Putting the Pieces Back Together.

“Fei and Elly found each other. Fei and Elly fell for each other. Fei and Elly lived happily ever after together. HA! That’s good for them, but what about me?”

Billy lay his head against his pillow, “I’m sick of those two,” he said, scaring himself a little. He pushed those thoughts aside thinking, “They have each other, what more do they need, huh?” He recalled the team dropping them off in Lahan.

“I don’t know if they’ll take me back, after what I did,” he remembered Fei saying.

“I’m sure they’ll forgive you,” Billy had said to him, “All the wrong you did will be made up when you, Elly, and Citan build Lahan again, like you said.”

He resented ever saying those words to him. When they dropped down to Lahan, the people there invited him in with open arms, and open hearts. He was their hero, they… they were their hero. He, Elly, Citan. Bart even got a little praise from them, but just because he was the driver. He got nothing. He wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. He wasn’t in any mood. The one and only thing he loved was destroyed when he met those guys, his religion. Everything he believed in was a lie. Everything he preached was a lie. What was a priest from a made up religion supposed to do. Everything was set up. It was all to, how did they put it, “herd the lambs.” Billy closed his eyes, and continued the memory. In the middle of the celebration, the remaining of the crew set off from Lahan to bring everyone else to their homes. Rico went back to Kislev. He was going to help build that place up to its original state. “Place is still crap… but I am too.” was his words as he left. They brought Maria to what was left of Shivet. There she swore to protect her Queen. “My father’s memories will stay with me, even though I have lost Seibzehn.” Chu Chu also went there to be with her friends. All that was left was Bart, himself and Emeralda. He paused when he thought of her name. None of the three had any place to go. Bart was considering running for President of Avah. Emeralda was going to go explore the world and see all of its wonders. She figured it all couldn’t be in Citan’s head. Billy was going back to the Ethos, but it wasn’t there. The orphanage, but his religion was the one thing that made him start it up. The whole idea of him starting it up was the Ethos teachings. Billy just wanted to end it all. He pulled out his gun pointed it to his own head, closed his eyes for what was to come.

CLICK!

“Damn. Forgot to reload.” Actually he didn’t. When the whole adventure was over he had taken his six-shooter, took out all but one bullet, and spun the chamber, letting the bullet decide on where it wanted to be. He thought to himself, “One down, five to go.” and put his gun away. He laughed at the thought. “Who would have thought that eight was middle-aged?” There was a knock at his door. Billy rolled over away from the door and muttered, “Come in.”

“Billy? Billy, you ok?” the female voice said.

Billy knew that voice. He would recognize that voice if that girl was in the market place of Avah. “Yeah Emeralda,” he said as he rolled over to face her, “I’m ok.”

“Oh,” she said puzzled, “I thought I heard a click or something.”

Billy looked around to find something that made a noise, but couldn’t find anything. “You must be hearing things.” He rolled over to look away from her.

“Oh… sorry Billy.” She said as she went out the door, but she stopped suddenly. “Can I… can I ask you something?”

Billy was surprised; someone was asking him if he could help. He was very interested in what she wanted, so he sat up in his bed and looked at her saying, “Sure what is it?”

Emeralda walked over to him and hesitated to sit down next to him. Seeing his smile, she smiled back and decided that it was ok for her to sit. She looked around, “This… this is kinda embarrassing.” She muttered.

Billy replied, “Don’t be afraid, just ask away, I won’t tell… anyone…” he remembered saying that to one of his orphan children he watched. He said to that boy, “I’m a priest and I’m not allowed to tell anyone what you tell me, or I’ll get in a lot of trouble with… ‘You know who’ upstairs.” He never knew that he was talking about Solaris.

“Well… it’s that,” Emeralda was looking for the words to say, he could tell. Finally she continued, “There is, there’s someone I… I kinda like, but I don’t know how to say it. Kinda makes you want to laugh doesn’t it, almost childish?” she smiled at him.

“No,” he shook his head at her, “not at all. Well, there’s only one way of doing something like that, and that’s, just… just to say it. Come right out and say it. Don’t be afraid of the answer, the guy probably loves you too.” He wasn’t really sure why she was asking him. “Citan’s the one with all the answers,” He thought to himself, “not to mention you’re asking a priest! I never was in love before.”

She smiled and looked into his eyes, “Thank you, Billy, you’re a… you’re a good friend.” With that she kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the room.

He touched where she had just kissed him, “You’re… welcome…” He was dumbfounded. He had never been kissed before. Well, he had, but by fellow priests as hello, or old ladies as a thank you, but never like she had kissed him just now. He slumped back into his bed again, thinking, about what he had just done. It was minor, but he had helped someone that needed help. He also just smiled at the picture created in his head. The one of Emeralda, the smile she had just given him. He felt good knowing this, as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He awoke from his eventful slumber. He had a dream of the past. He was happy, preaching the word of his religion, bring smiles to people’s faces. The more he thought about it, the more it depressed him. He decided to give it another shot. He pulled out his gun, pointed to his head, and closed his eyes, CLICK! Another empty slot. “That’s two.” He let out a real deep sigh thinking of what to do next. He decided to get up and move around. He put on his cloak but stopped when he saw himself in the mirror. He saw himself in his usual décor. The one he would wear to kill Wels or when he would celebrate Mass at Ethos H.Q. He decided to take it off, and wear a different shirt, just a plain black shirt he used to wear on occasion. Even this shirt reminded him of the past. He just sighed and exited his room. He went to the gunroom. Maybe he would find something there. He approached the bar Maison was cleaning.

“Uh… Master Billy what a surprise!” Maison said.

Billy took a seat at the bar, “Just give me something that will cure my ailment.”

“Master Billy! You know as well as I do you can’t…”

“Please. I had a rough night.”

Maison reluctantly complied with his order and made him a drink, he made sure to lay off the alcohol. “Here.”

“Finally! To see my boy chugging’ a few! Well, it just… brings a tear to my eye!”

“Leave me alone dad.” Billy said between sips. The drink tasted awful, but he didn’t care.

“Aww, c’mon Billy boy, a man can’t be proud to see his son do what he does.” Jesse said. “What you doin’ down here anyway?”

“I…” Billy was reluctant to answer, but continued, “I had a rough night.”

“Ain’t it true, ain’t it true! Rough nights are the worst.”

Billy could tell his father had one too many, just by his breath. Then he thought, what was too many for his dad? “Heh heh, yeah, you’re right.” Billy said in response.

“Well… It’s just good to see my boy doin’ what I do best!” Jesse said as a ‘proud’ father. It almost made Billy sick.

Actually the drink was what was probably was doing him in. He looked at his glass and noticed it wasn’t even half empty. He got up saying, “Well, at least I made you happy.”

“WHA? You can’t finish half a shot glass!?” Jesse sighed. Than to Maison, “Barkeep! I need another one! I’m depressed again.”

Maison looked up noticing Jesse sitting in the spot Billy had just occupied, “You… good… sir, “Maison was wondering if those were the correct words to address him by, “have had enough, and master Billy…” Billy turned around just in time to see Maison sliding a bottle in usual bartending style. “Maybe you can hold this down?”

“Maison, I’m not thirsty for…” he looked at the label to see, Nisan Water, He finished saying, “Water?”

“I heard that they bless all the water they ship out of Nisan.” Maison said with a smirk.

Billy looked down at the bottle again. He knew what he was talking about. Maybe another religion. Maybe that would fill a certain hole he had. He took the bottle saying, “You know Maison… I just might be able to hold this down. Thanks!” Billy said as he ran for the residential section.

Jesse just watched him run off. He mumbled to himself, “He better at least hold that down.” It’s… It’s water for god’s sake!”

Billy ran right out of the gunroom and into Margie’s room. He looked at her saying, “I want to join the Nisan religion!”

Margie looked up the book she was reading, startled that someone just barged into her room, and didn’t even say hello. “Oh?” she said. She forgave him for his intruding in her mind. “So you want to come under the religion of Sophia?”

“Yes! I want to start anew. I need someone to talk to; I need someone that I can believe in, that is true.”

“You want to… or you need to?” She asked him.

“Uh… I don’t follow.” Billy replied.

“Do you really want to start anew, or do you just want to fill a void inside of you?” Margie asked him.

Billy didn’t have the answer. He did really want to start anew, but at the same time, he did want to fill a void that left him empty inside. “I… I don’t know.”

Margie smiled at him and stood up, put her hand on his shoulder and said, “I know you’re going through tough times, and I want to help you, I really do. If you can find the answer to my question, the true answer, I’ll help you join.”

Great. More searching. More, ‘finding the true answer’. He just held his head down, and sighed. “Yeah…” he said quietly, “I’ll search for my answer,” as he trudged through her door. He looked down to see Primara, just looking up at him. She tried to console him with a smile, but it didn’t work. He closed his eyes, his head down, and finished walking to his room.

He lay on his bed. Why was he going to join? What was Maison trying to tell him? What was he trying to do to him? If he didn’t have enough stress in his life, Margie just tossed him another curve ball. Why? Why really? Was he sincere with himself saying that he wanted to start anew, or was he lying to himself, and just trying to fill a void that he had inside of himself. He didn’t know. He didn’t know how to find his answer either. He knew if he was to accomplish this, he needed to find out what he really needed to fill the void. There was one, he just didn’t know what to fill it with. He first thought of family, but when he remembered his drunken dad and his mute sister, he ruled them out. Next were friends, but he resented them all. They all had good lives and good futures. He pushed that aside, but not completely. Maybe he could come back to that. Religion? That was what he was trying to find out. “Ahhh! What is it!? What is it you want me to know!?” Billy yelled out. He was so mad, but at what? His friends, Margie… himself? That was it. He was the cause of all his problems, another try. Gun to head, he didn’t even close his eyes. CLICK! A third dud.

At that same moment it came to him. Love! That was what would fill that void. Love from another person, and instantly her name came up. Emeralda. That was what made him think about it. The click of his gun had caused her to come into his room, out of concern. She asked him about love. “Wait! She… she already loves someone,” Billy said to himself. Just as he figured it out, he was shot down. He decided to talk to her anyway. He got out of his bed, and moved to the next room. He approached her door and looked down. What was he going to say? He didn’t want to just come right out and tell her. He needed an excuse to enter her room and check on her. He knocked on her door. There was no answer. He noticed it was unlocked so he let himself in. “Hopefully she won’t get mad at me if I do this.” He decided to look down incase she was doing something. “Emeralda?” he questioned. When he got no response, he looked up, and saw that the room was completely empty. Billy thought to himself, “She moved out? NO!” but it was true. No matter what he said or did. She wouldn’t return to her room. He returned to his own room and lay down on his bed. He closed his eyes and started to cry to himself, there was no purpose, he found his answer, but it was one, which he couldn’t use. He did want to start anew with Margie’s religion, but first he needed to fill the void to enter. Once more he pulled out his gun, pointed to his head, and pulled the trigger one more time.

He opened his eyes to daylight entering through his window. He looked down at his gun. Another dud? “Well it has to be one of the last two.” He sat up in his bed and said, “Let’s find out which one it is shall we?” he said to himself with almost a psychopathic voice. He reached for his gun but was interrupted by a knocking on his door. He lay down, making sure the gun was hidden from the intruder that was just about to come into his room and answered, “What is it?”

Bart opened his door saying, “Rise and shine little kid time to get up and search for her.”

“Huh?” Billy said through squinted eyes. Although his room was illuminated, his eyes weren’t all that focused. “What are you talking about? Who am I supposed to find?

“Uh… I don’t know.” He looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. “The note just says ‘her’”

“Thanks Bart, you’re a lot of help.”

“Hey, don’t yell at me, I just found this note on my door saying to give this to you today.”

“When did you see this note?”

“I don’t know, couple a days ago. Well, here read away.”

Billy took the note. Bart wasn’t clear on what he was supposed to do, but the note did say to Billy. He read on.

“To Billy,

I hope you’re doing well. It’s strange not hearing your voice anymore. I was starting to get scared of you, so I went out to find myself, like you’re probably doing right now, that is, if you’re reading this. I hope that we will meet again someday. I really want to get to know you. If you want to find me, I’m at the place where I grew up a little. I hope to see you there soon.

From,

Her

P.S. You’re a good friend Billy.

“You’re a good friend Billy? Where I grew up a little? Heh. I don’t know who it’s from but whoever it is, I think she likes you.” Bart said

“She… She likes me?” Billy gazed off into space.

“I said ‘I think’ not that…”

Billy cut him off with, “I’m a good friend?”

“Uh… well, that’s what the letter said, but getting back to what I said earlier…”

Billy wasn’t paying attention. He touched the spot where Emeralda had kissed him just a few days ago. “When did Emeralda leave?”

“Huh? Well, aren’t you asking a lot of questions today?” Bart looked down to see Billy face. He was looking right at him, and noticed that he wanted an answer. “Well, now that you mention it I think it was the same day I got this note attached to my door. You don’t think…”

Billy stood up and said, “I need to go to the lighthouse!”

“The lighthouse!? That place isn’t safe without gears. The monsters there are huge, they’ll eat you like a snack,” Bart warned him.

“I don’t care! I need to go, you heard,” He pointed to the paper, “in the letter.”

“Well, alright, if you absolutely must go, at least be ready, huh?” With that, Bart left Billy’s room, to go to the bridge and tell them the new position.

Billy was in a rush. He put on his usual outfit, put on his habit, made sure all of his guns were loaded. He was surprised that for once he was taking Bart’s advice. He was scaring himself, but with no delay to his status. His intercom came on and Bart’s voice rang out, “We’ll be there in 5 minutes.” He was already to go. He couldn’t wait. He wanted to go now. He decided to go to Margie’s room.

“Margie! Margie! I found out the answer, I do want to start anew,” Billy said as he just barged right into her room again.

“Not again,” Margie said behind her book. She lowered her book to make eye contact saying, “Next time, could you at least knock? How do you know I wasn’t changing or something?”

Billy shuddered at the thought. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I only have five minutes, and I came to tell you that I found out you’re answer. The void, It’s because I’ve been alone these past years, I never realized how alone I was because my religion was sort of filling my void. Even then, I wasn’t completely happy, but I was humble. Well, when my religion was destroyed, the hole kept growing. I know now. My answer is this: The void will only be filled by love. Love by another. When I come back, I want to become part of the Nisan religion.”

Margie nodded, “I’m glad you found your answer. I will be happy to make you two part of the Nisan religion.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much mother Marguerite!” Billy said as he dropped to his knee and kissed her hand.

Margie looked at him, confused. No one was this happy about joining a religion. But then she remembered how important it was to him. “Don’t call me that! You know I absolutely hate that title!”

Bart entered the room. Margie just rolled her eyes and said, “Another guy just walks into my room without notice.”

Bart looked at her, “I’m you’re cuz, I don’t need permission.” He noticed Billy on one knee with Margie’s hand in his. “Uh… maybe I should’ve knocked…”

Billy looked down to see Margie’s hand in his, and quickly let go, “No, no! It’s nothing like that I swear.”

Bart just gave him a funny look, “I come in here, looking like you’re going to propose to The Mother of Nisan…”

“BART! I HATE THAT NAME!!” Margie yelled out.

“…and it’s not what it looks like?” Bart finished.

Billy looked around. “Yes. That’s exactly it!”

“Margie? Is he giving you a hard time, I will toss this kid out for you.”

“No, no… he’s fine. He’s being a gentleman, unlike some men I know!” Bart looked away. Margie just gave him and evil look. “And you don’t need permission to come into my room, huh?”

Bart looked up and smiled, “Yeah, and besides, it’s my ship.”

“Boys and their toys.” Margie said with a roll of her eyes.

“Billy, time for you to go man.” Bart said ignoring Margie’s taunt.

“Right, thanks Bart.” Billy walked to Primara. “Wish me luck?” She gave him the thumb’s up. “Thanks kiddo.” Primara just looked at him.

“Bye boys…” Margie just waved coyly. As the two walked out of her room she looked to her roommate and said, “Men! Did you see how Bart was fighting for me? Like I couldn’t protect myself?” Primara wrote something down and handed it to her. She read it quietly then blushed a little, “Yeah… maybe.”

She just started to get back to her book when her door opened and Billy and Bart said in unison, “Bye!” In the same tone she bid them farewell in. With that they laughed and ran off.

“Men! I hate them so much!” Margie commented to herself as she crumpled the piece of paper she was holding in her hand and threw it to the ground. Again, Primara just nodded.

“Dude, good luck to you on your search. You sure this is what you want to do?” Bart asked Billy before his departure.

“I need to. You don’t understand how important that this is. I know now. I know now, and I’m going to do something about it!” Billy exclaimed to himself.

“And you don’t need…” Bart started.

Billy interrupted with, “No, I must do this alone.”

“All right, if you need help though, we’ll wait for your return. Here take this.” Bart gave him something that looked like a really big walkie-talkie.

“And this is…” Billy inquired.

“A radio, use it to contact us if you need help, or if your staying in there. If there’s no response in three days, I’m comin’ in after you. Cool?”

Billy nodded as he put the radio in his pocket, “Cool.” He felt good to know that there was someone there to back him up in case something happens. He looked down to notice Bart has his hand extended. He received the hand, and proceeded to shake it.

“You better come back, and she better be with you.” Bart said.

“Don’t worry, she will be. I promise.” Billy said as he left the Yggdrasil.

Billy entered the Lighthouse. It looked just as it looked like when he was last there. The day that Emeralda grew up. He looked around to make sure nothing was waiting for him. It was clear. He started to run for the manhole cover down to the subways that would lead him to where she might be hiding. There were a few encounters, but nothing he couldn’t handle. A few clips used and in a matter of minutes, he reached the manhole cover. He moved it out of its spot, and heard a scream. It was… It was her! “I’m coming for you Emeralda!” He shouted through the hole. He jumped down, not remembering how long the fall was. He almost hurt himself. It didn’t matter, he ran through the subway cars, and ran to the town center when sure enough there was Emeralda being attacked by a Wel. Billy just gasped at this site. I thought they cured this. As he saw bite her arm, he forgot all about it and he pulled out his six-shooter, pointed right for the things head, and pulled the trigger. When he did, he closed his eyes, remembering what a Wel really was. A human. A transformed human, just wanting a little relief from the pain. He forgot about it as he heard Emeralda scream again. He remembered that the gun he was holding was the gun he was going to kill himself with. What a coincidence that the gun used to end his life of pain and suffering, would end another’s with much more than Billy had gone through. It wasn’t the fifth slot. He aimed again and pulled the trigger. The bullet came whizzing out of the barrel and penetrated through the Wel’s head. “So it was the last one.” He thought to himself. He looked to see the Wel, fall to its knees and die. He knelt on his own knee to say a quick prayer out of habit, but to whom? Sophia. She was the only one he knew existed. He got up, and noticed that Emeralda was not moving. He was scared. He ran to her, and picked her head up in his arm.

Her eyes opened for a second as she said, “Billy? Is it you?”

Billy looked down and met eyes with her, “Yes, don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

She smiled, “Billy… You’re a… a good…” but she passed out before she could finish her sentence.

Billy looked like he was about to cry. He pulled out his radio and yelled into it through tears, “Bart, I need help! Meet me at the entrance.” He didn’t even wait for an answer. He just picked her up so he could carry her to safety. She was a lot heavier that he expected. He wasn’t a Rico to begin with, but somehow she ended up slumped in his arms. He carried her through the subway cars, somehow up the manhole, and straight to the exit. Before he could get there, an enormous monster that looked like a raptor of some sort, stopped in front of them, he knew they were goners. He closed his eyes and fell to one knee in preparation of what was to come and in pure exhaustion. He held Emeralda tighter and said, “Emeralda, I’m…” but was knocked out before he could say it.

Billy opened his eyes. The light was too bright, so he closed them. “Where am I?” he thought to himself. He decided to give it another try. He opened his eyes a little wider to see the bright light and two fuzzy blurs. He closed them again.

“Billy… Billy?” A familiar voice said to him. “Billy, can you hear me?”

“Come on Billy, you can pull this off.” He recognized this voice instantly. It was Bart.

“Bart? Where… where am I?” Billy asked. “Turn down the lights.”

“You’re in my house,” said the other voice. A second passed and he heard, “Try opening your eyes now.”

Billy complied with the man’s order. The light was almost off, but there was just enough to see around him. Once his eyes were refocused, he saw where he was. “Citan?”

“Yes. Billy, why’d you go in alone, you could have been killed…” Citan started to reprimand him.

“I know,” Billy cut him off.

“If it wasn’t for my Yggdrasil’s depth charges,” Bart started to gloat, “You wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Remember Bart,” Citan started, “It was your attack that knocked the two unconscious.”

“They’re alive, aren’t they?” Bart commented.

Billy looked around and remembered what had happened. He sat up saying “Emeralda, Where… where is she? Emeralda!?”

Citan pushed him back down, “She’s ok. She’s with Taura.”

Billy replied, “Taura? The nanomachines expert?” He sat up again, “What’s wrong? Why is she there?”

Citan pushed him back down, “I had Bart take her there. I wasn’t sure if anything I could do could help her, so I’m having Taura take care of it.”

Billy sighed with relief, “Oh… ok, that’s cool. I can deal with that.”

“Well, you better,” Bart cut in, “Doc said you might be here a while.”

“Tell me honestly Doc, how long do I have left?” Billy said.

Citan just smiled, “It’s nothing serious. A couple of days, and you’ll be fine. Now drink this.”

Citan poured down a hot sticky liquid down Billy’s throat. It tasted like the thing Maison had given him back on the Yggdrasil. “What are you trying to do? Kill me yourself?”

Citan said,” Just lie back and relax, this will make you tired and you’ll eventually fall asleep.”

“You know doc, with all the things he’s been through…”

Bart was interrupted from Citan with a finger to his mouth. Then, he pointed towards where the sleeping Billy now lies.

Billy woke up from his forced slumber in perfect health. He looked around and saw that he was in the same place as he was before. He decided to get up and to see if Yui was cooking anything good. He heard from the others that she was the best cook in all of Lahan, if not in the world. He entered the kitchen to see her stirring a pot. “Mmmmm, chicken soup…” Billy said aloud.

Yui was startled by this and looked around to see Billy standing there. She sighed, knowing it was just him and said, “Finally awake? It’s been two days.”

“Two days?” Billy asked. How strong was that stuff Citan had given him?

“Yes, and you wouldn’t stop talking.”

“Me? About what?” Billy questioned.

“Oh, random things, religion, a little about a ‘Sophia’, Wels, and her.”

“Her? Who?” asked Billy as he took a seat at the table.

“I don’t know, you just kept saying ‘her, I must go to her’ on several occasions.” Yui answered as she gave him a bowl of soup. “Hungry? You have to be, you haven’t eaten in several days.”

Was he ever, he grabbed the spoon that was given to him and he tasted the soup provided. It was delicious. The chicken was meaty, the noodles were thick, and the broth! No words to describe it. Everyone was right; she was the best cook around. He took another spoonful wishing he had a bigger spoon. “This is… This is delicious!”

“I hope so. Primara told me how you liked it. Well, not told me, but… you know what I mean.” She noticed that Billy wasn’t paying attention to her, but to his soup. She mumbled to herself, “What is it with men and their food?” She walked out of the room to give Billy some privacy.

Billy was nearly half done when he heard a creak in the floor. He didn’t think anything of it, but it happened a second time. He decided to look up and to see who it was. When he looked up, he saw Primara. He just smiled at the site of his sister. He noticed that she was holding a piece of paper. Obviously she wanted to ask him something. He took another quick two spoonfuls of the soup, and put the spoon down. He took the paper that Primara was holding to read:

“How are you feeling?”

He pondered this question and replied, “Confused. Physically I’m all right, but mentally… I’m not so sure.” He saw her write down something on the paper. When she was finished, she handed him the paper. It read:

“About what? What is confusing you, brother?”

“Life,” he said after a minute of thinking, “Life and how the world works. It’s just so interesting to see how one thing can really put a person down.” Primara was holding up the paper. She already had written what she wanted to say:

“You’re starting to sound a little like Citan. Stop it!”

Billy just laughed. “Stop it…” he said between breaths. “I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee anything.” He read on:

“There is still one thing that is bothering you, I know it. What? What is it?”

Billy replied, “You can read me like a book, huh?” Primara nodded. “Well… it’s Emeralda.”

Primara took her time on what she was writing. She finally finished and handed the paper. Billy saw:

“Emeralda? How is she bothering you?”

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s just… well…” He noticed that she was ready with another statement:

“You like her? Billy’s got a girlfriend, Billy’s got a girlfriend.”

He looked up to see her dancing about in circles as if to taunt him. “Actually yes,” Primara just stopped in her tracks and looked at her brother in a confused manner. “I do, I do like her, I do want her to be my girlfriend.” Primara stared to scribble something down on the paper. “I love her Primara! I love her so much!” Primara just shoved the paper into his face. It read:

“How dare you give up on your religion! You’re a priest for goodness sake!

“Primara, you remember, don’t you? The religion you and I believed in wasn’t real.”

She looked around then shrugged as if to say “So?”

“I need to move on, and you do too,” He said as he put his hands on her shoulders. “When I was a priest, I was alone. Even with the children, even with you, but I needed more. Back then, religion satisfied it enough, but when it was destroyed, there was nothing there. I found what I needed.”

Primara looked at him with those big red eyes of hers as if to say, “Oh, I didn’t know.”

He ruffled her hair a bit. She waved and hit his hands away, and as she was fixing her hair, he said, “I love you too Primara, and I need you behind me one hundred percent of the way. Can you do that for me?”

She took a minute, then nodded her head yes. Billy opened his arms signaling for a hug. She accepted them with her open arms and the two held each other. Billy remembered the first time they had done this. When the reapers killed their mother. He held her just like this as if to protect her from something. Again, he was protecting her, from being alone, and at the same time, she was protecting him from being alone.

“Well ain’t this a pretty image? Hyuga! Quickly! Get the paint set and paint this.” Jesse said with a smile.

The two looked up at him, then slowly at each other. They quickly disengaged their hug. Primara just fixed her dress and hair as Billy finished his soup. It got a little cool, but it was still good. “Hey… hey Dad. What are you doing here?”

Jesse had a confused look on his face, “Whaddya mean, ‘what am I doin’ here?’ I’m here to make sure you weren’t dead, son. I’m not that heartless you know.”

Citan came with everything to paint. The paints, the paper, even the large wooden easel and stool, “What’s the emergency? I got everything here!”

Jesse just laughed at him saying, “Hyuga, you take things too literally, and why all that? You do have a camera you know. Put all that stuff away, you look ridiculous!”

Citing looked over all the stuff he was holding and calmly said, “Oh, I see…” then in a harsher tone, “Jesse, can I see you in the other room please?”

Jesse, in a sarcastic voice replied, “Uh oh, he’s goin’ hurt me!”

Citan, balancing everything in one arm, grabbed him by the collar and practically threw him in the other room, “Yes, I am Jesse!” Following that incident, there were a few loud crashes, the sound of a few punches and a few kicks, and a body hit the floor. Then they heard a creaking noise, and another light thump on the floor. Citan poked his head out and said, “Don’t mind me kids, I’m just painting what I see.” With that he turned around and there was no more noise, except for the faint movement of a brush. Billy and Primara just looked at each other and laughed.

Billy stayed there for a few days, although it was against his wishes. Citan made him stay there in case of any side effects. When he was happy to see that nothing would happen to him, he let Billy go on his way. Citan knew exactly where he was going to go, and he was interested in how Emeralda was doing too, so, with a lot of persuasion, Billy finally let him tag along. They ran down the hill into Lahan, where they stopped to see how the building was going. He saw two houses built and another five being constructed. The plan was for at least fifteen houses, if not more. They looked around for Fei and Elly but couldn’t find them anywhere. They decided to be on their way to Taura’s house. The trip was quiet. A few confrontations, but other than that, there was nothing to fight. In a couple of hours, the two arrived in the woods. Citan led the way because he knew the route to his house. Billy tried to remember where they went, but Citan was moving too fast for him. They somehow reached the house. “Kind of a long jog, huh?” Billy said between breaths.

“We were jogging?” Citan smiled. Billy just gave him an evil glare as they entered the house. There they saw Emeralda in one of the tubes.

“Hello? Did someone come in?”

Citan answered, “It’s Citan, and my friend Billy.”

“Hello!” Billy said so whoever it was would know.

Taura came in the room to see the two staring at the tube, “Are you two here for the girl?”

Billy ran up to him, “Yes! How is she? Will she make it?”

Taura comforted him saying, “It’s ok, she’ll be fine, step into the other room, and I’ll explain everything. Taura walked into the room with Citan right behind him.

Billy kept looking at Emeralda. “I’m sorry I didn’t come for you sooner.”

Taura yelled from the other room, “Stop looking at the naked girl and get in here! You’re just like the last guy to come in here with a female companion!”

Taura explained what had happened. If she wasn’t made of nanomachines there was no way she would have lived that attack, but even so, if Billy didn’t come to her aid when he did, she wouldn’t be here right now. He was curious as to how Billy was able to carry her out of there. Billy said it was an adrenalin rush. Citan and Taura both agreed it was his love for her. Billy reddened a little when he heard this. Taura told him not to be embarrassed, but to be proud. If he didn’t have that power, she wouldn’t be here right now. A strange noise came in from the other room. It was her tube. She was fully healed. Billy stood up to greet her, but Taura stopped him. “You may see her when she is ready to meet you.” Billy just sighed and let him go first.

Citan put a hand on Billy shoulder, “It’s ok Billy. I’m nervous too.”

Billy looked up, “I’m not nervous.” He said quickly, “Why would I be nervous?” Citan just lifted an eyebrow. Billy held his head down because he knew that Citan could read him too.

Taura’s voice came in from the other room, “Ok, you can come in now!”

Billy ran right into the room. He looked to see the now empty tube and Emeralda standing in front of it in a large robe. She looked over at him and smiled. Billy smiled sheepishly, and asked, “You ok?”

“I think so,” was her answer.

“Well… your up and about are you not?” Billy said.

Emeralda nodded, “I guess I am, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you most certainly are.” Billy replied. He looked around and saw that Taura had snuck out of the room.

“Billy?” Emeralda finally broke the silence.

“Yes?” Billy replied.

“Why did you come for me?”

“Your letter told me too.”

Emeralda said, “No it didn’t”

Billy looked down, “Well… I thought you might be in trouble.”

Emeralda looked into his eyes and said, “And…?”

“And?” Billy was surprised. He thought he had just answered her question. He continued on saying. “And you looked after me when you thought I was in trouble, so… I thought I would repay the favor.” In his head he was slapping himself. ‘Just say it! You know you want to!’ His mind was yelling at him. ‘Take your own advice and say it. She probably loves you too!’

She smiled and said quietly, “Thanks, Billy”

He finally just summed up the courage when Citan broke in the room. “Emeralda! You’re awake. That’s good to see. I was worried about you when I heard, but I had to take care of him first.”

She nodded, “Thanks Citan, and yes, I am awake.”

Citan nodded and said, “Yes, and for that we must celebrate! You two must come to my house for dinner tomorrow.”

“Ok!” Billy and Emeralda replied in unison. They both knew how good Yui’s food was, and they both wouldn’t pass up the chance to see her. When they realized they replied in unison, they looked at each other and started to laugh.

Citan just shook his head and thought to himself, “These two were meant for each other. Now if they would just realize it themselves.” He then said aloud, “Ok so my house, tomorrow, 7:00?” The both nodded in agreement. “Great see you then.” With that he exited the house to his own home.

Taura came into the room holding Emeralda’s clothes. She looked down and remembered she was only wearing a robe. She blushed a little, took the clothes out of Taura’s hands, and ran into the bathroom to put them on.

“I thought you used to be a priest.” Taura said after a while.

“I was…” Billy said quietly, still eyeing the door.

“Then get away from the door and wait for her in the other room!” Taura yelled at him. Billy rushed into the other room. Taura just nodded at the accomplishment he had just made.

Emeralda came of the bathroom fully dressed and gave back the robe to Taura. He accepted it and told her Billy was in the other room, and that they could stay the night. Emeralda nodded. She rushed in to see him and embraced him in her arms. Billy looked around, confused as to what just happened. Finally, he put his arms around her. He could hear in his ear, “Thank you Billy, You’re a good friend.”

“You two rested up?” Taura’s voice rang through their ears. “A big day is brewing up for you too. C’mon, out of your beds! Breakfast is ready.” They got up, ate a little something and went on their way to Lahan.

As they approached the town, Billy noticed that the five houses being constructed were down to three, and the houses completed was four. “Not bad.” Billy said to himself.

As they walked down they saw Fei working with other’s moving wood to one of the houses. He ran over saying, “Hey you two. You and the others ran out on the celebration, where’d you guys go?

Billy replied, “We had to drop off the others.”

Fei nodded his head and then turned to Emeralda, “I see you haven’t changed a bit.”

Emeralda nodded, “Billy came to save me.”

Fei nodded at this and waved Billy to come aside with him. Billy told Emeralda to start without him, and that he’d be there in a second. He went over to see what Fei wanted. “You saved her?”

“Yeah, she went to the lighthouse by herself, and when I went there to see her, she was being attacked.”

Fei smiled and patted him on the back, “At-a-boy Billy.”

Billy looked at him, “What do you mean?”

“I want someone good to be with my Emmy, and that guy just might be you.” Fei said.

Billy stated, “She’s not you daughter. Well… technically she is… but she isn’t really.” He was starting to confuse himself. He would make sure to ask Citan about this at dinner. For now he just accepted the fact and said, “Well, I might be. We’ll find out soon enough.”

Fei patted him on the back one more time and said, “Go get her tiger!”

Billy just looked at him, but when Fei waved him off, he just shrugged and ran to catch up to Emeralda.

The two of them reached Citan’s house, just as he was setting the plates. It’s been a while since Emeralda last came here. She marveled at the things Citan collected. The plates themselves seemed to have it’s own history. Just as Yui was setting the food down, and Citan lighting candles, the phone rang. Citan ran over to pick it up. “Hello?” he said into the receiver. “Yes this is he.” A pause. “Yeah it’s Wednesday.” Pause. “Plans?” Pause. “That’s tonight!? Oh… oh… ok, we’ll be there in a minute.” Citan rushed into the kitchen, “Honey, tonight’s the night.”

“The night?” she asked as she just set the potatoes down.

“Yes… the night.” Citan said.

“Oh!” Yui understood. “The night.”

Citan grabbed his and her coats saying, “Sorry kids, but we got to run.”

Billy and Emeralda started to get up. Billy said, “It’s ok, we’ll come another night.”

Yui stopped them by saying, “That food goes bad very easily, you two stay here and eat. It’s ok. I make it all the time. There are drinks in the fridge. I’m sure you two can manage by yourselves.”

Emeralda said, “You sure you want us staying in your house?”

Citan answered, “Are you two going to steal anything?”

“No.” in unison.

“Good, than watch my stuff and make sure no one else does. We might be home late, feel free to use the guest room. Good night kids.” With that he shut the door behind him and his wife leaving the two alone.

Billy knew it was rude to leave guests during a party, and even ruder saying to stay here and eat. He served his plate.

“Billy!” Emeralda said, “You can’t just eat while they’re gone!”

“They said we could.” Billy reminded her.

“Oh yeah.” She said and started to help herself.

Billy got up and went to the fridge. He looked in it to see what they had to drink. Juices, water, wine. Lots of random things. Emeralda said with a mouthful, “What do they have?”

Billy replied, “What do you want? You want it, they probably have it.”

“Wine?”

“Yep.”

“Think they’ll mind?”

“There has to be at least eight bottles in here.” Billy said as he looked for a good one to have. His dad taught him about good wine. ‘Look for the oldest date you can, son,’ he always used to say. Figuring that was his dad’s area of expertise, He looked at the ages. There was one four years old, a couple five to seven years old. Then he found one that was twenty years old. He pulled out that bottle thinking it had to be the oldest. “Wow. A drink older than me, and we’re still drinking it.” He remembered his mom telling him not to eat or drink old food.

“Kind of funny, huh?” she said.

Billy noticed her plate was half gone! He was only in the fridge a couple of minutes. “Yeah, it is. Now where do I find the glasses?”

“Second cabinet from the left.” She obviously has been here before.

“Oh, here they are.” He pulled out two wine glasses. Remembering how Maison did it, he set the two glasses down, and poured the wine by placing the neck on his arm and pouring that way.

“Getting fancy, are we?” Emeralda jokingly said.

Billy said in a serious manner, “Yes.” Then impersonating Maison’s voice said, “Anything else for the lady?”

Emeralda just smiled, “No sir, I’ll be ok.”

Billy had just sat down to eat when she was getting her second serving. ‘Man, can this girl eat!’ He thought to himself. He started to eat his own plate.

In twenty minutes all the food that was made was consumed. Billy and Emeralda just sat back, too full to move. They didn’t want to do anything. Finally, they knew they should at least clean up after themselves, so they put all the dishes in the sink, rinsing all of them, and making sure the table was clean and everything put away. They both treated themselves to another glass of wine and decided to sit in the parlor. They both sat on the couch in silence. Billy, realizing this had to be some kind of set-up said, “I think this was planned.”

Emeralda looked at him confused, “How do you come up with that?”

“The candles, the wine, the good food.”

“So? Everyone does that a good party,” she reminded him.

“But remember when Citan said, ‘it was the night?”

“Yeah, maybe he didn’t want us to know where they were going.”

“But I could have sworn I saw a twinkle in his eye.”

“You know, Yui did seem kind of confused the first time he said it.”

“Why would he want us to be alone together?”

Emeralda said quietly, “You afraid to be with me?”

Billy said quickly, “No. NO! Not at all.” He was starting to get nervous. “It’s that… I…”

“So… you like being with me?”

“Yes… I… I love being with you.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” There was a long pause, Then Billy asked, “Why did you come and check on me?”

“When?”

“Back on the Yggdrasil.”

“I was worried about you.”

Billy looked at her. “You were?”

Emeralda looked back at him. “Yes I was.”

The two remained in eye contact for a minute. Billy broke the silence by saying very quietly, “Who is it that you like?”

Emeralda hesitated to answer and backed off a little, “I couldn’t tell you that.”

“Yes you can.”

“Ok then, you first, who is it you like?”

Billy didn’t want to answer that, so he said, “I asked you first.”

Emeralda came back, “Tell me… and I’ll tell you.”

Damn. She had outsmarted him. The two were acting like teenagers. However, he never had to deal with love before, this was a whole new area to him. He had three choices, tell the truth, tell a lie, or change the subject. He tried to change the subject. “Why does it matter?”

“No, no, no… no changing subjects, tell me!”

He felt like he was in the seventh grade. He decided to try and lie, “Ok, ok… It’s…” He thought for a name, but could only think of one, “Margie.”

Emeralda just laughed, “No you don’t. She likes Bart, the two were destined for each other. C’mon, tell me the truth!”

Billy was backed up in a corner. He exhausted all of his options but one. Telling the truth. He wasn’t sure how to say it. Then he thought of another choice. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? Afraid you won’t like the response?”

“Uh… yeah, I’m afraid you’ll attack me.”

“I’ll attack you if you don’t answer me.”

“What if I want to be attacked?”

“I would think you stupid.”

“Why?”

“Do you really, I mean really, want to get attacked by me?”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“Me? A person who could morph into a chainsaw and cut your head off?”

Billy forgot about that little detail. She was all nanomachines and could do what she wanted, but he had an answer for that, “You wouldn’t do that to a good friend, would you?”

“Yes. If it got me my information.”

“Man!” Billy thought to himself, “She’s got an answer to everything. What a girl. Well, maybe I should just tell her, but that would take the fun out of it. I want to see how long I can stretch this out.” In the background, he could hear the faint sound of a chainsaw motor starting and a little tinge in her eye. He was just about to talk when Citan and his wife came through the door.

“Well, hello you two.” Citan said as he noticed them on the couch.

“Hey Citan,” They both replied.

“How was it? Any good?” Citan said with a smile.

“The food was excellent!” Billy exclaimed.

“And we had a good waiter,” Emeralda said with a look in Billy’s direction.

“I see… interesting,” Citan said in his usual matter. Billy an Emeralda just looked at each other and smirked. They found it funny that he always said ‘interesting’ like that. “What do you have there?”

The two were surprised with the question. They noticed that each of them was holding wine. They both knew that they shouldn’t have had wine. Billy looked at Emeralda for an answer. When she shrugged, he gave up and handed him his glass, “It’s wine”

Citan took the glass, and finished what was left. After a second, which seemed like an eternity to Billy, He said with a smirk, “Billy, you must have good taste. My oldest wine.” He handed Billy back the empty glass, and walked into the kitchen.

Billy let out a sigh of relief, took a sip from his glass, and remembered that Citan had drunk what was left in the glass. Emeralda still had some left. Billy just shrugged and put the glass on the table behind him. When he turned around, he saw Emeralda holding her glass towards him “Would you like to share out of mine?”

This question startled Billy a little. It was her glass; she should have it, yet here she is, giving it away to him. He nodded a little saying, “you sure?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want all of it anyway.”

Billy took the glass and had a little sip. Returning it to Emeralda, she took a sip. The two sat there for a while. Billy looked down at his watch, and saw it was getting real late. “We should get some rest.”

Citan must have been hiding behind the door, because right after he said that, there was Citan, “You two can sleep in the guest room.”

“All right, thanks. We will.” Billy replied.

The two stood up and ran upstairs to claim a bed. They flung open the door and noticed that one of the beds was missing. “Billy…” Emeralda started, “I haven’t been here a while, but wasn’t there two beds here to begin with?”

“I thought so…” Billy replied.

“Well… we could…” Emeralda stopped, too embarrassed to continue, and then quickly finished, “flip for it!”

Billy came in saying, “Emeralda, you have it, I’ll sleep downstairs.”

Emeralda looked at him, smiled and nodded, and rushed to claim the bed before Billy changed his mind.

Billy walked downstairs to see Citan sitting on the couch, “Uh… Citan. There’s only one bed.”

“Oh… I forgot to tell you, one broke and we had to dispose of it.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, could I sleep here?”

Well sure, I’ll have Yui bring in some things for you to sleep with,” Citan said as he tried to exit the room.

“Citan,” Billy stopped him. “Was this all a set up?”

“Why… no…” Citan replied. “Why would you think that?”

“The way you acted before you left, and right now.”

“Why? Did you not enjoy you’re time with her tonight?”

“Of course I did.” Citan had the offensive. He always gets the offensive. In any conversation that Billy has witnessed between Citan and any other person, Citan always had the other person on the defense. Billy was determined to get his answers tonight. “You never answered my question.”

Citan never lied. Well, with those exceptions from him being a spy, he always told the truth when it came to any other matters. “Well…”

Billy could tell he didn’t want to answer, but he wanted an answer, “Tell me!”

Citan just hung his head, “Yeah. It was all set up. The food, the candles, I even left the wine in the fridge, hoping you would take full advantage of it. Me, Yui, Fei, Elly, the team, we all wanted it.”

Billy was disgusted. “What do you mean, ‘you all wanted it?’”

“Well…” Citan made sure to choose his words carefully, “You two were made for each other.”

“So you’re saying that this was all a set up.” He stood up to prove his point. “My life is a set up. My religion was destroyed, so I could find out that I needed to be with someone. Some other being is taking full advantage of me, and using her and I to make a love story play!?”

“Well, no…” Citan knew he choose the wrong words.

“So now you’re going back from what you said?” Billy was now yelling at this point. “To think, the Doc, the one who had all the answers to everything, doesn’t even know what he’s talking…”

“I want you two to be happy!”

Billy was stunned at the statement. “What do you mean?”

“Well look at you two. You’re going through tough times with you’re religion. And think of Emeralda. She woke up in a completely different world, where the people she knows doesn’t know her. The only time I see you two happy is with each other.”

Billy stopped and looked around the room, embarrassed at what he said. They were doing them a favor. Billy shook the thought off, “So, you’re trying to make us sleep with each other?” He was talking about the one bed in the guest room.

“No! Not at all! I was trying to get you two to talk to each other more, get to know each other, and if things worked out…” Citan shrugged.

“Aw! You’re a sick…” Billy paused at the thought of Emeralda, “…a sick man! You’re acting like Bart would now.”

Citan shuddered at the thought. He liked Bart, but not enough to be like him, “Well…” Citan didn’t want to go on with the current topic anymore. “Let’s just get some rest.”

Billy still didn’t like the fact that this was all a set up, but for them it worked. They talked a little. Got a little closer to each other, and it did work for someone else. Billy. He still didn’t like it, but he was able to be with Emeralda alone. Yui came in with a blanket and a couple of pillows, “You look tired, you really should get some rest.”

Billy lay down after Yui had set up the pillows. He took the blanket that was supplied and covered himself. He quickly comforted himself, and fell quickly asleep.”

“Billy? Who is it that you love?”

“Emeralda, it is you. It is you who I love.”

“What!? Me? How dare you!” She slapped him in the face. “You’re a priest and you already know that I love someone else.”

“But you asked me…”

“I hate you!” She morphed her hand into a giant hammer, and smashed Billy in the face…

“AHHHHHH!!!!!!” Billy rose from his dream, sweating from the nightmare he had just witnessed. Was this his destiny? Was he to be denied by the one girl he really fell for, the one who he loved so much. He just shook his head. He looked out the window. The sky was starting to turn orange. “It’s getting to be early.”

“Billy?”

The voice from his dream. He let out another scream and looked to see Emeralda standing in the entranceway to the stairs. He saw she was shaken up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, no… it wasn’t you. It’s just… I had a bad dream.”

Billy smiled, “So did I.”

“What was yours about?

“Mine?” Billy asked.

Emeralda nodded, “What did you dream about?”

Billy looked around. He didn’t want to tell her about what he just saw. “It was nothing. What was yours?

“Mine? Well… In my dream, I told him that I loved him, and he said ‘I hate you,’ hit me than ran off.”

Billy looked down. It was too much of a coincidence. They both had the same kind of dream. “That’s horrible,” he said, thinking of his own fate in his dream.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Now?” Billy looked up.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“It’s barely morning.”

“So?”

“They’ll be concerned about us.”

“First they’re you enemy, now they’re your friend?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t think I heard you last night?”

Billy looked down, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t,” She said as she picked his head up, “However, you were loud enough to wake the dead.”

Billy smiled, “Yeah, ok. Let’s get out of here.”

Emeralda smiled and took Billy’s hand as she rushed towards the front door. She flung it open, closed it behind her, and took in a big breath of the air. “Isn’t the air just beautiful up here?”

Billy witnessed her spinning around, the wind picking up her hair, showing a little of her shoulders, “Yeah, you are,” He said quietly.

“Huh?” she said as she stopped spinning to look at him.

“Yes it is!” He said as he took his own breath of air. It was true. There was something about this air that made in easier to breathe.

He saw Emeralda run towards the gate. “C’mon, let’s go higher!”

“Up the mountain?”

“Yeah! C’mon!” And off she ran.

“Oh, no you don’t!” He said as he raced towards her at full speed.

The two ran a while. He didn’t know for how long, it seemed to be for hours on end, but he didn’t care. He was happy. Just to be with her. Around trees, over rocks, through rivers, up steep hills, down steep hills, more rocks, more trees, and all of this without taking a breath. Suddenly, she stopped, and looked around. Billy stopped as well. He looked around to see that they were at the tallest part of the mountain; he turned around to see Emeralda sitting and looking towards the sunrise. “Sunrises are beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are.” Billy said as he sat next to her.

The two sat there in silence for some time, just staring at the sunrise. She broke the silence by saying, “I come up here a lot.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Whenever I need to be alone, or I need time to think, I just come up here and sit. At night, it’s really beautiful. The stars right above your head.” She lay down and look up.

“Really?” Billy said as he lay down next to her. He looked up to see a couple stars still visible.

“Really.” She answered. She sat up again to stare at the sunrise. Billy repeated this motion, and sat next to her again. “It’s… kinda chilly.” She said as she moved a little closer towards Billy.

“Yeah, it is.” Billy said as he wrapped his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder, and he put his head on hers. The two close their eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

“Hey you two. Get up.”

Billy opened his eyes to see Citan looking right down at him. He saw that the sun was a lot higher than they last saw. He felt Emeralda fidget in his arm. He let go to let her stretch. When she opened her eyes and saw Citan, she let out a little yelp of surprise. She looked embarrassed. Billy shook off the sleepiness from his body and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you two.” Citan replied. “When I got up and saw that you weren’t on the couch, I went out looking for you. Then when I found out you didn’t pass Lahan. I looked up to see the sunrise. I figured it out from there.” He looked over to see Emeralda huddled into a little ball hiding her face with her knees. “Well, c’mon. Yui cooked breakfast for us. If we get there soon, it will still be warm.” Billy and Emeralda both reluctantly got up and followed Citan to his house.

“The food was great once again Yui!” Billy said through a mouthful of food.

“Yeah, you’re certainly one in a million!” Emeralda said in the same state.

Yui just eyed her husband, gave a quick smirk and raised her eyebrow, “Thank you, you two.”

“So? Where are you two planning on going today?” Citan questioned.

Billy swallowed what was in his mouth, “I don’t know. Probably back to the orphanage.”

Emeralda said, “I’m not sure. With him I guess.”

“With me?” Billy asked.

“Yeah, you said that you needed help.” Emeralda pointed out.

“I did… didn’t I?” Billy replied.

“Well, I want to help.”

“There’s no pay.”

“So?” Emeralda shrugged.

“No Benefits.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?”

“No, not at all! I welcome the help; I just need to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

“I know.”

“Then all right!” Billy shook her hand. “Thanks for volunteering!”

Citan just watched on. He laughed at the two of them in his mind. It was strange that Emeralda just volunteered to work with him though. ‘Maybe one has the idea. C’mon Billy. Read the signs!’ Then aloud, “So? When are you two moving?”

“The sooner, the better.” Billy answered.

“Great! I’ll give Bart a call, and we’ll get you a ride.” Citan said as he picked up the phone. “Bart, Hello! I need to ask you a favor…” He said as he walked into the other room.

“This is going to be great!” Emeralda said excitedly.

“Yeah, it will.” Billy replied.

Citan walked back into the room. “He’ll be here in five minutes, hurry up and finish.”

The two looked at their plates. They were both half full. They were still full from last night. The two looked at each other, and sighed. “We’re… not hungry,” they complained.

“Fine. I’ll just toss the rest…” Citan started.

“No! We’ll finish!” They replied.

“Well, if you’re not hungry…”

“I was just kidding,” Billy said as he forced some down his throat.

“I was just trying not to make him feel bad,” She said before taking a small bite.

Citan rolled his eyes, “I’ll just toss the rest… in the fridge.”

The two looked at each other and sighed, “Oh…”

“Ok boys and girls, sit back and relax. This is your captain speaking. Non-stop flight to Billy’s orphanage. Travel time estimated at three hours. Thank you for choosing Yggdrasil airlines.” Bart’s voice ran through the intercom. The two rolled their eyes. “If you pay attention to the monitor…”

Billy stood up and hit the intercom’s off button. He sat back in the chair opposite Emeralda, and nodded, “He always does that.”

“Yes he does, he so obsessed with this thing.” Emeralda stated.

“You have to excuse the young master,” Maison said as he was pouring more water for the two of them, “He likes to do this sort of thing.”

“Ever since we got this flight thing added on…” Billy started.

“He’s always made that joke whenever we took off.” Emeralda finished.

Maison nodded, “Well, as you know, he does like to take charge.”

“Yeah, he always was the one who was in charge.” Billy said. Maison nodded as he walked behind the counter again. He looked over to Emeralda and said, “When we get there, you can have my bed until the new room is put in.”

“You sure? I’ll be just fine with the kids.” Emeralda said.

“That’s what I thought, but then I found out that they made noise, and snored. It’s really not a cakewalk. Ask Primara. She was actually the one who was going to take the new room.” Emeralda looked guilty for a moment. “But she’ll get over it. Primara have slept with those kids for years, it’s all just background noise to her. Emeralda looked relieved. She didn’t want to intrude; she just wanted to help. Billy was looking forward to having her around. It would be fun. Maybe he might get the chance to… ‘Nah… one step at a time. The time will be right to confess soon enough.’ He thought to himself. ‘For now, just get to know her. Take the time, make it special.’

He smiled. She saw this, and smiled back. She said, “This is so exciting!”

“I know, isn’t it?” Billy replied. “It might be nice to get a female perspective on the place.”

She nodded, “Yeah, I’ll make it all pretty.” Emeralda joked around a little.

“I meant with the kids,” Billy replied sourly.

“Yeah, I know. That’s what I meant too.”

Billy just rolled his eyes. “I hope they’re ok.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Yeah, I’m just nervous.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. It’s been so long since I last saw them.”

“Afraid they trashed the place?”

“Emeralda… they’re young. They don’t even know what the word party really means yet. I hope. With Bart running around there though…”

“Don’t worry about him.” She said in a whisper, “When we were there, I made sure he didn’t talk to any of the children.”

Billy just smiled, “Thanks, I feel a whole lot better now.”

“Told you there was nothing to worry about.”

“I know… just saying.”

The two sat there in silence for some time. Not sure what the next move was going to be. They just sat there looking at each other. The intercom came on, “Who turned this thing off?”

Billy got up and hit the speak button, “I did.”

“Why?” Bart’s voice came through, “You don’t like my onboard flight speech anymore.”

As Billy hit the speak button, Emeralda shouted into it, “We didn’t like it the first time you said it!”

Billy let go of the button and laughed. “That was harsh Emmy!” Bart’s voice said. “You didn’t need to be so blunt.”

Emeralda got up and hit the button, “You don’t need to be so boring.”

“Aw man, I can’t wait until you two are off my ship!”

“Listen you three!” Margie’s voice rang through the intercom in a real harsh tone. Billy and Emeralda could tell she was not happy. “I’m in a real good part in my book. Either argue face to face, or turn off the ‘Talk All’ feature Bart!” With that her voice went dead.

The intercom was silent for some time. Finally all three voices came through the intercom at the same time, “SORRY!”

In Margie’s room, she nearly jumped off her seat. “Oh my god, now they even got poor Emeralda into this. I feel so bad for her.”

Back in the gunroom, Billy and Emeralda were laughing hysterically. Bart’s voice came through, “You guys are gone in five.”

“Thanks Bart.” Billy said.

“Bye,” Emeralda cooed.

Billy scratched his head. ‘For the love of everything good and holy, please don’t let it be Bart!’ He thought in his head. He let go of the speak button and walked towards the engine room with Emeralda close behind him. As they made they’re way towards the elevator, Billy made sure to step closer to Margie’s door, so it would open. It did, startling her. “I hate you Billy!!!” She screamed. Billy walked off laughing in his own head. “How do you put up with your brother Prim…? Primara?” She noticed that she was laughing at her too. “Aw… Thanks!”

Billy walked up to the orphanage, and breathed in the air. He closed his eyes and held up his arms. It’s been a while since he was last here. Emeralda looked at him confusingly. It was strange to her that someone would love a place so much. This place didn’t have anything of value, but she remembered what Citan had told her once, ‘It’s not the things in the place, it’s the place itself, and the memories of it, in your head.’ She asked him because of Bart and his ship. ‘Like you and that spot you always go to at my house. There is nothing there, and yet you keep going there. It’s probably because the place there has a special something that you love. It might be the beauty of it.’ Emeralda smiled at the thought of Citan. They way he was always there for her, when she had a question. She shook the thought from her head, and realized that Billy was missing. She went into the house and saw Billy at the shrine he had set up.

“I guess there’s no need for this, huh?” Billy said without turning around.

Emeralda was as quiet as she could be, and still he heard her. Must have been the training at the Ethos. “What do you mean?”

“My religion’s a fake, remember?” Billy looked down.

“Don’t say it like that…” Emeralda put her hand on his shoulder.

“Then how am I supposed to say it?” Billy said.

“Umm…” Emeralda didn’t have an answer.

Billy just sighed. Then he looked up with a determined look on his face, turned around, and made eye contact with Emeralda. “It’s time for me to move on. I have to get rid of this stuff. Maybe… you can set up something her for me?”

Emeralda gave him a faint smile, “Yeah, I can set up something for you.”

“Quiet! Who’s in there? The kids are sleeping,” said a voice from the next room.

“What? Who’s in my house?” Billy said aloud.

The man came from the next room. He was a pudgy fellow, with brown hair, “Are you Billy?”

“I am,” was Billy’s reply.

“Oh… I’m sorry. The name’s Mark.” He said as he extended his hand out, “Margie sent me to watch after the kids for you.”

“Uh… why?” Billy asked as he accepted his hand.

“Margie was concerned about the kids, said something about her brother. I don’t know, but she asked if I could watch these kids on her behalf. She is a very busy woman, and she wanted to watch them herself, but she couldn’t. So she sent her most trustworthy follower. Me. She and I have been friends forever.” Mark continued to explain himself.

“Oh…” Was all that Billy could say.

“And you must be Emeralda…” Mark turned to face her.

“Yes I am…” She said shyly.

“Wow… Margie’s description doesn’t do you justice,” he said as her took her hand and kissed it.

Emeralda blushed a little, “Thanks… you’re too kind.”

“Uh…” Billy interrupted, “Well, I’m here now so you can go back home now.”

Mark gave him a confused look. Then when he looked down to see that he was still holding her hand, he understood the reason for the intrusion. Mark just smiled and shook his head, “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not like that.”

Billy reddened a little, “I don’t understand what you mean…”

“I know you do…” Mark replied, “Well, I must be off. They need some more help at the church. If you need help in the future, just tell Margie to contact me, and I’ll be happy to do it.”

Billy looked relieved, “We will…”

Mark looked around one more time. He noticed the candles still set up. He was reluctant to say anything but finally said, “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear, would you like me to take that stuff for you?”

Billy looked in the direction Mark was pointing in and noticed the shrine he was talking about earlier. “Well…” He was silent for a while. Then he finally replied, “Sure… if you would.”

Mark just smiled and went back to the main bedroom to pack. Billy just stood looking at the shrine the whole time. In a minute, Mark took an empty box, gently placed in all the things that were on the table into it. “Tell the kids I had fun here and I hope I can help out again, and with that, he exited the door. After a minute you could hear a ship’s engine starting. Emeralda looked out the window and saw that the Yggdrasil had taken off from the island.

“He was nice.” Emeralda said as she watched the ship take off.

“He looked familiar.” Billy said.

Everything started out great. Emeralda was a big help. With her natural curiosity of that like a child’s she blended right in. It was funny really. The way that she learned the same as the children. Because of everything that had happened, there were a lot more children there. Billy was glad that he had found Emeralda when he did. The population had nearly doubled, and with only so much help, it was starting to get frustrating. Luckily, there were many people looking for a child, either of their own or hoping to take one for adoption, because the loss of limiters turned most into Wels, although the nanomachines did help them, some couples couldn’t conceive. The original group was still there, and others were always joining. However, Billy’s budget was running low. The fact that he had no money to pay for these kids’ food or lodging worried him. Then he remembered what Bart had told him. “Don’t you ever do a thing like that! If you need help, just contact me.” Bart made sure to tell him again, just to make sure it was drilled in his head. Bart and his crew were a big help. They even took some of the kids to Nisan. Margie had set up an orphanage there to house children. It took pressure off Billy. Things started to settle down. The days passed into weeks, the weeks passed into months, the months into years. Two years had passed since the fall of Dues. Also science made several breakthroughs. Shevat, along with Citan, made a device that allowed Gears to function. It was like a giant car battery. It made them work though. They still didn’t find any way to use magic, and they think they never will, although it is still in high hopes. They had found a complete cure for Wels. It brought back the person back to his original features. Billy decided it was time to hang up the guns. He pulled out his holsters from the closet and moved his book shelf. He made sure they were hidden, from everyone. All of the guns went safely into a trunk in the room also, buried except for one. Shall the day arise, he will be ready. Even then he only had one clip. He also made sure that it was out of reach to anybody. Everything was turning back to normal. Until one day…

“Emeralda! I need some help with something!” Billy yelled into the house. He had just come back from the store with the food. “Emeralda! I don’t want to play hide and go seek today!” He looked around everywhere in the house. He spotted one of the children hiding in a corner. “Hey there, you know where Emmy is?” The child was obviously frighten. “What’s the matter?”

“He… He took her… away from us…” The boy was crying.

“Who?” He knelt in front of him. “Who took her?”

“I don’t know! He had… long purple hair… and a strange… headband thing on…”

“Krelian?” Fei said that he had saw him. He looked down and shook his fist. He looked up and was about to scream when he saw the boy’s face. He was more scared now. Afraid of Billy. “I’m sorry… It’s just that… she’s important to me…”

The child looked up and said through tears, “He said something about… about… about…” The child was shaking uncontrollably. Finally, from all the shaking, he passed out.

“Hey… hey wake up…” Billy nudged him.

“You okay?” A voice from behind said.

Billy turned ready to strike. Mark dodged the attack and caught the other fist coming at him, “Billy! Billy, relax… it’s just me!” Mark said.

Billy looked into his face, “Oh, sorry…” He dropped his fist, “What are you doing here?”

“For some reason Krelian showed up at our orphanage. I don’t know why, looking for you I think.” Mark continued, “He said something about revenge, and nanomachines, so I thought of Emeralda, then I thought of you when he said, ‘special Wel’ too.”

“Special Wel?” Billy asked.

“I don’t know… but you better hurry and find her.”

“But where?”

Mark sighed. “I’m not sure. Something about… execution grounds. He said it would all end there. All the pain, all the suffering, and… ‘she’… would be with Him, but you guys…”

“NO!” Billy yelled out. “I will not let her die!” He rushed into the back room, equipped his holsters, broke open the trunk with his guns and ammo in it, loaded his guns with the best ammo he had and rushed for the exit. Mark was sitting there with a gun in his hand. “What’s this?”

“Nano dissembler. Similar to the one on your gear, just travel size. Knowing Krelian…” He handed the gun over to him. “Made it myself with the help of Taura.” He pulled out a special shotgun shell, “Shot110ND. I’m sure you can put two and two together.” He said as he handed over several boxes. “Habit +1, Stronger and lighter than your old one, you never know.” Billy took off the old one and equipped it. “And for my pride and joy.” He said as he reached into his back pocket, and pulled out what looked like Billy’s ether guns. “Multitasking Ether gun DX. 5 modes…” He said as he pulled out five things that looked like D batteries. “The red one is fire.” In Billy’s hand, “The blue one is water,” In Billy’s hand, “The green one is wind,” In Billy’s hand, “The brown one is ground.” In Billy’s hand. “The white one… it’s my personal favorite, snow. Make sure you use this one a lot.” And with that all five batteries were in Billy’s hand. “I made three guns based on your design it should work like your old ones. Here are two. All the batteries work in each gun. I’m keeping the third for myself, you never know. Well… you should be all set. I hope that you will return safely, and don’t worry, I shall guard this place with my life.”

“Wait a sec… how can these Ether guns work?” Billy asked.

“Well… it’s the batteries. Like gears, it just needs power to work. Those batteries will recharge over time. Don’t worry, you have unlimited ammo in those, like the old days.” Mark said with a smile. “Now c’mon, move it! I don’t know how much time you’ve got. You might want to get help though…”

“Billy?” A voice yelled outside. Bart came through the door, “You’re ride is here.”

“How did you know…?” Billy asked. When he looked at Mark he noticed a grin on his face. “You call him?” He nodded. “Well… let’s get the others, huh?”

It was first to Lahan, Fei, Elly, and Citan were already waiting. Bart had called the whole crew before he picked up Billy. “Well… here we are again.” Fei said.

“Our life just never seems to calm down, does it?” Elly said.

“At this rate… it never will.” Citan answered.

“I can’t believe he took her,” Billy said through clenched teeth, “I can’t believe that he’s still alive.”

“Billy, it is okay, you must remain calm.” Citan said.

“How can I be calm?” Billy said. “She’s taken away from me…”

“Hey, it’s okay, we’ll get her back, I promise. You know, I always keep my promises, right?” Bart said as he slipped an arm around his shoulder.

“Yeah…” Billy sighed, “You always have kept them in the past.”

“C’mon! Everyone’s inside, all gears loaded up, time to go!” Bart said.

“Yeah… let’s… let’s go get her! Let’s go get her back!” Billy made eye contact with Bart.

“Now there’s the Billy I know!” Bart said. With that he pat him on the back, and the two entered the Yggdrasil.

They were first off the Kislev. Rico would have nothing to do with them. “Listen! I helped you once; you don’t need my help again!” Billy was ready to beat him where he stood if it wasn’t for Bart and Fei. “Heh… the kid’s got anger. I like it. Doesn’t mean anything though. I helped you kill god, that’s it! That’s where I draw my line! Not to mention, I’m still busy here.” With a lot of force they somehow got Billy back in the Yggdrasil.

Next was the Snowfield hideout. Shevat was trying to make repairs on their home to make it fly again, and it was showing. The Yggdrasil sat down and noticed that Seibzehn was carrying a load of metal to a part that wasn’t finished. They noticed that Maria was still on top of him. “You guys here to pick me and Chu Chu up? Well, sorry… we’ve still got to make repairs on this place, unless I’d go with you in a heartbeat. I’ve been itching to have Seibzehn to fight again and use its true purpose.”

“It’s all right Maria.” Billy said. “I know you must have you hands full with the rebuilding and all… I won’t pry you off you duties.”

“I’m sorry Billy… Unless we would be there.” Maria apologized.

“I know…” Billy responded, “I know…”

They made sure to pick up any new parts they could. The queen said it was consolation for the fact that they couldn’t have Maria, so it was free installation. Billy and the gang made sure to thank her, and the team was on their way.

The crew assembled in the gun room for planning. Billy was standing up front, “We have no idea where to even start looking for her.”

“Well… the world is not that big… right Billy?” Elly chimed in.

Billy sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands, “There’s no way we can find her.”

“Hey!” Citan stood up. “Don’t make me slap you like I did with Ramsus! If I have to, however, I will.”

“Citan, easy!” Bart stood next to him. “The kid’s going through some tough times…”

Citan sat in his spot, “You are right, I am sorry, but just fretting about it will not get us anywhere.”

Bart took the front of the table, “All right, what we need to do is find what he was talking about.”

“It’s not that easy.” Citan spoke up. “Execution grounds. That could be anywhere!”

“All right…” Bart continued on. “Well… Let’s think back. There’s a good chance that he won’t stray far from last time he tried to kill and sacrifice us all.”

Billy’s head shot up from his hands. “Sacrifice us all?”

“Yeah… don’t you remember? All the gears on the crosses, and Elly coming to… save… us…” Bart knew what Billy was thinking.

All the others nodded in agreement. It was there. There was no doubt about it. Where Elly had saved them was where Emeralda and Krelian were now, and Billy was not happy at all, and was going to get his revenge.