We were both out of breath when we stood by Janosch’ bedside. I quickly laid my hand on his pale forehead and thought to myself; ‘Wake up… oh please, let him wake up…”

***

I felt a warm stream coming from my heart going out through my body. It made my hand shake, but I used all my strength to not let go of Janosch. I had to close my eyes to concentrate…

“Oh my god! It’s impossible…!”

Jolin’s whine made me open my eyes – the same time as Janosch did. I gasped and removed my hands.

He slowly looked around the room before fixing his gaze at me and Jolin and weakly mumbling:

“Where am I?”

Jolin let out a girly-excited scream and ran out immediately, while I stayed back to explain to the very confused boy.

 

When I had also awakened Z19, Jack held a small celebration, which had been urged by the families of Janosch and Z19.

As I was used to drink champagne while getting praised, it wasn’t that embarrassing. What made it special was that I got praised for something I had done, something important, and not just my “pretty skin and good manners.”

I couldn’t stop smiling when I walked home, and kept making pirouettes while walking through the park.

“You look happy,” someone said behind me. I quickly turned around, still with a smile on my face.

“I am,” I replied, and started skipping with small jumps along the path while he walked next to me.

“You also have a good reason.”

“Yeah.” I turned around to skip backwards so I could look at him, which resulted in that I hit a bush.

Aaron laughed and helped me up. He laughed.

“Be more careful, will ya?”

“…Said the guy who fights people with super powers as a hobby.” We walked on.

“One has to be careful not to be beaten.”

“Lalala,” I sang. “Do you know what?”

“What?” he asked.

“Watch this.” I reached my hand toward a tree and whistled. Soon after, a bird flew out and landed on my finger. I petted its head, made the contact.

“Do you want to know her name?” I asked Aaron, who looked curiously at the bird.

“Is this some kind of gag?”

“What are you called, little friend?” I ignored him and asked the bird. Understood its answer.

“She doesn’t want me to tell you,” I stuck out my tongue. His gaze made me stop, and I let the bird go.

“This ring is definitely my favourite. Look at how much good it has already done.” I looked at the Flower Ring. Aaron kept silent.

“I mean, Janosch and Z19 are awake. And I understand the animals as soon as I touch their heads, and they understand me. It is so… beautiful,” I continued.

“But it can also be used for bad.”

“I guess the Rings are as good or evil as the bearers make them. I intend to be happy.”

“Why are you always so happy?” Aaron stopped and looked seriously at me.

I also stopped, and sighed while thinking about the question.

“There are many things in life to be happy about, as long as you don’t take them for granted. Too many people take too many things for granted.” I pulled my fingers through my loose hair.

“Like what?” Aaron put his hands in his pockets and started walking again. I followed.

“Like… your home. Food. Clear water. Family. Friends. Focus on the positive stuff, don’t ignore the negative, but also don’t let it take over you.”

Aaron kept silent, but took my hand.

 

“Xiao Jie? You home?”

“Yes, mom!” I shouted back. I took off my shoes and put on my slippers.

“Where have you been?”

“Oh… With some friends. You know, Genie is leaving soon, we don’t have much time left.” I walked into the living room where my parents were sitting. My father read a newspaper and my mother was drawing.

When I sat down on the sofa next to her, she spontaneously hugged me and said:

“My beautiful daughter. You bring the sunshine into our rooms.” And then continued to draw.

I couldn’t help but smile, and poured a cup of tea from the pot on the table.

“Uh, this is my favourite!” I exclaimed as soon as I sipped of the cup.

“I know. That’s why I always tell the maids to buy it,” my father smiled from the other side of the table. I smiled back.

I looked at my mother’s drawing. She had painted a flower. How I hated lying to them.

She put the paper away and took a new.

“Is it already done?” I asked surprised. It didn’t look finished to me.

“No, but I have a new idea for a motive. Turn your head a little.”

“Me?”

 

My mom had let me go after drawing a sketch of my face, as she said she wanted to paint it in a larger scale.

So it was evening when I finally got to my room after dinner.

Tired as hell.

But before I went to sleep, I texted a bit with Alien, Danson and Genie. They all wanted to see me tomorrow, so I agreed on meeting them at different times. Danson first, then Alien, then Genie.

But right before I turned off my phone, I got a text from an unknown number.

“Like SUNshine? Better hurry up. - BB”

 

“Hey ugly.”

“Hey beauty.”

“Eaten lunch yet?”

“Not yet. Waited for you.”

“Then let’s find a café.”

Danson and I spent several hours on a random café making up riddles. During his time in Russia, he had made up a lot that he wanted me to solve. But he sensed when I got tired of it, as he always did, and started teaching me how to make riddles up myself.

When I suddenly realized that I only had ten minutes to meet up with Alien at his home, which was a quarter away, Danson put up an act.

“Oh you shameless woman! How many others are in line after me?” He made an overdramatized expression that made me laugh.

“Only two. Or was it ten? It doesn’t really matter.”

“I thought I was special.”

“Dream on.” Danson was the only person I could really act harsh to as a joke.

“Thy love is nothing but a smurf. A smurf, I tell you!”

“Don’t get too excited.”

“And now she criticizes this endless love of mine. Oh, cruel life!”

“When you write this drama down and get it published, I’ll love to read it, but right now I’m pretty busy. See you soon,” I smiled as I grabbed my bag and ran off.

 

“Sharp on the clock,” Alien smiled as he opened the door for me. I was too out of breath to answer.

After calming a bit down, we went upstairs, where one of his family’s waiters soon arrived with a tray filled with cookies. My love.

I excused myself that I had to regain energy after running, and thereafter started eating.

“Bloooood. Muhahaha,” I said as I opened the bottle with red soda pop.

“You seem… happy.”

“Sorry. Being with Danson for over three hours makes me return to the eight year old me,” I smiled. Then cleared my throat and regained sanity.

“No-no. I like when you’re childish,” Alien smiled back.

Awkward silence. Alien got on his feet and walked toward his chest of drawers. He took out something I couldn’t see, and then sat back down.

“Gui Gui, I know you don’t want to marry me, but this might be fun for you to see, as my friend…”

He opened a small box and revealed... I couldn’t believe what I saw.

It was a ring. But not just any ring.

The most beautiful gold ring I had ever seen.

Gold Ring.

THAT Gold Ring.

I took it out of his hands, and as soon as my fingers touched the box, the Silver Ring on my finger started warming up. I didn’t know if the happy feeling inside me came from the Silver Ring or from my own excitement.

“How did you get that?!” I looked at the confused Alien with fanaticism in my eyes.

“Uhm… It has kind of been with my family for generations. Think my great-grandfather bought it,” he insecurely answered. “He used it to propose to my great-grandmother. Their son, my grandfather, used it to propose to my grandmother, and my father later set it on my mother’s finger. Since I’m the only son, my upcoming wife will get it.”

He looked half scared, half curious at how the Gold Ring reflected in my eyes. But by his last sentence, the shine in them was turned off. I returned to seriousness.

It was like my heart fell from my throat to my stomach.

“So… only your fiancée can get this ring?”

I think he sensed the downheartedness in my voice. The Silver Ring was now like burning, and the Flower Ring’s colours were stronger than ever. It was like they longed to get reunited with the Gold Ring.

I didn’t pick it out of the box though.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Do you remember that I told you about… no, forget it,” I quickly changed my mind. I wouldn’t tell him that it was the Gold Ring… yet. “Yes, I like it a lot. It is beautiful.”

Alien smiled and took the box away from me. Closed it.

A feeling of disappointment flushed through my body. So close. And yet so far…

“Alien, can I buy it?” I asked. He saw the light return to my eyes.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yeah, it’s so pretty. I really miss a ring of that kind.”

“Hmm… Let me think about it.”

 

My mind was a mess when I walked home.

How could Alien have the Gold Ring?

I was completely positive that it really was that Ring. First of all because I’d never seen any other ring like that before. Second because of the reaction from my other Rings.

But Alien would only give it to the woman he married. He had ended up answering that he couldn’t sell something that had been with his family for generations, and certainly not when it had such a great meaning to it. He had also assured me more than once that he didn’t show it to me because he wanted to force me to marry him, but because he had thought it would be funny for me to see.

Yeah. Indeed very funny.

Funny that one of the things I want to get most in my life is only available if I marry one of my best friends.

Want?

I really did want it. It wasn’t just a duty to collect the Rings anymore.

I voluntarily used more time on training my Skills than practising ballet. Aaron had told me that I had a greater potential than what I made use of. Actually not only Aaron, but also Jolin, Ella, Hebe and Selina had begun to show me respect. Along with a lot of other Coders.

My only limit was fighting against other people. Well, I could fight them, but I couldn’t make myself hurt them badly, and I didn’t like it.

But other than that, the Rings had become an obsession to me. So when I saw the Gold Ring, I only longed to reunite it with the other two Rings I already had.

How far would I go to get it?

I would have to marry Alien.

Could I do that?

Maybe. But it would mean end of missions. End of… Aaron.

I had stopped talking about Aaron to other people. Only to Genie once in a while. But everybody else disliked him, said we didn’t match, put him down because of his family, society and clothes – style. So it was better not to mention him at all.

Since I had already secretly liked him for so long, why couldn’t I continue doing that?

At least it wasn’t a secret to him anymore. That meant everything.

 

I was sitting in my room, in deep thoughts, when my phone rang.

“Wei?” I answered it.

“Hey Gui Gui. It’s Jolin.” She sounded sad.

“What is it?”

“There has been a new attack. You don’t have to come over, he is already dead, you can’t wake him up. There was a new note,” Jolin explained. I got on my feet.

“I’ll come over anyways. I have to train.”

“Don’t you train a lot?”

“I need to. Chases the bad thoughts away, you know.”

 

While walking to the head quarter, I decided something.

I needed to learn how to ride a motor cycle.

I finally found the ward where a lot of top Coders were gathered in front of a door, behind which I supposed the new victim was.

“Miss Y8!” Jack called for me. He stood next to Rainie. Jolin also came over when I joined them.

“What exactly happened? Who’s the victim?” I asked.

“Z5. Miranda,” Rainie firmly informed. “Here’s the note.”

She handed it to me while I looked at Jack’s expression. He seemed pretty shocked.

I read the note.

“Just because you win one round, it doesn’t mean we surrender.

BB No. 4 & No. 2”

“Then it isn’t George,” I said. “He – they – must be referring to that we got the Flower Ring and woke up Janosch and Z19.”

“That you got it, you mean,” Ella said behind me. She, Selina and Hebe had also walked over.

“By the way, Janosch is now Y13. Pretty awesome, right?” Jolin said. I nodded.

“I just don’t understand how they could’ve taken Miranda,” Jack mumbled, like he couldn’t make himself say “killed”.

“Yeah. She was a top 5 Coder. An amazing fighter – I don’t get how they could’ve won over her,” Hebe joined in. “Just like… just like they took down Sam. He was also… amazing.”

I noticed that Hebe’s eyes got wet, but she pretended like nothing was wrong.

“She’s a great loss,” Selina added. Rainie agreed.

If I could collect all the Rings, would these attacks then stop?

“Can one of you teach me to ride a motor cycle?”

“I can.”

I turned around, shocked to see Aaron stand behind me with one of his rare smiles.

“As fast as possible,” I said.

 

Aaron and I sat down on a bench in a huge hall in the head quarter. I had never been there before, but it was apparently the place where one practised driving motor bikes.

Aaron had tried to teach me for about an hour already, but it was really unfamiliar to me.

“Been on any missions lately?” I tried to start a conversation.

“Uh… Yeah, actually. If you mean after our latest.”

I nodded.

“Well, I went with Calvin, Chun and Jiro to repair a bridge that some Coders from another organization had damaged. The damages couldn’t have been done by anything else than a Skilled person, so if Unskilled people saw the damages, they would be confused and unable to repair it,” he explained.

“What do you normally do on missions?”

“It’s different. Actually, we Coders are not on as many missions as you think. In periods it goes crazy, and at other times you have nothing to do for a month or two. We normally take up fights with rivalling organizations, make sure that no Unskilled knows about us, and try to boost our Skills – and therefore our organization – by finding items that make us stronger. Miss Z10 – Rainie – for example, has a special dagger she had been seeking for about a year before finding it. Nobody really knows what power it gives her, but after finding it, she got promoted from a Y Coder to a Z Coder. It was pretty amazing.”

I just wanted him to keep talking. So I could keep listening to his voice.

“Do you have any of those items?”

“I’m tracking down something that has been gone for centuries. And then I help you.” He smiled at me, and I smiled back.

“What is it?” I wanted to know.

“Hmm. I can’t tell you. But I will make you the first one to see it if I find it.”

“Do you think the attacks will stop if I find all the Rings?” I suddenly got worried.

“That perhaps on what you do when you’ve found them. And what BB really wants. I find it strange that they haven’t demanded anything from us.”

“They have. Life.”

“Nothing that could boost their power.”

“So life isn’t important?” I nearly felt the colours of the Flower Ring getting stronger again. I looked Aaron straight in the eyes.

“Of course, but if we look materialistic at it…”

“If we do that, we close off to our feelings. Life’s more important than any material. But let’s continue training,” I said, and got on my feet again.

 

Aaron was right. We didn’t know BB’s real motives. We didn’t even know their real names.

But when I had talked to Jack earlier, in the ward, he had told me that collecting the Rings was more important than anything else.

So that was what I had to do… wasn’t it?

Wasn’t life more important than any material? If it could save lives, it would mean more than anything else.

But then I’d have to close off to my feelings.

I took my decision; I couldn’t let more people die just because of my own feelings. I couldn’t be selfish.

 

When Alien opened the door, I hugged him immediately.

“Long time no see!” I exclaimed.

“But you were here yesterday.” Alien couldn’t help but smile when he closed the door behind me.

“Really? Feels like longer. Must be because I’ve missed you,” I smiled, despite how much my heart told me not to.

“Really?” Alien’s smile got wider.

“Yeah. Do you have any more of that red soda?”

“You mean blood?” he laughed.

“Exactly,” I said in my most vampire-like voice.

I spent the whole day with Alien, and I could watch how his eyes sparkled more for each hour when he looked at me.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been like this,” he said, when we sat on a bench in his garden and watched the sunset.

“Have we ever been like this?”

“Yeah. You know, before. Or, maybe not quite like this. But carefree.” He looked at me. “You’ve been so serious since you started that Coder-thingy.”

“I know,” I sighed. Then proceeded to lie. “I really want to get away from it all.”

When I started my training, this line would’ve been true. Now it was the complete opposite.

“Really?”

“Really.”

He laid his arm around me.

“I know you like Aaron. But if you want to… My offer is still valid.”

I looked up at him. The sun was nearly down, and the last beams of red light coloured the darkening sky. Casted mysterious shadows on his face. Somehow strengthened the sparkle in his eyes.

“Do you know what? I’ve been thinking a lot about my life lately. And you seem to be… just the perfect husband for me. I might not love you as anything else than a friend right now, but I believe I believe I can grow to love you as my husband.” It took a lot of strength for me to say that. But it was necessary. I couldn’t be selfish when it was about the life or death of other people.

The very last sunlight made it possible for me to see the happy surprise on his face.

The sun disappeared in the horizon when he leaned in to kiss me.

 

I felt out of myself when I woke up the next morning. Like I was still sleeping, I pulled out a drawer to find my school uniform. Put it on. Looked at my right hand.

The Gold Ring now shined next to the Silver Ring. It was on my middle finger, because the Silver Ring was on my ring finger. But it somehow felt right that it was in the middle.

I decided not to tell Genie anything, which was very unlike me. But giving her more (of my) worries right before she travelled away wasn’t necessary. If she got a wedding invitation when she already was in New Zealand, it would be easier for me to pretend that I had just changed my mind.

In the lunch break, I sat with Show, Alien and Genie. Show winked informed at me, and I looked at Alien to soundlessly confirm that he had told Show about our engagement.

We agreed on that he would walk home with me after school to inform my parents. There was no reason to ask for their blessings, as we were already sure they would only be happy.

 

I had also agreed on another thing with Alien. That I had to go on one last mission.

Question was; should Aaron go with me?

Of course I wanted him to go with me, no doubt about that. But it would mean that I had to keep everything secret from him, which further would mean two-timing. And I wasn’t the type to do that.

Well, even though I already was doing that.

Chances were extremely small, not to say nonexistent, that he would go with me while knowing I would get married right after. To another man.

Just when I was speculating about this, my phone rang. I stood up from my bed, where I had been lying while staring at the same lines in a book without really reading it, and grabbed my phone. The call was from Aaron.

“Hello,” I failed to sound happy.

“Gui Gui?” he asked. I could already hear that something was wrong.

“Yes?” I carefully responded.

“Are you… okay?”

I got a bit confused.

“Yeah, I’m healthy.”

“There’s not… happened something?”

I hesitated.

“N-no…”

“There’s not something you want to tell me?”

“I don’t t-think…”

“There’s really not something you want to tell me? About you and Alien?” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. My silence after his question was too long.

“Okay. Not that you need to tell me anything about your marriage. Not at all,” his voice turned cold, but he still sounded broken. “I’m not worth that, am I?”

I panicked inside, but still couldn’t get a word over my lips.

“Then I guess you don’t need any more driving lessons?”

I still couldn’t do anything but keep silent. I felt my cheeks blushing from the panic and confusion inside me.

“Just the answer I needed.” He hung up.

I was left sitting with my phone still at my ear, my mouth open, speaking soundless words. Tears in my eyes.

 

“Goodbye, Genie. I don’t know how to live without you.” I cried once again. I couldn’t help it.

“We must write everyday, okay?”

I sniffled. But I couldn’t tell her about the marriage – and Aaron. Yet.

The airport was crowded, and Genie’s parents were currently helping her check in. I kept crying. I couldn’t imagine my life without Genie. My best friend.

And yet I couldn’t tell her what bothered me the most. I had learned to look at the great picture, turn my own feelings down. Being a Coder.

I felt like my heart had moved from my chest to my right hand.

“And good luck at finding the rest of the Rings. I really hope you get them,” Genie wished for me. I tried to smile, but hiccupped, which made her giggle.

“I will come back to visit as soon as possible, okay? Don’t miss me too much. Focus on school and Skills.” And then she also broke into tears.

We hugged each other.

“How can I not miss you?” I whispered.

 

I waited at the airport until her flight had taken off, and I turned Genie’s parents’ offer about driving me home down, and drove home on motor bike instead. Jack had made me a driving license. Apparently, the Blazing Soldiers Organization was recognized by the police as a driving school.

But I was only home to get my backpack. I had decided on a plan.

 

***

The second place I had marked on the map. I stopped the motor cycle and jumped off. After this, I could determine the place…

---

This place had a strange… aura. The temple wasn’t big; but unnaturally quiet. Everything here was simply too quiet.

---

“Yes, Master Na. You heard right. And I wouldn’t joke about this stuff.”

***

20^th chapter (round number) + not updating for two weeks = chapter double as long as normal.

Hope you liked it ^^,

Not many comments :’( But 10000 thanks to those who commented :’) you make my life happier and keep me writing.

And also thanks to all new subscribers ! Yay :D Thanks you thank you thank you.

Guess what? My collaboration with Gril4Life, Falling for my Fake Girlfriend, is now officially completed! *claps*

Anyways.

Will Gui Gui find the last Rings?

Will she really marry Alien?

And won’t Aaron do anything about it?

Please be an angel and comment and subscribe :3 I will give you a cookie, and a hug. <3

- Blitz