Ivy's jaw twitched, her mouth releasing a deep yawn as her muscles tensed. It was another long night for the heiress, but thanks to the one she wouldn't dare to identify, it was a peaceful experience. Not even during her days on Callisto in her luxurious room could she hope for such rexation.

  But that, of course, never came at the cost of having to deal with Li.

  "Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Li smiled, her warm breath crawling down Ivy's neck.

  "Huh!" Ivy's eyes fred with red as her hands hurried to cover her mouth.

  She couldn't bear to look at Li. For all she knew, the girl was as smug as a goat, her mind loaded with all sorts of jokes and insults. But as she slowly turned her head to face Li, the heiress saw nothing but a warm, understanding smile.

  "You doing okay?" Li whispered, her freckles gleaming in the dawn. "We're already one day in."

  Ivy contained her embarrassment, barely mustering her reply as she focused on the delightfully distracting conversation. "I doubt it'll remain so easy. Yrix won't permit anything less than excruciating."

  "Yeah, I figured she wouldn't. Any minute now, we're gonna be in the thick of it. I did hear some gunfire st night."

  "Sonera?" Ivy whinced with a tinge of concern in her voice.

  Li shrugged. "Probably. But knowing her, she got out all right. And probably with Lunae in tow."

  "Let's not dally then."

  Ivy dusted herself off, her shaky legs cmbering over each other as she attempted to rise.

  "Ooh." Li braced her arms against the heiress's legs. "Careful."

  Ivy grimaced. "R-right. I am just a bit...woozy."

  "That uhh...happens when you're dehydrated."

  "Thirsty? Your muscles suffer from disrupted electrolyte bance, yes." Ivy expined in a monotone voice. "I advise we...find something for ourselves."

  "You talk like a robot when you're nervous, do you know that?" Li giggled.

  "Shut up!" Ivy fumed, her face turning red. "We shouldn't be far from some water."

  Ivy hobbled away from the dead tree she called a bed as quickly as she could, her bruised ankles struggling to keep her heels banced.

  "Hey, uh." Li pointed as she rose to her feet with comparative ease. "You can take those off, you know. Or...make something more comfortable."

  "I'm fine."

  "Ya sure? Yrix gave me these lil tennis shoes," Li smiled, gesturing towards her bck and red sneakers. "Pretty cute. A lot more comfortable than what you got."

  Li followed Ivy through the forest, trying her best to help the heiress with her self-inflicted struggles. She couldn't for the life of her understand a single one of Ivy's choices. Though it seemed the feeling was mutual.

  "I said...I'm fine." Ivy lied, nearly tripping over a loose branch.

  "Girl, you're not." Li squinted suspiciously.

  Out of sheer frustration, Ivy raised one leg up into the air, unbuckled her heels, and hurled it at Li.

  "You wouldn't understand!"

  Li caught the footwear, cradling it in her arms. "Try me!"

  "What's the point. You couldn't begin to fathom why I'd keep my family's attire."

  "Wait, but...the things you've said about them. Don't you want to...avoid it?"

  "See!" Ivy threw her other shoe. "That's what I knew you'd say!"

  Li reached out to catch the st projectile with a grunt. "Well it's...not my fault you're so hard to read!"

  Ivy groaned, trotting off with improved footwear before she came upon a small pond. Taking a moment to scan it, she released a small grin.

  "Is it...drinkable?" Li asked from behind, still holding Ivy's heels.

  "Yes."

  "How do you know?"

  "I just do."

  Li set Ivy's heels down by a nearby trunk. "Finally!" She practically sprinted over the pool, and, after kneeling down in front of it, began to drink from it like a dog.

  Ivy produced a disgusted expression, her mind racing with all the possible ways she could call Li a primitive.

  "Don't do it like that!" The heiress squirmed, grabbing a nearly dry leaf before dusting it off and dunking it into the pool. "Here."

  Li's eyes widened with amazement as she turned to see the heiress a mere inches from her face. Left with no choice but to accept, the girl shut her eyes and pced her lips over the edge of the leaf, allowing Ivy to offer her a drink.

  "There." Ivy smiled with motherly satisfaction, her eyes turning a deep shade of red. "Much better."

  "Uh." Li blushed after gulping down the st bit of water. "Yeah."

  The heiress chucked the leaf with savage strength. Directing her attention back towards the pool, she conjured an angur mug built out of Psionic prisms, and after using her Psionic grasp to siphon the water into her container, she took a clean and proper drink.

  "Oh, I see how it is." Li crossed her arms and pouted. "Always have to one-up me, huh. Might as well raise a pinky while you're at it, fancy pants."

  "I'm a dy, remember." Ivy glowered.

  "I'm sure you told yourself that when you cuddled up to me at night."

  Ivy's gaze turned back into an icey blue. "I-."

  "Uh-huh," Li smirked.

  "Can we not do this right now?"

  "Fine."

  As if it had a mind of its own, Li's stomach began to grumble, sounding almost like a feral cougar. Ivy looked at her pensively before releasing another sigh.

  "So uhh." Li smiled sheepishly. "Ya got any ideas for food?"

  Ivy pced her hands on her hips. "Depends, are you aversed to killing animals?"

  "Of course! No hurting any cute bunnies or birdies!"

  "Then you'll just have to look away."

  Ivy suprised herself, entertaining such childishness. But an odd feeling of satisfaction swept over her when presented with the oppurtunity to care for Li. It was as if she was finally allowed to feel genuine pride over something.

  "Okay..." Li turned around, plugging her ears. "Just don't make it slow."

  "Pff." Ivy snorted. "Me? Slow?"

  Calling forth her silver baton, Ivy hurled it into the treeline, allowing it to crash through a series of branches as she scanned the horizon. Eventually, she would find her mark, causing a grueling crunch to sound off in the distance.

  By the time Li permitted herself to turn around, she had already found Ivy plucking the feathers off a small carcass.

  "Easy." Ivy bragged.

  "Poor birdie!" Li compined.

  "You're a coward."

  "And you're cruel!"

  Ivy shrugged. "Do you think Sonera is out there feeling bad for the birds? Oh, how nice her fmes would be right about now."

  "I bet Sonera has a soft spot for animals, actually. Besides, how are you going to cook it? And how do you know anything about survivalism?" Li simmered.

  "I simply do."

  "Eborate."

  "Li, I don't have to tell you anything. Not unless I want to."

  "Seriously?" Li plopped herself onto the floor. "Aren't we past this?"

  Ivy put her foot down. "Not. A. Thing."

  "Then can you at least tell me how you know about my plushies!"

  Ivy stepped back, her shame hitting her like a mallet. She was more than comfortable keeping Li in the dark on an innumerable number of things. But when it came to her plushies, her whole world was shattered.

  "You...think about them often. I gleamed their image." Ivy expined as best she could without giving herself away.

  "Let me guess, you think they're stupid and childish." Li buried her face in her knees. "Poor little guys, probably buried in rubble somewhere."

  "Actually, I think they're quite cute."

  "Huh?" Li's eyes lit up with amazement.

  "You heard me. They're cute little things."

  Ivy tried not to lose her composure, practically melting at the sight of Li's glee. To have herself be accepted in any form or fashion by the heiress was like a dream come true for the Earthling. It was almost as if Ivy's problems had, since the beginning, taken the spotlight.

  She was desperate.

  "I...thank you." Li looked up with a tender grin. "That means a lot to me."

  "Boy's the cutest." Ivy tilted her head with a teasing smile, standing over Li as she continued to pluck the feathers off her kill. "Girl is a handful."

  "You spend a lot of time in my head, huh?" Li wondered.

  "I told you we aren't having this conversation."

  "Yeah, I know...I know."

  Ivy rolled her eyes, turning away from Li as she considered her options for heating the carcass. In truth, she wasn't hungry one bit. All that mattered was keeping Li safe.

  Or did it?

  A great war raged on within Ivy's heart. Part of her wanted to keep yelling at the Earthling like she was dirt. Another part of her felt nearly dependent on her.

  The one thing she could agree on with herself, however, was the secrecy of her past. Under no circumstances could Li be made aware of that who haunted her dreams. No one else deserved that.