After fleeing from the capital city Andrew and Melissa are making their way to Aspen, riding the horse that Andrew stole. Their horseback ride comes to a stop though as the animal needed to rest, so Drew went off the dirt road and into a forest. At first, the horse was hesitant to go in, making Melissa wonder why it was scared to enter, but with a bit of coaxing from her, the horse followed the two of them.
It didn't take long for them to come out of the other side of the forest, where there's a clearing and where Melissa sees a small cliff in front of her and below the cliff is a fairly deep river stream that separates the forest from the mountain cliff. She marvels at this untouched beauty of nature in front of her and thinks if Drew knew about this place, but before she could ask he approached her.
"Here, you're probably starving." Andrew holds out a wrapped sandwich for Melissa. The logo pressed into the paper wrapper is familiar to her, since it's from the same kiosk she bought food from while she was in Mires.
She's hesitant to take it from Andrew, not because she hates him or isn't hungry, but because she clearly sees the burn marks on the skin of his arm. The guilt eats up her appetite and plans to turn the offer down.
"I, -I'm not-" Her stomach objects mid-sentence "-hungry." Melissa was left with an awkward open-mouthed smile stuck on her as her face becomes flushed.
"I wanna curl up and die right now!" she screamed in her mind while her stomach growled again, and it made her punch her gut. She hits herself again just for good measure and began laughing nervously.
Andrew seeing the slapstick between Melissa and her stomach smiled while holding his own laughs which came out as a light giggle instead.
At the same time though, he started to think of how to bridge the awkwardness between him and her. He can tell that she's hung up about the incident in Mires.
"I think your stomach's saying otherwise though. But I guess if you aren't hungry." Drew unwraps the sandwich and as if to antagonize both Melissa and her stomach he shows that it was packed with bacon, cheese, and slices of what Melissa could smell as smoked ham.
Drew then opened his mouth and looked as though he was going to eat the sandwich himself.
"Wha-!?" Melissa's eyes widened while her mouth drooled lightly. The red on her face quickly turned from being embarrassed to being angry
"FINE! Who cares about a stinkin' sandwich!? So what if it has thick cuts of bacon, smoked ham, and the best cheese in the-! -Hmph!?" Suddenly Melissa's mouth is stuffed by the sandwich Drew teased her with.
She glared at him while taking a bite out of the sandwich -the really delicious sandwich that could seriously put a smile on her face. But she didn't, because Drew is looking at her with what she thinks is the biggest smug look on a person she's seen.
Melissa tries to snatch the sandwich from his hand but Drew's reflexes are much quicker and he pulled the sandwich away from her mouth, showing that she has a bit of cheese on the corner of her lip.
The two looked at each other, Melissa glaring at Drew and him smirking at her like he's waiting for her to admit she's actually hungry as her stomach tells her she is.
"Are ya goin' to give it to me or not!?" Melissa shouted.
"Not until you admit that you're hungry." Drew grinned.
"Do ya know it's rude to play with a girl's feelins' and food!?" Melissa at this point still didn't notice her accent coming out.
"Alright, alright! Here, I'm sorry for teasin' ya," Drew mimicked her accent and it was then that Melissa realized she's been talking in her accent.
Nothing is more embarrassing for her than to be heard talking in that accent -yes, it's more embarrassing than her stomach growling loudly. But she isn't blushing, no her face is red because she's angry that Drew is teasing her about her accent. Nothing pisses-off Melissa more than that. So, while Drew giggles she quietly pulled her fist back and punches him in the stomach, knocking the smug and the wind out of him. Drew could swear that for a moment his feet left the ground.
She takes the sandwich from him before he keels over. Drew holds his stomach while lying face down on the ground, his body shuddering in pain.
"Y, -Your punch is a lot harder than Cecil's," he compares the two and he thinks that for the past few days he's been nothing but a punching bag for women.
"… Sorry, I guess I hit you a little too hard. Just don't make fun of me about my accent okay?! And tell me when I start talking like that!" Melissa says as she crouched down to his level. She then tears the sandwich in two and holds the other half against Drew's mouth. "Here, I don't want to be the only one eating so lets at least share."
For a moment, Andrew could almost forget that Melissa punched him in the stomach. Almost.
"Are you kidding me?! Do you think I'd have the appetite to eat after getting gut-punched?!"
"Can you just shut up and eat!? I didn't punch you that hard!"
"Yes you did!"
The two continued to go back and forth with each other a bit more until Drew smiled and it caught Melissa off guard, but instead of retreating to her shell of self-pity, she smiled back at him. Then the two of them ate their halves of the sandwich together. As Melissa finishes her half of the sandwich, she glanced at Andrew and looks at his chest. It looked as though she's seeing something more, and she is because Melissa could see a kind of flame inside of people that let her tell what they're feeling by observing the condition of the fire in their body.
That's how she was able to know that Erize is coming for her and how she was able to tell Faust was behind her, but in Faust's case, Melissa felt no flame in his body, it was instead cold and empty. For Andrew, his fire when she first confronted him was a roaring inferno stoked by anger. The second time, which was during her execution she saw a different fire, a kind and warm flame -like a hearth that warmed her inside. Now she wants to sit by this fire at all times to feel it's tender and healing light.
"You've already said plenty that time, but I want to ask you how you're able to find compassion in your heart. I did more than just hurt you, I hurt Erize too. So how could you forgive someone like me? I have so many questions, but I want to bask in this light a bit more, I want to trust you." Melissa thought to herself as she continued to stare at Drew, not realizing that a smile is forming across her face.
She also didn't realize Andrew looking back at her, figuring out what part of his body she's staring at. When he realized he covered his chest and it snapped Melissa out of her trance.
"What're you looking at?!" Drew asked, blushing.
"Why are you even covering it!?" Melissa shouted back, also blushing.
While the horse is grazing behind the two of them, Andrew decided to ask about something that bugged him when he first met her.
"What were you doing standing out in the sidewalk and staring at the alchemist shop?"
"H, -How do you know about that!?" Melissa exclaimed while raising her hands to do a stance to try and defend her from Drew the stalker.
"… Did you not see me carrying the crates inside? I was the guy you-"
"Ah! You were! I was too lost in my own thoughts at that time!" She says and then her head puffed steam and her face became even redder.
"Why were you lost in your own thoughts?" Drew followed up, and Melissa wished he hadn't as she covers her red face.
"I, -I actually wanted to ask you if you could help me with finding someone. B, -But I didn't know how to approach you until it was too late …" She said with a muffled voice. She seriously wanted to bury herself in the ground.
Drew thinks that if he had reached out to Melissa at that time, he would've saved her from herself. He started to think how important it is to have others talk you down and lead you back to a sensible path in life and he can't help but reminisce about his two good friends, Erize and Cecilia who were with him through most of his life. He wanted to reach out and pet Melissa but felt too embarrassed. So his hands stayed glued together while the two sat next to each other with the awkward silence between them growing louder.
"I had friends with me that helped lead me to a good path, but you aren't as fortunate as I am. So, I'll do my best to cover for what you need -what you couldn't have."
At this point, the silence between them got to Melissa and she lifted her face up from her hands.
"S, -Say something goddammit! It's gotten awkward! You started the conversation so finish it!" Melissa shouts her face still beet red.
"A, -Ah! Sorry, it's just that I was lost in my own thoughts -I'm serious don't hit me!" Drew backed away as Melissa got up and was about to punch Drew again for mimicking her.
"What were you thinking about then!?" Melissa asked while grabbing Drew's collar and if she didn't like his answer, she's going to punch him in the face.
"You're horribly violent you know that!?" Drew pointed out "I was thinking about how you're not what I thought you were as a person!" He followed which made Melissa's face redder.
Drew, fully expecting to get punched instead heard her soft voice.
"W, -What do you mean by that?"
"… I was thinking that Erize was right about you, that you're just lost and frustrated. No one was there to tell you that things will get better or be an example of what you should do." Drew suddenly grabbed Melissa's wrist, holding it warmly as he leans towards her making her panic internally as she shuts her mouth tight.
"Well, I'm here for you as a friend. Erize would be too if she was here, but she isn't, and it's because I didn't want her to be."
Melissa was speechless. More of her questions about Drew was answered by him, without her even asking. She felt more comfortable now with him and her trust immediately grew as she started to see Drew in a different light, not as his enemy but as his friend.
"T, -Thank you. I couldn't say this to you back there, but now I can. Really, thank you." She relaxed her grip on Drew's shirt collar, but her hand still clung to it as she tried her best not to cry and instead tried to pull off a smile for Drew to see that she really is happy.
It was at this point that Drew now felt comfortable to reach out and pet Melissa's head, rubbing it gently and telling her that she's welcome before getting up from ground.
The two continued on their way since the horse had gotten plenty of rest, and Drew tells Melissa that they'll arrive at Aspen around the evening if they didn't make any sudden stops. The town of Aspen is covered in white trees with strange orange-autumn leaves, the sign that you're near the town is when those strange white trees begin to appear into view.
"What route did you take to get to Mires by the way?" Drew asked as he gets on the horse and helps Melissa climb on.
"The ship I was on got docked in the city of Marstadt and I traveled to Mires from there," Melissa answered as her arms wrapped around Drew's waist.
"From the south-west huh. Well, we're directly going down south to Aspen, so this will be your first time seeing the place."
"Why? Is there something special about Aspen?"
"It's a pretty busty town -actually I think it was recently declared a city because of its sudden growth. But if you're asking if there's anything special about Aspen, its white trees are one."
As the two chatted while riding the horse across the path, Melissa begins to see what Drew was talking about, the strange beautiful white trees with warm-colored leaves that matched her hair. It's almost as though the seasons had changed and it was now autumn even though it's clearly still winter.