It had been three months since the battle with the Blood Spiral, and life was still going on.

The days which followed the battle had been busy.

To say that Dante Vale didn't get a lot of time to recover would be an understatement. He enjoyed a week in Venice with his team and Harrison, which he used to heal his wounds as well as spend time with the teens and Zhalia. Thanks to Phoenix, the only injuries he had were those he got in the last part of the fight, when facing the Betrayer. Of course, dying is a hardship. Even if he had been brought back to life thanks to Copykind, he suffered mentally consequences. You never die and come back to life as you would fall down and get up on your feet. However, Dante was not the type of person to complain and kept everything for him, to not worry his teammates. He was happy to see the whole team back, safe and sound, and that was the most important to him. But as he had been the one leading the battle against the Blood Spiral, he had to leave Venice after a week. He had to gather all the points of view of the seekers regarding the battle as well as what happened to everyone in order to do the most complete report possible so he could present it to the Council and be finally done with it. He then travelled to all the Foundation's safehouses and talked with all the supervisors. After a long month of gathering of information, Dante was finally able to finish the report and submit it to the Council. He then had to go through meeting after meeting in New York to explain everything in more details to the councillors, justifying every decision took on the battlefield before being finally able to close the Blood Spiral case. Once it was done, it was time for Dante to join the Council as one of its official members. After the battle, Metz had suggested him to join the Council, with the intention of forming Dante to become the next leader of the Foundation, and the latter accepted. Dying made him understand it was time for him to take both his career and his life to the next level. He thus did not come back to Venice, deciding to do so later, once the meetings would be less numerous so he could spend some time with his former team.

In Venice, the team was slowly recovering from the battle, both physically and mentally. They went through numerous fights since they all became seekers, but the fight with the Blood Spiral had been the toughest of all. Lok, even if very wounded, had no difficulties to physically recover, but had to accept he had not spoken as much as he thought with his father and was quite depressed at the beginning. He spent some time in Ireland, with his mother Sandra and his sister Cathy, leaving Cherit with Sophie. Cathy still did not know a thing about the seekers' world so when Sandra came back from the battle, she had to tell her daughter she fell in the stairs to explain the injuries, and when Cathy saw her brother coming home with bandages, he too had to find an excuse. He invented a fight at school, which was quite plausible in fact. He stood with his family for two weeks, enjoying their company as he had not seen them a lot since he had become a seeker, and the time he was able to spend with them was really precious to him. This little break in Ireland helped him recovering mentally and when he came back to Venice, he was glad to have Sophie by his side.

Sophie was lucky, she had of course been wounded too, but nothing serious and she was alright mentally. She was more worried about Lok than about herself. She, as Dante, had to go through meetings with her family as she was head of the Casterwill. Their meetings were mostly about who remained from the Blood Spiral, where they were and how many they were. The aim of these meetings was to identify any members of the Spiral left and be able to find them and send them to one of the Foundation's detention centres so no one would have to fear a sudden reappearance of their enemy. All these meetings permitted her to spend some time with her brother Lucas, who if at the beginning doubted her ability to lead the family was now confident about her work. Saying the two of them became as close as they were when kids would be a lie, but they were slowly becoming closer and closer to each other. She also became quite found of Lane and Dellix who were her brother's teammates and even suspected a romance between the two. Sophie used her free time to be with her team and sometimes visited Vivian who was the actual Lady of the Lake. When Lok came back from Ireland, she tried to spend as much time as she could with him, and only him.

Den stood in Venice during the whole three months. He moved into a little apartment with his brother Harrison, who was now part of the Foundation thanks to Zhalia and the team. The two brothers spent a lot of time together. Den made him visit Venice and the Foundation's base located there. The two of them were most of the time outside, either talking or training together as well as with Lok and Sophie when they could. Even if it is Zhalia who suggested Den as a new member for the team, he never really had the chance to thank her for what she did neither did he get a chance to really know her. Thus, the first week he spent time with both Zhalia and Harrison, who had grown close, as two siblings would be. Den was happy to see his brother back and would be eternally thankful to Zhalia for having taking care of his brother. Den did not grow as close to Zhalia as did his brother, probably because he did not spend as much time with her as her brother did but still, he grew fond of the bluenette.

Harrison had to go through a sort of interrogatory by the Foundation about the Blood Spiral. Even if the Council trusted Zhalia after knowing she infiltrated the Blood Spiral for them, they could not trust Harrison like that. He had deliberately attacked the Foundation and its members several times and needed to explain his acts and prove his faithfulness to the Foundation. The interrogatory went on well, Harrison was able to give some important details to the Council as he used to be a high-level member of the Spiral. He confirmed that Kiel was dead, as well as Tantras. On the subject of Marduck, all Harrison knew was that he had been sent to stop the Huntik team at Nostradamus' tomb, but had never come back from this mission. According to Lok, he was alive when they teleported to the Blood Spiral mark, which meant he was hiding somewhere, probably waiting to take his revenge. As Shauna had been defeated and was now retained in one of the Foundation's safehouses, the only other missing dangerous member of the Spiral was Wind. When he was defeated by Montehue during the battle, he had been sent away by the hammer of Thor and no one managed to find him once the battle was over. Even if Harrison told the Foundation about all the places related to the Blood Spiral, Wind and Marduck remained missing. Many of the Silent Soldiers had run away when they understood they would not win, but they were not considered as a high threat for the moment, they would be dealt with later, at that moment the priority was to recover. The interrogatory took about a week, once it was done, Harrison went on a one-month formation at the Venice safehouse in order to officially become a Foundation seeker. He did not join the Huntik team, preferring to remain a lone wolf for a time in order to feel more rightful. He however spent a good deal of time with the teens and Zhalia but did not had the chance to know Dante as the latter stood in Venice only one week.

After the battle, Zhalia moved back to Venice with her team and stood at Dante's until he left. She had been injured during the battle like the others, but her experience permitted her to physically recover more quickly. In a matter of three days, the bluenette was training again, running every morning from six to eight and training to combat during the afternoons with Den and Harrison and learning new spells on the evenings. No, her vacations did not look like vacations. The first three days, while recovering she spent some time with the team, helping them to recover and enjoying their presence. Her bond with Harrison did not fade as she came back in the team, she actually continued to keep an eye on him, helping him with his formation. She also had to do a complete report of what she witnessed while in the Blood Spiral, a report which was quite long in fact as she had spent six months there. She did not go to New York, preferring video conferences or interviews at the Venice's safehouse. While Dante was still with them, nothing happened between the two of them. They acted as they did before in front of the teens but avoided each other most of the time. Of course, they were happy to get back to each other, but they did not take the plunge. They actually did not even think about it, being already busy with work and healing, and still had in mind what happened during the battle. When he left, Zhalia found a place of her own, a little apartment near St Mark's Place where she lived alone. However, she left Venice soon after, having to take care about personal business in Vienna. Before she left for the Blood Spiral, Klaus' bookshop had burnt, but the work of the firemen had permitted to stop the fire quickly enough to save the building. Now she needed to neaten and repair it. There was a hole in each level's floor due to the explosion, the roof had to be completely changed and quite a lot of rooms had burnt. She did not ask the team's help as she wanted to take care of that alone, after all, it was her place, not theirs.

Three months had passed until the battle with the Blood Spiral, and life was still going on.

Sophie was not done yet with the meetings with her family about the Blood Spiral as Wind and Marduck still remained nowhere to be found. But the meetings were rarer and rarer, leaving her time with her friends. Lok and Sophie were… Lok and Sophie. Nothing official, nothing secret, just them: enjoying each other presence, trying to spend as much time as possible together, not kissing, and they were fine with that. They had time now. Den sometimes teased them about what they were together, or were not, but as the two answered less and less to his remarks, he teased them less and less too. Harrison managed to integrate in the group quite easily, Lok and Sophie had been very welcoming with him. The four of them could actually be considered a team as neither Dante nor Zhalia had been in Venice for several months now. The two of them sent them news quite often, Dante called about once a week to know how everything was going on and Zhalia chatted often with Harrison by text messages. However, Dante and Zhalia did not talk a lot during that period, they occasionally sent a text to each other, but nothing more. The kids slowly grew bored, they had been given no mission since the battle and even if they liked to be with each other and be lazy, they needed to do something. This is how they came to the conclusion they should pay a visit to Zhalia in Vienna and maybe help her with renovation work if she let them do so. It was the last week of September when the kids arrived in Vienna.

Before the departure, Sophie took care to tell Dante about their trip so he would not call on her living room screen but rather on one of their phones or Holotomes. The flight had been very short, less than an hour and a half and the teens arrived in Vienna at six thirty in the evening. The four of them took a taxi to go from the airport to Klaus' bookshop which was located near St Stephen's Cathedral. It took them half an hour to get there and when they arrived in front of the bookshop, they could not believe what they were seeing. The exterior of the bookshop looked as if nothing had ever happened. The stone façade was the exact same as the neighbouring ones.

"She did a great job with the exterior, had I not been there that day, I would never believe this place was a ruin" said Sophie before leading the way toward the entrance. She knocked on the door and waited for Zhalia to open them. It was not the same as with Dante, they would never enter Zhalia's place if not told to do so by the latter. They wanted to live. After something like a minute, the door opened, greeting them with the view of a tired Zhalia in black sweatpants and a grey vest top with her hair tied in a ponytail.

"Hi guys, do come in, don't stay there."

The teens did as they were told and entered the bookshop. The ground floor was still a mess, there were traces of the fire, and even if Zhalia had obviously started to neaten the room, there was still a lot to do.

"You did quite a good job with the façade, there's no traces left, that's impressive," started Sophie, still amazed by the change.

"Yeah, it was quite a mess at the beginning, I wanted to do it without magic, but I gave up otherwise the whole place would have looked like a pool by now."

"You could have developed that into the new local attraction, I'm sure it would have worked."

"Of course, if everyone were named Lok and were around eight," at her words, the so-called Lok offered her one of his sheepish smiles.

"Well, the apartment is still located below, and I'm not done with renovation on the ground floor and the upper floors, so you'll have to remain in the basement."

With that, the five of them, accompanied by Cherit, went down to the basement level two. Zhalia had managed to repair everything on each level of the basement, the rooms looked quite the same, she just reorganised the levels in order to have more rooms. When arrived on the lower floor, the team was greeted by the sight of a modern apartment, with a huge white open kitchen and a wide living and dining room with a grey corner sofa which faced a fish tank and an enormous TV screen. In the left corner of the living and dining room stood a black grand piano. On each side of the room were white storage units.

"I didn't remember it like that, wasn't it a library?"

"Most of the books burnt so I thought it was a good occasion for a bit of change. And like that there are more bedrooms on that floor."

"Thinking about having a lot of children Zee?"

"Of course Lok, and you'll be the one who will watch after them," the latter chuckled, already imagining the scene. He was not prepared for that. He could fight the Organisation and the Blood Spiral but surviving to an army of mini-Zhalia was out of his skill set. "I'm planning to leave the place to the Foundation, as a new safehouse as we're not established in Eastern Europe yet."

"Wow, I think this will be my favourite safehouse then, the fish are so cool." Yes, Den Fears was a direct concurrent to Lok in matter of childish things.

Zhalia then showed the teens each of their rooms, which all featured a private bathroom. The rooms were spacious, with a double bed in the middle and a dressing located in a recess. As the rooms were located in the basement there was no window but air conditioning and a very modern ventilation system so the air in the rooms would remain fresh. The teens settled in and put their stuff in the numerous drawers. Once they were done with that and had taken a shower, they all met Zhalia in the living room. The latter was already preparing the meal, a glass of red wine in her hand, thus surprising the kids who had never seen her cooking. The evening passed calmly, the team talked about everything and anything, Zhalia asked what they did during the last months and the teens asked her what was left to do in the bookshop. It was around eleven when the teens decided to go to bed, Zhalia remained in the living room for another two hours before going to her room. If the teens had no difficulty to fall asleep, the same could not be said about the bluenette. Since the battle with the Blood Spiral, she could not sleep anymore, she managed to catch two hours of sleep here and there, but not much more. Her sleep was punctuated by nightmares about what had happened back there. She remembered every second of it. She remembered what she was doing. She remembered the explosion. She remembered the Betrayer's says. She remembered the pain. She remembered how her heart clenched, how her world collapsed. She remembered the last time she saw him, the last time she spoke with him. She remembered her thoughts, how she understood she would never see him again. She remembered his death. And that was when she would wake up, covered in sweat and crying. Yes, Dante Vale had come back from the dead, but still, for a moment, he had been dead. For a moment, she had lost him. For a moment she felt as when she was a little girl, alone in the streets, with no one to count on. Once she was awake, she never fell back asleep and always preferred to read, to go out for a run or to continue the renovation of the place.

That night, Zhalia was tired, very tired. Since the battle, she had not been able to get that much sleep and her body made her feel it. She felt asleep around one in the morning but then again, woke up after the same endless nightmare. It was five thirty, so she decided to take a coffee and went out on the roof to watch the sky. She had always loved watching the sky whether it was sunrise, sunset or night. The night was clear that day, and the stars were still visible. The sun would not rise before an hour and a half. She remained on the roof, looking at the stars, for an hour before she went back inside to jump into her sweatpants and go outside for her daily run. She followed the same itinerary every day, running in a circle of two kilometres around the bookshop. The streets in Vienna became busy around seven, when people were going to work. As usual, she stopped at a Starbucks near the Cathedral and ordered a grand Caffè Americano to take away before heading back to the bookshop. When she came back, it was eight and the teens were still asleep. After having drank her coffee, Zhalia took a shower and went to the second floor and continued where she stopped the day before. She had repaired the holes in each level's floor or ceiling (depending on one's perspective) and she had finished the painting on the first floor but still had the second floor to do. Around eleven, Sophie who had awaken little time ago offered her help. The boys soon joined them and together, under Cherit's supervision, they started to paint the whole floor in white because most of the rooms would become offices and meeting rooms so there was no need to put colour on the walls. The Foundation would do so if they wanted. It was three in the afternoon when they were done with the first layer of paint.

"I don't know 'bout you guys, but I'm starving," Lok said, "what about doing a pause and eating something?"

"I vote for it."

"Me too."

"Same."

Zhalia's mouth formed a little smile while hearing the kids. They were still the same, as if nothing had ever happened. She sighed and agreed with the kids. The group headed back to the basement and made their way to the kitchen.

"I cooked yesterday, so one of you has to do it today."

"What?" said Lok, a bit surprised, "I thought you would cook each time, we are your guests after all…"

"You invited yourself Lok, so it doesn't count, if you really want to eat, you'd better start cooking now."

"I'm not sure I trust Lok on a matter such as preparing a meal," mocked Den, "I'd rather not eat than taste a meal prepared by Lok, I wanna live." That's when Den got a pillow in his face, which he sent back of course.

"Well, I agree with Den, so I'll do it."

"Soph!"

Den could not miss this occasion. It had been a while since the last time he teased Lok and Sophie. This was his chance.

"Even your girlfriend says it Lok, you gotta face the truth."

Harrison laughed so much he almost suffocated while both Lok and Sophie turned as red as a beetroot. Cherit and Zhalia lightly chuckled and Den had a big smile on his face. He was proud of himself.

It had been three months since the battle with the Blood Spiral, and life was still going on.

The teens had been in Vienna for a week now. The first and second floor were finished, and the ground floor had been neatened and painted and only needed to be furnished. Of course, they did not spend all of their time renovating the place, Sophie had managed to convince them to visit the city, and especially museums as there were many of them. To say that the boys were quite bored with the idea would be an understatement. Zhalia did not care so much, she had already visited all the places with Klaus when she was a young girl. But Sophie was not the type of girl to back down so easily. She convinced Lok first, using her hangdog look (a not too famous technique of hers but still very effective), she got Zhalia say "if you want" in front of the two brothers—who by the way responded with a surprised "What?" as if they had been betrayed by their most faithful friend—and the case was decided. In the end, the boys had to admit the visits were not too bad but actually quite interesting… Except for the paintings. Sophie was passionate with that while they were not at all. Like absolutely not at all. But they had an agreement. They would spend time learning about paintings if Sophie agreed to go to one of the theme parks of the city. The battle had been an easy one. The next day they went to the Prater park, but without Zhalia this time who had preferred to stay at the bookshop. Their first week in Vienna had permitted them to have fun and most of all, to do something. Except for the "paintings" episode, there had not been a single time when any of them felt bored.

They had had a call from Dante who answered negatively to their offer to join them in Vienna. He explained he had too much work for now and could not leave yet but told them he would try to visit them in Venice as soon as possible. The teens, especially Lok and Sophie, were quite disappointed and missed the old times when they spent almost all of their time together. Dante had become a mentor for them but most of all, they considered him a big brother. Den was not as close to Dante as were Lok and Sophie, but still appreciated him a lot, he was his mentor too after all. Cherit tried his best to have them smile, telling them Dante would always be Dante and that the bond they all shared would never fade away, but still. Their mentor had started a new life in New York, and it would change everything. They were happy for him of course and believed he would do a great job there, but it was still painful to see their team starting to split up. Plus, who would lead the team? The teens immediately thought about Zhalia, but she did not seem to share their point of view. She knew she could do it, she had the abilities, that was not the problem. But she wanted to have a break. She liked her job, she liked going on missions, she liked being a spy. But the battle with the Blood Spiral had left a mark in her mind. She realised how much she wished to have a normal life. Not because she risked her life all the time and was the target of the Organisation and probably of the remaining members of the Blood Spiral, but because the ones she cared about risked their lives and she was afraid to lose one of them. Oh no, she would never tell them that. But she knew what it was to lose someone she cared about. She had first lost her family, she then betrayed Klaus, Dante died, they almost all died at one point. She had been introduced to the seekers' world twenty years ago. She was the one who had been a seeker for the longest time in the team, pipping Dante at the post. She started to go on missions when she was 10, accompanying Klaus, and went on her first mission alone at the age of 12. The Organisation was not very regarding on its active members' age. She really needed a break. The two months she spent in Vienna were what she had needed, but it had not been enough. That was why she thought about Lok as the new team leader. He was a good seeker even if he still had a lot of things to learn but she was confident. She would of course not let him do the administrative work, this was out of the question knowing how Lok is, but he could deal with the rest. She did not tell them about the possibility of Lok as their new leader, she had to talk about it first with Dante and Metz, but she knew it would not be a problem.

It was the twenty-eighth of September, around seven in the evening when the bell rang in the bookshop, surprising the whole team.

"Are you expecting for someone?"

"No," Zhalia started, already expecting an attack from the Organisation, "get ready."

With that, they all went upstairs, the teens remained hidden in the dark while Zhalia had already summoned Gareon while heading to the front door. She did not bore with a "who is it?" and opened the door instantly, a Touchram waiting in her hand. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. To say the teens yielded would be an understatement.

"DANTE!"

The so-called man was waiting in front of them, wearing his usual attire with a smile on his face, happy to see he had had the desired effect. Zhalia moved to let him enter and close the door behind him.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you have work?"

"I'm happy to see you too Zhalia!"

The bluenette rolled her eyes. And her heart missed a beat. Great, she thought. She was happy to see him too, except she would not say it, not in front of the kids at least. And not sober either. Lok and Sophie hugged Dante, while the two brothers shook his hand. Den added a sidekick, he was Den after all. Dante and Zhalia did nothing, just the few words they exchanged when Dante entered. Sophie noticed it. She knew Zhalia was not the type to do the bise or to hug someone, but it was still Dante. She expected something. Not something big, but a move at least. The boys did not seem to have noticed it, well they were boys, they did not see things as she did. Plus, they were probably not aware of what was going on between their two mentors. Even if Harrison had seen Zhalia cried when the Betrayer had announced Dante's death, he did not know they were hanging around each other. Well, he was not blind either. He suspected something between the two since he had learnt that Zhalia used to live with Dante before leaving for the Blood Spiral and that she was staying at his place after the battle but it was none of his business. If the two of them were not together, there was probably a reason, that was what he thought.

After Dante settled in his room, they all went into the dining and living room to have an aperitif. Zhalia and Dante took a glass of wine while the teens had sodas. Den tried to negotiate a beer but… No. it did not work. The team used that moment to catch up time, Dante told them about the report, his new job and the rest of them told him about what they did since the last time they called him. Lok was really happy, it seemed to him that things were back to normal. The team was like a family to him and to see them together, still sharing the same bond, was something important. That evening, Dante was the one designated to prepare the meal. Zhalia and Sophie had done it for the past week, so it had to be one of the guys. Lok used the argument than neither he, Den nor Harrison were good at cooking and Cherit by a surprising coincidence could not cook either, leaving only Dante. The rest of the evening went on as it started, punctuated by their chats and laughs. It was already late in the night when the teens went to bed, soon followed by both Dante and Zhalia who did not seem in the mood for late talks. Both of them were tired. Zhalia had not been able to get more sleep since the team arrived here, and Dante did not sleep very well either since the battle. This fight had definitely left a mark on the two top seekers of the Foundation.

It was three in the morning and Zhalia did not manage to even close an eye. She had too many thoughts on her mind. She thought about what was left to do on the ground floor, about the future of the team, about her own future, about what she wanted, about her teammate, or rather former teammate. Deciding she would not fall asleep that soon, Zhalia got up and went to the living room to have a glass of Bourbon, hoping it would help her fall asleep. She then laid down on the sofa looking at the fish tank while she lost herself in her thoughts.

Dante was lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He was thinking about his work in New York. He had actually decided to come to Vienna the day before. He, of course, asked Metz if there was no problem and after getting Metz's confirmation went to the airport and took the first flight available. After his call with the team the last week, he kept thinking about their offer to join them and thought he could take a few days off, it was not as if he had done nothing during the past three months. And he had to admit he wanted to spend some time with Zhalia. The two of them did not really get a chance to talk since the day she left to infiltrate the Blood Spiral. Even if they shared the same place during a week after the battle, they sort of non-intentionally avoided each other. Zhalia spent most of her time training and he did quite the same. They had realised with the fight against the Blood Spiral that they were not untouchable and still had to progress in order to protect themselves but most of all the ones they cared about. When he heard the light being switched on in the living room and the sound of a glass on a table, he first thought it was one of the teens taking a glass of water. But as the light remained switched on, he wondered who else could not sleep. And then he knew. He had heard no one go to the living room and only one person could do that. He could know when one of the teens moved, but he never heard her. He got up, put a t-shirt on and headed his way to the living room.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Whatever my answer you'll join me."

Dante chuckled, took a glass and joined Zhalia on the sofa. Each of them seated at one head of the sofa. There had been a long silence, an agreeable silence though, before one of them dared to speak. She was the first one to speak.

"Can't sleep?"

"Neither do you."

"Neither do I."

And silence again. Neither of them knew what to say. There were not cut out for small talk. Both of them knew what they would talk about next, but none knew how to start nor if they should speak first. They remained silent for another ten minutes, both lost in their thoughts, trying to find the best way to say what they wanted.

"You look tired. I suppose you didn't get much sleep with all your work at the Council."

"I actually didn't have a complete night of sleep since I left Venice. Neither did I get one before actually. You look as tired though."

"I wanted to be done with the renovation as soon as possible."

"You did an impressive work here by the way."

"Hum."

And silence again. Dante thought it was going to be complicated to talk about what happened if they both continued like that. They were completely capable of acting like this way until one of them went back to bed. But he was determined. Tonight, they would talk.

"I didn't explain you why I left to destroy the red comet."

"I suppose it was what the Ring of Arc showed you."

"Yes—"

"I suspected it, I had all the pieces of the puzzle, it was easy to figure out then. And I had time to think about it."

"I wanted to tell you back there—"

"It wouldn't have changed a thing. And you're still alive so the matter is closed." Until then, Zhalia had believed she needed to have this talk, but now that she was having it, she realised how painful it still was to think about it. She did her best to hide her feelings from Dante, knowing he could read in her as in an open book. She took a sip of Bourbon while looking at the floor. So did Dante. That was when he decided to get closer to her. He got up and seated right next to her, under her interrogative gaze. To feel him right by her side had a calming effect on Zhalia and she lowered her guard. Only with him would she do that. Even if she mentally slapped herself for doing that each time that they were close, she could not deny she liked the effect he had on her.

"Arc showed me my funerals. And you were there."

Zhalia needed no more details, she could imagine the scene. People crying. She, crying. The scene was all too familiar to her. That's actually what happened during the battle, except his body had vanished before it miraculously came back.

"I said the matter was closed, there's no need to talk about it ever."

"I actually think the contrary, we've been avoiding each other since and hum…" He didn't finish his sentence. He stopped when he realised what he was about to say. It was too early to say such things. He was not going to tell her he loved her and kiss her—even though he wanted to—but still he was going to turn everything sentimental and Zhalia was no sentimental person. Talking about Zhalia, she had just finished her Bourbon and put the glass on the table. She first thought about going back to bed, but something prevented her from doing it. She actually wanted to talk with him about it. She wanted to tell him how her world collapsed at that moment. Was she going to do so? Probably not, when it came to talk about her feelings she was like a mute, incapable of saying a word.

"Next time you plan to sacrifice yourself, just let me know." That was a first step, and the best she could do at that moment.

"I'm not planning to do it again."

"I hadn't planned to infiltrate the Blood Spiral nor to fight another group of seekers who wanted to destroy the world."

"You get a point." He had to admit that if he had to do it again, he would, and without a hint of hesitation, and he knew Zhalia knew. "I'll tell you."

Zhalia laid her back on the sofa again and sighed. All this was mentally exhaustive, they should have talked about it earlier. It would have prevented their sleepless nights; it would have prevented this awkward situation.

"Try not to do it again, though. I don't think I could handle it a second time." The words slipped out of her mouth, without she even realised she was saying them. She mentally slapped herself. Again. It was time to run away. "I'm going back to bed." But before she had time to get up, she felt Dante's grip on her wrist before he pulled her toward him. His arms were now around her, while her head was resting on his chest. She did not dare to move nor breathe. She had not planned things to turn out this way. He rested his head on her and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

That was all she needed to be able to breathe again. She put her arms around him and relaxed under his touch. They stood like that for several minutes before Sophie entered the room to get a glass of water. Dante lifted his head to look at the young Casterwill while Zhalia did not move from an inch, hoping her teammate wouldn't notice them. Sophie took a glass of water and headed back toward her room waving a "Good night" to her two friends. Zhalia sighed out of relief while Dante smiled, putting his head back on Zhalia's.

Sophie was back in her room, ready to get into her bed when she actually realised what happened: she had caught her mentors in some romantic moment. Oh gosh. It had been three months since the battle with the Blood Spiral, and they had finally taken the step.