Akane looked at her right palm and chuckled. It was raw, red and bleeding. "Huh. I guess so," she said looking up at him with her half smile on her face.

"What do you mean 'guess so'?" Zander shrieked amazed that she didn't notice until he said something.

By now villagers that had heard the thud of the monster hitting the ground had come to see what was going on and were cheering for the two eleven-year-olds that had just liberated the town.

Akane turned around and saw the villagers cheering, looked back at Zander and smiled, this time a true smile and let out a small laugh.

"Lets take care of that hand of yours," Zander said helping up Akane.

"Yeah."

The two sat in on a bench in the center of town while the local doctor fixed Akane's hand.

"So what happened?" Zander asked.

Akane took a few seconds staring at her hand then without looking up, she answered Zander, "I've never really used my magic to that extent before."

After a few seconds of silence she looked up at him and saw the look of shock on his face. "What?" she asked, "I'm only eleven and this was my first job. Give me a break."

Zander didn't speak to her for a little bit after that. Some villagers were asking him questions about how they killed the beast and he told them the truth… mostly. Akane giggled at the embellishment he added to the details ever so often but Zander ignored her.

"Okay, you should be good," the doctor said. As he stood up Akane thanked him. "No thank you miss. Without the two of you I would be out of a job."

Akane smiled, and then looked around for Nikki. After a few minutes she spotted her walking over to them.

"Here you go," Nikki said handing them an envelope each. "The total of both is what is promised on the sheet, I gave each of you half." Then as Akane and Zander took the envelopes out of her hands she said, "I'm truly grateful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now Aaren can rest in peace. Thank you." Tears crept out of the corners of her eyes. Akane stood up and bowed deeply to Nikki. When she stood up straight she said, "You're very welcome." Then Zander stood up as well. "Glad we could be of service to you ma'am."

The crowd started to clear and Zander started to walk back to the train station, but Akane stayed behind with Nikki. After a moment of silence Akane asked the question that had been bothering her since she found out about Aaren.

"Akane, is there something wrong?" Nikki asked.

"I'm sorry if this seems rude but," she paused not knowing if she should ask. Akane swallowed hard and looked down at her feet.

"What?" Nikki questioned.

Akane took a deep breath and looked up. "Are you pregnant?"

Nikki was shocked and placed her hands on her stomach. "How could you…" she trailed off in shock.

"Lucky guess. I know it might not be much help but my mom was pregnant with me when my father died on his job. In fact, according to my mom he was on his way home like Aaren was. My mom would tell me that going through the pregnancy by herself was difficult, but once she had me, going through her days, no longer alone made the pain of losing her husband easier to bare. It will get better." Then Akane bowed again. When she stood up, Nikki whipped the tears off her cheeks. "Thank you," Akane said quietly.

"No. Thank you Akane." Then Nikki smiled like in the picture Akane and Zander were looking at.

Unknown to Akane, once Zander noticed she wasn't following him; he turned around and was about to go back to her. He stopped within earshot of their conversation and heard what Akane told Nikki about her dad. He was amazed that even after that she chose to leave home and become a mage.

Akane started to walk over to where Zander was and he freaked and tried to make it look like he didn't hear any of the conversation.

"You ready?" he asked once she got over to him.

"Mh-hm."

The two walked back to the train station in silence. He wanted to tell her that he heard about her dad, but he decided not to.

The train pulled up to the station and the two got on. They took seats across from each other and for the first few minutes of the train ride, they rode in silence. Then Akane took the white ribbon out of her hair and handed it back to Zander. "Keep it," he said pushing her hand back.

"Thanks. So what did I tell ya?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm pretty sure we're alive."

Zander looked down at his hand, the up at Akane and pinched her right shoulder.

"Ow!" she squealed.

"Did that hurt?" he asked.

Akane gave him a glare before answering, "Uh, yeah."

Zander sat back triumphantly, "Then yeah. I guess we are alive."

The train was quiet after that.

About half way through the train ride Zander built up the courage to tell Akane what he had heard. "Akane, I need to tell you something."

Akane picked her head off her palm and brought her gaze back into the train car, "What is it dork?"

Zander gave her a disapproving look. "Okay one, stop calling me dork," he started. "And two," he paused, "I heard what you told Nikki."

Akane's smirk faded and she sat up straight in her seat. "What?" she asked with slight venom in her voice.

"What you… what you told her about your dad," Zander said. He was afraid of what Akane would do to him next.

"What?" she asked again. That was the only thing she could manage to say at that moment. She was shocked, scared, angry, nervous, and strangely relieved all at the same time. What do I do? Should I lie and tell him he heard wrong? Or should I just man up and threaten him not to tell anyone? What do I do dad? What do I do? Akane thought.

"I know we're not technically friends," Zander started. "But I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're worried about. I promise."

Suddenly Akane slipped back into the way she was when she first met Zander, cold and annoyed. "Just pretend like you never heard that conversation." Then she looked out the window once again.

"Okay," Zander said quietly. Then he sunk back into his seat. The only noise was the train engine and the chattering of the other passengers. Neither of them talked for the rest of the train ride.