Romina waited for Fred outside the archives, knowing he would be heading out to use the pany vending mae to get a midnight snack. She stood with her back pressed to the wall thinking deeply about the information she had uncovered.

  Duriime searg for the name she had found several employees with the st name ‘Brown’ all too on after all, but something told Romina she was not looking for assistants and admin officers.

  No, this had something to do with the self, Victor Sincir.

  The doors to the archive opened and the blonde man walked out with a yawretched his hands over his head and like a moth to a fme, headed towards the vending mae glowing in the hallway.

  Fred noticed the presence behind him immediately, without turning around he knew who it was that stood there in the shadows of the door.

  “Romina, hought you would be the oo seek me out,” Fred said, as a sandwich plopped to the bottom of the mae. The blond turned his tired eyes to the woman who stood with her arms folded and a gre fixed on him.

  “I’ve been trying to locate where I’ve heard the st name Brown before and my only lead is you, I don’t like to be deceived Fred, start talking,”

  “You would know more than me,” Fred said, pulling his meal out of the packaging that allowed it to maintain its freshness. He bit into it with all the relish of a starving man finding food for the first time in ages.

  “Bullshit!” Romina hissed. “This has something to do with the old data!”

  Fred said nothing, mung on his sandwich.

  “Who is Aya Brown?” Romina asked again, lifting her gsses to rest on the bridge of her nose. “You said finding her was very important to the CEO, why?”

  “And you wished the best oute for me, isn’t that enough?”

  “Fred, what does the name ‘Brown’ have to do with the old data?”

  “Everything was scrubbed Romina,” Fred said, polishing off the rest of his sandwich. He looked into her icy blue eyes, for ohey cked the usual pt Romina had for the people around her. Now curiosity warmed them.

  And wasn’t she part of this already? After all, they would not know Aya’s name if it wasn’t for her. Fred sighed, weighing his options. On one hand, he teically owed her this knowledge, oher hand, this was between him and Victor Sincir.

  For all he knew, she could be the one bckmailing him.

  He looked at Romina’s expet face again, if she really was the bckmailer, she did a good job hiding it.

  “You trust me, I know where Mr. Sincir pulled you from and I never said a word. You’re still the same archival rat to me as always,” Romina stepped forward until she was only a foot or two away from the blond man.

  Fred exhaled and faced the vending mae to purchase another sandwich.

  “Do you remember Anastasia Brown?” Fred asked.

  ----------

  The light of the microwave fred to life as Aya put her pte of pasta in to heat it up. She leaned against the door, alone i as Mars had goo bed by now. The silence echoed all around her, remindi wasn’t usual to be up so te.

  She stopped the microwave before it could hit zero and took her steaming pte out to sit at the empty table.

  “I wish I could have eaten with Mars,” Aya said scooping her pasta up and filling her mouth as she pouted. Dinner was such a lonely affair without Mars. It took Aya back to the days when she would e home from work a some pre-made food she scored on a clearance sale.

  Days she hoped not to revisit.

  Her phone buzzed oable, alertio a text message from someone she knew. Aya stared at the phone, who could be textihis te? Nisha?

  While chewing she picked up the phoo read the text from Ats Nue. Her eyes widened in surprise at the name.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve heard from him, then again I haven’t been the best at keeping in touch either,” Aya said.

  [Do you still py Moon Valley?]

  She read the text a out a small ugh and wondered why that was the thing Ats tched onto, it was his opener. Aya found it cute that he would ask. Probably because she couldn’t stop talking about it whehey met.

  [Of course, I do, you couldn’t pay me to stop at this point :D]

  [I didn’t think you’d be up this te, but I supposed pro gamers have notoriously te hours]

  Ats replied.

  [Teically not a pro yet, and I’m not usually up this te I was just lost in a session]

  [What css do you py? I’m a Knight now, which I learned was quite basic but I like it]

  [Who said it was basic?! Knights are cool! I py a summohough, I have about three summons now]

  Aya hoped he could see ahe pride she was trying to vey in her message, it had been a while sihey had talked on any medium and she missed him.

  [Three summons, I hear that css is hard to py but I know you’ll be good at it.

  I’ll be heading to bed soon but I wao let you know I’m on my way to the Solstice Crossing, maybe if you’re there we take a quest together]

  Aya smiled sadly, knowing she was nowhere he rest of the pyers in the game.

  [Not quite in that general area yet, but I will be in a bit. We defiake a quest together sometime]

  Aya texted, she didn’t know where the sudden guilt came from. It wasn’t like she was blowing him off. She really wao py with him but it wasn’t the right time. There were a ton of things to do before she left Bloom Haven to follow Twy and Rael.

  [That’s alright, perhaps I’ll be at a higher level when we meet, Goodnight, Aya]

  [Goodnight Ats, It was alking to you again]

  [Call me more often]

  Their text versation ended with Aya staring at the final message. A smile grew on her face at the thought of him texting.

  “Ah! I fot to ask what his username was,” Aya said. “But I guess I could always text tomorrow,” she checked her phone for the time, it ast midnight now.

  “It’s tomorrow,” She whihe sun wouldn’t rise for a while, but it was getting ter and she had no business fighting sleep when she should have been in bed already.

  Aya finished up her pasta and rose to take her dishes to the sink. She rihem off and put the ptes in the drying rack so they would go ba the shelf when m came.

  Moving through the two bedroom felt haunted, while Aya knew Mars was in her room sleeping, the absence of the irl represented a break in her routine.

  “I’ll see her in the m,” Aya said, entering her room once again. Mars had ly put away her Revista and its wires while her PacBook charged on the small desk Mars left her.

  A small, fond smile crossed Aya’s face at the sight of how gently the irl handled her belongings. No pce like home.

  Sunghost