Silv and Emel were standing in front of an old house that barely stood the test of time. Emel wasn't sure why they were here, but the unusual calm of Silv felt terrifying for her. Silv put her hand on the handle of the door, and softly spoke,

"Emel, don't cause any problem."

The girl nodded silently, afraid to know what awaited them. Silv opened the door, revealing a house in a bad state. The furniture was as old as time and the walls weren't much better. Emel followed her friend and both entered a room. Unlike the rest of the house, the room was in a better state. It was still not the best, but was more than enough for someone to live in. Inside was a girl, around 20, just like them. Long red hair and pale skin were defining her, along with a tired expression. Despite the obvious fatigue, the girl tried to smile the best she could.

"Silv... You're back. Who is your friend?"

"No one important. How do you feel, Iris?"

The girl named Iris coughed, prompting Silv to rush to her side with an unusually worried behavior.

"Iris! Are you alright?"

"Don't worry... I'm fine..."

Iris smiled the best she could but could barely keep her facade. Silv turned toward Emel, talking with the cold tone she usually uses with her.

"Hey dumbass, bring some water."

"Silv... Please, be nice..."

Silv glanced at Iris before taking a softer, yet still aggressive tone.

"Emel, can you bring us water please?"

Emel nodded her head and hurried outside the room.

"I have enough energy to get my own water..."

"No, you shouldn't strain yourself. And she's here for that anyway."

Iris looked down at her hands holding each other, with a sad gaze.

"You haven't given up your dream... Have you?"

"Of course not, I'll get the place I deserve in the story!"

"I'm sure you deserve it but... I wished you were here more often..."

"I'm here almost every day, I'm trying my best. Oh, by the way, happy birthday!"

"You remembered." The sick girl coughed more, trying to finish her sentence "I'm glad you did..."

"Of course, I even got you a gift!"

Silv took a box that she handed to her friend. Iris opened it slowly and took the soft scarf in her hands.

"I asked the dumb- I mean Emel to teach me. She's good at tailoring."

"You did it yourself..? How kind of you."

Seeing that Iris tried to put on the scarf with difficulties, Silv helped her to wear it.

"You can ask for help when I'm here."

"But you're not always here..."

Before the sick girl could continue, Emel entered the room, a bunch of water bottles in her arms.

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"You didn't tell me how much, so I took all I could."

"Just one was enough... Where are your meds, Iris?"

The girl put her hand on her lips, trying to remember.

"I think they're upstairs... Can you get them for me?"

"Right away."

Silv hurried to leave the room, leaving Emel and Iris together. Seeing the shyness of her guest, the sick girl started the conversation with her.

"Emel, right? So... How did you meet with Silv?"

"She kidnapped me."

"Oh... I'm sorry..." The girl coughed, clearly having difficulties breathing "I can try to convince her to let you go..."

"No, don't. I'm trying to make her nicer."

"A vain attempt... Silv is not a good person to be around..."

The room stayed silent for a moment. Emel took all the courage she had and asked the question she had on her mind.

"Why are you two friends? She seems to care for you a lot."

The girl chuckled softly, trying her best to answer the question despite her difficulties breathing.

"Silv was friends with an Iris in her world. I don't know the details, but apparently, she killed her."

"She did? But why?"

"You probably know how Silv is, always a fan of explosion and spectacle... Iris and she were great friends, but Silv... She never showed it. One day, she decided to play with the police and made one of her museums explode... I think you can imagine the rest..."

"That's horrible, is that why Silv is so..."

"Messed up..? No, she always was... I think Silv misses her friend, that's why she takes care of me... We only know each other for a month... But she's my only real friend... Even before my world died... I was alone... It's not easy to make friends when you're sick..."

"I see..."

Emel didn't know what to answer but it motivated her to help Silv even more. It was enough proof for her that Silv had a heart deep inside the chaos she showed.

Silv hurried back, panting as if she ran everywhere in the house.

"I couldn't find it... Do you have any idea where it could be?"

As an answer, Iris took the bottle of pills on the desk next to her.

"It looks like it was here all along..."

"You did it on purpose! You just wanted to talk with Emel, didn't you?"

The girl chuckled softly, bringing a tender smile to Silv's face.

"Maybe... Do you have any drawings to show me?"

"Oh yeah, a lot!"

Silv ran toward the bed and sat on it delicately. She opened her sketchbook and rolling her eyes, invited Emel to sit next to her.

"Come here, it's weird if you're standing there watching us."

"Y-Yes!"

The three girls sat next to each other on the bed and looked at the various drawings in the sketchbooks. The drawings were very well made, especially for someone blind. It was mostly abstract drawings or portraits of people she met. One of them in particular picked Iris's attention, a sketch bigger than usual.

"That's a lot of people... Are they your friend?"

"No, it's the losers I told you about. They call themselves the Kronos."

"Right, I remember now... Who's this girl? She looks like you..."

"Just a dumbass that took my place. She's the one I want to replace."

Iris looked at Silv, a sorrowful look on her face.

"Silv... You should stop thinking about it... I know it's not the luxury here, but we can be happy..."

"I'm sorry Iris... I can't give up on it. It's more than a dream, it's my fate."

"I hope you know what you're doing..."

Iris coughed, worrying her friend. Silv put her book down and tucked the sick girl to bed, making sure she was in a comfortable position.

"You need to rest Iris. You should sleep, I'll come back again tomorrow."

"I can't wait... I wish I could come with you... Getting on an adventure..."

Iris closed her eyes, exhausted from just staying awake. Silv stood up and left, followed by Emel.

Once the two girls were outside, Emel couldn't keep silent any longer and asked what she had been curious about for so long.

"You looked so much nicer, is that how you truly are?"

"No, she's special. If you cause any problem to her, I'll kill you."

"I won't, I'm glad to see you have friends."

Silv ignored Emel's sentence before thinking out loud.

"The losers, they'll play Baseball."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"I'm not explaining again Emel..."

Silv looked at the house behind her, a determined expression on her face.

"We're going to go on an adventure with her tomorrow, we have to prepare for it."

"We will? She seemed to be in a pretty bad state."

"I'll make sure no one hurts her, and once we had fun, we focus back on the mission."

"You care for her... Is it because of your friend that you killed?"

"She told you that, huh? Iris, I mean the one from our world, was a childhood friend of mine. I didn't mean to hurt her, but I didn't care about her safety. It felt pretty bad after though, I didn't realize how bad loneliness was."

"I never saw you like that before, it's cute. Now I know why you disappeared out of nowhere for an hour every day.

"You better not get used to seeing me like that, it's a special day. I know she would be happy to see I'm not alone, it was like her birthday gift. Anyway, I hope you know how to play Baseball."

"Why? I thought our enemies were playing Baseball, not us?"

"They need an opponent, you'll manage don't worry, or else I'll punish you."

"Y-Yes!"

Emel nodded her head, unsure of whether she would do well. All she knew was that Silv was doing something for someone else than herself for once, and that she needed to help her in that task.