And so we met (Part 2)

"Wait! What!?" Vito gasped from behind the scenes.

"What's going on? Why is she kissing him? They just met!!?" Vito asked Cyrus who was right next to him.

"Ssh! They are having a moment," Cyrus whispered back to Vito.

"Picture this, a girl meets a guy and finds out that the guy is a hero tasked with saving the world and all those who live in it but to do so he will need to put his life on the line with a chance of never returning."

"Knowing that the guy is willing to place his life on the line despite the odds being stacked against him, then wouldn't it be like a fantasy if the girl were to kiss the guy goodbye?"

"I mean it's better than telling him I will kiss you when you get back."

"Still," Vito said as he watched this from behind.

"What? You jealous?" Cyrus asked smirking.

"I am not," Vito replied.

Cyrus didn't say anything else to him but he didn't need to, Vito's face was displaying exactly how he felt right now, better than any words could.

"It's rude to watch, come on Cyrus, let us make our presence known," Vito said as he walked out there.

"Well, at least he knows what he wants if only a little bit, but does he even have a right to go out there? He just tried to kill that guy," Cyrus said as he followed behind Vito.

"I didn't know you two were so fond of each other," Vito exclaimed as he came out from a bush.

Edith had let go of Terra and was dumbfounded to see Cyrus and Vito in front of her. 'Why are they back so soon? Did they see us?? I thought Cyrus said they would take a while, that was like 5 minutes, and that is not a long time!!' her mind was raging with thoughts.

"Huh!?Huh!? What are you guys doing back here!? Could you not leave us for 15 minutes?? Were you that eager to spy on us!? Edith stuttered on her words a little and this left Vito surprised.

'Is she that embarrassed about being caught or does she have little experience with these types of things? Either way that is not the face of someone who is happy to have company.' Vito thought.

Edith currently had her fist clenched seeing Vito, despite being flustered she looked like she couldn't decide whether to get angry and hit his face or feel embarrassed and cover her face. She wanted to do both.

Cyrus came out of the woods and made a sly remark on the matter, "We were simply worried that something bad would happen to you two, so we had to make sure you were safe. Oh, what kind of gentlemen would we be if we couldn't even protect one damsel in the woods all alone."

To this, Edith clapped back with a look of frustration as she slightly began to regain her composure, "I am no damsel and I am not alone. I have TERRA and he is way more capable of protecting me than you two and I don't even need protection. None of us do."

"We are freaking guarded by people who seem to communicate with the EARTH ITSELF. But you guys can't even begin to fathom what it means to give people alone time." The more Edith spoke, the more her words stuttered as she was truly letting her feelings out.

Terra sensing the tension with a worried smile on his face puts up both his hands as he comes between Edith and Vito to break it up before things escalate.

"Alright everyone I think we've spent this night outside long enough, let's head back to the hotel before things get a little hectic and they send a search party back for us!"

Edith shook her fist firmly for a little while but seeing that Terra had a point, she decided to let it go. She shook her head a few times and crossed her hands as she pouted.

She then began to strut out by herself past Vito and Cyrus and then stopped when she had gone past a tree, she turned around and called out to the boys, "Well? aren't the gentlemen going to do their job and protect a damsel going back by herself or do you want to wait here 'Lady-less' and have another 'guys' night out again?"

Terra steps out first and goes to her and then soon after Cyrus does as well. Vito stayed behind and remained because he didn't feel it would be right for him to follow right after the incident he had caused. He wanted to remain behind and forget it all happened.

"Vito! Aren't you coming?" Edith asked as he waited patiently with her arms crossed.

Vito was stunned, perplexed even. Edith had seen everything that had occurred between him and Terra and yet she was still waiting for him to make his move and follow her out of the woods.

"I-" he stuttered out as Edith came forward and grabbed his hand. "It's late, we are leaving now!"

Without his consent, she dragged him out from his spot and rushed him towards the other two and with that she had her own personal squad moving along with her as if knights for a princess.

Cyrus and Terra had stuck up another conversation between them, while Edith and Vito were trailing behind them a little bit.

"Uhm, Edith," Vito said. "You don't have to hold my hand so tightly."

Edith didn't listen and continued to squeeze his hand as the two of them moved together.

"Ow, Edith. It hurts."

Edith then stopped squeezing his hand as she turned around and looked him in the eyes and for a moment Vito saw tears, "Don't you ever do something stupid like that again," she said as she pushed his hand back into his chest.

It was rough and left a sting on Vito. The rest of the walk was silent on Vito's part.

By the time they reached inside, they were freezing and just now realized how much warmer it was in there compared to outside.

"Edith? Is that you? Oh my, yes it is. And it seems you brought friends~ *wink" The group was being greeted at the front desk near the entrance to this hotel by a young and beautiful lady with long black hair rolled up into a bun and in the full-on uniform of a hostess.

She was one of the people serving out meals in the dining hall on roller skates. She looked to be 23 years old.

Vito though was confused about something, 'Was this front desk always here!? No really, even when chasing Terra I don't remember passing by this. Did the design of the building change? But the walls are still painted gold with white lights brightening the area, maybe I am imagining this.'

Edith went on over to hug the woman greeting them, "Sasha hi, I just got back. And these three are my friends from this evening." She said as she pointed towards the group. Sasha then takes a long look at the boys with a bright smile and then smirks over at Edith.

"Oh wow, darling, three at once? you've beaten my world record when I was your age." To this Edith Immediately blushes and answers, "N-no, it's not like that. I was just looking for them to make sure that they wouldn't get lost. They are hopeless by themselves."

Sasha laughs and caresses Edith lightly, "Only teasing little one, don't mind me. But do tell me, among the three, which one is your type? We have the nerdy but collected intellectual, we have the gentle but certainly strong and fierce chosen representative of our planet, or perhaps you like them a little bad, huh?"

On this one, she leans in closer puts her lips near Edith's ear, and says in a soft tone. "That one on the far right with the red handkerchief hanging out his pocket certainly looks like he could get you into a lot of trouble, but I feel like it might be worth it~"

Edith pushes her back lightly and with a red face as she goes, "Neither, neither now can you please leave us alone we are tired and need our rest."

Sasha slowly and dramatically makes a scene and falls over to the side of the front desk extends her hand out over to us and goes, "Oh my, I appear to have tripped and fallen over after being pushed so forcefully. Would you strong young men be so kind as to help a damsel in distress?"

The boys had realized that this was a trap. If they were to help Sasha then they would be betraying Edith's trust for them but if they stood and did nothing then they would be less than scum. All of them knew this except for Terra who almost went to go help her but Cyrus stopped him.

Just when all hope had seemed lost, a third factor appeared. "Sasha would you not torment the kids any longer? They need rest, today has been much for them." Another woman dressed as a hostess but with silver-white hair rolled up into a bun instead walked on over and helped Sasha up.

"My, you always come to bring ruin to my enjoyment. I was only teasing." Sasha pouted lightly at her colleague who had her arms crossed and was not hearing it. "I don't care if you are only teasing, leave the kids to solve their issues. You get involved too much." She then pinches Sasha a little bit and walks on over to greet the group whilst still pinching Sasha.

"My name is Minty. Nice to meet you. Sorry about my colleague Sasha, she can get a little too involved in other people's DRAMA. So much even that she sometimes creates it." She looks at Sasha on this one but Sasha turns away. "I hope she didn't bother you too much."

She then moves on over to Edith and says, "I especially owe an apology to you, you must be exhausted by now. The elevator is to the left, it's the quickest way to your rooms." She smiled as she then took, well mostly drags Sasha away.

Sasha could still be heard complaining as her voice slowly dissipated into the background.

"Wow," Vito said, "They must be sisters, perhaps twins with how much they look alike." Edith still annoyed at the encounter from before quickly snapped at him and said, "If you are that interested in them, how about you follow them and find out." She then turned to the left towards the elevator.

"What? What was that about?" Vito asked as Cyrus shook his head and walked away too.

Vito quickly caught up with the elevator with fear that they would close it in his face. Entering the elevator, it surprisingly had no music which sucked as anything would have been better to lighten the mood between them than nothing.

The elevator ride was short and simple and the next thing they knew, they were all up and on their floor.

Everyone had walked out and approached their door, each quiet when they did so, not a sound was heard. Cyrus was in room 204, Edith was in room 202, Terra was in room 205 and Vito was in room 201.

Vito had expected someone to say something here but it seems they all had something in mind. As he scrolled his eyes around he noticed that Cyrus was taking off his glasses despite entering a dark room that was being illuminated by a blue light.

'How can he see like that, much less with his glasses off?' he wondered as he stepped through his door.

Vito's head was filled with questions about the events that transpired here tonight, "How that Alex person knew so much about him, how Cyrus was able to sneak in and switch his bullets, where he currently was because the landscape outside was different than when he first came to this building and how did it become a hotel and not a rundown bar anymore?"

So many thoughts were filling his head that he didn't want to even think about it anymore. He jumped into bed after closing the lights, he wanted to at least get some rest before claiming some answers, but alas he couldn't.

The darkness had enfolded the room and he let it take hold of him as I sank into his sheets. He closed his eyes to somewhat forget about this day. To forget about the bad parts that happened. But it was to no avail.

For there was one thought in his mind that kept him awake, a thought filled with anger, regret, and guilt.

"Man, do I hate myself!"