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Yeah, definitely, after fourteen minutes stuck in the company of Ms. Sunshine over here, it sure was nice to have someone different that didn’t see me as the dirt beneath their boots or any other equally degrading metaphors.

Elf-lady smiled her largest yet, the strap of a stopwatch dangling loosely around her wrist, glinting brightly with the record of our personal best.

“All five,” I proclaimed, piling all the fragments onto the table, before promptly rearranging them to fit like pieces to a puzzle. One part goes here, another part goes there, and before long – voila, a heart, a love, had blossomed, forged solely by our efforts and unwavering bond. “I like the symbolism you got going here. Cute.”

“Well, you got our head organizer to thank for that,” She told me. “He’s the one that actually came up with all the games you’ve participated in.”

If she was talking about who exactly I was thinking about, which she definitely was, then my God, I seriously have no idea what to make of this man anymore.

Was he a ruthless mob boss that would gun down a guy without a blink of an eye at the slightest whim? Or was he the type of guy to stay awake at night planning wholesome lovey-dovey games and gushing at the thought of all the pretty flowers he could use to make it even better?

Man’s so two-faced, he was practically two entirely different people, seriously…

“Fascinating, surely, to someone of lesser regard,” Amelia walked up, claws digging in and almost puncturing holes in the table. “Now, tell me, is this it? Are we finally free of being strung along by your strings? These mindless games of yours, is it over?”

.....

Y’know, for someone so eloquent, she sure was sorely lacking in politeness. I feel like the day she was all smiles would also be the day the world would have finally gone insane.

Luckily, the elf lady took it all in jovial stride, swiping up our proof of love and depositing it behind her side of the desk.

“True love always lasts forever,” She answered in turn, “But in the case of these events, yep, you’re all done. All that’s left for you to do now is wait for your results, and as well as see just how your… other competitors measure up to your standard of love.”

Then emerging from around the bend, as if invoked by the elf’s words, I saw a pair of two approaching the stand, looking as perfect as perfect can be.

Because that’s what they were.

Simply perfect. The dashing hero, Leon, and his darling heroine clinging close.

He caught my eye in an instant, and was brazenly pleased to see me, then par for the course now, he glanced funny at Amelia, and after a few confirming blinks, seemed content in thinking that his eyes were simply just playing tricks on him.

“Two hours left until the results are announced,” the elf-attendant informed us, brushing over to the side to make room. “Free feel to keep answering questions with what spare time you still have. Or don’t. Maybe you much rather spend that time with each other. What with all the games, perhaps you’d rather have some quiet time instead.”

That was all the confirmation Amelia needed to immediately go adios on me, stomping down the opposite path for that much yearned-for peace and quiet.

I quickly gave chase, and along the way, briefly brushed shoulders with Leon who just as quickly stopped in my tracks to ask.

“How’d you do?”

“Better than you,” I said, before hurriedly parting away again. “Hopefully.”

He chuckled at that, keen and eager at the sound of a worthy challenge.

“Guess we’ll see.”

I must have walked the length of half a football field before I caught the slightest glimpse of Amelia in the distance.

“Hey,” I called out, finally gaining ground as she rounded a corner in an emptier direction. “What happens now?”

“Now I leave,” Amelia finally stopped, turning around and flinging Adalia’s armband at me which I barely caught. “I have done all that I am able to. The rest, I trust you alone should prove capable enough to handle.”

“Oh, so I take it that means you’re not gonna spy on us anymore?”

“Rest assured,” She threw me her signature leer. “I have much better things to do.

“Like?”

She scoffed. Another iconic signature of hers. “Not any of your business, frankly.”

“Not alone tonight though, I’m hoping?”

“And what does it matter to you if I was?”

“Well, I’m not gonna say that’s exactly music to my ears,” I said, shrugging. “But in case you’re just simply lying about that… then, maybe you can do something else for a change.”

At once, her eyes sharpened into knives.

“If you are suggesting to me what I think you are suggesting…”

As a matter of fact, I was. All throughout, seeing her and being with her, I had Tyler always constantly on my mind.

Morning, noon, and now recently dusk, trapped in bandages and confined to his bed with only the snow falling down from the view of his window to keep him company.

Should preface by stating that my stance on the matter has not budged a single inch, I still seriously think that Amelia was bad news when it came to the company Tyler wants to keep. But tonight, especially tonight, anything was better than nothing.

Still, I remembered what he told me, he was stern about it, and it was as serious as I ever saw him, he didn’t want charity, he didn’t want to have to ask… and made it extremely vocal that he did not want Amelia anywhere near him so long as she doesn’t want to be.

I don’t intend to go any way against his one request.

“Just a suggestion,” I said, backing off. “Not gonna bother talking you into it.”

Gradually, her gaze eased off of mine.

“As if you’d even be able to.”

“Just give it a bit of thought,” I said, my only plea. “I know you’d make him the happiest guy tonight if you actually showed.”

“And you believe his happiness matters even the slightest to me?”

“What, you mean after everything you’ve done together so far?” I just shrugged my shoulders. “Here’s hoping.”

If it was just imagination, then clearly I was tripping, but I could have sworn having seen a flicker to her glare, the curtains of her coldness pulled back, and I managed to chance a glimpse of something more than she intended to let on.

And in that one moment, it had me thinking maybe, just maybe, Tyler’s happiness mattered just the tincy-wincy bit to her, after all.

Suddenly I heard something loud snap from behind me, and I turned in alarm only to spot a kid nearby suffering the greatest despair of his entire existence over a balloon with remnants splattered all across the pavement.

Then with my back still turned, I heard a harsh gust of a sharp breeze, and before I even whirled around again, I already knew just what exactly I was going to turn to find.

Yep, you guessed it – nothing. Once again, Amelia’s gone ghost on me. The spot where she last stood left with not even a sliver of her presence.

Two surprise noises one after the other, but to add to my surprise, the surprises weren’t over just yet. A third sound, a familiar sound, came rippling in that same sharp whirlwind of a breeze.

For the third time, I spun around in a new direction, and all at once, I felt every emotion and reaction racing to reach first place and coming into the finish line all tied.

A genuine gust of wind blew this time, and I watched the light flutter of her gray hair become swept in its gentle tide. She blinked, and I got trapped, ensnared, taken utterly and hopelessly by the murky swirl of her clouded gaze.

“Adalia.”

For some reason, the first urge to come through was the impulse to smile, and you bet your ass, I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face. She looked better, much better. Not as pale, not as feeble as she was before.

“You’re awake!” I clamored. “But how are you…? You were asleep, I thought you couldn’t…?”

My legs shuffled over closer towards her as if somehow having a closer look at her was gonna unveil the answer to me. And in a way, it sorta did.

Adalia’s lips slowly parted open to speak.

“You… left…” her voice sounded in that same soothing whisper. “I couldn’t… feel you… anymore…”

“You mean, in your sleep?”

“It… disturbed me…” She nodded slowly. “It woke… me…” She blinked again. “...sensing… you’re gone…”

And without even the added flair of emotions and nuance inflections, I still felt the pang of guilt hearing her words. Picturing her just snapping me awake in the middle of nowhere with me just gone and with no answers why did not make for some comfort contemplating.

“I’m really sorry for leaving,” I hastened to say. “Yeah, you also told me wake you, but see, here’s the thing—”

“My sister… appeared…”

The surprises just keep on coming.

“Yes, she did,” I said, momentarily stricken in awe before slowly giving it some thought. “You sensed her too, I’m guessing?”

Adalia didn’t answer, instead, her eyes drifted down over to her creased-up armband still in my grip, and for once, I could see the cogs turning in her head, witness the behind-the-scenes to her keen astuteness.

“You played… the event… with her…” She said, hitting the nail on the head as always. “She… pretended to be… me…”

“She was spying on us,” I began to explain. “When she saw you were completely drained, she offered to take your place. She wanted to help fulfill my promise to you. First place, right?” I offered a feeble smile, letting out a small uneasy breath. “You’re… not mad, are you?”

It was genuinely hard to tell what she was thinking and feeling at the moment. True, I did this for her. But it was also true that I went against her wish. Really, it was either or.

“Did you… win…?” She finally spoke up again. “Did you get… first place…?”

“The event was time-based, actually,” I said, before quickly adding. “But the attendant did say we were probably the fastest.”

“I… see…” Adalia roused to life in a slow instant, shambling a step forward. It was suddenly cold again, pleasant again, as I felt myself leaning slightly toward the light embrace of her arms wrapped around once again on my left. “No… I am… not mad…”

So easily I could have been content with that, but I just wasn’t. No, I needed to be completely sure, I needed to be completely honest.

“Close to the end of the game, um… in order to get the final piece we needed… the rules stated that I had to demonstrate my love for her, erm, I mean, you, and there really wasn’t any way out of it besides game-over, so we—”

“You… kissed her…”

Slow and sluggish outwardly, but deep within, faster to the catch before I could even have the chance to blink.

“I understand if you think we took it a step too far…” I said quietly. “For some reason, Amelia really wanted that win for you. To be fair, I did too, but… again, if you’re mad, I completely understand, and…”

“You… don’t… love her…” She interjected again, relaying a point that felt all too familiar. “You love… me…”

I shook my head. “It’s not an excuse.”

.....

“No…” She agreed, and I felt her grip, her weight, hold and press onto me even tighter. “...because… there is nothing… to excuse…”

A sigh was all I could muster up to that. In amazement, disbelief, a simultaneous sensation muddled both in guilt and relief.

“Is there a reason why you’re not even the slightest bit upset?”

“You… love me…” sounded her simple, concise piece of reasoning, spoken with a tenderness that amplified both feelings a hundredfold. “...that is all… that matters… to me…”

Despite all her reassurances, my conscience just wouldn’t clear. After all my transgressions piled practically sky high, it was practically languishing for some act of penance.

Fuck, maybe I do have a sort of punishment kink.

“I want to try and make it up to you,” I told her, meeting her muddled, misty eyes. “Even if you don’t want me to.”

Adalia considered me for a moment, slowly and dreamily, her eyelids fluttered at me.

“Okay…”

Gently, I felt her arms tug me forward in a random direction, and in her pace, slow, tranquil and serene, I let her guide me, a welcome change of pace from all the sprinting from before, only… just where were we going exactly?

“Chocolate…” I heard her say, her sole demand, my act towards my gradual redemption. “...more chocolate…”

Better than nothing, I suppose.