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**Sombs** · 12-31-2019, 05:58 PM,

October 12th, 826 A.S. - New Toyko

To his very surprise, Noel survived the day on his own on this foreign world pretty well. It might have been the fact that this entire area was living off tourism, so talking in english was not a problem. The people seemed surprisingly friendly, and he felt that nobody really noticed his barely noticable rheinlandian accent. Speaking english only for the past few years surely helped a lot. Still, the th-sound was his weakness, as it sounded more like an f sometimes.

In the late afternoon, Noel sat on the couch of the hotel room, his arms stretched out on the backrest while watching an anime on the netvision. After all, Kusari was home of these shows. Three bags with new clothes were next to the couch. This kind of shopping was something he had never done before his time on the Apahanta. His parents mostly bought what he was supposed to wear, and it was usually second-hand. He really didn't miss those days. Sometimes he wondered whether he was supposed to feel anything about the loss of his parents. It was still something he considered the best turnaround in his life. There was nothing bad about living on the Apahanta, apart from certain risks. But then again, bad things were happening literally anywhere. Just in that moment the news were broadcasting about a terrorist attack somewhere on New Tokyo, about a warehouse having blown up. Pretty small-scale, he thought, given what happens everyday in the Omicrons and Omegas, and with the genocide on Leeds, these small things had lost weight in the scaling.

Why was he even bothering watching that? Sombra would come back soon and he had a bunch of outfits to try out. After all, he wanted to look good for her. Spreading out and sorting all purchased items on the floor, he moved them around back and forth until he sighed and went by the first best choice. Cleaning up again, he placed his outfit on the bed in the bedroom and then went for a shower. Was this really a good idea? Flirting with Sombra was one thing, but playing along in her game was something different. He didn't get to sort this out with Simone yet, as he didn't want to break her heart with a video call. Too cheap. She deserved better. Something more smooth.

He turned off the shower and stepped out of the stall as he noticed his PDA was lighting up. A message from Sombra. "We'll meet there. Don't be late." Attached was a reference link to the capital city's street map. The pin was infront of the park, at a fountain. Noel smirked. The next message followed. "Uh, in 90 minutes." That was what he had expected. Putting the PDA away, he continued to prepare himself.

They didn't really have much luck with the weather since they were here. It wasn't raining at this point, but the cloud layer was still rather thick, causing the early evening to be rather dark already. Armed with a little shoulder bag, the young rheinlandian made his way through the city. The looks people gave him when he passed by were a bit confusing at first, maybe even insecuring, but all choices were made.

At the fountain, he saw many people standing and sitting around. It was only logical that many people used the fountain infront of the theme park to meet up. Hopefully he would find Sombra in this place. Many couples were around here. The pretty neon lights gave this entire area a gloomy and warm atmosphere. It gave him a fuzzy feeling.

He waited until he got hugged from behind. Looking down at the arms wrapped around his chest, he saw black long gloves with playful patterns sewn into them. There was an intense fruity scent crawling over his shoulders. "Purretty boi."

Sombra let go of him and allowed him to turn around, to let him take in the view of her black kusarian dress. The tips of her hair were purple. Her lips, too. Kajal framed her eyes. Smirking, she looked down to him and scanned his outfit. Black unbuttoned shirt, white T-shirt below and black leatherpants. And a black hairband with cat ears. "So that's why you were away all day. You look like the seductive assistant of a super villain."

"Then you should try to get me to join your team, Cat Noel." They smirked at each other. Sombra then quickly grabbed his hand and lead him to the entrance. The park was well visited. Plenty of people, not just kusarians. Many families, many couples, many groups of friends. To a certain degree, the place felt magical, not fitting into an otherwise dark and dystopian city. Music was running in the background. Noel loved it. The kusarian themes, the architecture of both modern kusarian and traditional kusarian styles. Here and there statues of Space Ninjas, a very popular franchise from Kusari. Some other visitors were dressed up, too. Sombra lead him through the ways and food and souvenir stands and booths.

When Noel realized they were getting closer and closer to the ferris wheel, he had a good idea on what Sombra's plan was. She was clearly enjoying the time with him, and he had to admit it to himself, enjoyed her presence so much more than Simone's. Maybe it was supposed to be this way. This was making him happy. It made him feel light.

They entered the ferris wheel cabin. It was just the two of them. She sat down next to him, very close despite enough other space to sit. They were still holding hands and she leaned in against him. "Why the cat ears?" she asked him as the ferris wheel began to rotate.

"I saw them and thought you'd like them. On me. I like cats, too, you know." That made her chuckle. "Can I ask you something, Sombra?"

"Everything." Her thumb was stroking over his.

"Is this only for this week?" he asked her, tilting his head slightly in her direction but eyeing her hand on his.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens when we're back on the Apahanta? When Ez is around again."

She hesitated. "You mean my feelings for Ez?" she asked, her voice more quiet than before.

"We're both sleeping in his room, and I doubt you don't feel anything for him anymore. So, is this here just an affair?"

"Noel..."

While it was evening where Noel and Sombra were, on the Apahanta, it was deepest night. Ezrael lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling again. This time in his own room, and this time it was Maren who lay ontop of him, salivating in her sleep down on his belly. Once again he didn't get to rest. It was not that he was not sleepy. He wasn't sure on what it was. At least that was what he wanted to think.

Moving Maren carefully off his naked body, he climbed out of bed and put on his Apahanta suit. Then he left his room and moved to the lift. Down to the restricted deck. When the lift doors opened up again, nobody was there. The gallic wardens were sleeping, he thought. That was okay. He went on, entering the room where the VIP guest lay in her medibed, still comatose. Nevertheless he sat down on the chair next to her bed. The monitors weren't showing any differences since his recent visits. Exhaling audibly, he glanced over to her.

"You know, I can't sleep well lately. You on the other hand seem to enjoy staying here. Not that I mind that, but I'm wondering when you decide to wake up again. No rush, though." For a moment, he frowned aimlessly into the rather dark room. There were no windows here. Most of the light came from the monitors and the lights from the corridor.

"There is a Zoner exodus fleet in the Omicrons. They are waiting for the end of the year before they depart from Sirius into a cluster of unsurveyed stars beyond Omicron Gamma. It's actually a surprisingly well kept secret so far, and I trust that you're keeping it for a while." Now he frowned at her. "You're known for rarely shutting up. I put great trust into you right now, so don't disappoint me. Otherwise I'll hand you to the Bretonians and they put you into prison."

Ezrael looked around again, leaning more into the chair now. "That's what the mother of my child would do with you. It's quite the irony, come to think of it. I've restricted the access to this deck but not because I don't trust your officers but because it is better if my crew does not know it is you who is hidden here. The bretonians of my crew are... I don't know whether they would blame you personally for the genocide of Leeds. And I, well, I don't know the full story. I gave you my word you'd get a place to stay if anything goes wrong. Now you're here. I'm sort of dealing with it." He sighed audibly. "I do hope, though, you are not behind any of this."

For a few minutes, Ezrael didn't say anything else. Instead he just remained there where he was, only accompanied by the frequent beeping of the health monitors. "I want to join that exodus fleet. There was a poll within the crew, and almost all of them would join it. The problem is that this exodus is, well, an exodus. No way back. We either stick to the fleet or stay in Sirius." He looked at her. Of course there was no reaction. She was comatose. "The Apahanta is almost fully self-sufficient. We grow enough plants to feed the crew, can synthesize lab-made meat, my Chief Engineer installed gas miners at the bottom of the ship and we have solar panels. The engineering also has a workshop where we can build anything we need and refine resources on a small scale. And the cargo bays are usually stuffed with everything we need to survive for at least two years. Something I made sure of after a certain incident. We're actually running a very low risk joining that fleet."

She still didn't say anything. "I'd leave behind many good and many bad things. Curacao, for example. The damage done by the battles is almost reversed entirely already." He patted her hand. "Can't say I feel sorry for you not winning the war. I wouldn't have wanted to speak gallic on my homeworld."

Ezrael rubbed his nose. He knew there was a crusty booger hiding in there, but he didn't want to stick his finger in to get it out. Would have been rather impolite to do that next to the VIP. "I'd also leave behind Maren here. And all the problems that are attached to her. Like her child. I grew fond of Dinah, that is the name of her adopted child, but still, there are reasons to be scared of her and Maren and... I probably shouldn't tell you, you know. No idea whether you can actually hear anything I say, but if so, I probably shouldn't take the risk. All you need to know is that I am the good guy and, lately, almost all the women surrounding me tend to cause trouble. The only exception is Sombra. While I can't tell whether you'd be a good or bad wife, Sombra has the best qualities a man could ever want from a woman. You probably know what I mean, you got to meet her already. And thankfully you didn't do anything to her."

The booger was annyoing him. He rubbed his nose again, but he knew the intruder wouldn't just give up that easily. "I'd have married her if things were different. Now I can't. Turns out my biggest strength became my biggest weakness. Women. Take that advice from me, never allow yourself to have a relationship with a woman except you really, really, really want it." He gave her a flat look. "Well, in your case, men, probably. Although you gallic women are probably a bit more open to weird constellations than us Sirians. Kusarians are the exceptions to the rule, you probably know why."

The gondola was at the highest point of the ferris wheel as it stopped rotating. The question still stood in the room. Sombra's grip on Noel's hand got stronger as she hesitated to respond. Feeling the issue, Noel placed his other hand on hers as well. "You know, Noel, this is all just because I was too slow."

"Too slow?" he asked her. Both of them looked at their hands.

"At first I just wanted to befriend with you, you know. Always nice to have some young people around, and Ezrael was obsessed with you, as if you were his own flesh and blood. And you were obsessed with him since he saved your life. So I tried to get in touch with you and offered you to get you things like Synth Weed, despite Ez telling me that he wouldn't really want that stuff on his ship. You know, controls, scans, all that. But I'm not dumb. After all, I've been smuggling illegal stuff through Sirius for the past three years successfully."

Noel looked out of the window for a moment. "You probably shouldn't say that too loud."

"The more time I spent with you or close to you, the more I felt weird about it. You know, I've dedicated my life to Ez for all the things he did for me. But I suddenly felt something for you. I saw you with Lorena and felt jealousy. Then Lorena died and I not only lost a good friend on the Apahanta but saw you suffering throughout the months after the Aphrodite incident."

Remaining silent, Noel stared at her hands while she turned her face towards him. "And then I tried it again, feeling you were happy and stable enough to give women another shot. And then Simone appeared, and suddenly Maren had that idea of sending you to her because she was staring at you during a breakfast. Of course Ezrael didn't know anything about my feelings for you back then. He probably still doesn't get it."

"He did."

"And then you returned from Simone's room and were suddenly in a relationship with her. With her, Noel, with an empty ghost in a shell. I don't hate her, but god damn, she is as deep as a slice of bread. It frustrated me. If it was only about the physical aspect, about the sex, then, hey, good day, I'm here as well." Her voice became shaky.

"I've lost Ezrael already, not just to Maren or Nancy, but also to Abigail. She forced a child onto him, ruining his life. Each of those girls ruined his life. He is not the same anymore, and there is nothing I can do about it. I've lost him, and I don't feel for him the same way I used to feel anymore. He is not who he used to be. He has changed. There is n-nothing either of us can do about it." She sniffled. "But here are you, Noel. Such a pretty boy. You always make me cheer up. I look at you and feel warmth. I touch you and feel happy."

"Sombs..."

"If you want me to stop seeing Ezrael, I-I'd do that!" Tears were running down her cheeks. "I've fallen in love with you. I'm not toying with you, I'm just not good at being r-romantic. Happens when you're with a man who approaches those things very directly. I'm not a school girl anymore who sticks to movies and romantic novels."

"Sombra."

She kept her eyes closed, feeling stupid for crying. After a few moments of silence, she realized she had squeezed his hand way too hard because of the emotional outburst. He withdrew it and shook it a bit before cupping her cheeks with both of his hands. She opened her eyes again, seeing Noel smiling up at her.

"You think I'd let you toy with me without me feeling the same way for you?" he asked her, stroking with a thumb over her cheek. "Don't cry, okay? Your make-up needs to last a bit longer."

"It's water-proof," she clarified.

It was the kind of statement he expected from her in such a situation. He moved closer to her and gently placed his lips on hers. Her left hand moved up to his chest, the other to his cheek. The moment lasted longer and longer. Noel felt more tears running down his hands. It made him stop, moving his head back a bit to look at her, smiling. She smiled, too.

"I love you." But she didn't stop crying. She also didn't stop smiling. Instead, she leaned in on him again and kissed him again.

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