"Velvet!"

The door of Velvet's room shook as Coco knocked on it, making even the clock on her nightstand tremble and sway. Velvet took her pillow and pressed it over her face, trying to muffle the sound, but she couldn't ignore the vibrations.

"It's been three days, Velvet," Coco said on the other side of the door. "You have to come out."

Velvet tossed her pillow away. She closed her hands into fists and covered her eyes with them, wishing she could just fall back asleep and not have to deal with Coco and whatever she had to say.

"Velvet." Coco's voice dropped dangerously low, and she ceased knocking. "I will kick this door down."

Velvet sighed. She kicked off her blankets and sat on the edge of her bed, and glared at the door as if somehow that would make Coco go away.

"I don't wanna come out," she said. "Leave me alone."

"Well, boo-hoo. You have to come out," Coco said. "Your boss is here, and he wants to talk to you."

Velvet blinked. Mister Oobleck! The paper! She hadn't shown up at work for three days in a row, she'd missed her assignments, and she hadn't even offered an explanation why. God, how could she have forgotten?

"C-crap," she whispered to herself, jumping to her feet. She paced around her room for a moment, before turning back to the door. "Coco, c-can you explain to him what happened, t-that I lost my camera and-"

"No. You have to talk to him," Coco interrupted. "You better hurry. I already invited him in, and you know I hate entertaining guests, especially when they're old men."

Velvet opened her mouth to beg, but Coco was already walking away. Cursing under her breath, Velvet got out of her pajamas as fast and she could and put on the first set of clothes she found on the floor. She patted her head, trying to wrestle her morning hair into submission, but it was a hopeless venture.

Velvet unlocked the door and all but ran to the living room, and was momentarily mystified by the sight of Mister Oobleck sitting on the sofa with a cup of steaming tea in hand. First off, she'd never seen him drink anything but coffee, and second, she didn't even know they had tea in the apartment.

Coco was sitting across from Oobleck on a chair she'd apparently taken from the kitchen. She saw Velvet and stopped in the middle of whatever she was saying, relief shining on her face. For her part, Velvet was once again hit by a wave of dread and profound anxiety.

"Velvet, my girl!" Oobleck said, turning to look at her. He raised his cup cheerily, a smile on his face. "What a wonder to see you. You've made everyone at the paper very worried with your vanishing!"

Velvet walked over, feeling awkward just moving in her own home. She stopped next to the sofa, and was torn between sitting beside Oobleck or continuing to stand. Thankfully, Coco seemed to notice her dilemma and stood up, offering her chair with a discrete nod.

"I-I have, Mister Oobleck?" Velvet said, sitting down. "Everyone?" There weren't that many people working at the Forest Ink, so they all knew each other, but even so, Velvet never felt like they knew her, much less cared about her.

"Why, of course. You're such a presence there, always attending to your duties to the paper or working on your own projects, it's only natural your absence would be felt," Oobleck said. "There was also the matter of your assignments. When you didn't turn them in, well, then we knew something was up."

"R-right! I'm so sorry about that, sir," Velvet stammered. "I really, really messed up, and there's no excuse for it. I-I should have done my job. I'll understand if you don't want me working for you anymore, sir…"

Unable to face Oobleck any longer, she let her hands fall to her lap and stared at them listlessly. She heard Coco walking away, and for a moment, there was silence in the living room – before Oobleck broke it, and quite candidly.

"Nonsense, you silly girl!" he exclaimed, and Velvet looked up at him again, startled. "How long ago did I hire you? Two years, I would say? And how many days off have you taken during that time?"

"Sir… I'm sure I've taken plenty," Velvet said.

"Compared to the amount of work you put in regularly?" Oobleck said, and leaned in conspiratorially. "Not to mention that some of your colleagues put in far less hours than you, and yet they seem to get debilitatingly sick every other Monday." He shook his head in wonder. "What I am trying to say, Velvet, is that you have an admirable work ethic, and because of that you can be forgiven a few days' indiscretion. Don't you agree?"

Hesitantly, Velvet nodded. How could she not agree?

"Besides," Oobleck said, and his face grew serious as he watched her. "I am under the impression that there is far more to your recent absence than one would readily assume. Or have I got the wrong impression?"

For a moment, Velvet seriously contemplated answering that yes, he was wrong, and she'd ditched work for no good reason at all. She'd been lazy. It might actually have been easier than telling the truth, and if not that, it certainly would be less painful.

As if she'd detected the change in course of the conversation, Coco returned to the living room with a coffee mug on her hands. She handed it to Velvet, then sat down on the arm of the sofa closest to her.

Velvet winced at the hotness of the mug, and looked down to find the coffee was steaming. When she looked up, she immediately noticed Oobleck staring wantonly at the mug. She offered it to him, and they exchanged drinks wordlessly. Oobleck seemed much more content with his newly acquired coffee. On the other hand, Velvet didn't have the stomach to look at her tea, let alone drink it.

"The truth is, Mister Oobleck… The reason I've not gone to work recently…" Velvet said shakenly. "I… had an accident. And I lost my camera."

Oobleck lowered the mug from his lips, his forehead wrinkling into a frown. "An accident, you say? But you're always so careful."

"She means she got mugged," Coco said. "They took her camera, and her phone."

"Why, that's terrible!" Oobleck gasped, and Velvet thought she'd never seen him quite this shocked before, and the paper had covered some rather ghastly stories since she'd been hired. "But you're otherwise okay, yes? You weren't harmed?"

Velvet's shoulders drooped. She put her cup on the floor beside her chair, thinking she might throw up if she smelled the tea any longer.

"She has a couple bruises on her," Coco said, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly on Velvet. "As far as I've been told."

"My…" Oobleck shook his head sadly. "I'm very sorry to hear this happened to you, Velvet. Have you filed a report with the police already?"

"I haven't…" Velvet said. "I don't think it would be useful. I didn't get a good look at the guys who mugged me, and my camera… I-It's kinda old, to be honest, so wherever it's ended up, I don't know if we can find it." Her breath caught in her throat. "I just… I'd rather put this whole thing behind me."

"Of course. I understand," Oobleck said. "Whatever you need to get better, dear girl."

Coco's already harsh expression soured even more, and Velvet realized she'd probably been banking on Mister Oobleck to convince her to go to the police. Of course, she didn't know what would happen if Velvet did that. She could never know.

Tell anyone about what you saw tonight, and I'll destroy her.

Velvet shuddered, and that mustn't have gone unnoticed by Coco, as her expression softened a bit. Oobleck caught it too, and he stood up.

"Well, I won't force you to dwell on the uncomfortable any longer than necessary. I am sure you will land back on your feet," he said. "Take as much time as you need to recover and get your things in order. You needn't worry about your job – you'll be welcomed at the paper whenever you decide to return. And in the meanwhile, if you require any help, please, do not hesitate to ask."

Velvet bowed her head. "Thank you, sir. I'll be back soon, I promise."

Oobleck smiled warmly at her, and Velvet couldn't help but smile back.

"I'll show you out, Mister Oobleck," Coco said, standing up.

"Thank you, Miss Adel. It was a pleasure meeting you," Oobleck said. "And thank you for the cof- the tea! It was delicious."

"Yeah, I found it in a drawer in the kitchen a while back. Funny thing is, I don't remember ever buying it. Glad you liked it, though."

Coco opened the door and gestured at the hallway outside, looking Oobleck in the eyes unabashedly. He adjusted his tie and chuckled, then walked out of the apartment.

"Oh thank God, I thought he was never going to leave," Coco said before she'd even fully closed the door.

"Coco!" Velvet gasped.

"What?" Coco shrugged. "He's not my boss."

She locked the door and walked over to Velvet, and looked her up and down with a thoroughness that made Velvet feel safe and distressed at the same time, somehow.

"You wanna go out for lunch?" Coco asked.

"…Not really," Velvet replied quietly. "Sorry."

"Hmph. Fine. I can fix something up in the kitchen," Coco said. "Fair warning, you'll have to be happy with spaghetti. Maybe with some sauce. I'm a fashionista, not a housewife."

She paused, as if to impress upon Velvet the magnitude of her sacrifice, before she left for the kitchen.


"Well, that was… something," Coco said. "I don't think I'm gonna be ordering from that place again. What a travesty of a-" She burped, and her face twisted into a scowled. "I hope they go out of business."

Velvet held her belly gingerly. She wouldn't go as far as wish misfortune upon anyone, but she had to agree, their choice of pizza had turned out pretty terrible. Even Coco's pasta would have been better.

Coco dragged her chair back and cast a hateful look at the kitchen sink. The dirty dishes had been building up over the last few days, and if they added anything more to the pile, everything might just topple over and shatter all over the place.

"God, I hate eating at home," Coco said. "Everything about it is sad, unsatisfying, and exhausting." She groaned. "Mostly the latter."

"I'll do the dishes," Velvet said, starting to get up.

"No. You sit pretty and finish your drink," Coco said. "I'll deal with this mess."

Velvet sat back down and tapped her glass awkwardly. She knew arguing with Coco would only make her more determined to shoulder that burden, even if she hated every second of it.

"You know the first thing I'm gonna do when I get rich and famous?" Coco said, moving over to the sink and picking up a greasy bowl.

"Hire a chef?" Velvet guessed.

"That's the second thing." Coco turned on the faucet and started to scrub the bowl, becoming more disgusted with every second. "First, I'm gonna break every dish in my goddamn mansion, and then replace them all. Then I'm gonna break those too. That's how traumatic this is for me, Velvet."

"Okay…" Velvet said. "But wouldn't you have to buy a mansion first?"

Coco glared at her over her shoulder, and Velvet raised her hands amicably.

For a few minutes, the running water was the only source of noise in the kitchen. Coco had ceased complaining at all, entering a trance-like state as she went through the dishes. Her mind seemed to be not on the task at all, but something else entirely.

Velvet took a sip of her soda. She wanted to get back to her room, and to her bed, but it would be rude to just leave when Coco was going out of her way to make her feel better. Not that it was working all that well. Having Coco do stuff for her only made Velvet feel worse.

"Hey, Velvet," Coco said suddenly, her voice unusually quiet. "What happened to you… What they did to you. It wasn't personal, was it?"

"What do you mean, p-personal?" Velvet said. "Like, was it my…"

"No. Not your fault. That's not what I said," Coco interrupted. "What I mean is, there's a lot of assholes out there who would think it's okay to hurt you because… because you were born a certain way. And they think you're lesser, or whatever stupidity they-"

She stopped herself. Her knuckles had turned white around the plate she was washing. Coco put it down gently, and leaned on the sink.

"Was it like that?" Coco asked. "Is that why you don't wanna go to the police?"

"I don't… I don't know if I mattered that I'm a f-faunus, Coco," Velvet said. "It wasn't like… They didn't explain anything to me."

"But you would know," Coco said, looking back at her. "Right?"

Velvet could only shrug in response. Of course it had been personal, but Coco was missing the reason why. And it was good she was.

"I hate this," Coco hissed, and Velvet knew she wasn't referring to the dishes this time. "Goddamnit. I'm beyond pissed." She picked up a plate, and sighed deeply. "And that's probably not helping you."

"Not really…" Velvet said. "B-but it's very sweet of you!"

"Well that just makes everything sunshine and rainbows, now doesn't it?" Coco started to scrub again, so hard Velvet feared she might break a plate and hurt herself.

Velvet finished the rest of her soda. Now was probably the time to leave, before…

"We've gotta get you a new phone," Coco said. "Can't walk around without one on you. Can't do anything, these days."

"Y-yeah. Good t-thinking," Velvet said anxiously. "I have some money saved up. M-maybe tomorrow we can-"

"I'll pitch in," Coco said. "And I'll buy you a new camera."

"What? No!" Velvet exclaimed. "You can't do that, Coco!"

"How are you gonna do your job, then, Velvet? You need a camera, and those things aren't cheap," Coco said. "Look, if it's a pride thing, you can just pay me back later."

"A pride thing?" Velvet repeated. "It's not a-"

"If it's not that, then what the hell is it?"

Charity case. Charity case.

Velvet stood up, her fists shaking. "I don't need you to buy me anything, Coco. I don't want you to!"

"Then how the hell am I supposed to help you, Velvet?" Coco turned around with a plate. "You won't tell me what's going on, you treat me like I'm some kinda bother! Your boss comes around and you promise him you're gonna get things in order, but you won't do anything about it! It's like you don't even care that-"

The plate slipped from her hands and shattered on the ground. Its shards scattered across the kitchen floor. Velvet reached for her camera around her neck – but of course, it wasn't there.

She glared at Coco. It's your fault. Happy?

"Great," Coco said, throwing her hands up. "Now I gotta fix this too."

"I didn't ask you to fix anything," Velvet muttered.

Coco looked at her and scoffed. "Knock yourself out, then."

She stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the water running on the sink.

Velvet stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen, feeling a pit on the bottom of her stomach. Numbly, she turned off the faucet, then kneeled on the floor and started to pick up the scattered shards.


If Velvet had been reluctant to leave her room before, now she was practically living in it, and the rest of the apartment was like desolate land to her. She only left to retrieve food from the kitchen and shower, and she made those incursions very quick. Being outside meant possibly coming across Coco, and coming across Coco meant pretending to still be angry at her, and pretend to still be angry at her meant…

Velvet had too much going on already. Feuding with Coco was one burden too many. She wanted to make up – God, she wanted to – and Coco wanted the same, surely, but if that happened, they would then go back to square one, with the questions and the secrecy and the covering the truth…

It hurt, but the right thing to do was to wall Coco out. Coco would never know, but Velvet was doing it for her sake. If there was one thing Velvet could still do with her life in shambles, it was protecting her friend.

And that was what she intended to do. Forever, if she had to.


"Get your ass up." Coco kicked Velvet's bed. "Get. Up."

Startled awake, Velvet sat up and retreated to the corner of her bed, looking at Coco with wide eyes. What was Coco doing in her room, her only sanctuary? And more importantly, why was Coco all dressed up for a trip?

"You're a damn mess. Your room too," Coco said, looking around. "It's shameful."

"C-Coco, what are you doing here?" Velvet looked at the clock on her nightstand. "It's eight in the morning. On a Saturday."

Coco lowered her shades to squint at Velvet. "And Saturday is your special day when you get to decompress after the very busy week you've had?"

"No… You're missing the point," Velvet said.

"Yeah, and I'm also missing you," Coco said frankly. "Hopefully I won't have to any longer. You're the best person in my life, and I want us to be friends again." She cleared her throat. "There, I got the touchy-feely stuff out of the way. Now get up and start packing."

Velvet opened and closed her mouth, the emotional whiplash rendering her speechless. And as if Coco's speech hadn't been enough, now she was dropping some sort of ticket on Velvet's lap.

Was this a fever dream? Had the stress finally caught up to her?

"I am so confused," she mumbled, her eyes darting from the ticket to Coco. "I should be packing? What for? Are you – are you kicking me out? I k-know things got out of hand, but-"

"Woah, let me stop you right there." Coco raised a hand to silence her. "I'm not kicking you out, you drama queen. No, we're going on a tour. A hike. In the Emerald Forest."

She closed her eyes and scrunched up her forehead, as if saying those words caused her physical pain.

"Wait." Velvet grabbed the ticket and studied it up close. "This is the hike I was planning to make. Before my camera… you know. I refunded everything." She looked at Coco and frowned. "Coco, did you buy-"

"I'm not trying anything here, Velvet," Coco said tiredly. "You're miserable right now, and I get it. What happened sucks. But you're not gonna feel better by isolating yourself from the world." She paused. "Were you, or were you not really excited to go on this stupid hike?"

"…I was," Velvet admitted. "Because I had plans. Plans that involved, you know, my camera. The one I lost?"

"Well, you didn't lose me, and I'd wager I can entertain you half as well as some boring photos," Coco said, putting her hands on her hips. "Not that your photos are boring. I'm just trying to win an argument here, and your sensitivities are a secondary priority right now."

"I've gathered that, thank you," Velvet said. "I'm not going. Can you let me sleep now?"

Coco sighed. "The bus leaves in two hours. I'll be waiting in the living room. Try not to be too late?"

"Oh, I'll try not to, yeah!" Velvet exclaimed, shaking a fist at Coco.

Coco barely blinked an eye, utterly unimpressed by that truly remarkable comeback. Velvet crossed her arms and nodded at the door, and Coco left without objection – though Velvet did catch her rolling her eyes on the way out.

"You can't bribe me," Velvet muttered once she was alone. "Just because you apologized and – and said all that sentimental stuff, I'm not gonna feel bad."

She pursed her lips and glared at the floor, obstinate in her resolution to not cave in to Coco's emotional blackmail.


"See? This isn't so bad, now is it?" Coco said, elbowing Velvet lightly. "It's almost like the world is not a hellscape outside of your room. Who would have guessed?"

Velvet sank deeper in her seat and leaned her head against the bus window. She really detested how smug Coco could act sometimes. Even if it was kinda enjoyable.

"Now, I won't be expecting a thank you from you any time soon, but," Coco said. "I will remind you that there's not one thing about this forest that doesn't make me want to barf my intestines out."

"You're the one who decided we should go, Coco," Velvet said, turning to look at her friend again. "What's your point here?"

"My point is, I was lying, and I will be expecting a thank you," Coco answered, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. "Right now would be a good time, honeybuns."

"I-I'm not going to thank you for dragging me here!" Velvet said. "And, please, we've talked about this, Coco."

Coco lifted her shades from her eyes with a flick of a finger. "About what, exactly?"

"You c-calling me… honeybuns, when we're in public," Velvet whispered.

She looked past Coco and met eyes with a man sitting across the aisle from them. He must have been listening in on their conversation for some time now, because he had a very interested look on his face. Velvet pulled back and trained her eyes on her lap, becoming beet red.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot that makes you uncomfortable," Coco said. Her lips quirked into a grin, and Velvet braced herself in horror of what was to come. "Don't worry, I'll make sure not to forget again, sweetcheeks!"

Velvet covered her face with her hands as she felt her soul leave her body. Coco lowered her shades, her smile only widening as she watched Velvet squirm.

About half an hour later, the brownish landscapes of the countryside outside Emerald Hills gave way to greener pastures. The terrain became uneven, and more and more trees sprung on the sides of the road, until they were so dense nothing could be seen past them. They were entering the forest proper, and Velvet was surprised to find herself becoming actually excited to be there.

"Joy," Coco remarked dryly beside her. "I can hear the monkeys already."

"There aren't any monkeys in the Emerald Forest, silly!" Velvet said, slapping Coco's shoulder. "Lemurs are the closest thing. Maybe that's what you're hearing?"

Coco rolled her eyes. "I remain thoroughly disgusted."

The bus drove on, delving deeper into the woods. At some point, the road ended, and all that was left to guide them the rest of the way were vague trails on the forest floor. Velvet now understood why people were discouraged to explore the forest without professional supervision.

Eventually, they reached a wider clearing in the forest, and the bus slowed to a halt. A couple minutes later, the driver opened the bus doors, and their tour guide told everyone to get out. Coco made a face as she fixed the straps of her field boots, then got up from her seat, and Velvet followed after her.

Her feet hit the grass, and Velvet was immediately awestruck by her surroundings. She'd seen photos of the Emerald Forest before, but whoever had taken them really hadn't done justice to the real thing. The trees were so vividly green it was no wonder how the forest had gotten its name, and the way the treetops filtered the sunlight from above, dotting the ground with miniature stars…

God, Velvet really wished she had her camera with her.

"Don't look too hard, or you're gonna burn out your eyes before we've even started," Coco whispered in her ear.

Realizing she was making her fascination with the forest a little too obvious, Velvet nodded seriously and stepped forward to join the rest of the tour.

"Alright, everyone. Welcome to the Emerald Forest!" the guide said, gesturing at the trees around them. "I'm sure you're dying to get exploring after the long ride here, but let's slow our jets for a second while I explain how things will go from here. I know you've all gone over the pamphlets and heard the speech again and again, but it doesn't hurt to refresh your memories!" She raised her hands level with her head, making two V's with her fingers. "Repeat with me - a conscious hike is a fulfilling hike!"

The group repeated after her half-heartedly, except for Velvet, who was too embarrassed to say those words aloud, and Coco, who was too busy grumbling under her breath about how much she regretted some select decisions she'd made in her life.

"As much as we'd like to let you go off on your own, we cannot advise you to do that. The forest is tricky to navigate even for people who know it well, and if you wander too deep into it, it's possible to get lost in it for days – if you even find your way out of it at all! Oh no!" The guide touched her palms to her cheeks, acting like she was scared out of her mind. "So we'll split off into groups, each one led by one of us, the Emerald Guides! Say hi, Emerald Guides!"

Behind her, a group of very unenthusiastic-looking teenagers unenthusiastically cheered and waved to the group.

"But they're… just kids," Velvet whispered. "I don't feel very safe, Coco."

"Damn right. Keep your head up at all times, Velv." Coco glared intensely at the tour guide. "I don't trust anyone who sets a bunch of ticking hormone-bombs free in a forest and expects everything to turn out okay."

Velvet thought that was a very specific mistrust to have, but she nodded in support of her friend anyway.

"Each of the groups will visit one of the places of interest listed in your pamphlets. You'll stay there for about an hour, then come back here, where you'll then choose where to go next," the main guide continued her instructions, still as bubbly as when she'd started. "Unfortunately, we only have time for three trips today, so you'll have to choose your destinations well! Now let's see who's taking who where! Melinda here – say hi to the group, Melinda!"

"Sup."

"She'll be taking you to the Caverns of Underground Roots! Oooh, so otherworldly, and very much worth your money! And George – say hello, George! He'll be-"

Velvet zoned out as the lady droned on and on about the groups. Some of these places sounded interesting, but none of them were what she was excited about. So many people had seen them over the years, and so many photos had been taken of them already, there was nothing new to be found there.

There was one place she'd like to explore in the forest, the reason she'd taken an interest in the hike in the first place, but it wasn't listed on the tour company's pamphlets. The Anesidora Ruins. Velvet had no clue what an Anesidora was, but supposedly, there had once been a temple in these woods, before something had happened to it and it had been destroyed and abandoned.

Historians had explored the ruins before, and they'd found very little of interest. But Velvet was sure there was more to that story. If she could only get there…

"Finally. I thought that hag was never going to stop talking," Coco said all of a sudden, snapping Velvet from her thoughts. "So, the day is yours. Where do you wanna go first?" She looked at her hopefully. "Home?"

"I'm not sure…" Velvet replied. Oh, she was sure, very, very sure. She had a plan. But it would be stupid to even consider going through with it. "How about… the Verdant Summit?"

"Are you kidding me? You want to climb all the way to the top of that stupid mountain?" Coco pinched her forehead and drew a deep breath. "You're punishing me for embarrassing you earlier, aren't you?"

"No, I genuinely want to go there!" Velvet paused. "Maybe just a little."

"…Okay. If you insist." Coco sighed. "I am such a good friend…"


The truth was, Velvet didn't want to go to the Verdant Summit either. It was just the top of a mountain. A very, very tall mountain, and the last thing Velvet wanted to do was climb all the way up there. Maybe if she had her camera, she could take some interesting pictures of the rest of the forest from up above, but alas, that boat had sailed.

The reason she'd chosen to go with the Verdant Summit group was that the path to the mountain was the closest point the tour would take her to the Anesidora Ruins. The ruins were still somewhat off the beaten path, but Velvet was confident she could find her way there and back.

Of course, their assigned Emerald Guide wouldn't approve of anyone slipping away to their own devices, so she would have to be very discreet. And then there was the problem of Coco…

"Hey. Stop here with me for a second," Velvet whispered in Coco's ear, midway to the mountain. "I need a breather."

"Already?" Coco looked at her an exasperated look, but stopped anyway. "You're no better than when we used to climb ropes for gym class."

"Don't remind me. I hated that." Velvet leaned on her knees, pretending to be winded. "The school made all of us wear short shorts."

"I don't see what's so wrong with that." Coco grinned. "Too bad Coach Jerry didn't either."

The memory evoked such shame and disgust in Velvet, suddenly she didn't feel bad at all about what she was about to drag Coco into.

Velvet waited a bit longer, letting the rest of the group get further ahead without them, before she stood up and grabbed Coco's wrist. Coco stared at her, bemused, then yelped as Velvet walked off to the right of the beaten path, dragging Coco with her unceremoniously.

"Velvet! What are you doing!" Coco exclaimed. "Our Emerald Gui- Our dead-eyed teen went that way, not this way!"

"I know," Velvet said. "We're not going to climb the mountain."

"We're not going to climb the mountain?" Coco repeated, delighted. "Wait. We're not going to climb the mountain?" she repeated once again, this time more confused than anything else.

Velvet kept on walking, only stopping when Coco stomped on the back of her foot.

"Velvet, you're acting like a crazy person – which granted, is not entirely out of the normal, but…" Coco crossed her arms, demanding an explanation.

"There's a place I want to see, but the guides won't take us there," Velvet explained, talking fast, as if somehow that would make her sound more reasonable. "I know how to get there, though. It's not far from here."

Coco removed her shades altogether and stared hard at Velvet. Yeah, the fast talking hadn't worked as intended.

"I promise you I know what I'm doing, Coco. I studied the forest a lot before I bought my first ticket – the one I sold, remember? - so I really do know how to find my way there. And I can also find the way back easily." Velvet tapped the side of her head. "Photographic memory, remember? And have you ever known me to get lost?"

"You got lost last week," Coco deadpanned. "The exact same night you got robbed and beaten."

Velvet opened her mouth, then closed it. She let go of Coco's wrist, feeling her spirit deflate. Coco was right, of course. She was acting recklessly, for no reason whatsoever. Even if she did find those ruins, what good would that do her? None.

It wouldn't mean a thing.

Not after that night.

"You know what?" Coco said. She looked at the sky, then back at Velvet, and shook her head. "I dragged you here, so if you want to go wandering off into the unknown to satisfy your baffling need to investigate things no one cares about… Then that's what we'll do."

Velvet covered her mouth with her hands, feeling tears come to her eyes. She stepped towards Coco, making to hug her, but Coco raised her hands and pushed her back, a cautionary look on her face.

"R-right. Sorry." Velvet wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "No touchy-feely."

"Indeed. I'm only humoring you because someone has to make sure you don't fall into a hole and break all your bones," Coco said. "Just tell me, where are we going?"

"The… uh…" Velvet paused, sucking in air between her teeth. "The Anesidora Ruins…"

Coco stared at her blankly for a moment, before she put on her shades and gestured for Velvet to guide the way. Velvet turned around and started walking again, pumping her fist for joy. With the way Coco groaned behind her, Velvet guessed she must have caught that.

They forged on ahead, with Velvet leading the charge confidently – for a couple minutes, until she realized that maybe she'd been a little arrogant to think she could navigate the densest forest in the continent of Sanus because she'd spent a few hours studying it online. The trees had looked so different and easily identifiable in the pictures! She was beginning to suspect someone had abused an editing software a little too much.

Luckily for her, Coco was too busy complaining about the forest to notice her deteriorating confidence. And to be fair, Velvet didn't like having insects buzzing around her either. The general smell was terrible too. How many species lived in this forest, again?

Just as she was about to admit that she was lost, Velvet saw a break in the trees up ahead. She grabbed Coco's wrist and sped up, and soon they crossed the natural threshold into a wide clearing.

"Yes!" Velvet yelled excitedly. "We're not lost!"

"Excuse me, what?" Coco said, freeing her hand with a shake.

"Uh, nothing. Look!" Velvet made a sweeping motion at the space in front of them. "It's the Anesidora Ruins!"

Scattered throughout the clearing were various stone structures, some small, other bigger, though all of them were broken in some way or another. They'd clearly fit together in some distant past, though Velvet couldn't quite picture how in her mind, at least not yet. Moss and vines had grown over them and worn off what might once have been vibrant colors.

"Wow. It looks so old and… mysterious. Like it holds so many secrets, and we can't even imagine what they might be," Velvet said, stepping forward. "Do you know the history of this place, Coco?"

Following her, Coco shrugged. "Why don't you tell me?"

"The thing is, I can't, because no one knows the true history," Velvet said. "The only consensus is that these structures used to be a temple. To whom or what, nobody knows. And we don't know who build it either. Some theories say it was a place of worship built by the first men of Sanus. Others say that, no, it was built more recently than that, maybe even dating back to the first monarchs. It's just that nobody dared to explode the jungle back then, so it went unnoticed."

"Well, judging by the state of this thing, I guess they were right to stay away," Coco mused. "Any theories about what happened here?"

"Time, most likely. But I don't buy that," Velvet said. "Structures crumble over the ages, you can't argue about that, but just look at this. It's almost like it was demolished on purpose, either by the people who built them… or someone else. Something happened here, we just don't know what."

"Cool," Coco said, nodding appreciatively. "…You think they buried any bug repellents?"

Velvet rubbed her forehead. Well, she couldn't expect Coco to be as captivated by loose theories of ancient history as she was. Coco had more important things to think about, such as, for example, the real world.

"I wanna go closer," Velvet said. "There's a part of the temple we can actually get inside."

Coco cast a doubtful look at the ruins. "That sounds like a bad idea."

"Oh, come on, Coco, it's perfectly safe," Velvet said. "I've read about it."

"Well, if you've read about it!" Coco shook her head. "I swear, you're going to be the death of me. Go on, I'll be right behind you."

Velvet went ahead, passing between the ruins as she headed towards the biggest one in the center. It had the vague resemblance of a church, though the roof and most of the upper half of it had collapsed. Somehow, the walls closest to the ground had not crumbled under all that weight. The pile of rubble, covered by the natural green of the forest, cast a shadow over the area under it.

"This cannot be safe," Coco said when they reached the entrance.

"If it didn't collapse after ten thousand years, it's not gonna collapse now," Velvet said.

"I thought you said you didn't know when this place was built."

"Ballpark."

"Great. You can't order fast food without stuttering, but this - this is nothing to you."

Velvet hunched over to look into the temple. It was so dark, even she was having trouble seeing anything. She could only imagine how Coco was dealing.

"I'm going in," Velvet said. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Coco crossed her arms, obviously torn between her fear and her need to protect Velvet.

"I promise I won't fall into any holes," Velvet said.

"…Fine," Coco said abruptly. She took out her cellphone and started a timer. "But if you don't come out of there in ten minutes, I'm leaving you to be eaten by the lemurs." She glared at the trees around them. "I bet they destroyed the temple, the little devils."

Not a likely theory, but Velvet didn't argue. Coco clearly had an emotional bias going on there.

Velvet went over the threshold, bending her neck to avoid scrapping her ears across the ceiling. The air inside the temple was so dusty, she had to squint her eyes to keep them from stinging too much. It was a miracle she didn't go into a fit of sneezing either. Her nose was very sensitive.

Thankfully, it wasn't so dark that she couldn't see where she was going. She went to a wall and put a hand on it before moving onward, using it as a reference point so she wouldn't get lost on the way back.

That also gave her the opportunity to inspect the scribbles on the wall. Sadly, most of them had been lost to time, and of the ones that remained, Velvet could hardly decipher them. There was some form of writing in a language she didn't know, and likely no one did, or else she'd probably have read about it during her research.

There were some drawings, though. Figures, not unlike the kind cavemen used to paint on the walls of their… well, caves. They depicted all sorts of creatures, from animals to humans, even faunus.

How progressive! Velvet liked these temple people.

Some of the figures puzzled her, though. They resembled animals, but they were so much larger than the depictions of the humans and faunus. They were, in the absence of a better word, scary. They almost looked like…

Velvet bit her lip. No, it couldn't be.

She stopped in her tracks, looking at the wall, and her excitement slowly faded as she felt the weightlessness around her neck. If only she had her camera, any camera. The photos she could take here. They probably wouldn't be any good under all this dust, and with the lack of light, but…

What was she doing? What was the point? She was nothing without a camera. Less than nothing. She was a burden, and a… a disappointment.

Velvet rubbed her eyes. Screw her pride. Screw pretending Cardin was wrong about her. She was going to get out of this stupid temple, join back with Coco, and when they got back home, she was going to talk with her about a new camera.

Ask her for one, rather.

She took a deep breath, and started to turn back towards the entrance. But as she turned away from the wall, she heard something behind her, and she looked back over shoulder.

There was some sort of… light, coming from deeper within the ruined temple. And the noise it made, she'd never heard anything like it. It was like the sea if it had a voice, like the melody of a ray of sunlight, like…

Like the universe, calling to her.

And then the light faded, and the noise stopped. Velvet gasped. She ran a hand across her neck, looking towards where the light had been. She took a step forward.

And fell through a hole.


Velvet opened her eyes and saw darkness. Not darkness like the absence of light. Darkness. Nothingness. All around her, but not touching her. Never touching her.

She couldn't be touched by it, as she was nothingness herself, after all.

She turned around, and saw the light in the form of a sphere. It floated in front of her for a second, then slowly moved around her head, before coming to a stop before her eyes.

"Where am I?" Velvet asked. "Do you want something from me?"

The light exploded in all directions, erasing the darkness, and her with it. Then it shrank back into a sphere, and floated there.

Oh. That was obvious.

Velvet raised her hand and grasped the light.


No, Velvet! Don't go into the light!

Can you imagine it if I just killed Velvet before she even got her superpowers?

Uhm... Not that's she's getting superpowers, hehe... Errr...

-Zeroan