I woke up to an announcement saying "Newcomers please come to the meeting room and we will start our briefing ."

I get out of bed and grab a white long sleeve shirt, i slip on my shoes and grab a black hat, putting it on as I walk out of the room. I follow the sound of footsteps until I see some familiar faces from the cyclops. I follow behind them as we walk into a large room with benches on one side of the room and a table with a screen behind it on the other side.

I grab a seat on one of the benches that is in the back row the ones closest to the door, a couple was the only other ones on the bench with me but they were on the side closer to the next bench, leaving me plenty of room on my side of the bench. Up front is Richard, he turns on the screen behind him and turns off the lights in the room then sets down the remote next to him.

Everyone goes quiet only a few whispers heard throughout the room. Richard went over where everyone will began working, pulling up a list of everyone's names under categories. After going over our new jobs he went over the plan to expand the base upward and add some more supports as well as making a docking hub for the cyclops.

I cross my arms and lean my head on my hand as Richard goes over in detail the task of each group one by one answering any questions after each section. I close my eyes while leaning into my hand. I hear someone slide in next to me. "Not a very exciting briefing huh?" The newcomer whispers to me.

I open my eyes and turn my head that is still resting on my hands now looking at the newcomer. Next to me I see Charlotte sitting next to me bags under her red eyes her hair down just like how it was last night.

She puts her hand up in front of her as a wave and mouths hi to me with a small smile. I sit up straight facing her my eyes now more open. Giving her a small smile back I copy her hi before asking why she was here.

"Well to return this" she pulls out a tablet from her laptop bag that was on the ground next to her. I take the tablet that is offered to me and slip it over my shoulder. "I finished all of the videos last night. It really helped bring me some peace so thank you" She held a strong gaze with me now.

I'm glad to see her getting better just one day at a time. She turns back towards the speaker, I follow suit now sitting straight and looking forward, no longer sleeping on my hand.

"Did you know him?" She asks, still looking forward. I glance over at her in the dark room, then look back forward. "Yeah I did, he's my best friend." I say before taking in a deep breath to keep my composer. I glance back over to Charlotte, tears now streaming down her face. No longer hearing Richard's voice and then the lights are turned on.

"There is a special person that came aboard our base. I'm sure you all feel better with him here. Perseus Killington" Richard says "Please stand up and make yourself known" He finishes. People are looking around them. I quickly grab my hat, putting it on Charlotte's head and stepping in front of her standing up. I give a slight smile and wave to the group in front of me. Everyone turns looking at me, I can hear them whisper to their family and friends.

"Okay everyone that concludes the meeting, you guys can find some breakfast in the dining halls" Richard says, gaining everyone's gazes once again. I turn back to Charlotte who is facing the ground and couch in front of her looking up at her face. I wipe her tears with my sleeve, unable to stop them but hopefully provide some comfort.

The people start to clear out of the room looking at me while chatting with their friends. I feel Charlotte grab ahold of my shirt, the tiniest of grips. I sit down next to her and pull her into my chest and hug her. Keeping her face hidden from all of the people passing us and just letting her cry into my shirt.

I rub her back while holding her close. Quickly we are the last ones in the room. Charlotte's tears now turn into sobs as she grips around my chest gripping the back of my shirt tightly. She presses her face into my shoulder knocking the hat off onto the ground. I just held her there, allowing herself to get it out, unable to say anything in fear that I would start crying too. I needed to be strong here. This girl in my arms needed someone to be strong for her right now.

After a while it seemed like she ran out of tears or simply exhausted herself, she trembled in my arms making me want to just hold her tighter and take away all of her pain. Feeling her hold on me loosen, I slowly let go of her. I wiped her cheeks dry with my sleeve, leaning down i met her eyes. "Do you want to go to place away from people for a little bit" I said quickly cutting off the apology I could feel was coming.

She sat a little straighter and nodded at my offer. I grabbed the hat from the ground dusting it off then putting it back on her head, i pushed her bangs out of her face with my fingers. I stood up and offered my hand helping her up. We got to the hallway outside of the dining hall when i told her to wait for me. I ran inside and got two sandwiches along with 2 bags of chips and water. On the way out i saw a pie that was untouched. I looked around and then grabbed some forks and the pie putting all of the food in a large brown bag with hand holders and then went out to the hallway seeing Charlotte right where i left her. I offered her my free hand that she took hesitatingly then I led her out to the cyclops.

Scanning my hand to open it and let us inside. The hatch closed behind us as we walked through. I lead her up into this top room that was used for storage but had a window as one of the walls. The top of the cyclops was sticking out of the water so we could see the world of sea from this room. I set down the bag and grabbed two pillows for us to sit on. Charlotte sat on the pillow when i gave it to her just looking outside the window.

I set mine next to hers with some space between. I sat down leaning back onto my hands and looking over at her. She was looking longingly outside the window. I grab a sandwich from the bag and hand it over to her. She takes it and starts to unwrap it. I grab some chips and a water bottle and set it next to her. Then I grab my meal and start eating.

We eat in silence just staring out the window. I hand her one of the forks, putting the other one in my mouth. I take the pie out of the bag and sit it between us, opening the lid and setting it to the side. I grab all of the trash and set it in the brown bag. "Dig in" I say, pointing to the pie. She takes the first bite opening to reveal it was an apple pie. I take a bite of it enjoying the flavor before swallowing.

"You totally stole this whole pie didn't you?" She asks after swallowing her pie. "Between you and me." I look up at her. "100%" I say with a smile on my face.

She smiles back at me, giving me a small laugh. "Well we better leave no trail" She says taking a large bite this time. I take another bite. We finish half of the pie together to full ro eat anymore.

I set the lid back on the pie with our forks in the empty area in the container. I lay down onto my back using the pillow now under my head. I stretch my arms over my head then let them rest under my head.