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People would tell me how much they hated this place. Why they thought it was awful.

I used to think that it wasn't so bad, really.

[Hazel's expression is stone-faced and her tone calm, but there was a noticeable tightness to her shoulders. She was sitting on her bed with a borderline defeated aura, closet door behind her partially open and a...bow in hand.]

[Those who had known him may or may not recognize it as Frank's bow.]

[Her fingers gripped it so tightly, it was a wonder the wood hadn't broken in half yet.]

Now? I finally get it.

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He was-is--[Correcting him on choice of tense right there]--my boyfriend.

[She was never shy about that. Nor did his not being here change anything.]

Then when you go home, you'll be with him again?

[Her correction on the verb tense would indicated that, but he can imagine circumstances under which that wouldn't be true. He doesn't want to assume either way.]

Why wouldn't I be?

[She literally couldn't think of a single reason why it wouldn't be so. They would return to the same moment they had left, right? For her and Frank, that would be a victory. One hard earned and yet to be celebrated. But celebrate they would, whether it was back home or here, in Wonderland.]

...Not everyone who's here has a good future when they get home. [Or any future.] It's like that for some of my friends who have been here.

But I'm glad you'll see him again. Even if it doesn't make things here any better, it's something to look forward to.

[Her shoulders relaxed a little. Oh, is that all that was about?]

[...not to say the possibility wasn't utterly devastating for those whom it was true. Just that...well...he wasn't suggesting anything else that would keep her from reuniting with Frank.]

Not for us.

We've been waiting too long not to have our happy ending.

[A rarity enough among demigods. But she had died once already, and was determined to make this life different. Better.]

[Souji smiles.]

I'm sure you've earned it.

You have no idea.

[The thought how just how badly they'd earned it brought an ironic smile to her lips. She could imagine a lot of couples said those exact words before...but how many of them literally traveled to the underworld and back, a Spartain training camp, godly parent-given Quests, Titans, giants, monsters, magic statues...and then some?]

[Someday they'll have to trade stories of underworlds and quests. But not today.]

I guess it doesn't make it any easier to be here in the meantime.

[But it's something. His future at home is a bit uncertain and possibly bleak; he's already left his well-deserved happy ending behind.]

You've made some friends here, though, right? It shouldn't be too lonely.

[It's not the same, she wanted to say. Only that would have been rude.]

[She had to bite her tongue so hard, at one point, she thought she tasted blood.]

I have, yes.

Some of them are even still here.

I know how it is. I've been here three and a half years.

[He gets it. It's not at all the same.]

I'm sorry Frank's left.

[He avoids the word "gone" because that has...connotations.]

[Three and a half years]

So am I.

I'm sorry for a lot of things.

I hope you can go home soon.

[And that she doesn't take that the wrong way.]

[She didn't.]

So do I.

I think I've had enough of a vacation for some time to come. And...we have one last fight to make it through.

Yeah? It'll be tough?

[Leo's face flashed in her mind. The last-resort plan he had confided in her and Frank.]

It'll probably be the most difficult thing I've ever had to do.

I'm sorry. I met a couple of the people you mentioned, though. They seem pretty reliable.

[Although he doesn't know the situation or really anything too personal about them, but he still has a good feeling.]

I'd bet on you to make it.

I never said we wouldn't make it. [She was sure they would. They had to.] Just that it would be difficult.

But it needs to happen, and it can't without me.

[Leo needed her magic to keep the illusion working. Just long enough to pull the plan off.]

[He raises his eyebrows slightly at that first comment. Maybe he's hearing it incorrectly, but it seemed a little...defensive? Considering he was expressing his confidence in them.

But then, it's probably easy for people to hear him incorrectly, too, considering his delivery is rarely anything but monotone.]

I'd say good luck, but it doesn't sound like you need it.

[There was a fine line between defensiveness and trying to convince herself that what she was saying was true. It was written in the Prophecy of the Seven that they would succeed, after all. So they had to succeed. ...right?]

It never hurts to have some.

[Particularly for a girl who'd spent the entirety of her first life cursed by Bad Luck.]

True. [He smiles a bit.] Then good luck.

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