Aphmau/Irene's POV

I sat outside my house, waiting. There was a rustle in the bushes, and Shad stepped out.

"Hey, Irene. Long time no see." He said.

I grinned and hugged him. "I should be the one saying that, little bro."

We laughed, and Garroth came up the path. "Holy crap it's Xavier!" Shad yelled. "I didn't know you were immortal!"

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Language." I smacked the back of his head.

"Ouch, jeez that hurt!" Shad complained.

"Besides, this isn't Xavier, and he's not immortal. Shad, meet Garroth, my head guard when I was Lord of Phoenix Drop and Xavier's descendant. Garroth, meet my brother Shad." I introduced them.

"Nice to meet you." Garroth shook Shad's hand.

"We need to get the others here." I commented. "Let's send them all letters."

Shad nodded. "Great idea. See you 'round, Garroth."

"I'll see you later." Garroth agreed, then walked off.

Shad and I went inside and I pulled out two pencils and four pieces of paper from my desk. "I'll send a letter to Enki and Kul'zak, you write to Esmund and Menphia." I told him.

"Right." Shad agreed, and we began our letters. Flame flew into the room and took them as soon as we were finished. "Told you she seems to read our minds." Shad smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I stand corrected." When the six of us first found Flame, Shad was under the impression she could read our minds, because she always could tell when we needed her.

I took Shad to Phoenix Drop and introduced everyone. Emmalyn and Kenmur both looked as if they were about to burst with excitement.

"If they corner you later, just answer their questions." I told Shad. "It makes it all easier."

"I'll keep that in mind." Shad chuckled.

We went off to the docks and sat, watching the waves.

"You know, I'm kind of happy we're here. 900 years in the future, I mean. Now we don't have to deal with all that stuff we've been dealing with back in our time." Shad commented.

"Not exactly." I murmured. "We still do have to deal with that stuff. I mean, no wyvern war or King, but we still have the Shadow Lord. He's still powerful, even more so, actually. And there's a new person trying to be King, apparently, but that was fifteen years ago so I'm not quite sure if that's still happening."

"Well you know what I mean. No one is trying to be our friend for power, or kissing up to us, or any of that stuff." Shad replied.

"Yeah, that's true." I nodded. "That is something I'm pretty glad about."

"So, where will I stay?" He asked.

"How about all four of you idiots- and Menphia- stay at my house?" I suggested.

Shad laughed. "Still calling Kul'zak, Enki, Esmund, and me idiots then?"

"Of course. I have been since we were kids, I'm not gonna stop now." I laughed myself.

Shad stood up. "I'm gonna go and look around the area. See you later, big sis."

"Later, little bro." I replied. He walked off, and I turned back to the ocean.

There was a rustling in the bushes. "Irene?"

I turned. "Kul'zak!" He ran forward, I stood up, and we hugged each other.

Then he leaned down (because he's taller than me) and kissed me. "I'm glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you, too." I replied. "Um, 'zak," that was my nickname for him, "quick question. Since we never addressed it, are we together or just good friends who kiss a lot?"

Kul'zak tilted his head. "Well, I'm in love with you, that's why I kiss you, but it's really all just up to you."

I nodded. "Okay. Then we're together." I put my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

We just stood there for a while, enjoying the moonlight.

"Irene! All the others but Kul'zak are here!" Shad yelled, running into the clearing.

Three other guys followed him. "Oh, I'm definitely here." Kul'zak laughed.

"Good." Enki snickered.

"I just chose to see Irene before you people." Kul'zak continued.

"Oh! By the way, I introduced myself as Aphmau in this time, so don't be surprised if someone calls me that. It's habit, and all." I informed the guys. "They only found out about who I am a few days ago."

They all nodded. "Makes sense." Menphia shrugged.

We sat next to the seaside and I began to tell them all about my adventures as Aphmau, Lord of Phoenix Drop.

"Wow, I knew that you never do things by halves but good god." Shad laughed.

The rest of us all laughed with him. "I guess I just love messing with people." I giggled.

"No kidding." Esmund rolled his eyes. The sun began setting as the five of us leaned on each other and watched it go down.

"This is officially the sunset on our old lives, and later, the official sunrise on our new ones." Menphia commented.

"Yeah." Enki agreed.

I sighed and stood up. "Come on you five, to my place. You can all crash on the floor or something."

"Works for me." Shad chuckled.

"I'm so tired I could sleep standing up in the most clunky armor in existence leaning against a tree." Kul'zak muttered.

I stared at him. "Sounds kinda painful."

"It does." Esmund nodded.

"She has a point." Shad agreed.

"Can't argue that." Enki tilted his head a bit to the side in agreement.

Kul'zak rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

Menphia grinned. "We do, but we love teasing you."

"And everyone else in our group. Remember none of us got away from the others' teasing." Shad piped up. We all laughed, 'cause it was true.

We reached the house at that point, and I looked around. "Nope. None of you are sleeping on the floor. I deem it unfit!" I declared in a mock-posh accent.

The guys laughed. "Where will we sleep then?" Enki asked.

"Same as when we did when we were younger. We'll just all curl up on the one single bed we have." I shrugged. The guys didn't argue.

Yes, we did that. After we left civilization because of the wyvern thing, it was rare we would have multiple beds so we used to share one. We all slept different ways, so we were generally able to fit the six of us with little problems on one bed.