Romina waited for Fred outside the archives, knowing he would be heading out to use the company vending machine to get a midnight snack. She stood with her back pressed to the wall thinking deeply about the information she had uncovered.

During her time searching for the name she had found several employees with the last name ‘Brown’ all too common after all, but something told Romina she was not looking for assistants and admin officers.

No, this had something to do with the CEO himself, Victor Sinclair.

The doors to the archive opened and the blonde man walked out with a yawn, he stretched his hands over his head and like a moth to a flame, headed towards the vending machine glowing in the hallway.

Fred noticed the presence behind him immediately, without turning around he knew who it was that stood there in the shadows of the door.

“Romina, never thought you would be the one to seek me out,” Fred said, as a sandwich plopped to the bottom of the machine. The blond turned his tired eyes to the woman who stood with her arms folded and a glare fixed on him.

“I’ve been trying to locate where I’ve heard the last name Brown before and my only lead is you, I don’t like to be deceived Fred, start talking,”

“You would know more than me,” Fred said, pulling his meal out of the packaging that allowed it to maintain its freshness. He bit into it with all the relish of a starving man finding food for the first time in ages.

“Bullshit!” Romina hissed. “This has something to do with the old data!”

Fred said nothing, munching on his sandwich.

“Who is Aya Brown?” Romina asked again, lifting her glasses to rest on the bridge of her nose. “You said finding her was very important to the CEO, why?”

“And you wished the best outcome for me, isn’t that enough?”

“Fred, what does the name ‘Brown’ have to do with the old data?”

“Everything was scrubbed Romina,” Fred said, polishing off the rest of his sandwich. He looked into her icy blue eyes, for once, they lacked the usual contempt Romina had for the people around her. Now curiosity warmed them.

And wasn’t she part of this already? After all, they would not know Aya’s name if it wasn’t for her. Fred sighed, weighing his options. On one hand, he technically owed her this knowledge, on the other hand, this was between him and Victor Sinclair.

For all he knew, she could be the one blackmailing him.

He looked at Romina’s expectant face again, if she really was the blackmailer, she did a good job hiding it.

“You can trust me, I know where Mr. Sinclair pulled you from and I never said a word. You’re still the same archival rat to me as always,” Romina stepped forward until she was only a foot or two away from the blond man.

Fred exhaled and faced the vending machine to purchase another sandwich.

“Do you remember Anastasia Brown?” Fred asked.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

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The light of the microwave flared to life as Aya put her plate of pasta in to heat it up. She leaned against the door, alone in the kitchen as Mars had gone to bed by now. The silence echoed all around her, reminding her it wasn’t usual to be up so late.

She stopped the microwave before it could hit zero and took her steaming plate out to sit at the empty table.

“I wish I could have eaten with Mars,” Aya said scooping her pasta up and filling her mouth as she pouted. Dinner was such a lonely affair without Mars. It took Aya back to the days when she would come home from work and eat some pre-made food she scored on a clearance sale.

Days she hoped not to revisit.

Her phone buzzed on the table, alerting her to a text message from someone she knew. Aya stared at the phone, who could be texting her this late? Nisha?

While chewing she picked up the phone to read the text from Atlas Nue. Her eyes widened in surprise at the name.

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard from him, then again I haven’t been the best at keeping in touch either,” Aya said.

[Do you still play Moon Valley?]

She read the text and let out a small laugh and wondered why that was the thing Atlas latched onto, it was his opener. Aya found it cute that he would ask. Probably because she couldn’t stop talking about it whenever they met.

[Of course, I do, you couldn’t pay me to stop at this point :D]

[I didn’t think you’d be up this late, but I supposed pro gamers have notoriously late hours]

Atlas replied.

[Technically not a pro yet, and I’m not usually up this late I was just lost in a session]

[What class do you play? I’m a Knight now, which I learned was quite basic but I like it]

[Who said it was basic?! Knights are cool! I play a summoner though, I have about three summons now]

Aya hoped he could see and feel the pride she was trying to convey in her message, it had been a while since they had talked on any medium and she missed him.

[Three summons, I hear that class is hard to play but I know you’ll be good at it.

I’ll be heading to bed soon but I wanted to let you know I’m on my way to the Solstice Crossing, maybe if you’re there we can take a quest together]

Aya smiled sadly, knowing she was nowhere near the rest of the players in the game.

[Not quite in that general area yet, but I will be in a bit. We can definitely take a quest together sometime]

Aya texted, she didn’t know where the sudden guilt came from. It wasn’t like she was blowing him off. She really wanted to play with him but it wasn’t the right time. There were a ton of things to do before she left Bloom Haven to follow Twyla and Rael.

[That’s alright, perhaps I’ll be at a higher level when we meet, Goodnight, Aya]

[Goodnight Atlas, It was nice talking to you again]

[Call me more often]

Their text conversation ended with Aya staring at the final message. A smile grew on her face at the thought of him texting.

“Ah! I forgot to ask what his username was,” Aya said. “But I guess I could always text tomorrow,” she checked her phone for the time, it was past midnight now.

“It’s tomorrow,” She whined. The sun wouldn’t rise for a while, but it was getting later and she had no business fighting sleep when she should have been in bed already.

Aya finished up her pasta and rose to take her dishes to the sink. She rinsed them off and put the plates in the drying rack so they would go back on the shelf when morning came.

Moving through the two bedroom felt haunted, while Aya knew Mars was in her room sleeping, the absence of the other girl represented a break in her routine.

“I’ll see her in the morning,” Aya said, entering her room once again. Mars had neatly put away her Revista and its wires while her PacBook charged on the small desk Mars left her.

A small, fond smile crossed Aya’s face at the sight of how gently the other girl handled her belongings. No place like home.