Chapter 8: Explanation

Venus's POV…

"Filyn! Filyn! Please! Wake up!"

I tried to shake Filyn awake with tears in my eyes. It felt almost hours from when I heard that message. I started to cry, I worried for Sis, I was panicking, I didn't know what to do. 'What happened to her? What's going on?' Thoughts like this filled my mind as I tried to shake her awake. "Please… Filyn… Wake up!"

Filyn groaned as she slowly opened her single eye and yawned loudly. "Hey… Venus…" She said sleepily as she yawned again, blinking once or twice. "Huh…? Why are you in tears…? Did something happen…? A nightmare…?"

"F-Filyn…! It's Sis…! She's… hurt…!" I exclaimed, panicking as I remembered what I just heard. I felt my heart beating faster than before. "And… And…"

"Woah! Calm down!" Filyn told me very calmly, seeing a slight worry across her own face as she pulled me close, stroking my back. "Let's take this one step at a time. So tell me what's happened."

To this, I pointed to where I heard the voicemail earlier. With a sigh, Filyn then lifted me off of her and placed me on the couch before standing up and walking to where I was pointing at. After a few seconds, I heard that same message again. After the message finished, I saw Filyn immediately running back in front of me with a very worried expression.

"Venus… you heard… all of that, right?" Filyn asked as she kneeled down to me. I nodded as I was sniffling, which she noticed and pulled me into a hug. "Shh… It's okay, Venus… It's alright… Everything's going to be okay now…"

"O-Okay… but…" I managed to say as I wiped my tears on her towel that was wrapped around her. "W-What are we going to do…?"

"Well… um… wait right here…" Filyn immediately pulled away before she rushed away from me. I was a bit confused until she came back and tossed something huge onto my face.

I pulled whatever this thing was off of me before immediately covering my face again with it as I saw her drop her own towel. "F-Filyn…! W-What are you…?" I stuttered as I started blushing at what I nearly saw.

"Sorry… We have to be quick with this…" I heard Filyn say as I heard her groan as I heard her putting something on. "Ugh… I hate this stupid dress…" She muttered under her breath. "There we go!" She said after hearing her struggle for a while. "Um… You can remove the hoodie from your face now…"

I slowly lowered this hoodie off my face as I saw what she was wearing. She wore a fluffy, long-sleeved, button-up black dress that reached to her knees with, what seemed like, white fur around the hems with white socks and black shoes. She didn't bother to tie her hair, so it now looks a bit curly yet straight at the same time. "Wow, Filyn! You look cute in that!" I said with honesty, which Filyn groaned. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"It's just that… never mind…" Filyn muttered under her breath and sighed. I saw her flushed a light shade of pink as she looked to the side. "E-Either way, you should put that on…" She said as she pointed at the hoodie she gave me.

I took a quick look at the hoodie Filyn gave me and strangely enough, the design looked similar to what I've seen Sis wearing all the time. A large blue hoodie with purple sleeves, which doesn't look like it could be zipped up since it didn't have a zipper, and a front pocket. I looked to Filyn, who already turned her back to me, and felt relieved that she's giving me privacy. I removed my towel off of me, put it to the side, and put on the hoodie.

The hoodie was a bit too big for me to the point that the sleeves covered both of my hands and that the hems of the hoodie could reach my knees, but I don't know if it could because standing up could lead me tumbling to the floor. So right now, it was around my waist. Though it did feel warm and cozy on my body. "Y-You can turn around now…" I said, which came off a little shy as I grabbed my towel and put it over my legs.

Filyn then turned around before going up to me and lifted me into her arms while taking my towel off of me. She then straightens the hems of the hoodie to the point it reaches my knees. "Are you ready to go?" She asked me, giving me a kind smile.

"Yeah? Um…" I looked at her with confusion as I didn't know what was going on right now. "But um… where are we going exactly?" I asked with a bit of curiosity in my voice.

"Lowee, of course!" Filyn exclaimed as she gave me a bright smile. Hearing this definitely caught me off guard. "What? Did you think I'm just gonna leave here alone? Plus, aren't you worried about your sister?"

"I-I am… but…" I look to my right ankle before looking back at Filyn. I tried to move it again, only to wince when I felt pain again. "M-My leg… it…"

"I know… but… your sister doesn't actually know that." Filyn told me, then giving me a slight frown. "If she found me without you, she would probably get mad at me for leaving you here without a reason…" She then let out a small sigh. "Then she might start to worry and… immediately go to you without caring about herself…" My eyes widened from hearing that. "…and I don't want her to hurt herself…"

'Sis…' I looked off to the side in thought. 'If she hurt herself even more because of me… I…' I thought as I looked to the floor. 'I don't want her to get hurt…' I looked back at Filyn and gave her a small nod. "…Alright, I'll go." I said quietly.

Filyn gave me a smile. "Thank you for saying that, Venus." She said before she carried me to the front door and to the stairs. "Hold on to me, okay?" She told me as I nodded, wrapping my arm around her neck.

And just like before, Filyn went over the railing and dropped down. Just like before, she grabbed the railing to stop us falling all the way. She did this process all the way down. However, I was way too worried about Sis to try and enjoy the ride.

When we finally reached the ground, Filyn opened the door and carried me outside and into the neighborhood. But unlike where we were walking like the last time, she immediately ran as fast as she could, not caring about the glances we got from other people. When we finally reached the shopping district, Filyn still kept running. That was until we reached a building called Planeptune's Subway Station.

Filyn then rushed into the building and immediately went to the front desk, where there was an old woman there. "Um… Excuse me!" She spoke up, catching the woman's attention. "Can we get two tickets to Lowee, please?"

The old woman narrowed her eyes before giving her a warm smile. "Ah. Lady Filyn… It's very nice to see you again." She looked at me and smiled. "And who's this youngster in your arms?"

"V-Venus… ma'am…" I answered very quickly, but very shyly as I looked away, burying my face into Filyn's shoulder. I felt very embarrassed since the only thing I'm wearing now is this hoodie Filyn gave me. "U-Um… it's… nice to meet you…"

However, the woman didn't judge me and let out a small chuckle as she turned back to Filyn. "That will be one hundred and ten credits." She said very warmly.

In response, Filyn made a wallet appear from her hand, opened it, paid the woman the exact amount, and made it disappear with only one hand. The woman then took them, went out for a few seconds, and came back with two tickets. "Thanks." Filyn said as she took the tickets from the woman.

"Your subway line should be on your first right." She told both of us as she pointed to the direction of where we are supposed to go. "But you two be careful, okay? Even though we're still letting people in, I just received reports of something happening there."

Filyn smiled warmly back at the old woman. "Don't worry, ma'am. We will." She told her before walking to a white and blue subway, while still carrying me in her arms. Once we got onto the subway, my eyes widened as I saw how nice it all looked.

The inside of the subway was also white and blue. It had seats on the side of the train, which were all blue. It all looked super clean, like someone took really good care of it. It even felt cool here. There were only a few people, whether they were holding on some poles or sitting down. When we found our seat, Filyn placed me on the seat first before she sat herself down right next to me.

"Hold on to me, okay? This subway might go a bit fast." Filyn told me calmly as she scooted in closer to me. I nodded as I wrapped my arms around hers. "Oh. And just make sure to keep your legs together."

"Alright." I said while I did just that, trying not to hard not to hurt myself. Filyn felt very warm to me when I rubbed my face against her jacket arm before resting on it. Then my eyes looked towards a young boy, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, who was sitting across from us, looking back at me with an older woman sitting right next to him. "Hello!" I said rather bubbly as I gave him a smile. "What's your…?" Then the woman forced the boy to look away from me while giving me a glare. "Oh. S-Sorry…"

'Why did she look at me like that…?' I thought before looking at myself, realizing that I wasn't really presentable to her. 'Oh… She must have thought that I'm a bit weird…' I then blushed at myself, still feeling embarrassed about the fact that I'm wearing only a hoodie. 'I mean… this isn't the first time I only had one thing to cover myself… like a few days ago… but still…' I blushed even harder as I tugged the hem down. 'This is so embarrassing…"

I then looked up at Filyn, who was using the phone. She seemed to be talking to someone. "Hello. This is Filyn… um… Oh wait, you're—!" She then lowered her voice. "Oh. Sorry… Yes, that's me… Yes, I heard a bit about what's going on with her…" Then I saw her quickly look around before going back to her phone. "Yes… I'm on my way… and um…" She looked at me, noticing I was staring back, before going back on her phone. "I might be bringing… um… something… if you don't mind…" She listened for a while. "No, it's not anything dangerous… Okay… Yeah, I see that… You want to…? Okay… I understand…" She then sighed as she shook her head. "Okay, bye…" She then hung up her phone, leaning back into the seat.

"Um… Filyn…?" I spoke up, catching her attention. She turned her head to look at me with a small frown. "So… um… Who were you talking to?" I asked, a bit curious and a bit interested in this person.

"The person who sent that voicemail…" Filyn answered before she then sighed as she leaned her head back. "And well… I did try not to tell her anything about you… yet…" She then leaned her head forward for a bit. "Since I'm pretty sure your sister didn't tell her about you…"

"So ummm… You mean that Shift, right?" I said, was a bit curious about who this person was. "Is she a friend of Sis's?" I asked, intent on learning more about Sis.

"I mean… yeah?" Filyn answered, might be still a bit confused about what to answer. "I mean… She and your sister knew each other way before they actually became friends…" She said, looking down with thought. "Something to do that a Lowee tyrant back then… Your sister never likes telling me about her past… and well…" She then chuckled as she looked at me. "It's around the time when your sister was still wearing that hoodie you're wearing now… Forgot to mention that when I gave it to you…"

To this, I looked at the hoodie in surprise. 'This is… Sis's hoodie…!?' I thought, now realizing the reason why it looks so similar to what Sis wears now. I moved away for a little bit, hugging myself as I felt the warm fabric against my body. It almost felt like Sis was hugging me, which made me feel a bit better.

"CLOSING ALL DOORS! LEAVING PLANEPTUNE SOON! NEXT STOP: LOWEE."

We heard a very automated voice say in the subway as we heard doors closing. In response, Filyn held out her arm to which I immediately wrapped arms around. Then I felt the subway move slowly before slowly speeding up before finally moving really fast. I then felt like I was going up and up, which felt a bit weird to me as I never ever rode something, in a few days of my life, going up this fast before. Then I felt like we were on an elevated level with the same speed as earlier.

I slowly turned my head to the windows before my eyes widened in surprise. We were about twenty feet in the air while on the tracks. There were trees below us, I could see that there were mountain ranges at a distance as we passed. After a while, we seemingly went into a tunnel, turning our vision dark. Still, I was way too amazed by all of this.

When we finally got out of the tunnel, the whole scenery changed. Below us, there was a field of white filled my view. It was something that I wished I could turn my whole body around to take in the view, but could because of my ankle. Then I saw that we were going to a lot of buildings that were bunched into a circle surrounded by a huge one in the middle. After a while, I felt like we're slowly down a little bit when we're reaching a building. When the subway went into the building, it slowed down before coming to an immediate stop.

"STAY CLEAR OF ALL DOORS! WELCOME TO LOWEE! PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY!"

We heard the automated voice say as we then heard doors opening. Filyn then stood up before summoning out a huge, black blanket before wrapping it around me, including my legs and feet. I was a bit confused about what she was doing. "This might get a bit cold, okay?" She told me before lifting me up in her arms. "Since this place snows a lot, of course."

I nodded in understanding as we left the subway and the station. When Filyn walked outside with me in her arms, I suddenly got what she meant by it being cold. 'M-My face…! It's so cold…!' I thought before burying my face into her shoulder, feeling a bit warm now. 'That feels much better…'

As I felt Filyn walking somewhere, I smelled a bit of smoke. I slowly look up and scan around, trying to find what I was smelling. Then my eyes turned to a puff of smoke from far away to the left side of where we were walking.

'What happened over there…?' I thought, feeling a bit worried about Sis while wondering what happened. 'Was Sis over there…? Did she get hurt over there…?'

Filyn then noticed it too before running to her destination as I wrapped my arms around her neck so I wouldn't fall off. When we finally reached the destination, which was the same huge building as I saw earlier. It honestly has very huge doors which Filyn hesitated to open.

Seeing her taking a deep breath for a while, Filyn slowly opened the doors up and went inside. And immediately after, something flew at her and immediately got hit in the head by it, which she immediately winced in pain at.

I looked at Filyn with worry before looking around. "Hey! Who's throwing things?" I asked, a bit upset on Filyn's behalf.

"Look! I got a stranger!" I heard a girl's voice exclaim. I turned to a young girl, who was standing behind a counter, around my height, who had half red and pink hair with big gray eyes. "Huh…?" She then noticed me in Filyn's arms before walking up to us in curiosity. "Who are you…?"

"Venus." I answered before looking at the young girl. "Who are you?" I asked out of genuine curiosity since she does seem a bit strange for someone like her.

"I'm Lite!" The young girl, now named Lite, exclaimed as she grinned at me. She had her hands on her hips as she looked past me then pointed at Filyn. "Who's that…?"

Lite? Where did you go?" We heard another girl's voice calling out before seeing a young girl, who was a bit taller than Lite, walked out from a door on the side. She then noticed both of us, seeing Filyn in pain, then groaned before she walked towards us. Her hair and eye color are the same as Lite though her hair is a bit longer. She also wore a slightly burnt nightgown.

The girl looked at Filyn before freezing up as that said person was looking back at her. "H-Hello. Um… S-Sorry about her um…" She then looked away shyly, trying to avoid eye contact. "Sorry um… I-I wasn't prepared for this… um…" She stutters before she then blush. "A-Are you Filyn… by any chance…?"

"Yeah. I am. I know you've seen me before." Filyn answered calmly, giving a small smile. "And you're Shift." She said, which the shy girl named Shift slowly nodded. "Yeah… I already know who you are… But I was just making sure…"

"U-Um… Filyn…? W-Who's that girl in your arms…? A-Are you taking care of h-her?" Shift asked as she pointed to me while looking away and Lite was looking at her with confusion. "A-And um… w-why is she wearing S-Sappy's hoodie…?"

"I'm Venus… and um…" I answered, introducing myself to Shift before looking down, embarrassed. "Um… Filyn gave it to me since… I couldn't exactly get my clothes because of my ankle so… um…"

"Your ankle…" Shift then started to look at my ankle and seemed to realize that I was hurt. She then held out her hand near it and seemed to be focused on it. "Spirit." She muttered, and then I let out a small yelp as I felt a sharp pain before it faded away. Then the small injuries I had earlier started to heal.

Shift then let out a small sigh as she took her hand away from me. "That should at least help, but it's still going to be sore…" She said before glancing at Filyn again while narrowing her eyes, who noticed and stared right back at her. This made her blush a little before looking away. "S-So um…y-you're here for Sappy… r-right…?"

"Yeah. Sapphire…" Filyn then shook her head, giving her a small frown. "Where is she by the way?" She asked, having a small hint of worry on her face.

"S-She's um… resting in the g-guest room of the B-Basilicom…" Shift told her as she turned her back towards us. "P-Please follow me…" She then walked away, beckoning us to follow her. Then Lite followed after her, after being confused for a while. After that, Filyn followed behind her with me still in her arms.

"Hey! Venus!" Lite finally spoke up, catching my attention. She was walking backwards while giving me a look of curiosity. "Why do you look like Miss Zombie Lady?"

"Huh?" I looked back at her with bewilderment. 'I don't know what she meant by that…' I thought before shaking that thought off. "Zombie Lady…? Um… Who's that?" I asked.

"She has blue hair and eyes like yours! And her face looks a bit like yours too!" Lite exclaimed, catching me off guard. While Filyn was snickering at that. "Plus, Miss Zombie Lady is the one we're going to right now!"

"Um…" I gave her a frown, feeling a bit upset that I heard that from Lite. "But Sis isn't a Zombie Lady." I told her with a huff before realizing what I just said.

Shift immediately stopped in her tracks before looking me in the eyes. "I'm sorry but… did you just say Sis?" She asked, which I slowly nodded in reply.

Then I heard Filyn sighed in annoyance as she stopped too. "So Sapphire really didn't tell you about her little sister, huh…" She said before she groaned when she saw Shift nodding her head. "Should be expected… she hates telling people about what's going on with her… but…" She sighed as she shook her head. "She should at least tell the CPU of Lowee…" She then noticed Shift's eyes widened in surprise. "Venus heard that voicemail you sent… that's why she's here… to see her sister…"

"Ah. I-I see…" Shift then turned away, looking away from both of us. I could still see a hint of a blush on her face. "So um… W-We s-shouldn't keep her waiting…" She then started walking away.

We then started walking again, though Lite was looking at me with interest. When I looked at her, she gave me a huge smile. I was a bit confused though I tried to ignore it the best way I could. After a while, we finally stopped at the white door. But for some reason, it had this weird effect on it like it's glitching.

"Venus…?" Filyn spoke up, catching my attention. I heard her sigh as she looked down at me in her arms. "I don't think you should see your sister yet…"

"Huh…?" I looked at her with shock in my eyes. I immediately shook my head, not wanting to stay outside. "I want to! I want to see her!" I exclaimed as I looked at the door, still worried about her.

"Venus…" Shift spoke up as well, she was looking at the door worryingly too. "I know you're worried but… I don't think right now is a good time to see her…"

"Plus, your sister is strong. She won't go down that easily!" Filyn reassured me before looking at Lite with a smile. "And besides, this kid here is probably going to keep you company." In which, Lite smiled at me.

"O-Okay…" I said in disappointment as Filyn placed me down near the door, took back her blanket before she and Shift went inside. I sighed before looking up at Lite, who was looking back at me. "So um… do you want to do anything?" I asked her.

"Hmmm… How about this!" Lite exclaimed as she pulled my hands, which I yelped as I felt my hands being crushed by hers as well as she yanked my arms really hard. "Huh? What's wrong?" She asked, looking at me confused.

"Strong grip… and you yanked too hard…" I said, struggling to escape her really strong grip on me. I felt excruciating pain from both my hands and my arms. "C-Could you let go…? You're crushing my hands…!"

"Ah." Lite then let go, feeling the sense of relief from the crushing pain of her hands. I look at my own hands and see that they're still able to move. "Oops! Sorry! Hehe." She said, giving me a huge grin before her expression changed to curiosity as she sat down on the ground right next to me. "So? Are you the same as me?"

"Same as me…?" I repeated what Lite had said, only to raise an eyebrow at her. "Um… What are you talking about? I asked her with confusion.

"Um… I think Miss Pervert Target and Big Sis told me something about me being a Candi…" Lite's voice then trailed off as her face scrunched up. "Um… a candy… um… what's that called again… um… a can?" She looked down, and seemed to be having trouble with this word.

"You mean a Candidate, right?" I corrected Lite, in which she nodded very violently. Seeing her confirm this, I was very surprised. "Yeah, I'm a Candidate too…" I told her, in which she grinned very widely.

"Wowie! Really!?" Lite exclaimed really loud in my ears, forcing me to cover them. "Huh? What's wrong again?" She asked, looking at me confused again.

"You're too loud…!" I exclaimed while covering my ears. 'Luckily I can still hear but gosh…' I looked at her with some thought before taking my hands off of them. 'Why is she so loud…!? And so strong…!?'

"Oops! Sorry!" Lite said as she giggled very childishly as she scratched the back of her head. "So? Were you born this morning too?" She asked, seemingly rather blunt about that question.

"Huh?" I just looked at her with a rather confused expression on my face. 'What sort of question is that?' I thought, before shaking that thought off. "I was born a few days ago. But um… why did you ask?"

"Because you're only wearing that." Lite said as she pointed to the jacket I'm wearing. Being reminded of this made me blush as I looked away from her. "Huh? Why do you look so red?" She asked as she looked closely at my face.

"Um… I-It's nothing… Lite… It's just that…" I stopped myself before shaking my head, trying to stop myself from blushing. "U-Um… actually… never mind…"

"Oh. Okay!" Lite then leaned back in thought for about a few minutes. Then minutes turned to what felt like hours. Then I heard a groan from her. "I'm so bored! I want to go and do something else!"

"Yeah… I'm a bit bored too… but…" I sighed as I looked up to the high ceiling. 'I want to wait here for now… I'm so worried about Sis…' I thought before I trained my eyes at the door. 'Should I take a quick peek inside…? No… I shouldn't…' I thought while shaking my head. "Um… Maybe we should just wait here for now…"

"Okay…" Lite said before she thought for a while before leaned towards my face again, giving me a huge grin. "So? Do you want to listen to what's going on in there?" She points to the door right next to us which didn't have that glitch effect anymore.

"Huh? Umm… We probably shouldn't…" I told her while rubbing the side of my head. As curious as I am, I don't think Sis is ready yet. However, Lite didn't listen and put her ear onto the door. "Lite! Please don't!" I exclaimed as I tried to pull her away. "We're going to get in trouble!"

Then the door swung wide open, forcing us to tumble to the floor.

Filyn's POV… (A few moments earlier)

"Oh no…" Filyn muttered as she looked around; everything around her was glitched. Then her single eye trailed to the source. "Sapphire…" She said worriedly.

Sapphire was on a rather huge bed, wearing a long nightgown, screwing her eyes shut as she was twisting in pain with her breathing irregularly. The glitch-like effect is coming from her, except they look like flames. As she was walking towards her, Filyn knew what was affecting this.

As she reached Sapphire, Filyn looked down at her with a frown. "Shift… I need you to answer this question." She then turned to the young girl with a very serious expression on her face. "Did she happen to use her gun on herself?"

"Y-Yes… she did… when we fought those mechs… but…" Shift looked at her with both worry and confusion on her face. "I-I never knew she could do that… I thought her gun only shoots things… not extract this 'Glitch' from her…"

"So, she told you about it… huh…" Filyn looked down in thought. 'Sapphire must have been very desperate to extract the Glitch and told her about it… and mechs…? Was Lowee attack too?' She then shook that last thought off. 'No… I'm not going to ask that yet… I'll ask that after I get rid of this…' She then looked back at Shift. "So, how much did she tell you…?"

"Not that much…" Shift answered, looking down to the ground in thought before looking back up. "She just told me that it isn't her ability and…" She then shook her head. "This is honestly really confusing…"

"Oh. I see… Well then… I guess I have to explain it to you… But first…" Filyn then looked back at Sapphire worryingly before remembering what she needed to do. "U-Um… I-I'll have to… um… get rid of this first…" She said rather shyly as she blushed lightly.

Shift nodded her head before letting out a small sigh. "Yeah…Go ahead…" She said before tilting her head in curiosity. "So, what are you going to do…?"

"Um… w-well…" Filyn then looked down as she blushed really hard. "Can you um… keep whatever I'm going to do a secret…?" She asked, in which Shift nodded in response. "T-Thanks… um…" She took a deep breath before she climbed on the bed, lifted Sapphire up onto her lap so she was facing away from her and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay, Sapphire… It's okay…" She said soothingly as she patted the blue-haired girl's head. "Calm down, okay…? Just calm down…" She then looked to Shift who was just watching her, so she just shrugged it off and kept on doing that.

Slowly, Sapphire's body stopped twisting in pain and sort of became slack. Her breathing started to become a bit slow and her eyes started to relax. The glitch-like effect that was around them slowly went into her before all of it disappeared. So now she seemed to be asleep while resting on Filyn's chest and with her arms now wrapped around her.

"There we go…" Filyn muttered as she giggled to herself, seeing how cute Sapphire looks when she's asleep, hearing her snoring lightly. 'She feels really nice in my arms…' She thought to herself as she smiled to herself. She could even hear her mumbling something inaudible before going back to very light snoring. "So…" She looked back up to Shift. "Do you have any questions? Because I have a few myself…"

"Um… What…?" Shift stuttered out before shaking her head. "Um… What did you just do…?" She asked, looking at Filyn with a mixture of either shock or confused. It was like she didn't believe that would actually work. "A-And how…!?"

"Uh… well… it's sort of how I stopped the Glitch… from corrupting her body…" Filyn told Shift while looking down at her friend. "And you're right when Sapphire said that it isn't her ability… because the Glitch is a representation of her stress… her anxiety… her fatigue… and her fears… which comes from the crystal above her chest area…" She said as she pointed at her chest area. "She is able to use it offensively against anything that is non-living with a gun that is fit for her use only, at the cost of corrupting her body." She then sighed as she shook her head. "It had already affected her actual ability to the point that it completely changed…"

"Is that why she…?" Shift then immediately stopped herself. "I mean... What do you mean by this 'Glitch' corrupting her body? What's her ability like now? And…?"

"One question at a time, please…?" Filyn asked, stopping Shift from asking more. "I can't ask them all of them at the same time."

"S-Sorry…" Shift responded, looking down in shame. "That was very informal of me… I'm just… very worried about Sappy now…"

"Nah. It's okay! At least now I know what your questions are!" Filyn said, giving her a smirk. Shift looked back up before blushing as she looked away. "Either way, do you know how you have your Human Form and HDD Form?"

"Y-Yes… I know…" Shift said very shyly as she had her eyes away from Filyn. "I-I'm pretty sure e-every CPU has one…"

"Well… with that crystal affecting her body… It would also affect her HDD Form…" Filyn stopped herself, before letting out a sigh. "And when the Glitch completely covers her body, it would force her to transform into what we called the Corrupted Form… where she… goes out of control and attacks anything on site… whether they're a friend or foe…" She then looked back up to Shift, as she looked at Sapphire with shock. "You and your people were very lucky that it didn't corrupt her fully…"

"S-Sappy…" Shift muttered as she looked at the blue-haired girl in Filyn's arms. She looked even more worried than before.

"And for the other question… her ability is…" Filyn then heard something from Sapphire before she gasped when she looked down. "Hey! Sapphire's waking up!" In which Shift immediately perked up and immediately went to her side.

Sapphire slowly opened her eyes before starting to groan before her eyes blinked twice as she looked towards Shift with her blue and purple eyes.

"S-Shift…?"

Sapphire's POV…

"S-Shift…?" I asked before I started to look around as I started to yawn. I was probably in one of the guest rooms in this Basilicom, shown by the fact that I was on a large bed. And instead of my usual clothes, I wore a long nightgown. 'My head hurts… I feel dizzy…' I thought as I tried to shake that dizziness off. "What happened…?"

"You… don't remember…?" Shift asked while looking at me with concern, crossing her arms. I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember what happened.

"Yeah… I… remember fighting mechs… I remember passing out… after Arfoire left and…" My eyes widened in fear as I felt my body start to shake. I felt my heart aching at a single thought that passed my mind. "I didn't… transform… and… hurt anyone… right…? I didn't… hurt you… and…"

Shift then sat on the bed right beside me before holding my hand with hers. "You didn't hurt anyone, Sappy…" She assured me, giving me a warm yet worried smile.

"O-Oh… thank goodness…" I said as I sighed in relief, before feeling arms around my waist. I felt so familiar for some odd reason. So I slowly turned my head around and saw someone rather familiar. "F-Filyn…? How did you…?"

"Shift called me here…" Filyn answered quickly, nodding to the said girl beside me. "She told me that you were hurt… so I came here." She explained, while holding me up. "And yes, I had to do that thing for the Glitch that was on your body."

"O-Oh… I see…" I said looking away before my eyes widened, realizing that Filyn might have left Venus all alone, by herself. This made me visibly upset to the point I wanted to flick Filyn in the head, but couldn't because I felt very tired. 'Stupid limbs…' I thought as I looked back at Filyn. "Filyn… you didn't um…" I hesitated because I didn't want to blurt out Venus's name in front of Shift. "I mean… um… Did you bring…"

"Did I bring Venus, right?" Filyn asked, with my eyes widened in shock to that fact she said that with zero hesitation. "Don't worry about it… Your little sister is here… And yes… Shift already knows about her…"

"O-Oh… I see…" I muttered as I turned back to Shift, feeling really bad that I kept this from her for about a few hours. "S-Sorry… that I didn't say anything… D-Didn't want you to um…" I looked off to the side very shyly. "D-Didn't want you to know about her yet…"

"It's fine. I understand what you mean, Sappy…" Shift said while reassuring me again. She still has that same warm smile, probably even warmer. "So we're good."

"O-Oh. Really? Um… O-Okay…" I muttered as I looked down again. 'But… I still feel pretty bad for not telling her about Venus…' I thought before shaking that thought off. "So… um… were you two talking about something…?" I asked, looking in between both of them.

"Well… Filyn here was about to talk about your ability…" Shift answered, trying to explain to me as she took her hand off of mine. "But since you're awake… maybe you can explain it to me…"

"Ah… okay…" I looked down again in thought. 'I could just explain it to her… but…' I looked up before turning my head to Shift. "Maybe it's better if I just showed you…" I told her before closing my eyes, focusing my energy. After a while, a few piano notes filled my head before hearing a soft voice singing a song. However, when I opened my eyes, Shift's eyes widened and her mouth agape with no words coming from her mouth.

Filyn, however, was looking around confused. "A… song…?" She asked, probably trying to figure out what's going on. "But who's…?"

"T-This is… my song…!" Shift exclaimed in shock as she looked around, probably trying to find where that voice was coming from. "B-But how…! I didn't turn on the music player…!"

"It's because it's coming from you…" I told her, in which she looked at me with both curiosity and confusion. "I… looked into your soul, found what I was looking for and… made it visible here… or in this case… made it hearable here…"

"Sappy… This is…" Shift looked around with surprise before looking back at me with curiosity and a bit of interest. "But how far you can see into my soul… ummm…" She then looked down flushed, probably embarrassed after she said that. "After saying that, it really sounds weird…"

"Yeah... it really does sound weird after saying that…" I agreed while chuckling very awkwardly. "Well... when I try to find this song in your soul… things like thoughts… feelings… sort of flows into my mind… It's even far enough that I can see your memories... but…" I looked down, remembering what her soul looked like when I found that song that's now playing in the background, which has now faded away. "There are some memories that I never want to see... ever…" I looked back up, worried about what I'm about to tell her. "They were memories about Nin... and the fact she was… well... umm…"

"I know…" Shift said, looking down, full with guilt and bitterness. I could even sense her sadness from her voice. She's probably feeling this pain for a long time. "She wasn't the best… She… hurt everyone… Lastation's people… Leanbox's people… yours… and even ours…" She then looked back up with a sad expression on her face. "And I…"

Filyn's single eye suddenly widened with shock. "Wait… Don't tell me you're…!" She then cut her sentence off before I saw her looking off to the side. She suddenly unwrapped her arms that were around me before she took me off her lap, which I somehow didn't fall back into the bed, as she scooted in closer to Shift, leaning forward before her single eye widened as she leaned back. "I… didn't know you and Nin were related… I would have never guessed that to be the case…"

Shift blinked at her for a few seconds before seemingly realizing what she meant. "Yeah…" She said, chuckled very nervously before looking off to the side. "But then again, it would have been easier to see how we were related when I was a Candidate…" She told Filyn, seeing her shiver a little.

"Of course! But this! This is impossible!" Filyn exclaimed as she went for Shift's hair, touching and examining it. "Nin had blackish-grayish hair but yours…" She then cocked her head to the side before narrowing her working eye. "…is way too different from hers! You can't just expect me to believe that your hair suddenly changed color! What gives!?"

Shift just sighed at hearing this. "Well… that's exactly what happened…" She answered, looking directly at Filyn. "My hair used to be like hers, but when I found out that I could split myself into two mes… My hair changed to correspond with my two selves…"

"Wha—!?" Filyn then took her hand off Shift's hair before she looked at me and noticed that I had no reaction to anything that I was listening to as of right now. "Sapphire! Did you know about this!?" She asked, to which I nodded as an answer. "Why didn't you tell me about all of this before!?"

"Didn't think it was important to mention that before…" I answered monotonically with a very bored expression on my face. To this, Filyn groaned because she heard me using this similar phrase every time she found out about something I didn't tell her. "Besides… it's better for Shift to tell you this… not me… Plus…" I looked down and sighed. "You also knew her back then… when you were in ASIC…"

"ASIC…? Sappy… That was the name you mentioned when that witch appeared…" Shift muttered before looking at Filyn with her eyes widened with shock. "That means you once knew her… right…?"

"Y-Yeah… I knew Arfoire before… but…" Filyn then narrowed her single eye to the young girl. "How do you know ASIC? Unless you…" She then looked back at me, which I nodded again. "Seriously…? Did you just tell her the abbreviation and nothing more?"

"Yeah… and… I had to tell her a bit of it since…" I looked to Shift, remembering what Arfoire said about her. I shivered as her voice echoed in my mind. "She showed herself to us after we destroyed Dolphin and Citra…"

"Ah. I see…" Filyn then looked back at her. I'm guessing she was about to ask her a few questions. "So… Did Arfoire tell you anything… about her and Nin… and about the fact she…?"

"Filyn… No… You… shouldn't ask that…" I spoke up, stopping her from asking that question. 'Shift probably feels way too uncomfortable… talking about her sister like this…' I thought as I looked at the young girl.

Shift looked away from both of us. I could see her starting to tear up before silently nodding, confirming that unfinished question that Filyn asked.

"O-Oh… I see… Sorry…" Filyn then fell silent before looking down, probably feeling guilty about asking that question.

"Shift…" I muttered before looking at her very sadly. 'Nin… was a tyrant… She hurt a lot of people… including me… but…' I thought as I looked down. 'Shift probably still cares about her… and still is affected by what happened. Just like me…' I looked back up with a rather comforting expression. "You don't have to tell us anything… but it's okay to talk about whatever's going on with you…"

"H-Huh…? I…" Shift stopped herself before hearing her sniffle a little, looking down. "I… um… I…" She then started to cry, tears kept on falling down her face. She tried to wipe her tears away before more went down her face. "I-I… I-I… I…" She stuttered, trying to find the right words to say.

I sighed to myself before giving her a small smile. "Come here…" I told her, which she slowly nodded as she came closer before tackling me into a hug, crying into my chest. "Ah! Um… It's okay, Shift… You don't have to say anything… You can cry as long as you like… Hm?" I then turned my attention to the door. 'Is there… someone leaning on the door…?' I thought. Since I had my ability activated, I sensed that there were two people behind that door. "Filyn…? Could you open that door?" I asked quietly when I turned to her.

Filyn nodded as she got off the bed before walking over to the door. When she opened the door, two people suddenly spilled into the room. Venus, who was somehow wearing my hoodie, fell onto Lite, who yelped when being flattened by Venus.

"Ow~!" Venus exclaimed as she slowly rolled off of Lite before trying to sit up. I noticed that clutching her right ankle and that she was wincing in pain. She seemed to have noticed us on the bed. "A-Ah! Sis—! This is not—!" She sputtered as she then quickly took her hands off her right ankle.

"Ow! Ow!" Lite exclaimed before she slowly stood up, clutching head before noticing that I was on the bed. She then noticed that Shift was sniffling into my chest, which looked at me furiously. "Hey! Miss Crazy Zombie Lady! What did you do to B-Big Sis!?"

"Not… her fault… Lite… It's not…" Shift said, glancing over to her little sister. Her face was soaked with tears and her eyes were red from crying so much. "She was just… trying to help me… So please…" She sniffled a little bit before more tears kept falling on her face. "Please… don't… get mad… at her… okay…?"

"Rrrgh… Fine!" Lite exclaimed angrily as she then turned away from all of us. She then stomped out the door before slamming it behind her with a very loud slam. We all stared at the door very in a collective silence. Something tells me that she must be really upset about what she just saw.

'No… She's definitely upset about what she just saw…' I thought before letting my thoughts run wild throughout my mind. 'Since I have my ability activated now… Her feelings… from her voice… feels so mixed…' I then shook my head before I looked at Shift, who had just calmed down but was still sniffling and was still hugging me. "Is your little sister always so… angry…?

"I… don't know… um…" Shift said hesitantly, starting to calm down. She then glanced at Venus, who was really confused on what's going on. "Sorry… you have to see that…"

"It's alright… um… Sis…?" Venus then looked directly at me with a curious look on her face. "What's wrong with your eyes…?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"My eyes…? Oh…" I looked off to the side, trying to hide my left eye; even though she knows what my eyes look like. 'Why does every single time Glitch gets activated, my left eye becomes like this? I thought before shaking my head. "I… don't actually know…"

"Oh. Okay…" Venus said, seemingly believing my excuse before she looked at me a little bit curious. I think she was wondering what she was seeing in front of her. "Um… Did something happen here?"

"Oh. Um… N-Nothing!" I exclaimed very quickly, but it was obvious on my face that I was keeping something from her. 'She shouldn't know what happened back then… And she never… But…' I then looked at her right ankle. 'Why did she clutch her ankle earlier…?' I thought before looking at Shift. "Can you um… go outside for a while…? I want to talk to my little sister and um… my… friend…" I said as I looked at Filyn with suspicion.

"Sure." Shift answered before scooting away from me before getting off the bed. "I should try to talk to my sister too…" She added on with a sigh as she went out, leaving us three here.

"So uh… What do you want to talk about?" Filyn asked, looking back at me, raising her eyebrow. "And judging by your look, I'm pretty sure we're not doing any casual talking…"

I silently stared at Filyn before looking at both her and my sister. "So… Venus… Filyn… What are you two doing earlier that would make Venus's clutch her right ankle…?" I asked, seeing them both freeze up as they looked at each other. "And don't bother trying to lie to me… Please…?" I then turned to Venus, who was sitting on the floor, with a sad look. "B-Because… I'm pretty sure you got hurt…" I said, trying not to think of the worst thing possible.

Venus immediately looked away silently, biting her lip. Even Filyn looked away silently, giving me a very hard to read look. I think neither of them want to say anything.

'I guess… I'll use my ability on one of them…" I thought before narrowing my eyes to Filyn, who noticed this before looking down in shame. I hate using this on someone I know. I closed my eyes and searched for Filyn's memories, before my eyes widened in shock and fear as the worst thing possible came true. "Y-You didn't… Y-You didn't train Venus… right…?" I asked, looking at Filyn.

"It was my idea!" Venus exclaimed quickly, turning my attention to her. She was looking at me with a scared look on her face. "Please don't be mad at her! I was the one who asked her, Sis! It was my idea! Not hers!"

"I-I… know… I-I… saw… B-But…!" I stuttered as I felt my body trembling before looking down. 'Why…? Why…? Why…? I know it's not her fault… but Filyn put that idea in her head… but… I was the one who told her not to… I forced her to turn to Filyn…' My body started to tremble even more. 'If I just promised I would train her… If I was just more sure of myself… She wouldn't get hurt and…' As more thoughts filled my mind, the room started to glitch.

"Sapphire! Stop!" Filyn exclaimed as she rushed towards the bed, climbed on it before pulling me into a hug. "Calm down… calm down… It was my fault… I should have asked if we should train her and…"

"No… no… no… It's my fault… it's my fault…" I muttered over and over, trembling in Filyn's arms. "I should have promised to train her… I should have… I should have… She wouldn't have gotten hurt if I did… She… She…"

"Sis, stop!" I heard Venus exclaim from where she was. She sounded surprised, probably even shocked from what she was seeing right now. "It's my fault…! Not yours or Filyn's… Please! Stop!"

"I-I… I-I… I-I…" I tried to speak, yet my voice felt way too shaky to actually form words from my mouth. "I-I… I-I… It's… I-It's… not… I-It's…" My voice trailed off, no thoughts went through my mind except the thoughts I had. "It's mine… If… I was there… to stop that mech… Filyn… wouldn't do what she did… If I was there… I…" My voice trailed off again, the Glitch slowly went back to me.

"Sapphire… Venus… Please don't say that…" Filyn said very calmly as she pulled me close, stroking my very long hair. "Neither of you should blame yourselves for what happened earlier… So stop. Both of you, okay?" She said before I opened my mouth again. "Don't talk. From either of you, okay?" To which I closed my mouth again. "So… what did you see anyway?" She asked me, to which I looked up in wonder. "Yes. You speak again. You too Venus."

"Ah. O-Okay…" I spoke up again, though it was a bit slow. I tried to remember what I saw from Filyn's soul. "It's hard to say… but… You two… no three… fought Dogoos… Crypto found out who Venus was… unsurprisingly…" I said, trying to recall some of Filyn's memories. "I saw you transformed… Y-You save Venus… Y-You carried her in your arms but… you couldn't hold that for much longer… you fell and…" I then blushed, as another memory from Filyn flowed into my mind. "T-Then I saw you t-two… w-washing… each other…"

"Y-Yeah… I don't have anything to say about that last one… on anything you said…" Filyn said, blushing at that too as she looked away. She then looked back with a small smile. "Besides… this ain't the first time this had happened… Am I right, Sapphire?" She asked, before that small smile became a cheeky one.

"D-Don't say that…!" I exclaimed, blushing even harder to the point that I know my face is beet red. I then looked away from Filyn. "It's embarrassing… to remember that…" I muttered to myself, to which Filyn giggled. "U-Um… S-So… How did you transform…?"

"Well… I have no idea…" Filyn answered quietly, shrugging at that question. "All I know is that I can't hold it for much longer… that all of my energy could escape… and could have passed out…" My eyes widened in shock as I looked back at her. "Fortunately, I didn't at the time… and was at least able to move…"

"O-Oh… I can see that…" I muttered before thinking about what's going on with her. I then shook those thoughts, thinking to test it first before I reached any sort of theory. Then I get a feeling for my arms and legs, able to finally move again. "Filyn… could you let go? I think I can move again…"

"Oh. Okay." Filyn said before she pulled away from me. Then I immediately karate chopped her on the top of her head. "Ow! What was that for?!" She exclaimed as she rubbed her head.

"That's for embarrassing me in front of Venus…" I muttered, blushing a little before getting off the bed, staggering for a bit before I found my footing. Then I walked Venus before kneeling down. "Are you okay? Think you can stand up?"

"Um… I-I think so… It doesn't really hurt at all… but…" Venus looked at her ankle before looking back up. "Miss Shift told me to be careful when I walk on it."

"I see… Then let me do this…!" I then stood up and picked her up by her armpits before making her stand up on both of her feet. "Okay… Ready?" I asked, which Venus nodded before I let go. Though unfortunately, she fell back immediately with a yelp as she clutched her right ankle again. "Ah! Venus! S-Sorry! Are you okay?" I exclaimed as I went down on both knees.

"I'm fine." Venus chirped as she managed to smile. Though it was more of a painful smile than anything. "But, it still kind of hurts…" She said as she then looked at her ankle.

"I see…" I then looked at Venus sadly, my heart hurt as I saw her painful smile. 'I hate seeing anyone with painful smiles…" I thought before a weird idea popped in my mind. 'This might work…"

I looked at Filyn, who was still recovering from the karate chop I gave her. "Hey. Can you come here really quick? And kneel down like me, okay?" I asked, to which she nodded and did exactly that. I then whispered my idea in her ears, which she nodded again as she scooted over to the side of Venus while I went to the other side. Venus was looking at both of us with confusion, noticing that I was counting down to three. "Tickle Attack!" I exclaimed as we went to tickle her sides.

"W-Wha…?" Venus exclaimed, before she started laughing as me and Filyn started tickling her, collapsing on the floor. She kept flailing around with her arms, trying to get us to stop tickling her. "S-Stop…! Please s-stop…!" She struggles to say before starting laughing again. When we did stop, she calmed down for a while as she's giggling under her breath. "N-No more…"

"Hehe. Alright." I said, while giving her a warm smile before going ahead and picking her up in her arms, which Venus seemed wary at first before seemingly accepting it. I then stood up before looking at her. "But at least you're feeling better now, right?"

Venus nodded quickly before giving me a huge smile. "Yep!" She chirped up. Hearing her say this made me exhaled in relief.

"That's good…" I muttered under my breath before letting my thoughts run wild like many times before. 'She'll be okay… but… she saw the Glitch on me… It would be hard to not get it out of your head after seeing it for the first time…' I thought before shaking my head. 'She's probably going to have a lot of questions…' I sighed before turning to Filyn, who also stood up as well. "We should go to Shift's office… to um… explain more about what's going on…"

"Agreed. Though…" Filyn then looked at Venus, who looked back confused about what I just said. "I don't think we should tell this one yet…" She then sighed. "Because the situation is… kind of messy…"

"Huh?" Venus then looks between both of us. She is still a bit confused about what we're talking about right now. "What do you mean by… 'messy?'"

"Um… It's nothing you should be concerned about right now." I told very calmly, though I felt a bit worried if she's going to push for more about this. "But I will tell you when the time is right, okay?"

"Alright… that's fine…" Venus said before she sighed to herself. She sounded kind of disappointed after hearing that.

'Sorry Venus… It's just really… messy right now… and something you shouldn't know yet…' I stared at her silently before shaking my head. "We should go to her office… I'm sure that Shift and her sister are there…" I said before we went outside.

While we were walking, my thoughts went to what Arfoire told Shift. 'Why I can't stop thinking about it…? I just can't get it out of my head…' I then shake my head, remembering what Arfoire called her. 'A monster… huh… Then they're both mistaken… because…'

'I'm… the real monster… and hearing that… hurts… and that's why I… don't want to remember… what Arfoire said to me earlier…'

"Sapphire… Are you okay…?" Filyn asked, snapping me out of my thoughts immediately. I looked to my right, seeing her looking back at me worryingly. "You seemed out of it… Did something happen earlier…?"

"N-No… It's nothing…" I said, trying to hide what I was feeling with a smile. However, Filyn narrowed her singular eye towards me. Even Venus was looking up at me worryingly. "It's just… something I was thinking about from earlier… Please… Just forget about…" I then heard a very loud crash behind the office door, followed by Lite yelling about something. "Oh. I guess Lite is really mad about something…"

We then heard another crashing, making all of us jump. "Y-Yeah… That doesn't really sound good…" Venus muttered in agreement, though it was loud enough for both me and Filyn to hear.

'I guess I have to figure out what is going on…' I thought before handing Venus to Filyn. "Could you hold her for a little bit?" I asked, seeing her nodding before taking her off my arms. Then I walked to the office door, before immediately opening it wide.

…Before something very large, but very soft was thrown at my face and hit the floor.

"What the—!? Hey~!" I exclaimed, rubbing my face, immediately changing my voice to something more childish and cheerful, which probably caught Venus off guard. "What's a big idea!? Throwing a um…" I looked down to see what was thrown at me. "A pillow…? Wait… What's going on…?"

I looked around, seeing multiple shattered pieces on the floor, probably from some jars Lite got from somewhere in the Basilicom. And across the room, I see Shift looking down, rather depressed about something.

"Crap. It's Miss Crazy Zombie Lady again." I heard Lite mutter under her breath, even though I could definitely hear her. And it's something that I heard Filyn snickering at. She then grabbed another pillow, ready to throw it. Then I immediately ran towards, taking it out of her hands. "Hey! Give that back!"

"Nope!" I exclaimed as I put it high over my head to the point she couldn't reach for it. "Not until you tell me why your sister looks so sad."

"Hmph!" Lite then looked away from me with a pout. "Ain't saying anything!" She exclaimed before looking back, sticking her tongue at me, then looked away from me.

I then saw Shift looked down as her body seemed to be a bit shaky. "Lite." She muttered, sounding like she was hurt by something though was trying to hide it. "Go to your room. Now."

"Wh—!? But—!?" Lite then looks down, her expression looking like it's filled with anger and indifference. Though, from the looks of it, she doesn't seem to know. However, she didn't even budge from where she was standing.

'I shouldn't leave it like this… It's not something I should ignore now…' I thought before I looked at Shift. I narrowed my eyes, looking into her soul, before seeing what's going on. 'Oh… I see… it's just a misunderstanding…' I thought before sighing to myself. "Hey, Shift. Can you come over here for a little bit?" I asked, to which Shift nodded before coming over to me and Lite. "So, Lite… I have these all-seeing eyes. With them, I know that you might be jealous about my relationship with your sister." I asked, to which the girl's eyes widened with shock. "And that you… insulted her, am I correct?"

"W-Wh—!? How did you—!?" Lite then caught herself before glaring at me. But her glare wasn't that threatening, so it looks more like a puppy trying to growl at me. "Yes… that's true. But, how did you know that!?"

"Like I said! I have all-seeing eyes! I can see what happened in this room!" I exclaimed before winking at Shift, who might have known that I looked at her memories and not Lite's. "And well… it's only natural for you to be jealous… We've known each other for a long time but… because of your jealousy…" I then looked at your sister. "You hurt your sister's feelings…" I said, slightly dropping my childish act.

"O-Oh. That's…" Lite then looked down, ashamed of something that happened earlier. "S-Sorry…" She muttered, looking very apologetic.

"It's nothing you should be apologizing for~! It's just a slight misunderstanding! I'm not taking your sister away! Nor is there anything going on between us!" I exclaimed, immediately going back to my childish act while giving her a rather huge, forced smile as I scratched the back of my head while putting my other hand on my hip. "We're just good friends, y'know?"

Lite looked at me for a little while, judging my facing. "O-Oh… okay…" She then looked down for a little while. "You and Big Sis are just friends… right…?" She asked very curiously before she then looked at Shift. "Right…?"

We both nodded at her as an answer to her question. "Yep." Shift said, giving her younger sister a small smile. "We're just good friends."

"O-Oh. Okay." Lite looked down again in shame. She seemed to have already realized what she did wrong. "S-Sorry… about what I said… Big Sis…" She muttered as she looked up at Shift apologetically and sincerely.

"It's alright, Lite." Shift told her, giving her a warm smile. "You were just born so you probably got confused about what was going on and who was her." She said, referring to me. "So I'm truly sorry for that." She said, to which Lite smiled widely back at her.

"It's great to see both of you smiling! A big smile will… um…" I immediately stopped myself from talking. 'Huh…? Why did I even say that…?' I looked off to the side. 'I don't know why I feel… satisfied with… a smile…' I shook that thought off before looking back at Shift. "I-I mean… Um… Shift? Me and Filyn wanted to talk to you about something very important! It's about that attack on your nation, right?" I said with a huge fake grin.

Shift just narrowed my eyes at me before nodding her head. "Okay." She answered before looking at my friend, who was already at the door, then back at me. "What do you want to…?"

"Wait! Before you ask anything, we should talk about this privately!" I then turned to Filyn before beckoning her to come closer, which she did with Venus in her arms. "Can you put Venus on the couch?" I asked, pointing at the very large couch. "This ain't something for two kids to know."

"W-What…? What do you mean by…? You mean that's the reason why I heard loud booming outside?!" Lite asked before looking between me and her older sister. "Did something happen there!? Tell me now!"

"Sis? Miss Shift? You two got attacked here?" Venus asked, tilting her head in confusion and a bit curious before rubbing her head. She also seemed to be very worried as she looked at me while being in Filyn's arms. "Is that the reason why you got hurt…? And…?"

I looked down sadly, not trying to hide my worryness towards Venus or Lite. "Venus… Lite… There are so many things you don't need to know…" I interrupted her, before sighing to myself before crossing my arms putting on a very serious look. "Like I told you, Venus… The situation is messy… I don't think you… or Lite can truly understand it…"

"Yeah, from what I have seen earlier, this might not be something you two should know about…" Shift said, agreeing with me. "I don't think you two should involve yourselves with this."

"And beside…" Filyn then looked between me and Shift. "Your sisters and I probably got this under control, right?" Directing that question to both of us, to which we solemnly nod. "See? We all got this under control!"

Venus just sighed after hearing all of that. "Okay… I won't pry…" She said looking down, seemingly accepting this for now. Though in the back of my head, I had a feeling she would find out somehow.

Lite then looked at all of us, seeing all of our serious faces and Venus seemingly giving up, before groaning, probably knowing she wouldn't get anything from the three of us. "…Fine!" She exclaimed angrily, stopping her foot on the floor before pointing at me. "You better tell me what's going on soon!"

"Sure… Sure…" I muttered before I sighed to myself. 'Yeah… I'm not going to tell her anything…!' I thought before I put on my fake grin. "Okay, okay! Shift! Meet me outside! And Filyn…!" I then pointed at my friend. "Please put my sister down before joining us, okay?" And before anyone said anything else, I then rushed out of the office, before closing the door behind me. I then let out a huge sigh before leaning on the wall right next to the office door.

Waiting for a while, Shift walked out of the office, followed by Filyn behind her. After she closed it behind her, Filyn leaned on the door while Shift stood right in front of us. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Shift asked us.

"Actually, I want to talk about how Sapphire half-assed her explanation when she told you about ASIC." Filyn told her, before I hit her on the head. "Hey~! I was just telling the truth?!"

"Yeah… yeah…" I sighed, shaking my head before turning to Shift. "Either way, you remember how Filyn mentioned that ASIC was just an abbreviation?" I asked, to which she nodded as an answer. "Well… it pretty much means Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime." I said, before looking at Filyn. "And as the name suggests, it's a group led by Arfoire. They do a lot of crime all around Gamindustri, ranging from piracy to secret illegal shipments between the nations while hiding in plain sight. Also…"

"Wait." Shift spoke up after listening for a little bit. I then saw her bite her lip as she silently looked down before she spoke up again. "Actually… I think I had a run in with them… Though…" Her voice then trailed off, giving some thought. It was something that I didn't actually know. "It was years ago, so I don't know if they're the same ones as this ASIC."

I looked at her silently before closing my eyes. "Shift… Did they somehow die from being poisoned? With no idea where they got that in the first place?" I asked, to which she bit her lip a little harder before nodding in confirmation. "That's… how you would know that they're from ASIC… They leave nothing behind… No info from them… nothing…" I looked down silently. "Why…? Why did you find out…? I… didn't want you to know yet…"

"Huh? But why…?" Shift asked, looking at me with curiosity. She put her hands close to her chest before tilting her head to the side. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I didn't want you to face Arfoire one day… and find out what happened back then…" I answered, to which she slowly nods in understanding. "As well as keeping you and the other CPUs safe from her… But it's too late already…" I then sighed as I shook my head. "We're getting off track… as you have seen before… they make these mechs with weapons using Anti-Share crystals… but… there things even worse than them…"

"Worse than that…?" Shift gasped with her eyes widened with shock, taken aback by what I said. "What could be worse than those mechs?"

"Well… you're actually looking at one of them right now." I said pointing Filyn, who was caught off guard. Then, she went ahead to pinch and immediately pulled my cheeks. "Ow~! Stapht~!"

"Don't go around and reveal something like that!" Filyn exclaimed, shaking me over and over, making me feel dizzy. "You're gonna remind me what I did back then!" She then stepped back before crouching down, embarrassed about some of the stuff I knew of her back then. "Ah~! I'm being reminded of very bad memories now!"

Shift blinked a little before staring at Filyn for a while. Her eyes suddenly widened before turning away, her face flushed a bit red. I however sighed at this scene before shaking my head. I then cleared my throat, catching both of your attention. "Either way, along with her; there are these CFWs in which she used to lead. But, there are more than just that but I'll send the files to you on Nightcord when we get back home." I told Shift, to which she looked at me before nodding at that. "Just a quick heads up, they have factions within their ranks. But listing them will take too long so I will get to the point…"

I then sighed before narrowing my eyes towards her.

"Will you help us find ASIC and defeat them once and for all?"


That's all for a bunch of explaining stuff! And for whatever happens in the next chapter, I'll tell you two things that might happen:

A past where Sapphire meets her first friend.

Or

Just continue where I left off with this chapter while making some fluff dialogue.

I might do the second one and then the first one for another chapter since I kind of don't want to leave this with a cliffhanger. What do you guys think?

As much as I want to explain Shift's older sister here, I think actually showing what she actually did is better than explaining it. I also don't want to explain the world that Shift went to in the previous chapter since I kind of want that to be a mystery.

And for the references, there is this one name drop of "Nightcord" in this chapter (which is a parody of Discord) as well as being a word used in Hatsune Miku: ColorfulStage on mobile devices. It's also a name used for one of the units in the game being "Nightcord at 25:00."

Also, a lot of Mary Skelter and ColorfulStage stuff has influenced the way I write my stories.

Either way, that's all for now! Please Review and Stay Safe!