The Fallen Prince

⋇- 8: Back in London -⋇

A masculine voice echoed from the loudspeaker as the train dropped its speed, welcoming the passengers to Earth. It added that the transportation would soon reach London Station, that if any passenger would stop there to prepare themselves.

Arisa closed the book she was reading as soon as the sound from the loudspeaker turned off.

"So this is Earth," said a quiet voice, the tone amazed. "It reminds me a bit of Maré. Wow. What's that machine? They look like Forty-seven but with a different design."

Arisa glanced by her right side and saw a black-blue head curiously sticking her face in the train's window. Arisa peeked by the transparent glass to see what Caris was curious about. Through the various tall silver and white buildings that had an advanced designs, she spotted a white humanoid robot flying around the gray sky.

"That's a Battle Robot," said a cheerful voice. "It must be patrolling the area since there are few portals around here. I'm so jealous of whoever is piloting that baby. I hope one day, I'll have the honor to pilot one."

Arisa gazed at her front and saw a young woman with long wavy dark brown hair, gazing outside the window with a grin. By Thelma's side, she spotted a white-haired young man, sleeping soundly.

"Kazuya should wake up," said Arisa, shifting a bit from her seat. "Our stop is next."

"Yeah." Thelma looked at Kazuya and then at Arisa. "Garoh should do the same."

Arisa blinked and looked by her side. She saw a strong young man with long dark blue hair tied in a low ponytail, sleeping peacefully. She tilted her head, wondering when Kazuya and Garoh ended up taking a nap as a moment ago, they were having a lively chat. She thought that maybe she was too immersed in her book that she didn't notice them falling asleep.

"These two," said Arisa. "I wonder why they look so tired. I thought those three days we spent in Oceana were enough for us to rest."

After returning from the Kingdom of Maré, the team followed Rangi's, Caris' father, recommendation to take a break from their quest and rest their mind and body. 

Arisa remembered how they took that opportunity to visit the small number of islands of that world as the tensions between the people of the sea and the islanders were slowly easing. Seeing the two people putting away their differences, made her believe that maybe one day the Celestians and Eterians would get along.

"They must have stayed up all night yesterday," said Thelma, pulling Arisa away from her thoughts, "despite knowing we would leave that world very early in the morning."

Arisa let escape a quick laugh. "I wonder what kept them from sleeping."

"Probably talking about women," teased Thelma.

As Arisa chuckled, Thelma shook Kazuya's shoulder, telling him that they were under attack.

"What? Where?" Kazuya summoned his double-bladed staff as soon as he opened his light brown eyes.

"Nowhere," said Thelma, trying not to laugh. "We're about to reach our destination."

Kazuya called back his weapon. "You know, you could have just told me to wake up."

"I'm sorry," said Thelma. "You looked like you were so deep in your sleep that it would be impossible to wake you up normally."

As Kazuya gazed at Thelma with narrowed eyes, Arisa patted Garoh's shoulder, telling him to wake up. Garoh didn't take long to open his dark blue eyes and blink a few times.

He rubbed his eye. "I can't believe I fell asleep."

"Don't blame yourself," said Arisa. "We're in the middle of a trip, so it's fine."