Leaving the restroom, Ace’s mind wandered again, trying to understand who Candice had left him for.

As if he summoned a demon using his mind, she appeared when he turned a corner.

She was a tiny woman, with long black hair that cloaked her body. Her tiny stature was deceiving because Candice was the second most powerful astral on Team 57.

She looked up at him with the most charismatic smile she could muster.

"You seem different. Like… stronger,” said Candice.

"What makes you say that " he asked. "Nothing about me is different at all."

The very idea that someone thought he was powerful was odd, even to him. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't the strongest one on their team. His ability wasn't flashy nor physical, and he couldn't understand why she would ever make that assumption.

“I can see things others can’t,” she assured him. “I just want you to remember.”

"Remember what?"

Candice raised her hands up in the air, in exasperation, as if the air could give her the answers she wanted.

"You know, if you were stronger, we wouldn’t argue all the time.”

   Ace turned to look at the wall, his soul crushed again, his heartstrings tugged so hard they were choking his neck. Again, she was leading him on, again he had taken the bait. 

She grinned once he turned, knowing that her plan had worked quite beautifully. She planned on pushing him until she finally felt the same spark when they had met so long ago, and his body and mind would finally be hers. He would never be able to leave her after that.

No small woman would ever steal him from her again.

She wanted to push and push until he became stronger and stronger, to make him work for it. She told him that once he remembers he should call her, and then she left, thinking up of another way to torture him in a few days.

Ace said nothing, still facing the wall, angry that he was dumb enough to leave his ex-boyfriend for a woman that kept hurting him, and for the first time, he was starting to see what everyone else was telling him, forever.

"I'm glad she's gone," the metallic bracelet whispered. "She gives me bad vibes."

"Were you watching," Ace asked, shrill and embarrassed.

Invictus said nothing, and the silence was worse than a lie.

  After giving himself another pep talk and trying to block out Invictus telling him how to make better life choices, Ace went to one of the jutting decks of the SS Andromeda to look at the stars. He wanted to get his head straight. For the first time, he was thinking about ignoring her if she offered to give him another chance.

Invictus was now a chatterbox. He went on and on about how much he missed Ace, all the things they could do together, how much he loved him. Ace was very uncomfortable because whenever Invictus spoke, it was as if his own voice was inside his own head. Ace wondered if Invictus could see everything if he watched him while he showered.

"Oh no, I don't watch", Invictus replied. "I am not a pervert."

At that moment Ace learned that even his thoughts were no longer private.

Please stop talking, Ace thought. You're too loud.

Invictus was sad.

Ace could not see Invictus any longer, but somehow, he just knew. He knew that Invictus disapproved of his choice of food as well when he bought three sodas from the vending machine nearby, even though he didn't say a word.

Does he know how I feel since I know how he feels, Ace wondered.

"Yes," Invictus replied bluntly.

I should get rid of this thing, but on the other hand that feels a little cruel, he thought.

"Please don't leave me," Invictus cried. "I don't want to be alone again!"

Ace had a headache and walked around the top of the ship, trying to get Invictus to stop crying. He watched as they went by the Moon Base, and slowly the ship came to a halt.

It was green, yet somehow still let out its soft white glow. When the Regal Empire colonized Earth they terraformed it, growing all kinds of ridiculous plants, and doing strange experiments. Once Earth became independent again, they learned that they experimented on not just plants, but people.

Ace didn't like the moon for this very reason.

It was beautiful to look at, but what it stood for was grotesque. The government still used the moon for experiments but claimed that they were not being performed on people. Ace, like many others, did not believe them, and the green glowing moon was an omen to him. The SS Andromeda highlighting that it would have a scenic view near a place where people were killed was obscene.

His phone rang, and Ace tried to tune out Invictus, who was excited about the phone, the moon, the ship, or anything really, like a dog going out for a walk, even if it was the same walk they went on every day, on the same route.

"Come to Rikka's suite," Levi commanded. "Not the dressing room from earlier, but her larger room."

He promptly hung up, giving Ace no time to respond.

The day had just begun, and he had already forgotten he was at work due to his personal issues.