-Crypto-

"Nat!" I had called.

I didn't believe it. I couldn't!

Did she really love me, all this time? I asked myself.

I knew Octavio was drunk when Elliott had led him next to the place I was standing, but I didn't expect him to let something slip about Nat like that!

When he pointed towards her, I had turned to her in surprise, when I realized she had turned away and started running.

I, ran after her, desperate for a chance to explain.

But I didn't see her anywhere. Instead, I saw Elliott and Wraith running towards me from the bar.

"We were looking through the bar window, when we both saw Nat running out of the gate," Wraith said seriously.

"Yeah!" Elliott piped in, "she looked pretty mir-mise-misa-sad! What happened, old man?"

"Octavio let out a secret about a plan to hide her feelings," I told them, "and she overheard."

"See, old man?" Elliott said, grinning like an idiot, "she does like you!"

"That's not the point," I snapped, "she ran out of the gate, in what looked to be close to tears, and we don't know where she is!"

I saw Wraith's eyes turn white, which meant she was conversing with the voices.

"She's in an alley," she said, concentrating, "you should be able to hear her cry in the one that she's in."

"Okay," I said, turning and making it out of the gate.

I walked on the sidewalk, close to the buildings. I heard the usually quiet sound of Wraith making a portal suddenly much louder, responding to the silent night, as if it was trying to drown me.

I knew Wraith and maybe Witt were following me, but at that point, I couldn't care less. My sole purpose was to find Natalie.

I suddenly heard cries coming from an alley in between two brick apartments. It was quiet and muffled, as if it was trying to be hidden. Knowing Nat, it was. She never wanted to give another legend to underestimate her. I knew she only let her close friends see her like that.

I hesitantly stepped inside the alleyway, my black shoes tapping against the stone floor. I then heard sniffling, and then nothing at all.

"Natalie?" I called softly, not wanting to scare her.

A sob sounded out, and I followed the noise to almost the end of the alley, where it was dark, shadows blanketing everything in dark greys and black.

I was able to see Nat sitting near the end, back against the brick wall, her face buried in her knees.

I slowly sat down next to her, carefully wrapping my arms around her. She tensed, and then relaxed when she realized that I wouldn't let go.

She cried for about a minute. After that, her sobs died down to little sniffles, and she laid her head on my shoulder. She did it very slowly, and seemed to hold her head right above it as if she was waiting for me to move. When I showed no signs of wanting to, she relaxed again.

"Why did you follow me?" she asked, not unkindly, breaking the silence that had settled.

"Because I had been worried about you," I replied, taking one arm away from her and my other arm across her shoulders so I could look forward, "you just ran out after Octavio said...that..."

The silence that followed was uncomfortable. Nat awkwardly shifted at the mention of the plan she had came up with.

"Why did you pretend you liked Octavio?" I asked suddenly.

She suddenly stiffened, and I instinctively ran my hand through her hair. It was what I always did with Mila. She relaxed slightly under it, and I realized what I was doing just as I did it the second time.

"S-sorry," I stuttered, going red.

"I-it's alright," she assured, "I thought it was more likely that you didn't like me back, so I came up with a plan to hide how I felt."

"Why did you think I didn't like you back," I asked, only holding onto the one thing she said in that sentence about how she thought I felt.

"W-what?" she asked, confused.

I pulled my arm around her shoulders back, lifted her chin up with my hand, and smiled.

"Natalie," I started, "you're very smart, but don't trust your mind for everything."

"W-why not?" she stuttered out, confused and blushing. She had directed her attention towards me, so I pulled my hand back.

"Well, there are many times where it can be wrong, like right now, " I responded.

"L-like right n-now?" she asked me. I suddenly felt nervous, even though I knew how this was going to turn out, with the confirmation of her feelings.

"Yes. N-Nat? I-I like-no. I love you," I said sincerely.

Her eyes were wide with shock. "But," she started tentatively, "aren't you mad?"

"Mad about what?" I asked curiously.

"D-didn't I make you sad? With me saying that I had feelings for Octavio?" she asked, almost timidly, turning her head back and looking at the ground.

"Of course not," I told her, trying to ease her fears, "I just feel relief. Relief that you did love me."

She seemed relieved as well. She turned to me, and we suddenly locked eyes.

I didn't feel myself getting closer to her. It was little by little, until I realized her face was right in front of me.

What I did feel, was the sudden feeling of her lips on mine. They were soft, and were unlike my slightly chapped lips. We stayed there for what seemed like ten seconds, before we both kissed again, this one lasting slightly longer. The feeling lingered even after we pulled away.

After a moment of silence, she asked, "was that your first time?"

"Yes," I answered, "was it yours as well?"

She hummed in confirmation. "I liked it."

With those words, we seemed to lean in again, until we heard a voice that seemed to be coming from the balcony of an apartment.

"Look, old man. Maybe I can tolerate watching your first and second kiss, but don't you think the third is asking for a bit too much?"

I groaned. I saw Nat turning red, but she also let out a little giggle.

"Can you shut up and leave, then?" I shot back.

"Nope! I needed to make sure you would hold your part of the deal," he replied, smirking.

"What deal," Natalie asked, looking at me questioningly.

"Witt would help me get with you. In return, I would help him get with Wraith," I explained.

She gasped. "I knew you were acting differently towards her than all the other legends, but I thought you were just scared of her! I thought there was no way of you actually liking her!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, well, I like her," he said, suddenly seeming really awkward.

"Isn't the deal off, though?" I interjected, "you didn't help me get with Nat."

"But I did," he said, smirking again, "I got Octavio drunk enough to spill the beans two days ago. Then, I dedicated a whole day and my morning to make enough of his favorite tequila to spill the beans to you!"

I couldn't find any lie in what he was saying. There were a lot of appletinis in his bar, but that was expected, seeing as Wraith was joining. I had found a suspicious amount of tequila in his bar as well, though. Specifically, Octavio's favorite brand.

I sighed. "Alright, I'll help you with Wraith," I told him, "and I think the best way to do that would be searching in abandoned IMC buildings for parts of her past."

"I could help with that as well," Natalie told us, "I know where all the IMC buildings in the games are. Mainly the ones in King's Canyon."

"Y'know, there's a trios match in two days for the last day of the season on King's Canyon, "Elliott informed us, "I think we should sign up as a squad to go hunting."

"Okay!" Natalie said cheerfully.

"I'll agree," I sighed, but still relieved about that. I was hesitant to kill Natalie as a friend, and I didn't know how I would pull it off with what we were now.

"Okay then! See you tomorrow then, old man!" Witt said cheerfully, walking away.

"Wait," I called, slightly hesitantly. Elliott turned, facing towards us again.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"...I'm not 31. I'm 22, old man," I told him.

He was absolutely silent.

"...Alright. Bye then, kid," he said cheerfully. As soon as he turned, however, me and Nat heard him mutter, "what the hell?"

She giggled and I laughed a little bit.

"Shall we go back?" she asked, smiling.

"I think we should," I responded, reaching out for her hand so I could pull her up.

We then walked like that, our hands intertwined, until we got back to the gate.