Silence passed between them.

  Mars looked up at Aya’s heavy face but hesitated to pry. Wherever memories were concerned it always pertained to Aya’s family and Mars had no clue how to comfort her.

  Aya sighed again.

  “Well lucky you, it’s almost dinner time and nothing gets my mind off things like food.” Mars said, shutting off her tablet.

  Aya’s eyes brightened, she nodded vigorously at the thought of food. Her Rabbit Meat Soup was nice but nothing compared to the taste of actual cooking.

  “Whatever you need me to do I will, I’m starved!” Aya exclaimed.

  Mars laughed.

  “Of course you are, that’s why you spend all that time holed up in your room.” She teased.

  “The game’s just really good okay.” Aya whined. “You would know!”

  The girls moved to the kitchen and Aya helped Mars take out the bowls they would need and

  “I would, Moon Valley’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” Mars said slowly. The dark haired girl blinked and tried to recall if the game she played now was anything like her time with Scarlet Frontier.

  Internally she shook her head, no. She had spent a lot of time trying to prove herself to the Eos Conquerors just for her to lose all she had and start over with something new.

  “Hand me that bowl.” Mars says softly gesturing to one of the shelves in the small kitchen. Aya lifts an old ceramic bowl from the shelves, it’s one she wasn’t sure she had seen before. It was a dull white with faded flowers etched into the sides.

  A hand-me-down perhaps?

  She handed it to Mars who took it with great care and scooped the pasta into it.

  A mouthwatering aroma blew past Aya’s nose as she scooped. She wondered where Mars had learned to cook so well.

  “What did you say this was?” Aya asked as she set the table for their dinner, arranging the cups, plates, and a pitcher of water.

  “Garlic Chicken Pasta.” Mars replied, laying the bowl on the table. They would serve themselves and use the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, possibly.

  ----------

  Aya served first, scooping a helping of pasta and chicken into her plate, much to Mars’s secret delight.

  Mars couldn’t let the other girl know just how pleased she was that Aya enjoyed her cooking. She disguised her grin with a glass of water.

  “Tomorrow’s going to be our last day here.” Mars brought up, as she watched Aya’s cheeks fill with pasta. “How do you feel about that?”

  Aya noticed the slight worry in Mars’ tone, was she worried that Aya would have second thoughts about leaving Axen City with her?

  Aya swallowed the lump of food in her mouth, prompting her to beat her chest as the pasta made its way down uncomfortably.

  Mars wordlessly pushed the pitcher of water towards her with wide eyes.

  “Too soon?” The dark haired girl asked, picking at her food with a frown.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Well no, it’s my fault for not thinking about it until you brought it up.” Aya rasped after chugging a glass of water.

  Mars winced, the pasta had certainly fought it’s way down.

  “I don’t know if there are a bunch of people I want to say goodbye to.”

  “I have two.” Aya said, she held her head in her hands, distressed. “I’ve never said goodbye before, to l-living people I mean. My world’s full of goodbyes.” Aya tried to laugh but it came out hollow.

  “I usually just leave.” Mars said.

  “That gets lonely doesn’t it?”

  “Usually the people I’m leaving aren’t worth sticking around for.” Mars retorted. “That’s why I’m not leaving you.” she said under her breath.

  Aya could tell she wasn't meant to hear that, but she did and soon started rapidly stuffing her mouth with pasta to cool her face.

  This has the opposite effect.

  “Aya are you alright? It’s not too spicy is it?”

  Aya mumbles something Mars doesn’t hear over the mouthful of pasta. The dark haired girl shrugged and returned to eating her meal.

  Aya’s phone beeped with a notification.

  “Huh, Atlas?” She wondered what he was up to since the last time they had spoken. Aya glanced up at Mars who pursed her lips in annoyance. Suddenly the brunette recalled the tense meeting they had at the cafe and questions sprung to her mind.

  Aya placed her phone back on the table without reading the message and faced Mars with an inquisitive expression.

  “You still haven’t told me what’s up with you and my former boss.”

  “Who said I knew him?” Mars huffed.

  Aya raised an eyebrow, asking Mars if she was serious. At seeing the girl’s reaction, she averted her eyes, suddenly taking great interest in her food.

  “You did with your weird interaction.” Aya said pointing a fork at Mars in accusation.

  “Maybe I just don’t like him.” Mars smirked.

  “Mars!” Aya whined.

  “It’s all in the past anyway, we don’t even talk anymore.”

  “Well it seems like he wants to talk to you, I guess he has some things left unsaid.” Aya hinted, she pouted and looked up at Mars with big pleading eyes.

  Mars sighed, running her hand through her dark hair.

  “Maybe. Look, let’s change the subject, what happened in the game anyway?”

  Aya was a little disappointed in the subject change but respected Mars enough to oblige. She sighed and sat back. Maybe it really was too soon to bring such a topic up.

  “Nothing much, just an insensitive NPC digging up memories.”

  “You play an elf, right? Some of the NPCs will act accordingly. You're supposedly an immortal being after all. Don’t take it to heart, they’re just in character.”

  “Oh, they’re in character alright.” Aya’s eye twitched in annoyance as she recalled what Dylan had said to her. “Just a kid being dumb.”

  “They tend to do that.”

  Aya leaned forward on her elbows with a question.

  “Have you ever had a quest that dragged up old memories or you know, just pissed you off?”

  “Yeah, every gamer has. But that’s a story for another day.” She said.

  “Sounds good to me, you better start telling me about your own adventures soon.”

  ----------

  After the dishes were done and the table had been cleared, each girl moved to the room to continue their respective business.

  “Don’t stay up too late.” Mars warned.

  “Right back at you.” Aya shot back.

  Mars shook her fondly and walked into her room, closing the door with a soft click.

  “I wonder what happened between them.” Aya asked the empty room. What could have been so bad that it left Mars and Atlas on bad terms? Friends fight all the time but it must have been as bad as the Eos Conquerors for them to never speak again.

  Atlas had seemed friendly at the cafe when the two of them met again so… maybe he was trying to apologize to Mars?

  If so why didn’t he do it at the cafe when they met again?

  Aya recalled the text she had gotten earlier and lifted her phone to read the message Atlas had set her at dinner time.

  [Aya could you help me with something?]

  The text read.

  [Sure what is it?]

  [I know it’s a lot to ask but, I need Mars’s phone number]