Chapter 1: A Rainy Day and a Not-So-Trendy Café

Denji was in a great mood as he walked through the bustling street with a spring in his step, a shark fin gliding through the pavement conspicuously behind him.

Only recently he had thought that his life could never be this good, he would have thought himself lucky to get little more than bread crusts and rainwater for his dinner, having only a cramped shed to call his own and nothing in his future but the empty dreams he shared with Pochita and a mountain of debt.

Now, however, he felt more optimistic about his future than he ever had before. Ever since Miss Makima had found him in that warehouse, surrounded by the remains of the yakuza who had acted as his masters and tormentors for as long as he could remember, he had experienced things which he had thought would forever be consigned to being unattainable pipe dreams. Dreams destined only ever to be shared with Pochita as he lay awake in bed, dreaming of a better future.

But now, thanks to Makima he had all that he could've dreamt of and more! He had an actual home, he had all the food he could ever want and, whilst not a family, living with Power and Aki at helped fill the void left when Pochita sacrificed himself to save him.

Now, thanks to Pochita's sacrifice, and thanks to Miss Makima, he was finally living the life he had always dreamt of.

However, Denji's current good mood was due to more than just his improved circumstances. More specifically, Denji is currently basking in the afterglow of his movie-marathon date with Miss Makima, he kept replaying the night over and over again in his head, soaking in every little detail: how Miss Makima looked with her hair down, the movies that made them laugh, the ones that he slept through, and that one movie of the bunch that drove them both to tears, the memory of the mother and soldier hugging seared into his memory.

Despite all of that, he kept going back to one moment: the question he asked Miss Makima in the spur of the moment at the end of their date.

'Do I have a heart?'

The question had been bothering Denji ever since the death of his first friend, Aki's partner Himeno; a woman who had treated him with kindness, she even offered to help set him up with Makima!

Yet when she died, he had felt nothing. Even if she threw up in his mouth that one time, he should have felt something!

But he didn't, and it had shocked him just how little he had been phased by it, and Denji could shake the feeling that becoming a devil had somehow cost him some intangible part of his humanity in the process.

So, when he asked Makima this question that had been weighing down on him, he half expected her to simply laugh the question away and dismiss it as nonsense. Instead, Makima did the last thing Denji thought she would do, she didn't say a word and simply laid her head on his chest, ear to his heart.

They had stood there, frozen in time for what had felt like an eternity but was only a few moments, the only sound being the frantic beating of his heart. Then she had moved to look him in the eyes, a gentle smile on her face as she said, with such confidence and certainty that all his doubts were washed away in an instant, "You do".

'I see now… if I get butterflies in my stomach, that means… I do have a heart!'

"We're raising funds for children affected by devil attacks! Please donate today!"

Denji, who had been walking along daydreaming about the previous days date, was snapped out of his trance by the calls of several charity workers who had setup outside of a flower shop, flogging their cause to passers-by with little success.

"I can also give to charity cuz I have a heart!", Denji blurted out as he approached the stall, his chipper mood overcoming his natural stinginess.

"Thank you so much!", chirped the volunteer as Denji fished a few hundred Yen from his pocket, tossing it into the donation box.

Pleased that she had finally received a donation, the woman called out to Denji as he was about to move on, "Wait a minute sir!", she says, reaching down to a basket at her feet and pulling out a small daisy, "We're giving flowers to the nice people who donate!", the woman held out the flower to him, a pleasant smile on her face.

"Oh yeah? That's pretty!", Denji took the flower, holding it up as if admiring it, before tossing the poor flower into his mouth and walking off, leaving the shell-shocked volunteer in his wake.

As Denji walked on down the street, his mind wandered back to thinking about the previous night he spent with Makima, amazed that just a simple talk with the red-haired woman had cleared up the doubt plaguing him, banished with just two words.

'That's how great Makima is, just talking to her wiped my worries away', he thought back to the promise that Makima had made to him, she had said that she'd grant him any one wish if he'd help collect the pieces of the Gun Devil. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about what he'd want his wish to be, and at that moment, he thinks he'd finally figured out what he'd wish for.

'I think I'll ask her to go out with me for real…'

It made sense to him, he liked Miss Makima a lot, when he had a free moment, she barely left his mind, and even though he'd groped and kissed some other ladies, his heart belonged to her.

Denji's smile fell from his face, a serious look taking its place as he silently made a solemn pledge to himself: 'I'd never fall for anyone else!'

Denji flinched as a droplet of rain splatted onto his nose, the droplet quickly being followed by others until the light drizzle became a full-fledged deluge.

"Crap!", Denji quickly began running as the rainstorm picked up steam, "Gotta get out of the rain!"

"KYA KYA KYA!, at this point, the finned figure following behind Denji peaked his head up through the concrete, laughing as he celebrated the change in weather, "IT'S WATER! WATER! WATER!"

"Beam!", Denji stopped running as he snapped at the shark fiend, "Stay outta sight! If you cause a scene, we'll have to walk in the back alleys!"

"YES SIR!", the fiend quickly made himself scarce as he dived back into the puddle he had risen from.

Denji glared at the puddle until he was sure the excitable fiend was gone, the turn in the weather and the idea of having to sneak through the alleys spoiling his good mood, "Why do fiends all have such dumb names…?"

With that last gripe Denji started his search for cover once again, running further down the street.

Reze had been watching her target closely from across the street, hidden in the crowd as she observing as the boy, Denji was his name, ambled down the street away from a charity stall of some sort.

'An easy mark, by the looks of things…', Reze rolled her eyes as the blonde teen ambled down the street, his head clearly in the clouds, 'How could someone working for Public Safety be so oblivious…?', she thought as she shadowed the boy's movements, keeping pace with his stride from across the road, weaving through the crowd as she goes.

As she stalked her mark, she thought back to the orders she had been given by her handlers, the faceless members of the Soviet Politburo who had been controlling her life for as long as she could remember. Her orders had been simple really, they just ordered her to lure her target somewhere private, neutralise him and seize the devil in his heart, that was what she was told by the nameless bureaucrat tasked with bringing her her orders.

This was to be her most important mission yet, Japan's Public Safety was no joke, and as a result she'd been undercover for weeks before she even attempted to start pursuing her mission, as to not rouse their suspicion.

The time she'd spent undercover has been the longest she'd ever been undercover, usually her missions just involved the assassination of enemies of the state, with these operations generally being short and limited in their nature.

It was her first time being deep undercover in another country, she had been prepared for such a mission her whole life, with Japanese being one of the many languages she had been taught in that room.

What her training hadn't prepared her for was just how much she enjoyed her new life, sure all it was was working at a crappy little café, but just that small amount of freedom was all it took to remind her of all of the negative feelings that had been bubbling within her throughout her time in the room.

However, despite how much she enjoyed her newfound freedom, any enjoyment she felt was quickly extinguished by recollection of why she was really here.

She had read the file of her target, he had no family name, all the Politburo had seemed to know was that he had recently begun employment as a devil hunter under Makima, the feared leader of the fourth Tokyo Special Division and that he was the chainsaw hybrid.

However, parts of the profile she was given stood out to her. Denji, the boy she was following, who she was meant to kill… he was a hybrid, just like her, he was an orphan, just like her, he'd never been to school, just like her…

'He's nothing but a weapon, a tool to be used by his superiors. Just like me…'

Reze grimaced at the at that thought, quickly pushing those intrusive thoughts to the back of her mind, she had accepted her lot in life a long time ago, there was no point in defying the demands of her superiors, her fate had been decided the moment she had been condemned to that damn room.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a fat droplet of rain splashing on her head, quickly followed by more until it became torrential. She looked around rapidly, trying to catch a glimpse of Denji through the quickly dispersing crowd clamouring around her, locking onto the boy's shock of blond hair again. She watched closely as he made a desperate dash towards an empty phone booth some distance up the street, a smirk crept its way onto her face.

'Private and cramped? Oh Denji… you're making this too easy…'

"I shoulda brought an umbrella…", Denji griped to himself, his previous levity forgotten as he stood in a telephone box, his hair dripping and his clothes totally soaked through. He couldn't help but feel irritated at his new partner, with the fiend having delighted in frolicking about in the rain as Denji had sprinted for cover.

As the minutes passed and Denji stood alone, the rain pattering on the flimsy glass of the booth, his mind began to wander to less serious questions than the existence of his heart, 'What is up with them havin' dumb names anyway, first Power, now Beam… like, what the-'

"WAH!", Denji was ripped from his idle thoughts as the door of the booth suddenly rattled open, with Denji quickly recovering, looking up to find that he was no longer alone in the booth and that a girl had barged in.

"EEP!", the girl jumped, startled by Denji's surprised outburst. The girl was dressed in a simple t-shirt with a bell design on its front, with a choker in place around her neck and her dark hair tied up at the back, her bangs covering her face as she caught her breath.

"Oh. Hi there", the newcomer spoke before Denji even had a chance to open his mouth, "Sure is coming down, isn't it?"

"Uhh, yeah?", Denji replied, still out of it.

"The weather forecast said-", the mystery girl began to speak, only to freeze as she looked up at him, taking in his face and… laughing?

"Ahahahahaha!", as the air chimed with the girl's laughter, Denji's shock quickly turned into indignation, the fact that a pretty girl had simply burst out laughing at the sight of face hitting his ego like a freight train, "Huh? What's so funny?"

"Oh, sorr- I' so sor-", she seemed to try to apologise before breaking into another peel of laughter, "Ahahahahaha!"

"What's your deal?", Denji frowned as he watched the girl from the other side of the booth, as the girl tried and failed to squeeze out an apology, tears of mirth gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Huh!? Why are you crying?!", Denji exclaimed, becoming more and more confused by the minute.

The girl wiped the tears from her eyes as her laughter petered out, "Oh gosh", she replied as she recovered from her laughing fit, sounding embarrassed as she replied, "Sorry about that… it's just, your face looks a lot like my dog that passed away…"

"Huh?! I'm a dog…?!", once again Denji was taken aback by her erratic behaviour, 'Is she loopy or something?'.

By this point the mysterious girl had fully recovered, her head bowed as she apologised, "Sorry! I'm sorry!"

Denji looked at her for a moment before shrugging, 'Eh, she may be weird, but she does seem pretty cute…', an idea came to his mind, 'Wait! I have the perfect thing for a hot girl!'

The booth was silent following Reze's apology, the sound of the pitter-patter of the rain being the only sound as she looked at the ground, head bowed. Doubts start flaring up in Reze's mind as she feels a mild sense of panic settle in her gut.

As the pervasive silence continued, what was only seconds was beginning to feel much longer as her mind raced.

'Did I underestimate him?'

'Is he on to me?'

'Did I screw up?'

All these thoughts shot through her mind as looked back up at the boy, an easy smile on her face. A smile that disappeared near-instantaneously as she watched the boy hunch over, his hands to his mouth as if he was about to throw up.

"Huh? Are you okay…?", she cautiously held her hand out towards him, as if to help, only to stop as the boy continued dry heaving with even greater force.

"Hang on!", he exclaimed, waving off her concern as he fumbled around in his pocket with his free hand, "Handkerchief, handkerchief…"

With a final tug, the boy pulls something out of his mouth, before proudly holding it up as if it was part of a magic performance, "Ta-daaa!"

"Whaaat?!", Reze was completely caught off guard for a moment, her mouth hanging open in awe as the boy posed, holding up the small purple daisy he had pulled out of his mouth. Not once in any of her previous missions had she ever had an interaction as bizarre as this. Reze recovers quickly as she paints a faux smile on her face, excitedly responding to her target, "Oh my gosh! A magic trick! That's incredible!"

As Reze gushed over his 'magic' trick, Denji quickly dried the small flower in his handkerchief and held it out to her.

If Denji had been able to see her eyes through her bangs, he would have seen her flinch in surprise before reached out and gingerly grasping the stem of the small, sodden flower taking it from his hand.

"No tricks or gimmicks to this magic!", Denji gave her a toothy grin as she brought the flower close to her face, gazing down at it, admiring the delicate flower.

Reze held the small flower closer to her chest as watches her expectantly, grin fixed to his face, oblivious to the shock of the girl in front of him. Her gaze remained fixed on the small flower in her hand, for as long as she could remember not once had she been given a gift, with her handlers only ever giving her the bare necessities that she needed to complete her missions.

Before she was sent on her first mission, she had only ever seen flowers in pictures from the textbooks they used to teach her back in the room. During that time, she had dreamt of seeing the outside world, her imagination being filled with images of flowers and nature she had gleaned from her lessons, though, over time she had forgotten those dreams of the country, her missions slowly wearing her down.

But now, holding that small flower in her hand, she felt heat rise to her cheeks and a smile creep onto her face as she raised her head again, green meeting brown as her eyes met Denji's for the first time as she smiled warmly at him, before speaking in a soft voice, "Thanks…"

As pinging of the rain on the glass began to fade, Denji's heart skipped a beat as he finally got a clear look at the girl's face as she tilted her head up fully to look at him, her piercing, emerald-green eyes peering out from behind a stray lock of her raven hair and a blush clearly visible on her cheeks. Denji's brain short-circuited as she broke eye-contact and turned her head to check the weather outside.

"Ah! The rain stopped!", the girl exclaimed as Denji stared blankly, following her outside of the booth and onto the street.

"I work part-time at this café down the street called Crossroads", Reze turned back to him as she pointed down the road, "Come by sometime and I'll thank you for the flower!", she says, walking away before looking over her shoulder and pointing at him, "You better come by!"

Denji watched as she walked off, staring blankly after her until she disappeared around the corner, only one thought crossing his mind.

'Wonder if coffee's any good…?'

Denji was bent over catching his breath in front of the door of the café the girl in the phone booth had said she worked at. He still didn't know what had possessed him to make a mad dash for the café as soon as she had disappeared round the corner, true, he would never pass up on something free, especially when offered by a girl that cute…

He was also curious about what a proper coffee would taste like, he supposed it wouldn't be like the grainy shit he'd made for himself when he had just moved into the Hayakawa place. He was also baffled at why a cute girl had asked him to visit her at work out of the blue.

'Yeah, what's up with that…?', shrugging his worries away he quickly examined the outside of the coffee shop, it was a quaint little shop that looked pretty quiet from the outside. All-in-all it couldn't, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as one of those trendy coffee houses featured in those tourist magazines, with its old bay windows being framed by a couple of plants and shrubbery.

Denji let out one last deep breath and pushed open the door of the café, instantly noting that the interior was very similar to the exterior, with it being similarly outdated and quite bland in its style. With the staff inside being nowhere in sight, he saunters over to the most appealing spot available, a booth seat by the window with plenty of natural light and a smattering of decorations on the window ledge behind it.

After sitting there zoned-out for some time Denji hears a door click open from behind the counter, looking up from the table he sees a stern-looking man in an apron, who must have been around his forties or fifties, approaching the table. "Sorry about that kid, was just out back for a smoke, we usually don't have any customers around this hour", he spoke with the gruff nearly gravelly tone of a chain smoker, "Anyway, what brings you to my humble little shop at a time like this kid?".

"Oh nah, I'm not here for any particular reason, just meeting someone here, I think I'm early though" he responds, resting his head in his hand again.

The gruff man suddenly laughed, "Meeting with a girl then huh? Ahhh… to be young again", Denji froze, some red coming to his cheeks, "ah… umm…" he stuttered.

"I'm just joshing ya kid, it's not my job to pry anyways. So, what can I get you, a coffee, something to eat?", recovering from his brief spell of embarrassment Denji replied, "Uh, just a water would be cool".

"No problem, coming right up kid, I'll go see if that part-timer has shown her face yet, she should have been in here ages ago", the manager started walking back towards the counter.

"Thanks, old man!", Denji exclaims as he walks away, the manager stops for a moment before continuing on his way sighing. 'Geez… Between him and that girl, kids have no respect these days…'

As Reze turned round the corner and into the alleyway the casual smile slowly left her face, becoming an eerily neutral expression, 'Well, that seems to have gone without a hitch, he's gullible for someone with a background like his, other than that everything seems to be going as planned' she thought, climbing the steps leading out to the main street, 'though I wasn't expecting a magic trick…', a small amused smile came to her face unbeknownst to her as she reached into her pocket where the flower that was subjected to Denji's 'magic trick' was wrapped in a small napkin.

'I wonder if I should throw this away, though I suppose it might be better to keep hold of it for now, no sense in getting rid of it straight away…', with that thought she removed her hand from her pocket and continued down the main road, smile now gone from her face.

She ran through her cover story in her head again, a habit she picked up over many similar missions, 'orphaned from a young age, currently working part-time to support herself during her studies at the local high school', that was the backstory she had crafted and spread piecemeal among regulars at the café, the few other staff members and that miser of a manager.

Her internal mantra was soon interrupted by her arrival at the café, she slipped in through the back door and into the staff room, throwing the apron over her head and tying it in a practised bow behind her back.

'Living this life has been kinda… fun', a wave of melancholy suddenly rushes through her.

Working here, studying schoolwork, her rapport with the customers and manager, it was all manufactured and false. Studying for tests she didn't even have, working a job she didn't need and forming empty relationships.

"Reze! Are you in there!?", the manager's voice carried from the other room, she checked the clock on the wall, seeing that she was indeed 5 minutes late.

'Hmmm, Reze... makes a nice change from a number... or a monster...', Reze mused. This was the first mission she had been in where they had deemed it necessary to provide her a name, and she couldn't say she wasn't enjoying it. It was a damned sight better than what her superiors called her...

"Yes," she intones back to her boss, stepping out of the staffroom and walking towards her irate boss.

"You're late. I'm not paying for the time you aren't working" he states bluntly, she returns with a dead stare "Cheapskate" she pouts, all of this may be fake, but her rent and food bill was still very real dammit!

"Here, water for table four", taking the drink from him she walked towards the seating area, cursing her penny-pinching manager as she went, before deciding to focus on her shift. After all, this normal life of hers will be over once she fulfils the aims of her mission and retrieves the chainsaw devil from the target, 'I should probably start thinking about my game plan for when the target comes around, though I suppose I'll have a decent amount of prep time this shift', she briefly wonders how to handle the next interaction with the target, only to freeze as she turns the corner upon the sight of a familiar shock of unruly blond hair.

"Already!?"

Reze stared at the boy, mouth agape in shock for a moment, before blinking away her surprise, "Wait, what the heck! You got here before me!". At this Denji shifted slightly in his seat, "Now that you mention it, I guess I did", he replied nonchalantly as he lifted the glass of water to his lips, "I'm only here to get my thank you".

'Hook, line aaand sinker', with that thought Reze's expression turned into a smug, teasing smile.

"Oh reeeally?", she walked around to the other side of the booth, suddenly plopping herself down, right next to Denji, causing him to jolt and lean away from the girl, "Want some company?", she asked belatedly, as if proving that her question was rhetorical she shuffles even closer to him, causing Denji at her warily 'I can't figure this chick out at all…'.

"Hey, Boss! Coffee over here for me and him!", she calls, waving gleefully over to the manager, eager for some petty revenge over her docked wages. He returns the call with his trademark scowl "You're here to serve coffee, not drink it!".

"Awww c'mon, why not?", Reze whines "It's not like we get any customers after morning anyways!". He stares at her for a second before he breaks, giving her a crestfallen look, "Unbelievable…" he sighs, moving to grab two coffee cups from under the counter, quickly making up a simple black coffee for each of them, bringing them over and setting them in front of the two teens before slinking back off to behind the counter.

"Ta-daa! The thank-you was coffee!", the girl exclaimed theatrically, gesturing grandly to the piping-hot drink in front of Denji. "Do you like coffee?".

Denji stared at the cup hesitantly, he was still scarred from his last encounter with the bitter beverage, but surely proper coffee from a shop would taste much better…

"Sure," he said, shrugging and lifting the drink to his lips, taking a sip.

'Nope, still shit'. He instantly recoiled, putting down the drink, his face scrunched up due to the bitter taste. In contrast to this reaction, the girl next to him was struggling to hide her amusement.

"You totally don't like coffee!", she exclaimed, a small laugh escaping her mouth, "Oh my God, the look on your face!".

"Come on! Coffee is gross! It tastes like mud!", he griped in response, embarrassed at her reaction. At this point, the girl had descended into a full-blown fit of laughter.

"You're such a kid!" She giggled, playfully pushing his shoulder in between peals of laughter.

'Wait'. Denji looks at the hand on his shoulder and freezes, 'she's touching me a lot, and smiling at me too. Could it be that this girl actually… LIKES me!?'.

Denji's revelation was interrupted as the girl turned to him again, having finally recovered from her laughing fit, she was now looking at him with a small smile on her face.

"My name's Reze, what's yours?"

"Denji", he replied instantly, he had been that distracted he had completely forgotten to even introduce himself, never mind ask her name!

"Denji… Denji…", Reze mulled over the name softly, making sure that he overheard.

"I've never met anyone as funny as you… Denji", Reze tilted her head, looking up at him with a soft smile and rosy cheeks.

"Oh-h yeah?", he stutters back, his mind in complete disarray. 'She totally likes me!', He thinks in complete shock, his heart beating rapidly as if reminding him of its presence, he then comes to another realisation…

'Wait… I like people who like me!'

As Reze fixed him with a fond gaze he could think of only one thing in his shellshocked state.

'Save me Miss Makima! I'm gonna fall for this chick!'

Denji and Reze talked for some time after his epiphany, with much of this time being filled by a flustered Denji making jokes and the ring of the two teens laughing, one nervously and the other with seemingly genuine mirth.

"Hahahahaha! Stop! Stop!", Reze was again doubled over with laughter as a result of the corny pun he had just made.

"Don't worry, I have plenty more where that came from!" Denji bragged, grinning proudly at her reaction, "Ow! Hey! Hahaha!", Denji laughed as Reze playfully hit his shoulder.

"You better not", she warns with a mock scowl on her face, before her face breaks out into a grin.

Denji turns to look at the analogue clock mounted on the wall behind the counter, only to double-take at what time he saw.

"Ah sh-, sorry Reze I've gotta run, I was meant to be back home an hour ago!"

Reze yelped as Denji suddenly jumped out of his seat with a start, about to run for the door, his need for a home-cooked meal courtesy of Aki taking over his mind for a moment, after all, he didn't really know how to cook for himself all that well, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let Power handle dinner again, he wasn't picky but he drew the line at roadkill so raw it was still twitching!

"Is everything okay Denji?", he stopped, breaking out of his panic and turning back to see a surprised Reze half rising from the booth, looking at him with a concerned look.

"Oh, I uh… have to go now, Reze…" he says, scratching the back of his head, mildly embarrassed by his blind panic.

"Aw… really?" She whined, giving him a crestfallen look.

"Yeah, sorry… if I don't get back soon then they'll send someone out to find me, and knowing Aki he'll be a real hardass about it…"

At this Reze moves up from their table and approaches Denji at the door, stopping in front of him.

"Ah well, guess it can't be helped then", she says with a slight shrug. She then smiles at him gently, "I work the same shift most days, so feel free to drop in anytime."

"Yeah, I definitely will!", he replies eagerly as they walk together towards the door, as he opens the door Reze stops him with a hand on his arm, "You really are the funniest person I've ever met, I haven't laughed that much in forever! So… thanks for the good time Denji."

With that, she gave him a wink and half skipped back towards behind the counter, with the sound of the staffroom door clicking shut breaking him out of his stupor.

Denji walked out through the door and made his way down the street in the vague direction of the Hayakawa residence before he suddenly stopped.

"Hell yeah!", he shouts, punching the air in celebration, a victorious grin on his face.

'There's no way she doesn't like me!'

The rest of Reze's shift went by in a blur, with the meagre amount of customers visiting the café during the evening shift meaning that the last hour of her shift was mostly spent staring into space and counting the cash in the register many more times than was strictly necessary, with the manager eventually giving up the ghost and allowing her to head home a bit early.

She sighed as she turned the key to her flat and pushed open the door forcefully when it jammed, turning on the lights to reveal a small, two-room apartment. It was a utilitarian room, devoid of any personal touches, only a bed, drawer, desk and other necessities decorating the room.

Reze sighs again and flops down on the hard, comfortless bed, putting her arm over her eyes.

'I'm so tired of this'.

This empty life was pointless and exhausting, though it was all that she knew, having been raised from birth to be the Politburo's ace in the hole, the Soviet Union's answer to the Gun Devil and to Japan's organised devil hunters headed by that woman…

Denji… he was the same as her, a life of hardship, rewarded with a life of servitude to the state and expected to be happy to be given the bare necessities of life as a reward.

She pulled a folded-up handkerchief out from her pocket, carefully unwrapping it to reveal the delicate flower nestled inside.

'Yet unlike me, he's still so… alive…'

She folds the handkerchief back up and carefully places it on the small nightstand next to the bed before lying back on her bed and closing her eyes.

'Hmm... It'll be nice to hear him say... my name... some more... before...'

For the first time in years, Reze fell into a sound, dreamless sleep, unbeknownst to her, with a small smile on her face.