Serene’s POV

"Arlo," I drew in a sharp breath as my eyes met his. I hadn’t noticed him. "How are you?" He was sitting on a bed, two beds away from me.

"I am alright, but Mariela Sensei won’t let me go. She wants me to stay overnight." He kept staring at me and I lowered my eyes.

"That’s reassuring to hear that you are feeling better. Sorry, I couldn’t come earlier."

"It’s ok, you never have to apologise to me for anything. I am pleased you are awake. My heart sank when Zeph carried you inside." There was a softness to his tone that he only used with me.

"It was nothing, I used too much of my energy." I didn’t want him to worry about me.

"Your arm was in a bad shape too. Mariela Sensei took quite a time to fix it." I glanced at my arm again, it was properly fixed now.

"I don’t feel any pain now."

"I can’t believe they let you compete with three opponents. What were they thinking?" There was a hint of anger in his voice, now.

"It was my decision when facing a real enemy there is a very high probability that you will be outnumbered. So it was good practice and I was able to defeat them."

"Still, you could have gotten severely injured." His hair was open now and one side was back to falling over his eye.

"I didn’t though so don’t worry."

"And, I am sorry I missed your battle today." He looked away and began to stare ahead.

"It’s ok. And are you alright? Like emotionally? I mean... about what happened... today? If you want you can talk about it." It took quite an effort from me to say this to him.

His face snapped toward me, there was so much hurt in his eyes as he spoke in a pained voice: "I guess everyone now knows what only you knew. I didn’t want people to know how I felt about you. It was supposed to be my secret to keep and mine alone."

"I am sorry, Arlo. I hate myself for being a constant source of pain to you and please don’t say I am not. Don’t always try to make me feel better." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I could feel a storm of emotions raging inside of me.

I opened my eyes again and he was sitting very quietly looking at me. I asked: "Was Dria angry? I saw her come running and take you in her arms."

"She won’t be, if she was then she didn’t show me. Besides she knows how I feel about you. Maybe in a few days, she will bring it up but not right now."

"Hmm, right. What did he make you see?" I asked curiously.

"He has the power to manipulate other people’s minds and make them hallucinate whatever is the worst fear of the targeted person." He replied with gritted teeth, I could see he was trying to control his anger.

"And your worst fear is related to me?" I asked in astonishment. It was probably seeing me get hurt or die, I was guessing from his screams at the time of the attack.

"Yes..."

That’s all he said and didn’t elaborate further. I wanted to ask him but that would be too painful for him so I avoided doing that.

"I wanted to hurt him so bad. I would have if Kilamin hadn’t stopped me." I confided in him and he genuinely smiled at me. Not a painful smile, not a forced smile, an actual smile that brightened up his face and eyes.

"I know," and he continued to smile at me.

"Who told you that?" I inquired with my eyebrows raised.

"Mikasim, he came to check up on us. You were still unconscious."

"Ohhh!" I could feel my face heat up.

"He also told me how brilliantly you fought. Everyone is super proud of you. Taking on three opponents. Even Senseis of other realms were impressed." He filled me in with details that he had gathered from Mikasim.

"Kilamin has trained me hard and I can see the results now. His training is fruit-bearing now."

"Yes, he is doing a phenomenal job with you."

We sat there in silence for a while when the door opened and Kilamin entered with a tray of food. "Time to eat," he said and placed the tray in front of me. It had soup, rice, fruit and pudding.

"You have to finish everything so your energy can replenish."

"Thank you," I said and began to eat. Everything was very delicious or maybe I was hungry. I glanced at Arlo and asked: "Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I just had my fill a while ago. I am not hungry." He replied softly and urged me to keep eating.

After I had finished, Kilamin instructed me to get some rest. I laid down again and Kilamin covered me with a blanket.

"Serene, I will be close by. Try to get some sleep, now." Kilamin instructed and I nodded in return.

I closed my eyes but there was no sleep. I twisted and turned. "Can’t sleep," I opened my eyes and turned around to find Arlo looking at me. I faced him and lay on my right side.

"No," I replied sheepishly. I glanced toward Kilamin and he was sitting on a chair, on the other side of the room, he had fallen asleep.

"Talk to me, it’s not like I would get such a chance again to be close to you all night long." His words made me feel embarrassed again, his intense gaze was boring into me. I had no clue what to say.

"I wanted to kill him today. You know if his friend hadn’t hypnotized me, I don’t think I would have been able to stop." He confided in me in a very sad tone.

"I am sure someone would have stopped you, besides it is only natural to feel rage towards someone who has constantly bullied you in your childhood. You know how glad I felt when I saw you beat him up."

"Really?" He looked at me in utter disbelief. His reaction showed that he wasn’t expecting that answer from me.

"Yes, because I wanted to do the same to him. I don’t like bullies. And no one bullies my friends on my watch." I replied with determination.

"Sadly, you have been bullied so many times here. Even by Dria. I feel ashamed of the fact that I wasn’t always able to protect you."

"Well, I want to see anyone try now." I smiled at him, a knowing smile and he laughed.

"You have changed, Serene. And for good, I like this new you. You have come a long way from the girl I saw seven months ago." He was still smiling, I had never seen him smile so much before.

"I have, I don’t want to rely on others all the time. I want to keep my destiny in my hands. And smile suits you, I wish you will smile more."

"I will try, truth be told you are the only person who brings a smile to my face. I am very anti-social and I have never been close to anyone except Dria. But you know the reasons. Other than that I never had friends until you and the team. I am just glad you still consider me your friend." He tilted his head to the left and smiled at me again.

"I will always be your friend, Arlo. No one can take that away from me." I could feel the intensity of his gaze on my words and my heartbeat began to rise. Not a good sign, he would notice it straight away.

"Thank you for being my friend, I very much appreciate that." I nodded at him.

We spoke some more and then I finally began to yawn. "Serene, you should get some rest. Try to sleep." He instructed.

"Ok, good night Arlo."

"Good night..." he whispered. He was still sitting up, I don’t think he had any plans to sleep. I closed my eyes and soon drifted off.

I saw a swirl of black fog blow toward me and engulf me. It entered my mouth and nostrils, I clutched at my throat unable to breathe. I tried to shout but no voice would come out.

"Bring her here..." I could hear a sinister voice, calling me from the distance.

"NO... NO...," I felt someone trying to wake me up. I sat up with a jolt. It was Arlo, he was holding me in his arms and was trying to wake me up. My heart was thumping so fast and I could hardly breathe. My eyes were wide open with shock. Kilamin had woken up from my scream too and rushed towards me.

"Breathe, Serene, breathe," Arlo instructed me as he rubbed my back. I was finally coming to my senses. Kilamin wore a grim expression as he looked at me while Arlo spoke softly telling me to breathe.

I clutched his shirt, not wanting to let go as I inhaled and exhaled, my heart began to stabilize. And I didn’t even realize that my head was resting on his chest.