Intermission: A Vee-ry Special Episode

A/N: And we're back. This took me forever to write, and not just because of my break, though I'll explain that in greater detail at the bottom.

I never really know what to say here, so I'll just say this. I played a game called CrisTales, and while a middling game, especially in the later half of it, it makes me sad no one else is talking about it! The art design alone was worth the price of admission. It's free on Epic right now, if you use that.

Titan, that is gonna age this author's note. I'll look back on this in a few years and wonder why I was talking about a game I probably won't remember much about by then.

The Human world was an amazing, wonderful place.

After Vee had taken that Bus out of Gravesfield, she'd gone as far as it would take her. It just seemed to keep going, and going, long after she'd given up trying to stay awake to see it all, and had fallen asleep. She'd woken to find they were still traveling, hours later.

The sheer distance was astounding, and yet a mere drop in the bucket for the Human world. They must have traveled the length of the Titan, with there was still no end in sight. Vee was no stranger to travel, having spent the last year on the run. She'd seen every nook and cranny of the Titan, from the toes to the forehead. Yet as she learned more about the realm she now inhabited, she wasn't sure if she could see everything the human world had to offer if she had a thousand lifetimes to do so.

After leaving Connecticut, a 'state' in this 'country' she found herself on, Vee headed west, to a state called "New York," that also had a city on it's coast that had the same name. Curious about such a place, and why it had such a redundant name, she made her way there, taking another bus south-east, until finding her first real stop in this world. She wasn't exactly sure what happened to the Old York, but it clearly didn't hold a candle to the bustling city she found herself in.

It was big, for one, and magical(figuratively speaking). A dozen times larger than Bonesborough, easy. The buildings dwarfed her as she went down those concrete sidewalks, craning her neck up at them in awe at their splendor. When the first night fell, she was almost blinded by the majesty of all the lights that illuminated the streets. It was like the City refused to sleep, just as active in the late night hours as it had been during the day.

And the people! They came in all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds. Vee had no idea there was so much variety in humanity before this moment. At first, it unnerved Vee to have so many people around her, making her watch over her shoulder, waiting for someone to notice she wasn't one of them, but after a while she got used to the hustle and bustle, knocking shoulders with everyone else and the sheer level of noise the humans all made in their daily lives helped drown out the paranoia in her head.

She even managed to make a few friends while she was there.

The first kind stranger to greet her was an older man who had called himself Earl. Vee wasn't sure what he was the Earl of, and he never gave her his true name, just his title, but he seemed very knowledgeable. Wisdom came with age, after all. Vee assumed he didn't mention anything but his title because he was a very important Earl, as he disguised himself as a peasant to mingle with the common folk, dressed in clothes as unwashed as himself.

"You know, Vee," He sniffed, leaning against the building they sat in front as the people passed by, some stopping to drop coins in a cup the man held in his hands, "Have I ever told you about the lizard people?"

Vee's ears perked at the notion of such a thing, biting her lip and shaking her head despite knowing a lot about lizard people.

"You see, the world is run by them. They're everywhere. They control everything. Shapeshifters who have the world in their pockets." He whispered, a maddening look in his eye. "They're poisoning the water supply, keeping us at each other's throats, and filling our heads with lies, like the moon landing. Never happened. They made it up. The moon isn't even real!"

He tapped his temple with a finger, "But they can't pull the wool over ol' Earl's eyes, no. I see them for what they are."

Earl leaned back, his attention back on the passerbys, cup lifted to take their offerings. Beside him, Vee felt a little spark of hope. Her people must have survived and come here, and were doing so well for themselves, too! She wished those basilisks well in their endeavors, even if she didn't understand what faking the moon landing had to do with anything.

Earl also showed Vee where she could find the best free food, in the best trash cans, which is how she also met Sophie. Sophie was a young woman who worked at a coffee shop on one of the street corners Earl liked to sit at and do his begger routine, and at the end of her shift she'd make sure to wrap up any uneaten bagels in a plastic bag and set it beside the dumpster for Vee and Earl.

Vee munched into one, mildly stale, but still delicious. "Thanks so much!"

Sophie just smiled fondly at her, shaking her head. "No problem. I can't have some kid starving in the streets on my conscience if I can help it. Just keep quiet about it, if the manager finds out I've been giving these out instead of throwing them away, he'll freak."

Vee didn't know what kind of beast a Manager was, but she was certain it was some type of scavenger that would want to eat the bagels itself. She'd keep her mouth shut, especially if it kept her stomach full.

Then there were all the nice people at the Shelter, of course. It was crowded, often just as loud as it was outside, but it was a warm place to sleep in relative safety when night fell. While Vee had never seen any large and dangerous beasts, or even heard of any outside of the Managers, she assumed they still existed, and it was comforting to have a space for her to rest indoors when the sun sank below the horizon. Sometimes she even got to sleep on a mat instead of the floor.

Vee had never had any of these luxuries before. A full belly, decent company that wouldn't try to kill her, or turn her over to the Emperor's Coven, and a place to sleep that she was always welcome to return to? It frequently brought grateful tears to her eyes to have so much.

Then the rain came.

It had just been like any other day in the busy city, Vee sitting beside Earl and collecting coins under the awning of the small coffee shop Sophie worked out of. It had been a slow day, but far from a bad one, when a chill on the wind swept through, sinking it's teeth into Vee's flesh. Standing up and stepping out, the basilisk looked around, wondering what could possibly be up with the weather, when a large, wet drop fell from the sky, splattering against her cheek.

With a shriek, she flew back, under the protection of the awning. Earl laughed heartily at her reaction, the sound lost to Vee as the rain began to come down all at once, hard. The people around them searched for places to stay dry, others pulled out umbrellas, while Vee did her best to keep her shoes from getting wet in the puddles forming around her feet.

She pressed herself against the wall as the water pooled towards her, pulling herself as far away from it as she could, before giving up entirely and opening the door to the coffee shop, slamming it behind her in her attempts to seal out the rain. Behind the counter, Sophie giggled at her antics, "What, afraid of a little rain?"

Afraid? No. Terrified? Absolutely. Vee could remember the last time she'd got caught in the rain, back on the Boiling Isles. She'd been running, and found herself lost in the forests outside of Skull Creek, a town near… well, the Titan's Skull. She'd bumped into an Emperor's Coven foot soldier by accident, he hadn't even suspected she'd been a basilisk at the time, but she'd panicked and had run anyway, only arousing suspicion of herself even more. Before she knew it, she had a squad of coven soldiers trying to find her amongst the trees outside of town.

Then it started to rain. The coven members retreated in those moments, pulling up shields to shelter themselves with until they could get back to town, but Vee had nothing. The splashes of rain burned against her skin as she searched for somewhere, anywhere to hide, a cave, under a particularly large tree branch, anything.

She had found a Snabbit hole. She'd changed her form back to her basilisk body, able to slither and crawl into tighter spaces than she'd otherwise have in a witch or demon's form, and took refuge in the Snabbit's den.

Snabbits, much like Earth rabbits, like to burrow. Unlike Earth rabbits, Snabbits also have large sharp teeth, and are carnivorous. She had had to fight the beast, suffering a copious amount of bites until she could drain it of enough of it's magic to knock it unconscious, and spent the rest of the night curled up beside it, bruised, bleeding, and hoping there wasn't enough rain to flood the burrow and boil her alive.

All of that fear was still inside of her, coming back to her in the coffee shop. She hadn't realized she was shaking until Sophie was beside her with a worried frown on her face, pressing a warm drink into Vee's hands and helping her find a seat. "You really don't like the rain, huh?"

Vee silently shook her head, before realizing Sophie had brought her a coffee, "oh, wait-" She reached into her pockets, to take the change she'd gathered as a beggar to pay, but the other woman brushed her off.

"It's on the house, sweetie. Just don't tell the manager." Sophie gave her a pat on the head and headed back for the counter, back to the line of customers she had to ignore to tend to Vee, "Though you can't expect freebies in the future, not when the rainy season's just beginning."

Rainy season? Vee gulped at the very notion. She had to get out of this city. She had to find some place much drier.

And that was how she found herself back on another bus, months after her arrival in New York, a bag of bagels in hand, fresher than the ones Sophie normally gave her, and a pocket full of change that Earl had gifted. She'd miss her new friends, but as the days had gone on, and the rains only got worse, she couldn't stand to stay.

Earl had come to see her off, "A girl like you can do better than a town like this. Forget about ol' Earl, go out there and be someone."

The first dry place she'd looked into was called Phoenix, a city named after the firebirds. Apparently humans thought they were graceful, immortal creatures of rebirth, rather than jerks who dive bombed anyone who came into their territory, then blew themselves up in a ball of fire. Vee quickly struck that off her visit list.

Next was a desert called Death Valley, which Vee refused to visit for obvious reasons. She was trying to escape the rains to avoid a cruel death, thank you very much.

She'd heard of someplace called Las Vegas that hardly ever got rain. Maybe she'd head there?

As it turned out, Las Vegas was very far away. So far it was mind boggling for the little basilisk, who quickly realized that by the buses she normally took it would take weeks of travel time, and expenses, not to mention planning. If she went the way she was, she'd have to plan the trip state by state, city by city. It also wasn't sustainable on the limited cash she had.

She'd have to take a bus that went cross country, rather than the ones that made lots of stops. It'd be more expensive, but it'd take only a fraction of the time and planning. Unfortunately, her first bus was taking her farther north, rather than westward like she'd wanted, putting her back in the border of Connecticut. It was there that she'd catch the cross country bus, though she had a wait time of a few hours ahead of her before it arrived.

Knowing this was her last chance to do anything that wasn't sitting in a bus seat for the next few days, Vee took the opportunity to find something to keep herself entertained that was within her very strict budget. She'd snuck into a few Grudgby games played at schools during her days in the Demon Realm, wanting to see what the fuss was about. The crowds of witches meant hiding under the bleachers, but it had always been fun to see despite that. To feel almost like one of the crowd. So she settled on that, a sports game. Schools usually had sports played at them for free.

It was just her luck that the local high school did, in fact, have a game that night. The one with the feet, and the ball, and the heavy pads the players wore. It seemed rather tame compared to Grudgby, and she didn't understand all of the rules, but being able to sit in the bleachers, cheering for the teams with the fans, partaking in the festivities, all added up to being her favorite sports experience of her life thus far.

One thing the teams in both worlds had in common was the presence of Cheerleaders, doing short sequenced dances and cheers for their respective teams. When half time began, Vee watched with a bright smile on her face as they made pyramids and performed acrobatics and flips. As she watched though, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched back. An old familiar feeling buzzed in the back of her head, tickling her paranoia that had saved her plenty of times in the Demon Realm. Still, she'd been safe now for months, there wasn't any reason to fear anything here in the Human Realm.

The game was a close one, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. The scores were tied, less than a minute left in the game, when the Gravesfield Giraffes star player managed to score a touchdown, winning their team the game. The stands erupted into cheers around her, Vee standing in her seat to join the rest of the humans. In that moment she caught a glimpse of someone, a flash of blonde hair and a pair of eyes staring her down on the side of the field, too busy looking at the basilisk to join in the celebrations with the other cheerleaders.

Vee lowered her arms mid-cheer, her expression falling alongside them, wondering who this person could possibly be. Those eyes spoke of disbelief and worry, and more than a little anger. A numbing chill flared up in Vee's spine as she realized that this person, whoever they were, knew her. Or knew the body she currently was running around in, at least.

She needed to leave. Vee didn't even know the name of the girl whose face she was wearing, and if there was one thing she'd learned while on the run from the Emperor's Coven, knowing little about who you were impersonating was the worst way to blend in. Trapped on all sides by people in the throes of victory, Vee did her best to try and squeeze past them, avoiding elbows and almost tripping over feet as she did so, her eyes flickering over to the girl in the cheerleader outfit who was marching in her direction, filled with purpose and with a lot less bodies in her way.

Vee scrambled to get away, but the crowds kept pushing her back as she desperately tried to squeeze through. "Excuse me, pardon me, please move!"

Behind her, the other girls' dangerous aura made these same people part, eager to not get in her way or be on the receiving end of her bad side. "Amity!"

Was that supposed to be her name? She wasn't a fan of it, it didn't suit her at all. Vee tried her best to ignore the girl's calls. She was almost home free, just a bit farther and she would be through the gate and out of the stadium. She didn't have enough magic to change her appearance, not after all these weeks, but if she could just get away, get free from the crowd, she could make a run for it and find someplace to hide until her bus arrived. Just a bit more and-

A hand grabbed her by the wrist, yanking her back suddenly. Vee felt her breath leave her lungs as she was forced to face the other girl, who's hair was messy and frayed, face red and teeth clenched. For one horrible moment, Vee thought she'd be chastised in public for whatever this Amity character had done to this girl, but it seemed the human had enough sense to not want to make a scene and dragged Vee behind the bleachers and away from prying eyes.

Vee gulped as she stared into the fire that was in the Cheerleader's eyes. She shook and seethed, anger in every pore, releasing her tight grip on Vee's wrist to instead grab a handful of her shirt and shake the poor basilisk. "Where in the world have you been, Amity?!"

Vee's mouth opened and closed, unable to answer, but she didn't need to as the other girl continued to rant. "You ditched me, then you ditched school, and you ignored my texts, and my calls, and no one even bothered to tell me you'd run away for over a week! Then the twins vanished off the face of the Earth! Are they with you? Was this some kind of scheme to get away from home, or something?"

The grip on Vee's shirt slacked a little, the anger leaving the other girl, tears pricking at her eyes and dimming the flames behind them, "Did you really hate me so much you couldn't even tell me you were going?"

Vee finally found some words, "I don't hate you!"

And it was true, she didn't even know this girl. But whoever she was, she didn't seem to believe Vee's words. "I'm not dumb, I know you kept trying to push me away, and off onto your siblings. But I didn't care about them, Amity, you've been my best friend since second grade, you could have talked to me. I could have helped!"

Arms were thrown around her as the cheerleader embraced Vee in perhaps the single most uncomfortable hug she'd ever received in her life. As much as she tried to keep herself together, she couldn't help but freak out under the surface. She tried to push the other girl away, to get out of her hold, but she was fought against, the cheerleader brushing a hand through Vee's hair and uttering a soothing "ssshhh."

"I, uh, that is-" Vee sputtered.

"It's just me, Amity. Just little old Clara. You don't have to run from me, I won't tell anyone I saw you. I just wanted to know you were safe. I was so scared for you." Clara squeezed Vee tightly, "We're things at home really that bad? I always thought you were exaggerating… are you sure you're safe?"

"I'm good! I'm fine!" Vee broke from the hug, a little more forcefully than she intended. Hugs weren't something she was used to, especially from some stranger who could possibly see through her disguise. "I'm- eh, thanks for worrying, but I'm perfectly safe right now, and-"

Clara frowned, reaching out and cupping Vee's face with one of her hands, rubbing a thumb against Vee's cheek. Vee gulped, wondering just what kind of relationship these two had for the other girl to feel so free to perform such an intimate gesture, until Clara spoke, "Amity, you've got something on your face."

Vee's eyebrow twitched, and she quickly removed the girls hand, slapping her own over her cheek to hide it from view, "I'm sure it's nothing-"

"It's… spreading to the other one, too." Clara gaped, "Is that a rash, or something?"

Vee drew in a shaky breath. Her disguise was dropping from her building anxiety, a smattering of white dots spreading across her cheeks, bleeding the skin dry of it's color. "No, it's- I gotta go!"

Vee gave the girl a shove, then tore off for a second time, abandoning Clara under the bleachers. By now, the football stadium had emptied a little, people still meandering on the sidelines, but there wasn't anyone left to get in her way and congest the exit. She didn't get far before the pattering of feet followed behind her, Clara giving chase just as she had the last time.

Vee had to get to the bus station. She could outrace the cheerleader. She'd been on the run from the Emperor's Coven for months, she was used to long distance running. There wasn't any hope of Clara catching her.

Titan, what kind of shape was that girl in?

Clara had dogged Vee's footsteps the entire way to the Bus station, hardly looking put off at all from all the running, meanwhile Vee was huffing and puffing, desperately hanging on as much as she could to her current shape so that she still had legs to run on.

Vee weaved through the buses that sat empty, waiting for drivers and passengers, hoping to lose the other girl, but it seemed that Clara had considered that possibility, abandoning her chase to go around the vehicles and cut Vee off, making the basilisk skid to a halt before she could slam into the other girl.

Once more she was caught, by a teenager no less, who pinned her against the side of one of the empty buses, hands clenched tightly around Vee's arms to keep her from escaping.

"What is wrong with you, Amity?!" Clara said loudly, not quite yelling so as to not attract attention from anyone in the area, even if her tone still made Vee feel like she was being shouted at.

Vee shut her eyes, alarmed by the volume and losing her cool. She couldn't stay in one piece, and right before the girl's eyes she lost control of her ears and eyes, both morphing back to what they truly looked like without all the magic to cover it up.

She kept her eyes shut, waiting for shouting, for berating words. Instead, one of her ears were tugged on, "What even is this? Some kind of monster makeup or something? What are you trying to pull? Seriously, Amity, this isn't funny and I'm tired of it!"

Vee winced as both her ears were being pulled on, and she cracked open her eyes, seeing Clara right in her face. The human took one look into her inhuman eyes before scrambling backward with a gasp. "Wait, Clara, I can explain!"

It wasn't that she wanted to, but her bus wasn't here yet and she needed to come up with something to keep the girl from calling for help.

Clara's mouth opened and closed as she struggled for words, "Yo- you aren't Amity! What are you? What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing!" Vee raised her hands up in surrender, hoping against hope Clara would know she meant no harm.

Clara raised her fists in a defensive stance, "Don't move! I- I'll have you know, I took karate!"

Fear seemed to kick in as Clara began to ramble, "Well, I took two lessons when I was five, then got bored and quit, but that doesn't matter, I'm still very athletic, and I'm sure I can throw a punch if I have to!"

Vee had seen the girl with her cheer squad during the game, and knew Clara to be acrobatic and strong, strong enough to support multiple other girls her size in a pyramid, so she took that threat very seriously. She'd rather get through this unblemished and unbruised.

Clara pinned Vee against the bus, pressing the basilisk's back against the cool metal frame of the vehicle, "Now, no lies! Tell me where Amity is, monster!"

Vee covered her eyes in panic, "S-she's in the Demon Realm! I think? I don't know!"

"You dragged her off to Hell?!" Clara cried out in disbelief, fists tightening around Vee's collar.

The basilisk shook her head and began back peddling, "No! I didn't do anything, she came of her own free will!"

Vee was silenced with a solid punch to her stomach, making her cough as the wind was stricken from her lungs. The punch was far from the worst she'd taken, but Clara hadn't been lying when she said she was strong. "No lying! Why are you trying to take over Amity's life?"

Vee clenched her jaw, "I'm not lying! I don't want your friend's life, I just wanted a way out! I didn't even know Amity's name before you showed up, I just saw a human come through a magic portal, and took my chance to escape."

"How do I know you're even telling the truth about that? Magic? Demon Realm?" Clara prodded, snarling at the Basilisk. "Why would you want to leave anyway?"

Vee quivered. She really didn't want to talk about this with someone she didn't even know. Her eyes darted to the side, wondering if she could make a break for it, but as it was she was hardly holding the form she still had together. Any more panic, and she'd lose her legs and everyone she slithered past would know she wasn't human.

Gulping, she opened her mouth to try to explain her story, "I- I'm not like the other witches and demons in my realm. I shouldn't technically even exist. I'm an experiment. I was tort-wasn't treated well, and managed to escape, but there wasn't anywhere there that I could run or hide for long. I needed to get away."

"I really, really don't know what happened to your friend. I don't know why she'd want to stay in the Demon Realm, if she even did so by choice. I ran, and I didn't look back. I didn't even really care what happened to her as long as I could get away and be safe. I'm sorry." And Vee meant it. She hadn't really cared about this Amity girl, but now knowing she never came back home after Vee fled, she wondered exactly how well a human girl would be treated on the other side. Would she have been stuck, just as much as a lab rat as Vee had been?

"I- I thought she'd come back…" Vee uttered out quietly.

Clara's grip tightened on Vee's shoulder, the basilisk waiting to be hit again, clamping her eyes shut and scrunching up her face. Instead, the girl loosened her hand, letting it fall to her side and letting Vee go. "I think I know why she didn't come back."

Vee cracked open an eye, her face softening as she got a look at Clara's face. Her brow unfurrowed, eyes downcast. "Why? This world is great. I figured she'd turn back eventually, and I'd be long gone, so what reason would she have to stay in my world?"

"Because Amity never got along well with her family. They were controlling, and demanding, and expected her to be perfect in every conceivable way. If she found some magical fantasy world to run away to, I don't think she'd ever come back on her own." Clara chuckled despite herself, swiping at unshed tears with her sleeve. "She may have put up a front of perfection, but she couldn't exactly hide her love of those dumb fantasy books she always had her nose in. Like I didn't know she was always blowing me off to hang out in the library. Studying, my ass."

Vee didn't really understand why that meant Amity would choose to stay in the Demon realm. At least she had a family, even if they were demanding, but she wisely didn't argue about it. She just held herself, arms wrapped around her body tightly, wondering exactly where this left the two of them. "A-am I free to go, then?"

Clara frowned, "No. You can't just go running around with Amity's face. You think her family isn't looking for her, or something? They're the Blights! And I don't want you pretending to be her, either. Get a new one."

Vee bit her lip, wondering how to explain her situation "Well, see, about that, I can't really do that without magic, and there isn't exactly any here in the Human Realm for me to change-"

"Then find some!" Clara growled, slamming her hand past Vee's head to hit the bus. Vee's legs shaked, still frightened of the cheerleader, "You don't get to go around with my friend's face. It's not safe, and I don't like it."

"Alright, alright," Vee conceded, "But I need to use it a bit longer. I- I don't know how much longer, but maybe I can find some magic to eat somewhere, but I can't go around looking like I do I now!"

Vee gestured to her face, covered in white splotches, reptilian eyes on display, and her floofy ears poking out from under her hair. Clara sighed, knowing the basilisk had a point. "Eating magic? Egh, fine. Do what you have to, then you can get out of my life, and away from Amity's."

Vee nodded, shifting her face back to being fully human with what little magic she had left in her system. She was lucky she hadn't lost her shape fully, she'd never had been able to change back otherwise. "Okay, I'll… I'll go, and get on my bus. I'm going across the country, far away, and then you'll never see me again. I'll find some magic if I look hard enough. Maybe."

The two stood awkwardly together for a minute, Vee wondering if it was safe to leave, and Clara still looking distrustful of the little demon beside her. Finally the cheerleader gestured with her head for Vee to go, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she could head to this Las Vegas place, and be free from the rain, and this crazy girl.

She hadn't made it two steps before noticing Clara was marching beside her, face serious and intimidating. It was almost comical seeing her, still in her cheerleader uniform, walking like she was going to war. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Clara glared, then turned her gaze forward, "I'm escorting you. I'm making sure you're on that bus, and never coming back. Come on."

Vee opened her mouth to ensure the girl that wasn't necessary, but wisely chose to keep her thoughts to herself. She'd still be feeling that sucker punch to the gut tomorrow, and didn't want to evoke the cheerleaders wraith anymore than she had.

"You're taking this all a bit well… aren't humans supposed to not believe in stuff like this?" Vee asked, if just to fill the silence as they walked.

Clara grit her teeth, glancing over at Vee through the corner of her eyes, "If your face hadn't changed right in front of me, I'd have thought you were just a really bad liar. As it is, I'm probably going to spiral into disbelief and horror once all of this settles in, and you'd better hope you're not there when it does."

"Got it," Vee meeped, deciding to shut her mouth the rest of the way.

The two made their way to Vee's bus, the doors opening just as they arrived. A line of people were ahead of them, shuffling in single file, leaving the two teenagers to stand awkwardly while they waited for Vee's turn to enter. Both girls did their best to ignore the other, avoiding their eyes, Vee with her hands stuffed in her pockets and Clara with crossed arms.

After a minute or so, Vee had made it to the front of the line, "So, I guess this is it, huh? I- I'll do my best to keep my word, I promise… Though there isn't really a way to prove that to you."

"Whatever," Clara dismissed, narrowing her eyes, "just get out of here, okay."

Vee wanted to say something else, anything really, but couldn't find the words. Instead she breathed in deeply and nodded, turning to step onto the bus when suddenly a hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Yes?"

Vee turned, expecting to see Clara, but instead found herself face to face with a man she didn't know. He was tall, with broad shoulders and short black hair. Stubble lined his chin. "I need you to come with me, Ma'am."

Clara gaped at the stranger who had butted in before her problem could get rid of herself, "Excuse me? What the hell do you want?"

The Bus driver stood from his seat at the commotion, ready to intervene, "Is there a problem here?"

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge, flashing it to the bus driver, "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm a private investigator, and this here is a runaway. I'm just doing my job."

"What?" Vee asked, eyes widening, wondering just how much worse this day was going to get.

With a sharp tug, Vee was pulled away from the bus, "Come on, Miss Blight, your parents have been worried sick about you, so just come along quietly, alright?"

Vee tried to fight back, but the man was too strong, pulling on her arm and dragging her away from the bus. The driver returned to his seat, closing the door behind him and getting ready for departure, and Vee could only watch helplessly as it left without her.

Clara chased after Vee and the detective, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"Taking a girl back home, which is what you should be heading yourself, Miss Heartfield," The detective grumbled gruffly, nonplussed about the tag along.

"How do you know my name, creep?" Clara demanded.

He didn't even bother looking at her when he answered, "It's just part of my job. Now get out of here."

Clara looked ready to pick a fight, but Vee shook her head. It was everything the basilisk could do to not freak out, to not break character, because if she did, even just a little, she wasn't changing back into a human anytime soon. Her magic reserves were completely drained from fixing her face, and the last thing she needed was the stress of a fight breaking out, with her in the middle of it. "Go, Clara. I'll be fine. But thanks."

Clara stopped in her tracks, watching with mixed feelings as the demon she'd only just met was taken away, likely to be forced into becoming a permanent fixture in her life just as the real Amity had all those years ago. Suppressing a groan, Clara cursed, knowing she'd have to get to the bottom of this herself now.

A/N: Hopefully the quality of this chapter didn't suffer from my break. The hardest part about taking a break is getting back into the flow of writing. I pump out chapters so fast because I have hyper focusing issues, and lately I got a new Xbox and have been playing a bunch of games, and that's where my focus has been the past few weeks, I had to pry myself away to get this done and I'm not sure if I was in the right mindset when I wrote a lot of this because of that. On a related note, Psychonauts 1 and 2 were amazing, and I'm a little obsessed with them now.

I also have good news, and bad news. The good news is that I managed to sit down, and pump out enough ideas to fill out to the end of season 2A, so this fic will be continuing after I admitted I didn't know where to take this in the last chapter. The bad news is that, after 2A is finished, we're back to nothing for a while. As an adaption of canon, I'll want to wait until 2B airs before I go forward with more plot, and the future of the fic will be up in the air again for a while until season two comes to an end.