With a cup of coffee in one hand and a basket of fruits in the other, Irene skipped into the brightly-lit room, her legs light and buoyant.

Six hospital beds lined both sides of the room, while a few nurses stood around with their clipboards, jotting down vital signs and whatever it was they usually wrote. Lyn was sitting up on one of the beds, her auburn hair sprouted messily from her head like a lion.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Irene hopped over to her friend before slamming down the items she was holding. "I got you coffee and some fruits." She settled on the chair next to the bed and grabbed an apple. "This is such deja vu, you know; the last time you were hospitalized was also after a commission for the Witches, except this time you don't get a private room. Maybe this is a sign that we shouldn't go near the Witches ever again."

Lyn did not say anything to that; not a quip, not even a chuckle. Huh, that was weird.

Irene frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lyn said with a nod, but Irene had never heard a more dejected reply in her life.

"Want an apple?" she offered.

"Nah."

"Alright then." Irene shrugged and took a bite of the apple, her curious eyes lingering on the pale-skinned woman.

She had known Lyn too long to know that she was, in fact, not okay at all; it was almost unnerving to see the usually animated face just staring into space, as expressionless as a blank piece of paper. She forced the piece of apple down her throat.

"Is it true, then?" she asked, her voice was coarser than she had expected. "Did the Witches... do something to you?"

It had been a stupid rumor that had been going around, but Irene could not help asking about it, seeing the way Lyn was right now.

"Nah."

Again with the unenergetic, one-word answer.

Irene stifled an annoyed grunt before deciding to change the topic. "So how's the Crimson Witch? You met her, right? Is she as scary as she's made out to be?"

That finally got somewhat of a response from Lyn: a small scowl, followed by a soft, "I don't want to talk about her."

"Hm, okay then." Irene took another bite of the apple. Yet again, she found herself unable to get through to Lyn.

Ever since Lyn got back from jail, it was as if her soul had been transported to a different world, leaving an empty shell of a body here. Even as she smiled, or talked, or laughed, or teased, Irene still felt an invisible barrier between them, pushed away from Lyn's true thoughts, Lyn's real life. Was this what it felt like, losing a friend? Irene took another huge bite of the apple; the fruit was gradually losing flavor in her mouth.

"Anyway, rest well, alright?" she mumbled. "Take the next few days off or something."

Back in the normal days, Lyn would have huffed and said something along the lines of, "I don't need breaks! Not me! This girl never rests!" But this time, she just nodded.

"Sure, I'm actually hoping to take the next two weeks off anyway. Sorry, Irene, if that's too long of a break, the three of you can do some smaller quests until I'm back."

"The three of us?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm hoping to do something with Neil during this time."

Irene's eyes twitched. What the heck?

"What, are you going on a vacation with Neil, not me? Are you changing besties already?" she asked, coating her question with as much humor as she could manage.

Lyn barely smiled at the joke. "Nah, just... some matters to attend to. D- Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, fine, do whatever you want. We can all take a long break too, I think we need that." Irene finished the apple and then stood up. "Alright, I'm gonna go now."

"Okay, thank you for the food," Lyn mumbled as she sank further into her bed, turning her back to Irene.

Irene pursed her lips. Lyn's broad shoulders felt like a thick block of ice.

Damn it, Lyn, you promised me that things will go back to normal. You told me to trust you. She tossed the apple in the trash.

"What really happened during the quest, Lyn?" she whispered. "What did the Witches do to you?"

"Nothing," came the muffled response. "I'm tired, Irene. Let me sleep."

So something did happen. She clenched and unclenched her fists before spinning around and stomping out of the room.

When she reached the door, she noticed their team's fighter. Arms crossed and with a bored expression, Neil was leaning on the wall across from Lyn's hospital room.

"Oh. Hey there, Neil."

The burly man nodded in acknowledgment.

Gesturing towards the door, Irene asked, "Visiting Lyn? I think she's too tired for visitors."

"Oh, is she?" Neil raised his eyebrows. "She just messaged me that she wanted to talk to me though. I'll go check."

Irene could not help but watch Neil brush by her and make his way towards Lyn. Her eyes widened and she felt them twitch again; the auburn-haired woman's body had shot up like fireworks at the sight of the man, a giant grin plastered all over her face.

So, Lyn just didn't want to talk to her? Her energy dipped with Irene, but skyrocketed with Neil? Neil?

Irene stood there for a while, observing the two of them. Slowly, her frustration dissolved and morphed into a mix of realization, worry, and incredulity. She took out a small notepad and scribbled something on it. As she tore the page, the tiny piece of paper disappeared into a ray of light.

Letting out a small sigh, Irene stalked out of the hospital.

🔥⚫🔥⚫🔥

"So, what the hell do you want from me?"

Irene jolted from the voice, almost toppling her iced tea. Suppressing an eye-roll, she gestured towards the chair opposite her. "Just wanted to talk. Didn't you read my message?"

Emily plopped down at the table, crossing her legs and flicking a strand of golden hair from her face. "Your message didn't say shit; they're as vague as all the crappy essays you wrote in college."

Irene choked on her tea. Maybe she shouldn't have ordered something to drink when meeting with Emily; this pain-in-the-ass woman was as hostile as ever!

"Jesus, can you chill?" she snapped, after a few seconds of coughing fits. "After all these years you're still bringing that up?"

"Well, that's my best impression of you," Emily continued with her snide remarks. "Anyway, hurry and tell me what you want. My time is precious."

"Yeah, yeah, princess." Irene dug out a poster from her pocket and tossed it at the blonde woman. "Read this. It's an open quest that I'd like to go, and since it's an open quest to an island God-knows-where, and I don't want to die in the sea or something, I'd like a strong fighter to come with me."

Without so much as a glance at the poster, Emily snorted. "So you're finally admitting that I'm strong."

Irene blinked. Wow, from all of that, that was what she focused on? "What the fuck, I've always thought that you were strong. You just have your head in your ass, I guess."

Emily stood up so abruptly that she almost caused her chair to topple. "Well, I am not helping anybody who's gonna insult me like that."

"Oh, calm the fuck down. Would you stop taking everything so damn seriously?"

Spinning around, Emily tried to leave, but Irene quickly grabbed her shirt to pull her back. The blonde woman yelped, "Hey! You better let me go or I'll—"

"I'm doing this for Lyn, okay?"

Emily stopped in her tracks. "Oh. What do you mean?"

"Just sit back down." Irene leaned back on her chair. "Anyway, yeah, so I found out that, for some reason, that stupid girl is planning to go to this open quest. She's even bringing our team's fighter into this. I don't know why she's doing it, but I just know that the reason must be downright stupid. So yeah, that's why I'm hoping to go to this, and why I'm hoping you'll help me."

"But why me?"

"I told you, you're a good fighter. The best one I know. Other than the one in my team, of course."

Emily sat back down on her seat, frowning. "You... know I have a girlfriend, right?"

"Oh my God." Irene felt her eyes rolling all the way to the back of her head. "I don't give a flying shit about that, Emily. What, do you think I'm trying to get you back together with Lyn or something? Geez, you can't just help a friend out?"

Emily looked like she had to bite back a retort. Her lips formed an indignant pout before she muttered, "Why would Lyn want to go on an open quest? She's too good for this."

Irene lowered her gaze and took a sip of her tea. "I told you, I don't know. She's... She has been acting a bit weird after the Crimson Witch quest though."

"Oh, so something did happen to her then..."

Irene perked up. "Why? You know something?"

"I don't, but I did sense that something was very wrong when she got back. And then I read the reports, and they said that they found her chained up inside a cave, looking really beaten up..." Emily's voice quivered. She gulped. "She didn't say anything about what the Witches did to her?"

"Nah, she didn't. At least not to me," Irene mumbled as she stirred her tea with the straw. The ice clinked against the cup, its bell-like sound was so light and spirited—a stark contrast to her mood. "To be honest, she hasn't been telling me things for a while now."

"Yeah, welcome to my life," Emily grunted. "Glad you're finally understanding how it felt for me."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't tell me you didn't realize." Raising an eyebrow, Emily let out a wry chuckle. "Back when we were dating, it was always, 'Irene this' and 'Irene that'. You were her number one priority, not me. She'll put your plans first and ditch me, she'll update you about her life first and forget to tell me about them, she'll care for you first before she'll care for me. I was like an afterthought. But now, her priorities have changed, I guess. Someone else is her number one priority. How does it feel to be relegated to the back of Lyn's mind, dear Irene? Not good, right?"

Irene's eyes fluttered. Emily's words pierced her right in the heart. All the disheartening thoughts, the overwhelming sense of loss, the helplessness, and the fatigue... All of the emotions from the past six months hit her like a train. And what hurt the most was how painfully true those words were.

The tea suddenly tasted bitter in her mouth.

"Yeah, whatever, I don't care," she said, gulping down her last sip. "It's her life, so she can choose to care or not care about whoever, I don't give a shit. All I know is, I worry about her. She's clearly not in the right state of mind and she's clearly not doing this quest for a good reason. It's an open quest so anything can go wrong, and I don't want her to die." She glanced at the blonde woman. "So? You want to come along, or nah?"

Emily let out an annoyed breath of air from her nostrils. "Yeah, yeah, let me see that."

For the first time all day, Emily snatched up the poster and gave it a proper read. Her face contorted into a scowl. "A treasure hunt. Huh. Well, I have no experience with treasure hunts, but I'll ask around the guild members and see if there's any tips they can give."

Irene nodded. She would never admit it, but Emily was always a good addition to a team not only because of her strength as a fighter, but also her resourcefulness and thoroughness in researching a quest. Too bad she's an annoying bitch who was too uptight for her own good.

"I'll prepare on my end too," she added. "Get some potions and all that jazz. I don't want to get our team's healer and conjurer involved by the way. This little outing might be potentially life-threatening."

"Yeah. Sounds good." Emily pocketed the poster. Without even saying goodbye, she stood up and strode out of the cafe.

"Well, goodbye to you too," Irene said to no one in particular.

She slumped on the table, resting her throbbing head on her arms. Maybe she should get another cup of warm tea instead.