I hear a knock on our door and immediately wake up with a start. I spit out the strand of hair that was in my mouth and sit up until my back rests against the headboard of the bed. The room is still so dark, I wonder if it is still night but then I remember that the sunlight I experience every morning is artificial.

I turn to my side and am surprised to see Lucian sleeping soundly with his back to me.

A knock reverberates from the door to Lucian's room again and I wince afraid that it will disturb his sleep which I now know is something invaluable to him.

I rush to the door in annoyance and jerk it open to cast a vicious sneer at the perpetrator. My eyes widen as I see our usual attendant with a trolley full of food by his side.

"Ms Aria... I didn't mean to intrude," He stutters as he takes in my disheveled appearance. "Master Lucian usually leaves for work by now. He should have had his breakfast already. I tried knocking but I wasn't sure..."

He trails off looking like he is about to choke on his words.

"I don't know what to do," He admits fearfully. "Master has never slept in like this."

Slept in? Did we both sleep in?

"What time is it?" I ask him in surprise. After my insomnia the night before last I did not expect to sleep a wink last night. I look behind me at Lucian who hasn't shifted in the slightest despite our conversation.

"It's ten past the shift of the axis," He says worriedly. "Master Lucian should be in the military base by now."

I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand which earns me a startled look from the attendant.

"Not again," I sigh realizing I had missed the morning drills for two days in a row. "Do you know where the sunlight or lights are?"

He nods quickly and rushes into the room to switch them on.

"Could you make it dimmer than usual?" I whisper and he does just that. The room lights up only slightly with dim grey lighting making it feel like dusk on Earth.

"Shall I set the food?" He asks me and I nod.

After he has finished he gives me a curt nod and exits the room swiftly leaving me with the job to wake up Lucian.

I walk over to him and stare at his sleeping form. His face is pressed into the pillow desperately and he is hugging another pillow so tightly I wonder if he is trying to make up for lost time.

Looking at his peaceful face, I realize I don't have the heart to wake him up and ruin this scene before me but I wonder if he will get into trouble for being tardy to work.

I shift on my feet wondering what I should do and then I decide to procrastinate and get ready to go to the training center first.

I brush my teeth, take a quick shower and drink some water before making my way towards him again. This time I sit down next to him and feel the bed dip under me.

Lucian shifts slightly and then I watch his eyelids flutter rapidly until they fly open and eyes the color of cold blue ice meet my gaze.

He sits up slowly and pushes his silver hair away from his eyes.

"Aria," He says in a tired voice.

"Good morning, Lucian," I reply chirpily feeling oddly refreshed after having an undisturbed good night's sleep.

"Good morning," He says as he gets up and yawns loudly. He stretches his arms out into the air and then collapses back into his pillow.

"It's ten past the shift of the axis," I say apprehensively, unsure if I should remind him that we are both late.

"I don't care," He mumbles into his pillow. "Goodnight."

"Umm okay," I can't help the grin on my face as I get up to leave him be. My heart swells with happiness for him and all my past predicaments seem so small and manageable after our conversation yesterday.

I take a step forward and gasp when I feel myself being jerked backwards.

I look down at my wrist and see Lucian's hand around it.

He looks up at me through sleepy eyes but there is a grateful smile on his face that makes him glow.

"Thank you, Aria. I haven't slept like this in what feels like light years," He says dramatically and I roll my eyes but inside my stomach is churning and my heart is racing at the compliment.

"I didn't do anything," I admit quietly as my cheeks burn under his scrutiny. He looks up at me through the hair that has fallen across his forehead again.

"I'm taking you out tonight, after we train," He says and then he releases my wrist and nuzzles his face further into the pillow. "We will explore the city."

He closes his eyes and I look at him curiously. I've never been around the city before so I suppose it would be nice.

I finish up my breakfast as quietly as I can before I switch off the lights and leave his room to go for training.

I am in a much better mood when I set foot into the training center but the moment I see the other fighters my happiness deflates like a punctured balloon.

I had briefly escaped to a blissful place with Lucian yesterday but being here reminds me of my fight with Christina and Michael's death. I am surprised that I don't see his face floating in my vision anymore and feel thankful for Lucian opening up to me last night.

He made me feel like everyone had baggage and what I had was nothing compared to him. I should be grateful I never had to kill anyone when I was twelve years old.

Thinking of Lucian and how he has managed to work everyday and take charge of his squads despite his guilt and sleeping disorder gives me a newfound strength to push myself.

I do the drills that I missed and then head into one of the empty training cubicles to train with the laser poles.

The atmosphere in the center is somber and most people keep to themselves as they train silently. Nobody is cheerful after the new rules that have been implemented as no one wants to see their friends beaten to death in the matches to come.

After a couple of rounds of fighting off simulations I take a short break and walk over to the water dispenser to quench my thirst.

I look around me at all the fighters that have alienated themselves from each other. Maybe this is what Rosie meant about not wanting to have friends here. The Plutonian's isolate us from them and now they have isolated us from each other.

I chew the inside of my lip as I catch someone's eye on me. I look up to my far left towards the rows of seats that face the combat ring and see Leslie sitting with two other fighters. Looks like the Plutonian's didn't succeed completely.

Instead of his usual smile Leslie frowns at me and then gets up leaving his two companions behind. I notice him walking towards me and pretend not to notice as I walk away.

His approaching footsteps cause me to frown and quicken my pace but he reaches me before I can enter the cubicle I was training in before.

"Do you know Christina is still in the infirmary?" He asks me and the questions feels like a stab in the gut.

I ignore him as I walk in and pick up the pole I had been using, To my dismay he grabs a pole from the wall and follows me.

"I'm training here," I grit my teeth as I proceed to the controls and switch on the moderate level of simulations.

"Doesn't say that only one trainee is allowed," He answers back as he begins to hit oncoming simulations.

"You dislocated her shoulder. They're using some quick healing salve to fix her up before her match next week but we all know she'll technically still be injured just like Michael. I guess we know who's going to die next."

If his intention was to rile me up, it certainly worked because the next thing I knew my pole was striking his instead of the simulations around us.

"It was a part of the fight. Don't act like you haven't done anything like that before," I say through clenched teeth and duck when his pole glides towards my head.

He licks his lips and smiles knowingly. "I guess we are quite similar, aren't we?"

I scowl and swing the pole towards his chest but he blocks it quickly and pushes me back. "I'd rather choke to death," I reply.

We both continue to spar with each other as the simulations around us glow red and then beep loudly as we ignore them.

I hit Leslie's shoulder pad and he looks up at me in satisfaction. In the next few moments I realize that I am grossly unprepared for his skills and that he has been holding back this whole time. He twirls the pole around and then attacks me at a ferocious speed that I am barely able to counter.

He hits me over and over again and I barely block the burning lasers that burn into my training suit. I gasp loudly as my back hits the wall of the cubicle and Leslie digs the length of the pole into my collar bone holding me in place.

"What is your problem?" I cough loudly as Leslie looks down at my struggling form.

"I don't know actually," He shrugs nonchalantly. "Must be the way you walk around here like you own the place and that you've got it all covered just because you're sleeping with a Plutonian."

"I'm not---," I cough as Leslie pushes the pole against me painfully.

"You're not sleeping with one?" He asks.

"I don't feel that way. Like I own the place," I stutter out.

"This is a training cubicle. You want to fight take it to the ring," I hear Rosie's firm voice and both Leslie and I turn to look at her.

He releases me and puts up his hands in surrender. "She attacked me first, I was only acting in self defense."

"Whatever. Piss off, Leslie," She says and he leaves the cubicle.

She walks over to me and inspects me closely as I lean back and gasp for air. "You look fine, but some glucose will be good for all that energy you lost."

I nod my head and follow her to get some refreshments.

"Don't mind Leslie. He's just a bully and he gets jealous easily ," Rosie says to me as we walk into the recreation room to get some refreshments other than water.

"I hate him," I say vehemently as I drink the red liquid she hands me. My mood lifts slightly as the sweet liquid coats my tongue and makes me gulp down some more.

"He's been wanting to join the army for a while now but no Plutonian has ever nominated him," She explains and suddenly his demeanor makes a bit of sense. "Which is why he hates those who have Plutonian favors, like you."

I nearly choke on my drink as I look up at her with wide eyes. She knows too?

"There's no need to look so surprised, Aria. Everyone here knows you haven't been in your quarters since you came here. You're lucky a commander took fancy to you so quickly," Rosie says. "It is a commander, right? Or an officer?"

So they don't know who it is. I sigh in relief.

"A commander," I answer vaguely.

Heyy, how long do you think Aria can keep her secret? Thanks for the support and if you liked the chapter please vote and comment :) :)