-Chapter XL- On Melancholy Hill

-Chicago, Illinois

-March 31st, 2012

-6:45 A.M.

-Saria

She awoke with a fright, believing to have heard Nick cry out for help in her dreams, and, looking about her room, only saw the small vanity beside her bed and the open closet doors, revealing a dark, empty room. She sighed, trying to disperse her fear as she pulled away her covers and sat up with her legs dangling off of the side of the bed. She held her head in her hands for a moment or two before getting up, taking a change of clothes, and the iPhone Wright had given to her the day before, and exiting the room, shutting the door behind her. She shuffled her feet as she slowly walked to the bathroom. She closed the door and locked it before getting into the shower with Maroon 5 playing on the phone. It wasn't long before she was back out, dressed again, and, feeling a bit more refreshed, and made her way downstairs and back into the kitchen.

"Saria?" she heard as she opened the pantry. "You're up already?"

Saria closed the pantry door to reveal Rose standing in the entryway from the living room. She was already dressed and ready to walk out the door. "Hi Rose," she said, pretending to be more exhausted than she really was. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she replied suspiciously. "What are you doing up so early?"

She hesitated to answer, thinking of a reason other than the shock of her dream, and, when she saw Rose's concerned expression, quickly answered, "I just thought I'd get an early start on the day, is all."

Rose met her gaze for a moment or two, but apparently accepted the answer as reasonable. "All right, well..." she trailed off, as if deciding whether she should continue or not, Saria thought, "How are you holding up?"

"What do you mean?" Saria asked. But there was no need, she already knew what Rose meant. She was referring to Nick's disappearance, which still held an uneasy feeling in the air that relentlessly clung to everyone's mind, even if they didn't talk about it.

"Saria, if you want to talk, I'm here. You know that, don't you?"

Saria nodded, though she saw the offer as a hollow gesture. She wished not to speak to anyone about it, but the uncertainty of the situation stabbed at her mind. "Thank you, Rose." She smiled at the caring landlord, which Rose returned.

"Come on," Rose offered, "I was going to head downtown to get ingredients for a surprise to help get everybody's mind off of this a bit.

Saria smiled at this, and couldn't help but accept the offer.

"So, why were you really up so early?" Rose asked as they began walking back to the apartment complex.

Saria had hoped to avoid mentioning the early awakening, and so far they were as they browsed through the block of stores where Rose had wished to stop at. "Rose, I'm fine, really," Saria tried to persuade.

"Saria, don't lie to me," Rose said curtly. "You're not the only one worried about Nick, you know."

"I know, everybody's worried."

"So why do you insist on acting like it's not affecting you at all?"

"Because I know that Nick can handle himself. I've seen how he works, he's no pushover."

Rose gave a curious look, "I thought you said you were helping the others escape when you were in Emerald Hills while Nick and Sonic took care of Robotnik?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And you said that Nick hadn't killed any of the Spikes at Wumpa Island, and was almost eaten."

"I-"

"In fact, as far as I see it, you couldn't have seen him handle himself at all," Rose pointed out bluntly.

"Rose, I know him. He's fine!"

Saria's landlord gave a curious, yet still concerned glance. "Saria, Johnson says that you told him that you met Nick while you had an assassination contract. If anything, he may have seen you work, but you haven't seen how well he can handle himself." Saria could see where Rose was getting at. "How'd you two really meet?"

"I met him while going through Skyrim on an assassination contract. Really," Saria tried to assure her. It wasn't a lie, after all.

Rose shot her another suspicious look. "Then why do I have a feeling there's more to it than that?"

Saria sighed. "Nick stopped me from killing my target, and, to be completely honest, if I had killed him, I..." she trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Nick or the target?"

"What?"

"You said if you had killed him. I was just confused as to who you were referring to."

"My target, of course," Saria said uneasily, knowing she was referring to them both at the same time.

"Was it someone important?" Rose asked softly.

"It was..." she trailed off again, trying to think of how to put her thoughts into words, "someone that if I had killed, I'd be nothing like I am right now."

Rose nodded, and Saria was glad to see her not push the subject any further. "Come on, we're almost home." She smiled at Saria, and for the first time in a while, pain didn't engulf Saria's heart.