It’s always strange meeting someone again after a long time. Back on my Earth, vague thoughts would always float in the back of my head after I happened upon an old friend, acquaintance, lover or so on.

When did I last speak with them?

What did I last say?

Did they think of me since we went our separate ways? You know, the way random memories float to the surface, reminding you of awkward conversations or uncomfortable moments. Thoughts like: did I really make an absent father joke to a friend who just lost his dad? What about the time I accidentally ruined another friend’s painting by spilling ketchup all over it? Or maybe the time I lost my temper and had a petty spat with a friend who would go on to become an award winning young poet, writing a poem I not-so-humbly believed was about myself?

And of course, there was the angsty, embarrassing stuff that everybody goes through. Confessions shot down mid-sentence. Blushing and running when somebody starts hitting on you. Refusing to admit your feelings, only to watch your crush drift away, or find love elsewhere. Relationships ruined by time, tempter, or tiny arguments. Relationships reignited, broken, and left to die agonizing, slow deaths. Lingering, with a bitter aftertaste. Until a reunion, many years later, made the whole saga more awkward than ever.

Let me be clear, I never loved Noel. Not any more than I would love any friend, back on my Earth or on this world. But I had always been a sucker for friendships. And our friendship had been powerful, or at least it had felt that way to me. Our friendship was forged through my shock of being transported to a different world, fighting monsters, learning magic, escaping life and death situations, and even being thrown way, way into the future, with nobody to rely on but each other. I liked to think our fight and separation had been as emotionally scarring for her as it had been for me, but it seemed like she was even better at hiding the pain than I was.

Or maybe she had been brainwashed by the Immortal of Madness. I liked to think this was more likely. She was, after all, working for the guy who had sent her into the future, far from her family. I refused to believe the Immortal of Madness wasn’t doing something shady in order to convince her to fight me. She did basically try to kill me before the Immortal of Desire saved my life. I couldn’t believe she had done so with her own free will.

I stared at Noel nonchalantly. Her hood had been blown off and her face and hair were revealed for all to see. I heard Kelser shift behind me. Taoc muttered something too, as did a few other people. I thought about pushing the peanut gallery away, but I couldn’t. They were necessary, for now.

Noel had a slightly surprised look on her face. That look faded quickly, replaced with the grim, somber look from our previous battle. The spell she had been forming had been canceled, and her hands were back in a comfortable position at her side. She could still cast a spell in an instant if needed, the hand gestures were mostly to help us focus, after all. I let my hands fall to the side as well, with what I hoped was a disarming smile on my face.

Beneath the smile, my nerves were tensed. I knew what would happen next, even though the events of the battle had already veered far from where they had been in our previous battle. That was a good thing, of course, since none of my plans had worked in that battle and I’d had a massive hole in my side by the end of it. Starting off on a better foot was absolutely the right decision, especially because I knew what Noel would do. I was a pretty good judge of character, excuse the bragging. Besides, I knew Noel, and I knew her well. She was pretty headstrong, so whatever had motivated her to attack me last time would push her this time as well. I knew the thoughts that must be flowing through her head. I could see them in her eyes.

What was I planning?

Were the people behind me going to gang up on her?

Why had I let her get so close?

Why had I revealed her face?

How had I known that she was the Ikon?

And of course, she was thinking about how best to attack to take me down quickly and efficiently.

Her eyes darted to the side. She had seen the Ikon of Madness, all tied up and beaten. She would ask herself how I had caught him, and why I was willing to cart him all the way here, right in reach of her.

And then she would finally finish preparing the many, many bubbles she had been gathering her energy to cast, before filling the entire battlefield with a powerful deluge of magical bubbles that could make everybody disappear instantly. Of course, she would know that I was planning to stop her, which was why she would also prepare a burst of fire to distract me, but there was no way I was falling for that so…

“I’m good, thanks for asking.”

… I would rush through the fire and—

I would rush through the. The fire. And I know her. I know what she’s thinking. What she wanted to do. What she was preparing.

“And how are you doing?”

“I’m doing well, thanks,” I replied, mechanically. I blinked my eyes. “You. What are you doing?” I almost tripped over my own words.

She didn’t answer this time. Right. This was what I had expected. Silent, cool stare, a tense atmosphere. That’s what I had gotten in our previous deadly, devastating battle.

“Wait, no, I’m sorry,” I said, rubbing my forehead, “What do you mean by that?”

“Sorry? We hadn’t met in a long time so I thought. Well. I was happy you asked me that. Wasn’t expecting it at all,” she said.

I opened my mouth. Moved it. Nothing came out. She was happy that I had greeted her? What was going on? “Is this a trick?”

“A trick?” she repeated, looking right at me, “I don’t know, is it?”

“No, don’t you say that to me! You think I can’t tell when somebody is messing with me? Do you even remember what you did to me the last time we were together? You dropped me off the side of a cliff!” I said.

“I said I was sorry,” she said.

“You said that as you did it!” I said.

“Still counts,” she said.

“No it doesn’t!” I said, moving my hands around.

“Yes it does,” she said.

I frowned. I could feel my composure being blown apart, but I couldn’t stop it. This was absurd. Completely absurd! In our previous battle, she tried to make me disappear multiple times with her magic bubbles, blew a hole in the side of my body with the silver bubble, and never said a word as she did all of that! And now, she was making small talk and bickering with me like nothing ever happened? “I think I’m going to have a headache. This doesn’t make any sense. You don’t make any sense!”

Now it was Noel’s turn to frown. She put her hands on her hips and began to raise her voice too. “What is that supposed to mean? You’re the one who came out here all dramatically with an army behind you, trying to start a fight.”

I pointed to myself and stammered. “Me? You’re putting the blame on me? You’ve been annihilating an entire country! Genocide, ever heard of that?”

“What? Who told you that?” she said.

I froze. “What? You’re the Ikon of Madness. The Ikon of Madness has been rampaging across the Lux Republic, eradicating every single fairy. Innocent men, women, and children alike!”

Noel blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“The bubbles, damn it! The bubbles!” I said.

“You mean these bubbles?” said Noel as a dozen magic bubbles appeared all around us. The circle of bubbles was large enough to surround everybody who was standing outside the gates, which included myself, Kelser, the humans, Taoc, and Alek Izlandi.

“Yes, those bubbles!” I said as every single one of them popped.

Noel froze. She looked from side to side, but the bubbles really were gone. “How did you do that?”

“You don’t have to know,” I said. “But I guess that made my point. Noel. I don’t know what games you’re trying to pull talking to me like this while trying to kill me, but it isn’t going to work. Your lies, I will not believe them!”

Noel collected herself. She looked down at the ground, nodding slowly. She took a deep breath, grabbed her robes, and threw them aside. Underneath, she was wearing a dazzling silver suit of armor, with many, many silver gemstones embedded everywhere. Another magic bubble appeared over her outstretched hand, reflected her image on top of its soapy exterior. “It looks like you won’t believe me, but I really am not lying to you. I have not killed anyone, and I’m not about to get started today.”

“You’re right,” I said as I cast a host of spells on my body and rushed forward. Electricity arced around me, slamming into the ground, but also making me zoom forward at unimaginable speeds.

“I don’t believe you, and you aren’t going to kill anybody today.”

She shot out a bubble, I cast a spell, the bubble popped, I stepped up next to her as she became flustered and began growing a silver bubble.

Before the bubble could form, I touched her body, and both of us froze.

I heard footsteps coming calmly closer behind me. Kelser came into view. He stepped behind the frozen, angry looking Noel, and held his hand right above her neck.