“Hey” he uttered lowly.

“You’re still trying it out?” asked Emma.

“Yeah. And the shit’s not working” said Bold carelessly.

He fell to the ground and with despair. Emma quietly watched him while she sat silently on the tree trunk nearby.

“Emma, do I look pathetic to you?” 

“Huh?”

“I-I just can’t do anything right. I couldn’t save your sister and I’m here lying on my ass. Can’t even learn this one stupid spell”

“It wasn’t your fault…afterall…I too-”

She bit her lips, got up and walked towards him. Slowly and gently she sat next to him.

“I’m sorry I acted rude towards you. I was just-”.

“It’s okay. I really am pathetic”

Emma brought her face above his. Their wandering eyes connected. All the thoughts in Bold’s mind simply vanished and he stared into the girl’s enigma like eyes with awe. Softness and sadness could be felt from her look.    

“You think being whiny like that will make me feel better?” she asked. 

Emma saw guilt and frustration within Bold’s worn down face and dead eyes. She didn’t want him to feel any pain. What she said to him in the dungeon was horrible. The man lying in front of her deserved none of that. The two continued to gaze at each other’s eyes as if trying to unlock the inner cages of one another’s soul and being.   

“Oh, umm. Am I interrupting something?”

Emma jumped up to her feet and Bold pulled himself up to see Mikhail standing next to a tree, looking at them both with a playful smile formed on his face. He casually walked towards them and looked at Bold.

“Did you master your spell?” asked Mikhail.  

“No, the damn thing is not working. I don’t know how I keep messing it up. I could be sure that my technique was perfect”.

Bold crossed his arms, threw out a sigh and a groan.

“You’re gonna give up?” asked Mikhail.  

“Yeah I am. So, what? I hate being made a fool. From what I can tell, the mastery of the spells is incredibly random. I guess I’ll just wait until the stupid thing decides to work on its own”

“But I thought you were gonna try and try until you’ve become the best no one ever was” said Mikhail sarcastically.

“Don’t remember saying that childish catchphrase” grunted Bold. 

“Emma, how about you?”

When he looked at her, she dodged the glare and spoke:

“I-I. I’ll work on it in a moment”

“Hey, calm down. I’m not gonna scold you for being a little patient with your training”.

After saying that Mikhail turned his gaze back toward Bold.

“You don’t look like the guy who took Emma out of the burning lava lake on his manly hands”.

“W-why did you have to mention that?” said Bold and looked at Emma only for his cheeks to turn pink.

“I think you didn’t notice, Emma. But during the day you were bedridden and unconscious Bold actually gave you a loving smooch on your cheek and neck. Only if you remembered”

“WHAT?!” exasperated Emma.

“H-hey! That’s a lie. I did not do that”.

“Hahaha. Okay, that was a joke on my part” said Mikhail sarcastically.

Bold grit his teeth and stabbed Mikhail with his glare. But he looked back at Bold with a little bit of seriousness this time.

“That’s good. Being stuck in the extreme of hard work and forcefulness is tiresome” mumbled Mikhail. 

“That’s good? You seriously complimenting me for being lazy?” asked Bold with a frown.

“Yeah. Cause honestly, you were just paranoid during the time Emma was bedridden. And even after saving her, you still seemed to be worried about every little thing. It’s nice to see you being a little less extreme, that’s all.”   

“Fine. Maybe you are right. Maybe I should just throw away this freaking stupid spell training and everything else. I hate it. My fingers actually hurt. It sucks. Fuck all of this.”

Bold’s face became hot red but Mikhail frowned.     

“Please Bold, don’t swing to the other extreme. Stay where you are. It is perfect. ”

“What the hell are you even talking about? You’ve talked about some sort of extremes back when we were about to save Diego's sister too.”

“Yeah. I did”

“What do you mean by that? I don’t want you to play mysteries with me on top of all the things that are happening” asked Bold.

“Hey, hey. I never aimed to do that. But it’s pretty obvious if you just observe your own actions that happened ever since you and I met”.

“What are you talking about?” asked Bold cluelessly.

“Haven’t you noticed? I said people aren’t always what they appear to be or even stay the same even if they are”

“Yeah. That is what you said. But I don’t think the same applies to me. I’m still the same goddamn loser” said Bold.  

“Only because your eyes are seeing it from that perspective. From how I see it you’ve done a 180. Isn’t that right, Emma?” asked Mikhail.

Mikhail smiled towards her and she nodded. Emma looked at him and her cheeks turned red but she spoke. 

“Y-you saved my life twice. That’s more than cool. Bold…thanks. I really should have said this before”

 Her warm words were more than enough to put a smile on Bold’s face.  

“But Bold, don’t get sulky and throw everything away. If you do that, you would be doing a 360 and will return to exactly how you were” said Mikhail.

Bold looked at them silently but soon he punched the ground and pulled his body back on it’ feet.

“You’re right. I’m not just done yet”
  
He tried to type codes into his wristboard but Mikhail yelled.

“Stop! Wait till I finish. Jeez, why are you so impatient?”

Bold sat on the ground with his butt and turned around to face Mikhail. Seeing that all attention was on him Mikhail smiled and spoke: