The lighter in your hand flickered on when you hit the flint wheel against the palm of your hand, only for it to go out again when you flicked the metal tab shut. It had been one of the only things you had brought down with you when you came to earth with the other Eligius prisoners, it was one of the only things you really cared for, even though it wasn't yours to begin with. From the steps of the small gazebo, that had been made from the trunks of relatively thin trees, thick vines, and sticks, with the random dark purple wisteria flowers dangling from it, along with the leaves from the vines, you could see the other prisoners hanging around the Valley. A few of them had been arm wrestling while some danced rather badly to the music that played loudly. On your right, one of the 'guards' had stood between you and the church where the others were. He didn't have a gun, but, he did have more muscles than you, so you didn't bother trying to go back inside the church. Originally, you were inside, but, Diyoza had sent you outside, away from the others, when she saw your hands twitching and edging closer to the lighter you had in the pocket of your trousers. It was purely for the safety of the prisoners—who she wanted on her side if they were of any use to her, who had been from 'Wonkru' before they defected—that she had sent you out.

It wasn't that much longer before Diyoza walked back out of the church with the other Eligius members and Kane. When she turned to walk over to you, you stared at her blankly, not taking your eyes away from hers as you set fire to one of the flowers you pulled down from the gazebo. She raised her eyebrows at your actions, but it wasn't because she was confused or shocked. "Can't go five minutes without lighting something up, can you?" There was a pause before she continued in a different tone of voice, like an adult talking to a child who just got caught doing something they shouldn't, "Remember what we talked about?" There was another short pause of silence before you nodded, still staring blankly. "You don't want me to put another shock collar on you again to match them inside, or like Vinson, right?"

"No, Ma'am," you responded, without much of a tone in your voice, still feeling the sharp pain in your neck where your raw wounds were still healing.

"Good." She smiled faintly at your obedient reply. Diyoza then stepped closer to you, to move a strand of your hair that had fallen from the plait she had done two days ago, from your face, tucking it behind your ear. She leaned down closer to your face as her hand moved from the piece of your hair to grip your chin to keep you from moving away from her as she spoke again, this time without her faint smile, "We need them alive, for now. So, what you're going to do is stay away from them and let the adults do what they need to do. Got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Diyoza smiled again and let go of you, standing up straighter, glancing back at the others in the Valley before she turned back to you once more. "But, don't worry, we'll find you something to burn."

"How about their people?"

"Give it time." She sighed, knowing that you'd start acting up sooner or later if you didn't get your hands on something. "When the time comes, you can light them up."

"McCreary isn't going to like that."

"McCreary is just going to need to learn how to share, isn't he?"

Diyoza didn't wait for your response before she turned around and left you. As you watched her leave, you noticed Zeke glancing back at you a few times, then at Diyoza, before he made his way over to you. He was making sure that Diyoza didn't see him as he got closer to you, for whatever reason. When you stood up, standing on the last step of the gazebo, he stopped in front of you. "Miles! How nice of you to visit me." You smiled, flicking the lighter in your hand on and off again a few times.

He rolled his eyes. "She sent you out again."

You shrugged, being used to it by now. "She thinks I'm going to set this whole Valley on fire."

"Are you?" He looked at you with slight worry, remembering what you were like back up in space.

"No," you replied with a frown, feeling insulted by his lack of faith in you.

"I'm just making sure because the last time you did something stupid you had a shock collar put on you and were left alone with McCreary for two days." Zeke's eyes lowered to your neck where he saw you gulp. "I don't want that to happen again. I can still hear your screaming." He shuddered.

"I don't want it to happen either, I'm not into that, Miles."

"Gross," Zeke muttered as he pulled a face. With a light laugh, you stepped off the last step and walked around the side of the gazebo. Zeke quickly followed you, just to make sure that you weren't, in fact, going to do anything stupid, and watched as you plucked another flower down from the side of the gazebo and set it on fire. "Where are you going anyway?"

"To Yuri Gagarin," you replied, watching the last bit of the flower burn away, quickly flicking it before the flames burnt your fingers.

"Want company?"

"You offering, Space Boy?"

Zeke shrugged. "I might be."

"I'll take you up on it," you told him, turning your head to look at him while placing the lighter in the pocket of your trousers as you began walking up the ramp and inside the dropship. Zeke grinned at your response and bumped his shoulders with yours as you made your way into the control room.

He sat down on one of the chairs and turned it to face towards you and watched as you pulled a stool across the ground, stopping when you got close to him. Zeke noticed that you also had the ball in your arms as you sat down and lifted your feet to rest on the bars that were connected to the legs of the stool. "If you throw that and something breaks, I'm not going to save you from Diyoza."

"Couldn't you just lie to her and say that it was already broken?"

Zeke raised an eyebrow and held his hands open to catch the ball. With a sigh, you gently threw it over to him, watching as he placed it on his lap and rested his right arm on it. You pulled the lighter out of your pocket and flicked it on, not realising that you did as the action had become a second nature kind of thing. "Wait, didn't you steal that?" He asked, pointing at the metal lighter.

"I didn't steal it. I permanently borrowed it from a dead guy."

"You're a handful, you know that, right?"

"I'm better than McCreary though, right?"

"Sure, but at least we know that he won't accidentally set fire to something or someone, like you," Zeke replied with a shrug, laughing to himself when he saw your expression.

"Uh, excuse me, that was over a century ago! I'm a different person now, why does everyone assume the worst of me?"

"It saves time." He shrugged.

"Hey, don't be rude."

Zeke grinned at you, shaking his head. "I'm not being rude, I'm being like you."

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to!" Zeke mocked you, picking the ball up from his lap to throw it at you. When you caught it, stopping it from hitting you in the face, you lowered it down to your own lap and glared at him, pocketing the lighter again.

"I regret inviting you along."

"Technically I'm babysitting you."

"Excuse me?" You glared at him playfully, throwing the ball back to him.

Zeke caught the ball again and rolled his eyes. "You're a health and safety hazard."

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?"

"No," he replied, shaking his head as he disagreed.

"You're supposed to be on my side! We are the youth of Eligius, we stick together! We're like Bonnie and Clyde!"

"I'm not getting shot or dying because of you, we are not Bonnie and Clyde."

"You really kill the mood, y'know?"

"My God, you're a handful."

"A handful isn't that much, Miles."

"God, I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass." Zeke chuckled, shaking his head before he threw the ball back to you.

When you caught the ball from him you smiled. "I'm taking that as a compliment."

"Fine by me," he replied, holding his hands out to catch the ball.

You threw the ball back to him. "Oh, God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?"

"No? Why would we?"

"We're being nice to each other."

"Oh, right. Let's fix that," Zeke commented before he threw the ball again, without warning you, causing it to hit you in the face and drop to the ground, bouncing a few times before Zeke stopped it with his foot and leaned down to pick it back up, laughing to himself all the while.

"Punk ass," you muttered, brushing a few strands of your hair out of your face again. "Why are you like this?"

"It's the effect you have on me," he answered with a shrug. "It's like your weird personality rubs off on me whenever we hang—" Zeke stopped himself mid-sentence, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm listening... I'm just not paying attention."

Zeke rolled his eyes and went to throw the ball at you again, but paused. "You're thinking about setting fire to something, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"What's going to get burnt now?"

"The people we're apparently going to go to war with."

"What're you gonna do? Burn them with that little lighter of yours?"

"Nah. A little gasoline... blowtorch... no problem."

"This is a whole new level of moronic, even for you."

"You're questioning my methods?"

"I'm not questioning it. I'm saying it's stupid!"

"Man, you complain a lot, don't you, Lieutenant?"

Zeke rolled his eyes playfully, with a smile on his lips and quickly glanced at the entrance to make sure no one was going to interrupt the two of you. "I don't usually complain when you're not around."

"Oh, p-lease, you complain more than anyone I know, past and present."

"That's bullshit and you know it." He pointed his finger at you, still smiling.

"Fine, fine. You're in like second place, happy now?"

"It's as good as I'm going to get, isn't it?"

"Pretty much, Miles. Now pass me the ball!"

Zeke threw the ball back at you and you missed, mainly because he threw it up higher than he should have, and you turned and watched it fall behind you, hitting the ground before it bounced a few times. "You made no effort to catch that!"

"What did you expect?" You replied laughing, getting up to retrieve the ball. "That would have required me to raise my arms up higher, I'm too tired for that."

"How is it that you're so stupid and so hot at the same time?"

"I'm not that stu—Wait, was that a pun? Because of the whole fire thing, Space Boy?"

"You caught on faster than I thought you would, Johnny Storm."

"Oh, ha, ha, Miles," you replied sarcastically, sitting back down with the ball. "You're the worst babysitter ever."

"Oh, p-lease, I'm the best."

"Yeah, the best at getting on my nerves." You shook your head, throwing the ball back to him. Zeke laughed to himself and caught the ball, watching you with a smile that he tried to hide.