Once Stanton had gotten home, he'd headed straight up to his room. He'd been in such a hurry he hadn't even noticed when Pacifica greeted him from the kitchen. He just bolted to his bedroom and pulled out the deck of cards. "Arcana?" he asked, hoping the voice had kept it's word and was willing to give him the answers he was looking for.

"I am here. Speak."

Stanton looked down at the deck. "Hey… so, what are you exactly?" he asked. He figured it would be best to just start getting right to what he wanted to know. Arcana didn't strike him as one for pleasantries, which was something they had in common.

"I am a spirit that resides within the cards you now wield. It is my job to help explain and bring out the wielder's potential through them."

Stanton hummed. "You said bring out my potential through the cards, not used the cards powers. Can you explain that? I don't have any powers to bring out," he said.

"You do wield power. If you truly had no affinity for magic within you, then I would not be able to communicate with you, and you wouldn't have been able to use The Fool's power earlier," he explained. "How much power you wield is yet to be seen, but the potential is present."

Stanton looked down at his other hand. He had used some magic before. Very low level tricks used in self-defense from monsters and ghosts. But he figured everyone could do simple stuff like that. The ability he used with the card wasn't something he thought he'd ever pull off. "You can't tell me who the previous wielder is, right?" he asked.

"Correct. I have been forbidden to reveal their identity. Though I can tell you that I was left to you by them and ordered to assist you in bringing out your magical ability."

Stanton reached down and pulled out The Fool card. "So… why is this card the only one that isn't blank now? Is it like leveling up? I have to master this card before I get the next?"

"Incorrect. The Fool revealed itself because you formed a bond with The Fool."

"The bond I formed with… do you mean Ezra?"

"I know not The Fool's true name. I simply know whoever appears on the cards is the person whom the bond is forged with. And the stronger the bond, the more power you will be able to use through the cards."

Stanton looked back down at the card. Had he really formed a bond with Ezra? All they did was talk and play some games together. If bonds were how these cards worked, it would have made more sense for his father or Maggie to show up on it. "Is there any particular meaning to who shows up on the card? Like the type of bond or something?" he asked.

"There is, but what bonds will be forged are beyond even my knowledge. I can only bring out the power of said bonds. I cannot form or influence them. My duty is merely to assist in your growth. Nothing less, nothing more."

Stanton sighed. "Thanks." A magical power that was based off of relationships with other people… it seemed like literally the worst possible thing for him. He wondered if whoever left these cards had any idea who they were passing them on to.

He was about to ask Arcana another question, but then heard a knock on the door. "Stanton, are you in there?" Renee said from the other side of his door.

The boy stayed silent for a moment, then glanced towards the clock. Renee usually wasn't home this early. She always spent most of her time after school at the Vanguard Base, and typically didn't get home until late in the evening. "I'm here," he answered.

"That's good… could I come in?"

He glanced down at the cards once more, and then pocketed them. "Yeah…"

The door opened and Renee made her way into his room. She offered a smile. "Hey there, glad to see you're okay. I was kind of worried about you," she said.

Stanton tilted his head. "…why?"

"A friend of mind said he saw you running from someone and I thought Neville had been messing with you again. I tried calling but… well, you didn't pick up your phone. I figured you were home by now but I just wanted to swing by and make sure," she explained.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Sure enough, there were five missed calls on it. His phone was almost always on silent, but he usually checked it regularly. He'd been so focused on the cards though he'd totally forgotten about anything else. "Sorry," he apologized. "You didn't come all the way from the base just to check on me, did you?"

Renee waved it off. "Oh, don't worry. I borrowed a pair of scissors from Vera. It was literally just a swipe away," she assured as she pulled out the pair of dimensional scissors.

Stanton looked at them curiously. He had heard about dimensional scissors from one of his dad's older colleagues, but he'd never got to see them before. Renee noticed him staring and smiled. "Hey… did you want to come back through the portal with me. If you're not busy I mean. Ezra and Sky mentioned you were thinking about coming by the base anyway, so…?"

He thought for a moment. If Ezra was there then it could give him more opportunities to find out more about the cards… then again, he was probably out on patrol by now. "I think I'm fine," he said, shaking his head. Renee looked a bit disappointed, until he spoke again. "Maybe tomorrow?"

She looked slightly surprised, but then quickly nodded. She had expected him to just flat out say no, so she was going to take what she could get. "Sure, that works. You want me to give you a ride there?" she asked.

"If you don't mind."

"Not one bit," she said, looking genuinely happy to see him reaching out a bit. "Well, guess I'll be heading back now. Give me a text if you need anything."

"I will." Not that he thought he would actually need anything from her. Renee turned around and swiped the scissors, opening a portal in front of her. She gave him one last wave before walking through and closing it behind her. Stanton made a mental note to sketch down what the scissors and portal looked like.

Suddenly, his pocket once against began to glow brightly. He reached down and grabbed the deck, quickly noticing that the cards under The Fool was glowing. "What…?" He plucked it from the deck as the blank card showed a brand new image.

This time the card showed Renee, holding what looked like a spell book in her hands. The bottom of the card read 'The Magician'.

"Renee?" he asked, confused. He had formed a bond with Renee? All they'd done was talk and make breakfast together? Was that really all that was needed to form a bond?

"You know very little about relationships it seems…"

Stanton shook his head. "Are… are you always about to just read my thoughts like that?" he asked. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of someone always being in his head.

"Apologies. But so long as you wield the deck, I will be present within your mind. You have unlocked the power of The Magician. Would you like to test its power?"

Stanton looked over the card. "Do you know what it does?"

"When my previous wielder used the card, it produced flames powerful enough to turn stone to ash. But there is no guarantee the power will manifest within you the same way."

Stanton grunted. "I better wait then…" He didn't want to end up blowing up half the house if this turned out to be something he couldn't handle. He put the card back. "Do you know why the card didn't show itself earlier? I talked with Renee this morning and it didn't show."

"A new card cannot be activated until the previous card's activation. Since you activated The Fool earlier, The Magician was finally allowed to reveal itself. Until you activate The Magician's power, the next card will not be able to reveal itself. Of course, this is assuming the bond for the next card it already formed."

Stanton rubbed his chin. So it was almost like a video game. They had to be unlocked in order, and you had to meet certain conditions for one card to get the next. "The Fool and The Magician…" he muttered. If these were based off the Arcana Tarot cards… "The next card should be The High Priestess then, right?"

"Correct. You are a quick learner."

"Thanks. Do you know who's going to be The High Priestess then?"

"I do not. As I told you, the bonds which power the cards are yours to make and strengthen."

Stanton frowned. That meant if he wanted to figure out more about these cards, he was going to have to be… social.

He was screwed.

The next morning played out as normally as any other. He woke up, he and Renee made breakfast for the family, and she gave him a ride to school. She seemed a bit more cheery than usual for some reason. He honestly had no idea why. Could it have had something to do with the cards? He doubted it. Ezra didn't act any differently when The Fool was revealed.

Maybe it was a girl thing.

Lunch was… something. He'd decided to go back up to the roof and eat with Ezra, Sky, and Erin again. He had mostly stayed silent why Ezra and Sky did the talking. Erin was awfully quiet too, adding in suggestions for their comics here and there, but he got the feeling that was just her personality.

When he mentioned that he could be coming to the Vanguard base today, Ezra seemed pretty excited. He'd asked if he wanted to walk with them, but he explained that he was riding with Renee. After that, he and Sky shared a glance when they thought he wasn't looking. He wasn't sure what that was about either, but decided not to ask.

Class went by normally… well, except that now he realized he had a few classes with Ezra and one with Sky. He had always laid low and blended in before, so they had just never seemed to notice each other. It honestly didn't change much… well, except in science, where they were now lab partners. Ezra had no idea what he was going, so he just let Stanton take the lead.

After the bell for their final class rang, Stanton made his way into the halls. Renee had told him she'd meet him in the parking lot to pick him up, so all he had to do was- "Hey runt!"

Stanton turned his head and saw Neville standing at the other end of the hall. He wasn't with his friends this time, but he didn't look pleased at all. "Did he skip class just to try and catch me…?" Stanton asked, confused. His class was on the second floor. There was no way he got down here in less than ten seconds.

Neville began marching down the hall. "You're gonna tell me what that shit you pulled off yesterday was you little- HEY!" Stanton was already running off in the opposite direction. Neville began chasing after him.

Stanton sped around the corner and then rushed into the boy's bathroom before pulling out the deck of cards. "Okay Arcana, time to test the card is now," he said, pulling out The Magician. He had no idea what it would do, but if there was a chance it'd get him out of a beatdown from Neville he'd take it.

"Very well. Call out it's name."

"The Magician!"

Neville burst into the bathroom with a growl, and then… saw nothing. He looked around for a moment. All the stalls were open, and the window was closed. So where did the little runt go?

"Son of a bitch!"

Meanwhile, Renee made her way outside of the high school building and down the stairs alongside Cayenne and Kingsley. "I'll meet back up with you guys at the base. I have to go pick up… Stanton?" she looked down towards her step-brother confused as he stood at the bottom of the stairs.

Stanton looked around confused, as if he was trying to figure out where he was. Cayenne looked over towards the middle school building, and then down at Stanton. "Did you run all the way here? Shit kid, you really are fast," she said.

He looked around for a few more moments before looking back up at them. "Uh… yes. I ran here… from my building…" he said. He couldn't believe it. One second he'd been in the bathroom, the next he'd been out here. Was that The Magician's Ability? Teleportation?

"Huh? Maybe you should think about trying out for the track team," she said laughing. Stanton opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "I was just joking Stanton. I know track isn't really your thing," she said. "Well, I guess we can get going then. You ready?"

Stanton stood for a bit, still trying to collect his thoughts. "Uh… yeah. I'm ready," he said turning around. Renee walked down and the two made their way off towards her car.

Kingsley and Cayenne watched as they left. "He's a bit of an oddball huh?" Kingsley asked.

"He kind of reminds me of you?" Cayenne said. "Little weirdo."

Renee unlocked the car door and Stanton made his way into the passenger's seat. The blonde started her car and pulled off. As they made their way down the street, she noticed Stanton seemed a little disoriented. More so than usual. "Is something wrong Stanton? You seem a little bit out of it," she said.

He shook his head. "Yeah, I'm fine…" he said. Honestly, teleporting like that had left him a little dizzy. He wasn't sure if it was just the suddenness of it, or some side effect.

"If you say so," she said with a shrug. He didn't seem really hurt or anything, so she wasn't going to grill him about it. She then smiled. "You know Stanton, I was really glad you decided to come visit the base."

That seemed to snap him out of his thoughts. "Why?"

She hummed. "Well, mostly it's just to see you trying to be a bit more social I guess. But I also thought if you liked visiting this could be another siblings thing we could do together, you know?" she asked happily.

"Siblings thing?" Stanton asked, confused. "Why do you want us to act like brother and sister so badly? You don't think it's weird suddenly having me around?"

She looked amused. "Well, it's definitely been an adjustment for everyone. But the thing is… I always kind of wanted a little brother or sister," she said. "Being the only child in my house was kind of lonely, and my friends at school were… not really all that nice," she said.

"The dumb popular kids?" Stanton asked.

"Yeah, the dumb popular kids…" she said with a sigh. "I know this whole thing has been a huge change for everyone, and I know you're probably tired of hearing that by now. But you and me, and mom and Dipper, I like the idea of us being a family. And I like spending some time with my new little brother. I mean breakfast has been pretty nice, right?"

Stanton looked down. "It… it hasn't been bad."

"And you had fun playing at the arcade with Ezra, right?" she asked. He gave a small nod. "See, trying new stuff can be fun. I know you like your privacy, but getting out and trying new stuff can be great. You might not like everything, but you're bound to find something."

Stanton shrugged. "I guess…"

She reached over and patted him on the head. "I'm sure you'll find all types of stuff at the Vanguard base. Dipper said you liked recording stuff in your journal right? Well we have all types of artifacts and info I can let you jot down. And you can meet everyone in the Supernatural department… you know we even have an alien mechanic?"

Stanton's eyes widened. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Oh yeah. She's in the Tech Department. She's really good with advanced tech. She can take apart and rebuild a car like that," she said snapping. Stanton looked interested, and Renee felt happy to have finally stuck a cord with the boy. She talked a bit more about some of their other members as they drove towards the base.

The ghostly figure rushed down the alleyway, a look of sheer desperation on its face. It held it's arm in pain as it tried to find some sort of safe haven or escape route to lose it's pursuer. It could still tell she was hot on his tail, and if it didn't find some sort of escape soon it was done for. He sped around the corner and then paled as he found himself at a dead end.

"No…" he muttered.

It turned around and got ready to double back, only to find it's pursuer already standing at the end of the alleyway. He backed up against the wall fearfully as she approached. "Seriously… how many of your guys do I have to fry before you get the message," she said before lifting her hands. "Townsville is off limits…"

The ghost held its hands up. "Wait! I'll get it! I won't cause anymore trouble! I'll head back to the ghost zone and stay there!" he said.

"I've heard that too many times before. Ghosts like you don't want anything but to cause anymore trouble," she said before putting her fingers together. "And I don't have time to keep dealing with you." She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the ghost's entire body burst into pink flames. It yelled out as it was quickly engulfed and consumed by the fire.

There was nothing left but a small puff of smoke, and the girl sighed. "Great… that always leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Maggie Pines said, frowning.

"It's a necessary evil my girl. We cannot allow them to overrun this city. There is more than enough trouble to deal with as it is."

Maggie hummed. "Yeah, I know. I still don't like it. That was the last one for tonight, right?" she asked as she turned and began walking off.

"Yes. Or rather it was. I sensed another spirit a short while ago. This one however is… contained. And it seems to be channeling its power through someone."

Maggie looked curious. "That so? Well, I'm tired and don't feel like dealing with it now. So unless they start going nuts we'll leave it alone," she said.

"And if it does go active?"

"Then we'll track down whoever is using it and burn it to ash…"