Annyesse was in the kitchen getting drinks feeling extremely curious about the people that had just shown up at her door. Her best friend, Valentina, and Roth. What a pair! she thought. What could they be doing together? She was dying to know.

As she walked back into the living room with two cups of iced tea, her excitement was clearly splattered on her face. But something felt wrong. Albert frowned at her, that was normal. She knew that he never liked her much. Valentina, however, was acting quite weird, sitting on the sofa, looking at the ground with a somber expression.

“Ok… What’s wrong?” Anyesse asked in a worried tone.

People always thought Valentina was a shy, quiet, girl. However, Anyesse knew that wasn’t the case. Once they got close, her personality did a complete 180. She was sarcastic, bossy, assertive. Basically, a completely different person than she was with strangers.

And it seems she had hit the nail on the head, because Albert and Valentina looked at each other, unsure how to answer.

“This is fishy...” Anyesse said “What are you hiding from me? Roth did you do something to her?” she said turning to him with her hands on her waist.

“What!? No! What do you think I am?” answered Albert, surprised by the accusation.

“Oh, I don’t know! I get a call from Val’s phone, and it turns out to be you, then you ask if I’m alone and if you can come over with her? What the hell am I supposed to think?” then she suddenly paused and her face turned pale “Oh, god!” She turned to Valentina “Oh, god… You’re not pregnant are you?”

This time, Valentina was the one to spring up surprised, choking on her tea. For the first time Albert heard her laugh out loud. It was a great laugh, coming deep from the belly.

“No, girl. I’m not… pregnant. Ah, I really love you.” she said, laughing in between words “No… Let’s say… somebody messed with my family, and we got separated from our friends, so we didn’t know where to go.”

“And how does he fits into all that?” asked Anyesse, pointing to Albert.

Once again, they hesitated to answer.

“You guys are impossible” she complained, puffing in contempt “You come into my house and won’t even give me the juice?”

“I’m sorry love. I just need you to trust me this time.” pleaded Valentina “Also… can I shower here?”

“Sure, sure. You already walked all over my feelings anyway. Why don’t you take my clothes while you’re at it?”

Valentina blew her a thank you kiss and walked up the stairs, her mood looking considerably better. Meanwhile Albert and Anyesse were left alone in the room. The awkwardness was palpable.

“So… nice apartment.” he said, trying to fill the silence.

“Yeah, my parents pay for it, but they’re hardly ever here.” she answered nonchalantly “By the way where is Linus? I thought you guys were attached by the hip.”

Albert’s expression turned sour. His face must have been easy to read because the next thing Anyesse said was:

“What? He’s in this mess too?”

“Yeah, somehow. And he doesn’t even have his phone on him, so I can’t find him.”

“I know that. Cause’ I have his phone.” she said while pulling out a backpack from behind the couch.

“What? Why do you have this?”

“Well, since you three disappeared during the break and left all of your things behind, the teacher gave me his and Val’s bags. Here.” she said tossing Albert the phone.

He unlocked the phone, hopeful, but there were no missed calls other than the ones he had made, so he just put it back in his pocket.

“Thanks. What about my stuff?”

“Well, we’re not really friends, are we? I didn’t think to keep it. I think one of the boys offered to take it to you. Regis, if I’m not wrong.”

“Of course he did.” said Albert annoyed at the bully’s lies “Well, he can fucking keep it, for all I care.”

After that, they had another big pause as they ran out of things to talk about. None of them ever said much to each other in school, and the only thing they had in common was Linus. Anyesse, not wanting to let the silence stretch any longer, finally took the courage to ask:

“And this thing with her family, is it serious?”

“I’m afraid so...” he answered.

“I see.” she said while looking at the empty staircase. Her face seemed very depressed “Val never talked to me about her family. I would always whine about my parents to her, but even if I asked directly, she wouldn’t tell me anything on hers. Even now that something has happened...”

Albert realized there was something else in her attitude, something more than her worry for her best friend.

“Now I can’t do anything for her and she has to depend on you.” continued Anyesse, looking at him fiercely “What will you do then?”

It was jealousy.

Anyesse was jealous of him. For knowing Valentina’s secrets. This time, he was the one to suddenly start laughing. If anything because he could relate to the feeling. She was acting just like he did when she would hit on his best friend, Linus.

“What? Is my face funny or something?” she asked angrily.

Soon after, they heard steps on the floor above and Valentina came hopping down the stairs.

“I’m done!” she yelled as she came down. Strutting across the room, she sat down by Anyesse’s side wrapping her arm around her. “Thank you. You’re the best. So, can we sleep here?”

Albert still had a stupid smile on his face from before. Oh, the irony… he thought.

“Whatever!” she answered standing up “What are you going to do about your issues?”

“It’s… complicated” said Valentina.

“Not you. Him” she said pointing to Albert. Anyesse still wanted to hear about her question.

He thought about his answer for a second. Then, with a reassuring smile, he said:

“As far as I’m concerned, somebody messed with my family too. We’ll figure it out. Together.”

“Good. And when you do, tell your family to come see me, I want a piece of him” Anyesse concluded with a wink, before disappearing upstairs.

“What is she talking about?” asked Valentina.

“I’m pretty sure she’s talking about Linus. Unless, she has a secret crush on my dad.”

The rest of the night continued like that, with light jokes and mockery. Anyesse brought them blankets, mattresses and declared that she would sleep in the living room too.

But despite the friendly mood, Albert could still hear Valentina’s muffled cries into the night. He also heard when Anyesse got up from her mattress and went to keep her best friend company. Slowly, but surely, the exhaustion took over, and everyone fell silent, lost in their own dreamland.

Albert was yanked out of sleep by a loud bang in the door. The sunlight was creeping through the blinds, telling him it was already morning. Two more bangs followed as he got up, still groggy. Valentina was already awake, spooked by the sound. She woke Anyesse up and gesticulated for her to check the door.

“Coming!” said Anyesse running to answer. She flung the door open.

On the other side stood two men and a woman. The man in the middle was specially terrifying, with his muscular arms, eye patch on the left eye and a bald head. He was also the first to speak.

“Hello, I’m looking for Valentina Squall...” Anyesse closed the door on his face faster than he could finish the sentence.

However the other man put his foot in the doorway and stopped it. He was taller and slimmer than the other one, his black overall and colorful hat gave him quite the jester look.

“Hi, sorry. Didn’t mean to freak you out.” he said as he entered the apartment “My name is Jingo. I mean, it’s not really my name, but it’s what they call me...”

But as he spoke he noticed Anyesse backing up, terrified of his sudden invasion.

“Well, done dumb ass.” said the scary looking man, whilst also entering the apartment. The woman followed them in, showing her contempt with a sigh. She had a short purple dyed hair, dark boots but, unlike her companions, wore discrete clothes.

“What is this? Who are you? Get out of my place!” said Anyesse, trying to cover for her friends.

“Where is the girl? We must speak with her.” asked the eye-patch man.

Anyesse still refused to answer. Though she ended up not needing to because from the living room a voice yelled:

“Here I am!”

Valentina came flying at the scary man, her eyes bright yellow and her hand glowing with Ruach. The man was quick on his feet, and got into a cross block to stop her punch. Valentina’s power would, normally, have easily broken a person’s arm with a direct hit. But the man’s eye turned pitch black and so did his skin, becoming hard as a rock.

Still, her assault wasn’t over. She used the moment of confusion to pounce on another target, Jingo. He wasn’t as fast as his companion, and her fist connected with his shoulder as he tried to duck the blow. The impact sent him flying back to the door, but he somehow managed to stabilize himself mid-air and land on his feet. His eyes also carried the blue glow of his Ruach.

“Whew. That was close.” said Jingo.

“Close? She totally nailed you.” said the eye-patch man, provokingly.

“Shut up, Yoel.” he answered back.

Meanwhile, Albert came out of the room shaking his head.

“Discrete as a rhinoceros Val, really, world class stealth...” he said sarcastically.

Him and Valentina put themselves between the three strangers and their friend. Anyesse watched the whole confrontation wide-eyed.

“I’m tired of hiding, Albert!” said Valentina entering a fighting stance “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Well, as I was saying...”

“Let me do the talking, Jingo, you suck at this.” interrupted, Yeol.

“Quiet, both of you!” said the woman in their group with an authoritative tone.

She stepped forward with both of her hands up and spoke:

“Please, we mean no harm. I go by the name of Daphne. We are of the Divine Resistance Army. We came to talk with the daughter of the Sun.”