Two hours had passed by and Arma was still lost in the middle of Wind Crest. He blamed himself for having lack of familiarization of the town as he had jogged endlessly around wherever he was in circles. His sense of direction had never been the best in favourable situations. Even with the virtual map of Wind Crest opened up, he had jogged to the stop sign near a bus stop for the fifth time in a row. By then, he knew that he was truly, hopelessly and utterly off track. It was time for Plan B.

The tall lad then fished out his phone from his jeans pocket and punched dialled Zatch’s number. He placed the device against his left ear and waited for his childhood friend to pick up. As much as he wanted not to sacrifice his pride and dignity in confessing that he was lost to Zatch, he knew that he needed help somehow. It didn’t take too long; around three rings later Arma heard the annoying voice of his bastard of a friend.

“Yellow.” Arma didn’t refrain himself from rolling his eyes at sarcasm at Zatch’s choice of words.

“Hi Zatch. Listen, I am a bit-

Arma was interrupted when he heard something static screaming at the background of Zatch’s end, probably Phoenix. He strained his ear to listen carefully to what she was yelling about and caught a few things about staying too late at night and not to overwork himself. After a few whines from Zatch and a whole lot more lecturing statics from Phoenix, Arma was then greeted by the sound of the female instead of guy in glasses.

“Sorry about that. Some day that good for nothing bastard might pass out somewhere unknown if he keeps working at whatever he is doing twenty four seven.” Arma surprised both Phoenix and himself by chuckling light heartedly at the girl’s complains.

“I know, that’s why you are there for him Phoenix. Make sure that bastard stays alive.” After approximately five seconds later he heard her giggling along as well. For a moment he had expected her to lash out at him through the phone for putting up their secret so openly. After all, no one except Arma knew Phoenix’s on and off affection towards the guy in glasses. Now that it seemed Zessica and Zatch knew, Phoenix was a bit more relaxed with the topic than agitated.

“So, what did you call him for?” Phoenix asked curiously, making Arma relax his shoulders and sigh in relief. Telling Zatch the fact that he was lost was one thing, but telling Phoenix was a whole other matter. He would have preferred talking to Phoenix more to Zatch, no insult to him whatsoever.

“I am lost. I don’t know how in the world I got...wherever I am right now. I been running around to find my way back home but I think this bus stop sign is stalking me.” At the other end he heard the girl laughing uproariously, making him have a small smile creep up on his face. It has been a while since he had heard Phoenix laugh like that. He must have made her worried with being the moody one next. Arma made a mental note to himself to apologise her face to face for that sole reason.

“Okay okay, so you need me to send you directions right? Thank God I know how GPS works at least. Is your GPS on in your player profile?” Phoenix asked and Arma could hear her typing gently on a keyboard. In the virtual world of Blessed Combat, each player has a profile which consists of player name, age and gender. Private and personal information are concealed away from prying eyes except for Zatch who has Clairvoyance. In each profile, there is the option of turning on GPS so it would be easier for allies who got separated to find each other again.

“Give me a sec...yea its on.” Arma replied back right after pressing the GPS icon in his profile window. He waited patiently while listening to Phoenix type on the computer. It was a peculiar sound, considering how Zatch would constantly punch the keyboard in a crazed manner as if he was stabbing it. So to hear someone who was actually gentle was something the tall lad wasn’t accustomed to yet.

“Wow you are way off from your home. It’s a good thing you even bothered to call for help. How did someone like you stray so far?” Arma rolled his eyes at that.

“That aside, please help me?” The tall lad asked meekly, almost withering away in his new found humiliation. He heard the distinctive types and clicks of a mouse for a brief moment before he heard his friend speaking again.

“Lucky for you I am going to give you a shortcut. Just follow my directions okay? Right now go forward and turn right. Oh and Arma? ”

“Yes?” Arma asked warily. He didn’t like the tone Phoenix was using then. It was the same tone she would use when she was going to reveal something bad. For instance, on one of his many visits to her house to keep her company, she had used the exact same tone to reveal him that her mother got drunk and had kicked the small girl out of the house when she couldn’t recognise her own daughter. Of course Arma made her stay over his place as a sleepover so she would forget about the bad times and think of the good instead the second he learnt the news.

“Please don’t be mad at us okay? When I mean by us, me and Zatch. You see...we haven’t been...fully honest with you. I mean...there is something I think you should know...I am sorry for keeping this from you...” Arma had a vague idea where this was going. Was she talking about her keeping the fact that he too lost his memories?  The tall lad decided that this was so.

“I know. I lost my memories right?” There was a brief moment of silence and Arma took this to his advantage, trying not to scare her. Arma could only guess the mortified look on the fiery girl’s face. It was both amusing and a little regretful of him.

“Let’s say a little birdie told me this today morning. It’s okay. If you think I am mad at you for not telling me you are wrong. I am perfectly fine but I think you should be mad at me instead. I kept some things too.  That’s why we all should come together some day and discuss it. But you wouldn’t mind if I tell some things to Zessica first right?” A few more moments of silence were Arma’s answer. He waited, patiently listening to the even breathing of his childhood friend and smiled in contentment when she finally spoke.

“Okay. Cool. Awkard. But cool. Okay. First go forward and turn right.”Arma nodded and did what she said. As he turned to a corner, he pursued on to Phoenix’s guides effortlessly. There was still some tense awkward atmosphere shared between them but after a minute or two from simply listening and chatting a bit, the little grey cloud disappeared. After a while later, he was able to recognise some parts of the roads but not quite fully yet. As he was going to the next corner, his phone buzzed, interrupting the girl suddenly.

The tall lad glanced down to find it was Stabs calling. Frowning, he didn’t close his phone call with Phoenix and merged Stab’s call instead. Once the phone indicator lit up, displaying that the three way calling method worked, Arma gently pressed his phone against his left ear again. However, nothing would have prepared the tall lad what Stabs was going to say.

“HAAAaeeEEYAALaaalaaaAABABWaFUZZ!!!!” Arma cringed greatly at the large amount of static Stabs emitted from his phone than the loud incomprehensible speech he was uttering. The tall lad pulled the phone away, trying to tune out the ringing sound that was now throbbing in his ears. If his hearing hadn’t deafened a bit then, he would have heard Phoenix swearing out some words that were definitely not taught to kids in kindergarten. When Arma placed the phone back against his ear, or more accurately, tried to, Arma could still hear Stabs yelling out nonsense through the phone.

“STABS WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” Arma was more or less impressed when he heard Phoenix yelling through at her end. The fact that her voice was loud enough for the tall lad to hear when the phone was pulled away from him was amazing. As if this had slapped Stabs across the face to regain his sanity, Stabs gasped and then finally spoke in the language of English.

“I LOST HER!!!” It took Phoenix exactly half a second what Stabs meant by this. Unfortunately for Arma, it took him approximately ten seconds. By then, Phoenix was scolding loudly through the phone, delaying the tall lad’s processing time. With the scolding and begging of apologies going on in his phone, it finally clicked that when he meant by he lost ‘her’, he meant he lost Zessica.

...Wait what?

“HOW COULD YOU LOSE HER?!” Arma bellowed loudly through the phone, temporarily forgetting that he didn’t like people raising their voices so loud through their phones since it creates so much static. The tall lad waited, clenching the phone so tightly that one might have thought he was strangling it. It took Stabs several deep breathes before answering.

“When th-the movie finished you know th-there will be a h-huge crowd who gets out of the cinema right? Both of us got caught up with the crowd and we somehow got separated. Though we still managed to find each other after we went out-

“If you managed to find her how did you lose her again?!” Arma asked in disbelief, half heartedly interrupting Stabs impolitely.

“Arma! Please! Let the guy explain!” Phoenix scolded bitterly, causing the tall lad to bit his tongue. In cases like this, the phrase ‘hell hath no fury when a woman is scorned’ is usually described here. When Phoenix gets angry, it was best to stay quiet, stay out of her way and hope for the best at survival.

“Yea. Sorry. A-anyway once we were outside there was this...thing. I don’t know what it was but this thing jumped over our heads from behind. I was surprised what that thing was so I l-looked back to find where it came from. There was nothing there and when I turned around, she was gone! I don’t know how and when but I swear she was with me the second before I turned around! I already called her phone like seven times already and even texted her but she isn’t replying!”

Arma could hear the worry in Stab’s panic stricken tone. He felt sorry for scolding him before and could only empathise with him. After all, Arma had dealt Zessica’s ‘sudden disappearance’ several thousand times already and no matter how many times it happened, he still wasn’t immune. However, Stabs has only been with her for a short time so to see her suddenly vanish into thin air had really shaken him up.

“Let’s see if I can track her through the GP- Oh hell no. She has her GPS option turned off.” Phoenix cut in midsentence and Arma could hear her grumbling lightly. That’s when an idea of adding another person to their three way call came into mind. He didn’t care about the fact that Zessica hasn’t responded to Stabs calls and text messages but Arma was determined to find her.

Punching down the buttons to Zessica’s number while expertly not hanging up two of his friends, Arma waited patiently for the girl to pick up. When she didn’t respond like what Stabs claimed earlier, Arma punched down the number again and again, persistent to call her till the credits in his phone dies out. Meanwhile as he did this, Phoenix tried her best to comfort and reassured the still shaken up Stabs while secretly worrying about the shorter girl too.

The other night, even though Euphino said he wasn’t willing to tell what he had revealed to Arma and Stabs, he eventually told the state the short girl was in earlier. Phoenix couldn’t help but psychologically link herself with Zessica. After all, they both were physically abused.

On Arma’s fifth try, Zessica finally picked up the phone to which the tall lad instantly pressed it against his left ear and preached loudly to it.

“Would it kill you to pick up the damn phone?!”

“...Looks like someone became a bear with a sore head. As for the phone matter I kept it on silent. I didn’t realise someone was calling me so frantically when I was busy preoccupied with catching the thief that stole my hat.” Zessica’s voice elaborated all of this impassively. For once, Arma was more than happy to find her deadpanned voice and immediately sighed in relief. This proved that she was alright and not harmed in anyway. So this thief had stole her hat and she ran away to catch it, with Stabs wholly unaware. That was so like her.

“Wait, you ran to catch this thief?” Phoenix blurted out unconsciously before she could stop herself. Arma could sense both Stabs and the Phoenix cringing lightly at her simple stupidity. Arma on the other hand was in awe to be holding a conversation with three people at once.

“Well I am wearing my handicapped boots. They may look like ordinary boots but it increases my speed and stamina in my legs. I had to wear it all the time after Doomsday occurred since I couldn’t walk properly without some people supporting me. So yes, I ran after this thief and got my hat back. Before anyone of you judge me, this hat is important to me. I don’t know why but all I know is it’s important to me because it was in my chest of treasured items.”

When Arma heard the last sentence, he recalled the time where he recovered a peculiar looking chest in the shabby house that looked like it was going to fall apart. It was the tiny house Zessica used to live in the middle of the woods despite all the dangerous animals that lurk in there. To this day, Arma is still baffled at the reason of why she would live in such a rundown house back then, one that had been continuously robbed. He also recalled the combat boots with three buckles on them. Arma had to admit, it was a bit odd for her to change her shoe style out of the blue. Why had she changed it in the first place? Was the effect of her cold still hadn’t worn off her yet?

“Thank God you are alright. Where are you anyway?” Stabs inquired with his curiosity filled with worry.

“I don’t really know myself. This little thief here had-

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Arma frowned when the little noise interrupted the girl’s words and glanced down at the phone. His eyes widened in horror when he registered the little battery icon at the top right corner flashing red, implying that its battery was drained dry. Before he could even do anything, the cell phone screen faded to black, completely dead to the world, leaving Arma in the bleakest situation he ever thought he would be in.

Deciding that he would be proactive instead of moaning and curling up into a ball and groan, Arma took several deep breathes and thought rationally. If he would empathise a little, Phoenix would be swearing right now and trying to call him first. Then she would call Stabs or Zessica to whine about how much of an idiot Arma was for sacrificing his phone’s life at the most crucial moment. Zessica had mentioned she was also a bit lost so Phoenix would help her out there. She might send Stabs over to find Arma considering that he still had his GPS on.

So all he had to do was hope for the best and stay still till Stabs come and pick him up. If he moved around too much he might end up getting even more lost and put Phoenix in more pressure with struggling to give Stabs the proper direction. That is, if Phoenix sends Stabs. His luck was pretty slim but that was the only thing he could hold on to at the moment.

Sighing at his misfortune acting up once more, Arma sat lethargically on the bench of the bus stop. There were only two or three buses in Wind Crest considering the population and town being small. Although, it wasn’t small enough to get at least two people lost. This thought caused him to sigh again. Today was clearly not promising him to be a good day. A lot of things had happened in one day from discovering some secrets, to a mob of cats and now this. Can this day can get any worse?

Apparently it can.

“Funny seeing you here Armageddon” Arma glanced up at the familiar female voice and met two bright pink eyes behind thick dark rimmed glasses. He knew that without anyone telling it to him, his jaw was hung ajar at shock of their next encounter. Sophie stood before him, an amused smile on her face which resembled a lot like Caterpillar’s. She had her winged headphones on with her long silver hair elegantly tied back to a neat pony tail. She wore a grey hoodie over her white T-shirt that said ‘I HATE BOYS’ with sparkles and pumpkin shorts with knee high socks and combat boots.

He had to admit that meeting Sophie there of all places didn’t make the day any worse but it was still quite a surprise. Wasn’t he getting enough encounters and things happening in just that day already? He also refrained himself from wincing lightly at the text on her shirt. This did not went unnoticed as Sophie giggled lightly, causing his cheeks to flame up in embarrassment.

“Well you and Caterpillar are an exception. Speaking of him? Have you seen that foolish brother of mine? I heard there was news of this mob of cats somewhere and I wondered, ‘now who would lead something preposterous as that?’” Sophie asked animatedly, triggering an outburst of laughter to erupt within Arma. Sophie gawked at him as he hugged his stomach, feeling a six pack coming as tears came at the corner of his eyes at his hysterical laughter. The silver haired girl patiently waited as Arma collected his wits together again. If anyone said that that day was going to be the end of him, they wouldn’t be exaggerating.

“Seen him? I was caught up with the mob! Does this happen to him often?” Arma asked curiously, still couldn’t erase the idiotic smile off his face. He saw the silver haired girl wrinkled in disgust for a while before shrugging her shoulders tiredly.

“I don’t know how often it happens but when some bizarre thing comes to life, there is a ninety nine point nine percent that he is involved.” Sophie watch as Arma broke down to another fit of laughter, encouraging a small smile to creep up on her face again. She couldn’t help but feel a bit regale at the fact that this ‘Lone Wolf’, Armageddon had a much kinder and innocent side than what the rumours say about him. Maybe she really shouldn’t always depend on rumours after all.

“So where did he go leaving you alone? And shouldn’t you be with your partner?”

“Well...that. I had some little trouble with Zessica and since I ‘bumped’ into your brother I sorted of seeked his advice. He help me come up with a solution and left saying that he would find you but since you are here I guess he hasn’t succeeded yet. Have you tried calling?”

“The idiot left his phone back at home. I would have searched him through GPS but he had his one turned off.” Sophie swore in a clipped voice causing Arma to chuckle lightly. Some way or another, Sophie was sort of going through the same thing Arma was going.

“Well, I am waiting, well hoping that my friend would come pick me up since I am a bit lost. I hope I get back home before Zessica tries to do anything reckless. That girl is unpredictable I tell you. She can be so soft spoken and quiet but really bold and daring.” Arma lightly explained his position while registering that Sophie was now frowning lightly at him. He shrugged his shoulders awkwardly as Sophie continued to stare with an unease look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hey Armageddon. Do you love Zessica or something?” Arma’s eyes widened in alarm and he blanched at the second when Sophie mentioned the ‘L’ word. If he was drinking water, he would have spurted out so much that a rainbow might have been formed in midst of it all. Right then, the tall lad gaped at the silver haired nonchalant girl with a mixture of terror and revulsion on his face.

“N-NO! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT?!” Arma immediately denied, almost falling off the bench. Sophie simply laughed in a wise manner at how riled up the tall lad was in right now. He knew that if he continued to become so worked up, Sophie would have thought that he was denying the truth from her.

“I mean! She is like my sister. My second younger sister. There is no...that stuff towards her!”Arma explained feebly. Without warning, his thoughts then went to Titania. Zessica had implied that he may have a crush on her but Arma knew strongly that what he had for Titania was simple admiration. However Zessica? That was not right. He was sure he didn’t have that sort of feeling towards her...right? Right?

“Second sister?”

“Yea. Phoenix. She is my childhood friend and she and I are really close even though we battle each other’s hearts out at the most silliest things. She never had a brother and I never had a sister and we act like siblings anyway. We even share all of our secrets together, not like me and Zessica.” Arma regretted saying the last part out loud but he knew in his heart that this was true, but he was going to tell her anyway so that was an exception...wasn’t it?

“Hmm...Let’s say what I am going to do right now is forcing you to confront your feelings. Imagine you first ‘sister’, Phoenix was it? Alright imagine all the fun times you have with her and her smile. Is your feelings for her as that a brother towards a sister?” Sophie asked in a professor like tone. Arma groaned lightly but obliged anyway. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. He recalled the time where Phoenix was bruised but in spite of that, smiled with gaps in her teeth and her hair tied up to two pigtails with the help of the tall lad. He even recalled the present Phoenix smiling at him in amusement or in mischief from fulfilling revenge.

“I can tell you honestly that I have brotherly feelings towards Phoenix as my sister.” Sophie nodded, satisfied with his answer and then prodded the next question.

“Do the same with Zessica. Can you imagine her smiling?” Arma tried, he really tried but his mind came up blank. The full magnitude of the question hit him so hard, that it dawned on him for the umpteenth time that he had never seen her smile at him, not even once. There were times he had thought he had seen a phantom trace of a smile but that was it, just a phantom trace.

“I...can’t. I never seen her happy before... I mean, she never really shows her emotions.” Arma explained, causing Sophie to frown again. She then sighed and brought her hands in the air nonchalantly, as if gesturing that it couldn’t be help.

“Well when she does, ask yourself this. Is the girl before you your sister? Or an actual girl?”

“I don’t get that...” Arma admitted sheepishly, since all of this was suddenly becoming poetic. Sophie simply gave him a wise but somewhat sad smile in return.

“You will. Just later in the future.”

“I thought I smelled something that stinks...” Another voice emerged out of nowhere. Arma’s eyebrows were then shot up sky high as he turned to find the third person to meddle in to the conversation. He was once again struck with the question whether the day was promising to be crazy from beginning till end. First he met Caterpillar, then Sophie and now this...other girl in front of them.

Arma was certain that he had never met this girl before but there was something familiar about her. She was tall, extremely tall for a girl. She was almost the exact same height as Titania, only a few inches taller. She was approximately a head shorter than the tall lad and had a bronze tan that really stood out in particular. Her hair is cropped really short and it was dark green as well. She also had neon pink eye shadow which surprisingly complimented her tan. Despite having a slim frame, Arma noticed that her body looked quite sturdy in physique. She had one hand on her hip and wore a sleeveless white shirt and extremely short denim shorts that exposed a lot of leg with red converse.

Arma averted his gaze because he had never seen a girl exposing so much skin before. Call him innocent but he would have preferred people who don’t go strolling half naked in town. He preferred people to wear normal clothes. As he averted his gaze, he noticed that Sophie had become rigid, her breathing laboured and her skin paled to paper white. The expression she had on her face was nothing short of but being terrified.

However, to the tall lad’s surprise, Sophie smiled tensely. It wasn’t those genuine smiles people usually wear when the meet someone they know, it was one that was awkward one filled with hatred. He watched her lips move and mutter something under her breathe and Arma’s eyes widened when he caught her muttering the stranger’s name in a silent irritated and unease tone.

Ophelia.

“Both of you. You stink a lot. Especially you there, on the bench.” Arma’s eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and bewilderment as Ophelia spoke to his direction. He had expected, well what did he expected on Zessica’s ex partner? Anything but this obviously. He mentally wondered whether he stank because he had been jogging around so much and sweat was already trickling down but that odour wasn’t that strong, was it? He glanced back at the stranger, Ophelia and tried his best not to look anywhere else except her face which was having a smug look. The smug expression soon turned to surprise when she saw his face and then all too soon, it became a psychotic grin.

“Should have known. You stink of her. She chose you to be her partner huh? Wonder what she saw in you of all people.. Though you stink of something else. Have I seen you before?” As Ophelia directed her question to Sophie, Arma couldn’t help but frown at what the ex partner was talking about. He knew when she said ‘she’, Ophelia was talking about Zessica. Though what had she meant by that he stank of her? Her scent? Was Ophelia able to distinguish people by scent? 

“Y-you...fought me in Blessed Combat...and sent me to coma...” Sophie stuttered lightly. She scolded herself inwardly for being terrified of the player before her, the culprit that made her lose two years of her life in the hospital. It seemed her mind was fully prepared to beat Ophelia to a pulp and fulfil her revenge but in the case of her body it was the opposite. She could remember the brash beating Ophelia had given her and the fear that the silver haired girl thought that was gone was still there in the far deep corners of her mind.

She knew that revenge wasn’t a good thing but Ophelia had looked down and crushed too many people and their wills. Someone had to teach her a good lesson. Even then Sophie wanted to teach her a lesson about respect but with the way her body was handling the situation then, she knew the lesson will be postponed later.

“Eh? I send a lot of people to hospitals so what’s the big deal? You must have been so weak if I can’t remember you.” Ophelia spat out lazily and Arma knew that this statement was slowly building up the anger that was forming in the silver haired girl. To his relief, Sophie remained deadpanned and didn’t react despite how much she was quivering in fear and anger.

“What’s this? Already scared? You can’t even stand properly without shaking your knees.” Ophelia mocked wickedly, causing Arma to respond back in Sophie’s defence.

“You should leave if you have no business with us.” The tall lad was surprised that he almost sounded calm. He had expected his voice to break and wither away in fear but maybe the fact that he hadn’t battled Ophelia full on yet must have made him feel somewhat relaxed. Arma watched as Ophelia casually placed one finger in her right ear and shaking it roughly as if scratching it which was followed by a bored yawn.

“Sure sure. You are not much of a fight. I was hoping to meet her here and revive back good ol times but you just had to ruin it. If she is your partner then let me tell you this. You will only bring her down so you are not worth to be her partner.” Ophelia spoke as she turned her back against him. Arma badly wanted to yell that she was not worth it to be Zessica’s partner too but he held back and bit his tongue down.

If he had stated this who knows what this Rising Star Prodigy would do to him? Plus what was she planning to do if she met Zessica? Was she going to beat her again? Or do something worse? Sophie on the other hand had guessed who Ophelia was mention about as well and questions came spiralling around her mind. What business did the Rising Star Prodigy had with the quiet and almost invisible Zessica anyway?

“Oh and-” Ophelia spun around with her hands behind her back. Arma saw her giving him the sweetest smile he had ever seen but the tall lad knew beneath it was anything but that. What did she want now?

“Ask her how’d she like my little present. It would be delivered to her soon, give or take a few seconds and if she survives from it that is.” And with that, Arma eyes widened in horror as he watched her disappear to the next corner. When the full force of the question hit him, Arma abruptly got up and ran after the Rising Star Prodigy with Sophie running after him as well. He turned to the corner where Ophelia disappeared to only to register her speeding down to another corner with a crazed smile evident on her face.

“You have to find Zessica. Who knows what Ophelia might have sent to her?” Sophie ordered, her voice hushed with haste. She was still quite shaken up a bit at the sudden encounter of the source of her misery but more scared of the shorter girl’s condition. Arma nodded but he was at loss at what to do. He had no idea where he was first of all.

“Do you know where the shortest direction to the school from here?” Arma asked Sophie with panic evident in his eyes. Sophie zoned out a bit before coming up with an answer that he wasn’t all too happy with yet.

“I wouldn’t call it short but it’s the shortest route I know. It will take around ten minutes at max.”

“That might be too long” Arma interjected worriedly while he fished out his dead cell phone. At first Sophie wondered what he was going to achieve with a phone that was dead to the world when she saw a change occurring in the tall lad’s grey eyes. It was still grey but it was more misted over then earlier, as if he was drowning in his own thoughts while staring at the screen of the black screen. It dawned on the silver haired girl that he was staring at his reflection, activating his Major.

“What do you see?” Sophie asked curiously, not exactly expecting an answer so she was genuinely surprised when the tall lad did respond. It was his voice but not like his own. It sounded detached and distant, as if he was talking from another dimension.

“She is entering the house...she closes the door behind her and locks it...she takes off her hat and she is walking forward...before she could take the third step forward a window comes up...it’s a small gift wrapped in white with a red bow on top...it has her name on it but no sender.”

‘That must be the present Ophelia was talking about.’ Sophie thought silently.

“She opens it and... black smoke comes out of it...its choking her...poisoning her...she falls limp...I gotta be there...I gotta stop her from opening the present...” Sophie was about to interrupt him from his...deep slumber like state and command him to use his Minor of flight when she felt something pulse inside of the tall lad. It was powerful, silent but extremely powerful that made Sophie to stop in her tracks and stare at the tall lad in fear.

Arma was enveloped in a very dangerous aura and Sophie didn’t know why that was so. Even though he was still looking at the future calamity, the silver haired girl was strangely scared of him. No not him as in person, the thing that resonated inside of him. That raw power, it was too powerful, even for a Major, like Ophelia. Before Sophie could even have the time to react, a bright white light emerged within Arma and blinded the silver haired girl.

She blinked back the glaring intensity of the brightness before it ceased just as soon as it came. When the she glanced back to where the tall lad should have been, she found herself dumbstruck at where could a tall guy that can steal so much attention unwittingly, have gone within the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Arma’s desire to be at his house within the next second was so strong, he had unwittingly teleported himself, though not quite successfully. Sure he had reached his destination of his house but where he teleported was not on solid ground but up in the air instead. So the tall lad soon found himself crashing down to the ground with a loud bump from out of the sky and groaned in pain that shot throughout his body.

Ignoring the stabbing agony and the few stares coming from the bystanders, Arma groggily got up and scurried through the gate and to the front door as fast as he could with slight limps along the way. He practically burst the door open with the force of his shoulder ramming on the front door and he allowed for a second to stare at the short girl who was limp on the floor, exactly where he had seen her doing once she choked and coughed to death from poison.

“N-No...no...NO NO NO!” Arma cried out, his eyes stinging which threatened tears to fall as he crouched to his knees and shook the girl vigorously. There was no response. Was he too late? Had he lost his first and only partner before he could tell her what he had been keeping from everyone? Was the girl who pulled him out of the darkness of his own mind dead and gone forever? The tall lad refused to believe it, she can’t be dead...she just can’t be dead...

“......Mhgmm.........huh?........Arma?......” Arma almost felt his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets when the short girl roused lightly from the ground. With Arma’s help, who was still confused whether he was dreaming or really seeing it, Zessica groggily got up from the floor and stared sleepily at the tall lad.

“.....I fainted?.....Ah.....I did.....I knew I had forgotten something......the pill of my endurance against the sun’s heat.....”  Zessica spoke to no one in particular, still quite a bit dazed with what was going on. By then, Arma knew that he was really seeing what he thought he was imagining he was seeing. She was alive! A bit dazed but alive! He didn’t know how but for once Arma didn’t give a damn. The euphoria of seeing his partner had lived to see the light of day was so great, he didn’t even care about his pride and embraced the short girl tightly, persistent to never let her go.

“Arma? What’s going on?” Zessica asked; her voice steadier and evidently showing her surprise. After all, this was out of character of Arma. Sure he was a bit of a worry wart but this was too extreme for even the tall lad. Arma knew that he should let her go and explain to her but he wanted to hold her close, charge himself up with relief and the fact that she was alive to this day. He had really thought he had lost her.

“Sorry...it’s just that...you are alive...I am so glad...I don’t know what I would have done if you were gone...” Arma replied back eventually, hugging her even closer but not so tightly that it would harm her frail body. He willed his heart to beat in its original rational rhythm as it was at the same pace of a humming bird’s wing at flight. He didn’t even know he was trembling feverously in contentment and a tear had escaped from one eye.

“Meow.”

Arma jumped and let the girl go purely in surprise when he heard a cat calling. Zessica’s eyes were also widened a bit before it glanced over the little fur ball that was nuzzling close at her leg. Arma recalled the mob of cats earlier before registering that this cat in particular was black in colour and had the most vibrant eyes. The colour of its eyes was also unique. It was in a bright shade of...turquoise? Yes turquoise. Its eyes was also vaguely similar to Zessica’s; both wide and sparkly.

“Well...meet my thief. It not only stole my hat, it brought me back home and also pushed the present of some smoke bomb to the pool over there.” Zessica pointed towards the crunched up little present that was floating lifelessly on the pool. It contents were spreading on the pool gradually but with the pool also having some smart functions, it filtered out all the foreign contents on the pool within a few seconds.

“Can we keep it? Please?” Zessica asked in a slight pleading tone. Arma stared at the black cat absentmindedly and then glanced over the pool. He then burst into a fit of laughter in the next second, causing the short girl to cock her head to a side in innocent awe.

“Well if it saved your life so I don’t see why we shouldn’t keep it.” Arma finally answered in between wheezes. Zessica then asked another question. It was a question he didn’t expect her to ask which halted all his hysterical laughter to a screeching stop.

“Do you hate me? I mean, I know I am not your most favourite person in the world with all the pranks I pull at you but...do you hate me?” The tall lad stared at his partner for a full minute without even moving a muscle. During that minute, he simply gawked at her, his body frozen on the spot as if he had turned to stone. That’s when he surprised Zessica by bellowing in laughter once again.

“So you do actually look upon your actions from your pranks. If I hated you I would have kicked you out of the house way earlier. How can I ever hate you, you silly goose!” Arma chuckled as he fondly ruffled her hair. Zessica’s eyes widened in surprise as Arma playfully twirled a strand of her ivory black hair in his fingers. That’s when he saw it, the thing he had longed to witness from the girl ever since he saw her by chance at the abandoned club room at school several months ago.

The corner of her lips turned up and Zessica’s eyes soften to the point that her emerald green eyes glimmered.  She was openly smiling at him with a light blush filling up her cheeks. All of a sudden, everything Arma saw became more bright and cheerful. Arma too can feel the blood rushing up to his face, not because he was happy but because he felt his heart skip a beat. Just then, Sophie’s question came to mind but it was so faint, Arma could barely hear it.  

 “Do you see her as a sister? Or a girl?”  As Arma gazed at the girl, a few thoughts popped into mind.

‘I see...so that’s how it is...I like her...more than a sister...”

Author's note: I know, long chapter but meh, some development in the characters eh? hehe Well there will be more action in the next chapter (hopefully) I did this all in a rush because once I have the chapter in my head for too long...it has to be out.

As usual please notify me any mistakes you find in this xD Oh and don't forget to vote!