"How was your date with Sirius?" Love crossed his arms and wouldn't even face me. He had been passive-aggressive towards me since I had returned. 

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged, though he couldn't see. 

"Fine?!" He finally turned to face me and slammed his fists at the table we were sitting at. The innkeeper gave us a look. "You've been dreaming of this day for as long as I can remember and that's all you have to say?!" 

"He's not who we thought he was, Love." 

"Then who is he? Is he a bad kisser? Is that what this is about?" 

"No! We didn't even kiss!" I slammed my palms down on the table. "I wouldn't kiss him for a million goldars." I crossed my arms and turned my head away from him. 

"Wow. What changed?" He rested his elbows on the table and leaned his chin into his palms as he watched me with amusement and interest. 

"He's a jerk." 

"And here I always thought you were into the bad boys. I certainly am." 

"I know you are, or you would've dated Jorney by now." I rolled my eyes. 

"So why don't you just leave Sirius to me?" he asked dreamily. 

"You can have him." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Where's Sirius anyway?" 

"He darted upstairs wordlessly the moment he came in." Love shrugged. Weird. That wasn't like him. 

"Cel! Come with me!" The man in question leaned over the half-broken railing as he beckoned me over to him. With a loud sigh, I wordlessly followed. 

"What is it?" I asked, closing the bedroom door behind me. Surely he didn't want to...?— I'd kill him with the dagger he bought me. 

"I have Billy with me!" he said excitedly. 

"With you? Where?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked around the room. Was he hiding in the closet? 

"He's not... physically here," Sirius explained. "But he can see everything we can see. And I can speak for him. For example, he wants to know if you like women." 

"If you mean romantically, not particularly. But what sort of question is that when we haven't even met?" I crossed my arms, feeling slightly insulted that I wasn't worthy of a "hello" or "how are you". 

"Said he feels like he already knows you." Sirius shrugged. Wonderful. His friend was just as insufferable as he was. But what sort of magic allowed him to see and communicate with Sirius in such a way? It must be magic from their world. 

"Ask him why he can't be here in person." 

"He said you don't need to ask me to ask him, and you can ask him yourself. As for your question, it just doesn't work that way." 

"What do you mean it doesn't work that way?" I huffed. 

"He would be seeing a different version of you." 

"A-A different version of me?" I sputtered. There was more than one me? 

"Think of it like a parallel universe. He can't enter this one, but he can enter another one." 

"Your world has such confusing rules." I crossed my arms. 

"He wants to know what you think of butts." 

"Such an inappropriate question!" I fumed. "If he's not willing to have a serious conversation with me, then I'm not willing to have a conversation with him at all!" I stormed out the door. 

"Wait! Cel!" Sirius chased after me down the stairs, but I spun around the corner and entered the storage closet. I quickly pulled up the text that had appeared before me so many times, and I selected my hometown. The next thing I knew, I was standing in front of the massive statue in the middle of the square. He was the founder of the academia my family and I attended. He was also the first person to discover that certain skills could be performed in exchange for MP. 

I sat with my back to the statue. How long had it been since I was home? I missed it. The smell of bread from my neighbor's bakery, the gentle wind that was much warmer than the wind from other villages. The academia and being surrounded by knowledge... 

I never wanted to leave. But then Sirius had to come here from his world and ruin all of it. 

This world didn't need him. I could slay the Corrupt Drake myself. I could wish him out of existence! 

No, this world didn't need him, but I did. At least until I could solve the mystery between him and the other realm. Speaking of... 

I scoured the academia for anything I could find relating to the Realm of the Gods — or any realm, really. Unfortunately, nobody had traveled to another realm and lived to tell the tale. Not even the dead had attempted to make their findings known. 

How many hours had I spent here? 

Sirius was definitely the impatient type. How long would he spend looking for me before returning to his world?— 

"Celine? Celine is that you?!" The last person I wanted to meet ran up to me and hugged me. 

"Hi, mother..." I hesitantly hugged back. 

"Celine, what are you doing here? Has our prince failed?" She frowned at me and I instantly felt guilty for choosing this place to hide from Sirius. 

"No, mother. We're just passing through," I answered. 

"Oh! Then you must stop by the house! Your father and I will prepare a meal fit for a—" 

"As I said, we're passing through." I said through gritted teeth. 

"Tsk, tsk. Then what are you doing wasting your time here? You must go to him! Need I remind you that his life is in your hands? Save our kingdom already!" 

"Yes, yes, I'm going..." I rolled my eyes as I brushed past her. Seriously, her mood swings were one of the few things I didn't miss. 

I took in the city one last time. It was definitely one of the richest cities in our world. 

I'll come back here. Some day. Right now, I have a job I need to do. 

"Celine!" Sirius shouted pointedly. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea how much time I wasted looking for you? And to pull that in front of Billy! We set aside our whole afternoon to talk to you! We turned down Billy's mom's lasagna, Celine! Lasagna!" 

"I'll pretend to know what that is." I crossed my arms. "If talking to me was so important, then both of you should've been on your best behavior." 

"Celine... Do you think you're real?" His expression was once again, unreadable. Quite different from how excited he was earlier. 

"What type of question is that? Do you think you're not?" I snapped. 

"I know I am. But do you think you are?" 

"I don't think. I know." I chortled. 

"You have... Thoughts and feelings like everyone else. Hopes and dreams too, don't you?"  

"Of course I do." I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Where was this coming from?  

"And now you can't filter out the crap I say. Maybe I've been too hard on you... I mean, if I was willing to date you, I must feel something towards you, yeah? So, maybe I should start treating you like you're real. If you think you're real, that's enough for me." 

"O...kay? You're acting really weird. What did Billy say to you?" 

"Nothing, really. It was you, It was all you." He looked at me dreamily and I wanted to punch him in the face. 

"Yeah, I'm not buying that." 

"I'm sorry." He was expressionless again. An empty slate for me to paint whatever picture I desired. It bothered me. 

"For what? The awful pickup line?" 

"For how I've treated you since uh, I tried to kill you. And for trying to kill you in the first place. It's just... I wasn't taking you seriously. You know? I thought you were all zeros and ones." 

"What does that expression mean?" 

"I thought you were nothing, okay? I didn't see you as a human — a living being." 

He really was a psychopath. 

"I suppose that was the same for Love and Jorney?" I asked.

"No, I still see them like that." This guy was unbelievable!

"If you want any chance of earning my forgiveness, you'll see them for what they are — human beings capable of love and empathy, something you clearly lack! You will treat them with respect at all times, regardless of whether or not they can perceive it!"

"Okay, okay, I will." He placed his hands up defensively and took a step back. Was he actually scared of me now? "I'll treat you guys the same."

"And everyone else too." I crossed my arms.

"Come on! You've gotta cut me some break!" he whined.

"Goodnight, Sirius." I entered the inn and headed up to the bedroom. What type of person was Sirius? What were the people like in his world? Were they all as cold and ruthless as he was? Would I be able to change him?

And did Billy hear that whole conversation?