A/N: Much like An Afternoon Chat, this one takes place during Rumbling Under Oslo, on some downtime. Tournaments have downtime, and I figured this would be a good place to exercise writing some of those short-one shot slice of life bits to further explore characters. You don't need to know Rumble to enjoy this, however!

The evening weather in Oslo was quite superb at this time of year, Duo Lon thought to himself as he and Leona walked down a few out of the way streets on their way to the bar on their free day.

Round One had finished up yesterday, and they had made plans to visit the city that day, mostly to relax before tomorrow. Investigations may have ended up yielding information, but they weren't sure. Both of them had won their respective fights and were fairly laid-back about going into the next set. Neither fought for accolades; they would try to win to their best of their ability. If they did not, they would continue helping out with things in the background.

It had been about a perfect eight or so Celsius for most of the day, though the evening looked to be closer to around four. Being September, the leaves were already starting to change. There hadn't been any rain yet, either, but it was always uncertain during the autumn. They had woken up together and showered but split for breakfast; Leona having to meet with her group to plan, and Duo Lon going to see his old friends.

The two met back up early that evening, as the pair were going to go to an honest-to-gods concert. Well, to be fair, it wasn't a large one-it was in the basement of one of the rock pubs in the place, and it was one of the bands that Duo Lon was quite fond of, Abyssal Shadow. Leona had been turned onto them as well, back when the two had first started talking in earnest, and she was happy to come along. She did not usually like crowds-neither of them did-but they would make an exception as the crowd was small.

They planned on hiding toward the back, of course, as Duo Lon did the one time he had seen Delirium Void.

"It's so nice," Leona said as they turned the corner, noticing a small park off to the side. Reading each other's minds, they decided to head to it to sit for a while. "Never thought it would be like this here."

"I don't often travel to northern Europe," he said. "So it's nice to see." Settling back on a bench, he crossed one of his long legs over the other as he procured his pipe from his leather jacket and packed it. Both were dressed fairly casually since they were heading toward the basement of the heavy rock pub; he wore a loose, comfortable sleeveless shirt, his boots and trademark black trousers, along with the black leather jacket he would wear when casual. Leona didn't dress too much differently than she did on the field, only minus any weapons-and had topped it with her dark brown, fur-covered bomber.

"Didn't think we'd be involved in another tournament so soon," she said.

"Me either." He lit the lone, stylish pipe and blew out a thin stream of sweet-smelling smoke.

Sitting back quietly-rather content, as well, the two watched as a few people walked by, the sun now setting. It was after seven, and the days would be growing shorter very quickly, as it did in the north.

Looking over, Leona could tell, however, that the young man had something on his mind. She had a lot on her mind herself after the last tournament, after all.

"Something's on your mind," she said. It wasn't phrased like a question, but it said gently.

"Yeah," he said, sighing. He looked at her knowingly; she was good at reading him. "It feels like we are no closer to finding out anything sometimes."

"I know," she said, rubbing his shoulder for a moment. "I…still think about that lead of my own," she said.

"Yeah. If it led there…he may have been there."

"I…didn't say this much," she said. "But I wasn't sure how I would feel if he had been there."

Looking over at her again, he stroked her face once with the back of his hand.

"It's…not knowing, isn't it?" he asked gently.

"Yeah…that's exactly it," she said. "But at the same time…"

"Being afraid to know?"

She nodded sadly. "I've…been afraid of so little. Hurting innocents, of course…but I have felt more in control, and there are people who can stop me." She touched his hand; besides her own unit, she and Duo Lon had once brought each other back from the brink of their own respective madness. "But…this?"

"Unknowns are worse than the knowns, I think," he replied. "Or they can be. In my case, I am desperately trying to know. But when it comes time…will I want to know why he did it?" He paused. "I feel like…in your case, he would like to know where you are," he said. "But I can understand hesitation on your part. Just…if you ever need me, contact me. Unless I am absolutely indisposed, you know I'll come."

Leona looked at the assassin and pressed her forehead to his shoulder. The people in the park were few and far between, and she really didn't mind for a fast moment. "I know." She paused. "I feel like I should be asking you how you've been." She knew that, even now, he had still not managed to find where his father was hiding. Every lead ended up a dead end, despite what jobs he took where.

Almost every lead had been linked to an assassination job.

He looked over at her as she leaned there, his free hand reaching up to slide into her hair. It relaxed her when he did this, as she sighed contentedly.

"I'm fine," he said. "I deal with it. There's nothing much to be done except to keep looking." The killing part, he could handle. The nearly endless search, she could sense, could wear on him from time to time, as patient as he was.

He shifted to settle back against the bench, taking another drag of his pipe. She looked at him, smiling softly again.

"Whatever happens," she said. "I guess we just have to be ready for it."

The assassin blew a thin stream of smoke from his lips before turning toward her. "I truly hope you find what you're looking for," he said. He held his large hand out, turning it upward.

Looking down at it, she slid her own into it, interlocking her fingers tightly with his. His nails lightly grazed her skin. Both of their hands were scattered with a few small scars, from one thing or another.

Their experiences had been something that had brought them together that one summer.

"I hope we both do," she said. Even if hers would result in hopefully somewhat repairing her family, and his would be to bury the side he no longer acknowledged out of betrayal, she hoped for it.

The couple of people who walked by-no one they knew-paid the two no mind; they were simply an odd person walking a dog, or cutting through the park to get home, as the trees with their yellow-orange hue were pleasant to look at. Duo Lon's braid sat on the ground-well, the weight at the end did, at least.

Kicking at a few leaves, he finished his pipe, tapping it out on the ground and carefully extinguishing any stray ash with his heel. Tucking it back away after it quickly cooled, he looked back over to Leona, her blue hair blowing lightly in the wind.

"Looking forward to the show?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, a smile spreading on her face again after their slightly melancholy discussion. "I really like how they sound on record…and I have never been to a show like this before, ever."

He blinked. "This is your first?" He thought, perhaps, that she had maybe gone to something with Ralf and Clark, at least.

"My first."

"It's only my third. Besides Delirium Void, I was dragged to a small rock show in a basement bar somewhere by Shen. To give him credit, a brawl didn't start until after the show."

Leona chuckled softly at this. "Did you know the act?"

"No, this was back when Shen was trying to get me out more." He smiled warmly at that.

Glancing down at her watch, the soldier looked toward the direction where they had been heading. "Should we go soon?"

"Yes. I think I would like to get a small space in the back before too many people arrive." He touched her hand again, giving it a squeeze, which she returned. "We can have our usual."

"Starting the night with absinthe and bourbon, then," she smirked.

He shrugged. "Of course." He stood, stretching out. Leona watched as he did, his heavy hair weight gently swaying.

She stood as well, the two looking at each other briefly. Glancing around and seeing no one, she leaned up, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

He returned it discreetly and nodded in the pub's direction. "Shall we?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Going to be a new way to spend a day off at a tournament," she said as they started walking.

"Same here," he smirked, the two making their way through the skittering leaves as the other fighters went about their business in the hotel, restaurants, and other bars of Oslo.

A/N: Nothing much here; I hope it wasn't too boring. I really just meant this to be one of those little slice of life moments. Not exciting by any means, but just what's going on in their heads.

I realize that the way XV ended, it was a cliffhanger. Thing is we have no idea if he was there or not and probably won't for another six years. If it turns out he was there, eh, I can always just adjust this. For now, just for the sake of not wanting to get too far ahead of SNK themselves (since it feels like they don't even know where Verse Saga is going), I'm treating the resurrected characters who are 'unknown' exactly as that-unknown. Gaidel, the bosses (who aren't in the canon story of XV), and so on, just to prevent even more messiness later down the line. I think the idea of unknowns-are the people alive? Where are they? Is THIS lead going anywhere…can all be quite trying.

The band names aren't real bands (to my knowledge, and I listen to a lot of music like this). Anyone who has followed my stuff knows that Duo Lon really enjoys underground, raw, extreme metal (You can see this in From the Dark Comes Focus, or really any story featuring him), and Leona was turned onto it as well during Company Party 2. Neither person likes large crowds for their own reasons, but these days, they are fine with an occasional trip out. I've been trying to advance Leona's character a little bit over time in these stories.

Hope you enjoyed this even if it was small!