We quickly put on our civilian clothes, leaving our work suits in place of them on our beds.

  In doing so we discovered a small wad of hundreds under each pile of clothes.

  Tonight was going to be special.

  After locating the afforementioned lone mustang in the parking lot, Edge jumped into the drivers seat and we headed down the long road into town, blasting music from a CD he had in his glove box.

  We arrived in town at sunset and were immediately assaulted by the lights and sounds of the city! The square was built more like a circle, a large roundabout packed with stores of all sorts with the City Hall at the center. A thousand and one wonders and it was buzzing with people, average, normal people. Coming and going through the shops and restaurants that lined the square, playing instruments on the street, laying in the grass on the front lawn of city hall as a band played on a small stand.

  Edge laughed as he parked the car, marveling at the absolute clusterfuck the square was to our eyes, "Holy SHIT! Tonight is gonna be something special!"

  Love grabbed my hand, buzzing with energy as we all got out of the car, "oh my GOD!! I smell food! Let's get food!"

  She dragged the group into a British themed restaurant and as I saw the menu I was suddenly glad we hadn't eaten before we left.

  We each got a different thing, Edge got a full English breakfast, saying it was the biggest thing on the menu and that he was starved, Love and I both got Bangers and Mash, and Wolf ordered the Beef Wellington.

  We each did our best (or worst) British accents talking about how good the food was until we were done eating, I hurriedly dropped a whole hundred on the bill as we tore out of the shop onto the square to continue our day out.

  We went to a few thrift stores and gawked at the varied and copious amounts of paraphernalia each had to offer, one of them was brimming with swords of all shapes and sizes, and the other had military surplus gear out the ass.

  Edge and Wolf begged to go home with a few things before remembering they had money.

  Edge took time between expousing vehemently about each antique weapon and piece of equipment on the shelf to buy a Vietnam era army jacket. Wolf, interested in the shape and color, bought a World War 1 army helmet, putting it on her head and giggling while she paid for it.

  I offered to buy Love something similar but she was already weighed down with vintage toys, which we stored in the car.

  The next destination was an arcade, which was where I fell in love with a certain breed of brutal fighting game that I'm sure you're familiar with, but will remain unnamed.

  To finish out the night we sat on the lawn of city hall and listened to the band play.

  And as we all enjoyed, Love looked at me, her smile will forever be embedded in my memory right alongside the kiss we shared there in the grass shortly after, it was the happiest I'd ever seen her, and nothing can take that from me.

  Because for once, we were human, we felt like people.

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  Not weapons.

  Not monsters.

  People.

  I can't stress how important that was, the feeling of personhood, you couldn't really understand unless you had it, lost it and gained it back, only then I feel would you be able to quantify.

  After they were done playing, the band started packing up and everyone was leaving, and suddenly we were alone with each other, Love looked into my eyes with an earnest and loving expression, "Green...today was the best day of my life."

  I laughed, "Yeah?" I almost asked her if she was sure, but then I remembered what we were going back to, and then I nodded, "Yeah...mine too."

  Suddenly, She pulled me toward her with a grip that could bend steel, and pulled me into a kiss so hot it could melt tungsten, her hands gently but firmly cupping my face as we descended into a moment that unraveled the very threads of time. Her lips, soft as whispers yet fierce as tidal waves, met mine with a surge that could drown the stars. The world around us blurred; the air thickened, pulsing with the rhythm of our hearts. Her fingers held me captive, their warmth leaving trails of electricity across my scalp that sparked my already thundering heartbeat into a tempest.

  When she broke the kiss, I was barely conscious, "wow..." was all I could say, there were no more words, it was so different than all the other kisses we'd shared before, to this day I really don't know why.

  Edge whistled and Wolf huffed, "Hot DAMN, Why don't you kiss ME like that, Love?"

  "Because Holy shit," Edge affirmed with a loud chuckle.

  She blushed, looking to the side as she still held me, "I could if you wanted..."

  Wolf waved a hand, "You can make it up to me later, it feels like you two just had a moment and I dont wanna ruin it."

  Finally around midnight we drove the car back to the facility and went to bed, Love climbing into my bunk and snuggling up to me before we passed out.

  It was around 4:00AM that I was woken up by a melodic whistling echoing through the facility. Blinking, I noticed that Love was missing from my bunk.

  I get up to go look for her and end up in the room where the mermaid is, between our residential area and the administrative residential area.

  As I was crossing the bridge I was suddenly bathed in an unearthly light from below me, I looked down and saw the mermaid looking up at me from the pool which was full of green glowing water, she was the one whistling, smiling up at me, raising her flippers to me as if asking me to jump in.

  Her massive eyes, once blue were now aglow with the green light, fixed on me.

  I was transfixed, completely so that before I knew it, I had fallen over the edge and into the green water.

  She was on me in less than a second, but instead of attacking me, she grabbed me with her fins and kissed me deeply, reflecting in my mind, the kiss I received from Love earlier that night.

  She twisted and twirled in the water with me in her arms, I lost track of where I was, and when she submerged, all I could see was her beautiful glowing eyes, the twirling sped up as I looked into those eyes, so bright I could see nothing else, but not so bright they burned my eyes, as we spun, I could feel something tingling in my chest, my heartbeat accelerating, something else was happening as we spun but I couldn't describe it.

  Round and round, deeper and deeper into the water as she still held me in that locked embrace, deeper and deeper until I couldn't see the surface, I felt myself beginning to fade.

  But then we surfaced and as I gasped for air, using her fins which were stronger than they looked, she lifted me out of the water and set me on my back on the wet floor, I was dazed and confused, there was something in my arms.

  Looking down I saw the ornate onyx scabbard of a strange sword.

  As it was, it was completely featureless, with no differentiation between hilt and scabbard.

  Unsheathing it was trouble, I had to grab each end and pull to see which end was the hilt and which one was the scabbard, the sword within was guardless, Riven, double edged and straight with a wicked point.

  "What..." I look at the mermaid who squeaked at me, "A-nochd tha thu a’ cleachdadh cumhachd toibheum" She whispered before sinking back into the pool and swimming to the bottom, the glow subsiding inwards from the rim.

  Suddenly I snapped back to reality, I was Stinking and wet in my pajamas with this new sword in my hands, looking down into the now dark tank I shouted, "The FUCK is this!?" An immediate echo followed by Silence greeted my words.

  Being too tired for this supernatural BS, I sheathed the sword and climbed up the ladder back to the causeway, remembering as I did that I had been looking for Love.