An exercise in understanding.

’Why? How could I freeze up? After all that’s happened, am I so willing to throw away my life?’ That was the constant thought going through John’s head. Repeated over and over again. He had already headed back towards the base distractedly, and was shown the way to the general quarters where the others were staying. He had opted to instead go home or rather, to Alice’s home. Dinner would probably be served soon, and he did not intend to break any more promises anytime soon. As he made his way through the mansion, a somewhat unexpected figure appeared. Ember. She appeared out of thin air in the corner of his eye. John’s guess was that she was cloaked before hand.

“Ingrid wants to see you,” she said simply, her tone as cold as ever. John wasn’t sure he had a choice here, but he didn’t care.

“I’m going home for now. I’ll see her after,” he said, exactly as simply. There was a limit to what he would take.

“There’s something I want to talk to you about as well…” Her response was completely off the mark. More than that, it did not share any of her usual cold demeanor. Her tone seemed almost hopeful, but for the first time, she looked sad. John was confused, but there was nothing more to say, so he continued on.

“I’ll find you first when I get back then.” He turned back. She smiled half heartedly, before disappearing into one of the corridors close by.

John walked through the industrial corridors, each one seeming more alien than the last. The occasional burst of people walking through them made it somewhat more tolerable, however. He had just been there the same morning, but his mind was utterly distracted. Ember's strange comment had only added more fuel to the metaphorical fire. He felt utterly lost within his own mind, and he didn't have any time to do so. When he thought of Alice, Ember or any of the others something clicked within him. That feeling of despair that was still with him faded. That he believed he was needed, that he could help, it eased whatever dread had sprung up inside him. Now he wondered: Was what he had thought back then even an excuse, or did he truly give up his own life just for some semblance of purpose? After all that had happened, did he still care so little for himself? It was not a question he could answer, nor one he wanted to consider. He was soon given respite of it, however, as he finally reached the portal. The world shattered once more, and he was back in that same warehouse in Springfield. The stats of the party which were placed on the side of his vision had at some point turned to black without him noticing and did not show the others anymore.

It was just starting to get dark when he reached Alice’s house. Taking out his phone and checking it, he saw it was about eight thirty. John approached the wooden door and knocked on it lightly.

“Come in!” The voice beyond the door was that of Hanna Wright. The person who met him as he opened it, however, was none other than Alice herself.

“I thought it was you.” She kissed him passionately, and drew him into a hug. Her body felt soft against his. It was comforting to feel her after all that happened. Her head leaned against his shoulder for a moment before she resumed speaking. “Don’t mistake that for me not being angry at you though, you can’t just run off like that.” She grabbed his hand and led him towards a small dining room on the ground floor. A large table made out of what seemed to be oak wood stood in the middle of the room. It was obviously not used very often, owing to the gathering of dust all over the room. The various shelves around the table that held plates, glasses, and other various household implements were the only things that remained clean. Especially clean was the wine cabinet on the other side of the room. It was sparkling, and seemed to be housing quite a number impressive bottles and glasses. The table itself, however, had been cleaned recently, and was set for three people. All in all, it had room for about seven, but only three chairs were still there. Two of the plates were set on one side of it, and one on the other. The chairs that were left were made of the same wood as the table, though padded with some leather like material. Alice sat down, and with a light yank caused John to sit down beside her. All of this was a bit surprising, but it was all quite pleasant. Returning a sense of normalcy to John that he had not felt for some time.

“I know you can’t tell me everything. But are you at least going to tell me how your first day went?” she asked, her tone clearly curious.

“It went well, I suppose. Met some of the others I’ll be working with, it seems. Most of them were friendly. I need to talk to my boss when I get back there. That’s about all, I think,” John responded, distracted.

“John, you ok? You seem a bit out of it today.” She sounded genuinely worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got stuff on my mind.” The room went silent for a minute.

“Not something you can talk about then?” she said, her tone both annoyed and serious.

“Sorry,” he admitted. “but it’s not the kind of thing I want to talk about either.” Another moment of silence passed. “How’s your day gone?” John felt awkward now. For all he wanted to be there and just talk to her, there was something undercutting it all.

“It went fine, you know how Ashcroft is. Wish you were still there, but I get that you need to do this.” She sounded down. “Frank and Vanessa are still as idiotic as ever though. That piece of shit actually got his head stuck in a locker today. Was the funniest thing to happen at school ever.” She laughed, and so did John. They then started talking about some new games coming out, and that went on until Alice’s mother entered the room a few minutes later.

“You two think you can just sit here?” She stood there, her arms on her hips. Whatever anger was implied seemed fake, however, as she chuckled soon after. “Come on, I need some help in the kitchen.” John was hesitant to get up, the conversation with Alice had finally been going well, but she yanked him along, smiling.

“We can keep talking later.”

For the next half an hour they both helped around the kitchen. Once the food had been finished, they all sat down at the dining table. What had been made was quite grand. Most of the meal was quite standard, but it was obviously made with some skill, and as John began eating it, the quality of the ingredients was obvious as well.

“I heard you left Ashcroft.” Before he could dive in, his focus was brought to someone else. Hanna spoke calmly and clearly. “If that is true, I must ask. What are you doing now?” Something about her eyes seemed to gleam. Almost like she knew…

’No, that’s impossible.’ John knew that, but something about it seemed off.

“Eh,” John coughed, “I’m going to a college nearby. Got a scholarship for it off my grades.”

“Oh? And your parents agreed to it?”

“Yeah, it’s a good school. And they said that it makes sense given that’s the reason I went to Ashcroft in the first place.”

“That does seem wise,” she paused for a minute, “And do they know of your relationship with Alice?” That seemed to John a strange question, but he answered nonetheless.

“They do.”

“And? Do they approve of it.”

“There’s no reason for them not to. And even if they didn’t, I don’t care. They are not the arbiters of my choices.” Alice gave him a strange look for a second.

“You sound just like her,” the older woman chuckled. Alice seemed livid, “I suppose that’ll do for an answer.” She stood up and grabbed a bottle of wine from the cabinet. Pouring herself a drink, she sat back down again and placed the bottle on the table.

"Now. I want to know, since Alice hasn't told me. What did you do to convince her to talk to you again?" her voice was calm, but her eyes hid an accusation that was barely veiled, and there was an energy to them that was utterly terrifying.

“That’s enough.” Alice was the one to stand up this time. “If all you invited him to do was to interrogate him, you should have done that when I wasn’t here.” Her anger burst out in a second. She sat back down again moments later, but any further comments seemed unnecessary.

The conversation turned to quiet small talk. The food was good, and overall John enjoyed himself, but he knew that the end of it would bring with it the fateful talk. When everyone had finished eating, and they had chewed the fat for quite some time, Hanna asked John to stay there for a short talk. Alice looked livid once again, but this time she seemed content to leave them alone. This time, the young man was the one to start the conversation. Only when he saw Alice had left up the stairs, however.

“You know as well as I do that your husband was Abyssal, don’t you?”

“Abyssal? I don’t think demonic entities have anything to do with my husband.” Her tone seemed genuine, but John wasn’t falling for it.

“Fine, then what do you know about him you haven’t told Alice? Ask me any questions you want, I don’t care, but that I need to know. And for some reason, she hasn’t asked you yet.”

“I know just as much as my daughter does. She’s much more resourceful about that sort of thing than I am.” John doubted that much. Hanna was a cunning woman, a lawyer, if he remembered correctly. Not a profession that takes fools.

“Fine then. Ask me your questions.”

“I already know all I need to,” she said, smiling at him. As she went upstairs as well, he was sure he saw a wink. ’She knows something, I’m sure. I guess I’ll have to find it the hard way,’ he thought, before his mind turned back to Alice. He went up the stairs quickly, intending to say goodbye for now, at least.

He made his way into her room as the door was still open. Alice was sitting on her bed, toying with a plushie of an anime character John could not recognize. As soon as she saw him she threw it back onto her bed and jumped on him. She kissed him again, just as passionately as before.

“You’re going again, aren’t you?” she said softly.

“I have to.”

“You don’t have to do anything, you know that as well as I do.” She was annoyed with him, that much he was sure of.

“That might be true. But I have to protect you, and this is part of my responsibility now.” John’s tone was unusually grim.

“I can protect myself.” She chuckled slightly.

"I know, but I don't think anyone can protect themselves from this.” He kissed her again, before leaving the room quickly while saying a soft goodbye.

John returned to the first plane almost an hour later. It was almost midnight at that time. He expected a cold welcome from Ember or Ingrid, but found neither. He wanted to attempt to look for Ember, but had no idea where to start. So he went to the only place he knew how to find, his new quarters.

The steel halls were far more creepy when they were so utterly devoid of people, and the dim lights did not help. He walked without purpose for a few minutes, before deciding to go to what would be his new quarters for now. It seemed the most logical place. The corridors turned to the wood of the mansion and eventually he reached the quarters. It was quite a fancy area. A small wing of the building was dedicated to various doors behind which stood sleeping quarters. Indicated by the various nameplates and signs. Eventually, he discovered his own. It was a lavish room, larger than his bedroom back in Springfield. The bed was of Victorian design as with everything there, and even had a light silk curtain surrounding it. To his right stood a small door that led into an equally fancy bathroom. Taking a short shower, he refreshed himself after the long events of the day and collapsed on the bed soon after.