Cloudbank. The city of the future, of innovation and learning, of art and architecture. The perfect oasis in the world of mediocrity, ran and designed by the best and the brightest that humanity could offer. A citadel of peace, creation and advancement. Or so it seemed…

Neo collapsed on a street corner, panicked. The night was perfect, she performed in front of a captive audience, and the leading figures of the city asked to meet with her. They congratulated her for her amazing voice and performance only to attack her in the backstage. That would have been the end of her, if it wasn't for Fox…

FOX! Where is he!?

Neo tries to call for him. But no sound comes out of her mouth. Her voice… It is gone… Neo collapses on the ground. She touches her neck with her trembling fingers. Her mind was a vortex of emotions, grief, anger, confusion… She was close to shutting down entirely until she heard something, someone talking.

"Neo, Neo, where are you? Where are you? Please, don't be gone"

Can it be? FOX!

Neo launches into a sprint towards the voice only to fall over her yellow dress, the one she performed in this very night. Neo rips off the bottom part of her dress, uncaring of how it might look, she NEEDED to get to Fox.

"I'm here, I am STILL here, I'm over here, please"

Neo rose up and continued to run towards the noise, it was becoming more and more clearer by the second.

"Look, if she's hurt, if she's hurt I will… I'll what… I'll what? I'll do nothing…"

Neo turned the corner and saw him… His body was propped against a decorative tree. From his midsection, a large part of a huge blade was sticking out. He wasn't moving. The sword itself was glowing, pulsing with light as if in some sort of Rhythm. Only to turn even brighter, and the voice of Fox come out of it.

"Stuck… I'm stuck inside this… Thing? What is this? Nothing?"

Neo slowly approached the body. The sword "spoke" once again, with Neo becoming ever closer to it.

"Heyyy, is that you? Hah, look at you. You're alive. At least some good news… Me? I'm not so sure… I'm still here. Still here. I know this looks bad, but It could be worse. Little help here?"

Neo did not know what to think… What to do… It was Fox. And yet his body… She continued to stand there in shock, before the body of a man she considered her light, her inspiration, her heart…

"Hey, Neo, say something already. I know it's a lot to take in… But… Oh no…"

The mute singer did not know what else to do, so she took a hold of the sword and pulled it out. It was lighter than she thought.

"There, together again...Heh, sort of."

Neo did not feel any better despite Fox's attempts at humor. The entire situation was just too much. "None of this was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a happy day, a day of celebration. Not of, whatever this was…"

"Neo, please, I know it's difficult. But we have to go… They unleashed something, I feel it, whatever it is, it's going to consume the entire city… We have to stop it"

Neo sighed. And continued onwards, dragging Fox behind her. Even if she had no way of knowing, she was going to consider that Fox was inside the sword. Any other alternative was unacceptable to even be thought of. Regardless of his form Fox was still alive. He HAD to be.

Neo did not know what to feel, being back at the stage. This is where the night began. Where the nightmare started. She looked towards the audience seats from her position in front of the microphone, then behind her, there was no one.

"Are you sure that you felt one of the Camerata here?"

"Yeah. Took some time to get a handle on this ability, but I'm pretty sure"

Neo had no reason to distrust him, so the only option left was to simply wait. Maybe whoever was here would come back. She could not help but look at the microphone. Despite the entire city breaking down into pieces, this place was still intact, as if to mock her over her voice being stolen… Overcome by the feeling of melancholy, Neo started humming.

After a couple of minutes of humming Fox spoke to her again. "I can feel her, she's here"

Neo turned around in an instant and saw her. She wore a green summer dress. Her body was cast in shadow by a creamy pink parasol while she was kneeling in what looked to be flowers created by the process.

"Look who it is… Hello again Emerald", Fox could not help but comment. "Be careful, I can feel that she's changed. Some of her still remains there, but most of it has already been replaced by the process"

Neo reached out to Emerald, only for Emerald to become one of the Process forms. She looked like a royal lady, with a crown on top of her forehead, a huge white collar framing her head, and a dress, the top black, and the bottom white, looking like flower petals.

"You are here you are here you are here, I knew you'd return, I knew I knew I knew"

Emerald charged at Neo, the parasol she held before becoming akin to a lance.

The wretched thing before her on the floor was all that was left of Emerald. The last vestiges of Emerald, untouched by the process. Neo had little choice but to finish it off, if not to acquire the information that Emerald had then at least as a mercy. The sword struck true and Neo could hear her foes last words.

"Finally finally finally, we can be one…"

Fox could feel Emeralds presence being absorbed into the sword alongside his. "Hello again Emerald. Your Camerata friends. I want you to tell us where they are, you understand?" He felt Emeralds agreement.

"We got our lead, we are going downtown. The process will be waiting for us."

With those words, Neo left the stage and exited into the street. She started walking towards her next destination. The only way to reach downtown from the area they were in currently was a bridge. Fox spoke up once again. "Hey, Neo, Emerald… after our run-in in the backstages… I don't think she ever left the theater. I don't think she wanted to… "

Both of them heard a whisper coming from inside the sword.

"Please, I don't want to be alone again…"