Chapter 16: Unpacking
Velcia's little cottage had changed quite a bit since Aspis had brought her back nearly a week ago, though it was no miraculous transformation. Nothing about it had felt right to her no matter how much she would clean, organize, or shuffle things around from one side to the other. The spare bedroom beside her own filled her with a great sadness each time she saw it, and closing the door did nothing to stop up the wellspring of emotion that it had become.
The only thing in there, aside from the other bed, were her many shelves of old books and journals that she'd slowly created over the many years she'd lived here. All of her personal projects, her extensive but still not exhaustive documentation of many of the Wielders of Daybreak Town, anything and everything she'd worked on before founding The Chroniclers. Up until that point, in her own mind, the contents of that spare bedroom were one and the same with herself.
The emptiness gnawed at her. The books didn't have any answers for who she was, or how she was supposed to find a way forward. They only showed her where she'd been. Now, they were scattered across the floors near the walls in the spare room and the main room, with a thin clear path from the kitchen at the front of the house to her bedroom in the back. Nothing was clean and orderly anymore, and for the first time in her life she found that she didn't care about it.
A snapping sound echoed through the quiet cottage, followed by a defeated sigh and the clattering of a pencil against the floor. Velcia, sat down at her kitchen table, looked down at the drawing on the page before her with empty eyes. The broken pencil tip rolled slowly over the edge of the table before it disappeared to places unknown, and she slumped back in her seat.
Her house wasn't the only thing that looked differently. Her Olympian robes had been stuffed away inside the drawer in her room. Today she was wearing white pants, and a soft purple blouse with a white collar. It had been some time since she'd dressed this way, long enough that she'd outgrown her previous non-Olympian clothes and as such had needed to go buy some new ones. Her hair was pulled up in a small but messy ponytail, without a braid in sight.
A small voice spoke up from behind her. "It's about time to go see Aspis."
Velcia didn't want to go. She tried skipping yesterday, only to end up with him banging on her door and scolding her. A part of her had hoped that he would understand how she felt when he saw the terrible state of her house, but it only seemed to have upset him further. No, there was no sense in trying it again. She slowly stood up, turning towards her Chirithy.
"Thank you," she said.
Chirithy straightened his shoulders, trying to stand a little taller. "Everything will be alright. You'll figure it out."
Velcia gave him a weak smile, and made her way slowly outside. It wasn't until she stepped on the cold stone porch that she realized she'd forgotten her shoes, and she quickly retreated back inside to grab her old boots. Chirithy watched, shaking his head sadly at the sight of the once-loved sandals stuffed nearly out of sight in the corner. Now that she had come to her senses a little more, she also grabbed a wide-brimmed lilac sun hat off the wall and placed it on top of her head.
The two left the cottage, and Velcia made her way down the ladder and into the alley where she stopped; staring in surprise at a large wooden box that someone had left there. It came up nearly to her shoulder, and was large enough to contain a bed. She wasn't sure who put this here, but it took up quite a bit of space. Hopefully it would be gone soon.
"What's this?" Chirithy asked, placing his paw against it. "Why would someone leave this here of all places?"
"I don't know," Velcia said, shaking her head. She gave the sides a cursory glance before standing on her tip-toes to inspect the top, but didn't see any markings on it. "I'm just glad they didn't block my ladder."
"Very fortunate," Chirithy agreed. "Well, if it's not moved soon, perhaps we can see if Aspis knows someone who can get rid of it."
The journey to the Library was uneventful, but Velcia couldn't help but feel that every eye in the town was on her. She knew this wasn't true, nobody she saw gave her more than a cursory glance at most; and even the people she recognized didn't seem to recognize her in return, much to her own relief.
Once at the Academy's Library, she wasted no time making her way inside. As was usual for this near to closing time, there was a line of people waiting to have their books checked out. Leonna gave her a respectful nod from behind the counter, and Velcia found her way over to a cushioned bench not far from the front desk to wait. Aspis wasn't here yet, and the orange evening rays coming through the window set her mind to wondering where he could be. It was rather late - perhaps he'd assumed she was going to try to skip again and already went out to find her.
Chirithy sat on the bench beside her. These little creatures usually tended to keep out of sight, so as to make sure they weren't underfoot, but this week Velcia's Chirithy had made sure to be as present as possible for her. It was a surprising gesture, but one she greatly appreciated. She picked him up and set him on her lap, and after a gentle squeeze began to stroke the top of his plush head while she waited.
"I like your new outfit."
Velcia blinked, looking up to see that the line had somehow already disappeared. Leonna stood beside her, smiling with her hands folded. How had time gone so quickly?
"Thank you," Velcia said softly.
"You wore those Olympian clothes for almost as long as I've known you. A change is good sometimes, isn't it?"
"Y-yes, I think so," Velcia said.
Leonna sat down beside her, adjusting the brim of Velcia's wide hat so she could see her face better. "Why, even your hair is different."
"...I don't want anybody to recognize me," Velcia said, averting her eyes. "Not after everything that went wrong. I just wish everyone in the whole world would forget about me."
"You don't mean that," Leonna said, sitting up straight and folding her hands in her lap.
"I might," Velcia retorted half-heartedly. "The day I bought these, when I still looked like I used to… someone called my name out while I was out walking. They sounded very angry, and I ran away without even seeing who it was. I thought it sounded like they were chasing me… but I got away."
"...I see. So that's why, then."
"Yes."
Velcia looked down at her hands, and shifted uncomfortably. The graphite smudges that used to drive her batty were completely absent now that she hadn't been drawing anything. There was a time when the cleanliness would have been a relief, but with how much everything had changed she found herself almost missing them.
"Will Aspis be here?" Velcia asked.
"Oh? Do you not enjoy my company?" Leonna asked, eyebrow raised. Velcia glanced over at her nervously, but Leonna's soft expression had the same teasing hints of a smirk that she recognized from Aspis.
"I do," Velcia said. "But I worry that I was too late tonight, and Aspis has gone out looking for me."
"No, I don't believe so," Leonna said. "He appears to be running late today as well."
"I see. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad," Velcia said. She had been fairly sure Leonna was teasing her before, but didn't trust her intuition.
"Not at all. In fact, I believe I would like to offer my assistance to you."
Velcia perked up curiously and looked over at her. "W-with what?"
"Aspis has told me before that you struggle with combat. The other day, when you thought you were being chased, you were scared because you don't trust in your ability to defend yourself, is that right?" Leonna asked her.
Velcia's brow furrowed. There was no world where she could imagine Aspis saying she merely 'struggled in combat', and it wasn't hard for her mind to think of the ways he would have actually phrased such a thing. Still, Leonna was right and there was no sense trying to claim otherwise, and so she gave an affirmative if reluctant nod.
Leonna sat up straighter, crossing one leg over the other. "As we shall be spending more time together, I would like to begin to spend some time each week helping teach you to defend yourself. I believe you will find yourself to be more capable than you realize."
The very thought soured Velcia's stomach. "I don't think I am. I'm so very awful at fighting, I don't think I've ever met a Wielder as terrible at it as me. And, if Morgan and her friends, or anyone else who I've upset or hurt come after me… there's no way I'll ever be strong enough to beat them. I… I don't want to hurt anybody, not even that horrible Morgan."
"Defeating them isn't necessary," Leonna said. "A strong defense can buy you time, time to reason or escape if need be. Most importantly, understanding how to defend yourself is vital to ensuring that you can survive if you are backed into a corner. No matter how poorly you may think of yourself, I am sure that even just the basics will suffice to give you a solid foundation."
Velcia inhaled sharply, but her reply was cut off by the sound of the library door flying open. The two looked over to see Aspis stomping in, as angry as she'd ever seen him. He met eyes with Leonna quickly, but his gaze deliberately avoided contact with Velcia entirely.
"We'll start your training tomorrow night, alright?" Leonna said, patting Velcia's knee softly before standing up.
Velcia jumped to her feet. "But I-!" Velcia stopped and watched as Aspis began to pass by her.
"H-hello Aspis," she greeted meekly. Aspis cast her an aside glance, then reached over and plucked the hat off her head.
"Not now, Chipmunk," he grumbled, and tossed the hat back at her face before motioning for Leonna to follow him to the other end of the room.
Velcia caught her hat and watched them curiously. Even if his tone was off-putting and angry, she appreciated that he still called her Chipmunk. She had no idea what could have made him so upset today, but that one little olive branch had reassured her that it must be a problem that didn't have anything to do with her.
"Do you think that counts as the check-in?" Chirithy asked, coming beside her. "We could probably leave now, if you need to."
"I think so, but I would still like to talk with Aspis," Velcia said.
Muffled shouts could be heard from the other end of the room, and looking over the two could see Aspis' arms and hands gesturing angrily as he seemingly explained whatever it was that had upset him so today. Unfortunately for the two curious onlookers, he was doing his best to keep his voice low and they could not make out a word he was saying.
They didn't dare try to move in closer, and after a moment Velcia averted her eyes. "Oh, um, I should let him have his privacy…" She sat down on the bench again, but couldn't help but glance over from time to time. Somewhere in all Aspis' anger, she could see bits of sadness breaking through. Leonna, too, seemed to be quite upset by whatever he was telling her.
"...It's probably for the best that I don't know anything about it," Velcia shuddered, turning away. She picked up Chirithy and placed him on her lap, then set her own hat upon his head.
"You look rather nice in a hat like this," she said with a smile.
"I feel rather ridiculous. It's almost as wide as I am tall!"
Velcia held her hands out, measuring the brim of the hat before rotating them to verify the accuracy of this claim. She giggled. "It's wider than that, it seems. Oh, go over there a bit and let me draw you, I-" she stopped, her fingers at the side of her leg alerting her that her pencils were nowhere to be found. All of a sudden, the weight of everything that had happened the last week came crashing back down on her.
"Oh…" she moaned, slumping down in her seat.
Chirithy raised his hands, trying to grab the edges of the hat to no avail. He gave up and flopped down on the bench beside her, his fuzzy paw-feet dangling over the side. "It will come back to you. You won't feel this way forever."
Velcia pulled her knees up against her chest, then retrieved her hat from Chirithy and pulled it low over her head, and shut away her mind from the outside world.
"Didn't think you were going to stick around."
Velcia lifted her head, and saw Aspis standing before her with his arms crossed. There was hardly any light coming through the windows now; she was surprised at how much time had passed.
"I wanted to make sure you were alright."
Aspis bit his lip, then averted his eyes. "I'm fine, alright?"
"...That's good," Velcia said, standing up. "Um, so, I am here today just as you said."
"Good freaking choice, too," Aspis scoffed, rolling his eyes. "If I had to go chasing you after-" he stopped abruptly, and sighed. Velcia studied his face, she'd never seen him looking so exhausted and defeated before.
"Are… are you sure you're alright?"
"What business is it of yours?" Aspis snapped, but his face flashed with a tinge of regret almost as soon as the words left his mouth.
Velcia shook her head. "You're very important to me. You've been doing so much to take care of me… if there's anything I can do to help you, then-"
"I'm fine," Aspis interrupted. "Worry about yourself, okay?"
Velcia averted her eyes, lip trembling softly. "I… I can't. I'm too much of a mess. I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with me for days and days now, and it's all just too confusing. I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore, the only thing that I still have left is you and my Chirithy," Velcia said, a tear streaming down her eye. "I… I need to help make sure that you are okay, too."
Aspis turned a beet red, averting his eyes in embarrassment. He was at a loss for words, and Velcia could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes - she knew she'd gone too far this time.
"...Did you eat anything yet?" Aspis asked.
Velcia wiped her cheeks with her sleeve, shaking her head. "I haven't been hungry. I had some toast for lunch yesterday-"
"You haven't eaten since then?!" Aspis exclaimed.
"N-no, I'm sorry."
"No wonder you're such a wreck. Alright, let's go find something for you to eat," Aspis said, motioning for her to follow him outside.
Velcia took a quick look around the library hoping to say goodbye to Leonna, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Aspis had already begun to walk out, and so she stood up quickly and ran after him. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know any places that serve acorns. What else do you eat?"
"A-acorns!" Velcia stammered, the image of a chipmunk flashing through her mind.
"Something other than acorns, dumb-dumb," Aspis said. He may still have been teasing her, but it did not at all escape her attention that his attitude had lost some of its bite.
"Um… I used to like getting pizza from a place by the lighthouse," Velcia said.
"The lighthouse? I'm not going that far, but there's a place not far from here that sells it ready to go. We'll get some and eat it at my apartment," Aspis said.
"O-oh! Yes, okay, I think that would be very good," Velcia said. Truthfully, her appetite was still nowhere to be found, but there was no chance she would argue against an opportunity like this.
Dinner at Aspis' apartment was a silent affair, but the food was well-needed. The pizza wasn't nearly as good as what Velcia usually got, the texture of the crust was a bit odd in a way she couldn't quite explain and the sauce seemed a little too acidic, but nonetheless she devoured it ravenously.
Once she'd had her fill, she wiped her lips and cheeks with a napkin and looked around Aspis' apartment. Her memories of the chaos that was Aspis' second-floor art studio had long since pushed the picture-perfect cleanliness of this first floor from her mind, and she couldn't help but smile as she looked around at it.
"Thank you very much for dinner, Aspis, I really enjoyed it," Velcia said.
"Yeah right, tasted like shit," Aspis said, swallowing a gulp of water. "Better than nothing though, if only just."
"I… I really appreciate it though, um, but I do think next time we should try to find some acorns instead," Velcia said, suppressing a playful giggle as she tried to keep a straight face.
Aspis stared at her blankly for a moment, before a small smile cracked across his lips. "Freakin' Chipmunk," he said, standing and taking the plates with him. He gave everything a quick wash, and threw what remained of their dinner straight into the trash with his nose turned up.
"It's late, let's get you back home," Aspis said, wiping his hands together.
Velcia's eyes went wide. "H-home-! Um, can't I stay just a bit longer? I don't want to be alone again just yet."
Aspis' eyes narrowed, and he glanced over at the clock on the wall. He started to shake his head, but stopped abruptly at the sight of Velcia's wide, shimmering eyes and quivering lip begging him to say yes. He let out an exasperated sigh at the familiar sight of this puppy-dog look, muttering something under his breath about some nondescript act of violence against Lupe.
"Fine, whatever. I'm going upstairs to paint," he said. He rolled his eyes at the sound of Velcia giggling behind him as she followed him up to the loft, and once there he set up a pair of canvases for them.
"Here," he said, knocking the back of his hand against one. "This one's yours."
Velcia shook her head. "I can't…"
Aspis looked over at her, furrowing his brow as if demanding an explanation.
"I just haven't been able to draw anything," Velcia explained. "I… I'm just too much of a mess, I can't get anything right at all. I… I really appreciate everything you always do to teach me, but I-"
"Stop," Aspis said, holding up a finger. He grabbed a pallet, and squirted a series of paints across it as his hand made its way along the nearby shelf. He held it out to her, and she knew better than to argue against taking it.
"Don't worry about how it looks. Just… paint how you feel."
"I… I don't know how to do that," Velcia said, shaking her head.
Aspis grabbed his own pallet, and grit his teeth as he mushed one of his rattier brushes into one of the pigments. He picked up the brush, now dripping with red paint, and swung it out at the canvas with a roar as if he were attacking it. Velcia jumped back as splotches of red went flying past her.
"You're all mixed up, huh?" Aspis said, but his eyes were locked onto the canvas. "Grab an emotion and let it out. Put it on the page," he said, letting out an angry yell and slinging another trail of blotches across the page before his brush carved a jagged red line across the top of the page.
Velcia looked down at her pallet, then back up to the page. There were so many emotions and so many colors that she didn't know where to start. Sad. She was sad. Blue was sad, wasn't it? Almost without thinking, she dipped her brush in the blue paint and swiped it across the page. No, no, she thought, she was much more sad than that. More blue was added, and as she went her thoughts turned to what had made her so upset to begin with. She looked over at Aspis' jagged red lines, thinking to herself that those seemed to be just right, and added a smattering of those to her page as well.
She looked at the result pensively, holding the back of the brush to her face. Velcia wasn't sure if she was doing it the right way. She wasn't sure if it would actually help her feel any better. It was just paint spatters on a page, afterall. Still… Aspis said it would help, and so she decided she would keep trying, and so with a quick but careful swipe of her brush another streak of paint was added, and then another and another still.
Aspis was much more animated with his painting than Velcia had expected, and quite loud too. Every now and then she jumped in surprise as stray blotches of paint hit her or her page. At one point she too tried to let out a yell of her own, only to immediately shrivel back in embarrassment at the sound. Aspis didn't notice her - she was beginning to think he'd forgotten she was there, but with how passionately he was attacking his canvas she decided that this was for the best.
Before she knew it, Velcia found herself swept away in emotion as her brush-laden hand swept across the canvas, each stroke fueled with some pent-up feeling she didn't understand until at last all that was left was a blank, empty spot near the middle. She stepped back, breathing heavily. Her face was wet, she couldn't tell if it was sweat, tears, or paint - in truth, it was all three.
She stared at this spot intently, trying to find some motivation or feeling to fill it, but her mind was blank. There was nothing else to put. She lowered the brush and the pallet slowly, setting them on a nearby stool. Aspis stopped as well soon after, and stood heaving and panting as he looked over the page. The both of them were sweating and tired, and covered in spots of paint. Aspis leaned back against the wall, picking up a bottle of water to take a swig.
Velcia hadn't looked away from her canvas, eyes still locked on the middle. "I… I still don't know what's missing," she whispered softly, shaking her head. "Everything… everything I know is on there, but…"
Aspis came over, hands on his hips as he looked it over. "That's just the way it is sometimes."
Velcia sniffed, and looked over at him. Though tired, he was the calmest she'd ever seen him. She glanced over at his canvas, and was surprised at the sight. His canvas had so much more paint on it, with so many different kinds of shapes and splotches and colors than her own; but where before she would have looked at this and seen an indecipherable mess she could now see so much more.
She walked over towards the page, eyes tracing a tranquil patch of blue near the bottom, which was almost without blemish save for a black spot that erupted up and out of it, with streaks of yellow flying every which way. She looked across the many layers that had been built up on the rest of the page, eyes wide with an understanding as if she'd taken the first steps towards learning an entirely new language. So much of it was still vague and elusive, but what little she could decipher felt heavy on her heart.
"Aspis…" she said softly, turning back towards him. "You… I'm sorry…"
Aspis shook his head, and averted his eyes. "It's complicated."
"...I know. You don't have to tell me anything," Velcia said, wandering slowly back to her own canvas. She lifted her hand, brushing her fingertips along the blank spot in the middle. Something was missing. She knew it, and when she glanced back and met eyes with Aspis, she could tell that he understood as well.
"...You've lost a lot," Aspis said, shaking his head. "You'll find something that fits there eventually."
"...I hope so," Velcia said sadly. She let out a deep sigh, finding that her shoulders felt freer than they had before.
Aspis took a deep breath as if to speak, but stopped himself. Velcia cast him a curious glance, and he shook his head in defeat.
"Last time you were here, you were asking about the Foretellers," he said slowly, unsure whether he really wanted to have this conversation. "I still don't have all the answers, but..."
Velcia's eyes went wide, and she began to wring her hands together. "Oh, no… I'm so sorry…"
Aspis groaned, and averted his gaze. "...You're going to promise that nothing else I say leaves this studio, understand?"
Velcia nodded.
Aspis walked over towards one of the walls, resting his fist against it. "The Foretellers believe Daybreak Town is heading towards some sort of disaster, and instead of working together they've turned against each other. I knew something was seriously wrong, but Invi-! She lied to me!" He banged his fist against the wall, growling in frustration as he turned around.
"W-what kind of disaster…?" Velcia asked, trembling.
Aspis shook his head. "I don't know. Invi stopped talking to me after I blew up at her. Ugh, I'm such an idiot!" he said, kicking over a nearby stool.
Velcia frowned, and quickly leaned over to set the stool back up straight. "I'm still here for you, Aspis," she said.
"I know," Aspis said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And Invi… she'll understand. We'll figure it out."
Velcia nodded slowly. "I'm… I'm very sorry about all of that. Isn't there anything we can do to help?"
"I don't think so," Aspis said with a sigh. "But I'll keep looking for a way."
Velcia sat down on the stool she'd just saved, gasping a little at the wobble of the uneven legs. Once she was sure that it was not going to fall out from underneath her, she gave Aspis the most supportive smile she could muster.
"I'm sure Master Invi really appreciates having a co-worker like you around to help," she said with a nod.
Aspis blushed, and let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't believe I'm really about to say this," he groaned, turning towards Velcia but not quite making eye contact. "Invi… she's my sister."
"She wha-!" Velcia was cut off by one of Aspis' fingers smushing against her open lips.
"Shut up, don't say it," Aspis said. "And not a word of this to anyone, you understand me?"
Velcia closed her mouth quickly and gave a decisive nod. "Is… is that why…?"
"...yeah, that's why I was so angry today. After everything we've been through… she should have told me sooner," Aspis growled. "But that doesn't matter now."
"That's… you felt betrayed…" Velcia said, eyes looking back over at the tranquil blue patch on his canvas.
"I'm going to regret teaching you about this painting stuff, aren't I?" Aspis sighed, casting an idle glance around the room.
"I won't tease you, I promise," Velcia said, standing up.
Aspis snorted. "As if I care about you teasing me."
Velcia ignored this, and walked over to the nearby paint shelf. One of the bottles had caught her attention, though she couldn't say why. She took it off the shelf and returned to her pallet, adding a splotch of the verdant hue and dipping a brush into it. She looked up at the empty spot on her page, and after a moment's consideration added two turquoise dots side-by-side.
Aspis walked up behind her, looking over her shoulder. "Figure it out?"
Velcia looked at these two turquoise spots intensely, as if they were eyes staring back into her soul. A wellspring of emotion sprung up inside her heart, but try as she might her mind couldn't discern any meaning from it.
"No," Velcia said slowly, shaking her head. "I thought I did… but I was wrong."
The next morning, Velcia awoke with a mission. The mysterious wooden crate in the alleyway leading to her ladder simply had to be dealt with. It was creepy enough to her already by simply being there without any explanation, but after she'd accidentally crashed into it in the dark of the night this box was now officially on her list of menaces.
Aspis had laughed at her for it, though she was certain he wouldn't have found it so funny had he been the one to walk into it. Even still, he'd offered to come back the next morning to take care of it.
Looking down into the alley from the top of her ladder, Velcia tutted at the box and shook her head in disapproval. "You're a very terrible thing, you know," she said to the wooden crate, which didn't at all seem to mind being disparaged.
Once at the bottom of the ladder, she was surprised to find a small envelope taped to the brick wall near the ladder. She wasn't sure if it had been there yesterday or not - she'd been so distracted that she knew she would certainly have missed it. It had her name written on it, so she took the envelope from the wall and opened it carefully.
Inside it was a small square of paper with a simple note, which read:
Thank you for stopping Morgan. This should be everything.
-Magissencia
Velcia froze, her hand shaking a bit as it lowered. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard the name 'Magissencia' before. She wasn't even sure how to say it. They must have been someone that Morgan had wronged, but how would they know where Velcia lived or what she had done?
And, more importantly, what could the note have meant by 'This should be everything'?
She glanced up at the large wooden crate once more, now burning with curiosity to know what was inside. Velcia folded up the paper and placed it back in the envelope, then went to inspect the crate more closely.
There didn't seem to be any way to open it. There were no latches or hinges to be seen, and there were no markings either. She thought to see if the top could simply lift off, but it was nailed down tightly and she could not remove it.
By the time Aspis arrived, Velcia was nearly bursting with anticipation and rushed over to meet him. She quickly, and nearly incomprehensibly, explained the note that she'd found and dove into her theories about what could be inside the box. Aspis eyed the wooden crate with mistrust, shaking his head as he approached.
"I've never heard of someone who goes by…whatever that name was," Aspis said, kicking his boot against the bottom of the crate. The knocking sound was deep and dense, and the crate didn't move at all. "Whatever's in there is heavy, and this box is full," he said.
It was at this point that Velcia saw that her brother had come prepared with a crowbar, and with some reasonably paranoid care he wedged the bar between the box and the lid and slowly began to pry it off, listening for any sounds that suggested trouble.
Once he'd made his way around the entire lid, he grabbed the ends tightly with both hands and hoisted it aside. Velcia stood up on her tip-toes to look inside, and let out a surprised shriek.
"What the hell?" Aspis said, jumping and dropping the wooden lid on the ground.
"It's the books!" Velcia exclaimed, reaching in and picking up one of Chuck's old field journals.
Aspis peered inside, picking up some of the books and setting them aside to see what was underneath - it looked like this box was stuffed nearly to the top with nothing but these books. He stood back, shaking his head in confusion. Velcia was too excited and relieved to be confused, and she quickly but carefully stacked the books to one side to see what was deeper in the box.
"The Master Volumes are here, too… so that's what Miss Magic's note meant!" She turned towards Aspis, nearly crying in relief. "So Morgan didn't get any of them."
"...Good. Now we can put all that behind us."
Velcia nodded, then looked between the books and the ladder to her cottage. "I suppose I need to find a way to get them all up there now, don't I? Oh dear."
Aspis looked up towards the rooftop. "Normally I'd say it would be a pain, but I actually know just the thing."
"You do?"
With a grunt, Aspis picked up the wooden lid and started to bring it back to the box. Velcia yiped and quickly flattened the books out again so that the lid would fit without damaging anything, and soon enough the lid was placed loosely back across the top of the box.
"Why did you close it up again?" Velcia asked.
Aspis wiped his hands together. "I need to go borrow a pulley from Lupe. Hell, if he's not busy he'll probably come and help."
Velcia smiled happily. "I see! I would like to see Lupe again, I thought he was very nice."
"You would think that," Aspis groaned, shaking his head. "Animals love him."
Pouting, Velcia crossed her arms. "Well if they do it is because they know that he is very nice. Maybe if you were more nice, animals would like you better too."
"I've got enough to take care of as it is, no thanks," Aspis said. "You stay here and I'll be back in a while."
"I'll go with you!" Velcia exclaimed.
"Oi! Stay put!" Aspis demanded.
"I am not a dog, you know," Velcia said, scrunching up her nose. "Why shouldn't I go too?"
Aspis let out a gravelly sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "...Where are you going to put all of those books?"
"Oh, I'll just…" Velcia's voice trailed off, and she grit her teeth in an awkwardly toothy smile.
"Just as I thought. So again, you stay here and I'll be back in a while. It's probably too much to expect that you'll have anything clean, but at least find a place to put the books when we get back."
Head lowered, Velcia could only shrug in agreement with an almost whimper-like "alright".
A twinge of guilt flashed across Aspis' face for a moment, but he immediately rolled his eyes and puffed up his chest again. "Go on, get back up there."
He watched sternly as she did, and once she was about halfway up he shook his head and turned to go find Lupe. Watching him from the ladder, Velcia was tempted to go back down and follow along after him anyway, but he was right - she needed to get her home taken care of.
This fact was doubly reinforced for her when she stepped back inside her small home and remembered just how much of a nuisance it was for her to move around. If it was so troublesome for her, Aspis and Lupe would surely have trouble as well - and she had no doubt they would end up breaking something no matter how careful they were.
So, she threw open the curtains to let the light in and quickly got to work. It felt overwhelming and insurmountable, but she walked over to the spare room and sat down beside one of the piles of books. She picked one up and inspected the spine, then another, and realized that most of these were from the same place on the shelf. She remembered where they were supposed to go, so she scooped up an armful and put them into their place.
They weren't perfectly organized, but they were close enough - for now. She went and picked up another armful, and these too were put near enough to proper. In this way, the books were taken care of rather more quickly than Velcia had thought it might.
Once all the books had been cleared, still more mess yet remained. She was pleasantly surprised to feel a sense of disgust coming over her as she worked. It was good to feel something again. Still, she didn't know when Aspis would be back with Lupe and still hadn't any place to put the Chronicler's library. Certainly not the main room.
She went back to the spare room and looked around. The shelves were too full, but if she cleared some floor space she could probably stack them up here. It wasn't a solution she loved, but she didn't see many other options. Mustering all of her might, she pressed against the spare bed and slid it across the floor to the corner. It creaked in protest, and whined and growled as it skidded reluctantly across the hard floor.
Turning back around, Velcia saw her backpack where the bed had once been. She'd thrown it underneath there the day she decided to stop wearing her old clothes. She bit her lip and furrowed her brow crankily. It certainly wasn't going into her bedroom - it would be fine under this bed again.
There was a metallic clatter as she picked it up, and when she glanced down to see what was amiss she let out a shriek and accidentally threw the backpack across the room at the sight of her old nemesis - the Timeless River Pete medal that had tormented her for so long.
"Oh dear, oh dear," she muttered, kneeling down. She picked it up and brushed the dust off, shuddering as she looked at the scowl on the black cat's face. "I forgot you were in there. You didn't have to scare me."
Pete's eyes stared soulessly back into her own, and Velcia couldn't help but swallow. Not this again. She stood back up on shaky legs and retrieved her backpack, then paused and looked between it and Pete.
"Um… I'm going to put you back in here, uh, to keep you safe until after Lupe and Aspis are gone. Lupe has dogs, and I don't want them to…" Velcia trailed off, setting Pete down so she could open the backpack. The flap was still closed tightly, and she couldn't help but wonder how Pete had fallen out of it. She sighed, and opened the bag and placed Pete inside once more with a wince.
The moment he was out of sight, she closed the flap tight and threw the bag to the ground to slide it under the bed, but it hit the bedpost and with another metallic clatter a black Medal went flying across the room. Velcia shrieked and jumped again, and ran outside the room before returning to peek meekly back inside.
It was a dark Medal, no doubt, but it was face down. She knew who it was. It could only be him.
Slowly, she made her way over and picked it up again - face white in shock to see the tenacious Pete staring her down once more. "I-i suppose you're not worried about d-dogs then, are you?" she asked. She set Pete down on a side-table, then grabbed her backpack once more. The top was still closed tightly, but as she turned the bag over she saw a small hole had been ripped in the back underneath one of the top straps.
"You naughty thing!" she exclaimed, looking over at Pete with her mouth wide open. "You didn't have to claw a hole in my old bag!"
Pete, apparently, felt no need to defend his actions.
Velcia let out a sad sniffle, wondering now why she'd treated her bag so badly the last few days. With the backpack in one hand and Pete in another, she went to her own bedroom and put the backpack on the old wall hook where it belonged. Maybe this bag wasn't so bad.
That Pete, on the other hand…
"What am I to do with you now?" she asked, shaking her head.
A loud knock thudded against her door, and she jumped in surprise.
"Time to get to work!" Aspis shouted from outside.
Velcia took one last look at Pete, then stuffed the medal in her pocket and ran to the door. Aspis stood there expectantly, and peered back into the cottage.
"Get things cleaned up?"
"A bit, I think I should put these books in the spare room. It's the only place with enough space," she said, looking past Aspis to see Lupe setting up some sort of pulley arm that hung over the side of the roof.
Aspis huffed. "Alright, come on. You stay up here with Lupe, I'll load the books down in the alley and Lupe will hoist them up and unload them. You need to get them out of his way, don't hold us up, got it?"
Velcia nodded, following Aspis over to Lupe.
Aspis watched as Lupe pulled a knot tight. "Is it ready?"
"Should be," Lupe said, turning around to take another look around the secluded rooftop. "Interesting place," he said, shaking his head slowly.
"Weird place," Aspis said, and he went down the ladder.
"Thank you for coming to help, Lupe," Velcia said.
Lupe gave her an amused smile. "Aspis doesn't ask for help very often, but it's never boring when he does. So what's the deal with these books?"
Velcia blushed, averting her eyes. "It's a long story, and I-"
"Hey dumbass!" Aspis' voice rang up from the alley below. "You going to lower that lift any time soon or what?"
"Ha!" Lupe laughed, grabbing the rope and lowering the pulley platform. "Guess you'll have to tell me later."
Velcia let out a sigh of relief. She looked down over the edge to see Aspis place a large stack of books on the lift, then another and another. Lupe let out a small groan, just loud enough that Velcia could hear it.
"Hey Aspis, you think you can fit any more books on there?" Lupe called down, getting an obscene gesture in return. Lupe glanced over at Velcia, shooting her a "can-you-believe-this-guy" sort of expression, before calling back down. "You know I don't have a second rope if this one snaps."
Aspis stopped, and backed off without setting down another armful of books. Lupe pulled the rope gently until it was taut, then with a groan started to hoist it up. Velcia watched in awe, it looked like Aspis had put nearly a quarter of the box onto it. Despite how heavy it must have been, Lupe hardly seemed phased by the weight and it was up in no time at all. Lupe looped the rope around a hook near the back of the pulley arm, and pivoted it around so that the platform was over the roof.
"Let's get this off quick before Aspis starts to abuse us again, huh?" Lupe said with a chuckle, and the two quickly removed the books from the platform.
"He does speak very harshly, doesn't he?" Velcia said between huffs, quickly moving small stacks of books off to the side.
Lupe chuckled again. "You noticed, huh? Well, don't take it personally."
"I don't. It's very confusing, but somehow I think being mean is his way of being nice," Velcia said, stopping for a second to catch her breath.
"Ha, well, I can't say I disagree," Lupe said, brushing his hands together as he looked over the now-emptied lift. "Alright, back down it goes."
As Lupe began to rotate the lift back over the side, Velcia picked up a stack of the books and ran them inside the house. The back room now felt much further away than it had only an hour before, and she found the journey to be exhausting after a handful of trips.
The next load arrived before the first had been entirely brought inside, and so Velcia stopped to help once more.
"This pulley does a very good job," she remarked as the two started to offload the cargo.
"Sure does, I can see why Aspis wanted me to bring it over," Lupe replied.
"I would never have thought of something like this. I didn't even know that someone could buy one like it."
"Well, I bought parts of it and built some others. The first one was a rush job because we were in a hurry, but once I had a chance I had Aspis help me put it together properly."
Velcia stopped and looked over at the pulley. "It's amazing to me that you two could do such a thing. Only, why were you in a hurry the first time?"
Lupe paused, crossing his arms as he thought. "Huh, I think it was when someone fell down the cliffside in the Dwarves' Woodland."
"Oh! A Wielder fell off?"
"A few kids have, more than you might expect," Lupe said, shaking his head and returning to his work. "It doesn't really matter, anyway. I wanted one of these things anyway, it's super useful for moving supplies."
Velcia picked up a stack of books. "I am very glad that you have it! Do you ever let your dogs ride on it?"
Lupe paused, an amused but bewildered smile creeping across his face. "I uh, can't say that I have."
"I suppose it might not be safe for them, though they seem like very good dogs," Velcia said. "Do you have any other pets?"
"Naw, just the dogs, it's a family thing," Lupe said. He stood up straight and took a deep breath. The platform was empty now, so he swung it back over the edge and lowered it back down to Aspis. The box below was emptying much quicker than he expected, and he was glad to see they were making good time.
Velcia went back to work bustling the journals inside the house, and the three continued their work in determined silence. Once the last load had been put on the lift, Aspis climbed up the ladder and the three of them finished the remainder of the work very quickly.
They stood on the balcony, hot and sweaty but happy to be finished. Velcia, face bright red, was beaming.
"Thank you both for helping me. I'm very glad to have these books back… now I know that Morgan can never use them again," Velcia said.
Aspis smirked. "Good. Now we can finally move past that whole mess."
Velcia nodded, thinking it over. That really did seem to be the last of it. "...Yes, I think so. Thank you so much for everything, Aspis."
Aspis grunted, and wiped the sweat off his brow. "I can't stick around any more. I'm supposed to go meet with Leonna soon and I need a shower first."
"Sure do," Lupe said, waving his hand past his nose. "You're starting to smell like my dogs."
"You're smelling your dogs, dumbass," Aspis said, shoving him aside to walk past. "You could try washing that jacket once in a while."
Seeing Aspis nearing the ladder, Velcia jumped ahead of Lupe's certain retort and waved at her brother. "Goodbye Aspis! Will I see you later when I go to meet with Leonna?"
Aspis paused, then shook his head. "She's still trying to train you, is she? She always did like a challenge."
"Hey!"
"No, I'm busy tonight too," Aspis said, climbing down the ladder. "Some other time."
Velcia ran over to the side to watch Aspis go down the ladder, but jumped back out of sight with a squeak the moment he began to glance upward. Lupe laughed and began working to disassemble his pulley to bring it back home.
"Thank you again, Lupe," Velcia said, sitting down on the rooftop nearby to watch it all come apart.
"No problem."
"Um, before you go, I thought I would ask… um, could you help me with something else?"
"Huh?" Lupe straightened up, looking over at her. "What's up?"
Velcia blushed. "Oh, it's very embarrassing, but… I'm having some trouble with a dreadful cat, and since you seem to be so very good with animals I thought that maybe you might be able to help…?."
Now, with Pete being something that had caused Velcia such great distress over such a long time, whenever she thought of this Timeless River Pete medal there was a very clear picture of it in her mind. Perhaps because of this or perhaps because she'd been so tired and wracked by anxiety, or more likely still both, it didn't for a moment cross her mind that Lupe's very sensible impression was that she was in fact speaking of an actual living-and-breathing cat.
"Ah, well like I said earlier I really only have dogs, but I can try," Lupe said. "What's going on?"
Velcia took a deep breath, trying to work past the nervousness. "Well, you see… It's this really evil, terrible thing. He… he's like a curse! Ever since he showed up, he won't leave me alone."
"Ey, once a cat decides they like you-"
"B-but he hates me!" Velcia stammered. "Whenever he's around, I feel like I have the most terrible luck. He scowls and is so yucky and makes me so uncomfortable. I have tried to get rid of him, but no matter what I do he always, always comes back, and each time he does something in my life goes horribly wrong. I've tried being nice to him, I have, but-"
"Woah, woah, slow down," Lupe said, waving his arms. Velcia sniffled a bit, and Lupe patted her on the shoulder. "Alright, let's take a step back. You tried being nice to him?"
"I did. I try to let him out, but it's so hard to know what he wants. No matter what I do, he is terrible," Velcia said.
Lupe nodded, brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the haphazard pile of information he'd been given. "...What did you mean about trying to get rid of him?"
Velcia lowered her head, crossing her arms nervously. "Well, at first, I mostly just tried leaving him in different places and going back home without him, but he always managed to show up again. I really thought that when I threw him into the ocean-"
"You what?!" Lupe exclaimed, eyes wide. He stood up, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. "You threw him into… no, there's… Aspis is putting you up to this, isn't he?"
Velcia looked as though she might cry. "N-no! Aspis doesn't know, I didn't tell him because I didn't want him to make fun of me."
Lupe held his hand to his mouth. "So you seriously… you threw the cat into the ocean?"
"And… and I tried to throw him down into the River Styx as well," Velcia admitted, going white when she saw the open-mouthed disbelief on Lupe's face. "I thought he would like it better there! He's an evil cat!"
Lupe opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, then began to pace a bit. "That's…"
"I know, it's terrible!" Velcia said, crying. "But I don't know what to do. Even after that, he's back again, and he ripped up my backpack today!" She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out the Timeless River Pete medal, shaking it in her hand. "Oh, I just wish he would go away!" she said, throwing the medal down against the ground.
The shiny black object bounced along the ground, each skip punctuated by a metallic clank, before sliding, face-up, not far from Lupe's foot. He glanced down at it, then blinked. Kneeling down, he picked up the medal and looked at it before letting out an incredulous chuckle.
"Is… is this the cat you're talking about…?" he asked.
"It is!" Velcia said, holding her hands to her face and sniffling.
"...There's… you can't be…" Lupe said, turning it over in his hand before looking up at Velcia. His worried expression softened, then he turned away with a snort and held up his hand to try to hide his barely-suppressed laughter. He held a hand against his chest, then glanced down at the medal again, teary-eyed and nearly doubling over.
"L-lupe, are you okay?" Velcia asked from behind him.
Lupe coughed, then let out a sniffle, pulling his mask up over his mouth. "Wow, okay. Uh, so, I'm glad it's not like a cat-cat," he whispered to himself. He turned back to her, pointing towards his mask. "Uh, yeah, allergies, sorry. The breeze up here must be bringing something with it."
Velcia gave him a sympathetic smile, seeing Lupe's watering eyes and heaving breath. She wished she could do something to help him, but wasn't sure what.
"So, this cat then-" Lupe said, showing her the medal he'd picked up.
"I just don't know how to make him leave me alone. Everything's been going so badly lately, I don't want him to mess it all up again," Velcia said softly.
Lupe took a deep breath, and went over and sat next to her. "...You know that this Pete cat isn't real, right?"
"But he is…!" Velcia said, turning towards him. "Everybody on these medals is real, right? They're just from different times that The Master has seen. So that means that Pete is a real Cat, and he is a reverse medal which means he really is evil."
"...Right, that's at least mostly true," Lupe said. "But this medal isn't the real Pete, it's just a medal that looks like him."
"I know that, but…" Velcia sighed, averted her eyes once more. "I can't explain it. That's why I didn't want to tell anybody."
Lupe let out a breath, but gave an encouraging smile. Swaying gently, he bumped his shoulder against her with a chuckle. "You've come this far, might as well try. I won't make fun of you, I promise."
Velcia sniffed, and looked over at the medal. "When I look at him, I feel like I can… I can feel him somehow. His eyes are staring into my Heart. I know that the medal isn't the real Pete, but it must have something of him inside of it, and I know that he must hate me very much."
Lupe said nothing for a moment, merely looking down at the medal. Pete was a bit creepy, sure, but it was hard to imagine him being so haunting. He'd heard some odd superstitions, but none about a Medal and he was finding it difficult to come up with a solution for her.
"So…" Velcia said slowly. "So that's why I wanted to see if you knew how to make a cat behave."
"I don't think I know anything about this sort of cat, Velcia," Lupe admitted, tossing the medal to the ground ahead of them with a sigh.
"Oh dear," Velcia said, pulled her knees up to her chest. "Then I don't think I'll ever be able to break his curse."
Lupe leaned back on his hands, looking up at the clouds as he tried to think of some way to console her. "Say… you said that whenever you get rid of Pete, every time he comes back something terrible happens, huh?"
"Yes, something very terrible," Velcia said. "Last time he came back was just a few days before… before all that terrible stuff with Morgan, and some of my friends got…" she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.
"Maybe… maybe this Pete's not so bad," Lupe said, leaning forward and picking it up again. "Maybe he's just misunderstood."
"H-how could he not be bad?!"
"Do you think that Morgan was a good person before? That Pete somehow changed her into being evil?"
"N-no, I suppose not," Velcia said, shaking her head. "I think… I think she was always that way. We just didn't realize it for a while."
"So whatever Morgan did, it's her own fault, not Pete's," Lupe told her. "Bad stuff happens all the time, and sometimes for reasons that are completely out of our control. I'm starting to wonder if blaming Pete for these things might not be fair to him."
"B-but every time…"
"Maybe you're looking at it backwards," Lupe said with a smile, brushing some dirt off the medal. "Instead of thinking the bad things are coming because of Pete, try asking if Pete's coming because of the bad things."
"H-he wants to see bad things happen to me?!" Velcia exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Lupe laughed, shaking his head and holding the medal out for her. "Naw. I think ol' Pete here's coming back to warn you. He's not cursing you, he's trying to let you know to be ready."
Velcia looked between Lupe and the Pete medal, blinking slowly. "N….no, I…"
"It's just something to consider," Lupe shrugged nonchalantly, motioning for her to take the medal.
Velcia reached over and took it from him, looking Pete in the eyes and shivering. "But he's a reverse medal…"
"I use a Reverse Keyblade, you know," Lupe said. "Light Magic, Dark Magic… they're two sides of the same coin, each one balances the other. Every light casts a shadow. Wielders all across Daybreak Town use Reverse Medals to do good things, not everyone who uses dark magic is evil."
Images of Juangshi and the other four Angels flashed through Velcia's mind, and a tear streamed down her cheek as she tightened her grip on the Pete medal. "I suppose you are right. I don't know if I believe that Pete has been trying to help me, but… I'll try to give him another chance."
Lupe stood up, then offered his hand to help her to do the same. "Good. And hey, uh, don't throw animals in the ocean, alright?"
"I never, ever, ever would do something like that to a real animal," Velcia said shyly. "I didn't want to with Pete either, but I didn't know what else to try."
"Yeah, not great to throw medals in there either. Think of the poor fish!" Lupe said with a playful smile, bonking his hand against his head.
Velcia nodded sheepishly. "Okay, I won't do it again." Pete caught her attention again, and she bit her lip. "I sure hope Lupe is right about you. Please don't be too mean to me."