Crackle.

The fire was warm, which helped matters since it was turning night soon. June held her hand out to feel the gentle heat, but she couldn’t feel anything from it. It was just a gentle tickle on her skin. She shivered as a breeze of wind passed by. Her hefty armor wasn’t much help against the cold.

“Come on Ben,” June whispered under her breath, looking at Ben’s unconscious body on the sand. There were even soft bundles of fiber and thatch rested under his head, serving as a pillow.

Ben’s breathing was soft and steady. He didn’t seem at unease at all, despite the relentless battle they had against the beast just prior. June couldn’t fathom what it was. It didn’t look like any sort of prehistoric creature, no less a creature from her world.

June buried her boots in the sand as she waited for Ben to wake. Glancing at his eyes, she felt another skip of her heart. He was a fascinating one, really. And the very few conversations she had with him in the past proved to her just how different he thought from others.

“Maybe… we could have been good friends,” June thought, staring at his eyebags, “Maybe more.”

June’s heart raced, reaching her calloused hands out to touch his face. But before her fingers could trace his cheeks and jaw, his eyes shot open. June retracted her hand as quickly as she could. Ben sat up, dusting the sand off his arms. He gave June a reassuring nod.

“Thanks for holding the fort down,” Ben thanked her. June nearly felt her cheeks blush.

“Um. N— no problem.”

Ben was beginning to get reacclimated to their new surroundings: an island with palm trees for miles out. It resembled their old home quite a bit, except for the navy blue obelisk that hung in the air near the center of the jungle. In fact, if they went up the river now, if they were back home, Ben would end up back at the Book Club Camp.

Ben flicked a stick nearby into the grass. He reminisced of his old home, and his old friends…

“At least back home, we were stuck on that island together,” Ben thought wistfully. “Here, there’s no one else. Nobody except that doppelganger of Paul.”

But it had been so long since he had seen them face to face, both the Book Club members, and even more so the ones back in his old home. His true home. He hugged his legs close together as the sun began to set. There was no point in thinking of bygones.

“I gave up trying to go back a long time ago,” Ben thought hopelessly.

“Are you okay?” June suddenly asked. Ben looked back, confused. He forgot that, most likely, June had feelings for him. But he didn’t anticipate her being so compassionate with him despite her attitude toward Emma before they were sent here. Ben looked away shamefully. He thought he would be annoyed at June asking him, but he wasn’t. He was grateful more than anything else, both at being able to take a breather and over the idea of someone looking out for him in this world.

“If I told you yes, would you believe me?”

“Probably not,” June reassured him. “But I wouldn’t push it after. I would let it be.”

“Really.”

“Really.” June tucked a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. For a second, June did not look like the ruthless warrior Ben had seen just mere moments ago. She just seemed like an ordinary girl with a suit of armor on… and the ability to control the flames. Ben couldn’t put it past him that the girl sitting in front of him looked so familiar. Even her name seemed familiar. But still, Ben couldn’t connect any dots. He pushed those thoughts aside.

“How do you think things are going over back in the city?” Ben inquired, trying his best to simply break the growing awkward silence. June was prodding the sand with a stick, some of her long orange-brown hair falling to her chest, covering her face as she spoke.

“They’re probably done for.” June said. “That creature and that demonic bat will probably ravage the place down to the ground, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”

Ben looked off in the distance as June predicted the fate of Constellation City. He could barely see the city lights from here, but it didn’t appear the city had either fallen or remained standing. Combined with the strange new sky, it didn’t appear either side had truly won.

“You must have lived there for a long time.” June whispered. “I’m sorry about your home.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter to me.”

June looked up at him hopefully. “But maybe, maybe we can build a new home here. Just us two. It’ll be relaxing, really. We’ll hunt the animals together every so often, cook up a storm to enjoy… we can escape the chaos together.”

Ben didn’t look so happy at June’s proposition. June quickly changed her sentence.

“Or maybe we can try finding a way out.” she offered. “We’ll return home. We'll do the things we’re supposed to do.”

“June,” Ben suddenly said, “You shouldn’t care about me.”

“Huh? What are you saying, Ben?”

“June. I’m… not too sure if I’m even your Ben—”

Footsteps crunched in the grass just then. Ben looked up, unfazed.