“How are things up top?” she asked.

“They’re still saying we need to hurry up or they’ll act,” Gaion replied.

Liz scoffed bitterly. “And to think they had no interest in the surface until recently.”

“Are you all right, Lady Liz?” Gaion asked, concerned. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’ve been having dreadful nightmares lately. I can’t get a good night’s sleep at all.”

For the past few days, she’d been tossing and turning in her sleep, haunted by dreams of a decapitated woman. Makeup could barely hide the dark circles under her eyes, and pressure from the top was the last thing she needed right now. If this kept up, she wouldn’t last much longer.

“How are things on your end?” Gaion asked.

“I managed to keep the demi-humans away, but that elf is proving to be more of a nuisance than anticipated.”

“S-So what now?”

“I thought about it, of course. I have a plan to bring him to my side.”

“Of course you would, Lady Liz!”

Looking up at the sky, which almost seemed on the verge of tears, Liz smiled softly. “I’m finishing this today. It’s the perfect weather for a confession, after all.”

Her infiltration mission was quietly proceeding to its final phase.

***

Half an hour later, beneath the heavy ashen sky, a man and a woman walked the streets of the ruined city side by side.

“I’m sorry to drag you on a walk through the ruins all of a sudden, Zenos,” Liz said with an apologetic expression.

Lily had left on an errand, and Liz had seized the opportunity to ask Zenos to join her on a walk outside under the pretext that she might remember something.

“I don’t mind,” he assured her. “So, did anything come to mind?”

“Not yet, but... I have a feeling...” She narrowed her eyes, gazing upon the decaying buildings. A lukewarm breeze caressed her skin, and the air was damp with moisture. They passed by a deserted house, and a clattering noise echoed from behind them. “Eek!” she yelped, clinging to Zenos.

“It’s just a cat, Liz.”

The cat meowed and ran off down the street. “Oh, goodness. That startled me,” Liz said, breathing a sigh of relief as she slowly pulled away from the healer. “By the way, Zenos, you’ve grown so much. You used to be so small...”

“I guess I have, yeah.”

Emotion tinged their otherwise casual conversation. They both knew many of the children at the orphanage had never had the chance to grow up.

“I used to hug you all the time,” Liz continued.

“You did?”

“I did. When you cried at night, for instance.”

“I didn’t cry at night.”

“Yes, you did! Sometimes.”

“I did not. I absolutely did not.”

“You’ve always been a stubborn one,” she said with a small, awkward smile, peering intently at Zenos.

After going around the ruins, the two made their way back, and the clinic once again came into view.

“So, did you remember anything, Liz?”

“I feel like I’m almost there. I just need something extra to trigger my memory,” she replied slowly, pressing her head with both hands. “Hey, Zenos, there’s one more place I’d like to visit. Could you come with me?”

“One more place?” he echoed. Zenos glanced up at the sky, then turned his gaze toward the clinic. “It looks like it’ll rain soon. Lily might worry if we’re home late.”

“Please, Zenos,” she pleaded earnestly. “If I miss this chance, I might not ever remember.”

The healer looked at her and nodded. “All right. Where did you want to go?”

Liz swallowed hard. “The Dalitz Institute, where our story began.”

***

“Zenos sure is late,” Lily mumbled as she sat at the reception desk, gazing at the clock on the wall of the clinic.

She’d gone out shopping and come back to a note from Zenos saying he was going on a walk through the ruins with Liz.

Lily grumbled. Zenos’s amnesiac childhood acquaintance was so close to him. “I’m so worried,” she said with an anxious sigh. She wanted to go look for them, but didn’t want to risk missing each other. “They didn’t have an accident or anything, right, Carmilla?”

“That man would not die from a simple accident,” the wraith, sitting on the bed, replied matter-of-factly. Carmilla looked up at the cloudy sky, a slight wrinkle between her brows, and hummed. “Making a move today of all days... One step ahead of the rest of Zenos’s harem, I see.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, nothing. Just something that has been on my mind,” she murmured, seemingly conflicted. “It was amusing, so I let it play out, but perhaps it is time for me to get involved. But meddling too much with the affairs of the living goes against my principles...”

“Carmilla, you’re not making any sense.”

“Oh, I simply—”

The door opened abruptly then, interrupting her.

“Zenos?” Lily asked as she stood up. Instead of the healer, however, it was a werewolf with twitchy ears that she saw. “Oh, Lynga.”

“Is Sir Zenos home?” Lynga asked urgently. Sweat was beading on her forehead, indicating she’d run here.

“He’s out right now.”