Emely woke up like any normal day, walking toward her lab to work on a new invention. However, something was weird. Not only did she not see anyone, but when she went in front of Gwyn's office the lights were off. The doctor was always working at this time but was strangely absent today. Even Cinnamon was nowhere to be seen, though it wasn't like she saw him every day. A bit worried, she hurried to her lab to check her computer. It seemed like they were all in the same world, a world that she quickly recognized. She couldn't help but think it was one of Silv's wretched plans, luring Emely into her native world to threaten her or Silva. She took her firearm in hand, ready to save her friends.

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She arrived in the wasteland that once was her world. Emely wanted to explore and reminisce about her past but pointed her firearm the moment she heard a sound. It was Neige, and he seemed alright, confusing the girl.

"Neige? Are you alright?"

"I will be when you stop pointing your gun at me!"

Once she was assured that Neige wasn't mind-controlled or something like that, Emely put her gun down.

"Are the others safe?"

"Yeah, it's nothing bad, I promise."

"Then why are you all here? I was so worried for you all!"

"Silva made me promise I wouldn't tell you, I'll bring you to the others and you'll understand then."

Emely was confused by Neige's words but still chose to believe him. She followed her friend, still a bit worried that the others were in danger.

Neige guided Emely to a house, a house that the young engineer had already seen before. She looked at Neige, trying to understand what was the meaning of all of this.

"That's my house, what are we doing here?"

"You better enter and find out."

Emely braced herself and opened the door. Everything was dark, just like she imagined, this world was in ruins for at least two years now. Her house was probably in a sad state and she wasn't sure how she'd react at the sight of it. The girl was about to take her phone and use its light to see but was surprised by the lights of the house suddenly turning on. The house was completely renovated and all her friends were here, suddenly yelling together.

"Happy birthday Emely!"

The girl was in shock, even dropping her firearm after seeing everyone's surprise for her. It was the first time they celebrated her birthday, even she forgot it was today. Silva walked toward her with a bright smile that showed her teeth and gave a present to her friend.

"Happy birthday, it wasn't easy to organize everything without you noticing it. I did my best to find you the best gift."

"So... That's why you were dodging me those few days?"

Silva nodded while Emely took the box in her hand. She hurried to open it and found a small keychain representing a heart. Even if this wasn't much, the effort and the attention of her friends gave great value to this gift.

"Thanks, it's really cute, I love it."

"You better." Said Neige with a slightly annoyed tone "It wasn't easy to get."

"Indeed." Agreed Ina "I still don't know why it's so special."

Silva turned toward her friends, annoyed by their complaints.

"It's special because I said so. It was worth everything, even if we almost died getting it."

"Is it that special?" Asked Emely "Does it have a power or something?"

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"I hope so, I had to dress as a girl, they didn't allow guys in this world!"

"But it was worth it." Said Silva "They kept saying it was a precious artifact."

"I... Didn't know it was such an important thing." Emely stared at the gift for a while before smiling at Silva "All the efforts you did... That's what makes it precious for me."

Emely softly kissed Silva's cheek and attached the keychain to her belt. Relieved that nothing bad happened, the young engineer was glad to enjoy this day with all her friends.

The party was going well but Emely was a bit tired of all the noise inside and decided to take a short break outside. It didn't take long before the leader followed her, visibly tired too.

"Leader? Is everything alright?"

"Yes... I just can't stand staying inside for so long."

"That's true, they're... Pretty loud." Chuckled Emely "Even Ina and Gwyn seem to have fun, that's not something I see often."

"I didn't know this side of everyone, I do a sad job as a leader."

"Don't say that, you're taking all the difficult decisions. I know you do everything for our sake. Those two years on the ship were some of my best ones, and I'm sure everyone agrees."

"That's kind of you... There's still a lot I didn't expect, like your relationship with Silva or Kairo's betrayal. I wish I could have learned more about you all..."

Emely was surprised by the leader's defeated expression, it wasn't like this was the last day they would spend together after all.

"We still have time for that, just enjoy the moment for now."

"You're right, I shouldn't be sad on a day like this one. I should go back now, I promised Silva I would spend time with her... I wonder how you ended up together, you're so different."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, first of all, you're not rude. Then you're not a pervert, you're calm, and you're nicer."

"You just don't know Silva enough. She's not a pervert, she just like messing with people. Well, I guess she's a bit pervert but not as much as me."

"N-Not as much as you?" Asked the leader in shock "I don't think I want to know what that means."

"Don't worry, it's nothing too bad. I'm just glad I got to see the real Silva, she's cute when she trusts someone... I wonder if she was like that with Neige."

"Probably, Neige and her are very close. I'm almost jealous of her..."

"I'm totally jealous of Neige, I was trying so hard to get Silva's attention and she was pursuing him all this time."

The leader chuckled, amused by her words.

"Don't take it personally, everyone loves Neige. He's such a great person and he can get both guys and girls, even Gwyn ended up confessing to him."

"She did?" Emely tried her best to imagine Gwyn in love, it seemed impossible for that to happen. The best she could imagine was her kissing Neige's cheek, and even that seemed too much affection coming from her "I wish I was there to see it."

"Kairo wasn't even on the ship at the time, I think everyone on the ship already had their eyes on him." The leader paused for a moment, realizing something "I need to be careful of Sepide, she could steal my Neige."

"Are you into him too?" Asked Emely with a grin "You two seem awfully close."

"No, he's my friend. Actually, he's like a brother to me. I don't even think I could love someone because of that, everyone is just worse than Neige."

Emely found their relationship cute, even if it was different, it was similar to what she wanted with Silva. The two continued talking for a moment until Silva came out, visibly annoyed.

"What are you two doing here? We can't have a birthday without the main guest, and leader, you promised you'd teach me how to play strip poker!"

"I never said that, I said we would play with cards, that's totally different."

"It's fine, Neige taught me. Anyway, we should all do something together, it's almost the end of the day."

"Already?" Emely looked at the sky to see the orange color in it, the sun had already set for a while now "Let's paint together, it will be fun!"

"Paint?" Asked the leader "I don't know how to do that."

"Me neither, but Silva can teach us!"

Everyone sat in a circle with paintbrushes in their hands. Emely sat next to her lover, excited to paint with her. Silva prepared her tools and thought for a moment before talking to everyone.

"We should paint something simple, we'll do a landscape in a cute and simple style. First, you need to add the ground. Then we should add a tree." Silva thought for a moment, thinking deeply at the canvas before her "Let's give it a friend, he deserves it."

"Deserves it?" Asked the leader with disbelief "It's a tree, what did he do to deserve it?"

"He exists, that's enough. Let's give it a happy family and paint a few saplings."

"A family for the tree?" asked Gwyn "Are you sure you know how trees work?"

"No, but I know how painting works. It's like a story in a frame, you need to create characters and a setting for them to evolve in."

"You put more thoughts into them than I imagined." Said Ina, a bit surprised "I thought you just drew whatever you wanted."

"It's a bit of both. Now we should give him an enemy, it should be a cloud named Randall. He'll look down on the tree, hiding the sun from him."

"Look down on it?" Asked Sepide "Should I give him eyes?"

"If you want, it's your painting. You can also name it differently if you want."

"Are we forced to paint?" Asked Gwyn with her usual empty expression "I'm not made for that..."

"Come on, it's fun!" Emely smiled at Gwyn before focusing back on her painting, annoying the doctor a bit.

"I'm going to force you to do my job when my birthday comes."

Emely giggled, amused by the situation. She wasn't expecting anything special for today but was glad it happened in the end. Everything seemed back to the old times, even better than how it was before. All they had to do is take care of Silv, and everything would be peaceful again like today.