The boy strode down the hall at a slow, steady, concentrated pace, the eye not covered by his bangs glued to the clipboard he held in his slender hand. "Priority one, Bianca Butterfield… failed to control. An amateur Arcane Wielder. Result unacceptable. Priority two, ViVid Evans… expected reaction gain, but failed to control. Further measures will be undertaken. Unexpected priority, Silphy Hinagiku…"

He quickly jotted something down, and flipped over the sheet of paper he was examining. "Stupid, stupid Ivy." He mutter, exasperated.

The approaching footsteps, tentative at first but then rapid, did nothing to draw away the boy's attention, until the gentle voice that accompanied them was heard.

"Hello, Heivei… Ar-are you working?" She asked hesitantly.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. The recent results are… quite disconcerting." He let his gaze lift to meet hers, and immediately his frustration felt soothed. Her eyes, as odd as their mismatching shades and unusual dullness was, were quiet and gentle.

Not eyes that should be seeing for Her Majesty Salem. And he would change that. Even if it meant losing her trust, like ViVid's was lost, C.C. should not have to be what Salem was going to make her.

"Ow… Ow! Geez, Mouse, can't you be little gentler? Ow!"

I hissed in a sharp breath and tried to hold on to my patience as much as I could. "Well," I said through gritted teeth. "Maybe if you could hold still, this would be a problem and I would be so tempted to re-open all your healing wounds." ViVid narrowed his eyes in that slanty way he does when he's annoyed (I guess I'm just observant, but I've already picked up on all these little quirks my new companions had.)

"You know something? You will never be a good housewife." He stated, before folding his arms behind his head and leisurely leaning back against my wall. I sighed irritably and slapped a band-aid on a scratch on his forehead that was starting to bleed again.

"Now, now…" I gave a lazy glance over my shoulder at Silphy, who was–don't ask me how– hanging upside down from my top bed bunk, with that same passively cheerful amber gaze. "You, my dear, and you, my other dear, really need to lighten up." She proclaimed. Silphy, in another acrobatic, potentially-physics-defying feat, pulled herself up, flipped over and landed lightly on my messy wooden floor. She adjusted the bandanna tied loosely around her neck, which had shifted around when she had hopped down.

"Ah. My point exactly." ViVid smirked at my response to that, which was some forced combination of growling and scoffing in disbelief. I was glad Silphy didn't have to stay at my place, too. Between the two of them, I'd probably be more likely to loose it and kill someone than I would be to save the world.

But, hey, just another sanity-taxing day in the life of Bianca Butterfield, right?

So, the verdict of yesterday's brawl? No one dead, ViVid looking like her got hit by a truck, Ivy and Whatshisface gone for at least a day now, and Alessio really quiet and contemplate-y.

Oh, right. That reminds me.

"Ahem." I coughed, trying-and-failing to be subtle. "Alessio?" He didn't look up, and continued licking thoughtfully at the dish of vanilla ice cream ViVid had brought him. Since ViVid was mostly okay (in a manner of speaking) and he and Silphy were engaging in a conversation of some sort, I hopped of the corner of my bed and crouched in front of the chair Alessio was curled up on.

"Alessio?"

Alessio was muttering something to himself, still completely oblivious to my presence.

"Alessio? ALESSIO?" He flinched suddenly at the raise in my voice, knocking his ice cream dish off the corner of the chair. In a flash of red, Silphy jolted over, snatched it from the air, and returned to its spot beside Alessio, a bit further from the edge, all in one deft movement.

"Oh…thank you, Silphy." Alessio said, his voice dull and his mind clearly still miles away. "I didn't notice you there, Bianca. I…was thinking…"

I sighed, but smiled a little. "Yeah, I gathered. Alessio…I kinda need to ask you something." By this point, Silphy and ViVid had moved over to my end of the bed, interested in what was being said.

"Mistress hasn't forgotten, defector."

Vision's words had been hanging heavily in my mind since yesterday. "Alessio…That guy from before…he knew you. And he said…"

Alessio shot a glance at ViVid, and, curiously, I glance at him myself, trying to be discreet. ViVid looked solemn, but gave Alessio a slight nod.

Thus, Alessio began to explain. "Well…it's a long story…" Yeah, I sensed an understatement. "But… I should probably start by explain who those two are."

"I had been suspecting it was them for a while…and even after we encountered Ivy, I wasn't sure... But I don't think there's any denying now." He shook his head, like he was trying to shake an unpleasant thought from it. "The Salem Apostles have returned."

ViVid grimaced, but nodded silently. Silphy looked confused. "Uh, how? Salem, the most decidedly un-dearest, is dead." She looked from Alessio to ViVid and back again. "Right?"

"Well, about that…" ViVid laughed nervously. "It's a pretty interesting story, actually." Silphy still looked puzzled. ViVid reached over and decked her on the forehead. "Her Arcane Element is death, Angel. You really think killing her is gonna keep her down that long?"

Angel? Who is he calling–…Never mind, not important. "Excuse me!" I barked sharply. "Can someone give me a clear answer here? What's a–"

"Bianca, honey?" My mom knocked on the door a little, and nudged her heads in. "There's some hot water on the stove if you guys want some hot chocolate." She looked over at Silphy. "Um, how long do you plan on staying…"Silphy", wasn't it?"

Silphy nodded. "It was. And I don't have anything going on today, so I can hang out with ViVid and Bia all day."

"Bia?" I scoffed, giving her a look.

"Better than Mouse." ViVid offered.

"Okay. I just wanted to know…" Mom said, ignoring ViVid's and my comments. "Say, I haven't heard much about you before… Did you just move here, Silphy?"

Silphy grinned. "I did! I'll be starting school this Monday." She threw her arm around my neck and yanked me other to her. "And, guess what? I'm in Bianca's homeroom!"

How she knew what my homeroom was is beyond me.

Mom smiled an oblivious mom smiled. "That's great! It was nice to meet you."

"You too, Mrs. Butterfield! Now, about that hot chocolate…"

A few minutes and hot cocoa all around, the four of us had relocated to the dining room table. Silphy had decided to help herself to some leftover sweet potato pie, and my mother was in the other room working on something for work on her computer, so she would hopefully stay out of our hair for a little while.

"So, first of all…" I started. "Who is Salem, what's an Arcane Element, and who the heck are the Salem Apostles?"

Alessio, who had his head in ViVid's cup of cocoa, looked up and gazed at me for a long minute. Silphy set down her fork and ViVid fiddle with a bit of his hair, waiting for his response. Alessio shifted his goggles, and then began to speak. "Salem Witchfield is…an Arcane Wielder, like the three of you." He gaze us all a sweeping look. "But… she was of the "failures", as Mother would call them – it's a pretty harsh term if you ask me, though – who chose to use her powers for her own evil, purposes…"

"Like I said," ViVid added. "Her Arcane Element is death itself. An Arcane Element is the elemental power Arcane Wielders gain after they're accepted. Like, you have ice, Silphy has electricity."

Alessio nodded, and continued his explanation. "Normally, a "failure" like Salem wouldn't be too hard to handle – there are plenty of other loyal Wielders to stop her – but she…managed to sway others to her way of thinking, and they too abandoned Mother and joined Salem. They're the Salem Apostles."

"You mean Ivy and Vision?" I asked him. Now, things were starting to make sense.

"Y-yeah…" To my surprise, it was ViVid who answered me. "Them, and…" he shift uncomfortably, and gazed into the thick dark drink in his mug. "…others." Alessio's eyes shot to his "boss" and suddenly looked sympathetic.

And the confusion returns.

Alessio absent-mindedly licked a drop of cocoa from his paw. "Some Wielders…only very powerful ones…and only under certain circumstances…can turn living things into Remnants."

Silphy nibbled apprehensively on the end of her fork. "And you, my small and furry dear, think that Salem is making all the Remnants that we've been taking out?" Alessio nodded.

"Pretty much."

"Well!" I said loudly, causing Silphy, Alessio, and even the suddenly silent ViVid to jump in surprise. "That's…nice to know! And would have been a lot nice to know sooner!" If I was shouting, I didn't care. I really didn't.

"W-well…There wasn't much of a point of telling you before, when we didn't really think Salem was involved…but now we do…so we did tell you." Alessio commented, slowly and awkwardly. Yeah, I still wasn't convinced. Beside, there was still one thing he hadn't answered for me.

I gave him a sharp glare. "Not all of it!" I pointed out. "Why did Vision say that to you? Were you–"

"He was." ViVid's voice was blunt and dull, and he still looked downcast. Alessio looked taken aback at the sudden response, but nodded solemnly.

"Yes, it's true. I used to… agree with some of Salem's ideas. She wasn't always so bad! When she was a young, eager Wielder, Salem was…endearing. The sort of person my kind just takes to…"

"And, what, exactly, does your kind entail?" I snapped.

"Terran ascended." ViVid said with a small shrug.

"And what the heck does that mean?" I demanded, slamming my hand down on the table.

The cocoa in my cup rippled and completely froze over. Alessio was clearly startled, and started to say something. I didn't care what he had to say. I got up from the table and dash from the room.

My mom looked up as I when by. "I'm walking over to the playground!" I told her quickly as I ran by.

"But, what about–" Her voice was shrill as I practically threw the door open.

"I'll be back before dinner!" I shouted behind me as I closed the door and stumbled down the stairs, turning to bolt down the sidewalk. "Meh…probably."

(A/N: I am SO SORRY I took forever to update. Thankfully, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. What will happen next time? Wait and see! And hopefully you won't have to wait as long as you did for this…)