Back to the island, talking about the past

Alice and Noah woke up standing in the pool of water, exactly the way they had been when teleporting to the eternal battlefield. Now however they weren't tired as they were that day, more physically fit as well.

Noah was in his underwear wearing two bronze lockets, while Alice had Noah's jacket covering her.

As for the camp Noah had set up a week before near the stream, it had been completely destroyed. The fire had long been out and the food and Noah's backpack had all its things spilt out. It was likely that it had been ransacked by some wild animals.

Noah and Alice quickly made their way shore to wear their clothes. Afterwhich Noah did a check if anything had been lost. Other than the fruits and fish he had gotten from the surroundings, the spices he had gotten in Country C had disappeared.

Noah collected everything and put it back into his bag.

"Noah, when do you think rescue will come?" Alice asked after changing.

"It probably already came and left..." Noah thought. "But I'm sure they will come back here eventually. We should set up some types of signs on the shore so they can find us."

"Let's set them up now then."

"Sure, let's go." Noah wore his bag as he got up. He then led the way to shore picking up a long wooden stick along the way.

Walking out to shore the strong ocean wind brushed past them.

"Alice, how about you write down a large 'help' sign on the sand, I'll set up a fire,"

"Okay." Alice took the stick from Noah and started to displace the sand.

Noah got the things he needed from the first and set up the fire with his lighter. He made sure it was big and gave a large trail of smoke.

After setting it up Noah went and helped Alice in the sign.

After finishing everything the two sat on the beach. Alice set her head on Noah's shoulder. As they looked out.

"So what do you want to do for food?"

"The fruits you gave me were actually really sweet, I don't mind eating them."

"I'll catch some fish as well, we need the protein," Noah said as he started taking off his clothes, "I'll get the fish first, do you want to come with me?"

"No, I'm fine." Noah nodded and picked up his pocket knife as he ran into the ocean and then dived in. He swam like a dolphin, going further out to find fish, The waters got deep fast as he soon found a school.

Examining the fish, Noah judged them a type of mackerel, he swam closer and grabbed a hold of a large one, he then used the knife to stab in and kill it. The fish stop struggling as Noah swam up for air. He then swam back to shore, walking out carrying a half-kilogram fish.

Alice had gotten some sticks to hold the fish on.

"Let's go back in the forest to the waterfall," Noah said, as he put the fish in the container he had gotten from country C.

The two made it back to the waterfall, set up the whole camp again, a lot better this time. Noah set the fish to be smoke as Alice and he went to get fruits from nearby.

Coming back with arms full of ripe fruits the two sat down.

After eating Noah and Alice sat together quietly.

After a while of cuddling Noah asked what had been on his mind, "Alice can you tell me what happened the 4 years I couldn't contact you?"

Alice thought for a moment then answered, "Are you sure you want to listen? Unlike your story, mine's sickening."

"I still want to know, if you don't mind can you share it with me?" Noah asked.

"I don't mind."

"Four years ago, I woke from my sleep after hearing a loud noise, that was when I found both my parents dead in their room and my mother lifelessly holding a gun in her hand. The police came, the scene was investigated and the case was closed as suicide." Alice said with a deadpan expression as if the people she was talking about weren't her parents.

"It was after that, at my parents funeral where I was given a letter saying the engagement was off and that your parents would however still support me through their charity foundation. They also asked for me to not contact you."

"Did you believe it?" Noah asked.

"I didn't at first, I mean a few days ago we had talked on the phone and you had told me you loved me. But I didn't have anyone to question about it, your number wasn't connecting. None of my letters got replies. I tried getting to your parents through the T group branches in the country, none of them helped."

"I eventually believed it. I didn't think it was your decision, I thought you were most likely forced to agree to it."

"By then, I had missed school for a few months and had to return. I didn't expect much, but I thought I would still be treated well in school. They might pity me but that was all. But I thought wrong, when I came back everything had changed, all my friends stopped talking to me. Since my scores started to decline the teachers stopped seeing me in a favourable light. I spent the whole year completely alone."

"Wait...what about Kira, your best friend? She ignored you as well?"

"Kira had transferred to another city when I wasn't in school, she never contacted me since."

Noah was incredibly perplexed he was sure these series of events weren't coincidences. However, without evidence, he couldn't speak his mind.

"By the end of the year, my grades were so bad they couldn't let me stay in school and had me transferred to my current school. I was also given my current apartment through your parents' charity foundation."

"The first day of school went great. I made sure to get to know everyone in class since I was scared of being a loner again. "

Alice stopped for a moment and said, "It was still the first week of school, I saw someone being bullied and I interfered. Ahhhh, I shouldn't have done that. That's when the bullying started. I'll always regret interfering."

Noah hugged her and said, "But you did the right thing, the others are wrong in not stopping it."

"The next day, I was back to being a loner. The people I thought were friends abandoned me at the drop of a hat. I was labelled as a target by the bullies."

"It wasn't too bad at first, drawing in books, hiding my bag and making fun of me. I could bear it. But for some reason rumours that I was an orphan spread and that I was earning money by selling my body. If people ignored me before they now looked at me with disdain."

"How could they believe something like that. I'll never believe what other people tell me without talking to you. I'll always listen to what you have to say first." Noah intervened.

"Good, you better."

"The bullying got worst, vandalising my desk, locking me in rooms, making me the culprit whenever something went missing, the list goes on. This time I didn't take it silently, I recorded the bullies talking, got evidence of them cheating on exams and basically all the dirt I could find on them."

"The leader of the bullies' father was running for mayor at the time. I struck to give the hardest blow. I sent the information to all news companies and all his competitors. Information on his daughter blew up, it snowballed into a huge matter as more dirt came to light. The school was investigated, all the bullies were punished and her father lost the election."

"I was on the top of the world... For the few days, they were suspended."

"They were only suspended?!"

"Yup, and only for 2 weeks or something. On the plus side, I'm sure I broke a family." Alice said with a laugh.

"Anyway, this was my second mistake I should have bared with it and should have made it through the years quietly."

"The bullies figured out it was me who had complained about them, since they were now under scrutiny they started being more discrete. They brought me to corners now and did everything now hiding it. I remember once they filled my bag with cockroaches. Teachers started thinking I was the problem."

"The worst was when they pushed me off the second floor and claimed I was killing myself... I had to start counselling. After that I just stopped going to school as a whole, barely going a few times a month, I got a part-time job far away from home at a restaurant."

"They even followed me there, that's when they dropped boiling soup on me and got me fired from my job." Alice continued.

"Stop, please stop," Noah said as he held her tightly. He didn't want to hear Alice listing off such horrible experiences as if they didn't matter.

"Let me calm down for a second." Noah just held her in silence. He was furious, he had never felt such strong anger before.

"You can continue now, I've calmed down."

"Well after that... nothing really happened," Alice said.

Noah could tell she was lying but didn't push.

"Are you disappointed the girl you fell in love with is a weak and pitiful orphan."

"No, I think you're strong and beautiful. Not many people can go through something so harsh and you went through it alone. I just want to thank you for not giving up and waiting as long as you did."

They had spent the whole day talking.

When the temperature got colder after the sunset down they snuggled together next to the fire.

Alice looked at the stars.

"They are so pretty."

"But you're even prettier," Noah answered.

The two eventually fell asleep leaning on each other