I eventually told Inva and Krystal the full story of what happened that day. Neither of them have mentioned that I summoned everblaze to Gethin. Krystal's started coming to my pyrokinesis sessions with me to help stop me from freaking out. My panic attack really brought us together. Both of them have opened up to me about growing up in the Neverseen and I've started to tell them about my life back in the Lost Cities. 

We're all doing our work in my room when something buzzes. Krystal discreetly looks down at her bracelet. "I have to get something from the sparring room. I'll be back soon."

She hurries out, leaving Inva and I looking at each other in confusion. "This is what I was talking about a few weeks ago," I say. "Her bracelet buzzes and then she takes off with some lame excuse, if any."

"We should follow her next time," Inva suggests, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Inva isn't a troublemaker, but sometimes you can tell that she grew up with Krystal and her shenanigans. 

"Next time," I agree, turning back to my work. 

***

Krystal's back for dinner, once again without a word of her disappearance. "How was your studying?" she asks, sitting down next to me. 

"Tiring." I was not expecting the Neverseen to have this much work that isn't related to taking over the Lost Cities.

"That's the Neverseen for you. Very tiring." Krystal takes something called a cookie off my plate, smiling sweetly at me as she eats it.

"Not if you don't go to your classes," Ruy points out. "You missed all of your afternoon sessions."

Krystal just shrugs. "Oh well. It's not like it's anything new."

"You know if you want to go on more missions, you need to go to your classes," Gethin says. 

"I'd rather not go on anymore missions after that Vespera nearly killed me last time." Krystal still hasn't told me about that. She keeps saying that last time she went on a mission, she was nearly killed but has chosen to not elaborate on why exactly she was nearly killed.

"You did mess up your mission though," Gethin tells her.

"Not my fault the Moonlark isn't a trusting person." Krystal just shrugs. When Gethin opens his mouth to say something else, she shoots him a look that makes it clear the conversation is over. Krystal really has more power here than I thought. Maybe it's because she's considered Lady Gisela's daughter.

"What do you even do when you skip classes?" Ruy asks. "Cause I know you don't hang out with Marella or Inva because those two actually go to their classes."

"I just wander." I don't know if I imagined it, but there was flash of uncertainty on her face when he asked. Like she didn't want him knowing what she does.

Ruy looks at her suspiciously but doesn't say anything. The rest of dinner passes uneventfully, short conversations here and there. Krystal and I help Inva move some blankets into our room so we can have a sleepover. While we're both carrying armfuls of cushions and blankets, Alvar stops us. "What are you two doing?"

"Sleepover." Krystal offers no explanation.

Alvar just sighs. "Have fun with that." As he walks away, I swear I hear him mutter, "I'm too tired for this."

It takes some time, but we make Inva a rather comfy looking bed between ours. Tomorrow's Sunday, thankfully, so we stay up late. Talking, studying, pillow fights. Eventually, Inva declares she's going to sleep and since there isn't much we can do without waking her up, we both settle down as well.

I close my eyes expecting to be met with nightmares and a restless night but find myself falling into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. 

~~~

A muffled buzz wakes me up, followed by rustling as someone tries to cover it up. The sounds aren't particularly loud, but I've always been a light sleeper. I open my eyes slightly and can just make out someone padding across the room. Inva's breathing lightly from the floor next to me and Krystal's bed is empty.

The door creaks as it opens and Krystal freezes as Inva stirs a little. Seeing that Inva isn't awake yet, she tiptoes out of the room, closing the door as quietly as possible. The second the door closes, I roll out of bed. "Inva!" I whisper, shaking her shoulders. "Wake up!"

"Let me sleeeeeeep." She rolls away from me but I pull her back.

"We need to follow Krystal. Her bracelet buzzed again." 

This doesn't wake her up fully, just enough for her to pull herself out of bed. She starts to complain, but I shush her so I can listen for Krystal's footsteps. They're very light, probably from years of sneaking around, but they're there. We follow Krystal toward the outside area. We step out just in time to see her start to levitate up.

I peek my head out the door to see where she's going, ducking back inside every few seconds even though she doesn't look down. She levitates all the way to the top of the cliff. The adrenaline of following Krystal has waken Inva up. As I'm about to start levitating, she grabs my arm. "Hold my hand," she whispers. "That way I can make both of us invisible."

"You can do that?" I knew that Biana could do that when holding hands with Sophie because of her enhancing thing, but I never thought a normal Vanisher could.

She nods. "Took years of training but it's really helpful when Krys and I wanna sneak around past curfew."

I grab her hand and watch as my body turns invisible. I stare at my non-existent arm as we start to levitate up. This is so cool. We stop on a ledge just below the top. Even though we're invisible, it never hurts to be cautious.

"Why are you here?" I can hear Krystal ask someone. I look at Inva and mouth Who's she talking to? Inva shrugs.

"Thought we could watch the sunrise together." A voice I don't know, a guy's voice, responds. Inva's eyebrows furrow together as she tries to figure out who it is.

"Why today?" Krystal moves---closer to the person, I think.

"I'd never forget our anniversary." Anniversary?

"I was worried there for a second. You didn't say anything yesterday."

"I wanted to surprise you," the guy tells her.

"With what?" Krystal prompts. The guy doesn't say anything. Nobody says anything for a few seconds. "It's beautiful! I love it. Thank you."

"Anything for you, Snowflake." Snowflake? Inva's eyes widen, her jaw practically on the ground,  as her brain finally connects the dots. She grabs my hand and levitates up, not telling me what's happening. The moment our feet touch the ground, she releases my hand, letting our shield of invisibility drop.

"You're actually dating him?!?!" The surprise in Inva's voice is evident. The two people in front of us jump apart and turn towards us. I examine the guy next to Krystal. He's tall and blonde, his eyes a piercing, electric blue. His arms are toned and covered in scars. I can't see them very well from here in the low light of the just now rising sun, but there are a lot of them.

"What are you two doing here?" Krystal asks, her hand going to her neck. The light catches the thing she's holding, revealing a necklace around her neck that wasn't there before.

Inva ignores her question. "Anniversary? How long?"

Krystal hesitates before saying, "One year." This is the most timid I've ever heard Krystal talk. She fiddles with her new necklace, clearly nervous about what Inva has to say about this. The guy must notice this, despite standing a little in front of her, and goes to her side, taking her free hand in his and squeezing it.

"A year?!?" Inva exclaims incredulously. "How could you not tell me?"

"I don't know. We just didn't want to tell anyone."

Inva locks in on one thing and one thing only. "We? Since when were you and Ace a we?"

"Since we started dating. Please don't be mad. I didn't want Ruy or Gethin or someone knowing because you know how protective they are. They would demote him in an instant and I couldn't let that happen." Krystal looks at the guy---Ace---and smiles a little. He smiles back, looking at her like she's his whole world. "Besides, I wanted this to be something that was just ours. I've grown up sharing everything with everyone and I just wanted this one thing that was mine."

Ace gives her a kiss and Inva nearly dies. "Ewww no nope yuck. I'm fine with you dating, I honestly don't care. Just don't do that in front of me. Have fun." Inva practically jumps off the cliff, leaving me standing there awkwardly.

"Uhhh I'm going to go." I jump after Inva, levitating to avoid breaking my body. I meet Inva in the cafeteria filling her plate. 

"That wasn't what I was expecting to find," Inva admits. "For all the jokes I say about them liking each other, I never thought they'd actually get together."

"Are you going to tell someone?" I ask.

"Not yet. It's really good blackmail material," Inva tells me.

I smile, laughing a little. She really is Krystal's best friend. 

~~~

word count: 1523

hey guys! fun little filler chapter here. hope you liked it. i should really finish writing Krystal so that i can write some Ace and Krystal moments. i love those two together.

thanks for reading! bye loves!