Claire's P.O.V.

The first thing I saw when I came to was a pink and orange sky... wait, what?

"Hey Claire." I sat up. I was on the grass... I felt different.

Now that I think about it, my outfit seems to have changed.

I saw Maxwell Zuki looking at me, seemingly relieved. I then remembered what happened.

Now I remember.

When Max and I resurfaced from that weird lake, my outfit was different...

"Hey..." I finally replied.

"You seem different... Did you cut your hair?"

"This is your attempt at small talk? Most Neolians with long hair would be insulted by such a remark!" I said. He looked at me, shocked. I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "But not me. I know more about Earthians than most... and their pitiful attempts at small talk."

"You uh... you know me, right?"

"Max, most failed Neolian magic doesn't backfire. Of course I remember you."

He sighed with relief.

"So uh... about earlier..."

"Yeah..."

"...I'm sorry."

"For what? You have no reason to be sorry. I'm the one who should apologize." He shook his head.

"I wasn't respectful of your wishes. You're a princess. I need to keep that in my head... I need to treat you like what you are..."

"NO!" He looked at me with wide eyes. "I don't want that. Max, I want you to treat me like who I truly am. And that is not a princess."

"What? But I thought-"

"You didn't let me finish... I want you to treat me as your friend. And I hope that you accept MY apology. I was avoiding you without a validated reason... Friends don't act that way to each other."

I was rather shocked when he hugged me.

"Thank you," I heard him say. I couldn't help but smile and hug back.

I felt myself get lifted up and spun around.

"Max, put me down." He laughed.

"But I haven't been able to do this in forever!"

"Max! I'm getting dizzy!"

"Alright fine."

Max's P.O.V.

After I released Claire, I quickly turned away to wipe tears from my eyes. I missed her way more than I realized... even to the point where I believed myself to be delusional... but I can finally be with her again... after all this time...

"Something wrong?"

"No. Nothing at all. I'm just very happy that everything's okay."

I noticed her expression fade.

"Claire, is there something I'm not aware of?"

"Max... while I was on Neol, I found a book... and in it, I saw you. It said you were an omen... a very bad omen... I don't know what that means for us... for this universe."

"Claire... what would a book know? You're my friend. You know better than anyone else what I'm like... and we both know how reliable other intell could be." I saw her smile.

"Yeah... Max..."

"Yes?"

"My sister, Elise... she went missing a while ago... and I'm no longer certain of my heritage... but I have an idea to find out..."

"What is it?"

"The source of Neolian power. I need to find it..." She was about to leave.

"Claire... you don't have to worry about every little thing. You have a wonderful life ahead of you if you'd just looked." I climbed up the nearby ridge and sat down to watch the sunset.

"You're right," she said as she sat down next to me. We sat there for a while, watching the sunset, but I had no idea what unexpected thing would happen.

"Max..."

"Yes?"

As soon as I turned to look at her...

Well...

She kissed me...

"What was that for?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

"Sorry... it's just that, when Neol was newly inhabited, gratitude wasn't often sincere. So a few good Neolians developed ways to show emotion. It was like a code..."

"I see... and so you were... trying to show gratitude, right?"

"Yeah..."

"...The sunset's nice."

"Neolians often don't get a chance to witness a sunrise or sunset. We're always in too much of a motion for a day or night..."

I thought about Claire and the life she had on Neol. I haven't heard much about her past, really.

But she's not very willing to discuss it very much.

"Are you happy?" She turned to me with a confused expression.

"What?"

"Watching the sunset... being here on Earth... are you happy with it?"

She seemed to think about that for a while.

"What does it mean? To be happy."

"...Claire... you've always asked the interesting questions."

I felt a hard slap on my back.

"Stop it!" Claire exclaimed, laughing. "You're making me act sentimental!"

I couldn't help but laugh as well.

~~~~~~~~~~

Well that happened.

With the act card, I was originally going to make more detail, but I was short on time.

So...

Yeah...

Also, we know some more about Claire's life.

I will probably do better with showing her backstory in the rewrite.

Oh well.

Bye!