A/N:

I just comm'd some more art of this fic, Expect to see it in the coming days! Two pieces, one of a scene that already happened and another one coming soon. (But it'll have already had happened by the time they're finished, probably lol.)

Plus, they have a redbubble store - so that means official KAF merch soon! Kinda. But it's still exciting!

—-

The first few days of class went…Well, fine. It was a lecture styled course, so Phillip's primary duty was grunt work - grading papers, back tests, et cetera. It was tedious, but if combined with listening to a little bit of music - it was peaceful. Gave him time to think about the future.

He was so deep in thought he didn't hear the teacher's lounge phone ring - not until Steve tapped him on the shoulder and went "Dude, there's a call for you."

Awkwardly, Phillip grabbed the receiver and greeted "Hello?"

"Phillip, a time pool just showed up in the Cuticle Valley - just outside Sternumia. Meet me at the tip of the stream - the edge of the Great Woods. We'll find it together." The voice was one Lilith Clawthorne, and they spoke with a certain authority. The line went dead after that.

Phillip wasted no time, saying a quick goodbye as he grabbed his staff - flying off as fast as his Palisman could carry him.

–

At the same time as this, there was a call placed to the Blight household. Amity was the one who picked up the phone, opening with the usual "Blight Household, Amity speaking."

"Hey, Amity." The voice on the other end was Hunter's. He clearly sounded nervous, fidgety and panicked. "Is Phillip there?"

"Nope, He's at work. Got a job working at Eda's school."

Hunter let out a sigh of relief. "Do you know if Dad-" He stuttered. "Darius is free? Willow's out of town, and- it's been too long since we hung out."

"Oh, I don't think so. He'd probably appreciate the company." Amity shrugged. "I'll go ahead and make you two some snacks."

"Cool, I'll be over soon." Finished Hunter, as he hung up the line. But what he was hiding was that he had a plan up his sleeve.

–

Phillip met up with Lilith, and just as detected - a time pool swirled on the beach's sand. Like a veritable tornado.

Perhaps it was just an intrusive thought, but in that moment - there was a considerable temptation to jump in. He didn't know how far back it would take him, but…The idea of cutting Belos off at the knees before he rose to power was an alluring one.

But, on the other hand… The timeline was likely to be a fragile thing. Something that couldn't possibly be played with and studied, lest it unravel. Titan's Blood was the most powerful substance known to man, after all - not a toy.

As well, would that not be the same as running from his past? At least, that's what it felt like.

He put that idea to the side for now, as the two of them scooped up various samples of the pool and surrounding soil - ending up with a bag full of samples in various small containers. The pool soon dissolved, and the team started heading back to Blight Manor to start experimenting.

-–

Back at Blight Manor, Hunter had only just arrived. Amity was the one who greeted him, but Hunter awkwardly squeaked "I'll be right back, I gotta go to the bathroom. Was a looong ride over." with a fake chuckle. The whole time, in his mind just thinking 'Let's just get this over with…'

He walked in the direction of the closest bathroom, but the second he was out of Amity's sight - he began to sneak through the shadows. Just to make sure the Abomination guards didn't catch him, they were programmed to keep an eye out for intruders.

Walking upstairs, he eventually found the bedroom of his 'Uncle.' Phillip didn't even lock his door. This was going to be pathetically easy.

Slipping in - There was the prize, right on his desk. His diary.

Hunter picked it up, and slapped a small glyph combination on it. A hex, one that let him read the book whenever he desired…With Phillip nonethewiser.

"I made a promise. You're never going to hurt anyone ever again. I'm just waiting for you to slip up." Hunter muttered under his breath.

He wasted no time getting out of there - Every second in there, Phillip got closer. He returned to the living room, thankfully this whole ordeal having only taken 5 minutes or so. "Sorry bout that." He said to Amity, as they walked into the living room. Darius lay on the couch, lost in a good book.

"Oh, Hunter!" Darius said, looking up. "I didn't see you come in. Come, sit, how have you been?"

–

It was at that time that Phillip and Lilith arrived at Blight Manor. The both of them prepared to do all sorts of experiments!

Though, Phillip was quite surprised when he saw Hunter in the living room, out the corner of his eye.

"Oh, Hello, Hunter." Phillip said, cautiously approaching.

'Play it cool…' Hunter thought, choking back the fear in his stomach. "Hey."

"It's good to see you." Phillip replied with a small nod. "How have you been?" - It was awkward, but they tried to make small-talk.

"You know, just hanging around…" Hunter shrugged. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm working on a very special project. One that I can't wait to see the end result of." Phillip smiled, and nodded. "No time to waste, I must be back to work." That was the end of their conversation, as he walked off and headed down to the lab.

Hunter had to hold back a devious laugh. 'Sucker.'

–

The rest of the evening, Lilith and Phillip toiled away in the lab. Working with the samples, seeing what they were made up of. The one constant in all the samples was high concentrations of Titan's Blood, but that wasn't the only strange thing in the soil…

Traces of Glutamate. Serotonin. Dopamine. Noadrenaline.

The chemicals that make up a brain. It all made sense. All the people lost at sea, their bodies, memories…That was what powered time pools. That's why they were so rare, there was no way they could artificially recreate those conditions. But Phillip had an idea.

The rest of the week was dedicated to tinkering, testing out different potential ingredients. Trying to see what made the Titan's Blood react. Eventually, they had a prototype! A mint-green shimmering paste, primarily made up of Titan's Blood and calcium but with some hints of various plants. Also, a little bit of fat. Completely expecting for it to not work, Phillip slathered it onto his first specimen. Another petrified cockroach.

The insect's began to shine like a flashblang, a loud cracking noise resonating the basement walls.

It worked! The cockroach came back to life, and immediately responded to stimulus as if nothing even happened.

It was exciting, but, they shouldn't celebrate yet. Next, after alerting Alador and getting his permission - they petrified one of his lab mice. Then, unpetrified it.

Maybe it needed more testing, but - they weren't likely to find consenting subjects. Testing on any more animals would just be exceptionally cruel.

So, they retreated for the night. In the morning, they'd get to work on mass-producing the stuff - and by the evening, hopefully have enough to cure everyone petrified in the Conformitorium.

At least, that's what Phillip said. What Lilith didn't see was that he'd pocketed an extra vial of the stuff. He returned to his room for a few minutes, preparing for something he needed to do.