"Oh come on, won't you just apologise to Kai? Look at the poor guy, you think he has any experience of what a woman really thinks?"

Noelle remained silent. Since they set out to the Mother Tree, Sofia had been constantly trying to convince her to apologise.

In her heart, Noelle knew that it was her fault, but should she apologise? Kai was probably better off just leaving her alone. All the things he said when they fought were correct.

She was comparing him to all the people she knew previously. She had a prejudice against men after all. She hadn't even spoken to John, even though he talked to Sofia quite often. He seemed fine, but Noelle knew better than anyone that people often had a hidden side to them.

Even though she did hit him, it's not like she meant it in a bad way. What else was she meant to do? How are you meant to show someone you appreciate them. Her parents always said they loved her and would give her hugs, so is that what you're meant to do?

Noelle frowned slightly.

That didn't seem like the right thing to do in this situation. For some reason, she thought that saying 'I love you' to Kai would do more harm then good.

"He probably knows more than me. In case you've forgotten, I don't exactly know much either."

Sofia sighed and lightly pinched the brow of her nose.

"I know, and I'm sorry that you don't. But this could quite litteraly be the last chance for you to get some closure or to get over your fear."

Noelle close her mouth again. Sofia was right, in a sense. But apologising? The last time Noelle had apologised about something was over ten years ago. Honestly, she had no idea how to apologise, especially to someone like Kai.

But apologising didn't mean anything. She would still only continue to tolerate Kai. He was useful, that was all she would see him as.

Maybe, she didn't really know how she would view people yet.

The strange thing was that he was always seen hanging around with either Wa'rak, Failure or Aldred. What did they see in him? Last time Noelle saw him, he was lying on his ass when she hit him.

No, she would just continue to tolerate him. The same way she tolerated Sofia.

"Well I don't even know what to say? Am I meant to beg for his forgiveness or something?"

Sofia blinked, exasperation evident on her face.

"Who said anything about begging? All you have to do is say sorry. End of story, the end, done deal, capiche?"

Noelle blinked.

"So I just say sorry?"

Sofia let out an exhausted sigh.

"Is that not what I just said?"

Noelle threw a quick glare at Sofia. Why was she getting fed up with her? She's not that oblivious, is she?

"Well I'm sorry for not knowing that. Excuse me for spending basically the last eleven years trapped in a cell with no communication except for the one person who understood me who just so happens to also be dead."

Sofia inwardly groaned.

"Again, I'm sorry. But you can't let that hold you back. We have no idea what's going to happen from today onwards. I mean, what if he happen to meet someone with the power of that gray wolf but has the personality of Rashik or Mr Ganim? What's to stop them from trying to pull anything on you? Or even on me? How can we be sure we'll be safe after this is all over. Hell, even Kai or John or anyone could get fucked up by whatever comes after all this."

Noelle fell silent. Sofia was, once again, right. All that was in the past, she should be worrying about what comes in the future. For all she knows, what the future holds could be even worse than being locked in a cell.

"Alright, fine. I'll apologise. I don't even know why I'm doing this. If this somehow messed this whole mess up even more, I'm blaming you."

A look of relief made its way onto Sofia's attractive face. A soft smile tugged on her lips as she said:

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"Thank god, it's about time one of you decided to man up. I already talked to Kai about this last night, but it seems he chickened out."

Noelle froze for a moment.

"You spoke to him?"

Sofia turned her head curiously to face Noelle again.

"Of course, someone has to play the middleman."

Another moment passed before Noelle let out a sigh and gave up.

"Alright then. I'll go find him."

Sofia grinned and pat Noelle on the shoulder. She lightly gripped it before saying:

"Well good luck. And don't fuck it up, that would mean all my efforts are wasted."

Noelle swatted away the hand while Sofia chuckled.

They were still surrounded by dominating trees at all sides, nothing else in sight. They were also surrounded by the army of moon beasts and they few humans who decided to join the army in pursuit of XP, points and contribution percentage.

But just as Noelle was going to walk away from Sofia, she was surprised to see something else making its way towards them.

A boy. Shaggy red hair and a look in his eyes that made him look like he was constantly scared. He was wearing a white, furred tunic that faintly resembled a dress. If one had to pick a word to describe him, it could have been cute if not for the horrifying wolf that lived in his shadow.

... Even though Umbra was anything but, but who knew that?

A look of excitement appeared in Sofia's eyes, as if she knew something entertaining was about to happen. It was as if she was watching her favourite sit-com.

Eventually, Kai was standing right beside Noelle. He couldn't stand in front as it's not like he could just stop walking, they still had to get to the Mother Tree after all.

"So, how are you doing?"

Noelle flinched slightly at the sudden question. Why was he asking how she was?

"I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

Sofia resisted the urge to slap her face as Kai's eye twitched.

"It's a polite thing to do to ask how someone's doing when you start a conversation."

Noelle's face dropped.

"Oh. I see. How are you doing?"

Nodding his head, Kai responded with:

"Could be better, could be worse. We are going to war after all, who knows what's going to happen?"

Noelle remained silent. When was the last time she wasn't at war. She desperately fought just to stay alive, was this any different?

Maybe, maybe not. But at least this time she had some... decent people with her.

Both fell silent after that. Neither really knew what to say. It was strange.

Neither of them spoke, yet the silence said so much.

Eventually, Noelle decided to break the silence. She was going to apologise. She started to open her mouth, but couldn't speak.

Why was apologising so hard? It shouldn't be, it should be easy. It's just two words, I'm sorry. So why couldn't she say them?

Ah, I see.

Then, she realised. She felt guilty. It wouldn't be enough to just say sorry, that wouldn't change the situation much. It wouldn't be genuine. But what could she say?

Still, she was going to apologise. Steeling her resolve, she opened her mouth once more and-

"I'm sorry. I said some things I shouldn't have. I didn't mean them. I had no idea what you went through when I said those things. I'm sorry."

Noelle froze. It wasn't her that spoke, it was Kai. Turning to look at his face, she saw a faint red tint on his cheeks. Was he blushing?

It seemed that it wasn't only Noelle who found apologising hard.

But since it was Kai who apologised first, Noelle had no idea what to do next. Panicked, she turned to look at Sofia for any advice.

It was useless. Sofia had a look of awe in her eyes, as if she was watching two kittens play together. You could swear that you could see her eyes twinkle for a second, she found the sight that cute.

Sofia was of no help at all.

"Why are you the one saying sorry?" Noelle began. "It was me who started all of this, so why are you apologising?"

Noelle really didn't get it. She was innocently unaware about the small speech Kai just got about being the bigger person, so she had no idea as to why he was apologising.

"Uhhhh."

Now it was Kai's turn to not know what to say. Turning to face Sofia, it was time for Kai to realise that the red-haired woman was useless in a situation like this.

She wasn't a middleman, she was as bad as The Ever-changing. She just wanted an entertaining show.

"I don't know? Sofia just said to apologise, and I also felt kind of guilty, so here I am, I guess."

Then, both turned to Sofia. The pale woman snapped out of her cute-induced coma and said:

"What? I just wanted the two of you to make up. You're both such idiots. It wasn't that big of a deal, so it's fixed now."

She then clapped her hands, a wide grin on her face.

"I really am incredible at solving problems."

While she may have seemed exuberant with her attitude, Kai knew that she was doing all of this for the immense guilt she felt. But it's not like it was Sofia's fault that Noelle was locked up, but she seemed to think it was.

"Incredible my ass, did you enjoy the show over there?"

Sofia snorted in response to Kai's words.

"It was like watching two toddlers try to make up, you're both terrible at this."

Kai sighed and waved a hand at Sofia. She was just as bad as Failure in a situation like this. In fact, if Kai didn't know better than he would have thought that they knew each other beforehand.

Glancing back at Noelle, Kai sighed and shook his head. Why did apologising have to be so awkward?

"So, yeah, I'm sorry. I did bad, so I'm apologising. All done."

Noelle looked at Kai curiously. She truly did not understand how he operated. He was something else.

Noelle glanced away, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry too, if it means anything."

Kai sighed in relief. Honestly, this took a lot out of him. This was worse than some of the things he's gone through thus far. Noelle was scary after all, much scarier than some of the things he's seen. After all that she's gone through, he really didn't want to upset her.

She would do anything for revenge after all.

"Well, at least that's all over. Sofia, I want you to know that-"

Suddenly, a crack came from one of the branches far above them. Curiously, Kai looked up just as...

A small, tentacled abomination fell onto his face, an even smaller pack attached to its slimy skin.

Then, it blew up.