By the time Kairo and the others finally arrived at the coffee shop, her vision was impaired with fuzzy yellow lights that wove their way to and fro before her, causing her to stumble more than usual. After realizing that it was from the hunger as well as her physical condition that was left untreated, she vigorously shook her head and attempted to remain focused on the task at hand, which was to meet the "girls" that Mordecai had been jabbering about as they were riding on the skateboards to the coffee shop. But as the trio stepped into the delicious smelling shop, all that Kairo cared about was food, which was actually quite understandable considering the fact that she couldn't recall the last time she had eaten anything. Rigby scurried ahead on all fours after setting his skateboard down against the table they were going to sit at and perched back up on his hind legs to jump up onto the countertop.

"Hey Margaret! The cat chick's here!" he cried loudly, despite the few customers sitting around him. Kairo couldn't help but notice that after last night, he hadn't treated her as rudely as he normally would have. She eyed him peculiarly. Perhaps that's what these animals did? They would be rude to you at first until they warm up to you? Or had someone talked to him about it? Kairo doubted this, but just as she was about to ask him about it, two figures walked out from behind the counter, both of which were obscured by the yellow lights that kept on coming back. She rubbed her eyes furiously once more and looked up to see two other mammals that immediately reminded her of Mordecai and Rigby.

The first one that her eyes met with was a short mole, with a small ponytail on the side of her head that had a small poof before it straightened out and blended with the rest of her ashy brown hair. She was bespectacled and, despite the awry uniform, was actually quite adorable, maybe Rigby liked this girl (which she learned later on wasn't at all true). Her nametag read, "Eileen". Kairo moved her eyes up to the tall figure, much taller than her, and paused.

It wasn't how the red robin's beautiful beak was turned into a scowl, or how her luscious feathers glistened on her arms as they crossed over her chest. It wasn't the long black legs that seemed to straighten themselves out after seeing Kairo. And it wasn't the shimmering beady eyes that were glaring down on her with remorse. No, it wasn't any of these things alone. It was what it created altogether; a breathtakingly beautiful red robin that was looking down on a cat/human hybrid as if she were a pest. Not necessarily the best way to make a first impression, Kairo thought.

Eileen waved her small hand. "Hi! I'm Eileen! What's your name?" For being friends with that robin, Kairo thought to herself, she's quite nice.

"I-I'm Kairo," she replied shyly, twirling her hair around in her fingers.

The red robin, who had the nametag "Margaret" on her uniform, didn't even bother to introduce herself before taking a step forward and speaking.

"Oh, so you're from Egypt then?" she asked snidely.

"Um, n-not exactly, you see," Kairo stammered, "It's a bit of a misconception. That's not rea-"

"No, no, I understand. Nickname, right?" Margaret interrupted, leaning back against the countertop nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Kairo's hopes of getting along with this girl went up a smidgen higher. Maybe she was just like Rigby? Maybe she would be rude at first and then be kind?

Unfortunately, this wasn't necessarily the case, as Kairo would learn further on into the future.

Mordecai's walkie-talkie went off, a blurry voice emitting from the speaker.

"Mordedai, Rigby. Pick up, we need you guys over here to finish cleaning out the attic." It was Benson's voice.

Rigby plucked the walkie-talkie out of Mordecai's hands just as he was about to answer it. "Yeah, yeah, we'll be there in a jiffy."

Benson laughed out loud, and Kairo immediately reprimanded herself after thinking how cute she found it. "Rigby, you're jiffy and my jiffy are two completely different things. So I want you over here now, not in an hour. Got it?"

Rigby groaned. "Aww, what!" he cried into the speaker. "But it'll take forever to clean up now that we moved all those boxes out there! Besides, it's way too crowded for me and Mordecai to clean it out-" Mordecai seized the opportunity and took it back in the midst of his complaining.

"Okay Benson, we're out the door now," Mordecai lied calmly into the speaker before turning his attention back to Margaret. "Um, hey Margaret, i-if you're not too busy with the shop and all, do you think you could, you know, hang with Kairo for a little bit?"

Margaret sighed. "Well, if you have to go so soon, then I guess so."

Eileen spoke up enthusiastically. "Oh, I know what we could do! We could take her shopping, show her around the city! Wouldn't that be fun, Margaret?" Eileen looked up at her friend with glistening eyes. Margaret immediately denied. "No, we can't just leave the coffee shop hanging, we'll get fired."

"So we'll get Anyta and Devon to cover our shift!"

"They won't do that,"

"I have my ways to get them to do it," Eileen replied, sounding a little scary for a second. By now, Mordecai and Rigby were long gone, skateboarding back to the house to finish the task they never finished. Finally, after a few more minutes of arguing, the red robin let out an agitated cry. "All right! Go get Anyta & Devon, and we'll shop, or whatever, okay!" Margaret stormed to the back of the shop to change out of her uniform. Eileen watched to make sure that she was gone, and she turned back to Kairo, struggling to try to stay on her two feet.

"Sorry if Margaret's a little angry today. She's not angry at you, she just had a pretty distressing day, her boyfriend broke up with her this morning."

Kairo simply nodded lightly, feeling the throbbing in her head intensify with each passing minute she disregarded her hunger, which she tried to ignore until they were through with shopping.


By the time Mordecai and Rigby burst through the door, Benson had already finished clearing out half the attic. Before they arrived, however, he and Skips came across a most peculiar object aside from the Portal Panel. Benson was in the midst of digging around aggressively, trying to reach over the boxes all of the crumbled newspapers that tumbled out of the box his two employees sloppily threw into the attic, when he came across it. His metal hands bumped against the cool, smooth surface, and couldn't resist the urge to grab it. He picked it up and inspected the large sky blue orb, noting how he couldn't see his reflection in it, but a jumble of words and pictures that looked as if they were his own, childhood photos, things he'd said in the past that stuck with him for life.

"Hey Skips?" he said, turning around just as the yeti had finished placing a box up on the shelf. "Yeah?" He asked, turning around slowly and wiping the dust of on an old cloth he took from his pocket.

Benson held the object up in front of him for the both of them to see. "What's this?"

Skips' eyes were fixated on it as if it were a bomb. "Set it down slowly," he said calmly, even though his expression was just the opposite. Benson did as he was told, carefully placing it down in front of him and cautiously took a step back. Skips waited a second before taking it into his own hands. "This…" His voice seemed perturbed.

"What is it, Skips?"

"It's…something that has been granted the same power as that of the Portal Panel. It has the ability to show one's past memories. The same energy that is used in the Portal Panel also resides within this orb, showing only the memories that have scarred one's past."

Benson, though he didn't exactly know why, immediately thought of Kairo.

"How does it work?"

"Trust me Benson," Skips said, slipping it onto the highest shelf in the attic. "There will be a time that you will use it."

Benson stammered. "W-Well, I didn't say I-"

"Regardless of whether you want to or not, Benson, the energy knows what it's doing. When the time comes, it'll find you, and you'll know exactly how to use it."

Benson bit his bottom lip and uneasily looked around the attic.

"B-but…"

He paused in uncertainty.

"Why me? Do I have to be the one to use it?"

Skips smiled at his boss. "The energy knows what it's doing. It chose you, Benson."

"What?"

"It chose you to watch her, to keep her safe. That's why you're feeling this way, like you're concerned for her but you're not exactly why. It chose you."

As Skips walked down the stairs to get a drink of water, Benson stood rooted to the spot, still thinking about what Skips had said. Chosen? To do what? Be a daddy figure? He recalled her saying she lived with a foster mom...

"Benson?" A voice said behind him.

He flipped around, and thought he couldn't necessarily explain why, was disappointed that it was Mordecai instead of Kairo.

And after confirming that he had felt it, and knowing that he didn't know what was happening, he was determined to stay as far away from Kairo as possible.

But the energy knew better, knew much more than Benson or Skips or any mortal, for its knowledge was beyond their comprehension. It knew everything about the two there was to know.

Including that Kairo feared to have her secret revealed.


Firstly, I'm SO sorry for such a late post as well as a short chapter, but it's testing week and my time is from here on out restricted until further notice. Don't worry, I'm sure you can cope with a cliffhanger for a few days at the least. Love you all!