Chapter 12: Resonance

"So, how'd your visit with your brother go?"

Velcia looked up from her cinnamon-butter toast over at Balthazar. She forgot that she hadn't talked with him about it yet, she'd been so tired when she'd got home the previous night that she'd gone to sleep before he made it back. Swallowing her bite, she nodded.

"Oh, well, I think it went alright…" she said. In truth, it was a meeting that had quite a lot of ups and downs, and she'd come away with a lot of things to think over. All of her troubles with Morgan had played repeatedly in her mind throughout the night, and she knew that Aspis was right - she needed to talk to Balthazar about it. There was a lot to explain, and she was still nervous about the confrontation that would be sure to follow.

"Um… I guess you didn't have anything else to say, huh?" Balthazar asked curiously.

Velcia blushed. "...Not yet, but…"

Balthazar sat back, lips pursed. "...Well, I'm sorry to hear that. You'd been so excited about going over there."

"...I did get to see his paintings! They were very interesting, and many of them were not at all how I expected," Velcia said happily. Balthazar was happy to see some warmth returning to her. "That does remind me, I was thinking about going and getting some paint supplies so that I can start trying to paint on my own. Aspis showed me a bit and… I think it would be fun to learn."

After this, Velcia began to cheer up immensely and she got swept away in talking about painting, drawing, and telling Balthazar about the paintings Aspis had shown her. There were a few things that Balthazar couldn't understand, particularly her attempts to explain the more abstract or seemingly simple paintings; but either way he was just happy to see her in better spirits.

Talk of the painting and art supplies continued on throughout their trek to the Chronicler's HQ, where Velcia's chipper demeanor once again began to recede almost as soon as they reached the third-floor hallway. It was a bit of a sudden change, but Balthazar knew that Velcia had been feeling very busy lately and chalked it up to that.

Maxine was there to greet them cheerily as they opened the door, and Velcia cast a furtive glance around the room as she returned the greeting.

"Wow Maxine, you're here early!" Balthazar said.

"I didn't exactly plan to be," Maxine admitted with a roll of her eyes. "Some stupid Darkside broke my window in nice and early and I have to wait for it to get fixed. I didn't want to hang around at home so I thought I'd come here."

"Oh no!" Velcia exclaimed, forgetting her troubles. "Oh, I hope that it gets fixed soon!"

Maxine waved her hand dismissively. "Should be all fixed up before I get home, I guess the Contractor Moogles have a whole system for dealing with stuff like this."

Balthazar held his hand to his chin. "I haven't really thought about it before, but those giant Heartless do seem to cause a lot of damage, don't they? But the town never looks shabby. Is there anything around here the Moogles don't take care of?"

Velcia smiled. "They don't do all the work themselves, but they are very good at helping organize and manage it all! When I first came to Daybreak Town, I remember The Master telling me that it's the Moogles who make sure he and the Foretellers don't have to worry about the upkeep."

"Huh. They must have a good contract," Balthazar mused.

Maxine smiled. "Maybe I should try to find the head Moogle and see if they can teach me their ways. I think I'm getting a knack for this management thing - I bet if I learned from the Moogles I could reach a whole new level!"

Velcia's soft smile faltered for a moment, but she made sure to give a big supportive grin. "You do such a good job here, I really am so thankful for all the help."

"I am, too," Balthazar said with a nod.

Maxine blushed happily. "Aw, I'm just happy to find something to help with that I'm good at."

Balthazar smiled, then glanced over at the office door. "You know, I better go look at the Defenders assignments now. Morgan and her friends always make it so hard to concentrate, it'll be easier to figure out while it's still nice and quiet."

"O-oh, okay," Velcia said, stepping towards him. "I'll come wi-"

"Oh, actually Velcia, can I talk to you first?" Maxine said.

Velcica stopped in place, holding her hands together. She really didn't want to be away from Balthazar right now, but she felt silly for being so worried about Morgan. "Oh, yes, what do you need?"

She saw Balthazar leave from the corner of her eye, and only a couple seconds later realized that Maxine had already begun talking. She winced awkwardly and wrung her hands together. "Oh, I'm so sorry… I…"

"No worries," Maxine chuckled. "It's still early, I should have known better than to just jump in before I really had your attention. Anyway, I just wanted to check in and make sure you're doing alright. You've seemed really stressed lately… is there more than I can help with?"

"N-no!" Velcia sputtered. Maxine was surprised at the bluntness of this response, and Velcia could see it clearly on her face. "I'm sorry… I really appreciate you asking. I've been worried that I'm asking too much of you. Um, I don't want you to think… um, or, I know that I don't… do… much…" she trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Maxine exclaimed, shaking her head. "You might be the busiest of us all!"

"B-but! You do so many things! You help with the visitors, and you take care of the Sponsorships, and the schedules, and-"

Maxine's hand rested gently on Velcia's shoulder. "I do a lot of different things, sure, but none of them take a ton of time on their own! They're just… loose things that need taking care of. You're so busy with your work that you don't have time to notice all the slow times we have around here," Maxine chuckled. "So don't worry about it."

Velcia looked at her for a moment, and her worry slowly melted away. "You… you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Maxine said, pausing for a moment. "Oh dear. Well, I think we're about to get busy, huh?"

Still distant, but quite noticeable, Velcia could hear the sounds of voices out in the hall. It sounded like Morgan's friends were on their way in, but she couldn't hear Morgan herself. Velcia found herself thankful for this - Morgan was not a sneaky sort, if you couldn't hear her then odds were good she just wasn't there.

Velcia and Maxine moved a bit further from the door, and only moments later it burst open as some of the Defenders came trailing in. In the hall they'd sounded like they were in good spirits, but upon entering they became almost eerily quiet and Velcia was greatly uncomfortable at the realization that they all started to stare at her wordlessly.

"Um, hello," she said, trying to smile. "Good morning everyone!"

They greeted both her and Maxine politely, but the two girls both felt that something was off.

Maxine looked at them ponderously, then over at Velcia. "Is something wrong…?"

Velcia shook her head wordlessly, entirely at a loss for what the issue could be.

"Nothing's wrong," Pancha replied. She was one of the first of Morgan's friends to join the party, and usually seemed to talk for the rest of them when Morgan wasn't around. "I just couldn't help but notice someone got some new shoes!"

"O-oh, these?" Velcia said, glancing down at her Olympian sandals. "Y-yes, I have wanted them for a long time! I think that they should still be for sale, if-"

"Oh, we know that," Pancha said, clicking her tongue. "They're not really my style, but they look just right for you. To be honest, I'm kind of glad I don't want them since I wouldn't be able to buy them anyway."

"...you wouldn't…?" Maxine asked.

"No, see, they cost a lot of jewels," Pancha replied, looking Velcia right in the eyes. Velcia was not at all comfortable with this and quickly averted her gaze as Pancha continued. "We have to spend our jewels on new medals, see, so it feels irresponsible to waste them on frivolous things."

Maxine crossed her arms. "What are you trying to say here?"

"I'm not saying anything," Pancha said, crossing her arms. "Just thought it was interesting."

"Velcia gives everything she has to the party…" Maxine said, shaking her head.

Pancha's eyes narrowed, and flickered down towards Velcia's sandals again. "Hmm."

"I bought those for her," Balthazar said, stepping into the room. All eyes turned to him, and the other Defenders were surprised to see him. He gave Velcia a curious glance, and saw how upset she looked.

"Oh-!" Pancha said, shaking her head. "Well, that explains it then, doesn't it?"

"It shouldn't need explaining," Balthazar said crossly, folding his arms. "I don't know what this nonsense is all about, but we've always made it clear that nobody's required to give the party any jewels at all. If you want to spend your jewels to buy stuff then do it - if one of you wants to buy new sandals it's none of our business."

Pancha bit her lip. "Well, I know that, I just-"

"I don't know where this came from all of the sudden, but it better stop," Balthazar interrupted her. Velcia couldn't remember a time she'd seen him so upset. "We all want to help the party as much as we can. Last I checked, Velcia puts everything she has into this party."

"It's true," Maxine said with a nod. "I run the sponsorships, remember? Every week Velcia gives me every single Jewel she gets from the Moogles!"

"Yeah, we've heard," Junith said with a huff. "That's why we thought it was so suspicious that she suddenly bought something so expensive!"

Balthazar's brow furrowed, and for a moment Velcia found herself wondering if he'd be able to rival Aspis himself. "I've had the jewels for those saved up for over a year now," he said sternly, "There's nothing suspicious about it. And what do you mean you've 'heard'? All that information is supposed to be private."

Maxine saw Balthazar looking her way now, and her eyes went wide. "I didn't tell anyone! But… well, anyone who wants to know could just go open the books," she said, shaking her head. "We don't hide anything here, remember?"

Balthazar sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he exhaled. "...Alright. I guess it doesn't matter how anyone knows about it, what matters is that this… prying into each other's business is not okay. Velcia and I don't mind at all what any of you do with your own time or Jewels, so none of you-"

"I don't care what you guys do either," Pancha interrupted, shaking her head. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. It's nothing personal against Velcia! But you have to realize that if someone is giving all their Jewels to the party and then suddenly has a ton to spend, it's going to look suspicious!"

"Suspicious?!" Balthazar blurted out. "What do you mean? What, did you think that she was stealing the Jewels right back out from the party's bank?"

The room was silent, but the furtive glances between the others spoke volumes. Velcia's eyes went wide, and she stepped back from them slowly before running off out of the room.

"See?" Pancha asked, shaking her head. "She just seems… suspicious is all."

Balthazar clenched his fists tightly, and took a deep breath. "Nobody. Is stealing. Anything."

"We know that now," Pancha said softly. "I guess we could have gone about it a better way, but how were we to know that you'd bought them for her? It's not an unreasonable thing to wonder."

"Well, you have your answer now," Balthazar bit.

Maxine crossed her arms, the quick tapping of her foot against the floor causing the room to echo with dull thuds. "I'm ashamed of you all for treating Velcia that way."

Junith hung her head low. "I'm sorry… I'll apologize to her. I guess, I just heard that she might be stealing the Jewels, and I didn't think…"

"Me neither," Pancha said, shaking her head. "I just didn't know how else to go about it."

"...where did you hear that from, Junith?" Balthazar asked.

"Me? Oh, um," Junith tilted her head as she thought. "I don't remember who said it. We were all talking about just, stuff, you know? Someone mentioned her new shoes, then we got talking about the prices, and… who knows who said what?"

Balthazar looked across the group. "None of you remember who started the rumor…?"

Nobody seemed interested in answering or looking at him, and the group buzzed with non-committal hums.

Pancha held her hands together, and finally looked up to him with a regretful frown. "I'm sorry. We'll make sure to apologize to her when we can. It doesn't really matter who had the idea first, we all acted badly, didn't we guys?" she said, turning towards the others.

"Right," Junith and the others agreed.

Balthazar sighed and looked towards the door. He didn't know how far Velcia had gone, but he suspected it was far away from here. He really wanted to run out and find her, but… there was too much to take care of right now, and with the imminent arrival of the rest of the party, he knew that he needed to stay here and see just how far this nasty little rumor had spread.

Later that evening, Balthazar made his way up the ladder to the rooftop cottage. He hoped that he would find Velcia here, the only other place he could think of that she might go to was Aspis' apartment. He had no idea where that was. Thankfully, as he made his way off the top rung and onto the roof he could see Velcia ahead on the grass lawn that boxed the house. She was laying flat on her back, surrounded by the leftovers of her attempts to calm down. He stepped onto the grass, and made his way past the various papers that had been blown across the yard. Some of these seemed to be canvases that had met only with emotional splotches of paint before they were cast aside, though a few had made it a bit further through the process before being similarly abandoned.

There were other papers too, a thinner sort that were all torn on at least one edge. These were covered in pencil and not all half bad, but they too were apparently incapable of the task that Velcia so dearly required of them.

He was surprised to see that her eyes were open. From the stillness, he'd thought she'd maybe fallen asleep, but no. She looked over at him sadly without moving, her entire face a rainbow of colors. The many trails left by the tears that had journeyed across her cheeks were surrounded by a rainbow of washed-out graphite, which Balthazar knew must have either come from her hands or her cloth when she tried to wipe her tears away. The paint on her face certainly had a similar story, though the errant splotches of it across her clothes and hair spoke to a different tale.

Balthazar sat down next to her, leaning forward on his crossed legs and rubbing grass between his fingers. He wasn't sure what to say or where to start. He wasn't sure what she needed. The rest of the meeting had gone fine, and thankfully nobody else in the party seemed to have any problems with Velcia, but… the fact that some of them had was unexpected and upsetting to them both.

Velcia inhaled slowly, her breath stuttering and a few tardy tears making their final run. "They must all hate me."

"No… no, they don't," Balthazar said, shaking his head.

"They… they thought I stole from them, and instead of doing anything to help I… I got scared and I ran away. I am sure I only made myself seem more guilty to them."

"Maxine and I sorted it out… nobody thinks you did anything wrong now. I told them not to talk about it anymore, and they said they wanted to apologize to you," Balthazar said, glancing over at her. Her eyes were closed now, though her chest heaved softly. "It didn't seem like anyone else in the party even had any idea something could be wrong, they were all in good spirits. They missed you, by the way."

Another lone tear made its way through the palette of colors adorning her face, leaving its own unique trail atop those that came before it.

Balthazar sighed. "I'm really sorry that happened, Velcia… I can't believe that there could ever be a mixup like that. I have no idea how such an idea would even get into their heads."

"... I think I do," Velcia whispered at last.

Balthazar glanced over at her curiously. "You do?!"

"...It's… it's what I talked to Aspis about. Or I should say one of the things."

"Really?"

"Yes. You see, um… Aspis is mean to me, sometimes-"

"I don't think Aspis would-" Balthazar started shaking his head.

"No, um… I…" Velcia faltered. Balthazar frowned and shushed himself, tapping her arm gently to let her know to go on. After a moment, she did. "Um, but when Aspis is mean to me or teases me, I know that he doesn't really mean to be hurtful. He cares about me a lot, like you do. And, um, I know that I sometimes am rude without meaning to be. So…"

"...So…?"

Velcia's already closed eyes wrinkled as they shut even tighter, and with quivering lips she held her hands to her face. "Balthazar, Morgan has just been terrible to me, and I was too confused to know it!"

"Morgan…!" Balthazar said, shaking his head. "What do you mean you were confused?"

"Well, Morgan teases me a lot," Velcia said sadly. "I know she teases everybody, but… she does seem to tease me a lot. She says nice things too sometimes and acts like she cares, so… I just thought that maybe her teasing was like the way Aspis teases me. Except, it's not… it hurts when she teases me."

Balthazar's brow furrowed. "I… I didn't realize…"

"She isn't so bad when you're around. She is always a little rude and very, um, assertive, but when you are not around she… well, she gets…"

"...Cruel…?"

Velcia nodded. "The other day she asked me about my new sandals, telling me how expensive they were… I thought that maybe she was just being rude by accident, like I am sometimes. I was very rude to Aspis without even realizing it, when I was at his house… I made him very angry. Um, but, when the others started talking about my sandals today, I knew…"

"It's Morgan…" Balthazar said, growling to himself. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I know I should have!" Velcia said sadly, crying again. "But I wasn't sure if she really was trying to be mean, or if she was being mean by accident. I was afraid… I was afraid you would be very mad at her, and I…" she trailed off, taking a moment to collect herself. "Well, so many of the Defenders are here because of her. I don't know how the party is supposed to work without them, and I… I didn't want to ruin anything."

"Velcia…" Balthazar whispered, holding his hands to his face.

The two were silent for a moment, the air still save for a small sniffle. Velcia's eyes opened slowly, she knew this one was not hers. She looked over at Balthazar to see that he, too, was softly crying a bit now.

She sat up and scooted over beside him. "I'm really sorry, Balthazar… I should have known better…"

"No… I understand," Balthazar said with a sigh. "I just… I wish I knew so I could have helped."

"...But what can we do?" Velcia asked, shaking her head. "I don't know how to make the party work without the Defenders, and you're so busy already…"

"I'm not sure either," Balthazar admitted.

Velcia's eyes caught glimpse of the buttons on Balthazar's coat, and she shook her head. These buttons were so unruly, and no matter how often she tried to teach them they always seemed to return to their errant ways. "I… I don't think we should do anything about it yet," Velcia said, fixing the offending buttons.

"We can't just let her keep bullying you," Balthazar scoffed.

"Well… she doesn't do that when you're around," Velcia said. "Maybe for now, we just make sure to stick together when we go do Party stuff… at least until we figure out what we can do."

"...Maybe, I guess. It just makes me so mad that she's doing this at all. I don't want to see her dumb face," Balthazar growled.

Velcia stuck out her tongue. "Me neither. But we should make sure we have a good plan before we do anything, so that nobody else in The Chroniclers has to worry about anything."

"...Do you know if she's treating anyone else like this?"

Velcia paused, her hands hovering still in the air for a moment. "I… I don't. I hope not."

"I guess we have a few things to figure out…" Balthazar said. He stretched a leg out, and looked out into the distant hills beyond the far reaches of the town. "I'm not even really sure how we would ask her to leave the party, anyway."

"Maybe Aspis would know…?" Velcia asked thoughtfully. "Oh, but I don't know when I'll be able to ask him."

Balthazar sighed and looked down at the buttons on his coat. They were all 'straightened' now, though one was slowly twisting back to its usual resting point. He couldn't help but grin at this, and shifted a bit so as to make it harder for Velcia to notice this.

"In the meantime, then," he started, "I'll make sure to stick with you as much as I can. I'll still need to go out to other worlds to help the Chroniclers, do you want to start going with me?"

"I do," Velcia said with a nod. "Although… on the days you are out very late… I worry I won't be able to get my work done."

"I'll… be more mindful of that," Balthazar said with a sigh. "To be honest, not all of that has been strictly necessary for the party."

Velcia looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Heh…" Balthazar blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you remember that girl in Olympus who looks similar to you?"

"...Yes…?"

"I haven't been able to get her out of my head," Balthazar said, looking up at the clouds and completely missing the look of surprise on Velcia's face. "After we first found her, I wondered if there was some explanation, some connection. So I've been going back and trying to learn anything I can…"

"A… connection?" Velcia asked softly, looking down at the ground.

"I guess it's a long shot," Balthazar said with a sigh. "There's just something there I can't explain. You know, it's the weirdest thing, I seem to have formed something like a Heart Link with her."

Velcia looked at him with wide eyes. "You did…?!"

"Yeah. I can't connect to her Station like I can with the rest of you, but I can sort of sense her presence. I met her father, too, he seems like a great guy. I think you'd like him a lot."

"H-her dad?"

"Yeah. He's a potion maker, and something of a magician too. I've learned a couple spells and some stuff about potions with them."

"...Oh," Velcia said, shaking her head. She looked down at her hands, folding them softly in her lap. "Oh, I see… so that's why you've been gone so much."

Balthazar sighed. "I'm sorry, Velcia… I guess I should have told you, I just… I didn't want to disappoint you."

"W-why would that disappoint me?" Velcia said, shaking her head. Truth be told, she wasn't sure she knew the answer either.

"Well, I know you've been looking so hard for answers to everything. Where you fit in, where you're from… It's always really stuck with me how much you wished you had a family. So I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure. Like, I figured it would turn out to be nothing, you know?"

"...I guess it was something after all," Velcia said.

"I still don't know," Balthazar admitted. "Honestly, after all this time I still haven't been able to find any reason to think it's important at all. The only reason I keep thinking that there might be is this weird feeling in my heart."

Velcia squinted her eyes. "I always wondered what that was like…"

"It's uncomfortable," Balthazar said, shaking his head. "It's like there's this constant pressure on me. I adjust to it after a while, but there's been times when I've interacted with her or her father and suddenly this pressure just spikes. I feel faint and dizzy all of a sudden and it's hard to think straight, and each time that weird sensation in my heart just gets stronger."

"...That makes sense…" Velcia said softly.

Balthazar stopped, and looked over at her. She seemed to be simultaneously distraught and somehow in a serene state of understanding, and this confused him to no end. "It… it does? How does any of that make sense?"

"Well Balthazar," Velcia started, crossing her arms. "I guess I'll never know for myself, but I've heard enough stories about it."

"You have?!"

"Yes. And I am quite surprised that you have not."

Balthazar paused, and held his hand to his chin. "I really don't think I have. You know what's going on?"

Velcia turned towards him, seemingly as confused as he was. "That's how people always feel when they're in love with someone!"

"I-in love?!" Balthazar exclaimed, standing up suddenly. "Wait, what?! What are you talking about?!"

Velcia jumped up too, bumping her little fists against her hips indignantly. "Oh Balthazar, how could you not know! You just sat here all this time telling me about how much you like her and can't stop thinking about her, and then you tell me that she makes you dizzy and that you like her family, and that you didn't want me to be disappointed-!"

Balthazar sputtered, then inhaled, then coughed, and he really wasn't sure whether he was going to laugh, cry, or choke to death on the indecision between the two options. His face was flush with a deep red color, and he held his hands to his head as he tried to get his mind to stop spinning.

"Well, it makes sense now why you have been gone so much," Velcia said, turning away sadly. "It is okay. You do not have to stop spending time with your girlfriend to come help me all the time."

"Velcia, that's not-!" Balthazar sputtered.

"It is!"

"Velcia, no, listen just a second!"

"Balthazar, I am very happy for you, but I am just having a very sad day and I-"

"I'm not in love with her! I was going there because I was trying to find answers for you!" Balthazar told her.

Velcia paused, then looked back over her shoulder. "...Answers for… me?"

"Alright, come back," Balthazar said, sitting down in the grass. "Let me start over."

Velcia did so, and Balthazar began at the beginning. He told her about his attempt to learn more about the symbols, about how this girl's family were scholars. He reminded her how odd it was that this girl looked so similar to Velcia, and that this family seemed to have no names. Velcia listened, asking a few questions now that she was on track with the mystery he'd been trying to solve, and found that she couldn't help but think it was all very peculiar herself.

"So…" she said slowly, thinking things over, "What about the Heart Link? And that strange presence?"

"I have no idea," Balthazar admitted. "I'm starting to think that she really must not have anything to do with your past. You know, I've tried to create a Heart Link with other people in these Projected Worlds, not just Olympus but Agrabah, and the Dwarf Woodlands, but… only this one, strange little connection seems to work. That weird pressure… it seems to get bigger when this connection gets stronger, but I don't know why that would be."

"Me neither…" Velcia said thoughtfully. She looked up at him, eyebrow raised suspiciously. "Are you really very certain you're not in love with her?"

"Pretty sure," Balthazar chuckled. "The kinds of things that seem to make this connection stronger are pretty random and arbitrary. Like, on one of my visits her father taught us both how to perform a special locking spell. That triggered one of these weird bouts of dizziness, and there was nothing romantic about that."

"Hm," Velcia hummed, mulling it over for a moment. "I see. It must be something else. What is a locking spell?"

"Huh? Oh, it's really neat actually. It's just a simple magic spell you can put on a book or a chest or something that completely seals it. Supposedly, once the enchantment is placed on an object it can never be opened without the appropriate key spell," Balthazar explained, pulling a small notebook out from his pocket. "Watch this."

Balthazar held the book flat between his palms, and Velcia watched as a gentle glow began to emanate from between them.

"I-i thought you weren't supposed to use your magic…"

"This isn't Dark Magic," Balthazar said, pulling his hands back apart with a smile and handing the book to her. "Here, try to open it."

Velcia took the notebook and tried her best, but the pages were completely immovable. She turned it over in her hands, looking at it curiously. "It feels like someone has made a statue of a notebook to trick me."

"Isn't that neat?" Balthazar said with a smile. "You know, I was thinking, maybe we could start locking up some of our books in the office with this spell, just to help keep things a little more… private, I guess."

"That would be great!" Velcia said. She took another look at the book and suddenly her smile started to fade. "Although…"

"...What is it?"

Velcia said nothing, but set the notebook on the ground and scooted back. Balthazar watched as she summoned her Keyblade to her hand, and shortly after a beam of light shone out at the notebook; and it fluttered open unceremoniously against the grass.

Balthazar pursed his lips, and silently picked the book up from the ground before stuffing it back into his pocket.

"...Guess a lock spell isn't very helpful in a town full of magic keys, is it?" he asked with a wry chuckle.

"It was a very good idea, though," Velcia said. "Um… Balthazar?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you… thank you so much for everything. It means a lot to me. I don't know why you care about a strange girl like me, but…" she trailed off.

"You're… my friend, Velcia," Balthazar said, shaking his head. "From the first day we met, you've been there for me. I'm sorry I haven't been here for you lately."

"You have…" Velcia said, jumping forward and hugging him tightly. "Even when you've been gone, you've still been trying to help me… thank you."

Balthazar smiled and hugged her back. "Well, there's nothing to thank me for. Even with all that I wasn't able to find any answers… I'm sorry I haven't been able to find your home."

Velcia pulled away and wiped a small tear from her cheek, then turned and motioned towards the small cottage behind her. "That's okay, Balthazar, I think I found it."

Balthazar wasn't sure he'd ever seen Juangshi looking so proud of herself. As far as he knew, this was just their usual bi-weekly check in to keep in touch, but for her it was something much more important.

"Hey Juangshi!" he greeted, watching as the Station Door closed behind her.

"Hey Balthazar! How's it going? Velcia doing alright?" Juangshi asked.

"Uh, we're okay," Balthazar said with some hesitation. "Things have been a bit… complicated lately. But hey, you seem to be in a good mood! What's going on?"

Juangshi stood proudly, and for a moment Balthazar almost felt he could see a reflection of Spyridon in her pose and he chuckled to himself. Juangshi flipped her black hair back out of her face. "I think I've solved one of our problems."

"Oh really? Which one?"

"Those dark Specters," Juangshi said with disgust. "They've been creeping around, watching us and sneakin'. I heard one of them even tried to talk to Hadrianus, and he wasn't even doing anything wrong!"

Balthazar's expression soured. "He told me about that. I know I already warned you guys about them, but you haven't had any more of those weird talks with them have you?"

"Not yet," Juangshi said. "Perere told me that an evil ghost tried to talk to him and he just ran away. I think he meant one of them."

"Huh, he ran away? That's good."

"Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking about these things. They'll show at random sometimes, sure, but as you know if we use our Dark Magic they're almost always there," Juangshi said.

Balthazar nodded. "Yeah, I know. I've stopped using my Dark Magic completely because of it."

Juangshi smirked. "I think that's the wrong move," she said slyly. Balthazar gave her a curious expression just as she'd hoped, and she continued on. "I think we can use their nosiness against them."

With a shudder, Balthazar folded his arms. "I… I don't know if I like the sound of that."

"It's surprisingly simple, I think," Juangshi continued. "You know, those Corridors of Darkness we can make? I realized that making one doesn't necessarily mean we have to actually use them."

"But if they check both ends, they'll find you anyway right?" Balthazar asked.

"Right, if you're only making one corridor," Juangshi said with a smile. "It's not hard to make one… and with a little practice it's not too hard to make a dozen either."

Balthazar's eyes lit up a bit as he realized what she meant. "So you're saying you want to make a ton of these corridors all at once?"

"Right. If we do that, it doesn't matter if they can sense our Dark Magic or not. We'll be creating little portals of Dark Magic all over the Town, there's no way they'll be able to check them all, especially if several of us do it at the same time," Juangshi told him.

She looked at Balthazar, and her smile faltered a bit. She'd really hoped for a more enthusiastic response, but he was pensive and his deepening frown suggested he was growing more anxious as he mulled it over. "Alright… what's wrong with it?" she asked.

"Just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach for some reason," Balthazar said in a near-whisper. "It does sound like it'll work, but… It could very well make them angry with us."

"It might," Juangshi agreed, "It will annoy them for sure. We figured we'd try it a couple times and see how the Specters react."

"Wait, 'we'? Who else?" Balthazar asked.

"Oh, you know, me, Tomi, Spyridon, Perere, and Tadataka," Juangshi said, sighing at the sight of Balthazar's deepening frown. "I know, I know, you're worried about it… that's why we haven't tried it yet."

Balthazar held his hand over his mouth as he thought, looking out into the distant darkness around the Station. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Juangshi. The Specters have been fairly passive so far, but so have we. I don't think we should risk escalating things."

"They're escalating things already anyway," Juangshi said with a sigh. "The Specters are growing more curious and more bold, just the fact that they're starting to try to get information from Hadrianus and Perere should tell you that. I don't think they understand us yet. Showing our teeth a little bit might just get them to back off and stop testing us."

"It could just as easily give them a reason to stop toying around," Balthazar said. "There may be things about us that they don't understand, but those Specters are pretty comfortable about us."

"And you don't think that's a problem?" Juangshi asked.

"Of course it's a problem," Balthazar sighed. "Look, the Specters don't know why The Master made us. I don't really understand why, but they seem to think there's some sort of significant meaning behind our group. It's like… it's a puzzle they're trying to figure out. As long as the Specters don't see us as a threat in any way, I think they'll be content to leave us be while they try to solve that puzzle."

"And what if they find the answer? What then?" Juangshi asked. "You said that The Master told you the Darkness will come after us eventually no matter what, right? If that's the case, I'd rather have at least a little bit of knowledge on how to deal with them."

Balthazar took a deep breath, holding his hand to the bridge of his nose. "I don't think it's worth the risk…"

Juangshi sighed, then turned around and walked over to the edge of the Station Platform where she sat down with her feet hanging over the abyss. Balthazar followed along, sitting cross legged not far behind her.

"I don't like feeling like a mouse, Balthazar," Juangshi said quietly. "None of us do. I'd like to at least try it, just a couple times, to see if it even works. Whether it works or not… at least we'll know, and if it does work then it's a tool we can have in our back pocket if we need it."

She paused, waiting for a response but not turning to look at him. Balthazar said nothing, and she sighed. "Honestly… I'm not sure I could stop Tomi or Perere from trying it at this point even if I wanted to."

"...dammit…" Balthazar sighed.

Juangshi looked back at him over her shoulder. "We'll be careful about it, okay? I promise. If it seems like we're starting to get in even a bit of danger I'll tell them to stop."

"You really think Tomi will listen?" Balthazar asked. "Just a moment ago you said-"

"I know what I said, Balthazar," Juangshi sighed, pulling her legs back up onto the platform. "Look, if I go back now and tell her we're not going to try it anymore because Balthazar said so, you know she's going to want to try it anyway. At that point, who knows if anyone will be able to get her to stop? But if we do try it, she gets it out of her system, and we'll have our answer. So… what do you say?"

Balthazar held her gaze for a moment, then averted his eyes sharply. "I know there's no stopping you, but… I can't agree at all. I get where you're coming from, and I do admit it's an interesting idea, but I just don't think it's worth the risk."

"So you're saying we can't do it?" Juangshi asked.

Balthazar chuckled wryly, and stood up. "Tadataka's always calling me 'Master Balthazar', and acts like I'm some sort of authority. I guess that is technically the role given to me by The Master long ago, but we all know that authority is just an illusion. I'm here to help you guys as much as I can, but… I don't have any control over what you do. I don't have any power to say that you cannot do something, or to say that you must do something else," he said, looking back over at her. "All I can say is… please, don't do it."

Juangshi's face softened, and she stood up slowly and walked over to him, grabbing one of his hands and holding it between her own. "Look… I'm terrible with this personal stuff, alright? But, even when we disagree with you… we still appreciate and respect you, Balthazar."

Balthazar chuckled. "Are you sure you're really Juangshi?"

She paused for a moment, shaking her head softly. "Usually… usually I am. I like to be. But sometimes… like right now… I think it's better for me to be… someone else.."

"W-what do you mean by that?!" Balthazar asked, shifting uncomfortably.

Juangshi smiled. "Out there, in Daybreak Town… you know Juangshi, Angel of Darkness! That's who I've become. When Juangshi was born… I thought that was when Anhe died. But… she's not really gone. I want you to know that no matter what Juangshi does, Anhe… is grateful to have you as a friend."

"A-anhe…? Balthazar asked quietly, pointing towards her.

"Heh… my old name from my old life, before The Master remade me. Don't tell anybody, alright?" Juangshi said with a playful smirk.

"Anhe… that's a nice name," Balthazar said. "So… you're still going to try it then, huh?"

"I have to," Juangshi said with a nod.

Balthazar looked at his friend. "...Be safe, please. I've always appreciated having you as a part of my family here in Daybreak Town, Juangshi… I'd really like to get to know you as Anhe, too."

"Heh," Juangshi chuckled, turning now towards the door back to her own Station. "I never thought there was anything at all interesting about myself as I was before… maybe you're right. Maybe there's something I missed."

She opened the door, then paused and looked over her shoulder back at Balthazar. "Well, we'll find out, won't we? See ya soon."

"...Yeah, see you soon… Juangshi…" Balthazar said softly, watching as the door closed behind her.

He turned around, kicking his foot against the station floor. "She'll be fine…" he said to himself. "She'll know when to stop. Everything will be alright."