As Cameron opened his eyes, he could not help but smile at the sight in front of him. Irene was still sleeping next to him; her ebony cheeks were pressed into the white pillow while her long eyelashes fluttered with her every breath. The soft light of the morning crept through the curtains and landed on her face, resembling a thin streak of fire in the night sky.

He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. A tiny scowl appeared as Irene grunted and stirred.

Chuckling, Cameron hopped out of the bed and made his way to the kitchen. Today shall be pancake day, Irene's favorite. After preparing the bowl of his signature pancake batter, he hovered his palms over the stove. The cooktop lit up; the small blaze danced around as if sensing Cameron's joy.

As he was about to place a pan on the stove, a voice from the living room startled him.

"Hello there."

Cameron almost dropped the pan as he spun around. A white woman with braided auburn hair sat on the dining table, holding onto a large cup of coffee and smiling at him. Her bright green eyes were fixated on him in a curious, almost provocative manner.

He realized that he was not wearing pants, and he quickly covered his banana-patterned boxer briefs with the frying pan.

"Erm, w- who are you?" he asked, as he inched his hands over to a knife on the side.

"That's what I should be asking you," the woman said with a small smirk. She was staring at him so intensely that he squirmed in discomfort.

"W- What do you mean?" Cameron held up the knife he managed to grab. "You should get out of here before I call the police."

The woman let out a hearty laugh. "Put the knife down, my dude. You are no match for me at all. And also, you do know that you don't have to call the police if you have Irene, right? She's way more capable."

"You know Irene?" Cameron frowned. Then, it occurred to him. "Oh, are you Lyn? Her roommate?"

The woman took some time to finish her coffee before getting up from the table.

"And you are?" she asked, her eyebrows raised as she walked towards him.

"C- Cameron," Cameron whispered. His wary eyes darted from the approaching redhead to his embarrassing briefs. "Nice to meet you, but, erm, I'm not wearing pants, so..."

"Oh yeah, I noticed." Lyn leaned forward on the kitchen counter. "Very cute briefs, did Irene buy you that?"

Lyn's unwavering gaze sent chills down Cameron's spine. He gulped; he had never been in a situation like this before, and this was... very awkward and very weird.

"Erm... yeah..."

"Aw, she's never bought me things like that." Lyn was staring straight at his briefs, which made things even more uncomfortable. "So, how long have you two been together for?"

"T- Two months..."

"Two months? Wow, she must really like you. You know, I've never met any of her other boyfriends before, even those that she dated for longer."

Cameron did not know what to say to that. Fortunately, Irene walked out of the room at that point.

"Morning babe, what are you making for—" She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the unexpected visitor. "Lyn?"

"Hey dude," Lyn greeted.

Irene's face lost all color. "Cameron, g- go back to the room..."

Cameron didn't need to be told twice before he bolted out of the kitchen. In his hurry, the frying pan and knife clashed loudly on the counter.

Lyn watched in amusement as the dark-skinned man scrambled back into Irene's room, tripping multiple times on the way. "He's cute, one of the cuter ones I've seen." She turned back to her friend and gave her a wide, impish grin. "But you should tell your man to take better care of our kitchen items."

Rubbing her eyes, Irene put out the fire on the stove with a tiny wave of her hand. "So, you're back." She did not sound happy, not one bit.

"Yeah. Did you miss me?"

Irene rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Oh, you know, jail."

"I know that. What about after that?"

"I told you, I had to go back home. My parents were very upset so I had to—"

"I know that too!" Irene snapped. "I mean, what about after that? You only spent a month in your parents' place, so where were you the past two months?"

"Oh, erm..." Lyn scratched her hair. From their messages, Lyn could tell that Irene was on Team Cydney-Is-To-Blame-For-All-This-Shit, so there was no way she would let her know about what she had been doing. "Not- Not much. Just traveling around, you know, since I can't work anyway."

Irene glared at her. "Don't tell me you were trying to find Cydney." Her voice was seething with fury.

Lyn did not reply, but her expression probably gave it away because Irene exploded into a frenzy.

"Damn it, Lyn, why are you doing this? Why are you still obsessing over her? She's the reason behind everything that happened to you! And to us! Have you forgotten?"

"She's not..." Lyn cringed at Irene's remarks. Then, she sighed. "Look, I'm not obsessing over her, I'm just... She's... You know, she's wanted by the QA, so I'm just going to..."

Irene snorted. "Oh yeah, so you're going to capture her and hand her over to the QA, is that it? You couldn't even do it back when you literally had her in your bed. How do you think you can do that now?"

Lyn looked away. Her tongue tasted bitter as she whispered, "I'll figure it out."

She was prepared to have Irene scream into her face again, but instead, Irene slumped onto a chair next to her. Her anger had dissolved, while sorrow and fatigue took its place.

"Lyn, if you get into trouble again, I don't know if I can handle it..." Irene buried her head into her hands. "You won't let me help you, you won't even talk to me, or tell me how you've been doing. I'm drowning in anxieties worrying about you every day, but all you care about is Cyd. I can't do this again, Lyn, you can't put me through this again."

The hunched figure of a dejected Irene shocked Lyn to the core, and she was hit with a pang of guilt. Why had she ignored Irene's obvious misery for the past few months? She was so used to thinking of Irene as this tough and strong-willed pillar of strength, but maybe it wasn't fair to assume that from her all the time, especially after leaving her behind for so long.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"I'm so sorry, Irene. I didn't mean to make you worry like that." Lyn tried to place a hand on Irene's shoulder, but Irene shook her away. She suppressed a sigh, and added, "Well, in a few days, the QA will lift my suspension, and then, I promise you, things will get back to normal again. I'll get the team together, and we'll get back to questing, just like we used to. I swear, things will go back to normal, or even better than normal, just... trust me."

Irene lifted her head and glanced at Lyn. "But we don't have a fighter for the team anymore."

"Oh, that's not a problem. I found a candidate and he's really good."

"No," Irene said flatly. "We're not letting you choose the fighter again."

"What? No, I swear, he's not..." Lyn trailed off, before relenting, "Okay, yeah, I'll bring this up with the team and we'll decide together."

Irene glowered at Lyn, her usual energy and anger slowly coming back to her. "And we will decide while you keep your mouth shut. If we have any problems with this new guy, you are not allowed to defend him."

"What? Why? I'm... Y- Yeah, alright... Sure..."

That seemed to satisfy Irene for now, at least for a little bit. "God, why am I even your friend?" the dark-skinned woman muttered with an annoyed scowl. "You're the biggest idiot in the world, and you never bother to listen to us, or to check in on us, or to update us about what you're doing or thinking, it's like you forgot we exist. I swear, if you keep obsessing over that traitorous bitch while neglecting us, we're all going to leave you behind, and you can kiss your questing team goodbye!"

Lyn grimaced at the offensive term, but she shook it off. "Look, Irene, I'm really, really sorry. I've been a really bad friend, and I'll... I'll do anything to make it up to you."

Irene peered at her curiously. "You'll do anything?"

"Erm... yeah...?"

"Alright." A small smirk appeared on her face. "Go on a blind date."

Lyn's mouth dropped wide open. "W- What?"

"I'll set you up with someone, and you'd better go. Get your mind off that bitch."

"Don't... Please don't call her that, Irene."

"I can call anybody whatever I want," Irene retorted. "And you're gonna keep going on dates until you find someone new because clearly, you can't get over her for the life of you. We gotta snap you out of whatever state you're in right now."

Lyn sighed. "Why do all of you think I'm going crazy or something... And I don't think forcing myself into a relationship would help anything either. Unless..." She broke into a mischievous grin. "Unless, Irene, we go on double dates? I would really love to get to know more about this Cameron guy. Hm? What do you think?"

"Oh, hell no." Irene stood up at once.

"Aw, come on, Irene, it'll be fun!" Lyn exclaimed as her friend darted away from her clutches.

ϟ☁ϟ☁ϟ

Lyn entered the familiar training studio. For nostalgia's sake, she had rented the same studio that the team had used for their first and last open interviews about two years ago. Her three friends had arrived before her and were chatting inside; their usual dynamic—Irene's cool demeanor, Millie's animated chatter, and Raph's silent observation—made her heart tingle.

She closed the door behind her and cleared her throat. The room turned silent as everyone turned to look at her. Before Lyn could say anything, however, Millie pounced on her like a little puppy.

"Lyn!" she exclaimed, wrapping the team leader up in a tight embrace. "You're back!"

"Hello, Millie..." Lyn staggered under Millie's weight. "H- Hey Raph."

"How have you been?" Millie asked, staring at Lyn with a pair of brown, curious eyes. "How's... How was it like?"

"What?" Lyn mumbled, still fazed from the unexpected bear hug.

"You know... Erm, jail?"

"Oh yeah, well, it's... it's not fun, obviously, but it wasn't too bad, don't worry about it." Lyn quickly changed the topic. "How are you guys?"

"Oh, so good!" Immediately, Millie launched into her storytelling mode. She rambled on about the freelance commissions she did with Irene—gorgons, giant vultures, tarantulas that doubled in size by the minute... The two of them seemed to have expanded their experiences and skills over the last six months.

"That's... that's awesome," Lyn said, trying to mask the envy in her tone. "What about you, Raph? How's Blue Cross treating you?"

Raph shrugged. "It's been as good as it can be."

"Do you... like it there?"

"I guess. Blue Cross is a good guild."

"Oh, well, I... I hope you still want to come back to the team, Raph, I... I need you all back in the team."

Irene stood in the corner with her arms crossed. Upon hearing Lyn's statement, she snorted. "It doesn't feel like you want us at all. You were so focused on finding that person." She spat out the last two words as if they were poison in her mouth.

"Wait, you really were trying to find Cyd?" Raph asked incredulously.

"Lyn, are you still..." Millie frowned. "Do you still want to be with her?"

"I..." Lyn's eyes fluttered.

That question, and many others concerning Cydney, tormented her every minute of the day, but she did not want to upset them further with these thoughts. She had seen how distressed Irene had been—the rest of the team had probably gone through a lot too.

"No, guys, all I want is to get this team back, I promise. It's... it's all my fault that the team had to disband, but I want to stay together as a team again. I... don't want to lose anybody else again." She stared at the healer and conjurer earnestly. "I need you in my team, Raph. And you too, Millie."

Raph and Millie stared back at Lyn, flabbergasted at the sudden confession.

"Of course we'll come back to the team!!" Millie was the first to break the silence. She grinned at Raph. "You'll join too, right, Raph? I miss being on the same team as you."

For the first time, Raph cracked a smile. "Yeah, of course," he said, "but we'll need a fighter, right?"

"Oh yeah, about that..." Lyn gulped, already fearing the reactions that she was going to get. "I do have a candidate..."

And there it was, the reactions she had been expecting—Irene scoffed and rolled her eyes, while Raph and Millie exchanged looks with raised eyebrows.

"Okay, okay, don't look like that, guys, he's really not bad," Lyn defended herself. "That's the reason why I asked you guys to come here. He's waiting outside the studio now, you are free to ask him all the questions you want."

She opened the door and gestured for the burly man to come in. Neil was leaning against the wall, with a large, five-foot-long, twenty-inch-wide sword slung over his shoulders.

"Finally," he muttered under his breath as he entered the studio.

"Neil, this is Irene, Raph, and Millie. Everyone, this is Neil."

Instantly, the guarded, skeptical expressions on the trio disappeared. Millie's mouth dropped wide open, and even Raph and Irene looked like they had been slapped in the face. Neil, with his muscular build and objectively good-looking features, did seem to have that effect on people generally.

"Do you want to introduce yourself a little bit?" Lyn said.

"Yeah, sure," Neil said. "Hello, I'm Neil Maska. 47 years old, Capricorn Sun, Scorpio Moon, born and raised in the Bay Area, and so did my parents too, and all my ancestors. Graduated from a quester program at a community college, then joined The Stormraiders for about five years. Then I had to leave my guild because of personal reasons, and now I work as a freelance private investigator."

That was the longest introduction Lyn had ever heard. She had warned Neil that her friends might be overly suspicious of any new additions to the team, and had reminded him to be as detailed and open as possible—and he certainly delivered on that.

After a long moment of silence as they all ogled at Neil, Irene finally asked the first question. "So, why the switch in career?"

Neil shrugged. "After leaving my old guild, I didn't feel like joining a guild again. And making it as a solo quester is difficult, so I just decided to quit being a quester."

"Then why do you want to do it again now?"

"Well, Lyn asked me to, and she promised me a good salary, so I guess, why not?"

"Yeah, he's really good, he... okay, okay, never mind." Lyn tried to add but cut herself off when she realized everyone else was glaring at her.

"Do you have a record of, erm," —Irene's eyes darted around.— "crimes, or..."

"Blood Magic?" Neil chuckled, glancing at Lyn knowingly. "Nope, I've never done it, don't worry. Well, I guess I can't really prove that, can I? Oh yeah, I can do basic elemental magic, if you're wondering about that too."

He lifted a finger, and a tiny flame lit up on his fingertip. It was not technically impressive, since it was basic fire magic, but it was enough to soothe Lyn's three friends.

"Okay," Irene said with a shrug, "let's see what you got then." She turned to look at Raph and Millie, and all three of them turned to look at Lyn.

"What are you looking at me for?" Lyn blinked. Her eyes widened in disbelief when it hit her. "Wait, you guys want me to fight this dude?"

"Yeah, one can't join a team without duking it out with the team leader." Neil smirked. "Come on, Lyn, let's do it."

"Nah, there... there's no need to. I've seen you fight. You're good," Lyn said nervously. She did not want to fight someone who was a head taller than her and almost twice her size. Also, she had seen how good Neil was in combat; there was a reason why she begged him to join her team.

"What? Why did I even bring my sword out, then? Come on, Lyn, how about this? Let's do elemental magic versus enhancer magic, let's go all out and see which one is better."

"Wait, wait, wait, you want me to fight you using elemental magic?" Lyn could not help but laugh out loud. Typically, duels between two mages were designed to test out combat skills only, and thus using magic beyond enhancer magic was deemed as cheating, especially if that magic was a special elemental magic like lightning. "I'll beat you even before you can even lift your sword, you know that?"

"Try me."

Lyn grinned. "Alright."