(Zack)

Gold's sleeping peacefully by the fire, curled up on his blanket. I dropped my new one on him after dressing him and moving him there, he passed out in the bath last night. He got really drunk, but it was a giggly kind of drunk. He drank nearly an entire bottle by himself.

He can really hold his alcohol, I learned, considering that the champagne tasted pretty strong to me.

Footsteps approach me from the road, and from the sound, I know they're Nik's. That, and the fact that he called my name several times, but I'd totally spaced, watching Gold sleep from my spot at the table.

"Zack?" Nik asks once he's right beside me, and I look up at him. He starts to say something, but frowns, narrowing his gaze at me. "Were you crying?"

"Maybe," I rub my sleeve against my face. "What's wrong?"

"Samantha mentioned that you were crying," Nik tells me. "I wasn't entirely sure if she'd read the situation right, but your eyes are red and puffy. You were crying. What's wrong?"

"I was thinking about him," I look down at the table.

"Him?" Nik asks, and I nod. "You mean…?" I nod again. "Enough to cry?"

"Gold got pretty drunk last night," I nod, feeling the tears welling up again. "And he got a bit goofy. We goofed around in the bath, and it brought back some memories of him, and then I was thinking about him, and-and-and it was awful. The light, playful side of Gold was just like… just like…"

I break down completely, sobbing into my hands, and Nik pulls me off the bench, turns me around, and pulls me against him, and I cry into his coat. Gold's drunken happiness really reminded me of Bryce. Especially the way he'd goof around in the bath, and not just with the bubbles. I spent two hours cleaning up his mess after getting him dried off, dressed, and onto his blanket. Soap and bubbles everywhere.

It took me a solid twenty minutes to figure out where he'd shoved the bottle of shampoo, too, and I'm not sure when he put it there. Locating that took up a decent chunk of time, a lot more than I expected it to.

How did he even get it there? I had to pull the shelf apart just to retrieve it.

Once I calm down, I decide to tell Nik about the other thing Gold did last night.

"Nik," I hesitate, suddenly unsure of if I should say it or not.

"What?" He asks.

"Gold, um," I say, looking down. "Gold loves me."

"Are you sure?" Nik asks, and I nod. "Did he say it?"

"Well, no," I say. "But his thoughts were filled with how attractive I was and how much he loved me and wanted to be my lifemate as he kissed me, so I think that's enough evidence."

Nik's silent for several seconds.

"How did you react?"

"I froze up!" I answer. "I wasn't expecting it, and it came out of nowhere! I didn't know how to react to it! He was so drunk last night that he probably won't remember it when he wakes up. It's probably to pretend like it didn't happen."

"Your choice," he ruffles my hair, and I groan and fix it, causing him to chuckle. "On another note, do you feel like playing a game?"

It takes me a moment to realize what he's asking me, and even though I'm still a bit spacey from Gold's antics last night, I immediately feel myself guarding up.

"I'm wary of any game you want to play with me."

"Not with me!" He laughs. "It was the reason Samantha was stopping by earlier, to see if I thought you'd go for it. With the walls turning crimson soon, you younger kids will be staying in here – yes, I'm aware you're planning on it, with how cautious you are – she figured you might get bored. All of her students are between twelve and fifteen."

"A multi-day game?" I ask. "What kind of game is it?"

"Tag," he pulls out a pair of red gloves. "Normally, these gloves have nothing special to them. However, if you touch someone wearing one of the other sets of them, they leave a red mark that will last for a bit, and it registers on the linked crystal tablet. The color being used for her apprentices is blue, and she's setting the duration of the game to ten days. Your goal will be to avoid being tagged by her students. Don't seek them out, and don't hunt them down. However, they'll be hunting you. They aren't to interfere if you go hunting, and your home is a safe-place. The goal will be to deliver a death-touch to you. If you tag them with a death-touch, they aren't allowed to try again for at least six hours, their gloves going 'inactive'."

I grin at him, pulling the gloves on and holding them up to him. It'll be good training for me, even if it doesn't give me Experience.

"Got it," I say. "Who'd be 'it' if I'd refused?"

"Refuse next time, and maybe I'll tell you."

Nik ruffles my hair again, then leaves as I rip into him for that. Gold wakes up a few minutes later, and quietly makes breakfast. He's carefully controlling his thoughts, avoiding letting me know whatever he's really wanting to think about. That's unusual, but I'm not going to press. Not after the way he acted last night, not after he kissed me.

Watching Gold, I'm reminded of Bryce a bit again, and some of my lessons to him in cooking, and his efforts at it, too. I tear my gaze away and force the tears back, and wait for Gold to serve me. After breakfast, when he starts cleaning up, I let him know that I'm going to go visit Jackson, and explain to him about the game, and that he can come along if he wants, just to keep it mind. He shakes his head.

Does he remember his kiss? Is that why he's being so melancholy right now?

Knowing he'll eventually let me know, I bid him farewell, then start walking down to Jackson's forge. About five minutes down the road from my house, I spin, slamming my palm into the chest of the person behind me, a boy around twelve, with pitch-black hair and rich, emerald eyes.

He looks stunned, as he lands on his feet a few yards away, then looks down at his chest, to the crimson imprint of my hand.

"Red Team: one, Blue Team: zero," I grin.

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He groans, then quickly triggers Conceal and leaves. They're already behind by a point. Did Samantha let them know how much above them I probably am? His Status put him at only Level 12. It does make me wonder how intense his training is to already be there, considering how hard I was told it was to hit Tier II of Dark Knight.

Then again, that might just be something exclusive to the Holy and Dark Classes, and it might be a little easier to do it with other Classes. Though I'm sure that any student of Jesse's wouldn't be a pushover when it comes to training.

Her poor students.

I reach Jackson's forge without incident, and there's no one in there, so I wait for him to come out. I ask if he's got a room I can talk with him in privately, and he nods, leading me into the back and triggering the privacy seal.

All shops have one, if they were 'standard' shops; that is, shops here through the System's funky magics. I check for Sacred Crystals, just in case someone else snuck in here – especially with the game going on right now.

"A private commission?" He asks, and I nod. "What do you want?"

"A sword and armor," I tell him. "Oh, and a knife. But you can't let anyone know about it."

"Why not?" He asks, and I pull out a jar of the Primordial Essence, causing his eyes to widen. "Is that-"

"Yes," I answer before he can say it, just in case. "It is. I obtained it from a Platinum Present. Five of them, weirdly."

"Platinums give five, if it's a resource," he tells me. "I'm guessing you want a mix of ingots?"

"Yes," I pull out two of every ingot I have, plus another jar of the Primordial Essence. "Can you make something with these? I know there are probably others out there, and that this is a lot of metal you'd end up making, but I want something powerful. Something dangerous. Something deadly. I want to save the rest of this, just in case there's more rare resources I obtain that can be used to make something that exceeds even that."

Jackson runs his hands over the ingots.

"Any full ingots you don't use," I tell him. "I want back. Any of the catalyst. Whatever of the alloy itself that isn't used for this armor and the weapons, you can keep, and we'll call it the payment for the work, unless you use it all, which I'm doubting, considering just how much of the alloy you'd get unless you used very, very little. Any partial ingots you have leftover, you can keep. Do we have a deal?"

Jackson runs his hands over the ingots again, then looks at me and nods.

"There are only a couple of more metals," he tells me. "That could possibly help create a more powerful alloy, but they're even rarer. Temporal Ore and Dragon Ore are the two I can think of, though Love Ore and Candy Ore could, potentially, as well."

Love Ore? Candy Ore? Valentine's and Easter, probably.

"Could I also use," he says. "Some of your Magic Crystals? I'd like fifteen, though I might not use more than ten. The extra five is just in case. I'll return any I don't use."

I hesitate on that, but nod, handing over fifteen of them. I trust Jackson because Nik trusts him. Otherwise, I'd be really, really hesitant to do this. But he's pulled through for me before, and Nik trusts him.

I just hope I don't regret this, later.

"Thanks, Jackson," I say, and he dips his head to me. "Also, as a gift for doing this for me, and keeping it a secret, plus everything else you've done for me so far… here."

I pull out a bottle of the Neburis White Wine, and set it on the table.

Jackson thanks me, then sends all of the resources into his storage, and we head back to the front, where a customer is waiting. I thank Jackson for the help he's given me in the past, then leave, and wander around for a bit and eat lunch, tagging two more apprentices – a boy around fourteen, and a girl of fifteen – before they could tag me.

Then, I make my way back to my home, where Gold's not at. At first, I get worried that someone did something to him, since Nik didn't let me know he'd be borrowing Gold, and Gold doesn't leave without someone, usually.

I'm about to start searching when I realize that Gold's clothes are missing. His change of clothes. They're gone, too. Did Gold… leave?

Was that why he was so silent earlier? He was thinking about moving, but didn't know how to break it to me, and so gathered up his courage to just leave? He could've told me, I'd have been happy to help him find a new place, even buy it for him.

Was that why he kissed me last night, while he was drunk? Because he'd been planning on leaving, and wanted to let me know how he felt before he did, but it took getting drunk to actually do it?

My head swimming, I wait at the house, in case Gold drops back by, and fix myself some sandwiches for dinner. Gold doesn't return for a bath, and it's so weird, being alone here. First Bryce, then Gold, and now… no one.

I feel so alone.

The next day, I look for Gold, to see where he's at, but I can't find him. I check with Jesse, in case Gold decided to gather up the courage to come here and buy a place for himself, but Jesse tells me he hasn't seen my former roommate.

The next day, I continue looking, calling out for him. He didn't have to move. Why did he move? Why did he abandon me like that? Did I… did I hurt him?

Nik stops me at some point, telling me I should let Gold be, but I refuse. I want to at least talk with him, to find out why he didn't tell me, and why he won't talk with me now. In the end, Nik loses the argument and starts looking with me, and talks the other Dark Knights into looking as well.

They're in town because they don't want to risk being out and disappearing, even as a group. Nearly all activities outside of the Cities ceases once the walls turn red, and no one knows how many more days we have before that.

On the third day after Gold left, the walls are red when I wake, and I still haven't found him. He's hidden himself well, wherever he is. Why doesn't he want to face me anymore? What did I do wrong?

"Gold!" I break down, crouching on the side of the street in one of the abandoned areas of the City. "Please! I just want to talk!"

I try fighting the tears, but they came out anyway. I'm so alone.

"Are you alright?" A gentle voice asks, and I look up into the pale blue eyes of a girl my age.

She has long, dark brown hair tied back into a high, tight braid with a black band, and is dressed in an all-black outfit with light, dark blue leather armor visible beneath her dark blue and black dappled coat. Her face is filled with a lot of concern, and she looks genuinely worried for me.

"I'm fine," I rub my eyes. "Who are you?"

"Kylie," she introduces herself, offering me a hand gloved with black, fingerless gloves. I take it, and she helps me to my feet. "You don't look fine. Who's Gold?"

"A friend," I rub my eyes. "He… he disappeared, and refuses to come out when I'm calling for him. I just want to talk. He shared my house with me until a few days ago, and he-he-he just left, without telling me why. And I just want to ask why."

"What's he look like?" She asks. "I can look for him with you."

"He has golden hair, ears, and tail," I answer. "And brown eyes."

"Ears and tail?" She asks. "Beastborn?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Um… do you have Appraisal?"

"Yeah," she nods.

"He'll be easy to identify, then," I tell her. "He's got Access to the System."

Her eyes widen in surprise.

"How did he-"

"I made a deal with Big S," I tell her. "He agreed to do it for Gold, and I'll have to do something eventually."

Still trying to figure out what.

Been awhile, Big S.

"Big S?" She asks, then her eyes widen. "Oh, you're Zack."

"You've heard of me?" I ask.

"Yes," she smiles. "I'm Samantha's fifth student. I haven't actually sought you out yet. I guess your outfit and looks should've clued me in, but I just saw you crying and calling for someone to talk with you, so… I didn't even think about it. You said it's been a few days?"

"Yeah," I nod. "The other Dark Knights are looking for him, too, but there's no trace of him."

She frowns, thinking.

"What does he wear?"

"Clothes," I shrug. "I don't know what he's wearing right now, though. Hopefully, he's still wearing the outfits we bought for him. Um… what did they look like?"

I try racking my brain, but I can't focus enough right now to remember what his clothes actually are, and feel myself starting to shake again.

"Hey," she smiles at me. "It's okay, we'll find him. I'm sure he's just nervous about facing you after leaving without a word, even if Beastborn can't speak. Come on, let's check out the next few blocks."

I don't bother correcting her, and just nod, following with her, the two of us calling out Gold's name and checking every building that's got an opening to it through the snow, but by the time the sun sets, we still haven't located Gold.

I'm not going to stop looking for him, though. Kylie convinces me to go to bed, and that she'll meet with me in the morning to look for him more.