Gratitude

“Ahhhh...”

He cried, sitting in the middle of the field where him and Aliza once trained.

The farewell with his parents only happened moments ago, so now that they’ve been separated, the sadness was unbearable.

“Ahhh...”

They’re gone. Everything he loved on Earth was now gone for the next year.

He promised his mother that he would make it back, but what if he didn’t?

What if he died in this world, never to see anything from Earth ever again?

His parents, Isa, basketball, video games, popsicles, school, the nearby convenience store.

Right now, even the most trivial things felt like they would be gone forever... and that hurt.

He wanted everything back...

“Ahhh...”

But he knew that he wouldn’t get them back.

Which is why he felt so much worse.

He needed to accept that his 365 days have officially started...

And that his cry was the symbol of that.

Once he stopped crying, he would have to face reality and begin his journey.

He knew that... which is why his tears continued to flow.

Once he finished crying would be when he would fully be separated from anything relating to Earth.

This cry was the last thing linking himself to his parents and his goodbye with them...

Which is why they continued to flow.

His loneliness... sadness... his desire to go back...

They were all packed into his tears.

He had to take it all by himself...

Accepting everything that was thrown at him and everything that would be thrown at him in the future.

He had to take it all...

All by himse--

“Huh...?”

Arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders as he sat on the ground... crying... faced towards the stars.

This warmth... this smell that he was used to by now...

The light blue hair that fluttered in front of his face...

It was all so familiar even though he’s only been with them for 2 days.

--

Aliza hugged Ace, wanting to comfort him, now that he had no one he could rely on.

She brought his head into her chest and stayed silent, not needing to say anything to Ace right now.

She only needed to act as a source of comfort for Ace... a place where he could let his tears flow, but a place that makes him feel that he has someone on his side.

Aliza was here, so she didn’t want Ace to feel that he had no one with him.

She placed her hand onto his head and caressed it, feeling his hair brush her hand as she glazed his head.

She held him close and rubbed his head, not needing to do anything else right now.

Getting Ace to recognize that she was here was all she needed to do.

Getting him to remember that he wasn’t alone.

Letting him cry, not from loneliness, but from pure sadness...

Was all she needed to do.

--

He was pulled in and placed on her chest...

The heartbeat ringing in his ears confirmed that someone else was here with him...

This person... was the blue-eyed traveler that has been with him since the start.

Aliza Runer.

Ace forgot that Aliza came back with him...

His parents and Isa have been the only 3 people on his mind since he came back to this world... he forgot that Aliza returned with him.

So... when he was pulled into her chest, it was truly unexpected.

He was grateful, once again, for the traveler that was with him.

He was grateful, but he couldn’t express that right now...

His memory of his goodbye was still vivid in his mind.

There was nothing that could take his mind off it right now.

He stopped crying when he was pulled into her, but that was only temporary.

The memories of his farewell overpowered everything else he was feeling.

If anything, this warmth that he was feeling only made him feel like crying more...

It reminded him of his mother.

So, he started sobbing into her chest...

Not thinking of anything else, he grabbed onto the sweater she was wearing and buried his face into her bosom.

“Ahhh...”

“Mom...”

“Dad...”

“Isa...”

He remembered the three people he left behind, mentally unable to think of anything else...

And he continued to sob into her borrowed sweater...

“Ahhh...”

His head being caressed as he cried...

Only making him think of his mother more...

The tears continued...

“Ahhh...”

And continued...

--

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“Ahhh...”

----

--

And continued...

“Ahh...”

Until...

“...”

His mind became exhausted... and he fell into a deep sleep in Aliza’s arms.

---

------

She was now alone with her thoughts and the boy sleeping in front of her.

She placed his head onto her lap and started to gaze at the boy in her lap.

When he was like this...

He looked fragile... like a baby.

The urge to run her fingers through his hair and twiddle with his lips was irresistible.

It truly was...

So, she didn’t resist it.

She ran her fingers through his dark, brown hair and twisted strands with her index finger... gently, but enough to get a good feel of it.

His hair brushed the palm of her hand as she skimmed her fingers through it.

As she ran her peachy, thin fingers through his hair, she continued to gaze at his face.

Her gaze was warm after feeling accomplished with her job of comforting him.

She was relieved to see him asleep and calmed down after everything that happened.

“...”

After staring at his face, her eyes made their way to his lips.

They were defenseless and very tempting.

She took her hand out of his hair and moved it towards his lips, unable to resist.

She started twiddling his lips back and forth, but very gently, as to not wake the boy who was sleeping in her lap.

Her eyes glued to his face, looked to his eyebrows next...

They were a perfect size with a small degree of bushiness to them...

She ran a finger across each of them, one at a time.

The small hairs brushed against her fingertip, tempting her to do it a few times over.

“...”

And her eyes continued to wander, making their way to his eyes.

She looked at his shut eyes and focused on his eyelashes.

They were long, brown eyelashes which he seemed to get from his mother.

Her finger shifted down from his eyebrows over to his eyelashes.

She played with them for a few seconds before indulging herself in different parts of his face.

His forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his ears...

She paid attention to all of them as he slept...

Until there was nothing left to focus on.

Now that there was nothing left, she stared at his face as a whole...

It looked just as fragile as before...

How much had he gone through in this past day?

Being sent here, almost dying, being treated horribly, returning home, having to say goodbye to his home the same day, and now coming back here...

It truly was a lot for one boy to take on his own.

He cried a lot, but that doesn’t make him weak...

Even with everything that he was going through... he was still able to say that he was going to make it back.

That takes a lot of courage.

“...”

His tears don’t make him weak.

After everything he’s been through, it’s only normal for him to be crying...

If anything, he was admirable for being able to stay rational throughout it all...

“...”

That’s all she thought as she stared at the boy in her lap...

She took one more, deep look at his face.

This time, instead of admiration and wanting to comfort him...

Her face started to heat up.

“Huh...?”

“...”

“What is this...?”

Her heart started beating faster and her face became more red.

Her blush was very strong, although you would be unable to see it in the darkness of the night.

Her heart was also beating insanely fast, although there was no one around to hear it.

“Am I sick...?”

--No way... sickness wouldn’t kick in this quick...

--So... what is it...

There was only one other explanation to these symptoms...

“Oh... I see...”

“...”

--I’ve fallen in love.

She couldn’t say that out loud, even if he was sleeping.

She had fallen in love with... Ace Bracker.

After only 2 days with him... her heart was stolen.

She realized her feelings, thankfully when he was asleep...

“...”

She stared at him for a little longer, a small smile on her face...

She felt guilty for smiling after everything that he went through, but she had a warm feeling inside of her after acknowledging her new feelings and realizing that she had him all to herself.

She stared once again, continuing to run her fingers through his hair as he slept.

She then gazed at his forehead and brought her face close...

*Kiss*

She placed her lips on his forehead and gave it a soft kiss, not wanting to miss the opportunity.

When would she get another chance like this?

She thought it wouldn’t be for a long time, so she kissed him... a sign of her new feelings.

---

------

She sat there for a while longer before grabbing his bag that was left there from two nights ago.

Although it was a little mentally challenging... she moved Ace’s head from her lap onto the bag and let him sleep.

Now that she’s realized her feelings, it was difficult... she didn’t want to part with him.

But she also had to get some sleep...

She laid down on the grass next to him, closing her eyes very slowly as she got a final glance at his frail, sleeping face.

“Good night...”

“...”

And Aliza also fell into a deep sleep...

--

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362 Days

14 Hours

36 Minutes

Map

Support

--Huh? Where am I?

--Oh... yeah... I’m back in Felona...

He thought back on everything that happened last night...

--I can’t cry forever... I promised to make it back...

He thought to himself as he opened his eyes to mark the start of the day.

“Nghh...”

The sun felt a little blinding as he opened his eyes...

But he got them open, to see...

“Wha--?!”

Ace quickly got up and backed away from what was in front of his face, blushing as he did.

It was Aliza, who was still sleeping on the grass next to where Ace was sleeping.

Her face was extremely close to Ace’s when he woke up, it was a shock.

--

After calming down a little, he focused his eyes on her.

After thinking about everything that happened, one emotion gripped his heart whenever he thought of Aliza...

Gratitude.

How many times has she helped him now?

How many times has he dropped his problems onto her?

How many times did she help him bounce back from his sadness?

When she woke up, he was going to thank her properly.

For everything she’s done.

As a start, he thought of bringing her breakfast.

He didn’t have any money, so he grabbed the money pouch from her pocket and checked his map.

Before leaving for Furio Village, he grabbed Aliza’s head and placed it onto his backpack, not wanting her to sleep on the grass.

Then he started to move towards Furio Village, the only village he’s been to since coming to Felona.

“Oh--!”

Before leaving the training field, he remembered that he only had his pajamas on from last night.

He was wearing black basketball shorts and a black t-shirt.

He couldn’t go into the village like this, he would get dirty looks from everyone in town.

“...”

He looked over at Aliza.

She had her robe on and the sweater she borrowed underneath.

He went up to her and carefully took the robe off her, wrapping it around himself so he could hide himself.

Then he made his way to Furio, following his map to make sure he was going in the right direction.

Once he made it to the entrance, he went over to the breakfast stand that him and Aliza went to once before.

He saw the same shop keeper, a demihuman with big arms and a rag on his head, standing behind the stand, cooking breakfast for various customers.

Ace made his way up to the stand and went to say his order.

“Can I get two orders of eggs with bacon.”

His voice was deeper than usual, unable to keep a positive tone with a demihuman.

“Right up!”

The shop owner said, as Ace stood walked away from the stand and waited for his order to be prepared.

After a few minutes, he was called over to receive his order.

He went up to the shop owner and grabbed his food.

“How much do I owe?”

“320 Felo.”

Ace pulled out the pouch to see various coins.

He pulled out a silver coin to see the number 100 printed on it.

He grabbed 2 more silver coins then reached in and grabbed a bronze coin, seeing the number 10 printed on it.

After confirming the amounts, he grabbed one more bronze coin and handed the money to the demihuman.

“Come again!”

“Thank you.”

And Ace returned to where Aliza was sleeping, not wanting to spend any more time around the demihumans.

Once he returned to the small field, he saw Aliza sitting up and stretching, just waking up from her sleep.

“Good morning. I brought some breakfast.”

Aliza looked in Ace’s direction after hearing him call to her.

Once their eyes met...

Aliza quickly looked away, her face turning red.

She remembered everything she did last night, unable to look at Ace now that the moment from last night was over.

“Huh? Aliza? You okay?”

“Oh... yeah... good morning...”

“I brought some eggs and bacon.”

“Thank you.”

She thought to herself for a second, feeling something was odd.

“Wait... where did you get the money from?”

“I took your pouch.”

“Hey! Don’t just take someone’s pouch without asking!”

“Haha... you’re broke, aren’t you?”

“You take my pouch then call me broke?!”

“Haha... sorry, sorry.”

Once they stopped joking around, Aliza looked at Ace in the eyes, forgetting about her embarrassment.

“Are you okay...?”

She looked back on last night’s events and made sure to ask Ace if he was alright. After going through something like that, it wouldn’t feel right for the day to continue on without asking it.

“...”

“Yeah... I can’t keep crying forever...”

He said, not wanting her to worry. He told himself he wouldn’t be crying anymore, and he wanted to fulfill that.

“...”

“Oh... I have something to say. Can you stand up for me?”

Aliza, tilting her head, questioned what Ace needed right now.

She stood up and looked at Ace.

Ace placed the plates onto the floor so he could give off a very serious and heartfelt impression.

“Aliza...”

--Huh? What’s up with this mood...?”

She continued to question what he wanted to say...

--Wait... Don’t tell me... Is he going to...?

“Aliza... this is coming straight from the heart...”

--Wait! I’m not ready!

“Aliza...”

--Ahh! I’m not rea--

“Thank you.”

“Ah.”

She let out a sound to the unexpected phrase.

“Thank you.”

“Truly... thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“I mean it... you really have helped me so much... too much...”

“If you weren’t there, yesterday would have gone way worse than it already was.”

“Not only yesterday, ever since we’ve met...”

“You saved my life.”

“You helped me leave properly yesterday.”

“You said you’d help me travel.”

“You comforted me when I was depressed...”

“I want to pay you back somehow, but I don’t know how...”

“If you ever need something from me... don’t be afraid to ask.”

“So... once more...”

“Thank you.”

And he finished off what he wanted to say, giving his heartfelt thanks to the traveler who helped him on his journey so far.

He felt that this gratitude was overdue and that he needed to express it.

That’s just how much she has helped him.

He wants to repay that, tenfold, no... a hundred-fold.

He wanted to repay it, but... right now, all he could do was give his thanks and try to help her along the way, supporting her as she came along with him on his journey...

--

Aliza received the thanks and stood there, not fully absorbing the gratitude being thrown at her.

A few seconds after Ace finished...

A warm smile made its way onto her face.

She didn’t feel that she deserved the thanks, but how could she say something like that to Ace, who was standing there, giving thanks from the bottom of his heart.

She couldn’t be humble right now, that would be stomping on Ace’s seriousness and gratitude.

She stared into his emerald eyes, and responded with the only two words that fit in this situation...

“You’re welcome.”

She accepted his gratitude and stuck her hand out in front of him.

“Treat me well for the next 363 days.”

Ace stared back into her eyes, the color of diamonds, and grabbed her hand, reconfirming their partnership.

“Same goes to you.”

He returned her warm smile and exchanged words that reconfirmed their partnership.

These words marked the start of the next 363 days with Aliza...

Ace thought to himself what the future would be like with her...

Would there be mostly happy times with sad times mixed in...?

Would there be times where they had to get out of rough situations...?

Would there be times where they would have to make tough decisions...?

Ace thought about how the next year would go with her...

Then looked back at his food on the ground...

“Well, whatever...”

He chose to live in the present and worry about whatever comes at him... when it comes at him.

For now, he would just pass the time training and working towards his goal...

That’s how he wants the next 363 days to go with Aliza.

All of it, for the main goal of returning back...

To Earth.