Getting Jules to put on her mask only took a slight bit of convincing at least. She grumbled then put it on, pulling it out of her purse. It snapped into place, the filters covering her mouth.

The city was… quiet. Every step away from the bar made the music quieter. There was little wind to move the stale air. This late there truly were only the streetlamps, with not even the moon piercing the sky. The mix of clouds and smog smothered all non-artificial light.

I heard my shoes click against the pavement as we walked. We took a turn into an alley, with fewer lights around, and it went from dim to truly dark. I smirked as I felt my pupils expanding. My vision was… significantly better than it had any right to be.

The changes from being a Reflector weren’t always obvious, but a few people had been able to lose their glasses because of the improved vision. Well, that was my theory, given the fact that there was a good amount of people suddenly regaining perfect vision right around the time my master got to Eden first.

The thought of him brought a wry smile to my face. Jules was trotting along with me, mostly focussing on the ground and occasionally groaning. Occasionally she stumbled and I caught her, my footing much more secure since I could see the small bumps in the cobblestone that covered the smaller alleys.

I kept my wits about me, too, tipsiness already faded away. With Jules around, I was quite a bit more worried about someone coming up to me. If I were alone, I was quite confident in sprinting away, but like this, it might mean an actual confrontation, which I truly wanted to avoid.

One after another, minutes passed. I saw Jules’ eyes occasionally closing, and she leaned into me some more when it happened, trusting me to guide her away from any walls or road signs and such.

Slowly we made our way through the dilapidated streets. I sighed to myself. As a kid, I loved reading about apocalypse type stories. Crumbled buildings and one woman against the world kind of things.

Now? Well, some of those would certainly be a better backdrop than the current concrete jungle. If instead of houses there were just a few more gardens, that would truly be lovely.

I always enjoyed the thought of that. Nature reclaiming things humans had abandoned. Grass growing from cracked roads, vines scaling the rubble of torn down buildings.

Then I breathed in the stale smog. The air was full of the smell of humanity. Spilled beer, car exhausts, the smell of burnt coal, and the chemical blend that eclipsed the sky. A small frown found itself on my lips. This was not exactly what I wanted Cass to experience, but then again, I suppose it was part of life.

Well, life here.

I sighed, then scanned the area again. Entirely empty, as everything else.

Some of the streetlights in front were flickering. I don’t think they did that the last time I visited Jules, but that had also been months ago.

Why did I visit so rarely actually? I looked at her hanging onto my arm, drowsy and exhausted and smiled a little, shaking my head. I gently shook her.

“Come on Jules. We’re almost home,” I said.

“Hm?” her eyelids fluttered as she looked up at me.

I tapped her forehead a couple times. “Home soon, Jules. Come on, get your keys out.”

“Mmh. ‘Kaaaay.” With a distracted look, she ran her fingers through the purse again. It took her a bit, during which I led her closer to the apartment building. The cobblestones once again changed to be full pavement.

Our footsteps rang loudly in the empty night. It felt almost too empty, but then again, streets were emptier since people didn’t particularly enjoy wearing masks.

Half a minute later we stood in front of the door, and a full minute after that, Jules finally managed to get the key into the keyhole and undo the lock. It was a building painted a chipped red, the door a metal frame of the same colour with a glass front. The doorbells were dilapidated, almost all the names faded away.

“Come on. Just a couple more stairs.”

“We got an elevator recently,” she mumbled.

“Oh?”

“New addition. Sponsored by some rich guy. Son moved into here. Complained about the steps,” she explained drowsily. Well, now the sleepiness seemed more one of comfort, the air in here much nicer than outside, and it was a smidge warmer.

“Any company I’d know?” I asked, making idle conversation as I looked for the promised elevator.

“Dunno. Don’ remember~” she giggled a little at the end, squeezing my arm which she still hadn’t let go of.

I gave a small sigh, finally finding the promised stainless steel doors at the end of the white hallway. It was an older building, the flooring still made from tiles. The kind that had stained overtime as dozens of shoes walked over them.

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With a ding the doors opened up, and there was, somewhat surprisingly, a man in a suit in there, with short, blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked up from his phone as he stepped out, raising his eyebrows at me. There was a moment of hesitation.

“Sorry, could you, uh, step aside?” he asked, the politeness in his voice wavering as he seemed hurried.

In my eyes he had a lot of space, but whatever. I took a small step, and pulled Jules closer towards the wall as well.

“Thanks,” he muttered, then checked his phone, scratched and shook his head then walked past. By the time he was gone, the elevator doors had closed again, then quickly opened once more as I clicked the button.

“That’s the guyy,” Jules said as we stepped in and I selected the button for her floor. “Whole elevator, just ‘cause daddy loves him so much.”

I shook my head. “C’mon, don’t badmouth him like that. You did also receive an elevator.”

“Mhhh,” she mumbled. “True.”

There was a bit more quiet until the doors opened with another small ding, and I pulled Jules out. Soon we were at her door, then inside the flat. She quickly threw her mask and purse onto a small cupboard by the doorway, then took the few steps into the living room, plopping down on the sofa.

I quickly slipped out of my shoes, something she had entirely forgotten, following her on the wooden floor. “Jules! Shoes!”

“Friiiiick~”

I caught the shoe she had tossed at about the height of my face as I got through the living room entrance. She first showed me a shocked look, then broke down laughing, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright, toss me the second one, too, since I’m already at it,” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. After catching it, I also put that one down next to the door.

“Fio?” Jules called from the living room.

“Yea?”

“Wanna stay over?” she asked.

I froze for a moment, then thought it over. It was kind of a far walk home, and I really, really didn’t wanna get shanked right before finally meeting the others. Well, meeting them on this side.

Also, I didn’t particularly wanna get shanked in general, actually. It would also ruin my plan to meet Beth tomorrow.

“Sure,” I said to Jules, giving her a smile.

I liked her flat. It was a bit overdecorated honestly, but that also made it feel a lot more like home than mine did. There were shelves full of little figurines and multiple pinwalls of pictures. All kinds of them, too. Framed ones even filled some of the shelves alongside other bits and bobs.

“You still draw?” I asked while walking through the room, running my fingers across a desk with a piece of paper and some watercolour on it.

“Shit! You didn’t see that!” Jules suddenly yelled, scrambling to get up and landing her ass on the floor instead, her face red.

I gave her a smile and winked. “Gotta be more confident in yourself, then. But alright, just this one, memory erased from my brain!” I mimed pulling it out, and she flashed me a smile as she got to her feet.

“Do you, uh, wanna eat anything?” she asked.

I laughed. “Jules. Please. Sit down. If anything, I’d be making food, you’re not touching a knife right now.”

She blushed even more. “Okay. Right, yeah, I’ll uh. Just change into pajamas. Help yourself to anything. There’s makeup removal wipes in the drawer right underneath the bathroom sink!” With that, she bolted off before embarrassing herself more.

With a small smirk I headed there, setting about cleaning my face. Of course, before that I also washed my hands, since I’d been out in public. When I looked in the mirror I saw I was still wearing the mask and quickly took it off, stowing it away. I shook my head at that. How I could dislike it so much and simultaneously forget about it was a strange feeling.

A few minutes later, I was sitting on the living room couch with Jules. She was wearing a comfy shirt, probably from when she was younger, since it had the motif of a popular comic dog on it.

“Wanna watch a movie or something?” she offered.

“Jules. As kindly as possible, I think you should be going to bed,” I said with a smirk, lightly boxing her shoulder.

She gave me a small pout, then stuck out her tongue. “Fineeee, you’re probably right. If you’re staying the night, do ya wanna sleep on the couch or in my room? My sister’s bed is still in there from when she stayed here for a while.”

I thought about my spine for a moment. “You sister’s bed it is.”

Jules grinned. “Awesome. There’s fresh sheets on there, so means less work for me. Wanna borrow a set of sleeping clothes, too?”

I smiled. “That would be lovely.”

“You’re lucky we’re the same size then,” she said, waving her hands through the air as she headed to her room. I followed, and a few moments later, she thrust a set of clothes into my arms. Once again, the shirt had cartoon characters on it, though this time it was essentially striped but the stripes were the same cat walking in a row.

“Adorable,” I said, and Jules very decidedly pushed me out of the room to get changed.

I went ahead and did just that in the bathroom, then sat down my clothes by the foot of the bed, laying my purse on top of them. By then, Jules was already wrapped in blankets. I turned off the light, then laid down in the spare bed. They were on opposite sides of the room, one with more stuff than the other.

“Your sister left some things when she moved?” I asked.

Jules nodded, and responded after a small yawn. “Yea. Left some things, tho. Said they’d remind me of her.” She smiled. “They do.”

“Naaawe. Gosh, you’re the cutest.” I couldn’t help but smile at that.

Jules pulled the blanket halfway over her face. “Stop grilling me alreadyyyy! Go to sleep, Fio!”

“Fine, fine,” I said, giving a small shrug. “I’ll be quiet. Gonna read a bit on my phone, alright?”

“Sure. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Today, dummy,” I said, grinning.

“Shut up, dork!”

“Kaaay. Nighty.”

There were a couple minutes of silence.

“Thanks for walking me home, Fio.”

“‘Course, Jules. No problem.”

“Means a lot.”

“I know.”

“Okay, night now,” she muttered, her face almost entirely behind the blanket.

“Night Jules. Would get ya home anytime. ‘S what friends do.”

“Okay.”

With a deep breath, she finally found the resolution to close her eyes. Minutes later, her breathing was already rhythmical and calm. I smiled. I read on my phone a bit, having disabled social media notifications. It was a quiet night. An hour later, I followed Jules into the land of dreams.