With the chaos of the previous weeks settled, an unexpected calm swept over the group. And they found themselves, surprisingly, with not much to do. Plans were needed to be made, however, there were no clear leads to follow or loose ends to tie up.

It was obvious that the next move was Bax Hench's to make, and everyone waited patiently. Or rather; everyone ignored him until that would no longer be an option.

For Diamond, this meant retreating to her books and her tea, and ignoring everyone else around her. As, whenever she was bored, she became unusually aloof and naggy and uncomfortable to be around.

For Nuce, this provided an opportunity. The journey thus far had not left him many moments to himself, and he felt like the current situation called for some reveling in victory. And so, with a generous supply of junk food and comfy clothes adorned, Nuce spent the day playing video games.

There was something oddly cathartic and relaxing about shooting other players in a game. It was both methodical and mindless, and while it emulated in some ways situations he had recently faced, it carried no real stakes or trauma-inducing similarities. The lack of any actual investment in the game, itself, ironically made Nuce all the better at it. And listening to the whines of defeated opponents over the chat was the cherry on top.

For Nuce, it was a perfect day. That was, until his phone rang.

He pulled his headphones down to his shoulders, reached for his phone, and only briefly glanced down to check the caller ID. Unknown number.

He picked up and continued playing his game one-handed. "Hello?"

The awkward voice of a young man replied, "hi, umm... This is Steven?" There was noise in the background; of people loudly speaking over music, and of clanking glass cups and bottles. "I'm the bartender at the Crown Pub?"

Nuce frowned at his computer screen, "okay...?"

Steven made another attempt of explaining. "So... This girl came in, already wrecked, made me give her shots. I cut her off, but she went full blackout anyway..." The sound of rustling paper came through the line. "I found a note on her. It says, Call in Emergency, and then it has your number on it?"

Nuce sharply sighed and quit the game. "Yup!" He exasperatedly declared, "she's with me."

"Damn mate, quite the friend you've got there! How do you keep up with a chick like that?!"

Nuce's expression grew even darker. "You don't know what you're talking about, mate."

Now, Steven sounded flustered. "Umm... Sorry, just trying to get her home safe, yeah?"

"Nevermind." He got up and headed towards the door of his bedroom. "I'm on my way."

They ended the call, and Nuce changed into a pair of jeans, stomped down the stairs, and went to grab his jacket.

Diamond appeared in the doorway to the living room. She looked surprised and borderline unhappy to see him. "And where are you off to?"

"Apparently, some random pub," Nuce grumbled.

She frowned confusedly. "I thought you wanted to stay in tonight?"

"Welp, looks like I'm picking up Nobody instead."

"Oh no." Her features softened as she sighed with sincere empathy, "but they were doing so well!"

"Yup! But then, your boyfriend had to waltz in and ruin it!" Nuce snarked as he shoved his feet into his sneakers.

Diamond looked like she considered arguing with his point or his choice of words. She did neither. "Are you going to stay at their place? Should I bring you anything?"

"Yes, and no." Nuce straightened up; ready to go. "I've got stuff over there. I'll take the Audi though."

"Umm... Sure?" She hesitantly reached into her pocket to pull out her key chain.

The very second they were in reach, he snatched the car keys from her grasp and opened the door. "See you in a couple of days."

"See you..." Diamond muttered.

Without further ado, Nuce rushed outside and to the Audi. It had been repaired and returned to England days ago, the lacquer shone like new, and one could almost believe that it hadn't recently participated in a desert derby.

As he'd never been to the Crown Pub personally, Nuce had the navigation system take him there. Driving through the dark of night, to a pub where he wouldn't be having any fun, didn't sound like a good alternative to anything. But especially not to an evening of pyjamas and playing video games.

Still, Nuce made sure to just about push the speed limit and make it there in due time. In his experience, leaving his dear friend at any place for too long bore the risk of losing track of their whereabouts, once again.

He parked the Audi on one of six patron parking lots, which someone had Tetrised into the small loading bay at the back. When Nuce finally made it to the interior of the pub, it took him no time to spot her.

Nobody was passed out on a bar stool. Her head, one of her arms, and her entire chest were resting on the dirty bartop.

Steven the bartender spotted Nuce, saw his attention focused on Nobody, and sharply waved him over. He was a mortal, likely a couple of years older than Nuce. His hair and full beard were red blonde, which complimented his angular yet ordinary features.

Nuce snaked his way towards him, in between the tables and patrons. There had been a shift in the bartender's demeanor, as if the situation had worsened within the past twenty minutes. Nuce wasn't surprised.

"Just get her outta here..." Steven grumbled and focused on doing his actual job.

Nuce was planning on it but, first, he took a good look at his drunk mate.

Nobody was wearing a different persona than any of those during the raid. This one was a petite and cladly dressed young woman with feisty short black hair. Her pink mini dress was covered in dust and stains, and her hair was standing up wildly and had some type of dried sticky liquid in it.

Nuce hunched over, far enough to get a glimpse of her face. Her eyes looked flustered, and her nose was crusty from a suspicious substance.

Albeit her outfit and hair and nose weren't entirely real, all of the dirt certainly was. At least, Nobody's illusions were still perfectly in place, and none of the surrounding mortals looked aware of her face's ability to disappear.

"Why does it always have to be the party-girl?" Nuce grumbled.

Unsurprisingly, Nobody didn't move a muscle in response.

He roughly shook her by the shoulder. "You're going to make me carry you, aren't you..."

This time around, Nobody stirred a bit. She confusedly moaned, "huh?"

"Bender is over," Nuce announced, "time to go home."

Nobody blinked herself to a state of relative consciousness and lifted her face up from the countertop. Her eyes barely opened to slits, as though the low lighting in the pub was enough to blind her.

"Nukey-boy?" She confusedly slurred.

"Yup, luckily it's just me." Despite his own bad mood, Nuce made an attempt at an upbeat smirk, "you're at the wrong pub, you know? But in any case; good job on getting back to the country!"

"Thanks," Nobody mumbled. She let her face drop back onto the bartop.

"Nope!" Nuce objected, as he grabbed both of her shoulders and made her sit up straight, "you aren't sleeping here."

"I don'wanna!" She whined unspecifically.

"Welp, you're gonna," he retorted and steadied her floppy head.

Her right cheek had a big red spot, from where she had rested on it. Nuce still had no idea how they managed to keep track of all those illusions in this state.

As her body was now in a better position to do so, he pushed his arms beneath her back and knee bends. "Up we go," Nuce grunted and lifted her onto his arms.

He carried his intoxicated friend past judging and amused looks, and through the heavy front door of the establishment.

"It's not fair!" Nobody whined on.

"I know, pal," Nuce calmly said and proceeded to carry her into the fresh night air. "I know..."

"You suck! I hate you!"

"Nothing you say right now will stop me from taking you home, and making you get sober."

Her legs kicked in pointless protest. "I don'wanna put it back on..."

"We'll get you all fixed up, don't worry," Nuce told her, as he adapted a more soothing tone. "We call Wanda, you'll take your medicine, same business as usual."

She made a disgusted face, "I hate my medicine."

They made it down the pathway and headed towards the car park. "How about a nice hot bath?" Nuce offered.

That seemed to appeal more. Nobody glanced up in hope. "With bubbles?"

"Tons of bubbles. But first, we'll have to take all those illusions off..."

Their head disappointedly lulled back against his chest. "I don'wanna take'em off..."

Nuce pretended to be surprised, "you don't? I thought you didn't want me to see your lady bits?"

They drunkenly smirked, "non'until you've bough'me dinner first!"

"Might be a little late for that now." He nodded back towards the bar and its begruntled host.

"Yeah, he didn'like me very much..."

"I wonder why. Anyway, you know the drill. The illusions have to go," Nuce decisively declared, but then offered, "is there anything I can do to make it more appealing, maybe?"

"I want waffles."

"Waffles," he nodded, "done."

They arrived by the Audi, and he sat Nobody down on the passenger's seat and buckled her in. He walked around and got in on the driver's side.

Nobody was resting their weary head against the sill of the car door. Their eyes remained barely opened and absentmindedly stared ahead into the distance. They deeply sighed, "I like waffles..."

Nuce started up the car. He accelerated slowly and made sure not to drive too harshly, as not to make Nobody puke onto the dashboard. The last time that had happened, it had taken him days to clean out the smell.

"I haven't seen you this sloshed in ages," he commented.

"Oh honey," Nobody happily slurred, "I'm trippin' balls too!"

"Great combo," Nuce sarcastically praised. "As usual, you get an A-plus for responsible consumption."

She decided to drop the topic and start up a new one. "You know what'else I like?"

"What's that?"

"Detective... Valkyrie... Cain..." She dreamily breathed.

Nuce snorted. "You have a crush on Valkyrie?"

Nobody deeply sighed again, "yeah..."

He thought about it, then he shrugged. "Well... that's no surprise, I guess. You both have a major screw loose! Basically a match made in heaven!"

"But I don'wanna... Get in your way..."

"My way?" Nuce surprisedly frowned. "You mean, my way with Valkyrie?"

"Yeah..."

He snorted. "Don't you worry, I'm not into Valkyrie."

She glanced in his general direction, "youssure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Nuce confidently confirmed. "I mean, when I found out that she and I have some major things in common... I might have gotten a bit... Obsessed with her? For, like, just a little while."

"For months!" Nobody corrected.

"Weeks, at the very most!" He insisted. "Anyway, I'm over it. And I don't think she's interested in me either, so... Valkyrie's all yours, as far as I'm concerned."

Nobody sighed at something in their daydreams. Then her expression sadly drooped. "I don'think she'd like me very much..."

"She seemed to like you fine when you met," Nuce recalled.

"Y'know what I mean..."

He curiously glanced over at them. "And why wouldn't she?"

They sadly shrugged. "Y'know why..."

"Welp, only one way to find out!"

Nobody languishly turned her head in order to curiously muster Nuce. "Which is...?"

"How about this? I take you home, we take care of everything as usual, and in a couple days, when you're all better..."

"Yeah?"

"You ask her out. No magic, no personas; just you."

"You really think so?"

Nuce nodded convincedly. "C'mon, she hangs out with a skeleton, all day long! I don't think your boring ol' mug will faze her."

"Hmm..." Nobody's daydreams appeared to turn into full-fledged dreams. Her flustered eyes fluttered shut.

"Is that a good reason to take your medicine?" Nuce double-checked.

"Yeah..." She reluctantly confirmed, "is'okay..."

"Good."

Nobody didn't open her eyes, but she remained awake for one more moment in order to mumble a couple more words. "Hey... Nukey?"

"Yes?"

"Love you..."

Nuce sharply exhaled the last bit of tension and frustration. Then, he gave her a warm smile. "Love you too, pal."

Nobody hummed agreeably. A second later, she was asleep again.