“Haah...haahh.”

“Haah...haah.”

“Wait where did those men go?”

Before we even knew it, the eight men had all disappeared. Nicole and I both looked in around in confusion but after scanning our surroundings there was a man sitting down. He was smiling as he sat there and when our eyes met he stood up. The next thing I knew, he was once again on the ground because Nicole had tackled him down.

“John! John! John!”

“It’s ok Nicole, I won’t go anywhere.”

It took me a few seconds but I knew who that man was now. He was John, the man Nicole has been looking. Seeing Nicole cry was another expression I had only seen on her face once and it made me happy. She was starting to express her emotions more and more as time passed.

After calming Nicole down, John stood up and walked towards me. Seeing him up close, I could tell that he was handsome man. His face was handsome and rugged but also full of scars which emitted a sense of manliness. I could tell in an instant that he was a man used to battles.

“Thank you very much for taking care of Nicole.”

The first thing John did was bow his head and thanked me.

“Oh. Ah. You’re welcome.”

“I wasn’t able to properly introduce myself last time so let me do it now. My name is John Stock.”

“Oh. Nice to meet you John. My name is Jane Fallen.”

“Jane...Fallen?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Sorry about that Jane. It’s late so let me take both of you back to my place.”

On the way to John’s place, I wasn’t able to talk with him much. After crying her eyes out, Nicole had fallen asleep so John had to carry her on his back. We both didn’t speak much because neither of us wanted to wake her up.

After a few minutes of walking in the slums we arrived at a gated house. It looked like any other house around it but the only difference was that it had a steel fences surrounding the building. It wasn’t like any other buildings didn’t have fences but it was just rare in the slums.

Standing in front of the gates really showed me how tall it actually was. It was about the height of two adult sized humans. John grabbed a key out of his pocket and opened the gate with it and as soon as we entered the house there were many dogs barking at us.

“Don’t be afraid Jane. Just stay with me and you’ll be fine.”

“Ok.”

We both walked down the pathway towards the door to the house and the dogs walked around us sniffing at us and seeing if they should attack. Luckily John knew the dogs so he was able to make them all sit and wait. What surprised me was that Nicole didn’t even wake up at the sounds of the dogs barking at us.

We entered the home and the inside surprised me. From the outside the house looked broken down but within it, it was well maintained and didn’t show any signs of being broken.

“Wow this place is so clean that you wouldn’t expect it from the way the outside looks.”

“Haha, yeah it is. You can thank Kevin for all his hardwork in maintaining this place all by himself. Jane you can go ahead and sit over there while I go and put Nicole to bed.”

“Ok.”

I led myself towards the couch in the living room and sat down. Having nothing to do I could only look around the house and appreciate how clean this place was. After looking around the place I saw a man look at me in shock from the kitchen. He was staring at me with a piece of toast still in his mouth.

“Uh. Hello there. My name is Jane and I am here with John.”

“John? John? Oh. John. You are here with John. Nice to meet you, my name is Kevin...Uh, Kevin Sueden.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Nice to meet you Kevin. This place is very comfortable so thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“Oh, John told me that you were the one taking care of this place and I just wanted to thank you for making it so comfortable to be in. It feels like you took a lot of time and effort in making this place comfortable.”

“Thank you. House arrangement is a hobby of mine that I enjoy. I wanted to make this place feel like a second home to anyone who decides to stay here.”

“Yeah, it does feel like home.”

Kevin Sueden was a nice person. He didn’t have any of John’s rough and manly aura to him but he had his own charm that made it fun to chat with him. I also admired the details he had put into his hobby because I could see that he really loved house arrangement.

“Do you want anything to drink or eat Jane. I can make some tea or toast for you.”

“Thank you Kevin, can I have some tea then.”

“Alright, the tea will be ready in a few minutes.”

As we both waited for the water to boil, John’s footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

“Oh, Kevin you’re here. Are you boiling tea, can you also make me a cup too. While you’re still in the kitchen can you make me some toast too.”

“Yeah, yeah, i’ll make you a cup and some toast you slave driver.”

“Hey, you can’t be disrespecting your elders like that.”

“What elder. You’re only five years older than me.”

“Yeah and that makes me your elder. Back in my day kids would listen to their elders.”

“Elder my ass.”

“Pwwhaahahahaha.”

In that moment I couldn’t hold my laugh in. They were arguing with each other like little kids and I could see that the both of them were close friends. The both of them also began laughing at their antics.

“Sorry you had to see such an unrefined side of us Jane.”

“No, it’s ok Kevin. I can tell the two of you are very close.”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for over ten years.”

The tea was ready and Kevin served the three of us at the living room table. The atmosphere slowly changed and it was no longer joyous. The expression on John and Kevin’s face turned serious and I knew they were about to start asking me questions.

“Once again I have to thank you for bringing Nicole here Jane. I’m sorry and this may seem rude but can I ask you some questions.”

“Go ahead John.”

“Why did you bring Nicole here? What is your motive for coming along with Nicole?”

“All I saw was a lost little girl who was in trouble and I wanted to help her. I wanted to reunite her with her family because I know how important it is to spend time with your family before they all disappear.”

“Thank you for answering truthfully Jane. From your words and Nicole’s attitude towards you, I can genuinely tell that you are a nice person. Earlier I saw that Nicole was angry at you and that was the first time I had ever seen her actually get angry. I can tell that she holds you very dear in her heart. I want to thank you again for taking care of Nicole and opening her emotions up. I have always been worried that Nicole would never be able to trust or open up to anyone else besides me but after seeing her with you, I am assured she will be able to open up to others.”

“It’s no problem John. On my journey with Nicole, she was like a little sister that I had to care for.”

“Thank you Jane. So what are your plans now. I’m thinking about leaving with Nicole in a few days and heading on back home. Do you want to come with us.”

“Thank you for the offer but I think i’ll travel around doing my job a bit more.”

“Ok Jane. If you ever want to settle down you can go to the city-state of Key and live in a village call Clear View. Clear View is a beautiful small village built on the base of a mountain facing the sea. The villagers are all caring and loving so if you do decide to settle down, they will quickly accept you as one of them.”

“Thank you for the offer John. Maybe in the future when I decide to settle down i’ll go to the village of Clear View.”

“Jane if you do settle down in Clear View and it ever faces a crisis, go and tell the mayor to search for the dragon in the dragon’s lair.”

“Umm? Ok. Why are you telling me all of this?”

“I just have a feeling. I’m sorry that I can’t explain it but I trust you with it. It’s starting to get late so let’s all go to sleep. Jane if you want to, you can go sleep with Nicole.”

“Ok, i’ll take you up on that offer.”

……

Three days quickly passed by and it was time for me to leave Firefly city. During these days Nicole spent most of her time with John but she also didn’t forget to spend time with me. She probably knew that I was feeling a little bit lonely without her so she also spent time with me.

We were now at the east entrance of Firefly city. John, Nicole, Kevin, and me were all parting ways on that day. I felt sad parting ways with Nicole because it felt like my family was going to disappear from me but I knew that she had her own life to live.

“I’m going to miss you Nicole.”

“I’m going to miss you too Big Sister Jane.”

That was the first time Nicole had ever called me Big Sister Jane and it made me so happy that tears started falling. I didn’t know if this would be the last time we met so it made me even happier to know that Nicole had accepted me as part of her family.

“Goodbye Nicole. Goodbye John. Goodbye Kevin. You guys all stay well and live your lives to the fullest.”

I left on a carriage and soon the three of them became dots in the distant. This is how I met Nicole Blaine and also how we parted ways from one another.