We head to see Ciel and his eyes widen in surprise whenever I open my front door to reveal seven other people standing behind me, each of them looking at him skeptically.

"Wh--" Ciel starts, but Sampson walks in and grabs him by the wrist, dragging him out of the house and down to his and Katiana's house.

The rest of us follow after the two of them and we find that Sampson has thrown Ciel on the bed and is now rummaging around in the corner of the room, pulling a sleek black laptop out of a duffel bag as Katiana locks their front door now that we're all inside.

"What's the meaning of all this?" Ciel frowns, his eyes flickering from me to Sampson.

"We need to make sure that you're not actually working with Elise," Rem says.

"You really don't trust me?" Ciel asks sadly, his eyes locking onto mine and my heart aches at his words.

"How can I trust you when I don't even know you?" I whisper and Ciel's breath hitches.

We decided to do the polygraph first so that we don't give away who Rem actually is by her doing her test first. That way, we'll know if he's working with Elise. Sampson sits across from Ciel on the bed, dragging the laptop and duffel bag with him. Sampson hooks Ciel up to the sensors before he types away on his laptop and nods to us.

"Make sure to steady your breathing," Sampson tells Ciel, "and don't make any sudden movements. We're going to begin now."

"Ciel, are you working with Elise?" Valerian asks.

"No," Ciel says firmly.

We glance to Sampson, who nods to confirm that he's telling the truth.

"Have you ever worked with Elise, other than just to survive?" Valerian asks.

"No," Ciel says.

Again, Sampson nods and Valerian hums with interest, crossing his arms in the process.

"Are you here to hurt anyone on this ship?" Rem asks.

"No," Ciel repeats.

"Did you really miss me?" I breathe out and Ciel's breath hitches.

"Celes..." Ciel trails off sadly, "of course I missed you...I missed you every single day."

"Ciel, were you telling the truth about our family and everything you told me?" I ask, hopeful.

"Yes," Ciel says.

Sampson nods and confirms that Ciel hasn't lied yet and I sigh in relief.

"Are you all satisfied now?" Ciel sighs.

We exchange glances before we decide that he seems to have proven himself for the time being and Sampson turns off the test, removing the sensors and closing his laptop.

"Just one more thing," Rem adds as she approaches Ciel, who stares at her wearily.

"What?" Ciel trails off, weary evident in his voice as Rem reaches out to him.

"Just hold still for a moment. I apologize in advance if this hurts," Rem says.

Glowing rainbow light swirls around Rem's hand and Ciel's eyes widen at the sight before Rem roughly pushes against Ciel's chest, knocking him backwards. Satisfied, Rem nods and gives him a small smile as he groans and slowly sits up.

"He's telling the truth," Rem nods.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Ciel mutters and rubs the back of his head as he winces, "I can't believe you're Ayanna."

Rem's breath hitches and she glances over at him before she lowers her gaze and walks back towards us.

"I mean...aren't you?" Ciel asks, confused, "You have the rainbow, so I just assumed..."

"Yeah," Rem whispers, "I'm Ayanna."

"Hey, I know that whatever Elise said about you isn't the truth," Ciel sends her a lopsided smile and she seems to cheer up at this, smiling softly back at him.

"Well, I still don't trust him," Valerian snorts.

"Really, dude?" Miles sighs and looks at Valerian pointedly.

"I agree with my brother," Veddrian says, "for once."

"Well, Ciel seems to be telling the truth so far, and he has information that could greatly help us," Skye points out, "so I'm not saying you have to like him or completely trust him, but it would be wise to hear him out. Plus, he's Celes's brother. We're not going to just throw him to the wolves."

"Fine," Valerian sighs, "but if he does one wrong thing, I'll be coming for him in a heartbeat."

"Why should I be scared of you?" Ciel raises a brow.

"Do you want to test me?" Valerian's red eyes glint dangerously.

"Maybe he isn't so bad after all," Veddrian smirks and Valerian turns his glare to her instead.

"He's definitely a Lunes," Katiana chuckles before her expression turns dark, "but I won't hesitate to hunt him down if he even thinks about hurting Celes."

"We should head out tomorrow. Could you guide us, Rem and Ciel?" Skye asks.

"Of course," Rem nods and Ciel nods as well.

"Are you sure we're ready?" I ask.

"We'll never be ready," Skye gives me a small smile, "nobody ever is."

I find myself smiling back at Skye because deep down I know she's right, that we're as ready as we'll ever possibly be.

***

I head by the training room later that night since I never got to earlier. Whenever I enter the arena, I see Drusilla in a pair of green cargo pants and a pink tank top with pink flats, her missing arm now replaced by a metal prosthetic. Drusilla gives Dexter a small grin, who's standing across from her in light grey joggers and a blue hoodie, holding up black boxing pads in his hands for her to punch. My eyes flicker over to the other area and I see Veddrian sitting on a bench with Xilia and talking to her. As I approach, I can pick up pieces of their conversation.

"--and so I'll start by explaining the colors," Veddrian says, "blue focuses on attacking and strategizing in the moment, green focuses on defense and behind the scenes strategizing, red focuses on sheer power and attacking, pink focuses on misdirection and reflection, orange focuses on trapping and tracking, white focuses on force and purification, black focuses on stealth and attacking, purple focuses on spiritual healing and defense, and teal focuses on both attacking and defense. Which color is your ability?"

"I'm green, but I typically always focused on attacking up front," Xilia explains.

"That's fine," Veddrian nods, "colors don't always have to do what most others with their abilities do. Besides, it's good to have diversity. It's just that their color abilities tend to be geared towards a certain thing, thus the prior explanation."

I smile as I watch the two of them talk before I notice Emmery and Madeline over in the middle of the arena, Emmery bouncing up and down excitedly as Madeline teaches her basic combat skills. I chuckle to myself, wondering what color ability Emmery has and if she's blue like her brother, which brings my thoughts to Miles.

I approach a punching bag and wrap my knuckles in white tape that I pull out of the pocket of my light grey and lavender hoodie before I start taking swings at the hanging bag as I think. I know I still have to make a final decision between Valerian and Miles, and I'm dreading letting one of them down. I'll still be there for whoever I don't choose to be with, but I care deeply about them both and I don't want to break either of their hearts. I sigh and continue swinging at the punching bag, my hits getting harder and more rapid over time. I also don't know what to think about Ciel and the letter I got. I'm happy that I have family back in my life, family left in my life, but I know things won't be even close to how they once were. I'm just hoping that we can build something even better than what we had before with everyone here on the ship, if they accept him. My breath hitches as I think about the ship and I wonder if Ciel has a color ability. He's grown so much and I haven't been there for any of it. But then again, I've grown a lot too.

"Hey, Celes!" I jolt whenever I feel a tap on my shoulder and I nearly stumble forwards into the punching bag, "Oops...sorry."

Katiana laughs sheepishly as I adjust myself and turn to face her, breathing out a sigh when I notice it's just her.

"Sorry," I smile sheepishly, "you scared me. What's up?"

"Nothing much," Katiana sighs and sits down on the bench next to me, her long auburn hair tied up in a ponytail with a black bow, which matches her black tank-top, blue jean shorts, and black vans, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I happened to talk to Valerian and he said you might be here."

"You talked to Valerian?" I raise a brow and go back to lightly hitting the punching bag.

"Yeah," Katiana nods, "I actually get along fairly well with Veddrian, so I visit their house from time to time. I stopped by earlier and Valerian was the one who opened the door, saying that Veddrian wasn't there. I then explained that I was actually looking for him to see if he knew where you were, to which he replied with a quick snap of 'how would I know' and a blush. I then teased him and told him he didn't have to hide his feelings for you from me, which is when he said you might be here and he saw me off."

"I see," I chuckle under my breath, "so, what did you wanna talk about?"

"I wanted to see how you were handling the whole Ciel thing. Plus, I have questions for you about your harem of boys," Katiana says.

"Well..." I blush slightly and shake my head before I shift my focus to thinking about Ciel instead, "as for Ciel, I'm...I'm glad that I have him back and that I have part of my family back, but I know things will be different. It honestly almost doesn't seem real. I don't know what the future holds, but I hope everyone we're close with is still a part of it. I wouldn't want to lose anyone. And I hope that, in time, Ciel becomes close with them too. What did you want to know about Valerian and Miles?"

"I wanted to know what's been going on with them. I mean, relationship wise," Katiana says.

"I'm...not sure," I frown, "I've always been close to Miles and I definitely love him, but I feel like that love has transformed into a sort of love of just wanting what's best for him and wanting to be there for him. I feel a genuine connection to him, but it's more of a really comfortable love. Like, I'd be comfortable being in a romantic relationship with him and it wouldn't feel much different than what we have now. But with Valerian, it's more like a passion and a sense of connecting in such a raw manner. It's like, Miles understands me, but Valerian is me. Miles understands my demons and accepts them, but Valerian's demons mirror mine in a way that Miles's can't."

"I understand that," Katiana smiles and swings her legs as she leans forwards on the bench, gripping it underneath her fingertips, "I believe you'll make the right decision, Celes. And I know that both of them will always be there for you, no matter which one you choose. Sometimes you just need to follow your heart. I believe in balancing your heart and mind, but sometimes one is more needed than the other in a situation. Otherwise, no risks would ever be taken."

"Yeah," I smile as I turn to look at Katiana, wiping some sweat from the side of my face with the back of my hand as I finish my routine, "thank you, Katiana."

"Of course," Katiana grins, "I'm always here for you."

"No, I mean, thank you for being my friend," I smile and Katiana smiles back warmly.

"If anything, I should be thanking you," Katiana chuckles, "I'm gonna head back now. Sampson and I have plans to watch a movie before we head out tomorrow."

"Are you two finally dating yet?" I raise a brow as Katiana stands up.

"Not quite," Katiana hums before a smirk makes its way onto her face, "but I get the feeling we will be soon."

"Good luck!" I shout and wave to her as she heads out of the arena, waving back to me as she leaves.

After I finish up, I head over to Miles's house, thinking that I should tell him about the letter before we leave tomorrow. Plus, I wanted to check in with him. I approach his door and just as I'm about to knock, the door opens and I find Miles standing there in a white and grey hoodie with blue jeans and black combat boots, a surprised expression on his face.

"Celes," Miles's eyebrows raise, "I was just coming to see you."

"Really?" it's my turn to raise my eyebrows now before I smile, "I was doing the same."

"I figured," Miles chuckles and puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "what's up?"

"Not much," I shrug aimlessly, "I just...wanted to come see how you were."

"Are you sure that's all?" Miles raises a brow and leans against the door frame, "Or is it also about the letter?"

My breath hitches and I make eye contact with Miles, who frowns and sighs.

"Valerian pulled me aside earlier and told me everything," Miles says and my eyes widen in surprise, "he wanted to make sure that I knew. He said something about how I'll be able to protect you better than he ever could. I told him that that was bullshit."

"Wait, you...stuck up for Valerian?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Yeah," Miles shrugs and gives me a half smile, "Valerian's not such a bad guy when it comes down to it. He's just...been through a lot. I guess you could say we're friends now, or at least on respectful territory."

"That's good," I smile in relief and Miles shifts around slightly before he takes a step towards me.

"I'm really happy to have you in my life, Celes," Miles smiles, "and I know that you have feelings for both of us. And I know that I might not end up being the one you choose, but I'll always be there for you. I love you with all my heart, Celes. That'll never change. And I'll always be there to protect you, especially from whoever sent that letter to you, and I promise to wipe away your tears, and we'll watch lots of cheesy movies together and make fun of the poor acting and train like we always do."

"Miles," my heart swells in my chest and I can feel myself starting to cry as I stare up at him, blinking away the hot tears that gather in my eyes, "thank you..."

Miles pulls me into a warm hug and I wrap my arms around his neck while he puts his arms around my waist, me leaning up into the hug due to his taller height as he rests his head in the crook of my neck.

"Of course," Miles breathes out and slowly pulls away, raising his hands to brush away my tears and I laugh, "but just so you know, I won't just let him whisk you away from me without a fight."

Miles leans down and presses his lips fully on mine, his arms moving to lock around my waist and pull me flush against him. I smile against his lips before I run my hands through his hair and we pull away after a few moments, the sound of fireflies buzzing in the nighttime air in the background.

"Sleep well, Celes," Miles smile softly and brushes a lock of my blonde hair behind my ear.

"Actually..." I blush slightly and shift around, smiling sheepishly, "I was hoping that I could stay here for the night."

Miles's eyebrows raise before he smiles and steps aside, bowing slightly and directing his arms towards the doorway.

"Milady," Miles grins and I chuckle as I walk inside his house.

I gasp after I walk inside because Miles comes up behind me and starts to tickle my sides and I burst out laughing.

"Miles, stop!" I shout, still laughing as he laughs from behind me.

"Only if you can escape me," Miles grins.

"Miles!" I laugh as I run upstairs, glancing back at him with a wide smile as he chases after me, grinning all the way.

Yeah, I've definitely missed this.