tonight."

"Eve?"

Sundance walked into Eve's room while she was sitting on her bed, fingers in her hair and head in her lap. Sindri had only left the apartment minutes earlier to visit people in Okinawa. Sundance approached her side and patted her ankle. "Eve, are you okay?"

She turned her hair away from her face and lifted her head, positioning her fingertips under her eyes in an unconventional way of preventing tears. A smudge of mascara streaked her cheek. The outlines of her eyes were bordered with red. She touched around her eyes and nodded.

"I'm just a little upset. Don't worry about it." she told him in her smallest voice. A hiccup bolted out of her mouth and she sniveled, not moving her fingers from beneath her eyes. How long had she been crying? Sindri was gone for at least an hour and once he left, Eve dragged herself into her room wordlessly. "Are you okay? Do you wan–"

He crawled onto her bed. "You can tell me what's wrong. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"There's not–"

"I don't know anything about you," Sundance said, tilting his head innocently but his voice was the exact opposite. "I want to be king. To help people, to let my world know that they have a voice and there are people that want to listen. Things aren't right over there as of now. Our current king has tried to help but doesn't know how. Tell me about yourself or don't tell me. I don't have a family. As far as I've known, I've been raised by struggling painters. You're my family, Eve. I appreciate what you've done for me. If you'd only just tell me about yourself…"

While Sundance was talking, tears passed through and between her fingers. "I dropped out of high school for my boyfriend. His name is Caleb. He attacked me with his mamodo. You haven't felt betrayal until you've seen the emptiness in someone's eyes when they attack you. I've never been so humiliated!"

Don't ever depend on anyone because in the end, they'll only betray you.

"He never cared about me, I know that! I do!" Eve admitted in a sob. "I trusted him and he broke that. He was my best friend, it hurt to see him look me in the eye and laugh at my agony. Somehow, I know that isn't him and that's why I want to help him. I can't stand what this demon is doing to him! I will do anything in my power to annihilate that monster, absolutely anything."

"Eve?"

She coughed. "Yeah?"

"That was good."

Sindri left school alone, holding his keys in his mouth as he wrestled his binder into his bag. It wasn't a huge walk to his apartment but after a long school schedule, he'd much rather not have to travel through an unsafe section of the city. The clouds glued themselves together to resemble a smoke- circled building.

"Oi, Sindri. Remember me?"

Caleb clutched a shining book, similar to Sundance's yellow one. A child with pink hair stood behind him, body poised to project an attack sequence. He smiled and read across its pages.

"Hey, Caleb, remember me? You're lucky my sister likes you so damn much or I'd beat your ass right here."

"Not before I beat yours."

"What the hell are you–"

"Reysa."

Hope y'all enjoy this cliffhanger. Sorry for being a terrible procrastinator and thanks a million for the reviews! I really appreciate it.