“Seems like it worked,” Trim sighed as she stared at the sky above them. “If the peace and quiet is any indicator, that is.”

“Touch wood,” Svanda said with a frown before yawning. “Well, as long as you’re prepared for the worst.”

The pair had remained on the rooftop across the street while they waited for Jade and Saela to return with Nina, occasionally checking to see if there was any increase in activity among the Royal Guard. Ultimately they would be powerless if Jade and Saela were caught deep inside the Royal District, but Reina had predicted that the wall would be the most likely location for conflict so that was where they would stay. Staying, however, left them without anything to do besides wait. Passing the time, the pair had sat back near the centre of the roof where they could quietly talk while being out of sight.

“It’ll be fine,” Trim replied. With her hands behind her head to serve as a cushion on the stone roof, she idly counted what few stars there were as she fought to keep the drowsiness away. “They probably won’t even be that long.”

“Mmm,” Svanda nodded as she lay back next to her before staring upwards at the same sky. Grateful for the quick break, the pair lay in silence for a minute to enjoy the stillness of the night around them and it soon seemed that neither of them wanted to end the moment. Occasionally they would hear the crunch of footsteps on gravel or the sound of wheels on stone, but overall the night was ominously still.

“You were good today,” Svanda eventually murmured. “I thought you would have trouble remaining so… calm.”

When she didn’t get a response, she sighed and returned her attention to the sky. Stargazing, even with the few stars that she could see, was something that she still enjoyed. It wasn’t like it was really possible back at their home on Neo Luesa where they were inside a giant shell of concrete and steel, so she took the time to enjoy herself while she could. Watching over the bright stars that hung above the rocky cliffs of her hometown was something that she wished she had done more once she had left, but she wouldn’t admit to missing it any time soon.

“I thought you weren’t going to bring that up,” Trim finally scowled. “I’ve been trying not to think about it, so the last thing I need is for you bringing it up.”

“Isn’t that just a sign of maturity?” Svanda shrugged as she slowly sat up and glanced down at the road. “The old Trim wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

“The old me is still there somewhere,” Trim sighed. “You know that.”

Svanda looked over to her with a wry smile as though she was searching for the old Trim that had been mentioned. “Maybe so, but I was still worried when we met them today. I wasn’t worried because I thought that we couldn’t do it, but I was worried because I didn’t know if you would be able to keep it together. Being able to leave like we did today was the result of your maturity I think, so it’s nice to see that you’ve at least come to terms with things a little bit.”

“I haven’t come to terms with things at all,” Trim admitted while closing her eyes. “If anything, it eats at me more now than it ever did before. Back then we were useless and it hurt to be useless because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I was such a small speck of dust in the bigger picture that all I thought I could do was drag someone down with me and go out thinking that at least I did my part.”

Svanda paused with a curious look in her eyes. “And now?”

“Now I feel like I can make a difference,” Trim sighed. “I might still be a speck of dust, but I’m a slightly larger speck of dust. The important thing though is that together with everyone else at The Cloud Orchestra we can be more than that. We can do something.”

“Sounds kinda romantic,” Svanda chuckled before shutting up once Trim glared at her. “That’s still maturity though, being able to step back and see that now.”

“It’s not maturity,” Trim groaned as she sat up and stretched. “That maturity was just me thinking about how getting angry wasn’t going to let me do as much damage as possible. My goals haven’t changed, they’ve just become bigger.”

“What, you want to blow up SuTSU HQ or something now?”

Trim’s gaze returned to the sky above them. “I don’t know… The only thing that I do know is that taking a couple of unrelated suits with me isn’t going to be enough anymore. I can do better, but exactly how I can do better is something I won’t know until the time comes.”

Svanda paused while she thought about what Trim had said, shaking off the slight discomfort before sighing. She knew that Trim’s issues from the past were a constant thorn in her side, but at the same time she had thought that the scars were slowly healing. Nina didn’t know it, but her appearance had brought them closer to SuTSU than they had been before and while it wasn’t her fault, it was something which had unsettled issues that Reina had previously tried to sweep under the rug. Ormain himself wasn’t the problem, but his demeanor and what he stood for were close enough by association to cause a problem.

Trim and SuTSU didn’t mix.

“Reina wouldn’t like it,” Svanda said softly as she tried to reason with her. “She has already lost enough without losing you.”

“And I haven’t?” Trim scoffed in reply. “Reina this, Reina that. We both lost Lantas that day, so why is it always about her? What about how I feel?”

“I didn’t say…”

“I bet she doesn’t even care anymore. His death is probably just another tool now that she can use to climb a rung higher in life,” Trim quietly fumed. “Me? I’m reminded of it every single time I see a SuTSU uniform, every single time I see a poster with a SuTSU logo, and even every time I see that stupid graffiti on the wall when we leave the office.”

Trim’s voice wavered, and Svanda became scared that her volume would unintentionally increase before attracting attention. Trim, however, didn’t seem to care.

“With every passing day I feel like I’m one step further away from what happened. It’s as though I’m losing it to the past where the only inevitability is that my heart will eventually glaze over,” she spat while somehow managing to keep her voice down. “I don’t want to get over it because getting over it will mean that I’m forgetting what I promised to myself back then, that I would do what I could to get back at them. But Reina… does she even remember how she felt that day?”

Whack.

Trim saw stars as Svanda’s fist connected with her forehead, her neck snapping backward as her arms which were supporting her buckled. Falling back onto the stone rooftop, she went to groan before Svanda’s hand was suddenly placed over her mouth.

“The only reason I didn’t slap you is because it would be too loud,” she hissed as she stared into Trim’s eyes. “Don’t even think for a second that Reina is over what happened, because she isn’t. Have you ever thought that maybe she doesn’t bring it up because she’s still as bitter as you are about what happened that day?”

Trim tried to mumble in response, but instead of letting her do so, Svanda tightened her grip.

“Why do you think Reina does this?” she asked, her low voice unable to mask her anger. “Why do you think she pushes herself so hard to climb this ladder that you speak of? It’s because instead of moping around and being satisfied with what damage she could do, she wants to go further. You even said it yourself, that your goals have changed because you are in a position to do more, so who do you think is behind that?”

She removed her hand from Trim’s mouth before glaring at her to ensure that she didn’t say anything loud enough to attract attention. She knew that this wasn’t the time to fight, but Trim’s comment had left her fuming and she couldn’t help but correct her on the spot. It was true that Reina and Trim weren’t as close as they had been, and anybody who knew the history between them would have agreed that without finding closure, it was inevitable. They were still good friends, but Svanda knew that an invisible wall had been built between them and she wasn’t even sure if it was possible to knock it down.

Time would eventually tell, but what happened between them for now would remain a delicate subject.

“That hurt,” Trim mumbled. “You don’t think you could have held off a little? How could I shoot straight if I needed to right now?”

“If I held off any more than I already did, you wouldn’t have got the message,” Svanda shrugged. “This isn’t the time for this.”

“Don’t think I’m going to thank you or anything,” Trim scowled. “Especially if I get a bruise.”

“Oh, that will bruise for sure,” Svanda casually replied as she scanned the wall for signs of movement. “But I think it’s time to focus now. They’ll probably be back soon.”

The pair looked towards the wall, but their ears suddenly pricked up when the noise of bells rang out across the district before spreading to the wall. Soon, the entire wall was crawling with Royal Guards as they seemed to disappear and head in the direction of the Royal District’s interior.

“I certainly hope that they’re back soon,” Trim frowned. “Because that… that is the alarm.”