Momoko stood just on the inside of her room door, taking in a steadying breath. The date with Nick had gone fine, she had heard the catch on his door click only a second before she let hers shut. He had been a perfect gentleman, not even trying to steal a kiss when he led her back to the room, which had left her feeling somewhat... disappointed. It surprised her to realize that she'd actually anticipated such a move and was disappointed it didn't happen.

Flere stirred on the bed, his golden eyes heavy with sleep. "How was the date?" he purred drowsily.

"Fine." She gave the creature a genuine smile. "I think he may be more prince than charming, though."

"They always are." Flere murmured, curling back in on himself as if he was going to fall back asleep.

"I should probably check on Lucas." She took a step back towards the door.

Muffled voices in the hallways caught her attention, and her hand hesitated at the handle.

"You look terrible." It was Nick's voice, the warmth vacuumed out of it by the thickness of the door, she hoped.

"You're opposite, I guess." Lucas replied gloomily.

His voice had a metallic quality as well, so it must be the door, Momoko decided.

'Eavesdropping?' Flere snorted.

'Shhhhhhh.' Momoko pressed her cheek to the door.

"I get the sense you don't like me very much." Nick chuckled.

"Funny." Lucas growled. "You give off the same vibe. You're awfully possessive of someone you just met."

"Pot, kettle, black?" Nick's tone heightened with annoyance.

"How do you know we just met?" Lucas' voice lowered with suspicion.

"There's no way you two are long-time friends. Momoko was pretty obvious at dinner when she fumbled through how you two met."

Momoko cursed her poor ability to lie. If she was going to stick with a ruse, maybe she should've taken the time to get to know Lucas better, first. So that is was put Nick on edge, he really did think Lucas was her boyfriend or something and she was trying to cover for it. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment and she grabbed the handle of her door, ready to defend herself and her friend.

'Wait.' Flere hissed. 'I think it's about to get good. Let them sort things out.'

Momoko hesitated, her fingers squeezing the cold metal, leaching heat into the handle.

"Yea, we just met. So what?" Lucas pounded his fist into the wall. "You don't understand anything that's going on, with me, or her!"

"Then explain it to me." Nick's voice matched Lucas' in anger. "What is going on between you two? Momoko says there's nothing, and I want to believe her—but I can't stand the way you latch on her side like a lost puppy."

'That's enough.' Momoko gritted her teeth and her fingers flexed on the door handle.

"She's my hero. That's all." Lucas' voice grew in resolve. "I don't expect you to understand, and I don't owe you an explanation... but don't insinuate she'd lying to you. Whatever she tells you is the truth. She's obviously interested in you, you don't have to stake your claim, here. If you guys wanna date, do so with my blessing. I owe her my life, so if I'm a little clingy, get over it."

Momoko's heart leapt into her throat, her hand slipping from the handle.

Nick's voice lowered, in a defeated note. "I'm sorry. You're right, of course, neither of you owed me anything. I just overreacted to the whole situation. Damn... I've never thought of myself as the jealous type."

He gave a soft laugh. "I don't know how to describe what went through my head the first time I met her.... But there's something very, very special about Momoko.... I just want to get to know her as much as I can, and just thinking that she wasn't available, that I couldn't be the man beside her, because of you, really got me. I was instantly jealous of you."

Lucas laughed shakily. "Since the moment I saw you, I know how you feel. After all, you have everything I've never had. You're rich and charming and everything.... Not that I'm saying I want to date Momoko, but the idea of living in luxury and doing whatever I want.... The world's not fair like that, though."

"I see." Nick took a deep breath. "Truce?"

"Truce." Lucas agreed.

"How about I use some of my luxury points and buy you a drink?"

"I've never drank alcohol before." Lucas admitted.

"No? You're at least sixteen, right?"

"Y-Yes. Eighteen, actually."

"No way." Nick snorted. "Well, you're definitely legal, at least. Even if you don't look it I bet you're a scotch man, come on. We'll knock back a few rounds and you can fill me in on your life story."

Momoko exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding.

'That wasn't so bad. They finally talked it out.' Flere yawned. 'The trip should be more enjoyable without that... what's the expression? Elephant in the room."

"It feels weird, having two guys fight over me." Momoko frowned. "I guess that's a little conceited... it's not like they both want to date me, or whatever. They were just jealous of each other... maybe some kind of alpha-male issue?"

Flere snorted.

"I guess the real question is, how do I feel about Nick?" Momoko sighed, dropping on the bed next to Flere. "He clearly wants a romantic relationship.... But..."

'But?'

"There's something...." Momoko struggled to find words to express her instincts. "Something that flickers in him... no, something...."

She sighed in frustration. "There's something about him, I don't know what... that tells me I should be cautious. That he's not.... He's not... trustworthy?"

No, it was something else. Something about him that reminded her of that dark void her dreams took her to. Something primordial in her blood that sung when his eyes betrayed their intensity. There was something under the surface that her gut feeling was wary of. Something that had no name to it, nothing more than a feeling, a whispering in the back of her mind. She believed him to be genuine, but deeper than appearances would allow. It didn't make much sense. She tried to frame it another way: Lucas read like an open book, the cover worn, but the pages crisp and white. Nick was like a pristine, leather-bound book with a puzzle lock, but you could tell from the ragged, yellowed edges of the pages something was off.

Momoko's thoughts circled back around, the book analogy leading her into thinking about Sylvia. She sighed. Where was her guardian? Did she think Momoko was still in the city? She flipped the visor on her M-band, commanding it to call her guardian. It rang endlessly, no voice message ever popped up. The strangeness of that didn't surprise Momoko. With another long sigh, she navigated to messages, where a string of visual messages from Grisla made her smile. She spoke out a few crisp lines to let her friend know she was all right and would be out of the city for a while.

When Grisla pinged back a concerned "when will you be back? *crying face*"

Momoko wondered the same. When would she see the gleam of the citiplex's dome again—or was this a one way ticket? The thought stung too much, so she refocused on browsing for a music playlist and letting her thoughts wander wherever they wished as sleep began to creep up on her.

She didn't find herself in a void dream this time. This time she dreamed vivid dreams, the one sticking out the most was of a sharp-fanged Nick devouring Lucas like a Thanksgiving turkey.