Matthew thought that Mia's return to class would improve everyone's mood. But seeing the usual talkative and gleeful girl sitting in silence with a distant look just made everyone feel worse. The usual carefree atmosphere that surrounded the group was gone, replaced by a gloom that no one knew how to overcome.

During break between classes, Mia tried to force a smile and some small talk. But it was so clear she was pushing herself to do so that it only soured the mood even more.

During lunch, Mia said she was going to the bathroom and told the others to go to the cafeteria ahead of her.

"I don't know what to say to her." Erin said to Tina while picking food at the buffet.

"You don't say anything. You wait for her to get ready to say something. Until then, treat her like you always do." Tina said picking tomato cherries like she was in a supermarket judging them by color and shape.

"I wish there was something we could do for her." Helen said filling her plate with chicken drums and other meat slices.

"Just be there for her when she needs." Tina said walking towards a table.

"Professor Orpheu said we're going to a new dungeon Wednesday." Erin changed the subject sitting beside Tina.

"This time the parties will be 6 in size, won't they?" Helen asked.

"Guess it will be the 6 of us then?" Erin asked looking around the table.

Faralynn and Matthew nodded while sitting across from the other three.

"Hope Mia is ok to go." Helen said stuffing her mouth with a piece of pork.

"Speaking of which. What level you all are?" Tina asked. "I'm level 6."

"Just got to level 7 this weekend." Helen revealed.

"Me and Faralynn are on 6 as well." Erin said. "Mia was level 3."

"I'm on 10." Matthew said turning all the heads on the table to him.

"10? Already?" Erin asked surprised.

"Weren't you level 7 when you enrolled?" Tina asked raising an eyebrow.

"A lot of things happened." Matthew dismissed them.

"Mia is taking a long time…" Faralynn said as if ignoring the current conversation. "I'm going to look for her." She added getting up with her empty plate in her hand.

"I'm looking too." Matthew said getting up with his fleeing the inquiry about his level.

They both walked together to the bathrooms and Faralynn went inside the female one looking for Mia, but she wasn't inside.

"Perhaps she went home?" Matthew asked.

"I'm going to keep looking. She might be wandering on campus." Faralynn said picking up her phone and messaging Mia and the others.

"Should we split and look for her?"

"Yes. Call me if you find her, ok?"

"Will do." Matthew agreed heading into a different direction than Faralynn.

Matthew decided to search for her back in the classroom. On the way there, he found Fred walking in the corridors carrying some books to his locker. When asked, he said he saw Mia going up to the roof. This prompted Matthew to run at full speed upstairs fearing she would do something stupid.

The classroom building roof was a vast garden where the trees that shaped the building itself had their foliage. The shade was cool and the flowers in pots made everything smell sweet. It should be empty during lunch.

Matthew opened the door to the roof with impressive force making it flap and hit the wall with a loud noise. His eyes were blown wide looking for Mia, and when he didn't see her. A cold crossed his spine.

"MIA!" He screamed.

"Yes?" Mia answered softly beside him.

It was only then that she saw her sitting on the floor right beside the door.

"What's the problem?" Mia asked getting nervous seeing Matthew agitated like that.

Matthew's relief of seeing her there was instantaneous. He breathed deeply and chuckled to himself on his folly of thinking she'd do something terrible.

"Fred said you came to the roof and then I thought…" He tried to explain himself.

"You thought what?" Mia said getting angry. "That I would harm myself?"

Matthew couldn't answer that. That was precisely what he thought.

Seeing his silence as a confirmation, Mia scoffed at him:

"I'm not going to hurt myself."

"Sorry… It's just that…" Matthew had trouble to find the correct words. "You are really silent and broody. I got worried you were thinking something dangerous." He finished sitting by her side.

"Never." Mia scoffed again irritated with him.

"Sorry." Matthew repeated.

"I'm just not feeling… You know." Mia had trouble putting her feelings into words.

"I think I do." Matthew said looking at the view. From there they could see the whole campus. It looked like a huge park from there.

"How so?" Mia asked. Her eyes searching for someone who could understand her.

"It took me a long time to get back to normal after I came back from hell. Sometimes I still have nightmares."

"What do you see? In your nightmares, I mean."

"I dream I'm still there. That I never left. I still can smell it. Feel the heat. When I wake up, it takes me some time to understand that I'm not there anymore. That I'm home and safe."

Mia just looked at him. Home and safe. She wondered if she could feel that again. To feel in control again.

"How do you feel that? I know Faralynn also has nightmares. But you two always look like you are fine. That it doesn't bother you anymore." She asked looking for answers for herself.

"My sister. My parents. My friends. Faralynn." Matthew enumerated. "They all help. They all are there for me. They make me feel home. They make me feel that I'm not alone."

"Do they make you feel in control?" Mia asked hugging her legs close to her chest.

"In control of what?" Matthew didn't understand the question.

"Of yourself. Of your life. Do they make you feel like you can choose what you want?"

"They do." Matthew said thinking on how supportive his mother became of his choices.

Mia grabbed Matthew's hand and held it fast in hers. She didn't say another word. Just looked at the horizon that was mostly covered with the buildings that surrounded the campus.

Matthew then remembered to contact Faralynn that he found Mia, but he felt like breaking the silence wasn't a good idea. Therefore he just messaged her they were on the roof, that she shouldn't worry and go ahead to afternoon training.

"I never said sorry." Mia broke the silence after a while. "For making you kill that man."

"I wanted to." Matthew said rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand that still held his.

"But you're… You can go to jail. Aren't they going after you?"

"They are. But my lawyer is confident I won't."

"If you need any help with the trial, just ask. My dad knows a lot of powerful people." Mia offered finally looking at him.

"Thank you, Mia. I'll be sure to talk to you if I need anything." Matthew said looking at her too.

"You should go to training." Mia said after a couple of minutes looking back to the horizon. "I want to be alone for a while."

"You sure? I can stay." Matthew offered company.

"I'm sure. Just go." She confirmed letting go of his hand.

Matthew waited a bit before getting up to see if she would say anything else. When she didn't, he turned to leave. But just as he was passing through the door, Mia said with a decisive tone:

"And Matthew… Thank you. For killing him. Seeing him die. Knowing that he is dead really helps."

"It helps me too." Matthew said before going to training and leaving her there with her thoughts.

Matthew got late to training, but Firynn didn't say anything about it. The master only put Matthew to train some drills as soon as he arrived.

Faralynn got close to him when both stopped their training to get some rest.

"How's Mia?" She asked.

"Better than I thought." Matthew said. "She needs time to go over things, it seems."

"Good." Faralynn said sitting beside him.

"I never asked you how you are. You know… After hell." Matthew said avoiding her eyes.

Faralynn took a deep breath.

"I still have nightmares sometimes. But I stopped being scared of every creak in the house."

"I'm there too."

The silence between the two sounded like an understanding between two people who went through the same distress.

"And when is your trial?" Faralynn broke the silence after a second or two.

"Next week is the first day. Vanessa, my lawyer, said it's just a preliminary hearing. After that there's jury selection and only then the trial starts." Matthew explained.

"Do you need anything?" Faralynn asked almost putting a hand to his shoulder but recoiling just shy of it. "I can ask dad if you need anything."

"Thank you, Lynn." Matthew said getting up and stretching his back. "If I need anything I'll be sure to tell you." He added going back to his drills.

Faralynn nodded getting up herself.

"Be sure to ask for help if you need it." She said going back to her own training.

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