Chapter 24

It was less than 30 minutes before the sun disappeared over the horizon, marking the end of the day when the fight between Annie and Zirken/Ezir took place. The boy carrying Sunshine magic still remained inside the hut, for even with all the superhuman benefits he received, for some reason he was not able to recover so quickly.

"I have to get out before they get here. *sigh* I shouldn't have underestimated her so much, now I'll probably have to endure the pain in that cold outside." - Zirken

Currently within the walls there are around 4 seasons in the year, and at this moment the fall season has finally arrived, the coldest time of the year during the night.

The boy immediately stood up and put on his black hood to cover his temporarily golden hair. He headed for the door and left the hut, without even checking his surroundings because of the strong pain in his stomach.

'I have no doubt that I have broken some bone.' - Zirken.

And so he made his way to his usual hiding place...

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A few moments before the young Zirken left the hut...

The trio of spies were waiting patiently in line to get their dinner. It was already the end of their long day of work, but none of them looked tired. However, Annie was rather thoughtful.

"We should thank you again, Annie. You gave that wolf in sheep's clothing a good beating for us." - Reiner, waving a thumb up.

"True, I couldn't even see him all day." - Bertolt.

"Speaking of which, what did he tell you? You could have won the fight, but you gave up when he said something in your ear." - Reiner.

"It's a personal thing...he didn't say anything bad, but he made me feel weak and that's why I got angry." - Annie.

"Words alone made you weak? Did they have that kind of power?" - Reiner, talking about the "demons" of paradis.

"I don't think so..." - Bertolt.

"I've lost my hunger, I'm going back to the hut." - Annie, leaving the line and setting off towards her quarters.

'I guess I overreacted a little... But why did just because he said that make me feel that way?'- Annie.

Before long, she had disappeared from the sight of the two boys.

"There is something wrong between those two, but since Annie acted so angry, it shouldn't be something that will affect the mission." - Reiner.

"Is it really?" - Bertolt, a little concerned about his platonic crush.

"I don't know, but she hasn't given us any indication of betrayal, so we shouldn't have any suspicions of her. Besides, I think she thinks better than both of us to know not to ally herself with the demons." - Reiner.

"I think you are right..." - Bertolt.

The two continued to wait to get their food, while Annie continued to walk quietly while remaining thoughtful. At the moment she is not feeling angry at Zirken, but rather worried about the fact that she had acted overly at that moment and kicked him when he was already hurt and unprepared.

'I shouldn't even be worrying about this, but why?'- Annie.

In a matter of minutes she finally reached her quarters. As she got closer, all she could think of was the slightest possibility that Zirken/Ezir was resting there. It was then that the door suddenly opened, revealing a boy with his head covered by a black hood, sneaking out while keeping one of his hands pressed lightly against his belly.

'He's still hurt...' - Annie.

But as if he hadn't even noticed the girl's presence, the boy hurried off towards some unknown place.

'Where is he going like that?... I wonder if...!' - Annie.

She wasted no time and started following the boy as discreetly as she could. They were both going to a somewhat secluded and hidden place, where they could not be seen during the darkness of the night. Normally, the boy was going to be much faster than Annie, but because he was injured, he decided not to overdo it as he didn't know what consequences that would bring.

'What is this place?'- Annie.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at a place that looked like a makeshift camp. There were tree leaves piled up in one place to form a kind of bed and a recently used but extinguished campfire.

The boy wasted no time and quickly made a flame on the tip of his finger to light the fire. After he managed to heat the place and light it, he immediately lay down in his completely archaic house.

'How did he manage to light the fire?'- Annie, who couldn't see Zirken use his powers.

After some time watching him, night took over and the whole place was already completely dark. Seeing that the boy wouldn't do anything but lie there and that it wouldn't do any good to try to come back in the middle of all this darkness, she chose to approach him.

"So this is where you sleep every night..." - Annie.

"!!!!" - Zirken.

"Annie?! When and how did you get here?!" - Zirken, immediately standing up and momentarily ignoring the pain.

"I've followed you since you left the lodge." - Annie.

"But why?!" - Zirken.

"Well... I guess I was a little sorry for hitting you like that. So when I saw you leaving I decided to follow you." - Annie.

"*sigh* I see..." - Zirken.

"So?" - Annie, moving closer and closer to the boy.

"So what?" - Zirken.

"Why do you sleep every day on this cold hard floor instead of your bed? And on top of that being injured?" - Annie.

As soon as she finished her questioning, the girl sat down on the floor, more specifically next to the boy, but not too close. It was then that she noticed something strange...

"And why is your hair white?!" - Annie, looking at the few visible locks of hair and not noticing her eyes.

"I guess I won't be able to hide it any longer, eh?" - Zirken, as she pulled up her hood and completely showed off her beautiful white hair.

"Where do I start... Remember when we first met? I had told you about how much alike we were..." - Zirken.

The girl only nodded and listened carefully to every word that was said.

"When I was a child I lived on a normal farm together with my family, we all lived well, but my father was an Ex-military man who knew martial arts and forced me to train constantly... On the day I turned 7, my hair started to change color, turning golden during the day and white at night..."

"However, around this time, several bad things were happening against my family. Pests began to destroy the crops, a disease befell my father, and we were constantly without water or food. Because of this, my family started to put all the blame on me, thinking that I was cursed and wishing me dead because there was nothing that could be done. Until one day my mother suddenly tried to murder me and luckily I managed to escape from home, but..."

"The following week, I found out that the farm had caught fire and my whole family died as a result..." - Zirken, with a nostalgic look and a sad expression on his face.

"..." - Annie, almost completely speechless.

"So I didn't want you guys to see me like this and end up kicking me out or even spreading bad rumors about me so that I'd get kicked out of here one hour or another. It's horrible to feel alone and cursed for years... there was a time I almost committed suicide because of it, so I wanted to do everything possible not to end up alone again..." - Zirken.

'Now I'm really sad. I ended up mixing parts of my past life and this life, but I really didn't want to remember that...*sigh*' - Zirken, recalling his traumas from another life.

Annie was almost completely bewildered. She had some notion that her friend's past was not the best, but she had no idea that it would be something so horrible. However, after a few seconds she finally spoke.

"My condolences..." - Annie.

"Thank you-" - Zirken.

Before he could complete his thanks, he was interrupted by the girl who suddenly approached him and hugged him. The boy's eyes widened and he was totally surprised because he didn't expect this course of events, but he soon chose to reciprocate the gesture.

They both hugged for some time, not caring how long it was taking. Until Annie realized what she was doing and immediately broke the embrace.

'Why did my body react on its own?! What is happening to me?' - Annie, until then extremely confused.

"*Ahem* Thanks for the hug. It helped me a lot." - Zirken, with a smile on his face, but with his cheeks slightly flushed.

"No need to thank me, just don't tell the other two what happened here." - Annie, her face flushed a little.

"Huh? You don't want to get away from me?" - Zirken.

"Don't get me wrong. I don't know why this happened to you, but I'm not afraid of a simple curse." - Annie.

"Huh?" - Zirken was surprised.

"Well, I guess I should expect that from a girl as strong as you, hehehe." - Zirken.

"I'm sorry about what happened before, I don't know what came over me in that instant." - Annie.

"Talk about this morning? No problem, it must be disgusting to hear someone like me threaten to kiss you just to win a fight." - Zirken, feeling a small pain in his chest as he spoke.

"..." - Annie.

The girl didn't answer anything and remained silent for some reason as she was lost in thought after hearing those words. However, seeing that Annie didn't even say anything somehow made the tightness in Zirken's chest grow.

'Am I really? No... I don't think it's possible, not now at least... probably.' - Zirken.

"Eeer... don't you want to know what I'm going to ask in return for winning the fight?" - Zirken, changing the subject in an attempt to dispel the tightness in his chest.

"That's right. What are you going to ask for?" - Annie, coming out of her reverie.

"I want..." - Zirken.