Rexir sat down opposite the strange woman who was still getting over her latest crying fit. Leresa had taken the seat to his left, and Zare, the one to his right.

Hazeel and Vanessa had pulled over some chairs from another table, and were trying to comfort the crying woman. Meanwhile, Leo had decided to go behind the counter of the establishment, and helped himself to their supplies, cooking up a storm so they could have lunch.

Vanessa smiled and put an arm around Maria, who looked like she was nearly about to bawl again. Rexir looked on the scene, with Hazeel going to get the woman a tissue from the nearby cloth dispenser.

He supposed that was one good thing that came from all his trials with taking in photon energy: it forced him to rely on others.

Before his accident, he would take on all things on his own, because he believed that by working by himself to accomplish something, he could perfect it in a way that wouldn’t be possible when working with others.

However, now his most basic of tools, communication, was forced out of his arsenal. It made him rely on Leresa more, and for that, he was eternally grateful.

Not only did it cement his love for the woman, but taught him a valuable lesson about relying on other people. Namely, that it wasn’t a weakness, but highlighted a very real strength.

He looked on at Hazeel and Vanessa, and one thought sprang to mind. Trust. Leo had so much trust in his partners, that he was confident he could leave gathering information to them, and count on them to not leave anything out.

All while cooking a delicious smelling lunch from seemingly nothing. Wizardry. ‘Please. It’s not wizardry, he’s just a resourceful man.’ Leresa smirked, and Rexir blushed, unaware that he had been channeling his thoughts into Leresa’s mind.

Leresa stifled a laugh and nuzzled her head in Rexir’s shoulder. He reached out a hand and patted the top of her head, which made her smile further.

“So, Maria.” Zare started, as her disapproving gaze was leaving Rexir and Leresa’s interaction. “What happened to the city? Why is it empty?”

Maria, of course, didn’t understand a word of what Zare said, and stared at the princess with a blank expression on her face.

Zare blushed and demanded that Vanessa translate, which she obliged. “What happened to the city?”

Maria repeated the question before shivering. “God damn it all.” She started. The surrounding otherworlders balked at her only addressing one of the gods in her curse, but decided not to make a scene out of it.

“They fed the people here to that… that thing.” Maria began to hug herself, and curled her knees up to her chest. “I tried to stop it, I really did but-”

“Hold on Maria.” Vanessa said, placing a hand on top of the woman’s. “You have to start from the beginning. After all, Leo and I haven’t exactly been up on current dates. Besides that, no one else is from Earth.”

Maria’s mouth opened and closed once, before she let out a sigh. “I mean, I should have guessed when a seven foot dark elf was choking me out. Why am I still surprised?”

Hazeel took offense to that, rolling up her sleeves to show her bark covered forearms. Maria, confused as to what she was looking at, turned to Vanessa for guidance.

Vanessa chuckled and whispered something into Maria’s ear, causing her to blanche. “Oh my god, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean any offense by it! I just figured-” Hazeel’s stare made Maria reconsider her sentence and she promptly closed her mouth. “Nevermind.”

“To answer your question,” Maria said, clearing her throat, “after Leo escaped… Christian killed Rob.” Rexir was intrigued by the blank stare in her eyes, but decided not to press for anything at this moment.

“He went ballistic, pouring all his capital into interdimensional research, and tried to create the ultimate being, one who would lock onto Leo’s photon signature from across dimensions and kill him.”

Vanessa shivered, and she wasn’t the only one at the table who did so. Rexir couldn’t even fathom what kind of madness it would take a man to try and create a killing machine, so to speak. All for the sake of tracking down one person.

“Of course, Alison wanted to go after you right away, but I held her back. She… she was never right after learning about Leo’s origins. Her mind began to warp the truth, and she eventually became Christian’s right hand, content to watch the world burn as the madman continued his research.”

“And yourself?” Hazeel asked, concern palpable in her voice. After Vanessa translated, Maria looked over at the wood elf with compassion in her eyes.

“I couldn’t take it. All the murdering, the conspiracies, the cover ups. I was just going to live my life out in Hawaii. Every time I would see a clone, it would remind me… about what we did to you.” She said, looking at Vanessa.

She smiled and put an arm on Maria’s shoulder, prompting her to continue. “That was, until I felt a strong photon pulse in the world. I couldn’t ignore something that strong.”

“Did they complete the weapon?” Leresa asked for Rexir, a hint of fear in her lovely voice.

Maria shook her head. “No, but it’s potentially worse.” The group’s stares focused on her as Maria took a deep breath.

“Christian wasn’t the only one doing research. Alison was as well, and she made a breakthrough on hers. By letting a Dimension Eater take root in her brain, she gains powers similar to those monsters, which ended up with-”

“The world being eaten.” Vanessa finished, a solemn look on her face. “But that means-”

“Lunch is served.” Leo put down plates filled with pancakes in front of them all, with coffee and tea on the side. Rexir still wasn’t sure how he felt about the mysterious black liquid, only that he did like how it made his brain feel afterwards.

They decided to table the discussion there, and catch Leo up, on everything while they ate. They had mostly finished when a bell rang out from the door, and a clone wearing yellow walked in. It had caught them so off guard that they weren’t fast enough to react to the entry.

“Civilians cannot be out during the day. You must all…” She trailed off as she and the original Vanessa traded looks, and she hit a button on her communications device before Hazeel cleaved through her head with her large buster sword.

Rexir sighed as he stood up and took off his own bracelet. What was the expression Vanessa had used before? Oh yeah. Shit had hit the fan.