Tweet looked around at their surroundings again. The same paved walls and smooth floors stared back. They hadn't meant to go this far! All they wanted was to go on a little walk while their friends were busy. But now, they were well and truly lost...

They wished Quiz was here... Tweet would love nothing more than to be by their side. The calming familiar scent. The soft feel of their cloak at their side. Their hand protectively clutching their own. Quiz was always their to help their younger sibling. But not now.

Tweet sat down on the cool floor and curled in on themself. How would they find their way without anyway of contacting those who cared for them?
"Yeah, you're doomed" a bright voice said almost joyfully. They slightly raised their head to see a dark figure blotched and blurry through their tears with a single short horn. Oh great, now they had one of those negative thought things. Maybe they shouldn't have laughed at Quiz.
"Maybe so..." they told it. They really shouldn't succumb to its nonsense- they knew that- but it was so hard. Its voice lulled them and tied them to it.
"You'll be alone forever..."
"I don't suppose you know the way home?"
"Not a clue!"
"Maybe we could find a way to contact Seer! She can like read dreams and minds after all"
Tweet said while pulling out their pendant lit with glowing essence.
"No, you don't have a clue how to"
"It was just an idea..."
"Who said I was working with a little loser like you who can't even get home without their 'amazing' older sibling"
"Hey! That was mean"
"Better me than no one thought, right?"
"Yeah..."

Tweet could feel the bond the words were trapping them in now like it was real. It then began to materialize right in front of them. Slick black bands looping around their hands and waist like chains, that strung back to it. It just smirked at this development.
"Well go on then! Get us back"
"I'll try.
.."

Each step -wrong or right even if Tweet was unsure of which it was- had harsh words snuck in pushing them on. Each step lead them deeper down the dark pit in their mind. Each step left them feeling futher from their family and truth. Dried tears left a dark filter on the path whether that be a path of the way they walked on or the way they needed to go. Their feet ached from walking for so long at this point. "Quiz still hasn't tried looking for you it seems... Maybe they're not all you think after all..." it spoke. Those were the words that sent Tweet over the edge though. Hot rage boiled the tears away and saw clear once more. Quiz had beat this already. Their turn.

"What did you say about them?"
"I merely insinuated that-"
"What. Did. You. Say"
"T-that they weren't all that you thought them to be.."
"Listen here! Quiz is better than you can even imagine. They're a thousand times better than you! They could make it back so today I will be like them!"
"How?" it spluttered, "You rely on others!"
"But not today. Today I will be like Quiz! So either back down or leave demon
" Like that the bonds disappeared and the 'sahde' glowed white and hovered behind them letting them lead.

Tweet thought hard and looked at the path. They could do this. Their eyes servayed each marking around them until it clicked. They could figure ou the way now! They had seen this place before! They jumped and squealed slightly before dashing off down the way they knew to be right.

When they returned, they were greeted by a large hug from Quiz.
"Where have you been!?" their sibling asked.
"Well I went on a walk but got lost... But I found my way home! Like you would!"
"Great job then
!" Quiz smiled down at them and Tweet mentally sighed in relief. They had been worried they would never see that face again.

It wasn't until later that Tweet noticed the glowing white 'shade' was still there. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled but you shouldn't have said those things about Quiz. But, did I prove myself!?" It looked them dead in the eye and spoke one last time before disappearing for good.

"To them all"

They thought being the nailsage would be more interesting. Turns out it didn't really add anything new for them to do. So Ghost was bored. Very bored. They shifted around and looked at the ordinary life the citizens of Dirtmouth lead. The air felt fresh and cool on their mask there and they realized that they had never truly appreciated the town before. And that gave them an idea.

It was a very open place there with lots of room. A large place for a large being. They could actually test out their void powers properly in their true form here!

So Ghost grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote on it in bold letters 'Don't fear the big monster thing to the right of town, they won't hurt you!- Ghost' and set it out as a sign. Ghost smiled at their work; now the town folk would not be scared of them and it was safe to release there power. They then shed their mask and left in Sly's basement where they had been staying before slinking out in a simple void form resembling the form most were familiar with them in. Once they were far enough out of town though, they let their concentration slip and release their power.

Ghost could feel the power coursing through them and saw the scale of what a creature like them. This was what being a higher being felt like. Through their expanded field of vision from eight eyes, they could pick out the small bugs wandering through the lonely town. A wicked grin slid onto their face as they thought of all the things they could do. They were in the middle of plotting when they heard several screams. Did the civilians not see their sign? Ghost sighed and finished the details of their clever prank in their head. Oh their siblings had it coming now...

They shut all of their eyes and concentrated letting the void all over the kingdom fulfill their command.

Misfortune had been walking back to the spot she, her brother and her mother had been living when she felt slightly strange. There was an almost buzzing sensation rumbling through the void deep in her for a moment but like most things Misfortune shrugged it off and continued with her business. If it came back she'd tell someone but for now who really cared?! So the happy vessel clad in purple skipped on to her destination.

It was when she found the White Lady that she realised what had happened. She looked up at her mother's pretty blue eyes preparing to speak when no sound came out! She blinked confused and tried again to no avail!
"Misfortune are you ok there?" the glowing root asked. Misfortune did a rare thing for her and rolled her eyes and started signing.
"I don't think I can speak anymore"
"What!?"
"I'm signing because I don't seem to be able to use my voice." Misfortune then jumped off and signed quickly backwards, "I need to check something".

She ran off to the shape of Nymph in the distance and agressively threw some glitter at him to get his attention. He whirled around to face her clearly ready to retort when a shocked expression met his face. This was then replaced with a look of recognition.
"Can't speak either?" she started.
"Nope. But its ok I'm used to it. My signing's a bit rusty though"
"Well, I've decided its clearly the end of the world!"
"That's a bit overdramtic"
"But what am I supposed to do without a voice!"
"Normal things just with signs"
"But I don't like being quiet"
"You should try it, It might gve us all some peace!" Mifortune huffed slightly at her brother before turning around ready to go resort her glitter collection as an emergency measure when she tripped. Somethings hadn't changed...

The Pale King strode over to Lurien ready to prepare a schudule for the day wth him. He glanced up at the Watcher to check he was prepared to start then attempted to clear his throat. This did not work however and there was only silence. He flicked his tail annoyed and tried to just start planning. This failed as well though! No sound would leave his voice!

After a couple of minutes of waiting with his pen poised over parchment, Lurien glanced up concerned.
"Is there a problem sire? What's the hold up." The king was fuming now and there was not much he could do to explain the situation to Lurien. He had never bothered to learn signing. He'd never considered that anything could be enough of a threat to him to warrant learning such a thing. He'd have to resort to soul.

His soul channels were healed but he had to be careful to not do some of the more extravagent feats he had done before while his new form developed its capabilities. So with a simple spell, he whisked the pen out of Lurien's grasp and summoned it to write on the page. 'I seem to have lost all ability to talk today. We must discover the cause of this. Go find Lost and Rim for me' the pen paused before finishing writing, 'please'. He couldn't tell of Lurien's reaction to this due to the mask upon the Watcher's face. The cloaked bug still rose however to go fulfill what was asked.

It was going to be a long day...

Toothy was terrified! They had been with Cassia as normal when suddenly their voice stopped working! They were incapable of making any sound! The mantises didn't understand signing so hadn't a clue what was happening. Only through a hand written message had communication been established. They hadn't realised quite how much they relyed on their voice until it was once again gone.

They were currently sat with Est as they were the only one able to sign and were also quite able at using the void to communicate. They said that wasn't working today either though so something was definitely wrong...
"What if something happened to Ghost!" they signed worriedly. Est just gave them a dry look and signed back, "Yes, something happened to them all right"
"What!?" they would of squeaked had they been talking.
"They got bored" Toothy was confused even more now. How would Est know that Ghost was bored? And what did that have to do with anything?
"What?"
"I can tell they are behind this. They used the void to shut off our voices likely as a prank but that sent a disturbance. I've been around for long enough to know what something like that feels like. Especially after what he did to me... They were probably just bored and thought a prank woud be funny" Est explained. Toothy mentally groaned. Of course Ghost was behind this. It was right in line with their sense of humour...

"I think its time for a match between me and them"

Fizz should maybe be concerned at their sudden lack of voice but they really didn't need it to understand or communicate with Eve. Maybe Ogrim wasn't the best at interprating their signing but he could learn and Fizz knew what Eve was trying to say in a glance! Like right now as they were trying to explain to Ogrim what was going on.

"I-t d-o-e-s-n'-t m-e-a-n a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g f-o-r t-h-e t-e-a-m" they spelled out letter by letter for him.
"It doesn't mean what?" Ogrim asked scratching his head. Fizz glanced over at Eve who nodded. Try again then.
"I-t d-o-e-s-n'-t m-e-a-n a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g f-o-r t-h-e t-e-a-m" they tried again this time slower.
"Doesn't mean anything for the team!? Really?! How can we go on when I can't even understand you?!" Eve was looking at them now. They needed to handle this. It was probably temporary anyway. They stared at Eve and slightly jumped their head sideways then back up. Eve's eyes lit up in understanding and like they had been doing spelled out the message.
"I-t-s l-i-k-e-l-y o-n-l-y t-e-m-p-o-r-a-r-y"
"Temporary? Well that would mke things better..." This time the two vessels looked at each other with exactly the same thought which they proceeded to spell out in synch.
"P-r-a-n-k"

"Monomon... I'm fine seriously! Just let me get back to doing normal stuff!" Wanda signed frustrated at their worried guardian.
"Fine except you clearly aren't because both you and Shadow have suddenly lost your voice! You can't have it one second then not the next!" Monomon then turned around and yelled, "Quirrel is the analysis software up yet?"
"Yes" came a distant reply.
"I'll just need to get a sample to send to him then I'll bring you a book ok?" the researcher said while approaching with a syringe. She inserted it in the crevices of their shell and filled it up with void.
"You could just let me get back to helping..."
"Not a chance"

True to her word Monomon did come back with a book but Wanda was itching to be helping around the Archive. Shadow was sat in a corner still. They hadn't signed any complints at anything Monomon said or did and didn't even flinch at the needle. All of a sudden though Shadow jerked their head up and walked over to Wanda. They wondered what the other vessel wanted.
"No one's watching us now, I can break us out quietly if you want" they signed slightly. Wanda grinned.
"Its a plan, but what do I have to do."
"Just hold on to me and let the void take over. There's no reason for us to be here- you wre right. I'm nearly certain Ghost did this. I felt their presence for a moment earlier. Quirrel and Monomon won't find anything different in the void."
"Lets go then" Wanda reached out and grasped Shadow's hand and let themself melt into void as Shadow commanded the void to do.

Ghost would fix this when they felt like it so Wanda got straight back to work.

This was not fair. Lili had finally got the confidence to speak and now they couldn't even do it anymore. Spider understood their signing well enough but it was still a nuisence and made them feel like all their progress had been for nothing. They had worked hard to accept themself!

They curled up in Spider's side vaguely listened to the story the weaver was reading them. Apparently Thorn had been having the same problems as them but it wasn't going to ever be as bad for them... They fiddled gently with the tack given to them by Hornet under their cloak and wondered about maybe learning how to use it properly. Spider would train them wouldn't she? They might as well try that- its not like they would find much else to do.

So the small vessel lightly tapped the weavers shoulder and signed, "Can you teach me how to use my tack? I would like a distraction."
"Sure Lili! Didn't realised you wanted to learn before"
"I didn't but I guess I need a new way to step out of my comfort zone now"
"Well I'll be glad to teach you!" Spider then grabbed their hand and wisked them off to a more appropriate spot to train.

It had been a full day of laughs for Ghost. The vessels were all so funny to watch deal with the problem they'd caused. They had felt a little sorry for Lili but they could make it up to them. They'd been glad they'd made their father suffer though... Ghost hadn't actually been aware that he counted as a vessel but he reincarnated through the void so he was likely similar enough for it to work on him to. A much more subtle revenge that Hollow would hopefully approve of. They'd been slightly sorry for their older sibling as well but luckily the tall vesssel had been resting and mentally training all day anyway! Well they'd returned all the voices so it didnt matter anyway.

They should probably head back now they thought looking at the tired residents of Dirtmouth. They had been trying to keep quiet and hidden all day for some reason but all their movements were weary at this point. So Ghost sighed and let themselves bask in the feeling of power one more time before focusing inwards to shrink down.

They then set off back to Sly's and phased in through the walls to their mask. Being a powerful being was cool but they would always be more comfortable in a form like this. They'd taken on the whole kingdom in it after all.