Alba brushed his hair back and stretched, ready for a long night's rest. He had been walking all day, with only Ruki and some stray slime monster as company. Although, he didn't know where the slime monster came from… Oh well. He just wasn't in the mood to make jokes about it right now, hadn't been since Ross had revealed that he was Creasion and sealed himself along with the first Rchimedes.

The hero sat, supporting his back against the trunk of a huge tree. Ruki was already fast asleep a few feet away, but that was okay. He didn't need her chatter that night. That night marked two months since Ross left.

Alba took out the scarlet scarf that had once belonged to the soldier, holding it to his cheek and inhaling deeply, trying to bring up the mental image of his first, and best, friend, who was currently in a dimensional rift with the Demon King. He knew Ross hadn't felt the same way about him, though. This really sucked. Ross had only ever seen him as the straight man to every lame joke he made, and then probably just another tool to seal Rchimedes the first again.

He heard a rustling from the bushes and looked up, hand on his sword, ready to fight an unwanted enemy, but the only thing that emerged was a tiny nisepanda. Could he have even fought that? He had always been so useless in a fight, so weak and tiny compared to Ross's strength- or should he call him Creasion? The hero sighed and slumped against the tree, fighting the sleep that wanted so desperately to take him. He struggled to keep his eyes open, to keep the memory of Ross vivid in his mid, but he eventually gave in, falling into a fitful doze, the red cloth slipping from his fingers and onto the ground beside him.

There was a void of nothing where Alba was standing, an endless space of white. Was he in the rift? He looked around and spotted two tiny figures in the distance. As he drew closer, he realized who they were and broke into a run. Ross! Ross was here!

Of course, Rchimides was as well, but that hardly mattered right now. He was unconscious and splayed across what would have been the floor, if there had been one.

"Ross! Ross, I finally found you!" Alba cried, running up to his old soldier companion. The black-haired boy looked up and smiled, causing Alba to stop. He knew that smile.

It was the sadistic smile from the very beginning, from episode two.

"Long time, no see, Hero." Ross greeted him, still smiling. He suddenly had a dagger in his hand, and Alba immediately recognized it. It was the dagger he had stabbed Ruki with! What was that doing here? Why did Ross still have it? And what was going on, anyway?

Alba continued his paused journey to where Ross and Rchimides were, wearily keeping his eyes trained on the dagger, afraid of what Ross might do with it. "Hello, Ross. What am I doing here?"

"Walking, obviously." the soldier retorted. "Is it possible that you lost what little brain you had since we've parted?"

"No, I mean-"

Ross held up a hand and stopped Alba from talking, as the two were right next to each other now. With a clean slap across the cheek, Alba looked at the other in shock. "What was that for?"

"It's just my way of showing love." Ross replied, completely straight-faced. Alba shook his head. What had he been so excited about? This guy was a bully! "Here, to make up for it, have this dagger."

"Wha-?" Alba began to question, before he felt warm blood seeping through his orange shirt. "You just stabbed me!" he cried.

"No need to state the obvious." Ross said, looking down at the light brunette with pity. Alba gave up and threw the dagger away, far away. "Now, Hero, how have you been? Do you still have that strange fetish for prisons and little girls? And if so, is Ruki still pure?"

Alba looked visibly deflated. "I never had a little girl fetish!" he protested.

"So you admit that you're obsessed with jail and bondage?"

"I- what- no!" he was on the verge of walking away, but something kept him there, something inside of him wanted to continue talking to Ross. "And Ruki misses you."

"Only Ruki?" A change in his voice. Alba picked it up and wondered what it was, pondering the feelings in what Ross asked. 'Only Ruki?' Who else? What else had he been expecting? Suddenly, the red eyes saw the scarlet cloth that had somehow been transported along with Alba to the rift, still tied to his belt. "Hero, you kept that?"

Alba saw what he was staring at and his face turned red instantly. "Y- yes, what of it?"

A smirk appeared. "So, instead of young girls, you have a fetish with me? How sickening."

The blush darkened on Alba's cheeks. "No! I just… I just…" he stuttered, his protests going nowhere.

The gaze of the raven-haired boy softened. "It's okay, Alba."

What was okay? That he supposedly had a fetish for him? Did he mean 'it's okay, I'm just teasing'? Why did he have to be so confusing?

The soft eyes that were now watching him made the boy nervous. Why, though? Why was this happening to him, and because of Ross? It was so twisted!

"Alba?"

"Oh, sorry! What is it?"

"Can I ask you something again? How have you been?"

It surprised him that Ross was being so kind. What was going on? And why did he keep asking the same question to himself?

"I've been fine! I mean, I think I'm a little stronger-"

"Without me. How are you doing without me?" the other asked, cracking a fist. Alba gulped, but knew that he should tell the truth, no matter how sappy it sounded.

"I'm lonely. I mean, I have Ruki, and I see Foyfoy sometimes, but without you, I just feel… lost."

"Good."

"Good? How is that good? Are you teasing me?" Alba asked, his face falling. He had thought, even for a moment, that Ross was being sincere.

"Yes." With that declaration, the Hero Creasion bent down and kissed the weakest hero candidate ever on the cheek.

"Wha- wha-" Alba sputtered out, trying to discern what had just happened. His hand flew to his cheek, as if trapping the memory there.

"Thanks for everything." Ross said with a smile, and not the sadistic one Alba was so used to. He held up the scarlet shard of scarf that he had somehow managed to untie from Alba's belt. "I'm keeping this. Come and get it, someday."

Alba opened his mouth to say something, but Ross and Rchimedes disappeared, and his surroundings of white turned pitch black.

"Alba-san, wake up!"

He opened his hazelnut eyes to see his small companion Ruki, shaking his shoulder and smiling.

"Alba-san, I picked some mushrooms for breakfast!" she said cheerfully, proud of herself. Alba groaned and sat up, his fingers groping for the cloth he had dropped last night. He knew that it had been in his dream last night, but the details were slowly slipping away. Something good had happened, though. Something that had made Alba smile as he awoke. Not feeling anything underneath his hand, he looked down.

The scarlet cloth wasn't there.

Had that been more than a dream?

A/N: Hey! My first time writing for Senyuu, I hope they're not too OOC. Anyway, when Ross says that's 'his way of showing love', that's a direct quote from a chapter near the end of volume two. This fic is actually impossible, if you've read the manga after the anime, but whatever. Fluff was needed. So, review please! Thanks for reading!