Note: For canon lore purposes, the role of the main hero in the Black Heaven storyline has been given to the Explorer character. I've simply made up names for the Explorer and the Cannoneer.

Crickets chirped as the soft fizzle of magic brought two beings, and two medium-sized travel bags, back into the world in front of a small, wooden building.

Kyle felt a little queasy, as he always did after a teleport. It didn't sit right with him. Even the portal between Pantheon and Six Paths Crossway made him feel a twinge of motion sickness. Ironic, considering the point of teleportation was supposed to be that there was no physical motion involved.

He glanced at Tear. She seemed to have also taken the scroll's power poorly, as she sort of wobbled back and forth for a bit. Kyle picked up both bags and walked inside the building, with Tear following shortly behind him. The receptionist greeted him with a smile before taking their bags and directing them to the actual baths. Kyle gave a half-wave to Tear before he entered the men's side. Tear gave a half-wave back.

Once outside in the actual spring portion of the hot spring, Kyle could see that everyone involved with the Black Heaven had indeed been invited; Hawkeye was sitting on a rock, talking up a storm with a rather bored-looking Dual Blade. Mihile appeared to simply relaxing, sitting next to Luminous, who, if he hadn't been chest-deep in steaming water, would have appeared to be meditating on some kind of divine, cosmic question.

It was Evan who noticed Kyle first.

"Ah! Kasier! I mean, Lord Kaiser! It is 'Lord', right? Geez, another famous person, I feel like I don't belong with you guys!"

The boy gave a cheery smile. He was easily the youngest of everyone present, a good year or two younger than Kyle himself. Maybe the youngest person in the entire Alliance. He did look out of place. The fact that the was a large, dark blue dragon curled up on the far edge of the spring considered the young boy to be his master just served to make him stand out more.

Hawkeye gave a mischevious grin. "Heya dragon-boy numero dos. How's it hangin'?"

Kyle smiled. "Great, thanks for asking, captain."

"Call me Hawkeye!"

"Hawkeye it is, and you can call me Kyle."

"So Kyle," Brighton, the Resistance's head Battle Mage, spoke up from near the center of the pool. "If you're here, does that mean that little lady friend of yours is too? The Angelic Buster, I mean?"

At the name of the idol, the Dual Blade perked up.

"The Angelic Buster is here?" Asked a man with white hair and a scar over his left eye. Kyle recalled his name being Jack, the Cannoneer. "Wow! To think, another beautiful girl right behind that wall over there." He made a lewd face and gestured to a tall, wooden wall, which Kyle guessed was the divider between the male and female baths. "Niiice!"

Kyle fought the urge to stab the pirate right between his shifty green eyes. "No. I'm afraid...she. Couldn't. Make. It." He spaced out his words to try and get his point across. Kyle then stepped into the spring himself.

"Heh, don't try it kid." Hawkeye leaned back slightly on the rock he was sitting on. "The girls over there are some of the most powerful people in the world. Trying to get a peep would be suicide. Believe me. There was this time when I was on a mission with Irena, and I tried to get a little peep. She nearly punctured my..."

"No one wants to hear about your perverted adventures, fish-for-brains" Interrupted Mihile. Hawkeye made a "phooie" sound and began conversing with Jack.

Kyle was glad that discussion was over. Whether she was the Angelic Buster or not, Kyle didn't want anyone sneaking a look at Tear while she was in the bath. He paused for a moment, and then shook the image of his friend out of his head entirely.

He still needed to figure out if Tear was lying or not. If he could get the Angelic Buster to show up tonight, he would know for certain. After all, he had taken her ticket. There would be no way for her to know that he was here, unless she was here to begin with.

Kyle sank up to his nose in the water and started to blow bubbles, getting lost in his thoughts, which is why the next comment took him by surprise.

"So, do any of you guys know who the Angelic Buster really is?"

Kyle choked on some of the water he accidentially inhaled, causing him to let out a series of loud coughs. The person who asked the question was one of the explorers; a hero-class warrior, to be specific. This was the warrior who had made it onto the Black Heaven's deck first, and the one who had fought with both Lotus and Gelimer. His name was Yuuki.

"Dunno." Commented Jack.

"Wish I knew." Added Hawkeye.

"Isn't it kind of the point that her identity's a secret?" Chimed Evan.

Luminous made a face that insinuated that he thought the conversation was stupid, but didn't go out of his way to leave.

"Hey Kyle, you know, dontcha?" Hawkeye asked.

"W-well...I..." Kyle hesitated. He could tell them his theory, and tell them his plan, but that might be bad for Tear.

"I know who she is."

Everyone in the bath jumped at the new voice. It was a grim, solemn voice that was not quite commanding, but definitely not quiet. The voice originated from a long figure sitting in the back of the hot spring. He had long, black hair and deep purple eyes. If Kyle had to describe the man's face in a single word, it would be "sad".

"I...I mean, I don't know who she is, as in her name, but I've seen what she looks like."

"Right..." Said Hawkeye, scratching his head. "What's 'yer name again?"

The man frowned and his face seemed to fall even more.

"Hawkeye, don't be rude!" Snapped Mihile. "He introduced himself to the Empress a while back, remember?"

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that. I just couldn't place your name."

Kyle noticed that the man seemed to be extremely relieved at this comment before he spoke again.

"Shade." He said. "You can call me Shade."

Hawkeye nodded. "Shade...got it. Wont forget it again!"

Shade smiled. "As far as miss...um...Buster? Well, as far as her identity goes, she was doing a concert...near Florina Beach, I think it was? Anyway, I had been taking a walk and came up to the concert from behind- completely accidentially, that is- and I saw her taking a break. She...transformed."

"Transformed?" Evan looked confused.

"Yes, one minute she was standing there with pink pigtails and her normal- well, as normal as it is- outfit, then there's this big flash of pink, and suddenly she was different."

Kyle paused.

"W...what did she look like?"

"Well, she was still a Nova, only her horns were black instead of bright blue, and her wings were more purplish instead of clear blue. She had shoulder-length orange-ish hair, kind of a plain-looking face..."

Kyle didn't like where this was going.

"...oh, and there was something funny; I couldn't see her tail."

"Tear." Kyle said aloud.