WHAT STANDS BETWEEN US

He awoke with a gasp, clutching his chest. The anxiety attack had gone away, as if by magic, but like always, the thoughts stood at the dark corners of his mind, waiting for him to make one mistake, just one, and they would return in full force. He rubbed his temples, trying to rid himself of the sudden headache coming over him. Deep breathing. Control his breathing and he could push through this like every other time.

(Why do I feel like this?)

The memories came rushing back: Lucianna waiting for him in Riosae's collection room, pushing him back onto the bed, preparing to remove her robe and do whatever she wanted to him. The memory alone made his chest tighten.

He sat up, looking around. It was the room he and Lucianna were sharing, but the sun peeked through the drawn curtains. He looked over his shoulder, but Lucianna wasn't in bed with him. His hands and feet prickled with sleepiness and cold.

"Ah, you're awake."

Riosae rose from a corner desk, making her way toward Milo. She crossed her arms.

"It seems my special test did a number on you."

He furrowed his brow. "Special test? Are you talking about what happened in your collection room?"

"The same."

"What about that was a test? I…you…how did you even convince Lucianna to do that?"

"I didn't. Dragons are natural shapeshifters. I needed to probe you without having you throw up a barrier."

"Barrier?"

Riosae dragged a chair over to the bed and sat on it in reverse, leaning her arms and chin on the back of the chair. Her golden eyes narrowed as she regarded him.

"I mentioned it in training, didn't I? There's a roadblock between you and Lucianna. As long as that barrier stays in place, your fusion can't progress. But it's not just a blockage between you and her…I had a feeling, watching the way you carry yourself around the others."

"What do you know?"

A corner of her mouth tugged up, and she leaned back. "I'd say I'm an excellent judge of character. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to train you two. I know there's potential in you."

"Bullshit. I don't have any potential. Before joining the crew, I had no future. I'm the weakest member, and I can't even help Lucianna all that well, either."

"My, someone's a little feisty. I think that's the most I've heard you speak up since arriving!"

He turned away from her. Was she making fun of him? He couldn't tell, but either way he gritted his teeth, the pressure in his temples becoming tighter.

She leaned forward again, resting her face against one of her fists.

"To me, you're barely a speck of dust in the universe."

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"Listen. I've lived for thousands of years, watched civilizations rise, fall, evolve. I've had hundreds of lovers from many walks of life. Compared to me, you've barely tasted what life can offer. Yet instead of seizing the opportunities set before you, you continue to act like you're the victim in some cosmic scheme against you."

"You don't know me."

"No, not personally, but I've seen your type before. Many times before. I have also been there, plenty of times. My lifespan is both a blessing and a curse. Though I've had many lovers, I've also had to bury many of them."

"You act so nonchalant about it."

"Death is a fact of existence. Even I will die someday. But I'm in no hurry to meet the reaper yet."

"Good for you. What does this have to do with anything?"

She sighed. "Good grief. You're really dense, aren't you? Well, I doubt going further will help any, so how about we go to do some training with Lucianna?"

"Sure, fine, whatever."

(Anything to keep my mind occupied.)

***

Lucianna had been waiting for them in the hall. She offered Milo a smile, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. Even though she hadn't been the one trying to seduce him in Riosae's collection room, the memory still stung like a fresh cut. His stomach turned over on itself.

"Are you feeling better? Riosae said you've been sick."

"I'm fine. We should get to training."

He turned to head toward the training hall, but Lucianna caught him by the hand, tugging him back toward her.

"Milo…"

He closed his eyes and shrugged her off. Her mouth hung open as he shambled away. Lucianna looked over at Riosae.

"What happened to him? He seems different."

Riosae shook her head. "No. He's not different. He's letting his true feelings through."

Lucianna titled her head, and brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, turned back toward Milo's retreating form.

"True feelings?"

(He almost looked like he hated me.)

Riosae placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I will make one suggestion: both in teamwork and in love, communication between all parties is paramount. Otherwise, the bond you share will wither and die."

Lucianna's eyes fell to the ground. "No. I'll make sure he never gets hurt." She chased after him, her cloak flapping behind her.

Riosae took a deep breath, pinching her nose as she sighed.

"In one ear and out the other…This is going to be difficult, isn't it?"

***

Days passed, and Riosae's training grew more and more rigorous with each day. While the pair fused every so often, Riosae's new training regimen focused on improving their teamwork outside of fusion. Milo and Lucianna both expressed confusion when Riosae instructed them to follow her commands: hand to hand, back to back, elbow to elbow, and then turn around and tell each other a fact about yourself. For the last part, both Milo and Lucianna stared at each other awkwardly, Milo avoiding direct eye-contact with Lucianna.

"This is the stupidest idea," Lucianna said. "We should focus on fusion! How will this help?"

"Trust the process. Volunteer a fact about yourself. Something little Milo wouldn't know."

Lucianna twisted her lips as she searched the ceiling for an answer. Her eyes flashed, and she gave him a toothy grin. She grabbed her boobs, rubbing them together.

"I'm a natural G-cup!"

Riosae smacked her own face.

"That's…not the kind of fact I was looking for. But wow, really? You're bigger than me…"

Lucianna beamed down at him.

"Eh? What do you think of that, darling?"

His features were stony, his eyes glued to the floor. Lucianna let her hands drop to her sides.

Riosae crossed her arms, coughing.

"Well Milo, how about a fact from you?"

"I played guitar, I guess."

Lucianna tilted her head, confusion in her eyes.

"Huh? Oh…it was that stringed instrument in your old apartment, yeah? That's pretty cool!"

He scrunched his nose. "This is such a waste of time."

Riosae ordered them to repeat the entire process, and they begrudgingly did so. Each time they reached the share-a-fact portion, Lucianna listed some superficial fact about her body—"Today I'm wearing a lacey thong! Wanna see?"—while Milo would reply with an equally uninteresting fact about his former life—"I worked at High Mart for seven years. Five years was on the night shift, because I don't like people." Each subsequent answer proved to be more innocuous than the last. Riosae's tail swished impatiently behind her as they went through about a dozen rotations of this icebreaker hell.

"What kind of answers are these?"

"What do you mean?"

"They're all so shallow! I doubt Milo cares about the mole on your left thigh. And Milo is giving us a laundry list of character details!"

Lucianna screwed her lips.

"We're doing what you asked!"

Riosae shook her head. "Okay. We'll come back to this exercise, then."

She snapped her fingers, and the hallway glowed red. The ground beneath Milo and Lucianna shook, and they stumbled as the stone rose from the earth. Milo's eyes widened as he realized they were floating on a platform at last fifteen feet in the air. Another platform rose alongside theirs, floating away from them until there was a sizeable gap between the two platforms.

"This next exercise will test your problem-solving skills."

There came a rumbling from underneath, and Lucianna peeked over the edge, her mouth flopping open.

"L-lava?!"

The steamy magma rose steadily, coming up to beneath the platforms. Sweat rolled down Milo's face. The heat was so intense. Standing on her own platform, Riosae waved her hand, and three mannequins appeared on the platform with Milo and Lucianna. One mannequin was short, the second one more their height, while the third one was quite rotund and heavy-looking. Riosae snapped her fingers again, and a chain appeared, stretching from wall-to-wall between the two platforms.

"The aim is simple. Get the mannequins and yourselves to the other side of the chain. You have unlimited time, and may use whatever means necessary, but you must go over the chain, and if any of you fall into the lava, it's an automatic loss. If you lose, you'll have to clean my collection room from corner to corner, floor to ceiling."

Milo gulped. He hadn't really seen the collection room, since the only light had been from candlelight, but he really had no desire to return there so soon.

"Oh, this is easy! We can combine and—"

Riosae held up a finger. "No fusion."

"What?! But, you said by any means necessary!"

"This is a problem-solving exercise. You can't rely on that ability to get you out of every situation."

"Well, it's worked for us so far…"

"What was that? You'd rather clean my collection room~?"

"N-no! Just you watch!"

Lucianna walked over to the smallest mannequin.

"Watch this! I'll move both the regular mannequins and then we can work together on the last one, Milo!"

She wrapped her hands around the mid-section of the mannequin, and her confident smile quickly dimmed. Her brow furrowed as she tugged on the little mannequin. No matter what she did, though, it seemed like the munchkin wouldn't budge. Lucianna squatted down, trying to lift it with all her strength. She only worked herself up. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she gasped.

"W-what the hell is up with this?! Why is it so heavy?"

Milo tilted his head. Riosae giggled to herself.

"Come on, put your back into it!" She formed her hands into a frame, staring directly at Lucianna's butt. "I love this view~"

"You old perv! Ugh!"

Milo raised a finger. "Lucianna, can I help?"

"I got this! Just give me a sec!"

Riosae snickered as Lucianna continued to struggle with the tiny mannequin for a solid five minutes. In that time, she nudged the impossibly heavy dummy an astounding half inch from its original spot. Her bangs stuck to her forehead, her cheeks flushed bright red.

"Oh, screw this! I'll use my power!"

"What about your arms?"

Lucianna lifted her right hand and pointed it at the small mannequin. Her body glowed bright purple, her power rushing through her. Milo winced as the diamond in his wrist ached.

(RUN! GET AWAY!)

"H-hey, Lucianna!"

The giant mannequin snapped in Milo's direction. From its sides emerged two giant rubber hands, which shot out, stretching across the space between it and Milo. Pain sparked in his shoulders as the hands hooked into him, and he gasped. Lucianna looked back over her shoulder, eyes wide.

The mannequin rocketed forward, ramming its body into him, which sent them both tumbling toward the edge of the platform. A plume of steam shot up from the lava below.

"Milo!"

She turned toward him, reaching out, her aura of power vanishing.

As if flipping a switch, the round mannequin froze in place. It released Milo from its grip, and Milo stumbled backward, catching himself before tumbling into the pool of lava.

Riosae whistled and flashed them a smile with all her teeth.

"Oh, sorry! Did I forget to mention? That big dummy, Tiny, is afraid of magic! Using your power in any form will scare her and she'll desperately cling to any cute boy in her vicinity!"

"You crazy bitch! Milo could've died!"

Riosae shrugged. "Would it have been my fault, though? You're the one recklessly using their power."

"Only because I didn't know what was going on!"

"Oh? But I'm pretty sure you did. You rushed in like you knew what to do!"

Lucianna scowled, her power simmering to the surface as her aura returned. "I'm about ready to level this place!"

Tiny's arms shot up, its hands aiming for Milo.

"L-Lucianna, please!"

Her eyes widened, and she let her power fade again. She glared at Riosae, who wore the biggest shit-eating grin.

"You're enjoying this too much!"

"No, I was thinking about how my collection room hadn't been cleaned in a long, long while!"

She leaned forward in her floating chair, crossing her leg and resting her chin in her hand.

"It'll be nice to have you two clean it after you fail this challenge."