I woke up that morning to Balla's face staring at me inside of her cave.

She told me that since we were "best friends" now, it would make sense to try and have a sleepover. I didn't want to be rude and, to be honest, I wasn't really sure what the behavior between friends was supposed to be, so I just gave up and accepted her offer.

"Morning bestie!!"

Still, I'm pretty sure that was not what normal behavior was supposed to look like. She was simply staring at me as if I was some kind of pet she wanted to feed.

"M- Moring Balla... Did you sleep well...?"

"Oh, I don't really need to sleep..."

"You... Don't...?"

"My species is made of pure gravitational energy. If I lose my conscious my body will start absorbing everything around me and might cause a lot of trouble to the inhabitants of the island."

"Wait... So you can't sleep? Ever...?"

"Well... I could if I found a deserted space up in the sky where I couldn't harm anyone... But since I don't really use that much energy on a regular basis I can keep myself awake for extremely long periods of time!"

"So, what were you doing the whole night...?"

"I was watching you sleep!"

"... ... ..."

"We are best friends after all! I didn't want to leave you alone!!"

"... ... ... ... ... ..."

I really might have made a mistake by coming closer to this girl... She really creeps me out... Should I try to ditch her...? But if I do that... I would just go back to where I started... Maybe I just need to try a bit harder and make this relationship work.

"So, what would you like to do today Balla?"

"Anything you want!"

"Ok then... We could explore the island with you as my tour guide. I'm still getting used to everything so this might help me get familiar with the place."

"That sounds fun!! I would love to be your guide!"

"Ok, then! Where should we start?"

"Anywhere you want!"

"..."

I wish I could read her expressions but her whole face was nothing but a pair of eyes so it was really hard to tell what she was thinking.

"Ok... Then... What's your favorite place on the island to visit?"

"My favorite place... Oh I know!! Follow me!!"

Ok!! Finally some progress!! Let's see where she takes me. She started to fly outside of her cave and just as I was about to follow her she decided to stop.

"Balla...? Is something wrong...?"

"Nope! This is it! My favorite place!"

"... ... ... Outside of your cave...?"

"Yeap!!"

"Your favorite place is outside of your cave...?"

"This is where we first met and where our friendship was born!! It's my all-time favorite place!!"

"..."

I wanna get away from her so bad... No! No, I need to try harder! Need to make this work!!

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"Ok... How about we just fly around and you describe me the island?"

"Anything for you, bestie!!"

"Ugh..."

We finally started our small tour and Balla began to explain how this island works. Basically this is a place where beings of several kinds of species would go when they had nowhere else to live in. Because of that, the island was packed with a huge variety of different races of creatures.

I probably wouldn't need to worry about feeling like an outsider in here since everyone was an outsider as well.

I tried to search for any nimbus like me, but couldn't find any. We stopped to chat with the girl made out of vines along the way, and you will never guess what her name was.

"Hello, I'm Chloe! I'm new to the island."

"Nice to meet you Chloe! I'm Vina! Welcome to the omnisland!"

I kinda expected Balla to greet her as well. She said she didn't have any friends but she surely knew who the inhabitants here were, right?

"N- Nice to meet you... I'm Balla..."

"Er... Hi... Nice to meet you Balla..."

Vine seemed very uncomfortable talking to Balla. I guess they didn't know each other after all.

"So Vina, we are making a tour around the island. Wanna join us?" I suggested.

"Huhhh... Maybe next time... I need to Huh... Wash my leaves... Yeah, that... See you later!"

"Oh... Ok... Cya..."

Vina left in a hurry when I suggested the idea and left me alone with Balla.

"Hey, Balla? Was this the first time you two ever talked?"

"I believe so..."

"But... It seemed like she kinda knew you..."

"Oh everyone here knows me!"

"Oh... Is that so? You one of those popular girls?"

"I- I guess you could say that..."

"Well, cool! Let's continue our tour then! Maybe we will find someone who will ask for your autograph."

"Eh... You think so...?"

We kept going with our exploration and continued to find similar reactions from everyone. For whatever reason, every time I would bring the idea of hanging out together, the creatures would just find some excuse to run away from us.

"I need to recharge my fire!"

"I need to absorb my daily dose of sunlight."

"Sorry I... I can't leave my house for the rest of my life!! It's a family tradition."

Ok, this last one had to be made up... Something was going on and it was starting to piss me off.

"What's the matter with everyone?? Is the idea of hanging out with us really that unappealing??"

"..."

"Balla?"

"It's not us... It's just me... People are afraid of me..."

"Eh...? Why...?"

I mean... She was kind of a weirdo... But it's not like she was dangerous or anything... Right?

"Remember what I said earlier about how it was dangerous for me to sleep...?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well... I didn't know how dangerous it was at first... So when I first came to the island I tried to take a nap on the top of a rock and... Well..."

Oh... No... I think I know where this is going...

"I... May, or may not have absorbed a large portion of the environment..."

"Di- Did anyone got hurt...?"

"A bit... Like that girl from earlier... Some of her vines ended up getting sucked while I was sleeping... And something similar happened to many others as well..."

"So... Everyone thinks you might end up hurting them because of that incident?"

"Yes..."

"Everyone treats you differently because of how much power you have..."

"... Yes..."

"..."

"We... Are still best friends right...?"

"..."

"Chloe...?"

At that moment, I, who was still nothing but a floating cloud head, tried to gather all of my energy to absorb the wind and water around me to return my body to normal. I started to gain more mass and increase in size until I finally was back to my full body.

"Ah! It's you!! The girl from earlier!!"

I was about to take a gamble, but if this relationship was going to work I needed to trust Balla the same way she trusted me.

"This is my real form... I'm a nimbus... I ran away from home because I was tired of everyone around me looking at me as if I was a walking time-bomb due to the fact that my control over water and wind was much higher than the rest..."

"W- What...?"

"When I first saw you... I became scared as well, because I had never seen anyone like you before... But now, after spending a whole day with you... I can say for sure..."

"...!"

"You are a weirdo..."

"!!!???"

"The way you talk, the way you sleep, the way you interact with people... Everything about you is weird..."

"..."

"But you're not a bad girl..."

"..."

"You're just lonely... Like me... Because nobody tried to give you a chance... The same way nobody tried to give me a chance..."

"..."

"So I want you to know... I don't mind the fact that you are a weirdo... And I don't mind the fact you might kill me in your sleep..."

"Uhh..."

"Everyone deserves the right to have a friend... Someone tried to give me that right once, and I messed all up... But I wanna make it work this time... So I want you to know right now... I have no problems with being your friend as long as you have no problems with being mine..."

"R- Really??"

"I still don't know if we could call ourselves best friends or whatever... But I have no problems with us being friends period."

"Do- Do you mean it!!??"

"I do!! And as your friend, I want to do something for you to prove it!!"

"Something for me...?"

"Let's try to fix up your reputation with the rest of the inhabitants of the island! This is a place to welcome anyone at any time! It's time for you to feel welcome again!!"

"You would do that!!??"

"We are friends right?"

"... B- Best fri-"

"Not best!! Just friends... ... Baby steps..."

"Baby steps... Ok..."

"Now let's go... Time for this island to give you a second chance!"

We started to fly towards Balla's cave to come up with a plan to restore her reputation, but on the way there I could hear her whispering very quietly something over again and over again.

[[[[Best friends! Best friends!]]]]

At least she was trying to hide it now... Baby steps... Baby steps...