(A/N) I'm really sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I had hoped to post this on Valentine's Day but real-life stuff got in the way. It's been a really tough month for me.

I hope you enjoy chapter 23.

That Same Day - At the Agostino household - 5:15 PM

When Luca first arrived at Luna's door, Luna answered. When Luca asked again what she wanted him to do to him but she still didn't tell him. Luna just lead him up to her room and then sat him down in one of her beanbag chairs. Now Luca was waiting for Luna to get whatever it was that she needed from her closet.

"Ah-ha! Found it." Luna suddenly shouted after searching for a good minute.

Luca cursed under his breath. When Luna had said she was still looking for whatever it was she was going to torture him with, he had hoped she lost whatever it was.

Luna then sat on her second beanbag chair opposite Luca and held out to him two small bottles of nail polish in each hand. One was green and the other was blue.

"So, which colour would you prefer?" Luna asked expectantly.

Luca just stared at the girl for a few seconds, confused. But then he finally understood what she was going to do to him.

"...You're not serious...right?" Luca asked.

"I'm very serious, my friend," she replied a matter of factly. "So, green or blue?"

"Why those colours?"

"Oh, you know why. Because of your sea creature form. If you can't turn at will this will have to do for now."

"You can't change either."

"Which is why I'll also be painting my nails using my light pink and lavender nail polish. Now pick. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, fun for you ."

"That's it! You no longer have the privilege of choosing the colour." Luna shouted, now at a loss of patience. "We're going to alternate the two colours like I'm going to with my two colours."

Luca rolled his eyes, not really caring. Luna then gathered up the nail polish along with her coating polish which she picked up and opened first.

"What's that?" Luca asked, pointing at the coating polish.

"This goes on before and after I paint on the colours. It's so that I have a clean surface to apply the colour polish and then I put it overtop the colours after so that the coloured polish lasts longer without chipping off." Luna explained.

Luca wasn't sure what she meant by the majority of what she had just explained to him but hearing that it wasn't going to be easy to come off made him want to groan but he held that back.

"Alright, give me one of your hands," Luna demanded, holding out her own for him to take.

Luca sighed and complied, knowing he didn't have a choice if he wanted Luna's forgiveness.

"You're loving this aren't you?" Luca said, knowing the answer already.

"Ohhhh yeah," Luna replied, starting to apply the clear nail polish first. "So, this is going to take a bit. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know…maybe a good strategy to help prepare Alberto for you guys' upcoming math test?"

"Boring!" Luna yelled.

"Hey, you said you'd help." Luca reminded her.

"And I will. Later. Let's talk about something else right now."

"Like what?"

"Mmm.., you and Alberto?"

" Luna… " Luca said in a warning tone.

"Okay, okay, worth a shot. We can talk about…well" Then Luna showed a small expression of hesitance before saying what she was going to say next. "…I tried to change at will again after school today and…it sort of worked."

Luca's eyes widened. "What?! Really?! Why didn't you start with that? That's great!"

"Simmer down. I was only able to change half my body." Luna downplayed, not taking her eyes off of applying the polish to Luca's nails.

"Well, that's still a major breakthrough…What made you try again?"

"...Seeing Giulia and Guido kiss on the field. It made me lose hope of ever being with Giulia the way I want to. I'm sure she hadn't meant to hurt me today but she still did. I can't ever tell her that though. It'd only confuse her."

Luna finished putting on the clear polish on the boy's nails and moved on to the blue nail polish, opening the bottle and starting on his thumbnail.

She continued. "It doesn't matter if Giulia is a lesbian or bi or whatever. If she won't admit it… if there's anything to admit at all …then what's the point? If I give up then…nothing's holding me back from being proud of what I am again. There wouldn't anything to hide…because it doesn't matter anymore."

Luna had said all this with an expressionless face as she continued to focus on painting Luca's nails, coating the shiny blue nail polish on every other fingernail and never making eye contact with Luca once. Luca didn't really know what to say to that.

Luna then finished applying the blue nail polish and gave a small smile.

"This shade of blue really compliments your skin tone," she said softly.

Luca looked at his nails. He'd never admit it but he kinda did like the way it looked. Luca looked back at Luna who's smile disappeared and had turned neutral again. She picked up the green nail polish and started to paint Luca's pointer and ring finger.

"But…I'll get over Giulia…eventually," Luna said, noticing Luca's concerned expression. "I just need to keep my distance from her for a little bit longer."

"So…will lunch period be like it was today from now on? Everyone sitting separately from each other?" Luca said, his concerned expression not going away.

"Well, yes and no. Giulia and Guido seem content sitting alone together and Cicco…I think he's avoiding Giulia or something. I saw him give her not so friendly looks during lunch. It was as if he was suspicious of her for some reason. I don't know. It was weird." Luna was now finished applying the green nail polish and then grabbed the clear coating on each nail to finish. "Anyway, you can sit with me tomorrow."

That relieved Luca. He didn't want to have to sit by himself at lunch again.

"Alright. Done." Luna said when she completed Luca's first hand. "Take a look at the finished product."

Luca did so and seeing his one hand finished made him smile a bit.

"Doesn't it look nice?" Luna asked him.

'Yeah.' Luca thought but he didn't say that out loud.

"It's alright, I guess…" Luca had replied with instead.

Luna let out a chuckle, having a feeling that Luca wasn't being exactly truthful.

"Good. You let that hand sit and don't touch anything with it. Let it dry." Luna instructed. "Now your other hand."

Luca did so and Luna repeated the process.

Later, Luna had finished painting all of Luca's nails blue and green and then did her own with pink and lavender. Luca had asked if he could take it off later on that night but Luna immediately turned down that notion, saying she didn't do all that work for nothing and that he was to keep his nails like that for at least the whole week. The idea horrified Luca knowing that if he did that he'd have to have his nails looking like that even while he was at school. Luca bagged Luna to have mercy but she told him he was just being dramatic. Luca was not looking forward to the next day.

But, as promised, Luna did help Luca with a teaching strategy once his nails were dry. She told Luca how she usually remembered things for tests when she studied for them. Her tips were really smart and insightful. With her tips and ideas of his own, Luca had felt more confident in tutoring Alberto for the test

The Next Day - Tuesday

While Luca was walking to school with Giulia, he was thankful that November was a cold month where it was socially acceptable to wear gloves. It gave him a valid excuse to cover up the blue and green-coloured polish that now dawned on his nails. However, no matter what, Luca was bound to get questions from his confused peers when he had decided to keep his blue gloves on when he was inside the school building.

In homeroom, Giulia had asked Luca what was up with him but he only replied with a lie saying that his hands were just very cold. Giulia was skeptical about her friend's reply but before she could ask the boy anything else homeroom had started. But what was worse than questions and weird looks was the fact that the school's thermostat was on and turned up high. High enough to cause Luca's hands to sweat from the inside of his gloves which felt gross but he wouldn't dare remove them.

Within the time of homeroom and their morning classes, Giulia hadn't asked Luca any more questions about the gloves, having been too busy caught up in her thoughts.

When lunch hour came about, the two separated for lunch. On the way to school earlier, Luca had asked Giulia why she and Guido had felt the need to separate the friend group for lunch. Giulia had told him that they were all still friends but after what had happened on Halloween night between them, she had to focus more on her relationship with Guido. Be more present as his girlfriend to show Guido she cared about him and would pay more attention to him. And, even though Giulia wondered why Luna had decided to, in Giulia's own words, 'suddenly ignore her', the redhead figured, in a way, that worked in her plan's favour to get Guido's confidence in their relationship back since Guido had accused her of having feelings for Luna that night. But the slight hurt in Giulia's voice didn't go unnoticed to Luca when mentioning Luna's distancing.

Hearing Giulia was going to such lengths for Guido made Luca feel bad for both teens. Luca wasn't sure their relationship was going to last but he wasn't going to say anything about it to Giulia anymore. After his fight with her and then making up, Luca had realized that pushing Giulia to see what he was seeing wasn't going to work. Giulia was a stubborn person and he couldn't get her to do anything for a long as they had known each other. If things were going to go south with those two then Luca was just going to have to let the pieces fall where they may. Another thing Luca had to take into account was the fact that Luna had made it clear to him that she didn't want to be near either Giulia or Guido. Because of that, Luca was going to have to deal with the new changes for now.

Luca found Luna alone at a table in the cafeteria. Luna seemed to be staring over at Giulia and Guido's table as she ate her lunch slowly. Seeing this, Luca sat across from the older girl, purposely blocking her view of Giulia and Guido to see if that would break her out of the trance she had put herself in. It worked. As soon as Luca sat down, Luna broke out of the trance, bringing her back to reality.

"Hm? Oh, hey, Luca." Luna said to him.

"Hey. You okay?" Luca asked, pretending to be none the wiser to what she had been doing.

"Y-yeah...um, how is everyone liking the new nails so far?" Luna asked, instantly changing the subject.

"They don't because no one has seen them," Luca said, lifting his gloved hands to show her.

Luna glanced down at his covered hands, "Oh, because that looks so much better." She said sarcastically.

"If people see these they're just going to make fun of me."

"And yet Alberto wears purple eyeshadow and no one says a word." Luna reminded him as she pointed her thumb to Alberto who was sitting with the other Scorpions.

"That's different. Alberto can actually...pull it off..." Luca replied, saying the last part a little bit quieter. "And no one would ever dare make fun of him ."

"Mhm, whatever. Just be thankful I'm letting you get away with having those on. That wasn't part of the deal but I knew you'd chicken out on me."

Luca ignored the dirty blonde's comment and got started on eating, finding it a bit hard to eat without getting food all over his gloves.

After Classes - Tutoring Session

The rest of the day went similarly the same way it had the previous day in art class only, except having Alberto barely looking at Luca, Luca would catch Alberto glancing at him here and there.

But Luca, wearing gloves, was getting paint almost all over them.

When the two boys had started their session, Alberto could see the paint stains that Luca had gotten on his gloves from art class. It was clear that Luca had tried to wash off the paint in between classes but he had only made the paint smear. The gloves were more rainbow-coloured than just blue now.

It had been a while since they had started the session. Alberto had initially been waiting for Luca to bring up the gloves because it had been slowly building into a white elephant-in-the-room situation. But it was at this point that Alberto realized that Luca wasn't going to say anything about it.

"Jeez, have you not taken those off all day or something?" Alberto finally said, pointing to the younger boy's gloves.

Luca flinched. Of course it had only been a matter of time before Alberto would ask him about the gloves when their tutoring session came around. He had almost avoided the topic throughout the whole tutoring session.

"My hands are just really cold today, okay? That's all." Luca lied.

Alberto raised an eyebrow not buying Luca's lie since the room temperature was warm and they both had been inside all day. So, as Luca waved Alberto's question off, Alberto took the opportunity to swiftly grip one of Luca's wrists. It made Luca instantly look back at the taller boy in surprise, his heart almost put to an immediate stop.

"Come on...What are you hiding?" Alberto asked with a mischievous smirk as his thumb of the hand that was holding Luca's wrist, snuck its way under Luca's glove.

But Alberto didn't make a move to take off the glove. He just gently rested his thumb on Luca's palm underneath the glove, teasing the shorter boy. Was Alberto taking advantage of the situation just to have an excuse to hold Luca's hand, even if he was hardly doing that? Alberto wasn't sure. But Luca's palms were sweaty which just proved his suspicions further.

Luca almost didn't hear Alberto's question as he had nearly gotten lost in Alberto's bold green eyes again. How did that keep happening? If Luca's hands weren't sweaty before they certainly were now. This was the closest the two had ever been to touching hands with one another. The only thing that had been the closest before was when they had linked their pinkies together his second time at the tower, a moment Luca had almost repressed until now. Alberto's grip was firm but also careful not to be too rough with Luca's delicate skin. Luca quickly snapped himself out of it and tried to pull out of Alberto's grasp, albeit being a weak attempt.

"I-I, it's...it's nothing! Really! Just forget it. You're not done studying yet." Luca stammered. "N-now let go of me."

"...Nah."

True, Alberto was hiding a lot of things from Luca but whatever it was that Luca was hiding from him with whatever this glove thing was, it surely wouldn't be the end of the world if he knew. And besides, Luca was clearly uncomfortable with the gloves on.

So, without warning, Alberto flat-out pulled off the glove that was covering Luca's hand of the wrist he was gripping, revealing the shining vibrant blue and green colours on the younger boy's nails. Luca gasped and froze at the sudden action giving Alberto a chance to get a good look at them.

Alberto slid his own hand upwards into Luca's allowing Alberto to finally hold Luca's hand and angle it so he could see Luca's nails better, making it so Luca's nails were front and center in his line of sight. The shades of the colours complimented Luca's fair skin, making Luca's hand look delicate and dainty.

"Whoa…" Alberto liked the way they looked. Alberto had nearly gotten mesmerized by the sight. "Did you-"

"NO!" Luca shouted, not wanting Alberto to have the wrong idea. "Luna did it. A-and I didn't want it! She made me!"

Alberto gripped Luca's hand a little tighter, catching Luca's attention, as his breath caught in his throat.

"You don't have to get so defensive. They look cute…" Alberto said softly.

Luca's eyes widened as his cheeks became pink. "Huh…?"

Just then, Alberto realized what he just said. He backtracked. "I-in a sense that, uh, ya know, cause' you're small. So, it suits you."

Luca's shoulders lowered, feeling dumb that he misinterpreted Alberto's wording. He got a bit defensive. "I'm not small! ...I'm average height for my age."

"Sure," Alberto said passively.

"And what does that have to do with nail polish?"

"Anyway!" Alberto said suddenly, trying to get back on track. "The colours remind me of your sea creature form."

"Oh...you caught that, huh?"

"Mhm..."

Alberto was still holding Luca's hand, not wanting to let go. He was already surprised as it was that Luca had let him do so for this long. Did he forget? Alberto wondered. Then, absentmindedly, Alberto brushed his thumb across Luca's knuckles. They were so soft. Luca got flustered at the gesture.

They both said nothing and just stared into each other's eyes, in a daze. It was happening again, Luca getting stuck in Alberto's stunning green eyes. Focusing on them, Luca noticed how the green in them matched the green colour that was on his nails. That small detail made him beam at the thought.

*BEEP BEEP!* *BEEP BEEP!*

Both boys jumped at the abrupt noise. It was coming from Luca's watch on his other hand's wrist. Had that alarm always been that loud? Finally realizing what the two were doing, Luca instantly pulled his hand out of Alberto's. What the heck were they doing? Luca got up from his seat and started packing up fast.

"W-well, I-I think we got a lot done today, d-don't you?" Luca said, stumbling on his words.

"Yep..." Alberto replied with a sigh.

"We, uh, we only have two days left to study for your test, huh?"

"Mhm…" Alberto said nervously.

Luca sensed this, hearing the very apparent tenseness in Alberto's voice. "Don't be nervous. You've improved a lot since September."

Alberto straightened up at that and scoffed. "Stai scherzando? I am not nervous. I am perfectly calm."

Luca rolled his eyes. Of course. Alberto would put on a front. Alberto never wanted to show vulnerability and a part of Luca wished he would with him at least once.

"If you say so…" Then Luca got an idea. "Do you…wanna do something? Like…maybe hang out at the tower for a bit?"

The offer sounded tempting to Alberto but ever since Ercole got booted from the gang the others started to look to him as the leader of the group at school which wasn't something Alberto had been ready for until after Ercole graduated. He hardly had any time to himself anymore.

"I would but…now that Ercole isn't in the gang anymore my stupid dad needs me around more than usual. When I got Ercole out of the gang I didn't think he'd need me so much." Alberto explained.

"Oh…" Luca said gloomily. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah…"

With that said, all packed up the two boys went out the library's exit. When they were in the hall, Luca noticed Alberto go the other way opposite him.

"You're not coming to the field with me?" Luca said, confused.

"It's…The parking lot is closer this way." Alberto replied, feeling bad and wanting to follow Luca.

"Oh.., right." Luca then turned around and continued his way to the soccer field at a slower pace than before.

Alberto sighed, watching Luca's back as he walked away then he turned around in the direction of the parking lot.

Later at the Agostino Household - 7:04 PM

Luna was awake laying on her bed, letting her mind wander. She couldn't focus on anything. The hurt she had felt the day before on the field, seeing Giulia and Guido together and smacking lips, returned like a punch in the gut. She thought seeing it happen again today would hurt less, at least a little, but she had been wrong. She couldn't get them out of her head. Sure, moving on to get to how she was before just to kill her feelings for the redhead sounded easy in her head but having to see them as often as she did, made that hard.

Luna couldn't take it anymore. She had to confront Giulia. About everything. About her feelings, what Giulia's feelings were and...that she was a sea creature. Maybe if she put everything out there then there wouldn't be anything holding her back anymore. She'd be free.

And if there really was nothing to pursue with Giulia, if Giulia truly wasn't into her then at least she would know for sure. Luna then got off her bed, picked up her phone and dialled Giulia's number. Someone picked up.

"Hello?" She heard Giulia say on the other end.

Luna took a deep breath and started. "Hey. It's Luna."

There was a very obvious pause before Giulia said, "...Oh...hi...what's up?"

Luna didn't like the way Giulia sounded. It sounded as if Luna had been intrusive just by calling her but she continued regardless.

"I...I need to talk to you. Today. In-person. It's important." Luna replied, getting to the point.

"Oh, I don't kn-"

"Please! Just hear me out. I need to." Luna interrupted with urgency in her voice.

There was another short pause from Giulia and then she said, "...Alright."

"Let's meet at the beach, okay?"

"Okay."

"See you then."

"Yeah..."

Then the two girls hung up. Luna grabbed her coat and shoes and left the house, heading towards the beach.

She was going to finally say it all. The whole truth.

At the beach minutes later

Luna stood on the sand of the beach barefoot and wearing shorts with a t-shirt underneath her coat. She was just inches away from coming in contact with the surfacing water. Her shoes and socks were beside her. The cold air on her feet and legs was a little bothersome but there had been colder evenings. She was going to need them off for what she planned to do when Giulia came.

"H-hey…" Luna heard a voice say from behind her.

Luna turned around. It was Giulia.

"Hi." Luna greeted back.

Giulia, now seeing the front of Luna, looked her up and down and saw how she wasn't exactly dressed appropriately for the weather.

"Aren't you cold?" Giulia asked.

"I…well yes but I…I have to show you something. Before I say anything else." Luna said.

"Okay…"

Giulia didn't know what to expect when she agreed to meet up with Luna. Luna's eyes looked desperate as if the older girl was worried she wouldn't listen when she didn't even know what Luna was even getting at. Giulia also didn't get why she wanted to meet at the beach. Nobody came here at this time of year and the sea breeze was probably really cold on Luna's skin.

"There's…something I've been keeping from you for a while now. And I can't keep it from you anymore." Luna finally said.

"What is it?" Giulia asked, confusion in her voice.

"There's a reason I wanted to meet here specifically." Luna then unzipped her coat and slipped it off, letting it fall onto the sand. A small shiver overcame Luna's bare arms.

Confusion did not leave Giulia's face as she did this. "Luna, what are you doing?"

Giulia went to pick up Luna's coat and give it to her to put back on but Luna only backed away from it and said nothing. Then she turned around and started to run towards the sea.

Giulia just stared at her for a few seconds before she snapped out of it. "Whoa! Wait! You can't swim! Stop!"

But Luna only ran faster and then dove into deeper waters, submerging herself completely into the water.

"LUNA!" Giulia tried to catch her attention again, now running after her. "The water'll be freezing!"

Had she gone completely nuts? Didn't she know she could drown? Luna had told her in the past that she couldn't swim. She wasn't coming up! Giulia's heart started to beat faster at this so she ran even faster. Was she going to have to save her? Giulia hastily slipped off her coat as she kept running. As she came closer to the water she braced herself for the cold water she was about to jump into.

'Dio aiutami.' Giulia prayed in her head just before she dove in after Luna.

As soon as she engulfed herself in the water Giulia felt a terrible stinging feeling from the coldness of the ocean water. She tried her best to ignore it and searched around for Luna. But under the water Giulia could hardly see anything. The sun had started to go down when she had first arrived at the beach.

Giulia's panic was slowly rising as the seconds of looking for Luna started the build. She was running out of air. She quickly went up to the surface to take a breath and then immediately went back down once she got more air. She continued to search frantically until she paused when she saw two glowing orbs just below. Something in Giulia's gut told her to check. She swam down closer towards them. The closer she got the more of a shape around the glowing orbs started to form, taking the form of what looked similar to a body climbing rocks that were stacked in the water. As if the body was trying to reach the surface using the rocks but something about the body didn't look exactly human.

When Giulia got even closer and her eyes started the adjust she found out the glowing orbs were actually eyes. But the pupils in the eyes looked like animalistic slits similar to Luca's when he was in his sea creature for- ...Wait...could it be?

'Luna?' Giulia asked in her head. But she knew that, whoever this was, if it really was Luna, couldn't hear her thoughts.

If she was Luna and she was a sea creature, could she still not swim? Is that why she was climbing the rocks to the surface. Giulia really hoped this sea creature was Luna because the water was getting colder by the second but Luna didn't look bothered by the cold. They had to get out fast or she would freeze to death in this water. So Giulia grabbed onto the sea creature's arm tightly and then quickly swam up to the surface.

Both of the girls splashed out from below the water. Giulia pulled them both onto shallow waters. When Giulia was sure Luna was in the shallow water with her she let go of her arm and weakly crawled to get out of the water as she gasped for air and went into a small coughing fit.

Luna wore a look of shock and slight fear on her face. She couldn't believe that went as bad as it did. She hadn't expected the water to get as deep as it did. When she had gone into the deep end, since she didn't know how to swim like a regular sea creature, she had ended up sinking deeper and deeper. To stop herself from sinking anymore she had grabbed onto some stacked rocks and had tried to use them to climb back up. Luna hadn't been drowning but she wasn't sure if she'd get stuck down there if Giulia hadn't come and got her.

Luna hadn't wanted Giulia to follow her into the water though. Giulia looked and sounded awful now. Her mouth was quivering and her whole body was shivering. Her human body wasn't meant for temperatures like that.

"Here, let's get you on land," Luna said to her. She then scooped up Giulia into her arms and carried her onto land.

Giulia, in Luna's arms, looked up at the sea creature who was holding her. That was Luna's voice.

"*cough*I-it really is y-y-you. *cough* *cough*" Giulia said as she shivered heavily.

"Y-yeah…it's me…" Luna replied softly.

"Th-this wh-whole time y-you were a *cough* *cough* s-sea creature?"

"Yes, I- Let's just get you warm first and then I'll explain."

Luna reached the land while holding Giulia shortly after. Luna didn't try to shake the water off of herself knowing if she did her human form's skin would make her cold. So she stayed in her sea form. Luna sat Giulia down as she put Giulia's discarded coat back on her along with her own coat, trying to keep Giulia warm. The layered coats were helping a little bit.

"Alright. W-we're on land. Now exp-explain!" Giulia demanded, her eyes heavily focusing on Luna's bright sea creature eyes. "Why d-didn't you t-tell me?!"

"Well, I wanted to but I-"

"Did anyone else know?!"

"Yes…Luca knew…And Alberto too."

" Alberto?! " Giulia raised her voice in shock. " Alberto knew before me?!"

"You don't understand. Alberto found out on accident." Luna said, clearing that up.

Giulia rolled her eyes, defensive. "O-okay then, so how c-come you told Luca and not me? I thought we were friends!"

"We are friends!"

"Then why ?!"

"I…it's complicated." Luna sighed, now it was time to let another truth bomb. "I used to be able to change into my sea creature form at will before…before I met you…"

Giulia was confused again. "B-before you met me ? …W-why can't you anym-more?"

"I don't know if Luca told you this already but…the ability can go away when you're ashamed of your sea creature form. When I got to know you…I got scared…"

Giulia softened. "Why were you scared?"

There it was. The question that was going to change everything. Luna took a deep breath. She put herself in this scenario and she was going to own up to it.

"...Because I…I like you, Giulia. Like, like you…" Luna finally admitted. "And because I like you I was afraid you wouldn't accept me like this if you ever were to see me the way I want you to…"

Giulia's mouth fell open at those words and her heart beat faster again. She didn't know what to say. This was a possibility that had passed Giulia's mind once or twice which she knew was wrong. She was with Guido, not Luna. If she and Luna were ever to get together it would definitely be detrimental to the group for sure. Guido would never speak to her again. But what was she even thinking? She wasn't like that. She didn't like girls like that. Although Luna admitted this to her, there hadn't been a hint of any disingenuousness in her voice. The way she had said it…it had caused butterflies to flutter around in her stomach.

Luna's heart was also beating irregularly. Giulia wasn't saying anything at all. At least if Giulia had just straight up rejected her she'd know where they stood. Silence was just pure torture.

"You don't have to like me back but…" Luna suddenly added. "I mean…I thought for a second that…you might back when you and I kissed but-"

"That was a practice kiss…" Giulia said half-heartedly, finally saying something.

That remark had cut Luna deep but she pressed on. "So…you didn't feel anything at all when we kissed?" Luna couldn't bring herself to believe that. It had felt too real.

Giulia looked away from Luna. Then she said, "...If you had a crush on me before that then why did you agree to kiss me?"

Luna couldn't believe Giulia had just bypassed her question completely. "I did it because I thought I was never going to see you again. I didn't want to have any regrets...but then you stayed in Portorosso...and now, because we did that,…it's been too painful not getting to be the one to have you."

This was getting to be too much for Giulia. She could hear the hurt in Luna's voice. She was causing this. Both Luna and Guido like, liked her and now she was put into a position where, no matter what, one of them was going to get hurt by her. And now that Luna was saying all of this, being completely truthful, reminding her of their kiss and how good it felt. It was making her second guess everything. Her choices, her relationship with Guido and…her sexuality. Luna looked…so beautiful like this with the rays of the sunset shining beautifully upon her shimmering pink scales. Luna was sincere and had admitted that she wanted to have her.

Giulia was starting to feel lightheaded and her face was burning up. She didn't know if it was because she was getting a fever from the cold or if it was from how Luna was making her feel. She had to get out of there before she passed out.

"I…I'm so sorry!" Giulia then sprinted away from Luna, leaving her behind.

Luna was stunned by Giulia's abrupt departure, her eyes wide in shock. But she didn't chase after her. What would be the point? Giulia had apologized right before she ran off which meant that Giulia had just rejected her. But Luna didn't cry, she had been ready for rejection upon arrival and everything that needed to be said had been said. There was no need to break down even though it hurt like hell on the inside.

The sun was gone now and the sky was starting to get dark but Luna just looked down and continued to sit there in silence.

(A/N) There's something I need to get off my chest. I usually don't get too personal on platforms like this because I want this to be a fun place but I feel I should let you all know this.

I suffer from depression and I have to deal with that but sometimes (not often but when it does it hits hard) I get burnout and my motivation goes out the window and I hate when I get like that because I'm not productive when it happens even though I try to be.

So to get back up from that I have to take deep breaths and remember why I do this. Why I write. I do it for you guys (my loyal readers), for NumJum who inspired me to write this in the first place with the AU art and I also do it for me because I love writing this story. I am still so happy a lot of you have been keeping up with this story since the beginning. And new readers you're also awesome.

So that's why this one took me so long. I'm so sorry for the long wait.

Reviews are very much appreciated! They really do motivate me and make me feel good. I read every one.