Flame-chasing Captain.

2 - Memories.

It was hard to describe just how alluring these flowers were.

It was another Saturday, and just like every other Saturday, he had come back to tend to his flowers, neatly sheltered under a bed of rocks as always. 

"How are you doing, sweet roses?" He asked the roses, which responded by being hit by the wind gently, but no literal response came out of them, as they were not really alive.

Taking a gander at the moat he had constructed for the flowers, it seemed that the water he had  left the week prior had already been used up and that he'd have to fill it up again. Taking out a bottle of fresh water, (Y/N) poured it all into the moat, trying to get every single drop of water in.

After he had finished filling up the moat, he put away his bottle into his bag before silently staring around him. It was a common routine to stare at the events conjuring around him. It made him slightly more at peace with himself, something he rarely was anymore. The job at Anti-Entropy was stressful and had undoubtedly taken a toll on his health, but he wouldn't call it all bad; he had fun and made many friends ever since he joined both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, and that was sort of his reason for staying, to be with his friends. 

However, that didn't mean he wouldn't wind down every once in a while, just like he was now. No distractions would ever reach him here, none of Tesla's/Einstein's requests for help nor constant messages spewing from his phone to get back to the Hyperion. It was just him, the river, birds, and his flowers, all trying to calm down.

"Ahh... " he sighed, laying on the grass right next to his flowers. "What a wonderful place... I can't believe I didn't find this place sooner..." In reality, he had only found out that this place had existed around three months ago, and he had found the flowers two months ago. Thus, he hadn't seen everything the woods had to offer, only exploring bits and pieces of it that he found interesting enough/places that weren't going to kill him. Honkai rarely came here, and he actually hadn't encountered a single one in his time here. 

It was almost as if the place was protected by an impenetrable bubble, one that allowed access to him and him only. Though that seemed rather selfish of him to say, it was sort of true. He never had seen anyone--passerby or aimless wanderer--end up here. The only time he felt like he heard, or at least felt, another human here was when he heard the echoes of the forest or the reverberating sounds of the wind; they weren't humans; however, they were noises created by nature. The wind was not alive, nor was the noises of the wind, thus making him the only human around.

He remembered vividly that most of his life was characterized by this sort of loneliness, intentional or not. He didn't hate it, though, and actually favored it. Talking, aimless or not, was starting to hurt his head, and this was good for the heart, or at least his heart.

Suddenly, a small bird landed on his forehead, chirping while pecking at it lightly.