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Silver Wolf sighs as the screen in front of her displays, “YOU WON! Clear time: 23 secs. Remaining HP: 100%” Seriously, this is the maximum level? How boring. She’ll make sure to leave a bad review later.
Now she’s cleared the whole game though, it makes her realize she’s kind of hungry. She could go to the kitchen and find something to eat, assuming Kafka and Blade aren’t there to bother her. Kafka more specifically. Blade doesn’t really care. Silver Wolf checks the time; the other Hunters should be long done with lunch by now, so it should be safe to go.
Standing up, she stretches out her sore and cramped limbs. Aeons, that game really wasn’t worth it. Silver Wolf takes one last look back at her room before leaving and making her way to the Hunters’ kitchen. However, instead of the nice, empty kitchen she’d hoped to see, she’s greeted by the sight of Kafka and Blade, who are still lounging around there for some reason.
“Oh~?” Kafka says upon seeing Silver Wolf. “Are you finally going to eat, Wolfie?”
“Sure, Kafka,” Silver Wolf grumbles, already regretting her decision to leave her dark and comfortable room now that she has to apparently interact with people, people being Kafka specifically. “Why are you even here anyways? I thought you finished lunch. Shouldn’t you be, I dunno, working?”
“Shouldn’t you?” Kafka hums. “Bladie, could you grab the leftover tacos from the fridge? They should have Wolfie’s name on them.”
Blade sighs and walks over to the fridge while Kafka keeps her unnerving gaze on Silver Wolf.
Blade takes the cold tacos out of the fridge, and Silver Wolf is about to just walk over and take them and go back to her room, but then Blade puts them in the microwave. Normally, she’d be pretty grateful for the warm food, but at the moment, with Kafka staring at her and acting all mysterious, she really can’t wait to retreat to her room and not talk to anyone for the next four days.
After an awkward moment of silence save for the buzz of the microwave, Silver Wolf finally lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Stop staring at me. What do you want?”
“Firefly wants to get out of her cryosleep pod and do something fun. I personally think she can be out for a few hours… maybe, hm, today?” Kafka says, her smile widening for mysterious reasons. “What do you think, Wolfie?” Somewhere behind her, the microwave beeps, and Blade takes the tacos out.
Silver Wolf does her best to prevent any emotion from showing, but in truth, she feels really bad for Firefly. She’s been stuck in her cryosleep pod for the past month and a half due to a severe incident during a mission. Silver Wolf checked in every once in a while, and every time, Firefly would mention something about getting out of the pod and stargazing or going to a nearby coffee shop.
She’s clearly sick of being stuck in there.
“So? What about her?” Silver Wolf asks, feigning indifference as she eyes the tacos Blade is carrying over. “What do you want me to do?”
Kafka shrugs, standing up. “You girls can do something fun together. Bladie and I won’t interfere with whatever plan you come up with.”
“… okay?” Silver Wolf scowls. Blade hands over the plate, which Silver Wolf takes with a quick thanks.
“I’ll be on my way, now. I’ll be back by dinner~” Kafka says before walking out of the kitchen, going to Elio-knows-where.
“I’m gonna go back now as well,” Silver Wolf says to Blade. “See you.”
“Don’t disappear for a week again.”
Silver Wolf groans. “Seriously? That was once! Three weeks ago!”
Blade shrugs and walks away, leaving just Silver Wolf in the kitchen.
She considers retreating back to her room. If she just goes back to her room, then she doesn’t have to go through the ordeal of talking to people and keeping up with conversations. Firefly would probably have company in the form of Stelle anyways. On the other hand, she could go visit them and… what was it that Kafka said? “Do something fun” with them?
Silver Wolf sighs. She hasn’t seen Stelle or Firefly for a couple of days. Either way, she should probably go check on them.
Carrying her plate, she walks over to Firefly’s room and knocks on the door. “It’s me,” she says just in case Stelle (who’s almost certainly in the room) thinks it’s Kafka or someone annoying.
After a few seconds, Stelle opens the door and widens her eyes at the sight of Silver Wolf’s food. “This isn’t for you,” Silver Wolf says as she walks inside. Firefly’s room is pretty cozy, with a soft green rug on the floor and pale green cushions throughout the room. On the left wall stands a shelf with a wide array of books, from encyclopedias to fantasy novels. The dappled sunlight from outside the window further adds to her room’s cozy feel.
In a way, it’d be the perfect room if not for the metal, frankly really ugly cryosleep pod in the back of the room.
“Hey, Silver Wolf, you finally visited,” Stelle says, still smiling as she gently shuts the door behind her and walks over to sit back down at her chair next to Firefly’s cryosleep pod.
“Yeah,” Silver Wolf says as she pulls up her own chair.
She takes a bite of her taco– it’s really good; she should thank Blade later– and peers at the girl inside the pod. She’s clearly asleep, with a relaxed expression on her face. At least she’s not in pain.
“Firefly’s been tired these past few days,” Stelle explains. “Kafka said she’s getting better though.”
“Hm,” Silver Wolf says, taking another bite of her taco. After she swallows, she remembers why she showed up in the first place. “Speaking of that woman, she said Firefly could be out of the pod for a few hours today. She told me you guys– or, well, we– should do something ‘fun.’ Together. I think.”
Stelle tilts her head. “She can get out today?”
“I guess,” Silver Wolf agrees. She starts eating her second taco.
“Hey, I know you’re excited. You can’t fool me.”
“I guess.”
Stelle rolls her eyes. “Anyways, it probably can’t be something too strenuous, right? So probably not a walk or anything that might tire her. Hm…” Stelle taps her chin.
During Stelle’s silence, Silver Wolf takes her time to savor and finish her second taco. Once she finishes, she walks over to Firefly’s desk and sets it down there before coming back to sit next to Stelle.
“We could watch a movie,” Stelle suggests. “Or… oh! I know! How about a sleepover? Just in here? That way, Firefly doesn’t really have to go anywhere and we can just hang out here and have fun?”
“Right. We should definitely stay up for the entire night so that Firefly can’t rest.” Silver Wolf pauses. “I’m kidding. It’s a good idea. Like you said, we could watch a movie or play a game together, even a board game. We can also just binge eat all night or something. I think she’ll have fun.”
Stelle grins. “You’re kinda cooking with these ideas. Let’s wait for her to wake up and surprise her with something.”
Silver Wolf frowns. “… with what exactly?”
“Maybe something sweet? Like cupcakes or something after she’s finished eating her actual meal, of course. We could also decorate her room nicely and set up the space for our sleepover.”
“Okay,” Silver Wolf nods. “I can use aether editing to set some of that up.”
Stelle abruptly turns to Silver Wolf with a serious expression and grabs her hands. “Silver Wolf, we’ve got to make this perfect. Please? Firefly’s trying her best to be upbeat right now, but I can tell she’s still feeling really down.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You just want to make your girlfriend happy,” Silver Wolf grumbles. “But honestly, I want the best for her, too. I… really want Firefly to be happy. She deserves it.”
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“So basically…” Silver Wolf mumbles, ensuring all the settings are correct. “Okay, I think I can rearrange the room via aether editing. That way, it won’t cause a huge ruckus for Firefly, and it’ll also be way quicker. I don’t have a great sense of interior design, though.”
Stelle peers at Silver Wolf’s controller. “Is it like one of those interior design games? Like where you put various kinds of furniture in the room and paint the walls and stuff to make the room look cooler?”
“Basically, yeah,” Silver Wolf responds, saving the current room as a preset for after the sleepover. “Wanna help?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, I think we should get a bigger TV screen,” Silver Wolf says, enlarging the TV and recentering it.
“You can do that?” Stelle asks, dumbfounded. “You can make things bigger?”
“… Yes? I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but whatever it is, don’t say it. I don’t want to know.”
“But if I wanted a bigger slice of pizza–”
“So I’m adjusting the cough next,” Silver Wolf grumbles. “Or maybe not? It’s already facing the TV. Hm…”
“Maybe move the bookshelf and replace it with the cushions from over there?”
“Oh yeah,” Silver Wolf says, quickly adjusting the furniture.
After a few more minutes, with quite a few ideas from Stelle, Silver Wolf finally finishes rearranging the room. If she’s being honest, the rearranged room looks really nice.
“By the way,” Silver Wolf adds as she proudly scans her work, “I can copy/paste more cushions into the room if we need them.”
“Oh? Nice.”
“Yep. I don’t think we need to mess with her wall paint or anything like that. Although…” Silver Wolf taps her chin as an idea comes to mind.
She clicks on the roof and adds an expansive, glass window, giving them a beautifully clear view of the pale sky above them. Stelle widens her eyes at the sight. “You’re a genius, Wolfie. Firefly’ll love this.”
“You sound like Kafka,” Silver Wolf groans. “But thanks. By the way, the window is one-way, so any aircraft flying outside won’t spot us Stellaron Hunters and arrest us or something.”
Stelle grins. “The room looks great. Could we add some sort of fairy lights though? I think those would look cool.”
“Hm. I agree,” Silver Wolf nods, importing a nice strand of lights and hanging them around the room. “Are we good now?”
Stelle nods. “I think so. How about we start adding food? Like snacks and chips and stuff.”
“That’s easy,” Silver Wolf says. “There’s still some chips in the pantry, right? Bring some over, and I’ll copy them so we have a full stash.”
“I’m on it, Miss Wolf,” Stelle says with a cheerful mock salute.
“Don’t call me that. That might be worse than Wolfie.”
“Oop! Sorry ‘bout that, Alpha Wolf,” Stelle says, waltzing out of the room before Silver Wolf can respond.
After a few minutes, Stelle returns with around five chip bags.
“That’s all we have?” Silver Wolf asks, dumbfounded. “I thought we’d have more. Who ate all of–” She pauses. “… nevermind. Of course it’s you.”
“Sorry,” Stelle shrugs, dumping the chip bags on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Silver Wolf sighs and copies the chip bags until there’s twenty of them. “It should be enough, I think,” she says. “We’re probably done setting up for now.”
Stelle nods. “You’ve done a lot. Firefly will probably wake up in an hour or two. Wanna get bubble tea in the meantime? There’s a nice boba shop outside, around a ten minute walk away from here. We can get one for Firefly, too for when she wakes up.”
“Sounds good,” Silver Wolf agrees. “Give me a moment to change. I’ll meet you at the front door.”
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They get their bubble tea (as planned) and narrowly dodge getting decapitated by an angry seagull (not planned) before they head back to the Stellaron Hunters’ ship. Once they’re in the kitchen (without Kafka there to be annoying), Stelle starts preparing Firefly’s dinner, a basic chicken noodle soup.
After checking that Stelle didn’t need help, Silver Wolf just doomscrolls on her phone, checking out various reels about sleepover ideas and whatnot.
“Watcha thinking about?” Stelle abruptly asks from where she’s currently stirring the soup.
“Not much. I’m just doomscrolling. Why?”
“I dunno, you looked deep in thought for a sec.”
“I’m… thinking about this sleepover, I guess?”
Stelle grins. “See? I knew you were excited.”
“Yeah, yeah, you win. I think it’ll be good, though.”
Stelle nods, turning off the burner. “Yeah, it’ll definitely be fun. It’s a good break for all of us.”
“Once you’re done preparing her dinner, we’ll head off to her room?”
“Yep.”
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Once they get back to Firefly’s room, it only takes about two minutes of waiting for Firefly to wake up.
She sleepily blinks open her eyes, turning her head to the side. She widens her eyes upon seeing Stelle and Silver Wolf. “You guys are… ?” she starts weakly, voice still laden with sleep.
“You’re… both here,” she finally says. She gives them a small smile.
“Hey, Firefly,” Stelle smiles. “How do you like your room?”
“My…” She turns her head to the ceiling and gasps. “A… glass window? I can see the sky…”
Firefly scans her room, eyes full of wonder. “It’s so different. But… what for?”
“Surprise!” Stelle grins. “We’re hosting a sleepover in your room. Just the three of us. We moved some stuff around to set it up.”
“A… sleepover?”
“Just for you,” Silver Wolf says. “You can get out of that old pod and hang out with us tonight. But before that, eat your dinner. You must be starving.”
“That’s funny coming from you…”
“Shut up,” Silver Wolf scowls. Firefly chuckles at that. “We also have bubble tea for you, by the way. Anyway, I’m gonna change into my pajamas while you eat,” Silver Wolf says. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Oh, yeah. See ya!” Stelle calls.
“See ya,” Firefly nods.
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By the time Silver Wolf comes back in an oversized t-shirt and baggy sweatpants, Stelle and Firefly are already comfortably settled in their pajamas on the couch. Firefly cheerily waves at Silver Wolf, bubble tea in hand and clearly feeling more energized now.
Silver Wolf peers at Stelle, who’s dressed in a raccoon onesie. “My, aren’t you comfortable.”
“I am,” Stelle grins. She shoves a bunch of chips into her mouth. “Anyways, we’re picking out a game to play,” she explains once Silver Wolf sits down with them. “What do we think about UNO?”
“UNO’s fun,” Silver Wolf shrugs. She grabs her own bag of chips and tears it open.
“Remember last time when Silver Wolf started hacking the cards though?” Firefly asks. “We can’t let that happen again.”
“They weren’t hacked. I was just lucky,” Silver Wolf scowls. She’s lying; she definitely hacked the cards. There aren’t even seven +4 cards in the deck.
“Stop gaslighting,” Stelle frowns. “UNO will be fun as long as Silver Wolf doesn’t cheat. Right, Silver Wolf?”
“I didn’t cheat, but sure. Whatever you say.”
Stelle takes out the deck of cards from under the table. Silver Wolf immediately starts preparing her cheat. Once Silver Wolf gets her seven cards, she begins editing. Her original deck is, frankly, really bad, but she can make it work.
She changes some to +4s and others to +2s, just for realism. She also throws in a +8 card as her “ace” for later. Just in case.
The game goes pretty smoothly at first. Firefly side-eyes Silver Wolf every time she casts a +4, but she doesn’t say anything. Silver Wolf just innocently shrugs in response.
About half an hour into the game, Stelle only has one card left.
“UNO,” she smirks.
Silver Wolf carefully evaluates the situation. Stelle has only one card, Firefly has four, and Silver Wolf has five. Desperate times call for desperate measures, it seems.
After Firefly innocently places down a red 5, Silver Wolf pulls out her ace against Stelle.
Firefly gasps. “Silver Wolf! I knew you were cheating again!”
Stelle widens her eyes in horror. “Plus EIGHT?!! That card doesn’t even exist! Not in the standard deck, anyways.”
“Yeah it does,” Silver Wolf says, managing a perfect poker face. “Don’t you know? They updated the standard deck a while ago. There’s now +8s.”
“No they didn’t,” Stelle scowls. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m serious,” Silver Wolf says. “They updated the deck. You don’t believe me?”
Firefly frowns. “When did that even happen?”
“It was after your incident, I think,” Silver Wolf continues with a casual shrug. “I don’t really know exactly.”
“This isn’t even a new deck though,” Stelle points out.
“It literally is? Kafka just bought it a couple weeks ago. I guess you were both asleep when she brought it to your room. I thought she would’ve told you about it later, though.”
“Silver Wolf, you’re always cooped up in your room,” Stelle points out, side-eyeing her. “So how would you know that?”
“What, you think I’m a zombie?” she huffs. “I was just taking a walk through the ship when I saw Kafka coming to Firefly’s room with the new deck. She was acting super mysterious, saying that she had to buy it because the rules got updated. At first, I didn’t believe her either, but then I searched it up. I checked the deck, too. They really did add a +8 card.”
Firefly pulls out her phone. “I still don’t believe you. Even if both Stelle and I were asleep, Kafka would’ve said something about it later. I’m gonna search it up.”
Stelle leans over Firefly’s shoulder as she searches up the supposed UNO update.
The first result comes from the official UNO website: “As of ■■■■, two +8 cards have been added to the official UNO deck, resulting in a new total of 114 cards.”
Firefly and Stelle squint at the screen, apparently unable to believe what they’re seeing.
“Seriously?!” Firefly exclaims. “Why’d they even do that?”
“I dunno. It’s more fun, I guess. Anyways, point is, I didn’t cheat. That card’s always been there.”
Stelle huffs resignedly. “Fine, you win this one,” she says, taking eight cards from the ever-thinning deck.
“We’re gonna have to reshuffle the used cards soon,” Firefly sighs with a smile.
After a few more minutes, Silver Wolf triumphantly slaps down her last card.
“Looks like I’ve won,” she grins. She stretches out her empty hands and sits back on the couch. “That was a good game.”
“I still feel like you cheated,” Firefly frowns. “Even if the +8 card was real. Let’s play another round?”
“Yep,” Stelle nods, collecting all the discarded cards and beginning to reshuffle.
They play a few more rounds wherein Silver Wolf only cheats slightly before they decide to do something else.
“I have a new set of nail polish,” Silver Wolf says. “We could paint each other's nails.”
Firefly widens her eyes. “Woah, Silver Wolf, since when did you have nail polish? Don’t you always say your nail polish chips whenever you’re gaming?”
“I guess, but I got some recently. I need to grab it from my room, though. I’ll be back.”
She leaves for her room, and after a bit of digging through her drawers, she locates her set of nail polish. She bought it on a whim when she went to the mall to go bowling with Blade a few days ago. At the time, she didn’t really know when she’d use it, so she just shoved it into some dark corner of a random drawer and figured it would be useful sometime later.
She brings it back to Firefly’s room and sets it down on the coffee table.
“Firefly, I’ll paint your nails first since the party’s for you anyway.”
“Oh, yay!” Firefly smiles. “Are you choosing the color, or am I picking?”
“Woah wait,” Stelle says, looking between the two of them. “Silver Wolf, since when did you know how to apply nail polish?”
Silver Wolf groans. “Do you honestly think I’m a zombie? I can do stuff, too.”
Firefly chuckles. “Ignore Stelle. I believe in you.”
“Thanks.”
Stelle stares at Firefly in mock horror. “Did you just tell Silver Wolf to ignore me?”
“Yep,” she grins. “You’ll survive.”
“I’m thinking about a blue and pink gradient for you? It’ll complement your eyes nicely,” Silver Wolf suggests.
“First you steal my UNO win and now you’re trying to win over my girlfriend?” Stelle complains.
“Don’t worry, Stelle,” Firefly hums. “I’ll always love you~”
“Ugh,” Silver Wolf groans. “Stop being romantic. This is disgusting. I’m gonna throw up.”
Firefly laughs. “Sorry, sorry. I think pink and blue is good!”
Silver Wolf carefully applies the nail polish, tuning out Stelle and Firefly’s background conversations to focus on her work. After she’s done, she sets down the nail polish bottle and scans her work.
“What do you think?” she asks Firefly. “They’re not fully dried yet, by the way, so be careful.”
Firefly peers at her nails, watching how they lightly glitter under her room’s light. “They’re so pretty,” she finally says. “This looks just as good as Kafka’s work. How did you even do that?”
“I dunno,” Silver Wolf shrugs. “I didn’t like… hack your nails if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“No, not at all,” Firefly smiles, still admiring her nails. “I just think they’re so gorgeous.”
Stelle nods. “Silver Wolf was right. This color really does complement your eyes.”
Firefly laughs, a pale flush across her face. Ugh, why are they so romantic? Silver Wolf’s happy for her friends, of course, but she could personally never understand.
“Stelle? You wanna go next?”
“Ooh, sure!” Stelle exclaims. “I trust your taste. What are you thinking about?”
“Red and gold suits you, I think. We’ll see. I might screw up on purpose though, I dunno.”
“Hey,” Stelle huffs. “What’d I do to you?”
“I dunno.”
Silver Wolf starts on Stelle’s nails, once again tuning out whatever Stelle and Firefly are talking about. Just like with Firefly’s nails, the process is slow, but once she finishes, she knows it was worth it.
“Pretty good, hm?” Silver Wolf hums. “It’s done now. Still not dry though.”
“Yo, Silver Wolf,” Stelle says, looking at her nails. “You’re a genius. You should set up a nail salon. Just as a side hustle, you know?”
“No thanks,” Silver Wolf scowls. “I’m not nearly that skilled.”
“Oh, Wolfie, can I do your nails?” Firefly asks. “Please? I’m not as good as you, but I’ll try!”
“Of course,” Silver Wolf responds, sliding the nail polish over to Firefly and holding her hands out. “Do whatever you want to do.”
“I’m not as skilled, so I’m not gonna try a gradient, but…” Firefly taps her chin. “How about I alternate between purple and blue for each nail? I think that’d look cool.”
“Go ahead,” Silver Wolf agrees.
Firefly’s hands are surprisingly steady as she paints Silver Wolf’s nails. At first, she’s clearly trying to be more cautious, but over time, she seems to get more confident.
“I just thought of something,” Stelle says while Firefly paints.
“What? It better not be something stupid,” Silver Wolf responds.
“So about that +8 card from earlier…”
“Yes? What about it?”
“You didn’t hack the official UNO website, did you?”
Whoops. Silver Wolf did, in fact, hack the official UNO website.
“No? Why would I do that?” Silver Wolf says instead. “The +8 card is real.”
“Mhm.”
“Why are you so skeptical?”
“Because you’re a terrible liar?”
“Okay! I’m done,” Firefly says, interrupting their banter. “What do you think? Does it look okay?”
Silver Wolf looks at her hands. “They look great,” she says. “I really mean it. You did such a good job.”
“Thank you so much!” Firefly beams.
“Of course. Now, since we’re done, I’ll set the nail polish aside,” Silver Wolf says, placing the nail polish under the table. “Well, what now?
“Ooh! Can we watch a movie?” Firefly asks. “There was a good one about a band of heroes trying to suppress Abundance abominations on their planet before Lan’s arrow struck. I’ve heard it’s really good.”
“Ooh? I’ve heard of that one,” Stelle grins. “I’ve never watched it though. Let’s see…”
She takes the remote from the coffee table and turns on the TV. After she clicks through a few movies, she finally finds the one Firefly mentioned, a movie called Before Vengeance Falls.
“Interesting,” Silver Wolf comments, looking at the movie poster. “It looks good enough.”
“Hey, you should use aether editing to make some popcorn for us,” Stelle jokes.
“Don’t we already have chips? But I guess I could try,” Silver Wolf shrugs, pulling up a holographic screen.
“Wait, seriously?” Firefly asks.
Silver Wolf searches up popcorn and scrolls through the results. “This one looks good,” she remarks, pulling up an image of an overflowing tub of airy popcorn. “Should I try to edit this one in?”
Firefly and Stelle both nod their heads, so Silver Wolf gets to work.
“Editing in food is a little harder because you have to encode the flavor,” Silver Wolf explains as she types the necessary code. Once she’s done, she drags the popcorn out of the screen and places it onto the table. Immediately, they’re greeted with the scent of fresh, buttery popcorn.
“It smells so good,” Firefly comments. She experimentally pops one into her mouth. “Silver Wolf, these taste amazing!”
Silver Wolf takes one and tries it, too. “Better than I expected,” she admits. “Very crunchy.”
Stelle grabs a handful and shoves it into her mouth. Her eyes instantly brighten.
“Wait, we were supposed to be watching a movie,” Silver Wolf realizes. She takes the remote from where Stelle left it on the table and clicks play.
For the next three or so hours, they munch on popcorn and chips as they watch the movie. It’s really cinematic, and it ends with the heroes almost successfully killing the rampant Abundance abominations, but they’re too late; Lan’s Lux Arrow falls and destroys everything in sight.
“That…” Firefly sighs once the credits start. “That was really sad. But really epic.”
Stelle nods. “Yeah, that was a good one. Silver Wolf, you haven’t said anything yet. What did you think?”
“It was sad,” Silver Wolf agrees. “I think it could’ve been avoided, though. If they didn’t hesitate at the end, they would’ve made it.”
“They were afraid,” Firefly sighs. “That’s… why they hesitated. That final scene showing all the carnage and rubble reminds me a bit of what my targets look like after my missions.”
Silver Wolf sighs and nods. “I know you still feel remorse when it comes to that. Honestly, I do, too. But I guess if Elio orders something, we don’t really have a choice.”
Firefly nods. “It’s for the greater good… but our victims don’t know that. They’re just regular people, like the civilians in the movie. But if we don’t do what we do, then everyone’s future is doomed.”
“I agree…” Silver Wolf sighs. “It’s like when you obliterate a bunch of low-level mobs, so you can level up and survive the boss fight. It’s unfair to those level one mobs.”
Stelle clears her throat. “I guess I don’t really have as much experience as you guys since I have a different role in the script, but I guess we don't necessarily make the correct choices, but they’re the best choices for our future. And those choices… can be ruthless.”
Firefly nods. “Such is the reality of being a Stellaron Hunter.”
After a moment of silence, Firefly sighs. “I’m really sorry, guys. I know this was supposed to be fun, but I brought the mood down.”
“Hey, a bit of reflection every once in a while is good,” Silver Wolf points out. “We kind of are all criminals here.”
Stelle nods, then looks at the clock. “Damn, it’s way past midnight already. I didn’t even realize. Firefly, you must be tired.”
Firefly shakes her head. “I’m fine. Well, I’m tired, but I’m okay. I don’t feel sick or anything yet.”
Firefly tilts her head back and quietly gasps. “Stelle, Silver Wolf… the stars are so beautiful tonight.”
Silver Wolf tilts her head up to look. “They’re so bright,” she notes. “And the moon’s full and super bright as well.”
“Of course you’d notice, Silver Wolf,” Stelle chuckles.
“Shut up.”
“I’ve… really enjoyed this sleepover,” Firefly admits. “I’ve missed this. Being out of that cryosleep pod, I mean, and getting to hang out with you guys.” She sighs, her eyes sleepily half-lidded. “Even if I can only be out of the pod for a little bit, every second is worth it…”
“I’m glad you enjoyed this,” Stelle responds. “You deserve to be happy.”
“We want the best for you,” Silver Wolf agrees.
“By the way…” Firefly murmurs, sounding half-asleep already. “If one of you wakes up before me, could you ask Kafka to not move me back to the cryosleep pod? I’m afraid that, if after this, I wake up in the pod, I’ll forget that this all happened. I don’t want to wake up thinking that…”
“That it was just a dream?” Stelle finishes for her.
“… I know I can’t dream, at least not yet. But… yeah. I want to wake up here, beside all of you. My cryosleep pod is freezing, but with you all here… it’s so warm…”
“We’ll make sure of that,” Silver Wolf responds. “Good night, Firefly. Sleep well.”
“Good night, Wolfie. Good night, Stelle…”
(The next morning, Kafka pokes her head into Firefly’s room to see the three Stellaron Hunters sleeping on the couch together. She smiles at the sight and gently shuts the door, letting them sleep in peace.
“See, Bladie? They had fun.”
“They did.”
“By the way, I filmed this video yesterday while Stelle and Wolfie were out getting bubble tea. You’ll find it funny. They were getting chased by this seagull…”)