Chapter 19: Spending Time

And for the third time, the little child found herself back in the city. She looked around and nothing had changed, except possibly a few more new faces there, possibly of new people who had died and ended up there. She still noticed some of them looking at Angel, and some of their thoughts were a bit... depraved, if you could say so. Fortunately, there were few people there, so there was no risk of her getting dizzy again there.

Anya also started looking around, mainly spotting a few shops. At one point, she stopped and turned to a nearby showcase where there were televisions. One of them was showing a spy show, which caught her attention.

She was so focused on that program, that she didn't notice that Niffty and Angel Dust had stopped walking and looked at her.

Realizing what the little girl was watching, they both nodded silently, before heading back towards her. -"Hey, Anya. Is everything okay? We... have to keep going."

Anya came back to reality and noticed the little cyclops calling her. - "Oh, sorry. Anya got distracted for a moment." - she replied, that, she walked back with them again.

After a while, the three arrived at the familiar food court, and the girl realized that it was the same square that had been there a few days ago. She decided to be more careful this time, because the last time she was near this place, she had been kidnapped.

Out of nowhere, Angel Dust's voice caught her attention. - "So, do you girls want to eat something?"

She saw Niffty nod excitedly in response, and then she also nodded in response. Within moments, she found herself with a package of peanuts and a skewer of sweet fruit. The little cyclops and the spider also had it to themselves.

Anya continued to look around, hoping to hear a thought from someone hidden, while also avoiding falling too far behind.

And once again, she saw that they were back at the large mall. She began to wonder what they were going to buy there this time?While still looking, she came across a bookstore.

Anya noticed that Niffty and Dust had stopped walking when they saw her a few steps away from them. As they approached and saw the store she had been eyeing, they both decided to go in and find a book that interested them enough.

The little girl noticed that there were several different types of books, but most of the titles were difficult for her to understand. She watched the little cyclops reading some kind of comic book, and when she approached to take a look, she moved away with a shocked expression when she realized the content that Niffty was looking at.

She also saw Angel Dust browsing through some books, though she didn't know what kind. Anya then came across some books about spies and secret agents, which caught her attention. She looked through each book, and the comic book type was the one she liked the most.

As she was flipping through some of them, she heard the little cyclops and the spider approaching and seeing what kind of book she was looking at.

In the end, they had bought some of those magazines and other books. With that, they walked back through the mall, where they saw the clothing store again.

And then, she felt Niffty pull her aside. - "Hey, Anya! How about we go to a place nearby?" - she asked, in an excited girl glanced briefly at Angel, who nodded at her in response. - "Just be careful until we meet again, okay?" - he replied, before entering the clothing store.

With that, the two little girls began walking through the mall, as they arrived at their said destined location.

An area where they might want to look at or buy some other things. There were mainly some kind of machines that you paid to win prizes, especially the ones that had claws that you controlled to get those ended up wanting a specific toy that was in one of those machines, but realized that she didn't have the money to use in the machine.

When the little cyclops approached the machine and saw what the little girl was looking at, she decided to try to get it for her.

She looked around, and then slipped inside the machine, thanks to her small size. Anya noticed her inside and understood what Niffty was doing. She then pointed to the toy she wanted, and the girl in red quickly took it and began to leave the machine. After handing the toy to Anya, the two left before anyone else saw them there.

They both laughed lightly as they continued walking. The little cyclops then spotted a weapons store, and pulled the child along with her to take a look.

Inside, there were mainly shot guns, weapon knives, and swords. Niffty was mostly excited about the sharp weapons, while Anya was interested in the weapons she saw spies , the few people who were there didn't find the two small girls there strange, indicating that either they knew Niffty or because there were people the same height as them.

After a while, they both left and headed to another store, where there was... well, Anya preferred to wait outside, while Niffty went in and took a look, totally excited.

And finally, the two girls stopped at a store that sold pens, pencils, notebooks and various other drawing materials.

Excitedly, both Niffty and Anya looked excitedly at each material, imagining every type of drawing and writing they could make (although the child was uncomfortable with the red cyclops' thoughts).

Fortunately, Niffty remembered asking Dust for some money before she and Anya walked away from him earlier.

In the end, the two girls had bought some pencils and sketchbooks, and they began talking about whatever kind of things they planned to draw when they got to the hotel.

After some time, they both met Angel Dust, who was carrying many shopping bags in his... six arms? The little girl could have sworn he had four arms, but she decided to ignore it and the three of them headed towards the outside of the mall.

The child wished she could have remembered to bring the red beach cart with them to carry so many of those bags.

Anya then noticed a brief flash of light in the distance, which made her stop briefly and look towards where the flash had come from. There was nothing or no one visible on the other side, but something told her that someone was spying on them or something.

She didn't have time to continue thinking, when she heard Angel's voice calling her, which made her quickly run towards the two of them.

The whole way, a pit of anxiety filled the child's stomach. Someone was spying on them, she swore she saw a flash of light, possibly a camera or something.

She wanted to tell them, but she wasn't sure if she had actually seen what she thought she had seen.

In the end, Anya found herself back at the hotel. And then, she realized that she had arrived there safely, without being kidnapped or hurt. Which was already a big step forward for her.

As soon as they entered, Charlie and Vaggie were in the lobby, talking to each other, until they noticed them. - "Ah, finally you three arrived. So, how was it?" - the princess asked, with a nervous smile.

"Oh, that was so much fun! We bought some more stuff and pencils and papers to draw with!" - Niffty exclaimed excitedly, followed by Anya's slight nod. - "Yes, and I also bought a few more pieces of clothing, mainly for Anya." - Angel Dust replied, lightly waving his arms with several shopping bags in his arms.

After a few seconds of silence, Charlie then declared in a nervous tone of voice. - "That's great. So everything went well, from what we can see. No one died or anything along the way."

The three of them found this strange, but decided to ignore it and went up the stairs towards the upper could hear the two's thoughts about planning something for the next day. She wondered what that planning would be about.

Back in her room, the little girl put her pens and sketchbook away in the trunk in front of her bed, while also starting to sort through some of the bags of new clothes.

She noticed that the spider had bought her some new clothes, hats, and even shoes and socks.

After emptying each of the bags, the little girl began to try on each of the pieces of clothing, with the help of Niffty. After that, the little cyclops took the clothes to the laundry room, while Anya began to head to the shower.

Once she was dressed, she glanced briefly at the door, before walking over to the commode next to her bed and picking up her notepad.

The little girl wondered if she should write this down, but decided to take a chance. It was better to finish it as soon as then, she began to write down what she had heard and even noticed:

1. Charlie and Vaggie are planning something for tomorrow, but Anya doesn't know exactly what it is yet.
2. Anya felt someone taking a picture of her on the way, but Anya couldn't see who it was.

And then Anya put it back in the drawer and let out a sigh. She felt bad for doing this, except for the second annotation, even though she knew it didn't really matter. With that, she started heading for the door, heading towards the lounge to wait for dinner or talk to someone else at the hotel.

02/27/2025: My God, I had to rewrite this chapter about 15 times, because every time I finished it, I would reread it and see that it wasn't good. I know I said I would post it yesterday, but it ended up not happening. But after many rewrites, here it is. I hope it's actually good this time.

And by the way, I saw that the second season will be coming out soon, and I'm already close to starting to write the events of the first season. I hope I can write it in time.