Maddox stood outside Onik's Diner; back against the wall, blunt in his hand. Blunts were the Interstellar's version of relaxants. His breathing slowed as he looked at the stars in the sky. As he closed his eyes, he listened to the wind as it blew through the streets.

Footsteps could be heard behind him. He turned his head to the right, letting his eyes fall open; Alice met him with a glare, falling against the wall beside him. Smoking was how they communicated. It was the reason they were still friends.

Maddox looked back at the sky above. Smoke filled the air.

"You said you'd quit," Alice said.

"So did you."

Alice rolled her eyes and Maddox laughed to himself. The relaxants were addictive, they both knew. They both still used them.

"You really think you're all that?" he said.

Suddenly his collar was grabbed and he was pushed up against the wall behind him. His eyes met Alice's. Fuck she was beautiful.

"Shut your mouth, Hatter," she said.

He couldn't think straight, his anger dissipating. So the relaxants were taking some effect. He didn't respond immediately; instead, lowering his head onto Alice's shoulder. She didn't react, as though it was normal.

"You know I fucking love you right?" he whispered.

She knew. She didn't tell him, but he knew she loved him too.

She pushed him against the wall again, harder this time. His lips were soft against hers. She knew they did this often; it'd fallen into routine.

-----

Ciel watched Alice walk out of the Diner after Maddox with some interest. She'd never been one for romantics, but she felt like there was something strange between the two of them. Frenchie, Cristo, and her were the only ones remaining.

"You think they're going out there to fight?" Cristo asked Frenchie.

Even though Frenchie was the one who spoke the least, everyone on their team had a vague idea that she knew everything about everyone. She could see the truth in what they said, but she didn't interfere like Cristo. She was the perfect bystander.

"No," she said. It was simple and sweet. Cristo let out a breath of relief, but Ciel caught on to what she meant. Even more interesting. Frenchie looked toward Ciel and realized she understood. A new appreciation bloomed in her heart.

"Ciel," she said, "I'm surprised you managed to hold on for so long."

Cristo seemed to register something.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd be able to hold on this long either," he said, "I wouldn't look forward to tomorrow. First time I used a Technoid I was dead tired."

"Why?" Ciel asked.

"Makes sense you wouldn't know," Frenchie said. She let Cristo explain.

"Well for overwhelming strength you usually have to pay the price. In this case, for added strength and speed, every action requires a significant amount of energy," he said, "and when you're getting started you'll usually only feel it when you take the suit off due to the exertion. Of course, in the world cheats like Technoids can only go so far. They're still connecting to you to improve your abilities, so you have to train to be able to bring out their full power. Frenchie over here specializes in speed, so her Technoid specifically makes her faster. For you, you'd see that as excessive speed and would only feel the backlash after taking off the suit, but for her, every time she walks or moves, every step will feel like she's walking through water, weighing her down. That's how as you become a better Ante, you make sure you aren't running out of steam too quickly. With a D-1 it'd be hard to over-exert yourself, but when wearing anything over a D-3 it gets possible to die from the excessive energy loss."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Basically, you use up energy for power," Frenchie said, "and once you get to D-3 suits you start to feel the energy exertion so that you don't die from overuse."

"So moving up a suit number would require you to be able to exert that much energy normally?"

"Yup, that's why Ante's are dangerous even without Technoids," Cristo said, "through life and death missions, they break past human boundaries."

Ciel understood. She wondered how powerful the people sitting next to her were. Unfortunately, she wouldn't get the chance to ask as the world began spinning and she fell into a sea of black.

------

Ciel awoke in a white room. Feeling the comfort that surrounded her, she came to the conclusion that she was in a bed. Looking to her side, she found a note on her nightstand.

"You passed out last night so I paid for your room with Alice's card. She shouldn't mind because of yesterday's fiasco. - Frenchie"

Ciel thought back to Maddox's outburst and grew thankful for it. Otherwise, she would've had to sleep on the streets. Even while drunk what he'd said wasn't wrong either, but as it wasn't Ciel's business, she didn't worry about it.

As Ciel rose from her bed, she stretched her limbs. Pain hammered in her arm and legs immediately. The backlash Cristo and Frenchie spoke of was finally here. She didn't have time to ice her sore muscles though, so after finding a fresh pair of clothes on her bed, she threw them on and covered herself with her cloak and mask. Then, she went to the lobby.

Alice sat in a chair, tapping away on her phone like the day they'd met. That had been only yesterday, but for some reason, it felt like years. Comparatively, the years she spent alone on Earth felt like minutes in the grand scheme of things.

Alice saw her first.

"There are your things," she said, pointing to the bag on the chair next to her. Ciel went and looked through it. She let out a sigh of relief seeing that her textbooks were intact. But there was something in there that hadn't been before. It was a silver block with "D-1" written on it. She turned to Alice with questioning in her eyes. "It's yours," she said, "you found it, so make sure you keep it safe."

As Ciel sat down, letting her bag rest on her lap, her heart felt heavy.

"I've informed my father of your situation. Until he responds I'll take care of you in his place. For now, all we need to focus on is getting on the next flight to Balen," she looked at Ciel, "I'm guessing you're tired, so you have an hour to rest."

But Ciel didn't rest immediately. She had a question on her mind.

"The paper," Ciel said, "what happened to it?"

She was curious about the document she'd handed to Alice not too long ago. What she'd done with it? Ciel may have cleaned her hands of it, but that didn't stop her curiosity. Alice realized what she was talking about.

"I went to the Community Center connected to Onik while you were asleep," she said, "they told me that the pirates were accepting orders from someone. I don't think they know who though."

Ciel nodded.

It didn't take long for the ship to Balen to land on Onik. Even with her aching bones, she was ready to leave. While she sat in the lobby with Alice, she found that whenever someone would walk by, they'd either look at them with fear or anger, but no one said anything. It had made her think back to the officer who'd taken the hostages Cristo and Maddox had grabbed from the ship.

Maddox had been on to something.

These people must've gotten a hold of the news from someone on the spaceship they'd originally come from. It wouldn't have been hard, there were a large number of people in the resort bunker, so it wouldn't have been hard to spread the news. From that, it was as simple as putting A and B together.

These people blamed them.

As Ciel and Alice boarded the ship to Balen they found themselves in a nervous atmosphere. Fear permeated those whom Alice had saved before.

But the most noticeable change was in the little girl who'd been fawning over her before. She was scared. The father-daughter pair stayed far.

"Welcome," someone said. It was Nick. He'd volunteered to take them to Balen since otherwise the wait would be a week. He was the only one who still held gratitude toward Alice.

Alice remained distant and didn't talk for the majority of the trip. She didn't radiate bloodlust this time, but she didn't have to. No one would come close to the pair, let alone sit next to them. The flight took fifteen days, increased due to the original ship going off track for days on end.

When they arrived on Balen, Ciel noticed that the planet was mainly grassland. Alice departed with that same cold stone face. Ciel followed as they got into her car.

"I need to go to the Community Center here," she said, "so you'll have to meet my father on your own."

Ciel was okay with that.

The trip was silent even when they'd arrived at Elias's home. Alice sped away without a goodbye.