Strife was in a bad situation. She was standing in the chip aisle. She couldn't decide whether to get Smartfood popcorn or Cheetos. She put her hand over her goggle lenses and spun around in a circle and then pointed.

"Mmm popcorn."

She grabbed the bag of popcorn and carried it on her head. She trotted to the refrigerated section and grabbed a gallon of milk. After getting a few more things she went to the checkout counter and put her stuff down. The lady looked at her disapprovingly. Strife got an idea. She tried to read the ladies thoughts.

'This girl again. Why is she always so happy? Always skipping around. She's insane, I know it. I've heard rumors and I wholeheartedly believe them. Why is she looking at me like that? Is she even looking at me? I can't tell because of those creepy goggles.'

Strife stopped reading the lady's thoughts and handed her some money. The woman bagged the groceries and handed Strife her change.

"Thank you have a nice day." 'Oh I wish she would go to a different store.'

"You have a nice day too. And if there was another store to go to I would most definitely go there."

The woman's jaw dropped and Strife giggled. Ahh the perks of being able to read minds. Strife liked this a lot. She walked out of the store and headed back home.

"Time for food!"

She walked in her house quickly before Gabriel had a chance to stop her and went to the job of putting things away.

Over a sandwich and a glass of black cherry Koolaid Strife read the newspaper. Apparently there had been a 'shooting star' the night prior. Strife laughed.

"Nope, it was just me coming home idiots."

Strife started reading the comics. She saw one by her favorite comic author, Lynx. Lynx always drew really weird comics. Most of them she or someone else ended up getting blown up or eviscerated. In this one she was having a very deep conversation with a skull. Strife laughed and cut that one out. She was going to add it to her collection.

A few months later Strife was laying on her bed with her head hanging off the side and her feet up in the air. She was rocking back and forth being sort of bored, but not having anything to do about it. Gabriel had told her she could stop by whenever she wanted to, and she did on occasion, but this wasn't one of those occasions. She wanted to see Drok'ti.

"Stupid love and stupid attraction and stupid emotions and stupid. . .stupid."

She flipped herself backwards and landed on her feet. She started walking around her room in circles. She did this for about ten minutes. There was a knock on her door. She and Zaz both growled. She walked out of her room and opened the door. Gabriel was standing at the door.

"Hey Strife. What are you doing?"

"Um. . .nothing."

"I was wondering if you had a few minutes."

"Are you going to try to kill me?"

Gabriel laughed.

"Only on Thursdays, remember."

"Right. Of course. And it's only Monday."

"You have another 3 more days."

"Right on. Come on in."

Gabriel walked over and sat on the couch. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Strife. Strife felt a strange sense of foreboding.

"I saw you flying around the lake last Wednesday."

Strife didn't move. She wasn't necessarily frozen, but she didn't know how to react. She started giggling.

"Must have been a weird dream for you to have."

Gabriel smiled and shook his head.

"I'm serious Strife. I was awake. I was walking through the edge of the woods by the lake and I saw you."

"Oh fuck. Here comes doom. I'm going to get hacked to pieces and put back together."

"Strife, I'm not going to tell anyone. I just want you to know that you can tell me these things. I also know that you don't actually have eyes. That's why you wear those goggles."

"How do you know all that?"

"Well, I'm not exactly human."

"What are you?"

"I'm sort of a demonic creature."

"Really?"

"Yep. I'm not from hell, but a different dimension."

"So why are you here then?"

"I don't know. I needed a break from all the craziness that happened there. I wanted to try being human for a little while."

Strife looked him over. She realized he wasn't lying.

"So I have a demonic creature from a different dimension living across the street from me. Hmm. Interesting."

"You going to tell anyone?"

"Your secret is safe with me!"

"Thanks. I thought that's what you would say, but I wasn't for sure. I might have had to go back if you decided to go ranting and raving about your demon neighbor."

"I don't rant and rave."

"Good, neither do I."

They sat there and talked about all their adventures. Strife didn't tell Gabriel who or what she had them with, but told him what she had done. After a while Gabriel went home and Strife went back to her room. She flopped onto the bed and sighed.

"I miss him so much."

Strife stared at the ceiling for a long time thinking about Drok'ti. She hadn't been spying on him anymore. She felt she owed him his privacy now that he hated her. There was a strange noise outside of her window. She opened it and looked around. She didn't see anything. She heard the noise again and turned her head. She saw something fuzzy.

She scrambled onto the windowsill as fast as she could and dove onto the fuzzy thing. She was caught in two strong arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Oh my god you butthead! I thought I would never see you again."

Strife jumped off him and looked up at him.

"You came back."

"I came back for you."

Strife felt tears welling up in her eye sockets. She wrapped her arms around Drok'ti's waist and smashed her face into his ribcage.

"Follow me."

Strife followed Drok'ti through the woods to the clearing she used to get up into the air. She followed him into a large fuzzy thing. Strife realized this must be the ship. She got inside and knew she was right. It was so familiar to her. Drok'ti uncloaked and looked at her. She smiled at him. She was so happy to see him. The wall started to open up and Strife looked at it. The open panel revealed a collection of skulls. Strife ran her hand over the biggest one.

"Are all these yours?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

"I have more at home. Maybe you would like to go with me to see those?"

Strife looked at Drok'ti and smiled.

"Of course. I would go anywhere with you."

Strife was enveloped in Drok'it's arms. He lifted her up and hugged her to him.

"I love you Strife."

Strife laid her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

"I love you too Drok'ti."

End.